Review ~ Lorna Jane

Through the wonderful network of SweatPink, I have been blessed to get to experience things and meet people that I might not normally meet.  If you are not familiar with the SweatPink network, I recommend checking it out. It's life changing.

One of the things that I got to participate in was the grand opening of the Lorna Jane store in downtown Seattle.  If you have never heard of Lorna Jane here is a brief blip from their website:

"At the forefront of the movement since 1989 is Founder and Active Living Advocate, Lorna Jane Clarkson. Since sewing her first one-off design in Brisbane, Australia, Lorna has transformed her fashion sensibility into a world-leading Activewear brand"

I made my way to the store which is located in Westlake Center in the heart of Seattle.  By luck, I entered on the correct side of the mall and the Lorna Jane Store was on the first floor.  I was first impressed with how bright and cheery it was.

I was greeted by friendly staff and a couple of local vendors handing out samples.  I was able to roam around browsing with out being smothered but there was adequate knowledgeable staff to answer any questions I had. 

I saw a bunch of fun inspirational shirts like this one:

As I walked around, I met Leslie (I hope that's her name because sometimes I forget) the store manager.  She was enthusiastic, vivacious and knowledgeable. We chatted about the history of Lorna Jane and the impact the active lifestyle has had in her life.  While chatting I spotted this:

At the back of the store.  I learned that this Lorna Jane store is what's called a living room store (again, I hope I'm quoting correctly).

Basically, what I took away from that was that you can go to the store and try out fitness classes. Just like the comfort of your living room. Whoa, fun and free!

There are lots of good things coming for this location and the Lorna Jane brand.

I found these things plus put lots on my wish list:

I was given a $50 gift certificate to spend the night of the opening for the purpose of a review.  All opinions are my own. 

I look forward to really embracing the active lifestyle that is at the heart of Lorna Jane & the SweatPink network. 

Please check out http://lornajane.com/ to learn more. The website is packed with information.

Vega Sport Review

I got the opportunity to be a part of a review for Vega's #FuelYourBetter.  I tried the Vega Sport pre-workout energizer.  From their website VEGA:

Get in the zone with energy to burn. The ingredients in each serving of Pre-Workout Energizer

• Provide immediate and sustained energy from plant-based ingredients

• Increase endurance, aerobic and anaerobic capacity

• Enhance mental focus

• 100 mg of caffeine from yerba mate and green tea

• Medium chain triglycerides (MCTs)

• Devil’s claw

• Panax ginseng

• Turmeric

 It has 70 calories per serving and one packet should be mixed with 8 oz of water.  

Sports a unique blend of 12 synergistic plant-based performance-improving ingredients, including :

Drink 20 minutes before a high-intensity workout or training session lasting more than 30 minutes.

I received the Acai Berry flavor and was excited to try it out. 

I decided to try it first while at work since the package states mental focus. I mixed the packet in water and it took some time for it to disolve. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the taste. While it's a little bland, it has no bitterness or bad after taste.  After I got past expecting it to be sweet and over powering, I enjoyed this little plant based drink.  It did help me stay focused at work and I gave it a thumbs up.

The next day I decided that I would do the same and share a packet with my sister to try as she was packing for a move and needed a little extra umph. We both had great results. She said "it was a little bland but it gave me a ton of energy, without making me feel jittery."  

I agree, I had a good level of energy but never felt jittery.  I also never felt the crash like I have on some other energy supplements.

Now for the "real" test....how did it fuel me for exercise?

This week I started the C25k program and used the Vega Sport pre-workout energizer.  I was stoked with the results!  I completed all 3 days of week 1, which I haven't been able to do before.

I felt great before, during and after the sessions. One day I even jogged a whole extra interval.  I was so proud of myself.

I love Vega Sport!  

How do you #fuelyourbetter?

*I received samples of Vega Sport Pre-workout energizer free of charge. The opinions stated are  my own.

SweatPink

I had been on twitter for sometime when I started to notice hashtags...ok, I might have been a little late to the game. I noticed a lot of people I follow using #sweatpink and #fitapproach. I was intrigued and decided to do some reading.  Check it out here: http://www.fitapproach.com/

On the site, they state their mission:

OUR MISSION

We believe that kicking ass is best done in pretty shoes. We’ve learned that real women sweat, and sweat hard. We know that assertiveness, strength, and ambition are the ultimate feminine qualities. We concede that sometimes it takes hours to get ready, but we’re also no strangers to just rolling out of bed and going. We’re convinced that we run faster in pink shoelaces. We believe in pushing ourselves, and we believe in giving ourselves a break, too. We’re all about the rush of endorphins and the thrill of the challenge. We’re all for looking great and feeling even better. We’re committed to finding our best fit, and making it stick.

Sweat Pink with us.

Ummmmm hello...I want to push myself and I want to encourage other to love who they are while striving to be better and if I can do this while wearing pink shoelaces.....whoa, I want to sweatpink too!

I am tickled pink to say....

I love the support this community gives and I'm excited to be a part of it.

Happy Medium...

In life we are lead to believe there is a happy medium. A place where everything is good and well balanced. In other words "perfect".   Well I'm not sure I believe it's possible.

Don't get me wrong I believe in happiness, bliss and love. All the gooey things in life.  But I don't know that there's actually a happy medium for me.  Before you jump me for being negative, hear me out.

I'm happy for the most part but I'm always looking for ways to improve. I'm not settling for happy medium.  I want to be on the heavy side of the happy scale. I want to be better than I was yesterday. I want to challenge myself and those around me to be the person they want to be (unless you're a legitimate scary stalker, I don't challenge that :) )

With that said I'm looking for ways to challenge myself, mentally and physically.

One of my biggest challenges has been not taking care of me. I spend more time building up others than I do on my own foundation.

I've decided that in 2014...I'm going to take better care of me and build up myself while continuing to build those up around me.

I will make time to do the things I love and will embrace getting to know me on a new level.

I saw this quote on Pinterest ❤️

http://pinterest.com/pin/284149057713548977/

My hope for you is that you take time for you. Love yourself, so you can truly love others.

Ps. I hope you find your happy medium

ENERGYbits

HTTPS://ENERGYbits.com. Last year when my mom was ill, I had the opportunity to try ENERGYbits for the first time. I had heard about them on twitter and figured what the heck.  I knew I was going to be extra tired, stressed and couldn't risk getting sick.  

After I received my sample, I was hooked. The product is amazing and they are a wealth of knowledge and information to anyone wanting to know more.  

I continued to use ENERGYbits through my personal stress. I also used them pre walk and pre-OCR to give me the extra umph without the jittery side affects. 

Once hooked I decided that I should help spread the word and what better way then through the brand ambassador program! 

YEEEEE...I'm a brand ambassador 

I used them throughout my first half marathon in December 2013 and felt pretty good considering I just walked 13.1 miles 

I'm a huge fan of ENERGYbits and believe they can give you the energy you need on a day to day basis.  I take them almost every day to give me a little extra energy at work. I also take Recoverybits post work out & daily. 

An added bonus to having more energy is I've noticed a decrease in headaches/migraines. Anyone that knows me will attest to what a relief that has been.

If you are looking to add a healthy food to your diet and are wondering about the health benefits of algae, please check out ENERGYbits.com  You can use code smilin4sugar during check out for 20% off your order.

Blogging....I kinda suck at it

I realize that I haven't written here since August 2013. I'm pretty sure I suck at blogging.  I have lots of great ideas and things I want to write about...but I lack the follow through to write them. So what  gives?

Without all the excuses and blah blah. I think I've been struggling to stay positive and haven't wanted to write about negative things, so I haven't written at all.

Which is sad in fact because I've had some really positive things in my life.  So while I'm going to attempt to not focus on negative (it may sneak in there) I am going to try to be more consistent in my blogging adventure.

Stay tuned!

My Mom

My mom had been sick for sometime.  I think that our family was partially in denial that such a strong woman could be sick and partially we didn't really know how sick she was.  She would tell us little snippets of information but she had a way of doing it where it didn't seem all that bad. 



March 2013

In March of this year I went to the doctor with my mom.  Hearing from a doctor how sick she was actually made me sick.  At that point my mom had COPD and stage 4 emphysema, there is no cure for that. The doctor explained that there were not many treatment options, actually our only option left was hospice. With our focus shifting from prolonging life to making sure she was as comfortable as possible during the transition.
 We left the doctors office and she asked me how I was feeling, and I responded with "I'm fucking angry".  That was the truth, I was angry.   I wrote about how I felt cheated and angry previously, you can find that post here Cheated and Angry. 

Over the next few months we talked a lot about what was going to happen and I watched the strongest woman I know get sicker and sicker. We joked about death and other things that many people would find not appropriate for the situation  (and I am totally fine with this). We debated about ghosts vs. spirits, heaven and other random topics. What was coming still wasn't "real".

In May I stopped by my parents house on my way to a mud run and my mom asked me "do you want to be here when I die?"  I responded with "Are you serious? What kind of question is that?" and we left it at that for a few days.  My mom had expressed that she didn't want anyone to be around when she passed, and I then expressed how I didn't think I could live with myself if I wasn't there.  But in the back of my head it still wasn't real. 

June and July she continued to decline.  We talked almost everyday on the phone and I came out to see her.  She was dying and there was nothing I could do but standby and watch.  She had asked me several months ago to put together a slide show for at her memorial.  I agreed, then she said she wanted me to do it before she died, so she would know what we were watching. I was in shock and I told her exactly how morbid I thought that was.  I put it off as long as I could, I think in my mind if I did it, it was real. My mom was going to die.

I kept coming up with reasons why not to do it and why she couldn't die "yet".  We talked about death candidly.  I expressed my anger, hurt and fear.  Then we sat down and started listening to songs.  She picked out ones she liked and decided which ones she wanted in her slideshow.  I finally finished the "rough" draft of the slide show in July.  We watched it together, and I cried.  She told me there was no reason to cry, as she would be waiting for me in heaven.

My mom took a turn for the worse at the beginning of August, a few days after she celebrated 36 years being married to my dad.  I got the call and immediately rushed to her.  For the next few weeks, it was up and down.  We knew she was dying, and we struggled to be ok with it.  I spent every moment I could with her and it never felt like enough.  I was exhausted, upset and I was still angry.  I knew it was close to the end and she tried to remain strong for us right up until the end.

On August 21, 2013 at 9:40pm my mom passed away. She died peacefully at home with my dad, her brother and myself by her side.  



Over the past few months, I became closer to my mom then I had been in a lot of years.  I will forever be thankful for that.  There is nothing as precious as time.  Hug your loved ones and don't let a day go by that they don't know how much you care.