Celebrity

A couple months ago I was asked to attend a night at our church for the young women ages 12 - 18. The night was about celebrities, however, not the ones in Hollywood. Each of the girls had been asked to pick someone they admired and wanted to be like. They then wrote a letter why they chose them as their "celebrity". Then each "celebrity" was invited to attend that night, hence the reason I was there.

I felt honored to have been chosen by a beautiful sweet girl. However, humbled by the thought that we truly are always being watched. I was also even more impressed by the girls who had not chosen women who were necessarily fashionable, slim, or gorgeous by the standards of the world. Some had chosen women who were crippled but still kept their happy attitudes and worked hard to be independent. Others chose women who had simply lived a very hard life and worked hard all their days.

It made me think of the wonderful women in my own life. Women who are strong, work hard, serve others, are kind, have a happy attitude, and are giving. Most of all the evening presented me with a desire to be a better person. I've been watching people more now and learning from them the skills and attributes that I think would make me an even better person!

Who are your celebrities?

Until next time,

Leiah

Who is Leiah.....

Hi there! I'm Lis' big sister - big by almost 5 years, and about 6 inches! We live in different states so this is a fun way to keep up with eachother and feel connected. Our lives couldn't be more different!

I am a stay at home mom mother of 4. I've been married for 7 + years and my oldest just turned 6 yesterday! I have two girls ages 6 and 4, and two boys, ages 2 and 4 months. They are of course adorable, and fun, but they keep me super busy! I'm married to a fantastic guy who makes this life a fun and enjoyable journey!

I've lived a lot of places, including China, gone to college, and owned a business. I've learned a lot but nothing has taught me more about myself than being a wife and mother. The struggle to keep yourself afloat through all the ups and downs and not get lost in everyone elses needs!

With Alyssa I hope to help us all remember who we are and discover more who we can become. There's always room for improvment!

Until next time,
Leiah

The Best Sub Job Ever and Something to Learn from it

Ok, so I mentioned that I'm a substitute teacher and that I really love it. Well, today I had the Best sub job ever!

Today I subbed for a music ed. teacher at an elementary school and we played games about musical styles and musical instruments and that was cool, but the BEST part was a game called "Freeze Dancing."

For this game I played a song from one of the different music styles we learned about (reggae, rock, hip hop, country, classical and jazz) and all the kids just went crazy dancing! (me too, I confess!) Then I pressed the pause button and they all froze where they were. They loved it and were such great dancers!

The tip I have for today comes from Freeze Dancing! I guess I forgot how much fun dancing can be, but seeing those kids with huge smiles on their faces and just GOING TO TOWN bustin' moves right and left made me remember that dancing is GREAT fun- not to mention a great way to get moving and lift your mood and metabolism.

If you've got kids, try playing "Freeze Dancing" with them, or if you're alone just put on some rockin' tunes and set the timer for 15 minutes and dance your heart out. Some of my favorite songs to bust a move to are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3xafme2PWA "Why Should I worry" by Billy Joel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aLFmVwbxro "Beautiful Liar" by Beyonce and Shakira

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lFXy5bIiSA "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield
Have fun rockin' out!

love,
Lis

P.S. What are your favorite songs to rock out (or work out) to?

First Yoga Class!

Wow! I just got back from my first real yoga class and it was great! Maybe this sound cliche but my arms were killing me during all those downward dogs...but I held out and never took the "child's pose" option. My teacher was great, not too out there but she still had some great things to say besides describing poses and form.

And amazingly...

...it wasn't that hard for me to get up at 5:15 am this morning to get going! That was certainly surprising, but I guess I was excited!

My next class is Saturday morning and I can't wait (though I know I'll be sore from this class)!

Love,
Lis

P.S. Jenna over a eatliverun.com (you can find the link to her blog in my blog list) was one of the main things that encouraged me to try out a yoga class. She is very into yoga and has often written about how good it makes her feel- I'm starting to figure out what she means! You feel strong, but light and powerful, but peaceful. And just plain good. Thanks Jenna!

Pilates and Yoga

I've signed up for two new classes to help feed my new obsession!

Pilates CoreMax

Using the Joseph Pilates Method tone your core to the Max! Power Yoga A vigorous and powerful approach to Yoga, using Ashtanga, Anusara and Hatha styles of yoga. As the spouse of a student I can sign up for "aerobics" classes on campus! (I also get free access to the University's Gyms and track) And so I signed up for these two classes. They are at 6:00 am!!! except for the yoga class on Saturdays which is at 8:30am, so that's a lot better. I'm excited for several reasons: A) One of my goals is to exercise regularly! B) Another of my goals is to get in the habit of waking up early! C) And ever since the summer (when I had some private yoga lessons) I have wanted to get better at yoga and this yoga class sounds like it will definitely be a CHALLENGE!(This is where I lived over the summer where I took my yoga lessons- Bellyacres in Hawaii!) My first class is yoga tomorrow- wish me luck! love, Alyssa P.S. I said I would update you about how I was exercising- I did yoga last night for about 20 minutes (a little wimpy, I know, but I got my brother-in-law Quinn to do it with me! Shocking!) and this morning I did Pilates (with my workout tape) for only a little while. P.P.S. I bought cute new workout clothes today- to help me feel a little more confident and motivated for my classes!

My New Obsession...Hopefully

So, I mentioned my obsession with books, but I have another obsession I guess (according to Leiah...and my husband....and my mom and dad...and others).

I really like food!

Not necessarily eating it, though I like that too. I love cooking, reading about cooking, reading about eating, daydreaming about food, planning menus and really anything else food related. I even teach two kids cooking classes and one healthy living class where we learn about the food pyramid and healthy eating habits. I think food is super cool.

They say that getting a fit and toned physique with a healthy body weight and all that jazz is 80% nutrition, 10% exercise and 10% genes. I'm doing alright with the 80% (though I know I eat a little too much to be losing weight- healthy foods though!). The part where I have trouble is with exercising.

It's not that I don't enjoy exercising- because I do! I just never do it. When I actually get myself out there and get moving I love it and almost always feel fit and happy when I'm done. The problem is that I keep telling myself the same phrase over and over each day "I'll do it later."

This is such a destructive phrase! If you keep saying it over and over you'll end up NEVER doing anything. So one of my goals is to develop an exercise plan and STICK TO IT! Say "I'll do it now" instead of "I'll do it later."

Leiah is really much better at exercising than I am and she has some great tips on revving your metabolism up into high gear. Hopefully she'll enlighten us in a future post about how she finds time to boost her metabolism even with four little kids running around!

In the meantime, here's my exercise plan for the rest of the week:
Tuesday- 30 minutes of yoga
Wednesday- Pilates class (at 6am- jeez!)
Thursday- Yoga class (6am again)
Friday- elliptical machine for 30 minutes
Saturday- sledding with Dale and some yoga
Sunday- rest and easy yoga

Can you tell I like yoga? I'm still a beginner, but am trying to get better at it- feels so good.

From now on I'll be doing this post on Sundays- announcing what my exercise plan for the week is and, periodically, reporting on how that's all going. Keep me accountable! Pretty soon I'll be looking like her
Jillian Michaels- one of the trainers from "The Biggest Loser." Hey it could happen!

I'm making exercise my new obsession (hopefully) while still eating healthy.

What are your healthy obsessions? (like me and kale, I guess)

love,
Lis

My Sister!

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to announce that my sister Leiah is going to be my partner in blogging crime from now on!

She's a great girl- so smart and put together- and whenever we chat on the phone (for hours, sometimes) she always has tons of advice for me. She recently gave birth to her fourth kid! (she's got good tips for losing the baby weight)

She'll do an introductory post in the next few days, but I just wanted to announce the happy news beforehand.

Love,
Lis