100 Classes

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I took up barre last fall with the encouragement of friends and a groupon. At the time I was looking for something to help with toning and building up the muscles around my knee. I love to run but my knees don't always agree. At my first few classes I was slightly intimidated by this new type of workout. My body was working on areas it had never worked on before. It was also intimidating to look around at some of the other people in the class and see how amazing they are at barre. I decided to quickly get over my that and dedicate myself to barre. 

My first goal was to maximize my groupon deal plus the new client special they were offering. It would be an 8 week test run. I was kind of thinking after those first 8 weeks I would be burnt out and ready to focus solely on cardio again. Well those 8 weeks proved to be different than I was planning. I was enjoying the changes that were happening to my body. I was also immersed in this community of support and friendship. Barre took on a change for me that was both physical and mental. It became me dedicating an hour each class to working on my mind and body while creating deeper friendships with those I started the class with and new friendships with other classmates. 

After my initial 8 week dedication I decided I wanted to take on the 100 class goal. It is a goal that is celebrated at the studio: you sign your name on the barre and earn your 100 club socks. I knew it was going to take some serious focus to complete 100 classes and do it by a deadline I set out for myself. There were days that were harder than others where I felt like I just needed a break but in the end I am so thankful I pushed myself to complete 100 classes. It was me allowing myself to take 100 hours and focus on nothing else but me. That is not easy to do. As a mom and wife my focus is rarely on me. We all need to remember ourselves and everyday we should take a moment to focus on nobody but ourselves. It allows you to recharge and refocus.

I am thankful for all the support I had along the way to achieve my goal. Now I am ready to start a new goal and I know I will have the amazing people in my life supporting me along the way.

Kristen

 

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Marriage Challenge Update (Better late than never)

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Ok, I am totally late on publishing this because we finished the challenge almost 2 months ago. Life very much gets busy for me and I put my blog on the back burner. I need to be better about putting some of my stuff first. But, anyways back to the topic of this post. My husband and I set aside one month where we took a moment each day to focus on each other. Some days were filled with quick ideas and others with more involved ideas. Regardless of the idea it allowed us to put us first and that was the more important thing. We get busy with work, kids, house hold duties, etc. and there can be days that go by where we don't take a moment for each other. I am thankful he was on board for the challenge because we both noticed a postive change in our marriage. We became the center and it brought us closer together and we found ourselves communicating better, praising each other more, and being thankful for the other person. We even talked about doing it again because we enjoyed it so much. If you are looking for a way to recharge and refocus your marriage I highly recommend doing a 30 day challenge. (Check out my previous post for information)

Marriage Challenge

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My husband and I are going on 11 years of marriage. 11 years filled of ups and downs and everything in between. We have 3 kids, which also contribute to those highs and lows and lets face it, pure exhaustion. We don't get to be newlyweds anymore and haven't for awhile. We try to do routine date nights but even those get challenging with our busy schedule and the busy schedule of our babysitters (aka the grandparents). We are at a point where we want to connect on a daily basis and not just date night. And when I say connect it's not connecting about our kids, work, or daily tasks but instead moments in the day where we think of only each other. I took to Pinterest and saw many marriage challenge ideas but my favorite was creating a month long calendar with a little something everyday. I kicked us off with the first week of ideas and my husband took the following week. We still need to add ideas for the rest of the month but it is exciting coming up with our daily moments for each other. Now some planning does have to go into it because we know we can't do an all out idea like game night when our evening involves kid activities but we know we can leave a sweet note or share funny jokes on those days. It is exciting to look forward to our little moments everyday.  

Kristen 

Printable Calendar:  http://frugalitygal.com/2016/12/free-printable-calendar-2017.html

Marriage Challenge Ideas: 

  • send a sweet text
  • hug several times a day
  • give 5 compliments throughout the day
  • make a dessert together
  • pj and movie night
  • leave a note in an unexpected place
  • take a walk holding hands
  • share a 6 second kiss several times a day
  • take a walk holding hands
  • tell funny jokes
  • take silly selfies
  • cook a special meal together
  • game night
  • dance to your wedding song

Dear Valentine's Day

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Through the years my view of Valentine's Day has changed. As a kid I would be all excited to turn a shoebox into a brown paper wrapped mailbox adorned with heart stickers. I was always proud of my creation and could not wait to have it filled with candy, treats, and character themed boxed valentine cards. 

Fast forward a couple of years and you had the era of hoping to have a boyfriend or date on Valentine's Day. Someone to give you chocolates in a heart-shaped box and roses.  This of course evolved over the years to nicer chocolate, a delicious dinner out, and roses from the florist. The more memorable Valentine's Day really didn't occur until I met the one and it was true love that we were sharing. Now, there were many valentines days spent with girlfriends and enjoying being single. Yes, I enjoyed it. I know not everyone does but I embraced it and viewed it as one day not a forever statement.

Now, I have my forever valentine and we have three of our own little loves. With this, Valentine's Day has taken on a whole new meaning. It has become a holiday of slight stress. No more of the simple valentine boxes and cards from a box. It's all about being crafty and using Pinterest to the best of your ability. And heaven forbid if my kids have a hand in making up any of it. One year I let my oldest take control of decorating her box and it was a sad state compared to the elaborate and themed boxes that lined her schools hallway. That was when I knew I had to have a hand in it. I don't mind having a hand in it but my oh my has it become a big deal holiday. With many trips to the craft store running into the other school moms all venting about the same thing, this is consuming my weekend! I now view this holiday differently than when I was a kid, a teenager, and the young married wife. I want to go back to the simplicity of it all. Let's go back to the little notes and chocolate that filled the simple brown wrapped shoebox covered with heart stickers. A day to enjoy others and just spread love. It all can be done with simplicity. 

Kristen