This is Sean...

...my personal trainer at CrossFit Seattle.

He makes me lift weights (like the kind in the Olympics dude), row like a maniac, squat waaaaaaaay too much, swing kettlebells, throw medicine balls, do farmer effin' walks and some other crazy stuff I never heard of that makes me sore.

He is nice.

I still hate him during workouts.
Hate's a bit strong but I am not in the middle of a circuit right now either.


This is what the goals look like:


I am at Level Negative I.

What's been going on...

Last week was pretty darn amazing.
First off, the fact that I was able to deadlift 134.4 lbs. and back squat 95 lbs.

Deadlift

*that's not me ;)

Back Squat
*still not me

was something I could not have even imagined I would do, ever. I was very proud! I am still way far from my goal but I do notice more strength and stamina just in my day to day life. During my CrossFit training, however, I'm still dying at only the halfway point of the circuits!

Also, not only did my Late necklace for Wonderland Dreams make it to the Etsy Storque Spotlight but my Aqua and Black earrings were included in Angela's (Pickles on Pizza) Cyber Friends treasury! The treasury is now over but you can see the items that were included below:Please check out Angela's wonderful shop CutNGlue which is full of her wonderful collages!

I am still getting used to the way my new iPhone takes photos but here are some shots taken in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle this past weekend. It was a beautiful day!

Gorgeous flowers outside of Burnt Sugar


and the infamous Rocket.

This guy was in the teensie coffee shop where I got a cherry Italian soda, sadly I can't remember the name of the place but they had a working vintage cash register!!!

Kitty, snoozy in the bookstore :)

I think these are apartments. Reminds me of a building that has since been revamped in Berkeley, CA.

It was my first time in Fremont and I definitely will be going back.

Here's hoping this week is full of more cool things.

Air Hockey, SYTYCD and Torture, O My!!

Air Hockey:

We recently became iPhone users and so far it is pretty darn groove-a-delic! Beyond all the cool features, GPS has already saved me 4 times and I don't know how I can ever live without it ever again, I have acquired a portable air hockey table for a mere 99¢! As some of you know I looooooooooove air hockey and I have always wanted my own table. Now I have one I can carry anywhere and play anytime I so desire. This is something I did not expect and I am discovering more and more I can do with this awesome gadget! W00t!

SYTYCD:

OMG, So You Think You Can Dance is as awesome as ever!!!! This is definitely my all time favorite TV show and I can never get enough! I am so excited there is going to be a Fall Season this year as well, YAYs!!!!! I dunno who is going to get cut this coming week but all I do know is that from here on out, it has got to be the hardest competition in the show's 5 seasons.


Torture:

As mentioned previously we have joined Level 4: CrossFit Seattle. Last time I mentioned this was just after our first full session with Sean, our trainer. Since then we have moved on from just learning some of the moves and practicing our form to actually doing CrossFit Workout Circuits. Oh-My-Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawd! They are intense! We are basically dying and it's only half way through the circuit, gaaaaaaah. Sean is nice to us so we do 20 seconds on and 20 seconds rest, normally you would only get 10 seconds rest. We do not look forward to Tuesday and Thursday but luckily since we are both going, it motivates us to go anyway. Wednesday and Friday are now basically "Holy cow, I am friggin' sore and don't want to do anything!" day. After each workout we shlump home and feast on my homemade all fruit smoothie and make sure we eat a hunk of lean protein. I no longer can stay up past 11 pm and wake up naturally before the alarm each morning.

O My:

Since we are going to maintain this schedule through the entire summer, I expect my online presence to slack off majorly. We are basically dead after working out Tuesday and Thursday, SYTYCD takes over on Wednesday and Thursday night, and Friday we are just plain dead and glad it is the weekend. Add to that the 80+ temps we have been experiencing even at night, no air conditioning to speak of, making the house let alone my attic office/studio pretty much unbearable, and it all equals little to no time in front of my computer upstairs or the hot laptop downstairs. Also, I can no longer pull those late nights like I used to since the workout schedule has me zombified by 11 pm on a regular basis. Luckily the iPhone keeps me in touch with emails and I can surf the Internet pretty easily with it but other than that, I will be sporadic with anything other than focusing on getting in shape this summer. I do have a wedding coming up so there go my priorities :P

Pant, Pant, Huff, Huff! How pancakes got us fit!

Since moving from San Francisco two years ago, we have switched from a naturally active life, walking to and from work (up/down killer SF hills), to clients and just to have fun in the city, to a life where we drive everywhere and I work from home. Needless to say, out of shape came fast. Finding the right workout is hard. One we can do together and both benefit, stay interested, focused and challenged is even harder.

Pancakes. Yes, pancakes and actually bacon, at least for Y, turned out to be our salvation. Our favorite breakfast place here in Seattle is The Dish. What I thought was just an automotive repair shop/garage behind the restaurant where we occasionally devour yummy pancakes on the weekend, is actually Level 4: CrossFit Seattle. Y spotted the sidewalk sign one day as we sat by the window and it piqued our interest. We checked out the website and thought it sounded perfect for us and our goals.

We had our free one hour get-to-know/session last Friday with our trainer Sean and I won't lie, my thighs were annihilated and I basically moaned on every stair this past weekend, lol. It was the good kind of sore though and the kind you know is mostly due to having been a Mirra chair potato for the last two years and that my booty basically did not wish to defy gravity as part of our challenge included a circuit that ended with hopping on and off a wooden box. I had to do the baby height and could only hop 10 times and had to step up the last 10 [tisk tisk].

Tonight was our first full on session with our trainer Sean. OMG, this workout rocks! We are so happy we found this place. We were both challenged and the workouts are varied and interesting, not the same repetitive zombie stuff as at most gyms. We did 500 meters on the Concept 2 rowing machines, worked with kettlebells (which is a great cardio workout and tons of fun), push presses and pull-ups. Okay, Y did some pull-ups (he went to 11), I have never been able to even hang on and today was no different, so I got to start building my strength by using the gymnastic rings and pulling myself up from an angled position with my feet on the floor. Everything is tailored to our ability level and frankly it's the best workout ever!

So I am excited AND we get to do it together, even better, YAYs!!! I'll keep you all posted on our progress.

:)