Boot Camp Update...

The haps on my little 6 weeks of "fun" thus far

• The class is described as a combination of P90X and Insanity...if I would have read this before signing my check, I might have not signed it.
• The gal in front of me at class last Thursday was wearing PAJAMA JEANS to work out in. Erin Murphy...please hook a sister up with a spare pair.
• The Husbro repeatedly made jokes last week about the things I had in common with an ape, seeing as I could not straighten my swollen arms passed a certain point and even then, I would grimace while trying.

• I VASTLY under estimated the importance of stretching each morning/evening.
• I still need new shoes.
• My instructor uses working out as a coping mechanism for not making it as a pop star.
• Apparently white girls start off prayers with "Dear Lord" or "Father", while Hispanic gals start with "Help me Jesus!" - don't ask.
• Took a HOT bath on Friday evening to help my achy muscles only to determine once and for all... I don't like baths! My back/shoulders hurt up against the back of the tub, I am too short so I constantly slip down further than I want to or strain my legs grasping to the side with my toes to stay put, I can't read without getting said reading material wet, I feel like I am stewing in large pot of gross water, either the water gets cold too quickly or it is way too hot from the beginning and after 10 minutes I just end up sweating like a crack head who needs her next fix.

BURN

So...thanks to a lil' invite from Sarah and a desire to deprive myself of sleep for the next 6 weeks, this morning marked my first day of BURN! It is a 6 week boot camp - 3 days a week - from 5 am to 6 am. That's right people, I am getting my jiggly butt out of bed at 4:15 am on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays to PAY someone to get me to sweat and basically want to take my own life...or throw up. AND the best part is - I am doing it with my twin! A twin and Sarah in a workout class...may just be the strength I need to keep me going the full 6 weeks.

Surprisingly it was very easy for me to get up this morning when the alarm went off at 4:00 am...I did not even have to worry about the second alarm I set for 4:15! It might have been easy because I was so paranoid I would sleep through it that I woke up once at 12:33 am and again at 3:12 am. Oh well.

When we showed up the instructor introduced herself and then asked, "Which one of you is Snell?...that last name must have gotten you harassed in school huh?"...to which I told her "No, it's my married name, but I will check in with my husband on how he fared in school with it."
NOTE: the instructor is really nice, even though that may make her sound not so nice...I just had to put that first impression out there :)

We started with getting all of our stats filled out.
Age: 31
Height: 5'3
Body Fat: 22.4
BMI: 19.1 (have to google this...not sure what it means)
BMR: 1270/1747
Waist: 31.5" (which I thought was weird since I wear 25" jeans...those crafty jean makers, making us think we're smaller than we are!)
Weight: 107
Instructor to Julie: "You are underweight, you should be closer to 115, or possibly 110 since you are small framed."
What I wanted to say to her: "Really, then my bikini and mirror must be broken, because neither of them tell me I am under weight" or "Great, so then I can just have a snack until I put those 3 pounds on?"
Instead I just told her that my goal is to tone and that I would like to put some pounds on in muscle.

The workout was pretty bad. Partly because I was already red as a tomato, sweating and panting by the time just the warm-up was over. And mostly because I have no muscle or endurance built up for exercises that use my core...which was pretty much almost all of them that came after the warm-up. We were supposed to record how many of each different one we did in 1 minute...and I wanted to be very honest with myself so I can actually see how much growth I get throughout the weeks. I only counted it as 1 if I did it all the way and/or did it correctly.
Power Jacks: 28
Plank Squats: 8
Knee Tuck Jumps: 9
V-Ups: 1
Burpees: 4
In N Outs: 7
Frog Leaps: 5
Push Up Jacks: 8
Seated Leg Lift: 0
Push Up Squat: 6

She corrected me a few times on form, which I needed and will continue to need. At one point she told me, "Snell! No white girl should have their butt sticking out that much!" - so apparently I need to lower my bum on certain exercises. I also need new shoes. I feel like my inability to do even ONE seated leg lift was 25% being SUPER tired, 25% having crappy core strength and 50% because I have the heaviest shoes ever. And yes, I used the "my shoes are too heavy" excuse out loud in the class. Seriously people, I have had the same "running" shoes since college and I think they weigh like 5 lbs each. Big ol' clunky things they are!

What I felt like after and throughout the day:
 - Wanted to puke a little right after the class (but didn't)
 - Legs were a little shaky driving home
 - Arms hurt a bit while shampoo and conditioning
 - Was not tired (SHOCKING) as I left for work
 - Was extremely hungry way before lunch time
 - Did not realize I was sore until I took the stairs at work
 - Was hungry around 3:30 pm, which is usually not the case
 - Feel like I won't have nearly as hard a time falling asleep tonight as last night
 - Have mixed feelings about going back tomorrow...but I will...because she already cashed my check!

Lemon

Did we get a lemon? No, I'm not talking about our car. I am referring to our dog. Stella was back to the vet again this week. Just when we thought she was on the road to recovery from the gaping wound issue, she started trying to rub her neck against anything she could find...and shaking because she was in so much pain. She also ripped back open part of her original wound that had FINALLY started to scab over. Scabs itch, so I was not too surprised that she went after it. We were just so frustrated with her for doing it. The frustration quickly turned to pity when she was at the vet. She has a whole neck full of "hot spots" as the vet called it. Basically she is suffering from major allergies and the vet said she has very sensitive skin. Anything from dirt to long grass could cause a pretty bad reaction.

So, you are telling me that our DOG, who does nothing but roll and play and sleep in the dirt and grass is going to torture herself when she goes about her normal routine? Awesome. She is back on steroids and antibiotics, and she gets a healing/soothing cream on her "hot spots" once a day...AND she has eye drops. I have to say it...allergies are a BITCH! Oh...and they don't want her wearing her cone so she pretty much has to be babysat all day. I am very thankful to the parents for watching her the past 2 days. The vet also asked us to have her wear soft t-shirts, to protect her from the elements a bit and they are supposed to cover her wounds to protect them from herself. The problem is she stretches them out...so they don't even cover the wounds for more than 5 minutes. Kirk went to Target and bought some boys large t-shirts for her.

There are a few "silver linings" to this situation though...I do always try to look on the bright side of other people's pain :) Kirk has finally caved into hiring a gardener to keep the front and backyard nice and tidy to help with her allergies. And we will be hiring bug guys to come spray on the regular basis. Oh - and she looks super cute in her t-shirts!

 Hot Spots on the left and middle, original wound on the right (darker area). Do you feel as sad for her as I do? Oh - and shout out to my dad for giving her one of his shirts the first day before we could get to the store to buy her own. They even rigged it with safety pins for a better fit.

Ladies Tradition...Round 1

Back in the day each summer, my mom, her 2 sisters and my grandma would all head to San Fran for the Nordstroms Half Yearly Sale and spend the long weekend eating, shopping and loving on eachother. Sadly, with the passing of my aunt Suzi last year that tradition is officially over...or at least that rendition of it.

The twin had a great idea to start the tradition back up with the 3 of us daughters and my mom. Same plan, same place - Eating Shopping and Loving on eachother in San Fran. We spent 3 1/2 days last week creating our own tradition...

We got some great recommendations from a friend (Sabrina) who used to live in the city. Our first one was Zazie's for a late breakfast. They don't take resevervations...you just write your name down on a list hanging on the window and wait...and wait...and wait.

I felt it was well worth the wait!

I was so excited about Zazie's I forgot about our dinner the first night there. We went to Puccini & Pinetti which was just a block from our hotel. It was pretty great Italian food and my friend St. Germaine was at dinner to keep me company with the ladies.

It may have been St. Germain who suggested we play a few rounds of "Shag, Marry, Kill" - you have not laughed/lived until you play that little game with your mom! Oh, I also had the Spaghetti Bolognese with Meatballs in honor of the husbro.

We did some shopping and I saw some fun houses. Whenever I am in a city that I don't know well I love to pick out which houses I would want to live in. I found a few that I liked.

Couldn't you see the Snell's living here?

My boss recommended we have dinner one night at Betelnut, and since he is a chef I figured we should take the advise. We loved the food and the service was great.

Their dumplings are great - and I love me a dumpling at any time. And the Szuchuan Long Beans in the back were to die for. I could have had 4 plates of them!

Oooooohhh, the Fire Cracker Chicken was the bomb people! Not spicy enough in my opinion...it was more like cheap sparkler on the 4th of July Chicken. But it was one of the best dishes of the night either way.

We had a ton of fun taking the BART and the Muni - it is in my opinion a lot easier to navigate around San Fran than around New York. We were also pleasantly suprised how stinkin' nice people were all over the city.

We took the Muni to the Pier for lunch - another recommendation from Sabrina. I was hoping I could get the twin to order some seafood in true pier fashion, but no such luck.

Pier 23 - where we were told we could sit right on the water, have good food and enjoy a beer.

I was planning on Fish n' Chips, but when they told me the special was feah halibut with shredded brussels sprouts and thinly sliced potatoes...I changed my mind. My Guiness went well with it and I took them both down in no time.  

After lunch we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf...

Filled up bags with Salt Water Taffy for the husbands...took in the view of Alcatraz...

...and instead of snacking on funnel cake or candied apples we went for small loaves of Boudin Sour Dough - the twin's idea of course!



Can't wait until next year...more eating...more shopping...more family fun!