Fitness Friday: Fitness Challenge Starts in Two Weeks!

It's GO time! With school closures due to ice and snow, it's hard to believe Spring and Summer really are right around the corner! Forget about New Year's Resolutions, which may or may not have already been broken. Let's not beat ourselves up about it!

Instead, let's join forces and get into an accountability group! I am looking for FIVE people to join me in a Turbo Hotties Challenge group. My long time friend and Beachbody Coach, Korri Nelson, will spur us on through 90 days of concentrated dedication to our health and well being.  There will be prizes along the way too! Water bottles, Shakeology Samples (the most nutritious meal of the day), and more!

This is a preview of the program we will use transform our bodies over the next 90 days:

It's time to Decide, Commit, and Succeed!

Why I chose Turbo Fire as the challenge workout program:

Chalene Johnson - Chalene is the instructor and creator of Turbo Fire, Turbo Jam, and ChaLEAN Extreme. She is positive and upbeat without being a barbie doll cheer leader. She kicks your butt and she knows it. Chalene knows exactly when you need to be reminded that you are NOT dying, your legs are NOT falling off and to keep PUSHING yourself! I simply love her and I think you will too!

Challenging Workouts - You WILL feel like have two, maybe three left feet at first. BUT, there is the option to learn the moves at a slower pace first using the Fire Starter class.

It's proven, it WORKS! I've personally lost inches in the past and I know I can do it again. This time I'm getting my diet in order too in order to guarantee my success!

Challenge participants for this group are required to commit to 90 days of Turbo Fire. Results are Guaranteed. If you don't like it, simply return it after 30 days. You've got nothing to lose but the weight.

Connect with me on Facebook. Send me a message that you saw this post and want to join the challenge and Korri or I will invite you to the accountability group. Watch for an invite called Turbo Hotties Feb. 2014

Make Something Monday: Hello Kitty Hats

I learned to knit and crochet when I was a young girl. I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I'm pretty sure it was under the age of 10. I learned some from my mom and some from my grandmother on my dad's side. Back then I didn't know how to follow a pattern. I didn't really make anything, I just kept knitting or crocheting.

About 10 years ago, I started knitting scarves. I wore them to work and people admired them so much they wanted me to make scarves for them. Some were for my friends/co-workers, others they wanted to give as gifts. I kept pretty busy knitting scarves for a few months!

Down the road, a friend showed me how to use DPNs (double pointed needles) to make hats. I made a few hats, but that was about it.

Then I had a baby and put away my knitting needs for a few years. I was afraid she would either poke her eyes out with the knitting needles, or pull one of my DPNs out of a project and unravel whatever I was working on.

A couple of months ago I decided to make Hello Kitty hats for my munchkin and her cousins. I got some white yarn and started knitting. It was taking a long time, but I knew the girls would enjoy the hats, so I kept at it. I had hoped to have the hats done by the time the family gathered in Carlsbad, California to celebrate a belated Christmas. That didn't happen.

Thankfully, Jenni from I'm Dancing in the Rain, shared a little secret with me: Crocheting goes a LOT faster than knitting! Man on man! She has a free pattern on her site that I used and got the last two hats cranked out in just a couple of hours each. Whew! I wish I'd know that secret when I started the project. Lesson learned!

I still have to finish embellishing all the hats and get them in the mail this week, but here's what they look like pre-embellishment:

This is the knitted version. 

This is the crochet version

If you're interested in making a Hello Kitty hat of your own, here is a link to the pattern I used for the knitted hats and embellishments. You could probably use just about any pattern for the white hat, then embellish it using the tips used on this blog. Obviously, that's what I did when I decided to crochet the hats!