2010 Ironman World Championships and TRX

This is the 2010 Hawaii Ironman Commemorative edition of Lava Magazine (December/January 2010). Significant because tomorrow is the official broadcast on NBC. Its the triathlete's superbowl, our world championship. I'm very excited to see it even though I know how it ends (no spoilers for those who weren't glued to a computer in October when it actually happened :).



This issue is actually even more significant to me because it also has an article on Function Strength (p.106) that is mostly about TRX. A little over a year ago I became a group fitness instructor at the Y and a certified TRX instructor. I taught and worked out on the TRX throughout my Ironman training last year and was delighted to see my run, bike and swim times drop as my core strength and muscle fitness increased. Even better than that was watching people who came regularly to my classes but weren't doing the long ironman workouts that I was, have great results, especially in core strength, from just the TRX. Being able to help people function better in their day to day lives, to not get as tired, to have better posture and less pain, to drop extra mass and gain extra energy is the BEST part of my job and TRX has been a big part of being able to do my job effectively. If you want to check it out please follow this link http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&AFFIL=3t96Pt2U . If you want to try it out you can come to one of my classes, Tues at 10:50 at the central Y or Fri (that's TODAY)at 4:00 and at 5:15 at the north Y-the times of these change slightly in January. If you can't make it to one of these, try one of the other great Y instructors http://www.ymcaspokane.org/4/schedules/ .

More crafty type stuff coming soon (cards, jewellery, baby presents... :)

Inspiration

I love facebook. I admit it and embrace it. In fact most of the people reading this are reading it on facebook. If you are you should check out my actual blog (http://www.fromthebottomofmypencilcase.blogspot.com/) because I just put up a new banner (which I will probably edit again soon...where was I?)...Oh yeah, I love facebook! On facebook friends such as Craftster send me ideas like this one: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=323205.0 right to my home feed. Seemed like a perfect way to use up more of my stash of supplies. So Lucy has a new pair of slippers. A couple of things if you want to make a pair yourself: I used faux suede on the bottoms for slip resistance and durability and next time I will round out the toe portion more, rather than tracing the exact shape of her foot. But they were really quick and easy including making the pattern.

The star wreath is inspired by my new favorite blog ever. http://www.littlebirdiesecrets.com/ I used the same colors as her example (but with more papers from my stash-I may actually get through it) but made my wreath smaller (I cut my own form and the biggest piece of matte board that I had was 12" wide). I also skipped the background stars (smaller wreath). I cut my stars with the crcuit that has gathered dust since I got it (basic shapes cartridge size 5.5 and 5).


Now here is the problem with all this wonderful inspiration: one blog leads to another and another and another until I have so many great ideas overwhelming me that I just need to go for a run and forget about being creative for a while. Maybe that's not a problem. I will need to redo my blog links list though ;)

Happy December Birthdays

I have my next race all picked out http://www.runsurfcity.com/Half-Marathon-s/23.htm It's the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. Its the day after my birthday so I'll get the start off being thirty-mumble....with 13.1 miles in sunny California. Hopefully registering and paying for it (done) will get me running again. I've been a little lazy about it lately and I need to get back in a routine.

For all the December babies who have had their birthday gifts wrapped in christmas paper or worse a "combined" gift :)....this post's for you. Not a christmas theme in sight. I can't stop myself from apologizing for the not-great photography on these but I have given them all away and can't redo it. It may have been late at night (as with everything I do there was definitely some procrastination involved), not sure why exactly I did such a poor job but I really do know how to adjust focus and exposure. :)

The javabella cards are for Katie's orchestra fundraiser, they are going into a themed basket for auction. The Stamp is Stampin Bella, papers are SEI Poppy. The "Grow Up" card papers are from Sassafrass Lass, "Happy Birthday" is Cosmo Cricket, "Happy Birthday to you" uses one of the stamps that I illustrated for Judikins and Cosmo Cricket paper, The Blue Shiney one is also SEI Poppy, and the pink one has a drawing that I did because I couldn't find the cupcake stamp I wanted to use. But I like my version better :) I drew it on watercolor paper and colored with copics. Thanks for looking.

More Copic Colored Cheekies (I ToldYou I Was Addicted)

The title is slightly misleading in that the Hey There Cookie card was done with luminArte shimmery watercolors. Papers are from Cosmo Cricket, MME, Bo Bunny and Basic Grey. I used the Cheeky Glamour stamp again and the new one is Cheeky Rockabilly both from the Greeting Farm. There is a Close to My Heart snuck in there as well. For those who live in Spokane drive safe and avoid the side streets, its crazy out there!

~Nicole