Long time no write

Hello Everyone, How have you all been.  Here it is April already and with April showers will come May flowers.  It hasn't been all that warm but we have had a few nice days.  We did start softball practice, one of which it rained on us, and the season starts on the 14th.  I am so excited to get started.  There are 6 teams in the spring league so it should be fun.  I'm still hitting Curves 3 days a week and I didn't win the challenge but I did very well.  I really didn't care if I won or not just being in it pushed me a little harder.  I did lose 3 pounds and lost a few inches in that month and that is all that mattered to me. I must say that going to Curves has been a great addition into my life.  I have met so many new friends there and we all encourage each other to work hard. 
Today after church I went to my first bible study.  I met some new people that I really like.  This new church I started going to is so awesome and this bible study is just what I need.  We are reading the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and watching the videos that go with the book for the study.  I have only gotten to chapter 7 and I will get that read tonight.  We had a very good discussions on the video today.  I can't wait until the next get together.   Well I need to get to bed and get some sleep.  A good nights rest is important.

Hard to understand

Well I started the Curves smart on March 4th.  The Curves Smart program is a computer card that you put in each machine and it tracks your progress.  Well on the 4th I burned 674 calories, the 7th I burned 660 calories, the 9th 714 calories, didn't go in on the 11th will tell you why later, the 14th I burned 750 calories and today the 16th I burned 678 calories.  I am also doing well on all the target areas. 
OK, I said I would tell you later why I didn't make it to my workout on the 11th.  The morning of Friday March 11th I received a phone call from my daughter telling me she needed me to come over.  She got home from work that morning to find her husband had passed away in his sleep.  He was only 46 years old.  It hasn't even been a year since my husband passed and now hers.  This is so hard to understand.  How is it that God can take the ones we love?  I know we all will eventually have to go but my goodness I don't know how much more I can take.  I lost my husband and 4 close friends last year and so far this year I have lost my son in-law and a friend that I have known 20 years or more.  I need to go get some sleep tomorrow is the viewing and Celebration of Life and it is going to be a rough day for my daughter.  Goodnight everyone.
May God bless you all.

Spiritual Weekend

Space Needle coming from
 Key Arena after the concert



This has been a wonderful weekend for me.   Last night the Rock and Worship Roadshow was awesome and very spiritual.  The Key Arena was filled with love.  There were bands for all taste in music, from Rap to Heavy Metal and everything in between.  It is amazing how God works through these talented people to spread the word.  I am so blessed to have experienced this twice now.  There are a couple of other concerts coming up that I would like to go see.  Like Chris Thomlin April 16th, at the Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, Newsboys May 14th at the Overlake Christian Church, and then Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant at the Puyallup Fair on September 16th.  I will have to save up some money to go to all of them.  Some of you just have no idea what it does for you spiritual and how much it helps to motivate you to take better care of yourself.  With God on your side you can't lose. 

Church was also very good today.  Worship was awesome as always(my favorite part, love to sing praise).  I also love listening to our Pastor.  He is passionate about the Lord and has a wonderful sense of humor.  An excellent teacher of the word.

Hope you all had an awesome weekend also.  Until next blog, have a great evening everyone

Matt Mahr

Jars of Clay

MercyMe





Thousand Foot Krutch

So Excited

Well I have some great news.  I started Curves Smart, where it tracks your progress each time you work out.  My first time was last night and I did so well.  Burned 674 calories and was in the 90% in the pecs, also high in the other muscle groups.   I am also doing the Challenge, this is going to be so fun.  At the end whomever loses the most weight and inches wins.  So excited, I don't care if  I win or lose just pushing myself to the limit trying is going to be the most rewarding.
Yesterday went on a short bike ride to meet a couple of team mates at the batting cages.  The cages were closed so we chatted for a while.  It felt good to ride down to the park.  I need to do more of that.
Oh yeah!  Tonight I'm going to the Rock and Worship Roadshow.  So excited, it is an awesome Christian concert.  I went last year when it was at the Tacoma Dome.  This year it is at the Key Arena.  MercyMe is the band that sponsors it.  The other bands this year include Jars of Clay, Matt Mahr, Thousand Foot Krutch, The Afters, Lecrae, and Anthem Lights.  It is the best feeling to be in a large building so full of love.  I can't wait!
Well have to start getting ready. Got to catch the ferry to Seattle in about 4 hours.  Have a lot to do to get ready and I have to eat breakfast yet.  Will write tomorrow and let you all know how the concert was.

It's a lifestyle

Ok, for me, this whole getting fit is a lifestyle change as it is for most people.  I have set my mind on getting and staying fit.  So I have had to make many changes in my life.  First I quit smoking, then I started exercising and then it was change the way I eat.  I have recently found that all this helps but you also need to have a support system in place.  I know I have said this before but, it is very important.  As much as we like to think we can do it on our own, we need help.  We all have family and friends that are there for us.  I have recently started going to church again.  Having the Lord back in my life is really helping with the new changes in my life.  Especially this weekend.  I meditated, prayed and I did some reflecting on my life, where it was, where it is and where it is going.  Yesterday was my wedding anniversary and my late husbands birthday.  I did a lot of crying but most of it was happy tears, not sad tears,  because Kevin taught me so much about living life and staying positive no matter what.  Strange as it may sound, this really helped with my fitness plan.  It put me in the frame of mind to get me on the right track.  Thanks so much to God, all my family, friends and to you Kevin for inspiring me to be me.  I am so blessed.  I just hope that through these blogs I can inspire others to live life and live it in a healthy spiritual way.

Another Awesome Day!

Today was another sunshine filled day.  I went to the new church and absolutely loved it.  Great worship, great service and very nice pastor.  I believe I am going to be attending this church for a while.  I really enjoyed the morning.
After church I came home, changed clothes and hopped on my bike and went to Jackson Park again.  I rode a different trail today which had a downhill on it that was fun, almost lost it a couple of times on the way down.  It has been a long time for me but I still have it, just not as daring as I use to be, but still there. 
Of course there are baseball fields there and Casey's Batting Cages.  So after riding the trail for a while I went to the batting cages and hit a few balls.  Oh my gosh it felt so good and I did very well.  I almost rang the bell a couple of times which would have given me a token.  I am so excited for softball to start.  The coach wants to start practice after day light savings.  The spring league starts in April and goes through until June.  Then its summer league. 
Tomorrow is Presidents Day so Curves is going to be closed.  It's a good thing I rode my bike this weekend.  I will get my Curves workout in on Wednesday and Friday.  Maybe I will get lucky and the weather won't be bad next weekend and I can get some more riding in.   After this weekend I believe I'm going to go riding rain or shine, but we will see, you never know I could whimp out.
I am so blessed to be as healthy as I am at my age and I know I'm not that old.  I know there are a lot of women and men out there in their 50's that are staying fit.  If not they should be getting fit, because we only live once and we need to live life to its fullest.

Awesome Day!

What an awesome day! I went for a bike ride this morning since the sun was shinning so beautifully. There is a park not to far from my apartment that is wooded and has some nice trails I found out.  It felt good to get out and ride my bike.  I tried out my new performance fleece jacket which kept me warm, very happy with it.  Just being in the woods hearing the birds and feeling that brisk breeze on my face felt so good. So wish I would have taken my camera though. What a workout also, only one hill I had to walk my bike up.  Not bad for not riding in a while.  I am going to be sore tomorrow I can feel it already, but so worth it.  I spent about an hour riding on the trails and it took me like 5 to 10 minutes to ride to the park and then of course home again. Well I need to get going, picking up my Daughter and Grandson to run them into Tacoma. See it is an awesome day all the way around.
Hope you all are having an Awesome Day also!

Feeling Better

WOW! am I ever feeling better and I have one to thank for that. Thank you God for helping me through that tough time. A lot of prayer and meditation sure helps when you are feeling down or missing loved ones. I still miss my husband and friends that I have lost over this last year, but I know they are watching over me and keeping me out of trouble.
Well I was able to go to Curves both Wednesday night and this morning. Tell you what going and working out makes a body feel good. I really push myself too, so I am a bit sore. What do they say? No pain, no gain. I hope that is true.  One of the things I like most about Curves is the other women and the support we give each other. Through these women I am making new friends and I even found a church to go to that is local.  I haven't been to church in a while because I moved out here to Port Orchard and the church I was going to is in Milton(about an hours drive).  I am very excited and can't wait for Sunday to get here.
It has been about 7 weeks now since I have smoked a cigarette, which is amazing since so many people I know do.  I have found that this time for me is different then all the rest the times I have stopped smoking. The smell of a cigarette or someone who has just smoked makes me ill. I don't believe I will ever smoke again, this time is it. 
Now I have a question.  Is there only one true love or should we say soul mate?  Now today after Curves I went to my coffee stand but I went inside instead of doing the drive through.  My barista and I were talking about just that.  We are alike in that we believe we can do it all on our own but know that we need the companionship, friendship, and the love of a man.  For me I lost what I thought was my only true love or soul mate.  She says that is not true, there is always another love.  There is a customer she has that lost her first husband but found another man that is just as much a friend, lover, and partner as her first love.  That gives me some hope.  I believe that we can not be happy and healthy without others in our lives.  I have many family and friends that are very supportive.  I'm not looking for a new husband at this time but some day down the road I do hope to find someone to spend life with.  Living alone is awesome but it can get lonely at times and lonely is not healthy.  I don't know about anyone else but when I get lonely I get hungry, OUCH!  Right now I call a family member or go hang out with one of my kids.  I also have many friends to call or hang out with.  I really need to find someone that likes to do all the outdoor stuff I like to do.  I love hiking, biking, camping, fishing and playing sports(mainly slow pitch softball).  My grandsons like doing these with me but an adult would be nice also. 
The weather is getting better, spring is almost here and softball starts soon.  WOOHOO! Can't wait to get out on the field, smell the fresh cut grass, the damp dirt and feeling that brisk spring breeze.  When I'm not playing ball I'm going to be out on the trails riding and enjoying the woods.  I believe I'm even going to take a couple of trips to the ocean and do some beach combing.  Life is so good.

Need Exercise

Ok it has been a couple of days since I have written.  Not good and I have not done very well with my exercise program.  I have been going to Curves on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Well that is what I'm suppose to be doing.  I did not go on Friday and then because of the weather and power outage I missed this Monday(yesterday).  I still haven't smoked, being good there.  I don't know what has gotten into me.  I really need to go and get that 30 minute work out.  I love it and it makes me feel so good.  Silly of me not to go.  I guess some of it has to do with the fact that my anniversary is coming up.  The 26th is Kevin's(my late husband) birthday and our wedding anniversary.  This Thursday is the one year mark of when we found out Kevin had stage 4 kidney(renal) cancer.  I really should not look at this in a bad way.  Kevin taught me so much about unconditional love.  The few years we had together were very hard and were the greatest years I have ever had.  No matter what was going on in our lives Kevin always had a smile on his face.  He was greatful for every moment in life.  I really learned how to live and enjoy life.  Thank you Kevin for everything.  You were an inspiration to me.  I love and miss you very much. 
Well I guess I should head off to bed, because getting plenty of sleep is good for your health too.  I really need to get a good nights rest tonight.  I am pretty tired and a little emotional right now.  After reading what I just wrote, YES I am a little emotional.  Goodnight all and talk to you again soon.

My first blog

Hi to everyone out here on the Internet,
My name is Teresa and all my friends call me Tree.  Picked up that nickname when I was 11 years old and stood 5'10".  I am now 52 years old(53 in August), stand 6'3" the mother of 3 children(2 girls,1 boy) and the grandmother of 3 grandsons.   All of whom I love very much and am very fortunate that they all live close.  Besides being tall I am overweight.  I quit smoking and started exercising 6 weeks ago.  This all came about after I lost my husband last year to cancer.  It was kidney cancer, main cause of this is smoking and more common in men than women.   I miss him something terrible at times, but I am doing the things that we had planned, like stop smoking, get in shape, start hiking, biking, camping and just live life to the fullest.  He is looking down on me and smiling right now, because I am doing it. 
My exercise consist of going to Curves(great work-out program by the way), playing softball(slow pitch of course), riding my mountain bike and I do a bit of walking at work.  Still need to work on my diet.  I need start eating better, like more veggies, fruits and stay away from fast food.  I am taking multi-vitamins and a couple of supplements(one being an omega 3, 6, 9).  So looking forward to nicer weather so I can do some camping, hiking and biking. 
Living in the state of Washington(western) you don't get a lot of nice days, so you learn to do most of your outdoor activities in the rain.  Doesn't bother me though because this is a beautiful state.  Plus I was born and raised here.  They don't call it the evergreen state for nothing.   There are so many places to go here, like the ocean, mountains, and everything in between.    Growing up my family spent many a summer exploring this state and it is something I want to do again.  I have been looking for different places to go mountain biking and hiking(for the beginner).  There are a few places close to home that I will be checking out here soon.   I will let you know all about them.
Hey thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. 
Teresa(aka Tree)