Move It Monday & Core Power Day #15

*This time last year: Weekend Warrior – Gettin’ Crazy With CrossFit

Hello…good news, my leg and back felt the best they have yet this weekend. I had the most amazing massage and I think it worked wonders. I endured a harder massage so that the muscles around my spine would totally relax — and they did. Now, if only I could get one of those every day… I’ve been doing my core work everyday and trying to remember never to slouch — it’s hard. The stand-up desk is going well although by the end of the day I’m so ready to sit down.

Saturday Morning

I was up to do some work, clean the house and meet my friend, Tiffany for brunch at Cafe Caturra. It’s the only decent place nearby! Their tacos (pork, beef, shrimp, whatever…) are all amazing!

I was feeling super lazy after that but luckily, Rick convinced me to go to the gym. I was so not wanting to swim or doing anything but he had a 14-day pass to my gym so we went. I was of course SO glad I did it — and a bit more than that. I felt a million times better:

Love wearing my Reebok CrossFit print pants and Nano Speeds for once in a long time. I am hoping they come out with more of those soon! There’s something about looking and feeling cool that makes you work that much harder!

Sunday with Family & Youth Initiative

Sunday we got up and had breakfast at Bob & Edith’s, a little 24-hour diner down the road that gets mega busy…it’s so tiny but very popular so getting there at 7am, as we did was actually a factor in getting a seat at all. We then went to church where they showed this awesome video about a family who adopted multiple special needs kids. I swear I was so emotional today, I was crying so much watching it thinking of this family! Well, I found it on YouTube so check it out:

That afternoon, I was hosting (in my apartment’s party room) a group of teens and mentors from Family & Youth Initiative for pizza and games. It’s a new volunteer venture I’m doing and I really support what they are doing. It’s such important work — providing stability, trust and positive adult relationships with teens in foster care — in addition to helping find them adoptive families. Rick was sweet enough to help out as well. Here are a few photos (faces cut out to protect privacy) of our fun afternoon: Now to my Core Power peeps — how was the weekend? Did anyone decide on some plank practice instead of taking a break? I did some plank work yesterday and today just did my normal core exercises from the PT. I do feel stronger and I think it’s all helping my back so woo hoo!

Core Power Challenge Day #15

• Hold plank 30 seconds to 1 minute. Repeat.
• 20 bird dogs on each side (opposite arm, opposite leg raise)
• Double leg raises. Lie on your back, with feet together, raise them up and down with your ab muscles 20 times (take breaks if you need ’em!)
• Optional: Another 30 second-1-minute plank

Now it’s time for our weekly Monday Link Karma Workout Love! As you know, I sponsor this weekly link up with my blogger friends Run to the Finish and Darwinian Fail. Link up your workout to join the group and get some easy publicity!