Filming Day!

Yesterday, I filmed my certification video to be a Body Attack instructor! It was me, on a stage, with a microphone strapped to my head (for all to hear the huffing and puffing), an unforgiving video camera, and eleven GREAT and supportive and forgiving friends (to be my guinea pig participants) for an intense 55-minute workout. I'm happy to report that all survived... including myself! My video will be converted to DVD this week, previewed by my gym fitness manager and, if she thinks it's good enough, I'll send it to Les Mills West Coast offices in San Francisco for the final stamp of approval. Once that happens, I will be an official Les Mills Body Attack instructor! It's been an intense 3 months preparing for this day... I just hope that it paid off and that I pass certification the first time around.

So, here's some pictures of me teaching... the girl taking the pictures wasn't too savvy with action shots, but there were some OK ones. It's kind of crazy to see me as the instructor... I'm sure watching my DVD will be even weirder. Anyway, the highlights:

Jogging on the spot, teaching an arm combo.

A little step-curl action

Jogging it out (my heels should be kicking my butt...)

Grapevine

Plyometric lunges
(these puppies HURT! Imagine popping in and out of 32 single lunges... and that's the finale after doing 3 other sets of 16. Yeah, my knees hate me after that. This picture must have been from the 1st set of 16 because my form still looks OK!)

Arr! Tricep push-ups (girl style, of course) to some Black Eyed Peas-- Boom Boom Pow. Probably my favorite track. I feel so buff when I'm done. And look at me... I'm still a weeny.

This is the running track where I get down on the floor with the participants and we focus on motivating each other as a group. I love this part of class too, especially a class full of people who I know are there to support me in my goals. I have great friends! :)

3-Step agility run

The Ice-Skater
(Amy Linford is going to love all these pictures... just don't tell her, k?)

My favorite track to teach: Kicks!!

Coming down from a tuck jump
(I really wish she would have caught the real jump. I'm curious to see how high I get...)

Knee lifts in the final cardio track.

And Body Attack Jacks!
These aren't you're typical high school jumping jacks. As you can see, my toes are pointed out, heels grounded and I'm slightly squatting. If I have anything in my bladder, it usually likes to dribble it's way out during this final 30 seconds of the cardio peak. But, I am happy to report that I did not pee at all while teaching... thank heavens!! :)

Alright, no more pictures. Besides, it's time for you to stop checking out my massive calves. Their bigger than my boyfriend's... and he likes to point that out. ;) I know... he's a sweet heart!

Gila Valley Temple Openhouse

Alright... starting out with a preface...

Steve Pennington and I are dating and very happy in our relationship! The short story is that we really enjoyed being together in California for Spring Break and found that we had feelings for each other that had never really surfaced before. So, we decided to give this dating thing a shot (after being close friends for 5 years...) and it's working out really well so far! Here's a "funny" picture, taken almost 5 years ago... "Funny" because we look so young and different and probably had no clue that we'd take this long to finally end up together...

Disclaimer: I promise I'll update major courses of action (either positive or negative), so no need to ask me crazy things like "are you engaged yet?" or "when is the wedding?". It took us 5 years to get to this point, so who knows what the timing of our future will be like. So just chill. You'll know.

Ok, so now that your curiosity about my new boyfriend is out of the way, we can focus on the FANTASTIC day trip we took to Safford/Thatcher/Pima, AZ. We planned this a couple of weeks ago to take a day off work and drive out for the Gila Valley Temple openhouse.

The temple was beautiful, as expected. And the members volunteering as ushers and tour guides were so proud to show off their temple (and rightfully so!). Here's us outside of the temple after our tour:

We were only at the openhouse for about an hour, but since we made the 2.5 hour trip out there, we decided to do some more exploring. So, after our pizza buffet lunch at R&R Pizza, Steve just started driving us up Mt. Graham. We didn't think to bring a change of clothes, so we did a little hiking in our church clothes. That made for some fun memories!!

Memories like me hiking up my skirt a bit to climb up the trail...

...or trying not to get my skirt dirty (or flash Steve) for a photo op...

...or losing my shoe in the water when I took it off so I could cross the creek barefoot...

(Good thing Steve was there to capture the moment...)

...or Steve doing "interesting" things in order to trail blaze an easier path for me...

I'm pretty sure we were the only two people on that mountain, so we had to get a little creative with the automatic timer on my camera. Sometimes it didn't work out so hot:

(You can tell we're still having so much fun though...)

But we were able to get a few gems of pictures:

(Aww... so cute!)

The weather was gorgeous. The surroundings were beautiful. The day was perfect.

This was a much needed getaway for both of us... he's been stressed with finals coming up and we haven't been able to spend stress-free time, just the two of us, since California. Can't wait until the next getaway with Steve! :)

I ran a 5K!

If I sound super proud of that fact, it's because I AM!! I am in no way, shape or form a runner. And, in fact, I didn't even run the full 5K! The parts that were uphill I had to walk because it hurt my shins too much. (Body Attack training has done a number on my shins... and PS, I'm filming my certification video a week from Saturday!) But I think I did pretty well... it took me about 40 minutes. Maybe that's really bad. I don't know. But I'm still proud. :)

Anyway, my friends Jill and Kristen are involved in an organization called SHe (Singular Humanitarian Experience). They held a 5K/10K fundraiser and I decided to support it. However, I got lost getting to the location and I was so late that the 5K winner was finishing up as I pulled into the parking lot. I wasn't going to do it at all at that point, but then I realized that I was counting on the 5K as my cardio for the day and, gosh darn it, I pulled my hiney out of bed that early on a Saturday morning, so I was going to do it.

And I did. Last one to start. And definitely the last one to finish. Even all the 10Kers finished before me. Whatever. I got this cool green shirt for my efforts.

It matches my BFF Jill.
Shawn and Brooke: check the iPod arm band.... Sa-weet!

PS... Is anyone dying for details on this?

I bet you are now! ;)
Don't worry... I'll get to it soon. Promise.

She's Blogging, AGAIN??

Yeah, I know... crazy, right? Three blogs in one week? Who am I? Brooke? (Hint hint) ;) I guess I get so hung up in thinking I can only blog about my huge fantastic voyages around the world (or thinking about blogging about them because we all know I still have to get around to that...) that I forget to blog about the funny everyday happenings of my life.

Today, when I got to the parking lot after work, I found a glass marker and this on my car:

"Honk cuz Im Sexy"

Yes, my license plate is SPENDY... which makes me a dead giveaway (especially when I happen to be speeding or cutting people off...). I'm surprised nothing like this has happened sooner!

I believe that says "muah!" like a kissing noise.

And, my personal favorite:

"My eggo is preggo!"

In my 7 years of teaching, there have been a lot of student-started rumors circulating about me.

Rumors anywhere from
"Miss Spendlove is dating Mr. McNavish"
to
"Miss Spendlove is teaching an honors math class next year"
to
"Miss Spendlove was caught on campus smoking marijuana"
(laughable, isn't it?)

But never,
"Miss Spendlove's eggo is preggo"

Man, if that's true, I seriously missed something. ;)

St. Patrick's Day???

If you saw me at work today, you would have thought that I missed the memo that St. Patrick's Day is March 17th, not March 24th.

But the truth of the matter is that I get ready for work every morning without supervision (because Wendy's usually gone or still asleep) and sometimes what seemed like a good idea at 6:45 am isn't so much a good idea by 8:00 am. And by then it's too late.

So what's a dorky math teacher to do?
Borrow green accessories from her students
and laugh with them laughing at me.

And here's my little student aide, Adam Milkovich.
(Although at 6'6", I can't really call him little anymore)

He was wearing all red. So together, we were Christmas...
Although, at Mesa High, it was more like we were Mexico. :)