April 9th: They year I was born and Today's Fitness

Tonight's blog challenge is the year I was born. I was born in 1980. Here is some random info about that year.

Top 10 Songs:
1. Call Me - Blondie

2. Celebration - Kool & The Gang

3. Another One Bites the Dust - Queen

4. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

5. Whip It - Devo

6. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

7. Rapture - Blondie

8. Back In Black - AC/DC

9. The Breaks - Kurtis Blow

10. Once In a Lifetime - Talking Heads

Top 10 News Headlines:

1. Hostages in Iran.

2. Reagan election.

3. Inflation and economy.

4. Mt. St. helens eruption.

5. Iran-Iraq war.

6. Cuban refugees.

7. Olympic boycott.

8. Polish workers strike.

9. Abscam-Brilab scandals.

10. US racial unrest.

11. Italian earthquake.

12. John Lennon's murder.

Top 10 baby names: 

1	Michael	Jennifer
2	Christopher	Amanda
3	Jason	Jessica
4	David	Melissa
5	James	Sarah
6	Matthew	Heather
7	Joshua	Nicole
8	John	Amy
9	Robert	Elizabeth
10	Joseph	Michelle

Indecently I was named after the Fleetwood Mac song Sara. 

For tonight's fitness challenge it was back to full day on the challenges. I completed: 15 lunges, 55 squats, 16sec lunge hold, 35 jumping jacks, and 35 deep lunges. I also went for a walk. 

April 8th: Favorite Recipe and Today's Fitness

Tonight's blog challenge is favorite recipe. I love to cook and bake, it relaxes me. I am going to my favorite sweet and my favorite savory recipe.

First the savory:   Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

vegetable oil
1 onion finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 can fire roasted chopped tomatoes
1/4 tsp salt
1/2tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp of ancho chili powder depending on preference
7 1/2 c chicken stock
1 carrot minced
1 zucchini minced
2 chicken breasts, seasoned cooked and shredded (I sometimes cheat and just use a rotisserie chicken from the store)
4oz chopped green chilies
8 corn tortillas
1 small avocado chapped
1 bunch cilantro chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Flour tortillas to serve.

1) Heat 1tbsp of oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat for 5-8 min, until just softened. Add the tomatoes and salt and cook for 5 min. stir in the stock. Bring to a boil , then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 15min.

2) Meanwhile, cut the corn tortillas into strips. Pour 1/2 in of oil into a frying pan and heat until hot but not smoking. Add the tortilla strips in batches, and fry until just beginning to brown, turning occasionally. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

3) Add the carrot to the soup. Cook, covered, for 10min. Add the zucchini, shredded chicken, and green chilies and continue cooking uncovered, for 5min.

4) Meanwhile, peel pit and chop the avocado. Chop the cilantro. Stir the cheese and avocado into soup. Just before serving stir in tortilla strips and cilantro. Serve with flour tortillas.


Now the sweet: Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:

3 bananas
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 c whipping cream
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 tsp vanilla
1 small bar of dark chocolate


1) At least 5hrs before up to 6 months before, remove the label on the sweetened condensed milk and submerge the unopened can in a large pot of water. Cover and boil 2 1/2 hrs. MAKE SURE CAN IS COMPLETELY COVERED IN WATER AT ALL TIMES. After the time has passed remove the pot from heat, and allow can to cool completely ( I usually put the pan in the sink and run cold water into it until the can is cool enough to remove and set on the counter to finish cooling). Bam you just made toffee :-)

2) Whip the cold cream and vanilla together until peaks form. Set aside. (If you live in a warm climate like me you may want to stick it in the fridge until you're ready for it)

3) Slice the bananas and lay them in the crust. Doesn't matter how, just do what you want.

4) Open the can of toffee and mix with a knife until smooth. Pour over the bananas

5) Spread the whipped cream over everything.

6) Grate the chocolate over  the whipped cream

7) Refrigerate at least 2hrs before serving.


So those are my 2 favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy them. Now to the fitness.

Today was also a partial rest day for the challenges, I completed: 30 jumping jacks, 30 deep lunges, 35 squats.

April 7th: My Favorite Person and Today's Fitness

Tonights blog challenge is favorite person. If I was a well developed person I would probably say that my favorite person is me. That's nowhere near the truth. I rarely like myself and I don't think I've ever been my own favorite. When I was young my favorite person was Princess Diana. I admired her charity work and her beauty and romanticized being a princess. When I was older I would probably have said my grandmother was my favorite person. She struggled and overcame more adversity then anyone I've ever met. She was the most intelligent person I've ever met and she taught me to survive and thrive no matter what comes my way. Her death in 2007 devastated me. These days I would have to say my favorite person is my daughter. Her name is Ameliana and she is 3yrs old. It was a struggle to have her, I have poly-cystic ovarian syndrome and was told at 23 that it was unlikely I'd ever have children. It took a year of medication and temping and charting and timing things, and the loss of my first pregnancy, to conceive her. It was worth it all. She is the most amazing being I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She is so intelligent, and funny, and caring. She has a fully developed sense of sarcasm that makes it so hard to be mad at her for anything. She makes me smile even on the days when I struggle with the depression that has haunted me since her birth. She is so smart and remembers so much I think her mind may be like mine. I have a near eidetic memory. If I read, hear, or see something my recall level runs around 93%. I hope it is a blessing to her more then a curse. It was great for me in school, I never had to study, but it also means that when I am feeling down my brain can recall ever embarrassment or bad moment that has happened in my life and replay them in living color. Ameliana thirsts for knowledge and I wish more then anything to give her all she wants. I want to give her the best education, to travel with her and see the look of wonder of her face when she visits places she's only read about in books or seen on TV. She is my good thing, she always will be. My perfect, beautiful, Favorite.

Well there it is, my favorite person is my daughter.

Tonight was a partial rest night for the fitness challenges, and I'm still suffering from this horrid cold so I didn't do much. For tonight's fitness I completed: 14 lunges, 14 squats, and 15sec lunge hold.

April 6th: 10 Facts about my Town and Today's Fitness

So tonight's blog challenge is 10 Facts about my Town. My town is Kihei (Key Hey) on the island of Maui.

1) The population is approximately 20k 

2) Kihei is on the South side of Maui, on the Leeward side of Haleakala (Hall ay ah kah la) the dormant volcano on the island. Haleakala means house of the sun in Hawaiian, Kihei was the term for a ceremonial cloak worn by ancient Hawaiians. 

3) Kihei only gets about 10in of rain a year. 

4) A good portion of the town resides in the inundation zone, including me. This means every time there is the threat of a Tsunami I have to evacuate. 

5) Kihei has 6 miles of beautiful sandy beaches. 

6)  According to legend, two cloud warriors, one from the north and one from the south, battled one another until a truce was called. When the warriors separated, the piece of blue sky left between them was called Alanui o Lani (Highway to Heaven), and the area beneath that sky is now known as Kihei.

7) Kihei, and the entire South Maui region, was the site of a fierce battle against conqueror Kamehameha in 1790.

8) Kihei is home to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary , the visitors center is just around the block from where I live. 

9) It is also home to the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

10) Along with 3 other town on the island Kihei participates in the Friday town parties. Every 4th Friday a large street festival is thrown. Maui Friday Town Parties


So those are the facts I could think of, now for fitness. I will admit I slacked today, I am suffering from a nasty cold so I only completed the challeges and nothing else. Tonight for the Challenges I did : 35 Jumping jacks, 35 Deep lunges, 53 squats, 13 lunges, and 14 sec lunge hold.

Tomorrow will be one week since I started so I'll do a stats check in with at least my measurements. My scale is acting up so I don't know if I'll be able to do a weigh in.

April 5th: Photos of my town and today's fitness.

So tonight's blog challenge was to post photo's of your town/city. I live in a small town on the island of Maui in Hawaii so most of the photo's are of the beach. Here are 10 so you get an idea.

As for today's fitness: For the Challenges I completed, 13 lunges, 47 squats, 13 sec lunge hold, 30 jumping jacks, and 30 deep lunges ( I have to say I really hate these) I also walked for 45min. 

April 4th: 10 facts about me and today's fitness

So tonight's blog challenge is 10 facts about me. So here the are, let me know in comments if you would like to know more about any of them.

1) I have lived in 6 states (California, Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, Hawaii)

2) I spent the summer of 1997 as an exchange student in Europe. I spent most of my time in England though I also visited France and Italy.

3) I spent 10yrs (2002-2012) working in federal law enforcement. 7yrs with The Department of Homeland Security and 3yrs with the FBI, but originally I trained and worked as an International Travel Agent.

4) I have an IQ of 142

5) I miscarried my first pregnancy. I think its horrible that 1 in 3 women will suffer a miscarriage but as a society its hidden away like a dirty secret.

6) I want to go back to school. I would love to study western languages but will probably end up doing something like International Business or Computer Programming

7) I like Worcestershire sauce on my mashed potatoes

8) New Orleans is my favorite US city

9) I am a published poet. My poem "The Whisper" was published in an anthology by the Library of Congress when I was 14.

10) I would move to the UK in heartbeat if the opportunity arose.


Now for the fitness portion of this blog. Tonight for the challenges I completed: 25 Jumping Jacks, 25 Deep Lunges, 41 Squats, 12 lunges, and 13 sec lunge hold.

I also completed the Victoria's Secret Model Ab Workout:

It really kicked me in the butt, or socked me in the gut rather :-)

April 3rd: Favorite City and today's fitness

I'm starting in reverse tonight and going to post my daily fitness first since I have a feeling I may ramble for quite awhile about my favorite city.

For the challenges today I completed: 11 lunges, 35 squats, 12 sec lunge hold, 20 jumping jacks, and 20 deep lunges.
I also completed an arm toning work out: How to Tone your arms in 7 days

I also did 20min of yoga.

Now for tonight's blog challenge, favorite city. My favorite city is London. I have traveled extensively throughout the US and to England, France, and Italy. Of all the places I have been London is the only one that has ever felt like home, even though I've never had the opportunity to live there. I was lucky at 16 to be awarded a scholarship that allowed me the opportunity to study abroad. The majority of my trip was spent in England. I have been fascinated with the history of the city since I was a child so getting a chance to visit was a dream come true. Stepping off the plane at Heathrow was an experience unlike any I had had before. It was like a weight had been lifted, like I had finally come home after being gone too long. I spent hours during my visit just wandering the city and soaking up everything it had to offer. I think what I love most about London is the dichotomy of the city. It is a thoroughly modern capitol city, reaching ever forward to the future, but at the same time it fully embraces and elevates and drowns in its past. Walking those surrounded by those older buildings you can't help but remember all those that came before. Back to the days of Shakespeare, William the Conquer, the Romans and earlier. It is a humbling experience, and it makes you feel so small in the scheme of things, but at the same time you feel so utterly connected to everything. You realize you are standing where so much as happened and you know so much more will happen after you are gone and it makes you feel so alive! You become aware of how you really can do anything how all possibilities are open to you. That's what London did for me, breathed a breath of passion into my soul. The city itself has a heartbeat you can feel as move through it. It is alive and it makes you feel so much more. It is because of that passion that I will always hold out hope and dream that someday, someway I will get my chance to live in my beloved city.

Here is my favorite pic from my exchange trip.

Picadilly Circus