April "I Choose"

I know I'm late on this one, but it's still April and these goals were made in the beginning of the month. I just haven't had time to post it and such... school is really killing me the last two months.
Well, here it is:

These goals are pretty self explanatory. SO, at the end of April, I'll post a recap on how both March and April went as far as reaching my goals. 

Until Next Time!

My Fit-Inspired Friday

Fun fit stuff to come!

Picked up all these goodie fliers from my frequent stop after the gym: Emerald City Smoothie.

The people there know us pretty well. 

After, we headed to Costco to pick up some stuff, but mainly this:

Don't mind my stupid face, but this is super cool. They are just pitchers, but there's also an "infuser" in it. So you can put fruit or tea bags in the infuser to make your water drink more awesome. 

I put TAZO Passion in mine. After a while I took the infuser out, dumped the tea bags and washed the infuser thing. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. 

Observation Point at Zion National Park

Have you ever done something and then thought,

"If I can do this, I can do anything" 

That's how this was.

The funny thing is, if we knew what we were getting ourselves into,

we wouldn't have done it. 

We actually got off at the area to go up to the weeping rock (which we've both done before). However, on our way we hit the sign showing us some options. It pointed out observation point - 4 miles

This photo is actually of the sign up & after the zigzag, not that^ one. 

Some jerk etched in "Almost there"...he needs to fall off this cliff. 

Now, I need to tell you something. 

The map & guide they give you at the check in lists the trails in round trip miles. However, little did we know, the signs on the trails did NOT. So this little trip was 8 total miles. 

Not bad, right? What's 8 miles? I'm a runner, I've ran a half-marathon for cryin' out loud, who's complaining?

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS TRAIL?!?!??!

It's a BEAST. 

NO JOKE. 

Let me give you some stats of this climb:

In the hiking guide, they list the hikes under either easy, moderate, or strenuous. 

It's hell strenuous.

The elevation change is 2148 feet

The elevation at the top is 6508 feet above sea level

It's the most difficult hike you can do without a guide or group.

The trail itself zigzags and looks like teeth trying to bite your legs off

 (it does a pretty good job)

View Larger Map

The "A" marker is not actually at the point of the trail like it should be, but still, look at this trail! Awesome.

Now we didn't realize what we got ourselves into until we were half-way up. Two miles in there was a sign that someone etched in "2 mi"......at that moment I thought seriously? SO I made Daniel stop and checked the map. Genius, right? Why didn't I do that sooner? I'm glad I didn't. 

Instead of turning back, we figure we can do another two miles up this hell-hill. Another mile in we took our lunch break. 

This consisted of Jimmy Johns. 

YES. 

It was absolutely AhMazing. 

I would've taken a photo, but I was too busy stuffing my face. A guy noted our excellence on his way past us, it was pretty funny. Then we continued on up. At this point, no matter the pain or difficulty, we could not turn back. 

At this point, it was a challenge to complete. 

An adventure to conquer. 

The view at the top made it worth it. 

It was beautiful.

On March 25th 2013, 

we took this adventurous moment 

and put it in our Hall of Fame.

Now, the whole 4 miles we hiked up....must go down. The hike is suggested to take 6hrs. We started in the bus at exactly 1200 and got back in the bus at exactly 1622. That's 4hrs and 22 minutes! Including all the photo stops, lunch break, and general hell of a climb!! I was impressed with us! 

However, that was not without cost. We went up that mountain in 3hrs. Which means down in ONE. We had some serious pain, soreness, and what felt like injury. Our toes screamed the entire way down. The next day introduced pain to Daniel's legs and to my hips. It didn't take too long to recover, though. 

I feel ready for anything now. 

Enjoy this film I put together with some of the photos and video clips from the hike.

Also, here is the flickr set with all the photos, including several not in the film.  

WE DID IT.

Mindfulness Monday - April 8th 2013

I've missed several weeks. Sorry about that. Life happens though, right?
I'll have a few blogs detailing some of those events.
Until then, today's Mindfulness Monday is not so much of me and my viewpoints or thoughts, but rather sharing my pinterest board on Psychology & Mindfulness.
Maybe on there you'll find something that interests you.

My most recent pin (at the time of this post) was this TED talk from Matthieu Ricard called The Habit of Happiness. Now I've seen this a long time ago, a couple years ago in fact. If I recall, Reddit sent me to it. Anywho, the other day while researching for my capstone literature review I remembered it and had to search for it; luckily, it did not take me long to find. 

I'll embed that video here, but if you're interested in sayings, comedy, resources, and the like in relation to psychology & mindfulness, check out the pinterest board. 

I'm Pumped!

Is it because it was Friday and that means SuperKillerSpin class??

This kicks my ass every.single.time.

Or is it because I'm all hyped on a film and some books?

Maybe it's both.

Everyone remember the craze about Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead?? Well, if you haven't seen it, you suck GO WATCH IT.

Hungry for Change is just as amazing. 

These are brutally honest and inspiring films. If you need a wake up call, maybe this is it. 

You can find both on Netflix. 

Aside from the films, I've been reading a lot on my kindle. One book, most everyone has heard about, I'm just late to the party. Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr is hilarious, blunt, and informative. 

The other, which is on the same page is Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe

Both of these authors amazing people along with many others, like the Joe Cross guy from Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead are in the Hungry for Change film. Oh, and maybe some of you ladies have heard of Christiane Northrup? She's in it, too. 

Motivate yourself, challenge yourself, and most importantly, LOVE yourself ♥

Until Next Time!

Linkin Up!