I love going to the gym.

Except when I don’t.

Most the time I do.

But this week, I didn’t.

I don’t have an at-home gym set-up. So I improvised; made my own; channeled my inner creativity.

I turned the news on, which is what I prefer to do when getting my AM sweat session in. And then, I got to stepping. On the stairs. Up two, down two. Repeat a gazillion times. In rhythm. On the commercials, I went up one, down one fast. When the news came on, I took the up two, down two repetitive steps a little slower but still keeping my heart rate up. TWENTY MINUTES ON THE STAIRS = SERIOUS SWEAT.

Iggy thought I was nuts going up and down.

Then, I found the empty space in front of the t.v. For the next 10 minutes, I alternated between 12 lunges on each leg.

I didn’t stop there. I turned around and used our t.v. stand to do squats – using the t.v. stand forced me to squat lower then had I just been doing it without. 15 squats, pause for 1 minute and repeat 2 more times.

I finished my workout on the floor. 20 crunches, pause for a minute, repeat 3 more times for a total of SIXTY crunches. I don’t know why SIXTY. Just because. Because it’s more than FORTY and if I did EIGHTY than I’d probably just tell myself I need to go to ONE HUNDRED. So SIXTY.

And there you have it. A free, at home workout.

No expensive equipment. No fancy machines. No workout video’s. Just me, the news, and Iggy to watch me. I love free. I love being working out with Iggy.

Perfect.

And now, I’m off to take Iggy on a little exercise of his own.

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A couple months ago, I signed up for a 2-day strategic management course. I had my first session Wednesday and was excited.

Excited until I opened my binder and saw this:

UGH! I vomited a little in my mouth, turned nervously to my neighbor and asked if her binder said finance & accounting also. When she said hers did, I replied that maybe our binders were stuffed with the wrong content. Surely, I didn’t sign myself up for a finance class.

Oh, but I must have.

By the end of day 1, I had hives and nervous twitches. I did my best to follow along, punching numbers into the calculator they gave us, pretending I knew what I was doing. There was some information that went right over my head but for the most part, the day gave me more appreciation for our finance and accounting department, and made me more comfortable in at least being able to have conversations with them about how decisions effect our checkbook. I think that was the point of the lesson; not to make us experts, but for us to realize the impact our decisions have on numbers.

After dinner Wednesday night, Carlos and I watched some tv and then, I decided we should go to Dairy Queen. It’s been years since we had gone and I had been thinking of it for a few weeks. When we pulled up, I noticed a familiar face:

Ah, I love that Jen lady! We have spent a lot of mornings running or treadmilling, and a lot of evenings sharing laughs and bottles of wine. She told me yesterday, she needs a break from me and will be joining a boot camp gym close to her work. (okay, not really a break from me…)  I was a little sad because I’ve enjoyed all our sweating time together but this boot camp she is going to sounds amazing. I’m slightly jealous because it sounds like something I would love but the location is not close to me at all. So I’ll just be excited for her, and look forward to sharing laughs and wine with her. (Although I’m fairly sure I can convince her into a few runs here and there this summer!)

Thursday is our second day of the 2-day seminar and we’ll talk about more fun things like “Organizational Culture and the Bottom Line: The HR Leader’s Role.” I stated my day off with a couple miles running through the neighborhood and feel energized and ready to go.

Gotta make a couple eggs for breakfast and then, I’m off to learn!

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Friday night, we went to my sister, Melinda’s house, to celebrate my niece, McKenna’s, first birthday. Ah, to be young again and smash cake all up in my face with no worries. Kenna’s big sister’s, Kenna & Kenzie, showed off their handstand skills.

We played outside a bit too. Iggy tried to drive the birthday girl around but couldn’t figure out how to get the car started. So they switched spots and Kenna drove Iggy around.

Saturday morning, I dropped Iggy off for a hair cut and hit the gym. After I showered & made breakfast, I ran some errands and then, Carlos and I went out for an early dinner. We finished the night curled up reading.

I just finished the book The Paris Wife and it was really good. I’ve found the app GoodReads and love it – if you are on there, find me so we can share book recommendations. {I’m under my married name, Jen Monteiro}

Sunday morning, I curled up and watched the news with Iggy for a bit. I love quiet mornings with him.

At 9, I met my friend, Janet, at the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market. I bought some beautiful bright flowers I know my mom would LOVE.

Carlos got some tickets to the MN Twins game – I wasn’t super excited to go, so we decided to invite my sister, Heidi’s husband and their 2 boys to go with Carlos. While the boys were at the game, Heidi, her daughter Grace, and I walked to a restaurant nearby. It was such a perfect day for a walk. I taught Grace how to flip creamers over – she was elated!

Sunday evening, I read some more while Carlos watched music videos. HA! Remember doing that? Just sitting & watching videos for hours? Oh yes, my husband still does that We made pork steaks for dinner and Carlos asked for a DOUBLE serving of broccoli. I was so hesitant but sure enough, he ate it all.

I won’t  tell you what happened next after the double-serving broccoli consumption but I’m sure you could make a logical guess

I’m excited to meet Liz today for lunch – she had some exciting news she recently shared and I can’t wait to hug her in person. I’m also planning on meeting Jen Tuesday & Friday for a morning run – I can’t wait because it’s been since last fall since we ran together.

How was YOUR weekend!

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