If You Have Kids Who Believe In Santa...

...then they will love this.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/XSi4PoFVLSFt2A3Y8BO5cA

A friend of mine made a video message "from Santa" to her daughter and she told me her daughter loved it. I made one for Noah too and he absolutely flipped out. He said, "Mommy! Santa actually knows me! He really knows me!"

If you have kids who believe in Santa, this is a really cute little way to make Christmas a bit more special for them!

Can't wait to get back into class tonight. Feeling like a tub of whale lard. Haven't grappled since last Wednesday! My neck is all stiff and achy. I have found that it hurts a lot worse when I am NOT grappling as opposed to when I am. Guess everything is more stretched out when I'm consistently grappling.

This is a snap shot from my Thanksgiving. That is my husband with his back to the camera, dueling his Mom on Toy Story 3 on the Wii, with his older brother and the kids jumping in front of him trying to make him lose. Don't ask me why my brother in law is wearing sunglasses indoors, at night. My husband was very upset that he lost that round. This just supports my theory that boys never grow up. They just get bigger and fart louder (and smellier).



This week, my main focus is still on hip movement from the bottom. I need to be on the move more, since I can't go inverted; take the back, sweep, return to guard. Attack, attack, attack! Being out of class has given me some time to peruse the internet and find some nasty little treats I can't wait to try out in class. Hopefully at I'll be able to at least mimic them! ;)

Noah's Declarations

This isn't about Jiu-jitsu. It is about a mother getting some blackmail video to use against her son when he is a teenager. Enjoy. :)





Clearly I am adept at raising independent children.

Warrior Dash

I have decided not to compete. Even as I type that, I have the urge to delete that and go register on the IBJJF website. Sigh...

Haven't gone to class all week, not even to watch. I've been swamped by house repairs, youth group events and packing for a trip to Georgia I am taking with my Mom and family.

Even though I have been resting my neck and icing it, it has still been aching. Haven't had the time to go into the doctor, but when I get back from Georgia, I will get an MRI even if I have to armbar my insurance rep to get one. When I get back next week, I am going to start training again. Lightly. We'll see how it goes.

To make myself feel less like a worthless lump of laziness, I've been jogging at least a mile every day. It's not just mindless jogging. I have a goal in sight!

Behold! The Warrior Dash is coming to Florida! What is the Warrior Dash you might ask?



I am soooo doing this!! If my neck is better, of course. Stephanie found it online and we are going to do it together. The only question is what kind of warriors will we dress up as? The possibilities are endless!!

I've never run any kind of real race before. This one will be three to four miles, including obstacles. I am not entirely positive I can run four miles. But the race isn't until January, so I have time to work my way up to that. This should be really fun!

Busy Living

I haven't blogged in a while, (Good morning, Captain Obvious) but lots of blog ideas are churning around in my muddled brain. Unfortunately, life has been really busy lately and I haven't had much time for writing.

You want proof? Fine! Here it is! ;)

Went to Disney with the family. Had a blast at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween.



Went to one of my best friends weddings and tore up the photo booth she had at the reception.




As busy as I've been, I have been getting to class. This has been one of those blissful periods of time where grappling is just plain fun. Learning a lot. Being challenged a lot. But mostly just laughing and experimenting with things.

I am still planning to do the tournament, but I am not worrying much about preparing. Honestly, with as busy as I've been, class has been hit or miss. And with my neck injury, I can't "train hard" like I want to. So I am just rolling and enjoying myself. If I do well at the tourney, great. If I don't do well, I'll melt into a puddle of pathetic...I mean, I'll be fine. ;)

Hoping to get out a post on sweeps tonight. We'll see if that actually happens. Happy rolling to all you guys out there!

Bahamas!!

This post has nothing to do with BJJ, but too bad! ;)

It's been too long since we went on a family vacation! My Dad, Step mom, sister, brother-in-law and our little family went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We took the Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Sea. Anyone been on it? We stopped in at Cococay and Nassau and spent the rest of the short trip at sea.

The Bahamas were everything I expected. Beautiful water, white sand (pink sand in parts of Nassau!) and a laid back atmosphere. The cruise boat too was awesome. My favorite thing about the boat was surprisingly not the food (though it was delicious!). My favorite thing was the windowless cabin! lol I haven't slept so good in years!! The first day, I woke up completely disoriented. I thought it was 7:30 in the morning and it was 10 am!

Above all, the greatest thing about the whole vacation was being able to leave all the stress of home life behind and just relax with my family. Noah was amazing. He was so good the whole trip. And it's been a long time since I really got to just play with him without having to interrupt our games to run here or there. I just wanted to hold him and kiss him the whole time. But Dad and Mirjam and Unlce Matt and Auntie Erin were all competing for his time! lol I wish I lived closer to my sister and Matt. My sister and I are so much alike in some ways. But we are opposite enough to balance each other out as well.

I did manage to make it to the gym every day on the trip except the last day. But that's not work for me. It's therapy! It was awesome going on the elliptical while looking out a window at the ocean!

Anyway, it was a great trip. I actually got a little color on my blinding-white legs. Here are a few pictures from the adventure!

Jim Carey is a Black Belt

Wish I could get one of these!!

Raiders

Some of the kids from the youth group invited me to come to Raiders, an after school fitness program at Summerlin Academy. They wanted to see if I could run a mile.

Oh gosh.

So, I went. The target was to run an 8 minute mile. I did not make the target. In fact, I didn't even come close to the target. I ran a 10:30 mile. Geeze, I'm out of shape. But the kids are challenging me to keep coming. They do it in the afternoons 3 days a week. I might do it. Aside from running, they also do pull-ups, push-ups. sit-ups and other non-fun things. It would be really good for me to come. Undoubtedly it would help with my Jiu-jitsu training. I guess the questions I have to ask myself are: How badly do I want to embarrass myself? And, how badly do I want to get in shape?

We'll see what wins out: Shame or Drive.

Balancing Act

I'm kind of a passionate person. When I find something I really like, I throw myself into it body and soul. Problem is, I like a lot of things: God, my family, my work as a youth director, writing and now BJJ.

I'm not really a math person, but I know enough to realize that, since I only have 24hours each day, I cannot possibly be perfect in all these areas that I really like. So I have to prioritize. Here's my list:

1. God
2. Family
3. Youth Work
4. BJJ
5. Writing

Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu is 4th on the list. Don't ask me to figure out what percentage of my day I should devote to jiu-jitsu because that's a little too mathy for me. The point is, I need to be careful not to let BJJ squeeze out the things that are above it on my priority list.

Let's face it. I am not 16 years old. I have a husband, a son, a house and a job that require my attention. I can't train for hours and hours each day and I don't have the money to enter into every competition that comes my way.

Does that mean I'm not serious about BJJ? No. It just means I have to stay balanced. I have to be patient. Maybe I won't advance as quickly as I would if I didn't have all these other responsibilities, but there's really nothing I can do about it. I DO have responsibilities, so I have to take BJJ at a slower pace than a lot of other people who are involved in the sport.

That's ok with me. It's my hobby. It's not my life. I enjoy it, but I won't be consumed by it.

Having said all that, I've added two more nights a week that I'll be doing BJJ! lol Steph and I are going to be grappling on Sunday nights and Thursday nights from now on in order to get ready for the NAGA competition in November. Hopefully, I can keep my passion in check and not neglect all my other responsibilites. I really enjoy BJJ and I don't want my own lack of discipline to make it become a problem in my life.

We'll see what wins out in the end: my passion or my self-discipline. Lord help me. ;)