Protect your rock while you sweat | For gym or play, #putaringcozyonit

Hello all! It's been a while! Things are crazy round these parts. Sorry I haven't been around. To say sorry, here's a fun giveaway from my fitness blog. ;)

I don’t remember how I found the Kickstarter for Ring Cozy but I’m glad I did. It’s one of those random finds that totally makes your day. Such a simple but ingenious solution; as most of the best ones are.

They didn’t end up getting fully funded but kept on kickin’ anyway! I was glad because I really wanted one, and I got it! It’s pink, and I love it. (Sorry, pink isn’t an option at the moment for the rest of ya’ll. But keep reading to see how to WIN a grey or teal colored one!

Generally, at the gym we take our rings off and leave them in our locker to keep them from getting damaged. But, then this presents its own set of hazards. It could get lost, it could get stolen, or it could get damaged by rattling around in a purse or gym bag pocket. Then, there are just those days where you can’t even get your ring off come gym time without soap and a separate ring-tugging Olympic event.

Fellow ring-lover, Ana Maria Muñoz, has devised a simple, elegant and fairly fashionable solution to this dilemma. Put a ring cozy on it, suggests the hashtag reflecting the same sentiment.

Ring cozy is a super supple neoprene sleeve with a slightly grippy back that fits over your ring, while on your finger, to protect it from nicks and dings from metal-on-metal wear at the gym. It is also equally useful when doing outdoor activities where one might find their hands coming in contact with hard object such as rocks, hand railings, sports equipment, or an inadvertent meeting with the pavement. Also equally useful for water sports to keep your ring from slipping off in the water.

The uses go on and on. Any time you want to protect your ring and your rock. There is actually a Ring Cozy style designed specifically to nestle your rock and keep it protected.

At first I was concerned that it might be too bulky. It wasn’t, it’s very supple and doesn’t bunch. I also thought that it might affect my grip during crossfit. Only a very teeny bit, but not enough to make a difference. Nothing a little more chalk couldn’t fix. If I were lifting heavy enough to make a difference, that might be one of the few cases when I shouldn’t be wearing my ring anyway.



Overall, I was very pleased with it and wear it every time I’m at the gym. I get a lot of comments on it, all about what a great idea it is and where can they get one! Well, you can get one here: theringcozy.com

So, whether you play indoors or out, put a ring cozy on it and make sure your ring stays safe and sound and free of dings and scratches.

OH but wait!!! You can also WIN a Ring Cozy 3-pack* here! Click through to the Rafflecopter entry form for many easy ways to enter! Ends Wednesday, August 21 at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*3-pack will contain 3 Ring Cozies all in the same color and size. Winner to choose the color and size from those available up verification.

Transitions

I know I haven't been posting much lately but here's the latest update.

We're about 5 months out from rejoining the civilian world. It's exciting and nerve racking at the same time. Monkey pretty much had his path figured out; then he went to TAPS class. Now, he's discovering all the opportunities available that he wasn't aware of before. He's also learning how to utilize his benefits.

So, we're slightly less concerned with money in the long run, but just more about the timing of things during the transition. We have a sustainable chunk of savings we can float for a little bit, but that's also earmarked for other things, so we'd obviously prefer not to spend it.

The goal is to stay in the Portland/Vancouver area. He's looking at all kinds of jobs but has his sites set on a Federal job at this point, but obviously keeping his eyes and ears open for every opportunity.

We're so ready to get settled and start moving forward with our lives as we've been stuck in this holding pattern for the last few years knowing he wasn't making a career of the military. We didn't fully commit to the military life and we've been living hundreds of miles apart trying to keep roots in Portland and money in our bank account.

Obviously, we'd love if he could land some amazing job so we can easily transition into starting a family and maybe an eventual career change for me. I love my job, but I'm finding a passion in fitness which would also allow me more flexibility to be at home with kids while still working.

It's all up in the air, but we're very ready to take on this next challenge/stage in our lives. Excited beyond believe. It's actually starting to feel a bit surreal.

On a slightly different note, Monkey recently had a couple weeks of leave so he was home in PDX and we went a little crazy nesting. The new house is finally starting to feel like a home. We finally have a TV, which needed an entertainment center, of course. Then we went to Home Goods and picked up a couple other pieces of furniture. The empty corners are finally starting fill in and we're getting some warmth in the living spaces. We are badly in need of storage, but unfortunately attractive storage furniture is expensive! Our new project is to get a modular corner shelving somethingerother that has to look nice because it's going to end up being a main feature in our living room. But we desperately need attractive storage and some place to put photos and decorations, etc.  We have our eye on something at Dania, but it's expensive.

So, the next few months are all about transitions. We finally get to really start our lives together, after 4 years of marriage. Holy cow! :D

Hubby's home and Spartan Race stuff.

HAYYYYY!!!!!

So, I've been hanging out in Port Orchard and Silverdale for ever and a day patiently waiting on my sailor who just got back from a little shorty underway. Took him over 24hours to even get off the boat and I've seen him for a grand total of about 6 hours. He's back at work so I'm blogging to kill time.

Later, I'm going into P.O. to check out a little fitness fair that's going on. They are demoing something called Bokwa and I wanted to check that out.

So, in other news... this fitness blog thing is kinda getting crazy. I've been given discount codes for mud runs this summer. Thought I'd share with you. I know ya'll are an adventurous bunch of ladies. (You did choose military men after all!)

For any Spartan Race (in the US) I have a 15% of link and a Free race entry give away --> Click here

For Dirty Girl fun mud run I have a 20% off code (I'm not sure if thats good for all races or just the Portland race though) --> Click here

Enjoy!

More Spartan Training

So today, my fellow Fire Ninja Josh, and I went on our second big Spartan Race training field trip. Today we tried Parkour. Figured it would be good practice for jumping, scaling, climbing, etc. Here is a video montage I put together.

If you're bored by the "Epic Intro" (The voice over is Monkey BTW) you can jump to 1:09.

YouBar - Custom Nutrition Bar

I’m sure we’ve all been here. Pushing our cart down the “food bar/nutrition bar/energy bar” isle, faced with a wall of options. First you weed out the ones that are basically candy with crappy protein and fiber thrown in to make it “good for you”. Then, you pass by the ones that have things you’re allergic to, or try to avoid, like soy or artificial sweeteners. Then, you’re left with a handful of vegan, whole food bars that will do… you surrender.

Seems like no matter what, you end up sacrificing, or holding a cultist allegiance to one particular brand until your grocery store stop carrying the one flavor you like best. Then, you start all over in your quest for a bar that will do. Sound familiar?

What if, instead, you could choose exactly what you want in your bar and customize it right down to the sugar content and type of protein? Now, there’s YouBar. Go ahead, do your happy dance. This is kind of perfect. It’s very easy and, honestly, kind of fun. Like a mix and match game of nutrition.
My biggest problem with most food bars is that almost all of them have nearly 30g of sugar. That’s your entire day’s allowance. And if I happen to be trying to lean out, that’s more than a day’s worth of sugar. So it was my personal challenge to make a bar that fit my personal goals for a meal bar.

The process is easy. First go to YouBars.com and click on the big red “Build-a-bar” or “Build Your Bar” button. You’ll jump directly into the easy to use order form. The most difficult part for me was choosing! I ended up patterning mine after another bar that I knew I liked but I wanted to tweak.

First, choose your base. Choose from 9 different Organic and Non-GMO options.
Second, Choose your protein.
Then, Nuts and seeds.
Dried fruits are next.
Followed by a few more options to make the bars your own.

The whole time there is a nutrition facts box in the corner, automatically updating with the current state of you bar’s fats, sugars, calories, etc. This was especially helpful to me as I was aiming for a specific fat to carb ratio. I was a little off so I was able to go back and remove some of the fruit to get my mixture just right.

When you’re done, you get to name your custom bar anything you want and it comes printed on the wrappers. A nice touch.

Your bars come in custom wrappers with all the nutrition info and ingredients right on the label.

Mine ended up tasting a bit like oatmeal raisin cookies. A tasty success. I loved my bars, but if I didn’t they have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. If you’re aren’t satisfied with you order for any reason, they will make you a new order completely free. They encourage you to call or email if you’re not completely pleased with your tasty creation.
They even make it easy to re-order. Your box comes with a code that you simply plug in to the site and you get just what your ordered before.

Ready to make your own bars? (Or you can just play around without ordering) Go to http://www.YouBars.com  

>> Now through June 16, 2013 use promo code DAD2013 for 10% OFF

Because you all are the only people that will think this is as ammusing as I do...

One of the thermostats broke, so one room in our house now has a heater that wont turn off. It's roasting in there, and racking up our electricity bill I'm sure.

OK, but that's not really the story. Here's the story:

So, I'm calling heating service centers all in a calm panic and I get one really nice guy who demises that it's the thermostat and they can't help me because that's something that an electrician needs to instal. (First off, explain to me WHY a heating specialist can't install a thermostat...anyway) So, he very kindly suggests that in the morning, my husband could install a new thermostat for me... Oh silly helpful man, you see... there's a slight problem with this plan.

Luckily for me however, Gene (the guy on the phone) was very helpful and assisted me in locating the breaker for the heat after I explained vaguely why that wasn't really an option. So, at the moment I have no heat, but at least it's not a million degrees in here. Hopefully we don't have some random cold snap and I'll just have to deal with chilly mornings for a couple days.

Also, our home warranty was the best thing we've ever purchased. $60 flat fee to have someone come out and fix it. Freakin' yeah! I almost forgot we even had it until my dad said something jokingly about it and I was like "Oh my gosh! We have one of those!"

Well, maybe that was more amusing in my head. But, I figure if group of people was going to get it, it would be you guys.

This is actually my first encounter with Murphy's Law, Deployment Edition. Yea home ownership! :D

Ok, see you 'round!

I suppose this calls for a post.

Howdy, ya'll. I suppose it's been a while. Things have been quiet on the Navy front. They've just been chuggin' along in refit for ever and a freakin' day. They've finally taken the boat and just left for an adventure yesterday. So, after 9 months, I'm back to being full-on Navy wife again. We don't have an FRG at the moment so there will be no halfway box. I'm kinda bummed. I was going to make one on my own to send with him, but they kept changing the date and I didn't think I would have time, then I did, then I didn't... long story short, I didn't send anything with him. At all. I feel like a lame wife. I even made him something the last time he was only gone for 10 days.

But on the up side. Unless he gets short cycled. THIS IS THE LAST ONE! Wahoo!

He gets out in November and we will take on our new adventures into civilian life. I have a million things to say about that, but that is for another post.

On an unrelated note, I've signed up for Spartan Race again this year. This time with a Friend. Monkey's knee has been bothering him for some time so he's not in training shape at the moment. We're actually going to do a vlog series around the training for my fitness blog. You can follow that on the blog (soon), the blog's facebook (soon), twitter new, pinterest now, and YouTube, now.  Just search for the hashtag #TeamFireNinja where applicable.

Well actually, here's the video. All the info is in the stuff below the video if you click through to YouTube.




Sooo that's should about catch you all up on things. Like I said, nothing every exciting. Life has kind of been in a holding pattern. Wait, I did mention we bought a house? I think so. Well, we bought a house, cute little ranch with a cute little yard for the cute little future monkeys and duckies.

:) Leave a comment if you want a whole post about it.

Anyhoozle, see you later.

VIEWSPORT GIVEAWAY!!!

If you follow my fitness blog, or see me in the gym, you know I’ve got a thing for the Viewsport line of sweat activated shirts. “Sweat Activated?”, you ask. Yes, these shirts are treated with a special technology that makes words appear when you get your sweat on!

Motivational Graphics on the front like “Beast Mode” and “No One Ever Drowned In Their Own Sweat” are accompanied by sweat-activated support lines like “Train Harder”, or “BOOM!”

The quotes on the front are enough to make me love these shirts, but the surprise messages are icing on the awesome-cake! I just received these four new shirts a couple of days ago and am totally ready to get them sweaty!

Check out the entire Spring line on at the Viewsport Website. The Spring line is the first page under the Men’s and Women’s tabs.

Ready to get your own sweat-activated goodness?! Use promo code "funkyfitness" for 10% off your order!

New house updates and stuff.

Well hello there. Yes, I do still blog over here! It's just been so cray cray lately.

We close on our house NEXT WEEK! *Squee!*

In true military spouse style I've been doing a lot of it myself. He's been in and out, helping make decisions, but guess who gets to do all the paper work and scheduling. > Me < I'm not really complaining a lot. I just hope I don't have to pack and move myself.

Because this is not related to orders, we don't get help from the Navy for the move. That's fine, too.

Tomorrow we have the final house inspection to make sure all the little repairs were made from the first inspection. I also have to finish up the insurance paperwork. Once everything is processed, we will set a date for closing. :) Though, I'm still waiting to see if Monkey will even be home. Just like everything else in this crazy life, it's all up in the air until the very last second.

Then we get the very fun task of packing and hauling all our stuff from Portland to Vancouver. I'm thinking we'll probably just take car loads up day to day, since I work so near to the house. And then we'll have one final big move day to load up furniture and officially move in. ie. Sleep in our new home! Though, I have a feeling we'll get excited and end up taking over an air mattress and camping out in the living room in front of the fire for a couple nights. :)

Then we get to go buy house stuff! Of course, curtains are the first priority. Then after the washer/dryer, we'll wait until we get our tax return and get our bigger couch and art and maybe a grown up comforter set and new towels and stuff. We have our (very first) dining set on layaway right now. We were waiting for our loan to be approved so we couldn't drop a lot of cash so we put down the minimum amount and will pay for the rest when we're ready to have it ordered.

OK, that's all for now. Long story short. I'm still around. Just a little preoccupied.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention...

We have less than one year left! 

Holy cow! It seemed like this day would never come! As soon as we realized this day was getting close, time seemed sllooowwww dddooowwwwnnnnnnnn....

But, finally we have hit the mark (well a few days ago actually)! Now we can say that we have less than one year until he gets out of the Navy!

Less than one year until we find a new "normal".
Less than one year until I get my husband for more than 2 days at a time.
Less than one year until we get to start making plans for the rest of our lives!
Less than one year until we get to start the baby makin'! ;)
Less than one year until I get my dance partner back.

We're buying a house this year.
We're saving like crazy this year.
We have so many things to look forward to this year.

This also means there will be a few lasts.
The last holidays apart.
The last birthdays apart.
The last of having two apartments.
The last year of nightly web cam dates.
The last of weekly 3 hour drives.
The last couple of deployments.
Sadly, the last Navy Balls. < I will really miss that part.
The last of seeing him in his adorable uniform. :D

I'm sure there is more for all these lists, but you get the point. 

So. Excited.

I'm sure there will be many more updates this year than last. Last year we just kind of hunkered down and got through it.

This year is going to be crazy, and exciting, and we were smiling so big last night while we were talking about it.