Christmas Break and that Fitness Hype

Hey everyone,

As I am resurfacing from a mole hole into the blogging world again, I would like to say Merry Christmas to all. It's been such a wonderful holiday season, from getting into my last winter break of undergrad *gasp* to Christmas day, and getting to spend time with family, friends, and myself relaxing, sleeping, watching Duck Dynasty (I guess I can talk about how I got sucked into that show on another blog post), and exercising! I finally started working out again a few weeks ago and my last workout was during um...September? That's an entire school quarter of a sedentary life! And gaining a few of pounds back that I lost in the spring. Oops.

Anyways, I would like to keep this up, because exercising is healthy and keeps your energy levels up! I guess coffee does too, coming from a coffee addict, but it's probably time to try some healthy alternatives that doesn't let you crash and burn after a few hours, ha.

I started following a super awesome lady Cassey Ho, who is the founder of blogilates on Youtube and a certified fitness instructor and SUPER COOL (at least in her videos, I bet she's cool in person too). I was over at a friend's house doing a late night workout and she pulled up the "Call Me Maybe Mighty Squat Challenge" that was done two years ago by Cassey...I saw it was only 5 minutes, and I was thinking "This can't be too bad..." but I was so wrong. It burned, I cried, but it was good tears, because going through the entire video was so encouraging, that the pain of working out really gives results on the long run, whether you're focused on your looks, your health, or both! 

Anyway, I went on the blogilates channel and checked out her other videos. She has a ton of workout videos and also some advice videos on nutrition, how to stay fit, etc. and I came across a few of them. One of her tips to become fit or stay fit (and she's not the first one to say this) was to write down everything and blog/instagram/facebook about it so you're making the effort and being involved with your journey. For me, writing my thoughts somewhere relieves my stress and makes things fun, so why not? Why not record my progress? This could be fun :)

Besides blogilates and Cassey re-motivating me to exercise, I also got a gym membership recently which is motivating too! Since I'm a part-time student and commuter this year, I never get the opportunity to my university's gym anymore, which I guess it was partially the reason I stopped working out as that gym used to be my second home when I lived on campus and it was so accessible. Thank you parents for adding me back on their membership again TwT I tried out a Zumba class on Monday morning before work and a SH'BAM class on Friday with my own workouts in between the week and they were both so much fun! I was with a lot of moms and working folk but the class was still intense and I got my workout in like a sweating pig.

Anyways, I'm glad I've been blessed with the resources to be active again. My goal is to be fit, and stay fit. As a huge foodie...my friends are going to be so surprised that I'm blogging about this. I guess I will post more about my fitness life in the future, so stay tuned! 

Here is Cassey Ho's channel, blogilates:

www.youtube.com/blogilates

Have a Merry Christmas!

Shannon

introductory thoughts

I used to blog almost every day sophomore year of high school. I did it because it was an outlet of my thoughts that day and I aimed to appreciate the little things every day by writing them down. Slowly, blog writing became my coping mechanism to keep my feet up, even when things went south (which it did sometimes). It became a requirement to self - I would get off school, go to my clubs of interests, rehearsals, tutoring, or whatnot - then sit down in front of my desktop (which I never use anymore, thank you laptops) at around 5pm, look for an Youtube video that would become my "theme" for my post, and wrap the theme around happenings in my little high school life.

Sadly, I stopped blogging after I graduated high school and soon after my blog of a billion posts was deleted because I didn't want my new college friends to know my little secret on the web. I have it backed up somewhere - maybe someday I'll go back and read about the time when my dad thought I wanted to buy a bra instead of the video game, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, or the time I posted about the paid gigs I went with my musician friends and how one time I forgot my violin bow and had to use my friend's cello bow while my mother sped home to get mine. Good times. 

This time, I want to start again and try to make this blog about a variety of what matters the most to me: my love for new places, the foodie in me, findings my interest in autism research, praises and gratitude for my friends and loved ones, and things that will even make Grumpy Cat smile. ;)

If you run into this blog, join me in my journey for perhaps a new beginning, a new chapter of what will be written.