Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Of recent happenings :) Fitness and Art

Greetings! In Mushu's verbiage...

Been quite a hiatus for me and blogging. This sounds dramatic but it almost feels like I'm at some cross roads in life so I have been focusing on that.... that and keeping up with my health and fitness goals for Tough Mudder.
Speaking of Tough Mudder, training recently has really been dominated by Zuzana's Workouts as can be seen on her YouTube. She is amazing. AMAZING. We have dramatically increased our overall fitness and cardiovascular endurance as a result of this training. And you don't have to work longer (in fact, we have worked shorter sessions), you just have to work harder and smarter. Our workouts are now 30 minutes on average, most of the time more around 20, but it's ridiculous and we're completely exhausted by the end, can not do another rep, and will be sore the next day. As people who work full time (and as an artist during the other times..), the more time efficient things we can do, the better!

Here's one of my favorite workouts from Zuzana.

!!!!
Burpee Torture!! 

Remember, good form! And it's totally OK to modify movements; I still have to modify a lot of my movements to keep my form good / to avoid injury. Filming yourself or working out with your partner is a great way of becoming more aware of your form. Most of us have no idea what we actually look like until we see ourselves from a different angle; totally normal-- it's a learning process!

We've increased our workouts to 5-6 days/week, mainly actually  because it just feels great, not because we're trying to push push push or whatnot.

Our diet has also undergone a few changes. We are eating a more protein based diet with less simple sugars/carbs. Avoiding carbs (like white rice) at dinner if possible. We feel really, really awesome.

Dare I say.. bf and I are getting addicted to these workouts?

Next post I'll share my super healthy (yet delicious) banana bread recipe with you all.

Meanwhile on the creation front I have still been busy!

I was recently accepted as a member of the Artisan Group and have joined a gifting to Mariska Hargitay, from Law and Order: SVU!

When I was a freshman in college, the roomie and I used to watch SVU all. the. time. So much it was kind of ridiculous actually. It was kinda fate that I was able to prepare the following goodies to gift her:


I went on a cuff binge over the weekend and created these cuffs:



I think it's funny how art comes in phases.

Also these earrings have been in the works for a long time, but I needed a few hours of free time to sit down and make them..

I have had requests to do Super Nova earrings for seriously 2 years now. I am finally committing to the idea, and am so glad I did. These are quite intricate, very flashy. I'm going to have to find an excuse to make myself a pair in crystal clear and wear them to work with a plain shirt...

I also have some potentially exciting news but since I don't know anything for certain yet I can not share :X

HOW IS EVERYONE?!

Lisa
SHOPHEQI
lisaHQCD@gmail.com


Friday, August 10, 2012

Home is where the heart is.

I love being at home. Honestly, there are few things in life that make me as happy as being at home. It wasn't until I started working full time that I realized truly how much I enjoyed being home.

Comfort plays a huge part in why I feel this way. I'm absolutely spoiled at home!

I have a wonderful kitchen for me to whip up delicious goodies on the whim:


Lovely bathrooms for bio breaks. Quite sure no picture necessary...

Versatile activity space where I can shove the furniture aside for workouts or lounge on the couch with a book and some tasty drink...



An awesome office / nerd center for us to game to our hearts' content, and make things as I desire.

A cozy entertainment room, and place to relax, watch movies, socialize.

Space for the kitties to lounge and enjoy, keep us company.


And our newest addition... a pull up bar!

We are extremely aware of how lucky we are to be able to have this kind of lifestyle. We've worked hard to get here and it is absolutely worth it.

Living costs in Sacramento are much lower than the Bay Area (where I grew up)--- if we were working in the Bay, no way would our quality of life be like this.

I'm such a homebody. Honestly, I come home from work and just have no desire to leave. On the weekends, I just want to relax at home as well.

Anyone else feel this way? Is this a result of .... working? Result of real life? I honestly don't think I've ever appreciated a home as much as now.

toodles,
Lisa
SHOPHEQI
lisaHQCD@gmail.com