My darling

Aislin played a chick in a Christmas pageant with her Preschool class.
Cheep, cheep.

Weightlifting Competition

Windy City CrossFit (WCCF), my gym, hosted a Winter Weightlifting Competition organized by fab acrobat, muscle man and badass coach - Will Howard (he does Turkish Getups using people). Way to shine Will - on both counts!

I volunteered to help out the day of the meet, but my girlfriend and fellow Crossfitter, Kim Hanna, put out the call to all of us 'grown-ass women' (which I think is a compliment - but perhaps a euphemism for women over 30?) - and I answered. Being new to Olympic weightlifting (I never heard of the moves until Oct 2009) I didn't win any awards - this time - ;-) but I did move some weight around. Woohoo, I add weightlifting competitor to my list of achievements!

It was an exciting day! There was every walk of life at this meet. Some of the skinnier women looked like they would break under the weight of their loads. The men were especially fun to watch. They hoisted, hauled and lifted heavy stuff. I got some of them to "clean and jerk" my kids as play. Sweet knuckledraggers! The kids were thrilled to be hoisted in the air like weights! Thanks to Dingo and Doogie for that joyride! Gentle giants *sigh* Couplla great fellas.

CrossFit forges elite fitness. We use many Olympic lifts in our workouts of the day. They are whole body lifts that require technique and full-body strength. Very satisfying movements because it doesn't work just one muscle. It requires all of them!

I'm so proud of everyone who competed (you got to lift or fail while 100 people watched silently - yikes!). My favorite of the day was watching WCCF's own "Doogie" (I have no idea what his real name is). Watch the video and you'll see why (whit guy with a shaved head and Addidas shorts). Awards went to a handful of the WCCF crew. Servia aka "Beef" won the best overall female lifter award. Jen also won for her weight class. Well deserved (those broads are so strong) - Asskickers all!

Enjoy the links to the videos of the competitors I know. I have no idea where else to link them.

Holiday cheer in west humboldt park

The 1/2 grade class from Pilgrim Lutheran school visited CPS Pablo
Casals school today celebrating the true meaning of Christmas -
selfless giving. Just as God did when he sent us baby Jesus. It was
fun, rowdy and so sweet.

Burn and turn - literally - with photos

Back in my volleyball days the term was "turn and burn" when running
court sprints. Yesterday AM I wished I would have turned before I got
burned - literally.

My espresso maker was clogged and going to blow. I opened up the
steaming wand for a bit and then panicked and opened the top. Was
exposed to highly pressurized, HOT steam for a second at most. But it
got me good.

Ice was the only pain relief. I iced it for 7 hours straight. The pain
subsided, except if you touch it. I'm so thankful. It actually made
me thankful for the free gift of salvation too. Cmon, it's cliche but
we all think Hell is hot. And not in a sexy way.

Sidebar: yesterday it snowed here. It's a good thing because I
literally ran out of ice! Ow! Snow, sweet glorious snow - how I love
thee. Squee!!

Beck. From iPhone.