Candidate Journals

I'd be 100% lying if I said that I thought I'd be jealous that I missed sticks training, but I 100% do.  I loved seeing everyone's pictures and it looked amazing.  This past week was crazy busy with work and then my MIL came to town.  I love when she comes to town. On Friday night Dave and I went to a gala to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  This is a cause near and dear to my heart since my stepsister died of leukemia when she was 23 years old.  They do such amazing work. We used this time to celebrate our 15 year anniversary too. Then we had lots of quality family time with grandma this weekend.  We also had our first family catachesis class today which is always inspiring.  I serisously am mentally thinking of poomsaes and self defenses most of the day. I'm ready for this...

Super happy that this weekend we completed the physical and written tests, and most of the essays.  Nice to get over a hurdle towards getting closer to my black belt. Today I went to slow flow stretch and release yoga and boot camp. Tonight will be TKD.  My day off will be filled with activity.

This weekend was great with all of the knowledge obtained from the sparring seminars and classes.  We also had an Adult Laua in our neighborhood, went to the Greekfest (which is one of my favorite activities of the year), and food prepped. Monday after work I went to workout at bootcamp and then I cam home so tired. I went to bed early last night and I'm still tired today. I did make it to sparring and to assist with a class tonight, but I can't wait for bed.

Today was a sweatfest.  I learned a lot and my confidence has grown a little bit.  Today I didn't overthink my poomsaes and they were good.  I'm hoping that I can translate some of the awesome tips that we learned when I actually need to spar.

Last night being taught be Master Hama and Master Jean was really amazing.  Their quickness, precision, and ability to teach it to us was awesome.  I felt good while we were practicing, but once I actually had a sparring round it didn't translate. I'm hoping that with some more practice that I'll be able to use all that I've learned. Sparring is really going out of my comfort zone. Excited about more learning today.  I know I'll be really tired later.

Tonight was a good sparring class. Master Marcus broke down some movements for us, which was helpful. Then I assisted in family class.

My body is starting to feel the effects of the BBC.  My right hip flexor, left knee, and and right ankle are often feeling dicomfort. I'm trying to listen to my body and when I do something that aggravates them I'm just trying to forge forward.

 Today I decided to pick the kids up earlier at carpool so they would have more time to chill out at home this afternoon. This being said I would knew I would have time to practice my self-defense while I waited. I am learning to embrace discomfort. I need to not be so hard on myself when I make a mistake and just roll with it. I need to be compassionate with myself and my mistakes in order for me to get better. I need to take a deep breathe and not panic. I need to learn to enjoy myself when I’m doing TKD. 

Today was the first day of school with the scholars attending. It was a hectic morning, but we all made it through okay. I then was able to work in a workout, which I definately needed. Then I picked up my little man and had dinner with my family before heading back out for TKD class tonight.

Today was a day of learning for me.  My takeaways from today's classes were: to videotape myself to see my progress and areas of neednever question a senior belt...duhnever ask about credits during cycleeven when I think I'm extending my, I'm not enoughchill out (which I already new, but is a big work in progress) This black belt journey is tougher then I thought in certain ways. Prior to this experiences I knew that:  I didn't like making mistakes; I'm too hard on myself; and I psych myself out and get 'into my head' too often and too fast. Even though I knew theses things about myself they are blaring loudly now and can't be avoided. I'm on this journey to face them head on and hopefully conquer them. I'm not even close to being there 'yet', but I have plans in place to help myself along the way.  I need...

Lots of fitness and poomsaes today. Lots of TKD and tonight will be a family movie night. 

When in doubt....lift heavy!!!Yesterday was a super crazy, stressful day. Today was my day to figure things out before I had to go to work, mom so hard, and go to taekwondo tonight. I am super thankful today, because I have so many amazing people in my life. If I didn’t have my husband, Dave ,who is the greatest partner, and always there to help me I don’t know what I would do. I also have such amazing friends, Chelley and Jennifer, who help me and love my kiddos when I can’t physically be there for them. I decided to carve out some time for myself and I got a workout in before going to work. What a great decision that was! When in doubt lift heavy ????????????????

Yesterday was a crazy hectic day. Work, carpool, TKD,  and sparring class. I was tired and today my body is sore. Today I’m in a work conference all day and taking the night off from heading to KT tonight to dial in and be a mom. 

So the good news is I finished and did not get hurt. I also did really well on the physical portion and I think my kicks are pretty good. My self-defense is okay, but I totally bombed the pomsae section and got in my head. I also didn’t do well on the written test which is another known weakness for me. Overall what surfaced during testing were my weaknesses. I disappointed myself and felt like I embarrassed my Do jang and Sae Bum Nim. I need to work on poomsaes, Korean, and self-defense. This black belt journey for me is more about personal growth and less about TKD. Besides my ego being bruised, I’m taking this as a learning experience and the reason why I’m on my cycle. Here I grow again. 

Today is the first day of school for my kiddos.  Both kids will be in middle school together.  This is the first time they have been at the same school in a couple of years.  I'm hoping my little guy has a good day since I know it's going to be a tough transition into middle school.  I'm nervously sitting here waiting for them to get home. I can't wait to hear about both of their first days. I had a tough workout at boot camp today and I have sparring tonight. Two beatings in one day (ha ha). Tomorrow is my first day of school (work).

Today was orientation for my son going into middle school.  The kids and I then finished last minute errands to get them ready for school tomorrow such as sneaker shopping and other last minute things.  The kids are ready to start tomorrow. I made it to help with a TKD class and was able to get in a class in myself. Unfortunately, I did not have a mentee or mentor session. Hopefully tomorrow.

Today I got to celebrate my birthday with my family. I worked out with my husband, went to the movies to see The Lion King with my kids, then watched and snuggled TV with everyone. It was a fun, chill day!

I don't do well with testing so I'm super stressed about pretesting on Saturday. I had an okay class tonight, but I really need to step up my self defense game. Tomorrow's my birthday.

Today was a productive day. Worked out, trained Kidz Camp, got mentored, and took BBC. I plan to hit the pool tonight and get a hot pretzel from the Auntie Anne’s food truck ????????????

I trained 2 kids camps and 3 adult camps today. I’m tired. Can’t wait for black belt class tomorrow night! 

Tonight was a struggle. I’ve been training a lot this week both for my job and TKD and it was a STRUGGLE getting to class. I did make it to assist, be mentored, and take an adult class so that was good. Now off  to bed ????

Master Evins really loved ALL the kicks today in BBC. I’m scared I won’t be able to move tomorrow ????. It was a great class though, since that’s my jam. Sparring was a sweatfest too. Lots of kicks and sweat were had during class. Plus I was 30 years older or more then all the participants in class. Nothing like working out with teens, tweens, and boys to keep you young. Also if I hear one more thing about Fortnight today I may scream ????

Yesterday and today I was reminded that doing 500 kicks in one day I might not have been the best idea. My back has been sore for the past two days. I’m sure it has to do with other things too, but I think I just trained too hard on Wednesday for too many hours. You live and learn.  We had a great black Belt class tonight and I’m rest for a big TKD day tomorrow. 

Today we had good friends come with us to the pool.  It was a fun time. Then I went to King Tiger for 3 hours. I help with 3 classes, took a class, and got mentored.  My hips were so open and my kicks felt great by the end of the night.  Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment and have to train a lot of boot camps.

Pull ups have always been a struggle for me. If I am not consistently working on them I lose my strength quickly. With that being said having not been able to use my core and back for over a month, so pull up game is not strong. Today was back and bicep day at Boot Camp. I needed to keep reminding myself that my strength will come back in time and I do you to just be patient.

Sunday was an eventful day which was filled with the last sessions of my fitness conference, driving home to pick up our old minivan in SC since we got a new one (which my husband picked up the day before), and got to see my family again. Today was back to the mom grind. School shopping, cooking, doctor's appointments, and lots of TKD.  Summer is flying by :(

I'm at the  Mania Fitness Conference in Atlanta from Thursday to Sunday getting my CEU for my Personal Trainer license that renews every 2 years. My OSO (other significant other) Theresa and I started this tradition 2 years ago and it’s so fun! Yesterday we worked out for about 6 hours and burned a full days worth of calories. We learned lots of fun new moves and got lots of fitness credits in!

My days have been filled with dropping off and picking up Emma from camp and cheer, going to boot camp to exercise, taking TKD class, training both kids and adult boot camps, and having a going away party for a  friend. They have been jam packed and non-stop. Looking forward to tomorrow hopefully being slightly slower. 

We ended our trip up North with having family time at the Luray Caverns in VA. We have passed the exit so many times in the past 20 years, and have always talked about going. This trip appeared to be the perfect time to go. It was a great family outing and going down into the caverns during a heat wave was perfect! We all really enjoyed the viewing and learning about the cavern, and then went and did an outside maze. Doing the maze was also a really fun time. We all took turns navigating the route. They also had misters throughout the maze which was KEY on a hot day. We ended the day going to a delicious restaurant for dinner near our hotel, which was a great ending to the day. The kids love staying in hotels, which we don't do very often so they were excited about...

Wednesday before we left for PA I all out exercised for the first time in 3 weeks.  It went really well. I had to remind myself to give myself grace and time.  I'm not going to be back physically where I was and that's okay. I have to just move forward and get stronger. We made it to PA and went to Hersey Park all day yesterday. 13 hours walking around Hershey Park. It was fun, hot, exhausting, and lots of miles were gotten in.

I got to be super active today :) I trained 2 Kidz Camps. I was able to demo everything and work out with them a bit. I also took my first full TKD class in 3 weeks. It was great getting back. Madhavan met with me for my first mentor session after class. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go visit friends in PA. It should be a super fun family trip with great friends and their kids. I can't wait!

Super excited that I was able to assist with a class today, lead a class, and take my first class.  I took it easy and did not do any of the exercises and did not kick a target yet. Overall it was great getting kicks in, doing some self-defenses, and pomsaes. My sleep has been off lately so I am tired, but super excited to be able to start back slowly. Tomorrow I'm going to meet with Madhavan for my first mentor session!

I got to help out in my first family class yesterday. It was not my best performance. I had 3 different higher belts with three different pomsaes, and lets say it didn't go that well.  Oh well, there's only room for improvement, right?!?! It's all part of the journey.  If it was easy I wouldn't be worth doing. I like to think of it as an 'ego adjustment'. There's always room for improvement with everything in life. I also helped out with the Little Tigers class which is an ALL TIME favorite. Talk about 'organized chaos'. They are so dang cute and sending them home with other parents at that end of class is the best part (ha ha). Lots of family time this weekend, and got to spend time with the 'ponytail ninjas'. Having other women go through this TKD journey with me makes it all that more special. Also I...

I forgot to log in yesterday, but it was a fun day. I got to train 2 Kidz Camps at Burn Boot Camp which is always super cute. Then my little man had a friend over for a sleep over and it went super easy.  Today I did some serious 'momming' :) James's friend stayed over until after lunch, and then Emma wanted to go shopping for hours. Next was dinner, and then I decided to come home and organize drawers.  I'm super excited for tomorrow since I'm going to help out in my first Saturday TKD family class :) I can't wait to start back with my TKD practice this Monday and starting to exercise Wednesday!!!

I went to my surgeon today for a check-up and I was really hoping he was going to release me to start working on my pomsaes at least, but he did not.  I still have to wait another week until I can exercise.  I'm getting super antsy and want to work out, but I don't want to get a hernia.  I was glad that it was nice out tonight so I was able to get a walk in before putting my little man to bed. I also was able to train 2 Kidz Camps at Burn Boot Camp which was fun.  I had a helper who showed the kids how to do the exercises, and it was really hard to not demonstrate. 

Super excited that I was able to go into the pool for the first time since getting my appendix out. It's been hard not being able to go into the pool or the ocean with it being SOOOO HOT out.  I'm super happy that I can do that now though. I always knew that my body needs exercise to help as a mood boost, but my grumpiness is at an all time high.  Trying to stay positive and happy, but I really need to work out.  I'll be trying some poomsase on Monday and hopefully I'll take an adult class. 

I'm super nervous, excited, and anxious about this journey. Luckily, my daughter just completed her first BBC and is my inspiration and hero. There have been many ups and downs getting to this point. Taekwondo has been so challenging to my ego FOR SURE. It has taught me lots of valuable lessons along the way and I know there will be MANY more during the next 3 months. I expected to be cranking out my physical requirements already, but I recently had my appendix taken out so I'm not allowed to work out yet.  Master Chelley has been my amazing teacher throughout the past fours years, and I can't believe it's time for my cycle.  I remember Master Chelley her being on cycle and me wanting to help her with her physical requirements. How time flies and things change.