CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS »

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A is for...



A is for Arno. The place where my grandparents lived and, as such, one of my favorite places. I loved spending weeks there in the summer. It is also, according to Paul Harvey, the one place on earth you could hide a body and get away with it. True story.

A is for Alfreda. My grandmother, my angel. I miss her every single day.

A is for acting which, at one time, I truly wanted to do. My awesome parents even paid for lessons. That lasted about as long as the dream to be an interior decorator or a meteorologist. I was flighty back in the day.

A is for American Idol. I truly enjoyed this last season right up until they announced the winner. I think I have watched my last episode. My one consolation is that I'm sure Adam Lambert will be a huge star and Kris Allen will fizzle.

A is for Amazon or, for those of you who wonder why I am bringing up the rain forest, amazon.com. I adore this website and order more books from there than anyplace else. I would be lost without it.

And speaking of books, A is also for audio books. They make my work day easier to deal with. I especially love the Harry Potter audio books. Jim Dale is an amazing narrator. If you haven't heard them yet, I highly recommend it.

And last but not least, A is for age. Mine is 29...and HOLDING! ;o)

Monday, May 18, 2009

Testing, Testing, one...two...

Is this thing on (tap tap tap)? Time flies, people...it FLIES. I had planned on posting more blog entries in April. April, however, apparently fell into a black hole of lost time, because I only managed to get one post finished...and it was a youtube video. Forgive my absence. It was not intentional.

I'm sure that many of you are waiting, with bated breath, to hear what exciting things the Bradshaw's have been up to the last month or so. I wish I had lots of exciting stories for you, but sadly, we were just busy with normal day to day "stuff": working, helping with homework, working, housework, more working...you get the idea. I have recently decided that I need to sloooooow down, take more time to stop and smell the roses, and just breathe. So I am back to express myself, enjoy life, and to document that enjoyment for all of you.

There is another blog that I read on a regular basis, and the author has been doing something called the Encyclopedia of Me. I thought I would borrow her idea and do one as well. So next week, I will be starting on the letter A and telling you a little bit about me that you may, or may not already know. I would put money on you learning something new about me. Hey, maybe as I work my way through the alphabet, I'll learn something new about me too!

Just for fun, here's a random picture that I happen to think is pretty sweet.





We were outside playing and Tanner gave Freckles a BIG hug. Not to be outdone, Freckles showed his affection by giving Tanner puppy kisses on the head. They are best buds!


Thursday, April 02, 2009

So Cool

Saturday, March 07, 2009

The Grill Incident...and Other Ramblings.

Today, at 1:00 pm, I officially began my mini-vacation. I have no real plans, and, I think I am very ok with that. Tanner is on Spring Break next week, so Monday and Tuesday will be totally devoted to "Mommy-Tanner time". I'm hoping that I will be able to get out and take some pictures. If I do, expect to see them posted here very soon.

I am Spring fever, people. BIG TIME. I've never been a huge fan of winter. Everything about it is just generally depressing. I am ready for the trees to start budding and for the flowers to begin blooming. This warm weather the last couple of days has made me even more anxious. Yesterday, Tanner and I spent some time in the sunshine. I got a little crispy, but it was worth it.

Jeremy had a great first week at United Healthcare. Already, I can see how much he is loving the stress free environment. I really think he will like it there, and he has opportunity to move up in the company in ways that Chase didn't offer. The best part has been telling Tanner every night that Daddy would be home WAY before he went to bed.

We made this afternoon relaxing family time. We played outside a bit, watched a movie, took a little nap and had our very first cook out of 2009. I've been jonesing for a blackened hot dog. It was a bit windy so Jeremy closed the lid on the grill. We wouldn't want to catch the deck on fire, or anything. He opened it to check on the fire...BAD things, people, BAD THINGS. Jeremy is fine, but he is sporting significantly less facial hair...especially in the eyebrow/eyelash region. It's ok to laugh. After I knew he wasn't going to have to stop, drop, and roll, I yucked it up a little. The burgers and hot dogs were delicious anyway, and now he has a "war story" to share.

What did YOU do today? Anything exciting? Share with me. I really do want to know.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!!

There are still 30 minutes left of Valentine's Day. Tanner and I had a great day together. We made some Valentine's Day cookies, played some Guess Who, and watched a movie. It was very relaxing after a pretty stressful week.

There hasn't been too much happening in the Wonderful World of Bradshaw lately. Actually, things have been kind of dull. If anyone has any suggestions on how to spice things up a bit, I would be happy to hear them. Otherwise, I will have no good stories to share. I do have ONE piece of news that I can share. Jeremy has been hired at United Health Care and will start training on March 2nd. I love my husband...but I secretly hope they don't send him home right away. I'm not quite ready to share my office. The good thing is that he'll be home more during the daylight hours. Tanner is quite excited about that.

I have some new pics to share with you all. Nothing fancy. Just a couple of Jeremy and Tanner being silly out in the back yard, and then a couple of Tanner's ultra cute Valentine's day box that I made. I am NOT crafty in the least, so I was very proud of myself. Enjoy!!!


Sword Fight



"HE GOT ME"















Thursday, January 22, 2009

Photo Phun :o)

Do you ever feel like you blinked and missed something? I looked at my calendar this morning and realized that January is almost gone! Um...when did THAT happen? So far 2009 is off to a great start, with the exception of the passing of Jeremy's Uncle Kent. Tanner got back into the groove of things with school. We've challenged him to NOT get an "N" in the "Controls Talking" section of his report card. Ok, so challenged might not be the right word...bribed is more like it. We've offered up a new game for his Gameboy. I'm not sure yet if it will work...he is very social. I am adjusting to the team changes at work. It's been a little stressful, but I'm handling it. Jeremy has been working and training his dogs. He is bound and determined that they will hunt birds. My goal for February is to steal his bright orange hat...and burn it.

In the "learning" arena, I have been working some more on the photography hobby. I don't have Photo Shop, but a friend did point me in the direction of a program called Photoscape. I love it. I've been busy snapping pics left and right. I even finished an online digital photography course. I thought I'd share some of the better pics I took. Hey, at least you can't say I didn't blog!!

























Thursday, January 01, 2009

Because it is the New Year...

...Many of us, myself included, will feel the need to drop some pounds that have crept on over the last few weeks...or months...or years. We'll pull out (and dust off) our scales, clean out our fridges, strap on our pedometers and gear up to get lean. I have been searching for a battery of PCOS friendly recipes to help control my insulin levels. While I was researching, I stumbled across an article on the Fitness Examiner. I thought it might be a helpful tool for all of us health conscious people as we endeavor to become even healthier :0)

The following article was written by Fred Hahn, and in no way should be considered my own genius.


Lies your trainer Might tell you

Fib #1:

Spot reduction of fat is possible

Why are there still ab classes and hip and thigh classes? Makes me nuts. You cannot burn fat off a particular body part. No my friends, it can't be done. There is not a single scientific paper that supports this notion. It's nonsense and thousands of people waste their time and energy on these sorts of classes, tapes, exercises, etc. More reps doesn't = less fat on a body part. What is possible is 'spot production' of a muscle best achieved through strength training. The photo below shows what eating less calories specifically from carbohydrate can do, not exercise.

Fib #2:

Do aerobics to burn extra calories

Sorry sports fans. While the little LED readout on that $25,000 treadmill or elliptical machine says you burned 300 calories after an hour running on it, you have to subtract the amount of calories you would have burned anyway doing something else from that number! DOH! As and you get fitter you burn even less. Tip: Don't eat the extra calories in the first place and you won't have to worry about burning them off.

Fib #3:

Eat less fat and more complex carbs to get lean

Carbohydrate, complex or not, is sugar once it's digested. Sugar raises the hormone insulin and insulin's primary function is to store body fat. The more carbs you eat the fatter you will stay - or become. Fat on the other hand does not raise insulin a jot. Fat can be considered the 'best friend of protein' because without fat, protein cannot be synthesized thus utilized. It is essential for the health of every cell in your body. If dietary intake of fat is too low, health suffers. Nails can become brittle, hair thinning or loss can occur. But most importantly, cellular regeneration is slowed. Bottom line: Eating fat does not make you fat. eating sugar makes you fat and complex carbs while better than simple carbs, they are all insulin raising and fat producing.

Fib #4:

Work up a good sweat for health

This fib has been around for ages. Here is the deal with sweating. Sweating is your body's way of cooling itself. In other words you sweat in response to overheating. When we overheat, we sweat. Overheating your body is not a way to improve it nor is it a way you enhance performance. Think of your car - would you race it around and overheat it to make it run better? When you exercise strive to stay as cool as you can. At my studios in NY we keep the temperature between 62 degrees and 65 degrees. We have fans blowing and oscillating to keep the air moving keeping you from sweating. This way you can train more intensely and reap greater physiological rewards.

Fib #5:

Pilates will develop a lean, lithe dancer-like body

Sorry ladies. This is simply not true. The only way to have a long, lean dancer like body is to be born that way. If you Warren't, you can't. So what can Pilates do for you? Not a heck of a lot. Pilates is a form of resistance training using either your body as the source of resistance or the spring-loaded reformer. But all in all it is resistance training and if the resistance is correct, stronger muscles will be the outcome. But that is not the focus of Pilates. The focus is on lengthening the muscles which cannot be accomplished. Almost any form of resistance training will create stronger muscles - up to a point. Pilates is a low-level system of such training. Like Yoga, Pilates has achieved a cult-like culture where it's practitioners behave in certain ways and say certain things that have little to no truth to them. That is not to say you shouldn't do it. By all means do what makes you happy. But if you believe that you will look like the picture below by doing Pilates, it just ain't so.

"The truth is easy to kill. But a lie well told is immortal." Mark Twain


So there you have it folks. Feel free to do whatever makes you happy this New Year. Just remember that when you're tossing out the junk food to toss out the thigh master and lies along with it!!!