It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

I AM DONE WITH FINALS!!! No more of this:

And it feels SO good. I have been free since yesterday at 5pm. My first final was a breeze, the second took me the whole 2 hours. Algebra 2/Trig without a calculator. I like math, but not 50 questions at once. It felt good to be done:

I am looking forward to this vacation and taking in some deep yoga breaths until student teaching. In fact, maybe I will actually try and make it a point to get to yoga more often.

There has been lots of celebrating so I try to step it up in the gym this time of the year especially with cardio. The treadmill has been my best friend at the gym! With that said hopefully Santa will take that into consideration.

Backtracking to Sunday, I was able to get a nice little break from studying for a dinner date with my best friend aka "twin" Tanya! We exchanged Christmas gifts too. Talk about a best friend!

I think the coffee tastes better in the Elf mug.

Speaking of elves, I have been making it a point to stick to this:

Can you believe we are a week away from Christmas Eve?! I LOVE Christmastime, but I wish there was about another 5-7 days added to the month before Christmas. It just comes and goes so fast.

Christmas Movie of The Day: The Santa Clause

Christmas Song of The Day: Cold December Night - Michael Buble
I love the classic songs, but also love some of the new songs artists are coming out with. How many ways can you sing Santa Claus is Coming to Town?

Stay tuned for tomorrow to hear about the interesting "workout" I had. Trust me, it was WAY overdue. Any guesses??

Aruba Photo Diary

Hey Hey Hey! It's been awhile. I cannot believe Aruba has come and gone and summer is coming to an end. It was a fabulous 12 days at my home away from home and extremely hard to leave. See for yourself...

2:15 am is an early call, but it's Aruba.. Anytime is a good time to go

The good thing about a 7am flight is that we arrived at the Hyatt just in time for lunch! I always get the Cobb Salad the first day...

Beautiful views on our first day...

My towel line days got me up and at the gym early! It wasn't so bad, it was a good group and there is something so peaceful about having bar time, and enjoying my surroundings! Here is a shot of the line... 

 

Twice someone interrupted me while I was eating my bar.. It could have gotten very ugly. 

Of course some gym shots..

Nothing like Starbucks in my favorite 

spot !

Big girl bar time!

Paddle boarding was fun and burned some extra calories...

The snorkeling trip was a blast too! Snorkeling, waterslide, rope swinging..

Aruba would not be complete without a night at Señor Frogs! Thanks to my cousin Mimi for the treat! 

My friend Jose joined us too!

I finally made it to the Divi Divi trees where Aruba tourism does a lot of their advertisement. Mimi was a great photographer. 

These views! Can't get enough! 

I took some really nice walks. So tranquil.. Check out my "selfie" lol

I tried this appetizer for the first time. The Keshi Yena. It's an Aruban dish my brother gets all of the time.. Pretty good! 

Family pic...

The Aruban people are so friendly...

Richard Elliott, the assistant GM of the Hyatt is always so welcoming! 

;) 

I am already looking forward to the next visit! Miss my Aruba family!! 

Until next time...

Tabata Tuesday

Ta-ho? That's right, Tabata. I mentioned yesterday that I have been trying some crazy new workouts. This method is a form of high intensity interval training and is so effective. I looked up some workouts on Pinterest and this is what I found. 

Basically you do each exercise with all out effort for 20s then take a short 10s recovery. These have been great while traveling because I still get a great workout in and feel accomplished in a shorter amount of time. If you read this months edition of Shape Magazine, Jillian Michaels gave some great tips on how to exercise and still enjoy vacation. These shorter grueling workouts were one of them! 

I put them to the test and can say they definitely make you SWEAT and I mean like where it just doesn't stop. Not only do they switch up my usual routine, but I am still able to get outside and spend time by the pool. As we all know I do like to eat, (see yesterday's post) so these Tabata workouts help to undo some of that eating! 

These are also great because you don't need a gym, just a little but of space, a towel and water. So there are no excuses for not exercising when away from home. :) 

If you are daring enough, give them a try!