Love and Grace, a Dedication to ^Zane Wyatt Reese^.

Lately I've been thinking about life and death... a lot. What is it? Why do we have to experience losing someone very close to us? Why do parents lose their children? Isn't is supposed to be the other way around? I find myself crying my eyes out thinking of these parents' strife in losing their precious children.

Today is Zane's birthday. Zane is my cousin Hailee's son. He was just one month and a half older than my daughter, Korbin. Zane was born on Thankgiving in 2008, the day before my baby shower. Zane left us to be with our Lord just sixteen short months after he was born. His young mother, Hailee was left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, after her son died in her arms.

Zane and Korbin only got to play a couple times, and I only got to see him during those times. He was the sweetest little boy and he and Korbin played well together. They practiced making new noises and sounds together, each one making one sweet sound after another. Zane got sick when he was ten months old, with a rare form of cancer. He spent many nights in Children's Mercy Hospital here in KC and eventually they were sent to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, where they were unable to help him anymore.

I can't imagine what Hailee must have gone through during this time of waiting. I can tell you what I felt. I felt anger and confusion. Why did this little boy have to endure this and why would a mother have to experience watching her only son die? After Zane's passing, I was very depressed for a long time. Once again, I know I wasn't half as depressed as his mother.

All she has left, are memories and photographs of her sweet little boy.

While I try to understand why we are put here on this Earth to go through this, I pray. I pray for peace in Hailee's heart. I pray for peace in the whole family's hearts. Zane has been gone for almost two years, but the pain of his passing will never fade. All we can do is have comfort in knowing that Zane isn't sick anymore. He is one of God's great angels, watching over us all, especially his mother, Hailee and his new baby brother, Cooper Zane who will be due a month before the anniversay of Zane's passing.

If you wish to learn more about Zane and his story, please visit his Caringbridge Website.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zanereese

Please also remember there are other parents and children going through this. Please donate whenver possible to your local children's hospital and/or St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. As a society, we should take care of one another, not because we have to, but because it's human nature to care for one another.

^"7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

-1 John 4:7-8

Buff Blonde's Daily Essentials

Everyday, I am asked what supplements I take daily. Well, here is the list and why I prefer to take certain ones over others.

GNC Ultra Mega Gold w/Iron

 

I prefer the GNC Ultra Mega Gold Vitamin because it's timed release, but also because it has twice the B vitamins than the women's vitamin GNC makes. Granted, the women's vitamins have a lot more calcium, so I have to supplement, but I like how the UM Gold helps me with energy and stress all day long. It also has essential digestive enzymes and more in it for eye health.

I have highly recommended the Minus 10 now for over fives years. This product is one of the best I've tried. It's timed release alpha lipoic acid. Regular ALA has a mere twenty-six minute half life. This means it's only in your system for twenty-six minutes. Unfortunately, that is not long enough for the ALA to do its job. Its job is to neutralize cell-damaging free radicals within the mitochondria of the cell. This helps the body to stabilize blood sugar and gives you stimulant free energy. It is also great for the skin and detoxifies your body. When your cells are free of free radicals, your skin glows, you feel better, and you aren't peaking and crashing all day long.

Evening Primrose Oil

I take this for hormonal balance and skin health. It can also help balance blood sugar. I take 1,000 mg per day or 2-500mg soft gels. You have to remember to take twice the dose of omega 3 fatty acids though when you take this product. EPO is Omega 6. Without Omega 3, Omega 6 will cause too much inflammation in the body. Be sure to supplement with GNC Triple Strength Fish Oil as I do. I take 1,800mg every night before bed.

There is only one more product I take daily.

Vitamin D-3 5000

I take this for mood balance, allergies, immune support, bone density, etc. etc. etc. Every time I open a health magazine or read a health forum, there is a new reason to take vitamin D. I call it "sunshine in a bottle." I am one moly girl, so I try to hide my skin from the sun like a vampire. When I started this high dose of vitamin D, I began to feel better almost instantly. I rarely get sick, but I started getting allergies after the birth of my daughter. This has helped me from suffering. I recently had my vitamin D levels checked in my blood and the doctor said they were perfect. Yay me for being proactive. I advise you take 2,000-5,000 IU of D-3 daily, but since it is a fat soluble vitamin, you should definitely ask your doctor if you are like most Americans and deficient.

These are just the essentials I take daily. I will post soon about my sports supplements for working out and for weight loss. Until then, stop in my GNC Saturday August 27, from 10am-7pm for our huge sale!!!

8716 W. 135th St.

Overland Park, KS

913-681-0349

Training pet peeves

Ladies and gentlemen, please., I beg you please, don't drop your kid off at the gym and let him loose in the weight room without a proper spotter. The definition of a proper spotter is not his equally inexperienced buddy. Tonight, I had a 13-yr_oldish kid jump in with me on a rowing exercise. Normally, I use anywhere from 65-90 lbs on this particular machine and I do them correctly, focusing on my negatives. This kid put the peg in the 50 lb slot, leaned back, and let 'er rip. Being a parent myself, as well as a believer in technique, I had to step in to help. I instructed him to move his butt forward, sit straight up, and not let the thing just fly back to starting position.
He was very thankful and I saw a couple other gym patrons smile and nod at me. I thought for sure his mother or father would see this 30-yr-old woman talking to their kid, but no parental unit was in sight.
I am all for kids' fitness and strength training, but parents, please invest on some proper training for your young aspiring iron pumpers. It is highly important to do this for obvious reasons including avoiding injury and if they want real results.
The other thing I see a lot of is the girls and some guys standing in front of the mirror, wasting their time doing a ridiculous amount of weighted side bends. Ladies, this "exercise " does nothing for our figures. While you think you are working on whittling your obliques, you are actually building them out increasing volume on your sides.
To achieve an hourglass, practice doing more twisting abdominal exercises. One thing that also helps me with my core is lifting as heavy as I can for 15 reps, three to four sets on my various exercises for all the rest of my muscle groups. Yes, you should work your abs separately, but when you lift heavy on the other stuff, you achieve better results for your core.  So next time you want to work those sides try to twist more and lift often.
I guess you could say I'm picky or anal about this sort of thing, but learn from others' mistakes including mine. I am extremely passionate about this stuff. I like to see people get results without hurting themselves and in a timely fashion. Fitness is a wonderful thing, and it keeps us young for longer. Everyone should invest in proper training techniques. It doesn't make sense not to.

Encounters of retail extraordinaire

<p>I just want to take a break talk a little bit about some of my favorite and not-so-favorite observations I've encountered in my retail experiences, living in the JO, and my gym experiences. I apologize in advance if this is you or a family member of yours, but please understand my observations are not malicious - just entertaining.
First of all, a giant bulge wrapped in black, shiny spandex entered my store last Saturday. It's owner was a middle aged man who kept referring to weightlifting as " pumping." I am sure most of us are familiar with the term, "pumping iron." Well, he left off the iron. This made me even more uncomfortable with the situation and I had to struggle to divert my eyes from his lower region as it was extremely apparent.
That same day, my brother and I had taken a trip to the store and on the way back we both spotted a shirtless and very tan man in Daisy Dukes style shorts. He was walking, or more like sashaying down the sidewalk, moving his arms like he was treading water. Is this some sort of new extreme walking exercise I've not heard of yet? What would possess someone to partake in such an activity, and in public nonetheless. My brother and I talked about it all the way home, still confused as to what he was working.

Not all encounters have ensued hilarity. In fact, today one of my regular customers informed me he needed extra protein because he was having surgery in two days. Being the concerned person I am, I inquired about what kind of surgery. He nonchalantly said he was getting his leg amputated. WHAT??? I couldn't believe it but just happened to look down at his right leg and it looked like it was rotting. He said he'd been waiting for this day for thirty years. Still, he is young and he has two young children. I let him know that I had the privilege to see a man speak at the GNC convention, who was the first triple amputee to ever finish the Kona Iron Man Triathlon. He remained in great spirits and was glad I told him about it. I love to laugh and often. I often laugh at myself. I enjoy sharing stories like those above. I have so many things to share of my retail experiences alone, that I could probably write a book about it. Some are funny, some are sad, and some will blow your mind. Stay tuned and once again, thanks for reading.

The ugly stuff no one tells you...

When I signed up and committed myself to competing, I was actually very excited to start the diet. I knew everything I ate was only to fuel the machine. I only ate things that would be my workout fuel so that I could build as much muscle possible, and burn the fat. During my competition diet, the only weight I lost was the last week. I lost a whopping three pounds. However, as I've said before, I lost 8% body fat, half my body fat in the eighteen weeks I trained. </p>
<p>With that being said, after I went back to eating "normal" again, I gained about five pounds. Five pounds may not seem like a lot to most, but when you're used to weighing 130-135 and you tip the scale to 140, it's cumbersome to carry the extra weight. I felt bloated, fatigued, and well, just plain fat. </p>
<p>After getting back into the gym, I still hadn't lost much weight. I had stopped preparing veggies every day, so I chalked it up to water weight and lack of cruciferous vegetables. </p>
<p>Three more weeks passed and I started feeling pain and a sort of thickness in my lower back. I had these same symptoms when I first found out I was expecting Koko bean, so I took two pregnancy tests. Nothing. No extra lines. No baby. </p>
<p>The pain wouldn't subside so I finally went to the doctor. After describing all my symptoms, the fluttering in my belly, the pain in my back, the bloating, the doctor ordered an X-ray of my intestines. Now, those who know me well, know I have never had an issue with my intestines. I mean, my system is like clockwork, so imagine my surprise when I found out the X-ray unveiled that I'm literally full of crap. The doctor showed me the picture of my digestive tract and sure enough, there are two white blobs on each side. He sent me home with a prescription for a stool softener and said to come back in two weeks. </p>
<p>All jokes aside about me being full of crap, I am really upset I wasn't told of these things before deciding to compete. No one wants to feel this way. Why would you do this to yourself more than once? Add the guilt of being away from your family, not being able to eat what they eat, being afraid to travel because your food is prepared beforehand, and NOW THE FACT YOUR INSIDES ARE FULL OF HARD STOOLS?  NO THANK YOU.

I have learned my lesson about extreme dieting once again. I am still trying to find out how to maintain a healthy balance. I am not one to be moderate. I'm an all or nothing girl. Only time will tell how I will cope.

On another note, the doctor did a full blood workup on me. All tests came back superbly, including my thyroid and my vitamin D levels. That would be complements of my GNC vitamin regimen. :)

The story of us

A little about us...

I never had a true boyfriend until I was 17. I have had three "serious" relationships, two of which I just chalk up to learning experiences. The third is with my Shanny. I met this guy in 2005. We met in the most romantic place possible to start a courtship- Wal-Mart. His nephew was an employee of mine and told me he wanted to introduce me to his uncle. First of all, the nephew was 20 years old, so how old was this uncle? Try twenty-six. Okay,  I was twenty-four. No biggie. About two weeks after we started dating, I knew this guy, who I met at Wal-Mart, was pretty special.

We have followed each other from city to city and since 2007, state to state. We have had our ups and downs. No relationship is "perfect." If our relationship was all roses and sweet nothings, I would probably have been totally bored. We know what makes each other click and we definitely know to how to push each other's buttons. But when push comes to shove, we've always made up and we never let anyone else put either of us down.

In late May of 2008, we had HUGE surprise. Actually, we like to call it a blessing in the form of a sweet, tiny, raven-haired, seven-pound, two-ounce, little lady who was born in January 2009. When I was pregnant with our little Koko Bean, everyone kept asking me if we were going to get married. I'm not going to lie. The thought crossed my mind, but very quickly. I knew when we were ready, we were ready, but this wasn't going to change the fact that we were Koko Bean's loving parents. Shanny is such a loving father that I'm afraid this little girl is spoiled rotten. I often play the bad guy.

Last month, the two of us took a trip to Las Vegas for the GNC Franchise Convention. This was the first trip we've had alone since before Koko Bean was born. We were extremely excited to go, not only because we knew we would learn a lot at the convention, but also because it was alone time for us. The day we left, as we were sitting at the airport, my college best friend's mom called with some very sad news. My best friend and sister in Alpha Gamma Delta had passed away due to complications from a double lung transplant she received last year. The rest of the day, all I could think about was her and her family.

Day two of our Vegas trip was not much better. I was constantly feeling guilty about being able to enjoy myself. I faked smiles after smiles, laughed at things that weren't funny, and prayed about my deceased friend. That night we were supposed to go out with a vendor of ours but Shanny told the other couple we were with to go without us. He wanted to take me out by himself.

We walked forever that night before our stomachs felt like they were eating our backs. I was so hungry, I said we should just get McDonald's. (If you know me, you know I despise eating McDonald's so you know I was ravenous.) We walked a little bit further to the Paris Hotel. We ate in a small cafe in the hotel and received some of the worst service we've ever seen at an eating establishment short of pouring our drinks on us (true story, but at least we got our drinks then.) 

After dinner, Shanny suggested we go look at the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel. I was hesitant but optimistic, thinking that it was just across the street. I don't know if you have ever traveled to Vegas, but you can't just walk across the street there!! I found this out the hard way. As we made our trek over to the Bellagio, I complained. I complained on the escalators. I complained when those weird card flipper guys aggressively tried to lure us in to one of their XXX rated clubs. I complained about the people, and the heat. When I look back on it, I wasn't really unhappy with Shanny or the trip. I was inwardly unhappy about my friend dying, but outwardly expressing it through everything tangible.

When we finally made it to the fountains, I stood in front of Shanny as he put his arms around me. The fountains were just getting ready to start back up again when he asked me if I was having a good night. I replied, "I guess." I guess??!! This man had pulled out all the stops on this wonderful night out for us and all you can say is "I guess??" What's wrong with you? Right after I said that, he said "well, maybe this will make it better," and turned me around to face him. As he pulled out a ring, he popped the question. It was a quiet and intimate proposal. He did not get down on one knee because there were a lot of people around, and if you know Shanny, you know he's not one to try to draw attention to himself.

The whole way back to our hotel, I was still hot, still uncomfortable, but I was also very happy. After all the heartache I had suffered from losing my friend, my Shanny had come through with a romantic evening followed by a proposal. Now, I'm not a mushy person, nor am I that girl who was doodling her name with her future husband's last name in history class, but this broke through my little wall.

After six and a half years, three dogs, and one child, Shanny and I have been through more than most married couples. We've struggled, we've fought, we've made up, and we've created this amazing little life together. We live together, work together and parent together. I'm thankful I was given this person whom I trust with all my heart. I'm looking forward to being his Mrs and finally sealing the deal.

Chocolate pb surprise protein bars

<p>1. 5-2cups ground oats <br>
3 very ripe bananas <br>
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder <br>
4 scoops Amplify chocolate protein <br>
2 tbsp natural peanut butter or 2 tbsp Pb2 powdered pb
6 eggwhites
1/4 cup Stevia
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
Mix all ingredients together.
Poor in a small pie pan, bake @350° for 15 minutes. Cut it like a pie.
Enjoy hot. Refrigerate in ziplock bag.
These are very satisfying and filling.