Itinerary

In case you're wondering where i'll be ;)

Itinerary
Port Arrival Departure
4/5 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 5:00 PM
4/6 Princess Cays, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM (2nd B-day) :)
4/7 At Sea
4/8 St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles 10:00 AM 6:00 PM
4/9 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 4:00 PM
4/10 Grand Turk 1:00 PM 7:00 PM
4/11 At Sea
4/12 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 AM (Fun is over)



Port arrival and departure times are approximate and subject to change without notice. For more information review the Passage Contract.

7 more days!

I can't wait to be on the ocean! Warm weather, beaches and sunburns! My husband really needs a vacation poor guy.

I had a great massage and my legs felt so much better until I tortured them over the weekend :)

I'm meeting up with a friend at Starbucks this afternoon. I haven't seen her in forever and we were together 24/7 in High School. We are both goobers and had so much fun together so this will be a nice reunion. She is one of those friends that I can not see in 10 years and when we get together it will be like we were never apart.

Diet and workouts are going great! I'm feeling leaner and that's always a nice feeling. I will try and take pics later this week to do a before and after cruise body! EEK! There is nothing like running on a treadmill looking out at the ocean though ahhhh...can't wait!

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Relaxation Station

I woke up this morning and weighed in...119.8! I'll be feeling good about my massage i'm getting today now. My goal was once I get under 120 to get it but my legs told me otherwise. Well now I hit my goal and DESERVE it!! My next victory will be 115! I'm not sure how long or how much torture it will take me to get to that one? I WILL get there though. Once i'm there that is where I want to stay. I can LIVE at that weight and feel good about myself. Sure i'm gonna get to 105(or so I hope) for my comp but for everyday life 115 is for me.

It's funny how long it takes my body to lose 5 lbs and we'll see how easy it is to gain it right back!

I was on the treadmill for 1 hour yesterday and think I went 4.5 miles. I was just looking at my husbands gps watch and he did 7 miles in 50 mins. I am SO not a runner.

9 more days until tropical muscic, weather and the ocean!!!

We're trying to sell our house again. We put it on the market Monday and have someone coming to look at it tonight! Wish us luck! One of my workouts will be cleaning the heck out of it today LOL! We're trying to move about 40 mins north of here because Mike's office is moving. I'm sad though because I live 2 mins from my mommy :( Like i've said though, as long as he's supporting my azz i'll follow!

Ground Hog Day

The same thing every day. I think this cartoon is WHY I need to do it though. When there is variety I tend to go overboard. Like on a cruise EEK! 10 days WOO! I'm trying not to think about the food too much. When I got back from the cruise last year my weight was 127 and I dropped 4 lbs in that following week so I know most was sodium and water bloat.

Back to eating. I love eating to nourish my body and not because it tastes good and I just want more. Mike and I were talking about protein powders last night. I'm almost out of my Optimum Nutrition and will be buying Body Fortess because it's cheaper. He was telling me the ON tastes nasty and he will stick with Syntha 6. I told him I don't eat for the taste. I have to keep telling myself because I really love the taste of chocolate ;)

I went ahead and booked my massage for tomorrow. I'm at 120.2 but my legs hurt and I need it! I'm still taking superpump too and that could be making me hold some weight?? I don't care right now though because my workouts are AWESOME with the blue juice :)

Deep Thoughts....by April Jones

Who am I? I am the old April I use to be. I'm am happy again. Sure not having a job is part of that right now but i'm looking forward to my future once again! Mike and I have always talked about retirement and he really wanted me to stay at my old job because then we could retire early. I was miserable there. I hated every second I was there and it showed in the person I had become. I never had the guts to quit or make a move because I didn't want to disappoint his dreams. I knew that my job was on the line and asked that people pray for me and things would be okay. In my mind the okay thing was that my job would remain and that I would continue my robot like schedule. God works in mysterious ways and all the prayers worked but not how I had envisioned. I would have never quit, he eliminated my position, I never knew what I wanted to do in life, he opened my eyes to the behind the scenes medical field that I never knew existed. I feel like a new woman! I've even started putting on makeup and fixing my hair!

I use to think I was unhappy because of my weight. That was SO not the case. After losing 20 lbs and competing and having my dreambody I was still unhappy. I think I was almost in depression and now I feel like a weight has been lifted. I am back to happy go lucky April once again! My glass is half full and people don't get on my nerves as much anymore. I even went to Target at noon yesterday when the parking lot was full LOL!

Since i've been doing alot of soul searching I have realized how important my family and friends are to me. This past week i've seen every member of my family and it has been terrific! I even went and did aerobics with my mom last night which is something I would have never done before because I felt like I didn't have the time. My focus was to get my 8 hours over with and then home to workout. After that I never felt like leaving the house again.

All this brings me to my definition in the dictionary. As much as I LOVE being in figure competitions that does not define me. I don't want my definition to be the girl who was in figure competitions, lived her robotic life, never socialized and obsessed with her weight.

Here is what I want:
April Jones-the girl who's smile lights up the room, who is pleasant to be around, who loves health and fitness, and who obsesses about her weight.(some things you just can't change)

Volunteering

So i'm getting bored at home so I signed up for volunteering at the hospital in Franklin Indiana. I figure it will look good on my resume since I have zero hospital experience and I'm pursuing the medical coding thing. Here is the list of things I can help with :) VOLUNTEER WORK

I feel weird. I hate being dependent on my husband. I'm not 100% dependent YET...that time is coming. We have always kept our money seperate and it's worked great that way. I know eventually, unless I find an under the table job, I will have to give up some things I do not want to. I mean if roles were reversed and i'm thinking better these days without my stupid stressful job that I would not pay for parts for his Corvette or Harley. I would not pay for him to go golfing or skiing so it's obvious that he's not gonna keep buying my supplements etc. I know though that once my school is done I will be doing something that keeps me happy and then I can go back to all my old ways.

That leads me into my old ways. I wasted alot of money. I am just now realizing this. I made really good money and I wasted most of it. It's sort of sad. My reasoning was I hated my job so as long as I worked there I was gonna TRY and make myself happy by spending it. I've only been unemployed for 2 weeks and it's really helped me to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't go to Target just to spend $150 and I didn't miss it either. I went there to get almonds and that's it. I have to get the 100 cal pk kind or else April's serving size is about 50 almonds LOL!

So i'm going to enjoy my time right now with my family and dog. I'm looking at ways to cut grocery cost etc...and i'm actually having a blast doing it! There goes my new running shoe purchase every month LOL!

Twins

Jodi sent this to me LOL! She asked "Who does this look like"? BTW Happy B-day Jodi!


It's me with boobs LOL!

My weight this morning was 120.6 ahhh...hopefully i'll be below 120 by next week. If I make it i'll be rewarding myself with a nice massage!!

Feeling Great!

I went and shadowed a medical coder yesterday afternoon. This is the job for me. It keeps my interest and the time flew by. It was like being in the ER without all the blood etc...I need to call IUPUI a local college here and set up a meeting with a counselor and see what I need to do about getting in class. Hopefully I can take some classes this summer. I'm just really glad I liked it and now I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Being off work has been great this week! The weather is awesome and I get to spend quality time with my mom and dog :)

Workouts are AMAZING right now! I'm not rushing them because I have all the time in the world! My weight was at 121.4 this morning. It's been holding steady at 121 for the last 3 weeks or so. I'm going to drop a supplement i've been taking at the end of the week so i'll see if that helps with water drop or not.

I'm gonna have a lot of work to do after the cruise but i'm up for it! Unless I get back and i'm weighing like 130 or something LOL!

Measurements

I felt like my thighs were really fat this morning so I measured them. It use to be my butt but that's under control now??

They are 22" and on contest day they are 18.5-19" and look like twigs to me. My waist right now is 25.5" and on contest day it's 23.5". Last year at this time my waist got to 27" and I was freaking out.

I am feeling MUCH better and got up and on the treadmill this morning. Yes, i'm back to my old self finally. I was worried for a bit. I thought maybe I felt like that because I was depressed about being jobless for the first time since I was 16. Now I know it was just because I was sick. Not much planned for today. I'm going to visit my grandparents now since i'm not sick and take my dog for walk in the park. Life it rough LOL!

Keeping Up With the Joneses'

Well that won't be hard to do considering i'm jobless now LOL! To top it all off i'm 11 weeks out and i'm freaking sick! I haven't been able to do cardio like i've wanted and I have all day to do it now! I'm just resting and trying to get better. I've been really dizzy like I have vertigo. The best part...no insurance! I wouldn't go to the doctor anyway but doesn't it always happen like that? I went to work yesterday to fill out my pension papers. When I was leaving my boss ran up to me and I thought he was going to ask me a work question which I would NOT answer. He asked if there was anything I need off my computer *light bulb*. Angela, Stacey, and Tina have all seen my weightloss spreadsheet and i'm a freak about it so I told him to send it to me and he did LOL! WOO!

My desk looked sad when I walked by. My 2 employee of the month trophies were still on it and he asked me if I wanted them and I said no :) Mike asked me if they called in 2 weeks and asked if I wanted to come back would I...H-E-Double hockey stick NO! This is my chance to renew myself and maybe become a better person. Sure the money was good but I was miserable there. I learned that they just canned the nurse and an engineer who was there for 25 years so I guess it's good that I got my severance etc..before they go bankrupt.

Luckily Mike has a great job and can support us both. We will be getting insurance through his work now. My insurance was WAY cheap though but oh well. I had to remind him of when we first met and he only made $7 an hour and we made it. I was the bread winner then :) He said oh does this mean we'll get to eat hot dogs and macaroni again!! LOL! That was answered with a stern NO.

Back to the sickness. I'm 11 weeks out people and I have felt like crapola! Ugh....I just want to workout. I have so much time now and I can't do jack! I've been sleeping on the couch because my snoring is ridiculous. I even wake up and hear myself! It's alright though i'll be back at it and with vengeance!!

Free Bird

Well the inevitable happened...laid off. I'm filled with mixed emotions about it. A big part of me is relieved it finally happened and the other part is thinking what do I do next? Right now i'm on vacation until the cruise Woo! I get 2 more paychecks, vacation pay, my severance, and my pension so I should be okay for a bit.

My husband is supporting me in going back to school and getting a degree is something new. I have a travel and hospitality certificate and an assoicate's in business. I'm not interested in either of those. I'm thinking medical coding or criminal justice LOL! I'm sure i'll go with the medical but doesn't everyone want to be a CSI agent ;) I just want to go to a school where I get my degree FAST and get a job FAST. My husband on the other hand is talking to his mom who thinks things should be done slow and that i'm trained properly and then I get a better job. Well you know how you live and learn and i've learned that listening to older people is the way to go. So i'll keep you all posted on what's happening. If you have a job and love it feel free to chyme in your opinions please! I know Em loves hers but I don't think I could do the massage thing. Training is not an interest of mine either. I have thought of the nutrition field but really medical will always be around unless Obama screws up more.

I did get up and get my early cardio in this morning. I'm gonna do my best to keep Tony around. I may not be able to compete as much as I would have liked to this year but we'll just see what happens.

To make things worse my Grandpa Bailey has cancer. He's 83 and my mom, aunt and uncles have decided just to let him live his life without treatments. He is an active older man and being couped up in a hospital during the spring and summer would not be his thing. Plus, my Grandpa Hommel has been in and out of the hospital this past week as well. He's getting dillusional and sees things. It's sort of funny really but then again it's not. He's 97 though!!! Life sucks sometimes but you just keep on going.

I think everything happens for a reason and God will do what he wants with me.

I'm pissed

My favorite picture from the Arnold will not show up. It was me and the Metrx box. He is the best. I got 9 free pkts of him at the show also. All my other pics show just fine.

Anyway...I had a GREAT time! It was so awesome. I got to meet up with Stef, Hayley, Kellie, Stacey, Tina, Chris and Tracy. I missed Ruby but heard she was there LOL! Angela and I went looking around but didn't see anyone who was tall and gorgeous as Stef described her.

I have seen Pro's in person but not on the competition stage OMG!! I can't believe how great they ALL look! They are just amazing!

I can't wait for next years Arnold already! I ate WAY too many protein bar samples but I only eat them once out of the year so I won't dwell on it.



Well he's not the Metrx box but it's the next best thing.

6666

My car is gonna hit 6666 miles during my road trip with Angela tomorrow WOOT! This is gonna be so much fun! I'm going to print my ab workout for tomorrow and we're gonna do abs in our room :) That way we won't miss a workout! Our last trip was fun but now we'll be more relaxed because we can actually drink water. Plus we won't only have to eat dry ass chicken with flax oil LOL! Good times ahead people...stay tuned!