Christmas 2010

I am so excited for Christmas to arrive! I am not a winter person at all, so I am ready for Christmas, new years, and my vacation; then i'll be over the winter season. I love the few weeks before Christmas though; I like looking at lights on houses, seeing decorated Christmas trees, and wrapped presents. I love shopping and picking out presents for people, it's so much fun; however, I could definitely do without the long lines and crowded stores. I feel that Christmas is such a happy time of the year that I am fortunate to spend with my family and friends. My family always has a huge Christmas party at my house, and it always assures a good time with family and close friends. Christmas is a holiday that brings everyone together and I have been so busy lately that spending time with my family and friends is all I could ask for this holiday season! 

Last day of TRX

Today was the last day of my TRX session. When my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. I was a little relieved because I knew I would be able to sleep in for a couple weeks until the next session starts in January. Waking up that early twice a week is not easy and it is very draining. My class would start at 5:30 a.m. and last an hour. My friend and I would then do cardio machines for an hour and a half and then another half hour of abs. It will be nice to tone it down a little and try out some other classes. The next three classes we are going to start next week are Core Motions, Bodyworks, and Cycling. I am very excited because I like trying new things, and the classes do not start until eight so the extra sleep will definitely be nice! I have Zumba to go tonight still so I am very excited for that. Zumba is one of my favorite classes because it doesn't even feel like I'm working out!

Apps

I use to have the BlackBerry Storm phone, and I recently got the Droid X. Both phones allowed apps but my BlackBerry was much more limited to what apps I could choose. However, the Droid X has a ton of apps and I recently found my favorite app ever called the calorie counter. It has every fast food and restaurant that you could possibly think of and even a barcode scanner so you can scan food from the grocery store. It has four slots for you to enter food; breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. It counts all your calories throughout the day making sure you don't go over. It also has an exercise section where you type in all the exercise you did that day even if it was just cleaning the house or going shopping. If you burn calories it will subtract it from your daily intake. I even set a goal for how much weight I want to lose so it tells me how many calories I am able to take in each day so that I can achieve that goal. The cool thing about this app is that anytime you want fast food you can go to this app and it will have all the menu items and how many calories are in each item. This helps in making healthier choices when we choose to eat fast food. I was honestly shocked at how many calories some of the food items I use to eat had. You should definitely look into getting this app if you have a smartphone!

thanksgiving break

I am so excited for this weekend and next because all my friends will be home from school for thanksgiving break! I had a very close group of friends throughout high school so its been hard not seeing them everyday! I go and visit some of them on the weekends but a few of them i have not seen since they left for school! It will be nice to all be together again and catch up! Below is a picture of some of my best friends from high school. 

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has a recently new album out called “Speak Now”. I have always been a huge Taylor fan since her very first album in 2006. Her music has always been so amazing over the past years and it continues to do well. Her new album has so many good songs that I literally listen to them several times a day. They are very inspirational and I can personally relate to them so well. Taylor is only twenty years old and I think that is why I relate to all of her songs so well because we so close in age. My favorite song in her new album is called “Sparks Fly”.  

Down to 11 practices...

January is just around the corner and that means that cheerleading competitions are going to be quickly approaching. After last night, my all-star team has only eleven practices left before our first competition on January 9th. It's such a scary and stressful feeling because I feel like 11 practices are going to fly by and so many people on my team have been missing due to other conflicts which is a huge problem. The closer January gets the tougher practices get and the harsher the coaches are. These next two months are going to be so stressful with cheer and everything else going on that I don’t even like to think about it. Cheerleading is something that I truly do love though, and I have fun at every practice. I’m just such a perfectionist with cheerleading that when things aren’t perfect (like our routine) I stress out. I am completely confident in my team though and I know it will all come together soon!

ZUMBA

Zumba is a fitness program that involves hypnotic Latin rhymes and dancing. Working out is not always fun and for some people it is even boring but this particular fitness class is literally amazing. Zumba is an upbeat class that keeps you moving and wanting more. The Monroe County YMCA offers this class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the class is always packed. The class is an hour long and the time flies by. I have taken my fair share of fitness classes and TRX (which I talked about in my last blog) and Zumba are by far my favorites. Zumba class always has such a fun environment and there are people of all ages that participate. You will burn calories like crazy because you are constantly moving and working your entire body. Zumba is a great way to exercise while still having fun and getting great results! 

TRX

Today I woke up at four thirty AM to do a TRX class at the Monroe County YMCA. The class started at 5:30 and my friend and I wanted to get there early since this was going to be our first time taking the class. When the class started twelve people signed up which I thought was a lot considering it was still pitch black outside. The class started with a warm-up doing random things down and back the gym floor such as skipping and running. I kept thinking how this class was going to be so easy since I work out on a regular basis and take a lot of exercise classes. After the warm up we went to our spots and the class began. The first thing our instructor had us do was put our feet into the slots and flip over. Of course my friend and I were not paying attention to everything she said so we missed the part about crossing our feet so that when we flipped on our stomach the ropes wouldn't twist. Basically, my feet got all twisted up and I felt retarded. However, after the first 15mins I got use to TRX exercises and felt a little more comfortable. This class ended up being ten times harder then I thought it would be; there were exercises that I wasn't even able to do because they were so hard. I definitely recommend everyone to try a TRX class because it is definitely a class I am going to fit into my schedule. My whole body has been aching all day so its an hour that you wont regret!

cheer=my life

If you haven't figured out yet, cheerleading is very important to me and it takes up a lot of my time. I cheer for two squads and practice over ten hours per week. Cheerleading, however, is not a sport that you can excel in by just going to practice. Personally, on top of practice, I take private tumbling twice a week and I work out anywhere from four to five times a week. One of my coaches once said that if we aren't sore and tired by the end of each practice than she didn't do her job. Each week we advance on not only skills but on conditioning as well. That is why it is so important for every cheerleader to do his or her part in and out of the gym so everyone is prepared and in shape for the following practices. We are a team so if one cheerleader isn’t trying 110% then the whole squad suffers. For example, during conditioning we get yelled at if we run too far ahead of the team. Call me selfish, but I feel that this shouldn’t happen. I understand that everyone runs at a different pace but if you are running and working out outside of practice then every person on the team should be able to keep up with the leading runners. It’s all about giving 110% all the time. I always say that it’s mind of matter because I believe that every person on both of my teams is capable of doing anything if they have their mind set to it!              

picture from high school of me and my coach

Vacation time

Today I realized how excited I am for Christmas break!! We have a vacation booked to go to Cancun again and i cannot wait. This will be my fourth trip to Cancun and each time it gets better! I remember the first time I went, I was in fourth grade and we bought so many souvenirs that by the end of the trip we couldn't fit them all in our luggage. My mom decided to just shove everything into our suitcases that went under the plane since we needed to get to the airport. When we got home that night, I opened my suitcase to find everything broke! I was so upset because my sister put her stuff in her carry-on so none of her souvenirs broke. My mom felt so bad that she tried to go online and order the stuff I picked out but that didn't work so well. The second year we went we went with my parents, sister Jaime and her at the time fiance, brother Colin and his girlfriend, and a couple that is good friends with my parents. This year, however, my sister and I are both taking our best friends with us so I’m expecting it to be the best trip yet. Maybe this time I’ll be a little smarter and not put breakable items under the plane!

Cheer CHEER Cheer...

Last night I had cheer practice for my competitive team and it got me really excited for January! January is when we start competing and going to competitions. Our routine is looking awesome and we are almost half-way through learning it. The tumbling run is five eight counts and it looks so sweet! My favorite part of the routine so far is the jumps because we have three jumps connected followed immediately by back handsprings. I have five coaches and one of them was my high school coach so I think thats pretty cool. They are all really talented so iI feel lucky to have them all! I had SWIC practice tonight and it went really good too. We have fall try-outs next Thursday so we practiced the cheer we are going to teach them for their try-out. After practice my coach took us all out for ice cream! It was so good I got a chocolate frosty. Saturday morning my squad is volunteering at a 5k in Troy. We are going to hand out water to the runners. I’m kinda excited except for the fact that I have to get there at six in the morning! Hopefully it will be fun though!

About Me

My name is Carla and I am eighteen years old. I went to high school in Waterloo at Gibault. I love to cheer, I cheered all through high school and I am currently cheering for Southwestern Illinois College and a competitive team. I plan on transferring to Bradley University next year and cheering for them, as well as getting into the physical therapy program there. My goal is to be a physical therapist at St. Louis Children's Hospital when I'm done with school. In my free time I like to hang out with my friends, work out, spend time with my family, and volunteer at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. I am the eighth child in my family so I have a lot of nieces and nephews that I love to spend time with. I have two little Chihuahua dogs named Lu-Lu and Pumpkin. They are the cutest dogs ever and have been a part of my family since I was little. I work at the Monroe County YMCA and at the Power Haus cheer and dance gym. I coach two competitive hip hop teams at Power Haus and I work summer day camp at the YMCA. I also work in the Children’s Center at the YMCA sometimes but not as much now that school has started.

Team USA