Natalee Fuller

My HLP had a major milestone occur last week. She passed the PMP certification, so I thought it was fitting to throw her a PiMP party! Did you know for 60 bucks you can get a 6-barrel keg of Sun King?! 40 pints for $60! I don't even drink beer but I was excited for our guests.

It actually was a surprise party that truly resulted in a surprise. I thought she may have sharted herself based on the look on her face. When she opened the door, we made it rain on her pimp-style with fake $20 bills. I glued her smiling face on about 100 of them to make it even more pimp-ish.

And so everyone felt like a pimp, I wrote "Who's a Pimp?" "This guy!" message on the bathroom mirror and left the dry erase markers in there for others to use. And they did. It was not PG by the end of the night.

Good times.

I say I'm an official fisherman. CS says not until I put my own worm on the hook. Whatever. I had on my truckin' hat, cast the line and caught this lil' guy all on my own!

When you are awesome, awesome stuff like this happens to you...

... well, not me. I am awesome, but it happened to my equally awesome friend. In Indy. Amaze-balls. It came to me with the text message "Knew you'd appreciate it. And yes, I asked him to pose." What the hell mobile vehicle did this dude get out of at a gas station?!

I was never a Girl Scout, so earning badges isn't getting old yet! Earned this one recently.

How did I earn it you ask? I earned it by Prancercising.

Thanks Fitbit!

I walked into "my" Marsh today to find this...

No more driving over to Westfield for my salads!

Have you met Buttermilk yet? If not, I bet you fall in love. Parkour!

I thought this was the best game I'd seen...

Until I found this gem tonight....

Holy shit I'm excited. And it's free! And... why didn't I think of this for 99 cents?! Damn you brain power!

Guy walks by at Wal-mart and says "I don't think you are getting anything else in there."

Oh yes sir, we will.

These schmoe's were victorious at game night - Battle Of The Sexes.

Tasting victory...

2012

Stepped up my commitment to my company's involvement in the Broad Ripple Art Fair this year. They need a chair, I was there. As chairman of the volunteers. I had one cancellation all weekend! Pretty awesome people we had working. I met a new friend named George.

I was excited to hit the Emerging Artist section again. A lady from last year was still emerging, so I bought a sister piece to the desk organizer I bought last year. I love them!

I also saw this plate-thing that had a very cool shape and pattern.

It's replacing the spoon dish on my stove top that was a 2011 purchase. The 2011 piece is currently being tested out in different spots of my home until it finds its new resting place!

Never know what you find at the Circle!

My mascot fetish is catching on... 2 of the 3 people I was with made me take their picture with Boomer too! They were passing out beads and "Beat the Heat" signs. It's playoff time!!

CS was down a mower and a tractor, so I offered to help him fix the mower. And by fix, I mean google shit about fixing mowers. After he diagnosed the problem to the engine not getting fuel after it would start, I started my searching. One Q&A site pointed us to a screw that holds the fuel bowl on. It said it had needle size holes in it that likely needed cleaned out. Really? After removing the fuel bowl and the rubber washer from the screw, there it was. Literally only a safety pin fit through the hole that had gunk in it. Reassemble, pull the cord, and BAM! It started up and kept going! So while CS turned his attention to the tractor (and no, the tractor isn't sexy), I offered to mow the yard. I'm free labor, use it! I hadn't mowed a lawn since high school. And with a push mower!

I logged exactly 1 mile to almost finish the yard. The back was a bit thick and after restarting the mower 4 times, I was done. I felt like it was a job well done. Minus the GPS showing me mowing the street and his front door. Silly technology.

I don't know who makes this stuff, but please keep making it. Always in Jumbo size too! Who doesn't need one of these at their work desk? I knew someone that did.

I'm still waiting on my thank you card. Meow.

I signed up to go see Jillian Michaels with a girl friend last week. I'm not a big fan of the Biggest Loser and didn't know much about her either. I was just interested in a new learning opportunity. Turned out, my date couldn't make it because she had to travel for work, so I was left to find a new one. I figured KV could use a night out, so she joined me for the show. We were ready to Maximize Our Lives!

The show was divided into 3 sets....

Science - This part was all about eating habits. She went through food labels describing the top 5 ingredients you don't want to see on labels. An interesting point she made was about all the different sugar variations that are used because if companies just used "sugar" it would have to be listed first. So instead they use a ton of different varieties... Glucose, sucrose, this list went on. Another good point she made was about "value" meals at certain fast food joints. How much "value" can you really get for a buck?! How quality is that meal that you are buying for 100 pennies? It can't be quality and it can't be good for you. Instead the money you think you are saving, you will later spend on medical bills from the illnesses you'll eventually come down with.

A few other interesting points

• Serving sizes on drinks - There was an apple juice bottle that had 2.5 servings in it.  Who shares a bottled drink these days?
• Animals getting hormones - Showed pictures of cows shot up with hormones to keep them alive until slaughter. She gave a shout out to Indy's new Punch Burger restaurant because they had grass fed cows. Pictures were shocking.
• Organic shopping - Don't have to buy all organic. Buy the thin skinned fruits and veggies as organic. Thick skinned ones stand up better to the pesticides.

Sweat - Jillian said the big secret............... Eat less. Move more.

I totally agree. For me, food is fuel. My philosophy is to approach food as individual calories. You start to think about having to burn those calories. If you don't burn it, it's stays with you as pounds. Now for the math portion. 1 pound = 3500 calories. You have to net burn through 3500 calories to lose one single pound. That seems daunting for anyone I imagine. So how do you break it down? Start with BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate. 

BMR is the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. I stand by the importance of this number. Not BMI. BMI is a waste. My definition of BMR is how many calories you can eat without worry. Mine is 1400. She then had you pick your activity level 1-4. 1 = sedentary activity, 2 = low active, 3 = active, 4 = very active. Picking your activity level will get you your AMR - Active Metabolic Rate, the number of calories you burn in a day. BMR multiplied by 1.#activity level = AMR. Even if I have a low active 2 day, my AMR works out to be 1680. 

AMR becomes your maintenance number. To maintain your current weight, that's the number of calories to eat. So if you want to lose weight, you either eat less or move more. Simple! All of this I already knew, but it was a good reminder to hear it from another source. Proves the concept is legit. The new number I learned to add to my calculations was my THR, target heart rate. JM wants you to work out at 85% effort level. For this calculation you subtract your age from 220 then multiply by .85. Mine works out to 26.2 beats for a 10 sec period. I'll be checking this frequently in my workouts now.

Self - I got more out of this portion that I thought I would. KV and I had discussed leaving early but ended up really digging what JM was saying. A few highlights:

• Don't start conversations with a "you" statement. This is something I am actively trying to do in my interactions now. 
• Own your past. To understand who you are, you have to understand where you came from. This is hard for lots of people to face, but if you sift through the rubble and own up to your past, you'll be able to move beyond it.
• Build willpower by thinking things through. She related this mostly to skipping desserts and drive thrus, but for me it can relate to any behavior that deals with instant gratification. 

Best part, JM didn't push her products on us at all! If she comes to your city, it's worth the ticket price. Well, our ticket price was under $30 and we were upgraded when we got to the show! So overall, that made the show an A+ for me!

Previously.

It's that time of year again! #6 for Mom, #12 for me. Holy cow, those are some numbers! We arrived just on time to get in our corral, hits some balls, and trot to the start!

A bunch of other runners had belts full of water, juice, and fuel. I was armed with the "Mama Belt". Umbrella, check. Banana, check.

Always a highlight to see, the elephants were out welcoming us to mile 1. Baby Peanut!

Mom was definitely in the spirit of fun for the race. Usually there is a group of firemen in suits. This day, we found a solo one. Ready for the camera... she puts her arm around the guy but his tank was in the way, so her hand was directed lower to the buttocks. The guy says "Did you know you are grabbing my butt?" Yes sir I do, because your tank is in the way!

For the past 2 years, Mom has been 1 minute slower overall at finishing this race. So my goal was to not let that happen this year. I was keeping a 16:20/mile pace in my head. Then I remembered, I was now a smart phone owner. Use your resources!

I took a screen shot of the pace chart so I would know if we were ahead of the game. And we were. I'm not allowed to tell Mom where we are at mileage-wise while on the course. It is a mood buster some times. So I just say "We're doing great!" To also keep our mood up, we ran into several friends along the course. She saw a local friend at mile 2. JV said hi at mile 3. PR joined us at mile 4, so we were in good company! At the track, I had my first "new" mascot sighting, the Cowardly Lion!

As we cruise off the track, I kept checking the pace. We were still 7 minutes ahead of pace, even with our first and only bathroom break! Mom was in high gear! And not stopping! She was figuring out her groove and would start running to change up the muscle memory we'd built up over the miles. I was truly impressed! She was rocking it! ROCKED IT all the way to the finish with a 3h 23m PR!!! No more 1 minute slower, 1 year older formula for this chick! She was 9 minutes faster than ever!

She employed the "Fuller Training Program" (patent pending) this year and it paid off. My methods work, but can't be explained. Don't question us.

Proud of my Mom! Still rocking out with her umbrella out!

No clue what this elephant represented. Well, other than mascot awesomeness, no clue.