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Oh hey. I have a fight.

Technically it is a Muay Thai tournament. And I have ALWAYS wanted to do one. But there is nothing like this up north. So guess we just have to travel to Orlando.

In 3 days 🙂

It has been 3 years since I have done any competition and it feels like no time has passed. I always have trained hard, even through the pandemic. But my style has shifted so much in the years following my son. Ground work throws my back out, so I gravitate to stand up. Especially after losing my only thai fight before. I finally spent time learning the rules and the differences between kickboxing and Muay Thai; I really feel good. I will always be a more kickboxing style fighter (sorry not sorry), but I can see where I need to improve for specifically Muay Thai. Clinch needs to be tighter, my showman ship needs to change; take forward steps, not bounce around etc.
*and please do not try and double leg her *

But I feel good. I am so ready to get back in.

Mentally I still feel fucked, but I just love fighting and feel ready for that again. The past 2 years have really been a trying time. Between all of my grandparents dying. One of my close friends and my brother’s father dying. Changing gyms, and then that gym shut down for Covid. Some violent traumatic events occurring for several months. Moving out of our place without a new one lined up(it worked out amazingly actually) and now drama at our home gym causing us to leave days before my fight. We can call it a really bad line up of events.

But I am still so excited to fight. Let’s just pray my toddler doesn’t act like an idiot while we are there. Or run away. Cause we have no sitter for this fight lol.

Thank you to anyone that read this far. And also thank you to all of my amazing sponsors.

Santiago’s in Hampton NH
KB’s Bagels in Hamptons
Bean Insurance agency in Hampton
Chucky’s fight
Theme It Out events
Logue Construction in Hampton
AK Property Services

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New Year, New Gym

I have a new gym!

And no, not new like “new year new me” temporary new gym. Me and my husband are renting space to have our own gym to train clients out of. Right now we just a have a few classes, but hoping to find other trainers to join in and fulfill their passions.

I have been a group fitness/ martial arts instructor for around 6 years cumulatively. I very much enjoy teaching others, and helping them to find themselves. Not everyone wants to fight, but pretty much everyone needs to hit a heavy bag once in a while for stress. I can teach you how to do that properly and safely. As well as a truck load of other things.

I offer group training and personal training, at my gym, virtually, or at your house. As well as my women’s only beginner kickboxing classes; every Wednesday at 9am and Thursday at 6pm.

My Husband is also teaching Muay Thai here on Tuesdays. Each week we add a little more equipment to the space. Slowly and surely coming together!

Check out my classes here.

 

 

 

The cafe we are  inside of is the best healthy place a round. So make sure if you are in the Hampton NH area you check out Hampton Nutrition.  They have some bomb tea drinks and salads here.  

We used our old fight shirts to line the back wall, and added some of our medals too(it was so bare and white as you can see). Hopefully going to add some funky lighting next and posters too. 

We had pretty much all of the gear from traveling and training, but we are trying to make it look good and like a nice boutique place. Soon we will have a wall instead of curtains.

I am just so excited. I want to teach and coach other women. Not just to be fighters but to feel strong and powerful.

I get my leggings from Grrrl. In case you are wondering.

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DIY Heavy Bag

April 11 2020… what the hell man.

So by now you all have been stuck without a gym or training partners and probably finding all of the craziest ways to turn your furniture into gym equipment (or bjj buddies).

I’m adding to your DIY quarantine list… DIY Heavy Bag!

So I got some of this idea from my fiance, who did this previously in the army.

Supplies:
A canvas duffel bag. (I used my fiance’s old army bag)
5 rolls or more of duck tape
Heavy duty rope to support the bag weight.
A screw hook to hang the bag. That is heavy duty to hold the bag weight.
Sawdust, cat litter, sand, anything to fill the bag depending on how heavy you want it. (My fiance said he used old scrap clothes in his bag).

I was lucky to have all of these supplies at my house. I didn’t need to purchase anything. I would consider your budget before making a diy one like this. Because if you end up buying all of the supplies new, you might as well just buy a heavy bag.

Step 1:

Grab  your duffel bag and check to make sure all seams are properly stitched and strong. You may need to flip you bag inside out to stitch any parts. Take off any extra buckles or metal parts or straps. If your bag does not tie on the end like a military sea bag, you will need to keep some buckles and straps to use to hold your bag up.

Step 2:

Fill you bag up! I used sawdust from fresh cut trees by my house. It is light enough to not kill you when you carry and hang it, but dense enough to stay put when you punch. 
If you use sand just make sure you can carry the bag and place it on your hook. It will be super heavy FYI. Cat litter can work, or even old clothes like Keegan did.

Step 3:

Once you fill your bag tie it up tight, reinforce if need be. Then attach the rope needed to hang it. If you do not have a top tying bag (like a typical military seabag/duffel bag) You will need to fasten your rope to the bag. Depending on what style bag you have, you could wrap rope through buckles, and tie it around the middle/top before hanging. You will just need to use extra duck tape to cover buckles and rope. I would also suggest sewing them in to reinforce. My bag already had a decent amount of thick rope at the top (they are drawstrings). So I did not need extra rope for this.

Step 4:

Once you have a filled bag, with rope attached to the top, and it is secure. No you can cover it in duck tape. Mine took about 5 rolls of tape. I used all of the fun patterns that I had hanging around the house that I never had the use for. Finally those weird tape rolls got used!

Make sure you really cover all of it 🙂

Step 5:

Now with your bag all set, time to put that hook in the wall. I had a hammock hook that was outside already. So make sure when you find a place, you are using a very sturdy beam in your house/ basement/ porch etc. Screw it in and make sure it is sturdy!

Step 6:

Time to hang your bag! You might need a hand with this depending on how big the bag is. Once you hang it up, it is good to go! TIP: You may need to add some extra ducktape once you hang it up.

You can find these bad ass leggings HERE

Next up is a longer DIY kicking heavy bag from old truck tires! 😉

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My First Thai fight and First loss

I have to be honest with myself and everyone. I did not want to compete in my most recent fight. I have not wanted to do much since, well, 9 months?

Call it postponed postpartum depression, hormone changes, or whatever. But I just am not me since having Klaus. Some days I am okay. And even when I am at the gym I can be mostly okay. But something just has not been right in my brain for a long time.

Which leads me to fighting. Fighting is and always has been my jam. Since the ripe age of 13. Give me any martial art and I will excel, fast. I am just naturally talented and have always been good at any of the arts. I know this, and yet, everyday at the gym I tell myself I am worthless trash. Sounds harsh and ridiculous, I know. Trust and believe, I know. I swear I have arguments with this voice in my head sometimes. Good versus bad. Darkness versus the light.  And this is not just secluded to me and martial arts. I am this way with my businesses, being a mom, anything. I always have a terrible little voice inside trying to make me quit, give up. I just never do. I have will power from the Gods, truly.

But that doesn’t mean its any less taxing on my mental state. I strive for an unattainable perfection in all aspects. So when I need to sacrifice part of me to achieve some other goal. I fall apart.

For instance:

My fights since having Klaus came at a time when both me and Keegan left our safe, full time jobs, to follow our hearts and start businesses. Literally after having a baby. Crazy? Yes. Fun? maybe?….

So I tried to put my heart into being a new mom, a new business owner, a fighter, and MANY other side projects.

I have been stretching myself and Keegan so thin we started to dislike each other. We never fought until the last year. And now between parenting, both businesses, him being my fighting coach, and me helping him reach fight goals, we just couldn’t hang.

So now that you get the mental picture, all this going on behind the hazel eyes and smiling face. Some of you can see what was going on, and to that I thank you for silently helping me and always being there.  Ya’ll rock.

This fight was just off. I mentally checked out of existing months ago. I just needed help and thought that if I made others happy, then I would be happy and find myself again. So I pushed and took a fight without passion. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE fighting. And it has been my dream to take a Thai fight. I just wish I waited until I was mentally there and not on a downward spiral into what could be another remake of the movie SuckerPunch.

I pushed, and trained hard. I dieted. I ran miles. I did all the hard work for a fight, physically. I really did. Fuck do I hate running. But I did it all. If I couldn’t be here mentally, I would be here physically. I was never nervous until the hours leading to my fight backstage. I just didn’t want to be there. I have never been afraid of pain. I never will. I welcome it. But the anxiety, stress and depression of “doing all the things” was worse than giving birth.

Fight day came and  I had a million work emails, people looking for me and relying on me for their weddings, events, businesses etc. I just wanted to leave. I felt guilty. And the moment I realized I didn’t give a crap about this fight, all I cared about is emailing clients after, and the events I have coming up, and all the stuff  that has been weighing me down, is when I knew I wasn’t going to win. I may be a really good and technical fighter, but none of that was showcased. And I knew it before I walked in.

Shit happens and life goes on. And I am not sorry I lost. I learned. I am a better fighter, and anyone knows that if they know me. But they might not know what demons I have going on. And that I was not handling them well.

I am learning to figure that all out as we go.

For now I need to prioritize my business and making money. I have house buying goals, weddings to plan, fighters to help, and shit to do. I will be back in there at some point when I am not silently screaming and floundering around like a entrepreneur fish out of too-much-shit-going on- water.

So now I feel a weight lifted. I don’t have the pressure to fight. I can finally enjoy it again. That is something I missed.

See you on the mats bitches.

 

p.s. Don’t treat an amateur Thai fight like an MMA fight. You lose a lot of points

 

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Dyper.. and Diapering

Howdy, says WordPress.

It is 5am and I have been up working on my laptop. I was going through pictures of Klaus to send to a clothing company Tailoring Tots.. (more on that later) When I realized he is pretty much never wearing pants. And always is showing off his badass diapers.

Which is why I want to talk about them. I chose to use cloth diapers for at home changing when I found out I was pregnant. Mostly to save cost and also to save the environment. I will probably make a blog post at some point talking about that later. But I didn’t know what to use for disposable. I know I absolutely did not want Pampers or Huggies, or other crap like that. So I tried all the natural eco friendly ones I could find. Some leaked, some were fine, but all were still not 100% eco and they all were expensive.

After some research, and instagram ads, I found  Dyper.

No chlorine, latex, alcohol, perfumes, PVC, lotions, TBT or Phthalates. They have no prints, so there’s no ink to worry about. They’re soft to the touch, yet extremely durable and absorbent. YES REALLY HOLY SHIT.

The diapers are made with viscose fibers from responsibly sourced Bamboo and packed in clear bags made with oxo-biodegradable materials. With proper care, diapers can be safely composted at home or in third-party commercial composting facilities where available. Every month, they purchase carbon offsets on behalf of our subscribers to help reforestation efforts.

Every day, all of us release planet-warming emissions into the atmosphere. The good news, we can also reduce it. When you subscribe to these diapers, you’re not just taking a stand against carbon—you’re joining a special community dedicated to a cooler planet and healthier lives for people around the world.

I have 4 certificates of Carbon Offsets

What’s more important than your baby…nothing right? It’s hard to get THE best when you’re on a budget and even harder when you’re broke. Introducing DYPER, the world’s best deal on awesome eco-friendly diapers that are more absorbent and way softer than the ones you are using…guaranteed or your money back! Subscribe today for $64/month and get a Free Diaper Bag for signing up!

I received my own diaper bag in June and it is the best I have found. I wish I could buy another to have for my Germany trip coming up.

I HIGHLY suggest checking them out. They are the absolute best diapers I have used and are so much better for the world. I have yet to try composting them, but I might just do that soon.

Check them out HERE.