Another Hobby!

Aside from taking care of my small children and creating jewelry, I workout 6 days a week , 45 mins a day. I began this workout regimen 2 years ago after deciding to get my body and health in shape.

I have so many people ask me, how do I find the time to workout, what type of workouts do I perform and why do I workout. Well, I am posting my responses here on my blog.

First question, how do I find the time - my answer - I do not find the time, I make the time. When I first decided to workout, I had a 1 year old and a 5 year old and very little time. Nevertheless, I knew the time to get my body in shape had come and I had to figure a way to squeeze in exercise.

I started to workout at home with Taebo DVD's, http://www.billyblanks.com/ I exercised when my little girl napped, at night, or whenever I felt I had a solid 45 mins. At times, I would get up very early in the morning and exercise while everyone was asleep. Taebo workouts were incredible. I learned how to workout properly and effectively. The workouts were fast paced and challenging. They helped me burn an average of 450 calories per day. My favorite Taebo DVD was the Get Ripped Series. For 7 months, the Get Ripped Series, pushed me way beyond my expectations.

Second question, what types of workouts do I perform - my answer - For a year I was really into cardio. However, I recently learned the importance of resistance or strength training and incorporated training with weights into my workouts.

The following links are helpful in understanding the importance of resistance or strength training.

http://www.nwhealth.edu/healthyU/getMoving/resistance.html

http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/workouts/benefits-of-strength-training.aspx

I never did strength training. I always shied away from picking up weights, However, let me say, I now love it. I see a huge change in my body because of strength training. I feel healthier and stronger. I am toned in areas I never thought possible.

Currently, I do strength training with dumbbells 3 days a week for 45 mins. I use DVD's from Jari Love http://www.rippedworkout.ca/. These workouts are phenomenal for challenging muscles I never knew I had.

I also do a push up workout inspired by this website http://hundredpushups.com/. I must say, push ups are the best for toning your upper body. Push ups also help me burn tough hard to get rid calories.

As far as cardio or aerobic workouts, as I mentioned before, at home fitness DVD's were my only option due to my children still at home and having no child care alternatives. However, now that my children are older, I now attend gym classes 3 days a week. Attending gym classes are very motivating and also break the body plateau gained from performing the same workout routines.

I also keep track of my target heart rate. Tracking my heart rate helps me stay focused and pushes my performance. I found these articles very helpful in learning how to track my heart rate.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5139_calculate-training-heart.html

http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/l/aa022601a.htm

http://www.extremebodyworkout.com/blog/2008/09/29/what-is-my-target-heart-rate-for-weight-loss/


Last question - why do I workout - my answer - I need too. I truly believe that my body is the most important thing I have and I intend on taking good care of it. I intend on keep it as strong and functional as I possibly can. There are no excuses for me.

For anyone who intends on working out, check with your physician prior to beginning any workout regimen. Also, start slow. Make sure you live, love and enjoy taking care of your body and health.

Created my New Etsy Banner!

The last couple of days I have been trying to figure out how to improve my http://www.junucreations.etsy.com/ banner. I was about to purchase a pre-made banner, however, I frequently change my mind and thus a purchased banner would not suit my personality. Therefore, I went about learning how to create my own.

I first googled - how to create an Etsy banner and web results were very helpful in starting me off. Web results included creating and changing my banner background. OK, I did stumbled on this. How was I going to create an appealing background for my banner. I am not a graphic designer. Then I realized, I could download a background and use http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php to create my banner. I searched on the web for free backgrounds and saved them. I used Photoscape to re size my background. I believe the size for an Etsy banner is 760x100. Once I re sized my saved banner I entered my shop name using fonts I downloaded from http://www.dafont.com/.

I was very satisfied with conquering this task. I am now able to improve my shop and hopefully create a huge audience.

I Have Been Promoting My Handcrafted Items

I have been promoting like crazy! Hopefully all the promotion will turn into lots of sales.

I am sharing what type of promotions tactics.

For Twitter - www.twitter.com/junucreations, I update almost everyday. I update mainly about items I am passionate about. Believe it or not I mainly tweet about personal opinions. I try not to tweet to many listings because then I' ll lose followers.

I also use twitter applications to help me manage twitter.

www.hootsuite.com is a great twitter manager and www.huitter.com/mutuality is a great tool for viewing who is not following you.

This thread on etsy.com was also great for tips on boosting twitter followers - http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6127828


I created the following thread on etsy.com to get an idea of social sites that have brought in traffic http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6135817

I noticed that a lot of members recommended Flickr.com, so I created an account - www.flickr.com/junucreation. I have found that Flickr is a great way to show off your items. I love that I can display photos of my items without limitations. Flickr also gives you the capabilities of automatic photo sharing with other social site.

Additionally, you can join groups within Flickr.com and post your photos within those groups.

All in all any social site that allows me to show off my creations and hopefully gain a sale, I will use it.

My next venture will be to work on this blog further and facebook. I will post my results soon.

Lots of Luck.

My Creation Collection

My Twitter Background
Originally uploaded by junucreations

These are some of my favorite creations. Every single piece was handmade. I love making them all!

I am so excited the warm weather is about to arrive here in NYC. The warm weather makes feel so alive. I adore being outdoors in my flip flops.

So many wonderful activities to do outside in the warm weather. For instance, me and my family love hanging out in NYC. We spend the entire day walking, eating, shopping and site seeing. We are so entertained by they fascinating things we see in NYC.

The warm weather is also exciting because it creates the long waited opportunity of showing off your latest fashions. Finally, I can show off my creations.

Check out my latest earrings at www.junucreations.etsy.com

Go on wear them...

Have you worn these earrings yet? They are beautiful. Did you know they are made with sterling silver and the mystic black pearls are from Swarovski. JuNu Creations handcrafted them elegantly.

You have to wear these.

What do you mean you do not know when it is the right time to wear them. That is crazy!

Wear them now. Go on put them on.

You see, look at that smile on your face. I knew they would look stunning.

(available at www.junucreations.etsy.com)

Some tips on increasing twitter followers.

I have noticed that the two following methods have help me in increasing my followers.

1. Researching fellow twitters that have similar interest. You can use the following directories to do your research, http://wefollow.com/, http://www.tweetfind.com/, http://www.tweetwheel.com/, http://www.twitterlinkup.com/, http://www.twitterpassion.com/ or http://www.twellow.com/

I know researching takes time, however it is worth it. You will find so many people to follow and maybe if you have an online business, you will increase your sales.

2. Follow people with low followers, they are more willing to click on your link

Thats all I have found for now.

follow me http://www.twitter.com/junucreations