Super Bowl XLVII

This Sunday at 6:30pm, the Baltimore Ravens will battle the San Francisco 49s in Super Bowl XLVII!!! If someone never watches any other football games during the NFL season, you can find many Americans tuning in to the Super Bowl every year for several reasons:
1. You're a fan of one of the teams that is playing.
2. You entered into a pool at work trying to predict who will win the game and what the score at the end of each quarter will be.
3. You're just a football fan...period. 
4. You want to watch the commercials.
 ............And if none of those reasons interest you, at least tune in this year since Beyonce is preforming the half time show!!




The Super Bowl is also a time that calls for a huge celebration also known as a "Super Bowl Party".  This is a huge deal for Americans across the country as people get together to watch the big game and often times prefer to do it with lots of friends and lots of food! Before I became a football fan, I will admit I most certainly would go to a Super Bowl party even though I had no interest in watching the game.  I went because I just love a good party!

These parties can also wreak havoc on your new years revolutions of trying to lose weight and stay in shape. Most of the foods on the menu include lots of high calorie dishes with lots of carbs.  You've been working really hard all month hitting the gym consistently, trying to eat right, and then you tell yourself "I'm going to this party and today will be a "cheat day".  Oh "cheat day"! I'm actually starting to notice just how deceptive that term really is! We con ourselves into believing it's ok to go overboard and just eat and drink whatever we want in the name of a cheat day.  Then we believe we can just hit the gym and reverse the damage we have just committed.  Well how about this, here is a list of dishes that you can indulge in at your Super Bowl party, enjoy yourself, and not feel guilty or feel the need to consider it a "cheat day". And your guests probably won't even notice their eating "guilt free" dishes while you're enjoying this festive occasion!!

#1 Buffalo Wings 
What's a SB party without buffalo wings?? Well I was watching the cooking channel the other day and came across Paula Dean's son Bobby Flay's show! He makes dishes that his mom makes, but he uses ingredients that are better for your waist line and slashes tons of calories that would normally go into the dishes from Paula's recipes.  Here is Bobby's recipe for buffalo wings and it also includes a cheese dip that is also low cal to enjoy with them instead of using traditional Ranch or Bleu Cheese.
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/bobby-deen/bobbys-buffalo-wings-with-tangy-cheese-dip.html

#2 Game Day Chili
With temperatures dropping, chili is always a winter favorite! It's also super easy to make in your crock pot or on the stove and it's filling! You can get more bang for your buck and your guests will feel full and satisfied!  Bobby suggests using sour cream and cheddar cheese to top it off, but if you're looking for an even lower calorie alternative, use plain Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream, and you can use a lower fat cheese like mozzarella or shredded Swiss to top it off! 
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/kelsey-nixon/game-day-chili.html

#3 Skinny Spinach and Artichoke Dip
I have found a few pretty good recipes on a website called skinnytaste.com.  This website specializes in recipes that are low in fat! Now a good spin dip is one of my personal favorites and it definitely is a good football party food! I also know spin dip can pack a lot of calories and fat due to it being a creamy food! Here is a recipe I found on Skinny Taste that will provide lots of flavor without the cost of sacrificing tons of fat!
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/hot-spinach-and-artichoke-dip.html

#4 Beer
What's football without beer?? I think that's a must at a Super Bowl party or at least it goes hand and hand while you're spectating right!? We also know beer can be a quick way to put on the pounds and also can help you acquire that infamous "beer belly" if you drink enough of it! Women's and Men's Health Magazine has a segment from Eat This, Not That on their websites that have been very helpful when trying to make good food choices. Their websites are Women's Health and Men's Health.
Either way, Men's Health provided a list of the 40 Best and Worst Beers to drink.  Take a look at the list and see if your favorite makes or doesn't make the best list cut!
www.eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/slideshow-best-beers
The list starts off with the worst then gets to the best!

Here is another link for more dishes on Skinny Taste that you may want to check out for your party!
http://www.skinnytaste.com/search/label/Superbowl%20Recipes

So there you have a list of eats and a complete list of the best of the drinks! This should allow you to have a great time at your party, eat, drink, be merry, and not worry too much about reversing all of your hard work that you put in at the gym! Remember this key word though: MODERATION!  

Enjoy your party and GO RAVENS!!!! :)

Week 3....DONE!!!

I'm so excited that it's Friday and on top of that WEEK 3 IS DONE!!! This week has been a pretty good workout week.  It's been a short work week due to inclement weather, so this has given me an opportunity to be fully rested and ready to tackle my daily workouts! Although I haven't had to go to work yesterday or today, I still got up early to complete my Ripped in 30 morning workout!

This week, Jillian was coming for the quads!! She targets the same muscle groups because she finds this to be highly effective.  I agree, I'm looking rather snazzy and I'm pleased with the results of sticking to this workout AND eating clean! I will admit, I have dreaded the week 3 workouts because it's really hard getting down low doing some of the moves she came up with.  I'm 5'11 so being really tall and having to do all this quad work can be very challenging! All in all, I pushed through and I'm so proud to say I DID IT!!!

This week I also downloaded an app to my phone called "Lose It".  Apparently it's highly similar to the "My Fitness Pal" (MFP) app.  I used to have MFP before, but I deleted it because I didn't feel like logging the foods I was eating.  Lose It has a convenient feature where you can scan the barcode on your food packages and the app will automatically figure out all the nutritional information! Sweeet!!!! I've been having a really good time with this feature! According to friends, MFP also has this feature, so either app will work if you're interested in logging what you're eating to hold you accountable!

Weight progress for the week: I weighed myself earlier this week and I am down to 184.5!!! That takes me down to a whopping 11.5 pounds lost since I started working out at the end of October (I was 196.0). These pounds are logged at my gym which I go to around 3-4pm every day.  Now my scale at home (I weigh myself first thing in the morning, naked) said I was 181 pounds.  As the week has progressed, I have hopped on the home scale and the numbers have seemed to increase a tad (roughly to about 183).  Now this kind of made me nervous because I know it's not what I'm eating that's causing me to gain.  I've been sticking to a very clean diet, so what's going on here?? I'm guessing it's muscle gain and I'm ok with that.

Some of my goals are to make my glutes bigger and more round, and to tone and rip my entire body! With that being said, I know I'm going to put on muscle weight.  If I want the glutes to get bigger, I'm going to have to squat and do Romanian dead lifts with a heavier weight. Heavier weight obviously equals me gaining weight.  To keep my sanity, I have decided that I'm not going to focus too much on what the scale is saying (even though I will continue to weigh myself at least once/week and log that number), and start focusing mainly on how my clothes are fitting.

Thus far, none of my clothes are to small (other than a few items that had BEEN too small ages ago) and the majority of them are actually getting to be too big and frompy! I have a few items that I consider "goal" clothes and I am proud to say I have 2 dresses that were way too small (one didn't even zip) and now they fit!! I wore one of them to a birthday party back in November and the dress was SO TIGHT that I could barely sit down!!! I struggled with getting it zipped and even considered just wearing it unzipped and having my friend help me once I got to the party (oh the things we go through to be "cute").  I finally got it on my own, but it was quite uncomfortable! I plan to wear this dress tomorrow to a function I'm going to and I'll take pics and post!! The other dress still has the tag on it, but it's definitely ready to be worn if I so desire!

Yay for progress!!! Week 4 is coming up and Jillian is calling it "the mother of all workouts"!! I'm a little nervous, but Jillian gets the job done and I'm up for the challenge!

Happy Friday to you all! Enjoy your weekend and be safe!! :)

Snow Day!!!!

It appears to be that January and Mother Nature are really getting to work and delivering us some true winter weather out here in Central Virginia! For the past couple of mornings, I've been extremely motivated to get up before my alarm goes off to get downstairs and complete yet another day of my Ripped in 30 DVD by Jillian Michaels.  I've been going to bed rather early and mentally preparing myself to rise at 5:00am and exercise.  Last night I went to bed at a fairly reasonable hour, but this morning I was dog tired!! I was awakened by my alarm and couldn't believe the hour had come to get up.  I laid in bed for a few minutes trying to collect myself and then the self talk began.

Of course, I first tried to talk myself out of working out. I was so tired and on top of that...I'm SORE!! I've been going rather hard in the gym and my body is really feeling it! Just yesterday, I taught a classroom guidance lesson to my 4th graders about perseverance.  We did an activity where I had the kids think of something they really wanted to achieve and they were instructed to write this down in the middle of their paper.  On the left side, I told them to write down any negative thoughts they may have or any negative things someone might say to them to discourage them from achieving their goal.  On the right side, I told them to write down as many positive thoughts or encouraging words that would push them towards continuing to work towards the goal even though it's hard.  This morning, I thought about that activity and encouraged myself to get up and get it done even though I was tired.

I felt amazing after I was done! I felt a true sense of accomplishment and felt powerful! Stronger even! As soon as I got back upstairs to prepare to get ready to go to work, I get a text from 3 of my coworkers saying school is closed!! I had no idea we were expecting a snow storm...well I heard it was supposed to start tomorrow after school had let out .  Looks like Mother Nature psyched us out and came a little early!

So now I have the day off and I've already got my workout in for the day! Talk about feeling AMAZING!!! I have the rest of the day to do what I want to do and just lounge around the house! I will be getting some work done for school (hopefully....work at home rarely gets done over here).  All of my meals are already planned out for the day since had we gone to school today, I had a full day and a meeting after school that wouldn't get me back home until after 7pm. So that meant I would be traveling with morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. So today is all about relaxing, enjoying some me time, and I will commit to getting some work done for school.

If you're off today, what are you getting into? If you're traveling to and from work, please be safe out there if the roads are hazardous! Whatever you do, be safe, stay warm, and have a fantastic day!

Joy, peace, deliverance, salvation is free....

Happy Sunday everyone! When I was growing up, I attended a small church in Richmond, Virginia and at the closing of every service, we sang a song called "Come to Jesus" also known as The Invitation.  This song was sang to as the doors of the church were opened to invite people to come join our church or give their lives to Christ.  The song went like this:

"Jesus is watching and waiting for you. Willing and able, to see you through. No need to worry, he knows what to do. I'm here to tell you, there's a miracle for you.  
He gives rest for the weary and strength for the lame. He's passing out blessings, there's one with your name. Joy, peace, deliverance, salvation is free. Come to Jesus, he's all you need."

As a child, I would sing this song with the rest of the congregation and I remembered the words long after I stopped attending the church, but they never really sank in until I had a conversation with a friend the other day.  During the week, my roommate from college and I have prayer in the morning over the phone. We started this in November and every morning we share our prayer requests with each other.  We lift up our own concerns, needs, fears, worries, etc. and we also lift up our friends and family member who may be standing in the need of prayer.  Last week, Lawren had shared what she wanted to pray about and when it was my turn, I thought about what I wanted to pray about. I didn't particularly have any requests for friends or family, and I didn't have any particular issues that I wanted to bring before God either. I thought about it and I said "you know, I just want to thank God for the gift of joy, peace, and deliverance." 

This was a highly profound moment because I realized sometimes I want to lift things up to God like finances, or material things that I may want, but joy, peace, deliverance, and salvation don't have a dollar sign on them.  These are gifts that God gives to us for free, we just have to receive them.  Now you may be thinking, free gifts, who wouldn't take those!? Anything else that's free, we take full advantage of especially if it's something of interest. So who wouldn't want joy, peace, deliverance, or salvation? 

Everyone probably desires these things, but it's not as easy as it seems to just accept these gifts from God.  Sometimes circumstances in our lives hinder us from receiving these gifts.  A lot of times we battle with fully accepting these things because of the warfare that is raging in our minds.  

I am a living testimony that when you really accept and receive these already free gifts from God, your life becomes that much better! 

Let's start with joy: Joy might be confused with happiness at times.  Some people may even think they are synonyms.  In this case, they are not.  I have heard great religious teachers say "happiness is circumstantial, but joy is eternal".  This is definitely true. A lot of times, we define being happy when everything is going well in our lives, when we get what we want, when everything is on the up and up! Joy on the other hand is still possible to have even when everything is falling apart.  When you're not sure how a circumstance is going to turn out.  When you're lonely.  When you're disappointed about something that isn't happening the way you want it to in your life.  The rain will fall on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45) and we all have good days and bad days, but having joy is the ultimate gift to get you through anything that comes your way.

John 15:11 says "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete". 

Romans 15:13 says "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit".

Peace: I used to suffer from being overly anxious.  I say I "suffered" because I just couldn't allow myself to find peace in certain situations.  My friends called me Anxious Annie (yeah, they came up with Frugal Frannie as well lol).  I just couldn't relax and let things happen and be at peace.  This was a MISERABLE feeling!  I wanted to change, but I felt like I couldn't. I felt like it was just a personality flaw.  I also didn't have a solid and real relationship with God during this time.  Since I have welcomed God into my heart and exercise a daily, healthy relationship with him, I have felt the peace of God all around me! 

Philippians 4:6-7 says "Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Deliverance: There have been times when I have needed God to deliver me from some things. A few years ago, there was a situation going on with me that I prayed about regularly to be delivered from. I used to write down my prayers and when I look back over that prayer journal, I see that I prayed about this situation for a whole year.  It took a long time, but I believed God would deliver me and he did. This moment in time was also a period of brokenness for me and it began my journey with having a true relationship with God.  Although I didn't understand it at the time, everything comes together eventually and I am stronger now because of it. 
Psalm 91:14-15 says "Because he loves me, says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver and honor him". 

Salvation: Salvation is defined as "deliverance from sin and its consequences".  When I spoke of deliverance, I meant being delivered from strong holds that try to take over our lives and our minds. It may be a drug addiction, a broken heart, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, financial burdens, etc. Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we will be saved! Every time I think of this, I get chills. I look over my life and see just how unworthy I am to have someone do that for me! That's real love!
Acts 4:12 says "salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved". 

This scripture pretty much sums it all up.  Nothing and no one else can save us, but God! 

No matter what earthly possession you have, these things can't be bought. I felt richly blessed when I acknowledged to my friend that I accept these gifts from God and I receive them as blessings in my life.  Sometimes when we don't have all that we want, we think "I'm not getting blessed, but everyone else around me is".  We may even compare ourselves to what our friends have, their relationship, their material things, etc. but having joy, peace, deliverance, and salvation is a greater gift than any of these things!!  While you're waiting for whatever you're heart desires, accept these gifts that are already available to you. When you see these things as blessings, you won't feel like you have been passed by in the blessing department! You will know just how blessed you really are!! 

Workout DVDs ON SALE!!!

I wasn't planning on posting another blog tonight, but I had to share this information I just stumbled across!!! Now some of you may feel like you want to get in shape and you want to lose weight, but a gym membership is out of your budget. I totally get that! I have put off joining a gym for a long time because I wasn't sure if I was going to use it, and most gyms charge a whopping $50 or more per month for membership.  With the new social security changes to our checks, I'm sure we can all stand to save a dollar or two if you know what I mean!

Well I'm a huge fan of Jillian Michaels which I have talked about in previous posts.  I am also a fan of Bob Harper (from the Biggest Loser).  I have purchased a few of Bob's DVDs in the past either from his website or from local stores like Walmart and Target.  Just your luck, Bob is running a sale on his DVDs right now!! Some of them are 80% off right now!! They are usually priced at $19.99 plus shipping, but right now there are several on sale for ONLY $3.99!!! Talk about a DEAL!! I have purchased two of his DVDs and highly recommend them! I have Beginner's Weight Loss Transformation and Kettlebell Sculpted Body! If you've never used a kettlebell, please look into getting one and getting in on this amazing, dynamic, body sculpting tool!! You can purchase kettlebells at TJ Maxx and Marshall's! They cost about $.99/pound i.e. a 5 lb bell costs you about $4.99 at these stores.  Now I will warn you, neither of these DVDs are for beginners (even though it says it), BUT here's the good news: DO WHAT YOU CAN!!! Go at your own pace and give it all you've got! Start off with either no weights (do only your body weight) and then work your way up to using weights.

If you have the extra cash, I say get all the DVDs because they have never been this low (to my knowledge).  When I bought mine, I got them for $5.00/DVD on sale. There is also a 4 pack that he's selling for $14.99 that is usually $59.96.  If that's not a deal, I don't know what is!

Another good source of DVDs are the Biggest Loser series.  I got mine from Burlington Coat Factory for like $3.99/DVD.  They may have been $2.99/DVD.  The thing I like most about about The Biggest Loser set is that the people doing the workouts are highly overweight and if they can do it, I can too! Now yes, they grunt and groan and look like it's killing them, but it's very inspirational to workout with them (real people who want to get fit) and a change of scenery compared to working out with people who already have those ripped bodies and make the workout look effortless.

Again, here is Bob's website in case you want to get in on this fantastic deal Bob's website!! Hurry because I don't know when the sale goes off! Follow him on Twitter: @MyTrainerBob too to get information on when he's having a sale again if you can't participate this time around!!  He's also on Facebook!!

Thank me later! :)

Hol' on Ash...Imma let you finish, but eating healthy is EXPENSIVE!

If you follow me on Instagram or if are my friend on Facebook, you may have noticed that lately I've been posting several pictures of food that I've been eating or things that I've been doing to embrace this new healthy lifestyle of eating clean and working out.

As I was doing some chores around the house, I thought about what can I do (other than post my pics of what I'm eating and exercises I'm doing) to help someone else who may think this lifestyle is too expensive to embrace.  Well just in case that person is you, I'm so glad I thought to write this post!

Let me first start with saying, I would have been one of those people who thought eating healthy and joining a gym was out of my budget.  I am very money conscious and try to be as strictly on a budget as possible. I try to never complain about the low salary educators are paid, because God definitely blesses me and provides for me regardless if I can't always do everything I want to do. I never want to seem ungrateful because so many people are unemployed and would take my salary to their no salary any day. Either way, everyone knows educators are not the breadwinners by any means, so sometimes you really have to get creative and smart when you're stretching a dollar.  They don't call me Frugal Frannie for nothing! And I take that name with pride because that's just how it has to be some times!

So I usually set a budget of about $150/month for groceries.  Now some people may think "that's ridiculously low" or you might think it's too high, who knows.  Either way, I used to have a grocery budget of  $175 then I had to scale back due to some other financial obligations.  I looked through my spending history on www.mint.com (excellent budgeting tool to help keep you on track on where you're spending your money and how much you spend each month on certain things and it's totally secure) and I noticed that prior to me wanting to eat completely clean, I was meeting my monthly budget of $150 for groceries without exceeding it.  I do recall in previous months, I'd have to get "creative" with my meals towards the end of the month when my budget had ran out and I was left with really having to only eat the food I already had instead of buying more food. This usually left me eating a bunch of processed food that was stored in my pantry or buying a pizza from Dominos on a day between Monday and Wednesday so I can get the $7.99 carry out special and eating off that pizza for a few days to survive.

Since I started eating clean, I have already spent $200 on groceries and if I didn't have a budget, I would certainly go back to the store between now and January 31st to buy more food.  The first week of eating clean, I went to the grocery store and I went HAM!!! I spent like $100 on food that was mostly produce which I knew would be gone by the end of the week. $100/week on groceries, $150/monthly budget for groceries...you do the math and imagine my dismay when I realized I had gone too hard too fast with this whole thing.  You might be wondering, so what did you do Ash? I talked to my sister  and she made a really good point.  She suggested that I make dishes that allow you to make a lot with few ingredients.  Stuff like quiche, casseroles, etc.  With that being said, I started thinking about things that I could make that 1.) I already had in my freezer, pantry, or refrigerator and 2) could be something that could stretch out for a couple of days. I also read up on how frozen veggies are just as healthy as fresh and thanks be to GOD, Kroger had a 10/$10 sale on their frozen veggies so I stocked UP!!!!

I have also started thinking of ways to shop smarter which definitely requires a lot of planning and a lot of time.  Convenience comes at a price...and sometimes that means eating junk and not having that fit body that you want (since abs are made in the kitchen you know).  Without a plan, you will more than likely make bad decisions for food because when you're hungry, you aren't thinking about how you can make a nice healthy dish.  You want food and you want it now!! And if food requires you to cook it (other than in a microwave), then you usually want no parts in preparing it! So the next thing to do is eat whatever is convenient whether that be fast food, chips, candy, sweets, anything to get your blood sugar back to a normal reading or sometimes higher if you eat the wrong foods.

I've started cooking on Sundays and preparing dishes for lunch throughout the week. By doing this, I cook all the food I want for the week, put it in Tupperware, refrigerate or freeze, then when it's time to pack my lunch for the day, I just grab and go.  That eliminates standing in front of the refrigerator, swaying back and forth thinking "what shall I eat, what shall I eat".

As for grocery shopping a lot smarter, I have now downloaded an app called Grocery Pal (Google App Market...Android).  This app has stores like Kroger, Harris Teeter, Giant, Food Lion, Wal-Mart, etc. and all their circulars listed so you can see which store has the best deal.  It also allows you to make shopping lists and download coupons to your loyalty card.  I did notice the loyalty card section is limited, but you can always do this online at your favorite grocery store's website.  I downloaded a coupon for $3.00 off the protein powder that I use from Kroger's website and one day I was shopping and noticed the protein powder was on sale for $13.00 (down from $18.00) plus my $3 off brought my protein powder to a whopping $10 (I saved $8 woohooo)!!! I was soooo excited about this deal! Kroger also sends coupons in the mail every month and they do NOT accept expired coupons so I have started highlighting the expiration date to be sure I don't miss out on a good deal.  I am also carrying my coupons in my purse so that if I randomly pop into the store, they're always with me. Thanks to this idea, I scored a pack of Boca burgers for $.64!!! They had been marked down to $1.64 and I had a coupon (in my purse...YES!) for $1.00 off! Talk about EXCITEMENT!

So there are a few tips for you! I hope they help and remember you will get better at this and it will take less time as you get used to it all. It'll be second nature! I'm excited about next month's shopping because I have learned a few lessons so I know better for next time.  Happy shopping and remember..eat clean, train mean, get lean!!!

Week 2....DONE!

Today marks the end of week 2 of Ripped in 30! I must admit, this week was very challenging.  Aside from forcing myself out of bed at 5:00am to get downstairs to work out, Jillian also used A LOT of moves that really focus on the shoulders.  Moves that involve you to be in a plank some kind of way (plank jacks, mountain climbers, crow push ups, rows, pendulum lunges with serving biceps, etc.).  I gave it all that I could and I got through it! At the end of each work out, I told myself "YOU DID IT!!"  This really helped me feel motivated to do it again the next day.

I am proud to say that I have been noticing results both in the way my clothes are fitting and in what the scale is saying!!! Here is a picture I took of myself in the beginning of the week.

I bought these pants probably last year some time and they're a size 14 from New York and Company.  Now most women pride their selves on being able to go down a size or 2 at NY&Co due to it "running big".  Not really the case for me. I'm a solid 12/14 there depending on the cut.  I don't get any free-bee lower sizes  here. I bought them in a 14 because the 12's were a little too tight (at the time) and they rose up a little so I got the 14 for more wiggle room and to make them longer.  I put these on and I was SWIMMING in them!!! I had to wear a belt with them (which by the way, I never wear a belt with my dress pants).  Most of the time I certainly don't even need a belt. So here is a little progress.  I'm also proud to announce that I'm down 10 lbs since I started working out at the end of October.  I didn't start eating clean until January, although I was trying to be good about what I was eating in November and December. Remember Thanksgiving and Christmas, holiday feasts, tons of sweets and treats also accompanied me throughout those months. I definitely went up and down give or take a pound or two during the first two months, but mainly tried to stay on track because I was doing a challenge at my gym that challenged you to stay within 2 lbs of your original weight beginning with November 1st all the way to December 31st. So being held accountable for the weight, definitely helped keep me on track. 

Now if you're wondering "what is she doing and how much weight is she really trying to lose". I'll tell you! My goal is not to be "skinny". I want to be RIPPED!! I want to have defined, visible, lean muscles.  That is the ultimate goal! Looking good with clothes on is all fine and dandy, but looking good naked is when you know you've made it! At the end of my journey with Ripped in 30, I'll be sure to post a progression pic from the beginning to the last day.  

Stay tuned!