HashtagDanceBreak

Happy Monday my loves! I hope you’ve made it through the worst day of the week. And I hope now that you’re off work you’re at home cuddled up on the couch, snuggling a glass (or bottle) of wine and watching either crappy TV or something awesome on Netflix. Either way – I’m jealous of you. Here I sit, for another 4.5 hours at the gym, checking people in, taking their money (not really – but I’ll collect it for the club) and tweeting about the shenanigans I hear/see. And trust me – there’s PLENTY. I’m sure if any of you follow me on Twitter, you’ll see plenty of #gymtweets floating about. I can already feel people dropping their weights in the other room. Yay meat heads!

The last week has been kind of crazy – which I’m not too mad about. I’ve done lots of working – nothing new there – and lots of yoga. Except for this past week – which could explain why I was so testy and angry on Saturday – but let’s save that for later on this evening. I tried out a couple new recipes this last week – both delicious. One turned out a little better than the other – but practice makes perfect right? I’ll be the next Suzy Homemaker before you know it! (Side note: I think it should be spelled like Suzie not Suzy, but it’s too late to change it now.) Recipe number one was Turkey and Rice Stuffed Peppers and Baked Sweet Potato Fries – yum. Could have cooked the fries a little less and the peppers a little more, so now we know for next time. The following night I stole a recipe from Iowa Girl Eats (her blog is AMAZING – check it out: www.iowagirleats.com) and made Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage Pasta. This was FANTASTIC. Toss a Honey Crisp apple into ANYTHING and it makes it like a MILLION times better. Write that down. I’ve been reading a lot of food blogs lately – does that make me weird? – and it just makes me want to cook more and more. Food porn may be one of my favorite things. Again – is that weird? Looking at cookbooks, watching the Food Network, reading food blogs – it’s almost as good as reading those trashy romance novels. A little bit different part of the brain for each of those – but you get what I’m saying. I’m currently searching for a couple new recipes to make this week – healthy, easy, delicious. Send some ideas my way – please and thank you!

I like to think of myself as a pretty athletic person – I mean I’ve played sports, run a 20K, kick box, lift weights – all that fun stuff. So when I decided to hit up a Bosu class at the gym, I thought I’d be good to go. I figured it would be a lot of core work (we can always use more core work) with a bosu ball and some weights. I was so wrong it’s not even funny. Actually I’m sure it was really funny – considering I was walking into a STEP CLASS while using a BOSU BALL. Have you ever been to a step class? That shit is hard. Plus – instead of using an actual step, you’re stepping onto a bosu ball. I was pretty positive I was going to snap my ankle in half. I was so sore the next day I have no idea how I made it to spin. And then I got done with spin and my legs were jello. I took Friday off because I felt like I deserved it. So what did I do to reward myself? I wore heels all day and night. 13 hours on heels makes for SUPER sore feet. I was damn near in tears by 10 pm. Beauty is pain, pain is beauty. Blah blah blah. Whatever – it hurt.

Speaking of working out – CONGRATS to all my runner buddies on completing the half or full marathon this weekend. Y’all are crazy – and I apologize for yelling “YOU’RE ALMOST DONE” when you still had some time to run. I know that if I heard that, I’d probably run over and punch whoever said that in the face. Especially if you hear it like halfway through. Not cool. But for realz though – you guys rule. Mentally AND physically I don’t think I could do it. I cannot wrap my mind around running for FIVE HOURS. Running for two and a half hours for the D2D was too much for me. I would rather ride my bike HUNDREDS of miles during RAGBRAI than I would to RUN 26 of them. Run that through your mind and see if it makes sense. I understand it totally doesn’t – but whatevs. You guys are all an inspiration to those of us who can’t or won’t run like you do. Maybe something I do will be an inspiration to you – it’s a fair trade I think.

As I halfway mentioned earlier, I was not a happy camper on Saturday. It all started with my smoke detector beginning to beep at 6:30 am because of a low battery. And then I took out the battery thinking that would shut it up – wrong. Instead, I set off the actual detector – still at 6:30 am. I’m sure my neighbors were real happy with me. To follow that, the devil children who live above me decided to run sprints across the floor, drop a med ball (or each other – I have no clue) and that all began at 7:00. I was grouchy at that point so I left to go do my trade at the yoga studio, and then another 5 hours at the mall. I came home and it was still beeping. After a reassuring phone call that I’d done all I could (apparently it was hard wired so the battery didn’t even MATTER) I relaxed with an Oktoberfest and left for the night. After a conversation about how I hadn’t done any yoga that week – I was “nicely” told that that was probably the reason I was so high strung during my phone conversation the day before. I knew that yoga zen’d me out, but I didn’t realize how it would affect me when I DIDN’T go and get that 45 minutes or an hour to get out of my own head. Even if I just give myself a 15-20 minute practice, it will lift my spirits and get me in the right mind set for where I need to be.

I stumbled across this while surfing Pinterest, and thought about how much I should have done these things while I was stressed out this weekend.

Just think about how much better of a mood I would be in if I took a deep breath and danced it out. Next time. Next time I start to freak out about something I literally CANNOT control – a dance break may help. Or just a smile. These top 10 things will be on my to-do list for whenever I’ve got an off day. Can’t go wrong with a walk or a hug.

And a quick thought before I go – there’s some tweeting that needs to happen – “if the simple things in life don’t put a smile on your face, then you will never be truly happy.” Ain’t that the truth? A little girl walked into the gym tonight with her mom wearing her dress up heels – ladies you know what I’m talking about, the Barbie heels that cut into your feet but clicked around to make you feel like a beautiful grown up – and she looked so sassy, I had to smile at her. Her mom rolled her eyes and laughed a little, but if we all acted with such happiness the way kids do – this place would be SO MUCH BETTER and not full of ass holes. Smile at the simple things – be happy.

Love and memories,

Me.

Aca Believe I Can't Spell "A Cappella"

I'm having a difficult time concentrating tonight. Maybe it's because I just ate a delicious meal and put myself into a carb coma (the best kind of coma... not that there's really a GOOD kind of coma...) or maybe because I'm not in my element to write. Whatever it is - I'm feeling a little ADD. All day I've been debating on whether I should spend tonight with my nose buried in The Scarlet Letter, or whether I should bust out my blog post since it's a little overdue. My Nook is sitting next to me, staring enviously at my laptop while I type away trying to get my concentration back. My laptop is getting a little warm on my lap, but since I started writing I can't stop now! It's like Miley says - we can't stop, we won't stop. Okay - that was pretty awful. Something that isn't awful though - the video that Jimmy Fallon put up from when Miley was at his show. Miley, Jimmy and The Roots sang "We Can't Stop" acapela (a capela, aca pela, aca pella - I have no idea how to spell this word. Aca believe it!) and it's actually really amazing. It's like every part of your body wants you to HATE this song, but then it's still pretty good. Take a look and judge for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2mjvfnUAfyo Oh - and btw - it's a cappella. (Thanks Jimmy Fallon.)

Okay - back to my ADD. The past week or so I've celebrated a birthday (twice), watched the Cyclones lose (still mad about that one), had a grown-up play date, and made up for lost time over some drinks with an old friend. I tried out some sushi at a new sushi/hibachi place in Ankeny - I'll for SURE be going back - and found a new birthday song that's really hard to get out of your head. I'll be honest though - I have no idea what I ordered, so I can't even rate it with an OH EM GEE rating. All I remember is that it was not the best, but way above the worst. Downside - it's all the way in Ankeny, and if they do sake bombs as freely as Sakari does, I'll be needing a place to crash. The grown-up play date was AWESOME - and long overdue. We spent the first hour and a half of the morning at Starbucks (duh) and discussed everything from weddings to babies to budgets to the "good ol' days." I realize that we are 26 but sometimes the good ol' days are fun to reminisce. After acting all adult-esque (NOT to be confused with adulteROUS - very different things) we headed off to the mall to window shop. That is so hard to do, especially when window shopping with another compulsive shopper like myself. After hitting up Target, that's where we spent the real money. On snacks. A one dolla no holla box of Whales (cheaper version of Goldfish) and a bag of AnimalCrackers, we headed back to my house for some homemade crockpot chili (noms) and It's Always Sunny. Good times.

An impromptu get together on Tuesday night made Wednesday DRAG, but it was totes worth it. (Totes is one of the top 10 words people find most annoying on the internet. In case you were wondering.) After sharing a bottle of wine and cracking open a couple beers, I told stories and heard stories that were cracking me up. So much fun to catch up and laugh at each other's shenanigans. I think my favorite part of the discussion was the lunch menu. After a sad attempt and poor planning on my part, my lunch the other day was cubed cheese, shredded chicken, and hard boiled eggs - covered in French dressing, with a spoon full of peanut butter on the side. Not to be compared with tuna and carrots with hummus. Sometimes it's hard to be an adult.

Speaking of hard to be an adult - what happens after you finish a show on Netflix? It feels like the rest of my life is just - blah. Like I have nothing to look forward to. Does that mean I have far too much time invested in someone else's "life?" I mean - Nip/Tuck is obviously super legit and "real life" but after I watched the series finale yesterday, I was so let down. Now what do I do? Start a new show, only to be let down in another 100 episodes?? Netflix is mean. And don't even get me started on Glee. I'm clearly too wrapped up in these characters lives that it affects me WAY more than it should. Tonight's episode is called "The Quarterback" and is a tribute episode to Cory Monteith (RIP). Well, stupid me - I watched the preview to the episode (twice) and listened to the songs that would be sang in the episode. I barely made it through those things without bawling my eyes out - how am I supposed to get through the entire episode?! The answer to that: watching it alone the day after it's on so you can sit in the dark and cry your face off without anyone (except your cat) to judge you. That's my plan for tomorrow night. Please don't get offended if I don't respond to texts/emails/phone calls/Facebook messages/tweets for a little while because I will probably be either a) gearing myself up for my own impending meltdown, or b) currently in the process of losing my shit. So be prepared.

Real fast before I close out for the night and week - I've hit up two spin classes in the last week. I haven't taken a spin class for MONTHS and my vagina knows it. TMI? Sorry about that. Let me rephrase. My pelvic bones know that. I love spin but I hate how sore you are for like three days after your 45 minute class. Ouchie wa wa. Since I'll be freezing my Kosama membership for a few months (a grown up decision) I'll be spending my time participating in regular workouts I write up myself, group fitness classes, and plenty of yoga. I think that will put me in a good place to be in a bikini in January. Hopefully. Hawaii - here I come! (More on vacations to come - not today. But keep your eyes peeled kids.)

Before each yoga practice, our instructor always tells us to set an intention. That could be something as simple as making sure you're present in class, going deeper in a pose, or maybe something much more meaningful to you. Maybe you could be nailing that crow pose for someone else, or maybe it's not about yoga at all. Maybe it's about your presence in your practice. I think setting an intention is something that shouldn't just be reserved for your yoga practice. I think it can definitely be brought out into real life, YOUR life.

All good things to remember - set an intention for the day and go with it. Be thankful. And ask someone you love - "what are YOU thankful for today?"

 

Regret nothing, and take chances. "Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery."

 

Namaste.