Wednesday, September 30, 2009

media update: september

this, of course, is more for my own remembrance than anything else. asterisks denote something i particularly enjoyed. follow this advice at your own risk.

MOVIES:
Starter for Ten
Good Dick
Can't Hardly Wait
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Expired
Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox


BOOKS:
Therese Fowler, "Souvenir"


MUSIC:
Jay-Z, "The Blueprint 3" *
Morrissey, "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful"
Shop Boys, "Party Like a Rock Star" *
The Lovemakers, "Love is Dead" +
Animal Kingdom, "Tin Man" +
Slaughterhouse, "The One"
Miguel Zenon, "Residencial Llorens Torres" +
Mayer Hawthorne, "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out" +
Junior Boys, "Dull to Pause" +


+ denotes iTunes free download

Sunday, September 27, 2009

stacked in your favor

i woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning, and couldn't fall back asleep for about an hour. normally i wouldn't have an issue with waking up then, especially as i prefer to get up early, but since i went to bed less than 6 hours before, i wasn't having it.

i fell back asleep after tossing an turning for about an hour and a half, then woke up and glanced at the clock. it said 10:10, and my brain said, "the gym! THE GYM!" as in, you were supposed to be there over an hour ago! which really isn't that big of a deal, except for that i like to get out of the gym by 11 on weekends so that i have the rest of day free. instead, yesterday morning i booked a last-minute massage appointment for 11:30 and decided to head to the gym afterward.

i had a shiatsu massage, which was lovely, then did an hour of cardio and some strength training and some work on the stability ball. also, i'm all over the assisted pull-up machine these days. before i went to maui i told my trainer that someday i'd like to be able to do a pull-up. i should have known better, because before my session was over, i was on the assisted pull-up contraption pulling 100#. my arm (pits) hurt so much the next two days! but i was hooked, and have been adding them to my workout routine, with and without my trainer.

now here's the part where you know i'm cuckoo:

i joined a gym for the time i was on maui.

my trainer put together a nice travel workout and a water workout routine for me, but i missed having the gym routine, so for less than $50, i joined the gym for 10 days. and while the gym was kind-of a dump, it's super close to our home there, and provided everything i needed for my workouts, all 7 or so times i went. and each time i went to the gym on maui, i ended my workouts with a session on the pull-up machine, even adding in some tricep dips.

i got on the scale yesterday morning after my workout and shower and lost roughly another 2#. i've been at a plateau the last 6-8 weeks, and i was thrilled to see a drop again. when i tell my trainer about my additional loss, she'll likely shrug her shoulders and say, "i told you so!" because her advice is to eat more. she's a hardcore athlete, done the ironman several times, and regularly participates in triathlons. (can i just say i love her? she's the perfect trainer, so motivating and encouraging, but kicks my ass when i need it, too.)

anyway, i met with a nutritionist the week before my sister's wedding, just to make sure my eating was on track and to get some ideas for good-for-me meals. i'd been eating about 1500 calories a day, and my trainer was like, um, that's not enough with the working out you're doing, you should see how many calories your body uses at a resting rate, maybe try metacheck? the nutritionist i saw didn't do metacheck, but the club where i workout offers it, so i had it done. there was roughly a 1500 calorie difference between the formula the nutritionist did and what the metacheck read -- that is, the metacheck claimed i needed 1500 more calories than the generic formula.

anyway, i have no idea what got me started on this tangent. all i know is that i'm living better, feeling better and eating better.

and i swore this wouldn't be a workout blog.

six word sunday: it was out of this world






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Thursday, September 24, 2009

radiance

i turned on my tv tonight for the first time in ages. who knew i had two episodes of "better off ted" from august about to be deleted on my tivo? i just wanted to make sure i created a season pass for "trauma." i'm not normally a fan of medical dramas, but since its filmed in SF i thought i'd give it a go.

the old navy "cardi coats" commercial is ridiculous.

today is the second time this week that i've had a headache that is so bad, it makes me dizzy. i took advil when it struck on tuesday, but it didn't touch it. at my board meeting in the evening, my neighbor offered to do reiki on me to relieve my headache, and it worked! i wish he was around today to fix it again.

i skipped out on the gym yesterday because i had to get new tires (i typed "tired") for my car after a flat tire in the morning held me up. i'd been putting off getting new tires, and see what happens?

i also skipped out on the gym today because of this headache. i'm hoping to go tomorrow morning, or in the afternoon before i meet my friend angie for drinks and apps.

working out has become such a priority i kinda freak out when i can't make my 5 workouts a week. i didn't have any sessions with my trainer this week, but my monday and tuesday workouts were pretty intense.

it's almost the weekend and i'm thrilled. but i'm more thrilled that it's finally fall, my favorite season. here's hoping we start to get some crisp, fall-like weather soon. i have a couple of new jackets i'm dying to break out!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

chutes and ladders

my trip to maui was one of the better ones i've made in the last few years. i was so glad to be able to go to my friend's wedding! i also spent a lot of time with many of my parent's friends, the kind of people that get upset if you don't make an effort to see them daily. good people, but it gets old!

having lived on maui, i never do touristy things, but this time i decided to take the ferry to molokai. it was a long, but fun day. it's about an hour and a half each way, departing from lahaina. on the way back, i met a nice guy from san diego and we proceeded to chat it up the whole ride back and hit it off, laughing and joking the entire ride. we were alone on the upper deck of the ferry for the first half hour, until we were both so soaked from the water splashing, so we went to the slightly covered lower deck. i made a joke about needing a rain jacket, and he goes, wait a sec, and pulls out a clean shirt from his bag. i nearly died, it was so cute and thoughtful! because i thought we hit it off, i was ballsy and asked him to dinner as we were exiting the ferry. he mumbled something and started walking away, leaving me like, huh? i debated following him to ask him what he mumbled, but decided against being a stalker and instead enjoyed a nice dinner at kimo's alone.


cracking macadamia nuts


mac nut tree


tasting mac nut honey, yum!


kalaupapa (aka the leper colony)


view from the hotel molokai, my lunch spot

Fresh to death
on the way to the rehearsal dinner


beautiful hawaiian church where the ceremony was held


the church was tiny and stifling -- standing room only!


the groomsmen




view from the reception, the king kamehameha golf club, looking toward the south part of the island


my friend and his beautiful bride

my sister got married september 12. it was lots of fun! i kept saying to everyone, it's so much fun when it's your sister's wedding, you know just about everyone! i gave a speech that people are still talking about (funny, but sweet) and did 3 tequila shots before doing so, with all three shots plied by a cousin.



123
from the photographer's site: we ran up and surprised them


getting ready






first dance


goofys



they're on their honeymoon (maui) til tonight. they went to oahu for a few days, my wedding gift to them was inter-island tickets. while my sister was away, she was laid off. the business office is moving their operations to sacramento, and while we know she'll find something suitable, it sucks that she was notified on her honeymoon.

365 days of working out

y'know, sometimes it's hard to notice the changes that occur from day-to-day when you're in a workout regimen. maybe i should have made a video like this guy. ;)

i think i've watched it 6 times already. amazing!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

six word sunday: the view was just the beginning





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Sunday, September 13, 2009

six word sunday: the start of a great evening






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Monday, September 07, 2009

things i love: CoverGirl Outlast Lip Stain

the first in an occasional series about things i love. some are products, some are people, some are places.


first up:

CoverGirl Outlast Lip Stain




it's rare that i rave about a makeup product, even rarer so that i rave about one i bought on impulse.

i bought flirty nude, an ideal color for something that's barely there, exactly the look i'm always going for. it doesn't have the same consistency as benefit's benetint, which is a good thing, as i often manage to spill some of it. the smell is quite pleasing, and it doesn't have a chemical taste when you lick your lips.

i do have a debate about the name "outlast," however. while it does stay on a lot longer than a traditional lipstick, it doesn't last all day, like some of the promises claim.

overall, at about $7, it's well worth the cost, and in just a week's time, has become one of the things i love.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

six word sunday: sleepy morning in a bustling town










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Thursday, September 03, 2009