11 Questions

Erin @ A Girl and Her Mutt posted this last week. While slam books are something I never took part of, email based question “about me” questionnaires were popular in high school. I must admit too that when I first started reading her post the thought of “Ooooh I better be tagged in this!” appeared pretty quickly and she did not disappoint!

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RULES!

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them that you’ve tagged them. (CSYA edit: I’m letting them know sans blog posting.)
6. No stuff in the tagging section about “you are tagged if you are reading this”. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

11 Random Facts…

1. I never use times ending w a zero or a five when setting alarm clocks or the microwave. Timers are different since they need to be exact.
2. If a kitchen cabinet is left open, I must stop what I’m doing and go close it.
3. I drink Coke but rarely Pepsi because it makes me hyper.
4. I rarely wear white especially due to not being able to get out of the house without a paw print.
5. I don’t eat peanuts since I get a bad reaction from them – not sure if major sensitivity or allergy but either way I stay away.
6. I need to stop buying sprinkles since they have taken up half a cabinet shelf.
7. I have never broken a bone.
8. I first met Darth Husband via a mutal friend in high school.
9. Molly is sort of named after a horse on a family farm generations ago.
10. Pigeons creep me out.
11. I am not a fan of Twilight (read the first two so I could back this up = meh.)

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Erin’s Questions:

1. What is one food you could eat over and over and over? Macaroni and cheese. It doesn’t even need to be something fancy. Throughout college I probably ate my weight in the generic brand from Kmart.
2. If you could change your name to be anything you could imagine, what would it be? I honestly don’t have an answer for this. There were very few girls with the same name growing up so I’ve gotten quite used it to and never hated my name.
3. What would a tv show about your life be called and who would play you? Prob the blog name since it is fitting and I’d want Autumn Reeser to play me.
4. Trains, planes, or automobiles? Now I want go watch the movie
5.  If you could switch jobs with no problem and no worries about money, what would you do? I’d love to be part of a team that selects the music for TV shows or movies. The right song can totally make the moment or draw me in. I actually started watching Grey’s Anatomy for the first time because they used a Rilo Kiley song  that I love in the intro of an episode.
6. City or Country? Both since too much of either makes me antsy.
7. If you could only buy clothes from one store for the rest of your life, where would it be? First thing that comes to mind is Nordstrom since my latest brand obsession is Free People. (I do have a bee sweater from them so ONE thing!)  I’d need someone to pay for it all of course!
8. How many years is your longest/oldest friendship? The BFF  and my friend/her sister and I have known each other since The BFF and I were in preschool so nearing 30 years.
9. Dream vacation spot? I’d love to travel to some sort of tropical island but Colorado is near and dear to my heart. The moment the plane lands I’m relaxed.
10. Driver or passenger? Either though I hate hate hate driving expressways. They put me totally on edge.
11. What is the language you would learn first if you could wake up knowing it without any studying at all? Latin since it is not practical for everyday use but would be a great way to unleash my verbal wrath on annoying people.

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My Questions

1. What is one song you can listen to on repeat over and over and over again?
2. If you won a week long all expenses paid trip to somewhere in the U.S., where would you go?
3. What was your favorite childhood cartoon?
4. Have you ever been part of a team sport?
5. What is the last book you read?
6. Cupcake, cookie or donut?
7. What is one thing you do to keep yourself centered?
8. Beer, wine, or soda?
9. What is the strangest food you’ve tried?
10. What was your first concert?
11. Are you supersitious?

PEOPLE I TAG!

• Jess @ Deployment Diva
• Lauren @ Sassy Molassy
• Stina @ Girl Can Do
• Emily @ Relishments
• Laura @ Becoming the Odd Duck
• Kristin @ FoodFash
• Erin @ Big Girl Feats
• Dawn @ Running at Dawn
• Shari @ Finding A Weigh
• Kelly @ Brownies & Zucchini

(Put yourself here if you haven’t done this and I haven’t tagged you! A lot of you have already done this!)

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Music for this post: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Holy Shhhhh… Now what do we have here?

I had stopped my last Zumba search back in December. It didn’t quite end on the high note I had hoped for but thinking of it all as an adventure helps.  While I had planned to try some new classes in January, it was a better idea to wait til I could breathe/hear/walk without being dizzy. I know some people work out when sick but that never works for me.

Last week I decided that if the soreness  went away from swinging my friend’s 3 yr old like a bell (picture it like a kettle bell swing combined with a squat) over and over again (which he LOVED) during the Super Bowl I was going to check out a new class.  It went away within a little over a day since he wasn’t that heavy, I did remind myself to bend my knees, and they were spaced out. I just have a feeling that the bell deal will be ressurrected the next time I see him. He’s a good kid so I really don’t mind and most likely I’ll be ready for it.

I decided to check out one of the more “mom and pop” non-chain places this time. While I’m not against chains nor can I really given an honest review since I’ve never had a membership to one, what I really liked about this place is you can pay per class.  If you want to sign up for a series of classes that is possible too. I really like having this option since then there is no locked-in timeline.

I had three goals/hopes in mind: good instructor that I could connect with, routine that was challenging but able to be scaled back if needed, and good music. I think all is important especially the last since the last class included Elvis. Sorry to THE King, you don’t make me want to work out. I had emailed the place asking about the class so I was pretty sure I was going to get two out of the three.

After being quite nervous when I got there, I got myself settled. It was mostly due to the where do I go, how do I pay, mixed in with that people semed to already know each other. Basically it was “new kid in class” in a fitness setting. I’ve read about how people get annoyed where their spot is taken etc so I did my best to ask if people wanted to swap spaces etc with me. No problems at all with that other than there were MIRRORS. I totally forgot how awkward I feel taking classes with a wall of mirrors.

Luckily, the instructor ended up amazing and I stopped watching myself and kept an eye on her feet. I’ve found that when I’m learning any sort of new routine, be it class based or DVD based, if I can figure out the footwork first then I’m in a good place. Maybe it has something to do with my taking dance classes as a kid. Arms movements, jumps and what not can get mastered later since if I can get myself anchored (even if moving) I’m not stumbling. Stumbling is much more problematic and frustrating to me. Think of it like country line dancing (not something I do often but I have in the past) and you being the only person turning/facing the wrong way and having to spin about to get going in the right way.

Here is where the “Holy sh…..” kicks in. I started the class at the intensity level I had back in December and before. BAD idea. I was keeping up but it was much more detailed (for lack of a better word)  in terms of routines and I became a sweaty mess about 15 mins into the class. I realized that I needed to scale back, grabbed some water, and slowed down and/or lowered my intensity level depending on what the routine included.  GOOD idea. I didn’t want to hurt myself or pass out. THAT would have been mortifying.

Overall this was the best class I have had in years. I made sure that I told the instructor as well as the owner. (I think too often people complain when things are bad/wrong.) I had a great workout, realized my cardio level is definitely lacking but that I can get it back to where I want it to be, and will be going back. When I got home I was talking a mile a minute and Darth Husband had to let me know because I had no idea. I was just that happy.

I am really looking forward to next week and knock-on-laptop hopefully everything will work out that I can make it. I just need to make sure I bring a larger water bottle and wear one of my sport tanks. I had a tshirt on with my workout capris. Capris are my go-to bottoms for working out as long as it isn’t outside (depending on the temperature.)  I got used to wearing tshirts to the prior class since it was always slightly on the cold side. Since I didn’t know with the new place, I just defaulted.  The room was a good temperature when first entered so I know it will be fine. I’ll prob end up wearing a zip hoodie for the warm up but then I can throw it by my bottle.

Have you taken a class lately that made you exceptionally happy?

Music for this post: Skrillex + misc remixed songs via YouTube

His name is not Warren

There is a scene in Empire Records (one of my all time favorite movies but the real/actual version since it is much better than the Remix Special Fan Edition) when Warren is caught stealing.

Lucas: Rap… metal… rap… metal… And Whitney Houston.
Warren: It’s for my girlfriend, okay?

I find myself using it in various situations… in my head of course since wandering about muttering “rap… metal… rap… metal… Whitney Houston” would weird out people even more than my cat muttering. Basically I see it either as a random element thrown in the mix or deliberately trying to shake things up.  The latter is how the last week has been.

One of the more common responses I’ve gotten about going “vegetarian” was how easy it would be and that is the truth.  There are a lot of the elements with umami that we have already have incorporated in our meals. (Interesting NPR article about it – now I need to listen to the podcast.)  We usually have tomatoes and mushrooms in the fridge and often several kinds of one or both. That was easy and honestly not that big of a deal. I ended up getting a bit more tofu and tempeh than usual and picked up some Tofurkey sausage. Everything else was things that we usually buy.

While it wasn’t planned, we ended up doing a massive cabinet/pantry clean out at the beginning of the month. It was needed especially since we don’t need to buy sprinkles for a long long long time we had some things in multiples. There were a few things I had forgotten about in the spice section in terms of mixes/rubs.  These will work with the tofu since the way I usually make it is oil + season rub + baked in the oven. Darth Husband is new to tofu and so I think having something more than plain baked tofu might help.

Health wise I cannot honestly judge since I am finally (fingers crossed) over the plague. After doing every single home remedy except for soaking my feet and taking OTC cold meds, I went to the doctor. What I thought to be a horrendous head cold ended up a sinus infection needing three prescriptions. It messed up my hearing too for over a week which was NOT fun and quite disorienting. Luckily it was only temporary.

Since this menu plan is temporary, I used the quotes with “vegetarian” since I’m not quite sure how I want to refer to it. I’m giving myself an out if needed depending on the circumstances. Super Bowl Sunday for example was meatless for everything minus dinner. Our friend makes an amazing steak chili for Super Bowl and I wasn’t going to miss it. Coming home to a broken furnace (Midwestern winter without HEAT is not fun even if it is a warmer winter) and sticking to the veggie plan was my balance to that.  The only other was using up leftover tomato sauce from chicken meatballs that we brought to the party that had chicken broth in it.

Two things out of a week of meals is a good deal for me. (So is finding not one but two cupcake trucks AND a donut truck in the same week.) The next plan of attack is finding a specific recipe and trying that since we have been altering things we already make. I do plan on starting small if it is something way different though I have found some amazing recipes. The latest Woman’s Day has some that look really good too. I just need to get some artichoke hearts.

Mmmmm, artichokes.

Music for the post: Deadmau5

29 Days of Being Vegetarian

I first wanted to title this post “A Month of Vegetarian Eating” but realized it could be seen as a month of eating vegetarians since I clearly read/watch too much zombie stuff. Nontheless, February is veggie month for the CSYA household. Darth Husband actually had the idea weeks ago.

This isn’t a lifestyle/permanent change. The plan is to eat vegetarian and as a result learn more recipes that can be incorporated into our usual everyday meals. When he mentioned it to me, I thought it was a great idea. There is a lot that we can learn.

While I don’t consider myself a vegetarian, I eat meatless meals all the time. However if I am eating a chickpea/veggie stirfry for lunch, there is a good chance I’m following up with a burger for dinner. There were two people who I knew could help us, Emily and Kristin. I emailed them explaining the plan as well as asking for book recommendations. Since we spent a weekend together (or a second weekend in Emily’s case) for the Healthy Living Summit back in August,  I knew I’d get honest input from my roomies.

The key is figuring out how to balance everything this month so we get all the nutrients we need. I have read about people not including enough of one thing or another and it having negative results. This is definitely NOT what we want to accomplish.

One night I ended up googling “vegetarian” and was a bit overwhelmed. After a bit of searching I found Vegetarian Times which had a nice starter kit PDF. I’m reading the actual site as well since this is based on a magazine. Plus I am a fan of sites that are tied to magazines since I am an on/off subscriber person.

Overall, this will be part learning experience, part challenge (though I don’t think it will be extreme) and a chance to free our food processor from the back of the overflow closet (where the semi-forgotten lesser used items are stored.)

Oh dear, here comes the positive peer pressure

I’ve been part of one blog community or another for over three years now. While I could go on and on about all the aspects and my response to them, that is a topic for another day. The knitty nitty gritty of it all is the people. Honestly though, you must have some sort of connection to read a post of to have random twitter exchanges that eventually become the norm. Add a conference here and there and you have a good mix.

My mix has a lot of runners. I was a runner… well semi runner. I intended to run. I signed up for a 5k, barely trained for it yet really intended to do so and still managed to finish with a 43:07 as a run/walk. I walk quite a bit in general (over 12 miles a week) so the walking was probably faster than I could run at times but oh well. All in the past. Now I’m reworking it again – “newbie runner who fell off the bandwagon and decided to run after it again” as listed in my current “About” in bullet list form. (It’ll change again eventually.)

I didn’t run last year. Every time I wanted to run there were either something going on event wise, horrible weather, or I wasn’t feeling well. Could I have figured something out? Of course. Did I? No. There were things that were stressing me out and I zoned out to deal rather than running it out. Either way it helped me but in long run (pun intended) running probably would have been a better option. I wouldn’t be starting over from scratch and that is how I see it.  I cannot run around the block without stopping, I’m starting over.

Running was a back burner thought lately since I’ve been wanting to get back with a more constant yoga routine that incorporates my usual basic stretching but goes much further than that. I tried Zumba and am back on the search for a class that works. Basically running would come to mind in about April or so like it normally does.

Yeah that didn’t work. Like I mentioned earlier, I have friends that are runners. Some are long distance, some run trails and impress me with day long team relay races. Some have cats. tea issues, and at least twice a week phone conversations (via text since I’m more of a text talker than talk talker)… ok maybe one.

This one.

Me (left) with Jess at Healthy Living Summit 2010

Jess and I got on the topic of the Marine Half Marathon this September. In my head cold induced haze (think of the scene from A Christmas Story where he blanks of about the bb gun and agrees to the football after thinking a moment… “football? what’s a football?”) I started considering jumping on a plane, flying to the east coast (or is it southeast? I’m not good with this east of Michigan terms!) and running a half marathon.

A half marathon means 13.1 miles. THIRTEEN POINT ONE. Time for a reality check (as Wrex N Effect pops into my head for some reason maybe since it was on an intended running playlist that never got played) and a moment to pause. This wasn’t something that is a quick train ride. There’d be a lot of  thought put into it in terms of planning and funding. There is training involved.  I cannot be impulsive.

I needed more input and that I did get. People thought I could do it. Dawn and Lauren weighed in, both positively, that it was doable. I alluded to them both earlier and since they are accomplished runners, I respect their input. Plus knowing the faces they would make it I slack off help too.

So the plan right now is not to slack off or rather to just start. I am planning a 5k in early summer. It is a run/walk so I’ll be less self-conscious and for a children/family based charity which is always inspiring. Will I do the half? I haven’t made that decision yet. It’s like cooking. I’m not looking to prepare a feast for eight right now. My focus is starting small like making everything end up ready at the same time or not forgetting the rolls which I know almost everyone has done once or twice.

Now where did I put the Garmin…

And the plague exits stage left…

Long weekends usually mean a mix of being extremely lazy (Hello Netflix and Hulu+), yelling at the dogs and the squirrels taunting them, laundry, intending to clean out the pantry, and laundry. There’s other stuff as well but those are usually the norm if you swap the pantry with some area of the house. This time I was sick, like in bed sick for the majority of the weekend.

I’m finally starting to feel better where my train of thought isn’t tissues, cough drop, sleeeeeeep,can’t breath, coughing please stop, sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep,whine whine whine. I’m a big baby when I’m sick and believe that whining, within reason, makes me feel better.  This time it was a bit scary since I haven’t had a cold this bad in a long time. Luckily I had Darth Husband here when I needed him. Kudos to anyone who lives alone.

Oh please go back to sleep…well now I need to wake up

When you are sick and can’t sleep you do crazy things like rethinking your entire to-do list for the day or puttering about on Twitter esp w the #zombiemoms hashtag. (No I am not pregnant nor planning, it’s just interesting and info gathering for whenever we do have a family as well as a nice timesuck when I’m trying to not wake up Darth Husband.) It got me thinking of when I actually post or writing – usually in the evening unless it is a weekend day. I’ve gotten to the point now where I also have more notes and half written posts going too. I think this is a good change and while I’m not planning to get rid of the ok-lets-go style posting since I am writing this in bed, still pj-ed (though it is an attempt to sit upright w the heating pad a bit to help me sound less like a frog this congestion.)

Since it is now time to fire up some tea since that is how my throat will feel or at least some warm water and get moving to get to the train I’ll leave you with the following poll for my fellow bloggers who are readers as well.

Just call me classic then

I’ve started reading up more on the current ipods and my eyes keep going back to the “classic” design.  I realized earlier that I’m going on about 3 years sans an iPod. While this isn’t something that I NEED right at this moment, I had my old one from back in ’04 (I think) for a long time and Binx served me well. Yes, I named the iPod after the “cat” in Hocus Pocus since when the setup asked me to name it that was what first came to mind. (As we all take a moment to go Amuck! Amuck! Amuck!)

What got me thinking of this was a discussion with The BFF about our local library and books in general including audio books.  Usually audio books were too slow for me pace wise.  I am a fast reader since the days of Babysitter’s Club  and Boxcar Children. I usually carry some sort of reading material for my commute even if I forget about it and start a small magazine collection in my bag. If I switch to audio books then that is less weight I need to carry with me every day. While it might be a minor amount lighter, it will help my right shoulder be less “crunchy.”  I’ve paid more attention to what I’ve been carrying the last month or so and that has helped. Ditto with taking magnesium almost daily. Plus this will force my mind to slow down when homebound in the evening and give my eyes a rest.

I generally don’t listen to too much talk radio yet podcasts intrigue me. I know they are nothing new and I used to listen to more ages ago and then just stopped. I honestly have no idea why. Most were knitting related (BIG SHOCK!) and I have kept the links. I just need to go back. I’m thinking perhaps to add podcast listening to dinner prep/cleanup. I’m trapped in the kitchen and as long as I don’t zone out and burn something worse than normal I’ll be fine.

Do you listen to podcasts? If so, what would you recc I check out?

Music for this post: Sucker Punch Soundtrack

Winging It vs Writing It Down

I am married to a magician in the kitchen. While he may look at a recipe, the norm is that he opens up the spice cabinet or spins the rack (yes we have both.) Then it’s throw this that and whatever together and it works. I think we’ve had something end up too spicy maybe once. He’s also managed to throw together a better version of TGIFridays cajun chicken and shrimp pasta.

I can make things work by winging it in the kitchen but getting the same thing twice is a different story. I can get it close but not exact. If something turns out really well, of course I want to repeat it. Ditto w the opposite if something goes wonky. Sometimes one aspect can ruin a dish and of course finding that out after the fact sucks. Adding too many ingredients that are “(something) salt” is usually a dead giveaway. Others are more stealthy.

So I am making a point to start writing things down when I am making something from scratch, sans recipe. Once I can get it to turn out well then I’ll move it to a recipe card. (I picked up a recipe box not too long ago and am determined to use it.) I make it a habit to make notes in cookbooks so it makes sense to do it that way. I’d rather a final version on the card and not the beginning recipe with misc scratch offs and rewrites.

One of the big reasons this all came to mind was a recent dinner at The BFFs.  She has her grandmothers and mom’s recipes.  One of the things her mom did when she got sick was make sure all the kids had the family recipes. Even though we lost her to thyroid cancer a few years ago, I can still remember her standing in the kitchen with her binders and folders. It’s a good memory.

My mother has family recipes going back to great-great (possibly great-great-great) and while I might not have known these family members personally, their food is part of my life. We have my great-grandfather’s stuffing every Thanksgiving and cookies made from a recipe of an aunt (or cousin, I can’t remember exactly now) several generations back every Christmas.

My latest goal is to figure out the chicken soup that I made probably last year that turned out amazing. I recently got it close but not exactly the same. I have the notes written down and still need to tinker with it.  This last time it was too much broth and the bay leaf amount is slightly off. I know it will take a few more tries but eventually I’ll get it.

Maybe if it is liked that much it’ll become a family recipe someday.

Are you a write-it-down or a wing-it person?

Music for this post: Blue Crush soundtrack

Is This Really Motivation?

Since 2012 is brand new, I’ve started seeing “motivational” photos popping up. True, this isn’t new since there are tons of good and “bad” ones already online especially on the fantabulous timesuck that is Pinterest. This time it is a bit different.  It is older pictures of the person who has deemed themselves needing to get motivated.

I think this is a double-edged sword. True, this is the actual person. It is their body type, their bone structure, etc. It is sorta their metabolism (sort, and so I’ll get to this in a moment.) They aren’t photoshopping their head on someone else’s body and looking like some creepy cartoon.

However, it is the when that gets me thinking. What is a realistic gauge especially considering age? 5 years? 10 years? Does it make a difference if you are looking back at 25 from 30  vs looking at more like 10 years, even putting the person back in high school? Aging alters your metabolism too doesn’t it?

Personally, I would go back only a few years before some crazy times when stress took over. I was pretty active and went to classes pretty regularly (and could bust out a few decent real push-ups and some good balanced yoga poses.) Is it that big of a jump from where am I now? Nope. For me, that would work and it is something that I know once I get going I know I can do it. Being very early 30s and looking back to my late 20s isn’t that huge of a jump and way far from a decade jump. However, to someone else, this might not seem realistic.

Maybe I am over analyzing it (big shock right) but is it also setting the brass ring a bit too high or it is high enough? Let’s put it in running aspect for a different view. I am a newbie runner who fell off the wagon, ran after if a bit, then sat down until the dust cleared. I want to do a 5k again. I’m content with that now. Now wanting to run a 1/2 marathon is awesome but isn’t the best goal being able to run completely around the block first without stopping? Or is that long-term goal of running it the true brass ring?  (Honestly if I ever ran a long long distance race I’d cap it at a 1/2. I have no interest in a full.)

So as I asked in the very beginning: Is this really motivation? 

Music for this post: Dispatch