It's gonna be me

I got to watching N Sync music videos today on YouTube/Vevo and couldn't believe it's been 10 years since they were da bomb. Not sure if people even use that term anymore but I vividly remember my sisters learning the It's Gonna Be Me dance  from a VHS tape my younger sister taped off the Disney Channel.  The video was sandwiched between a Destiny's Child video, Aaron Carter video and Britney Live in Hawaii concert.   Because I wasn't as coordinated I didn't participate in the dance re-enactment. I'm still trying to figure out what "Dirty Pop" is.

It's funny how time flies.

It's also funny how time flies whenever I take a "break" from working out.  A day turns into days, then weeks.

Two weeks ago Blizzilla hit Chicago and I was stuck inside for three days straight.  Talk about cabin fever.   I was super inactive and went completely insane with my diet and exercise.  My three days of solitude consisted of checking e-mail from my couch (when I had electricity), sleeping, looking out the window at people digging cars out of snow, finding items to sell on eBay and salvaging whatever junk food was around my crib.  Walgreens was closed.  The grocery store was closed.  My gym was closed.  My work was closed. The only thing open was Dunkin Donuts.

I did squeeze in one Slim in Six workout and hula hooped with my weighted hula hoop.  But mostly I watched countless hours of early 2000 Fox/WB teen dramas online (holla at the O.C.).

Working towards my beach body with Slim in 6.

My personal fitness DVD collection 

To make matters worse, the following week was bitterly cold outside which for me equaled more ridiculous amounts of inactivity.   Really I had no excuse for not getting a Biggest Loser-style full-day work out on...except for when I had no electricity.  I own an assortment of fitness DVDS, a yoga mat and have online access to a gazillion workouts via YouTube and Netflix.    Why not get hardcore?

I was lazy and more concerned with Ryan and Marissa's rocky relationship. I swear that girl lacks common sense.  First she falls for crazy Oliver, then unstable Johnny.  Girl needs to get it together, as do I.

It was super snowy outside.

Getting back on track little by little, day by day.   It's gonna be me.

:)

What's up Alanis?

I don't own an iPod.  Instead I use my Blackberry phone to listen to music on the go/while working out, exclusively via Pandora's app.  Right now, to understand where I'm at we'll have to do a flashback back to 1995 when most girls aged 10 to 30 reveled in the girl power antics of Ms. Alanis Morrisette.  That's where I've been while working out these last two weeks: Alanis Pandora internet radio station feat. Alanis herself plus Sheryl, Tracy, Jewel and all those mid-90s chick rockers. Not sure how I got here especially considering the most recent concert I attended was Wu Tang -- not my type of music, but a super good concert (isn't it ironic?).  Alanis is mos def singing about diff stuff. 


It's been two-ish weeks since I created her Pandora station and I ain't sick of her yet. Maybe because her music brings me back to my debt-free-stress-free-pre-teen self when I delighted in stuff like getting a Jagged Little Pill cd for Christmas and thought I was super cool when I found the hidden acoustic track, Your Room.
 I also managed to finally wear a Bebe sport 80s style workout sweatband I bought on clearance for $1.50 around the time I started college. Gotsta keep it real.  

Michael Jackson workout at the DuSable Museum

For Children, By Children (FCBC) burned some major calories Friday night
impersonating the Jackson 5 in Expressions of MJ.

DuSable Museum auditorium

Last night I attended a performance called Expressions of MJ at the DuSable Museum and all I can say is "AMAZING!".  It was presented by For Children, By Children (FCBC)and highlighted songs/dances/moments from the life of the ‘King of Pop’, Michael Jackson. From little Michael performing with The Jackson Five and later The Jacksons, to some of his most memorable music videos and dazzling live performances, the cast of FCBC put on a highly energetic showcase of the life of Michael Joseph Jackson.  Best $15 dollars I've ever spent on a Friday night!  Everything was sooo professional and my friend who also attended mentioned, "We should learn all the dances".  Michael Jackson workout anyone??  I think so.

Why I don't need an iPod

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Quote of the Day:  Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run. -Jumbo Elliot, Track and Field Coach

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"The Feel Better Soup & Sandwich Meal That's Cheaper than Panera" 

My throat was feeling itchy on Sunday night so I decided to make a feel better meal.  It must've worked because I woke up Monday morning feeling peachy.  Ingredients: A mix of food from Trader Joe's and Dominick's.  Soup = TJ's Low Sodium Creamy Tomato boxed soup (yum).  Sandwich = toasted TJ's Tuscan Pane bread with munster and American cheese, TJ's Sun-dried Roma tomatoes in olive oil, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, Miracle Whip and TJ's Spicy Mustard.  Drink = Water.  Vitamins = C and D.  Holy heaven in my mouth.

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Why I don't need an iPod
Move over Apple, there's a new fruit in town

I'm obsessed with my Blackberry Curve.  If there was a way I could take a picture of my Curve with my Curve and post the picture on this blog, I'd do it but let's not get too crazy.  I'll just settle for the stock photo.
The Blackberry Curve is truly the best fruit-named phone I've tried, and this morning, while completing a quick run outside, I fell in love all over again when in the Blackberry App World catalogue I discovered the App called iMapMyRun. This tool tracks runs by average speed, mileage, time, current speed and is pretty much like a treadmill electronic display without the incline control.  


Alright.  Calm down you Apple iPhone freaks.  I know your kind also has the same App but personally, I don't like the iPhone.  I find Apple iPhone users snobby.  Clearly, Blackberry users are superior.  After all, the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice, and I happen to have a black Blackberry.  

So this morning, while I was running with the App on, and my Pussycat Dolls Pandora station, I couldn't help but smile.  Maybe it was because I said "hello" to half a dozen mamas standing with their Catholic-school-uniform-wearing kiddies at the school bus stop while songs like Buttons blared through my headphones and it seemed all too appropriate.  Or maybe it was because Crackberries really do have a crack-like effect on users.

Regardless, I didn't always love the berry.  My first Blackberry was the Pearl and was purchased from eBay, naturally.  It proved to be horrid.  It blocked my incoming text messages.  Sometimes it wouldn't let me pick up calls or show the icon that let me know I had 8 new voicemails waiting to be heard.  Sometimes I'd see a friend, and they'd ask why I didn't return a call.  And I'd say,  "You didn't call."  And they'd say, "Yes I did".  And then I'd tap into my voicemail, and of course I'd have half a dozen new messages from yester year.  And worst of all, the Pearl froze a lot.   The only thing it was good for was Brickbreaker. 


So, when it was time to get a new phone, I swore up and down that I would get anything but another Blackberry.  That was until a Sprint store associate told me if I traded in my Pearl I would get a FREE new & improved Blackberry Curve, no questions asked.  That's when I said sayonara to my Pearl faster than a speeding Toyota, and embraced the new Curve the same way one embraces a new addition to the Taco Bell value menu: I just didn't know if it would be good but I thought I'd give it a chance.

It's been four months, and so far so good.  I use my Curve constantly.  I text.  I play Brickbreaker, Word Scramble and Texas Hold 'Em.  I listen to Pandora radio via my Curve at the gym, in my car and at home.  I watch YouTube videos.  I utilitze the GPS capabilities.  I add reminder memos, events to my calender and update Facebook statuses.  It's the only camera I own.  It's my alarm clock.  And, sometimes I even use the darn thing as a phone.