Bushwalla's awesome.

Who's that (or what's that) you say? He's a musician and a great one at that. This guy opened for Jason Mraz when I saw him in concert in April in Santa Cruz. He was amazing. He's not the most attractive guy, but he's so wonderfully charming and really funny. His music is definitely a little on the eccentric side, but you can't help but like it. He did a cover of the Talking Heads song Psycho Killer, and it was AWESOME. I've had a hankering for listening to it again, and unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it on an album anywhere, so I turned to the one place where you can find anything: YouTube. And here it is!



He has an album out called Autodidactical, Freestyle and Radical which you can find on iTunes (and which yours truly was lucky enough to purchase from the artist himself at the concert!). The best song on it? A song called Gangsta in which the chorus is "It's hard to be a gangsta with a basket on your bike." How funny is that?

Check it out if you get a chance!

Workin' for the weekend.

I am so excited about this weekend! Here's what's lined up:

1. Friday night after work I'm headed to the fair with Ari, Jenni (see her blog here) and Patricia. There are plans for eating lots of deliciously disgusting fried food and just hanging out together. I cannot wait!

2. Saturday afternoon I'm having lunch with a friend/former co-worker whom I haven't seen in a couple of months. I can't believe it's been that long since I saw her last (see Monday's post about someone's finger being on the fast forward button). I'm really looking forward to seeing her again and catching up.

3. On Sunday, I'm getting together with my family to celebrate my grandparent's 54th wedding anniversary. We're going to Mass on Sunday morning and then it's back to my grandparent's house for dinner. That should also be a good time - I always enjoy seeing my family (as you well know by now).

4. On Monday afternoon, my mom and stepdad have invited Rob and I to a Rivercats game in a box suite. That should also be a good time - I'm more looking forward to the company and the food than the game. Did you know Big Spoon yogurt has a concession stand at Raley Field?? Yummmmm.

All in all, it should be a great albeit busy weekend. I'm REALLY looking forward to the extra day off and am going to enjoy it as much as possible, since it will be my last extended weekend until Thanksgiving. Oy.

But with as fast as this year is going, I'm sure it will be here in no time flat. Which is both comforting and downright scary at the same time.

Whatever your plans are this holiday weekend, stay safe and enjoy the last weekend of summer! (Boo hoo!)

Woo hoo!

I went to the dentist today for a 6 month cleaning. I always dread going because I'm afraid of what they're going to find, even though 9 times out of 10 everything's fine. I do, however, usually get a lecture from my hygienist about the fact that my flossing is...well...less than stellar. I have a tendency to not try and do it until right before bed, and by that point I'm too tired to do anything but go to sleep, so it goes by the wayside. (I do brush, though - just wanted to get that out there.) However, over the last couple of weeks, I've found a way to floss that's actually working - I do it way before bedtime as I sit in front of the TV, and so far, I've been doing it every night for a week and a half.

And it paid off.

When I went to my appointment today, there was much less scraping and it was a much faster appointment than normal, even with x-rays! My hygienist was happy, I was happy, and thank goodness, I had no cavities.

Now I just need to keep this up for...forever!

Well, off to go floss...until next time.

Uh-oh.

I think I may be addicted to exercise.

As I mentioned previously, I've been working out 6 days a week in preparation for the Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving morning. I've been biking and doing the Couch to 5k program (found here: thanks for the inspiration, Jenni!) and Sundays are my day of rest to let my body recuperate. Which I do enjoy, by the way.

But the joy is short lived, because when I wake up on Monday morning, I am a GROUCH. The world sucks and my job sucks and I look terrible and I feel terrible and everything's just...YUCK. Now granted, I'm usually not the happiest of people on Monday mornings (show me one person who isn't!), but I'm usually not that gloom and doom. Once I get to work and get started with my day, I'm fine. But not since I've started exercising this much. By Monday morning, the high I had on Saturday afternoon is long gone and the yucks have set in. And they last pretty much all day until I get back on that treadmill again, and then everything is right with the world and I feel so much better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that exercising makes me feel as good as I do. And now I've definitely found a reason to keep going. But I think I'm going to have to do something low impact on Sundays just to keep me in the routine and keep those endorphins going, otherwise I'm doomed to never have a happy Monday ever again.

If such a thing even exists.

Zai Jian, Olympics.

(According to eHow, that's how you say goodbye in Chinese.)

The only good thing about the Olympics coming to an end? People will be less tired at work from staying up too late the night before to watch them.

I'm still going to go through withdrawals for a couple of days. What on earth am I going to watch now?? I guess we'll have to watch the Netflix movies we've had for over a month.

Oh, the horror!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

4 months from today is Christmas Eve!

What I want to know is who has their finger on the fast forward button this year, because it really seems like we just finished with the holidays.

Better start your shopping now!

Musical motivation.

If you exercise, what are some songs that get and keep you motivated during your workouts? Here are a few of my favorites (and let me preface this by saying that I am not ashamed of some of them because they get my nonexistent behind in gear):

1. Maniac (yes, from Flashdance - don't knock it till you've tried it!)
2. Wind it Up, Gwen Stefani
3. The Way I Are, Timbaland
4. Blue Orchid, White Stripes
5. Somebody Told Me, The Killers
6. Galvanize, The Chemical Brothers
7. Gotta Get Through This, Daniel Bedingfield
8. Hung Up, Madonna
9. The New Workout Plan, Kanye West
10. Release, Timbaland ft. Justin Timberlake (you know a JT song had to be on the list somewhere)
11. Most of the songs from Nelly Furtado's album Loose

Motivation comes in many forms, but Justin Timberlake is usually the best form of it. Hands down.

Funniest. Thing. Ever.

Happy almost Friday!

Olympic overload? Not yet.

I cannot seem to get enough of the Olympics this time around. I've turned into a huge Michael Phelps phan (tee hee), and really, who isn't? I've been watching pretty much anything Olympic-related since last Friday, starting with the amazing opening ceremonies to an equestrian event today. I even watched a little fencing. I think of all the Olympic years in my lifetime, this is the year I've watched most. I don't know if it's because of Michael Phelps or because I've just never really devoted enough time to sit down and watch these world champion athletes compete, but I'm so glad I'm doing it now.

Last night I watched the women's marathon, and boy, was that inspiring. I've never wanted to go for a run more than while I was watching those phenomenal women. Even though the American woman (who was the hopeful to win the gold) had to drop out early in the race because of a foot injury (which was heartbreaking to watch, by the way), it was amazing to watch the Romanian woman who won the gold break away from the rest of the pack and be so far ahead of everyone that you couldn't see her competitors behind her. Incredible.

These people also inspire me to keep going with my own training. By no means am I trying to be an Olympian, but I am trying to improve and become a better runner.

And, there's still 7 more days of inspiration left to watch. Woo hoo!

Recapturing the magic.

I weighed in this morning and I am 2 pounds lighter than I was last month. All the exercise is paying off big time. I can feel my body starting to change again - my legs feel incredibly muscular, my running time is starting to improve and I'm feeling like I did 2 years ago when I was training for my first run. I am so excited about what I'm going to look like when race day finally arrives on Thanksgiving morning. It's going to be awesome. I feel totally unstoppable at this moment.

It feels so good to have the old new me back again (does that make sense?).

Me vs. me.

I've started biking this week to help condition my legs for my run in November in addition to doing the Couch-to-5k program to get me back to a decent running time. I've set a pretty rigorous training schedule for myself - I run every other day, and bike on the days I'm not running. I do give myself one day off a week (Sunday) to recuperate and relax a little, but I'm finding now that it's hard to stay away from the exercise now that I'm getting really into it. It's true what they say about it being addicting - once you get that exercise high, it's hard to stop.

I'm not only doing this to get in shape for the run (which is my number one reason): I'm still trying to burn off the weight I gained while on vacation. I'm still not sure exactly how much it is (one or two pounds, maybe), but it's proving very difficult to get rid of. I'm eating exactly as I should be every day (lots of fruits and veggies, lots and LOTS of water, proteins, fiber, carbs, etc.) and still, my scale has not budged. Every morning I hope for a lower number, and every morning it's been exactly the same or a little bit more. It's extremely frustrating since I've never experienced anything like this before; when I was losing weight a couple of years ago and got down to my last few pounds, it didn't take this long (those last few are the hardest to lose), so I'm wondering what's going on. With my Saturday weigh-in looming over my head, I'm getting more and more panicked.

Maybe that's the problem: I'm panicking too much. I've just got to relax and remind myself that I'm doing everything right and the scale is bound to catch up at some point. It's just going to take some time (more than I'd like it to).

It's too bad there's not an Olympic event in worrying/panicking, because I would be the Michael Phelps of that sport.

Russian River revisited.

Although it's been 2 weeks since we got home from our family vacation, I'm still thinking about it. It was a blissful week of relaxing, swimming, spending time with each other and eating until my pants no longer fit. We had pretty awesome weather for most of the week - the first couple of days we had typical coastal weather (foggy until about noon and then mild temperatures) and then the rest of the week was fog-free and warm. Perfect. I took a nap every day. I read every day. I took a walk every morning with my aunts in the perfect scenery. I caught up with all of my relatives. It was pretty darn great.

And here, a few pictures to show you:

Kristie and I mugging for the camera (and Corey trying to ruin it behind us):

Rob and I:











My grandmother (Oma) after going blackberry picking:











My grandmother is almost 76 years old and still cooks for 15 people the entire week. Amazing, isn't she?

My aunt's awesome (fake) tattoo:











The pizza place where we go and have lunch one day during the week. These people make really, really, really good pizza.











All in all it was an awesome week. And I could not imagine it without all of these people:











Back row, l to r: Philip (my sister Alisha's boyfriend), my uncle Harold, my cousin Kim's husband Nick, my husband Rob, my aunt Kathy and my uncle Norman.
Middle row, l to r: my grandmother (Oma), my aunt Irene, my cousin Kim, my cousin Kristie, me, my mom and my grandfather (Baba).
Front row, l to r: my cousin Corey and my sister Alisha.

I really am an incredibly lucky person. Wouldn't you agree?

Stacy and Clinton have done it again.

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a little bit of a fashion rut. I can't quite put together exciting and fun looks on a regular basis and I'm just grabbing for what I know is safe. There's nothing wrong with my outfits - they just need a little oomph.

Enter Stacy and Clinton. Last night, I watched an episode of What Not to Wear and cringed in horror at the 28-year-old woman who wore fairy wings (huge, Tinkerbell wings that she wore on her back in public, no less) and glitter eyeshadow because it was fun and cute. Aauugh. When they showed her some ideas of outfits to buy, the wheels started turning in my head. I had a couple of different ideas of what I wanted to wear today and decided to go for it.

So I wore a burgundy trapeze shirt with a brown belt around my middle, dark denim trouser jeans and a pair of muted silver and gold kitten heels. I felt great that I'd tried something new (for me) and that it looked so cute. And I didn't have to buy a thing!

Once again, Stacy and Clinton have helped me with fashion inspiration. So I'm off to go run and watch another episode. Who knows what will inspire me tonight?

A few things that I am not ashamed to admit.

• I got drunk for the first time 2 weeks ago and I am 31 years old.
  
• I eat my dinner between 4:30 and 5:00.
• I go to bed between 8:45 and 9:15 (keep in mind that I'm up by 5:30).
• Sometimes foul language embarrasses me.
  
• I positively adore Justin Timberlake (see previous post).
  
• Whenever I eat at Fresh Choice, I get a big pile of whipped topping with sprinkles for dessert. It's deeelicious.
• I loooooove Saturday afternoon naps.
• I check People magazine's website every day for the latest scoop on celebrities.
• I sometimes sleep until almost 10 on Sundays.
• I have chocolate in one form or another every single day.

I'm finally at a point in my life where I can admit these things because this is me and I love every one of these things about me.

Pure bliss from the mailbox.

Wouldn't it be awesome to get mail like this every day?











You know it would be.

Interesting and kind of sad.

I found this article tonight and it struck a chord. It's so true! I really wish I didn't hate the camera so much, but I just can't stand to see all my imperfections. I always scrutinize my image way too much.

You never see men looking at themselves in a photo the way women do after it's taken. I noticed when we went on vacation that after a picture was taken, most of us girls wanted to see it right away and make sure it was up to our standards.

It's really too bad that most women think they take terrible pictures, when in fact, most of us take pretty good pictures. As far as I'm concerned, I do have several really bad pictures of me that I wish I could burn, but my mom won't let me. Any of the ones that were taken around the time I was 12 or 13 can easily be erased and I would be fine with it. In fact, I would delight in it. No one needs to see what puberty did to my hair or skin. It does not need to be a permanent record.

Thankfully, I don't hide from the camera as much as I used to. I still do when I don't feel quite like me or pretty enough to be captured on film. But just like most women, I need to stop worrying so much about my picture. It's really not a big deal.

But I'm sure the next time a camera comes out, I'll feel the urge to run again.