Archive for December 20, 2012

The A.D.D Workout

Is it just me or do other people find that as soon as they step on a treadmill, they suddenly have ADD to an extreme level? I’m not poking fun at anyone that actually has ADD (I am pretty sure I actually do have it), but I know I’m not the only one that feels this way about the revolving sidewalk of death.

Today I had 45 minutes slated on that thing and the patience of a puppy at a dog park. I decided to get creative and have some fun. It tends to keep me from getting bored and pushes me to change things up.

The A.D.D Workout

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

What am I Gonna Do…..with a Coffee Table

If you’ve seen Wayne’s World, the title of this post might make more sense.

Sometimes I do strange things. Things I can’t explain. And today, I did one of those things.

It was a dark and cloudy day, and this girl had quite an agenda.

As I ran errands this afternoon in preparation for my trip to the South Pole Kansas, I had to make a stop at the beauty supply store. Which happens to be next to a thrift store. Which happens to be a great place to buy books. (Can’t beat $1 books.) Needless to say, I was already parked, so it would have been wrong of me to NOT go in.

As I walked through the store, perusing the myriads of 50 year old microwaves and VHS tapes, I grabbed a few cheesy chick-lit books and started to head towards the counter. And then it caught my eye.

A slightly worn-down, pretty nice looking coffee table. Antique-ish and kind of classy, with a hint of homely. (I should be a wine taster with adjectives like that eh?) It should be noted that what REALLY caught my eye was a sign on it that said $5. I went straight to the lady at the counter and asked her if that was correct and if there was anything wrong with the coffee table. She said it was just fine and that it was, in fact, only $5.

The next thing I knew I was driving out of the parking lot with 2 books and a coffee table.

coffee table

After my internal celebration started to dwindle (i love a good deal!), my mind started working. (Always a scary thing when that happens.) It wasn’t until I had started making my turn out of the parking lot that I realized I had no idea what I was going to do with this coffee table. I kind of sat there for a minute trying to figure out why it was that I even bought the coffee table. I was left with nothing.

Here is what I came up with:

1) I can try to sell it on Craigslist for a best-case scenario $30. A whopping $25 profit that will probably take about 56 hours of my time to get.

2) Keep it in my already-too-crowded apartment in an attempt to complete the at-home jungle gym I’ve been building.

3) Give it to someone as a gift. (Hi Uncle Steve, I bought this old, worn out coffee table and it totally reminded me of you!)

4) I could give it to Goodwill and continue to tell the story of how I bought a coffee table that I gave away the same day for the rest of my life.

5) I’m leaving this one up to you guys.

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THIS COFFEE TABLE?

Tawk amongst yahselves….

The Woods Have Palm Trees

Yesterday I was feeling rather stressed out and overwhelmed. Being in a gym around a bunch of equipment and people was the exact opposite of what I needed, so I headed out to Temescal Canyon. Temescal Canyon is part of the Santa Monica Mountains and has several hikes to offer. The Santa Monica’s literally have miles and miles of trails, and Temescal has at least 5 or 6 good ones to choose from. Basically there is a main entrance, and as you hike on there are several forks in the road to choose from. It seemed fitting for my mood.

I did a mix of hiking and trail running and just let me feet go where they wanted to go. I took a break at the top to admire the gorgeous day I was experiencing. Southern California definitely has it’s perks.

TC 5

As beautiful as this picture is, it doesn’t do an ounce of justice. Yes, I measure justice in ounces.

I hiked back down the mountain and decided I wasn’t done with nature just yet. I sat and listened to the running water and trees blowing for a bit. This was my view…

TC 6

 

Eventually I ventured off further and discovered a tree that happened to be perfect for climbing. So I called on  my inner 5 year old and did just that. Probably the best thing I’ve done since I’ve lived in LA.

 

 

 

tree climb 1

 

I’ll let the pictures speak for the rest of this. But needless to say, nature walks/runs/hikes are by far the best thing ever.

tree stump 2

bridge

And just in case you forgot I was in LA, yes, that’s a palm tree in the woods…..

PALM TREE

 

Why Writing Rocks

It’s funny how the most vulnerable moments can sometimes be your most awakening moments too. Sometimes I learn new things about myself just by trying to explain something to somebody. It’s weird, because you would think I knew what I was talking about before I started speaking, but that isn’t the case with me. I talk, then think while talking, then keep talking, and eventually drive people to complete insanity. Keeping mental institutions in business since 1988 baby!

drive crazy

All joking aside, today was definitely one of those moments where it wasn’t until the words were spoken, that I realized how right on I was. I was trying to explain myself to someone. If you know me, you can probably imagine how ridiculous this conversation was. Let’s just say, I plan on donating my brain to science so that they can try to figure it out. I’m pretty set on being the first born of a new species and going down in history.

crazy brain

I started describing my many interests. It makes my head spin sometimes, but if I could I’d probably have about 5 different careers and 4,586 hobbies. It’s unrealistic for me to do EVERYTHING that I want to do (time and money really put a damper on things sometimes) and part of my 20’s to-do list has been figuring out how to balance it all and still not feel like I’m losing out on anything. I love a lot of things and don’t want to give up any of them.There are a few that I am absolutely sure MUST be a big part of my life. These things include: Recording/Mixing and music in general, working out and living a pretty healthy lifestyle, and being able to take time off to travel and be outdoors. Of course, there are SEVERAL other things that are super important to me, but those are can’t-live-withouts that are at the top of my list.

Writing is another one that I realized today was so important to me. Oddly enough, I used to hate writing. Writing a paper was the bane of my existence and I just never thought I was good at it. It didn’t help when a professor of mine basically told me that my writing was “totally random and doesn’t make any sense.” Okay, she didn’t “basically” tell me that, she flat out said it. She also forgot to put eyeshadow on both eyes sometimes though, so I’m still not sure why I believed her for so long. Regardless, at that point I decided math was my thing and that I would avoid writing at all costs. And I did a really good job at it. I think I wrote 3 papers during my entire college career. (For consulting on what college classes require the least writing, feel free to e-mail me.)

Then I started blogging back in 2008. I originally did it to journal my fitness endeavors, but ended up really loving it and finding it to be a huge outlet for me. It led me to writing health articles for various websites (Xyience, All Pro Supplements) and helped me find my own voice in writing. I was finally able to write the way I wanted to write and not confined to the box of essay writing.

Today, I’ve realized how much more writing can do for me. Now prepare yourself for what I’m about to tell you, because it’s absolutely earth shattering:

I can write about ANYTHING I want to write about!

whatever-i-can-do-what-i-want

Are you okay? Did you get hurt? If so, don’t sue me. I don’t have any assets so you will just be wasting your time. Trust me.

But really, I never made the connection that I could keep several of my interests “active” in my life simply by writing about them. It still keeps them close to me even when I may not be able to physically be doing them at that point in my life. As silly as it may sound, it was a revelation for me. It reminded me once again why writing is such an amazing tool to have and use.

I encourage you all to find your voice in writing as well. Many people tell me that they wish they could write or that they aren’t very good, but when you write from the heart, you may surprise yourself. I have no formal training and if you read through my high school and (very few) college papers, you’d probably wonder how I even passed 2nd grade. Once I was given my own platform, I was able to practice and hone in on my own personal writing style. I am still working on my writing and still working to test out several different styles, but each are of my own choice and for myself depending on how I’m feeling at the time. What I learned about writing is that it has to be YOU and it has to be FOR you. Even when writing for other people or for clients, my writing is ME.

me

Do you write? If so, how did you get into it and if not, why not?

5 Things I Will Probably Regret Admitting

Today has been the most boring Monday in history. Not boring in the sense that there was nothing to do, but boring in the sense that it was very routine and blah. I don’t like routine. I like unroutine. I also like making up new words.

I got up feeling like I could stay in bed for another 2 hours, but I decided not to be a loser and to get my butt to work. I worked for about 3 hours and called it quits. I debated on going home and coming back to workout, but had a feeling if I went home I’d never come back. To the treadmill I went…..

WORKOUT

babyworkout

Today’s workout was just cardio. I put my legs through the ringer the past few days and my upper body is sore from yesterday’s workout as well. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill (8.0-12.0 incline, 3.3-3.5mph) and finished with 15 minutes on the “moon machine”. I call it that because when I’m on it I feel like I’m walking on the moon. Since I know what that would feel like.

RANDOM

Since today was so mundane, I figured I’d spice it up with 5 things you may not know about me. There are no rules to this game except that if I don’t think twice before typing it, it’s not good enough to make the list. Here goes..

1 I once lied about having a dog. No, I wasn’t 5 years old, I was 19. It was an accident, but by the time I realized what was going on, I couldn’t turn back. Let me explain….

My dog had died about 3 months prior to this conversation. This person we shall call “John” had been talking to me about his dog quite a bit. I may or may not have had a crush on John and started talking about funny things that my previous dog did. (At this point, it could have been a current or former dog, I hadn’t clarified either direction.) He then told me that we should take our dogs to the dog park together and for some reason I just blurted out “Yeah that would be fun!” I think I was just nervous and I said it before I had a chance to think. I felt like an idiot, and it was too late to say “Oh wait, I mean my dog is dead!” So, for the next week, I had to pretend that I had a dog whenever I was asked about it. Finally, I came in one day and told him that my dog had gotten hit by a car a few days before. It was a lie, it had happened about 3-4 months prior, but I didn’t know what else to do. 

2In kindergarten I peed my pants on the playground and tried to blame it on the water fountain exploding on me. The water fountain DID explode on me….internally…

3 When I was a little kid (2nd grade maybe?) our cousin was staying with us for the summer while he interned at a company in Phoenix.  I would literally bug him day and night and go in his room when he wasn’t home messing with his stuff. He had a scanner, so obviously I needed to scan every part of my body and every object in the entire house. I think I was just excited to have someone new around, but at 19 years old, I don’t think he was all that amused with me. Or at least not 24/7. I can’t remember if he got mad at me or just started ignoring me, but one day I got mad that he wasn’t paying attention to me and I took the keys to his rental car and threw them in the dumpster. I denied ever seeing them and eventually, he had to get a locksmith out to make new keys. I never admitted this to anyone until I was in college. Mike, if you’re reading this, SORRY!! 🙂

4 Continuing with my angelic childhood, my sister used to babysit a lot and actually made pretty decent money for someone her age. She kept it in a piggy bank in her bedroom. It was weird, because every few weeks a few hundred dollars would go missing and that exact amount would end up in my wallet. It was a strange phenomenon that never quite got explained…..;-)


5-2 Banana peels don’t get you high. Don’t ask me how I know that, or why I learned that at age 14. 

banana peel

So now that I’ve admitted that I was the devil’s child and also quite gullible, what is one thing you will probably regret admitting? Leave a comment! 

Tyranna-SORE-ASS Lizzy

Ah, the close of the weekend. For many, this is a dreaded day, as you gear up for a 40 hour week in the office. For me, it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is. Sometimes I don’t work much during the week and a ton on the weekends, sometimes I work 7 days a week (although lately that hasn’t been the case) and sometimes it evens out through the week. It works for me, since my brain is scattered anyways, but I am quite sure it would give some people an ulcer.

i-hate-mondays

Regardless, somehow I still find it tough to be motivated on the weekends. I want to workout, but I also just want to be lazy. On Friday, I did a leg workout that rocked my world. It altered my Saturday workout plans, in that, I didn’t work out. I couldn’t walk. I looked like I’d been riding a horse for a week. Not pretty. I did do 100 pushups (broken up into 10 sets of 10) but considered it mostly a rest day.

This morning, I woke up late. Last night was spent at my boyfriend’s new recording studio and it was the first time that we actually got to hook up some microphones and record! It was actually really freakin’ cool, especially considering how much work has been put into that place. That put us home at around 3am, so today started out slower than usual.

I met my friend Tedi at the gym at around 2pm after running a few errands with my manfriend. My legs were still sore and I just wasn’t sure how well this was going to work out. We started off doing about 15 minutes on the treadmill to warm up and then we hit the floor.

We did a series of exercises and then turned it into a buddy workout. It ended up being a complete BLAST and we plan on doing it every weekend. It’s extra motivation to have someone there with you when you’re feeling less than motivated. I’m not going to lie, my legs probably needed one more day, but I made sure to warm them up and stretch them out quite a bit in order to get through this without injury.  Here’s what we did:

WEEKEND WORKOUT

3 sets:

-Squat to bicep curl to shoulder press with DB’s (12-15 reps)

…………..superset with mountain climbers (50 reps total)

3 sets:

-Bosu DB Deadlifts (you can do from the floor if you’re not very stable on a bosu) (15 reps)

…………..superset with Bosu pushups (also can do from the knees if needed) (8-10 reps)

Then we did 3 sets of 2 different ab exercises with a blaster in between each set. We switched off deciding what our blaster would be. No rest. It went a little like this:

-Opposite hand to opposite foot sit ups (10 reps per side)

-50 jumping jacks (my pick)

-Opposite hand to opposite foot sit ups (10 reps per side)

-20 low box jumps (her pick)

-Opposite hand to opposite foot sit ups (10 reps per side)

-In/Out squat jumps: 10 reps legs together, 10 reps legs apart, alternating (my pick)

-Medicine ball sit ups (resting partner throws the ball to working partner, then switch) (15 reps)

-Run around the gym as fast as you can (her pick)

-Medicine ball sit ups (resting partner throws the ball to working partner, then switch) (15 reps)

-10 burpees (my pick)

-Medicine ball sit ups (resting partner throws the ball to working partner, then switch) (15 reps)

-1000 meter row (her pick)

 

This was a great workout and was super motivating to have a partner. It’s nice when you split the decisions because you have some control but are also not sure what to expect. Find a friend and try this workout! Let me know what you think. (Feel free to switch up any of the exercises, but you get the idea.)

The Worst Present I Ever Received

With the holidays right around the corner, everyone seems to be talking/posting about food, decorations, and of course, gifts. I was reading Tina’s blog and she mentioned the practical gifts her mother had given her for Christmas over the years. It instantly made me think of one particular gift that takes the cake in the most practical gift ever. It wasn’t necessarily that it was a bad gift, but it was by far the most hilarious gift I’ve ever received.

gift4

The Back Story….

Most holidays are spent at my Grandma’s or my Aunt’s house. They are central locations (well used to be, before I moved to LA) for most of our family and there is plenty of space for everyone. My grandparents were still very good friends with some relatives of ours that were around the same age as them (late 80’s, early 90’s). For the diflucan-fluconazole of this blog, we’ll call them Martha and Bob. Bob was always the funny man. While pushing 90, he wasn’t all there, but when he was we always had a laugh. (He has since passed away.) One of my favorite jokes of his was when my aunt would inevitably ask Bob how he liked his coffee. His response was always “Black, just like my women.” This was hilarious for two reasons: HE WAS 90 and his wife was as white as they come. Need I say more?

Old-men

On this particular occasion, we had all stuffed our faces with delicious food, visited with each other, and finally it was time to open some presents. I can’t remember if this was a holiday or a birthday, but at some point it was time to open my gift from Bob and Martha.

It was soft and wrapped a little funky, which made me think it had to be clothes. I carefully unwrapped the gift, and as I took out the contents, I was a little bit shocked. It wasn’t long before I looked at my little brother (who was sharing a chair with me) and began laughing uncontrollably. We didn’t want anyone to know we were laughing (although I’m sure we did a poor job of hiding it) so I help up the gift as if to show it off. Truthfully, it was to hide the laughter.

So what was it? Well, it was a piece of clothing. In fact, it was a T-shirt. And it wasn’t just any T-shirt. It was a white, Hanes, under shirts. Much like this:

supreme-hanes-co-branded-undershirts-300x300

 

Come to think of it, it might be the best gift I ever received because it sure does make a good story.

What is the worst present/funniest present you ever recieved?

A Real Americano & a Workout

Editor’s Note: I published this yesterday, but WordPress lost it. I had to re-write it. I wasn’t happy.

Oh man. Last night was one of those nights where sleep just didn’t happen. It never seems like that big of a deal at the time, but then you wake up the next morning. And it’s a bigfuckin’deal! You begin to think of what excuses you can use to stay in bed and convince yourself that getting up wouldn’t be healthy for you….

dog.in.bed

My schedule is pretty flexible, and this morning was definitely one of those days that I tried to think of excuses. Alas, I realized I better just get up and knock things off my to-do list instead. I had a lot to get done.

I work part-time at a boutique gym in Santa Monica. I started working there the day after I moved to LA. As in, I got to LA at 3pm on a Saturday and was at work at 7am the next morning. With that said, this place has grown to be somewhat of a home to me. When I started, I worked at the front desk. It began as about a 15 hour a week gig, but soon turned into 30+ hours per week. One day, I decided to quit to pursue other things. Then they re-hired me. The same day. In a different position. So now I do a bunch of administrative work for the gym and basically make my own schedule.

Today when I got to the gym, it hit me as soon as I walked in the door. I needed it. I needed ‘a real one.’ You see, I’ve been trying to cut down on caffeine (and lately failing miserably, but did give it up for a good 6 months or so) and have made decaf Americanos a staple. Sure, I will drink 3 energy drinks in a day and be okay with it, but I won’t deviate from my decaf Americanos. Shut up. Logic isn’t one of my strengths.

The rebel in me decided that today needed to be a rule-breaking kind of day. There is a cute little coffee shop across the street from the gym, and it wasn’t long before I was walking through the door looking like Lindsay Lohan everyday after a long night. The owner of the shop immediately started to say “So a deca..” but I cut him off, looked him straight in the eye and said, “I need a real one today.” He knew I wasn’t joking and was on top of it immediately. And that was that. Soon I had this staring at me. It was glorious. And real. I like caffeine, yes I do.

americano

It lit quite a fire under my ass and I was able to get a whole lot done today. It also inspired me to do this fun little workout. It’s quick, tough, and sweaty. Hope you enjoy!

Upside Down Christmas Tree Workout (Lame Name Award goes to me!)

5 ROUNDS:

Burpees w/ push-ups (10 reps, 20 sec. rest between sets)

Rest 1 minute, then…

4 ROUNDS:

Superset: DB Squats w/ BB Push Press (10 reps each, 20 sec. rest between supersets)

Rest 1 minute, then…

3 ROUNDS:

Superset: Swiss ball crunch (10 reps) w/ 30 second plank (no rest)

No rest from here on out..

2 ROUNDS: 

Superset: Lat pulldown w/ Seated row (10 reps)

1 ROUND:

400m Sprint

 Leave a comment if you try the workout, and let me know how it goes. Then riddle me this:

If you had to live on candy, what would you buy?

I’d definitely buy sour patch kids and sweet tarts.