Story Time! (Lip Syncing)

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Consider this more of a Friday night rant. It will be enjoyable. I hope. If not, see you next post!

Does anyone here watch Jimmy Fallon? I am in love with his show- I think he’s hilarious and comes up with some great skits and games that really make me look forward to each show- regardless of who the guests are! Anyways, did anyone watch the episode last week with John Krasinski? I’ll humor you with a clip from what John and Jimmy did…..LIP-SYNCING!!!!

Yes. I laughed a lot. To the point of tears because it was so hilarious. And it reminded me of my lip-syncing days. The elementary school I attended in Southern California was a private (Catholic) school that hand an annual lip-sync event. To the best of my memory, it was probably the most exciting thing that all the kids looked forward to each year.

Here’s the kicker—they made us try out. And a lot of kids wouldn’t make the cut. Talk about a kick in the pants to a group of pre-schoolers whose parents really wanted to get video of their kids lip syncing the hokey pokey–and would never get the chance.

So here’s where my experience kicked in. I made it. ONLY ONCE. It was kindergarten and there was a big group of us that lip synced Splish Splash. I remember I wore a white and pink polka dot skirt and did the Twist for the entirety of the song. I really only have that on VHS so there’s no way in hell you guys can ever see that.

First grade: didn’t make it. We tried to do a song from the musical CATS

Third Grade: didn’t make it. I don’t remember the song, but it was something somewhat religious (our parents thought that would make us a shoe-in at a CATHOLIC school). And we had to wear jeans and I almost kicked my mother because I DID NOT want to wear jeans.

Ah, and here is where I have a picture to share with you. Second Grade. Me and my two friends, Tess and Cassie, decided to do a Mary Kate & Ashley Song. Here’s what the song was:

Called ‘No One Tells The President.’ Aka: Clinton Administration.

Well that dates myself. Back to the time when the Michelle Tanners were making music videos. I was addicted to their jams. My other top fave was ‘Brother for Sale.’ Please tell me someone else knows these tunes.

We didn’t make it that year. Here is us looking pretty dejected after our try-out:

I’m in the red shorts. The ones that are pulled up higher than necessary (they were AYSO shorts from soccer. Again, anyone remember that?!) And I remember I helped my mom make the shirts. I am so DIY savvy.

I moved the summer after third grade to yet ANOTHER Catholic school- this time in Northern California. They didn’t have Lip-Sync Concerts, but they did have Wheel-a-thons and St. Francis of Assisi day where you could bring in your pets to get blessed.

If you like this story, please let me know because I have about a half billion others from my silly silly upbringing. Like these:

The time I made up a song about face wash at a Girl Scout camping trip
The time I had a halloween party at my house and we thought we’d be sneaky and play spin the bottle with a mustard bottle, but my dog stole the bottle and ended up trailing yellow throughout the house.
The time I wore a plaid shirt, khaki pants and Airwalk shoes to a school dance and no one would dance with me (ok, maybe that was about 2 or 3 times)
The time I used to pull my school sweater over my head during recess so that Julie and Erica would be my friends. They never did become my friends, but Julie gave me a Cayola crayon holder for my birthday one year.

I had a really awkward childhood. Which is great because now I can tell you ALL about it. Have a good weekend!

Winesday Wednesday: 5/14

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Winesday Wednesday, everyone!

I hope you guys are having a good week so far (if not, drink more wine!) I am in the final stages of the interview process for a job, so I have been sitting at the edge of my seat just waiting to hear back. I’m going to jump right into this week’s submissions and butt in for anything random that pops into my head while doing so. (Did anyone else ever have to do that for English or Creative Writing classes? Just write any and everything that flows through your brain for a specific period of time? I did for a senior year elective- we were instructed to write in our composition books each day for five minutes on anything that came to our heads. Well, one day I was in a bad mood, so I basically wrote the F-word over and over again for the whole five minutes. And my professor was a monk- so that was awkward.)

Keith, who blogs at http://keithsodyssey.blogspot.com/ wrote in the following:

This Barolo was bottled in August 2008 so it’s coming up on 5 years. This is what 5 years of dust looks like. Dust and wine bottles go together. When it was only a couple years old it was very much an up in your face wine. There was a big bold taste that went with the spiciest of marinades. So today I paired it up with some barbecued Beef Tenderloin in a marinade with a bunch of Mama Africa spice. It went very well. The wine has mellowed a bit, being merely strong and assertive, with some of the ruffty tuffty corners knocked off. There’s a bit of black currants (which I hate) and other dark fruit (blackberries, plums, blueberries, prunes) here, and a hint of raspberry sweetness. This was a Mondial kit, meaning all juice. It takes these a long time to come into their own. If you can’t stand seeing a bit of sediment on the side, and don’t have the patience to wait years for it to ripen, don’t get this kit.

For Keith, that’s 5 years of dust collecting. For our house, that’s about 3 days worth of dust. No lie. We are planning a HUGE all over house cleaning this weekend and I expect to fill at least 2 garbage bags with dust, lint and dog hair. Gross.

Katie, who blogs at http://katieenpursuit.wordpress.com/ celebrated QUITTING HER JOB with some fine $3 wine! Methinks from her latest post that she is pursuing training? HOLLA ATCHA GIRL- that’s exactly what I aspire to do one day!

When I was younger, I ALWAYS wanted to have my own cinnamon bun shop. Now, I would kill to just train or do anything fitness-related. So my now-fantasy is having a cinnamon bun shop in the front and gym in the back. So I can fatten people up, then slim them down. Haha I am so clever. Or dumb.

Nicole, who blogs at http://hauterunner.blogspot.ca/ had Sir Perry Pear Cider! I actually tried this about a month or so ago and it’s pretty tasty- especially when it’s ICE COLD.

Not that this has anything to do with pear cider, but I remember one of the first times i visited Canada I was passed a can of Palm Bay. I was all WTF is this. And they were all IT’S SO GOOD AND YOU’LL GET DRUNK! So of course, I chugged it. Should’ve read the can- it’s a VODKA COOLER…IN A CAN. I was in love love love with that stuff. Then I barfed a lot and haven’t had it since.

My best friend Kristin (I think I might be the only person left who still calls her Kysha?) made FANCY margaritas!

The recipe: 1 oz agave nectar, 2 oz tequila and fresh squeezed lime to taste.

Dang, I want one. Speaking of margaritas, I like them a lot. And so does Tyler. I mean…HELLO COSTCO TEQUILA:

Last weekend, we amped them up with raspberries (I called it my antioxidant beverage)

I am STILL on the hunt for super huge margarita glasses so we can throw an upside-down Corona in those suckers.

Michael submitted another awesome beer for this week. He wrote: Long Strange tripel from Missouri. Arguably one of the best tripels NOT made in Belgium nor by monks. That makes me laugh, since the college I went to was run by monks. I’m not kidding.

My friend Ashley sent me a pic from when she went to a BACON AND BEER festival. Um, I lived in Boston without knowing that existed? I’m ashamed. And jealous!

My mom drinks margaritas with a fake goose. Her name is Moddy.

That’s not random, either. When I was really young and living in Irvine, CA we used to go to the park that was right next to the library. The park had one of those big ponds with the ugly water feature in the middle and you couldn’t really picnic there because of all the ducks and geese and poop. But anyways, there were two immaculately white geese that my mom had named Helen and Moddy because they were asshole geese (we fed them anyways). My understanding is that my mom named them after two of her Aunts- so we can all guess how THOSE ladies must’ve been. So when my mom found these big clay geese somewhere a LONG time ago, she bought them and painted them and put them in the backyard and named them Helen and Moddy.

Gotta wrap it up for this week, I have to get ready for the Big Rock Brewery’s Brewmaster’s Dinner tonight!

Monday Moves #6

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Holy Canoli, I can’t believe it’s already week 6 of this series! I hope these posts are sparking ideas for your workouts and/or reminding you of moves you might not have done in a while. Let me know if you’d like me to post specific exercises….and I might actually do it.

So, yeah, I’ve got FOUR moves for you guys this week. Fancy fancy.

ONE: MARCHING HIP RAISES

– Lie on your back, with your feet planted on the ground.

– Raise your hips up in the air

-Keeping your hips high, drive your right knee to your chest.

-Bring your right knee back to starting position, and repeat the same with your left knee. Keep your hips high throughout the exercise.

TWO: OFFSET DUMBBELL REVERSE LUNGE

-Start with feet together, dumbbell in left hand at shoulder height.

-Step back with your right foot into a reverse lunge.

-Come back to starting position. Repeat desired reps and do the same with opposite leg and weight in right arm.

THREE: BICEP CURL WITH STATIC HOLD

-Holding a weight in each hand, allow the left arm to hold the weight at your side, and the right arm to hold the weight with your elbow at a 90 degree angle.

-Keeping the weight in your right arm still, perform a full bicep curl with your left arm. Continue until you complete desired number of reps and repeat with the opposite hand.

FOUR: SIDE-LAYING LATERAL RAISE

-Start by laying on your side, feet stacked. You can prop your head up with your bottom arm.

-Hold weight in top hand, with palm down. As your raise your arm up to its fully extended position, rotate the wrist so that is facing away from you.

-Bring the weight back down to your side, again rotating the weight back to starting position.

*******

Like I said, fancy fancy. And now I must wait for my nails to dry and go to bed. Tomorrow is my final interview which will hopefully end up in the job offer! Fingers crossed (after they dry, of course).

Question: Favorite exercise lately? What’s the last workout that made you sore??

Exercise and Eats: Week of 5/13

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

There was LOTS of fun had over the past few days. Some of those things might come up later on this week- maybe. I have my FINALA job interview tomorrow morning, so I might be a working lady soon! (And of course, some celebrating will be done!)

Recapping last week’s eats:

Monday: Avocado Egg Salad Wrap

Tuesday: Crab Cakes

Wednesday: I opted for a smoothie after yoga. YUM

Thursday: Rice pasta with pesto, mushrooms and zucchini

Friday: Fish Tacos

Here’s what’s on tap for this week:

Monday: Gazpacho and Grilled Cheese
Tuesday: Chicken Sausages and veggies (we got the sausages from the farmers market this weekend- Tyler’s is something spicy and mine has fig and fennel!)
Wednesday: Big Rock’s Brewmaster’s Dinner (downtown!)
Thursday: BBQ chicken
Friday: Homemade Pizzas

Onto the exercise.

Well, Last week’s workouts took a HUGE unexpected turn. It was supposed to be week 6 of Best Body Bootcamp, which I’ve actually been following pretty closely this session, but YOGA got involved. You can read about my first experience with yoga here. Look at how much my workouts changed from what was originally planned:

Sun, 5/5: Walk with the pups, ~~TRX circuits~~

Mon, 5/6: Best Body Bootcamp Strength Workout A, 30 min run

Tues, 5/7: ~~40 min spin, 20 min row~~ 75 min YOGA

Wed, 5/8: BBB Strength Workout B, ~~20-20-20 cardio~~ 75 min YOGA

Thurs, 5/9: ~~60 min run~~ 20 min spin, 20 min run, 5 min row, 65 min YOGA

Fri, 5/10: ~~BBB Strength Workout C~~ 65 min YOGA, river walk with pups

Sat, 5/11: ~~HIKE!!!!!!~~ off

On tap for this week:

Sun, 5/12: River walk with pups, LOTS of yard/house work
Mon, 5/13: 65 min YOGA, BBB Strength Workout A
Tues, 5/14: 60 min run
Wed, 5/15: BBB Strength Workout B, 30 min spin, 10 min row
Thurs, 5/16: Run, abs
Fri, 5/17: BBB Strength Workout C, 20 min spin, walk with pups
Sat, 5/18: TBA

That’s all from this end for now. Stay tuned for Monday Moves!

Question: Any good eats recently? Favorite workouts? I wanna know!!

Winesday Wednesday: 5/8

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Winesday Wednesday, folks! It’s that time of the week again where I share all the tweets, instagram shots, emails and facebook posts with YOUR recent bevvies. (I now know A TON-too many- preggo people now. You can STILL submit your non-alcoholic drinks!) Let’s get right to it to see if any of this week’s goodies spark your interest!

Keith (<—link to his blog) sent in another goodie! I immediate read his description aloud to Tyler to see if it piqued his interest in throwing together another batch of vino. Keith wrote:

This is the last bottle of the Australian Bush Vine Grenache. It was bottled Nov 2007. It’s been a very reliable go to wine for a variety of purposes. It goes well with lots of food, and can hold its own with all but the spiciest. It’s a bit tart in a blackberry plum sort of way, but lots of other flavour to roll around on your tongue.

If Keith’s pictures haven’t inspired any of you to consider making your own wine, I don’t know what will. OK, maybe tasting it would.

Check out Athena‘s wine corner! How cute! I told her I had just been eyeballing the exact same wine bouquet- it’s so neat!

Monique @burpeestobubbly (twitter) tweeted TWO different #winesdaywednesday pics and I wish I enjoyed BOTH with her! This is seriously a girl after my own heart…work hard, play hard(er). She recently started up her own bloggity blog which you should check out (in case you were wondering, we know each other from working out together in Boston. Lucky her, she still lives and teaches TONS of fitness classes in that great city!

Margies for drinko de mayo 😉

and Sam Summer (hint: if you go to my wedding…this just might be one of the draft selections!)

Chelsea @RunnerGirlChels (twitter) gave me the heads up that she had a really awesome wine to share. She mentioned it was a red blend that she tried at a friend’s BBQ over the weekend. And yes, the name is pure genius. I would buy it just for that.

Sara @Turner_SR (twitter) enjoyed some beer and hockey this weekend! She later followed up with another tweet saying she swapped to twisted iced tea with the hashtag #whateverisinthefridge. Again, my kinda gal.

I remember resorting so some incredibly questionable drinks when I was younger. Like tequila and coke. Or vodka mixed with shaved ice. Now think of what questionable drink you may have had and proceed to shudder. Oy.

Katie @kepotts (twitter) FINALLY got to enjoy a glass of vino after work tonight. If you don’t read this girl’s blog, you should. She’s smart, funny, and a bunch of other positive adjectives. In my opinion. Of course, most of the people who submit WW pics have blogs, but by sharing with you WHICH METHOD of social media they submitted, it will allow you to check them out- in at least ONE way.

(BTW: that’s A by Acacia Chardonnay)

Ja had sake! Oh man, it has been AGES since I’ve had sake! Ja mentioned that it was smooth and creamy and a nice way to end the night. (Just bumped Sake back up on the to-do list! Thanks, Ja!)

Oh my gosh, so apparently I had funny settings on my facebook page, but I JUST noticed that Michael submitted a beer pic way back in the beginning of April! Gah, sorry Michael! But I found it, so now I can share it!

With the pic, he wrote:

Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter. Tastes like liquid Reese’s peanut butter cup. 6.5% alchocol, probably 300 calories a glass, and totally ruined the workout I did but it was all worth it

Again, so sorry for overseeing this, Michael! Keep em coming!

Here’s my mama drinkin’ a margie on Cinco de Mayo: