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Weekend Workouts
Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King Jr! In celebration of you, class today is cancelled :)
With an additional day for my weekend, I definitely prioritized workouts. My last bleomycin treatment was one month ago, and I’ve been steadily increasing my exercise amount since the beginning of January. Now that my mileage is back to an average state, I feel like I can start adding in weekly HIIT workouts, some body-weight strength training, and even a little elliptical interval action. What I really noticed yesterday was how stiff my legs were feeling. So I took to Youtube to find a beginner’s level stretching video. This was the first one I clicked on, and I really enjoyed it!
Yoga is not my thing. I actually kinda sorta really hate it. The whole ‘breathe in, breathe out’ thing is too hippy for this anxious girl. The poses in this video, which are mostly just basic stretches, were not so bad. Something I will definitely try to incorporate after particularly-strenuous workouts.
Don’t think I’ll ever be considered a yogi. Even though sometimes my nightstand looks like it.
Other internet inspirations = Alexa Jean Fitness’s Instagram account and her latest “towel workout.” I brought two hand towels out onto our faux hardwood floor last week to follow along to her workout video. Loved the variety of exercises. For some reason, using a prop made it seem more fun. Always a plus!
Sweaty High Bun = Business. Serious-workout-mode hair style. No drippy ponytails please!
Last night my roommate had her (large) family over to our (little) apartment. While they cooked and ate dinner, I decided to escape to the fitness room. Have you heard of the podcast ‘Serial’? Other bloggers have been mentioning it for a while. The first episode kept me entertained through some more stretching and walking. The podcast is several episodes all covering a single murder case from 16 years ago. Seems like there isn’t enough material in this case to span several hours worth of a story, but I’ll try the second episode today.
Later today, some people are coming over for a movie night. After today’s run, I plan on finding another video for cooldown stretches and a core routine. Justification for the wine and popcorn I plan to enjoy tonight ;) enjoy the rest of your long weekend!
Social Media and Trivia Night
Good afternoon, friends! I began typing up this post on Wednesday, but I drew a blank and deleted everything. Then I started again this morning and here we are 6 hours later with little more than a sentence. Time to buckle down…
Yesterday in my digital marketing class, my professor made the entire class create a Twitter account. For some reason, this really annoyed me. I have avoided Twitter, kept my Facebook page private, censored my Instagram posts and limited the Snapchat selfies. ;) This blog is my main form of public media, and even then the content is filtered for what I will and will not share. I didn’t want my name attached to Twitter and I didn’t want one more dumb social media app on my phone!
Practicing social media modesty is important. It’s so easy to share every aspect of our lives with hundreds of “friends” down to a picture of the breakfast we just ate, detailed statuses about our love life (or lack thereof), and tweets of self-congratulations or self-pity. I think social media is a great and wonderful way to keep in daily contact with the people you care about, but there is definitely a point to where it becomes obsessive or intrusive. Privacy is a powerful thing. I’m not too sure about using Twitter, how many different websites do we need to use to talk about ourselves?
So what do you think, am I totally backwards? Should I be embracing the social media platforms? I may need serious convincing before that takes place. Actually I have been making a conscious effort to put the damn phone down more often. I always refuse to keep the phone in sight while I’m driving or sitting in class. Usually I try to limit it while I’m hanging out with friends too. The whole Be Present thing. But I think I can do a better job of finding an alternative activity when I’m bored than just scrolling through Pinterest. Speaking of which, last night was a fun, phone-free time….
Team “Berries and Beer” (formerly known as the “Sangria Sweethearts”) dominated Trivia Night at the country bar again. (And by dominated, I mean performed mediocre-ly and avoided last place.) One of the rules of trivia night: NO cell phones (their rule, not ours.) Three hours passed by after 8 rounds of trivia questions covering sports, 90s cartoons, classic movies, famous soundtracks and Mario Bros.
Before we were seated, our group sat outside around a fire. I felt a hot spot on my leg, looked down to see an ember had BURNED A HOLE through my skirt and tights. The little orange fleck was still sitting on my thigh when I looked down, so bummed that my brand new skirt had a peanut-size whole in the front. (My roommate Bri cleverly ordered me to cover my ash hole -_- )
Trivia night also revealed that we have no expertise in video games and only a slightly better-than-average recall of any pop culture before 2011. However our riddle skills were on point and we were, in my opinion, the best dressed. ;)
I was the designated driver for the evening to I kept it to one early glass of sangria before the games. We finished up around midnight, and I couldn’t wait to fall asleep. Such a fun way to kick off the LONG holiday weekend with my friends :)
Okay I think I’ll take my own advice, unplug for the rest of the afternoon and go for a walk.
What are your thoughts on Twitter? And how much phone time is too much?
Sharing Recent Inspirations
Throughout winter break, I saw and read plenty of things that got me inspired in all sorts of ways.
First, Wild. The book by Cheryl Strayed has been on my reading list since Julie at PBFingers.com posted a book review about it a while ago. I didn’t get to it before the movie came out, but after seeing Reese Witherspoon’s performance of the true story, I can’t wait to read the book for more detail. This story is incredible (Reese’s nominations are certainly deserving!) and I was inspired by the fearlessness of Cheryl.
The film didn’t exactly spark my interest in backpacking and I won’t be crossing the Mojave on foot any time soon. But I liked the idea behind her journey and the fact that she challenged herself to make a healthy change.
Another Reese flick…..The Good Lie was possibly even better than Wild. I enjoyed this movie so much, I could’ve turned around and watched it twice in one sitting. We rented this to watch before it is released but I can’t wait til it comes on DVD to rewatch. The story of the “Lost Boys” follows three young men whose tribe in Sudan is massacred during the civil war. They, like many others, travelled on foot for months to Kenya where they live in refugee camps. Years later, many are granted residence in the United States to restart their lives with a job and a home. However many have never experienced electricity, modern businesses and stores, or even telephones. This movie highlighted how foreign our American culture is to these refugees and how assimilating to American life isn’t necessarily the right way to help them. I thought the actors did a fantastic job. Watching their reactions to our commonplace items like utensils, toothbrushes, and light switches was a great reminder to appreciate even the ‘simple’ daily conveniences we get to enjoy.
The latest novel I was able to finish over winter break was American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. The fictional first-person memoir of a first lady covers her childhood in the 1940’s, high school in the 50’s, love and marriage in the 70’s and entrance into the public eye in the 90’s. The author attributes Laura Bush with her inspiration for the main character Alice. Alice was an inspirational character for how kindly she treated everyone. During a time period when segregation was still prevalent, Alice defied her mother-in-law’s disapproval and invited the “help” to family events and theater performances. She treated everyone equally. She kept everyone’s secrets. She supported her husband even though his political agenda was completely different from her values. She bought books and read to underprivileged children. And she made several sacrifices to care for her aging parents and grandmother.
All equally entertaining and inspirational :) Let me know if you’ve seen or read anything especially great recently!
