Kettlebells!

I’ve been a bad, bad girl. With work, school, riding, training for a race, training for vacation (yes, that’s right), I just haven’t had the time to get to the gym. My skinny biceps are getting skinnier. I really want to get back on track, but I am seriously sick of the gym. It’s too crowded during the times I go and I can never seem to get the equipment I need.

Enter kettlebells!!

I’ve been wanting to get a nice set of kettlebells for some time now and I finally have a HUGE incentive! I’m addicted to fitness eBooks and my favorite author just created a kettlebell program I can do at home! Woo hoo! His stuff is AWESOME and I cannot wait to try these workouts. The best part is that I don’t even have to go to the gym! I think even Brad Pitt uses kettlebells… so they must work!

I am happy to promote Craig’s product because I know from experience that his workouts WORK and they are best for busy people short on time. Here’s the link to his program:

Kettlebell Revolution

I nabbed this right away and I highly recommend it if you have any interest in kettlebell training. He’s also offering the entire program plus bonuses for 50% off until September 11! Not too shabby!!

Kettlebell Revolution

NuVegan

Well now I’ve done it. Last week I decided to cease consumption of all animal products, including dairy and eggs. I chose this lifestyle for a number of reasons, including:

1. Better digestion aka more pooping (I used to get constipated a lot – sorry if that’s TMI).

2. Factory farming grosses me out; I started looking at my food in a different light, actually thinking about exactly where it came from.

3. Protein is great, but our dietary needs are grossly exaggerated. I can get plenty of protein on a vegan diet.

So far, the only difficult part for me has been dining out. I find myself asking more questions about food prep and requesting food without cheese, butter, sour cream, etc. When cooking at home, there are endless options for dairy substitutes like soy cheese, veganaise (soy mayo), soy milk, etc., but I can’t ask the dude at Taco Mesa for soy cheese instead of jack cheese. So it’s no cheese at all. Good thing I like to cook!

Now some people have no desire to adopt a vegan or even vegetarian diet, but I encourage some of you carnivores to try out a vegetarian meal once in a while. You’d be surprised at how filling and hearty it can be, yet it doesn’t weigh you down and put you in a food coma (usually).

One cool meal plan I came across is Kardena Pauza’s “Easy Veggie Meal Plans.” I tried some of these meals and recipes out even when I was still eating meat. It’s nice to change things up once in a while. It keeps life interesting. Interesting is much better than boring.

You can get a free sample of Kardena’s meal plans here:

Easy Veggie Meal Plans

One great thing about Kardena’s gender-specific meal plans is that the recipes are SIMPLE and they taste great! They are nutritious, interesting, filling and ya just feel good following this diet. You can even tweak some of the recipes to be vegan if you so desire. Here’s the link again:

Easy Veggie Meal Plans

Stay tuned to read more about my adventures in veganism! I am really, truly enjoying it so far. Seriously.

Oh yeah, blog.

OK, I’m back. I’ve exceeded my time-wasting abilities with Facebook, so here I go a-blogging. Nothing much comes to mind today which makes for a thoroughly uninteresting blog. Oh, I did join Pandora today since my coworker decided to cancel his Sirius XM online radio. I was pilfering his account and I suppose he didn’t want to pay for my entertainment any longer. The nerve!

Alpha-female Part II and Sisterhood of the Traveling Workout Pants

Today’s dog walk went much smoother than yesterday’s. I kept Eddie on a short leash and did not allow him to walk ahead of me. If he’d try to stop, I’d give him a little tug and ignore the yipes and choking sounds (kidding).

Thankfully he didn’t do his stopping thing in the park again. He kept walking casually and even allowed some other dogs give him the old sniff sniff. The other dogs’ owner remembered Eddie from yesterday and yelled that “we’ll get Eddie out of his shell.” Yesterday he’d asked if we (Eddie or I) knew the other Boston terriers that frequent the park. Shamefully, I do not know them because I just started walking my dog. I’m a terrible mother.

TRAVELING WORKOUT PANTS

When I got to the gym yesterday, I strolled over to my usual locker (I must use the same one every time and have panic attacks when someone else is using it) and low and behold my workout pants are not in my bag. I look again, unpack everything, look again. No pants. Great. I packed up and went to the front desk and asked if they were in the lost and found. They were not. I checked my car. Not there. Since I don’t bring my stinky clothes in the house after I workout (except once a week when I wash them), this means I must have left them in the locker room after my last workout and either:

1. Someone found them and decided to keep them for herself. The dirty broad.

2. No one found them and they are sitting in some dirty corner all lonely and dirty.

I can’t afford new workout pants right now, so I guess I’ll be working out in my undies.

I’m the Alpha-Female, dammit.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I gave up on walking my dog Eddie a while back. He was too much of a spaz and I just wasn’t digging it. He’d walk all over the place, tangle up the leash causing me to almost eat sh*t a couple times, and he’d stop abruptly and not want to move for reasons unbeknownst to this ignorant human.

Well this morning I decided I needed to get him walking again. It’s cruel not to walk dogs and it’s not my fault his daddy doesn’t want to walk him! He’s a dog and needs to walked. So I got up 25 minutes early this morning and off we went.

The walk went OK at first. I kept my shoulders back and the leash tight, and I kept walking and did not allow him to stop. When we got to the park, I don’t know what happened but he did not want to move. He stopped in his tracks and gave me this “If I move from this spot I will DIE” look. So I let him hang out for a bit, then I tugged on his leash. He didn’t budge, so I tugged a little harder. I pulled so hard his damn collar came off. Luckily he still stood there like a frozen dog, so I just slipped it back on and tightened it a bit.

After a few more attempts, I said screw this and I picked him up and carried him out of the park. Once we were gone and back in the neighborhood, he seemed OK. He was walking a little slower so I guess he was just tired. Poor little thing is so out of shape. People used to think we didn’t feed him because he was so skinny. Now he’s a plump little thing. Kind of shameful really. Oh well, everyone (and every dog) has to start somewhere. We’ll try again tomorrow, but I’m going to stay away from that scary park.

Little Steven

I know I wrote about this already, but it deserves more attention. I came very close to cancelling my XM subscription because I hate them but decided against it when they brought over Little Steven’s Underground Garage from Sirius. For those who don’t know, Little Steven is Steven Van Zandt AKA Sylvio from Sopranos. He also plays in a “little” band called Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He pretty much rules. He and the other DJs (including Handsome Dick Manatoba and Komalina) actually know what GOOD music is. Thanks XM. I still hate you, just a little less now.

 

New favorite snack alert!

I love the fall because it’s persimmon season. What are persimmons you ask? Well, they are these odd little pumpkin looking fruits that are very tasty even when they’re not fully ripe. They go great with walnuts!!

 

The Onion

I like reading the news, but lately it seems to bum me out more than give me any important information. So from now on, I’m only going to read The Onion.

Today’s headlines:

“Wildfire Somehow Rages Back Into Control“

“Sweater-Vest Worn As Well As Could Be Expected”

And the cartoons:

Another Way to Die

Both Jack White and Alicia Keys are great musicians. I think it’s pretty cool that they got together to do this song for the new Bond movie. When you mish-mash two artists from two different musical genres, sometimes you get a pretty cool baby of a song. Kinda like when Elton John and Eminem did a song together. JW+AK aren’t as controversial, but it’s still cool.

 

Underground Garage

A couple months ago I was so pissed at XM radio for yanking Fungus, my punk rock station off the air. It was my favorite station and I loved that every Friday morning they played an hour of surf punk during the California Uber-alles show. This also meant that Rancid Radio and Hee-haw Hell would also be a thing of the past. I was livid. The only reason I didn’t call customer service and demand an explanation was because their customer service is in India, and I really can’t stand those people — not Indians, but XM customer service personnel, just to clarify.

Though I terribly miss my punk rock station, XM restored some level of confidence when they decided to air the Underground Garage station from Sirius. I actually like this station better than Fungus, because it’s more rock n’ roll (old and new) than just punk. I can’t listen to punk rock for extended periods without getting headaches, but I can listen to good ol’ rock n’ roll for hours. They play everything from the Stones to The Hellacopters to The Sonics to Modern Lovers to The Doves to The Wailers to The Chiffons and a whole lot of other totally bitchen stuff. All the “The” bands. As long as XM leaves this channel lineup alone, I won’t be calling India any time soon.