hello giggles

Hello Giggles is a new entertainment site "for women" founded by Zooey Deschanel, Sophia Rossi and Molly McAleer. Since Mindy Kaling recommended it, I'll def give it a try.

make some noise

beastie boys new single. star studded video - awesome.

#royalwedding

Alright, so the Royal Wedding festivities are going on which I guess is the most important piece of news to Americans because of ... our love for British accents, hats, and things that we can all wake up really early to tweet about?

I didn't wake up for the wedding. I forgot about it actually, because I spent last night watching a really intense episode and post show of The Real World, like a true American. And, like a true American should, I also placed a wager on the Royal Wedding.

I bet that the Queen would wear a blue hat. And that woman had to go and dress in yellow from head to toe — really, Queeny? If I were ESPN Monday Night Football announcer, I'd have to give that choice a "COME ON, MAN!"

But I did learn an important lesson from this whole ordeal — when you're betting on fashion, listen to your gay brother. Even if he's colorblind, even if he pulls out a crazy color like YELLOW, go with it.

Not too concerned on losing my bet though. Got a big Ithaca Alumni weekend ahead to cheer me up. CANNOT WAIT to get on the road!

wod

For time:
20 Pull-ups
25 Dips
25 Walking lunge steps
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 20#
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 15 pound dumbbells
30 Wall ball shots, 6 pound ball (only medicine ball I could find)
25 Back extensions

took around 18 min give or take...

whole lotta losin'. monsters of folk.

funny looking animal of the week!

i know i already posted one, but i couldnt resist! this one is so good!

early day 5k!

woke up at 5:30 for some reason and couldn't get back to sleep... stopped trying at 6 and went for a run instead. first run in my new nike frees!! i like them, they're super light weight.

ran 5k - 26:43

then i discovered that there is a wide array of workout videos on my On Demand! I did a 10 minute yoga workout. should probably do more of this so i can stop being the most inflexible person in the world.

wod

"Tabata Something Else"

Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.

Post total reps from all 32 intervals to comments.

Had to switch it up and put the pull ups last because that was taken at the gym... push ups from the knees, sit ups unanchored, pull ups with the machine, here's what I got:

Push ups: 14-15-13-12-11-9-8-7
Sit ups: 15-14-14-13-13-14-14-12
Squats: 15-15-15-13-14-15-13-14
Pull ups: 9-10-8-9-8-8-8-7

total reps: 379

fred savage ridin' shotgun!

Riding Shotgun with Adam Pally - watch more funny videos

funny looking animal of the week!

via coolhunter.

wod

row 2k.
8:40

for some reason I thought I could do it faster than that, but even at this time i was feelin it bad in the legs.

movies on their way...

some good looking movies coming out this summer...here's previews of a few to help get you through your monday:

easter run

it was a short one!

1.5 miles
12:36

tried to ride my bike but it switches gears continuously as I pedal. gonna have to get that looked at...

correction

Without thinking, I mentioned that I lived in NYC in a previous post. Though this was not intended to be offensive to where my actual residence is, I want to clear this up for my readers. I do not actually live in NYC, I do in fact live NEAR NYC, in New Jersey.

Thank you Scott for bringing this matter to my attention before it got out of hand.

wod

Rain run!

run 1600M
3 min rest
run 1200M
2 min rest
run 800M
1 min rest
run 400M

7:37, 6:03, 4:00, 1:57

taking advantage of the city

Living in NYC, I often take for granted the array of awesome things that I have the opportunity to do. Sometimes I just end up getting my drank on, singing some random karaoke songs, consuming way too much late night crap and not remembering the trip home.

This weekend will be different. In fact, it already is different. My very cultured weekend began last night, when I attended "Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz" at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. It was my first time seeing a show in Lincoln Center, and it was a great introduction to the venue. The show was created to honor Stephen Schwartz, who gave us the gift of some amazing Broadway shows, including Wicked, Pippen, Godspell, and Children of Eden.

The show was about an hour and a half, and featured an orchestra playing songs from Schwartz's songbook, accompanied by amazing talent in the likes of: Kristin Chenoweth, Raul Esparza, Victor Garber, and Anne Hampton Callway (who wrote the theme song for the Nanny, so she's up there in my book). They performed tunes from a variety of Schwartz's shows, the highlights for me being any of the Wicked songs that were performed by Chenoweth. She's such a great performer, and her voice is amazing — it was stunning how much she sounded just like the Original Broadway Recording of the show (probably because she was in it!). But honestly, every intonation and note was spot on. Not to say the other performers were slacking; the entire show was really well done and honored the career of a song writing genius.

The show came to an emotional close when Schwartz himself came onstage and performed "For good" from Wicked with all four performers, and Chenoweth got emotional as she sang the beautiful lyrics of the song, which in this case rang oh so true: "because I knew you, I have been changed for good." I think it's safe to say that Broadway could say the same thing about Mr. Schwartz. Glad I was able to be there for that moment.

After the show we were able to look down from our nose bleed balcony and see the real life elite entering their post show party. It was like I was watching an episode of Gossip Girl, I kept waiting for Blair Waldorf to jump out on the dance floor and take advantage of some sort of explosive blackmail opportunity. But alas, it did not happen, mostly because this was real life.

To continue on with my weekend of culture, tonight I will be hitting up the Tribeca Film Festival's showing of the new film "The Bang Bang Club." I wish I could say I was interested in the movie and sound like I know what I"m talking about, but my real reason behind going is because Taylor Kitsch, aka the one and only TIM RIGGINS, will be there intro'ing the show. So if all goes well, by this time tomorrow I will be carrying his baby. (Is that too weird to say? If it is, and Taylor somehow reads this one day, I apologize). But honestly, second best case scenario (after baby) would be a photo with the man himself. We'll keep the fingers crossed for that one...

And finally to cap off my weekend of activities, tomorrow night I'll be hitting up the Comedy Cellar and guess who will be performing? Parks and Recs very own Tommy Haverford, AZIZ ANSARI!
This is quite possibly the greatest news I heard all week and I'm getting more excited by the second to see him do stand up. From what I've heard, it's amazing. Colin Quinn will also be performing at that show, to round out my celebrity sightings of the weekend.

So I guess the moral of the story is, when you live in NYC, taking advantage of the cool stuff around you can make for fun times and good stories. It also gives you the chance to make babies with celebrities (fingers crossed).

funny looking animals of Good Friday!

Today I've had two people send me funny looking animal videos out of the blue for consideration on my blog. Two separate random funny animal suggestions? That's too good not to post. Plus, it's always good to watch some funny vids on a Friday afternoon:





thanks LJ and WCW!

morning wod

ran 2 miles
16:36

4 sets of 15 kb swings (20#)

A night at the House of Palmese

Last night I had the privilege of eating at the House of Palmese, a wonderful place to dine if you're ever in Plainview, Long Island. I arrived to a warm welcome from the entire clan, a great way to start my experience off right. For starters, we feasted on some toasted matzah with an array of delicious spices, prepared by Rebecca, the youngest Palmese chef.

Then, seeing as it was Passover, we sat down to the table for the Seder. After several readings and wonderful renditions of songs from "The Concise Family Seder" (and Grandpa Lenny thanking the Concise Family for letting us borrow their prayerbooks), we had our first course, matzah ball soup. The balls were fluffy and delicious, making a nice pillow at the bottom of my stomach for the rest of the meal to sit on.

Speaking of the rest of the meal, after the soup course was cleared, we enjoyed a HOST of wonderful dishes, including mouthwatering brisket, delicious turkey, kugel (a yummy noodle dish), a potato kugel, and Sara Palmese's favorite - Brussel Sprouts! Everything was cooked perfectly and I began stuffing myself silly as I listened to the kids table reminisce about the weird red toothpaste their grandparents used to have back in the day. After I cleaned my plate, I didn't think I could eat another morsel.

But wait! I could! There's more! There was also a variety of yummy desserts up for grabs - I enjoyed a chocolate cupcake with a glass of milk. A great end to a great meal.

After dessert was finished and family members began leaving in a steady stream to make their respective trains, I almost fell asleep on the couch in a stuffed, content stupor. But I had to shake myself awake and start my journey home. It was tough to leave the house that was so full of family and love, and it made me wish I could have celebrated with my own family as well. But I am lucky to have such a great extended family who has as much fun with each other as my own family seems to.

So if you're ever in Plainview, make sure you check out the House of Palmese. The food is impeccable, and the company is second to none. Well worth the price of the LIRR ticket - and then some!

wod

rode 10 miles on stationary bike.
26:09

as many bench press as i could get in a row at #30.
40 reps

funny looking animal of the week!

nike free run 2

the nike frees i ordered are ON THEIR WAY! cannot wait to run in these puppies:

no alcohol challenge... check in

Today was my 9th consecutive day of no alcohol, which means I'm well into my 14 day challenge. So far, so good I'd say. Besides a couple times when I really wanted a beer, it really hasn't been too bad. I think I'd most definitely opt for this over being a vegan if I had the choice.

The few times this challenge has proved to be a bit hard included:

• the Yankees game where I wanted a beer
• a night at a bar with a few friends where I ended up ordering a slice of pecan pie and milk (!) to keep myself occupied
• sunday night dinner where everyone else was drinking delicious smelling red wine and I could not partake

Other than that, it hasn't been too hard to adhere to this challenge. Granted, I did not go out Friday or Saturday nights, so I think that helped out, but nonetheless I have had no effects of withdrawl. And it feels a lot better waking up every morning without a hangover!

5 more days to go...

wod

3 rounds for time of:
100M run
50 push ups
100M run
50 sit ups
100M run
50 squats
100M run
50 back extensions

30:07
runs on treadmill

royal wedding dance

Well played, T Mobile.

sunday runday

5 miles. 42:43

my legs were already hurting when I woke up this morning, probably from the burpees i've done the last few days on the wod and at boxing bootcamp yesterday. but it was sunday runday so I saddled up. also ate some cliff energy gel 15 min before i ran to see if it made a difference. i guess it helped - i didn't feel sluggish on the run until the very end, and that might have been mental.

now that run is out the way, time to relax and enjoy sunday funday (minus alcohol...this challenge is killin' me!)

big time timmy jim in slow mo!

wod

as many rounds as possible in 10 min of:

60 bar facing burpees
30 OH squats (20#)
20 pull ups
20 dips

got almost through one round, was 7 dips short.

then did some abs. quick workout day!

morning wod

Went to the gym with Care this morning and we tore it up! Had a workout in mind but then someone jumped on the rower while I ran my first mile, so I amended it a bit:

Run 1 mile.
50 sit ups.
50 squats.
50 push ups.
Run 1 mile.

Didn't get a total time, but miles were 7:40 and 8:30..slowed down a lot on the second mile.

Then did some abs.

Now Care is at the Today show!!! And I'm at work....

barcade jersey city!

Set to open soon! I am very very excited for this place! I also really like how my neighborhood was described in this article about the bar.

Walking east on Newark from the PATH, you pass glossy restaurants and abandoned storefronts, as well as a pit surrounded by a collapsed fence and protected only by frayed police tape swaying in the breeze. Several elderly men bring folding chairs to sit on the sidewalk outside Barcade’s still-closed doors daily, hanging out with the hot dog guy on the corner, where the outdoor seating will be.

THATS MY HOOD, YO!

wod

ran 1.5 miles

11:45

Nike Women's Marathon

Just registered for the drawing to run in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Fran Oct. 16th! Only signed up to do a 1/2 but that still makes me SO NERVOUS.

Kinda exciting though... We'll see if I get in.

sideways. citizen cope.

this came on my shuffle today. great song. plus aaron rodgers endorsed citizen cope on his twitter - I'm down for supportin that!

wod - ipod shuffle farewell tour

After 6+ years of keeping me company on my various runs and other exercises, my ORIGINAL ipod shuffle and I will be parting ways. I'm tradin' her in for a shiny new shuffle who is half her size and can clip right on me. I feel kind of bad to pull the plug on this relationship (yes I am aware that I grow far too attached to inanimate objects), but the time had come to move on.

I decided to give her one last workout with me before I move on. So here's what we did:

5 rounds for time of:
10 box jumps (18")
10 wall ball shots (12#)
10 push ups
10 sit ups

7:55

Then we biked 5 miles on the exercise bike - 13:18.

Finally did some abs.

I'm sad to see her go - we ran hundreds of miles together, and did a lot of other sweaty stuff too... I won't get into the details though.

Thanks for the memories, original iPod shuffle!

wod

ran 2 miles.

16 min on the dot!

Challenge #4 - No drankin!

Today marks the start of my 4th challenge of the year - no drinking for 2 weeks! Now this one sounds like it will be a lot easier than my previous challenges, but I feel like in the culture of the city it's tough to go a while without consuming some sort of drink.

Whether it's going out for a drink after work, having a glass of wine while cooking, or drinking an entire 6 pack of pumpkin beers, blacking out and waking up in a recliner covered in mud, it's hard to steer clear of alcohol.

But that's why they call it a challenge! Since this one isn't quite as tough to adhere to as the following, I am stretching out for 2 weeks instead of one.

Other things I hope to achieve with this challenge:

• Saving money
• Lowering my tolerance for my upcoming CRUISE WOOOO
• Losin a few lbs.

Alright, game on!

wod

three rounds for time of:
run 800M
50 sit ups
50 back extensions

20:18.

felt good!

a rod's baked kale chips

He hits HRs in the stadium, now he's ready to help you hit one in the kitchen — world renowned chef A Rod is giving us a great new recipe to try. He's also posing seductively. Who knew he could make kale so arousing?

check the recipe here.
(thanks steve!)

funny looking animal of the week!

wod

four rounds for time of:
250M rows
15 push ups

total row time: 4:16

then I did the myotatic crunch from the book 4 hour body. 10 reps. apparently if i keep this up ill have slammin abs before i know it.

50 double unders.

then planks and hip flexor stretch (also recommended by 4 hour body).

kind of a hodge podge today, but felt pretty good.

wod

ran 2 miles while watching jeopardy! good thing about working late is the departure coincided with jeopardy!

16:37

then did 4 sets of 15 kb swings (20#)

awesome time lapse

the space needle in seattle looking pretty amazing.

The Space Needle from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

via devour.

wod

five rounds for time of:
400M run
12 squats

didnt get a time for the whole workout...runs were on a treadmill:
1:46
1:45
1:44
1:50
1:54

no rests between sets.

tough one after a few days off!

woman of the year

Almost bought this shirt the other day at the NBC store, but ended up deciding not to at the last second. But you know what? I may have to go back and buy it. I just don't know if I can resist having Ron Swanson's handsome mug on my shirt. Mustached men are so in for spring.

You can also get one with the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, which at this point is just about as relevant to American culture as the Constitution.

aint gonna pee pee my bed tonight...

what is this?! there are so many amazing things about this video.... the growling voice of the little girl, her dance moves, their father aka the one who looks like moses, and of course the fact that the main lyric is "ain't gonna pee pee my bed tonight."



Thank you Ellen Degeneres for bringing this into our lives, and Hoover for bringing it into my apartment.

pack up. eliza doolittle.

Brian Wilson's Beard

This isn't the first time I've blogged about Brian Wilson's beard, and it probably won't be the last. Check out this awesome viral campaign MLB's got going featured the beard itself.

Gmail Motion

I thought it was a little weirdddd when I saw the guy who was demonstrating the motions. Then I realized it's April 1st.



OH GOOGLE, YOU SILLY SILLY BRILLIANT PEOPLE!

morning wod

haha mal's favorite!

ran 1 mile 8:13
biked 5 miles 14:44

3 sets of:
8 pull ups
8 dips

some abs

good start for a rainy friday...