Nope, nope still haven’t found it. You may my blog at the end of March “Operation better Limbs”
( http://lissiedsviewfromhere.blogspot.com/2010/03/operation-better-limbs.html?spref=tw ) where I talked about trying to lose weight in my upper legs. Well it’s been a few weeks so I figured I’d update you on how it’s going and what I have been doing.
TAKE THE STAIRS
They say this is an easy and surefire way to lose fat off of your bottom half. I also remember reading that by taking stairs two at a time that you build muscle in, not only your legs, but also your booty. Now I work on the fifth floor of a building so I decided to substitute the elevator for stairs at the least once going up and once going down. So far, I don’t feel anything but I’ll keep going because it is possible there are new muscles building under all of the fat and I just can’t tell yet.
WALKING BACKWARDS UP HILLS
According to workout gurus by walking backwards (especially on an incline) you engage the quad muscles (front of thigh) and calves to a great extent. These are muscles that don’t get a big workout under normal circumstances so when they do, apparently it can be highly effective. I refuse to do this in Manhattan but I had a week off and have been doing this on walks in my far less congested neighborhood. Like I said, I don’t see any results but I do feel the muscles straining when I do it, so that’s is a plus.
TV WORKOUT
My cable provides workout videos free on demand and there was one specializing in upper thighs. Now it was a Pilates influenced workout and even though I quit my Pilates class after one session in college (my stomach hurt for a week) I decided I’d try it. I could barely walk for three days after 10 minutes. I still hate Pilates!
FIT FLOPS
According to the company claims, “Fit Flop footwear is biomechanically engineered to help tone and tighten your leg muscles while you walk in them.”
I bought them the day after my blog and have been wearing them ever since. So far the only thing that it helped lighten was the weight of my (well technically my mother’s) wallet. However, they aren’t uncomfortable and I love Flip flops so I’ll keep wearing them, who knows maybe they’ll surprise me.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
If you can’t say anything nice…
We are taught if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all. This is the foundation of why I didn’t tell off those old ladies yesterday. There are people, however, that I will not hold my tongue about someone I will call stupid-ho-bitch who maybe causing my blood pleasure to rise and is part of a conspiracy to ruin my life. I have rehearsed my speech to her hundreds of times and if she dares talk to me, I will give it to her. But I have my reasons for this.
But I digress, there is this musician called Neal and he’s dating this girl who is a bureless dancer (I don’t know what that is exactly I looked at a video and it looked like stripping to me) and makeup artist. She has a vlog and you should see the things people have said about her! They have said things such as ugly and fat all the way to “your boyfriend is cheating on you.” I mean these people probably have never met her and if they have, why say it online. It’s not like she’s done them wrong.
Recently they were photographed at an event and the picture appeared in the LA Times
http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/vip-room-revolver-golden-gods-awards-29653526 .
You can clearly see she is not fat! I mean plus sizes start around size 14 and she is not that I’m sure.
There really is no point to this other than people are really mean and wanted to vent. What if I have a famous boyfriend one day, I hope Kira would have my back.
But I digress, there is this musician called Neal and he’s dating this girl who is a bureless dancer (I don’t know what that is exactly I looked at a video and it looked like stripping to me) and makeup artist. She has a vlog and you should see the things people have said about her! They have said things such as ugly and fat all the way to “your boyfriend is cheating on you.” I mean these people probably have never met her and if they have, why say it online. It’s not like she’s done them wrong.
Recently they were photographed at an event and the picture appeared in the LA Times
http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/vip-room-revolver-golden-gods-awards-29653526 .
You can clearly see she is not fat! I mean plus sizes start around size 14 and she is not that I’m sure.
There really is no point to this other than people are really mean and wanted to vent. What if I have a famous boyfriend one day, I hope Kira would have my back.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Friday Afternoon Movie
Today my mother and I went to see THE LAST SONG with my friend Lauren. It was a nice, if too rare treat, to hang out with mom on a weekday afternoon. My mother is lucky enough to have a job that she's kept for over a decade and ever since Lauren and I started the nanny job in fall, mom hasn’t taken a "mental health day" to play with me. However, when my boss' mother came in for a visit, giving us a week off, mom jumped at the chance to use a sick day; FUN. The movie was good but I’m not going to use this blog as a review; instead I m using this opportunity to talk about a growing epidemic, old people.
*image Monty Python Flying Circus
Old people have been around for centuries but as technology and the world evolved so did the role of old people. No longer are the elderly confined to staying at home knitting and watching "their stories" or going to senior centers to play bingo and canasta. Today's elderly are quite capable of putting their jitterbug cell phone in their wicker purses and getting on a bus or into their scooters, free to do whatever they please (unless they still drive but don’t get me started on old people behind the wheel.) Today, for instance, a group of old ladies went to the movies. My movie to be exact and they talked through the entire movie.
It was like being in an episode of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE if MST only stated the obvious and did so really, really loudly! Oh and did I mention they snuck in booze (or hooch as the old ladies like to call it.) Now don’t get me wrong, I hope that when I am in my eighties that I still have people to go to the movies with and that I am able to enjoy a drink here and there but its common courtesy to, at the very least, whisper quietly as to not disturb others. If I was the one talking behind them, I would’ve been told off. In fact I once laughed at a comedy and some old ladies yelled at me for being rude and ruining their “cinematic experience.” Still, my mother raised me right so I certainly wasn’t going to tell off a bunch of old ladies with my mother sitting right there.
So please, old people, remember your manners.
*image Monty Python Flying CircusOld people have been around for centuries but as technology and the world evolved so did the role of old people. No longer are the elderly confined to staying at home knitting and watching "their stories" or going to senior centers to play bingo and canasta. Today's elderly are quite capable of putting their jitterbug cell phone in their wicker purses and getting on a bus or into their scooters, free to do whatever they please (unless they still drive but don’t get me started on old people behind the wheel.) Today, for instance, a group of old ladies went to the movies. My movie to be exact and they talked through the entire movie.
"Gladice, she's the one from the Hannah Montana."
"Alice, he's handsome"
"Awww they are falling in love"
"Look now the father and daughter are going to fix their relationship"
It was like being in an episode of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE if MST only stated the obvious and did so really, really loudly! Oh and did I mention they snuck in booze (or hooch as the old ladies like to call it.) Now don’t get me wrong, I hope that when I am in my eighties that I still have people to go to the movies with and that I am able to enjoy a drink here and there but its common courtesy to, at the very least, whisper quietly as to not disturb others. If I was the one talking behind them, I would’ve been told off. In fact I once laughed at a comedy and some old ladies yelled at me for being rude and ruining their “cinematic experience.” Still, my mother raised me right so I certainly wasn’t going to tell off a bunch of old ladies with my mother sitting right there.
So please, old people, remember your manners.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Book Review: When You Don’t See Me
Does anything last? It’s a question that plagues Nick Dunhill, the 19 year old protagonist of Timothy James Beck’s most recent novel, When You Don’t See Me. When the book opens Dunhill, who had been introduced to Beck’s readers in his third novel, I’m Your Man, as Advertising whiz Blaine Dunhill’s outspoken nephew whom he took in after his parents couldn’t take him anymore, is now attempting to carve his own path in life.
Formerly a minor character, who I believe was given some of the greatest one-liners in the history of one-liners, the younger Dunhill has always been someone who wanted to be different than his Stepford-appearing Wisconsin family, but he is hardly a bad kid. When he gets suspended from class and Uncle Blain asks why he says, “the teacher asked what Britain’s greatest import was and I said ‘George Michael’s ass.” Now making the jump to main attraction, Beck manages to keep Dunhill true to that nature, delighting fans, while still keeping the story informative and with enough background information for new readers to pick up the story without having read the last three novels.
Nick’s situation is not unlike that of many young adults in this day and age. He makes the unpopular decision to leave college, upsetting those he feels closest to, hearing the ever popular saying of millennium parents, that by dropping out of college he is dooming himself to an unfulfilling future. He also has a feeling of entitlement that generation Y has so often been accused of having. He moves out, not because his uncle wants him out, but because Blaine didn’t immediately hook him up with a cushy job at his advertising firm. He quickly moved into an apartment in Harlem, complete with three roommates, and gets a temporary job cleaning apartments with an agency called “I Dream of Cleanie.” It isn’t long before he faces the jolting reality that comes from leaving a two-story loft in Hell’s Kitchen with a housekeeper and all the comforts of home and replacing it with roommates who can’t make rent, no health insurance, roaches on the counter top, and clients who try to take advantage of him.
On top of this, Dunhill has lost his daring nature. Once the young teen who fearlessly told his parents and brothers that he was gay and that he wanted to go live with his uncle in New York because they couldn’t handle him the way he was, he is now afraid to go in an elevator, take the subway, and all but refuses to go into any building that is more than 15 floors. Nick Dunhill has experienced a change that, though it varies in degree, a lot of his real world contemporaries- and I count myself among them- experience as well.
In the fall of 2002, the University of Rochester released its findings in a study about teens and stress. The study was originally conducted in the summer of 2001, and found that 21 percent of preteens and teens across the continental United States had acute to moderate fears of stressful situations and occurrences that were out of their control. When the surveys were re-conducted in the winter following the September 11 attacks, the percentages had spiked up to 39 percent and the fears were considered significant as the teens reported having this feeling on a range between often and nearly always. Those surveyed, now almost seven years older, are the young people venturing out into the world as the new breed of adults and the worries are just as prominent.
As American children, the idea of this kind of disaster was a farfetched thought. Depending on the exact age, this is a group who was born toward the end of, or after, the Cold War. The idea of foreigners threatening our world seemed something out of a History book, we were taught that wars were something fought on far away soil and that, while other children in far away countries might have to worry about that sort of thing, America was strong and that we would be protected. Then, out of nowhere and at ages where we still, for the most part, believed in the strength and invincibility of our country, we experience a greater disaster than anyone three times our age could have imagined. That’s something that never goes away, it changes something inside of you and you never see the world the same way again.
Nick hasn’t only been changed by it, however, he’s been paralyzed by it. Too scared of the past, he tries to run away from it, but ends up running from everything and everyone who cared about him and is still haunted by all that has been left unfinished. Throughout the book, Nick must learn how to reenter the world of the living after so many years of trying to blend into the background.
It’s an interesting, and more importantly, realistic portrayal of the journeys we take when we’ve veered off life’s path. Watching Nick Dunhill reengage in his own life-trying and failing, rebounding and reconnecting, and learning to deal with both love and loss- is not only enjoyable, but also allows the reader to feel “ if he can make it through so can I.”
Formerly a minor character, who I believe was given some of the greatest one-liners in the history of one-liners, the younger Dunhill has always been someone who wanted to be different than his Stepford-appearing Wisconsin family, but he is hardly a bad kid. When he gets suspended from class and Uncle Blain asks why he says, “the teacher asked what Britain’s greatest import was and I said ‘George Michael’s ass.” Now making the jump to main attraction, Beck manages to keep Dunhill true to that nature, delighting fans, while still keeping the story informative and with enough background information for new readers to pick up the story without having read the last three novels.
Nick’s situation is not unlike that of many young adults in this day and age. He makes the unpopular decision to leave college, upsetting those he feels closest to, hearing the ever popular saying of millennium parents, that by dropping out of college he is dooming himself to an unfulfilling future. He also has a feeling of entitlement that generation Y has so often been accused of having. He moves out, not because his uncle wants him out, but because Blaine didn’t immediately hook him up with a cushy job at his advertising firm. He quickly moved into an apartment in Harlem, complete with three roommates, and gets a temporary job cleaning apartments with an agency called “I Dream of Cleanie.” It isn’t long before he faces the jolting reality that comes from leaving a two-story loft in Hell’s Kitchen with a housekeeper and all the comforts of home and replacing it with roommates who can’t make rent, no health insurance, roaches on the counter top, and clients who try to take advantage of him.
On top of this, Dunhill has lost his daring nature. Once the young teen who fearlessly told his parents and brothers that he was gay and that he wanted to go live with his uncle in New York because they couldn’t handle him the way he was, he is now afraid to go in an elevator, take the subway, and all but refuses to go into any building that is more than 15 floors. Nick Dunhill has experienced a change that, though it varies in degree, a lot of his real world contemporaries- and I count myself among them- experience as well.
In the fall of 2002, the University of Rochester released its findings in a study about teens and stress. The study was originally conducted in the summer of 2001, and found that 21 percent of preteens and teens across the continental United States had acute to moderate fears of stressful situations and occurrences that were out of their control. When the surveys were re-conducted in the winter following the September 11 attacks, the percentages had spiked up to 39 percent and the fears were considered significant as the teens reported having this feeling on a range between often and nearly always. Those surveyed, now almost seven years older, are the young people venturing out into the world as the new breed of adults and the worries are just as prominent.
As American children, the idea of this kind of disaster was a farfetched thought. Depending on the exact age, this is a group who was born toward the end of, or after, the Cold War. The idea of foreigners threatening our world seemed something out of a History book, we were taught that wars were something fought on far away soil and that, while other children in far away countries might have to worry about that sort of thing, America was strong and that we would be protected. Then, out of nowhere and at ages where we still, for the most part, believed in the strength and invincibility of our country, we experience a greater disaster than anyone three times our age could have imagined. That’s something that never goes away, it changes something inside of you and you never see the world the same way again.
Nick hasn’t only been changed by it, however, he’s been paralyzed by it. Too scared of the past, he tries to run away from it, but ends up running from everything and everyone who cared about him and is still haunted by all that has been left unfinished. Throughout the book, Nick must learn how to reenter the world of the living after so many years of trying to blend into the background.
It’s an interesting, and more importantly, realistic portrayal of the journeys we take when we’ve veered off life’s path. Watching Nick Dunhill reengage in his own life-trying and failing, rebounding and reconnecting, and learning to deal with both love and loss- is not only enjoyable, but also allows the reader to feel “ if he can make it through so can I.”
Monday, April 5, 2010
Music Monday: Ryan Star
If you want a high octane, energy to the max performance with great vocals to back it up you clearly are lacking some serious Ryan Star.
You may remember Star, who has been performing music since his mid teens, from the reality television show ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA. You might also know Star’s voice from Fox’s LIE TO ME where "Brand New Day" is the theme song. However the stage is where he is at his best. Last night I saw him at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC and it truly made my Easter complete.
If you are going to be in one of the following places on the corresponding dates, treat yourself.
• Sun 4/11 in San Francisco, CA
• Mon 4/12 in San Diego, CA
• Tue 4/13 in Los Angeles, CA
• Thu 4/15 in Albuquerque, NM
• Sat 4/17 in Denver, CO
• Mon 4/19 in New York, NY
• Tue 4/20 in Kansas City, MO
• Thu 4/22 in Dallas, TX
• Fri 4/23 in Houston, TX
• Mon 4/26 in Nashville, TN
• Tue 4/27 in Atlanta, GA
• Thu 4/29 in Greenville, SC
• Fri 4/30 in North Augusta, SC
• Sat 5/1 in Easton, MD
• Sun 5/2 in Arlington, VA
• Fri 5/7 in Toledo, OH
• Sat 5/8 in Cleveland, OH
• Mon 5/10 in Milwaukee, WI
Along with his music, you will also be treated with his great sense of humor. In January I ran into him and told him that I was listening to his song BACK OF YOUR CAR in which he talks about how he'll wait for his lady in the back of her car. I, being funny, told him that if a guy was waiting in the back of my car, I would probably bludgeon him to death with the ice scrapper. He then laughed and said that I had ruined that song and the sensual moment of his life that it was written about. Last night he didn’t perform it and I reminded him of the incident and he said, “That was you! Yes because of you, I never perform that song anymore. No not really.”
Then he sang the song into my ear, making my best friend tell me that she hates me.
To hear that song, or any of his music go to:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/last-train-home-ep/id318614919
And please support him at http://rstar.net
You may remember Star, who has been performing music since his mid teens, from the reality television show ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA. You might also know Star’s voice from Fox’s LIE TO ME where "Brand New Day" is the theme song. However the stage is where he is at his best. Last night I saw him at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC and it truly made my Easter complete.
If you are going to be in one of the following places on the corresponding dates, treat yourself.
• Sun 4/11 in San Francisco, CA
• Mon 4/12 in San Diego, CA
• Tue 4/13 in Los Angeles, CA
• Thu 4/15 in Albuquerque, NM
• Sat 4/17 in Denver, CO
• Mon 4/19 in New York, NY
• Tue 4/20 in Kansas City, MO
• Thu 4/22 in Dallas, TX
• Fri 4/23 in Houston, TX
• Mon 4/26 in Nashville, TN
• Tue 4/27 in Atlanta, GA
• Thu 4/29 in Greenville, SC
• Fri 4/30 in North Augusta, SC
• Sat 5/1 in Easton, MD
• Sun 5/2 in Arlington, VA
• Fri 5/7 in Toledo, OH
• Sat 5/8 in Cleveland, OH
• Mon 5/10 in Milwaukee, WI
Along with his music, you will also be treated with his great sense of humor. In January I ran into him and told him that I was listening to his song BACK OF YOUR CAR in which he talks about how he'll wait for his lady in the back of her car. I, being funny, told him that if a guy was waiting in the back of my car, I would probably bludgeon him to death with the ice scrapper. He then laughed and said that I had ruined that song and the sensual moment of his life that it was written about. Last night he didn’t perform it and I reminded him of the incident and he said, “That was you! Yes because of you, I never perform that song anymore. No not really.”
Then he sang the song into my ear, making my best friend tell me that she hates me.
To hear that song, or any of his music go to:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/last-train-home-ep/id318614919
And please support him at http://rstar.net
Friday, April 2, 2010
Macy's Flower Show
Looking for a day of fun and beauty without spending a fortune? Look no further than Macy’s Flower Show which is running from Sunday, March 28 through Sunday, April 11, and contains 30,000 different varieties of exotic flowers, trees, and plants.
I went for the first time today (apparently it’s been going on for 60 years, but I’ve never heard of it) and it was truly majestic (see some examples below.)
Macy's offers 20-minute guided tours of the flower show between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the 35th Street and Broadway entrance but I just sort of wandered around so you don’t need that.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Happy April Fools Day
What is a fool?
Perhaps a fool is someone who does dishonest things behind her husband’s back? Someone who sneaks around with men she is not married to when her husband is a police officer- aka owns a gun. A woman who calls men at all hours of the night because “she’s scared” because said husband broke in the door when he claims that she stole his keys and locked him out because he believes she is having an affair yet, she doesn’t tell the police he threw her to the floor for fear of loosing his benefits. Forget calling in the middle of the night, but calling dozens of times a day when her husband gets the phone bill. Is this a fool?
No I believe this is a stupid slut who my actually deserve it if her husband decides one day to beat her senseless.
So is a fool the man who listens to the afore mentioned woman’s self caused problems and falls for her bullshit? A man who would lend her money because her husband rightly doesn’t let her access their accounts. The one who continues to take the calls and calls back knowing that her husband with a gun gets the bills. A person who believes that his midlife crisis type behaviors are acceptable and does not see how his family could think otherwise so long as he continues to provide for them financially and never has sex with the little minx.
No this is not a fool but rather a deluded prick or a simpleton the likes of a Monty Python Gumby character.
Is a fool the girl who believes when the boy says that he loves her as a friend, that she can change that? She sits at home at night waiting for his call even though he doesn’t intend to call her; he might, really he might. The woman who goes to the events that he doesn’t want to go to alone, as the platonic plus one, convinced that he one will leave his girlfriend he’s loved since high school and will never stop loving, and run into her waiting arms. She laughs nervously when people say they are a beautiful couple and her life becomes complete when he doesn’t correct the complimenter.
I don’t believe this is a fool either. Sure she lives in a fairy tale and one day that bubble could break leaving her heart broken, but until then she is a dreamer.
So what is a fool?
Perhaps it is the person who worries about things, who sits around seeing the reality of the situations of people around him or her. A person who can’t delude him or herself to believe that it’ll all be ok because they are the exception. Sure it’s a long shot but there is always a possibility that a bus could run you over before the husband finds out, the gun gets fired, or the guy marries and grows old with his one true love.
Perhaps a fool is someone who does dishonest things behind her husband’s back? Someone who sneaks around with men she is not married to when her husband is a police officer- aka owns a gun. A woman who calls men at all hours of the night because “she’s scared” because said husband broke in the door when he claims that she stole his keys and locked him out because he believes she is having an affair yet, she doesn’t tell the police he threw her to the floor for fear of loosing his benefits. Forget calling in the middle of the night, but calling dozens of times a day when her husband gets the phone bill. Is this a fool?
No I believe this is a stupid slut who my actually deserve it if her husband decides one day to beat her senseless.
So is a fool the man who listens to the afore mentioned woman’s self caused problems and falls for her bullshit? A man who would lend her money because her husband rightly doesn’t let her access their accounts. The one who continues to take the calls and calls back knowing that her husband with a gun gets the bills. A person who believes that his midlife crisis type behaviors are acceptable and does not see how his family could think otherwise so long as he continues to provide for them financially and never has sex with the little minx.
No this is not a fool but rather a deluded prick or a simpleton the likes of a Monty Python Gumby character.
Is a fool the girl who believes when the boy says that he loves her as a friend, that she can change that? She sits at home at night waiting for his call even though he doesn’t intend to call her; he might, really he might. The woman who goes to the events that he doesn’t want to go to alone, as the platonic plus one, convinced that he one will leave his girlfriend he’s loved since high school and will never stop loving, and run into her waiting arms. She laughs nervously when people say they are a beautiful couple and her life becomes complete when he doesn’t correct the complimenter.
I don’t believe this is a fool either. Sure she lives in a fairy tale and one day that bubble could break leaving her heart broken, but until then she is a dreamer.
So what is a fool?
Perhaps it is the person who worries about things, who sits around seeing the reality of the situations of people around him or her. A person who can’t delude him or herself to believe that it’ll all be ok because they are the exception. Sure it’s a long shot but there is always a possibility that a bus could run you over before the husband finds out, the gun gets fired, or the guy marries and grows old with his one true love.
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