in the spirit

What a weekend! If I wasn't in the Christmas spirit before, I am now after a weekend of non-stop Christmas activities! (Thankfully I was able to sneak a run in on Saturday...)

Here's the rundown of the Christmasy activities with a few pics below:
1) watched The Grinch (Jim Carrey version) with friends on Friday Night.
2) Saturday, Amanda, Alisha and I went to see The Nutcracker at the Opera House in Boston. One of my 6th graders was Clara (the main girl)!
3) the Middle School staff Christmas party following the ballet. Asiana Bistro catered the food...so good! I won the movie, Elf, in the Yankee Swap...can't wait to watch it!
3.5) the first snow fell on Sunday morning. Here is a view from inside my car. :)
4) Sunday, my small group had a gingerbread house decorating party. Two hours of candy, chaos and serious decorating. Can you see the concentration on those faces??And here is my little house. :) Gumdrop roof, peppermint fence and a blond haired, blue eyed gingerbread girl. (of course!)

5) the High School staff Christmas party following the gingerbread party. The theme of the Yankee Swap was pens...there were some nice ones (Feng Shui bookmark pens) and not so nice ones (a pen attached to an empty 2-liter of Diet Coke).

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season in your own ways!!

house of pain

On my ipod, I have two mixes that I usually work out to. They are full of fast, higher energy songs. Songs that motivate and *clap* pump ME up (Hanz and Franz, anyone?).

Anyway, it's been a while since I've listened to either of them in their entirety, I have forgotten some stuff that's on there. So I was surprised last night when I was almost finished with my workout when this song came on... "Jump Around" by House of Pain. Talk about a classic... We all know the chorus and how catchy that is...but have you ever listedned to the words of the verses? There is some great stuff in there!! Here are a couple of my fav lines:

Feel it, funk it
Amps it are junking
And I got more rhymes than there's cops that are dunking
Donuts shop

Word to your moms I came to drop bombs
I got more rhymes than the bible's got psalms
And just like the Prodigal Son I've returned
Anyone stepping to me you'll get burned

I mean, come on. That is good stuff. :)

Some of my other favs on the playlist are:

Standing Outside the Fire, Garth Brooks
Move Your Feet, Junior Senior
Old Time Rock and Roll, Bob Seger
I Can't be Bothered, Miranda Lambert
Eye of the Tiger, Survivor

And obviously, those are just a few. I will be creating new lists when I get a compter at home again, so if you have any suggestions...

no judgement zone

I was back at the gym last night for a while. I ran another 3mi on the treadmill and spent another 25min on the eliptical to kill some time before hanging out with my friend.

While on the treadmill, I noticed a few things...

1. they are positioned so close together that when the gym is full, you can feel the rhythm of the people next to you.

2. The gym's slogan is the "no judgement zone" but I find I compare how fast or long or amt of calories burned with people around me...unless they cover up their panel with a towel (I need to do that...)

3. If you go too fast, you'll trip and fall on your treadmill. Now, I've never had this happen to me and I'd never seen it happen to anyone else until yesterday. This kid next to me (who, btw, was wearing too much cologne!) set the speed at 9! I don't know exactly how fast that is as I've never gone that fast but let's just say it was too fast for him as well. All of a sudden I heard this big clunk noise...turns out he tripped and had to grap the handles to right himself. I kind of chuckled inside...then quickly remembered this was the "no judgement zone" and stopped laughing, realizing that one day that could be me if I'm not careful...

That's all. Tonight is a night off from the gym as I'll be teaching at Middle School. Kinda nervous, kinda excited. Hoping that room will be the "no judgement zone" for the 10-15min I'll be teaching...

free pizza...at the gym?

I was back at the gym last night; ran about 3mi and walked about .6mi. Not too bad for the second time back, I'd say! I'll be heading back tonight but plan on using the eliptical b/c my left knee is hurting a bit and I'd kinda like it to get better before I do any kind of real damage.

When I signed up at this gym, the guy said, "We have free pizza the first Monday night of every month and free bagels the second Tuesday of every month." Now, I'd never been before on the first Monday of the month...I'm usually rushing home to get the house ready for Small Group. Yesterday, however, I decided that I really needed to go. And sure enough, there was boxes and boxes of pizza!!! Free!

I don't know about you...but when I am finished at the gym, pretty much the only thing I want is a very large amount of cold water. The last thing I'd want to do is eat a greasy slice of pizza! But I did see quite a few people enjoying it. My only hope is that they were enjoying it AFTER they worked out and not before....that would be quite a mess to clean up. I'm just sayin'....