Exercising

What I have discovered about exercise and me:

1. I seem to like cardio that is not too fast-stepping or complicated, and involves some use of weights. My favorite one is The Firm workout with Janet Jones, even though I hate her.

2. I like doing a half hour where I really sweat and feel that I've done something rather than a longer workout where I don't feel like I've gotten as much done. I guess that seems logical. :)

3. I do like exercising with Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies 2, 3 and 4. He's so darned cute and I don't care what anyone else says or that Becky made fun of me when she brought me my hold.

4. If I don't exercise every day, I don't want to do it the day after no exercise. The same happens on the two nights when I get home late and can only do 10-15 minutes instead of a half hour. If I don't do a half hour a day, apparently, I lose my happy exercise endorphins and become lethargic.

5. I must keep water next to me. Otherwise I have to stop during the routine and go get water. I don't know why I continue to forget this.

6. I need new gymshoes. I have new gymshoes but the left foot is apparently smaller than the right and the shoe scoots around on my foot and rubs my Achilles tendon. I have the same experience with my old shoes. Maybe I should just cut off the rise at the back of the shoe.

7. I have a favorite workout outfit. If I don't get to wear it because it's in the laundry, I don't enjoy my workout as much. I'm thinking of going back to where I got the tank top at the beginning of the summer to see if they still have any left. I should do it fast. They'll probably have winter coats out after Labor Day.

8. Hard wood floors are very cool to lay on after a workout.


Overall, I have been enjoying it. My weight has not changed yet, but I think that's because I've been losing fat and gaining muscle. So far I have lost an inch in my chest, inch in my waist, inch in my hip, and inch in my upper thigh, and a half inch in my upper arm. Pretty cool! :)

Sweet Husband

Kevin decided to bake a cake for me for my birthday. He made a comment about just throwing some icing on so I told him he had to decorate it. He went online and researched how to mix colors, watched a video on how to make frosting flowers, and created these two cakes:





He earned major hubby points. :) So cute!

Nose Piercing!

I have a yea and a nay for two local nose piercing places. Yes, I got my nose pierced. :) Here's the story.

Friday night after work, Chelle came over and we exercised and cleaned up and went to Grade A Tattoo to get my nose pierced for my birthday. Chelle had narrowed it down to three different places. I think we were both leaning toward Cardinal but they closed at 8 and of course I was impatient so we went to Grade A Tattoos.

DO NOT GO TO GRADE A TATTOOS!!!!!!!!

I had called them and spoken to someone about getting a piercing before. I specifically asked if they had any small sparkly studs. Here is how I phrased it: "I want something that is teeny weeny itsy bitsy so that when you're wearing it people will occasionally get a flash from it and wonder, does she have her nose pierced?" And they said yes. So we went there.

I know this will sound entirely crazy, which is why I did not say it to Chelle when we got there, but they had a Pepsi machine in the foyer and I wanted to turn around and leave. Seriously. I made a comment jokingly about it, but it really did kind of give me a chill. Kevin says I should always follow my instincts. :)

I'm having a difficult time describing the inside. Like worn down or dirty, but not dirty. Kind of bare. Like a single guy's apartment - no real furniture, white walls, kind of grungy feel to it, etc. The staff were hanging around talking and we told one of the guys what we wanted. He took us into a room and started getting the equipment ready. I asked if I could see the jewelry because it seemed like he was just going to put it in my nose without me having a chance to look at it. It looked kind of large to me but he said that was the smallest they were made. I told him I had seen them smaller and he said that Grade A did not sell a smaller size and he would not recommend getting a smaller size because it could slip back through your nose. But it certainly was not the itsy bitsy jewel I had specifically asked about before.

He used betadine and alcohol to wash my nose, then stuck this giant cork in my nostril. I asked him to just tell me when he was going to pierce it and he said he'd give me a countdown, but then he just shoved the needle through my nose anyway. I hate it when people do that, like a doctor or anyone. It's so disrespectful. I made a request so I could be better prepared and brace myself. Because he surprised me I kind of cringed away and then I think he had a harder time doing the piercing.

Plus it hurt like crazy. :)

The guy gave me a half sheet of paper that said to use 1/8 tsp of sea salt in warm water to soak my nose ring and to use antibacterial soap to wash it. But he did not elaborate or give any explanations. We paid and left.

I was giddy throughout the process because of nerves and silliness, and the whole process only took about 5 minutes. Both Chelle and I expected it to take longer for some reason. We went to Cheddar's for dinner and along the way I felt my nose start to bleed. When we got there I went into the bathroom and my nose had been bleeding, so I got cleaned up.

I noticed that when I pressed against the side of my nose, it felt like the post was poking into my septum. I went outside (you can't hear anything in Cheddar's - I never noticed before - they even have music pumped into their parking lot)and called Grade A and told him about the poking and he told me that was just the feeling of the new nose ring. I told him it was a different feeling than that and he told me to spin the post until it felt comfortable inside.

Chelle and I had a fun dinner and then went back home. I went to check my ring in the mirror and noticed that when I twisted it into a position where it felt comfortable in my nose, the end of it was poking out, totally visible. I decided I was going to go back the next day and have them fix it.

Overnight I thought about it and the next day I decided not to go back to Grade A. Instead, I went to Cardinal. The entire atmosphere was different. Their business had hard wood floors done to a high polish, very clean, with a nice waiting area. Their jewelry options were in a display case, along with their business card. The room was done in black and red and looked very classy. There was original art on the walls, along with their tattoo art.

One of the guys - Matt - came up to help me and I asked him if I could see the jewelry and if he had anything smaller than what was in my nose already. He showed me the jewelry and guessed what I had was a 2 mm and what he had was 1.5, so it was a little smaller but not by a huge amount. He gave me the prices. I told him I had had my nose pierced the night before at a different place and asked how much he would charge to put the smaller piece of jewelry in. He said just the charge of the jewelry.

Matt said he could absolutely put in the new piece of jewelry then but he recommended I wait because the nose was already irritated from the first piercing and it was possible the hole would shut when he took out the jewelry and he might have to pierce it again, or it could be difficult to get it in because everyone pierces differently. I told him I would prefer to have it done again right then because I wanted to have the jewelry I really wanted rather than the larger stone.

We went into the piercing room and he started unpackaging the equipment. I was asking him questions about what all he was doing and he was very patient and responsive, showing me individual items and explaining what they were used for. One of the pieces he had on the little tray was a small cork, about half the size of the one the guy at Grade A used. I asked if he had had to pierce the nose again, would he have inserted that into my nose and he said he did not use it that way. He showed me a tube he normally would use. He said when you use a cork you pierce through the nose and into the cork, which stops the flow, then start to push the needle through again. If you use the tube, you can do it in one smooth motion.

Matt checked out my piercing and said he believed he knew why it was uncomfortable for me. He said the person who had twisted the post had done it for the right nostril instead of the left. You twist the post in a different direction, apparently. He then said it was not necessarily wrong, that everyone had a different way of doing things and there was no real right or wrong way. (Indiana does not have a licensing process or requirements of tattoo places or piercing places.) But he said he would not have done it that way.

The insertion of the new ring was kind of painful but not like the original piercing. He was trying to be as careful as he could. He gave me my old jewelry in a little baggie when he was done.

At some point I asked him about how to clean it. He asked if the man who had done it the night before had explained it to me and I said no, he just gave me the paper. So Matt explained that you put 1/8 tsp of sea salt in warm water and soak a cotton ball and press it to the inside and outside of my nose for 10 minutes, changing cotton balls when they cooled. He also asked if the guy had explained the antibacterial soap wash and I said no, so Matt told me to lather up my hands really good and wash around the piercing, being sure to move the jewelry back and forth, and doing the same when I rinsed to get all the soap out.

Matt was super nice and helpful and patient with me and I never felt rushed or patronized. He gave me one of his business cards when he was done and also wished me a happy birthday. It was such a completely different experience than the night before and I have to highly recommend Cardinal to anyone who is interested in getting a piercing. They're located on Spy Run and Elizabeth, where the old eyeglass place used to be.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

Well, we went to the midnight opening of the movie, in IMAX 3D. The theatre was packed and half the crowd was in costume. The theatre did trivia (doors opened at 8pm, so they had to keep the people happy until midnight) and gave away little prizes and had a demo of a Kinect Harry Potter game. That was pretty funny because the audience was watching and cheering on the player, telling them to go left or look out, etc.

We'd brought the book with us because I never did get Kevin to finish listening to it on CD with me, and so he had only gotten up to the part where Harry goes back in Snape's memories. So he was reading while we waited and I was text messaging friends about seeing Darth Vader in the hallway taking out a Death Eater with his light sabre. Pretty fun.

My first impression of the movie was that it was good but I was disappointed it didn't follow the book more closely. I also had trouble with the IMAX making me feel sick to my stomach and I couldn't watch the trip through Gringott's because it was making me queasy. I obviously won't be able to attend movies of the future unless I take a Dramamine first.

Anyway, our audience was wonderful. They were cheering McGonagall, Neville, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Neville again, Molly, etc. They were laughing and crying. We clapped at the end and several people stayed to watch the end credits, which I was disappointed in - the credits for Goblet of Fire were so cool and for the last movie in a series, they should have gone a little more out to make something interesting and memorable. I was also disappointed that at the very end of the credits they did not refrain the original Harry Potter theme from the first movie. That would have wrapped it up nicely. And I always feel a movie properly ends when the last thing you see is the title of the movie. I also hate it when the music is still going but the credits have ended, which is what happened here. But hardly anyone stays to see the credits so I'm probably the only person who cares. :)

I saw it again today with my mom in the regular theatre (which was just as good viewing as IMAX 3D, so save your money if you were planning to see it that way). This time I was able to get more into the movie and not worry so much about how it compared to the book. There were a couple of times where I got teary-eyed, and so did Mom.

I also have to say that in the book, I hated the epilogue. I thought it was pretty cheesy, to be honest. But I thought the movie did an excellent job with it. I thought they could have made the women a bit older looking - it'll be interesting to compare them to their "older" selves when the actors are actually in their mid 30s. :) Loved the potbellies on Ron and Draco, loved how all the "parents" were hugging their kids and looking on them with sadness and affection as they boarded the train.

The whole experience of Harry Potter amazes me. I doubt I'll see another phenomenon like it in my lifetime, really. 7 books, 8 movies, all the merchandising, a theme park, websites dedicated to the actors and characters, big parties being thrown at book stores and libraries for the releases of the books... It really put YA lit in the spotlight and revived interest in reading. Just wonderful and powerful for so many people. Great stuff. I'm gonna miss all of it!

Movie to Avoid

Kevin and I watched The American, starring George Clooney, this weekend. What a snoozefest! This movie is an hour and 40 minutes of nothing happening and about 5 minutes of people shooting one another, and that five minutes is spread throughout the movie. We both had trouble staying awake, and I eventually started reading a book. Kevin, for some crazy reason, wanted to finish watching the movie. I think to see if anything was ever going to happen. Which it didn't. I had told Kevin that if I remembered correctly, the movie got mixed reviews. At the end of the movie he said, "I don't see how it could have gotten mixed reviews! That was terrible!"

For a better George Clooney movie, rent Out of Sight with George and Jennifer Lopez. Sexy and fun. And stuff actually happens.

Killer Queen by a One Man Band

I hate stupid commercial-before-video crap, but get through the commercial because the video is very cool. Kevin sent it to me and I love it!

Hunger Games movie updates!

I am so very excited about the casting for the Hunger Games. It looks awesome!

Katniss - Oscar-nominated Jennifer Lawrence
Effie - Elizabeth Banks
Haymitch - Woody Harrelson
Caesar - Stanley Tucci
President Snow - Donald Sutherland
Cinna - Lenny Kravitz

I can't wait to see Woody Harrelson as Haymitch!!!!! And Donald Sutherland is going to make one creepy president.

I also just saw that Danny Elfman has beens igned on to do the music, along with T-Bone Burnett. Danny Elfman has done the music for Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Good Will Hunting, Men in Black, Milk, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, among others. T-Bone Burnetthas won a bunch of Grammies and his film work includes composing for films such as Crazy Heart and Walk the Line, and producing soundtracks for O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Across the Universe. He has an Academy Award for the song "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart.

Among other movies, the following have done:
Judianna Makovsky - costume design - X-Men: The Last Stand, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Seabiscuit, and Pleasantville.
Larry Dias - set decoration - Inception, The Village, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and Transformers.
Tom Stern - cinematography for Gran Torino, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Mystic River.
Ve Neill - makeup department head - Pirates of the Caribbean, Amistad, and Edward Scissorhands.

So it seems the movie is in pretty capable hands all the way around.

Supposed to come out in March, 2012!!!!!