A Hail of a Prom Date Night

I smooshed my whole weekend into this blog post title…well sort of. Friday night was date night. Time for my second date with…hmmm what should I call him? How about The Gentleman? I think I like that. He has been quite the gentleman. It is hard to find a decent guy that knows how to treat a lady. Our date was scheduled for 7 o’clock, and that was the perfect excuse to skip (postpone) my run. Then he text me and said he’d be at the gym and wanted to reschedule for 7:30. My run is less than 30 minutes, so I no longer had an excuse not to go to the gym. I took it as a sign that I should go to the gym too.

I went up to the indoor track at the gym and finished my last day of Week 1 of the couch to 5K. It felt good to accomplish that. It felt even better to run past the skinny girl on the track. I don’t know why, even if it was just for 60 seconds, I feel great when I run past a skinny person. When it got hard, I just reminded myself that I walked 13 miles in the scorching heat, so certainly I can run 8 little intervals. It was a tough run, I’ll probably need to throw in an extra day before moving on to week 2.  After the gym, I showered and got dressed for my date at the Emperors Palace Upscale Asian Buffet. The food was good, but I got my braces tightened the day before so eating was quite difficult. During dinner, I learned more about his family and asked crazy questions like “what would do if your girlfriend smacked you for forgetting her birthday?” He passed my test by saying he wouldn’t forget her birthday, and that he would rather talk it out than get physical. I also told him he didn’t ever have to worry about me slapping him, it was just a hypothetical question to see how he handles difficult situations….  I also found out that he is a runner. How cool is that?! At the end of the night he gave me a sweet kiss on the forehead and we planned date number three! Yay! He always lets me plan, and I like it! I’m a planning freak, and he’s easy going, so it works. Although, he has vetoed some of my suggestions, which makes him nice enough to let me choose, but he’s not too wimpy to say no. We have a good balance.
Saturday was my little sister’s Senior Prom night. Can you believe she is a Senior? She’ll be graduating in a few weeks and leaving for college in August. What am I gonna do when she’s gone??? *sigh* We were a little nervous because a tornado and hail storm was coming through town as she got dressed.  Unfortunately Big Little sister’s brand new car got plummeted with golfball and softball sized hail. 
My Mama made my sister’s dress, and she was gorgeous. I did her make-up. Her date was her was great guy that she’s been friends with for years. My WHOLE family was there, including grandparents, aunts and uncles; my family is so over the top.  They had a blast and she had a fun night with memories that will last a lifetime.

I’m a Warrior Machinist

So, what the heck is a Warrior Machinist? I have no idea, it’s something silly that I made up to sound cool and interesting. LOL. You all know I have been slacking in the fitness department; a walk at lunch here, a dance party on my Xbox Kinectthere.  My family really started to get on my case. My parents are uber concerned about my health, and my little sister started going to the gym without me. I told her that the next time she went, I was determined to go with her. I tried to be as prepared as possible. I had my hair tie, my iPod, Nike+ , my Yurbuds, my Waist Trimmer Belt and my sports bra. She picked me up when she got off her after school job and we went to the gym. I started on the elliptical machine. We pedaled for 30 minutes while watching The Big Bang Theory on TV. It’s my best friend’s favorite show. I always thought it was too weird to have a show about socially awkward nerds, but that show was hilarious. I laughed out loud several times and didn’t care who heard me. After the elliptical I moved on to the treadmill. I searched for my name under Artist on my iPod and played Week 1 of the Couch to 5K. I’ve heard it so many times that I said every word right along with my recorded voice. For that first 60 second interval run, I really pushed it at a level 5. Then my chest hurt, my head hurt, my back hurt. I decided to take it down a notch especially since I had just finished 30 minutes the elliptical. You have to push yourself, but you also have to listen to your body. In hindsight, I should have run first. But, I still completed each interval with a wog (walking and jogging) instead of a run. Then I heard BBD’s Poison and I knew I was almost at the end of the training session.  Finally, I completed the last interval “run” of Week 1. I was ready to go home, but my sister had this crazy 900 calories burn goal. So, she moved on to the step machine. I just watched her for a few minutes, I was exhausted. Then I felt silly just watching, so eventually, I got on the new Recumbent Bike. The seat was super soft and comfortable. I pedaled with my arms and legs for 19 more minutes. I forgot to turn on my Nike+ to track my distance on the treadmill, I was upset because I wanted to show you guys a pretty picture with my charted distance. But, instead you get a sweaty exhausted no makeup pic of me on the bike. I hobbled out to the car, in my tank top soaked with sweat feeling like a Warrior Machinist for conquering 3  different machines at the gym. I reminded myself that I often regret not working out, but I’ve never ever regretted a workout once I was finished.

The Black Eyed Peas Experience

I hadn’t worked out in so long. I didn’t really feel like going to the gym, so I decided to burn some calories on my Xbox Kinect. I had never played The Black Eyed Peas Experience dance and sing along game.   I popped it in and attempted to mirror the moves of the BEP’s to start the game. It was a sassy side step move. I tried and tried and nothing happened, the game would not start. I figured I must need to recalibrate the Kinect sensor. I reset the Kinect sensor and tried again. Still nothing. I re-read the instructions. “Mirror their moves to start the game.” I was starting to sweat and getting frustrated that the stupid game wouldn’t start. Then it dawned on me, I’m probably not doing to dance move right. I dipped a little lower and put some hip into it and the game started! I had to laugh that I was doing the simple step so wrong that it wasn’t registering.

I can’t remember what I clicked next, but the BEP’s were dancing to “Hey Mama” and there was a cute blond girl doing some of the dances with them. Who is she I wondered? She’s not a member of the BEPs. I was half way through the song before I realized she was my avatar. How in the world was I supposed to know that I was a skinny blond? LOL. Most of my other games use your personal avatar or use a hologram like version of your true self on the screen. Once I realized that she was me, I was able to keep up a little better because she glows when you hit the right marks. After that round, I changed her hair and gave her a little weight and a little color. She turned out pretty cute. At least now I would know which dancer I was.

I changed the game to party mode and did step by step coaching. Although I never got a letter grade higher than a “C” I still managed to unlock a studded belt and a tattoo for my avatar. After about 45 minutes of dancing, or at least trying to, I was very sweaty. I was so busy trying to keep up that I didn’t realize how hard I was working. Hopefully I can move up from a “C” but I give the BEP Experience Kinect game an “A.”

My 4 Point Dinner

I went to lunch with an old co-worker friend.  We ended up going to the Bamboo Bistro, a fantastic Chinese Buffet downtown. I made healthy choices for breakfast that morning.  I had an english muffin with a 1 Point Weight Watcher Cheese wedge and a Lactose Free Yogurt.  I had all kinds of stuff at the lunch buffet, fried rice, general Tso’s chicken, fish and crab rangoon.  For dessert I had a few pieces of honey crisp pineapple.  I knew I had blown my points for the day.  I made up my mind right then that I was having stir-fried veggies for dinner and told my friend I was doing so as confirmation. 

Once I got home, I was tired and figured I could just grab some fast food and relax.  Luckily, I talked myself out of that foolishness.  I felt kinda bad about eating so much at lunch, so I decided to go to the gym as “punishment.”  Then I read somewhere that working out should not feel like punishment, and you should do activities you enjoy.  I turned on my new favorite toy the Xbox Kinect.  Sweat is sweat, whether it’s elliptical sweat or doing sexy dances to Rihanna in my living room sweat.  I had fun doing the 20 minute Dance Central fitness routine.  After my mini workout session, I was so against veggies for dinner I actually ate nothing.  I sat in my own silent protest to such a “horrible” dinner.  Then around 10 o’clock my stubbornness started to wane because I was hungry.  I went in the kitchen and chopped up some fresh zucchini and squash.  I put them in olive oil and sautéed them with pre-chopped frozen green peppers.  It was such an easy dish to prepare.  I seasoned them with a veggie seasoning I got from the spice store at the market. 

 After they cooked down some, I added some frozen chopped spinach.  It started to smell really good.  When it was ready, I topped it off with a little bit of shredded mozzarella cheese.  I can put cheese on just about everything but ice cream.  And…guess what? My 4 point dinner was delicious!  I couldn’t believe it.  It didn’t feel like punishment at all.  There was no meat, no side dish with carbs, and I was satisfied.  I even went back for guilt-free seconds!

White Water Rafting

Last night I was gliding down the river in a float boat and attempted to jump over a boulder but came crashing down hard on my knee.  Of course all of this happened right in my living room while playing the X-Box sensor motion detector game called Kinect.  I’ve played it nearly every night, in addition to my half-marathon training.  I was pouring sweat while tackling my newest unlocked Adventure and trying to beat the clock.  I figured since I jumped high enough to grab the tokens in the clouds, certainly I could stop running into the blocks, and just jump over them.  Well, I was wrong.  After a fun-filled hour of plugging imaginary leaks and serving make-believe dodge balls, my body was tired and my bum knee gave out on me.  On my fall down to the floor, my flailing arms managed to score more tokens and win me a silver medal to progress to the next round.  I hobbled into bed, in pain, but ironically excited that I beat the time clock.  I slept in a knee brace, but this morning it still hurt pretty bad.   Nyah couldn’t figure out why I was moving so slowly when it was obvious that she had to potty.  I considered calling off work, but I knew with all the trial preparation, that was not an option.  Most of my co-workers got a little laugh when I explained my river rafting injury.  I had to laugh at myself.  Then, when I told my Lawyer Lady that I took an 800 mg Ibuprofen to help numb the pain, she said, “oh good, I hope you brought more, I’ll check and make sure you’re not asleep at your desk.”  I’ve worked at law firms long enough to know that my little limp would not stop the trial process.   Hopefully, I’ll heal up in a couple days, and get back to training, and of course my next Kinect Adventures!
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