Hula Hoop

So I have been pretty slackery this week with the exersize. I finally got up to something mild last night. While watching an episode of Buffy I hula hooped for 30 minutes, then did 100 crunches, and 20 side crunches on each side (this time laying my knees to one side like I saw in GQ) and 80 girly push ups. The whole thing lasted 45 minutes, just like the episode. Pretty convenient. Not sure if the Hula hopping got my heart rate up much. I got a bit sweaty towards then end but it could've just been hot in my house. The toning (ha!) gets easier when my heart rate is up (learned that from my abs of steal video I did once in middle school) so it could be that the hula hooping worked. It's hard to tell because I don't feel like I'm working out but Wii claims that the motion works something. Your core? Whatever that is. The problem with working out after teaching is that I want to eat when I'm done and by then it's 10:30. I had a handful of almonds with a fun size bag of M&Ms. Resisted a bagel.

This weekend I'm off to Phoenix to stay at a hotel with a pool. Maybe I'll do laps. Most likely it'll be too hot to go anywhere near the outdoor pool, though.

Funeral

This is not as sad of a post as the title may make you think. I was reading a book that includes a Jewish funeral last night and a blocked memory surfaced. Yes, it involves my dad. On one of his weekends when I was a child (can't say how young, but def elementary school aged) my dad had a funeral to officiate, or preside over, or whatever clergy do at funerals. He couldn't leave me home alone I guess so he took me along. During the Temple ceremony he had me stay in his office, but for the graveyard part I had to go along. If memory serves, he told me to wait in the car but possibly he told me to wait at the far gravestones. Either way, I wandered around the far end of the graveyard for a little while until I got too scared and made my way towards the funeral. I vividly remember peering at the funeral from behind a nearby gravestone. I also remember that when the funeral ended my dad yelled at me for not obeying him and me explaining that I got scared and him still being mad because it was someone's funeral and people didn't need the Rabbi's baggage hanging around (not his words of course). I felt bad that I'd interrupted (did I?) a sad moment for people but looking back, was there really no better alternative to taking me to a graveyard? Surely he had helpful neighbors, or Hebrew School kids who wouldn't mind making an extra buck one afternoon. Maybe he wants me to learn about death, from the car? It just seems so weird. I'll ask him if he remembers.

Scattered weekend exersize

I already posted my Saturday work out but after I posted I went to a bar and did a bit of dancing and not much drinking. The dance was pretty sparse because there was a guy there who must've been dropping acid - at 10pm he was already sweating in his wife-beater and harassing all women who tried to dance on the floor. once he hit the bathroom I attempted to dance a bit and then I think he came down from his high and I could dance more. The DJ started to suck so my friend and I decided to take the party back to my living room. We danced for about an hour, maybe less to some Justin, My Morning Jacket, Scissor Sisters, R.Kelly, etc bad mix.

Sunday I watched TV online all morning, took a nap then finally walked to B's house through the woods/golf course. On the way I thought about all the ways I could get sent to the emergency room (I think because our insurance cards haven't come in yet and I'm a little nervous. Also, there was a sign that said "no hunting"). The ways I could get injured were, knocked out by a rogue golf ball, mauled by a cougar (B thought I was referring to a randy mom), mauled by a coyote, bitten by a rattle snake, passed out from sunstroke (it was hotter than I expected). I got there safely although sweating profusely. We then went to a diner that has not changed since 1950 and serves food with little to no nutritional value. The vegetables were a mix of peas, green beans, and unknown like we used to get in school hot lunches. Yum! I told myself I'd do some crunches and black bean curls when I got home. Didn't. Stopped watching TV shows online after only and hour and a half so I could read. Improvement.

Today at work I looked at the public library site to see if they had any Buffy DVDs. I'm sorry to report that they did. I borrowed the maximum 5 allowed. Not promising for my elbows.

Mexico

I finally decided to check out the bad part of my neighborhood. Yelp has been telling me to check it out for a while but I've been too scared to go alone. It's only a mile away so I felt silly driving but too scared to walk. Then I thought of a good driving excuse: a quick way to scope out what it has to offer.

Now as I've said a few times already - I was scared. Not sure exactly why, but I think it had to do with poor people and more likely, homeless people. Also, fear of the unknown. I was so naive! It was way scarier than I thought, and way cooler. I live next to the famous Balboa Park, on a golf course. These people live next to the largest cemetery I've seen in California. The plus side is that they have a view of green grass? The shacks on the side of the cemetery are awful looking - like the inhabitants have accepted poltergeist.

Besides the cemetery, there are shack-y looking Mexican restaurants on every block. They all look like they're probably cheap and delicious and have a side of rat feces. Yelp tells me the best places are a Salvadorean spot, a Soul Food spot, and Jamaican spot. The thought of food from each of those scares me - lard, cow feet, pork, things called "jerk"... you get the point. But it still looks really good. I'll ned a partner in crime to try any of them, and maybe start with take-out.

After driving past a modern looking market a couple times I finally decided to pull in and check it out. The sign said Farmer's Market so I assumed fresh/cheap vegetables and probably some flies. I walked in and saw that there were a few fruits and vegetables (and flies) but that was just the beginning. It was an enormous warehouse with different shops inside - exactly like you'd find in Tijuana. There were several Mexican food shops, a fish market, a few jewelry shops, a cowboy boot shop, a CD shop (?), a nail salon, a hair salon, a cheap gifts shop and a ton of people who may or may not have been looking at me like I was in the wrong place. The food looked great and the gifts/boots looked fun. If it were a camp field trip I would've bought a fake gold ring for every finger. I can't wait to bring my next tourist visitor there and pretend like this is what I do every day. I got out fast, though, because I had no idea what I was doing. My neighborhood always seemed a bit Mexico-like but now I realize it's Minnesota compared to the rest of the area.

Danielle?

So today my cardio consisted of sweeping the floors in every room, shaking out the rugs, then using my swiffer wet to clean the floors. Near the end I broke the swiffer from trying too hard. At least I have about a year until I'll want to do that again, so I have time to buy a new one. While sweeping I thought about one of the books I want to write about my family. I think if I want it to be Poisonwood Bible style I'll have to make my brother a girl. He's going to prove a tricky girl though. Maybe I'll write it from his (her) journalist husband's POV. While watching Bones on Hulu I did 60 crunches and 20 side crunches each side. I also did 60 black bean curls, which consist of me holding a can of black beans in each hand with my arms straight in the air and then lowering them back to my shoulder blades. Elbows still fat. Bones growing on me.

Workout Routine

After seeing Titanic for the first time when I was in high school, I got nervous that if I were ever on a sinking ship I'd never be able to hold on because I am so weak. Ten+ years later, I've decided to finally do something about it. My new workout routine, starting tonight, consists of the following:

30 minutes of cardio via living room dance party to a Pandora radio station of my choosing

60 crunches

20 left crunches

20 right crunches

80 girly pushups until I can do regular ones again

I will motivate myself by blogging it so the Internets can hold me accountable.

Tonight I danced to Beyonce + Shakira Radio. It's easier to keep up the fast dance moves when I know the song, so when something new came on, I grabbed the hula-hoop to keep me going.

While sweating more than I have in a decade, I did the crunch reps and girly push up reps on a blanket on the floor. Then i grabbed some baby powder, sat in front of my little fan, put on some dirty clothes and went to teach class. One student astutely said, you look wet.