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Good luck to all the amateur competitors dancing at the USA Dance Nationals in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland this weekend.
I'm excited to hear news from all my friends and students who are sure to scoop up some awards.
If there is no award-scooping action, let me remind you...
*sigh*
I miss teaching.
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I started running "for fun" awhile back.
I think "for fun" are the wrong words to use.
It was more like "for self-imposed torture [masochism, training, whatevs]".
I needed to lose some post-preggo pounds and running gives you a pretty decent time/calories-burnt rate. It wasn't just for the fat, though! It was for that whole cardiovascular endurance nonsense you have to do a crapload of ballroom dancing.
I kept running about two or three miles a few times a week. Then I started getting bored. Not that the 5K got easier...
But I also plateaued (looks like too many vowels, doesn't it?) in the weight loss category, so I needed something new.
My friend, America, sent me an email with race info about a 7K thing and I didn't even know that was a thing and that thing sounded great and much less daunting than a 10K thing, which just sounded ridiculous about three months ago. Plus, this 7K thing had awesome sweatshirts as part of the registration goodies and I'm all about goodies when they include thumbholes.
We followed the training schedule that Team Ortho (the 7K organizers) had strangely included on their webpage. Really? A training schedule for a 7K? I guess once you go over 5K, you're in the big leagues. With schedules and spreadsheets and tapering and stuff.
Meanwhile, I decided for reals to do the TC Marathon in October and reverse engineered that I should do a half marathon somewhere along the way, so I signed up for this one in May.
Basically, if I pay money for a run has to be really pretty or have awesome perks so I can forget I've been running for two hours straightand just be numbed into a jogging stupor looking at the shiny lake next to me or awaiting the delicious Gatorade in the finisher's tent or whatever.
For the marathon, I suppose I'll follow an actual training regimen. I hear this one is good. But for the half, I made up this one...
Yes, those numbers are the miles I run on those days.
It leaves off where the 7K schedule stopped and it hasn't been horrible. So, maybe I won't die when I try 13.1. Let's be optimistic.
Go forth and conquer.
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"It's soooooo good on popcorn, and, like, you'll love it."
Upon that advice from some very wise 11 year old twins that I know, I bought Nutritional Yeast the other day. Well, I thought I bought Nutritional Yeast, but it was Brewer's Yeast, a slight, but definite oversight.
Brewer's Yeast has a crapload of vitamins (like energy-provoking B ones), protein (which, duh, builds muscle), chromium (great for diabetics, helps regulate metabolism and blood sugar levels), selenium (a definite maybe in the cancer-fighting column), and a billion other good things in it.
It, however, does not taste as great as plain olde Nutritional Yeast.
Nutritional Yeast is grown on beet molasses (which is apparently a thing) and tastes something like cheese or nuts or cream. So, maybe like those old school cracker sandwiches you got in your lunch box?
Since Brewer's Yeast is a by-product of brewing beer (score, alcohol is somehow involved!), some hoppiness may occur. And maltiness. And graininess. Yet no buzz. Sad?
Anyhoo, either one is reeeeeeeally good for you and popular among the vegatarians for its awesome supply of protein.
I've done the Brewer's Yeast on popcorn thing and it's good. A little butter, a little salt, and a generous downpour of BY flakes. Snack win.
I also tried BY in a glass of milk before my morning run. DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT. Beer flavored milk. Snack lose.
But this morning I got smarter and threw a tablespoon in with my protein shake (I'm sampling this kind for the week and it really tastes amazing; you can order here), along with some chia seeds, peanut butter, ice, and cocoa powder. *drool* It was so good. Like a really healthy chocolate peanut butter malt. SCORE!
To summarize: although the idea of beer-flavored milk seemed edible, maybe milk-flavored beer is a better option. But there's already Guinness, so...
THE END.
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- spring cleaning. Out with the old and in with the... old. Because I have ten boxes of little girl clothing in all sizes and seasons. Hey ladies, welcome to hand-me-downs. At least your older sibling is the same gender of you.
- a Showcase and a half. I must say, Dancers Studio staff and students, you looked mighty fine. I'm sad that some people did not get the Latin solo with the very long bow. It happens, people. It is real.
- a new camera. I bought one on the condition that I would make the money I spent on it. So, check it: a trip to Half Price Books + painting some furniture + making some chalkboards + going to the consignment store = half way there to my total.
I got this bad boy and I have no idea what I'm doing, but now I can get much better quality photos of awesome things like this...
- okay, here's some real ones...
- a trip to Home Depot for gardening supplies. The G (with the help of a man-blogreader) made me a BA raised garden bed. I'm so excited, I'm drooling (because that implies excitement?). I'll go take some completely amateur high-resolution photos of it and show the awesomeness to you later this week.
- a short post 'cause I gotta go get some heinies (shown above) to take some naps. How many times can you sing the songs from Disney's Sleeping Beauty without falling asleep? A lot.
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Lest you think it's all rioting and frolicking here all the time at the Brattski Manor, it's not. I'm not holding a pity party, people (but it is an alliteration affair).
Some friends and loved ones are having a hard time of it and it's SAD. Give peace a chance or something, and send good thoughts out into the universe (prayers, holding doors open, smiling at babies, worshipping the can opener, whatever it is that you think brings on the sunshine) for all those people who aren't having the best time right now (yes, you can include yourself).
In the current state of affairs in this here Brattski household, I keep reminding myself to "do something" where it might seem more appropriate to wallow in DESPAIR and PITY for all the things that aren't right in the world (the potato chips are all gone! there's crazy people in the government! I can never spell "definite"! and other, more serious things).
So! we're cleaning the attic (junk!) and learning about photography (pictures!) and getting the garden and seeds prepared (garden! seeds! DIRT!) and practicing for the show tomorrow (dancing!) and reading library books (George and Martha!) and giving toys to "little girls who don't have fun toys" (V! about our trip to Goodwill!) and drawing princesses with the sidewalk chalk (Aurora! Cinderella!) and worshipping the can opener for all our friends and family.
He definitely likes the church key.
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