Author Archives: crunchymetromom

20 books and 20 lbs (week 4): Slow and steady wins the race?

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Well, I’d love to be able to say that I’ve lost DOZENS of pounds and I’m well into my 15th book, but that’s just not the case. I’m holding my own, still 3lbs below my original starting point. In fairness, having my 40th birthday this month AND having my sister’s birthday only a few days later, this house has been filled with birthday cake. I just don’t have the heart to throw the stuff out. IT’S CAKE! You can’t throw it out! It’s against some law, right…?

I am managing to plow my way through “A Tale of Two Cities”, now a little more than halfway through, and it’s clearly picking up steam. Ah, that Dickens: it only takes him about 150 pages to warm up. This is one of those funny things about writers. Most books tend to take the first 50-100 pages to “warm up”, to have a story that grips you and gets your attention enough that you’re well invested in what’s going on with the characters. Dickens taking longer than that is no big surprise. The question is whether he’ll also do the usual author thing, which is that the last 50-100 pages are some giant roller coaster, as the author suddenly realizes they have to FINISH THE THING and suddenly every single thread needs to be sewed up THIS VERY MINUTE.

Of course, as much as I laugh about it, I’m still glad to be literate. I can’t imagine not having books in my life – even the ones where they’re clearly not the best written things in the world (Stephenie Meyer, I’m thinking squarely of “The Host” as I say this).

And, naturally, just as I try to find a way to be more active (when I’m not reading Dickens, of course!), my work has gotten so nutsy cuckoo that I’m working late just to keep up. Gym? What’s that? Thankfully, I have offers of equipment and products to test, so as I get some of that stuff in, I can at least have the excuse of “I need to use it enough to report to others whether it’s worth using!” and that may be motivation enough to get my butt in motion. It’s all well and good to be 3lbs in towards my 20lb goal, but I’d like to be making more progress than that.

I suppose that’s the challenge of every person who tries to make/keep their life healthier. My friend, @BeWellBoston (Elizabeth Comeau of Boston.com), wrote an interesting blog post yesterday morning about how she manages to keep her routine together…and it’s all about creating just that: a routine. Much like her, I have a very supportive dh, and that makes a huge difference. Pre-kids, just having an independent husband would’ve been enough. Having kids, the idea of a partner being supportive really helps even more, since that means that they’re willing to take care of others in addition to themselves.

It’s funny how little you think about these things until you have kids – or maybe you do. It’s like how you appreciate what your parents did 1000x more once you become a parent and realize just how incredibly difficult it is to be a decent parent. I suppose the running theme is “never stop trying”. You’re doomed to failure if you never even try.

Quality time at RadioBDC: Churchill “Live in the Lab” & Planking with @BeWellBoston

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I realize that’s the world’s longest blog post title and I JUST DON’T EVEN CARE. I had an awesome time, and it’s totally worth sharing.

Churchill

Churchill (from L-R): Michael Morter, Joe Richmond, Tim Bruns, Tyler Rima and Bethany Kelly

 

First off, I’ve been massively in love with Churchill‘s current single, “Change”, ever since RadioBDC started to play it in heavy rotation. A folk-indie quintet hailing from Denver, CO, Churchill blends sweet melodies with sharp lyrics and soulful harmonies. I was lucky enough to score a pair of spots on the guest list for their “Live in the Lab” set at RadioBDC, and I’m just so incredibly glad I went. I’d fallen pretty hard for singer/keyboardist Bethany Kelly’s breathy voice in all those airings of “Change”, and the rest of the band – singer/guitarist/founder Tim Bruns, singer/mandolinist/founder Michael Morter, bassist Tyler Rima and drummer Joe Richmond (who was a spitting image of Dave Pirner) – were all equally fabulous. Morter’s mandolin solos – especially during their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” – were utterly brilliant, and the five-piece band managed to pack quite a lot of energy (and equipment) into the tight confines of the Lab stage. The holiday wasn’t the only reason the audience area was packed for this performance; this band really has some great chops. For those who like their alt-folk equally as smart as Death Cab for Cutie, with the sweet vocal stylings of Zero Seven, I highly recommend checking out Churchill.

 

Churchill

Morter rocks out on the mandolin solo, while Bruns does an equally fabulous job on the guitar

 

You can get a nice view of their set by going to the Live in the Lab archive on RadioBDC’s web site. Three of the four songs they played, including “Change”, are included in the archive; there’s also a brief interview with the band, as well.

If you want to hear more of Churchill for yourself, samples of tracks are available via Churchill’s web site, Reverbnation, and Myspace. Better alternatives: go to the store and buy the “Change” EP and download the RadioBDC app to your iPhone/iPad, Android device or Blackberry. Seriously, I don’t shill. They’re not paying me for this. I believe in local radio and I believe in having your music curated by people, not machines. Live in the Lab sessions and other free shows put on by RadioBDC are a public service that are worth more than their weight in gold. Support bands, support music, and for pete’s sake: Support ACTUAL local radio. Please.

OK – enough ranting. Now, I get to talk about the other fun part of my visit.

I’ve been corresponding aplenty on Twitter with boston.com senior health & wellness producer Elizabeth Comeau, aka @BeWellBoston, as she tries to convert the masses to #plankaday. She’s also in the process of running a training program for two of the Adams in her life, including RadioBDC’s Adam 12, as she gets them prepped for a 5K race scheduled for early March. A regular contributor to RadioBDC, Elizabeth is often found in the halls of their studio trying to convince RadioBDC’s Henry Santoro to do just ONE PLANK for the rest of us. (His hilarious attempts to avoid doing #plankaday, including his now-famous “standing against the wall plank”, aren’t discouraging her one bit.)

Planking at RadioBDC

Friends don’t let friends plank alone – I’m in the upper right-hand corner, with my friend next to me; Elizabeth is at the bottom of the picture

 

We promised that we’d meet up and do a plank, and so we did. After the show, we hung out for a few minutes and then grabbed some carpet space at the back of the lab and planked for 1:08. I could’ve gone a little longer, but since Elizabeth is already up in the 5-minute plank range, I knew that I’d be down on the carpet well before her. It was great getting to meet her – and getting in my plank right there in the RadioBDC lab! It was also nice to have a friend along with me who was a good enough sport to get in on the fun; of course, since she’s a spin instructor in her spare time, she also said, “I could’ve gone longer!” Now, if only we can get Henry to do one…

20 books & 20 lbs (week 3): A wonderful weigh-in

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Normally, the last thing in the world that I would say is, “I really loved what I saw when I stepped on the scale!”, but this is one of those cases where I do have to say it.

I LOST THREE POUNDS LAST WEEK!!!

Oh sure, I haven’t hit my goal weight yet, but since I lost three pounds between weeks 1 & 2, and got to start my third week on a high note, it gave me an extra incentive not to reach for a larger (or additional) helping when I didn’t really need one. For lunches this week, I tried taking a Lean Cuisine meal a couple of times a week to see if that would help me have a second meal that had a bit fewer calories than I usually had. It’s a dicey proposition, since I never find myself really *full* after a Lean Cuisine “meal”. It seems to me like those are entrées that are meant to have something else with them…fruit, bread…a sandwich…(just kidding).

A coworker suggested I try Kashi frozen meals, too, so I may check those out. I was laughing quite a bit at the freezer section of one of the refrigerators in the break room on my floor at work – it was mostly full of Lean Cuisine items with various people’s names scrawled on them in Sharpie marker. Yeah, it’s not just me. I’m curious about how the freezer drawer will look in, say, three months.

Once I get a few more weeks in, I’ll likely start publishing a chart of my weight changes; for those who know me well, it’s clear that I loves me some charts!

Adding in exercise is still a bit of a challenge, but I did manage to get a quick workout in this week. I’ve also been able to keep up with the #plankaday challenge, so this means that I’ve done almost three full weeks of it! I’m up over a minute without falling over, but getting much past the 1:07/1:08 mark is still a little tough. Seeing how Elizabeth at the Boston Globe (@BeWellBoston) can manage to get over 5 minutes, I figure I should be able to increase my time over time. It just takes practice and keeping at it. (Or so the theory goes.) DH and I are still trying to work the kinks out of a workout schedule that gives us both time to exercise, and I need to get on the stick and use the time I have to my advantage – when I have it.

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Speaking of keeping at it, I’m still making progress on “A Tale of Two Cities”. I’m about one-third of the way through, and the book still hasn’t yet unfolded enough that I can see all of where Dickens is going with it. The humor continues, though, and it’s perfectly clear that his hatred for and derision of the wealthy class is quite solid. I also get a chuckle whenever the French scenes with Madame Defarge pop up, since they always make me think of Cloris Leachman’s role in Mel Brooks’ “History of the World, part 1”. Yeah, that’s probably not what Dickens was HOPING I’d think of, but that’s how it goes.

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And, continuing the high notes, I turn the big FOUR-OH(crap) today. I don’t feel forty. I don’t feel twenty, but I don’t feel forty. Maybe that’s what forty is supposed to feel like..a year of walking around saying, “where did my thirties go?” Hopefully I’ll have lost a little more when I come to this Sunday’s weigh-in; that would certainly make for a VERY happy birthday.