A week ago last Friday (yes, I’m slow. Get over it.) was Elvis day at work. Due to the Mall of America hosting some sort of Elvis convention that weekend, and my workplace’s close proximity, we decided to have peanut butter and banana sandwiches in one of the conference rooms, along with Elvis flicks playing all day. In our cafeteria, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and fried okra were served. We had Elvis’ greatest hits playing on the overhead. Finally, there was a costume contest. Best old Elvis, and best young Elvis. I’m game for any opportunity to dress up. So, lacking any sort of Elvis attire, I used my free night off of rehearsal to find something. We wound up with roughly a half hour at Goodwill. Silly me assumed that there would be a bounty of polyester castoffs, just waiting to be Elvised up. Alas, I was wrong. I found a handful of poly pants, all of which were over priced. Seriously, $8 for elastic waist polyester pants that your Grandmother would probably turn her nose up at? I persevered, and found a pair of white ply flares, from Express of all places, a white button, erm, snap, up with cowboy detailing and rhinestones, and G found a bedazzled white belt. It would have to do. I also made a futile stop at JoAnn’s for some glittery fabric, thinking would have time to fashion a cape for my ensemble. I barely had time to get home, sleep and get up for work in the morning! But I did managed to pouf my hair, and put on my fabulous outfit.
Surprisingly, the only other person that really tried to dress up was Proptart, in a black velvet Elvis shirt. Sad. It was still fun, and I got perhaps the best compliment from one of the management team, as referenced in my title.
Behold me as Elvis:
Don’t worry, I’m not quitting my day job.
Archive for April, 2008
i’m a little bit tranny and a little bit rock and roll!
Monday, April 28th, 2008what should be a fitness recap
Saturday, April 26th, 2008But, is not. I will leave it at, I had a crappy week, workout wise, due to feeling crappy, and then injuring myself. I was going to try and go to the gym today, but it would be a really , really bad idea. Especially since just walking around for about an hour or so today was painful. And not in a good way.
So, I am writing this week off, and knowing that I can pick up where I left off, and keep going.
Assuming my shoulder is not sending shooting pains off to other parts of my body tomorrow, I shall hit the gym, then do it again Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I will also not need to splurge on pizza and carrot cake in the name of charity this week, nor wine because I never go out anymore.
On the bright side, I got the most amazing belt buckle ever today, and I am going to stare at it in the hopes that my depression will lift. Pictures of its awesomeness will come the second I get a belt for it.
Also, on the bright side, I have some pretty cool friends, who were even willing to hang out with me and put up with my caffeine induced chattiness, and be seen with me in public.
Again on the bright side, I am going to see THE KIDS IN THE HALL TONIGHT! Methinks I must have a belt for my buckle so I can rock it at the show.
Must lose four pounds this week if I hope to meet my goal for Goth Prom and tattoo rewards.
happy earth day!
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008Yesterday, Proptart found this kick ass tutorial on line for making take anywhere shopping bags out of old tank tops! We said this would be a perfect project for earth day. Not only would we be repurposing an existing item and giving it a new life, we would also insure that we would have a bag anytime we were out and about, thus negating the need to use evil plastic shopping bags that will sit and sit and sit, or from buying a reusable bag every time because we forgot ours!
Check out our super fantastic handiwork here.
I was only disappointed that my machine was being grouchy and would randomly decide it didn’t want to dig into the fabric. I don’t know if it was unhappy out of its home environment or if I over worked it trying to get it to sew through multiple layers of indoor/outdoor fabric. Methinks she is just way overdue for a tune up. I am hoping she will make it through the last of the current project I am working on, as it is a gift, then she will get serviced. I really, really, really love my machine. She is a Singer that is older than I am, which was purchased from a family friend. She has been reliable in the approximately 13 years she’s been with me, and I really want to have her forever. I see all the “fancy pants” machines that are available, and they just don’t do it for me. I do admit that I also would like a serger, but that’s it. For everything else, my lovely singer does the trick!
In other news of the very old kind, I am in love with Austin Scarlet. Yes, I know he’s so four years ago, but I only saw Project Runway for the first time this evening, whilst sewing Earth Day bags. Mr. Scarlet is adorable! I could eat him with a spoon, or in the very least keep him as a pet, from whom I would borrow fantastic rhinestone necklaces and ascots. Adorable, I say! Also, I am now addicted to PR. I must see it all. Although, I do not have cable, so I may need to schedule gym visits around when the next season is on, and hit the elliptical for the duration.
Have I mentioned he is ADORABLE?
fit to be
Saturday, April 19th, 2008The usual Saturday fitness recap.
This week kind of sucked, thanks to my back. Monday, I headed home after work, rather than to the gym, as my low back decided it was going to have one of its fits. Boo. I checked my e-mail, and laid down to see if I could get it to calm down before rehearsal. G got me up, and took me to rehearsal only to find out it had been canceled (not altogether, just for me). So, we decided to grab coffee, and check out the small bookstore downstairs. going downstairs was not pleasant, but doable. Going up on the other hand? I was nearly in tears, as the pain from my lower back shot down my right leg. Home and horizontal was the order of things. Tuesday, I was determined to overcome. So, I went to the gym, focused on my abs (as they are a huge part of compensating for my damaged low back), didn’t do any of the exercises I thought would aggravate my back, and for cardio did the recumbent bike. Wednesday, during the day, still some shooting pain, but it cleared up by day end. Thursday, when I hit the gym, things were fine, until I went to do my lower ab exercises. They involve the piece of equipment whose name I do not know, but involves holding myself up with my elbows, and pulling my knees to my chest. I climb up, get settled, and lift, and PAIN! This time in my armpit area. I try to readjust and go again, but it was a no go. This also meant I couldn’t work my sides, as holding the 25 pound weight I use was impossible on my left side, and I thought it silly to only work one side.
So, my week went as follows:
Sunday: Nothing
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: 45 minutes full body strength, excluding about three or four exercises, 45 minutes bike on cross country, 10 minutes of stretching, focusing on calming low back
Wednesday: 55 minute walk, 4 miles
Thursday: 1 hour full body strength, 30 minutes elliptical on cross train, 10 minutes stretching
Friday: nothing
Saturday: Nothing despite best laid plans
Starting weight: 144.5
Last week: 145.5
This week: 145
Weight loss for week: -.34%
Total weight loss: +.34%
Whilst I am definitely firming up, I need to focus on my eating to really see results. Tomorrow shall involve a trip to the grocery store to stock up on good food for the week, and me cooking while G is at his karaoke show, and getting my lunches and dinners ready for the week. With my crazy schedule, it is all to easy to eat junk.
review
Saturday, April 19th, 2008
One week ago, right about now, I was gussying myself up for Ground Zero’s Rubber Ball 2008. G had kindly gifted me this romper off my wishlist for Valentine’s day, which I had earmarked for the event. Based on this, I decided to go for an old-timey performer look. Somewhere between tightrope walker and saloon girl. I busted out the curling iron and hairpins, added some plumage, rhinestones and false eyelashes, and voila! I had rehearsal, so I went with myself done up from the neck up, and changed into my ADORABLE romper immediately after. G gussied up as well, and we went out, for the FOURTH Saturday night in a row, and had a pretty swell time.
Some things I would have changed about the event would include having the vendors upstairs/near the rear bar. Whilst I understand wanting to have the wares up front, it was totally in the way of dance floor access. It made for some unpleasant congestion. The “fashion” shows were anticlimactic. Maybe I am too used to the creation of items that are cutting edge, and look like something someone could/would wear, as opposed items looking like fabric remnants were taped onto models bodies. Also, sending out a model who obviously CANNOT walk in heels/platforms just makes me feel sorry for the poor girl, not thinking about how I really want what she is wearing. The two shows were awkward, at best. I love fashion, I love seeing what people create, however, these just made me feel embarrassed for these people. That is not really my idea of fun. Also, while I think the fetish shows are fun, I don’t like feeling forced to watch. We went to a club in Cali, that had the right idea. There were stages with shows going on throughout the night, but they didn’t cause every other activity to cease. IF it is one huge over the top piece, that is one thing. Otherwise, I want to be able to choose to keep dancing/chatting/whatever, not have everything stop for a show that I may or may not find interesting. I can’t imagine that every single person in the room has the exact same tastes, and I think the event should allow for that.
On the positive side, we got to see and hang with some peeps we don’t get to see as often as we would like. The people watching was fun, and we got to make a new friend, Morgan, a recent transplant to the area, who seems to be good stuff. I got some dancing in, and to top it all off, I looked awesome. I do not say this lightly, whilst I try to make myself look good when we go out, I usually have some reservations about my look. However, I can say pretty confidently, that I was the prettiest girl in the room. I felt pretty fucking badass. There were some photogs there, and I am hoping I can find the shots that were gleaned of me on the dance floor. Sadly, I forgot to grab the real camera, so the only shots that were grabbed by us, would be the above, on Gs camera phone. Overall, we had a good time, I just wish there was more dancing…the night went too fast!
However, this means the pressure is on. I have to look at least that good for the upcoming Goth Prom. I have a dress…I must accessorize, and determine the overall look I would like to style. Good thing I have a couple of weeks to pull it all together!!
getting my butt in gear
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008So, I often talk about crafting (of various forms) and how I miss doing it, and wish I did more of it, but I only need to do a millionty other things first. Well, thanks to some fabulous friends, with fabulous ideas, I am actually crafting again! I have completed one rather complicated project, and one simple one, with at least three more in the pipeline to be completed in the next two weeks!! Craziness!
Also, I have another blog. It is about said crafting, and will soon have a store where you can buy gear with our awesome logo, and soon hand crafted wares!! Please check it out by clicking the link below. We hope it turns into something big!!
Procraftination
mergh
Saturday, April 12th, 2008Whew. Whatta week. I began rehearsals this week for a new show, which has added a nice layer of crazy to my life. It makes the work to gym to rehearsal commute a little hectic, but I refuse to give up!
So, here are this weeks stats.
Sunday- nothin’
Monday-One hour strength, 45 minutes bike on cross country, ten minutes stretching
Tuesday- nothin’
Wednesday-one hour strength, 45 minutes on the elliptical on random and cross train, ten minutes stretching
Thursday-nothin’
Friday-One hour strength, 45 minutes on the elliptical on random and cross train, ten minutes stretching
Saturday-nothin’
Starting weight-144.5
Current weight-145.5 (boo)
I bumped up most of my weights, which is awesome. I have inherently sucky quads, so that is my frustration. I’ve had at least two doctors confused over my oddly weak quads, and not sure what to tell me to do about it. I work them as much as possible, with a lot of grumbling and groaning on my part. I bumped them up five pounds on the machine, and thought my legs were literally on fire by the end of the first set. Everything I do that works them is a struggle to get through…so anyone bothering to read this who might have some advice, I will gladly take it. Everything else is shaping up nicely. I am actually for the first time I can remember, getting definition in my calves. My arms are slowly shaping up…I just wish my triceps would shape up faster! My butt is a little perkier…and my favorite part, I have a lovely two pack, and can see two more forming below. I just need to be patient, I know. I am trying to focus on the good things, and remind myself that I am making progress, so I can keep going.
I mostly can’t wait for the weather to turn around so I can walk/run and rollerblade.
caturday
Saturday, April 5th, 2008So, the reference to Saturday as “Caturday” sometimes annoys me. Generally because it has nothing to do with cats, but moreso because it tends to be overused by those in my social circle. However, today was such a Caturday, I can’t help but use it. I slept half the day away, did some lounging, looked at sunbeams, basically saw into the inner workings of being a feline. Eventually I was somewhat productive, fortunately. Mostly because my tummy was growling. Much like a cat. So, I bathed, and we got some eats. Since we were out, we picked up an air purifier. With my slow process of Spring cleaning, I seem to be kicking up some nastiness. So, we are starting with one unit, see how we like it and go from there. I managed to get a couple of long talked about, but procrastinated websites up and running (more on that) and am working toward rebuilding one so it can actually be used. Damn, it is turning into a project. (many thanks to G for being awesome and helping with the rebuild!). Now I am all fancy, and G is shaving so we can go out and play!
Now, onto the meat. In trying to get my blogging under control, and to help avoid procrastination, I am labeling days. Hopefully this will help avoid the trap I get into, in which I think about blogging, think about all I’ve forgotten, then don’t because I realize no one wants to read about a decade of activity in one sitting. So, I bring you to Fitness Saturday!! I have been super lax about my general well being. Mainly taking action through whining about my general fatness. So, now that I am more in a habit, I shall start keeping track here. So, here’s what I did for the week of March 30-April5th!
Sunday-nada
Monday- 45 minutes on the elliptical in cross training mode, full body strength (takes about an hour), 15 minutes of stretching
Tuesday-Nada
Wednesday- 45 minutes on elliptical in CC mode, full body strength, 15 minutes of stretching
Thursday-nada
Friday 30 minutes of biking on Cross country setting, full body strength, 15 minutes of stretching
Saturday-nada (in theory I could count the dancing I am to do tonight, but I don’t)
I weighed in today at 144.5 (W00T–on my way down!) I am just going to use this as my start weight, since I haven’t been actually documenting my weight for some time.
Goals: May 12th-weigh 138. My reward for this will be getting a tattoo of Sabbath on my right thigh.
July 3-Weigh 128 (my final goal!) My reward for this will be getting a tattoo of Mystery on my left thigh, along with being hot.
In a dream world, I would weigh 125, but I don’t really know that would be realistic, especially given that I want to be a little muscley.
Next week, my plan is to repeat three days of strength and cardio at the gym, and up the weights on about half my strength (I won’t bore you with all the specifics, the list would be long). I am going to spend the off days in April getting my shite together in my personal life and home, so that in May I can start to add additional Cardio on my current off days (things like Rollerblading, DDR, walking/running, etc.)
Eating wise, I am not doing terribly, but I do need to start turning down the white carbs. I do pretty well, but it’s hard when mashed potatoes are staring me down in the staff cafe!