Chineapple Punks: things that entertain me

Showing posts with label things that entertain me. Show all posts

9/11/12

T-U-N-E-S

A lot of times I get stuck on songs. And right now I'm pretty stuck on these:

8/6/12

Hurricane ... Unplugged!

Up until last weekend I didn't know this version of Hurricane even existed. Now that I've found it I couldn't be happier about it! Just close your eyes and listen to that wonderful voice of his :)

3/20/12

March 20th

First Day of Spring what?

And a pretty song with a pretty video:

3/8/12

I don't want to jinx myself, but I'm running again. And I'm just so excited I could jump up and down ... assuming my legs aren't too tired. I had such a great experience with St. George and I've wanted to run another marathon for awhile now. I signed up for Ogden last year, but had some lingering IT band issues that seemed to love me a whole lot more than I loved them. So I began stretching and then stretching some more. Babying it. Becoming BFFs with my foam roller. Apprehensively testing it out over and over again with 3-4 milers, which usually ended in pain and disappointment. And having to spend even more time with my nemesis -- the elliptical. I am the only one who hates that machine? It's Awful with an actual capital A.

I started thinking that maybe long distance running just wasn't in the cards for me again. But here's the thing: without a good goal for exercise, I'm useless. I can come up with just about every excuse in the book. I've proven to myself that I always feel good after a workout, yet I can still convince myself that an hour of The Bachelor (shame on me) or grazing through Ikea will produce the exact same effect. Yes, something intimidating like a marathon is what I need to shove me into a routine. Not to mention how great I felt while training for St. George. I want that again.

Are you feeling like this woman yet? If so, sorry! You have my blessing to stop reading now. I try not be one of those annoying people who think you're just dying to hear about the size of their running blisters or what crazy stuff the wrong kind of gu does to their body. Rest assured I won't ever burn such knowledge into your brain. The less gross material people have to blackmail me with the better.

And now back to rruuuunning! (It helps if you read that in a sing-song voice). So what to do about that pesky IT band, huh? Well, I went back to the physical therapist, stretched a million times more, tried a few new strengthening things, said a few prayers, and here I am - 2 months in and so far so good. I'm doing a few things differently this time around, namely more strength training, some yoga, etc. I'm continually worried about injuring myself, but all I can do is be as careful as I can. My fingers are tightly crossed that I can make it make it through training injury-free, because if not I have unpleasant visions of having to spend the rest of my workout life on that bleeping elliptical. No thanks. I'll need to take it slower, so I've decided to forgo being concerned with time at all - just get across that finish line without limping. The quietly competitive side of me will have to stuff it and just enjoy the fine scenery.

And so here we are. Running. And stuff. Stuff like listening to some great music while running. I have no doubt that when I get up into my higher mileage I'll start listening to Stuff You Missed in History Class or This American Life (both highly recommended) and some mellow stuff. Anything over 15 miles and my mind starts screaming for something different. But until then - some old songs, some new songs ... working wonders. So for anyone looking for a few song suggestions, here are some that have been great for me:

What the Water Gave Me - Florence + the Machine
We Found Love - Rihanna
Hurricane - 30 Seconds to Mars
Punching in a Dream - The Naked & Famous
Sandstorm - Darude
Paradise - Coldplay
Strobe - deadmau5
Princess of China - Coldplay & Rhianna
Ramalama (Bang Bang) - Roisin Murphy
Paradise (techno remix) I can't find the right link for this! I'll update it when I do ... cause it's pretty great
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
Turn Me On - David Guetta feat Nicki Minaj
Rapture - iiO
Young Blood - The Naked & Famous
300 Violin Orchestra - Jorge Quintero
Some Chords - deadmau5
Titanium - David Guetta feat Sia
Stereo Love - Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina
Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
Eyes - Kaskade feat Mindy Gledhill
Rocketship 2010 - Shiny Toy Guns
Helena Beat - Foster the People
What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club
Mr. Saxobeat - Alexandra Stan
Slip - deadmau5
Cosmic Love - Florence + the Machine
Exogenesis Symphony (1, 2, & 3) - Muse

To sum up, I like to run. And I'm hoping to do it more without injury. And because I'm a bit superstitious, I'll going to end this post with a hearty KNOCK ON WOOD. No really, I'm actually knocking on wood right now. I'll give you a virtual high-five if you'd do the same for me!

2/14/12

2/14

Cause nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like a doily heart covering your face because your makeup has gone sour for the day.
So HAPPY VALENTINE'S!

And one of my very favorite smoochy love songs:

1/2/12

Goodbye, 2011

2011 was a good year. Lots of new experiences, new people, strengthened friendships, a few necessary and unnecessary tears, and some greater understandings. Here are a few of my favorite moments of the year:

Sundance Film Festival 2011: where I had my almost sighting of James Franco.
I expect better luck for Sundance 2012.

Battled it out at the Midway Ice Castles

Aubree & Kambri's first dance recital

My very first Festival of Colors. Still trying to get pink off my car seats.

Impromptu trip to the Salt Flats ... resulting in an impromptu night in Wendover

A little Lone Ranger business for Michelle's birthday

Finally got an iPhone -- and had my highest Words With Friends score ... yet

Just because it was entertaining

Went from dark back to light in one day. Well, technically I went from dark to "orangeish/strawberry blondeish", but hey - it was a process.

Spent a particularly spectacular week in New York City

With a particularly memorable night moseying across the Brooklyn Bridge

Saw my very first Broadway show - Memphis

Had a little fight with my grill (Still for sale! Anyone?)

Unveiled our winter tans to all the lucky folks in Moab

Protected the capitol (just not the Hunger Games kind)

Airplaned my heart out. I'm shocked it didn't catch on.

Conquered beautiful Bells Canyon a few thousand times

Got everything I've ever wanted in a birthday cake

Finally scored a Bike Shoppe t-shirt

Viva Las Vegas and CELINE for my birthday

Grabbed the bull by the horns at the Utah State Fair ...

... and got a ribbon for our cookies

Decided it was time to have a caricature ... which I'm still skeptical is really me and Anna

Made some new friends at our Midway fall get together

Embraced my inner geisha

Had ourselves a posh girl's night at Grand America and Temple Square

Soon followed up with an opportunity to showcase our amazing ice skating skills

Throw in some pregnancy announcements, some photography, Five Guys hamburgers with mouth-numbing jalapenos, and some other great trips and then call it a year. Thanks 2011. You were good to me!

11/9/11

Starlings

Watch this. Awesomeness really starts in at about 0:25. I can only imagine what it was like in person!

9/12/11

Bucket List Item #22:

Enter cookies into the Utah State Fair. CHHHECK! Anna and I worked hard to put together some good cookie recipes and one of them won a ribbon. Sure, an Honorable Mention ribbon doesn't exactly say First Place on it, but hey -- it still looks like a ribbon to me!

8/31/11

Summeryishesque

I know the end of summer isn't technically until September 23 (I think?) but in my mind it pretty much ends once August is over. Which happens today. So Happy Last Day of Summer! I got to take some pictures, see Celine Dion (wait until 1:03 - it was honestly breathtaking live), turn 27ish, eat lots of yogurt, scorch my hair (almost at an inch of growth now - another month and I might be able to wear my hair off my face again!), camp, and have my fair share of outdoor concerts and movies. Summer really brought his (her?) game this year. *The following over sized collage is brought to you by Instagram ... and isn't nearly as many pictures as I actually took. I suspect I may have a problem*

Summer, it's been great. Really. But here's the thing: I've been seeing way too many cute boots and scarves and hats all over Pinterest. Daydreaming of pretty leaves in the Avenues and drinking hot cider. Making pie and chili. And pretending I'm in love with football so I can bundle up at a game and eat nachos. Oh and I have grand plans of mastering this at some point before October 31st:

See! It's cheesecake disguised as candy corn! Genius! C'mon Summer - admit that you kinda want a piece of the candy corn cheesecake. I know I do. So without further adieu ... Welcome Fall! Now to backing up and cleaning up my phone. Need to make some room for a thousand photos of the fall leaves.

6/30/11

Season Ocho

So You Think You Can Dance started! Big smiles all around! We’ve opted out of DVR for the last year, and watching it day-of rarely happens, so thank goodness for being able to catch shows online. It’s funny that I love this show so much considering I certainly DON’T think I can dance. I took ballet when I was younger but who-knows-what happened and that was that. Watching these dancers make me wish I was that coordinated and swirly and graceful … with a KILLER core.

I don’t have season favorites yet. Although I’m strongly considering Sasha after this dance:

But see then there’s Tadd who’s awesome. Or Melanie who’s adorable. Or cute Robert. Too many choices this early on, so I’ll wait a little before I choose favorites. This new season has gotten me searching for old dances that I love. I know I’ve posted this before, but it’s still my favorite:

Or this at a close second! (skip to 0:51 to just see the dance):

Maybe I love watching so much because I’m a planner and on the show everything is choreographed and very well thought out. Life likes to constantly pull me out of planning mode but at least for a few hours a week everything can still be safe and planned. Phew :)

4/28/11

Aprilandstuff

My poor neglected blog. If it weren’t for my Photo of the Week it pretty much wouldn’t exist. It’s just that my mind is racing everywhere. Thinking of all the things I want to learn, see, read, photograph. The time I want to commit to my family, building certain qualities, reaching goals. HOW TO GET MYSELF TO DRINK 8 STUPID GLASSES OF WATER EVERY DAY. Followed by wondering how to make it all happen and how to do it all perfectly on the very first try (yeah right!). Patience has never been my strong suit and I’m trying to teach myself to slow down and not become discouraged. I’m not the only one who feels like this but I often wonder how some people make it all look so easy. Piece by piece, I’m guessing. Paaaatttiiieennnce, Jess. But in spite of my jumbled mind, April really was a good month. Highlights (documented though Instragram, of course. So convenient!):

I took a calligraphy class. Not the Old English kind, but the Copperplate style with the intent to kinda do my own thing as soon as I get the basics down. It’ll be worth it just to address my own envelopes and make them pretty and unique, which I guess means I’ll be looking for excuses to mail things. Also: Gift tags! Labels! Logos! Invitations! Endless pretty possibilities. Practice, practice, practice ...

We went horseback riding for Michelle’s birthday. My horse fear: stumbling, falling, and being trapped underneath. Ironically enough, my horse (Roanie) was older and seemed a bit lazy about picking his feet up off the ground at times. Bad Roanie. Cue random stumbling and my racing heart. I thought we were going down more than once.

We took a random little trip out to the Salt Flats and ended up in Wendover for dinner. That makes two times I’ve been there this year. My Wendover quota is officially full. No offense, Wendover Will. It's just that I can only handle you in small doses.

ALSO: Charlotte had a birthday, my Five Guys hamburgers cravings have been hitting with full force, I still have the cutest nieces and nephews around, really started liking this show (am I super late to the bandwagon?), the spring rain has smelled really great, I found my newest favorite workout song as well as my newest favorite cool down song, and I killed it with the last three People magazine crosswords puzzles. Successful month, I'd say.

And still three more days of April left ... anything could happen.

3/30/11

Adele

Really liking this song right now! Not to mention that it has a nice little beat which makes this girl a pretty happy runner.

2/1/11

Ice Castles

So I'm home from work today ... sick. Sick as in my throat is threatening to close at any moment and my head feels as if it could (should, please?) be popped with a pin. Last night's sleep was definitely not solid and I knew I'd just be a foggy mess if I went into work. Good thing I had to go on a flex spending spree in December and bought tons of random medicine. I have high hopes that tomorrow I'll be feeling much better and back on track. Until then, the house is pin drop quiet (except for the rushing of wind outside) and I'm cuddled up on the couch in my warm robe and fuzzy blue socks. Not too bad for a sick day. Now as for that medicine kicking in ... anytime now, thanks.

Last weekend we took a little mini trip up to friend's condo in Midway. We stopped by the Midway Ice Castles. They were all sorts of ethereal, as advertised. The ground is scattered with ice as well so they handed out ski poles and PVC pipes to steady ourselves with. I just so happened to get a child's pole and pretty much felt like Willy Wonka the entire time. Minus the candy, unfortunately.

As we walked through it I was reminded of our own accidental ice sculptures from last year. Maybe we should have left the sprinklers on -- just to see what could have happened. Maybe we could have made a few extra bucks!

Completely unrelated to anything made of ice: this website is killing me. It's so annoyingly entertaining. Hey - everyone seems so compelled to air all sorts of dirty laundry online nowadays anyway. Why not let the internet be your therapist as well?

12/8/10

can't.look.away.

This kid is, well, um, I don't know. Seen him all over the internet lately?

Oh my, right? But the few times where I'm not weirded out I kinda love it! Especially when he casually pushes up his glasses. And if you go to YouTube you'll see that there's plenty more that that came from. This internet sure is a strange place sometimes. Oh, and can I tell you just how much I love that song? Not so much Rihanna, but that song makes me run twice as fast.

To offset this I feel the need to post something that makes me happy instead of confused. So please enjoy a little of my latest crush - Bruno Mars!

12/1/10

Michelle

First Shanna, now Michelle. Seems I'm just slowly making my way through all past and present roommates :) This day was cold and windy. Really windy. It's a small miracle we weren't blown away but Michelle was a good sport and braved it all.

Then we rewarded ourselves with burgers and fries from Five Guys. Cause In-N-Out is overrated. There, I said it. And I can back it up: three times I've found hair in my fries. THREE TIMES, GUYS. And no, it wasn't my hair. Of course, all three times it was at the Las Vegas In-N-Out so that might explain things a bit. That town isn't exactly the shining example of cleanliness.

Aaaand speaking of Las Vegas, guess who's coming back next spring? Celine! You betcha I'll be there this time.

And there you have it. Michelle, In-N-Out, and Celine.

9/15/10

"Uncommonly Good"

Drank carbonation, spilled coleslaw all over my jacket, got a stomachache from fried chocolate donuts (WORTH IT), and sported the mace on our walk back to the car. Not bad for a quick stop at the fair. Given a few more hours I would have topped it off by nearly throwing up on the Gravitron and stepping in a pile of gigantor cow dung. Have I mentioned how much I love the state fair?! No but really, I do. It’s so eclectic and entertaining and I look forward to it every year.

Goal for next year: WIN A RIBBON. In what? Well, not exactly sure what yet. I'm open to suggestions but it's gotta be awesome so I can blow away the steep competition. Bucket List!

9/1/10

Just a few things, Mr. Mayer:

#1 Lovely show last night.

#2 This is how I feel when you don't sing Say or Dreaming With a Broken Heart.

#3 I forgive you for that because of your fantastic rendition of Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.
#4 You sure do make a lot of odd facial expressions when you sing.

#5 But this one, John -- this one crossed a line somewhere. A big, scary line:

#6 The Karate Kid headband was a real nice touch.

#7 Even though my toes were frozen the entire time I still had fun. Gracias!

5/14/10

Vamps - Part Deux

Wow! Wasn't MyBoyfriendIanSomerhalder great on tonight's Vampire Diaries season finale? So much better than what's his name Cullen (No offense, Rest of the World. And guess what else? I'm passing up U2 tickets. YES WAY. Disappointed in me? I thought so.)

Oh ... well now what's this picture? How embarrassing that it was leaked onto the internet! Okaay, well this is us at an awards show. I can't remember which one since he asks me to go to so many of them.