Author: cheriarmour

Fitness instructors, leave your ego at the door.

| cheriarmour

I’ve been teaching fitness officially since 2010.  I’d been taking Zumba classes from the time I was about 16 until 20 or so, and the entire time, had been really curious about what it would take, and what it meant to teach.  I somehow got the balls to hunt around, and contacted the woman at NC State, the graduate school where I was attending, my first semester there, and asked if she was interested in a Zumba instructor.  The next thing I knew, I was teaching to a staff at a staff meeting, and without realizing it, my future husband may have been in that meeting.

But Lindsay, who managed us, took a chance on me, and after a short 20-minute demo, she allowed me to get onto the spring schedule one day a week.  And the response was absolutely overwhelming.  I regularly had over 100 students in the class, and as my class gained traction, I began to look forward to my time on Sundays with the students.

One thing I remembered, and one thing that I took with me in my time taking classes with Koh Herlong, who apparently was a Zumba superstar and we never knew it, left her ego at the door when it came to class.  She worked the room, starting from the front, and dancing in the crowd, dancing with students, and pointing out a nice booty shake or a great-looking bicep when she saw it.  The class wasn’t about her, it was about us.  And we left the room feeling that way each and every time we took the class.

Fitness instructors, your class is not about you. 

I’ve certainly fallen into the trap before.  When a student wants to take a pic with me or when I’ve seen myself talked about in a review of some place I’ve worked, I’ve wanted to dust myself off.  And when I do, I remember that there’s always an instructor who’s better than I am, and that being a decent teacher doesn’t mean shit if I have a bad attitude, or think I’m here for folks to be amazed by me.  There’s nothing amazing about what I do.  I just love to do it.

Zumba Instructor

That said, here are a few reminders for fitness instructors who are starting to feel their heads get a little bigger with each time they catch the eye of someone in their class.

  • The workout doesn’t belong to you.  It’s theirs [your students].  My mom has often asked me why I work out when I teach so many classes, and simply it’s because the energy you devote you your workouts and and workouts you provide to your students is and should be different.  In your classes your focused on the safety, the comfort, and the fun that your students are having, not your own.
  • But don’t give too much…everything needs a little balance.  Don’t give so much that you’re hurt or that you hurt the people in your class.  Balance is key.
  • Open your eyes!  Are you stuck in the mirror?  This is a terrible habit, and a huge pet peeve of mine.  Look around your class.  Face your class.  Look into people’s eyes!  If you find yourself “stuck in the mirror,” as an old tap teacher of mine would say, you’re doing it wrong.  Your class can sense when you’re looking at them, and when you’re checking out your own biceps.  And having an egotistical maniac for an instructor doesn’t do much for people.

And finally…

  • Make ’em feel good.  Folks got in their cars and drove over, not for you to tell jokes, right?  Thank folks for coming.  Introduce yourself.  Point out good work!  Shout encouragement.  Whisper adjustments.

QOTD:

What’s the best/your favorite fitness class you’ve EVER taken?

When crunchy goes wrong.

| cheriarmour

I’m a combo of things.  Part of me is quite crunchy (the part that enjoys kombucha), and part of me is really not (the part of me that enjoys diet soda).

The part of me that’s crunchy began to take over when I started to have some knee pain just prior to Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh. I decided to do a lot of lower-impact exercises (like cycling and yoga), back down off of running, and take lots and lots of baths involving essential oils and epsom salts.

My knee pain never got worse, but it would get a little better, then go back to the way it was, which was annoying – I just wanted to get back to what I wanted to do, which was get in my mileage so I can stay sexy. What is hard about that?

But finally on Friday, I started to get a little worried, and spent the morning trying to make an appointment somewhere, and then finally just giving up, and walking into Raleigh Orthopedic Clinic. They did the standard that they did back when I first broke that bone in my knee…

via Pediatric Rheumatology (see that little bone flopped up at the bottom? That's what I did).
via Pediatric Rheumatology (see that little bone flopped up at the bottom? That’s what I did).

And popped me up on the table, rocked my knee back and forth to make sure I didn’t have any damage to the ACL, and took x-rays (which are relatively pointless if you have any soft tissue damage, which I was suspecting I had). The x-rays, save for some evidence of the tibial tuberosity, was normal, and the doc prescribed me some Etodolac, a strong NSAID, to help. Almost immediately upon taking it, I felt improvement to the point that I’ve almost canceled my MRI this week. I thought better of it, knowing that I haven’t had an MRI in 10 years, and that I should find out whether of not I have any damage to that meniscus so I can get it quickly repaired, should everything not be okay with it.

But the thing that’s incredible about all this was that in my quest to be natural and la la la crunchy, I put off going to the doc for WEEKS, when the (at least temporary) solution was as simple as a common NSAID that took care of about 70% of the pain and discomfort I had? And with that, I can 100% admit that I need to pull my head out of my crunch ass sometimes.

What is one silly thing that you’ve put off recently?

I’m going to Chicago!

| cheriarmour

I don’t know a whole lot about Chicago.  Yoga Kerri, who used to make an appearance on this blog every now and again before she moved to Cali lived there for a time.  And I met one of my favorite camp friends, Lindsay, who came from Chicago to grace us with her presence.  We spent an entire summer not really showering and talking about how much fiber our favorite meals contained.  Both good.

So it seemed like sort of a no-brainer to apply for the Chicago Marathon, especially given the fact that as soon as I got into Marine Corps, we got a save-the-date for a wedding that we really couldn’t miss.  So MCM was out (and I’m trying to unload that bib if you’re into it), and Chicago was in.  Tuesday morning, when we were due to hear about our status in the lottery, I checked my email nonstop, refreshing it by swiping it down on my phone with no results.  I checked Twitter and saw the tweets trickling in, that some folks had gotten their results.  I sort of assumed (annoyingly) that I hand’t gotten in, but found out later by way of a tweet that the approvals were being made on a rolling basis.

Anyhoo, so I got tired of waiting, and logged into the Athlete Center, and right on top was a banner with the word “Approved” along the top!  I sort of waited to say anything, especially given that that protests in Baltimore were still full-swing, and I didn’t want to come of insensitively.  But this came later…

Chicago Marathon…And just like that, I’m running one of the major marathons in October.

I’m pumped.  A little nervous.  Already got my training plan together.  And taking extreme measures to make sure that we can get my knee back to working order, to where it’s not so stiff.

Have you ever been to Chicago?  What should I do while I’m there?

 

My morning routine.

| cheriarmour

First off, I would like to address this.

So, I have made it a point not to address the riots in Baltimore on this blog.  I don’t know what to say.  I’m really really sad, and I understand, as a black woman, that there are a lot of frustrations on both sides.

I will say, however, that I feel really really privileged to live in this tumultuous time in our nation’s history.  Our kids are going to look at this in their history books, and we’re going to be able to say that not only did we live through this, but that this time enacted a tremendous amount of change.  Changes in race relations, changes in our police force, and changes in the system, which are the most important changes there are.

Let me move along before I get all emotional though.

My morning routine. 

So Kristyn at Chits and Giggles posted on this last week, and I found her post really really interesting, so I figured I might borrow this topic, and tell you guys a little bit about my morning routine.  I’m also really nosy, and would love to know what other people are into in the mornings.

So…my mornings.

Okay, first, know this about me.  I am probably the only runner in the world who will tell you this, but I’m not a morning person at all.  I am a miserable human being in the morning.  I am horribly ugly, my eyes are typically closed, and the only way I can really get myself going is to shower and put on fresh clothes.  I seriously struggle with morning workouts, and I’m not sure how I survived in Pennsylvania, getting up for a workout, then breakfast most mornings.  My best guess is the fact that though Tony didn’t love it, we went to breakfast in our pajamas, our glasses, and the makeup from the night before. When I get up early to work out now, I usually don 0 makeup, will pop a piece of gum, and hope that I don’t run into anyone important. But you can’t really do that in real life all the time.

I digress however,

So my mornings.  They typically all go like this except for Thursday mornings, where I wake up, then lay in bed watching DVR I’ve missed for like an hour since I don’t go to work until like 2 on those days.

So typically, the cats, Satans 1 and 2 run around from about 6 on.

Cats

Austin usually gets up and puts Chester (the big Siamese) in the carrier because he likes to jump on the nightstands and break things in order to get us to wake up.

On a Wednesday morning, I will drag myself out of bed around 6:50, grab a bar from the pantry and a diet coke (judge away), and head in for a workout with Jill, the trainer. I usually don’t eat anything before, but drink plenty of water during the workout, and usually work out with Jill for an hour. After the workout, I typically eat a little breakfast at my desk, chug some diet coke and water, and open my laptop and get started for the morning.

See the fitness schedules that I'm working on for April and May beneath my new toy?
See the fitness schedules that I’m working on for April and May beneath my new toy?

Usually I putter around, answer some phone calls and emails, and will scoot just before lunch to jump into the shower and do my make up so I look presentable for at least some portion of the day.

What is YOUR morning routine like?  

Weekend Buzz

| cheriarmour

I’m sitting here, drinking some stomach easing tea out of my Jesus Shaves mug after a weekend FULL of bad food, some travel, and did I mention bad food?

Thursday night, I pulled my usual, and stayed late to work to finish up some emails and work because this past weekend was my mother-in-law’s birthday.  But no before I got the chance to treat myself to a little goodness…

Fitbit SurgeAfter a few months of wishing and waiting (I’m pretty sure they announced just around my birthday last year that this watch was gonna be a thing), I finally got my hands on a Fitbit Surge, the activity tracker with the GPS and HR monitor built in, and spent a little bit of time setting it up.  As you can see from the above picture, I was working on the group fitness schedule for May at the same time that I was charging the new guy and figuring out how to sync it with my phone.  (Don’t worry, a full review to come)!

After I worked for a little while on Friday, Austin and I headed to Charlotte to go to his mom’s house for her 60th birthday.  After we got caught in a ton of traffic on the way, when we got there, I immediately went for a glass of wine, and we sat down and talked and visited for a while before heading to bed that night.

Saturday morning, history was made when I ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes for breakfast.  I never eat cereal for one (I would always find myself feeling really hungry and a little sluggish), and I don’t really consider Frosted Flakes appropriate breakfast food, but they taste SO damned good, I just went for it, and it was worth every syrupy bite.  Seriously, caloric intake aside, there is nothing better than Frosted Flakes and cold milk.

After I ate, and did some work at the kitchen table, I headed out to the Siskey YMCA, the Y close to my childhood for two reasons.  One, to get a workout in, and two, to sort of see how they did a couple of things that we were struggling with at our branch.  I came on a really good day because the day before they had gotten this thing in…

Tread WallThis is the Treadwall, which is sort of like a treadmill, but you can rock club on it.  As it turns out, I’m a pretty decent rock climber, and both before and after my run, I hopped on the wall for a few minutes.

ClimbingI sort of got nosy and looked into how much one of these might cost for us.  It’s being sold for the low-low price of 11k.  Woops.

After I got my workout in and poked around the Y, we celebrated Sharon’s birthday with loads of barbecue food, and we visited with a few of her neighbors.  Once again that night, I completely fell fast asleep while Austin hung out with his brother.

On Sunday morning, we headed to brunch at the same place we went after my hen party last year, Bistro La Bon, and we met my parents there to celebrate for Sharon.  My mom was really cool, and got Sharon a present and sang her happy birthday.

Brunch Photo

We finished out the weekend by watching Bruce Jenner’s interview when we got home.

Jenner Interview

If this interview is still sitting in your DVR, you have to watch it. It’s a really well-done, personal look at a person struggling with his gender identity. Any question you could possibly have, Jenner answers with grace. It’s educational, and I’m hoping by his coming forward, that someone else struggling with the same issues feels comfortable even saying those words and doesn’t have to wait 60+ years to feel comfortable enough to do it.

Okay, all of that was a lot.  What did YOU do this weekend?  

Healthy Living Bloggers (HLBs)

| cheriarmour

I consider myself something of a lifestyle/healthy living blogger.  And I am perfectly transparent in what experiences/education that I feel make me at all qualified to dish on all that I dish on.

Here’s what I got real quick so you guys know where I’m coming from.

  • Studied Psychology in undergrad.
  • Studied Social Work, focused heavily on health and weight loss.
  • Worked two full summers at a weight loss camp, spent time, after I got full-time work, at weight loss camp with my kids.
  • Worked for Fleet Feet (running specialty) for…well I never really stopped.  I backed off of full-time when I was employed as a Director at a local nonprofit facility….
  • I am Director of Group Fitness.
  • Been teaching group fitness for over 5 years.  Zumba® Fitness, Toning, Step, Cycling, Body Pump™.  You name it I teach it.
  • Also, I lost some like 35-40ish pounds I put on in college and while in a terribly volatile relationship.

This isn’t to say, like “la la la, I’m so fancy, I know all this stuff,” it’s more to say, I know some of what I’m talking about.  I still have bunches to learn, and I will never claim that candy, wine, and coffee never cross my lips, cause they totally do.  But I’m increasingly troubled by the rise of the “healthy” living blogger, or HLB, especially the sort that doesn’t work out, lost weight on potentially unhealthy and unsustainable methods, and then touts the weird crap they eat as healthy to unsuspecting followers.

Enter…well…let me know say her name, because I’m not here to embarrass anyone, but, she’s sort of what I described above.  Maybe a nice girl, but really in no place to be telling other folks what to be putting in their bodies to lose weight – and not because she hasn’t found success, but because what works for her simply may not work or be healthy for every body.

So the other day, aforementioned blogger posts a picture of a salad with what looked to be about 5 tablespoons of ranch dressing on it.

There’s nothing wrong with a salad, I think salads are amazing and awesome, but not only did she douse the salad in ranch dressing, but she very literally stated…

“The ranch is intentional…it’s a great source of healthy fat!”

And then when a follower questioned her on it, she then stated, ” The oil, eggs and cream found in ranch dressing are all healthy fats.”

Let me break it down for you really quickly.  Ranch gets like a D- from nutritionists.  It’s FULL of fat (and not the good kind), and even fuller of sodium.  There is not a nutritionist on God’s green earth who would EVER list Ranch as a healthy fat.  And FURTHERMORE the serving size is like 1 tbs.  Not 5.  Or whatever’s going on there.

All that to say, please, please, please, when you’re following HLBs, keep a few things in mind.

  • We’re human.  We lose weight, we gain weight.  We run a good race.  We run a bad race.  Some of us have suffered with eating disorders.  Some of us just like to write!  Please don’t look to us as the gospel.
  • Please be discerning.  How does (s)he  know what (s)he is talking about?  Did they do something idiotic like go on diet pills?  Do they look as if they have some sort of eating disorder?  Are they copious drug/alcohol users?  DO THEY WORK OUT?! No?  Probably not someone you need to be looking to for diet advice, and I think it’s important for us to recognize that in ourselves as the blogger.
  • Call us on it.  Do you see something on the blog that doesn’t seem right?  Doesn’t make sense?  Email us, leave a comment, or ask a genuine question.

QOTD

On a more positive note, who are some of your favorite HLBs?

Rock ‘n’ Roll – First time Marathoner!

| cheriarmour

I ran my first marathon 2 ish years ago in Virginia Beach on a cold, rather blustery day.  I know what my experience was like, but much like childbirth, you sort of forgot what the actual day is like, and you romanticize the idea of a marathon, only remembering the feeling of crossing the finish line and smiling a lot for pictures while you hold up your medal.  Or, as it were in my case, bawling like a baby whilst your husband snapped pictures of your blotchy face.

I thought it was important to talk about Rock ‘n’ Roll through the eyes of someone who’d just done it, and had just done it for the first time.  So without any further blathering on, here is my amazing friend, Liz!

Liz Marathon

Liz is in the pink in the middle, just after completing 26.2 miles in 4:45:06, which was her GOAL!!!

  • Introduce yourself!  Name, how do you know me, and what do you do! Hello! My name is Liz Passannante, I am 25 years old and currently live in New York City. Cheri and I go way back to my freshman year of college when I joined her a cappella group Twisted Measure and we’ve been friends ever since. I work in HR for a consulting firm in NYC, and have been dabbling in running for a few years now.

Liz caught my attention during her audition.  She was really cute, fearless, and admitted to fully appreciating Nicole Richie at the audition.  I was hooked then!

  • What made you decide to sign up for a marathon?  What running had you done leading up to it? I decided to register for the Raleigh RNR Marathon kind of on a whim – I had run a few half marathons and always felt the ultimate goal would be to run a marathon. I started running after college when I signed up for the More Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon in Central Park. It was really a life-changing day – that race is still my favorite to run. I always hated running in high school and college, but found myself wanting to stay active after I stopped playing sports.   Enter running! This past October I really just kind of decided to go for it – I registered and set off on my training plan!
  • Tell me about your training process?  Since it was a spring race, I know you had to do some winter running/possibly modify your training?  What did that entail for you? I started running regularly again in November 2014 to build up a baseline before launching into the training program. I started really increasing my mileage in January, just in time for one of the snowiest winter’s we’ve had in recent history. I think the biggest trick with Winter running is to prepare, prepare, prepare before long runs. I would make lists for myself of everything I needed, and it took a few tries to get it right. I usually pushed back the start time of my runs until about noon or 1PM so I could hit the warmest part of the day. On the coldest days I would wear 2 pairs of tights, a thermal layer, my winter running jacket, a neckwarmer, earwarmers and gloves.Keeping all that gear in one place was surprisingly difficult (ex: a few times I left gloves or my watch at work, and would have to swing by the office on my way to the park). I also don’t have a washer/dryer in my building, so it was also a task keeping everything clearn! I did some of my shorter runs indoors, both by booking gym time on ClassPass (best thing ever) or by attending classes at Mile High Run Club (<<<so much fun). My most memorable run was probably when I ran in 8 degree weather in Vermont on a ski weekend – FUN!!! Overall though, I was usually able to find one day of the weekend where it was bearable.
  • Why did you choose the race that you chose? I chose the Raleigh RNR for a few reasons. 1) It’s always been a goal of mine to run the NY Marathon, and I was advised to run one marathon before tackling New York so that when the time came I could really enjoy the experience of the NY Marathon. I think looking back that was smart – I have a much better idea of how to train and what to expect, and now am genuinely looking forward to when I will (hopefully) get to run that race! No first time race jitters there. 2) I wanted to run a race where I was close to my family, both because I like spending time with them and because logistically it made things much easier. My mom took me to the expo, the starting line and we had an awesome lunch all together after the race. It would have felt lonely without them, and seeing them along the course was such a great motivation. Race day would have been way less fun without them – my sister even hopped in for the last stretch which was a really cool memory for me.
  • Okay, race day.  What were you jittery about?  Looking forward to? I think I was most anxious about 1) hitting “the wall,” and 2) not being able to keep up with the pace group. I think I can say pretty confidently that I did not hit “the wall.” As Cheri can attest, there were a few times especially towards the end where I needed to walk, but I was for the most part able to push through. I definitely didn’t feel like I was going to die or anything (although I probably said it LOL).  I also for the most part was able to keep up with the pacers, which is good for me because they were amazing. They were so so helpful, and I knew that staying with them for as long as possible would be key to me hitting my goal. I lost them a little during the last mile, but I think I ended up finishing only 2-3 minutes behind them?
  • Talk to me about your nutrition leading up to/on race day?  I kept things pretty normal leading up to race day. I didn’t drink for the majority of the 2 weeks leading up to the race but that was mostly to make sure I was well hydrated. The night before I ate some delicious gluten free pasta, and the morning of I had a luna bar, hot tea and water. During the race I used 2 flavors of Gu: Tri-Berry and Jet Blackberry (delicious). The plan was to take them at 3, 10, 15 and 20. I ended up taking one at 19 because I started feeling tired and I felt like I wanted to get ahead of any potential crash.
  • Talk to me about the race.  What time did you wake up?  Talk to me about your outfit (silly, important tho!).  Talk to me about the day.  How long did you feel good for?  When did you start to feel rough (if you did at all)?  Did you run with pacers?  What factored into your decision to use/not utilize a pacer? Race day I woke up at 4:20AM because we needed to be out the door at 4:40. I tried to pick clothes that I had run in many times before, but it was hard because I’ve been training in cold weather and race day was warm! I wish I could have worn shorts, but it was just risky because I hadn’t trained in them and the last thing I needed was some type of wardrobe malfunction. I honestly felt great up to mile 18. I feel like I looked up and we were at mile 13, and then again at 17 when Cheri joined. At 18-20 I started thinking to myself “this is getting really hard” but overall the race flew by. I could not believe when I crossed the finish line. As I mentioned above I did run with pacers and am so glad I did. I wanted to stay with them for majority of the race because I felt like I would probably really benefit from having a group later in the race. I was confident in my ability to push myself through 20, but felt like having the extra motivation during the last 6 miles could be helpful. It was such a lifesaver. = The pacers were truly amazing – they had an altitude specific pace plan and they did such a great job telling us when we should bank time or when we could dial back and take a rest. I definitely lost them a bit on the last mile but really feel like I was able to stay on target due to their help.
  • And finally, what’s your takeaway from this experience?  Would you/will you do this again? I had such an amazing experience training for and running my first marathon, and I would totally do it all over again (and hope to this fall for the NY Marathon!) I was initially dreading the training process but by the end I really enjoyed it overall. The hardest part surprisingly was fitting in runs during the week – I weirdly started looking forward to my long runs and feel like I don’t know what to do with all of my free time now that my weekends aren’t going to be dominated by training! My key takeaway – if you want to run a race, any length, just go for it! I hated running in high school (ask my parents). When my field hockey coach made us run 3 miles I thought it was the hardest thing in the world. Little by little I trained, improved and learned how to enjoy myself! I also need to give credit to you, Cheri Armour Samples, because you definitely have inspired me to run races far beyond what I believed I was capable of doing (hello, marathon). My race day was so fun and you were such a huge help to me – thank you!!!

Pink Ladies

And that’s it! An extremely well-prepared marathon first-timer!

How was your first race (ever)?

Britt McHenry is a terrible person

| cheriarmour

It’s pretty rare I will jump on the bandwagon, Justine Sacco style, and rage on about how someone needs to have their life ruined over an idiotic decision they’ve made.

And admittedly, though I feel like people like Justine, or people who dress in blackface for Halloween, or even an idiotic blogger I used to follow who threw a black and white party for Martin Luther King Jr’.s birthday are complete idiots, but I’d hate for most of them to like lose their livelihoods over it, right?  I mean jobs still aren’t easy to come by, no sense ruining some dumb person’s life over their complete ignorance, right?

Side note:  In the case of that blogger I used to follow before she threw a black and white Martin Luther King Jr. party, complete with popcorn and fake mustaches, the fact that she was Mormon made the entire thing worse.  The Mormon church and black people don’t have a fantastic history, and I will leave it at that.  When I mentioned how offensive her behavior was, she seemed 1000% clueless, and I couldn’t do any more than just unfollow her and hope she realizes that as a white Mormon girl, that since our history already ain’t so good, she should really chill on parties featuring hipster mustaches as a way to “honor” Dr. King.

I digress, however.

http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/nbcNewsOffsite?guid=tdy_hill_rant_150417

So, by now, I’m sure you’ve seen this horrible video of Britt McHenry, ESPN reporter, saying heinous things to the woman behind the towing counter when she went to pick up her car after it was towed from a restaurant.

We’ve all been in this situation.  Remember when I was towed this time last year?  It was completely my bad.  I am willing to admit that.  But it was still frustrating to go through the process of getting my car back, and even more so when it seemed that the towing company was taking advantage of the fact that I was carless and that they could do whatever it was they wanted to me.  However, the thought didn’t necessarily cross my mind to do any of what Britt did which included:

  • Stating how being in that place made her skin crawl.
  • Talking about how her being on television would somehow magically enable to her “sue this place”.  Whatever that means.
  • Making fun of that attendant’s weight.
  • Stating that people who worked in those places were not educated.
  • Making an extremely rude comment about teeth, or lack of teeth and people who work in towing places?

The woman working the counter seemed to handle herself well, and mentioned to Britt that there were cameras there, to which she continued on her rant.  Additionally, after a particularly mean-spirited comment, the attendant even told her, “don’t say that,” and she continued on.

I get it.  Like I said, I have been on the towed end of things.  But the little old auntie at the counter?  She’s not the one who towed your car.

Britt,

You’re blond, and I suppose you’ve been told you’re really special and beautiful your entire life, which may have lead to some of the terrible comments you made that night.

However, think about this.  You, me, anyone reading this could be a few paychecks away from working behind a counter at a tow yard in order to make ends meet.  Jobs still are not easy peazy to come by, and you went into someone’s place of employment, and judged her based on the way that she looked, and made a scene.  You made it perfectly clear that deep down, you feel that you’re better than her and people like her, and that people who aren’t like you – blond, technically pretty, with a fancy visible job, with perfect teeth, don’t deserve dignity and respect, especially in their place of work.

You aren’t better than anyone “baby girl”, and you made that clear not only with the words you chose, but also with the apology that you issued on Twitter?!  Pro tip, next time you do something wrong, maybe an actual apology to the person you hurt is more appropriate.  Not some canned, creepy apology you made on Twitter because HR showed you the morality clause you signed and made you apologize at the threat of you losing your job.

So Britt, you pathetic, miserable, soul-less, nasty human being, I truly hope you learn a lesson from this.  And in the event you didn’t, which I believe to be true, please get a job as a server, as an attendant, as the person who takes your money at the tolls, or as the person who has to call and chase you around to get you to pay your student loans, and then decide how much better you are than those people simply because you have blond hair and a “fancy job”.

Best.  Just kidding.  That wasn’t sincere.  Let me start over.

Here’s hoping you learned something,

C

 

 

Pho Pho Pho

| cheriarmour

Hi lovers!  I know it has been a few days, but it was a few well-needed days of rest that I spent with my dad between DC and New Jersey.  More on that later.

But I wanted to touch base about something I talked about after last weekend, when my quest to find pho, a Vietnamese soup, was finally somewhat resolved.  Also ramen.

So about two years ago, when I was training for my first marathon, I swear (and barely anyone remembers this, so it’s almost unbelievable), that Whole Foods, in their sushi section, had bowls of real ramen, with an egg and everything in it.  I ate it religiously as “second lunch” as I was ridiculously hungry during the training cycle, and seemed to do well with the sodium.

Soon after, WF set up a pho station, complete with fresh jalapenos, and I went on the quest to find a bowl of pho and real ramen somewhere in the Triangle.

Saturday morning, after we’d worked at the expo, some of the folks posted some pics from a spot called Pho Pho Pho on Facebook, and the decision was made then, especially after one of the folks there told me that the Sake Sangria was on point.  I mean, duh.

So after a short convincing period, Austin and I headed out to Pho Pho Pho on Glenwood, that was so new (about 4 weeks old), that it didn’t really have a sign out front, and I had to rely on an old episode of bar rescue to find it. Totally not joking about that, but that place was a total creepy dump before.

Anyhoo, so we got there, immediately ordered a few drinks, and got to ordering on the menu from this adorable server who had a smile permanently on!

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This is what I ended up with – a pho ramen mashup that only cost about $10, but came out in a bowl that was without a doubt large enough for two meals. I ate as much as I could, then poured the rest away for lunch the next day.

My verdict after waiting for like a year or two for some legit pho is that this place is legit. Good soup, good noodles, and great drinks, and I can’t wait to go again. (Seriously, I asked Austin to take me again tomorrow.)

Now, since pho is such an awesome sore throat/replenish your sodium food….what’s your favorite sick food?