Life

Random things Friday.

| cheriarmour

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post like this, but I think these posts are really good because they give you an accurate picture of what goes on inside my brain. Which is a LOT. And I don’t necessarily mean in the MENSA way, I mean in the ADD, pass the Adderall kind of way.

Onto the random things!

1. I wanted to run long on Thursday morning, but I fell asleep with a pretty severe headache and a touch of a sore throat. I almost NEVER get sick so it was sort of alarming. I woke up yesterday morning after some pretty fitful dreams, with an even bigger headache, and I spent most of the morning on the couch answering some emails and chugging coffee and water to try and get the headache to go away/flush some of that nasty stuff out of my body.

2.  I noticed some people who ran Tobacco Road had posted some of their times and photos from the race.  Check out this proof!

TBTR15BV02298

So I ran 13.1 miles after arriving at a race late, and since I was late I could not check a bag.  this means I had my jacket (that was wayyyy too expensive for me to ditch), my water, and my phone, all with me.  Oh well, race ended well despite some residual soreness from having to fight my way up from the back of the pack during the race.  Check out that lobster red face!

3.  I think I found some tickets in a really good section of Stevie Wonder in Newark in April to surprise my dad with.  For the most part I don’t think my dad reads this blog super often.  If he happens to be reading today my surprise is ruined.  Also, is there a reason why ticket scalpers need to make all of our lives extremely difficult by buying up all the tickets?  A lot of times they have to drop the price down in the final days before the concert.  That has to be stressful.  Is that worth it?  Can’t they be normal people and get a second job that requires not gumming up Ticketmaster for the rest of us?

4.  CamelBak Eddy

I drink out of this thing on the regs. All sorts of watery beverages. Water, sparkling water. You know, I get pretty crazy. Well I happened to be looking at the bite valve on this thing last week, and it was full of mold. Which is kind of terrifying. But also explains why ::knock on wood:: that I’ve not been really sick in a long time.  Like I don’t count a little sore throat that I’m dealing with now.  But I’ve been ingesting all sorts of disgustingness while I’ve been trying to stay hydrated for some time.  Gross.  Also intriguing.

5.  My performance appraisal is next week.  Eep.  I hope it goes well.  It kind of makes my stomach hurt to think about it.  I’ve done a good job at my job, and I love my job, but I know there are things I can improve on.  And I want to take the time between this PA and next years to kill it even harder.

Tell me one random thing!

“Yoga Porn”

| cheriarmour

First, please allow me to thank all of you who sent your kind thoughts and prayers my way for my dad and his heart.  My father is feeling much better, and the stents are doing their job – he has been able to sleep through the night (for the first time in a long time) without chest pain.  Thank you, thank you!

“Yoga Porn”

I’m starting to question why I ever started to follow Yoganonymous on social media.

Admittedly, I’m not as regular with my yoga practice as I should be – I really enjoy getting some quality time with my yoga mat, but often times, when I’m trying to quickly squeeze in a workout between teaching classes and scheduling for the following month, my first thought is to jump on the treadmill really quickly rather than to get down to the mat (that I purchased from Craigslist when I was too poor to afford one a few years back).

But at any rate, I feel that yoga, like many forms of exercise, prayer, or meditation, is an important and valuable practice that does a lot of good for a lot of people.  So why this hate?

There was this a while back, I Don’t Do Yoga and It’s Because of You.  And then this, End Yoga Porn: Focus on “Real People and Stop the Selfies.

[Please allow me to point out that that quotation mark in the second title was part of the title, and not a typo on my part.  I think it was for emphasis?]

So, let me break it down for you.  “Yoga Porn” refers to those photos that you’ll often see on Instagram and Facebook, the ones of your healthy friends and sometimes your fitness inspiration in various yoga poses.  Sometimes the women are professionals, long-haired lithe beauties like Laura Sykora, and sometimes, it’s some chick with a lot of tattoos from Cary in a bikini.  Either way, typically I look, will watch videos, check out their alignment (which is not always perfect, but I’m certainly down to learn something,) and move along.  Sometimes, if I’m being honest, I’ll check the yogi in question out, and take mental notes on how great her (usually) body is, and remark to myself, that though I certainly don’t look like this when I do yoga, I hope that I look like this some day.  And that’s the extent of my feeling.

But these articles that Yogaonymous is guilty of circulating on more than one occasion are, for lack of a better word, silly.  To succinctly sum up their arguments, the authors assert that:

  • Yoga selfies are indicative of an ego issue (the person in the selfie has a big fat head).  The selfier (stay with me, I had to make that word up), only cares about looking good.
  • Yoga selfies are discouraging to folks who want to do yoga because of…
    • The beautiful people that they feature.
    • The beautiful people that they feature wearing bikinis.
  • Yoga selfies aren’t “real” yoga.
  • Yoga selfies are a competition to see who can outdo whom.
  • And the most troubling and sad assertion, that “I don’t do Yoga and it’s because of you [selfier]”

::deep breath::

Typically, you won’t catch me posting a ton of yoga selfies (or selfies in particular) because I’m awkward, and I don’t practice a ton of yoga.  However, I snap pics of my running shoes, trails I’m running on, and foodstuffs I create.  Not because I have an ego problem, or because I feel like I’m in competition with anyone else, but because these are the things that I do on the daily.  And I’m willing to bet the perps of this “porn” are doing the same.  They spend a lot of time with their mats, and if they happen to be in bikinis?  Guess what, they probably spend a lot of time in bikinis as well.

To the authors of these articles, or to people who see these yoga selfies and snarl, please don’t try to get into the yogis head and parse out what their intention is.  Take the selfie for what it is.  A FRICKIN SELFIE!  And not something that should have the power to make you feel bad about yourself, discourage you from practicing, feel “less than” about your body or your form of exercise, critical of whether it is “real” yoga or not, or in any way, impact your mood or well-being.  In fact, I might even suggest that you look at it, and perhaps feel inspired.  Heck, I can appreciate a pretty girl in a bikini with some decent alignment in a downward dog, and pray, that one day too, I might not look like a lost bison in my yoga classes.

As an aside, I will say, the one area of merit that came from one of the authors was when she mentioned poor alignment in a lot of selfies, which can be concerning, especially for someone who is a yoga pro, like she is.  I would caution folks who like to scroll through yogsperation on IG not to try to imitate those poses or recreate them without first warming up or asking your yoga teacher for appropriate cues – it’s a good way to end up hurt.

So, fitness friends, tell me.  What do you think of yoga porn?

Spoiler alert:  I kinda like it.  Who doesn’t appreciate beautiful people doing beautiful things, right?

 

Brokenhearted no more.

| cheriarmour

My boss told me that he wanted me to take Friday off – that I’d been working a ton and that I could use it.

“When was the last day you didn’t do something for the Y?”

I couldn’t really answer that.  Now, I love my job, and I find it incredibly rewarding, so work doesn’t always feel like work, and sometimes I think I let it get away from me and I overdo it sometimes.  Plus my husband works out at the Y, so a lot of times, if I stay late, I get to see him for a while before we both head home to do dinner.

Ok, so at any rate, Friday started like most random days off.  I got up, chugged some club soda, filled up the Kia, grabbed a donut from a local shop, and fell asleep on the couch while watching The View.  I remembered my dad had a stress test scheduled for that day, which fueled a little bit of anxiety for me, but I tried to push it out of my mind and convince myself that it would come back clean.

Rise Donuts

Rise Donuts 2

Kia Soul
Had to…I drove my Kia down 40 to the donut shop with a little bit of sunroof action.

A little history on my anxiety about my father’s heart.

This is going to sound really silly, but I’ve had recurring nightmares about my father suffering a massive heart attack since I was really young.  The first one I remember, I may have been in fourth grade, and I dreamed that my father had suffered a heart attack and I was the one responsible for taking him to the hospital.  The hospital where I was taking him was uptown, and in the dream, I remember getting lost, and not being able to find the hospital as my dream-dad was dying.   The dream freaked me out so badly, it’s stuck with me for the better part of a decade, and I think I’ve had similar dreams since.  So when my dad, months ago, started describing chest pain a few months ago, I was completely filled with dread.

So, I was asleep on the couch when my sister texted about my father’s stress test.  The text was accompanied by a photo of my father in a hospital bed, shooting the thumbs-up at the camera.

During the stress-test, which involves a treadmill and some electrodes thingies, the tech saw something ominous in the reading, and got on the phone with the doctor immediately and rattled off some medical jargon to the doctor which my dad said he didn’t understand.  My dad said at that point, he wasn’t really worried because although his chest was hurting, he’d been experiencing it, and he assured the tech not to worry, that it would pass.  The tech seemed worried.

My dad said that the tech seemed to be masking some panic, and that when the doctor came, the doctor seemed to be masking some panic as he explained to my parents that my father had a 99% blockage in one of his arteries in two spots, and that they would be shooting him up with some dye, shooting a camera into the artery, and then placing some stents in the artery to open it up.  Right then.  Now. Today.  Happening immediately.

Without having applied a single shred of deodorant, I hopped off the couch, brushed my teeth, threw on a sweatshirt, and started the drive down to Charlotte, all the while making calls to get my classes covered and make sure that everything was continuing to run smoothly at work.  I arrived to the hospital, navigated the building, and found my father’s room where he was resting with the rest of my family.

He looked good for having been in surgery, and seemed to be in a decent mood.  I ended up spending the night in the room with him, where I discovered that if you’re looking to get rest, the hospital is NOT the place to do it.  Literally, there was someone in the room every hour or so.  We went to bed around 10:30 on Friday night.  A tech came in around midnight.  The nurse came in at 2 to unhook my dad from his IV.  Around 4 or 5, a nurse with an Eastern European accent came in to take my dad’s blood for blood work.  Around 7, a nurse with no inside voice came in, shrieking and laughing.  And that was that for the night.  I ended the day of too much excitement by having to speak in a strong voice to the nurse who was trying not to feed my dad breakfast.

I think at the end of this episode, I’m a little freaked out.  If anything, this surgery is a great reminder to get checked out regularly.  Though my dad suffers with diabetes, he maintains a healthy weight, eats well, and the doctor told us that the blockage most likely started when he was a teen.  Scary.

Whew. What a weekend, huh?

 

What do you guys think about those phone leasing programs?

| cheriarmour

I’m asking you guys for advice.

But first.

Orange CatHere is a picture of my ill-mannered cat, Martin.

I’m a little sick of his shit.

I mean, I give him everything he could ever possibly need.  Food.  Shelter.  He gets to play in the bathtub when he wants to.  But still, this little bastard has the nerve, gall, and the audacity to consistently have a bad attitude.  It’s like housing a surly teen.  At least with the dogs, they actually act like they’re grateful, and look sorry when they act up and you catch them.  But this cat…

https://vine.co/v/Owlux9w2nJd/embed/simple

It’s like that kid.

Also, it’s supposed to be 77 degrees in North Carolina today. Keep in mind we were all looking like a bunch of fools with this, and there is still snow on the ground at the national park, to the point that they canceled the Umstead Marathon this weekend. 😦 I feel bad for all the people who signed up – but hoping they’re all able to defer and do it next year. Global warming is not a joke evidently…

Moving right along.

So I need advice.  Phone advice.  

I currently own the iPhone 4s, which is starting to grind to a halt.  I’ve gone all over – I went to the device service center, who sent me to the Apple store, who told me to go to AT&T.  When I got there, the gentleman explained that they didn’t have the 4s any longer in the store (which I totally understand because the phone was released like 4 years ago), and that I would have to to upgrade through their Next program.  I researched a bit, and essentially, instead of buying the phone outright, you lease it over a 24-30 month period.

I guess my issues with this is the world “lease”.  So I don’t own the phone.  I make these payments, and at the end, I don’t get to keep the phone.  If the phone makes it that long…I don’t beat my phones up and keep them in a case at all times, and I’ve never had a phone last much longer than 2 years.  Plus there are some pretty caustic responses to the plan, so I’m at a loss for what to do.

I’ve already explored the insurance route – with insurance, they would replace my phone with another 4s.  Which is fine, but how long before this phone grinds to a halt?

Which brings me to this question.  I use my phone for EVERYTHING, including a lot of the classes I teach. I used to use my iPod a ton, but that thing crapped out on me a few weeks ago, so I’m solely reliant on my phone for a lot of my music needs and things.

All of that said, what is my best option?  I’m reading all of this stuff and it doesn’t make sense.  Do I do the insurance and just get the 4s?  How long before the 4s isn’t supported by anything?  

Blah!  Let me know what you guys think!

First time for every thing pt 3.

| cheriarmour

Do you live in the Southeast?  So you’re familiar with this bull that has been going on?

Snow-covered van!
Snow-covered van!

Snow Walk

Kudos to all of you marathoners who have been able to stick with your training nonstop. I have fought for my training, and run as much as I can – have logged tons of miles on the treadmill, and at this point, I’m playing mental games with myself to therapy myself into believing that I can trust my training and that I will be prepped for 26.2 miles in a little over a month. Lord please me with me.

So, I hope you all had a fantastic reason. I had a first a few weeks ago, a second first, and now, a third first!

So, I work out a decent bit.  I mean I love to work out, and now that it’s part of my job, it feels as essential to me as like brushing my teeth!  But the one thing that I continue to feel a little funny about is working out with my husband.  We run together, and running has been my thing, so sometimes, it’s hard to let him into that world, especially given that he’s naturally gifted at it.  I love to run, but I don’t feel like it’s something I’m particularly gifted at.  So I get (unfairly) frustrated when I’m huffing and puffing over here at mile six, and without any training, he’s busting out 7 minutes miles.  GET OUT OF HERE!

Austin’s world is lifting, and lifting heavy.  In the last year, I’ve started lifting more, and even started working with a personal trainer, Jill, since it’s a perk of my job.  But he’s still a pro, so I’ve always made excuses not to lift with him for fear of looking a little stupid.  But Jill’s boosted my confidence, and when we were closed for weather on Wednesday, I missed my appointment with her.  Jill was kind enough to email me a workout I could do on my own, and for the first time EVER(ish), Austin and I did a full workout together, lifting side-by-side.  And it wasn’t so bad!!

The workout itself, which absolutely kicked my butt, was a little painful, especially when we got to the end and my legs were starting to feel like Jello.  But working out with my honey wasn’t half bad, and I have to remember, keep reminding myself, that Austin is my husband and that I don’t need to feel self-conscious about things with him. Definitely something we need to do again!

The weekend in review…

So we had a really fun weekend.  I didn’t work too too much, and only went into work to actually work actually once on Sunday.  But on Saturday morning, when we woke up, Austin turned to me and asked if I wanted to go to Waffle House.

We went, and we were that cute married couple that shared waffles and people watched for an hour or so before we headed to the Farmer’s Market and walked around, looked at candy, bought a bottle of wine, and then bought 20 lbs of sweet potatoes for $10.  Yeesh, but I’m totally up to the challenge.  I may consider chilling on the fiber though, cause mama’s stomach is like mehhhh.

Finally, we did something really really cool, and I’m kicking myself because I didn’t bring my good camera.  Austin just got back from China, and we had friends invite us to dinner at a legit Chinese Food place.  We’re not talking pork-fried rice chinese food, we’re talking legit food, served family style and soooo flavorful it was insane.  I’m kicking myself because I didn’t bring my good camera and take pics, but I’ve already started lining up our next time we go there so I can walk you through the entire experience.

MMkay, so what did you do this weekend?  

Did you eat anything good?  Describe it, in detail, to me!

 

New (to me) car.

| cheriarmour

If you are in the Southeast, I feel for you.  We are dealing with a ridiculous amount of snow and ice juuuust enough to screw up our day.

So Wednesday, Austin and I took off of work to buy a new car since I totaled the Lancer in a stupid accident about a month ago.

Broken LancerThe whole process of losing that car, totaling it, dealing with the insurance company, and all that fun stuff that comes with totaling a car has been a little emotional.  I was a very new blogger about two years ago, working for Fleet Feet when I bought this car with 0 knowledge of how to buy a car or how all of that worked.  My husband was a boyfriend at the time, and I cried bitter tears when the transmission in my Taurus crapped out.  But the car saw me through my mother’s illness, a new marriage, the poodle, and so much more.  So when the collision shop called me and told me that the car was a total loss, and when the insurance company confirmed it, it hurt.  I know a car is just a thing, and not something that I should get attached to, but I was genuinely sad when the first investment I ever made was totaled in the span if just a moment.

We took off on Wednesday, and this time, I was armed with a lot more knowledge than I was the first time.  I’ll get into the process of buying a car in a completely separate post.  But I’d like to welcome to the family my favorite car I’ve ever owned, and this time, I own it outright, no bank and no parents helping me…

Kia Soul

This is my new (to me) Kia Soul, which I bought after many a night spent poring over Consumer Reports, texting a friend’s husband who is big into cars, and after reminiscing over a test drive which spanned over North Carolina to Philly a few summers ago.  (I rented this car, and begged Austin to buy it for me, not knowing a few years later I’d total my car, and revisit this.)

I’ve never written a check so big in my life, so I was feeling some shock immediately after, but after that, and after getting the chance to drive it a little, even driving it a bit in the snow, I decided that this was one of my favorite cars I’ve ever owned.  It’s cute, it’s totally me, and I totally don’t have a car payment anymore.  Woo!

Promise, I will update you on the process of buying a car soon.

Now, with a traumatic few snow days behind us tell me….

What’s your favorite car you’ve ever owned?

Giuliana Rancic

| cheriarmour

I was about 16 when I decided that I was going to loc my hair up.

To that point, I’d had every hair style that one could have as a little black girl growing up in the 90s.  My hair had been permed.  My mother hand straightened my hair with the hot comb (the one that you would stick on the burner and run through your hair).  I’d rocked box braids.  And finally, when I was old enough to realize that I didn’t want anyone touching my hair or pulling it anymore, I decided that I was going to loc it up.  I don’t think my mom took me seriously at first.  Up to this point I’d been an imaginative teen, and had dreamt of being a singer, practiced my autograph over and over, changed my handwriting, tried to be a lefty, and expressed my dreams of becoming a Rockette, so she may have thought it was just one of my Cheri-isms, and she bought me a few books on it from the library, not thinking it would lead anywhere.

But I was relentless.

I loc’ed it up myself, and my parents were so horrified by the results (rightfully so), that they took me to a place to get a consultation, and then finally, to get my locs started.  They were short, little baby locs, and my mother was horrified.  She begged me to let her cut them off.  She begged me to try a wig, and then a weave.  And when it became clear that I was serious, she left it alone, and most likely resigned herself that I was just going to with short hair forever.  [Side note:  mom has since come around, and admitted that she didn’t understand what they were going to look like.  She loves it, and has since started to wear her hair natural as well.]

Since then I got into a prestigious private college, graduated college, attended graduate school, met my husband, got married, bought a house, and made a life as one of the director team at a non-profit.

All this to say that though I chose to transition my hair back to its natural form 10ish years ago, I am a productive member of society.  But wearing my hair this way made me afraid that white people would look at me and make assumptions about who I was, my education, or my capabilities as an employee.  Fears that came to light when Giuliana Rancic, a correspondent at E!, made the following comments when sizing up Zendaya’s red-carpet look from Oscar Weekend.

“I feel like she smells like patchouli oil… or maybe weed.”

She opened her hands and laughed it off.  My cheeks immediately got hot.

I was taken back to the millions of times people have asked me if I wash my hair.

I was taken back to the time I was in an interview (an interview, people), and one of the gentlemen in the interview asked me what I do with my hair when I’m running.

I was taken back to a 2007 Glamour controversy where an editor stated that natural hairstyles were a big “no-no” for the office.

Giuliana Rancic, your comments were not cool whatsoever.  People with natural hair don’t smell of illegal drugs or douse themselves in patchouli to cover up body odor.  The vast, vast majority of us lead productive lives, and it doesn’t take a classically European hairstyle to achieve any of these.  On the flip side, there are plenty of people with straight silky locks who may smell of patchouli and weed.  I know this because I worked at Whole Foods for a few months while jobs searching after school.  It depends on the individual. 

Now, do I feel like Giulina is an horrible racist?  No, probably not.  But she made an insensitive, stupid, and ignorant comment that peels away that outside layer and reveals what she truly thinks when she sees chicks like me walking down the hall with a huge mane of natural, well-maintained hair.  And that has to change.

 

 

Weekend Buzz + The Best Holiday for Candy

| cheriarmour

I hope your weekend was the tits.

I actually had a bomb weekend because I got to spend time with my husband.  I don’t know about you guys, but a lot of times of the weekends, we make so so many plans that we barely get to see one another.  And by the time we get into bed too late on a Sunday night, we haven’t seen one another more than an hour or two.  This weekend was a little different – I made plans and drank with friends on Friday, and because I wasn’t teaching or anything, we spent all day Saturday together – cleaning, napping, working out, and finally, falling into bed, deliciously exhausted, but together.

Austin’s the bomb.  I love him a lot.  I like spending time with him.

Now.  Let’s talk candy. 

On the way to run yesterday morning, I got into a big discussion with Mama Cheri about candy.  Now, neither of us eats a ton of candy – she for health reasons, and me, because once I start, I can’t stop.  So when I eat candy, I typically do a single-serve York Peppermint Pattie, or the holy grail of candy, a Reese’s Big Cup, where the peanut butter to chocolate ratio is one that is angelic.  So I’m of the firm belief that Valentine’s Day is one of the best holidays for candy.  But I got into this argument discussion with my mother and a friend regarding the best holidays for candy, and they were not in agreement.  So let’s break it down.

The best candy, in no particular order.  

1.  Reese’s – the big cup variety is the best, which I’ve stated time and again.  NOW, the reason for this is that the peanut butter to chocolate ratio.  This includes the trees, the eggs, and the hearts.  All solid choices.

2.  Whoppers – malted milk balls are the absolute best.  Now, there IS a variety you can get at Whole Foods, which makes you feel a little better about stuffing your face because it’s made without HFCS and real chocolate, as opposed to Whoppers.

3.  York Peppermint Patties – the 140-calorie variety that you can commonly acquire at most checkouts at the grocery store.  I mean, DUH.

image via Wikipedia
image via Wikipedia

4.  Pretzel M&Ms.

5.  Sweet Tarts– you can shove these in your mouth by the handful, which makes them really convenient.  But really dangerous, as I’ve found out, because when they’re in the admin office, for example, you might eat them all every time you have to go down there.  Which is not productive.

Now, let’s move on to the worst candies, in no particular order. 

1.  Circus Peanuts – my mother disgustingly loves these.  If you read the description on these, you’ll find that they’re considered some sort of marshmallow candy, flavored artificially with BANANA?!  WTH?! Who would do such a thing?

image via Wikipedia
image via Wikipedia

2. Okay, so I’m having a really hard time moving past the Circus Peanuts thing. But my mother reminded me of these atrocities…

image via Candywarehouse.com
image via Candywarehouse.com

These guys are called Old Fashioned Marshmallow Eggs. There are a number of things that are pretty disgusting about this candy, mainly the fact that the sugar on the inside is suspended in this marshy thing. It’s really disgusting and not acceptable.

3. Jellybeans – they’re just too sweet and sort of pointless. They also get stuck in your teeth, and you run the risk of getting a horrible flavor, which is totally the opposite of the point of eating candy in the first place. Would you ever just go actively seeking out jellybeans? Probably not because they’re pointless and add nothing to your day.

4. Raisinets – I want to know who on God’s green earth decided that they would combine raisins, which are pretty disgusting on their own, and cover them in crusty chocolate? Why would I ever eat that?

image via Wikipedia
image via Wikipedia

So the holiday with the best candy?

For me, hands down, it’s got to be Valentine’s Day because of the variety of chocolate. Yum!

The worst?

Omg, so many worsts here, but I’m going to have to say that Easter provides us with the worst candy because it’s all smooshy and sugary, and that’s just not the way things should be. But Easter, don’t be sad because Easter is going to be closely followed by Christmas, because there is truly nothing fun about sucking on a peppermint stick.

All that said…

How was your weekend? What did you do?

What’s your favorite candy?

Least favorite?

Best and worst holidays for candy?