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Posts Tagged dancing

Garden Casualty

Jun 13

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Good morning FitFeat friends!

Welcome new readers – my stats tell me there are some more of you out there, so hello there!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope we see you often!

Weekend Rewind

Hope you all had a great weekend!  Mine was one of the best in a while – it was full of fun activities, most notably spending Saturday evening at a local dueling piano bar drinking mojitos with my sweetie pie, just cutting loose and having fun.  It was really a GREAT time.  If you’ve never been to a dueling piano bar, find one and go!  I’ve been to three different ones over the years and they never disappoint.

I also taught an Alternative Ingredient Dessert Class Friday night and met a new group of really awesome ladies!  I had a blast and enjoyed sharing some fun ingredients with them that you might not consider typical for desserts, including greens powder, hemp seeds and chia seeds.


Photo Credit: Keri O’Connell

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

No news yet on the most recent blood draw, which was taken last Thursday.  I’m hoping to hear from the doc today, but in the meantime I did do a workout this morning.  (shhh… don’t tell on me!) Nothing too crazy.  35 minutes of Tabata/strength followed by 25 minutes of fun dance cardio.

Here’s how the Tabata went down:

  • Alternating Plank / Side Plank 4 minutes
  • Chair Pose with DB Rows 4 minutes
  • Alternating Upright Row / Overhead Press 4 minutes
  • Hamstring Curls on the Ball 4 minutes
  • Curtsy Lunges 4 minutes

Then afterward I just did 2 sets of Triceps Dips, 2 sets of Biceps Curls and 2 sets of Clam Legs before getting my boogie on.

Cucumber Down!

We had our first garden casualty this weekend.  Our cucumber plant went from this:

to this:

in about a week!  Poor little cucumber plant.  We watered him – guess he just didn’t like his new home.  Maybe he was scared of the zucchini!

Gardening friends, are cucumbers finicky? This is my very first attempt at growing veggies.  Any thoughts on what I did wrong?

Summer Food

Here’s a quick article for you to check out on 6 Summer Picks for your Health.  I have never had a garlic scape, but I am now intrigued and need to track some down!

Well friends I’m off to get busy – my Monday lists are always the longest.  It’s going to be a GREAT week – I can feel it!

See you soon!

– Shari B. =)

 

 

 

 

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Midterms Behind Me, Homework Ahead of Me

Dec 4

Posted by Shari B. in Do Something Daily, Natural Chef Culinary School | 5 Comments

Hi friends!

Happy Saturday!  Midterms are finally done (oh thank goodness) and I’ll get my grade for the whole week sometime on Monday.  I’ve seen grades for the written and identification portions (rocked ‘em!) and the knife skills portion (rocked it!) but I don’t know my grades for the improv cooking segments.  Yesterday I used two leafy veggies for my salad that weren’t what I thought they were and so it ended up CRAZY bitter.  Apparently I used radicchio thinking it was red cabbage (oops) and used escarole thinking it was green leaf lettuce (another oops).   Guess I need to hit up the produce section and get a little more cozy with random leafy veg! :)   My instructor gave me credit though for taking a risk in the kitchen, even if it didn’t turn out as I’d planned – that was a very kind thing for her to say.

Then last night was the big benefit event that we Bauman students were working for externship credit.  By 10:30 last night I was ready to drop after having been on my feet (and awake) since 4:20 in the morning.  It was an interesting evening.  As it turns out, we weren’t cooking on the line as we’d thought – we mostly did food prep, plating, food running and clean up.  It was a really great learning experience and I have to say that I have SERIOUS respect for people in the restaurant / catering industry.  It is hard work and requires a LOT of stamina and a LOT of “go with the flow” mentality.

Here are a couple of pics snapped with my phone.

The event was held at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art:

However, we were set up in a tent behind the building.  Check out the huge rental oven!

Food prep before the dinner service started (all of the electricity was provided by a generator just outside the tent and when I got home last night, MSP said I was talking extra loud!)

The chef on the left is Kyle Mendenhall, Executive Chef of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, and on the right is Hugo Matheson, Co-Owner and Executive Chef of The Kitchen.  It was really an honor to get to work alongside these men – one thing I noticed was how CALM they were during the all of the chaos and excitement.

By the time I drove all the way home from Boulder, it was almost midnight.  You guys know this fuddy duddy is usually in bed at 9:00.  (When I’m really tired I get about as whiny and cranky as a 2 year old toddler that missed a nap.)  Some of the other students were staying to dance and enjoy the benefit once the ‘work’ part was done.  I just didn’t have anything left in the energy tank.  I realize that I missed out on an opportunity to spend some fun quality time with my classmates but it was all I could do to keep my eyes open on the drive home.  I even missed an exit on the highway and ended up just lost enough that I had to pull over and get out my iPhone to Google Map myself back to civilization.

I had only water to drink yesterday, but feel hung over this morning.  I often feel that way when I stay up too late the night before, which is partly why I’m such a stickler for getting to bed on time.  Does that happen to you?

Tired as I was this morning, I got up and WORKED OUT!  I have to credit our “December DSD challenge” for staying on track (otherwise I may have given myself a pass).  I got up a bit before 7, had my coffee and lounged around and then we strapped on our heart rate monitors to do some Wii dancing.  High heart rate today was 173!!  We did that for 45 minutes and I just have to say that MSP took me to SCHOOL in “Just Dance” today.  Usually this is one game that I can beat him at – but he was on fire this morning!  And unfortunately I will have Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” song stuck in my head the rest of today….

And now, the weekend of homework begins…. so far I’ve dreamed up:

Northern Italian Eggs Benedict on Sage Polenta with Porcini Mushrooms and Yogurt “Hollandaise”

and

North African Crepes with Almond Fig Filling and Sweet Balsamic Reduction

I have four more to come up with, one to prepare, run the ingredients through nutrition software, write 2 pages about one of the regions, and write a recipe analysis of the one I prepare.

I think this will require more coffee…  ;)

See you on the other side of the homework!  Thanks for posting your exercise info – keep it coming for the challenge!  You are all doing a FABULOUS job!

– Shari B. =)

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Green Smoothie Grinch

Dec 23

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Good morning!  It’s my FRIDAY!  Wahooo!  Love it when you get to have Friday on a Wednesday!

Let’s cover the FEATS today before the EATS, since I glossed over them in a hurry yesterday.

To further expand on my Tabata workout from Monday:

Weight Training – Tabata Upper Body:

  • TM Warm-up – 5 minutes, followed by arm circles and muscle-specific warm-ups
  • Incline DB Chest Press – 4 minutes
  • Bent 2-Arm DB Row – 4 minutes
  • Rear Delt & Back Extension Static Holds – 4 minutes
  • Overhead Shoulder Press (seated on FitBall) – 3 minutes (by this time my arms were already toast and holding them above my head became problematic!!)
  • Bicep Curls with ExerBand – 4 minutes
  • Tricep Overhead Extensionwith KB – 4 minutes

With warm up, this workout was only 30 minutes total.  And I felt it!  I am hopelessly crazy about Tabata for my weight training it seems – I really LOVE getting in an effective workout in a short amount of time.  However, I ordered something online that I’ll be discussing in a future post – after it arrives and I’ve had a chance to try it out long enough to give a review.  We’ll see if it changes the way I work out or not!  :)

Then for my Tuesday exercise, I did another round of “See Shari Dance“.  I warmed up to Run This Town by Jay-Z.  Then got busy with the wildly jumping around dancing to get my heart rate good and high.

The playlist also included:

  • Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
  • Make Me – Janet Jackson’s latest (GREAT song for cardio BTW – click here to check it out)
  • Damaged - Danity Kane
  • 3 - Britney Spears
  • Single Ladies – Beyoncé
  • Calabria 2008 – Enur
  • Get Back – Britney Spears
  • Ring the Alarm – Beyoncé

With cool-down, it was a little over 40 minutes – truly an incredible way to start the day.  It’s not possible to be in a bad mood when you start your day with a little boogie-ing!  Between dancing for cardio and Tabata for weights, I may be in a bit of a workout RUT but I’m having a blast!  I suppose if one gets stuck in a rut, a WORKOUT rut would be a good one to get stuck in!

Afterward, I went upstairs to make a post-workout smoothie.  And there was a little cutie waiting in the kitchen with his question-mark ears.  Apparently I’ve created a monster (of the green smoothie variety).

“Puppy mommy, I’m ready for my greens please..!”

Unfortunately I had to tell him that I was using my new protein powder so there’d be no greens for him this time.

So then he threw me his “Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?” face, complete with sideways eyes:

I’m the Grinch of Green Smoothies in Rascal’s eyes. :(

I had a BEIGE Smoothie instead, using aforementioned protein powder (almost ready to provide a review)…

Then I packed up my lunch for later:

A green smoothie was consumed at my desk (leftover from the previous day):

A veggie sandwich for dinner (toasted Ezekial with fat free Nasoya Soy Mayo, sea salt, pepper, pepitas, roma tomatoes, sprouts):

***

Today is essentially our Christmas.  MSP and I are like little 5-yr olds when it comes to Christmas.  Or maybe it’s just me and he plays along.  It used to be that our tradition was we open our presents on Christmas Eve, after driving around to view holiday lights.  We’d come home, put on a fire and turn on our tree, then start opening.  We liked the ambiance of an evening Christmas as opposed to the first-thing-out-bed in the morning.   Then we tried  opening ONE gift on the evening of the start of our long weekend and last year we lost control after opening one and ended up opening everything! :)   So tonight when we both get off of work it will be the start of our 4 day weekend and we anticipate that we will likely open our gifts tonight.  This way we have all weekend to play with our new toys!

MAYBE we’ll be able to hold off until tomorrow night, but I doubt it!

I’m really hoping that Santa brought me a veggie spiralizer!  It was at the top of my list!

Then on the actual Christmas day we always go eat at a Chinese restaurant and see a movie.  This year the movie will be “Sherlock Holmes”.

How about you?  Do you have any fun, NON-traditional traditions?  Got any fitness- or health-related items on your list for Santa?

Speaking of fitness items, it’s time to go get my workout in!  Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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It’s a Wonderful Life

Dec 21

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Happy holiday week!  Did the Santa pop up to greet you as you came to the site today? (If you are reading on Google Reader, via email, etc., come out to the actual site to see it.)  I found that cute little plug-in yesterday and had to install it, at least for this week! 

For those of you who visit the blog on Sundays and wonder why I’m being a lazy bum not putting out a post, I often use my ‘blogging time’ on Sundays for the administrative side of owning a self-hosted blog:  running backups, installing WordPress upgrades, learning, etc.   So I’m still working on the blog on Sundays just not in a way that you can necessarily see!  :)

I hope that each of you had a weekend as awesome as mine was!  It was a fantastic weekend!  We had been holding this weekend open because some family members were coming into town from California and Ohio (well, to a town 90 minutes away, that is).  We wanted to be free to meet them up in the mountains during their visit.  Sadly it didn’t pan out for us to get to meet up with them, but the good news is my cousin will be coming again in early 2010 so hopefully I’ll get to see her then. 

As a result we had a rare weekend free of plans!  And we took full advantage.

Saturday morning, I’d hoped to run outside.  Thanks to the 19 degree weather, I chose to keep it INSIDE after all.  I hopped on the treadmill for 30 minutes (the maximum amount of time my attention span seems to allow on there) and then I did 35 minutes more of  “See Shari Dance” cardio, with my heart rate in the high 160s.  It was a SUPER workout.  I had a blast. :)

Afterward, I had a mini-green-smoothie.

Followed by an egg and veggie breakfast sandwich (Ezekial english muffin, roma tomatoes, 1 whole egg + 1 white, zucchini ribbons).

Mid-day I met up with a good friend at Garbanzo Meditteranean Grill for some (unpictured) falafel, pickled eggplant and hummus (I skipped the pita this time to focus on the extra veggies).

And in the afternoon I had some Wasa Light Rye crackers with Tofutti un-cream cheese and a side of organic, sulfite-free red wine.

I didn’t really have a dinner per se Saturday night since I snacked pretty late on the wine and crackers.  I had a handful of Newman Organic wheat-free dairy-free Os (basically organic Oreos) before bed. 

I’d received an invite via Facebook from a friend for a 5-mile run on Sunday morning, so MSP and I accepted.  We were meeting at 8:00 so I had a cup of coffee and a pre-run snack (toasted Ezekial with raw almond butter, a drizzle of raw honey and coconut) at 6:30.

And I packed up my favorite running fuel “to go” (half a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar - which I didn’t end up nibbling on until I was home from the run):

We conveniently met for the run in a Starbucks parking lot (hmmm wonder who planned that meeting spot??), so we had to swing in afterward for a post-run soy latte.  Pictured below are two of my favorite things!  Starbucks and running gear!   Isn’t this the best running shirt?  My mom got it for me a few years ago for Christmas and I absolutely LOVE it.
 

Speaking of loving it, the run was FABULOUS!!!  It was 26 degrees at the start and it definitely felt VERY cold.  But we warmed up quickly and got busy chatting, so the chill was fast forgotten.  The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day in Colorado.  We got in the 5 miles of running with an extra 0.9 mile of warm-up and cool-down.  A decaf soy latte tastes SO…CRAZY… GOOD after a cold run!   

Later for lunch I had veggie ‘spaghetti’ (zucchini ribbons topped with marinara, steamed green beans & baby bella mushrooms, an artichoke heart, olives and nutritional yeast.

During the extremely exciting Broncos/Raiders game, I had some healthy homemade popcorn and a side of BUBBLY!  (Did you SEE that game???  WOW!  Even though the Broncos lost, it was a ‘perch on the edge of your seat’ game.) 

I tried a new BUBBLY flavor this time:  SuperFruits.  It did not disappoint – it was definitely super! :)   I don’t think I’ve met a Synergy Kombucha that I didn’t like.

This bottle had a LOT of the live culture strands in it!  Mmmm probiotics!  And was the appropriately colored drink for watching a Broncos game.

And to top off the end of the weekend, 3/4 of VEGGIE (Boca) Burger from FatBurger with a small portion of fries. 

It was a terrific weekend filled with healthy food, visits with great friends, invigorating exercise each day, and even some time built in to catch up on some reading and some Whole Foods browsing.  Not to mention our “Avatar” 3D adventure on Friday night. 

And knowing that I have a 3-day workweek this week makes it even that much better!  

Do you have extra days off around the holiday or do you have to work?  I feel fortunate that my new boss suggested that I work extra hours last week to make up the day for Christmas Eve, so I get a 4-day weekend that begins when I clock out at the end of the day Wednesday! 

Speaking of working, I better scoot on out the door!  Have a MERRY Monday everyone!

– Shari B. =)

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Ice Ice Baby, Dance Dance Lady

Dec 11

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 9 Comments

Well hello there FitFeat friends!  Happy Friday to you!  Second-to-last shopping weekend before Christmas – are you on schedule? 

I’d say it’s beginning to look a little TOO much like Christmas inside our house.  I present exhibit A.

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No, that is not a freezer in dire need of defrosting.  Look very closely – zoom in!  That would be the INSIDE of our guest bedroom window.  This next photo might make a pretty postcard if only the ICE were on the OUTSIDE!! 

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This is apparently what a few days of below-zero nights and days in the single digits does to our windows.  We’ve lived in this house for 4 years and have never seen this happen – it was 1/4″ thick at the bottom, at least!  Need new windows much?  (Know any blogs giving away windows instead of VitaMix blenders?)  You’d think we lived in a house that was 100  years old.  It’s only 12 years old!  

I am showing you these pictures so you have proof of why I haven’t been outside running.  Or dog-wogging. 

(And as a side note for the record, yes it is true – Heather is giving away a VitaMix - you have until Sunday so get on over there and enter!)

Speaking of blending, someone is anxiously awaiting their green smoothie … and it’s NOT me!

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Rascal now knows that when he hears the sound of the blender, he gets a little green smoothie poured into his bowl.  (And judging from that roll of pudge behind his neck,  you can see that he could use a few green smoothies in place of his “lean” dog food… I think I want our money back.  It’s making them FATTER!)

26 ounces for me… 3 oz for each of the pups! 

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Lunch at work today was a vegan Sunshine burger patty topped with 1/4 avocado, a slice of tomato and a drizzle of peppercorn ranch.  It was perfect.  If I can’t SEE sunshine, at least I can eat some.

1 burger

A tall soy steamer on my way home.

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A quick-n-easy veggie wrap for dinner (Nasoya FF mayo, 1/4 avocado, tomato, spinach, sea salt & pepper on a whole wheat tortilla. 

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I also had a GINGER cookie that has been taunting me since Sunday.  Just had to do it.  :)

Thursday’s exercise was a TOTAL BLAST.  As usual I bored of the treadmill after 32 minutes and had to move on to a little BOOGIE session!  And the songs that were coming from Pandora.com were so good I couldn’t stop!  So I got another 40 minutes of DANCE  DANCE CARDIO in my basement.  Too .. much .. fun .. to actually be counted as exercise!  But my heart rate stayed in the 150′s so heck yeah it counts!

During my training client’s session Thursday morning, we saw an ad for the new Wii game called “Just Dance”.  Have you seen this???  I am SO going to rent it.  It looks silly yet insanely fun!  Now I won’t have to hide in the basement to get my dance on … I’ll be able to do it right in front of the TV!

If this is the only way I can get MSP to dance with me, I’ll take it!  :)

Have a FANTASTIC Friday, friends!  Make it a FEATful day!

– Shari B =)

 

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Green Has Gone to the Dogs

Dec 3

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Hey friends!

How is your Thursday treating you?  Mine is quite CHILLY!  14 degrees and dropping!  Good thing I had the beautiful scarf Cindy made to keep me warm today!  It’s also a good thing I got my green smoothie in early this morning because right now I’m so darn chilled that the thought of cold veggies is actually terrifying! ;)  

I shared my green smoothie with a couple of friends who have recently become addicted to this healthy treat:

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Yes, I have resorted to giving my dogs green food!  (Does that make me weird?) :)  They LOVE cucumber and sprouts the most.  I’ve been making little salads in their bowls lately to help fill them up because somehow they both gained a little weight so they are on “lean dog food” – which obviously isn’t filling them up because now they are constantly begging for food.   So I’m treating their diet as a I would with myself or any clients:  fill up on veggies! 

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Nummy nummy in Rascal’s TUMMY!  :)  

***

Yesterday I started with a post-workout green smoothie and one of these:

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My very first PERSIMMON!  Looks an awful lot like a tomato, but I promise it was a persimmon!  Quite the tasty little fruit — I liked it a lot.  I kept seeing this little fruit pop up on some of the blogs I read and finally decided to give one a try.  I read that they are the national fruit of Japan and that their peels are chock full of phytochemicals to fight oxidation of our cells.  (Too bad I didn’t read that BEFORE I ate mine, because after two bites I decided it would taste better PEELED!  Guess now I know for next time!) 

I also tried BROWN RICE sushi from Whole Foods for dinner the other night: 

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This is another thumbs-up!  If only we could convince more sushi restaurants to use brown rice on their rolls…

Last night’s dinner was a typical Shari Salad (complete with dulse, nutritional yeast and Goddess dressing) along with some acorn squash slivers:

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Yesterday’s exercise was 45 minutes of cardio with 30 of those minutes spent on the treadmill and 15 minutes spent doing my crazy dancing for cardio!  (Thank you Lady GaGa and Beyonce!)  One of my favorite ways to get my heart pumping! 

Stay tuned for the next blog post where I tell you about how your cardio equipment is lying to you!  ;)

Have a great night everyone!  I’m hoping that my MUST-SEE TV tonight are all NEW and no re-runs… it’s a good night for curling up on the couch under a blanket to keep warm!

– Shari B. =)

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Dance Dance If You Dare!

Nov 19

Posted by Shari B. in FitFeature, Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Hello FitFeat friends! 

Thank you for the great feedback in yesterday’s post about what fitness and nutrition topics you might like me to cover in future posts.  Cindy requested some more in-depth exercise instruction, preferably with photos.  Joan liked the idea of my attempting to put up some video instruction.  Tray would like more recipes.  Fantastic suggestions — thank you!  I’ll do my best to get more of that going for you.

Yesterday’s exercise included 50 minutes of cardio:  30 of it spent on the treadmill speedwalking at an incline, then 20 minutes of BOOGIE TIME!! 

Some of my best cardio sessions have been from random dancing (among other random things, i.e. yardio, snowblowing, etc.)  My heart rate while on the treadmill stayed neatly in the upper-130s.  But when it was time to get my dance on??  It shot up into the 160s, which is what I want!  And time spent dancing to get my heart up goes by MUCH FASTER than being on the hamster wheel treadmill.  It’s fun and you don’t need a gym membership to do it!

Get together an amazing playlist on your iPod or MP3 player, strap on your heart rate monitor, dim the lights a little for effect, and close the blinds! 

It’s home-clubbin’-time! 

1 dance

No, that's not me...!

Hop around, throw in some jazzy jumping jacks, skips, jump-rope movements, it doesn’t matter!  No one will see you so just have some fun with it!

My playlist yesterday was short since I was only doing 20 minutes, but these songs get me in the mood to groove!

The point is that exercise can always be made to be fun.  You shouldn’t have to trudge through boring cardio workouts ‘just to get your minutes in’.  Be creative, have a little fun, and you’ll reach your fitness goals that much faster!  (And no, there will NOT be an embedded video of my dancing!) 

Do any of you secretly boogie for cardio??  Drop a comment!

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday!

– Shari B. =)

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