Life in Valdosta This Week

I've had a pretty awesome few weeks. My friends came to visit and its been years since I've seen most of them.  My 4th of July get together was pretty much the best thing ever.  We spent days drinking, laughing, and talking crap to each other.  Fabulous time.  Waking up to everyone sprawled out in their respective places, letting the hangovers just roll off them... it wasn't a thing a beauty.

Let's just say it took me days to come down from the crazy.  Notice that there aren't any pictures.... there's a reason for that. Hahahahaha.  What happens in Valdosta- and all that jazz


In other news, I just received my new midori notebook.  I'm planning on doing a full review eventually.  But this should kind of sum up the awesomeness.

And lastly, here is a quick look at what I've been eating for the past few days. Quite yum in the tum.

As you can see, a lot of salads and such.  But check out my new favorite bowl.  Its super adorable and holds everything I need in the world.  And just $1.00 from Publix (and you know how I feel about Publix!)  I think I will eat every single thing out of this bowl for the rest of my life.  Its the simple things in life that can make a girl happy.

Tata for now. 

Today's Laughable Workout

I really gave this thing my all.  I just didn't know that on this day, June 24, my all is worth 2 tears in a bucket...

Yea, those are my knees because I am on the floor dying

It was actually very adorable.  Me, standing there in my super tiny shorts and workout shirt from those fabulous days when I was quite a but thinner.  The intro to Insanity getting me light-weight hyped up for what I thought I was about to do.  "Come on ya'll...LET'S GOOOOO" and shit.  Iced cold water on deck.  Rug moved out the way and heart rate monitor ready to tell me how awesome I am.  Thought I was about to get it!

None of that mattered.

About 2 minutes in, I was dead.  WTF happened to me? I used to kick insanity in the nuts, and now I am sitting here recuperating and I've been done for 2 hours.  Someone grab the damn aleve! My knees! God save my knees! Allah forgive me for thinking I was the man out here! Buddah give me strength.

And after about 10 minutes of listening to my legs flap together, I decided to put on some damn leggings.  I was tired of making it clap without trying.  Where is Media takeout?

I went as hard as I could.  Sweat profusely.  Swore. Cried. Maybe even squeezed out a little pee while I was doing in and out abs. #SoWhat. I did the whole video, and I'll be keeping up with it for the next 60 days (except when my friends come to visit and I get ridiculously drunk).  3 cheers for getting back in shape. Hip Hip- Nope.

I took my measurements and did the fit test yesterday and I was unhappy to say the least.  But maybe weight loss will be that much sweeter the second time around.  And that much easier to keep off.  Why didn't anyone tell me how fast this shit can come back without me even realizing it?  Way to go "rest of the world".
I guess they tried to cheer me up.

And yes... I'm still on the floor.  

My Summer Reading List

You know that I'm obsessed with reading, right? If you follow this blog, then I'm sure you have am idea.  It's going to be harder to find time for my guilty pleasure once the school year starts, so I am definitely trying to put a dent in my 50 book challenge before the summer ends.  My goodreads challenge will NOT get the best of me this year.  The following are my most pressing reads for this summer.  I have a few more on the list that I will get to if I can.

Below you will find a pretty diverse group of books.  I'm a writer deep down in the special places of my heart, so I read everything.  Faulkner said "read, read, read. Read Everything--trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it.  Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master.  Read! You'll absorb it.  Then Write.  If it's good, you'll find out.  If it's not, throw it out of the window."

So that's what I do.

The City of Heavenly Fire: The 6th and final installment in the Mortal Instruments series.  I wont bore you with the details again, as I have already done a review.  If you have read the other 5 then you already know that this came out on May 27th.  Grab your copy ASAP. I've finished it and it was a pretty decent ending.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald: Review on the way for this one.  I love historical fiction and this book was absolutely fabulous.  Here is a quick synopsis from Goodreads.

 "When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the “ungettable” Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn’t wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. 

What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel—and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife.

Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby’s parties go on forever. Who isZelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? 

The Body Book: Of course, I have to read something for my body and health.  I always do.  Maybe this one will set in.  Maybe.

"Throughout her career, Cameron Diaz has been a role model for millions of women. By her own admission, though, this fit, athletic star wasn't always as health-conscious as she is today. Her consumption of bad foods had an effect on her skin and her body. In The Body Book, she shares the knowledge she's gained both from personal experience and from consulting with health experts.

Beginning with nutrition, Cameron explains why instead of fearing hunger, women should embrace their body's instinct for fuel and satisfy it with whole, nutrient-dense foods.

Creating a healthy, beautiful body begins with learning the facts and turning knowledge into action. In The Body Book, women will find the tools they need to build a healthier body now—so they can live joyfully in it for years to come."

The Thing on the Doorstep: The minute I saw this cover, I knew I was in love.  This serious of Gothic Horror is beautifully written by some of the greats.  And Guillermo Del Toro is gifted with a pen.

"Howard Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. This new Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition brings together a dozen of the master's tales-from his early short stories "Under the Pyramids" (originally ghostwritten for Harry Houdini) and "The Music of Erich Zann" (which Lovecraft ranked second among his own favorites) through his more fully developed works, "The Dunwich Horror," The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and At the Mountains of Madness.

The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories presents the definitive corrected texts of these works, along with Lovecraft critic and biographer S. T. Joshi's illuminating introduction and notes to each story"

Cinder: All of my online reading groups have been talking about Cinder for a while, so I jumped on the bandwagon.  I am all about rewrites of my childhood favorites so maybe this will be fabulous.

"Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future."

And finally...

The one I've been waiting on for 2 years...

The Book Of Life: It has been a long and weary journey, but finally, the last book in the All souls trilogy will be released on July 15th.  This will be one of my last summer books because new teacher orientation begins on July 17th and then comes the start of the school year stuff.  I have been waiting sooooooooo lonnnnggg and it better be worth it.  Here is my review of the other 2 books in the series.  And here is the quick description of book 3.

"After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago."

I am beyond...excited.  I'm just a wordgasm waiting to happen.  There are few things as exciting as the release of a book you have been waiting on.

What are you reading this summer?

HIIT Class that Kicked my A$$

Happy Tuesday my lovelies!!!  I decided I needed a change because the classes they offer on base are pretty rubbish.  Not that I can complain about free classes, but they really leave something to be desired.  I'd been looking at the classes they offer my local Anytime Fitness and I decided to take a chance.  Hey, 5 bucks is totes swingable.

Come to find out, the class was free.  That's right, free.99.  And the owner of the gym teaches the class to boot.  It doesn't get more impressive than that.  I really enjoyed myself.  It was literally the hardest class I've even been too.  They have one tomorrow called "Booty Work" and I think my booty needs to get worked.  Did that sound kinky lol?  I'm now sitting here watching a Bootleg version of Captain America because I can't wait for the Bluray and I do so love the Winter Soldier.

Believe it or not, I actually went shopping before I even got to the gym.

Look at all the goodies!!!!

I hit Vicky Secrets and B&BW for their Semi annual and I had an amazing time with myself.  I'm enjoying these solo dates more and more.  I racked up on candles, wall flowers and refills, lotion and spray, and car scents.  Also picked up some lip glosses and bras from Vicky.  Didn't spend too much, but came home with a grip! I love sales.  Now I have to stay the hell out of there until January!

No idea where I will take myself tomorrow.  Maybe to the book store.  Hang out and read for free.

But for now...

It's just me, my nails, my wine, dark chocolate, and whatever creation I come up with in my Midori.

Have you ever been to an Anytime Fitness?
Plan on hitting up the sales in the next few weeks?

Just Call Me Yogi

My whole body hurts.  No really.  Ok, it hurts less today, but between my circuit training and hours at a time spent on the cardio equipment, I needed a break.  As you know, I am no stranger to pretending to do yoga in my living room yoga, and I've been looking into this studio for a few months now.  Sutherland Yoga studio has received nothing but rave reviews all over facebook, and I've been dying to work with someone who isn't at the military gym.  

I initially planned to go to the 12pm class, but as the laziness started to creep over my body, I decided I'd better get my booty into high gear and head off to the 9:30am class.  I threw my wig on because there was no way that these braids were coming out.  Uh Uh.  So off I went to my first yoga experience in Valdosta.  

I walked in and I was immediately in love with the ambiance.  I went upstairs and was greeted by Kathi (Who also taught the class) and I proceeded to pay my well spent $8.00 for the class.  I talked to her for a while about how shoddy it is when you don't have a kitchen and you make all the wrong eating out decisions (for all the tasty reasons!).  Then I went in and found a seat. I really wanted to hide in the corner but there were 2 high school girls already occupying that space.  But after two minutes, I felt some comfortable with everyone that I could immediately tell that I had no need to worry about anyone judging me and my sucky down dog.  

I'm cute, huh?

Before class started I had to say "Don't be alarmed" because you know that wig had to come OH EFF EFF!  (That was my quirky way to say off hehehe).  I'm glad I did, because I shocked a few folks.  They all laughed and asked about my hair and I explained how much easier it is to manage than my own hair in the summer time.  I get on my mat and prepare myself to Namaste all over that mother.

Oh boy.  

Sooooooo that at home yoga that I did so much of did NOT prepare me for a real life Yogi lead yoga class.  Ouch.  It felt so good though.  I needed to be stretched out and even though I didn't do as well as I would have liked (I may have skipped a few of those plank vinyasas) I sweat more in that hour than I have in a long time.  Kathi was very supportive and encouraging throughout the entire class, and everyone was able to move at their own pace, which was snail like for me.

Overall, I give the Sutherland studio a 10/10.  The room was well ventilated and whatever scent they had permeating  through the room was amazingly relaxing.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  And even though my balancing tree looked more like a bush, my crow had a broken wing, and my wheel pose had a flat tire, I'm looking forward to going back and improving!

Are you a Yogi?  Which pose do you want to conquer?  

Where Have I Been?

I'm so out of control for this, right.  I really dropped the ball on this blogging thing, but I have fabulous excuses.  Not only did I go home for a week, but all of my furniture and boxes arrived from England so I have been pretty busy.  Between unpacking, travelling, and trying to let my body acclimate to this Georgia humidity, my days have been pretty full- not to mention kind of lacking in the excitement department.  But here is a quick (ok, quick is an understatement)

Here is a picture of my babies giving me the "Do we have to get out of bed" face.

Myself and my mini me in Pittsburgh.  I went home for mother's day and I had the best time.

 My big little brother before he cut that mess off his head lol.  He looks super handsome now.

I made a helluva roast for dinner this week.  Going to make another and post the recipe.  I mean, it was next level!

Ok, that is the best I can do!! More to come soon, I promise!

Smooches XOXO

Count Down

My big 4th of July/Welcome Home Party is in exactly 65 days.  In a little over 2 months my house will be overrun with  family and friends that I haven't seen in years.  #Excited! So I've been getting my shit together.  In the gym, trying to stay away from these carbs.  You know the drill.  I even set up a meeting with the exercise physiologist and the nutritionist.  I figure, why not use them is they are available to me.  Not that I don't already know what they are going to tell me.  But you never know, maybe they will give me a few Shaina specific tips.  I haven't had great experience with nutritionists in the past because I've been given some pretty generic advice.  Say what you want, but the truth of the matter is that everyone's body is different and what works for Pete may not work for Paul.  And I am most assuredly Paul! "Exercise and Eat Right" might be the baseline for what I should do, but I need just a little bit more than that.  So we will see.  We spoke on the phone on Monday and I have high hopes.  We meet at 3 today so I'll report back on what goes on.

In other news, tomorrow I start my month of Self Love.  I'm really looking forward to it.  On one hand, it feels kind of lame and cheesy "Oh I'm going to practice self love real hard this month" (said in my most sarcastic tone).  But that lame cheesyness is exactly why I have to do it.  It should be innate.  Not cheesy. So its almost here.  Tomorrow is an important day for another reason as well.  A reason I am not ready to share just yet... I have to keep some things private until they happen so they can remain surrounded by positive energy.  Don't count your chickens and all that!

Now I am just waiting on my knee to get back to 100% so I can really go at it hard.  The doc said I may have to get physical therapy and I don't want that, so I'm going to make sure that I rest it out as long as possible.  He said I could go swimming too.  Might give that a shot now that my hair is braided.  Anyway, just wanted to check in! Mischief Manged!