Pump, pump, pump, pump it up!

I think I have a problem.
I am a hoarder....

of canned pumpkin.



OK, ok. I know what you're thinking:
Joslyn, what does one need SO MANY cans of pumpkin for?

Last year there was a short on pumpkin, and I couldn't find cans of it ANYWHERE. Whenever I needed a 'kin fix, I couldn't feed the need! So, this past fall as soon as I saw those beautiful little cans hit the shelves, I stocked up. Don't worry, they don't expire until the end of '12, so I have until the end of the world to consume them. ;)

This morning, I was glad I had those cans stacked up awaiting for me, because I had the ultimate craving for:

PUMPKIN WAFFLES






Droooooooool. I think you need to run out and buy a can of pumpkin, and then come back and meet me here and make these immediately.

Perfect Pumpkin Waffles:

1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp egg beater egg whites (or 1 full egg white)
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup canned pumpkin

Preheat your waffle iron on high while you're mixing the above ingredients. Turn down the heat about half way, spray with non-stick spray & pour in the batter. In about 3.5 minutes (or whenever the waffle pulls out of the iron cleanly) you have these big, fluffy, pumpkiny, delicious waffles.

Top with half a banana & 1 tbsp sugar free syrup and EAT!

You can thank me later.

Recent Reads #1.

Alright, folks.

Now that I FINALLY have internet at home for the first time since 2009 (how I lived without it, I do not know) I feel like I finally want to honest to blog BLOG. About a whole lot of things. My minds are full of ideas, and I'm just going to write them all out!

SO. Today marks entry numba one of what I'm gonna call:

RECENT READS.

Anyone I work with, or knows my reading habits, can tell you that I am a HUGE Charlaine Harris fan. I've read every single one of her books. So, whenever she releases a new one, I hole myself up in my room for awhile until I get through the currently pressed.

Charlaine's latest:



Um...I'm almost sad to write this, but I was HIGHLY disappointed. Sookie Stackhouse is probably one of my favorite fictional characters ever. (I am also a fan of the show, True Blood, that is based off of the books, even though this past season they went WAY crazy and ran off the beaten path of following along with the books storylines.) Anyway, I feel like nothing major happened in the plot of this book until the last 50 pages or so, and once the action started I was left with, "That's IT?"

I LOVED books 1 - 9, but I think book 10 & 11 (the current one) have just been very lack luster.

SIGH.

I'm beginning to think Charlaine is busting them out for money, and not for enhancing the story line. :(

Sad. If you're a Charlaine Harris fan though, I do recommend that you read it and see what you think for yourself, and not just listen to my opinion. I'd probably give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Onward, to find a more exciting read!

Wednesday Wonderful!

Heaven was waiting for me on my doorstep when I got home from work today.



OH, YES. Hello my little friends!
One of them went straight into my toaster.



The others wait for me in my (gigantic looking) freezer. Until we meet again, my littles...

If you are not familiar with Vitatops...you're missing out on life!

Thank you, Hungry Girl!

p90x day 1: a review

Alright boys and girls, here's my p90x review so far! I've decided to go with the p90x "lean" version.

Day 1: Core Synergistics

My first thought: WHY would they have anyone start with this DVD? Its torture. Pure torture. The moves are the following:

Stacked Foot/Staggered Hands Push-up
Banana Roll
Leaning Crescent Lunges
Squat Run
Sphinx Push-up / Military crawl
Bow to Boat
Low Lateral Skaters
Lunge and Reach
Prison Cell Push-ups
Side Hip Raise
Squat X-Press
Plank to Chaturanga
Walking Push-up
Superman / Banana
Lunge Tricep Curl Press
Towel Hoppers
Reach High & Under Push-ups
Steam Engine
Dreya Roll
Plank to Chaturanga Iso
Halfback
Table Dip Raise

OK. Words I hate. DREYA ROLL. HATE. HATE. HATE. My all time most hated exercise is a Burpee. This, reminds me of a backwards burpee. Please kill me. Although this move only last a minute, its the most loathed minute of the day. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Words I love. Skaters. Steam Engine. Squat Run. Yes, I enjoy being tortured at times. Skaters are fun. I guess I enjoy hopping back and forth. Steam Engine made me a little dizzy by the time we got to 50 (50 on each side = 100 standing ab moves without getting on the floor. Fabulous!) Squat Run...I just like running. This seems a little silly while doing it. I think I even giggled a bit!

Overall, the workout was a little short of being an hour, and I burned 235 calories. This, disappointed me a bit. Half of the moves I struggled with out of unfamiliarity, so hopefully once I get the hand of them, I'll be able to go all out and burn even more!

89 more days!

X me, baby.

I've come to the realization that I need to just suck it up and get on the hardcore bandwagon. No more fucking around. I want results. I NEED results. I keep going up & down, up & down, and never getting to my ultimate goal. I'm only 5 pounds away. It can't be that hard!

So, its p90x time.

Tonight is day 3.
Today I can't feel my lower half of my body, thanks to days 1 & 2.

Review once the week is up.
Huzzah!

Wharf to Wharf

I just registered for a 10k.
July 24th.
My friend sent me a link to it, and I didn't even think twice about it.
You know, its just 6.2 miles. No big deal.

WHAT?!

But, can we just say how excited I am?

I was considering doing a half-marathon in November, but I think I should slowly build my speed up to that idea. Ha. You know, baby steps. 5k. 10k. Then a half.

3 months. 3 months to train. I SO have this.

BRING IT, Wharf to Wharf run. BRING. IT.



http://wharftowharf.com/

All hail Jillian Michaels!

It’s no surprise by now that I have mad love for Jillian Michaels. I own 90% of her DVDs. I watch Biggest Loser and/or Losing It with Jillian episodes on DVD at least once a week. I use her recipes throughout the week.

So, a few months ago when I learned she was going to be in Los Angeles signing copies of her new book, Unlimited, I automatically requested the day off of work.

Last Thursday was the day! I made the 5 hour drive down south Wednesday night and stayed with a friend. At 7am the next morning, I headed over to Barnes & Noble to meet up with Kelly (who roomed with me on the JM cruise! Hi Kelly! <3), and met some other "JM Crew" people. At 9am the doors opened and they handed out wristbands for the signing later that night. Now, by this time it was only 9:10am, and we were told to come back at 5:30pm. WHAT TO DO ALL DAY, YOU ASK?

We participated by being "audience" members of Extra with Mario Lopez to start. To be honest, it was quite boring. I only stuck around to get a free t-shirt.

Then, we headed over to Nordstrom. Jill was also introducing her new clothing line with K-Swiss that day, and doing a talk and M&G before the book signing.

So, since its JILLIAN, I ended up buying one of her $98 hoodies. My lord. When the total came to be $104 I died a little.

After I spent a seventh of my rent, we headed over to the Farmers Market part of The Grove. I needed a banana. I fed the craving. Then we wandered around Forever21 & Anthropologie a bit, and just ended up awkwardly waiting around Nordstrom for a few hours. Surprisingly, the entire day went really fast, thanks to spending it with some amazing people.

So, I was wearing my new Jillian hoodie. I was joking around and saying that if Jillian was wearing the same thing, I'd have to take it off for the photo. Tell me why, when Jillian walked out, we were almost TWINS? She was wearing the SAME hoodie, in the SAME color. Both of us had it unzipped, with the sleeves rolled up. White tops, black pants. I had a bright orange bra on that you could see; Jillian had grey and bright orange sneakers on. Ok, seriously?! It’s not like I spotted her before hand and thought, "Oh, I'm gonna dress exactly like her today!" NO. I had my outfit picked out for a week. I specifically bought new clothes JUST for this day. (True story.)

I ended up laughing it off and just saying, "Fuck it. Twinsies."

Yup. Twins.

Jillian was so cute. I was second in line to take my photo with her, and when I walked up she was like, "HIII." Then she seemed to be side tracked and she grabbed my wrist and was like, "I am so sorry. Hold on." So I'm standing there. Jillian is just holding onto my wrist. I think I probably had the dorkiest grin on my face because I'm thinking, "Jillian Michaels is holding onto me!" Gah. Haha. She keeps apologizing, and calls over her assistant. Rosie comes over and she asks her to hold out her hand. Jillian places a piece of gum that was in her mouth in it. Then she turns back to me and says, "I am SO SORRY! I have garlic breath right now!" I just burst out laughing, "It’s OK! I just ate a mint so I wouldn't have bad breath!" "OK, good!" We're laughing. She asks what my name is, I tell her, and she thanks me for coming. We take our photo and then I'm shooed away. I expected it to be really quick. And that it was. Besides the minute of wrist holding. <3

We're given free PopChips and Vitamin Waters. Then, our photos are printed out and put into paper frames. I laughed out loud again when I saw the photo. Totally twins, dude.

After we all gather our belongings, we head on over to Barnes & Noble to wait for the signing. We meet an inspiring woman named Ruth. She's lost 101lbs! Get it, girl! (HI RUTH!!) Once we get our seats and get situated, it’s just an hour or so to wait.

The signing started at 7pm. Jillian came out and talked for a bit, and then answered some Q&A. Then the long line to wait for autographs and photos.

When it was my turn I walk up and Jillian has her arms wide open. "Joslyn. Why do you look so familiar?" I say "Because you saw me earlier today!" and she's like, "Right! The K-Swiss event!" but she’s giving me a, 'but why do I SPECIFICALLY remember you?' look.

"You kept apologizing to me. For having garlic breath."

"OH MY GOD. ITS YOU." She grabs my arm again and starts blabbing. "I felt so bad. I was standing there thinking, "This girl probably HATES ME!"

(At this point I think I give her a "you're crazy, I'd never hate you look.")

I had my photo from earlier tucked inside my book and I started saying, "Do you think yo-" before she cut me off and was like, "Yeah? Whats up? Ask me."

-u can sign this too?"

Jillian looks at the photo and I was saying how we were pretty much matching earlier. (I took my hoodie off so we wouldn't be matching again in the second photo!) She had changed jeans and shoes, and I mentioned something about earlier her sneakers matched my bra. She laughs and then signs the photo like this:

"We ARE cute." is all I say when I read it. (God. I'm such a blubbering idiot.)

All of a sudden, Jillian goes, "What are we LISTENING TO? Doesn't this make you just want to blow your BRAINS OUT?! Can't we put something fun on, like Pink? Oh come on, Cher." (It was the soundtrack to Burlesque, BTW.)

I don't really remember how it was wrapped up. We took our photos, said goodbye and then I kinda was just full of all kinds of happiness. I love that woman.

OH. Story: we had hung out with two awesome peeps Linda & Mike all day. Somehow Jillian thought I was Mike's wife and said, "Oh she's so cute!" I was wondering why she kept looking at me and smiling while Mike was talking to her. And when he was finished she waved to me and said, "You guys have a good night!" Pretty sure I just stared at her and barely smiled when she said that because I was confused. But when Mike was telling Linda what Jill had said, I laughed as it made sense. "Oh, NO. Jillian thought that I WAS your wife!" Oh silly girl...

So afterwards, I grabbed a cup of coffee and then I had to say my goodbyes, seeing as I was crazy and was driving the 5 hours home. :(

It was only around 8:45pm when I left, and I got home around 2:20am. Not TOO bad, but I have the amazing Cindy Lou (and caffeine!) to thank for talking to me on my entire drive home and for keeping me awake.

The next day at work sucked. I was a zombie of myself. But would I have made any changes to the day? Heck no. It was perfect. And if it’s any more possible, I love Jillian Michaels MORE for being so down to earth and awesome. Girl crush, girl crush, girl crush. <3