Musical Mondays

Apparently, New England has decided to skip fall. Last week was 70 degrees and humid. Today I was wearing a North Face under the cloudy gray skies of Connecticut during the months of October-April. What happened to the cool and brisk temperatures paired with sunny days that invite you to wear jeans, a light sweater, a scarf, and moccasins?

Ok, just checked the weather, and apparently fall will actually be here this weekend and early next week. Yay for outdoor runs! Unfortunately, today was a bit rainy so I headed to the gym. After taking yesterday off, I woke up feeling really motivated to RUN 🙂 I know not everyone is a fan of the treadmill (Emily …) but when I’m in the mood to run (i.e., not read Glamour and spend some quality time on the elliptical), I don’t mind it. Actually, I really look forward to it sometimes. Since I’m too po’ for a HRM, I can never tell my pace running outside, or control the course after I’ve driven to the trail. Plus, on the treadmill I can watch Teen Mom and True Life.

But dodging squirrels on the trail or peering over the ledge at the guys weight lifting downstairs, what really powers my runs is music. Who doesn’t love music? No one. I spent some time making a playlist of all my favorite running songs this morning. It’s a pretty long playlist so I didn’t get to all of the songs, but here it is:

“I Can Transform Ya (featuring Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz)” – Chris Brown
“In My Head” – Jason Derulo
“Stronger” – Kanye West
“Bad Romance” – Lady GaGa  
“Hard (featuring Jeezy)” – Rhianna
“Blah Blah Blah (featuring 3OH!3) – Ke$ha
“Carry Out (featuring Justin TImberlake) – Timbaland
“Canned Heat” – Jamiroquai .. yes, the song from Center Stage. Listen to it and tell me you feel like you could run forever. I’m pretty sure this is what Forrest Gump listened to on his cross-country jog.
“Diva” – Beyonce .. mouthing the words helps.
“Good Girls Go Bad (featuring Leighton Meester) – Cobra Starship
“Empire State of Mind” – Glee Cast .. Puck and Finn as Jay-Z was probably the highlight of my year.
“Vogue” – Glee Cast .. Sue Sylvester, dance on air
“Telephone” – Glee Cast
“Hot Mess” – Cobra Starship
“No Air” – Glee Cast
“Physical” – Glee Cast
“BedRock” – Young Money & Lloyd
“Break Your Heart (featuring Ludacris)” – Taio Cruz
“Rockstar” – Rhianna
“Baby” – Justin Bieber
“Ridin’ Solo” – Jason Derulo
“Take It Off” – Ke$ha
“Your Love is My Drug” – Ke$ha

Truth? I’ve listened to “I Can Transform Ya” and “Good Girls Go Bad” on repeat for whole runs. I lovelovelove finding songs that I can listen to for a straight half hour or more on a run. Before that sweet playlist powered me through an extremely sweaty 6 miles (in 52:15 🙂 ), I fueled up with my new fall go-to breakfast:

Oatmeal with milk, an apple, and peanut butter sauce (from TJ’s peanut flour!)

Lunch was the usual turkey wrap with carrots, crackers, and a hummus pool. For dinner I wanted something different than my typical sweet potato/cottage cheese/salad go-to.

Rudi’s Organic Whole Wheat bagel with chicken, tomato, romaine, and Annie’s Honey Mustard dressing + mixed green salad with mushrooms, broccoli, and red onion topped with the last of TJ’s cilantro dressing and some Newman’s Own Roasted Garlic Balsamic dressing

Chicken + honey mustard = classic, comforting combo.

This weekend, in addition to a Whole Foods hot bar dinner, seeing The Social Network (see it NOW! It’s SO SO GOOD!), I found some great new blogs thanks to the FoodBuzz Project Food Blogger entries. The newest additions to my reader? Well, just a girl crush or two.

• Amuse Bouche. For the love of all that is holy, the woman MADE A TURDUCKEN. Followed one week later by HEALTHY HOMEMADE HOTPOCKETS. Also, she’s pretty gorge. Girl crush established.
• Hungry Meets Healthy. In addition to matching one of my best friends in name, hair cut, and general appearance, Christina has a leopard print mixing bowl and has made me want to drive a minimum of two hours to the nearest Chick-fil-a. I also kind of now want to move to South Carolina to play with her.

Oh, plus, they’re both beyond hilarious. Like, I nearly peed myself back-reading their posts this weekend.

But seriously, go see The Social Network. In addition to providing two hours of multiple man candies, it is actually a really, really good movie that has made me feel odd about my creeptastic hours spent on Facebook. Not that feeling strange about that time has decreased it at all ..