Category Archives: pop culture/celebrities

Work, Veggie Curry & Missoni for Target Madness.

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Hey everyone! Just a quick little catch-up post before I go back to studying. I’m doing my best to get adjusted to this working/studying/life in general balance. I don’t know people do it!! I’ve always shyed away from/been lucky not to have to juggle work and school–until now.  This is no joke! I’m so exhausted lately that I even went to bed last night at 7pm!!!!  {Only to wake up for a short time when the hubs turned on the lights and I realized I was missing the Fitblog Chats on Twitter!}

Soon to be wayyyyy more full!

Yesterday was my first full {8 hours} day of work since JUNE 4, 2009!!!!! I forgot what it was like to work a whole day–ESPECIALLY one in retail where you’re on your feet ALL DAY. Even with my lovely Mizunos and orthopaedic inserts for overpronators, my dogs were still barking! Annnnnnd my back was, too. Right now, we’re at the stage of the store where we {all of the employees} are putting the insides of the store together piece-by-piece. It was totally planogram central. This means, every peg, J-hook, shelf, platform, mannequin, rack, display—EVERYTHING. Then we will have to hang up every last piece of merchandise when it all arrives. Oh and the worst best part–me and like 4 others have to put together ALL of the fitness equipment for display!!! RE: every treadmill, exercise bike, elliptical, home gym, bicycle, etc–last I heard, there were about 176 items–ALL before the store opens in the first week of October. I am NOT good with my hands. YIKES. When I saw all the pieces my home treadmill came in, I nearly cried, walked out of the room and had the hubs put it together. Can’t do that at Dick’s!!! There’s no crying at Dick’s–especially if you are the Certified Fitness Trainer!

Which reminds me–I met one of my associates {I have associates?!} and he was wonderful at giving me a tour of my section. He’s only been with Dick’s for 5 months, but knew everything!! He shall be my bff for quite sometime. :-)

So aside from working, working, working, sleeping and studying, I’ve been cooking as usual. I made the most delicious Veggielicious Yellow Curry that I found on nutritionella’s site.

Curry cooking...

Curry all done!

It was super yummy and meateater-husband approved! If he likes it, and there’s no meat involved, then I KNOW it’s good!

I’ve also been hot yoga’ing which I did today. After which, I drove my stinky, sweaty self right over to Target to see what all the hubbabaloo was about Missoni for Target. Did you see all the ruckus yesterday about their website crashing because this designer’s stuff was for sale there? Madness!

I saw the espionage-like promo commercials for it, but could not have cared less. I don’t even know who Missoni is. But of course once I saw that people were going apeshit for this stuff at Target, I then ABSOLUTELY HAD to have some of it. I swear I am a marketer’s wet dream. I got there in the nick of time apparently. I overheard the girl working in the fitting room talking about it so I wandered over to jump into the convo. This other lady appeared to be there for the same exact reason as I was so we then decided to walk around the store together to see if we could find hidden Missoni pieces. I swear, only in the South. Up North, you just don’t go shopping with a random woman you just met in the fitting room–you fight to the death for that last sweater, skirt or pair of shoes.

Anyhow, all of the clothes, except for baby’s, were SOLD OUT. And I sure did hold up a 2T sweater vest up to my chest just to see if I could stretch it on. Yup. But of course it wouldn’t. Haa. So this is what I found:

A square cereal bowl, a plastic drinking tumbler and a scarf. I allllllmost wanna put it all on Ebay, but I think I’ll keep it. It’s kinda all ugly, but it’s growing on me.

Hmmmm….what else—OH! I scheduled my NASM-CPT exam!! I’m not saying when I’m taking it though…too much pressure from the blogosphere will be on me! But I’ll let you all know when I pass, when I pass! ;-)

That’s it for now. Dinner, studying and laundry await!

Did you ever hear of Missoni? Did you score anything at Target?

{The Help. The Dream. The Beer.}

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For the past two years of my unemployment, I’ve been asking my hubby to take a day off from work to hang out with me. Quite the worker bee, he never obliged. No use of us both sitting at home not working, lol! And I understood–with me not working and finances being quite uncertain at times, it was never time to just have a happy fun day drinking the afternoon away. But now that I will be gainfully employed again in less than two weeks, he must’ve breathed a sigh of relief and took that vacation day yesterday.

In my mind, I never wanted to do anything extravagant. I would have been happy with seeing a movie and having a midday adult beverage. We never go to movies any more, as it has been more fiscally responsible to make it a Netflix night. And for the most part, it’s also been just as economical to buy a 12 24 pack and sip on a 60 cent can of cheap beer on our couch. So to live the “high life” yesterday, a movie and a brew out on the town tickled my fancy just fine.

The Help movie poster

We were going to see Horrible Bosses, as we both LOVE Jason Bateman to pieces, but of course it was not showing anymore. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was also on our list, but I’m not huge on sci-fi and I wasn’t feeling it. I’ve never been able to follow the Ape movies and didn’t want to have to do a lot of thinking today, lol. So we went with The Help.

I love movie popcorn. Obsessed is more like it. This is definitely one of my guilty pleasure foods. But, and even though it may not look like it in this pic, I did get the small with no butter. :-)

Okay–back to the movie. Here I go with my overused phrase again, but, SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. OMG this movie was amaaaaaazing. It absolutely better win some kind of award or it will be a disgrace. I cried so much during it–but please don’t let that discourage you from seeing it. They weren’t always sad tears. Some were just personal tears {my mother’s first job was as a maid when she was 14 and I absolutely would have died before I let her go through some of the treatment I saw in the movie, but I wasn’t born, duh.} Mostly, I was just sitting there in dismay at the things they had to go through. It’s easy to sit here in 2011, with my white husband, and become disillusioned about the struggles that so many faced as little as 50 years ago. Mindblowing. May no person face such injustices ever again.

But there was so more to it than race. There was friendship, family, self-esteem, trust, food and going after your dreams, to name a few.

“The point is, I can’t tell you how to succeed. But I can tell you how not to: Give in to the shame of being rejected and put your manuscript—or painting, song, voice, dance moves, [insert passion here]—in the coffin that is your bedside drawer and close it for good. I guarantee you that it won’t take you anywhere. Or you could do what this writer did: Give in to your obsession instead.” ~ Kathryn Stockett

I left this film feeling so amazing, warm and inspired to help people even more than before. The actresses in it were fantastic!  Cicely Tyson touched my heart and Emma Stone–love, love, love–especially. I can’t wait to see it a second, third, fourth, etc. time… Go. See. It. Learn something. Do something. Inspire someone. HELP someone.

The whole time I was in the movie, I kept thinking about my roadtrip to DC last weekend. I never wrote a specific post about making a trek to visit the brand new Martin Luther King Jr. Monument, so this was as good a time as any! It was awe-inspiring to see races of ALL kinds there in the crowd. As bad as the state of affairs are out there right now, it was like seeing a little sliver of his dream come true.

I love having caught this little girl in the pic!

Isn't that the truth?!



So if you’re going DC to hit up the tourist spots, put this on your list. It’s beautiful and just as important. Sit there, look out on the water and reflect for a bit. You may feel better about where you are just by thinking about where others have been.

All righty, let’s go get that beer, shall we? :-)

As I said earlier, along with the movie on our little day of hooky, we were to stop somewhere and have a beer. So of course, we opted for The Eddy Pub.


I’ve been wanting to try Fullsteam Brewery’s El Toro Cream Ale. I’m normally a lager girl, but I needed to give this one a try. When I was in the Eddy a few weeks ago, another customer told me he didn’t like the cream ale, so of course I then needed to try it for myself.

Thumb's up!

It was a-okay by me! Crisp, delicious, light and with a hint of creaminess. Cherie-approved. I seriously am talking about Fullsteam’s beer so much now that they tweeted this to me yesterday:

Hells yeah! I will of course be reminding them of this when I’m feeling especially thirsty someday. ;-)

I know we went there to bask in the sun on the deck and have one beer, but it seemed like a good day for this too:

It’s hard to pass up a peachy sangria! Mmmmm. We chilled sweated there in the sun for a little bit longer and then decided to conclude our day of fun. Hubs had such a good time that I think I’ve convinced him not to let two years pass before we do it again. We just had to get to the flipside of those two years to see that it would all be okay and that one day, this day would come. :-)

What do you do when you play hooky take a much needed personal day?

Quitting cold tofurkey.

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A few weeks ago, it dawned on me–I eat a lot of meat. I mean, I REALLY eat a lot of meat. A quick scan through my food journal and it was evident that I would every day often have meat for all three meals and sometimes my snacks too. I’d gobble it down, fill my belly and be proud of my protein intake–”Yay, my muscles are gonna pop soon!”

What was really going to pop was my stomach. I felt so full. Too full. Bloated. Burpy. Gassy. {Real attractive, right?} And then I’d immediately have to go to the bathroom, sometime as soon as I swallowed my last bite. Ugh. This wasn’t fun. But it tasted good in my mouth and going down, so I put up with the crampy tummy and the other end result.

Why do I continue to eat meat if these are 99.9999% of the time the consequences after I consume it?  {I do love meat, but not necessarily everything I love is always good for me…} It is worth all of that just to enjoy it in my mouth for a quick few minutes? Why can’t I eat foods that not only taste good in my mouth but also won’t send me racing to the bathroom, doubled over in pain, burping and tooting the whole way there? {Sorry for the mental picture}

So I decided to try a little experiment with myself. I decided that since October 1st is World Vegetarian Day I would abstain from all meat products to celebrate. Then I realized that going one day without meat , although I rarely did it, wasn’t going to make much of an impact on my system. But since October is Vegetarian Awareness Month I figured I would plan to go for the whole 31 days as a veggie eater. One, to prove to myself that I could succeed at it and two, to make my body feel better inside.

A few years ago, I almost made it an entire month when I tried to go veggie as a test. But this Cherie is world’s apart from that one. I’m confident I can make it now. I actually really love vegetarian and vegan foods and have been practicing for about three weeks so far to get ready. {I have had seafood here and there to help me through as needed.} And get this–I have absolutely loved the foods I’ve had!

Yesterday, I made kale chips!

And a grilled cheese with non-dairy “cheese”!

And don’t forget about my search in DC last weekend for those vegan cupcakes from Sticky Fingers Bakery:


If the food tastes good, I realize that I don’t actually miss the meat and/or sometimes the dairy. And this way of eating is helping to align with things I’m learning and believing as I study more about yoga. I also finally picked up and began reading The Kind Diet. It’s mindblowing! It’s like, how could I dare to not eat this way?! As if! ;-)

I was also excited to take another roadtrip back to DC later this month to attend the DC VegFest to pick up some tips, learn more and sample tasty food. But now that I’ll be working I’m not able to go. {It’s actually nice to say ‘I’ll be working’ so I won’t complain!!}

Anyhow, this is my experiment to try something new that could potentially have great results for my body inside and out. Lately I’ve been attempting many things I’ve never done before and I’ve been liking my newfound behavior! I amaze myself more and more each day so I might as well give this a shot too. But I don’t seem to wean myself off of anything well though; I’m best when jumping in cold turkey tofurkey.  And jumped I have–so far so good! Check back in with me to see how it’s going. :-D

Are you a vegetarian or a vegan? How did the transfer over go for you? When did you do it?

C’mon, Irene.

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Hopefully I’ll be on the road back to North Cackalacky sometime today. But some chick named Irene is trying to throw a wrench into my plans to have a sunny, dry trip home, or even get home at all.

Nope. Not this one. I think you know the Irene of which I speak, though.

Sooooo… as I was saying, I hope I’m on my way home. I’ve got a meeting with the rest of the My Yoga staff later today and then I need to prepare for my TWO interviews on Monday!!! :-) I would stay after my meeting and get in a steamy and sweaty hot yoga session since I’ll be at the gym, but the NASM trainers worked me HARD for two days at my workshop this weekend and I am in dire need of a rest day.

DC was a BLAST!!! I’m going to break up my days and blog about each one individually as the week continues. I was able to do so many wonderful things that each day deserves its own post! That AND I’m getting sleepy and need to get to bed soon so that I can brave Irene or what’s left of her. So here are some photo teasers about upcoming posts. Pretend like it’s a Wordless Wednesday, but instead a Silent Sunday. :-)






Okay, that’s enough teasers for now. I’ll write all about them soon! This roadtrip made me laugh, cry, sore, strong, question, think, doubt and believe. What a difference a weekend makes.

How was your weekend? Are you dealing with a mean Irene?

DC Bound…AGAIN!

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Yesssss, I did just go to DC a mere 13 days ago for my sister’s wedding. I feel like a jetsetter. Except I’m not wealthy. And I’m not flying. And I’m not going anywhere that fashionable. So I guess I’m more like a roadtripper. ;-)


In a few short hours, probably while some of you are sleeping, I’m going to get on the road and head towards the Nation’s Capital leaving the backwoods of North Cackalacky for a few days. I’m considering this my last little vacation escape from reality for a while {As someone told me, “Damn, Cherie. For an unemployed person you sure do take a lot of vacations.” Haha, I’m laughing on the inside.} because surely, surely I’ll be working soon and won’t be able to get away.
The count as of today is 2 years, 2 months and 20 days since I last worked.

BUT….I just scored an interview with Dick’s Sporting Goods! It’s early next week!! Eeek. I’m nervous a bit. I’ve been waiting for this Dick’s to open and it seemed like I was talking just the other day about getting a job there! So far everything is going according to plan.  My friend that works at the headquarters in Pittsburgh {my hometown–so this has to be a sign} has been giving me some pointers so hopefully it’ll help. Wish me luck! I need a job, lol!!!

Okay, so no–this trip to DC is not a vacation. If I could’ve afforded that, I would have gone to the Healthy Living Summit this past weekend! I’m staying at my sister’s and house and cat-sitting {free lodging! :-) } and riding the metro {cheaper than gas} into Arlington, VA, where the workshop will be. What workshop?

My National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer’s Workshop! Wooo hoooo!!! So see? This isn’t a vacay–I’m taking this trip for business, haha!  I’ve been waiting for this ALL summer and it’s finally here! This actually means more to me than the Healthy Living Summit because I’ll get some actual hands on training in my future career field. My path to becoming a NASM Certified Personal Trainer is 100% home study except for this 2-day workshop {and shadowing opportunities that I set up on my own to watch other trainers in action at my local gyms}. So it’s VERY important to me and I can’t wait!

But since it is my last hurrah as far as vacations/escapades/get-a-ways go for a while, I’m going up to DC a few days early to take some time for myself, have fun and reflect. This {hopefully} is about to conclude a 2+ year of wondering what path my life was on/where do I fit in in this world/what am I doing with myself. I just want to have a little solitude, escape, think, celebrate new beginnings and have FUN. This fun could include any or all of the following:

**Going to Sticky Fingers Vegan Bakery in Columbia Heights {where I used to live!}, DC. Umm, her bakery treats seriously look scrumptious and I’ve been hearing about this place everywhere. Can’t believe I missed it! I must taste these vegan pastries and see how they measure up. I may have to taste two or three times just to be sure. ;-)

**Eat lunch at Pho 14 {right around the corner from Sticky Fingers}. This Vietnamese restaurant rocks!! I went there a little while ago with my good friend Kelli and we had the best time! The food was amaaaazing and I’ve been craving it ever since!

** Ride a fun, touristy bus so I can see DC through a tourist’s eyes. When I lived there for 3 years I didn’t really do anything touristy. I worked at the International Spy Museum and since I was in a museum 40+ hours a week, the LAST thing I wanted to do was go to one on my days off. I don’t know if I’ll actually get to do this on this trip because it may be rainy, but it sure does look fun!

**Reenact the scene from Risky Business in my socks and undies on my sister’s gorgeous hardwood floors.  {and if you’re reading this Pammy, I promise to do no damage!} We don’t have hardwood in our house and I’ve always wanted to do this! OH–and please excuse this gross picture! I just needed a pic of the floor and this was all I had!! This was from Christmas and I was 25 pounds heavier and not dressed for pictures at all! By the way, my hubby said if this was a Where’s Waldo game it would be called There’s Waldo. He’s got jokes. But he’s right!


**Have my lunch break from the workshop at Cosi!! There is one right across from the hotel!!! OMG I have missed this place. They have the most amazing flat bread and my mouth is watering now! I can’t decide on a sandwich or salad but it will be on my mind during the entire drive!

Haha, I can see most of my activities include food of some sort. Oops. Luckily we’ll be working out ALL day at the workshop!!  Oh–and looking back, I wanted this to be a Wordless Wednesday post. Oops again, haha. And now it is way past my bedtime, as I’m writing this the night before. Must sleep!  Have a great humpday all!

Where is your favorite place to take a roadtrip?

Finally. The ubiquitous 7 links post.

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When I write a post that gets a lot of views and a lot of heartfelt comments both here and on Facebook, it seems difficult to top it. Not necessarily “top”, but write something that is as worthy and inspirational. Yesterday’s post, A Former Fat Girl’s Long Awaited Day, is one of those. EVERYTHING I post is important to me. It means something to me. So while it may not get a lot of traffic or even one comment, I’m proud that it came from me and that I put it out there. These are the two requirements for myself right now–Be Honest & Inspire.


I don’t sugar coat. I have been known to say, “If you want something sugar-coated, have a donut.” I am honest {sometimes to a fault, but I have been aiming to be more diplomatic with my responses} and bold. I say what I have to say and mean it. This blog is not fiction; I’m no good at creating stories. I write about my true life experiences, thoughts, feelings. And with that, I also aim to inspire. If I didn’t want to help anyone else out there, I would just write in my own paper diary at home and never share it. I’ve been through some crazy rough stuff in the past few years on this healthy living journey of mine and if I can help anyone through his or hers, it’d mean the world to me.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” ~Mohammed Ali

I’ve never had a late rent check yet and don’t plan on starting now. :-)

With all of that said, thank you again, and now let me get to the subject of today’s post: The 7 Links. This was going around all over bloggerville a little bit ago but I wanted to do mine when the hoopla of it died down a bit. Also, I have some new readers lately so this would be a great way to get to know me! At this point, I’m not going to tag anyone to do it, but if you’re out there and you want to and you haven’t yet, go for it–it’s great to look back at your previous posts and reflect. But thank you to Michelle and Holly for tagging me!


Most Beautiful
If it’s not one thing, it’s your mother. I wrote this on the 2nd anniversary of my mother’s death. She was the most beautiful person I knew. All I can say is the world is a different, different place when your mother is no longer here. But I have my own personal angel now and she watches out for me everyday.


Most Popular
Jennifer Hudson Caught Drinking Beer in Saxapahaw? While it only got a few comments, this post BY FAR recieved the most views I’ve ever had in over two years of blogging. It was crazy. The clicks on it just kept climbing!! What was funny was that I was doing a Wordless Wednesday so I hardly wrote anything, just posted a lot of pics. I was like, go figure, this is what gets views?? Haha….


Most Controversial
I don’t get treadmill haters. I don’t believe I’ve written anything super controversial yet. I’ve had some things floating in my head but I could probably start a fight or lose readers if I did, lol! Again, I’m WORKING on the diplomacy thing; I haven’t mastered it yet. So maybe I’ll write those posts one day–depends on my mood. ;-) But for now this one has to do. I LOATHE when people use the term “dreadmill.” Like, want to spit nails loathe. I love my treadmill and it helped me get to where I am now. There’s no way I’d dread anything like that!


Most Helpful
Getting Phatter and Phatter Every Day. This is a post from way back in September 2009. I didn’t really even have a theme for my blog yet and I hadn’t really set out on my healthy living journey. And it may not have helped anyone else out there, but it did help ME.  I like to think that being called Precious by my teacher made me jump into weight loss action, but it was actually the event that I speak about in this post.


A Post Whose Success Surprised Me
I Need to Get This Off My Chest. This was a rant. I’m surprised that anyone would listen to me pour my heart out about the culmination of my frustrations over the last two years of my life–but they did. And they gave me amazing feedback. Y’all are just awesome!


A Post I Didn’t Feel Got the Attention It Deserved
I’m Not Creepy. I Just Need a Picture for My Blog. Excuse me for saying it, but this was hard to pick just one! I don’t mean to sound like I’m awesome or anything, but I wrote a lot of kick ass posts that should have had more attention than they did. I was going back and looking and thought, “This post was great. That post was hilarious. You mean out of ALL the people that viewed it that day, no one had ANYTHING to say?!” We all need pictures for our blogs. Surely someone would have agreed with me on this. Or something. Anything. I just don’t get the non-commenters either. Why be a voyeur? Say something even if it’s constructive criticism. Let me know I’m not just talking to myself.  Sheesh!


The Post I’m Most Proud Of
Before and After Pictures…OMG. and Hot Yoga & Letting Go. I know it says “post” singular but these both mean a lot to me. When I set out on my weight loss journey, I wasn’t really sure how it would go. I was depressed, hateful towards myself and flat out angry. I had a huge mountain in front of me and didn’t know if I could really do it. To look back at that before picture–it gets me everytime. It’s hard not to get teary-eyed when I see it. But I’m SO proud of myself for keeping up with it and having kept going. It was so worth it! The other post is one I’m very proud of too. It took me a lot to get to a point in my life {and dropping the hateful self-abusive attitude} where I could try something new and let go of old baggage.

So that’s it. Those are my 7 links. Hopefully you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about me and why I am the way I am! I enjoyed sharing with you! Is there anything you’d like to share? Are you on your own healthy living journey?

Winner, winner. Chicken dinner?

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Yesterday was a pretty darn cool day. I had the most fabulous morning at home and then spent a few hours with my hot yoga instructor Maddy getting her all set up on Twitter & tweaking her Facebook page. Cherie Steffen, Social Media Consultant at your service… ;-) Feel free to follow her tweets & like her FB page–she’s new to both and it’ll make her feel oh-so-special!


After that, it was time to come home and get ready to go to Bailey’s to watch the Steelers game with the Chapel Hill Terrible Towel Club! I had been trying to manage my calories well all day as I knew I was about to do some damage. As I learned from my poor eating choices while in DC last week, I can still have cheat days–I just need to make up for it in the gym later. {Which I’m about to do in a few short minutes as soon as I finish this post!}

Only $2.50?? Uhh-ohh...




Haha, do you see why I must go hit the gym crazy hard right now?! All of this food alone would be like, three days worth of calories! Okay, thankfully, I did not eat ALL of it. They put way too many chicken tenders on my plate. I only ate TWO of them, thank you. But I did clean up the fries–gone–inhaled.I eat salads, grilled meats and clean foods all the time. Yesterday, I just wanted to be bad and have some fried food. Guess what? I don’t really like fried foods it turns out. My body certainly doesn’t like it as I found out {ugh}, but I personally don’t like it. Now, the good food actually tastes better to me! As I was crunching away on the fried badness, I was secretly longing for my leafy green salad with grilled chicken. If I didn’t know this before, I do know now! But the beer? Oh THAT was fantastic and I have no regrets about them. ;-)

Hubby and I drove separately so he could go home at halftime and get some sleep. I stayed until the last minute, of course. I NEVER bail on my STEELERS! Luckily, they pulled out an amazing win. 24-14 over the Philly Eagles! I actually like the Eagles a lot, but not when they’re playing again my guys! This reminds me–I never posted about my very first NFL game that I went to last Friday!! Steelers vs. Redskins!! We sadly could not pull out a win but I was a winner just for having been there! Eeek!

This was our view–not too shabby at all for $29 tickets!

The stadium was crazy huge. Not used to this scenery!

Hubby looked cute!

I looked sweaty and gross. I get so worked up over my Steelers!!!! {and still rockin' the leg brace--sexy.}

Again–most fabulous time ever! I think my dream job would be to work as a personal trainer for the Steelers. Oooh, I’d be SO happy to go to work! And speaking of work….I must go work out NOW. Goodbye chicken fingers, fries, pretzels, cheese, beer…ughhhhh, lol. Really Cherie?? Really??

What’s your favorite cheat food?

Jennifer Hudson Caught Drinking Beer in Saxapahaw?

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In the blogging world, I know there’s such a thing as Wordless Wednesday. Since I’m late to the party, how about a Silent Saturday? :-) This photographic post will chronicle my first time visit to The Eddy Pub {a totally cool restaurant/pub only 5 miles from my house out in the ‘kuntry which is right above the fantastic new coffee shop, Cup 22} in Saxapahaw  to celebrate International Beer Day yesterday with my hubby. As the sun was setting, we then took a walk down by the Haw River to work off some of the brewskis. Oh, and a total highlight came as we were leaving the pub–an older white gentleman who had been staring me down the whole time stopped my hubs and asked him if I was Jennifer Hudson. The man insisted I was and that I was beautiful. I’ll take it–with the weightloss, I’ve finally stopped hearing I resemble Aretha Franklin. :-) Okay–now time for me to be SILENT.





For whom do you get mistaken?

What I learned from The Smurfs…

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 When I was a kid, my Saturday mornings weren’t filled with weird anime, Turbo Dogs or Power Rangers cartoons. I am part of the generation that grew up watching those loveable little blue creatures, the Smurfs. Those were the good ‘ol days. Those days get to return for a little while this week when the new movie, The Smurfs, opens in theaters.

Movie poster

 Sure, they look a wee bit different. They’re in that CG imaging and not a cartoon format as I’d like. But it’s still them! Millions of people who came after my generation will get to experience the awesomeness that is the Smurfs. I hope. IF the movie stays true to the cartoon. I also hope that some of those people will be some of the same ones that were within earshot when I shrieked out loud at the sight of this in the mall the other day:

Eeeekkkk. There are so many of them. And they're so cute!

 I saw this at the entrance to Build-A-Bear and freaked out. I wanted one sooooo badly! But then again, what would I do with a Smurf? If it were a real Smurf, you know if they existed and all, I’d keep it. In fact, my first argument with my hubby (boyfriend at the time) was over the Smurfs and my decision to keep one if I found it in the woods. True story. He doesn’t seem to remember this, but it happened. He didn’t think it would be right to keep a Smurf as a pet and remove it from its family and my take was that it was a Smurf and I would HAVE to have the little thing and it would get adjusted to living with us. It was such a meaningful discussion for me that I had to have them as toppers on our wedding cake!

A very Smurfy wedding!

 So yes, Smurfs have a special place in my heart. It took every fiber of my being to not sit down in Build-A-Bear like an 8-year-old and make my very own. I thought about making Brainy, because hubby looks like him. {Or he would look like him if he were a Smurf.} I also thought about making Smurfette because she looks like me.

smurfette

Oooooh, I just love her!

 Okay, she’d look like me if I had flowing blonde hair and were a Smurf. {But who are we kidding. I’d probably be Vanity because I am never without my mirror ring that I wear EVERY day and constantly check out teeth, eyes or hair in. ;-) }

So why do I love them? Well, yes, it’s nostalgia. But it’s also what the Smurfs stood for. In every episode, without fail, those little, three-apples-high, blue creatures taught us great life lessons.

–They taught us to work together to achieve a goal.
–If you’re lazy you’ll get bitten by the purple gnap fly and turn into a zombie.
–They had a good mix of work hard/play hard.
–They weren’t afraid to be who they were–Smurfette rocked her feminine prowess, Hefty was strong {a bodybuilder–love it!}, Vanity {a little over the top but rocked his self-esteem}, Handy kept that place running, Papa was there for everyone all the time, etc….
–They lived off the land and always had plenty of food.
–They lived off the grid and still stayed in touch with everyone.
–They got plenty of exercise, working out there in the village and playing outdoors in the woods.

Watch out for Gargamel!

 –And importantly, watch out–sometimes there are those out there who wish to bring harm upon you {like Gargamel}. But stay true to yourself, do the right thing and you can fight evil! Karma will usually see to it too, lol… ;-)

I could go on about the values that the Smurfs taught me but I’ll end this for now. I think we could learn a thing or two from them! Now, I don’t know if I’ll actually go see it in the theater; I may just want to remember them as they were.  But oh, I miss those good ‘ol Smurfy days!

Did you watch the Smurfs cartoon? Which one was your favorite?

Hangin’ Tough

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I woke up with a smile on my face today. I mean, generally I’m just plain old happy because I woke up. That’s never promised to us as we go to bed. Every night, I say that part of my prayers “…and if I die before I wake…,” but I’m hoping that doesn’t happen of course!  So yes, waking up is cause for smiling as it is, but waking up having had an awesome time the day before makes me smile even more.

Saturday was fantastic. I got in a great walk on the treadmill…yup, I’m still only able to walk. But I’m getting faster and my leg is feeling stronger. Surely that means that I’ll be able to jog and then run soon. Everything was going pretty swell and then I checked my Facebook on my cell phone. Amy Winehouse was found dead?

July 2007 Issue of Spin Magazine

 I almost didn’t even flinch. One, I wish I could say I was shocked. I wasn’t. Back in July 2007 when I received that Spin Magazine in the mail, I didn’t even open it. I left it pristine in its plastic wrapping because I knew it would only be a matter of time before this happened. I didn’t know it would only be four years until I’d now have a collector’s item in my hands. Two, how did it get this far with her? How did it get that bad? It was just last month Amy was on the news for not even being able to finish one of her concerts because of her chemical dependency issues. She was a beautiful person, an amazing singer and now, another person we have to refer to in the past tense because of her addictions. Sad. Whatever your addictions are people, please, please, pretty please reach out to someone and get help. Mine was food and I’m so much better off now that I dealt with it. You–the person reading this–you’re awesome and I want you to take care of yourself right now! You deserve it. Got it?! 

I walked for 2.1 miles at a speed of 2.8 mph. {I did get up to 3 mph, but only for a couple minutes.} I could have made my incline higher, but I stayed around 2% which made the leg most comfortable. It took me about 43 minutes…haha, again, not great–but that’s the fastest I’ve walked since I started again. That’s only one mile short of a 5K! I know I walked it, but it at least got me thinking that it’s high time I pick up where I left off, before the injury two months ago, and start searching for a 5K in my area!! :-) Exciting!!! I hopped off the treadmill and then ventured outside to get the mail. Of course, because I was gross and sweaty and hoping to avoid anyone outside, the FedEx Home Delivery guy was driving down my driveway. But guess what he had for me….

Justin's Nut Butter

Justin's Nut Butter surprise package!

Back view of my t-shirt!!

 Let me just say that Justin’s Nut Butters rocks! The other day, they randomly sent me a direct message on Twitter saying they wanted to thank me for mentioning Justin’s and send me a t-shirt. OMG. What? I only mentioned them on my blog post the other day–haha, like one random post because I was excited to try them out. And not only was this package sent out to me with record speed, it contained a t-shirt, two packages of nut butters and a sticker. How cool! There are still great companies out there with fantastic customer service–imagine that! :-) After that, it was time to get a move on–we had a big night planned–the New Kids on the Block/Back Street Boys Concert!!!
New Kids on the Block CD

I made a pot roast in the crockpot so we wouldn’t be tempted to eat junk food from the concession stand at the Greensboro Coliseum for dinner. Dancing around the kitchen and playing an old CD helped me to get back in the spirit of the good ol days when Jon, Danny, Joey, Jordan and ::sighhh:: DONNIE filled the airwaves. {Yeah, they were definitely the main group of the two I wanted to see!!} I’ve wanted to seem them since they came to my town in 1991. My mom was like, “Umm, no, you’re only 13 and you’re not going Cherie. Bad things happen at concerts.” Haha, really mom?! Anyhow, now that they were in my town 20 years later, I wasn’t missing them for the world!!

I also realized that I now live in workout/fitness clothes 24/7. I had no idea what to wear to the concert.  A lot of my clothes don’t fit now {due to the weight loss and I’m not complaining} and I haven’t shopped to replace them. I went with a bright yellow maxi dress, pink cami and fun necklace. I tried to look like day-glo, festive late 80s/early 90s.

new kids on the block nkotbsb

In the car on the way there!

Me and hubs. He's thrilled for NKOTBSB I'm sure!

 I totally forgot to take a full length pic. Argh. Anyhow, the dress was down to my ankles {hiding my leg brace and Zensah sleeve} and comfy. I was ready to dance!

NKOTBSB line

The line outside the doors

 Look at this line outside–haha, the men were totally outnumbered! I think I could have counted them on one hand! And again, poor hubby. Hahaha….

Popcorn. Oops.

 Okay, so you know how I said we’d eat dinner at home so we didn’t end up eating junk? I totally failed on that once I smelled the popcorn. So yes, I ate a good portion of popcorn during the evening. Ughhhh. I could have resisted it, but I was like, “Doggone it. I’m sooooo good with my calories and working out all the time. I want some popcorn!” So I had it. . One or three servings of popcorn is okay every now and again.  It was worth every buttery, salty kernel. :-) I’m sure I danced and burned it all off anyway! Now that I FINALLY have a healthy relationship with food, I can allow myself a cheat snack and not beat myself up about it. On the way to our seats, I stopped in the bathroom and found this:

Jordan Knight pin

Jordan!!!

 Everyone had all these pins all over their shirts and I was a wee bit sad that I didn’t have an of my old ones saved from the 8th grade. But then at the sink while washing my hands, I looked down and there was a pin. It was Jordan! Umm, yes, I could have searched for Lost and Found to drop off this little thing, but uh, ummm, I didn’t. Oops. ;-) I put on my pin and we went into the seating area and made the looooooooooong climb up to the nosebleed section.

It's scary up here!

 OMG I don’t think I’ve ever been up that high. The staircase to get to our seats was so steep!! I was scared to death!!! Once I sat there for a while and tried not to think about it I calmed down. Heck, I was FINALLY at a New Kids concert, so I needed to just suck it up and enjoy!

The first opener was Midnight Red…never heard of them. The second opener was Mr. Schuster!! You know, Matthew Morrison, the teacher from Glee!! OMG he was so good!!! And then finally, around 9:30pm, my heart stopped. Jon, Danny, Joey, Jordan and DONNIE…took the stage. I was in Heaven for the rest of the night and still am right now. They looked good when I was 13 and they looked AMAZING now that I’m 33. I’m glad I was forced by my mom waited to see them. Mmm, they got better with age!!! So hot. So manly. So chiseled. Oh, and the singing was good too. :-) I enjoyed the Back Street Boys too, but I was in/graduating college by the time they came out, so they don’t have my teenage heart like NKOTB.

They sang all of my favorite songs but I like the message that the song title Hangin’ Tough sends to me. I wish Amy, or anyone with addiction problems would Hang Tough. I’m glad for the past weeks of my shin injury I’ve been Hangin’ Tough through it. When it didn’t seem like the weight would come off and I had such a journey before me, I continued to Hang Tough. When I wonder if my words on Cherie Runs This get out there, I Hang Tough and believe that they do. When little 13-year-old Cherie thought she’d missed her only opportunity to see her heartthrobs, she just had to Hang Tough that the chance would come again. Yup, it’s a good message and applies to just about everything!!! :-) Hang Tough, people!!!!

What was a concert you’ve enjoyed? Did you ever have to just Hang Tough and wait for something to come?