Workout DVDs

So, Chris and I have had Netflix for about five months. In that time, I've watched many workout videos (and participated in them, of course!). Although many I only watched once, there were a few that I really liked. Since pretty much everybody wants to get healthier in the new year, I thought I'd throw in my two cents as far as which videos I would buy. That is, if I didn't do netflix - which IS cheaper than a gym membership you know, and there are many choices for instant streaming workouts! Before I start sounding like an infomercial for netflix, here are my recommendations and non-recommendations! (in no particular order)

(Edited in: To save you from reading everything, Self: Bikini Ready Fast, Jillian's 30-Day Shred are my top two; and the shred is actually the best I've ever done by far. Buy it.)

Self: Bikini Ready, Fast

I really like Self workouts, and this is probably my favorite. Ellen Barrett is the instructor and I have a not-secret girl crush on her. She's not annoying at all, and explains everything well. You need light weights for this video (I did it with 5lb and it got my muscles burning; they recommend 2-5lb). This is a great toning workout, and there is a lot of "standing ab work" which is cool and different, but maybe not the best ab routine ever. I feel like there is more focus on upper body, but I did this just yesterday and my legs and back are sore and my arms are fine. Weird! The video is about 30 minutes (maybe a bit longer).

Self: Your Best Butt, Fast

Self: Firm, Flat Abs Fast

Self: Slim and Sleek, Fast

These are all more Self workouts. They're all decent, I don't like them as much as Bikini Ready but they're pretty solid. They are a little more cardio (which I prefer to do on the treadmill or outside) but good to do on a rainy day.

Jillian Michaels: No more Trouble Zones

Cardio Kickboxing

30 day shred

Banish Fat Boost Metabolism

Although I don't watch The Biggest Loser, I really, really like Jillian workouts. Every single one I've ever done has been solid. My favorite is hands down 30 Day Shred. There are three 20-minute workouts that are HARD. You will sweat so much and it's awesome because it is over in 20 minutes! It's circuit training, and keeps your heartrate up with cardio, strength (you need light hand weights), and ab work. I've never done 30 days of it, though, so I can't vouch for the effectiveness of it alone, I just really enjoy the video. BFBM was another solid workout, also circuit training, but is a little less intense but lasts for 50 minutes. Cardio kickboxing is fun and a good cardio workout (I think 30-40 min if I remember correctly) - not as hard as the shred, but actually a pretty awesome addition to it if you really want a workout! One thing I really appreciate about all these is that Jillian combines moves - so you're doing legs and arms together to burn more calories in less time, which is what I want.

10 Minute Solution: Kickbox bootcamp
Target Toning
Rapid results Pilates
Fat blasting dance mix

If you are looking for a super quick workout (and maybe not the most hard 10 minutes of your life) these are pretty good. I've tried to do these as study breaks, but I actually prefer to just do three or four of them at a time...or all of them! Each DVD is broken into about 5, 10-minute segments. Some (particularly Toning and Pilates) will focus on one area of the body at a time (so if you want to do 10 min of abs, you can do just that). The pilates is the best of the group, and I couldn't do the dance mix - not coordinated enough and she went too fast for me! I do like that these can be done with very little time commitment (and it's easy to say "well that 10 minutes wasn't that bad, maybe I can spare 10 more)

Crunch: Cardiosalsa
Candlelight yoga
Fat Burning Ab Attack

I don't like these too much. Cardiosalsa was too crazy and yoga usually isn't my thing. Maybe somebody else would like them, but they weren't for me.

The biggest loser: the workout

This workout was okay, a decent workout and the contestants on the show actually do the workouts, which is encouraging. It wasn't a super hard workout but it's better than sitting on the couch! It was laid back, and there are some workouts (I think out of 4 total) that are low-impact. Trainer Bob is the host (if you follow the show) and he's pretty laid back and not very pushy, so you have to keep yourself motivated. 4 workouts, 100 minutes total.

Cindy Crawford: Shape your body workout

This video was made in the 80s. It's not very fun, Cindy isn't all that good at what she's doing and she does it waaay too fast. It was funny to look at but got sent back after watching only maybe 5 minutes. I couldn't handle the 80's-ness of it all.

P90X

My brothers got P90 last year and I actually did half the workouts (I mean, I did all the videos for 45 days instead of the full 90). The premise is you workout every day (each video is over an hour) and you alternate with strength training and cardio. The workouts seemed pretty good but long and Tony Horton was only a little annoying (mostly he was sort of funny because he is crazy). Unfortunately, I think these videos were made for men. Chris and I did the same things for a month and a half (seriously, that was a huge time commitment for me) and he bulked up some, but I didn't notice any bit of difference - halfway through the program, working out more than I had ever done in my life(!) and eating healthy, and I didn't notice any changes - no extra energy, no firmer, no healthier. So...I'm not a fan.

The Statuses of 2009

While I usually disapprove of most facebook applications, I found one that a friend had used that shows what your status updates were for the entire year. I tried it out and it let me see all my updates for the whole year (as far as I can tell anyway) and I thought it was actually a pretty good overview of my year. 2009 - you were more amazing than I ever would have guessed. Here's to an even better 2010! January
	needs to sleep before her 6am ER shift.
	caught a cold and spent her only day off at marriage class. Ick!
	is NOT happy that being a 3rd year means being a "Plan B" employee. Boo!
Yes, I remember surviving the great snowstorm of 2009. The roads were ridiculous, and I should have just called in. Seriously, 3rd years don't matter anyway. Thankfully, I only live a mile away and I had an awesome fiance (now husband!) who drove me in and picked me up (seriously--awesome).
February
	is-holy cow-getting married in 8 months!
So much of the year was spent preparing for marriage. Marriage classes, meeting with the priest (hundreds of times it seemed like), picking out every teensy little detail. I wish that it hadn't stressed me out at all, that everything was in stride, but these silly wedding guides make you believe that it really DOES matter whether you have ivory or white linens, or whether your food is a buffet or served by waiters. I eventually realized that none of that stuff matters at all to me, and that made the process so much easier! I'm glad it's only something I have to do once, though!
	is about to enjoy her first day off in two weeks! whoo!
March
	was at lexington green and somebody was shot!
I still get a little creeped out when I go over there. I was at Lenscrafters and I heard the gunshots...but had no idea what they were! One of the scariest moments of the year.
	made 108 pumpkin chip muffins.
	has a dress. :)
and it was lovely! It was hard to come to a decision that the dress that I wanted was completely and absolutely unlike what I *thought* I wanted...but everything turned out perfect in the end.
	is visiting Indianapolis this weekend.
April
	hopes the peds neurologists will let her off for Easter!
	caught a bird. in her dryer.
	is proud of Catholic Christopher!
Chris became Catholic this year (on his own, not even because of me!), and he has made me such a better person in the process. Thanks, Chris.
	has seen enough strokes, thanks.
Neurology was not my thing.
May
	RAINBOW CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	is irked they moved the neuro exam, but instead I got a dental appt. so I guess everything worked out.
	No-Cavity-Katie strikes again!
	needs someone to give her advice for surgery rotation, or at least let her borrow some books?
	has yellow hair! eep!
I went back to being blonde this year (after a couple years of red and brown...and I hate that I love it. It's such a pain to keep up but it's so gosh darn cute! Well, I'll enjoy it for the rest of 4th year, then sleep-deprivation of residency may turn me back into a brunette...we'll see.
June
	needs help with my ant problem. Bleck!
	got laryngoscoped today! for fun!
	has the best and sneakiest friends! Thanks so much, guys, you're awesome! :-D
My groupmates threw me a surprise bachelorette party, and it was fantastic! So fun.
July
	Chris made blueberry cornmeal pancakes...mmm :)
	305 days and you gotta call me Dr. Twist! (or Dr. Simmons, or whatever)
	is going to take a $1000 test. Boo.
CS wasn't really that bad, but it could have been cheaper. Or optional. Went to Atlanta with my parents and hung out at the Coke museum for an afternoon. It was a quick trip but nice to spend time with my parents.
	has too many teacher friends and they're making me sad with their "starting school" updates...I need a vacation too!
August
	...is a 4th year... whoo!
	does anyone know anything about dial-up internet nowadays?
I studied for CK at my grandparents house, and they had no internet, so I had to find some options. I ended up with broadband that we just paid for a month...a fantastic idea to make me study, actually.
	warm, homemade italian cream cupcakes. from scratch. :)
I was making my grandma's 80th birthday cake, and needed to practice all the recipes to make sure they'd turn out well! Chocolate chip, carrot, italian cream, and chocolate. How could they not turn out well?
	3 years of nonstop multiple choice tests has made it practically impossible to write an essay...
	teensy baby pumpkin pies!
	moving my stuff from apt 37 to apt 47 (before *hopefully* moving to B-town for AHEC...)
	Chris got his wedding band today! whoo!
	just busted out ERAS tonight...yessssss
September
	only 3 days on peds, and I already caught something. ughhhh. Thankfully, it's probably not swine flu.
I was sick that WHOLE ENTIRE MONTH...extremely frustrating, and I had no energy to be gettng ready for the wedding! It was a good excuse to hole myself up in the back room and study for boards, though, so I guess it was good in the end.
	had a great birthday, thanks for all the messages! :)
	is getting married in ONE MONTH! yeaa!
	has been voiceless for over a week...and the coughing begins. kids are little germballs.
I had no voice for THREE weeks total. Ridiculous. Almost made me swear off pediatrics forever.
	decorating a HUGE cake for my grandma's 80th birthday bash today! hooray!
October
	Step 2 on Friday - blech. Then the fun begins!
	had an awesome weekend!
	getting married in 9 days, getting excited!
	passed CS! Even though it's not much of an accomplishment, I think it still deserves celebrating :)
	is married! it's awesome!!!
The honeymoon was even awesomer :)
	is married, sunburned, and rocked the boards...best last day of vacation ever!
November
	just did the math, and I'm getting paid $0.15/hour this month. Better than nothing!
	just made homemade cookie dough ice cream (and peach frozen yogurt yesterday) !!!
Bought myself an ice cream maker with gift cards from the wedding. Definitely have gotten our money's worth on that purchase!
	loves making frozen yogurt!
	sturgeon face :c
	loves vegetables.
	is making pumpkin ice cream...mmmmmmm!
	has wedding pictures! HOORAY!
	figured out how to made chocolate fudgesicle ice cream (and it's lowfat!). YES.
December
	has begun her trek down the interview trail.
	made delicious soup! Yea! http://bit.ly/qqOOu
I baked and cooked more and more as the year has wound down to a close. I had less and less to do, so I just filled the time with cookies, soups, muffins, and everything else. I try to give most of it away so I don't become obese...you know.
	baking eggnog-cranberry muffins and gingerbread cookies...headed to NC tomorrow for one more interview. hooray, holidays!
	cleaning, decorating, and baking for a holiday party!
	ridiculously sore...spent too long at the gym I guess. Maybe gingerbread cookies will make it better!
	wedding pictures are (finally) up...thanks to Chris! and thanks to Varland Photography for taking such awesome photos!
	is choppin off her hair today!
	my husband is apparently a gourmet chef, who knew? <3>
	homemade graham crackers and homemade marshmallows equals only one thing...SMORES

with photos!

It must be a Christmas miracle! Chris stopped playing the video game and graciously uploaded my photos from his camera, loaded them onto his computer, cropped them properly (and tried to fix any gross errors in lighting), and sweetly handed them to me for this post! Hooray! Now, he's back to the video games and I am hankering for another miniature smore (OMG yum - there need to be some photos of these!)

So, I suppose in no particular order...(truly no order, because blogger requires it to be so)

My sweet little puppy Prancer, she looks so sad. It breaks my heart!

Homemade marshmallows - easy and absolutely delicious. Most likely the best marshmallows you've ever tasted.

Some tasty wine Chris bought (for about $10) and it was great!

Chris made this unbelievable dinner for our "2-month wedding anniversary" - Chilean sea bass on a bed of mushroom and onion with a mushroom risotto...totally gourmet and maybe, just maybe, on of my favorite meals. Ever!

Goodbye long hair Katie!!

Hellooooo short hair! It's so easy to wash! And brush! and it looks awesome!! Yeaaa!

The first batch of crackers. I've tried them with olive oil and whole wheat flour too now, but no pictures (as of yet!). These I ate in a day and a half. Yes, all of them. With rosemary, garlic, and parmesean as toppings, how can these not be good?

A delicious Christopher concoction (the red sugar sprinkles were my idea, though)
and a painting I randomly decided to do one day. It's pretty big and hangs over our couch. I wanted to add big white flowers but haven't gotten around to it. I kind of like it like this. Oh, and it was way harder than it looks, so you should appreciate all the subtelties in it... or something like that.

Have a very Merry Christmas (remember, the 12 days of Christmas are not over yet!!) and a super Happy New Year!!

The end of the 200-'s

My Christmas was lovely, filled with all sorts of family, friends, and fun. I've been baking quite a bit (more crackers, marshmallows, graham crackers, brownies....you get the idea!) and to add fuel to the fire, Chris bought me THREE cookbooks for Christmas! Not little wimpy cookbooks, either. He gave me both volumes of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child (after watching Julie/Julia with me I think he wants me to cook through the entire book like she did!) and "Joy of Cooking," as well as an Alton Brown-esque book about the science behind cooking. I suppose that's four books! I better get back in the kitchen! :)

Anyway, we spent time with both families, got a good bit of snow in Indy (that somehow made me nostalgic for Colorado!) and just have had a relaxing time. Chris got a bunch of new video games, so he has been ignoring me and I've been playing in the kitchen. Everything is working out perfectly! We also saw Avatar in 3D (which is the only way to see it, really!)...the storyline was OK but the graphics were unbelievable! If you need to borrow some 3D glasses I have a couple spare pairs lying around, too.

My latest concoctions (as in today) have been graham crackers and olive oil crackers. Freakin' yum is all I have to say. and I wish I could make my food photography as pretty as theirs! I also wish I could have a digital converter on MY computer so I didn't have to pass everything through Chris (he is busy playing Wii, I can't bother him right now!)... Oh well!

Oh, and I also made homemade marshmallows. Did I tell you that? Because I used them to make baby smores tonight...and they were unbelievably good. I promise, they weren't that hard and definitely not as messy as I thought (they were a little messy, but they're marshmallows, what do you expect?!)

My dear friend Amanda (who lives in Peru!!!) came by tonight since she's in town for the holidays. It was great to hang out with her AND I'm super lucky because she is coming back tomorrow! I'm going to make her some delicious "America" food and also have our friends over, Jessica and Matthew. I've planned a menu that I hope to be AMAZING...we'll see if it's picture-worthy tomorrow night!

On a sadder note, my poor puppy dog is very sick. Prancer is 11 years old now (which is old in boxer years!) and has heart failure. We almost lost her on Thanksgiving but she got a bit better, but has gotten sick again, and isn't eating much at all. It's heartbreaking - I've never lost a dog before (my only past pets have included several goldfish that lived for excessive periods of time, and a creepy chameleon, but nothing furry, happy and loveable like my little Prancer). It breaks my heart to see her sick and know that she has no idea why. I'm not dealing with it as well as I would like, but I suppose it's the circle of life and we have to just cherish every moment we get with everyone, and everything.

I'm still trying to figure out new years resolutions. I think I should write an entire post on all the workout DVDs I've watched (thanks, Netflix!) since I'm pretty much an expert in that arena and it seems like everyone always wants to get healthy in the new year. I am more for choosing resolutions I think I can keep instead of something vague/crazy. Maybe it will be to eat less flour (I seriously ate like 3 cups of flour in 2 days the first time I made crackers - oops!), or maybe something better. Hopefully I can come up with something cooler, since this is the last 6 months of my life that I will have no real job. I need to make the most of it!

Enjoy the rest of 2009!!

PS-I donated my hair on Christmas Eve! Photos to come!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

So I've been spending a lot of time on the internet lately. With all the food blogs, netflix, hulu, facebook, and who knows what else I can find, it is seriously a wonder I find the time to...you know...put on pants and things. Anyway, I've become quite obsessed with my little baking projects and decided that I wanted to learn to make (of all things)...Crackers. Don't ask why. I have no idea.

Anyway, I made some crackers yesterday and they were delicious! And quite addictive, I might add. A handful of them didn't get quite crisp enough (I didn't cook them long enough and they ended up more like pita bread). I think that everyone should make their own crackers...although I do admit that it was a slightly labor intensive process.

The basic recipe I found here. The website is about sustainability and implementing it in their own life (by making just about everything themselves). It's pretty cool. Anyway, here is how I made the crack(ers).

2 cups of plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons softened butter
approximately 1 cup of milk

Add the first three ingredients in a food processor and blend. Slowly mix in the milk until it forms a solid ball of dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until very thin (the dough should be pretty dense so it's easy to do this). Then, I sprinkled seasonings I wanted on the crackers (for me it was dried rosemary and garlic salt) and roll the rolling pin over it once more to smoosh the seasonings into the cracker. Prick the dough all over with a fork (to keep it from bubbling up) and roll into cracker shapes with a pizza roller. Bake at 300F for 15-20 minutes, until slightly browned.

I also made a quick hummus dip (I LOVE HUMMUS), as well as chopped up quite a few veggies to pop in the freezer since I had the food processor out. It was pretty fun, and tasty. Yea, crackers!

In other news...well I don't really have other news. I've been baking, and working out, all week. (They counteract one another!) We've had all our Christmas shopping done for a while now (thank you, online shopping) so no stress in this household as far as that goes! Christmas eve day we'll spend with my mom's extended family, I think we're doing a big brunch this year and a gift exchange. We're going to go to Midnight Mass, spend Christmas morning at my parents', then head up to Indy and hopefully be there by mid-afternoon to spend time with Chris' family. Should be a good time!

Oh! I almost forgot! I'm getting a haircut today. Not just any haircut, mind you. My first haircut in more than a YEAR AND A HALF! Yeah, crazy I know. I might donate some of it, because there is a ridiculous amount. But thanks to Mr. Internet, I now know that Locks of Love only gives 10% of their wigs to cancer kids (it mostly goes to kids with alopecia areata, which I agree is a lifelong condition but I feel like they're sort of false advertising) and they actually sell/throw away about 80% of the hair they receive, because apparently they get too much hair and can't handle it all or something. There are other hair donation sites but apparently if you want to do some good they really just want money. I don't think they want my hair, either, because I had the highlights put in it a couple months ago. Anyway, I'm going to go and offer it but we'll see what my hair-lady (stylist? dresser? cutter?) has to say. Either way, I'm going to weigh less tonight! Hopefully there will be pictures to come.

Finally, I leave you with a holiday story I found while reading the internet this week (sorry I don't know where the original post went!):

My four year old son walked up to me yesterday while I was setting the table for dinner.
"Uhm" he asked hesitangly"Is it too late to add things to my Christmas list?"
"I think so," I said, eyeing the three feet of snow piled up outside the window.
"OK," he said resignedly and then looked out past me, deep in thought. "Dad can we run out to the store and buy a whip?"
"Why?" I asked.
"Uhm. I put a lion on my Christmas list but I forgot to put down a whip. And if the lion shows up and I don't have a whip we could all be in trouble."

special brownies

So....what have I done for the past month?

I seriously have no idea. I've done my best as a "stay at home wife" while Chris goes to work all day, I sit around, play on the internet, watch TV, occasionally work out, and get dinner and the house all cleaned up before he comes home! It's a tough life, I gotta tell you.

We went on a few interviews, which I will not say much about in case anybody google searches me and finds this...not that they would...but you know. I've been to a couple community programs in Cincinatti, U of Louisville, and Wake Forest. I have a few more scheduled for January. The dinners have been delicious, and hotels have been pretty awesome as well. I think we're a little glad to be off the road for a couple weeks, though, because it was getting tiring.

I've been trying out plenty of new recipes but nothing too amazing...except for this soup. I had to make a few changes because I didn't have everything but it was pretty much perfect! My version is below. This soup is thick, sweet, and spicy and strangely reminded me of a curry (I think it would be awesome ladled over rice!).

Sweet Potato Peanut Soup!

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 T canola oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 T chile powder
• 1 t cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  
• 2 t ginger
• 1 t ground allspice
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

1) Cook and peel sweet potatoes (stick in microwave for about 9 minutes), mash one and dice the other
2) While the potatoes cook, heat the oil in a saucepan, add onion and cook until it begins to brown. Add the garlic, then add all the spices. I added a touch of water so it wasn't so thick and pasty.
3) Add the sweet potatoes and peanut butter and stir until PB melts. Enjoy!


Tonight, we ran to the grocery to grab a few things for dinner (This sweet potato-spinach-chickpea curry, actually - sensing a pattern?) when Chris and Patrick found these:



So I baked some brownies, topped it with some frosting, and there you have it. Now you know why I am about to weigh 400 pounds. At least dinner was healthy.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons cocoa, unsweetened
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons cocoa, unsweetened
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You know how to make brownies. Cream the butter and sugar, add the other liquids, then add all the powdered stuff (but blend all the powders together before pouring it in. I don't know if that really makes a difference or if it's just a ploy by dishwasher-makers to get you to use more dishes. I do it anyway.) Bake at 350 in a greased 13x9 pan for, oh, maybe 20 minutes. What do you do with all those 20 minutes (other than wash dishes?)?? Read on!

3 tablespoons butter, softened
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk

Mix the butter and peppermint, then add part of the powders and part of the milk, alternating until you have frosting. Smear all over brownies and enjoy with a glass of ice cold milk.

Yeah, I know you want some.

pie and cookies

Instead of working out to relieve the stress of my impending interviews, I have resorted to what I do best: baking.

First, a delicious blackberry pie (made from freshly picked blackberries we got this summer at Kateri's parents house and have stored in the freezer since then). There is really no recipe for it because I just sort of made it up as I went along. It has a lot of blackberries, a decent amount of sugar, some lime juice, and maybe some flour and maybe cornstarch. I was worried it would be runny. It wasn't. It was delicious.



Today I made some chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Yea! Here is the recipe, I halved it so I wasn't such a fatty, and I invited Patrick over for some brain food since he has a physics test tomorrow.