Monday Inspiration

Happy Spring! (well if you live in Chicago, at least Happy Sunny Monday at a nice 37 degrees) To celebrate the sun and the oncoming warmer months, I'm reliving my old days in Miami when I could stop by the campus Starbucks and buy my favorite drink, a Green Tea no-whip Frapuccino.

Seeing that I work in a health/fitness profession every day of the week, I decided that Mondays should be devoted to inspirational stories and advice that may help the week flow more easily. I love this story that was featured in the HungryGirl newsletter this morning. Residents of the itty-bitty town of Fossil, OR, have joined forces to help each other lose weight in what they're calling the "Biggest Loser" campaign, despite facing a whole lot of obstacles. With no fitness centers for miles, participants gather at the local grade-school gym for workouts, where their "equipment" is as bare bones as it gets. Before ordering cheapie resistance bands off the Internet, they improvised by using water bottles filled with sand for hand weights. Instead of hopping on stair-climbers, they climb actual stairs. A local restaurant offers lightened up versions of its usual menu items and provides calorie counts, and the only grocery store in town is adding healthier stuff to its shelves. At weekly weigh-ins, everyone cheers each other on. And unlike the $250, 000 grand prize offered by TV's The Biggest Loser, these people are competing for six hundred bucks and a fake pound of fat to signify the accomplishment. Residents are shedding pounds, getting healthier, and coming together as a community. How awesome and inspirational are they?!

In terms of relating this to the economy and hearing things like "I can't afford a gym" or "I need a good excuse to warrant buying a membership." Consider this: "We started out the first week or two with my husband buying 500 pounds of sand, and people brought water bottles," Boettner explains. "We filled them up with sand … and depending on the size of the water bottles, you had either a 2- or a 3- or a 4-pound weight."

Boettner also notes that the group has no stationary bikes, treadmills, elliptical machines or stair-climbers.

"When we climb stairs, they're actual stairs and we climb them," she says, laughing. "We do it the old-fashioned way."

This story brings inspiration and hope to my often thought about topic of what brings people together.

Maybe the rest of the week I can find out what, besides calorie-counting and sweating, brings people together.

P.S. A much lighter and calorie-friendly version of my favorite Green Tea Frapuccino can bemade using this recipe. Come over for my birthday this month and we'll have pitchers upon

pitchers of them!!

And remember....Happy Monday!!

Where Did I Go?

I have been a bad blogger (so bad that I just referred to myself as a blogger) this month. I meant to take a week off while visiting my lovely parents in Manassas, VA, but then never jumped back on as my return from vacation somewhat smacked me in the face.

Having never been to DC before, I took a day that I had all to myself and sauntered over to the Smithsonian, where I assumed the identity of "Who's that girl?" while perusing the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History. An idea for my "How Expensive Is It, Really?" column came to mind as I spent a whole day in our nation's capital hardly spending any money. As I force myself to get more on task, I'll write about that day. I promise, I will! For now, here is one of my favorite photos from the day.



Yep, it's the Hope Diamond as taken from the camera on my cell phone. My imagination took flight upon seeing that jewel...imagine how a string of diamonds would feel hanging upon one's neck!



One of the best realizations of my trip was that maybe I should consider another medium of performance. While sitting across from my dad at lunch, I recounted my 'idea' for the infomercial that would replace the Shamwow. That of course being my new aerobic dance video, entitled "Faux Hop: Hip Hop fo da Folk." My dad, who always listens with an educated, encouraging ear, cracked up and said, "You know maybe you should think about going to stand up open mics or something. Your honesty is too funny." So I sit here thinking "Why have I not?" And it's most definitely because I'm scared. We often ignore the things we're good at but are new to simply because they're new. Can I envision myself standing onstage making people laugh? Hell yes - that's not new to me. But learning how to exploit material from my life and the people in it in a captivating, hilarious and fast-paced manner is new. And hard. And intimidating.

My return to Chicago left my spirits down. I remember closing the door of my father's car and all of a sudden my eyes filled with tears. Perhaps it was because I wasn't ready to leave these guys behind.










But when I got off the plane and it was sunny, warm, and inviting, I knew I'd be ok. I wasn't returning to the monster of real life. I was just returning to a place where I have yet to find people that love me unconditionally. But really - who, besides my parents and my sister does? I think the expectation of having a family away from family is what always leaves me disappointed. So when I stepped off the jet bridge and into O'Hare, I once again assumed my "Who's that girl?" persona and walked away with confidence and glamour. (Special thanks to the person who took me out for a refreshing salad at Earwax. You rock and you know it).

I wanted to bury myself in a mound of work last week, and ended up coming up with a couple things - but mostly ended up getting back into the swing of teaching my classes and rehearsing for my first show with Adam (we've decided we're going to be called A Sample Life).


I had a special visitor from my chidhood visit just in time to catch our first set at the Red Line Tap. Another refreshing welcome back to the city that's supposed to have become mine by now.


We got pedicures at Amy's Nails in Wicker Park to simultaneously and belatedly celebrate her birthday and my future status as achiever of Album of the Year.

Equinox, Flirty Girl, and Wicker Park Fitness have all been great to me since I returned as well. I'm glad to be back on track with an almost refreshed mind and a more grounded sense of self.

Isn't it funny what a little time away does for the soul?

Top 5 Reasons it Rocked to be a Middle Schooler in the Late '90s

I had been at a loss thinking of a fun, new Top 5 list until @Shanetron Tweeted a response to me claiming I was "6th grade boy crazy. insert your own titanic/lfo/otown joke." For some reason this sent me into a small fit of laughter - and I realized, the late '90s were amazing. Man, life in middle school in the late '90s (physical awkwardness and petty friendships aside) was easygoing, hilarious, and full of cultural jokes.

#1.) Our biggest worry in the winter of 6th grade was whether or not our tally of seeing Titanic was higher than every other girl on the A list.

Oh, and if you had all the lyrics to My Heart Will Go On memorized AND had a life situation that could relate - you were the creme de la creme at the lunch table.

#2.) The biggest ongoing worry was making sure you didn't have after school detention so that you could rush home or to your Best Friend Forever bracelet partner's house to watch TRL and make sure *NSYNC was for sure going to make it to 60 times at #1.


#3.) Could you recite all of the lyrics to Pretty Fly for a White Guy at the after school dance in 7th grade??

What about Chumbawumba's Tubthumping? One Week? If you were a guy and could sing all the lyrics to these hard-to-follow songs, you could get all the honeys on the dance floor. Not to mention you'd be the coolest among your group of guy friends who wanted to be like you. Sweater with the one strip across the chest included.

#4.) You spent the summer between 7th and 8th grade going to see the second Austin Powers movie with 12 of your friends (and always got stuck being the one getting to the theatre early and saving a whole row of seats with M&M baggies, a purse, and both jelly shoes). And you wished you could be one of the people in LFO's video. And that you had enough "my own money" to buy a new abercrombie&fitch shirt to wear to the fair.


#5.) Vitamin C's graduation song came out for the class of 2000. Ok so maybe it was meant for the high school class of 2000, but 8th grade deserved some mad cred. We had everything to look forward to - Homecoming at high school actually meant something. We learned how to make cinnamon rolls in FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences. Our generation's new p.c. term for Home Ec). Spring actually still arrived when spring break rolled around somewhere between March 18 and March 31. Daylight Savings still happened in April. Our parents were able to hand over $10 when we walked out into the living room and said, "Katie's mom is going to pick me up and take us to the mall...."

Oh, and thanks to Sisco, we knew how to PARTY with the Thong Song.

Ghost House : Group Therapy

Album Review

therapy (def): noun. 1.) the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process: speech therapy. 2.) a curative power or quality. 3.) PSYCHOTHERAPY 4.) any act, happy, task, program, etc., that relieves tension.
group therapy (def) noun. using shared knowledge and experiences to provide constructive feedback about maladaptive behavior.

Leave the world you know behind and blast off into the Ghost House. As the opening track Rock It Man counts down, a mere five seconds will transport you to a world where sweat, sarcasm and low-ride dancing are the norm.

Whether it's therapy you're seeking or not, a release is hard to avoid as the opening track sets the tone launching the entire body and mind into dance mode. Jimmy Con precisely lays down the beats, and for those of us who like to listen to headphones, you're in for a treat. The sequencing coupled with smart synth tracks farther back in the mix headline each song just as much as emcee ADD's intelligent and witty lyrics.

A smooth transition is made to the second track, Get Down, as the dance therapy ideal never vanishes, but rather lures you into an all-encompassing dance floor of laid back, cool peeps. We learn even more about the sense of humour behind the men of Ghost House in the funny lyrics of the album's third track, Ghost Ride the Dick. Even female listeners can't scoff at ADD's somewhat demeaning words because his delivery is so smooth, musical and hilariously manipulating. Remember, you have already long entered the world of dance therapy and succumbed to its curative powers. Hard to imagine anyone disobeying the dance floor command "left foot right foot spread them both apart/hands down head up keep your back arched."

Ghost House exudes confidence, and they make sure you know with U Don't Want Nothin. Showcasing ADD's vocal talents (is there nothing this voice cannot do?), and proving their place in the music world, these guys are ready to throw down, so back up.

The next track, Samuel L. Jackson, has already received acclaim and has been played on and rated “Song of the Year” by SNRadio. It seems this team knows how to aim and throw hit singles to the masses. This track, along with Rock It Man, Ghost In My Room, Steppin' Out, and Lights Low jump off the album list and into dj playlists where the dance floors are rocked and girls' hips figure eight. An element all of these tracks have in common is the sexiness provided by Chuck New's vocals in every hook. One listen and you feel as though his voice has whispered those words before, making it easy to sing along. Ghost In My Room especially opens our ears to this voice as a familiar chorus from the past is borrowed to create a new sound in their story of unrequited love.

Unhappy featuring Dude N. Nem particularly strikes as the one song on the album that doesn't aim to be a hit single or a dance tune (though Wade Robson would most likely eat it up in a choreography project). An orchestral intro sets the environment to a Moulin Rouge-type scene where a drugged mind welcomes us to the "world of hatin' people." This song may have some of the most clever lyrics and storytelling in the whole album, as a whole argument about society is posed. Want to know what your fate is? Take a trip, listen to Jimmy Con and follow by example - just like hip hop, Oompa Loompas, Dick Cheney and Chicago - you'll be unhappy too.
Through the illusion of the dream posed by the music sequencing, the listener can choose which voice is the dreamer. Is it the first voice, who stays "jolly" and avoids melancholy by not giving a shit what others think and staying on track living in a dream? Or is the second voice claiming unhappiness an inevitable force a dream we can choose to ignore? Ghost House uses the elements of laughter that showcase an apparent apathy to the situation. It is a matter-of-fact story of declaration. We are unhappy. And we don't care.

Busted tells the story of another type of therapy, again using laughter elements and a character voice to illustrate an alcohol or drug-induced state of mind. These elements reappear throughout the album, proving this group's capabilities of creating through-lines with the usage of motiffic images and sounds.

Along with aforementioned throw-down single Lights Low, the album closes out with tracks Where You At and The Masquerade which round out the group therapy experience by offering advice and anecdotes to which any listener can relate. If this album were merely one of hits, closing with Lights Low would not have been a bad move. But here, as we have already been rehabilitatingly transported, cured with mind-erasing beats, succumbed to the therapy of substances, and relieved tension by dancing our asses off, Ghost House constructively allows listeners into their minds and souls. This is not just another hip hop group. Ghost House is a real musical family connected by a deep and driving passion left ingeniously apparent and graciously shared with the masses.



Ghost House is:
Jimmy Con (James Henry Wineman): Producer/Emcee
ADD (Rory Middleton): Emcee
Charlie New: Vocalist/Keyboards

See them live with partnered band Breakers Broken:
Tim Yamaya: Lead Guitar/Vocals
Herf Yamaya: Bass/Vocals
Neal Wehman: Drums

Managed by:
Robbie Mueller
847-710-1194
BTGManagement@gmail.com