Most of you probably aren't aware of this, but I've been following it for YEARS so I'll give you the background. An amazing author, George R. R. Martin, is in the process of writing an amazing series of books called the Fire & Ice series. About 3 or 4 years ago HBO bought the option to adapt this series for television, and it's been an incredibly ardous process for a fan to follow for that long, but what can I say - the books are THAT GOOD! So far, not a lot has happened, but the pilot has been greenlit, so that's a start. HBO has slowly tackling the casting process and will hopefully film the pilot within the next year. Here are the casting highlights so far: Sean Bean (Boromir from Lord of the Rings), Mark Addy (A Knight's Tale, The Full Monty), Peter Dinklage (from Penelope), Alfie Allen (Lily Allen's little brother), and Tamzin Merchant (Catherine Howard - wife #5 in The Tudors) have been cast for the pilot. The latest though is a bit I'm incredibly excited about - Lena Headey, best known as Queen Gorgo from 300 and Sarah Connor from the Terminator television series has been cast as Queen Cersei! I'm so very exited about this series and thrilled with the talent they've found for this pilot. I'm hoping beyond hope that this gets picked up and cast for a full season. I've sincerely missed Deadwood and Rome, and I think this will fill that gap nicely for HBO. Of course I've never met an HBO drama that I didn't like... comedies, however are a different story... :)
The first book in the series is "A Game of Thrones" if you are interested in reading it - these books are AMAZING, and epic in the sense that Lord of the Rings is epic. Twilight readers beware, this stuff is WAY over your head. If you don't love to read, and can't handle having your heart broken within the first 100 pages, don't bother with this series! Words cannot describe the range and depth of emotion you will feel reading these books... be prepared for a wild ride with amazing highs and lows. You won't get through them in 3 days either... and you'll need many breaks, but it's sooooo worth it!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mmmm... Cocktails are a girl's best friend!
Cool as a Cucumber Martini
1 1/2 oz. Absolut 100
1 oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Juice of 1 Lime
4 slices Fresh Cucumber
2 oz. Ginger Beer (this is non-alcoholic - like Root Beer)
• Muddle 3 slices of cucumber in shaker until mashed
• Squeeze in fresh lime juice
• Add St. Germain, Absolut 100 and ice
• Shake 15 times
• Add ginger beer
• Strain into rocks glass filled with ice
• Garnish with a slice of cucumber on glass and black straw
Jayce and I discovered these at the bar at Morton's in Charlotte during our weekly happy hour/dinner there. They have the BEST drinks, and their happy hour is $5 apps all night! Check it out some time - I highly recommend it! The mini salads, steak sandwiches, and cheeseburgers are our favorites.
This drink is ridiculously tasty and refreshing! It's labor intensive, but well worth it! :) If you like refreshing, slightly tart drinks, give this one a go.
I found my ginger beer at World Market (I was told that the stuff from Australia is the best!), but I think you can find it at your local fancy grocery store.
Let me know if you try it and like it!
1 1/2 oz. Absolut 100
1 oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Juice of 1 Lime
4 slices Fresh Cucumber
2 oz. Ginger Beer (this is non-alcoholic - like Root Beer)
• Muddle 3 slices of cucumber in shaker until mashed
• Squeeze in fresh lime juice
• Add St. Germain, Absolut 100 and ice
• Shake 15 times
• Add ginger beer
• Strain into rocks glass filled with ice
• Garnish with a slice of cucumber on glass and black straw
Jayce and I discovered these at the bar at Morton's in Charlotte during our weekly happy hour/dinner there. They have the BEST drinks, and their happy hour is $5 apps all night! Check it out some time - I highly recommend it! The mini salads, steak sandwiches, and cheeseburgers are our favorites.
This drink is ridiculously tasty and refreshing! It's labor intensive, but well worth it! :) If you like refreshing, slightly tart drinks, give this one a go.
I found my ginger beer at World Market (I was told that the stuff from Australia is the best!), but I think you can find it at your local fancy grocery store.
Let me know if you try it and like it!
Workouts, Diets, and Personal Trainers, Oh My!
It's been a while since I've made a post, so I'm just gonna give you a quick update on what's been going on in my life lately.
I recently signed up for a big block of personal training sessions at Fitness Together in Allen (www.allenft.com) and I did my intitial assessment on August 7th, and got the results and started working out in earnest on August 15th. An assessment basically measures all sorts of things, like your weight, your metabolism, resting heart rate, strength, flexibility, and measurements of pretty much every body part you have. I've learned that my metabolism is slow (like I needed another obstacle!), I can bench press 95 pounds (that really makes me sound like a wimp!), my resting heart rate is 60 (which is awesome), I'm really flexible (no problems there!), and I have a gazillion pounds to lose. So basically, I'm pretty strong, healthy and flexible, just need to drop some pounds and inches. All in all, about what I expected.
Currently my main goal is weight loss, with some secondary goals of gaining strength and cardio-vascular fitness. Given those goals, my diet is currently limited to 1200 calories per day (300 calories for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 150 calories for 2 snacks between meals) and I'm working at with a personal trainer twice a week, and trying to get cardio in 4-5 days a week. I'm really just trying to make sure that I stick to the diet (not easy AT ALL) and do some sort of exercise every day (so far I've only missed one day, but I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't being lazy!). It seems to be working, because I think I'm down 5 pounds so far, and considering I'm sore more days than not, I must be building up some good muscle mass, so that's helping me keep going. I like being strong, which doesn't make a lot of sense, since I'm not the type of person that will go into a gym regularly and pump iron, so I really need someone to make me do it, which is why I went the Personal Trainer route.
So far it's been an interesting ride, and I just don't really enjoy working out or dieting. The diet is the biggest challenge right now - keeping a food journal is really time consuming and can be frustrating at times since I spend a lot of time eating in restaurants (are veggies still healthy when you don't know how much salt & butter was used?!?) and have to spend a lot of time guessing how many calories were in the food I just ate. Luckily, I've gotten a good grasp on portion control and eating right before I started this, so it's not as hard as it would have been if I'd started 8 months ago. Basically, the idea is this: eat lots of fresh foods (just say no to processed foods!) with an emphasis on lean protein, vegetables and fruits. I can do that. I really enjoy that! My weakness however, is sweets - I love to bake and I'm trying to wean myself off of my morning mochas, but who knows if I'll actually do it. I did go from a Grande Non-fat No Whip Mocha (220 calories) to a Tall this week (170 calories), so that's a step in the right direction, but there's still a crapload of sugar in there. I'm trying to take it one step at a time though, so if I can keep the calories in check, I might really start watching the sugar in a week or two. I'm trying not to do too much at once so that I don't get too overwhelmed or discouraged.
Right now, I'm just trying to stay focused and try to make it to the 8 week mark when I do another assessment. The way I see it, if I stick to the diet and exercise as much as I can stand, I'll reach my goals sooner and be able to go back to a more realistic lifestyle. Some days I do better than others, but if I know I goofed a little, I try to throw in 15 extra minutes of cardio to make up for it. For me, a lot of it has to do with planning. For example, if I know that every Wednesday is Happy Hour day, and I really want to have a cocktail, I try to budget my calories very carefully so that I have enough left for that cocktail without having to cheat or go over my 1200 calories. It helps knowing that sticking to this will help me reach my goals faster, and knowing that I don't have to avoid anything, just eat it in moderation. It's really not as painful as I thought it would be!
I'm enjoying the progress, and enjoying the training, but I know I can't maintain this lifestyle forever. I know me, and I'm not a gym rat. Even after this is all over, I'll keep the yoga up, keep going to bellydancing class, and keep taking walks in the neighborhood. Pumping iron and hopping on treadmills on a regular basis.... not very likely. I know me and I just won't do that stuff without outside motivation. I'll have to revisit in a couple of months to see if I need to keep doing the personal training thing once a week just to keep me motivated and accountable.
Whew! So much for quick! Time to sign off... keep an eye out - I've got 5 more weeks until my next assessment, and if you're lucky, I'll have made enough progress that I won't feel embarrassed about posting my results...
I recently signed up for a big block of personal training sessions at Fitness Together in Allen (www.allenft.com) and I did my intitial assessment on August 7th, and got the results and started working out in earnest on August 15th. An assessment basically measures all sorts of things, like your weight, your metabolism, resting heart rate, strength, flexibility, and measurements of pretty much every body part you have. I've learned that my metabolism is slow (like I needed another obstacle!), I can bench press 95 pounds (that really makes me sound like a wimp!), my resting heart rate is 60 (which is awesome), I'm really flexible (no problems there!), and I have a gazillion pounds to lose. So basically, I'm pretty strong, healthy and flexible, just need to drop some pounds and inches. All in all, about what I expected.
Currently my main goal is weight loss, with some secondary goals of gaining strength and cardio-vascular fitness. Given those goals, my diet is currently limited to 1200 calories per day (300 calories for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 150 calories for 2 snacks between meals) and I'm working at with a personal trainer twice a week, and trying to get cardio in 4-5 days a week. I'm really just trying to make sure that I stick to the diet (not easy AT ALL) and do some sort of exercise every day (so far I've only missed one day, but I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't being lazy!). It seems to be working, because I think I'm down 5 pounds so far, and considering I'm sore more days than not, I must be building up some good muscle mass, so that's helping me keep going. I like being strong, which doesn't make a lot of sense, since I'm not the type of person that will go into a gym regularly and pump iron, so I really need someone to make me do it, which is why I went the Personal Trainer route.
So far it's been an interesting ride, and I just don't really enjoy working out or dieting. The diet is the biggest challenge right now - keeping a food journal is really time consuming and can be frustrating at times since I spend a lot of time eating in restaurants (are veggies still healthy when you don't know how much salt & butter was used?!?) and have to spend a lot of time guessing how many calories were in the food I just ate. Luckily, I've gotten a good grasp on portion control and eating right before I started this, so it's not as hard as it would have been if I'd started 8 months ago. Basically, the idea is this: eat lots of fresh foods (just say no to processed foods!) with an emphasis on lean protein, vegetables and fruits. I can do that. I really enjoy that! My weakness however, is sweets - I love to bake and I'm trying to wean myself off of my morning mochas, but who knows if I'll actually do it. I did go from a Grande Non-fat No Whip Mocha (220 calories) to a Tall this week (170 calories), so that's a step in the right direction, but there's still a crapload of sugar in there. I'm trying to take it one step at a time though, so if I can keep the calories in check, I might really start watching the sugar in a week or two. I'm trying not to do too much at once so that I don't get too overwhelmed or discouraged.
Right now, I'm just trying to stay focused and try to make it to the 8 week mark when I do another assessment. The way I see it, if I stick to the diet and exercise as much as I can stand, I'll reach my goals sooner and be able to go back to a more realistic lifestyle. Some days I do better than others, but if I know I goofed a little, I try to throw in 15 extra minutes of cardio to make up for it. For me, a lot of it has to do with planning. For example, if I know that every Wednesday is Happy Hour day, and I really want to have a cocktail, I try to budget my calories very carefully so that I have enough left for that cocktail without having to cheat or go over my 1200 calories. It helps knowing that sticking to this will help me reach my goals faster, and knowing that I don't have to avoid anything, just eat it in moderation. It's really not as painful as I thought it would be!
I'm enjoying the progress, and enjoying the training, but I know I can't maintain this lifestyle forever. I know me, and I'm not a gym rat. Even after this is all over, I'll keep the yoga up, keep going to bellydancing class, and keep taking walks in the neighborhood. Pumping iron and hopping on treadmills on a regular basis.... not very likely. I know me and I just won't do that stuff without outside motivation. I'll have to revisit in a couple of months to see if I need to keep doing the personal training thing once a week just to keep me motivated and accountable.
Whew! So much for quick! Time to sign off... keep an eye out - I've got 5 more weeks until my next assessment, and if you're lucky, I'll have made enough progress that I won't feel embarrassed about posting my results...
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