Sweaty beats.

Key to good workout music?  Be your own DJ.  If it’s got a good tempo, if it makes you happy, if it makes you want to dance, add it.  If it just makes you incredibly happy, add it!  I mean, who’d think that “Stuck in the Middle with You” by Steelers Wheel would make it into a workout mix?  Well, it makes me happy, and it’s a great warmup pace.  So I use it.  There’s no wrong or right.  Just do it.

I’ve got a somewhat regular mix I use, but my roommate, Caity, and I thought it would be fun to give you our top 10 workout songs each month.  So for the month of August, here you go!

Sarah's top picks...  Listen here!

Chicago - Old Days
ELO - Boy Blue
Steelers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle With You
George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag
T. Rex - 20th Century Boy
David Bowie - Sufragette City
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
Crystal Castles - Vanished
Joy Division - Isolation
XTC - Helicopter

Caity's top picks...  Listen here!  
White Stripes - Hotel Yorba
The Knack - My Sharona
Tori Amos - Big Wheel
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Date with the Night
Talking Heads - Lifetime Piling Up
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
Lady Gaga - Just Dance
Modest Mouse - Dashboard
James - Laid
Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

It was so hard to pick just 10.
What would you have in your mix?  Do tell!

Life's a Beach.

Today, I was scolded cheekily by a state trooper next to me at the Mattawan, Michigan highway exit for listening to Neil Diamond too loudly. 

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but it was awesome and it was absolutely imperative that you know this. 

“A cop scolded you, eh?”

“Yes.  Apparently cops don’t like Neil Diamond singing about women from Kentucky.  THE nerve.  I bet he hates people named Caroline, too…”

But, alas – I digress!  I guess it does fit, because I was listening to Cool 101, my favorite oldies station on the planet, on the way to grab my roommate so we could head off to South Haven for the afternoon.  Michigan summers are sublime, and there’s not much of it left.  So, naturally, we felt it was our duty as Michiganders to go to Lake Michigan today.  With diet green tea and quite a smorgasbord of beef jerky in tow, we did just that. 

The beach has always been, for some reason, a safety zone for me.  Whatever it is about me that I try so desperately to hide the majority of the time seems to fall away as soon as there is water present.  My arms, my thighs, my tummy…  We could all dissect the living daylights out of ourselves, regardless of our size.  But when there is water present – pools, water parks, the beach...  All bets are OFF and it’s swim time. 

Why can’t I apply this reckless abandon more often?  Maybe it’s because the beach is a place where all bets are off for everyone.  Everybody’s vulnerable at the beach, but no one seems to give a hoot.  Bellies jiggle while footballs are thrown and overly-dramatically dove for.  Mistake tramp-stamps from that outrageous high school spring break 10 years ago abound.  And who cares?   Probably no one!  It’s the BEACH! 

I bet even Neil Diamond looks ridiculous at the beach.  Actually, I’m pretty stinkin’ sure Neil Diamond would look ridiculous at the beach…  (Feel free to insert your own outrageous mental picture here.   I’ll save you from mine.)  

I need to let life be a beach more often.  Just, hopefully without the cops getting involved.

Perception.

Lil' Moment Observed

Inception can eat its heart out.  Perception is way trippier.

Looking in the mirror is a bit less of an egregious experience than it used to be, these days.  Just ask my roommate; she is a huge fan of mocking my mirror faces.  A while back, I’d been busy all day grocery shopping, cleaning house, and so on.  I was "sweatygross," as I call it, but happened to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror in the hall when I passed by, and thought to myself, “Hey…  Not bad, kid.”  It felt really, really good and I wished someone was right there to grab a photo of me.  I’ve often wondered if I see the same thing that others see.  So, due to the lack of photographer, I grabbed my camera to get a picture as I saw myself, or how I perceived myself, rather.  I managed to capture it.

This little moment totally messed with my mind, man.  And this little moment happened again tonight.  It’s so strange how I can look in the mirror, and even though I can see the difference, I don’t see myself differently.  I look in the mirror and I still see the 300+ pound girl.   So it kind of makes me wonder when, if ever, my perception of myself and the girl I see in the mirror will decide to merge. 

I am slightly biased when I look in the mirror seeing as I’m looking at myself.  Yeah…  Fairly biased.  So, how do you know if what you see in the mirror is good, or bad, or real, or what others see, or what?!

Does Heidi Klum look in the mirror and see a supermodel? 

Does Jason Schwartzman look in the mirror and see a stud?  Oh, hush up.  The fact I’m smitten with him is neither here nor there.  You get the analogy.  Humor me. 

The point is, I’ve got a ways to go in this department, and maybe one day my perception and my reality will decide to hang out.  In the meantime, I’ll be happy with my little moments.