Workout Ideas

Basically up until college I've been super lucky with not having to pay attention to what I eat because I've been pretty active. I don't think I've necessarily gained the proverbial "freshman 15", but I know I've probably gained 5-6 lbs. I was talking to a friend of mine today and he said that "i have to make sure im not the fattest" during a text conversation we had. Now I know I'm not the fattest, but I do worry that I might have gained some noticeable weight, so I'm starting my pre-thanksgiving break workout regiment. If it sounds official, maybe I'll stick with it. I live in a building that is about as far away from the gym as you can get, but my parents say that's no excuse.

No joke this is our workout facility: The Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center. "The Strom" is about a half-hour walk from my dorm so when I go I have to be extremely motivated. I've decided that I'm going to take advantage of living on the 14th floor of a 16 floor building by doing the stairs. I say doing because there is no way I'm in shape enough to run them. Today I did two sets of the stairs and I was able to jog up the first half both times which I'm pretty proud of. After the sets I did 100 calf raisers to see what that might do! I'm feeling pretty excited about this workout and to see what my maximum rep's of stair sets will be. My goal is to add a set every day, but that might be tough. I've downloaded a bunch of great workout music and did my sets for today. I wrote everything down and I'm going to try to stay with it!

What do you guys do to keep in shape? Any ideas or suggestions for me would be greatly appreciated!! I hope everyone is getting excited for Thanksgiving!!

Southern Songs

SO Gracie Beth at Preppy Southern Princess started this whole Southern Songs blog post, and I'm going to follow suit. I'm not a native Southerner, so my post my end up being a little different.

Sandstorm by Darude- This song is Carolina football (along with 2001, click the link to see what I mean. They play this song in the few seconds before the Carolina football team takes the field). Students chant for the football DJ to play Sandstorm. This video is the USC student section cheering at the Ole Miss game which is undoubtedly the most talked about Gamecock game this season.

Carolina Girls by General Johnson and The Chairman of the Board- I couldn't find this song for the longest time, but if people are shagging here, they are shagging to this song...Carolina Girls: Sweet Southern Pearls...Sweet Carolina Girls

Only Wanna Be With You by Hootie and the Blowfish- Hootie and his good old Blowfish graduated from the institution known as University of South Carolina. See the photos in the top right corner with the big columns and the teeny tiny one on the left in the middle? They're taken at Longstreet Theatre, which is ON campus. This is Hootie and the Blowfish's first album cover!

She's Country by Jason Aldean- No matter where you are, this song will get played and when he sings "She's a party all-nighter from South Carolina" every girl in the place will proudly be yelling these lyrics from the top of her lungs. I may be guilty for doing so at a tailgate or two!

Carolina by Corey Smith- (or any song by Corey Smith for that matter) The student paper here named Corey Smith as the "official musician of freshman" in their 50 Things I Learned my Freshman Year publication.

Hillbilly Deluxe by Brooks and Dunn- This song reminds me of when the state fair came to Columbia and all the times I see people riding in the beds of 4x4 trucks. I still don't know if its legal here or not!!

History in the Making by Darius Rucker- He (is or was) the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, so he's another Gamecock! Darius was heard for the first time singing in the shower of his dorm (which no longer is standing from what I've heard)

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond- This is another stadium song. Our band will play it and everyone will sing along. Try to hear 80,250 people sing such a goofy song is a blast. My mom always says that she and her friends sang this is college and now its one my college songs, too cool!

Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison- Generally any song that people know the majority of the lyrics to is a hit in college. This is such a good song especially for those girls who have Brown eyes! If this is every played, everyone sways back and forth and sings making it a fab time!

xxKatie

See U In The Dark

Last night, my sister and I went out to Philadelphia, P-A for a concert at the Wachovia Center. As my mom likes to call it, it is our "last sister hoorah". Grace is a huge Jonas Brothers fan (I am not however but details to follow) so she wanted to get tickets to the summer tour. I, however, like the opening band much better. They're called the Honor Society (Listen to all their songs! The first one on their MySpace is going to be in the movie "Bandstand", and I'm going to see the movie only because they're in it, yay!) and "See U in the Dark" is their most well-known song (grammar?). Grace told me that they are from NJ and they're whole look is Prep School(-esque). I couldn't agree more! They are a PREPPY BAND, can you believe it!? 

My favorite band member just so happened to match his-wait for it-boat shoes with his GUITAR! He even wore a button-down and a Madras tie!!!! 

By the way, all these photos were taken by me. Since my sister's in the JB fan club, we got a chance to get un-believable seats. We were virtually in the 4th row. Anywho, look at his tie! He was ADORABLE!! I got this ridiculous photo of his shoes from where we were sitting. These were his shoes (you won't believe this picture):

He was adorable! His name's Andrew.  I took this video of them singing their song (title of my blog- See U in the Dark). They have 3 other band members, Michael, Alexander, and Jason. 

(I really want to help them get famous. I mean they're already famous-obviously because they're touring with the JBs- but they're very cool!) They only have one song on iTunes, and its called "Where Are You Now" its the one I have another video of (it took too long to download on blogger), but download it please! I'm listening to it now as I write this blog. To make their preppy look even better, the drum/their logo has two crossing guitars above the HS, but they look like teeny-tiny lacrosse sticks! I love them! They even like one of my favorite sports!

Last summer Honor Society were discovered by another group of New Jerseyites, the Jonas Brothers, who have since introduced Honor Society’s brand of radio-friendly slick R&B pop to its fans and grabbed them as openers on the JoBros’ upcoming world tour. Even though its members skew slightly older than Jonas (Honor Society’s four members are all in their twenties), Honor Society has already achieved heartthrob status and nearly two million MySpace plays.

That's "their story" according to RollingStone- yeah they've been in RS. They even consider their look to be "very Polo Rugby with some rock edge" how fab! Enjoy HS!

xxKatie

Music Post- Why Not?

So I'm inventing a post. I want everyone to try it! Show off your taste (or lack of) in music with this fun post. Put your iTunes or your music player of choice on Random/Shuffle/Party Shuffle and list the first 25ish or so songs up here (Title and Artist!) and see what people think of your music taste! Select five (or more) of your songs that you feel your music library would be incomplete without!

Note: this is from my mac computer, so I have a relatively small music collection, and you'll notice a lot of it is pretty new music. If it was on my old big computer it would have tons more funny/reminiscent ones!

1. I Can't Be Your Friend: Rushlow (Classy in Philadelphia, you'll love this for your boy problemssss!)
2. That Summer: Garth Brooks (he's my #1 favorite artist ever!) Must-have song 1 of 5.
3. Go Getta: Young Jeezy
4. Hypnotize: Notorious B.I.G.
5. Taylor the Latte Boy: Kristen Chenoweth
6. I'm Movin' On: Rascal Flatts- Must-have song 2 of 5
7. The Way I Loved You: Taylor Swift (if you're going to download 1 TS song in your life this is a cute one)
8. Energy: Keri Hilson (fabulous workout song and good to have)
9. Change: Taylor Swift
10. Say Yea: Wiz Khalifa (apparently I like all the rappers who have made ZERO impact on the rap world...cool, Katie)
11. Happily Ever After: Nicole Scherzinger (I first heard this on Gossip Girl, for all you GG lovers out there)
12. Calabria [Remix]: Enur and Mims
13. My Life Would Suck Without You: Kelly Clarkson
14. Nuttin No Go So: Natch- Must-have download 3 of 5 (we play this all the time in the Lilly store, be sure to google the lyrics-inappropriate but hilarious)
15. Lucky: Jason Mraz feat. Colbie Calliat
16. Bless the Broken Road: Rascal Flatts
17. Angels on the Moon: Thriving Ivory
18. One in a Million: Bosson (anyone remember the scene in Ms. Congeniality where they're all dressed up at Statues of Liberties-when you wanted to be one of them-and dancing...oh yeah, this song)
19. Sugar: Flo Rida (this starts out like the Eiffel 45 song "Blue")
20. The Way You Look Tonight: Frank Sinatra- Must-have 4 of 5 (please flashback to the end scene in "My Best Friend's Wedding" when Jules gives 'her song' to Michael and Kimberly. Makes me cry everytime and this is their song.)
21. Tarzan and Jane: Toybox (woo I'm a little ashamed of this...people from school will know why...thank you lacrosse team as a boy in my stats class reminded me)
22. More than a Memory: Garth Brooks
23. Underneath the Stars: Kate Rusby (download her entire CD, she's adorable. When I am by myself in the car I can't help but burst out in song to be like her.)
24. I Told You So: Carrie Underwood feat. Randy Travis- Must-have 5 of 5 (they just performed this on American Idol, nearly brought me to tears. Its my new obsession song. This is them on American Idol, with Grand Ole Opry Mic's.)
25. Gotta Tell You: Samantha Mumba (she's Irish, you'd never believe it. I think I have this song on the computer from my Now 4 CD.

This is fun. Its like making a virtual CD for someone! Enjoy!

xxKatie

P.S.: Thanks everyone for being so unbelievably supportive about my college decision. It makes me feel fabulous!

Advice from...

Will Smith! 

Don't ask me why I thought of this song, BUT I've been all over it since last night! It is such a sweet song between Will Smith (and I'm assuming) his son!

My sister and I used to have (actually we probably have it in our house somewhere now...) one of the Radio Disney CD's (90's children's throwback anyone? Anyone??) and this was on it and I can remember rocking out to it very clearly. Anyway, part of the song says, "throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad--let God deal with the things they do, 'cause hate in your heart will consume you too, always tell the truth, say your prayers, hold doors, pull out chairs, easy on the swears" and I think it is such good advice! What a good message to tell your kids (and even keep in mind for us big kids!), and it has been on my mind since I heard it last night. 

I've had a very stressful week this week because of tests and everything--oh no!--so I'm sorry about the not so good posting! Since I was listening to this while studying, I thought I'd share so I could combine blogging and last night's mega studying!!

xxKatie

A Post for Me

Hi all! I'm sitting here watching the clock and counting the seconds to spring break! It is just about the only thing on my mind these days and I can't wait! I saw this post on another blog "In the Pink", so I thought I'd copy it and do it myself. I think these little introspective posts are fun sometimes, so definitely post it yourself!!

If I was a month, I would be late May or June. 

If I was a day of the week, I would be Friday.

If I was a time of day, I would be dinner time.

If I was a planet, I would be Momma Earth.

If I was a sea animal, I would be a giraffe!

If I was a direction, I would be East like the water.

If I was a piece of furniture, I would be a bean bag chair (90's throwback style).

If I was a liquid, I would be Cherry 7-Up.

If I was a gemstone, I would be a pearl.

If I was a tree, I would be a Magnolia Tree. 

If I was a tool, I would go on Tool Academy (haha...).

If I was a flower, I would be a Gerber Daisy.

If I was a kind of weather, I would be an Annapolis summer day minus the humidity.

If I was a musical instrument, I would be a electric guitar.

If I was a color, I would be PINK!

If I was an emotion, I would be happiness.

If I was a fruit, I would be an apple.

If I was a sound, I would be steel drums.

If I was an element, I would be Krypton (Kr).

If I was a car, I would be a navy blue Honda Civic (I miss you Little Car).

If I was a food, I would be a sugar cookie.

If I was a place, I would be home.

If I was a material, I would be printed cotton.

If I was a taste, I would be cupcake.

If I was a scent, I would be Lilly Pulitzer Beachy.

If I was an object, I would be a shell.

If I was a body part, I would be a heart.

If I was a facial expression, I would be a big goofy open mouth laugh.

If I was a song, I would be "On the Street Where You Live" by Willie Nelson--that's my new favorite, from the Valentine's Day soundtrack.

If I was a pair of shoes, I would be platinum Jacks--my signature!!

Now it's your turn!! Try one out for yourself! I had a lot of fun with this one!!

Here's the fam last spring break! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU GUYS!

xxKatie

Valentine's Day Movie

Spoiler Alert!!

Hey everyone! I hope you're having a most wonderful Valentine's day snuggling with your loved ones and maybe watching a little bit of the Ralph Lauren drenched Olympics!! Last night a girlfriend and I went on a whim to go see the new movie, Valentine's Day. I'm sure as you all have heard, it snowed a BUNCH here in SC which was unbelievable! The snow ruined a bunch of my weekend plans so we decided to catch a movie so that we weren't bored on a Saturday night. I though that the movie was adorable and would recommend it to anyone! I'd give it 8.5-9 out of 10 stars for a few reasons:

The Bad: Taylor Swift is an awful actress. I'll admit I listen to many of her songs, but acting is not her forte. I'm sorry but she is only reinforcing a reputation of being a silly teen girl when she plays the lovestruck, dumb blonde who loves her boyfriend for being attractive and a stellar track star. Also, (spoiler alert!) the writers make Ashton Kutcher sad. He is just not a sad actor, he's silly and goofy and smiley and just not sad, but he has to be sad and I wasn't used to that.

The Good: I didn't catch the final twist (if you have seen the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about!!) at all. The people sitting behind me apparently did, but I didn't catch it and I ended up crying at the end! I love both of the plot lines of the characters here: Bradley Cooper and Julia Roberts. My favorite couple though was the oldest couple who has a massive fight after having a non-awkward (but would be awkward in real life type situation) conversation with Emma Roberts' character. I also really liked that McSteamy and McDreamy were featured in the same movie! Yet again, McDreamy is still a doctor and his same character (but somehow I can't get his Mazda 6 commercial voice out of my head) from Grey's Anatomy. Another aspect that I liked were the combination of all the stories. There was a huge intertwining of all the couples which added a great dynamic to the movie and it all made sense from the very beginning of the movie since the relationships were established early on. PS: the soundtrack is AWESOME! Make sure to listen to all the great remixes and fabulous classics that they feature throughout the movie. I think Jennifer Hudson sings a song in it, and she was super!

The movie overall was very reminiscent of Love Actually, but just an American version. Unfortunately I wonder if some of the characters were lifted right from Love Actually (cough cough the little boy who doesn't understand love without a mother cough cough).

I would recommend this movie if you'd like to see a cute chick flick about relationships and Valentine's Day (and even some anti-Valentine's Day). It is very cute and definitely worth the ticket price as long as you hit up CVS for your own movie snacks like we did!!

xxKatie