Cardio jams

Alison commented on one of the climbing drill songs we listened to while cycling and said it was really great for climbing. This made me want to share all of my cycling and running mix favorites and standards. Usually I am very sick of my running or cycling mixes after a week, but these songs below have really held their own for a long time now and are some really great staples:

DANCEY STUFF:

Humanitarianism- The Twelves remix/Zeitgeist
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You-The Twelves remix/Alan Parson's Project
Hurricane Jane-The Twelves remix/Black Kids...these first 3 are great for cycling speed or just a long paced endurance drill
Fancy Footwork- Chromeo oh anything really
Harder Better Faster Stronger Alive remix- Daft Punk...it HAS to be the Alive remix, and this is perfect for doing ANYTHING

ROCKISH:

Tampled Under Foot- Led Zeppelin.. just a great long run or an endurance bike ride and you will like it even if you think you don't like Led Zeppelin
Retreat- The Rakes...speeding around town
Miss You- The Rolling Stones...climbing a rough one
This Charming Man- The Smiths...speed speed speed and it says bicycle!
I Turn My Camera On- Spoon... CLIMBING, i love these bassey ones for climbing
Train In Vain- The Clash... long time endurance or climbing

NEW WAVEY:

Blue Monday (Razormaid Remix)- New Order...the remix gives it a faster beat but it's the same song really. Once again great for ANYTHING: speed, climbing, or a long run
Ice Cream- New Young Pony Club...great climbing tune
Banquet (Dance Remix)-Bloc Party...How does this song not make me sick from hearing it so much? will work for anything

HIP HOPPY:

Award Tour- A Tribe Called Quest.. long rides
Vivrant Thing- Qtip.... this one just has a faster beat than the Tribe songs and is great for speed
Everyday People- Arrested Development....great for a climbing drill
Bombs over Bagdad- Outkast....fastest song you will ever hear, perfect for the end of a run
She Rockin That Thing Like- The Dream...climb
My Goodies-Ciara climb
Calle Ocho (1,2,3,4) - Pitbull... Long rides, endurance
Fire Burning On The Dance Floor-Sean Kingston...ANYTHING


These are all the ones that have endured my listening over and over again and still hold my excitement. I hope you can share in my cardio excitement while listening to them.

My newest workout is one ENTIRE album: Manners by Passion Pit. I LOVE it!!! get it get it get it if you want a fun workout.



My favorite move your body songs on it so far are:
Sleepyhead- this was the one Alison liked for climbing
Eyes as Candles
The Reeling
Swimming in The Flood
Folds in Your Hands


But really, the WHOLE album is wonderful for any workout. Who can even listen to a new album in it's entirety album these days?

Won't you share your favorites with me??

Pennsylvania summer

Just a photo recap of the past week while Lezlie and my cousin Gabe came to visit...Lezlie and Evan Faulkner were on quite the cross country road trip and decided to end their trip with a 5 day Philadelphia stop. I haven't seen Lezlie in about 4 months, so I loved lounging around with her. Gabe was in Philadelphia visiting a friend and met up with us to go out to lunch. It was great having another San Diegan native to whine about East coast differences with. It was even better to realize and appreciate that it is so much better to be cousins as adults and be able to see what great family members I have.

These are the PA fireflies! I couldn't get a good picture, but the green specs are the fireflies.


The boys talking politics at the pool..


The girls sunbathing at the pool..


This is a great country restaurant in the middle of the forest out on the Wissachikon river. Alison and I were on this beautiful forest trail for about 2 miles and all of a sudden there was this really cool restaurant on the trail next to the river. I knew Gabe would love it so that's where we decided to go to lunch. It was Me, Nate, Lezlie, Gabe, and Gabe's friend Laura.








All of us, minus Lezlie, on our way to Gettysburg. Just a $3 amazing burger with a side of tasty onion rings for lunch at the local diner. Oh yeah, and a wet walnut sunday of course.


The start of our 3 hour auto tour listening to a book/tour guide on c.d. tell us the entire story of the Civil War. Lezlie started out in the hatchback part of the Nissan Rogue but missed all scenery since she couldnt sit up straight. So, we moved her to the back seat with Nate's long legs in the middle seat, and stuck Eric and Alison in the passenger seat together. Sounds comfortable for a 3 hour car ride right?









This is a great view of preserved Gettysburg. The house far out was Dwight D. Eisenhower's.



Robert E. Lee









Devil's Den from high up












A reoccurring sentiment for Lezlie that day..


The gory photo taken after the fight at Devil's Den and Mr. Jensen









Lezlie taking every opportunity to sunbathe





Anthony and Stehphani also came to meet us for dinner. We went out for a Philly cheese steak of course. We had a "Geno's" cheese steak first, and then a cheese steak from the accross the street Rival "Pat's." Only Anthony had two sandwiches though.






My favorite activity of the week was going to the Solebury Orchards with Lezlie and some girls from our ward and their babies. You can purchase beautiful and fresh produce for a comparatively great price, or you can pick your berries for an even better price. We picked blackberries and blueberries and Lezlie got me some delicious peach butter. The orchard provides these buckets that tie around the waist for picking.


















At the end of my picking, I came back to our blanket spot to find Lezlie alone like this: feeding one of the babies that came with us and surrounded by a lot of kids that hadn't come with us. She's magnetic.

"Welcome to the city of world champions"

Our angels in the outfield. Eric and Alison have really rescued us from what could have been a hellish summer.



Me knocking on the millions of row homes in Philly....




This is a typical ratio of a block of row homes: One condemned house (see house on right) out of a total of five houses.




Independence Hall



The Bell




Brother Dave and Brother Nate




A similar carriage cut Dave off as he tried to cross an intersection. As Dave backed up onto the curb wearing his Diamondbacks hat, the passenger carrying carriage driver shouted in his thickest Philly accent,

"That's why you're a Diamondbacks fan. Welcome to the city of world champions."

My first sewing project

I finished my first sewing project. I made Nate this cover for his laptop. I found these bear place mats at D.I. and thought I could sew them together to make a cover. With the extra scrap I was able to make a strap with a button. (Thank you Alison!) It actually fastens with velcro though, since I felt like making a button hole was a little out of my league. But I will learn a button hole this week. Nate loves the bear, do you likey?

Who put the crack in Doritos?

My name is Nichelle, and I'm a Doritos addict.

Does Fritolay design that famous Nacho Cheese bag with so much pizzazz so that you'll be distracted from the nutritional information because of the addictive substances in the ingredients? And, it's not just Nacho Cheese flavor, I think there is some kind of drug in those "Collisions" too. Has anyone tried the Taco/Zesty Ranch Collision? If you haven't tried them, stay away.




But truly, I'm confused at my recent Doritos addiction. I never had Doritos in my house growing up or anything snacky like that. I never bought them at the store in my single grocery shopping days, nor did I ever even make the Doritos impulse buy at 7-11 at 1 am. It just never was a choice I made. But ever since Nate decided he needed Doritos in the house to go with his cold cut sandwiches, we have been 4 and 0 on our Doritos purchases on grocery store trips. Now I anticipate buying more Collissions at our next trip, and a bag of Nacho Cheese is becoming standard. This isn't entirely Nate's fault though. I am downing those things as fast as he is. Which is why I am a little nervous. Are we going to become one of those U.S. statistic families whose obesity started out with small choices like Doritos purchases?



Probably not gonna happen. I only need a handful of chips a day with some coke zero as a side kick. I'm pretty ok with that; as long as my theory that Fritolay is injecting crack in Doritos is false.

i was just thinking..

...if I blogged more about Philadelphia the city, the anger I would express would scare people. So, I apologize for not updating more regarding our Philadelphia experiences.

...seriously about life stuff, like making big decisions. It seems like I have always made big decisions really easily and just jumped in head first into anything huge. But it's a little bit harder now having Nate by my side. I really have to heavily ponder on the consequences of all decisions. This makes me nervous!

...Why does school make you tap into just one direction of your potential? Why does the formal education system make you focus on the development of one subject? People like me can't handle this. I want to dive into everything a little bit. I want to develop everything a little until years later I realize that I have developed all those skills to a wonderful capacity!

...People are in your life at the right time as blessings.

...The gospel has been the best thing I chose to fully indulge in. I have this desire to indulge in things to an extreme extent, but the gospel has been the one thing that has allowed me an outlet to completely indulge in a love, while at the same time teaching me to remember that balance is the key to EVERYTHING. It sounds contradictory, but for me this has worked. I will always be a crazy person wanting to throw myself wholeheartedly or not at all into things. But God's love for me and my love for Him has taught me to first let me go extreme with/towards Him and then everything else somehow works out ok in my head.

....I love Nathan. He is the best partner in crime. We think so similarly and so differently at just the right times. When we're in a pickle, I love to see that we gang up against the problem instead of on each other. I admire how great he is at not losing touch with people and maintaining an excellent pipeline of his loved ones. I have no idea how he does it. He keeps me sane and keeps me wanting to do better at being a human being.

....When is Mariah Carey gonna go on tour? Why does she keep getting raunchier in her old age? All this Michael Jacskon stuff is making me really appreciate that she is still alive to be able to see in concert and that she would be the pop culture icon I would associate to my life story.