What were they thinking?

What were you thinking?  Did you get dressed in the dark today?  Have you ever found yourself asking these questions while at the gym? As someone who frequents the gym I ask myself the two questions above almost every time I am there.  Every time I answer either one of the two questions to myself I get a little surprised.  I am not normally one to say something about what a person is wearing because it is a sign of expression but at least be appropriately dressed when exercising.  Continue reading and you might be just as surprised as I am when I walk in the door.

• Button down shirt - The gym isn't the office.  Go out to the store and buy yourself a t-shirt for a couple of dollars.  Go to Target and get a package of plain white shirts.  I am a proud owner of a few of them so that I can wear them to the gym.  If they get worn out or dirty they can be thrown away without much monetary loss.  If you do not want the plain white go to Old Navy and get an inexpensive shirt in a different color.  Heck, if you like something a little more pricey go to Victoria's Secret or a department store for a top to wear to the gym.
• Jeans or flannel pants - Yes, I have seen this many times as well.  First off, jeans, really??  There is no way that a person can really move while wearing constricting bottoms.  Yes, you can take a nice walk in a pair of jeans but you can't run or get the full "workout" with them on.  The other bottom I see frequently is flannel pajama pants.  I do not care how old you are go to the store and buy a pair of leggings, yoga pants, sweat pants, shorts, anything else that is a comfortable bottom.  There are so many different stores you can go and buy bottoms in.  My favorite pair of exercise pants come from Victoria's Secret.
• Boat Shoes - This type of shoe is one that is on my list of a style I want.  I want a pair but I do not want to see them on your feet at the gym while you are running or walking on the treadmill.  You do not have to spend over $100 on the latest style of running sneaker or anywhere near that amount.  I only wear sneakers to the gym so for me to invest in a pair that cost over $100 I do not really see a point.  If you are an athlete or someone who wears them around go ahead and spend the money.  I tend to be one to purchase my sneakers at either DSW or Famous Footwear.  At either of these locations I can get the name brand shoe for much less than other stores.  There are so many different styles I do not see you having a problem finding something you like.
• Clothing that is too tight - Please, for the love of all things that are bright and cheerful get clothing that fits you!  Maybe someday you will be able to fit into that tight shirt or pair of pants but not today.  Going to the gym frequently will allow for you to wear it in the future.  You do not have to wear a shirt or pant that is extremely large but please wear something you are not hanging out of.  Stores listed above have a great selection of items to wear.
• Really short shorts - One item that is maybe okay to wear to the beach and certainly in the privacy of your own home but not at the gym.  I do not care to see your "bits and pieces" while I am walking in your direction or while you are in front of me on another cardio machine.  Is it that difficult to wear something that is, I don't know, larger than a pair of underwear?  Yeah, I did not think it would be that difficult.

There are a few other things that I notice every once in a while that has nothing to do with gym attire but I feel need addressing.

• Smoking - If you are going to smoke a cigarette before working out at least try to not smell of it.  I do not need to be 30 minutes into cardio when you hop on the machine next to me and now I have to breathe in the after effects of the cigarette.  Another thing on the topic of smoking is do you really need to light up as soon as you leave the gym?  Doesn't it defeat the purpose of trying to be healthy and spending at least the past hour exercising?
• Drinking coffee while exercising - Starbucks cup or a hot thermos do not belong in the cup holder of the bike, treadmill, elliptical, or in your hands while you are walking to the weights.  Water of its many varieties works best or even a Gatorade or sports drink.
• Smelling - If you come into the gym smelling bad while you exercise that smell is not going away. In fact, it will probably just get worse causing me and the other people around you to have to hold their breath in fear of passing out from the terrible B.O. you cloud yourself with that is if we do not pass out from holding our breath first.

What are some of your gym pet peeves?  When do you ask yourself the two questions I opened with?  Share some with me. 

These are a few of my favorite things...

Over the past few months I have had to make significant changes to my diet.  Since November, I have cut out chocolate (with a few tastes since then), any thing mint flavored, and many things that contain sugar.  In simpler terms you could say I had to eliminate almost everything I have come to love over the past 26 years of my life.  If you know me well enough you know that I have the biggest sweet tooth and if you don't now you do.

Almost every time I travel to New York City I stop at one of places in Penn Station to get myself a black and white cookie for the ride home.  Sadly, I haven't had one in about 3 and a half months.  I love going to cupcake shops in New York City and anywhere I travel to.  My last trip to California, I believe I tried cupcakes from 3 different cupcake shops.  Aside from eating at one restaurant this was my only other request.  When I drove down to Virginia and Nashville this summer I got to visit 3 of the 4 places I wanted to try.  Not to mention, I also love to bake.  So as you can see, cutting out sweets was not an easy task.  Yes, I do miss some of the stuff but I have never felt better.  In the mean time, I have found several options that are not only delicious but they are good for you.  Some may not be perfect for you but they are the better option.

If you watch any television at all I am sure that you have seen the commercial for 'WhoNu?' cookies.  I just purchased this product for the first time this week.  It was a complete impulse buy because they were by the register.  Perfect product placement if you ask me.  Since I am supposed to lay off of the chocolate I skipped the chocolate sandwich and chocolate chip and opted for the vanilla sandwich cookies.  WhoNu? that a cookie that has as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal, as much Vitamin C as a cup of berries, as much Vitamin A as an 8 oz glass of tomato juice, along with many other nutritious benefits (information taken right from the box).  The cookie has the perfect amount of sweetness to satisfy my sweet tooth.  The only thing I wish it had was a little more cream filling.  This product (in all the different varieties) is a great substitute for an Oreo or a Chips Ahoy cookie.  You should be able to find this product at almost any supermarket.

For more information on this delicious product you can go to their website, Facebook, and/or Twitter.

This next product has quickly become a favorite of mine.  KindSnacks make an amazing product that is healthy, gluten free, and all natural.  Some have chocolate and some have yogurt on them.  There are so many different varieties of flavors including almond & coconut, cranberry almond, nut delight, fruit & nut delight, blueberry pecan, almond walnut & macadamia, almond cashew, apple cinnamon pecan, and almonds & apricot in yogurt to name a few.  You may see a higher fat content on the wrapper than you would hope for but nuts are considered a healthy fat.   At the current moment my favorite is the almond & coconut.  It is a mix of one of my favorite nuts (the almond) and the delicious coconut.  I have found this product in many stores including Stop & Shop, Trader Joe's, Fairway, Whole Foods and The Vitamin Shoppe.  Not every store has every flavor so you may have to do a little searching at different locations to satisfy your preference.  The bars range in price (in the stores) from about $1.50 to about $2.00.
For more information on this delicious product you can visit their website, Facebook, and/or Twitter.

Before I had any eating troubles I would eat a grapefruit and some variety of a Special K protein bar for breakfast.   Not being able to eat a grapefruit any more was hard at first because I loved to eat them.  When given the recommendation to purchase GNU Bars I figured I would be more than willing to give it a try.  I will be the first to tell you that when you open the wrapper it does not look like the most appealing food but they are delicious.  I now eat 2 or 3 of these a week for breakfast with a bowl of fruit (usually blueberries, strawberries, or an apple).  I have only tried the peanut butter and cinnamon raisin flavor bars.  They also come in banana walnut (I don't like bananas), chocolate brownie (can't have chocolate), espresso chip (not a fan of something with one of the many varieties of coffee flavor), lemon ginger and orange cranberry (can't have citrus and not a fan of lemon or orange flavored products).  The two flavors I can have are however I thoroughly enjoy.  My only suggestion is to eat it slow and take small bites because it can be gone in .5 seconds if you take big bites.  I have only seen this product at Fairway and The Vitamin Shoppe but I am sure you can find them elsewhere.
For more information about this delicious product you can visit their website, Facebook, and/or Twitter.

Being a huge fan of the sugar snap pea I knew I had to try this product.  Every weekend I go shopping at Trader Joe's and buy two bags of the fresh snap peas.  I have a nice stash of the crisps in the pantry because they don't go bad like the fresh ones do.  They are wonderfully crunchy and a little salty (even though I am not a salty food person I don't mind it).  I feel better about eating this than potato chips even though I rarely eat any type of potato chip.  The only place I have found this is at Trader Joe's.
For more information about this delicious and crunchy product you can go to their website.

At the bottom of the small rack in the back corner of the store I found this delicious secret.  Thank you Trader Joe's for making these Savory Thin Mini Edamame Crackers for me and the rest of your customers.  I am not sure if they are a new product or not but if they are their location in Trader Joe's by me is extremely poor.  I only found them because I was looking at some rice cakes on the top of this small rack.  I don't really taste edamame when I eat one but they are a nice snack to have every once in a while.  This product can obviously be found in Trader Joe's.

Yes, I do love edamame.  So much that when I saw the hummus I knew I had to try it out.  Being very picky when it comes to hummus I wasn't sure how it would taste.  In fact, I did not expect it to be very good.  Aside from making hummus on my own the only other good ones I have tried are at restaurant in New York City and one in California.  This does not include the hummus I had in Israel because that was by far some of the best.  I purchased my second container of this hummus just the other day.  I dip carrots, snap peas, snow peas, and even the above mentioned edamame crackers.  This wonderful product can be found in the refrigerator section in Trader Joe's within the vast variety of hummus that they have.

The best part of a muffin is the top, isn't it?  Eating these make me think of "The Muffin Tops" episode of Seinfeld.  'Top of the Muffin To You!'  The company that makes the VitaTops, Vitalicious, makes many other products including muffins, cakes, brownies, mixes, buns, and sandwiches.  When I first found out about this product I wasn't sure where in the supermarket I could find them.  Would you think of looking in the freezer section?  Yeah, me either.  Not only are they found in the freezer section but I found them located in the natural and organic freezer section.  Up until today I only had the Apple Crumb, and BlueBran.  After a couple of months eating them I decided to visit their website and see what other products and flavors existed.  Some of the other flavors include Fudgy Peanut Butter, Banana Choco Chip, Chocolate Mint, Deep Chocolate, Raisin Bran, Triple Chocolate Chunk, and Banana Nut.  Today I went to the supermarket looking for some organic cream cheese (to make something for the boys I take care of) and saw on the top shelf of the freezer case the Pumpkin Spice flavor I have been wanting to try.  I will try almost anything that comes in pumpkin flavor so I knew I had to buy this.  Because they are found in the freezer section you obviously keep them there at home.  When ready to eat you let it defrost for a little and then place it in the toaster.  Vitatops are sweet enough to fulfill my sweet tooth at night and they only have 100 calories per top.

For more information about this delicious topper you can visit their website, Facebook, and/or Twitter.

Have you tried any of the product that I now love to eat?  What are your thoughts on them?  Do you have a desire to try any of them?  Share your thoughts in a delicious comment!

Having fun with an app

I have been seriously lacking on blog posts for the past few months.  I am going to try to post something here regularly starting in the new year.

Last night I was thinking to myself how it would be fun to do something with an app on my iPhone that I use all the time.  The app I am talking about is Instagram.  Are you also using this app?  Feel free to participate in this.

Every day of the new year, starting January 1, take one photo and post it to Instagram.  I know people do this on Facebook or in their photo albums but I am not sure if anyone uses this app to do it.  Lets see if we can make it the entire year with a new photo.

I will post all my photos on my Tumblr page.  If you want to participate use the hashtag #InstagramADay

How Much is too Much?

There are so many articles and blogs written about Twitter follower count and how it is important.  Yes, I do feel that the number of followers you have is important.  The more followers you have the more people who are reading your 140 characters.  The more people read what you write the more influence you have in the world.  No, I will not be writing another blog about the importance of follower.  This post will be about who you follow.

As of right now, I am following 575 accounts on Twitter.  Back when I was following only about 300 accounts I felt like it was too many.  Over the past six months or so there were many great companies and people I couldn't not follow so my count quickly increased.  Now that I am nearing 600 I really feel as though it is nearing that too much stage.  I have no doubt

Sometimes when I start following someone or someone starts following me I take a look at their following/follower count.  I often seen numbers in the thousands on both ends and think to myself, "how do they do it?"  That question is better answered on the following count because the followers do not have an effect on what that person reads.  Does the person who follows 2,000 people actually read every tweet on their timeline?  Even with my 575 following count, I will be the first to admit that I do not read everything on my timeline.  I know some of the tweets are less than 140 characters but sometimes it is hard to read everything throughout the day.

Most of the time I am checking Twitter via my iPhone causing me to flip through Tweets much faster than I would the computer which is why I say I do not read everything and sometimes I only have a couple of minutes to read through.

If you are reading this please answer the following questions for me in a comment.
- How much is too much?
- Do you read every tweet that comes through your timeline?
- Did you ever think you would be following as many accounts are you currently are?
- How do you frequently check Twitter?  Phone? Computer? Tablet?

Social Media v Television

The idea for this blog post came to me several days ago.  So many television shows are including social media into their platform.  There are several different ways that these shows have decided to include it.  For today, I am going to speak of how they incorporate Twitter during each episode, or most episodes.  Yes, hash tags on Twitter are easy to create and most are fan done but there are may shows that create their own for fans to tweet about.  Having them created by the show, in my opinion, is much better because everyone can be in the same conversation.  If a fan creates the tag there are chances that each spells differently or includes different words.


I am only going to get into a few shows, those that I watch, but I know the list is endless.


I am going to start off with the show "The Voice" because it is probably the most relevant as of right now.  This show is the reason why I chose to write this blog post.

If you have never seen this show let me give you a little information as to what it is about.  The host is Carson Daly.  There are four 'coaches' Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green, and Blake Shelton.  The first few weeks of the show there were blind auditions where the coaches seat was turned away from the contestants.  When a coach liked what they heard they turned around and had a chance of obtaining that contestant for their team.  If one coach turned around for that particular person they "got them."  If more than one coach turned the contestant would be able to pick whose team they wanted to be on.  Each coach had to get eight people on their team.

The next step was to get each team down to four with the battle round.  During this round, two contestants from each team would battle it out with a coach selected song and one person would be sent home.  Two weeks ago on the show the last four for each team sang a song.  Through the different voting methods one was kept based on Americas vote and one was selected by their coach.  Last week on the show the final two for each team sang a song and based 50% on Americas vote and 50% of the coaches score, the person with the highest score stayed.  This Tuesday, is the final performance night.  America will vote and on Wednesday the winner will be announced.

Okay, now that I have told you all about the show, lets get into how they use social media.  They have a Twitter account for the show @NBCTheVoice.  The hashtag for the show is #TheVoice.  Throughout the live shows you can tweet to the twitter handle and the hashtag and some will get displayed across the bottom of the screen in the form of a ticker.  Aside from this, contestants will tweet to fans through their own twitter accounts in the lounge area.  The Voice has an in show and online correspondent, Alison Haislip, that will read twitter questions, tweeted to @NBCTheVoice, to the contestants and have them answer it.    Because The Voice is a live show they are able to do everything in real time which I think is a wonderful thing.  Yes, the odds of having your tweet scroll the screen or be read on air is slim the way they engage the viewer is well done.

One last thing about this show and then I will move on to the next.  My favorite contestant on the show is Javier Colon (@javstwtr).  His coach is Adam Levine or as they say on the show he is on Team Adam.  On Tuesday, I am not saying you have to vote for him but it would be a good idea.  If you want to hear him sing check out this video:

I do not know how many of you watch "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on a regular basis but Ellen has a whole segment based on Twitter.  I may not get to see it everyday a the time it airs but thanks to the DVR I am able to see it whenever I want.  The segment she has is called 'Twits and Ask' and it originally started with her Twitter page (@theellenshow) and fans of her show could use a hash tag (which at the moment I can not seem to remember) and some of the questions would be answered.  Because her twitter account became so popular and she now has almost seven million followers it has now moved to her website where you can submit a question and video as well as include your Twitter handle.  From most of the segments I have seen on 'Twits and Ask' most of the questions answered have been only those who have a Twitter account.  Yes, other talk shows do include questions but no one does it to the extent that Ellen does.  I do DVR most of the shows such as "Regis & Kelly," "Rachael Ray," "The Nate Berkus Show," and "The View" and these shows do have a Twitter but do not include it on air.  Kelly Ripa will sometimes speak of tweets but maybe once every few days, and only during host chat or to tell a guest they should follow each other.  "The View" hosts will speak of Twitter only when something happens on it.


The next two shows I am going to include in one because they are closely related.  "Glee" and "The Glee Project" show a hash tag on screen throughout the show.  The fans on Twitter can 'chat' about the show but the show does nothing with it.  For "Glee" the hash tag is #Glee and for "The Glee Project" the tag is #TheGleeProject.  For two television shows that are so current for so many people I wish they did more than just a hash tag.  Figure out a way to incorporate the social media into the show.  I know a lot of the "Glee" characters (not the specific actor or actress) have their own Twitter accounts and they should use it on the show.  They could try posting questions on the character accounts that would pertain to an episode they are filming and have the characters read the tweets in reply to the question as if it were part of the conversation.  For "The Glee Project" it would be a little harder because the show is a competition.  Something they can do is tweet a theme for an upcoming episode and fans can use the hash tag and tweet songs that fit that theme and the contestants can possibly sing some of the suggestions.

There are so many other shows out there that include Twitter such as some on the Food Network and MTV but these are some that stand out for me right now.  It is fun for the fans when they can get in on the conversation whether it is just with their friends on Twitter or with an entire community that is watching the show.

What are some of your favorite shows that use social media?  What shows would you like to see include social media in their platform?

Last night I had an amazing opportunity to see new Glee cast member Darren Criss play a solo show in New York City at Irving Plaza.  The show was completely sold out and the place was packed.  At first we went upstairs thinking we could get a better view of the stage but turned out we could not see it at all.  I went downstairs to see if the view was better.  Good thing I did this because it was a lot better.  I was not able to see the entire thing but I was able to see a lot of it (more than what I would have been able to see from the balcony).

There were two openers.  The first was John West.  He was good but I do not know if his music was 100% my taste.  I believe he played for about a half hour.  Next up was one of Darren's friends from college and his name is Theo Katzman.  He was really good and more my type.  He was acoustic and solo which is right up my alley.  Theo only played for about 15 minutes.

At about 9pm Darren took the stage.  The place went crazy when he came out.  The crowd shifted so far up it was insane.  I felt bad for the people all the way up front who were probably being squashed.  The show was fantastic and Darren is a true talent.  He sang several of his song, some from his StarKid days, Glee songs, and a couple from when he did Harry Potter the musical.  I do not know if this is all the songs but here they are -

• Human
• One Fine Day
• Sami
• Teenage Dream
• Part of Your World
• Not Alone
• Don't You
• I Still Think
• Stutter
• The Coolest Girl
• Valerie
• Going Back to Hogwarts
• Granger Danger
• I'll Make a Man Out of You

If I am missing any please let me know!  He had the Warblers come out and sing "Teenage Dream" and "Sami" with him.  Naya Rivera (Santana on Glee) came out and sang "Valerie" with him.  Although I saw Glee Live last year I was all the way up top at Radio City Music Hall and it was hard to see faces but seeing her much closer last night I was able to see how pretty she is.  Yes, she is very pretty on television but it is completely different "in person."  For the two songs he sang from the Harry Potter musicals "Going Back to Hogwarts" and "Granger Danger" he had his friend and I believe co-star, in the play, Lauren Lopez come out on stage with him.  With each special guest the crowd got more and more excited.

I am pretty new to the whole "Darren Criss Fandom" so I did not know many of the songs he sang.  Usually when I go to a concert and I do not know the words I do not fully enjoy the show but this was far from the case.  I enjoyed every second of it and glad that I was able to attend the show.  I wish I was not so late to the game being as he played New York City last summer at venues I have attended.  But, I guess they say, "better late than never."

This Saturday I have the opportunity to see Glee Live and I am really looking forward to it.  

If you go to my YouTube channel you will be able to see a few videos I took last night.  

Here are a few of the photos.  For some reason they all did not load to my computer so I will have to do that at another time and post them for you to see.

Let's Add Another One

On Wednesday, I wrote a blog about my favorite iPhone apps.  Little did I know that a new one would be coming out just yesterday and I love it even more than its sister app.  The app is 'Hanging with Friends' and it is like hangman, but, in the words of Elle Woods "so much funner."  This app has a free and paid for version.  Download it.  Give it a try.  I can almost guarantee you will be instantly addicted to it.  If you download leave a comment and let me know what you think of it, in fact, let me know your username and we can vs each other.