I love good music. Especially when it's free.

Love & War & The Sea In Between is the newest album from Josh Garrels. It's lyrically fantastic. Click on the album cover above to get to his website where you can download the ALBUM FOR FREE. 

Here are the lyrics to one of the songs:

"Revelator"

Had a dream I was alone
A vast expanse of complete unknown
Sea of glass so clear it shown,
Like gold
Then a voice like thunder clapped,
As a dead man I collapsed
I am the first, I am the last,
Now rise my son

Then behold ten thousand kings,
And every creature worshipping
Every eye was on one thing,
One man
He’s like a lion like a lamb,
As though slain he holds the plan
To make war and peace with man,
And reign on earth

Holy, Holy, is the One,
Who was and is, and is to come
In a robe as red as blood,
He comes forth
Ride like lightning in the sky,
Upon the war horse he draws nigh,
The same one we crucified,
Will come again

Top 5 places to eat in NYC...by Alec Baldwin

This is in honor of my new found love for 30 Rock. I have enjoyed Alec since I started watching the show and after reading Bossypants. If you want to go to the original site where I read this article just click on his picture.

Always-Good-Never-Had-A-Bad-Meal

Nougatine (One Central Park West) – “The food, the room, the music. All relaxing and very good.”

Rice and Beans and Sweet Plantains

La Caridad (588 Amsterdam Ave.) – “A countertop joint on the Upper Westside. When you want to…you know….eat.”

Place To Watch Interesting People While Eating Food That Is Actually Good

Via Quadronno (25 E. 73rd St.) – “Get the Tuna Affumicato and arugula salad. Also, the best vegetable puree soup in NY.”

Place To Blow It Out for a Ridiculously High Calorie Meal

Barney Greengrass (541 Amsterdam Ave.) – “Mushroom onion omelette, nova platter, bialy, veggie cream cheese, cream soda. Then take a nap. Then run 12 miles.”

Pizza

Serafina (1022 Madison Ave.) – “Believe it or not, the pizza at Serafina on Madison and 79th is excellent.”

Bonus

“Sushi at Kanoyama at Second Avenue and East 11th Street. The frozen yogurt with berries at Cafe Lalo is still the best in NY. Place to eat healthy while thinking unhealthy thoughts: dine on anything at Pure Food and Wine and stare at Sarma Melngailis all night. Still great after all these years? The atmosphere at Cafe Luxembourg.”

the journey...so far.

In my previous entry I explained how I'm in a season where I get to concentrate on my physical health. Below is a list of tools I've used to help me stay focused thus far :)

1. The Fat Smash Diet: I started with this book, I didn't finish it, but it was a great way to kick start my journey to a smaller version of me. I liked it because it gave you a list of what you could eat and how much of it and I got to be creative about how I ate what I ate. I coupled this with about 30-50 minutes of working out 5 times a week.

2. P90X: I started doing P90X when I moved in with Kelley Gurley in Charlotte, NC in February of 2010. I liked P90X a lot because it worked on every muscle of my body, and then some! I also did not finish it, but did it for two months, which is pretty awesome!

3. Running: I started running and keeping up with runners around August of 2010. It was an easy way to burn some calories and push my body farther. I stopped watching my intake as much as I had in the past and I just focused on running, further and further. I ran my first 5K in October in Riverhead, then I ran my first 8K on Thanskgiving in Charlotte, NC.

4. Chris Cuddihy: Since I've moved to Southampton, I've been attending (and now working at) Grace Presbyterian Church. Where I met Chris. He is crazy! I love him and his family and they have been a great joy for me! In February (after a few months where I did not work out or eat that well), Chris offered to train me at his house. "It will be twelve weeks long, and you will have to do everything I tell you." That's what he said to me one Sunday morning right before communion. I told him that I was in. I had no idea what I was in for.

Working out with Chris was AWESOME for me. His workout plan changed very regularly, which I really like. He pushed me in ways I didn't know I could be pushed, but he also knew when I needed a break. He's still helping me get fitter but with the summer at hand, I haven't been going to work out with him as ofter.

Lose it!: I got to a point in my journey where I was working out regularly, and hard, but not losing weight. Chris told me I was eating too much, I told him he was wrong. Turns out he was right...dang it! This website helped me log all of my calories and it also calculated how many I needed to take in if I wanted to lose weight. It's fantastic, I still use it...and yes, there's an app for that.

The Eat Clean Diet: One thing that has been SUPER helpful for me is hearing other people's stories of success, and the way I do that is through magazines like Runner's World and Women's Health and Oxygen. I was reading Oxygen a few months ago and kept reading about the Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. So I bought her book. The gist of it is that you eat five to six meals a day and you combine complex carbs (fruits, veggies) with lean protein. I like it, I think it works and it lead me to use no more sugar in my coffee. I've come to a point where I actually enjoy my coffee with just milk, which has just as many calories but it has protein, and calcium, which sugar doesn't.

Insanity: My friend Meghan Greenslit started doing a blog to keep her readers updated on her journey through Insanity, which is a kick butt workout similar to P90X but tougher and shorter.

I love it.

I love it because it's shorter and it works you HARD. I started doing it on Monday and am currently on day 5. I got to increase my calorie intake and I feel great! This works for me, we'll see if I finish :)

Family Competition: It's always more fun to add a little competition to our lives, isn't it? Well my family thinks so :) On May 16th we began a competition in my family to see who could lose the most amount (percentage) of weight in three months. Every week we have a weigh in and I've been keeping up with the losses. It's been awesome! The winner gets the money - everyone put in $35.

So that is where I am today. I'm doing Insanity, eating complex carbs and lean protein while drinking sugar-less coffee and trying to win the money pot from my family! Oh, and I'm also 55 lbs. lighter ;)

Peace and Love.

Here's a before and after shot: Left is October 2009 and right is June 2011

Transformation

I was looking through my blog and came across one titled "Detox: Day 1" that I wrote back in November 3, 2009. That's when I decided that I needed to start focusing on my physical health and I started following a book called "The Fat Smash Diet." 

Today I was thinking about how far I've come nutritionally and physically and how much I've learned. I was disappointed in myself for not keeping some sort of journal about it. So you could say that this is my attempt to update my electronic journal on my journey.

So if you fast forward to today, June 10, 2011 (19 months later). I can run faster, work out harder and wear pants that are four sizes smaller! 

I've learned so much about the connectivity of the physical body and the spiritual body. There's something absolutely fantastic about pushing yourself, physically, to places you did not think you were able! When I saw what my body was able to do, I was very surprised!

I'll do another post that will be the run through of all the things I've done so far to shock my body so it will keep losing weight and working hard.

In order for me to reach my goal I still have a ways to go, but when I look at where I came from I can't help but be utterly dismayed.

A lighter version of me.