GO AMERICA! WOOOOO!

As I'm sure many of you are, I'm getting ready for a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. My little brother is graduating from high school (Go Brad!), the pool is calling my name, and Boyfriend and I might play a little golf (which is actually means he'll play golf, and I'll expand on the pool lounging as previously mentioned).

So, yes, rainbows and puppies all around. Memorial Day Weekend is fulfilling my dreams already.

(Image from a site who's URL is not made up of very nice words, ironically, so I'll just link it here.)

That being said, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people gorge themselves on hot dogs and brownies in the name of something they don't know or understand. Memorial Day sometimes falls under this category, and in that spirit...

A BRIEF (AND SASSY) HISTORY LESSON:
Created soon after the American Civil War, Memorial Day (nee Decoration Day, which I slightly prefer because it reminds me of streamers) is a federal holiday that was created to honor those who have given their lives in service as members of the U.S. Military. Another fun fact, you ask? The first Memorial Day, according to Yale Professor David Blight, was celebrated by formerly enslaved African Americans at Washington Race Course in South Carolina. According to Wikipedia, "The race course had been used as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers in 1865, as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who died there. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, formerly enslaved people exhumed the bodies from the mass grave and interred them properly with individual graves. They built a fence around the graveyard with an entry arch and declared it a Union graveyard. The work was completed in only ten days. On May 1, 1865, the Charleston newspaper reported that a crowd of up to ten thousand, mainly black residents, including 2800 children, proceeded to the location for included sermons, singing, and a picnic on the grounds, thereby creating the first Decoration Day."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

There.

Now you know.





p.s. Can we talk about how ridiculous that rainbow and puppy picture is?

J'adore Cape Cod.

I love Cape Cod. I love it in ways that are normally reserved for children, spouses, and really excellent jewelry. I love it with my whole being, my entire core. I love. love. love. the cape.

When the weather starts getting nicer (anywhere above 60 degrees, really), my mind starts wandering down 6A and towards the beach. Today's temperatures will allegedly reach the high seventies, and so my brain is firmly planted in Harwichport.

I think the reason I love the cape so much has less to do with its geographical location, and more to do with what I do there. Which is to practice my lounging and lolling about.

Have you ever lolled? Southern and I are big fans of the Sweet Potato Queens, and they introduced me to the concept. Lolling about is a combination of lying around, drinking cool beverages, and convincing people to amuse you while you recline on some sort of cushioned surface. It's my activity of choice.

Tanning while lolling is an excellent way to spend the day. Add a book (perhaps a Red Dress Novel?) and you've created the single most perfect situation in existence.

There are only a few short days left in May, and then June (and lolling, and cape season) is upon us. I'm ready. Are you?

Temperature Elevates, World Mourns (Running Music)

As spring approaches, one must take a serious look at the lethargy and overwhelming sloth of the past few months. Months when one could sit idly on a couch and say “it is simply too cold to go outside and move around with an elevated heartbeat for over 30 minutes.” Out here on the Rez there is no gym, no treadmills, no fun workout classes. There are just sandy trails snaking through low shrubs and (seriously) tumbleweed.
For this reason, I have not exercised in any meaningful way for a long time. The snow has almost completely melted, along with my excuses. It is time to brush the dust off the old iPod, pull on my trail-runners, and venture outside.
To help me cope with this sad reality, I have to have music get me through. I have compiled a list of my favorite running/workout songs. Hopefully they will bring you some solace and aid you as you attempt to peel yourself away from your cheesy poofs and dinners-for-two eaten by one.
1. Fatboy Slim – Weapon of Choice
Awesome. Also Christopher Walken dances in the video.
2. David Guetta ft. Akon – Sexy Bitch
Makes you feel like a Sexy B while running.
3. Lights – Saviour
The chorus is catchy.
4. K’Naan – Waving Flag
Inspirational for long runs.
5. Britney Spears – 3
Nothing beats a good Britney jam.
6. Florence and the Machines – Dog Days are Over
I can't get over this song. I love it.
7. Beck – Timebomb
Tick Tick Tick
8. Cake – Shut the F*ck Up
First, its Cake. Second, the lyric "like sharpened knives through chicken McNuggets."
9. Ladyhawke – Dusk Till Dawn
Catchy and fun to run to.
10. The Who – Baba O’Riley
For some reason, this makes the time on a run go much faster. You can also imagine you are on CSI.
11. Lupe Fiasco – Solar Midnite
Good.
12. Wyclef Jean ft. Maya – Ghetto Superstar
Elementary School Fave.
13. The Replacements – Alex Chilton
I once did a beautiful choreographed dance for KW to this song. It makes you want to bob your head up and down. I don't know why.
14. Garbage – Paranoid
Because its Garbage.
15. Sublime – April 29, 1992
So you can feel like a Badass
16. Ben Folds Five – Army
I love songs with Piano in them.
17. Hellogoodbye – Here in Your Arms
This is a good car song as well.
18. Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.
A bit of a throw back.
19. Jay-Z – Dirt Off Your Shoulders
Ladies is pimps too.
20. The XX – Crystalized
Good for zoning out.
21. K’Naan – T.I.A.
Because DiCaprio said it.


Happy Running,