Tag Archives: music

Three Playlists To Pump Your Blood (and also possibly some rambles about running)

Posted by happyhippierose in fitness, ridic and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve (re)located my motivation, and lately I just can’t run hard enough, far enough, fast enough… well- hard, far, and fast by MY silly standards.  I still have a ways to go in making it back up to the level I was at say, six months ago (I stopped running for about 3 months, maybe more, because I was so ill during our last few months in Hawaii, ugh) but, I’m getting there.  My endurance is increasing, my speed is getting better, I feel more confident.

i’m feeling the pain

Last night I had a crazy run.  Did a brisk mile warm up, then about 30 minutes of speed work intervals (oh so close to vomming each and every time), then I did a mile of plyometrics (lunges, high kicks, slow kicks, high knees, butt-kickers, skipping, jumping jacks, all kinds of jumps really, grapevines… and more that I don’t know that name for).  That was a really long mile.  Then I did another mile cool down.  All in all it was a solid five mile workout- the speed intervals actually slow me down because of the active recovery walking and jogging I have to do in between the sprints. I do speed work with all kinds of various intervals and pyramids; last night I did 45 seconds jog, 30 seconds SPRINT, and then 30-45 second jog, then a good minute or two walk.  It got harder and harder to do the post-sprint jog each time, so I’ll admit that decreased as I went on).

I realized, I haven’t sprinted since the day I saw the dead guy while on my run.  It felt good to break out the stride last night and just remember what it feels to move so fast.  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m a tad on the leggy side and I stand at about 5’8 – so when I stretch out the legs, I can book it.  I used to sprint in high school track for just that reason.  And I did hurdles too – although I don’t defy gravity much these days (even though I totes requested Moon Shoes for my birthday, the awesome trampoline shoes from the 90s).  Rambling… anyways, getting some sprints in last night felt great.  For the most part I’m focusing on laying down some mileage, building up my endurance.  But even so, there has to be variety and sometimes you gotta get the quick twitch muscles a little work out too.

some snaps from last night, taken during some lunges. aww yeah, hurts so good!

Why so motivated?

Maybe it’s the Olympic season (and seeing my former teammate and pal Ryan Lochte kicking so much ass in Omaha as he gets set for London)… I’ve seen so many incredibly motivating photos from track and field trials too.  (Have you seen Buzzfeed’s post of 26 photos of people finding out they made the Olympics? It’s awesome).  My college pal Kyle Kugler just finished the Western States 100 in an  epic time of 22:15.50, so that’s been motivating me as well.  There’s influence to move it everywhere I look, and I’m LOVING it.  PS, I’m begging Kyle to let me interview him for my blog – wouldn’t that be awesome?! YES. Duh!  I wish I could get up with Ryan, now that would be super duper badass too… but, he’s like uber famous though, and well, kinda busy doing that whole preparing to humiliate Phelps thing (yeah, I said it – I’m TEAM USA, but also TEAM LOCHTE!).

Moving Along

Okay, okay – let’s get  to the good.  My playlists!

I love music, I listen to my jams all the time when I’m doing all kinds of things.  Thus, working out and running are no exception!  I have a few diff playlists on my phone that I use when I’m out and about, and of course Spotify (and iTunes too) for when I’m at home – stretching, yoga, abs.

Here, for your curiosity and copying pleasures, are three of my most fav playlists right now for cardio.   I know my taste in music won’t suit everyone’s needs or likes – but these are just some of  the songs that I’ve been movin’ to recently.  Warning – a lot of them are explicit, haha.  Oops!

Fit and Skinny Mix – my fav current iPhone playlist for cardio outside

Always On Time, Ashanti & Ja Rule
Rich Girl, The Bird and the Bee (cover of Hall & Oates)
Sweat (feat. Lil Wayne), Bow Wow
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), Bruce Springsteen
Everytime We Touch (Radio Mix), Cascada
Digital Love (Boris Dlugosh remix), Daft Punk
Turn Me On (feat. Nicki Minaj), David Guetta & Nicki Minaj
Come to Me (feat. Nicole Scherzinger), Diddy
Tell Me (feat. Christina Aguilera), Diddy
Last Night (feat. Keyshia Cole), Diddy
Sexy and I Know It (feat. Chani), DJ Shocker & Chani
Stereo Love, Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina
What’s Luv? (feat. Ja-Rule & Ashanti), Fat Joe
Club Can’t Handle Me (feat. David Guetta), Flo Rida
Someone To Love, Fountains of wayne
Jump In The Pool, Friendly Fires
We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe) [Alvin Risk Remix], Fun
Genesis, Grimes
Visiting Statue, Grimes
Be A Body, Grimes
Tongue Tied, Grouplove
Now & Forever (Original Mix), Henrik B & Christian Älvestam
Goodnight an Go (Back Ted N-Ted Remix), Imogen Heap
Murder Reigns, Ja Rule
Put It On Me (Explicit), Ja Rule & Vita
Homecoming, Kanye West
Heartless, Kanye West
Love Lockdown, Kanye West
Bulletproof, La Roux
Americano, Lady GaGa
The Queen, Lady GaGa
Born to Die, Lana Del Rey
Off to the Races, Lana Del Rey
Diet Mountain Dew, Lana Del Rey
Pop That, Lil Wayne
Shooter, Lil Wayne
Whip It (Produced By Deezle), Lil Wayne
Let The Beat Build (Produced By Kanye West & Deezle), Lil Wayne
6 Foot 7 Foot (feat. Cory Gunz), Lil Wayne
She Will (feat. Drake), Lil Wayne
John (feat. Rick Ross), Lil Wayne
Lollipop (Offical Remix), Lil Wayne Ft. Kanye West
New In Town, Little Boots
Let’s Get It In (feat. 50 Cent), Lloyd & 50 Cent
Start It Up (feat. Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Ryan Leslie, & Fabolous), Lloyd Banks
Gold Guns Girls, Metric
Animal , Miike Snow
Next to You, Mike Jones
Body Work, Morgan Page & Tegan and Sara
The Gentle Roar, Niki & The Dove
DJ, Ease My Mind, Niki & The Dove
Shiller, Ratatat
Falcon Jab, Ratatat
Bullets (Club Mix), Rebecca & Fiona
We Found Love (Chuckie Extended Remix), Rihanna
Major Tom, Shiny Toy Guns
Save the World (Extended Mix), Swedish House Mafia
Pot Kettle Black, Tilly And The Wall
That’s Not My Name, The Ting Tings
Basic Space (Pariah Remix), The XX
Basic Space, The XX
VCR, The XX
Crystalised, The XX
Put On , Young Jeezy & Kanye West
P.I.M.P., 50 Cent
Disco Inferno, 50 Cent
Candy Shop, 50 Cent & Olivia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Party, from Spotify (hence the links)

Breathe Carolina – Blackout
Dragonette – Stupid Grin
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
Filur – Live & Learn (feat. Matt Kolstrup)
Foster The People – Helena Beat – Lenno Extended Remix
Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
Grouplove – Tongue Tied
Housse De Racket – Roman (Briefs Remix)
Jason Derulo – Breathing
Kreayshawn – Gucci Gucci
Lady Gaga – Americano
Lissi Dancefloor Disaster – Moshpit Lovers
Little Majorette – Never Be The Same
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Rich Girl
Miike Snow – A Horse Is Not A Home
Mya & Wyclef Jean – Ghetto Superstar
Neon Indian – Polish Girl
Niki & The Dove – Gentle Roar
Niki & The Dove – DJ Ease My Mind
O-Zone – Dragostea Din Tei
Ra Ra Riot – Boy
Sbtrkt – Wildfire (feat. Little Dragon)
Shiny Toy Guns – Major Tom
Skrillex – Bangarang – feat. Sirah
Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound
Tegan And Sara – Alligator – Ra Ra Riot Remix
Those Dancing Days – Help Me Close My Eyes
We Were Promised Jetpacks – Circles And Squares
Wolf Gang – Lions In Cages
Yelle – A Cause Des Garçons
Yelle – Mal Poli
Yelle – Je Veux Te Voir

Running, from my iPhone – less often used, but still good! 

Little Bad Girl (feat. Taio Cruz & Ludacris) , David Guetta
I Just Wanna F. (feat. Timbaland & Dev), David Guetta, Afrojack, Timbaland & Dev
Night of Your Life (feat. Jennifer Hudson), David Guetta & Jennifer Hudson
Sunshine, David Guetta & Avicii
Stereo Love, Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina
Cracks (feat. Belle Humble) [Flux Pavilion Remix], Freestylers
On Display, Melissa Gorga
It Girl (Jason Nevins Club Mix), Jason Derulo
Yoü and I (Danny Verde Remix), Lady GaGa
Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer), Pitbull
Till the World Ends, Britney Spears
Throw Your Hands Up (Dancar Kuduro) [feat. Pitbull & Lucenzo], Qwote
My Feelings for You, Avicii
Mr. Saxobeat (Extended Mix), Alexandra Stan
Loca People (Extended Version), Sak Noel
Feel So Close (Extended Mix), Calvin Harris
Earthquakey People (the Sequel) [feat. Rivers Cuomo], Steve Aoki
Forever (Extended Mix) [feat. will.i.am], Wolfgang Gartner
Good Life (Demolition Crew Remix), OneRepublic
Save the World (Radio Mix), Swedish House Mafia
The Good Natured Alive (Basto Remix), Adrian Lux
What Happens In Vegas (Radio Edit) [feat. Gregor Salto], Chuckie
Sun Is Up (Play & Win Radio Edit), Inna
Le Bump (feat. Crystal Waters), Yolanda Be Cool
Turn This Club Around (Extended Mix) [feat. U-Jean], R.I.O.
Eyes (Extended Mix) [feat. Mindy Gledhill] , Kaskade
Cinema (Extended Mix) [feat. Gary Go], Benny Benassi
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Kaskade Remix), Skrillex
So Much Love, Fedde le Grand
Sun & Moon (Club Mix) [feat. Richard Bedford], Above & Beyond
Raise Your Weapon, deadmau5
Heads Will Roll (James Iha Remix), Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Piece of Me, Britney Spears
Paris, Friendly Fires
Paris (Aeroplane Remix), Friendly Fires ft. Au Revoir Simone
Tongue Tied, Grouplove
Digital Love (Boris Dlugosh remix), Daft Punk
Project Bitch, Lil Wayne
Major Tom, Shiny Toy Guns
Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second, Starfucker
Bangarang (feat. Sirah), Skrillex
DJ Ease My Mind, Niki and The Dove Tribute
How Much More, Stars
Alligator (Ra Ra Riot Remix), Tegan and Sara
Scheiße, Lady GaGa Born This Way
Americano, Lady GaGa
The Queen, Lady GaGa
Marry the Night, Lady GaGa
Highway Unicorn (Road to Love), Lady GaGa

As Always, thanks for reading.

HAPPY RUNNING AND WORKING OUT!

xoxo, hhr

Fancy Photos From the Road: Camp Curtis

Posted by happyhippierose in my life, ridic and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

More photos, I know! I’ve finally uploaded the nice pics from our good camera onto the computer and put together some posts from our trip around New York last week.

I already wrote about the lovely time we had visiting my sister and her boyfriend Jared in Pottersville, NY at their rustic and luxurious lake house on Valentine Pond, Camp Curtis (check out that post, here!)… but I owe y’all the rest of the photos from that leg of the trip.

And since my sister had so much fun messing with the camera, we took a TON of pics while we were there.  With so many animals, such pretty scenery and so much going on, how could you not just snap away all day?

So here’s a whole mess of photos from the few days we were there.  Thanks for looking!

And as always (and I really do mean this), thanks for reading!! xoxo, hhr

ears to heart, heart back to ears. repeat.

Posted by happyhippierose in my health, my life, porphyria and tagged with , , , , ,

One evening not so long ago I was listening to “This American Life” while jogging.  At the end of my hour-long run, the podcast was ending as I was super close to home, and the closing song came on…

“if the kids .. are united .. they will never .. be divided!”

The punk rock song (by Sham 69) went from the ear buds past my hearing faculties and just straight to my heart.  My legs started pumping, sprinting me up the hill, my brain took me through this super vivid flashback- thinking of being a young sweaty middle schooler, at a 7 Seconds show with some friends.  7 Seconds played their cover of If The Kids Are United, and I remember feeling so empowered.

I was a kid.  We were united.  I thought we could take on the universe.  My fists were pumping (and not in the Jersey Shore kinda way), and I just felt that the couple hundred of us huddled into some crappy Daytona dive venue, we could change the world.

random mosh pit pic i found on a google image search

Back in 2012 my jog wrapped up, the song was over and I got to thinking: my heart and hearing connection has always been a close one when it comes to music.

Some of my earliest memories are of my dad’s mix tapes.  My dad’s a total mix tape genius, oh man.  I grew up in this world of themed tapes for every mood.  Bruce Springstein by the pool, Wham! when we’re kicking off a road trip.

As I got older he introduced me to his most precious gems: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle. Concert soundtracks for Woodstock, No Nukes; all these amazing 70’s artists.  We’d drive around, because listening to music is best done in the car, and he’d explain the feelings each song brought to him.

me and my dad, a couple years ago

I best understand my father’s pain and sadness during my parents’ divorce via “Only Living Boy In New York.”

…

I have to compose myself here, literally, tearfully wincing as I’m writing.  It’s that emotional for me.

For every event there is a song.  A life-long soundtrack that encompasses all genres, envelopes all emotions.

From my ears, to my heart – music goes. 

When I started to find my own music: Sublime, Alanis Morissette, NOFX, Blink-182 – they spoke to me too.  I would sit in my room, “doing homework,” just listening to my CDs on repeat.  93KRO was the alt rock station that existed when I was in middle school in Daytona Beach – I’d listen nonstop, letting them teach me about the Cranberries, Poe, the Toadies, etc.  I remember getting ready for school every morning to “Dude Ranch,” putting my blue mascara on.  Yeah!

seventeen year old me

And high school? College?  Oh man.  As punk gave way to emo, I went in head over heels.  I was a chest-pounding misty-eyed emo dreamster, speaking to my closest friends strictly in song lyrics.  Seriously, we’d communicate in lyrics.  Some of us still can do it.  Crying at the Dashboard concert kinda stuff.  Sprinkled in with some pothead memories, a lot of Dispatch and Ben Harper, of course.

my friend in green and in white = me, gettin funky at a dmb concert years and years ago

So as 28-year-old me is uphill jogging and I’m reflecting on this ear-to-heart beeline, I ponder: does it go both ways? 

For any of y’all not in the loop: I currently suffer from a condition my doctors call “peripheral neuralgia,” or “atypical facial pain.”  For the past 12 months my right ear has been hurting so badly.  The pain radiates from my ear, to my cheekbone, forehead, jaw … and it’s so debilitating that I can’t even think.  I’ve been on a whole mess of meds, treatment attempt after treatment attempt has failed, and it sucks.  I just want my ear to stop hurting.  The meds I’m on hold me for the time being, with a limited amount of breakthrough pain, but they aren’t a cure.  I can’t conceive while on these meds, they have side effects that I don’t like.

total fail - didn't work.

icing my neck on a day my ear was hurting real bad!

I feel broken.  It’s infuriating, depressing, frustrating, and sad that we (my amazing team of doctors and I) can’t get to the bottom of this.  I’ve had better success with two kinds of cancer.

My ear hurts every day.   Just the right ear.

And well, the little things hurt.  When a baby cries, when a mic reverbs, a whistle, a horn, my neighbor’s super loud and obnoxious bass – all of these sounds and noises, they HURT me.  Physically.  I hate it.  I have to wear an ear plug in my right ear a lot of the time.  I always have to wear it at church, it’s way too loud in there.

The ear pain started last January (2011), in the aftermath of the miscarriage I had. The stress of the miscarriage did a lot of damage to my body in general (the grotesquely mismanaged miscarriage, during which I bled heavily for 15 days, for a total of 30 when all was said and done).  I have a genetic blood disease, porphyria, and stressors take a harder hit on me than they do your average young and healthy person.

But maybe there’s a more simple answer: that heart-to-ear expressway.

Losing that baby was so sad.

Sad is such a lacking word.

I wanted to be a mother.  I was so happy to be pregnant.  I was so excited to have a baby.  Overjoyed, blissful, grateful, peppy.  It was the best I’ve ever felt in my life.  And then… it was taken away from me, in a rather undignified way, a drawn-out, painful, way.

I’ve experienced sadness and loss in my life – of course, who hasn’t? – and I can honestly say the greatest heartache I’ve ever suffered was losing that baby.

And it surprised me with how terribly sad it was.  I had no idea that a miscarriage was that hard to go through.

From my heart, back to my ears, so the connection goes? 

The idea is intriguing.

I mean, there are other things that I know to be true – I have musculo/skeletal damage on my right side, in the nerve path of my ear/face.  I have nerve damage. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this one-sided ear ache, it’s just the only time it hasn’t gone away after a week or so.

As far as mending my heart, I think I’ve come a long way.  I was never angry about the miscarriage, no one is to blame.   I was always just sad.

If anything, the event was part of a path the reignited my faith and brought me even closer to God.  It brought Duggs and I closer together.  I’ve been to therapists of all kinds – regular, neuro-psych, pain psych, etc., and they all say I’m doing okay, that I’m happy and well adjusted, doing the best I could be doing, given the circumstance.   In the past year, I’ve emotionally come a long way.

A great deal of heart healing has gone on. 

So am I just waiting for the ear to catch up?

In an effort to tackle the problem from the other side, I’ve jumped back into music with a new-found passion.  I don’t spend that much time in the car these days, and I’ve gotten kinda addicted to TV, so re-immersing in my jams has felt good.  I totally have Spotify to thank, I’m so obsessed.  And running; running again gives me reason to rock out.

cake will be here in hawaii later this month - i think i should go on therapeutic grounds!

So this inner express lane from my ears to my heart, it feels roundtrip.  Maybe the way to cure my facial pain isn’t through Lyrica, but lyrics? Ha. Do you like what I did there? Lyrica is one of my meds.  That’s funny.

If anything, perhaps soaking myself in my most favorite of tunes will be a way to help me feel better in general and/or distract me from the pain?  Maybe my heart has more healing to do than I’ve realized?

The connection feels real to me though: ears to heart, and back again.

….

As always, thanks for reading!!  Love, happy hippie rose

What I’m Into: January 2012

Posted by happyhippierose in my life and tagged with , , , , ,

What I’m Into This Month – January 2012

Megan over at Sorta Crunchy posted her “What I’m Into This Month” today… and so, I’m following suit.  Here we go:

On My Nightstand: 

I’ve been halfway through Emily Giffin’s “Heart of the Matter” for weeks and weeks now.

I’m embarrassed to admit how little I’ve read this month.  Oopsies! I feel like I’ve been writing so much.

T.V. Show Worth Watching: 

White Collar.  <— in love with this show, so glad it’s back with new eps.

Jersey Shore. duh.

I have watched a little American Idol, I’m not so into it though.

I know there’s way more regular TV that I do watch… but most of our watching is on Netflix right now:

TEEN WOLF.  on Netflix, the whole first season.  oh it’s so good, such a guilty pleasure that’s actually good!

One Tree Hill – we started from s1 and we’re just chugging through dozens and dozens of episodes. whew.

Movie I’ve Seen (in or out of the theater):

Moneyball.  It was good.

Red State.  holy cow what a movie.  what a movie!! so good.

Midnight In Paris.  so so so so so good. LOVE. AMAZE!

In My Kitchen:

No dairy!  It was low-dairy January and we did a cracker jack job of staying away.  I’m really really proud of us.  We’ve done good this month.

I have been kinda slacking with recipe invention lately.  Duggs has been doing so much of the cooking, and he’s just been amazing in there (as usual!).

In My Ears:

Spotify = amazing. I’m just listening to way too much music to list.  My friend Matt just gave me the Grimes album, “Visions” and I loooooove it.

I’mn obsessed with Niki and the Dove too.  Ohhh, love.

I’m listening to so many podcasts: wtf with Marc Maron, the Adam Carolla show, This American Life, The State We’re In, Sklarbro Country, and the French Podclass.

 

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Month: 

We set a really nice workout goal for January, so I’m excited to set a new goal for February and see if I can get there.  I’m also looking forward to Valentine’s Day… I think it’s the first one I’ve ever spent with Duggs, together geographically I mean.

So that should be sweet.  Yeah.


How about you, sweet friends? Whatcha into this first fine month of 2012?

Post yours, and then link back to me!