How To Have a Successful New Years Eve

1. Wear as much glitter, sparkles, or sequins that your body will allow. The shinier the better people. Get glowing!

2. Drink champagne! Obviously this is the beverage of choice when the clock strikes midnight. Bubbly beverages = bubbly personalities, so start sipping!

3. Sip SLOWLY! Do not overdo it just because you  may be at a party with an open bar. Do you want to drink like a classy individual or do you want to wake up feeling like crap? The choice is yours! My suggestion is to drink a glass of water between every adult beverage.

4. Don’t forget your bar snacks! Having something in your stomach will help with the effects of the alcohol, both tonight and tomorrow. I recommend bringing a protein bar, banana, or a handful of nuts. Or cookies! You guys know I love my bar snacks.

5. Be safe! Do not get behind the wheel. The wheel of a car, truck, boat, bicycle, or moped. Shoot, don’t even get on a skateboard. If Prince Charming shows up, maybe you can hop in his ride.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Questions I Need Answered by YOU!

Warning: This will be random.

1. Where can I good, inexpensive yoga pants? I currently wear ones from Victoria’s Secret  and Target. I like them, but I want more!

I know you all want to say Lululemon, but I’d rather spend my moolah on…

2. What’s the best mascara? I don’t need a lengthening one – my lashes already touch my eyebrows and it tickles! I want one that volumizes them so they look like fans for my face! haha. Could be helpful at the gym when I get really hot, right? Here’s what I currently use:

3. What’s your favorite cell phone app? I can’t get enough of Words with Friends.

Please don’t say Angry Birds – I refuse to download that!

4. Does anyone celebrate half birthdays? I just realized mine is today. I didn’t need another reason to celebrate, but now I have one. YAY. 27 1/2, here we go.

5. Are you going to say 2012 as “Two thousand twelve” or “Twenty twelve"? Major life decision right there.

What I’m Loving Wednesday

1. I am the queen of last minute…everything. Procrastinating is my specialty. 5 days before NYE, I realized I like none of the dresses in my closet. Typical female right here. So, I purchased a new one. Piperlime is my friend.

2. This chart. That grey area is why I try to stay single. Ew.

3. I go to Hall’s Chophouse a lot. Their beets make me drool. After blogging about them here, they put me up on their website. Boom.

4. So I guess I have to go back to NYC. Several reasons to travel have popped up (HELLO LUCY), including a new restaurant in the Upper West Side. @PetrossianNYC tweeted me to inform me of Jacob’s Kitchen. Should I book my flight now?

Fried pickles in NYC = #bestofbothworlds. SERIOUSLY.

5. My Xbox avatar wears spandex!

I just remembered that I have cookie dough in my freezer. Gotta go.

Sorry I’m Not Sorry…

…that I haven’t blogged in days. Tis the season! To be a lazy blogger? Sure!

…that 2 of my favorite gifts this year wers a Chick-fil-A gift card and a foam roller.

The best part was that when I originally asked my aunt for the foam roller, she confused it with a sex toy. Hmm.

…that my grandparents know how accident prone I am and got me a gift certificate to get a RoadID. This little bracelet will have my name, emergency contact #, allergies (NKA baby!) and blood type. I also got to put a quote on there. Sorry I’m not sorry that instead of something inspirational, I put “Run for more cookies!”

It’s true. I run for more cookies.

…that on Christmas, my family and I got really weird. Wine may have been to blame, but honestly, we’re a strange group sober. My cousin Gabrielle jokingly handcuffed me so I couldn’t drink more wine.

And when I snapped out of the cuffs, she slapped on some duct tape. Fancy duct tape, if I do say so myself.

Did you guys know you can make crafts with duct tape? Gabrielle made me some bows. If you’re wondering why my eyes look possessed, it’s because I am.

…that clearly huge possessed eyes run in the family. Hi Zachary.

…that on Friday I bought an Xbox + a kinect. What! I bought it for one main reason: to dance. Jason and I may or may not have stayed up until almost 5 a.m. dancing. It sure does beat Trio’s 1:45 a.m. closing time.

I have danced to Party Rock Anthem like 45 times in the last 2 days. I also bought Your Shape.

…that all these Xbox workouts are being refueled with peppermint Hershey Kisses.

…that this post was really random and weird. What else would you expect from me?

Talk to me, people! I miss you! I love you!

Pure Barre Charleston and a Blogger Meet Up!

Twitter is constantly making me happy. Reason #298529875: The owner of Pure Barre Charleston recently discovered my blog via my friend Danielle, who happens to be one of her instructors. Jen offered to let me try some classes at her studio, so Wednesday evening, I stopped by.

Pure Barre is located to the left of Whole Foods in the Houston Northcutt shopping plaza in Mt. Pleasant.  The studio is very sleek and has good energy. Upon walking in, I was immediately greeted by Danielle, Jen (the owner), and Margaret (who would was teaching the next class). Everyone was so friendly and I instantly felt comfortable. I think this is very important in new fitness situations.

The Pure Barre workout “utilizes the ballet barre to perform small isometric movements set to motivating music.” These movements, which Margaret kept calling “tiny,” really are just that. I noticed that I paid much more attention to the individual muscles as I worked on them rather than just letting my body flail around. The workout targets the abs, hips, thighs, back of the arm, and seat. Each area is worked until fatigued and then stretched .With that said, each muscle group was on fiiiiiiiiiire and stretching them felt so good.

Margaret was an excellent instructor. She was very motivating and cheerful. I appreciated her coming over several times to improve my form. Proper form during a workout is key to maximizing your results.

In a nutshell:

• Pure Barre provides a great full-body workout that is sure to strengthen and tone females’ problematic areas.
• The staff was very welcoming.
• The music was up-to-date and fun, but just a tad loud.
• All the equipment we used (dumbbells, mats, balls, and double tubing) were brand new.
• To clean up, they use disposable wipes rather than spray & rags – this made me so happy.

For more information see Pure Barre’s:

• website
• facebook
• twitter

Huge thanks to Jen, Margaret, and Danielle for inviting me in. I had such a good time. Charleston friends: if you’re interested in taking a Pure Barre class, I have a pass for you! Tweet me or email me at christina orso at gmail dot com if you’re interested.

In blogger news, I met Sierra from Posh Meets Pavement on Monday! We met for drinks and dinner at Hall’s Chophouse. After reading her blog for several months, it was great to meet in real life and just chat! We had so much to talk about and I wish she lived here so we could hang out more. Maybe I need to vacation in South Africa… ;)

We both had a glass of red wine and my favorite salad, but I added beets. I’ll tell you again and again that their Blackened Salmon Salad is one of my favorite salads ever. It has sliced pears, oranges, buttermilk blue cheese, candied pecans, and white balsamic dressing. Although this picture does not do it justice, here’s photo from earlier this summer.

After dinner we snapped a photo in front of the Christmas tree. How bad is it that Amanda and I took the same photo less than a week ago? #hallsobsessed

What new fitness classes have you taken recently?

Who’s your favorite blogger that you’ve met in real life? (Btw: blogger + friend = blend)

Celebrating the Holidays

December is pretty much over. Okay, okay, we still have Christmas and New Year’s Eve but um, where did the time go? I’ve been so busy that I wouldn’t even know what the date was unless I had an advent calendar. And then I got so busy that I forgot about the calendar and just started eating random days out of chronological order. Who does that? One day was really special because I got to eat four days that I had skipped. Nothing better than a morning chocolate overdose.

One of the first holiday celebrations was going to the Festival of Lights on James Island with TJ. (Gosh he hasn’t been on the blog in a while.) You drive through 3 miles of light displays.

Reindeer:

Our bridge!

A mermaid. I flipped over this one.

In the middle of the drive, you can get out for shopping, food, and SANTA. Yes, I went there. Straight to his lap!

I was definitely the only adult (until they made TJ sit with me), but according to this sign, it was legal.

After I made Santa’s day (trust me, he told me he liked it), we roasted marshmallows. So festive.

Naturally I got marshmallow all over my face.

This past weekend, I went to a friend’s Christmas party. Amanda and I had a little too much fun with the new Bethenny Frankel Skinnygirl cocktails. She brought the Sangria and I bought the Cranberry Cosmo. I didn’t love the Sangria, but the Cosmo was delicious. Amanda preferred the Sangria, so it was a win win. I’m sure our faces prove that.

The mistletoe headband came on for the second party I went to. As much as I want to explain Boomer’s strange outfit to you, I just can’t. Let’s just say we went to a “future” themed  party and he doesn’t typically dress this way. I’m glad I can embarrass him in front of all my readers though. #notsorry

As you can see, not everyone dressed like a mountain man. Say hi to Jason.

How have you been celebrating the holidays?

Do you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, or are you a Scrooge?

At what age did you stop sitting on Santa’s lap? I’m not stopping!!!

Survey Saturday

Sure, why not.

1. What time did you get up this morning? Don’t ask me that on a Saturday. Just don’t even go there. 

2. How do you like your steak? I don’t care for steak really. But when I do eat it, I want it rare.

3. What was the last movie you saw at the theater? Breaking Dawn!

4. What is your favorite TV show? Um. Jeopardy? I don’t really watch t.v.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? That’s a major life decision. I don’t make those. I always thought I’d end up in FL but I do love Charleston!

6. What did you have for breakfast? Plain Greek yogurt + peanut butter + raspberry preserves + an orange.

7. Do you wear glasses or contacts?  Glasses as needed. Like when I eat froyo.

8. What food do you despise? Raw onions.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? LBH – Chick-fil-A brings me more joy than any other restaurant.

10. Favorite dressing? White balsamic or any fruity vinaigrettes.

11. What’s your favorite movie? American Beauty.

12. What are your favorite clothes? Dresses, sandals, bathing suits. I hate Winter clothes.

13. Where would you visit, this weekend, if you had the chance? NYC! To see Lucy and Kaye.

14. How many tattoos do you have? 1 1/2. Okay, 1 and 1 in the removal process.

15. Where would you want to retire? Doesn’t everyone go to FL?

16. What is your desktop photo? Dom. Tiled.

17. Where were you born? Concord, MA.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? College football, but let’s face it, am I really watching?

19. How many siblings? 3 brothers.

20. Favorite pastime/hobby? Blogging, hello!!

21. Coffee Drinker?  Yes

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night owl for sure.

24. Do you have any pets? That would be a bad idea.

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? The mistletoe headband is coming out tonight.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? In 5th grade I wanted to be a brain surgeon. Then I thought about being a librarian but obviously I am way too loud for that.

27.  What is your favorite color? Green.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog.

29. Are you married? To my blog.

30. Always wear your seat belt? Most of the time.

31. Been in a car accident? Pshhhhhhh

32. Any pet peeves? Loud chewers, gum smackers, slow talkers, slow walkers, slow story tellers, slow computers, slow music, slow anything. Except for slow cookers, those are pretty cool.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Margherita pizza. Or chicken.

34. Favorite Flower? Don’t have one. I’m not a female.

35. Favorite ice cream? Cookie dough. Oreo. Peanut butter coffee. Or Chick-fil-A IceDream.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chick-fil-A

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? I think only once.

38. From whom did you get your last email? Kaye.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Just one?! Um. Piperlime.

40. Like your job? Yes!

The Friday Five

1. What I’m Reading:

I picked this book up from the library for two reasons: 1)Ellen is hysterical. 2)I say that all the time. I haven’t started it yet, but I’m sure it’s a gem.

2. What I’m Listening to: NOT CHRISTMAS MUSIC. I can’t get into it this year. I do love “Eyes on Fire” by Blue Foundation:

3. What I’m Watching: Dom Mazzetti on repeat. Can’t stop watching this tool. Here’s the latest video about Christmas.

4. What I’m Eating: Um, did you see my post on Hall’s Chophouse? What else… Mmm, these.

5. What I’m Pinning: Oven fried pickles ! ! ! ! ! !

What are you up to this weekend? So far I have plans to work out & have lunch with Amanda, a Christmas party, a photo shoot, maybe some Trio dancing action… HAVE FUN!