Love at first buff

So we were channel hopping through infomercials on Sunday morning, as we often do on a Sunday. We love to sit and make fun of the advertisements for the strange fitness products out there. 'I can get my abs AND my cardio done in only 3 minutes a day!' a bizarrely-bosomed fitness model beams, swinging herself side to side on a gizmo that looks like the body of an old lawnmower with some bicycle handlebars attached to the top. We have spent many happy mornings sipping coffee and laughing at the over-the-top agony of 'old-fashioned, back-breaking crunches and boring hours spent in the gym.' Why are all the 'before you buy this product' segments in black and white featuring people who look like they're being force-fed that bitter stuff from the middle of a pecan?

Anyway, Sunday morning we caught Susan Lucci selling her 'Youthful Essence' microdermabrasion kit. Now I have seen her selling this thing for years and never gave it a second thought, other than to wonder why it costs so much and why you have to sign up to get her little pots of crystal creme every month. I have to admit, though, that for the last few years, scrubbing with a wash cloth just hasn't been effective in getting rid of flakiness of my skin. I can wash, put on moisturizer, and still, when I put on my foundation makeup, it gets caught in the little tiny dead skin cells and that makeup shows up the scaliness until I feel like I must look like a lizard person. I mean, it's really noticeable, at least to me. (I had to actually get really close to Derek and point to get him to see what I meant. So okay, most people aren't as close to me as I am to a mirror when I'm scrutinizing my skin.) Still, I've felt self-conscious about it for some time, to the point where I don't even bother wearing makeup most days because I feel my skin looks better without it. Blotchy is better than scaly.

Anyway, after watching her infomercial, I thought I'd look into the microdermabrasion world. It turns out there are lots of little gizmos just like Susan Lucci's available out there. I did a lot of online shopping and reading of online reviews, and settled on the Roc Renewex Microdermabrasion Expert Kit. I found it available at Amazon Marketplace for £15, ordered it Tuesday night, and it arrived today!

I've used this thing for the first time tonight. I cannot believe what a difference it has made to my skin in only one use. It feels like an absolute rose petal. The literature that accompanies the kit says visible reduction of fine lines, etc, in 4 weeks. I can't wait to see how my skin looks after 4 weeks of this, if tonight's any indication.

Here's all you do:

1. Wash your skin as normal, using your normal face wash. Pat dry.
2. Put a bit of the microcrystal cream on the dry sponge of the applicator. (It feels like the finest possible grit you can imagine. Tiny, tiny little beads of aluminum oxide, which allegedly is what dermatologists use for microdermabrasion.)
3. Turn it on and smooth the stuff on your dry face, applying no pressure, just moving it about a bit. (The applicator is like a vibrator with a soft sponge attachment. Who knew!) Don't stay in one spot too long. Do this for 2-3 minutes.
4. Rinse your face with warm water, pat dry and apply moisturizer.
5. Clean the sponge with soap and water and air dry.

This process is to be repeated 2-3 times per week if you have normal skin, 1-2 times per week if you have sensitive skin.

I came out of the bathroom, and said to Derek, 'What do you think?' And he said he could see a difference at once in my forehead. I had him feel my face and he said it was very, very smooth and soft and he could definitely feel a difference.

I can't wait to see what happens when I put on foundation tomorrow!

What is it about vampires?

I'm suffering from vampire overload for the last few years and am unwilling to invest my time or interest in all these postmodern vampire movies for tweenies ('Twilight') and Southern gothtastic TV shows ('True Blood'). They don't know from vampires! They've taken all the mystique and replaced it with superfast motion werewolf battles or writhing blood-soaked orgies. Gross!

In my day, our vampires were dead sexy, and gentlemen, too--weary and misunderstood, just looking for their queen to make eternal life worthwhile. Here are my favourites:

1. Frank Langella in the 1979 film 'Dracula'. Langella is the sexiest screen vampire, in my opinion. Although he is a frightening bloodsucker (the scene where he peers in Mina's window hanging upside is freaky!), he is a true Gothic romantic leading man. No wolf eyes, fangs or blood trickling from the mouth to be seen. Lots of soulful looks, fantastic droopy-sleeved chest-revealing shirts, soft kissing and roiling smoke effects, though!

2. Brad Pitt as the reluctant and brooding vampire, Louis, in 'Interview with the Vampire', continues Langella's tradition of the undead who yearns to be part of the world of the living. He's not sexy--if anything, he is ambiguous, being in love with a little girl and Antonio Banderas!-- He's just remarkably beautiful. Not sure if that makes him sexy, but I mean--just look at him!


3. Gary Oldman in 'Bram Stoker's Dracula', directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie absolutely awful. As someone elsewhere online remarked, Keanu Reeves bumbles around as if he's thinking 'What am I doing in this movie?' and Wynona Ryder looks stoned, but Gary Oldman is smokin'. He's not pretty, he's not handsome--he's just hot!


4. Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge in 'Fright Night'. Everybody remembers the girl who turns into the freak with the red eyes and horrible too-wide mouthful of teeth, but Chris Sarandon certainly moistened a few pairs of knickers along the way, I'm sure. Hoo ha!

So what is it about vampires? I'm sure people have written loads about what makes vampires sexy. It has something to do with the intimacy, the penetration, the latching onto something and sucking the life out of it...now that I think about it, it's not so hard to figure out! Beautiful immortals. Dangerous to everyone except the girl they fall in love with (which of course will be you!). Eternal protection in their worshipful embrace and all that. No wonder they're so darn popular.

Tamworth Castle 30th October 2009

We went to Tamworth Castle yesterday. We'd been planning to 'go somewhere' for a little Halloween treat, but we weren't sure where and didn't want to travel far. Then on the Gadget Show the other night, they featured Tamworth Castle as being haunted, and wouldn't you know it's only a 30-minute drive from here. So off we went. It was a lovely day, not too cold or windy, and I've noticed that you can actually see some autumn colours this year. (Some years, summer seems to slide right into winter in a misty, grey, shivery slippage, with hardly a sign of yellows or reds). There was a tree in the park outside the castle grounds that was absolutely showering yellow leaves, but I didn't think to photograph it.

So anyway, we were pleasantly surprised that admission to the castle was half price, so we got in for £5.00 total! Bargain.


Mwah ha ha! A suitably Hammer Horrorish angle on the castle front...


This is the entrance to the castle itself, passing through a courtyard. This castle is a hodgepodge of different eras...

Here's a view of the Elizabethan courtyard from above, when we went up to the Tower. (Every castle has to have a Tower!)

From the castle Tower, overlooking St Editha Church. (We went in that church. It was okay. Kind of Norman-y.)


So, Tamworth Castle is supposed to haunted by two ghosts, The White Lady, who haunts the Tower and is supposedly mourning for her suitor who was killed by a guy called Sir Lancelot (yeah, right!), and the Black Lady, who haunts a bedroom and Elizabethan staircase and was supposedly photographed in 1949 by some ghost hunters.


Spooky light by the Haunted Stair...


And that's the Haunted Staircase. I was kinda hoping I'd get a weird shadow, but I don't see anything here. I will say that the stairs are very creaky and if I were wandering around in there by candlelight in the dark of night, I'd sure think they were haunted.


At the entrance to the Great Hall, we were greeted by this random skull...


But the Great Hall not only had lots of other horned skulls, it had wrought iron candleabras from the ceiling and looked for all the world like a suitable setting for the movie, 'The Devil Rides Out'!

Here I am in a less creepy room.

And here is a stairway we found that leads up to a wall. It's a good thing I'd already been up to the top of that wall via another way, because there was no way I was going to climb those stairs. The camera flashed and illuminated this staircase, but when you peered up it in natural light, there was barely enough light to see where you were going.


And we're back out again...

It was a good Halloween visit with some spooky moments, especially in this child's room where there was an absolutely eery portrait of a little girl looming out toward you from over the fireplace, and on the opposite wall, a painting of a sleeping child--but it looked like it was either on its deathbed or dead already! Then I spotted some antique china dolls with faded eyes and I got the absolute willies and beat a hasty retreat--especially when I was trying to photograph the portrait and Derek shouted, 'Don't photograph it, it will come to life!' I yelped and got the heck out, I tell you!

Hooray!

My trousers are beginning to get looser!

I decided to weigh only once per week for the sake of my sanity during the weight-loss phase, and to my surprise yesterday, I was down 3 pounds from the beginning of the month. This morning, I took a good look at the way my trousers are fitting around the waist and butt, and yes, they are marginally looser. So I am heading in the right direction at last. I have faithfully written down every single thing I've eaten each day since 5th October. I'm not closely measuring it and definitely not counting calories, just writing it down.

I think the best thing I'm doing, though, is a good tough exercise rotation. Cathe's Slow & Heavy 3-day split, interspersed with cardio kickboxing (Chalene Johnson, Amy Bento and Cathe). I have been working hard, and I am seeing renewed definition in my upper body. Yay!

'This'll burn some calories--and isn't that why we're here!!'

Chalene says this early in the workout I tried today, and boy was she right.

My new Chalean Extreme DVDs arrived today. I got 7 workouts in all, Disk 7 from the original Chalean Extreme (3 workouts), and the new set of 4 workouts that's just come out as cardio add-ons to the Chalean Extreme program.

Of course the first thing I did when I got home was do the first workout on Disk 7: Fat Burn Challenge. It is 30 minutes long and is probably the most intense cardio workout I own--but then, I haven't done the others from this set yet! Here's a breakdown:

1. Jump rope drills, 2 minutes.

2. Jumping Jack Drills, 3 minutes.

3. Plyo Lunges, 2 minutes 25 seconds. This consists of stepping into deep lunges, the deeper the better.

30 second break.

4. Football practice, 1 minute 12 seconds. You've surely seen the football players doing this one. You get in a squat stance and run in place really fast. Chalene calls out left, right, and 'HIT'. (That's where the coach usually gives a sharp whistle) That's your signal to drop to the ground in a push up stance, jump up, and keep running. Tough! But as Chalene says, at least you're not wearing full football pads and helmet! I cannot imagine those poor boys doing this in 100 degree Arkansas heat. I feel for them!

5. Plyo sculpting, with toner band, 3 minutes. This move has you side stepping side to side, and Chalene alternates with a standing thigh toning exercise. So you lunge side to side, then stop and raise alternating legs to the side working the thighs. Then back to lunges etc. This nearly killed me, as I did Cathe's Slow & Heavy Legs and Shoulders yesterday which has some really intense concentrated leg work in it. I didn't know this workout had leg work, or would have opted for a different one, but never mind.

6. Modified Burpee, 1 minute. You jump into a wide squat, put your hands on the floor, shoot your legs back into a pushup stance, then hop back into the squat stance and stand up again. You do 16 total burpees.

30 second break.

7. Moving Prisoner Lunges, 2 minutes. You step forward to a lunge, then step to the right (3 o’clock) for a second lunge. Then back to the front for another lunge, and continue. This move is modified by moving your hands from your hips during the lunges, to behind your head, and then straight up in the air. Then you’ll switch sides and do the opposite leg.

8. Crosses and Zig Zags, 2 minutes. Turbo Jam! Cross punches, mixed in with zig zags (for the obliques), and some knee lifts. Compared to what we'd been doing, this was almost like a break!

9. Squats/Sumo, 1 minute 24 seconds. You hop from sumo squat to standing up, jumping in and out. (Although to be honest, my sumo squats were a bit lame. But then, I was feeling literally lame! Legs like jello!)

10. Giant Leaps, 2 minutes 30 seconds. Leaping from side to side, like a skater's sweep. Very fun, I loved this segment.

11. Squats, 1 minute 30 seconds. Football again. You go from a regular squat to a 3 point football stance, back to the squat, continue to football stance etc. Chalene jumped these, but all I could do was squat and stand. Whew!

12. Lateral Lunges, 1 minute 30 seconds. Side lunges to one side, hold and repeat, then switch legs. This feels great after all that legwork.

3 minute cool down

After this short workout, I was dripping. I didn't wear my HRM, but I bet I burned loads of calories. It was pretty much all jumping, but there is a modifier to show you how to keep it low impact with high intensity. Chalene rocks!

Can't wait to try the next ones! Yay, I love new workouts. :)

Three rules create an eater's manifesto. Read this book.

In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan. I read it in 2 days. If you haven't read it yet, read it. Get it right now, seriously.

Here's Michael Pollan lecturing at University of California:

In Defence of Food with Michael Pollan, University of California

This lecture is an excellent encapsulation of the content of the book and definitely worth watching.

And here he is in an interview:

Food News: In Defence of Food Part One

Food News: In Defence of Food Part Two

Food News: In Defence of Food Part Three

Food News: In Defence of Food Part Four

(This is a follow-up to his previous book, 'The Omnivore's Dilemma', which is truly excellent, but you don't have to have read that one to enjoy this one. Read them both, though. They're fantastic books. By the way, I emailed John Robbins a year or two ago asking him what he thought about the whole concept of 'orthorexia', and he doesn't believe there is such a thing, and that being concerned about what we eat is a good thing...however, I think Robbins and Pollan agree on nearly all points.)

Lovely Sunday

We went to HMV today and bought some Hammer Horror Dracula flicks for Halloween for 3 quid each:







We watched 'Dracula has risen from the grave' (1968) today. It was completely ludicrous but strangely enjoyable, like all Hammer Horror schlock. (I read somewhere that Christopher Lee thought 'Risen from the Grave' was crap. But then, he thought that about several of his own films.) This one is a direct sequel to 'Dracula Prince of Darkness' (1966), in which Dracula is trapped under some ice right outside his castle. In 'Risen from the Grave', a priest exorcises Dracula's castle and places a big cross across the front door, so when Drac gets a little taste of some blood and revives, he can't get back in. He's truly pissed off about this, so seeks out the priest who did this so he can exact his revenge by killing him and his beloved virginal and buxom niece, Maria. Along the way, Dracky enslaves the local vicar whose church is 'in the shadow of his castle', lunches on a busty barmaid called Zena, pulls a giant stake out of his own heart because the guy who stabs him (Maria's boyfriend) is an atheist and refuses to pray while doing it, then manages to impale himself on a giant crucifix. Pretty gruesome stuff! Amazingly, while this film got banned in Finland and received an X rating in England in 1968, the Americans gave it a rating of G. We've never been much bothered by violence in the old US of A. But if there'd been any nudity or humping, hello! A little religious imagery, blood sucking and walking dead, though--eh, the kiddies can handle that.

After Dracula, we did Cathe Friedrich's Kick Punch & Crunch and now we're about to settle in and wait for episode 3 of the new season of House.

I can't believe the weekend's over already. They should be 4 days long.