DRESS, HEADBANDS & BOWLS - A Few small OBSESSIONS!

Recently I have had a few things ON MY mind. I find my fingers doing the walking to these websites (embedded within) an awful lot recently. Next weekend I am going to hang at a special party out in Cumberland. Have I doted on Cumberland enough recently? LOVE IT. Anyway, I was thinking about what I would like to wear and can't get this Anthropologie Dress out of my mind...rumor has it that their M St. location has 2 in my size.... Me thinks I'll be heading to Georgetown after work...

Then, my work-out buddy, Angie, got me hooked on these very functional AND fashionable diamond-studded elastic headbands. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Working out and being stylish -- Perfect. Even better, they're CHEAP. LOVE IT. They're a steal at Claire's.

And even though I can't make the trip to Maine, I can live vicariously via the net. The Brooder House Auction in Union Maine has emailed me their latest photos for their upcoming auction on March 6th. I am kind of hoping the wave of popularity that has kept BANDED BOWLS pricier for the last several years will fade. I'll be waiting in the wings to scoop them all up if that happens (Martha Stewart created the Jadeite wave about a decade ago, and still no back to normalcy there...grrrrrrrr.) Ahhh, if only they could be sleepers.

Y-A-W-N

Sigh. If you're ever travelling up the Maine mid-coast, take your brood over to the Brooder House for some awesome steals and great Downeast accents.

BELLY DANCING with AZIN MAHOOZI

It's all about DISTRACTION.

Yes. DISTRACTION.

I am committed to staying fit and it was time to xmi pu that's "mix up", only mixed up!) my work out a little bit. My recent foray into Persian food had me thinking "I need a Persian work-out". As it turns out, Royal Fitness has a BELLY DANCING class on the last Wednesday of every month.

PERFECT.

I wasn't going to explore this centuries-old-workout by myself. Nope. My partners in crime, Andrea Roane & Angie Goff decided to take the class with me. Unfortunately, Andrea got hung up at Broadcast House...but no worries, we have another class ahead in March!

Our instructor, Azin Mahoozi, the Founder and Creative Director of Born 2 Dance Studio in Vienna, is beautiful and talented. She took us through the 9 basic core "movements" key to the Belly Dance. By the end, she was taking us through simple combinations.

DID YOU KNOW?

"Belly Dance is based on one of the oldest social dances in world history, native to the Middle East and Africa. It consists of rhythmic hip movements, deliberate muscular contractions, as well as sinewy belly undulations, all performed with meticulous coordination meant to internalize and express the emotions evoked by the music."

--from the Born 2 Dance Studio Website

It took my total concentration -- both in getting the proper stretch of the particular part of my abdomen we were working AND in putting the movements together in the proper order. Because I was so FocuseD, it was as if I was distracted from the workout that was in progress. It was FUN! During this particular class, it was all women. But I must confess, I had taken a class one other time and a man actually hung with us, Shimmying his way to a slimmer mid-section!

Here's a video below of Azin and Angie, taking us through a simple grapevine combination.

WHAT: Belly Dancing!

WHERE: Royal Fitness, Bethesda (CLICK HERE) and Born 2 Dance Studio, Vienna (CLICK HERE)

WHEN: Last Wednesday Every Month at Royal Fitness, and CLICK HERE for Scheduling at Born 2 Dance Studio.

WHY: Mix up your routine -- A great Distraction From a Work-Out!

CHIT CHAT with LAURENT AMZALLAG (YA-LA!)

I got an email on Monday giving me a "heads up" that I would be leading an exercise segment on 9 News Now at 9am and that I should be prepared by bringing in my work-out clothes to the station for Tuesday and, by the way, it is with an "amazingly gorgeous trainer" (my co-worker's words) named Laurent Amzallag. The segment would focus on, naturally, getting fit. But this had another emphasis -- getting a bride-to-be as fit-as-can-be before she says "I DO".


Enter Angie: Wedding Date APRIL 2008

How convenient that she is also my work-out partner.
You can tell Angie 1000 times that she LOOKS FANTASTIC, but she'll find something to worry about. Funny, Kristen (who works the assignment desk and who is also getting married in a few months), is the same way. BRIDES...

Before the show, I chatted with Laurent (yes, my co-worker was correct, but I only HAVE EYES FOR BEN! THUMP THUMP goes my heart!) He gave me a brief overview of what we could cover during the live interview to follow... Have a LQQK below!

I don't know about you, but I'm a "bullet points" kind of gal. "Just give me the headlines." This isn't always the best rule to live by, but for the purpose of this blog, it will do quite fine. I asked Laurent specifically what are the

3 BEST THINGS

(okay, I asked for 5, but he only wrote up 3) we can do every day to see an immediate change in our bodies. HERE IS EXACTLY WHAT HE WROTE (using my "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" book as a surface to write on while sitting in our green room.)

1. Watch what you put in your mouth. Calories in less than calories out.
2. Here are key exercises that will change your body:

• LUNGES
• PUSHUPS
• CRUNCHES
• DIPS

3. Set realistic goals for yourself. You don't want to look like Heidi Klum or Jennifer Anniston. You want to look like you. Only better!

After a while, Laurent became interested in how I do the weather at the "chroma key" (the BIG GREEN WALL) and wanted to give it a try...

RUN BEN RUN!

I am dating a runner.

It started innocently enough last year when Ben mentioned he was training for a half marathon. As his feet hit the pavement, weaving his long frame around the streets of Frederick, I zipped through shortcuts to cheer him on at various intersections, snapping pictures and catching discarded layers. 13 miles seems so *short*, now.

Over the HOLIDAYS, Ben had to decide which marathon he would run this year. Virginia Beach won. No hills, good layout for spectators, the right timing for the peak of his training, no need to fly anywhere --

PERFECT.

But then Ben got talking to our friend, Frank (actually he's Mike Walter's friend, but he's our friend too) who is a marathon runner and he brought up "the wind." Yeah, it gets kind of "sea breezy" there in VA Beach. Oops. But Big Ben can handle it.

So, Ben's been faithfully training. He's been reading Jeff Galloway's book (one of them at least) on how to train for a marathon. He sneaks in runs on his lunch break, after work and on the weekends. And, he even has to run L*O*N*G*E*R than his marathon distance in order to train for it !?! Sunday was one of those L*O*N*G runs. Here he is, below, in all his pre-run glory (note he's carrying a wool hat, ipod, cell phone and - what you can't see - a credit card and cash.)

29.9 miles later I picked Ben up at Mighty Mike's in Sterling. He pulled it off. While driving him back to Springfield I said "Why didn't you just take the Fairfax County Parkway to 50?" He said "Because it is empty -- there are no grocery stores or anything for that matter along it." "A-Ha" I said. I think is amusing, but necessary, how Ben is just running along zipping into grocery stores for Gatorade and Power Bars, 8 miles later he's in the mood for a combo meal...no problem, he'll hit Wendy's. "Should I stand at the various check points at Virginia Beach with a sampling of combo meals from your favorite fast food joints?" Here's my handsome runner, below, 29 miles later. I'm so proud of him!

FITNESS FRIDAY - ONE LEGGED SQUATS (ouch!)

Angie and I had our usual "Ouch I am so sore...I don't know if I can work-out today" rant. We are still trying to figure out how we are supposed to "Enjoy the pain" as Bernard says. There are certain things I just DON'T LIKE to do.

PERIOD.

They would be PUSH UPS and THE PLANK (more on that in another blog.) Angie isn't fond of ONE-LEGGED- SQUATS. "They make my legs go numb", she confides to me while standing at the chroma wall waiting for the traffic segment. "All I think about is the lactic acid that must be accumulating there." Well,

TIME TO POP THAT THOUGHT BUBBLE GIRLFRIEND!

While I'm shooting ouch darts from my eyes at my work-out buddy who easily bangs out a set of 10 "real" pushups (as I labor through mine), Angie is thinking "Oh my gosh, I want to quit! But I WON'T!" when Bernard drags out the BiG BaD free weight for the one-legged squats.

What *is* a one-legged squat? You ask? Allow us to demonstrate as we try to get figure-skater-cut-quads:



When I used to row (Side bar, I actually trained with the US Rowing National Team after college, *thinking* I might go to the Olympics in '96...but that's a bummer story for another time....) our coach, Hartmut Buschbacher, really liked...NO, make that LOVED having us do ONE-LEGGED- SQUATS...over and over and over again. It got to the point where I remember going to the grocery store with my team-mates and while waiting for them to finish up inside, I would stand on the curb and start banging out the squats...we were nuts!

Bernard is fond of saying "Enjoy the pain". This applies to the one-legged-squat, too. In the Bernard Fit Bit below, Angie asks him the two things to remember to do while working towards your quad rhapsody.

The video below is a pretty funny story. Have you ever nudged the speed around on your treadmill because the person next to you was going just a little faster? Competition can be healthy, pushing you to challenge yourself more. But what if the competion is, well, yourself?

HAVE A LQQK!

Do you know when a figure skater spins around and squats down on one leg with the other leg sticking straight out in front of them that that is a *very* fancy version of a one-legged squat? I think that maneuver is called "shooting the duck." I can't imagine doing that, but I do know this -- One-Legged-Squats are the fast lane to cut quads. The quest is on!

A Trip to the Middle East via MOBY DICK!

You have already met my good friend, Roya. You can read more about her, HERE. Last week, during the ice-storm-that-just-wouldn't-change-to-rain-and-caused-this-METEOROLOGIST-to-slide-*slightly*-off-the-road, I ended up having to cab it to and from work.
I met this wonderful cab driver who I got to talking with (I tend to get chatty) and learned that he put both his daughters through college (one is about to be a medical doctor) by driving a cab for a living. It was his number one priority that his daughters get an education (LOVE THAT!) (What I kind of left out is that he said his first wife wouldn't have cared if they just worked at a fast food joint forever). Anyway, I could tell that he wasn't born here as he definitely had a thick accent of some kind. He said "Guess where I'm from" to which I guessed "Turkey" (since I had been to Istanbul (not Constantinople -- see my TMBG thread below...) and he reminded me of the awesome owner of a bakery where I had bought THE WORLD'S BEST BAKLAVA (nope, it's not just a Greek thing -- Double T Diner has the second best!) He said I was close, just a country or two over and I would be correct. He hails originally from Iran, but has been in the US since 1970,before I was born (I'll leave it at that.) "A-HA!" I said, "Then you must tell me who has the best Iranian food in the DC area; I want to try it." Hands down, his vote is for Moby Dick. "Roger that", I said and then thanked him for a safe ride back to my disabled car.

But back t0 Roya. She, too, is originally from Iran. So I asked her "Where would you go for some yummy home style cooking?" Moby Dick was her choice. Before you know it, Roya, Angie and I were off to lunch. MIND YOU, we were fresh from a work out -- NO GLAM CAM HERE, but we're family, right? We don't have to be "on" 24 / 7 do we? Do we???

Here's a video tour and some QUICK DISH on DELISH Persian food. Have a look before you J-E-T OUT FOR SOME EATS! VROOM VROOM!

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS running on DUNCAN?

For the last I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY weeks I have been humming along to what I think is THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, but the problem is that what I am humming along to is TMBG singing in a DUNCAN DONUTS COMMERCIAL.

Huh???

"That sounds like THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS" I have been saying aloud to whomever will listen, or pretend to listen, during our morning show. No response. Could the 2 JOHNS FROM LINCOLN be selling coffee?

YOUTUBE to the rescue. Sure enough, I was able to find some matches under "Duncan Donuts They Might Be Giants". Here is one of them below, although it is not the commercial running locally in our area. The commercial running locally is called "Steps" and here are the lyrics:

"Taking a power walk (In my tennis shoes)Watch as I power walk (My elbows up high)I'm gonna power walk into the municipal building(Elevator, escalator)No, I choose to power walk"

Should I be disappointed that one of my favorite college bands has sold out?

They played CORNELL and rocked Bailey Hall when I was there...good times.

HERE IS A LINK to all you would like to know about TMGB from WIKIPEDIA. Now I am off to to locate PaRtIcle Man...

EYE ON FREDERICK WEATHER

.

.

.

.

Happy Presidents' Day -- What a way to have the day off, huh? When I left WUSA, in northwest DC, shortly after 11am, I kept an eye on my car thermometer (not the trustiest measuring device on the planet, I know.) I did a double take when I got to the 270 split heading north to my beautiful Frederick, when the temperature was posting 72 degrees (!) It had jumped from 70 to 72 over the course of a minute. "We must be just ahead of the front", I thought to myself. Cumulus clouds were building on the north / northwestern horizon. "We must be spiking right before the FROPA", I kept thinking. (FROPA is old weather speak for "frontal passage".)

I continued northward to where I call home, Frederick, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the thermometer. Below is my

...

VIEW FROM FREDERICK.

...

BTW... " PROOF " HAS THE BEST RED VELVET CUPCAKES.

Don't get too used to this weather, though. Come tomorrow we'll be a

...

CHOP CHOP CHOPPIN'

...

(not broccoli!) 20 degrees or more from the high... SIGH.

MY SURREAL LIFE in the POCONOS

When I travel to Northeast PA, I feel like sometimes I am travelling back in time. Take for example the seasons. As the days get longer and we approach highs in the 60s here in DC; It is always a season behind up there.

But this weekend was especially surreal when I replay the things that have happened. It is almost like I have lived through a dream where things are just a little "off".

For starters, there is my Christmas Tree. It stays up all year. I have been playing around with my digital camera and thought you might like to see it for yourself:

Come the summer months, OKAY, it does seem a bit ODD. I'll give you that. But here's where the story gets stranger. I was running around, doing some errands that brought me into CVS. While standing in line at the check out, I heard "You're Kim Martucci, the weather girl at WUSA." ???!!! At first I thought it was someone who recognized me from my old job at WBRE TV in Wilkes-Barre. But, no, this person said WUSA. As it turns out, Dan Nobel of Annapolis (see last video) was up in NEPA, visiting his family.

Now, let's fast forward to later in the evening. Logo Man tagged along for the trip (he needed a retreat from his busy Dupont Circle life). After watching a few movies (Breach (yay) and Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End (nay -- 3 hours was entirely too long), not to mention a FABULOUS day of good old Main St. America shopping (check out the great vintage pieces I picked up for a STEAL!),

------>

and a yummy bargin-priced-cupcake-pick-me-up at Sweet Eden (celebrating its first year of business), I took Logo to the Fireside Restaurant. I briefed him for what he was about to experience: good food with the cocoon of 70s style decour replete with LIVE OrGaN MuSiC. Stepping into this restaurant is like stepping back into your favorite childhood restuarant (if you're a Gen Xer) - a vegetable plate on the table to start, what I imagine was once dark wood panelling that has since been painted, and just a warm family feeling. But the LIVE OrGaN MuSiC. -- THAT is the best part and the most surreal for me. Some of the songs we heard were: Billy Joel's Love You Just the Way You Are, Girl From Ipanema, and an instrumental Muzak Elton John piece. Here's a look around at Logo and the Organ Man:

Mind you, when I "retreat" to the Poconos, I rid myself of my normal routine -- full hair and makeup. GONZO. So what do I care if I'm out to dinner with my buddy, eating at my 70s cocoon restaurant, and wearing my cobolt-blue-workout-pants-and-leopard-print-fuzzy-hat-because-let's-face-it-it's-20-degrees-out-and-honestly-who-wants-to-do-their-do-on-the-weekend attire -- what do I care? Well, I kind of care when I RUN INTO ANNAPOLIS MAN AGAIN! Yes!!! Here goes the conversation with Logo at the dinner table:

Logo: "KIM, IT'S THE GUY FROM CVS!"

Me: "WHAT GUY FROM C B S?"

Logo: "FROM EARLIER TODAY - THE CVS GUY!"

Me: "OH - FROM C V S. I DIDN'T HEAR YOU RIGHT. WHERE IS HE? WHERE'S MY CAMERA!?"

Sure enough, there is Dan Nobel again. This time, he's eating with his entire family -- mom, 2 brothers, & sister. So I went on over and chatted away with their family. This time I had my camera with me and shot some video of their clan. Enjoy the LIVE ORGAN background Muzak! Stay tuned for their click on Tuesday...

Click Here to see my video experiment

Angie, Bernard and I are a TEAM ! I wish I was at the stage in my fitness campaign where I could call myself a " Bernard Babe ". Not quite yet. I know how hard it can be to stay motivated when you want to incorporate staying fit and a healthier life style into your routine. So I thought I would dedicate my Friday blog updates to my quest for better fitness with you. Trust me, I'm human and don't always stick to what I set out to do. But it is my goal to try to stay on target, even if I get side tracked from time to time. Having Angie as my work-out buddy is a great start.

Angie and I start out our sessions first with a little bit of light cardio. You might be inclined to think, as I did, that you should stretch first. But Bernard suggests a little bit of light cardio instead, to get those muscles warmed up. You will find stretching easier to do after this first step.

Consider this your first

BERNARD FIT BIT.

I have worked out with other physical fitness experts in the past and have never bothered to ask how they figure out how much weight I should be lifting. I usually just take the 10, 15, or 25 lb barbell and get down to business. So, how do you know how much to lift?

TIME TO TALK ABOUT...

That's right! In order to figure out how much weight is right for you, you first have to get your body to "fail" -- the point at which doing just one more pushup (or whatever it is you are doing) is just impossible. Here is how Bernard figured out how much weight Angie and I could lift in a typical chest press. He started out with an educated guess and gave us each a certain weight in the barbell to lift. Notice, Angie is doing her chest press while lying down on a big pink ball. The added instability of the ball causes her to work more than just her chest muscles. If the ball rolls slightly to one side, her oblique muscles will tighten along with her leg muscles to steady out the platform. This, overall, works her core.

Remember, IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR CORE !

Anyway, Angie does 2 sets of 6 - 10 reps of chest press. Immediately after that, she does a set of pushups. If you cannot complete a set of 6 - 10 pushups and you FAIL, then you know that the weight you have just used for the chest press is a good weight to use at this point in time. In these pictures you can see me doing the pushups. Why is the one picture blurry? It is because I am failing. FAILING NEVER FELT SO GOOD!!

9 "MATCH THE PETS" RESULTS

I love love love these pictures! Can we just focus on Frosty for a second? Look at this sweet little dog! Yes, he is looking back at you with ONE EYE. Andrea also points out that he can't hear, either. Awwwwwwwww. And is that Daisy Dog trying to actually tell Frosty something? Doesn't Daisy know? Maybe she just likes to look at her sibling with those long ears and eyes all day long. Andrea also says that Kiwi is *always* smiling. ALWAYS. The only thing missing in this picture is Kiwi's trusted yellow ball. Perhaps that's what Kiwi's looking at...the yellow ball in the yard.

What can I say about Atticus? He looks like the focused type -- just like his owner, Angie. Shhhhhhh -- What was that? Did you hear that in the bushes? Is there a stick I should fetch or something? I swear I saw movement over there... Here's Angie's thought bubble, on the job at 9 News Now: "Wait...pull up camera 3 from TrafficLand...Is that a back up I see? Are those cars actually moving? No, they're RUBBER NECKING!

I have to laugh when I think about Mike and his dogs. Or, should I say Mike and his dog "Chester" and his daughter's dog "George". They're both sweet, but unfortunately, Mike hasn't gotten off to a good start with George. I have been told that when Mike gets up at 2 something to go to work, even though he is in the same room with George, George will sometimes growl at him like he's an intruder. Maybe that explains why he tends to leave his mark on Mike's suits..

By now you have heard about Boodie and Bubbles. I found Boodie down in Alabama (when I wasn't supposed to have any pets in my apartment; Her chronic desire to sit in the window ultimately did me in with Robert, my landlord...) I got Bubbles at a shelter in PA. Have you seen those dog food commercials that show a dog in a shelter waiting to be adopted? They're heart breaking! I urge anyone who wants to get a pet to consider adopting first. There is so much love waiting for you. I have absolutely NO REGRETS. (Plus if I ever have a "critter problem" they are my first form of radar...if your cat is fixated on a crack in the floor or staring all the time at the chimney, you can bet there is another animal living rent free in your house!)

Atticus, Boodie, Bubbles, Chester, Daisy, Frosty, George, & Kiwi

We here at 9 News Now LOVE OUR PETS

If you read my blog regularly, or watch Andrea, Mike, Angi and me in the morning, then like it or not, YOU are part of the ONE TEAM ONE DREAM team. We talk about our pets from time to time. Perhaps you've heard Mike lament about George, who has a tendency to "mark his territory" all over Mike's clothes. Maybe you've heard about Andrea's "Frosty", the one eyed, deaf-but-dearly-loved four legged friend.

We've even heard from you! Yup, we've received emails and even pictures of your pets. I recall "Honey Pot" in the background of one little boy's first day of school earlier in September.

Now it is time to test your 9 Pets knowledge. I have 8 pet pics and it is your job to guess not only their names, but which anchor they belong to on the morning team. I'll post the results a little later in the week. Dogs outnumber cats 6 to 2...

Meowwwwwwww & Wooooooooof to you! (That means good luck!)

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
with LOGO MAN (!)

On Tuesday night Logo Man (you remember him from previous blogs -- the bigger the logo, the better the wear!) and I went out on the town for dinner and a play. Logo, that's what I call him for short, is content to be my back-up date when Big Ben can't go with me.

First we hit the Old Ebbitt Grill. WOW. All about affordable YUM. Plus, I found it a great place to people watch. Just a few blocks around the corner from the theater AND the White House, I felt hip and strategically ready for a fun night. Plus, you can't beat the complementary valet parking after 6pm. We shared some crab cakes and this amazing brownie soaked in espresso for dessert -- that is the closest I have ever come to drinking coffee.

I love Logo because he's not only a close friend, but has proven to be quite the shopper. I have discovered his trick on shopping sprees. They're called "YELLOW CAKE SQUARE CHARGERS". A fellow member of the "yellow #5 Club" (those of us who like yellow food like yellow cake mix, anything off the Denny's menu, Grands, etc.) his strategy is to carry yellow cake cut up into bite size squares and keep them fresh in a Tupperware container. When you absolutely get exhausted from hitting the sales, head out to the car for a quick yellow cake "charge"! If you are hustling the bargains like any expert shopper, then you need not worry about the extra calories as you will burn them off on the bargain hunt!

But, back to my date with Logo. After dinner, we headed over to the National Theater to see HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. I didn't know much going in, but immediately during the opening act I almost started singing

" Summer Lovin' " from Grease. It starts out in a high school, just after winter break, where a girl new to the school is talking -- (make that SINGING - it is a MUSICAL AFTERALL) to her girlfriends about this cute guy she just met while Karaoke-ing on a ski vacation. Meantime ,on the other side of the stage, her guy (unbeknownst to her) is singing about the cute girl he met while snowboarding over the holiday, quite obviously leaving out the Karaoke part...his JOCK friends would NEVER UNDERSTAND THAT!

After she settles in with her brainiac friends, and he with his jock friends, they inevitably wind up trying out for the High School Musical. My favorite characters are the sister & brother team (Charpay & Ryan) who find themselves belonging to no click and have gotten the lead roles in the musical every year since 3rd grade.

Logo came up with a one phrase summary that I think works quite well -- IT’S GREASE MEETS SAVED BY THE BELL.

Absolutely.

You'll find yourself clapping along at times. My favorite scenes both take place in drama class with the teacher, Miss Darbus. In the first scene, she makes everyone play a game involving a magical sphere of noise. My other favorite scene is also in the drama class, where the students become whatever animal they can relate to. Be sure to watch the guy who plays the inch worm!

It occurred to me that Logo was awfully inconspicuous. "You're not wearing any logos, Logo! What gives?" I asked while sitting in the theater. "I didn't want to get ID'd, he said. How embarrassing. I'm trying to keep a low profile." I see. I need to send out a special "hello" to Michael Timmermann of Arlington. He came over to me and Logo to say hi. Right back atcha!