Last weekend, Colby and I went to NYC to see Mary Poppins on broadway. We went along with a high school trip and also went to the American Museum of Natural History. The trip was not cancelled, but we left early in case there was traffic. It was sad to see some of the areas without electricity and flooded areas.
Our second family? Now I share the same last name with them!
Some random notes from this past week…
I had a crazy delicious sushi dinner last night. Colby and I were craving Asian food and I didn’t feel like cooking. It was awesome. Look at my pretty plate!
Wednesday, I took another Les Mill’s Body Flow class and it was INTENSE! My back has been sore for the past two days! I would much rather have a class that was tough like that one and I am looking forward to going on a weekly basis. I am also planning another swim lesson with Colby tomorrow!
I LOVE that cake picture! I saw one just like that from my photographer’s website and asked him to take one like that of my cake.
I had a brass quintet play for the ceremony. As a musician, live music was very important to me for the ceremony and I had to go non-traditional. I play in string quartets all the time for weddings, but I also play trumpet. Sometimes I sub for the one trumpet player for this brass quintet and I am close friends with two of the guys. I had them play “Moon River” for when the mothers walked down and had “All You Need Is Love” for the bridesmaids and myself. At the end of the ceremony, the quintet played “When I’m 64″. My dad and I are big Beatles fans
I was very scared of walking down those stairs. I had the groomsmen walk down the bridesmaids to keep things safe. I had to take it SLOW for when I went down with my dad because my train was so long!
Also, I painted a violin white and had guests sign it for our “guest book”.
Hey!! I’ve been working out a lot but haven’t been able to post much. I was teaching marching band camp this past week from 9-4 everyday and teach it 8-6 this week. It was hard to fit in classes at the gym this week, but I made it to two CXWORX (my favorte!!) night classes and just did BodyPump this morning.
When I got to Pump this morning it was insanely crowded and they were running out of equipment! I brought my friend Steph and let her have the last bar with weight clips and I went for the free weights. I only had 5 lb and 10 lb hand weights to make it through the class and was kinda bummed out until we actually started. I ended up loving the hand weights and got a killer workout. The 5lbs are just under the weight of the medium BP weight and the 10lbs are just under the large plates. I really think it was harder not having the barbell to rely on because my muscles and to work as individuals. It made me think that I should buy 10lb weights so I can do stuff at home when I can’t make it to a class.
My recent goal is to work on triceps more often. I’ve also been trying to work on them at home for the past two weeks so they look good in my wedding dress. I can’t have arm flab for my wedding!
I’ve also been doing the last CXWORX 6 release on my own at home. I wrote down a cheat sheet for myself so I wouldn’t forget the moves and follow this YouTube playlist of the songs.
I bought cheap resistance bands that are similar to the ones from class and use one 5 lb weight in place of the plates at class. As soon as I get better at the 7 release (our gym just started it a week ago) then I can write down a cheat sheet and do that one at home.
Colby and I just discovered Jimmy Johns. Why did it take me so long to try these sandwiches?? They are so good!
I’m not able to go to the show this weekend because I am playing in another wedding. This one is at the same place I am getting married in October, so I am very excited to see how everything is planned out this afternoon when I get there. I will have my camera to make sure I remember the details I need for my wedding.
Here is the bride and groom practicing last night at the wedding rehearsal. I’ve known the bride since kindergarten! She is getting married standing on the stairs and I think I am going to walk down them and stand at the base of the pond that is right there.
I really liked how her escort cards are on a board with pretty lace ribbon. My Mom and I are planning something similar but using old picture frames and putting fabric behind them with ribbon across for the cards.
I am taking a technology course this week and I haven’t been able to spend much time on my own blog! I also haven’t been exercising much this week. I am learning tons of fun things to do in the classroom as a teacher and I have been playing around with a blog for my students. The class started early Monday morning and I was incredibly tired because I went to a Coldplay concert with my best friend Anne Sunday night in DC! Coldplay is my favorite band. I was asleep by 2am that night and woke up around 6:30 to get ready to go to the tech course. Colby ran a triathlon Sunday morning so I was up at 4am for that and was running on fumes. I’ll blog about his triathlon later… he won his age group!
We had such a good time and danced and sang the entire time! When we got to the stadium, we received wrist bands for the concert.
We were excited to see what they would look like during the concert. There were oval screens floating in the air that said they would light up and be used during the show.
We were really excited about the wrist bands and made sure to get pink ones from the guy handing them out. Annes didn’t light up!!! We were so upset but if she held it a certain way we could get it to light.
Floating screens that showed the stage during the concert.
A little glimpse of my wrist band in action. It was hard to hold my phone still!
I ran 6 miles on Thursday with Amy in the park and walked the last half a mile back to her house. Our pace was around 9:30-9:40 when we ran the first 5.5 miles and my legs really loosened up and felt good after a mile. My legs were feeling pretty tired after my 12 miles last weekend, but I’m starting to feel good now. Tomorrow I’m going to run my last long run of the training plan, only 8 miles! YAY!
Colby went to an Orioles game tonight in Baltimore with his brother (he is a Phillies fan and I am a Yankees fan). I decided to get my favorite dinner tonight since I am on my own…
MMMMMmmmmm my favorite sushi. Jersey roll: shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado and fish roe. Tiger roll: fried shrimp, lettuce, and spicy mayo.
I got a pretty pink hanging plant for our front porch today
I had a concert this past week and I have a few more coming up. I think I enjoy hearing my beginning musicians play at their first concert each year because they learn so much in a year. Also, they are just pretty cute. My students have four more concerts this month.
Speaking of concerts, back in March the music teachers in my department put on a concert. We do this every year and get pretty excited about performing for our students and community. Each year, we try to out do the previous year. This year, I played a few pieces on trumpet and violin but learned a special percussion piece that was similar to “Stomp”. I practiced for a few months memorizing the rhythms and it was so much fun! I’m third from the right side.
We submitted a video of this performance to a teacher talent contest and we are currently in the lead. If we win, we can donate $1,000 to our music scholarship we offer to high school seniors going to college for music education. The contest ends this Monday, and if you could just click here and vote for “Jon Moyer, School Stomp” it would truly be appreciated!!!!
I went to the rail trail on Wednesday and ran 9 miles with Amy. I ran 4 on the treadmill Monday and had to switch my usual Tues/Weds/Thurs runs to Mon/Weds/Fri this week. I had a lot going on with school and was busy each night. Amy and I felt great on the trail Wednesday and were surprised to pick up the pace a bit compared to our past few runs. I forgot my Garmin at home, so I tried to only ask Amy our splits at each mile so I didn’t annoy her too much
I was VERY happy to run Wednesday in NEW SHOES!! I have to admit… I’ve hated the new version of the Brooks Adrenalines (the 12′s) but loved the old 11′s. I found the 11′s online for around $65 and got them in the mail in time for my 9 miler. I also got new nutrition for my 18 miler tomorrow…
Oh vanilla bean GU’s… let’s give it another try this year. I was using shot bloks, but they really didn’t agree with me for my 15 miler a few weeks ago when I got sick. Now I’m scared of them and don’t want to try them again. I used vanilla and chocolate GU’s last year (the only flavors I can handle) so I will try them out again this weekend. BUT… I did feel really nauseous when I got home from the 9 miles on Wednesday this week. What is that?!? I’ve never gotten sick after long runs until this spring. I think I need to start drinking gatorade during these longer runs because I might be low on sodium or something. I hate feeling sick after running! My calves have been feeling great though and I am so happy I took off that week when my left calf hurt!
Colby and I getting ready to head to the high school for my concert Thursday night. My music department (the music teachers in my district) put on a concert each year where we perform and it is always so much fun! I was pretty wound up over it Thursday because I was playing a bunch of challenging pieces, but everything went very well!
Sorry for my poor posture, it was a long day.
Have a good weekend! Looking forward to my 18 mile run tomorrow and seeing how my body holds up!
I didn’t have school yesterday, so I decided to go to a new yoga/pilates class that my gym offers Friday morning. Yesterday was the first time the class was offered, so I was excited to see what it was like.
I really liked the PiYo class, but it wasn’t what I expected at all! It was a mix of pilates and a little yoga like I expected, but mixed in cardio elements and toning (squats, lunges, etc). I worked up a sweat but was worried that I pushed my recovering left calf too much. I tried to modify the lunge/squat moves and took breaks.
I iced my calves with frozen vegetables again. Since I was already sitting on the kitchen floor, I figured I would practice my trumpet. What … you don’t practice your trumpet and ice your calves on the kitchen floor? I’m playing for two church services Sunday and have some more trumpet things coming up this month. I’m not sure if I ever mentioned this was my primary instrument on the blog? I play violin more now, but trumpet was my main instrument in college.
I ran 8 (PAIN FREE!!!!!) miles this morning on the rail trail with Amy. We kept around a 10 minute pace and felt great. I really needed the mental boost from this run to prep me for my 18 miler next weekend! I came home and dumped a huge amount of ice in the tub. I haven’t taken an ice bath since my marathon training last year and I was scared to get in. I am really trying to take care of my legs until the race. I will keep icing, stretching, yoga-ing, and foam rolling until the marathon to keep my legs happy!
I thought I got rid of my cold last week, but it was still going on and turning into a sinus infection. I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor this afternoon for an antibiotic. I am hoping it kicks in soon and I get back to normal!
It kinda freaks me out that I am on week 4 of my marathon training plan and I missed two runs this week. If I am feeling up to it, I might try to do a short mid-week tomorrow and still do my 9 mile long run on Sunday.
My Mom took Colby and I to my favorite restaurant for my birthday (it was Wednesday).
After eating salad and appetizers, we ordered a creme brulee and it was decorated pretty for me. It had a cookie and a candle on top.
My Mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told her I wanted to go see one of my favorite shows. Blast! is basically a broadway show made up of a drum corps. I wrote a post last summer about what drum corps is and my experience with it as a musician. Basically, it is insanely crazy marching band made up of brass and percussion instruments with guard members. Read about it here and you will definitely think of me as more of a music nerd.
I love salt when I am sick, so I ate tortilla chips with my soup tonight. I also ate a million brownies because I’ve gotten so many for my birthday this week I am not a cake/ice cream person. Give me brownies. Lots and lots of Ghiradelli brownies
I haven’t posted since last Tuesday!! I promise I am still alive and doing very well I was really looking forward to my first week without a grad class and it has been fantastic. I was also ready to have my first free weekend that wouldn’t require writing a long paper. I thought I would have a relatively calm week without class work…but Colby and I fell upon a really great opportunity this week and have been slightly stressed but in a good way! I don’t think he wants me to write about it yet, so I’ll wait! Very happy and we will have a great Christmas this year
I followed the first two weeks of the short training plan I came up with fairly well for the Nittany Valley Half Marathon. For week two, I ran 3 miles on Tuesday, missed Wednesday because I had my last night rehearsal for Marching band for the season and walk/ran 4 miles on Thursday. My friend Amy and I planned on running at the local park after school and then going to BodyPump. It ended up raining pretty hard, so we went to the gym right away and got on the treadmills. I had all kinds of exciting news to talk to her about so the 4 miles seemed quick. We walked 2 miles, ran 1 because we thought we should probably run a little and then walked the last mile. This was the first run/walk for Amy after her first half marathon a few weeks ago. We were nervous to go to BodyPump because we took a couple weeks off. My favorite instructor Michelle definitely pushed us and we got to try out the new release! I liked it but the triceps killllled me! I was sore the next day but I’m ready to go back for more.
I was going to run 7 miles this weekend… but it SNOWED! Like 7 inches! I thought I would try to run today, but there was still snow/ice on the roads and I ended up going to a wedding show with my Mom and Colby. The wedding show was super crowded and we ate lots of bad cake. The roads are almost all clear now, so I am going to run after school tomorrow.
Totally unrelated… but I bought this nail polish at Sephora today and it is pretty awesome. I had bought a green color there a few weeks ago and when I opened the bottle there was no brush and it was a mess. I went to return it today (Sephora has a great return policy) and saw this polish and got it instead. It took a few times to get the hang of it but it actually does look like the pictures. I would paint my toes but I’m missing a toenail….
I also got the new Coldplay album at Target this past week and love it. I’m a huge Coldplay fan and have been looking forward to this album for awhile. I think I will get a few songs onto my running playlist. I actually have a lot of Coldplay on my running playlist… even some of their more mellow stuff. Sometimes I like running to slower/calmer stuff when I run by myself.
Do anything fun this weekend? Skip your long run because of the east coast snow storm?
Sunday Workout: Not quite sure, but I’m hoping for something low impact like walking or pilates!
I was planning on posting early this morning, but I slept in until 10:30!!!!! That is crazy! We got back late from the drum corps show in Allentown around 1 am and by the time we got to sleep it was probably 2 am. Thank goodness I did my long run yesterday!
The winner of the $50 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods from Independence Blue Cross is …
Email me with your info so we can get that gift card mailed to you!! So nice the Philly IBC giveaway went to someone in Philly!!
So last night, I went with the other marching band instructors to a drum and bugle corps competition and took a charter bus to Allentown, PA with some of our high school band students that signed up for the trip. I know that probably none of you will understand any of this or have heard of drum corps, but it was a huge part of musical life for many years.
Although hard to explain… here is an “about” video you could watch to get an idea… Drum Corps or DCI (short for drum and bugle corps) is a group of about 150 members made of percussion, brass and color guard that tour the country all summer long with an 11 minute show. This is basically the highest level “marching band” like activity that you can audition to be a part of that is an extremely demanding physical activity. Members must be 21 and under (usually college age) and audition from all over the world. There are different corps that you could think of as sports teams, where everyone follows their favorites.
I had a math teacher in high school when I was just a sophomore that introduced me to drum corps and is to this day one of my best friends I had no idea what it was all about, but played trumpet very well for a high school student and ended up spending three summers devoting my time to this activity. I actually started running when I was in high school before going “on tour” with my drum corps when I was 17 (I was very young!) to get in shape for the summer. To show you how athletic you must be to perform, here is a video to explain…
Anyways, if you care… here are a few favorites that you could watch to get more of an idea of what a show looks like:
(fast forward to about 2:30 and watch the crazy “drill” or movements of the brass players in this show)
No, not quite like the movie “Drumline” Cherie. This is much better
Some pics from our rainy night…
The corps I marched with for two summers… watching them warm up before the show.
My friend Andrea drove from Erie (6+ hour drive) to make a spur of the moment trip to see the show! I was so happy to see her
My drum corps buddy Kim that teaches marching band with me at our district
Colby’s first show and I think he really enjoyed it… minus the rain!!
So give me feedback… do you think I’m a total music nerd now? Did you watch any of the videos? Maybe you’re impressed to hear about this strange sub-culture you never knew about and how music and athletics can go together?!
