Joaquin Phoenix!

So, I've been sort of mind-blocked from blogging lately. There's a lot I want to write about, but honestly, I don't know how to start or even how to seem interesting. So I just don't do it, which is silly.

Last night, I watched this movie called "Two Lovers", with Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. I thought it was SUCH a good movie. I mean, wow. If you're an action film kinda person, you won't care for this- it's sort of a slow, romantic drama. But throughout the movie, I was so focused on these characters, that I just wanted to know what would end up to them, and I just wanted them to be ok. Phoenix plays a weird loner-type bachelor living with his parents. His parents want to hook him up with family friend, played by Shaw. Then Phoenix meets Paltrow, a neighbor in his parents apartment complex, who is just this wild and crazy girl with no direction in her life, and basically Phoenix is torn between the two. It's just really a great movie. (And I'm not just saying that because Joaquin Phoenix is in it :) ...). And, as soon as the movie was over, my main thought was .... SERIOUSLY, JOAQUIN? RETIRING FROM MOVIES? WTF ARE YOU THINKING. This man is an acting GENIUS. I mean, he's brilliant. I am definitely one of those people that think his hobo act is some kind of scheme, so I'm not letting myself get TOO worried, but I will be very disappointed if he doesn't make movies anymore.

Anyways, here is the trailer for "Two Lovers". I would really suggesting renting it if you get a chance ;-)




And to stay on the Joaquin trend, I decided to recommend other not-so-common Joaquin films that really rocked. Check these out:

We Own the Night:


It's All About Love:


Inventing the Abbotts:

Music Playlist Friday

Thanks to my friend, Katie, over at the BluFrog blog, I have been inspired to list some of my favorite tracks and make a playlist!

Now, I tried using playlist.com but to my disappointment, a lot of the songs I wanted to include aren't on there! So, instead of making a playlist, I've decided to just make a list below. Go search and listen and buy!

(Click on the title of song or the band name for pics, website, etc.)

"Ugly Girl" - 100 Monkeys
"Outtasite"- Ripley
"A Little Bit of Riddim"- Michael Franti & Spearhead Feat. Cherine Anderson
"Again"- Shoshana Bean
"Eyes on Fire"- Blue Foundation
"Feelin Good"- Muse
"Beautiful Life"- Fisher
"Super Massive Black Hole"- Muse
"Everything's Fine"- Alice Ripley
"Over the Rainbow"- Melody Gardot
"Love is Da Sh*t"- Spearhead
"One/Let it Be Medley"- Boyce Avenue
"Walking On Air"- Kerli
"Here"- Idina Menzel
"Powerless (Say What You Want)"- Nelly Furtado


Share the music love!

Holiday weekends.. so exhausting!

How was YOUR 4th of July weekend??

Mine started off pretty good. My friend Jillian taught a rockin willPower and grace class Friday morning at Lake Taghkanic. I had SUCH a great time. Sometimes, it is really nice to just SIT back and enjoy someone ELSE'S class. Every instructor needs that. It doesn't matter if you're the best instructor in the world, every instructor should take other people's classes. Grow, learn, and have fun with it.

It was great getting to connect with a bunch of other friends and just have a good time (and get a slight tan!). Jillian is looking into doing an outdoor willPower class throughout the summer, so if anyone is around the area, look into it!

The rest of Friday was a pretty mellow day. In fact, I don't really remember what I did. Oops!

Saturday was the big 4th of July. Every year, my in-laws throw a BBQ where we just sort of hang out and chill all day. It's amazing how exhausted you get from "hanging out and chilling" all day. By the end of the day, I was WIPED OUT. And I didn't even go swimming or play Bocce Ball like everyone else did!

Sunday was OUR day to BBQ. Packy and I did a small BBQ with some of our closest friends... barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, had fruit salad, and had the yummy desserts: red velvet cupcakes with white frosting and blue sprinkles, homemade brownies, and some yummy chocolate chip cookies! I gotta say, whatever food lifestyle I have been on for the past year, was thrown out the window. I ate whatever I wanted this weekend! And I'm feeling it now! lol!

Sunday night was the annual fireworks in Kingston. Nothing too special, but it was still fun to walk down to the strand and hang out with friends and watch fireworks.


Although it was a holiday weekend, nothing too exciting. I do like holidays, but the one thing I don't like is that they take up the whole weekend! I think if a holiday is on a weekend, we should get an extra two days off during the week. Right? So since the 4th of july was Saturday, and the fireworks were Sunday, we should have gotten Friday (which we did, so thank you, America) AND Monday off. It's only fair that we are allowed to have our weekends too, since holidays aren't REALLY weekend-relaxing time. You end up being more tired than before! It's kind of like needing a "vacation from a vacation". Even Joey says he's super sleepy:




I also finally finished the Twilight books. I am SUPER pumped for the next movie. It would be nicer if Cam Gigandet were in it, but it's all good :) At least we still get some Jackson Rathbone!! I gotta say the books were great, but I was a tad disappointed in the 4th book. Not the book overall, but the ending, which I won't get into. It was sort of... anti-climactic to say the least. I was expecting some sort of big bang from the 4th book, but never really felt it. Either way, I will still be at the midnight showing of New Moon.



I also dropped my willPower and grace class at Bally in Albany. A 45 minute drive for a gym that didn't care about group fitness? Not my cup of tea. I need people to be passionate, and inspired to take classes.. and it wasn't happening there. One door closed, where will another one open? :)



Anyways, song of the week for me? "Love is Da Sh*t" by Michael Franti and Spearhead. I'm lovin it :)

Rain, Rain, I don't care if you go away*

Everyone has been flipping their lid about how much it's been raining lately. I'll be honest.. it's a little excessive, but that's not always a bad thing! It's probably rained a good 75% of the past 2 months.

But why is rain a bad thing? Hello, Gene Kelly in Singing In The Rain? (If you haven't seen this movie, this will be your movie that you rent!!)



I happen to really enjoy the rain. Yes, when it is beautiful outside, you just want to go, go, go. I don't know about anyone else, but when it is beautiful outside, I just want to be out and about, running errands, getting things done. If I'm not on the go, I feel like I'm wasting my day. So, I think rain is the world's way of saying SLOW DOWN. Take the time to chill in your house, watch a movie, read a book, play with your pets.. anything. I think in today's world, everyone is too caught up in "go, go, go" and never actually take the time to be yourself and relax.

So, don't think of the rain as something bad! Think of it as an opportunity to reward yourself in something you never have the time to do. For me, it's been to finish those dang Twilight books! For you, it could be to rent that movie you've been meaning to see, re-decorate your living room, go through old photo albums, or just take a nap.

I'm happy to be taking advantage of this rain :)
Without rain, there wouldn't be any rainbows!!!!!

And if you're still feelin depressed about the rain, follow Gene Kelly's steps and go dance!

willPower and grace

For anyone who has NO idea what I'm talking about when I talk about willPower and grace.. here is a quick video clip that I found on YouTube:



Go here to locate a willPower and grace class near you!

How was YOUR weekend?

Happy Monday!

I am very happy to say, I relaxed my WHOLE weekend. The only time I really left my house was Saturday morning to teach willPower in Albany, and then I brought my puppy to visit my grandma's house.

So, how did I spend my weekend? One word. Twilight.

I got the 4 Twilight books for my birthday. Now, I'm not one to read the books before/after a movie. I did that once before. I read "Confessions of a Shopaholic" before the movie came out, and I was sort of disappointed. Isla Fisher is my favorite, and the movie was ADORABLE, but I have major problems when there are different scenes in the movie and the book, it sort of makes it conflicting for me. That, and the fact that I never have any spare time in my life, so I didn't want to waste it reading a book when I could be doing other things. (I have a major problem with just sitting still and not doing anything). But, I WAS interested in reading them. I was just really nervous about ruining the movie, which I love so much. But, happily, that was not a problem!

Obviously, I noticed subtle differences between the first book and the movie.. and I also noticed a LOT more detail in the book.. but nothing to distract my love for the movie. There wasn't really anything contradicting each other, which is what I was totally worried about. The first book was a pretty easy read, since I could flow through it, knowing what was happening and envisioning the actors in my head.


The second book was just as interesting. I think, it was actually a positive thing that I saw the movie before reading the books. By seeing the movie, I could actually envision the characters and imagine how everything was panning out. It was great! I'm obviously not going to go into plot details, because I don't want to ruin anything, but it was good. I have a feeling the second movie may not be AS good as the first, but there are definitely some interesting things that I can't wait to see how it is portrayed on the big screen.


The third book may be the most interesting so far. I'm only 3/4 of the way through it, so I can't really say for sure. Who knows what could happen from here. But I can't wait to see :)



Schedule for this week:
Monday: Outdoor Obstacles
Tuesday: teach willPower
Wednesday: Outdoor Obstacles
Thursday: teach willPower
Friday: TAKE willPower
Saturday: teach willPower

Geesh. I'm sweatin just THINKING about it.

Miss Shoshana Bean

Miss Shoshana Bean, the Birdland Jazz Club, NYC. She. Was. AMAZING. Now, the obvious fact- I knew this girl could SING. But the things she can do with her voice, is just crazy amazing. The way she sings is so effortless.

Packy & I took the train into Grand Central and got in around 5:20. We hightailed our way right over to the Birdland on 44th street. The venue was SUPER cute! The lights were totally dimmed, the tables were small little tables with candles... pretty romantic, I must say ;-) The little stage area was all set up, and I was getting really excited to see Shoshana sing.


I've seen Shoshana before- once in Wicked and once in one of Scott Alan's Monday Nights New Voices concerts at the Duplex Theatre- but she only sang one song for that one. AND I was really sick that day- go figure- and missed half of the show :( But I have been a huge fan of Shoshana's for a while now, and totally recommend her CD, Superhero. I heard someone refer to Shoshana as the "Beyonce that is not annoying"- meaning she can sing, she is glamorous and flashy, but doesn't have that freaking ANNOYING factor that Beyonce has. Let me just re-iterate and say that Shoshana can blow Beyonce out of the water with her vocals anyway.

Shoshana came on a little after 8, wearing this adorable purple (MINI!!) dress thing, with all her flashy bling-bling diamonds. I have to be honest, I didn't know HALF the songs she sang- she said a lot were from her childhood. But the good thing about Shoshana is, that I didn't care. I would have listened to her sing the phone book. She is definitely a showgirl- she had a beatboxer, and a breakdancer all in her opening song.


The highlight of my night was when Shoshana introduced Billy Porter on stage with her, and the two of the did a duet of "Again"- my favorite song from Shoshana's album. This song is just breathtaking- the emotion that is brought with singing it is just beautiful. I love it!



I was a little sad Shoshana didn't sing "Ain't No Way" or "Naomi" from her album... and I was kinda hoping for her rendition of "I Will Always Love You", that she's been known to sing lately. I did enjoy her acoustic-ish version of "Superhero". I gotta say though, that song is pretty BOOMING and I was hoping she'd blast it out at the end, but she kept it pretty sweet. Either way, she was great.


Afterwards, she was really sweet, came out and autographed and took pictures with nearly everyone. I love when performers do that- it's not part of their job description or contract, but it shows that they really care to get to know the people who support them, and make them happy in return. Definitely cool of her.
I also got to get a picture with the very talented Scott Alan, which was fun. I'm a little angry, my squinty eyes decided to sneak out for this picture, but whatever. It's still a great picture!




The show got over around 8:45, and luckily enough for us, we were able to sprint back to the train station in order to catch the 9:15 train. I was a little excited to be able to get home early and not make it a 2am night from the city. Those are the worst- especially when you have to work the next day!

Final verdict- Miss Shoshana Bean.. after you finish your stint in Peepshow, please come back to NY. We need you. Thanks!