Monday, June 23, 2014

Weekend Review: Sick Sounds, Strength and Soccer

For some reason this old lady went out a lot last week. In my previous post, I told you about the Joe show I saw on Wednesday. It doesn't stop there! I went out the next evening to see A-Trak! My sister Jill turned me onto to A-Trak not too long ago. We saw him for the first time last year in Atlantic City and he knocked our socks off! Everything from his song selection, to his scratching skills and his awesome visuals make for a great show! For all of you jaded with DJ/EDM culture (although he spins more than EDM), I highly suggest you check him out! He will show you what true DJing is all about!

Here is a shot of the master at work!


They even tossed out 8-bit fatheads of him...how fun!


Barbra Streisand!




Mr. Goldbar! The mascot for his record label, Fools Gold! Did you know that you can volunteer to dress up as Mr. Goldbar at his shows? Girls can even be t-shirt tossers!


Gahhh! Being a former member of the Nat Pack I knew I could have done that, but I didn't get the memo! That was my first #FOMO moment of the evening. Wah wah. But if I did do it maybe it would have looked something like this?

 

One of the lucky people that caught one of the fatheads let me take a picture with it!


My second #FOMO moment was that I learned that he sticks around after his shows to take selfies with his fans! And again I found out too late and they wouldn't let me back in after I left. :( Despite my #FOMO moments I had the best time! As he says on his Instagram, "Go to an A-trak show!" I say, "Go to an A-trak show! You won't be disappointed!"

That wasn't the only thing I did over the weekend. On Friday my crossfit box held its first Rubicon Smackdown. The Smackdown was a friendly competition of strength between other members of the box.

I got volunteered to judge a portion of the competition. Luckily, it didn't involve counting! I judged overhead squats so you either have it or you don't! Here is Kate going for max reps!




PJ lifting a sh** ton of weight!


The Smackdown wasn't without some tasty barbecue, dessert, and brews! Check out this Rogue bottle opener!



Cheers!


Prowler pushing time!


This event also served as a farewell party for Kendra, one of our crossfit coaches. After living here for about a year, she was moving back home to Oregon! I'm really going to miss her and I'm also going to miss her taste in music! Her dubstep selections really pumped me up during my workouts!


After all those fun filled events, the rest of the weekend was low key. We checked out this sub place in NE DC called Mother Ruckers


And then we watched U.S. Men's Soccer Team play Portugal. #WorldCup #IBelieveThatWeWillWin (on Thursday! :).


I hope you all had a fun weekend too! Have a great rest of the week! :)


Thursday, June 19, 2014

#LiveSessions with Joe Thomas!

I'm on a (bloggin') roll!

I am a lover of all kinds of music, but 90's R&B has always had a special place in my heart! Remember last Valentine's Day when we saw Brian McKnight? Well, last night a local radio station Majic 102.3 was hosting a free mini-concert/music session with a couple of up-and-coming artists and of course Joe Thomas (known of course simply as Joe).

Here is a shot of the first act, Lysette Titi, who has performed with Nikki Minaj. She was great and performed some of her original songs.

 
Next was MuMu Fresh who sang some radio hits with her own Afro-centric twist. 

 
 
Then it was time for Joe! He looking as cool as ever! The man is ageless!

 
 
Here he is getting interviewed by the emcee of the evening, Adimu. Do you remember him from BET's Teen Summit?!
 
 

And for the big finale, all the females in room (myself especially!) singing along to his hit, "I Wanna Know." You can really hear me at the end of this clip...Justin said I sound like a drunk white girl, LOL.


Anyway, I love shows like this...small and intimate, but it was too short....it left me wanting more! I hope he comes back to DC soon to do a full concert! :)

Monday, June 16, 2014

Ruck Review: GoRuck Light Washington DC Class 326

 
The GoRuck gods couldn't have planned a better day. It had been raining the entire week leading up to our second GoRuck Light! It's funny how Justin thinks I'm crazy for doing these events, but I think he's crazy for not wanting to do it!
 
Here is a shot of our group awaiting our instructions.
 
 
 
Look at this sexy set of team weights!
 
 
 
Warming up with some PT! Doing the wheelbarrow with a ruck on is no joke! Holy ab-strength Batman!
 
Jill holding it down with the 20 lb sandbag.
 
 
Me buddy carrying the 120 lb.(?) sandbag. The important thing that you need to remember during these carries is that you need to share the load with someone the same height as you! It seems like common sense, but whenever someone needed to get relieved you needed to find someone the same height as the person carrying the weight or you were SOL.
 
 
Working on our people carries! Cadre Dakotah taught a few different ways to carry people. Although you can't see her face, we're carrying Jill. I got carried this way as well and it is not comfortable. I also got fireman carried (carried across the shoulders), even though I tried to hide! LOL! There were plenty of lighter girls than me! Come to think of it, none of the methods of carrying people are very "comfortable"...
 
 
Here's a shot of Aaron and his various weights! Can you believe he carried each of us? For what seemed like a really like long time...and uphill too!
 
 
We ended the day with a bucket of ice cold brews! They definitely hit the spot on a hot day.
 
 
So with two GoRuck Lights under our belts, the only thing left for us to is a GoRuck Challenge (basically twice as long and carrying twice the amount the weight). During the BOGO Buddy pass sale, Jill and I also signed up for the Challenge on September 12. And we get a special patch too! Woohoo!
 
 
 
We'll probably start training for it next month, but here are some things I want to accomplish with the
  • One-person carry someone more than a couple of feet - it's a strength thing. Enough said.
  • Step up my PT game - I need get my bear crawls, flutter kicks, etc. on lock--the key is to be prepared for everything!
  • Ruck a little faster - my little legs take twice as many strides as taller people so I need to learn how to take twice as many steps without wearing myself out
I think we might try to shadow (follow a group of ruckers throughout the duration of their challenge) another GoRuck Challenge before ours to get a feel of what it is like. But if we don't, we'll just have to have faith that we've been training right!
 
To see the review our our last GoRuck Light click here!