Let’s talk “The Voice”

I haven’t blogged in forever, so a post about a TV show might seem a little odd but it is what it is.  When NBC started promoting the crap out of this show, I thought blah another American Idol, just what we need.  However, one afternoon the girls were napping, and I had a pile of laundry bigger than my SUV to fold so I watched the first show through on demand and really liked it.  Even when India woke up, we continued to watch it and dance.

I liked how they did blind auditions with the coaches (judges) having their back to the singer so that they would basis their decision based on their singing vs. their looks.  After that round was the battle round where two singers on the same team had to sing the same song together and the coach had to pick the best singer to move on to the next stage of the competition.  I can’t say I agreed with all the choices they made, but that’s fine. 

This week was the first “live” show, and of the four singers on each team, only two will move on to the next round.  The two teams to perform were Blake Shelton’s and Christina Aguilera’s.  I had thought that Adam Levine had the team to beat but I am not sure now.  I really liked the two videos below and really hope that these girls move on to the next round.  We ended up downloading Dia and Kenye’s version of this song (we already had The Fray version) and played them back to back.  We liked the remakes a lot more.  I like Xenia’s voice, but I feel bad for her since she is so shy.  I don’t see her ever performing in front of a large audience but I bet she would rock a small venue. 

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Several years ago, I had seen a VH1 show about Christina and thought she seemed okay, but on this show, she is just horrible.  Besides her very nasty outfits (they are all about two sizes to small), the input she gives has nothing to do with the singing.  I find her incredibly rude, and honestly, whenever she talks I kind of want to punch her in the face.  I don’t listen to country music, so I don’t know a Blake Sheldon song to save my life, but I really like him on this show.  You can tell he really cares about his team, and wants them all to do well.    

I am looking forward to next week’s show to see who moves on and to see the other judge’s performance.  Who are you looking forward to seeing or want to move on to the next round?  Comment below.  

Weekend fun!

We had a nice weekend, and the weather give us a glimpse of hope that spring might actually happen…

Friday-The girls and I started the weekend off with our typical Friday morning, Stroller Strides and music class.  Afterwards we spent the afternoon in the backyard enjoying the sunshine.  We toured Jeff’s new office and picked up our race packets for the next day downtown and headed to The Spaghetti Factory to carb up.

Saturday-Race day!  Jeff and I ran a 10k and India ran her first race and did awesome!  I beat my previous 10k time by almost three minutes, but missed by goal of under an hour (one hour even).  We quickly went home and got ready to throw my dad a surprise birthday party.  It went off without a hitch, although my dad did ended a little late as they were stuck in traffic.  He had no idea, and his first reaction was to walk right back out the door.

Running with Grandma

Practice round of "surprise"

Sunday-My sister hosted Easter brunch and an egg hunt for the little ones.  India really enjoyed and Hadley could have cared less, one-year-olds, what are you going to do?  India fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I quickly hid some eggs around the house.  She ended up just being freaked out about the whole thing.  She was still pretty groggy, so I don’t think she was able to really enjoy it.

Ari and India during the 1st round of the egg hunt

Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party?  Or do you secretly hope someone will?

Pizza face

India was very excited when she got her Highlights High Five magazine a few months back and saw a recipe for “pizza faces”. We have had it a couple of times, and it is an easy and fun meal for toddlers to help out with.  Here is our version:

• 
  
• English muffins (1 per kid, and 1-2 for adults depending on hunger level) 
• Red pepper 
• Broccoli 
• Sliced olives 
• Spaghetti sauce (jarred or homemade) 
• Cheese (we use what we have on hand) 

Adult work 
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Cut pepper into thin slices
3. Separate broccoli into little pieces
4. Split English muffins and place on a baking pan
5. Spread sauce over entire muffin (kids could do this, but it’s a little messy for India in my opinion)

Kid work 
1. Put cheese on muffin
2. Put eyes (olives) on
3. Put nose (broccoli) on
4. Put mouth (red pepper) on
5. Have an adult put them in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts
6. Enjoy!

I am trying to come up with how I could do this with fruits as more of a morning meal but haven't come up with all the ingredients yet.  Anyone have any ideas?  Comment below if you do.

Maybe the glass is just too small

As I am sure everyone has, there are days when I am just so annoyed and every little thing sets me off.  I can’t lie, this typically coincides with days that my three-year-old is being a handful.  You can only hear so many tantrums before you start to feel like having one yourself.  Or what about the days when you are already running late and frazzled and realize that you forgot this or that and now you are even more late.  It’s easy to think what a crappy day you are having and have a little pity party, I know I have attended more than one.  However, looking at the whole picture, I have to attempt I have it pretty good.

What you might be saying, is Erin being optimistic?  I am a self-proclaimed glass half empty kind of girl (I said this yesterday and a friend said “no” in a mocking tone).  Right now I know two different families that are going through such heartbreak that it makes my “bad days” look like a joke.  Family number one is dealing with a nasty tumor that is offering an average lifespan of 8 years.  I can’t imagine being given those numbers and this family has three little ones under four.  The second family has a little boy less than two weeks old who stopped breathing last week and has been in the hospital ever since.  He isn’t able to breathe on his own for long and there doesn’t look like there is much that can be done for him.  He doesn’t seem to be in pain and his family can hold him, but tears spring to my eyes just typing about him.  It makes my morning of children screaming because they just want me to spend time with them look like a walk in the park not the nightmare I had made it out to be in my head.  I guess all it takes is just a little change in perspective…

Half-marathon training week one

Yesterday ended our first week of half-marathon training and overall is just went okay.  I ended up with bad allergies the end of the week, and running did not seem like a great idea.

Sunday-3.5 miles at least I think that is about what I did.  The battery died on my Garmin, so I had to guess where I thought a quarter mile was at one point in the run.  I have since done the route and I would say it was pretty close.  B+

Wednesday-3 miles before coffee, yikes not something I would normally enjoy but actually it felt good to get my run in before the day started.  A

Thursday-4 miles didn’t happen.  I woke up with a sore throat, and a crazy bad headache.  F

Saturday-3 miles but it felt like 30.  Again, my head was hurting and my nose was all stuffed up.  I hadn’t even gone a mile and I was ready to quit.  I was able to do the whole thing, but didn’t enjoy it.  C-

Total miles run=9.5

I really want a pair of Nike Free Run shoes, has anyone tried them?   

Running, running, running

That is going to be Jeff and I starting today. We officially start our half-marathon training this afternoon with a 3.5 mile run. We are doing the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon at the end of June.  It freaks me out to think about running 13.1 miles, but it the thought of running 6 miles last year seemed crazy too and I did that no problem.  Any running or motivational tips?  Comment below.

After the 10k last September

Maybe spring is right around the corner...

The girls and I headed outside for a little sun this afternoon and I was so surprised that it was actually warm!