Doctor Who Is Back!

 

SPOILERS– DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T YET WATCHED “DEEP BREATH”!!!

Last Saturday premiered to us the 12^th Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. One could argue he’s the 13^th, after meeting the War Doctor in the 50^th Anniversary special, but we’re not here to quibble over that. That just confuses me anyway.

I’m not going to recap the entire episode, because that’s not really what I feel like doing, nor do I remember all the minute details. I just wanted to touch on how GLAD I am to have DW back again and how eager I am to see where it goes.

Before the show even started, I was a bundle of nerves. I go through this every time a Doctor regenerates. You get so attached to one Doctor and then they’re just gone and replaced with this stranger. I don’t know about you, but each time I say, “but number (whatever) was my favorite!”. Then you watch a bit and you fall in love all over again. I thought I could never like David Tennant after Christopher Eccleston, but I did. I thought I could never like Matt Smith after David, but I did. I hope the same follows for Peter Capaldi.

Right away, we’re tossed into the newness of the show. They revamped the look of the intro as well as the song. Not a drastic change, but noticeable enough. And speaking of revamps, the TARDIS was also re-done a bit. I enjoyed the familiar faces of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax at the beginning to kind of shepherd us in. The dinosaur in the Thames was new, but our setting of Victorian London was not.

 

 

The Doctor and Clara joined us after being spit out by the dinosaur and it was a hot mess for a few minutes. He seemed to have trouble processing people and memories and he talked so fast it was a bit confusing to follow, but funny nonetheless. When he meets up with the homeless man in the alley later, it’s the funniest part of the show as he “discovers” himself. The eyebrows! He’s Scottish!

 

 

Clara, on the other hand, was a bit taken aback by this “new” Doctor. Now, Clara has never been one of my top favorite companions, but I have to say that she held her own in this episode. As a lot of people have mentioned online, and I agree, the companion is sort of the voice of the audience. We were all wondering, right along with her, what this new “madman with a box” would be like. Clara certainly stood up for herself a lot and I respected that about her in this episode. It was also heart-wrenching watching her talk to “her” Doctor, Matt Smith, in his cameo at the end of the episode.

 

 

The thing I liked about this episode was the return of the Clockwork Robots from The Girl In The Fireplace. This time, they were luring humans into a restaurant to steal their parts/skin. And who the hell left the message in the newspaper for Clara and the Doctor?? That scene in the restaurant was completely creepy when they realize all the “people” in there are actually the robots. So scary! Can you say skin balloon? Ewww. And let’s not even get into whether or not the Doctor pushed the robot out of the skin balloon or if he jumped.

 

 

This takes us into the end of the episode, the creepiest part of all: meeting Missy. I don’t know what to make of this woman who claims the Doctor is her boyfriend. Is she “the woman in the shop” from Bells of Saint John? Tara and I thought maybe she was the TARDIS, but the woman that played the TARDIS before was different…but you never know. Is she a villain? Is she good? I guess we’ll eventually find out but that was huge cliffhanger thing for me. I can’t wait to see what goes on with her and the Nethersphere.

 

Evil Mary Poppins?

 

I was really happy with the direction this episode took us and I hope it continues on the right path. I’m excited to get to know #12 better and see what happens with Clara. I don’t know if she’s really leaving the show after the Christmas special or not, but if she continues on this new braver, stronger front then it could be a big loss so soon into the new Doctor’s tenure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SYTYCD: Memorable Performances

I want to share with you another of my fandoms.

I am not what you would call graceful. I have no rhythm. I can’t even handle the Electric Slide. I loooove So You Think You Can Dance. Maybe a little too much. There is just something about watching the way these contestants move that blows my mind. With the new season starting next week, I wanted to share some of my all-time favorite performances.

I had such a hard time picking just these and I had more, but they’re all of a sudden private so I can’t share them. It’s probably better for everyone.

Do you watch the show? Have any favorites??

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Day Of The Doctor and a Cat Cave

On Friday, after I made my weekly Face The Music post, WordPress told me it was my 50th post. I thought this was totally awesome, obviously, since my post included quite a bit of excitement about the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Totally unplanned, but totally amazing!

As I said before, we went up to Julie and Dan’s house this weekend to view the episode and hang out. We headed up Friday afternoon when Tara got home from work and just hung out and caught up. Saturday, Dan and I got up and headed to his local Planet Fitness for a workout. He headed in to use weights and I went on the elliptical. It felt pretty good and my knee didn’t bother me too much so I think I’ll use that instead of the bike.

I had a set goal in mind when I got on the elliptical due to this challenge on a blog I love. I thought it was a genius idea and couldn’t wait to join in, so I made sure I hit my 50 minutes!

 

 

After the gym, I showered up and all us girls went out for a quick shopping trip to Michael’s and Christmas Tree Shop. Tara needed to buy some yarn because she saw a cute pattern to crochet a “cat cave” for our baby, Flynn. He gets so chilly when the weather gets colder and he LOVES being covered up and cozy with blankies or snuggled up in our pajamas with us. While we watched the shows, Tara was able to make most of the cave and finished it this morning, just in time to come home and see how our little man liked it. He loves it, however Delilah seems to like it more. She likes to declare ALL THE THINGS are hers, so she started attacking him while he was in it and now won’t let him near it! HA!

 

 

Once we hit up the stores we needed, we got home in time to make the “fish fingers and custard” for our viewing party. They came out pretty good, thanks to Dan, Julie and Tara working out the dough issue. Made a great little snack to have while we watched. The episode was amazing and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. Moffat is an evil genius!

 

 

We just hung out and had a low-key night after Doctor Who and played some “Would You Rather?” type game Dan found on the iPad. It’s always interesting when you get the four of us together! Dan and I headed to the gym again this morning for shoulders and legs day. I have to say I’m a little jealous because his Planet Fitness is probably twice the size of mine! They have way more machines than we do, but my gym is newer (probably only 5 years old). Oh well! Gotta work with what I got! After an hour and a half or so at the gym, we came home for some pancakes and bacon that Julie made us. We ate, finished packing up and then Tara and I came home.

I had the BEST package in the mail when we got here. My virtual race medal came for the Doctor Who race that I had entered back in September. I think the coincidences are just amazing because it arrived in the mail ON the 50th anniversary. 50’s all around this weekend! Love it!

 

 

The winds have been crazy today (gusting around 25 mph) and as we pulled into our driveway at home, we realized our little garden flag was hanging precariously off its stand. As we were unpacking, it flew off but luckily got caught up in our holly bush. Not so luckily, we realized we had no power when we walked inside. While I was checking my cell phone to report the outage to National Grid, our neighbor called Tara’s cell phone to let her know about the power and to see if we had any. He said it had been out for about 1/2 hour or so which was a bummer. Thankfully, it was only off for about an hour total (if that?) so that was good considering we had laundry and stuff to do when we got home.

Another great weekend and now we have a short (but crazy for me) week and Thanksgiving to look forward to! Hope everyone has a great week!

Face The Music Friday #10

My weight this week is:

186.9

Beginning:  240

Last week:  183.2

This week: +3.7 lb

Total loss:  53.1 lb

 

Ahhh, I really hate being a woman sometimes. Let’s just say, we’ve entered the danger zone for the month. I’m not concerned with my diet or workouts this week because I did well with both, so the only thing I can say is this much of a gain is due to a little word rhyming with goat, boat, coat…what is it…I can’t think…oh yeah – BLOAT! Grrr. Stupid Mother Nature. I know you all love reading about it. You’re welcome.

 

 

No new foods tried this week, but have regularly added broccoli in now. In terms of workouts, I decided I’d try the bike at the gym as my cardio since I opted not to run regularly at this time. In the past I would have just gone on the elliptical, but I found when I used it while I was injured early on that it still bothered me. Maybe too similar to running? Who knows! I hate biking because the seat hurts my butt, but I figured I’d give it a shot. What I discovered though is that it KILLS my hips…so I may be switching back to the elliptical next week. We’ll see! I’m pretty satisfied with the gains I’m making in my strength each week. This week I actually felt strong for the first time while working out. I definitely loved that.

 

 

Fitness this week:

Saturday – According to my Fitbit, we walked about 4.5 miles around Newport on our adventure

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 17.5 lb, DB front raise – 10 lb, DB lat raise – 12.5 lb, Cable rear delt – 5 lb each side

Leg press – 85 lb, Leg extension – 65 lb, Leg curl – 75 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 155 lb, Calf Extension – 35 lb, Glute – 65lb

Ab Crunch – 65 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 17.5 lb, Cable hold – 12.5 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 40 sec x 4

Monday – Cycling– 30 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 15 lb each side, Fly – 70 lb, Cable uppercut – 7.5 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 4 (no knees), 20, 14 (last two on knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 100 lb), Rope pull-down – 25 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 65 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 17.5 lb, Cable hold – 12.5 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 40 sec x 4

Wednesday – Cycling– 30 minutes

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb (switched to dual pulley), Back Extension – 90 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 122.5 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 17.5 lb, Hammer Curl – 17.5 lb, Reverse Curl – 17.5 lb

Friday – rest

I’m BEYOND excited because it’s finally here!!! Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who. Ten is back! Rose is back! We find out about “The War Doctor”! SO MUCH SQUEE!!!!

 

 

Tonight we’ll be heading up to MA to stay with Julie and Dan for the weekend. We’ll have a viewing party for The Doctor in between sweat sessions at the gym on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I love going with Dan because he’s like a walking strength encyclopedia and he definitely is a great gym partner! Too bad we can’t always go together!

Now on to the music! If you thought I was going to do anything other than things relating to Doctor Who, you are sadly mistaken. If you’re bored by my geekiness at this point, you can stop here! Here are a few gems that I love. Enjoy and have a great weekend!!

 

 

And the official trailers for tomorrow! So pumped!!

 

 

Two Loves Combined

The other day I was at work, on my lunch break, listening to my iPhone and a song came on. There are just certain songs that take you on a journey. Maybe it was a time in your life that you did a “freeze frame” and will always associate the song with a perfect (or not so perfect) moment in your life. While I do that, I also tend to associate certain TV shows or movies with a certain song that will bring out emotions as well. This particular song reminds me of a very intense, very sad episode of Bones. That’s where I’ll begin…

There was a serial killer hunting Booth and he accidentally shot and killed one of the “squints”. He was my favorite of the interns on the shows later seasons once Zack was gone and it was a very emotional moment on the show. I was bawling my eyes out when we first watched it. Bones episode “The Hole In The Heart”.

Keep The Streets Empty For Me – Fever Ray (not a great video, but you get the scene and the song)

 

 

It goes without saying I’d include Doctor Who. They don’t typically use mainstream songs or anything like that, but this is my absolute favorite theme that’s been used on the show. Typically something very crazy is going on when this song plays.

I Am The Doctor – Murray Gold

 

 

Next is from one of my all-time favorite shows, Friends – “The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break”. It’s not exactly a happy moment in Ross and Rachel’s relationship, but I always associate the song with this episode.

With Or Without You – U2

 

 

This brought tears to my eyes just searching for the video! This is from the episode “Heartland” of NCIS. A sweet look back at when Gibbs first met Shannon.

Lost – Michael Buble

 

 

And honestly, found this great video with some awesome NCIS moments so you should watch this too:

 

 

This one is from CSI, back when I actually still watched it. Warrick’s death scene in the episode “For Gedda/For Warrick”.

Come Tenderness – Lisa Gerrard

 

 

From Criminal Minds episode “JJ”, this was her last episode (before she came back, of course). Guess that’ll happen when you can work out contract disputes.

Let It Be Me – Ray LaMontagne

 

 

Let’s get happier, shall we? From the movie Pitch Perfect, I could pick pretty much any of the songs so I’ll leave you with these:

 

 

 

 

Tell me what some of your favorites are!!

Things That Make Me Happy (and an update)

An update on the knee/IT band:  I tried out using the elliptical downstairs last night for 1/2 hour. I took it pretty slow because it started out pretty sore, but I was able to do the whole 30 minute fat burner setting.

Tonight, Tara and I took a walk for a little over 2 miles. I decided to perform a test and took my patellar tendon strap and wrapped it above my knee (instead of below where it goes) as if it were an IT band strap. It definitely improved feeling while I ran (I periodically left Tara and tried running for a 1/4 mile here and there) but it still bothered me after a few tenths of a mile. Not as bad as Sunday though…so I guess that’s a start. I ordered an *actual* IT band compression strap to try out on Amazon that I should get on Friday. The patellar strap was too tight because it’s not big enough for above the knee so it was a bit uncomfortable for it’s size.

I saw my doctor for my yearly physical yesterday so I asked her for a referral while I was there but couldn’t get a PT appt until next Friday, 9/27. I want it gone sooner rather than later, so I’m doing everything I can in the meantime. Ice, rest, elevation when possible, compression when possible, Advil when I need it and lots and LOTS of foam rolling. Going to figure out some stretches I can do that I’ve found online and see if that helps in the meantime.

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1. My loving, sweet, beautiful, kind, caring wife. My best friend. My everything. You get the idea!

 

2. A roof over my head. I’ve worked very hard in my life and always wanted to have my own home. That dream finally came true 5 years ago when we bought our first home. We didn’t realize all the issues the previous owners had left us, but we couldn’t ask for better neighbors. It’s a really nice neighborhood.

3. Snuggles from my fur babies. We adopted them just over a year ago and I can’t imagine life if we hadn’t decided to adopt again.

4. Two of the best friends anyone could ask for.

5. Amazing family that supports me no matter what shenanigans I get into.

My parents, visiting from Vegas, got to see my first mud run!

6. A job. I may not like it on most days, but I know how hard it is to find and keep one in this economy so I’m still glad to have one.

7. Running.

8. Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

9. Doctor Who.

10. Macintosh apples

And one extra for good measure…

11. I Can Has Cheezburger. You’re welcome.

Who and Monsters

It’s been a few weeks now since I started my blog and while I will most likely follow my training the majority of the time, I’d also like to have fun with it by throwing in some of my fandoms from time to time.

As it is right now, I’m waiting anxiously for the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who to come out. And then the Christmas special, where I will wish a sad farewell to Matt Smith’s incarnation of the 11th Doctor. Don’t even get me going on when the Doctors regenerate because I always feel like I’m losing a best friend. It pretty much goes like this: 9 was my favorite, I won’t like #10. Ooh, 10 was my favorite I won’t like #11…etc, etc, etc. It happens every time. I grow to love their take on the Doctor so much, it guts me to imagine someone else filling their shoes (or trenchcoat, or bow tie. Bow ties are cool).

If you’ve never seen an episode of Doctor Who, or know anything about the show, it’s very difficult to explain.

Yeah. That’s pretty much it.

 

I still remember the first episode I ever saw. It was Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor and the episode was The God Complex (spoilers if you click on the link). I was bored one day watching TV and nothing good was on. A friend of mine was always talking about Doctor Who and since I had nothing to watch, I turned on On Demand and picked an episode. It was enough to get me very interested in watching more. I went back on Netflix and started from the beginning (well, the beginning of the reboot of the show, starting with the 9th Doctor). I’ve watched every episode multiple times and it’s still always amazing.

 

 

What I’d like to share today, however, is the things from Doctor Who that scare the hell out of me. I have a top 5 and will gladly share my nightmares with you.

#5 – Autons

Basically, store mannequins coming to life and trying to kill you. Good luck shopping without looking over your shoulder from now on.

 

#4 – Vashta Nerada

Always count the shadows. If you have two, you’re screwed. Good luck walking down a busy street on a sunny day.

 

#3 – Empty Child

Little children in horror movies are always terrifying. Have them walk around with a gas mask on their face asking “Are you my Mommy?” – uber creepy.

 

#2 – The Silence

What’s creepy about something you don’t remember? The fact you wouldn’t remember seeing them but they could suggest you do something! Watch out for people with tally marks on their bodies. They’ve been counting.

 

#1 – Weeping Angels

The creepiest of the creeps. Any statue, anywhere – could it be a weeping angel? You’ll never know…then BAM! You’re sent back in time!

 

Enjoy your dreams tonight!

Getting to know you

Or in this case, me. I figured I’d start out my blog with some basics as I figure out this whole writing thing. To get started, here’s just a little bit about me, that wasn’t necessarily in my About Me section.

To explain my blog title, it all goes back to Doctor Who. Never have I been so engrossed, involved and felt so much from a single media (TV, movie, song, etc) as I have since I started watching this show. The “Don’t Blink” portion comes from the famous enemy, the Weeping Angels. One of the creepiest foes I’ve ever seen. I still can’t walk through a city with any statues without watching them watch me…just in case.

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The “Just Run” is two-fold. They do a lot of running in Doctor Who. A lot. Like all the time. I like to equate the Doctor’s travels with those of Angela Lansbury’s character on Murder, She Wrote. How do you seriously go somewhere and ALWAYS find trouble? That’s some seriously bad mojo. But I digress. The second part of the running should be fairly obvious. I run. I run races. And eventually I’d like to run longer races.

Some favorites:

Color – Blue. I’m not too particular about the blue either. Any shade will do.

Team – Patriots. Devastated to see some of my favorites missing this season. Equally as devastated by the addition of Tim Tebow to the line-up.

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Quote – “The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.” – Doctor Who

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Food – Potato. Almost any variety. I could seriously live off of almost nothing but potatoes in all its starchy goodness.

Musical act – Nine Inch Nails. Very excited to be seeing Trent Reznor for the third time in October!

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Don’t even make me try to pick a favorite movie. Seriously. Don’t do it.

TV show – should be kind of obvious by now, but it’s Doctor Who.

Place – at home. With Tara. And our fur babies. There is no better place.