The San Diego Mission

I was thinking that before I take off out of California, I should put as much effort as I can into crossing things off my bucket list that are California related. One of those things is visiting all 22 California Missions. I've hit up 7 of them so far, but there are 2 I've never seen in the LA area and I'd like to make a day trip here in the next few weeks. (If anyone cares to join me, call me. I'm a bad ass singer in the car. I will impress you and you'll be like "Dang. I'm jealous.")

I was going through my external drive this afternoon and found a handful pictures from the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. California's very first ever church. What a lovely place to enjoy some history.

See what I'm saying now? Call me, lets go play in LA for a day...

Ice Queen

Holy balls, I'm clumsy.

I could sit here and fill you in on every trip, fall and run-in I've ever had, but it would take hours. I mean, I'm really probably in need of some sort of helmet and/or shin guards most of my waking hours. I'm not exactly sure what is wrong with me, other than I'm just kind of a distracted space case the majority of the time. Which, you know, is part of my charm? I guess?

Anyway, so my bestie calls me a few months ago with a Groupon deal. She knows me. This is why I was a bit confused when she mentioned ice skating in Lake Forest. Yes it was only 6 dollars a person but I mean, she knows me. I remember squinting my eyes at her through the phone and cocking my head to the side and saying "um, really?"

We booked the tickets and let them sit in virtual world for a few months before we decided to rock the shit out of that ice skating rink last weekend. Ok, maybe "rock the shit out of" is a bit strong, but we didn't fall. So at least that's something because I was convinced I would be walking away with a broken ass bone or sprained ankle.

I personally feel like ice skating is the perfect time to throw on some snowboarding goggles... because if you're going to make an idiot out of yourself, you might as well go all out.

My God we're cute

So anyway, I'll spare you all the full video, but here's just a clip of our excursion. (Click HERE for mobile)

And if you're looking for more of my 8th Life Production clips here's a handful of my favorites:

The Pinecone of Destiny

Livia and Krista: Remixed and Revisited

Skating California

Vaaler Wedding

Luciani Wedding

Skating California

I don't have a ton of time to write today, but remember last week when I was rambling about my little production company 8th Life Productions? Well, I scrounged up another video that I made. This one is a bunch of local buddies around Orange County messing around on their skateboards. I guess I feel like putting it out there just to let you know that if you have clips, of any size, shape or variety that you'd like edited together, send me an email and I can make that happen. You know, cause I got skills.

World's Fastest Workout

Yes. I'm writing exercise posts 2 days before and the day after my cheesecake post. Yes.

I'm about ready to have another piece for breakfast today and my guilt doesn't even stand a chance against the taste of cream cheese, sugar and chocolate. I've already had a lengthy conversation with my own ass about how sorry I am that it has to be this way. It said that it totally understands so I took that as the go-ahead for maybe another small-ish piece for lunch.

I'm not condoning being lazy about exercise, I totally hope that's not the way I'm coming across with my 10 minute arm routine or this post about my 4 minute cardio. If and when you have time to hit the gym or get in a long jog around your neighborhood, then by all means, do it. Your results depend on how much you want to work for it. If you don't work for it, I mean really work for it, then I don't think it's fair to get the results. Such is life.
But sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day or enough coffee in the world that will kick you into gear. It's those times, I use this secret weapon:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

It is seriously taking every ounce of will power I have to not hook myself up to an IV full of this stuff. Seriously. Wrap the giant rubber band. Tap the Vein. Pump it in. 
I'm actually on my way out the door as we speak to run off the giant piece I had for breakfast and just get away from my refrigerator for a few minutes.  So peace out.


INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I like to use chocolate Teddy Grahams but you could use any chocolate wafer cookie or even Oreos)


Filling:
4 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream (I used light and it worked just fine)


Cookie Dough:
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoon water or milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
An additional 1 cup mini chocolate chips to fold into the batter with the cookie dough balls


Garnish:
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks (add 1 tablespoon powdered sugar while whipping if you like a bit of extra sweetness)
Mini chocolate chips, for sprinkling



DIRECTIONS:
For the cookie dough:
In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugars for the cookie dough. Add the water (or milk), vanilla and blend. Mix in the flour, salt and the chocolate chips. The dough will be fairly soft. Gently roll the dough into small balls (about a teaspoon size, maybe a bit larger) and place them on a wax paper lined plate or baking sheet. Place them in the freezer to harden while making the rest of the cheesecake.


For the crust:
Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan. In a medium bowl, combine the butter with the chocolate cookie crumbs (you could easily use a food processor to crush the cookies and incorporate the butter). Press onto the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.


For the cheesecake:
Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flour until smooth. Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix just until blended. Be careful not to overmix – incorporating too much air into the batter can contribute to a cheesecake cracking on top during baking.


Pour half the batter into the prepared crust. Gently stir in the cookie dough balls and the additional 1 cup mini chocolate chips into the remaining batter. Pour into the pan, spreading the batter to the sides of the pan and evening it out across the top (it is ok to see bumps of cookie dough here and there, smooth it the best you can). Bake the cheesecake at 325 degrees for one hour. Turn off the oven and prop the door open several inches. Let the cake sit in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until chilled (ideally, overnight). To serve, cut into slices and top with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips.


Recipe Source: www.melskitchencafe.com

Lets Do The Timewarp Again!

Holy Facebook!
I cracked a couple of beers open last night and accidentally got sucked into the Facebook timeline time warp!
I started scrolling down the page and opening up other previous months until I came clear back to 2008 when I started. I don't know if this is something you've tried but it is a trip to go back and read word for word what you were doing on this day 3 years ago. I suppose I never looked at it in that way, but for those of us who are on practically daily, it's like a public journal of the things we do and the things we think about. Apparently, I think about mostly the same things time and time again; My family, Darth Vader, my blog, my dog, coffee, the moon and The Muppets. Sounds about right.

Anyway, I think it's pretty humorous that this is the foot print on our giant World Wide Web Universe that I chose to leave:

Spaghetti Arms

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I'm the most ripped person on the planet. I mean, come on. The only kind of exercise I really have any sort of discipline for is my running, and even that sometimes is just to get some alone time because everybody needs a damn break every once in a while.
But every so often, I get this wild hair up my ass (where did that expression come from anyway? It's so so strange...) and I start to get on this crazy train of fitness and great diet and making my body a temple and all that crap. I usually go pretty good for a few months, especially when bikini season rolls around, and then it's back to the cinnamon rolls and excessive wine gulping because exercise is just so boring. I eventually can't get motivated anymore knowing that a new Californication episode is on HBO instead. And you can't really watch David Duchovny and do squats at the same time. So you see my dilemma.

(and I'm not talking about the X-Files David... I'm talking about the now David. Just so we're clear.)

So anyway, this is my arm routine. It takes like 10 minutes. I always have 10 minutes. I can multitask this and David. So we're all good.

1. Standing with your feet hip-distance apart, slowly bend at the waist, keeping your legs as straight as possible, until your hands touch the floor about 8 to 12 inches from your feet [A]. Walk your hands out to pushup position [B], then walk your feet in toward your hands. That's one rep. Do 12-15.

Your body should form a straight line from your heels to your head.

2. With a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides (A). With arms straight but not locked, raise the weights one arm in front, one arm to the side until parallel to the floor (B). Hold for 1 second, then return to start. Repeat with the alternating arm forward and to your side. That is one rep. Do 12-15. 

3. Grab a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the dumbbells down, palms facing out (A). Press the weights up, while twisting until above your head, palms out (B). Hold for 1 second, then take 3 seconds to lower the dumbbells back to start. That's one rep. Do 12-15.

4. With one knee and hand on a bench and a dumbbell in each hand, bend your right elbow to bring the dumbbell to your side, making your upper arm parallel with the floor. Press the dumbbell back, and as you straighten your arm. Rotate it back so that your palm faces in, and return your arm to the bent position. Do 12 to 15 reps with each arm.

Source: Women's Health