cinnamon coffee

(click my title to read about the benefits of a daily dose of cinnamon)

I'm working from home today. Or at least, trying to. It's article-writing time again for me and, as usual, I'm having a hard time getting into it. So, I'm drinking my coffee brewed with cinnamon to try to help manage my blood sugar. No, I'm not a diabetic. I'm actually trying to counteract the effects of the sugar and sweetner I put in my coffee. LOL I know, I know, it's like ordering a diet cola with your burger and fries - totally pointless - but I'm wearing my helmet of denial today, so leave me alone. :P

Though I do have to say, cinnamon coffee is pretty dang good - especially if you like the flavor of cinnamon (obviously). I highly recommend it. Just add 1/8th to 1/4 of a teaspoon to your grounds before you brew your daily cuppa. It's a good time and, if you drink your coffee black (unlike me), it's pretty good for you - especially if you have Type 2 diabetes.

Anyway, I'm writing this to try to get myself into the flow of writing, so I should probably try to do some work. I still need to finish a few pieces of my sessions for this weekend's TYN retreat, too.

Maybe I'll have another cup of coffee first...

jars of clay

I don't know if I've mentioned this on my blog before, but I'm not much of a crowd person. Places with more than 20 people in them tend to freak me out a little. I used to be able to handle it a bit better when I was younger, but now I avoid big crowds. This is one of the big reasons I generally don't like live concerts.

My other issue with concerts is that usually, you're seated so far away from the performer that you have to watch them on the big screen video feed just to make out facial expressions and have them look less like fantastic marionettes. For example, several years ago, I went to a U2 concert with my mom at the stadium. We had floor seats, but were still so far away from the stage that I had to do the jumbotron watching thing just to see what was going on. A couple years later, it was Janet Jackson in Montreal and it was the same thing with worse seating.

All this to say that I went to see Jars of Clay last night and it was, by far, my best live concert experience ever. To start, I LOVE Jars of Clay. Love them. Have all their albums memorized kind of love. A friend of mine in high school, Chris Radtke (who was actually at the concert last night), turned me on to them in grade 11 or 12, and I've 'collected' them ever since.

The funny thing about my JoC obsession is something I didn't actually realize until last night. Lizzie and I were pumping ourselves up for the show and it occured to me all at once that I didn't even know the band member's names. I only ever think of them as a band. Weird.

Before I talk any more about the concert itself, let me just interject this - if you ever want to go to a concert or concert-like event, go with the Magyars. They totally rocked my world by getting to the theatre at least 45 minutes before the doors even opened and waiting in the cold just so they could get front-centre seats. And they saved me one. We were - as I mentioned more than once last night - within spitting distance of the band. Fantastico (as Frank & Anna's favorite band and JoC's opener, Burlap to Cashmere would say). The bands looked like real people and not marionettes!

Okay, enough about my heros, the Magyars. Onto the concert itself!

As I mentioned, Burlap to Cashmere were the opening band. Check out their link above to find out more about them. Wicked awesome. If you love folk music (and who in Winnipeg doesn't?), you need to check out this band. Their guitar skills will blow your mind in a 'man, do I wish I could play a guitar even half as good as that' kind of way. I love 'real' musicians - the kind of musicians that seem born to do what they do - and Steven Delopoulos and his cousin are definitely those kind of musicians.

And then, of course, my Jars of Clay took the stage and rocked my socks off. They played all my favorite songs (helps that all their songs are my favorites) and just put on a really terrific show. I didn't know it until near the end of the night, but we were their first stop on their Canadian tour. I'm half tempted to try to get to their last show on their tour just to see if they could conceivably get any better.

My favorite part of the night, though, had to be their encore because that's kind of when the 'show' stopped and you could tell they just wanted to jam with us until they couldn't stand anymore. The lead singer (I think it was after they played the Walker, Texas Ranger theme song) made a comment that he didn't want to stop - he just wanted to keep on playing. Honestly, I would have been content to hang out there all night if they'd wanted to stick around and jam into the wee hours of the morning. I know for a fact there were at least a half dozen awesome musicians in the audience who could have easily hopped up on stage and jammed with them (check out my friend Don Amero to see what I mean).

At any rate, I have to say that I am very glad I went to this concert. After a good 10 or more years of collecting Jars of Clay, it was probably about time I actually saw them live. I couldn't have asked for better circumstances or company to see them, either.

And in April, John Mayer! That'll be artist #2 in my top five that I get to see live (any guesses on who the other 3 are?? Hint: one of them was already mentioned in this blog. And Sheri, you're not allowed to guess because you already know!).

daunted

Well, not really. I just liked the word today. It's another one of those "I have 100 things to do this week and I don't know where to start" kind of days. And where do I find myself? Blogging instead of trying to hack away at my to do list. Sad.

I think I'll do a good-news / bad-news list to try to motivate myself:

Good News: I get to see Jars of Clay tonight with the Magyars.
Bad News: I don't get to see my husband tonight (he's not a concert person and doesn't know/care much about JoC).

Good News: The TYN retreat this weekend.
Bad News: My sessions aren't ready yet.

Good News: My web project is nearing completion.
Bad News: I have to put finishing it on hold while I work on another project.

Good News: I get to see John Mayer in April.
Bad News: If I keep spending money on stuff like this, I'm gonna be broke for sister's and friend's weddings.

Good News: My sister Sheri and my friend Sheri are getting married in the next few months.
Bad News: I'm emceeing my sister Sheri's wedding and I really need to get working on that.

Good News: The weather's finally starting to warm up.
Bad News: I don't think we'll see the sun for a while.

Good News: I got to hang out with Vergil's family almost all weekend (his cousin's gigantic 18th-birthday-party debut and then brunch the day after).
Bad News: They were almost all sick and I worry I might be heading that route.

Well, that's a pretty good list. I'm gonna try to write an article about our school's president's month in Ukraine. Wish me luck.

you learn something new

For those of you who don't know me well (or haven't figured it out yet), Sheri is my best friend. We often joke that we share a brain because we can have conversations that go like this:

"Did I tell you..?"

"Oh my word, you mean..?

"Yes! Isn't that..?"

"Totally. Did you..?"

"Uh, huh. But did you see..?"

"Oh, yeah! And what about..?"

"Absolutely!"

(insert wild maniacal laughter here)

All this to say that I thought I'd give y'all a little bit of a user's guide to she and I.

Point 1: How to tell when Krista and Sheri are stressed:

• We start writing stories like it's our last hope for sanity.


• We laugh like hyenas at things that only make sense to us.


• We have some of the most superficial conversations you've ever heard - mostly revolving around CSI, Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom, Carmine Giovinazzo or any other actor we find particularly hot at the time.


• We talk so fast most people have a hard time keeping up with us. It's kinda like a ping-pong match on speed.

Yeah, if you read her blog, you'll understand why she's stressed and why I am suffering empathetic stress. *Sigh* I feel SO BAD for her right now, I can't even say. Does anyone know where I can find a magic wand? EBay maybe? How much do those things go for, anyway?

Point 2: Uh... I can only think of one point today. I'll come up with something more another time. This'll be like an on-going series or something. Stay tuned! :P

my plan is working perfectly...

I have recruited another person to join Curves with me! Yay! Jae is going to also become my workout buddy. Actually, she decided to join on her own initiative, and I think it had very little to do with *me* in the end - I'm basically just the person to go with so that she stays motivated. Which is fine, because she's gonna be the same for me. Anyone else want to join us??

What else? TYN is going to come visit me at Prov tonight, which is always a good time. I get to see the TYNers so infrequently now (by my own choice, mind) that I really cherish the times I do get to hang out with them.

Um... that's about it. Nothing overly exciting to write about today. Just thought that since everyone else was posting something maybe I should too. Good way to wrap up the week or something.

Also I've decided on a new movie obsession - The Boondock Saints. Vergil turned me on to this movie about a year ago and I saw it again on TV the other day and thought - wow. This is a really good movie. And while it does help that the two principle characters are smoking hot, the plot is actually really good too (otherwise Vergil would not like it all that much). Warning: it is a violent movie. Definitely not suitable for children and/or anyone who does not like violent movies.

Now that I mention it, I realize I never talked about my previous movie obsession from about a month or so ago. I know I talked a lot about Dane Cook, but that did wear off to some extent. I moved onto martial arts epics, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Fearless and The Protector (see also House of Flying Daggers, Hero and Ong Bak). In fact, I was so obsessed with these movies (and this was before I re-joined Curves) that I decided I wanted to learn Kung Fu and/or Muay Tai Kickboxing. I might have, too, if everyone didn't laugh at me everytime I suggested it...

...And I did it again. Said I didn't have very much to say and then rambled on like an idiot. Crazy. I'm gonna go find something to eat now.