Fun Stuff | Keeping up with Kate

Get Your ROAR ON!

Posted on August 30, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I can’t believe this weekend is Labor Day weekend. It feels like just yesterday we were just celebrating Memorial Day. I love summer and I’m kind of bummed I didn’t make to to the shore more than on my vacation. So as a say goodbye to summer this weekend – I get to say HELLO to fall – sort of – as Penn State has their first football game this weekend!

And the bonus is I’m not going to be too far from home since they are playing Syracuse at MetLife Stadium (aka The Meadowlands) in NJ – where it is a home game for Syracuse – but it will really be a home game for Penn State. So maybe I can sneak down to the beach on Sunday – hmmm – need to do that (sorry I digressed).

Back to football – I think the fall like weather a week or so ago has me finally ready for some football – it will be a very low key tailgate (I’ll do another post over the weekend with all of my new tailgate toys)! All of the essentials are ready to go – Adult Beverages and Cupcakes – what else does a girl need? 🙂 Oh don’t worry there will be other totally non nutrious items on the menu. Good thing I’ll be walking around a lot – I’ll be interested to see how many steps I get in tomorrow. Sorry I’ve digressed again.

I’m really looking forward to see what Bill O’Brien and this Penn State Football team will do this year. They’ve worked hard and kept their focus. Just as the team last year – they will have all of the support they need from their Penn State family! Here is a glimpse of what Coach O’Brien shared with the team about the our history and the Penn State family:

Tomorrow will be a great day – I’ll get to see some friends I see a lot, ones I haven’t seen in awhile and may even run into people I haven’t seen in forever – you never know who you will run into. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ll have my ROAR On and my BANK Button!

Bank Button – PSU vs. Syracuse – 2013

And I am SO Glad I’m a NITTANY LION!

ROAR LOUD ~ ROAR PROUD!!

WE ARE…PENN STATE!!

Just got my UP

Posted on August 8, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Just got my UP by Jawbone in the mail today. I’m so excited!! I can get an employee discount and the black medium has been on backorder forever. I was able to order a grey medium (close enough to go with everything) on Saturday – Wahoo!

What is the UP? It is gadget you wear on your wrist and it tracks your steps and sleep. You put in your vitals – sex, age, height and weight – and it monitors your steps and sleep. You can also add food and water intake. Over time it provides insight about you day to day activities.

I’ve already set my goal of 10,000 steps per day (a big challenge for me), 7.5 hours of sleep (I can’t wait to compare this to my sleep cycle app) per night and the notice every 30 minutes I’m not moving to get up and move around.

I’ll keep you posted. I’m off to bed so I can get my 7.5 hours of sleep in the first night! 🙂

My Week in Pictures

Posted on August 4, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I ha a very busy week. Thought I’d share some photos of my adventures.

My week started with a flight to my company’s corporate headquarters in Overland Park, KS. One of the highlights of our meeting was a tour of our Executive Briefing Center. Thought I’d brag on a couple of our awards – 🙂

Emmy Award

JD Power & Associate’s Awards

Wednesday morning I headed into NYC for a meeting at The Empire State Building. I have a friend who I haven’t seen in ages who works in The Empire State Building – had a chance to catch up with her. Before we went out, I had a chance to take a look at her view – AWESOME!!! (and this picture just doesn’t do it justice)

View of Lower Manhattan from the 65th floor of The Empire State Building.

We headed off to CASK Bar and Kitchen to catch-up. It was a great place – very cool on the inside and great food offerings – small plates – great place to share. Oh and pretty darn good adult beverages!!

View of the Menu

Yummy Adult Beverages!

Love the inside of Cask!

No pictures on Thursday – it was a rainy day in NJ.

Friday brought a vacation day with beautiful weather! I was off to Sea Bright, NJ with some friends to celebrate a birthday. We had a great time on the beach, a fabulous lunch at Woody’s and some adult beverages at The Mad Hatter – where I took the picture of Sea Bright Rising!

Yummy Fish Tacos from Woody’s in Sea Bright!

Sea Bright Rising – this says it all!

Yesterday, I was off to see a dear college friend and her family in Sea Girt. The weather wasn’t great but we had a nice visit. Today we had a beautiful day at the beach!

Sea Girt, NJ – Beautiful!!

Have a great week!

Yoga – More than body, mind & soul…

Posted on July 27, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Last night, I went out with the girls to New Brunswick – the home of the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (note their bars don’t even compare to State College 🙂 ).

My adult beverage of choice is Stoli Orange Vodka and Club Soda (because of the low sugar content and you can make one last forever!) – and I also drink lots of water when I’m out. We had dinner and made one more stop. It was actually pretty cool bar – and I felt like a beer (and water of course). I’ve been staying away from beer due to the sugar in it. And of course I picked a brew that was a sweet wheat beer. It was delicious – sort of like a dessert.

Low and behold this morning, I have a screaming headache. I really didn’t want to take anything for it – was hoping a cold compress would help – it didn’t. I then tried coffee – no help either. Saturday is a Yoga day for me and I had pretty much decided I wasn’t going to go. But finally some common sense hit me and I decided to go to YOGA. Best decision all day! It helped energize me and get rid of the annoying beer – sugar headache! No more sweet, wheat beers for me! 🙂

An Old App becomes a FAV

Posted on July 22, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I rediscovered an app I’ve had on my phone for quite awhile on vacation due to my Mom and Aunt having the app on their i-Phones. Can you guess what app it was???

It was PANDORA!! I have a great waterproof, wireless speaker that I wanted to use and my Aunt wanted to listen to her tunes from her iPhone. Although we think one of her granddaughter’s added some other favs onto her stations – so then we used my Mom’s phone for her stations. It was great listening to some oldies but goodies while on vacation. We had fun trying to figure out who was singing some of the songs. And I’m happy to report that I did pretty good with some of the oldies!

They didn’t completely show me up either – I was able to add new stations for them quickly and had to turn off the blue tooth so they could answer the phone – phew – thought I was going to have to retire as the family techno guru!

The only station I had on my Pandora was U2. Now I have a great mixture of music (some nice influences from my Mom and Aunt)- great for vacation and in the car. Here are the stations I have now:

Summer Hits of the 90s Radio
Summer Oldies Radio
Abba
O.A.R.
Justin Timberlake Radio (I really like the newly invented JT)
Michael Buble
Maroon 5
Madonna
Mumford and Sons
Bruce Springsteen
Bon Jovi
Tony Bennett
Frank Sinatra
U2

I’m sure I’ll add more when I get a chance. Are there any apps that you’ve re-discovered or new ones that you just love? Please share!

I’m Back…

Posted on July 17, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I’m back from my 2 week summer vacation. One of the perks of being with a company for 20 years – I have lots of vacation. I’m a big fan of the 2 week vacation. I highly recommend it!

A one week vacation you are just getting into the groove of everything and it is time to go home. My Mom and I both mentioned that on our Anna Maria Island over Spring Break – we were just figuring out where to go and what to do and it was time to go home.

I’ve done the two weeks in a row and the two weeks in the same month – both are good. But I’m partial to the 2 weeks in a row. For the past 3 summers my Mom and I have been renting a house in Ocean City, NJ (OCNJ) on the odd side of Asbury Avenue. If you don’t have beach from on Central – the odd side of Asbury is the next best thing – a quick walk back and forth from the beach!

We had a great time (as always) – weather could’ve been a little better and the ocean could’ve been a lot warmer. The water was 55 degrees due to what they call upwelling – current/wind from the SW moving the warm water out into the ocean replacing with colder water from the bottom (see you even learned something while reading this blog today). That current is gone now so it is much warmer now so those down this week can get in the ocean to get out of this crazy heatwave.

I have lots of things I plan on sharing about my vacation – just need to get my act together!

Stay cool!

Still a Kid at Heart

Posted on June 23, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Since 2009 (I’m pretty sure that is when we started), my niece and I have been going to my church carnival. It is something we both look forward to every year. I don’t know which one of us gets more excited?!

We’ve had rain and storms (the first year we had to cut the rides short due to a T-storm – thank goodness we were in walking distance to a Friendly’s). This year the weather was perfect.

We have a set routine – face painting is our first stop. This year’s choice was a heart on one side and a whale on another. Then off to the rides. I love rides (I still remember when the SuperDooperLooper was the scariest ride out there!)! Our first ride this year was the Scrambler (when I was my niece’s age I found $5 at my grandparent’s church carnival – no such luck this year – I think we were the first ones on the ride). The next ride was the Tornado – it is a flying ride and you turn so your car spins. I will tell you it is the first time I’ve ever thought sick on a ride – ugh – a sign of getting old – hopefully maybe just a one time thing I hope. I hit a total of 5 rides (and luckily the Tornado was the only one with an issue – whew)!

Off to get some carnival food – we were pretty basic – burger and fries. While eating we got to watch the dunk tank – we even took some shots at it. I’ve completely lost my ability to throw a softball – quite embarassing since I played for probably 10 years (need to work on that)! Neither one of us knock him in. But it was fun.

It is interesting to see how my nieces interests have changed – she wanted to try out a game this year. She did really well – she didn’t win – but what annoyed me a bit is these were teen games and there were parents winning for their toddler kids (and there are games for the younger kids). My niece didn’t seem to mind – it was me who minded. She is a much better sport than me!

We both LOVE ice cream so we were off to get our annual softserve cone – we keep it simple – vanilla softserve – YUM!

We had time for one more ride – we usually ride the Pirate Ship or the Swings (and they have two swings) – to my surprise the pick was the bumper cars. It was fun – and I had an excellent driver – I was very impressed.

View of bumper cars – waiting in line.

I just love the fond memories this brings back to me growing up and going to my grandparent’s church carnival and the Holy Spirit Street Fair. I love that I’m creating great memories (I hope) for my niece! I cherish this time and hope we keep this annual tradition going for a very long time!

Love this shot – we never made it on the double swing.

FIG – Vodka, Sauce, Salad, App…

Posted on June 11, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

So what made you click on this post today? Was it the thought of Fig Vodka, a Sauce, Salad or an App?

I really enjoy figs – my Dad has some really great recipes – one is an appetizer with a balsamic reduction – note to self – get recipe. I have FIG(s) on the brain today.

A friend shared with me a new vodka – it is Figenza Vodka – I’m looking forward to trying the Fig Mojito – 3 ozs of Fig Vodka, 2 ozs of Club Soda, muddled mint and lime (this is their June cocktail). I could also try the Sunkiss – 3 ozs of Fig Vodka, 1 oz of Club Soda and muddled oranges (this is their July cocktail) – this is definately on the list for vacation. I’ll let you know what I think of it.

In December, I hosted Christmas and due to the size of my house (and the age of my oven), we normally celebrate ‘Easter’ at Christmas – which means Ham. I get an awesome Spiral Cut Ham from Kansas City Steaks. I decided this year to try a different sauce. At first I was going to make a fig sauce but found on Pinterest a sauce I could purchase that was just a good. It was Stonewall Kitchen’s Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce – it was a hit. I think it would great on a nice pork loin or chicken too – I have one bottle left and I see this as a grilling option real soon.

Since I don’t have my Dad’s recipe for the appetizers – thought I would try this recipe – Roasted Balsami Fig Salad – Blue Cheese. Looks easy and delicious.

So now for the true reason for this post – the FIG Wellness App – available on iOS and Android. I had a work/life balance lunch and learn for my team with my trainer, Lindsay Vastola. The feedback from my team was fabulous. And the interesting thing was a lot of the feedback was that they had the work/life balance, but didn’t have the life/life balance. I wanted to figure out a way to reinforce what we learned, but I also wanted to help my team have overall balance. I’m a true believer that a well balance employee – is a productive employee. I rolled out a little voluntary incentive for my team – 21 Day Challenge (pre-vacation for my team) – the objective of the incentive – set a goal, track results and share your findings. The incentive is all about participation – each week they participate the get a ‘ticket’ for a drawing and if they particpate all 3 weeks – they get another ‘ticket’. There will be two winners of some fabulous prizes. I wanted to find something to help us track results, keep each other accountable and I wanted us to be mobile.

It was easy to search for some wellness apps – I found FIG to have the best ratings. We started yesterday – I like it so far – you can create goals and activities. Some of the activity categories are related to eating, exercise, refresh (sleep, relaxation), connect (family, friendship, community), feel (awareness, gratitude) and go further (faith, longevity). I thought this was perfect because it wasn’t just focusing on eating and exercise – it focuses on the entire being. You can invite participants to be your ‘friends’ so you can see how everyone is doing – lend a ‘cheer’, ‘assist’ or ‘rally’ your friends with words of encouragement. You can track your items very quickly. My week 1 goals are drink 10 glasses of water per day and do my Hard Body workouts 3xs per week. I made my water goal yesterday and got a nice YELLOW Star!! The only thing I don’t like is that everyone has to invite each other vs. a one time invite from me. I think I can get over that. So far so good and I think I will use this post our 21 Day Challenge.

I’m off to drink a glass of water!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game…

Posted on June 7, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

You know how the rest of the song goes (you are singing it right?)…

Monday night I took my nephew to the Phillies vs. Marlins game as part of his baseball association’s night out at the ballpark. I had gone last year with my brother and nephew and it was a lot of fun. My brother was traveling for work and asked if I could take him. Of course, the answer was YES!

We had to get to the ballpark early because part of the evening included a walk around the stadium. Last year, my nephew walked with the team and one of the coaches. This year he was on a new team and I was a little nervous as I didn’t know any of the parents or the coaches. I befriended one of the Mom’s and she encouraged me to go on the field – which is exactly what I did. I don’t know who enjoyed walking on the field more – the kids or the adults? We were all walking around use our cellphones – snapping pictures.

Here are some of the fun shots I got on the field:

Local group playing the theme to Rocky as we walked around the Ballpark

Getting the infield ready

The Home Team’s helmets

Approaching the left field wall.

On Deck Circle

I asked my nephew if he wanted to get a photo of the two of us on the field together – the answer was NO – but he did allow me to take a photo of him on the field (I won’t be sharing though since his parents aren’t on social media – so his photos won’t be either).

So after some ballpark grub – hot dogs, a few fries, water and our bag of peanuts – off we went to our seats in the upper deck behind home plate. Here are a few shots from our seats:

Thougtht this was a cool shote with the Phillies sign and the city in the background.

Zoomed in view from our seats via my iPhone.

View from our seats.

The start of the game wasn’t great – it didn’t get interesting until late in the game – just right before we had to leave – the fun started with a home run by catcher. The little boy next to me got so excited he spilled a nice portion of his Phillie red italian ice on my side – good thing it matched my shirt! It was great to see the team hit the ball and get some runs – it was 5-2 when we left and 7-2 by the time we got to our car – it was great hearing the roar of the crowd as we walked to the car – we knew our team was doing great. It was an awesome ending to a fantastic day at the ballpark.

I wanted to share this story because I think sometimes we are always so busy in our daily lives we don’t take the time and really enjoy some of the simple things in life. I hope I created a fond memory for my nephew – I know I created one for myself.

PS: I did get him to agree on a self-portrait of the two of us in our seats!

Ice Cream, Ice Cream, We all SCREAM for ICE CREAM

Posted on June 1, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

I have loved ice cream for as long as I can remember. When I would go to my Mom-Mom’s and Pop-Pop’s – there was always a 1/2 gallon of REAL Breyer’s Vanilla ice cream. For years, our house only had Breyer’s ice cream in it – we branched out and tried other flavors beside vanilla too. 🙂

Fast forward to 2013 and it is hot as blazes for June 1st – feels more like August 1st. I’ve been doing ‘chores’ all day and wanted some ice cream tonight. I was originally going to hit the drive-thru at Dairy Queen for a Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard (small). I decided I’d go get some Breyer’s Ice Cream with peanut butter cup, chocolate cookie dough or chocolate chip – since I would know the ingredients. Boy was I wrong! I find the Breyer’s with peanut butter cup and it says it is made with Light Ice Cream (and lots of other stuff) – there are so many ingregdients in it – there was the mention of Sugar – 11xs! So then I decided to look at the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Chocolate Chip – both made with Frozen Dairy Dessert – with both having at least 3 types of Sugars. Needless to say I was disgusted and disappointed in Breyer’s. What has happened to Breyer’s?

Off I went to the Turkey Hill section – they had ice cream with similar ingredients until I spied Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream – I picked the Salted Caramel – 6 ingredients: cream, milk, sugar, caramel, vanilla and salt! The sugar content is higher than I normally get – next time I’ll try the Coffee – 3 less grams of sugar.

So how was the ice cream? It was yummy (a touch sweeter than it needed to be – but still yummy)! I enjoyed it as I watched the opening of Libeled Lady (1936) on TCM.

And in case you haven’t figured it out – I will be purchasing the Turkey Hill All Natural from now on.

Stay cool!