A hop & a skip (LifeFactory water bottle & Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown reviews)

The street sweepers come on first Fridays. I woke up groggy to move my car and ran errands: bank, send Foodie PenPals package, buy water because we're out and don't have a filter, and get moving.

My get moving resolution: if I start, I'll find some energy. I drove out to the Back Bay. Most people were running, which I dislike doing but should, or biking. My bike needs to get back in commission, and since I'm free tomorrow, I should work on that. I just walked.

The sky was again somewhat overcast. This picture doesn't show the overcast skies...

Maybe you can tell the difference here. The sun came out at noon. I walked for an hour and some change and covered maybe 3+ miles. I'm a slow walker if there's no one else with me. :(

I headed home for white fish (pollock) ceviche I made last night. I had two mini bowls and my little cousin who never eats veggies got into it too!

Totally easy to make too. I just did it by sight:

• Pollack, cooked because I don't trust lime juice to cook it
• Lemons instead of lime because we have a lemon tree
• Diced onions
• Can of Trader Joe's tomatoes with chiles, drained
• Mini peppers from Costco because I have to use them up
• Avocados as garnish - did I mention we bought 20+ of them?!
• Salt & pepper

My mom "surprised" me with my birthday present. By surprise I mean, I bought it for her. Since my water bottle is MIA/in the backseat of an Austin car, I got a new one. I could have asked my friend to send it to me, but the Kor Vida water bottle was a little small? Or at least it felt like it. The bottle was actually 25+ oz whereas this LifeFactory bottle is 22 oz. My Sigg, which I used for 2 years, held 34 oz! No wonder I'm not used to these smaller ones.

So far, here are the important points.

• Glass and aluminum > plastic of any sort, plus Camelbaks would hurt my teeth and Nalgenes don't fit into my cupholder
• Sigg is the biggest. Size matters!
• Sigg's new formula makes it prone to denting.
• LifeFactory holds both hot and cold beverages.
• Kor and LifeFactory have wider mouths for easier cleaning, at least the ones I bought.
• Kor is designed locally (Fountain Valley, CA) but made in China. This was a big one for me. I was all about local until I found that last tidbit out. :/ P.S. Siggs are Swiss while LifeFactory is French (glass), Polish (cap), and American (sleeve).

I'm unsure about the glass, but I watched a video in which the LifeFactory bottle was dropped and rolled. It seemed to do okay. I'm sure it can break if you want it to though.

I took a nap since I woke up a few hours short of a good night's rest. When I woke up, I unwrapped a birthday present from my cousin: Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown.

I tried level 1. Thumbs down on it being only 30 minutes. I didn't really sweat. I did like the poses that targeted my lower back like her variation of camel. I had to drop to my knees with all the tricep pushups/chaturangas but so did her advanced person. 

I'm not a huge yogi, but I believe I'm more advanced than level 1. I'll try level 2 and get back to you. I know this won't be a substitute for a good, live yoga class.

No doubt you've heard of Jillian. If you've tried her DVDs, what's your favorite?
What's your favorite workout DVD?