oh canada, our home and native land

happy canada day everyone! i am going to a bbq later but first a nice run outside. i already put on sunscreen - i am just waiting for my ipod to charge. i do have 2 other mp3 players but one doesn't have an arm band OR a pants hook thingie, and the other has a sporty armband and is giving me a weird arm band tan. i will wear it if i have to but prefer not to. yes, i am that vain! ;)

sad or what?

i came to work today even though i had planned to take a vacation day. why? nothing to do. is that sad or what? my boyfriend went home yesterday and is coming back to the city tonight and i could have spent the day at home, hanging around, but it's not really that nice outside (not sunny) and i hate sitting around all day watching tv. that is so boring. now having tomorrow off will feel like a special treat. i am going to a canada day bbq... mmmm... bbqs. that reminds me i will have to pick up food and booze and stuff tonight.

speaking of booze, yesterday i made beer bread. it is soooo easy. here is the recipe:

3 cups flour
3 t sugar
3 t baking powder
1 t basil
12 oz warm beer

i used 2 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. i was going to make it all with splenda and whole wheat flour, but i didn't want it to taste gross. not that it necessarily would have, but you know. i used zywiec beer, because my boyfriend is polish and i liked the people dancing on the bottle.


anyway it's so easy to make. you just mix the dry ingredients, then incorporate the beer until just mixed. then you plop it into a prepared bread pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350°F. prepared bread pan means that you grease it/spray it with cooking spray, and then sprinkle it with rough cornmeal (i used whole wheat flour and it was fine) to avoid the sticking. see? easy! the bread it more cake-like than the bread you would purchase in the supermarket.

on saturday it was raining so i went down to the condo gym for a quick workout. i did 20 minutes running, arm weights, 10 minutes running, then decided that was enough for me thank you very much. yesterday i took a rest day. this morning i went back to the gym and did 15 minutes running, arm weights, 15 minutes biking, more arm weights, 10 more minutes running, and situps. the biking was so hard. i was really pushing it for 1 minute (trying to get a rpm of 100 on level 10) and then slowing a bit for 2 minutes (rpm of 85 at level 10). when i got off the bike my legs were like jello.

in other news, i've been really into making spicy hummus wraps lately. i use a whole grain tortilla (about 170 calories), 2 T spicy hummus, cut up about 1/4 yellow pepper, sprinkle some shredded carrots, peel a string cheese, and add baby spinch - then wrap it up and enjoy. it's filling and healthy and sooooooo spicy! it is still substantial because of the tortilla and the hummus, but feels light because of the veggies.

in more other news, i got this book at the bookstore yesterday:

lonely planet coastal california... *sigh of happiness*

guess what?

it's friday! and not just any friday. the beginning of summer hours (which means i leave work at 1pm) and a four day weekend that starts tomorrow. can you believe that tuesday is the actual holiday and some people have to work on monday? i feel sorry for people who aren't allowed to take monday as a vacation day. suckers.

friday is weigh-in day and i am 118 pounds which is up 0.2 from last week which is nothing so a stay the same. congratulations to me. i feel good about it, although last night before bed i was a bit hungry and pushed it aside. yesterday i was talking to my bff who is also a long time weight watcher and i was saying that i never want to feel too full again. i hate hate HATE that feeling. she agreed. she said, she would rather feel ravenously hungry than too full and i agree.

this morning i ran 4 miles around town and i'm happy i did it (when it was over) but i probably should have taken a rest day. but i was already up (mental alarm) so why not put that time to good use? this afternoon i am going shopping. i have a bunch of things to return to h & m... also i need some sort of summer foot ware. i can't wear my keds every day. why not? because i am 27 not thirteen :) my feet are a little gross (from running, not from warts and other unsightly foot problems) but i don't care.

tomorrow morning i am heading to my hometown because my family is burying my uncle who passed away in february. my mom's side of the family is different in that we don't "do" funerals. we attend them of course, but don't have them for ourselves. what's the point? (don't answer that haha... rhetorical.) to each their own. anyway, we are burying his ashes with my grandparents so that's saturday. on tuesday i am going to a canada day bbq which should be fun... and yummy.

and for kicks, here is a friday five of things that make me happy today:

1) i through out the rest of the cake last night. i licked the icing once but i threw it out.

2) i love q-tipping after a shower. it feels really good!

3) that i woke up to a clean condo (it wasn't magic, i did it all last night)

4) berries (this morning was cherries, blackberries, and raspberries... except now i have none left.)

5) my cutie pie oliver :) yes he has blue nails. they are softpaws... for people who are against declawing but also against having scratched, ragged furniture.

feels like friday

but it's only thursday. starting this week my work has been doing "summer hours" which sounds like a nice idea because on friday you get to go home at 1pm (sweet) but you have to make up the time on the other days which makes for some pretty long, tedious days.

last night was sewing class. trust me people, i am not a good sewer although i am improving and practice is the only thing i can do. last week we didn't do any sewing and this week i was expected to serge my fabric and i forgot how to thread the machine. not the serger, whoever can thread that crazy machine is a genius, but the regular machine. i felt like such a dumb dora. but it turned out okay. i serged around the edges of all my fabric and by the end felt very confident about my serging and then i made darts in the top of the dress, which is basically sewing triangles into the fabric so that it fits around your body. like the pleats on a pant, although who wears pleated pants i don't know!

this morning i ran 3 x 10 minutes at the gym, and did arm weights and sit-ups in between. short but good workout.

i am reading this book about running. "the real woman's guide to running," by liz yelling. it's alright. it talks about how to get started running (if you don't run), and how to go longer and faster if you already run. i like that it is all geared to women. it talks about what you need for summer and winter running, what to eat, what to expect... there are event training programs for 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon and marathon races, for beginners, and for seasoned runners.


i am also reading "remember me?" by sophie kinsella, author of those shopaholic books. i love reading chick lit, especially in the summer. :)


speaking of summer, it seems that this summer i am obsessed with fruit. it's nature's candy and it's sooooo good. i love it all (except melons... bleh). today i am eating raspberries, blackberries, cherries (with my breakfast), a banana and a peach with my lunch, and an apple for a snack. mmmmm fruit.

blah blah blah

last night was my book club. you can see the book in the posting below. this book was awesome! it was about this young man in the 1920s (i think) who joins the circus. it is very exciting and descriptive... the idea of a traveling circus is really interesting to me. our next book is the 1966 classic "valley of the dolls" and i'm really looking forward to reading it.

last night after my book club i came home and ate leftover birthday cake. why? i don't know. i should just throw it out. i didn't get home until 11:30 (late!) and i hadn't been home all day long, because i had to finish the book in time for the meeting. i had two glasses of wine at the restaurant and maybe that's why i thought the cake was such a good idea. 1) it didn't even taste that good (but i can recall it tasting amazing at the party) and 2) it make me feel too full and like a giant tub of blob which is not a good feeling either. i am going to commit this feeling to memory and the next time i want something like leftover cake, try and remember how it didn't really do it for me.

today is another long day because it's my sewing class after work until 9pm. when will the madness end? just kidding. i don't mind but my apartment is très sale. thankfully i do not care (yet) because i am not having any parties this weekend :). and i can clean tomorrow. or friday. or whenever. who cares? not me.

today i got up and went for a quick 4-mile run. i didn't wear my hrm, but when i do wear it, i assume it's accurate. i mean, why wouldn't it be? the heart rate goes up when i go up hills or work harder, so i assume it's giving me the correct calorie burn (p.o.m.) but maybe it isn't. i guess it's not a bad thing to be burning more calories than i think i am, right? i've heard that people burn roughly 100 calories per mile, but i do have really low blood pressure. does that matter? and you know, to assume makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me." i know, i'm so funny...

i think my body hates extreme amounts of sugar! blah blah blah...

only tuesday?

ack, it's only tuesday. last night after work i was going to head down to the gym but then i thought the skies were clearing up so i planned a new running route through high park. so off i go, and it begins rain rain raining on my head, but i keep going. sometimes running in the rain is hardcore, other times it is crazy. this might have been a crazy time. so i make it to the park, and am run run running, and enjoying the nature, and it sort of stops raining, and smells great by the way, so i'm having a good time. until i reach this massive hill. there were a lot of runners on this hill running it up... i guess it's a good workout spot. so i make it up the hill and feel great about myself and keep going. then there is this big hill going down! running downhill is not my idea of fun... it's too hard on the knees. but i make it down and then... an even bigger hill going up. people, this hill was so steep that if i stood up straight i would have fallen backwards, arms flailing whoaoaoaoaoaoa! (like that.) but i made it up. from start to finish, i was gone for an hour and 45 minutes, burned 630 calories, and ran almost 8 miles. that is a lot! i was soooooo tired by the end.

my boyfriend had to stay at work late so he stayed over and brought us burritos. i figured since i burned so many calories i could pretty much eat whatever i wanted. i was just saying the other day that we never eat burritos together (and i never eat them alone haha) so he wanted to try them out. i wasn't that impressed. anyway i think it was poisoned because after eating it i passed out on the couch and had to be dragged to bed.

so the summer challenge is over. i wanted to run 15 miles per week and try a new vegetable each week as well. a few weeks in i realized that trying a new vegetable each week was not my idea of fun, so i switched it up to a new food. here are the results of my weeks:

week 1 food: bok choy
week 1 running: 15/15 miles
week 2 food: eggplant
week 2 running: 15/15
week 3 food: red lentils
week 3 running: 19/15
week 4 food: quinoa
week 4 running: 19/15
week 5 food: wheatberries
week 5 running: 19/15
week 6 food: homemade pad thai
week 6 running: 21/15
week 7 food: nutritional yeast
week 7 running: 25.5/15
week 8 food: protein powder
week 8 running: 19/15

overall i am mostly impressed with the running. at the beginning of the challenge, it was difficult to run 15 miles per week, but as you can see, as the weeks passed, it became easier and easier. overall i ran a total of 152.5 miles and averaged 19 miles per week. it is about 100 miles from toronto to buffalo, new york, so i could have run there and halfway back. :o)

in other news, this morning i did 30 minutes of running on the treadmill in 15, 10, and 5 minute segments, as well as some arm weights. there was this girl who took the only set of 5-pound dumbbells on the treadmill while she walked, which annoyed me a little. most of the time she would rest the bells (still holding on to them) on the handlebar! seriously.... a) walking with weights in your hands is not good for you and b) gym equipment hog! oink oink oink!

tonight is my book club and i haven't finished the book yet. i will try to get as much done as i can at lunch and after work. we are reading "water for elephants" by sarah gruen and it's awesome. it's about the circus!

late post today

i didn't exercise this morning because i am all partied out. i'm going to do something tonight... probably a few 10 minute runs on the treadmill with weights and sit-ups in between. i can hear thunder out the window right now so an outside run is probably out of the question.

my party on saturday was a great success. probably the best party i've ever had. i woke up around ten thirty on saturday and cleaned up for a bit, then went on an awesome 5-mile run while my boyfriend made us breakfast. i spent the whole day cooking and cleaning and he went shopping for last-minute additions. we ran out to pick up the cake from one of my good friends who so nicely made it, and stopped at mcdonald's for dinner. i know... you are thinking... mcdonald's? seriously. i have nothing against fast food really. it's ok every once in a while if you usually avoid it. i had a hamburger with no mayo and small fries. yummy.

i made so much food for the party: crackers and cheese, chips, popcorn, cookies, egg salad sandwiches, deli chicken sandwiches, pb and j sandwiches, a veggie platter, bowls of nuts, hershey kisses, mike and ike's, m & m's, fuzzy peaches, meatballs with honey garlic sauce, jello shooters, a vodka punch, fortune cookies... the list goes on and on. surprisingly people ate 90% of all the food which makes me happy.

here is a photo of one spread:


here is a photo of the cake... the fire alarm just went off!


and here is a photo of my orange and black outfit... check the shoes :)


i think you can click on the photos to make them bigger. this morning after i left school i stopped at this cute coffee shop and tried a vegan chocolate chip cookie. i have never had vegan baking before (that i was aware of) and it was really delicious....