HOORAY

i had such a fun time at the blogger saturday dinner meet-up last weekend! it was "so fab" to meet you all - i have to say, everyone was so good looking in person (more so than pictures i mean) ... such awesome clothes, shiny hair, nice jewelry, smiling faces, etc. i have a pic or two to post but haven't uploaded anything yet ... busy weekend!

on friday night i made a terrible-for-your-health, excellent-for-your-taste buds hockey dinner. lackluster chicken wings from a frozen pack (which were too spicy even though they were medium - i am over chicken wings ... bleh ... would not purchase at home again), veggies and pc blue menu pretzel waffles with fat free sour cream french onion dip (made from a powder pack plus 1 cup of the sour cream), and the star of the show, steak quesadillas. i seasoned some flat steak-like beef with a bit of italian seasoning and salt/pepper, quickly pan fried it (no oil, just PAM), then cut it up into little strips. meanwhile i chopped some red onion and grated some monterey jack cheese. i used big tomato basil flavoured tortilla shells, brushed one side with olive oil (oil side down), layered cheese, onions, steak, a bit more cheese and then another tortilla on top (with more brushed oil). i let my bf brush the oil on so he could feel "helpful" ha! i made two and they were SO GOOD - better than any quesadilla i've had in a restaurant. i ate too much but the penguins won so it's all good. the best thing about the whole experience is that now i can spell quesadilla without doing a google search.

on saturday i went for a 6-mile run, and then my bf and i rode our bikes to his house, stopping in a park to play catch with this velcro ball game i have. instead of a baseball glove you have this velcro circle attached to your hand. easy catching! it was so beautiful outside and there was a big street/rummage sale in the park. so much fun!

on sunday there was a street festival right outside my bf's apartment so we walked up and down the street a few times. i didn't buy anything from the vendors but there was the usual corn on the cob, yams, bbq'd meat, ice creams,etc. i did, however, go to cobs bread bakery to buy a fresh loaf of bread. i got the cape seed bread which according to the salesgirl (who was so nice, helpful and informative) is their healthiest loaf. it is made with: Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Sesame Seeds, Whole Flaxseed, Sunflower Seeds, Poppy Seed, Country Grain Mix: [Sesame Seed, Sunflower Seed, Oat Flakes, Flax Seed, Millet, Barley Flakes, Rye Flakes], Wheat Gluten, Yeast, Salt, Malt Flour, Wheat Flour, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Enzymes (Amylase), Calcium Carbonate, L-cysteine. some of those things at the end sound questionable but what can you do - better than a kick in the pants. the bread has seeds on the inside and out, is high fibre and low GI, and is made with NO OIL and NO SUGAR. score. it's so good too. yummy yum yum

this week is going to be CRAZY! here is my schedule:

monday: 2.5 year a versary (not doing anything though because it's monday and we both need time to take care of our own business)
tuesday: no doubt concert
wednesday: photo shoot all day, my actual birthday
thursday: nothing
friday: bf's end of year staff party (have to bring a food dish)
saturday: birthday party
sunday: father's day

now, i tend to get stressed about planning. everything must be perfect. perfect dammit! today i am going to dollarama (party supplies) and i will clean/declutter my abode after work. i want to go for a run as well.

tuesday

it's tuesday or, as my bf says, almost the weekend. it's a good attitude.

last night i did not go swimming as planned. i went running instead! i didn't go for 5 miles but i did 4.3 or something like that and it was awesome. i went later in the evening and it was brisk. i was a bit worried that i wouldn't be able to get to sleep right away but trust me, that wasn't a problem. i am going to swim today instead. i have less time anyway because of my rehearsal, so it makes sense.

while i was running, i noticed that many MANY people were walking along, probably home from work eating chips or cheetos out of a small bag. WTF! Is this really something that people do? maybe it's just me, but I prefer to eat in a pleasant environment where i can truly enjoy my food. sitting in front of the tv or computer for example, if i'm alone. i don't like standing and eating, or walking and eating, and eating on public transit is just gross for many reasons. eating in your car is ok, but it's kind of mindless. it just kind of struck me dumb. no matter how hungry i was, i would never NEVER buy a bag of chips from the convenient store and munch them down while i was walking home. wow. i'm talking at least ten people. enough for me to notice. a homeless woman also tried to squeegee me, but that's another story.

i saw these awesome sneakers at stylesense and i want them so bad but they aren't in my size. yesterday i trekked all over the GTA in my car to find them with no avail. i called first but store policy is not to do shoe checks over the phone. store policy is the armpits, if you ask me. they are coach shoes and normally i'm not into name brands (i just don't care about them) but they are so cute and comfortable, and not bulky in that teenage-skater-running-shoe way.

thanks to the people who have recently been coming out of the woodwork in my comments. what does that even mean anyway ... coming out of the woodwork? how does something come out of woodwork? and what woodwork? anyway, it's nice to know when people are reading. it makes me want to share more. except it makes me sad when i click on your profile and nothing is there, or your blog is private and i can't read it. i want to know you too. let me in dammit!

coming home today

today i'm flying home. i love flying. it's so much fun for me. i especially love the liftoff and the touchdown. i should probably take on more risky hobbies. a friend of mine said that if you are caught in a weird air pocket mid-flight, created by other planes passing by really fast and taking up airspace, your plane can drop out of the sky for 3-4 seconds. well, not out of the sky, but off of it's scheduled track for a moment. she said it feels like minutes even though it's just a few seconds. has that ever happened to you? i think i'd like to avoid that!

this week is pretty exciting. it's march break for my boyfriend, who is a teacher, and i start my NEW JOB on wednesday! i am really looking forward to it. i have the right combination of anticipation and nerves. i've been out of work/working part-time at the law office for so long that i forget what it's like to have a regular routine. i LOVE routines. but some things are going to have to change of course. i've already started to think about it. i start pretty early, at 8:00am, and have a 1/2 hour commute, so i can't workout in the morning anymore unless i go to bed really early which will never happen, so i'm going to have to schedule exercise for after work. i think there is a gym in my office - that would be convenient!

i'm also going to have to post a) in the evenings or b) pre-plan my posts the night before which probably won't happen. and i'm going to have to cut down on blog reading since i'll only be doing it in the evenings. i've already cut a bunch of blogs out of my google reader. not any personal blogs, mostly food blogs i found were a chore to read. the really good food blogs (kath eats, eat live run, carrots n' cake) are absolutely amazing and i can't give those up. love them!

baloney man

last night i went to costco to pick up a few things. a big container of woolite which i haven't been able to find in regular stores lately, a combo pack of larabars, a big box of 100-calorie packs of ritz and cheese nibs, and a box of 12 individual microwave packs of edamame.

i wanted to try the woolite because my clothes are constantly fading and it's driving me crazy. and i kept seeing those television ads with stacy from what not to wear. marketing works on me obviously.

normally i am against 100-cal packs because usually they are grossly overpriced and have no nutrition value whatsoever, but the ritz and cheese nibs called to me. so salty and delicious and sometimes cheesy. how many people do you know that can stop at the suggested serving size of delicious salty ritz? how many crackers is that anyway? three? not enough.

the edamame is such a great idea and very useful. i can bring these packs to work and not worry about having to pre-cook them at home. the only bizarre (and annoying) thing is that each "bowl" is 1.5 servings, and the nutritional information on the box is for 1 serving. outrageous! it's irritating when companies do this. are they just not thinking, or are they trying to make their products seem healthier than they are? like those breakfast cookies at second cup - two servings per cookie. no one eats 1/2 a cookie. also outrageous!

in other news, i recently stumbled across this new funny blog the grandly spectacular and fantastically phenomenal fad diet experiment. this guy is going to spend the next 18 weeks trying 14 different fad diets for one week at a time, with a day off between each diet. it kind of annoys me that he's listed weight watchers as a "fad," but other than that it's very amusing to me and i'm pretty interested to see what happens to him. i'm not too concerned about the danger of this experiment - he's a grown man and can do what he wants!

and finally, this morning i tried the yoga booty ballet series dvd that i took out from the library. this dvd had two discs: goddess booty (25 minutes) and yoga core (30 minutes). the goddess booty workout was tough! my bum was really aching and i had to stop several times. does anyone have an extra pillow for me to sit on? at the beginning of this workout i was not into it, but by the end i came around. the yoga core workout wasn't really for me. i'd say these moves would be very difficult, if not impossible for beginners, and i've had much better core workouts from windsor pilates, and from the carmen electra fit to strip dvd. a few times during this video i felt dizzy and lightheaded... not good. the women in the video are alright, although they are VERY into the meditation-we-are-all-one-with-the-universe mumbo jumbo. sometimes i like it and sometimes it seems like a baloney sandwich.

unlucky day?

so - what did everyone think of the antm finale? i won't mention who won because i hate spoiley sarahs, and i remember during the biggest loser reading on blogs who got voted off before i watched my tape and it was a real bummer. i will say, that i was surprised, but not disappointed, because i wasn't thrilled with the top three anyway. i don't care who wins these shows... reality tv, biggest loser, antm. i like to watch the process of it all, but find the finale episodes boring and painful. just say who won already, ya know? i actually liked katarzyna but she got the boot a few weeks ago.

last night for dinner i made a simple red lentil curry. i love curries and i love the idea of meatless meals. i like meat as next as the much guy (next as the much guy? did i just write that?) but i don't really like cooking with meat and i don't miss it when it isn't there. i got the recipe from jenna at eat live run. that second link is to the recipe. her food blog is really great—check it out.

here is the recipe, which i doubled to make one portion for dinner and one leftover portion for lunch today:

1/4 cup dry red lentils

1 cup water (or veggie broth)

about 2 tbsp diced yellow onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp curry powder

dash of salt

1/4 tsp tumeric

combine everything in a small saucepan. boil then reduce heat and simmer. cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes til’ the lentils are soft and mushy. serve. i served mine on a bed of 1 cup brown long grain rice. yummy. and i also had a scoop of plain yogurt on the side. and a spinach salad too.

today is unlucky for me. i went running (4 miles) and i'm having this weird bum pain. it's like in the bone part of my bum that connects to my back. hard to explain. then i came back to my building and my pass card wouldn't work so i couldn't get into the building. wtf. i took it to the concierge and he said sometimes they break and there is nothing you can do. they are only covered by warranty if there are no scratches or marks. well, it's a giant white rectangle card that is attached to my keys and thrown into my purse, so of course there are scratches. i had the option of buying a new card for $50 or a smaller gray circle pass thing for $75. i chose the more expensive option because it's more convenient than that annoying large card. THEN i went to unlock my bike and realized that i forgot my wallet on my desk (i needed to use a cheque), and had to go up and get it. *grumble grumble* and then this afternoon i have to go to the dentist! it's like one blow after another! POW! bum pain. BAM! pass card. WHAM! dentist. haha i'm exaggerating... it's not so bad.

for breakfast today i made a weird concoction of cinnamon spice oatmeal, pumpkin, egg whites, splenda, shreddies, cinnamon, nutmug, baking powder, and a splash of unsweetened almond breeze. i still have to heat it up and eat it.

for lunch is 1 cup brown rice with 1 serving of red lentil curry and 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. dinner - maybe a spinach salad with chicken on the george foreman. tonight i'm going to clean up and get ready for the weekend. the LONG weekend.... yabba dabba do!

a lot to do

well, i'm back at work. hooray! am feigning sarcasm or what? maybe. i'm actually happy to be back at this work because at least here i get to sit in a nice chair instead of being a skilled labourer (painter) all the live long day. i am almost done painting, so no pictures yet. i want it to look somewhat decent before i take any shots. i have one more coat of green to do in the bedroom, and touch ups of course. and i made the mistake of painting part of the kitchen yellow, which really should be grey like the living and dining room. i changed colours at a corner, and it looks really tacky, and it's going to bother me until i fix it, so i'll finish everything tonight.

i have so much to do at work it's crazy. my immediate boss is away on business for more than a week, so i have to pick up that slack as well as get caught up on the stuff i missed during my three days off. all i really want to do is leisurely go through my emails and catch up on blogs, haha. hopefully i can read some at lunchtime today.

yesterday i went for a five-mile run. i am really digging these five-mile runs outside. it's great because even if you want to stop, you are still so far away from home that you might as well keep going haha. i got caught in the rain halfway through. i sort of didn't like it but it sort of made me feel super hardcore - like "so what nature! take that!" haha. anyway...

this morning i woke up early and did four miles (walking) on the treadmill and four miles on the stationary bike. i much prefer working out in the mornings.

today i'm eating:

lemon source yogurt, the dessert kind (1)

regular instant oatmeal with added flax and all bran (3)
1 cup frozen berries (0.5)
(4.5)

pc blue menu microwave dinner - shrimp whole wheat pasta something or other (5)
raw carrots and baby tomatoes with hummus (1)
(10.5)

another source yogurt (1)
3 little almond biscotti (2)
(13.5)

dinner:
green beans (0)
veggie burger (4)
salad (3)
(20.5)

maybe something else too. :)