guten morgan

first things first:

sara: what kind of treatment are you using on your hair? i've tried the "ultra swim" shampoos, but i really don't like them - they make my hair feel funny.

and...

shirls asked if i was not running due to sciatic pain. the answer is yes! the sciatica is most definitely a result of running. i can pinpoint the exact run that made it happen, or sent it over the edge if you will. i agree that movement helps, which is why i'm swimming and doing "fun" workout videos that are low-impact. but i can't run (yet) because it might put me back at square one with the pain. and there really is no way i could run with the pain... i could barely walk... or limp. :( but the good news is, it's already feeling much better - although not gone for sure. i have an appointment next week to get my x-ray results, and i'm hoping that my doctor will recommend going to a chiropractor or something.

the move last night went well. the apartment is on the third floor above a store. the stairs are so narrow and steep. i didn't lift anything heavy because there were some strong men there... phewf. mainly i just guarded the van so shadies wouldn't steal anything out of it. :)

today i am taking oliver (my chat) to the vet. he is having an issue with his soft paws which i won't get into but needs to be looked at. poor little guy. i don't think he is in any pain though because he is acting like his normal crazy self: jumping on everything, playing with everything, cuddling and head-butting everything (my face). but it's good to have things looked at.

after i write this post i am going swimming. i think i will try to swim every other day. i really enjoy swimming while i'm doing it, but i hate getting into the pool initially. and being cold and wet. i was a swimming teacher for years and years and have horrible memories of teaching four hour shifts in the water, twice daily (in the summer)... pruney and freezing. but for the greater good (fitness) i'll do it.

moving in and santa cruz

not much is going on. last night i met up with a girlfriend for drinks. it was fun because we had so much catching up to do. this morning i decided not to go swimming because my hair is beginning to feel like straw. i need a haircut really badly anyway but i'm waiting because i might decide to change my hair style and want to grow my bangs out more just to have that option. instead i did a 50-minute fat burning windsor pilates video and the additional 10-minute sculpting video, which was not very intense.

i am making a point of NOT wearing my heart rate monitor until i can run again. i'm positive i am not working out as hard as before, and that's fine, i just don't want to see the actual number and become unmotivated. once i tried my HRM on my mom's tony gazelle and it was pathetic. hardly a workout at all.

tonight my boyfriend is moving into his new pad - moving some stuff anyway, so i am going over to help. very exciting!

and even more exciting... more vacation stuff. this time - santa cruz! santa cruz is the perfect family vacation spot because of the oceanfront amusement park boardwalk - the oldest one in california. it's also where the movie "lost boys" was filmed. we also took surfing lessons which was so much fun. it was hard to stand up but i caught a few waves. here i am on the wharf pier - there were sea lions at the bottom barking and swimming:


here i am with a giant bird (pelican?):


here is a sea lion below:

boring weekend

wow, what a boring weekend! except for the olympics of course. did anyone else see Michael Phelps win his first gold? i am not american but i found myself cheering for him anyway. what a great story... raised by a single mom... now the best swimmer in the world, etc. i love swimming and used to teach which is probably why i'm so into it. i also like to watch gymnastics.

it was raining for most of the weekend. and really nothing was going on. just hanging out. saturday i watched tv (sports) all day, and fell asleep TWICE on the couch. how boring! i don't like doing that at all. there were plans to go to this greek festival here in toronto, called taste of the danforth, but it was pouring rain ALL day. i am not into standing outside eating souvlaki on a stick in the rain, that's for sure.

i did get in some ab work and a swim on saturday. i tried to swim on friday, but as soon as i dunked my head in the pool, the condo maintenance people said i had to get out so they could clean the pool. so i showered and stuff and didn't want to re-wet later and then have to go through all the hair-doing motions again.

my sciatic pain is feeling A LOT better, although i am still limping a little bit and am not going to try any strenuous activity until i'm positive nothing will happen. does anyone have any good low-impact exercises i can try. i have been swimming, and doing one or two (lame) exercise videos at home. i can't really do pilates or anything that involves rolling or too much floor work at the moment. any suggestions? i'd say walking is a bit too high-impact at this point as well.

today in my inbox i got an email from women's health that detailed some workouts female olympic athlete's are doing. here it is... very cool.

SF

first things first - today is friday, my weigh-in day, and i am 121.6 pounds. that is 2.6 less than tuesday, and probably not a "loss" but a better idea of how much i actually gained while on vacation. so really not that bad, although not good considering i can't really exercise. i am going to try swimming again this morning.

my doctor told me to take advil liquigels for the pain. but then my dad was going on and on about how tylenol is for pain and advil is an anti-inflammatory and that's not what i need at all. he has had sciatic pain before and says he knows what he's talking about. i don't know. i took advil my whole vacation and i was far from being pain-free. i just took some tylenol now and am hoping it will let me swim like a normal fish.

yesterday i went to see "the dark knight" with my boyfriend. he actually wants to see mama mia too, but only because he really loves abba. who doesn't? the dark knight was good - action packed, yada yada yada. batman's voice was really breathy and weird though. not the actual voice, but his choice of word timing. and there was too much he's a hero, you're a hero, i'm not a hero, it's you mumbo jumbo going on. and my boyfriend thought maggie gyllenhaal was the worst heroine ever. i like her, but i was more familiar with her from previous movies.

ok and now some vacation stuff:

we left toronto early sunday morning and arrived in SF pretty early (3 hours back) around 11:30 a.m. i had figured out how to take the transit from the airport to the city, and when we poked our heads out of the ground it was ghetto-central - the mission district. lots of homeless crackheads. someone tried to sell us an i-pod nano on the sly within the first five minutes. i realize not all of SF is like this - this is just the first impression.

also it's freezing! i was not expecting california to be so chilly. i knew it was not going to be hot like the south, but it was a bone-chilling, damp cold. we checked into our hotel which was alright but the smallest room i have ever been in (we had to stack our suitcases on top of each other on the floor because there was no room to put them side by side). we were really tired but didn't want to snooze the day away, so we got coffees at this nice place called "cafe trieste" and walked to haight and ashbury, a popular spot for hippies in the 60s.

SF is very, very hilly. normally this wouldn't bother me expect i was already limping and could hardly walk. i preferred to walk uphill because the hills were SO steep, walking downhill put too much pressure on my leg. do i sound like an old man yet? anyway, we saw a man with elf ears... yes, elf ears, and regular clothes, just walking down the street. and then this scene:

out of nowhere these people dressed like this were setting up a bubble wrap slide down the hill, rolling down it, and blowing bubbles at each other while they did it. hehehe. here i am laughing about it:

haight and ashbury was fun but uneventful. later that night (after a nap) we went looking for dinner and finally found a thai place that was open. it's surprising to me how early things closed. then we went to a bar called zeitgeist. i can't believe it's sunny in this photo. our drinks were soooo strong. we asked for two whiskey and diets and 1) they didn't have diet coke... 2) it didn't matter because our pint glasses were filled with 3/4 whiskey and 1/4 coke. it was the strongest drink of my life. i drank half of it and was really tipsy. that's about it for SF! (we went back there at the end of the trip, so i'll have more to say about it later.) happy weekend. :)

where the sky meets the sea

 

i haven't really sorted through the photos yet, but here is a nice one. it's somewhere on the road between san francisco and santa cruz. it doesn't look like a real photo because the ocean and beach shouldn't connect like that... i'm actually standing on the edge of a giant cliff (scary). it was so windy but beautiful. this is the just after we drove away from the san francisco fog and gloom. it was so weird how the division between fog and sun was so drastic and obvious. i got these purple pants in san francisco... love them!

yesterday i tried swimming but my leg was really hurting so i had to stop. my mom wants me to visit a chiropractor and i am seriously considering it. my boyfriend and i cleaned his apartment pretty much all afternoon - until about 7. i did the whole bathroom and under the stove elements. we might go back today... i'd rather just get it over with. he is so excited about it and so am i because it's in my old neighbourhood which i miss a lot. it's a bustling area... people are always out doing things on the street.

so i have the choice to see two movies. 1) mama mia and 2) the dark knight. what should i choose?

even with no exercise, my weight is going back down. thank you fibre :) i hate not being able to do hard core exercise. maybe this injury is my body's way of saying it was too much. when i feel better again i will definitely ease into something. being hardcore was fun while it lasted.

i also wanted to mention that the egg on oatmeal was totally delicious. people eat eggs on toast - toast is a grain like oatmeal... what's the difference? it wasn't flavoured or instant oatmeal people - i am not crazy! ;o)

sleep in

i finally slept in today (until 11) and it feels good. actually i still feel a bit "out of it" but i'm sure that will pass.

yesterday i had a pretty relaxing day after my interview. i just hung around, caught up on blogs, watched "the last kiss" while i ate dinner (and after) and cleaned the grout between half of my kitchen tiles. yes, only half... it's a big job with all of that scrubbing. it involves vim which i ran out of, and a brush with super hard bristles. and lots of rinsing because vim residue is gross and chalky and surely not good for humans or animals. i can't believe how good one side of the kitchen looks now. vacation one week - kitchen grout the next... the joys of life. i am going to finish the kitchen and do the bathroom... why not? although not today.

today i am meeting my boyfriend at his new apartment and we are going to clean it since it's empty. more cleaning? wah wah wee wah! the good news is he is bringing my camera so i will finally have pictures to show! :o)

yesterday i tried my new pilates video, the 50-minute fat burning part. it is more like aerobics to jamaican drum beats with some pilates at the end. i had to do the modified moves (for seniors and people with bum pain) but it was still alright. today i am going swimming, and i better get moving if i am going to get the cleaning party on time.

yesterday for dinner i made oatmeal with a runny sunny side up egg on it. i was inspired by something i saw on Kath Eats. here is the recipe:

1/2 cup dry oats
1 egg
1 string cheese
hot sauce (to taste)
1 T fat free sour cream

make the oats as normal. while they are cooking, cut the string cheese into tiny pieces. i like to peel it into four pieces, then chop with a knife. when the oats are almost done, make the egg and leave the yoke runny (unless you are opposed to this). serve the egg on the oats (in a bowl), sprinkle the cheese and top with sour cream and hot sauce.

oh... hello :)

i'm back from vacation. it feels great to be back. i got in yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m. (3:30 california time) and we took a cab to my bf's house, slept until 4 p.m., then i went to my parent's house to get my cat, drove back to the city, did all my laundry, and prepped for...

the job interview (yep another one) i had this morning at 9 a.m. i am really being thrust back into life :) it went ok (i think) so now it's just the waiting game.

my trip was awesome. it was not a "relaxing" vacation by any means, but it was amazing. california is a beautiful, beautiful place... just breathtaking. people are lucky to live there. although there was an earthquake in LA one day before i got there... that's not so lucky (for LA residents... not for me).

i forgot my camera in my boyfriend's bag, so i can't upload any photos until tomorrow night or thursday. i will save the details of the trip until i can post pics to go with it. however i will say this:

favourite city by far: laguna beach (heaven on earth)

least favourite city: san francisco

fun memorable moments:

• putting my hands in marilyn monroe's handprints at the chinese theatre in hollywood
• surfing in santa cruz
• driving through big sur (where the sky meets the sea...) scary scary driving!

i am happy to be back not living out of a suitcase anymore. and i am craving vegetables like nothing else! i wasn't going to weigh myself until friday but thought i might as well. i gained about 5 pounds - now i am 124.2. not a number i like but could be much worse.

in other news, on my trip my sciatic pain was out of control. i could hardly get out of bed (although i did obviously... and surfed... which did not help the problem!) and i couldn't walk like a normal person. my x-rays should be at the doctor's but she is away this week. i have not been running now for 2 weeks and 2 days... the horror!