faster than i thought

i really slept horribly last night. it was SO WINDY outside and all i heard was crazy winds, things bumping around, smashing, crashing... loud loud loud. eventually i turned on this loud fan i have, put in earplugs and put on an eye mask to try and drown everything out. it sort of worked but it was a rude rude awakening this morning.

for some reason my bum pain is really bad today. so bad that i'm walking with a limp again. :( i hate limping! each step is painful. there really isn't anything i can do about it either, except not move too fast or make any sudden movements. maybe later i will sit on a heating pad.

i went for a 40-minute swim this morning and timed myself. i used to do 120 lengths in 40 minutes... but now it only takes me 31 minutes! this is good news and bad news. good because i'm getting faster and improving, but bad because the lazy side of me has to do more work. it's weird, the more fit you become or the more weight you lose, the harder you have to work to keep the same momentum going. activities become easier and you have to be consciously aware of pushing yourself harder and harder. so i did 150 lengths today. it wasn't that bad after i realized i still had time left. 150 lengths of my pool is about 2250 metres or 2 and a bit km. that's pretty far for swimming. if i'm averaging 20 minutes per kilometre that's amazing... i'm surprising myself!

a long time ago i ordered windsor pilates not realizing that (in the fine print) they'd be sending me two more videos a month for the rest of my life and charging me for them. i don't need more than a few videos - thank you very much! last month i sent the package back with a tracking number, but the "recipient" has asked that the item stay on hold at the postal facility. what is up with that? scam! anyway i phoned the head office today and got it sorted out. note to self: do more pilates and read the fine print.

today i am taking care of business. i have to go to my new job and pick up some reading materials, and do things around the house like wash my sheets, do laundry, and get my cat ready to stay with my dad while i am in winnipeg.

f f f friiiidaaayyyyy

bonjour - it's friday! i have today off as well - lucky i know. first things first, head on over to diary of a real girl to see my guest post on her fashion friday segment. thanks again for asking me - i had fun writing it!

this morning i got up, did 20 minutes of hatha yoga (very relaxing), ate breakfast and then went downstairs for a 40-minute swim. lately when i swim and do front crawl, or freestyle as some people like to call it, i've been trying to breathe on every third stroke, instead of every second. this means that i have to do it on my left side too, which is a little awkward. i'm hoping that with practice it will become more natural. i want my movements to be as even as possible since i'm doing them so much.

i am meeting a girlfriend for lunch at an indian/nepalese restaurant. i can't wait. it's right near my boyfriend's apartment so i am going to walk there, and then just go over to his place after. i love indian/thai/spicy/ethnic food but not many of my friends do so i never get to go and it's very sad.

here are two recipes that i'm really digging lately. they can be eaten any time of day.

1) open-faced spicy avocado egg toast.

ingredients:
1 slice whole-wheat bread, toasted
1/4 cup liquid egg whites
1/4 big avocado or 1/3 smaller one
hot sauce

directions: toast the bread. measure out the egg whites and microwave in a small ice cream bowl for 48 seconds. that is how long it takes on my microwave to make a nice patty that isn't dried out. while this is happening, mash the avocado. spread it on the toast. scoop the egg white patty out of the bowl and place on the avocado toast. sprinkle with hot sauce - mine is chili lime flavoured. delicious!

2) vanilla yogurt grapes

ingredients:
0% plain yogurt - as much as you want - i usually go for 1/2 cup
sweetener - like splenda or whatever
vanilla - about 1 teaspoon
grapes
milk - skim or almond or soy, whatever, maybe 1/2 cup or less if you want a thick yogurt

directions: get out a big mug. it's more fun to eat this from a mug. plop in the yogurt, milk, vanilla, sweetener to taste. stir until it becomes a liquid. drop in as many grapes as you want. i like to fill it up so all the grapes are covered in the yogurt liquid. enjoy the yogurty grapes with a spoon. this tastes like a dessert but is very nutritious.

happy weekend!

big news

big news today, big big news! but first, exercise update. i didn't do yoga last night before my date. instead i walked to my boyfriend's apartment which is 2.5 miles away. while i was walking, i listened to one of jillian michael's radio show podcasts - it made the time fly by. this time i learned that if you are focusing on your flaws, you'll never be happy. if your body is pretty much the way you want it except for a bit of stomach flab (hello, are you talking to me?) than you need to take a step back and look at the whole picture and how lucky you are.

today is going to be a big exercise day, since i don't have to work. i am going to walk home from my bf's (2.5 miles), stopping at the library along the way. a book i ordered is in, fit from within: 101 simple secrets to change your body and your life--starting today and lasting forever by victoria moran. i found the book on kath eats's recommended reading page. she said it was a book that really helped her develop healthy eating habits. should be a good read.

after my walk, i am going to do some yoga at home, AND go for a swim. why not? i am looking forward to an afternoon swim. normally i'm creeping into the pool one toe at a time, shuddering at the chilly wetness, early in the morning when i'd prefer to be in my bed. i like having more than enough time to do things. maybe i'll bring a book and read in the hot tub after, or sit in the steamroom and have those hot steams drops plopping on my head.

so big news, big big news! my first awesome, excellent, fantastic, thrilling piece of news is that i have a new job! AND i really think it's the perfect job for me - not only super fun but challenging too. this is the start of something really great for me, i just know it! i know i'm leaving you in suspense here - i'll tell you what the job is if you ask me on facebook or by email. i don't want to associate this blog with that company, just to stay on the safe side. better to keep it separate, since that's a business and this blog is just me blah blah blahing. it starts in a couple of weeks! big success!

the second groovy piece of news is that next week i am going on a mini-vacation with my mom and sister... to... are you ready? winnipeg! hooray! we are leaving on wednesday and coming back monday. my mom's sister and her kids and her kids' kids all live there - one of whom i've never even met yet. my mom and sister go all the time but since i am a working girl i never could get the time away, until now of course. on friday until saturday or sunday we are driving to michigan to watch another cousin of mine play hockey in some sort of big-time university playoffs. i think it's going to be really cold. i would really love to meet any bloggers from winnipeg but i'm not sure if there will be time since we are going to the states - i will figure out exactly where i'll be in winnipeg today and post the postal code or something tomorrow - if anyone is really close that would be really rad!

p.s. sorry i turned so many people off oranges, hehehe. it was really sick, although i've never seen that before and don't expect to again. although... once when i was a kid i was baking with my mom and she got so excited when she cracked open an egg and out popped two yolks. twins! my mom said, "look closely, you'll never see that again!" and then the next egg had two yolks as well. wah wah wahhhhhh.

orange you glad you didn't eat it?

let me start by saying i knew talking about pet store pets would open a can of worms. hmmm fitting.

i forgot to tell you about this horrible, horrible thing that happened to me on saturday.

my boyfriend and i have the same saturday morning routine. sleep in, and then he'll listen to reggae music and cook breakfast while i go and exercise. it used to be running, now it's swimming. he always makes the same breakfast too: chicken bacon, egg omelet made with 3 eggs and whites, and toast, sometimes fruit too. can you tell we like routines?

anyway, last saturday i decided that we should split an orange as part of our breakfast. yum yum citrus goodness. it is hard and takes forever to peel but i do it. then i split it in half and jump back when i see a dark spot appear in the centre of the orange. what could it be? i recoil and drop the orange onto the counter. my boyfriend asks, "what are you screeching about?" as i cautiously take a step toward the orange. i touch it gently, opening it slowly... and...

INSIDE IS A GIANT MAGGOT EATING MY ORANGE!

the horror, the horror! all of the dark stuff inside was its poop. the end. wasn't that a pleasant story? sick! once at an outdoor music festival i bit into a peach and a little worm popped out... eeeeeewwwwww.

that's all i've got. another 40 minutes swimming this morning. i need to get some yoga in! tonight maybe (date night) and tomorrow for sure.

mallrat

this morning for breakfast i tried another luna sunrise bar, this time in vanilla almond. it was good, but not as good as the strawberry. i don't like eating bars all the time like this either, but they are great for eating on the road.

last night i went for a three-mile treadmill walk. it was alright but only because i had some good magazines to read. my bum pain has been acting up a little lately. WHY ME? WHHHHYYYYYYYYY? i guess i just have to accept it. it's no where near as bad as it was so i'm just going to suck it up.

this morning i went for a 40-minute swim. i really debated waiting until tonight but tonight i just want to relax and clean up a little, take care of some business, watch the biggest loser and get to bed early. for the last two weeks in a row i have taped the biggest loser, intending to watch it later and then i never do. instead of catching up on four hours of tv i'm just going to count my losses and start on from this week. i just don't like watching tv that much. well, sometimes i do (more on that tomorrow). if i am not excited about a show then it can be really painful. tv should be enjoyable, not something you feel you have to get through. that's lame.

so last night after work i hit up the mall. oh, the mall. the one great thing about working in the burbs is all of the great suburban mall action. so spacious, so many stores... no one pushing you and crowding you... hardly any lining up for change rooms.

i bought some new boots on aldoshoes.com but they were the wrong size. i am between sizes (8.5) and they didn't have any 9's online so i ordered the 8. too small! i brought them to the dufferin mall downtown and they didn't have any 9's either, but they put a pair on hold for me at sherway gardens. by the way, cinemarie, i did check out the GNR while i was there and saw the luna sunrise bars - thanks! i picked up the right size and they are awesome! check them out... so rock n roll.


after boot exchanging, i wanted to find a simple t-shirt for business purposes. a nice bright colour to go under a blazer. i knew i could find a shirt like this at smart set or H & M but those stores weren't in the mall! bah! i went to the GAP hoping they had plain t-shirts - they did, but they were all v-necked and i only want a round neck. come on, people! i will have to go back out tonight. i did get a scarf at the GAP. it's thin and more for fashion than warmth.

i also went to the pet store to look at the puppies. i don't know how i feel about pet store pets. my cat oliver is from the humane society, but when i was growing up my family bought a bichon frise puppy from a pet store in the mall. these puppies need homes too, and there were so many cutiepies. if i were to ever get a dog, i would buy one from a breeder or the humane society, but that doesn't mean i can't appreciate the supreme cuteness of puppies in the pet store. like this chow puppy! (blackberry photo hehe)

going places

good morning. monday again... back at it. my weekend was good. i went to a few parties, did a little shopping, some sleeping, same old same old. on saturday night i was the designated driver - it was weird not to be partying along with my friends but i really didn't mind it at all. and i learned a few things about myself: a) as a sober person, i don't have too much patience for drunkies, or rather, i notice the silly/stupid things they say and do and b) i didn't have that sad, weekend is over, withdrawal feeling that i usually have on sundays. very interesting. monday was still a jolt but not so bad.

exercise this weekend was good. on saturday i went for a 40-minute swim, and sunday a three mile walk on the treadmill, playing with the incline. three miles is the perfect amount for treadmill walking. it takes quite a while (anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, depending on speed), it feels like a workout, but it's not boring. i love reading books and magazines while walking on the treadmill.

on sunday i traded in my telus nokia phone (clunker) for a blackberry pearl. ooh la la. my boyfriend is with bell and his contract was up so we went to the bell store. he got a blackberry and then the sales guy offered me a deal i just couldn't refuse. way cheaper than my telus plan, and they are paying for me to cancel out of my telus contract. did you know you can use any song as your blackberry ringtone? at first i had "this boy" by franz ferdinand, but it's loud at the beginning and i was scared every time my phone rang, so i switched it to "will you still love me tomorrow?" by the shirelles. i love oldies and this one is so pleasant.

this morning i put on my bathing suit for a swim and then changed my mind at the last minute because i was really pushing the clock. perhaps i will go tonight, or maybe another walk on the treadmill. or the elliptical. oh, the possibilities are endless. i had a luna sunrise bar for breakfast - the strawberry crumble flavour. it was delicious, very sweet though, and contained a good amount of protein and fibre. i bought it in the united states a few weeks ago and maybe i should have gotten more. has anyone seen these in canada?

yoga

a few of you have left me questions in the comments about the yoga i'm doing. all the yoga i do is from yogadownload.com. you can pay for longer classes, but a lot of the 20-minute sessions are free, and that's what i'm doing right now until i can build up to longer sessions.

when you download a class, you get an audio version for your mp3 player, as well as a PDF with all of the poses that you can print out and refer to during your yoga time. i keep my printouts right beside my mat.

these downloads are really great. i think i came into them with an advantage because i've taken a real yoga class before, and have a good idea about the poses. i was lucky because no one else signed up for the class, so i had private yoga sessions for eight weeks. sometimes it's hard to see exactly what's happening in a pose - like where you should put your shoulders and hips in relation to your arms and legs. i would probably suggest taking one beginner drop-in yoga class in your area just to get a feel for it, and then go nuts. you don't want to hurt yourself by doing something crazy that your body isn't meant to do.

also, when you are browsing the site, it's smart and really necessary to be aware of the level of the class. some are for beginners and others are for more intermediate/advanced students. the more advanced classes are quite difficult and if you do them right away, you will be in serious pain the next day. with more practice, little things like balancing and being able to shift from pose to pose with more ease and grace becomes much easier.

finally, i leave you with one of my favourite clips from the OC. i had such a university crush on seth cohen. so nerdy and cute. this scene always made me laugh.