Mr. Jay is awesome

No Transit Strike!!!!! Whoo hoo, last minute deal yesterday. I'm so incredibly relieved.

No incidents with beverages today, however I did poor a pack of sugar into the garbage...not on purpose. It's becoming quite obvious that I need a vacation.

Here's the skinny on my spaghetti squash dinner:

If you're unfamiliar with making spaghetti squash, I make it in the microwave. I cut the ends off by a bit and then slice it down the middle, scoop out the seeds and then place cut side down in a glass dish, put about 1cm of water in the bottom, then nuke it for 7 minutes. When done, be careful it's hot, I take a fork and scrap out the inside of the squash.

I always use Ragu plain pasta sauce as my base and then add stuff to it. So the other night I added one cooked cut up hamburger pattie, tomatoe, red onion, garlic chili sauce. I change it up each time I do it. I put the spaghetti squash in the sauce so that it's completely coated.

Watched Canada's Next Top Model, which will now be referred to as CNTP. I really like it, I think the girls are better than last year and Mr. Jay is an excellent host.

Totally looking forward to Pirate Masters tonight, I hope it's not stupid.

Not having a tv guide of any kind this week has been hard. I missed So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). However I heard on the radio that there's another episode tonight.

Mowed the jungle lawn and managed to avoid the aggressive mosquitos. Off rocks!

Tonight I really need to yoga and clean my house.

I've got my day planned point wise and nothing will distract me today!

Have a great day everybody!

Wild and Wooly Wednesday

I can already tell that today will be an interesting day.

Transit is having a one day strike on Friday, providing no deal is made before then. It doesn't start until 12:30pm so that's great for me. I can still get to work and I'll just walk home. It's roughly a 10k walk home, which will work well with training plans as well. They did talk until midnight last night and are talking again today. I'm thinking positive vibes of no strike.

This morning I went to put some ID Fat Free Hazelnut Creamer in my mug and I managed to drop it on the floor. The lid is broken so that was fun. I tend to just shrug my shoulders about that sort of thing as it's not worth getting worked up over something really silly. Then I went to put sugar in my coffee and I almost tossed the sugar and kept the top of the packet. Then I went to put a nestea single serving thing in my water and I put into my coffee instead...too funny! Ice tea flavoured coffee isn't quite right :) Alas everything is good now - coffee and water are as they should be.

Last night I made spaghetti squash and sauce, had enought left over to bring as lunch today. I'm also trying a new afternoon snack of an apple and 1 tbsp of peanut butter. I'm hoping that will kibbash the afternoon snack attack cravings.

On a totally different note, I've been nominated as the leader of the ergonomic committee for my workplace and it's getting very interesting. I didn't realize how high maintenance some of my co-workers are. Alas we'll get through it.

Activity for the night will be mowing the jungle lawn.

Have a great day everybody!

Yo Ho Ho

Just to be clear there was a lot of talking during those 3 days of yoga as well going over the history. We had longer savasanas which were lovely. The whole time we did Hatha yoga but I prefer this style but honestly haven't really tried the other types. I think I'm meant to stay away from hot yoga. According to ayurveda my dosha is Pitta, so I'm to avoid heat. Which is funny as I'm not fond of hot weather. Of course the last time I did anything with ayurveda was a long time ago so now I might be more Vata. I'll have to look into that.

I saw Pirates 3 last night and it was pretty good. I haven't seen 2 so some parts were a little confusing. It was long but make sure you stay for the end of the credits for a final scene. Thanks to Sarah at Living to Feel Good for mentioning that. I definitely recommend you see it. The scenery, costumes, make-up and special effects are phenomenal. I love Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow at his finest and Orlando Bloom looks mighty fine in this one.

I'm super excited about all the summer previews. My colleague is picking up a Transformer Mr. Potato Head for me. Optimash Prime....hee hee. I also want to see Ocean's 13, Fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver Surfer, Harry Potter and I'm sure there's more.

Not a lot to talk about today, but if something hits me I'll be back.

Have a groovy tuesday!

10 hrs of Yoga

Yes, between Fri and Sun I did 10 hrs of yoga which included one headstand, one handstand and one shoulderstand. I was wicked impressed with myself as I haven't done a headstand since elementary school. I was pretty scared too. They weren't pretty and not quite balanced, but hey I was upside down.

The Om store was closed on Thursday even though the door said open until 7pm and it was 5:20pm. Doesn't matter, found mat spray on the weekend and bought a second mat. I wound up on linoleum on the first two days and one mat does not offer a whole lot of cushyness. The second mat is a bit thicker and it's beautiful. Has natural stripes of purple, green and burgundy that flow into each other sort of - not distinct lines.

I loved this weekend. Kate Potter is amazing, inspiring, insightful and funny. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on her website for future opportunities to learn from her.

H and I made it to WI and I was down a pound...whoo hoo. It's been a while since I've seen a whole number. The stay was awesome, great hotel but after yoga we didn't do much. We were pretty exhausted. I can feel every single muscle.

It was good to come home and sleep in my own bed.

Tonight I might be seeing Pirates of the Carribean - At World's End. I just bought the 2nd one as I've never seen it. Oh well, I heard a review that said it's okay if you haven't seen the second one.

Transit and the city are talking today...again. Fingers are crossed there will be a settlement and no strike.

What else, we talked about Ayurveda over the weekend. I think I still have my training stuff from a bazillion years ago when Body Shop carried an Ayurveda line. I think we were before our time then.

I think that's it.

Please comment if you visit, I'd love to find you guys as well.

Namaste

Wednesday is the new Thursday

Today is my Thursday and I'm quite happy about that, but I realized yesterday I have loads of stuff to do before heading up to Edmonton.

I reclaimed all my stuff from my colleagues office as she returns tomorrow and I can hand her work back to her...yippee. She was using my foot stool as a laptop holder (don't ask), well I needed it back because after our ergonomics meeting yesterday it turns out I need it to have my thighs at a 90 degree angle therefore need a foot stool. I also need to lower my monitor and remember to sit back in my chair. I also took back my fan that she's had for 2 months, while she searches for another one. Enough with that, I will be a nice Canadian girl and look for one tonight at Walmart. I have to go there anyway.

I need to bake cookies tonight for a friday Birthday in my office, since I won't be here I have to do it tonight. I will cheat and use a pillsbury cookie dough or something but jazz it up. Like make cookie sandwiches with marshmellow filling or dip in chocolate. The bonus here is that I won't get to eat any and I'm cool with that.

I also want to zip over to a yoga shop called Om probably on Thursday. I want to check out their mats and see if they have mat spray. My mat is from Walmart and is pretty good but I wonder if there's something slightly more cushioning so I can use it for pilates too.

I also need to clean my house and make my pack list. I'm useless without a pack list, I always forget something and then wind up buying a duplicate.

Saturday weigh in will be a miracle of logistics as H and I have to weigh in and then zip off to yoga that starts at 9am. My plan is juice box and granola bar in the car on the way, as I never eat before weigh in.

Last night I took my poor friend A on a search for OPA souvlaki, I just googled them and saw an address near by...I found their head office. We went to Edo instead and I got the sukiyaki beef with less rice and more veg. I love the totally irritated look they give you when you ask for that.

Stepped on the scale this morning and I'm a pound down from yesterday...YES! That's the encouragement I need to finish off the week with good behaviour.

Did yoga last night and now that I'm on the 3rd Dvd the poses are getting harder. Warrior 3 and I don't get along at this point.

Lovely day of forecasted rain and potential snow (Yes, It's May).

I hope everyone has a groovy, healthy day!

So You Think You Can Dance

Is back! On Thursday in Canada on CTV, check your local listings. CTV is saying it's the second season but I think their wrong. I thought this was the third season. 8/7C on Fox Network, it says it's a 90min episode, with another 2hr episode on the following Wednesday.

Alas the true question, will there be another Benji?

Canada's Next Top Model starts on May 30th - Let's hope they find better contestants this year.

Tuesday pretending to be Monday

I'm not really fond of Monday holidays, I prefer Friday holidays. Don't get me wrong, a day off is a wonderful thing. I consider Monday to be dress rehearsal day, this is the day you get sorted for the week. When Monday becomes Tuesday I find I'm running behind.

Alas so far so good for a Monday, have a meeting I totally forgot about but that's no biggie. I have catching up to do, I've felt this way for two weeks now but today is the day! I have a super short week as I have Friday off. I'm heading out to a yoga retreat and I'm starting to feel a little stressed about that. Stressed in the first day of school sort of way. I've never done yoga with anybody, it's always been me and the tv. It will be good, I know that but I will still cram in some yoga to "practice".

A while back I bought an Ipod Shuffle (H if you're reading this, I had a good reason), I wanted to download the couch to 5K program and couldn't do it with my other MP3 player. I needed something in my ear saying run now, walk now as opposed to trying to remember a guideline that was on paper.

I just use the shuffle on walks as I like how I can clip it on. The bad part is I can't see what's playing, I wasn't sure if the pod cast had actually downloaded. On Thursday I did find the C25K but that day I really wanted to focus on a longer distance walk. I want to refind it so I can do it starting this week. I have 6 weeks until the Alberta Jeep Half Marathon and thus far my training has been erratic. I still had a strong base from Honolulu so I'm not worried about it but I need to get serious. I think including some learning to run will also serve as nice variety in training. It sometimes helps to run a bit during these races just to ease your hips.

I so need clothes it's not funny. I'm not crazy about clothes shopping for myself, love to do it with other people and be Stacey/Clinton for them. I used to like Old Navy but now find their quality has totally declined. Went to H&M on the weekend, can't say I was impressed but that's due more to it being totally picked over as it opened on the 10th.

Was super excited to see Sephora is going into Market Mall as well as Chinook Centre, so not good for my bank account but exciting anyways.

Hope everyone has a super Tuesday!

I've been tagged

Wow, Katie O listed me as one of her favourite blogs. Katie O - you just totally made my day :)

My challenge is to list 5 of mine.
This is hard, there are so many of you that inspire me and make me laugh.

Alright here it goes, not ranked in order.

1. Sonya at Goodbye, Belly...- Bravely blogging about being a new mom and focusing on being healthy
2.Katie-O at Sister Skinny -Super funny lady, totally enjoy the ranting on yoga poses and cake
3.The Glitterati at Brain Spam - Brilliant and funny friend, her writing just rocks and gives awesome reviews on beauty related products - I am a produck junkie.
4. Duenneschen at Durch Dick und Dunn (Through thick and thin) - I was so happy to find her as I'm also German, and the old country is all about food. She's an inspiration.
5. Snackiepoo at Snackie's Pudge Free World - Awesome writer plus funny and probably everyone knows about this one but make sure you check out Snackie TV - another great blog of hers about my other favourite thing in life - TV

The 5 above represent just a few of the 67 feeds I have on bloglines (and continuously adding as I find more inpsiring and funny people).

Hope everyone had a safe long weekend and here's to a short work week :)

The pressures of weight loss

First of all a shout out to my friend Duenneschen, I want to tell you my friend that as your friend I don't care if you gain or fall off the wagon. What's important to me is to know your happy and appreciate yourself for being yourself. Follow a plan or don't follow a plan. I think listening to yourself (as you said) is the best idea.

I think a key to this weightloss thing is not to compare yourself to anyone else. This isn't a race and how long it takes doesn't matter. What's important is learning the lessons of being healthy along the way. Developing better habits that can sustain us for the rest of our lives.

We all strive for perfection, whether it be an on food day, an abundance of activity or a loss on the scale. What is perfect? I think as humans we are flawed no matter what, I don't think that's a bad thing. Our flaws are what makes us human and different from each other. It's what gives us stories and inspiration, it gives us drive and appreciation.

When you feel alone in this battle, you're not. There are millions of us thinking the same thing everyday. Please listen to your head and your heart, not the 16 billion diet books. Find what works best for you and you alone. You don't need anyone's approval.

It breaks my heart to read of people who think themselves failures because the scale goes up. When my scale goes up I consider that life and it's up for that moment. The next hour or day is a whole different story. Heck if you're female that will fluctuate all the time thanks to hormones.

If the scale gives you grief, get rid of it. Nothing should torture you as you focus on being a healthier person. Use other measures - the fit of your clothes or measurements. The scales doesn't know all.

I don't know all your names or all of your stories, just what you want to post. I tell you this - I believe in every single one of you. You've been brave to share your challenges and victories with a world of other people. You have touched a chord with a mulitude of other people who've taken this challenge of weight loss on. You are inspiration whether your up or down.

Take a break if you need to, we'll be here when you come back.
If you need a kick in the ass, we'll be here.
If you need an encouraging word, we'll be here.
If you need someone to jump up and down on your success, we'll be here.
If you need to vent, we'll be here.

You are not alone.

Long Weekend!!!!!

So the day is off to an interesting start already.
Everyone got a seat on the bus - it will be quiet today
Had to explain an web address 6 times - testing patience
Had a candidate leave a job at an oil company because she doesn't want to make travel arrangements or arrange catering - Hello? Stupidity abounds.

I did a 5K walk last night and the Earth episode of Namaste yoga. I attempted the Lotus episode but can't for the life of me do a forward plank. For those who don't know, that's facing up as opposed to down and it's truly evil.

Wound up having Fibre One tortilla chips and salsa for dinner with a few slices of lean Montreal smoked beef. I had no get up and go. My walk was slower and I didn't feel like cooking whatsoever. Strangely the scale showed no change this morning...

Tonight is dinner out with H and J and I'm so looking forward to it. We're heading to a favourit pub and hoped for the patio but I think rain clouds are here. Doesn't matter, good company is what matters.

The plan for the weekend, providing it doesn't rain...yard work. I want to haul out my patio set.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and plays safe.

Whoo hoo - I did it

I stayed on plan yesterday, the whole day no exceptions. I'm so proud of myself, seriously. I've been close but no cigar for some time, so yesterday proved to me it can be done.

If your looking for an awesome yoga dvd, with an inpirational instructor and drop dead gorgeous scenery check out the Namaste Yoga series by Kate Potter (you can buy it here too). H just came back from a retreat where Kate taught and she is mega inspired and speaks very highly of her. I just know her as the voice on the dvd, but I'm seriously looking forward to seeing her in Edmonton at the end of May. I have the 3 DVD set which has 13 episodes (I think). They're 30min each so I combine two at a time for a longer workout.

I was craving pizza when I got home yesterday. So I made a flat out pizza with just spaghetti sauce and a little bbq sauce, and a smattering of part skim mozzarella. It was awesome!

My activity last night was mowing the lawn that was rapidly becoming jungle status. I head outside and notice dandelions on the front lawn, well I had to pull those out first, then I haul out the mower and mow the front lawn. Hmm, the lawn is pretty dry and it may or may not rain this weekend. So, I haul out the sprinkler. I use a soaker/long sprinkler that lays on the ground and it's 50m long. I don't like sprinklers that just toss water in the air. That's a bit of a production of unrolling it and making sure it's not twisted. Then I go to the backyard and realize I should mow that too, my back lawn is pretty big. Then of course I need to mow the bit of lawn that's outside the back fence. So a little over an hour later I was done. I didn't do yoga last night, I figured the sprinkler olympics was a form of yoga :)

I'm disappointed with ANTM last night. I think Jaslene is nice but I wouldn't have picked her. Evertime I see her I think of Janice Dickison. I don't know if I would have picked Natasha either. I wasn't a huge fan of Renee at the beginning but I think she posed really well. How sad that at 20 years old (the youngest of the three) she seemed "too old". This why sunscreen is important people.

I also came to the realization I need to start the self tan. I bought a St. Ives gradually self tanner based on recommendations I found on Beauty Addict - she does awesome reviews of products. I got the Firm and Glow one though. Based on today's entry I really want to try L'Oreal Sublime Glow Daily Moisturizer. I've been thinking about mystic tan, but not ready to take the leap just yet.

I think that's all the musings in my head for today.

Have a super Thursday everybody!

3-3 days till WI whahahahahahahah

Do you ever do this? A countdown in your head until your WI date, like I have 3 days to be perfect before I have to step on the scale. I had those thoughts in my head as I was tempted by the call of the patio.

Got a call from H in the afternoon, she was craving beef and a patio. After being at yoga retreat that was vegetarian only, I could understand the call of a burger. To top it off it was gorgeous yesterday so a patio was in order. She even said "I don't want to lead you astray", I knew what I was doing, so I thought. Plus it was great to see her and hear all about the retreat and the Vancouver Half.

Had to run an errand with A first and then thought "Duh" she should come too. So we headed down to the Hyatt and got a patio table at Sandstone's. The table next to us was having nachos so I ordered them. The first order got burned, the second order came out and we had been waiting for about 50min. By the end of the night there were nachos, half a burger and a few fries, a beer and a trio of custard dessert. The one good thing about shwanky places is that the desserts are tiny.

Alas by the time I got home I felt ill from my overabundance of eating. I actually said to H, in my best Count from Sesame Street voice - 3! 3 days until WI, whahahahahahaha!.

Of couse when I stepped on the scale this morning I was not happy, it's all self inflicted no one to blame but me. Today I have 20pt day planned to mitigate the damage and I'm going straight home after work to mow the lawn and do yoga. Thursday will be a repeat but walking instead of mowing. Friday is dinner out again but I'll be careful as WI is the next day. If dinner doesn't go to late, I may head out for a walk or squeeze in a last chance workout.

Summer is such an enigma. Great because you can get great fruits and veggies and head outside for workouts. The evil side is the call of the patio, barbeques and ice cream.

Have a great day everybody!

Dumb, dumb, dumb

I got home yesterday and headed out for a 6k walk, had a good pace and focused on moving as opposed to constantly looking at my Garmin to see how fast I'm going. I had a really good pace time when finished.
Then I had a ham bacon/tomatoe sandwich for supper, then a bit later I did the Dancing Moon and Earth yoga workout, which went really well.

I then settled in to watch the bachelor and decided to make the low fat brownie mix I had for afternoon snacks for work. Bad idea, brownies came out of the oven and of course I needed to try it. Well 6pts later I realized what I was doing. Alas I went over in points....again. When I come up with these baking plans I need to do it on the weekend where I immediately cut into portions and into the freezer. Last night, was late night snacking attack.

Yesterday was yesterday and today is a new day. Hey, I did earn 6 aps yesterday, tonight I'll earn a few as well mowing the lawn and yoga once again.

And the brownies - I purposely left them to dry up and be completely unedible.

Thanks so much to Glitterati and Sonya for their encouraging words yesterday - you guys rock!

Starting Over - Again

I was up 0.4 on Saturday and I know it was due to TOM but that doesn't explain that I'm back at 175 and have not made a whole lot of progress over the last few months. I had more activity points last week than I've had in a long time and it just frustrates me that my results didn't show thanks to water retention.

It seems like I've been in neutral, knowing what I should be doing but not exactly following through. Losing and gaining the same 4lbs over and over again. The .4 gain probably means there was a loss but still I didn't really take any comfort from that. So I bought a new tracker with one week remaining on the old one. I ripped out the sheet in my notebook where I track my weekly progress and started a new sheet. I'm starting with a clean slate.

I did yoga for 5 days in a row, I took Saturday off and resumed on Sunday and almost got the Dancing moon pose down. I'm trying that workout again tonight in hopes third time is the charm, I'm also heading out for a walk tonight to resume my training schedule.

It's like I got tired of following the plan, I know myself enough that I need to shake that off and renew focus or it will just get worse.

So I'm back to stickers on the calendar for every workout with a goal of having at least one sticker every day for walk, yoga or strength. This morning I tossed every snack that I had living in my desk. The only snacks that come to work will be the ones that are planned in my tracker.

I'm coming off of a good week so I'm proud of that. I just need to keep going. I know I'll see a loss this Saturday if I stay focused.

Had a great weekend not necessarily food wise but thank goodness for flexpoints. Saw my friend S on Saturday and met her incredibly adorable son. This boy will break hearts one day for sure.

Helped my friend A unload the first batch of her stuff that's moving from far North. We went to a fantastic place here in Calgary called the Ship and Anchor for supper. It's a staple of this city and has the most amazing hamburger called the Ship Burger. The only problem so far is she and I tend to go to not so WW friendly restaurants. Now that she's here we can come up with a better game plan, it helps that she's following WW too. The Ship Burger is totally worth the points though.

Monday's Menu:
Oatbran: 1
Brown Sugar 1tbsp: 1
Strawberries:1
Milk:2
Subtotal: 5/23

Starbucks Grande NF Cafe Mocha: 4
Subtotal: 9/23

Silhouette Yogurt:1
Chunky soup with added veg:3
Pear: 1
Subtotal: 14/23

Points remaining: 9

At this point I'm thinking of a Garden burger for supper, but not sure.

Have a super fantastic day everybody!

Friday, friday, friday

I have continued with the yoga, attempting the "dancing moon" yesterday. It's weird how you notice that you're getting better at some poses while still completely useless in other poses. I realize I need to work up to it so I'm embracing the challenge. I found awesome workout clothes at Walmart. For just under $11 I got super comfy capri workout pants. They're really light/moisture wicking fabric and stay put during downward dog. I need to get more as they'll be great for summer walks too.

Since I started this yoga stuff I have noticed that I sleep better.

Went for a 5k walk last night and did a very relaxed version of fartleks (quick burst of speed in small intervals). I didn't speed up my walk instead I did little jaunts of running from light post to light post sort of thing. I did it 4 times in the course of the walk. I find it easier to run than to super speed walk, something to do with the hips. I don't think I'll ever nor want to be a full scale runner but I might get into the walk/run thing.

I was up on the scale this morning which means water rentention is in full gear so today I will be attached to a water bottle all day.

The major road near my house is being torn up for some reason so buses and traffic in general are being re-routed for the next few days. This complicates getting around a bit for the next few days. Transit is supposed to decide today on the latest agreement. They were in negotiations with a mediator for a really long time yesterday. I'm really really hoping a strike can be avoided.

I'm totally addicted to my nintendo ds lite, I got a new game yesterday that involves running a bakery and baking cakes for people. How perfect I get to create great cakes and not be tempted to eat them :) . It's hysterical. I got younger on the Brain Age game, it's really neat how it actually does improve your brain power. It goes for muscles and the brain - if you don't use it - you lose it.

I hope everyone has a super fabulous weekend!

Yoga obsessed

Last night I did Sun/Moon and Firebird episodes. Firebird moved a whole lot faster than the previous episodes but I actually got the Hero-Cat-Upward Facing Dog - Downward Facing Dog - Swan - Firebird down. I'm starting to learn the poses so I just have to listen as opposed to staring at the tv in a contorted position. I'm actually looking forward to doing Firebird tonight and the first episode on the 2nd DVD. I ordered two books on Hatha yoga to get more information. I could feel all my muscles this morning, I wasn't super sore just aware of them. One of the books explains how each pose effects the muscles and what it's working. I'm really looking forward to improving my flexibility and core strength.

I also did a speedy 6K walk last night, but it's not walking sore I feel today. Tonight will just be yoga and then walking/yoga tomorrow. I seriously need to wash dishes plus hem a pair of pants and I might pop into Walmart on the way home to pick up some self tan. I'm feeling a little ghostly pale at the moment. Which means a bit of walk as I'll walk home from there.

Food did go a bit overboard yesterday but the activity sure helped as I stayed the same weight wise this morning.

Looking forward to ANTM tonight, it looks like Renee is ganging up on Natasha. I want Renee to get the boot so bad.

Wayne won?

I had a futile search of Sears on my quest to find trim paint. I need an oil based paint and Walmart just had latex which apparently wears off in a few years. Alas no luck, I'll have to foray elsewhere or just use exterior latex.

Did two episodes of Namaste yoga (I have the DVD). I did Ep.1 Exalted Warrior and Ep. 2 Sun Moon. My plan is to do two episodes a night, works out to be about 50min. I'm going to the instructor's (Kate Potter) seminar in Edmonton at the end of the month. It will be 3 days of yoga so I'm sort of trying to study. My two episode plan will go like this Mon: Ep 1 and 2, Tue: Ep 2 and 3, Wed: Ep 3 and 4....This way I repeat each workout so I get more familiar with it. I really enjoy this program and I find Kate's directions easy to follow and very soothing at the same time. According to my calculations I can complete all 3 dvds in two weeks. Of course the further you go along the more difficult it gets so I won't necessarily make it through all the dvds but I won't skip a workout I'll just backtrack until I get comfortable to move on.

Project Catwalk finale yesterday. I can't believe Wayne won. I thought Monica would win it, even though the blouses were hideous. I might google him later to see what happened after the show as we're a few months behind I think.

Purl Princess- I tried to comment on your site but I think I'm doing something wrong.

Today is a known in advance bad food day at work and I've planned accordingly. I have 16pts left for the day and a stand by of 2pt soup for supper. I'm also planning a good walk tonight and 50min of yoga. Gilmour Girls is on tonight but I think I'll tape and therefore get my workout in.

I did have a yummy flat out pizza last night for supper. I put the flat out in the oven for 5 min and then took it out and put a bit of ragu, tandoori chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, green onions and a bit of part skim mozzarella. It was fantastic, almost like a cracker crust.

Have a groovy day everybody!

The sun is shining!

The recap:

Friday- Saw Spiderman 3, didn't wind up having supper until 10pm so it was a bowl of Shreddies. The movie was not so good and I was disappointed, way too long and since when is Spiderman a musical..I won't go into more detail as not to spoil it for those who want to see it. I did love the black suit.

Saturday-My papa came in for a quick visit. I was up a pound at WI, not surprised since I did go out for dinner 3 times last week which also impacted workout time.

Sunday-Mowed the jungle lawn and it only took 3 tries to wake up the lawnmower. In the end I I did about 1.5 hrs of yard work. Took the bike for a brief spin around the backyard to see if I remembered how to ride. I've never had a mountain bike before and your body position is totally different from the ancient 10 speed. At first I thought my knees were coming too high after observing others I realize that's no the case. Then I hung out with my friend A and toured her new neighbourhood.

Used all of my flexpoints on the weekend which is fine. I have a good day planned and the activity tonight will be yoga. I need to hit Sears tonight to see if they have trim paint. I couldn't find suitable paint at Walmart, I did pick up two games for my nintendo (Tetris and Cooking Mama) and I got the Spiderman mr. potato head (Spuderman). He has now joined Darth Tater on top of my desk hutch along with the Sesame Street characters. Everyone's reaction thus far has been to smile so I think my mission is a success.

I want to see a two pound loss at the end of this week and this also the week of snack a palooza. What this means for me is get activity in everyday and make it fun so I'll actually do it. I must also surround myself with healthy snacks and plan my meals. The other very important factor will be water, since this is the week of water retention, I must be diligent. To keep me on track I'm going to post my menus.

The Menu for Monday:

Oatbran - 1

1tbsp Brown Sugar - 1

Milk - 2

A few strawberries - 0

Spaghetti Squash with Ragu and a bit of light cream cheese - 4

Yogurt - 1

FF and Sugar Free Vanilla Latte - 3

13/23 so 10pts left for supper

For supper I'm thinking about a flat out pizza with some sundried tomatoe chicken that I picked up at superstore. I also bought the tandoori one.

Season Finale of Project Catwalk is on Life channel tonight...looking forward to it.

Have a super Monday everybody!

May the 4th be with you

Saw that line on a post this morning and it made me laugh, also this morning my colleague informed me there were new star wars magnets on the Lego site. The force is with me.

Last night went for dinner with H, wound up buying small stuffed Sesame Street characters (Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Cookie Monster and Grover - old school) that were on sale at a card store, they'll be coming to work and sit on my desk. I'm turning my office into a playschool, far side calendar pages on the wall, Darth Tater, Magic 8 ball and then the Sesame Street Gang. Really I'm creating a happy place.

Also went to the Body Shop and stocked up on a few things.

Today at lunch we have team building...sigh...I'm not fond of most forms of team building. I think the best thing to do is get together and do something non competitive outside of the office. They're feeding us and I think it's sandwiches. I brought an apple and yogurt with me so I'll only have a sandwich (I'll pick the healthiest option).

Transit has voted to strike, so I need to plan a trip to MEC to get prepared to commute by bike. Who knows, maybe I'll like it. Plus transit may strike a deal with the city and there might not be a strike. We must wait and see.

Not sure how WI will go, with my crazy schedule this week. I was up a bit this morning but that was to be expected with dinner out yesterday. I'll definitely be focusing on water today. Tonight's activity will be cleaning my house for Dad's visit tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Totally Random Musings

On the bus today a girl sat beside me who had her ipod so loud that I could hear her music and not mine. So I took mine off and listened to hers, it was loud from where I was sitting. She was probably in her mid twenties, and will be deaf by thirty. I'm always super conscious of how loud my mp3 is, I choose to listen to it not the people around me. I did enjoy her playlist though, it was a bit of Pussycat Dolls and Ozzy.

It's been a crazy week food wise, as I went out to dinner 3 times. Two times were at Boston Pizza (I rarely go there). Wednesday night I ordered some sort of Smokey mtn pasta. It was huge! Ate a little less than 1/2 of it, this was dinner at 9:30pm so 9hrs between meals. I brought the leftovers, divided in two for lunch today and tomorrow. Tonight it's probably Milestone's but I love the Vegetarian Thai Noodle Salad so the damage isn't too bad. Activity was good at the start of the week. Wednesday got derailed because I was out looking at condos with my friend until 9:30pm, it was fun and I think my friend has fallen in love with a place. This condo looks like your walking up to the Banff Springs Hotel, it's surrounded by trees and like a 10min drive from the core.

It's majorly raining right now and the sky is darkish which makes me want to nap...or snack. Instead I'll drink water.

My toaster oven (above) arrived from Air Miles and it's pretty. Far more complicated than any other toaster oven I've ever dealt with. I'll love this especially in summer when you don't want to fire up the big oven.

Bought a nintendo ds lite because I wanted the Brain Age game. I scored an age 47 for my brain so 12 years older than my current age. I think it's getting complacent. Even during my course I felt renewed mental energy of doing something different than just the day in and day out of my job. I used to read a lot but sort of fell out of that pattern with what seems like not enough time. Well with the new Harry Potter coming out soon I'll soon be back in the habit :) This brain age thing is quite fun too, it actually keeps a graph of your progress. My mission to have a brain age of 20.

20% off of everything today at The Body Shop if you have a club card.

H is off to Vancouver for the half marathon - You Go Girl! I'll miss ya while your gone.

Yard work season begins

I did clean out my flower beds yesterday and it looks way better than the sad carnage of dead plants that was there before. The perennials are showing green and the peonies are starting to sprout out of the ground. Even the rhubarb in my backyard which I tend to ignore is coming up (this year I'll definitely have to use the rhubarb). Isn't spring grand?

As I was putting gardening stuff away in the shed I started to put together a mental list of all that should be done. I definitely need to rake, I'm pretty good about the front lawn but this spring/summer I need to give some love to my back lawn. I need to paint the inside of the fence as outside was painted last summer. I think I'll do that on the weekend of the 11/12th. I need to trim the rebellious raspberry bushes and trees. I've always sort of avoided the back lawn and now realize I need to approach it in sections as not to overwhealm myself. Gee, sounds similar to my weightloss plan.

I dropped in at Walmart yesterday to pick up lawnmower oil and guess at a new filter and I noticed all the neat garden stuff. I don't mean plants I mean decorations. I would like to create a bit of a backyard oasis. It's been pretty neglected with the exception of mowing so it will take some hard work on my part (it's a big backyard) but there will be a sense of accomplishment and probably some muscle work as well.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to change the filter on the lawnmower. I really need to mow the front lawn tonight as rain is forecasted for the next few days and over the weekend, and I don't want to deal with jungle lawn by the end of next week. Filter will have to wait for all knowledgeable Dad, who is coming in town this weekend. This way if he breaks it then he can buy me a new lawnmower...I have a plan. However, neighbours will be treated to the puff of whatever stuff comes out of the lawnmower when you fire it up.

Those darn Diamond Shreddies commercials have got me. I haven't actually seen any of the commercials in their entirety but I've seen bill boards and that got me thinking of Shreddies. So I also picked up a box of those last night. Really those ads are ingenious.

Have a great day everybody!