Light Bulb Moment

Hello my friends,

Today I have the day off which turned out to be very good. My boss took those of us who were working yesterday out for drinks at 3:30pm. I had brought my gym bag with me as I absolutely intended to go to the gym after work. Alas time passed, drinks multiplied and it was 9pm. Thankfully I stuck to diet coke and vodka, so that's 2pts a drink. However I had 6 of them. Yes I shocked myself so today is completely focused on cleansing. Lower point day, copious amounts of water and heavy on the fruit and veg. However I did not feel the effects this morning and woke up at 7:45am feeling fine, which I think is due to sticking to one type of drink. That was super generous of her as we started with 10 people and there were 4 left at 9pm.

I stepped on the scale this morning and I was lighter than yesterday...weird.

I am going to the gym today however and will be after work tomorrow as well. What better way to start off my New Year's than doing something healthy. I'm staying home and having a movie night for New Year's and I decided to make it a WW healthy event rather than an excuse to go crazy. I did the crazy for Christmas and now it's done. So I'm planning turkey tacos in lettuce wraps as my main course, saw this neat recipe in Clean Eating magazine for whole wheat wanton wrappers filled with grapes and something else not sure what but that could be a nice appetizer. For dessert low fat pudding and cool whip.

I was originally planning to go shopping today as a little Christmas shopping for me and then I realized the things I want would make excellent goal rewards instead. This was my light bulb moment. If I want these things I'll have to work for them.

So the makeup train case from Sephora and the travel yoga mat from Lululemon will have to wait. I'm undecided on weight goals I'm thinking 10lb increments for these two things as they're not cheap maybe even a bit higher. Then maybe an OPI nail polish for 5lbs or something like that.

Have any of you tried goal rewards? What works for you and what do you covet?

I'm off to catch up on all your blogs - Hugs!

Merry Christmas!

I spent Christmas by myself this year (Please no sympathy, I enjoyed it). Though I did feel compelled to lie when people asked me about my Christmas plans. People would start with "Are you visiting family over Christmas?" and when I said no a look of horror crossed their face as they said "You're not spending it alone are you?". I immediately responded with "Oh no, I'll be spending time with friends". I didn't want to get into the whole reassurance that I was fine on my own. As an only child, being alone has never bothered me nor frightened me. I'm quite comforted by the fact that I'm o.k with it. People will spend the holidays in all sorts of situations like being surrounded by loved ones, surrounded by the tolerated loved ones or alone. I spent Christmas with someone I love - me.

My traditional trip to my Dad's was called off due to weather and timing so instead I intend to rest and come up with some goals until I go back to work on the 29th. I'm taking the 30th off to do a little Christmas shopping for me.

I find myself doing a lot of reflection lately perhaps it's the timing of the end of the year. I feel bad about falling off the wagon of the biggest loser challenge. I had a life intervention but I'm so proud of the group and their successes. 

This year was a bit topsy turvy especially over the last few months. I honestly believe many many things happened for the best. Especially the new job, though being unemployed is stressful I wound up in a fantastic place. I've had difficulty getting a schedule for workouts and a plan for food in place but I think I've got that figured out now that my travel schedule will be a bit more consistent.

I've now gotten to know a few of new co-workers and one day about a month ago I went for a glass of wine with a few one day after work. Over conversation they asked if I was married and I said no I'm single. They told me I looked settled. Settled? What does that mean? Comfortable, easy going or could it be frumpy? They then began suggesting a makeover at MAC and a new hair cut (though I had just had a new hair cut). 

Hmm...I wasn't insulted but rather found the whole conversation quite funny because I consider myself  a work in progress.

I think the priority is for me to work on the inside before I work on the outside. First of all I need to get this whole weight loss thing sorted from a mental perspective. I need to understand what causes me to go wrong. I need to make exercise a priority even if it takes me 2.5 hours to get home. I've certainly not been happy with the scale going in the wrong direction but I also know the only person responsible for that is myself. I do know I can talk the talk of weight loss but now I must walk the walk.

I think I get too big with goals and need to make them more smaller and more realistic. A challenge but doable, you know what I mean?

Even thought the world seems to swirling right now with the economy and the weather, I hope you take a minute to appreciate what you do have and know that you can control your own destiny even when it doesn't feel like you can.

Believe

Shocking! Two posts in one week.

Someone sent me an ecard from Hallmark to my work email today and the computer freaked out when I went to open it. Sadly that really means the end of blogging at work. Not that I've had time to do such things.

Today I tried to go through all of the jobs that recently became my responsibility. I'm not sure when the last time they were checked for new resume submissions but I go through 3 postings because each had 50 resumes I had to read through.

Which makes me say this: People I know that looking for a job is hard, but please there is fine line between wishful thinking and there's no way in heck your qualified for this position. I.E. Starbucks is not 5 years of progressively more challenging Administrative experience. Sometimes I've got to bring out the tough love. 

Christmas shopping is done, thank you Amazon and your email gift certificates. I don't think of it as selling out. I think of it as highly practical. No waste from gift wrap and they get what they want. Tada!

I found myself thinking I can't wait to get back to the gym today, by the time regular hours resume all the New Year's resolution people will be there. As I was waiting in line at Walmart the other day I was reading all the January magazine covers and it seemed 98% of them mentioned weight loss. Some things never change.

I'm going through tv withdrawal as the normal shows I watch are all pre-empted by Christmas specials. Sadly a whole chunk of them have been cancelled i.e. Pushing Daisies (I'm heart broken) and I was getting into My Own Worst Enemy. Lipstick Jungle is hanging by a thread.

I can't stand medical or cop shows, for that kind of drama I watch the news. But alas new show will come. How about Biggest Loser starting up again on Jan 6th. I love it practically back to back seasons.

I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and a incredible 2009.

Be blessed :)

Where is the damn chinook?

I fully admit that I am currently a winter wimp and it has more or less turned me into a hermit. I'm so bundled up when I'm outside that most people wouldn't recognize me and when I get home I stay there.

We're a bit spoiled in Calgary as usually in the midst of winter we get a warm air mass that warms things up in between the bitterly cold. Every time they've forecasted one a winter storm swoops in and kills it. 

I haven't been to the gym since I started the new job at first because I had to adjust to the new hours now it's because once I'm on a bus home I'm not getting off.

Transit has been interesting. I can take a multitude of buses home from downtown but for the past week I've been working in the south. So that requires 2 buses and a train. The bus that goes to that location has a mysterious schedule so one never really knows when it's coming. Going there not so bad, coming home not so good. 

For three days in row I got downtown to a sea of people at the bus stop apparently they all needed the 101 and seven 104 buses had gone by. Luckily for me I could take either but boy did I feel sorry for the 104 bus drivers as people were accosting them about the location of the 101.

Gosh darn it Christmas brings out the best in everyone....

Speaking of Christmas, I've done nada in terms of shopping. It looks like it's gift cards for everyone.

On the weight loss front I've steadily maintained. Good I guess, but no where I want to be. I have not been organized with planning meals so I'm hoping it's a bit slower between now and New Years so I can put some plans into place. Starting Monday I'm bringing lunch and I'll make it the night before.

Normally I don't believe in New Year's resolutions but since I'll finally be able to breathe during this time I need to come up a list of reasonable goals. Even if they're ridiculously simple it's a start in commitment. 

I hope all of you are well and I'll take a stab at reading my bloglines which must be overloaded right now.

Hugs!

Brrr and busy!

Winter has finally hit my fair city, today high of -23C (Winchill -36) and we had a snow storm hit yesterday that resulted in approximately 25cm of snow, that's almost a foot. 

Yesterday when the full storm hit we were sent home at 2:30pm, I got home at 5:00pm. I was working at a location not downtown. So I had to take two buses and a train. The first bus and train were fine, but when I hit downtown there must have been 60 people waiting at the bus stop. So I went to another bus stop and hopped on the first one that I knew would get me relatively close to home. I must have taken 45min to move 3 blocks. Oh well, we really can't complain as it's December 13th and this our first taste of winter.

I was in Fort Mac on Tuesday and they had -25 for the past week, while at home in Calgary it was +2. 

On the WW online front I've been crappy at tracking this week and saw a .7 gain. It's my own fault, I feel like I'm racing around all the time and not planning well that's for sure. This week I vow to track everyday and get my water in (that's been hard too). Can I say I was pretty happy this morning knowing my weigh in was at home and not having to bundle out into the -36 windchill.

My workload tripled this week and I'm not complaining I love to be busy. There were a whack of meetings that left me a little short of time. I'm not sure where I'm working this Monday, it's either downtown or site (150km outside of Fort McMurray) so that would mean an early wake up call and off to the plane. So far I'm not confirmed on the flight so if I don't hear from my boss by tomorrow (we're waiting on another person) I'm working downtown. The rest of the week will be in the SE location. If I could move the SE building to downtown my world would be perfect. Yesterday they gave me my own phone and gave me a tour of the building and took me to office services where I literally shopped for office supplies. Downtown I have to order from the Grand&Toy catalogue and hope the person who places the order okays what I'm asking for.

I'm bringing lunch next week for 4/5 days and will have a water bottle on my person at all times. I still haven't figured out how to hit the gym with my crazy schedule but I think that's how it will be on crazy weeks we'll have to figure things out at home and on regular weeks (which will happen) we hit the gym.

I seriously need to catch up on all your blogs as I haven't had a chance and I must write a paper this weekend. After the paper no school until the end of January.

Oh yeah, that test I wrote in October. I got 66%, 4% shy of moving on to the next test so I'll be re-writing that in May. I admit I didn't prepare well for the first writing so I feel pretty good about 66%, I know if I try a little harder I'll make it to the next round.

Sorry for the long post but I think it's going to be a once a week posting for awhile.

Hugs!!!!

You are brilliant!

WW Online...why didn't I think of that? 

It's not that I have a beef with the program, I know it works. I did consider doing something different as a change, the thing that bugs me about other programs is their restrictive. I checked out Biggest Loser Club online, the pre-made menus bug me. Mainly because it's an American site most of the foods listed are processed and only available there. The minute someone tells me I can't have something, I get rebellious. Plus as mentioned even within WW, if I need a change I can switch to core. You guys are geniuses!

So after some thought I signed up for WW online, this way I can still weigh in on Saturdays but whenever I get up. I was finding the meetings pretty darn repetitive so I've signed up for 3 months online. That's a solid test period. 

The journey is changing roads my friends and we shall see what happens.

Work is fantastic, I'm smoking busy and conducted my first interview with the new company last week. Afterwards the hiring manager who joined me said I obviously knew what I was doing. I like the group I'm supporting and I'll learn a lot. Now my goal is to be the best recruiter they've ever had.

I didn't wind up going to the corporate party due to a series of snafus. My class ran late, I missed the normal bus. My cell phone was dead, so by the time I got home it was close to 10pm and I knew at that point I was hooped. Oh well, at least I went to the department one so I've had at least one Christmas party which more than some people get.

I don't feel like it's Christmas at all, I put up my tree and decorated the house but with no snow and relatively balmy temperatures I just don't feel it. Today I'll wander over to Walmart to get my donation for the family that work is supporting and I'll make yearly donation to Toy Mountain. I seem to have difficult people on my list as I've known everyone for a long time and it gets tough to be creative. At least I have a few weeks.

Have a groovy weekend and thank you for all your support.

Hugs!

Fallen off the wagon

I haven't been to a WW meeting in 3 weeks, and I'm not ashamed of this I'm just stating facts.

My current Saturday habit is to sleep in, with my current work schedule I'm absolutely exhausted on Fridays and the last thing in the world I want to do is get up to go to weigh in. 

I stepped on my home scale this morning and weighed 186.8 so not back where I started in the biggest loser challenge but certainly up. I'm not giving up on the challenge. I going forward not back.

My eating behaviour over the past 3 weeks has not been fantastic. For 2 weeks in a row I bought lunch and a latte every single work day. Not to mention tracking hasn't happened at all. I'm very much aware that these type of behaviours do not lead to weight loss. 

Question is what do I do now....well the simple answer is get back on the wagon. I am however debating going to a meeting anytime soon. I've been on WW for years and while had some success I've never even come close to goal. This is not WW's fault but more my stubbornness. This week I will still follow the ww program and we'll see about a meeting towards the end of the week. I'd  have to probably rejoin anyway after missing so many weeks. 

Now that I've got my new schedule relatively sorted I can once again return to the gym. I've had to juggle days around as I now work one day a week super far from my normal work place. The one day used to be a gym day but it takes a long time to get home from this location so I've moved that day.

I've realized joining a 2nd gym is not an option unless I really try to use the first gym.

So here's to picking yourself up and dusting yourself up.

Time Flies

I can't believe I haven't posted for practically a week. Time flies and having limited internet access at work has certainly curbed my blogging habit. Probably for the best :)

So with my first week done at my new job I'm itching to do some real work. I've read most policies and procedures, still don't have a computer and had to go find things to do today. I'm off to Fort Mac on Monday and Tuesday to meet the rest of my team and at that point work will be transitioned to me. Apparently my recruitment team will be looking to staff over 1600 positions. I'm going to be busy and I can't weight.

On the WW front it's been a total disaster this week. I've purchased some sort of latte every single morning and ate out for lunch every single day. My choices not particularly good as I found the food court with all my favourites. Didn't go to the gym once as I've been adjusting to my new work hours. Up at 5am was killing me from Mon - Wed. This morning wasn't so bad.

My new company gives a nice chunk of cash towards a gym membership and I'm seriously debating on being a member of two gyms. Craziness I know. I can't use it on my current membership and I'm locked into that one for 2 years. The second gym is one block away from work and as winter approaches a gym that has inside access where I don't even need to leave the building is mighty appealing.  It's pretty hard to get off the bus in freezing weather knowing you'll just have to get on another one to go home.I'm going to tag along with one of my coworkers to check this other gym out. The other bonus is I can get the money for this year ans still get money for 2009.  No decisions are made at this point.

In class yesterday out instructor said we have up to two weeks after the class has finished to hand in our papers. Music to my ears. Though my mission this weekend is to get up to speed on all the materials as I'll be missing next class due to a christmas part and leaving half way through the following one for another christmas party. What can I say, I'm new to the company I need to participate.

I know weigh in will be brutal this week. Now that I know my new environment I'm good to go for next week. 

Alright that's all for now, I must catch up on all your blogs.

Later!

Is is too soon to love my new job?

First day was fantastic, mind you it was just orientation but everyone was super nice. The person giving the training told me I sit one aisle over from her and she's a hoot. I met a couple of people in my new department and everyone is super nice and funny. The lady next to me in training works on the same floor but different department and she said they're super fun. Yippee, I will so fit in :)

Tomorrow I get to see where my spot is and probably meet a whole bunch of other people. They like to ease you in and training apparently takes 3 months. Wow, what a world of difference from my last job where you are usually tossed in and the mentality is sink or swim.

On the weight-loss front, I totally slept in on Saturday and missed both meetings. Then I forgot to weigh myself as I was off to buy groceries before the store got to busy. Note to self make sure alarm is on for Saturday mornings. I'm counting Saturday as a stay the same as I really have no idea.

I've now read all off the Twilight series books. Not so crazy about the second one "New Moon" but really enjoyed "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn".  Now I'm reading my Employee Benefit textbook, so not the same and not nearly as entertaining.

Alright I'm off to figure out what to have for supper, I'll be posting at the end of the day for now on as my new company has much stricter rules regarding internet. 

Hugs!

Metamorphosis

I think I'm in the process of rebooting myself. For a long time I've felt a bit like a hamster on an ever turning wheel and now I feel like I've been let out of my cage. It started with the new job which is the best work opportunity I've ever had  and add to that my successful update of wardrobe. I kind feel like I've got a different kind of motivation now, I don't know how to explain it but it's sorta neat.

Since I've been off work, I haven't tracked a thing. I'm just eating when I'm hungry and I'm showing losses on the scale. By no means is my current food intake necessarily healthy. Fresh fruit and vegetables have not been that evident. Water consumption is also nowhere near where it should be. I haven't been to the gym since my last day of work. I've been doing a lot of walking around instead. It's like I needed a vacation from everything just a minute to breathe. 

I'm ready to get back into it now, tracking will start tomorrow. Since Saturday is my weigh in day it seems like a good start. That doesn't mean I"m going crazy today either. I'll go to the gym this weekend. I need to establish a new pattern with my new work location. I'll plan my workout schedule as I get sorted so for next week I'll get the lay of the land. I know that my new position will be split between two buildings, what I don't know is if I'll have a permanent home in both buildings or be more of a traveller. In my start package the company mentions 6 lifestyle initiatives that they offer so I'll check those out too.

I'm making ice cream today, it's a frozen yogurt/ice cream. I was at Linen's and Things this week and picked up a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker on sale. I've wanted to make my own sorbets as there never seems to be that much of a selection. The bonus of making it yourself is that you control what goes in it.

I couldn't find the next book in the Twilight series yesterday, all they has was the first book.

I'm meeting friends for dinner tonight so I'll swing by a bookstore on the way.

Have a great day everybody!!

Darn it, now I have to read the next one

I finished Twilight last night and now I really want to read the rest of the series. I checked out some reviews on Amazon and there's a lot of like it and hate it comments but I think it comes down to expectations. Right now mine are open.

I'm going to head down to the university a little earlier today to see if I can pick up the next book at their bookstore. I did look at the library as an option but the hold lists are huge and I want to read it now as next week I'll be totally involved in learning my new job.

I like it when I can escape into a book, I think it fires your imagination.

Alright not a whole lot to comment on today but I hope everyone is having a fantastic day.

Later!

Thank You

Thank you to all of you who stopped by and for your comments.

I'm quite excited about my new job adventure and will happily keep you all in the loop.

Today I took advantage of Cleo's 20% off of everything to update my wardrobe. I was in there like a tasmanian devil. I think at one point 4 people were putting things into the dressing room.

I started at Chinook Centre where I stopped in at Sephora. Tried some stuff on at The Bay but nothing clicked and the Cleo's in Chinook was a bit too casual. So I hopped downtown and hit the jackpot. I think I know have some options for a more corporate look for meetings and a business casual but still dressed well look for every other day. Got an email from Aldo's about their sale and free shipping. I hate buying shoes, it's the waiting for them to bring you sizes that I don't like. I always feel bad if they have to go back and get something else.

I also picked up the book Twilight today as I now need to know what all the fuss is about. I've got it half read already. 

I got my new employee package in the mail today along with the staffing agency designation that I had written the test for before I left. They sent a diploma and a pin. I got 77% and needed 70% to pass. So hoping this is a predictor for the NKE results that should be arriving shortly. I'll look at the new employee package on the weekend as there is a lot to go through.

Tomorrow I'm seeking accessories at the local mall. Since accessories are usually seasonal, I go cheap for those. 

Later!

They called.....

And offered me the job....whoohoooo!!!!!!!!!

I start next Monday and the offer is awesome, I'm super excited and scared all at once. A good kind of scared, of course.

I haven't peeled myself off the ceiling yet. I'm so happy!!!!!!

Waiting for the phone to ring = nerve racking

Every time the phone rings I jump up hoping to see a number starting with 780, alas not yet. I am confident that I'll hear one way or another from the company today.

Had a fantastic dinner last night with some former co-workers from my old work. It was so nice to see them, many had left before I did so it was great to catch up. We went to the Olive Garden and all ate too much so today I'm being very careful.

I'm playing low key today and kind of creating a long weekend as tomorrow is Remembrance Day.

Since I've had a fair bit of time on my hands lately, I updated my I-Touch (did have an issue but fixed it first try) and downloaded Safari browser. I'm impressed it is faster than IE 7.

I've read all 3 books I took out from the Library and highly recommend "I was told there would be cake" by Sloane Crossley. If you want to laugh out loud, read this book. Each chapter is an individual essay writing about life and it's perceptions. She has a really witty, slightly sarcastic sense of humour. I'm not kidding I was laughing out loud while reading it and drew curious glances from people walking by.

I got a pin code from the Government of Canada for my EI application, I'm so hoping I can cancel it today and don't have to fill out reports at what I'm doing to find employment. They won't give me anything until all the severance and vacation pay run out anyway. Luckily I'm still getting calls from companies who find my resume online so at least that's something.

Alright I will keep you all posted and thanks for all the positive wishes, much appreciated.

Later!

My Amazing Race day

I had one crazy day yesterday and now my brain won't stop turning.

Here is what went down...

2:45am - Got up - had 2 Activias and a cup of coffee because eating that early didn't appeal to me. Silent thanks to whoever invented the programmable, thermal auto shut off coffee maker.

3:17am- Ready, dressed and makeup on

3:45am - Cab showed up, I had booked for 4am and they were early. Had to be at Aerocentre by 5am.

4:20am- Got to Aerocenter, way faster than I thought I would, it didn't open until 5am so thankfully it wasn't too cold so I read my book on a bench outside.

5:00am - Building opens....nice place...all cushy chairs and very exec looking

5:38am- Start boarding their company jet. For a brief moment I thought I was Angelina Jolie.

6:00am- The original scheduled departure time but we were already in the air, there were only about 7 people on the plane. They gave you banana bread or a danish - I chose banana bread, at a third of it. I was offered a whole can of orange juice..that never happens on commercial.

7:00am- Arrive in Fort McMurray

7:10am - After a quick drip to the washrooms, I now wait for the shuttle that will take me to their office

7:40am - Still no shuttle and it's supposed to be at the airport at 7:30 to get their office by 8:15

So I left a message for the interviewer saying I'm grabbing a cab. There was bumper to bumper traffic heading towards the airport so I'm guessing shuttle was stuck. I have no idea when I got to their office and I just hopped out and went in to the building. Brand new builing, but no water that day so good thing I used the washroom in the airport.

I was interviewed by the team leader and one of their recruiters. I thought it went great. They loved my sense of humour, there was never an awkward moment. Much smiling and nodding on their part. Then the recruiter left to go do a phone screen and the team leader started telling me about their package: Pension - Yay!, Bonuses based on company and individual performance - Yay!, Flex days - Yay!. Then I was told that they just needed to talk to Calgary and I should know either that day or Monday.

Sorry everybody, I failed to mention anything about the actual job when I first posted this. The job is awesome, it would be the corporate recruiting position that I wanted so badly, it would be part of the Fort Mac team but be based in Calgary, supporting mulitple teams. I am told it would be busy, which I am unbelievably excited about. For the past 1.5 years I've felt like I've been spinning my wheels. This position would give me a turbo boost. Plus the company is fantastic (during the first round I had taken one of my business cards, crossed out the previous company and wrote the name of this company and then taped it to my wall), the team leader is fantastic and if the team is like the recruiter I met. I'm going to love them and I really think they'll like me.

Essentially the same responsibilities as the one I interviewed for over the summer. I adore this team lead, super nice and they spoke a lot about team work and supporting each other. The company has a stellar reputation and means it when they say they believe in their people.

Then the team lead drove to a coffee shop (felt responsible for me and felt bad if I just hung out in the airport..how nice is that), bought my hot chocolate (offered to buy me lunch but I wasn't hungry) and I hung out there until I had to leave for the airport.

1145am- Now at the air port, flight home leaves at 1:40 on Air Canada.

1:05pm - Went to the gate and there were a lot of people, full flight for sure. I was in the very last row next to a guy who sounded like he had the flu. He was great about it, coughed into his jacket. For the first little while it sounded like the plane was being proppeled by lawn mowers. That calmed down once we got higher. Landed in Calgary 58min later.

It's a beautiful thing travelling with no luggage.

Hopped into a cab home and got a call from my Calgary recruiter. He asked me how everything was and I told him fantastic and that I was told that they would checking in with Calgary and I'll either know today or Monday.

He then says.........they've checked in with Calgary and there's just some stuff he has to do on his end and I should be hearing from the Team Lead either today (Friday) or Monday. All I could think to say was...O.K as my mind raced...what does that mean....

Stuff he has to do....offer letter or letter stating don't ever think you will ever work for this company.

It's funny as a recruiter I have many times consoled, calmed down, encouraged applicants as they tried to figure out the signals they've been given but now shoe is on the other foot. So after I hung up with him I called a recruiter I used to work with and said "What does this mean....". She said looks good, which is what I was thinking but I don't want to get my hopes up. I was so disappointed last time when it didn't work out.

They obviously liked me to make all this happen so fast. Plus to contact me about the job. I've now met both team leads and their boss. Well I didn't hear anything yesterday but I would have been suprised if they had all their ducks sorted that fast. So now it will be thought filled weekend and a nervous Monday.

If I did get the job I probably wouldn't start until the beginning of December, which is cool with me.

Now home and starving as I've barely eaten anything all day, I ordered pizza and was in bed by 7pm, woke up at 11pm, watched a little Lipstick Jungle and went back to bed. Woke up at 7:15am.

Went to WI, up 0.2 - definitely a reflection of my crazy day.

I think I need to fill my weekend with distractions, yoga and naps. Maybe I should go see a movie.

I'll keep you posted and thanks so much for all your positive wishes, it means a great deal to me.

Hugs!!!!!

Interesting developments...

So remember that company I interviewed with in the Summer? Two interviews and they offered me a position in Fort Mac - which I had to decline.

Well they called me yesterday to say they have a position in Calgary that supports the team in Fort Mac. They're flying me out there tomorrow with an interview with the hiring manager who is based in Fort Mac. Craziness. They offered to rent me a car but I haven't driven in two years (and not very often even then) and don't want to kill anyone so they're arranging a cab. They were worried about me hanging out in the airport for 4hrs waiting for the return flight. I said no worries I'll bring a book (and my nintendo ds). The interview is at 8:45am, so I'm guessing it's going to be a very early morning tomorrow. I should be back in Calgary by 2pm.

The interview I had booked for tomorrow cancelled so the timing could not be better.

The interview went well today, I think they liked me. I liked them. They did say there'd be a 2nd round of interviews and they'd let me know.

With the one tomorrow I'm not sure how this will work. They've already interviewed me twice and checked my references so is this the final interview??

Either opportunity would be freaking amazing.

I've dropped 3lbs while being at home, it's the no snacking thing.

Fast post because I'm exhausted. Have class tonight so I should review what we're doing.

I'll bring my itouch maybe there's free wireless at the Fort Mac airport.

Not bad for a few days work

On the job front I know have 3 interviews this week. One with a search firm that found my resume online for tomorrow, one with a job I applied for on Sunday and they called me Monday to book an interview for Thursday, and the phone interview people from a few weeks back on Friday. So 3 interviews in 3 days and I got an email from a company in Toronto looking for a recruiter in Calgary, they don't appear to be an agency but I'll find out more tomorrow.

I went to EI today only to be told it's best to apply online. So I came home and did that. The process asked me nothing about severance and when I checked off that I was dismissed - it got interesting. It then asked a series of yes and no questions like "Did you talk to your employer about keeping your job". I clicked no, and then it asked why. So I said because I agree with them, I would make a lousy outside sales person. So we'll have to see what they say. I'd get nothing for the next 10 weeks anyway and the mission is to be employed by then.

Yoga was fantastic tonight, I loved the flow of poses and really enjoyed it. So far my plan to focus on yoga, meditation and general boosting of the self esteem has not been easy to schedule thanks to all the phone calls.

My lovely lands end jacket has evil pockets. As I told you before I lost my bus pass, today my cell phone fell out. Luckily someone gave it to the driver so when I called it to see where it was he answered. We coordinated to meet at a bus stop and I have it back safe and sound. From here on out when I wear that jacket the only thing going in the pockets is kleenex.

I was starting to feel a wee bit insecure about how everything seems to be going well and when I left the house it was snowing. A kind of magical sparkling snow and immediately a smile came to my face. Take each day, hour, minute and second as it comes. I've seen it a thousand times with candidates I've interviewed that launch into their perfect job right way, so why not me?

Plus I'm having lunch with some former co-workers on Thursday and dinner with people who left the company awhile back on Sunday. All of whom believe in me and for that I am eternally grateful.

Dead curious to see who won the American election tonight, so I'm off to turn on CNN. It looks like if Canadians could decide it would be Obama (by a huge margin).

Weight wise is doing well, mainly because I've been eating weird. I need to get some fruits and veggies into me. The past few days have been toast, grilled cheese and cereal.

Hugs!

Feeling positive

Before 10:30am I had 3 phone calls all job related.

One from an agency I registerd with back in 2003, calling me about a recruitment position with one of their clients that I had already submitted my resume for. They asked me to send my updated resume so they could update my file and let me know of other opportunities. She felt that I'd find something soon, I hope she's right.

Next call was from Toronto looking for a business development person/recruiter for them in Calgary. I was quite honest and told him I was a terrible outside sales person and have a really hard time with cold calling. We then chatted for a few minutes about what the job market is like in Toronto and that he too was not fond of cold calling.

Next a call from the company that phone interviewed me a last week, they want to see me for a face to face interview.

I called back and left a message for the recuiter who found my resume online about the HR Advisor position.

This afternoon I'll head down to EI and start a file just in case.

I have the date of Nov. 30 firmly in mind of being gainfully employed again.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for thier positive wishes. Keep them coming :)

Hugs!

Getting sorted

I know that while I'm job hunting I have to keep some sort of schedule, to keep busy, to keep positive and to keep focused.

Tomorrow I'll head down the federal government building and get the process started for EI, though I'm focused on being employed before I'd be allowed to collect it's far better to be sorted now than scrambling later.

Today I applied for two new jobs and thought about applying for EI online but I think I'll talk to a person since I've never had to do this before.

Tomorrow I will focus on a wider internet search for potential new opportunities and call the agency who found my resume online (the HR Advisor position).

I want to practice my computer testing skills before I register with any more agencies. I'm fairly confident in these skills but a little brush up doesn't hurt.

I think the first thing I'll do is hit the gym and get the endorphins flowing and the mind engaged and then I'll tackle all that.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Later!

Never, ever, ever, ever give up and down 1.2

A big thanks to Louisrun for her comment.

It's funny having a blog, you know your posting on the world wide web but you forget how many people actually read what you write. Not just read but stop in like old friends. I have the counter at the bottom of the blog and I have a vague idea of how often it's read. I just want to say thanks for stopping by. You don't have to comment if you don't want to but just thanks for making me a part of your day.

Louiserun is absolutely right, I haven't been happy in my previous job for a long time. It was a weird thing I liked what I did (recruitment) just not the environment. She's absolutely right that fate/ destiny can come along and give you the push you need. The primary thing that irritates me about what happened is that it was on their terms and not mine; and explaining why you want to leave a job is whole different kettle of fish than explaining why they got rid of you. I'm confidant and am the queen of how to handle any situation in an interview.

Plus I think I already said that at least now I'm free to go on interviews and not have to create excuses of why I had to leave the office. I also really hope that fate/destiny helps me get a super stellar job before the end of November.

I am looking forward to some flexibiliy in my schedule of the new few weeks of being able to go to the gym when I want to, do more yoga and focus on some positivity.

This event will not derail the weight loss if anything it fuels it even more. I love the rush you get when you're challenging yourself in exercise and you feel like you can conquer the world. At WW today I was down 1.2 - holla.

I know I can conquer the world. I know I'm highly employable and I know I'm smart (not better than anyone else kind of way more I can assess a situation and deal with it appropriately).

I know the next company to put me on their employee list is getting a superstar.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever give up on yourself. You are your own greatest inspiration, trust me - I'm smart remember :)

Oh and my adorable father bought my groceries for me today, even though he didn't have to.

Hugs and talk to ya later.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I was let go today, it was a weird of feeling of not being surprised and being surprised.
I'm not right for the new direction their going in and of course I was looking.

I still need to process it. Stay tuned.

Knackered

OMG I'm so tired today and it's a little bizarre. I went to bed at 10pm which really isn't all that late, maybe it had to do with yoga. I think I slept pretty deeply last night and when I woke up this morning it felt so so so wrong. I even stopped off at Tim's on the way to work and got an extra large coffee (very rare pour moi).

It's staff meeting day which is always draining and we're going over the anonymous suggestions they requested. Their feeding us pizza which is probably the only way you'll get everyone to sit through that.

I so despise the Blue team on BL. Was I imagining things or did Bob call Vicky"Shakespearian". I know he was saying she was the biggest player in the house. If he did call her that I thought it was quite good. I'm not sure it was wise to vote Phil off. The blue team has more weight to lose than black but it looks like they might be bringing back a person or persons. Plus they're going into single player mode...interesting. What we need is Vicky or Brady to go home and then we'll see what happens. It's pretty much guaranteed Brady won't have a stellar weight loss next time due to the 13 pounds this week. It will be neat to see the evicted players again to see how far they've come since they went home.

Thanks to the U.S elections we'll have to wait. Can I say I'm so happy that thing is over soon and I'm Canadian. My goodness I'm thankful for our "what I perceive to be" simpler format and less drama.

Counting the hours till I can crash...hugs!

Another bite

On the resume front that is, got a phone screen phone call from an engineering/construction company. I have seen this position posted 3 times in the last 6 months and I've applied for it each time. I hope I get an interview just to find out why they're having so much trouble.

A former co-worker called me to say they saw a position that they thought I'd be interested in so I applied for that one as well. The application process was interesting on this one as they went straight into a psychometric evaluation. Must be expecting a ton of responses to weed people out like that.

I was so mad yesterday, I lost my bus pass and to make it truly bitter I had the new November one tucked behind October in the holder. Top it off the holder that I adored cost me $15, All of it gone, so essentially I'm out $90. I called transit lost and found in the hopes that it fell out of my pocket on the bus (and someone turned it in). I'm thinking of popping over to the mall and getting a new one today as they tend to sell out. If the other one resurfaces I can return it. So on the way home yesterday I picked up bus tickets so I could get to work and back for the next week. Add to it I was working late and it took 40min for a bus to come. I didn't make it to the gym. Note to self keep bus pass in bag not pocket.

Truly looking forward to the calming of yoga this evening.

Namaste

A free pass....

So I came back from writing the industry exam (60 questions in 27 minutes and I went over it twice). I hope I passed, on this one the passing mark is also 75%. Whatever happend to the good old 50%?


I had weird eating today. Had breakfast at 6am, my tummy was grumbling at 9:30 so I had some almonds. Left for the test at 12:30 and wasn't hungry. Finished test stopped off a Tim's for a coffee and left with that and Tim bits (mini donuts). Thinking in my head - well I'm going to the gym tonight....hang on a second what the heck was that. It was an excuse to eat the donuts...oy vey I thought I had learned my lesson. Going to the gym is not a free pass to eat crap. So now the lunch I brought is supper.

Oh and another person quit today..that's 3 in two weeks. This one was coming for awhile, she wasn't happy and had talked about leaving for some time. So I'm happy for her that she can move on. So now that leaves me as the only FT recruiter.

I was catching up on some dvr'd shows yesterday. I kind of like My Own Worst Enemy, but do find it weird how I find Edward totally sexy and Henry not so much yet they are both played by Christian Slater.

I watched the Mad Men season finale as it aired. OMG now I can't wait till season 3. I haven't watched season one so I guess that can distract me for now.

I was debating on making cupcakes for my coworkers this week and then thought...why?

Later

Where does the weekend go?...and up 0.4

I was curious as to what would show up on the read out of the scale at WW Saturday morning. I could feel I was retaining water but I had a kick ass workout in the gym on Friday. (Seriously I hit the zone it was bizarre). So I should be happy with 0.4 as typically I can be up as much as 2lbs during TOM. I'm thinking this probably means I lost so now I just need to not be an idiot this coming week so I can see it on the scale next Saturday.

I loved the saying of the meeting: If hunger is not the problem then food is not the solution.

True that, my snacking ususally happens because I'm bored. The good thing about having something to do every weekday after work is that it leaves little time to be bored. The weekend is a whole different story.

Mind you between weigh in, grocery shopping and a dentist appointment I did a serious amount of running around yesterday. In fact walked to the mall and back twice so that's probably about 1hr of walking.

Today I'm not leaving the house, I'm studying for the CPC exam and doing chores. So I read throught the materials and then do a chore, then read through the materials and do a chore...repeat.

Things I need to focus on next week:
Water - as in drink it minimum 2l/day not including what I drink during workouts
Track - every bite, lick and taste
Workout - 3 gym, 2 yoga - Friday's workout will have to be moved to Saturday as I need to come straight home from work to hand out candy.

No school this Thursday because my instructor is in Houston but I should use this evening to catch up on all the reading...rather understand the reading so read it again.

I'm making a veggie lasagna for work lunch, no noodles instead sliced zucchini and eggplant. I've never tried this before and I'm totally doing it off the top of my head so wish me luck.

Later!

Why can't it be me

Another person quit today and I so wish it was me. That's 2 this week.
Weird day at work, we got the results of our internal employee satisfaction survey and apparently my office scored everything the lowest scores in the country. So our leader asked us to pick the 3 questions with the most important to us as an individual and make suggestions as to how we may fix them. They will compile everyone's answers and address them in order of most popular choice down.

I really wanted to write I have no suggestions as I strongly feel like you want to replace us all and start fresh. Good luck with that.

Of course I didn't and I offered very pg "let's all work together" suggestions.

This weekend I will meticulously comb through job boards, who knows I may still here from the company I talked to on Tuesday.

Class ran late last night, this time I brought a bun for supper. I figured I could easily kind of tear of pieces and eat quietly. I wasn't hungry when I got home.

So for the last few nights my furnace kept waking me up. I just pray it will last this winter. This morning when I was getting ready it turned on and it was quiet. Bizarre, the belt was recently changed and it was oiled so perhaps it is now accustomed to all these things and co-operating.

The last time I had it serviced they said they don't build them as good now. So it's the little engine that could.

I have been ridiculously bad at tracking this week but ridiculously good with workouts. Now I just need to do both.

Have a groovy weekend!

And the beat goes on...

Hello!
It's been a few days and all I can say is I've been busy.

Have yet to hear about an interview after the phone interview on Monday. Not sure what that means. Either I'm not going on to the next step or they're not sure who they want to see, or they're hanging on to me just in case. Either way I hope they tell me because waiting sucks.

In the meantime 2 new jobs intrigue me so I'll send over my resume tomorrow.

Tuesday's yoga was ...eh. I didn't particularly enjoy it and I think it was because there was a whole lot of talk and not so much poses. We did a lot sitting poses and I find my mind wanders during those.

Hit the gym yesterday for lower body workout and just couldn't do 20min on the Arc so I stopped at 12. I did do 20min on the treadmill and walked a little longer route home than usual.

Work is weird, yet another person has left and drama reigns. I'm just keeping to myself and doing my job while I plot my exit.

I definitely need to hit Tim's before class tonight. I've got no get up and go today. When my alarm went off I didn't move. I need to find decent ear plugs as everytime my furnace comes on I wake up.

My friend H is off to Maui, I'm totally jealous but hope she has a fantastic amazing time.

Alright that's all for now I suppose.

Later!

And the waiting begins

So I had my phone interview this morning and the recruiter asked me 3 times why I wanted to leave my current position. I phrased everything in the positive but kept thinking "haven't I answered that already?" She told me she has one more person to phone interview and then they would see who they bring in for in person interviews. She asked me my availability towards the end of this week and I said I will make it happen. She also asked when I could start and when I said in 2 wks she seemed really happy about that. We shall see. It's a brand new position so that's an exciting prospect. I just keep thinking if I was perfect for the oil company, I can be perfect for the engineering company.

I did a killer upper body workout at the gym. Well upper, core and 40min of cardio. I wore my heart rate monitor and it's talking to my computer at home. It was downloading very slowly..
By the time I got to the Arc machine I was sweating bullets. Including walking home from the gym the workout was 1hr and 48min. I'm back on Wednesday for lower body.

It was funny to observe others at the gym. I saw people on cardio equipment who looked bored out of their tree.

I was a bit at a loss of what to have for supper which indicates to me I need to plan in advance for gym nights. I get home closer to 7:30 and don't want to be eating too late.

I've been looking into meditation lately as a way to deal with stress and to quiet my thoughts. I got one created by Deepak Chopra called Soul of Healing meditations. It's meditation for beginners, very relaxing, nothing complicated. When I went to bed I put it in and just did 5min of the breathing meditation. All you did was breathe, don't control it just let it happen and focus on that. Well after that I had to get up and whoa I felt different. Not dizzy or anything, just completely relaxed. Apparently I normally walk around tense. I slept really well but woke up at 4am hungry. Fell asleep again and it was seriously hard to get up this morning.

Tonight is yoga so depending on how relaxed I feel after that I might try this again tonight. Directly after work I'm making my way to Walmart to pick up halloween candy and kleenex. Don't you hate it when you're out of kleenex, it's like your nose will run or you'll sneeze in that exact moment.

This morning the stars were still out when I was standing at the bus stop. I enjoyed it.

Have a fantastic day!

Down 0.2 and I'm ok with that

At least it's down and thanks to stress levels of the past week I didn't track and I didn't drink a whole lot of water so the fact that I'm down at all is a wee bit of a miracle.

This morning I got up took my measurements again and did my funky scale measurements of body fat, bmi and body water. I'm going to record my activity in a journal, recording not just what I did but also how I felt about doing it.

I'm definitely hitting the gym tomorrow that's for sure. Birthday cakes are done for the year and I really need to me getting to goal a major priority and not an after thought.

This morning I was watching this documentary on CBC called Generation XXL. It followed 4 kids from Nova Scotia to fat camp. What I found really profound was all the negative statements these kids were harboring inside them. I.E not good enough, will fail. How many of us still do that? When you're alone with your thoughts and frustrated with progress, do you go to negative places in your head?

They had all these kids write down every hurtful thing anyone has ever said to them and then they ripped up the piece of paper and burned it. Then they had to write positive things about themselves down. Many found this really hard to do especially after thinking of all the negative.

It's not so simple to switch from thinking you're failure to thinking your brave and a survivor. It can be done step by step.

My challenge to all of you is to write something positive about yourself every day this week. I'm talking something positive about your soul not just "I like my eye colour" - that's my go to positive statement about myself most of the time. Instead today I write instead..I am strong, I don't crumble I fight.

Positive hugs to all!

When a door closes, a window opens

One of the jobs I applied for the other day has contacted me for a phone interview on Tuesday, wow that was fast. This is for an international engineering company and it was posted on the job board 3 weeks ago. I thought it might not be available. So the process begins again...wish me luck.

I was at class last night talking to lady who sits in the same row as I do. She was telling me about her new job. She just got a job in benefits administration. Now I knew she hadn't been working for the past 10yrs or so and before that would direct the calls for people calling about benefit information. A light bulb kind of went off in my head. Why am I looking for jobs specifically in recruitment. My interests are HR, I know I'm a good recruiter but why not diversify a bit.

So this weekend I'll broaden my scope a bit and see what's what. At least I now know not to put the job hunt on hold just because you start a process with one company.

I got 90% on my benefits paper...whew I seriously didn't know where that was going to go.

This just shows that you must believe in yourself 100%. You can conquer any challenge and that includes weight loss.

Hugs!

Deep, calming breath

Alright the wig out is over and today is another day.

I applied for 3 jobs last night, talked to a friend today who found 2 more that he thinks would suit me. One step in front of another. I was listening to a Dr. Wayne Dyer CD before bed called Meditations for Manifesting. I fell asleep at one point because I woke up when the CD restarted.

I got the Cupcake Courier yesterday and now I'm itching to make cupcakes. I saw this thing on BT Breakfast one day and they told the story of how this Calgarian woman saw this on Rachel Ray.

Called the company but they don't ship to Canada. So she asked if she could be the Canadian distributor and tada she is. I was immediately intrigued as I have tried to bring cupcakes places and they usually wind up bashed and messy. This thing carries 36, or you just take 24 or 12.

If you're Canadian and want one contact Maggie or visit her company at the Farmer's Market in Calgary.

I needed to drop into Safeway yesterday to pick up bananas, I did feel a little awkward carting this thing around. Now if I'm still at my current job for the Christmas pot luck (if there is a pot luck) I'm so bringing cupcakes.

The cake turned out fantastic and everyone has gone to look at in the fridge. It wound up being a chocolate cake filled with custard/whip cream and thinly sliced bananas. Topped with a chocolate glaze. These people will miss me.

Supper wound up being leftover custard as I finished the cake that searched for jobs.

Tonight is class and I will definitely be hitting the gym on Friday for "last chance workout".

I got a foot long veggie sub for lunch. Half for lunch and half for supper so hopefully that will solve my dinner conundrum on school nights.

I shall keep you updated on my job hunting and cupcake adventures :)

Hugs!!!

Topsy Turvy

My professional life has been turned upside down with me wondering if my days are numbered, for reasons I won't got into here. I sit here a bit paranoid wondering what's in store for me. It's a reminder that I was looking for a new job and I better get going on that.

The chief boss is in town and I'm guessing strategies are in play but it's a little freaky when you see your name on something you shouldn't have. Everyone's name on something you shouldn't have. I don't know the circumstances behind this or who wrote or when but I'm freaked.

Thankfully I haven't turned to food. I didn't blog yesterday because I was getting my head around all this and in one heartbeat getting worried and in another heartbeat thinking screw you.

I am skipping the gym tonight to finish a birthday cake for the workplace and diligently check all the job boards tonight. My head is in a weird zone at the moment.

I've been watching the mgmt team today for any indication that things have changed but everyone is acting as they did and being very nice and making references to the future and I'm think I'm in a parallel universe.

I know I'll survive whatever happens but knowledge is power and it's better to be proactive.

Later

I feel my muscles and down 1.2

Down 1.2 this morning and had a killer workout yesterday.

I learned my lower body routine yesterday and boy am I feeling it now. 6 different excercises for this and I can feel all my thigh muscles. It felt fine this morning, but when I got up out of my chair at WW that's when I totally felt it.

I didn't go ot the gym today, instead walked to the grocery store and back. Yoga planned for a bit later today. I didn't think it was to go to hard core today as I went hard core yesterday.

Bought a brand new 3 month tracker so I could start clean.

I was quite pleased with the weigh in as I did also have a piece of Tiramisu as my afternoon snack on Friday. There is no just over half a pan in the freezer of my workplace. There were only 4 of us in the office Friday afternoon so there's some for everyone who wasn't there.

We have another birthday this coming week too. They've requested chocolate cake with some type of filling but no cherry. She mentioned custard so I have to give that a think.

In WW we went over the points for turkey dinner and it so inspired me to do my own turkey dinner. I'll make turkey meatloaf, stove top stuffing, steamed cauliflower and club house gravy. This will also wind up being lunch next week most likely. I'll probaby make it tomorrow as opposed to Monday.

I rented Iron Man for 1.49 from a vending machine in Safeway. I have to return it tomorrow but for 1.49 why not.

There's a new update for my itouch and I'm scared to try it. The last time I upgraded it was such a pain. I know I'm going to do it anyway so I can get cooler applications.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Hibernation mode

What is it that makes us go into hibernation mode when the weather gets cooler and the sky gets a little darker? Yesterday everyone in the office was tired, it's not like everyone had a late night. One person was late because they fell asleep again after their alarm went off. I know I lay there waiting for a good song on the radio, which equals at least two snooze button hits.

This morning I saw a woman get on the bus decked out in her serious winter coat, hood on, zipped up to her nose. It was -3, what the heck is she going to do when it's -30.

I do find adjusting to weather funny. Right now we're freezing in -3, a month from now -10 will feel balmy.

I did my impression of someone backpacking across Europe this morning as I was lugging my MEC backpack with gym stuff and a small duffle bag containing the dish of Tiramisu.

We have 5 people in the office today and 9x13 pan of Tiramisu. We're closed on Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving. I've told them they have to eat it. I know I'm asking them all to be garbage disposals but it would break my heart if this goes to waste. I don't want to take the pan home until Tuesday as I don't think I get all this stuff into a gym locker. Hey, the starbucks liquor in it might make for a fun afternoon.

I'm very much looking forward to the gym tonight as I'm hoping I'll learn the lower body routine and be all set to conquer.

My plan is to go to weigh in tomorrow as usual but instead of grocery shop afterwards I'm going to the gym. I'm fairly certain Safeway will be open on Sunday if necessary. The bonus of leaving from home with the intent to workout is that far less stuff needs to be carted. I'm also picking up a new tracker at WI, I need a fresh book just to get my head clear. I've tracked nothing all week, well tracked in my head which is not the same as tracking on paper.

I need to figure out food for school nights, even if I pack a snack to eat around 6 I'm starving by the time I get home because I really haven't had supper. I should bring a peanut butter sandwich with me next time something a bit more filling than a granola bar.

I've come up with a way to finish my certificate by spring but I have to take 3 classes next semester. They're all different lenghts one is 40hrs, one is 30hrs and one is 20hrs. So they wouldn't be all three for the same time frame. It would mean no life from Jan to April but I'm seriously considering it. I think it would be good to have the certificate completed if I do have to re-write the NKE in May.

I hope all my Canadian friends have a great Thanksgiving weekend and all my American friends have a great Columbus Day weekend.

Later!

Productive night

I'm feeling good today despite the -5 with windchill that I woke up to this morning.

Yesterday I saw snow, not much but it was flying in the air and my immediate thought was "Crap".

I went to Co-op after work and picked up the mascarpone (more expensive than Safeway dang it) but they did have lady fingers so thank goodness for that.

I adore their fresh fruit and vegetable section but they are not the most reasonably priced grocery store. Everything looks so good and the lighting is perfect.

I got a rough copy of my paper done during the day so when I went home I just read it over and edited it. It's on my zip drive so I'll take one more look at it before I submit.

The Tiramisu looks and smells amazing. It's in the fridge to be lugged to work tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to gym tomorrow and cleaning my house this weekend. It's a disaster right now.

So I watched BL last night and I can't blame Jillian for being mad. What the heck, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people applied for that show and you're 4 weeks in and not doing your homework. That's completely ridiculous.

I hope they continue to knock a family member off until they're down to individuals. Colleen and Heba may have difficult time competing as individuals. Jillian's team is starting to bug me a little.
I can't stand the brown team. I don't have a favourite this time around, who knows maybe next week. I'm so proud of Ed, he looked amazing and I'm so excited to see their Heba and Ed's reunion.

Alright that's it for today...later.

Darkness is coming....

The only think I begrudge about winter is the leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark. This morning when I left for work it was more dark that sunrise so it's coming. Dang it.

Went straight to the grocery store yesterday after work to hunt down the ingredients for Tiramisu. Walmart nor Safeway had lady finger cookies - huh? Safeway's mascarpone was uber pricey. So today straight after work I'll stop in at Co-op as I'm fairly positive they have lady finger cookies. If not I guess it's Nilla cookies. I seem to remember them carrying bigger containers of Mascarpone. I find it fun to go to a grocery store you normally don't go to. It can be dangerous as you find interesting things that might throw off your budget a bit.

I walked home from Safeway, had a bit to eat got distracted by Biggest Loser and then off to yoga. I did not leave early enough as about 10 people were already set up by the time I got there. Note to self next Tuesday leave earlier.

I found it difficult yesterday, I haven't done any yoga since that last class so that's two weeks of no yoga = no good. I'm seriously considering getting up half an hour earlier to get a practice in before my day begins. Especially with my gym schedule and not eating dinner until closer to 8pm. That also means going to bed earlier. I must think like an athlete.

I have a better idea for my paper so my goal is to get a very rough copy done at lunch and then tonight hammer out a better rough copy (after making Tiramisu) and put together the reference list. Then put it all on my zip and finish /perfect it Thursday morning.

I'll be so happy when this thing is submitted.

Have a groovy day!

The zone

Update: So I was thinking I'd have to pay the full registration fee on Saturday at WW because I've missed two weigh ins (it's cheaper that way then surrendering 3 coupons). There's a deal on right now that to register you just pay the weekly fee - yahoo that saves me a few bucks.


I'm not talking about the diet, but more when you're in the middle of exercising and you feel unstoppable, like you could conquer a mountain sort of thing.

That's how I felt during warm up (10 min on treadmill - 3.5 speed, 5 - incline), then it was off to 2 sets of core, then 20min on Arc (that was hard) and then 30min back on treadmill (also hard). This was Cardio day. I was supposed to do lower body weights but my trainer injured her knee, so we've rescheduled that for Friday.

I'm not sure if I can go on Wednesday. I have a paper due on Thursday that's driving me crazy. Come up with 5 reasons why employers still use traditional benefits as opposed to health spending accounts. Thus far in my research I've found a whole bunch of reasons why they should switch. I need to get more analytical me thinks. With yoga tonight my available time is getting iffy. If I do have to miss Wednesday, I'll make it up on Saturday. Gym is closed Sunday and Monday so I'll be on my own for some sort of workout on Monday. At some point before Friday I need to make Tirimasu for a birthday at work on Friday. Oy vey I'm looking forward to the long weekend.

I have pet peeves to share with the world today. When digital cable lists a show and then when you click on that show it's a different show. I wanted to dvr the first episode of Dirty Sexy Money, I get home see that apparently it recorded. Go to watch it and it's Private Practice on access. Which probably means that ABC was also playing Private Practice at that time, because that's the channel I was recording but a Canadian feed took over (they do that if it's the same show) and this show was on Access. Irritating.

Focusing on water today as I've become really bad at this all of a sudden.

Have a groovy day!

Back from the wild

Hello my friends,
I have returned from the land of 3 channels and no internet access.
My alarm went off at 6am this morning so I could be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the test that's been my all consuming thought for the past few months.

It is written and in the hands of the CCHRA and I will know around Dec. 4th how I did. 70% is the passing mark to go on to the second test. I don't know how I feel. I don't feel like I aced it nor do I feel like I failed so we shall see. I know I prepared the best I could with what I knew then.
If I do have to write it again in May, I shall be beyond prepared but I'm chanting 71% in my head between now and December.

The test was scheduled from 9am to noon, it took until 9:20 to start so everyone could be seated. They actually put the exam on the desks in alphabetical order so you had to go look for it and sit in that spot. Silly I thought, why not just hand you the sealed envelope when they checked your i.d and ticked your name off the list. Who am I to judge. I finished about 10:50 but I sat their for 10min double checking my first 15 quetions, you know nerves and such. There were some questions I guessed at but there are 150 questions in total.

I had to weigh in on my scale this morning as there was no way I could make the meeting and was a bit surprised to see a 1.6 loss. I sat for a week reading, eating, sleeping, reading, eating, sleeping. Now the eating wasn't crazy and the thing about Dad's house there are no snacks. There's breakfast, lunch, supper and at 3pm it's coffee time which means coffee and some sort of pastry. Add in it's the week after TOM so any water gain is gone at the moment.

I'll post a couple of pictures tomorrow of the cat that hangs out on the property and the psycho squirrel. The cat is cute and when the patio door is closed will role around and meow and if you put your finger on the glass he'll swipe at it in a playful manner. Open the door and he backs up 4 feet. Yet he acts all lovey dovey when he sees you and shows you his belly but not when the door is open. I don't get it, but I think he's adorable anyway. The squirrel sounds like 3 people marching on the roof when the does his gymnastics from a tree to the roof to the deck and back again.

The skunks that live under the deck, (My Dad considers them family as they help deal with the mice). I saw one on the deck this time after 10pm. My goodness they've grown since the summer. They don't bother us at all and are nocturnal anyway. Heck my Dad feeds them and the cat. We call the skunks "Skunkies" and the cat "Catnip" or "Meow" because he'll just sit at the door and do that.

Alright my friends I'm exhausted and think I'll go have a nap.

Tomorrow when I'm refreshed I will catch up on all my blog reads.

Later!

Not as bad as I thought..

Up 0.2 this morning which is way better than I was expecting. You see I had no idea how my weight would react to water retention thanks to TOM combined with weight training. The weird thing is I earned 25 Activity points this week. So no matter what I quite proud of that as it's been a long time since I encorporated that much exercise into my life.

Last night at the gym it was learning the upper body workout. She asked if me if I wanted to do machines or free weights. I chose free weights as often your working core plus whatever muscle you're working on.

I did my warm up and then off with Jenny and just like Wednesday the new girl was with us so I was the training example.

So the first exercise was using the pull down weight machine (aren't you looking forward to me learning the real names of the machines). You sit and grab a bar over your head and pull it down. However she had me sit facing away from the machine and pull the bar behind my head. Working shoulders and back. 12 reps.

Next it was on to a weight bench. Laying on my back, knees bent and feet and head on the bench. I did two different things one was holding 10lbs in each hand so the weights were length wise together, arms straight in front, lower to 90 degrees elbows bent, then push up to starting position. (the official name totally escapes me at the moment). The 2nd exercise was chest flies, so arms once again straight out, weights held end to end this time and lower your arms keeping elbow slightly bent to past 90 degrees. Oh my goodness I could feel this one pretty fast. 6 reps each.

Then we went off to the pulley machine and I had to sit on the floor for row backs, hanging on to this thing that looked like triangle with both hands, making sure to squeeze between the shoulder blades as I pulled it back. 12 reps.

Then off to another pulley machine where I did bicep curls using a straight metal bar and then tricep extensions using a rope handle attached to the machine.

I felt kind of like big girl in the gym as I sort of looked like I knew what I was doing.

Next I had to do all that again. Everything is 2 sets but she didn't want me to just pause for 60 seconds between sets but treat it like a circuit. So your also racing around the gym

Next it was off to do the core exercises that I described the other day - 2 set circuit.

Then it was off to cardio. Due to having a ton to do before I left for my Dad's. I did 15 min on the Arc trainer and then walked home (15min). Then cleaned my house (60min).

On Monday the 6th we do lower body, I'll have to copy this stuff off my card so I can actually tell you what things are called.

So it's one day upper body/core/cardio, one day lower body/core/cardio and one day core/more cardio.

I'm really looking forward to coming back home so I can get into a routine.

With next week at my Dad's and eating out of his kitchen I'm not sure what will happen weigh wise when I get back. The week is dedicated to studying for the exam I have on the 4th.

I'm really looking forward to being done with that and being able to put it out of head.

So have a fantastic week my friends, I look forward to reading up on all your adventures.

Hugs!

Temporary Amnesia and Hormones

These are the only things that explain my eating behaviour yesterday and again a reason to keep WW books at work.

For lunch I went to Tim Horton's and had the Ham and Swiss sandwich, thinking it's on the healthy menu. Alright I had a donut too. I bought a muffin for dinner as I'd be in class from 6-8:30 and probably not get home until 9pm.

Last night I wrote it all down in my tracker. OMG - the sandwich 9pts, the donut 8pts, the muffin.........10pts.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! I must create a mantra "Muffin equals cake".

I was surprised about the sandwich that's for sure.

So the change of schedule and good old TOM tossed me a curve, am I going to throw this week away. Hell no, today is back on program and the gym tonight not to mention loads of water. What will happen at Saturday WI? A learning experience.

Now I know I need a better plan for Thursdays and my crazy schedule.

I did walk home from the bus stop that's 12 blocks in the dark by myself. I felt safe this time but I can't guarantee that will be everytime. I wanted to squeeze in some APs.

Getting to the University was an experience. I had to take the train and I never take the train. It was a case of sardines. The first one was too packed to get on. The 2nd one I got on to but there's no personal space. You are touching other people.

The class is bigger than I thought and I ran into someone who works for another division but the same company and a client that I've only emailed. So that was bizarre. This woman was asking me if I was pursuing the CHRP and I said yes I'm doing the first test on Oct. 4th. She says to me " I heard it's hard". What I wanted to say to her "Shut up". I don't need to hear that, I know it's not easy but be positive damn it.

The good thing about this week - thus far I've earned 20APs and there's still gym tonight. Apart from Thursday eating has been good. Have I been 110%? No, more like 90% so now I know what I need to do for the rest of this challenge.

Saturday will be a weigh and run as I don't have time to stay for the meeting. I promise to email Angie my results before I leave and I may have time for one last post before I go.

Then it's off to the middle of nowhere for some serious study time.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week while I'm gone. I'll be back on Sat. Oct 4th - after the test to recap on everyone's happenings.

Hugs!

1st 90min with trainer...

Update: For everyone worried about their next weigh in. 1. don't compare yourself to others, 2. this is a 14 week challenge. It breaks my heart to read about people in a panic. Everyone loses weight differently and it's a 3 month challenge. Perhaps this week isn't amazing but every .2, .5, .6, .8 counts towards becoming healthier. I'm not expecting a stellar weigh in due to retaining water and how my body reacts to crazy workouts all of a sudden. Have faith in yourself and remember you are doing this for you.
Hugs!


She kicked my patootie and most of it was fit assessment, heaven help me with the workouts.

I got to the gym a bit early so I hit a treadmill for 10min to one kill time and two have a bit of a warm up. I then go to the desk looking for Jenny. I get told that she's just wrapping up with someone so go to the bikes and pedal for a bit so my muscles don't cool down.

I was on the bike for 2min when Jenny came up to me. So first thing was a Vo2 Max test on the bike. I had to pedal keeping my rpm between 60-70 hanging on to the handle bar sensors. For 7 min I pedaled with what felt like up a mountain. I think my score was 28 which isn't fantastic, average is 31-33.

Next it was a flexibility test, sitting on the floor with legs straight out and feet against the contraption. I had to push a little wooden block while leaning forward, kind of like touching your toes type of move. My belly totally didn't help with that one. So that kind of flexibility not so good.

Next where push ups (I despise push ups), she kept telling me to go lower and I went as low as I could without not being able to come up again.

Based on this she started to design day one of my 3 day program.

Core Day:
15min Warm up on treadmill 3.5 miles, 3 incline

Crunches on a stability ball, 2 sets of 12 lifting the shoulders only, 2 sets of 12 lifting up to the waist.

Next was some contraption that I have no clue what it's called. You stand on it and put your feet on a metal bar and then lift your legs up working your lower abdominals. This was hard! 2 sets of 12 (by the first 8 I was getting tired).

Next the machine that works your obliques, you swivel from front to side. Right side - 2 sets of 30lbs, Left side - 2 sets of 30lbs.

Then it's 20min each on two different cardio machines.

So she put me on an Arc trainer first - I did 17min
Then it was a treadmill 3.3 miles - 6 incline for 20min.

Then stretching and I walked home.

I was exhausted when I got home and had cereal for supper.

I'm not sure if we're doing lower or upper body on friday.

She said to do weights first so you burn some carbs and then by the time you hit cardio you're in fat burning mode. We'll see how that works.
She wants me to do one set at a time and kind of go in a circuit twice so no resting for a min between sets it's just off to the next thing.

She looked at me and said I'm going to work you hard, I looked at her and said "Deal".

I feeling good about this, I won't get bored with the moving from thing to thing and splitting cardio between different machines. She appears to know what she's talking about.

Today I can feel my abs so I have perfect posture.

Now the next two session she'll show the rest of the workout in part 1 and part 2 kind of fashion.
It kind of sucks that I'm away next week but this will inspire me to atleast keep up yoga while I'm gone.

I'm realizing how much I have to do before leaving. I made a list this morning and I'll make a pack list today. I have no idea when I'll get home from class tonight so I'm betting all must get done after gym tomorrow and Saturday morning. My bus doesn't leave until 12:45 on Saturday so I'm planning to get all done on Friday and just be an energizer bunny.

Have a groovy day everybody!

Leona Lewis needs a new song

Or at least that was my waking thought this morning as "Bleeding Love" was the song that was playing. I did like this song when it first came out but now it makes me want to switch stations.

Yoga was excellent last night we did a lot of restorative poses so opening up the chest, stretching the back. I slept like the dead last night.

The cheesecake looks fantastic and smelled incredible so I was very happy to have to leave the house for yoga

I was recording Biggest Loser but I wound up watching most of it before and after yoga. I liked the Grey team but it makes total sense game wise as to why they were voted off. I was a bit surprised to hear Heba say that Colleen was a big threat. Of course the girl has heart and drive but technically not as much weight to lose as some of the others. Totally disappointed in the Orange team for going back on their word to the Grey team. Hmmm...I think Heba is the one to watch in terms of game play. I loved it when after the slip n' slide challenge her husband said "I get to call the dog".

A lot of those recipes looked really good that they made. I'll definitely check if they post them.

All my gym stuff is with me today so we shall see if I get a training session tonight.

Have a great day everybody.

The picture of patience

So my lovely first gym session with the trainer didn't exactly go as planned.

I got home, changed and zipped to the gym (15min fast paced walk). I got there and ready 15min before my scheduled appointment. So I sat and observed the other gym goers for 15min. Then I see this girl go by me with a clip board talking to another gym goer. Hmmm...she sounds like Jenny. This is at 6:05.

So at 6:15 I go to the desk and say I'm here to see Jenny. A look of a wee bit of panic is on the face of Natalie (the manager) who at this moment is training a new employee. So she explains that they're a bit behind today could I go do 15min warm up on one of the machines and come back. So I go to do that (3.5 walk on the treadmill for 15min). I go back to the desk and who I have now guessed is Jenny is doing fit tests with two new people. Hmmm....so I wait. When she steps away I ask are you Jenny? She says yes, I say I'm you're 6:15- again panic. I say this as yet another person is waiting for Jenny also.

Do I get angry? No, I look at her and say alright. How about I come back on Wed and Fri and then get an additional session on Mon Oct 6 as I'm away the week in between. A look of total relief crosses her face and thanks me for being so understanding.

I discovered that they were short a person and with so many new renewals (Last year they offered one year at $199 so now all those people are renewing their memberships) they had an abundance of people scheduled for the fit test. I'm in staffing, I understand.

I did observe that measurements and determining your body fat percentage are part of the fit test...oh joy.

So I went to Safeway picked up the ingredients I need for the cheesecake and walked home at a fast pace. In all that's 45min of cardio. Not too shabby.

I will be at the desk 15min before my scheduled appointment on Wed. just so everyone knows I'm there.

I picked up a Lean cuisine mushroom steak panini for supper and did have a few Oreos (ingredient for the cheesecake). However before anyone gets all bad cop. I had the pts (Flex) for it and I tracked in my journal before I ate them. Last week I would have eaten then written it down.

As of the scale this morning 1lb down and still on track.

Tonight 90min of yoga.

So stay tuned on for that recap of the fit test ...

Modern Technology

Update:Almost caved in and got a chocolate bar this afternoon, but then stopped myself and said you can have your afternoon snack at 4pm..tada I did it!

At 8am this morning I was at the dermatologist for my annual skin check (melanoma scare 5 years ago-ish, lucky for me caught early and now have a snazzy scar on my arm that sort of looks like a stab wound...which would probably make for a more dramatic story)

I'm all clear for another year and he froze a sunspot on my cheek which will apparently crust over and fall off (doesn't look so bad right now, I had pictured something much worse) and he took off a skin tag on my shoulder and then lasered it. This all happened in 5 minutes.

Being scrutinized while naked is embarrasing but better than being dead. I have my next year's appointment booked and I can't help but wonder where I'll be weight wise by then.

Looking forward to the first day with trainer tonight, which also means there might be mulitple posts today. I get a "fit" assessment, that should be interesting. I strongly suspect the results will be similar to the last one I did - strong lower body, wimpy upper body. So my appoinmtent is at 6:15 so I left all the gym stuff at home. I should be able to get home by 5:30 change and zip to the gym (15min walk at least) so there's my warm up.

I need to make a birthday cake this week and was going to make it for Friday (the actual birthday of the individual) but now they've requested Wednesday instead. So now I need to pick up the ingredients after gym and make it before yoga tomorrow. Oy vey, I'm going to make a cheesecake as those are pretty fast and I'm good at those.

So on to BLBE things...my excuses and challenges.

Tired - for sure I can make all sorts of plans but if I hit the couch first it's doomed.
Bored - snack attack heaven, and then I always eat then track it after the damage has been done.
I can be a bit of an all or nothing thinker myself. Blew a day there goes the week sort of thing.

So the going forward for me is:
Don't give myself a chance to sit down, either go straight to the gym or go home change and straight to the gym or if it's not gym - change and straight to whatever activity.

When I feel a snack coming on, truly evaluate if I'm hungry and drink some water. Evenings can be bad for me so if I have trouble resisting then go straight to bed.

If there's a slip, get back on the wagon the next meal not the next day.

Yesterday I put all of the challengers blogs into my bloglines so I have a one stop read and someone was saying how they divide the ice cream into half cup servings. OMG that's genius and never occured to me. I'm not sure we have the half cup Glad containers in Canada.

So Food for the day:
Breakfast
Oat bran - 1
1 tbsp Brown Sugar - 1
1/2c blueberries - 0.5
1c Milk- 2

A.M Snack
coffee (light evap milk and sugar) - 3
yogurt and 1/2c blueberries - 2.5

Lunch
Salad with 2oz turkey and 0.5 oz walnuts - 4

Dressing - dip fork into dressing then into salad so will track this afterwards. It's a light dressing so probably no much. It's truly amazing how little dressing you use doing it this way.

PM Snack
cheese and apple - 3pts

So that leaves me 7 for supper post gym (not including whatever dressing works out to but I'm betting it's less than 2). So let's say 6 for supper. Which is completely reasonable.

We'll see activity point wise this evening, not sure if that will factor in.

I do strongly believe in eating your APs and FPs, when I go back and look at past weeks I've always done better when I eat those. Now mind you that's my metabolism, everyone is different.

I'm totally thinking at the end of this challenge we should have BLBE t-shirts :)

Later!

Day one of BLBE

That's Biggest Loser: Blog Edition (BLBE) in case you didn't know. The challenge is now closed with something like 70 participants. Whoo hoo, this will be good. I think at the end of this we owe something to Angie for tracking all that so put your thinking caps on. If you didn't make the cut off don't feel bad, just follow along just as millions do with the tv show Biggest Loser. The only person who will be successful at this is the person who decides they will be succesful at this.

If you decide to fail or succeed, you will. I don't want to see this girl ever again.

I had to get creative to get a body shot, this is me standing on my bed so you could get a somewhat version of my before self.

Alright yesterday I woke up and weighed myself on my bathroom scale before heading to weigh in. 188.4...yuck. That's 2.4 gain over last week and I know why. For the last 3 days I had not really been paying attention to what I was doing as I knew starting Sunday there would be no more excuses. I did have the breif thought of maybe I can lose 3lbs on the way to Starbucks before going to my meeting. Of course that didn't happen but I did lose .2 as my official weigh in was 188.2. As I stood on that scale (it's about a 20min walk to weigh in) I looked at my leader and said "It's been an interesting week" and she asked "Did you enjoy it?" and I looked her and said yes and today starts new day.

This week will be crazy I have 3 meetings with my trainer at the gym on Mon, Wed and Fri. All at 6pm which is about half an hour later than I would normally start a workout. Tuesday will be 1.5 hours of yoga. Thursday I have class from 6-8:30 so no workouts that day. On Saturday and Sunday I will fit in some kind of activity, not necessarily the gym but something to complement what I'm doing. Yesterday I walked for about 3hrs and I saw a loss on the scale this morning already. Today I'm cleaning my house and doing yoga.

The meeting with the trainer will determine my starting upper body, lower body and core workouts. Jenny definitely seems popular. As I was waiting to sign up on Friday there were a few people looking for her. OMG the sign up was funny. I was talking to a different girl and within 5 minutes I knew her life story.

So I have lunches, dinners and snacks planned for next week. I'm paying attention to my protein as I don't get enough of that. Workouts are planned for next week. On Saturday the 27th I'm gone for 6 days without a computer (middle of the country and no internet). I can still make weigh in on the 27th but I won't be able to make the Oct.4 weigh in as I'm writing a test from 9am to 11am. However my home scale is awfully on target with the weigh in scale as you can tell from the start of this entry so that will be my back up plan. My Dad is cooking for those 6 days so that will also be interesting. The good thing is there are no snacks at Dad's house. It's home cooked protein and veggies. I'm bringing my extra yoga mat to just leave there so I don't need to cart back and forth. If I could just pick up a wi fi signal out there I'd report in via Itouch.

Now absolutely I will share all that I learn in this journey with all of you. I'm not thinking of this as a competition as I'm hoping all of us at the end of this feel like Biggest Losers.

Life happens so plans can change but what I promise of all of you is that if I need to make a change to a planned workout I will also tell you my make up plan. I now consider myself completely accountable to all of you BLBE folks.

We should get t-shirts :)

Hugs to all and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

The Challenge Begins!!!!!

See logo on the right?, it's a growing community of people tired of spinning their wheels and ready to go in whole hog. Click on it and it will take you to the challenge home blog where you too can join. Challenge finishes on Dec. 27, 2008. So that's 14 weeks starting Saturday. I think I'm going to set my goal at 30lbs from whatever I weigh in at on Saturday.

Huge giant shout out to Angie for taking care of all this, she's a superstar!

I've made my decision to re-join Spa Lady, a gym is a gym and there all the same as long as you go...right? I'm excited about having someone else design my routine. If I could remember the girls name I'd drop in tonight and sign up. Perhaps, I'll call and see if they can tell me who called me...I shall look into that. Update: I'm going to see Jenny after work and re-sign up, what better motivation then the Biggest Loser : Blog Edition challenge.

Oy vey this week has been tough, snackapalooza thanks to TOM has been a challenge. Yesterday was weird because I didn't get dinner until 9pm. Weigh in should be interesting.

My success in this challenge will be directly determined by food and exercise. Now I'm getting exercise sorted now it's food's turn. I definitely need to take advantage of the weekends to sort out my weeks. So this evening I'll plan my grocery list carefully.

Now I'm away for a week not next week but the week after. My main purpose for that week is to prepare for the National Knowledge Exam. I'm going to my Dad's which means no control over food but apparently I'm assisting with loading fire wood on to his truck and then off of his truck. That's definitely exercise.

Alright so that's all I got for today, have a groovy day.

Later!