Saturday of a long weekend

I made a conscious effort to take a picture of all my food today and can I say I have huge respect for all of you who do this all the time. I almost forgot to snap a picture a number of times.

The start of my day was my weightwatcher’s meeting. Hardly anyone there today which is typical for a long weekend and summer actually.

I always get breakfast at Starbucks as I don’t eat before I weigh in. Today it was my traditional Grande NF Caramel Macchiato and their Reduced Fat Turkey Bacon/ Egg White English Muffin.

I was up .4 today which I knew was going to happen. Last week I tried an old strategy of mine that worked before and I learned it from a person in my meeting who had lost over 100lbs. The strategy is simple Saturday is treat day. Eat whatever you want. I did track all week as in everything so that’s huge win for me.

Last week I had the Buttermilk Blueberry Muffin with my drink and I ordered a pizza and bread sticks. I used all of my WP in one day. The rest of the week was good I got lots of activity I still tracked everything. Thursday was my downfall went completely off plan – still tracked it. I knew a loss this week would be a miracle.

I still treated today as treat day but not hog wild. For example by having the English muffin I got a good protein source vs. the muffin and didn’t feel the need to snack all day.

Around noon I did get a little hungry so had hummus with some 60% WW French bread. I picked up a few magazines today too.

I had a handful of these as well. Chocolate Graham cracker Fish – 25 Fish for 2 ProPoints. These are yummy, not super sweet at all but it’s definitely wise to count out 25 or you could nosh away.

I then made some veggie chili to freeze so I have handy lunches to pack for Monday or a quick dinner on Thursday when I get home.

Super easy recipe. Half an onion, a red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper chopped up and sautéed a little. Add a can of diced tomato, tomato sauce, kidney beans and pinto beans and one pack of Old El Paso Chili seasoning and done. I let it simmer for a few hours so it reduced to a thicker consistency. If I split this into 6 servings it’s 2 ProPoints each.

My treat today was cinnamon rolls. These are Pillsbury as I’ve been craving a good cinnamon roll. I ate 2 but they weren’t as fabulous as I was hoping. I should have stopped at one but they smelled so good.

For dinner I wanted to have chili but combine it with the 100 cal packs of Wholly Guacamole that I found on Friday. The only I could think of was Chili nachos.

This was a massive portion, I ate half as most of my nachos were soggy so I guess a good thing so I didn't scarf it all. I was impressed with the guacamole you get a fair bit for 100 calories.

I also picked up the last bottle of Grapefruit Perrier on the shelf of my grocery store. They had two packs of six but as I had never had it before so I just got one bottle. Thanks to Jamie for blogging about it as I had no idea it existed.

I did attempt to go to Zumba and Iron Reps today but I forgot that my gym has no classes on long weekends. It doesn’t matter that the actual holiday is on Monday. I decided to try a run/walk but I had the wrong shoes. For running and walking I have Mizuno Wave Alchemy shoes as I overpronate. Today I had my Nike Free Cross Trainers which are far better for Zumba and weight training. My gymboss battery was dead as well. I spent 20min on the treadmill and just wasn’t into it. I still got 87min of walking in today as I not only walked to WI and back, 20min on the treadmill and then I took the neighbours dog for a half hour walk.

Today was definitely a higher point day but tomorrow won’t be and I’m committed to seeing a loss next Saturday.

I picked up protein powder today. I’ve been meaning to for awhile but get overwhelmed at all the varieties. One of my friends recommends this one. I didn’t use any today but I think a Green Monster will be in my future tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will take myself outside for a run/walk and I’m seriously thinking about taking myself to the movies as well. I’m going a little stir crazy as I just spent a whole week at home.
Hope you had a fabulous Saturday.
Hugs!!!

A day in the life in camp

Hello my friends,
So my photo food journaling lasted till lunch as I wound up going out for dinner when I got off the plane. That’s not unusual as I tend to not have a lot of groceries when I get home but I got distracted by good friends and conversations.
I thought I’d also give you a little insight into my life at camp.
The next few pics are my camp room and you can see I’m totally spoiled note the fridge, microwave, coffee maker and flat screen.

This is the view when you walk in the door. Pretty nice huh. These are what we call permanent rooms as I’m permanently based at site.

My old room was a little closer to everything as the perm rooms have recently been built, now I have a bit of a walk to the kitchen. This is hallway one.

This is hallway 2

And then hallway 3

There is one more hallway that I didn’t take a photo of as there were people in it and out of respect they’re at work and don’t need to be featured on this blog. All in all it takes about 7min in total and when the winter can get to –45C you very much appreciated that everything is indoors as this links me to the kitchen, the gym and the theater (yes we have a theater so you see I’m totally spoiled. Every once in awhile I have a burning desire to do a cartwheel as they’re pretty big hallways but since I haven’t done since I was 14 I always decide against it.

Apologies for the angle but this was breakfast yesterday that’s one poached egg, multi-grain toast, milk and strawberry yogurt. I’ve been having this rather recently as I typically go for the hot cereal of the day. It changes daily. As it’s a cafeteria you do have to eyeball everything portion wise. One day when I was home I measured out half a cup of yogurt and counted the teaspoons as I ate it. So I didn’t eat all of the yogurt I stopped when I hit half a cup.
When I get to my desk I have cup of coffee with flavoured creamer that I bring from home as I can’t drink coffee black and flavoured creamer doesn’t need any added sugar so I save a few points. I’m normally a cream and sugar kind of girl.

After breakfast I eat breakfast in the cafeteria I go to the attached pack lunch kitchen and assemble my lunch.

This is what I grabbed yesterday. It’s some raw broccoli and cauliflower, grapes, spicy pickles and a banana. You might think this was an odd lunch but it was just components.

This was the final lunch, I steamed the broccoli and cauliflower in ziplock steamer bags (I love these). I had brought up frozen turkey meatloaf muffins previously. Normally I’d have two and I package them in twos but I had one single so I had it. The spicy pickles and some hot mustard round up the plate.
The pack lunch kitchen has a variety of premade sandwiches and some pre-portioned heat up meals. I did briefly consider the chili but my home made meatloaf can’t live in the freezer forever. We have multiple kitchens in the office complex so you can keep things there. I’ve brought up spicy mustard (I’m a mustard snob), light mayo, fig/balsamic dressing as staples to keep so I’ll often get the ingredients for a chef salad (hard boiled egg and salad fixins) or I’ll make a peanut butter banana sandwich or grab the premade peanut butter/ jam sandwiches. I do like to build my own sandwiches by just so I can track exactly what’s on it.
The grapes were my morning snack and I kept the banana for the afternoon but it wound up coming home with me.
Remember how I told you I keep chocolates on my desk well I was out and a very kind higher up guy brought me supplies as he didn’t think it was fair that I was supplying that on my own. Well my afternoon snack wound up being some Hershey kisses.
After I landed I made my way to Craft Beermarket for dinner with C and M. I had their house soup that was a cheesy spicy concoction with a side salad. We all split their dessert which was not the beer infused cupcake I’ve been wanting to try but rather two cookies with Fruitesse (a fruit beer) infused icing. It was o.k. They don’t carry the cupcake anymore.
Today I had intended to go to zumba and iron reps but I had an afternoon nap that went way longer then I thought it would so I’ll catch those classes tomorrow. I did go grocery shopping this morning and walked both ways.
So mega long post today hope you like it. I hope you all had a great Friday.
Hugs!!!

Back at work

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Saturday. 

Well I was spending a whole lot of time with the dog. It was a good week and I enjoyed having a little buddy. I was quite sad to put her in her house last night. I got used to having her around. 

This is her waiting for me to drop something while I ate lunch. She looks like she's falling asleep.

The fact is as long as I'm on a fly in fly out schedule pets are not an option unless I happen to find a man with a dog but that's on the back burner while I work on me. 

The week has gone well weight loss wise. All I did was track, had a few trips to the gym but mostly walked the dog twice a day for 30min each time. 

It was a rude awakening when my alarm went off at 4am as I did go back to work today. I had some nice welcome backs so that was nice. 

My fly up day is by far a difficult day food wise. This was my day in food:

4:20am Cup of pear juice (normally milk but I was out)

8:00am Oatmeal with 1 tbsp of brown sugar and a cup of coffee with flavoured creamer

12:00 Banana/ Peanut Butter sandwich and yogurt

3:00 Applesauce

3:30 One thin rice crisp

5:30 Gym - walked treadmill for 30min

6:00 Cajun meatloaf with green beans and side salad

6:30 Macaroon and sugar free cookie

My stomach was grumbling when I was on the bus to camp but I knew if I ate dinner first I'd be too lethargic to get on the treadmill. The serving staff gave me 2 slices of meatloaf but I ate one as the NI said it was 8pts and one slice was a good size and looked to be the 142g serving size.

I should probably try to eat something a little more substantial earlier so next week I'll try toast as I think I can handle that at 4am. 

I also started a list today of food to bring next week like healthy snacks and since I now have a fridge in my camp room some good options if there's nothing a dinner I like or I miss it. 

I stuck to walking on the treadmill today as that's been the trend for the past few days. On Friday I plan to go to Iron Reps and Zumba at the gym. Tomorrow will be a rest day as I won't get home till 7pm. 

I always intend to take photos but usually remember after I've eaten. I'll attempt that tomorrow. This weekend  I plan to post some pictures of my life at camp so stay tuned for that. 

Hope you had a fabulous last week and Monday.

Hugs!!!

Want Power

I did manage to set my alarm so I didn't sleep through weigh in.

Took the dog for a walk first and then explained to her that I couldn't bring her to the meeting. Oh man the look she gave me made me feel so guilty. Yes this dog is ruling my life. I'll miss her when she goes home but I can still visit.

Was down 2lbs which was great especially after Stampede. I have 15 coupons and I need to make them count as I got a little derailed over the past couple of weeks. This week I tracked and exercised. Food wasn't perfect by any sense of the imagination but it was tracked.

The meeting wasn't as full as normal but I doubt it will be until September. We talked about summer food i.e. BBQ. I don't run into that too often.

Tony (my leader) told a story about an event he went to with loads of wings, poutine etc. He had a tuna burger and didn't eat the bun plus scraped off the mayo. He had a friend there who is trying to lose weight. He's also known for loving wings. His friends kept offering him all the foods they knew he loved. He told Tony that he must have awesome will power to eat what he was eating. Tony said it's not will it's want. Tony said he wants the lean body he has now vs the wings.

Tony also told us today that his driving energy to lose weight was primarily vanity, to be healthy was of course part of it.

Two things struck me today. One was the want power, my want power has been a little lacking so I need to take a hard look at that. The second thing was the vanity. I think that was pretty brave of Tony as I know that's a motivator for me as well. I'm tired of dressing to camouflage. I want to be cute not frumpy (which is often how I feel). I want to have fun clothes shopping. Of course I also want to be healthy and strong. What I really want at goal is to build a whole new wardrobe and that smacks of vanity. Right now it doesn't matter what gets me there it's about getting there.

I hope you had a great Saturday and on to a new week.

Hugs!!

Cleaning the barn?

Hello my friends,
Yesterday I decided to mow the lawn. Last weekend my lawn mower would not start so my backyard which is pretty big was reaching juggle status. I managed to get it started after using the instructions my Dad gave me and oy I was a sweaty mess when done. I dutifully went to my WW app on my iphone to log it in. What I do find funny is lawn mowing is not listed as an activity yet cleaning the barn is. Don't get me wrong cleaning the barn seems like a handful of an activity but in the whole scheme of the universe are there more people mowing lawns then cleaning barns? In the end I discovered vacuuming and cleaning the barn earned the same activity points so I counted the same for mowing the lawn for an hour.

So far so good with the dog Sally. I'm sure she's finding it awfully quiet with just me and not two kids and two adults running around. She's actually a pretty good workout partner as she does her business at the start of the walk and then just struts and keeps me going a good pace. She like to race around corners for some reason.

I'm also discovered she likes tomatos, lettuce and bananas. Whenever I make a meal she's nailed to my side. I couldn't understand why she was getting excited about my cereal with banana. I gave her a slice out of curiosity and she gobbled it straight up. I of course then raced to my computer to see if that was even safe to give a dog. It's alright but not big amounts. Her fancy dog treats are made with it, hence why I didn't think it was too much of a big deal.

My instructions say to feed her around 4pm. She likes to do this slamming her food bowl thing when she wants something and that doesn't happen at 4. I fed her at 3pm the last few days. I'm a morning person so for all I know I've created a whole new schedule for her.

The other favourite activity is let's race around the living room with a toy and chase me. She doesn't fetch, she'll go get it and then run around the room like your chasing her. She wants you to chase her. Apparenlty her favourite toy is one I gave her. I think my relationship with this dog could be classified as Godmother.

Today I left her alone in my house for the first time when I went to the gym. She did well, as far as I can tell nothing has been destroyed in anger. She was so happy to see me. Tomorrow I head into work for a meeting that I didn't want to miss so only two hours. Technically I'll be gone for closer to 4-5, she can be left for up to 6-7 but I know that's rare in her world.

Right now she's sleeping on the couch next to me and her little paws are twitching. I wonder what she's dreaming about.

I now have 3 versions of Iron Reps recorded. Today's class was aweome. Totally different crowd from Monday, this was younger and fitter. The instructor Gloria must body build as she was built and had the tan and blond hair. I think I'll record Saturday with the regular instructor and then I'll have a clean version to write out or use as a podcast to do the workout at site.

Tonight I upped my weights for back, squats and shoulders. Triceps I'm working on it. I thought I might have gone a little low on biceps but I was wiped by the end so I think I was good.

With the two dog walks and the walk to and from the gym I had 70min of walking plus the 60min of Iron Reps.

Tomorrow it will probably just be dog walking in the morning and afternoon.

The scale is moving in the right direction so just trying to take it day by day.

Hope your last few days went really well.

Hugs!!!

Iron Reps - Monday version

Today felt more like the first day of my vacation as my alarm didn't go off at 4am. I did get up a little early as I didn't get mopping the floors down yesterday and I wanted it out of the way.

Then it was off to the gym. I have a bit of a mission this week and that's to try out a whack of Iron Reps classes at my gym. It's a full body weight class. You work on a body part per song using free weights. I'm trying to voice record a version I can use with my friend K at site. I've decided this is the way I like weight training - one class whole body. Now I just need to be able to do it a few times a week even when I'm at site.

I tried it on Saturday but the instructor was new and messed up a lot. So I went to this mornings class.

It started at 9:30 and I got there a little early so I walked on the treadmill. My original plan was to run/walk but I had 20min before the class started. At 9 I see all these people setting up there stuff. Later I discover this is apparently a very busy time slot in a suburban gym. There were people zipping in really close to the start and the instructor even mentioned come September you won't get a spot in the class if you're not there early.

It went well. I upped my weights a bit on the warm up, back track, squats, lunges. I did walk there and back plus 20 min on the treadmill.

It did feel like I was in a room with soccer moms, nothing against soccer moms just a whole lot of conversations about kids. Kim who taught the class today is apparently a veteran but she messed up a few times too. I'm thinking the cleanest version might be the class I do now on Saturdays with the regular instructor.

I'll go again on Wednesday morning for Jivka's class. I've had her for Zumba and sometimes had a hard time understanding her so we'll see how that goes. There's also the option of going to the 5pm class and doing Zumba right after. I've heard good things about the instructor for that class. The nice thing about morning classes is it's a wee cooler. Today it was 31.

There's no classes that really appeal to me tomorrow and I need to get back into run/walk so that's the plan for tomorrow.

Today I also picked up the dog. The neighbours are off on a Disney cruise to Alaska. The dog was completely unfazed and is right back into the swing of staying at my house. This will be longest time together as I've normally watched her for a few days not a whole week and a bit.

She must be within 3 feet of me at any given time. She got super excited about my dinner though she had already eaten hers. She scarfed hers down. I had a grilled pork cutlet with some sauteed onions and steamed green beans. She gave me the pitiful look. I gave her a green bean thinking she wouldn't eat it. I was mistaken.

We had a very quick around the block walk in the afternoon as it was super warm for her and me. I'll take her for a longer one in the morning tomorrow. Maybe I will try the afternoon classes and focus on some yard work and dog walking in the morning. We'll see how the day and threat of thundershowers go.

I discovered my newest love at the grocery store recently

The mini version ice creams! I think they're new to Canada. Yes this little baby still clocks in at about 7 propoints but what I like about Haagen Daz is it has ingredients I can pronounce. This flavour - Chocolate Peanut Butter is to die for.


Normally if I happen to have Haagen Daz or Ben and Jerry's in the house (which is rare but if it's on sale)  I eat it out of the container and "eye" the serving size. As you can probably guess that never works out. These mini sizes keep my portion control with ice cream in check. There is also a Skinny Cow, Real Dairy and Nestle Sundae. I have a selection in the freezer. NI is on every container too.

I'm going to tune in for The Bachelorette home visits and that's probably the best part of the whole show. So far Ashley just annoys me and I haven't watched it in a while. Then it's a new episode of Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition #EMWLE. I'll be on get glue for that one.

Hope you had a groovy Monday.

Hugs!!!

Staycation begins

I forgot to weigh in yesterday, yes I know that sounds strange but I got my days mixed up and I was so tired I slept in. That's the effect of Stampede when you're old and tired plus the crazy schedule I've had lately. All I did Friday was go out for lunch but I wound up staying downtown till dinner time and I was knackered and in bed by 8pm and I still slept in. I was also a little distracted on Saturday because I was going to Wicked.
M and I went to Chili's for lunch yesterday as it was close to the theater and while they have a giant menu it's a nutritional mindfield. I had the Quesadilla Explosion Salad and it clocked in at 26 propoints. I did plan for it be the biggest meal of the day and I wound up going into weekly points for that. I should have maybe gone with the chili. I watched entrees go by and they all seemed huge.

Wicked was awesome, both M and I have read the book so we weren't expecting so many deviations from the book but it was a wonderful performance. Elphaba and Glinda where incredible.

Today was all about housework, laundry and grocery shopping. I had originally planned a big grocery shop as I'm home till next Tuesday on vacation but then I had another idea. The last time I was in Germany visiting my cousins I noticed they all had small fridges like bar size. Mind you space is not the same as in North America. What they do there is shop more often so it's no uncommon to pop into the market on the way home and pick up dinner.

My plan is to go to the gym everyday this week which happens to be next to the grocery store. Back when I was based in Calgary I'd do the mega shop but I'm not a good a meal planning for more than 2-3 days a time in advance. I can't decide today what's for dinner on Friday. I went today and just focused on meal plans for the next few days. I did walk there and back. It was super warm out and when I got home after carrying a knapsack full and 3 bags of groceries I was tired. I did wind up with a bit more then I expected but my Safeway finale had the Fibre Select tortilla chips in stock (it's been months) and I picked up a few staples.

Today's lunch was a bacon and tomato sandwich and supper was scrambled eggs with steamed asperagus. I started the day with some Multigrain Cheerios. I might have some cherries for dessert as I wait for the laundry to dry.

Right now I'm watching Big Brother, I haven't watched a season in ages but it is perfect summer fluff. I watched the Women's World FIFA finals today and was thrilled Japan won. I just thought it was so inspiring to see the underdog win and after Japan has had so much devistation what a nice thing to have something to celebrate.

Tomorrow the workout will be a run/walk and Iron Reps with an instructer I've never seen. After the gym I need to pick up the neighbours dog as we'll be hanging out together until next Tuesday.

I will definitely be going to my meeting this week that's for sure.

Hope you all had a great weekend and I'll be back tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

Whirlwind Week and a bit random

I can't believe I haven't blogged since last weekend, well I can as this week as been busy.
Monday night I sold 50/50 tickets at camp after dinner for the United Way and then played badminton for an hour. I wound up in a doubles game with 3 people who are far superior players and at one moment I was coached by all 3 (slightly annoying) but in the end I held my own. I did manage to get those cupcakes up to site but there was a slight issue getting them out of the overhead compartment as they got tangled up with someone's back pack. I was jokingly accused of holding up the unloading of the plane. There must have been 6 of us with bags of 18 cupcakes and they were completely sold out by 11am. That's 3 hours of sales.

Tuesday was a long night with meetings till 9pm. The mini fridge in my room seems to be communicating with aliens as it makes noises all the time. Next day on the bus into work a co-worker asks me if I read the instructions...that would be no. Apparently I need to turn it on max cooling for a week and then set it to the temperature I want. Not sure if that will fix the noises but my fridge at home doesn't make noises like this.

Wednesday flew home an hour later than my normal Thursday flight and I was exhausted.

Thursday went into work in the morning and then it was off to the corporate Stampede party. It started at noon and I got home a midnight. I walked one of my friends out of the event a the Cowboys tent and then they wouldn't let me back in because it was past 6pm so my armband no longer granted me access. O.k wasn't aware of that rule so I went to the casino next door and texted my friends that they'd find me there. I would up winning $150 so the evening was alright. We went for dinner at 10pm and then I went home.

Today it was lunch with friends I haven't seen in ages.

One thing that's a little irritating during Stampede is that the restaurants offer a paired down menu to handle the volumes of people cycling through their restaurants.

Add into this PMS and the emotional brain completely ruled this week. Workouts non-existent due to my schedule. Could I have done better? Of course.

It was also a bit of an emotional week. I have two friends/ co-workers doing through difficult times and my heart is with them and you do feel a bit helpless that you can't help more.

I did pick up Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook last weekend but haven't had too much opportunity to dig in. That will happen this weekend.

Tomorrow it's off to Wicked, totally looking forward to that.

My Stampede is officially over and I'm looking forward to grocery shopping for the week so I can focus on the healthy.

A priority next week is to hit the gym everyday. At work I do wind up moving a fair bit just around the building and the 3 long corridors from room to the kitchen. At home not so much. Of course I'll be walking the neighbours dog for the next week as well. I want to take this opportunity to take advantage of classes at the gym that I normally can't due to being away for 4 days a week.

You're now up to date and regular blogging will be back on schedule.

Hope you all had a fabulous week!

Hugs!!!

The call of the yard

Gym got sacrificed for yard work today. My gym is only open for partial hours on Sundays which didn't help.
My lawn mower wouldn't start and I'm thinking I might need a new one so I grabbed the push mower to tackle it. That was a workout. I weeded flower beds and tamed a few trees. I'm just finishing off watering the lawn and then it will be on to laundry and dishes.

I did tell my Dad late on the symptoms of the lawn mower so there's one more thing to try but I'll wait till I'm home to see if the lawn mower can be saved.

A little while ago I became the caretaker of 4 dozen Crave cupcakes that are heading to work tomorrow for "Cupcake Monday", it's a fundraising iniative for the United Way. The person who thought it up does not have enough room in her fridge so a few of us are foster homes for cupcakes. I think she had 10 dozen in total. We get one person to carry one bag so we can get them on the plane.

We get to our offices at site by 8am and she'll sell out by just before 11am.

It's a very poplular fundraising intiative.

I've bought one the last two Mondays and then have salad for dinner. Hey it fits in the plan and I'm helping out the United Way in the end.

I hope you had a lovely Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Restart and Yahoo

Quite the day today.

Let me begin with weigh in. Last night I set my alarm to make sure I didn't sleep through all the meetings today.

I woke up before the alarm and had thought of going to the 2nd meeting as I normally get up 2hrs prior to WI. Then I thought screw it and got ready to go the first meeting.

You see I knew there'd be a gain and I was playing mental games with myself. Had I waited I probably would have talked myself out of going.

I did ask for a new WI book today. It wasn't my original plan but felt right when I got there. I kind of wanted to erase the last few weeks, clear my head and focus.

At the meeting one of the regulars told me I was looking good which was nice.

After the meeting I popped into the mall and picked up a few things then went to the gym. I wanted to go to Zumba. I got to the gym early so I hit the treadmill for 20min. After Zumba was Iron Reps. Add in the walk there and back and I earned 15 AP today.

Then later K and I hit the Stampede. 5 hours ish of walking around. There was some not so WW friendly food but Stampede is once a year and I worked out like crazy today. Everything in moderation.

Tomorrow is a run/walk day and I also must mow the lawn and play sprinkler Olympics.

Now feet are up and watching Glee Project. Next up is bed.

Hope you all had a fabulous Saturday.

Hugs!

A parade, a soccer game, kind of close to royalty and I finally have tv

Yesterday afternoon my coworker/friend K convinced me to go to the Stampede Parade today. I'm a native Calgarian - I've seen the parade multiple times, gone twice and generally avoid it after a few years of having to negotiate with crazy lawnchair people when you're just trying to cross the street and get to work.

I told her this had to be a military operation. So last night we went to Walmart and picked up lawn chairs and a few snacks. The reason I called it a military operations is also due to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

This morning I was up at the same time I am on Mondays to go to work - 4am. We were at the parade route by 6am after picking up breakfast from MacDonalds. We actually got pretty good spots when we got there.  This is K, armed with a coffee and good spirits at 6am.

Our spot, smack on 10th Street and 9th ave. The parade would actually be coming at from full front.

This is how close the traffic was until they shut down the streets.



The crazy lawnchair people, 2 seconds before this shot this street was empty. They closed the street to traffic and all these people ran into the middle of the road practially impaling each other with lawn chairs. I wish I had video taped it.

Self portrait as we waited for Will and Kate to travel the route in reverse 9th ave to 6th as opposed to 6th ave to 9th ave.

Not Will and Kate but one of their security detail. The were in an identical vehicle right behind this one but there 3 identical cars plus a black SUV so you couldn't tell which one they were in until it was too late. They were moving quick, probably due to security but a bit of a let down.

Then it was a long wait until the parade started.

The Calgary Stampede Show Band that kicks off every parade.

Pretty freaky to see a tank coming straight for you. They did stop and do a spin and then spun the gun turret. A bit portion of the crowd watching (including my self) gave them a standing ovation. We appreciate our Canadian Troups.

Lots and lots of horses, this was the Stampede Royal Court i.e. Queen and Princesses.

Even the street cleaners get dressed up for Stampede

We didn't stay for the entire thing as I had to hustle to my hair appointment and had to tackle the crazy lawn chair people to get to there. I did get to Aveda early so they told me to come back closer to the appointment time. I took that opportunity to find a couple western shirts. Yes, I'm a native Calgarian but my western wear is lacking. I picked up two shirts and two bandanas which I'll show you on another day.

Then I spent 90min getting a trim, students need their time. I then had to whip home as I was getting picked up to go to a bar in the NE to watch the Chile/Uruguay soccer game. Unique experience me and two other non Latin people. I did have some really good cheese empanadas and a special drink from Chile called "funjob" half beer/ half orange pop. I had something similar in Germany but it was beer/coke.

It was pretty wild the Chilean fans take their soccer very seriously. I was so tired from being up at 4am that I left right before the game ended.

Came home and called Telus, was on hold for 20min but got a lovely CSR person. I talked them into giving the activiation code as opposed to sending out yet another tech which would be next Friday. The weird part it worked until I tried to pvr something. The pvr wouldn't work so I unplugged the box and restarted. It asked me for the activation code again so I entered it and it didn't work. On a fluke I entered the original one and shazaam it worked.

I'm embracing weigh in tomorrow even thought there will be a gain but I need to go face that. I also picked up a sports nutrition book today so it's game on.

Whatever is on that scale tomorrow is just data.

Hope you had a fabulous Friday and apologies for the mega long post.

Tomorrow I'm heading down to the Stampede ( I go once every two years) and I promise photos.

Hugs!!!



Day 47 - geeked and dangerous

I am now completely unpacked in my new camp room. It's bigger that's for sure.

Apart from a kind of loud air conditioner it's kind of cool. I did have trouble sleeping last night due to the new sounds and new giant bed.

No idea what I'll put in the mini fridge but healthy snacks and dinner ideas might be an idea. It actually came with a mini ice tray.

The day was super long yesterday. I did hit the treadmill today but did not do as many intervals as I planned.

Yesterday I tried poached eggs for breakfast as opposed to hot cereal and it did keep me full longer. Today I went back to the cereal and I was snack hunting a few hours later.

This week my food behavior has been awful. Is there a full moon? Here I've built a training plan but I'm not eating like an athlete and there is my problem.

Two days in a row I've had a small bag of chips. Today it was BBQ right before I left for camp. I was not my best on the treadmill today and a lot of that was fuel. I felt lethargic.

That needs to end I need to think of the entire package as in working out with my training schedule and following a nutrition plan.

Soon I'll be on staycation and fending for myself food wise. I need to think of myself as an athlete in training.

That's my homework starting tomorrow.

Hope you had a great Tuesday and Wednesday!

Day 45 - a challenge?

I did something today I haven't done in awhile and what I generally avoid.

I joined the biggest loser challenge at work. My weight and measurements have been recorded and that was right after dinner and in jeans.

It started with a few of us discussing the challenge posters in camp. The prize an iPod. I have a few of those so not a big draw. We started discussing doing our own challenge and then it morphed into joining the camp challenge with side bets.

The rules are iffy. Weigh in weekly and take measurements weekly. Whoever loses the most weight/inches in 8 weeks wins. There are men and women competing. There's also something about attending 3-4 group classes a week. That's tricky as everyone is on a different shift. I'm doing my own exercise plan but apparently that's ok.

I'm not fond of group challenges but what the heck. I'm also on vacation during the 8 weeks but again the rules are iffy.

The measurements were odd too I.e shoulders, at the belly button, below the belly button, chest and hips. The shoulders and the two measurements around the ab area were really odd to me.

I figure why not create a support group at work and just roll with it.

After that I went to my room and packed. I have a good chunk of my room packed for my move tomorrow so I should be able to do it in 2 trips.

I did come up with a revamped personal challenge that will be two parts. Project Disney is the remaining 16 weeks before the 1/2 Marathon training. Project Sassy Fairy is for the last 14 weeks. I want to fly that course with a smile on my face.

So I'll keep counting days as the last 45 did lead to this.

Hope you had a great Monday.

Hugs!!!!

Day 44 - back on the path

Wow tomorrow will mark half way through my self created 90 day challenge. The first half hasn't been fantastic but I did get more consistent exercise.
Really I'm on to bit of a new challenge with the half marathon in January so maybe I should re-name my challenge. I'll have to give that a think.

I called Telus today to tell my sorry tale and bad news still no tv and good news the dude I talked to is talking to his manager to see what they can do for my inconvenience. The Xbox is looking unlikely but I had that as one of my rewards for weightloss goals anyway so I'll have one eventually. I hope by the time I come back on Thursday I'll have functioning digital tv.

Today's mission was to get to the gym and complete day one of 1:30-1:30 intervals. At first I thought I should mow the lawn but I knew if I did that I'd be tired and talk myself out of the gym.

I did 37min, 4.73km, 326 calories burned, pace 7:14-6:17 and HR 165-184. I do have a habit of checking the time every 30 seconds on the run part. At one point my mind was somewhere else and shazaam I had 10 seconds left in an interval. 30 seconds doesn't seem like much but it can feel like forever.

I also bought a badminton racquet today. There was a sign saying 20% off but when I got to the till the 20% didn't come off. The girl called the manager and apparenlty someone left a sign up they shouldn't have so I still got the deal.

Of course I also walked to the gym and then stopped off at the mall on the way back to pick up a few things and then walked home. I got home just seconds before this monster wind blew in and there was a bit of thunder but it looks like it passed.

I made an executive decision to leave the lawn for this weekend. It's a wee shaggy but it's supposed to be warm all week so I don't want to cut it and then have it dry out by the time I come home.

This weeks exercise plan is a bit mixed up. I'm not sure if I have to sell 50/50 tickets tomorrow as I expect quite a few people took Monday off as the Canada Day holiday fell on a day off for anyone on a 4 day on/ 3 day off schedule.

Tuesday I get to move camp rooms again but this time it's even more exciting because I go to my permanent room. This means I still get my own bathroom but a slightly bigger room with more storage. I'll also have a mini fridge, microwave and coffee maker. Not to mention a comfy leather chair as oppposed to a desk chair I have now.

I think Tuesday's workout will be moving rooms. My new room is pretty far from my old room as it's an entirely different wing. I'm going to wear my heart rate monitor and see how many calories are expended. Tuesday will also be a later day due to meetings. My 2nd run day will probably move to Wednesday. Maybe my badminton buddy would like to practice on Monday.

I also picked up a roll of under wrap that my super soccer star friend told me about. They use it as a headband and in competition it's the only headband they're allowed to wear as it stays put. I saw a glimpse of a woman's FIFA game and saw the girls wearing it. You just tear off a strip and use it like a headband.

I normally wear the stay put headband by goody but I noticed in badminton it slides off. It usually stays put for short run/walks but I do find myself re-adjusting it. A roll of is pretty cheap and there seems to be a lot of it so I'll test it out.

That's it for me today but I do want to wish all my American friends a Happy July 4th.

Hope your Sunday was fabulous!!!

Hugs!!

Day 43- Is customer service dead?

I pretty much spent the entire day reading or napping as I waited for Telus to arrive and install my upgraded internet so I could get Telus TV.
Of course it wasn't until 4:30pm that the tech arrived but c'est la vie.

Then it got annoying.

There was no Xbox with my order. The tech showed me the notes and apparently they told me I didn't get that because I was not a new internet customer. Nope, they didn't tell me that and I was getting it because I was a new TV customer.

The didn't tell the tech that the internet had to be upgraded so the tech had to run a new line into the house from the pole outside which I don't think he's getting paid for.

Thankfully the internet works. However the TV not so much.  My activation is not complete we discovered after the wonderful tech called in to see why the activation code wasn't working.

Tomorrow they will be dealing with a rather annoyed me. So annoyed that I'm blogging about it and tweeted about it. Don't mess with me when you give me crappy customer service.

Alas, yesterday was a lot of fun a Craft Beer Market.  It was great company with K, M, R and M. I'm really lucky to work with great people who are also my friends. I thoroughly enjoyed the strawberry twist (1/2 Big Rock Cider and 1/2 Fruili beer) as it's not super sweet nor super dry. It's an excellent refreshing drink for a summer day. I had really wanted to try the Crave cupcake specifically created for them with beer infused icing but they didn't have any yesterday. Oh well I'll definitely be going back and in fact I think this now ranks as my favourite bar to hang out in. It's huge and the 100 beers on tap is an engineering marvel.

Even though there were frustrations today I did not self medicate with food so that's a victory. Tomorrow it's off to the gym for walk/run day.

Hope your Saturday was more fun then mine.

Hugs!!!

Day 42 - Happy Canada Day and Duh!!!!

Earlier in the week I tried to coordinate some after work drinks for today forgetting it was Canada Day. In my defense as I fly to work and back I don't get statutory holidays instead I get floater days. I can choose to use the floater day on the stat holiday or on another day. As the majority of the stat holidays fall on a Monday I'm quite used to working on those days.
Of course today is Friday and my regular day off so that messed me up. The after work drinks are now a Canada Day event starting at 4pm today.

You see I also had plans for the gym and weigh in today as I can't weigh in tomorrow as I must wait for Telus to come install Optik TV and internet.

This morning I got dressed and went to the gym...it was closed...of course and then it hit me the WW meeting will also be closed. At least Safeway and Walmart were open so I could get my grocery shopping done.

There are no meetings on Sundays in Calgary so I guess I'm hooped for this week.

It has been a very busy week as I've discovered a new activity...badminton. My co-worker S convinced me to hit some birdies on Tuesday night. I did tell them I must first do my walk/run but then practiced badminton for an hour.

I was then encouraged to come to the gym on Wednesday which is actually badminton night in our work gymnasium and that started at 8pm. Up till 8pm people can use the gym for whatever they want

Tuesday was actually floor hockey night.

Wednesday Badminton night brings out the serious people. I practiced with S from 6:20 to 8pm and then played 3 sets when the serious people came.

I haven't played badminton since I was a teenager. We had a set when I was little but that wasn't really playing the game it was more about how many times you could hit the birdie without knocking it into a neighbours yard. I played as part of gym class in junior high.

I started off super rusty but found that I picked it up really well. I'm going to buy a racquet this weekend. On Wednesday everyone had their own racquet and the ones we have provided are kind of crappy with the tape coming off.

Food wise this week has been a wee rought but as opposed to last week I've tracked everything. I stuck to the workout plan with the exception of yesterday. When we landed K and I went for dinner as we were both hungry and neither had groceries. So when I got home I went to bed.

Today turned into a walk to groceries and back as opposed to a day 3 run/walk. What I'm doing now is straightening up my house for the Telus people tomorrow and of course Calgary Transit will be running Sunday schedule today I need to go downtown to meet up with my friends.

I own nothing red to be wearing today so I'm going to swing by Roots beforehand and see if I can pick up a Canada t-shirt.

Sunday I will stick to the schedule and go to 1:30 - 1:30 intervals of walk/run.

I do hope all my Canadian friends enjoy their Canada Day. I'm a first generation Canadian and so proud to be Canadian. Go have fun!