So Tired

This was a crazy week.

I went to two concerts and worked overtime for 3 days in a row. By the time Saturday hit I was exhausted.

On Tuesday I saw Michael Buble - he's so much fun live. The opening act was Naturally 7, I have never seen them before and they were amazing. It's a 7 guy accapella group and their ability to do instruments is mind blowing.

On Wednesday I went to Cher, and the opening act was Cyndi Lauper. Fantastic show.

I had to get a new lap top and for some reason my iphone photos don't upload so I can't share the bizillion photos I took.

At one point Cher came out in her Take Back Time outfit (remember the video on the naval vessel with all the sailors). Holy she look just as good in it now at 68 then she did then. Which inspired me to post a pic on Facebook and declare I want to grow up to be her.

I can't believe I've been at the new job for a month now it feels like much longer and the days go by so fast.

On Thursday I went to Lammles to pick up the cowboy boots I ordered. There was some trouble finding them in the store but the girls in the shop were great.

Stampede of course starts this coming Friday with the annual parade.

By Friday I was running on fumes.

On Saturday I went down for a nap at 10am and woke up at 3:30pm and completely missed weigh in. D'oh. My naps are usually 90 min tops. I obviously needed the rest.

I am working tomorrow as Canada Day lands on a Tuesday, I expect it to be quiet as many will take Monday off. I need every last vacation day to over the rest of the runs in 2014. Speaking of runs, Dumbo Doubledare is 2 months away and the cough that won't die plus crazy new schedule has not helped my training.

Excuses end now, and the gym is my destination after work tomorrow.

It's been fun to read all the FitBloggin posts. This year it was in Savannah. Last year I had bow out due to my Dad passing away, this year I couldn't justify it with all the runs I wanted to do. But next year it's in Denver, so way closer for me.

Now I should  go pack my gym bag.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Back to basics...again

I feel like my life has been on mute for awhile. 

I've had glimmers of being off mute but the button isn't completely off.

Take this week for example, while it was a rough week with the 1st anniversary of Dad's passing on the walk to the train this morning I felt like I was letting him down. 

I've been battling weight for essentially my entire life and while I've had success I feel like I've been in the longest slump. He certainly witnessed a big part of that battle and didn't understand why I battled. I want to get this done in honour of him so he can see from up there that I did it, I finally did it. 

Even with the loss last week that honestly I think was due to their scale being off. This week I bought lunch everyday and not only that breakfast, I had no plan. I haven't been to the gym in forever and the whole coughing thing since the Calgary Half has been my excuse. Though I have noted I don't cough much during those walks to and from the train station. 

This needs to stuff and I need to get back into control and back in the drivers' seat. I choose what is a priority, no one else. 

So tomorrow it's grocery shopping with plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No more buying and figure out when I hit the gym. I do work longer hours now so maybe I need to rethink and go first thing in the morning instead of after work, or keep after work but have meals planned in advance. 

I know I can do this so I need to just do it. 

I need to make a decision on the WW meeting. Tomorrow I'll go at 12:30 and make a final decision to either continue with this meeting or move to a different location that has an earlier meeting. I know this program works so I'm not abandoning it. I need to start following it 100% of the time. 

I need to start running again it's 68 days to Dumbo Doubledare let's get this patootie in gear. 

Do I feel defeated, heck no. I just need to remember why I want this and go after it. 

Aye Carumba

Again I go MIA for a week and  a half, the day after the half marathon I woke up with a sore throat and I’ve been a coughing fool since then plus sniffly. 

Last weekend was rough as it was my first Father’s Day without my Dad and as he passed on Father’s Day last year I don’t foresee this being a fun holiday for me. The actual one year anniversary was Monday and that day went much better then Sunday.

I laid low all weekend avoiding any interaction with Father’s Day, I had planned to go to Canadian Tire but then decided against it.

I just focused on rest.

The Thursday before I went to the walk in clinic to see if there was something I could do about the cough that won’t die.  After waiting for an hour I finally got in and I was the last appointment of the day.

The Doctor is from the UK originally and he made the observation that he notices a trend that in Canada colds have a longer period of coughing. Great.

He also suggested we drink more water as in 4L of water per day that is 16 cups. I thought about that and then tried to think how much time I’d spend in the bathroom.

He prescribed inhalers like puffers. I have never used a puffer in my life. He listened to my lungs and noted no wheezing and actually thought the lung capacity was not maximum. Ok the coughing doesn’t exactly help lung capacity. They took a throat swab too and said if the puffers don’t work next step will be antibiotics. I honestly thought that would be the first step.

I wound up with 3 puffers and the instructions to use them 3 times a day. I think the first few days were a wash as it took me awhile to get the rhythm of using them. Then the 3 times a day thing was iffy, at work I’m in meetings a lot and that would throw off my puffer times.

I do find when I’m not talking I don’t cough as much.

I haven’t gone for a run since the half and with the next one 70 something days away I want to get back at it. I actually find that during activity like walking to and from the train station I don’t cough or very little.

In terms of any improvement with the puffers not really but again my consistency with using them hasn’t been great. I’m still on the first one so I will make a consecrated effort to be better at it. 

In regards to Weight Watchers I attended my first 12:30pm meeting on Saturday, I still don't like the time but it was so nice to see everyone. What is it about Church basements that make them so oppressive. The room is tiny and very closed in. Still debating on going to a different location and the 7am meeting. Not sure what I'll do this weekend. 

|I was down 1.6 which was a surprise as that was off from my home scale and at the old location my scale was not that off from the WW scale so need to keep an eye on that.

So that's all I got, hope to be posting about getting my activity groove back on and making some fun healthy recipes for work lunches. 

Hugs!

A half marathon and belated Birthday

I didn't mean to go MIA for a week. In fact I was ready to write a recap of the Calgary Marathon 50th Anniversary but the day after the half I woke up with a cold and have been fitting a cough since then.

Let me go back to last Sunday. I caught the first C-Train in the morning to make my way down to the Stampede grounds and the start line. I wandered around a little that waited inside the Grandstand building as it was a wee chilly in the morning but I knew it would warm up. I kept to my no bag check policy, which in retrospect wasn't the greatest idea.

 Me in the corral. Now I am spoiled by all the RunDisney events I do so I kind of expect the same level of detail. There were 4 corrals in all - Elite, A, B and Open. My bib let me in B but I wasn't feeling 100% so I opted for open and moved to the back. The cut off time was something like 5 hours and I knew I would finish before that so corral placement wasn't so important.

 The amount of people in front of me in the corrals, now the corrals were not separated it was just one long mess of people.

The race started at 7am and as I made my way to the start line people were still loading into the corrals, it was chaotic.

The race itself wound it's way through Calgary streets. There were times I thought I was dead last as there was no one around me. This was kind of nice as I didn't need to dodge people. Later on I realized I wasn't dead last just had a pocket of emptiness.

There were a few people in costumes and by few I mean I saw 5 people out of 8000 or so in costume. The other observation I didn't see a single person wearing KT Tape which stuck out to me because at RunDisney events I see loads of people taped up.

 My dirty socks post race

 Tada I did it, in 3:19. My goal was under 3:30 as due to feeling blechy I walked the whole darn thing. Now my regret about no bag check. At the RunDisney events I'm usually relatively close to my hotel. I didn't factor in the two train rides home and the post race refreshments were a wee odd. They gave us bottled water, a juice box, piece of fruit, Spicy Marinara potato chips and oreos The big thing I failed to do is have a post race strategy for when I got home. I didn't have anything ready like chocolate milk in the fridge or a proper post race meal planned.

 Maybe not as blingy as a Run Disney medal but still pretty spiffy

In other news I finally got to put the Star Wars decal on my SUV.

Oh yes my birthday was on Tuesday but it was super low key as I felt blechy.

The week pretty much flew by as I fought the cold and I didn't go to WI this week as I was a coughing mess and thought I better lay low.

Today I ventured out for Church and a great visit with my friend T. Later it was a belated birthday celebration and off to Maleficient with my other great friend L. The movie was good but I wouldn't say great. It was a little slow in pace but Angelina Jolie is perfect as Maleficient.

When I got home it started to hit me that next weekend is the 1st anniversary of my Dad passing away. I guess it's technically next Monday but last year he died on Father's Day so that holiday is permanently linked to that even for me. Of course Father's Day ads have been around and I'm thinking they'll pick up over the week.

A part of me can't believe a year has already passed and how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. This week I'll be more conscious of feelings and probably be a bit more reflective.

The last thing I need to do is deal with his house and property so that will be the focus for now on as I finally feel as ready as I can to deal with that.

Be kind to yourself this week my friends, we all deserve that.

I shall call it X-Wing

Today was pick up my new Ford Escape day....I started grinning the moment I woke up.

Then I realized I was a total idiot. I told the dealership I wanted to pick it up at 9:30am not realizing that my WW meeting ends at 9:30am, duh.

So let me start with the WW meeting.

I walked in this morning and it was so sad, everything was packed up as starting Tuesday it moves to a new location.

My WI was great I was down 3 lbs.

The good part is that the new location is 5 minutes from house, the bad part is it's now at 12:30pm instead of 8:30am. We are not happy.

The whole thing that the people in my meeting like about early is because one you can weigh in before you eat anything and two you get it done early. Oh please if I need to weigh in at 12:30pm I'll be sleeping and still not eating beforehand.

We love our leader so we're all conflicted and gutted. and the calls to weight watchers shall begin to complain. Originally we were told 11:30am but they were still negotiating now it's 12:30pm...I'm torn. I hate the time, love the people plus my WW Trecker group is still working their way across Canada, we just passed Brandon, MB.

Yes there are other locations in the city with earlier meetings but that means the group will be broken up. So I'll go at 12:30pm next week and see how it goes. If I find difficult I'll change and really want to find a meeting close to a grocery store.

The meeting itself after we all stopped complaining was strangely aligned with what I was talking about yesterday.

We talked about anchors and we talked about focusing on the feeling of success, that would be the reward of the cue, routine, reward cycle I talked about yesterday.

What popped into my head was when I weighed in a few years ago at 168, that was my lowest weight ever and I felt fantastic.

Here is the Anchor I was talking about yesterday, yes that's two 10% key chains and a 25lb token. I've done it before I can do it again.

I bought this mini journal ages ago as I love lego but I realize it's perfect to record my "fall of plan" cues and I wrote When, What, Why on the top of the first page.

When does the cue hit?
What am I doing?
What rationale is running through my head?

After the meeting I ran to the dealership realizing my stupidity and called to apologize.

I did get there and got everything sorted out then had to wait a bit for my plate as the dealership faxed in the paperwork yesterday but I guess the closest registry agent has issues on Saturdays. There was another person waiting for their plate too.

I picked up my baby and I named it X-Wing, the Star Wars stickers will go on the back sometime next week. It's so pretty. I attempted the park assist but messed up and wound up parking 2 houses down, then I read through the manual and moved it to in front of my house. I want to run out and buy car accessories - is that silly or what. I'm imagining a plaid steering wheel cover at the moment.

Tomorrow is the Calgary Half Marathon so no shopping, I'm charging everything right now - as in the Garmin, ipod and iphone. Then I'll lay out everything and figure out what time I need to get up. Right now I'm thinking 3:45am so I can have a cup of coffee, use the bathroom and then go. I'm taking the C-Train as I suspect parking will be stupid with 30,000 people taking part this weekend. The Ultra Marathon, Marathon and Half Marathon all have the same start time of 7am, the 10K starts at 7:30am, the 5K starts at noon. Bag Check opens at 5:30am, so right now I'm planning to leave at 5:00am, I have switch trains downtown so I'm thinking it shouldn't take longer than 40min to get down there.

The corrals are A, B and Open, my bib says B. I 'm getting the feeling it  has nothing to do with expected finish time. At the expo I was actually surprised how long the line was for late registrations. The signage was horrible at the Expo so I'm hoping it's better on race day, still debating on bringing a check in bag. It just hit me there will be no Mickey Waffle after this rate. I guess I could take my sweaty self out for breakfast afterwards - in a booth by myself. I'll have to see what amenities will be there. I have a friend doing the 5K and I'd love to stick around and cheer her on.  Perhaps I'll bring a jacket, flip flops and body spray. The weather should be fantastic.

Hope your Saturday was great.

Cue, Routine, Reward

Cue, Routine, Reward

As I mentioned before I've been reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. 

I'm really enjoying it thus far and it's given me a lot to think about. 

It intrigues me that we can overcome a bad habit by creating a new one but the old one never truly goes away. 

The key to overcoming a bad habit is to  be aware of the Cue – what triggers it and keep the Reward – what you get out of it but change the routine – what you do. 

So my:

 Cue – I’m bored

Routine – Eat crap i.e. Ben & Jerry’s 

Reward – feel happy (though it is a short lived happy then remorse kicks in)

                           

Needs to change to:

Cue – I’m bored

Routine – go for a walk, read a book, paint my nails, something

Reward – feel happy 

In fact the thing that keeps most people on track with the good habit and not so likely to slide into the old habit is belief. 

Now to be clear changing a routine is far from easy but I’m finding this is helping me figure out my triggers and behaviours.  I’m still figuring out my day to day routine in my new job as while I’m finding the day’s go by fast I know this routine will change. This will be aligned shortly. 

The Half Marathon on Sunday which I haven't really trained consistently for. While my WW tracking is better it’s not where it should be or has been in the past.

It’s not that I don't believe I can be successful but for some reason that belief is suspended for moments or fades for a moment. 

I do remember when I had established good habits and I can track that back to coming back from site when those habits shifted. Which was also when my father passed away. 

The mission now is shift them back and back on track. I keep thinking this Sunday will be the pinnacle as during that half I'll have a whack of time to think and it kicks off a new month in which I turn 42. Not to mention the one year anniversary of Dad's passing is rapidly approaching. This birthday will be my first birthday without home, though he did tend to get the day wrong. I was actually born when he was away for work. 

I don't want to be 50 and still battling my weight. In so many other areas of my life I've been tossed out of my comfort zone that this so feels like the last big battle. 

So I’m considering this Sunday the baseline as my next half is 6 weeks later. That doesn't mean a free for all between now and Sunday just sort of a mental preparation to get serious. 

Saturday morning before I leave for WI, I will take measurements as another base line. 

I’m going to start carrying an index card around and note when I feel like snacking or going off my food plan for the day and see if I can define triggers. 

Refocus on a vision and anchor to keep me focused.  I think the big key is focusing on one thing at a time. Not lose focus by trying to focus on too many things. It’s like back in the day when you joined WW the first thing you did was track, you weren't encourage to track activity points till a few weeks later. 

The biggest part is finding the cues in order to change the routine and still have the reward. 

I know I can do this I need to focus on setting myself up for success. 

Race at home

It's been a long time since I did a race at home or didn't involve a Disney property.

This Sunday I'll be doing the Centaur Subaru Half Marathon as part of the Calgary Marathon, actually the 50th anniversary of the Calgary Marathon.

 Race pack pick up was at the Calgary Stampede Grounds

 You could smell these blossoms before you could see them, gorgeous aren't they

 A bit of  a random selection of past race shirts.

 Vintage sign, but the funny part was as I was walking up to the building no real signage. More like a piece of paper on a stair well telling you to go upstairs.

 Kind of cute touch at bib pick up.

 I'm officially spoiled by RunDisney expos as I found this one very meh. Couple of places selling race stuff and just a whole lot of charities and other runs trying to get your interest.

 My addition to the large sign

 The course map, while I'm not sure how this race will go, worst case scenario I walk it. It will be a very scenic walk/run that's for sure as bit parts go along the river.

 As I was leaving I noticed this vehicle

 Got home and had to take a picture of my tulips, that I've spent zero effort on since I planted them. Strangely the grouping next to this one all the flowers have been plucked off.

 My bit and race instructions.

 Front of race shirt

 Back of race shirt

 What was in the race pack

 Of course I could not resist a jacket above is front and below is back.

Plus I picked up a new run hat :)

In other news my Ford Escape is here and I get to pick it up on Saturday, a mere 4 days before my birthday. Man it was a crazy few days as I coordinated the insurance so the dealership could get my plate.

Oh yes I'm super psyched about the newest RunDisney event, I'm so planning on registering for the Rebel Challenge and even taking a half day at work as the registration site is blocked at new job.

Hope all of you are doing well, I'll be back to give a race report and of course gush about my new wheels.

Hugs!!

No more excuses

This week at WI we celebrated the 50 lb loss of one of my WW buddies, F inspires me tremendously. Not only has she lost 50 lbs but has had consecutive losses for the past 20 weeks.

Now let me be quick to say I don't believe in comparing our weight loss progress as our bodies are all different. We are all different.

But I think about what I've been doing for the past 20 weeks. I certainly haven't had the same sense of dedication not by a long shot. 50lbs would get me very close to goal.

This week's quote seemed directed straight at me - "We can't reach our goals if we stand in our own way."

My last 24 weeks have been bouncing around within the same 5lbs. Yup I'm admitting that as just based on the comments from the past few meetings I'm not alone in that. That's almost half a year of bouncing - no more standing in my own way. In fact let me 100% accountable and share the carnage.

Note the craziness of the chart now, especially that crazy zig zag over the past few weeks.  I'm conscious that's it been a pretty emotional 24 weeks with dealing with a large amount of change. My father passing away and going into a new role right out of bereavement leave and yet a new job starting now. I was a bit concerned in the back of my head about my transition into the new job and what I need to do to make that successful.

Since the most recent period of change I've been on a self improvement mission. I mentioned before I was reading Robin Sharma's Greatness Guide but that got me intrigued about earlier works.

So I read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, what I liked about this book is it's written like a story. Goodness knows there a bizillions of books about self improvement and 99% of it you've heard before but to me the important part is finding it in a format that sticks with me.

I then went on to "The Leader Who Had No Title" once again in story format. Now I read both of these books on my Kobo but I'm picking up the paperback versions as I see myself referencing them. The Leader Who Had No Title is a good book for me right now with my changes in job and looking at a new slate. However this book also made me think how I can be better at leading myself including on this weight loss journey.

Right now I'm reading this:

While I'm only at the start of this book a few aha moments have kicked in about habits. Yes we can replace bad habits with good habits but if the cues are right it doesn't take long to go back to a bad habit. We all probably now that but to realize how our brains are wired to almost guarantee it.

In my last post I felt I was making excuses. What I've really been doing is failing to plan and therefore planning to fail. So no more excuses.

My gym bag is packed for tomorrow. While the weather has been lovely I must face facts. If go home between work and working out there is a 90% chance I'll talk myself out of the workout. So the plan this week is I go straight from work to the gym.

Last week I bought my lunch everyday and made less than fantastic choices so it's packing lunch this week for at least 4 days. My lunch bag is on the counter and everything that needs to go in is ready in the fridge.

Last week I was also getting into the habit of grabbing a muffin for breakfast. This week no buying breakfast. Right now everything I need to make breakfast is laid out.

Getting back to the WW meeting, our location is moving as the current place is up for lease. Now the new location is a mere 5 min from my house but this week we saw the tentative new time. 11:30am - What????? No one was happy about that, myself included. My preference is weighing in first thing in the morning. I like my leader and the folks in my meeting.

Now to be fair it is tentative and they do need to negotiate with the new venue. My Escape should be here soon so I would have means to go to another Saturday morning meeting if necessary. I want the current crew to stay together so I hope it works out for us.

So the goal this week - plan for a good weigh in

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well Hello,
I've now completed Day 3 of the new job and it doesn't feel like Day 3 maybe more like week 3.

The first day was orientation which was fine but one of the other new hires had a question that our facilitator couldn't answer so I jumped in. The question was about social media at work, my advice never ever post anything with your company name in it online....ever.

I knew it would be an adjustment going from a Canadian owned big company to a foreign owned smaller company but whoa a part of me thinks these people need me and it feels a little like going back in time. Not to be obnoxious by any means but with their rapid growth plans I'm finding a lot of stuff that will need to be brought up to speed to handle that. I guess that's good but I'm being very conscious of it's my first week. As there are lot of new people on the team I'm finding them looking at me for guidance. Mmmm...ok.

On my way out today I was walking with another person who came from a big company and he made a really good observation. At big company you get to work on one piece of something, at this company you get to work on 25 pieces. In fact I see it exposing me to stuff that I would never had an opportunity to do in my old job.

I get the feeling I'll see very little of my boss who is insanely busy but I adore my co-worker and the people who sit around me.

Tomorrow will be interesting as I'm on my own for Day 4.

I'm trying to adjust to the new schedule. I work 8.5 hrs from Mon - Thurs and 8 hrs on Friday to earn a Friday off per month. In my old job I got 15 days just given to me. The good news they're considering changing this as most employees came from similar arrangements I came from.

Right now I'm doing 7:30am to 5pm, it's sucking the life out of me. I'm a total morning person.  I prefer starting at 7am, so I've been told that's fine so in the next few weeks once I know the client group I'll be supporting I'll transition myself to 7am to 4:30pm.

Oh and I need to get back on track food wise, I've been acting like I'm on vacation, next week it's back to packing lunch and only buying once a week. I'm making stupid decisions food wise.

I foresee walking most of the Calgary Half on June 1 and then getting back into the swing for Dumbo Double Dare. Oh I ordered T25 from Amazon and it arrived today. I figure I can squeeze 25 min into my day. Well soon anyway....hahahaha

Hope everyone is doing well.
Hugs!!!

Nothing is impossible

Whoa this was an interesting week.

The other day I bought a new journal with  Nothing is Impossible on the cover, a quote of Audrey Hepburn. My original intention was to use it as a training journal as I cleaned up my iphone calendar to focus on getting back on track for the runs. Then I opted to use a smaller portable journal to note feedback as then I can take it with me and make notes even at the gym. Then I thought to start over with my regular journal but decided against it. I've certainly started over journals time and time again. I started my current journal in January and I'm going to see 2014 through. The new journal might just wait till 2015.

So I went for the 2nd interview on Wednesday where I met the manager (who this job reports to) and the one other person in the same job.

I was waiting in the lobby 15 min before the interview time and at 10 min past the hour I was still waiting. That had me a bit nervous. 3 people called reception to see if I was there, the two people I was meeting with plus the recruiter. My concern was this wait was eating into my interview time.

The manager fetched me from reception and to me that's the moment the interview starts. When I was a recruiter I could pretty much tell if we'd hire the person from the trip from the lobby to the interview room.

The conversation went well, they have some exciting stuff going on. I really liked both of them but I left not sure how it would turn out. The 1st and 2nd interview two days apart is pretty rare, super nice as waiting is awful.

I popped over to the mall for some breakfast and then headed home. Spent some time with the neighbour, my God dog and their new puppy.

Then at 7pm I got a call from the recruiter. She started asking me if I wanted to come in for another interview but then said we want to offer you the position......what...did you say offer me the job. She emailed me the offer.

I did accept and I start on Tuesday. I never thought I'd find another job this quickly and that after they've been looking for so long they'd choose me. Well I'm ready to start and embrace this new adventure. I love that it's a smaller team, with less levels of management and I think I'll be super busy. Love all of that.

I totally surprised my outplacement consultant, first with starting the search so soon as the advice was take some time off.

I'm so pleased and feel this is that whole new chapter that I keep talking about but this is really the new chapter the other stuff was the preview.

Thursday was a lovely day catching up with a good friend who's in town for awhile. Friday was lunch with the other person from my group who got packaged and had a great time. Lovely few days for sure.

Today I went to WI and I was actually down 1.6 which puts me back where I was before I left for Expedition Everest. I'll confess I didn't track at all last week, I was in vacation mode.

We were chatting before the meeting started and a challenge was put forth. Another member bought a 3 month tracker and suggested getting a new tracker and then every Saturday we bring them to show what we've tracked. So far 4 people are on board. Her goal is she needs to be in a swimsuit. I'm thinking this lines up with Dumbo Double Dare really well.

Heck I like meetings due to the accountability of the scale so why not have a little public accountability for the tracking.

My meeting is moving as the location is up for lease and we found out where it's going. Exactly 5 minutes from my house and they move on my birthday.

I feel like I'm in a special place in my life. I feel like there's a whole new world out there for me.
The new job, the new car and of course really a new life with only me to worry about. I'm so ready to embrace it, forget fear, break out of the cocoon and fly.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Out of routine

I have no place to really be each day so my routine has changed pretty dramatically.

Waiting and wanting the phone to ring is also a bit nerve racking.

I did get an email from my car guy to say my Escape has shipped and is on it's way to me. That's exciting

Today I ran errands, I went to the library, went the post office, went to the bank and picked up a few things at Walmart.

Then I did a webinar on LinkedIn but I pretty much knew most of what they said so I guess I'm above basic level.

Then I got my patootie outside for a walk, it's weird to be at home during this time. I was watching all the school buses pull away from the elementary school and they only had a few kids on each bus. I went to that elementary school and while I walked to school when those buses left they were full.

Mind you the school system sure has changed since I was in school.

Tomorrow morning I have the 2nd interview and I'm really looking forward to it. This is where I'll get a really good idea about the expectations of the role as I'm meeting who the role reports to and the person in the same role. They're adding a position. Now the fact that it's been posted on LinkedIN since February makes me wonder. In Interview #1 I did ask about that and not for lack of trying they just haven't found the right fit.

I'm not super comfortable tooting my own horn at any time (the introvert in me) so I do wonder if I'm the fit but again tomorrow I'll meet the people that will let me answer that question for myself.

Maybe after the interview I'll go find a matinee as I have movie passes I need to use. I should really go to the  gym and get back to weight training. That Calgary Half Marathon is coming up very very soon.

Thursday might be a coffee date with some of my favourite people. I'm expecting things to be very quiet on the job front starting Friday as it's May long weekend so I expect many people are taking Friday off to make an extra long long weekend.

I saw geraniums at Walmart in small pots so after the long weekend I think I'll get a few. Normally after every May long weekend my Dad would bring me geraniums to plant. I think he'd like that I continue that tradition.

Hope you all had a fabulous day.

Well one interview under my belt

Just a quick drop in to let you know how today went.

Had the first interview and I think it went well the hour flew by at any rate.

30min after I left the office I got the call to book a 2nd interview for Wednesday.

Tomorrow I have errands and preparing for interview #2

Exciting times my friends.

The joys of job hunting

So I've been officially unemployed for 2 weeks this Tuesday. Which isn't really all that long.

I've been applying as there seems to be an abundance of jobs in my field at the moment. This surprised my outplacement counsellor, who I'll call L, she was thinking I'd take some time off. Actually that's what a few people have said to me. While that is an option I also know it's not often there's an abundance of jobs in my field.

As my field is HR I also now the job market can ebb and flow so there was no way I was waiting as the whole hiring process can take some time. I consider myself to be lucky as it's far more frustrating to be looking and not see much in your field.

I started applying before I even had my first chat with L, she asked me to send her my resume which I did. She sent it back to me in a completely different format suggesting that the new format would make me stand out from my competition. I like it it, it was fancier than my original one which was a fairly simple chronological format.

The funny part is I've had some reaction back from applying based on my original simple resume.

One company called to leave a message the day after I sent it to them, I called them back left a message. The next day they called back to say they filled the position... I appreciate them telling me as opposed to leaving me in limbo.

I got a call yesterday from a company which surprised me as yesterday was Saturday, I have an interview with them tomorrow. There's a potential it will need to be moved to the following week but they'll tell me tomorrow morning if it needs to be moved.

I'm hoping for a few more calls next week.

I started my prep and got a haircut on Friday, today was a mani, pedi and eyebrows. Picked up some new clothes and shoes for the interview tomorrow. I didn't want to wear a suit as the weather should be really nice so I'm going classic cardigan business look.

Time is flying which surprised me as I've had no where to be. This week flew by well I did come home Monday night and on Friday I got a few things done like the clearance certificate stuff sorted, had my annual skin check and met my friends new baby.

Weigh in was interesting this week, I knew I'd have a gain as it was pizza for dinner but we had some really frank discussions about getting what you put in.

While immediately after my layoff my weight went down, I then went on vacation and since I've been home I've been off the wagon. That needs to end, I've doing the bouncing between the same 3lbs and that's a vicious cycle. I'm treating WW as my favourite charity.

Today flew by as well. Tomorrow I meet an old coworker for lunch and then have the interview but my plan is to go for a run when I get home. Then for the rest of the week also check the drop in classes at the gym.

Enough I need to take better care of me and while I have all this time there is no excuse, actually there is never an excuse.

My focus returns to this business of losing weight.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and hope everyone had a good weekend.

Expedition Everest Weekend - The parks

Well Hello,
I can't believe how fast time flies even though I'm not working, applying of course, but all day yesterday I thought it was Tuesday. On Wednesday I met with the person helping with the clearance certificate for my Dad's estate and I discovered I had to collect some information before I can complete that.

Today I went to the library and renewed my card and did a bit of grocery shopping.

I covered the race and expo recap but thought I'd share the outside the race details of my Disney World trip.

For one thing this is my first trip that I experienced and abundance of Florida rain.

On Friday I did do a bit of park but I wasn't enjoying the rain so much and wound up buying another poncho as I foolishly left the one I brought with me in the hotel room. When I headed out it just looked cloudy.

 This was at the expo on Friday, it went from light drizzle to torrential downpour. Of course no one in the expo was selling ponchos, not even the small Club House store inside the stadium. However the bigger one next to parking lot thank goodness as it was a long walk to the hotel transportation.

 I decided to venture out to Epcot later on in the day and Flower Garden festival was going on, while wet still festive.

 While I've been to Epcot before I haven't truly explored all of the countries in the World Showcase, I was surprised by Japan as I saw the original of this store in Tokyo, at the back of the store they have a Kimono section but more tourist Kimono. I'm thinking when I go back in October I might look into that as it's an excellent go to costume and they had a huge selection including the sandals and special socks.

 On Saturday I went to Magic Kingdom but wasn't feeling it. The cheerleading competition called The Summit had over 450 teams of cheerleaders in Disney World so the park was outrageously busy. Thought it was best to lay low anyway as Expedition Everest is a night run and I knew I'd need my wits about me for the scavenger hunt puzzles.

 On May the 4th, May the 4th be with you :) I headed to Hollywood Studios where I discovered Darth Mall. Which was essentially a room with t-shirts and pins and a long line. I had no idea there were tshirts and special pins each year for this Star Wars holiday. People in line were concerned the pins were sold out but alas no worries they were available at the cash. One day I need to go back for their Star Wars weekends.

 I tried out one ride I've never been on before, the Studio Back Lot tour.

A bit of warning, don't sit on the extreme left side of the train if you don't want to get wet. 

 I ventured back to Magic Kingdom as this is my favourite park and got there just in time for fireworks. The park was again ridiculously busy with long wait lines for everything so I just walked around.

 On my way out of the park I caught a parade :)

What I love about Disney World is every time I go I discover something new and I'm already looking forward to the Tower of Terror 10 miler.

Tomorrow is a busy day for me as I have my annual skin check, need to meet up with the fabulous lady helping with the clearance certificate, get a haircut and meet my friend's new baby for the first time.

Hope you had an amazing day.