Back is Back To Good! And FMM

Just checking in for Friend Makin' Monday and to pass on that I have been pain-free in my back for about three days. I haven't even had the occasional soreness-in-that-area which makes me super excited! Dance is back on the agenda for 2012!! With Christmas going ons and what-not, I don't have too much to share. I've been pretty good this holiday season save for Saturday night when my free pouring host kept refilling my glass while I was too busy chatting to notice. I swear I wasn't sticking my wine glass out in front of him on purpose.

If you're new to Friend Makin' Monday, you can find the guidelines here.

FMM: Have you ever?

1. …traveled outside of your home country? If so, where? USA, Mexico, Ireland (lived there), UK (all four countries), France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany (lived there), Switzerland (lived there), Austria, Italy, Cuba, Tanzania (lived there)

2. …performed on stage in front of at least 1,000 people? If so, share some details! Not for over than many people, no. But I do love being on stage.

3. …watched an episode of Jersey Shore? Yes

4. …baked a cake from scratch? If so, what’s your specialty? I prefer baking cakes from scratch, but my specialty is actually pies, not cakes. I've never not had pie crust turn out perfectly, even when I was 14 and didn't have everything so I improvised with whole wheat flour and a metal baking tin. It wasn't until I was older and tasted some less-than-stellar homemade pie crusts that I realised how lucky I am that that was the baking super power I inherited from my mom.

5. …worked in a grocery store? No.

6. …dated someone who was your best friend first? Best friend no, but a few of them were friends first. 7. …made a difference in someone’s life during Christmas? I volunteered at the Food Bank a few times growing up and I adopted a family with two co-workers one year.

8. …been on TV? Yes. It's an episode of COPS my mom won't ever forget ;) Kidding! But I have been on TV.

9. …had cosmetic surgery? No.

10. …learned a second language? If so, what else do you speak? I used to have decent travel French and Spanish and I'm working on getting them back. I achieved fairly high levels of fluency in German and Swahili when I lived in Germany and Tanzania respectively. When I put my mind to it, I can pick up languages fairly quickly. It's the keeping them up so I maintain that level that causes me problems.

Free Pass Equals Less Ass

As so often happens after travel, I got horribly, horribly sick upon returning home. Oh recycled plane air, how I hate you! Pity me, people. I went on an awesome trip, came home and got sick ;)

I gave myself a bit of a free pass while I was in Ireland. While I didn't go crazy and eat an Ulster Fry for every breakfast, I did have one twice. (Black pudding, white pudding, fried everything? Hells ya!) I might not have had a pint every night of the week, but I did let the two best bartenders in the country serve me multiple pints on multiple nights.

Why do I say this? Because somewhere in my three weeks of enjoying traditional Irish food and debating exactly which bar serves the best Guinness, I actually lost weight. Obviously, I need to travel more often! I'm putting it down to the incredible amount of walking that I did during my time there.

I may have also gotten inspired while I was in Ireland and looked up half- and full marathons in various locations around the island. Of course, the inspiration may have been more about looking for another excuse to visit parts of Ireland in which I don't have family. Say, the beautiful County Donegal, for example.

I'm feeling better so getting back into the swing of regular workouts is goal number one for the upcoming week. In the meantime, the first few days of travel are recapped here and here.

A Weekend of Walking

Thanks to a niggling cough on Friday, my run once again turned into a walk. It worked out for the best in the end, however, as I was able to come home, change and head right back out again. I had a fairly epic walk, got caught in a freakishly quick sun shower, and was still home in time to watch Vancouver's first round draft pick. And by 'watch', I mean 'have my twitter set to the live #NHLdraft feed'.

Saturday morning, I headed off to Thetis Lake with a friend to do the Upper/Lower Thetis Trail. Despite a few menacing clouds, our time at Thetis was gorgeously sunny and warm. I'd have pictures of the hike except my camera is still on holidays without me (although it is currently on the ferry so I'll have it back soon!) so I guess I'll just have to go out and do it again.

Saturday evening was a Matoto social at Vista 18 followed by our June board meeting. I often forget about Vista18 when it comes to nights out because I find it a wee bit on the pricey side for food but to just sit and chat with some friends before getting down to business, it was perfect. I was even a very good girl and kept my promise to my mom that I wasn't going to drink any beer after the fairly healthy week I had.

However, the word 'mojito' may have crossed my lips.

And now I'm off for another long walk and then dinner (BBQ steak--yummy!) at my mom's. It's been a good weekend, and it really helps that summer is here (and this time, I think it might stay).

Do As I Blog, Not As I Do

After all my big words about paying closer attention to my eating and being extra healthy because I couldn't really exercise at the moment, I went and had what was arguably the worst eating weekend in six months. It wasn't so much the eating that was bad, it was the drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.

A very good friend of mine, Lisa, recently bought her first home and so we celebrated with a rather raucous housewarming. After living in Tanzania, I stopped drinking. I still have the occasional glass of wine with dinner or the odd beer while watching a hockey game, but I no longer keep alcohol in the apartment 'just in case' nor drop $50 just in alcohol on a Friday night. Living in a conservative country will do that to you.

I made up for my lack of drinking on Saturday, let me tell you. I was asked to open a bottle of wine around 5:30 and pour three glasses. I spent the rest of the night opening bottles and filling any glasses in view including my own. When I left shortly after 10pm, there were six empty bottles of wine and only four people drinking from them. I honestly don't know how much of them I had consumed but I'm going to guesstimate it was around 'a lot'.

My one saving grace in all of this is the knowledge that I wasn't the only one who was that drunk. I won't give details because I'm not that mean, but I think it's safe to say that there will be a lot of people staring at the ground as they walk around work on Monday.

The only healthy thing I did was hang out with healthy people who've run marathons, won Ironmans, and rowed with the Canadian National Rowing Team. Does that count as being healthy? No?

I'll be better this week. Really.