Can't Keep Me Away! FMM

I purposely post to say I won't be posting much but of course I have to post for Friend Makin' Monday! So if I say I'm going to post tomorrow, it usually takes me about a week to do it. If I say I won't be posting, I do it in less than 24hours. Well played, self. Well played.

Anyway, if you're new to Friend Makin' Monday, you can find the guidelines here. If you're old hat at this, let's do this!

FMM: All About Me

1. What are your talents? I'm musically inclined (I play multiple instruments, dance, and thrive on musical theatre) and I have yet to meet a craft project I haven't enjoyed.

2. What is your best habit? Oh, good question. I honestly don't know. I'll have to think about this one... and never get back to you on it. [EDIT: I look for the positive in everything. I read this poem often and try to live by it. I have seen enough bad in this world that I do not want to add to it.]

3. If you had to be stuck with someone in an elevator for 8 hours, who would you want it to be? I've been working on a piece about Irish history recently so right now I'd want to be stuck in an elevator with John Hume. Ask again next week, my answer will change. There's so many interesting people in the world, it's hard to pick just one.

4. Share one odd fact about you that we’d never know to ask. You mean beside my fear of scarecrows on TV? Alright, I cut my pinky open on a meat slicer. I have a scar and a slight lack of feeling in that pinky.

5. What’s your latest project (work, home, whatever you care to share?) I have a couple of craft projects on the go. Namely, I have a rash of friends having babies and those blankets won't crochet themselves!

6. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? I have a couple of scars that I wouldn't mind seeing gone.

7. What do you do in your spare time? Read, craft, write, dance, daydream

8. What is your biggest pet peeve? When people lack respect for other people. I know that not everyone is going to like everyone, but that doesn't mean you can't treat them with decency and respect.

9. Why do you blog? I don't know. I enjoy writing and I enjoy being the centre of attention. Blogging just seemed like a natural move :)

10. Are you tidy or messy? I tend to be a mix of the two but I'm trying to work on being more consistent with the tidy.

11. What’s the last song that played on your iPod? Whiskey in the Jar (Trad. Irish song, this recording by Jimmy Sweeney). I'm just trying to get in the right mood for my trip!

12. Do you cook? If so, what’s for dinner tonight? I do cook, however, tonight I have plans to get together with my travel partner so there will be no cooking.

13. Do you like sports? If so, list your teams. Love sports! Favourite teams of favourite sports listed below but I also occasionally catch up on tennis, hurling, and cricket results.
Hockey: Vancouver Canucks, HC Davos, Belfast Giants
Soccer (or real football): SC Freiburg, Vancouver Whitecaps, Bolton Wanderers, Bern Youngboys
Rugby: Ireland National Team, Wales National Team

14. How often do you read and/or watch the news? Every day. I was about 12 before I realised the radio has more stations than just CBC so I'm a bit of a news junky.

15. Did you stick to your new Year’s resolution this year? If so, elaborate. Instead of resolutions, I set goals. I'm on target to hit some of them.

16. What are you looking forward to most in the remainder of 2011? I leave for Ireland in less than two weeks. I have a week there by myself to visit with my family and then my friend Al is joining me and we're going off to be tourists. This will be the first time I'll be a true tourist in Ireland and I'm beyond excited.

17. Shoes, sunglasses or handbags? Shoes. I tend to lose sunglasses and I hate having to switch everything between handbags.

18. How do you feel about sleeping on satin sheets? No me gusta. You can't curl up in satin sheets. I'm a cotton sheet girl all the way.

19. Do you sing in the shower? Surprisingly, given my willingness to sing everywhere else, I don't sing in the shower. I also try to keep my showers to 5 minutes so that doesn't leave much time for singing.

20. Describe yourself in one word. Oddball.

Observations

I’ve been waking up with the sniffles since Monday morning. A quick shower and a cup of coffee and the sniffles are usually gone but when I woke up Wednesday morning, the sniffles were there as well as a dull ache in my left ear. Along with the dull ache was a dulled ability to hear from that ear. I was supposed to go for a run at 9:00 but the idea of jostling my head around really didn’t appeal to me. I texted my running partner and we turned our run into a walk up and down a large hill instead.

I was proud of myself. Once upon a time, I would have just cancelled any sort of activity if I feel like I did that morning. But I didn’t. I changed what I was doing but I still got out there and worked hard enough that I was satisfied with my effort. I was also very happy that my ear cleared up by noon. One of my biggest rational fears is hearing loss. I will take losing my sight over losing my hearing any day of the week and twice on Sunday.*

I’ve been trying to take the stairs as often as possible in my apartment because four flights of stairs adds up, but sometimes you just don’t want to. Like last Tuesday. I took the elevator and ended up flirting my way up the four flights with an attractive young man. For the record, flirting with hot men is good motivation for getting in shape. Okay, so it wasn’t so much that he was hot but that he was observant enough to know that I must have had a stressful day at work.

(“Is it really that obvious?”

“Yes. You look like the day beat you down.”

Well, he was right. My unit is undergoing a re-org which means desk moves to a less than ideal location and leaving behind some wonderful friends, so Tuesday was a wee bit stressful. I would like to point out, however, that he told a complete stranger that they looked tired. Tact is obviously not his strong suit.)

I want to put his observation skills to the test and see if he can notice a change in my figure next time we meet (as we seem to ride the elevator together every few months). Also, he seems like a hockey guy and now that I don’t have cable or the Internet, a hockey guy just down the hallway who works roughly the same hours I do would be really convenient.

Just putting that out there, universe.

And did I mention that he’s easy on the eyes?**

*My biggest irrational fear is that a scarecrow is going to come through my TV screen and sing to me. Don’t laugh! I know it sounds silly. That’s why I called it irrational.***

**Plus he’s in construction which is a bit of a *rawr* factor for me. He can build and fix things! How attractive is that?

***I’m not making this up. There is a certain Doctor Who two-parter which I have to watch with all the lights on and my teddy bear held strategically in front of my face.

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).

Back to Real Life

First off, I finally put up the new banner which I slaved over for minutes. MINUTES! I took me longer to make the cup of tea I consumed while working on it. I'm not totally sold on my own tag line but it was all I could come up with before I had to take my hands off the keyboard for another sip of tea. Maybe I'll change it, maybe I'll...

...Tea break!...

...leave it as it is.

I visited NHL.com  today doing some thinking on a possible idea I'm having when I saw this:

Ugh. It made me throw up a little... even though, in the end, Boston was the better team (but don't tell anyone I said that).

I wasn't as unhealthy while I was in Vancouver as I had assumed I would be. The loss meant less beer than I anticipated, and the ensuing riot meant that no wine was consumed once I returned to my friend's. The general malaise brought about by watching the riots and doing zero physical activity, however, has continued through the weekend. In fact, I haven't cooked once since I got home Thursday night. That will end tonight though.Well, technically it ends tomorrow as tonight is just a salad. No cooking involved.

I was happy for the little break for 'real life' but it's time to get back at it.

Disappointment

I've been very vocal that I'm a Vancouver Canucks Fan so I wanted to share my thoughts on the riots last night. I wrote about it here.

I'll Be Better Next Week?

I got a super productive kick on Sunday night at about 9:00pm. The next time I checked the time, it was technically Monday which made Monday a huge wash for me. On just a little less than six hours sleep, I went jean shopping on Monday only to find that my favourite store didn't have any full length jeans for the rest of the season.

Bad thing #1.

The Canucks lost.

Bad thing #2.

I once again failed to blog because, well, bad things #1 and #2 but me in a really foul mood.

Bad thing #3.

But I will get the hang of this "post on these days" schedule eventually. Say like, after tomorrow when the Canucks win the cup :)

Speaking of which, I won't be posting tomorrow because I'm going to Vancouver for the game!! Not that I'll be at the game because I don't have $1000 to just throw away on a ticket, but I'll be in Vancouver which means that tomorrow night's run will be replaced with beers.

In short, this is not going to be a healthy week for me.

But if the Canucks win tomorrow it will all be worth it.

Not Following the Plan

When I woke up Saturday morning to a dark cloud hanging over the very park I was supposed to go for a hike in and my hiking partner texting about a stumble the night before which had aggrivated her calf muscle (perhaps a few too many beers during the hockey game, hmm?), all my well thought out weekend exercise plans seemed to fall by the wayside... again.

I still got out on Saturday morning but instead of a challenging up-down, I did a relatively flat urban hike so I could stick close to shops I could duck into if it started to rain. It never did rain. In fact, it turned into a beautiful day for a hike. *sigh*

I also spent Saturday pretending I was a lumberjack. Yeah, you read that right. My dad's property backs onto a forest. Between the encroaching overgrowth and the tree that got tired of standing upright, there's a lot of work to be done around the house. I love the sound of a chainsaw and the smell of fresh sawdust. It reminds me of my childhood (and all the hippies in Victoria just gasped).

Pretending one is a lumberjack works up quite the sweat. I might have to suggest it to various workout groups around town. (And if they happen to clean up my dad's property while getting their workout... BONUS!!) It works up such a sweat that I decided beer was in order. So did my Big Bro. We stole it from Baby Bro's stash. We're good siblings like that.

I headed out for a walk today with a friend and I've picked up a new running buddy. It does mean that I'll be starting the running training over again because she'a beginner but yay for a running buddy. I've been lacking in one since my last one moved on me (although I still love her very much and think she's a fantastic lady even if she does insist on supporting stupid hockey teams like the Flames).

So, in short, I failed to do a single one of the workouts I set out to do but I still had an incredibly active weekend. And now that it's raining, I'm going to reward myself by sitting in a dark theatre :)

Also, GO CANUCKS!!

Hockey Makes Me Lazy

According to my self-imposed blogging schedule, I was supposed to blog last night. Well, you know what? The Canucks were supposed to win last night. Perhaps not surprisingly, who wants to blog to say "I drank two beers during a losing hockey game and now I feel like I completely wasted those calories because the Canucks lost!" If they had won... totally different story. So, in short, perhaps too much of how I'm feeling right now is wrapped up in how a sports team is doing.

At least hockey will be over soon.

Then I've got two months until my feelings of self-worth are tied to soccer games. (Go Bolton and SCFreiburg!)

I officially received my "you didn't make it for our two free months and then video testimonial" email today but with the email was a ticket for four free BellyFit classes. As one of my reasons for going out for this was it was an opportunity to try the classes for free before I put down money for them. Can't complain with four free classes! I'm torn between trying four different classes or the same class four weeks in a row. Decisions, decisions!

Summer has official arrived in Victoria which means that getting out and getting active is much easier. It also means that I'm having to play around with running times because immediately after work is starting to get too hot for my Irish-offspring blood (I don't do heat. I just don't.) but sitting on my couch lends itself to and never getting up again. I have been debating about trying before work runs but then I remember how much I hate getting up in the morning. Decisions, decisions!

Of course, the best way to make these decisions is over a cup of tea so I'm going to make myself one and contemplate.

Someone Has a Case of the Mondays

I know you all have been waiting with baited breath all day so I will put you out of your misery: I have not heard back regarding the BellyFit Free Classes so I am assuming it's a 'no'. That's what I get for babbling like a brook during the interview! Oh well, at least I have a Canucks game and a beer to help me get over my disappointment. Hmm, perhaps not the healthiest way to get over it...

(UPDATE: It's the end of the second period and the Canucks are really not helping me get over my disappointment right now. 4-0? What the fuddle duddle? I shortened my run today to be home in time to watch them!)

I keep seeing this ad on my facebook:

And I just wanted to say that I don't think liposuction and a full-time personal trainer are "2 old diet secrets". Just a thought.

I found an interesting article on the Discover Blogs about feeling fuller if you believe you're eating more calories than you are. It seems that there have been a lot of studies lately regarding the roll of the mental aspects of weight-loss and I find them all fascinating. You always hear "calories in, calories out" but what if there are mental tricks you can apply to your eating to make it easier? If you really could help yourself along by "thinking yourself thin"? (Not that I believe you can do it just by thought but that it could help.) Bad pun alert: It's definitely some food for thought!

I'm here all week. Tip your waitress. Good night, folks!

Well, That Was a Quick Trip on the Healthy Wagon

My new posting schedule says that I need to post tonight but instead of being all "I went for a run, I was a good girl, I was healthy", I'm going to tell you how I sat on my mom's couch, ate a full turkey dinner, and watched one of the best hockey games I have watched all season. End-to-end, beautiful hockey. Tonight was what the Stanley Cup finals are all about!

You can not fault Thomas for this goal--he and Luongo put on clinics tonight--but when the other team does a

textbook tape-to-tape set play...

[Source]

It did get my heart going so I'm sure that totally counts as a workout, right?

No?

Fine. I'll be better tomorrow.

But right now I'm going to dance around in my underwear* and think about how the Canucks are three wins away from the Stanley Cup.

Then maybe I'll get some sleep.



*what? I didn't want to get cat hair on my dress pants so they came off the minute I walked through the door.

Fit In OHS!

Operation Hot & Sexy (OHS) had its first meeting on Thursday. We set up in the office of one of the members on our lunch break only to find out that the scale had gotten knocked around and was out by roughly 10 lbs. I know what you're thinking: maybe all of you just weighed more than you thought you did. Well, we were all consistently 10 lbs heavier than we thought and I know that if I was actually that weight, I wouldn't need a belt on my current pants. (Not that I use a belt, I just walk around pulling up my pants constantly.)

In trying to pick a gym with a pool for knee friendly exercising, I had completely forgotten that April was Fit in Fitness month. Access to 14 fitness centres for $25? Sign me up! Oh, that's right, I already did. Over all, my knee has been feeling much better with the stiffness and nagging moments of pain coming and further and further apart. Still, I like the idea of sticking to low impact workouts for the moment. Better safe than in pain!

My fitness activity for today is an hour long walk to The Blue Nile for dinner before catching the Salmon Kings' last game of the season. The only down side to tonight's plan is having to say no to a delicious Tusker beer.

Is there anything Calvin doesn't know?

I feel like I've hit a wall with writing. Not just writing for this blog, but with all my writing. I have a million ideas in my head but everytime I sit at my laptop all that comes out is drivel and I end up erasing it. I have repeated this over and over again; Friday, Saturday, Monday and now tonight have all seen themselves fall victim to my delete button and bed time (Sunday fell victim to the hocky game, completely different issues altogether). In the case of this blog, I think I might be suffering from too many topics to talk about and a complete lack of where to start: I'm having hip problems and it feels like a tendon, I won an exercise journal, I'm loving the world of weightloss that I have found on Twitter and (by extenstion) the numerous blogs I now follow, my running partner is back, at the rate I'm going I'll be making an entire women's hockey team out of my coworkers, I've signed up to run (not walk as the last six years) the TC10K, I'm debating about actually joining a WeightWatchers to make my food choices more accountable, I'm reading a history of the Chilkoot at the moment and it makes me want to go right now, and the list goes on. Without some sort of path to follow, my thoughts and ideas on these topics all turn into some sort of jumbled mess which reads like, well, like a Japanese menu translated into Russian and then into English.

I also feel that as my life becomes more jumpled with an every-growing to-do list, writing becomes harder. I'm sure this is completely mental but then, isn't writing? So I'm bringing my back my giant lists and hopefully I'll be back on track with my writing soon.

I had plans to blog today...

...but then this happened...

...and I decided to go downtown and enjoy the celebrations instead. When I did finally get online, I spent the whole time chatting on facebook and twitter despite having this page open for the better part of two hours. C'est la vie. I had a lot to talk about (and not just hockey) but now it will have to wait.

A Productive Weekend despite the Doctor Who

For me, a weekend doesn't get much better than the one I just had. Despite the fact that it didn't end with the usual Sunday night dinner at my step-mom's, almost everything else I wanted to happen this weekend did: I had my first foray back into skating and it went really well, the Canucks beat the Bruins, Ireland won the opening game of Six Nations (rugby), I purchased and watched the Doctor Who Complete Specials DVD, I had a fabulous brunch with (most of) my girls, and I kept up with my running even without my running partner.

The last point was probably the biggest hurdle for me. Not feeling well, THR emailed me on Friday to say I'd be on my own for the next few days. A momentary fear crept over me; without my partner in crime, would I allow myself to talk myself out of my runs? Would some phantom pain or ache stop me from getting off the couch? It did on Friday but mostly in part because I was going to go skating afterwards so when I returned home from downtown later than I anticipated, I decided to let it slide and did the run on Saturday morning instead.

There is one upside (if I can call it that) to THR being sick. I was looking at the schedule for this week's runs and saw the increase of 2 minutes up to 3, and I balked at the notion. Although I find myself doing the 1 minute runs with ease, the 2 minutes still present a lot of gaa-waa-gaa-waa towards the end. Three minutes? The mere thought starts me gaa-waa-gaa-waaing and I'm sitting still. With only myself to be concerned with, I can make the executive decision to repeat this week's worth of runs and I don't have to try and sell anyone on the idea.

Skating on Friday night was a hoot, there really is no other word for it. I met up with AB from work and her boyfriend (or man purse, as we insisted on calling him after he agreed to hold our things) at the Oak Bay Rec for the Teen Skate. I know, I know, it's been a while since I could claim to be a teen, but I phoned earlier in the day to confirm if there's an upper age limit and according to the lady on the phone "there's no age limit, we just say 'teen skate' because we don't have a quarantine for the little kids." Um, quarantine? I was not as unsteady on my feet as I had anticipated, and soon we were heading around at quite the clip. By the end of our 90 minutes, I was in love with skating and couldn't wait to get back on the ice. Crazy ideas =1, complete and utter failure = 0.

Do hockey skates come with Velco?

Like most kids in Canada, I took skating lessons when I was younger but living on the usually snow-free West Coast, lessons don't really mean anything unless you plan to do figure skating. We don't have snowy winters with outdoor rinks like my cousins in Alberta, so what's the point? I had reached the point of starting to learn to do corners and to stop when my family moved to another part of town. We were no longer eight blocks from a rec centre; my lessons were done. Just like that. I'm sure if I had asked 'what about skating?' my mom would have enrolled me, would have driven across town for the lessons (she did for ballet and, before our move, piano), but I never loved skating so I was happy to let it slip by the wayside.

I have skated since my early childhood foray into the world of ice. In my teens in Ireland, my cousin's friends assumed that as an Irish-Canadian I must be good at skating and so off we traipsed, decked out for the disco as I had been misinformed about our destination, to a Friday night skate at a rink in a nearby city (this particular cousin lived in a town). They were asking me for pointers as we laced up our skates; how do I explain to them that I don't skate? I decided the answer was to go as fast as I could. I did go fast, very fast, even lapped them a few times, but any illusions of my ability came to a grinding halt as I tried to stop as I had seen countless hockey players do and landed 'ass-over-tit' with my head between my knees and my skirt trying to be a tube top. Jump forward to me living in Switzerland and the same assumption is made about me being a Canadian. Add five years of wisdom, however, and I'm more than willing to admit that I don't skate and believe that hanging onto the boards for my dear life is the way to go.

So here I am, on a quest to get in shape and the crazy idea pops into my head "why don't I learn to play hockey, a sport I adore? That would be a fantastic workout!" First problem, well, see the above paragraphs. I decide to check out if the Rec Centre closest to me has any adult skating lessons beginning soon. I'm about three weeks too late for that option but now this idea has been in my head for a week, it's festering along with the love of running, and I can't just give up because I missed the start of classes. I will just have to brave the 'everyone welcome' skates on the weekends. I will have to watch children zip by me, practicing their crossovers, while I try to glide forward without falling on my butt... or knees... or hip... or elbow... or face.

I planned to go on my own, saving myself from the embarrassment of friend's watching my attempts at being graceful but then I mentioned it to a friend. She still regularly skates, she'd love to come and teach me (in exchange, she starts hockey this month and knows nothing so I'm teaching her the rules and the basics of the game... in theory). I mentioned it to a few male friends who rent ice time once a month. They thought it was fantastic, might even have a pair of skates kicking around; next time they play hockey, I should come and they could help me work on hockey skills during the warm up. I mentioned it to another friend. Can I let her know when the lessons are, she'd like to join. Suddenly, my crazy idea doesn't seem so crazy.