I can see!

When I went to exchange my QC drivers licence for an Ontario one, I had to do a vision test.

Confession: I couldn't see shit.

I just confidently recited random numbers, hoping they'd be close to the actual numbers displayed in the machine.

I don't think the lady was actually listening to the numbers I was just saying, and passed me based on the confidence in my voice.

After that test, I vowed I'd go back to the optometrist for a check up as I hadn't been in 2-3 years.

When I went to see the optometrist, he asked what brought me in. I commented that I had difficulty passing the vision test without my glasses. When I handed him my glasses, he inserted them into the fancy "prescription reader" machine and merely stated: "There is no way you should have passed that test without your glasses".

Confidence really does get you far in life eh? If nothing else, it at least helps you pass eye exams.

I ordered 2 new pairs of glasses, one of which has yet to arrive, but I cannot get over the difference in my vision. Duh!


I look slightly nerdy, but hey, I can see!

Sick

My sickness has somehow progressed from bad, to feeling ok, to now feeling like my sinuses are about to explode.

There is so much pressure in my head my teeth hurt.

What makes me feel better? Tomato soup loaded with a plethora of hot sauce to make my nose run, and steaming hot showers.

Oh... and any form of "nighttime" formula that knocks me out cold. I could go without the crazy dreams that go with that coma-like status though. Last night I had a dream that my house was on fire and Sam died. In the dream I was so pissed that it was Sam that died and not Lewis. Maybe that's my subconscious speaking?

The other thing that makes me feel better?


OJ cut with diet gingerale.

Cuts the calories, makes it slightly fizzy and just overall more tolerable.

This marks day 7 of illness. It's gotta get better soon.

Right?

“I am always going to take care of myself”

I have a love/hate relationship with The Biggest Loser for many reasons, but admittedly I’m always a little intrigued and sucked in to watching at least a few episodes of every season.

Can we talk about this man for just a second?

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Ummm hello? Look at him. He’s not QUITE Derek Jeter in my books, but my oh my, he’s not far off.

That smile? Melts me.

His hardcore ways in the gym? Inspires me.

And because Bob has brutal hair, he’s my new favourite trainer on the Biggest Loser.

During last nights episode he said something that actually prompted me to pick up my Blackberry and write it down in the notepad.

“I am always going to take care of myself”

Of course, I got to thinking.

I didn’t always look after myself very well, obviously.

That being said, I also didn’t look after myself very well at my absolute thinnest either.

In 2003, I ate a lot of salad. I worked out a lot. I missed periods. I freaked out if I missed a workout or over ate. And aside from that, I didn’t have much else in my life. It was easy to completely surround myself with low calorie crap and even easier to develop an obsession with working out.

Fast forward to 2011.

I’m a little chubbier, that is certain. In fact, I’m a good 25 pounds heavier.

BUT…

• I’m in great shape
• I’m happy
• I’m healthy
• I have a fantastic career
• I eat real, whole foods (and diet pepsi)
• I floss every day
• I am strong
• I stepped away from the tanning bed
• I make myself my number one priority each and every day.

Well said, Hot Man from Biggest Loser, well said.

…yes, I refer to him as Hot Man.

Chatelaine – Dinner in 30

I was waiting in a horrendously long line at the grocery store last night when this book caught my eye.

Usually I’m not one to procure such books, however, after little perusal (it was a really long line) I decided to make it mine.

It was only $11.99, and its 121 pages.

Obviously I have yet to try anything, but some of the recipes that caught my eye immediately were:

Upside Down Shepherd’s Pie, Almost Instant Mac’n’Cheese, Baked Goat cheese and apple salad, Classic Tom Yum Soup with chicken and shrimp, and Chickpea curry with Cucumber.

Ok, now I feel slightly stupid for spending the $$ on this book because every single recipe I searched for was available online.

Oh well, now I have pretty pictures of everything.

Hey Krissie, maybe these recipes will help you with your rut?

Have you discovered any fabulous new recipes lately?

“Amy-day”

I booked today off as I needed a day to accomplish many tasks.

The day started out with a walk with this grumpy face.

 

Apparently. she was not ready to get out of bed.

 

So I thought I would bribe her with a treat to make her smile.

And then someone was on to me.

Jersey sat like a good girl and watched with terror in her eyes while her feline brother tried to eat her treat.

Samuel Black Swan strikes again!

 

I finally gave it to her, and all was well in Jersey-land again.

She is friggin’ cute, isn’t she?

 

After the walk in the park. I treated myself to a pedicure, eyebrow wax and a sugar-free americano misto. Every great day must start with that!

Love my pedi!

 

Following that, I hit up the mall to make some purchases that I’ve been avoiding.

A year’s supply of CO Bigelow lip gloss in Plum Mint. I wear this every. single. day. LOVE IT!

 

I will never say no to a 50% off sale.

 

Especially when it’s for a pair of cycling capris. I only have one pair, which makes for some interesting spin classes. I’ve been wearing them so much that they reak like crotch sweat… and going without the padding? Very. sore. lady-bits.

 

Fact: I haaaaaaaaaaate shopping for pants.

I had some good luck at Ricki’s today.The best part? When the little girl working there brought me a size 10 to try on. I guess I don’t look as big as I actually am, which is nice!

   

After shopping, I was famished and had some time to kill before my next appointment.

On the menu: SUBWAY! 6” veggie on whole wheat, and a bag of Miss Vickis.

Fact: Ever since my little food poisoning episode, I only eat veggie subs.

My next appointment was one I was dreading. The PAP.

Good news? They screwed up my appointment, so I didn’t have a PAP.

Bad news? I got a physical instead.

I haaaaaaaaate physicals for many reasons, but mostly because I have bad genes and the doctors always freak out.

I have to go for some blood work, but other than that I’m healthy as a horse.

Up next? Spin class at 4:30. I’ve been sicker than I dog all weekend, and my body is dying to sweat out some germs.

  

I declare today a success!

Corn, Black Bean and Fire Roasted Tomato Salad

First things first:

1. Let's pretend that the pictures in this post are taken during the day time with a DSLR and not my shitty blackberry.

2. Let's pretend I wrote this post with Window's Live Writer and not the stupid Blogger interface and that all my pictures are the right way, ok?

Lately, I've become a huge fan of Back to Her Roots. She's funny, she's gorgeous, she met Krissie, takes gorgeous photos, and makes some wicked food.

Case and point: Corn, Black Bean and Fire Roasted Tomato Salad.

I made this salad last night, and it was delicious. I made a few minor tweaks: I omitted the onion, added some cilantro and red pepper flakes. I served it on a bed of spinach with a small chicken breast and some steamed broccoli.

Fire-roasted tomatoes are hard to come by in Canada I find. I managed to find them, but also managed to pay $1.99 for a teeny tiny can.

Leftovers for lunch today!

I find with the cooler temperatures arriving my cooking mojo has returned. I was in a bit of a rut there for a while, but I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have a fridge filled with healthy food. I'm in a such a good place right now in regards to health and fitness.

Good place = not obsessing over every. single. thing. I. eat.

Good place = not obsessing over every. single. calorie. I. burn.

It's about time eh?

Have a great Friday!

Peanutty African Soup

The cafeteria at my work is ridiculously expensive.

Everytime I get lazy and need to buy my lunch, I always get a soup as it's the only thing that is reasonably priced.

Each day, I hope that it will be delicious.
Each day, I hope that it won't be bland.
Each day, I hope that it won't be yesterday's leftover soup blended with curry added to make it new.

But sadly, I'm always let down and more often than not it ends up going down the sink.

My colleague and I have email discussions about how bad the soup actually is.
With the cooler weather upon us, and my need to save some moola I decided to whip up a batch of delicious soup. It's cheaper and much healthier for me afterall!

I actually stole the recipe from myself.

Can't wait for the leftovers for lunch today.

The sweat-your-nuts off treadmill workout

If I had a motto of late, it might look a little something like this:

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I spin, I run on the treadmill. I run, I spin. I spin, I run.

You get it.

I decided to change it up a bit last night, and did a short/fast/intense interval session on the treadmill.

1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
1 min - run at 6.0 mph
1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
2 min - run at 6.5 mph
1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
3 min - run at 6.5 mph
1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
4 mins - run at 6.5 mph
1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
5 min - run at 6.5 mph
1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
2 min - run at 7.0 mph
30 secs - run at 7.5
1 min - walk at 4.0 mph
2 min - run at 7.0 mph
30 secs - run at 7.5
1 min - run at 7.0 mph
30 secs - run at 7.5
1 min - run at 7.0 mph
30 secs - run at 7.5
1 min - run at 7.0 mph

5 min cool down at crawling pace. I was d-e-a-d.

This workout was amazing. Seriously. Particularly the last section in BOLD. Note, that my average "happy" pace on the treadmill is about 5.2 mph so this entire workout was WAAAY out of my comfort zone. I pushed myself hard.

Best part? It flew by because of the constantly changing pace. Loved it!

Ok, I didn't love it. I kind of hated it, but it hurt so good!

What's for lunch?

It's no wonder I'm not healing well from my shoulder injury, given that I cart around a satchel containing my lunch.
Fun fact: My step-mom brought me this bag back from Ireland. Cute eh?

The contents:

I'm a bit of a creature of habit. I commence just about every work day like this:

7am - Coffee and a banana.
10am - Coffee, yogurt and some form of berry, today it's strawberries.

For lunch today, it's homemade chicken salad and 1/2 and avocado on top of salad greens.

Afternoon snacky-poo: Dark chocolate covered cocoa nibs. Yum!

What are YOU having for lunch today?

Race Recap: Army Half Marathon

Are you ready for the most inspirational race report EVER?

I didn’t run the Army Run. I can’t run outside. It’s too much impact/twisting on my shoulder.

How’s THAT for inspiration?

I spent the better part of the morning feeling sorry for myself, but then I realized that moping around won’t accomplish much so I suited up and hit the gymbo. I am allowed to run on the treadmill for *short* periods of time.

Note: my physio’s definition of short may differ slightly than mine.

I ran for 85 mins at a nice easy pace.

I was sweaty. I hated every second of it. I got my new NYY visor all sweaty. But I did it.

And then I promptly rewarded myself with a venti, non-fat, pumpkin spice Americano misto.

So I didn’t run the Army Half today. But you know what? I started thinking about how I’ve handled this injury and I’m actually pretty frickin’ proud of myself. Sure I had my fair share of “woe is me” moments, but for the most part I’ve handled it like a champ and somehow have managed to lose weight despite being a gimp.

And for that I think I deserve a little self-pat on the back.

Good job, Amy.

Piggy Bank = Busted

If I had a piggy bank, this is what it would look like.


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I know this is a 'health/fitness/weight loss' blog, but honestly I have nothing to say about that lately. The scale is going down, I'm exercising despite my injury, and I'm eating well. Nothing to say sure beats, "I binged and gained 10 lbs overnight because I don't workout enough" right?

What I do want to talk about, is the sad state of my bank account.

The first couple of months in the new house have certainly been an adjustment. On top of the mortgage being quite a bit higher than the last, my commuting costs have doubled also. Add to that all the house hold expenses that go hand-in-hand with a move, fees to transfer accounts, 'new customer' activation fees (Hydro adds $300 to your first bill - nice eh?) a few furniture purchases, licence transfer fees... I could really go on and on.

Last night, I got to thinking about money. Specifically the money I spend on myself.

In the last couple of weeks, I have spent:
- $40 for a nail fill (I get this done every 3 weeks)
- $100 haircut/color (Every 6 weeks - this is cheap I know, my hairdresser is in his house)
- $250 Groupon for unlimited laser hair removal for one year on 3 areas
- $50 for laser hair removal (before I purchased Groupon)
- $40 reloading my Starbucks card (used over 3 weeks)
- $40 cash to spend at work ($20 a week for lunches, coffee etc)

In a nutshell? I spend waaaay too much.

Even more concerning? I spend waaaaay too much without caring.

I need to be more diligent about my spending. Money makes me queasy, but I need to face reality.

Any tips? Resources? Sympathy?

Also... please tell me I'm not high maintenance. Anyone?

Obsessed

I am a lover of all things theatre.

On my recent trip to New York, I had the opportunity to see Rock of Ages.

Pretty much since the second I arrived home, I've been listening to this soundtrack.... on repeat.

...sorry to my co-workers on that one.

I had intended to write a post about addictive personalities, more specifically MY addictive personality but I'm not really in the mood for that today.

I'm just gonna rock out instead.

Weekend Recap

It's Monday.

I'm only about half way through my coffee, so you're gonna get some point form action today.

• I cheated on my McD's iced coffee boy this morning. But, I cheated for a non-fat half-sweet pumpkin spice americano misto, so really, can you blame me?


• My weekend was pretty blah. Highlights included eating (gross/disgusting) chinese food, visiting with friends, Jersey reuniting with (the Devil) Jasper.

• Jersey reuniting with Jasper consequently resulted in my flower beds being destroyed.


• I hit up spin class on Saturday, and ran for 75 mins yesterday.


• Running on the treadmill while watching 9/11 footage? Worst. idea. ever. They showed a segment about a guide dog and his owner which caused me to ugly cry. I was definitely getting some questionable looks from the treadmillers around me. Heartless bastards.


• I'm running only on the treadmill of late to reduce the impact on my shoulder.


• I went to visit my Nanny in the hospital last night. She only weighs about 75 lbs right now, and when my Aunt was trying to feed her the words "shove that food up your ass" came out of her mouth. Heartbreaking, but funny at the same time.


• I'm obsessed with these Lindt chocolate bars. 2 sqaures are 170 cals, and worth every one.


• Not much else to say.

Have a great Monday!

PS: I was reading some of my older blog posts from a few years ago. Is it possible that I'm a crappier blogger now? I used to write to pretty great stuff. Sorry 'bout that.

PPS: Completely out of no-where, I hate it when bloggers write about weddings as if they were a restaurant review. Uncalled for, in my opinion.

My "go-to" meal

You know the nights when you have zero desire to cook? Nor do you have a bajillion calories left to eat take out?

My gym is conveniently located in the same plaza as a grocery store, making it very easy to make healthy choices on nights when the cooking-motivation is low.

My favorite "go-to" easy meal is a simple salad with rotisserie chicken.

I also picked up a perfectly ripe avocado, and added it to the mix. There's just something about adding avocado to salad that I absolutely love!
The best part? While you're making your salad for dinner, you can also prep one for lunch the next day. SCORE!

What's your favorite easy/lazy "go to" meal?

Urban Decay Primer

For years, I have been using MAC Paint as an eyeshadow primer. It did the trick, but by the end of the day I would often find that my eye make up looked... a little worn.

While I was in NYC with my cousin Debi (a fellow make-up whore) she introduced me to Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

Words cannot accurately describe how AMAZING this product is.

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This is what may make up looked like AFTER spin class.

And this is what the rest of my face looked like. Sweaty eh? But at least my eye make up looked great!

I'm not sure how, I'm not sure why, put this product totally keeps all eye make up in place.

I bought mine at Sephora for $19.99

Worth every penny!

I have a blog?

Oh yah… I have a blog.

Nothing earth shattering to report.

My shoulder is still gimpy.

I continue to run short distances on the treadmill, despite it.

Note to self: 60+ minutes is a bad idea. The end result is a VERY sore shoulder.

I continue to eat well. I continue to drink a lot of H20.

I finally uploaded my NYC pics. Here are a selected few.

   

Have a splendid evening.