day 1

Day 1 a success.

Full body weights work out today to start things off. Meals went well too until the Finance brought take out home for dinner. His idea of "making dinner". At least it was middle eastern - chicken, hummus, tomatoes - and not something worse (trying to convince myself). Will try to do better tomorrow.

30 day challenge

I am in some serious need of motivation. You would think my upcoming wedding might do the trick to get me into fitness high gear, but no. At least not yet!

So I have decided to give myself a 30 day challenge. And by putting it out into the black hole that is the Internet world I may feel motivated to stick to it! In theory anyway.

Here's the challenge. 

1. No booze, meaning no wine, for 30 days. (Vic stop laughing)

2. Some kind of exercise, each day, for a minimum of 30 minutes. (Dennis stop laughing) This can include anything from walking, yoga, spin class, gym time - whatever!

This may not seem like a hard thing, but for me, this will be a true test of my will power. Or lack thereof. So, wish me luck. I will post each day on my progress for each of my 30 days. Pass or fail. On or off the wagon. But hopefully firmly on.

Here we go.

Day 1 is tomorrow: Monday June 25th. Random I know, but must start while motivated. 

the common cold

I am currently suffering from my second cold this winter. Not impressed. These colds have come after a first time experience with strep throat. I was also not impressed when I had that. All this sickness has made me think, what the heck? What is with my immune system that I am so susceptible to illness. So I looked it up on the internet. What to do to boost your immune system and here was the list.

• Don’t smoke. - CHECK
  
• Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat. - CHECK
  
• Exercise regularly. - CHECK
  
• Maintain a healthy weight. - CHECK
  
• Control your blood pressure. - MOSTLY CHECK
  
• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation. - MOSTLY CHECK
  
• Get adequate sleep. - SOMETIMES CHECK
  
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly. - CHECK
  
• Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category. - CHECK
  

 I do most of these things all the time. My sister has also been quite sick this winter and after speaking with her yesterday she said something that resonated with me. She said I feel like I should start smoking, drinking and being lazy...doing all the right things is not helping. I think I agree with her. Do we try too hard to do all the right things thereby making things worse? Strange logic right? All I know is that I have never been as sick as I have been in the last couple of years and I don't like it. 

Suggestions welcome.

thought of the day

life is not fair

resolutions

It has taken me a while but I am ready to write down some resolutions for 2012.

In no particular order:

1. Be tidy - for the sake of future marriage and the sanity of my future husband I will strive to be tidy. This is a significant challenge.

2. Look forward not back - I am a dweller. I harp on things I cannot change. This year I hope to accept the past and embrace the future. Deal with the now and what is to come.

3.  Find a new hobby - I am on the look out for a new hobby. Something to try and something to learn. Not sure what it is yet, but hopefully soon I will know.

4. Drink more water - helps with all bodily functions. I will drink more water and less pop.

They seem small, but for me, they are big. I'll add if I think of anything else.

M&S

I just came back from England and while there I was reminded of how great Marks & Spencer is. There is nothing that quite says England like M&S. They have everything. They have the best food! I would never have to cook again if there was a M&S near my house. They have ready to meals for anything you can think of. And the desserts...Amazing. Then again, it's probably better that we don't have one. I'd be fat and broke I think.

thought of the day

Sometimes you just need to pick a path and go down it. One way or the other, it will move you forward. And at the end of the day, it has to be the right choice, because you made it.

kitchen savy

Now these kitchen supplies are elegant and useful.

Two tier dish rack by Simple Human

Beautiful cutlery set by Maarten Baptist

germs

I find as I grow older I have become a more and more disgruntled traveler. What used to be an exciting and fun experience, is now a long, tiring and inconvenient process. As soon as I step foot in the airport I am acutely aware of the many people sneezing, sniffling, coughing and being gross around me. The plane is so much worse. I have become one of those people who wants to wear a mask on the plane. I haven't gone that far...yet, but I have thought about it. I just got back from Mexico and the guy sitting in front of me on the way back had a disgusting cough. Each time he hacked away I wanted to run away screaming; instead I was trapped at 35,000 feet breathing in recycled air. Every sneeze around me, cough near by and sniffle I just wanted to jump off the plane.

My next adventure will be within driving distance, where the only person to gross me out is me.

thought of the day

Sometimes I wish that...

saucy spaghetti squash

Tonight, for the first time, I made spaghetti squash. What a cool vegetable! In my effort to eat healthy and not want to bore my taste buds into nonexistence, I have been trying out some new foods. It looks like any other squash as you cook it, but when done, it pulls apart just like spaghetti stands. I made a tomato, white kidney bean and sweet pea sauce to go with it. For the tomato sauce I use Victoria's All Natural Marinara Sauce from Costco. It doesn't have any extra sugar or additives like many others and it tastes amazing! A few chillies and some hot sauce to finish it off and wow! It was great! Even my meat loving, I won't like anything vegetarian finance loved it. Success!

rita's power protein crepes

Due to my upcoming Mexican adventure, I have been watching what i eat - bathing suit and all. A friend of mine is a fitness model and she looks far better in a bikini than I ever will so I take what she says as gospel. She passed along her breakfast routine and turns out it's really tasty, super healthy and fast! 

 Here's what you need to do:

1 cup of egg whites
1 egg
1/4 cup of oats
1 banana
1 tsp almond butter

Combine eggs whites, egg and oats together and blend. I use a hand blender. This is your batter. Pour a small amount into a frying pan (spray first with Pam), make sure that you spread it around a lot and make a thin crepe. Repeat 3 times.

Mush up the banana and add the almond butter together. Add this filling into the crepe and roll them up.


Enjoy!!

paradise

In a couple weeks time I will be sitting on beach soaking up the shade (sun is bad for my skin) in beautiful Mexico. We are going to Hualtulco - I had never heard of it either - but it is beautiful! My finace's sister is getting married at a beautiful 5 star resort and we get to go celebrate! Cannot wait! Not only for Jinny to get married, but to have a whole week away from home, away from work and most importantly away from my iPhone.

bcbg addict

I have a mild, ok severe addiction to BCBG. When I'm shopping I always end up picking up anything BCBG in the store. I love the design and I love the colours. Here are a few of my favourites from this season.

These are in my shopping cart right now. :)

ted rossi

While reading one of my favourite mags this month FASHION I cam across these amazing bangles from Ted Rossi.  So I google the brand and am amazed at the line. There are so many beautiful accessories - I want everything. The actual bangles in the magazine were all variations of black and white poke-a-dots, but below I posted some of the other ones I found that I also love. I am now an avid Ted Rossi follower joining celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Megan Fox and Hilary Duff.

Beautiful!