Ordinary Miracles

NEW BLOG!

2009-12-10T17:56:00.001-05:00

Hey Guys!
So I haven't blogged in...well, forever.
I've been up to new things.

Follow my new blog
new VEGANnings
There's a give away already! :)

I'm going to be deleting this blog VERY shortly!
Everytime will take place over there!

I still read all of your blogs, and want you to know how PROUD I am when I read them! You are all so determined and inspiring EVERY day!

Much Love,

Bee

quick update

2009-09-16T00:19:00.002-04:00

This past weekend work schedule:

Saturday 5:00am-9:00pm
Sunday 5:30am-6pm
Monday 6:30am-6pm, Bootcamp 7:30-9:00 coffee with a friend to help him prepare for an interview 9:00pm-10:00pm
Tuesday 5:00am-2:00pm, teach dance 4:00pm-9:00pm, work to lock up the store ect bc I had no manager to close the store tonight 9:30pm-10:45pm

...I am tired
Tomorrow I will do a FULL blog post.

Food has been far between meals, but what I have eaten was good! I have been SO tired that the thought of walking around the grocery store just exhausts me even more so I have no food. Tomorrow I have half of a day off so I have to get groceries, get an oil change and get a hair cut

Today at work I served iced venti no classic syrup, 2 splenda americano's to these guys:

Yes, that is Nick and Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brother's!
It was interesting. I'm not a Jonas Brothers fan at all, however I was still fairly starstruck.

I need my bed RIGHT now. I got home at 10:45 and HAD to stay up to watch SYTYCD and Biggest Loser between commercial breaks.
What was your favourite SYTYCD routine tonight? I liked Stacey Tookey's contemporary piece and I really enjoyed the Papparazi piece as well. I really enjoy that song.

Just a quick one...

2009-09-11T21:31:00.001-04:00

Just a quick picture, as I'm going to bed. I've been working like a maniac, and I need to be up at 4AM.

This is in my bathroom. I suggest you do it too, to help you get through those stressful days.

www.operationbeautiful.com

Wish me luck!

2009-09-09T09:49:00.003-04:00

Today is day 1 of Booty Camp Fitness that I won from Jaime!
I'm ready to go!

Today is going to full of good eats to properly fuel myself, as I haven't had a "real" workout in what seems like month's!
I'm sure I'll be dead by the end....or ready to jump into my bed the minute I walk in the door.
I'm crossing my finger's for a beautiful night. I choose the 8:00 class as sometime's I don't get out of work early enough of Monday's to go to the earlier session, and I may end up teaching for a couple hours once Monday's at work slow down, whenever that may be.
The last couple night's have been beautiful around 8:00 so here's hoping!

I haven't been around much this week. That's because I took Ashley's wonderful advice, and took some time out to myself this week while I wasn't at work. There wasn't a lot of down time, but I made the most of what I had.

OoOoOh...I just got an e-mail from Booty Camp as I wrote this...wonder what it could say....probably that they are excited to KICK MY REAR END tonight.

I'll be back...probably tomorrow for my recap of day 1!

One day at a time...

2009-09-04T11:03:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm still alive, however work hasn't let up. In fact it has been more insane. I've been working anywhere from 9-14 hour day's between interviews, ordering, and running a place with not enough staff. OH yea, schedules too! However, doing a schedule is almost impossible as I don't even have enough people to work a full shift. Hey, Jaime, you know more about the Bux than any of my staff, have you ever considered moving to Milton and working for me? I PROMISE I'm a nice boss! :)

On the scale, it's definatly shown. I haven't gained, but I haven't lost either. I've stayed the same for the last 3 weeks. Does that upset me? Yes, a little bit. But on the other side, I definatly could have used a time like this to throw in the towel and say "screw it, I have more important things to worry about right now" but I haven't. So, I guess I'm happy with a STS. However, I must start loosing again soon, as Lindsay and I are going to Vegas in like, 6 weeks! And I would LOVE to loose about 10lbs between now and then. I do have bootcamp coming up, that I won, as well as going back to the studio. Which means I will be active Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and for a little bit on Saturday. So, i think that will help. I must race Jacqueline to goal. And we MUST get there together.

Anyway, I must go. I have to do my hair, get dressed and get to work. And have something to drink in the meantime, as I am feeling quite dehydrated today.

le sigh

2009-08-31T07:57:00.001-04:00

Have you ever had such high hopes for something, and worked so hard to acheive it, only to watch it come crashin down infront of you? All for reasons that you can't change?

Ugh.

Coincidence?

2009-08-24T19:35:00.002-04:00

The other day, Ashley blogged about a strange new vegetable that she found while I shopping. At the end she posed the question scary or cool?
I quickly replied

Bee said...
i think it looks super cool.
i'd give it a try! Why not?

Tonight, I had planned to have a some left over PC Blue Menu Pizza that had been floating around frozen in my freezer with some stir fried Arctic Garden Veggies.

There's the Romanesco Broccoli that Ashley was talking about.

It's a cross between a broccoli and cauliflower. I liked it. I found it to taste more like broccoli buy have the soft texture of cauliflower.

Have you tried romaesco broccoli yet?

so sad...

2009-08-23T14:03:00.002-04:00

I'm a little sad/disappointed today. I was supposed to go to my mom's up north after work yesterday to spend the day with the fam today, but as I went to leave it started raining like CRAZY. I couldn't even see while I was driving down my street. And the lightening was uber scary. So, I turned around. We definatly got a huge rain storm lastnight. Maybe it's some effects of Hurricane Bill that's sweeping through the Atlantic.
Instead, I stayed in, gave my blog a much needed make over and enjyoed a delicious dinner.

Pizza with spinach, tomato sauce, cheese, green peppers and red onion on a WW tortilla, served with a delicious spinach and arugula salad with some cruton's for crunch.

I stayed up late lastnight just lounging reading blogs, watching America's Best Dance Crew, twitter'ing and just chiling out. When I finally went to bed around 2, I had my alarm set to go off every two hours. Whent he power goes out our sump-pump (??) sometimes kicks off and we are welcomed by an unwanted flood in the basement. So I wanted to keep an eye on it, so I didn't have to wake up to a flood. The verdict? 2 hour sleeping increments are horrid, but we had NO flood!

Breakfast this morning was pancakes with bananas and chocolate. I felt like a monkey eating them, lol. But they were delicious. By the time lunch rolled around though, I was craving some serious veggies.

I'm trying so hard to like hummus. I've tried it with multiple dishes, but I just can't enjoy it. The rest of the sandwhich was good though.
I had it with some veggie sticks and grapes on the side.
I'm super full!

I'm gonna spend the afternoon walking around town with my puppy. There *may* be a Starbucks run for an iced coffee!

Happy Sunday!
Top 20 on SYTYCD Canada tonight!
Go Nicole Bowz!!!

Organization 101

2009-08-23T00:23:00.001-04:00

I have OCD when it comes to organization. It drives most people crazy. Everything on and in my desk has a place, and things are colour coded, alphabitised and in order of date.
My staff at my new store is SO happy that I have come in and brought order to the place. Apparently the last manager was very disorganized. I think it was the baby brain, as she was pregnant.

I decided that I needed to carry that order into my life at home as well. My house is neat, everything in it's place, but my eating schedule is so out of wack. I don't plan ahead, and sometime's it's 8:30PM, I decide I'm hungry and have to throw something together super quick before I start to binge.
Tons of people talk about meal planning and organizing their week ahead. Ashley and Caitlin are a couple.
I've tried meal planning before, but never actually sat down and really focused on it. This week I decided to try really hard.
Alas, this is what I came up with.

After I took the list grocery shopping (I made a shopping list on the back) I put it up on my fridge.

I planned out my breakfast's, lunches and dinner's and left about 4-5 points per day to choose my snacks as I go.
It made grocery shopping a lot more fun, and I am dedicated to trying new things now like:
sun dried tomato quinoa
no cook apple sauce
grapefruit salsa (which I will just eat as a salad)

There's also some fun stuff in there like
oatmeal with chocolate and banana
smoothies
veggie lasagna
I put my work schedule along the top as well, so that I have easier lunches planned for the day's that I work.

Grocery shopping was a ton of fun!

Look at all those fresh fruits and veggies! Yum!
And my ITunes card, so that I can load up on new music for the studio this year! :)
I'm trying to eat a LOT cleaner from here. I'm getting sick of the processed stuff. Notice the fresh side has a lot more in quantity than the bread section. One thing at a time.

Tomorrow's a day off. YAY. Since taking over the store this week I have been there for about 10 hours everyday. Tomorrow I'm hoping to not have to go in at all.
Cross your fingers for me!

Holy Thunder, Batman!

2009-08-20T23:33:00.000-04:00

We had a tornado touch down in my town tonight.
It was only two street's away from me.
Half the town is blocked off by police officer's right now due to the missing roofs and uprooted trees everywhere.
It was insane.
No power for 2 hours!

But....being the good girl I am, I still went to WI in the middle of it all! My WI in in another town, and I called a friend who lived there and she said that it wasn't half as bad there.
I was THISclose to being out of the 150's. I lost .6, taking my down to 150.0. Yes, .0! But I'm okay with it! That's a great number and I am getting closer and closer to by Christmas weight again, and I will be happy there!
I am going to call goal the day that Lindsay and I leave for Vegas. I think it would be a fantastic way to remember this interesting journey I've taken myself on

Today looked like this:
Wake up at 8:45 to my District Manager calling me. Seriously! Who calls someone at that time of the morning on their day off? Well, I guess most normal people get up earlier than 11!
Breakfast was a smoothie with:
*vanilla yogurt
*strawberry banana fruit juice/puree type stuff
*5 strawberries
*1/8 of a pineapple.
It was yummy, but didn't keep me full for too long.

I then ended up having to go to my store for a bit, to do some damage control/schedule moving around after my phone call with my DM
But then came home and had a pizza on a WW tortilla with spinach, sauce, cheese, green pepper and red onion, served with a salad of baby spinach and arugula, 1/4 of an apple, 2 strawberries, some crutons for crunch. I wasn't feeling the oil for a dressing today so I added some honey, a la Jaime. What a smart dressing idea! :) I added a little bit of balsamic as well, just for the sourness of it.

I then spent 2 horus at the dentist having more cavities filled. I'm ALMOST done all the dental work I need after taking a 7 year absence from the dentist. I just have to go in on Sept 2nd to get my root canal's finished and for 2 more fillings on Sept 17th. They wanted to do the fillings next week, but I decided that I need a break after being at the dentist once or twice a week for the last 5 weeks.

I then sat through that crazy rainstorm and went to WI and then came home to my roommate asking me to help her decorate cupcakes for a bachelorette weekend away she is leaving for tomorrow. It was a fun time. We made two dozen chocolate cupcakes and frosted them in a bright pink and wrote some fun stuff on it in brown icing. Jenny had more fun eating the extra cupcakes then icing them. I didn't touch them as they contained eggs. Scores for me!

Dinner was a quick pasta with tomato sauce and a piece of garlic bread, which I almost always have on WI nights because it's quick and easy.

Well, I'm off to stare out the window at the police officer's cleaning up our streets, then head to bed!

Good night all!

Thoughts on a Saturday...

2009-08-08T13:47:00.000-04:00

I have to work in an hour :( I just don't like going all day long knowing I have to go to work in the afternoon. While I love my job, I just hate sitting around all day knowing I have to go in later.

I went to the dentist twice the week. And I am going twice next week too. :( It's about time I get this mouth of mine fixed, as living on a diet of soft food and liquids...Up this week, 3, count 'em, yes 3!!! root canal's. I can't blame anyone except myself since I haven't been to the dentist in 6 year's, so yea, that'll do it!

WI went great this week! I was down 1.8. SO close to being out of the 150's forEVER..I'm takling like .2 away from being out. I'm sure if I stepped on the scale today I'd be out of them. However, I can't and I won't step on the scale. I'm trying that this week. I'm definatly a daily scale stepper on'er. (most definately not 2 words in the english language) I did however, drop my points by 1 this week, even though I'm not officially not out of the 150's, last time I was here I had a hard time getting out of them, so that's what I'm doing this week! *cross your finger's for me*

In other thought's, I have been very motivated this week. Motivated outside of weight watchers. I have just gone through this whole week knowing that there are bigger and better things out there for me. I had a wonderful conversation with Ashley the other day about being inspired and wanting more in life. Weather it is with your lifestyle in regards to food and exercise or in your career. I really like what i am doing right now, I enjoy it, but I know that I have the drive and determination to do more in life, it is all about sitting down, writing it out and doing it.
That is my next big project. Getting a plan together to fulfill my dreams in life. All the while well still running a store for a billion dollar corporation. Sounds exciting to me!

Please all, enjoy the rest of your weekend!
xo

The start of summer! Finally!

2009-08-02T12:53:00.000-04:00

So it's August 2nd and summer has finally decided to join us!
The last two day's have been beautiful, and I couldn't be happier.
Well, except if this tooth ache would go away.
I got a dentist appointment on Tuesday, though, so I am super excited about that.
Me? Excited about the dentist? Yea. For the first time in my life, I am excited to go to the dentist.

Food has been scarce as my mouth has been so sore. But! At the same time, it's been delicious!
Last night I made Tomato, Roasted Garlic, Rice and Navy Bean Soup from Veganomicon. I didn't start cooking it until LATE, so I didn't eat dinner until almost 10, but let me tell you, WORTH THE WAIT!

**I'm awful at food porn, so I've taken a break from photo's for a while**

The verdict? I LOVED it! The recipie called for crushed tomato's, but apparently I didn't pay attention to that, so I bought chopped. All good, I just threw em in the blender for a couple seconds.
It tastes a lot like ministrone. Which is good, because it's one of my favourite soups.
I enjoyed it lastnight out by my fire with my puppies (Who also enjoyed a little bit after it cooled down) with some jalapeno and cheddar corn bread cracker's. They are so delicious.

Breakfast this morning was a banana...yes, that's all. I'm not hungry today. However, I'm going to dive into another bowl of soup before I go to work today.

I have a surprise for one of my reader's....I'm not telling who it is, or what it is, but there's one that has been such a huge help and inspiration to me over the last year, and especially since my becoming vegetarian...so, to this special person-keep an eye out for some goodies coming your way soon!

That's all for now!
Love you all

xoxo

p.s. Follow me on Twitter

P.S.S. Just when I thought this soup couldn't get any better, I just calculated it, and umm..yea, it's only 1pt for 1cup and a half! Amazing!

so excited! :)

2009-08-01T15:29:00.000-04:00

I WON I WON I WON!!!

I was crossing my little finger's for this contest!
I won some booty camp training from Jaime at Embracing Balance!
I'm so excited for this to start....but I am also terrified!
I really need to get into an exercise routine, and having someone whip my rear end is just what I need I think.
I also won't be tempted to skip workout's like I usually am, because there is NO way I'm letting Jaime down on this one!

owwwie.

2009-07-31T21:12:00.000-04:00

I am falling apart.
At 25 years old. (24 and a half)

The last couple day's have been awful. The pain in my stomach due to my cysts is getting more and more constant and the pain is getting worse. Before I just used to hurt every other month, and it was just like awful cramps or something, but now it's almost everyday and it just feels like someone punch me and I have a huge bruise there.
However, it is fairly tolerable because I am so used to it now. More of an annoyance.
But the last 2 day's I have had the most AWFUL pain in my mouth. I'm not sure if it's my teeth or my gums. I was up at 3am this morning because it was hurting so much. My cheek is even hot to the touch. I've never had tooth pain before, but my heart now goes out to anyone and everyone who's ever had pain in their mouth. It's pretty awful. I called the dentist today and can't get in until Tuesday. They had room today but
a) I was working
b) My new benefit's package doesn't come into effect until August 1st (tomorrow) and I am too much of a scardy cat to ask them if they could see me today and invoice me tomorrow.
I'm just hoping that the medication's that I keep myself high on will keep the pain away until then.
Food has been fairly boring the last couple day's because I can't chew anything in my mouth, at all, without a shooting pain going through my gum's and up into my cheek. Needless to say, I've been enjoying:
oatmeal, cereal, pudding and pasta for the last couple day's.
Oh yea, it's all been luke warm too, because if it's hot it hurts my mouth too much.
Tuesday at 4:30 can't come soon enough!
BUT!
Before that, I have an interview to become a store manager that morning. EEK! I've already basically been giving the promotion, but it's just protocol that you go through an interview with a district manager other than your own.
I'm a little nervous. Not going to lie.
The interview start's with a coffee tasting. Better brust up on some more Starbucks knowledge.

Anyway, I'm off to relax in a bath and hit my bed early tonight. With ice on my face.

Oh yea, I lost 0.4 this week. I would have liked more, however, it's in the right direction, so I'll take it!

Show Jaime some love!

2009-07-28T10:52:00.000-04:00

She's running a super fun contest to win 4 weeks of Booty Camp!
Check it out!
Her blog in on the top of my list too, so be sure to follow her blog too!

I missed summer!

2009-07-27T22:43:00.000-04:00

I know I sleep a lot, but I really don't believe that I slept through summer. Where did it go? The weather in Ontario this summer has been awful. Do we not get punished enough in the winter? All I ask for is 2 month's of sunshine and heat. I'm okay if June is cool'ish, I would just like July and August to be nice. Is that too much? I don't think so!

So, my body is still a little sore from baseball this weekend. I was hoping to go to yoga tonight to stretch out my muscles, but I decided on Zumba instead because I needed something to burn tons of calories and to make me sweat.
Did you hear that?
Yes, I said I went to Zumba, and that I wanted to sweat. Who am I? I just blogged last week about how I can not even force myself to exercise, and today I went to Zumba? Yes, I might need to get my head checked.
But guess what else?
I enjoyed it. I knew I would. I love Zumba. I would like to start teaching it soon. I teach it during the dance season at the studio, but I'd like to get into a gym and teach it too, I think.
Oh, and guess what else?
I'm going again tomorrow.
Yes, now I think I *really* need my head checked.

Food today was very scarce. I find that when I am work on an admin day (so, off the floor, doing things like going over numbers, schedules, meetings, interviews) that I don't eat a lot. I think it's because I just want to get the day overwith, as my agenda is always so packed.
I got to work around 7:30, but didn't get to breakfast until about 10'ish. I had some multi-grain Cheerios and a banana, and then later on (around 3'ish) I had a few Tricuts and an apple. Needless to say, when I got home from Zumba I was VERY hungry. I had been thinking about this all day:

Yum!
I roasted a red bell pepper, and wilted some spinach in a pan, and threw in half a tomato. I then added some rice pasta to it. I was hoping for whole wheat linguini, however when I opened my pantry, there was about 6 pieces of pasta left in the box. Why would I do that?
Oh well, it was still good with the rice pasta! I also threw in a bit of sun-dried tomato and garlic spice, and topped it with a little bit of parmesan cheese.
The end result was amazing, and it was almost worth waiting all day to eat. It looks like a TON of food, but it's because there was so much pepper in it. I swear there is only one serving of pasta!
I know I'm awful at taking picture's of my food, so for that, I'm sorry. But honestly, my food is usually very boring. I'm sure you don't care to see a picture of some cereal with fruit on top, or a bagel with some light cream cheese and some veggies. However, a girl I work with has lent me Veganomicon and I am super excited to start cooking some recipies from it.
I have been totally inspired fom by Julie and Julia to start cooking delicious recipies. however, I don't think I could make a commitment to cook 500+ recipies in 352 days. That's a little crazy!
Well, that's about it for tonight. My body is craving some fruit, so I'm gonna go throw some frozen fruits in the blender with some ice and then probably call it a night!

Glad that's over!

2009-07-26T13:41:00.000-04:00

Baseball was fun this weekend.
However, I am a mess. My body is SO sore.
I think this might be the epiphany that I need to realize how much more exercise I need in my life.
Yoga this week sounds wonderful.
I can hardly move.

I'm almost glad our third game got rained out today due to the thunder, lightening and rain. I don't think I could squat down anymore to get the ball, or reach my arms into the sky to catch a pop.

Sunday afternoon nap time is in order I think!

wow! Apparently..

2009-07-25T17:16:00.000-04:00

I can run bases.
I havent done that in a while.
And I wasn't out of breath!

BBQ went well! I enjoyed a Licks Nature burger with some veggies and a few Hickory Sticks! Wow! I haven't had those since I was SUPER little!

Relaxing time on the couch now, followed by a bath, and then a coffee with a few dudes from the team later. We opted out on the movies because we are all so tired from a day of baseball that we figured we would probably fall asleep in the theatre anyway!
It's okay! I'll settle for my 0 point Sugar-Free Americano instead!

busy weekend!

2009-07-25T07:39:00.001-04:00

Full of baseball.
I'm playing in a tournament with a bunch of people from the Toronto Police Dept. Should be interesting, yes? YES!
Wish me luck!
(I'm gonna need luck getting through the BBQ and movies tonight too!)
Love to all!

It's safe to say..

2009-07-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

that I am back on track and loving it!

I wasn't sure if I would make it to weigh in tonight, as my mom called today and my aunt was back in ICU. She had a heart attack two weeks ago that lasted a week, and they put a stint in her leg. She was home (well, at her brother's) for about 4 day's, and then started feeling funny again, so she went to emerg, and they immediatly put her in an ambulance and transfered her to McMaster hospital for a bloog clot where they put the stint it. So, since I didn't get a chance to go see her last week due to work, I went out there today. I wasn't allowed to stay long though, as ICU at McMaster has some pretty tight rules with visiting hours.
So, I got home in time to get changed and make it to weigh in.
And..

I lost a pound! I was so excited! I got a visitor about 2 hours before, so I was a bit nervous, but I jumped on the scale like it was my job!
I had a good week, though, so I deserved it!

However, then we started talking about excersise, and I shut up quickly! I don't know what it is-I HATE TO WORK OUT! I can't find anything that makes me want to work out. I've tried it all (almost) I have to suck it up and just make myself do it!
But I did make a promise to Lindsay that I would exercise this week. Of some sort. I'm gonna try hiking, hopefully, if the weather clears up for my day off on Tuesday. I have to find something. The winter is easier for me, because I can just dance. I dance with my student's, I dance at home when I am choreographing, I just go to the studio in my spare time and dance. My apartment isn't big enough for me to dance at home though, so I don't dance in the summer. I need to find something!

*sigh*
Okay, enough of my complaining about something that I just have to suck up and do! Here's my eat's from the last couple day's.

Yesterday I was late for work. Like, really late! I woke up at 7:22 and was supposed to start at 7. I don't know what happened. Needless to say, I didn't have time to bring ANYTHING to work!
So breakfast was a bagel w/ cream cheese from Starbucks, then I worked my tail off all day, so I didn't ge to break for lunch, but I had a Vivanno to tide me over. I love them sometimes! But with the calorie count in them and stuff, they really are a meal replacement. I love the added protein and fibre in them.
Dinner was some leftover Corn and Blackbean salad heated up in the frying pan and served over some brown rice. It was quite delicious! Stay tuned: Tomorrow I'm going to try something different with it to finish up the left over's!

This morning was a 5AM start, and I was a little slow getting ready so I didn't get anything ready for work either.
Breakfast: Oatmeal with brown sugar
Snack: Banana
Lunch: BP and Banana sandwhich
I always eat really light on the day of WI since I weigh in at night time.
Then for dinner I had some whole wheat pasta with vegetarian bolognase sauce with some broccoli, carrots and green peppers thrown in, and a small green salad on the side. I always eat spaghetti on Thursday nights because it's so quick and easy to cook, and I only have about 15 mintues to get dinner ready before So You Think You Can Dance starts!
It was a great episode tonight! While Jeanette was an AMAZING dancer, I think Kayla is just a beautiful dancer. She's not my favourite (I'm not sure what is abotu her that throws me off but there's something) However, I find her dancing is BEAUTIFUL! I love Melissa though! :) There's something about being a 29 year old ballerina with a rockin' body that totall inspires me. I'd love for her to win!
*sigh* It brought back the most beautiful memories to see the bench routine again. I was in heaven!

Over and out!

That wasn't in the plan!

2009-07-21T19:34:00.000-04:00

Read on, to find out what I am talking about!
Today I was up at the crack of dawn (4:45am) to get ready for work. I tried to get there for 6, but it was more 6:15'ish. I spent the first 3 hours of my day fiddling around with Microsoft Word trying to create a template to add to my schedules. It took a while, but I got it. THEN I went to try and print it on my schedules, using my work printer, and the USB Cord for the printer woudn't fit in my laptop so if was off to Staples I went at 8AM. Luckily I found the cord all on my own! (I don't like asking people, because I feel dumb sometimes, like I should know the answer.)
In the end, it all got sorted out!

Food today was fairly good:
Breakfast, 1cup of multigrain cheerios, a tiny bit of non fat milk, and a banana
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Toast with 1 tbsp. fat free cream cheese and lettuce and tomato slices, strawberries and cucumber
After work we had our BBQ.
This is where things got...fun
When I got to my manager's house, it was POURING rain, so I threw my keys in my purse, and ran around to the otherside of my Jeep to get out all the stuff I had to bring it...so I went to the other side, and I had locked my keys inside my purse, inside the car.
While waiting for CAA mostly everyone started eating. So by the time I got my salad inside, there was only 2 of us left to eat. (The vegetarian's, who were waiting for the grill to be cleaned before I threw our Nature Burger's on)
SOOOOOOOO
Now I have this massive bowl of Ashley's Colourful Salad sitting in my fridge.
Any idea's on how I can re-use it this week? Other than just eating it as a side of course! I was thinking of heating it all up and throwing it into a wrap, or maybe over a salad...I'm not sure yet. I'm open to idea's!
Oh, yea, at the BBQ (which ended up inside because it was pouring rain) I ate:
A Nature Burger on a delicious fresh made bun, corn and black bean salad (3/4cup) and 1 cup of Strawberry and Slivered Almond spinach salad. I also ate a few tostio's and salsa. No dessert though, as they both contained eggs. Probably for the better anyway. Because the brownie's looked delicious, and I probably could have eaten the entire tray.

Anyway, I'm gonna jet out early tonight. I'm kind of tired, and I borrowed Angels and Deamon's off a friend today, so I have to finish reading Julie and Julia first!

I did take pictures of my food today, but I am too lazy to upload them right now! :(

Tomorrow is salary negotiation day with my district manager. Wish me luck!

P.S. Congrats to Jaime for reaching over 100 follower's! If you don't follow Embracing Balance, I suggest you do! She eat's the most delicious food, and is a fellow Starbucks addict, as well as a coffee mug collector like myself!

Delicious day!

2009-07-20T21:26:00.000-04:00

As promised, here I am to blog about my meals!
I had to work early this morning, and put in a long day (7am-6:30pm) so that I can get out early and go to the LuLu Lemon sale on thursday!
So, I took most of my food with me for the day!
Breakfast was Weight-Control Oatmeal, topped with a bit of brown sugar and some raspberries on the side!

Then..work got busy, and I got STARVING! So I enjoyed my apple, and a Weight Watchers 2point brownie bar, that I failed to take a picture of!
By the time lunch came, I was *famished*
So, i enjoyed half a tortilla, with 2 points worth of part skimmed mozza/cheddar put in the microwave for 45 seconds. While delicious, it was super small, so next time I'll add some chopped veggies to it as well! Cucumber slices on the side!

I washed it down with 3 bottle's of water, it my pretty new lulu bottle.

*My name is Becki, and I am a water bottle'oholic"
It's bad. I own too many water bottles. I'm talking...over 15. Stay tuned! You'll see in the next coming days.
In the afternoon I started feeling super ill. I have cysts on my left ovary, and every couple months they get really sore. Today I was almost falling over they were so painful. But, I am very commited to my job, so I had to stay until I got everything done. So, I didn't eat anything in the afternoon. I got home and sat on the couch for over an hour, and hardly moved. I debated going to bed and not eating dinner, but I was getting hungry, so I threw together a super quick salad.

(Check out the steam coming off of that thing!)
Cue
2 cups of lettuce, half a chopped green pepper, 1oz cheese, half of a tomato, a few crutons for some crunch, 3/4 cup of vegetarian chili and some sour cream and salsa on the side. All together it took me about 4 minute's. It was fantastic!
I really have to make a point to eat more different type's of salad's. I say that I don't like salad, but really, I just don't like the usual lettuce, veggie and dressing salad's. Do you have any yummy salad idea's to share?

Tomorrow is a staff BBQ/Put-luck. I'm in charge of a vegetarian/vegan alternative (Licks Nature Burger's) and a vegetarian friendly salad. I thought it was the perfect time to try Ashley's Colourful Salad. I doubled the recipie, and just added a little bit of olive oil and some garlic salt. It's currently in the fridge, awaiting tomrrow's BBQ. And it looks ah-may-zing. (Okay, so maybe a had a little bite, and it tastes just as amazing as it looks!)

Alright, that's it. I need to get in the bath and try and get this tummy of mine to relax.

I hope you all had a great day, and filled your plates with half veggies!

I Promise...

2009-07-19T13:12:00.000-04:00

to be a better blogger.
I log into my blogspot dashboard multiple times a day and read all of your blog updates, and then fail to publish my own post!
I've always wanted to be one of those devoted blogger's that post daily (maybe two times!) but I never seem to be able to get myself into it.
So, I promise to blog more, about my food, and other interesting things. (I promise! I say it again because third time's a charm right?)
I went and got a few groceries this morning!

Look at the size of tihs contained of strawberries that I scored for $3.99!

I usually like to pick up fruit's and veggie's at the farmer's market on Saturday mornings, however, yesterday I had an unexpected sleep in until 11:30am! And the market only goes until 12:30, so by the time I got up, and showered, took the dog's around the block, and fed them, I wouldn't have made it!

I gotta put those grocerie's away and get ready for work. 2:15 until 10:45 tonight.
Stay tuned this week, with my promise of blogging more, I will review
*Ashley's rainbow salad
*My first shot at the Green Monster
*My wonderful shopping trip at Lush (adore this store!)
*Week 2 of the 4 week to 5 serving challenge

I was tagged!

2009-07-16T20:44:00.001-04:00

by Sarah at Super-Cali-Franga-Listic-Expie-Ala-Docious. (or some sort of spelling along those lines!)

The purpse of this tag is to share with you, 7 trait's about me that you don't know!

1. I have very small OCD's. Small, because they are just little things that I do every day, however they haunt me if they are not done my way.

Some of them include:
-money (heads must all be facing the same way, and they must be in order of denomination)
-socks. I can not stand socks that look like they have be warn. They must look brand new for me to wear them. This haunts me when I own white socks. After they are washed once, they look old to me. This stears me away from buying any socks that are not black.
-Shoes. I'm not OBSESSED with shoes, like most girl's claim to be, however, my shoes must match my outfit. Example, the other day I went to a meeting and the attire was "business casual"I got all dressed up in a cute pair of plaid capri's (purple and grey's mostly) and an adorable purple top. I felt so cute in my outfit. And then I realized that I couldn't find my purple flat's anywhere. Instead of wearing the white ones that would have looked perfectly fine, I had to go downstairs and change my entire outfit.

2. Outside of my house, I have to be organized to the annoyance of other people. When I am writing, my printing/handwriting has to be perfect, lines must be drawn at an exact 180 degree line. Binder's, filefolder's ect must be colour coded and paper's can not be falling out anywhere. It drive's my manager insane as I have to pull out a ruler every single time I draw a line, and if it isn't straight, I throw out the paper and start again no matter how much work I had done. However, my house is a disaster. It's not dirty by any means, but thing's are just put away, they don't have a place or a specific spot to sit.

3. My wake up/bed time routine is timed down to the minute. To the point that, while I sleep with my phone on, it is turned off while I am getting ready for work/getting ready for bed. If I get interupted at all, it throw's off my whole mindset, and my day goes all wrong, or I don't sleep at night.

4. Bills! I hate having bills/owing money to the point that every single bill I owe comes out of my bank directly. And I write it all down in my day planner so I know when they are coming out. If my payment's haven't been taken out of the bank by noon that day, I am on the phone with whatever company it may be, asking why the money hasn't come out yet.

5. Cell Phone. My cell phone must be on me at all time's or I feel like I do not have access to the world. I use it for everything. As a day timer, an alarm, a clock (I don't wear watches) If I forget it at home, the minute I realize, no matter how far I am from home, I must turn around and get it.

6. I have horrible anxiety to be other people's homes. I don't know what it is, but I never feel comfortable in someone else's house except my own. The meeting that I mentioned about, was at my district manager's house. I didn't sleep the night before, had a racing heart all morning before the meeting, and...once I got there..I didn't speak one word unless I was spoken to. I don't know what it is, but I am not comfortable in surroundings that are not my own.

7. I hate the dark. While I am not scared of the dark, I hate to be in it. I have a horrible habbit of
a) turning on all the lights in the room
b) not turning lights off when I leave the room.
I *hate* walking into dark rooms!

That's it! 7 things about me that you didn't know!
My bloglist isn't super long, so I'm going to tag 7 people, and if you have already been tagged, sorry about that!

<3 My love Jess at Bye Bye Love Handles
Abbey at Abbey Maybe
Amy at Amy's Quest to Skinny
Jaime at Embracing Balance
Kate at Getting Back to Me
Jen at Prior Fat Girl
Rebecca at Fat Fitness Food

Colour you day's healthy!

2009-07-13T20:30:00.000-04:00

Sunday: Black Beans, Strawberries, Cucumber
Monday: Apple, Pineapple, Cantelope

All of it was delicious!

This morning I had a Cora's inspired breakfast, and had a crepe with cheddar and diced apple. OMG. Can you say deliciousness on a plate? I LOVE Apples and Cheese together!
Lunch was a veggie Pita from Extreme Pita, and dinner is a mish mosh salad of all the veggies that I need to get out of my fridge.

Tomorrow is a half day at work! :) We have a meeting at my district manager's house, and in order to say "Thanks" for all out our hard work, he's allowing us to
a) dress in casual, not uniform
b) have a half day
c) A BBQ'd lunch. I am going to bring a sandwhich or something though, as I am not sure of what the contents of lunch with be, and if there are any other vegetarian's

It's 8:35, I am going to bed. I only slept for a few hours latnight before taking my neighbour and her nephew to the airport at 6 this morning!

Those day's...

2009-07-12T13:56:00.001-04:00

When you feel SO uncomfortable in your own skin?
I'm having one now.

I've changed my outfit three times.
Put socks on.
Taken socks off.
Been inside.
Been outside.

No matter what I do, I just don't feel comfortable today.

Do any of you have day's like this?

New stuff!

2009-07-11T20:39:00.000-04:00

Since becoming a vegetarian just over 2 month's ago, I've finally become very bored of rice and pasta, and anything involving the 2. This week I tried a few different things! I just walked around the grocery store until I decided on some things!

Tofu
Although, I've eaten tofu many, many times, I've never ventured out into cooking it on my own. I was always confused about the different types. Hard, Soft, Medium, Dessert...I had no idea where to start. So I decided to just go for it! I choose the medium. I then pan-fried it with broccoli, carrots and some bean sprouts and tossed the entire creation with some teriyaki sauce and brown rice. The result? It was good! But..I didn't really taste the tofu. Which maybe was a good thing? I was talking to a vegan-friend at work today, and she said that she coats it in cornstarch and then pan fries it. That will be on the menu tomorrow!

Rice Paper Wraps
I've had these from ethnic restaurants a few times, and really enjoyed the Raw Taco's Ashley made with them at our WW Pot Luck. I stuffed mine with lettuce, beansprouts, chopped orange pepper and cucumber, some salsa, and cashiew's for protein.
I had to make them twice.
After I soaked them the first time, I put them down on my cutting board while I chopped the veggies. Well, apparently I wasn't thinking, and overlapped them a bit. The result? They were all stuck together! Duh, I should have thought of that, but I didn't. So then I soaked a few more and wrapped them. They were good, however next time I don't think I'll put the salsa in them, and maybe just use it to dip. I had them with a mashed potato, because I was seriously craving some carbs.
I've been craving carbs like mad lately, you'd think I was pregnant. However, there's no way that I am. So maybe I've just been eating SO many veggies lately that my body just needed some good old fat.

This week at our meeting we started the 4 week to 5 servings challenge. It's a WW challenge to make sure that we are getting 5 servings of veggies every day. Challenge number 1: To eat a rainbow! We were challenged to eat at least 3 colours every day! So far:
Friday: Banana,Kiwi, Carrotts
Saturday: Apple, Grapes, Tomato
I don't think I will have a problem with this challenge, as I have been including so many fresh fruits and veggies every day. I stopped by the farmer's market yesterday morning and picked up SO many goodies! I love the Milton Farmer's Market! We have so much farm land around us, so I know that everything is so local. There's just something about local fruits and veggies. They taste more delicious!

Please..

2009-07-08T02:34:00.000-04:00

give me strength to get through Wonderland tomorrow without eating all the yummy stuff that's there!
That's all I ask! :)

Delicious'ness!

2009-07-07T22:01:00.001-04:00

My new fav salad!

1 can corn nibblets
1/2 cup black beans
2 tsp. olive oil

1/2 cup whole grain rice (optional, i add it so that i can make it more of a meal than a side dish)

Cook the corn.
Rinse and drain the black beans
Cook rice (if adding to salad)
Toss entire thing in 2tsp. olive oil.

Put the left over's in the fridge and eat it again tomorrow cold. It's just as delicious.

I have eaten it for the last 4 day's and am obsessed.

Wonderland tomorrow :) Yay!

No pictures, buy my words are sweet enough :)

2009-07-05T23:40:00.000-04:00

Anyway, onto meals and stuff. I just wanted to vent a little bit, and I can't vent to people here because they all feel the same way.
Friday consisted of:

pakcakes and bananas for breakfast (my two favourite foods, but I always feel SO stuffed after I eat them)

Lunch was 1cup of tomato and basil flavoured rice wrapped in whole wheat tortillas with tzatiki sauce (how do you even spell that word?) and some cucumbers on the side

Dinner was a veggie taco salad, with corn, peppers veggie chili and crushed tortilla chips

Saturday (I slept in WAY late so started with lunch)

Cheese quesadilla with sour cream and salsa and a corn and black bean salad on the side

Dinner was whole wheat pasta tossed with olive oil and sauteed spinach, sun dried tomato's and red peppers

Used some flex points after for some Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

Sunday started with a Sugar Free Caramel Americano with non-fat milk and half of a pumpkin scone from the Bux.

I skipped lunch today and CLEANED my house like a mad woman (I'm talking like 5 hours of cleaning in a tiny one bedroom apartment) The walls are clean, the floors, I re-organized my cupboards, did 4 loads of laundry, got rid of 2 garbage bags of clothes...you get the picture.

Dinner was one slice of pizza from Domino's with cheese, pineapple and hot peppers served with fresh strawberries, raspberries and an apple.

Then I had some popcorn....and a cup of tea!

Overall, a wonderful food weekend, but definately lacked some exercise. However, I totally broke a sweat more than once while I was cleaning today.

Tuesday is "Partner Appreciation Day" at Starbucks. It's a global day for Starbucks to thank all of it's partner's. There is prizes, t-shirts, pot lucks and parties planned. It will be my first Partner Appreciation Day at Starbucks, and I am looking forward to it. I have really enjoyed my first 5 month's as an Assistant Manager...

and

Shhhh..secret

I got promoted already!! You are supposed to be in your position for 8 month's to a year before moving into a store manager position, however my District Manager is very pleased with how much I have learnt and my management skills that a position opened up in Milton, and I will be taking over (the busiest) Starbucks in Milton as of August 15th!

I am super excited about it.

Stay tuned for further posts this week. I am going to be embarking on a very healthy mission. My best friend's boyfriend is working with a company that deals with many natural supplements, and I have spoken to this lady. She is going to be providing me with supplement's to try and wene me off of the many perscriptions I take daily for my over active thyroid, insomnia, heart condition and ovarial cysts. The supplement's are going to be free of charge in exchange for me twittering about how they make me feel...I tried to stay away from this twitter craze for as long as I could...but now I'm getting suckered in.

Don't believe...

2009-07-02T20:43:00.001-04:00

your at home $40 scale...WW pay's $2000 for their scale to tell you...

that.
you.
are.
down.

1lb!
Yay! I was VERY happy when I got on the scale tonight!

It's been a while...

2009-07-02T04:34:00.000-04:00

It's been a week in between my posts. Probably because I was away in my little slice of Heaven.

If this isn't relaxing, I don't know what it.
I went away to my mom's for a few day's, because
a) I haven't seen her from Easter
b) I've been working such long hours lately that I needed just a little break. It was so nice.
My mom lives in the Kawartha's, in Bobcaygeon. (Cue Tragically Hip music)
Yes, *that* Bobcaygeon.
That is the view from her front porch.

Despite the rainy weather, it was still a nice little vacation.
My mom's best friend's that we were really close to growing up came up for a couple days, and that was a nice surprise. My mom sees them a few times a year, but I don't think I've seen them for about 5 years.
And then one night my little brother and his new girlfriend came up! That called for...you guessed it! A HUGE BBQ!
On the table:
chicken and steak (for the meat eaters)
BBQ'd veggies-broccoli, green and yellow beans, zuccini, orange pepper and red pepper
Potatoes on the BBQ- I didn't like them. I think my brother left them on for too long as they had a strong "smoked"taste, and I'm not one for smoke cooked food.
Fruits (was supposed to be for dessert but we ate it all together) Pineapple, melon, grapes, raspberries and strawberries
And a huge salad with cucumber, tomato and carrots
Garlic Bread
All prepared by me, and cooked by my little brother in the rain! What a good sport!

My plate:

Dinner was delicious, and the company was fun! :)
The next day was Canada day, despite the rain Bobcaygeon had a parade!

Can you believe that we met some people from Ireland that came here on vacation just to shop at Bigley's Shoes?

Apparently people come to Bobcaygeon, from all over the world, just to shop here! Pretty crazy if you ask me!

I had a wonderful week OP, eating delicious meals and counting points. However, I got on the scale just now, and it hasn't moved...wonderful. I love when that happens. *humph*

Mis Ray

2009-06-28T18:51:00.001-04:00

Post coming later tonight (main topic being how OP i have been)
In the meantime please check out one of my best friend's.
I love her uncontrollably.

www.youtube.com/mizrayraytv

Crazy is my most favouritest song ever.

P.S. Also check out Ashley's blog and see how hot she looked at her belly dance recital!

That's it!

2009-06-25T17:46:00.001-04:00

No longer am I sitting here asking myself why I'm not loosing anymore.
Because I know the answer, and I've known it all along.
I'm not following WW, I'm following the "Becki Program" as Lindsay always puts it.
Today is the last time that I tell myself that I am "starting" again. I tell myself this every two weeks, and today is the last time I am saying it.
Today is the start.
I am going to WI, (I didn't WI last week) and I know i'm up about a pound since I last weighed in. But that doesn't matter. I am starting over again.
I have to go back and learn how to track, and relize that I do need to add some movement to my day in order to loose.
When I come home tonight I am going to plan my week. The week's that I planned ahead were when I was successful.
I know that WW works, and that it works for me. I know that because I weighed 141 at Christmas, and had lost 30 pounds. Now I am at about 155, so my weight loss is below 20 again. When I thought about it this morning (and for the last few month's) I was BEATING myself up over it, which I think was why I wasn't loosing. I was getting so mad and depressed at myself for letting myself slip, that it was that much harder for me to get back on track.
I am going to WI tonight and embrace the fact that I want to loose weight, and that I can loose weight.
I bought a bikini yesterday because it was too cute to pass up. (Cummon, Toronto Maple Leafs...I had to have it, just so me)
and I know that I will not wear it until I loose at least 15 pounds. But 15 pounds? That's totally do-able by the end of the summer at least. I would like to wear it in 8 weeks. I know that is almost 2 pounds a week, but I also know that I can do that. Because I've done it before.

I am going to challenge myself this week. I will challenge myself to
a) track EVERYthing that I eat
b) get some sort of activity 5 our of the next 7 days. I am saying 5 day's, because I know that 7 day's will overwhelm me.
c) See a loss next week that I am happy about. I want to see something (anything) over 1lb next week.

That's it, oh, and I challenge myself to blog more too, because I love blogging and I have put in on the back burner lately.

I have to stop putting everyone else before myself and my health. I have never been able to do that. My friends and family always come first. And when I sit and think about it today (after talked to Lindsay about everything) I think it's because I have always been insecure about how I look that I want everyone else to feel happy about the kind of person that they are and how they look. Why can't I still have that and be happy about the person that I am?
As of today, I will.

I made it!! ...so far

2009-06-20T07:50:00.000-04:00

Friday-work 6:30-3:00 CHECK
dress rehearsal: 4:00-9:00 CHECK
Relay for Life 10:00PM-7:00AM CHECK
so far, i've been up for 26 hours and 51 minutes

Currently: 7:53AM
Saturday: Meet up with some friends: leaving in an hour
Meeting at the theatre: 10:30AM
Recital #1: 12:30 to 3:00
Recital #2: 6:00-10:00
Home and in bed at 11:00PM
Total awake hours before sleep: 42.0 (hopefully 41 hours and 59 minutes)

Sleep 11PM-8AM
Recital #3: Sunday 12:30-3:00
Recital #4: Sunday 6:00-10:00PM

The weekend is ALMOST over..let's see how it goes, and if I can make it through being awake all day

I hope you dance...

2009-06-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

dance year is almost over :)
Recital tomorrow and Sunday, photo's next week then recital's next weekend, and then it's summer vacation.

I love the look on children's faces when they get a chance to perform on stage. They walk out, and the lights go on, and everyone goes "awwww" (well, to my younger student's anyway) their music starts and they just DANCE! Sometimes they forget their routine, sometimes they cry, I've had kids pee backstage, but they always come off and say "Ms. Rebecca, can we do it again?" I just love that moment when they realize that all the hard work that they put in from September-June pays off when they have fun on stage.
For most of my 3 and 4 year olds, it's their first time, and the older student's get, the more of a sense of accomplishment they have when they are done their dance. The jumps, turns and trick's that they worked at ALL year all turn out flawlessly and a lot of the older student's leave the audience in awe with their ariels, walkovers and flips.

I pride myself on being a teacher that doesn't care how good her student's are, or how together they are, but making sure that they have fun while they dance. That is what makes them come back next year, and want to take my classes. I changed up my schedule next year, and am not teaching some of the same classes that I have in the last couple years, but they keep asking what classes I am teaching so that they can take my class again. That gives me more joy that anything I've ever done in my life. One year I danced at a fundraiser called Dancers for Cancer. I raised over $4000 for cancer research, and while I was very happy with my results and fundraising efforts, I felt happier and more accomplished when my dancer's took the stage after me and performed a very inspirational contemporary routine. One of the 8 year olds came off stage and said "I want to dance for that audience every day." The audience was full of children and adults that were all battling with cancer themselves. That made me the happiest teacher in the world, that my student's were able to take my passion and love for dance, instill it in themselves, and share it with other people.

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance

Catch up!

2009-06-11T22:03:00.001-04:00

Well, as promised, I am going to play catch up tonight from the 5 day's I haven't been online.

I weighed in today. I was up .4 (or something, I forget right now) which I am okay with because
a) I got on the scale this morning and I was actually down, so I know it was just my food (or lack there of) today at work
b) It was a short week for me, as I weighed in on Saturday
c) The last 2 weeks I weighed in in the morning, and I know my body changes so much during the day because of what I eat/drink so I think untimately I was really down.
I was talking to Lindsay tonight, and I am going to drop by points per day by 1, because I have been in a plateau/maintaining since basically April. The upside to that? When I finally get to my goal I know I won't have a problem maintaining. haha

So update on this week:
Sunday-After work a few of the WW Awesome 20's got together for a pot-luck at Ashley's. Ashley and I have only met a couple times, but she is such a sweet person and so inspirational. I can't wait to get to hang out with more. Check out her story and battles here.
Onto the food portion on the afternoon (since that is why we were all there!) There were SO many delicious options.
Ashley made some raw taco's in rice paper wraps. They were filled with chopped nuts and some delicious herbs. Amazingly delicious. I am going to have to scope out some of those rice wrap's and experiment with them.
We had so many salad options. One of Ashley's friends, Lindsay, made a Beet and Lentil salad. (Apparently I like beets! Another one to add to the list) We also had a pasta salad, and another type of salad. Sherri made salmon cakes and for DESSERT! Jess made 1 point chocolate chip cookies, and Kate made a WW Chocolate cake. Because there was eggs in both, I passed, however, I did enjoy a plate full of berries! :) I made balsamic roasted veggie flatbread pizza's! They were delicious! I added chicken to a few of them. I also made some "Ashley friendly" on gluten free english muffins, with veggies minus mushrooms, and no cheese or anything dairy.
All in all a WONDERFUL way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I am looking forward to another day when we can all get together.
Picture's from this amazing day will come soon, as I am waiting for some to be posted somewhere so I can steal them! :)

I don't have a lot to report on the food front this week, because I went to bed without dinner 3 night's this week. BAD, I know, but I have just been SO exhausted. I am going to TRACK TRACK TRACK my food this week, as I feel that I may be lacking in a few vitamens and things since going vegetarian. I know thing's like this take time to adjust to though, so I am not too worried.

It's 10:20PM, I have to work at 7:30AM and my eyes are slowly closing as I lay here on the couch watching Ace of Cakes. I'm happy that I was able to stay awake tonight and watch So You Think You Can Dance. I think the right people went home. Although they are all AMAZING dancers, and have unbelievable talent, for the quality of dance that they expect on the show, the two that went home tonight just didn't have it all.
Speaking of So You Think You Can Dance, when the Canadian season starts (I think in August it is?!) hopefully you can see my audition, and into the top 60. I can find myself in this photo, can you?

Photo curtosy of CTV

P.S.
Another blog name change, this time it's staying like this. I promise.
I'm human, we are creature's of change, I can't help it! ;)
Find the full song lyrics here.
Ordinary Miracles, Sarah McLachlan

P.P.S. Sorry if this came up as "published" 3 times, I fail to proof-read.

Not enough hours in the day!

2009-06-11T08:58:00.000-04:00

I haven't been online since...Saturday..maybe Sunday. Nope, Saturday.
I have been so busy it's unreal.
Saturday, I worked, Sunday, I worked from 5:30-2, then the lovely Ashley held a WW Awesome 20's pot luck. (Details coming later tonight, promise!) There was so much wonderful food.
Monday I worked 5-2:30, then was at the Studio from 4-9, was in bed the minute I walked in the door. Tuesday I worked 6:00-3:30 and was at the studio from 4-9:30, again, bed the minute I walked in the door, Wednesday I was altering costume's from 9AM until 1, then worked 2:15-10:45, came home, fell asleep watching So You Think You Can Dance (I LOVE Ade, Jenette, Brandon and Kayla so far) and today, I am working 10-6:30. Weigh in is tonight after work! Then i am coming home, having a veggie burger on BBQ (CRAVING!!!) and then going to bed again. Recital's are the weekend, photo's next week, and then recital's again the following weekend. BUSY time of year. I LOVE teaching more than anything, however, I always wish that I could fall asleep June 1st and not wake up until June 30th.
Off to get ready for work, blog update PROMISED tonight, (someone hold me to it!) I'll leave you with a few picture's of my cutie's getting their poses ready for picture week!

It was time...

2009-06-02T14:51:00.000-04:00

this..my lovely reader's, is a result of 2 year old, muchly adored ballet slippers!

and this is a result of finally giving in buying new shoes!

Rest In Peace ballet shoes. I adored you dearly, but I was tired of getting made fun of by my student's! :(

Food post coming later tonight!

Will the weather decide...

2009-05-30T17:43:00.000-04:00

what it wants to do? Yesterday was absolutly BEAUTIFUL, and I was outside all afternoon/early evening, and then out of no where came a tornado like winds, and torrential downpour! Today was the same. Cold morning, but then went up to 22*, and then I was inside a theatre for 2 hours, and then I came out to downpour again! I wish it would just decide what to do, thus making it easier to dress in the morning.

Alright, so I have lots to catch up on, like I promised!
First, my food of the week from last week...mango's! So many people I talked to couldn't believe that I had never tried one. So I peeled it, and cut it into cubes. I liked it! I thought that it tasted a lot like a peach! The texture was good. I'm a huge texture person, and won't eat a lot of foods because I find them too slimy, or crunchy or something. Overall, I would eat them again! However, the store that I got them at only had organic, and while I'd love to eat organic all the time, I truly can't afford it right now, so I'll stick to peaches until I find them cheaper!

Onto a coule other new products I tried this week! First up, is Silhouette 0+ yogurt with green tea extracts, pineapple flavour. I always see the green tea extract flavours in the store, but never buy them!

I liked it. Sometime's I find it very hard to digest yogurt, as I have occasional battles with lactose intolerence, but this digested very well, and tasted delicious with some raspberries, strawberries and Fibre 1 cereal!

Another new product I tired while shopping at Planet Organic for my night time teas was Food Should Taste Good organic Multigrain chips. I loved them. They were just salty enough to satisfy my craving for chips, and I liked that they were organic and free of all those added flavourings.

I may have induldged in more than 1 serving the day that I bought them.

Onto my new found vegetarianism. I haven't gone vegan (yet, although quite possible over the next few months) but have decided to give up meat for the time being. I investigated a few recipies that I am very excited to try. However, for my first couple meals I thought I would keep it simple.

First up I tried some veggie sytle ground beef, added to whole wheat pasta, with some tomato and basil sauce and carrots and broccoli. I enjoyed it, although was very nervous to try it. I am looking forward to trying other veggie style "meats". Taco's are on my list this week!
Lastnight I turned this...

into this...

My room mate and friends were bbq'ing hamburg's, so I decided to look up a fun, veggie friendly version,and came across the recipie for apple burgers. I know, sounds funny right? While they were okaaay, I don't think I will make them again. They didn't really have a lot of flavour to them except ginger. While I do like ginger, I like it mixed in things, and not as the main taste. the recipie was for 4-6 so I cut it in half and still ended up with 6 burger's! I left one in the fridge for a quick go to dinner this week and put the rest in the freezer, however I don't think I'll be keeping them around for long.

Well, I'm off to do some yoga. I am feeling super lazy tonight, and really don't feel like doing anything, however after reading Jamie's post, I felt a little bit inspired. I could use a little yoga love in my life. I've been feeling very tense lately especially in my upper back. Early bed tonight. I have to work at 5:30 tomorrow morning. *yawn* I wasn't supposed to start until later, however I had to let one of my supervisor's go today. It was the first time in my 6 year's of managing restaurant's that I've had to let someone go. It was not happy. And truthfully, I came home and cried harder then she did while I was talking to her. Yea, I'm a bit emotional too...

Nap time!

2009-05-29T14:43:00.000-04:00

I'm a nerd. I love days off for the simple fact that I always force myself to get up semi early, so I can have an afternoon nap!
Holiday's at my mom's are amazing. Every afternoon after we do our fun stuff for the day, the entire house (me, mom, little brother and girlfriend, older brother and sister in law) always have a nap in the afternoon. My nephew hasn't come to appreciate nap time yet, he's only 11, so he plays video games!
So, with that said, it's time for my day off, afternoon one hour nap!
I'll be back later with many many updates, including a book review, product review, mango review and the first few day's into my vegetarian life!

Another early night!

2009-05-25T22:09:00.000-04:00

Just another quick post. I fell asleep at 7:30 lastnight! No joke! And slept until I had to get up at 4 this morning! It was a fantastic sleep! I am falling asleep on the couch right now watching Jon and Kate plus 8, and I must stay up for The Hills! (Eek-I just switchd the channel and apparently the Hills is 15 minutes in! Jon and Kate went late! HAHA-That rhymes as much as the title of the show!)

I just adore those children. I've loved watching since the beginning. Yea, I love fake reality TV. I'll admit it. (P.S. I am thinking Jon and Kate are staying together-did you see the way she was serving his plate at the end of the show?)
Today's menu:
Pre-breakfast: Tall non-fat latte and a banana
Breakfast: Multi-grain oatmeal, apple
Lunch: Small veggie sub (was SO starving , I couldn't wait until I got home)
Snack: Carrot sticks, WW Pretzels
Dinner: Whole Wheat Cracked Pepper Pasta, tomato and basil tomato sauce mixed with broccoli and carrots, tofu "italian ground beef" Yes, my first vegetarian experience. I'm exhausted, so picture's ect. to come tomorrow.
Also coming tomorrow is my mango review. And my new fruit or veggie for next week!

I just realized that that this Sunday is the season finale of the Hills :( Well, apparently now I know what I'm doing Sunday night!

Good night all!
<3
New layout? I think it's perdy. You?

Summer is here to stay! :)

2009-05-24T19:13:00.000-04:00

So, it's officially been nice for basically the entire week. I believe that means that summer is finally here to stay! Thank goodness, I hate winter.

My week was...alright, I guess.
I started the week feeling really down, no real reason, just..not myself. I've been feeling crappy on and off now for a few weeks, but this week was not so good at all. I basically slept and worked, and that was all I wanted to do. Well, I didn't even really want to work, to be totally honest. However, yesterday I woke up feeling a bit better, and today a bit better as well.

However, this week I did get to enjoy my first patio beer of the summer. It was delicious. And I just let myself have two, which was good as well. My friend and I drove around for a couple hours that night with the top off my Jeep which was quite fun as well.

Okay, let's by honest...I am horrible at taking pictures of my food. I try, I really do, but it usually just slip's my mind! Here's a couple from this week though.
Wednesday was a beautiful day outside, so I enjoyed lunch outside with the puppies. Lunch included, 1/2 a frozen Lean Cuisine Pinini. With frozen meals, I always only eat half of them because of the high sodium content that I don't always like, but sometime's it's just super convenient. I enjoyed it with 1 kiwi's, carrot sticks, and an apple. Well, I only got 2 slice's of apple, because the dog's love apples, and I kept giving them pieces, next thing I knew, it was gone!

Other lunches included taco salads, tuna sandwhiches, yogurt with granola and fruit. Breakfast's have been fairly boring, but have included multi-grain oatmeal with fruit, and multi-grain cheerio's. There might have been a bagel with regular cream cheese in there too (yummy).
Dinner's have been fairly simple usually with either chicken or fish, veggies and once I had some mashed potato's too.
However, tonight's dinner was delicious. I just had a chicken and broccoli stir-fry with teriyaki sauce. Quite yummy!

Lately I've been toying with the fact of becoming part vegetarian. I won't give up things like butter, cheese and milk, but just meat as in a dead animal. I'm not sure if it's something I am ready to experience, but I like the idea that it stand's for. Over the next couple weeks I am going to try and incorporate some alternative protein's, and see how I feel about it. I am also going to read a little bit into suppliment's for things that I could be lacking if I choose this life style. I'm gonna give it a try, we'll see how it goes.

Alright, well, it's only 7:30pm and I am exhausted, so I think it's time for a shower and a very early bed. 9:00 sound's good, but 8:30 sounds better. Work at 5am tomorrow, so 3:30am come's pretty early.

New layout is coming tomorrow. I've found one that I think I really like :)

Lazy days off...

2009-05-22T19:45:00.000-04:00

I love day's off.
I don't mind that I don't have a Monday-Friday job. I just like having day's off, doesn't matter what day it is. When it's 2 day's in a row, it's a bonus, but even just one day is nice.

Today started with a wonderful sleep-in until 10:30, followed by an hour of lounging. When I finally got my rear end into gear, I grabbed an apple and a home made granola bar and headed over to Starbucks for an iced Skinny Vanilla latte!
Following that I did a little bit of shopping, because I needed some short's for work. It get's SO hot in there mid-day.
I haven't been feeling myself lately, and have been quite lathargic, so then I came home and had a quick bowl of soup, some carrotts and 4 crackers, followed by an hour and a half nap. When I'm feeling down, I just want to nap all the time, so it was great.
After that I thought going for a walk would make me feel better, so Baxter and I headed out for an hour long run. It was beautiful out, and I got pretty sweaty.
Came home, and made dinner. Hungry Girl's faux-friend chicken wings. I tossed them in a bit of Frank's Red Hot Sauce. They didn't taste much like chicken wings, but were good none the less. I just had them with a ton of carrots and celery sticks, because everyone loves raw veggies with wings.
I love the idea of breading thing with Fibre 1 cereal, as I'm always looking for ways to increase my fibre intake, because I just feel so much better. I've tried quite a few thing's breaded in Fibre 1.
My favourite was home made coconut shrimp.

1 cup Fibre 1 cereal, crushed in a blender or food processer
1/4 cup egg whites
1/2 cup of shredded coconut (less if you aren't a HUGE cocunut fan)
8-10 thawed small shrimp.

Mix the shredded coconut and fibre 1 together in a bowl.
Dip the shrimp into the egg whites to coat, and then place in fibre 1 mixture and coat the entire shrimp.
Toss them into a pre-heated pan coated with cooking spray or oil.
Cook until browned on one side and flip to cook the other side. (I cooked them about 4-5 minutes on one side and about 3-4 on the other)

Serve with seafood sauce, or your favourite dipping sauce. My mom served them with a pina colada flavoured sauce, and they were DELICIOUS!

I opted out on baseball tonight, because two weeks ago when we played I got hit in the foot with a ball, and my big toe is so swollen and the nail looks REALLY yucky. Also, because I haven't been feeling so blah lately, I wasn't really up for the socialness of it all.

All in all a faily relaxing and lazy day off. Tonight's plan's aren't anything special either. I think I might just light a fire in the backyard and hang out with my puppy dogs. Back to work tomorrow at 11:30.

Before I go, just thought I'd let you know about Amy's Pampered Chef Giveaway!! Head over to her blog for details. I love Pampered Chef products! They make the kitchen so much fun!

Stay tuned for another layout. I've decided that I don't like this one. I can't find a font colour that I like that matches it. Boo!

Dance day :)

2009-05-19T14:17:00.000-04:00

I love Tuesday's! It is my favourite day to teach, because I just love my classes!! I am bringing my video camera today, and if the kids look good I'll video tape them and put them on youtube, and be sure to let you all know! My Tuesday classes are all recreational, so the student's only take one or two classes a week, so technically they have a lot of work to do, but they all love coming to acro class, so I think that's why I like them so much. I adore teaching competitive too, but the rec kids just aren't so serious and "watch me! Watch me!" like my comp student's are!

After I blog today I am going to run out and pick up a few thing's I need to add to their costume's/prop's as recital's are only 4 weeks away! AH!

On my list:
*children's size bath robe for my "Houdini" inspired routine's. The story of these is that there is a little girl sleeping at the beginning and she wakes up in this world of magic and becomes a part of it. I did two routine's like this as they both perform on seperate nights. One of them (the younger class) is a routine that uses "blanket's" (you know those things magician's use?) And the other one is more Houdini "the escape artist" type, and they are all chained up in the beginning and slowly break free
*chains...to chain them up with. I am thinking of using those chains that you hand from the celing for stuffed animal's, as they are very light weight, and I don't want the kids dancing with an extra 10 pounds of chains attached. I am going to spray paint them silver or gold, not sure which colour yet.
*soup bowls...for the routine I did to "Animal Cracker's in My Soup" I have bowls right now, however, I wasn't thinking the day I bought them, and they are ceramic..let's just say we've had 3 break so far, and that's the last thing I want to happen on stage.

Alright, onto food!

A couple weeks ago I made a pita pizza. I LOVE pizza so any way to make it more points friendly is at the top of my list! I used a whole wheat pita, 1/4 cup of sauce, green pepper, chicken and 1oz of cheese, served with steamed lemon asparagus on the side.

As promised, here is a picture of the butternut squash sheppard's pie that I made the other day. I topped it with pumpkin pie spice, which is my favourite spice to use these day's!

Okay..maybe no picture. For some reason it won't upload, and I'm pressed for time, so I'll try again when I get home tonight.

And then this morning's brunch (I woke up a little late for breakfast) included a pancake (yummy..haven't had a pancake in who knows how long!) with a sliced banana, and a Skinny Vanilla Latte! (I had to run to work to check what time I start tomorrow morning...7am..gah) so I got a latte while I was there! :)

Alright, off to do a little shopping and then to the studio! On tonight's music list-Hannah Montanna the Movie Soundtrack...jealous? I thought so! ;)

*There's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna wanna make it move, always gonna be a nother battle, that sometime's I'm gonna have to loose, ain't about how fast I get there, ain't about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb*

New look! New look!

2009-05-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

*I* don't have a new look, however my blog does.

I realize that I have neglected my blog in the past few weeks, I will correct that. So I decided to celebrate with a new layout. I like it :) I like pink.

Along with the new look came a new name.
5, 6, 7, 8 is a common phrase heard in the dance studio. (I am a dance teacher for any of my reader's that don't know!) It signals getting ready to start dancing. It could be getting ready to move across the floor, jump, turn, or as I've been using it lately, picking up from a certain part of the routine. However you use it, it means GET READY TO GO! And I like it! :) It's something that can be used outside of the studio. I often say it to myself as I am getting on the scale every week.

Food, Glorious food is another name I toyed with! I love Oliver! :) However, I'll just use that as a segway into the next part of my blog.
My food has been good lately!! I've pretty much been totally on track this week. (Except the ice cream I had twice on the weekend, but really, what are flex points for in the summer?)
I have made a few things this week.
Let's start with Hungry Girl's Butternut Squash Sheppards Pie! I've made this a few times, I love it! It's just like regular sheppard's pie, however, instead of mashed potato's on top, it's butternut squash! Everyone know's about HG's obsession with this vegetable. This dish is sort of "fall'ish" but it's delicious!! My camera was dead lastnight, so pictures to come tomororw, as I will eat the left over's tonight!
I also made WW friendly spinach dip to have with my carrot's and celery. I made this last time I was on WW and remembered not liking it, but I wasn't sure why, so I decided to try it again, hoping my food palate has changed in 3 years. However, it hadn't. It just tasted too...I'm not even sure. So I decided to add a few Laughing Cow cheese wedges to the mix. It was JUST what it needed!! It just made it a little bit more creamier.

On another note, the farmer's market open's in Milton in a few weeks and I can't wait! I love all the fresh fruit's and vegetables that grow in our area in the summer.

Alright, to finish up, I am holding myself to a challenge and I will post my result's weekly on my blog.
I have a very small food palate that I eat from when it comes to fruit's and vegetables. I eat the same one's every week. They consist of bananas, carrots, oranges, raspberries, strawberries, carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli and cauliflower. No peaches, plums, pears, mushroms, onions, tomato's...I pass quite a few aisle's in the produce department in the grocery store.
SO..
I am challenging myself (and all of you) to try ONE new fruit or vegetable a week. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't. But opening your food option's never hurt anyone.
This week I will try a mango. I see them all the time and hear they are delicious, however always pass by them. When I go for groceries on Wednesday I will buy a mango and try it!
My question to you today is:
How do you eat a mango? Do you just cut it up and eat it, or do something else with it? Post you answer's below, as well as what vegetable or fruit you are going to try this week.

Rain, rain, go away!

2009-05-01T21:10:00.001-04:00

This week has been super rainy!!! It really puts a damper on my spirit's when it rains. I just don't like it. I want the summer to come. I just want the sun. Sun makes me the happiest person alive!

WI this week...+.6. Not a huge deal. I was really good all week until the day before WI. I had the day off, so I went downtown to walk around and enjoy the (somewhat) sunshine. I made good choices in what I ate, however by the time I got home, I had eaten all my points and starving. So I went over. And then the day of WI I ate more points than I usually do in the morning. But really, .6 is not a lot, it will be gone next week, and it's not like I went up a size in pants or anything.

So, tonight Lindsay and I went to our softball meeting. We start playing next week, and I am pretty excited! I haven't played in about 10 years, but hopefully it all comes back to me and I remember how to catch a ball!

There's so many people doing giveaways on their blogs these days! I love it! It's free stuff, what's not to love? The latest is Ashley. I adore this girl. She is currently giving away a copy of the 90 Second Fitness Solution. This book sounds very interesting, and if I don't win the giveaway, I might possibly go out and pick up a copy of this book. So, head over to her blog and check it out!

11 days?? sunshine, and give aways!!

2009-04-24T11:52:00.000-04:00

It's a beautiful sunny day today in Milton! I've already been out doing a bit of running around.

I haven't blogged in...11 days?! That's nuts! Where did the day's go? To work, that's where they went! EW! I went to the doctor last Wednesday, to try and get this sleeping situation figured out. I am going back next week to get the result's of all my test's. Looking forward to that. I went to bed at 1:30 and got up this morning at 5! What is that?! I try not to take sleeping pills on the night's that I don't have to work the next day, because I know if I am tired, I can take a nap (which is coming after this post!) because I don't want to get addicted to sleeping pills, as the pharmicist told me that the pills that I am on right now can be addictive!

Well...my first week back OP I lost .4. Not a lot, and I know it could have been more. I did do a lot of mindless snacking at work still, which I know didn't help...I didn't track it either. However, this week (well, the 2 day's since WI) all I snacked on was 1/8th of a chocolate donut. Because it was hot, and fresh and delicious! However, I stopped at the 1 piece, because I just didn't feel hungry at all!

Onto giveaway's! Amy is having a wonderful give away! You've seen Tommy Europe in Slice show's such as Bulging Brides and The Last 10 pounds bootcamp! Well, Amy has a wonderful prize donated from Tommy, so jump on over to her blog and check it out!

Alright, off for a quick one hour nap, followed by lunch, and a walk with Baxter. He went for a haircut this morning and looks absolutly adorable.
I'll leave you with a picture of our doggies, Mojo (little) and Baxter (bigger, but still little) This picture is a little bit old, but I just adore them. Mojo hasn't grown since this picture was taken, and he won't grow anymore. Yes, he's cute, I know! :) He had a big operation on Tuesday this week! :( He was licking his bottom a lot, and it was red, so we took him to the vet, and he had a ruptured anal gland. Ouch! So since they had to put him under to repair it, we also decided to get him fixed, and have 5 baby teeth pulled that weren't falling out. It's not good to put these little dogs under anesthetic very often, so the vet suggested we do it all at once. He was pretty grumpy for the first 2 day's, but I think the pain is starting to wear off.

The End...

2009-04-13T18:44:00.001-04:00

I have been off the wagon for 3 weeks.
Really, it's been since January on and off.
There, I said it, it's out, and I am no longer hiding it.

I haven't counted points, made sure to get all my fruits and veggies, taken my MV, got in any exercise, in about 3 weeks. Yes, I made wiser choices at some points, but overall, I fell off hard. This weekend was unreal what I ate. Sunday I opted out on lunch, and basically ate chocolate from the minute I woke up, until I went to bed.

So, needless to say, the scale will not be pretty on Thursday night. It's now Monday and I will begin psycing myself up for it. I'm expecting 5-6 pounds. And you know what? I simply CAN NOT be upset about it. Why? Because it's my fault. Every time I ate something I said "I shouldn't eat this, but I will" And it has to STOP! It will stop. As of right now, I am getting right back on track. I have no celebrations or special occassions coming up, so I really have no excuse. No more binging on Thursday nights after WI, no more Starbucks treat's with my daily coffee tastings I have to do. I know what all the pastries taste like, and I know how to find the underlying flavours in the coffee's, so I will know what type of pastry it will go with. I don't need to taste the oat fudge bar everytime I drink Pike's Place, Gold Coast, Verona, or any other coffee. I don't need to eat the croissant with the Komodo Dragon coffee because I know that it goes well with buttery pasteries. I DONT NEED IT!

I have no food in my house as I ate myself dry before going home on Friday. I will get groceries, and none of it will incude ANYTHING that I can induldge in. I'm going to take the Cappucino Frozen Yogurt in all of it's deliciousness upstairs for Jenny, because she loves it and can afford to eat it.

That's it. Its out, and I WILL hold myself accountable to each and every item that I put in my mouth.
Oh yea, I'm giving up latte's too, because I drink too many of them. I don't want to be fat anymore. Summer is coming and I WILL wear the first bikini of my life. It's that simple.

April Showers Bring May Flowers! :)

2009-04-05T19:48:00.000-04:00

Well, it's definately been rainy here since April started. Except today. However, I worked this morning then laid in bed all day.
I could not for the life of me sleep lastnight. So finally at 12:30 I took a sleeping pill that a friend of mine gave me. Yes, it knocked me out, however I had to be up at 4:30, so after only 4 hours of sleep, I walked around like a zombie all day. It was brutal. I couldn't concentrate or pick my feet up off the ground. Early bed tonight for sure. I'm thinking about 9PM, it's still light outside so I don't think I'll be able to sleep yet!

Onto the good stuff...
This week's menu's:
I'm going home for Easter on Friday morning (YAAAY) so my menu's are a little bit boring this week, as I want to get rid of what's in my fridge.
Breakfasts are multi-grain Cheerios with fruit or yogurt with fruit and granola
Lunches consist of: Salad's, Soup or Sandwhiches, all with veggies on the side
Dinners: Salads, and turkey sausage cooked with peppers and tomato sauce

I didn't get to WI this week as I slept right through the Saturday morning meeting. Friday night, again, couldn't sleep, so around 7AM I decided to get in the shower, then I sat down on the couch for a few minute's to check my e-mail, and woke up at 10:35. All good, I'll WI on Thursday morning this week!

Onto April's goals:
-loose everyweek at WI even if just a couple ounces
-stay withing daily's at Easter Dinner with the fam
-cardio, cardio, cardio, abs, abs, abs. Need to get back into it, as summer is coming. Holiday's are booked and must get bikini ready!

And...the biggest goal:
Quit smoking!
Tomorrow (April 6th) is quit day! Abbey and I have decided that we are going to quit together. For me, the time has come. I've made all these healthy changes in my life in the last 9 month's, and it's time to get the nasty smoking out of my life. 21 days. That's all it take's to break a habit. Not that long! I am going to add a gadget over <--- there and will update it everyday with a reason for quitting smoking. I had my April activity calendar over there, however the picture disappeared and I coulnd't figure out how to get it back. I'm okay with it. Reason's to quit smoking is just as important as my April activity!

Alright time to go! I'm watching the new series The 100 Mile Challenge. It's about families who can only eat food grown in 100 mile radius of their home for 100 days. That mean's no beer, no chocolate, no pop, no cereals. Could you imagine? I'm excited to see how it works out!

Gym...

2009-04-04T13:44:00.001-04:00

*humph*
I don't want to go.
It's so windy outside, and I hate wind. It almost scares me more than thunderstorms. I know, I'm a big baby.
I *must* go.
I will be back later to tell you what I did at the gym.
------------------------------
So, I did go to the gym yesterday! It was SO busy. So I did a quick 20 minute's on the stairs, and 10 minute's on the treadmill. There was just so many people there, so I got out!! When I got home I did weight's for about 20 minute's. Not a lot, but it felt good! :)

Food's that help your mood!

2009-04-03T12:45:00.001-04:00

This is an e-mail I got from Hungry Girl this morning. Check out her website, it's FULL of delicious, low calorie recipies!

I am a very moody person! I go through so many emotion's in a day. I think it's part of being a girl, and all my life experiences that I have encountered. I can wake up in the morning and be the happiest person yo have ever met, but within an hour can be sad, depressed, and not want to see the light of day. When I got this e-mail this morning, I was so excited to see that there are different type's of food that can help correct your mood!

Way out there?
For those day's that you feel like you can't grasp what's going on, and your mind is wandering in the cloud's, it's time for some protein! Think cheese, lean meat's, soy.

Feeling grumpy and depressed?
Chocolate can be the answer! The fat's, sugar's and tryptophan in chocolate has been linked to raising endorphins in your brain. Remember to try and stick with dark chocolate though, as it contain's lots of healthy fat's, and is good for your heart. If you don't like chocolate, try berries, salmon or other foods rich in folate.

Mood swings?
Best way to deal with that, is nature's God! WATER! It is always stressed how good water is for you, so drink up! Having mood swing's has been directly linked to being dehydrated.

Feeling stressed or uneasy?
Calcium!!! It help's to reduce anxiety. Mad? When you get mad, your blood pressure and heart rate start to climb. Try some high pectim foods like apples and grapefruit's. They will help your heart rate get back to normal!

Remember all this information came from Hungry Girl, so be sure to head over there, read the full article and check out some delicious recipie's while you are there!

Today's menu:
Eggs, Canadian bacon, 1/2 cup of hashbrown potatoe's and 2 clemintines
Snack:
Small Booster Juice after the gym
Snack:
Carrots and pepper slices, tall latte
Dinner: Salad with rasisins, veggies and chicken
Snack/Dessert:
Light hot chocolate and a banada

No lunch today. I woke up late (11AM!) so I just stretched my snack's today instead!
I have to work a close tonight, BOO!

Tomorrow's grocery list...

2009-04-01T23:07:00.000-04:00

Gotta run to the grocery store tomorrow morning before work! On the list:

*apples
*bananas
*strawberries
*kiwi
*oranges
*cucumber
*carrotts
*peppers
*broccoli

That's it! Just a quick in and out.

The other thing on the shopping list is a scale. I know, I know, you are all wanting to pull MY hair out right now (Why would you pull your own out??) However, I was thinking about it tonight, and I hate waiting 7 day's between weighing in. I think it let's me be a little more leanient at the beginning of the week, which is why I'm not always getting the result's that I want. I need to get on the scale every morning and document it so that I am accountable every day. I have been playing in the same 5 pound range since Christmas, and it's time to break this plateau! Jacqueline and I are racing to my goal. I'm about 13 pounds away. I want to get there by mid June, which would be one year since I started WW. She is in a wedding this summer and said that 10 pounds would make her look stellar in her dress. So, the race is on! :)

Last note...Ash made this adorable calendar for Activity in April. I am going to post it over <--- there and add to it everyday that I get active! It start's tomorrow, since I didn't find her cute calendar under today!

Today's Meals! :)

2009-04-01T08:24:00.000-04:00

Breakfast: 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/2 apple, 1/2 cup Kashi fibre cereal
Snack: 1 cup grapes
Lunch: Sandwhich on whole wheat bread with extra lean turkey, lettuce and tomato, small salad with raisins, oil and balsamic
Snack: Celery sticks, pepper slices and Unsweetened Apple Sauce
Dinner: Porkchops with Apples (WW Momentum Cookbook) with Parm Roasted Cauliflower (Biggest Loser cook book)
Snack: Tall Latte

That's it for now, off to work. New post tonight with BL review and April goals! :)
Have a wonderful day, all! XOXO

Today's question:
What have you dont today to make you feel proud?

Saturday's Meals and New Teas!

2009-03-28T21:53:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! :)

So...I worked this afternoon. And the day's that I get home late I NEVER want to cook, and always eat crackers, pretzel's, microwavable rice or something un-healthy for dinner. So, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, I pulled out my slowcooker lastnight! I'm SO glad I did! I got home at 8:40 and within 10 minute's was sitting at my table eating dinner!
I was craving some comfort food this morning for breakfast, so I had a whole wheat english muffin, a piece of fat free cheese, 2 slices of Canadian Bacon and some Egg-Beaters! I had some delicious strawberries (on sale at the Superstore this week!)
It was DELICIOUS and tasted just like the 12 point Egg McMuffin that you get at McDonalds...for only 5 points!

After breakfast, I got all my ingredients together for the Firecracker Turkey Chili from the Weight Watchers Momentum Cookbook

I came home, added a tbsp. of fat free sour cream on top, and some shredded lettuce. I had it with a piece of whole wheat bread on the side.

It was pretty delicious. However, it wasn't a typical "chili" Instead of ground beef/turkey, it was made with Turkey Sausage. I would make it again, but probably call it "Firecracker Turkey Thick Soup" :)
I thought I only put in enough to make 2 serving's, however I have 3 serving's of leftovers. So 2 of them went into the freezer, and one in the fridge for tomorrow night!

Over on the Weight Watcher's boards yesterday, the girl's were talking about herbal tea's, and some of the flavour's sounded delicious. so I went over to Planet Organic Living tonight to check them out. The owner said "Why would you want those?" with a funny look on his face. So we talked a bit about what I was looking for, how I'm slowly trying to cut out processed foods, want something de-caffinated (or semi) that might help me sleep at night. I ended up with zhena's gypsy tea in the pomberry flavour. I tried it tonight after dinner, and it was such a delicious cup of tea. Just a hint of sweetness and berry flavours. And the can that the tea bag's are in are adorable. I want to collect them all! :)

Anyways, another long post...I just like to sit here and type! :) I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow or Monday!

Today's quote:
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Just before I go, if you have a moment, check out my friend Jessica. She's an amazing inspiration to everyone that I know. She challenge's herself every day, and had a FANTASTIC weigh in this week, and I could not be more proud of her. I just adore this girl.

Day off, shopping, meal planning, sunshine.

2009-03-27T16:27:00.001-04:00

What a georgeous day. It's amazing how a little bit of sunshine can make everyone so much happier. Currently I am sitting in my backyard with my room mate and neighbour, drinking some Iced Passion Tea (shamless Starbucks plug) and enjoying the sunshine. When I went out today I even took the roof off my Jeep. (Yes, I did need to have the heat turned on, but it was still fun!)
I've decided that I'm in a funk foodwise. I'm bored of eating the same thing everyday. So, I did something that I always said I would do, and never really have done.
I planned my ENTIRE week (minus the snacks, I'll leave that up to daily cravings)
After reading Ashley's blog the other day, I realized how much easier it will be if I plan meals. Fruits and veggies won't go bad in my fridge, because I have exactly what I need for the week. So, here goes!
Breakfasts:
yogurt with apples and cinnamon
omlette's
french toast with fruit
sandwhiches with whole wheat english muffins, egg beaters and Canadian Bacon.
cereal/oatmeals fancied up

Lunches:
Salads (got LOTS of different things, like fruit, dried fruit, raisins, chicken, tuna ect.)
Sandwhiches (I bought some fat free smoked turkey breast)
Soups and Crackers

Dinners:
I am SO excited for these. Since I only cook for myself, and I sometime's work night's, I've decided that I am going to try 3 new recipies this week and make 2 servings of each, and will eat it two day's in a row. Makes it a little bit easier with work and things.

*Firecracker Turkey Chili from the WW Momentum Cookbook. (It's a slowcooker recipie. Perfect for when I work 12-8:30 tomorrow and 10:30-7 on Sunday.
*Porkchops with Apples and Sauerkraut (Sauerkraut will be my new food trial of the week. Never tried the stuff before) served with Parmesian Roasted Cauliflower from the Biggest Loser Cookbook
*Low and Slow Sloppy Joes with sweet potato fries. Also from the WW Momentum Cookbook. Jessica told me that her family had these one day last week and they were delicious and low in points, and it's another slowcooker recipie so I decided that I would give it a try.

I'm excited to start using my cookbooks. Not just buy them (I have about 15) and look through them imagining what I will make. I also made Goody TwoChews from ESBM this week. I've made them before though, and they are delicious. They are like granola bars, but don't have as many sugar'y ingredients.

I got my new CanFitPro magazine this week. It's the "running" issue, so a lot of it wasn't relevant to me, since I don't run much anymore, because after one day my shin's are bothering me. However, there was a very interesting article called "Re-shift your focus: Focus on finishing versus weight loss"
It was about how client's are always telling their PT's that "..,as soon as I loose the weight/get fit, then I'll start doing the things I've always wanted to do." But why do we have to wait? You are living the moment, enjoying life and getting healthy along the way.
Here's an example they used in the article put into my own words so I'm not copying it! :)
Let's say that somebody you know set's a goal of finishing a 10k race. They have a deadline and gives them a reason to stick to their training schedule and not miss a workout. However, what if someone say's that their goal is to lose 10 pounds in 2 months, and then by the end of their time frame they haven't lost it because they were off track. "Well, I guess I can wait a couple more weks to achieve that goal." Will obviously be their thought.
So, what I want you to take from this is do not WAIT until you get to where you want to be before you start trying new things.
This week, I will challenge you to try something that you said that you were going to put off until you got to your goal.
I'm going to go bike riding. I haven't rid a bike since I was abuot 14. Last year I said that this summer, when I am at my goal, I will go buy a mountain bike and try it out. But, the weather is beautiful these day's, there's lots of easy trail's around my house, a friend gave me her old bike the other day, and WHY WAIT! I am going to try mountain biking on Tuesday morning! You try something to!

Today's quote:
"The past does not define, you the present does." -Jillian Michaels <3>

Where does the time go?

2009-03-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

Today was not a great day for me. My dad passed away 4 years ago today. My dad was my best friend. Growing up, I always had differences with my mom, but my dad supported me in everything that I did. When my parent's split for a little while, I lived with my dad. Not many children do that, but I knew that my life wouldn't be the same if I couldn't see my dad everyday. My dad was the person that I told everything to. He was the first person I told about my first kiss, my first real boyfriend..and yes, exactly what you are thinking. My dad didn't say anything when I told him that. He loved seeing me grow into a woman, beside's, he grew up with 3 sister's, he'd been through all of that before.
When I left and went to the National Ballet when I was 13 years old, my dad was there every Friday at 4:00 to pick me up, and brought me back downtown every Sunday in time for curfiew. He always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and believe in myself as a dancer.
When the chance to audition for Disney Cruise Lines came, my dad woke up at 3AM to take me to the audition, and sat around at the hotel until 11:00 at night until I had gone through the grueling 14 hour audition. When the offer came from Disney, my dad opened the letter without me even home, because he was so excited for me. He drove me to the airport when I left for Florida, and called me everyday during my 2 week training. And then he and my mom and brother surprised me on my first week on the cruise.
Honestly, I could write forever about the way's that he was always there for me, and the things that he did, but it's been a long day thinking about all these memories.

A few month's ago I went to a psycic. I was very sceptical about going, as I didn't know what to think about it. The first thing she asked when I walked in the room was why I am still feeling so guilty about my dad being gone. I simply replied that it was "because I didn't remember the last time I told him I loved him" and she said "he does. It was the night before you moved away." Okay, a little bit freeky.
So, we got talking, and she asked if I ever found dime's laying around. I told her that just that morning I had found a dime on the floor and picked it up saying "I better keep this, it's all I'm going to make today" and she told me that they are from my dad. He's leaving them as kisses. Since that day, not a day goes by that I don't find a dime laying around. Sometimes in the bottom of my washing machine, on the floor at work, randomly laying in the bottom of my purse. I know they are just dime's and that it's just a fluke that I find them laying around, but that is something that I will always hold special to me.

Well, I'm sure not all of you know this, but I love tattoo's. I currently have 5 of them, and wish that I could cover my body in them. I won't, but I really like them. I like that people use them as a way to express themselves. I decided that today was the day that I would finally get my tattoo done for my dad. I've been thinking about it since the day he passed. (I even drew one of an angel that I wanted that day, but the picture has sat in my wallet ever since) I put a lot of thought into it. I thought maybe I just wanted "daddy's girl" written, I looked at angel's, I looked at picture's of fish (he loved fish), I've looked at lyric's from his favourite band. But I settled on making my own, and putting a few memories into one tattoo.
When I was a kid, I loved Precious Moment's. I thought they were so pretty. So I found a picture of a Precious Moment's angel. Then I went onto thinking of words to put on it. I really liked "daddy's girl" but I wanted something with more meaning. My mom and dad used to call me "Becki Bear" when I was young, so I settled on "Daddy's bear", and then the picture I found had flowers at the bottom of it, but I decided that I really wanted the dime's to be a part of it, so I exchanged the flowers for stack's of coins. You can't tell that they are dime's, but I will enjoy telling people what they are and what they mean.
So, here's the finished project:

Before I go, I'll leave you with a story about my dad that always makes me laugh.
A week after I moved away, I called home to see how my parent's move had gone as well. It was March and unseasonably warm. So I asked my dad what he did that day. He replied with this:
"Yea, it was really warm. Everyone was outside walking their dogs, and I got jealous, so I took Amelia for a walk."
It took a minute for it all to sink in, but then it did...
Amelia...
was my dad's FISH that I got him for Christmas that year!
He was a very funny man.

Today's quote:
Yea, I think I'm ready to do this on my own.
It's still a little bit scary, but I want you to know,
I'll be okay now daddy, you can let go.
Crystal Shawanda-"You Can Let Go"

Green Apron Behaviors

2009-03-21T13:13:00.000-04:00

Well, well, well...here I am..my second blog ever. (well, since my 16-year old, blogging about boy band day's! haha)

Lot's to say today..

WI was on Thursday, and I was down 1.6, which I was stoked about. I can not wait to get back to the weight I was around Christmas time. (about 140) I am at 145 right now, so it's coming.
One of my friend's I have met through WW, Jacqueline, is away in NY for work for 18 day's, we have challeneged eachother to loose 3lbs while she's gone. It's been less than a week, so I think I'm off to a pretty good start!

The beginning of the year was just a whirlwind of event's with Christmas, New Years, Birthday's, a break-up and such. I've realized though, that if I don't loose every week, I am okay with it. When I first started I would bash myself for the first couple day's if I gained, and then I sat and thought about it. I might be loosing slower now, with a gain every so often, but you know what? That's life. I am not going to be able to eat exactly 21 points every day of my life, I want to be able to go out and still have fun with my friends, weather it be for a meal, or a couple drinks. That's what life is about, so if I gain one week because I had a night out, that's life. That's what happens. I like it when the scale goes down, however, if it goes up, oh well, that's life, and I have the tools and the knowledge of HOW to make it go back down, so I'm okay with it.

This morning Lindsay and I signed up for softball. We are playing in a woman's league this summer. I can not WAIT. I haven't played ball since I was about 12, and I am really looking forward to it.

Okay, onto it.

I started working at Starbucks about 6 weeks ago, as an Assistant Store Manager/Store Manager in training. Over the past 6 weeks I have learned SO much, and attended about 5 workshops. One of the material's presented to me was the "Green Apron Book" It's a list of 5 behaviors that Starbucks want's it's partners to follow. At first I put the book away, and figured I would know what was inside. When I came home that night, I opened it up and read the following:

Be Welcoming-Offer everyone a sense of belonging.

Be Genuine-Connect, Discover, Respond.

Be Knowledgeable-Love what you do. Share it with others.

Be Considerate-Take care of yourself, eachother and our environment.

Be Involved-In the store, in the company, in your community.

When I read these, it makes me think about how we apply that to real life. If people lived by these "rules" everyday, what a different it would make in our lives, our community, and our world. These "Green Apron" behaviours that I have learned, I have been trying to put them into practise every day, and constantly reminding my partner's (Starbucks word for employee's) how important they are in making your job fun and enjoyable for yourself and our customer's.

Today's thought:

Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

2009-03-19T11:14:00.000-04:00

Alright, so here is my first blog ever! I've been trying to start one forever, and then forget about it! There's so many blog's that I read on a daily basis, so I finally decided to start mine.

Tonight is WI, and I am feeling excited, as I usually do for WI. I've had a great week foodwise (minus the Leaf's game on Saturday night) but the exercise has been ZERO! I need to get back into that. I was doing SO well and having SO much fun with it, and then my motivation just ZERO'd! I've already decided I am going to go for a long walk today (probably 1.5 or 2 hours) and I am going to stop by my gym and pick up a new class schedule. With my new work schedule, it will be so much easier to get gym time in. I've been working there now for just over a month, but it's taken me that long to get used to the 3:45AM wake up calls. But I can now go the whole day without having a nap after work, so it's time to get back to the grind. I am happy with how I am loosing weight right now, however, when I'm teaching at the studio, and look in the mirror, my arms are SO flabby. So, I know that I need to get back to it!

Today's menu:
*eating light in the morning to prepare for WI later*

Breakfast: banana and 1/2C vanilla yogurt, 1/4 cup fibre 1
Snack: Tall Latte (during my walk, I am meeting a friend for a quick coffee)
Lunch: Saland, with mixed greens, sauteed veggies, and 1/2 cup chili. I might add 1tbsp. of FF Sour Creak on there, only if it tastes like it needs it.
CUT OFF AT 2PM
Snack at WI: Carrots and Kashi Granola Bar
Dinner: Sushi with Kim! (maybe Ashley too?) at Axia. BEST sushi EVER!

Today's quote:
I look into the window of my mind
Reflections of the fears I know I've left behind
I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way
Can't stop me now
And you can do the same

"Proud" Heather Small