Fitness

If you know me, you know I am trying to get in some form of shape. It's not been easy; I think I am an emotional eater mixed in with a (un)healthy dose of distracted eater.

Here are the definitions of both those kind of eaters (stolen shamelessly from this month's Oxygen mag):

The Emotional Eater: You eat when you feel anxious, bored, depressed, nervous or stressed. Mac'n'cheese is your friend during tough times.

The Distracted Eater: You don't pay attention when you eat. You can sit down at your desk for lunch, finish it, and not even remember that you ate it.

That's nasty stuff. I think I need to not eat in front of the computer and keep my bottle of water filled with cold water at all times. That might help me lose that stupid last 10 that I've been trying for now for months.

This time last year I was about 7lbs lighter, but the reason behind that was pure stress. I didn't have a place to live to call my own; there was so much uncertainty in my life it was crazy. Most days all I could manage was a protein shake.

Now with Oxygen Magazine, Tosca Reno and the Eat Clean Diet, I think I can make a go of this, and actually get to where I want to be without the stress.

In other news, I ran 8km today. Felt pretty good actually. I think 10k isn't too far off :)

Cross posted to LJ.

Unpacking!

So, the WoW servers were still down at 8:45pm so I gave up trying to log in. No big loss there, instead I decided to unpack a little and see what I could find.

I managed to find my cutlery, full tang knife set, the new kitchen scales, tea pot cozy, large and small noodle bowls, small dipping bowls/soy sauce dishes, iced tea maker, glass lock'n'lock containers, the nice set of measuring cups and a crap load of tea.

What I couldn't find, and oddly enough what I was looking for, was my large Mandarin coffee mug and my tea pot. Bugger. So I combined Ken's decent silverware with mine and culled out all the cheap stuff for picnics etc. I kept one set of old Ikea thick silverware for my lunch box.

This morning has been semi-slow work wise, so I took the opportunity to unpack a couple boxes in the office. I started a garbage bag for clothing I am going to donate since I have way too much by the way of cloths that I don't even think fit me anymore. The office is looking a bit more organized now.

I'm planning on making some sweet potato chips for lunch today, as seen in July's Oxygen Mag;

Ready in 30 minutes
Makes 2 servings.

Sweet Potato Chips

Non-stick olive oil spray
1 medium sweet potato, thinly sliced (1/8" thick)
Sea salt, to taste (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray. Spread sweet potato slices on baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with sea salt, if desired. Back 25 to 30 minutes until cooked through, stirring once halfway through.

That's it. Should take about 30 minutes.

My afternoon is packed with meetings from 2pm through till 4pm (joy >.<). This evening will most likely be filled with more unpacking and sorting through clothing. I have two dressers that will get filled and a couple bins for winter clothing.

all in all, I believe Ken and I will have to host a garage sale soon, we have quite a few duplicates - including a portable dishwasher I don't need anymore (it works great!).

Cross posting to LJ.

Coasters

Went to CW for the first time this year. Cedar Fair took out Hanna Barbara land and put Snoopyville in. I knew it'd be gone sooner or later, but a bit sad to see it go.

Used Ken's spray on sunscreen; it worked wonders! Got a lot of sun and no burn! Yay! Had an awesome time with Ken, Sam, Rob, TJ and Jason. I Foursquared that I was there which David and Phil saw, then they joined us about two hours before we were planning on leaving the park. Good times all around. Makes me want to go to Cedar Point.

Roy called yesterday and said his Dad could drive us to the old apartment to pick up my elliptical. Did that last night in the span of 2 hrs. I gave him $20 for gas. Hope it covered the cost, but it feels nice to finally have everything out of the old apartment.

Ken showed me a collectors edition of Jessie, which I really would like to get, but I just don't have $60 sitting around to spend on it.

Well, not till Thursday :)

Maybe.

Cross posted to LJ.

Fitness and Whitby

Ok, I've been feeling a little heavy lately. Approximately two weeks ago I stepped on the scales and found out that I'd gained about 13lbs since last year which is not the way I want to go. Got on the scales this morning at the gym and found I've dropped 5lbs, without drinking as much water as I should be drinking. I've made up my mind to start drinking more water and quit faffing around with food. I want to wear the Slave Leia again at Fan Expo and I need to shed that other 8lbs or so to look decent in it, but in all honesty, I need to shed another 15 to look awesome in it.

Don't worry, I'm not going on one of those 'can't have XXX' diets. I'm just going to stick to the Eat Clean way of diet and fitness which means I probably have to eat more than I'm used to. I think also that sitting at a computer during the day while I work is not helping the fitness thing at all. I need to get up and walk for lunch. Running on Tuesdays and Thursdays is still good, although when this G20 business is over I'll have to sort out how I'm going to fit that in with having to take the GO Train to the downtown office.

On that note, my manager has said that she's trying to get me a proper desk at 200 Wellington so I can come downtown a couple days each week, till I am put on Workplace 2.0. When I told her that I'd be moving to Whitby and that my commute to work is ~80km one way, she agreed that it'd be stupid for me to go to the office every day. Especially in light that the company is trying to promote 'Drive Clean' week. Seriously.

Xposting to LJ.

It's Been a While

It sure has been a while since I posted on this account. I have two sites now, and I really don't blog that well. Hm.

Today's the start of a nice long weekend here in Toronto. Mookie's coming up from the States, it's also George and Nelson's birthday celebrations today. I need to monitor my caloric intake today and try and cut back on the carbs. I've been eating way too many carbs lately and it's showing.

Short term goals:

- Drop 10lbs.
- Move on the 19th.

Yep. That's a long order actually. I'll manage it.

Kitteh Woes

Ok, people annoy me. Yes. I can say that with absolute certainty. I'm trying to get a cat, since I don't really travel anymore and Dan can't be around all the time so I'd like some company at home. I did some research and I found that Siamese cats are gentle on allergies and besides, I've been around Mouse and Smokey with no ill effects, and Mouse is a Himalayan (looooong fur). Well anyways, this lady who has Angel right now has been postponing and putting off me coming over to see Angel now for a week. I am starting to get annoyed with this. Anxious and annoyed. I love the kitteh without even having met her and I want to bring her home! Today! Well, I will call her today and see if I can't arrange something sooner than the Wednesday she's suggesting which I can't do due to Softball.

So I have been buying kitteh accouterments: CatIt - Drinking Fountain, some Science Diet Adult Cat Food, a scratching thing to hang on the door and some Temptations Cat Treats.

I bet you're saying 'But Leisa, where is Kitteh going to poop?". Well, I would like to get an automatic kitty litter box, but I'm not sure which one to get. So for the time being I got a normal kitty box. Pink. She's female. Anyways, the choices for automatic kitty boxes are:

Scoop Free
Litter Maid
Petsafe Simply Clean

The Litter Maid one can run as high as $350. I am not spending that kind of money. I like the round one because it packages everything up nicely. I just don't know how convenient it would be for Angel to use.

Thoughts?

Sports-a-palooza

Wow just wow. Mats could be gone, Whitt is gone and Cito is back. Topsy turvy sports day. I have to say I'm sad that Mats could be gone, sad that Ernnnnnie is gone, but glad that Cito is back. I should talk to my mom sometime, she really loved the Cito Gaston era.

Nifty

My movie of the Behemoth Inaugural ride has now over 3500 hits. Cool!

Fruity Oaty Bars

ZOMG! I Can't Wait!!!

Fashion: You're Doing It Wrong

While I was traipsing through Square One in search of something healthy, or relatively healthy to eat, I saw a woman wearing a halter top that was quite frankly, several sizes too small for her. To top if off, she had a bra on that completely did not match the top. Top = purple, bra = white. The image to the left is an example of the 'style' I'm talking about. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was brought up that undergarments are just that... under. Not over, unless you're Superman and you wear your underpants on the outside, or hanging out, but under.

This is just wrong people, don't do it. Put on clear straps, if you really must have your bra straps showing. Better yet, invest in a strapless bra, or a racer back bra, or something more appropriate for the clothing you are trying to wear!

501st Look Out

Well, due to some poking and prodding, I'm going to finish my Tie Pilot outfit and join the 501st. This will be completed before SFX. For sure.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So Tobey just will not leave me alone. Sent me flowers yesterday and an e-card today. I don't get it. For the last year and a half he's done everything in his power to push me away and now that I've finally given in to that, he's done an about face. Well, I can't tolerate being treated the way I was treated. Done.

The funny thing is, one of the things that Tobey did to me that I really didn't like is he made me feel stupid. I am not stupid. I have a flaky memory and sometimes I can see in my mind what I want to say but it just doesn't connect with my speech center, so it comes out sounding strange. Its almost like there's a cross connect in there somewhere and I have to do some lateral thinking to come up with the word/name whatever. I bet there's some 'syndrome' or 'condition' term to explain this, but I really don't care to know it. So if you know me and you know how I'll be talking then fall silent as I search for words, you know what I'm talking about now. Well, this is the reason Tobey called me stupid. That and sometimes I just plain forget things. I swear he thought I was doing it on purpose when honestly wasn't. Oh well.

Now I have some new friends, which incidentally I met because of Tobey. He introduced me to the Star Wars Fan Force forums which I signed up on. I naturally looked for the stuff that happens in and around Toronto so I lurk on the Toronto Long Line forums. I decided to meet these people last year at SFX, and since then I have gone to see several movies with them and been adopted in to the Bad Wolves costuming community. The feedback I've heard so far is that I'm surprising people with my level of intelligence. After hearing so long that I'm stupid, I'm dumb, women are evil, manipulative, shouldn't be allowed to drive blah blah blah, this is like an oasis in a desert.

I am so much better off, as will my bank account be.

Blast from the Past

Well, after a very very excellent weekend in which I did not drive down to see Tobey but instead spent it meeting new people, making new friends who share the same interests I do, to top it off today on Facebook out of the blue I was contacted by someone I knew back in the mid 80s, an old friend from high school.

Talk about a blast from the past. She even has pictures of us drunk off our butts at home. Kinda scary but kinda cool.

Getting Back to Normal

Well, all the construction is done, I have my car back and to boot, I know my apartment is bug free and has brand new double glazed windows. I took a couple pictures yesterday when the workers had the windows and balcony door removed, the place looks quite odd without windows at all, as you can see.

Got home yesterday to find they did a nice job installing the windows, everything looks sealed correctly and all the window inserts work nicely, slide smoothly and seal tightly.

On another note, I know Tobey is upset that I didn't drive down to see him this weekend, but quite frankly I'm getting sick of doing all the traveling, all the work in the relationship. I think we've been 'friends with benefits' in his opinion for quite some time. Last time I went to see him he said he was happy that I'm actually going out with people here in Toronto. He says he wants me to find someone closer to home. Well, that sounds to me like he wants out of the relationship. Somehow I don't think that would bother me too much if that were to happen. My pocketbook would sure thank me and I could get out of debt faster. My mother said that the relationship seems very one-sided. Tobey hasn't shown much interest in my life for a long time, the only discussions we have is how things I do bother him etc.

I have to think on this.

Home Sweet Bug-Free Home

Well, my apartment got a glowing report. No bugs. This makes me happy. I also had a chance to meet the chairperson of our brand new Tenants Association - Anne. Super nice lady who actually took me in her apartment and made her home my home for the afternoon. This whole ordeal with getting new windows and having the pest control has really brought the tenants together as a community.

Oh, the Grande didn't show movies till 4pm so it was a waste of time for me to go up there.

I just feel so stressed out. I have to keep telling myself, "I can do this."

I can do this. I will get through this.

Homeless for a Day

So my car is now in the shop to determine what the intermittent clicking noise is that's coming from the engine. I am praying that its not something serious. Meanwhile, back at the homestead my apartment is being sprayed for bugs. I don't have bugs, but apparently other people do and since I don't want bugs, I'm happily getting sprayed.

SO.. this means I have nowhere to go since I can't drive to work and I can't work from home.. so me = homeless for four hours while the spraying happens.

I'm thinking about taking a walk up to the Sheppard Centre and going to see a movie, window shopping a bit and maybe grabbing lunch at the Keg. Thinking about Made of Honor or Forbidden Kingdom.

Went to see Speed Racer last night, in IMAX none the less. It was visually overloading, not in the epilepsy way but it was just a lot to take in and see at once. Everything was so busy, the race scenes were so fast and frantic that it was difficult to see what was going on. The plot was meh and the overall effect was... the Wachowski brothers were trying too hard. Matrix was gold, apparently they've gone downhill since then. V was ok.

Overall impression? Wait till you see it for free on TV.

Incredible!

So the most amazing thing happened! I was on Behemoth, in the last row, right hand seat. We were just on our way up that hairpin turn (seen below) when I saw something flying through the air, just above head height. The way it was kind of fluttering, I thought it was a piece of paper. Everyone in our car had their arms up (justly so!) and I didn't think anything of it...

..till the end of the ride where the guy ahead of me held up a CELL PHONE. Some idiot didn't secure their cell phone and it went flying through the train just as we were entering that sweet overbanked turn. What is harder to believe is this guy just reached up and plucked it out of the air. Just like that. Wow.

TGIF

Finally, its Friday. Working early today so I can finish work early today. The plan is to spend the afternoon up at Canada's Wonderland riding the most excellent coaster; Behemoth (pronounced buh-hee-muhth). How can you resist?