Happy New Year!

Welcome 2013! 

We decided to take it easy this New Year’s Eve.  After hosting two parties during Christmas, we were happy to hang out just the two of us. 

No designated driver needed.  No dog sitter or overnight bags to pack.  No cab to call.  No dinner reservations.  No uncomfy shoes!

While I headed to the gym for one extra 2012 workout, Michael headed to the grocery store to get a few treats for our evening.  As I laid on my gym mat doing my final stretches I received a text message…. something about a couple of 3 pound lobsters.  Um, 3 pounds?  Each?  Yowza.

That’s a lot of lobstah!  We ate the tails and then cracked up the rest to use in the morning. 

After dinner we embarked on a marathon of Downton Abbey Season One.  Yep, we are 89 years old and that’s how we roll.  What?  We had champagne and shenanigans.

I don’t know about you party animals, but it was just what I needed to ring in the New Year.  Comfy, cozy, perfect.

Well, all that and a delicious plate of lobster eggs benedict. Happy New Year!

Bon Voyage 2011

Here’s to an amazing 2012!!

Happy 2011!

Epic 12 hour party last night. Who needs sleep when you are wearing a party dress?

Almost all of our party photos were on Tiffaney’s camera which disappeared somewhere after the sun came up this morning.  Here’s hoping it resurfaces somewhere within the massive vacation rental home we partied in.

I spent the majority of the night enjoying a fellow party goer’s fedora. :)

I needs me one of those!

After watching the sun rise over Finlayson Arm we dragged our tired arses back into the city where I promptly put myself to bed around 11am.

The sun was setting when I decided to get up. Absolutely epic first sunset of 2011.

Cheers to a fabulous new decade!

Spoiled Silly

Holy moly it’s been a big year for gifts and loot!  Not only did my birthday prezzies continue to trickle in right up until yesterday but Christmas was also incredibly good to me!

As you all know, FH and I wait until our return to Halifax to celebrate our Christmas together.  We both arrived home yesterday…completely exhausted.  After a much needed nap (or two!) we exchanged gifts.

He got me an incredibly unexpected surprise!  A FABULOUS Kitchen Aid blender!!!!  *feel free to drool in jealousy here!*

He generally doesn’t like to A) buy appliances or B) ask my Mom for help…but this year he went against his usual methods and broke both his rules.  :)

  

Isn’t she pretty?  You know there will be much smoothie love going on in the New Year.  Is it OK to hug a kitchen appliance?

Just so you know that I too did good with my shopping…I will tell you that FH set up his gift today and has been happily “testing it out” ever since.  Beatles Rock Band for his Playstation 3 may possibly be the best last minute thought for a gift I’ve ever had.

I knew he would like it, but I’m pleased to report that he LOVES it.

You just know what we’re doing for our New Year’s gathering this evening.  :)

In addition to our gifts, I also came home to find gifties from the fabulous Miss Amy!  Not only did she choose me in our Blogger Secret Santa exchange, but she also sent along a belated birthday package!  What a girl!

Lululemon running gloves.  She knew I was coveting these.  Don’t you just love twitter?!  haha.

 

Also a gorgeous snowflake decoration, Xmas socks, and much beloved Burts Bees lipbalm for when I tackle the outdoor running.

And just to leave you with a little New Year suspense…the postman delivered my special Boxing Day package today too!!!

Any guesses?  (anyone following Twitter probably knows…haha)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! 

MAY 2010 FIND YOU HAPPY AND HEALTHY!!!

Happy New Year!

Off on the right foot this morning! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

First, let me say that after all of this I actually only had about a 2 pound weight gain. In fact, if I'm only worrying about weight (which I'm not) then I'm still within my comfort zone and I shouldn't feel bad. However, I almost couldn't button my pants up yesterday and the back muffin top I worked so hard to get rid of definitely made an appearance so there lies the concern. My muscle and measurements are rapidly escaping me!

Not anymore!! This. Stops. Now.

Got up with FH (weeeeeeeee.....see this post if you didn't know about this!) at the crack of bloody dawn (wait, nope it wasn't even dawn yet) and drove him to work so I could take my sorry ass to the gym. Last night after I wrote out my health-o-lutions, I made a weekly workout plan for January (which I will enlighten you with in another post) and Mondays will entail a 1-hour cardio session in the early morning AND a lunchtime workout with my Shred DVD (review to come tomorrow).

Taking motivation from Tasha I've decided to push for running on the treadmill again. I'd really let it slip and even when I did get on the treadmill I really wasn't going for my full potential. I have crappy lung capacity and I've had difficulty building my stamina, so that's my focus for this month. So I hopped on and did a 5 minute warm-up of face-paced walking, then did 2 minute running intervals (@ 5.5) with 1 minute walking intervals (@ 3.5) for another 15 minutes. Followed this with 5 minutes of incline walking.

I then did 25 minutes on the full body elliptical (that's the one I refer to as the "good" elliptical because it's a nicer machine and I like it's stride better). 20 minutes of machine timed intervals at a steady pace with a cardio-level heartrate, followed by 5 minutes of cooldown in reverse.

To fill out the hour I have decided to try the Stairmaster. I think I've only ever tried it once before and it was too hard for me. So there's another goal. To be able to last longer than 5 minutes on an easy level!! I set it for 10 minutes, but after 5 I had to call it a day. I was getting lightheaded and the last time that happened I actually passed out...and I'd prefer not to relive that. Instead I took an extra long time for my stretching since it's been over a month since I had a real workout and I know I'm going to FEEL IT tomorrow.

It was a great start to the new year! (and I still have my Shred workout to do!)

Oh, and can I just say I love routine. Back to work for FH and I today and I can already tell that my eating is going to be better. Nice.

Today's menu: (notice the snack-meal-snack-meal plan)

- 1/2 banana pre-gym
- instant oatmeal with 1/2 banana, added flax meal, splash of vanilla Almond Breeze
- coffee with sploosh of egg nog
- ff vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries & blueberries
- salad with leftover deli roast chicken & chick peas
- crackers with goat cheese & red pepper jelly
- pork loin chop with sauteed mushrooms & onions, steamed brocolli, & Splendido mushroom risotto
- apple with natural PB

(approx 25 points)

So....Jan 5th?

Who was I kidding with my declaration of Jan-2nd restart? It's the weekend and we were snowed in for a day. Ya-Ya, I'm making excuses I suppose...but man, this is damn hard.

I haven't weighed in yet. I think I have a mental block about weighing in on a day other than a Monday. Plus, I forgot and I refuse to do it at the end of the day.

Hmm....who let Negative Nelly in here?

I'm sure it was me, but I don't remember opening the door. Hmmm....health awareness specific dementia is setting in I think.

Must. Stop. It. Now.

It's here! 2008!!

Happy New Year!!!

So many of you have written about your 2008 resolutions recently. I don't think I've ever had a real New Years resolution in my life. I am usually from the camp of "when I make a resolution I don't need a special time of year to do it". However, for the last few months I haven't been resolving to do anything to do with my health.

My daily activity has become null lately. I haven't done the daily walks with the dog since the first week of November when DBF returned from Halifax. My kickboxing class ended the week before Christmas and because I'm moving I haven't signed up for anything else. Í have been using this move as my excuse to become fairly inactive.

There really is no good excuse. I have an excellent 20 minute yoga podcast I can literally do anywhere. I could be out walking almost any day because the weather here on the West Coast has been pretty forgiving so far this Winter. I have all the instructions for the Couch to 5K that I could be starting.

So.....

I am resolving to keep on top of my activity this year.

I am already actively looking for a gym in Halifax so I can spend some time with a trainer learning how to properly use the equipment to my advantage. I want to take on a fitness class or two to pick up where kickboxing left off. DBF and I want to take dance lessons (although he is away A LOT so that proves problematic for us) and I would love to have better cardio ability for that. I aim to firm up my body and really work on strength training this year...and really show off the hard work I did to lose and maintain my 20lb+ weight loss.

So ladies and gentlemen, you've heard it here. Activity is my new best friend for 2008!!