"No no, Mr. Usher, I always bring water in an Absolut glass bottle. You know, I'm worried about plastics, and stuff..."

Whoa, long title!

This weekend is going to be a busy one, but I've always loved having a billion things to do on weekends. I'm not feeling so awful anymore about the, you know, bad news, so I think the weekend will help even more for that.

Last night I went to see Sex and the City. Beforehand we went to a friend's condo for cosmos and then we went to the theatre. Has anyone else seen it? I won't spoil it for people, but it was a movie experience of many firsts for me. It was the first movie where I've :

1) seen numerous women/girls wearing dresses fancy enough to be at a wedding,
2) heard women hurl insults at the male characters when they do something shady,
3) heard clapping after a good movie trailer preview,
4) heard clapping for any good kiss, sexual position, comeback or fabulous outfit,
5) seen so many digital camera flashes going off as people took pictures of themselves and their friends at the theatre,
6) heard the sound of a fairly full glass bottle of what I'm assuming is alcohol break in the middle of the movie after which the girl stands up and says to the entire theatre - "don't worry, I've got more!", or
7) been totally buzzed off of cosmopolitans and fairly certain that everyone else in the theatre was feeling exactly the same way.

It was awesome.

The rest of the weekend will look like this:

- catch up on blogs on Saturday A.M. and go for a quick run.

- get ready for wedding for law school friend midday Saturday. Many friends are coming to get ready at my place from out of town and then we are going up to Markham together. I can't wait for my mini-reunion with everyone. In first year law, I lived in a house with a bunch of people that included the guy getting married.

- attend wedding reception - my first Catholic wedding ever... I've heard they are LONG and boring and there is a lot of standing and sitting.

- check into hotel and then cab it to wedding at Angus Glen for law school friend.

- recover from wedding Sunday A.M. and have brunch with the law girls.

- meet up with friend who has lost 27lbs over the last three months! Way to go girlie! She's an inspiration!

- and then I'm in court all next week. watch out all you criminals!!

Not so Swanky...

So last night I received some not so good news. I’ve mentioned that I’m an articling student in the area of Criminal Law. For those from the United States, articling is sort of like interning to become a doctor. It’s the final stage in the licensing process after writing my bar ad exams. Yesterday I found out that I will not be hired back. There are 10 students here and only 3 are hired every year, so I knew that the competition was tough. And unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut. I’m disappointed, but right now I have to be positive and focus on getting a job. So that will be my focus for the next little while.

And I would have always said that I don’t eat from stress, but last night, I was definitely consoled by my McDonald’s french fries and chocolate milkshake. I haven’t had those in SO long and I craved for them hard. And this morning, I got a GRANDE Starbucks non-fat latte. So bad. And also, last night I was in no mood to go to my training session, so I cancelled it. So I feel a bit like a slug. I’m hoping that I can get my ass back into gear with some hardcore dragon boating tonight. I’m going to kick Lake Ontario’s ass tonight! So I’m sorry if I’m a bit of downer for the next little while, but I will try to remain positive.

And I will try to remain on track with this weight loss thing. I’m worried about weighing in next week (which I’ll do on Monday morning). Especially since I have wedding this weekend that is also a reunion of old law school friends. The booze will be running, that’s for sure!! However, now that I will be unemployed as of June 17, I will have plenty of time to get to the gym!

TODAY'S MENU:

Breakfast - Starbucks grande non-fat latte w/ Splenda
Lunch - it's a mystery... I'm going out with a girlfriend update: went to Swiss Chalet (mmmm!) - had a quarter chicken with white meat, and a garden salad with chalet dressing
Dinner - also a mystery... another dinner out after dragon boat (I should cut down on this eating out... since I am unemployed!)

The hair is cut.

So the hair is cut.

Thankfully it's still long! Now I'm rocking a long but heavily layered style that I think will look sweet with beach hair in the summer. And all the damaged pieces seem to be gone. My stylist thinks it was damaged because in Nov. 2006 I went from blonde to very dark brunette. I sported that for 6 months and then last summer started to slowly go back to the blonde. Not slow enough apparently because there was a ton breakage in my hair. Sucks because before that my hair was uber healthy. So I just have to be diligent with taking my fish oil and multivitamins and eating loads of lean protein.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to post pics or not. I have this fear that because I'm a lawyer (or will be in like 3 weeks) that I should protect my identity. I'm particularly nervous about it because of the area of law I practice - criminal law. It sort of doesn't go hand in hand with people knowing a lot about my personal life.. so I'll just have to see about that!

Tonight I have training with my model boy trainer. I'm pretty sure he is going to kick my ass tonight because I totally stood him up last week while at the conference. (oops!)

Oh and does anyone have any tips for getting rid of or avoiding shin splints? I'm totally prone to them, but I love running. I'm not sure if it is the way I run or my shoes or if I'm just stuck with it... but any suggestions would be fabulous. Merci.

TODAY'S MENU:

Breakfast - so today I actually measured my breakfast and realized that I was eating 3/4 cup of Special K w/ berries cereal and only 1/8 cup of 1% milk. But totally satisfying! (I'd like to get back to my egg whites though, but I love the carbs in the morning).
Lunch - mixed greens with grilled chicken breast, pumpkin seeds and raisins
Dinner - unknown... ooo.. perplexing isn't it? It'll be whatever Renaissance Boy whips up. He's my master hottie chef.
Snacks - today I brought to work raspberries, carrots and leftover hummus. mmm hummus.

On a Roll

I woke up early again this morning to go for a run. It felt great! And I did the same distance as yesterday in less time. I love quick progress. I'm going to have to lengthen the distance now, because a 20 minute run in the morning is just not going to cut it.

I didn't, however, make it to the gym last night. I ended up working late and so after a late dinner at home, Renaissance Boy and I hit the streets and went for a walk for just over an hour and a half. I think that is pretty good, although not the same as lifting weights for an hour.

Today is another day at the office and tonight I am getting my hair cut. I've had blunt heavy bangs for over three months now, and while they are super cute, I'm pretty tired of them. And it would be nice to look my own age for a change. Lately as well, I've been noticing that my hair has been doing this weird "christmas tree" effect... so that when I blow dry it all these little ends flip out all over my head. It is a crisis people!!

I have no idea what my hairdresser is going to suggest, but it might involve going much shorter. Right now I have long hair that goes past my shoulders. Short hair makes me look like I'm a twelve year old, so I'm scared.

That's it for now... there might be some drama later today (long story), so check in for an update.

TODAY'S MENU:

Breakfast - 1 cup of Special K w/ berries, 1/4 1% milk
Snack - vegan cupcake (brought in by a colleague who NEVER bakes... it was pretty tiny... i know, I know, excuses, excuses...)
Lunch - salad w/ raisins and soy nuts, hummus and whole wheat pita
Dinner - unknown... update to come

And She's Back...

So here I am, as promised. I’m fairly good at keeping my promises… although I still need to post those “before” photos… they are coming. Hopefully by the end of this week I will be able to get it together enough to post them.

I have some good excuses for my absence. First, I had a huge file that I was working on that pretty much put everything, including my social life, on hold. Second, I was in the middle of planning a small coffeehouse/art auction fundraiser for a new gallery opening in Durham. We managed to raise $2500, which was about $2000 more than I had expected! I had no idea how much work it would take to get this thing off the ground! Third, last week I was at a conference at Blue Mountain in Collingwood. Also very busy due to an surprise work assignment that I was required to hand in on Friday, even though I was at the conference all week. NOT FUN!

But enough complaining, onto the good stuff that I really should be sharing, like, how am I doing?

Surprisingly, even after the conference which served only buffet style food (in other words there were next to zero non-carb, non-fat, non-greasy, non-smothered in some sort of cream sauce options), I still managed to keep my weight at 145.4lbs. Not exactly where I want to be since I thought I would have been at least 5-7 lbs lighter at this point. However, considering my horrible eating and my inability to get any exercise into my daily/weekly/monthly routine, I think a 2 ½ lbs loss is pretty good!

But this morning, something glorious happened. I actually woke up and went for a morning run. It was fairly short – only about 25 minutes, but it was a start. And I proved to myself that I could do it. AND… Renaissance Boy even joined me – so sweet! I should credit Alli for inspiring me to do the early morning workout. She's been rocking it for a few weeks now!!


My plan for later this evening is to go to the gym and do some weights and maybe another 30 minutes of cardio.

I’ve also decided to keep my food journal on my blog instead of in a journal – which I keep losing or forgetting at home or at work. This way I can log it as I need to.

So here goes:

TODAY’S MENU:

Breakfast – orange and 2 egg whites
Lunch – Indian Buffet for M.A.’s birthday… stuck to one plate of food, and avoided naan and rice. I think I mainly ate some veggie masala, curried lentils and curried cauliflower. It was delicious.
Snack – tall nonfat latte with Splenda
Dinner – grilled chicken breast, grilled peppers and salad

I'm here

I am here... barely!

Just hang out a little longer.. the last few weeks have been INTENSE at work... but I'm here and alive and kicking! I will write something soon... stay tuned!

Weekend Recap

Weekend exhibition went well for Renaissance Boy. He sold one painting of five. Pretty good for someone who just started showing in February! Two of his works were kept by the gallery to be sold in their rentals and sale shop… And he was offered an exhibition to show from June 1 to July 11 again at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. ALL good things. He is incredibly happy, as am I.

And all around the weekend was great. Spent time with his family. Including my lovely niece who is just the most adorable like 18 month old. Unbelievably, I managed to stay away from carbs, and I got some exercise in by taking my niece for a walk in her stroller and playing with her at the park. Not too intense, but still active.

Renaissance Boy hits the Big-Time

So since yesterday's post was such a downer, I thought I would write about some good news that is going on in my life.

So I haven't said too much about Renaissance Boy, my hubby. He's pretty amazing... to be fully truthful. Perhaps you're wondering why I call him Renaissance Boy. There are two reasons. The first is that he truly is a "renaissance man". He excels in many areas, is quite educated and embraces learning new things whenever he can.

The second, and not quite as interesting reason is that he's an artist. And a darn good one too. He does have a "real" full-time job as well to pay the bills... because man, we've got bills! But his real dream has always been to just do his art. And I would love that for him.

Recently some pretty great things have been going on for him. He's been doing a series that has received considerable attention from Toronto galleries. He had an exhibition in February/March with this new stuff and was even able to sell! Currently, he is being showcased at the Art Sale at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. This is pretty big.

When we were driving to the reception the other night, we sort of were looking at one another and asking, "is this really happening??" "Is this for real?" I mean, the AGH is internationally reknowned. Hopefully it will only get better from this point on.

So yeah, I'm pretty proud. Hopefully this weekend won't thwart my renewed efforts of eating healthy and exercising. We will likely be in Hamilton the whole time in his parents' house, where they don't believe in fruit or vegetables. seriously. his dad hates fruit. it's a carb and meat world over there.

Downer

It has been forever since I last posted. I am brutal at this blogging thing. Gotta get my act together for sure.

Part of the problem is that I feel like I am making zero progress. Work has been crazy lately. I haven't mentioned this before, but I am currently an articling student and I'll be called to the bar in 6 weeks! For the last two weeks, my work load has been insane, so getting to the gym is impossible. Eating healthy is also hard when you are strapped to a desk all day and there are a billion temptations lying around. I was doing so well at saying no, but under the stress of work, I've competely faltered.

And I have a wedding at the end of the month where I will see all my law school friends, and I want to look thinner, not fatter than I was in school. This year of articling has added about 15 pounds to my frame... not good.

So I'm just annoyed and disappointed in myself.

I am so tired of all of my clothes fitting too tightly. I'm tired of thinking about another summer at the cottage and feeling gross in a bathing suit and shorts. I'm tired of worry about whether or not I have a double-chin in pictures. I am tired of comparing myself to everyone else to see if I am bigger than they are.

Sorry for being a downer, maybe it's the bad weather today, but I just feel junky.