Overscheduled and Undernourished?

I'm back...on the blog that is, I haven't physically been away.
Time is flying by scarily fast now and 2009 is almost over..countdown to Christmas is on.
Christmas will be more low key this year. It will likely be just myself, hubby and sister in law on the day which is about the quietest Christmas I've ever had. I've got 5 days off so hoping to get out for some seasonal activities such as snowshoeing, going to a movie, seeing the Festival of Lights at the Van Duesen gardens etc. I find I really have to make an effort not to let the season bypass me in the hectic-ness of it all. So to add to that, I am making some Christmas gifts this year and attending both my work Christmas parties as well as co-hosting a Christmas themed Girls night with some friends. I think that should do it! Plus it's only another week or so until I buy the Christmas tree and can start decorating-one of my favourite things about Christmas is the tree.
Things have been rather busy since my last post as I am well into netball season which means training 1xa week and a game 1x a week. I have also started going to Kickboxing classes after being bugged and then inspired by Oli to try a class. It's awesome and it's just what I need to push myself fitness wise, something I am not good at when working out solo. I go twice a week on Mon and Weds nights so that plus work plus netball = being out every night except Friday.
Thus, the vegetarian quest has fallen somewhat by the wayside, although that was more of a conscious decision rather that a direct side-effect of the schedule change. I was finding it hard to find time to research, plan and produce yummy and varied meals every day and with the limitation of my dairy intolerance and egg allergy, it was proving just too limiting for me to maintain on a daily basis. For that reason, I am now eating meat again but still trying to have vegetarian meals most of the time and choosing veggie options when available. I'm okay with this. I felt I tried it out, learnt a lot and have made some long term changes to how I eat. I regard it as a successful trial.
Just to add a bit more chaos to my schedule (which is actually extremely organised really) I am taking a self study course with 2 other trainers and we are meeting twice a week to study together. I am having frequent occurrences of waking up and not knowing what day it is!

A successful day

Today has been meat free!
Bread with almond butter and jam for brekkie (on the run...I ate it in the car)
Lunch was sushi.....sooooo good. It had been 9 days since my last sushi hit so I was desperate.It was good, so good. Did I say it was good?
Dinner was a jacket (in canadian that is " baked") potato with veggie chilli and soy cheese.
Snacks included 2x mini Twix bars( sugar high...and low), hummus with celery (smug look on my face) and red wine ( flushed/relaxed look on face).

plus I went to netball training and went to Oli's kickboxing graduation test where he got his yellow belt (no longer a newbie white belt).
All in all, a pretty good day for a Thursday....roll on FRIDAY...yeah!!!!

Revised ambition

It's been a few weeks since I posted....I've been meaning to but have to be in the right frame of mind. Plus I have been gathering my thoughts on what to write.
The vegetarian challenge is going fairly well although I have eaten more meat than I planned but I'm happy with my choice. 2 of the times were when I was staying with my mum and meals had been cooked by my sister so I was happy to eat it, plus one of the meals was organic chicken so that helped a bit with my eco/animal welfare conscience. Whenever I had a choice in what to eat, I chose vegetarian or fish options. I also ate chicken on the plane as that was the food that was offered and actually was about the only edible thing in the whole meal!
In terms of what I have been eating, I've been hit and miss with quality, taste and variety. I'm loving soup, especially home made by moi (leek and potato is the BEST!) or failing that, The SoupMeister at the Quay is darn good too. They make a yummy curried lentil that really hits the spot. I've not been particularly organised with meal planning and so variety has been well....variable. Breakfast and lunch are pretty easy. Breakfast is oatmeal, a Thrive smoothie (From the Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier) or cereal. Lunch is homemade soup, take out sushi or leftovers.
Tonight I attempted to make chickpea fritters but I used potato flour instead of chickpeas flour and it was too "sticky"...it was a disaster but I don't really have anything else meal worthy so have been snacking on popcorn and crackers. Plus my popcorn maker overheated partway through and stopped working so I only got half a batch. I'm thinking now might be a good time to have breakfast??
Anyway, I have decided to allow myself one meat-type meal per week IF I wish...but I may not use that card. It's been 3 days meat free to date since my last meat meal. I sound like an addict.

In other non-diet/vegetarian related news....
the trip to the UK was good. I spent some quality time with my mum and family and helped mum out with a lot of day to day stuff like cooking, cleaning, driving and making lots of cups of tea. I kept a pretty low profile so I would be available to help mum and I'm glad I did. It was a pretty chilled out trip but I was still tired on my return due to the jet lag. Her recovery from the surgery is going really well but she is talking about needing the other knee doing next year...
I had planned to go for 3 runs on my trip to the UK plus attend a fitness class with my sister. I went for 1 run....that's it. It was a good run, short and sweet, but really a poor effort overall. I just wasn't in an exercising headspace. Since I got back though, I'm back on track and had a fab run today on the treadmill, in part due to the new tunes I loaded on to my MP3. It's so much easier to plan and fit in exercise when I am busier...if I have an empty day, I don't generally exercise. I'm very glad to have a full time job!

A planned slip up?

So I did eat meat at the wedding as I thought but I feel fine about it, it was a choice I made and I don't feel bad. There was really only bread and a green salad as alternatives. There was a tricolor salad and also mashed potatoes but both contained dairy so were off limits. I'm overall feeling very pleased with what I have achieved so far and it really hasn't been hard. If there had been a more substancial veggie option at the wedding, I would have happily gone with that. What I did have was beef and I chose it very rare...well, meat is meat, may as well have it the way I like it!
Tonight I made a yummy salad with fried chickpeas, arugula, onion, mint, parsley and lemon juice. It was very tasty and I will be eating leftovers tomorrow for lunch with my lentil curry soup from the Soupmeister at Lonsdale Quay.
On Sunday, I bought the latest copy of Vegetarian Times which is okay.. they seem to be big on gluten free recipes but not so much on dairy or egg free. They do have some delicious options though that I am itching to try like Yellow Lentil Dal or Chickpea Croquettes.
I'm heading off to the UK for 11 days later this month and have ordered a vegan meal for the plane and I'll be doing most of the grocery shopping and cooking over there as I'm looking after my mum who has just had surgery. She's not vegetarian but I don't think she will mind. She loves fish like me and is health minded.

Day 16 -still going strong!

I have sucessdully been vegetarian for over 2 weeks now! I think that is the longest time I have ever gone without meat. I have been eating salmon a lot...I just love it but maybe I am eating too much? I know you have to be careful with tuna but I'm not sure about salmon. I always eat wild pacific salmon...mmmmm delish.
I have probably increased my vegetable intake a bit but I want to aim for more. I also need to expand my repertoire of recipes...maybe some nice stuffed peppers or portabellos this weekend?
I'm going to a wedding tomorrow and I don't think there will be a lot of vegetarian choices so I might just make a decision to eat meat if that's all there is. I'm not going to starve and have low blood sugar just for the sake of it but maybe there will something that I can just remove the meat from?
The weather this September has been stunning. It's been like Mid July for the past 2 weeks, so hot and the sky is just the most amazing blue colour. The only downside is the very low sun that co-incides exactly with my drive to and from work. I drive East in the morning, looking at the sun and West on my my way home. I keep having panics as I can literally see NOTHING out of the window ahead of me for sections of road. It's quite scary. I think you are supposed to pull over if that happens but it would take me an hour to get home (7k) as I 'd have to sit there for 20 mins while the sun goes out of range. There has to be a better solution!

Day 2...no problems so far...

Day 2 of NMTC (no meat til Christmas) is going well, which doesn't say much because I usually eat meatless at least 1-2 days per week anyways. Went to the grocery store and it was sample time (usually around 3pm on Weekends is the time all the samples are out-we always go at this time!) but I bypassed the deli-meats, sausage samples and even turned down a slice of chorizo on my pasta sample. It felt good!
Have had smoothies for brekkie the past 2 days and homemade leek and potato soup for lunch. Tonight I am having halibut that was caught by a friend and has been in my freezer for a few weeks. I am going to make some french onion soup tonight too and go through all my recipe books to pull out the best veggie recipes. I have a couple of great vegetarian and vegan cookbooks too which will now take up residence on my coffee table.
I'm feeling really good about this challenge and may even try to reduce the fish part of it down to 2-3 x week too....but not just yet, I should see how I feel after a few more days first.
On another note, I have to get back to exercise. We were pretty active in San Fran with a big hike, a 25k bike ride and loads of walking around the hilly city but I haven't hit the gym in a week and haven't had any intense cardio for a little longer. The weather here is fab this weekend so probably I'll get out for a hike tomorrow, maybe the BCMC or Lynn Peak. Something with a steep incline for sure, I need to know I did something that made me sweat! I'll probably hit the gym on Monday on my last day off and hopefully that will kick off a winter of strength training as summer is mostly cardio and outside stuff so my muscle mass and strength has declined somewhat.
I'm mulling over whether to make my blog public...i.e. post it to my facebook page but I'm not sure I'm ready yet...do I really want everyone I know to know what's going on with me? Right now this is kinda like a diary and I quite like that although it's public, it's private as no one knows about it!

Decision made...

I have made a decision! I'm giving up meat until Christmas! I am still going to eat fish but will choose only fish that is not threatened or farmed so as to minimise the impact on the environment. I think it will be okay, I just have to plan ahead....good job I love seafood! That will keep me going....
Just got back from a mini-break to San Francisco and while I did not plan to start the challenge until my return, it was in the back of my mind and I didn't eat a lot of meat. Breakfast was usually a bagel, lunch was a sandwich and dinner was usually seafood based....it was allll sooooo gooood! Now I just have to work off the calories I accumulated round the tummy area.
After this challenge is over , I think I'd like to take on another....maybe not using my car for a month or reducing my garbage to a specified amount per week. As you can tell, I'm quite goal oriented in nature.

Inspired to challenge myself

I saw the movie Julie and Julia this week. It's a great movie, I highly recommend it to anyone, it's not a chick flick at all, very humerous and lots of innuendo! Meryl Streep once again blew me away with her performance, she may just be my new favourite actress.
If you have not seen the movie here is the gist of it:
It chronicles the lives of 2 women living in different eras, Julia Child in the 40's as she learns to cook and goes on a quest to write and publish a cookbook designed to make french cooking easy for Americans who have no idea and no home help to assist. The other woman is Julie Powell who is approaching 30 in the early 2000's and is uninspired by her job, doesn't like her new apartment she just moved into with her husband (it has a tiny kitchen) and desperately wants to be writer but has failed thus far. Julie decides to take on the mammoth challenge of cooking all the recipes (500 plus) in Julia Childs' cookbook over the course of 1 year and commits to blog about it. The challenge affects her job, marriage and sanity but ultimately leads to fame and recognition resulting in...you guessed it...a book and movie!
It's very funny and besides making my mouth water repeatedly during the movie at all the yummy food and indulging my foodie side, it got me thinking about my own neglected blog and also towards thoughts of setting myself a challenge.
Now as much as I love to cook, I do not wish to cook every single day and think I would go mad and probably hate food forever afterwards so that won't work.
Whatever challenge I take on, it has to be a) somewhat difficult b) rewarding c) healthy d)achieveable.
So far I have come up with 2 potential challenges and both involve removing something from my life for the duration of the challenge.
The first is giving up meat, or I guess you could flip it around to a positive and say "go vegetarian". The challenge here is that I already don't eat dairy or eggs due to allergies so my diet would be reduced significantly. For this reason, I have decided that I would still eat fish for some variety and a protein boost. This would be a hard challenge for me, I have tried it before and failed but I think I'm ready to commit...I think? The payoff of this challenge would be that I would be healthier and would have to plan my meals better which, in turn, means I eat a better diet and probably will spend less money on food.
The second challenge I am considering is giving up alcohol. I'm not a big drinker but I do really love a cold beer or glass of wine. I don't drink every day but I'll normally have a bottle of wine split over Fri and Saturday night. I also usually end up having 1-2 more drinks during the week if I go out with a friend or if there is a spare beer floating around the house. When we go on vacation (about 2x per year) I will drink a couple of glasses of wine or beer most nights. The main challenge here will be that I really enjoy my wine/beer and usually look at it as a well earned reward for getting through the week or for completing a 6 hour hike or triathlon (see previous post!). I don't get drunk but I do enjoy the social aspect, plus something about it makes me feel really grown up! And of course, it tastes yummy.
Well, I'll keep mulling over it, I just got home from dinner out at Memphis Blues BBQ house and had ribs and a beer...whatever I choose, it's gonna be hard! My plan is to commit to 3 months of whatever challenge I decide and then to blog about it...that should keep me honest, I hope.
Got any other suggestions for things to challenge myself to?

I am a Triathlete!

I competed in and completed my first real triathlon yesterday! I had done an adventure race before but it was a team event (I had to do the whole thing with a partner) and we didn't have to swim, we kayaked instead. I entered the race only a month before the event and so was not totally prepared but was confident that I had enough base fitness and previous race running experience to finish and survive. The race was quite low key and casually organised with only about 75 competitors. It was a "My First Tri" which means everyone in it was a newbie and there was huge range of ages, fitness levels, bodies, bikes and outfits.
We had to swim 400 m in a lake...I get nervous in any "Wild" water...i.e. not a pool so this was a big challenge for me and although I am an ok swimmer, this was a whole different experience that I was not prepared for!
First off, the lake was COLD! So that in itself was new and I found I just had trouble with regular breathing. Secondly, swimming with loads of other people was crazy! People were doing all kinds of new strokes and random ones and swimming on their backs going diagonally etc..it was a fight for your life out there! Factor in the waves and the fact I somehow swallowed a lot of water(helped with the hydration I guess) and some bordeline choking/almost vomiting mid-swim, I must have looked like I'd never been in water before. I settled a bit though and switched between strokes regularly and just tried to focus on my technique. I didn't think I'd make it out forever and felt like I was in the water for an eternity but really it was less than 15 mins and I came out in the top 1/3 of the pack. walking out of the water in bare feet across stony sandy lake bottom was not graceful to say the least but I was so glad that bit was over. Next was the bike, I had set up my transition zone well so I had a smooth turnover there but had to run with my bike up to the road as there was a zone of gravel road inbetween. No worries, though as once on the road I cranked up the gears and sped off. The ride was 20k out and back which I really enjoyed as I got to see the other competitiors ahead of me as they were on the 2nd leg, including my hubby and my friend who were also partaking. There were no mile markers so it was anyones guess as to how far the turnaround was.
Finally there was the run which I thought would be okay as I have done lots of running the past and have a slow but very steady pace. The first 5 mins were tough as I adjusted from the bike and of course it was slight but long uphill climb. I settled in though and kept a good pace using a guy about 50 m ahead of me as a target. I couldn't catch him until the last 1/2km and then I just focused and ramped it up and went for it...I passed him and left him in the dust to cross the finish line in just under 1.5 hours.
What a fun day and to do it with other people was really the icing on the cake, it was so fun to yell and wave as we passed en route and then at the end to see familiar faces was encouraging.
I think I might be hooked on Tri's now! Ask me next year!

Time to check in

I kind of forgot about my blog for a while...it's been busy...there has certainly been a lot of things I could write about! But instead I have been talking a lot, thinking, etc instead but really I should write some stuff down, either here or in a journal. It's just not something that I really get motivated to do but I know I should. I guess a lot of people feel like that about exercise!
I am currently out of action exercise-wise as my back is causing me some acute pain although after seeing the physio yesterday, all the warning signs were there waaay back but I treated the symptoms rather than looking for the cause. I have been on this journey before with injuries and I always say "i'll learn from this" but it seems I don't. I'm sure this pattern is repeating elsewhere in my life. I KNOW it has in the past, for example with setting boundaries at work or with friends. I am going through a process of re-evaluation of many areas of my life and realising that I, and only I, am the one who can make things happen. I have to go out of my comfort zone and exert myself and my authority in order to this which is hard for me but I am doing it bit by bit and I'm very proud when I do it!
It's little things like saying No sometimes or not answering my work phone if I am in the middle of drafting an important email. More recently there have been some bigger examples such as deciding to end a friendship that has been troubling for me for a long time but that I was unsure how to manage. It was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. Maintenance of these changes is a whole nother level!
I expected/predicted that 2009 would be a big year for me, a tough year for me and a year of challenge and personal growth. It certainly is that so far and i'm imagining will continue. Luckily I have several carefully selected wise and wonderful friends for support (P, K, M and K) and I am very grateful :-)
I am learning so much from other people and their struggles right now. I am still hopeful that things will go the way I want, although I am certain the path there will be very different to the picture in my head!

It's been a while...

blogging does not come easily to me....can you tell??
I have been pretty busy lately and had some pretty major things going on too, some good, some not so good. This is a very quick summary using a few words to describe each event:
Went to Hawaii-amazing, relaxing, snorkelling, dolphins, sunburn, rested
Went to Whistler for fitness conference-fun, tiring, hot-tubbing, energising, dancing, lunging, lunging, lunging
Went to a Clearmind lecture-slightly scary, interesting, free,

More to come.....gotta watch the last few mins of the 3rd period game 6 Canucks.....Go CANUCKS GO!

Strumming Struggles

My husband just bought a guitar and I have been trying it out too....have got a few problems though! I am left handed and although I can probably manage the right handed guitar, I do not have the dexterity to control the pick in the right hand and end up strumming too many strings at one time.
Also I have VERY small hands, child sized in fact and this proves difficult when trying to reach certain notes. my fingers just don't reach...apparantly there are "stretching" exercises you can do. I don't think I want to do them as my fingers would have to deform in order for them to be useful for playing the guitar!
I see that learning the guitar is HARD! I used to play the flute and piano when younger but the guitar is a whole different ball game. However, I am inspired to learn how to play and get better.
It's very cool when a few strums actually is recognisible!
So far I can just about play a couple of intro's for:
Violent Femmes-Blister in the Sun
Led Zep-Stairway to Heaven


Roll on Eric Clapton!

Appreciating great acting

So while I have been sick the past week I have filled my time on the sofa with several movies. Here are my reviews of each one:

The Reader - Kate Winslet is such an amazing actress, she plays a very complex character in this post war/Nazi movie and although I was left with more questions than answers, I was blown away with her performance.

Revolutionary Road-continuing the "I love Kate Winslet" Fest, this is another movie where she plays a complex character who seemingly appears quite boring at the start but becomes increasingly dark and emotionally tortured. This movie is intense but I really enjoyed watching it. It prompted me to think about a lot of things.

The Visitor-Had never heard of this before but it got 8/10 on IMDB so that's usually a good sign. It was screened at Sundance but it's not really an artsy type film. It's about a widower who is kind of lost and just floating along uninspired since his wife died. He goes to his 2nd home, an apartment in NY and finds that it has been "rented" to a young immigrant couple who had no idea they had been scammed. Anyway, it transpires that they all end up living there for a week and he starts to get involved in their lives and kind of gets motivated again, as well as finding a passion for drumming. The drumming scenes are great and very energising, it reminded me of a staff retreat I was at last year where we learned to drum. Anyway, there is a sad side to the story but you leave feeling happy and with a warm heart.

The Fall-this is another one that I had never heard of and sort of went under the radar despite getting rave reviews. It's a fantasy/reality blurr but I just LOVED the little girl actress in it, she was memserising. She didn't even look like she was acting, even though she was. This story is very unique and again, although it is a fantasy type story telling movie, it is very dark and there are lots of underlying things going on. It's complex and I am sure I missed lots of small things but I want to watch it again! Not everyone will appreciate this but I will certainly recommend it highly to many of my friends.

Mr Brooks-This is Kevin Costner and Demi Moore in a suspense action/murder thriller. Not too bad, but far fetched in the plot line with Kevin Costner playing a highly successful and well liked business and family man who has a split personality as a serial killer by night. He kills as he is addicted to it and his alter ego instigates it. Anyways, it was okay and Demi Moore kicked ASS as the detective!

So I guess I am becoming a bit of a film buff. I am okay with that, Just let me know if I become a film snob...I do NOT want to be one of those! I guess seeing as I list "Made of Honor" and "Spaceballs" as some of my favourite movies that I will never be labelled a film snob!

Body over mind

Have been at home for the past 3 days with bronchitis.......urghhh welcome to my 30's. This is the 2nd time I have had this in the past 14 months. Have been sleeping 10 hours a night for the past 4 nights and lying on the couch doing FA so clearly I am not well. Started on antibiotics on Tues and not really had any great improvement but at least I shouldn't develop pneumonia!
I don't think I had had 4 days off work in a row in at least 6 years. I had the full blown flu 4 years ago (around Feb time also-Feb is the WORST month to have a birthday) but I was on a visit to the UK so was not actually at work. Had I been at work, I think I would have been off for a week at least as it hit me really hard.
I haven't really been looking after myself as well as usual and have been extremely busy the past few months and was starting to feel really worn out. I guess my body decided it was time to stop!
It's funny how when you are sick, everything is relative. I was considering that I was feeling MUCH better by the fact that on Wednesday I opened the blinds for the first time in 2 days. My immediate reaction was" Oh I must be better, I will go back to work tomorrow!" DUH... so silly. I am nowhere near well enough to go back to work and gave myself a reality check by noting that even though I had opened the blinds, I was still in my PJ's at 11am and got tired putting a load of laundry on! I spoke to my mum and she put it in perspective, saying that you know when you are better when you forget to take your antibiotics! So true, thanks Mum!

One positive thing about being sick is that you realise how much human interaction is important on a daily basis. I have been checking my Facebook and email accounts on the lap top so many times the past few days just to keep in touch with the outside world. I can't WAIT to go back to work just to see everyone, all my friends and coworkers. And also to make a dent in the huge number of emails and voicemails waiting for me to take action on. Maybe I won't actually get some human interaction after all as I'll be glued to my desk all day.