nonja

Last night I tried to work but only got an hour in...the rest was pilfered. I was tired. A bit frazzled. Couldn't focus to proofread things, but at least have all my reference information completed (yay). I went to bed exhausted and slept poorly-spring when the sun comes up early always mucks with my internal clock for a while. Even so, I did get up to come in and workout even tho I was sorely tempted to keep sleeping...When I got here I was so tired my double up friday workout I've been doing lately seemed a bit too evil. So I compromised. One circuit workout and then abwork and 20 minutes on the elliptical. I did a longer Bodyrock.tv workout with a small modification to their Leg Sculpt Mashup Workout. 21 minutes of 50 seconds on 10 seconds off, 3 rounds through the following:

-2 pushups + box jump

-2 V sit ups + 2 tricep dip (changed as I have no pullup bar)

-low jacks with weight (20 Lb dumbbell)

-Squat and press using weight (25Lb barbell)

-Weight pick up alternate sides to collarbone (17.5Lb dumbbell) alternating L & R

-Side plank with ab crunch L side

-Side plank with ab crunch R side

Intense. I was panting. Low jacks with weights are evil. Planks with crunches are evil. And oh, oh how the timer makes it evil. Eeeeevviiiiillll....but wow-you feel so good afterwards knowing you pushed yourself as hard as you could and did it :)

AND I have learned something new about myself-that I suck at box jumps. Seriously-using both legs at once? Useless. Never really done them before, and the first round I had a taller box and for the last 2 reps I moved to a smaller box which was thankfully right nearby. I just couldn't wrap my head around hopping that way in a hurry! Half of them were mutant split leg hop sort of things...I did NOT want to screw up and hurt myself and land on my shins (I've seen it...it looks so painful). But I didn't want to not do them. Some of the first few ended up as panicked squat jumps to keep going after I stared at the box willing myself to move in a coordinated fashion (staring at the box like a deer in the headlights)...so silly. It's a total coordination thing...of which I lack...I mean, both legs at the same time? In a hurry? Forget it.

A ninja I am not. More of a nonja...:)

And so that is my goal for April-Box jumps. Figure them out and get the muscle memory of the move down. I have enough leg and knee strength built up again to give them a go and do them properly. It won't take much time at all to do some a few times a week...and I'll try this workout again the end of April and see if I"m slightly less flaily.

This song came on at the gym today while I was stretching... major flashback. I loved this song back when I was 10. I've been humming it all morning. I thought Alannah of the Thompson Twins was *so* *cool* back then. I still know all the words...funny how songs stick with you isn't it?

Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now by jpdc11

Have a great day :) I will try to too. Step 1: stay awake :)

the sweet scent of vinaigrette

Last night was a late night of thesis work and this morning I woke up to come in and do spin and sculpt. It was a good class - I really enjoyed it. Other than my lunch leaking into the inside of my bag (it smells awesome now :P) today has been going well. I have so much to do and write...but I feel like it is coming together. So much left to do, but it's exciting and scary all at the same time. I can't just phone it in. This is all me...the hardest part is finding a way to state what I want to say clearly and concisely.

Must dash. Life calls :)

Have a great day!

I don't glow. I sweat.

Today I remembered my shoes. Hooray. :P

I came in for spin class and got my ass kicked, then did some abs and I was done.

You know, I didn't know my shins sweated until I started spinning :)

Must dash. Lots to do. Long day.

Bring it :)

Heh...oops.

Ah yes. Last night I woke up about 2000 times so I didn't get the best sleep after a boring evening of entering bibliography information (I know! How do I live with all this excitement?)...but I was up and in for my spin and sculpt class. I pushed myself and did as many of the push ups in class on my toes as I could this time...40! The other 20 were on my knees. Woo! We do 4 sets of 15 and I'm really feeling stronger. My arms are not falling off by the end...just general on fireness :) I *am* smug that the big dude next to me did more girly push ups than me. He hee. Linda Hamilton baby...

This morning I pulled a me and forgot my running shoes. Yeah I know. Classy. I just wore my (horror!) outdoor fall/winter shoes for the spin bike part and then went in socks for the sculpt part. You couldn't tell under my workout pants thankfully so no one complained. Not perfect, but after crawling out of my warm bed after I'd hardly slept there was no way I was not working out. I've never forgotten my shoes before...bras and shirts and socks to change into yes, but this is new. Further proof that I really need to get in on the locker pool next year at the semester start so I can leave some things at the gym and not haul everything every day. My feet got reaaaaaly warm but it was all good :) I actually liked the sculpt part in sock feet - I felt like I had more control on my form for lunges and the like. I may actually do it again.

Yesterday I was good with food. No stupid snackery or self sabotage. Ate well. And today is a new day, with healthy food and much to do. I am happy hyper freaked out nervous scared overjoyed all at once at the thought of finishing up my thesis and going to England and Scotland. I'm wondering if that was part of me not sleeping...not sure. I've realized we have to book our train tickets soon...they keep going up in price so I don't want to end up paying a mint to hike...Booking trips makes me nervous because you have to chose and commit to times and things and I'm more of a happy wanderer and J dislikes planning of any kind, so it's up to me to get it done. I've been daydreaming of hiking along the mountain coast on the Arran Island with J...I can't wait. Hoping for decent hikey weather...I've got the end of winter funk where it's not quite warm enough to be outside yet and even if it was...no time. Must keep working.

Just keep swimming, swimming swimming... :)

image

I'm Alive. SO alive.

Ah. After a long weekend of typing typing typing (but no workout...ahem) I got up early this morning to come in and work out. I am almost (meep!) done my hypothesis data discussion on my thesis, putting me at about 3/4 done my draft of my thesis. he hee!

This morning I wanted to sweat. My hamstring is back to normal from whatever I did to it thursday, so I was ready to go hard and burn off the lazies. I found my interval timer and I got down to business. I did ZWOW 10 (through 3 times with a 17Lb dumbbell) and then the Fire it Up Bodyrock TV workout. Man...having the interval timer really makes you push yourself. I forgot how long 50 seconds is...and 10 seconds break is not long enough! :) I was sweating and panting...but it was so good. I added their bonus ab workout along with some back extensions and crunches and their weighted cool down and was done in time for a bit of stretching and a shower. I feel so alive.

This weekend was partly healthy. I made some healthy muffins from an old recipe from the artsy hippy coffee shop I used to manage/bake in when I was in university (I stole the recipe...shhh!). They have coffee and dates and red river cereal in them. So good. (and I discovered my cat LOVES dates. Who knew?) I also made my first attempt at pumpernickel bread. It was supposed to be in the bread maker but the recipe was too small and wouldn't knead right so I ended up pulling the dough out to knead by hand and baked it myself. And wow, I am hooked - the bread is so yummy. Toasted? Heavenly. I have some for lunch with some borscht. Mmmm...

Unfortunately there was also unhealthy food -we had another family gathering last night full of awful food. I felt yechy after - Chicken Parmesan with fettuccine alfredo and terrible brochette and some "salad" full of iceberg lettuce, bacon, peas and cheese and coated in sweetened mayonnaise. bleh. The only vaguely healthy part was the trifle for dessert...it had fruit in it :) I didn't overdo it at supper but I was hungry so even tho I tried to avoid the food that I mostly didn't care for I did have too much trifle. I love trifle. I'm kinda mad at myself for not being more strict. I am getting really mad period at myself not having lost back the bit ofweight I gained over the holidays and I know it's just a matter of me being disciplined. I mean, J and I nibbled chips while watching a movie on friday. And family meals on J's side are always horribly unhealthy. I know this. I need to plan accordingly...I notice when I overwork and get stressed about school I try and medicate my feelings with food. I have to keep reminding myself that food isn't the problem or the cure...it's just food. I've gained some muscle back, but I have to find a medium ground somehow without thinking about it all the time.

Today is a new day.

Oh yes.

Today I am dialing it in. Pushing the workouts. Watching my food. I will no longer sabotage myself. Just for today. Tomorrow will come soon enough.

Well now that I've randomly babbled on for far too long I must be off . This song was in my head when I woke up and it's still rolling around and around...Hopefully I can pass it on to you all end get it out of there!

I hope you all had a nice weekend :)

Lets give them something to talk about...

I was up LATE last night working on my presentation for today. I think I've got it down and I won't go on forever ( I hope). It's a lot to talk about and hard to shorten up without possiblly boring people to death :)

As a result tho, I slept in this morning and didn't work out. My hamstring that I strained is still rather stiff from yesterday and could still use some rest so I'm going to workout tomorrow instead. For now, it's healthy breakfast (oatmeal!) and lunch and getting things done done done done done.

Have a great day.

Gotta go be a smartypants.

(Photo: The great Natalie Dee)

A little older. A l ittle wiser?

Last night I played "find the thing". Yes. Good times. I put a note from some discussions I had with my supervisor last year that I wanted to talk about in my thesis...somewhere...as you can imagine I spent a while searching for it. Annoying. I did find it though, which is good, since a lot of mystuff got moved around or erased when I started my new job...I was worried it would be missing. I'm a few hours from having a draft done of the 3rd (of 4!) part of my thesis done and I'm looking forward to getting that hypothesis section really flushed out and ready for review this weekend. I've been distracted since I have to give a speech tomorrow to other grad students on my project, so I spent a bit of time last night going over my stuff to try and find a nice coherent way to talk about it all. I think I've got something OK that isn't too random. I'm not bothered by public speaking thankfully. We're not graded on it - it's practice for our thesis defense, so I figure as much as I can do to get slides ready and get feedback for THAT the better. The sooner I can get my thesis in to the committee the sooner I can get a date to defend.

Meep.

This morning was spin and sculpt class. During sculpt, one of the weighted lunges strained my left hamstring somehow and it started hurting, so I dropped all the weight and finished as lightly as I could. If it had continued to hurt I would have stopped all together, but it wasn't too bad. I can still feel my left hamstringy butty region, so I'm hoping I didn't do anything that will be a problem. I think I just pushed out of my lunge with poor form in my half awake state. If it is still stiff tomorrow I'll just do some upper body work and let it mend for the weekend. I've been asking a lot of my butt lately. Maybe it's trying to tell me to relax a bit. :)

I just got back form my yearly physical and (assuming no weird blood work results) I am healthy. 5'5" and 132 Lbs on the doctor's fancy scale, which is a few higher than my home one, but the same as the one at the gym. Still a bit (grr) up from christmas, but I am healthy so I must be content with that and not focus on a number, but how I feel. I *am* glad to know I am strong and healthy. I met my new doctor today (my old one moved away-*sniff*) and he seems nice enough. I was hoping I'd feel comfortable with him so that I could keep him as my new family doc, and thankfully I do. Having a woman doctor isn't too important to me as long as I'm comfortable with the person. What *is* odd though is that he is the same age as me. THAT is weird. In my head all male doctors are supposed to be old and kindly squinty eyed and look like Quincy :)

Well, I should go and make myself useful today.

To the labmobile!

zoom

Another quickie. Busy day but wanted to log...

Last night I was so tired I sat down to work on my thesis and fell asleep. So I was woken up later by a giggling J and just went to bed :) Got lots of sleep!

This morning I came in & I wasn't quite sure what to do, but noticed my favourite spin instructor was teaching so I dropped in on spin class and gave it my all for 45 minutes. Now I'm raring up for a looooooooong day.

Have a good hump day everyone. I'm off into the madness...

Quick update.

Lovely evening last night. The rest of the week will be really busy so J and I spent the evening together in a cocoon of couches, eating pumpkin muffins and snuggling in front of a movie ("In Time" - not bad...). Overnight there was lightning and thunder and rain...and then snow. So glad I'm not driving today. It's ICY. Winter's last hurrah. I'm sure it will melt in a day or so - I'm afraid we jinxed things by taking off the snow tires on sunday. Sorry to all.

This morning was spin and sculpt and now another day.

Have a good day all! I'm off...

Monday, Monday, da daaah, dah da daaaaah da...

By sunday night I felt normalish again...the point where you feel your muscles and it feels cool but you don't wince when you try to sit down too quickly. I'm really gaining muscle tone on the bottom I am. It's encouraging. I'll try and keep the squeaking to a minimum tho :)

Sunday I got more thesis work done and then J and I relaxed. I had a bit of cottage cheese that had to be used up so I made up some cottage cheese pumpkin pancakes for breakfast - I wrote down the recipe so I can make them again. So good! I also made my St. Paddy's day annual meal a day late (since J had to work on saturday) proper Irish stew with pork tenderloin with some cottage dill bread my robot and I whipped up on saturday. I got a bit more done on the thesis. Good weekend...

This morning I was up and in to the gym on a foggy morning. Since friday went well I figured I'd do it again. So I did ZWOW 9 (3 rounds through in just over 10 min) and a Bodyrock bootylover workout, with all extras (did the weighted cooldown through twice). I've got that feeling you get when you've worked hard...muscle fatigue but not soreness. It feels good to push myself. I am finding these kinds of exercises far more interesting than just plain cardio. I still have spin and sculpt class for that. I'm trying to get some variation in.

I have been putting these workouts into my phone, but I think I'm going to breakdown and get a book to write them in. On days like to day when I forget my interval timer I use my phone or watch as a timer and then the screensaver kicks in and it's most annoying :) Plus I think it would be neat to look at later and see what I've been up to.

Anyways...I'm going to nibble on some cottage cheese and raspberries and a handful of granola and get to my day. Happy monday :)

oh no, it has a crack in it...badum tish!

So I think I broke my butt yesterday. My bum is so very stiff after my doubled up crazy workout. I'm walking around like an old lady. Good to know I worked hard but man...I am so aware of all the tiny muscles down there right now. :)

I am trying to work on my thesis and really not getting anything done today...it's been over 2 hours of me wasting time...so I need to grab some coffee and buckle down for a bit. Given that it's St. Paddy's day I will make come cottage cheese dill bread in the old robot and some irish stew with some pork tenderloin I have kicking around somewhere for supper tonight. Next weekend I plan to start up a batch of IPA to have around for the summer, but for now...my healthy beer Canadian 67 will have to do. Maybe I'll make it green...we'll see.

Since i've been ramping up my workouts I am starting to feel the itch to start ramping up my eating too - really dialing it in. I am getting my muscles back (especially in my butt...ow) but really have 5 -10 lbs that I could shed and look serious freaktastic this summer. I'm thinking next week will be time to get on with that. I'm just maintaining...and I can't keep gaining weight every christmas and not getting rid of it after. And getting takeout after I go out (like last night ahem) is just typical of how i keep undoing a whole day of solid healthy living in one stroke. It's a tricky thing when you don't get much free time. It makes you feel like you need to indulge when you do since it's so "special". Very dangerous mindset to get into....

Well, I really should get to a bit of thesis work. Hope your saturday is a little more interesting than mine is :)

Instant angst therapy

This morning I had a bit of stress and grr to work off from a discussion yesterday (long story not worth going into) so I wanted to *SWEAT*.

So, I did some back raises and ab crunches and a 5 minute warmup on the bike before I did the thong shapeup bodyrock workout with all extras and ZWOW 8 (through it 6 times). Right at the end I wanted to give up but then a favourite song (Beastie Boys...guilty pleasure) came on the gym stereo and I smiled and got a bit of juice to finish off strong. As I looked up the links for the workouts just now I realise I forgot the toe touch in the toe touch jump up/burpeeish part of the ZWOW after the first rep through. Oops. Ah well...all things considering tho I still think I kicked ass today. I sweated out some angst and feel very good about how the day has started. A little yogurt and granola and some fruit and I am good to go for the day. I am hoping for a good weekend with less angst, but we shall see how it goes. I am standing up for myself and being strong. It's a challenge, but deserve to be treated with respect. I'm tired of being the one who caves and gives in when I haven't done anything, just to make the peace.

But I wasn't going to talk about that was I? No.

There is a masquerade dance party tonight which some friends are playing at which I'd love to show up at (A friend has a mask they can lend me), but it will depend on the rest of the day. If the evening goes well, maybe I'll get a nap and we can go by for a while, just to get out. I'll need to work hard Sat and Sun on my thesis and I don't want to muck that up by staying out all night. Plus I'd like to still make it to a potluck at a friend's house on the weekend if I can...just to be around people and not just send food and good wishes with J and stay home and work as I so often have been doing while in school. We'll see. I just have to remind myself it's only a few more months...then the thesis is done. Then the UK, I defend and summer comes. Then - LIFE. Hurry up life. Hurry up.

Note to self: wear pants to work

Last night I managed to tidy up the house a bit and attack some laundry, have a hot shower and then make a tasty supper before getting in an hour or so on my thesis. I wish it had been more thesis time, but it is a little more sane in the house, and I can't go to work naked, so this seemed a good compromise. J works late wednesdays and so I can run about and get lots of chores and thesis work done and not feel like I'm ignoring him.

I'm hooked on baked sweet potatoes with a bit of cumin, cinnamon and cayenne right now. Had them for supper last night with an instant chicken. Yum...

This morning was spin and sculpt class as well as some tasty chocolate protein chia oats. I have much to do, so I must dash. Just wanted to log before I ran off to the lab.

Have a great day :)

Windy city

Last night we had HUGE windstorm. My city is called the windy city for a reason. With the river valley, springtime can be insanely windy and last night the world got a good start to spring. It's warmed up considerably here to unseasonably warm (+11 C yay!) and so we've got crazy winds as all the snow melts. You'd never guess we got dumped on with a lot of snow a week or so ago. It's nearly all brown again. Of course now you can see all the leaves we never got to raking because it rained and then snowed so much in the fall, but hey. I figured we'd be living in mudland for ages and I'm glad to see it melting and drying up fast. Spring (and all it's sneezy wonders) is definitely on it's way. Unfortunately for me, between the wind making the huge tree in our back yard wave around like a metronome (very creepy) and the cats howling at the wind and the plastic winter guards coming off our deck screens and making an annoying flappy noise most of the night I got very little sleep...usually I sleep through this stuff, but I went to bed last night rather moody and down with all the work I still have yet to do on my thesis and how my house is a war zone...and it just wasn't a good night. I very rarely can't sleep, so I'm feeling it. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done tonight, but we shall see. It may be naptime when I get home first...

Thankfully this morning my favourite spin teacher was teaching class so I wandered in bleary eyed to class for a 45 minute heart pumping workout. I did a bit of ab stuff after and called it a day. I'm so glad I make it a priority to eat well. Last night I set up a bowl of chia overnight cocoa protein oats (currently my favourite breakfast) so I have a yummy start to what I hope will not be too crazy of a day. I have a feeling it will be a looooooooong one. Courage :)

I hope you all have a great day. I am trying to figure out what I'm going to do about the yard - if you have any suggestions, I'd love them. I like yardwork, but there just isn't time right now...and my allergies go nutso this time of year. J's work keeps him away form the yard in the daylight hours...it will be a bit of a challenge to get the yard looking slightly less dilapidated. I keep hoping a neighborhood kid will come by and offer to rake...I'd take him up on it. Perhaps some midnight raking is in order :)

PS - Happy Pi day :)

taco + pie = heaven

Last night I didn't get much done on my thesis. I tried, but I was easily distracted entering references by...well...anything really :) . Ah well...such is life. I got home from work and made a long elaborate supper that wasn't too healthy as it had cornmeal biscuit topping involved, but the rest of it was good. Soooo goood. I whipped up some homemade taco pie. Mmm. Someone said taco pie at work and it was all I could think about for the rest of the day. I love tacos and I love cornmeal biscuits...together? Mmmm. There was a taco meat and refried bean layer with another layer of black beans, corn and tomatoes, then I whipped up a batch of jalapeno cornbread biscuits to layer on top -all baked up until the biscuits were golden and cripsy with a bit of cheese on top. Had it for supper with some salsa. MAN...so good. Exactly what I was craving, but took a while to make. I don't make biscuits often because they're a weakness of mine, but when I do I thoroughly enjoy them :)

This morning I crawled out of bed to come in for spin and sculpt to make up for my biscuity heaven (more for lunch...he hee!). I pushed myself in the spin part and had a really solid workout. I had time to make myself some chocolate overnight protein chia oats last night, so I had a delicious healthy breaky. Now it's off to the lab to get things done.

Hope you all have a great day :)

Crunchy goodness

Well this weekend was mostly thesis stuff. All saturday I worked away on it, with a bit of chinese food and a late night movie at the end as a reward - John Carter. Loved it. LOVED it. Good old fashioned science fiction, based on an old story by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Made me feel like a kid reading stories at night under my blanket with a flashlight again :)

Sunday was more thesis work, only until supper... mostly references (so utterly boring). I have found a decent (free!) referencing software called Mendeley to make my thesis look pretty when I'm done, but I have to enter all my references into it (sigh). That will take a little while, as there are over 200. I'm at about 60... I'm going to try and to 20 every day this week and hopefully get them done soon. J and I relaxed in the evening and watched an old Mystery Science Theatre 3000 spoof and giggled away with a glass of wine. Nice way to end the weekend...

I tried a bunch of baked crunchy things for cooking this weekend. I have found a few recipes for baked healthier versions of old favourites and they were amazing. Friday night I made the baked onion rings along with the crunchy breaded baked tofu from the Oh She Glows weblog. They were insanely delicious. The onion rings seriously blow any other onion rings out of the water that I've ever had!. Last night for supper was spaghetti squash and almond/panko coated baked chicken. More baked crunchy goodness...better than the old fried standards we used to make. Yum. Other than the delicious prickly pear Gewurztraminer we had last night and a light beer or two I had while working on my thesis I think we did rather well foodwise this weekend. :)

This morning I came in and did my Workout B plus modified abfest (there's a bunch of ab stuff in spin and sculpt tomorrow) as well as 26 on the stairclimber and now I'm in sipping my coffee and nibbling on my cottage cheese and raspberries. Time for another day :)

Friday is for all out crazy awesome workout fun...

Aha! Friday!

This morning started earlier than I meant it to. J had to be up an hour before me (4:30...ick) and the cats decided that since he was up I should be too...he heh. I tried to sleep until 5:20 when I usually get up, but I admit I just dozed a bit really. 2 cats walking all over you waiting to be fed will do that! Why they didn't bug J to feed them I have no idea. Little creatures of habit they are :)

In the end I got up as normal and got ready and came in to workout this morning. I am starting to feel and look more like my pre-christmas self again. I feel stronger and although I'm not quite back to it, I *feel* better and definitely stronger. You know the feeling when you have muscles and you can feel them move about and it feels good just to do things to feel yourself flex and move? Yeah. like that :)

This morning I was a bit undecided as to what to do and it was yelley lady's class day so I didn't take the spin class. I figured I'd just do a repeat of last friday-hot girls sweat and ZWOW7. Tough, but I worked on proper form and I did it! Woo! It indeed kicked my ass and finished it a bit sooner than last time. I did a few back extensions and hanging ab crunches and that was that. Done and done :)

It makes me grin. I am so proud that I can do all this now...the whole pushup thing is just amazing to me. When I started I could do a few...now, lots. Makes me feel like am indeed becoming Uberfrau :)

I am off to a day of science and hope to get some serious thesis work this weekend. I have to figure out (zzzzzz) reference software this weekend and enter all my bibliography info for my thesis (about 150 references or so) into whatever I end up using. Fun on a bun (not). But...must be done. I have a self imposed deadline on a few thesis things for the weekend to get them accomplished and want to spend a few hours watching Game of Thrones with J on DVD this weekend. It'll be nice enough we might get out for a nice walk...may have to dig out the wellies if this snow starts to melt...there's a LOT of it with nowhere to go :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Get your grumpface on

Last night I got some solid thesis editing done, but before that I definitely had my tired grumpface on. I didn't realize how hungry, tired and cranky I was when I got home from work until after I began ranting at the cat (too loud) and the washing machine (not fast enough) and random bits of furniture (in my way...and...ding ding! Gentlemen, we have maximum crank!) I thought "hey! I should probably eat something!"

Thankfully J worked all night so he didn't get to share in the wonderful crank that was me last night.

Once I had a healthy meal, a hot shower and a few minutes of downtime I am glad to report I felt more like me again. I was ready to work and went on to have a productive evening.

It got me thinking, that altho I am trying to cut back a pound or two still hanging on from the holiday season, I think I need to tweak my diet a bit...I'm obviously not getting what I need. I'm out of protein powder and until I can get across town to get some more I'm out of luck. Maybe that was it? Who knows. All I know is I'll be looking for the crankface to day and will try and ward it off if I can. I was writing Dr. Seuss style poetry about my thesis stress last night so it can't be that bad :)

This morning I came in for spin and sculpt. I am tired, but got to bed at a decent hour last night. It's another day of life for crazy old me.

Here goes nothing :)

wednesday already? wow...

Ah.

Last night I got home to snow that was mid thigh in some places! It was light and fluffy, so I spent a good hour shovelling out the house...sidewalks and car park area. It looked impressive when I was done :) I enjoyed it. The snow wasn't hard to shovel, there was just a lot of it, so I took my time and listened to the tunes and shovelled away. Then time for some supper and a late night grocery run with J. By the time we headed out after he got home late the roads were passable. Got fully stocked up on food and got home late to tuck it all away and fall into bed feeling pretty accomplished if I do say so myself :)

This morning it's snowing lightly again...big fluffy flakes like in a cartoon. Very pretty.

Came in to workout and my favourite spin instructor was teaching a 45 minute class so I went in for that and loved it. It was a solid workout...how solid? Well, I've never had sweat on my elbows before! After that I did my abfest and called it a morning. Cottage cheese and pineapple and a nice big mug of coffee and the day has begun. Yum.

Tonight (besides more shovelling...) I've got some chores and a thesis to attack. Lots to do!

I hope you all have a fantastic hump day!

Hello winter, what kept you?

Last night winter made up for it's lack of oomph all in one night. We got about 14 inches of fluffy snow overnight and it's *still* snowing. It's gorgeous and not too cold. For me, who's been suffering through spring allergies for parts of winter I'm loving the snow. It's not going to last more than a few weeks, and I take the bus most places so I'm loving it. It's so pretty.

It does muck up people's lives tho. It's enough snow that everyone is getting stuck...and people for whatever reason forget how to drive in this sort of stuff when it is unexpected, so there are accidents all over the place. When winter is here and hard and mean we all expect this and plan our lives around snow delays, but today a lot of people were caught unaware...like my class instructor. About 4 of us were in the gym on time today for class, and she was a no show so we just took over the spin and sculpt room and did our own class :). We biked for 3o minutes and then tried to replicate the stuff we usually do in the sculpt part of class. I'm pretty impressed with our workout overall. Plus I got to chat with a few girls who are normally in the classes all the time which was nice, since I see them every day but never talk to hem. Although the spin part wasn't as hard core as normal I still know I got a really good allover workout. That is one bonus to getting up stupidly early and coming in to workout in a snowstorm...if I get there there is no way I'm wimping out- I'm doing something!

Today is grocery day so it may be an adventure to get out to the store...it isn't supposed to stop snowing (we are due for another 5 inches or so) until sometime in the afternoon. I was going to go on my own in the car, but I think J and I will take our mitsubishi starwagon (4 wheel drive van we take for camping/off roading), to get there :). I have the special gift of being able to get stuck in our car on a single snowflake, so I'm glad I won't be driving in this snow...it will be days before they clear it all I'm sure.

Hope you all have a great day. Stay warm :)

popcorn and beer for supper = fail

I spent most of saturday with achey butt and legs...I was so very glad to be working on the thesis. And boy did I - 15 solid hours of work on the weekend. Still wanted more, but I also got some life in too, which was nice. My mead is racked off into a secondary carboy to clarify for a few months (which was messy and sticky and complicated and involved me going to get another smaller carboy to complete...) and I have a kit to make some ale whenever the urge strikes over the next while. A bonus of buying another carboy is...well...I have another carboy to make stuff in :) I like making beer. Don't even care if I drink it...it's nice having stuff to offer people...it's like lab cookery, only at home. :)

Yesterday was an embarrassing food day. I really need to work on not letting the weekend totally defeat an entire week of hard work. Saturday was OK. I made scones and homemade rye caraway bread, but overall, we had decent meals. Sunday tho? Eep. I had a headache for most of the day. J's mom invited us out for waffles and custard and fruit and we had a nice family visit...and ate a lot of waffles. They were delicious. I picked up a friend at the airport and visited with him a bit and samples some of the schnapps he brought back. When I got back home, J and I weren't even really hungry for supper so we had some of the bread I made with a few eggs...(see we started out trying to be good!) and then to celebrate racking the mead later we had some apple ale and popcorn and watched a movie. The popcorn and ale...ich. My stomach still hurt this morning. I have been told by my body that this is not what it needs...too much rich wierdness in one day...Bleh.

So...reboot today. This morning I was up and in to the gym, but with no preworkout snack since my stomach still ached. I hammered out my workout A which is lower body focused along with my abfest. I tried to do a set of tabatas on the treadmill but after half of them my asthma had a fit so I switched over to the bike. After I resumed normal breathing I did a set of tabata on the bike and called it a day. Whew. That's my one complaint about the going all out thing...with asthma sometimes it just doesn't work...but sometimes it does. I take what I can get :)

By the time I got in to work I was feeling great and was hungry again (yay) so I had some granola and blackberries and yogurt and my stomach finally feels normal. :)

I am off to another labfilled day. Hope you all had a great weekend. Up until the hamster in my stomach feeling I sure did :)

Hello Jello legs

This morning was a tough love letter to my ass. As I said on a facebook comment to someone this morning - I think I broke my ass.

I had prepped up a recent bodyrock tv workout "Hot Girls Sweat" to do with some other cardio, but last night while avoiding, er, taking a break from, my thesis, I noticed that ZWOW7 was up. So, in my infinite insanity I thought "I know, they're short -I'll do them both!"

And boy did I :)

I actually feel pretty darn swanky at the end of it all. I have no sandbag so I found weight replacements that would work. Threw in a few back extensions and crunches and called it a day. My hamstrings are already pointing out to me how much they worked to day, so I am thinking I'll be very glad I'm doing computer work tomorrow...sitting will be good :)

Because I don't want to get to work just yet, here's the workout breakdown:

Hot Girls Sweat:

30 second intervals (or I did 20 of each if I wasn't done 20 in 30 sec)+ 10 sec rest of :

Pushup with side extension

sandbag swing (20 Lbs)

Jump Switch lunges

Bentover row (35 Lb)

Side lunge with weight (15 Lb) -left

Side lunge with weight (15 Lb)-right

Pushup + touch shoulder

lunge and twist with weight (15 Lb)

shoulder press and squat (with 25 Lb)

pushups with feet on a bench

Mountain clumbers

reverse pullups

plank

side plank-left

side plak-right

tricep dip

goblet squat with weight (15 Lb)

ZWOW7

3 times through:

10 X 3 jump switch lunges + side kick

10 supergirl pushups

2 minutes skipping

20 side ab crunch/extensions with weight (20Lb) left side

20 side ab crunch/extensions with weight (20Lb) right side

Plus 2X: 20 back extensions and 20 hanging ab crunches.

The last ZWOW rep was tough, I'm not gonna lie. But I did it. Beast mode. :)

Then I wobbled myself to the mats for a really good stretch out and had a hot shower before work. Both workouts are supposed to only be about 12-15 minutes but combined I took a bit longer than that what with my stopping to wheeze asthmatically every once in a while (my asthma is acting up lately). I concentrated on good form and doing the moves well, not just fast so I don't hurt my knee with all the lunges and jumping and it went well. Wow...what a good workout. I feel fierce!

The funny thing is the girl I admire who does the cool odd workouts I mentioned yesterday came in to workout in the middle of my workout and did the EXACT SAME workout as me. Exactly! He hee. Cool.

And so, I am off to another busy day. I hope to get a shwack of thesis work done this weekend to hand in to my supervisor for some red ink decoration. Today I get a chunk back from him that I gave him last week...I'm sure that will give me more to do. I think it will be coated in red ink too. Man. I can't wait to finish this thesis...

Well, have a lovely weekend! I will too...off to try and make my jello legs do my bidding for the rest of the today...

I need a time turner

This morning I was tired after an evening of working on my thesis. I really wish the evenings were longer. I just get into the groove and get working and all of a sudden I find it's time to sleep. I can't always hit that groove on the weekends and I can't stay up to stupid o'clock and do my new job, so I have to try and just get done as much as I can when I can . I'm hoping I can work a lot though this weekend and get more hammered out on the sections I'm working on. I'll be getting back my first 2 sections form my supervisor tomorrow (covered in red ink no doubt), so I'll have that to tend to as well.

I am very excited though, as we booked our flights for the trip. We don't have to fly through the states, which makes travel so much simpler...Me he heee! It's all for real now :) I'm so very excited...this is DEFINITELY a goal to work towards. Must finish thesis to go out for review before we go. :)

This morning I came in for spin and sculpt class. It's a new routine for March so that was nice to change things up a bit. It felt good to sweat and get ready for the day. Now I've got to get to work. I have lab freezers to defrost, paperwork to do and general awesomeness all about me that requires my love and attention.

To the lab!!