one point twenty one jiggawatts!!

This weekend was so much fun!

It was super crowded (they were at capacity both days) but we got to wander and see lots of great actors and get cool art and collectibles and be a goof for a few days. Tasty food in the evenings, dressing up all crazy, saw some favourite actors (the entire cast of STTNG were there)...AND I GOT TO SIT IN THE DELORIAN. There were a LOT of cool costumes. It was my friend's birthday too and I met up with other friends...and...and...Oh yes. :)

This morning I slept in a bit to relax and today it's back in to everything. I have a busy day ahead. I totally forgot that today is the last day to do you taxes...he heh. So that's tonight I guess, plus I have to rack my mead and add the clarifier. Jeez...busy night ahead. Thankfully our taxes aren't that big of a deal to do...just takes an hour or two I'd rather spend on something else. Usually J and I do them together but he has to work late tonight so it'll likely just be me and the numbers and the mead...I doubt I'll get any thesis in tonight!

Must dash...

Leeeelu Dallas Multitask

Last night was errands and a bit of break and then a few hours of thesis editing. Busy. I was the queen of multitasking and dyed my hair while I made supper (I know I know...my life is like that right now...)
 I wanted to do more thesis work but I got too tired after 11 and couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. So, more today. If I have to I'll take my computer along to do some work on the way back from comicon in the car...we'll see how it goes. The 7 pages I got done are good, but they were the best of the bunch I think and there's still a fair chunk of revamping to do - I doubt I'll get it all done tonight...

I am so very much looking forward to comicon. My good friend (my maid of honor) will be there with her husband and kids and another old high school friend will be working at comicon so we're hoping to all get out for supper and catch up.  I'm heading up with my 2 good nerdy gals...it should be a few days of geeky fun away. If anything there may not be enough time for visiting everybody, but I am sure it will all work out fine. I would like some time to curl up like a cat with J, but that just might have to be the plane and train in the UK in a few weeks :). For now...just have to keep at it. He has a busy few weeks coming up as well...

This morning was spin and sculpt with the new girl again. It was OK, but hard. The class doesn't really flow, but I got a solid workout. She doesn't have any stretching after either, so I need to make sure I stretch out some more when I have the time.
Must get going and get some coffee in me to get this day going.
Later taters...

make me move like a freak...

Well this morning my shoulders are a bit stiff bit I'm no worse for wear. I tried to get a bunch of work done last night and I did some basic organizing and put what I have into my new outline so I can start picking away at it...but then J discovered our hiking package arrived in the mail. Then we basically blew the rest of the evening poring over the giant map and all our itinerary and looking up the B&B's we're booked into. I am SO EXCITED. The Arran Island 5 day hike will be sublime... not long now :)

This morning I came in for spin and got a thorough workout. Same instructor as spin and sculpt yesterday and I think she's growing on me. It didn't hurt that she had a really good upbeat music selection and just when I was bagged and wanted to slow down Mr. Saxobeat came on, which is one of my guilty pleasures...gave me another push to keep going. I'm still not a fan of the counting down at the end of sprints, but it's not that bad. She gave a solid workout with no weirdness or things my knee can't do. After some ab work I was done, just like that.  Time for another day. Gotta work hard and earn my Comicon break!:)

hard core

Oh my giddy arms.

The new spin and sculpt instructor is...different. She pushes you hard. The spin part, other than her wanting you to count down from 10 to 1 with her, was hard and good. The sculpt part was mostly up on the bike...and boy was it hard. She's a very different personality than our old instructor...less cheery more lean drill sergeant...this class has more of a bootcampy feel. Not exactly sure if I like her...she's a bit yelley for my taste, but I *do* like her workouts and she is really nice despite how hard she makes you work. After working really hard yesterday my arms are just stiff after all the work we did in class today. It was a solid workout...but no stretching after...I'm going to have some breakfast and think about what I've done :)

back at it again

That friday workout kicked my ass - I was stiff all weekend...even my feet were stiff on saturday :) Just  creaky stiff though (which I'm rather amazed about). J and I ran errands this weekend and got a few things for ourselves we've needed for a while like decent hiking boots and good raincoats. It's always painful in the wallet to get good gear (especially for 2) but we're set for years now. I am hard on gear. I have needed a good raincoat for about a year now with my old one getting me wet when I bike and bus to work. My old hiking boots are completely cracked across the bottom, so it's nice to have some dry shoes again...a good pair of Merrels that should last me another 3 or 4 years. I'm wearing my hikers right now. They're quite comfy so I'm hoping I can wear them in before we do some more serious hiking. You'll also all be proud of me for being practical with the raincoat choice. I turned down a coat I was completely in love with (breathable and stretchy and soooooooo perfectly my style) for a more practical one (longer, nice hood but a it less breathable and boring). It is yellow tho, so I'm happy. :)
Sunday I finally got around to getting a haircut and then let the bread robot make us some yummy pumpkin nut bread and made some homemade mushroom soup to go with it. Simple meals are the best sometimes - so delicious. It helps that you need to add wine to my mushroom soup...glass for the soup and a glass for me. :) Made thesis writing a lot more fun to sit with a glass of Reisling and think. I actually woke up to ideas and got up to type them down on sunday - that was a pleasant surprise. In the midst of life I now have managed to get  22 pages of discussion and conclusion to work on for my thesis over the next week. I really want to organize and cut it down and look for gaps to make it better before Comicon this weekend. It will make for a nice guilt free weekend away with the girls (I may be nerdy and print off a copy to edit on the car ride home). After that only about 10 days until our holiday. I do believe I will have a completed draft by then if I keep at it. :)

My ass felt normal this morning finally so I decided to whoop it again. I did ZWOW 14  (no weights on the switch lunge jumps as my knees can't take it) and then the Bodyrock TV Hot Girls Sweat workout (2 times through) this morning. This is the first day I have ever had sweat drip off of me onto the mat. He hee. It was while doing a plank...by the end of this workout I must say, I was fatigued. I actually had to change a few jump switch lunges in the second round through to regular step back lunges...my legs are rather jello like at the moment. I have refueled them with a protein shake, some pumpkin spice overnight chia oats and a huge Tims coffee (seriously - they just upped the sizes and the XL is like half a pot!).
Now - it's time to get some work done. I have more yummy soup and bread for lunch. It's gonna be a good day -  can feel it!

1000 rep workout

Whah? Blogger changed formats. This is a bit unusual...hmmm. 

I came in today and (with much trepidation) did the Bodyrock TV 1000 rep workout. I don't know if it was cheating that instead of 50 reps of each thing I did 2 rounds through of 25 reps, but I don't care, I still did all 50 reps of each...It took me about 50 minutes to do it and the bonus ab work and I am not sure if I could have done 50 of each in a row and been done in time...(or not hurt my knee - as it is it's a bit stiff from all the tuck jumps). I could have gone a bit faster, but I was tired. I just wanted to get through them all.

The 1000 rep workout was 50 of each:

-burpees

-high knee (opposite elbow and knee in to touch while standing, one both sides=1)

-Pickup 20Lb weight to shoulder, squat, then put weight down, drop and do burpee with a tuck jump instead of regular hop.

-scissor lunges (one each side = 1. I *hate* those...)

-elevated plank bringing opposing elbow and knee in to tuck and touch (one both sides = 1)

-touch floor jumping jacks

-holding weight overhead with one arm do one leg reverse lunge and kick forward- L leg

-tuck jumps

-holding weight overhead with one arm do one leg reverse lunge and kick forward- R leg

-situps with criss crossing scissor legs, tucking arms in behind each leg, alternating (one both sides=1).

Then, 500 skips (high knee)

The weighted lunge kicks started with 20Lbs but after 10 of them I almost dropped the dumbbell and was worried I would end up twisting my shoulder or twinging my knee - I refuse to hurt myself...so I went down to 12 Lb which was much more possible to keep good form and still really be hard. Still though...wow. My knee is stiff after all the jumping - I didn't do a lot of the skipping high knee, as my knee was not interested, but I did it all... I was dripping sweat at the end. 

Then I did the bonus ab part and called it a day:

50 seconds on, 10 seconds plank/rest:

-oblique L side plank with reach up and down under and back

-oblique R side plank with reach up and down under and back

-Plank, alternating extending opposite arm and leg

Now...life calls. Must dash.

Later taters :)

longest week ever...

This morning was my last spin and sculpt class with my favourite instructor. *sniff*

She is done grad school and is starting a new job that starts early so she can't teach int he mornings anymore. I hope they replace her with someone equally cool :) This class has become a staple of my morning workouts on tuesdays and thursdays. Time for change I guess!!

Today is another long day. Last night I prepared and organised my writing plan for my conclusions, but I was pretty tired by the end so I didn't get done as much as I would have liked to. I'm going to try and get some more thesis writing in tonight and really get set up to attack it on the weekend...next weekend I'm taking off to comicon in Calgary with some friends to be a big nerd, so I'll be losing my normal weekend work time. Gotta catch up so I can go be a geek for 2 days guilt free with the girls. J is covering it for his work so he'll be there, but I won't see him much...girly geek time is so much fun. I haven't seen my buddies Heather and Lisa since before christmas with all my work and school, so I am really really looking forward to the time hanging out with them. I don't have time to make a costume...I'm curious what they'll come up with tho.

Until then: Head down. Coffee on.

Let's do this :)

My body rocks :)

Bwaha! Gooood morning!

I feel so rejuvenated after a night off! J and I had a thing to go to but we just decided to play hookie instead and stayed home to make some almond baked chicken and yam fries, catch up on Game of Thrones and just talk and snuggle and plan a bit about our trip...which is in less than a month now. Holy crap! This weekend we have to get some hiking boots to work in and decent rain coats...and figure out this week if we're going to get tickets or buy Brit rail passes instead...decisions decisions :) I have 3 weeks to write the conclusion section to my thesis. That is totally doable. The light at the end of the tunnel has officially been switched on.

Yay :)

This morning I came in and tried out the monday Bodyrock TV workout through four times thru instead of three (I wasn't paying attention when I set my interval time...oops) with the ab bonus. I was sweating like crazy when I was done! Then I hopped on the elliptical for the remainder of the time (30ish min) and I'm in to work now for the day. I am finding having a protein shake after my workouts again has gone a long way towards cutting my delayed onset muscle soreness and today I feel fantastic!

Must be off. Science awaits :)

mission impractical

Ah. Last night I worked like a badger to finish off my most recent thesis section. Got the data summary section with all figures revised. I was even in bed by midnight. Wohoo! I am really tired...couldn't sleep until 1 and I got up at 5:30 so it's gonna be a long day ! I am looking forward to taking most of tonight off...I haven't really done anything except write and summarize for about 2 weeks and I need a night off to reboot and to just relax a bit and most likely go to bed early. I will get to see my husband - what a novel idea. :)

This morning I got up and came in for spin and sculpt class and now it's off to work so I don't slow down and get sleepy :)

Hope you all have a great day!

Whackadoo central

Well then.

Sunday I sure was stiff, especially on my abs :) I took a break late saturday night and went out with friends to go dancing for a few hours. It was what I needed. To be able to girl myself up and be out with J and dance to a favourite DJ who was in from New York- it really let me blow off some steam. All weekend was redo data and summarize it and recheck it and write about it. Little did I know how redoing all that section of data would affect about 1/3 of all my figures and have me redo SO much stuff...BUT I think I may have actually done it. Tonight is time to edit over it all and make sure it actually makes sense before handing that section off for editing to my poor, patiently editing supervisor. Then comes the final fun part (yes I will actually enjoy this part!) - the conclusions and future prospects. All this 60 odd pages of blathering so I can now actually TALK about what I've done and why it's so great.

FINALLY :)

This weekend I tried my hand at a few new foody things. Some were good and some were a bit of a flop. I made some potato bread, but was short of white flour so I threw in 1cup of rye flour I had...the loaf was not very fluffy...but still tastes pretty good. I did make another batch of maple roasted brussel sprouts with supper last night...and wow. Heavenly. I can really take or leave brussel sprouts but my husband LOVES them - this recipe earned me big time cuddle points :)

I grabbed some new protein powder finally on a trip to costco with a friend. It's pretty good and much cheaper than the super delicious stuff I've been buying. It's a dark chocolate flavour with cocoa and stevia. Not too sweet...it will do. I got up and came in to workout this morning to earn my chocolate and wandered through the last snow sprinkle of the spring. It is light out now when I catch my bus now so spring is coming!

I came in and wanted to sweat like a fool so I did ZWOW7 as well as a bodyrock TV workout. No clue which one it was - I only have scribbly labelled in my notebook as "The 50/10 workout with bonus abs".

What is was is 50/10 intervals of the following 3 times thru:

-Skip

-pick up 20 Lb weight to shoulder and do back lunge + side lunge and put weight back down. Alternate sides. (~4 each leg)

-Skip

-weird monkey pushup and tuck jump (~10)

-Skip

-Pushup, then slide/hop left side and back and then right side and then back (~10)

Then a quick bonus ab work of 3 X 50 seconds of:

-In plank position, hop knees like a frog and back out, then pull in one knee to elbow and back and other knee in to elbow and back

-V sits

-In plank position, hop knees like a frog and back out, then pull in one knee to elbow and back and other knee in to elbow and back

And now...life beckons. Must go be good.

Later taters :)