T-13

I came to a slightly panic inducing discovery last night. One of the authors of a number of papers I refer to and discuss in my thesis are written by my external examiner. How I didn't put it together before now I don't know...but I certainly know now! I definitely have someone who is an expert in my area of research to review me. This is exciting and terrifying at the same time.
Time to review!
Eep.
I admit that after this discover, in a fit of PMS I inhaled a muffin in a panic. Sometimes I cannot resist my old links to food = comfort. It was a fresh peach bran muffin I'd just made, so it wasn't the end of the world, but it's strange how easily old habits appear under stress.
This morning I decided to be more practical about it.
I have a plan.
I will review papers on the bus every day, and go over my speech once every lunch break until the big day. I will also try and think of questions I'll be asked and try and answer them. Work on important terminology so I dont' get hung up in definitions. My supervisor in TO has said she knows the reviewer personally and he's a nice guy, so thankfully I don't have to worry about the reviewer being out there to prove something...I just need to make sure I can clearly discuss my stuff because I won't be able to BS my way out of things :). And I'm going to work out and try to eat well and try not to snarf away my stress. It's tough. This morning I came in for a really good spin class and just finished a yummy bowl of one of my favourite breakfasts - cottage cheese with raspberries. Yum. Having healthy snacky muffins about is also a good thing.
Now it's work hard at my regular job which is also busy. As much as I want to review out of nervousness all day today, I have a meeting at lunch and after work my other supervisor is having the lab over for a BBQ so I don't know how much I'll get done tonight...but I will try my best. Just 2 more weeks...

14 days

Ah. This weekend was nice. It was our anniversary sunday so the J and I just relaxed and spent the day together and went out for dinner somewhere nice for a fantastic meal. Went for a long hike in the afternoon and relaxed by the river with some wine...and actually saw a falcon catch a fish right beside us! Other than the lots of wine on the anniversary, it was a good weekend food-wise too. I brought healthy alternatives to a BBQ at my brothers on saturday so I had good stuff to nibble on. Not sure if I offended him or not, but they are not known for their healthy eating habits...*my* idea of healthy side at a BBQ are veg and dip and fruit, not chips and potato salad. I noticed it was well devoured by the other guests so hooray for me and my healthy food ninja trickery!  :)

This morning I was up and in to the gym for sculpt class. It was a good overall body workout with weights and now today is ON. Lots of work to do at my regular job... AND seeing as the university finally got their act together and approved my defence date on the weekend for the 27th officially (only 2 weeks from now!! No rush...take your time people...not like i need to prepare or anything...grr) I have two weeks of manic review and speech prep to do for my defence. Having a deadline is something I need. The office kindly let me know on saturday when everything finally went through so I could relax on our anniversary, which was nice. And now it's 2 weeks of hard work to get ready. Not quite sure what I'm doing, but I'll do my best :)

joy

This AM I had planned a more hardcore workout but I took what i could get. On the bus ride in today before 6am, someone I work with, who is on the other side of the planet, had sent an email I had to respond to, which I composed on the way to the gym and then had to wait to reply back to if I got a response (iPhones rock). In the end, since I missed the start of spin class and figured it would be rude if I had to stop to respond I just hopped on the elliptical and did a hill course for 40 minutes. I pushed myself and responded to emails as needed while working out, booked some meetings and then showered and came in to work to breakfast. A workout is a workout I suppose. I did get good and sweaty by the end and now it's off to deal with meetings and the political shitstorms of the day.
Ah. Joys of being manglement. :)

tired day

Oy. This morning was spin and sculpt and I'm not gonna lie. It was a tough class and after yesterday it was a killer. I finished and tried hard but man...I'm *tired* now. It was a hard workout.
Last night I really should have done more review but after making supper, making some gaspacho soup for lunches and doing a few chores, I really had no spirit to do anything other than read up on a few things and go to sleep. I have to do a bunch of official things to do today and I'm hoping tonight I can snag a nap and get some review done. I *still* have no official defense date and it's freaking me out that it won't be as scheduled. Thankfully my supervisor is back from his holidays today and he'll look into it. I admit I'm jealous of his 3 weeks away. I'm just getting and wanting one long weekend with J on the september long weekend. It's his birthday and we want to get away somewhere for a romantic weekend and (I hope) celebrate being done school. I refuse to think about possibly rescheduling that due to some administrative cock-up with my defense...for now I'm trying to go ahead as tho the 27th is for real and make myself work at it. I admit, I'm tired and I'm starting to give up, but I'm trying to keep focus for just a little longer. I just can't really focus without a deadline, you know? And I'm really just burnt out. I want to be done.

I think I am going to infuse my blood with some caffeine and see how much I can get done today. They're doing repairs under the floor of my office today (again) and the floor is vibrating. It sounds like there is a small drill grinding away and likely will be doing so all day. Oh joy...

My feet hurt from kicking ass

Holy cow. Boot camp madness. I was needing a stress release because I *STILL* don't have a confirmed thesis defense date... We had a sub in today and it was insane. INSANE. But yet I loved it. She pushed us but made it doable. Made us laugh as we worked hard. Here's the whole workout we did today in an hour:

-5 minute warmup
-3 minutes cardio: Boxer hops with jabs, 1 min each side, alternating with 30 sec jumping jacks
10 sec rest
-3 minutes cardio: repeat knees (30 sec), and high knee arm/ab crunch combos both sides
10 sec rest

CIRCUIT 1: (1 min on/10 sec rest)
-pushup
-skipping
-planks with feet on ball, with alternate toe touches to the ground
-jump switch lunges
-squat spin jumps using the half-ball-flat-on-the other side stabilizer thingy (can't remember the name)
-back/tricep extensions using a resistance band
-squat and shoulder press (with weights)

-3 minutes cardio: side step squat plus side step baskeball jump, alternating

15 sec rest

-4 minutes on the bike: high intensity, high tension aggressive climb out of the seat

CIRCUIT 2: (1 min on/15 sec rest)

-pushups

-skipping

-toe touches with exercise ball passing back and forth from between hands and feet

-back lunge with jump up knee raise (30 sec each leg)

-burpees using the half ball stabilizer thingy (can't remember what it's called)

-tricep extensions using a resistance band

-side lunges (both sides) with bicep curls

-3 minutes cardio:  sides step side lunge alternating

-4 minutes on the bike: 8 X 20 second tabata sprint intervals  (low tension)

-ab work: 1 minute crunches, 2 X 30 sec front planks, 4X30 sec front planks with alternate arm and leg extended, side plank with 14 hip raises and then one leg and arm raised in the air 15 sec (both sides)

-Stretching/cool down

It was a killer but I feel fanfreakentastic!!! She somehow made this fun. Seriously! I was dripping sweat by the ab work at the end. She's subbed in for spin classes and they were OK but this? This was sweaty awesome push yourself greatness. I love this kind of thing where it's just 30 seconds or a minute of something. I can push myself when I know it's only 1 minute. I earned my protein shake today let me tell you :)

Add to that some ripe peaches and homemade yogurt for breaky and boom! Today rocks and it's only started. Have a great day everyone. I will! :)

millions of peaches peaches for me...

Mmmm...just rewarded my sweaty spin class self with fresh BC super ripe peaches and fresh locally made organic vanilla yogurt from the farmer's market. Mmmm. :)

This weekend was nice. I was hermit on saturday and hid inside doing computer work, eating grapes and relaxing. Then spent all sunday with my luv at the Fringe Festival seeing some great plays. Yesterday I attacked the yard all day and met J for a burger and pint and one last play to finish off the weekend. I love Fringe Theatre...such a wide variety of plays and usually a few deliciously weird but wonderful shows. Occasionally there are some outstanding ones. One one-man show I saw, based on the life and times of William S Burroughs was probably one of the best shows I've ever seen, period. It's inspiring. :)

I had a few more beer this weekend than I meant to but other than that, I didn't fall off the wagon nutrition wise. This week is another one of solid exercise and good food to carry it on through. Tonight I can get to the groceratorium and pick up some healthy food for the next while. It's thesis review time prepping for my defense. Hope you all had a great weekend. I did :)

Bringing out the big guns

This morning I came in for spin class after another night of working on my speech. Wow...when you have sweat trickling down into your eyes you know you're working hard :). I have some chia overnight oats for breakfast. I forgot how yummy it is. Mmm....  

I'm starting to build back muscle tone to where I was in April. Thankfully my arms are coming along nicely...now if I can just get my ass to cooperate I'll be in business. I'm working on my guns :)

Me avoiding working on my speech last night...

My speech is starting to really come together, but it's a bit long, so I'm hoping my supervisor can help me pare it down a bit. I totally forgot monday is a holiday - that is really cool. I'm hoping the weather is nice and I can hang out with J a bit...it's been a busy week for both of us and we haven't had much time together.

My Dad is in town for an MRI so I get to have supper with him tonight at my brothers and visit a bit. J has to work again so I'll miss him, but I'm hoping I can see him the rest of the weekend. I need more of my J :). All I have planned is a haircut and the Farmer's Market for the weekend...everything else is a mystery. It's the start of the Fringe theatre festival and I hope we can get out to a bunch of shows. I love Fringe theatre. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Yep

evil returns

The evil teacher Mel is back from her holidays. My shoulders hurt :)
Her spin and sculpt classes are 5 minutes of intense spinning (alternating tension climbs and sprints) and intervals of sets of weights for upper body. Lots of reps. I couldn't actually do them all but I pushed myself. Yes I swore and grumbled at times...but I did as many as I could. And man...I do not think I could do any more. Mel works you hard. I love to hate her...she gets it done :)
Last night I experimented at making a new meal/salad without the recipe that I somehow lost on the way home. I managed to stop on the bus home to get a few things and get back on for the rest of the way home... carrying a large bag of cat food and a giant watermelon home with me in the sticky heat, along with my backpack and gym bag. I didn't want to go back out later... I'm nothing if not stubborn!
I still made the salad, altho I guessed at the dressing from what I remembered and added stuff I like...the dressing needs tweaking but the rest of it rocks (here's hoping I find the recipe somewhere). It had diced red pepper, sweet corn, diced water chestnuts, green onion and shelled edamame. I made a dressing with soy sauce, vegetarian fish sauce, rice vinegar, ginger and garlic (I think it was supposed to have sesame oil and cilantro but I had no oil and hate cilantro so I improvised and added a splash of olive oil and lime juice and whirled it up). It took ages to shell the edamame and I kept accidentally shooting the steamed beans all over the kitchen (much to my cat's delight) but it the final result was quite tasty and filling. Had it with roasted beets, a few shrimp and some rice. Pretty tasty and really fresh. It is today's lunch too. Think next time I might add a bit of honey or maple syrup to the dressing. I just discovered I liked shelled edamame a while back but don't know what to do with it...this looked like a cool idea.

Best of all, thanks to my pack mule abilities, I have a whole lot of delicious watermelon to nibble on all weekend. I love LOVE love watermelon. And J doesn't so it's all mine :) If I need to snack on something I figure watermelon is a good thing. It's the time of year for it...mmm...

Must dash. Lots to do today...

I have a cunning plan

I have a plan so cunning you could brush your teeth with it.

I was good yesterday. Other than a 100 calorie bag of popcorn I made as a snack while working on my speech/watching the Godfather on TV, I ate well yesterday. I had a taco salad for supper and have the leftovers today for lunch. 

This morning was boot camp courtesy of the wonderful Mimi - she makes you work so hard in 3 sets of 8 minutes of 30 second intervals of cardio and plyometrics with 3 sections of upper body weights and abwork in between. Sweaty and awesome. I wish she was our regular morning instructor again... she only teaches monday spin and sculpt after work now except for the odd subs like the last few weeks. Too bad. She rocks :).

After 2 weeks back I already feel stronger and a bit firmer and I can see more muscle in my arms again. Hooray!

It's official. August is beast month. I feel like I've ramped up to this and now I'm ready to be back in it. Other than a great meal out on our anniversary this month  and some celebratory beer if/when I defend my thesis I plan on making healthy choices. It's the time of endless veggies and fruit and I plan on taking it all in :) Add to that, having only Canadian 67 for beer (if anything) and no mindless snacking I think I have a cunning plan. It's not subtle, but it's solid.

Who's with me?

Let's do this!

"Baldrick, you wouldn't see a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing 'Subtle plans are here again!' "