time flies when your life is crazy

I hadn't realized it's been a week since I last posted.  I've been falling down on the job on so many fronts.  Not only have I not been posting, I haven't checked up on many people (not that I don't care, cause I certainly do), I haven't been working out in the mornings, I've been drinking way too much coffee and my nutrition is out the freeking window.

Whew!  Confession is done.  Now back to blogging.... LOL

The past 2 weeks have been completely nuts for me.  Between getting the gardens together and my girlfriend's wedding, not too much else has been happening.  This is us below.  It's actually my fav pic of us ... I've got a post in the works about the wedding.  It was an interesting experience.

I desperately needed to start eating before 8 p.m. since I go to bed by 10.  At least I'm supposed to.  But here's the conundrum.  I'm not getting up to work out therefore my eating isn't the best (it not THAT bad, but it ain't pretty ... and yes, there is a corelation between the two).  Because I'm not eating great, and mostly eating too late, I can't seem to get to sleep when I need to.  Because I don't get to sleep early enough, I can't get myself out of bed early enough to work on.  And round and round we go.

But it's 8 p.m. and we've already eaten, I've taken my tour of the gardens for the evening, didn't do a damned thing, Barry was wonderful enough to clean the few dishes that were left and here I am!  I even set up a gmail account so you can email me there.  If you had any wish to.

So much has happened in the past 2 weeks, I can't begin to explain it all.  So I'll do individual posts over the next several nights ... one topic per night, I promise.

One thing that did hit me tho' and it kinda ties in to my own struggles with my weight.  I was standing waiting for the GO train last week and noticed that almost every person I noticed was at least 20-30 pounds overweight.  Mostly they were people who were probably 40+.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  I happen to be one of them (on both accounts unfortunately).  How sad is it that so many people are dealing with excess weight (and I'm not talking 5 or 10 pounds) and therefore not living the fullest life that they could.  I hate not working out.  I feel tired and lethargic and not nearly as upbeat and positive.  I love when Bill Phillips says "the most important person to stand up to is yourself".  I have to start kicking some butt again.  I've re-set my "12 week challenge" to run from yesterday (not a great start but that's ok) so I should end mid-August.  Which is perfect 'cause Barry's bro is getting married early Sept. and I will look amazing.  Not nearly as amazing as my future sis-in-law 'cause that would be (a) wrong on her wedding day and (b) impossible ... she is just WAY too cute for words ... but not in a cutey cute way ... she's pretty hot in fact.  But I'll try to give her a run for her money any day other than her wedding day. LOL.  I love her to pieces .. she is absolutely amazing and so good to Broski and that's the main thing.

I noticed this morning on my way up to work (I have about a 7-8 minute walk) that I couldn't get my speed up and I was having a tough time with my breathing.  Not good.  A sign that I've been neglecting my workouts.

So.  We ate at 6:30 tonight.  I'm going to have my evening snack soon and get ready for bed and sit and chill for a while, go to bed by 10:00 at the latest, then get my ass out of bed at 4:15 and go a good cardio and ab workout and stay off the coffee and eat healthy.  I don't want to find myself 2 weeks away from the wedding and not able to wear what I want to wear.

So goodnight all.  I will see you tomorrow.

I've joined the 21st century! and other stuff

I finally broke down and got a Blackberry.  Now all I have to do is figure out how to work the damned thing!  I managed to send my girl J an IM.  Only thing is, I didn't mention who it was and it's a WAY different number.  *sigh*   So then I called her after about 5 IMs back and forth.  The instruction book, online, is like 320 pages.  YIKES!  But I think I'm really going to enjoy it.  I've already input a bunch of contacts and appointments birthdays and they've already popped up as reminders so I'm not completely illiterate.  J and fiance D are coming over today and they each have Blackberry so I'll get D to help.  I basically want this sucker to keep my life in order.  yeah, right.

Yesterday was a very odd day weather-wise.  We had a little of everything.  Sun, showers, cloud, wind, humidity.  It just kept changing.  And we just kept working outside.  Or at least I did.  Barry did a couple of very important jobs too, even through a shower or two.  Today looks better although they're calling for isolated showers again.  But it's sunny now so I'm not complaining....

Yesterday was awesome.  I got the rest of the containers planted (except for tomatoes and herbs but I'll take care of them this coming week), and it turned out I had a bunch of extra annuals so into the gardens they went.  The front of the house  is now completed ... just have to mow, trim and sweep and we'll be in great shape.  The back just needs a little weeding in a couple of spots before I can plant the morning glories and the cleome.

I hope you're all having a great weekend ... it's a long one for those of us in Canada ... so I'll be sitting on the deck this afternoon with my girl J having a wonderful drink I happened across ... Tropicana makes an orange/mango/peach juice with some Malibu rum.  Tasty ..... :)

Until next time!

Another happy day

I've finally gotten to the point where I am content.  I can breathe a deep sigh and just relax.

I'm not sure why I've been so strung out the past couple of weeks but I think I'm much better now.  I've given in to having a coffee a day in addition to my espresso.  It appears I get massive headaches when I don't, even tho' I substitute green tea.  It appears it's not enough.  So as long as I restrict my coffee intake to one extra, I think I'll be ok and it should prevent the headaches.  I hope.

The reason I'm content ... flowers, the weather, and yes, even taking a couple of days off my workouts.  I think I was overtraining a bit.  Perhaps that's why I was so strung out.  I don't know.  All I know is that I've planted 5 of 9 baskets and 1 of 9 two foot window boxes.  My shopping trip last night was a success but I think I missed a few things.  And got a few too many of other things.  Yeesh.

Tomorrow night I'll do the rest of the baskets and probably the north side baskets.  I'll have to wait until the weekend to the the window boxes at the back of the house.  We'll have to get creative on installing the inserts.

Right now they're calling for rain most of Saturday.  Crap.  But the rest of the weekend is supposed to be good.  Let's hope so. 

I'm falling asleep as I write and it's getting late and I'm running behind (what else is new) so I think I'm going to have to say good night.  I am looking into a new phone and getting unlimited web and email access so I'll be able to keep up with everyone.  I have more time during my commute and at lunch than I do at night sometimes.  Granted, I like this screen a WHOLE lot letter than a 3" screen but it'll help me keep in touch more.

I should have lots of time on the weekend to catch up with everyone.  I feel so out of touch.  I'll fix that tho.

Night!

What an amazing time of year ...

I have this really amazing husband.  He drops me off at the flower nursery and goes home, feeds the cats, cleans the dishes and tidies up a little until I call him to come and pick me up.  Fortunately our nursery is less than 10 minutes away.

Today (Tuesday before the long weekend here in Canada) was my "go pick up the annual flowers day".  There is NO way in hell that I want to be ANYWHERE near the place this weekend.  They have police there directing traffic, it gets so bad.

ANYWAY ..... we grabbed a bite to eat, then it was off to the nursery.  I had a plan.  I had a list.  I pretty much knew what I was going to put with what and then when I saw that a lot of the plants that I wanted to use were $1.99 per plant instead of 4 for $1.39, I changed my mind.  I have no idea what I'm going to plant where.  Well ... that's not entirely true but it's pretty close.  I have a TON of plants that I haven't decided what to do with.  But I'm thrilled.  And it was about $200 less than last year so I'm REALLY thrilled 'cause just can't justify spending a ton of money on flowers right now.

So I got home, brought all the plants to the potting bench area, and then went on my nightly tour of the gardens.  It's my decompression time.  I can't believe how amazing everything is looking.  This is my 8th season gardening.  And it's pretty much where I want it to be.  For now.  We gardeners are an odd lot ... we like to change things up a lot.  We'll see what happens next year.

Before my mom got really sick, she always said she wanted to be buried with her family in a cemetary.  I used to tease her that I was going to scatter her ashes beneath the lilac bush since it was one of her favourite flowers.  She acted all shocked but then started to tell people that's what I was going to do.  So, after she died (actually it was about 8 months or so later), I scattered her ashes right beside the lilac bush.  And now I also have a red climbing rose on the other side of her (another one of her fav flowers).  I gotta tell you, they are both doing AMAZINGLY!  The lilac is about to open (it's a later bloomer) and the rose is looking so lush.  So I stopped and said hello to her.  I think both my parents would be very proud of everything that we've done outside.  Especially the gardens, but even the deck and pergola, the trellis walls (mom loved it ... I think we put the first one up the summer after dad died).

Did I mention the robin family that has made a next on our downspout where it attaches to the house?  It's so much fun.  And I saw my first Baltimore Oriole in my neighbourhood on Sunday.  And a couple of goldfinches tonight do a fly-by.

I know not everyone is into gardening. But for those of us who live in an area that changes seasons, you appreciate the beauty of flowers since we are covered in snow too much of the time. 

It's so important to stop and literally smell the roses.  Or the lilacs.  Or the bearded iris.  Whatever strikes your fancy.  We all need to take a few minutes each day, stop what we're doing, take a deep breath, and just be.

Here's to an amazing summer full of friends, family, great food, cold bevvies and to my wonderful blogging family.

Cheers!

here

I had an epiphany this morning.

I realized this morning that one of the reasons I've been struggling the past couple of weeks is that I haven't been blogging.  Life has been rather crazy the past couple of weeks and the next couple won't be any better.  Between working out in the mornings, then rushing to work and work being so crazy, rushing at lunch, rushing home, helping Barry with his workouts, dinner, laundry, blah, blah, blah, it feels like I havent' had much downtime.  Last weekend was a bachelorette on Saturday and Mother's Day on Sunday so I didn't really have much of a break.  This weekend is much better.  We worked outside all day yesterday and we'll be back at it today but at least I got up and did cardio this morning even tho' I had to fight with myself for about 30 minutes.

My epiphany ... I haven't felt right the past couple of weeks 'cause I haven't been able to encourage and inspire others, nor have I been able to be encouraged or inspired by you.  I hadn't realized how important you've become in my life.  I've missed you.  Barry keeps me up to date on many of you.

The Body for Life Method emphasizes a 3 prong approach to a total transformation - healthy eating, intense workouts and giving back.  Bill calls it the Universal Law of Reciprocation - encourage people, lift them up.  I haven't been doing that too much lately - here or anywhere else for that matter.  So I have to make the time.  'Cause I'll feel better in the long run.

Thank you for inspiring me.  For encouraging me to keep going.  It means the world to me..... and I promise I'll be back real soon.

A step in the right direction ...

Today was my first day on my journey to get coffee out of my life...except espresso and latte that is.

It was unbelievably cold in the office this morning.  I started off with a lemon tea and honey, then had a green tea with honey and another lemon tea.

I did break down after lunch and had a small coffee.  and then I felt like crap.  which is good.  tomorrow i'll make an even better effort at ridding myself of coffee.  I know it can be done ... I just have to put my mind to it.

Thanks Jennifer for your suggestion to transition rather than cold turkey.  I'm sure Barry and my co-workers will appreciate that suggestion. LOL

Have a great night.

I need your help ...

I have a serious addiction and I simply don't know how to get rid of it.

I'm addicted to coffee.  Or am I?  Is it truly an addiction or is it just habit?  When I'm not at work, I have an espresso or latte and maybe one medium coffee.  At work ... it's espresso at home, then 2, lately 3, small coffees at work.  And that means a lot of cream and sugar which is not helping my weight loss efforts.

I know a lot of it is habit.  I tell myself every day, in fact it's one of my goals every day, to restrict my caffeine intake to espresso and green tea.  And yet one of the first things I do when I get to work is make myself a coffee.  It's just become such a habit and I really don't know how to fix it.

One of my colleagues had suggested hot water with lemon.  It's supposed to be good for cleansing and if it keeps me off the coffee and tea (which I also add too much cream and sugar to), then it'll be worth it.  I'm going to the market on Thursday so I'll pick up a few lemons to keep at work and see how it goes.

Any ideas on how to combat this monster?  I know I feel better when I don't drink coffee.  I just enjoy it too much.

"YOU CAN ONLY RISE AS HIGH AS YOUR LOWEST HABIT"

Start driving and stop just going along for the ride.

This was the quote from my "lesson for life" yesterday and it really hit me.  Procrastination has been my biggest obstacle.  I am a terrible procrastinator.  I can find all kinds of reasons not to do something. 

Bill Phillips talks about the fact that letting our lives go on "cruise control", whether it's due to school, work, a life crisis, the time of year, whatever, is how most of us with  weight and fitness issues get in the shape we're in.  It's only by planning, taking control of the steering wheel, that we'll get back into the kind of shape we're supposed to be in.  And I don't mean model-thin ... I mean healthy, fit, strong, capable.

I love when he said "You have to intentionally undo the things that happened accidentally.
 
I've been following Body for Life for some time now.  The reason I love it so much is because of what you gain, not just what you lose ... you gain energy, increase strength, renew health and decrease bodyfat.  That was today's lesson but it so true.  Since I've been doing this program, my attitude has changed, my ability at work has improved, I  have more energy to get through the day, and I just generally feel more positive.

I certainly don' mean for this post to sound like an ad for Body for Life.  It's what I do, it's what I know and I love it and just wanted to share some of the lessons I've learned from it.

It's so important for us women (for everyone actually) to be health, fit, strong, positive.  It'll make the world a far better place.

Just a little food for thought (sorry for the pun), if they're promoting eating organic food and buying food from local producers, then why are the prices for these foods more expensive than the foods that travel for miles??  It doesn't exactly encourage people to follow this important trend.  We have a local food market that operates from May to Christmas basically.  The food is great and it's grown locally.  And I don't have to schlep it home from downtown, so I buy it to support our local farmers.  But it isn't cheap.  *sigh* 
I think the powers that be should do something about that.  And stop allowing the developers to come in and build more and more houses.  Farmers are amazing people ... we need them.

Gotta run and get a start to the day.  Have a great Monday!

Great Weekend ... Gardening, A Rain Barrel, Fitness, Latte and a Cheap Drunk for a Hubby

All in all, we had a great weekend.   The weather was bizarre ... sun, warm, cooling, rain for 5 minutes, rumbling thunder that never amounted to anything (what else is new around here), sun, cloud, comfy weather.  That was yesterday.  Today it was cloud, cool, rain for 10 minutes, sun, warm, cloud, cool.  This all happens inside of about 2 hours.  Odd.  And the forecasters were predicting about 15-25 cm (1/2 to 1 inch) over the weekend.  Yeah, right.

Of course latte is always first on the list for the weekend.  But given that they were forecasting rain, we "rushed" (only an hour or so) for latte, got ready, prepared a base for the new barrel,

then installed this trellis over the potting bench,

added some pipe cover for our A/C unit.  Then it rained for 5 minutes or so.  So we had lunch and watched a show.  Then I noticed that it wasn't raining, so out we went, added these solar lights,

then added fishing wire along the back fence for the climbing rose

.  I'm hoping that in 2012, we'll add an arbour to the back gate.  Then we ran an errand, had dinner and chilled for the evening.

Today started off with a lower body workout (OMG), a 2 hour latte, several errands, shaving hubby's head, some mundane things around the house.  I had taken some meat (mostly chicken) out of the freezer in the hopes that our BBQ would actually fire up today.  It didn't.  So I had 3 LARGE chicken breasts, 9 assorted souvlaki and a couple of very substantial pork chops that I had to cook.  So they were all done in the oven, which is fine but they definitely taste better BBQ'd.

So I figured I'd make a nice meal ... baked pork chops in a cream of mushroom and onion soup (old trick of my mom's), corn on the cob and asparagus sauteed in a little butter, soya sauce and sea salt.  And I figured I'd open a nice bottle of Yellow Tail Merlot.  REALLY nice BTW.  I admit, I had about 1 1/2 med sized glasses, Barry had a little less.  I definitely felt it when I stood up after dinner and put on a cup of tea.  Barry decided he would try to put the BBQ cover back on.  It looks like rain again.  He figured it would be rather funny.  While he is a very cheap drunk, and very silly when he's had anything to drink, he wasn't nearly as funny as he thought he we would be.  Maybe I needed to give him a little more .... he really is quite cute when inembriated.  Very silly.

So we're off to have some tea and chill.  Just wanted to make sure I posted before the evening got away from me.

Here's some more pics of the gardens if you're interested .... here