Health

Kick it up a notch

5 Comments

People have asked me in the past “You’re going to the gym AGAIN? Do you go every day?” That was in April, when I went on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I took three days off after my workouts and felt well rested come Mondays. It used to annoy me that people would tell me that I didn’t need to work out because I’m naturally thin, and didn’t need the exercise.

I suppose they don’t know what people feel like on the inside when they know they’ve been putting junk food in their mouths for a while and personally do need to work out. There’s also clothing that flatters my body type and hides flaws. I’m working out to feel and look good for myself. No matter my size.

They ask, “How do you stay motivated?” Well here are some of my answers that I’ve thought about for a while and decided to post about:

  • Stick to a routine. If you decide to take a class at the gym, keep going to it weekly. Luckily the classes at the gym I attend always switch up their routines with every class. The instructors are awesome.
  • I find that if I don’t stick to a routine, I’m more inclined to opt out of a workout. But then I remind myself that I’ll feel better if I actually go to the gym to workout rather than skip.
  • I think about how much it made me smile, when I  accomplished my goals (it took me 2 months to finally be able to get to the gym 4x/week for one whole month — and when I finally DID do it, I felt wonderful, healthy and happy.
  • Think about the endurance you will have — racing up those stairs will no longer leave you out of breath.
  • New muscles to brag about! I have some pretty nice quads coming into play from running my 5k’s twice a week!
  • Allow yourself to have treats. Depriving yourself of goodies will only harm you in the long run and if you’re craving it? Give into it. Just don’t eat the whole pint of ice cream. :)
  • Believe it or not, it’s actually fun and you’ll meet some new people!

In May I decided to take it easy, which I felt as if took a toll on my body. I even ended up straining a muscle at soccer. In June, I’m kicking it up a notch and going to try and set a goal of attending the gym 3x per week again. Are you with me on this?

What are some of your own personal goals? It doesn’t even have to be fitness related! :)

Continue Reading

Daily

It all won’t matter tomorrow…

1 Comment

Thursdays are the busiest days of the week for us. After work is done for the day I always go on my Tues/Thursday runs right after, which goes until about 6pm. I then hurry home to cook supper and then hop in the shower while stuff is heating up / defrosting / etc. We gobble it down and head out for Alfie’s obedience school training for 8pm. It really is rushed… even though we have two hours to (not really) “spare”.

I try to wake up early to get a head start on the whole day. As you already know, I woke up at 6:30 and started baking! But after that, it all went downhill. I think knowing that I’m going to be non-stop busy all day puts me in a grumpy mood. At least supper was all prepped when I was feeling energetic this a.m. (tomatoes, and cheese cut & the panini sauce was made!). So rather than having a normal paragraphed post, I decided that I’m just going to make a list of what annoyances I have come across today:

  1. My dog has a cone on his head. He can’t smell where he needs to go on the pad, and he missed it this morning. It was a big pee.
  2. I kicked Alfie’s freshly poured almost-overflowing bowl of water all over the floor this morning, just as I was heading out the door.
  3. I was annoyed a few times between the hours of 9-5 today.
  4. If you have a tickle in your throat. Please do not let it accumulate and try to clear your throat for an ungodly long twenty minutes. Hack up a lung, and be done with it.
  5. A friend contributed to the list today. She has a really phonetic name, and it can be pronounced different ways when you say it allowed — but written it’s just the way it sounds (both ways). People have been spelling her name completely different in e-mails today. When replying! Be courteous and read the senders name before you reply. Do not spell it Jack, instead of Jane! Seriously. That would bug me. Hi, I’m not Natalie…
  6. Why is the air conditioner on and we’re all freezing. I have yet to turn off my space heater under my desk.
  7. It’s not Friday yet.

It’ll all be over on June 17 when Alfie’s Obedience school is done with. I don’t think we’re going to take him up to the next level. It’s the final level, before you introduce the dogs to agility classes. The only problem we have with this little guy is that he barks at the quietest of noises. If you’re in a completely different room than him and you jingle the coin change in  your pocket, he gets startled and barks his mini head off. He hears the elevator door open out in the hall — bark bark bark. Jayyysuss..

Good night all. Hopefully Friday will be a much better day.


Continue Reading

In the Kitchen, Photos, Reviews

CSN Stores review

5 Comments

Remember when I said I had an upcoming review from CSN stores? That was a while ago, hey? It took me so long to decide on what to pick out that I was literally weeks choosing something!

I kept resorting back to the Le Creuset 8 ounce casserole dish even if my Mom told me it was going to be the size of a pop can. I didn’t order that, thankfully. What the heck can you cook in an 8 ounce dish? It’s about the size of my palm. Literally!

I was told I could pick out something worth $40.00 which included shipping. This excluded International Fees however, and in order for me to get the product for “free”, I had to choose something under $20 because of the additional fees that were tacked on.

Since I’ve been baking some goodies lately, I’ve been in dire need of a cooling rack. The one that I had before was miniature and only held 10 muffins out of the 12 that I usually make. It was an annoyance for sure as I want them all to cool evenly and not get all moist and turn to mush in the muffin tins. The choice was easy. I decided to be practical instead of ordering yet another bowl which I was on the edge about. I wanted to put my fruit in it! Or pasta! Yum. Doesn’t it look pretty? Sigh. I just don’t need it though.

I was also tempted to get a new leash for Alfie though. They’ve got some pretty ones.

So here is my brand new … super large cooling rack in all its glory. Much nicer than the one I had before.

I‘m feeling quite productive this morning. We went and got some groceries last night and I was feeling like some blueberry muffins when I woke up at 6:30. So there they are, cooling off on the giant awesome cooling rack.

As I mentioned before, there are over 200 stores to choose from and so many things on their site that it made my decision a bit difficult to make. I swear I could look at their cookware site and tell you what products they have and how much they cost, haha. After weeks upon weeks of trying to choose what to order off CSN’s thousands of products from their hundreds of stores, I ended up getting an extra large cooling rack for $13 (which ended up coming to be $37 with all the taxes and shipping). CSN stores is able to ship to Canada, but more importantly through the States. Since I’m located in Canada, I would not suggest that you order from CSN stores. The international fees (duties and what not) will get you every time, and they’re really high! The shipping also varies on the weight of the item.

Overall though their Customer Service at CSN is pretty friendly. I was dealing with one woman throughout the whole process, and it was very casual and laid back, yet professional in a sense that I trusted them. If I had money to splurge, I’d definitely buy some Le Creuset bake ware/cookware, but I don’t — so I’ll have to stick to places around my city for that stuff. For now at least.

Continue Reading