Giacomo's

Tonight, while in Boston for work, I had the pleasure of going out for dinner with a couple pilots in the North End. Also known as little Italy.

For those of you who don't know Boston, the north end is really the place to go for food. Hanover street is especially beautiful at night since the street is lined with restaurant after restaurant of amazing Italian eateries. Tonight we hit up Giacomo's.

It's pretty easy to understand why locals and tourists line up in the bitter cold for a bite here. The food is reasonable and delicious and even though the place was packed, we never felt rushed to vacate our prime window seats.

My meal? Shrimp on linguine in a spicy creamy tomato sauce. Perfection.

Happy Wednesday!

Back again all over again....

So, in search of the name of a lip gloss, I just spent the last hour reading over this old blog. It actually got me pretty emotional. I remember all those daily ramblings so vividly and I am a little confused why I gave up writing....

I guess the main reason I stopped was because I became a nanny and found a lot of the day to day stuff I was now experiencing was not very interesting to outsiders. Would anyone care if little A or little G slept through the dog barking? Or that they started to say my name and it warmed my heart up so much it nearly burst?

So now I am a year into a completely new journey. We moved out of our beloved neighbourhood and are in the suburbs. I don't get outside as much as I did before and I never spend any time just going for a walk downtown. This makes me sad. I miss the old hood and wish I was still living there, although I love my condo.

So what is this inspiring me to do? Get out more. See more friends. All my knitting friends have now moved to different towns and we have to make plans months in advance. My job as a flight attendant means I am getting up super early, and often ending my day in another city. When I'm at home I just want to veg out on the couch in front of Netflix.

But this is now who I am, yet it's who I have let myself become. I no longer yearn for the workouts I used to do. I never see my friends. I'm tired all the time. I don't get outside because I am too lazy and have no one to meet. But I miss my old life and I promise to take it back.

Anyone with me? Anyone want to take back their better habit days?

Happy Wednesday!

p.s.

The lipgloss was Rimmel Kiss Off colour First time, and it's still available on amazon :)

10 days down, too many to go.

I have been refined sugar free and dairy free for 10 days. Am I insane?

Let's back up a little bit here.....I have been doing Booty Camp Fitness since January and ,while I have been seeing amazing results in my strength and endurance, my scale keeps going up. I have been reassured by my instructor that this is very common when you start to get stronger because your muscles are more heavy...blah blah blah. The truth is I stuff my face full of cupcakes, donuts, potato chips and chocolate bars. Daily. I am not going to be completely honest here, I used to eat so much sugar that it was vile.

Sammy Kennedy, the creator of Booty Camp, came up with a challenge that I decided to accept. For 8 weeks give up refined sugar, dairy and cut back on alcohol. Add one large salad. Along with 45 minutes of continuous exercise daily.

Why did I decide to do this? Here is why:

1)I have been working out like a champ for five months and I know my results would be better if I my body was being fueled properly. Better food=better energy.

2)I have been wanting to see how much I rely on sugar to keep me going during the day. How often am I actually reaching for sugar and not realizing it?

3)I am worried my bad eating habits will influence the girls I look after. Will they start eating cupcakes every day because they see that I do? Monkey see monkey do....

So, here I am 10 days later. I feel awesome. My energy levels are so high and I have lost 3 pounds. Until now my weight has only been going up. I am a little hungry but I am sure it will just take a little time for my body to get used to getting rid of the extra sugar.

Last weekend I decided to ease off the restrictions for one night. I met up with some friends at a pub and I had some delicious fried food and a few beers. The night ended early and I went home to bed. At 3am I woke up in awful pain. The fried food was coming back to get me. My body was revolting against me and it taught me a lesson. Do not eat like crap after you have been eating so well all week. I will never do that again.

Happy Wednesday!

Writing 101

You might never know it from this blog, but I would like to become a writer. I am 15 pages into my first screenplay. Applause please.

Since I was a little girl I have always wanted to write a movie. I tried to write a play a few years back but I had a lot of trouble getting the ideas on to paper. The structure always seemed scattered, the characters one dimensional and the story convoluted. A great idea in my head didn't transfer to the page.

For Christmas my husband bought me a MacBook and Final Draft. I also have started to use Marilyn Horowitz's book. It is awesome! My characters are now coming alive and my story is easily coming into place. I am really enjoying the process!

Happy Sunday!

Secret joys.

Tomorrow will be my one week anniversary with my bike. So far, it has been blissful happiness. I have realized I am finding joy in small things. For example, every time we accidentally find a bike lane. This evening after leaving our friend's house we found two new bikes lanes. As a walker I never even looked at the road but now I am finding myself completely overjoyed at the prospect of new spots I can safely ride.

Another surprise joy? Riding my bicycle all by myself on a zero degree crisp morning. The wind in my face never felt so good. I actually found myself saying "Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!" out loud as I whizzed around a curve. Bliss.

Happy Wednesday!

I bought a bicycle last Thursday. I live in downtown Toronto and was looking for a fast way to get around the city. As everyone living in Toronto knows the TTC is definitely not a fast way to get around the city. The TTC is the Toronto Transit Commission and their slogan is "the better way" although I am not quite sure what they are comparing when they say "better way"...better than a horse and carriage? better than hopping on one foot?

Anyway....

My bicycle is tangerine coloured. It is a cruiser bike. I bought a wicker basket for the front that has a floral liner in it. My helmet is "shocking pink". NO one is going to miss me on the road.

This evening I had a bit of a dilemma. It was my first day riding to work and then part way through the afternoon it started to rain. I couldn't decide if I wanted to bike home in the rain or leave my bike at work. The main reason I was so torn was because I know it is going to pour rain tomorrow and I was more concerned about having my bike home to ride to work on Wednesday morning.

I bit the bullet and decided to ride home in the rain. The pluses? I was pretty much alone on the road in terms of other cyclists, so I was not constantly being passed. I have no problem being passed but as a new rider it makes me a little bit nervous to share my bike lane when I am already terrified about being hit by a car.

The minuses? My soaking wet pants and shoes.

Was it worth it? Hell yeah!!!

Happy Monday!

The ole scale

Two months ago I started exercising again. Over the past few years I have been very unsuccessful with exercise. I actually really, really love to workout. I love the feeling after a workout when I realize I have made my body a little bit stronger. I love sweating. The problem is that I am not very good at sticking to a routine. I have come up with all the excuses in the world. I don't like to run alone at night. I don't like to run alone in the morning. I don't like to run alone because it is boring. I just ate, I can't workout. I haven't eaten, I can't workout. I can't workout before bed. I am too tired in the morning to workout. And the list goes on.

What keeps me motivated is the changes have I noticed since I started working out. I no longer get tired in the afternoon. At all. No three o'clock sleepiness for me. I also no longer feel I NEED a coffee. You know that feeling, when you wake up and can't see straight until you have a cup? That feeling has disappeared. I still enjoy my morning cup but I can now wait a few hours before I have it.

The strange thing about my new workout? My weight has actually gone up but today I can almost fit into a skirt I bought during college AKA my skinniest time period. I guess I never really believed that muscle is heavier than fat. My body fat percentage is 21.3% down from 26.6% and I can't wait to drop it even lower.

So the point of this post? Please exercise. Your heart will love you and the added results of energy will be worth it. I promise.

Happy Sunday!