Finding time

I know, I've been away for another long time. I've been super busy the last week or so at work and in the evenings/weekends. Case in point, this weekend:

Saturday:
8:30am-10:45am: WW Meeting
10:45am-11:15am: travel
11:15am-12:00pm: make and eat lunch, tidy up the kitchen
12:00pm-1:00pm: travel
1:00pm-3:30pm: Ed taught a yoga class (which I attended)
3:30pm-11pm: attended two birthday parties on opposite ends of Toronto. Seriously.

This is what my "spare time" usually ends up looking like. I'm a busy person, between working full time, working part time, training for the 10K next weekend, practicing yoga, working at the yoga studio once a week, and doing regular people things (eating/making meals, cleaning, running errands, social activities, etc). I have maybe one full hour a day of "relax" time, usually in 15 or 20 minute spurts before I have to jump back up and get moving again. I also have the new added challenge of moving, as my boyfriend will be moving into my apartment in a couple months (yay!), meaning that we both have to sell things, organize and merge our belongings (eek!).

So, how the heck do I balance this all out? The answer --- veeeerrrrryyyyy delicately.

I'm a scheduling queen. I have spreadsheets and calendars and organizational goodies everywhere to try to put my life in writing so I a) don't forget where I'm supposed to be going, and b) can make time for the important things.

Despite all my running around and frantically trying to squeeze in everything that I'd like to get done, I still make sure that I block out some time for the important people in my life. For example, Ed and I try to make sure that we set aside one full evening per week to be together, kind of like a date night. Since we're also trying to save up as much money as possible (with him moving and my impending student debt, we're trying to be very frugal!), our date nights have to be creatively cheap. We might cook together, rent a movie, go for a walk, have a picnic in the park, go out for a fancy coffee, etc.

Of course it's not as easy as just saying "write it all down" and you'll be good to go. There have been many times that I've had near breakdowns from being so busy and having no time to do everything that needs to be done. I've had numerous weekends that weren't really "weekends", because I was still at work or otherwise busy the whole time. But I try to find some sort of balance so that I don't go crazy by prioritizing things. My family and friends take priority over cleaning the bathroom - it can wait one more day if it means that I can spend time with the people I care for. It also pays to ask for help when you need it. Even though we don't yet live together, Ed and I sometimes share our chores and errands to help each other out (e.g. if I don't have time to go grocery shopping, he'll try to help me out by picking up the things I need most, and I can get the non-essentials/meals for later in the week at another time).

How do you find balance with a busy schedule?

I've been away

Sorry I've been away for a while! I'm still revelling in the amazing news of my acceptance to Ryerson :D

To make up for it, it's time for ANOTHER RECIPE!!!!! This is one of my favourite breakfasts on earth. It sounds insane, but bear with me, it tastes amazing!

Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal
1/4 c steel cut oats (you can use quick oats too, but I like the steel cut kind better)
1 banana
1 tbsp peanut butter (either natural or non. I find that the non-natural kind makes it taste sweeter)

Cook your steel cut oats according to package directions. Usually, this will mean 1/4 c oats and 1c water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes stirring regularly.
Break up a banana in your oatmeal bowl and mash it up with a fork till it's nice and mushy (TIP: put the broken up banana in the microwave for about 15 seconds to soften it up. This will make it really easy to mash!)
When your oats are done, put them in the bowl with your mashed banana and stir it up. Add the peanut butter and stir well. You're done!

This breakfast is CRAZY filling! You even get two full servings of fruit while you're at it! It's a little heavy on the Points values, but it will keep you full till at least noon, so it's totally worth it!

What's your favourite breakfast?

Dreams really DO come true!

I just got the most incredible news!

Are you ready for it???????????








I GOT ACCEPTED TO RYERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In September 2010, I will be a student in the Nutrition and Food program, on my way to becoming a Registered Dietitian!!!!!!!!!!!!


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long Weekend Fail

I had both the Friday and Monday of this weekend off (woohoo!), but unfortunately didn't really get to enjoy much of it! I've still been sick the entire weekend, had laryngitis for most of the weekend, plus on Friday morning just as I was standing up after eating breakfast, I threw out my back. Seriously??? My back hasn't hurt at all in the last two years since I started practicing yoga. Suddenly, it just up and decided that I needed to stop moving for the next two days. Oh, did I also mention that I have managed to get an ear infection on top of all this? Awesome... so all that running, yoga, walking in the park and general gallivanting around that I'd planned for the weekend? Yeah, not so much.

Friday was spend laid out on the couch in the hopes that my back would recover quickly. Also Ed refused to let me out into the public while I was looking/feeling/sounding so sick and nasty.

Saturday I went to work at my Weight Watchers meeting, which was good times as always!!! In the afternoon, I went to ED'S FIRST HOT YOGA CLASS!!!!! My amazing boyfriend has started to teach yoga, and I'm SO proud of him!!! He did really great and led a fantastic class! He's going to be such an awesome yoga instructor, and I'm so lucky that he's going to be around when I go through this training in the summer as well! Luckily my back cooperated throughout the class, and even felt a little bit better afterward. We then left the yoga studio to head out to Easter Dinner #1: Filipino Easter. Ed's mother is the cutest person on earth, but damn. The woman cooks for 50 when there are only 5 people coming to eat. We had turkey, ham, BBQ pork chops the size of dinner plates, salad, veggie stir fry with shrimp, rice, and papayit (sp? It's a soup made of various animal organs). Oh, and dessert - apple pie, ice cream, empanadas. Ooommmmggggg.... I kept my portions reasonable and made sure to pile it HIGH with veggies. So, I had 1/2 of a pork chop, a slice or two of turkey, loads of the veggie stir fry, and some salad. I was SO full I couldn't even look at dessert!

The next day brought Easter Dinner #2: Michelle's Parents. My mom has been following the Weight Watchers plan (with my help :)!), so she always makes sure that there are good healthy options available. Just again, a LOT of them! The table contained ham, chicken in a pineapple sauce, roasted potatoes, roasted veggies (peppers, asparagus, turnips, etc), and hot cross buns. I had everything except the ham, and again, was soooo full. But I knew my mom was having carrot cake (MY FAVOURITE CAKE!!!!), so like, as if I was going to be too full to eat that...!

All in all, I was successful in finishing off my weekly points allowance and then some. Hooray..... I'm a little nervous to see what the scale says this week. But, I'm getting back on track today! I've tracked everything that I ate over the weekend, even though I went WAAAAAAY over my points, and I'm moving on. Today is a new day!

I'm so happy that I have today off as well to do all the things I didn't get to do all weekend. Today I'm cleaning, doing laundry, and went to yoga. I'm looking out the window and considering that I really, REALLY want to go for a run. I haven't run in a whole week!!! I'm super far behind my training schedule for the Sporting Life 10K :( I think I'm feeling well enough to go, except for the dry hacking cough that keeps attacking me and the occasional reminder from my back that it isn't too fond of me anymore. Bah.......!

Blehhh

So I'm still sick after that run in the cold. All day at work yesterday I was feeling like a pile of garbage, but decided that darnit, I needed to exercise after my day off on Tuesday. So, feeling a little bit better in the evening, I went to a one hour yoga class.

I admit, it wasn't my best class, but I didn't really expect it to be. With my head swimming with snottiness and that general "blehhh" feeling that you get with a cold, I wasn't so much into the meditative state. I stopped paying attention to what I was doing and didn't connect at all. Basically, I was just there and moving around in some kind of funky aerobics rather than an actual yoga practice. It just didn't feel right. I made it my intention at the beginning of class to not judge what my body was capable of doing today (or any day, really, but specifically today), and to just go with what feels right in the moment. But since I stopped caring about halfway through the practice, I totally didn't go with that intention. I was definitely judgemental of my body for getting sick in the first place. "How dare you infect me with this awful disease?!", I asked myself. I later realized that the more I judged myself and the more I tried to make my body do things that it didn't want to do, the worse I felt. So, I sat out a few poses that I knew weren't going to end well (also to help avoid the snottiness from getting into my sinuses).

I left the class feeling "meh". Not nearly as great as I usually feel after an hour of yoga. I had lost that connection to my body and didn't really "get" why I was there. But at least my cold wasn't feeling as gross as before :)

But then I woke up this morning.

The cold has come back with full force. Ughhhhhhhhhh....... I woke up with sore throat, hacking chest cough and outrageous sneezing/nose blowing. I sanitized the whole apartment, hoping for the best, and went to work anyway. So far I'm feeling about the same, maybe a little less awful than before. At least I've stopped coughing up interesting colours for the time being.

Wheeee....

I'm hoping that this cold goes away by exactly 4:00pm today so that I can go off and enjoy my LONG WEEKEND!! I have a lot of great exercise planned for this weekend -- and two Easter dinners to go to (you can bet that I'll be posting about those!)

How are you planning to spend your long weekend?

Running

I've recently started running somewhat seriously. I've never really been much of a runner (the farthest I've ever run was a 5k event, and I walked about 1.5-2 of that. It took 45 minutes to complete!). A couple of years ago, I signed up for the Sporting Life 10K, determined that it would motivate me to get my running in gear.

Weeelllllll, it didn't work out. I ended up dislocating my elbow in March, and unable to run again without significant pain in my arms till the summer.

Good times.

Finally, two years later, I've decided to make my triumphant return to running by signing up AGAIN for the Sporting Life 10K in early May! I intend to run using the 10:1 method (taught by the Running Room clinics), and I want to finish the run in under 1 hour 15 minutes. Stay tuned to see if I can do it!

So, my training runs have recently made it outdoors now that the weather is getting nicer. I'm running about 3-4km average, and gradually increasing my distance by about 1-1.5km per week.

I was feeling a little sniffly and sick yesterday. Nothing too major, just a sniffle and runny nose, bit of congestion in the face. No biggie. I decided to go ahead and go for a run after work anyway.

Let me tell you something about running in chilly weather while sick --- it's a really bad idea!

Usually when I run and it's a bit chilly, my nose gets kind of runny to begin with. But my nose was already spewing all over the place, so my run was pretty gross :P A few people running around the park stared at me a little bit as I went snorting and honking past them. Unfortunately, this also meant that I had to breathe through my mouth almost the entire time - elevating my heart rate and causing me to tire out faster than I would have liked. Boooooooo.

But here's the plus side!

Despite feeling gross and running against the wind the entire time, I still ran 3.5km in 26 minutes, faster than last week's 3.2km in 26 minutes! And at the end of my route when I reached home, I felt like I could have run more, but decided to get out of the wind.

A plus and minus side - my heart rate monitor wasn't working the entire run. I had forgotten to get it wet before leaving home, but usually within 10 minutes or so once you start to work up a good sweat, it will start to work again. Nooooo, not this time. The problem? The strap around my chest was falling off. I was fiddling with it constantly throughout my run. Why is this a plus side you ask? Well, I haven't adjusted the width of that strap since I bought the monitor a year ago (I just pull it over my head rather than moving the strap around). This suggests that my chest measurement has shrunk! If only the measurements in other places would shrink too *glares at hips and butt*

The major downside is that running in chilly weather while sick often makes you more sick than when you started. Today I'm feeling a million times more sick than yesterday. So I'll be taking it easy today and maybe tomorrow so that I can feel 100% again in time for the upcoming long weekend!!!

Busy Weekend!

This weekend was CRAZY busy for me! But given how much running around I did, I think I've done pretty well to stay on track.

Saturday morning I went to work at my Weight Watchers meeting (College and Ossington, come check us out!). This meeting is really small right now, as it just got started, but the members there are SO awesome and really inspiring! They are all connecting really well with each other and with the staff... the energy in the room is just amazing!
After the meeting, I headed home and went out grocery shopping for some super healthy yummy food, and made some vegetarian lasagna!

12 Oven-ready lasagna noodles (my pan is really big, so it was 4 noodles per layer)
2c shredded cheese (I used Kraft Mozza-Chedder)
1 bottle pasta sauce, any kind
1c skim milk
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 package of sliced mushrooms
2 zucchini, sliced thin
1 medium eggplant, sliced thin
3 tbsp olive oil

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan, and cook the zucchini and mushrooms together until they're tender (2 or 3 minutes). Transfer them over to a plate. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and cook the eggplant till tender (4 or 5 minutes).
Meanwhile, melt the butter/margarine in a saucepan, and stir in the flour. Add skim milk and whisk for a few minutes on medium heat until it is bubbly and thickened. Add 1c of the shredded cheese. Stir till the cheese is nice and melted, and remove from the heat (heat it up later if it starts to harden).
Heat the entire bottle of pasta sauce in another saucepan till it starts to boil.
Coat the bottom of your lasagna pan with 1/2 c of the sauce, and place your first layer of noodles on top. Place all your mushrooms and zucchini on top of the noodles, cover in your cheese sauce and spread it around. Add another layer of noodles. Place your eggplant on the next layer, and top with some more pasta sauce. More noodles! Cover the noodles with pasta sauce, and sprinkle the remaining cheese over top.
Cover the whole pan with tin foil, and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue baking uncovered for another 20-25 minutes till the cheese gets bubbly. You're done!

It's SOOOOOOOO yummy and insanely filling! I divided it up into 8 enormous servings of lasagna, and calculated out with my noodles, cheese and sauce that each slice is 7 points! (I'll take a pic when I get home and post it up later!)

After making my lasagna, Ed and I went to a fundraising Spin-a-thon, raising money for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Ed is participating in the ride along with his team, and the spinning studio near us generously offered up their space for the entire afternoon! We did a 1 hour spinning class and worked up a LOT of sweat!!!

We went back home to shower, eat lasagna for dinner, and headed out the door again! This time, we were headed to a kirtan for Earth Hour at Moksha Yoga North York. This was my first time going to a kirtan, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Basically, there are different forms of yoga practice. Yoga simply means a union between mind, body and spirit. You don't need to be a pretzel to achieve this balance, there are many other ways to practice yoga! Asana is the type that most people are familiar with, which is physical postures. Meditation is also a form of yoga. Singing/chanting is also a form of yoga, which is what the kirtan is all about. You sing and chant hymns to various Hindi deities in a call and response method to the accompaniment of instruments (drums, guitar, cello, etc). It. Was. Amazing. The kirtan was dedicated to a member of the Moksha community, one of Ed's sangha from teacher training, who committed suicide just before the weekend. Though many of us at the kirtan did not know her well or had never even met her, the community as a whole was deeply saddened by her loss. Now, I've never been big on the whole chanting, Ommmmmmmm-ing thing, but I think I'm finally coming to understand it and get in touch with it's power!

And then we headed home and fell asleep. THAT WAS ONLY SATURDAY!!!

Sunday I worked at yet another Weight Watchers meeting in Forest Hill in the morning, followed by an afternoon working at my yoga studio. I am an energy exchange student at Moksha Yoga Bloor West, which means that I work at the studio doing reception duties, cleaning the studio, etc. in exchange for yoga classes. I was able to fit in a Flow class after my shift was through, which was really awesome, since I haven't been able to practice much in the last couple of weeks.

Finally, an evening at home to just hang out and relax with Ed. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

How did you spend Earth Hour on Saturday?