Monday's Motivation

This is going to be a weird post because this week I have to stay motivated to take it easy. After yesterday's debacle with the socks, as well as ungroomed trails, I have slightly pulled my groin muscle.

Sigh!

I should have kept my own pace instead of trying to keep up. See, there, I push myself too hard. I never thought I did, but I guess I do. After the run, our instructor (who funnily enough got left behind) caught up with us and told us that he wants to keep the group together and rein in the faster runners. He WANTS to slow our pace down so that we can build endurance.

Sigh!

I should have listened to my body. Instead, I tried to run in loose snow and the sliding of my shoes caused the pull. Farfignugen!

I asked our instructor about going to yoga tonight and he did advise against it. "Just lay on the couch", he said. WHAT? My running coach is telling my to lay around. Seriously?!? Wow.

So I, Katrein, promise to lay around and do nothing more than have hot Epsom salt baths, ice my knee, and work out the tightness on my foam roller (a modern day torture device).


Sunday's food is here.

Sunday's Food

1/3 cup of yogurt (plain), 1/2 cup brown rice cereal, 4 strawberries

 

1/4 cup of almonds with spices and 2 carrots

2 cups golden winter soup, 2 slices gluten free cheese bread with dijon mustard

and 3 slices each corned beef with lettuce

2 cups skim milk red espresso

rooibos tea with skim milk

1 apple & 2 carrots

1/8 cup of sugar free pancake syrup, 2 gluten free waffles with 1 tablespoon butter,

4 strawberries, 1 banana, rooibos tea with skim milk

1 cup grapes

1/4 cup almonds with 1 apple

1 cup grapes

 

 

decaf earl grey with xylitol & lemon

When oh when will I learn?

When you are a person of crafty tendencies, the most common comment you will utter is, "I could make that."  Most will never get further than that. Some will buy the needed supplies and then hope to get to it one day. Very few actually make said item.

On the other hand, there are some things that should not be crafted - EVER. For me, it was my running socks. I am now recuperating on the couch because of a mild pull in my groin. But I am getting ahead of myself, let's go back.

I received some very nice alpaca wool and decided it would make great running socks for when it gets minus stupid degrees. I searched Ravelry and found a discussion thread that recommended NOT to make your own socks. Humph, obviously these other knitters were not using the right yarn, needles, pattern, gauge, tension, blah, blah, blah.....

I found two different patterns. I thought I would make one sock from each pattern, wear them both, then decide which was the winner and then make the matching sock. 9:30 last night, only the cuff and the heel had been completed for the second sock. Poop. This morning was -31 Celsius with the windchill and a perfect time to try at least one sock. So I donned my regular Running Room sock on my right foot, and the hand knit on the left.

What in the world possessed me to wear two different socks on a training run. Stupidity? Lack of sleep? Ignorance? I claim all three. So here I am, knee burning, groin tender and ripping out the sock. I thought I had started to develop a love for sock patterns, but now they have been banished to the dark side again.

The kicker? They weren't ANY warmer than the regular Running Room sock.

So please, the next time I utter that infamous phrase, will somebody kindly give me a virtual (or verbal) slap upside the head?

Thank You


Friday's Food here

Saturday's Food here

Saturday's Food

1 cup yogurt with 2 cups brown rice cereal

Wrap with corned beef, red peppers, 1/4 avocado, feta yogurt dip, & lettuce

Chai tea with skim milk

Double this portion of grapes ( about 2 cups)

Cheeseburger wrap with 1/3 cup shredded cheese, extra lean hamburger patty, ketchup, pickles, mustard, little mayo, tomato, & lettuce

with 1 whole baking potato made as Weight Watchers spicy oven fries.

red espresso with 2 cups of skim milk

1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup brown rice cereal, & 3 strawberries

Friday's Food

Getting ready to hit the road at 5:30 am. eep!

2 bananas, 2 cups of grapes, 1 apple, 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1 cup of brown rice cereal, rooibos tea with 2% milk

Wrap with corned beef, red peppers, 1/4 avocado, feta & yogurt dip, & lettuce

with 1 1/2 cup of carrot parsnip soup

rooibos tea with 2% milk

Corn pasta with meat & veggie sauce with a little cream and parmesan & two carrots.

 I had two helpings, about 3 cups in total.

Chai tea with sugar (xylitol) and 2% milk

Chai tea with sugar & 2% milk

1/3 cup of almonds with some spice and two carrots

Fabulous Friday!

Another Friday has arrived and I finally have the makeup photos I wanted to share with you.

I love the beauty department at Holt Renfrew (also known as Mecca) and I recently made my acquaintance with the Benefit beauty counter. They have an eyebrow service there and after you have been waxed and tweezed they will fix your makeup for you. I LOVE this. Nothing makes me feel girlier than someone doing my makeup.

The last time I was there the makeup artist used some wonderful products.

So here I am first thing in the morning, freshly scrubbed. You can see the under eye circles and puffiness.

Darkness around my nose and BIG pores (trust me, they're there)

(Slightly better shot of my schnoz)

The first item I use is called High brow. It opens the eye and you apply it under the eyebrow and a little above.

The next thing is called the POREfessional, it is a light silicone putty that smooths out the imperfection (deep cavernous pores) and gets rid of the darkness around the sides of my nose cause by blackheads.

Then I apply Ooh La Lift which is a serum that removes puffiness and then Boi-ing which is my new fave under eye concealer. Both of these products come in a wonderful kit called realness of concealness, as well as a lip pumper, highlighting cream, and eye lid primer.

Just to remind you of the pre-made up state of my eyes.

Before is on the left, after is on the right. It's amazing to me how much better it looks!

The next new product I love it is O-gloss from Smashbox. I have been on the hunt for a nice neutral pink lip gloss for the past 20 years. What makes this gloss so amazing is that is goes on clear and ends up turning the perfect pink for your lips.



Before



Goes on clear



Et voila! The perfect natural pink I have ever seen.

I love playing with make up and beauty products, but I love getting a deal even more. I buy my products from either Murale, which is a beauty supply store that is part of the Shopper Drug Mart chain, or from a Shoppers that has a great make up area. You can buy all these products from either of the stores PLUS you get shoppers optimum points.

Not only that, if you keep your eyes peeled, sometimes they offer bonus points if you spend $50 or more. This means that if I save 95,000 points I can get $170 worth of make up free!!!! PLUS sometimes they offer a special deal where you can redeem 95,000 points for $200 worth of products. I have my 95,000 and I am patiently waiting.

I wonder if they sell one of these.

Beauty Parler a review of this Clairsonic Skincare Brush here.

 

You can find Thursday's food here.



Thursday's Food

Rooibos tea with 2% milk

Brown rice puffs (2 cups) with 1 banana & 1 cup 2% milk

banana & apple

Corned beef wrap with artichoke dip, lettuce, red peppers, 1/4 avocado & 1 cup carrot parsnip soup

This was my splurge, a bare burrito bowl from Mucho Burrito. think of it as nachos without the melted cheese.

2 cups of grapes

Thoughts for a Thursday

Yesterday's food is posted here. From now on I will post these at the end of each post.

I picked up a free yoga class coupon from Buzy Body Movement and went to their Yoga for Runners class today. What a lovely studio! There were only two of us plus the instructor and I loved the hands on approach of the instructor. If you're looking for a yoga studio in Kensington, give them a try.

I never knew why yoga instructors referred to attending yoga classes (or at home with the DVD) "your" practice. This never made sense to me until today, because I think I will be "practicing" yoga for a long time before I really get it. On the other hand, I don't think that a person ever becomes perfect at yoga. It seems to me that this would be beside the point of yoga. So I will breathe, stretch, fall over occasionally, and try to balance and just surrender to the process. Hey, I came to class. Whoot!

Another thing I learned about yoga is that you can buy mats that are different thicknesses. Who knew? I had a 3mm thick mat that killed my knees and sit bones. I never would have thought that an ample bottom such as mine would be bony. Hmmph! So now I am the proud owner of a 6mm mat. Ah relief!


Last week I mentioned that I had seen a coyote at 1 am . For poops and giggles I googled to see if coyotes were considered spirit animals. This is what I found...

COYOTE -  is the trickster.  When we're being too serious about life Coyote may come along to teach us to laugh at ourselves.  It is also the karmic enforcer, reminding us that whatever we do to others will be done to us.  Learning to balance wisdom with a sense of humor to make life work for us.

Taken from http://www.theearthangelconnection.com/Power%20%20Animals.htm

Hmmmm.... Not a bad lesson to learn.

Wednesday Food

My day started out with a large latte with cream & 2% Milk, but I deleted the photo by accident

2/3 cup homemade granola with 2% milk

apple

wrap with 4 slices of ham, 2 slices of avocado, red pepper, sprouts, 1 tablespoon artichoke dip, lettuce and four olives

apple

rooibos tea with milk

1 cup brown rice with Thai chicken curry

rooibos tea with milk, 2/3 cup granola with milk

1 cup carrot parsnip soup, 2 slices gluten free bread with artichoke dip & three slices of very thin corned beef each, 3 pickles and 1/2 red pepper