Finding motivation, bachloretting, and cooking PART 1

My friend, Diana, recently told me about this website called http://www.sparkpeople.com/.  It is all about nutrition, exersising, motivation, weight loss, calculating progress, joining groups for support etc.  The site also gives you the option to make your own blog.  I signed up (for free) and started, very little, making a blog.  I chose the colours, font etc....looks pretty.  I added my picture and wrote a little introduction.  My introduction basically says I'm lacking motivation (aka mojo) and I need help.

In the past few months my sister and Diana (not together) have been on a weight loss trek.  Diana has lost about 33 lbs so far and my sister lost an unknown amount and is now in regular sizes, not plus sizes.  She was involved in a "biggest loser" competition at work and I think she used weight watchers too.  I'm very envious of her achievement and, shame on me, I don't want to acknowledge it.  I am glad that Diana has been able to lose weight as her and I have many similarities in those areas.  I am also envious of her achievements as I don't have the motivation like she does.  I think she's a bit more mature than me in regards to eating well and being active, even just a little bit.  Yesterday my sister posted on FB that she's happy about her achievments and she thanked 2 people for their support.  That's one of my issues/problems -- I don't feel I have someone to support me fully in PG.  When I was in BL I woulda had a couple people there for support and it wouldn't have been a long distance support system either.  I would love to lose 100 lbs so I can wear regular sized clothing, and even wear the style I want to wear which I can't find in plus sized clothing; I'd be able to wear skirts/dresses without my thighs rubbing together, sit in a seat on a plane comfortably, perhaps feel better about myself, maybe even like myself so that I will be confident in myself and perhaps someone (a guy) will see that in me and become attracted to me and date me and then marry me.

All those reasons are definately good enough to be motivation for me to start trying to lose weight but the other issue I have is laziness and that comes into effect when thinking of what meals to prepare and getting off my butt to do something active outside!  Right now in my mind, if I had a scale with one side being 'laziness' and the other side being 'weight loss', the 'laziness' would be the heavier.

Before moving to PG from BL, I was thinking that perhaps I'd gain motivation to be more active....I thought one of my goals would be called "Conqueur Connaught", meaning being able to walk up this hill close to my parent's house. Connaught Hill Info & Pics I don't know how tall it is but I'm sure it would be a feat to accomplish.  Now in reality, the thought hasn't crossed my mind to do it.  Maybe when mom comes back from her vacation in Ontario that I can try to get her to come with me.  (fingers crossed)

Well that's the end so far of this particular blog....Part 2 and 3 to come soon.

Random Update

I haven't blogged in a few weeks, mainly because I haven't had much to blog about; so I thought I'd blog about a bunch of little stuff instead of each little thing being blogged seperately.

Two Fridays ago was the end of my first 2 weeks at my new job. I work in a pharmacy as a pharm tech in the PG hospital. I'm 3 weeks into my orientation with about 3 weeks to go.  Working in a 'real' pharmacy in a large hospital sure takes some getting used to.  I used to work in a small 13 bed facility with no pharmacy (long explanation). It's nice to be busy the whole day considering at my old job I was bored or had little to do on a daily basis.  Anyways, my co-workers are nice, the job is a totally new experience, and living in PG (a city) is great for the amenities being so close by rather than 2.5 hrs away.

This July I will be driving down south to the lower mainland to visit friends, family, shop, explore new things perhaps, like river rafting, eat, drink and be merry.  I'm quite excited about the trip.  Earlier this year when my whole job life changed I had to cancel my April trip to the lower mainland and cancel my plans to go to California in the fall because my new job in PG is parttime.  I won't go bungee jumping this summer as my enthusiasm had changed regarding doing it since this whole change has happened and to be completely honest, I had totally forgotten about my potential plans to do so.  My friend, Melissa and I are going river-rafting this summer.  That will be another item to cross off the bucket list this year.  Her husband, Nathan, is joining us as well.  We'll be doing the combo trip (paddle and power) down the Thompson river starting in Lytton.  I can't wait!!!

My mom's dad drove 8.5 hrs last Saturday to come here for a visit.  He's staying for a week and it's great he finally came up.  Last time he was here was Sept 2008.  He met his great grandson for the first time so that was cool.  Corbin didn't play strange or anything.  Saibry, his great granddaughter, was a bit shy at first but gave gpa a 'high five'.  It's great seeing that sort of bond since grandpa isn't around very often.

My parents are still quite serious in buying a new house.  There is one house that my parents have checked out 5 times but the only thing really hindering them from putting in an offer is the amount of taxes to pay/year; over $4000! 

So today (May 15) my parents, grandpa and I will be looking at 5 houses with the real estate agent.  Who knows, maybe this will be the day my parents put in an offer???  We already have a buyer for this house too.  It's a co-worker of my dad's and he loves the house.  He really wants it.  My parents haven't even listed the house for sale....this guy wants it so that would be great to sell privately and avoid real estate fees.  I think we'll find out soon enough.

Today I'm going out to find some Skechers "Shape ups" for work.  My feet are in constant agony cause I'm on them ALL day, sometimes doing lots of walking too, not just standing.  My heels are throbbing by the end of the day so I need to relieve the pain.  The Skechers will do that but at the same time I will need to get used to walking differently as these shoes don't let you walk on your heels....it's a different way of walking along with toning muscles too.  They're $144.99 up here so will have to really think about spending that money and really try out the shoes in the store before buying them.  My poor feet need relief!

Anyhoo, that's all for now.  I need to get ready for the day.  I got  up at 7 am, it's 9:07 am now so need to get decent.  Grandpa took my parents out for an anniversary breakfast this am so I'm home alone for a little while.  House shopping will start at 1 pm today.

My Singing Niece - 2 videos

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Spring 2010 on the Southside

Diana and I went for a drive and ferry boat ride to the Southside yesterday to take pics of baby cows.  They're so small right now that I thought this would be the perfect time to capture them.  We had perfect weather too....perfect timing forsure!  Here are the sights I captured....

The baby cows were far from the road....a bit timid.

This white cow constantly stared at my friend and I.  This llama was on it's own with the cows at another farm.  He looked so proud.

This little guy was the "rebel" of the bunch as he was outside the fence. 

We came upon Cheslatta Falls on our drive.....I didn't even know they were there until Diana pointed them out so I drove backwards to the site to get a good look.

Here's Diana with her favorite animal and her being goofy in this little shack on the side of the road.

Diana and myself....our last wknd to hang out before I leave for PG.  After travelling back over the lake via ferry we drove north a bit and found an alpaka farm.  These little guys are so funny to look at.  I approached the fence and at first they walked away until I started talking to them in my funny "animal" voice and they came a bit closer.  This brown one is named Cashmere Cassy.  To me, these animals almost don't seem real; kinda like there's someone dressed in a costume....they have a comical face.  I wondered if they spit like camels do so I didn't stick my hand out to try and pet them....ya never know.

Here are the last animals we saw.  The deer along with 2 others scampered down the highway with their white tails standing up.  This one stayed to look at us and we snapped the picture.  And one last pic of the baby cows we sought out to find.

The weather was fantastic, the company was great and the memories will be never forgotten. 

Thanks Diana for being a great friend. I'll miss you when I move.

Post-Birthday

It's one day past my birthday and since I haven't blogged in a quite a long time, what better time than now?

As I unwrap my red lindor chocolate eggs and pop them into my mouth to be melted slowly, I reminise about the past 4 days.  I was lucky to get Mar 18 & 19th off of work so I went to PG for an 'extended' weekend.  Thursday was fairly quiet.  I hung out with my dad as he had some days off, visited with my sister and her 'crickets', then shopped for new scrubs and new shoes.

(Me and the 'crickets').

Ok, guess the day wasn't too quiet.  My sister, Tenille, accompanied me to a store with scrubs I hadn't been to before.....what a selection! (http://www.scrub-inz.com/scrub-inz/)  I bought a cute "Alice in Wonderland" top, a butterfly/floral top, and black pants that don't even look like scrub pants.  I wore them all day yesterday, while shopping and in the house....so comfortable.  Trying these new stylish tops and bottoms kinda gave me some reassurance that I don't look too bad in them....these aren't frumpy like the others I first bought when entering the health field.  I also was successful in finding new running shoes by Saucony.

On Friday I did some errands and then at 5pm was picked up by my friend Diana and we bought tix for the 7:30pm "Alice in Wonderland" show and then met up with Brenda at The Keg for my 'pre-b'day' dinner.  It was fantastic!  I had the Filet Classic, medium well, with caesar salad, garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies.  Afterwards because it was my b'day the waitress brought over a large piece of "Billy Miner's cake".  It was an ice-cream cake and sooooo delectable!  Man were we stuffed!  We had to walk around the block before heading to the theatre just so we weren't uncomfortable sitting in the theatre for almost 2 hours.

The movie was sold out so we sat on the side.  Good movie and fun to watch with the 3-D glasses on.  They weren't the usual red and blue paper ones though...they were identical to the eighties plastic black sunglasses. We looked good! (Diana wearing the glasses).

It was fun to hear the kids in the audience "ooooo" and "awwww" regarding the 3-D effects which I'm sure they've never seen before.  The first 3-D movie I saw was in Disneyland in either 1986 or 1987.  The movie was "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson.  That goes way back.

Saturday was my official b'day.  That was probably the quietest day out my whole long wknd.  Mom and I baked the creme de menthe cheesecake at 9am then went out later to bum around town.  At 5pm Caitlin, Brad and the 2 crickets came over for a pizza dinner and cheesecake.  I received some cards and a gift from them. 

Sunday was church, left overs for lunch, then left for BL at 2:30pm.  I'm bagged. 

So here's to year 31....may the road have less pot holes and frost heaves.

Life Change Update

Last Friday I received an email from the HR guy saying I wasn't eligible to 'bump' the position I was applying for. On the list of positions I was given, it was misleading, saying it was a Pharmacy Assistant position but with no classification behind the title (e.g. 1, 1A, 2 or 2A). I assumed it was a 1 or 1A but it turns out it was a 2. So with that my only hope to bump, I will most likely be taking the volunteer lay-off. My last day will be April 27th.

This coming Sunday, my dad will be coming to BL and load up a truck of my stuff from my storage space and take it to PG for storage in my parents' garage. (Bless their hearts!) Some good news is that I was able to donate my couch to a silent auction, donate my coffee & 2 end tables to a family in need, and possibly sell my kitchen table & chairs to a co-worker. That means less space needed for storage and others will be receiving some nice barely used furniture.

My feelings are mixed up right now regarding taking the lay-off....I'm happy for this opportunity to move to PG but am saddened to leave my good friends in BL. I do believe that when life closes a door, a window is opened and this may be my window.