Goal Update

So it's been a couple weeks since I last posted anything, so I guess it's time for an update. There has been some good developments and some super not good ones too. 

I'll start with the good. I've been running a lot more often and for longer distances. On Wednesday I ran for a full hour! I took a few walking breaks but in the time I was able to run a distance of 9.05km! This is especially great because this means that I'm well on my way to my goals of running a 10k and 10 miler.
Speaking of which I signed up for some of my runs and decided on the rest of them. I'm running the  Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5K Run/Walk on March 13th. Kristin, my trainer said that I should do a 5K first since I've never done a race before so I can get a feel for it. I picked this one because it's sponsored by Steamwhistle Breweries and you get a beer when you finish! That's enough reason for me!
I also signed up for my 10K which will be Desjardins General Insurance 10K, which is part of the Mississauga Marathon weekend. It is on the Saturday May 14th, so hopefully that will mean some awesome cool weather. Kristin will actually be running in it too. One of her other clients signed her up when she was signing up so that's be fun that I'll know someone running it. 
My next two races I haven't signed up for but I will be doing them. They are the Acura 10-Miler which will be happening sometime in July and, just for fun, I'm going to do the Waterfront Trail Double Crown on September 10th. I decided to do the Double Crown because it's the first race after my 26th Birthday and it's 13K.  That's half of how old I'll be turning and it's less than the 10-Miler so I should be ready for it.
I might do some more races depending on how everything goes. There's still on 5-mile race that I think sounds like fun but they have yet to release any kinda of 2011 information for it so I'll just have to wait on that one.
That's pretty much the biggest Goal related news I wanted to share. 
And now I guess I should get on with the bad. On January 15th my Dog, Max was put down. 

Max in better days

He had been having some health problems and in the week leading up to that point he had been taking a very bad turn. He started get some very large swelling in his lymph nodes and he was having some problems breathing. He also had no interest in eating, which for a Lab is always a bad sign. We took him to the Vet on Thursday to see if it was something that could be fixed (an Infection). Friday afternoon, the vet called us back and basically said that it was not an infection and therefore was probably Cancer. We decided to wait until Monday to do anything so we could have the weekend with him. That night I went out with Sylvie and Chino to (try) to see the Tim Burton exhibit at the TIFF Lightbox. When I got home that night he was lying in the front hallway. He was breathing heavily and could not get up. I tried to get him to eat out of my hand but he was not interested. 
Later that night my mom went downstairs and he had moved (somehow) to in front of the fireplace in the living room. She sat with him for a while and put a blanket on him but when she went to go back to bed he started crying. He didn't want to be alone. So she slept on the couch in the living room with him. That was basically it. That morning my mom woke me up and told me to cancel my PT session for that morning because we were going to go to put him down. We brought him to the Mississauga emergency Vet. They asked us if we wanted to be with him when they give him the shot, we said no. Now I kinda wish I did say yes. He was brought in to the room we were in so we could say Good bye and at that point I started crying. We all did. 
Max was a great dog. Honestly, the best dog I have ever had the opportunity to know. No other that I'll ever own in my life I think will be able to compare to him. I miss him still everyday. No more wet noses greeting me at the door. No more digging up rocks in the lake. No more sighs that I'm keeping him up with the light from my bedroom late at night. I can honestly say I feel like something is missing from me right now and it's been really hard to keep myself in control. I'm working on it though but I know I'll always love and miss my Max.

I've got to get in control though. I have races coming up and school is only going to start actually getting busy so I need to work on some things while I still have to mental energy for them. 

1. First off, Stop snacking so much. Now I know there's nothing wrong with snacks but I haven't been tracking them at all. I know all my little finger-fulls of soy nuts are not doing me any good. Thankfully, all the Chirstmas goodies are gone now so I just need to resist temptation or if I give in, be honest with myself and track it.
2. Stay at the gym longer. Last week, I had no patience or energy for the gym. I still ended up going 6 days but some days all I did was cardio or run. While, I forgive myself for just running on Wednesday when I ran for an hour, I need to put in more time. 
3. Also, I need to start challenging myself more. Today during my PT session, my whole body was literally shaking while doing chair pose. I almost cried, but I survived. Now I'm feeling it but I haven't felt it in a long while. In the words of Jillian Michaels, I need to stop "phoning in" my workouts. 

That's it for tonight. Early morning class tomorrow (Booo!) so I gotta sleep. But I'll leave with this picture of my legs that I can't get over. Taken by the lovely Sylvie on Anna's Birthday.

Seriously?

oxo

New Year, New Goals

Okay, well it's been a really long time since I've posted anything here. I've just been insanely busy lately. 
First off, here are some of the things that has changed since my last post. 

1. I quit the Intern Army. It was taking up a lot of my time and making it hard for me to balance school and work. I miss it, that for sure but I know it was the right choice. I hope that I'll be able to work for the Edge/Corus again but this time in a PAID position. 
2. I got a personal trainer. I was getting really tired of being stuck at the plateau I was at so I had a consultation with Kristin at Goodlife. She's really great and after what was a pretty stressful experience figureing out how I would be able to pay for it, it's mean totally worth it. I've lost a quite a bit more weight but I really see the difference in my strength. Especially in my legs. The problems with my hip and running has basically gone away and I know it's because of the workouts Kristin has put together for me. Now I have a goal of running a 10K in the spring. I'm excited!
3. In order to afford the PT sessions I got a new job. I'm now a Server at the local Kelsey's. I'm liking it a lot and the money is way better then from when I was working at Superstore. Which leads me to my next and most recent change....
4. I quit Superstore! After working there for 8 years it just wasn't working anymore. Between school and my new job it was becoming a balancing act. The final straw was head office decided to start enforcing our minimum availability requirements which would mean that I would have to be available to work all day Saturday and Sunday. Not really something I could do while also being a server. I had my last shift there yesterday. It was kinda sad but at the same time I really wasn't that upset about it because I'm moving on to better things. I will miss the people I worked with but in reality my gym is above the Superstore so I'll still see them on a fairly regular basis. 

Other than that my life still has been pretty normal. I finished off the semester at school with a 89.2% average, putting me in honours which was nice. I'm right now just looking forward to getting back to school and getting back into it. 
I've been working a lot lately between finishing off Superstore and the holidays at Kelsey's and sometimes I've been feeling really overwhelmed. Thinking about getting through school and that this stress is only temporary has been the only thing getting me through this. I just need to keep at it as soon I will be rewarded. Hopefully!

I guess since tonight is New Year's Eve I should put some goals down. I actually just got an email from Kristin saying to do this so this is me doing my homework!

1. Get to goal weight and maintain it. I hope to be at my goal of 125 by St. Patrick's Day, which really is not that far away. My real challenge will be keeping myself there. I would like to think that because I've been doing this as a lifestyle change and the weight has been coming off slowly this should be too hard but the temptation is always there. 
2. Run a 10K and 10mile run. Now that my hip is better I really want to make this happen. And it will happen.
3. Still be at Honours at Humber. This is important to me because this time next year I'll be looking for Co-op placements for the last 6 weeks of my program. Being top in the class will help me get the best internship/placement available, which will hopefully lead to an amazing job post-grad.

That looks like a good list for now. I'm actually pretty excited for 2011 and what it has in store for me. This will be my most successful year yet!

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Weight Loss Update and Some Thoughts

First of all, let me say I'm sorry for not posting recently. School has been keeping me crazy busy lately and this is literally the first chance I've had to get on here. Mostly because I'm basically locked my room while the carpets are being cleaned. At least now my blog will get my undivided attention. 

This week I'm down 0.8 lbs, which means I've had 2 weeks of loss! SUCCESS!!! I need to keep moving in this direction. I think I finally have a routine sorted out. I go to the gym Tuesday-Friday and sometimes try to squeeze in a Saturday workout. I've made sure all my meals have at LEAST one serving on fruit or veg in them and I try to make every meal have protein in it. Also, I've started eating more. I know this sounds a little scary but I never used to count my calories burned in workouts. This week I did and I noticed that if I stuck to my 1200-1300 calorie range on work out days I'd really only be consuming 500-600 calories a day! Hopefully now that I'm feeding my body for my workouts I'll see bigger losses on the scale.

Now I want to get something off my chest that has been confusing me for a while. Last night I was watching The Biggest Loser with my mom, it was a PVR'd episode because not only has this blog been neglected so has the TV. In the episode Jillian and Bob were asking the contestants what their favourite foods were at home. What they could eat if they had one choice. The answers were shocking. It was like the were naming off horror movies not the names of sandwiches. The Gravedigger. The Terminator. Are you serious! I nearly barfed watching it. But then it made me think, why is this even available? We all know that high fat foods in large servings are bad for you but why are you able to buy it? It's one thing to make stuff like triple burgers or put fries on your burger on your own but why is the resturant industry banking on it? 

After seeing that it's no wonder that the Eat This, Not That book series is a best seller. Some of these foods should literally come with a surgeon generals warning, just like cigarettes. This is why I also think that it should be mandatory for all restaurants to post their nutritional information. This is already being done in NYC and California but in reality it should be done everywhere. Anyone who tried to eat healthfully knows the stress of trying to find something worth eating on a menu when out with friends. Or to find the nutritional information on the company website later only to learn your "healthy" salad contained more calories than a Whopper! It's frustrating, especially if your "pre-diet" socializing included dinners with friends. Now I know sometimes I'm not the best eater and I love bacon just as much as the next person but I also would like to know what I'm dealing with before I make my choices. 

So what do I do? 

Well first, I try to limit my meals out to once a week. This includes Thursday night Swiss Chalet Take-Away. Then if I do go out, I try to research the place I'm going to. Hopefully they'll have Nutritional information on the website so then I can pick my meal before even stepping into the location. 
Second, I say No to liquid calories. Diet Coke or preferably water is all I'll have to drink. If I'm at a sushi place I will always order Green tea because it has vitually no calories and it's crazy good for you. The occasional Alcholic drink is okay but that kinda leads in my next point.
Don't make eating out a special occasion. This way I don't order anything that I wouldn't normally eat at home. I don't normally eat fries at home so I don't order them. I rarely have a beer or drink with a homemade meal so I try not to do it at a restaurant. I never have deep fried foods at home so I don't order them. Eating should only be looked at as an opportunity to fuel my body to do what I want it to do.

These are just some of my tips for eating better and staying healthy. Now here are some of the things I'm looking forward to and going to work on next week:

• I've been wanting to do "something" for a while now. Originally I was going to run a 5K but now with the problems with my hip, it's probably not the best idea. Instead, I'll be doing the United Way CN Tower climb. It's on October 23rd and I think I've convinced my Mom to do it with me. If you'd like to make a donation to this great cause and sponsor me here's a link to my donation page. I'm so excited for this!!
• This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada which means lots of food and temptations. My Goal is to not completely go overboard and make smart choices. I know there will be turkey there and my and I are bringing a fruit tray for dessert so I do have some easy smart choices. 
• In addition to the Thanksgiving eating challenges this weekend I also want to fit in an extra workout and a outdoor run. My regular gym will be closed on Monday because of Thanksgiving so I'm planning to go for a run that day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me!

Now I would like to make a shout out to the lovely and beautiful BitchCakes. Her most resent blog really got me thinking about my own journey to better health and how it effects you mentally. Weight Loss to me has always been more of a mental battle than anything and her blog always helps me get my mind around a lot of my own personal challenges. 

Thank You BitchCakes!

Weigh In: Set Backs and Successes

Well a lot to say today! Let's start with last week though. I finally made an appointment to go see a physiotherapist about my hip. My appointment was last Wednesday and it was definitely a learning experience.
I went into the office thinking that he would tell me that I'm running "wrong" and somehow that is what has been causing me this pain. After asking me what my Goals are from that meeting with him and what I wanted "fixed", he started my assessment. He talked me though a bunch of various stretches that were to test my flexibility. In all of these tests I passed or acceded what I should be at, so stiffness is not my problem. Then came the strength tests. I thought I would do well in this area because my legs are one of the areas I have seen the most improvement; well I was wrong. The first test he had me do was to lay on my side with my legs bent in a kinda running position. From there he got me to push against his hand with my leg lifted laterally. I failed it miserably on my right leg and on my right leg I failed as well but not to the same degree. The next test was to sit in a chair and using one leg try to stand up. On my left leg I could do it but with quite a bit of struggling, my right leg was a different story. I could not do it at all on that leg and I had to try it again on a bed that was higher up and even then I did it with much wobbling.
From this and from where I could tell him the centre of my pain was located, he was able to assess that one of my Hip Abductor muscles, the Pectineus to be exact, is very weak. This muscle is responsible for keeping your balance when you are one leg while running, it also brings the leg up in a running stride. So basically by this muscle being weak when I run it tires quickly and tears and causes me pain. So what can I do?
Well this is what my Therapist suggested to me. First off, stop running. Basically, this activity is what is causing me pain so I should stop until I can fix the problem or at least strengthen the weak muscle. This is kinda crushing because I love running. I really do. I see people running when I'm driving to school and I feel a longing to be that free and to feel that great feeling that comes after a good run. Thankfully though he gave me some exercises to strengthen my weak link. I just finished doing them and I can feel them working. One of them is the same as one of the tests I failed, the one legged stand up. What makes it slightly different is that I can put some pillows under me to lift me up a little bit. Then I do 3 sets of 10 reps and when it becomes easier I can remove a pillow and start it again. The other exercise is one legged step-ups. This one is fairly simple but it's difficult because you have to remember not to push yourself up with your hind foot. As with the stand-ups I'm to do 3 sets of 30 reps. I really hope these exercises will help me. I think I'm going to get at least two more sessions with this therapist and hopefully this will put me on the right track to getting back to running.


Okay how about some good news now! This week, even without me running as part of my workout I lost 1.8 lbs! This is amazing. I was really concerned about my weigh in this week because my eating has been all over the place. Last week I just became obsessed with fall and harvest food. I went to the Square One Farmer's Market and bought a bunch apples that were supposed to be for an apple pie, a Doughnut and two croissants (one plain and one chocolate) from a polish baker lady and a dozen homemade fresh baked bagels. Other then the apples not a very healthy haul. I ate the doughnut and plain croissant right away but I ate sensibly the rest of the day and went to the gym before that. The other croissant I made sure to eat when I was not going to eat a lot that day. I haven't made the apple pie yet because my family is not home this week so the pie would most likely go uneaten. The apples though have been used as quick snacks before work and school. I love the Ginger Crisp apples I got. I will be heading back to the market this week for sure and this weekend I will bake my pie!


Some other things I am looking forward to and working on this week are:

• Going to an Apple Farm with my friend Tania on Thursday. I really want to get some pumpkin tarts and hopefully some ideas for other baked goods. I will plan for this day by eating right before and after. Also, I should be able to get some activity in by walking around the farm getting apples.
• This week I'm going to be working on my first assignment for my Professional Selling class. I'm really excited to be doing some real work at school and getting feedback about it. I'm really into this program and want to do really well about it.
• Going to the gym more! Today I slept through my alarm and while I still had plenty of time to get ready for school I didn't have time to go to the Gym. I would have gone tonight after class but I had already made plans with a friend to have dinner. I hate canceling so tonight, after dinner I made sure to do extra of my physio exercises. I'll probably be hurting tomorrow but my delicious Greek meal was worth it.

I'm going to try to fit in another blog this weekend. Maybe one with more pictures? Goodnight all!

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Back to School

First off I want to share my weigh in. I weighed in on Tuesday as I always do. I was at 148.2 which is under what I was before I left for British Columbia! I've lost all of my Vacation weight and then some. I need to keep this trend going. Now part of the reason why I think this happened was because of my Birthday celebrations on Saturday night. I don't want to share that much because it's really not nessisary but, let's just say whatever I consumed that night did not count. It didn't stay with me shall we say. It's never going to happen again but if it had to happen at least it was on my Birthday when I have an excuse (sorta) for it. Now let's get into what I wanted to talk about; School!

I can't believe a week has gone by since I started at Humber. I've really enjoyed it so far though. I'm taking the Advertising - Media Sales program which is the same program my sister Tara took. It's about the selling and buying of space and time for advertising.

The first day was a little crazy. I was running late getting there and still a little jet lagged from just getting in from BC the night before. So when I finally got to class I was late and therefore when I walked in I was noticed. My teacher, Barb asked who I was and when I told her she realized that I'm related to Tara and her sister Remy, who also did the program. She then told the whole class my family's history in the "Business" and how successful they all are. I'm not embarrassed by that at all but I wasn't really ready for my whole class to know about it. I didn't really want to stand out in that way. After that and everyone else introducing themselves we started work on a little in class assignment. While my group was working on it I mentioned to Barb that Tara says Hi. Barb then told me how Tara and Remy were both top students in their year and that "they" would be watching me! I wanted to do really well in this program anyways but now there is this added pressure. I plan on using that though as the fire under my bum to keep me motivated to do well.

The rest of my classes were not as eventful. My Marketing teacher knows Remy but wasn't around for Tara. Thankfully, I've sorta made some friends. We sit together in all of our classes and it makes it easier for getting notes down. Also, it seems that my section is the section with all the "older" students. The people that have already done post-secondary or have at least taken a year off between high school and Humber.

One of the things I was worried about going back to school was how my eating and fitness plans would fit into my new schedule. It has been a bit for an adjustment but I think I've got it under control.

My Timetable. Ignore the COMM classes they have been dropped

This is my Timetable for the semester. I figured out that Tuesdays and Thursdays I can go to the gym in the morning before class. Sunday, Monday (after 4pm), Wednesdays (until 2pm), Friday and Saturday are my days that I'm available to work. Wednesdays I'll try to squeeze in a work out after work and before class if there's time. Friday and Saturday I'll go to the gym before or after I work depending on the shift.

As for eating, if you look at my schedule most of my classes start after 11am. This means I'm able to eat breakfast and for the most part lunch at home. The only day I don't eat lunch at home is Tuesday and planning to pack a lunch for one day is not too difficult. Also, because all my classes are pretty well one right after the other there's no time to go to the Cafeteria and grab some kind of unhealthy snack. None of my classes go past 6pm either so I'm always home for dinner which is great as well.

It's looking like this time College won't mean a "Freshman" 15 for me and I'll be able to stay on track.

Look out for my next blog where I'll talk about my appointment with a physiotherapist. I finally got some answers about why my hip has been hurting me when I run.

Until then I'm going to stay on track with my eating and try to fit more Veggies into my meals!!

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Back from Vacay!

Actually I've been back for a few days now but with Starting and dealing with some work stuff I've been to busy to do this post!
This is gunna be a long entry so be prepared! Let's start though with some pictures of my first day in Nelson, British Columbia.

The view from Alli's Street

Alli and I with our matching PJs!

Clouds blocking the mountain during my morning run

Where I looped back on my run. Under the Big Orange Bridge.

I guess I will start this one with where I left off from the last blog. After I posted that, I met up with Alli and we had to go to Grand Forks which was 2 hours away from Nelson. It was really nice place, of course there were beautiful mountians everywhere. We were in Grand Forks for the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament and Oh.Em.Gee... So many cute baseball players! Alli and I went shopping! haha!

Me and a squirrel

Some of the cute baseball players

We left Grand Forks around 9pm and got a not so great dinner of pepperoni pizza from this place we were handing out coupons for, The Twisted Tomato. It was amazingly good.

Thursday, I went out exploring Nelson which was lovely. It really is a beautiful town. The greatest part though had to be Gyro Park.

The park is on the side of one of the mountians in Nelson and it has some amazing views!

Coming up to the viewing area

Downtown Nelson in the Distance

Rocks entwined in the fence

Hey B.O.B!

Scary!

Another shot of Nelson's downtown

Then, I headed over to where I was told there is a swimming pool. I love swimming so I really wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, this is what I was greeted with...

"Closed: See you next summer!"

I was so disappointed! It looked lie a really nice pool too. It was sunny and warm though so I made the best of it and laid out in the sun and read my book, "Last Night at the Chateau Marmont". It's by the same writer as "The Devil Wea

Then I decided to go to Lakeside Park and see the beach there. This is the same park I did my run at so I knew there was a nice beach there and I wanted to see if the water was warm enough for swimming!

The beach!

The water was not warm at all! I could only walk in as far as my ankles so I gave up and went back to sunning myself and reading. Alli called me to pick her up from work so I took one last picture before I left the beach. I love it.

So pretty!!

We quickly made dinner and ate because we were going to Ainsworth Hot Springs! I was so excited for this. It was one of the only things I really wanted to do in Nelson. Everything else didn't really matter to me because I was there to see Alli.

On the B.O.B. to Ainsworth

Me and the Mountains

Crazy snow-capped Mountain

It was pretty well dark by the time we got there but that just made everything more prettier.

The hot springs were amazing. Your skin just felt so smooth in them and your hair was like silk! I could have stayed in them forever. Apparently that's not very good though, so we keep jumping in and out of the Caves and into the cooler pool.

Alli loving the springs

Crazy mineral settlement that looked like blood

Me in the Caves

Looking out of the Caves

Alli and I in the cool pool

When we got back home we were both so tired we just crashed as soon as we got in the door. The next morning I decided to go for a run and it was a beautiful day for it.

I ran a couple of laps but I think I was still tired from the night before because this one didn't feel as good as the one on my first day. When I finally called it quits I headed back to Alli's and got showered and ready to go explore some more of Nelson. I was starving though, so I made sure to stop by this cute food truck I saw the day before.

So cool!

Some of the Fries and Roasted Garlic Aioli I got.

Those fries were so good and really hot the spot. So worth it. While wandering the streets of Nelson, I got some good shopping done and tried some delicious coffee. Sidewinders is this really nice coffee place that has an amazing patio.

The view!

Later, Alli met up with me and went to Oso Negro coffee, which I already knew I loved because Alli had brought me some of their coffee at Christmas and it was amazing. I bought a big bag of that coffee because it is so good.

Mmmmm, Princess of Darkness

My "Canadiano"- Expresso mixed with coffee

Alli with her coffee

Oso's crazy cool patio behind me

After Oso, Alli and I got changed for "night of drinking". Alli wanted to take me out to celebrate my birthday which was so nice of her. We got some really good chats in and had some delicious drinks and food!

The view from the Restaurant we ate at that I can't remember the name of

Me and Alli at nameless Restaurant

After that we walked in Nelson to start the bar crawl. First we went to Jackson's Hole. This is the place where parts of the movie Roxanne with Steve Martin was filmed.

Alli and I's drinks

Then we went for martinis at Louie's. This place was very nice and swanky, I liked it. It had very comfy chairs also!

Alli with her coffee martini

Me, looking not as cute as Alli, with my martini

Somehow after leaving Louie's and getting to Alli's place I lost an earring. That sucked because I had just bought them. At least I was drunk enough to not be upset about it then!
The next day, Saturday, we had to go into Grand Forks again but this time only for 3 hours so we planned to go to the beach the next day. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day.

Me at the park behind the market

Before Grand Forks though, Alli and I went to this cute market that was mostly operated by Hippies.  It was pretty cool though. I got replacement feather earrings and a new claddagh ring. We also bought some of the most delicious baked goods. Nummies.

Grand Forks was pretty uneventful which was fine, I was still feeling the night before. We left around 3 and headed to Christina Lake, which we had been told is beautiful. They didn't lie.

Christina Lake

The picture above is the view that I had when I called my sister, Leslie to say goodbye. She is leaving to go to Asia and Australia for 18 months.  I'm going to miss her like crazy while she's gone but since my weight loss we've become close to the same size. So I've promised to keep her clothing company!
Alli and I just laid on the beach for a while. I attempted to swim but the water was still pretty cold.

Me and Alli

Went we got back to Nelson we went out for dinner at this cute place called Max and Irma's. They are famous for their pasta and I was craving carbs from being outside all day.

So cute!

We both ended up eating way too much. It was just so good! We went to this other lounge type place called Bibo after.

We ordered dessert but we were too full to eat much of it. I had creme brulee and it was insanely good. I really wanted to take it home with me. I felt sick though. I have never felt like I could throw up from eating too much until then. I took some tums and went right to sleep when we got home.
Sunday, we had to go out to the GFI again for 3 hours but this time Alli could pick when. We decided to go early so we could come back to Nelson and do some hanging out and shopping. Little did we know that Sunday was the Nelson Pride Parade! I have never been to Pride in Toronto but somehow it found me in Nelson of all places.

 

It was really great to see and even though it was short everyone showed a lot of heart in it. They even had some really well put together Drag Queens. Them girls were fierce!
Alli and I walked around for a bit but mostly a lot of stores were closed. So we went to Sidewinders and hung out on the patio with some coffee until dinner. We had decided to go to All Season's Cafe because that was one of the first places Alli and her dad went to when she first came to Nelson.

Me and the sign

The food we had was amazing! I know I say that about every place we ate but really everything was really really good. After we ate we decided to make it a relaxing night since I was leaving the next day and just rented a movie. We rented Rock Star with Mark Walberg. Alli had never seen it and I hadn't seen it in a while so it was really good. We drank tea while watching it and it was really a great end to an amazing week.
The next morning Alli and I got up early and went for breakfast. We ended up going to the Hume Hotel which was having a breakfast buffet because it was Labour Day.

The food was fantastic and I got to stuff my face one last time before heading back to Ontario and reality!
We went to crazy Castlegar Airport and Alli was able to sit with me pretty much until I got on the plane. It was nice and we talked about traveling and where we still want to go in the world. Maybe one day we'll travel together! When I finally got on the plane it was pretty sad to be leaving Alli and Nelson. It was such an awesome trip that I can't wait to go back! Maybe next time I'll spend some more time in Vancouver and see why it's so special!

Bye Nelson!

Did you make through all that? I tried to keep it short but a weeks worth of awesomeness is hard to contain. I'll try to post another blog this weekend about my first week make at school and the challenges I have already encountered!
Until then I'll be working on getting my eating back on track. This is going to be a hard on because Saturday is my Birthday Party/Outing. This means lots of drinking and possibly late night eating; two of the reasons I got to my largest weight. I know which ever outcome though I have the determination to get past it!

oxo