I’ve gone down a waist size. I’m sure some people would celebrate this as a vapid way of saying Oh em gee I’m so skinny! but, to be perfectly honest, I was happy with my previous waist size and now all my pants are loose. I’ll content myself that this means my workouts are doing what they are supposed to and will wear belts in the meantime.
The boy and I are moving this week! This means that we’ll be losing our apartment’s gym (but we’ll be able to have a dog!) so I haven’t been doing the elliptical training very much. Instead, I’ve convinced a cute co-worker to swim with me and I swim twice a week now.
I’ve rationalized to myself that since I’m swimming more, I should not wear board shorts. One, it looks like you’re trying to swim to workout but really you look like you don’t know what you’re doing. Two, I get an excuse to find good looking suits.
Case in point, Just Swimwear (@ Just Cruisin’ - it sounds so bad) store on Howe and Smithe is probably the most random spot for a swimsuit store but it had a great selection for a pretty decent price ($40 for a good pair of workout trunks). I bought two pairs (and managed to get my lifeguard discount!) and swimming with them feels much better.
We’re going to Japan from June 18 to July 6 so now the deadline is set for being fit to climb Mt. Fuji!
Gonna miss this patio view. Also, my clematis is on the brink of blooming! Can’t wait to see it. #nofilter #garden #greenestcity
REBLOG if you want Jinkx Monsoon to be America’s Next Drag Superstar!
What can I say? I’m all over Jinkx!
Tran Apus Rex fulfilling the latter part of his namesake with Isolde N. Barren. #mrcobalt #2013 #princeofeastvan
The sexism of this ad frustrates me. Don’t male bosses change their minds too? Why can’t the pronoun be ‘their’? Because Visa wanted to use pink in their colour palette? #sexist #problematic #Visa #busads
A city map of Canada’s Pacific Northwest city. Neighborhoods from Gastown to Mount Pleasant, and local landmarks from Granville Island to the Jimmy Hendrix house. All connected with bike trails and greenways.
So the Feb Fit Challenge has been going well. I’ve been doing 30 min elliptical runs twice a week and lately I’ve added a set of 3x15 crunches and 3x15 push-ups to push myself a bit harder.
One of the things I wanted to do was swim twice a week - just doing 1km swims and timing myself. I was managing to go twice a week but I ended up being exhausted from lack of sleep on my Tuesdays (when I wake up at 4:40am to work at 5:30 and finish at 12pm and then have other commitments) that I just cut it. The good news is that I’ve cut my standard time of swimming 1km in 18 to doing it in roughly 16:30. Which I’m pretty happy about.
I now have a fitness goal that I’m doing this all for: In July (or some time soon) Brandon and I are going to JAPAN!!! And we are climbing Mt. Fuji. Only without a corgi. Still, I have a training goal which makes working out much easier for me.
Start your weekend (and block party or whatever other kind of social gathering) with a little boogaloo!
Pretty sure adding udon noodles to hot and sour soup is some sort of culinary no-no but who cares? Om nom nom nom nom!
Saying ‘Hi’ to Vancouver!
Feb Fit Challenge
Last year, I made the resolution to start working out - in February.
Working at a recreation centre, I know that January is a busy month with throngs of Newly Resolved fitness folks flocking (and hogging) the gym. Fortunately, they all end up getting frustrated that the gym is so busy or life ends up catching up to them and roughly 80-95% stop going. This usually happens around February. Thus, February is the ideal time to start working out!
Last year I admirably kept my routine (with all the self-esteem boosting benefits) right up until August when life caught up to me (working for a festival will do that).
This year, I’m aiming to do the same but with the following goals:
- Do more cardio (3 times a week for 20 min minimum) than weight training.
- Find people and group fitness activities that will keep me social and motivated.
- Surpass last year’s ‘drop-off’ and take a break in December.
A lot of people have weighty goals (either losing or lifting) but I’m less concerned with those body image goals (because I know they’ll come by default of working out) and more concerned with the physiological and psychological benefits: namely, being more energetic, having time to self-reflect, better sleep patterns, and, having better self-esteem.
Here’s to 2013 and the Feb Fit Challenge!
Some days you just end up winning! Chocolate meringues. Omnomnomnomnom.
And we’re back!
Nothing like being sick and looking forward to a 50s-60s dance on Saturday (I am willing myself to be better plus eating ginger like no tomorrow) to write some new posts about how 1950s and 60s music is amazing.
1956 has some crazy heavy hitters in the music scene. We’ve got Elvis with Hound Dog and Bill Haley & the Comets with See You Later Alligator which, I guess, are classic rock. The big songs (from someone in 2013 looking back, mind you) from this year are definitely Why Do Fools Fall in Love by Frankie Lymon and Long Tall Sally by Little Richard.
Those are Ice Cream Social staples.
Actually, this whole musical journey (because even though I didn’t post about every year, I’ve definitely gone through each year) has really brought about a good appreciation for Little Richard. Each song might sound the same but that means that you just want to get up and dance to every song. I’m sure you’ll find this out as we get to 1957.
Some bad news to report for all-ages shows in BC. We almost missed this but a friend tipped us off that the BC Government recently changed one of its liquor policies, and apparently, occasional all-ages shows are no longer allowed at venues with permanent liquor-primary licenses.
Ian Bryce writes odds and ends making use of his BA in English as best he can. Ian has a vested interest in music (as a listener), books (as a casual and sometimes critical reader), and video games (as a casual and critical player). Ian likes to start 'self-improvement' projects. This is a sounding board for and also one of them.
