Still here!

Contest weekend came and went, and I've spent the past week pretty much just being tired. It happens. It was a great weekend and as always, we had tons of fun, but with all the dingbattery leading up to it and all the excitement during - the annual 'post contest sleepiness' sets in, and there is nothing one can do.

Especially if one just got a dog.

Yes, you heard me. We got a canine companion. I said I never would - if you know me, you know that I am not a big fan of animals (because let's face it, they smell), and I especially don't think they should be living in houses with people. But, A has been wanting a dog for a long time and it was one of the main reasons he wanted to move to a house. I finally had to make the compromise (this dog does NOT. EVER. Sleep in our bed. EVER)...we found her on Kijiji, in the pets for free section. We had been looking to adopt but those organizations don't exactly make it easy on people who are renting (as it turns out, beggars CAN be choosers!), and we didn't want to buy a puppy from a pet store, for several reasons.
This dog was with a family that simply did not have time for her - she spent most of her days and nights in a kennel, didn't really get to go for walks or play outside, and hadn't received much training. A brought her home while I was away. She is a Husky/ Shepherd mix, white with spotty ears and a brown spot on her back (which I'm pretty sure she is constantly trying to lick off), has one blue eye and one brown. Her name is Juno. So far, Juno has obliterated two pairs of my shoes, one pair of A's boots, and one couch. She is housebroken and very sweet, but although she is fully grown, she is very much a puppy and doesn't always behave. I do like her though. She likes A more than me, but we get along. I walk her and pick up her poo. She licks me and sheds hair everywhere. I'm not sure it's a two way street just yet, but we will be taking her to some obedience classes once she's been spayed - oh, yeah, the previous owner didn't bother, so we brought home a bitch in heat. I call her "Period Stain". She has an appointment to get fixed a few weeks from now.

In other news, I have not been working out since before contest, so I have to get back on that treadmill this week! Of course, we've been taking many walks with the dog so I've definitely been moving every day, but I NEED that running. Juno is still too much of a spaz to jog with - she'd go nuts and jump all over the place.

And finally, I have started working on my newest project - learning to arrange music a cappella style! I am still figuring it out and I am not very good with music notation so I'm just recordning myself in Garage Band and adding harmonies the best I can. It's harder than I thought, but it's fun - I'll post my first effort here once it's done, but it'll probably be a few weeks before I'm happy with it.

Weirdo Wednesday - more dingbat action from Maja.

Last night we had our "Friends & Family Night" at chorus. It's sort of the dress rehearsal for contest, and we invite people to come see us in our costumes and makeup and we get to practice performing all dressed up and in front of an audience. The evening went well - no thanks to yours truly.

I didn't have very much time to get ready between coming home from work and leaving for rehearsal, and I'm sure that was what set me off on a string of little mishaps.

* Getting changed at the rehearsal hall, I realised the package of nylons in the right shade I had bought just the other day didn't actually contain any nylons. Seriously. Leave it to me to pick up a pack that has been broken into and not even notice! I had to go barefoot in my capezio shoes. I do not recommend it. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice - my pants covered enough of my foot. I noticed, though. It was not comfortable.

* Putting my earrings on, I realised I was missing the back piece for one of them. They do NOT stay in place without it. Again, I got lucky and someone had an extra earring-back that they let me use.

* Performance went well - I only forgot one choreo move, as far as I know, at least. Then my quartet sang a song - it was our first time singing in front of an audience other than the chorus, so of course we were a bit nervous. And I don't know what happened but somehow we started with a wrong note. A few bars into it, we were so out of tune it was painful to everyone involved...so we decided to stop and start over! It was one of those times when you go through a lot of thoughts in a very short amount of time. "OMG. This intro is sounding weak, we have to pick it up. Wait, something's wrong. Am I singing the wrong note? I'm singing the wrong note! This chord is not lining up. OMG, this is sounding terrible! Can we start over even though it's a performance? We can't do the whole song like this! We're better than this!" ...and then I looked over at the tenor, and she had a look of pure terror on her face. I made an executive decision right there and stopped the song. We made a joke out of it and everyone laughed, we started over, and this time it was much better, but I was quite shaky afterwards.

* The chorus sang through the competition package again and at the end of it, I realized that my necklace had fallen off. However, because I was a bit sweaty, and the foundation we use is so sticky, the necklace didn't actually leave my body - it was sitting on my chest like one of those sticky spiders you throw on a wall and they climb down. Sexy.

* I left as soon as it was over - I didn't have any family or friends there so it was my chance to get home fairly early for a tuesday night and go to bed. On my way home, I was listening to the radio. "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. Singing along. Loudly, and with feeling. Felt like I was being observed. Slowly realised that my window was rolled down, and the guy in the next car was laughing at me. Not the first time that happens, by the way. In fact, it's a recurring thing - this just happened to be the first this year.

* When I got home, I discovered that I didn't have all my stuff with me. I brought my costume, my purse and some promotional material home with me, but I left my makeup case, my capezios and my jewelry at the rehearsal hall. They have not yet been located. Contest is on Saturday.

Yay for me!

Fitness Friday - 04/27/2012. Reality TV Workout.

Before I do anything else, can I just start things off with a resounding "WTF, Blogger?!?".

***

I hadn't had a workout since the weekend and even though I got home a bit later than usual last night since I had quartet practice, I decided to get changed right away and hit the treadmill for a while. My sports bra (yes, I only have one) was in the laundry, so I wore two regular bras instead. This has nothing to do with the rest of this entry, but I thought I'd tell you anyway. We finally have cable in the basement, so I put on my recorded episode of America's Next Top Model, my guilty pleasure (as if I only have one!) and started walking. I am really at week 6 of the C25K program, but I am having a hard time with the longer runs, and it is starting to bug my feet and hips a little bit. I figure that in order to not start slacking, I'll have to modify the running a bit. I started with the 5 minute warmup walk as usual, and then I would speed it up to a very fast walk, on an incline - then run through the commercial breaks! I did it for the whole show, and started winding down when the "panel" part of the show began. At the very end when Tyra dramatically announces which of the two girls standing before her has to go home, I was on the floor stretching. And then I looked like this:

I'd say it was a good workout. On the weekend, I did the "Hard Core Fusion" from The Firm. Well, I tried. I only did the 35 minute express version but holy crap. Not only did I have to pause it and slow down a few times, I had to go sit down! I've done that video before and I remembered it being hard, but not nauseatingly hard. I have to try it again!

Walking For Happiness

Back when we lived in the condo (it feels like a lifetime ago, although it's only been a few months), I almost never used public transit to get to and from work - I walked. 35 minutes there, 35 minutes home. No matter the weather. It was never a chore or something I did for exercise, I actually really like walking - it's basically therapy in motion. With or without music in your ears, you can just let your mind wander.
I really didn't realise how important it was to me until we moved to the suburbs and I no longer lived within walking distance from the office.

I started taking the bus in the morning - there is an express bus that picks me up a block from my house, and drops me off a block from work. Convenient! In the morning, it runs fine. I can't always get a seat, but it's usually on time and it's early enough where traffic hasn't thickened up yet. Getting home in the afternoon is another story. It's always late, it's always packed, sometimes you can't get on at all, and they don't put in extra buses when that happens. Getting home on Calgary Transit sucks. But I figured I'd just have to deal with it. Driving to work is not an option - parking in downtown Calgary is ridiculously expensive, I believe only New York City is pricier.

What I noticed after a few weeks of commuting was how much more tired I was at work. I was getting up at the same time as before and going to bed at the same time, I didn't clue in at first. I'd get to work and sit down at my desk and before long I was yawning and almost falling asleep while staring blankly at the computer screen. You know, when you yawn and yawn and your eyes start to water, and it looks like you're crying but you're just tired? Yeah.

Finally, it dawned on me - I was no longer walking in the morning! That walk to work really energized me, and it gave me time to clear my head and get ready for the day.

I tried taking different buses in the afternoon when mine was full - buses that would take me close-ish to home and then I'd have to walk from there. But it's not the walk in the afternoon I need, it's the morning walks that do it for me!

I was getting tired of paying for transit that didn't quite work, so here is my solution:

I drive, but I don't park downtown, I park NEAR downtown. In an area that mostly has residential permit parking, or paid street parking, but I happen to know of this one free block. I get there early enough where there is plenty of space, there's no fee, and on top of that, it's a 25 minute walk to my office building from there. In other words, it's PERFECT. I've been doing it for about a week now and I can already feel the difference - I am not at all as tired at work anymore, and my head is clearer in general throughout the day. I am less irritated and more relaxed. Yep. Life is good!

Sweaty Sundays 2012-04-15: Couch to 5K Playlists

Didn't have time to post on Friday, so pardon the name change.

I have actually been keeping up on the running and working out - maybe it's the fact that contest is coming up and I really want to look good in my costume. But I've also really started to pay attention to the fact that I feel really good when I keep this up. Just stronger and lighter in general, and with a lot more energy. It's nice.

I have issued another small challenge for myself: POSTURE. Especially when sitting down at the computer - I tend to slump over like a sack of potatoes and since my back is already in pretty lame shape, I think I have to make sure it doesn't get any worse. In the beginning, the running was causing my sciatica (OLD LADY WARNING) to flare up a little bit, but I find that if I keep my back straight, shoulders back and make sure I avoid heel striking when I run, I am not in pain after. Trying to land on the whole foot requires smaller steps and it took some getting used to, but it really is better for the feet, the knees, and the back.

Today, I did day 2 of week 5 on the Couch to 5K program. For the second time.
I did it yesterday, but I had to pee really bad, so I stopped after the first 8 minute run and went to the bathroom and also to put on some chapstick, because I can't concentrate on anything if my lips feel dry. I finished it after, but because I had had a break, the last 8 minutes felt a lot easier than it normally would have, so I decided to do it over again today. It was tough, but I did it. Day 3 of week 5 consists of 5 minutes of walking, followed by a 20 minute run, before a 5 minute cool down walk.

20 minutes.

I might treat you to a picture of myself after that one.

I like running to music, and I'm also a bit lazy and don't want to time myself, so I have been using these playlists you can find all over the internet. I thought I would tell you a bit about those and where to find them, in case you want to try the program but feel that it feels like so much longer when you keep staring at the clock on the treadmill. Or using a stopwatch if you're running outside. With a playlist, you get music that you hopefully like, along with verbal prompts that tell you when to start running and when to walk. Some also point out when you're halfway through your run and when you have a minute to go, etc.

These are only the free pocasts - there are others that you can purchase on iTunes, but I haven't tried any of those.

If you go to www.c25k.com, you will find a list of podcasts and running apps at the bottom of the page.

Robert Ullrey's podcast is good; he briefly explains the run in the beginning and doesn't talk much after that. The music, however, is mostly techno, which just isn't my thing. You get Robert telling you when to run and when to walk.
The second one on their list is Podrunner - it also seems to consist mostly of techno, but the good thing about this one is that from week 5 and on, when the three days are different, there are three different downloads to fit the changing intervals. I think I used one of their playlists the first time I did the program but didn't like the music. I don't remember what the run/walk cues are like but there is pretty much no talking in this one.

The ones I have been using the most are:

1 - www.kissmyblackass.org. Other than a pretty kickass name, Suz has playlists for the whole program, including some different ones for the weeks where the days are different. She mixes all kinds of hip hop, pop, and dance - not what I usually listen to, but fun stuff that you know. Verbal cues are given by a somewhat creepy child's voice.

2 - Go Nicole Yourself. Nicole Blum has playlists for the whole program, good mix of music (hip hop, pop, occasional funk and rock). Vocal cues by robot voice counting down from 5 when it's time to change pace. I like this one, except that she doesn't always have music for the 5 minute cool down at the end.

3 - C25KPlaylists.com has playlists with different genres of music for each week - Dance, Rock, Indie, Beastie Boys and Aerosmith. Recently, they added some country playlists as well. Cues are a robotic voice telling you to "start. your. eight minute run. now." I use this one quite a bit. They do not have different playlists for different intervals, but during those workouts, it will just prompt for day 1, day 2, etc.

4 - Carli just seems like a sweet lady! She has playlists for the whole program and beyond, with a good mix of different styles of music, mostly hip hop and r'n'b, but she also has some heavy metal and rock playlists as well (I haven't tried any of those. I love my rock 'n' roll but for some reason, not when I run). She starts off each list with a little tip or words of encouragement, and after that just gives cues as to when to run and when to walk. Sometimes she adds a little "keep pushing!" or "you can do it!". Same as the above for the weeks with different intervals.

5 - Chubby Jones (Mia) has a lot of playlists, and the great thing about this one is that she keeps adding new lists. So even if you stop and start over at any point, there might be a new podcast for you that you haven't heard before. She plays all kinds of music and it's usually a good mix. But here's my problem with Mia; GIRLFRIEND LIKES TO TALK. You get your cues for running and walking, but she also chats in the beginning while you're walking, she talks while you're running, she tells you how many minutes you have been running and how many minutes you have left, she gives words of encouragement and sometimes sings along to the music. I was using her week 5, Day 2 list today and towards the end of it, I was yelling at my iPod - "shut UP! Shut the f*** up!!!". I wanted to hear the songs, and I almost didn't get to! I'll try some more of hers though, maybe it was just a one off thing.

So, those are my tips for this week - hopefully someone out there will get inspired to get their ass into motion with me!

Well, I did it!

More blog posts soon. I'm busy basking in my own fabulousness at the moment ;)



Sent from my HTC

Fitness Friday - 03/30/2012

This week, I'd like to recommend one of my favourite YouTube fitness gurus, Rebekah Borucki!

She is a fitness and Yoga instructor, has a bunch of kids, raises chickens in her backyard, and makes awesome, short workout videos for all levels of fitness. She's absolutely gorgeous, and seems like a pretty cool chick too.

You can find her and her videos at BexLife.

Have a great weekend! Tomorrow, I complete week 3 of the Couch to 5K program.