Last post as a single lady!

• The next time I write to you, Friggin craaaazy! (I live in Quebec so I cannot legally change my name. Grrrr.)
• I think this is going to be an emotional couple of days. I cried picking up my dress... WTF?
  
• Honeymoon is booked. We leave on Jan 8th for Punta Cana.... a new report called Colony Bay. It opens tomorrow! Bring on the rum and sunshine.
• Thanks to you all for all that you do, and all that you are. I am so lucky to have each and everyone of you to share my inner, most private thoughts with. I love you all! :)

MUAH!!!!

Pre-Wedding Workouts

Despite being a little bit of a naughty girl in the caloric intake, I must say.... I rocked my workouts. I made a goal to exercise everyday, and sure enough.. I DID IT!

Christmas Day: Hour long walk
Boxing Day: Went to the gym, it was closed. So I played DDR for seriously like 2 hours!
Thursday: 45 min run, sit ups, pushups, lunges
Friday: 30 min run, 1 hour of DDR
Today: 60 min step class, 50 situps, 50 pushups.

GO ME!

On the agenda today: Pick up dress.. which also means pay for the rest of it. $800 bones. EEK! Sad to say, I already put $500 down... and I thought I was getting a bargain. Friggin alterations!

And breathe...

WOW, you were right Lynn... this last week HAS been busy!

With the wedding 3 days away, I've been running around like crazy trying to get all my shit done.

I just got back from getting my nails done... acryllic tips they're called. They look good, but making typing a real S.O.B!

Christmas was great.... I had my entire family, gramma and Andrew's mom over for supper. I loved playing hostess. Andrew and I went for a nice long walk after everyone left, so at least I got some activity in, that wasn't shovelling food into my mouth.

We bought Dance Dance Revolution for XBOX 360. Holy crap, its soooo fun AND is quite a workout when you've been at it for hours.

Not much else to say right now... I'll leave you with some pictures of Christmas!

Andrew and the turkey

Me telling the time on my new watch, sporting my new toque!

The mister and I

our dinner guests: stepmom, dad, bro, nanny, MIL

My brother and I.

Christmas Eve Workout... DONE!

45 min run, 100 pushups, 100 situps!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Things I am loving lately...

1) Andrew... I think I'll marry him.

2) Hosting little impromtu get togethers, with munchies.
3) Cranberry Foccacia bread from Loblaws. This is absolutely delicious, and tastes divine with olive oil and balsamic. (plate thats pictured in the picture above)



4) White Chocolate Cranberry Squares, a festive alternative to Hello Dolly Squares. Sooo good!






5) My friend Brianne, singing When You Love Someone. She'll be singing this at our wedding... We've decided to omit the middle verse though. You shouldn't be 'believing a lie' no matter how much you're in love! She's also singing My Best Friend (minus the twang and country feeling) and Lost Together

Workout: Done

-My workout today = DONE!! 30 mins running on treadmill, 10 mins sprints on the treadmill, 30 bicep curls, 30 tricep dips, 30 side dips, 30 shoulder presses, 50 situps, 50 pushups, 50 boxer crunches. GO ME!

- Now its off to brave the grocery store. Eek. This scares me to death!

- I forgot to mention my final Bootcamp Results. Here it goes:
Beep Test
Beginning: 6.0
Final: 8.2 (I was friggin' pumped about this one!!!)

(The pushups, sit-ups and plank are compared to my first bootcamp... because on day #1 of Xtreme camp we just went as long as we could, but the last day was timed for a minute)

Pushups (one min)
Beginning: 35
Final: 44

Situps
Beginning: 22
Final: 42

Plank
Beginning: 55 seconds
Final: 1 min 35 sconds

- On a side note, I've noticed that bootcamp has really slimmed down my midsection, so much so, that now I'm finding I'm looking like a pear. Weird eh?

Finally... some bloggin time!

- I've been crazy busy as of late. Who knew getting married and Christmas were such time consuming events.
- I'm at work right now, yep, 7:03am on a Sunday when I'm technically on holidays! Not here for work related reasons though, I ended up leaving my car here on Friday because Andrew picked me up for an appt. BUT, my friend at work left with my keys in her purse so she dropped them off at my house yesterday. Andrew was working today, so I just got up early to come in with him. I have to get some last minute stuff, so I'll have a workout here.. then hit up the stores early.
- I'm rather excited to be hosting Christmas dinner.... except for that that I don't really have enough chairs. Ah well.
- I have not been eating well. Its brutal. I'm on a sugar binge, and its stopping today.
- Wedding countdown is single digits now: 8 friggin' days!

Moo

• I am a cow, hear me moo. Moo!
• I have back fat in my dress
• Moo

1. Wow... I can access blogs today without getting a nasty/scary warning. I've been a bad commenter of late, bu I swear I'm still reading all your amazing blogs!

2. I must address this issue: My arms. They are in one sore state today. I reached to answer my phone, and I just about died. And if yesterdays workout wasn't enough, we did a similar one too! Ah well. I secretly love it. There are only 2 days left of bootcamp. :( Tomorrow will be the beep test. I hope to improve my scores by another level.

3. Tonight we are meeting with our photographer.

4. I now also have a bit more time to write about whats been on my mind lately: My brother Patrick. Patrick and I have this crazy close relationship, and I love that kid more then anything. He's 23, smart, and a very talented professional golfer. I don't know whats up with him lately... this summer, he lost his job at the golf course where he was working. (looong long story, but basically he got screwed) Being incredibly pissed off with the golf industry, he worked for the rest of the summer/fall doing manual labour for an irrigation company in London, ON. Basically, he's a changed person. He dosn't care about anything anymore, he's broke and dosn't care. We offered him to come stay with us in Ottawa... mainly to help him get on his feet again financially. He arrived on Tuesday night at 1:00am. (totally woke me up) We had a big long talk, which almost ended in a huge fight... but we resolved everything. He's lost all sense of morals, and what bothers me the most: He just dosn't CARE that he's hurting everyone around him. I would be so easy if I could just 'write him off' but I can't. I love him too much for that. I've become the mediator between my Dad and him, and I can't do that for much longer ethier. Its killing me. I have a friend that works at The Gap, so hopefully Patrick can work there for the holiday season before he heads off to work on a cruise ship in February.

5. Pizza lunch today. God give me the strength to behave.

Baking Exchange = Success!

• Doesn't this look amazing? The participants of my baking exchange went above and beyond! (those are my PB balls in the chinese take out containers) Currently IN MY FREEZER are: Date squares, Skor squares, rum balls, marshmellow treats, christmas cake and Oh Henry Cookies! Christmas baking = complete! :) I did eat a date square today, but the rest are frozen.. yay me!

• Bootcamp today left my arms feeling like little twigs. Tough kettlebell workout. For Christy, who knows the torture of these devils: I did the whole workout with a 16kg one! Wow.. thats like 32 lbs. GO ME!

• Tomorrow at work is a preparation pizza lunch for the Potluck on Thursday. Fuck, this week is crazy full with bad food. I'm going to have one piece, and bring a salad.

• I finally started my Christmas shopping tonight. Pathetic eh? I've been so terribly consumed with the wedding, I kinda forgot about it!

• I got my eyebrows and hair done tonight. I feel grrrrreat. I love it when my hair is freshly colored. It looks amazing. My hair dresser is gay, and he always tells me my hair makes him want to be straight! :)

• I'm off to bed. I didn't sleep at all last night literally. (long story) I slept from 10pm-12am, and that was IT. I felt so weird today, like I was living in a haze. I think I was overtired and high on coffee. Weird eh? I was anticipating a crash and burn moment... AND ITS HERE. G'night.
  

Damn you work...

...for blocking blog sites.

But I can't hate work too much today, because they had a shower for me today! I was sooo surprised. The best part, as selfish as this sounds, was the gift. A day pass to Le Spa Nordik for 2! I can't think of a better to unwind après the wedding.







I have some great pictures of our wicked snow storm yesterday. I'll post them, along with a recipe review and picture of my dinner last night.

Yay for me! :)

Snowing like a Mo-fo!

• We're in the middle of a huge snow storm... I kinda love being stuck inside.
• What I don't love is watching the snow pile up in our driveway... Ahh well, that will be my AP's later.
• I haven't earned any AP's today... but I have earned SP's twice! Too much info, but I'm aiming for 3 times. What better way to spend a snow storm? ;)
• I'm trying a new recipe from ESBM tonight. I forget the whacky title, but its basically pasta with pesto, bacon and chicken. YUM!
  

Still alive and kicking!

• Goooood frickin' freezin' morning! Its a chilly one here in Ottawa today!
• I'm still alive... they've officially blocked blogs at work, and my laptop is quasi outta commission, so I'm stuck to use our desktop. Which, is a complete chore because I actually have to confine myself to one spot... rather then multi-tasking on my laptop.
• I've been eating completely clean, and working out like a dog.
• Today, I'm on a baking mission. 96 peanut butter balls. I'm starting to think I should have made something I hate, but I will resist as much as possible.
• Wedding is in 16 frickin days. CRAZY!
• For fun, I posted a pic of our fireplace... complete with stockings for all members of the household: Amy, Andrew, Samuel and Lewis.
  

Frumpylicious Day #2

1. I'm frumpy again today. I need to buy new clothes or something.... but at least my pants fit, and I have black socks on.

2. Now for confession time. Last night Andrew and I decided to go to 2349820 errands. Why, not sure since it was snowing like a mo-fo. Anyways, we decided to go to Pizza Hut for supper. Not THAT bad because, we got the veggie edge, and its only 8 points for half of the pizza. I also had some salad, and 2 breadsticks. I counted that meal for 16 points just to be safe. Then we went to Bulk Barn, so I could buy the bakers chocolate I need for to make my peanut butter balls this weekend. And I bought chocolate covered pretzels. UNREAL. I don't know what it is, but my need for sugar lately is off the wall. I tracked it all, and moved on. But wow... I feel like I totally let myself down.

3. No bootcamp this morning. The roads were still el-crappo.. so I drove into work with Andrew. I am totally going to punish myself. This is not acceptable. Not even in the slightest. God, I suck.

My plan:

B: Letttuce
L: Lettuce and water
D: Lettuce

AP's: 18 hours at the gym

Frumpalicious

1. Thats me today. My pants are too short, and I'm just feeling a little round. To top it off, I have white socks on. Geez. I suck.

2. I need to stay focussed today. No junk food. Lots of water. Healthy choices.

3. I found some lovely earrings for my wedding. I'm going to go buy them at lunch today. Next up: A necklace.

4. More wedding related stuff: I have to come up with a plan for the ceremony. This is proving to be difficult. I also need to make our programs. Which too, is proving to be difficult.

5. I think I want to light a candle as part of our ceremony to honour my mom, and Andrew's dad. Is this a bad idea?

Happy Monday

1. Thanks for all the amazing comments ladies. I felt so pretty on Saturday, so I now know how the COMPLETE ensemble will look... and now, I'm pumped! I just have to work on keeping my eyes open for pictures... THAT will be the ultimate challenge!

2. Now for my confession. There may have been an incident yesterday with candy cane ice cream. And its MY fault, because I bought it. For some stupid reason, I thought I could control myself. WRONG. Ah well, its over and done with.

3. The good news is, I added 2 extra workouts to my regime this weekend so I burned a few more calories then usual.

4. The even better news is, I'm armed with healthy food selections for today.

Menu:

B: Banana, pita, PB
S: Yogurt
L: leftover WW pasta, sauce made with extra lean ground beef and tons'o'veggies
S: veggies and hummus
D: crunchy chicken breast, broccoli, carrots, taters
S: fudge bar

AP's: Circuit training at bootcamp.

Me... looking like a bride!

I can't leave these up for tooooo long, or Andrew may snoop. I must say, I looove the end result.

The back is a little rough, because she originally did it half-up half down... but I wasn't sold on it. So, she threw it up quick. And I looooved it!

MAC make-up was great too. Very natural, but still make up, ya know? I loved the new foundation he suggested. Despite being an avid wearer of MAC (thus owning half of their collection) I still shelled out $150 yesterday. Ah well, I'm worth it! :)

" />

At work... On a Saturday!

Not to actually work though... :)

I came into have a little work-out. Its like having a gym all to yourself. I ran for 40 mins on the tredmill, with a fan blowing on my face and the radio cranked. I LOVED IT! I came here because my gym dosn't open until 9:00am on the weekends... and I have my make-up appt at 9h30 and my hair appointment at 11h30. YAY!

I also came to print some pictures on the nice color printer here of styles I like.

I'll be sure to post some pictures of the end result later, but only for a short time so my groom-to-be dosn't see them! Holy frig, I'm getting MARRRRRRRRRRIED!

I feel redeemed as my naughty food choices yesterday!

In a nutshell.

Today's menu is not going well.

Chocolate covered pretzels and wine gums somehow found their way into my mouth.

Usually, I have willpower. Today, not so much.

I will stop. Now.

I'm feeling irritated today for several reasons:

1. The slacker girl at bootcamp. The rest of us are running around sweating out asses off. She walks inbetween stations and I saw her yawning. WTF? She also shows up clad with a wrist brace, knee brace and ankle brace. Yep. She's one of those people that has EVERY injury known to man, so of course she has to modify every exercise. STAY AT HOME SLACKER, you bring the rest of us down.

2. My co-workers. I have one that mispronounces just about every word. Misprunuciation of the day: My father has AMMONIA. Again, WTF?

3. I have no gas in my car right now. I hate pumping gas more then anything in this world.

Ok... I must be more postive.

I'm feeling happy today because:

1. Its Friday.

2. I have a fun today tomorrow: Hair and Make Up trials.. yippee!

3. My baking exchange is going to be a hit, we have 8 participants. I decided to make it a 'baking exchange', so cookies are somewhat limited. I think I may make Peanut Butter balls.

Menu pour aujourd'hui

B: Protein shake, banana
S: granola bar
L: Lunch out at a stir fry place
D:TBD, something with chicken

1. Goooooood morning. Man, it s a chilly one out there today. I hadn't driven my car since last Friday, and let me tell you... It was a little block of ice this morning! I went to get a coffee after bootcamp at the drive through, and even my windows were frozen shut! eeek!

2. I'm kicking ass in the eating category of late. My portions are way smaller, and I'm feeling more satisfied. Example: Last night we had fahitas on WW wraps. I had 2, with some salad. I was still feeling kinda hungry, but I just waited it out and let my body 'fill up'. I had a yogurt with strawberries for desert, and felt great!

3. My skin is very crocodile like. Flaky and gross.

4. Its 8h10, and my unpunctual co-worker isn't here yet. Shocker.

5. I'm excited to get my make up done at MAC on Saturday. Yippee!

6. We got groceries finally last night, so my menu is back to being planned again. Phew!

B: coffee, oatmeal
S: banana
L: Salad with chicken
S: berries and mango yogurt
D: Porkchop, broccoli, taters and asparagus -> my new love, why didn't I eat this before?
S: Fudgebar

AP's: Kettlebells at bootcamp.

Wednesday.

My staff dinner last night was a success! I ordered the small prime rib, asparagus, and a side garden salad... I did have a glass of wine before dinner. But thats ok too. I deserved it!

A lady in my office is starting to piss me off. I'm not a clock watcher by any means... but I do happen to sit by a window so I see the comings and goings. This week she changed her hours to 7-3. As I type this very sentence, she's walking in. She arrived at the same time yesterday AND Monday. She's a little more punctual in the PM though. Sure as shit, she's outta here by 2:56pm! Gah. This woman has also been in the public service for 20+ years, and somehow has NO sick leave! How is that even possible...? I've only been here for 4 years, and I already have a nice little bank of sick time. Its pathetic really.

I decided to organize a Cookie Exchange at work. I love baking, but this year I really don't have a lot of time... so I figure I bake 349583 dozen of one thing, and voila, my X-mas baking is done! So far I have 6 participants. Not too bad!

I'm feeling pretty drained today. I was yawning at the beginning of bootcamp... and still am yawning now.

It looks like Andrew and I will be hosting Christmas dinner this year!! I'm pretty excited. Although, I've never cooked a turkey before and despite having to do all the cooking, I think it will be so much more relaxing to have everyone come to us, rather the have to worry about going home.

My menu today is a blur. We've been doing less frequent groceries in attempt to save some money... so we're all out of lunch stuff. I didn't have time to make my protein shake either. Boo.

B: Granola bar
S: Banana, clementines

Thats all I have planned so far.

AP's: Ass kicking chez bootcamp.

Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuesday

1) Its still snowing. Shocker. Speaking of snow... I have a bit of a vent. The roads were bad yesterday, yes. So bad that you couldn't get to work? Maybe not. Half of my office wasn't here yesterday due to the roads. Even one lady that takes the bus wasn't here. They're not being docked any time. This kind of irritates me.

2) Interesting observation: I used to go to cardio kick boxing class at my gym all the time before bootcamp. I skipped bootcamp yesterday, so I went. It was barely even a workout for me! I'm amazed at how bootcamp has improved my cardio, which was already pretty decent in the first place.

3) Today was a kettlebell lower body workout. Holy tough batman. I'll definately be feeling that tomorrow!

4) I have my staff Christmas party tonight at The Keg. Yummy, delicious steak. I always find it rather easy to eat out at places like that. As long as I avoid wine and bread.

5) My co-worker who always brings me coffee, just brought me a coffee AND some sort of treat that is hiding in a tim hortons bag. It shall remain there. I will not even open it. I'll save it for Andrew.

6) I'm hungry.

My day:
B: Protein shake
S: clementine, banana
L: Sushi or subway
S: clementine, banana
D: Steak and veggies. No taters. Just delicious meat and veggies.
S: Fudge bar when I get home.

AP's: Booooooootcamp. Jennifer you were asking where I take it: www.ottawaadventurebootcamp.com

Snow, Snow and more SNOW!

1) We're being snowed in.. wowsa! I confess right now, I skipped bootcamp so that I could hitch a ride with Andrew. He promised to force me to go to the gym later on tonight though.

2) In the forecast: Another 20cms by the days end. I think its safe to assume we'll have snow on the big day!

3) Big day: 28 days away. AHH!

4) On the dress front: I'm feeling a little better about it all. We had dinner at my cousin's on Sat night. They got married in June, and she was telling me she went though the same things... so at least I know other brides go through the same thing.

5) This weekend, I was definately feeling in a funk AGAIN. I think its too much alone time. Sometimes I crave it... but not lately. With the exception of dinner at my cousin's I didn't even leave the house. Pathetic eh?

6) I actually also need to thank Andrew. Last night, during my funk I lost my desire to cook. I looked at him all lovingly, asking him if we should just order pizza for supper. He said, lets just make something here. THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME FROM THE CRAPPY PIZZA BABY!

Menu today:

B- Granola bar
S- Oatmeal
L- leftover goat cheese pasta with sauteed veggies (see MUCH better then pizza!)
S- clementine
D- Chicken breast, corn, taters
S- Fudge bar

AP's: Gonna kick my own ass at the gym. I'm thinking sprints on the treadmill, pushups and situps. OR if we get home by 5:00 (highly unlikely I suspect) I'll hit up the class.

Good Luck Lynn!

A shout out to Lynn.... Who gets married today!!

She has literally worked her ass off in preparation for her big day. She is one of the most dedicated WWers out there, and I'm sooo happy for her!

Enjoy your day Lynn. Can't wait to hear all about the big day!