I love sweatshirts!

I don't know about you, but one of my fav. pieces of clothing is a sweatshirt. When sick, it's my favourite comfort clothing. When cold, it keeps me warm.

For me, the sweatshirt must be at least one size too big and must be in hoodie form. If the sleeves don't allow me to fully engulf my hands, then it's no good whatsoever.

Another important aspect of wearing a sweatshirt is that it must be worn with nothing underneath it. A t-shirt just gets in the way of the cotton!

I'm self aware enough to know that this is most definitely one of my most pointless posts. :)

The question is what's your favourity type of clothing to wear?

Up`

I just saw "Up".
And I cried.
I would love to say that I bawled, for dramatic reasons, but a) that would be lying and b) that would make me sort of a dork.

I am a sucker for sweet children's films and "Up", in the vain of Robert Munch's (sp.?) "Love You Forever" and Pixar's "Finding Nemo", is one such film that just shatters your heart a little and fills you with joy and love and rainbows and puppies. Visually it is stunning and the orchestral score lifts you up along with that small old house being carried away by balloons, and you can't help but bounce a little in your seat as the adventure takes off.

I don't want to ruin the film, so I will give a very brief synopsis:

Old grumpy man wants to go on an adventure, a young over-enthusiastic boy gets carried away with him and then things get sad and angry and crazy and stressful but most importantly, things get happy.

But oh, it is so much more than that.

Personally, I responded to this because a small part of the storyline really hit close to home, and so I couldn't help but break out in a few tears of sadness...but overall, I think you will ALL enjoy this. And if you don't, you obviously have no heart.

So if you dream, if you like adventures, if you've still got that little kid inside of you who bounces with hope and joy and love, then go out now and get carried away with "Up!"

Happinesss is a warm oven

Few things in life make me happier than cooking for someone else.

If it's family, friends, or a special someone, I plan the menu, wash the ingredients, and focus on putting positive energy into the meal I'm making. I try to make it colorful and visually arresting...bright yellow curry, hot pink salmon, ruby red tomatoes, dazzling green peas, crystalline ice cubes, dazzling purple onions, leafy sprouts, artfully arranged skewers. I like strong flavors....if I make you a ceasar salad, it'll be more garlicky than you're used to, if it's barbecue you can expect your food well-done, and if it's mexican, then go easy on the salsa!

Expressing feelings through food is my way of saying I care about you. I can't buy you jewellery or take you on vacation, but I can demonstrate how valuable you are in my life through this kind of appreciation. This has been true of many people for many years (the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, according to old wives), but I'll tell you a secret. I have found there is no better therapy than making a meal.

If you need to de-stress, if you are feeling blue, if you need to let go of some emotional or mental block, all you need to do is get out some recipe cards, and follow the instructions. Simple tasks where your hands do the work and your brain can let go: crack an egg, measure a half cup of sugar, slice a green pepper.

Try it and see!

Let's Get Active!

A few weeks ago, I rejoiced in the idea of having a summer fling. I've decided to change my statement to summer fit. More to the point, let's get active!

I think we hear fit and some of us may picture perfect speedo/bikini bods with rock hard abs, etc. After close to three decades on this planet, I'm realizing that's just not going to happen for me. I'm going to stick with simply being active and letting the rest take care of itself.

I'm on a 90 day workout challenge and I'm 13 days into it. It's called the P90x workout (www.beachbody.com) and it's a series of DVDs that guide you through a different workout each day of the week. I was drawn to it as it does a day of yoga each week, which is something that I haven't seen in a professional mainstream workout before. Plus, you do 2 days of cardio and get a day off each week. After two weeks of the same videos, it's starting to lose its lustre, but I can certainly see how people would see results by the end. Work out 90 days straight for an hour or so, one is bound to see some improvements. :)

For me, it's not just about getting fit, it's really about just being active. After 13 days of being active daily, I'm seeing the signs. I'm eating a lot more than ever, cuz my body is craving nourishment and it's mostly all healthy. I'm hydrated to the point that I'm using the washroom way too often to empty my bladder. ;) I'm sleeping much longer than before and having vivid dreams due to my extreme exhaustion at the end of the day. Most of all, I'm having a lot of fun.

On top of the P90x workouts, I'm leading yoga sessions, taking long walks and going out blading w/ new and old friends. The summer is officially here, so why not take advantage of it?

What are you doing to be active these days?

What the fuck is up with this weather.

Over the past few years, I have maintained a very simple and respectable "sick" cycle. I only get sick once a year and it usually hits me around the end of September/beginning of October. I get a mild flu, I stay home, drop a few pounds and then spend a week gaining my sick weight back which is ALWAYS fun. Now it may be a bad thing that I always get the flu once year because really, your goal should be to never ever get the flu. But my "sick" cycle has been so consistent that I have grown accustomed to my flu's arrival and I even prepare for it during that time!

However...

With this up and down weather, with the cold and the hot and the humid and the chills and the "holy crap everyone else is sick and now I'm sick", my entire system is thrown off. I feel crappier than ever lately, and I just totally got the flu a few days ago when really, I shouldn't be getting this until late September, and I blame this on global warming because even the cicadas are starting to emerge and they shouldn't be out for another 4 years, because they only mate every 17!

Or, I have some other life-threatening illness and this is just a symptom.


Is anyone feeling thrown off by this annoyingly crappy weather?
Am I crazy?

I can hear you now!

WOOHOO, I can hear you now!!! Spending 10 days in the land of the semi hearing is not an enjoyable feeling whatsoever. You see, I've got a mild hearing loss and wear hearing aids to help to get it to full power. Some people confuse having a hearing loss with being deaf. To explain it to children, I say that just like how some people wear glasses, some people wear hearing aids to help them hear better.

The major difference between glasses and hearing aids would be the insane cost for them. Ontario government will pitch in 500/aid every 3 years and your employee might be nice enough to chip in some too. Mine are probably about 5 years old and slowly dying. I had to get them in prior to the warranty running out or else I'd have to buy a new pair sooner than later and be a bit more broke.

Being one hearing aid short was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. For years, I only used one. The last 2 years, I've been using 2 and became quite comfortable with that. Spending 10 days without one, meeting new people, working, etc was not so much fun at all. It was a gentle reminder that I do have a disability and could face a potential future of struggling with it daily. On days when one feels invincible, it was a reminder that one is not.

My other one needs to go in too, but I've got a series of presentations coming up. Hard to be semi deaf when you're presenting to a room of 200 people. Well I could do it, it'd be one damn huge struggle. Two years ago, I went two weeks with nothing and pretty much just faked my way through the experience.

So if you've had the (dis)pleasure of hanging out with me over the last couple of weeks and I seemed a bit off, now you know why. For this week, I can hear you now. Next week, it'll be another week of just smiling and nodding along. :)

Roomies or No Roomies

After 5 months of living alone, I've reached that question that we all come to at some point: Do I want a roomie?

When I moved out, I was leaving my 'rents, where I had been living for almost 14 months. I had done it to save money to buy my own place. I broke up w/ my ex, realized I couldn't afford to own solo, and was going nuts by the 'rents.

To solve this dilemma, I moved out. First, I put to the universe exactly what I wanted. Three bedrooms, 1 for sleep, 2 for yoga, 3 for office. I wanted it close to work and close to downtown. I wanted it to be in a quiet space with no dogs barking. I wanted it for cheap!

Universe delivered, I love Universe and all is well. One of my best girlies then started talking about needing a place and I started thinking...maybe I could deal with a roomie.

Pros and Cons to Roomie-life!

Pros: Companionship
Cons: Can't be naked 24/7
Pros: Roomie can help to keep place tidy
Cons: Can't keep bringing over randoms twice daily
Pros: Monthly expenses sliced in half
Cons: Roomie could be annoying, stupid, ugly, have ugly random encounters, not do dishes, have a loud barky dog, and talk incessantly about rocks.

And you know, the list goes on and such.

So what'd you think? Live a life in solitude or get a roomie? What's your experience with roomies? Would you wanna be my roomie? :P