Goodnight Sunday

I told you that I love a mean sunset :) Well any sunsets really. I was in my living room watching a re-run of the Gilmore Girls when I glanced out my living room window to see this sunset… It grabbed me. I like a sunset which gives you colours other than orange… I love a combination of pink, yellow and orange sunsets… They are just stunning to look at. And as quickly as I glanced out the window, a mere 10 minutes later and it was gone…

I made it to the gym today. Man it was tough! I did spend about 25 minutes on the treadmill, both power walking and running. I’m still not 100% comfortable running on the treadmill… Sometimes I feel like I’m about to fall off the back of it or lose my balance. I know it’s mostly me just being paranoid but it also probably means I should spend more time running on the treadmill. Hah! Other than that it was a reasonably good session. I wanted to do some weights after my session on the treadmill but the weights area I normally go to was completely full. And there were so many men there doing their weight training. I don’t really care who’s around me when I do weights but I tend to get a little intimidated by the men. It’s weird. Because I only feel this way on the weights floor. If I were on the treadmill or some other cardio machine, I’d be so fine! So yeah, because the weights area was so packed, I gave it a miss.

I should try and do it again tomorrow. Oh, Monday, how are you almost here already?!

Sunday alone time

Marc and I had plans to spend some time together today but he got called into work early this morning and now won’t be home till later this afternoon.

It doesn’t bother me because I know he enjoys working and working on a weekend always means good money. But now it just means that I’m alone on a Sunday and what am I to do? Normally I would go shopping but I already did that yesterday and spent a little more than I should have, so I should probably stay away from anything retail right now.

I’m considering heading to the gym – if you must know, something I haven’t done for a few weeks now. If you read my blog and you’re not surprised, I don’t blame you! It’s pretty much my regular pattern… I get into the gym for a couple of weeks and do the right thing and even feel good about it and for it… But then I drop off for a few weeks.

That’s my problem and my head knows how to fix it but my heart doesn’t. The main thing I’ve come to realise about exercise is that you just have to do it. You can’t think about it. You can’t ponder it. You can’t analyse it. You just have to do it. Otherwise you’ll just end up doing everything under the sun but exercise.

So you know what? I’m just going to do it.

Happy Sunday :)

C25K – Week 2

I just realised that this weekend is a long weekend! Hoo-to-the-ray! It’s such an awesome feeling when you realise something like that. It’s just like the many times I wake up on a Saturday morning in a panic thinking it’s a work day, when really, it’s a Saturday and I can continue sleeping. It’s a good feeling.

Anyway, I started my second week of the C25K program today… man, it was tough! I’m not going to lie. I was going to hit the gym this morning before work but who am I kidding? Seriously, I don’t even know why I try. I just don’t do mornings! I know it’s a matter of getting myself into a morning routine and habit – but that’s just it. I can’t get myself into one! I decided that I was going to hit the gym after work instead, which I did. I had to really, because the cardio floor at my gym is closed over the next 2 days whilst they install new cardio equipment across the gym. I can’t wait to see what they’re like.

So, of course being the second week of this program, the running time increases as the program moves along. I am now running at 1.5 minute intervals. It’s tough! A minute and a half does not sound long at all, but when it comes to running, it can feel like a lifetime. I find that I have to mentally push myself most times. I have to try and focus on my breathing or my steps. It certainly doesn’t help when I’m on a crappy treadmill! Like I was today. The treadmill wouldn’t let me run over a certain speed which was fine, because I wasn’t running that fast anyway (it’s a program, not a race!) but when I did run, the treadmill just felt really unstable and everytime my feet landed on the treadmill, it would make a thumping sound which may have annoyed a lot of the other gym users around me. Halfway through the session, I swapped treadmills. So much better. Unfortunately it didn’t stop the pain of running though.

I scrolled through the weeks on this program, and apparently in week 8, which is the end of the program, I should be able to run for 35 minutes non-stop. Do you know how much that scares the crap out of me? I get goosebumps and the shivers just thinking about it. I still have the mentality and attitude that I can’t do it. Or at least I can’t see myself running 35 minutes non-stop. I know I have to change that because I’m slowly improving. But still. It’s daunting and scary as hell.

Collecting furniture

We slept in this morning till about 9am… Marc feels bad about sleep-ins whereas I sleep in on weekends completely guilt free! So after our sleep in this morning, we had to run a few errands. That took us to about midday and we didn’t have anything else to do. Normally what would happen is that we would chill out on the couch infront of the tv… But today we decided to get active again.

So we drove the five minutes to the river and power walked along it! It was such a beautiful day out that we just had to be outside. The photo above shows a very murky river and that’s because it rained non-stop over the last few days. We quite regularly, in good weather, walk along the river. The usual route that we take is a good 4 to 5km so it’s pretty good exercise.

After our power walk, we went to a nursery nearby to checkout a few plants I wanted to get but more importantly the nursery has the most amazing homeware/furniture shop that I absolutely love. I wanted to do a little window shopping. As soon as we stepped in, I fell in love with just about every piece of furniture and home decor they had!

My eyes immediately fell onto this most beautiful hutch… Extremely rustic and country-like… Just my style. What was even better was that it was on sale! I wanted to leave the shop with it right there and then… But I wouldn’t have a place to store it! I love furniture shopping for the new house we plan on buying later this year… But it’s just so hard to find somewhere to store them! Our existing home is a tad too small to house more furniture…

I swear I’m considering becoming a ‘furniture collector’! Some people like to collect stamps… Or collect art… I like to collect furniture! Only good, quality pieces that is. I so want to open a shop like Tori Spelling’s Inventori… I think that would be a dream come true for me!

In the mean time I’ve just got to start my collection in a relatively small manner and find a place to store them. I didn’t leave the nursery with that hutch but my lord I’ve been thinking about it all day. I may go back for a second peek at it… I’m sure I’ll be able to find space in our spare room… Somehow…

My Saturday morning

It’s mid-Saturday morning and so far I’ve had breakfast and been to the gym! I did my third session of C25K… It’s going well! I love it!

The major improvement I’ve seen is that I finally see a glimpse of actually enjoying a run. Before this I knew for a fact that I hated running. Now? Not so much. Can I run yet? I don’t think so. The program is based on a combination of running and walking – so yes, I have been running but until I run a full 5k without any stops or feeling like I want to die, then I don’t think I can fully say that I can run just yet.

Marc on the other hand begs to differ. My sweetheart and the optimist of the household thinks that it is a huge improvement that I’m running even if it’s broken up with walks and in intervals. I guess he’s right… Baby steps!

So now I’m listening to my babe in the shower singing to Alicia Keys. He’s a complete closet Alicia Keys fan! We’re off to the jewellers today to hopefully order our wedding bands :) I’m swooning with excitement!

That’s my Saturday morning and not even the dismal, rainy weather out there can get me down… Happy Saturday!

My Friday night

I’ve had a good week at work… Met my targets and was happy to be able to leave work just after four this afternoon. Nothing beats leaving work early on a Friday!

Marc was home early-ish too and we had planned to go to the gym together. But of course the ‘but it’s Friday!’ excuse got the better of us and we skipped our gym session. Instead we cooked the most delicious stir-fry noodle dinner together. One of Marc’s favourite things to do is for us to cook together. He loves it. I don’t love the cooking part, but l do love the company. When we cook, we talk a lot, we laugh, we joke around… It’s actually kind of nice to do that at the end of a busy week – to reconnect, recap the week, plan the weekend – lately, as much as I’ve loved the tv shows I’ve been watching religiously, I’ve found that it’s so nice and surprisingly relaxing to have the tv turned off. Even if it’s for just an hour. The tv is turned on a lot in our house! A bad habit we’re trying to get rid off.

After dinner, it was still light outside and to make the most of whatever daylight savings we have left, we put on our walking shoes and walked our neighbourhood. We do evening walks around the ‘hood a fair bit but once in awhile we throw in a big one. Like an hour and a half, sometimes two hours long. It’s another way we can connect with each other and just catch up on each other’s day or even week without distractions around us. We also use our walks to explore the many beautiful streets around us which happen to have some most amazing and beautiful homes – I like to stalk pretty houses!

So tonight was one of those extra long walks – we walked out and the sun was still out. It slowly went down and by the time we got home, it was pitch black. And that was pretty much my Friday night… If that is what my Friday nights are going to be like for the next fifty years of my life? I’m okay with that :)

Have a great weekend!