I'm ALMOST "Old"...and other new things.

It's the 1st of March. I have a week til I'm 27 - officially in my late 20s. I'm torn about how I feel about this one. Part of me is like "sweet! I'm an adult!" and the other part is like "dammit. I'm supposed to be an adult".

But whatever - it's an excuse to party it up, birthday style, like I do every year. I'm super excited about this year, even if it means a million people are going to be crashing on the various spaces on my living room floor and all that. But it will be good times.

More than that though, I'm super excited about all my travels this year. Vegas, Vancouver, France, Cali... I don't know where I'm going to find the money to do it all but it will be great times.

Ange and I are off on an A-Team adventure to Vegas April 9-12. I can't wait, it's going to be fabulous. Not exactly sure what we'll do while we're there but I think we'll have a great time.

Trishelle and I are hoping to get out to Vancouver in July for Canada day and then I'm off to France in Aug with a stop in Finland on the way there and a few days spent in England on the way back. And then, way off in Oct, Deb and I are going to do a California road trip.

The only downside to my exciting travels is that theres a decent chance that Dave won't be here when I get back from France. He'll most likely be on a plane to Japan where he's going to be doing an exchange for 8 months. I'm still not super excited about this, even though I think it's a fantastic opportunity. If it were me in his shoes, I'd be all about going on exchange... however I'm the one stuck in London for another 8 months. With like, none of my friends. And having to find a roomate for 2 semesters.

Nothing is for sure with Dave going yet, so I'm trying not to worry too much about it. However there is going to come a time where I have to figure out what's gonna happen. Argh.

Allie Camera

So I finally got myself around to taking some pictures. The subject ended up being me because my cat gets mad when I keep taking pictures of him. I borrowed a pretty sweet lens from work and slapped on some make up and entertained myself for a while. I used to do it all the time, putting makeup on and taking pictures of myself. Some people make fun of me, but whatever!! .... and yes, that's my wig. Someday my hair'll be long again!

Here's a few:

 

  

 

Shred Update

I've been doing the Shred for like, 15 days now.

I measured myself this evening after working out and was horrified to discover that NOTHING HAS CHANGED!! Actually, that's a partial lie - the only part of my body that seems to have decreased was the area under my boobs. Great.

Gotta say, I'm feeling pretty discouraged this evening! Bah! Not to mention my downstairs neighbour complained about my racket on Monday night after I went all out... so now I'm resigned to doing my cardio half-assed.

I think it's time I get myself back to the gym.

30 Day Shred - Week 1

So I started the 30 Day Shred. It's a dvd with Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser. It's only 25 min a day, which I think I can bring myself to do. It's been hard getting motivated some days, and I'm sure if I would stop eating crap food I'd be doing better but I've planned to stick with this, and stick with it I will do.

I took my measurements today, about 5 days in. I also took pictures of myself, which I hope to call "before".

Start Jan 9

Calves 15.25
Thighs
  lower 19
  upper 25.25
Hips   42.5
waist
  where I wear my pants  34
  "true" waist  29
bust    32.5/36.5
arms  11.5

And before pictures:

Things I'd like to see gone:

the love handles

the saddlebags

the flabby belly...

and things I'd like to see appear:

lifted butt
toned arms
some ab definition
back definition!

Not sure that all those things are possible, but here's to trying!!

Christmas

It's almost Christmas - at first the holiday was sneaking up on us but now it seems to be gaining speed, kinda like a ninja. All stealthy and hidden and what not, and all of a sudden it's gonna be all up in my grill demanding my time and energy.

I can't fully say I was super excited about Christmas this year. A bunch of traditions have since fallen by the wayside - decorating the tree (though we didn't do this last year either), sending out Christmas cards (again, haven't done this in a while) and participating in other various holiday festivities. Now that I'm not at home anymore and my mom isn't there to insist upon our involvement it's really hard to bring myself to do all the stuff that comes along with the holidays myself.

A few traditions have survived - Trishelle and I had our annual Cookie Factory day (though it was more done at night this year) last weekend. We baked many a batch of sugar cookies and gingermen like every year.

I will also be making nuts and bolts this year, like I did with my grandma every year prior to her passing away. Usually she'd overlook the whole production and while the nuts and bolts were in the oven she would get me to wrap her presents. I will likely attempt to do my own wrapping at the same time.

Since I'm watching my pennies and trying to keep costs to a minium, I've been crocheting my friends and family super cute slippers. I always think that homemade gifts are better than store bought ones anyway.

Soon the holiday season will be over and it will be closer to summer... which I can not wait for!