Merry (belated) Xmas?

My cousin's blog kind of motivated me to blog about this... and heck.. as all of my blogs go, It's pretty much about how I'm feeling at this current moment and the thoughts that are going be streaming out of my mind...

side note: if i don't make sense, I don't really care. Figure it out lol

I guess i'll start with my xmas...

My family doesn't celebrate xmas. Nope, we used to have a tree when i was younger but my mom decided to not have it anymore because no one would initate to bring it down... and to tell you the truth, we are just a bunch of lazy viet ppl who don't really care. ever since then, we haven't celebrated xmas.
On friday after working, I went over to Joo's place. I little depressed the whole day because my friend was invited to this annual xmas eve party... but i wasn't. I was lil' embarrassed because the host actually called me out about it and told me not to be foolish so of course, (because by default) i was invited. whatever. i'll leave that behind me.
Our family's (j's fam) don't quite celebrate xmas so we (I) decided that we should just go out for dinner just the two of us. We ended up going to the Keg (not our first choice but everything was closed) and had a steak dinner. It was pleasant because we rarely get to out by ourselves on such a special occasion :)
After we ordered, I surprised him with his gift. He was utterly surprised that I got him what he wanted for so long (because I'm also utterly broke). he was grateful for it ... and i'm grateful that I gave it to him.
During the course of our dinner, I am still amazed that we can still carry on our silly conversations after so many years. It felt quite nice.
On xmas day, I really had nothing to do. I knew everyone had plans so I decided to dedicate that day to sleeping in and cleaning my (hurricaned) room. Yes, Re and cousin, you guys would be proud of me!!! It is quite clean and organized! Hopefully it will last when you guys can come over to witness this!! lol
I also did my nails, cleaned my washroom took a shower then headed over to j's parents house to spend some time with him and his fam. Even though I got there around midnight, it was pleasant to see J and his fam happy to just watch transformers from tv. We didn't stay long after that.
The next day, I was dragged to the mall by my younger sisters to go boxing day shopping. I guess they're at that age where they need to go boxing day shopping. regardless, it was fun and pleasant... tiring but spent some good quality time with my sisters.

I didn't really do much during my break. (I didn't know I had the Monday AND Tuesday off until the Thursday before lol so I didn't plan anything)

As I was reading my cousin's blog entry about her xmas break... I kind of felt the same way. Yes, I did. That lonely, no plans type of thing. That very day, I thought to myself what if J was no longer in my life. What back up plans should I consider to doing instead of sulking around and thinking about this and that?
I then thought about my sisters and family.
So i'm proposing to you cousin, that if you ever feel lonely regardless of the day, please do not hesitate to call me. I always look forward to seeing you and even though sometimes our schedules do not correspond, we eventually always make it correspond. So next year on xmas day or xmas eve or even boxing day - or whenever you do feel lonely - don't be. I am more than glad to spend your lonely day with you :)

Another note, (I'm not sure if i should disclose this on my blog but i'm going to do it anyway) I've been invited to a party next month in which I do not want to go. I think after this party and this whole thing that is causing this party, I've decided leave our friendship behind. When I say behind, I mean behind in 2010. 2011 will be a new year and fresh decade to start with (which reminds me that i will have to do another 2010 flashback posting and a 2011 resolution posting.. maybe tmr?) I think our friendship has seen its strains. Our common interests are slowly fading and I find myself kind of dreading to see you. I'm sorry to say this but I really don't know what to do?

Electric Car

Yesterday night I was going through my usual readings and came upon this article in the toronto star app:

Wanted: Electric car lovers
Toronto Hydro is looking for another 16 volunteers to try driving electrically for the next four years.
They’ll even pay for the juice.

You can find the article here & the official website here

I was quite interested in the article, especially because it's about electric cars. I've always wanted to try an electric/hybrid car. I told J about this article who advised me that I should apply for the program. The only problem is that, I can't afford it. Because I'm in school and only work once a week, my pay cheque all goes to the debt I've encountered through my visa. With this being said, my parents have decided to open an amex for me where they pay for all my gas. Yes good deal it is! My parents spend a lot in gas in a month. So i'm hoping that if i propose this lease to them, they're be convinced that I won't be spending a lot in gas! Especially when the charging doesn't cost me a dime and maintenance isn't too bad either!

I'm gonna ask them tonight and see what they think! Hopefully they agree! =D Wish me luck!

IMC and more

I really want to get into blogging again but been way too busy to update. With IMC projects - interactive, package, ads, POP etc etc - and with the annual report, I've been busying myself with design. Not to mention, I have a corporate identity manual to design for my healthy energy drink brand to work on as well. Flash class has been a mish mash of stupidness but we won't get into that.

Good news though! Our package design has finally been approved! I'm excited!
For the past 4 weeks, my group has been giving our prof a new concept and design each week and each week it kept getting rejected.
So with this new design approved, we can finally move on to the rest of our connecting projects for this package - web design, interface design (prob for the iphone app), social media, consumer & retails ads and finally our presentation. We have about a month to get everything done. This is where me and C work on the ads and J work on the interactive part. Time to hype it up! We have such a unique brand that we can seriously take all our toy to the next level.
On that note, I'm very happy with my group. I think we work very well together and all have a passion for design. A couple of our guys have even ignored their AR (because they've been illustrating our package since we started) to work on this package. I'm very proud of them and being the self-proclaimed group leader (aka the person who organizes and forces people to be on our deadlines), I think we work very well as a group. S & M, they've been incredible with the illustrations. Their talent has been a marvel to all of us! J has been managing all of our production and will be working on our interactive part. C's really good at photocopying (lol kidding) no, her feedback on everything has been essential. I'm looking forward to working with her in our ads which will be type based (but we'll see!).

I guess onto another note: My annual report for Adidas has been going very well as well! As of right now, I've already finished up finessing type and spatial relationships. Now, I'm currently working on the spreads that celebrate the brand, the cover, front cover, back cover and inside back cover. The most important spreads! Hopefully it all turns out well because I think this will be an important piece in my portfolio.
Another project I've been very excited to work on is my corporate manual for my logo/signature I've designed. I'm extremely happy with the outcome of my signature/logo for the brand elan (an healthy energy drink, targetted for the sophisticated crowd). Initially, we had to go into groups and all think of names for this new brand. I didn't quite want it to be named elan but meh. Out of all the brands i've seen for elan, I think mine is the most effective with a high concentration on abstract conceptual thinking. (I got that A+ for a reason, right!?! lol) I thought that corporate design would be weakness, just like illustrating, but I guess not.

Anyhow, I think that's it. I really want to post up my work but don't think I'll be doing it until the semester is done (hopefully if I don't get too busy with ft work and laziness).

My Birthday coming up!

As you may all know, my birthday is coming up. Like every other year, I'm really excited about it because.... I feel special :) And whatever goes, GOES!

I know that a lot of you have trouble getting me gifts. I really don't blame you because I don't even know what I want for my birthday. Every year, I always want one thing and that one thing usually just goes to Joo because I don't really want him running around doing stuff for me on my bday (he's got better things to do such as researching a really good resto for our dinner date).
And if you know me, I'm not the materialistic type of person. I don't really go shopping anymore and I'm not into make up. I don't care about designer shit (except for sunglassess in which I have two pairs already) and don't care for useless, decorative things. What I do say every year to those who ask me what I want for my birthday is to spend my birthday with me. That's all. I invite ppl for a reason and that reason is to build memories :)

However, this year, I'm not going to say that. I'm sorry for being selfish but I think after this semester, I'd really like to get away.... With this being said, here's my devious birthday plan.

I want to go to Florida

yep, I said it. I want to go to Florida. With this being said, I am officially accepting donations/gifts to the "Pauline's going to Florida" Fund. This fund will help me pay for my flight there (which is going to be the most expensive thing I have to pay for). I'm planning to go early January so if you're also thinking about getting me a xmas gift, this is it! =D

Anything would help.

Thank you :)

Day 03 - Your views on drugs and alcohol.

Since I've changed my layout, my pics don't fit into the fitted box. This is the thing about web design. I have no idea how these web master do it!!?? I can officially say that web design is definitely NOT my thing. On a good note though, (I know I'm a bit behind), I figured out that the InDesign in CS5 allows for interactive components. I can design a website/animation and import it into flash and/or dreamweaver.
[update!:] (sorry I wrote that earlier in class because I didn't want to listen to my prof ramble on about how to use the pen tool in illustrator. Goodness, you would think that after 4 semesters and one huge illustrator project last term, people in my class would be able to maser it! Anyway, my prof just showed us how to import a series of illustrator layers into an animation in flash! He practically did our flash assignment in 10 mins! lol it took my flash prof 6 WEEKS to teach us the same thing! wow!

Freedom March 2010

So my views on drugs and alcohol. This is what I have to say:
alcohol = good
drugs = meh

I know drugs in general are a big no no in our society. It's frowned upon yet there is a secret society out there where the most unexpected people do drugs. To me, different kinds of drugs have different kinds of degrees. The lowest grade drug, to me, is marijuana. I believe it's harmless compared to other drugs out there. And trust me, when I was a teenager, I tried drugs.
Not only marijuana, but k (horse tranquilizer) and e. I, personally, did not feel anything when I sniffed k. I have seen people on k and they tripped out to a point where they thought they were in another world.
E, meh. I took the emotional kind of e. You get really emotional, say things that you wouldn't normally say. It's kind of weird actually. I didn't like the buzz when I was on it because I didn't like the tired-hyperness of it (it makes you stay awake) and the grinding of the teeth pissed me off.
In general, I wouldn't want my younger siblings to do drugs due to the fear of them being addicted to it. In my last year at York, I took a course called "addiction & society." One of the requirements for the course was to read two books: one was about a doctor from Vancouver who treated a well known neighborhood that's known for their addicts; the other one was a collection of notes from writers who has recalled their memories of them being addicted to some sort of drug or alcohol. After this course, it really opened my mind to a lot of things. For instance, did you know that addiction is biological? Certain people are prone to addiction because of the lack of endorphins they have in their neurological system. All addicts have this trait because they're depressed. They don't realize they're depressed because all they want is to fill that void. And yes, depression is genetic. I mention this because my older sister has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression just a couple of months ago. Thankfully she realized this and seeked professional help. Others, not so much.
There has been a history of depression in my family. My uncle has died from alcoholism; my cousin in VN is addicted to heroin; and of course, my mother is addicted to work because it keeps her mind off things. Because of this, I fear that my sisters and brother will be addicted to drugs. Not only that, I fear that my children (with J) will be more prone to it because his family also has a history of depression and drug abuse.
So what's my view on drugs? I think every teenager should at least experiment with drugs. I say teenagers because they're the ones who do not have much responsibility in their life at the time. When I mean experiment, I mean, society itself shouldn't brush this taboo topic under the rug. Parents shouldn't hush their kids and restrict them from doing it. Supervision is key. If my kids want to smoke marijuana, fine. I'd rather them drink and do drugs at my house rather than doing it elsewhere where I don't know if they're dead or not.
I know, I have contrasting ideas. I think my last paragraph is most agreeable though. I say this because if my siblings wanted to do drugs, they can go ahead and do it. I just hope that they have good judgement when they continue it.

Day 02 - Where you’d like to be in 10 years.

I know it hasn't been a day yet... and yes I know... it hasn't even been 6 hours since my last post but I figured that I'd be wayyy too busy to update my blog so I'm gonna do it as much as I can now lol



But first, there are some few things I'd like to mention:

Yesterday, I spent the whole day eating lol I woke up with this massive headache followed by my stomach turning with hunger. I turned out that the night before (Saturday), I went out on a heavy drinking binge with the cousin and Re on an empty stomach. ouch. I know... Anyway, my point was that when JY and I went to meet his family for dinner, I was talking to his cousin's wife and found out that she has a blog. The thing that amazed me about her was that, well she's a mother of twin boys (babies, under a year old) and she still manages to keep up with a blog! I think she is really what inspired me to keep blogging. Anyway, enough of that.. on to today's topic...

Where'd I like to be in 10 years?

Well, that's a bit hard to say, considering that I have the tendancy to change my whole life around with one simple decision. It's hard choosing your path in life and i'm pretty sure everyone agrees with me (hopefully). I've come to the conclusion that i shouldn't plan my life because well, it really never works out! For example, 10 years ago, I would imagine myself married or having a house to call my own! What am I doing today, right now at this instance? Typing up where I'd like to be in 10 years in a crummy corporate desk, bored to death because this job is really going no where. Ok, i'll be a little bit more optimistic (for some sort of reason, I'm terribly cranky due to lack of sleep because of school stress). I guess this is where I'd like to be in 10 years:

Above is me and my twin sisters.

This was the day that Em won her a trophy for being the number 1 team in her league. And that's where I want to be: be #1 in everything I do.
I know, it's high hopes... and I know that I'll probably be disapointed on the way there but that's it. I want to be one of the top graphic designers out there because I know I have the potential to be one. I'm not sure where I would specialize in but for now, I'm really liking the idea of designing annual reports.

As for my personal life, I'd really like to be married and with child(ren). I'll be 34 years old and J will be over 35 (wow) so hopefully our biological clock will be working in the next 6-10 years for us to do so!

Day 01 - Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is

Him&me - Halloween 2009

Firstly, I'd like to mention that I have changed my layout. I know, booorrrriiinnnnngggg, right? Yes it is. At this current moment, I have no inspiration to really make things pretty (even though it is my job to do so). I've been drained of all design stuff so please, do not judge!

Why does this have to start with a relationship status? As if I'm blogging to meet someone out there?! Anywayy....

Yes, I am taken. I haven't been single for almost 5 years. To some, that's a long time. To me, it really doesn't feel like it.
If you know me, you know that my relationship with my boyfriend is great. We rarely argue because we try not get eachother upset. And that's the best part about it. I'd like to say that our relationship is based on compromise and understanding. Nothing else.
I love my boyfriend and I can't imagine a life without him.
Actually, I lied. Sometimes, I do. Sometimes I wonder how my life would be if I hadn't have met my boyfriend? If I was currently single? I think it would be a very depressing one.
Before dating Joo, I was going through a rebuilding phase. A phase that allowed me to restart my life. When my ex and I broke up, it was horrifying. The only reason was because I really didn't have any friends to cry on except for one or two. But knowing me, I tried my best not to put my emotional state on their shoulders. I felt like I had no friends. And it was true, I didn't have any friends.. or a group of friends that I can go out with and leave my depressing state at home.
Anyway, my whole point was that, when I met my boyfriend, that was when my life re-started and that was when my rebuilding state has commenced.
I met friends through his friends... I socialized a lot more. The best part about my relationship with him is the fact that he allows me to go out and meet new people; to have fun with my girlfriends and just be me. That has never, ever changed.
He doesn't judge me for who I am. He encourages every thing I decide to do. And he's always there to support and help a lending hand to - not only me - but to my friends and family as well. He's a great guy and even though I get upset at the little things he does or lack of, I still love him for who he is and what he will become.

Yep, I guess you could that he's my number one fan :)

A new start...

I've been thinking about blogging more often now a days. Just something that I can outlet my emotions and recap my thoughts.
I went onto the cousin's blog (I check very often) and found this 30 day blogging this... Just thought it would be a great idea for me do it because it allows me to start blogging once again.

I don't have a lot of time so instead of doing this every day, I've decided that I'd take my time.

Also, I'm really not the type of person to tell everyone (even those who are close to me) about my very dark moments in life. To me, there's no point in resurfacing those memories but I will try my best.

Day 01 - Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is.

Day 02 - Where you’d like to be in 10 years.

Day 03 - Your views on drugs and alcohol.

Day 04 - Your views on religion.

Day 05 - A time you thought about ending your own life.

Day 06 - Write 30 interesting facts about yourself.

Day 07 - Your zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality.

Day 08 - A moment you felt the most satisfied with your life.

Day 09 - How you hope your future will be like.

Day 10 - Discuss your first love and first kiss.

Day 11 - Put your ipod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop upDay 12 - Bullet your whole day

Day 13 - Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.

Day 14 - Your earliest memory.

Day 15 - Your favorite tumblrs.

Day 16 - Your views on mainstream music.

Day 17 - Your highs and lows of this past year.

Day 18 - Your beliefs.

Day 19 - Disrespecting your parents.

Day 20 - How important you think education is.

Day 21 - One of your favorite shows.

Day 22 - How have you changed in the past 2 years?

Day 23 - Give pictures of 5 guys who are famous who you find attractive.

Day 24 - Your favorite movie and what it’s about.

Day 25 - Someone who fascinates you and why.

Day 26 - What kind of person attracts you.

Day 27 - A problem that you have had.

Day 28 - Something that you miss.

Day 29 - Goals for the next 30 days.Day 30 - Your highs and lows of this month

The progress

I know I haven't been updating this lately.. I haven't had the urge to actually write anything... but today, I've decided to share some really good news!

I lost 7 pounds since I started my "lifestyle" change.

Yep, that's huge news for me!

Reluctantly, I forced myself on the scale after our camping trip this past weekend. To my surprise, I've lost 2 pounds!!! How the hell did that happen???? I guess all that hard working with kickboxing, eating healthy and staying on top of things have really made my weight manageable. Since the beginning of this year, I've lost 7 pounds... and for those who know how hard it is to lose weight, it's hard to lose a pound!

But I'm really ecstatic that I can now declare myself under 120lbs =)

Rewind+Fastfoward

I havent' been here in quite some time. I apologize for those who have missed me (if there is anyone out there :S )

A few things I'd like to mention:

So it's about the 2nd month into my kickboxing training. I really enjoy it and don't regret cancelling my membership at Goodlife - well no, I lie. I do miss going to the gym with the cousin and showing off our bodypump skills. With this being said, I also miss bodypump.
Nonetheless, the kickboxing gym does have a weight room. Even though it's not that great, it'll do. Also, Seneca does have adequate facilities. Even thought I wish they have a pool, they do have a punching bag so I can def show off what I've learned from kickboxing there too.
I am actually proud to say that I 'kickbox.' Yes, that's right, I kickbox and will probably kickbox you out of the room as well lol I feel like people underestimate my strength and endurance because my short and small. Well beware bitches, I will cat fight you any time... and have girls to back me up as well! LOL

I realized that I strained my calf muscles during last week's classes. It hurt (and still does) like bitch. Because of this, I'm refraining from kickboxing this week for it to heal fully. I've heard horror story from the guys about not properly letting injuries heal and yes, it's scary. Russ recently had surgery on his knee after not taking care of its injuries properly. Now, me, Ram and Russ are out of order to do anything active because of this. Hopefully it heals this week so I can get back to my routine again.

On the topic of fitness, I've been still keeping up with my "lifestyle change" even though I don't post it up here. I've noticed that my spare tire has been shrinking bit by bit. It gives me motivation to wear that bikini in public again.

I've just read my cousin's blog... in which she mentions summer. Yes, this summer has been hot and steamy! So far, I've done a lot of things:

• Montreal - My summer started off with a long weekend trip with the girls. I've come to realize that my girls are everything - they keep me grounded. And although I probably don't show it or say it but I love you girls so much.
• Summerlicious & Aziz Ansari - This year, a group of us went to Toula Fine Italian Restaurant on the top of the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel by the lake. It was beautiful. The food average.
• Four year anniversary - If you guys know me and Joo, our anniversary is actually Feb 15, a day after vday. This year, we couldn't celebrate it because 1. That week was Chinese New Year 2. I had way too much homework to even think about going out 3. It was too cold. So we promised that we would celebrate it at a later date when we're both stress free and don't have a lot of things going on. We didn't realize that we would be celebrating after almost 6 months lol Oh well. We went to Toula Restaurant again (because Canoe was NA) and it was alright. The best part about our date, (other than our card competition in which he won) was our nightly stroll down the harbourfront. It was romantic. We talked a lot about things including our future together. Anyhow, I'm not gonna get into the juicy things because it almost made me cry :)
• Niagara-on-the-Lake Day - Jessica and I are really big show whores lol We love going to go see plays, musicals and all that jazz. We got really cheap tickets to this play in Niagara-on-the-Lake during the Shaw festival. Since it is a drive away, we decided to spend the day there shopping at Lundy's Lane and going on a cycling wine tour for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun but very exhausting at the end of the day.
• World Cup 2010 - I think Kay will yell at me for not mentioning this ....surprisingly, I enjoyed it. I'm not the type to watch or bet on sports but since this even only comes every 4 years, I thought "why not get into it?" and I did... after Brazil lost, I kind of lost in touch of the whole thing though. Nonetheless, there were several drunken nights with Ram, Lisa, and the cousin after watching the games. I enjoyed it and look forward to watching it again :)

Things I'm looking forward to:

• Vancouver trip with Jessica and Joo: I can't wait to go. We already booked our flights and hotel. I already know what we're probably gonna do :) I've been searching for places to go and restaurants to go to. I can't wait!
• Camping trip: I know, I'm such a city girl... and yes I am sooo proud of being one... so mother nature, please treat me kindly!
• Anthony's wedding: aaahhhhh I finally have a dress!
• Ram's bday boat cruise: got my other dress!
• Niagara Falls with the girls: It's gonna be epic!

And there it goes... my august sched!

Wow, I just read my last post... and yes, I was absolutely angry.

I apologize for my foul language.

This is exactly why I can't wait to leave this shit hole called "work."

I'm always at the bottom on fucken priority list and when I actually needed my supervisor, she was chatting with one of my coworkers.

I'm literally counting down the days until i leave this shit hole and leave all of this shitness!

No one does work here... how am i supposed to take this organization seriously when the management team only bicker about who manages who and how they can fuck who. Shit, it's pointless to be at an organization where the WHOLE company is dependant on ONE person!!!!
fuck you, fuck all y'all!

Best Mode - Days 25 - 27

Day 25

Breakfast: Iced tall skinny vanilla latte; Banana = 60; 105
Lunch: Spinach soup = 200
Snack: Blended tall iced green tea passion fruit = 100
Dinner: BP's strombolini and salad; 4 yaggerbombs; 1 pink lady; 2 crispy cream = 660; 836; 80; 210

Calorie Intake = 2251

Exercise = 1 hr hot yoga
Calories burned = 700

Calories/Day = 1551

Day 26
Breakfast/Lunch: half bowl of pho = 300
Dinner: 1 sausage; half hamburger w/cheese; 4 asparagus wrapped in bacon; 5 chicken wings = 286; 279; 720; 305

Calorie Intake = 1890

-------

So I'm getting really tired of updating this everyday lol I'll see how I feel later....

Beast Mode - Day 24

Breakfast: Iced tall skinny vanilla latte = 60
Lunch: McDonald's Mediteranean salad with crispy chicken = 290
Snack: Chinese ribs w/mushrooms and rice = 400
Dinner: Kelsey's Grilled salmon with onion wild rice; 5 wings = 580; 1700

Calorie intake = 3030

Exercise = None
Calories burned = zero

Calories/day = 3030

Uhmmm not liking this number at all! lol I should've listened to my healthy side and NOT ate five of Joo's mouth watering wings LOL oh well. Those were delicious and even though I did feel a tad guilty about it... I felt as if my hard work of working out really helped my metabolism... or so that's what me and my cousin says LOL

I realized that I need to eat some sort of breakfast. If not, I'm starving by the time lunch comes around... a salad is NOT good enough for just lunch. When I came home from work, there was zero food to eat and all I have eaten so far was the salad. Finally my dad came home with some ribs, desperate, I had to eat something.. but still wasn't full because I had to leave for Em's softball game. It kind of hit after the game... that I was really starving myself and in result, I eat excessively. Not good. I have to get back to regulating my eating and make sure that I get a breakfast within 2 hours of me getting up.

Hot yoga tonight =D

Beast Mode: Day 23

Breakfast: McDonald's breakfast - BLT bagel sandwich; hashbrown; small coffee = 440; 160; 0
Lunch: half a veal sandwich w/ no top bun; pasta marinera = 300; 327
Dinner: Congee Queen - Fried rice w/eel, salmon roe & crab; baby bakchoi w/garlic; calamari; flat rice noodles with beef & soy sauce; turnip = 600 (est)

Calorie Intake = 1827

Exercise = none
Calories burned = zero

Calories/day = 1827

I started writing this at 11:30am and now it's 1:43pm LOL My coworker who's on maternity leave came to visit so I was just gobbling her lil' 5 month old daughter up! She's the cutest lil' thing ever!!
I havent' my coworker since December... she said I lost weight =D *smiles

Anyway, I felt so guilty yesterday... eating all of the take out food and all... however, I don't feel guilty eating Congee Queen's new fried rice... mmm it was soo good! kind of expensive but really satisfying! LOL

Tonight, I gotta train extra hard. Kickboxing with my cousin tonight.. hot yoga with friends tmr =D can't wait! =D

Beast Mode - Day 22

Breakfast: Banana; Coffee; garden salad = 105; 110; 64
Lunch: half a club wrap = 216
Dinner: small bowl of Chinese broccoli; small piece of steak; medium bowl of Korean beef curry = 200; 200; 500

Calorie Intake = 1395

Exercise = 1hr & 15 mins of biking
Calories burned = 625

Calories/day = 770

Yesterday's bike ride wasn't that bad. We decided to visit Main. St., Unionville... and it only took us about 30-40 mins to get there! LOL compared to the 1 hr biking to BP morningside, yesterday's ride is easy peasy! There was no escalation except for when we had to cross the ETR in order to get to the other side. Other than that.... it was meh...

I feel so bad this week. I'm only working out 3days this week which is nothing compared to 5 days last week. I think I'm going to try to do some P90x today after shopping with my sisters. Hopefully I don't get lazy =S

This morning before my shift started, I went into McDonald's to purchase one of their salads because I had a coupon for 50% off. It turns out that I forgot they were still serving breakfasts so they didn't have any salads prepared. It kind of sucked because I was standing there trying to decided what I should order since I couldn't order my salad. As I was looking through the menu, nothing on there was in my diet! Finally, I ordered a BLT and a coffee. Of course, they got me by asking if I wanted to make it a combo with the hashbrown. I gave in and got it. I missed that greasy lil' baked potato thing so much! LOL
Anyway, when I got into today, I ate my breakfast quietly... an hour later, my supervisor asked me what I wanted for lunch? I completely forgot that I promised to purchase lunch with my co workers today, thus forcing me to eat more. Darn. It sucks. My supervisor just left to pick up a veal sandwich, salad, and past for everyone. Yep, that meal will be my last =S

Beast Mode - Day 21

Breakfast: banana; coffee = 110; 105

Lunch: Harvey's grilled chicken salad; half of a poutine = 300;320

Snack: bowl of Vietnamese crab soup = 100

Dinner: assortment of appetizers - (sweet potato fries; pita bread w/assortment of toppings; nacho and spinach dip; coconut shrimp); 1/3 of grilled salmon = 300; 136

Late night snack: half of Honest Lawyers' club wrap = 216

Calorie Intake = 1587

Exercise = None
Calories burned = zero

Calorie intake = 1587

I thought that I didn't eat that much yesterday until I calculated all of my calories and realized that I went over for more than 100 calories. Wow! Gotta step it up next time!

Yesterday afternoon, Katie stopped by for a lunch date with me. We ended up going to Harvey's across the street (long story). We didn't want anything unhealthy (even though 90% of the menu was exactly this) so I decided on a grilled chicken sandwich and she went for the grilled chicken sandwich. As we were waiting in line, I heard Katie whisper to me, "Do you want to share fries?" I replied, "Do you want to share a poutine instead?" LOL so we did it! hahah we got a poutine and shared it... even though I felt sooo guilty eating it, at the same time, it felt so satisfying as the delicious gravy and cheese oozing in your mouth... hahah and that was my first poutine since Montreal. I think I did good!
Today's post is all about french fries! LOL haha and I'm sorry in advance if you're craving for some good ol' fried up potatos after reading this post.

I know it can be very hard eating healthy. Especially when fast foods is so easily available (and cheap). I've decided that yes, you can opt for a salad by replacing french fries... but what if you just don't "feel" like eating that boring salad everyday for lunch? Here's where my post comes in! If you're choosing between fast food chains to eat, here is a comparison chart for you to choose the french fry that has the least amount of calories. I hope this table can be of some use to you :)

(Ps. I don't know why I have this huge gap between my text and the table, if you know, please let me know =) )

Restaurant	Small	Medium	Large	Poutine	Kids
McDonald's	220	360	560	na	220
Wendy's	330	410	540	na	210
Harvey's	N/A	320	410	840	210
Burger King	270	350	440	740	270
Taco Bell	N/A	360	N/A	(supreme) 540	N/A
KFC	N/A	340	940	970	N/A

Are these numbers surprising to you? It did for me...! I can't believe that KFC's poutine is practically almost a full day's worth of calories for me! wtf!!! It's official - KFC's gravy is just lard lol

Beast Mode - Days 18 - 20

Day 18

Breakfast: Iced Skinny Vanilla Latte; SB Chicken Sante Fe wrap = 60; 360
Lunch: Vegetable & Beef soup = 106
Dinner: Pho = 449

Calorie Intake = 975

Exercise = 1 hot yoga
Calories Burned = 500

Calories/day = 475

Ahh that number looks so much better when it's under 500! i'm glad! =)
I only put 500 calories burned for hot yoga because 1. the room wasn't hot enough.. well not how I was used to so my sweating wasn't really in effect... and 2. the class seemed like it was geared towards beginners thus the challenge wasn't there. Hopefully this doesn't persist next week. If it does, we're going to another location Friday nights!!!

Day 19

Breakfast: Ikea's $1 breakfast - scrambled eggs, 2 sausage links & home fries; 3 swedish meatballs = 500; 105
Lunch: Half a veal parmigiana sandwich = 300
Dinner: 3 pieces of california roll, 3 pieces salmon sashimi; 3 pieces salmon sushi = 130; 120; 130
Late night bar snack: seared salmon salad = 200
Drinks: 8 yagger bomb shots; 1.5 beers = 1672; 249

Calorie Intake = 3406

Exercise = NONE
Calories Burned = NONE

Ok, this really sucks!! LOL I was on track but when it comes to alcohol... lol I just can't help it!!! LOL not drinking is sooo hard!
On another note though... I've come to realize that I really like salmon... and fish in general! =D barely any calories... and it tastes good!

Day 20

Breakfast & Lunch: Thai beef and mango wrap; south western soup = 228; 120
Dinner: Chinese food - rice noodle with beef and soy sauce; chicken and salty fish fried rice; sauteed beef = 335; 350; 250

Calorie Intake = 1283

Exercise = None
Calories burned = zero

Calories/day = 1283

Today's meals weren't that bad! Joo, his sister and I went out for some chinese food after a movie... I don't know if it was the food or my hunger kicking in, but it was soo good!! mmmmm

Beast Mode - Day 17

Breakfast & Lunch: SB Chicken Santa Fe; Tall Iced Vanilla Latte = 380; 60
Dinner: Korean food - seafood soup with ramen noodles; hot and sweet chicken; spicy seafood noodles; spicy seafood soup w/noodles = 1000 (est)

Calorie Intake = 1440

Exercise = None
Calories burned = zero

Calories/day = 1440

Ugh, I'm going back to my same diet! but what am I supposed to do when I go out for dinner with Joo's family... and they litterally give me a bowl of each plate!!!??? blah! AND I have to eat it! It's disrespectful if I don't.... :(

Hot yoga tonight! CAN'T WAIT!!!

Beast Mode - Day 16

Breakfast: 1 scrambled egg; 2 breakfast sausages; 1 hashbrown; cup of oolong tea = 100; 132; 63; 0
Lunch: vegetable soup; Banana = 67; 105
Dinner: small bowl of tofu, tomato and egg soup; bowl of fried glass noodles; tortilla chips w/salsa = 105; 250; 150
Snack: Greek salad = 100
Shots: 3 Crispy crunch, 2 pink lady; white sambuca; pornstar; 2 swedish berry; liquid cocaine; polar bear= 303; 210; 103; 87; 206; 123; 96 (= 1128)

Calorie intake = 2200

Exercise = 1 hour of swimming
Calories burned = 554.5

Calories/Day = 1645.5

Instead of going to kickboxing yesterday, I thought we should switch up the work out and add some cardio in there... Kay did some cardio on the treadmill and I did some circuit training with Ram yesterday in the pool.
When I was in highschool, I was part of the school's dragonboat team. Just in case you don't know what dragonboating is... you can check it out here. During this time, I realized that I was at my fittest point of my life... I was a size 2 with high b or low c cup boobs... yes, I was a hottie! and I realized that the only reason why I had such a small waist was because training for the boat races were quite vigorous! This was our schedule:

Tuesday & Thursdays: Practice started at 7am sharp in the pool. There were three parts to the practice:

• Pool - We trained our endurance by doing many laps, races, relays, and circuits. We would start off with easy with 2 or 4 laps to warm up. Then we would either do relays or team races. To end it off, we did circuits. These circuits consists of pairing with someone else. One person would swim 2 laps - either specified or free methods - and the other person would do floor exercises such as push ups, sit ups, planks etc. and we would rotate doing this. Sometimes we would even tred water for a long period of time.
• Floor - We worked on our strength training by doing the usual push ups, sit ups, crunches etc
• Paddling - We worked on our technique (yes, there's technicalities paddling!) and our rhythm

On Fridays, we would go the beach and practice in the boat.

Training for dragonboat was quite hardcore! But since we loved dragonboating, it was worth waking up at 6 to go to practice at 7am!

Anyway, I introduced the circuit training to Ram a few months ago... and he really liked it! If you have access to a pool, you should do this! It really kicks your butt - you burn a lot of calories, work on your strength training AND your endurance!

Good thing we got some cardio in there...! Afterwards, Kay and a few other of my friends decided to go to bar to watch the hockey game. I, myself, was uninterested in the game because hockey - to me - is uber boring (and sometimes, I can't even see who has the puck! LOL). Nobody was planning to drink as everyone was trying to restrict their alcohol consumption to lose weight... until we saw the sign that said:

$3.50 SHOTS EVERDAY!

(sorry, just had to steal this from my cousin's blog tehehe)

We looked at eachother, justified that each shot is probably less than a drink... called the waitress and went crazy on ordering shots! They had a list of shots were able to order... and we wanted to try them all! We decided to randomly get 1 shot each but of different flavours. We started playing rock, paper, scissor to determine who would choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc... lol all in all, we took 11 shots within 2 hours! now that was random and epic night! LOL

As much as the night was filled with lots of drinks, laughs and more drinks, I couldn't help but wake up today feeling soooo guilty! I promised myself that I wouldn't drink and get trashed... and to stick to my daily exercise and healthy eating... it's just so hard to cut alcohol out, especially during summer! And yes, after calculating the amount of calories I consumed, I was absolutely devasted! I told my cousin that i didn't want to go over 2000 calories.. which I did -_-

but nonetheless, I feel like these calories, I can burn anytime but the memories of random drinking nights I cannot make up for =)

Beast Mode - Day 15

Breakfast: Coffee; banana = 110; 105
Lunch: Instant noodles w/miso soup; 2 veggie spring rolls; spicy salmon maki = 300; 240; 290
Dinner: bowl of egg and torfu soup; vietnamese scrambled eggs; tortilla; 3 chicken wings = 100; 100; 100; 213

Calorie Intake = 1558

Exercise = 1hour muay thai
Calories burned = 553

Calories/day = 1005

This sucks! I'm very disapointed at myself! I'm in the beginning of my 3rd week and I can't seem to get my eating habits out! arrrggghhh I gotta stop!

Today I'll be working extra hard! Kettlebell AND muay thai today! I gotta eat healthy before I start working out or else I'm gonna be starving once I come back and gobble down everything I see! Not good....

Dresses!

(this post is for Kay but you're welcome to read it too)

A few posts ago, I posted that I'm shopping for a dress for Joo's friend's wedding. The date is August 1 and I have almost 2 months to perfect for my look.
I've been experimenting with my hair lately - waves, curles, tight curls etc - and I think I'm gonna do something different this time. I usually keep my hair down with curls but I don't think I'll be doing it this time. I want my hair up... but don't want to make it too fancy. So - with the help of SATC2 - I've decided to do a side bun... something along the lines of this:

I really like this and I think it would like really elegant.
Another reason why I want to do this hair style is because I want to put emphasis on my shoulders (cuz i've been doing some crazy pushups!) and not on my waist. I've decided to go for an assymetrical/one shouler/boat neck line... or something other than just a tank or tube...
I've been searching through malls lately... not for a dress in particular but for clothes in general. I find that there's really nothing special out there. One day, I received a friend's request from a random girl... saying that she sells Korean and Japanese clothes online. I check her clothes out.. and found that these items are soo cute.. and unique! They have a certain flair to them that I can't quite point out but they're just sooo nice! As I was looking through their stuff, I found some really cute dresses that I am considering of wearing for the wedding. I think these dresses will be uberly compantible with the choice of hairstyle I picked...

I really like all of them and don't know which one I should choose? What do you think?

Beast Mode - Day 14

Breakfast: coffee; banana = 110; 105
lunch: fit for life chicken souvlaki wrap = 169
dinner: 9 piece sushi rolls = 255

Calorie intake = 639

Exercise: 1/2 hour kettlebell workout
Calories burned = 500 (est)

Calories/day = 139

I think I need to eat less. Yesterday (day 14) was the least amount of calories I've consumed... along with the most amount of calories I've burned... which is great!
I've always thought that the more I eat, the more energy I have to work out. I guess this isn't the case! I've realized that I need to just satisfy my hunger rather than satisfying my cravings for certain foods... and that's where the tempations come in...
I also blame my loving boyfriend who encourages me to eat (because he has a huge appetite!) and for making me feel guilty for not finishing my food. Because of all of this food intake, I've gained a huge amount of weight and crave more foods! arrrggghhh
Lately, I've been noticing that the people around me have said that I am an inspiration/motivation for them to stay fit - either losing weight or just being healthy. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm boasting... It made me realize that the actions I do for myself not only betters my life but the people around me... and I feel somewhat overwhelmed by this yet grateful that only a small action would create a wave of healthy lifestyles. With this said, I thank you. I thank you because it helps me keep motivated and focused... and encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing.
A few months ago, my supervisor bought Jillian Michaels' (the hardcore trainer of The Biggest Loser) book Making the Cut: The 30 Day Diet & Fitness Plan for the Strongest and Sexiest You. It wasn't until a few days ago that she started reading it. She noticed that I've been eating healthier snacks and lunches at work. She mentioned that in the book, there's a test that helps you find what type of metabolism you have... which can help you create (or follow) a nutrition plan that can help you lose weight in a healthy way (not a fad diet). She brought the book in today and photocopied the test for me take. In the book, Jillian mentions that there are three metabolic types tha tone has:

• Slow oxidizers requires a higher percentage of carbohydrates than of fat and protein, both to lose weight and to feel both physically and mentally energized
• Balanced oxidizers require an equal percentage of carbohydrates, fat, and protein and have the capacity to do well on the widest range of foods
• Fast oxidizers require a higher percentage of protein, and fat than of carbohydrates. Fast oxidizers should have protein in every meal, including snacks.

I fell under the Balanced Oxidizers and I'm pretty sure most people do too (all of my coworkers did). In this metabolic type, it says that I need a balance carbs, fat and protein. And here's my rant of carbs - I find that in the last 5-7 years, there has been this fad diet that you should cut out carbs if you want to lose weight. At first, it all made sense to me... cutting out breads etc sits in your stomach longer thus, not digesting food etc etc - That's not the case. I find that good sources of carbs can help you be full longer thus cravings for sweets or other unhealthy things can be curbed. Other than the fact that people who are under the fast oxidizer type, I don't understand that. Most people are balanced oxidizers and for you to cut out carbs just means that you're living an unhealthy diet and starving yourself.

Anyway, I was gonna blog about something else today... but just thought it might be useful for you to see what metabolic types there are. If you'd like to do the test, let me know. =)

Also, yesterday Kay and I went to our kettlebell class. It was only half an hour but it seriously kicked our butts. Even the jacked up black guys behind us weren't able to do the full exercises! Today when I woke up, I already felt the pain (I usually feel it in exactly 24 hours of my workout). The lower back is aching and I think I'm in much need of some hot yoga to stretch it out. Thankfully, our new work out routine enables us to do some hot yoga on Fridays after a long week of working out.
Yesterday, Kay and I have made a pact to ourselves that our goal at the gym is to be able to do the full kettlebell exercises, along with an hour class of Muay Thai. Yesterday, we were only able to do the kettlebell class and were too exhausted to do the Muay Thai one.
On that note, I'm very glad Kay and Katie has decided to join the martial arts gym with me. It truly motivates me to work harder and be focused. Thank you =)

Beast Mode - Day 11, 12 & 13

note: I wrote this post yesterday but couldn't write a new post in blogger for sort of reason...
Day 11

Breakfast: Baby arugula w/ cashews, coffee = 200, 60
Snack: Broccoli, cucumbers = 20; 21
Lunch: Turkey sandwich w/cucumbers, alfalfa, baby arugula and flax bread = 400
Dinner: Hamburger, sausage = 500; 300

Calorie intake = 1501

Exercise = None
Calories Burned = zero

Day 12

Breakfast/Lunch = Kim Kim’s chili chicken on rice; chicken & corn soup = 500; 300
Snack: half an ikea hot dog = 97
Dinner: Shrimp rolls = 400

Calorie intake = 1297

Exercise = None
Calories Burned = zero

Day 13

Breakfast: Ikea’s $1 breakfast (includes, 2 sausages, scrambled eggs & home fries) & 1 soup = 500
Dinner = Jack Astor’s steak fajitas = 1019

Calorie intake = 1519

The weekend is over… and so are the temptations I endured. Gosh, it’s sooo hard to go out with friends who love to eat everything and anything! Joo finally got a Friday night off. Initially, me, him and couple of other friends were supposed to come by for a uber small bbq and cool down with beers (obviously, the beer was not for me). It turned out to be at least 5 guys coming over and Joo getting drunk with Dan…! (Lol They get hilariously funny and at times, sooo friggin’ weird! LOL Dan is an engineer so whenever I talk to him or anyone else, he’s always talking about engineering stuff…! Lol stuff like, how it works, physics, math etc etc… Joo loves talking about all of this stuff so they’re soo compatible with each other! )
Anyhow, it kinda sucks how I’m starting this lifestyle change during the summer. I gotta admit, I miss out on a lot things such as… drinks on the patio, barbeques, ice cream… and a whole lot more! BUT, I gotta make it through.
Saturday wasn’t sooo bad! I thought I ate a whole bunch of stuff that day… but as I was writing it down, it wasn’t that much.
Sunday was a killer. Those fajitas were soo damn good… but I could’ve gotten a salad instead. Boo.

Anyhow, that was my eventful but still chaotic weekend. Back to grind of Monday….

Beast Mode - Day 10

Breakfast: Baby arugula w/cashews; iced tall skinny vanilla latte = 200; 60
snacks: carrots, brocolli; cucumbers = 10; 20; 21
lunch: turkey sandwich w/flax bread, baby arugula, cucumbers, alfalfa = 400
snacks: carrots, brocolli; cucumbers = 10; 20; 21
dinner: spicy Korean seafood & tofu soup with veggies & rice = 600
Calorie intake = 1362

Exercise = NONE

Sleep = 6 hours

Yesterday since I knew that I wouldn't be working out, I decided to keep my eating at a minimal, but of course not starving myself. My plan to eat a meal every 4-5 hours with carrots, broccoli and cucumbers in the between worked. Surprisingly, the snacks helped curb my hunger until my next meal. I've also noticed that I don't eat that much when I'm actually eating my meals. It helps me not chow down all of my food all at once. Planning your food everyday makes it easy to see what you intake and control your hunger.
Did you know that you're practically intaking zero calories when you eat carrots, broccoli, cucumbers and celery? Apparently, the digestion process of each of these foods burn more calories than the actually calories it has. Interesting fact. huh?

The weekend is almost here! five and half more hours to go! Temptation will arise... and hopefully I am prepared =S

Beast Mode - Day 9

Breakfast: Coffee; 1 Double = 110; 345.4
Snacks: Carrots; celery = 10; 20
Lunch: 1 Double = 345.4
Snack: Carrots; celery; cucumbers; bowl of spinach and pork bone soup; iced tall skinny vanilla latte = 10; 20; 21; 200; 60
Dinner: Bowl of pho = 449
Calorie intake = 1590.8

Exercise = 1 hour hot yoga
Calories burned = 700

Calories/day = 890.8

As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, my coworkers and I get some take out lunch once in a while. It turns out that we didn't go get veal parmigiano but decided on some west indian food. As I was looking at the menu of all types of curries, roti and jerks, I thought to myself that I will never lose weight if I decide to get all of this type of food (mostly sauce and rice), especially when I know they pack the whole damn take out container to the very top! I felt so helpless. There were times when I just thought, "C'mon Pauline, if you eat this today, it's oookkkk!! You're going to hot yoga anyway so you'll burn it off!!" Yes, that's my conscious talking to me, the devil side telling me to friggin' be fat... and that's how it was before! But not anymore!! NOPE! NOT ME!!!
My eating habits has always been a struggle me. I loooovveee food! Any type of food - from Korean, West & East Indian, Chinese... EVERYTHING! - I love!! It's horrible, I know. But I fell through it and decided to get the least amount (and cheapest!) thing on the menu, doubles!

If you don't know what doubles are, please look above. They're a native Trini street food that consists of two fried but scrumptious flat breads and delicious curried chick peas. It is incredibly good... and the chick peas make up for all of the greasy and fattening flat bread. Yummmm... I just wanted to share a lesson culture to you =)

Yesterday's hot yoga class was sooo hot! But do you know what made it hotter??!?!? The friggin' instructor!! hahaah I swear, at times I felt like we were flirting with our yoga moves! lol jk! I wisshhh!
The place that we usually go to for hot yoga no longer offered the cheap $7 class on Wednesdays at 8:30 anymore. Wednesdays are our mini "girls night out"nights that consists of hot yoga and some good lovin' pho. But now, since the classes aren't offered anymore... what to do? what to do? We gotta rearrange our work out schedule or find some place that offers hot yoga for cheap. It's gonna be tough because everyone reserves Wednesday nights for our weekly hot yoga session.
Yesterday class... and I swear, every week, the class gets hotter and hotter! I actually fell asleep while in corpose pose before the class lol As I was lying there, I could already feel the sweat roll off my forehead! lol and the class hasn't even started yet! lol But yesterday's class was really good. There were only about 1/8 of people there compared to the usually packed 60 people. It wasn't as stuffy and the instructor took his time to try to perfect everyone's pose. It was good.

Anyway, I think that's it? I'll ttyl =)

Beast Mode - Day 8

Breakfast: Baby arugula w/cashews & cucumbers; coffee = 200; 105
Snack: Cucumbers, carrots, celery = 50
Lunch: Turkey sandwich w/flax bread, baby arugula, cucumbers = 200
Snack: Snack: Cucumbers, carrots, celery; bowl of pork bone soup & tomatos = 50; 100
Dinner: Bowl of rice w/spicy/kim chi chicken, kimchi, kimchi cucumbers salad = 500
Calorie intake = 1205

Exercise: 2 hours of biking
Calories burned = 894.5

Calories/day = 310.5

Sleep = 6 hours

I gotta make this entry quick.. before my supervisor comes back from whatever she's doing. I think she's catching on to the fact that... I don't really do work at work... but meh! LOL There's nothing to do anyway....!
Yesterday (Day 8) marks the official 1 week of the my 'lifestyle change.' I say lifestyle change because this is not a fad diet and I truly want to change my eating habits etc.... I weighed myself... Yep! I stepped onto that scale and was afraid that my weekend of bad eating would catch up to me... but it didn't! I'm right on track! I lost a pound! phew! all that hard work, all those biking nights and the heat of standing hot yoga paid off!
This week, I'm planning to go full force! Monday night, I went over to the supermarket and bought a whole bunch of muchies! Munchies such as celery, carrots, broccolli, cucumbers to snack on. Remember when I mentioned in my earlier posts that I gotta stop heading straight to the kitchen after work? Yeah, I was hoping that snacking on these veggies that it would curve my hunger... and it did! I'm so glad!
Other than the weekend, I find that there are a lot of food temptations... but I know I can overcome them. For example, we do luncheons at work now and then... today we have an ex worker come in to have lunch.. and we're having veal parmigiano sandwiches from an Italian restaurant nearby. I don't even want to know how much calories that is... but my plan is quite simple: eat it piece by piece throughout the day. Eat half for breakfast (since I started late today) and eat the other half for lunch.... oh yes, and eat it without the bread lol That's the key!

Hot yoga tonight with ladies! Can't wait! Gotta stretch out my body after the kettlebell workout (my body is still sore) and after riding uphill yesterday...!

Beast Mode - Day 7

Breakfast: Banana; small coffee = 90; 110
Lunch: Grilled Chicken wrap; small salad; tall iced skinny vanilla latte = 150; 315; 60
Snack: Half a bowl of rice w/tomato and pork soup & tons of Chinese broccolli = 250 (eta)
Dinner: Full bowl of rice w/tomato and pork soup & even more Chinese broccolli = 500 (eta)
Calorie intake = 1475

Exercise = half hour of kettlebell exercises
Calories burned = 500 (est)

Sleep = 7 hours

Today's calorie intake and burn doesn't quite qualify for calculation but I did it anyway. It's really hard to judge the amount of calories I actually ate today because, well it's home food. Can't really judge there... especially when food is prepared by my dad and not me. I can only control the amount I intake. Nonetheless, home food is wayyy better than restaurant food when it comes to calories so I got a bonus there! LOL
Same goes with the kettlebell exercises I did. Even though it was only half an hour, doing cardio along with weight training (kettlebell exercises) burn a lot more calories than doing cardio and weight training seperately (according to my 3rd degree black belt boyfriend. Yes, he was used to be jacked! and health conscious! LOL)
Yesterday (Day 7), I was planning on signing up officially for the martial arts gym then going to two classes: a half an hour of kettlebell class & and hour of muay thai fitness class. I only got to do one. I was sooo exhausted after that class that I decided to run for the door and not even consider the 2nd class. Yes, yesterday I was a wimp. Although I was exhausted, after 10 mins of driving home, I had so much energy that I could've taken that class!
If you don't know what kettlebell exercises consists of, think of heavy weight lifting in combination of low impact cardio. This burns calories like no tommorrow! I would recommend going to this if you're planning to lose weight. It sounds hardcore... but after a few classes, you'll find yourself stronger and with lean muscle!
Basically, you have this heavy ball of weight that has a handle on it (they call it the bull ring?) and you do exercises with that. I find that some exercises uses the momentum of the ball to reinforce the weight and your ability to move around it. Some exercises simply use the ball as dead weight to tone.
Some examples we did were:

Swings:
First, we used both arms then used 1 arm each.

1. Hold the kettle ball in between your legs. Your legs should be bent and your back flat (like a squat position)
2. Swing the ball backwards then quickly and forcefully swing upwards up to chest height. Your arms should straight and your squat position should be jerked up while swinging.

Cleans:
We did this for each arm, not both arms.

1. Keep torso straight but bent forward at hips slightly.
2. Quickly raise the kettlebell by extending hips, legs and ankles (almost like jumping straight up)
3. While "jumping" and using the momentum of the bell, immediately raise the bells up to shoulder height and quickly twisting wrists so the bell falls to the back of your shoulder. Your arms should be as close to your body as possible.
   

Jerks:

We actually did this in combination with the cleans

1. Lift up. lol

We also did some other exercises but the site I got these cute animations from don't have them. After doing about 20-30 of these, we then did a circuit for 15 mins. The circuit consists of doing each of these sets for 30 seconds (as much as we can) then resting for another 30 seconds. We did this non stop and by the end of the half hour, I was almost as exhausted and sweaty as an hour of hot yoga! yes!
The workout itself is quite intense and hardcore but I love it!

Beast Mode - Day 5 & 6

Day 5

Breakfast: Tall Skinny vanilla latte; tomato & cheese panini = 60; 380
Lunch: 5 chicken wings; 1/2 of a hamburger patty = N/A
Dinner: 1/3 of nachos plate; 1 burger slider; 1/2 of shwarma = N/A
Drinks: 1 pitcher of beer; 2 yaggerbombs = 393.6; 420

Exercise = NONE

Sleep = 7 hrs

Day 6

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner: 2 home made burgers; 2 servings of macoroni salad, 1 steak, 2 burger patties, 2 italian sausages, 1 ice-cream w/cone, 2 freezies.

Exercise = NONE

Sleep = 7 hrs

This is demise, the weekend. I find myself going wild on the weekend and I gotta stop it. Not good at all! Going out with the guys and drinking a pitcher to myself plus nachos and sliders? yeah... not good! arrrrgggghhhhhhhh
Ok, I gotta step up my A game and stop eating terribly like this, especially the weekend!!!

I wasn't planning to work out tonight but I think I gotta try to make up for the none exercising and all eating type thing... Muay Thai tonight! I'll let everyone know how it goes! =)

Beast Mode - Day 4

Breakfast: veggie pasta salad; tall skinny vanilla latte = 200; 150
Lunch: whole wheat turkey sandwich = 350
Dinner: KBBQ = 700 (est)
Drinks: 3 beers; tall iced skinny vanilla latte = 330; 60

Exercise = none
Estimated Calories burned = ZERO

Calories/day = 1790

Sleep = 6 hours

Wow, I went over my calorie intake by 307 calories! I'm gonna GAIN weight for sure!!!
On a better note, from now on, if I need my SB fix with no calories, I've definately going to opt for an iced skinny vanilla latte! Only 60 friggin' calories!!

Beast Mode - Day 3

Breakfast: Fairmount sesame seed bagel w/butter; cup os coffee = 230; 110
Snack: 3/4 of banana = 75
Lunch: Seafood salad = 326
Snack: Half a small burger; Tortilla chips = 139.5; 280
Dinner: bowl of pho = 449
Estimated Calorie intake = 1,609.5

Exercise = 2 hours of biking
Estimated calories burned = 894.5

Calories/day = 715

Sleep: 7 hours

Looking at the eating habits in the past 3 days, I've realized that I need to reeeaaaallllyyy change my diet! Half a hamburger? tortilla chips? I could've gone without them. Snacking is my worst enemy! Especially when my parents have all of this junk food all over the house!
I also realized that I get really hungry when I get home from work! yeah, I really need to stop doing that too.
On a good note, Katie and I biked 27km yesterday night. It wasn't as bad as we thought it was. We started off at her house, went across mcniccol, down brimley and across progress to the martial arts gym that's in front of our hot yoga place. This distance was about 9.8km with a down hill elevation.
I know that a couple of my friends have been interested in ditching their traditional gyms and trying something new - well I have. This place isn't that bad! It's about $20/month for the first 2 months, and about $50 after that with no committment. There is an admin fee of $99 (one time payment) but the person who we spoke to said that if we join as a group, he can waive this fee for us. We also have to purchase some gloves which is about $60. They have an open schedule here where we can drop in to any class any time. If you're intersted, let me know. We've already did the paper work but still need to go in to hand in our info for our pre-authorized payment before the end of this month... Monday!
Afterwards, we then headed out to the BP at morningside - went east on Progress, across Markham and then east to Milner. This again was down hill and was about 5.5km.
Yesterday my friends, Byrnes and Ri, asked me to head over to BP because they got hired for DJing there for the night. They're both aspiring DJs who spinat our house parties all the time. They are such nice guys, so I had to go over there to support them. We only chilled for about 10 mins because it was dark and we had to bike home.
The ride home was horrid! It was a steady incline (imapmyride app calculates this) so it was brutal and my quads were burning like hell! I took every chance to relax whenever there was a slight downhill... but that was impossible.
When I got home, I was exhausted! However, I had an amazing sleep though!
Overall, I thought our work out was pretty damn good! We were sweating from all of the biking we did... and it felt soo good!

The weekend is starting! yeahhh for the TGIF!!! Tonight I'm going to the Jay's game so hopefully I don't get sucked into eating all their junk food!

BEAST MODE - Day 2

Breakfast: Cup of coffee = 110
Lunch: Spaghetti = 663 (est)
Snack: Handful of Pistachio = 713
Dinner: Bowl of Pho & cup of skim milk - 449 (est), 86
Estimated Calorie Intake = 2,021

Exercise: 1 hour Hot Yoga
Estimated Calories burned = 700

Calories/day = 1,321

Sleep: 6 hours

Yesterday was a horrible day for me! I started work at 11 and usually wake up 10mins before 10am to get ready to work. I thought that I would have enough time to get some breakfast at work in the cafe downstairs. As I was purchasing my stuff, I realized that I didn't have any cash nor my debit card and they didn't accept credit card. It wasn't until around 5:30pm that I ate my lunch. That's horrible and quite unhealthy!
I can't believe that pistachios are THAT much in calories!! Apparently, many sources on the net say that about 500 calories of the 713 calories are monounsaturated fats. I don't know much about the human body (I wasn't paying attention in biology class in highschool) but I do believe that monounsaturated fats are quite beneficial to your health. According to american heart:

Monounsaturated fats can have a beneficial effect on your health… when
eaten in moderation and when used to replace saturated fats or trans
fats. Monounsaturated fats can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in
your blood and lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. They also
provide nutrients to help develop and maintain your body’s cells.
Monounsaturated fats are also typically high in vitamin E, an antioxidant
vitamin most Americans need more of.

Interesting huh?
I'm glad that I'm starting this open diary of my weight loss journey. Looking at what I ate for the day and the amount of exercise I've had really helps me keep on track. With this being said, I've come to the realization that:

• I need more sleep, at least one more hour
• I need to eat breakfast
• I need to bring food to work

Today's exercise? Biking riding with Katie once again! The bike ride will be approximately 20km both ways. I'm excited!

If you're interested in getting fit, either to lose weight or to just be healthy, nutrition house has great tools for you to achieve it. This is how I calculated my weight loss goal.

BEAST MODE - Intro + Day 1

I've been promising myself that after the winter semester, I would go back to the grind of working out and eating healthy. This means doing a variety of exercises at least three times a week. Also, to help me keep on track, I've decided to keep an open diary of my progress. With this in mind, what better way to do it on my blog! I got this idea from my friend who was keeping track of her diet hyperallergenic diet on her blog. I didn't really read her blog but just thought it would be a good idea to keep things on track.

It's been a month since school ended and I haven't been really dedicating myself to working out and eating properly. In fact, I think I have gained weight anyway which is such a huge no no!
During my trip to Montreal, my exessive drinking and under eating has gotten me to think that I need to do this seriously. Because of the partying, I think I lost a probably half a pound which is still good because even losing 1 pound for me is a huge step!

Nutrition:

So with this in mind, I've decided to write down all my cut offs so I won't cheat myself. I know my major problem is eating... the amount of food I eat and what I put in my mouth has gotten me this big. It's horrible but I know that I will over come these challenges over time.
This is my writing contract to you but most importantly, myself:

• no eating after 9pm
• no soda - water during the day; at least one glass of milk (skim of course!) during a meal
• no fast foods/oily stuff
• no sugar - candy and chocolate
• two drinking nights/month

I know it doesn't seem much but I've realized that cutting these things out really help. I love to eat so cutting things like certain meats and pastas is not good for me at all. However, I am going to opt for healthier choices like, instead of fries, I'm going to order a salad with minimal dressing etc.

Goals:

I find that I am a goal achiever. I've never been a goal achiever up until I started my new program at Seneca. I remember when I first started, I told myself that I would get all A's and above in every graphic design subject. I'm half way through the program and I have achieved this goal (except for that one B+ I got because of this bitch prof!). Nonetheless, this B+ hasn't discouraged me to achieve my goals. Ever since then, I thought to myself that if I set my goals, I know I can achieve it.

• Current weight 123 pounds; Goal weight 100 pounds
• Current dress size L, 6; Goal Dress size S, 2
• Current BMI 25 (overweight); Goal BMI 20 (average)
• Goal calories/day
• Goal obtained by exactly 6 months from now - November 26 2010 - 3 days before my 24th birthday.

Working out:

I've been getting really bored of going to the gym. My work out routines are getting a tad boring which is horrible because I was really losing focus. Joo has suggested that I work do some sort of martial arts. My cousin has also mentioned this to me and my friend has also started to do it as well. I've decided to do some kick boxing. The place that I've been thinking of going also offeres muay thai as well which is a huge plus! On top of that, I'll be doing hot yoga, rollar blading and biking to add to my cardio portion of my work out. This is what I'm planning to do:

Monday Kickboxing
Tuesday Biking
Wednesday Hot yoga
Thursday Kickboxing

I'll probably be switching this up after a month or two switch challenge my body a little more.

Calorie limit/day 1483

Recommended distribution of daily calories:

• carbohydrates 222 g
• protein 37 g
• fat 49 g

I probably sound pretty hardcore right now but I really want to do this. Wish me luck!

----------------------------------

Day 1

Sleep: 6 hours; 1 hour nap

Breakfast: Cup of coffee
Lunch: Bourbon St. Grill's mixed vegetables, blacked chicken with noodles
Snack: half bowl of spaghetti
Dinner: Korean buck wheat cold noodles
ETA Calorie intake : N/A

Exercise: Two hours of cylcing
ETA Calorie burn: 894.5

I actually just thought about this idea today. I initially wanted to blog but didn't know what I wanted to blog about... so I thought that this would be perfect time to start this whole beast mode blogging thing because I just came back from vacation and don't really have any upcoming vacations anymore.
Anyway, you're probably looking at what I ate for lunch yesterday... and yes, I know.. it's terrible. I'm gonna try my best to make sandwiches to bring to work everyday and try out different salads. Also, eating at home is very key!

I feel quite glad that I'm finally starting this! Hopefully this daily blog will keep me motivated!!

The Power of the TWEETS!

When Twitter initially launched, I have to admit... I was skeptical. I thought that it was another fb fad where everyone just wants to be super creepy... and had no life. It wasn't until my girlfriends decided to sign up that I decided to sign up. "Why not?" right? I mean, if I dont' use it, then I don't use it.
Now, I'm addicted to tweeting. I tweet everyday, every moment I guess a chance... and I check my twitter constantly. Nothing passes by me.
I probably sound like one of those deranged anti-social yet net-social geeks out there. Trust me, I'm not. I have a life... thus I twitter about my life.
Recently, I've discovered the power of twitter. Yes, twitter is becoming quite powerful in the networking realm and I wouldn't be surprised if it excels facebook (at least twitter doesn't sell you cheap on your privacy laws).
A few months ago, I decided to open up my profile for public viewing, add a display pic and change to bio. A couple of months ago, I realized that there are tons of people I can follow other than celebrities. I made a decisive decision to stop all of the celebrity bs (except for Nicole Ritchie because I find her hilarious sometimes) and follow those who, I find, are worthy of my time. That sounds completely selfish, but seriously... I didn't want to waste my time reading useless updates. I'd rather read posts, links and pics that I can gain knowledge in.
First, I followed Applied Design magazine. Not only are they a local magazine, their main concern was design... and that was what I wanted to know more about. I looked through who they follow and started following them too.
My boyfriend and his friends always make fun of me because I'm so involved in this twitter fad. Fad or not, I am quite fond of twitter because of its constant feed of information... information that will help me exceed and become a forefront in the design field. That's my goal.
Information is so vast on twitter that it becomes quite overwhelming... I find comfort in this. It's free information, why not use it, right?
I also find that I'm connected to my friends a lot more because of this. I couldn't see my girlfriends as much as I liked to because time doesn't allow it sometimes. Twitter allows me to connect and leave msgs for my girlfriends... kind of like a forum of friends connect and respond whenever they want. I feel a lot more connected to them... AND I also find that we meet up more.
Since then, there were numerous opportunities where twitter helped me out a lot! Some recent examples:

• I received an awesome job offer! (YEP, I got it Kay!!! I would have to ask for you expertise though)
• I got tickets to Just for Laughs: Aziz Ansari show this summer. His show was sold out before the ticket sales were made public (damn amex card holders!). However, that day Aziz posted that he would have a second show! I immediately bought tickets and got awesome seats!

Even though Twitter does have its ups... It can get negative, I have to admit. Yesterday night before going to bed, I was playing around with my Echohon (a 3rd party iphone app for twitter) and found this feature called "tweets near you." Curious, I decided to check it out any tweets that were near/at work to see if ppl tweeted about hating being at my company LOL. It turns out that there was someone who tweeted something on these lines:
"Had a quick look at my outfit today and found out that it was mildly inappropriate."
I actually remember seeing her that day and thinking the exact same thing!!!! LOL It might be a coincidence.. but heck! To me, that was friggin' creepy!!

Anyway, it doesn't matter. I got a job offer and tickets to a sold out show. What can I say? I love twitter!

On a Hunt...

... for a new dress!

This summer, Joo and I are invited to a wedding for his long time friend, Anthony. I'm quite excited because this wedding will the first wedding Joo and I attend together as a couple... to a friend's wedding. The wedding is less than 2 months away... and I'm quite excited.
With this being said, I know I gotta:

1. step up my beast-mode. I've been lacking ever since I've been busy with school. Even though I know I've gotten slimmer, I still wish there are certain parts of my body ie my tummy and hips fat will just go away.
2. I seriously gotta go shopping for a dress. I absolutely love dress shopping. However, the last time I was shopping for a dress (for my cousin's wedding), I went to 3 different malls and ended up with a really nice green dress in which I felt ok in. This year, I want to be beautiful (of course!) yet elegant. I want people to say, "Wow, she's Joo's girl? DAMN!" LOL I know that sounds sooo selfish since, well you know, it's not really myyyy day... but hey! whatever! LOL

I am absolutely in love with this dress. It's edgey, yet so elegant and romantic. The flow at the bottom with the mermaid shape is exactly what I want as my wedding dress. The bold contrast between the black floral pattern and the light pink colour of the rest of the dress is soooo me.
I just wished that I was a lot taller to wear this dress....

"Growing" up...

As I mentioned in my earlier post, a design mag/company has approached me to do some design work for their clients. They asked me if I had my work somewhere on the net for them to view. As I read this, I thought to myself, "frig, I don't." I didn't plan on someone actually approaching me to do some work for them thus, I was not prepared for this.
Yesterday, my cousin and I were talking briefly over pho about developping a sort of campaign to sell ourselves to employers. She's currently working on her's now... I can't wait to see it. I'm pretty sure it'll be brilliant as she is such a connoisseur in design and all... whereas I am... well, not there.
After looking at the OCAD grad show over the weekend, there were a only handful of grads that I thought did an amazing job.

[ sidenote: I was actually very disapointed in the show. I mean, they weren't even undergrads, but grads... and I wasn't all that impressed. I mean, OCAD or shall I call it OCAD U (whatever!) has this sort of self-reputation that they are the "best" art and design post secondary school. If this is true, then their grads - master students - must have some awesome and creative work.... I was wrong. This just qualifies them to be mediocre... and mediocre is... well, not the BEST! I've seen so much better paintings, illustrations, designs at York U Fine Arts department and the York/Sheridan department... and they're undergrads, not masters. Anyhow, I'm getting out of hand with all this OCAD talk. I should leave it for another post. ]

I thought to myself...wow... how can I even try to be on par to these people. How can they develop such clever campaigns like this?
The thought of selling myself, selling my traits and strenghts just scares me. And I think that's what really holds me back.
This past semester, I literally had a breakdown. I was majorly stressed and couldn't handle it. It progressed to a point where, my last night of finishing work, was incomplete. I handed in TWO things half assed because the whole night, I was crying to my boyfriend that I couldn't do it - that I didn't have the skills to do it - that I wasn't meant to be in art alltogether. I looked at my work that I supposedly finished and thought to myself, "wow, this is not me. I couldn't have done this shit."
After a couple hours of crying to Joo and dinner, he cheered me up. He made me realize that I compare myself to a people a lot - I guess it's this sort of personal vendetta I have towards myself. When I finished York U and was about to enter design, I promised myself that since I settled for mediocracy at York, then I am going to achieve excellence in design - I had to, I owed it to myself to be better. Ever since then, I competed with people in my class to be better. Sometimes, I would accept and learn from those who did better than me but I always knew that in the next project, I would have to do a lot better. I guess that's where the problem lied and that's when I broke down at the most crucial point of the semester. My pride and high expectations caught up to me.
Going back to my last 1st point - so as I think about what I want to create for my marketing campaign... or create something that represents me... It's hard to think of. My experiences that represent myself not only lies in art but so many other things. I am so grateful that I didn't choose OCAD and went with York because York U's philosophy in learning is "interdisciplinary" - a collective learning experience from different educative backgrounds and fields that opened my eyes to something greater than art and design... the world. I learned that the world and its culture is what shapes art and design - and shapes me.

But how can I show this? How can I show this in my portfolio? My creative skills to employers? Employers who receive hundreds of aspiring design resumes on their desk every day? And that's what depresses me to stop everything. Designers are such creative people, I feel that the bar to getting a job doesn't lie in a simple business card and resume. My point proven:

(I really hope this vid shows up as it's my first time uploading a youtube vid on my blog.)

How creative is that? Now, that's what I call, thinking outside the box.
I mean, do you not see the extraordinary creative process out there? My point proven.

So I guess with all of this being said, where do I stand? Where do I stand in my design and creative ideas? What should I do to overcome this pride and insecurities (wow, that sounds very contrary) that holds me back?

Also, as I say in my title of this entry... with all of these insecurities and high expecations of me being this "great" designer, I'm growing up. I came to the realization that my life in the next 5 years will be affected by the decisions and most importantly, the campaign that I'll be producing.

How scary is that?

Am I the only one who experiences this? And If I'm not, please share your stories.

Some randomness

These past couple of days have me thinking that:

• I really need to take care of my body more - Monday night, I developped a really nasty cough. It was one of those dry coughs that left my throat feeling soar and unappreciated. With this being said, I really need to get into BeastMode again. I need to feel better and relieve all of the stress that I've been enduring at work for the last couple of months.
• I really need to go shopping. I have nothing to wear.
• I really need to find another job. Yesterday, I called in sick because of my lack of sleep Monday night. I ended up going to Joo's parent's convenience store to spend time with Joo and also work on my designs. As we got there, he immediately started "training" me on how to run the convenient store. lol yes, running a convenient store! LOL Ok, maybe it was the fact that I was complaining to him that I really hate my job and that I'm willing to work at his parent's store (even if it is min. wage) just in case I can't find another flexible job.
• I need to schedule time to do some upcoming design work. It's not confirmed yet, but one of my followers (I also follow them) on twitter approached me to do some contract work for his design company. Basically, he would find clients (or they would approach him) for some work and he would send it off to me. Hopefully this turns out as I need to ditch this dead end job.
• Scarlett Johanson sucks at acting. Yes, I said it! Yesterday night, I went to go see Ironman 2. Was it just me or is Scarlett Johanson an accessory in the movie? I'm pretty sure that she'll have more lines in the next one... but this one...? was it really necceassary for her to be in? No doubt, she was absolutely hot... but I just thought that she was horrible!

I think that's it for now...

This summer....

will be hella exciting! mmmm... ok maybe not.
Since I don't have school... I can finally focus on myself. I'll be working full time - well almost - so I'll be making that doe! As I was rummaging through my closet this morning, I thought to myself, "wow, I have NOTHING to wear." Absolutely nothing. You know what that means?!?!? Shoppppiiinnnnnggggg!!!!!! wahhoooo! lol
It's been a while since I went shopping..... like, shopping shopping!

Firstly, I've been really obsessed with nails.

I'm really liking these colours now! Hmm... I can't wait until I can go do my nails!

Things I gotta get before the summer ends:

• dress pants - I've gone 2 years without wearing dress pants to work! LOL I think this really qualifies for me to get a pair LOL
• summer dresses! - i need some asap!
• really nice tops - I was going through my closet and found that I only have Nike, Puma tees and tank tops!? i gotta get on that!
• SHOES! - I desperately need another pair of black flats...
• skinny jeans - lately, I've been wearing tights and skinny jeans because... well they make me look skinny! LOL
• Blazer - I think I'm gonna try to wear a short suit to work... lol we'll see how that goes!

Now... only if Joo will go shopping with me... =D

China Bud Kits

It's been so long since I blogged. Fortunately, I had a five day weekend this past week :) I caught up on my sleep but was still on the go non stop!

My weekend was pretty awesome. Wed & Thurs, I focused on myself. I started re-doing a project from last semester while waiting for my car to be serviced. After that, I went to hot yoga with Katie. The day after, I finally got to use the spa package that Joo got me =) During the evening, I went for some cheap ikea dinner with Katie and Lucky.

Later that evening, I started sweat shoppin' for China Bud Kits. Now, my friend has been working his ass off for 6 months for one day - the Freedom Festival. He's been designing and preparing all products ever since then.

Thursday evening and the whole of Friday, we were sweat shoppin'... it was like, non stop! Good thing I snuck out to take a three hour nap hehehe

The manuals look awesome! My cousin designed it =D

Saturday morning, the crew headed to Queens Park to set up our booth. It was pretty awesome! && Rony had the sickest set up!

Yes, we had our own DJ!!! wooot woot! We were the only ones wearing the CBK tees... it felt empowering! lol

The best seller were the credit cards! NO DOUBT!! They look SIIICCCKKKK!!!!

I just wished i took more pics...

During the day, Skunk Magazine approached my friend for a potential product review! I hope everything's gonna work out well for him! =D

If you wanna check out China Bud Kits, you can check it here :) Or you can check them out on FB here.