Training to Live

i had an extra long labour day weekend because of my work schedule and since we’d planned to have a bunch of friends up to the cottage that weekend anyway (the cottage is about a 3 hour drive away from here), we figured we’d make an entire week of it. as luck would have it, the weather didn’t really cooperate. it was cold and rainy all weekend long. after our friends left and we enjoyed the one sunny/warm day there was going to be, jon and i hightailed it to his parents’ farm, about 30 minutes away from their cottage, for the rest of the week. although the farm isn’t home for me, it sure feels like it.

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we didn’t have the relaxing week we originally planned (thanks, weather), it was wonderful to be at the farm anyway, as always. we ate loads of good super fresh, local food, worked hard at putting veggies away in the freezer for the winter [a great big pot of ultra veggified pasta sauce (which i'm calling my 500 metre sauce, since everything we put in it came from within 500 metres of the kitchen we cooked it in!, 2 gallons of crushed/stewed tomatoes for making chili with this week (and oh what chili we made this week!!! at least 17 quarts put away in the freezer), and a bushel of red peppers chopped up and frozen]. we went to a small town country fair, played with kittens, watched movies (and napped) and it was good.

i think this photo (taken on my iphone with the super fun ShakeIt app) really captures the beauty of the country (big open blue sky), fall, and the colourful energy of the fair. shortly after i took this, i proceeded to eat a big bag of cotton candy. ohhhhh was my tummy ever not happy about that! (it was certainly enjoyable to eat, however). i’d never been happier to see vegetables again.

we came back to regular-old-at-home life for a week, but come monday, the craziness begins again. i am flying off to the great city of winnipeg for a work conference and then immediately after i come back, i have a half marathon to run! my training over the last few weeks has been pretty abysmal (i blame the weather again.) i’m sure i’ll make it through, even if not super quickly! i’ve been to winnipeg once before, but only very briefly (i flew into their airport and had lunch at a quizno’s before driving out northwest to a wedding. not so exciting) so i’m hoping to have a bit of exploration time.

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in other, more creative news, i have been working on a lot of projects, art and otherwise. sadly nothing concrete to share yet though! in august i got an email about a super fun sounding workshop that one of my favourite bloggers (elise) was running on how to make minibooks (like a scrapbook but on a smaller physical scale {hence the “mini”} and with a much more casual concentrated or super stretched out approach). my dining table is covered in all kinds of fun new supplies so i can start making and doing. the workshop was 2 weeks long and i learned tons of neat tricks and ideas.

also, another favourite blogger (kal) is running a different kind of workshop right now, which i am also signed up for. it is called “nurture your creativity and be bulletproof”. i’ve been through a bunch of stuff at work over the past year and a half that i really could have been a bit more bulletproof for (who couldn’t!) so i figured the class would be more than useful just for that. the nurturing my creativity bit is a bonus and pairs perfectly with elise’s class that just wrapped up. i am really looking forward to the next 4 weeks!

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last month i finally joined the twenty-first century and ditched my ultra crappy super old pay as you go plan cellphone, which had a battery that only lasted a day (without use) and no other redeeming features (which meant that it was usually left at home, battery uncharged, with no paid time on it! not so useful). i bit the bullet and got an iphone4 (expensive but SO LOVELY), which i guess i was lucky enough to score right when they were released to canada – everyone is out of stock now. having the internet in my pocket has made things so fun and easy! i plan to do a lot more on the fly adventure blogging, once i find a good app for this. any recommendations? i’m signed up for posterous, so i might go that route, but it would have to be separate from Training to Live here. the wordpress app has left me unimpressed (photos only at the end of the text? no thanks!).

other favourite apps so far:

teuxdeux (amazing amazing. i went through a whole bunch of to do type apps before i settled on this one. i love that you can have multiple accounts. and that it automatically pushes everything you didn’t do today onto tomorrow. i also love that you can go back and see what you did on any given day. and that you can assign tasks into any day in the future). also it automatically syncs with the web version, so you can enter everything on your computer at home and have it with you on the go.

doodle jump – super fun and a great game to play when you’re staying put for a bit. i just downloaded tetris for an alternative for my upcoming trips.

shakeIt – just like your old favourite polaroids

mobile banking

mindbody (so i know what yoga classes are being offered where, RIGHT NOW). i’ve been missing from yoga since june and i’ve made a pledge to myself to try and get to class at least once or twice a week.

starbucks (mostly to seek out free wifi. when i was in chicago last month and didn’t have roaming data, i discovered that just being in the vicinity of a starbucks would give me the internet. it was awesome. plus, you never know when you’ll need a pumpkin spice fix! this is good for being in new cities). also, for newbs to the ‘bucks, you can create your own drinks!

alarm clock pro – my alarm clock that i’ve used for the last 5 years recently stopped working (sort of) and i have since been trying to find a good replacement that wouldn’t set me back a ton of money. i came up short. until the day i decided to try out alarm clock pro, for the low low price of 0.99$, it is everything i’ve ever wanted in an alarm clock without a) having to spend a ton of money and b) adding more crap to my night stand. perfect.

and of course, tweetdeck. i still heart twitter!

what apps do you go to?

blast! ecto just ate the post that i spent more than 3 days writing. boooo

so. i’ve been “doing” yoga for just over a year now. i say “doing”, because it’s been somewhat half hearted, 20 minutes of yoga for runners here, a half pigeon there, etc. more practiced yoga people always say that it’s important for beginners to go to a real class to get feedback and guidance on their form, but i never took it that seriously. all the yoga studios i had vaguely checked out online were far away and pretty expensive, and when i could do yoga at home for free by myself, why go anywhere else?

i never really enjoyed yoga that much though. sure, the stretching felt good and i’m sure my muscles appreciated it, but doing audio classes on the living room floor was kind of boring. i only did it because i knew it was good for me. sometimes i couldn’t even make it through the 20 minutes!!! (i wondered how anyone could do a 90 minute class). i do love the pants though, and i have always kind of joked that i lived the yoga lifestyle, even though i didn’t really *do* yoga)

cue the happiness project. april’s theme is money, and the resolution for the the week before last was to spend some money to buy some happiness. i thought about what area of my life i could splurge a little on and i thought of 2 things. yoga was the first. i did a bit of research and found a studio that is about a 7 minute bike ride from my house! this is convenient. having to take a bus and a subway to get downtown to pay $20 for a yoga class probably wouldn’t actually happen often. this place had some good reviews online (yelp and others) and they had a good rate for new students. i bought a 2 week unlimited pass and decided to try out studio yoga to see if it would make me happier.

i have so far been to 4 different classes (a gentle hatha, 2 different restorative classes, and a reduced heat flow class) and i am in love!! the studio is beautiful and spa like. since i don’t belong to a gym and do all my exercising outdoors or in my basement (or at the community pool!), it is a lovely change to be somewhere with fancy facilities. i have one more week left on my pass, and plan to try out a real hot class (i am a little scared!! if i like it, i’ll do a couple more classes before i decide to splurge on the yogitoes), iyengar (yoga that focuses on proper form), and go back to the classes i liked best before i figure out how often i want to be going back. i think i can afford at least once or twice a week. it’s a really good compliment to the running, biking and swimming that i do and it’s good for my soul too. yoga has made me extremely happy.

the second thing that i’ve been wanting for a while now but haven’t gotten around to picking up (maybe partially because i couldn’t justify spending the money…) is a bondiband. caitlin posted a coupon code (FIVE, five bands, $25), so i ordered a bunch. LOVE THEM!! i’ve worn them running, under my helmet, to yoga class, and just around (they are cute). they seem to stay put (especially the wicking ones) and they keep my hair out of my face, which is awesome. two days after my order arrived, i ordered a few more wicking bands! (jon wanted to know how many headbands a person needs. the answer to that is MANY)

so if you thought that money can’t buy happiness, you might be wrong.

i’ve switched my hours at work, so i have the day off tomorrow. i’m extremely excited about this as i haven’t really had a day off to myself in ages! all of our weekends are booked up with activities and the last two holidays (easter and christmas) have been somewhat hectic with lots of driving around and seeing people, etc. i’m planning to hit two morning yoga classes, do some fun grocery shopping, bake cookies, make ice cream, possibly try out some of ashley’s granola, go for a run in my vibrams (if my legs aren’t too sore from yoga) and watch an excess of tv! luxury to the extreme. i will also try and blog the rest of the post that got eaten up. i have a pot of steel cut oats on the stove now, and it needs my attention.

happy sunday night!

p.s. heather, i am on board with your invite to be a happy living blogger!

soon after we got home from florida, jon took me out on a re-con mission. there is a park across the road, and it has a creek, and in one area, the creek kind of widens out into a pond. we had discussed the skate-ability of it but we weren’t sure, since i had never seen anyone on the ice.
the re-con was a success. jon deemed it safe enough and got right to shovelling. 2 hours later, he came home to get me and the skates (it’s a little easier to shovel when you can move around faster). 1 more hour of hard work and we were able to skate around. we’ve been back 3-4 more times since – have had to re-shovel a few times due to snowfall, though nothing major (since we have not had any real storms this january). el nino hit two weeks ago and kind of did a number on my recreational area. there were big patches of open water that jon would not let me go near. our temperatures are finally back down to normal winter numbers, and from street level, the rink looks like it might be solid again! i’m pretty sure the weekend will involve some serious time on the blades (if i can handle the -21 wind chills)! i am thrilled. winter is really messing with my ability to do winter sports this year, and i am a sad puppy. no snowshoeing whatsoever and for the past two weeks, skating has been very touch and go.
i took my camera with us a couple of times and shot some video which i have finally finished editing into something to watch. enjoy!

skating in the park from haya finan on Vimeo.

the lack of snow/ice has been very good for my running though. around the bay is quickly coming up and i need to work up to more miles and hours. optimally i’d like to have run for 3 hours or so at least once before march 28. i have been able to get out for runs lately, but the next few weeks might require indoor bike workout substitutions when it’s too windy. walking to the bus stop was extremely laborious because i was walking into the wind and just the act of moving forward required immense effort. i kind of wished i was heavier, and also pointier/more aerodynamic for cutting through the wind. alas, i am light and rounded on top.

i’m going to try going swimming tomorrow before work. we’ll see if i can make it a fun, spa-like outing, as tina once suggested. then it’s the WEEKEND!!! lots of fun planned, including dinner at a super fancy place downtown (too bad i have to get dressed up for -19° weather. yay!). more to come.

the road trip to florida was pretty fun. i got to drive through several states that i had never been in before (pennsylvania, ohio, west virginia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia). sadly we didn’t spend too much time looking around because we wanted to make it to our final destination before christmas eve. we ended up driving through some of the most beautiful areas (like the west virginia/virginia mountains) in the dark. i didn’t get my Trader Joe’s pitstop because the only day it would fit into our plans was New Year’s Day, and they were probably closed. i didn’t really take pictures of any of the places we stopped at/drove through before and after florida. i also didn’t get to meet up with anyone because as it was during the holidays, none of the people i knew/would want to see were where they were supposed to be!

i got to celebrate my birthday (27!!) at universal studios with jon. roller coasters are my favourite! the last time i went to a theme park was back in the summer of 2003. i was at canada’s wonderland on the day of the big east coast blackout, so our day was cut short. in 2009, i made up for that with 2 solid days of riding all the best rides at universal, many twice, three times, and one even a whopping four! i love the thrill of being upside down and accelerating down huge drops around corkscrew turns. universal has some really excellent rides, and i thoroughly enjoyed my two days there.

hollywood rockit, the mummy, the simpsons, ET, shrek 4D, duelling dragons, and the spiderman ride were the tops. i don’t enjoy waiting in line, and we were there at one of the busiest times of year. our first day had wait times of upwards of 90 minutes per ride! on the second day, we splurged for the express plus passes to terminate the lines: it was TOTALLY worth it. we waited for 15 minutes at the most for any ride and it meant that we could jam pack the day with adrenaline rushes instead of boring lines. i didn’t take many pictures because we quickly realized that having my camera was going to be a pain in the ass. so it went into the car.

other florida adventures: hiking in the ocala national forest. little did we know that in the US, hiking and hunting go hand in hand in national parks. we had to be careful, as we were NOT wearing neon orange vests. i didn’t see any gators, sadly. we learned about sinkholes and heard shots from across the lake.

walking around in my parents’ neighbourhood. everyone there has a golf cart and this is how they get around (not just the greens, but also to restaurants, the grocery store, and other shopping). although the area isn’t super pedestrian friendly (things are just too far apart to be able to feasibly get around on foot), because of the golf cart lanes, biking is a much better option. we had taken our bikes down with us, and we got in a few nice morning rides, which i likely won’t get to experience here again until april.

the orange grove. i wanted grapefruits, so we drove around until we saw some signs advertising fresh citrus. the farm we stopped at was a small organic farm + grove, also selling rabbits (we were unsure if they were alive, for being pets, or skinned, for eating. decided that you could likely have it either way). i told the guy i wanted some grapefruits. 70 cents each. he asked how many and i decided that 10 would be good. he grabbed a knife, some plastic bags and went off into the trees. citrus does not get any fresher than that!

st augustine and walking on the beach. i love the ocean, and someday, i will live near one. walking on the sand and picking up pretty shells was how i spent the last day of 2009, and it was a lovely end to a pretty good year. we had lunch at a little caribbean cafe in st augustine beach (that had some AMAZING salt scrub in the bathrooms) and it really felt like a tropical vacation.

st augustine the town was pretty cool too. there was this crazy angel guy wandering the streets ranting and raving. there was also a really cool lift bridge to get into town. in retrospect, this would have been a good place to spend new years but we drove on to savannah.

we planned to spend a whole day exploring savannah, but when we got there, the weather was grey and crappy looking, and i felt like i was coming down with a cold – popping tylenols and blowing my nose. luckily my body fought off the illness quickly. we decided to just plug on home. the I-77/I-90 were rife with snowstorms, and the drive back was interesting. our bikes were so caked in salt when we got home, that the only way to get rid of all of it was to totally disassemble, soak, wipe, re-lube, reassemble. my bike hasn’t run this smoothly since i got it! sadly now it is just hooked up to the trainer because taking it out in the salty snowy slushy mess here would be stupid.

  yay salt! well that’s it for today. tomorrow is a busy day! (i’ve got the morning off from work to take care of something and i’m working from home in the afternoon). more to come.

hopefully to regularly scheduled programming. the end of 2009 was a whirlwind, and sadly i guess that sharing some of it now seems pointless (like what i baked for christmas this year) but. maybe not! maybe a picture or two and a list will be helpful, even if just helpful for me for next year! plus christmas cookies are pretty.

baking this year went sort of out of control. i was a madwoman in december. usually when i get an idea into my head, i cannot be stopped. i see an interesting recipe or project on the internet and. i MUST MAKE IT. this is one of the major reasons that i bite off more than i can chew and have problems simplifying. the project did not go without a few lessons though. next year i will make a short list and stick to it as closely as possible. i will try to focus more on taste than on perfect appearance (because really, the gorgeous sugar cookies and gingerbread people that i spent hours decorating were hardly noticed as people were just popping the cookies into their mouths. it wasn’t until december 29 that my mother realized that all my gingerbread girls had a beachy theme!). this is part of my overall goal to reduce stress and become a more easy going, happier person. i also learned that dipping truffles in a chocolate shell, while really yummy, is not worth my time/frustration. next year i will make less fudge and more gingerbread, more shortbread jam cookies and more candied orange peel. i will make fewer sugar cookies and decorate them less crazily (because although the icing is gorgeous, it is a little hard and makes the cookie less enjoyable to eat). i will make molly’s peppermint bark again, because it was beautiful, a bit hit, and not very time consuming. remind me.

here is the final tally:

• fudge, peanut butter and dark chocolate
• sugar cookies – christmas trees, santa hats and stockings (which i also personalized with names for my work goodie bags) – martha stewart cookie book
• gingerbread boys and girls – martha stewart cookie book
• jam thumbprints (a last minute add on, but a HUGE hit. helped that i used homemade jam) this recipe is awesome
• peppermint bark (see above)
• candied orangettes (so good i plan to make more this month) these were a lot of work – many steps and much time but worth every minute
• mocha truffles (which were not terribly mocha though – my fault – they were delicious. next time i will try for a bigger buzz boost)
• chocolate sugar cookie stars – martha stewart cookie book

ok so that was more than just a picture or two! aren’t the gingerbread people cute?

next posts up will feature some travel stories and how i will be spending many sunny winter afternoons.

augh. all my pictures from the dance party the other day are blurry and terrible. my camera does not do well with low light situations. i give up!

the conference last week was incredible. i am energized and excited to go back to work and forge ahead. i met some very unique people (one guy who sails from nova scotia to bermuda once a year, a few people who have worked on the coast guard ships, people who work in the arctic) and spent quality time bonding with my colleagues who are stationed in a few different cities around the province. we do so much work with each other, and yet i’ve only met some of them once or twice in much more formal settings. socializing with them, having drinks together in someone’s hotel room, etc makes me able to relate to them more. instead of being just someone on the other end of the phone or the email, they become real. human. i feel like i know them a little better and thus can work with them more effectively (i’m much more willing to be patient and forgiving to someone who is a friend than just some guy i don’t really know, you know?). so i’m pumped.

i had a great idea for christmas cards that might not materialize because i waited too long! this year, we might have to resort to regular store bought cards, and next year we will do something cool. that’ll teach me to not procrastinate!

i have to plan out all the baking i need to do before we leave on our holiday road trip. i am down to 19 days left – guess i better get moving. do you have any favorites? i think i will definitely maybe be doing the following:

• peanut butter fudge (for my sister)
• peppermint candy canes (martha stewart) ?
• some sort of sugar cookie
• truffles?
• a chocolate cookie (also from martha)  
• regular fudge

what are your favourites? i’m always looking for new ideas and recipes!

the royal york holiday tree, lit on friday afternoon by the cast of the sound of music! i’m sorry i had to miss it.

quiet evening at home by myself. jon wants to go mtb biking tomorrow morning and the good trails are near his place in waterloo. we’re going to a party tomorrow night so for the moment, i am enjoying the relaxing quiet and the company of julie and julia, in book form tonight. i may catch up on some tv in a bit!

the cookies were a hit. i bought a litre of milk for one coworker and me to share in the afternoon, over a few “death by chocolate” bites and some conversation in the office kitchen. the milk was a great pair with the chocolateyness. we’ll do it again with the rest of the milk on monday (because no doubt, i’ll still have cookies left over!). all weeks need to end with milk and cookies, i think.

i’ll be back in the morning with a good post. promise. cross my heart. no backing out!

getting things done in november is going pretty well so far. while yoga has not exactly become a habit (it will be going on my december chart. and january and february. until it does become a habit) but i have blogged every day, i have gone out and been active in someway every single day (minus one) and i’ve become much better about going to bed with nothing hanging over me in the mornings. i no longer come home from work and curl up on the couch and veg for the evening. i take the hour and a half to shower, make supper and eat, and watch a short show or do some internetting and then spend some quality time doing responsible things. this has made me far less stressed out come the weekend because things haven’t piled up. i like this kind of living.

i am starting to think ahead to what i want to accomplish next month. we are going to be away for 1/3 of the month, so my priorities will be less home-life centric. instead i think i want to work on goals like taking a picture every day (i think i might try and do this for the whole year), doing more yoga (see above), and doing at least one thing every day that contributes to my happiness. although i have not been a student for over a year and a half now, sometimes i still think in the student mindset that i have no money and therefore i shouldn’t spend money. now, since i have a great job, an excellent living setup that allows me to save loads, and don’t currently have any expensive hobbies, i definitely have the extra income to put towards the little things in life that make my whole life better. for example, instead of buying the cheapest brand of toilet paper, i will spend a few extra dollars and get one that is softer & nicer. instead of keeping my house at 19° (68F) when i’m home and away, which is actually kind of chilly, i will keep it at 20 or 21, much more comfortable, even if it means a slightly higher gas bill. i don’t need to live like a hobo in my house with rough toilet paper, shivering in a corner. that is no way to pass the days.

sometimes money CAN buy happiness. have i mentioned how much i love that blog? it is changing my life!

on another happy note, this video made me feel pretty warm and fuzzy. (she said yes)

we woke up early this morning to drive downtown for a fun, unique event: the toronto royal agricultural winter fair. i’ve never been to an agricultural fair, and the toronto winter one is the biggest in the country. holy cow, it was cool. there were tons of animals, lots of interesting farm innovations/initiatives, crazy vegetables and lots and lots of people.

the reason for going was to see jon’s cousin amy participate in the 4H junior beef hereford heifer show. although we did get to see her in the parade of 4Hers, we did not catch her showing. the rest of the family is going to be there to see her tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have more pictures.

we also had to stop by to see our friend jasmin at her energrow booth with the soybean press that energrow designs and sells. the oil can power diesel engines and the meal that comes out of the other end of the press can be used as a feed supplement to increase farm animals’ protein intake. i’ve seen jasmin take her company from a small idea that started on one of her coop terms when she decided she wanted her own business to this big, very real thing. it’s pretty awesome.

this is a bunch of different beans/seeds that they ran through the press to produce different oils: canola, sunflower, soybean, mustard and flax

these vegetables made me rethink the hugeness of my squash from yesterday! holy wow. 1236 lbs of squash?? this makes 10 lbs look teensy weensy

cutest thing ever. boy lying down for a rest with his cow. you don’t see things like this in the city.

cute animals

two of the coolest things ever: bacon biodiesel (from the cigi biodiesel trailer) and an ipod powered by poop! (cow poop, that is. the only one of its kind!)

there was a bull that reminded me of a wild thing (from the movie)

we had a great day. i got to see some rodeo events – real cowgirls riding their horses super fast around poles and barrels and bull riding, which is just insane.

being a farmer is cool. and. farmers feed cities! don’t forget that.

if there has been anything that i’ve been awesome at the past month or two, it has been neglecting my poor little blog. that ends here. instead of waiting until january to make resolutions and work on self improvement here, i’m taking november by the horns and grabbing control of my life. in my last post, i discussed my house clean up project. i have a few other things i’m working on that i hope will make me a little warmer, a little happier, and hopefully a whole lot less stressed out (since there is no reason for that). on my list of resolves is to be a better blogger. the first step on that path is to post more, and post more i will.

enter: nablopomo (see widget on right). national blog posting month. 30 posts in 30 days. can i do it? you betcha. many many novembers ago, i signed on to the original nano project: nanowrimo. the one where everyone writes a novel in a month. coupled with a full time job, living entirely on my own for the first time and figuring out life in a new city, it was a failure for me. 1000 words a day was just too many words! too many words when you don’t have a real plot to use them in. this time will be different. this time, i have a plan. i also decided that it was time for a change up. i was tired of the blue and pink and just wanted things to look different. so there you go.

this is why i should not be allowed to get newspaper delivery. luckily these three months were free. i just don’t have the time to keep up! one of my tasks for this week is to sort through them, extract crossword puzzles and recycle the rest.

the weekend was nice. i loved having the extra hour and i am totally surprised that it is almost 11pm (midnight old time!) and i’m not asleep yet! whoa. we attempted to give out candy to kids on saturday night but epically failed. a) my doorbell does not work. we forgot about this and did not sit in the front living room near the window so we could see kids coming. b) only one of the lights outside actually still works (i really need to get on changing those bulbs), so i rarely remember to turn them on. saturday was not a night that i remembered to turn them on. c) aside from my uncarved pumpkin on the front steps, you couldn’t really look at my house and tell that it was halloween, so no kids stopped by. we have a bunch of leftover candy. blast!

then we went to see where the wild things are. although it was lacking a bit in the plot area (come on. the book only had 9 sentences in it! there wasn’t much to work with), i loved it. it was visually beautiful and made me very happy and sad and nostalgic all at the same time. i still wish for my own wild thing. they look quite cuddly.

here is a sneak peek of something else i did on halloween:

more tomorrow! for now, it is time to hit the hay. i’ve got clean sheets and everything. what a glorious way to start a glorious month.