Monday, February 28, 2011

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day- An annual commemoration held on 14 of February celebrating love and affection between two persons.
Many have different opinions for this day for various reasons. One of the comments that I hear over and over each year is that "It is a day just so the shops can make money."  Or, "I don't need a day telling me to love my gf/wife when I already do."

While that may be true, I beg to differ.

I think it's a beautiful concept to go out of his or her way to do something special and romantic for the person they love. Of course you should show love to your partner each and every day, but I love the idea of  something out of the daily routine, something extra ordinary that Valentine's Day symbolize.

How many of us regularly go on "date nights"? A candlelit dinner with soft music playing in the background? Receiving/writing a romantic letter, or a card?   

Valentine's Day doesn't have to be all about teddybears, chocolates, mushy greeting cards, and spending a lot of money. (Although, that is nice too :) )
How about a hand written card? Cooking at home with your love?  Followed by great sex?
I love planning creative ways to surprise my man. That's the fun of it!

And plus... I get a chance to fall in love with him all over again. :)
I say long live Valentine's Day!


Valentine's 2009

On the night before Valentine's Day,
I crawled into bed and saw him holding the flowers,
and the bag underneath the blanket!! :')
What a sweet surprise!

He had no idea I had a nice little game for him in the morning.
I hid small notes inside each balloon all of the reasons why
I love him.
Cooked him a nice V-day lunch.


In the evening, he said he wanted to go for a drive, then
took me to this restaurant to have dinner!
Wow, Valentine's day to the fullest!


Valentine's Day 2010
I love to bake! This time, with extra love :)
I don't have a heart-shaped pan so I had
to carefully cut the cake!





Valentine's Day and Carnival overlapped, so it was
a lot of fun crammed in one day! :)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

This week's evaluation

FEB 8
TUES           1000 skips + 2hr dance

FEB 9
WED           Balance, Strength, Agility

FEB 10
THURS       Super-girl Plank + 2hr dance

FEB 11
FRI             Had double Greek classes, had coffee with gfs, and went to our friend's
                house for dinner, and a game of uno. Fun night, but no exercise today :(

FEB 12
SAT           One-legged gypsy

FEB 13
SUN          Went out with friends to a race park, watched movies at friends' house...
                  no workout :(

FEB 14
MON         15 min "Killer tooth ache" workout
                   Happy Valentine's Day

FEB 15
TUES        2hr dance... but no workout :(

Friday, February 11, 2011

Day 3

Whew, I am definately feeling sore from the last 2 days and also feeling tired. Both emotionally and physically. I am attending 2 different Greek classes from Mon-Fri , 3hours (3 times/wk), 2hrs (3times/wk). I am finding it a bit difficult to juggle that between dance classes, socializing, and incorporating my new fitness routine. But I'll figure it out :)

I ended up waking up late today, so I only had a banana for breakfast. When I came home, I had a 0% Greek yogurt with honey.

In the evening, I danced for 2 hours, but I felt that I should do at least SOMETHING. (Dance doesn't really feel like exercise- more like PLAY TIME! )
So there! Although it is 1am, I completed  the 100 Supergirl Plank.

I didn't do all 100reps in plank position, I had to go on my knees (which felt too easy), so I did the last 30 reps in the right position.

I think by tomorrow, my legs will feel better, so that I can do the "One legged Gypsy"

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

SECOND DAY of BODYROCKIN'

Ok.
Remember what I said yesterday, "That was it?"
I regretted saying this as I woke up this morning and felt stiff/soreness in my calves!! Boy oh boy! I take it back!!
I comtemplated backing out of my workout, but ... as we all know No pain = No gain.

So I started my morning with a great breakfast:
- 0% fat Greek yogurt
- Dried apple (home made)
- 1 Banana
- Ground flaxseed
- Organic Bee Pollen
- Freshly squeezed OJ


After a few hours, I began my exercise for the day.

Balance, Strength and Agility
4 Sets of 4 exercises
-Jump Squats w/ Diagonal touchdown 20 reps
-Skater
-Reptile
-One leg hop kick

Finished in 17:35 ... Beat Zuzana's score of 23mins46sec !!
However, I must of went a bit ahead of myself, as I nearly threw up when I finished. :(

Seeing how hard this exercise was, I thought I deserved a nice little plate of SPAGHETTI!!
I don't know if it was because of the exercise, or if it was just that good, but this was the best plate of spaghetti I've ever had!!!

This tempting dish of carbs made my (already eaten) man to chuck his PS3 and run to the kitchen table.

Sauce:
-Sautee 2 Cloves of garlic and 1 Medium red onion in Extra virgin olive oil.
-Add 1 Red bell pepper, mushrooms, tomato sauce. Stir.
-Add pinch of salt, pepper, flakes of chili pepper, paprika and some fresh parsley.

I added some slices of salmon for protein, parsley + cheese for garnish. YAY!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

First day of BODYROCKIN'

Last year, while browsing youtube, I found a website called bodyrocktv.
It takes a modern approach to working out. It is really inspiring, since the girl who does it has a smokin' body (!!) and they really are really fun, different workouts from what I am used to.

I was an assistant manager of a big gym chain in Canada, so naturally I was a bit skeptical about getting results working out at home. But seeing many people follow these workouts have motivated me to try them.
2007 (I think)

Since moving to Greece Sept 2008, I have put on some weight, and I am tired of seeing my flabby tummy, love handles, thighs, and new parts of body that I never worried about (like my back!)

Sometimes I am discouraged when I use to think that I use to do a bit of modelling. Nobody back home has noticed that I've put on weight, but I do see a big difference underneath the clothes. I might have the same frame, but not as tight as I used to be.

So, today, I decided to commit myself to their bodyrock schedule. I went through the workout archives from the beginning, and since today is Tuesday, I did the workout challenge, which was 1000 skips.

I do not have a skipping rope, so I pretended I had one and did 1000 skips within 8mins and 10sec. At first I felt my calve muscles hurting (Well, not hurting, just burning!) but at the end, I felt "That was it? I could definately do more!"

I have to remind myself to start slowly. Tomorrow I will do a workout, "Balance, Strength, Agility"
January 2011 in Edmonton, Canada