Author: Juliana

I had a tough week and as a result I am a little late with my post.

I thought about what to write today and I decided I would talk about things that can lift your spirits.  Here are a few things that I did this week to lift my spirits:

1.  Took a nice hot bath

2.  Walked in the wind and the rain and revelled in the power of a storm

3.  Watched a funny movie (Ghost Town)

4.  Laughed with people

5.  Treated my Dad for dinner

6.  Thanked and appreciated the good people and things in my life

7.  Connected with an old friend

8.  Listened to some music (Queen and Beethoven, not at the same time of course)

9.  Enjoyed the full moon on Wednesday

The above is just the list of things that helped to lifted my spirits.

What are some things you do to lift your spirits?

Looking forward to hearing your comments!

So after my red meat escapade last week, you would have thought I would have learned the errors of my ways and cleaned up my act.

Nope.

This week, I did come down with some sort of bug.  I unfortunately could not take time off work as I had to teach.  I managed to keep my voice for the classes, but every night I was pretty much flat on my back.  Wednesday night I actually took a nap after work, something that is totally out of character for me.  I think it was my body just screaming for some rest.

Sufficed to say, I did not do any walks this week.  I needed the rest.

Thursday I was much better.  After work I was preparing to go for a walk, but I got a suprise phone call from a friend asking if I wanted to go to Fright Night.  I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.  I’ve been wanting to go for years, but for one reason or another, I was not able to go.  This year I was planning to go, but again things got in the way and I just could not get myself organized.  Luckily fate intervened.

So I spent most of Thursday night screaming my head off.  Great for the vocal chords by the way, especially after spending a few days teaching.  I woke up with a very tender throat this morning, but I have no regrets.  It was tototally and absolutely worth it.

To make matters worse, I ate a Burger King fish sandwich and fries right after spending the evening at Fright Night.  And no, I did not wait 2 hours before going to bed, so my body didn’t get a good enough of a chance to digest and burn it off before I went to sleep.

But as I said, it was totally and absoultely worth it.  It was a fantastic night and I would totally do it again.

I know that I’m doing this much later than I normally would, but I have to say that it was a very busy day for me.  In fact, it was a very busy week for me.  I had to finish a huge project for school and that kept me very busy.  As such I was not able to keep my walks up and my potato chip craving got the best of me.  And last night I went to the Keg with my friends.

In my defense, we were around Thurlow and Robson and my friend and I had not tried the Keg in that area.  She and I have a mission where we said that we were going to try every single Keg restaurant in the lower mainland and the one on Thurlow was one of the ones that we hadn’t gone to.  So as you can see, we really had no choice.  We had to eat there that night.

Okay, I admit it, it isn’t a really good defense.  The truth is, I felt like a nice, thick, juicy rib steak and that was why we went there.

One thing that I did do right was that I didn’t eat the whole steak in one sitting.  I saved half of it for later.  The same goes for the baked potato.

So what will I be doing this weekend?  I will be finishing my project.  I will also be going for a walk again and getting back to my healthy eating.  I will also be getting more sleep, something that I had also given up in favour of my course.

That is unless I’m in Yaletown this weekend…that’s the other Keg location I haven’t been to yet.

So I cooked some clams this weekend. I cooked them in a nice chicken broth with some lemon grass, shallots, cumin, garlic and some coconut cream. I was quite pleased at how well they turned out. If you’re interested, please visit: http://www.saveonfoods.com/foodnutrition/recipes/steamed_mussels_clams.htm

It was such a simple and easy recipe to do. It only required one pot and it was done in about a half an hour. It also reminded me of the clam and mussel dishes that I often have at the restaurants and I was pleased that I wouldn’t necessarily have to go out to a fancy restaurant to get this kind of dish.

I am also pleased to report that I kept up with my workouts fairly well. In addition, I managed to get a lot of sleep too. I think people can underestimate how sleep is important with staying healthy. Sleep helps with wound healing, helping your immune system and it does help you think better. Of course that means going to bed at a decent hour and let’s face it, we all love our shows (CSI: Anything, Medium, Dexter, Criminal Minds etc.). But sometimes having the discipline to turn off the TV and go to bed early can be the best and healthiest decisions.

Now I will admit that I certainly am guilty of staying up late to watch my shows and as you can see by the list that I’ve quoted the shows I like to watch are all along the lines of crime dramas which do stimulate the brain. You would laugh at the dreams (or nightmares) that I often get after watching these shows. And you would think the nightmares and waking up in a cold sweat would keep me from watching these shows, but no. I still go back for more, even though I know that they can be hazardous to my sleep.

I guess I still have a few vices to work on.