Monthly Archives: November 2012

Nov 27 2012

Tuesday November 27, 2012: Health update

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Daily stuff
Pffff work is busy these last weeks of the year, as always at the end of the year. Besides work I have some social work things to go to, starting tomorrow with a reception for someone who is retiring. But I like working in December, everyone is busy but you can feel that everybody is looking forward to the holidays and is in a good mood. I have a vacation from December 24th till January 3rd.

I started eating less carbs last week and I already notice a difference. My IBS problems are less, I don’t feel bloated anymore and I have more energy. I don’t eat carbs at breakfast and lunch but I do at dinner and that works very well for me.
I make sure I get enough sleep (7 hours) at night and I drank less wine last week.
I want to continue this way because I feel so much better.

Workouts

Did a P90X workout this morning: shoulders and arms. I did skip a few exercises because of the time but it was a good workout.
Total time: 43 minutes.

Outfits

Yesterday a black dress with a pink jacket with black/pink pumps.

 

Today I wore this dress with a black jacket and my black boots.

 

Dinner

Tuesday dinner

Sausage, potatoes and Brusselssprouts with spring onions, sesame seeds, garlic and soy sauce.

TV shows I watched last week
Mad Men, Rookie Blue, True Blood, The Walking Dead, Parenthood, Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory.

Movies I’ve seen last week

MissionImpossible Ghost Protocol

I like Tom Cruise movies, he lives a weird private live but as an actor I think he’s very good. He has made some great movies over the years. And when you watch this movie, you wouldn’t say that’s a guy who’s 50 years old.

Nov 25 2012

Sunday November 25, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:

Hope my US blogger friends had a great Thanksgiving last Thursday.

What have I been up to last week?

Wednesday evening I visited my friend K. She recently moved to a new house and I hadn’t seen it. I loved her house, totally something I would buy if I had to make that choice again now. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and we had lots of catching up to do. It was great seeing her again.

Thursday I had another workshop with the other secretaries at my company. I had low expectations since the last workout wasn’t what I expected but this was much better. It was all about exchanging experiences and talk about our jobs.

It was also R.’s birthday Thursday. He bought a big cookie to give to his colleagues to celebrate his birthday.

We didn’t celebrate his birthday besides going out to dinner together as we always do. We went to the same restaurant as we did last month. I had bought him a little gift: a gift card for a hot stone massage.

My Mom was supposed to visit us this morning but since we are having kind of a storm today we decided to go to her so she wouldn’t have to drive through the storm. We left Bella there for a sleepover because tomorrow is her 2-weekly day she stays with my Mom.

Weekly workout review:

My week wasn’t good, mostly because I didn’t make my workouts a priority last week and skipped some of them because I had do to other things.

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 55 days
Fail: 10 days

Dinner:

Thursday dinner

For starters we had a salad of mushrooms and bacon with a fantastic dressing (same dish I choose 4 weeks ago).
Main course was wild boar with baked apple and a musterd-honey sauce. R. had a deer steak.

 

Friday lunch

Low carb recipe: rocket salad with cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and bacon with a dressing of balsamico vinegar and olive oil.

Saturday dinner

Salad of spinach, pine nuts, avocado, pancetta with a balsamico vinegar/olive oil dressing.

Nov 19 2012

Monday November 19, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:
It’s been quiet on this side of the world but I had a lot of thinking and reading to do regarding my health. I like to say I’m healthy but the truth is I’m not: I have overweight, I drink too much wine and I don’t sleep enough. I do exercise and I don’t smoke, at least that’s something I’m doing right.

Lately I have a lack of energy which is (in my opinion) a combination of eating too much carbs, not enough sleep and a glass of wine almost every night. Rereading my low carb book made me realize I have a lot of symptoms that can be reduced by eating low carb.

As of today I’m going to:

  • Eat low carb. I’m not eliminating all carbs. The book says you can only have fruits once a day in your “carb hour” but I’m still going to eat my fruits. I’m going to eat carbs at dinner and eat low carb at breakfast, lunch and snacks (except for the fruit that I eat as a snack).

    I’m going to have 1 carb moment for 6 weeks and see where I am then (that is also the end of the year). If I haven’t reached my target weight I’m going to continue with only 1 carb moment. If I do reach target weight I’m going to add a few carbs moments a week extra (this is also what the book advices).

    I hope that this gives me more energy, helps me lose weight and less IBS problems.

  • Sleep. I need 7 hours of sleep. Lately I slept around 6 tot 6.5 hours a night. I’m going to make sure I’m in bed at 10:15 pm on weekdays because I get up at 5:15 am.
  • Wine. No wine during weekdays except for special occasions.
  • Keep on exercising. I always plan 6 workouts a week of which I have to do at least 5 every week.

This is not a challenge or something I’m doing for a certain period. It’s my intention to make this my lifestyle. Unless the IBS problems continue, in that case I will let me test on other allergies.

Today I had a health check at work. We used to have them every 2 years but with the new Vitality program we introduced we get it every year. And I got an “A” for having such a good health. Yes, I do have a little bit of overweight but everything else is perfect. We talked about my low carb plans and she (the doctor) thought it was a good idea and she adviced me too to keep eating my fruits.

Something else, Saturday I went to the weekly market in my village. I used to go there every week for years but the past few years I bought my fruits and vegetables in the grocery store. However, there’s a crisis here inHollandand we have to spend our money carefully. Things like fruits and veggies, potatoes, chicken and cheese are cheaper at the market than at the grocery store. And more important, it tastes better and stays fresh longer. So, I’m going to make it a habit to go to the market every week now.

And Bella enjoyed the sunshine yesterday.

Outfits:
Today’s outfit

 

Workouts:

I got up yesterday and it was raining and I didn’t want to run in the rain. Instead I cleaned my house and did my run this morning (Monday is usually my cleaning day and rest day). I had to do 2 x 10 minutes and I can’t even remember the last time I ran 10 minutes straight, but I did it both times and felt great afterwards.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 2 x 10 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (20 minutes running, 4 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, not much wind,0C(32 degrees)
Distance: 3.3 K / 2 miles
Time: 00:24:10
Last song on Ipod before finish: The Jam – A town called Malice.

Weekly workout review:

Not a very good week, mostly due to a low energy level.

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 51 days
Fail: 8 days

Sunday dinner

First recipe from this cookbook: Mexican tomato soup with a pistou of yogurt, mint and Jalapeno peppers, sprinkles of avocado, feta cheese, spring onions with tortilla chips with cheese and red peppers. Delicious!

 

I made a batch of nut muesli (nuts, coconut oil, flaxseed and spices) to eat with Greek yogurt for breakfast.

 

Monday dinner

Another recipe from the Jamie in 15 minutes cook book: Greek chicken with couscous with red pepper, spring onions and feta cheese with tzatiki. Another delicious meal.

Nov 13 2012

Tuesday November 13, 2012: Low carb?

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Daily stuff
My other new cook book has arrived too. The new Nigella Lawson, Nigellissima with all Italian recipes her style.

In my last post I talked about my weight and a healthy lifestyle. I have been giving this more thought the past 2 days. Most of the overweight I still have is at my stomach. I feel bloated and tired by the end of the day almost every day. And I shouldn’t forget my IBS problems, some days are good and some are bad. And I remembered that when I was eating low carb last year, I wasn’t feeling that bloated. So I’m thinking about eating lower carb again but this time my way and my style. The reason I stopped the last time because I was following the rules to strict and I couldn’t stick to it. First I’m going to read the lower carb book again because that helped me a lot last year. I can already start by eliminate bread at lunch, think that will help. To be continued.

 

Workouts

This morning I did a run. Boy, I have to get up earlier to get dressed now that it’s winter. I am wearing my thermo clothes under my running clothes now that it’s colder and I look like a Christmas tree when I step out of the door with my yellow safety vest, my head lamp and the lamp at my arm. But it’s all for safety! The run itself went fine.

Stats:
Running 6 x 3 minutes with 2 minutes walk breaks (30 minutes total)
Weather:dry, not much wind,6C(42 degrees)
Distance: 4 K / 2.5 miles
Time: 00:30:12
Last song on Ipod before finish: The Jacksons & Mick Jagger – State of shock

Outfits

Yesterday I wore the new dress I recently bought. I wore it with my high black boots with a black legging.

 

Today black pants and a purple top so I could wear my purple boots.

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin
A Song of Fire and Ice – Book 4 AFeast for Crows

Still not finished :)

TV shows I watched last week
Mad Men, Rookie Blue, True Blood, The Walking Dead, Once Upon A Time, The Kennedy’s, Parenthood.

Andrea asked last week what my 3 favorite TV shows are. Well I like all the shows I’m watching and my favourite shows change everytime. But I would say at the moment: Grey’s Anatomy (always in my top 3), Mad Men and Downton Abbey (season 3 is going to start in a couple of weeks here).

Nov 11 2012

Sunday November 11, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:
We have had a quiet weekend. R. still isn’t better yet and I haven’t been feeling well on Friday and Saturday either. I visited my Mom yesterday morning but for the rest it was quiet.

We did go for a short walk in the forest this afternoon because R. could use some fresh air.

Health:
Last Monday at lunchtime we had the kick off of the vitality program at work. You might remember I’m in the project group for this program. We had a healthy lunch ready for everyone and there were two speakers. One of them does nothing more everyday than study overweight and he had a really interesting presentation. It is clear that overweight in The Netherlands is becoming a huge problem and something has to be done. Therefore it’s great that our employer thinks it’s important to have healthy employees. In 2 weeks I have a health check up and we now are working on a health week in January. It’s really fun to be part of this and it’s made me think about my own health.

I still have overweight, about7 kg(15 lbs). This past year I haven’t gained but I haven’t lost any weight either. I think my exercise routine prevented me from gaining because I often eat too much. Mostly at lunch and dinner, I don’t eat that much in between meals at all.

I want to get rid of those last kg’s for once and for all. Not by following a diet but by eating healthy and making sensible, healthy choices. I’m going to count calories for a few days to be focused again on what’s enough for my body. A couple of months ago I started weighing only once a month and I will continue that. Other than stay active, I will eat as less processed foods as possible and drink less wine. I’ll see if this helps or that I need to take other steps to get to goal weight.

Workouts:

World Run Day today and of course I ran. I was supposed to run yesterday but heard about World Run Day and decided to do the run today. According to my Running Coach plan I had to do 3 x 8 minutes. It’s been a while I ran 8 minutes or more and I wasn’t sure if I could do it. But … I could and I did. I kept to the recommended pace (6:45-7:00 per km) and it went very well.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 3 x 8 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (24 minutes running, 6  minutes walking)
Weather: dry, not much wind,8C(46 degrees)
Distance: 4.2 K / 2.6 miles
Time: 00:29:51
Last song on Ipod before finish: Journey – Don’t stop believing.

Weekly workout review:

Friday I didn’t feel well and was afraid that I catched the cold that R. is having. I decided to take it easy and see day by day how I would feel. Saturday I felt a bit better but took another rest day. It seems it was false alarm because I didn’t catch that cold after all.

 

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 44 days
Fail: 7 days

It’s official: Bella hates it when it rains hard. Last Tuesday we went for our walk and it rained pretty hard. I had plans to do a 30 minute walk but she didn’t want to leave the carport where she was dry. When she finally came she tried to turn around everytime but I kept on going. After a while I gave up, she just doesn’t want to take a long walk in the rain and we turned around. Suddenly the diva walked in front of me, knowing she was heading home.

Nov 9 2012

Friday November 9, 2012: Kitchen edition

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Daily stuff:
Yesterday I had a workshop with the secretaries and other ladies in support functions at my work. It was held in a hotel in the next town. I have mixed feelings about it. The subjects would be “Effective influence” and “Quality of the communication at work”. But both subjects weren’t discussed. I also missed the interaction with my colleagues. It was more a one woman show by the lady who gave the workshop. She was talking almost the entire day and mostly about the differences between man and woman. We did laugh a lot however, she had a lot of anecdotes to tell but I think the workshop totally missed what it was supposed to be about. I haven’t learned anything.

In 2 weeks we have another one, this is just the afternoon and only for the 5 management assistants at our company. Subject should be “how close is our team” but I have doubts if we will talk about that after yesterday.

The cook book addict has got herself a new toy: the new Jamie Oliver cookbook “Jamie’s 15 minute meals”. And another one is on the way: the new cook book by Nigella Lawson.

Shelley asked if I could give a tour through my kitchen. Well your wish is my command. Our kitchen isn’t very big but I’m very proud and happy with it. We renovated it, I think, about 10 years ago but I’m still happy with it every day. My favorite things in it are my stove and our espresso machine.

View from outside (Shelley, noticed that Bella is copying Paco’s behaviour by wanting to get in the picture)

View from the living room (R. placed the en suite doors himself):

 

In the corner we have a kitchen table and on the right is the fridge. The “painting” on the wall is a cross-stitch I made myself.

 

Stove and espresso machine on the right:

 

Middle of the kitchen:

 

Outfits:
Yesterday: black pants, black/beige blouse, black jacket and black suede boots.

 

Workouts:

 

Yesterday morning I did the hardcore workout. An entire workout focussed on the core. Pretty hard but enough variation in the exercises.
Total time: 53 minutes.

Nov 7 2012

Wednesday November 7, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff
R. went to the doctor and got antibiotics for his cold. We have decided to stay home this weekend. He isn’t feeling any better despite the medicines and it’s better to stay home and get well.

Sunset Monday afternoon

Today I got an email that my photobook of my jubilee day in September was ready. I went to pick it up immediately. The girl who took the photos that day made a personal photo book for everybody. It looks really nice and is a great reminder of a fantastic day. I asked her if I could get the best photos digital and here they are.

 

Workouts

Tuesday morning I did The Firm Total Body Time-Crunch, the express workout. It’s a complete weights workout with exercises for the upper and lower body. Great workout.
Total time: 25 minutes.

I got my butt out of my warm bed to do training 2 of my 5K program. I knew I only had to do 20 minutes which made it much easier to get up and go outside. And it wasn’t bad at all. The only thing was that my right calve started to hurt halfway, this happened last Sunday too. I’m starting to think my sneakers are causing this, I have them for over two years and wear them everyday during my walks with Bella. Maybe it’s time to buy some new ones.

Stats:
Running 2-3-2-3-2-3 with 1 minute walk breaks (20 minutes total)
Weather:dry, not much wind,11C(51 degrees)
Distance: 2.9 K / 1.8 miles
Time: 00:20:10
Last song on Ipod before finish: Marco Borsato – Kom maar op

Outfits

From your comments it seemed you like it if the outfits will come back. I’ll post as many as possible from now on but not with me in it. I don’t like it when there are too many photos of me on the blog.

Tuesday I wore a grey dress with a black jacket and grey suede boots.

Today a grey skirt with red and black stripes with a red sweater and high black boots.

 

Dinner

This is where all the “magic” happens. One of my favourite things in our house.

Tuesday dinner

I made an oven dish of potatoes, chicory, ham and cheese. Very simple and easy to make and very tasteful.

Wednesday dinner

Spaghetti with onion, garlic, bacon and spinach.

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin
A Song of Fire and Ice – Book4 AFeast for Crows

Still don’t read much and still haven’t finished this one.

TV shows I watched last week

Mad Men, Rookie Blue, The Walking Dead, Once upon a time, Revenge, The Big Bang Theory, Parenthood, Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy.

Nov 4 2012

Sunday November 4, 2012: Starting over

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Daily stuff:
Because some of you still got a virus alert when they tried to read my blog, I have decided to delete everything and start all over again.

Not all is lost because before I deleted everything I transferred the old posts to the blog I had before I got my own domain. I’m going to make a book of the 2011 and 2012 posts like I did for 2009 and 2010. But these hackers were driving me nuts and the best thing that I could do was start with an empty “page”.

When I was securing and writing down things, I noticed the subtitle of my blog: a blog about living, health, running and cooking. And I realized that I haven’t been writing much about some of those. Actually the restart of this blog, can also be the restart of focusing more on these subjects. It feels like a new start. So here we go.

In the past I have been showing outfits but lately I haven’t. I want to buy some new clothes but don’t want to spent much money on it so I’m searching Ebay for second-hand or new items for not much money. Last week I bought 3 dresses and a longsleeve for about € 15 (around 15 USD). This is one of the items, you can wear it as a dress or with pants underneath it. When I get the other dresses, I’ll show a photo of them too.

I’ve booked a weekend at a lodge hotel at the sea in February. Last week I got one of those one day deals in my mailbox for this and it was a very good deal so we decided to go for it. Bella can come too and since the beach is close, she will have a blast.

We have also plans going away for the weekend, next weekend. This time with 2 friends couples. This is also close to the beach but in a different area. Bella will be coming on this trip too. But we’ll have to wait a few more days because R. got really sick again last week and still isn’t better. If he’s not feeling good, we won’t be going.

I have a question for you:

Some of my favorite bloggers quit blogging this year. I used to read a lot of blogs that were only about running but I’m now more interested in “lifestyle” blogs. The ones that have a little bit of everything in it, like Shelley, Helen, Roz, Bizzy, Amy, Lori and others.

I’m looking for some new blogs to follow. Can you recommend blogs you like, and that you know I would like, to me?

Workouts:

 I started the Running Coach plan for a 5K today and it went fine. I decided to stick to the recommended paces as much as possible. My goal is to run a 5K in about 30 minutes after I finished the program (which will be at the end of this year).

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 6 x 2 minutes, 1 minute walking inbetween (12 minutes running, 5  minutes walking)
Weather:almost dry, windy,2C(35 degrees)
Distance: 2.5 K / 1.5 miles
Time: 00:18:03
Last song on Ipod before finish: Wings – Maybe I’m amazed.

Weekly workout review:

Not the best week ever, but I’m satisfied with it.

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 38 days
Fail: 6 days

SUCCES!

Dinner:

I made a stew this afternoon: beef meat, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic and bacon. It was good and I made plenty of it so we can have it again for dinner tomorrow. The recipe came out of one of my cooking magazines: Light Cooking.