Tag Archives: Bella

Mar 23 2013

Saturday March 23, 2013: Mishmash

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It’s been a week since my last post. I haven’t been feeling much for blogging the past couple of days. Without sounding negative again, the reason is that the weather has such a big influence on my mood, my exercise and my food intake. Today it’s -2C (28 degrees) but because of a very hard Eastern wind it feels like -15C (5 degrees). For heaven’s sake: it’s Spring! Can we please have some weather that looks like Spring? We have someone else here at home who can’t wait till the weather gets better and she can be outside all day:

 

Speaking of our lovely Bella, Sunday it was 3 years ago since we lost our previous beloved dog: Roussy. There couldn’t be a bigger difference between Bella and Roussy, the only comparison is that we both love(d) them very, very much.

Monday it was exactly 20 years ago R. and I officially started dating. I can’t believe how fast those 20 years have gone by. I can’t imagine my life without him, he’s the most important person in my life. We are celebrating this tomorrow with a nice dinner.

 

Last Thursday I went to my first fashion show ever and it was great. I have seen so many beautiful clothes, I have to make choices because I can’t buy them all. This summer has clothes I like: feminine and colorful. At the beginning of the show I got some coffee with chocolate and during the break we got a glass of Prosecco. At the end of the show we got a goodie bag with discount coupons for shops in my village and a little box of chocolate. The store was open after the show but it was very crowded and I’ll go there next month to buy something.

Our uninvited guests have returned too. These ducks are almost everyday on the roof of our garage and they stare at me when I’m cooking in the kitchen. They were here last year too, they are the same ducks and did the same thing last year: sit and stare.

A short post today and I hope I’ll get back in a good mood soon and back to regular blogging.

Have a great weekend!

Feb 12 2013

Tuesday February 12, 2013: A great run

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Saturday morning we went to pay our respects to friends of ours. His father passed away last Tuesday and friendship is not only sharing good times but also be there in sad times. We went together with our other friends. We didn’t go to the funeral because we didn’t know his Dad that well. But they appreciated that we came.

Saturday afternoon I went to the forest with Bella, the weather wasn’t that good, it started snowing while we were walking there. But Bella didn’t mind, she loves walking in the forest so much. I had the resolution that I would go to the forest every weekend but so far I’ve only been twice and one beach walk. Seeing however how much fun she’s having, I really need to take her there more.

Workouts:

I had to cancel Thursday’s run, the roads were to icy, I almost fell 3 times within 5 minutes. It’s not worth falling and get injured because that takes longer than skip a run.

Saturday morning I went out again and this was the perfect run: weather was great and the run went easy. The kind of run that reminds you why you love running so much and the one that you wish every run would be like this one. It was great.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 8-10-8 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (26 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, not much wind, little bit of sunshine, -3C (26 degrees)

Distance: 4.5 K / 2.8 miles

Time: 00:31:52
Last song on Ipod before finish: Randy Newman – You’ve got a friend.

 

Woohoo: another good run Monday morning. It was cold though (cold wind) but like Saturday it went great.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 8-10-8 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (26 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, windy, -3C (26 degrees)

Distance: 4.5 K / 2.8 miles
Time: 00:31:32
Last song on Ipod before finish: ABC – All of my heart.

This morning I did a short Zumba Flat Abs workout. I really like Zumba, it’s a fun variation to my other workouts. Total time: 17 minutes.

Meals:

Monday

Breakfast (5 points): 2 slices of whole wheat crackers with chicken and a honey-mustard, 1 orange.

Lunch (12 points) A pita bread filled with smoked chicken, dried apricots and a dressing of yogurt and mayonnaise -> delicious. I bought mushroom soup at work because I was cold and needed something warm and a glass of milk.

Dinner (9 points): a simple dinner of a sausage, potatoes and green beans.

Snacks: 3 clementines, 1 apple, 1 cookie (1 Point)

Tuesday

Breakfast (6 Points): Two slices of raisin bread with butter, 2 kiwi.

Lunch (9 Points): A pasta salad with chicken, red pepper, corn, red onion. This wasn’t very tasty and I won’t make this again.

Dinner (6 Points): Sort of pizza only the bottom was of beef meat. Topping: mushrooms, tomato and leek. Like lunch also a no-keeper. It was okay but not good enough to make it again.

Weight Watchers review:

The past two weeks I got careless. I didn’t track everything, I didn’t stick to my planned meals. As a result I still haven’t lost all the weight I gained during our little getaway weekend. But it bothered me and as of yesterday I got back to counting all Points and stick to my plan. Because when I didn’t ate the meals I planned, I choose easy things but they didn’t taste as good. When I follow the plan and have variety in my meals, I don’t feel the need to snack much in between.

 

Feb 3 2013

Sunday February 3, 2013: Lovely weekend

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We are back home. We had a lovely weekend away. The weather was okay, yesterday it was windy but most of the day it was dry with sunshine every now and then.

We arrived Friday afternoon and after we checked in and put our bag in our room we immediately took Bella and went to the beach. She was brave enough to get wet feet but that was more because she was surprised by the waves coming up. The hotel had a great restaurant where Bella was welcome too and we had dinner there both nights.

Saturday morning we went to a historical city called Brielle and walked around there for a bit. After that we went to a different beach for another walk with Bella. We had dinner again in the restaurant of the hotel.

Today after breakfast we took Bella for a last and her birthday walk to the beach before heading home. It’s her birthday today, she’s now 3 years old. We were home around lunchtime refreshed from a little getaway.

A bummer this weekend was my tooth pain. I’ve been having tooth pain for about 2 weeks now and kept hoping it would go away. Till Saturday the pain was manageable but yesterday I had such heavy stabs of pain I had to stand still and wait till the pain went away. In the afternoon I couldn’t take it anymore and bought pretty heavy painkillers. I’m still using them because as soon as they don’t work anymore the pain is returning. I’m calling the dentist tomorrow because something is obviously wrong. I am afraid of the dentist, that’s why I didn’t go at first when the pain started.

Here are some pics of our weekend.

First day at the beach

Fireplace at the hotel

Friday’s dinner: chicken, salad and french fries

Brielle

Another beach walk

Love the sky in this picture

Bella, Fran and R. were here

Tea time with chocolate pie

Saw a llama

Friday dinner: started with carpaccio

Followed by steak in pepper sauce

Birthday girl on her last beach walk for the weekend

 

Jan 31 2013

Review January 2013

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Notes January:

  • This month didn’t go exactly as planned due to being sick for a week and 2 weeks of extreme cold (that is for our country). These things happen and you just move on.
  • I have to admit that because this month wasn’t all that great, I took it easy the last couple of days too but have every intention to make February a great month.
  • I lost weight which is a very positive thing.
  • All things considered I didn’t do all that bad compared to December, my mileage was higher than last month too. I’m making progress and that’s what is important.
  • Total time I did something (including walking): 17 hours and 16 minutes.

Workouts January:

Running. Done: 9

Strength training. Done: 1

Cardio. Done: 4

Yogalates/Stretching. Done: 1

 

Number and time of workouts in December: 16 workouts, total time 7 hours and 9 minutes.

 

Number and time of workouts in January: 15 workouts, total time 7 hours and 21 minutes.

Yearly mileage

Total January: 36.8 K / 20.7 miles

Total running time: 4 hours and 22 minutes

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin

A Song of Fire and Ice – Book 4 A Feast for Crows

 

I haven’t read in my book for at least 3 weeks now. Sometimes I have these periods where I don’t read that much.

Highlight(s) of the month

My jubilee party at work.

 

Low this month

Sick for a week and very cold weather with snow.

Random

Tonight we went to the vet with Bella for her yearly vaccination. He did a short check up and she’s a very healthy dog. Her weight is exactly the same as last year, at least one of us is maintaining her weight LOL. Does this look like a relaxed dog or not?

 

Tomorrow we are going away for the weekend. I booked a hotel at the beach for 2 nights. Bella is coming too. I booked it at a website that has daily special travel offers and it was a very cheap deal. I’m also checking Groupon daily for dinner offers, so far I’ve scored 3 coupons for dinner at restaurants, all with a 50% discount. It’s been June last year since we last went away and we both are looking forward to it.

Jan 27 2013

Sunday January 27, 2013: Back on planet earth

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I have been sick all week last week. I can’t even remember the last time I have been sick this long. I did go to work everyday, except for Friday when I took a vacation day, but that left me without energy every night. I didn’t workout, I didn’t take long walks with Bella (that made me feel guilty). On top of that it has been freaking cold the past 2 weeks. I can’t say how happy I was that today the cold weather is gone and warmer weather is on the way.

I felt like a real human again on Saturday and that’s when I picked up my daily routines again.

I did have enough time to think about my running schedule for this year and I worked out a plan till October. I have planned a few 5K and 10K races and planned my half marathon in October (either in a race or on my own). I made a training plan till October with some escape weeks if necessary.

I am also back at a different schedule to complete a 5K without stopping, the one I was using didn’t feel right. It felt like I wasn’t making any progress.

My running will come first, if I need an extra rest day I skip a cross training workout. I have 3 runs a week planned which can be done easily.

It’s all about flexibility: you have to use a plan that works for you.

I have to say that doing nothing for a week refreshed me and gave me enthousiasm and motivation to move on. That’s why I also planned a couple of rest weeks in my plan where I do a few easy runs but no cross training.

I’m leaving you with a photo of Bella who’s playing with R. trying to catch her toy (she did get it of course, you can’t fool her).

Workouts:

Saturday morning I felt good enough to try a run. My legs and body felt fine and it went great. But it was so cold, temperature wasn’t even that low but there was a very cold wind. I was, however, very pleased afterwards that it went so well.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 4 x 5 minutes, 3 minutes walking inbetween (20 minutes running, 12 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, windy, -2C (28 degrees)

Distance: 4.4 K / 2.7 miles

Time: 00:32:06
Last song on Ipod before finish: Joni Mitchell – Both sides now

Weekly workout review:

Since I’ve been sick, I didn’t do much last week. That’s life, it happens.

Jan 20 2013

Sunday January 20, 2013: Recovery mode

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And here I thought the cold I had a week and a half ago was all I got, how wrong was I.

It has been so cold last week, normally I can handle it fine but last week I’ve been cold the entire day. Now I know that was because I wasn’t fit. Friday morning I did some cleaning, got my run in, did grocery shopping, took Bella for a walk but when I got home after that I completely collapsed and felt very sick, think I had a fever but since we don’t have a temperature I’m not sure. My head was exploding, my body was tired and all I could do was sit on the couch and do nothing.

I went to bed early and had 10 hours of sleep. When I woke up Saturday morning my throat was still hurting, my nose still running but the headache was gone and I felt better.

By now (Sunday evening) I’m not a 100% fit but it’s getting better every day. I took Saturday and Sunday off from working out. I’m picking up my workouts tomorrow and go to work and we’ll see how it goes. Because I was sick I’m behind on reading blogs but I’ll catch up with you next week.

We had snow last Tuesday and because it’s so cold it doesn’t melt. Today we had some more snow and more expected tonight. It’s cold and it looks like it’s going to stay cold the next week.

Workouts:

Wednesday morning I was glad that I didn’t have a run planned because it was so cold and the roads weren’t clean yet with all the snow. Instead I did a Chalean Extreme workout but I wasn’t really in the mood and I skipped two exercises. Excercises were all for legs and shoulders.
Total time: 29 minutes.

Friday I did training 2 of week of the 5K program. I had to do 2-6-2-6-2-6 and it went fine till the last 6 minutes where I had to take an extra walk break. My physical condition considered it was an okay run.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 2-6-2-6-2-6 minutes, 1 minute walking inbetween (24 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, windy, 0C (33 degrees)
Distance: 4.4 K / 2.7 miles
Time: 00:31:08
Last song on Ipod before finish: Bruce Springsteen – Cadillac Ranch

Weekly workout review:

My workout week was fine till Friday, then I got sick on Friday and took extra rest days on Saturday and Sunday.

Meals:

Wednesday

Breakfast (4 points): Oatmeal with a half banana, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 tablespoon peanut butter. Never had this combination before and it tasted very good.

Lunch (13 points) Couscous salad, it was delicious, an orange, milk and a bowl of tomato soup because I wanted something warm. Turned out to be way too much for lunch and I wasn’t hungry the rest of the afternoon and didn’t eat my fruits.

 

Dinner (10 points): Spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce.

 

Snacks: Zoen (during a meeting) (2 Points).

 Thursday and Friday and Saturday

Thursday was a complete off day and I didn’t count points. I had a meeting all day, including lunch and I had too much too eat. Still need to work on that. Friday was okay but I ate not enough during the day because I was sick. Saturday was a good day but I forgot to take pictures.

Sunday

Breakfast (7 Points): Vanilla yogurt with blueberries and granola.

Lunch (7 Points): 2 Slices of whole wheat bread with salad, brie cheese, honey and walnuts.

Dinner (12 Points): Pasta with Bolognese sauce.

 

Outfits:

Wednesday:

 Thursday:

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.