Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The post about snow cheeks, a productive morning and Paleo banana bread

Snow cheeks!


  • What was with all that overnight snow on Sunday night to Monday morning? I check the forecast RELIGIOUSLY for obvious reasons. We were supposed to get less than 1cm overnight. Imagine my surprise when I woke to 7.5 cm (3 inches) of snow on Monday morning. And I had to be in the office early for a meeting. I didn't get in till about 10:20 because I was driving behind a convoy of plows along the QEW.  The meeting should have been well underway. But alas, it was cancelled due to the weather. Now I am sure that I am the one who lives furthest away so WTF? I could have worked from home!!!!! I tell you, I never catch a break!
  • Although I was tempted to run yesterday morning so I wouldn't have to run in the frigid temperatures of this morning, I ended up resting as planned. Had I run, it would have been my 6th run in a row. I ran just after 8 am this morning. It was a touch colder than what it says on the weather forecast above. Minus 25C, -27C makes no difference in the grand scheme of things.  I can't really tell the difference in 2 degrees.  I will say this though,it was so cold that the running app on my phone did not work. My GPS froze and it said I only ran 3K.
  • I woke at 5am. Although the temperature wasn't supposed to get much warmer by sunrise, I just wanted to run in the daylight. It's hard enough running when it's -27C, but running in the dark in -27C is crazy!!!! I was supposed to run 6K, but wimped out at 5K because my lungs were on fire from the cold and I couldn't feel my toes anymore. There was another runner that I ran by twice during my run. I think he was doing the same route as me but backwards. He had a brown goatee which was completely white from sweat. My eyelashes froze together and my cheeks got snow/icicles on them from my sweat. I still manage to sweat in frigidly cold temperatures. I have to admit, miserable weather aside, I felt bad ass this morning.  I ran my best pace in a few weeks (6:32/K) and I deemed myself certifiably bat shit crazy. There's a real freedom in finally admitting that you have a problem.
  • Although I waited around to run this morning, I got more done in that 3 hours, than I did over the entire weekend.  I cleaned up the kitchen mess from the night before, I made banana bread, I prepared the slow cooker for Bolognese sauce (for dinner tonight), I made Julien's lunch, I made hard boiled eggs for the week, I cleaned the turkey carcass (to prepare for soup) from Sunday, I cleaned up all the dishes again, I read blogs, answered some emails, tended to my cats and enjoyed a few cups of coffee. Then I ran, got ready for work and drove to Toronto, then Brampton for client meetings. Busy, busy day! 
  • I decided not to take a break from my Tim Horton's drive-thru guy.  The young man who has a crush on me and works the drive-thru window was pretty much back to normal yesterday. I acted the same as I usually do and we exchanged a bit of small talk. As much small talk as you can in 30 seconds or less. I feel relieved because I felt badly for him. I know he was embarrassed, but he needs to know that I am incredibly easy going. So we are good and he seemed comfortable with me again. Yay!
  • Sometimes I think I come off as very snobby to others. Today I was in Starbucks in Vaughan and there was a suit (business man) sitting at a communal table. I faced him as I lined up for coffee and he looked up at me, kept eye contact with me while he folded his arms across his chest and sat back in his chair, still staring at me. Now the first thing that popped into my head? Why is he staring at me? What's wrong with me? Then he smiled at me and I didn't know what to do so I abruptly looked away. And then I felt guilty because I felt like I was being rude. And I never looked at him again. Now I could have just smiled back and then looked away, but I panicked because I am who I am. I need to work on reciprocating kind looks and accepting compliments from others. Usually when someone compliments me, I counter that compliment with an immediate put down about myself. Example? "Your legs look awesome in those pants". Answer..."that's because they hide all my flaws". Why I can't just say "thank you" instead of putting myself down is beyond me. I am going to practice compliment acceptance as should we all because I know I'm not alone!
  • I just baked my first loaf of Paleo Banana bread. My hubby actually filmed a bit of Julien and I making it, and he's uploading it onto his Facebook. I'll share it to my Poonapalooza Facebook page if you care to give it a look. It's 70% downloaded now, so it likely won't be up until tomorrow.  I'm heading to bed when I'm done this post. I have to be running by 5:30 am tomorrow. I have team meeting at 9:30 in Toronto,and there's always a lot of traffic on Wednesday mornings. I guess lots of workplaces have team meeting!  I won't be eating the banana bread until team meeting. If it's any good I'll share the recipe.  Egads! I just looked at the forecast. It's supposed to be -31 with the windchill tomorrow morning at 6am. That is just gross....

Top: My very painful and appropriately placed paper cut.
Bottom: Paleo Banana Bread!!!!