31

Nope, that's not the amount I've lost so far. It's now my age! Yup, that's right. I'm 31 big ones today!

Today for brunch my family and I are going to the Imperial Buffet. Sad part is I picked it. lol.....I originally wanted to go to this vegetarian restaurant that I found online, but the darn place is closed on sundays. What's up with that? I thought nothing closed on sundays anymore!  I chose the buffet, because it's easy for my family. Everyone can pick what they want including myself with no issues. Sometimes when I go to restaurants since turning vegetarian there is not a lot of variety. I either end up with a pasta dish or a veggie burger. I didn't want that on my birthday so I choice the buffet. Sue me. I'm hoping (like I did at the Mandarian) to just eat a bunch of veggies and be very mindful of my eating. I did it once, I can do it again.

Yesterday I also went out to dinner. I went and saw my Aunt who was visiting from BC at my grandmother's house. We ended up going to this place called the pizza factory. I ordered their only vegetarian dish (besides vegetarian pizza) and was a bit disappointed. I pictured it in this nice bowl filled with veggies with a little pasta and sauce. It ended up coming in this square dish and it was PACKED with cheese! It was NOT healthy. AT. ALL. Did I still eat it though? Yup. I know...... I suck. I did learn something from the experience though. Ask the waitress exactly what it will come looking like when you order it. The description in the menu, doesn't always give you a good idea.  If I asked, I would have either changed my order to the pizza (which was actually probably healthier) or asked for 'light on the cheese please'. Oh well....note for next time.

Anyway, wish me luck today. I'm really going to try to be careful, but I'm not going to lie though. I do plan to have some birthday pie (not a huge cake girl....thank god!)

Friends, Family and Food

Howdy folks, how was your weekend? Mine was jammed packed with the three F's. Friends, Family and Food.

As I talked about in my previous post, my family  headed to the Lone Star for dinner for my father's 60th birthday. Thanks MirandaJayne for the advice on what to order, but sadly my sister was a bit apprehensive to have anyone order anything that came on a cast iron hot plate (ie. fajita). She feared my two year old nephew would touch it. As a result I ended up ordering Texas Taquitos. As stated on their website they are a

"southern-style spring rolls stuffed with Jack cheese, grilled corn, onions, black beans and cilantro in crispy wrappers served with a zesty chipotle plum dipping sauce".

There were four of them - pretty small but not the healthiest I know.

*sigh*

Luckily, I didn't feel like eating much else for dinner....mind you I sure  did eat a few flour tortillas and salsa though. Damn they were yummy! Of course pictures were taken during the birthday celebration - all made me want to vomit. Damn camera, why do you hate me so much? Here when I think I'm making progress and feeling skinnier, you never fail to slap me back into reality!

Oh well, sunday I ended up getting up early and headed over to my friend's geocaching event she hosted. It was fabulous. Wonderful food, lots of people, free swag and great giveaways. She really out did herself.  After breakfast my sister, friend with their spouses (and myself of course) headed out to find some caches that were placed for the 10 year anniversary. We hiked/walked for 4.5 hours through a conservation area!  It was a lot of fun (and time flew), but damn I was tired when we were finished. I came home and crashed. Lets just say I did not do my wonderful c25k run that day. Instead I took a trip to dream land!

Today I did get out there though and ran my butt off. but I have to admit I really didn't want to. My last two runs have been pretty brutal and that was with having 'walk periods' in between the running parts. Today was a full 25 minute run with no walking breaks. I kept thinking to myself, how the hell am I going to do this when I"ve struggled doing the last two runs so much?  Of course this led me to I procrastinate until 3:00pm. Then finally I said enough was enough and got out there. I did some extra stretching (and praying) and stuck on my runners and headed out the door. Thankfully the run was better than my last two and I finished without any major issues. I'm still pretty slow (although I have no idea what my real 'pace' is) but who cares? I did it! I ran for 25 minutes people! 6 weeks ago I found it hard to run for 60 seconds. Now that's improvement baby!!!!

I have to say I am proud of myself. I'd be lying if I didn't, but I also just keep looking forward and still realize I have a long way to go to get ready for my first 5K. I have to increase my speed, learn how to run hills etc..etc... Week 7 I'm going to start working on these things. Week 7 consists of three 25 minute runs. I think I'm going to try to run by the lake (where my first 5K will be) at least once to prepare myself a little more. My runs right now have always been around my neighbourhood which if fairly flat. The lake has more hills. It's going to be hard, but I have to try! I know it will only help in the end. I have a little over a month until my first 5K and I want to be as prepared as I can be!

Lonely Vegetarian at the Lone Star

Happy Saturday Bloggers.

I just woke up and I'm about to get ready to meet my family. We're celebrating my father's 60th birthday today. I can't believe he's the big 6-0! Wow.... I can still remember his 40th birthday surprise party! My, how time flies!

He's decided that he wants to go to the Lone Star for dinner. Let's just say it is not a vegetarian kind of place. I'm perusing the menu online as we speak and it's going to be difficult. Even their salads have meat in them and don't really sound that appealing even if I was to order them without the meat.  Of course all their food is not diet friendly either. I think I'm going to end up eating something cheesy from the appetizer menu.  I'll just take the hit and hope my 25min run tomorrow will kill the calories I'm about to eat! Here's hoping anyway!

Tomorrow morning I'm also going to my very first geocaching event.  For those who don't know, geocaching started 10 years ago and it pretty much like a scavenger hunt using a GPS. I was introduced to it last April and had fun searching for little treasures last summer. The friend who introduced me is now hosting this event tomorrow so it should be fun. It includes breakfast and then of course getting out there and finding some caches! I like geocaching because it involves getting out of your house, hiking/walking for hours. It's also about finding and learning about new parts of the city your living in that you wouldn't learn about or go to otherwise.  If you have a GPS, I say give it a shot.