Category Archives: Health/Fitness

Thirty (things to do) before (turning) 30

November 28, 2011 | Tags: , , , ,
Today’s my birthday. I’m turning 29 and I feel like mourning. I mean… after that my twenties will be over – and that seems significant. This is my last chance to mark this decade with awesomeness, and in order to do so, I made a list of 30 things I wish to do before I turn – gulp – 30.

Bliss Dance, giant sculpture of a dancing woman on Treasure Island

This is a giant sculpture I photographed on Treasure Island. She looks happy to me. And ageless.

Travel

  1. Make a road trip along the coast of California (ideally in a convertible)
  2. Hike into the Grand Canyon
  3. Spend (at least) a week-end in Las Vegas, Baby. Yeah. (02/25/2012 to 02/27/2012)
  4. Visit Los Angeles (12/26/2011 to 12/30/2011)
  5. Attend Comic-con

Life in San Francisco

  1. Watch the sunset at Ocean Beach
  2. Go see Beach Blanket Babylon
  3. Attend the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown
  4. Take night pictures of San Francisco at Treasure Island
  5. Climb Coit Tower
  6. See a show at the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center

Health and Fitness

  1. Run the San Francisco 1st Half Marathon
  2. Do the Whole30 challenge
  3. Do a smoothie cleanse (can’t remember the exact dates)
  4. Meditate 20 minutes a day for a month

Others

  1. Skydive
  2. Retake the one photo a day for a month challenge
  3. Finish reading the Gormenghast trilogy
  4. Blog consistently 1 times a week for a year (totally cheated and changed 2 times for once a week)
  5. Improve my English
  6. Wear a costume at a Halloween party
  7. Go watch a movie alone (The Muppets on 01/10/2012)
  8. Sell stuff on eBay (I have stuff I moved for that purpose only O_O)
  9. Make a career breakthrough (I leave it vague, I’m open to anything)
  10. Finish decorating the living room
  11. Write some reviews on Amazon and/or Yelp (consulting reviews is a way of life for me, so I ought to give back)
  12. Meet more new people
  13. Bake a good batch of french macarons
  14. Wash today’s dishes and do the laundry (what?) (11/29/2011)
  15. Do all of those things

I’ll be crossing them off the list as I complete them…

What are you planning for 2012? Time to think about it, soon it’ll be resolution-season ;)

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Breaking Free

November 17, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
I love running, especially here in San Francisco. I love watching the sun rise over the city’s skyline, Twin Peaks bathed in a golden light, the tall trees of Park Presidio partly hidden by a dreamy mist, the glimmering Bay, the calm streets before the shops open, or the scent coming from the little bakery on the corner…

Sure, at first I found the topography challenging for a beginner, but I soon came to love climbing all those hills and running down them at full speed. It makes me feel free and strong and so lucky to be here. Frankly, I can’t imagine a more rewarding place to run: there’s challenge, there’s beauty… it rocks.

So for the past 6 weeks, 3 times a week, I woke up at around 6h30 and as soon as I felt awake enough to tie my shoes, I got dressed and hit the road.

Yesterday, however, I couldn’t make it as early as usual and I was therefore visited by an old friend of mine: self-consciousness. Suddenly, it seemed to be a very stupid idea to wear tights with hips like mine, and that all the runners of San Francisco had been laughing at me and my wee 2,5 mile runs. I did 2 blocks and I turned back home.

No beautiful sights for me. No fantastic feeling of freedom. No idea if I could have broken a personal record.

It sucked. And I never want it to happen again.

Here’s to breaking free of self-imposed boundaries. And also to my running tights… there are good reasons why superheroes wear them, you know.

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FFF: First Week Report

February 7, 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,

Waking up with the sun

One thing I forgot to take into account when I decided on this challenge for my Freakin’ Fab February is that… well it’s February. And I’m in Quebec. And the window of my bedroom faces West. The only light coming through my window is my neighbor’s backyard light that he leaves open ALL NIGHT. In the morning, everything is somber and gray, which is not exactly uplifting. After two very relaxing morning of late sleeping, I decided I would try that back in SF if my boyfriend is willing…

I programed my alarm clock to wake me at 6 a.m. this morning. I woke up to close it.

And went back to bed.

Eating Healthy

I’m very glad to report this was a huge success. My will was unfaltering, due in part to the excellent chili I prepared last Sunday and the “salad bar” drawer I had set up in the fridge. The idea is to make everything easier than ordering pizza. And by eating much more protein than I’m use to, I almost eliminated my sugar craving. Which is not a small feat.

I still have plenty of chili for this week, yeah! It’s lucky, because my car is stuck behind a five feet high snowbank I have no time to take care of.

Creative Practice

The funny thing is that the day after I posted my list of challenge, my coach asked me NOT to write this week, as a practice. Of course I listened to her…

Reading Less

Partial success. Blogs are like a drug to me. And these days I’m obsess with shoes and did my share of mindless shoes searching (I’m looking for the perfect comfortable heels with round toes). How much time can a girl browses shoes online? Gosh… It’s not exactly reading, but it’s not exactly productive either :/

So…

All in all, I’m alright with the result. That’s the big thing I’m trying to learn with my coaching sessions: not forming excessive expectations and being happy with the results I get. Very zen. Very though.

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Freakin’ Fab February

February 1, 2011 | Tags: , , , , ,
I decided I would have the best month of February I’d had in a while. Just like that. No reasons, only that I’m in for having a great time. And February is the kind of month that needs that kind of boost…

The thing is, I want to feel good about myself. And I want to get my mind off the move to SF for some time (time is going sloooowly… I miss my boyfriend!).

So, what’s the infallible plan to ensure I have the “time of my life”?

Waking up with natural light everyday of the week

I’ll open the curtains before I go to bed so that I’ll let the natural light of the day waking me. That should get me up around the same time I’m used to (between 7h and 7h30) but in a much better mood than with my alarm (that’s my theory, anyway).

Eating healthier

I’ve been following the meal plan Tim Ferris’ suggests in The Four Hour Body for a few weeks, and it’s really something I like doing and that does me good. Except I make a little too much exceptions. I want to do it “strict” for a month, just to see the difference and prove to myself that I can do it.

To help me, I cleaned my refrigerator of every things that doesn’t belong to my meal plan (it’s so refreshing to see the space!), I prepared and froze a delicious chili that’ll help for those days I don’t want to cook, and I chopped and cooked a few of the key ingredients I need in the morning (I’m very lazy in the morning, and I observed that if I mess with the rules for breakfast, the rules generally go to hell for the rest of the day).

Working on my novel every night for 30 minutes

I’ve never felt better than when I had a  writing practice, but I’ve never been able to maintain one for more than 4 months at a time. There’s always an emergency that shows up at some point and blows all the momentum created by weeks and weeks of regular writing. And then it’s back at the beginning, just like the AA who take a sip after years of sobriety. But it’s important to get back on track… so I’ll do it this month after choking the practice last May (been a while!). By committing to only 30 minutes, I’m making sure I’ll actually do it.

Writing for this blog doesn’t count!

Reading less

As a part of my coaching sessions with Kate Swoboda, I had to log all of my activities for a week. I almost couldn’t believe the results. Jeez, I read waaaay too much. Some people watch too much TV, but I, on the other hand, pass way too much time skimming blogs and books. I installed LeechBlock to make sure I stay in line. This little Firefox add on allows me to define a list of time sucking websites and the maximum time I should be spending on each. It’s neat!

I’ll continue to read a fiction book every night for 10 min to 1h before going to sleep though… that takes the edge off the day and makes me dream of more interesting stuff :)

Staying in Touch

I’ll check in on the blog every Tuesday to let you know how it went…

I hope you have a freakin’ fab February too :) What would you like to do differently this February? Is your routine in line with your dreams?

(By the way, if you want to laugh, you should hear me pronounce “February”… Is it just me or is it a hard one?)

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