Little Miss Scatterbrain has been a bad little blogger!

Miss Scatterbrain

I’ve been a bad little blogger (and by that I mean, I haven’t been blogging).  Life has just put me in a whirlwind the last few weeks, but this is a time of change.  It’s spring, some of my activities are coming to an end, some are starting up again and I’m switching job focus.  I’m looking forward to summer, hopefully it will get here soon.  The campground is opening up in three weeks and there is still ice on the lake, yipes!

Exciting Summertime prospects:
- Working at Sleepy G Farm and eating my CSA (Community  Supported Agriculture) – www.sleepygfarm.ca
-Turning 30 and being fabulous!
- Working full time at the Pass Lake Campground (not as much commuting and working 500m from home is so convenient)
- Completing my workouts outside, I’m such a fair weather person, I love being outside and soaking in the rays.

- Starting Contest Prep (yay June 20th can’t come soon enough)
- Visiting my best friend in Winnipeg
- The Toronto Pro Super Show

Furthermore, easing into summer I’ve decided I also want to start a cleanse.  I’m going to add some lemon water to my daily regiment and some dry brushing.  I’ll be interested to see what this does to my physique and energy levels.  Apparently both of these activities help cleanse the body of impurities and reduce cellulite.  Just another healthy activity to add to my list.

Now to explain what Little Miss Scatterbrain has to do with this.  I am little Miss Scatterbrain, I’m so busy and so absentminded I’m constantly losing track of my cellphone and car keys.  I turn 30 this June and my best friend gave me an early birthday present while I was in Winnipeg this past weekend.  It was perfect for me, a beautiful hand crafted necklace from Nelson, BC and a mug with Little Miss Scatterbain on the front.  I love it, it’s sooo ME.

Little Miss Scatterbrain Mug

 

51 Dreams

Inspired by a recent post by Donloree Huffman about writing down your dreams I have decided to log my dreams and create a bucket list of things that I would like to achieve in this life.  I always say I’m going to do this, but I never set aside the time to create a list and get it down on paper or logged in cyberspace.

My Bucket List

1. Compete in a Fitness Model Competition
2. Compete in a Figure Competition
3. Achieve Premier Competition status in Highland Dancing
4. Travel to France and spend two days at the Louvre
5. Go snorkeling in Hawaii
6. Go scuba diving someplace tropical
7. Visit Russia and watch the Bolshoy
8. Own a Volkswagen Beetle – done!
9. Get Married an Elvis Impersonator – done!
10. Build a Eco friendly Dream house
11. Pay off all my student loans - will be achieved in 1 year and seven months
12. Learn to make mocassins
13. In 1 year and seven months put half of my student debt payment into retirement savings and the other half into a savings account for travel plans
14. Go to University and acquire my Fine Arts Degree
15. Knit my own pair of intarsia highland dance stockings – goal in progress
16. Open a yarn store (my retirement dream)
17. Have a personal winterized greenhouse
18. Attend the ScotDance Canada National Championships
19. See Cirque du Soliel - achieved, but I still want to see them again because they are amazing!
20. Visit Graceland
21. Obtain my PAL and Hunter Safety Course so I can continue to hunt and gather most of my meat (at the moment I rely on my father)
22. Learn to make Ukranian Eggs (this year) – goal achieved
23. Go back to the island of Hawaii and visit Kaui and Maui
24. Run another marathon (my past experiences were so great, I would love to be able to do it again), I also wouldn’t oppose to running the Boston Marathon, even if it takes me until 50 to qualify.
25. Take a yarn tour of Iceland
26. Visit Patagonia and or Antarctica
27. Go on a canoe trip in Quetico Provincial Park
28. Take road trip along the western cost of the United States, through Big Sur & San Fran.
29. Own a airstream camper or a bowler
30. Take a pottery class
31. Take a cake decorating class
32. This may sound ridiculous, but I’d love to work as a barista and learn to make fancy coffees
33. See Catherine the Great’s Castle, specifically the Amber Room
34. See an opera
35. Splurge and purchase some cashmere and knit myself something very luxerious, as a treat just for me.
36. Create an obstacle course on our property and or find a cool obstacle course somewhere and run it.
37. Participate in a triathlon (for shits and giggles)
38. Be able to do the splits
39. Be able to do pull ups
40. Be able to do verticle dips
41. Be able to do the plank for 5 mins
42. Go on a zip line in Costa Rica (even though I’ll probably crap my pants while doing it)
43. Knit an Icelandic sweater
44. Karaoke
45. Complete all of the trails in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
46. Participate in the Sibley Ski Loppet
47. Take ballroom dancing classes
48. Travel to the East Coast of Canada
49. Knit a tacky Christmas sweater so that I may don gay apparel during the holidays.
50. Make armor out of Wonderflex for my first Fitness Model Competition Costume.
51. Visit Disney World as an adult & go to Harry Potter land at Universal studios

 

Preparing for Easter

So after my treat meal hangover I seem to be on the mend.  For the last few days I have eaten regularly and every day I start to feel better.  Unfortunately this week has been full of stress, but lets quickly move over to the postive sid eof things.  At the end of the week of craziness is 4 days of no work, in Winnipeg, MB with family and friends…ahhhhh!  In preparation for Easter I had what seemed like a never ending list of to dos.  I thankfully got through them all, comprimising some sleep, drinking excess amounts of coffee, but food and workouts were not comprimised, whew!  Listed below is my pathetic attempt to log my diet.  I know I missed a few days along the line, but I may be forgiven as I am 7 weeks out from contest prep and counting.  I can afford a little slacking off now   But once it’s got time I’m all business.

M1: 1 scoop of sunbutter and a banana
M2: Coconana eggs
M3: lean ground beef with oven roasted bell peppers
M4: lean ground beef
M5: 2 whole eggs with bacon and 1 sliced tomato
M6: steamed spinach with roasted bell peppers and pickerel

M1: pickerel and roasted bell peppers
M2: Coconana eggs – 4 eggs (2 yolk)
M3: pickerel and roasted bell peppers
M4: ground turkey and oven roasted bell peppers
M5: ground turkey and oven roasted bell peppers with avocado
M6: 4 whole hardboiled eggs with salsa

M1: sunbutter and a banana
M2: ground turkey with roasted peppers and 2 whole eggs
M3: ground turkey with roasted peppers and salsa
M4: 1 pepperette and 1 cocoa chili chicken breasts
M5: Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Travel to Winnipeg Day!  We slept 3 hours and then got up at 3:30am, made two pots of coffee and then hooked up a huge trailer to Wayne’s truck and hit the highway with two MG cars on a trailer to deliver to his uncle in Manitoba.  The goal was to get to Winnipeg by noon so that we could find a place to park this trailer and remove the cars.  Eating on this day was a little sketchy and greatly vegetable deprived as what would happen when we finally arrived in Winnipeg was not really planned.

M1: 1 scoop of protein powder with cinnamon & Paleo pumpkin pie
M2: 1 chicken breast with more Paleo pumpkin pie
M3: Chicken breast & V8
M4: We arrived in Winnipeg and sat at Wayne’s aunts house while they tried to get the cars off the trailer.  She offered cookies and bread (which I easily refused) while I ate chicken out of a baggie.  Later, I was then dropped off at Wayne’s uncle’s sister’s house without my cooler (thinking we would hook up shortly), turns out I would spend the whole day here and eat supper here as well.  There was nothing for me to eat other than some deer pepperettes and turkey, everything else was not clean, it was either carby, coated in some kind of gross sauce or sugar.  I ate my protein decorated some Ukranian Eggs, which was tons of fun and then anxiously awaited to be reunited with my cooler.
M5: protein powder with cinnamon and 1 chicken breast over spinach salad with peppers, zuchinni, tomatoes and avocado, drizzled with lemon juice.  I let out a sigh of relief.  Finally real food!!!! I was in heaven.  Then after not sleeping for almost 24 hours and having drank 2 pots of coffee over the course the day, finally, I got a good 8 hours of shut eye.

Happy Easter Everyone!

 

I cheated on my diet for liquid Benadryl (yes it contains sucrose!)

I’m going to be frank.  I’m a skeptic, there is so much information out there in print and on the web, it’s hard to know what is real and what is fake.

When I first read the Paleo Solution I thought this book had some larger than life claims.  It seemed to be some kind of miracle diet and I didn’t buy it for one second.  I didn’t doubt that it would be good for helping me to loose fat or feel less bloated when it claimed that dieters allergies disappeared, I thought for sure it was a pile of crap!

Boy was I wrong.  Yesterday I had my first treat meal in 30 days.  The treat meal was homemade pizza, made by my adorable loving husband, some Cadbury mini eggs and cupcake.  I knew this meal wasn’t going to make me feel fantastic given that I haven’t eaten grains or sugar in 30 days.  I was careful to eat slowly, chew lots and try not to eat too much.  I had some mild indigestion after, but thankfully no bloat (I was expecting bloat), what I didn’t expect to happen was “the headache.”

It started as a mild headache yesterday and today it spiraled into a hellish attack of allergy symptoms: headache, itchy and dry eyes, plugged ears, sneezing and congestion.  Why! after a month of being free from this, it has come back.  I had to take matters into my own hands and I needed relieve immediately.  I gulped down some fast acting liquid Benadryl and now I’m sitting here wondering how all this allergy business happened.

Now I’m not sure if I want to eat another treat meal.  Coincidence?  Paranoia? or the cold, hard truth?  Does non Paleo eating causes allergies from hell!?

I wonder how long I’ll have to suffer? I’m so happy to be eating Paleo again.  Now if only I could feel Paleo

 

The End of the Day Paleo Trial

Lately I’ve been living life in warp speed.  The reality of my chaotic summers are kicking in full throttle. Volunteer projects are in full effect and contest prep is within sight.

This Paleo trial has been a positive experience.  It has shown me that 4 months of dieting IS possible.  It won’t be easy at times, but it’s very achievable and like everything it’s hard a first but eventually becomes routine.  I’ve also had some really interesting side effects:

1. Fat Loss
2. My allergy symptoms have virtually disappeared.  I’m not going to say that I never sneeze or get itchy, but I have for the first time in months, woken up every morning without a headache (yes I used to wake up every morning feeling like a had a head cold before), I haven’t been congested and my energy levels are much higher.
3. Although I still occasionally have indigestion, I have virtually no bloating or gas.

As I mentioned before I’m going to continue eating Paleo, with the exception of one treat meal a week, where I have been given the green light by my trainer to eat whatever I want.  It will be interesting to see how I feel after these meals.  Then, 8 weeks from now I will officially start prepping for my first Fitness Model Competition, squeee!

I’m looking forward to my first treat meal tomorrow.  The original plan was to go for Indian Food with my husband, but unfortunately the weather network is calling for snow! and since he drives a snow plow for a living our dinner date just might be cancelled.  Regardless I’m going to have a treat supper tomorrow night.  If mother nature holds off the snow storm Indian it will be, if not I just might park my butt down at a sushi bar or head over to my favourite Vietnamese restaurant, either way it will be fabulous!

The Last of the first 30 day eating is listed below!  This is not the end of Paleo eating for me!

M1: Paleo Pumpkin Pie
M2: Pickerel with tomato sauce
M3: Pickerel and broccoli
M4: Pickerel and broccoli
M5: Pickerel with tomato sauce

Paleo Day 28
M1: Paleo Pumpkin Pie
M2: smoked lake trout and 4 eggs (2 yolks)
M3: Ground Moose Meat, mustard and baby greens
M4: Ground Moose Meat, mustard and baby greens
M5: Chicken Breast and 1/2 a long english cucumber
M6:

Paleo Day 29
M1:
M2: smoked lake trout and 4 eggs (2 yolks)
M3: Moose Tenderloin & 1 cup of blueberries
M4: Moose Tenderloin
M5: 4 eggs (2 yolk) with roasted red peppers, red onion, squash and zuchinni
M6: pumpkin pancake: sunbutter, eggs, vanilla and pureed pumpkin made into a pancake.

Paleo Day 30
M1: sunbutter and a banana
M2: 4 eggs (2 yolk)
M3: 1 can of tuna with balsamic vinegar
M4: 2 chicken legs with 1/2 avocado and salsa
M5: pepperettes, 1/2 avocado 2 1/2 cups of lettuce with salsa
M6: chicken breast with water chesnuts, red cabbage, romaine & mango

 

Paleo Day 24, 25 & 26

As the end of my 30 day Paleo trial is in sight.  I can’t help but wonder what next? Although the Paleo lifestyle is something I will adapt into the majority of my eating and my contest prep it’s just not something I can see myself 100% committing to all the time.  I can’t imagine Christmas without turkey and stuffing, never eating sushi again or having a birthday without birthday cake (unless of course my birthday lands during contest prep, like it does this year!)  I really hummed and hawed about this decision.  There is the part of me that wants to be hard core all the way through contest time and then there is the realistic side of me that knows that being on a diet so strict for too long will only cause me to fall and possibly fall hard (I know because this happened to me last year).  I voiced my concerns to my trainer and he agrees that until contest prep begins, I can certainly afford one “treat meal” a week until prep starts, he even emphasized that it should be whatever I want (I think he has already caught on to my perfectionism, that might feel the need to refrain from whatever I want and make all my treats clean)  I feel much better knowing that I have his approval and support, especially since he is experienced with contest prep and well, I have no experience in this area.

So peeps in a few days I’m going to eat something wild, don’t know what it’s going to be yet, but I think it’s time to make it count since contest prep starts in two months and then it will be 4 months of restraint and willpower.  I hear a sushi bar calling my name!

Paleo Day 24
M1: 4 eggs (2 yolks) with ambrosia salad
M2: tuna and steamed spinach with balsamic vinegar and oil
M3: chicken and cucumbers
M4: can of tuna with tomatoes
M5: chicken leg
M6: 1 1/2 chicken breast with 1/2 a long english cucumber

Paleo Day 25
M1: 1 banana and 4 eggs (2 yolk)
M2: 1 chicken breast and ambrosia salad
M3: tuna, salsa and an avocado
*snack in between – another chicken breast*
M4: bacon, three eggs scrambled and tomatoes (no stomach issues after!)
M5: sunbutter carrot fries
M6: salmon and pickles

Paleo Day 26
M1: 4 eggs (2 yolks)
M2: 2 slices of bacon and coconut flour pancakes (which are egg heavy) with a drizzle of maple syrup and 1 cup of blueberries
M3: moose meat cooked in tomatoes sauce with fried onions (which didn’t bother my stomach at all!)
M4: more of the aforementioned moose meat dish with 1 1/2 cups of broccoli
M5: shrimp, dijon mustard and baby greens
M6: pumpkin pie (made with pumpkin, egg, coconut milk, spices/the crust was made of coconut oil flax seed, pinenuts and pumpkin seeds)
M7: 1 pickerel fillet

 

Top 5 exercises I Love to Hate

Top 5 Exercises I Love to Hate

Shoulder Press: This exercise is just plain hard! I find of all the exercises is the one that exhausts me the quickest and makes me feel the most pathetic.  I usually have the ugliest look on my face as I grunt and try not to contort my body in order to lift that damn olympic bar over my head.  Not to mention that I constantly strain my rombus and traps during this exercise.  The ouch and arggg factor make this exercise an overall ugh!

Squats: While squats are probably the most important exercise for me at this stage in my physique building. They are one of the exercises I loathe the most.  If I only had to go 90 degrees I would love them, but my trainer believes that all squats should be performed “ass to grass” and when I’m trying to lift heavy, it’s very hard to get my ass off the grass, it’s that first inch or two where I struggle not to curve my back and or fall over.   Thankfully, I always get through this exercise thinking about the results that I want to have: big strong thighs to match my already pronounced glutes, so I squat, squat and squat some more!

Vertical Dips: While I don’t mind parallel dips because they make me feel good and strong.   I don’t enjoy vertical dips.  Why! I can’t do one yet!  I’m still working up to it by doing negatives.  After my first set (and I have to do five) I’m usually toast.  Plus, I find this is the exercise is where my girliness comes out the most.  Holding on the bars always makes my hands burn.  Do you hear sissitius, yes you do!  But shhh, don’t tell the people at the gym I think this way, I usually don’t share these inner whimpy thoughts with others  I think once I can do a few of these exercises I will like them a lot more.

The Plank! What is there to like about an exercise called the plank? the plank leads you to your doom!  I don’t enjoy the plank because it’s a hard exercise for me.  I can do crunches till the cows come home but the plank sets my lower back on fire.  Although it’s the back that hurts I know the burning back is a sign of a weak core and this is why my coach makes me do 5 tri sets with the plank 1-2 times a week!.  Oh yeah, he shows his love by bringing the pain.

Standing Barbell Curls: I know this exercise is how you build guns and boy do I want big ones! ha ha ha, so I complete this exercise and grit my teeth through the frustration.  I think half of my issue with this exercise is executing it with good form once the reps get heavy.  I think like any exercise or skill in life practice makes perfect and in the realm of bodybuilding I’m still a baby, learning how to walk.  So when I really just want to put that Olympic bar down I think, Sarah Connor, Sarah Connor, Sarah Connor and squeeze out those last brutal reps.

Anyway, this was a really fun post to write.  I knew from the very beginning that all of the exercises on this list would be the exercises most important ones for my muscular development.  Although they are tough, I always feel great when they are done.

Have a good night ladies, I’m exhausted and ready for bed.  Squats first thing tomorrow morning.  I’ll need my energy to get my ass off the grass.

Other ladies who have made their own exercises they love to hate lists:

Donloree –  http://www.bikiniorbust.com/

Kari –  http://www.figuregirlworld.com/

Dawn — http://www.bareitallfitness.com/

Jen — http://jenklimek.wordpress.com/

Colleen — http://www.thefitbee.com/

Liz — http://4amaven.wordpress.com/

Allison — http://passlakeprincess.wordpress.com/

 

 

Paleo Day 20, 21, 22

Paleo Day 20
M1: pumpkin, 4 eggs (2yolk), cinnamon
M2: kelp noodle salad with shrimp (cucumbers, bell pepper, nori, tamari, olive oil, lemon juice and sesame seeds)
M3: kelp noodle salad with shrimp
M4: moose meat with tomatoes
M5: I scoop of sunbutter ???

M6: blanking ???

It wasn’t that long ago, but for the life of me I can’t remember, I was so busy that day and the day after, I didn’t have a chance to sit at the computer and log my eating.  I do remember having a sour stomach all day and feeling every unsettled and acidy

Paleo Day 21
M1: moose meat with tomatoes
M2: 4 eggs (2 yolks)
M3: moose meat with tomatoes
M4: turkey breast, greens, avocado, pumpkin seeds, grated beet, grated carrot and sesame balsamic dressing
M5: moose meat with tomatoes and 1/2 a cucumber
M6: tuna with pickle juice

I had a sour stomach all day and everything I ate seemed to have a bitter aftertaste.

Paleo Day 22
M1: I scoop of sunbutter and moose meat in tomatoes – and then pain ensued
M2: 4 eggs (2 yolk) with 1 cup of blueberries
M3: 3 cups of spinach and tuna
M4: tomatoes and tuna – then stomach pain ensued
M5: 4 whole eggs
M6: bacon

I think I’m starting to see the common denominator here, tomatoes equal stomach pain.  Saddness, I do love my tomaters.  We’ll see how the next few days go.

 

Paleo Day 23

M1: 1 scoop of sunbutter and 4 eggs (2 yolk) with 1 cup of raspberries
M2: extra lean ground beef and parnsnip fries
M3: spinach with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and 1 handful of pumpkin seeds
M4: portabello mushroom burger: Lean ground beef patty with a slice of tomatoe, mashed avocado and 4 slices of bacon served on a steamed portabello mushroom
M5: 1 greens smoothie (1 head of iceberg lettuce, 1 cup water, 1 banana, 4 tbsp of cocoa and 1/2 an avocado) + two hard boiled eggs.  I was very full after this and while I wasn’t bloated, the smoothie wasn’t sitting right.

 

Fitness Model Costume Ideas

I haven’t been weight training for long.  Like I said in previous posts, I was virtually inactive until I started running. When I was in my running streak, I did some “light” weight training, but I never increased muscle mass.

As soon as I started lifting heavy years later and realized, holy crap! it was actually possible for me to build arms like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 with hard work, I was hooked! .

Anyway, knowing that jumping into figure would be too unrealistic for a girl with long spindly legs like myself (I need more moooscles first!!!).  I decided I was going to compete in a bikini or fitness model competition. Originally I thought bikini would be the first place to start, but then I saw that the UFE organization had an event called Halloween Mayhem and if you were a fitness model competitor there was a costume round, I was sold!. Anyone that knows me knows that Halloween is my favourite holiday all of time.  I get excited about it like most people do about Christmas.  I honestly pull out the Halloween decorations as soon as the Labour Day weekend is over and then take them down at the end of November just before I pull out all of the Christmas stuff! Naturally since I love Halloween so much, I also love dressing up and going all out on costumes.

So the hunt for my perfect fitness model costume began (yes last year, I’m an over planner).  I wanted something classic, original, sexy and idenitifyable (if the judges can’t figure what you are, it’s not a good costume).

What was a going to be?  After hours upon hours of web browsing I had figured it out.  A fan of classic tattoos and pinup girls, I was going to be a classic pin up sailor.  I had even found a perfect costume online and what I loved even more about it was that it was personal.  What is the personal tie you ask?  One of my fav pastimes is highland dancing.  In highland dance there is a dance called the horn pipe.  The horn pipe is performed wearing a much less flattering sailor outfit with a little hat and has lots of cute little moves I could incorporate into my 3 point walk and pose routine.  I was so excited.

BUT THEN, dun, dun, dun…

I bought this month’s issue of Inside Fitness Magazine and there in print, nationally distributed, is the costume I had been planning to wear.  What is a girl to do?  Although the sailor idea is not unique, it had not been done yet in the UFE.  While I’m sure I wouldn’t be the first sailor in fitness modeling, the costume I planned to wear has now been seen by everyone in the industry nationwide, so it wouldn’t be new.  I would be the girl that copied the competitor in that issue of Inside Fitness Magazine, unacceptable.

Back to the drawing board I guess…It was an awesome idea.  Tempted to get it just for my collection of costumes.

Pin Up Sailor