The End of the World...

...or is it?

As June 6, 2006 draws closer many people are talking about the end of the world. Most in a joking manner, but some seriously.

Yes June 6, 2006 translates into 6-6-6, the sign of the devil, and possibly the end of the earth, but this is not the only June 6, '06 humans have come across. Far from it. How far back would you like to go?

June 6, 6 BC
June 6, 6 AD
June 6, 606 AD
June 6, 1706...

You get my drift. Every century has one. That is a June 6, '06. Nothing has happened on this day in the past; when I say nothing, I mean the end of the world, otherwise I would not currently be writing this blog entry.

If you Cheat, You'll Get Caught

So after a month with no chocolate, no candy, no going out and enjoying deep conversations over a cup of hot chocolate, I threw in the towel. I crashed and burned. I am still doing the 6-week challenge (now into week 5), but the cravings for chocolate were just to great this weekend... so Colin and I took a break Saturday night.

We decided if we were going to cheat and have dessert, we would have to indulge. Would it be True Confections, La Casa Gelato or Death by Chocolate? We went with the latter. Colin was highly disappointed with his cheesecake, but enjoyed his giant mocha-hot chocolate. And I savoured every minute of my mocha ice cream cake, smothered in Kaluha-chocolate sauce.

After our dance with the devil, Colin and I headed out to White Rock to Mark and Tina's to enjoy a hot tub. I noticed on the drive out I didn't have my cell phone. Since I didn't use it at the restaurant I assumed I left it at home. But when we returned home in the wee hours of the morning, I couldn't find it.

I knew it was on, so I tried calling it, but didn't hear it. So, now I assumed it was either in my car or at Death by Chocolate.

The next morning, before I had time to go check my car, I received a call from my Dad asking me if I had my cell. I said no, I had misplaced it last night. I knew then and there where I had left it. The staff at Death by Chocolate had found my cell and had called my Dad's cell. Busted.

My parents first thought it couldn't be my cell, because I was on my Curves diet, so what the hell was I doing at Death by Chocolate. But then they thought it couldn't be Andrew's either (for reasons I can't remember).

My mum told my dad to be careful when calling me, in case I had gone to Death by Chocolate, without telling Colin. It was a pretty good laugh. But I have never left behind or lost my cell phone before, so the moral the story is... if you cheat, you will get caught.

Getting In Touch with Nature

I really needed to get out of the house last night, so Colin and I decided to go for a walk in Minoru Park. We were thinking about going out to the movies but, a) it was just too tortuous last time not being able to eat popcorn, b) the Da Vinci Code just came out Friday and we didn't want to deal with the crowds, and c) it's a long weekend.

So off to Minoru.

I absolutely love this park. It's lush, green and there are so many friendly critters...

Extreme Close-up - Poser Squirrel

Canada Geese

Another Poser Squirrel

Bunny Rabbit

Challenge Me This...

So, I mentioned in my last post that I was starting Curves' 6-week Challenge/Solution. I have tried for a long time to cut the excessive junk food and constant cravings from my diet, but on my own will that just wasn't going to happen.

So, for the next 6 weeks (well 5 weeks now), it's nothing but healthy, good-for-you, delicious food.

After just a week I am already reaping the benefits of being a very healthy eater, but that isn't to say that last week wasn't hard: First of all, it seems all I do now in my spare time is prep food and wash dishes. I've always hated not having a dishwasher. That hate is now ten-fold.

And I went through a major sugar withdrawal over the weekend. Starting Thursday night I had a Fuzzy Peaches craving that would not cease and desist - it lasted three days. Then on Saturday, when my mum took me shopping (which should be happy, fun times) I felt so down. And Saturday night, well... Colin and I decided to get out of the house and go so Mission Impossible III (good flick, by the way); anyways I thought I was going to go nuts with all the people around me munching on their popcorn and chocolate and FUZZY PEACHES!

I was quite relieved when the movie started...

It's an understatement to say I am lucky - Colin is doing the Challenge with me. He gets up and preps breakfast every morning. And you should see what we eat for breakfast. I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I usually have a bowl of cereal, or yoghurt or toast, something. Well, now cereal just isn't enough. Nope we need to have eggs and bacon along with that bowl of cereal.

That being said, I was hungry the first few days. During Phase 1 (week one of the challenge) you are consuming around 1200 calories a day. That isn't much. But by Thursday I wasn't as hungry. During Phase 2 (weeks 2 - possibly 6) you up your caloric intake to 1600. I felt so full yesterday, and same again today. I am currently eating my morning snack (at 3:00 PM), haven't touched my afternoon snack yet, and still have to have dinner too.

Do you what my morning snack was today? Some carrots, and a whole can of tuna. Yes, the whole, fracking can.

I move onto Phase 3 either: at the end of 6 weeks; when I hit my goal; or when I begin to plateau, i.e. no weight loss over the course of two weeks.

I am only a week and a bit into this, but I am already learning what I set out to learn over the next 6 weeks - how to prepare delicious, healthy meals (I now have a great salmon recipe) and how to get over cravings.

That's not to say I will never eat chocolate or fuzzy peaches ever again...

Gastroenteritis

So it turns out that nasty stomach flu I had was gastroenteritis, which is very similar to the Norwalk virus. People all over Vancouver have been hit with it to some degree or other. In fact parts of both UBC and VGH were shut down.

Time to back track: I only ended up working about a 6 hour day, two weeks ago. I managed to make it back into work on the Thursday, but did not last the whole day. I had my flex that Friday, and thought it best to take it and try to get over my illness. I didn't feel any better until Friday afternoon and my digestive system was still reeling until Sunday evening.

By Saturday I was suffering from cabin fever. During the day I walked into Marpole and ran some errands - dry cleaning, mail, return DVD's, etc. That night, I just had to be out of the house - and stay out. Colin and I decided to go see a movie - the only one that was playing that we were interested in seeing was American Dreamz. It was disappointing. The last 40 minutes were excellent, but the rest of the movie just dragged.

BTW: If you are looking for a great movie, go see Thank You for Smoking.

OK, back to last weekend. After the movie we went out for all you can east sushi. This was a real treat, especially after living on apples and rice for the last five days. The sushi tasted good going down - but later in the evening my body reminded that I was still suffering from gastroenteritis...

At this point it was about 10:30 PM and I refused to return home. My parents and grandparents were returing from their Caribbean cruise that night, so I suggested we surprise them and pick them up at the airport. We had just enough time to drive to my parents' house, pick up their car and drive out to YVR. But, in my haste, I forgot to check the flight info - the flight was supposed to arrived at 11:30 PM, but was delayed till 12:40 AM - thank god we live close to the airport. We went home for about an hour, watched some Saturday Night Live, and then returned to the airport to pick up my parents and grandparents.

By the time they cleared customs and picked up their luggage it was close to 1:30 AM and I was now ready to go home.

Last Sunday was a gorgeous day - warm and sunny. Colin and I walked down to Fraser River Park and walked along the trails for about an hour. When we returned home, I grabbed my book and sat outside in the sun for an hour - the first official day of outdoor tanning.

Last week was a hectic one. To start with, it was my first 5-day week since the end of March. And my first week back at work after being ill. Despite that, the week flew by: on Monday I started Curves 6 Week challenge (will explain more later).

Tuesday was the Canadian Bingo Forum, which took place in Vancouver this year. I was in the office all day, but all the attendees came to Planet Bingo that evening for a dinner we were hosting. I thought once dinner was over and we settled our guests into electronic Bingo, it would be time to go home - but it wasn't. I worked a 13 hour day Tuesday, and top that off, it was very warm. I returned home around 9:30 PM, hot, sticky and exhausted.

The rest of the week was uneventful: Colin and I went for a swim on Thursday and then sat in the hot tub and sauna afterwards. Then it was time for more all you can eat sushi.

Friday was a very quiet day at work - I was all by myself until the early afternoon. Friday evening I went out with Lisa to see Stick It. It was a fun way to spend the night.

I spent Saturday day doing chores and watching TV. That evening we met up with Lisa and Andrew and went to this great Greek restaurant on Commercial. Afterwards we returned to Lisa and Andrew's to watch Clerks - which I had not seen before, even though I have seen a handful of Kevin Smith movies.

Sunday, Colin and I tackled the shopping list for the first week of Curves' 6 week challenge. I am finding it quite frustrating since everything is in ounces and gallons - next time I convert everything to metric before we go shopping.

While searching Oakridge for a food scale, I popped into HMV and picked up the second season of Battlestar Galactica - that will take the edge off of waiting for the second season of Lost to come out.