Happy Thanksgiving!

My first week of student teaching has been crazy but a lot of fun. I hope to have more time for catching up with you all next week but until then, I'd just like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Enjoy!

Soup for Thursday

Hi everyone! I hope that you're all having a great day today. It's a cold November day here, just the kind of day where a nice bowl of homemade soup hits the spot.

I was at Diana's blog yesterday (or was it the day before?) and saw a recipe for Loaded Baked Fauxtato Soup that sounded really tasty. It made me think of one of my favourite soup recipes from Martha Stewart. It's Curried Roast Cauliflower Soup and is delicious! Roasting it first along with the curry gives it a nice sweet/spicy taste. I actually take about half of the cauliflower out then blend the rest with a handblender. It comes out creamy and adding the pieces back makes it chunky.

I totally recommend a nice bowl of comfort with no guilt--enjoy!

Here I Go!

Alright, I finally got my butt in gear and did 37 minutes on the treadmill. It's gotten too cold to run outside and as boring as it is I know that it's the best way to work out and sweat. 2 1/2 miles--not bad considering the long break I've had since my last run!

Tomorrow I want to do my Pilates with weights workout. I always feel better after I've done those and usually notice a difference pretty quickly. So, I'm off to a decent start on my birthday challenge. I should be able to schedule more workouts because I'm finished classes and begin my first practicum this Thursday.

I'll be teaching Grade 4 at an elementary school not far from my house and I'm very excited! I think it will be a good grade to start out with and hope that I won't be too nervous. I've got lots of ideas and am excited to learn from my associate teacher. She has been teaching for approximately 30 years and I'm sure has so much to share!

Wish me luck and I'll let you all know how it goes. BTW, the picture today is one from my fall garden. The daisies have been gone awhile and the sedum isn't that colour anymore! I'll have to take some pics of the grasses because they always look good with the onset of winter.

Have a great Tuesday :)

November the What?

Okay, can anyone tell me how it got to be the middle of November? Yes, the malls are decorated for Christmas, some people have not only got their lights up but ON! and Christmas songs are being played.

Where did this year go? It started out slow and started building in spring building to a wonderful summer of me running, biking-- exercising every day. Now I can barely find time to have dinner with my family never mind exercise! But, I've been stuck with just 2 pounds extra and I need to get back into the workout cycle.

I realized that this Monday is the 17th--exactly 2 months from my birthday in January. So, I decided to make a little birthday challenge for myself. My birthday challenge is to finally lose the 15 pounds and get back to a maximum of 5 days of formal sweat time to a minimum of 3 days. January is also when schoolboards across our province interview potential teachers. I want that little extra chub to be GONE by then!

So, here is my snowman looking round and happy now but by January he needs 15 pounds less around the middle :)

Anyone who's fallen off the horse (a few of you have left comments ;) and wants to celebrate my 41st birthday with a loss of their own is free to join me. If not, your support and feedback in the shape of comments is always appreciated.

The leaves are slowly falling...

How is everyone today? I don't usually post on weekends but it's a little break after my lunch and before some cleaning and lots of assignments to finish and begin!

We've had some wonderfully warm days but today is a little windy and chilly--feels like November. I've had a pretty good week but still didn't manage to find time for a run or pilates. Between classes, meetings and volunteering at a school library I've only managed to find time for a few walks down by the river. I think that when I start my placement in 2 weeks I'll be able to find a little more time for those things.

Some of you may remember that in August I suffered from a nasty sinus infection that had me going to the ER after 3 days of nonstop pain. I went to see a specialist who then ordered a CT scan of the area. I got to see the results yesterday and it showed that my left sinuses are completely blocked which means that I'll be needing surgery. I hate going under but I hate the pain from my sinuses more (I had the same pain but not to so bad a degree this last Saturday). Fortunately for me, I can have it done during my spring break week and I should be better for my second placement which begins the following Monday.

From a summer of just kicking back and relaxing to being on the go almost all the time! WOW!

"Bring Back that Losin' Feelin'"

Okay, before you say "that's not how it goes" I'll say I know, I know. But, substitute "losin'" for "lovin'" in the classic by the Righteous Brothers and that's how I feel. Did anyone else have a terrific summer but as soon as the weather got a little colder the energy from working out and eating healthy started to go by the wayside?

I've been stuck in this rut since I went back to school and need to shake the Hallowe'en cobwebs off! Starting today I have a new month to get back on my exercise routine. I can't remember the last time I had a salad!!!!

So, my goal from now until Christmas is to lose the original 11 pounds I had to lose (along with the 5 pesky new ones :( No more fooling around! My birthday is January 17 and I want to wear something new that isn't double digits anymore.

How about you? Most of my blogger friends continue to amaze me with their continued successes but I miss the ones I don't see as often anymore. Let's kick it up a notch and do this thing already. Are you with me?

Today's exercise: Gardening, Pilates with weights

*BTW, don't you just love this picture? I've been wanting to use it for some time now and think it fits the mood!