Waxing & Other Confessions

This is definitely going to be a regular post for me. I love confessing on Wednesdays with Kathy!

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This is how I feel about Wednesdays

I confess... Kathy is amazing. No, seriously. After admitting on Monday that I'm trying to use weights now, she sent me motivating emails and even a workout routine to follow. I seriously appreciate it!

I confess... I judge you when you don't respond to comments or at least comment back. It's rude. I see you commenting on other blogs. You don't have to be an a-hole. Time to do some unfollowing! 

I confess...  I've been incorporating chia seeds into my breakfast. Are they supposed to taste like anything? I don't notice a taste and I think that's just fine.

I confess... I look at my Instagram feed constantly (basically, whenever I'm bored) but I almost never check Twitter. I often forget that I even have a Twitter account.

I confess... I wax - everywhere. Normally, I shave my legs, but sometimes I let that bad boy grow out so I can wax it and forget about it for a few weeks. This ends up making me super self-conscious when I'm hitting the showers at the gym and I look like a beast.

I confess... I paid $65 to get stabbed in the arm yesterday. Yep, I got an immunization shot for Hepatitis A. While I was there, the doctor said I was due for an immunization shot for tetanus, polio and all that other fun stuff, so she stabbed me in the other arm for free. I took it like a champ. (That's a lie. I spent the rest of the day complaining about how much my arms hurt and Andrew ended up picking me up from work so I wouldn't have to take public transit home, where I was bound to be squished between random strangers.)

Facing Fears

We're all afraid of something; and if you say you're not, you're full of crap. Being afraid of failure, losing a loved one, running into financial troubles, etc. are all normal fears. But what about the really big fears?

My dad had a friend who had agoraphobia: a fear of leaving the house. Can you imagine never stepping outside of your home because you're afraid of what may await you outside?

What about pteromerhanophobia? The fear of flying. I've been asked a few times if it worries me that Andrew is a pilot because "flying is scary." My answer is always the same, "I'm not afraid to get into a car and flying is safer than driving - so no." But to many people, although they have no second thoughts about getting into a car, they go into full on panic attacks with just the thought of getting on a plane.

So what am I afraid of?

Blood being taken.

I can deal with needles in my arm. I have absolutely no problem with that. But, the thought of a needle going into my vein and blood being drawn from it puts me into full on panic attacks.

Then I went to the doctor, to ask about some shots I might need for a potential upcoming trip. Since there's no record on file of my medical history, it was hard for the doctor to determine what shots I might need.

"It would be best if we did a blood test to determine what shots you've already been given," she told me.

A what?

A blood test?

Where you stick a needle in my vein and take blood from me?

Uh, no thanks, I said.

But then I thought about it. Really thought about it. I told myself that I really want kids one day (don't read too far into that. I said one day. I didn't say one day soon). If I'm going to have kids, I'm going to have to do a ton of blood tests. I can't be afraid. I need to just do it.

What's the best way of getting over a fear? I asked myself.

Facing it head on.

"Fine," I told the doctor. "I'll do it. I'll get the blood test done."

So, right then and there, she took my blood.

I closed my eyes and looked away (which, in hindsight, makes no sense since my eyes were closed anyway). I felt a little pinch as the doctor spoke to me and before I knew it, she said we were done.

"That was it?" I asked. "That wasn't bad at all!"

I wore my cotton ball band-aid proudly for the rest of the afternoon.

The worst part of the experience was taking the latex tape off my arm. Holy crap, that hurt.

Do you have any fears? Have you faced any of them head on?

Shots, Selfies & Weights

I woke up to a cold morning; I'm hoping this is the end of cold days! Onto the weekend recap. 

I honestly can't remember what I did on Friday. Let's skip to Saturday. 

Saturday. 

I started my morning off by doing a Body Step class, which was all kinds of great and reminded me that I have no sense of coordination. 

That night, Andrew and I headed to Anjru's for a small house party. 

Mine is the MK watch on the left

There, one of Anjru's friends, Cindy, discovered how similar our watches were. 

This was drank. Food was ate. 

Shots were done.

Selfies were taken. 

Which turned into an awesome group selfie. 

It was a great night. 

Sunday. 

I met Jerome at the gym where we did an hour of cardio. 

Then we headed over to the weights. After doing months of cardio, I noticed I wasn't seeing results. I knew I needed to incorporate weights into my routine but I was nervous. Particularly because I had no idea what I was doing. 

Jerome patiently taught me different workouts and prevented me from having a breakdown when I struggled to do them correctly (remember my lack of coordination? It's frustrating). My form is much better now and I'm hoping I'll be successful with the workouts when Jerome isn't around. 

After the gym, we went to the most non-Irish bar (St. Louis) ever in hopes of getting some green beer (truth be told, it was the only bar in the area with free parking). 

His glass is green. His beer is not.

Our waitress told us they didn't have any green dye yet, so I reunited myself with my love, the Caesar.

There aren't many healthy options at St. Louis, but we were famished. Normally, I would have finished all of that without a second thought. But, since lately I've been really trying to focus on eating healthy, I just couldn't do it. Many fries did not make it to my tummy.

My goal this week is to successfully do weights on my own, without being nervous! 

How was your weekend?

Dessert & Delays

I don't know what it was about this week, but it had me in a bad mood for the majority of it. I'm so happy it's Friday! Let's see some positives for this week.

one. snow. Who am I kidding? Snow is not a positive. When it came down this week, I was pissed. BUT I'm hoping that was the last snow fall  of the year and now winter will take a hike. Wishful thinking?

two. sushi. Our friend, Chris, was here from Montreal for work. We met up for dinner and I had sushi. I don't know why I can't stop eating sushi now.

three. dessert and delays. After dinner, Chris and I got dessert. The next day, Andrew and I dropped him off to the airport to say goodbye. Not even ten minutes later, Chris called us, "My flight was cancelled." Way to go, Porter. Both Andrew and Chris had checked Porter's website for flight delays/cancellations before heading to the airport, but none were listed. When Chris mentioned this he was told, "Yeah, we didn't update our website." Porter fail. Oh well. Chris got an extra night with us!

four. cupcakes. Andrew brought my coworkers and I cupcakes. Mmm. Cupcakes.

five. Misty. I hate the snow. She doesn't. She tired herself out last night from jumping in the snow and did not want to get up in the morning. Too cute.

I heard this song on the radio recently and I had to blast it. This was my favourite song when it came out! Now I play it during every workout.

Have a great weekend everyone!

We Don't Talk To Your Kind

The first time I experienced discrimination was when I was in grade two.

I was in a grade 2/3 split class.

I made friends with a boy in the class; we'll call him Kevin. His sister was also in the class; we'll call her Lisa.

Kevin and I used to make jokes in class together and do whatever it is kids in grade two do. Then one day, Kevin stopped talking to me. I didn't know why, so I asked him.

"My sister," he said. "My sister told me I can't talk to you anymore."

"Why?" I asked.

"We don't talk to your kind..." he replied.

My kind? What did that mean?

I ran home and asked my mom. She told me that was nonsense and I was to march into class tomorrow and talk to Kevin anyway. (In hindsight, I don't know why she didn't just tell me to speak to the teacher, but anyway.)

The next day, I went up to Kevin and was immediately stopped by Lisa.

"You will not talk to my brother, do you understand? If you do, you'll regret it, whitey."

Whitey?

I was scared. I looked around the classroom to see everyone staring at me (maybe my mom didn't tell me to go to my teacher because my teacher was never there. Seriously, where was my teacher when this happened?).

After that, no one in the class spoke to me. I was quickly outcast by my peers, regardless of their colour.

I learned very young that discrimination can happen to anyone. As I got older, I learned that racism affects religions and cultures, not just skin colour.

Maturity taught me that a persons skin colour, race, culture and religion are not things to define them by. We may not be the same skin colour, we may not be the same race, our cultures may be different and we may have different views on religion, but that doesn't give us a reason to not give each other a chance.

"What you allow is what will continue.  It’s always better to spend more time alone than allow negative people and their opinions to derail you from your destiny."

Moving on, I tried to ignore negativity and bullies. In grade 2/3, I'm sure Linda was too young to understand what she was saying. As I got older and continued to experience discrimination on other aspects of myself,  I walked away. Sometimes that's all you can do when someone projects their insecurities onto you.

Have you ever been discriminated against?

I Confess...

It's Wednesday! That means I'm joining Kathy and confessing all my sins thoughts and junk and stuff.

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I confess... I watched this video of the cute lion cubs (above) meeting their dad for the first time and I fell in love. But, I thought their dad was a bit of a jerk. Then I found out most male lions don't end up living very long (they get kicked out of the pride at 2, struggle to find food and are likely to be attacked while straying into another territory). Lion King was actually pretty accurate in a few ways.

I confess... I'm supposed to call my optometrist back but I don't know how to pronounce his name, so I still haven't. I also can't find him on Google.

I confess... it was a beautiful 9 degrees Celsius out yesterday. Today it's snowing! What kind of crap is this? I'm pretty pissed with nature. 

I confess... the travel itch is biting me.

I confess... I tried to do my taxes this weekend but I kept getting distracted by things. I'm going to attempt to do them at work today because I'm cool like that.

I confess... I attempted to do a top knot today for the first time. I have no idea if I did it right and I don't care.

I Don't Understand Him...

I love Andrew and I don't mean to rag on him, but I just had to participate in this link-up. Simply because I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

There are things that Andrew says that I just do understand.

Such as...

"Where are my keys/cellphone/wallet?"

I hear this at least a few times a week. I don't get it. How do you lose these things? We have a key hook, you're always on your cellphone, your wallet is huge!

"Where is my credit/debit card?"

Similar to the previous question, but still asked. Again, I don't get it. Why isn't it in your wallet? Maybe it is in your wallet but since you can't find that, you don't know where your cards are. Usually though, it's not his wallet. It's in a pocket or something. Uh, what?

"What do you mean? The house is clean!" 

We have very different definitions of clean. Granted, for the most part, Andrew is pretty neat and tidy (except when he's busy). But, when I see the slightest bit of grim in the bathroom sink, I think it's time to clean it. He doesn't. He'll let it get all nice and grimy and still say it's clean. I mean, really grimy. So grimy, that you can't tell the sink/tub was once white. But, he doesn't notice it. Gross.

Tell me I'm not alone in this!