Tag Archives: hike

UK Trip Day 3: July 16/14 Pictures!

12 Aug

 

 

 

This was posted on the kitchen wall in the hostel for anyone who is interested in how to pronounce some of those crazy Welsh words lol
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The following pictures are the entrance area of the slate museum I mentioned in the previous post. I didn’t go in the museum part cause I really didn’t feel like it lol but that didn’t stop me from taking some pics of the area.

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This was a pretty creek? river? I dunno…a pretty flowing water area lol I stood and enjoyed the sounds of the water and the prettiness of the area for a while before continuing on with my exploring.

 

 

 

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A wooded path I was on. It looks like something from a fairy tale or movie.

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The Round Tower was the crowning glory of Llywelyn ab lorwerth’s castle. Llywelyn ab lorwerth died in 1240 and under Welsh law all his heirs had a claim to become his successor. A struggle began with no clear winner until 1255. Llywelyn’s grandson, Llywelyn ap Grufudd finally defeated his brothers in battle to become Prince of Gwynedd. But the brothers still posed a threat. One solution was to imprison them. That’s what Llywelyn ap Grufudd did to his elder brother, Owain Goch. He was imprisoned for 22 years. Historians believe he was held here because the 13th century poet Hywel Foel ap Griffri described Owain as “a man in a tower, long a guest”.

This information was found on a sign by the tower, provided by http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk

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These are views from the climb to the tower and from when I was up near the tower. 🙂

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Here is the actual tower. You could climb up inside of parts of it, some areas were blocked off due to safety issues.

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This house was at the beginning of the little road that led to the hostel I stayed at. I thought it was a hotel or something at first but when I walked by another time there was a family going inside and it seemed like they lived there, weren’t guests. Can you imagine living there?? It’s beautiful!

 

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This is a horse I could see in a distance from the dining room of the hostel. It was out grazing when I was walking back to the hostel so I thought I’d try to make friends. It came over so I could pet it a little bit then went back to eating grass…apparently I don’t rate as high as grass! lol This picture was taken close to 7:30pm as I was on the way back for dinner.

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I focused on de-stressing during this walk, I was so mad because of the run around by British Airways and not getting to climb Mt Snowdon but I really didn’t want my vacation memories to be overshadowed by stress and anger so I looked for and enjoyed the water, the views, the history, the peace, the quiet, the beauty, the animals, the surroundings. I’d say I succeeded because by the end of the walk/hike I was kinda sweaty, feeling good from getting out there and exploring, feeling a bit more relaxed and ready to enjoy dinner and just be in the moment.

 

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Thwarted!

13 Sep

I have been trying to do this stupid hike for over a week now and it keeps not happening, eesh! You wouldn’t think it’d be that hard, not like the mountain is going anywhere, but life keeps getting in the way and I keep putting it off. I really want to hike it before the weather turns but each time I have to put it off for another day I worry I have missed my last shot, erg.

No, the hike I want to do is not a second attempt at the Grouse Grind, stupid freakin grind, ugh, it is the path near-ish the grind, it starts at the base of the same mountain, and ends up at the top somewhere near where the grind ends but it is a longer trail and apparently winds back on itself quite a bit making the path less steep and theoretically a tad easier to do. It’s supposed to take anywhere from 20 minutes to a half hour longer then whatever time you take on the grind, which is depressing when you consider my time lol but since it’s a longer trail you (well, I) could just pretend the longer time is strictly cause of the trail length and has nothing to do with my physical capabilities…or lack there of… 😉

I wanted to go on the hike last Sunday, took a change of clothes to work an everything so as soon as I was off I could skedaddle on over to the mountain but it was raining and I had to decide if I should hike the mountain and maybe get a bit wet or put it off, I decided I’d hike and started to drive there but while driving the rain got heavier and heavier and eventually I turned around. I may be mildly self destructive and like doing slightly dangerous things but even I know not to hike a mountain on a path that is not busy, that I’ve never been on, as it is getting darker and it is raining, when I don’t have rain gear with me or a hiking buddy. Calculated risks people! 😛 I went to the gym instead and of course when I left the gym it was sunny and dry outside so I’m thinking the rain didn’t last all that long and I might have been ok after all…ah well, next time.

I was going to go Tuesday, for the life of me I can’t remember what I did instead but something came up, no biggy cause I had Thursday that I could go so that was my plan for Thursday (today), hike that freakin trail, that was it, the one main thing on my list of stuff to do, not so bad right? Well, ha! I was up early and contemplating food (figured I’d eat before this hike, unlike last time…) when I got a phone call for an interview (aka, measurement taking/fitting) to be a fit model for a clothing store.  We made an appointment for noon which kaboshed my hike happening in the morning cause that gave me just enough time to get ready and find the place. After the fitting I figured ok, now I can eat (finally! it was about 1pm or so) and then go for the hike. Got to the apartment, was again contemplating food when I got a text from my agent that I had an audition at 7:50p that night. Well yah! After my lil happy dance I realized that (1) hike is not happening and (2) neither is my lunch…sigh.

I decided against the hike cause everyone knows not to do anything outside of your normal routine leading up to an audition, can’t take the risk of getting hurt cause you don’t know what you are doing…that and I worried what if I took a ridonkulous amount of time on the trail and made myself late for the audition? Not happening! So I took a nap instead, hey, don’t judge, I was tired 😛 and then I did some ab work etc and stuff around the apartment.

So there we have it, life and weather have thwarted my attempts to hike that trail! I’m still hopeful for next week, if the weather stays nice that is…

Oh, in case anyone is wondering, a fit model is exactly what it sounds like, it’s the model the designers use when making new clothes to make sure the outfit hangs the way it should on an actual person. I don’t know if I got the job though…on the one hand I am the perfect size for them in pants and shirts and they were really happy with that but apparently my spine is an inch too short (that’s one I haven’t heard before!) so it makes the jackets sit a little funny at the back…they are going to see a couple more people to check their measurements and have them do some fittings and they’ll let me know. It’s a very very part time thing, about 4 hours per day max 2 days per week, just enough to get me a little extra cash really.

As for the audition, it was for a commercial, I went in for one role and the casting director kinda merged the one I went in for and another one and had me audition for some weird hybrid lol. My agent thinks it’s a good thing, a sign they will consider me for both roles not just the one, I’m happy to think that way too. 🙂 The audition seemed to go ok, casting director was in a good mood despite it being late and me being the last person she was seeing. She liked my headshot, we joked around a bit, all good signs. Thing is, even if she thinks I’m awesome if I don’t have the right look I won’t get the part…ya know, if I don’t get the part, and I don’t get the fit model job that means twice in one day I will have been rejected for not looking right and/or being the wrong size…something I am going to desperately try not to dwell on…

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I Ran a Marathon Today

2 Oct

Ok, before you get excited it was only 5km long and the word “ran” is a bit of an exageration, it was more like a fast walk. lol. 😀

I had been noticing a lot of the weight loss blogs I read the writer at some point runs a marathon – this has had the effect of making me feel like I am not trying as hard as others because (1) I’m not training to run a marathon, (2) I’ve never run an actual marathon and (3) I actually had no intention of running a marathon. lol. Well, when I was competing in my last Dragon Boat Race Festival there was a booth there for the CIBC Run For the Cure which is a marathon walk/run to raise money for finding a cure for breast cancer. I talked KL into signing up with me and all of a sudden, boom! I am going to be running a marathon!

This of course meant I had to (1) get people to give me money so I could reach my fundraising goal and  (2) prep for a frickin marathon…how the hell does a lazy arse like I do that?

I figured I’d just stick to what I was already doing, my almost daily hikes, my weekly dragon boating and my two to three boxerfit classes per week…I mean, what else was I supposed to squeeze in there?? and ok yes, I am sure other people would have found a way to fit more in there but remember I am lazy? It is vital you remember that! lol

I actually ended up doing way less active stuff then even I was happy with because of (1) weather – there were many days I couldn’t hike cause the trail was washed out and (2) I was so sick from my meds fiasco that I was having trouble standing upright let alone doing some sort of physical activity. sigh. I comforted myself with the knowledge that I hike almost 4km everytime I hike and after the hike I usually do weight work etc so even though that’s not a hiking motion it is still being active and well, I survive that right? Sooooo, what is one more km added on to that? Practically nuthing!…right? *scared face*

Now, I’ve never researched marathons, don’t really pay any attention to them so I thought 5km was maybe a normal length but I guess not since some people when they heard the length of the run made slightly dispariging comments about it…guess this is like a baby lengthed marathon. But that’s ok, I mean, it is my first after all!

I wanted to try maybe jogging for part of it but KL was very specific about she was only willing to walk and we were doing this together so walk it we did. And really, I’m cool with that cause she signed up to do the marathon with me so we’d have an activity to participate in together and have fun – and fun we had. 🙂 We’ve decided to participate again next year so perhaps we will run it then…we shall see!

So how did I go about prepping for the big day?

Last night, instead of stretching, or exercising or doing something that is meant to help me the next morning when this event started I was baking cookies. Coconut cookies. Yummy cookies. 😛 They were not for me, they were for my landlord and his family. Once those were done I sat down and watched a late night movie while over eating on those Royal Dansk cookies that come out this time of year – they are a major weakness of mine *groan* I ate too many of them and I was already having a bad tummy day, the ulcer was acting up a bit but not as badly as the previous week so it was manageable, well, manageable until I overdosed on cookies lol. Then it was just pain. sigh. Me being me I am incapable of going to bed at a decent hour so I got to bed about 1:30am or so then tossed and turned until about  3:30am or so then I had to get up at 5:50am in order to get ready, pick up KL and get to the start site in time for registration and t-shirt pick up. That puts me at about, oh, 3 hours of sleep or so…restless sleep I might add, oh, and I woke up with the stomach ache I went to bed with – not cool tummy!

Getting through the morning and the run and even the late breakfast KL and I went for after the run was ok cause I was running on ‘fun’ – it’s like adrenaline but not…you know how you can do all kinds of stuff cause of adrenaline? Well, I can do all kinds of things on little to no sleep as long as I am having fun – I think most people can? Anyways, it was exciting and fun and so I didn’t feel all that tired. That soooooo wore off tho lol. After the late breakfast I rushed home to wash up then went and met up with BW who is my new roomie and we went on a spree of apartment viewings, sigh, kinda fun but really tiring and sorta boring and I mean, come on, we looked at ten places, none of them were exactly what we needed/wanted, two were possibilities and many of them were “absolutely no way in hell!” (can you say spiders? mold? uh, more mold? water damage? no parking? no living room?…it keeps going, ugh)

I got home at 8:30pm and was exhausted *yawn* it was a looooong day! Me being me I didn’t go to bed, that would just be too practical lol. I talked to my parents for a bit, then watched the new episode of Pan Am (I am really enjoying this show!) and now I am blogging while watching a cheesy dance movie that I know is bad and yet, I can’t stop watching, lame. lol. I swear tho, as soon as it’s over I am going to bed cause I’m about to fall asleep while watching it and it’s not like I can sleep in till whenever tomorrow – there is another apartment to look at and things to be done *rolls eyes* Silly life getting in the way of my sleep! How rude! 😉

Oh! Real quick note about the marathon…yes, I know it was only 5km but that is 1 km more then I have ever walked/hiked/jogged/ran at one time so I was worried that by the end I’d be a nasty sweaty almost dead and panting mess…I was none of those! I didn’t really break a sweat at all, it was a good walk that I know I could have gone faster during and still maintained speed – in fact I made better time on this 5km then I usually make on my 4km hike – I am assuming because the trail and terrain on my hike is harder. I don’t really care why it was easier, I am just happy I was in shape enough to do this baby marathon and survive lol. 😛

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I’m an Ostrich

29 Aug

this is me...only with thinner legs lol

Alrighty, so I have this tendency to hide from things I really don’t wanna know about. If I know I am way broke I won’t sign in to my bank account cause I don’t wanna see the balance, if I get a bill in the mail I know I can’t afford to pay I don’t open it…stuff like that. So, this past week when I ate those double chocolate drumsticks I didn’t even glance at the nutritional information let alone calculate how many points each drumstick is…I just hide from the information lol.

It’s stupid, I know, cause it’s not like my not looking at the bank balance, bill or nutritional  information means that it’s not there. And when I eat something I know is really bad for me but I don’t know the points value of the food I feel way guilty after I have eaten it cause I imagine the food item must be like 10 points or higher…I tend to estimate on the high side lol.

Well, today I decided to bite the bullet and read the nutritional information for the drumsticks. The only reason I did this was cause I still had one left and since starting today I am back to being a good little Weight Watcher and tracking my food and only eating my daily points I had to know how many points they are so I can know when I will be able to eat that final drumstick. 😛

Turns out they are nowhere near as bad as I thought they were, each drumstick is 4 points which yes, not a good use of 4 points but not nearly as bad as the 8-11 points I was guesstimating them to be. Yah! 🙂

I decided to eat that last drumstick today cause it would get them out of the place and no longer be tempting me and also cause I exercised today so I could eat it without messing up my points so I figured might as well. shrug.

So today I ate:

1 Cup oatmeal = 2 points

1 Activia yogurt = 2 points

1 light babybell = 1 point

21 grams mini breton crackers = 2 points

2 turkey hot dogs = 4 points

1 Cup Maple Flavoured baked beans = 4 points

1 double chocolate drumstick = 4 points

1 small spoonful of Nutella = 2 points

Total points eaten = 21

Earned exercise points = 6

Yes, I ate 1 point over my daily points but I hiked and dragon boated today which earned me 6 exercise points so I don’t feel bad about that 1 point extra that I ate.

I’m not gonna say that I am going to stop being an ostrich about all things, but I’m glad I got my head out of the sand about the drumsticks cause I don’t feel quite so bad about eating them now. 🙂

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This Could Be Very Bad…

23 Mar

I actually made it out hiking again, twice in a week – practically a miracle! lol. I know I used to manage two to three hikes a week before winter hit but a season of wonderful laziness has made hiking even once a week a pain in my…well, my butt, thighs, core…all kinds of muscle groups lol. 😀

That is not what could be very bad though…

I made a dinner I have been looking forward to for days! I used some of the left over ground beef, heated it up, combined it with mixed veggies, salsa, sour cream, cheese and some baby spinach, then I put it all in a wrap (well 2 wraps technically) and badaboom! Home made burrito…or would it be more of a soft shelled taco cause there was no rice or beans…either way, it was yummy! I made extra veggies and had some on the side and when all was said and done it was a great dinner. I always fill wraps too full so they are a tad messy but some of the best meals out there are messy so I’m not complaining. lol. 😀

The problem is I think my sour cream has gone a little off, it didn’t taste bad in the wraps but really, I could barely taste it cause there was so much other stuff in there – now though my poor tummy hurts. ugh.

I know it’s not the meat and I have had the sour cream for a little while so I am almost positive it is that…positive enough I am gonna throw it out…not that throwing it out will do me any good now. *groan*

I almost wish my body’s reaction was to be sick but it appears my body is going to try to digest it, sigh. Stupid body.

I ate two digestive cookies after in the hopes of making myself feel better, I’m not too sure how my logic works but it seemed like a good idea to eat something else – I think my reasoning is like when you are drunk and/or hungover, you eat something to soak up the alcohol right? Well, maybe I should eat something to soak up the badness? *raised eyebrow* Sadly, this plan is back firing. *double groan* I have only eaten 18 points today and I earned 7 exercise points so I am a loooong way to go before being done with food for the day – although, if my tummy doesn’t start feeling better I just may be done with food for the day cause no way do I want to put anything else in there when I feel like this.

Today I ate:

1 pear = 1 point

1 apple  = 1 point

2 cups Campbell’s Market Vegetable Blend soup = 4 points

1 piece toast = 1 point

1 orange = 1 point

2 Bodywise wraps = 2 points

1/2 cup ground beef = 4 points

30 grams light shredded cheese = 2 points

1 tbls light sour cream = 0 points

carrots, peas, green beans, corn, bean sprouts, salsa = 0 points

2 digestive cookies = 2 points

Total Points Eaten = 18

Total Exercise Points Earned = 7

So, here’s a first, I am at negative 9 points for the day and have no plan for further eating…usually when I am under my daily points I know what I am going to use my left over points on, and I know what I would eat if I was feeling ok but, well yeah, it’s just not happening today.

What a waste of exercising! I was so looking forward to some toast with nutella on it or a bowl of the Just Bunches cereal but even the idea of food is making me feel worse, *rolls eyes*, stupid stupid body – and to be honest, stupid me for eating sour cream that was suspect.

Oh well, nothing I can do now but sip on some water and hope this gets better soon – and pay better attention to expiration dates from now on! 😉

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TV Coma

4 Sep

I love long weekends, who doesn’t? I usually try to do something at least mildly productive during them since I have three wonderful days off work instead of just two but so far I have done nothing but mimic a sloth – I must say, my sloth abilities are deserving of top marks. 😛

Today I slept in, ate, then sat on the couch and proceeded to watch whatever was on…I caught some tv show episodes and also watched a couple movies I hadn’t gotten around to seeing yet. But now, approximately 8 hours after turning the tv on I am realizing my brain has stopped functioning and is in a partial coma…hmmm…

I have been so lazy today that it took me until after 11pm to turn on my laptop – because it just seemed like to much work! Too much work? It has been sitting within arms reach of me all day…but it was going to take too much effort to reach over, flip open the lid and press that power button…I can’t remember a time I have been so lazy (unless I am sick but that doesn’t count! lol). I figure before I go crawling off to bed to continue with my all day sleep fest I should do something mildly purposeful  – hence my post. 🙂

I had weigh in day today, I’d say I don’t want to talk about it but duh! this blog is all about the weight I am trying to lose so it seems only fair to keep you in the loop. This week was an epic fail, sigh. I want to lie and say I maintained but I didn’t…I gained 0.2 pounds…:( I am hanging my head in shame and sitting in a corner due to this failure. double sigh. Well, ok, I should be sitting in a corner with my head hanging but instead I lay on my couch all day attempting to fry brain cells in the hopes of forgetting what a screw up I am with my weight loss.

I can’t believe it! I really can’t, what the hell is going on??? I know I had that fish n chips last weekend but I was only one point over for the day that day and this week I worked really hard at hitting my points exactly, I had a couple days where there were snags but not so many I thought it’d screw up weigh in day. I hate weigh in day. Grr.

I have decided that I have hit some kind of stupid plateau, I know according to weight watcher rules I can’t say that till I have had 4 sucky weeks in a row but why the heck would I wait another week, for another crappy weigh in result to do something about this problem? I am going to have to do something I really really really don’t want to do…I am going to have to…exercise. Noooooooooooo!!! I don’t wanna! (now picture me stomping my foot, crossing my arms and getting a pouty face) I used to have nothing against exercise, I went everyday after work and weekends too, I did classes, cardio, weights, all kinds of different things but that was a lifetime ago, that girl was a different girl and I don’t know if I can be her again. The girl I am now, she doesn’t know how to do all that active stuff anymore, and the things she does remember she doesn’t want to do because she doesn’t want anyone seeing all her fat jiggle. That’s right, you heard me (well, read me) I don’t exercise cause I don’t want other people to see how much my fat moves around. FYI, when I say people I mean guys.

Not like I think guys are looking at me when I exercise, or if they are it’s with alarm that someone so red in the face is around them and may collapse at any moment – that prob needs a minor explanation, lol, my face goes alarmingly red with very minor exertion, it goes red enough I have had perfect strangers come up and ask if I am ok because I look like I am about to keel over or something.  It was funnier when I was in shape (all those years ago), now, combine the red face with the heaving breath and the fat body and people really do think I am gonna keel over and that’s just not cool.

I tried out a couple different gyms on trial runs hmmm, last year maybe? I can’t afford any of them so even if I found one I wanted to join it wouldn’t matter but none of them were gyms I liked. Most were unisex so I had to deal with all these hot guys around and that just made me uncomfie – the really in shape women made me equally as uncomfie cause I kept thinking they were silently judging me or something. Oh, and yes, I am aware probably way fewer people pay attention to me then I think but hey, I live in my world and in that world a lot of people look at me daily and it stresses me out. 😛 There was one gym that was all ladies but it’s not all that great and costs way too much considering the equipment and classes available.

Now however I am going to hafta do something active because I am sick of the disaster I have had on the scale three weeks running. There is a medium/strenuous hiking trail near my place, it’s 3.8km long so I guess I should start walking that. sigh. There is another hiking path I found by accident months ago that I guess I will try to re-find so I don’t always have to do the same path. Other then that I am not sure what to do. I don’t like exercising at home cause it means I am in the living room and I don’t like the idea of my roomie seeing me exercising (she’s in shape so I’m back to the thinking a thin girl will be judging me). There is a hot yoga place near me I thought I’d try but it’s stupid expensive – why do exercise places have to cost so damn much?!?!?! You’d think the gov would regulate stuff like that since they want all of us to stop being so out of shape and such a drain on the health system, eesh.

If anyone has any suggestions for exercises that don’t involve a gym I am so up for hearing about them! For now though I am going to have to get active in whatever way I can manage. This means that the rest of my lazy long weekend has to not be lazy, least not all the time. Sad. I am going to attempt to hike that trail tomorrow (weather permitting) and maybe sometime over the weekend I will walk to the train station to see how long it would take, there is one near my place and one far from my place. If I take runners to work in the morning I could walk to the station near my place and after work get off at the one far from my place and walk home, enforced exercise. I wonder though, is it better to do that or better to drive home like always and then go for the hike – the hike has more up and down hills and I wouldn’t have to stop for red lights etc…it’s something to think on anyways.

Here is what I ate today (keep in mind I was lazy and unhappy cause of the stupid scale):

1 toasted sandwich

    – 1 scrambled egg = 2 points

    – 2 pieces toast = 2 points

    – 2 pieces turkey bacon = 2 points

    – 1 cheese slice = 1 point

    – tomato slices and ketchup = 0 points

1 cup pineapple = 1 point

18 pieces Maltesers = 4 points

1 whole wheat tortilla = 2 points

1/2 tblsp light peanut butter = 1 point

1/2 tblsp nutella = 1 point

1 package Jolly Time Kettle Corn = 1 point

fruit smoothie = ? points

So, the points that can be added up are 19 points but I don’t know what the smoothie is. I took some frozen mixed berries and put them in the magic bullet with milk to make a smoothie. I measured half a cup of milk and a cup of berries but it was too thick so I added some more milk and that made it too runny so I added a bit more berries and finally it was ok but with all the adding of little amounts of milk and berries I ended up not knowing exactly how much I used. It should have been a 2 point shake but it went over that, how much it went over however, I am not sure. And, to top all that, it wasn’t even worth it! lol. My roomie drinks them all the time so I figured I’d do it and all it tasted like was milky fruit, not as gross as it sounds but really bland. I asked her about it and turns out she uses vanilla flavoured soy milk so hers tastes better, and she adds a bit of sugar. Ah well, it was an attempt and even though it didn’t work it got me some more fruit which is always good.  

I am not looking forward to tomorrow and my having to exercise, ugh, this is gonna suck but if it shows results on the scale next week I guess that’ll make it worth it…now to find my small iPod so I can have it all charged an ready…crap, I have no idea where I left that thing…

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