Insanity (Recovery Week) Thoughts. There are a lot of them.

So I've finally completed month 1 of the Insanity workout! PSA: It IS insane.
(I've done the Insanity workout before, I did it last year with my roommate when we were living in Gatineau for work, but when my school started up again I got too lazy to keep with it and I gained back all the weight I had lost in the summer. And then some.)

And now I'm on my recovery week.(Recovery week is your 5th week of the 9 week program where you do the "Core Cardio & Balance" workout every day for the 6 days)

My thoughts on it?

OMFG Halp. Me. Haaaalp. Send hot paramedics. And pizza!

Shawn T says right away that if you're exhausted at the end of the workout (like you feel during a regular video of "Pure Cardio" or "Power & Resistance") then you're doing it wrong, and he's right. I'm not dying-on-the-floor-exhausted at the end of it but it's still ridiculously challenging.

Final Score: Not as exhausting but just as hard.

Which I know, when you read that, it doesn't make sense but I think those who've done the Insanity workouts know what I'm talking about. The cardio work involved in "Plyometric Cardio Circuit" and "Power and Resistance" will, for sure, have you kneeling on the ground heaving (wishing to be rolled into a hole filled with cheetos and left alone so you can eat your way to a delicious cheesy death. no? just me? that's cool too. whatever) but the cardio in the recovery isn't as bad. But it IS hard: it's a lot of core work and strength and you will DEFINITELY feel the burn in your legs and arms.

The craziest thing about it? I love it. (I hate it and I love it)

If you knew me, you'd think my loving Insanity was the first sign of the apocalypse (Or the Zombie Apocalypse! I actually like to consider this training for when zombies rise. My goal during that is to be Alice because I love Resident Evil so much it's scary)

I am NOT a physical person. Gym class was ALWAYS my worst subject. Report Cards were:

"Math - A
Science - A
History - A
Gym - ...."

*FUN FACT* FRIENDS reference there for you!  Always thought I was a Rachel or Phoebe, turns out I'm Ross!

Oh how that B in gym would haunt my perfect records. My parents understood I was not meant for physical activity. I hated sports (because I suck at them.) I never went outside to play (I sunburn SO easily it's not even worth it. I need SPF 60. Reapplied every 2 hours)
*FUN FACT* Last summer I would spend 5 minutes walking to my gym at 5pm and within a week I was 5 shades tanner. Now, it didn't look that tan but when you compared it to the unexposed skin it was a damn dark tan. It looked like I was glowing :/ 

I have absolutely no hand-eye coordination. I STILL don't know how to do a lay-up: I don't know how my feet are supposed to move at the same time my hand dribbles the ball and then I'm supposed to aim for the backboard? WHAT AM I, AN ASTRONAUT?

The one thing I was good at in gym class was throwing a football. I can throw a football like a quarterback at homecoming who gets laid under the bleachers after winning the game and getting crowned king. But I can't catch for shit. In high school, the only reason I managed my A was because of health class. (I was a badass in health class.) I hate physical activity.

My idea of a good time is lying in bed eating cheetos and watching TV. So for me to say I love Insanity is a big deal.

As of my first month Insanity seems to be working-ish for me. I'm on a health kick/diet/whatever it takes to lose weight thing (But if I could get skinny eating packs of bacon and eating ice cream, I'd push my entire family and YOUR family and the family who lives down the street who owns the cute puppy out of the way for that meal plan). I read up on a ton of forums and they say not to even step on the scale in the first month because the real results will show up in the 2nd month and I hope that's true. I only half-listened and I step on the scale daily; it's not overly encouraging but hey, some progress is better than no progress.

Month STATS so far:
-I've lost 10 pounds so yay :)
-I can do switch-kicks up to 30, after that my legs give way
-I can do 10 regular pushups, 40 modified pushups in about a minute
-I'm getting much better at mountain climbers. I can do it for the 30 seconds during the circuit.
-I'm getting really good at suicide drills: 40 taps in 30 seconds! (2 feet apart)
-I can now make 4 different types of health salad! (I'm getting really good at making salad. Fancy salads. None of that iceberg lettuce with kraft salad dressing shit)

Anyway, those were a lot of thoughts. Whoops?
If you read all of that, even though it was very tl;dr, here's a picture for all of your hard work
 

This is my FAVOURITE salad. Every salad I make is in reference to this but none compare. This was taken at Insomnia Cafe at Bloor & Bathurst during a brunch date with KlaheesiPaula who is my Shekh ma shieraki anni (yeah. we GoT really hard) And those potatoes? OMFG amazing. This brunch was a heavenly experience. (Also because of the company!!! KhaleesiPaula is one of my favourite people and I'm so glad to know her and I'm so lucky and privileged to call her my friend)

*FUN FACT* KhaleesiPaula knows Elvish. How hot is that? AND knows so much about the Tolkien world it's dreamy

 

THIS lovely breakfast was a few weeks before I started up my health kick/sad-diet-to-be-skinny. The sister found an excellent waffle recipe (I'm not sure what it was but when I find out I'll be sure to update this) that uses sparkling water (I don't know what it does but it worked!) Delicious. Waffles are one of my favourite foods! (Anything to be more like the Sunshine-Glamazon that is Leslie Knope!!! Parks & Rec is a wonderful show and we should all try to be more like Leslie)

-Happy dreams!

Test, test, test. es. (at least I make myself laugh)

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Look!Look!Look! Lookit! I did it, I made the thing!

So, if you missed my last post (which you can read if you click RIGHT HERE!) from a couple of days ago I had made a card for the Mojo Monday Card Sketch Challenge #338 and I interpreted their sketch very loosely (which I think you're allowed to do. I don't know, I haven't trained at the Card Sketch Challenge Academy yet but most challenges give you a lot of creative freedom)

The sketch for which looks this!

 

Anyway, in that post I had written that the blog name Mojo Monday made me, instantly, think of Mojo Jojo! (who is awesome and Powerpuff girls are awesome and, as Tumblr user powerpuff-save-the-day so wisely said, "Powerpuff Girls was actually a show about a group of small children crushing the patriarchy and no one will convince me otherwise")

And I had this weird idea for a card, using Mojo Jojo on it, that you could just give to a random stranger who you thought was in need of a smile and I MADE IT!

*important note* I don't know to whom the image and/or likeness of Mojo Jojo belongs; I know Powerpuff Girls was created by Craig McCracken, produced by Hanna-Barbara and aired by the Cartoon Network, but I'm not sure how the copyright works but there's obviously no copyright infringement intended (I got the photo off google images. I know that's not a very good citation; Google Images says it's by zachwallen.deviantart.com on deviantART, so there's that) But this use isn't for profit or anything so I guess it's okay? The only thing I'm gonna do with this is give it to a stranger and hope it gets passed around to people who need more smiles in their life (which is what I like to think cartoons are all about!)

So without further ado (because this whole post is tl;dr) LOOK AT THE THING I MADE

I'm actually really pleased with how this turned out :) I even used his colours on the card!
purple, green, blue and black! Well done me, 10 points to Gryffindor!
I realized after I had taken the photo and uploaded it to my computer
that I really really wished I had taken the picture from the opposite angle.
*sigh* too little, too late, I guess?
*FUN FACT*  That's....probably going to be the name of my biography
...5 points from Gryffindor.

Hope you like it! And I hope it brings a smile to your face! (I also hope I spelled villains right on that card. I think I did. My spellcheck on this post isn't flagging it and that's how I spelled it on the card so woo-hoo 5 points to Gryffindor!)

-Happy dreams

If you're not too tired, look I made another thing!

There's a chance I've made too many cards this past week.

Some may say, "Yes, yes you have."
Others may say, "There's no such thing!"
Still, others may say, "WTF go to sleep."

BUT I LISTEN TO NO ONE.
*Except my parents when they yell at me in that tone. You know the tone.

So I got 4/5 done with my Runway Inspired card when I realized that Retro Sketches also had a card due tonight! So I put the gluing of Runway on hold and started up a new card so that I could enter that too!

Here's the Retro Sketches Challenge sketch

And this is what I made: look at it :)

*FUN FACT* musical selection for this card was me singing"How Do I Live" on repeat
*FUNNER FACT* I don't know all of the words to that song, so it was just me singing
the chorus over and over mumbling through the parts I didn't know. I was really
lucky I was home alone while I made this card.

To be honest, I don't really know what occasion this is supposed to be used for. I made a point to keep it pretty vague because, for some reason, I didn't like any of the sentiment stamps I had at my disposal at the time.

I like it best as a spontaneous-everyday-card. The kind you just give to someone because "why not?" Those are the best cards to get, I like to think.

-Happy dreams

Look I made a thing again!

Damn son, I've done so many posts this week, I am on a roll!

Well, not really. But let's pretend.

Last night I was perusing the crafting blogs and creeping on Dear Janet Creations (it's okay! She's The Sister's friend so it's not that creepy) and I was told she loves the Runway Inspired challenges because it's so free. The sister and I proceeded to have a little discussion on how we suck pretty badly at things that give us creative freedom because we both really need a sketch to start.

I'm stuck on the fence with that. I find that I struggle really hard with "free"-type cards and I really need a sketch to tell me what to do, but there's an equally petulant part of me which likes to kick and scream and throw a tantrum similar to the likes of,

"NO, YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! "

It's a hard life. But I digress.

So I was looking at the challenge and I figured I should really push myself to do something out of my comfort zone and try it.

*FUN FACT* My comfort zone is my lying in bed, supported by six pillows, with my laptop playing Teen Wolf and a Costco-sized bag of cheetos within reach.

Here is the inspiration challenge from Runway Inspired

And this is what came out of my brain

 

 

When I looked at the runway picture my eye immediately went to the mustard-coloured top. I LOVE that colour but I can never seem to pull off wearing it :( (told you it's a hard life!) So I wanted the main focus of my card to be yellow. The second thing I noticed was the scenery. I loved the forest background so I tried to make moss-covered trees and have the card seem forest-y. I also made sure to add the red flowers! (poppies? I don't know types of flowers very well) It wasn't until the third or fourth time looking at the inspiration picture that I noticed them. I thought they were such a nice surprise that I had to add them into my card!

*FUN FACT* "The second thing I noticed was the scenery" is kind of a lie. The second thing I noticed was her skirt. The first thoughts in my head after seeing her skirt were, "I want it! I waaaaaaaant it! Where do I get that? Where did she get that? Could I pull off that skirt? Where would I even wear it? Whatever I don't care, I waaaaaaant it." But that didn't really help me with making my card.

*FUNNER FACT*  I love the idea of forests, not actual forests. Forests scare me because they're filled with bugs, and a wild Ford Anglia, and Acromantula, and....Voldemort.

I actually really like this card. I started making a card last night and stayed up till around 3am before I called it bedtime but I was super unhappy with it. I just didn't like how it looked: it was too busy, there were things that made no sense, I hated the stamp I used, I hated the ink colour, I hated how it bled...the list went on.

*FUN FACT* I had a ton of trouble coming up with the card so when I kept going back to the challenge post I'd look at the other cards that were posted and omg there's this one card made by this lady who I do not know and am too shy and awkward to say anything to and it's so freaking pretty that it actually made me angry. Each time I looked at it, all I could think was, "Damn it lady! Why did you have to make such a pretty card??" ...But yeah, it's super pretty. I love everything about it: the horizontal lined paper she used, the gold glitter paper, the shiny black accent paper, her butterfly. Every. Damn. Thing. omg.

When I got up later that afternoon I looked at the card sitting on the craft room table and I kinda lost it. I couldn't stand it at all! So, I cut it in half and started over again. (That way my sister couldn't be all supportive and say, "No it looks just fine!" when I KNOW she's wrong and the card wouldn't accidentally get used and it couldn't be inflicted upon some unsuspecting, innocent victim)

And that's what happened.

I am seriously pleased with this, which is a rare thing for me. I pretty much dislike everything I make. Don't ask me why, I don't know myself. That's just the way it is. But this I really like. I think it's the butterfly die. I'm slightly -totally- in love with butterflies. I used a Memory Box die (which you can see more of here CLICK ON ME AND SEE THE BUTTERFLIES!) and it makes the prettiest butterflies that are so super intricate you can't help but love them!

*FUN FACT* If you say you don't love these butterflies, you're lying.

LOOK AT IT UP CLOSE!

NOW LOOK AT IT THIS WAY!

 I'd put another picture of the butterfly at another angle but that may be too many pictures in one post and the posting police might flag me.

In conclusion, this card challenge took a lot out of me and I complained a lot (a lot a lot, you can ask the sister) but I did really enjoy it. The craft room has me so under its spell there's no turning back now.

*FUN FACT* musical selection for this card was me singing, on repeat, "Journey to the Past" from the Anastasia soundtrack
*FUNNER FACT*For a good 3 years of my life I believed I was The Lost Princess Anastasia because I was really, really, really in love with that movie. It was a hard and bitter pill to swallow realizing that I wasn't her.
*FUNNEST FACT* The idea that I thought I was The Lost Princess makes even less sense when you consider the fact that I'm Asian and no one in our family has ever even been to Russia. But, as my little cousin likes to say in support, "Anastasia? AnastASIAN? Coincidence? I THINK NOT!!!"

-Happy dreams!

Look I made another thing!

Okay, well, after the last card I made I was kind of fiending to make another one. PSA alert: Crafting is a gateway drug.

On the Calendar of Arts&Crafts, I saw the blog name Mojo Monday - The Blog which made me laugh because it made me think of Mojo Jojo.

*FUN FACT* He is awesome. And so non-threatening. I mean, you can`t take a green monkey with a purple cape as a serious villain. He`s just misunderstood. It`s probably all of the green that makes him confused. But I digress.



So I clicked on the link and I looked at the challenge post, and then the sketch, and thought,

"Yeah...I'm not gonna be able to make a card from that."

I saw the circle and could only think about putting a picture of Mojo Jojo in it with a statement that said "FEAR ME I AM THE KING OF MONKEY VILLAINS" but you can't really give that as a card to someone.

(now that I'm writing this, I'm really wishing I had made that card. I guess you could just give it to a random stranger on the street and the inside of the card would say "Smile! Pass it on!" Right? ...Yeah I'm gonna do this now. Expect a post with that card in the next week.)

I was -as usual- in the craft room with The Sister and she was working away on a birthday card (which is awesome and you can check it out here: CLICK ON ME AND SEE THE PRETTY) when I realized that I needed a birthday card too!

See, one of my girlfriends' birthday is this Saturday and the embarrassing thing is that I've known about this (she's having a part-ay this Saturday in celebration) for like 3 weeks and yet it just occurred to me now that I needed a card. Whoops? Turns out my memory is not one of my (few) redeeming qualities.

Anyway, if all of the previous text was tl;dr for you here's the arty stuff! This is Sketch 338 from the Mojo Monday Card Sketch Challenge

And here's what I made! LOOK AT IT.

*FUN FACT* musical selection for this card was
Dr. Dre ft. Eminem & Skylar Grey "I need a doctor"
and Eminem's "Rap God"
*FUNNER FACT* there's nothing I love more than
crafting to rap music. Is that weird? Well, I'm weird.

I tried to make it as girly as I could because I like girly things and girly things make me feel pretty and happy and TheLovelySavvySabs is lovely and wonderful and makes you feel pretty and happy too. If you ever get a chance to meet her, you'll understand: she's so sweet you just want to put her in your pocket and bring her out any time you need a pick-me-up. I think everyone should have a friend like that. I hope everyone has a friend like that.

That's all for now folks!

-Happy dreams

Look I made a thing! (now tell me I'm pretty)

So, I've definitely been drinking the crafting kool-aid lately. I blame The Sister. I've spent so much time in her craft room (she crafts while I tumblr and cry over fictional characters/gifsets) that the room just drew me in and, before I knew it, it was too late. I tried to fight it, I did! (That story is for another day.)

Anyway the sister was out with the boyfraaan and I was procrastinating on... life, so I moseyed on over to the craft room and looked at her craft due dates calendar (now that I'm writing this I wish I took a picture of it. That thing is FULL) and, being nosy, I opened every challenge that was going on this week. As I looked through all of the card challenges I was suddenly overcome with the absolute, desperate need to craft. Which, I know, is a really weird feeling to have (just in general, of all the kinds of feelings you can have, it's weird, right?) but, seriously, all I could think was,

 "You know what would be really fun? Making a card. Yeah....yeah, I really need to make a card. Like RIGHT now."

The room really does have me under its spell. So off I went, rummaging through her crafting goods, when halfway through making my card I realized I had been (loosely) basing it off of Sketch #69 from CAS(E) this Sketch!

*FUN FACT* Their guest designer made a card so pretty I wanted to scream.

Alors, voici mon interpétation de la carte.

I don't know if it's exactly CAS material (from what I remember there's supposed to be a lot of white and it's supposed to be simple) but what-the-puppy-ever.  I made a thing and there it is :)

-Happy dreams


-ps-
I wanted to do that thing that all of those craft blogs have at the end of their post that lists all of the products they used, but...yeah that obviously didn't happen. I'm making a mental note to update this is I ever figure that out.

*FUN FACT* musical selection while making this was Panic! At The Disco's TWtL,TRtD! album
*FUNNER FACT* I listened to that album non-stop for 3 months when it came out. No Christmas music for me thank you, ONLY P!AtD!


-later gaters

So it turns out I suck at updating this.

Oops? I've really been meaning to keep up with this, I SWEAR! I just...haven't? Well that's not a very good excuse. I've got so many things in queue that all need so many "final" touches and Teen Wolf has just had this ridiculous hold on my whole life (that's a whole other story) but things are coming soon, I promise!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture from one of my favourite memories of 2013.

Long story short:

-living in Gatineau for work at the time
-living with one of my then-classmates/now-girlfriends who I ADORE OMGZ
-we both were on a health diet and doing the Insanity workout to get skinny
-being on a health kick for too long can make you go a little bonkers
-this is what happens when we decide to have a cheat day birthday celebration
-cheat day, binge eat, pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to, it was a delicious dinner 

KFC 16-piece family bucket meal
2 boxes of fries, coleslaw + gravy
Laura Secord ice cream 2 tubs for $11 (we were SAVING money how could we not?)

 
It was truly a happy birthday celebration!

*important note*
We did NOT eat all the ice cream that night, just one tub each. We saved the other two tubs for the next day.

-BRB