So, how am I doing with regard to trying new things?

Roadtrip
The siblings roadtrip was canceled due to lack of interest by everyone. If I get a car this year as planned I’m taking a road trip…even if I have to do it sans siblings.

Hair revamp
I made an appointment with a highly recommended specialist for my hair and her cautions about dyeing hair that is already more fragile than usual due to chemically straightening (relaxing) it every eight weeks discouraged me from putting colour in my hair. I now understand why many of my African friends rock weaves or other hair styles that are protective of their hair. Just before the consultation I started liking the colour of my hair and feeling like it had a lot of depth. My friend told me she feels the same way before she contemplates a cut or colour so maybe it’s just that part of me that is resistant to change that was trying to assert itself.

I went to get my hair relaxed for a wedding a couple of weeks ago and the hair stylist cut some long sideswept bangs for me that I loved when they were freshly styled. Since I’ve washed my hair and returned to my regular “wash and go” routine, I haven’t bothered trying to style my bangs.

I’m mildly obsessed with my hair right now, but Jummy-style obsessed. Really obsessed people throw themselves into new routines or try new treatments; all I’m doing is seeking out products that are better for my hair so that I can keep to my lowkey routine routine without having unhealthy hair. I’m on to something and once I get my hands on some and try it, I’ll report back.

For now my goal is to grow my hair nice and healthy, and minimize the amount of breakage and hair loss I’m experiencing.

Running out of excuses not to run
I’m still learning to run, but I’m stuck in the Run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute vortex, mostly because for the last two weeks I haven’t been out. I’ve been really tired and even when I wake up of my own volition to work out, I close my eyes for a second and I’m up an hour later, scrambling to get ready so I arrive at work on time. This must change.

Eating yogurt
This is what actually triggered this entry…I bought some non-dessert yogurt, but it contained about 2% milk fat, compared to the dessert yogurt’s 3.2%. I was feeling hungry but not starved, so I figured that it was the perfect time to try the slightly lower fat yogurt, the kind that the average healthy person might eat if they weren’t on a diet (where I presume the 0% yogurt would rule the day). I looked at the container to convince myself to try it since it contained only a slightly lower amount of fat when I realized I had purchased 12 cups of zero fat yogurt! (Yes, this would be considered a faux woe.) The horror! I had been told that you can taste the sourness more in the lower fat yogurts and that had kind of kept me from going fat free. I tried it and it was sour, not pudding-like in taste like the dessert yogurt. I won’t reach for it when I’m craving something sweet but I know my body will thank me once I’ve worked my way through the remaining 11 cups.

A trip to Europe? (Or maybe just USA)
Last weekend I went for dinner with a friend and she got me excited about seeing New York City because I’m rewatching Sex and the City. My Fab 5 friends (longtime friends) and I have had an NYC trip tentatively booked for years now, so we need to make it happen or I’ll be headed to NYC for the September long weekend in 2011 all by myself. I can’t wait to start shopping for flights (if affordable…otherwise I’ll drive or take the train) and hotel rooms. I know a couple of people who’ve been to NYC so I’m sure they’ll steer me right.

I’m looking forward to the next 12 months…I want to look back and marvel at all that has taken place in the past year. Without concrete plans for the future I realize that might not happen but I’m ever so hopeful.

Filed under: Mundane by jummy | 1 Comment »

I haven’t been as consistent with my run/walks in the past two weeks, but I’m not beating myself up over it because as my crazy colleague keeps reminding me, and I truly believe it, this season of laziness will pass. I haven’t fallen off the wagon, I’m resting. I’m not angry with myself or judging myself harshly for this lazy phase; I’m looking forward to getting back on track because for the first time this isn’t about losing weight but about doing what healthy people do.

My food consumption has been mindless, and I’ve been craving sugar more than ever. I’m not sure why that is: habit, perhaps, and laziness. It’s easier to eat fast food without thinking than to be mindful; it’s easier to ignore what my body needs and eat what my nose likes the smell of, and I’ve been feeling lazy when it comes to food preparation. I ate chicken wings for dinner tonight, but I ordered a side of carrots and celery because I was craving them. It felt good to eat what my body wanted and stop when I was full, meaning that I have leftover chicken wings for tomorrow. I had coffee after dinner, and ordered a slice of lemon poppyseed loaf to eat with it, but after drinking the coffee I realized I didn’t need the cake, so I’m saving it for tomorrow too. Baby steps.

I’ve been working on loving myself as I mentioned, telling myself that I’m beautiful and awesome, just as I am, and it’s working, meaning that I’m believing it…most of the time. Even today with my air-dried and unstyled hair, I was able to look at myself in the elevator mirror at my workplace and send myself a loving and positive message. When I saw an impossibly slim yet quite curvy woman on my way to the restaurant for dinner, I tried not to wish I had her body, but instead admire her body as being perfect for her, and accept that my body, while not yet perfect for me, would be one day. And in the meantime I was going to love it as if it was the body of my dreams. It feels good to flood my body with love (though no one is surprised to hear this!).

In other confessions, my house still looks like I moved in mere months ago: the windows are uncovered, the walls remain bare (I haven’t even hung these up), my craft nook is cluttered, a spare television that a friend gave me is being used as a makeshift end table, I haven’t painted, my spare bedroom looks like a storage room and my thermostat and furnace need to be examined. I received my property tax bills for April to December 2009 and January to December 2010 and all I can say is ouch. Thank God that I didn’t buy a car or I’d be begging my sister for a loan to pay these atrocious bills. I’m not pleased but this is one of the privileges of home ownership, I’m told.

So there you have it, Jummy is still excelling at being her imperfect self.

Filed under: Beauty, Health, Home decor, Mundane, flab gab by jummy | No Comments »

I spent the weekend in the province’s capital, attending Cynthia and Adam’s wedding. In addition to the wedding, which took place on the Saturday, there was an unofficial tour of the newlyweds’ gorgeous new condo and a rehearsal dinner the night before, and a brunch the day after the wedding. Aside from my surprise at the seating arrangements at the wedding reception (the main room wasn’t big enough for all the invited guests so four or five tables were set up outside of the main room), I had a good time getting to know my tablemates, and forced myself out of my comfort zone by talking to people I didn’t already know (it helped that they initiated conversation). Through talking I discovered that one of the guests and I have my childhood friends in common. I should also add that one of my tablemates, who may or may not have attended the wedding with his gorgeous significant other, was quite attractive (as a general rule I avoid attractive men, but this guy lacked the conceit or smugness that can sometimes come with Being Attractive and Knowing It). Not only was he easy on the eyes but he was a gentleman with all the ladies at our table. He even came over to murmur a very sensual and suggestive “good night” to me and he caressed me with his eyes as he left the reception…at least that’s how I choose to remember his parting words! ;)

As expected, I danced like a fool when the music changed to my kind of music.

* * *

I have always enjoyed observing couples, and weddings give me ample opportunity to do that. I like watching interactions between couples in all stages of their relationship, especially because weddings usually bring out the tender side of couples , either from remembering their own special day years ago or anticipating the future. When a slow song like Unchained Melody comes on and I don’t have anyone’s arms to melt into, it kind of sucks but I’m hopeful that that won’t always be my reality and I try not to think of all the things that a 31 year old woman who has been waiting f-o-r-e-v-e-r to fall in love, get married and have kids will think of at weddings.

All of that to say that I had a good time at the wedding. I regret not taking a full length photo of my outfit; hopefully the photographer (who was also quite handsome) did!

Filed under: Adventure, Friends by jummy | No Comments »

The library has always been a very important part of my family’s life, and ever since the various libraries in the city a) made it possible to get books from one library transferred to your library of choice and b) allowed you to put books that the library has on order on hold, before it arrives in the library, I’ve been even more enamoured of the place.

Over the years, I have put countless books about diabetes on hold. And invariably, when the books come in I either refuse to pick them up or I pick them up from the library but don’t read them. I don’t even open them once. My reason for not reading them is of course because I don’t want to read about the complications that this terrible disease can cause because that always makes me cry. I am not brave when it comes to confronting diabetes.

Today I came across a book that the library will be acquiring, Diabetes without Drugs, and although I suspect the book is for diabetics who aren’t using insulin, I still want to check it out and read it, even though it will be a hard process. The author is a pharmacist and she thinks that America (and no doubt Canada as well) over-prescribes drugs for ailments that can be cured or managed through natural means (while the focus of this particular book is diabetes, the author thinks drugs are over prescribed in general). My mom is on a number of medications and I have often been curious about whether the effects of one are counteracting the effects of another. I understand it’s a delicate balance and if my mom is taking a medication that raises her blood sugar, chances are that research has been done to ascertain that the effect of the drug outweighs the side-effect of elevated blood sugar…but sometimes I wonder.

I read an article about the author of the book and that led me to an article about things that have been shown to have a negative effect on diabetes, chemicals like bisphenol A, benzene, aspartame and MSG. I don’t drink carbonated drinks often so I think I’m pretty safe from aspartame, but I know some diet foods contain it (not that diet foods are a part of my diet!). I also associate Chinese food (hopefully not erroneously) with MSG, probably because my family’s favourite take-out restaurant offers no MSG upon request. My family really loves Chinese food, but I can’t recall asking specifically for the omission of MSG from my meal.

I’m sure the articles I stumbled across were not meant to cause hysteria, but of course a part of me panicked at the thought of all the absolute junk I’ve consumed over the last 19 years in particular. I’ve always known it wasn’t good for me but now I’m wondering if my choices have begun to have irreversible effects on my future health.

I’m watching the 11:00pm news and guess what was just on the news? Bisphenol A (BPA)! This chemical mimics estrogen, has been linked to some cancers and has been implicated in type 2 diabetes. BPA is found in the lining of pop cans and food containers and it coats many receipts (this last one surprised me!). The study conducted found that 90% of the people tested had levels of BPA in their bodies, with adults aged 40-79 having the lowest levels, children aged 6-11 with the next highest levels and teenagers 12-19 having the highest levels of BPA (not surprising considering how much pop or other drinks in bottles and cans teens consume, generally speaking). An interesting piece of trivia is our city was the first in the world to ban BPA from baby bottles.

Anyway, that last bit was either a lovely coincidences or a sign from God. I’m glad I tuned in and I’m looking forward to actually read Diabetes without Drugs when it comes in!

Edited to add: The local news is now doing a story on traveling for diabetics…I was clearly meant to watch the news tonight!

Filed under: Family, Health by jummy | No Comments »