Cutting out Sugar

I might have a bit of a problem with sugar.

I used to take down a donut a day in Toronto....

Cupcakes couldn't cross my path without being destroyed...

And oh no, I didn't forget you juicy delicious fresh mango pastry....

Ohh baby, Tim Tams...

Where am I going with this again?

RIGHT.

I decided to cut myself off.

Almost every night after dinner, I'd find myself rummaging through the pantry for a sweet something, or walking over to our local Kurtosh (BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD!) for dessert.

It got to the point where I couldn't just stop at one cookie or a piece of chocolate. I had an entire bar, a package, a slab (of cake.. mmmm). I just didn't have the heart to stop myself. I thought, "I'm active and healthy generally, this can't hurt me, nothing can hurt me, CUPCAKES AND I ARE GOING TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER AND EVER WAHHHARHARHARHARHAR!"

Totally not an exaggeration of my feelings for cupcakes.

In the end, I just don't want to be controlled by my food. I want to be able to enjoy some sugar sometimes, not a shipping-container-load of sugar after every meal. Plus, those pesky little things like diabetes and obesity.

So I started on Monday, and so far the results have been great.

Because I'm not shoveling cookies in my face after dinner, I finish eating a lot earlier than before. As a result, I wake up feeling less sluggish and cookie-hungover. My morning Ashtanga practices are much stronger, and my flexibility is better.

However, I'm not cutting sugar completely out of my life (even though it's probably a good idea.).

Sugar is one of the best ways to replenish stores of glycogen in your body, especially after an activity like running (or doing Ashtanga for an hour and a half), so I'm still having fruit juice, fruit, smoothies, and the occasional Starbucks latte.

I don't think I'll be able to cut out sugar completely. After all, the forces of travel and limited kitchen appliances are at play here in Sydney. But I'm very happy with the start I've made, and I think it will be easy to maintain until I decide to take it further (or re-unite with the love of my life).

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Shaking things up in Sydney

Since moving to Sydney last year, Steven and I have settled into a life of work, weekends, work and work.

That's one of the reasons we took our New Zealand trip so suddenly. The routine of life can really make this Australian working holiday feel more like work than holiday. It's the reason we're trying to do something new each weekend.

Today, we started the day with a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

There were plenty of runners out, but the pollution from the traffic beside the pedestrian walkway was really too much. I wouldn't ever want to run the bridge mid-day, but I am thinking of taking an early morning run by the bridge.

Across the bridge, you walk into a suburb called The Rocks.

There was an open air market on today--food, clothes, souvenirs!

They built a temporary windmill here just for kicks.

They hold workshops, concerts, and demos here. Today they had a talk about how windmills do useful stuff like grind grain into wheat.

As we strolled around, I got this:

There was a fresh juicing stand and for some reason Steven let me "build" my own juice.

It was disgusting: apple, lemon, grapefruit, carrot, kale.

Still, I drank it all because it was healthy, and I didn't want to be sick again.

I also saw this:

The cone-shaped frostings were very interesting, but I didn't get any. I don't have much faith in Australian cupcake makers. No one can compare to my forever love: Prairie Girl Bakery in Toronto.

After we grabbed some lunch, Steven and I went to Sydney's Sea Life Aquarium and saw my new favourite animal: The Dugong!

He was chowing down on some delicious lettuce.

Steven thinks I like them because they eat the same meals I do:

But it's not true. Not the eating part...yes, I do eat a lot of lettuce, but the reason I like dugongs is because they're huge, gentle, cute and cuddly.

Steven wouldn't buy this for me because he says we should spend our money on silly things like vacations and food.

Great day in Sydney! What are you doing this weekend?

By the way, a new New Zealand post will be up soon! Stay tuned!

Why can't I have bionic knees?

Last Friday night, I inhaled these two beauties from The Cupcake Bakery:

That's Peppermint Chocolate and some sort of delicious Chocolate Explosion that cost 0.80 more than normal cupcakes, but was worth every last drop.

I've been gaining a few pounds these days as a result of my sugar addiction, so I've made it a goal for myself to cut back.

I went for a run Saturday morning while Steven got to hog the bed for once (apparently I sleep in strange kicking yoga poses. But without any proof, I don't buy it).

Balls Head Reserve is quickly becoming my favourite part of my runs.

Sydney is absolutely beautiful in the morning!

By the time I got home, I literally collapsed into a heap on the ground. The last hills of the run were killer.

The picture really doesn't do this hill justice, because it is 45 degrees straight up. It levels off into a gentle little incline the rest of the way, which just adds to the burn.

My details:

Elevation kills me.

A few hours after the run, my right knee started feeling really sore.

Steven and I grabbed some lunch, walked around a bit, and my knee just kept hurting.

Until I plugged in my Garmin, I didn't really realize why:

That puny little 3.4 mile run had been my longest run since having my Garmin, which means my longest run in at least 3 months.

I've been steadily increasing my weekly mileage, but I guess 3.4 miles was just too much, too fast.

I'll have to make it a conscious effort to run slower, and run less. Alas. The life of a runner with a meniscus tear.

Saturday night was a big one for Steven and I. We went to the Sydney FC game against the Melbourne Wanderers. I am now a huge fan of soccer, even if it means random sweaty males falling all over the place and beer rain.

"Jump up! Jump up! Jump up! In the cove!" the chant went.

"Jump up! Jump up! Jump up! Feed a goat!" I heard.

Maybe I have a secret desire for a pet goat.

V-day in the Haus

So it turns out my boyfriend doesn't just sit around, eat fried chicken, and scratch his armpit hairs, eh? 

Because isn't that what men do on Valentine's Day?

Not mine! He got me a bag of coffee.

A pack of Caramel Tim Tams (by far the best version).

And a scrunched up face of joy.

The best part may have been the water bottle EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE I LEFT IN CANADA.

No wait, the best part may have been this:

Unfortunately, these turned out nowhere as good as Prairie Girl Bakery back in Toronto. Why is it so hard to find really good fresh cupcakes in Sydney? And can someone ship me a Prairie Girl to bake me some awesomely soft and fresh red velvet with cream cheese frosting please? Or ship me this girl. That's cool too.

Anyway, I got Steven a couple of ties because all the moving had ruined one of his nicer ones.

Not sure if he likes them...seeing as how they're kind of hard to match with shirts. Who knew that ties would be that hard to buy?

Steven wrote me a wonderful card: 

"Dearest Sandy, 

Roses are red & violets are blue

These are the givens that we take to be true

But not our relationship,that I don't take for granted

Just like a strong tree, it's not enough to be planted

It must be cared for and nourished and given plenty of food

So on this Valentine's,

If you're keen we'll go for some curry, possibly green

Be my date and you'll be in for a treat

Desserts are a-plenty if they survive this heat."

And then we went out for curry. 

And it was green.

How was your Valentine's Day?

Leaving Toronto

I'm exhausted! We've been in Sydney less than 24 hours, but it's been a lot of fun so far. Here's what you missed:

Leaving Toronto was hard and sad.

Our roommate, Angela, got me the best chocolate fudge cake. I packed a box to bring onto the airplane in case vegetarian food sucked (which, btw, it didn't. IT WAS AWESOMESAUCE).

Then, we packed up our stuff into the cars, including the humans (but not the dogs).

At the airport, we met a few of my favorite people.

The one taking the picture, middle left, brought me a box of cupcakes from my favorite cupcake place in the city (and probably the best one, too).

This dude also showed up. He's been a good friend since junior high school, so it was awesome to see him and share this #Asianstakingpicturesoffood moment with him.

After a little mix-up with the visa and a 30-45 min wait (my double names, English and Chinese, always messes things up), we boarded the plane.

I popped Gravol and fell asleep, leaving Steven alone with his 3 movies, 2 tv shows or whatever it is he did during that time...

Gifts galore!

This month has been hard on the wallet.

It's not only a month of birthdays, but in a few weeks, Steven and I will be on an airplane to Australia for a year.

That's a long time.

That's a Christmas, a New Years, a whole year of birthdays and weddings and things we'll miss.

So I got my sister this:

She's already run with it a couple of times. She says the GPS is really, really slow to load, so she hasn't actually used the GPS function of it yet (WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT AGGHHHH GARMIN!!!)

I got Steven a bunch of stuff for his birthday yesterday.

It started with a travel pack: Visine, floss, lip balm, toilet seat covers, hand wipes.

Then, sunscreen for his delicate baby's bottom skin, and underwear.

Because all of that makes sense together. Right?

The piece de resistance:

A waterproof camera! 

Steven was surprised. When he first brought up the idea of a waterproof camera, I played it really cool.

Steven: I think a waterproof camera is a good idea! We'll be in and out of water, traveling, you know. It might be good to have a camera that can take the abuse.

Me: Nooo, it's too expensive. I have a waterproof casing for one of my film cameras. We can just use that.

Steven: But I'm sure we can find it for cheap on kijiji or something.

Me: Bad idea. Don't waste your money.

Steven got the most badass cake for his birthday ever.

Those cupcakes are glued onto the mini cake with frosting.

Whomever thought of this is genius.

In other news, Two-Two got a hair cut:

Big Brown Eyes.

:)

Didn't get my hair done, nails done, but...

I don't get "retail therapy".

I think of it more like "retail punishment".

Why would women ENJOY spending their hard-earned dollar on their faces.

Faces are faces. They exist. What more is there?

Money should be spent on food, dogs, travel, running shoes and yoga mats (obviously).

So it was a real adventure when I went into the beauty store yesterday to pick up some stuff for the wedding.

I went straight to the Clinique section as they are hypoallergenic and I have a tendency to rash out. A nice woman named Jennifer came over and asked if I needed any help.

I thought my pimple-ridden face would have told her everything.

"I need something to cover up my pimples," I said.

"Oh, OK, what's your normal skin care regimen?"

"Water and body lotion?"

She looked at me like I had stolen her child and ate her puppy. 

She called in the reinforcements. Several other ladies came over and cluck-clucked at my sorry state.

One told me I have milia, because the waxes in the body lotion were clogging up my pores.

Let's just say that I walked away with $140 worth of stash and a bunch of samples.

I don't usually throw away $140 on a whim. That $100-yoga mat took me a LOONNNG time and lots of deliberation.

But I like to think about it this way: I haven't EVER thrown out a mascara or eye-liner.

Meaning the ones I've been using are probably older than my dog.

And that can't be right, right?

Like the post title says, I didn't worry much about my hair (hopeless) or nails (who's going to look at my NAILS?!) so I'm obviously winning at this Don't-Look-Like-A-Hag act.

In other news, I consumed about 6 cupcakes all by myself.

And this beautiful and fun new lady friend taught me the "proper" way of eating them.

You've gotta rip off the bottom, stack it on top of the frosting like a cupcake sandwich. Very clever, this girl. She has my vote.

They had a great photobooth going. You got a copy of the pictures, and with the other copy, you got to make a scrapbook page for the new couple.

I think by the end of the night, we had made three.

Super fun!

Look, we're grown-ups!! :)