A Snowball Maker? Really?! Because you can't do it yourself?!

It rained nearly ALL WEEKEND. Guuh...

Still, Steven and I braved the wind and rain like little waterproof ninjas and went to the gym.

 By the time I changed out of my wet clothes and into gym clothes, I felt much better. Plus, my lululemon shorts match my new Crunch Fitness T-shirt!

I did a challenging treadmill run with lots of hills and some decent speed.

I'm looooovin' how the treadmill feels on my knees. I haven't had ANY knee pain in weeks, and it's MARVELOUS! Is this what it's like to be healthy?!!?

After the gym, Steven and I grabbed some lunch at the shopping centre nearby and hit up the sales at Rebel Sport, the big chain of sports equipment, shoes, and clothes. It's End Of Financial Year sales here---yes, End of Financial Year in June because for some reason their financial year ends in July.

I found this:

THIS IS A SNOWBALL MAKER.

There were also snowball launchers which looked like giant water guns.

The only thing I have to say is, SERIOUSLY AUSTRALIA?! SERIOUSLY?! How lazy do you have to be to take away the joy of shaping snow in your hands into little killer ice bullets? And then launching them?! You won't even swing and aim with your arm, instead you'd rather use a SNOWBALL LAUNCHER?! C'MON!

Anyway, I got over my incredulity and continued shopping. I really wanted to pick up some new running/gym shirts and possibly a pair of shorts, but I couldn't find anything I really liked, or was cheap enough.

Isn't it disappointing to WANT to buy something but not find anything?

We went home and cooked a nice dinner.

I can't tell you how delicious this dinner is.

It's literally the easiest meal in the world:
Grilled veggies
Grilled Organic Haloumi
chopped parsley and balsamic vinegar

Those are some pretty tasty roasted potatoes next to it, but the real star is the yummy yummy fresh veggies.

What did you do this weekend?

Snickers wasn't the answer

Sydney had a few hits of fog these past few days.

Source

Fog is much darker, and much less glamorous, when you're waiting for a delayed train on your way to work in the morning rush...

The fog work made me sad and tired so I ate a Snickers bar (totally breaking this no-sugar thing).

It made me feel bloated and overly excited during my yoga class that evening. I won't be seeing you again, Mr. Snickers. No, I won't.... (no promises).

Luckily, today dawned clear, blue, and beautiful. So I didn't have to shove my face in candy bars to make myself feel alive.

I went for a run! A glorious, sun-filled run!

I'm still recovering from whatever little bug I caught on Tuesday, so I stopped plenty along the way for pictures, and to gasp for air.

I ran/strolled down to Berry's Reserve, just about a 10/15 mins from our house.

My stats:
2.76 miles
35 minutes
average pace 12.46 min/mile

I came home and duckered around (oh, Internet, how do you make Time disappear?). Suddenly, I felt the great urge for a nap. This has never happened to me before! After a run, I'm usually pumped like a 9-year-old overdosing on Halloween candy. How did this happen?

I woke up to Steven calling me on his lunch break. He basically told me to get my shit together and do some yoga because it makes me a more tolerable person (not true, both that I'm incurably intolerable and he didn't say that. He said something like, "Hi, oh were you asleep?!" but that's no fun.)

So I did my practice like a grown up.

I ate this afterwards:

I call it the Irish diet--leftover potatoes with any random stuff you can find.

Annnd... I'm still hungry.

Off to make some real food!

Pepper burns, milk hands, run scars

Last night was one of the more eventful nights in our humble household in North Sydney.

It started off really well.

I had a good day at work. I found some beautiful mushrooms at the local grocer's near work, and I came home to make this beautiful, healthful and delicious meal:

A giant mushroom cap was our "burger". Steven and I split the burger bun, because we're not so much into the carbs, and we topped it with cheese, thinly sliced red onions, lettuce, and avocados.

I made green bean fries on the side.

I also decided to make that beautiful red tomato salsa, bottom right. We had fresh baby tomatoes, so I wanted to do them in a way that brought out their sweetness.

Just for kicks, I cut up a little chili pepper to add some heat.

Halfway through dinner, my left hand is tingling and I don't know why. I do the dishes, return to the table, and before I know it, I've got full out burning in my left hand.

It felt like I was being pierced with flaming hot machetes, and that my hand would at any moment fall off.

Google told me to try a bunch of things: ketchup, milk, lime, hand lotion, soap.

Milk hands worked for a bit, but the burning came back.

I think I really sealed my fate by washing my hands in warm water after making dinner. The water probably opened my pores, let in all those capsacin devils, and they drilled deep down in the layers of my epidermis like microscopic hedge-hogs from hell.

Eventually, I got too tired to try any more goop on my poor macerated hand and fell asleep.

About 3 AM, I woke to no pain, and thought, "Huh. Guess it went away." And went back to sleep.

The next morning was hard.

Running low on sleep, my eyes burning from contact with my hands and my contact lenses, I had zero focus and barely got through the sun salutations that start off every Ashtanga practice.

Eventually, I crawled back into bed and slept in.

It was just one of those days.

Luckily, today is a Wednesday. That means Bay Run. I was looking forward to this all day long.

This is how we get pumped up for 7K of awesomeness: Harlem shake (or epileptic fit)?

I put in a really decent run, especially with all the hills I've been training on in my 'hood.

Plus, we had this guy join our group today. Great energy, but the collapsing half-way is something he really needs to work on with his coach.

Incidentally, this also happened:

My second official running war wound!! (My first is a sports bra chafe that you don't need to see or know about.)

I tripped on a dark patch of pavement and fell!

I THINK I'M OFFICIALLY A RUNNER NOW!

Stats:
32:24 min
3.18 miles
10:11 min/mile

Hong Kong to Sydney

Hong Kong airport is by far my favorite of all the airports I've been to (Narita, Japan is a close second).

Free wifi, big seats in waiting areas, lots of charging stations, excellent food court! 

Walking through the airport while using Facetime with family (excellent wifi coverage) just made Hong Kong all the more awesome.

I also did some stretching :)

By the time we got to Sydney, it was nearly 10 at night. 

It was such a relief to be greeted by a familiar face, my friend Minnie. I hadn't seen her in about 5 years, so it was a big reunion for us. 

She was letting us crash until our backpacker's holiday really began. 

Oh, and crash we did. 

I woke up really early, around 5 AM, and got to work. 

I did my practice, including drop backs, and felt strong and ready for the day. 

Coming back to a home practice, the quietude, the concentration and determination, was such a revelation to me after being committed to Mysore for the past few months. My practice has grown in ways I was not aware of. 

I'm not necessarily more flexible, stronger, or really any different physically. But I hold myself more accountable to the sequence, more accountable to the nature of the practice, the meditation. It's easier to slide into it, and when I'm interrupted, I'm eager to return. 

Very cool to me. 

Anyway, the day passed quickly. After getting mobile numbers and bank accounts, Minnie took us for an excellent coffee and cake.

I made a humble vegetarian dinner for us.

 

Chick pea and eggplant curry with green beans baked with celery salt. 

Not my best work, but decent! More on Sydney soon!