Setbacks with Bootcamp and Lent

No Bootcamp This Week
Well, I woke up ass-early on Wednesday, and made my way to the North Station area just to find out that there wasn't class at all this week.

I was so angry about waking up early that I managed to motivate myself to attempt running around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

April 2010,
The boyfriend and I were taking a walk around the city.
This is us around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir...
well, I cropped him out...

So, I tried to get all motivated, though my pockets had a little too many things in them (keys, phone, Zune, T pass, and photo ID).  I put on my "Buttkicking" playlist, and did 2 rounds (which turns out to be about 1.56mi per round) around the Reservoir of intermittent jogging and walking.

Running sucks ass.  I just really don't know if I can get down with it.  I just don't want to get so winded just from running around during bootcamp.

Plus, my phone didn't do the best job of tracking how many calories I burned, which was even more extremely frustrating.  I'd gladly have done the hour of bootcamp instead of the hour of running.

A friend of mine suggested a phone app called "Couch to 5K," which I guess makes one able to run a 5K after 9 weeks.  I'm still pretty irritated with running, but I'm willing to give it a try - maybe when bootcamp is over.  Maybe.

Lent Fail
Later that day, I asked the boyfriend to bring me some portobello mushroom burger action, especially since there was some ground beef that needed to be turned into burgers (mmmm...delicious home-made burgers...with cheese...).  He brought home a veggie portobello burger pack.

As I started preparing our Cuisinart Grill, I take a look at the ingredients.  Lo and behold, there is cheese in the garden burger.

One of the first rules that I learned during this diet is that vegetarian ≠ vegan.  There are so many things that have milk lecithin or milk powder or cheese or something ridiculous.

And at the same time, you would be just as surprised to know what things are just high fructose corn syrup or just plain sugar.  For example, I can't have Honey Bunches of Oats (which has whey from milk); however, I can have Frosted Mini-Wheats (which has whole grain wheat, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and gelatin).

Makes you feel really good that that
frosting is just sugar and HFCS, huh?
Super healthy, for sure...

Well, I ate that veggie burger anyway.  I'm not about to let the food go to waste, and I think the boyfriend will do better about looking at the ingredients next time.

I also went back on my Lent Challenge completely by accident on my way back from New York.  I was in desperate need of some coffee.  Knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to get any soy milk when we stopped at a gas station, I instead asked for a Chai Tea Latte.  Yeah.  Though it *looked* like it might have been an Oregon Chai-like mix (which is dairy-free), I didn't really see it.  It *tasted* like it could have haid milk.  Clearly, I was still too sleepy to realize that I still ordered a beverage with milk in it.

But then, the Saturday before leaving for New York, I knowingly said "screw you" to the diet.  A dear friend was celebrating her 30th birthday with a dessert and cheese party.  I mean, she makes delicious desserts, and it was her 30th!!!  Knowing that I'm not doing the Lent Challenge to get closer to god or whatever, I knew that it would really just be disappointing myself.

Well, that birthday dessert party was so worth it.  But completely losing my mind over the Chai Tea Latte just pisses me off.

Well, lessons learned.

3 WEEKS LEFT!!!

Travels: NYICFF and Vegan-Friendly Eats in NYC

The fun thing about being so close to New York and my best friend is that I get to take a day trip and do so many things with her.  The sad thing is that there are so many things we want to do together, but we don't have enough time most of the time.

Fooling around at a gazebo in Central Park

It was a fun Sunday, and I'm glad she knew of some places where I could have some delicious vegan meals.  But, let's start with my horrendous experience on the way over, shall we?

Fung Wah Ridiculousness
Well, just as I blogged about the benefits of having a cheap bus ride to New York, I happened to have an unpleasant experience.  I know I should try the Bolt or Mega Buses, but I already know what to expect for the most part on the Fung Wah. 

So, of course, I was extremely exhausted as I had some birthday celebrations the night before, and we got home way too late for me to get any real sleep.  I'm pretty good about getting to sleep on the airplane or on the bus, so I figured I could just get comfortable.

I got on the very first bus of the day, and I just wanted to make sure that I got a window seat.  I knew there would be a chance that I would have to share my aisle, but I wanted to avoid sitting next to someone strange.

Well, I wasn't so lucky.  As I got to my window seat, I noticed a man kind of watching me get settled.

These two girls who got on the bus after me but were extremely unprepared at the ticket counter were trying to find a seat together, so the strange man offered up his seats and proceeded to ask me if he could sit next to me.  I really need to learn to say no.

But I grumpily let him sit next to me as I struggled to get more comfortable with my bag.  I swear that he was watching me the entire bus ride.  I could feel him watching my every move even though I tried to focus on whatever was outside the window or just trying to sleep the whole time.

Near the end of the trip, I realized that he was basically using my thigh as an arm rest!!! And I knew that if I asked him to move his hand in my extremely sleepy and grumpy state, I would have yelled at him and been the drama bomb of the bus.  So, I just tried to elbow his arm off me as I was "sleeping."

But it got worse.  I'm pretty sure that, as Manhattan was in our sights, he basically started farting in my direction!!! DUDE!!!! REALLY?????  I just buried my face in my scarf, and kept my eyes closed.

Finally, we arrived.  Thank goodness!  But he was taking FOREVER to get up and get off the bus.  As he walked ahead of me, he turns to me and says, "Have a good day, miss."

What the fuck?  I watched him walk away while continually turning back to look at me.  I really had to restrain myself from yelling or running after him to kick his ass.  I was just glad the experience was over.

Vegan-Friendly Eats
Being that I was trying to be good about my diet and my best friend is basically vegetarian/vegan lite, I wasn't too worried about finding tons of food in New York City.

Our first stop of the morning was Babycakes, a delicious vegan bakery which we discovered early in her move to New York.  This place has made me a believer in the deliciousness of vegan pastries.  If they're done well, they're REALLY done well.

We had a jam-filled biscuit, and I had some Yogi Tea in Chai Black with soy milk.  It was delicious.

I've had their cupcakes before, but it was too early for their decadent cupcakes.  Seriously, if you get a chance to try Babycakes in New York or in Los Angeles or in the Downtown Disney Marketplace in Disney World, you really should.

For lunch, we headed over to Caravan of Dreams, an organic vegan Spanish/Mediterranean restaurant.  We had WAY too much food!  Apparently, my best friend has a bottomless stomach and the fastest metabolism.

We had the Seitan Nachos, Huitlacoche and "Chorizo" Quesadillas, Caravan Burrito, and Mango Lassi.  We split everything.  It was delicious and I was so happy I was having all these foods that I would never normally be able to eat in this diet!

We had so much food. So. Much. Food.  But we were eventually hungry again.

My best friend had been craving squid for a month, so I looked up some Vietnamese restaurants around the Columbus Circle area.  We ended up at Cha Pa's Noodles and Grill on West 52nd St.

I had a side of shrimp chips and the Crab & Shrimp Rice Noodles.  My bottomless-pit of a best friend had the Saigon Salt & Pepper Squid (which is more saucy and less crispy than the Chinese equivalent), with a side of bok choy, shitake mushrooms.  She ate all of it, while I had to pack up some left-overs.

Overall, it was all pretty delicious.  My belly was extremely happy and full all day.

New York International Children's Film Festival
The main reason this weekend was planned was because it was the final event for the New York International Children's Film Festival.  I believe this is the 4th time we've attended the event, and we've learned that going to the final awards ceremony is the best part.

Directors Guild Theater in NYC

During the awards ceremony, they award the audience favorites as well as re-screen them.  But the best part of the final event is the swag bag.  This year, the swag bag was amazing!

swag bag!

This is the biggest and most sturdy bad we've received yet!  It was filled with a neat journal and pen set, a pencil bag, a DVD of Shaun the Sheep episodes, a DVD of the television movie Temple Grandin, and Bananagrams!

No joke, I've been wanting to buy my own set of Bananagrams for ever!  I had played it with some friends, and I really quite enjoy the game.  So, I nearly flipped over at the sight of the Bananagrams bag!

But seriously, the entire Film Fest is amazing.  Because of it, I've been able to watch some amazing films, from The Secret of the Kells to Sita Sings the Blues.  We've also seen some hilarious and some poignant shorts, some of which you can see on the NYCIFF website.

Honestly, it was attending our first film fest together that had made me eager to find other film festivals in the Boston area.  It's where you can really see some amazing and creative works as opposed to some of the "blockbusters" that can easily be cookie-cutter copies of each other.

With that, I want to leave you with one of the winning shorts that was a personal fave of my best friend and me.  Enjoy!


Pinky - Don't Go from Pinky on Vimeo.

Mermaid Sighting - March 27, 2011, New York City

Mermaids on the Subway
Artwork in the New York Metro
Click on the image to see the detail.

Christmas Tree Mermaid
Artwork in a Window Display

Simple Pleasures Sundays - $15 Bus Rides

I'm heading off to New York City to see my best friend today!  We're going to attend the final gala event for the New York International Children's Film Festival, an event we try to attend every year.

Though we both managed to make it to the East Coast and we're only about 4 hours drive away from each other, we unfortunately don't see each other as often as we'd like.

But, it is almost comforting to know that we could easily see each other for a mere $15 one-way bus ride on the Fung Wah Bus.

When I first moved to Boston, that bus used to be only $10!!! But, I guess prices had to increase just a bit.

Also, the Fung Wah Bus has some notoriety for having crazy drivers, lots of break-downs, and other general problems.  Believe me, my friends and I have had a variety of crazy experiences on the bus!  From one girl being bitchy to her seat mate leading to us stopping just to have the police interview folks on the bus about the incident, to a friend of mine experiencing a side-view mirror swiping with a big-rig truck.

But I don't care.  I figure that statistically, accidents can't happen all the time, and you just have to plan a trip either right after an incident or after a long time without an incident.  It's definitely better to go early in the morning so that the buses are "fresh."

Either way, it's pretty awesome to travel to another state to see my best friend just for $15!  The second $15, however, is not as satisfying because of the eventual separation from her.

Boot Camp - Week 3

Once again, I had a really difficult time getting to sleep the night before boot camp.

In the past week, the boyfriend and I discovered that Mencken had burrowed a hole into our box spring.  When he's feeling particularly frisky, he will rummage around underneath us, doing god-knows what.  It's really irritating...but also really hilariously cute.

our little monster

Suffice it to say, he didn't make it any easier the night before boot camp.  I nearly ran late, but I tried to jog a bit to get to the gym on time.

Ugh.  I hate running.  I hate running so bad.

for serious

Near the end, I definitely felt like I was giving up, and I was really frustrated at myself for feeling that way.  At the very end, we ran to a separate location and were told to go up and down some stairs and then run up a short hill and back down several times until we were told to stop.

As Jillian Michaels would say, I totally "phoned it in" at some point.  There was no way I was jogging up the hill, and running and and down the stairs was not even an option.  I was spent.

But I have 2 sessions left.  Right now, I'm almost considering paying for more sessions, but that's dependent on my job situation.

I know it's been good for me and my body to keep at this.  Plus, having a trainer/teacher around to keep pushing us while having other group members around to keep me feeling competitive helps with my motivational level.

I do wish that the trainer would provide some music to help keep us motivated.  But, it's just not his style.

I couldn't imagine doing it more than once a week at this point in my body, but if I get stronger I could up it to 2x a week.

The problem is that pesky running.  You'd think that riding a bike would have helped me get a bit stronger, but my bike has been out of commission for a while.

I'll be honest, and this is just a little thought between you and me...but I'm considering going out to attempt running on my own.  Maybe around the Ringer Park field super early in the morning, but it's a smaller area, which means several laps before reaching a mile.  Or probably around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, which is nearby and relatively flat but long enough that I won't just quit (according to Yelp, it's approximately 1.56 miles).  Or even down the Esplanade one day.

Sshhhh!!! Don't say anything, okay?

Let me be clear, though.  I still loathe running, but I'm stubborn enough to know that I want to conquer it just because.