Yamenah

I had my session with my new trainer today. Yamenah! I have no idea how to spell her name, but that looks good to me. She is awesome! She is energetic and informative. She watched everything I did and told me what I was doing wrong and counted for me. I think I will enjoy meeting with the trainer more. We didn't get on one machine. She made me do everything standing in the hallway. It was fun. I sweated more than I ever sweated before. She is a professional dancer. Awesome. I like my new trainer. I'm glad I switched. But I did see my old trainer and it was so awkward. I didn't talk to him. I meant to call him before my session today, but I didn't. I wish I did. Just to say thanks and why it didn't work out. Now he probably thinks I just don't like him.

Before my session I warmed up on the treadmill. I was running and my heart rate was 157. At that point I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. It hurt. Um...that is NOT good. I am definitely not in shape. My target heart rate is 139 and my max heart rate is 178. If my heart rate was 178 I think my heart would REALLY burst. Poor heart. And it is not good that before heading to the gym I watched an episode of house while eating dinner where his girl had to get a heart transplant. Wonderful. That show freaks me out, but I keep watching it.

My trainer also told me to eat carbs only once a day. GREAT! I love carbs. What will I do. How do I live without rice?! Ack!

I think I had a very productive day today. I got home and ate dinner right away. Some left over spaghetti. Yeah not really healthy food. But whatever. I still only ate 1168 calories today!!! WOOHOO! Maybe today I had a 1500 calorie deficit because I worked out. I skipped my 100 calorie snack pack too =D Planning what to eat helps a lot. Packing all the food for the day during work and having dinner ready to nuke makes life easier when it comes to food. I'm not wondering what to eat and starving on the way home. I think when I am starving I start craving those oh so unhealthy foods. Because when I am starving, I just want everything. Hopefully I don't go too crazy on this weekend.

After dinner I cooked my lunch for tomorrow. Stir fry again! Hye young's recipe of course. If you didn't read before, her stir fry recipe is throw everything in the pan with some oyster sauce. So today's stir fry consists of 1 chicken breast, 1 package of tofu, 6 asparagus, half a yellow onion, and half a korean cabbage. I will eat this for lunch and dinner tomorrow. Maybe I will share with Annie if she wants to try my concoction. It's not that flavorful, but I love cooked cabbage and green stuff like broccoli and asparagus. So even without a lot of sauce, I like it. My breakfast again is scrambled egg whites with spinach and a chille tortilla. But this time I only packed half the tortilla. I also have the other half of my grapefruit from yesterday and edamame.

I bought the package of precooked edamame from costco that you just thaw, so I'm waiting to eat all of it so I can have a new snack. If you want simple, get the costco edamame. I just take a handful, wash it, and then put it in my container. The next day it is all thawed and nice for eating. They also have individually packed edamame at wegman's. There is no wegmans in california. I miss wegmans. I tried getting the big bags of edamame and boiling it myself, but it never comes out right. I don't know how much salt to put in it or how long to cook it. My ex coworkers always told me KISS! Keep it simple stupid. However, I believe the last S really stands for something else that can not be said in the workplace without a report to the ethics officer.

I finished making my lunch just in time to go to the gym. I came home the same exact time as Annie and Linn. We were driving into the garage together. We chit chatted and I made Linn dinner. It was fun making someone else food! I love making other people food. Annie just ate cereal.

Blockbuster Vs. Redbox

VERSUS

So after the whole Netflix craze, blockbuster went spiraling down quite quickly. They then tried to implement the no late fee clause. Also they started opening their stores till 3am. Then certain stores started 'renigging' this promotion and closed at midnight again and charged late fees. Then they finally created their own mail in DVD service to compete with netflix. I never got into the netflix craze because I am a spontaneous and imaptient person. I do not like choosing what movies I want to watch ahead of time and waiting for them in the mail. If I want to watch something at any given moment, then I want to have it at arms reach.

Then Rebox made a breakthrough and gave us the $1 movie rental option through a vending machine! I don't know if it is an original venture though. While living in Italy, I saw these DVD vending machines in all neighborhoods. The only downside to redbox is that it only carries a limited amount of Movie selections. Also, when a new movie comes out, it is usually all out by the time I make my way to great red machine. The plus side is that it is easy access and it is only $1 with a $1 late fee per day that it is late. Another downside is that the redbox machines are inside supermarkets. So you have to go when the supermarket is open. It would be better if it was outside on the street.

Now to the purpose of this post. I have just now discovered that blockbuster has changed its prices. Obviously to compete with redbox. New releases are now $2 and old movies are $1. These rentals are for 1 night only and the late fee is $1 each extra night. I used to be an avid blockbuster goer. Every weekend I would go and rent 4 or 5 movies and spend at least 20 bucks. Why did I do that? I was a platinum rewards member. That means I always got a free rental with my rental and some other bonuses. That's how much I frequented blockbuster. Over the years I stopped renting and started buying. I would go into blockbuster just to buy 5 dollar movies. The stores were always empty. This weekend I went into blockbuster in Arizona and it was packed. I guess the decrease in price has been a success for the former movie rental giant. This was a good move on blockbuster's part considering that currently, the biggest money making industry is the movie industry in this decling economy. I think I will revive my platinum rewards status membership at blockbuster and start renting my movies there again. It is worth the extra dollar to get a new release if they actually have it in stock! As you can tell I am starting to rent movies again instead of buying. My funds are limited to the necessities of life. And yes traveling IS a necessity...for my life at least. Way to make a come back, blockbuster!

Annie's Arrival!

Annie and Linn have finally arrived.  YIPEE!  Welcome to California!   They looked totally spent.  I'm so happy to see them.  YAY to another friend in LA!  We had a nice cold beer together. My first one in a long time.  Linn set up my wireless with no help to Annie!  Annie tried for about 2 minutes and she didn't know jack. What kinda Computer scientist is that?  It took forever, but Linn got it to work.  YAYEE!  Finally!  Thanks Linn.  I have been living without wireless since I moved in more than a month ago.  This caused me not to go on the internet very much at home. 

 So Annie kept telling me that I better blog about her being here, but she keeps talking to me and I can't concentrate.  She is just rambling on and on about everything in the world like she has not talked to another human in a month.   They also videoed their trip.  We watched it on my huge HD tv and it was awesome. The sky was so beautiful. Annie and Linn were so dorky making fake movie trailers to sappy music.  But their kids will love it some day!

So after work today I headed to whole foods to get some fruits and veggies.  But I ended up spending more than an hour roaming around the store.  I have not gone shopping since my move at all.  The only thing I bought was a book and baby clothes for HG's baby's 1st birthday.Keeping the bank account full is a very hard task. Therefore, shopping for necessities has become an enjoyed pastime for me.  I spent 15 minutes in the tea aisle.  I was looking for green tea to help my digestive system.  I really wanted to get this tea which is green tea with assorted fruits.  I wanted the mango one.  But it was a whopping 9.99 for a canister filled with 15 tea bags.  So I moved on and got myself a Tazo green leaf one.  

I also checked out the hot food area.  They have a pizza area just like in Italy!  They cut slices from these long pizzas and sell it to you by the weight.  But in Italy they have either these long oval shaped pizzas or square ones that are a litte thicker.  But not as thick as what we call the 'scicilian pizza' here in the states.  I liked the square pizzas better.  But I had a very nostalgic moment at whole foods in front of the pizza section.

After my weekend trip home and my indulgent moment at El guerro canelo, I am now getting back on track.  For my breakfast tomorow I made an egg white and spinach scramble in a chille torilla.  For lunch I have a turkey burger with asparagas.  I like asparagas, but I never really cooked it before. I don't know what to do with it. So I just put it in the pan with some salt and pepper.  And I also have half a pink grapefruit and some edamame and a snack pack to give me some energy throughout the day.  Tomorrow I meet with my new trainer!  Gosh - back in workout mode.  It's a good thing that I have a trainer because if I didn't have a session tomorrow I would have just said "'I'll just get back on track after this weekend'.  

So everyone in korea makes these sponges.  The first time I saw it was at Yoomi's house.  I was so intrigued.  I don't know why. But you can put it in the microwave to kill the germies.  Or put it out in the sun.  Then I saw one at yoojungs house. And my mom had them too!  This time when I went home, I snagged three of them!  My mom's friend's mom made them all and gave it to her.  So I have a new business venture in mind to make these and sell it I don't know how it will work out.  I want to make cute animals and other things.  I think people would like them.  Michi suggested I look at Etsy.  and i found a lot of crocheted sponges.  But these are made out of special yarn I think? I don't know.  But no one talked about microwaving them!  So maybe these are a little different.  I will keep you posted on my new business venture....if it ever comes to life.

And off to bed we go.

SORA!

How can u not love this dog!?
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Home sweet home

I love being at home. I get to just chill out and lay around eating Mom's food. But I still got a little bit of exercise! We took our dog walking around the golf course every day. He loves it. He runs around like crazy. It's his own huge playground. Yesterday he even jumped into the pond. I love when he swims.

So here is how my mom dresses. She still thinks she is in her teens. It's hilarious. But I like it. Always young at heart! I kept asking her if she was going to go do the cha cha cha. (This is actually a dress under the sweater)

I wish I can take sora home with me! He follows me everywhere around the house. It's so cute. I love it.

A bird made a nest on top of our ladder. Theres one at our front door too. Now we can't use the ladder anymore. I don't know if you can really see the birds in the picture. (Click on the picture and you can see it bigger)

My mom used to kill every plant we used to have in the house. I used to make fun of her every time she would buy a plant because she couldn't keep it alive. Same as me. But now that she is older she loves gardening. She has a vegatable and fruit garden in the backyard. It's not in season right now so I couldn't take any pictures. But it's awesome. We get to eat fresh food from the backyard. And she loves planting nice trees and bushes and flowers, etc. These are yellow birds of paradise and roses. Can you believe this grows so beautifully in the desert?

I have to leave today. Back to California. In a few hours. =( There is nothing waiting for me in California. Except the gym. Ack. Arizona is so relaxing. Very quiet. Back to real life soon.
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EL guerro Canelo!

Break from the diet! Lunch with Nida and Lindsey. Only in tucson can u get these scrumptious sonoran hot dogs and carne asada tacos! I love you el guerro canelo
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Just for MICHI

LOoK wat I found at the airport! Ok so its not a 100 calorie snack pack. But its close! 140 calories! And this almost my FAV junk food! I was VERY excited. Sitting at LAX is no fun.
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