After watching the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, I put it out there that I wanted to do a half marathon next fall. I also mentioned that Ali, Jamie and I had so much fun running the Around the Bay relay last year that we planned to do the same thing this year. Except by the time we went to register, it was already sold out!

Ali and Jamie, being the hardcore runners that they are, have already signed up for the full!  I am less confident in my ability to run 30km in less than 4 months, seeing as the furthest I've ever run is 10K! But I put an Around the Bay Training plan together and have been sticking with it so far. More than that, I've really been enjoying the training. I've even noticed time and speed improvements, albeit small ones, and my ability to just keep running when I want to stop is also much better.


I sure do wish I could get my legs to look like this! source

To support my plan, and keep me motivated, I've signed up for two races; the Santa Shuffle 5K in Guelph on December 1st, and the New Year's Day Resolution Road Race 10K in Brantford on January 1st. I've even got some time goals, which I never really had before!

Now if only Runner's World would bring back their "What to Wear" page, I'd be golden! It was my saving grace in figuring out what clothes work best for me in the changing weather.

Hooray for tap water!

This got me thinking of a radio interview I heard in the summer time. The two creators of the App Quench were interviewed. Quench is a mobile app for iPhone, Android or Blackberry that finds the nearest water fountain or Water Re-fill location in Toronto. It looks like there are lots of places to re-fill my water bottle!

Source

Blackberry App World, here I come! At the time of the radio interview, there was no Blackberry version.

With the remnants of Hurricane Sandy going through here for the past week, I've discovered that I am a three season commuter cyclist.  I'm planning for four seasons, but I'm waiting until the middle of January to decide for sure!

Arriving Home

Some of the things I've found work well for me while riding in the rain:

• Rubber boots (mine are aubergine Wellingtons, and I LOVE them)
• Wearing dresses with running leggings with a change into leggings/tights at work
• A jacket with a hood

Arriving at work, mostly dry

• Awesome running glove/mitts from Nike. Waterproof on the top, soft and breathable on the bottom. They're pricey, but one day in and I already think they're worth it. I got mine at MEC.

Nike Running Tech Index Mitt (source)

• Front and rear lights, so that I'm more obvious to drivers in dark conditions. This adds to the visibility of my eggshell blue Bobbin Birdie bike.

Front and Rear LED lights that snap on and off easily

• A panier to keep my change of clothes in. I've got the Basil Jada Shopper XL, which I adore because of its capacity and long shoulder straps and the Timbuk2 Shift Panier Messenger for my Laptop.
• Fenders!

Fenders ensure your backside stays clean

• A cloth to wipe down the seat/handles if they get wet while parked, like mine did yesterday while at class. Thankfully my work has secured bike storage in the underground parking, so I don't have to worry about wiping down my seat most days.

Wet seat

I got a Neti Pot last Christmas, and I`m so happy to have it!  A neti pot is used to treat sinus problems, colds, allergies and post-nasal drip. You basically pour a saline solution in one nostril, through your nasal passages, and out the other.  It feels really weird the first time, but it becomes normal really quickly.


The neti pot can be a really nice alternative, or augmentation, to cold medications. When I feel a cold coming on, and throughout, I use the neti pot every morning until my nose has stopped running and the cold has passed. Except in extreme conditions, I manage to avoid having to take a any medication at all. That being said, when I get a cold so bad that I can't breathe when I lie down, I'll take a NiQuil so I can sleep!

There are plastic neti pots out there, I've seen them at the drug store, however my neti pot is ceramic. I like that it can be sanitized with  boiling water and washed in the dishwasher. I buy the salt to make a saline solution in bulk from Selsi Sea Rosks at the St. Lawrence market.

In combination with my homemade handkerchiefs, it's my zero waste way to deal with a cold.

About 6 months ago my mom decided she was going to make her own powdered bathroom cleaner. Apparently her cleaning lady requested she buy some Comet, and my mom wanted to find a slightly less toxic version. She made her own, and also mixed me up a small container for me, and I love it! The tiles and counter are clean and don`t smell chemical-y (like my roommate`s Pine Sol, which hurts my nose and who knows what else) at all!

The recipe is simple. Mix equal parts of baking soda, borax and washing soda. That's it!

This should last me a long time!

I got my baking soda, borax and washing soda in bulk at Grassroots. This is a minimal waste cleaning solution!

Soap Making Essentials suggested adding liquid soap and essential oil, and since I had some Eucalyptus Essential Oil sitting around from a previous project, I added it as well. It smells lovely, but I don`t expect it will make much of a difference to this concoction`s ability to clean.

Back in August when R was here I took him to `Tastes of the Danforth.` In addition to eating some amazing Greek Food, we walked into the Riverdale Grassroots Store, which is where I bought my Diva Cup (more on that to come later). I was so happy to find bulk vinegar, washing soda and so many other cleaning products that I actually gave a little cheer and jumped up and down, to R`s dismay. He is very typically Dutch in liking normalcy, and not standing out!

Source

Note: I don`t know this dude. It`s still not second nature to me to take photos of these types of things for my blog - I promise to take a picture next time I go back!

As we were leaving, the girl at the cash asked me why I was so excited, and I told her. I didn`t have any containers with me at the time, but I knew I would be back for some soon enough.

And that time was this weekend! I ran out of cleaner last weekend when I was cleaning (shocking, I know!), so grabbed some jars and went back to Grassroots and got some washing soda, borax, baking soda and cleaning vinegar. I remembered to weigh my jars before I left so they could be tared when they were full with product.

Hooray for bulk products!

I`m going to have to label these jars - the baking soda and borax look very, very similar. Thankfully only the baking soda reacts with vinegar, so it was easy to confirm which was which. Another win for science!

Well, we're now well into October, and I haven't updated my love list since the beginning of March. I think a quarterly update is a bit overdue!

Grow a garden on our porch
I started tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and spinach from seed. The tomatoe sprouts were looking great until I left for the Netherlands for a week and my roommate didn't water them as I requested. The zucchini and peppers fared a bit better, but got snatched by some raccoons before I could harvest them. The spinach never sprouted at all, and the wildflower seeds I planted just looked like weeds. Needless to say, this was a less than successful experiment, but hasn't deterred me from wanting to try again next year. Although I probably won't start from seed. And I'll be in an upper level apartment where there will be fewer pests, but less space and probably less sun.

Read more novels
I think that I've done a pretty good job of this. My Aunt has kept me well supplied with books, as she is a voracious reader. My dad also passed along his BlackBerry playbook (since he is now an iSnob), which has the Kobo Reader app on it. Since all books out of copyright seem to be free to download, I started reading Sense and Sensibility. I also have Fifty Shades of Grey to read, only because I have to know for myself just how horrible it is. After reading this review at GoodReads, as suggested by Eco Yogini, I'm strangely intrigued. And scared.

Learn (and practice) to cook well
I have discovered this year that I actually enjoy cooking - I just don't like deciding what to eat! R and I have already agreed that if we ever live together he'll decide what we're eating and I'll make it. He said it with a sparkle in his eye, though, so I suspect I'm going to have to learn how to cook lots of complicated Dutch meals...

Learn to speak Dutch
I think that self-teaching a language is not very good at all. At the end of my last trip to the Netherlands, however, my Dutch was getting a teeny, tiny bit better. But not much. That being said, my Dutch I class at the U of T started last night! While the first night was a little bit unorganized, it was interesting to hear why the 9 other people in the course were there, and I think it will be very useful to have a designated 2.5 hours to learn, and have homework. I was a bit of a keener in school (not surprising to those who know me!), so the fact that there's homework to complete, and tests to write, means I'll spend at least some time doing that outside of class! And R promised he'd help me practice, which is good because there are 2 couples and a father/son combo in the class, who have each other to practice with!

Get rid of the junk in my bedroom and the garage
I spent this past weekend organizing and purging from the garage. I took a trunk load of stuff to the Value Village, have some board games that friends have expressed an interest in taking, and have some eWaste that the City will recycle for me. I now have to figure out how to get my hands on one of the eWaste bags, because the City website is not very helpful. Once I figure it out, I will put up a post!

Simplify my wardrobe
In addition to the trunk full of stuff I took too Value Village from the garage, I also took 3 bags of clothes that don't fit within my wardrobe anymore. I went thrifting with my cousin Ali this week and got some great basics and a beautiful pencil skirt, but each item fits within the framework I have set-out for my wardrobe.

Finally get my Professional Engineer designation
Fail. Epic fail. Nothing done but refute a whole bunch of nagging by my dad. And my mom. And my sister. And R. And my sister's boyfriend... You get the idea, I'm putting this off.

Pay off my debt
By the end of this month my MasterCard will be paid off, and never used again! That means that the money I was putting on it can now go to my VISA to get it paid off! I'm very excited to be heading in the right direction. Mint has added some features, so I can now see my debt over time. Look at it go down!

(For some reason one of my accounts isn't showing up in the summary for January and February - this really is a downward trend)

Track the waste that I produce each week/month
Once again, an Epic Fail. I found it quite difficult to track with a roommate who would likely contaminate my results, not out of spite, but just because she wouldn't pay attention. I move into my own apartment in December, so the waste tracking will begin again in earnest in January, when I can have a dedicated garbage and recycling container for just me.

With the new year fast approaching, I'm also starting to think about what I'd love to do next year. Being organized is certainly on the list, as is running a half marathon, but I think there will be a lot of repeats from this year.