Monday, April 28, 2008

Lightfooted

I'm a little preemptive with this, but my website is live! Click on the image/text above to get there. It's got a few kinks, and I've got to edit a whole bunch of text and finalise the layout (esp. on the homepage), but Nicholas stuck it up online to check out which forms works (most do) and which still need to be tweaked (like the registration page) and while it's up, I couldn't help but want to share it!

Check it out, and let me know what you think of it at first-glance: the flow, the ease of navigation, the content - does it make sense? I'll be working on it this week and by next, it will be up and running for business.

Weeeeeee! Lightfooted begins.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Juvenile Past-times

Last night while creating my Lightfooted flyers online, I came across one of the funnest things you can do with the internet: collect fonts!

While this may not be revolutionary to others, the elementary school teacher in me thought this was the ultimate in fun. And simplicity. Including new fonts into Microsoft Office is as simple as downloading the font to your desktop and then dragging the .ttf file into your fonts folder (Start --> Control Panel --> Fonts)

What fun!

Monday, April 21, 2008

When life gives you lemons...

...shove them down your bra and make your breasts look bigger. (So says artist Melia Dawn)


But in my case, I was making the good ol' fashioned lemonade. Alas, mine had no sugar.

Since Sunday, I've consumed the juice of 16 lemons in a brutal attempt at detoxifying. Although the 'lemon and cayenne pepper detox program' is supposed to go on for a minimum of 8 days, today I've happily downgraded to simply including a lot of lemonade in my clean eating diet, while severely restricting the amount and type of food I consume. I found after one day of no real food I was depressed, unable to concentrate and experiencing flu-like symptoms. But boy - was I clean.

It was interesting that I didn't lust after junk food; after 16 hrs of fasting, I would have done nearly anything for a serving of pan-seared salmon on brown rice with a side of broccoli.

Apparently, the symptoms are my body's attempt to rid itself of the sugar-craving parasites and candida (yeast) that live in us all, as well as the toxins (environmental, chemical and natural - think: pollution, artificial sweeteners and caffeine) that I have un/knowingly ingested and have accumulated in my body. A friend of mine once told me that before a dirty pan becomes clean, it actually appears to get dirtier as you scrub at the grease and fried bits with soap and water. It's a nice little analogy for what's happening in my body.


So, for the next 8 days, I will:
  • Eliminate, or severely limit my sugar intake, including sucrose, fructose (fruit sugar), syrup, brown sugar, honey and artificial sweeteners - basically anything sweet-tasting. Wah!
  • Eliminate pop, alcohol, coffee, fermented beverages, milk and cheese products and processed foods from my diet.
I will eat 6 times a day at 2-hr intervals (8am - 6pm) and include:
  • Copious amounts of water, lemon juice and detox tea (8 glasses minimum)
  • Yogurt, lots and lots of plain yogurt on everything
  • Raw nuts and seeds (bought a pound of almonds) and essential fatty acids (flax, and fish oil)
  • Eggs, chicken, turkey and cooked fish (no raw fish or shellfish)
  • And, of course, all the veggies I can handle.
I'm looking forward to seeing the benefits of my disciplined diet. This will include:
  • Clearer skin, disappearance of the dark circles under my eyes
  • Better quality sleep
  • More energy, better digestion and an increased metabolism
  • Greater mental alertness and memory-retention
  • Increased immunity against colds and flu viruses
This morning, I awoke excitedly at 4am to the cravings of oatmeal porridge with Golgi berries topped with plain yogurt. I had to hold off, but when that steaming hot bowl of porridge hit my empty stomach at 8 o'clock, I swear it was the best-tasting dish I've have ever consumed.

Here's to good health!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Hiatus

After a month hiatus, I'm happy to be back to blogging. I missed it! Not that it was a planned break, just kind of happened amidst the spring's chaotic and bumpy awakening. Now that I'm back, there's so much I want to talk about: how getting back on my bike was at first scary but now completely second-nature; how building my business Lightfooted has taken over much of my life, but is immensely satisfying; how making the habit of going to the gym with my boyfriend has increased our satisfaction tenfold.


Spring is really the time of change and metamorphosis. It's a great time to turn one's thoughts to transformations. Even our lovely city is on board, as this appeared in my inbox this morning:


City staff to join in the 20-Minute Toronto Makeover 2008
Mayor David Miller and Shirley Hoy are asking all City of Toronto staff to take 20 minutes off work at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 18 and do a 20-minute clean-up blitz around your office.

Bags and gloves can be picked up from information desks or security desks in civic centre lobbies.

It's just 20 minutes, but it makes all the difference.