Little Miss Productive

Yup, that's me! I've got 7 papers and 2 presentations due from now until March 13th- it's INSANELY ridiculous! Somehow, I've really become the queen of time management. I guess the thing I am sacrificing most is my social life - which is pretty much on hold right now (sorry friends! I know you're having Roz withdrawal - but mark your calendars down for evening of March 12...we're all going out to PARTY!!!!)

Although I'm on Kinetix, I realized lately that I have gained 6-7 lbs and I'm at my heaviest that I've ever been! My shoulders and arms are generally more toned and defined now, but I know that I could not have gained 6-7 lbs in muscle! So,I consulted with a coach and we figured it was because I am not challenging myself enough during my cardio portion of my workouts. For the past two months, I have 90% been using the elliptical trainer, which is personally, not challenging enough for me. I've been using it so much because it's easy to keep track of my target heart rate.

But apparently, it's not working good enough for me, as I was not aware that I had to try to improve myself a little bit more each time I use it. So I decided to go back to the cardio that kicks my ass - running! I have not ran on the treadmill in SOOOO long, that when I did it for the first time today in a long time, I realized how much I missed it.

In fact, my body loved me so much for it today because I felt the runner's high ALL DAY (and still am at midnight!). It's unbelivable how all this extra energy has let me be so productive today! I managed to get a paper done, clean my room (ok, that was in the process of trying to find a disk I thought I had lost- by the time I found it, I realized I had also cleaned my room- Whoo-hoo!), and make chocolate mousse (one of my fave Kinetix recipes).

Which reminds me... my longtime peanut butter fantasies have come true!!!! Over the weekend, I found a syrup that is peanut butter flavoured - and the BEST part is that it's got 0% carbs/protein/fat/sugar content! I discovered it when Dan was picking some protein powder up at our fave nutrition store, Maximum Nuitrition. I was so excited about it - I was honestly like a little kid in a candy store. We went there because it was on our way to Dan's sister's place. His niece, Amanda was having a birthday party (she will be three years old on the 28th!). Anyways, pictures from that night will follow when I get a chance to post (I can only be so productive, okay!?) Hehe.

Ironically, as happy as I was about discovering PB syrup, I had accidentally left it in Dan's car overnight. When I remembered in the morning, Dan joked that the bottle probably broke and had spilled all over his car floormat. So guess what happened? When I went to fetch it later on, the syrup had expanded and broke the glass bottle it was contained in! I was so sad to see the broken bottle, my heart almost broke! I'm sure Dan would have laughed at me if he saw my face! He thought I was kidding when I went to tell him. Luckily I was able to save most if it (altho it's watered down now). It's still good though! I put it in my breakfast shakes and the chocolate mousse recipe. It's ultra orgasmically faaaaantastic!!!! Just like my day has been! Can't wait to go running again tomorrow!!! :oD

VALENTINE'S DAY

My friend Kam, a professional photographer was kind enough to help me out on my valentine's present for Dan. I wanted to do some beautiful, artistic semi-nude photos (oooOOoh). Here are some of the photos, which I put together and framed, along with some petals from flowers he gave me from "Girlfriend Appreciation Night". Needless to say, Dan absolutely loved this. My friends said that I will have a hard time topping this one next year! :oD

February 5

I went to watch a friend's (we take karate together) daughter compete in her high school cheerleading team. Here they are!

Even my old high school team was there! I never had a cheerleading squad when I was there- no fair! It would have been fun! They do some pretty funky choreography moves!

We celebrated Jax's bday at the Comedy Factory. Here I am with Ryan, Jackie and Lindsey.

Did I mention that Dan's trying out for a part in the next movie "Psycho 2"? His choice of weapon: an icicle

D and I at some lil' pub downtown, called Bo's.

The Train Doesn't Stop Here!

Wow! I had an awesome day today counselling inmates at the jail! I had three really good sessions with my caseload clients. In fact, I was able to ask my supervisor about (re)implementing a family counselling service (provided by yours truly!) for when inmates' families come visit them.

I saw some really happy clients today when I ran the idea by them that I would like to sit in some sessions with themself and their family. In fact, we made some phonecalls to their family members, who were more than receptive about coming in.

I honestly believe that having their family members come into therapy with them will help these people achieve some goals (they are already very motivated turning their lives around) because of the extra support, and if everyone in the system can open up and lay all issues out in the open, then we can explore them together and hopefully discover ways to get the families and inmates back on their feet together as a team.

Wow, I'm just a super optimistic person, aren't I?! Gotta love me! ;)

Since starting counselling on a regular basis, I realize that this is exactly what I want to do, and that I am glad I do not have regrets or uncertainty about being a psychologist. You know how some people go through so many years of school, only to discover that they don't really love what they major in? Well, not this cat here! I am totally having fun counselling people. It's super rewarding to know that I am making a difference in someone's life. I already have had a client ask to come back to see me specifically because she felt tremendous relief after our therapy session together. I was quite flattered. Wow...that in itself is powerful and rewarding for me to know that this is definitely what I was meant to do.

JACKPOT!

Now that half of my assignments are done, and I have finished writing the exam (that was stressing me out for the past week or so)...the only things left to worry about are the 17-20 page paper and getting a videotape of myself counselling couple/family before February 15.

Well, tonight, I made a great decision! I was either going to work with an autistic child, or volunteer at The Support Network (where I am doing my internship)in hopes of getting a couple to counsel. I chose the latter (I don't need money that bad).

Well...did I ever hit the jackpot! I counselled three couples in a row in FIVE hours!!!! It was AWESOME! I could see that my skills and confidence were improving each session. I felt like a energetic machine! All this waiting finally paid off!!!!

WHoo-Hooo!