Fruit of the Tropics

I've always had this thing for tropical fruits. A recent favorite of mine has been papayas.

Packed with nutrients and easy to eat, papayas have been said to be one of the healthiest fruits. Greenish yellow on the outside and golden orange on the inside, they are a rich source of antioxidents such as beta carotene, vitamin C and E, folate, and potassium. Papayas also contain an enzyme called papain, which aids in the digestion of proteins, making it the perfect fruit to eat after a meal.

A ripe, medium papaya is about 100 calories can pack as much as 5g of fiber.

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Eating tips:
For those of us who don't like peeling fruits, the easiest way to eat a papaya is to cut it lengthwise, remove the seeds, and eat it with a spoon.

Another personal favorite is papaya shakes. Peel and cut the papaya into cubes and freeze then blend together with 1.5cups of 1% milk or soy milk.

The Dirty Du

Back in August of 2005 I set a goal for myself. I told my trainer that i wanted to lose weight and become an all round superstar athlete. A year has gone by and the results have been amazing! I lost 30lbs, totally reshaped my body, am stronger, leaner, more flexible, and faster.

My program consisted of 2-3 Energy Flow workouts per week and cardio in the form of rollerblading and cycling with lots of beach volleyball in the summer.

TODAY i decided it was time for a fitness challenge. Something that will rev my training and help me realize my full athletic potential. I'm going to compete in my first dirty duathlon. I've been wanting to do this for quite a while now but have been putting it on hold for various reasons. It was just a matter of finding the perfect time to jump into it.

The du will consist of a 3.8k run/10k bike/3.8k run and it's 8 weeks away.

Let the training begin!



* In case you should feel the urge to sign up as well:
http://www.eventsonline.ca/events/runnerslife_dirtydu/

Virgin Festival 2006

On Sunday a bunch of friends and I went to Virgin Festival at Center Island. We had a great time and since we were there relatively early, we got very close to the front of the stage, 4th row center to be exact.

Wolfmother put on an awesome show! I love them even more after seeing them live. Their sound was mindblowing!!

Sam roberts was surprisingly good too. He was so into it that it looked like the veins on his neck were about to pop :S

The Strokes were ok....& for some reason there was a lot of mosh pit action, which was totally unexpected. It wasn't the type you'd encounter at a Ministry concert, but more of the bumping-grinding-claustrophobic assortment. I couldn't resist the urge to just push and elbow the people aside. It was gross! I must say, pushing that annoying girl next to me really hard felt unusually satisfying. *YAAH*

We left part way through and went to the Futureshop stage.

Zero 7 was great. They had a nice chilled, down tempo set. The lead singer was so high & mixing drinks on stage between sets. I'm so glad they played Somersault!

The Raconteurs were on at the same time so we tried making our way back to the first stage to catch the last half of their set. There was so much drama/confusion with the ‘crossing of the bridge’ that we totally missed them. All the entrances were blocked and nobody was allowed back into that area. We made a security guard cry too, we tried running past her & a lot of people were screaming at her. Pretty intense moment.

In total, we were sent back and forth at least 4 times until the cops finally resolved the issue.
It was past 10 and we were all starving too, partially because we didn't bring enough food. All i ate was a banana within the 12 hours we were there. I was tempted to just leave the island so i can go home and stuff my face. On the bright side, we arrived in time to see the last half of Broken Social Scene then made a mad scramble to beat the crowd and catch the ferry back to TO.

Ahh...good times.

Thanks winnie for letting us use your camera for all the photos!

Come Together

The last two weeks have been filled with parties and seeing old friends. Everytime one of us comes back to TO, leaves, graduates, passes an exam, or gets a new pet justifies a reason to have yet another get together or throw a huge party. It's inevitable. Anything goes, really.

Lots of fun was had along with good laughs, and some major catching up sessions. Not everything was documented on camera but here are some pics:
album 1
album 2