Knog Frog

It is so true that the checkout counter is the perfect place to trigger impulse buys. One of my most recent and best impulse purchases was the Knog Frog Micro Light.

Designed by Knog, this micro LED bike light is compact, lightweight (12g), and unobtrusive. Characteristics that'd be desired by those who want to travel light. The flexible silicon body encasing the light resembles a frog (hence the name), is waterproof and stretches, making it easily mountable on objects 10-32mm in diameter. With a press of a button, it can easily be set to continuous or flashing mode.

I tried it out last night and found the light to be very bright for its size. Perfect for my 25 minute ride home. Of course this is no substitute if you are looking for a light that'll illuminate the road for you. Its main function is to help you be seen. This is especially effective if you use the flashing mode. Nobody's gonna miss you. It also has a lithium battery that claims to have a 160 hour battery life, which is pretty sweet too. I highly recommend getting one.

Price: $9.99
Available at Duke's Cycle @ 625 Queen St. W.

Fibre dosage

During my travels through the Loblaws bread section, i came across a new product:

Oroweat Whole Wheat Tortillas

These pack as much as 8g of fiber per tortilla and are great for eating on the go.

Take these ingredients:
• grilled chicken breast or turkey
• organic spring greens
• jarlsberg low fat cheese

....and wrap them inside the tortilla
If you're a fan of melted cheese, microwave the roll for 30 seconds. Enjoy :)

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

High Fives, Low Digs & Scorpion Dives

Last weekend I played in the Toronto Not So Pro Beach Volleyball Tournament; an event i've been looking forward to and training for all year. This time I actually got my own team together as opposed to just joining someone elses. The only thing missing was another girl to complete the team. Unfortunately the girl that joined ended up being a one of the worst players i've ever seen & kept complaining about how we didn't 'respect' her space & let her hit the ball. What-EVER. She said she was an advanced level player so we thought she'd be up to par but little did we know. Oh well...i'll never see her again...though she seems to think I'm her new special friend. Hmmm...why do i always attract these kinds of people?!

Competition was tough as we were up against a bunch of competitive/advanced level teams. Not many games were won but we all had a great time. Nothing beats the feeling of diving into soft sand!

The FLOW Team > from left to right: the 'gayle' corpse, loaded top gun, flowmaster, sageman, beach ball rugby oz, the hun, & scorpion diver

beach part-ay

Also known as Jen's fabulous going away party. What better way to send Jen off in style than to hold a good ol fashioned beach themed party.

I had lots of fun and will never forget getting shot several times with the mini supersoakers, spiking the beach volleyball across the room, dancing and the drama that followed, which may have unintentionally been one of the defining events of the evening. The person involved shall remain nameless. You just had to be there to witness it.

A big thanks to Andy and Friends of Lamji Inc. for planning and providing an apartment space for us to trash. Jen, you will be missed. Of course, lots of pictures were taken so let the reminiscing begin...

view pictures

New Favourite Band

I recently went to see the Editors live in concert and what a great show it was. Watch out for this band cuz i think they may be next hottest thing. Their music is fast paced, infectous and combines a raw and distinct sound with a rock edge. Tom's voice can be compared to the likes of Peter Murphy and Ian Curtis of Bauhaus and Joy Division, a couple of goth bands prevalent in the 80s.

Standing at the front of the stage was one of the highlights. And of course the experience wouldn't be complete without a horribly misplaced tall person getting in the way. This one woman standing in front of me was tall, had big hair & was snapping 10 photos/second. Maybe its my moshpit conditioning or aggressive side coming out but i had this urge to elbow her sooo badly. Yes, the tension between us was pretty intense. (haha! jess)

At the end we snagged the set list off the floor of the stage so for those of us who want to create an Editors concert playlist for the iPod go right ahead cuz here it is!


oh, and above is a picture of me and my date. haha i'm kidding...no that's Tom Smith, lead singer of the Editors. We met him in a dark alley and he was nice enough to sign all our cds, posters, and take pictures.

Stay tuned for photos and videos from the concert.

Energy Flow on the Beach

At 36 degrees and feeling like 47 with the humidity, today's temperatures reached a new record high and coincidentally was also the day of the Energy Flow Workout video shoot. It's been said that heat increases blood flow and helps loosen muscles and joints thus making you more limber...so maybe the heat isn't so bad.

We were shooting on location at Ashbridges Bay. I was asked to come take some promo shots during the shoot. The day started off pretty early. I got up around 6:30am, which is unheard of for me. Then headed over to the beach around 7. The sand was oh so soft, beach was void of people, there were rows of volleyball nets as far as the eye can see and of course the weather was beautiful. Probably the BEST time to be at the beach. volleyball anyone?

Everyone including Lola arrived around 7:45am and so the shooting began. It got hotter by the hour but there was a nice gentle breeze coming from the water. Lotsa camera lovin' for both the Energy Flow team and Lola, who stole the show! You guys were great!

view photos