HKG157 : Let's Call Her Penance

i have been a slacker for the 5 months that we have lived here. besides walking with the kids, i have not be exercising. i needed to just suck it up and jump back into working out. thank god for muscle memory and retaining some cardio vascular fitness. it hasn't been easy, and i am still ramping up toward a pace/routine/habit that is at maintenance level, but i am pleasantly surprised that my five months of slackerdom did not turn me to 100% mush...just 65% mush ;-p

i started the couch to 5k program the other day, but i forgot to download the app onto my galaxi mini, so i have been winging it. last night was my second run on week 1, and i had some trouble finding a pace and keeping to the prescribed rhythm of running a few minutes and then walking a few minutes. i felt like i should beat up on myself a bit at the end of my workout...as penance. i know myself and my fitness level/strengths/weaknesses well enough to know that running hills/stairs is a quick way to get back into shape. lucky me, we live on the side of a mountain. hills and stairs are EVERYWHERE. there's this one set of stairs right behind our apartment building....they are named the castle steps because they connect a major thoroughfare, robinson road, with a road called castle lane. there are many, many, many flights to this set of stairs. i estimate the angle to be around 65 to 75-degrees.

in an effort to regain some of the muscle mass i have lost since quitting my beloved bootcamp class, i am finding ways to work in some lunges, push ups, and tricep dips while doing housework. this provides ENDLESS entertainment from my hecklers (children), and it also provides opportunities for them to copy me and giggle. livie turned their copycat workout session into a yoga/meditation session...HILARIOUS.

other than exercise and stuff, today was a pretty quiet day. we got out to get food for the waffle kitty and play at the playground. it's always a joy for us to go to the pet store b/c it also is a boarding facility, and there is always someone there who would like some extra snuggles and scratches. today, there was a pretty large yellow lab who was just the softest, sweetest, and funniest thing. she stole a lollipop right out of quinn's mouth, gummed it for a few seconds, and then spit it out with an audible splat. quinn, fortunately, was having too much fun petting her to get too mad at her for stealing his lollipop. while we were there, we got a collar and ordered a name tag for waffle...he keeps trying to escape the apartment, and even though he's microchipped, i want him to have his name/phone number on him. it was a no-go. i put the collar on him and watched him for a few minutes...he was a little agitated, but fine, so i went off to put some laundry away. i was not even halfway down the stack of clothes when i heard that guttural growl/howl an animal makes in fear/pain. i came back out to find waffle with his collar caught around his neck and in his mouth. no more collar for him...it's more dangerous than his possible escape! oddly enough, the vet did not have break-away collars for cats, which i far prefer for safety reasons.

this afternoon, we went to the post office to send goodies to friends in texas, maryland, and michigan. this has potential to be fun...i love sending and receiving mail, but for some reason, the post office provides an opportunity for the kids to just be BAD. they are TERRIBLE every single time we go. *sigh* fortunately, i now know the hong kong post system well enough that we can get out quick enough that the bad-ness is somewhat contained.

after the post office, we went to a grocery store called city super in the IFC mall. i was on a hunt for american snacks. my picky little kids turn there very cute noses up at most of the snacks i can get a the local grocery store. it was time to break down and get some goldfish and cheese-its. josh met us at IFC mall with the intention of us having dinner out while were there. it was a no-go. most of the restaurants were not quinn-proof, and the one that was the most quinn-proof (pizza express) required a reservation in order to not have to wait. um. no. we ordered pizza hut and had it at home.

penance...my new exercise buddy

a view of surrounding sky scrapers from a balcony at the IFC mall

a view of the harbor from a balcony at the IFC mall

another harbor view from a balcony at the IFC mall

cute kids goofing around while we wait to meet up with josh

waffle trying to remove his bling