#StrongMeChallenge2018

This is a challenge to myself. A 12 week one. I record everything I eat/drink, healthy or junk on my Instagram page. I also record my daily workouts there. The plan is to eat healthy & work out 5 days a week.

We all make promises to ourselves and then forget about it. Why? Because as much as we should be accountable to ourselves first, answer why we aren’t taking care of the body that is enabling us to do everything we love despite how we treat it, we don’t feel the need to be true to it. The biggest thing I want to teach myself in the next 12 weeks is not exercising, not cooking but accountability to the most important person to me – MYSELF.

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Just to give you a little bit of background about my fitness journey – I grew up swimming, playing basketball & running sprints. I met with an accident when I was 19 and had a surgery on my right knee. Although I was cleared by the doctors to do all normal activities, I was advised against playing anything that involved jumping. I was down and out for the next 5 years & was scared that I’d hurt myself again – because the pain after the surgery & during recovery was excruciating. I again slipped and fell & I was living in a different city at this point – so different doctor. After treating my minor injury, he questioned how any doctor could have told me not to jump 😦 Anyhow, I was advised to do a lot of exercises to strengthen my knee & then slowly include work outs. After 2 years, I moved to Toronto & have been living here since the past 3 years.

My fitness journey in Toronto – Moving from India to Canada was a huge change in terms of climate for me. In a nutshell, I was eating too much during winters and my body was getting lazier by the day due to the extreme cold. This was completely opposite to the tropical climate my body had been used to since forever. I hired a personal trainer & was doing well for a bit. And then I just lost my drive. I am not going to sugar coat it by saying that it was work stress. No it wasn’t. The one thing that worked for me was – I paid close attention to how each exercise was done. Form is important & I got my basics right.

I have now decided to work out on my own. I am going to implement all the things I have learnt through training & research. At the end of the day, we all know what we need to do. We just need to do it!

I am planning to do a weekly check in here on my blog and daily check ins on Instagram (@eachperfectday). At the end of the 12 weeks, I hope there is a difference between the before & after pics!! Fingers crossed!!

Little French Souvenirs!

We took a short trip to old Quebec City & Tadoussac to celebrate our wedding anniversary this year. I loved old Quebec City and the drive up to Tadoussac. I am planning write another picture heavy post to share some of the most beautiful shots from the drive to Tadoussac.

While in old Quebec City, do visit the quartier Petit Champlain market. It’s a nice little walk with lots of red coloured doors making perfect backdrops for photos! Although the place is full of “traditional” souvenir shops overflowing with magnets and T shirts, there are a few that stand out.

The first one was this cute little shop called ‘Pot en Ciel’ that had a lot of interesting home decor & kitchen items. I picked up these vintage French ad prints. They are printed on tin and were available in a lot of prints & sizes.

The lady in the shop was very kind and explained every ad to us, what it meant and why those products were famous and little stories behind them. I’d go back just to meet her & talk to her again! ‘Pot en Ciel’ located at 27, rue du Petit-Champlain.

I have hung these up above my microwave oven to spruce up the boring corner. I always use 3M command hooks in various sizes so that I don’t hurt the walls of my beautiful rental condo 🙂

Each print costed me about CAD 13. The price varied by size.

 

Another one was an artist’s boutique that had a mixture of sculptures, jewellery and other handmade ceramics. I picked up this cup simply because of the humour of it! Looking at it calms me down, like taking a nice warm bath! The only problem though, I cannot muster up the courage to use it as a tea/coffee cup – one careless smash and the lady loses her bun!!!!! There were other designs in this series where men have been depicted. I’d have picked one up if not for the price! This one set me back by CAD 35 + tax.

The shop is called ID Quebec and is located at 58 rue Sous-le-Fort, Quebec.

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** All products mentioned in this post were bought with my own money. No products in this post are sponsored. **

A tiny blue plate!

Plate? Tray? Call it what you want, but this one instantly enhances the look of a boring little side table or a dresser that needs a jewellery tray. I picked it up for under 20 CAD from a health food store in mid town Toronto.

The Health Shoppe at 1375 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4T 1Y4.

The incense stick and the yellow cup you see in the pic below deserve a post of their own!

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** All products mentioned in this post are bought with my own money. This is not a sponsored post**