A Periodic Rant: Food Politics/Weight Politics

Do you ever wonder why weight is such a fraught issue in the English speaking world? I do. Weight is a problem throughout the first world, but more so, I believe, in North America and the English speaking world in general. We live in countries that have made a mockery of good food.

I'll never forget a story told to me by an American who had lived in Italy and then in England (she's been back in Italy for many years now). Some boxes of fruit from Italy arrived at her local greengrocer's in London. Each piece of fruit was lovingly wrapped in its own individual paper blanket and they were all carefully placed in neat rows, one on top of the other. My friend watched as the grocer tipped the box of fruit over into the bin, papers flying everywhere, the pieces of fruit bouncing off each other, getting bruised and broken. This is a sad metaphor for how we view food in the English-speaking world.

In our world, food is simultaneously feared and shovelled in. Guilt and greed. Quality is totally forgotten. If you can't get it cheap, why buy it? Three cheers for preservatives that keep this pseudo-food on the shelf in the grocery store for years to come! Let's hear it for fake flavours, pretty colours and excessive packaging. And let's keep it cheap.

We are driven by bargains. Most of the garlic sold in large supermarkets in southern Ontario comes from, wait for this, CHINA! Believe it or not, it's cheaper than local, Ontario-grown garlic. It's way cheaper to eat McDonald's than to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, whole-grain products or high-quality meats that haven't been shot up with hormones. It's also a lot faster to go through the McDonald's drive-in than to prepare a meal of healthy foods. And let's face it: even stay-at-home moms are sometimes so busy that preparing a complicated, but healthy meal is more than they can take.

I'm going to go out on a limb here: think twice about all those great bargains you get at the big box stores and grocery stores. I'm not going to name names. You know them. They are masters at twisting the suppliers' arms to get the prices down. It's more than likely that the chicken you buy there is oozing with hormones. That's the only way that the suppliers can provide these mega-businesses with cheap, plentiful food to sell. The quality of the food is crap, the workers in the plants are treated badly and your local farmers and small mom and pop grocery stores are going out of business. It's a race to the bottom...and we're all participating in it. If you can, buy local, buy fresh, patronize local businesses. Just try. Make that choice once in awhile. I truly believe that if we all start making small, but good, choices, we can make a difference in our health, our lives and the state of the world.

What if we bought our food based on quality? Would we shovel it in as we do today? What if foods had more subtle tastes, rather than being inundated in salt, or fat or sugar? What if we had to work a bit harder to taste the wonderful, natural flavours?

I believe that all food is healthy. Notice that I say "all food". I do not consider Twinkies food and I have my serious doubts about manipulated foods that are processed to be low-calorie. For instance, what kind of preservatives/stabilizers do they put in egg-white only products to give them a long shelf-life? I recently asked someone who sells fine cheeses how they can make so-called low-fat cheeses. She couldn't really answer but did say that for everything (natural) they take out, they have to put something in. Ever wondered what's in the low-cal string cheese? And let's give a tip of the hat to sweets: a nice sweet is a truly joyful thing. Handmade chocolate, home-made banana bread...I see nothing wrong with this food. It's part of the food tapestry, just not all of it. I live around the corner from an artisanal chocolate store. One chocolate costs over a dollar, but I'd rather have one than buy a bar of sweetish sawdust from the grocery store. Am I weird?

Many of us live in areas that are ill-served or not served at all by public transit. No food in the house? Get in the car and go out and get a fast-food meal. It's a double-whammy: no exercise because you live too far from the grocery store to walk. There's no bus to get you there but there's a plethora of fast food outlets that feed our need for quick, "tasty" (high sugar, high sodium, high fat) foods.

And as we gain weight, we feel more and more ashamed. We stop walking, biking, swimming, going to the gym, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. We don't want anyone to see us and point or laugh or sneer. I remember saying to my yoga teacher when I first met her that I didn't want a lecture on losing weight. At the time, I was just recovering from my third ruptured disc and feeling scared and physically fragile. I had gone several times to an acupuncturist--a very slim Japanese man who felt it his duty to lecture me on my weight. Do you think that helped me? Not! I am eternally grateful for having found my yoga teacher, who immediately reassured me that my weight was not an issue and that we would work together to get me healthier. And that's what we've done. She's helped me to get moving and to forget my tummy and my fat thighs. What's important is that I am getting healthier.

So what's the message here?

Stop feeling guilty! Stop shovelling the food in because that way, it doesn't really exist. Slow down and taste the food you eat. You'll be surprised to find that your favourite junk food actually doesn't taste very good. As long as you eat quickly, you won't notice that heavy, greasy taste in many foods, even the sweet ones. You won't notice the chemical after-taste. Try eating a few *** (insert brand name here) chips REALLY slowly. I'll bet you that they won't taste half as good as you thought.

Concentrate on quality. Eat tasty, but eat healthy. It's much easier to stuff yourself on high-sugar/high-salt/high fat foods than real foods. Eat what you want, but eat real food, food that is processed as little as possible.

Start loving yourself just the way you are right now! Buy nice clothes NOW, if that's what you want. Look great while you're losing weight (if that's your goal). And as your clothes get too big on you, give them away. There's someone out there who doesn't have the money to buy something new and nice. Give them a hand. While you're at it, get a nice haircut. You are beautiful NOW.

The BMI

Repeat after me: the BMI is crap. Repeat again.

And if you still have your doubts, read this: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439

And here's a little personal example: When I was hyperthyroid, I lost weight. Unfortunately, it was all muscle. So in effect, I had a lower BMI, a lower weight and a higher fat to muscle ratio.

The best way to know if you've lost fat and not muscle is to try on your pants. Tighter = more fat. Looser = less fat. But don't forget: less fat/more muscle doesn't necessarily translate into lower poundage.

Resources for Intuitive Eating

When I got back from vacation, I felt a great need to re-commit to the "intuitive eating" path. In recent days, I have found several blogs that are helpful and supportive to those of us interested in this approach to weight loss, healthy eating and making peace with food.

Here are a few blogs that I think would interest anyone who'd like to learn more about intuitive eating:

First, a huge self-help forum for intuitive eaters, old and new. It's got a wealth of information and tons of support: http://throughthickandthin.myfreeforum.org/. I've only just started exploring it.

Nutritionist Evelyn Tribole http://www.evelyntribole.com/ has some interesting things to say.

Although I haven't read it, Beyond Chocolate by Sophie and Audry Boss looks intriguing.

I highly recommend reading Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin. This was the book that started my voyage.

I also really enjoy http://www.quityourdiet.com/
http://justjuliebean.wordpress.com/
and have just discovered http://melsmid-lifecrisis.blogspot.com/ and
http://smallchangesuk.blogspot.com/.

If you would like to suggest other blogs, I'd love to hear about them.

I read a number of other blogs that run the gamut from fat acceptance to calorie counting to low/no carb to WW, but I'm really interested in connecting with more people who have chosen intuitive eating as their path. It's rather frightening to let go of all the food rules--it's like going into free-fall and trusting that the parachute of your own common sense will open in time. The "trust in oneself" factor is the ultimate challenge.

One day, one meal at a time...

Who Are You Listening To?

Most people refuse to envisage intuitive eating for one simple reason: it's based on listening to your body.

"Eek! If I listened to my body, I'd be stuffing myself with bad food constantly!"

Actually, no, you wouldn't and here's why: you're not listening to your body. When you're eating in a clearly destructive way, you're listening to your mind, not your body.

The mind is a really noisy creature. It talks constantly and is usually really loud. It's got an opinion on everything, it makes all kinds of crazy (and yes, sometimes even surprisingly sensible) suggestions. It rarely leaves you in peace. Even when you're asleep, you're dreaming...your mind's at work.

Much of the time, the body is shy and retiring. If your health is decent, you don't notice yourself breathing. Your heart beats normally and quietly. You only notice your heart when something's really wrong or when you're exercising and your heart rate is elevated. You don't think about your back or your joints unless you've had an accident or suffer from arthritis. Usually, your body just goes about its work and doesn't make a fuss or constantly remind you that it's there.

Your body does communicate with you, but one of the sad lessons we learn as we grow up, is that we should ignore its messages. A baby cries when he or she is hungry. Once sated, the infant usually drifts off into a happy slumber. Babies also turn their heads away in disgust once they've had enough to eat. What do we do as adults? We "virtuously" ignore our legitimate hunger signals one day and stuff ourselves to the point of feeling physically ill the next. We often act this destructively several times a day.

Growing up is the process whereby we learn to no longer listen to our bodies and only listen to our minds. Sad, isn't it?

Would You Be Happy?

I found this picture on We're the Real Deal, a blog that brings together a number of different women bloggers including some weight-loss bloggers like MizFit and Roni as well as body-image/eating disorders bloggers like MamaV.

How do you feel about this woman? Personally, I think she's gorgeous and that she has probably had at least one c-section. That's a typical post c-section tummy, unless you're Madonna and started working out full-time with your personal trainer as soon as your ob-gyn gave you the OK.

Apparently, she's a plus-size model! Is it any wonder virtually every woman dislikes her own body?

Slowly, Ma'am, Step Away From the Scale

I just did a little Google search for the term "scale bingeing" and I think I am the one who coined it although everyone should feel free to use it.

Scale bingeing is basically weighing oneself obsessively, several times a day. First off, you're not going to lose any more weight by checking the scale more than once a day. And you'll just feel obsessed and (usually) depressed.

I go through bouts of scale bingeing myself and I don't like it one bit. While on vacation, I was lucky enough to be far away from all scales, but as soon as I got home, out came my sleek, glass-topped digital "friend", who gave me the news that I had gained about four pounds. That was last Tuesday and since then, I have taken two of those pounds off, just eating normally and doing more walking and yoga than when I was on vacation. I even tried the exercise bike once, wearing my knee brace. I was only on for 10 minutes, but it was nice and the brace was helpful. I can't do the bike very much or too often due to my mis-aligned knee, but it's comforting to know that once in awhile, I can hop on without my knee blowing up (swelling more than usual, that is).

Now, after a week of weighing (I binged the first few days but then managed to get down to once a day), I think it's once again time to step away from the scale. Being at a hotel for the next two days for work will be a helpful kick-start to this decision.

I know Sean at the Daily Diary of a Winning Loser and Karen at Fitcetera will totally back me up on this. It is most definitely the right decision for me.

The Different Weight-o-spheres

The other day, I was reading one of my favourite "fat acceptance" blogs. Yes, I do read fat acceptance blogs. They contain a lot of extremely thoughtful posts on important issues like the debate on universal health care in the States. That example is not something that affects me personally (aside from the fact that some Americans are totally trashing Canada's health care system--something that the vast majority of Canadians of all political stripes hold extremely dear--and repeating vicious and unfounded lies about our system) but it's just an example. I'm also interested in body image and how it's so distorted in our society. While I recognize the problems associated with morbid obesity, I also think our society has gone overboard with ideal body types that are only achievable through PhotoShop or anorexia.

Anyhoo, there I was, reading an interesting post and I really felt the need to respond. My response had nothing to do with weight, it was a response to a political debate. So I pressed the comment button and I was sent to a page where I had to register. On this page, I was told that if I was not welcome to join the community if I had any interest in weight loss and/or had a weight loss blog. Clearly, I was not welcome.

I felt rather miffed, especially since I have personally rejected the whole idea of dieting. I can understand that the fat acceptance crowd feels constantly under attack for not even trying to conform to society's standards. Intellectually, I can understand that they want to build a protective wall around themselves (oh-oh, like a protective wall of fat???) but I was still really bugged. This is not a healthy attitude.

I must say that even though I am an anti-diet weight-loss blogger (I suspect the fat acceptance people would say I'm very confused), I feel much more comfortable with the weight loss blogging community. My readers/fellow bloggers and I aren't necessarily following the same path, but I think that in general we're all striving to just be healthier people. Ultimately, we share the same goal. And I really appreciate the wonderful, supportive comments I receive from you all.

"You Look Great!"

While on vacation, I saw two friends whom I only get to see rarely these days because we no longer live in the same city.

I was thrilled to see S., who had been my maid of honour at my wedding 17 years ago. We see each other about once a year and I definitely have changed since last year. S. had generously offered to put us up for the night before we headed out on our last leg of the trip to the cottage.

As S. and I stood talking on her back porch, she asked me if I'd lost weight, to which I answered yes, because I have lost weight. It hasn't been tons and tons, but enough to make a difference. Then she asked what I'd been doing and I told her about reading Paul McKenna's book "I Can Make You Thin" (I cringe every time I write the title, but it's a great book) and the general principles of intuitive eating. S. is not a heavy person. Yes, she's put on a bit of weight over the years, but she's still well within the boundaries of "just fine", as far as I'm concerned. She listened with interest to what I had to say and laughingly admitted that she tended to eat past the point of feeling full. We didn't dwell on the topic and continued our wonderful visit. I'll admit that I was pleased that she had noticed the change in me.

Ten days later, I ran into another friend, A. I haven't known her as long as S. She came into my life about 6 years ago as the girlfriend and then wife of a good friend of my husband. Again, due to the fact that we moved to Toronto, I see her very rarely. She too is a lovely person who must constantly deal with the difficulties and dangers of living with severe allergies to numerous foods, animals and products. It isn't easy, but she seems to face her problems with great strength and bravery. Fortunately, she has a wonderful husband who is devoted and supportive.

A. had a baby about 2 1/2 years ago and is still carrying a fair bit of that "baby" weight around. I vaguely recall that she went on WW at one point, but it clearly didn't help her.

Unlike my long and leisurely visit with S., I only had a few minutes to talk to A. Upon seeing me, her face lit up and she immediately commented on how great I looked. She didn't specifically mention weight loss. To her eyes, I just looked awesome. Now, one other important thing has changed in my appearance since last year: my hair. It's much longer now and I get compliments from everyone on the new do. I think A. was reacting both to my hair and my general (slightly "lighter") appearance.

Here's where the problem comes in:

What, if anything, should I have said to A.? Being Canadian (or just North American), I like to be polite. My French colleague has often complained to me about how Canadians don't tell the truth. They'll always say, "you look great, too" even if the person has obviously gained a ton of weight or has had a most unflattering haircut or whatever. When in France many years ago, an esthetician blithely commented that I should lose weight and that I had blotchy skin. Another, admittedly overweight, friend who was shopping for a dress in Paris was told in no uncertain terms by a sales lady that they didn't sell clothing for "people like her" (i.e. fat people). This is par for the course and I still love France, but you get my drift.

So when A. started going on about how good I looked, I felt uncomfortable because I just couldn't say back to her that she looked great too. She looked just the same as the last time I saw her: a wonderful, charming woman who had put on weight since giving birth. I thanked her profusely for the compliment and stopped there. I'm sure that if we had had more time to talk, we might have gotten on to the topic of weight loss and the changes I've made over the past year, but we just didn't have a lot of time together.

Clearly, this predicament has been "weighing" on me somewhat. It's not an incredible crisis, but I'm just putting this story out there and would love to hear how others deal with similar situations.

Commitment and Perfection

There are so many schools of thought when it comes to losing weight/healthy eating but all weight-loss bloggers have one thing in common: commitment. Whether or not one agrees with high carb, low carb, high fat, no fat, Weight Watchers, TOPS, calorie counting, etc., everyone agrees that commitment is key.

But what do we mean by commitment? Sadly, I find that for many people--especially women--commitment is synonymous with perfection. "I was perfectly on plan today." "I did exactly the amount and type of exercise I was supposed to do today." "I only ate what I am supposed/allowed to eat." Well, if you had a day where you enjoyed eating healthy foods in reasonable amounts, or did a wonderful round of exercise, I say "great!". But what if you didn't? What if you ate a piece of bread that you "shouldn't" have eaten or spent your day lazing on the couch? Does this make you a bad person? Does this mean that you are incapable of reaching your goals and should therefore give up and go back for that second quarter-pounder with super-sized fries...every day? No! No! And no again!

Commitment means getting up, dusting yourself off and getting on with the business of living a happier, healthier life. As many have said before, how many people would never have learned to walk if they had decided, as small children, that that first fall on the tush meant that walking was far beyond their abilities? You may laugh, but that is what we say to ourselves as adults each and every day. "I am not perfect, therefore I am a failure."

I truly believe we have to disentangle the idea of commitment from the impossible ideal of perfection. Commitment is actually quite banal. Your commitment gets you through the day as best you can and gives you the power to look forward to the next day. Your commitment enables you to realize your potential, because your potential has nothing to do with that extra piece of bread and everything to do with the fact that you are making profound changes to who you are as a whole.

When you learn a new language or a new skill like playing the piano, you don't expect your grammar or your fingering to be spotless every minute of the day. There are days when you go back to speaking the language like a total newb and days when you realize you could study for your B.A. in that language. The bottom line is that you speak it a lot better today than you did last year. And no doubt, if you keep working at it, your mastery will be even better next year. Maybe, eventually, you, the amateur pianist, will play a Beethoven sonata (although alas, my commitment to the piano has never been that strong!).

Perfect is momentary at most. Perfection is usually impossible. Perfection does exist...on paper and thanks to PhotoShop.

Commitment is long-term and REAL. Commitment is something that we work at every day. Commitment is something that is fed by both triumph and failure. Commitment is measured over weeks, months and years, not moments.

So let's commit to commitment, not perfection, and live every day with love and respect for ourselves.

Giving Credit Where Credit's Due

I didn't credit the title of my last post, Beyond Lettuce, to my dear hubby. He was rightly miffed.

And not only did he suggest the title, he was the one who suggested the arugula. He is, by the way, a great chef.

Sorry Hon!

Beyond Lettuce

On our first night home from vacation, we decided to eat something quick that didn't require cooking and chose one of our favourites: tuna salad.

For some reason I'll never understand, when most people think of tuna "salad", they think of a can of drained tuna, mashed with a whole lot of mayo and a few measly pieces of celery as "vegetable" content. That's not our family tuna salad at all!

When we make a tuna salad, it's a real salad, full of greens, tomatoes, red peppers, cucumber, walnuts and tuna, topped off with my home-made dressing (a variation on French vinaigrette).

So what made this salad different?

Instead of my favourite, frizzy lettuce, we used ARUGULA.

We've bought arugula (I think it's called rocket in Britain and Oceania) before, but this was the first time it was the basic green in the salad. It's got a slightly spicy taste and combined with the other ingredients, it was absolutely fantastic.

I do not work for the arugula marketing board (does one exist??). I'm just a new convert. Try it, you'll like it!

And even more on the lettuce front:

Yesterday's supper salad was a fairly traditional Greek salad, made with romaine lettuce--also a real winner.

Today's message: Mix up your greens. You'll love them even more!

Facing the Music

As I set off on my vacation, three weeks ago, I felt a little trepidation. Was I going to gain weight, would I manage to keep my weight steady, was there a chance I could actually lose some weight? I got home yesterday afternoon, vaguely wondering when I would step on the scale and get the answer. I decided to take the bull by the horns and do the dastardly deed this morning.

Drum roll......

I gained about 4 pounds.

I am not happy, but I'm not throwing up my hands in disgust. In fact, I feel even more determined to stay on the road I began travelling at the beginning of this year.

So what happened?

First, I'm not terribly disappointed in the way I ate. I still think the attitude shift is slowly taking root. There's a lot less stuffing going on and the "you've had enough" signal is getting louder.

I do think that there was a bit of boredom snacking going on and certainly in that department, I have to be very conscious of how much is finding its way from the trail mix container to the mouth. I don't regret eating trail mix. I do think it would have been wiser to take the handful, put it in a bowl and before eating it, put away the container. A simple lesson learnt.

Then there was exercise--or just plain moving around. This was something I was concerned about before the trip and it did come to pass. My "thing" is walking and it's just a hard thing to do in my cottage country. As I explained before, the roads are narrow and twisty and although traffic is light, I personally felt walking was dangerous. So there was a LOT less walking than I would normally do. Just as an aside: during the two days we spent in Montreal, I walked respectively over 20,ooo and over 18,000 steps--probably a record for me.

I go on a lot about the beauty of the lake and it's all true, but the water was damn cold. I probably missed out on at least three swimming days--days when the weather was good, but I just was too damn lazy to make the effort to jump in the water. Another aside: yesterday morning at 8:15 a.m., while my family was still asleep in our room at the Holiday Inn, I did 20 circuits in the small hotel pool. The water temperature was lovely.

And speaking of things watery, I didn't drink half the water that I consume at home. Why? I don't know. I was just out of my normal environment for a bit too long. This morning, I've already had two large glasses and I haven't even had my coffee or breakfast yet.

So the bottom line is: that's life. I'm glad I weighed myself, despite the results. I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off and getting back on the horse.

I'm Home!

Yes friends, I'm home again after a three-week vacation. In a nutshell, it was great and very relaxing, but we're all really happy to be back in our own home.

Over the past nine years, we have gone to the same cottage six times. It is situated in a gorgeous location--the lake is small, quiet and there are no motorboats. There is also the nicest resident cat I have ever met in my life. But the cottage itself is not rustic...it's falling apart. Last year, the bathroom sink started seriously leaking a few days before we left. It was impossible to turn off. This year, there was a slow but persistent leak under the kitchen sink and by the time we left, it was getting pretty smelly. The satellite TV went kaplooey a few days after we arrived. Our rule is no electronic devices until after supper except for the radio. That way, we spend as much time as possible reading, swimming, walking and decompressing. But after supper, it's nice to watch the news and catch a silly TV show. Not this year. I could have called the satellite supplier but I didn't dare. I suspect the owner of the cottage has a pirated connection. And then there's the washing machine. The internal water house only lets in a trickle, so we basically fill it up manually with potfulls of water. And more potfulls for the rinse...

The owner and her husband apparently lead a very "hand to mouth" existence, paying their bills at the last possible moment, only repairing things when the alternative would be disastrous. And usually waiting until the disaster arrives before doing anything. The amazing thing is that they actually live in this place during the off-season. I really don't think it's very healthy to spend a long time there with all the windows closed during the winter.

So why do we keep going back? Because of the lake, the friendly (and responsible) people who own properties around the lake, the absolutely adorable cat (Pushkin), the village nearby, the fact that it's in Quebec so I can speak French and that we can drive down to Montreal fairly quickly if we want/need to. And she doesn't charge us an arm and a leg for the pleasure of living in her dump. I guess this means that despite my bellaching, we'll go back again next year.

I've got a few topics that I'll be blogging about over the next few days, but right now, I'm just catching up on reading YOUR blogs.

So stay tuned, I'm BAAACK.

Hello Again

It's the last week of our vacation and of course, the weather is gorgeous. I've already been swimming in the lake once this week and plan to go again today. Yesterday, we took the boys to the water park, where they went crazy and I sat and read for several hours. Oh well, when you're a parent, you give up your own swim to make your kids happy. But this afternoon, it'll definitely be a good dip in the lake for me.

Believe it or not, we've actually decided to cut our out of town vacation down a bit and get home for a few days of staycation. One of our sons (Mr. "50 of my closest friends") hasn't been home for 5 weeks since he was at camp for two weeks just before we left for the cottage. He's dying to get back and connect with all his friends. Our older son (Mr. "Sleep in til 2 p.m. if he can") wouldn't mind getting home either. Hubby and I could stand a little time in our very own house too. Although the location of the cottage is totally awesome, the condition is pathetic. I honestly miss our washing machine and toaster...lol. I also miss my nice long walks and want to get back to my elliptical trainer again. I guess I'm going to have to build up my time again. Oh well.

I'll be back full speed ahead by the middle of next week and will post a few pictures.

See you then!

A Quick Hello from the Cottage!

Well, we've been here for about ten days of mostly rain, but it's still a wonderful place to be. We're heading down to Montreal for a few days at the World Science Fiction Convention--my husband is a huge SF fan. I'm actually going back to the cottage earlier with the boys while hubby stays for more SF fun and games.

I haven't been doing as much exercise as I like. What with the rain, there's not much swimming and I've been quite lazy about the yoga (not totally though, I do some yoga every 2-3 days). Yesterday, we all went for a long walk along the road running by the cottage. It was fairly safe going in the opposite direction from the village, though not particulary interesting. I may try to do it again nevertheless, just to get moving a bit more.

Food-wise, I can't say that I've been particulary conscious nor terribly laissez-faire. Am I dreading the scale when we get home? Slightly. I may tweek things for a few days before weighing myself. I really don't think anything terrible has happened. My skinny jeans still fit!

It's great to see that you, my faithful readers, are still dropping by. I'll be doing a quick scan of your blogs too while I have access to a computer.

See you soon!

I've Tagged Myself

Sniff, wail, sniff...nobody tagged me! So I've tagged myself, so there!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your hair? curly
3. Your mother? dead
4. Your father? dead
5. Your favorite food? chocolate
6. Your dream last night? weird
7. Your favorite drink? lemonade
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. What room are you in? office
10. Your hobby? ranting
11. Your fear? sicknessi
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? here
14. Something that you aren’t? tall
15. Muffins? yum
16. Wish list item? Spanish
17. Where did you grow up? Toronto
18. Last thing you did? yoga
19. What are you wearing? t-shirt
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pets? insane
22. Friends? sweet
23. Your life? challengingl
24. Your mood? meh
25. Missing someone? moms
26. Vehicle? Subaru
27. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
28. Your favorite store? antiques
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? huh?e
32. Your best friend? Marsh
33. One place that I go to over and over? blogosphere
34. One person who emails me regularly? André
35. Favorite place to eat? Paris

And you?