What do you mean it's February already???

Yikes...time sure flies by quickly!  Where has the time gone...it's been a blur of activity in the past couple of weeks, and then again not really.  Mostly spending a lot of time at work again (won't bore you with the details...I lived it and I'm bored just thinking about it..hahaha).

The biggest excitement at work was last Monday when there was a building on fire in Chinatown.  It was a 100-year-old brick building that burned to the ground.  It is 2 blocks directly behind my building and I had a perfect view of the excitement from my office.  They were battling the blaze (which started at 4:45 am) all day.  Thankfully there were no injuries...just a demolished building (which I suspect had been the result of arson because there was a small fire there the week before and the month prior to that there was a gas leak as a result of tampering).

On a positive note, I have lost 7 lbs since I started paying attention and trying to lose weight in December, 4 of those pounds since I joined the "Biggest Loser" like competition at work....yahoo!!!  Special thanks goes to http://www.sparkpeople.com/.  I've been able to keep track of what I've been munching on and seeing how much I actually can consume in a day (oh the horror!).  So I've been much better and the results are starting to show.  I've also been wearing my pedometer again and have been keeping track.  I also decided to join some active on-line groups with SP and be an active participant this time.  I joined SP almost 2 years ago...but I didn't participate in anything and since I lacked motivation I got bored with it.  This time I've joined a very active group for those aiming for 10,000 steps (or more) per day.  They have daily questions, challenges, help you if you ask, tracking of daily steps and encouraging each other.  It's been very helpful.

Hmmm...what else do enquiring minds want to know?  Hubby& I had a lovely weekend in Banff this past weekend.  It was our Christmas present to ourselves..a nice get-away!  It was a bit chilly, but not cold enough to stop us from walking up and down main street and look in the shops (mandatory stop at the candy store...hehehe).  It was nice as it was lightly snowing...very pretty.  The Lodge we stayed at was also very nice.  Our original room was very nicely decorated, decent bathroom with slate flooring and a very nice fireplace (woodburning).  Unfortunately (or more accurately fortunately) the flue didn't want to stay open and we got smoked out of our room.  They ended up upgrading us to a nicer room.  It was way bigger (had 2 big beds) had a very nice fireplace too and a bathroom as large as my bedroom!  It had the nice flooring, separate shower, and a big claw-footed tub.  I'm not a tub person and generally prefer showers, but I had to use it (but not until the morning)...it was very nice!  (I actually did take pictures of the room/bathroom...I may post them later)...

We had the fire going to warm up after our walk outside.  Just relaxed by the fire and played some cards (what geeks are we...hehehe) before heading for dinner.  Next morning spent some time reading in the cozy chairs by the fireplace before heading for a luxurious soak in the tub.  Oh, I almost forgot...there was a small patio outside our room and when I looked out the window and opened the door off the patio in the morning...I saw deer!  They were closer to the other end of the building but I saw 2 of them.  Couldn't grab my camera in time....

So we had a nice weekend, and the kids said they had a lovely weekend with their Abuela :-)

Well, that's all for now as I only had a few minutes to spare.  Until next time...hopefully it won't be another month...hahaha