Today in pictures

I'm on vacation the whole week this week. Yay! I had the luxury of time to get ready for the gym.

9:00 am

One of the first things I did as soon as I woke up was check the CFMNL website for today's WOD. It's benchmark day!

9:30 am

I ate my breakfast of leftover sweet potato hash and black coffee while reading this book my friend told me about -- Fifty Shades of Grey. I don't read erotica, but my interest was piqued when my friend told me that it's like Twilight for adults. I'm halfway through it, and I have to say, it's very entertaining. More than the sex scenes, it's the love angle between the two principal characters that's hooked me.

11:15 am

Time to go to the box! Pay no mind to my ratty running shoes. I know I have to get a new pair of shoes for working out, and I've got my mind set on a pair of Inov-8 Bare-XF 210s. Still saving up for those, but reading great reviews about them is making me antsy.

11:45 am

I arrived early for the 12:30 pm class and started warming up and psyching myself up for the WOD. I'm learning that half the battle is won in the mind, so for me, mental preparation is part of the warmup.

1:15 pm

Post-workout: CrossFit hands. I swear, I have rough, man-hands now. And I don't even do the workouts as Rx'd (as prescribed, meaning I almost always scale down on the weights)!

1:40 pm

An empty box on my way out. Now, to have a pedicure...

3:00 pm

There was only one client when I got to the nail salon in our neighborhood. I picked a nice, bright pink for my toes. Gotta love Orly nail polish.

3:15 pm

I was famished by the time I got home. Good thing there was some leftover fish and veggies on the table. I reheated more sweet potato hash, et voila! (Late) lunch is served! It wasn't gourmet good, but it was my best attempt at a balanced meal. After I'd polished that off, I had an orange and a slice of non-paleo chocolate cake.

I think I'm going to enjoy this week-long holiday.

Old school

Before the iPad and Draw Something, there was this:

Concentrating on his drawing

Et voila! A cute robot!

You are too young if you have no idea what an Etch A Sketch is. It's only the coolest toy ever. Duh.

Ang Aming Lolo

My Tatay celebrated his 80th birthday last April 11th at the UP Executive House and a special program was put together for him. Part of the program was a poem-reading by the two boys, Miguel and Andres. Watch the first couple of minutes:

This is what they read:

As a treat to Tatay, Gloc-9 also performed. The crowd loved it.

Overall, I'd say the party was a great success!

Paleo Challenge

The Paleo Challenge is a 30-day program at CFMNL wherein challengers follow the "paleo diet," also known as the "caveman diet." Huh, sounds like one of those weirdo faddy diets, I know. That's what I thought, too, until I started reading up on it. And the more I read about it, the more it made sense to me.

Basically, the paleo diet is eating meat, vegetables, fruit, and nuts. No grains (rice, oats, and the like), no processed foods, and no dairy (although I think some paleo people are more relaxed when it comes to this). Here's a great beginner's guide to paleo by Nerd Fitness. The end result is supposed to be increased energy levels and improved health and strength. Weight loss (if you're trying to lose weight) or a leaner figure is just a bonus.

I'm on Day 2 now, and have been strictly adhering to it. It takes time and effort to plan and prepare meals, since I'm the only one at home following the diet and everyone thinks I'm crazy. Those who know me know that I don't cook. Yet I find myself in the kitchen every morning preparing my own meals. During the weekend, I made baked sweet potato fries. It wasn't the success I'd envisioned it would be because some of the fries got burned and got stuck to the pan, but it tasted good.

Apologies for the blurry photo :)

Well, let's just see how this goes. So far, I'm feeling good, though.

Zero to hero, baby!

The Raya Razkals joined the 7-under division at the Zobel Football Festival in Alabang yesterday. We weren't really expecting anything. For us parents -- and I guess for the kids too -- it was just one of those tournaments the kids join to gain experience.

As we watched the games and saw how the team had improved, though, we started getting excited. And a teeny tiny pinprick spark of hope started growing... maybe they're going to do well, after all! They played against some of the teams that had defeated them before, and their performance was almost at par with these more experienced teams. They even beat the varsity team of DLSZ. How about that?

First game: Raya FC 0 - Alabang FS 2
Second game: Raya FC 2 - DLSZ 1
Third game: Raya FC 2 - Manresa FC 0
Fourth game: Raya FC 1 - Makati FS 1 (resulted in a penalty shoot out where Raya scored 2 and MFS scored 3)
Semi-final game (for 3rd place): Raya FC 1 - Atletiko Diliman 0

They were all so happy to get a medal!

When they placed third, us parents (and even Coach Sims) could hardly believe it! Maybe just a couple more years and they'll be playing like a well-oiled machine.

Posing with his medal

Yes, it was a tiring but happy day in the south yesterday.