Wellness Cleanse

So, I know that it has been WAY to long that I have blogged for you and I am sorry for that. The wellness cleanse ended up not being for me. I tried it, but unfortunately I wasn't able to keep it up. On day three I was getting these seriously sharp pains in my stomach that I really didn't understand where they were coming from so I had to stop it. I found out later after going to the doctor because of the pain that my body has a very hard time digesting some of the food that I was eating like, nuts, grains and rice so it was good that I stopped it when I did. So if you are looking to do this wellness cleanse please talk to your doctor and look into any other problems that others were having. If you find that you are having some problems with the cleanse, please stop! It is not worth it! There are always other alternatives of cleansing that are not as hard on your body as this one is, so do some research so that you can get the best out of your cleanse.

Day 2- Wellness Cleanse

I know I am a little late for the day 2 post but I am still doing it! Yesterday was a weird day for the lack of a better way to describing it. I up very up and down in the mood department. The cravings were very random and the fact that I never felt anywhere close to full was just frustrating to me. The fact that I am not allowed to eat my normal carbs is driving my body insane! haha.

I needed to go to the grocery store yesterday to pick up something to eat for lunch for the next couple of days and I came across this really good thai food instant meal. I was so excited to eat it that I almost had it for dinner last night but I resisted. Something that I am getting really used to. These three weeks are feeling longer and longer as the time goes by but honestly once the ball gets rolling I hope that it goes by faster then I think it will. I was talking to my friend Sarah about this sharp pain that has been in my stomach for the past few days since I started the cleanse and she thinks that it is my iron levels. That sort of worries me a little though because I am very animic and I am woundering if I should maybe work on getting my iron a little higher before I go on a specific diet. I feel like I am not getting enough iron in my diet and it makes me nervous.

What do you all think? Should I stop the cleanse for now and work on getting my iron up and then try the cleanse again or should I just troup through the 3 weeks and see how I feel? At times I just want to have a hamberger and can't handle the pain but sometimes I am really happy and proud of myself for what I am doing. What if I feel guilty about what happens when I give up for a while?

So many questions.... no idea how to answer any of them.

Day 1- Wellness Cleanse

Today was day 1 of the wellness cleanse and it went pretty well. It was very weird having to actually think about what I am going to eat for each meal way in advance but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. When reading the first chapter of the book it says that the first couple of days are the hardest and it is right! I went grocery shopping today and it was so hard to pass by all these yummy foods that I would normally eat. Everything that I saw made me more hungry and made me really think about the things that I am giving up for the next 3 weeks. So far the hardest thing to give up is gluten. I have no problem giving up meat but no more bread, pasta is really going to be hard. I am also having hard time giving up eggs and cheese so far. It it very easy to just go into the fridge and pick up a piece of cheese or have an egg in my salad but at the same time I think I just need to get used to it.

I am going to be going away for a weekend in 2 weeks and I think that is going to be very hard to actually follow this diet and I am really worried about it. I know that it is not the end of the world if I eat something that is on the do-not-eat list. But I still would like to keep it as close as possible. Getting the full effect of this diet is key in my opinion.

So, day 2 tomorrow and so far I do not have very much planned. I am hoping to have a nice rice dish of some sort for dinner but we will see what happens. Keep reading for up dates!

Getting Ready for my cleanse

So the countdown has began to the first day of my quantum wellness cleanse and to be honest I am pretty nervous. I know that it is not going to be that hard to eat the foods that I am supposed to eat but it is the whole making sure that I don't eat something that I am not supposed to. My whole, up until now, I have never really watched what I eat. I have always been too skinny for my health and it has always bothered me. I used to go days and only eat a sandwich and maybe an apple and that would be it! Now that sounds like a really stupid way to live but at that time it was what I wanted to do. It got to that point that everyone had nicknames for me that I hated and just wanted them to all stop so I started to eat. And eat. And eat. And eventually I started to gain weight and become a "normal" size. Now I am about average but feel very blah. I don't feel like I have the energy that I would like to have and I feel the need to work out more then I should. I know that most of the problem is in my head but I am hoping that this cleanse will not only help me physically but mentally as well.

The first step to the cleanse is to record everything that you eat and drink for three days prior to the beginning of the cleanse. Since that it is a big pain and well I am sure you don't really want to read about it I am not going to blog about that. But I will keep you posted on my thoughts and feelings of my blog and how this type of exercise has really effected me.

My plan is that tomorrow is going to be a day of exercise and mental preparation for this adventure I am putting myself on and then Sunday I am going to buy the proper food for my meals and plan out my week of food. I think if I plan out what I am going to eat and when I will be able to manage my life a little better now that the food that I eat is going to be something that I am really going to be looking at. I run a very busy life with being in school part time, working full time and coaching a girls hockey team on Saturdays. I feel that I need to have my life planned out at least a week in advance in order to get what I want/need to get done accomplished.

Any ideas of what I can do to make sure that I follow this plan?

The Quantum Wellness Cleanse Intro

Two good friends of mine told me about this amazing cleanse that they are actually accomplishing right now that helps you flush all impurities from your system. It helps you kick bad habits and makes you eat very healthy for 21 days. I have done other detox and diets before in my life when I was preparing for a sporting event or a time when my life would be changing or more then normally busy just to keep myself feeling healthy and happy but never have I heard of something that could help in so many ways.

So today I went out and bought the book to start my journey on my 21 day cleanse with the help of Kathy Freston. After reading the introduction of this book I was honestly floored by the amount of information that I didn't know about my body and how food effects our every day lives. One thing that I really found interesting was that wanting certain foods or thinking you need a coffee in the morning is nothing more then an addition to that type of food. I never thought of it that way till I read it in this book and now it totally makes sense!

Another thing that really sparked an interest of mine is the fact that fasting (for some people) is a really great way to get rid of impurities in your system very easily. For people who have a little extra weight or those who have a slow metabolism can actually safely fast for a day or two a month. I was always told by friends that fasting is really bad for your body and that it should not be done. But if you have the extra little fat to spare it actually helps you get rid of these impurities much faster then if you were to go on a special diet. The only problem is for the people like myself that do not have the extra fat reserves on their body to rely on. What happens to me in that my body starts to think that it is never going to get food again so any food that I give it will turn into sugar almost instantaneous because my body thinks that that is the last time it is going to get food so it needs to store it.

I find this all so fascinating that I am going to devote my personal blog to my adventure of the 21 days of healing my mind, body and soul. I am starting my blog today because I am prepping myself now for this life changing event starting Monday. So fellow followers, keep posted on what happens to me, what I decide to eat and how I am coping with the change.

This is just weird... fake stop signs?

I came across this article today about how someone in Ottawa was putting up fake stop signs because they felt that people where driving too fast on their street. That sounds like a resonable thing to do but honestly why didn't they just call the city and ask them to do it? This article just made me start thinking, how do we know which stop signs are actual real stop signs? Apparently the fake ones were so believable that the city didn't even know they were fake till they realized that they where not held into the ground with concrete.

What has this world come too?


‘It’s a tragedy waiting to happen’

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Executive Golf

My dad came across an ad for Executive Golf in the news paper a little while ago and I saw that they were looking for some help with their event planning. Since I am constantly looking for new and exciting experiences to help me improve on what I already know but also give me the opportunity to learn new skills in the process.

I went for a meeting with the president of Executive Golf, Jamie Ryan today to learn more about the company and see if there is anything that I could do to help their company. We will be holding an event called Corporate Challenge. We are looking to have 12 teams of four from companies all over Ottawa compete in this golf tournament. If you think you could make a team within your company please tell me and I will get you more information about the tournament.

Another great thing about this company is that they offer memberships to over 20 golf courses around Ottawa. If you would like more information about what the membership offers go to www.executivegolf.ca but do not sign up before talking to me. There is a possible discount if I am involved.

It's been way to long!

Hello blog world and all my blog buddies!!

It has been a while since I have actually posted. I would say that I have just been way to busy but really that does not seem like a good enough excuse to take 5 minutes out of my day to write down what is going on in my personal blog. I have to admit though I have been posting in my other blog. I have been only blogging in whyhire.me. I find that my profile there gets a lot more trafic then this one does. I am not sure how to make it so that this one gets more traffic though.

So since my last blog a lot of things have happened in my life! I have finished my last semester in my major at Algonquin College. I have enroled in for part-time studied this summer taking a night course and an online course to make sure that I actually graduate from Business Administration. I could say that I have graduated but really that would be lieing. I have been fighting with my current job at IBM to give me a new contract to stay on in the summer but really... I am not sure if that is going to happen. I am starting to get really scared because I can't afford to not have any income coming in and I owe my parents money for letting me go back to school this summer. I really don't know what to do!!

If anyone knows of anyone that is looking for someone in Marketing that is willing to work full-time or part-time please tell me! I am pretty open to a lot of jobs.

Come and check out my profile at whyhire.me at: www.whyhire.me/amy_chamberlain

Spring is in the air...ahhhh

I always seem to get very excited when spring is here for many reasons but my biggest excitement is the sun! I was driving around today with the sun roof open, the windows down, blasting some tunes and I realized that there are way more people living in my neighbourhood then I thought. I think I got so used to seeing no one outside at all and everything looking so dark and white (snow) that I forgot that people actually live around me. People that breath, walk, talk and well live. It was weird when I thought of this and it actually feels sort of weird to be typing it but it is true. 

Where did all these people come from? No wonder the biggest problem with Canadians is vitamin D deficiencies. I guess it makes sense though in the winter who really wants to be outside. Even when it is sunny out you still have to cover up so much that you couldn't be sucking in some sun light anyways. But today I drove around and let as much vitamin D hit me as I could and believe it or not I feel like I have a lot more energy! So forget about the fact that all the snow is leaving us and therefore no more skiing, that the world right now smells like a giant cow poop, IT IS SPRING! So lets enjoy it!! 

My love of hockey

As some of you might know, I love hockey. I am not the type of person who knows all the stats of all the players and teams in the NHL but I do know the game fairly well. I started playing hockey when I was 10 years old. A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them because of my size being as small as I am but I just remind them when I am on the ice I look the same as everyone else. 

I never got to serious into it like trying to be on a competitive team and I never thought I was going to be a superstar at anytime. I was out there for fun, I thought that was the most important thing and I think that is what make my love for the game grow even stronger. 

When I turned 14 I decided that I wanted to get more involved in hockey so I started to referee the girls league that I played in. I loved reffing! It was a totally different experience every game and I learnt a lot about solving problems and dealing with unhappy parents and coach's. After reffing for 3 years I went on to find a job that puts you on a schedule and that I could make more money in. 

I still play hockey as a spare in a woman's league in Minto arena. I took the year off because I didn't think I could commit to a practice and a game ones a week. I regret it in some ways but in others I am glad that I didn't decide to push myself into my last year in the Gloucester Cumberland Girls Hockey League. 

When I am on the ice I am in my prime, I feel like nothing in the world can hurt me and all of my worries and problems just seem to go away. The first time I felt this feeling of freedom I knew that I wanted to play hockey for as long as I can. 

What kept me going...

I have always found school extremely hard. No matter what subject and no matter how it is taught I always have a very hard time remember what is needed to be remembered when the time comes down to doing a test. After choosing not to say in University a really great friend of mine told me to try going to college in something that everyone has told me almost all my life that I would be very good at and that is Marketing. Me being the person that I am is never happy unless I have done my all time best on everything. I decided to take Business Administration and major in Marketing. I was told that it much harder and there is a lot more work involved in this program compared to the Marketing program at Algonquin College. That wasn't going to stop me. I made it through the first year and a half till I started with Marketing and found my calling. I LOVE IT! I was told that my second last semester in the program was going to be my hardest. I prepared myself for the most work intensive semester ever. To add to the work I was encouraged by my friends at school to join the Ontario Colleges Marketing Competition. To my surprise and delight I made it onto the team! 

Through that semester I have never been so busy, stress, tired and desperate for it to just be finished. I was at school every day from 8 am in the morning till 7 or 8pm at night working as hard as I could do get the best marks possible and train for my competition. Many times through that semester I felt beyond overwhelmed, nothing was ever going to make the stress go away. I need to find an escape. Something, anything to make my every day just a little bit easier. It got to the point that I was to busy to even stress about stressing. Then one day I heard this song on the radio Stand Up 2 Cancer. For the first time in what seemed like months I actually sat in my car and cried because I had finally found the one thing that made me relax and take a minute to myself. This song told me that no matter how grumpy, sick, stressed and tired I get I have to keep up the work. 

All my life I have told myself that I am going to work hard for everyone else like my teachers, my parents and my friends to make them happy, not even thinking about myself. Once I heard this song it told me that what you are doing is for yourself, not for anyone else. You try your hardest because you know that is what makes you happy and that is all that should matter. I ended up finishing the year on the dean's list and ranking top 10 in the competition. It was truly the best time of my life. I made friends that I will have forever and experiences that I will never forget. 

As the hectics come to an end I got the very bad news that my best friends mom is very sick with cancer. I was very close to her and felt desperate to do anything to help. I knew that there was nothing I could do but to be there with her and make sure she was happy. So that is what I did. Almost every time I saw her I would go home and listen to that song for her. To help her fight. In January she left this world with love from her family and closest friends. I miss her every day and wish just that I could see her just one more time. 

Now every time I listen to my song, the one thing that kept me going through everything I think of her. She is my inspiration to never give up and fight till you have nothing left. I believe that everyone should have something that keeps them going. Something that has brought something good to your life and that you will remember forever. 

For more information about fighting Cancer and keeping strong visit:

http://www.standup2cancer.org/

The business card debacle!!

As school comes to a close and networking with new people starts to begin I was thinking, maybe I should make myself a really good business card. But really where to start? I have made them before like for OCMC and for just use at networking events. But this is different! These business cards need to be good, something totally out of the box, creative, innovative! I decided to start to google business cards. I found this one really good site called Premium Business Cards. It is a really good website that has a tun of designs and ideas of what your business card could look like.

But being the person that I am, I am never satified with just one find so I continued my search to find out there there are a lot more types of business cards then I thought. I always thought to myself, in this day and age everything is going electronic so why shouldn't a business card have that option as well. What a way to stand out from the crowd! That is when I came across a website called Business Card By Text. How honestly how cool would that be?! You would be forever remembered as the first person to send a busines card through your phone! I am sure there are some downsides to that but now we know that it is in the making!

Right underneith that website was a nother website for plastic business cards. I thought that was kind of interesting but once I saw the price it was horrendus! I also into recycling and that we really need to help out our environment. Making a green friendly business card with totally out run a plastic one in my mind any day!

So the search for the best business card for me continues. I might just need to sit down and commit to something sooner then later.

But what should it look like?

Mini Blue

Meet Mini Blue. Mini Blue is my Acer One laptop. If you don't really know me very well you might be asking yourself why is she calling her laptop Mini Blue but if you know me you totally would understand for a couple of reasons. 1) I tend to name inanimate objects a lot for no real reason at all. 2) my laptop is only 8 inches big or small... which ever way you would like to describe it.

My laptop is the best toy that I have received in a very long time. It is perfect for the type of person I am. It is so great to be able to just put your laptop in your purse and off you go to wherever you need to go. Since I seem to be always on the move it makes only sense to have such a convenient sized laptop.

There are some pros to this type of laptop.

1) it's size, obviously it is great to have a small laptop but if you have big fingers then you might have a problem.

2) it weighs about 2 pounds, so really when it is in your school bag you don't really feel the difference between it and a text book.

3) Everyone that sees it goes "wow that's a small laptop!"

4) it has a big enough hard drive in it that it can hold everything I ever wanted.

5) It has enough ram that it is not slow but not speedy fast either.

Some cons about this type of laptop.

1) because it has such a small screen it is sometimes hard to work on.

2) there is no video card in it so I just recently found out it cannot run all microsoft programs.

3) if you have fat fingers, please give up now...

More and more of these tiny laptops are coming to the market now so the next time you are looking to buy a laptop, give it a chance. You never know what your missing unless you take a look!

Being allergic to alcohol

This is my story about being allergic to alcohol. It started when I was 19 strangely enough. I drank when I was 18 and was like everyone else but I am a real light weight. The side effects back then were nothing out of the ordinary to anyone else that drank just I didn't need to drink as much to feel the effects. I was never a fan of drinking no matter how much I thought those really cool drinks with the umbrellas in them were absolutely amazing. I was never the type of drinker to get drunk. One night I was at a party and I had just finished off one cooler and I felt that the rings on my hands were abnormally tight and that my tough felt a lot bigger in my mouth. At the time I didn't think much of it so I had a couple more. That night, after drinking a total of 3 coolers and about 5 glasses of water I was very sick. My hands and face did not go back to normal till much later the next day. I realized then that there was something wrong. So, what is the first thing you do when an allergic reaction like that happens? You start thinking about anything different and out of your normal diet that you had that night and the only thing that I could think of was my coolers. 

I never was a fan of beer because of the smell and the taste of skunk. Everyone that I tell this to always asks, "well what about beer? There isn't as much alcohol in that." It is kinda to bad that I hate the taste so much. 

I decided then that I would research what happened to me and what could have caused it. After a long time of researching I came across many sites explaining that everyone reacts to alcohol in different ways. Some people that I read about broke out in hives, others got violently ill after just one sip of alcohol. Everything seemed to be so much worse then what I had experienced. I knew it was not life threatening so I continued to drink casually for a while. 

By the time of my 20th birthday I could not drink at all. My lips, tongue, throat and hands would swell to the point that they would hurt every time that I decided to have a drink. Therefore, I cut it out of my life completely. As I have gotten older the sensitivity to alcohol of any kind has gotten worse. I can no longer use hand sanitiser or rubber alcohol. 

It has gotten to the point that I need to use special shampoos and soaps because of the perfume that is put in most products. If I use the wrong product the skin on my hands blisters and cracks and the skin on the rest of my body goes so dry that it cracks and bleeds. 

In a way I sort of am happy that this has happened to me for many reasons. 1) No matter who finds out about the problem they are always seem so interested but yet sad for me. 2) I get to buy soap that is way better for your skin and therefore my skin always looks very clean smooth. 3) I save A LOT of money because I don't buy anything at bars or need to go to The Beer Store or the LCBO. 4) Whenever you are out with a bunch of people you see and experience way more then you are sober then when you have a couple drinks in you. It is still fun, believe me!

The world of blogging

A wise woman (i.e. my professor) once told me that blogging is one of the best things you can do. At first I did not believe her one little bit. I was very against blogging and the even thought of it gave me quite the headache. I never really liked going around and putting my thoughts online for the world to read. It made me nervous to know that this is just one more way that some stalker people to come and find you! But then my good friend Sarah Ormon went to an interview and low and behold one of the questions was "do you blog?" Can you believe it?! I was floored! Sarah had the very same opinion as me on this hold blogging thing. She was never that into it but when she was asked about it in that interview everything changed. I thought why not try it myself, what is the worst that could happen right? I have another Facebook experience and be on the blog all the time and type about the most random stuff in the world. Very addictive and very useless.

I still do not see the true asset to blogging and I do not see how it will help you in life. I broke down and asked my parents about it and one didn't even know what blogging was and the other was all confused on what you could actually talk about. I said that I am in the same boat but I am going to give it a chance and figure it all out. So I started writing on Sarah's blog and found out that it really isn't as bad as it seems when you have an extra couple of minutes to blow.

So tell me... what do you think?