NSV (Non-Scale Victory)..BUT a little scaley too....

After an atrocious week of eating/drinking last week I took charge this week, exercising 4 x and making sure I ate right.

The hardwork paid off because I lost those 2lbs I gained last week. I'm now sitting pretty at 148.5 - HURRAY!

I decided to treat myself to an incentive wardrobe (or we could call it a ...STARTER PACK!).

When I was a little girl my grandpa (Gido) always used to try and motivate me to lose weight by saying they'd buy me a whole new wardrobe after I did. I never did it. I just didn't want it bad enough, or never thought I could.

BUT NOW....I am getting closer to my goal....8.5 lbs to go.

SO, I went out to Forever 21 and spent W337,000 on some winter/fall staples.

The only catch is I'm not taking the tags off and wearing ANYTHING until I get to 145.

I'm sick to death of my old stuff, its not the new me. I bought a lot of stuff in MEDIUM. My word it felt good. I bought everything a bit too small to amp up my inspiration.

Here they are...

These pictures really make this stuff look lack-lustre...but I promise they're going to look GREAT!

2 corderoy skirts, a chiffon dress, and a kimono style open top

2 plain t-shirts, 1 corderoy skirt, 2 pairs of leggings, button-up sweater vest with a belt

white button down, grey tanktop, blue crochet top (only the top above the bust is crochet), striped long shirt

big heavy sweater, size 29 jeans (Forever 21 jeans are SMALLLLLL), greenish blazer style throw-over

Off to the gym, because MAAAAN I want to wear my clothes!



Doosan VS. LG Baseball Game

Yesterday a bunch of friends and I went to see my first baseball game in Korea.

It. Was. AWESOME.

The atmosphere is great, and the fans go wild. Baseball is HUGE here.

At one point in the game there was a big "fight" where both teams came rushing onto the field...I don't think there were any punches though.

You can bring in your own food, booze, whatever you want. Outfield tickets were only W8,000. It ended up being a great, cheap Sunday afternoon out.

Em and I got there early to save some seats (3:30pm) but it didn't end up packing up until around 4:45pm. Game started at 5. Better safe than sorry!



There are TONNES of ajumma vendors selling dried fish, kimbap and beer. Delicious!

There is even Burger King and KFC ready to sell you a meal for two!



I had saved up my points for the day and wasn't drinking at the game, so for the first time in 3 months.... I had a burger and fries....

You know what?

It was pretty anti-climactic....Definitely not as good as I remembered. What a relief!

 Dude knows how to party. A Cass beer in one and a coke in the other!

WOOOOO! GO DOOSAN!

Hairdye, Running High and Pudding Surprise!

Today has been a great day. I've spent the entire day doing things to make me look and feel good.

I was awoken with a text message instructing me to look in my mailbox. Giddy to see what could be delivered, I opened the flap and did a happy dance!

Someone who reads my blog from the USA heard my boo-hoo about Fat-Free Jello Pudding...and sent me FIVE different flavors! FIVE! We only have chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch in Canada, but in America they have cheesecake, banana cream and white chocolate too. HEAVEN!

This goes out to you Mrs. A. Thank you so much for your generosity and thoughtfulness!

Honestly, I am absolutely touched that you went out of your way to do that for me.

Your kindness will most definitely not be forgotten. Thank you again!

Oh my we let that go a little longer than expected didn't we? Check out those rooooots.

Heres a little before and after. I'll let you decide which is which ;)

After the salon I came home, had a huge meal and watched the end of Season 6 of Criminal Minds.

Then I decided I needed to get my workout in even if I was comfy in my PJs.

I went to the gym and had a FANTASTIC workout. They say no never regret the workout you do, only the ones you don't and my gosh that is so true. I had to coax myself to go and then ended up realizing I was going to have to coax myself out HAHA

The good news is I'm getting CLOSER to my goal. Today I ran/walked 3.92 km in 30 min. BOOM CHAKA LAKA! If I can do almost 4 km in 30 min, I'm sure I could do a 5km in under 40 minutes.

 TWO more weeks until I have to face the music!

Have a great weekend!

Ps. Miss. Gibblet, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for always being such an amazing support. Even from miles away you still manage to make me realize that I'm not just doing this for myself and that theres always someone there to offer words of encouragement. I am so lucky to call you my friend. xx

Going Through the Motions

Today I woke my ass up early (10:30 am...BAHAHA don't laugh...I work nights!) I went to the gym for some cardio and an arms circuit.

I'm thinking that I'm not as f***** as I thought for this race. Today I did 3.45 km in 30 min which was half walk/run. If I work really hard in the next two weeks I definitely think it is possible to run the 5km in 40 min.

That is my goal, under 40 min.

Perfectly attainable. Not exactly elite athlete. But pretty elite Hailey!

First 5 Km Race

Time to get serious here. I have my first ever race on Sunday October 16th in Incheon.

It is a 5km race...I've never run 5km in my life. Running, I'd say the most I've done is about half that.

Is this maybe a bit stupid? Absolutely.

Do I expect an amazing finishing time? BAH! My goal is to JUST FINISH.

All I want to do is finish. Thats it. For my first race I'm not expecting ANYTHING except completion. 

I just want to say that I did it. I didn't quit in the middle, I didn't stop training... I just did it. My level of fitness is SO much better than it has been ever in my life so I think it is do-able.

The only thing is I'm going to be exercising/training as much as possible in the next two weeks. Tomorrow is going to be 3km on the treadmill. Losen things up and see how I feel. I actually prefer walking outside but for running I love that treadmill. Maybe its because I think people are watching and I won't let myself be a wimp... I don't know...

One condition I need to fix is getting a mental block when I'm out on the trail. I can run much more indoors on the treadmill...but outside...I just have this stupid stupid mental block. WHICH...MUST BE STOPPED!

Source

But if that dude can do THAT. I'm pretty sure I can run 5k in beautiful fall weather.

MAN UP!

The Good, The Bad and The Plateau

The Plateau:

Oh weight-loss journey. You are a slippery slope. I feel like I've been working really hard this week and haven't seen much results on the scale. I expected a quick rebound after last week's misstep, but apparently nothing worth having is easy! Who'dve thunk it? Keep on truckin'...

The Good:

My students now think I'm normal size and not "North American Fat". Yes they are brutal.

The Bad:

One student in my highest level told me his mom thought I was a man.

The Good:

She's never met me, she just thought Hailey is a man's name. FEWF!



FC Seoul, Club FF and Epic Adventures

What an amazing weekend! Saturday and night turned out to be such an excellent time. A bunch of girls and I had bought tickets to see FC Seoul VS. Daejeon for W10,000 (Admission, Free Tallboy of Hite and a Hotdog). It was a deal to attract foreigners and it sure did. We even spotted 3 gingers HAHA Swoooon.

These are our "you're f****** kidding me" faces. We dropped the ball and didn't realize that World Cup Stadium was NOT in Jamsil (....ok so I didn't really check, I just assumed...) so it took us forever to get there.

There may have been some slight train-dancing and awkward stares by some men and a puppy in a bag...

View of the city with World Cup Stadium behind me.

Daejeon's side of the field. Not very hoppin'!

I had to take this for Noor!

I was actually surprised with how small of a turn out it was. I guess I don't have anything to compare it to but I thought it would be packed. Everyone seemed to be having a great time - it was rampant with foreigners and tonnes of families.

The lovely ladies.

My Asian sister Hana is in Kansas studying abroad (we met working on Hayman Island in Australia) and I miss her terribly. I got a text message from her brother Sunny asking what I was doing lastnight. SOOO long story short, he came to Hongdae to party the night away!

We were having a contest about who is prettier. I think its a tie.

As I was doing the walk of shame from my friend Joanne's house this morning, I saw this in Itaewon subway station. I think its adorable. Its a little gate for kids to go on the subway. CUTE!

Since I have gone to diet HELL this week, tomorrow will be filled with working out and then off to work.

 I drank 2x this week and only worked out about 3x.... Bad bad bad. Time to change that scale around!

Stumble Addict

I have been recently devoting my time to a dangerous hobby.

I'll admit it. I'm a stumbler.

First, it was all innocent. I didn't think it was such a big deal. I mean I could quit when I wanted to.

Then it got worse. I just kept clicking. I couldn't stop.

Now, I can't get through a day without taking atleast a few clicks. I mean just to see whats next. It might be a really good one.



Source

Its like showing pictures of a crack pipe to a crack addict.

In all seriousness, if you haven't stumbled yet, you are seriously missing out. (Yes, I do realize I'm behind the times about a bajillion years....and that I'm sure almost everyone has heard about this website before.)

DO IT!

Weekday Wrap Up

Lastnight the team headed out to my favorite BBQ place for some eats and drinks on the "Street of Eating".

We all had an awesome time and it was nice to be able to socialize with everyone outside of work. You bet there was lots of beer, soju and chunga (sp?) consumed... And maybe even A LOT A BIT of Noraebonging.

My Korean boyfriends who asked me to speak to an English friend on the phone. They proceeded to buy me a beer for all my hardwork. Pimps.

I love my kids. We talk a lot about farting in class, as you do when you teach grades 2/3...

"I had a dinosaur friend. His name was fartman... Suddenly my friend made a big fart. The smell was very amazing. So I fainted because of the fart smell."

Richard, you are a champion! His writing is actually very good considering he's in my lowest level.

After work today I went and stocked up on some essentials. I'm going to make lentil soup this weekend so I went hunting for boullion cubes as my last ones were expired. I managed to rangle up some good finds!

Fruit and veg. I've been really lacking in these lately as I didn't do a big grocery shop this week.

 I've been eating bananas I bought at the variety store... eeeek.

Those wrapped up items made my heart sing when I found them. Sweet, juicy, figs!

Until I got home and opened up the container to see that the styrofoam was cleverly hiding the fact that they were completely rancid. I'm actually pretty pissy about it right now.

 Its like having delicious cupcake. You spot the perfect one, pick it out, carry it home, open the container, mouth watering...and then drop it on the floor!

 

Lotte is a HUGE company over here and I went shopping at "Lotte Super", basically the Food Basics of the Lotte corporation. Lotte Department Store is the "Marilus".

This picture makes this fig look great...but you can't see the moldy part on the back!

I'm feeling a bit pissy today actually. I had a great day at work but I think this week is a NO-BUDGE on the scale. I can't expect to have results every week, but I've been on such a great streak that I expected it to happen every week.

I've been really good on the exercise front, but my eating has been lacking. Too much processed foods. I mean I just told you I've been buying fruit to eat from the variety store in the lobby of my building... HAHA I've been right on mark with my points but I'm not eating enough fruit, veg and drinking enough water.

The good news is that the old Hailey would have seen this as a HUGE setback and probably just quit or went and ate some cake. BUT the Hailey you all know and looove today (HAHA) is certainly NOT going to let that happen.

Two-A-Days

I'm just a two-a-day kind of girl now.

Wake up for 9:30-11 am soccer. No biggie.

Work from 2:30-9:30 pm. No biggie.

A received a message from my legs, "We liked you better when you were fat."

So...I told them to take a hike...and we did :D

Going out for a 10 km walk from 10:15-12pm after said activities. WHO ARE YOU?



Vegan Bake Sales, Starbucks and Strongbow

Today the lovely Mipa and others hosted a Vegan Bake Sale in Itaewon to benefit the United Nations World Food Programme.

Helping others? Delicious treats? Count me in!

I headed out "early" and got there by 12 pm, I picked up a few delicious things to try. 

I may have already eaten the cinnamon bun and chocolate chip cookie....blissful!

 I had some time to kill while waiting for a few girlfriends to have lunch so I headed to Starbucks.

I did some quality coffee drinking, reading and people watching.

Poor cookie, it never stood a chance!

I met up with the girls around 1:30pm and proceeded to get daydrunk.

I mean...had a few casuals and a hearty meal.

Ok, I didn't get drunk perse. More like festive. I had a couple of Strongbows...a few shots....alittle bit of dancing to The Proclaimers.

Then I went home at 6pm, and put myself to bed. That is what I call a successful day!



Operation Bye Bye Bat Wings

Its time I finally told you.

I have a VERY. LEGITIMATE. FEAR.

I am afraid...of....BAT WINGS!!!

Ok so those are DEFINITELY not mine, but I still live in fear that it could be.

This very scientific picture I found on the internet agrees with me too. Humans should not have skin flabby wings.

Anyways to combat this fear from becoming a reality, I worked an arms circuit today (don't I sound so knowledgable and exercisy)!

...OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW thats all I can say.

In closing, there will be no bat wings, EVER. I'm pretty sure I've scared them off.

FEWF!

I just "google imaged" the words "relief" and this beauty came up. I'm pretty sure she was scared of batwings too!

Girl looks like she kept those arms in check!