This blog is moving ......

Hey all,

I've decided to change the address of my primary blog to my own name. I'm moving my updates to a different blog, http://www.farah-faisal.blogspot.com/, since it's an easier address to remember and spell. It's been a great ride updating this blog, hope you'll follow me on to the next chapter!

Lots of love,
Farah

Blogging on the Bus ( or BotB for short)

Why is it that I didn't find out about the joys of blogging via email
earlier?? This is so convenient! Would have saved me from that one
year no update thing .....

I am currently stuck in a clusterfuck known as Seattle traffic, which
is so bad that I'm not even in Seattle yet and I'm in it. Uh huh, no
kidding. We are moving at a slow, snail pace, which basically means
that the bus driver hits the brakes every 2 seconds. Have you ever
felt that super nauseaus feeling you get when you're in a car and
someone else is driving and they keep accelerating and braking? Yeah,
I'm developing one of those right now. The whole physics of "a body in
motion tends to stay in motion" is knocked into my brain everytime I
get these vehicle-induced migraines.

I miss driving. At least when I was traffic, I was mad but i wasn't
nauseaus. Good thing I'm fasting; nothing to puke out. On the other
hand, bussing means I get to blog while we're stuck in traffc, which
is pretty cool :)

I'm going to start assigning words to my day that reflects how my day
was. Today's word is "sardines". Why sardines? Well, I need a couple
of the canned ones, for one. And for another, I feel like a sardine
packed in a can based on how closely seated I am to the lady beside
me. Note to other people: my ass is big. I am a big girl. If you are
similarly big, please sit next to one of of the skinny people. I don't
need to simulataneously be in a sauna while I'm on a bus. It is not
cute for me to get out of the bus and the whole side of one leg looks
sweaty because it has been in constant contact with yours for the past
hour.

I miss having a car. I need one of those Mini Coopers. Now if I can
just scrape the money for it .....

Starting off a fasting day with a workout

When you're fasting, it's not the easiest thing to get your body to do more than the basic necessities; brush teeth, take shower, put clothes on, get to work, get back from work, heat up dinner, eat. This morning I started off with a workout with my personal trainer Bri from SassyFit. A less strenuous workout in the morning is actually just right when one can't drink water or eat until 8pm, and that's what we did. Less strenuous cardio plus lighter weights equals still a workout but something I can handle while I'm fasting.

This isn't the first time I've worked out while fasting. Last year, when the fasting month was during fall and breaking fast was at about 7.30pm-ish, I worked out with Marissa later at night so that I'm able to break fast by drinking water and a protein shake, and go on to working out. Now that was pretty hard core, but somehow it was easier to push myself to do it when there's a trainer who's waiting for me to kick my butt in gear. as I try to do it myself at home, seriously all I want to do after a day of not eating is... eat. Sit down in front of the TV and just eat. So I told myself, fine, for this one month, do that. But once Ramadan is over, it's time to get healthy and work out again.

I am committed to getting on the healthy track train and get myself back to my old shape!

Breaking fast Seattle style

Soooo today is a Wednesday and I decided against cooking. So I took
one of my Kushibar gift cetificates and headed over there instead.
Kushibar is a Japanese izakaya place here in the Belltown area of
Seattle, and the food there is delicious. I'll save you the play-by-
play of what I ate, but the bowl over to the left there, the one with
the spoon, is a kimchee fried rice. Yummm. And of course, skewers of
meat and seafood don't dissapoint either. I miss breaking fast with
Malaysian food, though. Hopefully I'll get to do so again soon!

Craziness on the bus

Every morning I take the 550 bus to work (unless I'm working from
home). Usually the morning commute is pretty uneventful, but today we
are joined by two Chinese ladies speaking rapid Cantonese and
apparently not a lick of English except "sorry" and "thank you".
Within a space of seconds they manage to accost two seats from two
unsuspecting people who didn't know what to make of the constant
chatter and the inability to hold on to the bus rails (really the
ladies weren't that old).

One they got to their stop, the bus card they were using was not
working. Cue anouther 5 mins of excited chatter probably consisting of
"crap, card isn't working, how are we going to pay?". The bus driver
patiently tried to explain the fare, though after a while he waved the
ladies off the bus so that the rest of us can actually get to work.

For a second there I felt a twinge of jealousy of the old ladies. I
don't know know if they were visiting or actually living here, buy it
takes some balls to be somewhere where you don't speak their language
and you're lacking a common means of communication.

Maybe one day I can learn to be brave and do brave things.

Cutesey Wutsey Lil' Doggy!

Look at how cute this dog is! His name is King and his owner is one of
the aesthetitians at Spa Noir in downtown Seattle. I went in to have a
facial again and there he is. Such a cutie. Makes me feel extra happy
to come in every month when I get to see this buggy wuggy.