Evening at the ballet

Those of you that have seen my list know that an outing to the ballet has made it on. However, it's been such a long time that I didn't even know where to start, whom to ask for company, etc. partly because we don't have a dedicated Opera & Ballet Theatre here, but mostly because it HAS been too long.

Then my sister told me that she got tickets for my mom and I to go to the ballet while I visited them in Minsk. I was stoked! I've always loved that theatre and going there with my mom, just the two of us, would be nice; that too we haven't done in a long while.

The ballet was called Бахчисарайский фонтан (English: The Fountain of Bakhchisarai) based on a poem by the same name written by A. Pushkin. The stage decorations, the costumes, the dancers - everything looked beautiful and well put together. It wasn't your typical classical "Swan Lake" sort of a ballet, it was full of colours and movement; I enjoyed the costumes being non-traditional, it was refreshing. This made me wanting to get back to seeing ballet more often (gotta check out what we have at NAC). Let me know if you're interested in joining me!

Here are just a few shots of what we enjoyed for 2.5 hours :)
(there is a LOT more to see)

National  Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Opera and Ballet of the Republic of Belarus

Yet another 5K run

Remember my post on My post-baby 5K run challenge last year? Yes, I did it again this year! :)

The course was the same (which was nice), but the amount of people was even larger! Imagine this - 42,000 participated in this year's two-day event, with about 8,000 runners/walkers doing the 5K race.

It's crazy to think that people finished this distance in 15:38.9, while I crawled to the finish line in 2345th place overall with a time of 32:17.2. I guess it's not bad considering that I was 135th among 588 females between the ages of 25 and 29 AND I placed 940th out of 4,907 women. :)))

Aside from being proud of myself and all of your encouraging comments, here's the real reason I do this - apart from the obvious health benefits of running, of course ;) - MY FINISHER'S MEDAL!

Oh and props to all of those men and women well into their golden ages who managed to not only participate, but to run and some finishing in less that 40 minutes! You are the real inspiration!!!

Cheers,

It was late... but winter is HERE!

Mother Nature spoiled us this autumn/winter season. Average temperature in November'11 was +10C (which is 5 degrees above seasonal)! And except for a few freezing rain occurrences and a week of freezing temperature, December was fairly mild as well (I missed that week while in Jamaica, ha-ha!).

It started yesterday... Something like 15 cm of snow started to fall and accumulate, and today - another 10 cm! Though it looked pretty blizzard-y out there, it wasn't too too cold, so I took a short "photo" walk at lunch. Although driving in these conditions is... a challenge, it really does look like Winter Wonderland! I hope you enjoy these images :)

...until I write again!

Let it snow!...

I don't know why, but this year I've been itching to decorate my office for the holidays. Early.
BUT I made myself hold off and kept saying "wait till it at least snows!". Of course, as if on purpose, we enjoyed a warmer than usual autumn, and the average temperature in November was +10 C!!! Anyhow, we got our first real snow on November 23, which is when I busted out the scissors, and the cutting of paper began.

I always loved making snowflakes so I never thought of it as a special skill on anything, but after many oooohs and aaaahs from my coworkers and one suggestion that I should teach a class, I figured that maybe a blog post is in order :)

My office door window
(it's a pretty narrow hallway, so the photo came out a bit crooked)

Here are some of the snowflakes up close:

Now... Are you wondering how to do them? I will show you.

Quote of the day

"True leaders listen to the voice of their people; dictators jail them for their rightful demands."
~ Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, on situation in Belarus.

(click here to read more)

My post-baby 5K Run Challenge

This past weekend was the National Race Weekend. For those that don't know - it's an annual event that attracts thousands of visitors to Ottawa to cheer and participate in either a marathon (42 km), half-marathon (21 km), a 10K, 5K or 2K runs. Here's a little history about this event:

"When 146 runners lined up under sunny skies at Carleton University for the first Ottawa Marathon on May 25, 1975, organizers believed they were staging a one-time affair. Few would have thought that almost 30 years later, organizers would be celebrating one of Canada's oldest major marathons boasting not hundreds, but thousands of competitors. Braving cold temperatures (-8°C in 1996) or hot weather (28°C in 1993), the marathon has grown in size and popularity." Read more

The crowd cheering on the runners!

I have previously participated in this event on three separate occasions - running a 5K race in 2000 (with the time of 27:38.2), a 5K race in 2001 (with the time of 29:48.4), and a more recent 10K race in 2009 (with the time of 1:03:09.9).

This year's race was more challenging for me personally. First, I haven't gone running much after the last race (which I was prepared for), have gone through pregnancy and childbirth and getting back in shape at a slow pace. Also, let's face it, I'm not 18 any more!

This year's race ran on different streets and was quite enjoyable. Overall about 7,500 people participated in running the 5K distance.

Even though there were times during the race when I felt like "Okay, now I'm going to slow down and walk", I just couldn't let myself do that. Hundreds of people running around me, hundreds of people cheering on the sidelines - it's such an awesome boost and there is nothing quite like it!

The fastest people on this race are amazing and most of all inspiring - I mean, who finishes a 5-kilometer run in 15 minutes?! That's just insane!!!

Now moving on to my results:
Finishing time - 31 minutes 44.7 seconds
Overall rank - 2,074th out of 7,437 finishers
Rank among females - 739th out of 4,585 women
Rank in my category (Women of 25-29 years of age) - 109th out of 600!

I'm pretty pleased with myself  :))) And here's a picture of my medal:

Finally, to continue my participation, I'm registered in the CIBC Run for the Cure - another 5K race taking place in October. I am raising the money for breast cancer research, in memory of a dear friend and a mother of my classmate, Zoya Baranova, who passed away from breast cancer at the end of April 2011.

If you would like to support me please donate any amount by clicking "Donate Now" button on top of the page or by clicking here: Help Nadia raise funds (now closed).

Thank you! :)

Ready? Set... Cook!

Okay, so before I forget. I was going to share this with you awhile ago, but you know how it is sometimes - good thoughts come around at oddest of times; mine usually when there is no computer around.

A few months ago I realised that I'm sort of obsessed with buying cookbooks. Most with pictures, some without. I've got about 7 of them now, different topics, of course, but all interesting in their own rite. I have vowed to make at least 1 recipe from each of the books, and so far so good!

My latest acquisition came from Costco (and let me tell you, it's probably the best place to buy books if you're not looking for something in particular cause their selection always changing!). It's name is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

I've watched the show by the same name and at times was disgusted and even angry at the way some people eat and even worse, let their children follow. I grew up eating homemade meals every day AND it was all Russian cuisine! Mmm, delicious! I don't know how my mom found the time to do all of that, having 2 jobs and 2 kids to raise by herself, but she did it somehow. Now, living in Canada, I'm realising that some many people here are missing out on some many great possibility when it comes to food. Pizza, McDonald's and other fast food joints were never a part of our diet. Actually, the first McDonald's opened in Belarus in 1996! And it ain't that popular...
Okay, so back to Jamie's book. My husband is Canadian, so his tastes and mine a somewhat different (to say the least!). He is the pizza-fries-and-coke kind of guy. Me, I eat whatever and will try almost any kind of food (my thought is - what if I like it?!). Keeping that in mind, I flipped through the main course section of the book and picked to do Jamie's Good Old Chilli Con Carne. The prep wasn't as tedious as I thought it was going to be. And after the first 15-20 minutes, you just leave it mixing occasionally.
RESULT: the house smelled delicious, the chilli turned out great AND more importantly, my husband took seconds!!! Also, since I got pregnant, I just can't stand the smell of ground beef cooking or eating it. This chilli was totally different - I loved it. Oh, quick tip though - the recipe portions don't seem like a lot, but it made SO MUCH chilli, it lasted us for almost 4 days (I was taking some for lunch too)!
So, I hope you'll check out the book. Oh, and I'll be sure to take a picture next time.
Happy Cooking! :)