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Mika's 'Getting Ready for Geddy' thread!


Mika
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Alright, here's the thing. It's just kind of dawned on me that the Rush concert I'm going to go to is about seven weeks away now. Now, months ago, one of my little personal goals was to be in 'great shape' for the show. You see, it's become increasingly apparent that I've become a little 'fluffier', to use a friend's term, over the past while, and am getting tired of my pants feeling a little, well, snugger.

 

I need to haul my butt and commit myself to making positive changes, so that I can feel a little more comfortable in my own skin (not to mention my clothes) at the upcoming concert. And, having a goal to look good for Geddy, should he just so happen to glance at me in the massive sea of concert-goers, is a pretty darn good motivator!

 

So, this is going to be a rather selfish thread - it's going to keep me motivated by making me keep track of my progress here. What I'd like to do is check in every couple of days or so, type in how I'm doing (and what I'm doing) to de-fluff myself. I'm not going to pretend that many of you will be enthralled with this thread (I'm sure it won't be terribly exciting!), but if anyone wants to join in, please feel free!

 

For the record: I'm not really overweight - over the past while I've been quite lax in my reasonably-regular exercising, and though I keep active through walking (I don't have a car, and it's a good half-hour walk to and from work), it hasn't been enough to off-set the increased amount of crap I've been eating (I do work very long hours in a restaurant, after all...). I've lost muscle tone, and though I'm on the thin side, I've developed a bit of a thicker belly that is really annoying me!

 

So, my plan: I will keep active watch over my eating habits, making sure I'm eating mostly healthy foods rather than just whatever is yummiest / easiest. I will make better plans around taking my own food to work with me, which has been a challenge due to my load constraints because of walking. I will actually start exercising again, with lifting free weights and using my cross-trainer (and using a favourite exercise method involving playing video games whilst on the cross-trainer!).

 

I don't expect to suddenly become all perfect-bodied in seven short weeks, but I think I have enough time to reverse some of this fluffiness at least a little bit, which would be fine. And to solidify my goal, and kind of put it out there to anyone reading this, this is what I'd like to get back to, taken three years ago (three years already?!):

 

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g454/GoddessMika/Img_7773-2_zpsea35961b.jpg

 

Alrighty, I'm embarrassed now - this is really putting myself out there! :S

 

Well, I'll likely add more tomorrow night, and mention what good things I'll have done for myself tomorrow day!

 

Alright, let the benevolent narcissism begin! :madra:

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:cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader:
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Ohhhh myyyyyyy.

 

I am getting ready for Geddy as well. Last time I saw him on tour I was 12 pounds lighter. The most recent time I saw him I had only allowed myself one meal that day and was wearing spanx. :(

 

Yes, I bought spanx for Geddy Lee. *cries*

 

So I thought I would be at my goal weight, which is 125-135 the next time I saw Geddy because I was 140. Well, I'm a bit more than that and I'm only 5'4. A lot has been going on this year and instead of crying I do other things like become a B*tch and eat a lot of food. Now I have LESS THAN TWO MONTHS before I am in SLC and Denver shaking it. The issue is, I don't want too much to shake. I want to be skinny(skinnier). Geddy is in great shape so I use him as my motivation because even though I was in better shape last time I saw him, he could still run circles around me. Yesterday as I was walking home from the gym I decided to try and jog half of the way, which I haven't done before. Not only that I decided to force myself to run up a thigh busting hill instead of taking the gradual climb back home. Well, I told myself to imagine that Geddy was at the top of the hill waiting for me.

 

I was almost there, almost. Then all of the sudden I kind of threw up and almost fainted in front of an elderly couple out for a walk... No bueno. Luckilly there was a "No Parking" sign that I was able to lean on until I could gain my composure again.

 

Anyway, blah blah blah. If you want somebody to keep track of things with, list things with, etc... I will totally be happy to just come in here and do that or if you want to message me that is great too. Let me know.

 

Annddddd. www.myfitnesspal.com is a site I highly recommend, they also have an app.

Edited by gangsterfurious
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Ladies! Ladies! Fret no more!! I bring you glad tidings of Geddy-fied news!!!

 

:codger:

 

To help you in your weight loss campaign, I will send you my husband. Guaranteed to make you rail thin just in the nick of time for the concert.

 

Postage and handling included in the package deal~ ;) ;) ;)

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Ladies! Ladies! Fret no more!! I bring you glad tidings of Geddy-fied news!!!

 

:codger:

 

To help you in your weight loss campaign, I will send you my husband. Guaranteed to make you rail thin just in the nick of time for the concert.

 

Postage and handling included in the package deal~ ;) ;) ;)

 

Is he going to do this by stressing us out?

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Good luck to you girls! I promised myself I would be in better shape for the Rush concert in Atlantic City and I was. However, I have decided that for the next tour I will get VIP tickets so I am starting now to get my you know what in gear. :LOL:

 

Ah, what we do for those guys...

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I'm in the same boat, OP. It's really difficult! I've been pushing myself to workout more because I've gotten a bit too fluffy for my taste. It's a test of will to ignore those tempting foods, especially when my roommate can eat anything she wants and loves sugar.

 

It's sometimes hard for me to get motivated because I have back pain and hip pain that on some days render me incapable of even sitting up normally. I've been trying really hard to stay positive though!

 

I'm all for cheering you on! In a process of change, everyone needs a little support and encouragement.

 

Keep :rush: ing on for :geddy:! You got this! :cheerleader:

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Thanks for the comments thus far, ladies (and gentleman)! It's heartening (and funny!) to know that I'm not alone in wanting to look good for the boys, or to even just use them as an excuse to get in better shape. Thanks for the cheers, Babycat! Gangster, sorry to hear about your barfing incident! :( Lorraine, I hope your husband isn't too much a stress for you! (Does he share your appreciation of Rush, BTW?) Frippy: VIP tickets, eh? Are they the ones that give you a random spot in the first fifteen rows? Wouldn't it be amazing to get first row? :) Retrospective: that sucks about the body pains. I hope you eventually overcome them! And D3strukt: thanks for the feedback, and I wish I could drum to Rush! I would really, really love to try my hand at drumming, and somewhere in this forum I read about a workout that involves people wielding drum sticks and aerobically pounding around with them; it looked really cool!

 

So, first little update: I slept in today (argh!), though I guess it's to be expected after working 13 hours yesterday and not getting home until close to 2am. I did a few exercises in the morning and spent an hour watering the garden outside - today's been the first warm, sunny day in about a week, and I'd been letting Mother Nature water my yard for me! My healthiest food today was a smoothie made of bananas, celery (yes, celery!), and vanilla yogurt - really yummy! Tasted like caramel, oddly. And, it being a day of celebrating my boyfriend's birthday (which was yesterday but I'd been working all day! :(), we went out for a meal and had cake after at his parents' place, so I stuffed myself with not-so-healthy food (well, not really unhealthy, but not as healthy as I'd intended today!)

 

I'll rate today's Getting Ready for Geddy-ness on a scale of 0-10 as 6. Not horrible, not fabulous!

 

Now to get some sleep and prepare myself for a nice workout tomorrow before breakfast*!

 

*I'm not an advocate of working out on an empty, or more specifically, hungry, stomach, but I've found that making myself a melon smoothie (dicing up a honeydew or cantaloupe and blending it) and having a few sips during working out, and then finishing it afterwards, makes me feel really good in the tummy department. I have more energy than any other work-out method!

Edited by Mika
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Here's a tip to cut the appetite that I thought I would pass on. It may not be healthy, but it does work. Eat a handful of peanuts or almonds or cashews - whatever type of you like - or some potato chips or pretzels. At least for me, it leaves me feeling full for hours.

 

Mika, alas, no! My better half doesn't share my enthusiasm for Rush.

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Thanks for the comments thus far, ladies (and gentleman)! It's heartening (and funny!) to know that I'm not alone in wanting to look good for the boys, or to even just use them as an excuse to get in better shape. Thanks for the cheers, Babycat! Gangster, sorry to hear about your barfing incident! :( Lorraine, I hope your husband isn't too much a stress for you! (Does he share your appreciation of Rush, BTW?) Frippy: VIP tickets, eh? Are they the ones that give you a random spot in the first fifteen rows? Wouldn't it be amazing to get first row? :) Retrospective: that sucks about the body pains. I hope you eventually overcome them! And D3strukt: thanks for the feedback, and I wish I could drum to Rush! I would really, really love to try my hand at drumming, and somewhere in this forum I read about a workout that involves people wielding drum sticks and aerobically pounding around with them; it looked really cool!

 

So, first little update: I slept in today (argh!), though I guess it's to be expected after working 13 hours yesterday and not getting home until close to 2am. I did a few exercises in the morning and spent an hour watering the garden outside - today's been the first warm, sunny day in about a week, and I'd been letting Mother Nature water my yard for me! My healthiest food today was a smoothie made of bananas, celery (yes, celery!), and vanilla yogurt - really yummy! Tasted like caramel, oddly. And, it being a day of celebrating my boyfriend's birthday (which was yesterday but I'd been working all day! :(), we went out for a meal and had cake after at his parents' place, so I stuffed myself with not-so-healthy food (well, not really unhealthy, but not as healthy as I'd intended today!)

 

I'll rate today's Getting Ready for Geddy-ness on a scale of 0-10 as 6. Not horrible, not fabulous!

 

Now to get some sleep and prepare myself for a nice workout tomorrow before breakfast*!

 

*I'm not an advocate of working out on an empty, or more specifically, hungry, stomach, but I've found that making myself a melon smoothie (dicing up a honeydew or cantaloupe and blending it) and having a few sips during working out, and then finishing it afterwards, makes me feel really good in the tummy department. I have more energy than any other work-out method!

 

Yes, VIP puts you in the first 15 rows.

 

If I got front row in between Alex and Geddy I don't know what I would do. :drool:

 

I know what my husband would do, keep telling me to knock it off! hehe... :LOL:

Edited by frippy
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Yesterday: I had another glorious day off work (yippee!), and had a huge house-cleaning day! :)

 

Good things: did my morning exercises, had a healthy lunch, went for a 40-minute walk, did a medium-sized evening work-out, and jumped on the stepper for as long as I could (until it started squeaking horribly - must try to lubricate it or something!) while simultaneously playing Castlevania, SOTN for PlayStation.

 

Bad things: finished off a bag of my favourite bbq chips and used up some old cheesy bread in the form of a baked bread-and-shredded-cheese casserole.

 

So, in relativity, I'll give yesterday an 8. My chest feels sore from doing lots of push-ups, and it's a good feeling! :)

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Thanks for the comments thus far, ladies (and gentleman)! It's heartening (and funny!) to know that I'm not alone in wanting to look good for the boys, or to even just use them as an excuse to get in better shape. Thanks for the cheers, Babycat! Gangster, sorry to hear about your barfing incident! :( Lorraine, I hope your husband isn't too much a stress for you! (Does he share your appreciation of Rush, BTW?) Frippy: VIP tickets, eh? Are they the ones that give you a random spot in the first fifteen rows? Wouldn't it be amazing to get first row? :) Retrospective: that sucks about the body pains. I hope you eventually overcome them! And D3strukt: thanks for the feedback, and I wish I could drum to Rush! I would really, really love to try my hand at drumming, and somewhere in this forum I read about a workout that involves people wielding drum sticks and aerobically pounding around with them; it looked really cool!

 

So, first little update: I slept in today (argh!), though I guess it's to be expected after working 13 hours yesterday and not getting home until close to 2am. I did a few exercises in the morning and spent an hour watering the garden outside - today's been the first warm, sunny day in about a week, and I'd been letting Mother Nature water my yard for me! My healthiest food today was a smoothie made of bananas, celery (yes, celery!), and vanilla yogurt - really yummy! Tasted like caramel, oddly. And, it being a day of celebrating my boyfriend's birthday (which was yesterday but I'd been working all day! :(), we went out for a meal and had cake after at his parents' place, so I stuffed myself with not-so-healthy food (well, not really unhealthy, but not as healthy as I'd intended today!)

 

I'll rate today's Getting Ready for Geddy-ness on a scale of 0-10 as 6. Not horrible, not fabulous!

 

Now to get some sleep and prepare myself for a nice workout tomorrow before breakfast*!

 

*I'm not an advocate of working out on an empty, or more specifically, hungry, stomach, but I've found that making myself a melon smoothie (dicing up a honeydew or cantaloupe and blending it) and having a few sips during working out, and then finishing it afterwards, makes me feel really good in the tummy department. I have more energy than any other work-out method!

 

Yes, VIP puts you in the first 15 rows.

 

If I got front row in between Alex and Geddy I don't know what I would do. :drool:

 

I know what my husband would do, keep telling me to knock it off! hehe... :LOL:

 

We scored front row with VIP twice. Let me just say I am grateful that my husband was so mesmerized by Alex's playing and didn't hear the things I was screaming at Geddy like "Geddy I love you!!!" over and over again and "Geddy, you are the sexiest man EVER!!!"

 

Hehehehehe.

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Yesterday: I had another glorious day off work (yippee!), and had a huge house-cleaning day! :)

 

Good things: did my morning exercises, had a healthy lunch, went for a 40-minute walk, did a medium-sized evening work-out, and jumped on the stepper for as long as I could (until it started squeaking horribly - must try to lubricate it or something!) while simultaneously playing Castlevania, SOTN for PlayStation.

 

Bad things: finished off a bag of my favourite bbq chips and used up some old cheesy bread in the form of a baked bread-and-shredded-cheese casserole.

 

So, in relativity, I'll give yesterday an 8. My chest feels sore from doing lots of push-ups, and it's a good feeling! :)

 

Yesterday I was off work so I had a two hour workout. I walked to the gym and then back home. While at the gym I climbed the Empire State Building, which is when I get on the stairmaster and do 102 floors. Then I power walked 2 miles on the treadmill and then did 25 minutes of weight machines. It was all completely undone with dinner but I'm not very many calories over. I also took my "son" and my "doghter-in-law" (neighbor's dog) on a 45 minute walk, so all in all pretty good but still stress eating, I just need to cut the calories.

 

Also, tried to make a smoothie yesterday, what a disaster. The recipe called for a beat, romaine lettuce leaf, celery, parsley, almond milk, and cinnamon. More barfing almost ensued after taking one sip. That smoothie will never again happen under my roof. *shakes fist* NEVER AGAIN!

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The Stats

 

Ok, here's some info about the starting point. I'm 5'6", and according to the scale at the gym (which I've calculated to be 8 pounds too high, as compared with any other scale I've tried over the years - I think the scale is set for gym-going men that want to be 'huge'!) I'm 138lbs. So let's say 130. Now, I'm not concerned with the number on a scale. I go by how my clothes are fitting and if there's jiggle when I'm walking and that kind of thing. So there's no weight goal. All this number is telling me is that I'm about 6 pounds heavier than I was five years ago, and considering I had more muscle tone then, and muscle weighs more than fat, I'll assume that I've got about 10 pounds more fat than I really need, which is apparent in how my 'old' pants fit!

 

Alright, so 138 pounds. Moving on.

 

I measured out my waist and hips, etc., and this is what I got:

waist: 38" (used to be 25-26")

hips: 36.5" (I think this was an inch less before)

butt: 39" (I have junk in my trunk! I'm sure it was a couple of inches less before!)

 

Here also is a picture I took on June 3rd:

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g454/GoddessMika/Img_0665-2_zps0a136d8e.jpg

 

Gawd, I'm getting brave.

 

So, it's really not that different from that other picture from three years ago, but there's less toning, I notice. I think the biggest difference is the snugger fit of clothes, which can't be seen in this photo.

 

Alright, so these are the numbers for the starting point! Let's see how mid-July finds me!

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Update

 

My boyfriend was hogging the computer last night, so I didn't have a chance to do an update.

 

The day before yesterday I had an awesome work-out at the gym! (BTW, gangster, your work-out sounds really good! I miss the stair-climber - I haven't used it in years! And sorry to hear about your smoothie - it really doesn't sound that yummy! :( Right now I'm sipping on a pear-apple-cinnamon smoothie - I gotta have fruit in my smoothies, though I like adding greens, like spinach or kale, or celery. Love celery in my smoothies!) Anyway. My work-out was nearly two hours long, with some good butt-kicking cross-trainer cardio and tons of weight machines and free weights. I kicked my legs' butt! Yesterday I did my usual morning routine and walked to and from work, and that was about it.

 

But while I'm upping my physical activity side, I know that the nutrition side is equally, if not more, important. I have such a comfort-food tooth, where I want yummy things like pasta and garlic bread after a long day of work instead of healthier things like green smoothies or big salads. So I'm going to concentrate on making better choices more often, rather than deprive myself or beat myself up for making a 'bad' choice instead of a 'good' one. I've been taking more smoothies to work, which are great to sip on through the night, rather than nibble on fries or other 'bad' things like that.

 

Oh, and last night I was walking home after work, about midnight, and I ended up walking in front of this guy, and since I'm not really comfortable with being a lone girl walking around late at night with men lurking around, I booted it up the hill home. And I mean, booted it! The first song that came on on my ipod happened to be 'The Fountain of Lamneth', and I actually got home before the song was over! (It's usually a just-under half-hour walk) That was some very impressive speed-walking, and all uphill! Yay, butt work-out!

 

Well, that's all for now!

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Extra

 

I've often been asked (and by often, I mean once) what my favourite piece of exercise equipment is.

 

Dice.

 

That's right, dice.

 

I like leaving things open to randomness, which is why I always have my ipod on 'shuffle' and sometimes construct playlists using a random generator. It adds an element of fun and spontaneity to things. So, here's what I do in terms of using dice with my work-outs:

 

Since we are a household leaning to the geeky side, we have an abundance of multi-sided dice. For my usual, at-home, free-weight work-outs, I select two dice: a 10-sided one, and a regular 6-sided one. I will roll both before each exercise I do, and the dice will determine what I do and for how many reps. The 10-sided one denotes what type of exercise (1 = abs, 2 = back, 3 = biceps, 4 = chest, 5 = legs, 6 = shoulders, 7 = triceps, 8 = cardio (like jumping jacks or burpees), 9 = compound exercise (like doing shoulder presses from a squat position), 0 = whatever I want (usually legs). The 6-sided die denotes how many repetitions. Currently, 1 or 2 means one rep, 3, 4, or 5 means two reps, and 6 means three reps. Sometimes I make 'em all equal and have 5 indicate three reps, too.

 

10-sided die:

1 = abs

2 = back

3 = biceps

4 = chest

5 = legs

6 = shoulders

7 = triceps

8 = cardio

9 = compound exercise

10 = whatever I want

 

6-sided die:

1 = one rep

2 = one rep

3 = two reps

4 = two reps

5 = two reps (or three, depending how I feel)

6 = three reps

 

Does this make sense?

 

So, if I start exercising, I'll roll the dice (or bones, if you will!). Say I get a 5 on the 10-sided one and a 3 on the 6-sided one. So, I pick a leg exercise (as this is group 5), maybe squats with dumbbells, and do it for two reps. Then I roll again. Say, a 7 and a 2. I do a triceps exercise (maybe Tricpes Kick-back) for one rep. Then I roll a 2 and a 6 - say Back Extension for three reps, and so on. This makes things fun and random, and I don't get bored following the same routine all the time!

 

Also, I have a little morning routine I like to do, also involving dice. I use four of them: the 10-sided and 6-sided, and also an 8-sided and a 4-sided. I roll them all and each number on each die indicates a different exercise to do, which gives me four exercises altogether. Here's the breakdown:

 

10-sided:

each number indicates a random exercise of my choice in each group as explained above, so that a '3' would be a biceps exercise and '8' would be a cardio exercise, and so on.

 

8-sided:

same as for the 10-sided, just with a couple fewer options

 

6-sided:

1 = crunches (50 of 'em)

2 = lunges (stationary or stepping)

3 = push-ups (full ones, and 15)

4 = plank with leg lift

5 = burpees

6 = sun salutation yoga move

 

4-sided:

1 = crunches

2 = push-ups

3 = squats

4 = lunges

 

So each morning, before doing really anything else, I roll the dice and do the exercises twice through. It's quick, it's relatively painless (except for those random times where I have to do two sets of push-ups, twice over... ugh!), and it's completely random, and kinda fun. It's finished quickly and gives me a little kick to get my day started. Now, where I start to suck at this is those days where I just don't have time to do this, and push it off until later, which doesn't end up happening, and I get discouraged that I miss a day, and it all goes to hell from there. Sometimes I have an 'all or nothing' attitude, where if I fail once, instead of picking up my socks and just doing better the next day, I get pouty and give up, which is really rather self-defeating. So, I'm going to try hard to do well, but not expect perfection!

Edited by Mika
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Ugh, these 12-hour work days are really doing my good intentions in! I simply don't have time to be all good and exercise-y! Though I did do some jogging on the way to work today (mainly because I was literally running late, but still...), and at least I have a rather physical job, being on my feet all day. I'm looking forward to my next day off, after another 12-hour work day tomorrow! :S
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Mika.. After reviewing your pics, it's my professional opinion that you do not have a problem! Geddy's going to be more focused on your smile anyway, he's funny that way lol

 

Seriously though you look great to me.. Kudos for having high standards though!

Edited by MMCXII
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Mika.. After reviewing your pics, it's my professional opinion that you do not have a problem! Geddy's going to be more focused on your smile anyway, he's funny that way lol

 

Seriously though you look great to me.. Kudos for having high standards though!

 

Thanks for the kind opinion! ;) And no, I certainly don't think I have a problem. I do know, though, that some of my clothes haven't been fitting that well, and I think this is a good indication to not be so lax in my health, as I've been slacking for the past year or two. And you're right about Geddy noticing smiles rather than... well, boobs or something... I think.... Well, not that I know, but my opinion is that he has more integrity than that, that he's not superficial. One thing that he is also, though, is inspiring in his upkeep of himself - he's keeping his body in darn good shape for a near-60-year-old, and as someone who is half his age, I'd like to follow his example!

 

And.....

 

UPDATE

 

Really late last night I finished back-to-back 14-hour days at work, which really left me no time for doing any exercise things, not even my daily morning exercises. I caught up with them and did a nice exercise session today, and played more Castlevania while on the stepper. I need to get it checked out, though - it starts squeaking after about 20 minutes on it. :( Oh, and I took myself out for a nice walk at sunset, after being out in the garden all day. Tomorrow I will get to the gym again; looking forward to the huge sweat-session!

 

I've decided, too, that I'm going to keep track of everything that I'm doing through earning points, and I'll have a goal of a certain number of points to earn by the time of the concert. Hopefully I'll get that all organized tomorrow.

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Mika.. After reviewing your pics, it's my professional opinion that you do not have a problem! Geddy's going to be more focused on your smile anyway, he's funny that way lol

 

Seriously though you look great to me.. Kudos for having high standards though!

 

Wait...are there face pics with Mika smiling? Or are we just figuring Geddy is too much of a gentleman to care about anything beyond that?

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Mika.. After reviewing your pics, it's my professional opinion that you do not have a problem! Geddy's going to be more focused on your smile anyway, he's funny that way lol

 

Seriously though you look great to me.. Kudos for having high standards though!

 

Wait...are there face pics with Mika smiling? Or are we just figuring Geddy is too much of a gentleman to care about anything beyond that?

 

good point. Ged's a smart man and he knows what he likes.. and Mika curiously left her face out of the pics.. maybe we should have a shot of Mika's smile just to make sure Ged's not disappointed! I mean I'm sure it's a nice smile but we can't be too careful here.. it is Geddy Lee after all!! ;) ;)

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