Ventures In Wordpress

I'm trying to get my life sorted and move this blog over to wordpress. While I slowly transfer everything over there, I'm going to maintain this site. To be honest, it's a lot more confusing to someone with very few tech skillz, I will get there one day.. until then, it's blogger baby!

This morning I went for a power walk after I ate breakfast as a break between papers that I had to get done for school this week (I don't like doing homework during the week, or on the weekends, but especially during the week).. Then I came home and ate an early lunch, due to my early brekkie.

So for Lunch I had 1/4C Egg Whites with one whole egg, wilted spinach, goat cheddar and one corn thin (ohhh and ketchup, incase you hadn't noticed)

With lunch I also noshed on a apple and some AB after my eggful delight.

Then, I decided to go for another walk over to a bookstore by my house (again, trying to sort out wordpress- I need to talk to the boys in my program, something tells me I don't need to buy a book for this). When I got home I made a quick snack of goat yogurt, blueberries, cheerios and granola... and some PB pretzels (not shown, but damn good).

For dinner, I made a salad with candied walnuts, blue cheese and apple, with a balsamic-agave-mustard dressing; roasted cauliflower and some balsamic onion/shrooms to go on the steak. It was so filling and so delicious, I just kept eating it! It's Sunday- that's what I do.. eat. everything.

Then after dinner, we had cake! Orange Angel Foodish cake. It had an orange glaze and chocolate ice cream to go with. Neither are pictured since I was too busy stuffing my face to take photos.

Hope you all had relaxing Sundays. I'll be seeing you all tomorrow!

A Day of New Ventures

Chia seeds in my oatmeal at breakfast, and spinach in my smoothie for an afternoon snack! Today is turning my life around people! Or at least blogging and having all wonderful ideas floating my way through this wonderful way of communications.

After I ate lunch (salad; with tuna, corn, pepper and crackers crunched on top), I went off an taught a little bootcamp to some high school kids. They were hilarious! So tired by the end of it. I remember when I was in high school thinking I was uber fit and could do just about anything, boy, was I wrong!

Alas, that ended at 1:30 and I whipped downtown to meet with the Sexual Assault Centre about volunteering for their annual Triathlon. Needless to say I am on board and so excited to be volunteering with such a great organization. I'm sure I will have lot's more to talk about as my adventure with them progresses, but right now, I'm just excited to get started. I met with an organizer there for about 40minutes and decided we'd meet next week when she had a better idea of where we were going with it.

I managed to drop the marathon bomb on her as well, because let's be honest, I need to make sure I do this after I've talked about it so much. So right after that, I whipped to the running store, filled out my registration and I'm all set. Watch for bib 2354 running down the road if you're there in May, I'll be wearing it! (oh god!)

Once that was said and done, I got home and whipped myself up a "Green Monster" it turned out to be more of a Pink-Grey Teddy bear. I missed the boat on the Spinach (by not putting enough in) and mixed up a scoop of brown rice protein powder, spinach, frozen blueberries, raspberries, soy milk and half a banana. It tasted wonderful, but I think I need to readjust my fruit to spinach ratio. Quick question for you though- smoothies without bananas? Are they just as smooth? I have a hard time imagining it without, or remembering to days without, but I do wonder.. let me know if you have a good banana replacement, maybe I could give that a go.

Wish me luck! I'm off for the night, out for dinner with the manfriend and then getting up early in the morning for my first clinic.. New friends- ahhh!

(fake make) Spaghetti

Ok, so in my cooking I'm a serious cheater. All over the shop, I like to mix and match recipes as well as cheat my way to healthier options.

Tonight I made spaghetti squash. I cut the squash lengthwise and placed it in an oven at 350 for 30minutes face down on a sprayed (with olive oil) cookie sheet. You want to be able to stick a sharp knife into it and have it give you little resistance- feels kind of like steamed veggies.

As the squash was cooking away, I then chopped up an onion, 2 cloves of garlic and sauteed them on medium high heat until transparent. From there, I added ground turkey and cooked that amongst the onion and garlic. Once the meat was browned I added a jar of Newman's Own pasta sauce, a dash of balsamic and some extra basil and oregano, I let it simmer until the squash had finished cooking (one this large was closer to 45-50mins then 30).

There you have it, easiest dinner EVER! Well- cereal is probably easier, but not as delicious!

Lunch, as pictured wayyy up above was leftovers from last night, and the last bits of tofu from the night before. After my lunch I went for a little walk and did some homework before having a snack of some corn thins& AB/RFJ... after dinner I ate a navel orange, straight from Florida and a couple cups of tea and snuck in another power walk-- all this homework is driving my brain crazy, so I figured it's time to move.. I can only sit at my computer for so long before I go stir crazy..

Happy Hump Day! Congrats on making it through!

Cooking: More Fun than Homework

Ohh baby, snack time! I got home from school today pretty darn hungry, so whipped myself up a little salad with balsamic and olive oil on it, it wasn't hitting the spot so I also chopped a pear into the mix and it was just right.. (especially since I spread a little goat cheese and RFJ on a corn thin after)

Following that venture, I got out the old food processor. In it was 4 roasted red peppers, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 can of chickpeas, a dollop of tahini, juice of one and a half lemons, olive oil (probs 1-2TBS) and salt/pepp... I hit the magic button and BOOM:

This lovely mixture presented itself to me, sweet and savory and nothing but goodness for you. I love it! I've never made a roasted red pepper hummus, I knew how to make hummus and just chucked in the red peppers and hoped for the best-- I got better than what I could have asked for.

Quick tip with it: if you find it's a bit dry and don't want to add too much olive oil, just throw some water into it, it works well and there's enough flavor you won't have to worry.

Here's dinner (obviously I ate more veggies and grapes than shown, but I just hadn't loaded them on my plate by that point):

3/4 of a WW pita with my hummus, 1/2 a chicken breast (marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and pepper), cucumber, and spinach-- Also, after my little avo snack, because we had such a late dinner I snacked on some rice chips and salsa.. any kind of tortilla chip and I are basically lovers, just sayin'...

Hey Clouds- Get Lost!

Another cloudy day here in Victoria. I'm about ready for them to get out of here and move onto the interior, we're supposed to be living in a tropical island (in my dreams) and this is just making reality even harder to bear.

So, I woke up this morning after a glorious 9.5 hour sleep. I think that may be too much, but I went lights out at 10:30 and woke up just before 8 with no alarm, so obviously that's what my body wanted.... and what my body wants, it gets. ha, unless it's cheap chocolate or chips, I try to maintain a standard.

After waking up, I got on my black leggings and chugged a liter of water. I actually made 2 breakfasts this morning. I only ate one, but I couldn't decide what I wanted until one was made and I wanted the other. I figure if I don't fix that craving right away it'll be a day of them.. So I made my second breakfast.

I slapped some almond butter and agave nectar onto some corn thins with a banana and as I was making them, I managed to scoop an extra scoop of almond butter into my mouth (it slipped- I swear).

While I was putting that together, I took my leftover salad from last night and some tofu, popped that into a container with some Little Creek dressing on it and peeled myself a grapefruit for later. I get a little munchy just having this, as it truly isn't that many cals, so I also made 2AB/J corn thin sammys to have in the afternoon before coming home for some bend and flex with Eoinn Finn, my best friend on DVD.

So there you have it, my relaxing, yet productive morning, of two breakfasts a lunch and a snack, all while consuming a pot of coffee, before I grab my tea and head out the door pretending I don't drink coffee the rest of the day!

TGIT

I would be saying that tomorrow, but as it turns out with my schedule, Thursdays are my Fridays. We have 3 day weekends in this "fast forward" program that I'm in.. Although the workload seems like a lot during the week, all is forgiven by the time Thursday evening rolls around.

Today, I was up with the run rise. I had called a friend last night in hopes of getting a partner keen for a 7am run, but I didn't hear anything back from her until 6:30am; it wasn't my alarm going, it was Deanne telling me about how she'd love to go for a run with me. What timing she has, I was about to roll over and turn off my alarm, because I'm getting used to my sleepy ways and starting to enjoy an 8am wake-up. The student life= life of luxury (or at least big sleeps).

So, as I went out this morning, I wasn't only greeted by the cold, but also by a friendly face. Conversation flowed and by the time we got down towards the water the sun was just coming over the horizon. We haven't seen the sun here in over a week, so it was as if we'd been given a second life at the site. It was amazing, it was orange and pink against the dark clouds and made every trees' silhouette pop against the bright early morning sky. It was just what I needed to keep me motivated through my day and get me out the door for next week on those early runs.

It's funny how fast you can forget that good feeling get on a 7am run..

For my food today, I had my oatmeal combo for breakfast; followed by a salad of greens with yellow pepper and cucumber (dressed in olive oil and balsamic), a mini can of tuna and 2 kiwis; my afternoon snack consisted of a couple corn thins with AB and jam (always 100% fruit); and then my second afternoon snack was blue corn tortilla nachos with goat cheese and salsa (apparently I needed salt-- and energy for teaching Bootcamp tonight- hills galore); and tonight's dinner will be a tofu broccoli combo- something fast and easy for after class so I can rush back out to meet up with friends.

That is all from me today, we'll chat tomorrow when the rest of you get on weekend time.

Wednesday: In a Nut Shell

If this was journalism, I would need a nut grab in my story to grab your attention. Lucky for me, I can leave the nut grab behind and just let what I feel flow out onto the screen.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I should be embarrassed that I find the term "nut grab" funny in my fourth year of university, I'm going to go with not for the sake of this post.

This morning I started my day waking up at 8am with a little more energy then earlier in the week, which was a bit of a relief; I can't wait to wake up in the morning with energy again, this head cold is putting me to bed early and making me sleep in late. All I seem to do right now is sip tea, sit, sleep and wait for my energy to return. I need to be more patient, but I'm not, maybe that will be one of next month's resolutions.

So for brekkie this morning I decided against the usual bowl of oats and mixed things up. I sliced up an apple and dumped some goat yogurt on it (yes- I'm slightly lactarded- I pretend I'm not some days though- you'll see) and topped that with organic granola and a couple frozen raspberries for style. It was pretty good, less filling then the oats, but a good change up from what was starting to be a creepy routine.

I followed up my brekkie with this lunch: leftovers from last night (recipe in previous post). Instead of dumping a bunch of brown rice on it, I just had a little bit and then filled it up with romaine hearts instead. I followed this, with 2 kiwis to feed my sweet tooth.

When I got home from school (my days go 10am-3pm) I was starving, so I snacked on corn thins with almond butter and also ate a piece of a chicken breast (apparently I didn' t want to wait for myself to finish making the corn thin/almond butter combo- patience that I lack).

After having a cup of ginger tea and working on a paper, I popped in my Eoin Finn Pursuit of Happy Hips dvd and got to bending and flexing. I love his yoga dvds because they're based on the concept of flow; uniting your breath with your body movement. I usually find it quite hard to do yoga at home with a dvd, but he offers them in different lengths so that I'm never bored enough to hit the skip button. So, I completed an hour of yoga before dinner, and I was feeling quite blissful by the time dinner rolled around.

For dinner I steamed up some broccoli and tofu (I do about 2 cups of broccoli--I'm obsessed) with some more brown rice on top. It was good, but not good enough, so I tossed back a corn thin sandwich (AB and real fruit jam) and 3 pieces of dark chocolate to tie it all together; needless to say I was goooood.

So now, I'm sitting at home with a cup of tea, listening to Kenny Chesney sing me sweet nothings (I'm Alive) and I think I may just retire for the evening.

Good night!

Tuesday!

Well- last night was a bit of a bust. I was in bed by 9:30 having taken cold meds and still hoping that today I would be able to get up in the morning and head out for a 6am run... Needless to say, it didn't happen.

A blaring alarm woke me up at 6, 6:05, 6:15, then 7 (since I decided I could squeeze one in getting up at 7), then 7:30; and then finally at 8am (or 8:01, but who's counting) I was able roll out of bed and into some clothes for the day.

So much for me and my early bird ways getting the worm. I'm just going to hold off on that promise until the sun starts rising when I do.

After rolling out of bed, I decided to go with the usual oatmeal combo (less thinking) and went for some creativity in my lunch, I made a nice little salad with smoked tofu, raspberries, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber (dressed with reduced balsamic and mustard--why mustard? Cause I'm a loser and wasn't thinking straight-- changed the whole flavor of my nice little salad); then for a snack I had a grapefruit (mid morning); and after lunch before taking off on my run I had some corn thins with almond butter, and my favorite real fruit jam (raspberry-always).

Today I took off on my run at around four and went for 57minutes. I think it was around 11 or 12km. I don't know exactly, but I would say closer to 12 then 11, I felt good for about the first 30 minutes and then I started getting weird stomach cramps and had to take it easy for the last 26.

Music of choice you may be wondering (I don't know if you are, but I often wonder what people are listening to as I run past them with their headphones in) was Robin Thicke's Sex Therapy album for the first 30 and then a little Taylor Swift to carry me on home. I wanted to go for a slower mix because I feel like if I listen to slower music, I may run at a slower pace (less pain), but that's not always the case.. sometimes I'm just in pain listening to slow music. Today wasn't so bad though.

Tonight for dinner I'm cooking up a chicken and olive dish with brown rice. It's a new recipe, so I'll let you know how it goes, and if it's any good, will make sure I post up the recipe tomorrow morning, with perhaps a photo.

Until then..

Rainy Monday

Today I woke up with my head in the clouds. I have a head cold. Not good for anything but sitting and wanting to curl up with my down duvet and a book (unrelated to school).

I didn't manage to make it out for my 6am run this morning as planned, but I did get out of bed and off to school for what seemed like the longest day of my life. I'm just thankful it's over.

Today started off with a bowl of oatmeal (1/2 cup for those wondering), bran buds, banana and peanut butter; with lunch came veggies and chicken with 2 kiwis; afternoon snack of 2 corn thin sandwiches with almond butter and real fruit jam; and right now I just polished off a snack that consisted of a pear, almonds and dried blueberries in attempt to get my energy up for the gym.

So after my almondy snack, I took off down and indoor bootcamp class at the studio I work at (bdhq.ca) and did an evening workout which managed to get me starving for dinner. Dinner was a bowl of lovely pea soup (recipe to follow).

Now it's time for me to leave my blog and hit the books, I've got a paper to write, which just doesn't sound like much fun.. Maybe with a ginger tea it will be (doubtful).

Until tomorrow--