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!

What's for dinner?

After I got off to a rocking start this morning with a bowl full of oaty goodness and a nice run, things came to a sudden halt at school. School. Enough said.

The way that my course is broken down, we have 4 classes 4 days a week for 4 hours a day. Our terms are only 10 weeks, so it's a lot of work in a little time, but we're done our BA in one straight year.

So school, being school in January was mediocre. I tried to liven my life up with some veggies mid morning, but that didn't exactly tickle my fancy. So what did I do? I skipped the afternoon of course to go and hang out with my boyfriend. We've both been super busy and not been able to catch up with one another, so having an extra hour or two in my day is always nice, especially when I get to spend it with the gent.

After my veggies/skipping school venture, I came home and made myself a quick lunch of green salad with mary's rice crackers and some left over tri tip from Sunday's dinner, I followed that up with a couple pieces of mango and went for a drive to the airport to drop my dad off.

I went on by the health food store on my way home and finally decided to get on the Chia bandwagon. Not sure if I'll like them, but I bought a lot, so I'm hoping they're not half bad.. Let me know if you have any great recipes for them. I'd love to hear!

I came home from the grocery store with some new yogi tea to try, whipped up a pot and got back to my books. I lasted a good two hours and then had to start making dinner.

So- What's for dinner? Sesame tofu (soy sauce, mirin (or rice vinegar), firm tofu, sesame oil, garlic and ginger) with roasted buttercup squash and cauliflower. Not going to lie, I went back for 2nds on the cauliflower (roasted at 425 for 20minutes with olive oil and salt/pepp-- to perfection!), we also had an apple to munch on at the dinner table afterwards, so I polished off half of that.. I was so full all I could really squeeze in for dessert was a piece of my favorite Denman Island dark chocolate, so rich and so smooth, 70% cocao- I feel like it's good for me!

Three cheers for Monday being over, onto Tuesday!

Hungry Friday

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face for two reasons: it's Friday, which means I don't have class today week; and it's Friday which means I don't have class until Monday.

So what did I do next? Made a pot of coffee and got out the homework of course! I love the fact that I avoid papers and projects with more paper and projects. Next week alone I have a paper due Monday, Wednesday and a debate on Thursday (not to mention the paper that I handed in today). But fear not, Mondays paper has been completed and submitted, both of them! As was todays paper (that was handed in yesterday) which means, I'm free to relax until Sunday (then homework will have to be put back on the 'to do' list).

Something I've been obsessing over though the last couple of weeks is finding a job placement in China to go teach overseas and check out a new culture (making this blog far more entertaining I'm sure).. I'm looking for suggestions, have any?

Meals, Meals, Meals:

Breakfast was my oatmeal/banana combo that you know of

A mid morning snack was a chunk of a protein bar-- kind of gross tasting when you don't eat them on a regular basis (Think protein bars)

Then for a late lunch I had some pho (vietnamese soup- tofu and veg) and an apple

Pre dinner snack was a bit of goat yogurt with grapes and a Tb of granola

Dinner was going to be a salad with goat cheese and figs, but changed to 3egg whites and a whole egg scrambled with some goat cheese, 2 corn thins and ketchup-- yes, ketchup (it's Friday, so might as well 'go nuts')

And then my post dinner snack, you ask? ICECREAM and peanut butter with chocolate chips on top... I looooove Fridays! And then, because that wasn't enough, popcorn, hot air popped..

**I would normally leave this out, but let's be honest, we ALL do it, and I just did.. eat your hearts out! haha

Goat Yog and Eggs (yummm)

Fitness today, since I know you're probably dying to know was a 5km run (in 20mins) down to the studio and then a 50minute circuit class (where my abs just got murdered). It felt great to get out for another run kind of mid morning, but I do prefer getting out before I eat, it just feels better... unless I really plan it, but today wasn't one of those days.

There you have it, my friday, a hungry one, but a good one all the same, have fantastic evenings and I'll see you tomorrow!

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--