WIAW 15/01/2014 With a Little Extra Thrown In

How is the week half way through already!?  I feel like I just woke up and it was Monday.  I know I love weekends but I don’t really enjoy when the weekdays go by in a blur.  In an interesting note today I have had the opportunity to take up horse back riding lessons again.  I used to ride and compete back in Jr. High through to University but had to give it up as it became a huge financial commitment.  I think that if I start again, I will make sure that it’s very casual (in formality that is) at least starting out.  To be honest I have missed it like crazy so hopefully I can be back up in the saddle again 🙂

Well seeing as it is Wednesday there should be a little focus on the eats of Wednesday Tuesday.  Thanks Jenn at Peas and Crayons and all who participate for making WIAW such a success!

Breakfast

Before I left for work I did snack on a handful of cereal as I put my actual breakfast together that I eat at work.  That breakfast was coffee followed by a yogurt, fruit, and cereal bowl.  I only had half the banana in the bowl so I saved the other half for a little way into the morning.  It was very satisfying and kept me full until it was snack time.

(old pictures because I was to hungry to remember to take any this morning)

Snack

The morning snack today was a large apple

(file footage again)

followed by some leftover cold pizza that John made on the weekend

(first actual picture of the day. Looks appetizing doesn’t it 😉

Seeing as this WIAW involves fitness as well as food I will include my workout.  Around lunch time I headed to the gym to hit up the treadmill for a 10km run.  I just have to mention again how awesome the ipad mini is and how amazing Netflix is.  It made the run fly by!  But I really can’t wait to get outside running again.

By the time I got back to the office I was more than ready for…

LunchIt sorta fell apart but in the wrap is leftover salmon from Monday nights dinner along with some cheese, veggies and mustard.  On the side were some veggies, hummus, and some Food Should Taste Good Chips (love ’em).

That kept me going for most of the afternoon aside from half a granola bar that I had but didn’t really like, hence only eating half.  It was a Fibre One bar I found in the office kitchen but it tasted kind of chemically and artificial.

After a packed train ride home and a really busy work day I was able to get a little creative in the kitchen and whipped up a chicken Masala from a recipe I had found in my Quinoa Revolution Cookbook —> highly recommend this book for nutritious and quick dinners.

DinnerIn the bowl is the Chicken Masala with Quinoa underneath and a side salad.

hmmmm wasn’t fun part of this WIAW button?  hmmmmmmmmm does taking down the Christmas tree count?  No, I didn’t think so either but it had to get done.  Bye bye tree

I am writing this Tuesday night but I am thinking that the night will end with a little TV/Tea/Snacking time.

Have a great Wednesday!

Questions

1) Have you ever tried Quinoa?  Do you like it?  I have to say I LOVE it!

2) When do you take down your Christmas tree?

3) How do you usually end your nights?

A WIAW/THINKING OUT LOUD/CHRISTMAS RECAP

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful couple of days filled with lots of family, friends, food, love, and a gift or two 🙂

I know things were absolutely fantastic on my side.  I thought for this post I would combine a little WIAW/Thinking Out Loud/Christmas Day recap.  It was really nice to unplug for a day or two but I really need to get my thoughts and goings on written down before I start to forget the details.  Before I get to it I want to say thank you to Jenn and Amanda for hosting.

1) I love Christmas Eve food!  It’s usually such a mash up of delicious yet random foods.  For example…

Here we have a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with PB and banana, caracara orange, and coffee.

Remnants of left over salad with balsamic dressing

Greens smoothie made with 1 banana, about 3/4 cup of frozen fruit medley, a couple of big Kale leaves, milk, and greek yogurt

And the main event….

Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner.  This was plate number one and then I went back for seconds.  This is actually the only day of the year that I usually eat Chinese take out and it is so good!

The above are just a sampling of the foods enjoyed!

2) I don’t know if I can look at another cookie for a couple of days.  I think I may have overdone it and now have a couple of cankers on my tongue

3) I can’t even express how good it was to have my immediate family all together for the last couple of days.  I love them all so much 🙂

4) We had a great chance on Christmas morning to chat with John’s sisters and their families.  I LOVE facetime.  It was so much fun seeing everyone and to experience a little of their day with them.  It looks like all the kiddies were having an absolute blast!

5) I loved catching up with my extended family as well.  My grandparents have been without power for the last couple of days due to the ice storms in Toronto.  I really hope things get back to normal for them today or ASAP!  I am just so happy to know that they are all safe and sound.  It’s just sad that it was a little bit of a downer Christmas but they all really did seem to be making the best of things.  I hope everyone else with families effected by any storms are safe and warm.

6) Christmas morning was so much fun.  John and I woke up in our house and went to check what Santa left us in our stockings 😀  I have some wonderful teas that I am dying to try plus many other goodies (inc. some new Almond butter… how did Santa know ;)).  After opening those we decided to break for breakfast…

Smoked salmon, tomato, red onion, and cream cheese on a pumpernickel bagel (X2) and a cara cara Orange.

We then took off to my parents where we kept on feasting on cheese, crackers, left over Chinese food (BEST), and homemade goodies and…

Champagne and orange juice.  Christmas morning just doesn’t seem right without it!

Eventually we got around to opening gifts!

7) Another couple of the highlights of our  Christmas day were going for a lovely walk in a park by my parents.  It was such a nice and almost warm day and it was fun to see everyone else taking a pre Christmas dinner walk.  After we got back we played a few rounds of Settlers of Catan.  Has anyone else played this game?  If not I highly recommend it!

8) Christmas dinner was absolutely amazing as always.  I don’t think anything can come close to the Turkey and trimming my parents can prepare.  My dad’s stuffing is absolute gold.  I think I could just eat a massive plate of that with a side of my mom’s cranberry sauce.  I really wish my camera didn’t die by this time 😦  But picture golden turkey, plump stuffing, heaps of peas, lovely mashed parsnip and carrots, fluffy mashed potatoes, and this all topped with home made gravy.  Makes me so sad that we won’t see this again until Thanksgiving.

9) I am currently of two minds of whether it would be smart to brave any boxing day sales.  I am thinking I might have better things to do but in the back of my mind I can hear the bargains calling!

10) This was the first Christmas in 16 years where my dog Teddy wasn’t present.  We had to put him down in the summer at the ripe old age of 16.  There definitely a little empty spot felt this Christmas…

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Questions 

1) What do you look forward to the most on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day?

2) Do you have Turkey for Christmas dinner?

3)  Do you like board games?  Have you ever played Settlers?

CHRISTMAS EVE!!

Good Tuesday morning everyone!  Things are really gearing up for Christmas around these parts so I have been pretty bad on the blogging front.  The days have been full of family, food, more food, and shopping.  I am SOOO okay with this.  I guess we left off on Saturday morning.  Since then we have been to a friends for a Christmas party with a table full of wonderful nibbles.  Sunday started off slow but then quickly became busy as we decided to have my parents and my brother over for a wonderful dinner made by John.  He did wonderful braised lamb shanks, wild mushroom risotto, and beats.  My contribution was salad haha.  My parents brought over a homemade pecan pie for dessert. Lots of drinks were had and it was a very merry time 🙂

Monday… I totally missed MIMM oops c’est la vie.  John and I got up early to meet a friend, who we haven’t seen in a few months, for breakfast.  It was so great to catch up and it had been way too long since we had gone out for breakfast.  I think I will always order poached eggs when we go out for breakie!  After breakfast we said goodbye and I took John to a meeting he had for work and then ran more Christmas errands.   I can proudly say I have most of the shopping now done apart from a couple gift certificates.  After that I finished up baking the gingerbread house (or so I thought).  I totally forgot one of the main support walls which I will have to bake today.  I really need to to this earlier next year!  When John was home we decided to grab some lunch at home and then head out for a run.

It was so nice out we just had to take advantage of it.  Our route is starting to get easier which is great!  I love feeling the progression and feeling that I can start upping distances.

The run really helped make room for the wonderful meal my parents prepared for us Monday night.  Salad, pot stickers, homemade lasagna (homemade pasts too!), and two types of pie.  Yes I needed to try both and they of course were a la mode (cherry and chocolate).  We had to turn down the offer of chocolates.

Random Egg Nogg photo 😀

Today (Christmas Eve) is looking like it’s going to be a busy day as well.  We need to pick up groceries for Christmas breakfast, last minute shopping, a little bit of work, baking one last piece of the gingerbread house, wrapping, building the gingerbread house, and last but not least CHINESE FOOD FOR DINNER!!!  A long standing tradition around our house.

I hope everyone has an amazing day and that santa treats you well tomorrow!

Questions:

1) Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

2) Have you finished your shopping?

3) Have you had any bid meals leading up to Christmas?

John’s 30th surprise party!

Good Saturday morning everyone and happy start to the weekend! Well I have officially made it to HOLIDAY TIME!!  And they started off with a bang 🙂  I had been planning John a 30th birthday surprise party for about a month now.  Yes his actual birthday was a couple of weeks ago but GAH it’s so hard to find a Friday or Saturday night during December where there isn’t another birthday or Christmas party.  We had the party at the Newcastle pub that is just a couple of blocks from our house and has a good British theme to it as well as supporting John’s favourite football (soccer) team.  I had everyone arrive to the pub at 6pm and we showed up around 6:15 to find most of John’s nearest and dearest sitting around a table.  I don’t think that he expected a thing judging by the look on his face 😀  Well the night went off great and I think the Ice Cream cake I got for John was a highlight.  Thank you DQ!

Well by the end of the night John looked like this…

And nope he is not feeling to well this morning, but better than I anticipated 🙂  I would say it was a successful night!

Oh and a big congratulations to our friends who we just found out are expecting twin girls in the spring!  We couldn’t be happier for you!

Well I think the rest of the day will be hopefully filled with Christmasy things while John recovers for going over to our friends for dinner tonight!  Let the Christmas cheer commence!

Questions:

1) Have you ever planned a surprise party?

2) If you are a DQ Ice Cream cake fan do you prefer the original or the blizzard cake?

Just two will do today 🙂

Made it!

And then there was….

ONE DAY LEFT!!!  We made it! It’s here!  The last day before two weeks off!  John and I already have some plans for the first couple of days including a pub night tonight, dinner with friends tomorrow night, and Christmas shopping.  I have a feeling these days are going to go by fast!

Well Happy Friday to everyone!  I should likely save this for Monday but it made me laugh so I thought I would share it today…

Cute no?

Alright, how about a little bit of a life recap…

Yesterday went by pretty uneventfully and started off a little like this A recycled picture from earlier in the week but you get the idea.  I think I may have started a bad habit 😉  My breakfast soon followed and was another bowl of overnight oats.  Don’t get me wrong I really like them but man am I craving eggs, waffles, pancakes, French toast… just anything different and special!  Oh just writing this reminded me that I need some Egg Nogg.  It would go so well with most of those breakfast items…. and with some rum and a fire in the evenings!  WOW that was quite the tangent haha.

A lunch time run was then followed by a salmon salad sandwich and copious other bits and pieces such as veggies, crackers, humus, apple, trail mix, chocolate (some pictured and some not)…

 

After work I had to make some returns to the mall downtown.  This has to be the least busy mall in Calgary during off hours (weekends and after work) just don’t go near it between 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.  It is absolutely manic during those times.

I came home to a wonderful pasta dinner and salad that John had cooked up when I walked in.  I think pasta has to be up there on some of my favorite foods along with bread.  So basically last night’s dinner couldn’t be much better as I mopped up the last of my sauce with a piece of bread…. oh perfection.  I spent the rest of the night whipping up a double batch of gingerbread dough…. hmmm I wonder what that is going to be used for 😉  Although I did have a half fail.  As I started my second round of dough I saw the brown sugar sitting on the counter.  Funny, I didn’t put any of that into the first batch…. uh oh…. hahaha we’ll see how it turns out.  I might be making a third batch.  After the dough prep adventures I was more than ready to crash in front of the TV and watch the Modern Family Christmas special…. oh I laughed more than a few times!

Have a great Friday everyone!  Hopefully I have a chance to catch up with you during the weekend!

Questions:

1) What is your favourite sandwich filling?  I think I have to go with tuna or salmon for this one  oooo or left over turkey and cranberry sauce!

2) If you celebrate Christmas are you still working on your shopping or are you done?  I am 50/50 on this one.  I think a couple more trips should do it!

3) If you could have anything for dinner tonight what would it be?  I am craving a burger at the moment so it’s a good thing we are going to the pub for dinner!

Thinking Out Loud Thursday 19/12/2013

Well, welcome to another Thursday!  This mean only one more morning of waking up to the alarm clock blaring!  I hope everyone’s day is off to a good start.  I know mine is as I survived the freezing commute to work and am now sipping on another Starbucks.  I figure it’s the last week so I deserve it 🙂  Plus I had a gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket phone.  But let’s get down to business.  Last Thursday Amanda started Thinking Out Loud Thursday’s and I really enjoyed it last week so I thought I would give it another go!

1) I am really looking forward to Christmas, like it’s getting bad.  And it’s not all because I get a bit of a brain break.  I think it’s more to do with having the immediate family all together.  It’s only going to be my parents, John, and my bro in town.  My brother moved to Vancouver at the end of the summer and has also been doing some traveling around Panama and Columbia so I am really looking forward to having him around.  However I will definitely miss having my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins around.

2) Has anyone seen this? http://www.calgaryherald.com/Record+breaking+lottery+winner+plans+honour+late+wife+with+donations/9292166/story.html I think everyone was absolutely amazed at the generosity of this man.  It gave me such a happy feeling to read this earlier in the week and I know everyone was talking about it the last few days around these parts.  I mean so many people say they would give a large sum to charity but this man actually acted on it and gave it ALL away!

3) I am thinking of switching gyms this coming year.  My friend has me pretty much convinced to join Goodlife which is where I had been taking a few Body Attack classes.  There is a Goodlife right beside my gym that I use close to work and another one kind of close to my house.  We will see….

4) So last week or the week before someone asked the question, at the end of their blog, if you like snickerdoodles?  I had to admit that I never tried them so I decided to remedy the situation last night.  Enter my first batch/taste of homemade snickerdoodle…

The verdict is….they are Ok.  I heard the collective gasp coming from many of you!  Please don’t be mad!  I feel like I should really like them I mean butter, sugar, and cinnamon… but there is a certain tang that I can’t get over.  I think it’s the cream of tarter.  I will eat the batch and see if my tune changes.  I know I need to make Amanda’s chewy white chocolate cranberry cookies very soon!

5) I bought this deodorant a while ago and love it!

It is from the Rocky Mountain Soap Company and doesn’t have any strange chemicals in it (i.e. aluminum oxide) and it really works!

6) I feel like I have mastered the messy bun this week… I just can’t get the gumption up to actually do anything to my hair.

7) I don’t think any of my nights are complete without a bowl of cereal before bed anymore.

8) I promise to put up my granola recipe.  But you might have to remind me.

9) I am looking forward to my WIAW next week because it will be done on Christmas Day!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHH how fun!  I might not post it until Thursday.

10) I really need to get my hair cut.  Maybe that is why I just don’t feel like doing my hair.

Well there are 10 thoughts for Thursday.  I know there are many more rolling around up there but I don’t want to keep you all day!

Have an amazing day!

Questions:

1) What would you do if you won $40 million?

2) Is there a cookie you don’t particularly enjoy?

3) Unscented or Scented deodorant, which do you prefer?

My Better Late Than Never WIAW 18/12/2013

Well as I promised I am back with my official WIAW with eats actually from Wednesday.  Thank you to Jenn over at peas and crayons for hosting this lovely link up!

So waking up today we found to our surprise (this is to sounds as sarcastic as possible) snow…. and cold… and more snow… sigh….  I really shouldn’t complain because I want a white Christmas but I really just wish the roads would clear up so I could ride my bike to work again!

Any who….

Pre-breakfast… 

An old photo but I had a Christmas orange and a handful of homemade granola (recipe coming your way soon!)  

After braving the weather I decided I deserved a Starbucks… a Blonde Roast coffee topped with Cinnamon  

Which accompanied my Breakfast…

overnight oats topped with apple, pomegranate seeds, peanut butter, milk, and more homemade granola.

This was shortly followed by a massive banana

Appetizing no?

That held me over pretty good until about 11.  So I thought I should have a substantial snack since I was hitting the gym at lunch.

Morning Snack…Plain yogurt, plain greek yogurt, and ricotta cheese.  I topped that with more pomegranate seeds, frozen fruit (thawed) and more granola HA I love the stuff!

After a good workout (5km run in 25min and a NTC arms workout) it was time for…

Lunch

Left over Black Bean soup, some pita crackers, whole wheat toast topped with hummus and an apple.  I also had a few handfuls of veggies in our office kitchen.  I was then craving something sweet…

A cherry caramel chocolate from Purdy’s and a couple dried apricots.  I later went back to the kitchen to munch on some peanut brittle.  That seemed to tame the sweet tooth.

We were let out of work early do to the snow storm so I shuffled my way to the mall to do some Christmas shopping before heading home.  It was semi successful.

I threw together a quick Brinner!

On the plate was a 1egg and 3? egg white omelette stuffed with sautéed veggies and cheese, toast with peanut butter and banana, and a side salad.  This was good but I am still have the munchies.  There will likely be some more food consumed this evening in the form of cookies or milk and cereal.

Well that’s my day of eats.  I hope everyone else had some pretty tasty food!

Questions:

1) Brinner (breakfast for dinner) yay or nay?

2) Favourite pre/post workout fuel?

3) Do you get munchie at night time?

Christmas Lunch Recap

Good morning!  How is everyone today?  I fell flat so far on my Wednesday morning WIA Wednesday Tuesday so today will truly be a WIAW but will be posted later today.

Can we just talk about my companies Christmas party yesterday for a minute?  WOW fun!  I wish I had some more pictures to share but I just felt a little funny taking them at a corporate event.  So it all started with everyone being handed a box of very fancy chocolates from Epiphany! 

I haven’t opened it yet but you can bet that that box will be thoroughly enjoyed in the final day until Christmas.  Turns out that according to Urban Spoon I need to give it a visit!

We then headed over to the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Calgary for the best Christmas lunch I have ever had.  On the table were two types of bread with a trio of butters (regular, truffle, and cranberry) and an olive tapenade to accompany.  I tried all of the butters and a few pieces of bread and I decided the tapenade was my favorite.  Next came the salad which was so fresh and had a wonderful Cranberry dressing.  For the main I decided on the salmon BEST!  It was cooked perfectly with some pickled cucumber and lemon aioli on top.  On the side where whipped potatoes and vegetables.  I almost ate every bite (there were like two mouthfuls left) but I knew desert was to come.  And desert was HUGE!!!  There was a yule log that must of been an inch thick on everyone’s plate, a mini eggnog crème Brule (must recreate), and whipped cream with a strawberry.  Yes again I ate almost all of it and feel no shame!  Some of us then headed to the pub downstairs for some more Christmas cheer.

It was such a fun party and I am so grateful to work with the people I do.

Well that’s all for now.  Like I said I will be back later today with my WIAW post.

Take care everyone!

Question

1) If you have a choice between beef, chicken, or fish what do you usually pick?

MIMM 16/12/2013 and a Packed Weekend

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIITS’S MONDAY!!!!  Usually I am not this jubilant about this day but this is the last Monday at work until my Christmas Holiday’s start and it’s 10 days until Christmas.  This girl needs to get her Christmas shopping face on! I have a few people done but the not shopped for list is way greater than the shopped for list.  I really should have started to get some more done on the weekend but it just didn’t happen.  Speaking of weekends, how was everyone’s?  Mine was really great so it will make for a really good…

As always, thank you Katie for hosting!

Marvelous is… Having a wonderful baking date with two amazing ladies!

I Ended up making these as my contributionI wish I could say I took that photo!  They did turn out looking much like the picture though, my photography skills would just not do them justice.

Marvelous is… The Hunger Games Catching Fire.  John and I went and checked out that movie FINALLY!  It was really really good to boot too.  I thought it was very entertaining and had some good acting as well.  I think that starting to read the books over Christmas is a must.

Marvelous is… Christmas parties!  John had his on Friday and we had a pretty good time but Oh My was it ever fancy and big!  I think there were over 700 people there of which John new about 40 and I knew about 1.5 haha.  Great time to meet some really great people and have some fun conversations.  I think I am getting old because my body began to shut down at around 11 (John says I was looking tired at 9) mostly due to a few glasses of wine that were helping to make me drowsy.  Speaking of Christmas parties, I have our companies Christmas lunch on Tuesday that I am really looking forward too.

Marvelous is… Getting a good long run done outside!  Just over 13km in lovely 9 degree temperatures!  Things will likely get icy in the morning this week though as everything begins to melt and then freezes over night.

And finally…

Marvelous is… Being able to count the number of days left until Christmas holidays on one hand

 

(not marvelous is the number of pictures I took this weekend…ooops)

Questions:

1) If you celebrate Christmas when is your last day of work/school?

2) Do you have any Christmas parties coming up?  If so what is your favourite part about them?

3) Are you running outside still?

Finally Found It!

THIS is what I am going to bake today!!!  Cherry, Chocolate, Shortbread!?!? All loves in one amazing looking cookie!  Click on the picture for the link to the recipe 🙂