WIAW 05/03/2014 Bruno You Almost Killed Me

Well Wednesday is officially winding down.  I hope the fist half of the week has been enjoyable for everyone.  Mine has been busy and cold… so nothing really new there.  Since it is Wednesday and I have a phone full of food photos I may as well join in on the fun going on over at Peas and Crayons and contribute to WIAW.  This will be my second week of a wheat free WIAW and that means I have also made it over a week without wheat and you know what?  I don’t even miss it!!

 

Thanks so much Jenn for hosting 🙂

Breakfast: Before hopping on the bike to head into work I devoured half of a perfectly ripe grapefruit.  For some reason I usually only have them hanging around on weekends, I think that this will have to change.

Once I peddled my little legs to work I checked emails did some work and then dived into coffee and overnight oats with apple and PB on top.  That mug is my new favourite 🙂

After my usual work through the morning I broke for snack one of a banana, not pictured but I am sure you know what the look like 😉

Real Snack 1 I was getting pretty hungry and had a lunchtime workout planned so I put together a yogurt/ricotta bowl with blueberries, strawberries, and granola.  I also had a hot cup of tea.  I am pretty sure I munched my way through a couple of Merry’s crackers and some almonds as well.

My workout consisted of 20min on the treadmill all while trying in vain to get my netfix to work.  Unfortunately the internet just didn’t want to cooperate.  After my warm up I completed the 30min Be Explosive NTC  workout.  It kicked my butt and my arms felt slightly broken.

By the time I got back to work I was getting Hangry.

Lunch: A massive salad filled with nuts, cheese, humus, and avocado.  It actually filled me up for about a minute before I went back for some more crackers and humus.

Work, work, work,..

Snack 2 Apple, more crackers and humus (they are too good), and a couple jube jubes.  I know you know what an apple looks like but here it is anyway 🙂

I left work and met John so that we could peddle home together into the sunset…. ya, movie material right there.

By the time we got home I was ready to eat anything that got in my way.

Dinner: A stir fry filled with veggies and shrimp over rice noodles.  I already know that I will be snacking tonight and may have already had a rice cake topped with PB.

After dinner I quickly headed to the library to pick up The Wheat Belly Cookbook.  I am exited to see what it has in store.  On the way home Bruno Mars came on the radio and I almost drove off the road in my panic to change the station.  Bruno, you almost killed me!

Have a great night everyone and I hope the rest of the week is a good one!

Questions:

1) Is there any music artist you can’t stand?

2) Do you have a favourite plate/bowl/mug etc?

 

MIMM 3/03/2014

OOOOOOO it’s the third day of the third month!  To think that if I was actually on the ball and got this post (I just wrote pot haha… small things amuse small minds) up earlier I wouldn’t have noticed that 😀  There’s method to the madness.

How was everyone’s weekend?  Get up to anything much?  Mine was okay for not being able to get outside much.  Got some errands run on Saturday morning, met up with friends Saturday afternoon, and then headed to my parents for dinner Saturday night.  On Sunday I managed to hit the gym for some running, biking, and 8 minute abs.  This was followed by some cleaning, dinner prep (slow cooker chicken and barley stew) which was so fast thanks to Iowa Girl Eats, and making some mall returns.

So I thought it would be fun to participate in MIMM by finding marvellous solutions to problems.  Thanks to Katie, as always, for hosting this link up!

 

Problem….

Saturday’s ridiculous temperature waking up

Marvellous solution…

It kind of looks like my breakfast can fly… or at least hover.

Problem ..

 

Had some hangry moments

Marvellous solution…

Just a breakfast larger than my plate

Problem…

Sunday’s temperature… yes ambient temperature is better but windchill worse 😦

Marvellous solution…

Hot tea in my new mug from Market Collective!

Yup… I solved all of my problems with food 😀 and I think that is just marvellous!

One of my last thoughts of the day

Questions

1) did you have any problems that you solved this weekend?

2) What was the best thing you did this weekend?

 

Thinking Out Loud 27/02/2014

Wow, two posts in a row!  That’s pretty good for me these days :S  I have kind of been pushing my life to get a little busier these days, busy with friends and getting out more.  And I have to be honest that I am quite enjoying it.  So how are you doing?  How has your week been?  I am so happy that it’s Thursday because that means the last business casual day until casual Friday 😀  Well I feel like today is a good day to link up with Amanda and all the other bloggers and participate in…

1) I have really been enjoying getting out more on weeknights.  I have finally gotten over my “it’s too cold to go out” mentality.  I was starting to feel house bound and needed to DO SOMETHING!  So on Saturday we met up with some friends for a couple of beers and then headed over to the Loose Moose Theatre for a night of improve.  We really had a blast and I think another comedy night should be in our future.  On Monday John and I went out with friends to (FINALLY) see the lone soldier.  Oh my goodness, what an emotional movie.  If you haven’t seen it you really should.  I have to admit that the book, in my opinion, was better but that is usually how it goes.

2) I am currently writing at 8:15 on Wednesday night after doing a quick grocery shop.  I really needed to pick up some snack foods that didn’t include wheat.  I found some things but I am already REALLY missing my nightly bowl of cereal.  I am going to have to make some granola this weekend to satisfy my cereal and milk tooth.

3) I don’t know if I can make a whole month without wheat… these past two days have actually been really tough.  I hope it get’s better however with that being said my parents want to go out for an Italian dinner next weekend.  I am thinking I might have to give in for one night as I can’t pass up fresh pasta.  That is basically a sin.

4) I have finished the only two seasons of Downton Abby on Netflix.  Season 3 isn’t out until June… cruel cruel fait.  This is really sad and means I have to find another show to get into.  My lovely friend tells me Suits is a great show so that may be on the list.  Life is so tough!

5) It got up to 3oC today 🙂  it’s supposed to be a high of -22oC on the weekend 😦  WHY OH WHY IS THE GOOD WEATHER DURING THE WEEK!?

6) I am going for another massage today and this time they are going to try a hip release.  I felt so much better after getting my muscles worked on last week so I hope this fixes the last little niggles.

7) I had my first, albiet short, run on Tuesday and I felt on top of the world!  I felt a little pain on Wednesday morning so I am going to lay off running anymore until the weekend.  If all goes well I am hoping to sign up for the Calgary Half Marathon again in May.  Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

8) I can’t stop on odd numbers…. now I have writers block… well this counts as 8!

Have a great Thursday!

Photo of the morning…

Questions

1) What are some social activities you like to do during the week?

2) Are you hooked on any shows at the moment?

WIAW 26/02/2014 going Wheat Free

I am back! Sorry about disappearing again, life just got so busy and busy in a good way. What could be better than jumping back in for another WIAW eats from Tuesday 🙂 thanks to Jenn as always for hosting.

Well the day stared off frrrrreeeeeezzzzzing once again but john and I decided to brave the cold and peddle ourselves down to work. My tose nearly fell off… This meant that when I got to work a hot beverage was needed STAT! Enter coffee number one that was quickly followed by my hot oatmeal I prepared before work.
breakfast…

I have been craving cooked oats much more than overnight oats these last few days.  I am putting it down to the cold weather.

Oh and before I get too far into this post I should mention that I am trying to go wheat free (not gluten free) for one month starting yesterday. Why? Because I read Wheat Belly and wanted to see if I am addicted to wheat. If I don’t notice any AMAZING benefits you can bet my first breakfast will be a bagel!  Please note that I have a good relationship with food.  If you are battling with food issues, please do not start to cut things out of your diet unless instructed to do so by a doctor.

Okay, onto snacks…
There was a banana, an apple, and an un pictured rice cake or 2 with peanut butter and coffee number 2.

I worked hard through the morning and did a quick lunch gym session and had my first run in a month! It only lasted 20min and felt great but I won’t be pushing it anytime soon.

Needless to say I was really hangry hungry after and was ready for lunch…

Left over Kung pow chicken with quinoa and broccoli. I was still hungry so I had a granola bar as well (wheat free :D).

The afternoon had me munching on everything from chocolate to oranges to veggies with a sampling of dips including humus and artichoke dip !  I remembered in the nick of time to grab one picture of my last nibble of chocolate.

By the time we rode home we were both more than ready for dinner of bass, barley, and roasted veggies!  I was snacking the hole time I was making this on almonds and some rice crackers.

You can bet your bottom dollar there will be some snacking going on this evening too 😉 (turned out to be frozen blueberries)

Take care everyone!

questions
1) have you ever tried to give up a food or addiction?
2) do you have any near freezing experiences?

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

John got a present from over the pond!  What a great sister 🙂

Everyone looking forward to the weekend?  I know I am.  Although it was a short week for us Albertans, having Monday off, I am still looking forward to a couple days of relaxation.  On the books for the next couple of days is skiing(?) on Saturday as long as the old leg hangs in there, some comedy as I mentioned yesterday, and wine :D.  Speaking of my leg, I think the massage really helped out.  I don’t have the nagging dull pain in my knee and all down my thigh.  I could really tell that she worked on the muscles as I had the bruised butt to testify haha.

Highlight of Thursday was watching Canada win gold in women’s curling AND hockey!  So proud to be Canadian.  Tomorrow is the men’s semi final with Canada facing off against the US which should promise to be a really good game.  Needless to say, with how close they came to losing to Latvia on Wednesday everyone is a little on edge.  Which leads me to a couple of funnies for Friday

And because I love food, here is my dinner from Thursday night

A pumpernickel bagel (yes a whole bagel, none of these bagel thin crap things) with PB and Apricot Jam, scrambled eggs with veggies and trout (random leftover), left over squash, and zucchini on the side.

Now if you excuse me I have a date with some cereal and the TV 😀

Take care everyone and have a great weekend!

Questions:

1) What are you weekend plans?

2) if you could meet one celebrity (actor/actress/inventor/athlete etc) who would it be?

THINKING OUT LOUD 20/02/214

Hello blog readers!  How is life treating you today?  I have a bunch of things I want to put into writing today so I feel this is a great way to incorporate Amanda’s

Thank you so much for hosting Amanda!

1) I am starting to feel a lot of blogging pressure lately.  What is this blogging pressure I can hear you ask.  Well, it’s the pressure to post every day, take some photos of your activities, make every entry entertaining.  And this pressure, I think, is completely self induced.  I started out doing this blog for myself (yes I was being selfish with it) but I think I have become sucked into feeling like I need to cater it to readers.  This needs to STOP.  Don’t get me wrong, I love when people read my blog and comment!  That really makes my day.  I think I am just starting to feel like I’m conforming and struggling to keep up.

2) I am also feeling too scheduled.  Moving forward you might see me participating in link ups 5 days a week or maybe none.  I love linking up but need a little more freedom if ya know what I mean.

3) I went for a massage (finally) to help my leg/glute.  It hurt so good!  Evidently I have messed up my posterior 😦 hopefully we are on the mend now.  I have to go back next week again to get my hip flexor released.  I have a feeling it’s going to be another round of good pain.

4) I am an eating machine and I am okay with it.  John has started to pick up his exercise routines again after mostly just doing the daily biking into work.  He now understands how I can’t stop eating.  I am so happy to have someone that understands 😀

5) My parents went skiing today… there was over 50cm of snow over the last day… I was jealous…. one of the main chair lifts was closed due to snow/wind…. I was still jealous.

6) We are going to see some improve comedy this weekend with friends.  I am really looking forward to it!  If you are in Calgary and want some comedy I suggest the Loose Moose Theatre!

7) Everyone was watching the hockey game at the gym yesterday during lunch hour.  It was a pretty memorable experience.  Cheers went up when Canada scored and won the game.

8) John is making pizza for dinner tonight… I am excited!

9) I love my friends and family.  I just wanted to put that out there 🙂

10) I can’t wait to see what the day has in store.  I am waking up every morning and telling myself to do what makes me happy.  It has helped to banish the bad moods.

Have a great day!

P.S. to everyone who has commented in the last couple of days, I am playing catchup but will reply back to you!  I haven’t given anyone the cold shoulder!

Questions

1) Do you set goals for your day or have encouraging words to tell yourself when you wake up?

2) Do you ever find yourself conforming to what you think people are wanting/looking for?

A Little Catch Up Is In Order

I woke up thinking it was Monday, feeling like it was Wednesday, and figured out it was Tuesday :S hahaha gotta love long weekends!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and did a whole bunch of fantastic things!  My weekend started out with a lovely bottle of red wine, pasta, and my love on Friday night (Valentine’s day).

Saturday was not too eventful.  Had a great breakfast of an egg white oatmeal pancake with PB and berries.  Not unlike the others I have had in the past.  After breakfast we headed out to do some grocery/clothes shopping.  About $450 later we arrived back home for lunch and headed back out for a lovely walk.  Fast forward to a bbq’d trout dinner that was on the table and all of a sudden I had a melt down.  I honestly don’t know what happened but I headed upstairs at 7pm fell fast asleep until 7 am the next morning.  I hope I don’t come across as a whiney child 😦 It was just one of those time.

Sunday was much better and we celebrated our 6mo wedding anniversary.  To kick it off we headed to a SUPER hot yoga class.  It was along the lines of Bikrahm but not the same sequence of poses.  I think I like regular yoga better.  I am not convinced that yoga that hot is healthy.  After some coffee and breakfast John and I too a drive out to the scene of the crime (AKA our wedding venue) in Banff.  We basically just bummed around the town for lunch and did some shopping.  They had some of the greatest sales on their winter items and I came away with a new pair of winter boots and a puffy vest!  For lunch we went to Coyotes for some hot soup and sandwiches.  That place is the bomb and you must go if you are in Banff.  They have the best stuffed french toast for breakfast!

Our day didn’t end then however!  We had dinner reservations in Calgary at a new favourite of ours, Cassis.  Oh you guys, this is such a great little find and is like stepping into a bistro in France.  Their menu is small but everything sounded so tasty and fresh.  In the end we decided to start with lamb sausage and beef tartar.  Has anyone ever had beef tartar before?  This was my fist time and boy was I impressed.  At first the raw egg yoke sitting on top turned me off a bit but one bite converted me.  It was delicious and their wasn’t a scrapping left at the end.  For our mains we both went with the market fish special which was three massive scallops with truffle butter.  I LOVE scallops and these were so perfectly cooked and even tasted sweet.  To end we had to go for the creme brule.  Again, it was a great choice.  It was the best day and I can’t wait until our actual anniversary 😉

Monday was a gym day and it felt great to get the heart rate up.  John and I both got some cleaning done and had a great slow cooker super thanks to Two Peas In Their Pod .  John made their recipe for slow cooker lentil chilli.  I highly suggest this if you are looking for a different take on chilli.

And since I wanted to post this yesterday but never got around to it, John and I managed to spend some more dough on getting our guest book framed.  For our guest book we decided to have all of our guests sign a map with pens that we provided.  It turned out really well and I can’t wait to have it up on the wall 😀

Well that’s it for me.  Hopefully I am back tomorrow with a WIAW 🙂

Until then, take care!

Questions

1) Are you a traditional food kind of person or will you try different takes on a food?

2) Do you ever get randomly grumpy?

WIAW and Thinking Out Loud Combo 13/02/2014

Well hello there!  And hello Thursday 😀  I have had a pretty busy work day on Wednesday i.e. it is currently 7:45 pm and I am still working (at home).  Le sigh…..  So how is your week going?  I personally am shocked that we are one day from Friday WHOOP!  Does anyone have any plans for Valentines Day?  I will address our plans in todays combo of…

AND

Thank you to both Jenn and Amanda for hosting these fantastic link ups!  I am going to try and combine these two fantastic days into one post!Okay well here is my first random thought… 1) Why is wordpress centring all my text?  Frustrating…..2) I am so proud of how Canada is doing in the Olympics!  We are putting up a really good showing for these games 😀  I can’t wait to watch some more events!Now how about some eats from Tuesday!Breakfast!  Overnight oats with PB, black berries, and strawberries.  All topped off with some milk and a hot coffee on the side.  Perfect start to the day!SnackA really good apple!  I also had another cup of coffee.  And then the saddest part of the day happened…the last sip of coffee 😦Thinking out loud 3) I really like milk in my coffee but not cream because I don’t like the taste.  People always look at me funny if I say they offer a coffee and if they only have cream and no milk that I will take it black.  And then I always feel judged….Thought 4) I am pretty sure I also ate a banana in there as well.  Until a couple of years ago I used to HATE bananas, as in they made me gag.  Now I eat at least one a day, but only if they are ripe and getting little brown spots on the peelLunchNot very exciting, but in the wrap was tuna, cheese, some veggies, and mustard.  I always heat them up so that the cheese gets melty.  On the side were some veggies, Food Should Taste Good chips, and hummus.  Thought 5) I love salads but I can’t even try to think about having one for lunch these days.  It’s just too cold for me to crave cold food.  I even have to warm up sandwiches for the to seem appealing.Thought 6) Even thought it’s been -26oC every morning this week John and I have biked in.  I can’t even describe how much better it is than paying $12 each per day and cramming onto the train.  Plus it gets the blood pumping in the morning.Afternoon SnackA triple chocolate chunks ahoy cookie (or two ;)) and a cold glass of grapefruit juice mixed with soda water.  Perfect for an afternoon pick me up!  I am pretty sure I snacked on a few more chips as well.Thought 7) How do early birds catch the worms in the morning on freezing winter mornings when the ground is frozen?  It is this thought that makes me think we should all get up as late as possible in the winter.  Because the early bird starves to death in the cold.Thought 8) My blog celebrated it’s first birthday last weekend.  I am so happy that I have been consistent with it.  It’s been so much fun and I have met so many neat people 😀  It really is a bright spot of my day to sit down and blog.

Dinner

Dinner was an awesome chicken burger on a whole wheat bun.  On the side was a sweet potato with salsa and greek yogurt. I also had a big side salad for some greens.

Thought 9) I love ending my nights with tea.  I think I have tried all of Davids Tea desert teas!

Thought 10) John is now showing off his karate skills… makes me laugh.  Love him!

Bedtime snackA home made granola bar!

Well that 10 thoughts and my eats!  I hope you have a great week day 😀

Questions:

1) Tell me one random fact about yourself.

2) Do you have a favourite olympic event?

 

 

I’m scared to go to the bathroom

So I feel all sorts of thrown off blogging today since I wrote my post yesterday at the end of the day.  I feel like I talked about most of the fun things that happened over the weekend and Monday and now I am all out of ideas haha.  Oh and I realized I completely forgot my questions in my MIMM post, oopsies.

So how are ya?  How did the week start for you?  Mine started off with a great bike ride into work in -26oC.  Call us crazy, but we were both so done with taking the train.  I swear that’s how I am getting all my illnesses.  It really wasn’t all that bad if you dressed for it.  I think the only part exposed on me was my nose.  I could’t believe how hot I was by the time we got to work.  My coworker sent me a link to an interview that a bike company is doing about winter bike riders, on my way to work…. there maybe free breakfast involved SCORE.

Work went pretty smoothly, and I think I have finished a lot of my bigger projects (for now) which is nice.  Our bathrooms at the office are in such bad need of maintenance.  The toilets are starting to sound like they are about to attack you when they flush.  There must be some problems with the pipes because the sound the make is just awful.  I can actually hear them flush in my office.  The sad part is that the bathrooms were just re-done and the toilets are brand new!

Well after a chilly bike ride home we scarfed down an omelette dinner (there sure are a lot of e’s in omelette) and headed back out the door to do some damage grocery shopping.  $260 later and we should be good to go for the week 😀  After spending that kind of money we consoled ourselves with a little walking dead before calling it a night.

Have a great Tuesday!

Questions:

1) Do you like to do grocery shopping on the weekend or during the week?

2) How much do you spend on groceries?

3) Do you watch the walking dead?

Just because I thought this photo is too funny

John discovers reclining chair

MIMM 10/02/2014

AH did I make it!?  It’s still Monday?  I can partake?  Thanks Katie for hosting

Sorry for the late Monday post.  I was really lazy on the weekend blog wise.  Buuuuuuuuuuut GUESS WHO TURNED 1 OVER THE WEEKEND?  That’s right, my little piece of the blog world officially celebrated its first anniversary :D.  Although I really wasn’t a consistent blogger in the beginning.  It feels pretty cool though and I am really considering hosting my own blog site.  I need to do some more research into that but any suggestions or comments on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

well Marvellous in my Monday was…. Turning one 😉

Marvellous was… waking up Saturday feeling mostly better 😀  That’s right stupid sickness I beat you down with a stick, take that!

Marvellous was… feeling well enough to go out and see the Hobbit on Saturday night.  Ahh it was fun to finally get to see it although we had originally planned to go and see the Lone Survivor but who want’s to go and see a movie that starts at 10?  Not this old woman haha.  We really enjoyed the movie but they left it on such a cliff hanger GAH

Marvellous was… Getting really into Downton Abby!  Has anyone watched this series?  It is really good, kind of like a scandalous Pride and Prejudice or something.

Marvellous was… Julie’s egg white and oatmeal protein pancake.  I made another one on Sunday morning after a good run and it tasted amazing!  I topped this one with black berries, strawberries, chia seeds, PB, and a little maple syrup.

Marvellous was… Going to my parents for dinner on Sunday night.  Good food, good wine, good time!

and last but not least….

Marvellous was…. finding this little gem this morning!  Ahhh runners hahaha

http://deadspin.com/runner-eats-it-immediately-after-interview-about-runnin-1519107024