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

THINKING OUT LOUD 06/02/2014

Hey hey hey!  How the heck are ya this fine Thursday?  I hope everyone had a good night sleep and is ready for a new day!  I thought I would keep my participation up in

Thanks Amanda for hosting!  If you haven’t checked out her wonderful blog please do!

1) My photo taking is very minimal at the best of times but bring on a cold and being super busy and all my photo taking goes straight out the window.  I can’t even take any pictures of things I like outside because if I take off my crazy thick gloves my hands freeze in a second.

2) The above makes me think it’s time for a photo an hour post.  Let’s see if I can make that happen for Friday shall we?

3) I am all of a sudden really looking forward to this weekend.  My mom just text me to tell me my brother is coming home for a few days and she wants to have us all over for dinner on Sunday.  I LOVE family dinners!

4) I have taken two consecutive rest days while I’ve been sick.  To say I haven’t felt a little guilty would be a lie.  I hate that feeling, there should be no guilt GAH!

5) As I am writing this (Wednesday night) I am thinking about  trying to get in a solid 10 hour sleep.  I think my body is craving it and I will feel so much better in morning if I do.

6) John made a spicy Indian Curry dish for dinner tonight and it was so good!  He made it using a Sharwood’s sauce but added his own veggies and meat to it.  The ingredients list looks pretty good and it tastes really fresh!  I think I might have to stock up on some more jars and try some of their other sauces.

7) We are going to try and see the Lone Survivor on Friday night.  Has anyone seen it yet?  I have read the book and thought it was one of the best books I have read in a long time.  It really gave the soldiers perspective on the war in Afganistan.

8) I still really need to go shopping.  I managed to get a little in last weekend with a friend but only came away with two pairs of socks…but they are pretty awesome if you ask me 😉

9) I am getting the craving to bake.  I might have to bust out a recipe this weekend or even tomorrow night.

10) I have been pinning a ton of meal ideas to my Pinterest board but it never seems to fail that when I go to meal plan I can never figure out what I want to make.  Please tell me this happens to other people too.

Well there are my 10 thoughts for Thursday.  It really is amazing how many are floating around up there.  I hope everyone has an amazing day that really makes you appreciate how special life is.  Don’t waste a minute of this day!

Questions

1) What is something that you are looking forward to or something that made you really happy today?

2) Do you ever use pre-made sauces for pastas or curries?

WIAW 04/02/2014

Okay, so I was super lazy last night and didn’t get around to writing up today’s post until this morning, so my apologies if it’s rushed.  So tired today too, we had about 5 different phone calls and emails between John and I for work.  That 5 also includes John’s sleep walking session where he thought the bed was full of snakes and started smacking all the sheets around him and then started to do toe touches because he got a leg cramp.  Stressed much?  So yesterday’s eats were really good and I can’t wait to share them with you on this instalment of What I Ate Wednesday Tuesday!  Thanks so much to Jenn for hosting this link up!

Pre Breakfast was a small bowl of cereal.

Actual Breakfast

Old picture but I had a bowl of overnight oats with black berries, strawberries, and banana with my good friend…

Mid Morning Munchies

An apple, a rice cake with PB and another cup of liquid AWAKE ;)!!!!

Lunch

A wrap filled with left over pot roast, veggies, cheese, and humus.  On the side veggies, humus and Food Should Taste Good Chips.  It really hit the spot for this sicky.  And being under the weather meant no lunchtime workout for this girlie… maybe after work today?

Afternoon munchies

A rice cake topped off with the rest of the mornings banana.  It would have been better with PB.

Dinner

Baked Pickerel with lemon and garlic, brown rice with stir fried veggies, and peas on the side.  This was really good and reminds me how much I love fish!

A little late night pick me up!

And by late I mean 8pm haha.  In the bowl was blackberries, watermelon, and some un-photographed  strawberries.  And of course a hot cup of tea!  I also threw in another small bowl of cereal and some bread with PB for good measure.

And last but not least, here is a picture from this morning.  mmmmmmm -26 oC

On the bright side, it’s supposed to warm up…

Biking in might be in my future!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Questions:

1)  Do you sleep walk?  Or been around someone who is sleep walking?

2) What was the best thing you ate yesterday?

MIMM 03/02/2014

OOOOO February, the month of the L-O-V-E feeling!  I hope that you had a great weekend!  Mine was okay… aside from my serious case of the winter blahs.  Yes, this whole weekend I have been a major grump.  It started on Saturday and persisted into Sunday and hopefully I wake up feeling better in the morning.  I am just so tired of the cold, the dark, the cold… ya, you get the idea.  No amount of chocolate was going to make this grumpy McGrumperson feel any better.  I just miss getting out for walks, not bundling up, being chilled to the bone,  and feeling like I’m constantly in the dark.  However I still feel like marvellous things happened this weekend so please enjoy an Oscar the Grouch instalment of…

Thank you Katie for hosting!

Marvellous was… Having a night in with the house to myself!  Don’t get me wrong, I love it when John and I are home on Friday nights or out with friends but sometimes just curling up with a book, fire, and a glass of wine is just fine by me!Marvellous was… Finishing the first book of the Hunger Games series.  If you haven’t read it please do!  I am now starting The Son, by Philipp Meyer, so I am looking forward to really getting into it.

Marvellous was… Stumbling onto Robyn’s blog.  She makes some awesome points that really debunk all of these fad diets you see popping up.  Too bad people like her don’t get nearly as much press as the stupid tabloids.  Speaking of fads, can anyone tell me what’s up with this Walden’s farm chemical syrup I see popping up on all these healthy/whole living blogs!?  What a strange chemical bomb!  Just looking at their website make me gag.  Seriously though, what is so bad about melting REAL chocolate and drizzling it on REAL ice cream?  Sigh…

moving on,

Marvellous was… Getting this fun little gadget from my parentsWe have been needing a meat carving fork for so long!  And it really came in handy Sunday night when I needed to carve up the pot roast!

Coffee-Braised Pot Roast Was Marvellous!!! I have never made a pot roast, let alone roasted meat in a slow cooker.  I followed this recipe and it turned out great!!  The only adjustment I made was to add a little ketchup (1tbs) to the gravy after I added the corn starch.  Served along side were some roasted root veggies and a side salad with a piece of bread to mop up the extra gravy.  I can’t wait for the sandwiches the left over meat is going to make this week!  Yes that is a wine stem creeping into the photo!

And how can I forget my first Marvellous Mug Cake!?

Dear Amanda, your recipes are FANTASTIC!  I want to try making it with mashed banana one day to see if it gets a more brownie like texture.  Although, I did like the light sponge that the original recipe produced!

Well, looking back the weekend wasn’t as bad as my brain was making it out to be.  Have a great Monday everyone!

Questions
1) What cheers you up when you are feeling down?

2) What is your ideal Friday night?

MIMM 27/01/2014

Hey there!  How was your weekend?  Are you ready to hit the ground running or were you hitting the snooze button this morning?  Does anyones else feel that Sunday nights are the shortest nights of the week?  Mine always seemed to get consumed with prepping food for the week or doing the laundry I procrastinated doing earlier in the weekend.  This weekend was really good and I feel like we got a lot accomplished so let’s take a peak into what is….

Thanks again to Katie at Healthy Diva Eats for hosting!

Marvellous was… Getting takeaway food, with John and a friend, from the Himalayan for dinner Friday night.  As always the food was awesome and the company was great!  I have never ordered the same thing twice from this place and always am so happy with my choice!

My dad and John

Marvellous was… taking a walk in the beautiful sunshine and warm weather!  I could have seriously warn a T-shirt Saturday afternoon.  The paths were crowded with everyone getting out and enjoying the best day of the year!

Marvellous was… Celebrating my dad’s birthday at the Szechwan house!  My mom, John, and, I wanted to have a surprise dinner for my dad so we told him we were going to bbq steaks while she had already made reservations.  When they showed up to our house there was no food and I told him I decided not to cook haha.  He loves spicy and new foods and the Szechwan House always fits the bill.  We all come away with scorched mouths saying we should put some toilet paper in the freezer 😉 You can order milder but we like a challenge.

John somehow ended up with 4 forks…

I think the heat made him a little delirious

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

Marvellous is… Finally trying Julie’s Egg white and oatmeal protein pancake.  You should just go make one now!  I topped mine with PB, berries, coconut, and a little syrup.

Marvellous was… Catching up with an amazing friend on Sunday and hashing out life.  It really was a highlight of the week.  I love being able to tell her anything and everything and always come away feeling so happy to have seen her 🙂

Marvellous is… John’s slow cooker Sunday meal!  Shredded chicken chilli with quinoa.  I think he found the recipe on the food network.  Sorry ladies, he’s mine!

I hope your weekend was just as marvellous!  Have a great day 😀

Questions:

1) Did you get some outside time this weekend?

2) Do you do food prep for the week on the weekend?

Thinking Out Loud Thursday 23/01/2014 Bye Bye Bieber

Hello there!  How is everyone today?  How has your week been so far?  My week has absolutely flown by and I can’t believe that Friday is tomorrow.  When did that happen.  I am starting to feel like a broken record saying that but it is so true.

Anywho, let’s move onto…

Thanks to Amanda, over at Running with Spoons, for hosting.  If you haven’t been to her blog your really should.

1) I think I am going to do a day in the life post on Friday.  I feel like I am really not taking as many (read ANY) photos as I would like.  I think that this would be the right push, plus I think it would be fun

2) The spin bike at the gym and I are becoming friends while I work through this IT band injury.  I used to get so board on it but now I really enjoy playing around with the gears.

3) Work has gotten really really busy these last couple of weeks so I am really enjoying curling up at the end of the day to blog.  It is really nice to reflect on your day and how you felt throughout it.

4) I have been a member of YMCA gym for a few years now but I am starting to think about switching over to Goodlife.  I keep getting cold feet every time I go to cancel my “Y” membership.  I feel like I am a turn coat and keep having second thoughts but I really want a gym with more classes and Goodlife offers the Les Mills ones!

5) It snowed again on Tuesday night, so John and I had to take the train into work Wednesday morning.  When we got on I noticed it was really quiet and no one was saying anything.  I guess everyone had a bad case of the Wednesday blues?  It just so happened that I had a great sleep, was wide awake, and chatting up a storm with John.  After a few stops I started to feel really awkward holding a conversation with everyone else being so silent.  Train=depressed overly tired people?  I kinda wanted to shout “LIFE ISN’T THAT BAD PEOPLE”!

6) I need to find a new portable breakfast food.  I am getting board of overnight oats and my yogurt bowls.  Anyone have any good ideas?  Also are smoothies good after being refrigerated for a few hours?  I don’t want it to separate and go all weird if I do take one to work.

7) This weekend is looking like good weather for a run…. too bad my leg hurts.  It is going to be hard not to be tempted to hit the trails.  But I do think that the IT band issue is responding well to rolling and heat.  I might have to book a massage for sometime soon to.

8) I am actually looking forward to my TV time at the end of the day.  How old lady is that sounding!?  I love being in my Pj’s with a snack, cup of tea, and Breaking Bad.  Obsessed…ya I guess but that’s okay.

9) I have the first Hunger Games book waiting for me at the Library.  I can’t wait to get my hands on it.  I actually hope we get a cold snowy day on the weekend so I can curl up with a book but I don’t think that’s in the cards, see thought 7

10) And now the curser is just blinking at me….so I will leave it at that.

Have a great Thursday everyone!  Except for Bieber, have fun in jail for putting innocent people at risk.  Never was a fan of you.

Questions:

1) do you have any weekend plans yet?

2) Did you ever read the hunger games?