Blog Archives
Monthly Goal Check-In!
Bonjour! Or, bonsoir ;) Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I’m suuuper excited the weekend is over actually, I’ve got a fun week ahead! Work Mon/Tue, but then Wednesday is a holiday and Chris and I’s four year anniversary. Then I also have Thu/Fri off. Wooooot.
I woke up exactly one minute before my alarm went off this morning. Love it when that happens. Alarms clocks are so jarring. Went for a s’muffernutter breakfast cookie.
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 scoop chocolate whey powder
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tbsp marshmallow fluff
- mini chocolate chips
- splash almond milk
Fluff makes everything taste better, no?
Lunch was the usual fare, but with some delicious additions. Pita with tofu spread, red pepper, tomatoes and romaine. Bah! Tofu spread is so good!
And super juicy honeycrisp.
Then after work it was the special Sunday spin class!! It was a-to-the-awesome. As I mentioned yesterday, spin classes are only 60 minutes long throughout the week. Today’s class was a special 75-minute weekend one. We had three instructors, and my favourite tunes. My legs were kinda dragging, but I still pushed it, burning 600 calories in the process ;) They hinted at a possible 90-minute class in the future. I’m so there.
My day had been low in protein, so I took care of that after spin with a delicious snack.
1/2 cup plain yogurt mixed with one scoop chocolate whey powder. Topped with some chocolate & yogurt chips and coconut.
May-jah yums!!! I don’t know why I don’t have the protein powder/yogurt combo more often. It was perfection.
Come dinner time, I was feeling really indecisive. Mostly because all I wanted was breakfast food! So that’s what I went with :)
I like to think this is the Sunday morning meal I missed while at work ;)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground flax
I dipped it in 1/4 cup fake syrup whisked with 2 tsp almond butter. Totally hit the spot!
November Goals
It’s Sunday! Time to check in on those monthly goals ;)
Spend less on groceries.
Thanks to my mom treating me to Costco and leftovers this week! I think all I bought were cottage cheese and laughing cow (essentials!)
Have fun workouts.
Definitely had a blast working out this week!
Monday – Quite possibly the most fun exercise class there is – step!!
Tuesday - A weight lifting and HIIT extravaganza. It hurt so good.
Wednesday – A fun and sweaty treadmill speed session and abs with my mom.
Thursday - Rest day :)
Friday – Early morning spin class. Only morning I look forward to my alarm going off.
Saturday - 4-mile trail run on a gorgeous crisp and sunny afternoon.
Sunday - Special afternoon 75-minute spin class at my gym!!!
Be less complacent with food.
I actually surprised myself with this one. As soon as I made the decision to eat with a purpose, my munching dropped drastically. Especially during my visit home this past week, which usually consists of many handfuls of Honey Nut Cheerios. Still working on the serving size complacency, which I’ll probably end up discussing in a future post this week.
Get more sleep.
I set a record this week by getting 8 hours of sleep three nights in a row!! Amazing! Part of it was that I made sure I was in bed really early on those nights (can’t say the same for the other four nights this week).
However, I think it’s also because I’ve been eating a snack immediately before bedtime. It’s no secret I’m a voracious hunger beast when I wake up in the mornings, and I think my morning hunger may be contributing to my early rising. With the night-time snack, I’m sleeping deeper, and longer into the morning. The "not eating two hours before bedtime" thing used to work for me. But let’s face it, my tummy has never slept while the rest of me has my entire life. Even as a child, I would jump out of bed and immediately stuff four toaster waffles down my throat. I think that’s only increased now that I’m more active and have purposely set my metabolism into overdrive.
Make it through the last month of work with a positive attitude.
Damn. I’m sucking at this one. Ever since I gave notice, I’ve been looking forward to it less and less.
Try my best to not let anything hold me back.
Nothing holding me back yet!
Figure out a way to get into the holiday season.
I’ve so far been able to successfully avoid all things Christmas. I suspect this will get harder as the month goes on…
Spend more time with my grandparents.
Check!! Got to see my Nana this week! :D I would like to see my other two grandparents soon though. They’re an hour drive away.
Be more honest with people.
I’m not doing very well with this. Mostly in that people at work keep telling me about these other news and radio jobs I should look into, and I don’t have the heart to tell them that’s not what I want to do. I don’t want them thinking I don’t value my time spent there, because I do.
Look for a job.
Still looking! I’ve been relying on job postings too much though, I have to start sending resumes to places that aren’t advertised as hiring. That’s how I got many of my jobs in the past…
Start playing music again.
I played my guitar for 10 minutes this week. Mostly because after that, my fingers started to hurt and I started losing my voice. I’m out of practice. H-core.
Question of the day: How are you doing with your goals?
Oh, and thanks for the feedback on the comment replies. I think I’ll just start replying to the blog from the e-mail notifications and paste your e-mail address in there too so you know I’ve replied :)
Have a great start to you week!
To my mom…
Today she turns fifty-fi…I mean forty-five ;)
My mom is the person I look up to most in the world. She studied for and obtained her third degree while raising three children.
She taught me the importance of education, hard work and dedication.
She’s also the type of person who will entertain a room and is the life of any party. She’s passionate and opinionated, quite fiery despite her 5’2” stature.
Ever since my Papa passed away in January ‘08, she’s been caring for my Nana. I know it’s been a big life change for her, and I hope she knows her efforts are not going unnoticed!
Finally, she is a mother through and through. Growing up, she was full of love for her children. Even through some rocky times, I never once doubted she was there for me, 100%.
During my high-school years it was just me and my mom living together in the house. We did a lot of bonding during those years. Watching her struggles has taught me how do deal with my own. She is the strongest person I know. Every valuable life lesson I learned, I learned from her.
Happy Birthday Mom!!
My mom is also a great cook, who always fed us healthy, homemade meals. However, she’s not much of a morning person. Luckily, I learned how to make myself breakfast at a young age :P
Went a little savoury this morning – egg, cheese, Yves veggie sausage patty, ketchup on a whole grain english muffin. Then a pear sprinkled with cinnamon on the side. I love my sweet bowls of oatmeal in the morning, but sometimes I just want some eggs!
I finally polished off that coleslaw for lunch today. It was getting close to the end, but still very flavourful!
I mixed up some salmon salad to put on a whole wheat hamburger bun. The salad was canned salmon, canned peas, red onion, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, curry powder, pepper.
Yum! I always forget about canned salmon. Tuna and sardines are usually my go-to’s. But this was pretty darn good!
I stayed with the curry theme for dinner. It started with some Amy’s organic butternut squash soup.
I’m not a huge fan of “drinking” my meals though. I like to bulk up my soups! So I chopped up the rest of my wonky butternut squash and 1/3 block tofu and tossed it in maple syrup, curry powder and cumin. Then roasted/baked it.
It was still missing a little green though, so I dug into my freezer and found some broccoli.
Threw it all in a pot and let simmer to blend the flavours, then served in a giant bowl.
Ohmygosh, this was delicious. One of my best “impromptu” meals in a while! The sweetness of the maple syrup blended amazingly with the sweetness of the soup. Then the curry gave it an exciting kick. I also loved having the chunks of squash with the puréed soup.
Of course, it may have been my hunger talking as I’d just come back from the gym. I’d been psyching myself up for a bike today since the weather was absolutely perfect. But when the time came, I was so unmotivated. If you followed me during my triathlon training, you know I’m not very good at forcing myself to do to scheduled workouts if I’m just not feeling it when the time comes. For me, exercise is fun. And I never want to do anything to take the fun out of it!
I hardly ever blow a workout off unless I really need the rest day. So I considered my options and what jumped out at me the most was spin class. It felt like such a cop out, trading in a legitimate road bike ride with a spin class. But ya know what? I had a blast in class!!
The room was packed full of enthusiastic people, it was my favourite instructor, the tunes were awesome (how can Paradise City not pump you up?). I was able to put my whole heart into the workout, and loved every minute of it, even when my legs were screaming at me!
So my lesson today is if you’re going to be active, make sure they’re activities you really want to do instead of just going through the motions :)
Okay, time for me to go watch the last half of the Biggest Loser! By the way, you guys reminded me of so many shows I forgot about in my last post. I’m really bad at keeping up with things on a weekly basis, it’s so hard to keep track!
Question of the day: I bragged about my mom, tell me something awesome about yours!
Ch-ch-changes
Thank you soooo much for all the congratulatory comments on my new 5k PR!!! They made the smile on my face even bigger :D Don’t get too excited though. It’s gonna get beat again :P
I was pretty spent last night. I think it was a culmination of my early mornings at work and the hard effort in the race. I conked out at 9:20-ish and woke up to the sound of my alarm at 5:30 am. That never happens.
I was actually pretty pumped when my alarm went off though, because I was getting up for spin class! I was nervous my legs may be a little too stiff for it, but it was actually my heart that was having the trouble! I find with cycling, my weak leg muscles are what always hold me back. Conversely, with running, it’s my cardiovascular ability that limits me. So it was odd to have that reversed today.
Or the RPM class at my new gym just kicks my butt :P
I came home sweaty and endorphin-ated, and whipped up a homestyle breakfast.
Two eggs on whole wheat toast, with pan-fried purple potatoes and onions.
I never do sunny-side up. Instead, I keep the yolk intact, but flip it over in the pan so the whites cook through. Then I pierce the yolk on my toast…
…spread it around like buttah…
…put the egg back on top…
…and devour!!
It makes my belly happy :)
Work was uneventful, with pretty standard eats. I spent the day in a courtroom. My butt does not like the pew-like benches in there. Would it kill them to put in some cushions??
Dinner was fabulous, despite some electricity malfunctioning. Apparently, one wall cannot handle having a light, microwave, and plug-in kettle going all at once. Duly noted. Shout-out to Ellie who helped me figure out how to fix a blown fuse via Twitter!
Spring rolls filled with tofu strips sautéed (not microwaved) in Braggs and sesame oil with raw zucchini. Plum sauce for dipping, and some not-so-purple purple green beans in more Braggs. Luuurrrved it!
Many of you probably know that this is my first September not returning to school. I graduated in journalism/communications last May. I’ve been up on my old campus a few times since school started last week selling old textbooks. I have to say, I loved university. I went to a small liberal arts school, filled with inspiring professors and a wonderful community atmosphere. Being back up on that campus really makes my heart hurt.
I try to be strong and pretend like I’ve enjoyed the transition from school to full-time work. But it’s been hard. I have no desire to return to school right away, but it has been a huge life change for me.
I started my full-time job two weeks after my last exam. So I really had no transition period. It’s just weird to be at work every day, and having to dedicate all my efforts to just one job. Of course, now that I’m in my new place, living all by myself, this change in lifestyle has only been magnified.
Part of my difficulty in transitioning has also been that the majority of my friends moved away when school finished. I work in an office where I am sometimes the youngest person by decades. So my social life has taken a bit of a hit as well.
I keep telling myself that I’ll adjust. I’ll eventually find my own group of people, settle into my new solo apartment, and become more comfortable with my work schedule. I just never expected it to be this difficult. I guess there’s no point to this story. I just had to be honest and get it off my chest! It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately ever since school started again. Change is hard!
Question of the day: Did you go to university? What did you study? If not, what would you study? I’ve been debating going back for law, but I know a lot of law students who are trying to talk me out of it :P
Bonus question: What’s your favourite way to eat eggs?
I guess the upside of not being a student is that I have no school work to do. So I’m off to go be lazy and read magazines in bed ;) Lator gators!
