So I took the plunge…
I’d like to introduce you too – Live, Breathe, Shine, my new domain.
As of now I am going to retire Learning to Live Lean and you can find me over there. Please update your bookmarks with the new RSS Feed.
See ya on the flipside 🙂 Hope you like the new name/new design. I love it.
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Posted in Calgary, Events, Fitness, Job, The Boy | 1 Comment »
Happy 1st of May everyone.
So the start of a new month got me thinking about goals. One of my primary goals for this month is going to be to ‘unplug’ my life a little. I feel like despite the fact that I spend all day at work on a computer, I’m still glued to some form of technology from the second I get in the door at 4:30. Whether it’s the blackberry, the internet, TV or music – I constantly feel like I’m overload with information and that I have very little quiet time in my life.
This post from Jenna, got me thinking about how much I miss having quiet time to read (or bake or do something ‘just for me’). As much as I’d like to blame the media for feeling overloaded, it is largely my fault. I’ve begun to felt that if I’m not running errands, or cleaning, or glued to my phone/computer that I’m not being productive.
There is so much more to life than being overwhelmed by technology, and I think I need to rediscover that. I need to disengage a little bit and in the words of my dad – I need to “stop and smell the roses”.
That being said, I figured today would be a great time to set some new goals for myself for May.
Life
Health
What do you think about these goals?
Do you have any goals for this month? Do you believe in monthly goal setting? How do you stick to them?
Posted in Calgary, Fitness, The Boy | Leave a Comment »
At last the pictures I’ve been promising all week…
Truly Beautiful
Posted in Calgary | 1 Comment »
Yah – I never thought I’d be saying those words – but clearly I underestimated the province I now live in. Yesterday morning we woke up to news alerts titled ‘Winter Storm to Hit Prairies’ & ‘City of Calgary Braces For 30cm of Snow’. My first reaction was to curse out Mother Nature to Ryan, like WTF Calgary? But once I calmed down I decided to head into work and try and stay positive. I secretly think everyone in my office loves seeing my reaction to the crazy weather in this province. I call it the newbie effect. I’m sorry I will never accept that it is normal to have a blizzard on April 28th, and if that makes me a Torontonian for life then so be it. It’s just not right Mother Nature, it’s just not.
We did have to brave the weather yesterday to head out to our Administrative Professionals Thank You Lunch. I enjoyed a tasty avocado and shrimp wrap from Kilkenny’s Irish Pub. That place is HUGE, and reminds me of our local Irish pub from back home. Once I got back from lunch I sent Ryan an email that went like this: “WAHH I don’t want to go grocery shopping in a blizzard, I just want to be lazy”. Fortunately, despite the severe lack of food in our fridge, he felt the same way. So we spent last night hibernating in our warm apartment and made a quick dinner with what we had. We followed this up with some PVR catch-up of Criminal Minds (love that show) and watched Its Complicated (one of my fav movies).
Today I headed into work only to find out that two of my coworkers weren’t coming in because they live further North than me and had no power. Crazy! It’s now 3:00 and there are about 3 of us left in the office. I’m the only one left from my group though so I have to stay until 4:30. I’m just hoping the weather starts getting better so we can actually get our MUCH needed groceries later tonight. I don’t know what we’ll have for dinner otherwise, lol 😛 Anyways, it’s been a crazy crazy few days.
I just keep trying to remember that we get Chinooks in February at it goes up to +15 and everyone else in this country is jealous – that’s about the only upside I can find in all of this. I’m not bitter :P.
Anyways, I will post later today and let you know if grocery shopping was successful or not, and also *finally* get the Banff/Lake Louise pictures up – I just don’t have them on my work computer.
Hope you are all having warm and cozy Thursdays!
Posted in Calgary, Job, Lunch, The Boy | 2 Comments »
Hi All,
Happy Tuesday! Are you watching Biggest Loser right now like I am? Love that show
First things first, the lovely Angela from Craving Cupcakes so kindly passed the beautiful blogger award on to me. Thanks Angela! I’m supposed to list 7 random facts about myself and then pass it on to 7 other bloggers.
So here it goes.
1. I’m scared of change — but in the vast majority of situations in my life – change is a good thing.
2. For 24 years of my life I HATED olives, but I tried some black olives for the first time when I moved out west, and now I’m seriously addicted. I may occasionally eat them straight out of the jar.
3. Last year I discovered I have a B12 deficiency – definitely not the worst ailment out there – but has required getting used to taking some extra daily pills. It makes a huge difference in my attitude and energy level when I forget to take them.
4. I am beyond scared of needles. I think they are EVIL, and have been known to faint at the thought of getting pricked – which is unfortunate, because I definitely support giving blood.
5. I’m a very Type A person – overly organized, occasionally irrational, and prone to over-react about things.
6. I love traveling! Some places on my list to see in the not too distant future (*hopefully*) are: VEGAS, Italy, Greece, Australia/New Zealand, and Disneyworld!
7. Growing up I was involved in A LOT of athletics I swam competitively, ran track, played baseball, did karate (awesome stress-reliever for an angsty teenager, lol), and rode horses competitively (dressage and show jumping).
Now for the 7 bloggies I’m passing this award along to:
And since we’re on the theme of Q&A’s – I figured I’d quickly do the 10 on Tuesday as well.
1. Think back a decade, do you remember what your first cellphone was? Was it as cool as Zack Morris’s phone?
I had an incredibly old-school oversized black and white Motorola phone in high school. It was nowhere near as cool as Zack Morris’.
2. What is the first children’s book you remember being read to you?
The first one I can remember is
Its still one of my favorites. Kit Pearson is a fabulous writer.
3. What was your first car? Did you love it or hate it?
First car that I drove was the family mini-van in high school. I thought it was decent – did the job of trucking us kids around pretty good.
4. Who was your hero growing up?
Haha…
HOW RUDE.... nuf said
5. Think back to your first kiss. Was it everything you dreamed of?
My first kiss was during a game of spin the bottle – so really not that special.
6. What was your first BAD hairstyle choice? (Extra points for embarrassing photos)
Ugh… I had a major mushroom haircut when I was little. My mom called it a ‘bob’ – I think I looked like a boy.
7. What was your first realistic dream? (One where you had to think “Oh dang, was that a dream?”)
I’m not sure what the first one was – but I’ve had really random realistic dreams about Ryan.
One time I dreamt Ryan stole all my makeup and woke up really mad at him. He was all like whaaa….?
8. What was the first phobia you remember developing?
Needles (which still hasn’t gone away) and bees because I was allergic to them.
9. Which character on Sesame Street do you most identify with?
I always loved Elmo!
10. What was the hardest goal you ever accomplished?
Hrm… up till now – probably graduating with a 4.0 GPA in college. That was tough! I expect they’ll be more challenging things later down the road though.
Alrighty, well before this post turns into a novel – I’m gonna sign off. I’ll do a weekend recap tomorrow – with pictures. We headed up to Banff and Lake Louise, so there were some pretty incredible photos … and a freak blizzard in April … but that is another story for another day.
Have a great night everyone.
Posted in Calgary, Family, FAQ, The Boy | 1 Comment »
Happy Earth Day Everyone!!
Were you earth-friendly today? Not gonna lie – I didn’t do the best job ever – I drove to work, and used a cardboard cup from Starbucks. I am really glad that Earth Day exists though because I believe it is important to give people (like me!) an excuse to rethink their daily habits. I have about 4 reusable travel mugs at home – I should definitely start using them more and save 10 cents off my coffee’s.
I’m sorry I’ve been so MIA lately. I haven’t blogged since last Wednesday *sigh* – the last week has been pretty good. I went to the gym Friday and Saturday of last week. However, on Saturday I ran 4 miles in 41 minutes (which was great) but I think I may have messed up my knee somehow because it has hurt every time I have tried to workout since (even when I’m doing lower impact training like the elliptical or biking), which worries me. So I’m trying to take a break from running this week.
I am really looking forward to this weekend though. My in-laws are visiting and I think we’re planning another trip up to Banff to see the mountains. Its raining outside right now though – which I think is giving them a bit of a false impression of Calgary (where it rains like once every 2 months). Its so nice to see them, we had a great dinner out at Moxies, after picking them up from the airport. Then watched Survivor, because Ryan’s mom is a HUGE fan.
I almost forgot to mention my eats for the week, I’ve made some good ones!
Cinnamon Maple French Toast & Coffee
Stir-Fried Rice & Veggies
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Pad Thai Noodles with Tofu
I promise I’ll post a longer update next time – but for now – family calls.
What did you all get up too this week? I have sooo many blogs to catch up on in my Google Reader – thats on my agenda for this weekend. I’m looking forward to reading them.
Posted in Breakfast, Calgary, Dinner, Family, Fitness, The Boy | 1 Comment »
Hi All,
I had a nice long post planned out for tonight – but I am so exhausted that I think I’m gonna make it a quick one and head to bed early. Work this week has been madness. I feel like I haven’t had time to sit down much since Monday, and somehow my to-do list is growing at astronomical speed :S
Anyways, my eats so far this week were pretty yumm-tastic.
Monday:
– Breakfast of almond butter and banana on a whole grain wrap. First time trying it – really impressed.
– Lunch was a sandwich with lettuce, hummus, laughing cow cheese, mustard, turkey and salami
– Dinner wasn’t eaten until 9 (worked late) but the boy kindly made me a mini pizza with olives, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. So sweet of him.
Tuesday
– Breakfast: Green Monster with lotsa spinach, almond milk, flax seed, banana, honey, and some OJ. So yummy – I forgot ice cubes though – that would’ve made it even better!
– Lunch: Mixed Salad with Mozzarella Cheese, Zucchini, Cucumber & Tomato with Greek Dressing.
lunch preview: that's a coke zero I swear!
– Dinner: Wendy’s – FAIL! I was so excited to catch Glee and the Biggest Loser that I slacked on dinner …. oops. Did you catch either of them, thoughts?
Today
– Breakfast: Oats with Coconut Butter, Cinnamon, Maple Syrup and Almond Milk
I may be a *tad* in love with almond milk
– Lunch: Repeat of Monday’s Sandwich – Quick, Easy and Tasty.
– Dinner: Modified this recipe, subbed goat cheese for blue cheese and it was still delish – served with garlic veggies.
Fitness
Strangely this is the one area this week that I actually feel like I’m kicking butt in – here’s a recap.
Monday: 32 minute treadmill interval run for 3.1 miles. My knee was bugging me a bit so I took it a bit slower than I planned. I also stretched for 10 minutes afterwards.
Tuesday: 30 minutes on the stationary bike (reading the book I mention below), followed by 20 minutes of abs + strength training.
Today: 30 minutes on treadmill with 20 minutes of 1 minute on, 1 minute off sprints, covered 5K in about 28.5 minutes.
Tomorrow is my off day – I’m sooo looking forward to sleeping in for a bit. Nevertheless, I’m stoked that I got my butt to the gym 3 days in a row. That’s a step in the right direction.
What have you been up to this week?
*Sidenote* I recently picked up Michael Pollan’s ‘Omivore’s Dilemma’ – have you read it? So far I’m really enjoying it. I had no idea Corn was in so much of our food – apparently over a 1/4 of the supermarket is primarily corn based products. Thats a bit shocking and sad to me. What do you think about that?
Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Fitness, Job, Lunch, The Boy | Leave a Comment »
Hello All
Hope your enjoying the last day of the weekend.
I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since Monday, I need to get better about that. I get so distracted reading other blogs on my Google Reader that I forget about my own sometimes :P.
My week at work was good, pretty busy as usual, and I think I might have to stay late tomorrow night for an event (which is not ideal on a Monday, but that’s how it goes). Thursday was a bit ridiculous in Calgary – it was like +14 over my lunch break and fabulous, and by the time I left work at 4:30 – it looked something like this.
Yah – umm freak blizzard/hail storm in April = NOT Impressed.
Anyways, in better news – on Friday my supervisor took me and my other coworker (who is also new) out for lunch with a group from our office – it was really nice of them, and made the afternoon go a lot quicker.
Friday night Ryan and I decided to have a little date night – we went to Fionn MacCools downtown for some drinks and appetizers and then went to go see Date Night (coincidence – I think not) with Tina Fey & Steve Carrell. It was pretty darn funny. There were a few parts where I thought I might fall out of my chair cuz I was laughing so hard.
Yesterday I got up early and hit the gym for a 5K run, 10 minute cooldown on the elliptical, and some ab work. I did a side plank for the first time EVER. I was impressed with myself, lol 😛 Saturday night was a bunch of fun, I met up with two friends from my PR program back East who happened to be in Calgary. One lives here, and one was in town for work. It was so nice to see some familiar faces in a town where I don’t know a whole ton of people. We had a great time catching up.
Today we hit the grocery store – it was LONG overdue. Lately we’ve been trying to only make big grocery runs every two weeks and generally we spend around $150 per trip – so I guess its about $75 a week. Every now and then we have to buy extras of produce/eggs/milk that we run through in a week – but I can’t stand going to big grocery stores on the weekend when they are crazy busy – so I avoid it like the plague. Its kind of sad actually because I actually really enjoy grocery shopping – but I hate the crowds.
What do you think of grocery stores vs. crowds? Do you avoid shopping on the weekend if possible?
I did decide to buy some Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk for the first time, I hear Green Monsters are better with it – so I’m determined to give it a try.
Have you discovered any great finds at the grocery store lately?
Posted in Calgary, Fitness, The Boy | 2 Comments »
Hi All – Hope you all had fantastic Easter weekends.
My was pretty stellar, considering it was our first one being away from family. Unfortunately, since we both just started new jobs, taking vacation time to go home for a weekend seemed like it wouldn’t be the best decision. I did hear from my parents though – and my fabulous boy made me a AMAZING easter dinner – which made it a little easier.
Anyways, we started Good Friday off on the right note by eating bacon at breakfast 😛 *sigh* so bad. Haha, neither of us even remembered the ‘no meat’ rule until after we had finished – oops. In the afternoon, Ryan accompanied me to a mall just outside of the city that I had been hearing lots and lots about. Its called CrossIron Mills and its very much like Vaughn Mills in Toronto (for any East Coast readers), a giant circle with outlets and big box stores. I was particularly excited for Forever 21 and the Banana Republic Outlet. Seriously, I would wear Banana Republic everyday if I could, and a $90 pair of pants for 30% off was a great deal. The downside was that the mall was insanely busy!! Needless to say Ryan was pretty eager to get out of there after a few hours of shopping. I grabbed Sushi at the mall for a late lunch (ie. 4 in the afternoon), and Ryan had leftovers once we got home. Considering we stayed so late at the mall – we knew we wouldn’t be eating dinner until close to 9. Nevertheless, I made sure dinner ROCKED. I followed a lasagna recipe from Allison from Eat Clean Live Green. I was amazed at how few ingredients there were (my mom’s recipe is like 2 pages long), and we managed to find whole wheat lasagna and low-fat ricotta. Lets just say – it was ridiculously good – and we’ll have leftovers for a week, therefore I = happy camper.
nom nom nom
On Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed to the gym. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 10 minutes on the bike and some stretching. I always love hitting the gym early in the day – it makes me feel like I’ve gotten my day started on the right foot (literally!). For dinner on Saturday I was craving Mexican, so we decided to hit up the Chili’s in town. I have really amazing memories of shopping trips across the border, when I lived in London – that always consisted of a trip to Chili’s. Turns out the drinks aren’t as cheap north of the border, and no free nachos 😦 so that was a tad disappointing. The food was still pretty stellar though.
On Sunday, the boy decided to make us our first real Easter dinner together. Check out this spread.
big birdie
After a quick shopping trip in the morning for necessary ingredients, he whipped up: a turkey, baked butter biscuits, roasted tomatoes, jean chretien scalloped potatoes (my mom’s recipe), stuffing, gravy and of course – WINE. Seriously, I may be the luckiest girl in the world that my boy loves to cook so much. It was so nice of him to use some of my mom’s recipes as well – it really made it feel like a Easter dinner from my childhood.
As a random side note, I must share a tip for all turkey-bakers out there… bacon on top of the turkey = mind blowing AMAZING. Seriously – you MUST try it.
So that basically sums up my weekend. I was back at work today, but managed to get in a 4 mile run in about 42 minutes before work. Its the longest I’ve gone in awhile, *yay*
In preparation for my gym trip last night I decided to update some of my workout playlists. One of my favorite things to do is to listen through old CD’s (yes, CD’s) because they 1) bring back fabulous memories, and 2) remind me of GREAT songs that I often forget about once they stop being played on the radio religiously.
Here are some of my gems from last night:
What are your favorite Workout Songs?
Before I head off for the night, I just want to give a shout out to some lovely readers who commented on my last post. Its always nice to know someone is reading. Thanks Susan, Julie, and Angela – you all ROCK!
Posted in Calgary, Dinner, Fitness, Inspiration, Music, The Boy | Leave a Comment »
The bloggie
Learning to Live Lean 