A List

• my fresh haircut
• the greenest, prettiest brussel sprouts ever
• my kitty sleeping in a patch of sun
• the tulips starting to bud in the garden
• my awesome Greek salad
• a walk around my neighborhood

These are just a few of the things I haven't been able to post photos of because of my lost camera! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Yes, I'm on the hunt for a new one this weekend...I called the cab companies again and no luck so it's time to suck it up. I'm looking for the Nikon Coolpix S230 if I can get my hands on one around here. It's got that nifty touch screen...and if Ashton Kutcher likes it who am I to disagree?!

Conveniently I finally changed my address with the Canadian government (seriously thought I'd done that about a year ago...) and they've just deposited some back-owed GST rebate money into my bank account, so at least I'm not "really" paying full price for the camera. Found money!

This morning I got up early (and by early I mean almost on time for my proper start time of 9am), got some work done, then headed out to the hairdresser. Ahhhh....I love a fresh new haircut. Nothing special, just a cut...but it feels great! Got myself a Starbucks on the way home and enjoyed a few minutes checking out my front garden in the sun. I'll be spending some time on my little patch of nature this weekend (rain permitting of course).

I then spent the rest of my afternoon tied to my computer, buried under a stack of paperwork. Boooooo. But before you all go on a tirade about what a horrible boss I must have....you can blame me. Remember my big paperwork project? Well, after sorting I sort of stopped. I cleaned everything up for Tiff's visit, but I hadn't actually entered any of the data into my computer or anything....and here we are on tax deadline day and I hadn't done squat. Meh. I'm done now. I still need an accountant to review it, but I've filed and paid what I could figure out and I'll get a professional to audit my last 4 years sometime over the Summer. (some bookkeeper I make eh? Can't even do my own taxes properly!)

Activity: Walked around my neighborhood after dinner for a break in the paperwork. Only about 20 minutes, but totally refreshing. It's very late, but I think a quick 20 minutes of hatha yoga is also appropriate this evening.

Eats are pretty good today, if I do say so myself...

- breaky on the go: chocolate soy milk drink box, Kashi granola bar
- venti Pike Place Blend coffee with raw sugar, cinnamon, and skim milk
- turkey melt: deli turkey on 7 grain bread w/ red onion, grainy dijon & light cheddar, toasted under the broiler and topped with tomato slices...served with carrot stix
- grapes
- banana stuffed with White Chocolate Wonderful PB
- Greek salad with lotsa light feta (so salty!), leftover 1/2 grilled chicken breast, 1 serving Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips
- dried fruit (apricots, cherries, yogurt cranberries)
- Liberte Mediterranne blackberry yogurt with the last bit of dust from the Kashi Crunch box

I'm feeling the need to be overly descriptive since I'm not providing photos!

Product Review - Hemp Milk

I know you've all been waiting for this review. Sorry for the delay. I wanted to try the hemp milk in a few different situations before passing judgement....because upon first sip I wasn't too excited to run over and tell you all about it.


I tried Living Harvest Hempmilk in Vanilla. I opted for the vanilla because that's my favorite in anything, and I went with the sweetened version because I thought it would be easier to compare to soy milk or Almond Breeze.


You all should know that I only go for milk alternatives because it's fun and some of them taste good...especially on cereal. I'm really a milk girl...a skim milk girl...and still crave me a glass of icy cold milk on a regular basis. I've mainly stuck with Almond Breeze because the unsweetened vanilla version is extra low in calories and makes a nice treat for cooking/baking/cereal/oatmeal. Soy milk has been making a regular appearance too because FH was using it for smoothies, as a way to get more healthy protein and omegas into his diet.


Anyway....Hempmilk, my review...


Upon first taste I thought it was chalky and maybe a bit bitter. Definitley not something I would enjoy straight up. Next up, I tried it over some sliced bananas. Still too chalky and didn't like how it sort of separated in the bowl...I felt like I had to keep slooshing my bananas around. Third time's a charm...cereal of course! Poured this over some Kashi Go Lean Crunch and it was fantastic. I guess it just needed something rough enough to mask the odd, chalky texture and maybe the extra sweetness of the cereal mixed with the hempy goodness to make this work for me. One out of three ain't bad? Um, well it ain't good either.


Nutrition wise, Hempmilk is a powerhouse. From their website:


What's in a Glass?

- 800 mg Omega-3 with SDA
- 2600 mg of Omega-6 with GLA
- All 10 Essential Amino Acids
- 4 g Digestible Protein
- Vitamins A, B12, D, E, Riboflavin & Folic Acid
- Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron & Zinc
- 40% Daily Value of Calcium

Awesome. However, for the difference between this and all the other options out there for milk and alternatives, I doubt this will become a common item in my refrigerator. It was considerably more expensive than Almond Breeze, and it's limited use as only a cereal topper leaves me thinking it isn't worth it. I can get my omegas and aminos from my healthy diet and daily vitamins.


Sorry Living Harvest, this one just didn't do it for me. I'm anxious to try other hempalicious products though so I will certainly keep my eyes (and mind!) open for more trials.

Fine, You be Clooney.

People. You neeeeeed to watch Cupid. I actually laughed out loud at this week's episode (did you seeeeee the moonwalking? hysterical I swear!). Who knew how freaking adorable Bobby Carnavale could be?! I sure didn't. But I'm now in total LOVE. (This show better catch on, because every show I've liked for the last three seasons hasn't made the cut!)

And while I'm talking about television love....Adam on American Idol. If that dude doesn't take the win I'll be shocked and horrified. Show.Man.Ship. And he can sing.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled blogging....

Another nice day in Halifax, but it certainly wasn't the 28* degrees we had yesterday. I think maybe around 15* today with wind of course. Needed my sweater when I went to the gym this time.

Treadmill: identical to yesterday... 2 minute walking warmup, 8 min run, 2 x 4 minute run, with 1 min walking in between, 5 min cooldown (25 mins, 1.80mi, 215 cals)

Upper Body: 10 minutes rowing machine, 3 sets of 12 tricep curls, bicep curls, shoulder presses (all 15 pounds)

Finished with a full set of Eurydice's bum exercises, because my hips were stiff from yesterday and the leg extensions totally help with that. Not to mention the plank position for the arms.

Today's eats were totally random but I think pretty good...let's see...

- coffee x 2
- toast w/ White Chocolate Wonderful PB, grapes & watermelon
- leftover tuna salad with Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips
- dried fruit (cherries, apricots, yogurt covered cranberries)
- tiny serving Kashi Crunch w/ vanilla hemp milk about 40 mins before gym
- banana bread Larabar post-gym
- 1/2 grilled marinated chicken breast, steamed brocolli, slice of 7 grain crusty bread w/ Olivina
- banana chips
- and now I'm going downstairs for a glass of milk and a tasty treat :)

I promise product reviews are coming soon. Stay tuned.

Impromptu Road Trip

So yesterday wound up being a whopping 29*!! Fabulously sunny. And it stayed that way all day. Seriously people, we rarely get days that warm even during actual Summer so to get a random Spring Tuesday like that is very exciting.

Of course, most of us were stuck inside working. Booooo.

I did get out for a trip to the chiropractor though. Sunroof open, tunes on. First time I've been excited that my chiro office moved an additional 10 minutes away. I will take the 20 minute drive on a day like yesterday. :) After my appointment, I decided that since I was already 3/4 of the way to Bedford (neighboring town) that I should head there to Pete's Frootique for a few fresh veggies. Well, it ended up being a long trip because traffic was almost at a STANDSTILL. I thought there would be an accident up the road or something, but nope...just slow traffic. Oh well, fun in the sun...even if I was in the car. After shopping I decided I'd better go the other way to get home since I still had a ton of work to do and I'd been gone for a while but I don't go that way very often and I missed my exit! (In all fairness, everything is a bit confusing and the signage isn't great....or at least that's the story I'm sticking with!). So I had an extra 10 minute drive to the next exit where I could get off the highway and turn around. Whooops. :)

So due to my little adventure I had to work a bit late to make sure I was all caught up. I had a lot of little things hanging around from last week since I wasn't working full time while Tiffaney was here. I think I'm on top of it all now though.

I ended up heading for the gym around 6:30. It was still sooooo warm out! My workout was good but not as good as they were pre-hiatus. Hopefully I can get back on that running groove I was on! I want my 21 minutes back! :)

Treadmill: 2 minute walking warm-up, 8 min run, 2 x 4 min run (1 minute walking in between), finished with a full 5 minute walking cooldown (25 minutes, 1.78 miles, 210 cals)

Abs: 3 sets of... 15 regular crunches, 15 reverse crunches, 15 v-sits, 30 second plank, 15 second sideplanks (each side), 15 hamstring curls on the ball

I was wiped. Back this evening for a better run and upper body strength.

Yesterday's eats were really good until late evening...

- coffee x 2
- tuna melts (1/2 can tuna, squirt light mayo, green onion & pickles on fresh 7 grain bread, topped with light cheddar and broiled) w/ pickles and baby carrots
- lemon Liberte yogurt & chopped strawberries
- small bowl Kashi Crunch w/ vanilla hemp milk
- post-gym: chocolate soy milk drink box
- scrambled eggs w/ mushrooms & brocolli, side of roasted brussel sprouts, multigrain Tostitos & salsa
- small slice 7 grain bread w/ White Chocolate PB, grapes
- damn Dairy Milk chocolate bar

The Great Kitchen Show-Off!

That cutey-patootie Vanessa over at Last Night's Leftovers had this great idea for all of us food bloggers to get together and show off our kitchens. Time to see where all of that deeeeelish food comes from!!

Funny enough I randomly took some photos of our house just last week before my house guest arrived so I can actually participate in this show-off. Had I procrastinated on the picture taking as per my usual method of operation, I wouldn't have these photos due to the loss of my camera (are you getting sick of hearing about that yet?).

Anyway, on with the show!!

This is the first home I've owned. We moved in January 2008. We looked at a dozen houses in one day (haha, military house hunting trip), this was the third house we saw and we knew this was it by the time we got to the sixth one. It's a little smaller than we had originally hoped, but the basic amenities are exactly what we needed. I gave up a bit of kitchen space and FH gave up rec room space. Fair is fair.

We LOVE the paint and the flooring. 12 x 12 terracotta tiles, which the previous owners matched with a terracotta paint. Even though it's got a couple of dings, we won't be changing it anytime soon. Funny enough, they actually had exactly the same dining set so we knew how great our set would look here.

The downside is counter and cupboard space. I know it looks like a lot of cupboards, but honestly they are all odd sizes and don't accommodate our dishes and glassware very well at all. All of our plates, bowls, etc are in that glass fronted cupboard because it's the only top cupboard that is deep enough. Forces me to keep things tidy though. Thankfully we got the sellers to include their pantry with the house and that houses ALL of our dried goods (except spices which are in the skinny cupboard to the left of the stove).

As for counter space, all of the chopping/prepping action happens in that corner space. It's the only area conducive to working with the stove. The big area under the microwave is annoying because of how the microwave shelf sticks out. I do use my Cuisinart Griddler there though!

Oh, I wanted to jump on the Kitchen Aid bandwagon too!! Several years ago an ex-bf bought me the blue stand mixer...you can see it perched atop the pantry (with a stuffed lobster hanging out!). I never use it. I find it cumbersome when I'm just throwing together cookies or muffins. But it sure is pretty!!

And last but not least...what I would love to have....dark cupboards, stainless appliances, granite countertops. Not much, eh? :)

I wonder if my neighbor out back knows I can see him running on his elliptical?

Today was a day of playing catch-up. Sleep, work, chores, diet, yoga.

I got back from dropping Tiffaney off at the airport around 5:30am and climbed back into bed with the idea that I would get up at my normal time to start work at 9am. Boy was I surprised when my alarm didn't go off and it was after 11am when I woke up. Ooooops. Sorta blew my daily schedule out of the water....but I sure needed those zzzz's.

So I had to forfeit my plan to hit the gym today. Such is life. Today makes exactly one week so getting there tomorrow seems like an appropriate fresh start. Aside from writing a fairly lengthy blog this morning I worked solidly between noon and 6pm, then came back around 8pm or so to tie up some more loose ends. Still not totally caught up (you'd think I took more than a day and a half off!) but I'll get there tomorrow.

During my little break, I had a healthy dinner and got some chores done. We didn't use the kitchen much this last week, and Tiff was a great houseguest in that she washed dishes and cleaned up after herself so thankfully the downstairs chores were really easy. I only have left to vacuum and do a runthrough upstairs. She even pulled all of her sheets and towels together before we left at 4:45 this morning!

Since I didn't get to the gym, and my body is a little stiff from so much driving and a long day at my desk I'm going to get in a yoga session here shortly. I am thinking about the Yoga for Back Pain because I did it the other day and quite liked it. Can't beat yogadownload.com.

Today's eats were pretty good...

- coffeeeee w/ skim & demerara
- Kashi bar, lemon Liberte yogurt, watermelon & grapes
- smidge of leftover hummus/tzatziki/feta dip with 3 leftover pita triangles, a few crackers, baby carrots & celery sticks
- snacked on a half glass of white wine and a serving of Buffalo Blue Kettle Chips while making dinner
- "on the fly" dinner creation: low fat sundried tomato turkey sausage sauteed with mushrooms, red onion & carrots, tossed with 1/3 cooked Smart macaroni and homemade tomato parmesan cream sauce (for the sauce I used skim milk & Olivina to keep it light)
- strawberries & more lemon Liberte

Back to the Daily Norm

Well folks, the lovely Tiffaney has departed back to Victoria. Boooo. I know, it seems like she just got here. :( Now if only I had some photos of her to show you! (she will be forwarding me all of her fun photos when she gets home and has time to upload them)

For our final day we decided just to stick to downtown Halifax. The weather was still quite warm, but a little overcast and CRAZY WINDY. We slept in, went for another fantastic tummy-filling meal at The Armview (yummy omelets!), then headed down to the waterfront. Due to being early in the season a lot of the boardwalk along the harbor is closed for construction, but she got the idea. Then we just wandered up and down the city streets looking in shops and checking out the AMAZING old city architecture. Halifax really is a gem of a city as far as history goes....having a friend along sure makes you stop and look at things you might not have normally even noticed.

We then moved the car over to Spring Garden Road, got a Starbucks coffee (and water!) and dug in for some more wandering and window shopping. We even managed a quick trip into Pete's Frootique because I was drooling over Angie's Nut Butter post the other day and wanted to get my hands on that Cinnamon Raisin PB. Of course, they were SOLD OUT so I got the White Chocolate PB instead. (Review to come!) Unfortunately, the Public Gardens are still closed for the season so we couldn't wander through there...but that just reinforced her thoughts about coming back some other time a little later in the year. Yaaaieeeee!

Once we walked back up the street to the car, we decided to go looking for Point Pleasant Park. I've tried to find this gem of a park twice before, but could never figure it out. Now that I've found it, I can't believe how easy it was! Don't you hate that? haha. Anyway, it was chilly and still a bit blustery but we got in a good solid hour long walk in the park and really enjoyed the military history and remnants, etc throughout the area. I've already emailed FH and told him "guess where we'll be hanging out this Summer?!". There are a thousand different path combinations to be taken, hundreds of good photo opportunities (helloooooooo new camera!) and all kinds of places to just chill, picnic, read, whatever.

And then since we were on a roll and not totally starving just yet, we decided to venture around the inlet to Purcell's Cove and track down the Dingle Tower. I can see the Tower almost every day when I go through the Armdale Rotary and up Quinpool Road so we figured it was high-time to get over there and check this thing out. I once asked someone if it would be worth taking my Mom over there and they said it was just a little park. Gah!! I don't remember who that person is but they were so WRONG. The tower itself is incredible. There's a huge park with all kinds of picnic areas, a kids play area, little beaches, a seawall, a canteen for snacks....not to mention the view! Again, I have included this place on the list of places I plan to drag FH to all Summer long. Another FANTASTIC find. Too bad Tiff and I got there so late in the day, but hopefully there was still enough sun for her photos to turn out.

Wow, this is turning into the longest post ever. Don't worry, after this we just headed straight for dinner then home early to bed for her insanely early flight.

Dinner was just a quick choice on the fly of Opa! in the shopping area near my house. Most of the restaurants out here are chain restaurants and I didn't want her ending her trip with some boring non-descript pasta from East Side Mario's...so we decided on Opa! because the downtown location is really good. Well, this new location was excellent as well. We shared a bunch of little plates and left supremely stuffed (yet again!). I'll definitely be going back (hello Halifax Blog Girls! *waving*).

It was our longest day of the whole adventure, but we were so glad to find fun new places and everything was just lovely. I can't wait for photos to post so I can relive some of the fun! Thankfully I'm heading home to Victoria in a couple of weeks, so there will be more visiting. Yaaieeeee!

Even though this has gone on long enough, I feel obligated to throw in the daily eats....

- Kashi bar
- 2 egg omelet with mushrooms & cheddar, side bacon, home fries, wheat toast w/ pb, coffee
- afternoon Starbucks coffee w/ raw sugar & skim milk, water
- Opa! dinner: shared hummus/tzatziki/feta cheese dip & pita, mixed Greek olives, spanakopita, saganaki, small Greek salad, red Sangria

19 and Sunny!

Yesterday's weather was sooooo beautiful. Could not have asked for a better day for a girl's seaside road trip! Blue skies as far as the eye could see and warm enough for a skirt and tank top. Love it. (Americans....19 celcius is 62 fahrenheit...)

The only thing that would have made the day better would have been MY CAMERA! Gah.

We got a reasonably early start, heading out the door right at noon...stopping up the road at the cute Bike and Bean for a car coffee (I actually opted for an iced chai....deeeeelish) and at the grocery store for a few eats n treats. Then onto the drive along lovely old Highway 3 along the coastline. Gorgeous as always. Tiffaney just loved it. We did a little sidetrip drive through Chester, then stopped in Mahone Bay for a walk around the town (and some homemade fudge of course!!) then continued on to Lunenberg for another wander around the town. The entire town is just so cool....exactly what every new visitor is expecting of the East Coast. We were hoping to see the Bluenose II but it was actually under a huge tarp for it's seasonal preparation...oh well.

We headed home around 5pm, taking the freeway back for a faster trip. After a bit of a relax and a glass of wine, we headed our for our fabulous dinner date at Bish World Cuisine. Dinner was freaking fantastic. We both more than over indulged and couldn't finish our meals, but everything was perfect. Then on to the world-famous Lower Deck for some Strongbows and East Coast music. Luckily Pogey was playing and they pretty much epitomize a Halifax bar band (Jen, according their website they will be in Ft Mac next month!). Couldn't have asked for more fun!

The eats for yesterday (seriously, you may want to look away!):

- iced skim chai latte
- cheese croissant & fresh fruit cup
- ooey gooey marshmallowy fudge
- 1/2 turkey sammich minus part of the bun
- white wine
- Bish Dinner: 1 raspberry martini, 1 white wine, shared potato & wild mushroom napoleon, lobster & sweet potato chowder, Atlantic salmon w/ carbonara sauce served with veggies & sweet potato fries (I only managed 1/2 the salmon and didn't even touch the potatoes)
- Strongbows at the bar

Man, that is not the menu a gal should be posting on her "healthy living" blog!!

Today we are off to wander downtown, check out the waterfront, and see whatever else we have time for. Tiff leaves at the crack of bloody dawn tomorrow..... boooooooooo. :(

I'm Naked!

...without my camera. OMG, yesterday was such a bummer. Lotsa sun and beautiful sights out at Peggy's Cove...and me without my trusty pink camera. Booooo. Thankfully I've been there before so I already have lotsa photos, but still!! and I'm totally distraught about not having food porn for you lovely readers. I know I've picked up a bunch of new lurkers since I started photographing my meals...please don't run away before I can back to it!

We got a REALLY late start yesterday, due to the fact that we both needed to sleep longer to feel human again. However, we were both determined to enjoy the sun that finally graced Nova Scotia with it's presence so we got ourselves cleaned up and on the road in the late afternoon.

A beautiful scenic drive out to the Cove...less than an hour from my house. As I was the first time, Tiffaney was just in love with the blue water, cute cottages, amazing scenery, and of course the first view of the lighthouse as we came around a bend in the road. Totally worth the wait for good weather. She was excited to find that Peggy's Cove is actually a little village with houses, fishing, a cafe, etc....not just a lighthouse on a rock. We wandered around the rocks for a long while so she could take photos and enjoy the views...then moved on to wander the little town where we also saw William deGarthe's granite monument and visited the cutest gift shop.

Eats for the day were completely random...although I tried to keep it as healthy as possible (considering the major desire for "hangover food"), there was definitely an emphasis on carbs.

- toast w/ pb & banana
- lemon Liberte yogurt straight from the tub
- Tim Horton's Iced Cap & sour cream glazed donut (we needed the sugar in a big bad way!)
- grapes
- chicken souvlaki wrap & house salad w/ sherry vinagrette
- 2 x Cosmopolitan
- baked fries w/ mayo

After our trip back from the Cove we relaxed at home a bit, then I took Tiff to FH's and my favorite local restaurant, The Armview. They make the best comfort food (ie: I always order the souvlaki wrap). Deeeelish. Then we went downtown for a couple of drinks so she could see another Halifax landmark bar/restaurant, The Economy Shoe Shop. Can't come to Hali without visiting there. Due to our late night on Thursday we opted for an earlier night last night.

Today we are bright eyed and bushy tailed (wouldn't THAT make a funny picture!) and are just getting ready to hit the road to Mahone Bay, Chester, and Lunenberg today. The Bluenose II is supposed to be alongside in Lunenberg so we are pretty excited to see that (damn, if only I had my own camera!). The sun is shining and the sky is blue!! Perfect day for a road trip!

Bad News!

I lost my camera! Ugh.

It's not an expensive camera, but it was only about six months old and we had taken about 100 pictures last night. Silly drunk girls....we think we left it in the cab on the way home. We know we had it 2 minutes before we left the bar. Sadly, there are about a zillion independant cabs here in Halifax and we haven't a clue which one we were in. I did call the two main corporate cab companies and the bar, but no luck so far. Booooo.

So no photos of the fun and healthy foods we had yesterday, or how cute us two girls looked for our night out on the town. Makes the blog seem sad and boring now. :(

Quick food recap:

- Breaky: sliced 1/2 banana, sliced strawberries, vanilla Liberte yogurt with chocolate crunch granola sprinkled on top
- Lunch: watermelon, grapes, Kashi honey-sesame crackers, cubes of light cheddar
- Snacky: yogurt covered dried cranberries
- Dinner: shared a huge Greek marinated grilled chicken breast, served with tomato & cucumber salad, and a dish of multigrain Tostitos and the last of the lemon-dill hummus
- After bar snack: avoided nasty pizza!! shared about 1/2 bag of NY Cheddar Kettle Chips

Lotsa drinky-poos....mostly Garrison Raspberry Wheat Ale. Yum!

Since my activity has been down (unless you count shopping!) I decided to squeeze in a session from yogadownload.com yesterday before lunch. My neck/shoulder pain issue has been acting up so I wanted a good stretch and opted for the Yoga for Back Pain because I thought it would be less strenuous. I was right...it was perfect!

And without photos, that's all I've got! We are off to enjoy the sun that finally came out, along with some late day coffee (to wake our slightly hungover butts up!) and make a short road trip to gorgeous Peggy's Cove! Good thing Tiff has a camera too.

Shop-o-Rama

That's what you do when the weather is too crappy to be an outdoor tourist! Shop til you drop. Tiff and I ended up hitting another mall after I finished work yesterday, so needless to say I've more than blown my budget. hehe. At least I finally got some awesome slim fit straight leg jeans to wear with flats and flip-flops over the Summer. And maybe some hot Guess shoes for the Blog Girls Trip to TO in June!

Food was way better yesterday. Being at home during the day totally helped and I made sure to eat lunch before we headed out shopping this time.

Since Tiffaney was sleeping off her jetlag...seriously awake for over 24 hours (minus a couple of random hours of airplane snoozing)...I was on my own for breaky. I decided on making a big pot of banana flax oats so there was enough for her when she got up.

In the pot was (2 servings): 1 cup vanilla hemp milk, 1 cup water, 2/3 cup oats, 1 mashed banana, heaping tablespoon flax meal. To my bowl I added a handful of trail mix and a scoop of natural pb.

Served along with coffeeeeee of course!

I also cut up half of the cute mini seedless watermelon I got for us, so had a cup of that as breakfast dessert.

When lunch rolled around she was just eating her oatmeal, so I took the opportunity to eat my leftover Cora's veggie omelet....deeeeelish....served with a piece of multigrain toast spread lightly with Olivina and a big squirt of ketchup for the eggs.

Starbucks was offering up free coffee for Earth Day, so we took our travel mugs and got late afternoon jolts of joe. We decided to share one of the bigass chocolate chunk cookies....but only ate 1/2...so that's only 1/4 of the cookie each. Go us.

Then we shopped for over 4 hours! Which made for very hungry girls. I took her to Jack Astors because they don't have those over on the island back home. We were ready for drinks! I had a Caesar. And we shared the Goat Cheese and Sweet Onion Dip for an appy. Sooooo good. For dinner Tiff ordered the wickedly cheesy Chicken Bowtie Pasta, and I opted for the Honey Sesame Chicken (which I thought was the stir-fry I have had before...it wasn't, but it was still really good). I ate about half the chicken and veg, maybe a 1/4 cup of rice, then packed up the rest.

Another girlfriend came to meet us so we had another drink. Mine a White Russian this time....and we all shared the Score Bar Cheesecake. I love having girlies to share dessert with!

Then we chatted until the restaurant started putting up chairs. haha. oooooops. Another late night...didn't get to bed until after 1am and I had to finish Breaking Dawn so didn't go to sleep until 2:30!

Amy Hearts Tommy

Amy's Quest to Skinny Tommy Europe Giveaway Contest

Run on over to Amy's blog to enter to win a copy of Tommy's new E-book and a year long membership to his new website www.tommyeurope.tv.

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This is NOT the weather we are looking for!

Seriously people, what happened to the sunshine? Halifax is currently under a deluge of sideways rain. Not exactly the kind of weather I wanted for showing my girl Tiffaney the beautiful sights of Nova Scotia. Thankfully she likes to shop, so we checked out one mall yesterday and it looks as though mall #2 will be on the agenda for today!

When I picked her up from the airport yesterday morning I enjoyed a medium coffee with only one cream and no sugar. No photo, but you've all seen a Tim Horton's cup before (well, the Canadians have!). We then proceeded to the "must-try" Cora's for a yummy breakfast.

I opted for Theo's Veggie Omelette (sans yucky green peppers) and Tiff decided to try a crepe because that's what they are famous for. She got the Raspberry 4 Lucie one...it was so cute, like a juicy crepe present! I ate about 1/2 my omelette, 1/2 the spuds, and the fruit. Skipped the toast, but did have THREE cups of coffee with milk (they are little cups!).

Came home for Tiff to unwind from her flight and wash the travelling off of her. I have to work this week, so crammed in a couple of hours while she snoozed. Of course, the weather turned south about 20 minutes before we walked out the door. So we did some driving around downtown, then over the bridge for the city view, then to the mall. This is where Taco Bell somehow called my name. (and that's all I'm saying about that!)

Later, after we got home and I worked some more, I made up a couple more of those wicked salads like I made the other night. Mixed greens, tomatoes, chunked avocado, cucumber, strawberries marinated in balsamic, light cheddar...all tossed with honey/olive oil/lemon. Served with the lemon dill hummus and a handful of multigrain Tostitos. Deeeeeelish. She said she LOVED it! :)

(So see, although there may have been a disgusting fries supreme on today's menu....I managed to work it all in and keep it balanced otherwise....)

We then spent the next four hours on the edge of our seats watching the VANCOUVER CANUCKS SWEEP THE SERIES. Gooooo Canucks!!! (I haven't watched any hockey since I left Victoria...and it was so fun to get into the game...even if overtime kept me up til 1am!) I bet Cat was dancing in the streets with the other Vancouverites!

Got THAT out of my system!

Taco. Bell.

There's a reason I never eat it. I'm done now.

:)

A little bit of everything...

You probably noticed I took yesterday off from food porn. I spent the day recovering from the 16km hike, cleaning like a mad woman, and running errands. I started to take some photos, but in the end I just decided that you all didn't need to see yet another Starbucks cup, my leftover lobster club, or a shrimp stirfry. Sadly I had to miss my warm yoga class because my achy hip joints starting acting up, so yet another week has gone by and it's now close to two months since I've been to class. Sad. :(

Fast forward to today!

Eats:

morning coffee - I'm really enjoying the Pike Place Blend

hempy oats - rolled oats, water, vanilla Hemp Milk, flax meal, hemp seeds, chopped dried apricots, dried cherries, 1/2 banana cooked in....topped with almond butter (note: hemp seeds do not cook well...they stay hard and the husks come off and taste terrible)

turkey and avocado sammich - AMAZING multigrain Portugese bun, smidge light mayo, grainy dijon, 1/4 avocado sliced, tomatoes, brocolli sprouts, deli turkey

served it some grapes and a Coke Zero (which I switched out for water instead...wasn't feeling the pop)

post-gym - a chocolate soy milk drink box - I used to drink one of these after every kickboxing class!

freaking tasty salad - marinated some sliced strawberries in a big splash of balsamic, then mixed some baby greens, chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, the last handful of chickpeas and another 1/4 avocado chunked - added the strawberries and dressed the whole works with a sweet dressing of simply a squirt of honey & lemon whisked with olive oil. Deeeeeeeeeeeelish.

served it up with a huge dollop of lemon dill hummus and about 1/2 serving of salty multigrain Tostitos.

dessert - Liberte Mediterranne Lemon yogurt with blackberries - I cannot believe how incredibly thick and creamy this yogurt is. You can stand a spoon straight up in it!!

Workout:

Due to reading an itinerary incorrectly I found myself with an extra free evening tonight. So what did I do? Of course I headed off to the gym! My plan was to aim for 25 minutes on the treadmill today, but apparently everyone else in town thought today was a good day for a workout too. Not a treadmill to be had! I still got a fantastic workout though....probably burned more calories that a run would have too.

Cardio:

- 20 minutes elliptical variable resistance

- 5 minutes elliptical reverse "running"

- 10 minutes rowing machine

- 10 minutes brisk incline walk on treadmill (oh sure, NOW there's one free!)

Plus abs:

- 1 minute plank x 2

- 1 minute side plank per side

- 1 set regular crunches (15), 1 set reverse crunches, 2 sets bicycle crunches

- 3 sets hamstring curls with the ball

Tomorrow morning one of my bestest girlfriends from back home in Victoria will be here!!! I've just finished making her room all spiffy and have power-cleaned our entire house. I can't wait to see her....the next week is going to be so. much. fun. :)

Contests A-Plenty

Seems a lot of gals have great give-a-ways going on out there in Blogland today!

Angela at Oh She Glows is a having a beauty product give-a-way.... Maybelline Stilleto Mascara!

Tina at Carrots n Cake has a coupon to win for Mix-My-Granola!

Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point has a Mix-My-Granola coupon too!

Did I miss anything?

Intuitive Without Even Trying (well, sorta)

I don't regularly weigh-in anymore. I don't really count points or calories anymore either. Not on purpose, it just sort of happened. With all of the working out I've been doing over the last few months, and the generally healthier choices and knowlegable grasp on portion control things just have a way of balancing themselves out. Well I just sat down with my coffee and while I was checking my email there was a newsletter from Weight Watchers. I don't really read those anymore, but it did remind me that I haven't stepped on the scale in a while...and since I haven't eaten yet and only had two sips of coffee I decided to check it out.

Wouldn't you know it ----- ALL TIME LOW! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!

What a fantastic feeling to know that what I'm doing is truly working. Just living life and paying attention without obsessing or denying myself anything I truly want, balanced with a regular level of activity and my body is cooperating! Healthy living is apparently agreeing with me.

Truth be told, I wouldn't want to weight any less than this. It's only .4 lbs lower than my goal weight, and about 2.4 lbs lower than my "happy" weight...the place my body seems to like to hang out...but it's on the border of too low. I'll be watching to make sure it doesn't drop further...but first I will enjoy this MOMENTOUS OCCASION!

Blogger Girls (and friends) Go Hiking!

So what I should do is just copy and paste Lynn's post because she basically said it all! Even our pictures are all almost exactly the same. Thanks to our new friend Jen for taking on the position of group photographer for most of the day. (We should have taken a pic of her holding 6 bloody cameras at every photo op!)

I gave myself a 6:15am wake-up call. You all know that I am NOT a morning person, but I was so excited I popped right out of bed when my alarm went off. I had packed the night before, so really I just had to wash my face, brush my teeth and get dressed. I ran downstairs to throw breakfast together and assembled my egg salad sandwich. I was out the door before 7am. (I know, it must be a full moon or something right?) Stopped for those two large coffees I showed you in yesterday's post and headed off to Lesley's place to meet up with the gals. Lynn and Heather were already there, and when Angie and her friends Brooke, Sarah and Jen arrived we were off! Lesley offered to drive me, Heather and Lynn, so I had a leisurely time in the car to just chat and sip that second coffee. :)


We arrived at the Cape Split Hiking Trail around 9:30 and didn't waste too much time getting started. 8km in, 8km out. Two more of Angie's friends met us at the parking area, Lena and another Angie. It was muddier than we had hoped at the start and we spent a lot of time dodging mud bogs and taking side-routes just off the trail, but that just added to the adventure. We'd heard that there was about a 1/2 km stretch that is straight uphill, and while we did find the area it was more of a gradual incline so really no problem at all. I was super impressed with my stamina. I really didn't ever get out of breath or sore at all. Near the end of the day, my hip joints started to ache...but that happens on level ground after a couple of hours so it had nothing to do with the hike. Apparently all of my hard work at the gym is paying off!!



When we reached the summit just after 11:30 we were all so in awe. We couldn't have had a more gorgeous day!! The point is a nice grassy area with a vista view of ocean as far as the eye can see. We enjoyed our tasty lunches and the sun on our faces and fooled around taking photos and just enjoying the scenery.


By about 12:30 we figured we'd better start heading back. A little more tired and wishing for the end after about 6 more km but it was a great time. Knowing we were getting to the cars for a change of footwear made us less concerned about mud! By 2:30 we were soaking up the sun by the cars and comparing stories of wet and dirty feet. :)

We stopped for a much needed and well deserved pub lunch and then for coffee before making the drive back to town. What a day! Girls, I'm so glad we did it! Fantastic time! :)

Hike Day Fuel

What a day! I came home with a bundle of energy (likely fueled by my late day, post hike coffeeeeeee) but now I'm relaxing and totally pooped. I thought I'd break up my hike posting by doing food on this one and the actual fun recap on another. So here's the boring part...come back tomorrow for a full report!!

Breakfast:
- power fueled at 7am with an english muffin SLATHERED in pb & topped with sliced banana, brought along some grapes for the car ride but didn't eat them (that's too much food for me that early in the morning).

- due to time and lack of milk at home, stopped and picked up TWO large coffees (1 cream, 1 sugar...and that was even too much...that Timmy's cream is hardcore!)

Lunch: preview photo
- egg salad on this amazing multigrain Portugese bun, with brocolli sprouts
- carrot sticks w/ side of almond butter & dollop of honey
- Larabar (didn't eat)
- apple (didn't eat)
- gum

- trail mix: almonds, red skin peanuts, cashews, raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, banana chips, dried cherries, dried apricots, dried pineapple, yogurt covered cranberries (ate about 1/2)

Dinner: post hike early dinner at The Port Pub

- Rojo Mojo Red Ale (& keep the water coming!)

- Lobster Clubhouse with massive mound of deeeeeeeeelicious fries (I ate 1/2 the sammich and all of the fries...with mayo for dipping...the other half of that fabulous sammy is in my fridge for tomorrow)

For the drive home we stopped at the local home of Just Us! Coffee, where we browsed and bought a few treats to bring home. I opted for an afternoon Italian Roast coffee with a smidge of organic sugar and a splash of skim. Deeeeelish. Sorry, no photo of the coffee...but here's some treaties I brought home: a Bumble Bar (Chai flavor!), mint dark chocolate (damn flash!), white chocolate trail mix bark, individual hot chocolates.

According to Angie's heart rate monitor we burned somewhere around 1400 calories on our approximately 16km hike. Go us!!!