And so it begins...

Time to get organized and stay organized.  By tomorrow I should have my movers confirmed...and that means...if all goes according to plan... YIKES... I'm outta here in 24 days.  *gulp*

You should see the lists I have on the go.  The goal this week is to get those cleaned up and as simplified (yet detailed) as possible. 

Last night I wrote up this week's plan...so I know what room to sort on which day, which workout I should be doing, and have a good idea what to make to eat.  The food will probably change a bit here and there, but everything else pretty much needs to stay the way it is. 

I will allow myself to skip a workout if needed though...because things will rear their heads but I can't very well give up packing or eating!! 

Today was a nice, easy start...coffeeeeee with soy milk...

A refreshing green smoothie to help clean away the weekend junk.

I picked up some Maca Root Powder at Bulk Barn the other night to give it a try.  It doesn't smell too good, but once blended up I couldn't really tell it was there.  It's considered a superfood powerhouse so it is definitely worth a bit of an odd odor.

From Wikipedia: "The nutritional value of dried maca root is high, similar to cereal grains such as rice and wheat. It contains 60% carbohydrates, 10% protein, 8.5% dietary fiber, and 2.2% fats. Maca is rich in essential minerals, especially selenium, calcium, magnesium, and iron, and includes fatty acids including linolenic acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acids, and 19 amino acids, as well as polysaccharides."

In the KA today:  ice, 1/2 frozen banana, 4 chunks fresh pineapple, 2 big handfuls organic baby spinach, 1 tsp maca, 1 heaping tsp Amazing Meal, 1 tsp flax meal, about 2/3 cup UVAB.

Alongside this bevvie I made some deliciously chewy sprouted grain toast...with natural peanut butter & Supercrack.

It's a quiet work day because of the US Memorial Day holiday so I burned through a fair amount of work this morning...which worked out well because I received a last minute call to meet Cosette and Sarah for afternoon coffee at Two if by Sea.

Who am I to turn down a fabulous cafe au lait?!  Especially since it's Sarah's bday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!

Sadly (thankfully!!) they were out of chocolate croissants.  I definitely need another one (or ten) of those before I leave town.

When I got home it was way past lunch time so I went straight to the kitchen to whip up my salad...

Romaine, tomatoes, cucumber, celery (totally underrated!), and yellow peppers.

Dressed with Renee's Spring Italian dressing...and topped with 1% cottage cheese.  Did you know that cottage cheese contains a WHOPPING 15 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving?  Score.

Added even more protein in the form of hummus...

Served with Mary's Gone Crackers!  Nom!!!  Love these addictive seedy little things...

The last few hours have been spent working and scrutinizing my initial road trip plans.  Halifax to Victoria.  Just me and my cat.  It's going to be a loooooong 11 days...totally scary...and totally exciting. 

This once in a lifetime adventure needs a name.... any ideas??

SATC2

What better excuse for a girls' night out than a showing of          Sex and the City 2!  Break out the cute shoes and martinis ladies!!

My friend Missy sent out the invite months in advance.  :)  Tickets were bought online.  No line-ups or sold out shows for these girls!!

I had intended on buying hawt new shoes for this event, but honestly with all of the running around I've been doing lately I'm lucky I managed to get there at all!  Instead I was going to wear my cute green dress and white Guess peep toes but the weather was cold and wet so I switched to jeans and snake skin buckled peeps instead...

 

I did break out some curls for the event though.  :)

The movie was fabulous.  Completely campy and over the top, but in a good way.  More outrageous than the first one, and the storyline did come off a bit weak...but still fun and entertaining as all hell.  Some of the one-liners were absolutely hysterical.  I laughed out loud multiple times...and listening to the whole theatre every time there was a hot guy (there were many!), hot shoes (so many it was hard to keep up), or an amazing (or totally out there) outfit totally added to the fun of it all.

Definitely grab a couple of girlfriends and check it out.  Girly entertainment at it's finest!  (and I believe a lot of guys would actually find it pretty funny too....)

After the show we headed out for a lovely dinner at Nectar Social House in Dartmouth.  I've attempted to go here twice before but it didn't work out either time, so I was thrilled that this restaurant suggestion came up for our girls' night. 

The room was modern and gorgeous...and so was the food.  This is the kind of place I wish I could drag my good camera since point and shoot (and low lighting) definitely does no justice.

Drink of the evening...Nectarini.  Tasted like sunshine in a cocktail.

I wanted to try everything on the starter menu...it all sounded fabulous.  I tossed back and forth between the Lobster Spring Rolls and the Greek Style Ceviche Salad.  I eventually decided on the salad...

It was fresh and flavourful.  I love the inclusion of capers and the shrimp marinade was deeeeelish.  I was kind of jealous of the lobster rolls when someone else ordered them though...might be a reason to go back!

For my main I asked our server to help me decided between the Pineapple Lobster Pasta and the Chilli Pork Stuffed Ravioli.  Two completely different options! He talked me into the ravioli because it had...maple bacon cream sauce!!!  Lobster got bumped again!

It was rich and delicious.  The pork was spiced just right, the sauce was decadent but not overpowering and the fresh pasta just about melted in my mouth.  I really enjoyed the new twist on a menu favourite.

Come dessert time you would think I didn't have room but each course was just the right size and when the server mentioned this Lemon Tart I just had to order it. 

Two wedges, so enough to share with a few of the girls.  It was light and tart...like the base of a homemade Lemon Meringue Pie.  Worth every bite.

After dinner the bartender and one of the group's bf's were great sports and played photographer for us.  I think we had 6-8 cameras on the go!  Definitely a fun girlie night.  Would do it again tomorrow!  Thanks gals!!

Burrito in the Sun

I made no plans this weekend.  None.  It is glorious.

I have five simple things on my to-do list which need to be done in no particular order, nor in any rush.  Love it.

Item number one was to hit up the Halifax Farmer's Market again...

But I slept in.  And it was wrapping up when I got there.  Oh well.

So I got an iced coffee and hauled out James Dean for a little quality time on the town.  I planned ahead and wore sunscreen, comfy shoes, and a t-shirt that wouldn't leave me with stupid tan lines if I did in fact get too much sun.

 

First stop was to have a little sit-down in the park with Cornwallis.  He founded Halifax you know!

I was also intrigued by this odd Ukrainian statue in the same park. 

Looks a little headless, no?

But the details were phenomenal.

'The two draped flags, of 1891 and 1991, represent the marriage of the past and present in their new country Canada.

The bread and salt placed on an embroidered towel is a traditional Ukrainian welcome representing life and the new life Canada had to offer.'

Since I had only eaten a Super-Charge Moi! cookie for breakfast I was getting hungry while I wandered around, so I sent Scott a text to find out where this burrito joint he goes on and on about was.  I've been dying to try it and today seemed like a good day!

Burrito Jax on Blowers Street.

On my way there I passed this house that I originally learned about on Brad's photo blog. 

The story of the Morris building can be found here.  This was constructed in the 1760s as the office building of the first Chief Surveyor of Nova Scotia, Charles Morris.  During a recent development project Nova Scotia Power agreed to help preserve the building...the process is currently underway.

I found the burrito place easily.  Both of the girls working were in great spirits and happy to explain the process to me. 

I opted for the small size on a whole wheat tortilla.  Based on Scott's recommendation I went with the Jax Chicken as my protein of choice (shredded chicken seasoned with Mexican spices).  Then they walk you down the line of ingredients to chose as you wish.  I "think" I had smashed beans (like refried), black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, cheese, Pico Jax (mild & fresh salsa) and burrito sauce (sour cream with lime, garlic & herbs).  They then fold it up and cook it through while you wait.

I took my wicked smelling burrito and cold bottle of water to-go.  Walked down to the waterfront and found a bench and patch of grass.  How's this for a lunchtime view?

The burrito lived up to the hype!  Super yummy and not ridiculously filling.  I think next time I might try the sweet potato and/or guacamole and definitely try one of their spicier salsas or sauces (I went mild to start because I'm a bit of a wuss).

I enjoyed it!

  

Thanks to ordering the small size I had room for a scoop of ice cream...

More walking around in the sun snapping photos...

  

Worked my way back to my car and then went off to enjoy the air conditioning of the grocery store before coming home to tackle the dandelion garden that is my lawn.  Quite the workout pushing that mower around!

Tonight involves painting my toenails and enjoying some quiet time.  Tomorrow there are some chores that I should probably tackle....maybe.

:)

Super-Charge Moi!

I love to bake.  Generally you will find at least one-five homemade baked goods per month on my blog, but with the whirlwind that life has been lately I haven't been baking at all.  Especially odd because baking is my go-to task when I'm upset, stressed out, or sad...all of which I have been over the last few months.  But I've also been insanely busy!

After finding some time to actually surf a few blogs I haven't had the chance to read in months, the urge to bake finally hit me.  And I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  Super-Charge Me! Cookies by Dreena Burton from her book "Eat, Drink & be Vegan".

These super-powered healthified cookies are crazy popular around blogland but I thought I'd never find the recipe because usually folks are pretty good about not doling out copyrighted info...but low and behold Dreena actually has a couple of her own blogs and she posted the recipe herself!

The nice thing about this recipe is that it is pretty forgiving and can be easily modified.  I made a few changes based on what I had on hand and what I felt like eating but pretty much followed the directions exactly.

My take on the ingredients...

• 1 cup whole oats
• 2/3 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/8 cup dried cranberries
• 4 dried apricots, chopped
• 3 tbsp mini chocolate chips
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup flax meal
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup brown rice syrup
• 3 tbsp smooth almond butter
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp olive oil (it's all I had on hand!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. In a bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, coconut, dried fruit, and chocolate chips. Sift in baking powder and stir until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flax meal, syrups, almond butter, and vanilla and stir until well combined. Stir in oil.
4. Add wet mixture to dry and stir until just well combined (do not over mix).
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon batter onto baking sheet evenly spaced apart and lightly flatten. (Makes 12 large cookies).
6. Bake for 13 minutes (no longer, or they will dry out). Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 1 minute (no longer), then transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

I am very pleased!  These are a very good size cookie.  Hearty yet chewy and very tasty!  Be careful because they are calorie dense...but they are made with completely REAL ingredients so don't feel too guilty about a splurge on one of these little wonders.

Original recipe © copyright Dreena Burton (eat, drink & be vegan)