Fare Thee Well

And so the countdown to goodbye begins.  :(

Arron returned from Winnipeg yesterday…this is the whirlwind weekend of last minute craziness and the smack in the face of reality coming to bite. 

I had grand intentions of getting up early to hit up yoga and have a good workout before getting into my errands and chores for the day, but I was up til around 2am chatting with my Mom and looking at condos online so the 830 alarm and I didn’t get along.

Instead I got up around 10am, made some toast and started on my chores.  Obviously this is Steady Eddie with pb & Supercrack…

Grabbed a latte when I went out to get groceries for the evening’s partay.

That powered me through 2 loads of laundry, making both beds, cleaning 2 bathrooms, doing dishes, dusting and polishing everything on the main floor, vaccuming the whole house, and mopping the living room floor.  Whew.

Just as Arron was arriving from the airport with our buddy Mark, I was whipping up a green smoothie…

I knew I wasn’t going to be getting much in the way of veggies for the rest of the day so I crammed a few servings of spinach into another Chocolate Coconut Green Smoothie.  I think I’m onto something with this combo.  :)

With all of my chores done and Arron napping I was pleased to find a fairly large window of time to hit the gym.  With everything having been so hectic for the last couple of weeks, I was sure I must be forgetting to do something important…but nope, I actually had the time!

(I snacked on a Tropical Fruit Larabar in the car on the way there…)

• 15 minute cross-country elliptical warm-up
• Seated row, 3 x 12
• Lunge & Lift, 3 x 12 (first set with weight)
• Barbell 21s, 3 x 12
• Hamstring Curls on the ball, 3 x 12
• Crunches with feet on the ball, 3 x 12
• Planks, 3 x 30 seconds
• Squats, 1 set plie, 1 set regular, 1 set each leg one-legged (with weight)
• Back extensions, 3 x 12
• 12 minute incline jog on treadmill to cool down

At home I needed a quick protein injection so a giant scoop of peanut butter wrapped in a multigrain tortilla did the trick…

After that I had time to enjoy a crazy hot long shower, relax with a bit of TV, primp for the party and prep the snackies for our guests.

I sipped a little Bailey’s on ice while chopping the veggies and cheese. 

2 parts Bailey’s, 1 part skim milk, 1 ice cube slightly melty.

Normally I make a couple of appies from scratch but this time I opted to keep things simple and picked up some pre-made treats from M&M Meat Market. The closest to homemade I got was to put together a quick dip made from this Epicure mix I bought from Lex a while back.

 

Cheese, Chives & Bacon Dip Mix.  I modified the directions (of course, I never seem to follow the recipes!) to make it a little more fresh tasting.

• 2 tbsp mix
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/3 cup light mayo
• 1 snipped green onion
• 1 oz old white cheddar, finely grated
• sprinkles of salt, pepper and paprika

 

Served with cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, cucumber sticks, and fresh sourdough cubes.

Other eats on the table included… hummus & In Snax multigrain & herb pita crisps…

Meat & cheese plate…

Triple creme brie and red grapes…

 

And those M&M appies I mentioned…the Oriental Party Pack…which includes Potstickers, Chicken Bites, Boneless Pork Bites, and Veggie Spring Rolls.

My drink of choice for the evening was red wine. I picked out this Washington Syrah for only $18.  I am certain I’ve read about Genesis on a blog lately, but not entirely sure where.  At first sniff I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but it was quite tasty and easy to drink.  Nice discovery!

Drink of choice for the boys was Scotch.  Arron brought home some 16 year old Lagavulin from Winnipeg.  Yet again, Manitoba proves to have a much more impressive selection of fine liquors than Nova Scotia.

The remainder of the evening was spent having fun, being silly, playing Beatles Rock Band, and even a few live tunes busted out by Arron and Frank on the guitar and bass…

 

So much fun!  But so odd and bittersweet at the same time.  It’s seems so final to say that this was our last party hosted together EVER.  He leaves for Africa on Tuesday night, and I’ll be moved back to BC when he returns. Wierd.

Oddly enough, my favourite Beatles Rock Band song is         Hello Goodbye.  Kind of fitting really.

Oompa Oompa Stick it in your Jumper

Knowing FH was cooking dinner for last night I made sure to plan ahead and got a workout in and stuck to healthy eats for breaky and lunch.

Started out with another breakfast cookie.  This one was definitely the best yet.  Friday night I mixed up the following…

• 1/3 cup oats
• flax meal
• 1 tbsp whey protein isolate
• 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
• 1/8 cup unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze
• AND a scoop of smashed TJ’s peanut butter pretzels!

Let sit in the fridge over night and topped with Liberte Coconut yogurt and sliced bananas in the morning.  Deeeeeeeeeeeeeelish.

Then I hit the gym for my first attempt at tackling the strength training routine that Gina put together for Caitlin.  I’ll get into this more in the coming week…I was so happy to see her post this because I really need to focus more on my toning and strength.  Her timing couldn’t be better.

When I got home, I went straight to the blender for a green smoothie.  I wanted something refreshing and protein filled, and well I love me a green smoothie.

In the KA: 

• ice
• 1/2 frozen banana
• flax meal
• 1 tbsp whey protein isolate
• 2 big handfuls baby spinach
• 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze

Admittedly this was a pretty plain smoothie.  It was bright green and hit the spot, but it was lacking flavor.  Definitely time restock my Amazing Meal.

Alongside my smoothie I tried a second Vitalicious snack.  The Apple-Berry-Cinnamon Vitatop. 

Heated slightly in the microwave.  Tasted yummy but it was a bit dry.  I think it would be better with coffee or maybe with peanut butter or jam.

Then much cleaning, vaccuuming, Windexing, etc ensued.  A late afternoon Kashi bar was consumed to hold over til our later dinner.

In the interest of keeping this post from getting out of control, I’ll jump straight to dinner.  FH cooked! 

Stuffed shells featuring a ricotta-spinach filling, homemade marinara sauce and Alfredo…

Hot Italian sausages, browned and soaked in the marinara…

 

I took care of a little appy plate for our guests…

 

And of course, you know I concocted a bigass salad!! 

In the super big silver bowl:

• Sassy mixed greens
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• yellow pepper
• tomatoes
• julienned beets

Served with a homemade dressing of red wine vinegar, fresh squeezed lemon, Italian Seasoning, s&p, and EVOO.

With warmed ciabatta baguette…

 

With wine (and scotch for the boys)…

**For anyone that is keeping track (ha!):  I ate 2 shells, 1/2 a sausage, 2 servings of salad, 1 piece of bread, and 2 glasses of wine.**

Folllowed by Beatles Rock Band…(and apparently a self portrait because being the girl with the camera means no one ever takes my picture!)

Have you ever actually paid close attention to the lyrics of Beatles songs?  I thought I had, but Beatles Rock Band tells me that I clearly had no real clue.  I think maybe the Fab Four spent a bit too much time dragging on the hooka pipe back in the day.

Twas another late night, but so much fun.  :)  Thanks to our friends Paul, Julian, Mark and Frank for supporting the band!