Tainted Lilies

What better way to start a Monday than with the gift of delicious coffee?!  Vanilla Macadamia Nut Kona Blend all the way from Hawaii!

And have I just been blind to the fact that we have So Delicious Coconut Milk available around here?  My eyes actually lit up when I happened upon this in the grocery store on Sunday.

It made a reasonable substitute for coffee cream. :)

For breakfast it was time to get some healthy stuff in my body after a weekend of bacon and carbs!  Vanilla yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, banana, and hemp seeds are back in the house!

This week’s meal plan includes eating up a lot of what I already have on hand so I decided on a really simple lunch of grilled cheese with Campbell’s mushroom soup.

I may have forgotten I was grilling my sammich! 

oooooops!!  Only burnt one side though and managed to disguise the taste by dipping in a little ketchup or drowning the bite in my soup. :)

After taking Chibi for her afternoon walk I got some greens in me via an Amazing Grass shake… Orange Dreamsicle shaken with Coconut Milk.

After work Tiffaney and I decided to get together for a walk so we could enjoy the clear, sunny weather, get some exercise and she could meet Chibi!  I wanted dinner before I went so I found the fastest thing I could see in the fridge.

This is the last of the Chicken Flop Pie filling mixed with the rest of my soup from lunch.  It was soooooooo good!! 

Our walk was about an hour…a bit chilly, and Chibi slowed us down a bit, but it was nice to be able to get outside for some exercise!  After our walk I hit my gym to do some upper body strength exercises.

Bachelor update:  Remember the beautiful lilies from #5?  Well I feel like they are tainted now.  Turns out he wasn’t a winner.  Glad I went with my gut instinct here, but now I feel like I want to throw out his flowers!

But they’re sooo pretty!!  Dammit.

On my way home I stopped for some fresh produce and decided the first bag of Eggies of the season should make their way into my shopping bag.

Are you more for the Hershey’s Eggies like I am?  Or the Cadbury Mini Eggs?  Or maybe you are all about the Easter Creme Eggs?

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.

:)

Walking with Owls

Click the image to watch Fireflies by Owl City. 

My new fave happy song.  Cute for listening in the car, in my office, during my cool downs, or walking around the neighborhood on a sunny day.  Too cute. 

I listened to about half the album while walking around my neighborhood at noon. It’s a beautiful blue-skied, crisp Fall day out there.  I couldn’t let it pass by without getting some fresh air.

Being a holiday, kids were out in full force.  A little street hockey action…

I saw…

• 1 full set of outdoor Xmas lights
• 1 fully Xmas decorated front porch
• 1 Xmas wreath
• 1 Xmas flag

Christmas Crazy!  It’s still too early people!

Before my walk I worked (it’s a holiday but my coworkers and I agreed to work today and take a more useful day off in the future…) and ate breakfast…

Stonyfield Farms Organic Vanilla yogurt with Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal, sliced banana, and a sprinkle of pomegranate…

And coffee of course…back to half-caf…I was letting myself get a little too caffeinated…

Post-walk I was pretty cold so immediately decided on soup for lunch.  Thawed some Chowdy Doody…

Served with some snackies…pickles, cheddar, Terra Sweets & Beets, celery with hummus…

Thankfully our weekly conference call started out with a discussion I didn’t need to participate in too much, so I muted myself and crunched away on my snacks.  Bwahahhah. 

But now it’s my turn to talk, so gotta run!

Fresh Air

Pitfall to working at home:  neglecting to leave the house at all.

I’m sure any of you other folks that work from home or stay at home to care for children know about this.  Some days there’s just no reason to leave the house…and then by the second, third or fourth day you realize that the lack of fresh air and vitamin D might be the cause of your slumpy mood or general laziness.  This is exactly what happened to me yesterday.  Only one day in the house and I lost all motivation to go out in the evening…hence Day Two of my workout plan went in the tank.  Gah!

So today I’ve already gone for a walk around the neighborhood!  And this has left me refreshed, ready to tackle a busy work day, and chomping at the bit to hit the gym and yoga tonight.  WooT!

Before I headed out, there was coffeeeeeee…

And breakfast…

Liberte Svelt organic vanilla yogurt with sliced banana and Kashi Honey Almond Flax. 

People around the neighborhood are really tackling the Halloween decorations already…I think I’ll take pics tomorrow!  In the meantime, here’s my cute porch decorations:

Lunchy Leftovers:  having a big lunch to prepare for my workout madness this evening.  Don’t want to be weighed down for my run or yoga and don’t want to be ravenous when I finally eat around 8:30.

  

Thankfully there’s last night’s leftovers.  Not pretty, but deeeeelish.

Especially when I top it with parmesan cheeeeese.

And now…the dreaded weekly conference call…save meeeeeee! ;)