Green Livin’

Since I decided to leave the neighborhood for my walk this afternoon I had to take my car.  And since I had my car, I had my trunk full of empties for recycling.  And for some reason I finally decided today was the day to actually stop at the recycling depot (I’ve only been carting this stuff around for over a month!).

I was intrigued by these giant bales of copper that an employee was power washing while I was there. 

I was rewarded with $20 for my recycling efforts.  WooT! 

After that, I headed back to the BLT trail for a 3km walk.  So pretty!  Hello first day of October!

I might have been multitasking during my walk.  By multitasking I mean tweeting and emailing with my Blackberry.  :D

Lunch was the leftovers of my Campbell’s “meh” soup from last night.  And a plate of veggies with almond butter because the fridge is looking mighty bare today. 

Now here it is 5:30 and I’m actually finished work for the day!  So I’m snacking on this piece of banana bread and thinking about heading out to run some errands and buy myself something cute with my hard earned $20.  Festive Autumn decor, anyone?

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!!!