frilly lily

Oh the joy of remembering to set the coffee maker the night before!

Fresh brewed coffee I promise never to abandon you again! (Um, unless of course fresh coffee is delivered to my door again…that was sweet!)

I made the mistake of not making breakfast before my conference call and then of course it ran long so I didn’t actually eat breakfast until…oh I don’t know…12:30? Can you say HANGRY?!

Lemon yogurt, blueberries, blackberries, Kashi Go Lean.

I hopped in for a quick shower after eating then promptly made my second meal of the day.  I knew I’d be out all afternoon and needed to make sure I’d stay full until dinner.

Sammich made with that deeeelish Tofino peasant bread…with turkey, avocado, tomato, spinach, olive oil mayo and Dijon mustard.

nom. nom. nom.

After another hour or so of work I was off to get some girlie pampering.  Fresh new haircut.  She styled it all wavy for me…alas I had no fun places to be so only my fuzzypants boyfriend got to see it.

Front doesn’t look much different but she did such a slick job on the back!

I sipped a grande non-fat half sweet hazelnut coffee misto between appointments.

**And now! Here I have a PSA for any local Victoria ladies. (Gentlemen, you may wish to skip this part…tee hee.)**

I found the awesomest (yes it’s a word!) little boutique for a really good wax!  I didn’t start bikini waxing until I moved to Halifax (hello Dominican resort!) so I didn’t have any idea where to go when I moved back.  The place I tried before going to Vegas in September left me feeling…well, let’s just say it was um, “abrupt”…so I didn’t want to go back.

A bikini wax is no time to be cheap!

While walking down Fort Street one day I noticed this shop ‘frilly lily’ that specializes in “down there” (among other waxing as well as manicures and pedicures, etc) so gave them a Google.  I was pleased to learn they are a small franchise with a huge following and decided to give them a try.

A bikini wax is never a fabulous event but Jess took excellent care, was a great conversationalist, and did a beautiful job.  So if anyone is looking for a new esthetician for your girl’s business I definitely recommend frilly lily.  (There are locations in Vancouver and Calgary too…and I assume more on the way.)

As a side note: the shop is super cute, sells their line of bath and beauty products, has an upstairs studio for pedicures…and get this…pedicure parties!  I want one. :)

**OK boys, I’m done.**

Back at home I had work to do since I’d been out playing hooky all afternoon.  Wine was necessary.  Not good wine, but whatevs. ha.

I snacked on a banana and Sunflower Butter until I found a few minutes to cook dinner.

Dinner was a super simple Salmon Salad. 

I made a paste of olive oil mayo, Dijon, smidge of honey, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper…then spread it atop a fresh wild Coho salmon filet which I had squirted with lemon juice.  Baked the fish at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Popped it on top of a bigass salad made from spinach, tomatoes, carrots, yellow peppers, bean sprouts, and beets dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

My late-ish dinner kept me from snacking while I spent my evening working, Tweeting and watching American Idol (I think Steven Tyler may have single handedly rescued the show for me!)

Sipping yummy tea while I blog away and it’s off to bed with me.  There’s a Castle episode just awaiting my snuggles under the covers.

Night!

And the sun will come out…

…today…?

Ya, so that pelting ice from last night turned into a windstorm that ROCKED the house.  We have a massive floor-to-ceiling window in our bedroom that always feels like it’s going to smash in when we have wind like that.  Insanity.  Makes it tough to sleep!  Overnight the storm turned to rain and by this morning the roads were totally clear.  In fact, it rained so hard that it’s actually washed away the snow that was left from last week!  It was so toasty while I was out this morning that I actually had to take my coat off. 

Nova Scotia weather!

So, what was I up to this morning?

Got my hair did!  Refreshed blonde highlights, added pinstripe lowlights, and a solid trim and texturization all the way around. 

I tried on clothes after so it doesn’t look awesome, but you get the idea.  :)

I may have enjoyed TWO Starbucks bevvies today.  One to sip while she foiled my head…and another to help power me through my now jam-packed afternoon of work.

Grande reduced-fat egg nog coffee misto… x2

Forgetting how long it takes to tackle my mane I didn’t plan enough for breakfast…the Kashi bar in my purse had to do!

Once I got home I headed straight for the kitchen where I was so glad to see that leftover pizza.  So much better reheated (in the oven of course!)…

I forgot to mention I got BP’s new multigrain crust and I really like it.  Thin and crispy!

The produce selection in the house is a little random right now, but I found some cucumber and yellow pepper to slice up…

Made me happy to put veggies in ma belly!!

OK, time for water.  Launching a Twitter water challenge NOW!  #waterlogged.  Drink that litre!!

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention my guest post over at East Coast By Choice yesterday!!  Head on over to Kimberly’s blog to read my tips for Healthy Holiday Shopping!!  How to keep your head on straight and your belt in place while tackling your holiday gift list.  :)

Oh ya! The new hair.

Right.  A few of you left comments wanting pics of the new hair. 

I didn’t really change the cut…just cleaned it up because it had grown A LOT and completely lost it’s shape over the last two months.

The photos don’t do the massive amount of blonde highlights any justice.  In person, it is a whole lot lighter in the front. 

I like me blonde.  :)  (Remind me of this the next time I’m blathering on about wanting to go dark again!)

This is Thursday immediately after my appointment…not a fan of how my stylist does my hair…but she likes it straight to do the finishing trim.

 

This is Friday…I’m on a wispy ponytail kick right now…probably because it’s been over a year since I actually had anything resembling a ponytail.

Carb Loading

Not that I needed to carb load…that’s just what we did!  haha.  oooops.  That’s what happens when you wait until it’s 9pm and you are very cranky when you finally decide to go for dinner.

I spent a good part of the afternoon out getting my hair done, so I had to catch up on work in the early evening.  I also really wanted to head to the mall tonight so when we agreed to do that dinner kind of got pushed to the side.

By the time we got to the mall I was cranky and hungry!  I checked the two stores I wanted to check and then we headed straight back out to find some dinner.  For the sake of time and ease we chose Jack Astors.  (I really need to find a better “last minute” choice!…it would help if we didn’t live in suburbia with few non-chain restaurant choices.)

We opted for Astor Blastors to drink.  WooT!  Gotta love some coconutty kids drinks. :)

For dinner we shared two entrees:  the Honey Sesame Chicken Stirfy thingy and the Parmesan Chicken Pasta thingy.  :)

I ate too fast because I was starving and wound up stuffed!!

However, the good news is I have absolutely no desire for a treat in front of the TV tonight!!  haha, silver lining!

The rest of the day was just a mish-mosh of meals thrown together.  Carby carby carby.

Coffee and blueberry scone for breakfast.

 

Strawberry yogurt with thawed frozen blueberries and raspberries for a snack.

Peanut butter and banana sammich for lunch on the run to the hair dresser.  (I ate the other half of the banana after my appointment).

There was a tiny reheated bowl of leftover potatoes when I got home too, but I ate em so fast I didn’t take a picture for you all. nom nom nom.  :)

What a mish-mosh of unhealthy crap.  Geeeeeeze.

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!