lulu alert

Today ended up being a bit of a rush around.  I had a bunch of errands to run mid-afternoon, so lunch was a quick chow-down at the kitchen counter.

Turkey, cukes and hummus wrapped in an ancient grains tortilla…

Apparently I must have eaten it before getting further photos!

While running errands I had to head downtown, so made a pit stop at lululemon.  (Where I tried on the Astro pant and I’m totally in love!  I am certain they named it “astro” because it makes asses look out of this world!)

They had a cute April Fool’s joke going on…

It was funny watching people stop to read the signs and obviously believe it!  Could you imagine?!  The horror!

I did buy a super cute new No Limit tank for yoga classes (and general Summer livin’ I’m sure!).  It was my replacement gift from Arron since I ended up returning the Garmin he got me for my birthday.  He laughed when I thanked him (mostly because I actually bought another gift, but somewhat because he is sure I must own stock in lulu).

Speaking of lulu-fool’s…did you see the funny product they released today? 

The No-Mat!!  Almost seems plausible if it didn’t look so goofy.

[source]

They really went all out.  Here’s a video on how to personalize your own No-Mat.  Seriously creative.

Because I stupidly went downtown near rush hour, it took me a while to get out of there so I snacked on this Kashi bar I found smooshed in the bottom of my purse…

I am so glad I work from home when I realize what traffic is really like.  I’ll die if I ever have to commute again.

When I got home I threw together a salad and a treasure from the freezer.  Chicken Pot Pasta Salad!

Simple salad in the big silver bowl:  organic mixed greens, radishes, matchstick carrots, cucumber, EVOO and S&P…

Topped with a serving of Chicken Pot Pasta.  It slightly wilted the lettuce and made a healthy yet comforting meal.  Nom!

I had planned to spend the evening catching up on work. Arron left tonight for his impromptu trip to Winnipeg to see his son before his big deployment so I ended up on the phone with my Mom for over two hours, then puttering around tidying up like I always do when he leaves. 

It’s funny…I’m totally used to him going away…it’s really a major part of our lives…but this time is different…it’s a big step to the even bigger step of his major deployment and my subsequent move.

Blah.

So now I’ve grabbed my sippy cup of water and a few Girl Scout caramel deeeeeeeeeeeelights, and here I am snug as a bug in a rug talking to you all.

I don’t have tomorrow off because it’s not considered a stat holiday in the US.  Kind of a bummer, but I actually have a ton of work to get caught up on so it’s OK.  I hope to keep focused and just bang things out bright and early.

One can only hope! :)

Let the Games Begin!

• work finished on time – check
• snacks procured – check
• workout done – check
• cheer gear on – check

For the first Friday in ages, it was quite quiet on the work frontier so I actually got through everything I had planned today and managed to step away from the computer at exactly 5pm.  Amazing!

I headed straight out the door to make up yesterday’s missed workout.  Intro to Iron Day Three – Week Four.  Warmed up with rowing, added some extra core work, hurried back out the door in under an hour. 

Came home for that greeeeen smoooothie I’ve been craving all day…

The basic green:  ice, 1/2 banana, flax meal, 1 tbsp whey protein isolate, baby organic spinach, UVAB.

Deeeeelish.  I recently started adding ice and it makes all the difference in the world. 

Then set to getting our snacks ready to enjoy while we cuddle in to enjoy the Opening Ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games (late night for us…10pm Atlantic time to start!)…

Old white cheddar, FH’s favorite cacciatore sausage, grapes for me, whole grain Italian loaf.

I gobbled up the end slice of the bread with more Crofter’s Superfood Spread… holy good.

Some Stacey’s pita chips for added crunch…

And maybe a little chocolate for later, we shall see…

I wonder who’s going to light that cauldron.  Sure has been a lot of speculation all day.  Gretzky?  Terry Fox’s mom?  Trevor Linden?  FH thinks it should be William Shatner.  :) 

My heartfelt condolences go out to the family, friends and team members of the Georgian luger who lost his life today.  Such a tragedy.

And I’ll leave you with a video from hellobc.com.  This commercial makes me incredibly homesick…

 

Go Canada Go!

Action Packed

Lots to report today so bear with me!

Got up crazy early to pick FH up from his overnight duty shift…there really shouldn’t be a 7am on Saturdays.  Just sayin’.  Since we were up and about we decided to stop for breakfast.  We’ve learned from past experience that our usual haunts aren’t open that early so we stopped into The Ardmore Tearoom again. 

Second visit doesn’t disappoint.

Simple scrambled eggs, bacon and multigrain toast.

And coffeeeeeeee of course.  :)

Good way to start a busy day!  We ran to the supermarket and then dropped FH off at home.  A quick hair brush and mascara application later and I was off to meet Angie, Lynn and Tasha for the first time since before Xmas!

Much needed Starbucks double tall vanilla non-fat latte…

And reduced fat banana choco chip loaf (I ate half and stuffed the rest in my purse)…

We chatted babies and fun stuff like that, then headed off to check out the OptiMYz Live Health & Fitness Show. 

Seemed like quite a good turnout for the show.  Lots and lots of vendors…everything from spas, restaurants, gyms, supplements, to chiropractors, yoga studios, and much more.

We enjoyed a few samples! 

Miso soup from Hamachi House (Japanese Restaurant)…

A freaking awesome smoothie from Pete’s Frootique…

New organic Greek yogurt from Olympic (mine’s in my fridge to enjoy later)…

And a few other doodads and such.  I totally missed the free bottles of Vitamin Water.  Bummer.

I did buy what I’m hoping is an awesome short sleeve running hoodie from I Run Like A Girl.  I’ll model it for you sometime this week.  If it works out, it was a steal!  $25!!  Supposedly it wicks better than a lot of other sports gear…we shall see!

The main reason we wanted to get there when we did was to listen to Lil MacPherson from The Wooden Monkey and her discussion about local, organic food and her thoughts and knowledge on climate change and the world around us.  (I took some notes and will put a separate post together for that).

After a quick photo op…

…we headed out for lunch and opted to go to The Wooden Monkey since we’d just heard Lil speak and it was right near by.

I knew I was coming home to some crazyass FH cooked homemade lasagna, so I chose to stick with a salad for lunch…

Sweet Apple Salad
An assortment of organic greens, sliced apple, carrot, daikon, scallions, goat cheese and walnuts, with a grain mustard maple dressing.

Nom!!!! The daikon and apple went soooooo well with the goat cheese and walnuts.  I love this flavor combo.  I could have eaten like three plates of this! 

Two for two at the Monkey.  The veggie pizza I had on my last visit was a winner too.

After parting ways with the ladies, I made a quick stop at *cough* lululemon *cough* where I may or may not have purchased some new crops. *cough*  What lulu addiction?  ;)

And then promptly hauled my butt to the gym.  Back to day one (week 2!) of Intro to Iron.  Chest, triceps and shoulders.  Hurts so good.  :)  Including a treadmill sprint warm up, and an elliptical incline cool down. 

I was literally still huffing and puffing as I got dressed and headed for home!  Nothing like knowing you worked your ass off and earned yourself an indulgent dinner!

Whew.  Still with me?  ha!  Thanks for hanging out y’all.  Dinner is calling me so I will have to pick this up later.  Talk to ya soon!!

And what have you done today? :)

Workout – DONE

• 15 minutes rowing machine
• 2 sets of 15: tricep pulldowns, bicep curls, shoulder presses, crunches, reverse crunches, side bends with 10lb weight (each side)
• 1 min plank, 2 x 30 sec side planks

Dinner – DONE

Although it was a bit of a cop out.  :)  Smart Ones Santa Fe Beans & Rice…

Fancied up.  Chopped tomatoes, salsa & light sour cream.

Side of Salsa Verde Riceworks…

If you gotta eat a frozen meal, this is a good one.  Just close your eyes and don’t look at the ingredient list and enjoy the fact that it’s only 6 points. :)

Modelling – DONE

Although no one would hire me with post-gym hair and no make-up.

My lululemon score from yesterday…early Xmas prezzie courtesy of my Grandpa. :)  Wear With All Jacket.

 

Don’t you love the hot pink accents?  I love me some pink and black!!

It covers my tushie!

And my hands!

The main reason I wanted a new lulu jacket is because I can’t wear my remix hoodies for very long because of the big, bulky hood.  They are actually bad for my bad neck believe it or not.  I find myself sitting with my head pushed forward to accomodate the bulk of the hood which in turn causes that arm pain I get.  Nutty.

This new one has a nice light hood that doesn’t cause that problem. 

:)  L.O.V.E.

Bathrooms clean – DONE

Laundry – IN PROGRESS

Dessert – DONE

The last of Angie’s Five Star Bars…

(I should mention that I gave away a lot of the cookies!!)

Tea – DONE

Dexter Finale – DONE

Holy hell people.  Now THAT was a season finale.  Now I know why everyone was tweeting about it all day long.  Holy crap.

And on that note I have Christmas prezzies to wrap, laundry to work on, and a suitcase to dig out of storage.  All before bed in an hour.  Yikes!

Shop Nude!

Oh, lululemon...this could be dangerous. Shopping from the comfort of my own home....my credit card is cringing already. ;)

I've had my eye on this little number for a couple of weeks....now it may happily become mine without even the slightest effort!

Just when I was getting into the swing of things....

...I hurt myself!

Yesterday morning I woke up around 10am, having had a great sleep (no insomnia this whole past week...thank God!). I got into my gym clothes, washed my face and was heading downstairs to let FH know my plans for the day (poor boy, his insomnia attacked again on Friday night so he was down on the couch) when my slipper slid on the second step and I went down....HARD. Bang, bang, bang...down like five stairs right on my tailbone. I hit the landing and just sort of froze in sheer agony. Hit so hard and gasped so loud that I woke FH up. Afraid to move, I just sort of fell over onto my front and laid there in shock. Not fun. After a few minutes and a few tears I finally got the courage to stand up and although my tailbone was freaking killing me, I don't think there's any major damage. Mainly a piss off because running, biking, bending and yoga are all out of the question for a few days. Argh. I'm getting around just fine, but have been somewhat hopped up on Tylenol and Advil...and maybe a few glasses of wine last night. I was still going to go to warm yoga with my Halifax girls today, but after bending over to get a few things out of the car this afternoon I've decided that it would be a waste of a session since I can't do any forward bends or downward dogs, etc. Booooooo.

So instead I have a chance to tidy around the house (we did all of the cleaning yesterday but it's amazing how much dust, etc resurfaces when you have friends over for dinner and drinks) and to finally do my mid-month banking (only a week late!). Not exactly the exercise I had in mind to work off that lasagna!

FH's lasagna turned out fantastic and was a great hit. It was HUGE!! I had planned to do a photo essay on it for you guys, but he had already delved pretty far into the cooking process when I got home from my errands yesterday so no photos. We served it with a bagged caesar salad and garlic bread. Pre-dinner I put together a few antipasto-type items for appies. Cured meats, provolone, marinated artichokes, green and black olives, hummus, crackers, cherry tomatoes w/ balsamic & EVOO. Yummolicious. I ate way too many pre-dinner snackies....but honestly that's my favorite part....not to take away from the delicious lasagna of course. :)

This morning I met a couple of girlfriends for brunch. Coffee, fresh squeezed OJ, bistro plate of excellent scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, and a shredded potato pattie. We finished up with a mini vanilla cheesecake. I figure since it's two meals in one, it's OK to have a treat!

I then wandered up the street to LuluLemon where I scored a cute hot pink tank top ON SALE....and almost got new capris but wasn't totally in love so put them back. For $82 I need to love them. But I can't wait to wear my new tank for yoga....next week I hope.

Tonight's dinner will be heavy on the veggies....maybe a bigass hearty salad....with a wedge of leftover lasagna. Tomorrow FH is definitely back to work so I'll get up early and attempt something light at the gym....elliptical may be my best bet for low impact. Hopefully I can still do something in the way of crunches or modified ab moves. I love my crunches. Hmmmm.....