If you’re like me, you need some exciting beats to pump you up and get you through a workout.
Music honestly makes the biggest difference for me – there is nothing worse than having your music cut out half way through a run or gym session!
I’ve compiled a list of some (very) upbeat music favourites of mine right now to keep you motivated!
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!
Hello world!
The weather has been absolutely unbelievable as of late. The sun has been shining, and therefore I have been BEAMING with positive vibes. My attitude is always seeming to be right in line with the weather patterns!
Yesterday we got the chance to get out and go snowshoeing in this warmth!
It was pretty cool because although it was 17 degrees celsius and sunny, there was still lots of snow to walk on at the beach. We actually walked right across the frozen waters of Slave Lake! It was so neat and such a fun time.
Then when we got in from an eventful day, we sat down to a nice, warm bowl of chili and a bun 🙂 Ah nothing beats that!
Later on in the day, Colt and I met up with some friends to watch our friend Conor’s final hockey game of the season! Unfortunately, they lost. But it’s a good thing he isn’t a sore loser because we still had tons of fun together for the night!
RUN:
My run this morning was a steady pace 10 km, or 6.2 miles. I thoroughly enjoyed being outdoors for this one, and am going to actually be heading out for another good, relaxing walk with the pups shortly to take advantage of this.
While doing so I’ll be thinking of good eats to make myself 🙂
So many favourites this Friday!
Nutrition month activities
Since March is nutrition month, school has been filled with healthy eating activities! I find it so fun to be able to teach my little ones all about the importance of ‘eating a rainbow’ and the wonderful effects of it has on your body, mind and soul. I gotta say, nutrition is a passion of mine and if I could spend the rest of my days learning and teaching all about it forever and ever, I’d be one happy gal:)
Microwave mug brownie (recipe of the week)
In a mug I combined:
2 TB unsweetened coco powder
1 TB stevia sweetener
4 TB flour
2 TB butter
1 TB water
» Then pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds – 1 minute 30 seconds, depending on how gooey you like them !!
Ever had a craving for a good baked dessert but don’t want to take the time to bake up a storm at 8 pm? Yup, that’s me, quite often. Colt was intensely craving one as well and so we decided to try out one of these ‘mug’ desserts that are becoming ever so popular. Great idea and they turned out delish!
Favourite workout of the week
Start with 20 minute cardio, do this core workout, then finish up with 20 more minutes cardio!
House of Cards season 3 on Netflix
Oh baby I’m so excited for this show to be back on Netflix! Love, love, love this show. And it’s odd because you wouldn’t take me for the political type – but this show is soo much more than that. Lots of juicy drama!
Purchase of the week – new pretty accessories from Forever 21
Ain’t nothin’ better than some cute new accessories. I’m an accessory kind of girl – they can easily spruce up any simple outfit and any fashionably challenged individual (often times, me) can rock it no prob! I am especially loving some of their new lip gloss too!
Early morning runs
Well. this one is something that I’ve obviously been doing for a while now! But, with our mornings warming up here in Canada and having more light out, they have become much more enjoyable! Today’s morning run was actually so enjoyable I ended up going for longer than planned, I barely had enough time to get ready for work! It ended up being 8 miles in the DARK! WIN!
I’ve been philosophically exploring my wants, needs and desires for my life lately. It’s actually even caused me to feel a little anxious thinking about all the ways that my life could possibly play out by just one simple decision. I know I might be getting worked up about it, but for Colt and I, it’s as though we are at a cross roads in our life (especially being in our mid 20s) and are trying to figure out where we see ourselves for the rest of our lives.
Do we want to travel? Back pack Europe or Asia? See the Australian outback?
Stay where we are? Keep this job, stay comfortable?
Change our jobs? In a new city?
Go back to school? Finish my Masters? Get my yoga certs?
Have children?
Or even keep everything the exact same way that it’s been?
So many questions running through my head. And my question for you..
Have you ever felt this way? What did you do to help yourself to feel better? What do you want for YOU in your life?
It’s WORK IT OUT WEDNESDAY
Get workin’ hard this hump day! Nothing like a good sweat session to lift your spirits and make the day go by a little faster.
I put together a little workout and gave it a try. As usual, I split up my cardio because I get soooo bored inside the gym on the machines. I’m definitely a more outdoorsy cardio girl. Do the cardio of your choice for 20 minutes in the beginning and 20 minutes to finish up the session.
Complete each move for the recommended number of reps with 5-10 pounds. Once completed, do another round!
Hello! Today is basically my working Monday, as I have been in Edmonton all weekend and just arrived home last night. My work team and I were all attending a seminar, called ‘Save your sanity’ – proactive strategies for handling difficult behaviour in children and youth.
(tried to be sneaky with this picture)
I gotta say, it was well done and our facilitator did an awesome job at really keeping me engaged and attentive all day (which is VERY hard as I am so ADHD). Working in schools, these sorts of strategies are soo helpful and a great thing to bring back to the teaching staff because every class tends to have at least one pesky kid that is a little bit more difficult to handle than others!
On sunday, the gals and I got a chance to have a nice little shopping and outting day! Because why not. We went to West Edmonton mall, and I did treat myself to this baby:
SMARTIES MCFLURRY! I haven’t had one of these in ages… I deserved it.
After dropping off our loads of purchases at the car (I bought a little too much!! Fave stops – Forever 21, H&M, Bath and body works, lululemon and Aritzia!), we headed over to Earl’s for dinner.
At this point I was yet again starving and could not wait to dig in…
I chose the chicken sandwich with a side salad!
And since the weather was divine I could not resist the temptation of a caesar (or bloody Mary for all ya’ll Americans!)
After our delicious feast, we headed over to the movies. I was excited for this since I haven’t been to the movies in AGES. We saw a flick called the DUFF. It was pretty funny actually and had a cute little inspiring message at the end. It’s a good easy watch if you’re looking for something you don’t need to do some crazy analyzing with! AKA GONE GIRL.
I woke up in the morning in the hotel and with lack of resources, I headed downstairs to the hotel gym. Which had very limited equipment. I had to get a little creative and remembered PB fingers HOTEL workout! I did half an hour on the elliptical prior to this.
Thanks Julie! I’m going to have to put together one of my own as well and share it with you all as I will be travelling quite a bit coming up. I’m sure there’s many of you who will be for holidays as well!
On a positive note – my squats seem to FINALLY be having an impact on my body. Seriously, I have had a flat backside my whole life, I’ve been reallllyyyy upping my squat game lately and I see a good bump coming in.
On the way home I got the chance to sit in the back and watch movies like a child 🙂
And I had my yummy jugo juice “Can’t Beet this” smoothie, yummmmmmmmmmmmmm! Beets make me happy and I love the health benefits of them.
This song has been stuck in my head all day because we have been playing it at school! We created a game for the kids with hula hoops and dancing to this song – the kids love it and so did I at first but now I am completely over this song!!! It may drive me crazy soon.
However, it does describe how I’m feelin’ to a TEE! I do like to move it, move it! And my workouts the past 2 days show it well!
Yesterday I got an amazing run in! I felt like I hadn’t had this good of a run in a seriously long time. Although it was all on the treadmill, I made sure to change up the incline and speed a lot to keep my mind from wandering and to really help to push me through! There was a good bolt of energy at the end.
It looked a little somethin’ like this:
This morning when I arrived at the gym, I had my workout plans all laid out on a paper for me already. (I need to think as little as possible when going to workout in the mornings, it makes it all so much easier!)
It was really about all over body work and getting as many muscles as I could while amping up my cardio game:
Go through each circuit once or twice! Good work!
I am feeling so utterly thankful and appreciative for being nominated for a “One lovely blog award”! I am sending a huge thank you to FindingFabyoulous for the nomination. Sara’s blog is filled with fearless creativity and truth, I absolutely love it.
So now I will be sharing 7 things about myself!
This weekend passed by so quickly. We go the chance to finally pick up a BBQ! Colt has been dying to get one of these for months and now there is no excuses for not making dinner for him! Win-win for us both I would say. I’m excited to test it out for our first meal tonight. While Colt is feelin’ the steak, I’m really craving some BBQ salmon and asparagus, my favourites!
We also got out with the pups again to enjoy this weather. It’s been a balmy -5 celsius this weekend, yes this is very warm for Canadian winter time! So we’ve been pleased with that and I’ve been opting to take any chance that I can to enjoy it. The sun beaming down on me makes it all that better. And the puppies certainly have no complaints.
Once we got in they were both entirely tuckered out, so I took that time to get some cuddles in with the cuties!
This is his “leave me alone mama I wanna nap” face! He gets sick of me trying to snap so many pictures all the time.
I’d also like to share with you a yummy recipe I tried out this weekend. Get ready for this…
Skinny chicken parmigiana pasta!
Now I am not usually a pasta type of gal, but when we got in from adventuring around all day and on our feet, we were both famished and needed a meal that would leave us satisfied. I was craving this pasta and made it with a healthy twist (and Colt still thought it was amazing, go figure!)
Ingredients:
2 servings
2 skinless boneless chicken breast, cubed
2 cups whole wheat penne noodles
Small amount of oil for the skillet
chopped spinach, broccoli, onion, grape tomatoes and mushrooms (add as much veg as you’d like, I love LOTS)
seasonings – basil, thyme, pepper, dash of salt and garlic
marinara sauce – you can make your own with diced tomatoes, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, sweetener or stevia OR purchase a low sodium version from the store!
1/2 cup of Greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded low fat cheese to top
Directions:
– Boil pot of water on the stove with the penne noodles for 10-12 minutes (it will state on the pasta box exactly how long is recommended)
– in a skillet with oil, add the cubed chicken and cover. Make sure to mix them all up every few minutes to ensure there is no burning.
– While the chicken is in the skillet, in a separate frying pan, put all of your chopped vegetables in with oil and sautee. Dust your vegetables with the seasonings and continue to stir them up every few minutes. Keep them frying in the pan for about 10 minutes.
– Add the vegetables to your skillet with the chicken and sautee all ingredients together. Add in your marinara sauce and make sure that all ingredients are covered. Allow them to cook with the marinara in the skillet for atleast 2 minutes.
– Strain the penne noodles out of the pot and add them into the skillet with your chicken, vegetables and marinara sauce.
– Mix all ingredients and allow them to sit for a couple of minutes. Add any additional spices that you may want.
– Plate your mixture and top it off with as much or as little shredded cheese as you want.
Voila! Look at you – chef status. Enjoy 🙂
This week has absolutely flown by. It feels like I was just dreading starting the week off in uber-sleepy mode, and now it’s already Friday! It looks like this weekend will be consisting of finally bathing our dogs, snowshoeing at the bird conservatory and seeing shades of grey! I’m hoping Colt and I are also able to make it out for our friend Inka’s birthday celebration and enjoy a few drinks and good company together.
With the week having gone by so fast, it’s hard to look back and recall everything that has happened! But here’s some memorable goodies:
Grapefruit
This is one fruit that I consume everyday. It never gets old to me! A lot of people feel the need to sprinkle some sugar on it, but nope, I just peel it like an orange and eat it all up just like that!
Finally winning roll-up-the-rim
It only took me about 20 coffees to finally win a coffee, but it’s a victory for me nonetheless. I had been waiting for this moment for a while and when it finally came I was a mixture of relieved, ecstatic and elated! I was beginning to think I just had horrible luck – and perhaps I do – but I’ll bask in this moment of glory for a little while longer.
Tarte lights camera lashes 4 in 1 mascara
I received this little gem in my ipsy bag. I don’t normally like to splurge on mascara because I’ve always thought that they all do the same thing. That is… until I receive this glorious product! The difference in my lashes is actually extraordinary. No clumps and amazing length. I will 100% be purchasing the full size of this mascara. You can buy it online or at Sephora.
The white/gold and black/blue dress debate
Okay I don’t know exactly if this is something that I am loving, but this is something that has consumed my thoughts the past 24 hours… It still drives me nuts! I’ve been seeing white and gold whereas most other people tell me black and blue… It’s a total mind craze! Apparently the science tells me that this indicates that the rods in my eyes have less ability to adjust to dim light, and so it is compensating for it by seeing different colours.
Birdman
After winning best picture at the Oscars, along with multiple other oscars, Colt and I thought we would give it a watch since we loveeee movies. It was no let down! It makes you think and the acting is incredible. The story is very original and totally different from anything else I’ve seen – I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good flick to watch this weekend!
Favourite snacks – Greek yogurt whips!
At 100 calories, you can’t go wrong with this. It’s a perfect mid-day snack to battle those hunger pangs! Worked well for me 🙂
Eat Run Snooze Repeat 