Weekend recap

Well, I had an interesting weekend. How about you?

For me this was my first weekend off since March 27th. I was so excited for this workless weekend. And I must say I did enjoy the not having to work, however I did have social obligation I needed to be present for. However they were nothing like having to run around getting ready for work.

Saturday I got up nice and early to go for my first ever 5K race. Then at noon I was in attendance to Kevin's cousins bridal shower. After that I had the house to myself, and wore my quitters. Mainly I spend the night in front of the TV, however I was folding laundry, and took breaks away to clean my bathroom.

Sunday, was equally relaxing. I woke up when my body told me to wake up. No alarms were set! It was truly a beautiful thing. I put away 4 over flowing baskets of clean laundry and did some ironing. With some help from Kevin the house got swiffered, dusted and vacuumed. The house was so desperately crying out to be cleaned.

My mom and I went out to Costco to pick up some dinner supplies, and then the two of us headed back to my place so I could get dinner prepped and made. I love hosting special occasion meals at my house for my family!

So that was my weekend, as I didn't really do much posting focused on food, or post at all. This was all part of my weekend devoted to doing what needed to get done around the house and relaxing.

This morning I woke up at 6am to get a home workout in. Lately it has been so cold out here in Ontario. It was only a week or two ago that we had 26 degree (78.8 F) and now it has been ranging from 0 (32F) to 13 (57.2F). I just wanted to be warm this morning so I nixed the early morning run.

As I relaxed this weekend, my only workout that I got in was my 5K race Saturday morning. To make up for not having done my 30Day Shred Saturday and Sunday I thought I would ramp up my home video workout session this morning.

I did my Day 6 of Level 1 in the 30 Day Shred, then I popped in for my first time ever Jillian's Blast Fat Boost Metabolism video.

Wow I had no idea BFBM was a 40 minute video. I sadly ran out of time and could only completed 10 minutes of this video. Also, should I try this combination again, I will definitely lead with BFBM and follow it up with some shredding. However I did like what I was doing in the BFBM video. I love me some kickboxing style workouts.

After the workout, I went and made myself some breakfast. Nothing to start the week off right like a Green Monster! I kept this mornings GM simple, mainly because of the lack of fruit selection and also just to bring it back to basics.

• 2.5cup spinach
• 1 banana
• 5 strawberries
• 1tbsp PomWonderful
• 1tbsp ground flax
• 1cup skim milk

I would also like to take a quick minute to talk about some new straws I bought. They are reusable glass straws. I bought two of them. I am very excited about these straws. I have seen them in a couple of different blogs.

These particular straws came from Glass Dharma. I ordered 2. One for water and one for shakes. Plus this way when one is dirty you don't have to go without a straw.

I love that Glass Dharma offers different sizes, designs and shapes in their straws. I knew what I was looking for, and I was so happy when I found it.

A 'bendy' glass straw. I love bendy straws and was worried that this could be something I might lose when using a glass straw. But thankfully Glass Dharma offers glass straws with a bend in them to simulate a bendy straw.

I also love how the straw doesn't fall down in to the contain I am drinking from. I do not like having to stick my finger into my water bottle to fish out the straw.

I do not however like that the straw is taller and sticks out of the water bottle. This is because I like to close it up and transport my water bottle around with me everywhere. This means that I will have to take my straw out and possibly dry it to tote it around with me. This is why I have pictures of the box it came in. I plan to keep them in as good condition as possible to keep my straw clean, while out of my water bottle.

I could get used to this

I tell ya! I could get use to this sleeping in until 6:45 business instead of 5am. I wake up feeling so rest ful. To tell you the truth I wake up a good 30 mins before my alarm goes off and I could get up then, but I know this is my week to rest and take care of myself so I just roll back over and enjoy the Zeds (lol Canadian).

I do feel bad slightly today. I have made a gym friend Paula, who comes to the Wednesday 6am muscle moves, and then after we both hit the pool to swim a few laps. I know though I will see her next week stronger and better than today.

Did you know: It takes 6 weeks for your muscles to lose their 'memory'. So by taking a week off, I should be able to return next week and not feel sore, like I might if I took 2 months off from the gym.

I heart apples!

This morning I cooked myself some breakfast. That's right, I'm taking full advantage of this extra time in the morning and no rushing.
Cut myself 1/2 a Royal Gala Apple, and added it to my Tomato Spinach omlette.

• 3 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/2 Kumata tomato
• about 1oz mozzarella cheese

At work I went straight to my placement students evaluations. Where I work we have a total of 14 placement students from the Criminology Dept from the local University. I supervise 6 of those placement studenst. Their semester is coming to a close soon. I have to have their evaluations in by Friday. Ack! They are all rock stars and I am just taking my time to write up the best evaluation I can for them (though I am taking this break here to blog, just so I can go back refocused).

For my morning snack, I used up the second half of my apple.

• 1 tbsp Rasins
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds
• 3 tbsp Natures Path Flax Cereal

• 4 tbsp Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal

Topped with 1/8 to 1/4 cup Liberte Coconut Yogurt.

What is your favourite kind of Apple?

Veggie head

Wow! I took this picture around 7:30 this morning. Look at what a beautiful day it is turning out to be at such an early hour. Spring has sprung!

Today is another day of rest of me. I woke up at 5am, not to my alarm going off, rather Kevin's alarm going off, as he had to be at work for 7am. It felt nice to see that it was 5am and know that I could roll over and go back to sleep for almost another 2 hours. I woke up before my alarm by 10 minutes, but stayed in bed just looking out the window and being relaxed. Wow I can't believe how badly I need this break. The best part is, when I wake up I don't feel bad for missing (spin today) class. I have other forms of exercise planned for this week that don't involve my regular routine.

For breakfast I made a Berry Cherry Green Monster.

1 tbsp dried cherries 2 tsp dried blueberries, 1/8 cup fresh blueberries, 1/4 cup raspberries, 5 strawberries, 1 beet, 2 cups baby spinach and 1 cup almond milk.

*Note to self, dried blueberries are too little to get blended up, and then only cause an annoyance when drinking your GM through a straw blocking the flow*.

Off to work I went, with no am workout.

Overall the office is pretty quiet today. Boss is away at another branch, and the other caseworkers are in and out. Kind of makes me sleepy it being so quiet like this.

For snack I bypassed my fruit I packed for the yogurt.

Peach Mango

Surprise surprise! More cauliflower rice, just like I predicted. lol Sorry that it kind of looks kind of not so tasty, I promise you it is. Avocado & Cauliflower. Swirly whirly beet. Sliced carrot & zucchini. With Tofu fried in Peanut Satay sauce. All rolled together.

Now I made this wrap last night, and yes the veggies did turn the wrap slightly soggy, but nothing that having made it fresh and letting it sit fr 30 mins wouldn't have caused.

For lunch I was really missing some granola of some sort from my morning snack. I look at my morning snack as a second mini breakfast. And Kevin has said 'we are breakfast people'. So thankfully I work beside a grocery store. I went over knowing I wouldn't find real true granola, so I headed for the cereal aisle & the yogurt section. This is what I grabbed. I layered this in a cup with my fruit.

Mango & Strawberry.

Question: Do you feel guilty when you are missing your regular workouts. Do you regularly make time for yourself to rest and recover (i.e. work out free days) or do you keep going until you injur yourself.

~ M ~

Best dinner bagel evah!

So Monday was my first day of rest. It felt good to get to sleep in, take my time with my morning routine, and know that I wasn't going to be running around like a complete mad woman.

My work day was different than the usual Monday. Today I went into my full time job for 8:30, to leave at 10:45am. Where did I have to go? Downtown Toronto. I got to go and do some U.M.A.B training for the group home I work with.

This was quite possibly one of the dullest U.M.A.B. refreshers I've ever had. It was 2.5 hrs of power point discussion. Thankfully, I have Nicole B & Paul to thank for keeping me entertained. With Paul's hilarious doodles (including Humpty Dumpty falling off his wall) and Nicole's off the cuff remarks, the time went faster. Also knowing that it was going to be dull I snagged myself a Tall non-fat, sugar-free vanilla chi tea latte (only 2 flavour shots instead of 3). Yummo!I was anxious to get out of the training. After our supervisor wanted to do an annual review of the policies and procedures. Bah! It was already 2:45! People, I had to get from downtown Toronto to Bowmanville in rush hour traffic (DVP and 401). And before we could start the 20 min annual review, people needed a smoke break. Gah! lol. No matter, I still made it out of the city and home in no more than 1hr15mins (pretty good seeing as I didn't take the DVP and didn't get on the 401 'till Pickering).

Anywho. Though I am resting this week, I felt that I should still be going to Yoga. It's all about relaxation, stretching and what more do I need right now than to relax and a good long stretch. My cousin Courtney came to Hot Yoga with me as her first ever Yoga experience. Though she did try to back out on me, I managed to convince her to come.

(source)

Courtney says that she did like it and would consider going back again for more. Yeah!

For lunch Monday, I needed to make something that was portable, that could be eaten in the car if needed. So I went with a wrap.

I have learned that you can use cauliflower as a rice substitute, and frankly I love doing it. I have a feeling you will be seeing a lot of cauliflower 'rice' this week.

I cut 1 Florette from the bunch and tossed it in my 1.5cup food processor that I picked up at Wally World, for get this, 7.77$ Can't beat that!

Pulse for 5-10 seconds. Voila!

Cauliflower 'rice'. I sprinkled the cauliflower over 1tbsp of hummus on a tortilla wrap.

Topped it with, sliced zucchini,

Avocado, tomato, artichoke heart and green onions.

I had also packed myself my afternoon snack, which had baby carrots celery and 1 more cauliflower Florette.

When I got home I was 'marven! I grabbed one of my new buys from when I went to Whole Foods Sunday. I know I didn't' mention it sooner, but today is the perfect day to talk about it. I was so excited to go to whole foods and see what all I could find that I don't have at my local grocery store or health food stores. Now this was a special trip. If I make it to whole foods twice a year that would be enough. According to mapquest, a drive from home to Whole Foods is 59 mins. And I can tell you that doesn't account for city traffic. So what did I get to snack on?

This is quite possibly the tastiest bar I've ever had! I defiantly recommend you going out and trying one for yourself.

So I munched on my Luna bar while I prepped dinner. Which also included a new item I picked up at Whole Foods.

Whole Foods fat organic asparagus, toasted bagel with cream cheese & la piece de resistance. . . . Smoked salmon (it wasn't frozen in the store, it was fresh!). I sprinkled some dried dill on the salmon. OMG I seriously can't wait to have this again for dinner. I think I might do some rearranging with what I have planned out for this week (remember I've been making a week long meal plan so I don't have to think throughout the week. I just look and see what I have to eat).

Because this week I am not looking to stay below my calories, rather I am looking to repair my body, after getting home from Yoga I thought I should eat something just to replenish what I had just worked off.

I mixed Kashi Go Lean - Honey Almond Flax cereal, some dried cherries and blueberries, 1/3 banana, astro plain yogurt and a drizzle of agave nectar. Also a to note I think this is my new favourite cereal!

I am not going to count my calories burned or taken in this week through my blog. For those of you on MFP you can check out my food diary. I just don't want the calorie counting to be the focus this week. This week is all about self-care. So I will note that I did drink 12, 8oz glasses of water.

YESTERDAY's Goals:

1. Rest & relax.
2. Book an RMT.
3. Stay within calories.
4. Drink lots of Water, not been staying hydrated yesterday and Saturday.

I met all 4 of those goals.

TODAY's Goals:

1. Stay hydrated, drink lots of H2O.
2. Stay below calorie limit.
3. Continue to heal both inside & out.
4. Go to bed early 10pm.

Have a great day!

Changes coming

I will be working on making a few changes in the coming weeks. I am not going to tell you what they may be, you`ll just have to keep checking in to see what it/they are.

I do however have a slight change to announce today. I am resting. My body is sore. Everywhere, physically and emotionally it is tired.

I have become quite overwhelmed with stress lately (pending layoffs), and taken on a lot more workload this month than I normally would.

First off, last night I decided that I would not get up at 5am to go off to the gym. I needed a day of rest (though I didn`t workout over the weekend, I did work). So I got to sleep in until 6:54am. But my body was sore.

It is sore to touch. My skin hurts, my shoulders are so knotted up and tense (I need to book a massage asap). I am just going to take it easy over the next couple of days and let my body repair itself. On top of the stress, I did push myself maybe a little too much last week.

Yes I am training for a triathlon, but it isn`t until Aug 22nd, so taking a few days this week isn`t going to ruin my training. If anything it should help my training immensely.

For breakfast I had some jazzed up oatmeal.

Dried blueberries, cherries, granola, light cocoa powder 1/2 banana.

I took as much of my time this morning getting ready, however because I was out to dinner at milestones last night with my buddies Nick & Amanda at Yorkdale, I didn`t get home until 9pm (after having gotten up at 5am to be at work in Scarborough - blah). So needless to say, I didn`t prep my meals for today. So sadly I was bad, and stood and ate. Stood, and whirled around in the kitchen prepping my meals, and taking spoonfuls of breakfast in between.

For snack,

Granola 4 strawberries and 1, 100g blueberry pomegranate Stoneyfield yogurt.

I do plan on going to Hot Yoga tonight to get a good stretch on and try and relax myself. Sadly, however, today I am due downtown Toronto for a U.M.A.B training session that will likely go until 2:30/3pm. That means, I will be driving home on the DVP in RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC! ! ! ! I will need Yoga badly when I get home.

Off to try and book a RMT into my busy schedule.

- M -