Three Things Thursday!

One more day until the weekend!!!

Do you have my big plans for the weekend? Here’s what I’m up to:

1. The Big Brother Canada finale is tonight and I’m super excited! First of all I love Big Brother, and can’t wait to find out who wins, but I’m even more excited because it means my hubby will be home again! He has been working on the show pretty much six days a week since February and unfortunately for us, the big shoot days are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which means he hasn’t been around much on the weekends. I’m definitely looking forward to some family time! The weather is suppose to be fantastic so I’m sure we will be heading to the park, playing chalk, hanging out on the back deck and having an awesome time!

2. The Leafs are in the playoffs! Unfortunately they lost Game 1, but I’m beLEAFing they will take the Bruins in 6! We will be having a little family time in front of the TV Saturday night as we cheer on the Leafs!

3. Im also going to be spending some quality to with my sister Cathy on Saturday! We’re going scrapbooking for the day and I’m super excited! I haven’t done any scrapbooking at all since our weekend away at Selwyn and I am so behind it’s not even funny! Lets hope the creative juices are flowing and I get a lot done!

What are you up to this weekend?

Three Things Thursday Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! I am home from work today with a sick little one who has been up all night with the stomach flu. We are currently having some quiet time watching Cinderella and writing blogs between quick trips to the bathroom.

Anyways, here are this weeks three random things…

1. Scrapbooking. As I mentioned before, I went away last weekend to a Bed & Breakfast. I’ve already talked about how great the food was, so now I’m going to share a few of my better scrapbooking pages. Be warned, I’m not very good at scrapbooking!

2. Shoes. I got new running shoes! The past few times I was running I kinda a felt like the cushion was gone in my old ones – even though they really aren’t that old! I’m guessing the probably had about 250 kilometres on them, which is not much at all for a quality pair of shoes, but when I considered the fact that I’ve probably done about 60+ hours of BodyAttack classes in them, I figured they’ve served their purpose.

Always $115 later (thanks to a $100 gift card) I’ve got some new kicks! They’re super cute…lets just hope they are fast!

3. Running. Today Yesterday was the last day of the Winter 100 Challenge. The challenge was to run or walk 100 miles between December 1st and February 28th. Unfortunately, I was super sick for most of December and only ran twice all month. Although I fell short if the 100 mile goal, I’m super happy with the 91 miles (147.4 km) I did run. I took the challenge because I normally don’t run at all in th winter and I was hoping it would be the motivation I needed to get out there and run. And, it was! I ran twice in December, 11 times in January and 12 times in February. That’s probably 25 times more than I ran in the same time period last year!

Three Things Thursday – Catching Up!

I seriously cannot believe it is already Thursday! Where has the week gone?

Usually short weeks seem to drag on, but this one has flown by! It’s been a super short work week for me – with Monday being Family Day and having to take Tuesday off work to stay home with my kids – and it has completely thrown me off! I have so much to do before tomorrow! Aaaahhhh!

So, I’ve pretty much been MIA from my blog lately and although I miss it, I’m totally feeling blog burnout! I’ve been blogging now for almost a year and this is the first time I have missed my regular posts and the first time I haven’t been feeling the love 😦 Has this ever happened to you? How did you overcome it? Any tips or suggestions?

In the meantime, on to this week’s Three Things Thursday. I’ve got a bit of Catching Up to do…

1. I’ve been busy! This past week has probably been one of the busiest I’ve had in years! Here’s a little about what’s been keeping me from my blog:

Friday – last friday was Ryan’s third birthday and although we didn’t have a party at home, she had a super fun party with her friends at daycare. She absolutely loved the princess cake Kim made for her and was so excited that her daycare friends sang her Happy Birthday!

Saturday – we went to watch my Brother-in-Law Mark coach the Hershey Bears when they came to town to play the Toronto Marlies. Unfortunately the Bears lost, but it was GREAT to see Mark!

Sunday – I went to the Bon Jovi concert with my sister and 3 girlfriends. The concert was amazing (as usual) but spending some time with friends I don’t see very often was even better. We met at my friends house, took the subway into Toronto for dinner at Jo Badali’s (who, by the way, has the best pizza ever), enjoyed the awesome concert, went for a few drinks at the Loose Moose, ate streetmeat (OMG, so good) then headed home to solve the worlds problems with a few more beers in the hot tub! It was such a great time! We’ve decided we are going to take our love of Bon Jovi on the road and go and see him in Jersey! Can’t wait! Anyone know when he’s playing there?

Monday – Family Day and Ryan’s Birthday party!

Tuesday – home with the kids – unfortunately I had to take Tanner to the doctor, again, for another ear infection. 5th one of the winter. Poor kid! Needless to say, he’s been a little cranky these past few days!

Wednesday – back to work after a busy 4 day weekend! Needless to say, it was a early night! I did manage, however, to make a super yummy dinner from the most recent issue of Clean Eating Magazine. We had Sesame Pork Tenderloin with Baby Bok Choy and Apple Tamari Glaze. It only took about 20 minutes to make and was delicious! Add it to the list!

2. WIAW – I have not been eating well at all lately 😦 I know its a horrible excuse, but I have been so busy and so tired that I have not been making it a priority. Anyways, here’s what I ate yesterday…

Breakfast: OJ and WW toast with almond butter

Snack: apple and peanuts

Lunch – Booster Juice Smoothie

Dinner – Sesame Pork Tenderloin with Baby Bok Choy and Apple Tamari Glaze

Snack – Quinoa granola (a little treat from my foodie penpal – Thanks Natalie 🙂 )

3. I’m off for a weekend of R&R! I’m super excited to get away for the weekend. I’m looking forward to an uninterrupted shower, closing the bathroom door to pee, sleeping in (later than 6am), reading, maybe watching a movie and of course, getting a little lot of scrapbooking done. My sister and I, along with a few other ladies are headed back to a Bed & Breakfast in the Kawarthas. We have arranged for all of our meals to be prepared for us, so I just need to grab a few healthy snacks and i’m good to go! Woohoo!

How has your week been?

Any advice on overcoming blogger burnout?

Three Things Thursday!

I am so excited that the weekend is almost here! Here’s what’s going on…

1. Running – With only 10 day’s until The Niagara Falls Half Marathon, I am trying to squeeze in the last few training runs. This week I ended up doing my tempo run on a treadmill, which isn’t the greatest, but since it was freezing cold out and I would have had to run with my little guy in the stroller, I decided that a treadmill run was better than no run!

So, after a 5 minute warm-up, I jacked the treadmill up to 7.2 miles/hour – which works out to be a 5:10 kilometer – and knocked off 5k. The first couple of km’s were tough. Having done my race pace 12km the day before, my legs did not want to move! After about 10 minutes, I finally felt like I was in a groove! With my running tunes pumping, I was feeling pretty good – that was until the last km, where once again, fatigue kicked in and I had to force myself not to quit! But, I did it…5km in 25:50!

2. Muffins – this week I made a double batch of Avocado Chocolate Chip Muffins from the October issue of Clean Eating Magazine. Let me just say, they are delicious. Definitely make them!

3. Me Time – I’m super pumped for a weekend away. My sister and I, along with about 6 others, are headed to a B&B for some quality scrapbook time! I’m a little excited to do some scrapbooking – I have yet to start any of Tanner’s album, but I am most excited to just get away and have some me time! Meals and snacks are taken care of, I don’t have to do any dishes, no diapers to change, I can sleep in if I want…OMG…it’s going to be amazing!

How Will You Stay Busy When You Retire – August Writing Challenge #27

Wow, today’s Blogger Challenge questions has me looking about 17 years into the future…how will I keep busy when I retire?

Well, since my kids will be in university, I will probably have to continue to work part time for at least a few years– I’m thinking a little supply teaching here and there wont be too bad!?!?

Also in the plans….

Buy and house and spend the winters in Mexico. Warmth, sun, sand….OMG, I wish I would win the lottery so we can do this right now!

Run…I’m thinking if my knees hold out, I might actually be a pretty good runner in 17 years! I’d love to travel around the world and do some races.

Scrapbook – I’m sure I will be years and years behind by that point, so I hope to enjoy some time relaxing and preserving our family’s memories 🙂

That’s about all I can come up with right now…I’m sure as retirements gets closer, my list of things to do will get longer.

How do you plan on keeping busy when you retire?

5 Weird Things I Love – August Writing Challenge Day #10

Today is day 10 of The August Healthy Living/Fitness Blogger Challenge being hosted by Fitness Cheerleader. I’m totally loving this challenge, there have been a couple of deep topics and some fun, light-hearted ones too!

Today’s Blogger Challenge Question is: What are 5 weird things you love? Hmmm, this is a bit of a tough one since everyone has a different take on what’s considered weird, but, oh well, here’s my list…

Watered Milked down chocolate milk. I absolutely love chocolate milk, but find it way too thick and sweet straight up – so I cut it with a little white milk – probably about half and half.

Sweating. I love being super sweaty after a workout! I admit, it’s kinda gross, but for me, if I don get a huge sweat on I kinda feel like I didn’t work hard enough!

Scrapbooking. Although not really that wired, very few of my friends do it. I think it’s a great to present your memories – I mean people take tons and tons of pictures but never go back and look at them…whats the point of that? My two and a half year old daughter loves looking at her first year albums and that makes it totally worth being called a “scissor monkey” by my friends!

Sleeping on fresh sheets. I always have such an awesome sleep the first night of clean sheets. I don’t know what it is, but I love it!

Mexican food. I love, love, love mexican food…so much so that I’m pretty sure I could eat it every day!

Weird? I don’t know…maybe….

What are 5 weird things you love?

8 Week Progress Report

It has now been just over 8 weeks since I started my journey (and this blog)! Here is an update as to where things stand in terms of reaching the 11 goals I set for myself and the progress I have made since my last update.

Goal #1 – My Pre-pregnancy Body Back – So, I’ve pretty much reached this goal. I am back to my pre pregnancy weight, and fit into my ‘goal jeans’, although not quite the way I want. The muffin top HAS GOT TO GO!!

This week marked the mid-point of the Skinny Jeans Challenge which meant measurement time!

I am actually really pleased with my progress so far…I’ve lost a total of 10.4 inches! CRAZY!! I still want to improve on my percent body fat – I’m down almost 5%, but would like to bring it down by about another 2.5%.

Goal #2 – Run a Two Hour Half Marathon – Well, the Half Marathon is only 19 days away and I’m definitely NOT PREPARED!

I’ve still only ran outside 2 times – one fast 5K (which went surprisingly well), and a 16K run a couple of weeks ago with my sister.

Here’s how my training schedule looked over the past 5 or so weeks.

BodyAttack has taken over my life! I have missed so many runs to get to Attack classes, it’s crazy! I’ve missed a total of 10 runs in the last 5 weeks – 1 hill workout, 3 fartlek workouts, 2 regular runs, and 3 long runs! BRUTAL!

I seriously doubt I will meet my goal of a sub-two hour half. I’m disappointed, but still hoping for a good run.

I guess we will see how things look after my 18K this weekend!

Goal #3 – Improve my Upper Body Strength – I was actually doing well with is goal since starting The 100 Push-Up Challenge last month – that was until I got sick. Since then, I have done NOTHING, and as a result, I am STILL struggling through the Upper Body Conditioning track in Attack 😦 My plan is to start the challenge again…tonight! Anyone want to do it with me and help me stay on track? Please?

Goal #4 – Try Hot Yoga – Still haven’t made it to a hot yoga class, and its not looking like I will be heading there any time soon. Until I get my Attack Certification Video done, I need to go to another Attack class Thursday evenings.

I hope to get my video in by mid-June, so hopefully I will be able to get to a class soon after that.

Goal #5 – Eat Clean – this is yet another goal that has been shoved aside since becoming sick and getting super busy.

I definitely need to get back in track, and fast!

My plan is to check out the latest issue of Clean Eating Magazine over the next few days, and set out next weeks meal plan. After that, I will hit the grocery store and get at it! I still want to aim for at least 2, but hopefully 3 clean meals a week.

Goal #6 – Limit the Amount of Junk Food I Eat – I’m actually not doing too bad at this one, considering I really haven’t been eating clean, I’m not exactly sure what I’ve been eating! My plan of not bringing it into the house is working, and I’m going to continue to keep it that way.

Goal #7 – Limit my Chai Lattes to one a Week – FAIL! HUGE! I’ve actually already had 2 this week! Chai latte is what seems gets me through the day! Although I did choose a Chocolate Banana Smoothie over the latte today:) Might have to stick with it, it’s higher in protein and fibre…sugar too, but I still think it’s the better choice. Agree?

Goal #8 – De-Clutter – Again, this one has been neglected since getting so busy. I did paint my sons room immediately after my last progress report, but unfortunately, it’s not quit finished 😦 I know, I’m brutal!

So, I still need to:

1. Finish painting my son’s room.
2. Clean out the kids toys.
3. Sort through my clothes.
4. Go through our deep freeze and actually see what we have in there!

Goal #9 – Read More – since my last update, I have finished The Help and The Lucky One.

Up next…the Shades of Grey Trilogy… Apparently everybody I know is or has read it. Not sure what to expect…besides turning 50 shades of red!!! Have you read the trilogy?

Goal #10 – Save Money – I am actually doing quite well with this one! Sticking to a bit of a budget has been easier than I thought it would be!

Goal # 11 – Make time for Scrapbooking – Unfortunately this too has been put on the back burner since becoming so busy. Now that the warm weather is coming, I have no idea when I will get back at it. Hopefully I will make it to a Friday night crop sometime soon!

Overall, I am not quite where I was hoping to be at this point. I need to get back into my running and start eating clean again! Really, I need to manage my time better and make healthy living a priority.

How is your journey going?
Do you have any super easy Clean Eating recipes you can share to help me get back on track?

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

The Good:

Yesterday I spent the day Scrapbooking with my sister and some friends at our Creative Memories Consultant’s house. I managed to only get about 10 pages done which was not great considering we were there for 8 hours!! It’s been a while since I last scrapped, and as usual, I had trouble getting started. My pages weren’t very creative, but at least they’re done! Here are a couple of pics:

My daughter and our dog…

My daughters first time eating corn on the cob…

The Bad:

This weekend has been a bit of a disaster as far as eating goes. If you read Friday’s post you would know that I pretty much ate everything in site before going to bed. Well, Saturday wasn’t much better! We had a pot luck lunch at Scrapbooking, and considering I have no willpower and everything looked so good, I over ate once again. I had a some spinach salad, some quinoa salad, some homemade bread, fruit and veggies, crackers and cheese….and for dessert, I had 2 pieces of carrot cake and a Skinny Coconut Cupcake (you can find the recipe here). Everything looked so good, I just couldn’t resist!

The Ugly:

Today I had to run 8 miles. Normally I do my long runs on Saturday, but since I was going to be busy all day, I planned to do it today. So, this morning after breakfast the kids and I headed to the gym so I could run. We had to go to the Co-Ed GoodLife because the Women’s only one does not have daycare on Sundays and my daughter insisted on coming to the gym with me. So, once the kids were settled, I was good to go! I jumped on the treadmill and turned on my iPod only to discover that my battery was dead 😦 Crap, what now?? Thankfully there were tv’s that I could tune into…I would watch a little HGTV….but…do you think I could find the headphone jack so I could plug in and listen…nope! I’m such a loser! I looked around to see how others were doing it, but no one was plugged in…they must have all checked there iPod batteries before hitting the gym this morning! Anyways, I managed to run the 8 miles as planned, but it was the longest 83 minutes of my life!!!

Can you say sweaty!!

Three Things Thursday…

1. My Fitness Pal – I absolutely LOVE this app! If you are at all interested in improving your health, then this app is for you! It is a diet and exercise log that has the most extensive database ever! It tracks your progress, allows you to connect with friends, and has a ‘news feed’ that highlights the accomplishments of you and your friends. It has a web component and you can sink it with Facebook and twitter. It’s available for iPad, iPhone, Android and Blackberry and the best part…it’s FREE!

Do you keep a diet and exercise log? What tool(s) do you use?

2. My Training Schedule – since stating the Skinny Jeans Challenge almost 2 weeks ago, my training schedule no longer has rest days, and I’m starting to feel it. My current training schedule looks like this:

Monday – 30 minute personal training session

Tuesday – Intensity workout – tempo/hills/speed/interval running

Wednesday – Cross Training -BodyAttack

Thursday – 4 mile run

Friday – 30 minute personal training session

Saturday – Long run

Sunday – Cross Training – BodyAttack

My original thought was that a 30 minute personal training session would not have much of an impact on my body and that I would be able to continue on as is…wow, was I wrong! After the first 3 sessions, I must admit that I have been sore for at least a day, more like two after each workout. This makes Tuesday’s hill and Wednesday’s cross training difficult, as well as Saturday’s long run following Friday’s workout. So, I need to figure out what I’m going to get rid of and how I’m going to hang in for 8 more weeks of marathons training.

Any suggestions?

3. It’s Me Time! – This Saturday I am leaving the kids at home with my husband (for the first time) and going Scrapbooking for the day. I can’t wait! I am looking forward to having some me time, hanging out with my sister and Scrapbooking. What makes it even better is that it’s a pot luck lunch…so many yummy things to eat! From what I’ve seen, the menu looks pretty good, I should be able to make some healthy choices. I’m bringing Skinny Coconut Cupcakes, Ryan and I will be baking them tomorrow afternoon so check out tomorrows post for more info 🙂 Here’s a little teaser!

Goal Setting

Now that I am ready to start the journey towards a Happier, Healthier, More Fit Me, I need to take a few minutes and actually think of what it is I want to accomplish. I’m thinking that the best way for me to do this is to establish some goals. Setting realistic and attainable goals is important. Goals must be clearly outlined, measurable, and have a time frame in which to be accomplished. I totally realize that some goals are going to take longer to accomplish than others, and that within my big goals, I need to establish mini-goals to keep my motivated and on track. After spending some time thinking about what I want to accomplish, I also realized that there are a ton of things I could set out to do. I am however, going to limit the number of goals I set so that I am more likely to stick to them and actually accomplish them by the end of June.

Health Related Goals Are:

1. Get my pre-pregnancy body back – I want to be muscular, strong, healthy and fit comfortably (and look good) in my pre-pregnancy clothes. Before getting pregnant with baby #2 I weighed 130 pounds, I would like to get back to that but don’t want to focus solely on the number on the scale. I know that if I am running and working out regularly, I am likely to build muscle and that may affect my weight.

Fitness Related Goals:                 

2. Run a 2 hour Half Marathon – I have signed up for the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon taking place on May 27, 2012. It will be my first race in almost 3 years so I will have to really commit to my training program. I will also have to eat well and make sure I get enough rest.

3. Improve my Upper Body Strength – I want to be able to complete the entire upper body conditioning track in Body Attack class.

4. Try Hot Yoga – I think that it will really help with my flexibility and I am hoping that it will help me to relax and de-stress.

Nutrition Related Goals:

5. Eat Clean – Now that I have established somewhat of a dinnertime routine as a mother of two, I need to actually start eating better and preparing healthy meals.

6. Limit the Amount of Junk Food I Eat – I am a huge fan of junk food and I absolutely love Coke! My plan is not to bring it into the house, that way, it’s not there for me to eat!

7. Limit my Chai Lattes to one a Week – I seem to have a bit of an addiction to Starbucks Chai Lattes and although I’ve cut down quite a bit since starting my maternity leave (I was having one a day), I still sometimes have 3 to 4 a week – yikes!!

Personal Goals:

8. De-Clutter – It’s time to get rid of all the junk around our house. My plan is to tackle one room a week so I don’t get overwhelmed.

9. Read More – I would like to read at least 10 books this year.

10. Save Money – Being on maternity leave means money is tight, I am going to stick to a budget and spend wisely.

11. Make time for Scrapbooking – Not only do I have a ton of great pictures to scrapbook, I also love how relaxing it is. I am going to go to at least one crop every two months, and try to make time during the day to do some at home.

Have you established your goals? Have you actually written them down? What are they and how do you stay accountable?  I’d love to hear what you are working towards and how you stay on track.