Three-Things-Thursday!

Hello world.  I thought I would spice things up a little bit today by putting together a little ‘Three Things Thursday’.

Let’s start with thing number 1 (does this make anyone else think of the Cat in the Hat?) :

1. I had some seriously delicious eats today! 

All the way from breakfast through to dinner and including snacks, today was just a freakin’ tasty day!

Breakfast…

Tasty eat numero uno.

Tasty eat numero uno.

Whole wheat toast dusted with cinnamon and then topped with sliced banana.  Simple and yet surprisingly delicious!

Lunch…

Tasty treat numero dos.

Tasty eat numero dos.

Left over quinoa with coconut curry chicken and vegetables.

Tasty eat numero dos (and a half!)

Tasty eat numero dos (and a half!)

And a side of delicious fresh watermelon!

Snacks…

Snack time!

Snack time!

Andean Dream quinoa cookies…would I rather a plain old choc chip cookie? Any day of the week BUT these babies will surprise you.  I actually really love them.

Afternoon pick me up.

Afternoon pick me up.

A little bag of deliciousness to get me through the last couple of hours with a cranky 4-year-old. Citrus chamomile. Heaven.

Dinner…

The last of the eats.

The last of the eats.

Two egg scramble with onion, green capsicum, chicken apple sausage and mozzarella served on whole wheat toast.  One of my staples and one of my all time favourite eats.  Success!

2. Spring time sunshine makes me ridiculously happy and feel the need to be very bright! 

It’s true! All this sunshine (even with the wind) just puts a big fat smile on my face.  And since this is likely to be all the ‘summer’ we’re going to get here on the coast, I feel the need to dress as bright as possible.

Sunshine basking.

Sunshine basking.

Exhibit A – Neon yellow.

Spring time!

Spring time!

Exhibit B – Mint jeans, stripes and coral toes.

3. Annie’s new favourite spot makes me very happy (and only slightly uncomfortable). 

Annie has taken to sleeping across the back of the couch (read: my shoulders).  I don’t know why, but she loves it there! It gives me a little crick in my neck but I grin and bear it because she’s so stinkin’ cute.

Kisses for my lady love.

Kisses for my lady-love.

She even stays there (if she’s balanced enough) when I get up.

Balancing Annie!

Balancing Annie!

Girlfriend has issues skills!

 

And there you have it, my Three Things Thursday!

Happy (almost) Friday!

 

Any random Thursday thoughts out there?

 

 

 

 

Running feels so hard!

How’s everyone’s Wednesday going? HUMP DAY! Hoooooray!

Here’s a little look at how my day played out.

Breakfast…

Overnight oats made another return visit today, and I am very happy about it! I made another batch of blueberry oats using blueberry Chobani and topped them with fresh blueberries.  Berrylicious!

They've returned!

They’ve returned!

And a cup of tea, of course!

………………

Work went by pretty quickly today thanks to lots of fun activities! On Wednesdays, I take the littlest guy to ‘kinder gym’ where he can run around and jump on trampolines and swing on huge swings and just have a fabulous kiddie time.

They have all these posters up around the gym and this one caught my eye…

Preach.

Preach.

It was a good reminder not to take our health for granted and that it’s important to make healthy living a permanent part of my life plan! Be healthy and happy everyone!

…………………….

Lunch…

Lunch was another wrap today. I’ve been really feeling the wraps I guess.  Roast turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, cheese and a little swipe of mayo on a whole wheat tortilla.

Delish.

Delish.

I also followed it up with a banana that went un-photographed.  I think you all know what a banana looks like though right? If you don’t, we need to have words.

……………….

Workout…

Today was a run day for me and as I was passing through Golden Gate Park on my way to my usual running route, I decided to mix it up and run around the park instead.  Why not?!

Well, today was another hard run. I’m really hoping that’s it’s just my body coming back after being sick but all my runs lately have felt so dang hard.  I’m really in need of a great love to reignite the love! Running, if you’re listening let’s be besties again, ok?

4 hard miles.

4 hard miles.

I also did 8 minute abs (I’m kind of obsessed) and then stretched and foam rolled.  Foam rolling = painfully delightful.

And now I’m showered and ready to dig into my dinner.  Happy hump day night all!

 

 

Are you having any workout frustrations right now? Injuries? Sickness? How are you dealing with it? 

 

 

Vanilla Protein Pancakes!

Hello hello!

When I went to bed last night, I was excited to wake up this morning and whip up a breakfast smoothie using my brand spanking new GNC Total Lean 25 French Vanilla protein powder.  Yes, I was actually excited about it!

Oh haaaeey!

Oh haaaeey!

BUT when I woke up this morning to a cold and very windy day, it suddenly didn’t sound so appealing anymore.  You know what did sound appealing though?? PANCAKES!

Vanilla Protein Pancakes!

Vanilla Protein Pancakes!

I made a couple of little tweaks to this awesome recipe and ended up with some pretty darn delicious and nutritious pancakey-cakes.

What You Need;

The goods.

The goods.

1 Banana (overripe and mashed)

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Small dash of Vanilla extract

1 Tsp Vegetable Oil

2 Egg Whites

1 1/2 Scoops of GNC Total Lean 25 French Vanilla (or vanilla protein powder of your choice)

1/4 Cup Rolled Oats (dry, uncooked)

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tbs Brown Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1 Tsp Coconut Oil

What You Do;

In a medium bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your wet ingredients (try to make the banana as smooth as possible).

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well (if your mixture is too dry, add another splash of milk).

Heat Coconut Oil in a non stick pan over a medium low heat.

Pour your batter into pancake size portions and KEEP YOURSELF BUSY! Protein pancakes do take a bit longer to cook than ordinary pancakes and they’re best left alone until they’re ready to be flipped.  So, if you can keep yourself busy for about 8-10 minutes that’s great.  I did the dishes, made a cup of tea, figured out world peace etc etc.

Once they’re browned on the bottom and can be easily flipped, flip em’ good and leave them only for a couple of minutes on the second side.

Serve them up with your favourite toppings! I made myself two pancakes and went with a ‘berry sandwich’. Berries in the middle and on top with a little maple syrup.

And Voila! Delicious.

And Voila! Delicious.

Yep, this morning was pretty darn tasty!

…………………….

Workout…

With the wind blowing like a maniac, I took my workout indoors to the gym today.  I started off with a nice easy 5K on the treadmill (still easing back into running) and a .15 mile cool down walk.

Nice and easy.

Nice and easy.

And followed it up with another full body Tabata workout. Going from squat jumps to jumping lunges today was killllerrr on the old legs and buns.  I finished everything up with a nice long stretching session.

………………….

Even though it was windy as a mother today, it was also very sunny and I didn’t want Annie to miss out on the sunshine, so as soon I was finished at the gym, I scooped her up and we headed down to the beach.

First we said ‘Haaaeeey’ to the neighbours.  They’re friendly folk.

Alpacas!

Alpacas!

Annie is a beach dog through and through.

………………..

Lunch…

After the gym and running around in the soft sand, I was one hungry lady! I opted for a simple but delicious shmorgishborg.

Shmorgishborg is fun to say.

Shmorgishborg is fun to say.

Toast with PB and honey, some sliced deli turkey, string cheese and fresh raspberries.

Simple and effective.

From the top.

From the top.

 

Wow, it’s been a pretty delicious day!

 

What’s the tastiest thing you’ve eaten today?

Do you have any weird neighbours? Animals or otherwise?

 

 

 

The fact about tabata workouts.

Happy (almost) Tuesday! This is a late one I know, sorry bout it!

Well let’s start from the beginning, I’ve heard it’s a good place to start.

Breakfast…

My day started off on a delicious note thanks to some late night prep last night. There’s actually a funny story behind my breakfast today.
Last night I was getting the kitchen all packed up and turning out the lights to head to bed when Annie (finally) started eating her dinner. She’s kinda crazy and gets spooked by so many things that I didn’t want to mess her up by turning off the light. So I was just standing there waiting for her to chow down when I realized that I could actually use that time to get some overnight oats mixed up! Ok, so not that ‘haha’ funny, more ‘your dog is a weirdo’ funny.
And SO long story short, the overnight oats have returned.
And after all that I just remembered I accidentally deleted my photo of them. Oops! So here’s a photo of my weirdo dog to make up for it.

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Hi Annie!
……………….

Another thing that was very exciting today was the weather! It was 82 degrees today in San Francisco! It was ah-mazing.

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Sooooo much blue sky!

Lunch…

Lunch was a simple affair today, but delicious nonetheless. I assembled a quick turkey breast, shredded lettuce and cheese wrap on a whole wheat tortilla and served it up with some fresh watermelon.

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I LOVE watermelon. It’s just so damn delicious.
……………….

Workout…

As soon as my work day was over I headed straight to the gym. I can’t explain how excited I am to be feeling basically 100% and ready to get back into a solid routine. I tells ya, those anti biotics really know what they’re doing when you really need them!

I wanted to ease in kind of slowly today so I did 25 minutes of fast paces incline walking on the treadmill to get warmed up and then headed into the cardio room to complete a full body tabata workout from Best Body Bootcamp.
The hardest move today? One arm tricep push ups – yikes!
Fact – tabata workouts leave me a sweaty mess.

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I finished up with some basic ab moves and called it a day!

It’s nice to be back!

Sunday Loves!

Hello hello!
I hope your Sunday has been fabulous. Mine was particularly sunny thanks to a little sleep over with some friends in the sunny east bay.

Here’s a couple of things making me smile today…

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Annie cuddles…

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Baby cuddles…

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Lots of cuddles!

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The obligatory morning cuppa.

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Nothin’ but blue skies.

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Pool day!

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Afternoon cocktails.

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Annie being extra sweet.

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Aaaaannndd a little treat!

Oh happy day!

Back in (sweaty) action!

Happy Saturday friends!

Hooray for the weekeeeennnddd!! I hope it’s as nice, sunny and relaxing wherever you are as it is in California today.

It’s been beautiful here (at least in the afternoons) most days this week actually.  The boys made sure to make the most of the sunshine by paddling out for a little surf session yesterday.

Surfer dudes.

Surfer dudes.

Half Moon Bay beauty.

Half Moon Bay beauty.

I can’t lie – I looovvvee it here.  Moving from San Francisco to the coast was a very good decision.  Being able to come home from work and have this as my back yard is pretty sweet!

Last night was pretty uneventful and I even forgot to photograph our delicious pizza! Shame on me.  BUT, it looked very similar to this one…

Hi Chris!

Hi Chris!

Only much smaller and minus one husband head.

………………………….

Breakfast…

After a very good, solid sleep I woke up with a little spring in my step and feeling hungry for a delicious breakfast.  A cup of tea and some tasty porridge sounded perfect to me!

Porridge - you have my heart.

Porridge – you have my heart.

Some oats, banana, brown sugar and a sprinkling of nuts is the start of a good day.

 

Workout…

After letting my breakfast settle for a little while I decided to take my good mood (and lack of headache/dizziness/sniffles) and run with it!

I finally got to do workout C from BBB and it was killer.  100 burpees – yes ONE HUNDRED combined with other upper body moves left me flat out exhausted afterwards.

Flat - out.

Flat – out.

I finished up with 8 Minute Abs to fire up my core and then some serious stretching with my little buddy.

Peek a boo!

Peek a boo!

Oh hey closeup!

Oh hey closeup!

A shower and some errands around the house later and I was a hungry lady again! I don’t know if this is possible, but every time I’m taking anti biotics, I feel SO hungry.  It’s so weird.

Lunch…

I heated up some baked chicken with jalapeno chutney, rice and grilled onions for lunch.  Out of the plastic container because I’m classy like that.  Less dishes to wash – success!

Easy peasy!

Easy peasy!

I followed it up with a little berry snack that I picked up at the farmers market last weekend.

My faves!

My faves!

 

And now we’re off to spend some time in the hot hot heat in the East Bay with our buddies!

 

Happy weekend all!

 

 

 

 

 

Lower Body Tabata Workout!

Helloooo out there buddies!

Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA the past couple of days.  Just as I thought I was getting better from this very persistent cold/flu/whatever it is, I was proved wrong.  Well played immune system, well-played.

I woke up yesterday morning with the room spinning in a way that should only happen when I’ve consumed my bodyweight a lot of tequila.  With no tequila in the system, I knew this was bad news.  When I got up to go to the bathroom and wondered if Chris was playing some very elaborate joke by somehow making the entire room spin around me (I actually wouldn’t put it past him, he loves a good trick!), I knew it was time for a trip to the doctor.

A vertigo and bad sinus infection diagnosis later and I was back on the couch with my new friends.

My new bests.

My new bests.

 

I did at least make some time for a delicious breakfast.  It’s the little things.

Ahhh true love.

Ahhh true love.

I spent most of the day lazing and snoozing.  One of my meds can make you ‘a little drowsy’ so says the doc – well ‘a little drowsy’ for some meant completely passed out for 2 hours for little old me.  At least I got some sleep!

After a couple of hours of being lazy, I progressed into complete boredom! I was a little less dizzy and snacking like a mad man so I decided to whip up some no bake energy balls.

 

I changed it up a bit this time by subbing out the wheat germ for flaxseed and adding in one Tbs of chia seeds and some shredded coconut. Perfection!

De- lish!

De- lish!

Since I’m not working out myself right now (and going insane!) I thought I’d share a workout I did at the gym the other week and totally forgot to tell you about! I’m a bad friend.

If you’ve never done a Tabata workout before, they are seriously hard work!! The good news? This workout is only 20 minutes long and will shred your lower body.  I downloaded a free Tabata timing app to keep track on my phone, “Tabata Timer” – highly recommend.

Lower Body Tabata!

Lower Body Tabata!

Incase you’re unfamiliar with any of the moves, here are some demo’s.

Froggy Jumps (1.55 into video) - Squat JumpsAlt Reverse LungesStar Bursts (0.59 into video)Alt Squat with Crossover (with squat between each crossover)

Feel the burn baby!

 

See you tomorrow…Friday!

 

 

 

Rest days, rest days, rest days.

When my sister was visiting this weekend and heard my coughing, wheezing and sniffling, she put me on mandatory rest.
I really had been starting to feel better but this weekend took me back down a notch :( . Drag!
She insisted on rest, relaxation and cups of tea with honey and lemon.

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We still managed to get out for a nice 2.5 mile hike to a local beach but apart from that I’ve been taking it very easy the past couple of days.
I am pretty good with knowing when to rest and when I can get up and sweaty but this time seems to be messing with me. For the next day or so I’ll be playing the ‘better safe than sorry’ card.

So, we’ll talk food instead!

Lunch…

Yesterday’s lunch was simple but fresh and tasty.

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A whole wheat tortilla with ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and green pepper.
I also followed it up with a small bowl of delicious fresh watermelon. I am a big time melon lovah!

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Dinner…

Dinner was also served in a wrap last night. I must have been feeling wrap-tastic! Chris and I whipped up some ground beef tacos. I added the beef with some sautéed onion and chickpeas. We served them up with salad, sour cream, salsa and cheese. Delicious!

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I finished the night off with some study. I am kind of loving having my highlighter out and actually learning again! It’s funny how while focusing on keeping our bodies fit, we can forget our brains! My brain is already feeling more energized.

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And since I’m not actually exercising myself right now, at least I can read about it!
…………….

Breakfast…

Since we’re on the topic of food already, lets catch up on today right?

Today was my first time using flaxseed meal in my breakfast. Holy deliciousness!!

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I added two full teaspoons into my hot porridge this morning and loved it. Like, really loved it!

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It added a nice nutty, rich flavour that I was just really digging.
I added some sliced strawberries, a little bit of dark brown sugar and chopped walnuts on top and it was a real winner.

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And now I better get up and get going!

Happy Tuesday to all you lovelies!

Homemade tortilla bowls!

It’s Friday!! You really did it friends, you made it through another week. Hooray!

Lunch…

Lunch was pretty plain and simple yesterday. I didn’t have time to pack a lunch in the morning so it was a workplace lunch for me.
Luckily, it was still tasty and filling.

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A rice cake with PB and red currant jam and a skim cheese stick hit the spot.

While I might not have had a chance to pack a full lunch for the day, I did manage to pack a delicious snack!

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I’m telling you, these strawberry banana quinoa muffins are to die. (If I do say so myself).
……………

I finished up my workday and week (yay!) at about 3:30, had a quick outfit change in the car and headed off to run my new around the lake favorite track.
It felt much better than Tuesdays run and I let myself go out nice and slow and get into a good rhythm.

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5 nice feel-good miles!

I had to run a couple of errands on the way home but was very excited to come home to this face!

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Sissy! We’ve been doing that creepy sideways face for a loooonngg time now. We’re pretty talented!

I dragged my sissy to the floor to do the last part of my workout with me – 8 minute abs! I took off my shoes and laid down to get my crunch on when I noticed that my sock was not exactly white anymore.

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Running is definitely not all glamorous!

5 miles and 8 minute abs with the sissy and gross bloody toe = workout done!
………….

Dinner…

After a quick shower and thorough washing of my gross foot it was time to get dinner going! I had decided during the day to try making my own tortilla bowls so we could have delicious taco salads.
I used The Yummy Life method to a T and it worked great!
I pre-heated the oven to 375F. I then sprayed the outside of three oven proof dishes, placed them on a baking tray and formed my bowls around the outside.

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I baked them for about 20 minutes in the end to get them nice and crispy and out they came ready to hold some delicious chicken taco filling.

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While the bowls themselves weren’t as delicious as I’d hoped (I think due to using whole wheat tortillas) it was still a fun way to serve the meal and it stopped me from going back and having three normal tacos!
I filled the bowls with a little quinoa, shredded lettuce, chicken with black beans, chopped green pepper and tomato, salsa, sour cream and cheese.

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Success!

We finished up our night with some delicious S’mores ice cream and hilarious TV.
It was a good night all around.

See you all later!