All You Need is Love

{happy friday}

2012-02-17T09:57:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! So, so ready for the weekend. I had a wonderful sleep in this morning as I knew Friday traffic is always lighter combined with lots of people being off because of teacher's convention. Took me only 20 minutes to get to work....that's a great way to start a Friday!

This weekend, we are:

doggie-sitting and having a sleep over with Cruz. Her parent's both had plans, so she gets to spend the day and night with us (okay, I know she is more excited to see Harley)
a possible visit from my in-laws. They had mentioned earlier in the week that they might come to visit, but nothing set in stone yet
sleeping in and enjoying the weekend!
working on a few DIY projects that I spotted on Pinterest.
hoping that my cold that Mr.D lovingly passed onto me goes away soon.
enjoying our Monday off as a family :)

Tell me : what do you have planned for your long weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Thursday randoms

2012-02-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you want to be anywhere but work? I have zero motivation at work this week and not really sure why. On a happy note, it's Thursday so that means one day closer to FRIDAY!

Here are my random thoughts for today:

I received a letter in the mail from my doctor's office today stating that I missed an appointment on Monday and that if I miss another or fail to cancel the appointment, I will be charged $50. Here's the thing, I never had an appointment scheduled for Monday. I originally had one scheduled for February 6 (the previous Monday), but called in January to move it to yesterday. So I will definitely be calling the office tomorrow to tell them they screwed up...in nicer words of course.
The reason that I had to go to the doctor was for a physical. Those are always the highlight of my year (or 3 in this case)
that last bullet was probably too much information, but everyone has to get them right?
Monday is a statutory holiday in Canada (not sure about the States) and I cannot wait to have the day off! Plans will definitely include sleeping in.
I don't understand people who drive in the fast lane and are constantly getting passed by everyone in the middle lane. Take a hint and MOVE over already!
On a walk with Harley the other night, I saw a sign on a house that said "no flyers or junk mails please". Dear house, I think you mean junk mail not mails.
I made a pan of double chocolate brownies last night for Mr.D as they are his favorite and he has a nasty cold right now. Please someone come take them before they go straight to my waist.

And because no post is complete without a picture, here is a random picture for you:

My roommate in university and I meeting Dallas Green from City & Colour before he got really popular.

Tell me: something random about your week

A new challenge: weekly recipe round up

2012-02-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by in our challenge! I will admit that I broke it twice in the past week....once for a work related lunch and once to have lunch with Alison and Nicole. Well, I didn't necessarily break the challenge as it's so the money doesn't come out of our joint account, but I am trying!

You can find last week's recipes here.

8. We decided to try something new and made spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs. Neither of us had tried spaghetti squash before and it was so darn easy! Just takes a bit of time, but definitely worth it. I used this recipe from Skinny Taste for the meatballs and sauce.

9. Mr.D was in charge of dinner tonight, and he made a casserole type dish with some left overs and random things in our fridge. The casserole included: leftover chicken from the chicken tacos, rice, salsa, cheese, tortillas, sour cream. Kind of random, but it was delicious!

10. Neither of us felt like cooking, so Mr.D had leftovers and I had scrambled eggs and toast.

11. We made home made pizza crust and personalized how each of us wanted. The pizza crust recipe is super easy and I found it in the milk calendar. Here it is:

Crust:

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) all-purpose flour

1 cup (250 ml) whole wheat flour

1 tbsp (15 ml) baking powder

1 tsp (5 ml) dried oregano

1/4 tsp (1 ml) salt

1 cup (250 ml) milk

1/4 cup (50 ml) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine flours, baking powder, oregeno and salt. Pour in milk and butter; stire with a fork until soft dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead a couple times until smooth. We divide it into two balls and each one each to make our own pizza. We then put the rolled out dough onto a cookie sheet, top with our personal choice of toppings and bake for 12-15 minutes.

12. We had the home made lasagna that I had put together two weekends ago and froze. It was pretty good!

13. I was travelling for work, so I wasn't home until late this night. We both had left over lasagna.

Happy Valentine's day!

2012-02-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Happy valentine's day everyone! Hope that you are spoiled by your significant other :) I know that we don't have any major plans except making dinner together and a crossfit class. How romantic of us ;)

*****************************************

Yesterday was a super long day...left my house at 6:15am and didn't get home until 8:30pm. Was beyond ready for some food and bed at that point! It was a great day filled with learning for work, but I am definitely not cut out for the travelling for work.

But, when I got home there was a package waiting for me from my mom. She always sends the best packages! Here are the contents:

She definitely spoiled me! If my mom happens to be reading, thank you mom! :)

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's day!

{weekend recap}

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

Oh hello there Monday! I won't hate on you today as next Monday is a stat holiday and I am quite looking forward to that! I am heading to Edmonton again today for work, which means another early wake up call. Not the best way to start a week, but oh well.

This weekend, we:

-went on a really cold walk with Harley on Friday night. Thankfully, the weather has changed again and it's supposed to be above zero all week.

- made two bite brownies using this recipe. So yummy and so easy! For those of you who live in Calgary, check out the back of Swerve each week as they have some fantastic recipes.

- went to a crossfit class that kicked my butt! This was the workout of the day:

7 rounds for time

400m row

15 dumbbell cleans

2 min rest

- went to see the movie Girl with the dragon tattoo on Saturday night with Mr.D. We had seen the Swedish version, and I quite liked both versions.

- met up with Nicole and Alison for lunch on Sunday. Nicole is getting really close to her due date, so we wanted to see her before her baby girl comes. Plus, we came with fun baby presents!

- worked on a bib for Nicole as part of her baby present. They are so easy to make (just take a bit of time) and are super cute. Plus, the last ones that I made for my SILs sister, she has done nothing by rave about them. This is how it turned out:

- made a couple cards for friends. Nothing beats a homemade card in the mail! At least in my opinion :)

Tell me: how was your weekend?

{happy friday}

2012-02-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! So glad that the day is here...finally. This morning has been crazy busy at work, so just getting to my post now. Totally unlike my Friday's! The snow is currently flying outside and I am hoping it stops soon. It's rumored to be cold today and tomorrow and back up to +6 C on Sunday. Fingers crossed that it actually happens!

This weekend, we are:

getting my hair cut on Saturday. It is long over due! I am also thinking of getting bangs...love both of these on Reese Witherspoon
going for lunch with Alison and Nicole on Sunday. Yes, breaking my challenge, but it's for a good reason :)
crossfit classes
making a few cards for upcoming birthdays, etc
enjoying the weekend!

Have a great weekend!

Tell me: what do you have planned for your weekend?

All you need is love: our love story

2012-02-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

Valentine's day is quickly coming up and it will mark 3 years since Mr.D and I got engaged! And then the week after is our 5 year dating anniversary. Crazy how time flies and how much has changed since then! In honor of both of those and so I can join in with the link up on the fabulous Becky's blog From Mrs to Mama, I thought I would do a post on our love story.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Mr. D as I affectionately call him and I have been together since February 2007. So coming up on five years!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

Mr. D and I met in Cancun, Mexico. Yes you read that right! I was on a vacation with my mom and younger brother, while Mr. D was with seven guy friends. One night, my younger brother and I were hanging out in the resort sports bar and met Steve and Robbie, who were part of Mr. D's group. Steve was really, really drunk at the time, and was pretending to punch me. Still don't really know how that started, but we started talking to them. A while later, Mr. D came into the sports bar {he had gone out to a club, but wasn't enjoying it so decided to come back to the resort} and we started talking. I decided to call it a night and Mr. D offered to walk me up to my room like the gentleman that he is. The best part of the story? Mr. D forgot my name, so he had to get his friend to introduce himself the next day so he could remember it! He will never live that one down :) We had two more days together in the sun and both headed home on the opposite sides of Canada.

After our holiday, we kept in touch through MSN {oh those were the days!!} and text messages. In April, Mr. D came to visit me at school for the weekend. After that, we knew that we had to make it work. Making it work included long distance for a year while we each finished school, plane rides to see each other and lots of time spent on the phone! I moved to Alberta in May 2008 and have been here ever since :)

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

We were married on August 14, 2010, so a year and a half.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

We were married at the Old Timer's Cabin in Edmonton, Alberta. My husband grew up in Edmonton, so we knew we wanted the wedding there. All of my family traveled from Ontario and it was a fun, laid back, amazing day! We had about 110 people at our wedding. You can find all of my recaps of our wedding here.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

We don't really have nicknames for each other. I call Mr. D on the blog, but not in person. We do call each other mom and dad if we are talking to Harley. Yes, we are those people! But there are no baby, babes, etc thrown around between us...we can't stand it!

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

-he is so, so supportive of everything I do from training for a half marathon to crossfit to my work

-he has such a big and caring heart

-he never fails to make me laugh

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

Before we got engaged, I had been pestering Mr.D that I really wanted to get engaged. Each time the conversation came up, he kept saying that he wasn't ready and that he would let me know when he was. Because of that, I had no idea that he had already bought a ring or asked both of my parents! Since my parent's live in Ontario, he asked my dad in October 2008 while he was out for a visit. Mr.D didn't end up proposing, so that is lots of planning! Mr.D ended up asking me on Valentine's day 2009 at home. He gave me a card and all that said on the inside of the card was look up. When I looked up, he was kneeling on the floor with the ring in hand. It was perfect :)

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

I wouldn't say either of those. If anything, flowers and a sweet card. Neither of us are overly romantic and that's fine with us. I prefer to get flowers for no reasons throughout the year then on one day.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I am such a homebody, so definitely pop a movie in and relax on the couch type of girl.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Hm, I think that would have to be to take a trip somewhere. We both really want to travel to Greece or Italy one day, so I would have to say that.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

We have zero plans as of right now. It will probably consist of a nice dinner at home as we are doing a no eating out challenge for the month of February.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nope, can't say that I have asked for anything. A sweet card and a big hug would be perfect for me :)

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Compromise and communication. If one person is never willing to compromise on things in your marriage, it will cause big issues. Same with communication, if you cannot communicate with your partner, it is hard to build and develop your relationship.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Our wedding day, which was amazing! Everything went so well and it was such a fun day.

A new challenge: weekly recipe round up

2012-02-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

I know that everyone loves new recipes, so I thought I would do a weekly round up of the recipes we have been enjoying.

February

1. I was out of town for work and enjoyed lunch at the Lux steakhouse. Kind of goes against this challenge, but our work Christmas party had been scheduled for a while and I wasn't going to say no! Mr.D was on his own for dinner.

2. We were both tired and didn't feel like making anything major, so pancakes, bacon and fruit were enjoyed for dinner. So simple, yet so good!

3. Beef and vegetable kabobs. Mr.D marinated everything the night before and then cooked them up on the bbq. We served it with rice and was yummy!

4.We had Alison & Justin over for dinner this night. I made crockpot chicken tacos and we devoured them before I took a picture! I used this recipe via Pinterest. It was so easy to make! I also made a batch of guacamole using this recipe and it was to die for!

5. Mr.D was gone to a friend's house for a boys day, so I was on my own. Dinner was left over crockpot chicken tacos.

6. I wasn't feeling good, so it was chicken soup for me. Mr.D had left overs.

7. We tried a new recipe and food...tofu! We have made it once before and it was a disaster...luckily, this time was much better.

This is the recipe that we used:

Ingredients

1 16oz package of extra firm tofu

3 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp garlic powder

couple dashes of cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper

Directions

-preheat oven to 375F. Lightly spray a non-stick baking sheet.

-slice tofu into 1/2 inch slices and gently press out excess water. Cut sliced tofu into 1/2 inch cubes.

-in a bowl, stir together the soy sauce, honey, vinegar and oil. Stir in ginger, garlic powder and red pepper. Gently stir in tofu cubes into sauce. Cover and marinate for at least 5 minutes {I marinated ours overnight}

-place tofu on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. Turn tofu and bake until the tofu turns golden brown or about 20 more minutes.

Journey to a half marathon {part three}

2012-02-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, I have been doing a series called journey to a half marathon. You can read the first two posts here and here. Today will be the final post in the series :)

9. Enjoy the experience

by the end of your training plan, there will be days where you are ready to be done and just ready to run the race. The race day will come up quickly and will go by fast, so enjoy your first half marathon. Remember to take in the scenery, thank the volunteers and enjoy it!
make a weekend of your first race! This past Thanksgiving, I traveled to Victoria, BC to run the half marathon with Amber, Lisa and Lauren. It was fun to run with friends and celebrate all of our PR's together.
Amber, myself and Lisa after the race

10. Take care of yourself after the race

once you cross that finish line and are riding the high of finishing your first half marathon it is easy to forget to take care of yourself.
It is important to get food in your body within 20 minutes of finishing. Most races will provide a post race snack of bananas, chips, granola bars, bagels, cookies, etc. The best part of finishing, besides the medal of course, is the post race food and chocolate milk.
Once you are home or back in your hotel, make sure to take the time to stretch, foam roll or take an ice bath. This will help decrease the pain the next day.

11. Be proud

you just finished your first half marathon, which is something many will not do! Wear that medal proudly as you put in the time, training, miles, etc for it.

Tell me: for those of you who have ran a half marathon, what was your favorite memory or part of it? What was your favorite race? Anything I missed?

{weekend recap}

2012-02-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those weekends where you will do anything to keep it from ending? That was me yesterday. We didn't do anything overly exciting, but it was still a great weekend. I think the sunshine and +9C weather helped too :)

Tulips from Alison, delicious guacamole & Harley enjoying the sunshine!

This picture almost sums up our weekend! It included dinner with friends, great food, playing outside in the sun and more.

{friday} I had the day off, so I enjoyed a sleep in and did some stuff around the house before heading out for a run with Harley. It was gorgeous out and we ended up running 7k, which is the furthest I have gone in a while. Great run all around! After our run, I headed out for groceries and other errands. We made a delicious dinner on the bbq (in February in Alberta...craziness!!) and then spent the night hanging out at home.

{saturday} I went to a crossfit class in the morning and then did stuff around the house. Later in the day, Alison, Justin and Cruz came over for dinner and a puppy play date. We never seem to take pictures and we really need to fix that! The pups had fun as always and were both passed out shortly after they left. Successful night if I don't say so myself.

{sunday} Yesterday, the box that I belong to for crossfit had a day to bring a friend for free to try it out, so Alison came along with me. It was a fun class that was done in teams and I think left both of us sweating a lot after it! I am glad that Alison came along to see why I love it so much. After crossfit, I was pretty lazy. Did a few loads of laundry and then played around with my blog. Ps- how do you like the changes?!

Overall, a great weekend! If the gorgeous weather wants to continue into this week, I wouldn't mind at all :)

Tell me: how was your weekend?

{happy friday}

2012-02-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! Love when Friday's come around because that means it's the weekend! :) I am off today, so I enjoyed a sleep in this morning. I am currently cuddled up on the couch watching tv and typing up this post and it's perfect :)

This weekend, we are:

intro to crossfit class tomorrow for Mr.D {yes, I inspired him to sign up!} and a regular class for me
dinner with Alison, Justin & Cruz on Saturday night
crossfit class on Sunday morning with Alison. The box I belong to is letting members bring a friend for free, so Alison is coming along to try it out :)
enjoying the warm weather while it's here

Hope you have a great weekend everyone!

Tell me: what are you up to this weekend?

{what i'm loving}

2012-02-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! As this is posting, I will be making my way to Edmonton for our annual appreciation/Christmas party. It's a little late this year, but better late than never right?

I am linking up with Jamie's {what i'm loving} Wednesday series!

Today, I am loving:

{one} When we were dog sitting on the weekend, Harley was laying on his dog bed and the other puppy came and curled up beside him. Harley is not a big cuddler, so it was extra cute!

Harley and his other girlfriend. Cruz is always #1!

{two} That I get to stare at this cute face everyday on my work desktop. How can you not smile when you see that adorable face?! Okay, maybe I am a little biased :)

{three} This pretty sunrise yesterday morning as I came into work. This is from the front of my building looking towards downtown. Such a pretty sky!

{four} The weather has been so gorgeous this week! It is usually really cold in January in Alberta, so to have a week of plus degree weather is fantastic. Even better that the sun has still been out when I have been taking Harley for a run after work. I hate running or walking him in the dark and cold.

Tell me: what are you loving today?

Journey to a half marathon {part two}

2012-01-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last week, I started a new series called journey to a half marathon, which you can find the first part here. This week, I will be talking about increasing your mileage, importance of stretching, strength training and fueling.

5. Increasing your mileage

At this point in your training, you should slowly be adding on your miles or kms (for those Canadians reading) to each of your long runs.
The common rule is that you should only increase your mileage in increments of 10%. This is to help prevent injuries from increasing your distance too fast and too soon.

6. Stretching

In order to keep your body in top shop to handle the increasing distances, it is important to stretch before and after each run.
Stretching helps to prevent injuries and also helps improve flexibility, which helps you become a more efficient runner.
Using this link will take you to the Runner’s World stretching page, where it will provide you with many different stretches.
Another form of stretching is to use a foam roller, which helps to roll or massage sore muscles especially after a long run.

Foam rollers can be found in different densities, lengths, etc
They can be found at your local running store or on-line

7. Strength training

I know that while I was training for my half marathons last year, I was terrible at fitting in strength training. This was not a good thing for me!
Strength training is important for runners because it helps you become a stronger runner and helps to prevent injuries.
Strength training that you could do could range from a Jillian Michael’s video to a short at home weight circuit to a P90X video. It doesn’t have to take a long time and you will not regret it.

8. Fueling

As you start to increase your distance, it is important to figure out what works for yourself in terms of fueling. What works for one runner may not work for another.
If you are going to be running for over one hour, it is important that you bring some form of fuel with you. It could be anything from sport beans to a Gu to a pb& j sandwich.
It is also important to take in electrolytes if your run will be over an hour. This could be water, Gaterade, Powerade, Nuun, etc.
Before you set out on your weekly long run, ensure that you have eaten enough calories to fuel you through your run. I am personally a fan of Cheerios or granola bars.
Many runners love the combination of a bagel, peanut butter and a banana, but running and peanut butter do not go well together for myself.
Again, figure out what works for you as everyone is different.

After you have completed your long run, it is important that you re-fuel your body within 20 minutes.
A popular choice is chocolate milk, which I personally love!
Other choices could include: Recoverite, bananas, bagels, bread, rice, fruit

Next week: other important tips for new runners

{weekend recap}

2012-01-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

Another weekend has come and gone...I can't believe that January is already over! Time is really flying by lately.

This weekend, we:

watched the movie Drive with Ryan Gosling and the movie Time with Justin Timberlake. Neither were anything fantastic. If Ryan Gosling talked more in Drive and didn't wear that terrible looking coat, then maybe it would have gotten a better review from me.
went to the mall on Friday night and I only bought two things! A plaid shirt and a button up sweater for work.
went to a crossfit class on Saturday and hurt my shoulder :( We were doing push presses with dumbbells and the dumbbell came down wrong and I heard a noise in my shoulder. I used lighter weights after that and put deep cold cream on it last night, but still hurting today. Hopefully time off helps it heal. The workout was a good one:

1 round for time:

750m row

75 dumbbell push press

25 chest to bar pull ups

75 dumbbell push press

750m row

spent Saturday afternoon cleaning the floors and doing other cleaning stuff around house
stocked up our fridge with groceries {I wish there was a grocery fairy!}
spent Sunday morning cooking up a storm in preparation for our eating in challenge in February. I made:

a pan of lasagna
a batch of turkey chili
two batches of southwestern black bean soup

dog sat a friend's dog on Sunday. Harley and her are cute together! {but don't worry Cruz, Harley is forever yours ;) }

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

Thursday randoms

2012-01-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday's are a great day. Much better than Monday, but not quite as good as Friday :) Either way, I am glad it's here.

Here are some random thoughts floating in my head on this Thursday:

after the terrible cold spell last week, the weather has been fantastic this week. I am talking in the +C at the end of January in Alberta. Perfection!
I went to crossfit last night and it kicked my butt! This was the workout:

“Filthy Fifties”

1 Round for time:

50 Box Jump, 24 inch box

50 Jumping Pull-ups

50 KB Swings, 1 pood

50 Walking Lunges

50 Knees to Elbows

50 Push Press, 45 lbs

50 Back Extensions

50 Wallballs, 20/14 lbs ball

50 Burpees

50 Double Unders

And it was freaking hard! Definitely kicked my butt in a good way.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter might have seen my tweet about applying for a position that is the next step in my career earlier this week. I found out yesterday that I didn't get the position, which I didn't think I would but is still disappointing. But she did give me some tips and I will be definitely be working on those things. Hopefully next time the job is mine.
I am seriously addicted to the no bake energy balls that I talked about earlier in the week. They are so, so easy to make and so yummy! Make them and tell me how they aren't addicting ;)
my cousin, who is also my best friend is coming for a visit in May. I only wish it was sooner!
crossfit gave me a bruise the other night on my collarbone that kind of looks like a hickey:
can you see it?

Tell me something random about your week!

A new challenge {tips & recipes}

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, I talked about how Mr.D and I are challenging ourselves to not eat out for the month of February. You can see that post here. I know that I am always looking for new recipes, so I thought I would do a post with some of the great recipes that you left me in the comments along with the tips you left. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I can't wait to start putting together some meal plans and trying them out!

Tips

use Pinterest to find new and easy recipes
when making recipes that can be frozen, double the batch and freeze the rest for another meal
sit down each week and write out a meal plan. Base your grocery list off the meal plan so it avoids multiple trips to the grocery store
pack your lunch each day so it avoids you simply running out to buy an easy but expensive lunch

Recipes

Kristen sent me a couple of delicious looking recipes:

Emily sent me the following website for some amazing food!

Food gawker {be prepared to be hungry!}

Lindsey sent me some recipes and a website:

Skinny crock pot – for awesome and healthy crockpot meals
crockpot taco chicken
pumpkin black bean soup from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life
tuna cakes from her own blog
fish tacos from her own blog
cheesy taco mac from her own blog
mushroom risotto from her own blog

I can’t wait to try out some of these awesome recipes!

Tell me: if you didn’t leave a comment before, what is your go to recipe for during the week?

Journey to a half marathon {part one}

2012-01-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what I would like to accomplish this year in races and how far I have come since I started running. Let me tell you, what a HUGE difference what a year makes! As I was thinking about what I would like to accomplish, I thought I would put together a series of posts about how to go from no running (or low mileage) to running your first half marathon.

1. Start slow

if you are not currently running, it would be best to start slowly building up your mileage each week. Maybe this week, it's running for twenty minutes or for two kilometers. Whatever you feel comfortable and able to do.
if you start increasing the mileage too soon, you could end up finding yourself injured or feeling overwhelmed.

2. Pick a plan

there are many different plans out there that you can use. I have personally used the Hal Higdon half marathon plan and it worked really well for me. The plan can be found here.
another popular option is the couch to 5k plan which can be found here. I have never used this plan, but have heard many good things about it. This is a good plan if you are starting out from no running at all.
another option is the plan from Runner's World, which can be found here.

3. Get fitted for the proper running shoes

the best thing that you can do for yourself (besides running of course!) is to go into your local running store to get your gait analyzed and find the perfect shoe for you.
every runner is different where one runner may not pronate, while another needs pronation support.
there are many different brands and types of shoes, so trying on different pairs is the best way to find out what works for yourself.
I personally love Asics and I know other runners who do not like them.

4. Sign up for a race or training group

Signing up for a race is a great motivation for yourself! As you have put the money into a race registration, it makes you less likely to back out of training. It also gives you something to look forward to.
Joining a local running group (can be found by Googling your area or even through the Running Room) can help provide others in the same stage of training as you. Groups through the Running Room also provide you with information at the start of each run, which is very beneficial if you are a new runner.

Next week: increasing your mileage, the importance of stretching and fueling

Tell me: if you were encouraging a friend who is new to running and wanting to run their first half marathon, what advice would you give them? Did I leave any major points out?

{weekend recap}

2012-01-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? Hopefully it was fantastic!

This weekend, we:

enjoyed a quiet and warm Friday night in. The cold snap was still holding on, so hanging out in the house was perfect
went to a crossfit class, which kicked my butt!
Ran a few errands, which included buying new running shoes for me. That should motivate me to run right?
went to a friend's house, which was quiet but still fun
went for my first run in a long time! It was a little snowy so it made it harder, but still nice to get out there
took Harley for a long walk on Sunday afternoon. The sun was shining and the weather was finally warming up!

Mr. Harley

Harley & I

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

{happy friday}

2012-01-20T10:24:00.003-07:00

Well hello there Friday! So glad to see you again :) This week has seemed really long after being stuck inside all week because it was too cold to do anything else! We normally walk Harley every night, and we didn't take him for one walk this week. Lots of playing fetch in the backyard though.

We don't have much planned for this weekend. Scratch that, we have NOTHING planned for this weekend. Kind of lame and sad? Yes, but I like weekends like this. I am sure the usual stuff of getting groceries and cleaning the house will be added in there too.

Just a few randoms for this week:

we tried a new recipe last night and it was tasty (yet not that healthy). It was a recipe for beef taco skillet from Campbell's. The recipe can be found here. It was super easy to make too!
I also tried a new recipe for energy balls, which can be found here. I made two batches, one with almond butter and one with peanut butter and both are delicious! Super easy to make too.
I told myself I wouldn't watch The Bachelor this go around, but somehow I have found myself watching it. Mr.D set up the PVR for me, so I end up skipping through a lot of it. I hope Kacie B wins, but word on the street is the Courtney (the annoying model) wins. What are you thinking Ben?!
We started watching the series called Bomb Girls and we can't decide if we like it or not. We've watched maybe 3-4 episodes and it's not bad, but there is no Jax Teller in it...
I've been looking for outfit ideas on Pinterest and have found some cute ones, but suck at executing them in real life. You can find me here.

Hope you have a great weekend everyone!

11 Random Things

2012-01-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

I am sure you have seen this floating around the blogsphere lately, but with it being so cold out I didn't feel like thinking of a creative post. So, you will get to learn some new things about me today after Kristen and Gabriella both tagged me in this post :)

Here are the rules:

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

11 random things about me:

1. I always think of good 'random' things to write on these things and then totally forget them when it comes time to do a post like this
2. I can't stand when cupboards or drawers are left open
3. When I make dinner or bake, I do the dishes/tidy the kitchen as I go. A messy kitchen while cooking/baking drives me insane!
4. I can't stand feet. Something about them just creep me out. I won't even touch Mr.D's feet and I love him.
5. I am terrible at telling myself that I "can't" do something when I haven't actually tried or am scared to try. Ie: a rope climb
6. I like hanging out with friends, but I also need my alone time.
7. It makes me feel good when I see I have a new blog or Twitter follower. I guess I'm not that boring after all ;)
8. I am scared of heights but would love to go sky diving
9. Lots of spelling mistakes in posts drive me nuts!
10. I have the worst patience in the world. Mr.D always asks how I am going to handle having kids when they are driving me nuts, haha.
11. I can't stand when people complain about something, but do nothing to make changes to fix it

Kristen's questions:

1- When you're in a job interview, what do you use as your "weakness"? (you know, the weakness that you can turn into a positive somehow)
That I can be shy and quiet at first, but once I open up, you can't shut me up ;)
2- What is your favourite food?
Chicken!
3- Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging when I was planning my wedding and I had started reading a lot of wedding blogs. I was going to share it with my family back home to see how the plans were coming along, but never did.
4- If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?
Greece or Italy. Actually anywhere that isn't -30C right now!
5- If you're a runner, biker, triathlete, or any other sort of racer, what race is tops on your bucket list?
I would have to say the NYC marathon. I would probably be overwhelmed with the number of people there, but it would be an experience.
6- What is your dream job? (pretending that it pays well)
Hm, not really sure. I used to want to be a midwife and still think that would be an interesting and rewarding job
7- Who is your celebrity crush?
Charlie Hunnam (Jax from Son's of Anarchy)
8- Did you or do you play an instrument?
I took piano lessons when I was younger, but can't play anymore. Definitely not talented in the music department
9- What is your favourite "guilty pleasure" movie? (you know, the one that you like to pretend you didn't love)
I haven't watched it for a long time, but save the last dance
10- If you had to pick a last meal, what would you pick?
Hm, that is tough! Probably a good steak and twice baked potato
11- Ben and Jerry's or Haagen Dazs?
Either or. Both are delicious!

My questions:

1. if you could be any superhero, which would you be?
2. if you could be on any TV show, which one would it be?
3. if you had to take either a calculus or physics class, which one would it be?
4. what is your favorite and must have beauty product?
5. do you burp or fart in front of your significant other?
6. who said I love you first in your relationship?
7. if you could change one thing about your wedding, what would it be? (if you are married of course!)
8. who is your blogging idol?
9. if you could do anything better, what would it be? (ie: run faster, become a better cook or baker, etc)
10. have you ever peed in the shower?
11. do you get embarrassed really easily?

I am tagging:

Lindsey @ a running tale
Aimee @ runner's id
Deb @ deb tris
Jessica @ heart on homestead
Chrissi @ home is where the heart is
Lisa @ Lisa's yarns
Amanda @ simple girl, simple pleasures
Rachel @ Rachel and John

Well, that was a lot of typing! Did you learn something new about me at least? And feel free to answer one of my questions if I didn’t tag you

Training Tuesday

2012-01-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't started to hibernate yet, but I am definitely close. Because of the snowy and cold weather my drive yesterday took close to an hour and it was -28C (-39C with the windchill!). Anytime someone wants to pay me to work from home so I don't have to venture out in the cold would be awesome.

******************************************************

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, would have seen that I tweeted yesterday about whether or not I should run a marathon this year. It is something I really, really want to do, but am scared to pull the trigger and register for it. It's a big time commitment and will take some shuffling of responsibilities between Mr.D and I, but I think we could manage.

I have already registered for a 5 mile race in March, which gives out a medal at the end and is not a very common distance in Canada. I am also going to register and run the Scotiabank Calgary half marathon like I did last year. They changed the race course, but I loved it last year, so hopefully I will again this year. I also might sign up to run another half at the end of April in Edmonton. It's only $45 and close my in-laws house, so can't beat that.

I think the biggest things that are holding me back from running the marathon are:

self doubt

can I actually run 26.2 miles?

training

I will be doing it alone or with Harley during the week for shorter runs

the time commitment

I love running, but was burnt out from it by the end of last year (hence the move into crossfit)

crossfit

my three month membership is up in March, so do I sign up again or do I just focus solely on running? If I sign up again, will I be able to fit crossfit and running in each week so that the membership is worth it? (it's not cheap: $150/month)

weather

the summer in Alberta can be all over the place, but it beats running through the cold weather for a spring marathon. But more than likely, I will be running the marathon on a hot day

The other idea running through my head is that I keep up with crossfit and instead run half marathons and focus on getting faster and taking time off of my PR.

Ah, so many choices and options!

Tell me: for those of you who have run a marathon or even a number of half marathons, what do you think I should do? Full or more half's?

{weekend recap}

2012-01-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was a cold weekend! Okay, it only started to get cold on Saturday afternoon, but the cold is here to stay for at least the rest of the week. I am talking about -20C cold, which is not fun at all!

{friday} I had the day off of work, so I enjoyed a bit of a sleep in and then headed to crossfit for a workout. It was a tough one that included 75 burpees which was tough! After my workout, I took Harley for a walk and then took him to the vet for his yearly check up. He's in perfect health and the perfect weight, which any doggie parent likes to hear :) Mr.D had plans with some friends that night, so I hung out watching lots of wedding shows and enjoying the night at home.

How Harley & I spent Friday night

{saturday} In the morning, I went for another crossfit workout (what can I say, I love it!). This was another tough one. After crossfit, I met up with Alison and we spent the afternoon shopping. We both found some great deals and items, so it was worth it. And just for the record, I wasn't a bad influence on you Alison ;) After shopping, Mr.D and I went grocery shopping. Exciting Saturday night in our lives! ;) We also stopped in at our friends house to see their new puppy, which they had just adopted. She is a cutie!

{sunday} It was freezing yesterday, so we spent the day cleaning the house and making a few recipes. We met up with our friend's and their new puppy for a walk. The dogs had a great time together and Harley spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping.

Tell me: how was your weekend?

A new challenge

2012-01-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

Last night as we were trying to decide what to do for dinner, Mr.D and I started talking about how we have been spending a lot of money lately. Some of that money spent went towards our recent Christmas vacation, which was definitely worth it! Overall though, we have just been spending money without thinking about if we really need that 'thing' or if we really need to go out for dinner.

As we had dinner, we were talking about ways that we could save money. One of my suggestions was that for the month of February, we will not go out to eat at all. Although we don't go out to eat a lot each month (only 1-2 times per week), it will still help us save money. I am estimating that we spend roughly $40-$50 each time we go out to eat (that's for a sit down restaurant), which adds up to $200 per month. Not eating out once in the month of February means an extra $200 in our pocket :)

I think the toughest part of the challenge will be coming up with dinner ideas that are inexpensive and easy to make (for during the week). It will definitely take some planning on our part, but I think we can do it. We have over two weeks to come up with a stock pile of recipes, which means I need your help. If you have a favorite recipe, website, blog, etc that you use to help plan your meals, I would love to have it!

Tell me: have you ever challenged yourself like this before? If so, how did it go? Also, please send me your favorite go-to recipes!

Wednesday randoms

2012-01-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Wednesday, thanks for coming already! Just keep the snow away as I am not enjoying having winter in Alberta. I could do without the snow and coldness for the rest of the winter okay?

Here are my random thoughts for this Wednesday:

I found the best flat iron at Winner's (the Canadian version of TJ Maxx) for $45! It makes my hair so straight and keeps it that way for 2-3 days. Best money ever spent.

Not the greatest picture, but Harley seriously makes us laugh! We came around the corner in the basement and this is how we found him sitting on the steps. He's got mighty long legs! :)

We watched the finale of Homeland two nights ago and it was awesome! I wasn't sold on the show right away, but it turns out to be a great show by the end of the season. A must watch!

Tell me something random about your week!

Christmas Holidays 2011

2012-01-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

This vacation was so much fun and nice to get away that I am still struggling with getting back into my normal routine! I am pretty sure that I have wished I was still sitting on the beach multiple times since we have been home.

Instead of doing a really long or a bunch of posts, I am going to recap our trip by talking about the highlights and maybe a few bummers about the trip. Here we go!

The highlights were:

1. Spending over a week with my family {being on the beach didn't hurt either ;)}

My lil brother was clearly having 'fun' in this picture :)

The gorgeous beach

2. Going on two excursions that included ATV'ing and sliding down waterfalls

Getting ready to go and had NO idea what was coming!

Mr.D & his WW1 helmet

Getting ready for the falls

3. Playing sociables (or kings as some call it) with my family. Most hilarious drinking game ever!

Hard to explain how funny it was, but definitely one of those deep in your belly laughing nights!

4. Spending time relaxing and reading on the beach with Mr.D

Windy day on the beach

My mom & by the pool

Mr.D & I on the beach

Nothing quite like laying on the beach with nothing to do but read a good book!

Now, the bummers about our trip:

seeing the inside of five different airports in 11 days. I will be okay without flying anywhere for a while!
sickness while on the trip and that followed us home. I got sick (probably too many fries and sun) on NYE, so I spent the afternoon sleeping and we ended up in bed at 10:30pm on NYE. Party animals we are!
ATVs that had no brakes on our excursion, which resulted in someone *cough me cough* running into the back of parked ATV's.
leaving my family after a great holiday

Overall, it was a great holiday with many memories and I loved being able to spend time with my family.

{weekend recap}

2012-01-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hello there Monday, please be nice to me today okay? :) This weekend flew by again...darn you weekends for always doing that.

{friday} Mr.D was still feeling sick (we think he picked something up on/after our trip), so I took Harley for a walk and then we spent the night lounging on the couch. We watched the movie 50/50, which was pretty good. Definitely sad at points, but worth watching.

{saturday} We spent the morning taking down the Christmas tree and decorations...kind of sad that Christmas is over for another year. Our living room looks so empty without the tree, but that just makes me want to buy new decorations for the house :) The rest of the day was spent around the house, taking Harley for a walk, etc. Later on, we met up with Lindsey and her husband for dinner, who were in town for the afternoon. It was fun to get together with them after chatting with Lindsey for so long! Best part of meeting her? I finally met someone who is my size (and potentially smaller than me! ;) ) Just teasing, Lindsey! :)

{sunday} We spent the morning just hanging around the house (can you tell we had a lazy weekend?!) and then went to the see the new Sherlock Holmes movie in the afternoon. We both really liked it and would recommend seeing it! After the movie, we stopped for groceries and for a few things at Canadian Tire.

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

{happy friday}

2012-01-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! Even though it's only my second day of work this week, I am beyond excited that today is Friday!

Last night, I went for my first run and crossfit workout in over two weeks. Dang, I am never taking that much time off again! The run wasn't too bad, but I was dying during the crossfit workout. That's the only workout I've done that I've felt so physically weak and tired. But I am going to get right back into it and stay with it!

This weekend we are:

taking down the Christmas decorations and Christmas tree
going to a crossfit class
enjoying the +9C weather we are supposed to have!
meeting up with Lindsey and her husband for dinner. So excited to finally met her!

Hope you have a great weekend everyone!

Tell me: what do you have planned for the weekend?

She's alive!

2012-01-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long time since I've been on a computer and have read any blogs! I feel so out of the loop, so everyone fill me in on what I missed ;) I took a blogging break for good reason....Mr.D and I went to the Dominican Republic for a week with my family! I know, I know bad me for not mentioning it at all, but I figured I would rather be safe and than sorry with our house sitting empty for close to two weeks.

We just got back today after being in five different airports in 11 days, so this post will be short and sweet. I will doing some vacation recaps once all of the pictures are uploaded onto my computer and the million loads of laundry are done! But I'll leave you with a few pictures of our trip:

Christmas morning with my mom and brothers

Gorgeous beach

Mr.D & I

Tell me: how was your Christmas holidays? Were you spoiled or did you go on any trips?

2011: A Year in Review {part two}

2011-12-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Continuing from yesterday, we are picking up at July :)

July

Completed my first ever sprint triathlon! Lots of nerves going into the day, but I am glad I did it and lived to see another day ;) Recaps can be found here & here.

Meow!

Finally joined Twitter after some poking and prodding from Amber. You can follow me here: bestthingislove

August

I ran my second 10k with a time of 52:46, which I was so excited about! We took a day trip to the mountains so I could try out mountain biking....let's say, it won't be something I do again soon! We also celebrated our one year anniversary, which came so quickly!

Exchanging our vows

Such a gorgeous day in the mountains!

September

I ran Melissa's Race half marathon which was my second half marathon of the year. Not my greatest race, but I finished.

Mr.D, myself and my wonky eye

We also celebrated Harley's first birthday! Craziness that the little puppy we brought home is no longer little.

Can I get a collective awww?

October

We celebrated my birthday with some close friends, who I met all through blogging. Such a wonderful thing blogging is!

Nicole, myself, Alison & Rachel

This month, I also traveled to Victoria, BC with Amber, Lisa and Lauren for a girls weekend and to run the half marathon. It was honestly such a fun weekend! Especially since it was my first time meeting Lisa and Lauren. I came home alive, so they are definitely keepers :) You can read the trip recaps here and here.

Lisa, Amber, Lauren & myself

I think the best post of this month was the birthday post that Mr.D did for me. He's such a sweetheart and I love him for doing it once a year for me.

November

My mom came to visit us again this month. I love being able to spend time with her even if it's only for a few short days.

my mom & I

I also started my intro to crossfit class this month and am currently still doing it, so I obviously love it! I also volunteered at a local race with Alison and Nicole, which was a lot of fun.

Nicole, myself & Alison

December

Celebrated Christmas with my office by going to a dinner theatre. It was my first time doing so, and it was actually quite fun!

Mr.D & myself

I also ran a 5k with a few co-workers. It was one co-worker's first race, so it was fun to run with him and encourage him through it.

I keep saying it, but this year seriously flew by! It was a great year overall with lots of exciting things and I can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

Tell me: what was your favorite memory or event from 2011?

2011: A Year in Review {part one}

2011-12-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

As another year as come and gone, I thought it would be fun to look back at what I did in the past year. I have a feeling these posts might be picture heavy, so I have divided the year into two posts.

January

Looking back at my posts in January, it wasn't a very exciting month. I blame the cold weather keeping us inside hibernating ;) Though, my mom did come to visit, which is always exciting :)

my silly mom and I

February

February was much more exciting then January! First up was me getting rear ended on my way to work. That was not fun! Especially dealing with the person who hit me. Oh well, it could have been much worse and I survived to see another day :)

Next, Mr.D and I bought a new SUV as we had a growing dog, who needed more space in the car. It's almost been a year, and we still love it!

And the final big thing in February, was that I found out that my temporary position was offered to me as permanent full-time, which I was so excited about! I am still in the position, so it was a very good thing.

March

Another not very exciting month in the life of Leigh. I ran my first 10k and came in at 53:54, which I was super happy about. Even better that I puked at the end ;) This month I also did a fun post called the ABC's of me, which let you learn a little more about me.

April

This month, I took a trip home to see my family, helped plan and put together a baby shower for Rachel & Henry, and poor Harley lost his manhood.

Alison, myself, Rachel and Vanessa

My mom and I

Harley and his cone

May

All of my hard work and training paid off when I successfully ran my first half marathon! I came in at 1:58, which exceeded my expectations by far!

My first half marathon medal

June

Mr.D and I took a trip to Florida for a conference for Mr.D's work. I quite enjoyed the trip as I got to spend a lot of time at the beach while Mr.D was inside learning all day :)

Mr.D and I in Florida

We also took a weekend trip to Fernie with some friends, so they could all go mountain biking. It was a colder weekend, but still had a great time!

Harley, the mountains & myself

Tell me: what was your favorite memory from the beginning of 2011? Anything in particular stick out in your mind?

Wishing you a very merry Christmas

2011-12-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

We are currently spending our time with family and friends as we don't get to see them enough throughout the year. That means I will be away from the computer for a while {not sure how long yet}, but I do have a few posts recapping this year all ready to go up.

I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope you have a fabulous day with your family and of course that Santa spoils you rotten :)

Harley wishes everyone a very merry Christmas!

{what i'm loving}

2011-12-21T08:42:00.001-07:00

Hello Wednesday! So glad to see you :) Christmas is coming so fast and it just doesn't feel real yet to me.

Today, I am linking up with Jamie's {what i'm loving} Wednesday. I haven't done it in a while, so I thought why not?

I am loving:

{one} that after today, I only have one more day of work left until it's holiday time! So excited :)

{two} that Christmas is in 4 days! Holy smokies, this year has gone by so quickly.

{three} that I successfully climbed the rope at crossfit last night all by myself. Not just once, but 4 times!! I was a little freaked out when I got to the top as it's high, but the feeling of being able to do it, is amazing.

{four} that in less than four days, we will be spending time with our family. We don't get to see either of our families enough, so I am looking forward to spending time with them.

Tell me: what are you loving today?

Training Tuesday & HBBC Update

2011-12-20T08:38:00.003-07:00

Another Tuesday is here and that means another HBBC update. Let's see how I did last week {hint, it wasn't very good!}

December 13/11
5k run: 3 pts

December 14/11
5k run: 3 pts

December 15/11
rest

December 16/11
rest

December 17/11
crossfit: 1 pt
3.2k walk: 2 pts

December 18/11
crossfit: 1 pt
5.6k walk: 3.5 pts

December 19/11
5k run: 3 pts
crossfit {45 mins}: 2.25 pts

Total: 107.0

I have less than 15k until I've ran 1100k for the year, so hopefully I can squeeze in a run or two before 2011 ends!

*************************************************

Here are a few workouts we did last week at crossfit:

Workout one

21 15 9
deadlifts
box jumps

*you do 21 deadlifts then 21 box jumps, etc

Workout two

15 minutes:
Row 2500m
AMRAP of double unders

*so you have 15 minutes total. If it takes that long to row, then you don't have to do double unders

Tell me: if you are participating in the HBBC, how is it going for you? If not, what kind of workouts have you been doing lately?

{weekend recap}

2011-12-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Do you know what’s crazy? This time next week will mean that Christmas has already come and gone for another year! Time is seriously flying by.

The past few days have been busy! It started on Thursday night when we went to my work Christmas party. We didn’t end up getting home until 11pm, so it was a late night. For the party, we went to a dinner theatre and it was actually kind of fun!

Mr.D & I

On Friday night, Mr.D's parent's came into town to visit with us. We went out for dinner to celebrate Mr.D's birthday and it was delicious! After dinner, we came home and spent the rest of the night catching up and hanging out.

On Saturday morning, I went to a crossfit class and then my MIL and I spent the afternoon running some errands to get a few final Christmas presents. We had an early dinner as we had a Christmas party to head to and my in-laws were heading back home. Later in the night, we headed to Mr.D's friend's house for his Christmas party. It was fun catching up with friends and of course eating too much food.

Sunday was a lazy day! I slept in and then went to a crossfit class later in the morning. The workout was a 2500m row, which was hard!! I was dying by the end of the row. The rest of the day was spent reading, having a nap and watching too many episodes of Homeland, which we just started to get into.

Only four more days of work and it's holiday time!

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

{happy friday} & a birthday wish

2011-12-16T08:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! This week has gone by so slow for me, so I am hoping the next week flies by! It still blows my mind that next weekend is Christmas already...does not feel like it at all.

Do you know what today is? Today is this special guy's birthday:


Mr.D and my niece

Mr.D probably won't read this post (although he surprised me by reading my birthday wish list post!) but if he does read it, I just want him to know that he is the most caring, loving, funny, handsome man. Did I mention that he's all mine? :) Happy birthday smoopy! ;)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tell me: what are your plans for the weekend?

That post where she gets angry: part two

2011-12-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of November, I did a post with the same title about some of my personal pet peeves about anything and everything. Today is going to be along the same lines except the theme is going to be blogging. I am not trying to be negative about blogging because I love doing it and have loved what blogging has brought into my life (aka some good friends!), but there are times when I just have to shake my head at stuff that happens in the blog world.

Ok, here we go:

{one} word verifications
I understand why bloggers do it so the spammers stay away, but if you want me to comment on your blog, please don't make me do the extra step. Sometimes I have closed out of the blog after hitting submit on my comment only to realize that there was a word verification so I have to go back and retype my comment. I will obviously still comment on blogs with it, but it's a painful extra step.

{two} 'no-reply@blogger' emails
It honestly takes less than five minutes for you to fix by using this tutorial. If you take the time to comment, I would love to be able to respond to your comment or any questions you have. I can't respond if you don't have an email linked to your blog, so use the tutorial :) Everyone will thank you :)

{three} one post per page
There are a few blogs that I read (I won't name names) that have their blog set up to only have one blog post per page. So frustrating as you have to keep hitting the next button and waiting for the blog to reload instead of just scrolling down to read 3-5 posts. This is just a personal preference and there might be reasoning why those bloggers have it like that, but it takes so much extra time.

{four} not spell checking your posts
I am not saying that I am not guilty of having spelling mistakes, but there are blogs out there that have constant spelling mistakes in almost every post. I don't think everyone should be a top notch speller, but with the help of spell check on your computer, it's so easy not to have them!

Tell me: what are your blogging pet peeves?

Training Tuesday & HBBC update

2011-12-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by and another week of points for the holiday bootie buster challenge. How is it going for you if you are participating? The thing that I find the hardest is that the challenge is geared towards runners and with the weather being so crappy and having no access to a treadmill, I am limited to when I can run.

December 6/11
20 min crossfit: 1pt

December 7/11 rest:0

December 8/11 20 min crossfit: 1 pt

December 9/11
6k run: 3.75 pts

December 10/11
20 min crossfit: 1 pts

December 11/11 4k walk: 2.5
30 min spin: 3

December 12/11
3.2k walk: 2
20 min crossfit: 1

Total: 88.25
****************************************************

In case anyone is looking for a little motivation, I am going to list some of the workouts that I have done at crossfit in the last week. I don’t think I mentioned it on my blog, but I signed up for a three month membership, so I have been going 2-3 times per week.

Workout one

Tabata style workout: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest for 8 rounds of each exercise

Medicine ball cleans {14lbs ball}
Switch lunges
Pull ups
Push press { 22lbs bar}

Workout two

1. 500 m row, 90 seconds rest, 500 m row
2A: bar hold x4 {as many seconds as possible} 90 seconds rest
B: handstand hold x4 {hold for 60 seconds} 90 seconds rest

Don’t mind my outfit, we were going for a run shortly and yes I put on a shirt

Although the workouts look short in length, they are killer! Especially the switch lungs and bar holds!

{weekend recap}

2011-12-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

Holy moly, these weekends just keep flying by! It’s crazy that there is only one more full weekend until Christmas….just doesn’t feel like it quite yet.

{friday} it was a gorgeous winter night out, so we took Harley for a run after work. It was pretty dark, but so nice to just get out and run. Other than that, we made homemade pizza and spent the night relaxing around the house.

{saturday} I slept in until 9:30 and then it was off to crossfit. Another great class and was glad to have gone! In the afternoon, we ran some errands to Costco and Canadian Tire. Later that night, I met up with some friends as one of my good friends is moving to Australia for a year in January. It was great to see her before she moves.

{sunday} We had another snow storm, so the day was spent hunkering down in the house and staying warm. Is it spring yet?! I did manage to take a few pictures of Harley in front of the tree…

He has grown so much compared to last year!

He is still as cute as ever though if I don’t say so myself!

We have two Christmas parties, Mr.D’s birthday and a possible visit from the in-laws this coming week, so I am sure it will fly by. Have a great week!

Tell me: how was your weekend?

{happy friday}

2011-12-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

via

After having such a crappy day yesterday, I decided to skip out on my work pot luck after work and head to crossfit. Doing a good workout always helps my mood. I went to the 7pm class and there was only myself and two other people, which was surprising! In our workout, we did rowing, bar hangs and handstand holds. I learned that I can in fact do a handstand (against the wall) for 60 seconds. We had to do 4 in the workout and I managed to hold all 4 for the full 60 seconds…I am impressed with myself! Like I said in my tweet from last night, it’s the little things in crossfit that make me happy

This weekend, we (okay, maybe more me) are:

working on Christmas cards for our families
hopefully addressing and mailing our cards if they arrive to our friends
meeting up with some friends for drinks
going to a crossfit class
enjoying time at home before the craziness of the holidays
wrapping Christmas presents

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Tell me: what do you have planned for the weekend? Have you recently surprised yourself by doing something you didn’t think you could?

Three Things Thursday

2011-12-08T08:50:00.001-07:00

Hello Thursday, you are pretty good, but you would be even better if you were Friday ;) I am going to warn you that this Three Things Thursday might be a little whiny today....feel free to x out of this page now if you don't want to listen :)

{one} I had a bit of a headache last night and thought it would be gone by this morning so I didn't take anything. Nope, it's still here and raging even more than last night. Headaches suck.

{two} Harley decided to wake up in the middle of the night {well I guess not middle of the night because it was 6am} and puke on the carpet again. I swear he tries to not go into the bathroom where there is no carpet just so I have to scrub the carpet yet again. So gross.

{three} It is supposed to be -20C here today. One word for that kind of weather: shitty! It makes me wish I was at home on the couch with a blanket, good movie and a fire. Unfortunately for me, I am stuck at work.

{four} Yes, a bonus whine just for you! I ordered our Christmas cards from Shutterfly and they still haven't been delivered yet. Fingers crossed that they come today, so I can get them out to our friends and family soon.

Tell me: what are you whiny about today?

Favorite Christmas Things Blog Swap: package link up

2011-12-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Lindsey and I had such a great time putting together this Christmas swap. We hope everyone enjoyed receiving their packages and found some new blogs to read along the way :)

My partner was Deb, who actually lives pretty close to me and I have met a few times at local races. She lucked out and was able to drop it off on my door step :) In my package was: a nut cracker with fresh nuts, Lindor chocolates {that I LOVE!} and two adorable candle holders.

Thank you again Deb for a great package!

Below, I have added a link up so everyone can add their post for others to see what they received in their packages. I know I can't wait to see all of the fun packages!

HBBC Update & a reminder

2011-12-05T21:55:00.001-07:00

I know it's a little boring to do a recap each week, but I like it as a way to keep track of everything :)

November 29/11
1.8K walk: 1
30 min weights (crossfit): 1.5

November 30/11
20 min body weight workout: 1

December 1/11
5k walk: 3

December 2/11
4k walk: 2.5

December 3/11
5k run: 3
3.2k walk: 2
20 min crossfit: 1
30 min shoveling: 2

December 4/11
7k walk: 4.5
30 day shred: 1
30 min shoveling: 2

December 5/11
4k walk: 2.5
30 min abs: 1.5

Total: 73

Overall, I have been enjoying the challenge as it's helping to keep me motivated during the dark and cold winter.
*********************************************************

Just a reminder to those that participated in the Favorite Things Christmas Swap with Lindsey and I....tomorrow I will be posting a link up so everyone can see what each other received in the swap. I have seen some awesome packages already! Make sure you have done a blog post about your package, so you can participate :)

{weekend recap}

2011-12-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

I think the theme of this weekend was snow, snow, Christmas and more snow! Friday was an okay day in terms of weather and same with Saturday morning, but it started to snow on Saturday afternoon and didn’t stop until Sunday afternoon.

{friday} I had the day off on Friday (don’t be jealous Nicole), so I braved the mall to get my Christmas shopping done. I have a few things left to get, but got the majority of it done. I consider that a success After shopping, we took Harley for a walk and then went out for Vietnamese food. Perfect Friday night

{saturday} I was up bright and early to meet up with some co-workers as we were running the Santa Shuffle 5K. One of my co-workers is just getting into running, so I ran with him and another co-worker. It was kind of fun running it as a fun race and not concentrating on getting a personal best. I think we finished in just over 31 minutes, so he was pretty happy!

Missing one co-worker as she took the picture and don’t mind the guy’s face

After the run, I headed home to let Harley out before I had to head to crossfit. It was my last class and I am kind of sad it’s over! I definitely learned a lot and it was well worth the $120. After crossfit, we took Harley for a walk before the snow starting flying! It came out of nowhere and didn’t stop until Sunday! We also put up our Christmas tree, which made it feel more like Christmas as the snow was falling and the Christmas tunes were playing.

{sunday} We spent the day putting the rest of the decorations up {more pictures to come}, cleaning the house and working on Christmas projects. I saw this idea on Danica from chic runner's blog and thought I would try it out. They were super easy to make and turned out pretty cute!

Once the snow stopped falling, we took Harley for a long walk and it was actually a gorgeous day as the sun was shining. Even though we were left with this:

View from my front door

It was a pretty low key weekend, but it was perfect

Tell me: how was your weekend? Did you get lots of snow too? If not, I am jealous!

Three Things Thursday

2011-12-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Since I haven’t done it for a while, it’s time to bring back an awesome segment called ‘would you rather’. We all know you love it and love to play along

{one} would you rather be Jessica Simpson or Christina Aguilera?
I would have to say Christina as she has a better voice and is a little smarter than Jessica. Who can’t forget the chicken of the sea incident?

{two} would you rather public speak naked at a beauty pageant or would you rather public speak at obese conference where everyone else was naked? {this one is courtesy of Mr.D}
I would have to say where everyone else was naked and hope that my eyes never wander down to their level. Public speaking naked would be terrible!

{three} would you rather hang out with the cast of bridesmaids or the cast of the hangover?
This is tough as both casts are seriously funny! I am going to say the cast of the hangover . All I can think of when I see the lady from SNL is her character with the small hands and it creeps me out!

Ok, let’s hear your answers!

Questions & Answers

2011-11-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well hello Wednesday, so glad that you are here! I typed up this post last night and they were calling for 10cm of snow overnight and into today, so my fingers are crossed that it hasn’t landed by the time I get up this morning. At least it’s not supposed to be super cold again yet.

Last week, I asked everyone to leave a comment asking me anything you wanted to know about me, so today will be the answer part

The first and most important things you must know about me are: I love Diet Coke {buy me one and you’ll be my friend forever}, size 4 at lululemon and size small in Nike dri fit socks Now onto your questions:

Anna asked me: what brought you to find running and decide that it was your sport?
I started running before my August 2010 wedding as a way to help shed some pounds. I didn’t seriously start getting into it until after the wedding when I had more time to train. I would say that I really started getting serious about it in January of this year when I started working on a base and on my training plan for my first half marathon. I love running because it keeps me sane, helps keep the pounds down and can be fun! Plus it’s not something that I need a lot of stuff for or the gym, so I can basically do it anytime (weather permitting of course!)

Nicole asked me: did you do any sports or activities in high school/growing up?
Growing up, I played mostly soccer. In my small town, kids often played t-ball and soccer at a young age. I started to play t-ball, but couldn’t hit it off the tee so I stopped shortly after that (sad, but true story). I kept playing soccer until two years ago. In high school, I also played field hockey which was a lot of fun. Our team was known for doing really well and we had awesome coaches. It was an awesome experience to be on that team!

Nicole asked: other than your family, do you miss living in Ontario?
Yes and no. I miss my small home town, but not sure I would want to live there right now. I also miss the warmer temperatures in the summer, having access to beaches & lakes and the not as cold winters! But, I also love being so close the mountains here and not dying of heat stroke in the summer!

Nicole asked: what's the worst thing that Harley has destroyed in your house? (Other than your unmentionables!)
We have actually been pretty lucky with Harley not destroying too many things of ours. For some reason, it has mostly been my stuff. He has destroyed two sandals (from different pairs), the clasp on a Nike dri fit hat, some underwear of mine and a shirt of Brian’s. I think the worst was that he got into my purse one time and started chewing on a tube of lip gloss on the carpet, which has now left wonderful stains on the carpet. That would have to be the worst.

Brittany asked: who was your biggest crush in public school?
I should first explain that Brittany and I grew up in the same small town and reconnected through blogging last year I would have to say Josh F, Brandon F or Kody Y. If I wasn’t such a tomboy in my younger years, maybe one of them would have liked me back!!

{ps- this is my younger brother and I. Just trying to highlight how I was a tomboy}

Lisa asked: do you go the speed limit or do you have a lead foot?
I used to be the biggest speeder in the world especially living in Ontario! Mr.D still gives me a hard time about how fast I used to drive when he would come to visit me, haha. Since moving to Alberta, I don’t speed as much as there are photo radar vehicles that sit out catching speeders and I have a fear of getting a ticket. I still can’t stand people who go under or just on the speed limit in the fast lane. Move over!

Lisa asked: when you were young, what did you think you were going to do for a living?
The only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I wanted to be a midwife for the longest time. I gave up on that dream when I didn’t get into the program in university. It definitely is not your typical career choice as a young adult!

Tell me: something about yourself that I don’t know or that people wouldn’t know about you

Training Tuesday & HBBC Update

2011-11-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

How is everyone’s HBBC going? Hopefully well! I know it’s keeping me motivated by wanting to earn those points

November 22/11
5.5k run: 3 pts
3.2 walk: 2 pts
crossfit (25 mins): 1 pt

November 23/11
40 min body weight workout: 2 pts

November 24/11
4.0k walk: 2.5 pts
20 min body weight workout: 1 pt

November 25/11
5k run: 3 pts

November 26/11
7.1k walk: 4.5 pts
25 min weights: 1 pts

November 27/11
3.2k walk: 2 pts
40 min spin: 4 pts
20 min weights: 1 pt

November 28/11
4.0k walk: 2.5 pts
30 min spin: 3 pts

Total: 13 (from last week) + 31.5 = 44.5

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This week in the crossfit class, we learned about overhead squats, kettle bell swings and split jerks.

First up is the overhead squat. It is pretty self explanatory as it is a regular squat except that you have a bar with weights over your head. The important things to remember is to have your arms straight in a v form over head and to ensure that your armpits are ‘showing’ to others. That means that you have to focus on pushing them up and out. I was hurting for the two days after doing these!

Next is the kettle bell swing, which you can do with either a kettle bell or a dumbbell. You will place the kettle bell between your feet with your feet hip width apart. You want to focus on picking up the kettle bell with your legs and butt first, and not your back. Once you pick it up, you will swing it up overhead or to chest height depending on your move. You will want to focus on popping the hips and squeezing the butt as you are coming up on the swing.

Lastly is split jerks. To start, you will have your feet hip width apart with a bar racked on your shoulders. This is the racked positioning:

Once you have the bar in that position, you will dip down while jumping into the lunge position while also pushing the bar straight up overhead. Once the bar is in the overhead position, you will move your back foot in first, then your front foot in and then bring the bar back down to the racked position. The end result looks like this:

The workouts for this week were:

One

Warm up
50 skips
10 squats
5 pushups
50 skips
6 burpees
50 skips

Workout
1: overhead squat: 3 x 5-8 reps
2. AMRAP in 12 minutes
9 OHP
6 box jumps
9 kettle bell swings
6 burpees

Two

1A: split jerks: 4-5 reps, 3 sets, 60-90 seconds rest
1B: deadlift: 2-3 reps, 3 sets, 60-90 seconds rest
2A: negative pullups: 3 reps with 8-10 seconds, 3 sets, 60-90 rest
2B: weighted sit ups: 15 reps, 3 sets, 60-90 rest

Tell me: how is your HBBC going if you are participating? If you want a great workout, try workout number 1 above. It’s killer and had me sweating in no time!

{weekend recap}

2011-11-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend was relaxing, homebody-ish and windy! The one good part of a Calgary winter is that we get chinooks. The bad part? Chinooks bring crazy amounts of wind with them and yesterday was no exception!

{friday} Once we both got home for work, we took Harley for a run. It actually was kind of nice out with a little bit of a cold wind. After our run, we went to pick up sushi and enjoyed it at home. We also watched the movie Friends with Benefits….such a cute movie, but I love a good sappy movie. Has anyone seen it?

{saturday} The morning was spent dilly dallying around the house and cleaning out random cupboards to get rid of some junk. Feels good to do that! In the afternoon I had my crossfit class and then took Harley for a long walk as it was gorgeous out. The rest of the day was spent hanging out around the house and watching Drugs Inc on National Geographic. It was a quite interesting show and made me really want to never do drugs. Not that I ever wanted to to begin with!

{sunday} In the morning, I met up with Alison and Nicole to volunteer at a local race. It was a smaller race and we helped out with the food inside, but it was still a lot of fun! Plus we got some girl time in

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up, walking Harley and taking another glorious two hour nap! I am really on a role with these naps!

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

{happy friday}

2011-11-25T09:39:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! This week went fast for me, but I am still happy to see Friday come around :) Last night, I fell asleep on the couch for close to 2 hours, woke up and went straight to bed without a problem. Apparently I was tired and needed to sleep! I don't usually nap during the week, but last night was fabulous.

This weekend, we actually don't have any plans. I have my crossfit class on Saturday and then on Sunday, I am volunteering at a local race with Nicole and Alison. It is supposed to be nice out, so fingers crossed the weather stays that way! Other than that, I am hoping to go pick up some more ornaments for the tree as they are 50% off and I could use some more.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Tell me: what do you have planned for the weekend?

ps- make sure if you want to learn something about me, you leave a comment on yesterday's post :)

One last Christmas swap reminder and a little Q&A

2011-11-23T08:12:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to put one last reminder out there for people who are participating in the Christmas swap with Lindsey and I. Your packages are to be mailed out to your partner by Friday November 25, 2011 (so two days from now!) and I will be doing a link up on Wednesday December 7, 2011, so make sure you do a post about your package before then. If anyone has any questions, please let me know :)

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I haven't done one of these for a while, so I thought I would open it up and let you comment asking me anything you have ever wanted to know about little ol' me. Ask me anything about running, my husband, my cute puppy dog, anything really! I have done this before and you can find my answers here and here.

So, what do you want to know about me? :)

Training Tuesday & HBBC Update

2011-11-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

I know there are a few of you out there participating in the holiday bootie buster challenge and I am excited to see your updates each week. I decided that I will be doing a weekly update of my points and workouts for the week, so I can keep track.

November 19/11
crossfit (25 minutes): 1 pt

November 20/11
5.2k walk: 3 pts
20 min yoga: 1 pt
30 min spin: 3 pts

November 21/11
3.2k walk: 2 pts
20 min body weight workout: 1 pt

Total: 12 (+1 bonus pt)
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In my last two cross fit classes, we learnt about push press, pull ups, deadlifts and high pulls.
First up is the push press. For this exercise, you have your feet hip width apart and a dumbbell (or bar) in each hand. The import thing to remember is that before you push the weights or bar upwards, you have to slightly dip down and then pop your hips to help push the weight toward the ceiling. You are aiming to have your arms straight at the top of the exercise. Here is a picture to help describe it:

The second exercise is pull ups. For this workout, we used the different bands to help aid us with the pull ups. There isn’t much to explain with pull ups except that if you are using a band, you have to make sure you don’t kick your legs out and that they stay straight down to the floor. You can also have whatever grip feels comfortable to you.

The next workout is deadlifts, which are killer! For this workout, you will be using a bar and you want to ensure that to start the lift, you have the bar lined up with your shoe laces.In order to do it right, your shins will be very close to the bar on the way up and down through the movement and might even get banged up in the process. You also have to ensure that you are lifting with your legs and not your back. Here is a great picture to help explain the movement:

The last exercise was a sumo deadlift high pull done with a kettle bell. To start the exercise, you have your feet hip width apart with the kettle bell in between your feet. You will squat down, pop your hips up and pull the kettle bell up to your chin. Remember to keep your elbows out and not straight up.

The two workouts were:

One:
200m row
10 push press (7.5 weights)
5 pull ups
1 min rest

Repeated 4 times total

Two:
Warm up:
400m row
10 DB push press
10 squats
10 sit ups
*repeat twice

Workout: (lifted 85lbs and took ~15mins)
1A: deadlight 3221 4-5 reps, 60 seconds rest x3
1B: pushups 201 8-10 reps, 60 seconds rest x3

Second workout: (used .7 pood & took 3:30)
20 KB SDHP
5 squats
15 KB SDHP
10 squats
10 KB SDHP
15 squats
5 KB SDHP
20 squats

{weekend recap}

2011-11-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or has November flown by?! I can’t believe it’s almost over already.

{friday} I had the day off from work and I started my day by sleeping in. Perfect way to start a day off if you ask me! Later in the morning, I went to the gym and then took Harley for a walk. Did I mention that it was –16C without the wind chill? It was seriously cold! I spent the rest of the afternoon wrapped up with a blanket on the couch. Mr.D and I went out for dinner to a new to us restaurant called Fergus & Bix. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it was fantastic! We definitely recommend it if you are in the Calgary area

{saturday} The day was spent helping Alison & Justin move into their new house! It was a cold move, but glad they got everything into their new house. In between moving, I went to crossfit, which was a great workout again. After everything was moved, we dognapped Cruz and brought her to our house to play with Harley for a little bit as he was locked up all day. They are seriously cute together!

After their playtime, we went back to A&J’s house for dinner, so thank you again guys! Later that night, we watched the movie The Kingdom. It was pretty good!

{sunday} I spent the day cleaning around the house and running a few errands. Not sure how my Sunday’s always end up like that

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

Reminder: Favorite Things Christmas Swap

2011-11-17T08:24:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to remind the people that are participating in the favorite things Christmas swap of a few things.

First

Your packages are to go out to your partner by Friday November 25, 2011, so everyone can have their package by the beginning of December.

Second

On Wednesday December 7, 2011, I will be putting up a link on my blog for everyone to add their post with their packages to. That should give everyone enough time to receive their package and to do a post on their blog with the fun contents of it :)

Third
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to send me or Lindsey an email :)

These are my confessions

2011-11-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

I have some confessions for today, so here they are:

I am struggling with it getting dark at 5pm. It makes the nightly walks with Harley seem so much longer and not as much fun as in the summer
Since I stopped running as much, I have steadily gained close to 5lbs, which is a lot for a short person like me
Further to the point above, I’ve started using Spark People again to roughly keep track of what I am eating and to make me realize what I am putting in my mouth
Even though I want to lose the weight, I love treats and candy!
I am starting to become addicted to Crossfit! Such a great workout in a short amount of time. If only it wasn’t so expensive
I really want to give up Diet Coke, but am struggling with it. Someone take it away from me and make me totally forget how delicious it is!

You can see previous confessions here and here

*****************************************************

Tell me: what are your confessions for today?

Training Tuesday

2011-11-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, I only had one crossfit class due to the long weekend because of the Remembrance Day holiday.

In the Tuesday class, we were taught about front squats and wall balls. Both seem easy, but they are an amazing workout!

The front squats were basically a regular squat except that you have a weighted bar across the front of your shoulders. The main thing to remember is that you have to roll the bar back onto your finger tips while ensuring that your elbows are staying as high as possible.

Here is a picture example:

Wall balls are done using a weight padded ball that come in different weights from 6lbs to 20lbs. Using the ball, you throw it against the wall above a marked line and then catch it and throw it again using a squat. Probably not the best explanation, but hopefully the picture below helps.

The workout of the day for this class was three rounds of the following for time:

400m row
15 wall balls
15 sit ups

The workout took me 10:50 and it was tough! Can’t wait for the next class

{weekend recap}

2011-11-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Oh Monday, I was hoping you were going to come so quickly again But, I have another short work week, so I can’t complain too much.

This weekend, my mom was in town and it was fabulous to spend time with her. She got in later on Thursday night, so we didn’t do much besides catch up with each other.

On Friday, we decided to spend the day in Canmore, which is about 45 minutes from us. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating with us as it was windy, cold and overcast.

After checking out some of the stores, we decided to go for a late lunch at the Iron Goat. Such a pretty location (the view above was from our table) and it had a huge stone fireplace. I’d like one of those in my house

On Saturday, my mom and I spent the day doing some Christmas crafts. While we were in Canmore, we saw some gorgeous and expensive ornaments and we decided to recreate them. One trip to Dollarama and a couple hours later, this is what we came up with :

I love it! It’s Christmassy and I can definitely change it up after the holiday season.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies, taking Harley for walks and just hanging out. It was the perfect weekend

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

{happy friday} err…I mean Thursday

2011-11-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Happy faux Friday everyone! Not sure how it works elsewhere, but in Canada (Alberta at least) we have tomorrow off for Remembrance Day. Kind of nice to have a long weekend even though it’s for good and bad reasons.

This Thursday, I am happy about:

{one} my mom is flying in tonight until Sunday! So excited to see her

{two} That I have tomorrow off as well as the following Friday. I’ve mentioned it before, but I bank time during the week which allows me to have every third Friday off with pay. My earned day off fell on tomorrow which is a stat, so my boss let me have next Friday off instead. Quite excited!

{three} I bought myself a little treat last night in the form of these:

So comfortable and can’t wait to try them at crossfit next week!

Tell me: what are you happy about today?

{what i’m loving}

2011-11-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to do something a little different for {what i’m loving} Wednesday this week. Instead of listing things that I am loving, I thought I would list some recipes that we have tried recently and have loved.

Turkey & black bean chili

2tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 large celery rib, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28 oz (796 mL) can crushed tomatoes
1 28 0z (796 mL) can diced tomatoes
2 19oz (2 x540 mL) can black beans, drained, rinsed in cold water and drained again
1.5 cups (375 mL) beer, turkey or chicken stock (I used chicken stock)
2 cups (500 mL) diced cooked turkey meat (I used chicken)
4 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

Place the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat. When hot, add onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic and cook 5 to 6 minutes, until softened. Mix in remaining ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer. Partially cover and simmer about 45 minutes, until the chili is richly flavoured, thickened and bubbly. Taste the chili and add salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Serves 8-10.

This made enough for a dinner and lunch for both of us plus enough to freeze for another dinner and lunch for both of us. Perfect meal to make on the weekend and freeze for a week night meal.

Pumpkin sticky buns

Put 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tbsp maple syrup into a 8 inch square or 9 inch round pan , then put in the oven and turn on to 350F to preheat.

In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1tbsp baking power and 1/4 tsp salt.

In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup pumpkin (or squash or sweet potato puree), 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup canola oil.

Add to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a soft dough.

On a well floured surface, roll or pat dough into a 9X13 inch rectangle, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll up lengthwise and cut into 8 or 9 slices. Set cut side up in the pan (on top of the goo) and bake for 20 minutes, until golden.

Homemade mac & cheese (found here)

Ingredients:
2 cups dried pasta
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup loosely packed shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dijon mustard (I left out the mustard and it was still delicious)
Directions:
In a small saucepan, add pasta and milk. Bring to simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, until pasta is soft, stirring frequently and ensuring milk does not boil. Turn heat off, add cheese & salt & and stir to combine. Stir in the mustard a little at a time to taste. Cover and let stand for about 5 minutes, then stir again and serve.
If you would like to bake it at this point, place in a baking dish and top with a generous sprinkling of cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes until cheese has melted.
Makes enough for 4 people with no leftovers (can easily be doubled).

After I made it in the saucepan, I put it into a casserole dish with bread crumbs on top and baked it. Seriously delicious!

Tell me: what recipes have you been loving recently? Do you have any good crock pot recipes?

Training Tuesday

2011-11-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I started my intro to crossfit course, which runs twice a week for a month. I decided that I would do a bit of a run down of each class and list the workout that we did in the class. Hopefully it helps someone out there

This week, we learnt about the proper way to do a squat in crossfit. Let me tell you, my legs were killing the next day so they definitely work! The major things to remember are:

stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and toes slightly out
keep your head up and looking straight forward
ensure that your knees do not go over your toes
ensure that the natural curve in your spine is maintained (do not bend forward as you squat down)
make sure that your weight is in your heels and not in your toes
as you descend, put your arms up and out (ensure that you are looking straight ahead)
at the bottom of the squat, go below parallel (parallel being your knees and hips in line)
as you rise up out of the squat, ensure you are coming straight up and standing tall before starting your next squat

Here is a great video to explain it more, if the instructions above don’t make sense.

The workout that we did on Saturday was a tabata mash up. It consisted of:

squats
pushups
jumping pull ups
sit ups

You do each exercise for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between for the desired number of rounds. We did 4 rounds on Saturday and it was tiring!

Tell me: have you ever tried Crossfit? If not, would you ever take a course like I am?

{weekend recap}

2011-11-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend was quiet, relaxing and perfect Having zero plans was just what we both needed.

{friday} After work, we took Harley for a walk and it was chilly! It had snowed overnight, so things were still snow covered. After the walk, we ordered pizza and spent the night wrapped up on the couch with a movie and the fireplace on. Perfect Friday night!

{saturday} In the morning, I did stuff around the house and then headed out to my first crossfit class. I was a little nervous going into it, but the instructors were super nice and went through a few exercises. They taught us how to properly do squats and my legs were killing on Sunday! After the crossfit class, I had some running around to do while Mr.D put the snow tires on the car. Later in the afternoon, we took Harley for a long walk and then spent the night hanging out. We watched Horrible Bosses, which was hilarious! Definitely recommend watching it.

{sunday} Another lazy day around our house! I made a quick trip to The Shoe Company as I was looking for a new pair of black boots. I got lucky and found a pair that was on clearance for $50 plus 25% off. When the cashier rang them up, they were actually $29.99 plus 25% off, coming to $23. Love surprise deals like that! In the afternoon, I took Harley for a run and made crock pot chicken taco soup.

Oh and Harley got ready for Christmas:

I think these ears might make it onto our Christmas card this year if we can get him to cooperate

Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

{happy friday} & a blog award

2011-11-04T07:12:00.000-06:00

Hello Friday! I love it when you come around each week. Minus the part that you are supposed to bring snow with you today. I don’t like that.

This weekend, we have zero plans. There are only two things I have to do: go to my first crossfit class on Saturday and pick up some pants from the tailors. I mentioned it on Twitter, but the other day at work, I discovered a hole in the crotch of my pants. Awesome! An emergency run home was definitely made!

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The other day, the fabulous Stacie gave me a blogging award, so I thought I would pass it along

The rules of the award:

1) Thank the person who nominated you
2) Share 7 random things about yourself
3) Pass the award along to others

So, thank you Stacie and here we go:

1. I absolutely hate the dentist. I get super nervous even to get a simple cleaning.

2. I have a terrible fear of needles. The last time I had blood taken, I puked right after. Pretty I know. It makes me really nervous to be pregnant for all of the blood tests that you have to do.

3. My favorite kind of chips are all dressed. It’s the only kind Mr.D will buy for me if he goes to the store to get us chips.

4. People always think I have bigger boobs then I actually do. I don’t know why that is. (and I promise I don’t wear major push up bras)

5. I don’t know how to drive a stick shift. Mr.D tried to teach me, but I absolutely suck at it. Let’s just say there was many tears involved.

6. I have no middle name and my two brothers have the same middle name. Random, I know.

I can’t think of a seventh random thing, so I will end it there. I nominate:

Lindsey @ a running tale
Rachel @ Rachel & John
Alison @ the life and times of Alison & Justin
Nicole @ haute runner
Adrian @ happy girls are the prettiest girls
Amanda @ simple girl, simple pleasures

Tell me: something random about yourself and what you are up to this weekend!

Happy Friday everyone!

Three Things Thursday

2011-11-03T07:21:00.000-06:00

I haven’t done a “would you rather” theme for TTT in a while and a little birdy *cough Mr.D cough* mentioned that he misses them. So, here we go:

{one} would you rather be really drunk on a live TV show or be really drunk at your best friend’s wedding when everyone else is stone cold sober?

This one is tough- I think I would choose TV show. I will never see those people watching the show, but I would have to see the family\ and friends of my best friend (if we were still friends after that!)

{two} would you rather lick a pole from top to bottom in a NYC train car or lick a street person’s foot from top to bottom? (they don’t wear shoes)

Both are so, so gross! I think I would have to say pole as I hate, hate, hate feet!

{three} would you rather suddenly grow a mustache that you can never get rid of or grow three really long chin hairs that you cannot trim/pluck?

Definitely chin hairs for me and hope that no one ever looks at my profile

Okay, let’s hear your answers!

That post where she gets angry

2011-11-02T07:50:00.000-06:00

I consider myself to be a pretty happy go lucky person in real life and here on my blog. But today, I want to get a little angry and talk about pet peeves or things that just bug me in general.
The idea for the post came when we were at a restaurant last weekend not during a busy time and an able bodied lady parked in her right in front of the restaurant (not in a stall). It just irked me so much!

walkers who start near the front of a race
drivers who pull out in front of you and go slow when there is no one coming behind you
drivers who don’t stop for pedestrians in a marked cross walk
word vertification on blogger. I understand you don't want spam, but it's a pain for non-spammers!
people who use the word “biatches” in sentences
people who let their dog poop in a public place and then don’t pick it up
people who don’t chew with their mouth closed
multiple tweets in a row about your post from that day
slow walkers in the mall who walk multiple people abreast
really obvious spelling mistakes
people who can't spell my name right when they should know it
drivers who don’t turn their lights on when it’s getting dark out
people who call me hun or babe when I don’t know them
people who wait until the last second to merge

I could go on and on and on, but I will spare you
Tell me: what are some of your pet peeves?

Training Tuesday

2011-11-01T07:40:00.000-06:00

Since I am no longer training for a race, my Training Tuesday’s have become kind of boring and lame! There is a 5k race on December 3rd that I am tempted to sign up for. Anyone want to join?

A recap of October’s training:

Total kilometers ran
76.0

Total kilometers walked
32.0

Other
P90X: 126 minutes
Fitnessista: winter shape up 25 minutes
Total body workout: 20 minutes
Nike trainer app: 30 minutes
nher shoes workout: 20 minutes
Cotter crunch workout: tum & tabata 20 minutes

Best run
By far the Victoria half marathon!

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I am always on the hunt for new workouts, so I thought I would share a few that I’ve tried in the past few weeks.

tum & tabata from Cotter Crunch

20 minute Tuesday: man makers from nhershoes

Winter shape up week 4 from Fitnessista

Tell me: what workout(s) are you currently loving? Do share!

{weekend recap}

2011-10-31T07:07:00.000-06:00

This weekend’s recap is going to be a little different. I decided to recap my weekend in picture form with a few words

dinner with blogging friends turned real life friends on Friday

working on the never ending to do list

a trip to Michael’s so I could start a DIY project

eating too many halloween treats

too many loads of laundry

made delicious pumpkin sticky buns

a tired puppy after a puppy walk with Alison & Cruz

a workout on the bike trainer while watching MTV’s I Used To Be Fat. Great motivation!

So, how was your weekend?

{happy friday}

2011-10-28T07:20:00.000-06:00

Oh Friday, how happy I am to see you! This week was quiet at work, but I am so ready for the weekend.

This weekend, we are:

going out for dinner tonight with Alison & Justin and Rachel & John to celebrate my birthday. I am excited

the rest of the weekend will be spent doing projects around the house that are on our to-do list
might throw a run in there too

Tell me: what are your plans for the weekend? Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a great weekend!

Three Things Thursday

2011-10-27T07:27:00.000-06:00

{one} Thank you all so much for your comments, tweets and Facebook comments saying happy birthday yesterday. You definitely know how to make a girl feel special Mr.D made me a delicious dinner while I got to work out and then sit back and relax. Can’t beat that

{two} How is October almost over already?! It’s already getting dark out by 6:30, soon to be 4:30 once the time changes in a few short weeks. I am not looking forward to that. BUT I am looking forward to putting up our Christmas tree, so I guess that makes it almost worth it.

Look how tiny Harley was in front of the tree last year! He still sits like that too, silly dog

{three} I start my crossfit classes next week and I am already scared! If you can be scared in a good sense, that’s me. I guess I just don’t know what to expect besides getting my butt kicked and learning some new things.

One last thing:

Those boys of mine sure know how to pull at my heart’s strings

Tell me something on this Thursday

Happy Quarter Century Leigh!!

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

It’s Mr. D again, back for another birthday post for the greatest wife in the world! Last year was easy as I could just regale you with the tale of meeting Leigh and falling in love with her. This year I decided that I would recap the year that I had with Leigh and the things she did that absolutely amazed me.

The biggest change from last year to this year was the addition of our puppy Harley. We got him shortly after Leigh’s B-Day, and sometimes I feel that I kind of pressured Leigh into getting him. Tough first couple days, we slept on the floor in the living room, but he was so cute that the few inconveniences were well worth it.

Not only did Leigh have to put up with a new puppy, but she also had to put up with my moustache. I had decided to raise some money for cancer research by growing a moustache for Movember. Now I am not a man that can sport facial hair very well, so you can imagine how Leigh felt for the entire month having to kiss this face.

Like I said, Leigh is a trooper.

Leigh’s biggest development this year was in running. I have always thought of running as something you do to get in shape for a sport, or to try to lose weight. I never could imagine that anyone would enjoy running, or want to run in a long distance race…. FOR FUN!! The idea of running further than 10 km still makes me shake my head, so when Leigh said she wanted to run a half goddamn marathon, I thought to myself NO WAY! To me that is a distance reserved for those individuals that are bred for long distances, not for a normal person. Leigh went in with everything she had and finished her first ever half marathon in under 2 hours! I know she was super nervous, but you could never tell before the race.

I thought that first race would be the only race and Leigh would be satisfied. How wrong I was. It was only the beginning of a new chapter in her life that she is passionate about. She ran a sprint distance triathlon (which I didn’t think would be hard, until I witnessed the entire thing).

I’m not sure when Leigh will run another triathlon, but I know that she will definitely try another one.

Leigh is still running and now she is talking about running a full marathon next year. Again that is a distance that is unfathomable to me.

Now on to some birthday stuff. Here is something I like about Leigh; She tells me exactly what she wants for her birthday so that I don’t have to think of a gift that might be what she wants. Here is something I don’t like; Leigh buys herself items from said birthday list before her birthday. Now not necessarily a problem, unless it is something that I have already purchased for her for a birthday present. That is what happened this year. There goes half of her birthday present (although somehow she suckered me into letting her see the shorts I bought her, and she decided that she wanted to keep them, and she got them early!!! So sneaky) and now I really hope she likes the rest of her present so that I don’t look lame.

Ok I just realized how long this post is and I’m beginning to ramble so I better close this up now.

Leigh, I love you, and this past year has been super busy and super awesome. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us, but whatever it is I know we will be able to tackle it together.

Happy Birthday Leigh.

Love Mr. D

Favorite things Christmas swap: partners

2011-10-25T07:47:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! Thank you to everyone who put their name in for the Christmas blog swap. Lindsey and I are excited that so many people wanted to participate

After we had all the blogger names who were interested in participating the swap, we drew names for the partners. We decided to jumble all of the names up as opposed to two people swapping back and forth. Hope that is okay with everyone!

Ok, so here is how it works. Find your name on the left hand column in the table below and the name in the right hand column is the person who you will be sending something to. We have linked to their blog, so you know who you are sending it to In the next day or so, I will be sending individual emails to everyone with your swap partner’s email address. Please contact your partner for their mailing address and mail the package accordingly.

**there are few duplicate names, so I specified your blog title beside your name so you can tell who is who **

Your name	Your swap partners name
Lindsey (a running tale)	Alison
Leigh	Lena
Erin	Amber
Brittany	Deb
Amber	Destini
Alison	Ashley (life as I know it)
Taren	Jill
Ashley (life as I know it)	Shannon
Jill	Brittany
Lindsay (a small town kind of life)	Rachel
Rachel	Ashley (the Johnston’s)
Stacy	Taren
Lena	Lindsay (a small town kind of life)
Deb	Leigh
Destini	Erin
Shannon	Nicole
Ashley (the Johnston’s)	Jenny
Bonnie	Ashley (miss Ashley)
Ashley (miss Ashley)	Lindsey (a running tale)
Kristen	Bonnie
Jenny	Stacy
Nicole	Kristen

Just a few reminders:

The packages are to go out by Friday, November 25, 2011 so people will receive them around the beginning of December
Once you have received your package, please post about it
Lindsey and I will be doing a link up post in the beginning of December, so everyone can link to that and see what everyone received
You only have to spend $20 before shipping on the package
Have fun with the package ideas! I know I already have a few brewing in my head

If there are any questions, please let Lindsey or I know. Hope everyone enjoys this swap!

{weekend recap}

2011-10-24T07:11:00.000-06:00

This weekend was fun, but bust at the same time! I can’t believe that October is almost over already…this month and year are flying by!

{friday} I had the day off of work, so I enjoyed a wonderful sleep in! I had a hair appointment in the morning, which was greatly needed. After my hair was finished, we packed up our stuff and made the three hour drive to my in-law’s house.

{saturday} We were up bright and early to take Harley to a new kennel outside of the city. We were less than impressed with the responses we were getting from the owner of the kennel he went to in August, so we decided to try out a new one that was recommended to us. After dropping Harley off at the kennel, we headed home to get ready for our friend’s wedding. Both the ceremony and reception were pretty, and it was a fun night hanging out with friends we don’t get to see enough.

{sunday} As Harley was at the kennel, Mr.D and I got to enjoy a sleep in, which was amazing! After enjoying the morning with my in-laws, we headed out to pick up Harley (who did great the kennel!) and made the long drive home. We spent the afternoon catching up on shows and making chili. Perfect ending to a Sunday

How was your weekend? What were you up to?

Random is the name of the game

2011-10-20T07:22:00.000-06:00

Today is my Friday (I have tomorrow off) and my brain doesn’t want to work, so today’s post will be all sorts of random.

I am getting my hair done tomorrow and can’t wait! It’s been too long
I tried the no heat curls yesterday and it worked out so well! You can see the curls in the picture below
We have a wedding to go to this weekend and I can’t decide which dress I should wear. Thoughts?

my birthday is in less than a week. As Lisa pointed out on Twitter yesterday, birthdays are fun because you get cake. That reminds me to ask Mr.D to pick up a DQ ice cream cake
Has anyone else downloaded the update for the iphone? I really like how if you are in the middle of something and receive a text msg, it just appears at the top of the screen and not in the middle of screen.
today is the last day to enter in the favorite things Christmas swap. Make sure you leave a comment if you want to join

So, tell me something random about your week!

Quick and easy Halloween decorations

2011-10-19T07:28:00.000-06:00

On Sunday afternoon, I had the sudden urge to decorate for Halloween, so decorate I did! I had a bunch of stuff left over from last year and only did one small DIY project.

Here is how it turned out:

A tutorial for the candy corn wreath can be found here

I found the Halloween word print here. Super cute and easy!

The orange and black pumpkins in the pictures are actually toilet paper wrapped with tissue paper! There are lots of tutorials around the internet, but all you need is:
- a roll of toilet paper
-a flyer
-tissue paper or fabric of your choice,
-ribbon
-a stick

Wrap the toilet paper in the in the flyer and tuck into the hole in the middle of the roll. Do the same with the fabric/tissue paper. Insert the stick in the middle and tie it with a bow. Super easy and cheap to do!

Now all we need to do is buy the Halloween candy!

Do you decorate for Halloween? If so, have you done any fun projects that you can share?

Training Tuesday

2011-10-18T07:48:00.000-06:00

Now that my third and final half marathon has come and gone, I thought I would be pretty happy to be done with training and not stuck to a rigid schedule. In all honesty, I want a training plan to give me the motivation to work out! I have been keeping up with my running, but my heart hasn’t been in it. At the same time that I want a plan to stick to, but maybe a break from training and just enjoying myself is what I need.

I am still trying to decide what marathon to run next year. I am trying to decide between the Scotiabank Calgary marathon or the Intact Edmonton marathon. Here are my thoughts on both

Calgary marathon

the course is pretty nice as this is the half that I ran this year
close to home
takes place at the end of May which equals winter training
also means it could be a cold morning
a HUGE hill right in the middle of the course

Edmonton marathon

the course is flat, which means fast (well maybe )
my in-laws live five minutes away from the start/finish
takes place in the middle of August, which means more spring and summer training
could be a hot day
being in August, I could run the Calgary half marathon as part of my training and to motivate me

Ah, it’s so hard to decide! Can someone make the decision for me?! That and choose me a training plan while you are at it

For those of you who have run a marathon, how did you choose which one you would do? And what training plan did you use?

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On a side note, if you are Canadian and haven’t joined in the favorite things Christmas swap and want to, make sure you send me an email by Thursday

{weekend recap}

2011-10-17T07:36:00.000-06:00

Another weekend has come and gone This year has flown by and I still can’t believe that October is almost half over already.

{friday} We had a relaxing night at home and it was perfect I took Harley for a run after work as it was nice out. Other than that, we just hung out doing nothing

{saturday} We left early in the morning to head to Mr.D’s hometown as our friend’s who are getting married next weekend were having their stag and stagette that night. In the afternoon, we took Harley for a run/walk down in the river valley as my in-laws live really close. It was a gorgeous fall day for it! For the stagette, I only went to the dinner part of the night and it was still fun. The theme was the 80’s and they had a bride to be dressed up in an awesome 80’s wedding dress…definitely quite the sight!

{sunday} We spent the morning catching up with Mr.D’s parent’s and then we were off to make the long drive home again. I won’t lie, I spent most of the drive home sleeping and it was fantastic I spent the rest of the day cleaning up around the house and putting up Halloween decorations. I am holding off buying candy until the last minute, so I don’t eat it all!

How was your weekend? What were you up to?

Weekend in Victoria {part two}

2011-10-14T07:23:00.000-06:00

Ok, let’s see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, we had just finished stuffing our bellies with delicious pasta and were turning in for an early night.

As I said in my race recap, we were up and at em at 5:45am. Not a pretty time to waking up for this morning hating person. Once Amber, Lisa and I crossed the finish line, we hobbled back to our hotel to shower, stretch and get ready to watch Lauren cross the finish line of her marathon. It was kind of emotional watching her and the others finish… I think that’s where my marathon itch is coming from

Once Lauren was cleaned up, we headed out in search of food as we were all starving! We ended up at the Cactus Club Café as our search for Mexican food did not work out so well. With full bellies yet again, we did a little walking around and one last tour of the race expo. We headed back to the hotel for some down time aka naps, which were glorious.

After our naps, we hobbled into two different pubs for some delicious pub food. It was a great night spent eating, chatting and talking about life. We had zero disagreements over the weekend and we all got along so great We swapped plenty of life’s stories….I especially liked the chafing story. Make sure you ask Amber about that one

The rest of the night was spent cleaning up the hotel room and packing our bags as we had another early morning wake up call. We caught an early bus to the ferry and luckily we didn’t have to run this time for the ferry. I think we were all relieved about that part! The views from the ferry, although foggy this time, didn’t disappoint.

After the ferry ride, Amber and I said good bye to Lauren and Lisa. Sad face. The weekend seriously went by so quickly and I wasn’t ready for it to be over! I think we need to do it again SOON girls!

Once the goodbye’s were said, Amber and I made the four hour drive back to Kamloops. A big thank you to Amber for driving the whole way! I stopped in at my cousin’s house again and then was off for the airport. If you didn’t catch that, my transportation for the day was: bus, ferry, car, car, plane, car. Phew!

It honestly seems like just yesterday that Amber asked me if I wanted to come on the trip with the girls and now it’s gone by in a flash. I am sad it’s over, but I had a great time and there were plenty of laughs over the weekend. Lisa, please make sure you watch out for bus doors and trees! Haha.

Amber, Lisa and Lauren: thank you for being so much fun and for including me in the weekend. I had a blast!

Weekend in Victoria {part one}

2011-10-13T07:02:00.000-06:00

I am going to apologize in advance as I have a feeling these recap posts might be a little long winded and plenty of them. I can’t help it, it was such a fun weekend that I just want to remember it all

My trip started on Thursday night when I flew into Kamloops to stay with my cousin. Things were going well until my flight was delayed for an hour. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things as it was only going to get worse! The flight went off without a hitch, arrived safely into Kamloops only to find the last bag going around the carousal and it wasn’t mine. It looked a lot like mine, but it wasn’t mine as my name wasn’t Mitch. My cousin and I were standing there waiting for my bag and I noticed a guy pick up a suitcase that looked a lot like mine (just a little foreshadowing) and jokingly said to my cousin it would be funny if he took the wrong one. Well, turns out he did take the wrong one! A kind Westjet man was able to track down his name and telephone number and Mitch quickly turned around and brought my suitcase back. I could have survived without it, as I had taken my shoes as a carryon, but I was glad to have it back. After that debacle, we headed back to my cousin’s house for some dinner and catch up time.

The next morning, I met up with Amber and we started our 4 hour drive to Vancouver to meet up with Lauren and Lisa at the lululemon outlet. I was able to find some great deals (two pairs of shorts for $30!), which made me happy After our stop at Lululemon, we made the short drive to the ferry. The best part of this day? Literally running to catch the ferry! It was just a little warm up for Sunday ;) The ferry ride to Victoria was 1.5 hours and had gorgeous views.

Once we made it safely to our hotel, we set out on foot to find some dinner. We ended up at a small Thai restaurant for pad thai, which was delicious! After dinner, we made a pit stop at the Bengal room in the Empress hotel for dessert. I didn’t eat any as I was still full from dinner, but it looked delicious!

The next morning, we took our time getting up and ready before heading out to John’s Place for some brunch. It was a small one off quirky type of restaurant, but had delicious food!

After brunch, we made our way towards the race expo to pick up our race numbers. This was starting to feel real! The expo was pretty busy, but wasn’t very exciting. Nothing compared to the race expos in the States!

Once our race numbers were picked up, we did a little more exploring around the area. It is such a gorgeous city and we lucked out with fabulous weather! We had some down time in the hotel room to rest our legs before setting out for our carb loading dinner. Amber had found out about a restaurant called Pagliacci’s, which had a great reputation for good food. We arrived there around 5pm and found out the wait was close to 1.5 hours. We decided to stick it out, and it was worth it! If you are ever in Victoria, I definitely recommend it. We all had the small pasta dish, which was more than enough food! And the bread was to die for. I am still dreaming about it.

With our bellies sufficiently stuffed, we made our way back to the hotel as it was early to bed that night!

Next up: the race, Sunday afternoon shenanigans, and the longest travel day on Monday

You can read the other recaps here

Amber’s recap: day one and day two
Lauren’s recap: part one and part two
Lisa’s recap: day one

Goodlife Victoria half marathon: race report

2011-10-12T07:51:00.000-06:00

Race morning started bright and early at 5:45am. The race started at 7:30am and we were less than a five minute walk to the start, which was awesome. We left our hotel around 6:50 and had lots of time at the start to warm up (it was chilly!). Lisa, Amber and I were all running the half marathon and it started 7:30am while Lauren’s marathon started at 8:45am. Lauren was a good friend and came to the start with us to take the pictures below

We were all aiming for sub two hour half marathons, so we started out together. Within the first three kilometers, Lisa had pulled ahead of Amber and I, which was fine as she was on fire! Within three kilometers the rolling hills started and didn’t stop. They were never super steep hills, but enough of an incline that I was mentally over them very quickly.
Throughout the race, Amber and I were playing cat and mouse as I kept getting cramps and had to stop to walk to get rid of them. Every time I would stop, I would pick up the pace to catch up with Amber. We stopped at almost all of the water stations and stayed together until around kilometer 16. The course was pretty gorgeous as it went out and back along the water. I would run it again as a fun race just to enjoy the scenery more

My stomach was feeling off for the first half of the race and finally around kilometer 13 it settled down and I realized I could finish strong. Kilometer 13 t0 20 went by pretty quickly and I turned the last few corners and saw that there was only 800m to go and turned on the jets. Unfortunately, I think I turned them on too soon as I started to feel like I could puke and had to slow it down in the last 200m! Let’s just say I had to kindly ask a lady to move her head from over a garbage can so I could make friends with it

I crossed the finish line at 1:57:42 which is almost a minute off my first half marathon! I was pretty happy as my first half had barely any hills where as this one had constant rolling hills. Minus the puking, it was a great race I also have to say, they had delicious post race food! The cookies were so delicious and I am still dreaming of them!

You can read Amber’s recap here and Lisa’s here. The pictures are courtesy of Lauren and Amber, so thank you girls!

After running my third half marathon and watching Lauren finish her marathon so strong has me itching to run a full marathon. Yes, a full marathon. I am still debating which one to do, but if you have run a full marathon, I would love to hear your experience and any tips you have for me!

I'm back!

2011-10-11T13:36:00.001-06:00

Well hello there! I didn't mean to stay away for so long, but I was having a fantastic weekend in beautiful Victoria with three amazing girls and couldn't bring myself to blog.

The weekend was beyond fabulous...a gorgeous city, amazing food, fun friends and of course a new shiny PR!

I didn't get back until late last night and haven't had a chance to do a real post up yet, so I promise the details of the weekend and my race will be coming later tonight and this week :)

In the mean time, tell me how your Thanksgiving was :)

Favorite Things Christmas Swap

2011-10-06T07:46:00.000-06:00

Theother day, Lindsey were talking on Twitter aboutputting together a Christmas swap as we are always left out of the fun swapsfrom the States! So, if you are Canadian, listen up! :)

Theidea is to send a little package to your swap partner giving them a few thingsthat show what you love about Christmas time. The ideas are endless…anythingfrom your favorite cookies to your favorite recipe to hot chocolate to a prettyornament. It can be anything thatyou like and that you would like to share with another person.

Hopefullythis package arriving in your mailbox will bring a smile to your face in themiddle of a cold Canadian winter and will help you find new blogs to read!

Thedetails:

· You must have an active blog and be willing to share your package onceyou receive it

· Must be a Canadian blogger(sorry friends from the States!)

· Leave a comment telling me with your email address if you areinterested in participating

· Please let us know by Thursday,October 20, 2011

· You will only have to spend $20before shipping on the package

Pleaselet Lindsey or I know if there are any questions! Hopefully this will be a funswap for Canadians :)

{what i’m loving}

2011-10-05T07:10:00.000-06:00

I haven’t linked up with Jamie's {what i’m loving} Wednesday’s for awhile, so I thought I would today

This week, I am loving:

{one} That I only have one more day of work after today! I am off Friday as I will be making my way to Victoria with Amber.

{two} That I get to see my cousin and best friend, who I do not get to see nearly enough tomorrow night. I am staying at her house on Thursday night and then Amber is picking me up on Friday morning. I seriously miss this girl!

{three} I had a hankering to do some baking last night, so I made double chocolate banana chocolate chip breakfast bars from Jenna. Sweet baby jesus, these are so easy to make and seriously delicious! A dangerous combination.

{four} That I get to spend a weekend away having girl time and hanging out with three amazing women! Not to mention getting to see Victoria for the first time

{five} All of the amazing friendships that I have made through blogging. It’s amazing the people you can meet through blogs and the connection that you can have with them. So thank you!

What are you loving today?

Training Tuesday & month total

2011-10-04T07:21:00.000-06:00

One final week of half marathon training for this year! (well maybe) Craziness.

September totals

Running: 133.0k
Biking: 12.6k
Hiking: 8.1k
Walking: 16.9k
Other:
30 for 30 workout: 52 minutes
30 day shred (level 3): 20 minutes
Fitnessista arm workout: 15 minutes
P90X back & biceps: 45 minutes

Total rest days: 5

*****************************************************

Final week of training

Total kilometers
27.9

Cross-training
Swimming:0
Biking: 12.6k
Other: P90X back & biceps: 45 minutes, P90X arms & shoulders: 40 minutes

Walking
7.7k

Thoughts

Crazy that my third half marathon is just around the corner! It honestly feels like I was just started training for my first half. I am just hoping that this one goes better than my last and that my body doesn’t turn on me the night before. Fingers crossed!

{weekend recap}

2011-10-03T07:49:00.000-06:00

Oh Monday, how I am never glad to see you come. But I will give you something, I am excited because it’s a four day work week for me. Because I am meeting up with some fabulous ladies on Friday!! (so excited!)

This weekend, we:

{friday} I took Harley for a run after work, and it was stinking hot out! Close to 25C in September which is crazy. After our run, we went to pick up chinese food. So, so yummy! I was off to bed early that night because…

{saturday} I had to be up bright and early as I was volunteering for the Harvest Half marathon. I was assigned to be a course marshal and luckily was with another lady . It was actually a lot of fun watching the runners come by and cheering them on! It started raining and was super cold, but nothing an afternoon in pjs’s on the couch couldn’t fix I was amazed how many people said thank you for volunteering as they ran by. Definitely makes me have a new appreciation for volunteers now. After I was done volunteering, I came home and had a delightful nap on the couch. The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house and watching Bad Teacher. Has anyone seen it?

He totally stole my pillow and blanket! Good thing he’s cute
We thought it was hilarious how he was laying on the pillow

{sunday} I spent the morning doing some cleaning and then went for my last long run before Victoria next weekend. It was a little chilly at first, but definitely warmed up. Other than that, I did stuff around the house and enjoyed the weekend.

How was your weekend? What were you up to?