Mish Mosh

Jersey update: The last couple of nights Jersey has started the night on our floor. But, much to my surprise when I woke up she wasn’t there! She had retreated back to her bed downstairs. I think we’ll  let her decide where she rests he pretty little head from now on. :)

Running: Umm yah, so whoever stole my mojo could you kindly return it? I ditched the gym today to run, and it SUCKED ASS. That makes 3 bad runs is a row for me. This must stop. Now!

X-Weighted Challenge: I’m down a total of 9 lbs!

Exercise: I’m having a hard time making to to the gym during the week. I have to make an effort to leave the office by 4:00pm to ensure this happens. I’m bit of a workaholic, so I tend to stay late just about every night.

Life: feeling a little blah lately. I think this has a lot to do with my lack of gym time. I’m not feeling overly ambitious about anything. Hopefully this will stop soon.

Dinner: Pork tenderloin, couscous/chick peas, roasted asparagus.

Dessert: Light hot cocoa, and catching up on Big Love.

Random: The sound of Andrew slurping hot cocoa a) makes me gag and b) want to punch him really hard.

Holy Booty Batman!

I missed my gym workout tonight. This was pretty much because I had a 172 emails waiting for me this morning after my vacation (and I checked my blackberry for the first week!)

I arrived home and immediately bundled up, grabbed Jersey and headed out for an hour long power walk. As you all know, I’m a runner. One might assume that power walking might be easy for someone who is in good shape and can run double digit distances easily. WRONG. My neighbourhood is super hilly, and I was really motoring. I was a sweaty beast when I was done.

I was definitely over dressed, but I wasn’t really sure how hot I’d get as its pretty chilly here in Ottawa today.

When I got home my butt was already on fire from the hilly walk, so I figured I’d finish it off. I did the Bootycamp Fitness bum workout. Ass. was. on. fire. For some odd reason, butt muscle pain is my favourite kind of muscle pain. I’m fully aware that I’m a weirdo.

Onto dinner. The star of tonight’s meal was Prime Chicken Tenderloins.

I wanted to use up some aging veggies, so I turned the tenderloins into a delicious stirfry. I served it with a couscous/chickpea combo. 

Pretty for pictures.

Mixed up for enjoying.  

I’m just about to make myself a cup of light cocoa, and finish watching 24. I’ve kind of been half-ass watching the first half. This is unacceptable. Jack Bauer deserves ALL of my attention! ;)

Goodnight!

Superbowl Hearty-choke Dip

Its that time of year again, Superbowl Sunday.

Admittedly, I’m  not a football fan which shocks most people due to my love for baseball and hockey. Football though, not so much. I loosely follow it enough, to always kick ass in the office football pool. I won it last year!

I was watching Eat, Shrink and be Merry earlier in the week, and when friends invited us over to watch the game tonight, I knew exactly what I was going to bring along.

Janet and Greta’s Hearty-choke Dip.

It was easy to make, didn’t have crazy ingredients and best part is its GOOD FOR YOU!

The house smelled divine while the artichokes, onion and garlic roasted.

I’m going to serve it with some Guitless Gourmet corn chips and Naan chunks.

It made a good size casserole dish full of dip, with a little leftover so I made a small ramekin to sample.

I had 2 tbsp with some multi grain wheat thins for a snack.

  

The verdict? DELICIOUS! There are quite a few picky eaters at the party so I’m just going to tell them its a warm spinach dip. Little to they know they’ll be eating artichokes and puréed white kidney beans.

This recipe is a keeper, so I thought I’d share! :)

Where does your dog sleep?

This is the look a get every night when I put the baby gate across the steps and go upstairs to bed.

I know, pathetic right?

Let me explain: When we first got Jersey, I wanted to keep her primarily downstairs. Mainly to give the kitties a “dog free zone”, but also because I’m not a big fan of dog hair. My logic was, if she stays on the main level it will less vacuuming.

Now that the cats and Jersey are buddies, I’m starting to feel like a “dog free zone” isn’t really necessary any more.

I’ve been doing a lot of research on the internet and in my “dog bible Good Dogs, Great Owners. Its suggested in many sources that its the dogs “pack mentality” to want to sleep in the same room as you. Also, when you’re not around apparently dogs like to hang out in the master bedroom because it smells like you.

One thing that came up over and over in my research was that you should not let them up on your bed, or on the furniture as it lets them assert their dominance, and could potentially let them think that they are ruling the pack not you.

The question of Jersey sleeping IN the bed is out of the question. She weighs 56lbs and isn’t exactly a little dog. She is already a little dominant, so we don’t need to emphasize that. Plus dog hair in the bed? Ew.

But, what I have been thinking is that we should buy her a second bed to let her sleep on the floor in the bedroom.

Where does your dog sleep?

If in your room, what does it do during ummm sexy times? *Bow chicka wow-wow*

Should I just rid our house of the baby gate during the day?

I realize this could be a rather touchy subject as many people feel very strongly about their dog training methods. I’m a firm believer that dogs are DOGS and need to be treated like a dog, not a person. Some call my training methods harsh (not letting her on furniture, not picking them up, making her sit while I walk in the house first, no human food, making her sit/stay when guests enter the house) but the end result is a very well behaved dog, and I’m very proud of  her success. For those who don’t know we got Jersey from a family who thought she was the “devil dog” but with a perseverance and a lot of hard work, Jersey is now a wonderful, well behaved dog!

Celebrity Sighting in Ottawa

Who’s cute as a button, lives in Toronto, and loves cheeeeeeeese?

MARIE!

She’s in town this weekend visiting the equally as cute Sarah, so we did what bloggers to best: Workout and EAT!

We started out our morning date by hitting up Body Combat. Shout-outs go to my lovely friends Lisa and Crys who were also there! I know I say it all the time, but I friggin’ love that class. Especially the instructor on Saturday mornings. Felt great to get my sweat on!

Following the sweat-fest, we hit up Richtree Market for some yummy eats.

My choice, a banana waffle with a smidge of maple syrup.

More good news, the sweat-fest will continue tomorrow when we bundle up for a run! I’m looking forward to running with Marie and Sarah. We’ve decided to make it a “running adventure” which I’m sure will involve some shenanigans. Stay tuned!

The rest of today will involve going to my home town to visit my Daddio. My step-mom’s birthday was yesterday, and with my Dad being in recovery he wasn’t able to do anything for her. We’re going to pick up some Chinese food and a cake and head over there for a quiet night in. I’m actually really looking forward to hanging out with them. Should be fun!

Mexico Recap.

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted.

Mexico was great. We stayed at the Grand Oasis Cancun. I had some apprehensions about the hotel after reading some horrible ratings on Trip Advisor, but honestly it was great! It was clean, the food was great, pool was warm, and the beach was gorgeous! My only issue with the resort, was that our rooms didn’t have mini fridges and bottled water was not provided daily. I ended up spending a lot of money on water, but that was my choice.

Before I left for the trip, I made  a few goals.

How did I do?

1) Walk or run every day – I did pretty awesome with this. We stayed active the whole trip and even hit up the resort gym!
2) One trip to the buffet per meal. Thats IT. – I was really proud of my food choices. I ate yogurt and a banana every day for breakfast, salad for lunch and made wise choices at dinner. It was actually pretty easy to eat healthy as there was always a ton of fresh and delicious produce available.
3) Keep delicious fruity alcoholic drinks to a minimum. – I didn’t do so great in this department. I fell in love with a drink called a Superman – Pina Colada, Blue Cuaraco and Strawberry Margarita. Slushy deliciousness!
4) Stay hydrated: I spent a fortune on bottled water, so I consider this goal met!

Best part of the trip? Stepping on the scale when I got home….. and I LOST one pound. Woooo!

Here’s a selection of photos from the trip. Enjoy!

Getting ready to leave.

Doing what I do best… relaxing!

    

We had one rainy day.

Boo to rain!

    

Best way to kill time on a rainy day? DRINK!

Our resort had a sushi bar. We loved it… and ate there 3 times!

       The beach.

The pool.

The inside of our hotel.

The first couple of days were windy! Red flags on the beach meant no swimming.

 

My favorite picture. It went a little something like this:

Me: Hey Andrew, go sit in that little hole so I can take your picture.

Andrew: Ok.

Suddenly a huge ass wave comes in and soaks us both!

Moi, on the beach.

All in all, it was a relaxing trip. Cannot wait for our next tropical vacation in 2011! :)

Ugh

If I had to describe my run this morning in one word, I’d have to say ROUGH. I never got into my groove, Jersey was irritating me, and the wind was freezing. Ah well, bottom line is that I got out there right? I ended up running 6.5k when all was said and done.

I’m not really sure why I decided to blog, as I don’t really have much to say.

I’m stranded at home today. Andrew took his car, and mine doesn't have snow tires. I never drive it (I bus or walk to work) so I didn’t bother putting them on, and its law to have snow tires in Quebec.

My plans include: washing every piece of clothing that came to Mexico, doing a workout on EA Active, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming and maybe sneak in a little Mario time.

My hair appointment was pretty uneventful. I ended up just getting my roots done and a trim. You can barely even tell.

Hair before:

Hair after: I had to use the flash to make it turn out. Man, flash is NOT flattering!

I can’t believe I forgot to blog about this very exciting news.  A few months ago he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. While we were away in Mexico, my Dad had surgery and the good news is they were able to successfully remove ALL THE CANCER! He’s not completely out of the woods yet, and has a long road ahead of him in terms of recovery. But, I can sleep a little easier knowing that my Dad will be a-ok! :)