Heart Creek Trail

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Yesterday, I had made plans with my friend Nicole and her puppy Dallas to join my and my pups for a hike. We decided on Heart Creek Trail (check out that site, it’s pretty cool!), just outside of Canmore. It’s a pretty short hike, but it was easy enough for all the doggies and we could sit at the end of the trail for some lunch.

I packed a bunch of snacks for my lunch: BC cherries, red peppers, carrots, pepperoni, cheese, and a Quest bar. I also packed some doggie treats and lots of water.

I have done this hike a couple times before, but yesterday was a lot different than the previous trips because this trail was hit by the big flood from a couple months ago. The start of the trail was the same, but pretty soon the path was covered in river rock and fallen trees. There were a few times that we had to carefully walk over the creek. (Reggie is not a fan of water, so I had to carry him in one arm while holding on to Layla’s leash as she crazily scampered across.)

And there were a ton of log bridges. And by ‘bridges’ I mean 2 logs screwed together and strategically placed over the creek. NOT FUN when trying to cross with two crazy beasts on leashes. There were a couple of almost mishaps!

I obviously didn’t get any photos of the bridges because I value my life and not losing my dogs in the woods.

When we got to the end of the trail (I didn’t think we would be able to get to the end because of all the flood debris) we sat to eat. Layla had a few dunks in the water.

We took our time, so the hike managed to stretch to just about 2 hours.

Which was enough to tire these two out. Thankfully.

…and the view on the way home.

We all took naps when we got back.

Other happenings from the day:

Prior to the hike, I managed to squeeze in a bit of strength training. Lots of lunge variations with gliding discs and some upper body work using 10 lb dumbbells.
I bought a Hugh Jass watermelon and cut that sucker up. 1/2 will go towards snacking and the other 1/2 will be frozen for some margaritas (if you want one, come on over!)
Chicken fajita wraps for dinner
Traditional Hot Yoga class (anyone ever want to come to a class with me?)
Discovered Reggie had a broken canine and inquired with the vet how much the extraction would cost. Got the voicemail with the estimate after my 75 minute yoga class and all zen was lost after hearing it would be AT LEAST $850. Oy.
Duck Dynasty is back!

How was your hump day?

Hot Yoga, explained.

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

For those of you who have never attempted Hot Yoga, I thought I would give a brief explanation of how the classes usually go. And for those of you who have endured the practice, I think you can relate to the following.

I’m SO excited to go to YOGAAAAAA!

I have arrived to the yoga studio and I’m ready to go

Oh dang, it’s hot in here.

No, it’s REALLY hot in here

Ok, time to stretch

And stretch some more

There is a lot of stretching going on

Please don’t fall, please don’t fall, please don’t fall

Seriously, it is so hot in here

Phew class is over!

I’m friggin tired

IT’S OVER AND I FEEL WONDERFUL AND WHY DID I THINK IT WAS SO HOT??!! VICTORY DANCE!

And with that, I’m off to class.

(What’s your favorite type of yoga?)

Two Things

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey there. Just a couple things to share today. There should be a lot more on the blog later this week as I have a couple of different hikes planned…which I’m totally excited about.

First up, COOKIES. I’m a huge fan of them and whenever I want something sweet around the house, a big batch of chocolate chip cookies is usually my go-to. Partially because I can eat the dough and cookies don’t take that long to bake. Well, lately, I have been using this recipe. Except I have never included the corn starch since I never had any in the house and none of my previous recipes included it in the list of ingredients, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to skip. And trust me, it didn’t. Tyler and I managed to force feed ourselves about 2 dozen different batches without the corn starch and we’re still alive and kicking.

But yesterday I went to the store and mindfully purchased a canister of corn starch to see just how different the batch would turn out. And yup….they’re chewy motherfluffers. Like SOOOO good.

Please go make them.

Second: My daily workouts have consisted of Hot Yoga and either an outdoor run or intervals on the treadmill. It’s been working wonders for my body and I totally love it. It has been over a week since I did any strength training- which is totally weird for me- but I will probably incorporate it back into the old routine sooner or later. I find that my muscles are getting a pretty good workout in yoga. Especially with all those chaturangas!

Source

Anyhoo..I did a pretty decent set of HIIT intervals yesterday that I thought I’d share with you. It was pretty easy and went by FAST. (I didn’t want to totally overdo it before yoga, but I also wanted to break a sweat and make sure I was torching some serious calories, which HIIT totally does.)

The left columns are the time and the right columns are the treadmill speed. You can obviously change the speeds to tailor your specific needs, but you get the idea how the intervals get progressively faster, then slower, then faster again. I loved it, and I felt nice and limber heading into yoga later in the evening.

If anyone gives this a go, let me know!

What’s your go-to dessert?

Favorite way to pass time on the treadmill?

Wedding Sneak Peaks

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

No words for today’s post, just some of the sneak peaks of our wedding that the photographer finally sent. Once I get all the photos from her, there will be a wedding post!

Saturday Family Time

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Yesterday was a really good day. Good enough that I feel the need to share it with you.

After having some breakfast, we loaded the dogs into the truck and headed out for a couple if different hiking spots (these were more like walking trails, but I’d rather say the word ‘hike’ because that sounds better)

The first place we stopped at was only about 20 minutes from our house: Big Hill Springs Trail. It’s short (about 2km) but it’s really pretty. Lots of spots for the dogs to jump in the water, photo ops, and some areas with a bit of an incline to really get your heart pumping.

The starting spot has a bunch of picnic tables and a ton of young families were there with their human babies. Fur babies are better, so we brought them.

After a bit of a climb, and several dips in the water, we got more into the woody area. The dogs loved it because there were tons of new smells.

That little walk didn’t take very long at all, so we hopped back into the truck and headed over to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. This had more paved pathways, but it was still a nice way for us to stretch our legs and really tire the dogs out. We probably went another 4-5km through various paths here when Layla FINALLY got pooped out and wasn’t tugging on her leash.

I really enjoyed exploring areas of these paths that are so close to our house and I think the dogs just really liked to sniff new stuff.

We rounded out the day with some local corn and yummy burgers (we added chopped jalepenos and madagascar peppercorn cheese to the ground beef…so yummy) on the BBQ.