DOC Workout [& giveaway winner!]

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hi friends and happy hump day! Not much new to report from this end- it’s a lot about blasting through the week just to do all the fun things on weekends. So far, this week has consisted of work, workouts, baking, cleaning, tv watching, and sleeping. SO EXCITING.

The work thing has been slightly less fun with Calgary Transit having a butt-ton of issues. PLEASE don’t get me started on that because I will get frustrated enough to declare I’m moving back to the states (and I don’t really want to do that. Cough cough Obamacare cough cough).

The baking this has been a win/fail. The recipes come out healthy and edible, but they ain’t pretty or SUPER outstanding. I’ve found that they’re best when eaten right out of the oven. The day-olds are just a tad sad. Eating them anyway.

Workouts have been pretty great. Monday I did THREE deck of cards workouts that left me sore as a whore (reminder: never use that rhyme again), and Tuesday I managed a really great run. The best part of the DOC workout is that is required ZERO equipment! And it was SUPER effective. Great combo.

Try it.

Ah, last but not least, I have had to select another winner for the Kinnikinnick giveaway, since the first winner never came forward. Congrats to Athena! (send me your mailing address and phone #- even though I’m sure I have both somewhere at home!!)

Weekend/Workout Wrap Up

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Oh hi there. It’s Monday and I am still reminiscing over all the fun things I did this weekend. Less the laundry part cuz that’s lame-o.

Friday night I got together with my new Calgary besties (I don’t think this should come as a surprise to either of them that I have already coined them besties) Jen and Susie. We went over to Jen’s place for some ridiculously good mac n cheese and drinks before deciding we needed to dance. There’s only one picture on my phone from our dancing escapades which made it to Instagram, but methinks Susie took over my phone because the caption was in French. I know zero French other that what the townspeople from Beauty and the Beast say.

We danced a LOT. So basically, my Friday workout was cardio in the form of rump shaking. It was so much fun I can’t wait to do it again. Props #1 goes to Jen for convincing the bouncers to let us cut the line. Props #2 goes to Susie for introducing me to Jager Bombs. No props for me. Mmmmm maybe props to me for attempting to twerk? No, no props for that whatsoever.

Saturday, Tyler and I headed over to The Home Vintner to pick up some wine kits. We took a class there last week- basically to pick up tips on things we may have done wrong in the past- and really wanted to get started on some more. We ended up with a Sangria and a Limited Edition Shiraz Cab.

And we went to Five Guys.

And Costco.

And the mall (to see if the purse I really want was there, which is wasn’t) PPS: this stop was on Tyler’s recommendation! The man wants me to get a grown up purse! He’s a total keeper.

We threw together a pasta bake for dinner and had some new-to-us beers while putting together one of the wine kits.

(If you’re not familiar with the process, the above picture might look a bit odd. That’s Tyler dropping in a hop sock of grape skins! Also, the beer pictured is Paddock Wood from Saskatoon, SK. Delish!)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and then bed.

And I slept for 12 hours straight. WEIRD. I was pretty much dead until 11:45am when the doggies decided they no longer wanted to lay in bed. I had NO idea what day it was; that Tyler had already got up to feed them; NOTHING. Talk about a good night’s sleep.

Sunday was stupid. Ok, maybe not that stupid. We cleaned, ate yummy Sunday brunch foods, napped, Tyler got groceries and made FABULOUS sandwich bread, and I worked out and painted my nails.

The End.

WORKOUTS FROM THE WEEK—>>

Sunday: 2 mile run. I’m glad I was able to get in at least those 2 miles before I got a killer stomachache!

Monday: Full Body Circuits + Treadmill intervals

Tuesday: 50 min run (max I could get with 5 min on each end to change during my hour lunch!)

Wednesday: Tina Reale’s 5 min circuits (all of them) + Spin

Thursday: 5 Ab Tabata’s + treadmill walk; Traditional Hot Yoga. Tabatas included:

weighted russian twists
plank w/twist
leg lifts
oblique dips
crunches (w/different leg variations)

Friday: DANCED MY BUTT OFF.

Saturday: Meh.

PS: Sarina, where are you? You are the winner of the Kinnikinnick giveaway!!! If I don’t hear from you by tomorrow night (1/14), I’ll have to pick another winner!

Latests

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m really trying to stop buying things. Really, I am. But sometimes it’s just too hard. I mean, I went to Shoppers on Saturday just to buy $75 worth of stuff so I could earn 2 free movie passes. And half the crap I didn’t even need. Ok, will I sort of did. But it would have been more cost effective if I just bough the movie tickets separately. Oh well. You live and you learn. And then you go shopping.

With that said, I have some stuff to share with you. Stuff I like, stuff in my life, and stuff that’s just….well….stuff.

One of my purchases this weekend was some fancy shampoo/conditioner. I have almost always strictly been a cheap shampo/conditioner purchaser, but with my gradually changing hair color (gross, it is SO dark now) and the stupid ass weather here, I have been forced to venture into the market of more costly beauty products to maintain hair ‘health.’ Or is it all a ploy? Who cares, this stuff smells amazing:

(source)

(source)

Think: creamsicle meets salon meets the good-smelling section of a perfume counter.

Mmmmm

I also got some of these puppies:

neutrogena-oil-free-pink-grapefruit-cleansing-wipes

(source)

I figured it would be a good investment to use after my lunch time workouts so I don’t get body acne from changing back into my work clothes without showering. Turns out, it leaves somewhat of a sticky residue. No worse than my sweat, yet I smell like a grapefruit. Ok, I’ll take it.

I won’t talk anymore about how much I love my new gym at work. Because that would be rude to rub in such a great thing. MOVING ON…

THIS playlist-> it’s weird and random and motivating and fun and I love it! (PS: any song recommendations?)

I had SO much free time the other night that I whipped up a batch of Vegan Carrot Muffins. I’d love to say that I concocted this recipe, but sadly I did not. If, however, you want the recipe- head on over to fANNEtastic food. Don’t get me wrong- I WILL play around with the recipe and share any successes!

Last week, Tyler and I watched the entire series of An Idiot Abroad. Has anyone heard of it? It’s HILARIOUS. In season 1, he guy is sent to each of the seven wonders and is forced to endure whatever embarrassing/idiotic/weird thing that Ricky Gervais puts this through before making it to the wonder. I was dying of laughter through every episode. I highly recommend this for a good laugh- and it’s actually a bit of a learning experience to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff near the sites! (Provided video of an episode below!)

An Idiot Abroad: Season 1 Episode 4 – Mexico by f100000879525754

BAHhhh I almost forgot! The winner of the Kinnikinnick giveaway isss……..Sarina!

Email me at jennifer(dot)l(dot)linton(at)gmail(dot)com your mailing address and phone number and I’ll make sure your package gets sent out! Congrats!

Workout Wrap Up

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Oh Hello there. It’s Monday which means despite all the lovely things that may be in my life- I slightly hate the day. Mostly because it forces me to put pants on and go to work after 48 hours of pajama-wearing and lounging. (meeeep- typed most of this post this morning, but am just now sitting down to finish up. So, Monday isn’t that bad now that it’s practically over!)

If I were to focus this post solely on what I did over the weekend, there would be absolutely no content. Unless you’re interested in my cleaning the house and watching tv. I did workout though! And with that, I though maybe- since most people are looking to improve their health/fitness with the coming of the new year- I would share my latest workouts. I used to share my weekly workouts all the time, but recently fell out of it because I was forgetting what I was doing. (Um, hello I can’t even remember what I ate yesterday! Oh right, Nutella and trail mix. Oof). I might bring it back on a more regular basis, who knows.

Sunday: 5-4-3-2-1 run intervals with 20 wall balls between each interval (increasing speed w/each interval as well.)

Monday: Pyramid Run (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1), abs

Tuesday: Athena’s Bosu and Row workout (except I did stationary cardio and ran the stairs since I did this workout at home)

Wednesday: Traditional Hot Yoga at my favorite place

Thursday: 20 min speed work, Tina Reale’s Upper Body Blast . PS: I was the first person to use the new gym in my office building! There are some obvious kinks they need to work out though. All in all, I’m pretty much in love with it.

Don’t mind me and my creepy face. Just look at that beaut of a new facility!

Friday: Off

Saturday: Tina Reale’s 25×25 Lower Body Burner + 4 cardio/lower body Tabatas

I’m pretty pleased with the workouts overall because they were diverse. I could have done a little extra cardio though to get my heart rate up. And to justify some extra drinks/eats had throughout the week. (Not dissing myself here, I’m happy I made time each day to be active!)

***Reminder: I’ll be picking the winner of the Kinnikinnick giveaway TOMORROW (Tues, Jan 7)

****Reminder #2: My half birthday is TOMORROW. So I’ll be Old 1/2.

Going on a Ramble

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m going to ramble a bit because I seem to be pretty good at that. The less fluid I can make a post, the better. It keeps you on your toes. Here goes:

I’ve posted this on instagram and on my personal fb page, and since I think it’s hilarious, I’mma post it here, too. Backstory: I made a batch of The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon buns this past weekend. They were extra sticky because I improvised on the icing ingredients. Ok, boring part of the story out of the way. Reggie (the beagle) hopped onto the center of the dining room table and got to one of the pans. Since he is a master of hiding things, we suspect he ate between 8-10 of them (10 are missing and we only recovered 2). He is obviously the worst dog ever for doing this, [No he’s not] so I subjected him to a bit of dog shaming. Also, Layla is jealous of everything, so I had to make her a sign too. Please note: she was not an accomplice.

I went to hot yoga yesterday. NEW YEAR’S DAY. And my sweat stunk of alcohol. Pro: I actually worked out and didn’t die. Con: The yoga instructor actually massaged my feet at one point during savasana and she probably went home and chopped off her hands. Also, the following picture is so true:

Except I’m probably way worse.

So, my office building just opened a gym which is great for a butt-ton of reasons:

it’s cheaper than any other gym
it’s convenient and I can workout at lunch
can free up my evenings
d all of the above

Only little qualm I have about the whole thing is now I’ll have to lug yet ANOTHER bag into work with me everyday. I have my trusty Lululemon bag that I’ve been using for a couple years, but I found out this morning it’s not conducive to public transit. Meaning, I practically take up a whole bench seat with me and all my bagcessories. [Can I make that a new word? Yup, just did.]

Does anyone have any bag recommendations that are easy to carry for my commute and somewhat roomy? I’m thinking enough to hold my sneakers, outfit, iPod, and 3,564,785,642,345 baby wipes for dry showering. For the record, the gym has showers. And for the record, I never use gym showers. Shall I go on a tangent? YES I SHALL.

Picture it (Actually, PLEASE DON’T) it was junior year of college and our volleyball team had a weekend tournament in Pennsylvania. So it was like a billionty hour bus ride. Since this is a shower story I won’t go into the fact that our coach hoarded our travel money and spent it on Wal-Mart rotisserie chickens, Oreos, and peanut butter for us to live off of. (One of the many reasons we did not do well at that tournament). Anywho, after our last match on the last day, we all agreed we’d rather shower in the gym than waste time going back to the hotel and getting back on our own campus even later. Cut to the locker room where it’s a GROUP SHOWER. And it was ONLY COLD WATER. And we only had ONE tube of shower gel to use and maybe 2 towels. There was a lot of screaming and a lot of ‘don’t look at me-s’ and basically just terror.

So yeah, I’m not a fan of any public showers. And here’s a pic of me playing volleyball. I was really good at it.

Also on the topic of recommendations, let’s hear about your favorite headphones. I am sick of my earbuds that fall out when I jump too much or get too sweaty. Yurbuds maybe?

Today, I got added to a group on facebook for my friggin high school 10 year reunion. Yes, you totally just did the math to figure out how old I am. And no, I’m not going to it. For a few reasons:

Just NO.
I only went there junior and senior year.
I really only remember about 10 of them.
I live in Canada and that’s a stupid ass waste of airfare.
Refer to #1.

Except now that I think of it, I WOULD be staying at my parent’s house if I went…

No, Jen. NO.

And to end on a happy note: In just over a month from today, my best friend from high school (ok, so I did make at least ONE friend at that high school) is coming to visit! Do you understand my excitement that I’m actually getting a visitor in Canada?! I’ve on been here for 675 days. Who’s counting? There are so many things I want to do, I can’t even stand it.