Our date at Brewster’s

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Tyler and I had rounded out our errand-filled Saturday with dinner and drinks at Brewster’s which was right around the corner from home. We wanted to make it a nice, long experience with different foods and beers! We started with beers (only made sense).

Tyler had the River City Raspberry Wheat Ale and I had the Strawberry Blonde Ale. I liked mine

We enjoyed these with the Lobster ad Artichoke Dip

‘But Jen, you done eat seafood!’ you say. Ah, this is true. BUT, alcohol altered my decision and artichoke has my heart..

Next, we split a sample tray. We were able to choose 5 beers and we got a 5 oz. sample of each.

We started with the Flying Frog Lager.

Since I recently have fallen for lagers, I thought this would be great, but Tyler and I agreed it fell short of expectations. (plus, we were coming off our high from the delicious first round).

Next, the Farmer’s Tan White Ale

This was similar to a Blue Moon, but a little lighter in flavor. We both thought it was good.

Third up: the Original lager.

Nope. We didn’t like. Too bitter. Too hoppy. Too not hitting the spot.

Next, Blackfoot Blueberry Wheat Ale. Similar to the raspberry, it had medium body with a sweet finish. We liked.

Last stop: the Hefeweizen.

We both liked this beer. It was light and had a pleasant finish. Once we finished the tray, Tyler decided to have another Hefeweizen, while I opted for the raspberry ale. Perfect to go with the burgers we ordered.

Tyler’s:

Mine:

That’s no ordinary burger, my friends. That’s a BISON burger. I’ve never had bison before, and since I was feeling all ballsy, I went for it. And the verdict? Loved. Will definitely be ordering that again. Mmm.

We rounded out the evening with the 5th Harry Potter movie, a Strongbow

And some candles that took 2 screwdrivers and some serious elbow grease to light. Thanks a lot, Ikea.

Great dinner.
Great drinks.
Great movie (for the fifth time. There’s seriously 8 of them?! Oy vey)
Great company.
Great night.

Errand day

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

We had a selection of three different kinds of beers last night. First up, Coors Light Iced Tea. No, I didn’t stutter. Coors Light + Iced Tea + extra cold = delicious.

Tyler and I shared a few of those, then we went in to have our own beers. He had Heineken

And I tried Granville Island Brewery’s Cypress Honey Lager. I had never had it before ( another Canadian beer- from Vancouver) and it didn’t disappoint. I think my new favorite type of beer is the lager, and the hint of honey in this brew was just what I needed to easily suck down a few 😉

All in all, last night was fun and relaxing!

This morning, I tried something new in my bowl of oats. Instead of cooking them with unsweetened almond milk, I used chocolate almond milk (and obviously topped with a generous serving of almond butter.)

Lots of errands were on tap for today. It started with a trip to the pet store to get Layla a new ID tag.

Tyler and I were amazed that her name and info were lasered in there. We must’ve looked like geeks because we almost had our noses pressed to the glass while we were watching it get done. The end result ( I’m not showing you the back, I don’t want y’all to know my address!)

Second stop, Costco. No shopping was to be had- just had to run in and get my very own card!

I’m an executive member, haha sweet.

Starbucks was next in the order of operations. I was feeling all loosy-goosey and ordered something other than my usual black coffee.

I got a tall mocha light frappuccino…and you know what? I liked it.

Weird thing: Starbucks in Canada doesn’t offer iced coffee in the colder months. Umm, excuuuse me? It could be a blizzard outside and I’d still prefer a cold brew. I asked the barista today about it and she said it should be available next week. We shall see about that!

Last stop: the mall (dun dun dun- hate going to the mall on Saturdays. For starters, it takes 4 1/2 years to find a parking spot, then everyone in there has about 15 children in tow who are either screaming their toothless faces off, or trying to dodge their poor parents grasp- resulting in them crashing in to me). Tyler surprised me with getting me this little gem

Coincidentally, I had bookmarked this exact tank a few days ago when I saw it on a Lululemon blog.

I love my Lululemon
..almost more than breathing.

More fun things are to be done today- I’ll check back soon!

Starting Easter weekend

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I have some serious catching up to do. Especially with food pictures. Because I eat a lot of food. A lot.

Last nights dinner was quick as painless.

Chicken strips with broccoli and quinoa. For the chicken, I cut the breasts into strips, dipped them in egg, coated in cornmeal and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. Yum.

It was obviously a great meal, because Layla wanted every bite.

Then, Tyler and I sampled quite a few of those cookies I mentioned yesterday. They were all-too tasty. And I love them.

Mmm, chocolate never goes wrong in my eyes

We watched the third Harry Potter movie and were off to bed. I finally finished Fifty Shades of Grey and have moved on to Loce the One You’re With by Emily Giffin

source
Thank goodness for Facebook, I got some great suggestions on what to read next!

Oh, and I finally changed my dang nail polish

Easter festive!

Speaking of Easter, I gave Tyler his basket early. 1) because I suck at holding on to presents because I love giving them, and 2) because some of the candy in that basket was for me and I wanted it!

I.love.easter.candy.

This morning’s breakfast was nice and hearty because we were going for a hike with joe, Twyla, and all the doggies. I had oats mixed with 1/2 mashed banana, raisins, cinnamon, honey, almond milk and almond butter.

We drove to the mountains for our hike and I was able to get some b-e-a-utiful pics.

And my water dog..

Tyler had put some chicken in the crockpot before leaving, so dinner was practically made when we got home (and finished painting the living room!!!!!!! Yay, no more painting for a LONG while!!!! Jen is happyyyyy!)

On to Harry Potter movie número cuatro, some brewskis, and of course…. Easter candy 😉

You’re gonna sweat

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

My intention to be more proactive this week is proving to be very beneficial- I am getting so much done!

Last night, Tyler made burgers on the barbie. I needed to cut some carbs, so please guess which plate is mine:

(Hint: It’s not the first one)

It hit the spot!

We watched Survivor (how Tarzan is still in there, I’ll never know. But, the game is afoot..) then watched the 2nd Harry Potter movie.

Oh, and it snowed last night, but I don’t want to talk about it.

Today got off to an early start. Same breakfast as yesterday (english muffin topped with almond butter and a sliced pear on the side) then I headed off to the Y for some cardio intervals then a Bosu class. The class was 75 minutes and it was a FULL BODY workout. I have wanted to buy a Bosu for a while so that I can add another element to my home workouts, but they’re so dang expensive. Why is it that I can get a stability ball for $19.99 but a Bosu costs $109? I am so confused. Until I win some sort of lottery, I will continue to go to the gym for any Bosu workouts.

The past two days of workouts have been so intense, I will probably not be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning. I’m wiped! The long walks with Layla afterwards have been helpful- they keep my legs loose and my dog happy. Double win.

After my workout, I had to go run some top secret errands (to be revealed some time within the next week). I actually had some Canadian cashola on me, and guess what? It’s see-through!

Crazy right? It feels like Monopoly money. (Yes, I know my nails have been green for too long. I am making that change tonight– going to be Easter festive!)

That money went straight towards my secret errands but the coffee-THE COFFEE- was free. My favorite word. Well, free for my anyways. I had a gift card. Grande medium roast- black. Mmmmm, good.

I thought my errands were going to be quick, but day-umm Canadians are slow. It took one cashier about 40522985 minutes to scan one item. ONE. Then, at Starbucks, it was like the coffee was Molasses- couldn’t be poured any slower. Perhaps I am just too used to the bang-bang-boom pace of Americans. Perhaps that’s not how people like to roll here. But I do. Unless it’s like a super-hot cashier and I have the potential of getting a bigger discount (Sorry Tyler, but if it saves money..)

Lunch was spinach topped with a leftover mini-burger, scrambled egg, onion/poppyseed dressing and ketchup. Yum to the 10th power.

More things to do: ~~Play Draw Something, watch Mad Men,~~ laundry, cooking, painting..

I will leave you with a great, sweaty workout you can do at home (I did this a few times down in Florida last month on the balcony of my parent’s condo. So it really is a workout you can do anywhere)

These are four different tabata sets, each with two different moves. So: move 1 for 20 seconds, rest for 10; move 2 for 20 seconds, rest for 10; move 1 for 20 seconds,rest for 10…and so on. You will complete that 16 times, so each move in the set is done 8 times. Then move to the next set.

Set 1

Side shuffle with high knees (two shuffles right STAY LOW, then 4 high knees, two shuffles left, 4 high knees, etc.)
Wall sit

Set 2

Quick feet with pushup (quick feet in place for a few seconds, down for one pushup, quickly get back up and repeat)
Lunge hop (start in lunge position, ex: right foot forward, left back, putting your weight into your right leg, bring the left leg forward, bringing you left knee into your chest and hopping simultaneously, with your left leg landing back into its starting position. Do each leg 4 times in the set)

Set 3

Pilates pulse (feet in the air or heels on the ground, lean back to feel core engage, arms at your sides with the palms down, and pulsing your arms)
Leg lifts

Set 4

Squat thrust jumps
Mountain Climbers

You’re welcome.

Eats, sweets, and sweats

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hello, lovahs! I have been making today a great day, so win for me! Imma get to the blog title. First up, eats and sweets.

Yesterday, I made a batch of beer bread to go with dinnah. I used this beer

…added a few other ingredients, and 35 minutes later, I got this

Yup, it was good. Too bad I had two slices of this stuff before dinner. No carbs to be had on my dinner plate! But for Tyler’s sake, I whipped up some chicken sausage with roasted mushies and zucchini ~~to accompany the bread.~~

I got even more creative in the kitch-kitch and threw together a fruit crisp. I had frozen strawbs and about 4 apples leftover in the fridge from a previous Costco run.

It was super simple. I just mixed the fruit with a few tbsp of honey then topped with a butter/brown sugar/oat/whole wheat flour/cinnamon mixture. Popped in the oven for 45 minutes and shizzam, dessert is ready

We enjoyed our dessert while watching the first Harry Potter movie. Since Tyler and I are on a series kick, we decided we are going to get through all 7. I might start referring to people as muggles and yell out spells (petrificus totalus) rather than swear. Not a promise, but I wouldn’t doubt it from happening.

Blah, blah, blah, cut to a bunch of hours later and this was my breakfast

English muffin topped with almond butter and a pear. ( I don’t know bout y’all, but I like my pears super ripe. Like, no crunch. Also like, I bought these pairs 9 days ago and they’re finally ready. Hit the spot.

Last eat to mention in this post is my post workout lunch:

Spinach topped with cooked sweet potato and onion poppyseed dressing. Then, a piece of beer bread topped with melted chocolate chips and banana slices

My favorite part were these little guys:

Ooooh, that makes my mouth water.

K, enough with the eats and sweets -sheeze, it looks like I eat a lot– I’m going to move on to the sweat part of my day…

I went to the Y and did a 20 min HIIT workout on the elliptical ( need to rev the metabolism like whoa) then took a 60 min Muscle Blast class. confession: I haven’t taken a class in A MONTH. Who am I?!!? I was really excited that I was able to add more than my usual weight to the barbell. Means I’ve been doing something right in my own workouts! 🙂 plus, I’m really loving these clean and jerks..

I then finished my Y workout by doing another 10 min HIIT session on the elliptical. About a 90 minute workout today…so far. I’m off to take Layla for an adventure before it snows ( we’re supposed to get a foot?! Say whaaa?!) and do a little at-home sweat sesh that I’ll post later.

Hope everyone is having a great day!
anyone accomplish/learn anything new in the gym recently?

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Share me please!

Share me please!

Share me please!

Share me please!

Share me please!