Weekend Wrap Up

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Breakfast was enjoyed on the patio.

(This plate is only enjoyed on the weekends. Otherwise my cholesterol would be stupid)

We ventured over to Nose Hill Park to stretch our legs and exhaust the puppies. It worked. The sun was super hot and we guessed we did about 3ish miles from the various paths we chose.

I was pretty uncertain what I wanted to do for my workout for the day, up until the very last minute. I signed up for a 6pm Traditional Hot Yoga class, but was VERY reluctant to go since the instructor for this particular class really isn’t my favorite at all. In the end, I was glad I went because my body felt goooooooooood (Even though I rolled my eyes a few times throughout).

While I was gone, Tyler refilled the toiler paper holders, emptied the dishwasher, and went to the grocery store. Crazy, I know.

When I got back, I threw together a pasta salad for dinner. A lot of our meals lately have been super easy to make. Here are some:

From top to bottom, L-R:

Turkey Taco Salad
Buffalo Marinara Bacon and Shredded Chicken
All beef hot dogs topped with DIRT DOG SAUCE and Southwest Salad
Tukey Meatballs over No Yolk Pasta and sauteed zucchini and asparagus
Chicken Fajita pressed wraps
Pasta Salad
Jalepeno Burgers and Taber Corn
Turkey chopped salad from Subway
Grilled Sausages and slaw
Homemade pizza

Last night, we finally got caught up with Breaking Bad. I’m kind of sad to be caught up (even though this last season just started) and now I have no idea what series to Netflix next! Maybe Californication…

Soooooooo, the last week or so I have been doing Hot Yoga. It’s annoying to keep typing, so I imagine it’s annoying to keep reading about. ANYWAYS, I have pretty much only been taking those classes each day with some days having an additional cardio workout at the gym. I’m finally ready to combine yoga with sore of my own strength training workouts- even though some of the BV classes are pretty strength-intense. When I got in bed last night, I just had the urge to do either supersets or pyramids or tabatas…so that’ll probably happen a bunch this week.

end rant. wake up.

What’s a super easy meal you like to make?

Latest favorite workout?

I Like Saturdays

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I like Saturdays. REALLY like Saturdays. Yeah, I know, every day is like a Saturday for me, but the REAL Saturday is the best. Everyone else is happy because it’s the start of the weekend! And good weather on a Saturday is even better.

This week, my Saturday was super. My friend Mackenzie picked me up at 8:30 and we headed out to Canmore.

Since we wanted a relatively easy and quick hike (so we could get back to Calgary in the early afternoon) we opted to do the Grassi Lakes Trail. The parking lot is just past the Nordic Center and had a few picnic tables and restrooms. Lots of trees and a beautiful path!

This hike is very easy. There were lots of families with young children and some older people, too. (Mom, Dad…ya hear that? YOU can do this hike!) On the ‘more difficult’ path, there was just a bit of a climb up some stone stairs, but most of that portion was accompanies by a handrail. You can opt out of the more difficult part, but you won’t get to see the beautiful waterfall!

At the top of the trail, there are the Grassi Lakes. They’re pretty small, but again REALLY beautiful. The path surrounding both lakes was scattered with benches, which would make a great lunch spot. If you go further up into the rocks, platforms were built for rock climbers to do their thing. The pictures don’t really capture the enormity of these mountains.

We went back down on the easy trail just to see how different it was. There was lots of grown up talk (about documentaries and terrorism and other global things) and we stopped for coffee at Good Earth down in town before making it back to Calgary.

After Mackenzie dropped me off at home, Tyler and I went out to run some errands. One of which turned out to be a pleasant surprise when Tyler got me a new pair of sneaks!!! (Seriously ranked up high on the gift list. Besides Lululemon, jewelry and kitchen appliances)

We rounded out the evening with some watermelon margaritas and weiners- topped with Dirt Dog sauce, the best stuff on earth.

Like I said, I like Saturdays.

Friday Events

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Not much to report on this end.

But, it’s Friday!!!

So that’s exciting.

Yesterday the dogs and I headed to the park for a little fun in the sun.

This morning I woke up sore as a muthah. Last’s nights yoga class had a lot of newbies and a few of them were talking throughout class. Talk about ruining the vibe. Very hard to throw my leg up behind my head when there’s giggling going on, ya know.

Pup had to go to the vet this afternoon to determine whether or not his broken tooth needed to be extracted. Sure enough, it does.

Hitting up my last hot yoga class of the week. Good thing cats aren’t allowed in the studio.

I’m making pizza for dinner

(Speaking of Breaking Bad, I’m already halfway through season 4. It’s so good!)

And we’re having MARGARIIIIIIIIIITAAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!! (Said in excited Oprah voice)

That’s all for now, catch ya later!

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!