Thursday Things

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-I have been enrolled in this round of Best Body Bootcamp, but I haven’t been as gung-ho on the workouts. I look at them to gain inspiration an maybe refresh my memory on some moves I may have forgotten, but I just haven’t felt I’ve been getting the results I want from them. So, to change it up, I have been referring to one of my favorite books, The Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises. I think it’s doing the trick, because my bod has been SORE for the past week. SORE JEN= HAPPY JEN.

Favorite moves as of late:

Single Leg Glute Bridge on Foam Roller

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(Source)

Single Arm Cable Row and Rotation

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Reverse Lunge with Overhead Press on Gliding Disc (<—-click link to see video demo and written description)

-I took the pups to the park the other day and there was a sign about moose sightings.

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I have been here 17 months now and have YET to see a moose.

-Speaking of 17 months, it has also been that long since anyone has come to visit me. I’m not overseas people, get your lazy butts on a plane and come visit. Free ride from the airport and free place to stay. C’mon.

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(Source)

-I had an interview yesterday! Keeping my fingers crossed. Sported the scarf my bestie Katie gave me during my wedding morning shower/mani/pedi party.

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-Anyone watch The Amazing Race? Well, the premiere of Amazing Race Canada aired here this week and yep, it’s only in Canada. The whole race. Lame. But since I have nothing better to do, I’ll be watching.

-My photographer only sent a couple of photos to me last night, and most of them were detail shots, but this one made me laugh out loud. Combine lots of prosecco with a corset and you’ve got yourself a couple of laughs.

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(photo courtesy of Sarah Smith Photography)

-I have been on a huge fruit binge lately. This morning, I made this:

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Yep, delicious.

What’s your favorite way to eat fruit? 

Current favorite exercise move?

An Anywhere Workout

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Another week. Blah

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Obviously not much has gone on since I last posted. Especially now that we are back in Calgary and I am back to my boring old routine of sleep-clean-workout.

I figured I’d share with you one of the workouts I did while I was in NY. This was the only one I could really remember off the top of my head, as most of them were hodge podge workouts with what equipment I had available and how much time I had.

Luckily for me, my parents have a treadmill in the basement and 5-8-10 lb sets of weights so I am able to do a lot with those while also incorporating some body weight stuff, TRX, Gliding Discs, etc.

So I did this workout last friday (7/5) right before I had to get ready for our rehearsal dinner. Everyone (‘everyone’ being Tyler, my mom and dad, and my godparents) was sitting in the kitchen enjoying some early afternoon cocktails while I snuck in about a 20 minute workout. The first part of the workout was the following:

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Note: The ATW weighted lunges require holding a dumbbell and mimicking this order: front lunge right, side lunge right, reverse lunge right, reverse lunge left, side lunge left, front lunge left. Get it?

Note #2: The standing crunches do not require weights, but you can hold one for an extra challenge, which I did. Standing up, hold a dumbbell in your right hand with you arm fulling extended overhead and palm facing forward. Drop the elbow at the same time as you draw your right knee up in attempt to touch knee to elbow. Get it?

I did this 3x through then got on the treadmill for 10 min of 60:60 HIIT (sprint 60 seconds, jog 60 seconds).

I was pretty dang sweaty, but needed it to get myself prepped for the evening ahead!

Tidbits from the last week or so

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Let me start off by saying Hi. It’s been a while, I know. We were in NY from July 3-10, had a TERRIBLE overnight layover in Chicago, and have been dealing with a medical problem with Layla ever since we got home. So, not too much time or desire for me to really sit at the computer and blog away.

Second, this isn’t a wedding post. There will be one, but I really want to wait for the sneak peek shots from our photographer. And I obviously have no photos since I was mostly in other people’s photos and I don’t wait to steal theirs! So, if you’re DYING to see pics, you can check out Athena’s post on my wedding. Until then, sit tight.

Some thoughts over the past week or so:

-I am really good at falling asleep on planes. Tyler, not so much. Therefore, I bought him a beer in Chicago while we waited for our second flight.

-I FOUND MY FAVORITE BEER EVER at one of the local beverage stores in my parent’s hometown.

Image-I FINALLY bought new sneaks. I hadn’t bought a pair since Feb 2012 and desperately wanted/needed a new pair by Oct/Nov last year, but couldn’t fathom paying these stupid Canadian prices. On the 4th, Tyler and I drove down to Albany and indulged in quite a few purchases with American price tags. Aka: my haven.

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-Speaking of sneaks, I managed to get in some good *SWEATY* workouts while we were in NY. I packed my TRX in my suitcase and was able to incorporate that in 2 of my home workouts, did another countdown workout (on the back 3-season room where the AC was off but I was at least in the shade pre-wedding and didn’t have to worry about getting tan lines) and a SWEET circuit workout at the hotel gym on the morning of the wedding (I got up at 6:30am to get a much wanted workout before it all started!).

-And now speaking of workouts, there were obviously a couple of days I didn’t workout while we were there, but I didn’t entirely mind. Because, umm duhhhhhh, it was my wedding week! I indulged in what I wanted (see: Sutton’s Apple Dumplings, Frozen Dreams soft serve, BEER..) And guess what? some of this was BEFORE I put that dress on. The very dress that I had my final fitting in January for. And I FIT IN IT. Hallelujah.  I don’t weigh myself anymore, but I left NY feeling no different about my body than I did before we went. WHICH IS PRETTY DANG AWESOME. 

-We went to Crandall Park in Glens Falls to listen to the Orchestra and watch fireworks. And drink beer.

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This was one of the days I managed to get in a workout and got done just before we left for the park. Hence no makeup/looking somewhat human.

-Our rehearsal dinner was YUMMMMMMMMY and well worth the pretty penny it cost. (More on that in a different post, I’m just trying to post tidbits here today!)

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(Thanks for the photos, Kysh!)

 

-My hotel suite for Fri/Sat night was TWO FLOORS. And pretty awesome. Minus the spotty wi-fi that I so desperately wanted so that I could use my phone!

-The girls surprised me with a sweet morning oh breakfast/manis/pedis. And mimosas. Lots of mimosas. I’m pretty sure my bridesmaid, Katie was the life of that morning. She had us in stitches the whole time. Oh, and they all got me gifts….totally didn’t see that nice little surprise coming! Thanks girls! (And mom, and Ingrid and Aunt Marion!!)

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-I’m 100% certain my photographer caught some images of me naked while my Mom and Matron of Honor were trying to get that dress up my body. I think those are going to be the funniest photos and I really want to blow one up and put in my office. For no other purpose than for shock and awe to future houseguests.

-I ate approximately 2 bites of my meal that night because I was busy talking to EVERYONE, busy DRINKING, busy DANCING, and busy DOING PUSHUPS.

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-We played a LOT of Dominos post-wedding weekend. Mainly because it was the easiest thing to entertain ourselves while drinking at home.

-In addition to the above point, my dad yanked their ENTIRE cable package for the house, so we had no option of watching TV other than local cable channels. Which consisted of horse races, a continuously running commercial for a local jewelry store, and a never-ending CSI:Miami marathon.

-Layovers due to United Airlines SUCKING at O’Hare will result in an overnight stay at Super 8 (which wasn’t even complimentary), waiting for a shuttle to said motel, having the shuttle put a PILOT in the trunk so he wouldn’t have to wait for the next shuttle, and having to order pizza at 1am since we had not eaten in over 14 hours. Oh, and wearing the same clothes for over 24 hours sans toothbrush or deodorant. Needless to say, Tyler and I had an unspoken agreement not to makeout that next day.

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-Of course the rescheduled flight the next day would consist of a women hacking a lung the entire flight, and the rest of the occupants being TEN YEAR OLDS. And the most hyper one sat behind me. His judo chops and kicks are NOT comparable to massage chairs.

-I’m pretty sure if you’re a cab driver, you should have remote knowledge of the area where you drive. The guy we got stuck with once we landed in Calgary took us for a bit of a ride. The end.

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-I am REALLY sad that week is over. It was WAY too much fun and 10000000000 times better than I thought it would be while I was planning it.

-Fake eyelashes are THE SHIT.

-Tyler was destined to be a part of the family as far as my mom is concerned. They share a love for margaritas. Especially the ones I make.

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K, that’s it for now. If I don’t hear from my photographer soon, I’ll be posting her e-mail/phone # for all you guys to contact her on my behalf. That should definitely do the trick.

 

Eats and Exercise: 7/2

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Hey guys. The last week and a half have been pretty crazy. Ok, well not really, but they were definitely not routine. Tyler had been home the whole time (his office downtown was still closed from the flood. ps: he just told me he got evacuated already this morning since the power shut off) so meals and sleep patterns and everything has been just a bit off. Except my workouts- I kept those pretty normal. I didn’t take to many dinner pics since it was actually HOT and more often than not, we would pick at stuff in the fridge rather than actually cook a meal. But here’s what I did manage to get:

7.2 dinner

 

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7.2 dinner3

 

7.2 dinner4

Workouts last week looked like this:

  • Sunday: OFF
  • Monday: Hot Yoga (Traditional), Athlete’s Workout from Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises, 20 min cardio
  • Tuesday: Hot Yoga (BV), Wedding Prep Workout from WH, 30 min cardio
  • Wednesday: Hot Yoga (Union), Strength Workout from WH, 20 min cardio
  • Thursday: Hot Yoga (Traditional)
  • Friday: Hot Yoga (Traditional)
  • Saturday: Workout (Pictured below), 10 min cardio, Another circuit workout focusing on hamstrings and bi/tris.
  • Sunday: Hot Yoga (BV)

7.2 workouts

 

I didn’t do any of the Best Body Bootcamp workouts last week because I was mostly focusing on my last week of Hot Yoga (from my monthly unlimited pass) and I really wanted to try other strength workouts before the wedding.

Oddly enough, lately I have been considering getting into heavy lifting. I have found the DB’s I use are just feeling too easy in a lot of my exercises. Only problem is that I EASILY bulk up when I lift heavy. Hmm…

Yesterday was yet another hot day, so I really didn’t have the drive to get a workout done while the sun was still up. Plus, my gym was closed anyway for Canada Day, so I knew I had the luxury of completing a home workout at whatever time I wanted. SOOOOOOOO, at 10:30 last night, after the sun FINALLY went down, I managed to bust through a pretty good workout.

I have written the exercises below, but to further explain: There are 6 exercises and 6 cardio moves. I performed 10 reps of the first exercise (on each side when necessary), then did 30 seconds of its corresponding cardio. Repeat this 3 times, then move on to the next move/cardio combo. Hope that makes sense.

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In other news, I dropped the kiddos off at the boarders this am. And now I am sad because the house is so darn quiet. I miss those idiots so much already.

7.2 dogs

 

Time to pack.

What have you been up to lately?

Happy Humpday, y’all

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Happy Humpday, y’all.

Tyler just found out that his office is closed until next Tuesday. Hot dang. This gives him almost 3 weeks out of the office, since the day after he’s supposed to go back, we head to New York!

I tried Union Hot Yoga this morning. Yeah…super workout. LOVED the instructor. I’m pooped.

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I read this post this morning and TOTALLY identified with it. There are some dum dums at the gym and I can’t staaaaaand them. (Hint: It’s a Gym Rant)

annoy

 

I got my hair did yesterday. If you need someone in Calgary to do your hair, ask for Alicia at Karma Salon and Spa.

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New nail polishes: Muchi, Muchi and Pure Pearlfection. (Gotta stay late pre-wedding so I don’t stain my nails!)

6.26 nails

 

EVERYONE GO MAKE PICO DE GALLO NOW. It’s so summery and so tasty and so…healthy.

  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • Chopped cilantro to taste
  • 1-2 t minced garlic

THE END.

We started using those Crest White Strips this week. Gotta have pearly whites for pic, ya know. We got those 30 min ones and basically just sit in silence the whole time because otherwise we talk like we have headgear in. Or we sound like me every night with my retainers in. Because yes, I still wear them.

Tyler is currently manning the ‘Cue so I gotta go get some salads ready for din din. PEACE.