I’m pretty much Canadian now!

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I really only have one thing to say……..

After a slow morning, a finished book, and a quick nap, I checked the mail only to find that I got my confirmation of permanent residency in Canada!!!!!! WHICH MEANS I have to drive to MT only to turn around and re-enter as a resident, then….I GET A JOB. As in….I CAN EARN MONEY. As in…I can buy more LULU!!!

But I jumped the gun in my excitement and ended up heading right to Lululemon anyways.

I have had my eye on this shirt ever since it was uploaded to the lulu website.

Jen is happy happy happy.

Nothing else I could type in this post would be as exciting, but I DO have a cool recipe to share with you tomorrow (I wanna eat it first to make sure it’s yumm-o enough to share).

Tyler and I have been having a good stroke of luck over the last week.

I won us 2 tickets to the Calgary Home & Garden Expo
Tyler took on some overtime work (basically just got paid to be on call)
We went to dinner on Saturday at The Rock and a stranger who sat at the opposite end of our table ended up paying our tab

Our wedding is pretty much squared away
See first picture 😉

Random Things

Yesterday, I managed to get Workout A done in Phase 4 of BBB (HOLY CANNOLI it was crazy intense!). I also did 100 burpees throughout the commercials of The Biggest Loser; however, halfway through the show, I realized the Y might close earlier due to the holiday, so I called and found they were in fact closing at 8. I had Tyler pause the episode (only did 60 burpees by that point), I buzzed over to the Y, and busted out an awesome ‘Building Sprints’ cardio session on the treadmill. Then I came back, finished the show, and finished my burpees. Boom!

Our walk on Family Day. We saw ducks

I am currently on the hunt for the best AND BRIGHTEST running shoes. I totally have to order them online though, because no store ever carries women’s shoes in size 11.5. Believe Me (and if they do, they’re usually super UGGGGGG-LAYYY)

I love these two jams as of late:

Sunflower butter is SO easy to make. Put sunflower seeds in a food processor and pulse (occassionally scraping down sides) for quite a few minutes. Once the seeds release their oils, it becomes smooth pretty quick. All natural and PERFECT for tons of recipes. Or to eat by the spoonful. I don’t judge.

Hey, remember when I was pimping Pv.Body- that monthly athletic wear subscription? Well, guess what. They have slightly changed. And I think it’s for the better. They have just come out with their own clothing line, Ellie. As a member, each month they release new items and you can choose one top and one bottom that you would like for your subscription. If you don’t like anything, you can opt to skip the month- for no fee or penalty. I’m still waiting for my first round of Ellie clothing to come in the mail so I can write up a little review for ya, and THEN I’ll provide a link where you can get a discount (20% off) on the subscription- remember, that discount will only be through my link!

What’s something you’re excited about this week?

Harlem Shake

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I have a clusterfudge of stuff to share with you (it took me 4 days to gather enough stuff worthy of a post)

Let’s start with food. I have been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen lately. Mostly they are just new recipes on basic meals. Still, it was fun to follow other recipes and see how they turned out.

First up: PIZZA. Tyler and I love pizza. We used to order it all the time, but I have chosen to make our pizzas as a means of controlling what goes into the mix. I like knowing there are no preservatives in my food, thankyouverymuch. However, most all the recipes I tried resulted in uber doughy pizza. Yuck. I don’t want bread for dinner, I want PIZZA.

After going home in January, I learned some special tips and tricks from my parents as to how to yield a decent homemade pizza (keep in mind the altitude in NY and the altitude here are drastically different).

Here’s a pic of my pizza- it had pineapple, olives, peppers, prosciutto, and a bit of leftover bacon crumbles from Tyler’s pizza.

It was really good- especially topped with tons of sriracha!

Sunday morning/afternoon, I made us brunch. We had hit up Costco on Saturday, so we were freshly stocked up on produce and meat and lots of other goodies.

Nothing like a TON of food on a Sunday afternoon to make you lazy. But that fruit was faaaaantastic. And so was the coffee..obviously.

Later that night, I decided to whip up yet another recipe that I finally snagged from my mom. In my parents town, there is this hot dog place that is out of this world fantastic. Not only are they tasty, but they are super cheap, and they have this really awesome meat sauce on them. My mom got the recipe from my uncle, and now it is finally in my hands. Bwahaha.

We used some of the yummy Costco hot dogs as our base (I think I managed to eat about half of this. Phew, was it a lot of food). The sauce took about 2 hours to simmer, and I’m pretty sure the next time I make it, I’ll have to put a lock on the lid- I went to the gym while it was simmering and I’m pretty sure Tyler would’ve eaten it straight out of the pot because the smell was so good.

If only there was smell-o-vision (or…smell-o-internet??)

Next up..cookies! I had recently gone to the health food store and picked up a bunch of ‘different’ baking ingredients so I decided on some paleo chocolate chip cookies.

I used this recipe, but substituted agave nectar for honey/maple syrup, used an egg, and used carob chips rather than chocolate chips (almost the same thing. google it)

They came out pretty great! At least, my tastebuds thought so because I inhaled way more than I’m willing to admit.

Ok. NEXT! Chili. I’m now on the Meatless Monday bandwagon- simply as a means to find more meals I can throw together without meat, both for money saving and health reasons.

I chose to use this recipe. Only changes I made were omitting one onion and adding a zucchini.

Meh. Quite flavorless. I added tons of sriracha in mine and Tyler mixed shredded cheddar in his, and there was hardly an ‘oo’ or an ‘ah’ at the table. I also had some leftover dough from pizza-making on friday, so I balled it off, topped with melted butter and garlic salt, and viola!

Sad to say that was probably the best part of the meal. No bueno, folks.

And last, but certainly not least, in honor of pancake day today, I made a hearty stack of coconut flour pancakes.

They took forever to cook on the griddle (different consistency since I was using coconut flour) but they still had tons of flavor.

I topped the stack with plain greek yogurt mixed with cinnamon, and strawberries/blueberries.

The fruit was yet again my favorite part of the meal. Yummmm.

Now that I have shown you all this food I’ve been eating, I guess I should jot down what I’ve been doing in attempts to burn it off.

Friday: Strength Workout C from BBB and 20 minutes of spin, followed by only 42 burpees.

Saturday: Day off. I originally planned on doing cardio, but my body felt so dead and heavy, that I opted to switch my cardio to Sunday. Thanks to a pep-talk facebook message from Athena. Thanks!

Sunday: 30 minute run and 90 burpees.

Monday: Strength Workout A from BBB, 125 burpees (done during Biggest Loser commercials) and a 30 minute run.

Now onto random things:

1. Took the dog to the dog park on Friday. Then we hopped in the car and went to another spot along the river for more walk/play.

This girl was plowing her face into the snow and ice so much that she made the bald spot on the inner part of her eyes bleed! Silly.

Lots of passersby were laughing or smiling at her romping and rolling.

2. Got my visa extension in the mail yesterday. Now I can plan a visit to see my best friend in Seattle!

3. I can’t wait to meet her beautiful baby. I’m also really glad to see she’s already pumping the iron I’ve sent her 😉

4. I brought back tons of bottles and cans and cartons to the bottle return the other day. Like, 2 carts worth. And I made $32.35. Too bad I probably won’t be making that much anymore since we are reusing our special bottles for homebrew.

5. Skyfall and The Man With the Iron Fists: bad movies.

6. I am obsessed with the Harlem Shake videos. Honestly, I would post them all here if I could, (and I could), but I won’t. Here are a couple to give you the idea:

I’m off to workout and find another pair of sunglasses since I managed to break my $5 ones that have lasted me about 4 years. What are you up to on this fine, Fat Tuesday??

Burpee Love

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

The last two nights have been fun. Why, you ask? Because I did TONS of burpees. Yes, I am now officially obsessed with them. Only took about 9 years. As soon as Biggest Loser started on Monday night (I watched it at 6pm since it was a New England broadcast) I got right into the strength portion of my Best Body Bootcamp workout. I told myself that during every commercial break of the 2 hour long show I would do 10 burpees. So, on top of getting my designated lower/upper body workout done, I also managed to get 100 burpees done! (And I had run for 36 minutes earlier in the day on the treadmill).

(Source)

Then, yesterday, I managed to bust through a 20 minute circuit workout I originally posted here. Once Bachelor (part 2) started, I did another 100 burpees- this time with an audience- then went to the gym for an AWESOME 30 minutes of HIIT on the bike.

Let’s see, burpees have been my life as of late. Other than that, I have been napping or hanging around the house, so there really isn’t that much to share. I DO have some new music that I’ve recently added to my playlist:

And I DID take Layla to the dog park yesterday to stretch her legs.

I have a new recipe that I’m trying for dinner, so stay tuned to see if I post it (totally to be determined by their outcome!)

Here are some other recipes that I’ve bookmarked:

1. Um, anything and everything CAN be made with sriracha, or ‘rooster sauce.’ This post has 50 healthified recipes that include the stuff.

2. Although there is no chocolate in this recipe, it caught my eye. PB&J is always a winner.

3. Yet another way to make quinoa.

4. Gluten Free cheddar cornbread. Yum

I have also been looking through tons of recipes that use alternative flours, etc. Some are paleo, some are not. I’m not leaning towards eating a particular diet, I just thought it would be fun to play around with different ingredients! Any suggestions?

Let’s rewind.

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I somehow how a little time before getting food ready for the big game that I have decided to catch up on my recent things on these here blog.

I somewhat touched base as I was sitting in the Albany airport, but that doesn’t really count. Let’s rewind to Wednesday night…

Ok, so Wednesday night (my last night in New York) I got dressed after the workout I did at home and headed out to dinner at my FAVORITE local restaurant with mom and dad.

Outfit: American Apparel leggings and a top I scored from JCPenney.

Dinner was at Bistro LeRoux. I seriously cannot praise this place enough. The food, atmosphere and service are all so fantastic. I ended up having Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling, 1/2 order of crab cakes, 1/2 order of poached pear salad with steak, and a lava cake with peanut butter ice cream. I’m not really good at writing about my full experience, but let’s just say that I was ‘mmm-ing’ with every bite. Ahhhh, so good! I can’t wait for my next visit home so I can go there again 🙂

As I was packing later that night, I came across my high school prom dresses. Feel free to laugh at how ugly they are!

That really concludes my trip home. Although, I did manage to wake up at O-dark-thirty on Thursday morning to get in a 40 minute run on the treadmill. I watched a Jillian Michaels infomercial to keep me motivated.

My trip home was a long one. Having a layover in Chicago in the middle of winter is practically a death sentence. My first plane was 45 minutes late, but made good time getting into O’hare. I chilled out for what was supposed to be only a 2 hour layover and had me one of these suckers:

I also had a steak salad, but didn’t take a picture because I was hungry and ate it. Duh.

I then walked all over the terminal not only for exercise, but also because the incoming plane for my gate was super delayed (I was also on the prowl for some good chocolate).

Well, I didn’t fin the chocolate that I wanted, but I ended up settling with a bag of these:

They look like GIANT malt balls

But they are SUPER WEIRD on the inside.

I also managed to take advantage of the DUTY FREE shop! I have never done that before, so it was an interesting experience.

I made my purchase, showed them my boarding pass and ID, then got a receipt with a pick-up tag. The attendant would then meet me at my gate and hand me my purchase as I was boarding the plane. Nothing like being able to carry a big ass bottle of Grey Goose on a plane!

A few hours later, I was home and reunited with my puppy!

And now begins the dog pictures. You have been warned.

Tyler and I enjoyed the first bottle of home brewed wine (It was REALLY good!) and watched the first two episodes of The Following (also REALLY good!) The show was intense.

Friday, I was left at home to get back into my routine. The morning was filled with lounging, house-things, and puppy cuddles.

My workout was the Endurance workout from Best Body Bootcamp (supersets of exercises to be repeated until you reach 100- same as last Friday). I busted them out as I watched recorded episodes of The Mindy Project. After I ran out of episodes- and finished my strength workout- I headed over to the gym for a sweaty 14 miles on the bike. I really missed the Keiser bikes while I was in New York. Oh right, and Layla joined in on my strength stuff. Forgot to mention that.

She was so excited to see me put my coat and shoes on to go to the gym, that I felt bad and ended up taking her for a walk as soon as I got home. She was kinda rude about it, but whatever.

Apparently I didn’t take her on as good of a walk as Tyler has been doing the last few weeks, so as soon as he got home, she was all over him. Traitor.

We rounded out the night with tacos and watched Flight (so glad I waited until after my trip to watch that movie!)

On to Saturday. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. YUM. And lots of coffee. YUMMx2. Then errands.

One of our stops was the mall so that I could pick up my earrings from Tiffany & Co. I had dropped them off last month when one of my screwbacks kept popping off. As the associate unwrapped my earrings, I noticed that not only did they not replace the backing, but they completely reset the diamonds in different posts WITH different (ugly) backings! And the backings wouldn’t even stay on the post! I tried to be as nice as possible, but it was pretty upsetting that they made all these changes without my knowledge. I ended up leaving them there until the Ops Mgr calls me to discuss possible solutions. Fingers crossed I get a free upgrade.

Blah. That was kind of annoying to type. I just want my friggin earrings back!

My workout for yesterday was supposed to be ‘cardio of choice.’ I chose to do a mish-mash of things at home. I did alternating kickboxing and strength moves and finished up with 100 burpees. 100 BURPEES!! Rather than breaking it up into sets of 10, I wanted to bust out as many efficient burpees as I could. I would do as many as I could with the best proper form, record the number, and take a quick break before attempting more. After 15 attempts, I hit the 100 mark. I’m totally going to do this throughout February. I’m starting to love burpees again.

And again, Layla joined me.

Once my workout was complete, I quickly cleaned up and Tyler and I headed to the Flames game! Tyler got tickets from his boss, so it was a sweet (and free) way to have a nice little date night. And of course we enjoyed beer and hot dogs.

The game was actually close, but the Flames lost in a shootout.

Which brings us to today.

PANCAKES.

Chocolate chip pancakes.

With Coffee.

HEAVEN.

Chocolate Chip pancakes

1 cup flour
1 cut oats
2 c + 2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsp baking powder

1. Mix ingredients. Pour batter on griddle. Top with chocolate chips. Flip. Eat.

I was planning on topping with a tiny bit of pure maple syrup, but they were so moist and gooey that it really didn’t need it. Go make these now.

Now I must go put cheese on chips and chips in dips. And watch football.

Question: What’s your favorite pancake flavor?!

Covering all the bases

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Sit down and relax, this is gonna be a long one.

After I spent pretty much ALL morning on the phone with different immigration/customs people, I threw my hands in the air ~~singin’ aaaaaa-yo~~ and called it quits for the day. Moving to Canada has been by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Harder than college or fit tests or solving mathematical equations.

I rewarded myself with a trip to Safeway with Tyler’s credit card. I didn’t go crazy- mostly tons of produce. After I got home, I reheated some leftover tortellini for lunch.

I gave most of the kielbasa to Layla. A) Less calories consumed for me; B) Layla is most likely going to be a gassy mess tonight. Sigh.

I think she felt guilty for having such an indulgent snack that she gave herself timeout.

Funny story: Tyler bought Layla two new toys yesterday, both of them with strategically placed squeakies. Before going to bed last night, I put both of her toys in her bed- where she so conveniently decided to sleep that night. Well, in the middle of the night, she must have readjusted her sleeping position, because the toy squeaked and her, Tyler and I all freaked out. Like, she jumped a foot and Tyler and I instantly sat upright out of a deep sleep. It reminded me of the scene in Home Alone with Kevin’s parents realized they slept through their alarm.

Moving on.

I baked a healthier version of no bake cookies. (Ok, i didn’t bake them, but you know what I mean)

I found the healthier alternative on Eating Bird Food. Really, the only difference is using a mashed banana rather than a stick of butter.

I don’t know if you know this, but bananas are better for you than butter. Unless it’s Sunday, then who cares (I repeat: Calories do not count on Sundays)

These cookies (yes, cookies is plural, I had three because I am the baker and I am allowed) were enjoyed while I read through two new magazines:

Not too many things caught my eye in either of these. Bummer. When I did my prelim flip-through in the store, they looked like they’d be winners.

Hey, remember when I posted about some stuff I bought? Honestly, you should remember because I haven’t been buying anything since I had a job. (Other than health insurance and almond butter from Costco.) Well, it arrived today!

The raspberry ketones and protein powder plus a muscle magazine and two trial packets for free. free. I am really pumped to give these a go tomorrow before an early morning workout!

Speaking of workouts (see how this post just naturally flows?) I thought I’d show you guys my workout from last night:

10 minute HIIT on the elliptical

weighted squat series (x2, make sure to go through on each leg twice with 12 reps)

-split squat

-elevated squat

-reverse split squat

10 minute HIIT on the elliptical

arm series (12 reps of each x2)

-bicep curls

-tricep kickback

-chest press

-dumbbell fly

-shoulder front raise

-lateral raise

-front/lateral combo

-overhead press

10 minute HIIT on the ski-machine thingy. I Googled an image for you if you don’t understand my techincal lingo:

source

ab series (I just did a ton of each until my core was burnt out)

-stability ball crunches

-stability ball weighted russian twists

-stability ball plank

-stability ball side crunches

Overall, decent workout.

This morning, I put my daily fitness goal on facebook

And I did it. And it was hard. And I loved every single burpee. Surprisingly, the burpees got easier the closer I got to 100- my body was in the rhythm to really push through and explode on the jump. That makes me a happy lady. I got so pumped up, I ended up doing a bit of kickboxing as well!

Check out one of my guns

For dinner, I decided to make stuffed peppers. But not our regular ol’ stuffed peps. These were healthy and different and good.

I found the recipe here. I cut it in half so that Tyler could have two, and I would have one. I put some ground beef in Tyler’s because he’s manly and needs meat and protein. Woof.

My lil lone pep. Cute. I decided to dissect it a bit to let you see the innards (Terrible way to describe food, btw)

Last one, just a little bit closer…

Couple of new songs on the iPod for tonight’s workout

Sometimes only adding one or two new songs in the mix really amp up a workout. They helped me get through those burpees!!

On a final note, I am seriously considering buying a Lululemon skirt. Not for running- but for normal everyday summer wear. Yes? No?

Source

Ok, I think that just about covers all the bases. I have run out of things to write about. Hopefully you were entertained? I was…I love blogging this stuff.

I am off to the gym with my 4 new songs and 100 burpee-in guns and I am going to get a serious sweat session on!

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