Well Hello There

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well hello there.

Thanks to those of you who submitted questions for me to answer! I will be putting together that post with answers later on in the week. Keep them coming so I can have more things to divulge!

ANYWAYS. Hi, there! Remember me?! Need a refresher?? Here’s one:
My name is Jen
I live in Antarctica
Just kidding, Canada.
My dogs shed like crazy
I seriously dislike public transit
I workout like crazy
I like wine and beer. I don’t discriminate. Unless it’s a super hoppy IPA, then I have issues.
That about sums it up.

So what the hell have I been up to these past few weeks, you ask?!! (You most likely know if you follow me on Instagram. Conversely, you most likely don’t care.) Here are some highlights:

1. I had my FIRST visitor to Canada! My high school friend, Amy, flew up from NY for a long weekend. Places of possible interest that we hit: 80th & Ivy for dinner, Canmore for shopping/snow games, Lake Louise to see…umm, Lake Louise, Banff {Wild Flour for lunch, Liquor Depot for booze, Saltlik for dinner, Sasquatch for dancing, Caribou Lodge & Spa to sleep, The Keg for brunch. We also made it a point to spend all remaining money on fudge from The Fudgery, as well as visiting The Fairmont, and the Banff Gondola– altitude of 7,667 ft!}, Brewster’s for dinner, Calgary Farmer’s Market to buy anything/everything to have an at-home charcuterie board.

2. Went to Pig & Duke for an insane pulled pork lunch/Lost Coast Tangerine Ale.

3. Started my own personal 30 day hot yoga challenge. I’m not planning on doing yoga for 30 days straight, but I bought a monthly unlimited pass and decided to go 4-5x/week. Pro: It clears my mind and stretches out my hamstrings. Con: They jacked the price to $150. I’m talking to you, Hot Yoga on Crowfoot, don’t make this girl go broke(r)!!!

4. Tyler and I have been meeting with a kitchen consultant at Home Depot to renovate our kitchen. It’s current status: closet-tiny. What we hope the results will be: open and airy and not obvious that it was originally built in 1981.

5. Since it was a long weekend and I got bored, I decided to hop on that demolition train and knocked down one of the two walls we plan on removing to accommodate our new kitchen layout. (I’ve since done way more damage than depicted)

6. I have been obsessed with the Olympics. Ever notice that every Olympic games, the media really focuses on one sport over others? This year, it’s totally Ice Dancing. Cool, but um give me the sports where the guys are wearing unitards. SPANDEX unitards. Also, I have the luxury of watching the American broadcast (Bob Costas, I love you forever) and the Canadian broadcast (where they don’t tell the hockey announcers that they’re still on air and you can hear them humming and clearing their throats. I’m waiting for a fart, though)

(yeah, that may be a dirty inference. Push it…push it real good)
7. Not to bring up any ill-feelings for Bronco fans, but I went out for Superbowl with a friend and we started the evening by wearing our orange/blue beads and had to switch to green/blue beads by half time. Mostly because Seahawk fans were buying us drinks, so we had to comply.

8. I still have a $50 gift card for Lululemon from Christmas and I think I FINALLY found what I want to buy. PS: Popped Amy’s Lululemon cherry when she was here. Methinks she might become just as addicted as I!
9. Just when football season ends and I think I get my husband back on Sundays, he goes and sells back all his old video games and pre-orders 4 new ones. To each their own, I suppose. He coincides his game-playing with bread-making. Besides, I’m gone for about 2 hours each night to attend Hot Yoga classes.

10. I worked out at home and barefoot the other day and the combination of super dry skin + an excessive amount of reverse lunges and plank jacks = tearing the skin off the bottom of my big toe. I’ll spare the picture, just know that it’s gross, it’s painful, and it’s not conducive to all my downward dogging.

11. I haven’t tried a single new recipe lately. Bad Jen. I need to hop back on the baking wagon. I DID, however, try a new sandwich concoction that proved to be WAY TOO DAMN good. It consisted of some locally baked sourdough, sheep’s cheese (vendor at farmer’s market with very heavy accent sold it to us saying this is ‘cheep’ cheese. Not cheap as in less money, but as in “baa-baaa”), Saskatoon berry jam, bacon, and baby kale. Mmm, mouth is watering.

12. I finally put blonde back into my hair. And no one has noticed. It took 3 months for someone in my office to notice that I previously chopped off 6 inches, so I’m guessing it’ll be another month or so before I get comments on the color.

13. Referring back to our adventure at Sasquatch in Banff: drinking age in Alberta: 18. Therefore, most everyone in there was about….18. I told just about everyone that approached us that I could have birthed them. It could ALMOST be true. Also, I saw Sasquatch. He scared me at the coat check.
14. I had Pho for the first time. I called my mom and told her I had Pho and she replied “Mmmm that sounds delicious” and then I asked her if she knew what I was talking about and she said ‘no.’ Sersiouly, does anyone else’s parents act like this? Take another example, holding the phone to their ear while FaceTiming. Ugh.

15. I have done 2305972309572 different workouts lately and plan on sharing some of them in a post later this week.

That’s all I have to share for now. Do you feel sufficiently updated? I do.

In the comments:

Where’s the last place you traveled?

Have any good restaurant experiences lately?

Vacation’s Over. O.V.E.R.

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Please allow for this post to be a sporadic* as possible. My mind= jell-o. Thanks.

My parents just left this morning.

They flew from NY to vegas to stay with friends, then drove to Montana to stay with the same friends (how nice would it be to have homes in both vegas and MT?!), then drove here to stay with me and Tyler. Now they are driving back to Montana, then back to vegas, then flying back home. I am tired just thinking of how exhausting that trip must be. While they were here, we:

Went to the rodeo at the Calgary Stampede for my Birthday!!!

Drank a LOT. (10 out of the 11 days to be exact)

Went to the Grandstand show at the Stampede

Went to Lake Louise and Banff

Ate a LOT. (more on that later)

Shopped
Went to 2 of Tyler’s football games

Played cards

Of course, I cried hysterically when they left. But then I got to cleaning the house and I got over it. Besides, I am flying to NY on AUGUST 6TH for 18 days!!!

About the eating thing. And the drinking thing. I drank like a fish while they were here. A total, sloppy fish. And I supposed I felt like I ate a lot (anything is filling when your belly’s full of booze). And I tried to work out. But I considered their time here as vacation. I got 5 -what i would consider- GOOD workouts. And while at the Stampede and Lake Louise, we were walking around ALL DAY. And sweating. But there was a hot dog with BBQ sauce and bacon consumed. As well as poutine. And, well, the margaritas.

AND GUESS WHAT?!!!

I.did.not.gain.a.single.pound.

I am so happy. You really have no idea. Now please excuse me while I get myself together for a Grade A sweat session. Boy, do I need this.

*I learned this word from Clueless.

Cher: OK, it will get easier, I promise. Just as long as we do it everyday. Not just sporadically.

Tai: How do you know if we’re doing it sporadically?

Cher: That’s another thing, Tai. We’ve got to work on your accent and vocabulary. See, sporadic means once in a while. Try and use it in a sentence today.

Vacation Burn Workout

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Oh Hey.

Just got back from Banff/Lake Louise with Tyler and my parents and the Margarita machine is about to be put into action. BUT FIRST. I thought I would share my latest gym workout with everyone. My arms were a-hunka-hunka-BURNIN’-love afterwards. (Since my parents arrived last week, I have managed to get in a workout about every other day. On days a don’t have an ‘official’ workout, I have been walking walking walking and still sweating sweating sweating.

Vacation Burn Workout

10 minute HIIT workout (90 seconds moderate pace, 30 seconds WORK- this can be either increasing speed or resistance or both. I used the spin bike)

Round 1

Single leg hammer curl x12
Curtsy lunge with bicep curl x12

(then switch and do the same thing to the other side)

Lateral raise x12
Front raise x12
Overhead press x12
Weighted split squat x12

60 seconds of alternating toe taps/jump rope

Round 2

Standing hammer curl x12
Curtsy lunge with knee and lateral raise x2

(then switch and do the same thing except change legs for curtsy lunge)

Lateral raise/front raise combo x12
Tricep kickback x12
4 SETS OF WEIGHTED SPLIT SQUATS (2 sets of 12 each leg…and HOLD THE LAST REP OF EACH SET AS LONG AS YOU CAN!!!!)

10 minutes HIIT (same as above- I did the elliptical this time)

…if you REALLY push yourself, this workout will really get you good ‘n sweaty.

I leave you with some pics from the day:

Started with a 5:30am walk/run with the pup