Photo Montage Galore

I’m still alive. Yup. Just haven’t had enough things to actually chat about on here lately. So…yeah.

Things of lately (obviously if you follow me on Instagram, you got the idea already. And if you don’t follow me on Instagram, then please do!)

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Workouts have been pretty consistent. I have been mixing it up between outdoor runs, home circuit workouts, TRX, spinning, tabatas, and as of tonight….HOT YOGA! I purchased another one-month unlimited pass today and attended the Bikram Vinyasa Flow class. Love Love LOVE it because not only did I get a killer workout, but it allowed me to completely shut my mind off for 75 minutes. So lovely.

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The creepy pic that’s second down on the right (in the above montage) was a workout I did early in the morning last Friday before we hit the road to Edmonton. It’s super tiny print, so here’s the quick, but effective workout I managed:

4 tabatas (Tabata= 20 seconds WORK, 10 seconds REST, repeated 8 times for a totaly for 4 minues). I alternated between 2 moves for each tabata.

1: Jump squats/Jumping jacks with pulse squat

2: Pushups/Tricep dips

3: Fire Hydrants (alternating between L and R sides. link to video demo here.)

4: Russian twist/Lying weight press

So yeah, we went to Edmonton (about a 3 hour drive north of Calgary) for one night. It was a long weekend here, and everyone seemed to be getting out of town, so that’s what we decided on. Nothing glamourous. Just a chance to get away. We hit up the West Edmonton mall (ummmm they have an ice rink and an amusement park and a water park and SEA LIONS. Yeah, and lots of stores too) and found a nice spot for dinner, MKT. I decided to indulge and ate some foods I would NEVER order. Of course, my stomach totally paid for it, but I really enjoyed the evening with Tyler.

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The puppies have been getting some outdoor time, too!

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We hit our usual spot today. But I decided to take the four-legged friends up a bit of a hill just to see the view. (Just kidding, it was just to see how disastrous it would be to climb a hill with stairs with two dummies on leashes). It’s a bummer the photo didn’t come out as sweet as the view, but I tried..Maybe try clicking on it to enlarge it so you can see my stupid little write-up.

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And to round off my ‘catching up’ post (although I’m sure there’s tons I forgot, so I’ll probably mention them whenever) I made a batch of muffins this morning. I had a ton of fruit laying around the house, and I knew I needed to use some up before it all went bad (already have tons in the freezer, too!) I used a recipe that I’ve used before, but adapted to what I had readily available in the kitchen.

muffins

Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

  • 2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 c agave nectar
  • 1/2 c brown sugar
  • 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 T white vinegar + the rest almond milk to equal one cup
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 1 1/4 c fresh blueberries

* Check out the original recipe, linked above. I used agave instead of honey, 1 full cup almond milk (w/1 T white vinegar) rather than 1/4 c yogurt + 3/4 c milk) and whole wheat flour instead of white whole wheat flour. Just improvising with what I had!

  1. Preheat oven to 325, spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
  3. In another bowl, mix agave nectar and brown sugar until fully combined- no lumps! Add the banana, milk mixture, and egg. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once fully incorporated, fold in the blueberries.
  4. Pour batter into muffin tin. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until tops of muffins are slightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the muffins come out clean.

What food/meal have you been loving lately?

Favorite place to get away…even if it’s just for a night?

DO YOU LIKE MUFFINS??!! (you don’t have to answer that)

Don’t You Forget About Me

I hope you didn’t forget about me. I didn’t forget about you!

There have been several instances over the last 11 days where I have told myself there were good things to blog about. BUT: 1) I wasn’t in the mood to blog; and 2) I sort of had social media burnout. Sure, I was on vacation for about a week, but I was just in a moment of being fed up with blogs. And not just my own. twitter got annoying too. I suppose what really got me flustered was all the shameless self promotion. Who knows. Anyways, that’s over with and I am back in Calgary in my old routine of being a Betty who Bakes and Blogs and works out and walks the dog. Exciting.

So let’s have this post be a catch-up of what I have been up to lately.

I flew to Seattle to see my best friend. My connecting flight was on a teensy tiny plane.

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But, I had my own aisle, so there was a bonus.

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And I hung out with a baby

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And I drank my FAVORITE beer, Pyramid Brewery Ale. 

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And I made Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins

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And I ate a lot of them with almond butter

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And we went to Seattle for a Living Social St. Patty’s Day Cruise…and it was so much fun. Three of us drove up late in the afternoon, checked into our hotel, had dinner (and beer) and then boarded the ship where plenty of additional beers were consumed and promptly burned off with copious amounts of dancing. I think that night was the most fun I’ve had in about a year. 

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…and there are approximately 190 other photos that I won’t put on here from that night 😉

I also only worked out ONE out of the SIX days I was there. (3 mile run) I don’t think I gained any weight, but it sure as heck affected my attitude. Goes to show you HOW MUCH I need fitness in my life! My flight back to Calgary landed around 2:30PM on Wednesday, and I was on a treadmill by 4:30PM.

Speaking of fitness.. I joined a new gym! Granted, this gym isn’t as convenient as the Y-which is right across the street- but it is only about a 3 minute drive. The best part: ALL classes are included in the regular membership fee AND…there are two sides of the gym: one is co-ed and the other is women’s only. The women’s locker room connects the two sides, and I have already found myself flip-flopping from side to side to use different equipment or to have a different atmosphere. AND…their peak hours consist of no more than 10 or so members in the gym at the same time. Probably the best thing ever.

So that’s pretty much it as of late. I’ll check back in with my recent eats/recipes/workouts soon! (Because long posts are terrible!!)