Halfway through Humpday

Some recent downloads:

Birthday Cake– Rihanna

Liv Tonight– Nelly & Keri Hilson

Turn All the Lights On– T-Pain feat. Ne-Yo

I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now– Lupe Fiasco feat. MDMA

Too Close– Alex Clare

Drive By– Train

Does anyone have any suggestions that I can add to my music collection?? Purdy please?!

******

Let’s get back to my Humpday, shall we? I was itching to do something today, so what’s free and easy? A walk! It looked nice out, and boy was I right!

Hey, Napoleon, how much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?!

Speaking of Napoleon Dynamite, I’mma tell you a story. Picture it: Freshman year at college. Making friends. Drinking CHEAP beer. Being silly, Studying (that one’s for you, mom and dad), and what not. So on a random trip to Wal-Mart- the mecca of keeping college students entertained- I decide to buy a hamster and name him Napoleon. BUT, it had to be pronounced ‘Na-po-leoooo(silent n)’ If I knew how to add a sound bit of the correct pronunciation, I would. I bought him a pink wheel and a pink castle and snuck him into my dorm. (The dorm nicknamed The Virgin Vault because of strict security to not allow any boys to come in and visit us awesome froshie gals). Anyhoo, Napoleon lived the life at college. I often let him roam the halls in his little ball and I would often get instant messages from other girls in the dorm saying they saw him roll by. Often, it would be girls on other floors. He was a magical hamster that could handle the stairs.

Weird tangent, but now you know. Sadly, Napoleon’s life was cut short when I left him in his cage at home while I went on vacation to Florida that following summer. When I came back, I realized he ran out of food, so I fed him Craisins. Turns out, Craisins are poison to those little fellas. RIP Napoleon: 2004-2005.

*Cough, cough* So, today’s walk. Beautious. Like, not a cloud in the sky. Layla was happy as a clam. So was I. Minus the wind. And wind burn I discovered upon return. Minor deets.

Yeah, I take a lot of pictures of my dog. You would too, if you were (dare I bring it up again) unemployed. At least I’m giving her all the atteny-ten-ten-tion she deserves! I always justify her spoiledness by reminding people of the fact she was a rescue pup and was shot in the face and is missing a bit of her left ear and is deathly afraid of garbage bags. With that, she can have all the walks she wants.

Now here’s where I will display the extent of my artistic photography:

No clouds, bright blue sky, and a glimpse of tree branch on the bottom left. Boom, done. (*Note: I did take the lovely picture you see on the header of this blog!)

Lunch today was going to be the Creamy peanut butter chocolate avocado smoothie I saw on get healthy with heather, but I swapped the avocado for spinach when I found that my avocado should have been tossed about a week ago. whoops. Here’s my modified recipe I took from her blog:

  • 2 handfuls baby spinach
  • banana
  • 1 c. almond milk
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ice

 

I am slurpin’ this sucker down now! Yum!

Any favorite/interesting smoothies out there? I’m all ears!!

Canada For The Win…today.

I promised you last night’s workout, so here it is..

12 minute tabata (the gym was cray cray packed and I needed cardio like whoa)

  • incorporated up/downs, jump rope, heel taps

Upper body combo

  • 12 bicep curls
  • 12 side raises
  • 12 hammer curls
  • 12 front raises
  • 12 open bicep curls
  • 12 overhead press
  • 12 standing fly
  • 12 bicep curl to overhead press

12 minute tabata (gym was still packed and I needed more cardio)

  • incorporated jumping jacks, high knees, alternating front kicks and mountain climbers

Lower body combo

  • Weighted front lunges
  • weighted squats
  • kettlebell swings
  • pliet squat
  • curtsy lunge w/high knees

8 minute tabata

  • incorporated jogging in place, plank jumps, more jacks

Mat work

  • Russian twists
  • V ups
  • Side pushup
  • Side leg lifts
  • Crunches
  • Crunches with weighted oblique twist
  • Weighted toe touches

It was a quick, sweaty an effective workout. My shoulders and glutes feel it!

******

Today has been filled with a whole lot of nothing. I discovered that Layla sniffed the paint while it was still wet (trying to get high?)

I converted my weather to Celsius just to see what the “Canadian Way of Temperature Gaging” was

I could have guessed it on my own, since the only thing I know is 32F=0C, but I thought I’d show you the rest of the forecast as well. Not as bad as you think. These people use Celsius to make it look like they’re suffering more than they really are. I will, however, mention my desire to still be in Boston right about now. It’s like a buttload hotter. For March.

*I hate hate HATE talking about the weather, so you see how eventful today is for me to even bring that up.

Also, the ‘Rogers’ on the top left of that shot does not mean I stole a phone from a guy named Roger. It’s the cell provider here. But I like to think I was badass and stole a phone from a Roger.

I took Layla for a walk. Nothing interesting there, either. It was gorgeous out. And I let the neighborhood see my blonde pom pom. Sadie put in layers, but it wasn’t until I washed and let it air dry (curly= gross) that I realized how much was gone!

Yesterday’s fake mac was NOT a success, so I am hoping to win Tyler back with sawwwwseeeeeeege tonight. Haha, there’s a joke in there, but per usche, I’ll let you think of it on your own.

Let. me. Vent. —>

I paid way too many bills last night/today and have way too little money. The scientific calculation there suggests that that shit is not cool. I had a minor major panic attack last night. You have no idea what it’s like to be in my shoes! I cannot elaborate further because I am a terrible writer, plus I don’t want to get worked up again. I didn’t sleep a wink because of it (On the plus side of that, I read a LOT of Mockingjay to fill the void) Another plus: I did manage to save $471 for my health coverage for the month of April, so there. And a big tongue-sticky-outie face to you, AMERICA. And a thumbs up to you, CANADA. Ahhhh sigh.

Don’t fret, this isn’t a Woe is Me post, there are more optimistic things!

  • My digital free copy of Women’s Health was in my inbox this AM. (did you see all the effects I added to the word ‘free’? I have to rely on anything that comes in that form now. Free advice; free friends; free time. If you have anything free, feel free –pun intended– to send it my way – I’ll totally give you my address. Mmm-kay, thanks.)
  • I did laundry! (Dad, pick mom off the floor. I know, it’s a shocker. Tyler and I have an agreement that he’ll do the ironing though)

Ok, it looks like three is not the magical number for that list, but two is better than none.

Best thing you did today?

Today was a good day.

Hey folks! I have had (still having) a great day. Where shall I begin…

Coffee at Higher Ground with Nicole, my American-living-in-Canada friend! I ordered the Nut ‘N Honey with Soy milk and it was deeee-licious (espresso, soy milk, hazelnut and honey).

I will definitely be visiting there again, they also serve food, beer and wine! My kinda hangout!

We then walked along Elbow River to the Eau Claire YMCA to check out some volunteer/instructing opportunities.

Oh my gosh, that YMCA is 4 floors! It had beautiful, large studios, all new equipment, friendly staff–basically everything you could ask for! We spoke with the Member Services Director and she was thrilled to offer us volunteer slots as well as personal training and group fitness opportunities. I am beyond excited, because I can actually get paid to teach at that Y! By the end of our impromptu meeting, my cheeks hurt because I was smiling so much from hearing all these possibilities..plus, she referred me to another privately owned gym that was also located downtown.

We walked a bazillion miles and had worked up an appetite, so we decided to hit The Hose & Hound for lunch. I had to take a pic of the Calgary Tower as I drove past.

Who cares what we had for lunch.. here are our beers! I had the Wild Rose Raspberry Ale. Yum yum in my tum tum.

(For the sake of sounding healthy, I had some sort of salad with chicken and almonds and carrots and…stuff. Again, very good).

I was so glad to meet up with Nicole- we really got to vent about all the obstacles of moving to Canada. I’m not going to get in to it here-because I’d probably get so worked up that the rest of this post would consist of a lot of asterisks and bad words. Not blog-friendly.

After my billionty mile walk downtown, I came home and went for another gazillion mile walk with Twyla and all three doggies. My puppies are hurtin’! (Not the actual puppies; I was referencing my feet). I think I have definitely gotten more than my fair share of physical activity for the day.

Now I must do my strength training…..in the form of 12 oz. curls.
Hello, Thursday night.