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Checking In On Those Goals…
Happy Monday!! Well, it was happy for me anyways. They call it “funemployment” for a reason ;)
I must say, I’ve been living back at my mom’s for a week now and I love it. I do not miss Fredericton at all. I don’t miss living alone. For the past 10 days I’ve woken up happy. This has not always been the case over the past year. Life is what you make of it my friends, and I am so grateful I’ve been able to turn mine around :)
So what is a happy girl to do but make a pot of oats first thing?
For the second time, I could just not get oatmeal to absorb all the liquid on my mother’s stove. It doesn’t make sense to me, and I feel like I messed up the measuring cups. Or am losing my mind. So I added a 1/2 tsp each of guar gum and xanthan gum to thicken it up. Worked like a charm!! Would highly recommend for thick n’ gooey oats :)
I am very jealous of my mother’s oatmeal spoon/spatula. It is perfectly shaped to scrape down the sides of a pot. Must get one of these for new place.
Topped the egg-white custard oats with maple pecan peanut butter, coconut and maple syrup.
Check out that thick texture. Ooohhhyeah.
Hot bowl of oats + hot coffee = sweaty Susan. Definitely woke me up, but not this pup.
And my heart just turned to oatmeal mush.
Tried out one of the new-to-mew bars I got in Halifax for my morning snack.
The Elevate Me! bar is made out of whey protein, nuts and dried fruit – that’s it!
The nutritionals are pretty decent. A little high on the sugar and carb side, but it comes from all dried fruit and no additional sweeteners.
I really liked how this bar was divided into three sections. Each square is 80 calories, which would make for good fuel during activity as well.
Honestly, I did not like my first bite. I’ve never been a chocolate and fruit person, so I should have known better when getting something made of dried fruits and cocoa powder. BUT, I did enjoy it more with each bite. My favourite part of this bar was the texture. It was dense and crumbly, which is by far my favourite way to have a bar. At $2.50 a pop, I would not buy this again, but I’d probably try the other flavours out if I caught them on sale.
Shortly after this I hit up the gym with my mom. I still had to run last week’s 3-miler, so I figured I could do that then goof around on some of the other cardio machines.
Except, it was hard. Like, way harder than usual. I should have known better than jumping into a tough cardio session on a Monday after a weekend of hammering my body with booze, junk food, and no sleep. Alas, sometimes I must learn these lessons the hard way.
I also have to add that my left foot is killing me again. I’m scared it’s plantar fasciitis. I started getting symptoms about three weeks ago after walking 5 hours in one weekend. I stayed off it for a week and the pain went away, so I thought I was in the clear. Apparently not. It still hurts. WAIN.
Coming out of a workout in a worse mood than how I went in is never a good thing. But the tasty lunch after helped.
Scrambled some eggs with collard greens, put it on toast, then topped with a mix of hummus, nutritional yeast, mustard and water. Broiled to harden up a bit. Odd combo, but good.
Paired with belly-busting watermelon (ie, it felt like I was going to birth one after. SO filling)
And a reminder that things are never as they seem – I topped everything with hot sauce after. This has been happening a lot lately.
Spent the afternoon reading blogs and helping my mom with housework. Breaked for the world’s best muffin.
Deep chocolate Vitatop topped with peanut butter.
See the crystals? I like ‘em frozen. The texture is much fudgier that way. Honestly, I think I’d take this over a real brownie!
While I snacked and relaxed, my mom was in the kitchen cooking up a storm.
She basted the turkey in the leftover hummus/mustard/nutritional yeast/water mix. Ohmy. It was delicious.
Paired along with baked corn. THE best way to cook corn in my opinion, is to keep it in the husk and pop it in the oven for 30 or so minutes. The husk comes off much easier, and it gets all steamy on the inside. Seriously, if you haven’t done this yet, do it. My mom was sceptical, but she is now a believer.
And some lovely sweet potato pillows in the back there. Tough on the outside, mushy on the inside. Perfection.
Monthly Goal Check-In:
Fitness
Strength train three times a week, with a focus in muscular power. Only got in two full-body workouts. But those two yoga sessions this past weekend made me a whole new kind of sore. So that counts for something!
Run twice a week, increasing my mileage by 10% each week. Only got one 5 miler in. This goal may be put on hold until I get my foot thing sorted out. Honestly, I don’t care enough about running to be that upset about it – I just want to be able to walk without pain!
Food
Stop buying dairy, eating it only when out or when it’s “a must.” I did really well on this, sticking with only 20g of cheese a day MAX (if any). But then I greatly failed over the weekend with a giant piece of coconut cream topped with two inches of whipped cream. Whoops.
Stay away from refined sugars, again eating only for special occasions. I give myself a big ole’ fail on this one. I’m trying, but not hard enough. I just really like sugar. A lot. Which is why I’m trying to cut back! :P
Blog
Add and organize content, new recipes, workouts, and revised pages and categories. Didn’t do much of this, but I did get 20+ guest posts together, so that’s something!
Life
Improve my organization. Make lists, finish them, know what needs to be done, when. I need to get back on this. Not only do I need to plan for a big move, but I’m also going on a big trip to Banff in three weeks.
Spend time with my family. It’s all I’ve been doing :)
Enjoy and soak up every single minute. I know this isn’t a very measurable goal, but I feel like I’m doing really good at this one. Sometimes I just stop and breathe in whatever it is I’m doing in that moment. It is making this brief time at home much more enjoyable, and I feel very thankful for it :)
Your turn! How is everyone doing with their monthly goals? Any new ones?
Off to work on a post for tomorrow on Easy Tone shoes. Oh yes.
Letting it all out
When was the last time you cried? I mean, really cried. Wept, sobbed, shook your shoulders and snotted everywhere…
I did that tonight. It’s been too long since I let it all out. Apparently, I had a lot building in me.
I have to be out of my current apartment before my new apartment is available. I’ve hired movers for Saturday who are too expensive to cancel. I work at 5 am both Saturday and Sunday. There is a very real chance I will have to sleep on the futon in the newsroom.
Both my sisters are in the province this weekend with their significant others. I would love nothing more than to be at our beautiful cottage with my beautiful family this weekend.
My dad and his family are going through rough times. I wish I could be there to help them.
For the first September in my life, I will not have plans to return to school. I am working a permanent job indefinitely. This terrifies me.
The last of my friends has moved away. I am left behind in this city, alone.
As of right now, I am looking forward to:
- going to the gym in the morning
- Waffle Wednesday
- reporting on important trials tomorrow
- getting my new glasses frames on Thursday
- swimming for the first time since the triathlon
- my long run on Friday
- seeing my mom and one of my sisters on Monday
- joining a new gym
- starting my new life in a place to call my own
And what’s life without a little flavour?
Savoury oats
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup water
- pinch salt
- chopped up breakfast sausage
- fried egg
- hot salsa
- mozzarella
Mahi mahi in a peach sauce. Pan-fried mahi mahi filet in Bragg’s topped with one chopped peach, onions and plum sauce. Brocolli and brussel sprouts with a little Bragg’s for the side.
Also, do not freeze watermelon then thaw it out. It turns slimy and meaty, and can only be saved in a smoothie.
At least it was pretty. 1/2 cup plain yogurt, handful watermelon meat, handful frozen papaya chunks.
When was the last time you cried? What is stressing you out at the moment? What are you looking forward to?
Thankfully, today is over. I’m going to bed and look forward to the brand new day ahead of me. It will be better. My outlook alone will allow that to happen.