Tea Time

Guten morning!

Well, closer to the afternoon, really. I hope that you are all doing well :)

I woke up a bit early this morning (although not as early as I had planned...I hit my snooze button a few too many times) to have a skype date with my friend in Japan. My upcoming travels are slowly starting to take shape - so exciting!!

I cooked up a bowl of oatmeal with hemp protein powder thrown in the mix with some raspberries on top. I finished the last of my quiche yesterday, so it was back to the usual breakfast for me. Oatmeal is one of my favs, so I don't mind :)

Workout

I didn't have much time last night for a workout, this whole walking home business takes WAY longer than biking, but I guess I'll get used to it. I decided to do a couple of Fitnessista ab workouts - let me know if you try them out! They are short and sweet, but you definitely feel it in your core afterwards.

I rounded it out with a couple of burpees to get in some cardio. Fun times ;)

Tea Time

My little brosef came over for dinner last night. Guess what we had? You got it, chili.

Chili for days. 

As expected, he helped me finish it up so I don't have to eat it for yet another day. As delicious as it was, a girl can only have chili so many days in a row...

Afterwards, as per usual, was tea time. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but my Dad's side of the family are hardcore (yes, hardcore) tea people. Whenever I go for a visit, it is guaranteed that we will hang out for hours in the kitchen over many cups of tea. So, to carry on the tradition, my little bro and I generally end our visits with a nice cup'o'tea and chat about life.

We had some unfortunate news about a death in the family, so we chat about that for a while. My condolences goes out to everyone in the London area - wish I could be there in person, but know that I am there in spirit. Sending lots of love from afar xoxo

With that, hope you all have a wonderful day and send a little bit of love to those that you hold dear to your heart, you never know what life has in store for us.

Dinner At Ahora, Take Two

Hello friends

Hope you are all having a wunderbar morning :)

I feel like I've already had a pretty productive morning - I woke up early and did a bit of abs

30 crunches
30 bicycle abs (slow)
30 leg lifts (start on your back and slowly lift both legs up to 90 degrees and down)
30 reverse crunches (start on your back with legs up at a 90 degree angle and lift feet towards the ceiling until your bum comes off the floor)
30 forearm plank oblique dips
30 mountain climbers (start in a high plank position and bring right knee to right elbow and back, then bring left knee to left elbow, continue to alternate)

And then I even had time for a wee little bit of meditation, AND time to eat breakfast at home!

Protein pancake with raspberries and a drizzle of maple syrup

Dinner At Ahora, Take Two

My cousin was in town from BC, so my brother and I met up with him after work to go for dinner and catch up. Somehow it came to me to decide where to go for dinner - in case you don't know, I am pretty much the most indecisive person OF ALL TIME, so I panicked and went with a classic - Ahora restaurant in the market. 

I went there recently with a friend of mine, and loved the Mexican theme going on, the fresh salsa galore...SO GOOD! Also, my little bro was just in Ecuador for a year, so he was very excited to show off his Spanish skills and converse a bit with the waitress.

[As a side note, someone - I won't name any names *ahem* Aunt Kim - totally ratted me out about going to Caliente and forgot to invite him...he was like 'you went to a salsa bar without me?!?' Hehehe I promise I won't make that mistake again ;)]

But the boys were very happy with the MOUNTAIN of food that they got - burritos and rice and salad and fresh salsa piquante. I went for the good ol' ensalada fiesta. 

Lettuce, tortilla chips, chicken, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, salsa piquante and a lime. 

Fiesta in my mouth.

We wandered about the market place for a bit after dinner and then went to mi casa for some tea time. It was so nice to catch up! We realized that it had been about 3 or 4 years since we had all been together...crazy pants!! Hopefully we won't leave it that long in the future :)

Hope you all have a great day, and I will be back again tonight with another HIIT workout!

Question of the Day:

• Do you have a go-to restaurant for when people come to visit?

As I mentioned, I usually draw a total blank when it comes to restaurant choices, so its good for me to have a few good ones in the back of my mind. I remember my roomies and I in Montreal had our go-to place for when the parents went - Claremonts in Westmount. So classy, and so unaffordable when the parents aren't around teehee [Momster & Popster - pretend you never heard that...]

10/18 Friday Faves

Good afternoon lovelies, hope you are all enjoying your Friday :)

I honestly can't believe how fast this week zoomed by - I'm not sure if it was because work has been crazy busy, or if I've been doing lots of activities at night, but I guess having one less day in the work week definitely makes a HUGE difference!

I like it.

Workout

I’ve been biking in to work almost every day this week (okay, so 3 days) and have been doing a LOT of lower body workouts this week so far, so I’m going to try and do an abs workout tonight.

Also, I’m going dancing later tonight with some girlfriends...that counts as cardio, right??

I’m actually wondering what I’m going to wear on my feet tonight. I’ve been wearing my grandma running shoes everywhere lately to support my gimpy foot, so it will be a bit strange to wear actual shoes for once...how has this become an issue in my life??

Anyway, here’s an awesome plank workout that targets your abs like no other. Enjoy ;)

Plank Abs Workout

Inspired by fitnessista’s plank workout

Classic High Plank (30 sec to 1min) – you can also modify this to be on your forearms or on your knees

High Plank See-Saw (30 sec to 1 min) – start in high plank position and push with your feet to move your body forward and back, like a see-saw

Side Plank Right (30 sec to 1 min)

Forearm Plank with Hip Drops (30 sec to 1 min) – start in a forearm plan position and alternate dropping first your right hip down to the ground to hover above the floor, and then your left

Drunken Chicken (30 sec to 1 min) – start in a high plank position and drop your right arm to a forearm position and then your left, and then push right arm back into high plank position and your left, continue to alternate down and up

Side Plank Left (30 sec to 1 min)

Friday Faves

Lululemon Tank

As some of you know, I used to work at lululemon. For the record, it is a wonderful place to work – they are incredibly supportive of their staff, provide a lot of opportunities for personal growth, including goal coaching, and also have high expectations for their staff to be proactive and be involved in the business.

Also, they have amazing clothes.

When I worked at the store in Montreal, my coworkers and I used to joke about how we were kind of like volunteers in fancy spandex – it was so easy to just spend your whole paycheck on the amazing things that were always coming in!

‘I mean, I already have this style of tank, but I luuuurve this new pop pink colour!’

That happened.

Anyway, in a moment of weakness the other day, as I was daydreaming about my upcoming trip to warmer climate countries, I found myself perusing through the

And then...BAM! I saw my fav tank top back in stock, in my size, in the functional colour black.

[Source]

Which, to be fair, I have been on the look-out for about 3 years. Every time I see someone else wearing it at a yoga class or in the gym, I am always SO JEALOUS. So, I took initiative, and I bought it without even thinking twice. Because, I’m going to use it, like, every day for the next couple months...amiright?!

Needless to say, I am SO EXCITED to get it in the mail, just in time for my return to the yoga studio in November :)

[Mom and Dad – don’t bother looking at the price tag. Consider it a discount therapy session]

Can you tell I don’t go shopping that much anymore?? I don’t even know how its possible to get this excited for a tank top. I mean, not just any tank top, but one that I’ve been wanting for about a million years...yep, its scary.

Fruit Spray Nozzle

[Source]

This is seriously a thing. I saw one in a store near my grandparents place on thanksgiving weekend, and almost freaked out. It’s such a great idea!

It would be awesome to spray on salads, on fish, or to jazz up a glass of water. I usually juice my lemons first and then pour it onto my fish before baking it, but this would be a much better way of getting a more evenly coated

Freshly-Baked Work Treats

Here is the subject line of an email I got yesterday: Who needs memos, when you can have BREAD?!

I mean, really. How am I supposed to resist freshly-made bread, croissants, chocolate chip cookies, or cinnamon rolls that are left by the printer? Because I can’t.

As a backgrounder, a co-worker’s wife has been taking a baking course at le Cordon Bleu (which he just informed us will last for another 3 months...going to have to purchase some new pants at this rate) and since it is just the two of them at home, she has been promptly dropping off all of the delicious goodies that she makes pretty much right after they come out of the oven.

And, let me tell you, we are all very eager taste-testers. It is a bit of a stampede to the printer every time that the email goes out about what we get to taste every day. My tactic is just to have a small taste so that the extra calories don’t add up too much.

Although, I have to admit, I went back for seconds on croissant day ;)

Question of the Day:

• What are your tactics for dealing with free treats at work?

Mine is to have a little taste, otherwise I feel like I am denying myself and usually end up eating more in compensation...so its better just to try a little bite ;)

Linking up with: Simply Lulu Style & Style Elixir

 

Dinner Date & Bottom and Ab Workout Videos

Hello friends!

It is a heck of a lot nicer out today than it was yesterday. I woke up to the sunshine instead of the pouring rain - always makes it easier to get myself out of bed in the morning ;)

Dinner Date

Don't get too excited folks, it wasn't a 'date' date.

I ended up staying at work super late again today and left when they started to turn off the lights - its this annoying thing where they flicker the lights at different areas of the floor and then slowly turn them off section by section. I guess they're saving electricity, so I can get behind that.

At least I had some snacks to power me through:

The printer snacks hit again - this time a bag full of chocolate from Geneva. 

I took the dark chocolate ;)

Anyway, I was feeling pretty worn-out by the time I left and was trying to think of the fastest possible thing to make for dinner, when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to a vegetarian buffet that costs $5. 

Uh, heck yes!

It was great to meet up and eat deliciously spicy curry and catch-up. I can feel the starting of a cold coming on, so I've been loading up on echinacea, oregano oil, vitamin c and trying to get as much sleep as possible! I feel like spicy food helps too...any excuse for spicy curry ;)

Bottom and Ab Workout Videos

If you haven't already heard of Blogilates, inform yourself. It is an amazing blog powered by Cassie, who is pretty much the most chipper person of all time, and who posts amazingly deceiving pilates workouts. 

I did this workout to target my little bottom in the hopes of one day actually having a bum - I have the flattest butt of all time, in case you were wondering ;)

Aaanyway, I used my stability ball instead of a pilates ring because, well, I don't have one!

I then rounded it off with this ab burner, which was insane. I was dying by the end. 

Although I was already feeling the burn, I tried this one too since Miley has been popping up everywhere with all of her crazy antics...but, letsbehonest, the girl has got some great abs. 

If you're looking for a bit of a butt & abs combo, give these a try! Or add one of them on to your cardio day for a little ab burner bonus :)

I'm planning on having a craft date with a friend of mine tonight...so excited!! I'll post all the deets here tomorrow!

Have a great day!!

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