Hello Sunshine

School is out. I officially handed in my final Spring semester assignment last Thursday, then dove face first into work, organization, and a loooong day of volunteering at this year’s Canada Day celebrations here in Calgary.

I have finally settles into my Summer break. There will be lots of working, playing with friends, yoga, running (I guess I like running again) eating, drinking and being merry. I’m off to Miami in exactly a month, so I’m ok with the fact that I am basically working every single day of July in some way shape or form.

This morning I worked at Yoga Passage but first, a hot breakfast. I have been on a smoothie kick due to the intense, muggy heat in Calgary, but this morning was a bit on the chilly side

-Rolled oats, cinnamon, almond milk, banana, blueberries, granola, peanut butter, chia seeds-

I had plans to run some stairs with my friend Natradee before hitting my favorite 6:10 hot class back at Yoga Passage, but time didn’t permit and I’m kind of glad because this class was nuts. My legs were shaking and I couldn’t imagine what would have happened had I run up and down several flights of stairs before hand.

After class we took our sweet time before heading home, enjoyed a coconut water with random emergency snacks from the bottoms of our bags

Weirdos.

I was feeling un inspired for dinner and was contemplating just digging into an entire watermelon, but my mom had made a turkey Shepard’s pie and apparently that was exactly what I was craving.

With half a cup of sriracha on top.

It’s good to be back! 

Mon-Daze

2:13a.m. 2:36a.m. 3:03a.m. 3:21a.m. 3:47a.m. 3:59a.m. 4:21a.m. 4:45a.m. 5:19a.m… I did not sleep well last night.

5:30 thought: Maybe I should try meditating...

5:31 squadron of song birds CHIRPCHIRP-NO INNER PEACE FOR YOU MOTHA F*CKA

Breakfasted eventually

Overnight oats – oatmeal, almond milk, chia seeds, banana, peach, coconut, peanut butter, granola.

I recall being at the gym at some point as well. I watched an episode of Mad Men on my iPhone while playing on the stairmill and then lifted weights like a dude.

The 10% of my brain that I use was pretty fogged up for the rest of the day. Why can’t I be one of those people who don’t turn into mashed potatoes on less than 6 hours of sleep !?

Whatever though, I deal with my issues in grown up ways.

TGIM

This weekend was so busy with Market Collective and Eat Real YYC, training for my new job, play time with friends and a couple of workouts, it was a relief to finally make it to Monday

Breakfast before Body Combat yesterday was Ezekiel cinnamon raisin toast with peanut butter, banana and grapefruit.

Then I kicked some ass. After a 30 second shower, I made a big Green Smoothie and took it to the Yoga Passage to learn the ropes for my new job. I think I’m going to like this a lot. Another bonus of working at YP now is that I get to chat with a bunch of happy, bendy people in Calgary and get paid for it! What a gig.

This morning I woke up early, inhaled a breakfast ( greek yogurt, mango, banana, granola, peanut butter ) and walked to the gym, lifted heavy things and walked back.

Quick lunch before work was a cucumber, mango and feta salad with Spolumbo’s spicy chicken sausage and lime juice.

I had better get to bed. There is a 9:30 Vinyasa class (at my new place of work – kgdkjgdh!!!!) tomorrow morning with my name on it!

Sunday in chambray

Hey, it’s Ina Garten

Right!?!? The hair is one thing but the chambray shirt just puts it over the top.

I decided to give cereal a second chance today. This time I mixed it into 2% greek yogurt and it stuck to my ribs for 6 hours. Through a Body Combat class and weights.

With heaps of berries (can’t get enough ! ) banana slices, cereal(s) and peanut butter Welcome to the breakfast rotation!

Like I said, I made it to the gym today, after a week of depending on walking and yoga for activity, it felt good to have a grunt-inducing workout for a change.

Showered and lunched on a salad beast of epic proportions.

Last night’s leftovers over romaine with lime juice and siracha

A few hours later I got hungry again and made a smoothie with frozen banana, almond milk and vanilla protein powder with hunks of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread on the side.

I know I’ve mentioned that I hate all protein powders but I think I have found one that I actually enjoy. It makes everything taste like vanilla ice cream and the real kicker is that it has been right under my nose. As in, I’ve been selling it to people at work for the past two years. This is the brand, it’s about as good as it gets ingredient-wise for whey protein.

After snacking I walked to the grocery store. I have a catering gig on Tuesday and needed to pick up some supplies.

Back at home there were turkey burgers on the grill! I quickly cut up some sweet potatoes and tore up a bunch of kale, coated both in the same coconut oil, granulated garlic, salt and herb mixture and threw them into the oven. 30 minutes for the sweet potatoes, 10 for the kale chips.

I piled my cobs bun high with olive oil mayo, siracha (addicted), lettuce, banana peppers, cheddar, sauerkraut and one of the burgers.

Any plans for Victoria Day, fellow Canadians??

The Bucket List

Last Saturday I finished at work but it was just to gorgeous outside to simply come home and play on Pinterest all night long. After exchanging a few texts with my friend Torrie, I ended up sitting on the patio at The Living Room with a big glass of wine. Love it when that happens.

We shared a couple of oysters. This was my first time trying oysters and they were essentially what I was expecting. Briney, slimy and clean. Checked off my unwritten bucket list

It’s that wonderful time of the year that my cravings switch and healthy eating becomes effortless because all I want is simply prepared, fresh foods. Also ice cream and sangria but I digress.

I want green monsters for every meal. I have my recipe perfected:

Big scoop (~2 tbsp) each of: vanilla protein powder, peanut flour, rolled oats. Little scoop (~1 tbsp) each of chia seeds and cocoa powder. 1 frozen, chopped banana, 1 c. almond milk, ~2 packed cups of spinach/ kale.

A big bowl of cereal had been calling to me for the last few days so this morning I slept in an threw together a bowl with a couple different kinds of cereal, flax, peanut butter, banana slices and beautiful berries with almond milk.

Cereal always makes me really full and then really hungry a few hours later. Lesson learned. Cereal = snack, not meal.

My mom and I tag teamed dinner tonight.

She charred grilled veggies and I made shrimp and potatoes. I steamed the baby potatoes for about 20 minutes and tossed them while they were still hot with lemon juice, pesto and goats cheese.

The shrimp was sautéed in butter with corn, garlic, and Cajun seasoning. Spicy and smokey, this dinner was extremely multi-cultural now that I think about it.

Do you have a bucket list?

I am constantly updating a bucket list in my head. Items on my list generally revolve around travel, education and food. i.e. go gallivanting across Europe for a non-specific amount of time, take Yoga teacher training at The Yoga Passage and learn how to poach an egg.

In the Fog

Played this song on repeat in my brain all the live long day

Calgary has been swallowed whole by a blanket of fog. I took a walk this morning expecting an axe murderer to emerge from the grey.

Foggy Steamy bowl of oatmeal for fast-breaking

Oats, almond milk, banana, craisins, chia seeds, cinnamon, cottage cheese

+ Peanut butter, pumpkin butter and granola.

Meandered (through the FOG!) to the gym midmorning and came home to Lunch which was an open-faced turkey sandwich – whole grain toast, hummus, artichoke Asiago spread, tomato, spinach, turkey (found a brand with an impressive ingredient list) and a sprinkle of parmesan, vegetable and tomato soup and mango for dessert

I went to karma cleaning later in the afternoon and stuck around for a class. The usual teacher was away and the teacher subbing taught the fist EVER class I took at the Yoga Passage. Happy flashbacks.

Dinner

I made white-bean and kale soup — with chickpeas instead of white beans because that was all I had. I also threw in the rind from a wedge of parmesan cheese like they do on the Food Network #pro.

and brown butter quick bread, I stirred in chunks of sharp cheddar cheese before baking.

Look at that HUNKA CHEESE Now I’m snuggling up with a glass of wine and watching episode after episode of LOST with my girlfriend Torrie

Morning Dreams

I had twelve. TWELVE. Glorious hours of sleep last night. My alarm went off at 6:45 this morning and I had exciting plans to go to Body Combat, but instead I turned my phone off, threw it into my pile of laundry (still not gone yet) and went back to sleep for three more hours of weird, morning dreams.

Brunched on a cinnamon raising bagel with whipped cream cheese and raspberry jam, with a side of LOST.

Dinner was a salad with romaine, spinach, mango, hearts of palm, feta, tempeh, tahini, balsamic vinegar, and siracha.

Head -> Pillow.

Backwards Monday

Dear Self,

Your gym pants aren’t uncomfortable because you ate too much gelato and drank too much wine in Hawaii. They’re uncomfortable because…

You’re doing it wrong.

Love, Self.

Ran to and from the gym with a leg workout in the middle this morning! I had to pull up my pants after each set of squats and didn’t realized my pants were backwards until I was about to hop into the shower. How. Embarrassing.

Breakfast

Green monster: Almond milk, coffee, frozen banana, spinach, cocoa powder, ice + Cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter

Lunch was lettuce wraps stuffed with tuna [+olive oil mayo, dijon, chili flakes, garlic powder and pepper]

Side of cottage cheese and an ornje.

Back to work today! I work in a great part of town and you can tell it’s getting warm and sunny outside when all the customers become extra friendly from the Vitamin D! Looking forward to my third summer on the job : )

For dinner, I made an omelet with goats cheese and salsa verde, side of Portuguese tomato rice and simple wilted greens

Juggling watching LOST on Netflix, putting together a Hawaii album, and folding laundry. Multitasking at its finest. G’night!

Down time

We are now in the precious lull between Winter semester exams and the beginning of Spring time courses. This week will be nothing but fun including going back to work. You know you love your job when you find yourself sitting on the beach in Maui, looking into the ocean and declare, “I MISS WORK!”

Hot (Skype) date with Preeya Saturday night, I get to see her in real life this August!

Sunday

English muffin + Peanut butter/ honey + Mango –pales in comparison to the ones freshly picked from the tree in our frontyard in Hawaii

I went to Body Combat after breakfast, I missed it last week and kick/punch/screamed my face off. My mom and I went grocery shopping immediately after. We are polar opposites when it comes to grocery shopping. She is fast and efficient and I like to browse, read and find new things.

Midway through putting the groceries away (worst. task. ever.) I could not ignore my stomach or plummeting blood sugar any longer.

Romaine, Carrots, Tempeh, Tahini, Siracha, Feta + Half a cinnamon raisin bagel with whipped cream cheese. Post-grocery trip meals are the best

Out of excuses to justify my ignoring the tornado in my bedroom and mounds of dirty laundry, I dedicated this afternoon to regaining some sort of order in these areas. Sad times, happy music.

Dinner was steamed kale with dark amber honey and truffle oil, potato salad and tandoori chicken.

Toodle-oo!

Alone no more

Now that my family has finally joined me back in Calgary, I am free to post on the internet that I no longer have my entire house to myself. Criminal Minds has scarred me, I take my personal safety against psychopaths and serial killers seriously.

Coming home to a dark and empty house after a week away, I imagine myself in a poorly cast horror film, reluctant to look at my reflection in the window, just anticipating that there is a masked murderer lurking over my shoulder.

Aside from the fact that I find it necessary to sleep with a pair of poultry shears underneath my pillow when home alone, I really do enjoy the solitude in the early morning and in the day light. I am free to belt out David Gray to my heart’s content, drink tea on the nice couches, and narrate myself aloud in a British accent when cooking myself a meal.

Though one further setback of coming home solo after a week on Vacation is a barren fridge. (not including the broccoli that liquified over the past seven days). Tumble weed, y’all.

I managed to scrape together a few reasonably satisfying meals from the contents of my pantry and freezer. But now that my mother and her credit card are back in town, I do declare a shopping trip is in order.

Dough-boy smoothie

rolled oats, frozen banana, chia seeds, almond milk, cocoa powder, peanut flour topped with cocoa bliss and granola

Egg-wich

fried egg, raspberry jam, delectably sharp cheddar with a side of peas and frozen grapes (read: the only green things in my house right now — aside from a moldy lemon that I simply refuse to touch)

In other news, I have conquered my post-vacation exams. They both went extremely well as far as I’m concerned, aside from my sleeping in this morning (JET LAG !!!) and waking up a mere hour before my English exam. These things happen in real life!? Coupled with the fact that it is a Saturday and busses run much less frequently on the weekends, I was out the door within 5 minutes of waking, making it to my exam right on time.

Over worked, unfed and caffeine deprived, I treated myself to a well-deserved late breakfast of steel-cut oats with coconut, craisins, dark chocolate chips, peanut butter and banana slices followed by a Yoga marathon at The Passage. It’s good to be home.