idlehide.

and Spring Break starts.now.

2012-02-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today is the last day of school before my study break. The best part? There will be no studying involved, no exams Monday morning at 8am this year! Not to mention I get to see 3 cute little blonde boys in PEI for a couple of days next week:)

Last night I made Pad Thai and topped it with bean sprouts and crushed cashews. Mmm, what is it about thai food? I can't ever seem to stop eating it.

I went for a quick workout. Started off with 10 minutes on the rower machine, tricep/bicep/deltoid exercies and a 20 minute sprint interval on the treadmill. My ice bath helped a little the other night, I noticed I wasn't as sore as I have been in the past. I need to use more ice than a tray of ice next time to get the whole effect, but it was still a benefit to me.

Tonight Kenny and I are heading to a company party at an up-scale hotel. I love outings like this because the food is always good and it's a fun little date with some co-workers. I have a little time to spare between clinic and when the party starts so I'm going to go window shopping for a bit until Kenny meets me downtown. 5:00 tonight=spring break!

I want to do this run someday- the Empire State Run-up.

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Have a good Friday night- Any plans?

Cryotherapy

2012-02-15T20:49:00.001-04:00

It was +9 today! I got off school at 1:30 and planned to go to the gym, but when I realized how mild and springy it was out I decided I should get my butt out on the road for a run. Since I couldn't go for my long run on Sunday because of the ice I wanted to take advantage of the weather.

I came home and ate 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter + sunflower seed butter with banana slices so I'd have some fuel for my run. I even drank some water! I am really trying to be a better water drinker.

I mentioned to Kenny the other day I was getting tired of the same running routes because we have lived here for 3 years now. I thought maybe I could drive somewhere and go from there just to get some new scenery, but he suggested a new route for me. There is a new road in the city here so I incorporated that into my run. It was great to have something new to look at, even if it involved some unexpected hills;)

I set out to run 15km, but it was a painless run - the weather was perfect and I just kept going. I ended up going an extra km so that's always a bonus.

I have been seeing ice baths all over fitness blogs. If you know me at all you'll know I really don't like the cold, but I thought I'd try it. Here's what Runner's World says about it:
Cryotherapy ("cold therapy") constricts blood vessels and decreases metabolic activity, which reduces swelling and tissue breakdown. Once the skin is no longer in contact with the cold source, the underlying tissues warm up, causing a return of faster blood flow, which helps return the byproducts of cellular breakdown to the lymph system for efficient recycling by the body. "Ice baths don't only suppress inflammation, but help to flush harmful metabolic debris out of your muscles," says David Terry, M.D., an ultrarunner who has finished both the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run and the Wasatch Front 100-Mile Endurance Run 10 consecutive times. source

I didn't have 3 bags of ice, but the water was freeezzzing cold and I used a tray of ice cubes. Haha, hey, it was cold enough for me and I felt it was a good introduction to the ice bath thing. For my next run I will get some ice bags and get the full effect. It's amazing how quickly my body adjusted! Here's to hoping it helps me recover quickly from my run.

Oscar was very curious so he came over to the tub and hung out with me and batted around some ice cubes.

eating helped to distract me:)

and a little friend always helps too!

Speaking of little friends, here's an update on how the felines are getting along. They're curious and following each other around, but Maggie is sure to keep her distance while Oscar simply just wants to be friends. It's very entertaining to watch and we all think they'll be friends within a few days. For now, Maggie is the one who is putting their friendship on hold;)

this happens all day.

the toy they're both after is in the middle

*Check out my Valentine Day update, just below this post!*

Have you ever tried an ice bath?
How do you recover from longer runs?

Date Day

2012-02-15T20:17:00.001-04:00

Happy Valentines Day- yesterday! I hope you had a good day, attached or not.

Kenny picked me up from school (the bus strike is still going on) at 11:00 am. Did I mention I am loving this semester?? I gave him a little treat bag our class was selling as a fundraiser and he told me he made me something. We went out to our favorite sushi place for lunch, I got a big plate that included tempura shrimp roll, spicy tuna, spicy salmon and chicken teriaki. It also came with a salad with ginger dressing and a spicy miso soup. It was the perfect lunch, all of my favorite sushi types on one plate. Kenny got a plate with california roll and vegetable rolls.

all mine

ok, I shared one piece.

From sushi we went home until our movie, The Vow. When I got home there was a plate of pretty Valentine cupcakes made by the one and only Kenny. Red velvet with french vanilla icing and some Valentine candy - they are so good! Cupcakes beat red roses any day!

We went to the early show to beat the movie traffic later on. I brought our own popcorn (Kenny thought this was kind of ghetto) and pop to the movie. I'm not into paying $6? for popcorn. Just saying. The Vow was very cute, and so is Channing Tatum. Did you know it is based on a true story? Ahh.

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After the movie we were driving home and pulled into A&W for a burger. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to enjoy a burger at a fast food joint. I wasn't allowed to complain about how bad it was for us, so I enjoyed our fun little impromptu supper. After that we watched Property Virgins and had some wine and cheese with apple slices. It was a fun date for sure!

Did you do anything fun for Valentines Day?
Do you prefer something rather than flowers?

busy busy week

2012-02-13T11:13:00.001-04:00

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Whew. If I made it through last week I can make it through anything!

Michelle and I placed fourth in our big project. Apparently people are very interested in the effects of omega-3 fish oil on dental health! It was a fun, but tiring evening. We presented from 5:00 to 8:00 and following that was a wine + cheese gathering upstairs before awards were announced. We won a monetary prize, a small amount of $75, but it covered the costs of our project so that is always a plus:)

Kenny showed up, I was so excited because I wanted someone I knew to pop in and see our hard work! He snapped a picture of us by our board, but it is still on his phone so I will post it later tonight.

I had planned on doing a 15 km run on Sunday morning (thanks to Rach for giving me a kick-in-the-butt on that one!) but I woke up to Kenny telling me I would fall and die. Haha! It was freeezing and beyond icy. It seems as though I have only been running in icy conditions this winter, but this was not safe to run in. I ended up staying in the entire day! I was excited to go to church, but with summer tires on (they're coming off on Tuesday. I know, we are so ahead of the game!) I decided it was rather unsafe to head out.

Kind of big news in our house- Beth Adam and Oscar moved in last Thursday! They're here until their house is built. We spent most of the past few days organizing and getting things back to normal. The cats, Maggie and Oscar still have some friend-making to do. I am looking forward ot having B&A here, they'll be great company and they're fun too!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! The last few years Kenny and I have boy-cotted this Holiday thinking it is kind of cheesy. We're due for a date night though so we're, get ready for some cheesy-ness, heading to see The Vow. Yup! Haha! It's cheap day at the movies, $4.99 each all day so we're doing that and then we're heading to happy hour at our favorite Sushi joint. Talk about a discounted Valentines date!

Kenny is a super-star. I literally have no patients to call (I think this happens every year this time) so I am calling on my friends and family to come in for a very inexpensive dental cleaning. Kenny agreed so I now I have a patient (with all their teeth, imagine! ;) ) I think I will owe him big time for this, hahaha!

Off to class!

core strength

2012-02-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

I found a great tutorial video on Runner's World that helps with strengthening the core. These exercises are pilate-based which helps in elongating and leaning the muscles. I'm sold! Core Competency Video

One of the workouts, The Hundred
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I came across a budget food blog this morning and ta-da! Banana Bread Oatmeal. Yup. Yum! The blog I got it from is Budget Bytes and this dish will cost you only $3.67 and only $0.46 per serving!

Banana Bread Oatmeal
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I am thinking a cinnamon bun oatmeal dish would be delicious...

weekend? recap

2012-02-07T22:29:00.001-04:00

Hello again! I haven't had the chance to update in a few days. Here is what's been going on.

Saturday- I went for a 12km run and it was freezing. I stood in the foyer and tried to motivate myself to just step outside. When I was stretching a lady was coming in and told me my lungs would get an awful shock when the cold hit them. Bahh, I went anyway and funny enough, by the end of it I was actually pretty comfortable temperature wise. I'm not going to lie, by the end of 12 km I was pretty happy.

I relaxed for the rest of the day and then went out with 2 of my sister-in-laws, Beth and Chloe for their birthdays. We went to an up-scale pizza shop which I have been dying to try and then we went to our friends cheesecakery and split a maple pumpkin cheesecake. Yeah, it was delicious.

Sunday- Went to Church and then to visit Nanny in the hospital. We were hosting a SuperBowl party in the evening so we were busy cleaning and getting food for it. Chloe pretty much owned the food by making delicious chili and garlicky guacamole. There was lots of bad food to go around.

Monday-We presented our projects to another group of students and they gave us suggestions for ours. I had clinic from 2:00-9:00 and that pretty much sums up my Monday!

Tuesday- School. Michelle and I went to teach seniors at a home which was fun! They were sweet and told us we had a very informative presentation and they learned lots.

It was of course grocery day today so Kenny and I went out after I got back from school. I bought more sunflower seed butter, I was seriously obsessed with that stuff!

I went out for a run and it was so nice and mild I ended up going for 10km. I feel like this is one of the ice-ist (is that a word?) winters because the sidewalks still have very random thin patches of ice. It was a good run!

I made us homemade egg mcmuffins and then we went out to see our newest little friend, Lincoln! He is a very sweet little 8 lb happy little guy. It's safe to say I am in love already!

I want to read Rules of Civility. It is set in the 1920s-30s in NY and sounds similar to The Great Gatsby, so I'm sold! Have you read it? Thoughts?

And that's that, I need to go do some school work and then its off to bed.

Food Linkage

2012-02-04T19:10:00.002-04:00

Here are some delicious and interesting recipes I've come across this week.
Enjoy!

Oh my goodness! Cake Batter Pancakes!!
Kenny, watch out, these are coming your way
on May 12;)
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Double Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies
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Reece's PB Oatmeal
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Lavender Hot Cocoa, reminds me of my Mom.
It'd be fun to drinks these and chat:)
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Sweet Potato + Kale Pizza
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no school today!

2012-02-03T12:39:00.000-04:00

hot chocolate from last weekend,
it didn't show up when I posted it before.
Isn't it the prettiest?

A day off school! It's tradition at our University to have the first Friday in February off and it sure is great. It's called Munro Day because Munro was a generous man who donated a significant amount of money to our school. Thank you, Munro!

Last night I tackled yet another slippery and cold run. I did 10km and 50 sprints to finish it off. I ended up slipping on my second last sprint which probably looked pretty funny:) I wanted to go before dark because I feel I see the glossy ice patches better in daylight. I need to pick up the distance, I've been slacking in long distances lately and my fellow May half marathoner partners are up to 14km so I better get my butt in gear! ;)

I made my protein oats for after my run/supper (scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1/2 cups of oats, 1tsp of chia seeds and almond milk. Delicious.)

protein oats:)

This morning I slept in until 7 (Maggie is my alarm clock after 5:30am) and I headed to the gym. I started with 10 minutes on the rower machine because I read if you're doing upper body strength it is better to start with the rower than a treadmill or elliptical warm-up. I like the fish game on the rower- your main objective is to avoid getting eaten by the big black fish so you end up rowing your heart out to avoid getting snatched up and this of course, helps your score. Before you know it, you're game is over and so is your rowing! I did upper body workouts and abs and then finished with my 20-minute treadmill sprint. I was pretty sweaty by the end of it so I was happy.

better than McDonald's
obviously ;)

I came home and quickly did the cleaning duties for the building and then made my homemade egg McMuffin and it was delicious!

Now I am relaxing and doing absolutely nothing and loving it. Later on tonight after Kenny heads to work I'll tackle a few small projects due next week and continue memorizing our script for our big Omega-3 project. This time next week we will be presenting it!

Saturday night I am heading out with two of my sister-in-laws for their birthday celebrations. We're heading downtown to a dessert cafe for a treat. I love birthday celebrations:)

Any plans for the weekend?

9 fitness tips

2012-02-02T10:02:00.001-04:00

Since I am a little frugal and don't buy magazines, I always read them online (or wait for my stocking at Christmas) ;) Womens Health Magazine would be one of my top choices for sure.

I was reading it this morning and came across 9 Fitness Tips for a Killer Body. Here is what they had to say and here is the direct link!

Do it in threes- "Any workout has three variables: weights, intensity, and volume," Hood says. To keep your body guessing, focus on one variable per workout: Increase the weight but lower the number of reps one day; lower your standard weight but add a set the next; use your standard weight but do more reps faster on another"

Don't give up on the pullup- "Pullups, which strengthen the lats, biceps, middle back, and shoulders, are an effective upper-body exercise. Can't squeeze one out? Hood suggests doing plank pulls: Lie with your chest under a weight bar set to knee height on a squatting rack. Grab the bar with an overhand grip and, keeping your body in one line, bend your elbows and pull your chest toward the bar. Lower back to start; do 10 reps"

Umm, I can only do 2 of these, but I'm working on them!
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Row your Boat- "Before you strength train, spend 10 minutes on a rowing machine to get blood flowing to all the muscles and joints in your body. "It's better than a treadmill or a stationary bike because it engages your upper body and core, not just your legs,"

Short Circuit your routine- "Blast fat with a circuit that includes strength training and cardio: Do a set of push-ups, jump rope for a minute, do a set of squats, jump rope again; continue to alternate strength and cardio. "You're building muscle while keeping your heart rate high"

Minimize refined carbs- "Most breads, cookies, chocolate, white rice, nearly every cereal, honey, and anything with corn syrup or sugar. "As soon as you swallow a refined carb, it starts to spike your blood sugar, which produces excess insulin, a hormone that can be responsible for holding on to fat stores," Hood says.

Eat 5 times a day- "That means three meals and two snacks: one between breakfast and lunch, and one between lunch and dinner. "You'll have a steady stream of energy; plus, less food more often isn't as taxing on your digestive system as three big meals," explains Hood, adding that five daily feedings stabilizes your blood sugar, so you won't have crazy mood swings or hunger pangs"

Up your Protein- "A balance of protein, complex carbs, and fat in every meal and snack--to protect against insulin overload. The benefit of high-quality protein, like chicken, turkey, and low-fat Greek yogurt: It contains amino acids, which help muscles recover after workouts"

Limit Liquids- "Ditch juices, vanilla lattes, and sodas--all have unneeded sugar and calories. "You drink for three reasons," Hood says: "If you're thirsty, drink water. If you need stimulation, drink black coffee" This means diet sodas too! "The sweeteners may elicit an insulin spike or, at the very least, psychologically prepare you for something sweet, but there are no calories to back the signal," Hood says.

Hopefully this was some help to you!

mid-week love

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

*ahem, I was supposed to post this last night:D *

this kid is awesome!
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Today started off snowy and I was so scared my patient would cancel, it's getting down to the crunch and I made a personal goal to get 45 patients complete. My faithful older patient showed up and since there was hardly anyone in clinic I got professors and the Dentist asap (this is awesome and unusual!) I have seen this patient since last March and this was our last appointment together, he told me when I was walking him out that he was sad this was the last time he would have me and that he'd have to get used to someone else now. After I dropped him off at the front desk we said our goodbyes and he said 'love ya'. Ahh, my heart strings. It's people like this that make me love what I do. Something so little can completely make your day!

We went for a tour of a facility we're going to in the next few months. It's very realisitc to the 'real world' where we each have our own operatory and we'll complete 3 patients in one day (right now we have 2 appointments per clinic day) I am excited to do this rotation because it will mimick real life.

Off early again today! Some of the girls were saying today how much we love this semester so far- we're off early almost every day except for Monday & Fridays. Speaking of school, I only have 71 days left and this making me sad so I am taking my countdown off. I love my friends so much and my time with them living so close is coming to an end soon and I just want to enjoy these last few months without counting the days. This is my new mission- focus on having fun and just take the assignments, patients and exams as they come.

There's a school update for ya;)

nap and 6km

2012-01-31T21:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the last 2 posts with the disfunctional pictures, I'm not really sure why they don't load because they looked fine when I was writing the post. Any ideas?

Today was one of those lazy days, I got off school at 10am after writing an exam at 8am! That's the earliest I have ever gotten out of school so I was pretty excited. Kenny picked me up and we went grocery shopping (discount day!) and he had some business to do. Sooo, I took a 2 hour nap:)

After I woke up enough (about an hour later, haha!) I went for a 6km run, the sidewalks were slick so I had to be mindful of every step -that goes hand in hand with winter running though.

I had to do a nutrition video for a project and Kenny was my patient;) After 3 takes, it is done! Just writing up the paper work to hand in with it and that's another project down!

Thanks to a fellow blogger Anna, I have a new breakfast to try! Dark chocolate almond joy oatmeal. It's basically sugar free! I am so excited to try this-

Anna's dark chocolate almond joy oatmeal.
How amazing does this look and sound?

Do you have any fun oatmeal recipes to share?

Weekend Recap

2012-01-30T06:50:00.000-04:00

Friday- There was absolutely no traffic on the way home from school because everyone went home early due to the "storm"which just ended up being rain. I was home in record time! Around 7:00 Kenny came home and I was so excited to see him. Maggie was a little unsure of him and had to smell him for a few minutes.

Saturday- I went to the gym nice and early to get my workout out of the way. I contemplated staying in bed and going later, but I know later always seems to not happen:p So I got up and put on my gym clothes (once they're on I'm good to go) My workout consisted of 15 minutes on elliptical, arms (mac raises, tricep pulldown, bicep curls, lateral flys) and my faithful 20 minute treadmill sprints.

After the gym we went to visit Kenny's Nanny in the hospital. She was in good spirits (as usual) and was just a little groggy, she is the cutest.

From the Hosptial we went to a cute coffee shop with our friends Donald and Sarah (and Junior, who should be making his appearance anyday). I was saying to Kenny this will likely be the last time we see them without their little fellah - I seriously can't wait to hold him. We split a huge zucchini chocolate chip muffin and a hot chocolate. Mmmm. Delicious, but Two if by Sea certainly loves their butter.

so pretty!

told you they like their butter;)

From there we went home for a few minutes and went out to eat at Swiss Chalet on some gift cards from Christmas. Then it was back home and I worked on my project and started to study for my exam on Tuesday.

Sunday- I went for a slippery 10km run. It was so mild and sunny, but it was a tad early so the sidewalks were slick. I almost wiped out once in a shaded part of the street:/ Kenny made me my homemade egg mcmuffin which was delicious and then we were off to Church.

For lunch we had left over chicken from last night and went out to the local Bulk store for some treats and quinoa.

The rest of the day consisted of school work and getting prepared for the week ahead, such as making this sweet potato and black bean chili

ground beef-free:)

Hope you had a great weekend! Happy Monday!

Friday Linkage

2012-01-28T18:04:00.000-04:00

This was supposed to be posted yesterday. Let's pretend it's still Friday? :)

My second edition of Friday Linkage, last week it was almost all food links. Today it is a variety of links. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
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a birthday cake! I would be so excited if this was my
birthday cake!
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Creme Egg fan?
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I love my city, nyc.
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amazing shot.
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one of my favorite quotes
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Have a good weekend!

Virtual Spin Class

2012-01-26T23:10:00.002-04:00

I was so excited to go to the gym today. There was a new spin class starting today called Epic Ride and today we were going to visit Iceland. Each class is a different destination and is basically a virtual spin ride. I made sure I got to the gym half an hour early (at 5:00) so I could sign up in time and then do a quick workout before the class. I was asking the girl about it and mentioned I'd like to put my name on the list. She then told me the class was at 6:30. Oopsie, I'm a whole hour early. I ended up stretching out my workout and taking it slooowww so I could stick around for the class.

When the instructor arrived he couldn't get the tvs working so he went on to do a normal spin class. Wahhh, I waited around for this special class and besides, I really want to go to Iceland;) I'm hoping they have the tvs figured out for next week because these should be really fun classes.

thanks, Ferris.

Mmmm, my favorite lunch right now;
fried egg + egg white, spinach, ham, extra old cheddar cheese,
horseradish dijon mustard and hot sauce.

Friday is almost here! It's been a hectic week at school, lots of assignments and deadlines. I love the acheivement I feel when I make it through a rather hectic week. To make things even better Kenny is coming home tomorrow night after 2 weeks!
Any fun plans for the weekend?

workin' the quads and ham

2012-01-25T08:35:00.004-04:00

Happy Wednesday! Whoa, I wrote Tuesday and had to delete it, that is so exciting! I completely thought it was Tuesday, that means only 2 days until I get to see Kenny again:)

Last night I did a quick lower body workout, it was a little tough because my legs felt heavy and sore. I started with 15 minutes on the elliptical (hill interval program) did the workout belowe and finished with 10 minutes on the stepper.

quick and efficient lower body workout

source
This is an at-home quad workout
Advanced: lean back further

I made the most delicious post-workout snack. I didn't want anything heavy because it was almost 9:30 pm when I got home. I saw a similar recipe on pbfingers blog so I tried to simplify it a little. I combined about 1/2 a cup of old fashioned oats, 1/2 a scoop of protein powder (vanilla), 1/2 tsp of peanut butter and lots of almond milk (enough to make it oatmeal-like) I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it was perfect. It reminded my of those peanut butter 'spider cookies' Aunt Connie used to make. So delicious, I can't wait to eat it again:)

Check out this great idea!

source

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Question: Does anyone know the distance that is typically programmed into steppers? I don't think it's km or miles...

overhead press squat

2012-01-24T15:18:00.000-04:00

Whoa, busy weekend and Monday. Our big project is almost finished, just polishing it up for our presentation on Thursday afternoon.

I met up with my pal Mandi on Saturday for coffee and then we went to the market. The rest of the day was spent working on the big project. Sunday consisted of Church, more school work, cleaning the building and then the gym.

I did a 6 mile (10km) run on the treadmill, I used a workout from CarrotsnCake for it and it was hard. I think it's the longest amount of time I've ever spent on a treadmill. I think I still prefer my speedy sprinter workout.

Upper Body Workout
This seems to be my go-to. I think I should switch it up a bit!

Check out this exercise for inner-thighs. I got it directly from FitSugar, click on the source link to go there. It's a very helpful place to spend time:)

source

Narrow Squat With Overhead Press

Standing with a much narrower stance while you squat targets the inner thigh, inner quad, and inner hamstring. There is no reason not to multitask on this move — so work your arms too. Here's how:

Begin standing with your legs together, arms raised to shoulder height with elbows bent, holding weights by your ears.
Squat toward the floor by bending your knees and reaching your bum backward, as if you were sitting in a chair. Keep your legs squeezing together. Focus your weight into your heels. While squatting, raise your arms overhead into a parallel position.
Return to starting position by pressing through your heels while bending your elbows to lower the weights back to shoulder level.
Do 15 reps for one set. Do three sets

Off to get groceries and then back to school work! Have a good day!

friday food linkage

2012-01-20T19:37:00.000-04:00

Some delicious looking foods from around ~~the web~~ Pinterest-

Sweet Potato Hummus
from The Novice Chef

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I think my husband would love me even more if I made
these!

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Coconut Lentil Soup from Food Republic

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Oh snap! Pumpkin Gingersnap Icecream from
Picky Palate

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Winter Squash and Kale salad

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Grapefruit Brulee!

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someday, someday :)

pre-training runs

2012-01-19T08:30:00.000-04:00

Since I'm planning on starting my marathon training soon I did a long-ish run last night to make sure I can still run outside. Haha! I've been doing my sprint workout lately at the gym and I'm hoping it helps me get a little faster.

I started out last night planning to run 10-12 km, but by the time I got to 10km it was really dark so I decided to stop it there. I felt great and it was like Spring outside, I had a long-sleeved shirt and a thin sweater (and pants, duh.) which I thought was pretty awesome for January 18th! At the end of my run I ended with 50 lunges up our street. I thought that was a good end to a good run. I almost fell over 3 times- haha, sometimes balance isn't always my thing.

t-rex jokes kill me!

I've been working hard on our big project due next Month. It's a pretty big deal to do well on this, we're hoping to win a prize because we're broke students;) I will have lots to tell you on omega 3 - Tthere's so much more to it than you may think!

Today is an easy day, we're done at 12:30 and then I need to work on our project more. Then I have a dentist appointment for a cleaning, this is so exciting to me because for the last 1.5 years I've only been picked at by my classmates. A thorough cleaning will feel sooo good!

Enjoy your Thursday, one more day till the weekend!

high incline treadmill run

2012-01-18T06:36:00.006-04:00

Today was a quick day at school, we were out by 2:30 so I beat the traffic home. I love when that happens, it ends up saving me about half an hour!

I went out for groceries because, duh, it's Tuesday;) My order was small, but I'm only making meals for one person for the next 2 weeks so that'll make a difference.

After I got home I cleaned the building here and changed some lights, then it was time to go for a run. I got changed and layed down for one second which turned into a full-fledged nap. Since it was dark by that time I decided I'd better just go to the gym (I hear a lot of stories that scare me from running by myself at night) wimpy;) I went to the gym around 8:00 and it was paccckkkeddd. I did a quick arm workout and got the only treadmill left and got to this:

review of workout

I was sweating bombs and polished off my water pretty quick. I'm really trying to drink more water throughout the day. I always think to the Lululemon bag when it says to watch what water does to a plant. It's so true! My money tree gets a life-boost everytime I water him (her?).

Here's the quote:

Observe a plant before and after watering and relate these benefits to your body and brain.

More water it is!

Spaghetti-Squash Pizza Crust

mmm, ready to eat!

Super easy recipe! I got it from here. All you need is:

cooked spaghetti squash (forked out and patted dry)
2 beaten eggs
1.5 cups of grated mozza cheese
I added flax seed;)

What's your favorite Lululemon quote?

marathon training program

2012-01-16T23:06:00.000-04:00

all the girlies in my class at the Ball on Saturday.
Can you spot me?

I survived day 2 without hubby. He'll be back Friday night (no-storm-pending) for the weekend. Poor Maggie was pretty hyper when I got home tonight from school.

Busy day at school today- clinic until 9 P.M, but it was very productive so I'm happy:) When I got home I cleaned the lobby in our building so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow morning and now I'm getting my lunch ready for tomorrow. On the menu so far is spaghetti squash and a veggie stirfry. I'll probably pack more of my egg-oat dish for some protein. Good thing tomorrow is grocery day because it's looking a little low on the food front around here!

I may have mentioned this before, but I decided on a marathon training program. It is the same website I followed for my half marathons. I always seem to customize mine as I go along, but it's nice to have something to look off of. The company is Run for Life and I like the layout and progression of the training runs. I also love how the rest da is on Wednesday because that just seems like the perfect day to relax!

Day	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun

Week 1	4-6KM	I	R	7-9KM	5-7KM	12-14KM	Rest
Week 2	4-6KM	N		7-10KM	5-7KM	13-15KM	Rest
Week 3	4-6KM	T	E	7-10KM	5-7KM	14-16KM	Rest
Week 4	4-6KM	E		7-10KM	5-7KM	14-17KM	Rest/3KM
Week 5	4-6KM	R	S	7-10KM	5-7KM	16-19KM	Rest/3KM
Week 6	5-7KM	V		7-10KM	5-7KM	20-23KM	Rest/3KM
Week 7	5-7KM	A	T	8-10KM	5-7KM	22-25KM	Rest/3KM
Week 8	5-7KM	L		10-13KM	Rest/3KM	24-27KM	Rest
Week 9	5-7KM			10-13KM	Rest/3KM	26-28KM	Rest
Week 10	5-8KM	T	D	9-13KM	Rest/3KM	30-33KM	Rest
Week 11	5-8KM	R		12-15KM	Rest/3KM	28-31KM	Rest
Week 12	5-8KM	A	A	9-13KM	Rest	32-36KM	Rest
Week 13	5-7KM	I		8-12KM	Rest	27-29KM	Rest
Week 14	5-7KM	N	Y	7-10KM	Rest/3KM	18-24KM	Rest
Week 15	4-6KM	I		6-8KM	Rest/5KM	8-10KM	Rest
Week 16	5KM	N	5KM	Rest	Rest/2KM	RACE	Rest
Week 16 +1	Rest/3KM	G	Rest/3KM	3-7KM	Rest	5-7KM	Rest/3KM
Week 16 +2	4-6KM		Rest	7KM	5-7KM	6-8KM	Rest

Source

Any hints for me as I start to train for my first ever full marathon?

weekend recap

2012-01-16T07:44:00.003-04:00

What a fun weekend!

The Ball was a blast and the food was good - my salmon was good, but I heard meh things about the chicken. Good thing I snagged the salmon plate as the waitress walked by. I originially had ordered the chicken, but then I changed my mind. Oopsie, but I'm sure they had extras so I didn't completely screw up someone else's order.

We only took a couple of photos so we have to steal from other people. I'll put more up when I get a few more of them.

Michelle and I went to Starbucks yesterday and killed our project (that's a good thing). We put a solid 2 1/2 hours into it and our rough draft is pretty much complete. Here's to relaxing until we present it:)

Here's my workout from Saturday . I recommend the Sprint workout for a quick and awesome run.

My hubby is gone for the week, back for the weekend and then away again for one more week.

Enjoy your Monday!

my and my boy ready to go to the Ball

Dress Up Time!

2012-01-14T09:59:00.002-04:00

Tonight is a big night for us girls. It's the Dentistry Ball! Kenny has the weekend off so he gets to go:)
It worked out perfectly, we fit all of our group into one table. (Lucky for us they have tables of 10)
Last year the food and dessert was delicious. Add that onto great company and music and you have a fun night!

last year, just some of us
p.s since when am I the shortest??

I went to the gym early this morning because I have to meet a group at school for a project and then get back home to get ready for the Ball! I need to stop by the mall and pick up some accessories because I, ummm, don't like shopping and "forgot" to get them earlier this week;)

Here's what I did at the gym today:

my go-to cardio workout

upper body workout

In the next few weeks I'm going to start my marathon training:D

already ate some of my oats'n'egg dish:P

I'll have to share this recipe with you later, it's jam packed with protein and hardly any sugar.

Have a fun weekend!

Peanut Butter & Co.

2012-01-12T21:47:00.001-04:00

I bought the spicy peanut butter from PB & Co. around Christmas time because it's my two favorite things in one. I couldn't resist it and I tried it with crackers and was super dissapointed with the taste of it. I am typically not a complainer, but since it was $6.99 for a small-ish bottle I decided to write them and just let them know I wasn't a huge fan to see if I could maybe get a coupon or something along those lines.

When I emailed them I felt bad because I never do stuff like this, but they were very nice about it and asked me how I ate it and if I tried cooking with it because that is what it was meant for. Duh, seriously. I love cooking with peanut butter but it didn't even cross my mind to put it in a stir-fry. Spicy peanut butter= the perfect stir fry component.

They sent me two free coupons which I am really greatful for, but I also feel bad because now I love the stuff. Oopsie! Good on their part for letting me know how to use it though, now I'm a fan!

Tonight I went to make one of my favorite dishes: Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken. I love this dish so much that we even made it for our Anniversary dinner last year:) It calls for 1/2 cup of peanut butter and I used a kind we never use; Kraft unsweetened. We only eat natural smooth peanut butter, but I decided to try the Kraft kind since is was $0.50 one day! When I mixed up the Kraft PB with the other ingredients it didn't mix as well as the natural PB did previously so I mentioned it to Kenny and he said he thought I would have used the spicy peanut butter. *Lightbulb* I forgot to use it!! It would have been the perfect peanut butter for Thai Peanut Chicken. I am so excited to try it the next time I make this dish.

Now if I could just remember to use it;)

I'm a creeper and like to sit in the bathtub.

Thursdays are going to be my favorite day of the week this semester - classes from 8:00-12:30 and them we're done for the day. Getting off this early got me home in record time because of no traffic. I also had lots of time to call patients, go to the gym, make supper and get my lunch ready for tomorrow.
Now I'm relaxing with Kenny and we're going to watch The First Grader.

At the gym I did 15 minutes on the elliptical to start and then did this workout:

Enjoy your eveing!

DIY Crossfit Workout

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-04:00

I have been seeing CrossFit everywhere. It is a combination of weight training, gymnastics and sprints. Cool, right?

I would love to try out a few of the basic moves at the gym to see how it feels because the results are ridiculous.
Here are some DIY CrossFit Moves from Self Magazine. They go through each one so you'll know what to do;)

CrossFit Moves
source

Lately I have been enjoying the peanut butter protein balls I made. They make a great snack or a post workout treat. Want to make 'em?

pb protein balls

scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder
natural peanut butter
tbsp of honey
flax seeds, chia seeds, chocolate chips or another mix-in

Mix the protein powder and peanut butter until it has a dough-like consistency. Add in your desired amount of mix-in. Mold them into balls and put them in the fridge until they harden.

Hide them from your husband;)

Have you done CrossFit? How did you like it?

through my iPhone eyes

2012-01-11T07:29:00.000-04:00

I used to do this feature on my blog a lot before I revamped it a few months ago. I liked doing this and I hope you enjoy it too!

trying one of my many Keurig flavoured coffees

my go-to post workout meal

coffee people is my favorite brand so far

big time sale! I bought those penguins for $3.00 and that
vase I wanted forever was 75% off!

basketball game with Dan and Katie

Ahh! Ready to apply for NY. I'm a geek and took a picture

well, it's out. This is the time I want to do NY in

peanut butter protein balls

two if by sea treat last weekend to share: pear spice muffin

trip to the market

lentil falafels. I'll post the recipe soon!

so delicious and full of protein and fibre!

Maggie climbing the screen door

That's it! Most of the pictures are of Maggie so I spared you a little:)

I'll post the recipes for the peanut butter protein balls and the lentil falafels

soon!

squats and lunges

2012-01-10T06:15:00.004-04:00

I had a vain moment yesterday and cancalled my grad photo time slot because I didn't get to get my eyebrows done. These self-done things just can't go down in history in the Dental Hygiene hallway. They're eyebrows, I know you understand ;)

Yesterday before class I went to the gym for a quick workout which included:

10 minutes on the elliptical
tricep extensions, overhead tricep extensions, shoulder lifts (fly), lateral raises (3 sets of 12 each)
leg extensions and leg curls (3 sets of 12 each)
100 squats on the flat platform of the bosu ball
100 lunges

squat on bosu ball platform
source

Today is my save 10% on groceries day and I've made up my supper list for the week. Check it out:

spaghetti squash pizza (crust is made out of spaghetti squash!)
spicy thai peanut slow-cooker chicken
loaded veggie quinoa burgers
blueberry protein egg bake

Since we have already made homemade Lara Bars and they were significantly cheaper than the real deal I want to try these homemade Luna Bars. The ingredient list looks something like this:

brown rice krispies
nut butter
sweetener (honey or agave)
protein powder
vanilla, salt, melted chocolate chips

I am loving the short and real ingredient list! Homemade Luna Bars coming up soon:)

from Chocolate Covered Katie
source

Do you have any homemade recipes for bars you'd like to share?

Hector Picard= An Inspiration

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hector Picard
source

Hector Picard was electrocuted in his workplace and as a result is a bilateral amputee. He is a triathlete and a complete inspiration. Here is an exerpt from his website:

"In 1992 I almost lost my life in a work related accident. After four weeks in a coma, I awoke in a strange hospital I did not recognize, I felt the sting of the burns all across my body and for the life of me, I could not move my arms. The doctors continued to tell me everything I would do again with hard work and therapy, like button my shirt, brush my hair and feed myself…all things one learned as a child. After letting it all sink in, it became clear that at 24 I had to start my new life … as a bi-lateral amputee."

Here is a Hector's tweet from Friday evening: Bought my Lottery Ticket for the 2012 Ironman World Championship Hawaii. Trying to be the first double arm amputee. Toes Crossed!!

I am completely in awe of his determination and incredible athletic ability. He has inspired me to learn how to swim properly so I can do a triathalon. Thanks Hector!

Do you have anyone who has been an inspiration to you?

2012 Races

2012-01-06T18:47:00.000-04:00

I am hoping to make 2012 my year of races - my first full marathon, a half marathon with my 3 sisters + cousin, a 5km and hopefully a Marathon in November.

The more I think about running a full, I freak myself out and think about how happy I am when I finish a half, how I always think to myself thank goodness I'm not running the full. I saw a quote on pinterest the other day that said "if your dreams don't scare you then they are not big enough". I thought this was a great insight and encouraged me. Of course running a 42.2 km is going to scare me, but it's one of my dreams and I think it is big enough!

Here's what I have in mind so far:

Johnny Miles Marathon - New Glasgow

Lung Run 5km -Halifax

Bluenose Half Marathon - Halifax

NYC Marathon - can you guess the location?

I tried this exercise at the gym last night at it is haarrrd. While looking at it online I mentioned to Kenny how it looked like a lame exercise, but then I tried it - I have abs already, jokes.

P.S I am ready for all the NY Resolutioner's (is that a word?) to stop goingto the gym, they're all up in my grill ;)

image from google

It's Friday and we're off to Chapters! Enjoy your weekend!

What runs are you looking forward to this year?

bosu burpees

2012-01-05T07:30:00.000-04:00

The first day back to school was good! I had a very nice patient who I met for the first time, had a quick half-hour class and then it was back home. Everyone seemed well rested and ready to finish this up!

Yesterday at the gym I did some time on the elliptical and stepper and took a bosu ball into the spinning room so I could do some exercises on it. I watched some videos right before I left as a reminder how to do some of them, I always find it kind of humbling to start doing an exercise and then realize I have no idea how to do this. You know what I'm talking about... ;)

I did a million (probably 50) burpees on the bosu ball. I couldn't find a great picture explaining this, but basically I started out by standing on the half ball, then jumping down into a plank, then jumping back up onto the ball and standing again. I was breaking a sweat after those! I did squats on the platform part of the bosu, these require 150% of my concentration or else I'd probably be flat on my face. Haha!

a burpee
source

I think I will try these next day
Source

the flying burpee. Pretty neat looking!
source

What are your favorite Bosu Ball exercises?

2012 Goals

2012-01-04T07:30:00.000-04:00

I don't really do a New Years Resolution, but I love to set goals for myself. I love working towards something, there is always such a sense of accomplishment when you get there!

Run a Marathon- this seems like such a daunting and scary goal to me, but I know I can do it. I hope to run my first full marathon in June 2012.
Be more Positive- I tend to think more on the negative side of things sometimes, and I am really working on being more positive
Volunteer/Charity Work- There are so many volunteer oppurtunities around our city and I think it's about time I get involved in one of them. There is a coffee house once a week downtown where you serve coffee to the less fortunate
Run a sub 20 minute (official) 5 km race
Hang out with my friends more- Life shouldn't be too busy to see your top people!
Learn to swim! I grew up with a pool, but I preferred to specialize in cannon balls and the doggie paddle
Save more money! The Dave Ramsay in me will hopefully come out even more in 2012!

I thought this was a cute poster-

Submitted

2012-01-03T13:05:00.000-04:00

that's great inspiration!

Yep, my NYC Marathon application is submitted, now I just wait until April to see if I got picked to go. If my confirmation number is reflective of how many people have already applied, then it's up in the 870,000+ range! It would make sense for it to be that high because it's that marathon and they only select 40,000.
The lottery is a genius way to go about the NYC because imagine if they took the first 40,000 people to sign up? So many people would miss out on it, and after 3 years if you still have not been accepted then you have an automatic in. That's pretty smart (and nice!)

This is the training schedule I plan to follow for the marathon. I am hoping to do one in June about an hour and a half away from here. I am a little undecided about it because it does the same loop 4 times, but it considered a flatter course.

Well, my last day of Christmas Vacation. It has been sooo great to not have to wake up at 5:30 and go into school. I loved lounging around, going to the gym nice and early, hanging out with Kenny, blogging more and reading books! There are only 45 days left until my Winter Break ;) Lots to do in those 45 days!

What do you think of doing the same course 4 times? Have you done a run like this before?

Katie wins PIT

2012-01-02T15:32:00.002-04:00

2012 is looking up so far! We spent the weekend with some of our bestest buds, Dan + Katie. We had a relaxed and fun weekend; We rang in the New Year together and Jon and Katie's, went to a Rainmen Basketball game, played a mad game of PIT, cheered on Tebow, had a yummy brunch and went shopping.

the last 11:11 of 2011!

PIT! Katie was mean and said I am the first loser. Bahh, I'll win next time.

Today is a lazy day, it is rainy and grey outside. I am trying to finish Love the one you're with by Emily Giffin, it is a great book and I want to finish it before I start school again on Wednesday. She is the same author who wrote Something Borrowed (which is a movie now)

The Bachelor starts toniiighht! (please don't judge) Have you seen the line-up of girls yet? Click here if you're interested. This should be interesting because there is a senior lady, a couple of Canadians and a Hygienist! I think I like the hygienist the best already ;)

NYC Marathon Registration

2011-12-31T16:22:00.000-04:00

Are you wondering how to apply for the NYC Marathon for this coming November?

Opens tomorrow, January 2nd 2012 at 12:00 PM
$11 USD Application Processing Fee

Links regarding the Application Process:

New Year. Hello!

2011-12-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

2011 has been a good year. Here are some of the highlights:

many visits from family (from far-away)
seeing my parents :)
Dentistry Ball
numerous hikes
U2 Concert in New Jersey
David Letterman tickets: got to see Steve Carell!
going to the Press Lounge again
Valley Harvest Half
Kenny's 6 cycles of vacation!
completing my first year of Dental Hygiene!
visiting Alex in Boston
CT with my two sisters
getting to see Leanne a lot this year
my entire immediate family being together in October
Tennenbaum's Bar Mitzvah
Christmas Parade to kick off the season
realizing I can save 10% every Tuesday on groceries!

present of the year!

Kenny's Party

coastal hikes

M+ L & Co.

My Ma and Pa visiting

got to spend Father's Day with my Dad!

my amazing parents

Duncan's Cove

Duncan's Cove Hike

Anniversary note

4 year Anniversary Dinner!

visiting Alex in Boston and eating Mike's canolli's

my favorite location in NYC

U2!

Katz Deli

in Katz!

Dave Letterman

proud owner of these!

Crumbs indulgence

Vanessa's wedding!

everyone (Mo is on the screen;) )

niece kisses

some of my sisters :)

Bar Mitzvah

Valley Harvest

Christmas Parade!

gotta love a deal, especially an extra 10% off ;)

ahh, cute!

Here's to 2012- make it count!

What were some of your highlights of 2011?

Spaghetti Squash Bake

2011-12-31T12:21:00.001-04:00

I made the Spaghetti Squash Bake I've had bookmarked for a couple of months. It was so delicious and easy! I basically ate a third helping because it is just vegetables, sauce and cheese. It tastes like a lasagna, but guilt free because of there being no pasta. I ended up adding an onion just to make it a little more interesting. Here is the recipe from FitSugar. Did I mention it is gluten free?

lasagna?

Tim and Steph treated us to cheesecake last night. Kenny and I shared a piece of the Almond Joy cheesecake and T+S opted for a vegan chocolate piece. It tasted like delicious pudding (Tim claimed that was not the best description...) Our piece was delicious, it has bits of almond and coconut throughout the piece. Mmmm. Colin (the chef) let us sample an hor dourve they are trying, an apple bacon cheesecake pate. Mmm, so good!I wanted to eat all 4, but I was nice and held back.

apple + bacon cheesecake pate

Almond Joy cheesecake

the awesome decor

such a great spot!

It was a great way to spend the last Friday of 2011!

Last Friday of 2011

2011-12-30T12:44:00.000-04:00

It's sunny and 2 degrees here!

I had a quick workout this morning, my neck is still kinked so I can't do a whole lot. I used the elliptical machine and did some arm workouts.

I treated myself to a Wolf Gang Puck Hawaiian Hazelnut Keurig coffee this morning. It was so good and the packaging is so pretty too. I used some of my Christmas money yesterday to go and buy 24 different k-cups at a nearby store that has tons of boxes open so you can choose a variety. They had a good deal on the 24 so I was sold. When I am through with my Christmas-bought k-cups I can see myself solely using my personal k-cup and my bulk-bought ground coffee. I think if you were to constantly buy the individual cups you'd be robbing your piggy bank.

I am on a cooking kick today. I am making turkey soup and a spaghetti squash bake today. Mmm, I'll share the spaghetti squash bake recipe with you later on. It looks delicious!

I found this link on Women's Health Magazine this morning. It has some different workouts if you're feeling bored with yours. I know I need some more variety, so if you do too then here is the link!

one of the workouts from Women's Health Magazine

Enjoy your last Friday of 2011!

virtual 10K results

2011-12-29T18:54:00.004-04:00

I am loving my break from school, I am off until next Wednesday so I am chershing me last few days off. I am starting to feel the stress of second semester already just with calling patients and thinking about a few assignments and projects that are due early in the semester. However, I know it is going to fly by so I want to enjoy it at the same time!

I woke up this morning with the biggest kink in my neck. Apparently I look rather funny when I attempt to look to my right;) I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the stepper machine, a few leg exercises and I tried a new arm workout. I could only do the one arm workout because my neck was seriously hurting.I got this workout (crossbody bicep hammer curls) from PB Fingers. I really felt it so I am excited to start incorporating it into my workout.

crossbody bicep hammer curls

We went out for a drive this afternoon to check out a house we've had our eyes on for a while. It's a great location directly across the street from a lake and it's a corner lot. Now if it would just stay on the market until the fall that would be perfect!

The results from the Virtual 10K came in today. I wish they added the conditions people ran in;) I didn't realize you could run it on the treadmill, ah well, next year! They had some pretty awesome raffle prizes as well, I am definitely going to do it next year too!

Have a good Thursday evening!

Fit to Run?

2011-12-27T14:47:00.001-04:00

I am being a bit of a lazy person today because it's Boxing Day sales at the mall and I am on the search for a dress for the Dentistry Ball later in January. It's student discount day at the grocery store and we are getting pretty low on the food end of things so we're heading out to do that in a few minutes.

Later on tonight we're going to see Tin Tin, but hopefully I can fit a quick workout in before that!

Check out this video from Runner's World. It is a test you do to see where your weaknesses are with running, or to see how fit you are in case you're not at all weak;)

I definitely need to focus on my core strength and my flexibility. It's amazing how important your core strength is, I better get cracking on that!

What areas are you weak or strong in?

Christmas Recap

2011-12-26T20:22:00.001-04:00

This is a quick Christmas recap.

I don't want to sound like a spoiled little brat if I tell you what I got for Christmas. If you remember my stocking stuffer wish list you'll see I wanted the Keurig machine. I wanted it, but I was saving my airmile points for it so deep down I didn't actually expect it for Christmas. However, I received a nice shiny Special Edition Keurig on Christmas morning! Kenny's brother works at a Tech store and got a sweet discount on it so I feel better about the price. My in-laws got me coordinating gifts; my-cup (you can put your own ground coffee in it to save some $$), and oodles of k-cups! I think I am set for 2012 with my coffee supply. (In case you're wondering, the Green Mountain Hot Cocoa is so yummy). I must say Kenny always makes sure his wife is set on Christmas day!

I am going to look into Max's Christmas wish and see how many cards he ended up getting. If I can get in contact with someone, I'll post about it!

hanging up our socks

our official Christmas Eve picture

yay yay yay! shocked and worried about the price. lol!

there were lots of gifts

Guess what opens in one week?? The NYC ING MARATHON LOTTERY!!

Are you planning on applying for the NYC this year or in the future? If you ran it, how many times did you have to apply?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T19:25:00.002-04:00

Merry Christmas! Enjoy your day:-)

Virtual 10K Recap

2011-12-23T15:45:00.003-04:00

Today I did my first ever Virtual run! It seemed like a regular run, except that I knew other people all across the country were doing the same run at some point in the next two days. I think if I was just out for a regular run, I would have cut it short at 5km just because of the snow stabbing me in the eye.

I had fun though, it was definitely challenging, but it's been a while since I did a longer run and I think this kickstarted it for me again because I did it with no hip pain! This is awesome:)

Here is the recap I sent to the organizers of the Home for the Holidays Virtual 10K:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up around 8:00 and realized it wassnowing! One day before Christmas Eve and it’s snowing, just what we all want:a White Christmas!

I put on my long running Lululemons, a warmrunning sweater, my running jacket, got my Garmin all ready and put on my elfhat!

As I was leaving my building the oil truckdriver commented at how I was crazy and I would probably fall and break my legjust in time for Christmas. I reassured him that I would try my best to becareful and safe.

The run was tough, snow constantly stabbingme in the eyes and my shoes quickly got wet. Running through the “snow-man”snow kind of reminded me of running in sand, but not quite that difficult. Imade a little pit stop and built a miniature snowman just in case someonewalking along wasn’t in the Christmas spirit yet and needed a little boost.

I got a little chuckle from a female walkerin regards to my hat, but other than that nobody really made note of my hat. Ithink most people were concentrating on their driving and failed to notice arunning elf:)

Before I knew it, I was at 9.79 km so I gavemyself a little extra push for the last little leg of my run. I ended upfinishing my run in 55:28:19, definitely not my PR, but I did it! It wascomforting knowing that there were other people out there running this samedistance for this same reason: a virtual 10K! No matter what the conditions arelike, it always feels great to get out and have a good run. Just remember: no matter how slow you go, you are stilllapping everybody on the couch!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

excited to have completed my first virtual run!

my time, not my best, but I was happy with it

Winter Wonderland

so pretty!

elf ear reflection

someone was not a fan of snow

nope. hates the snow!

That's my adventure from this morning, now I am relaxing and waiting for the 2 hours to be up so I can take my gingerbread men mix out of the fridge and bake 'em!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Home for the Holidays Virtual 10K

2011-12-21T22:05:00.002-04:00

Dinner last night was a success! The ham was so yummy- pre cooked so we just put it in the oven for a few hours on low so it was a flaky texture. Yum! For a side I combined chopped sweet potatoes, potatoes, baby carrots and onions with onion soup mix and some brown sugar. Combined everything into a pyrex dish and baked it for about 45 minutes.

Can you see the Christmas tree and presents on
top of that Toyota car?

Tomorrow or Christmas Eve morning I am going to participate in my first ever Virtual 10K!
I got the idea from a few running blogs and thought it was a pretty awesome idea.

You register by tonight at 11:59 PM and you run a 10K (anywhere) on your own time anytime from the 22nd to the 26th. You can document it wth photos and there are raffle prizes for the most festive costume, etc. The only thing they ask is that you report back to them; can be funny, sad or happy stories about your virtual run.

Sound fun? Join! There link is here.

4 days 'till Christmas

2011-12-21T10:47:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? 4 days! I thought Kenny was behind on his Advent calendar so I was eating his chocolates until I realized it was a Christmas and New Year advent calendar. Oopsie!

I did my sprint workout today from FitSugar and I upped my recovery speed from 5.0 to 6.0 because I stopped at 22:00 instead of 26:00. It is a great run, with all the intervals it's over before you know it.

We're having some of special friends in for dinner tonight, ham is on the menu. Normally I'm no-ham-please, but last Sunday Kenny's mom had the most delicious ham ever so we bought the same one. Mmmm. Some melted snowman ice cream for dessert, more Mmmm.

It's looking pretty festive around our place lately:

I think we need a mantle for our stockings:)

Hi!

hmm, a gift for me! A gift for Katie ML to the left;)

well, I like our white tree...

met Chels for coffee last week

"oh, pulease, you are such a bother"

Ever heard of a Virtual Run? I think I am going to participate in one this week. I'll post later tonight about it! Sounds pretty cool;)

Do you like the new header? Be honest. I think it needs an actual photo. Thoughts?

Road ID

2011-12-19T18:56:00.001-04:00

I picked up a brochure for Road ID yesterday while shopping for stocking stuffers. I've had my eye on this product for a while now, I feel it is a great idea and can only be a good thing.

It is simply a tag with your personal information on it including your name, address, phone number and 'next of kin' to call in case of an emergency. I know I run in some areas that are a long distance from my place and having this on my wrist or shoe would give me that extra bit of confidence.

There are some pretty interesting testimonials on their website. Here is a quick one directly from their website:

I NEVER thought I'd actually need my Road ID!

I love my Road ID and I wear it constantly... when I'm cycling, running, swimming, rock climbing, etc. I NEVER thought I'd actually need it, but unfortunately I did! I crashed during the sprint finish of a local group ride. I lost consciousness, but one of my fellow cyclists was able to pull my Road ID off and call my husband, who was able to meet me at the hospital. Road ID is truly invaluable! Because of this experience, my husband now wears his Road ID religiously too. Thank you, for all you guys do.
Jennifer I.
Grovetown, GA

I especially love the pink RoadID's:

They guarantee Christmas delivery if you order by December 21st! This could be the perfect gift for your active friend!

Do you have a RoadID? Do you love it?

Maggie jumping video

2011-12-19T15:31:00.000-04:00

Check out this video of our crazy cat Maggie. I laughed hysterically for about 5 minutes after watching this, even though I recorded it. Ch-Ch-Check it out:

She gets so hyper sometimes that she almost doesn't know what to do with herself, so she leaps off the wall and then she is fine. Wierd, eh? Maybe it's her himalayan mixed with some ghetto kitty combination rubbing off on her.

printable treadmill workouts

2011-12-18T16:25:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Fitsugar I have been busy at the gym with some intense treadmill workouts. These are definitely challenging, but I love the accomplishment I feel when it's all over.

This specific PDF download has a beginner, intermediate, running hills and a sprinting interval workout. I did both the running hills (which takes you 46:00) and the sprinting workout (which takes 26:00). Doing any of these will take care of your cardio needs for the day!

I found some of the speeds to be a little on the slow side so I amped it up a bit to where I felt I was getting more of a workout. I kept the incline exactly to what it was on the workouts.

If you're looking to feel good and sore, check out the workouts here.

I am hoping by doing these sprint workouts, I can bring home a sub 1:40 half marathon;)

This time next week.....is Christmas! xo

stocking stuffer shoppin'

2011-12-17T08:27:00.000-04:00

Our Christmas tree is up! It's Maggie's favourite toy - she sits there and ~~chews~~ gnaws on it and bats the ornaments around in pretty much an entire circle.

time to make these again!

I'm trying to be a little careful with stocking stuffers this year because a stocking can run you around $100.00 pretty quickly. I was excited because yesterday I shopped around at a few different stores for the same products and I got one of them half price! On Tuesdays I get 10% off at the grocery stores around Halifax with my student ID so I am going to pick up some more stuffers then.

I think stockings are my favourite gift to open, especially in the O'Brien family because they wrap everything in the stocking. Super fun! I'm trying to make Kenny's stocking practical, but fun.

I'm making part of Kenny's gift. I can't say what it is because sometimes he reads my blog, but I'm excited to share it. I can't even leave a hint because he figures everything out.

We're heading to the gym in a few minutes and then out to do some Christmas stuff. This year I want to buy some mistletoe;)

Happy to be free from this for 3 weeks:

Enjoy your Saturday. One week until the best eve of the year!

holy treadmill workout, batman

2011-12-15T17:21:00.000-04:00

I'm freee! What a great feeling it is to walk out of your last exam, even if you studied all the wrong slides! Yeah, you read that right. I calmly walked into school today and noticed my friend was reading slides I hadn't. I casually asked her what she was looking at and she gave me a look. Sheer panic set in, seriously, how could this happen to me? I studied the 3 wrong slideshows all last night. It turned out to be relatively the same information that was in my slides, but slightly different. It surprisingly ended up going well!

Before I wrote my test, I remembered this verse my dad wrote on a piece of paper and put on my fridge:

The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe.

:)

Right from school I went to get some supplies to make Kenny's gift and a couple of my close friends. I'm excited to work on wrapping gifts and finishing up some things tomorrow. Free time is a wonderful and rare thing, and I am loving the first few hours of it!

Ok, I haven't stepped foot in my gym for a week, nor have I went for a run. This in return, makes me more irritable when I'm stressed with school and exams. Just ask Kenny;) He suggested I go for a quick run last night. Poor fella, he'll come home to a different person today, his normal wife.

Since I only had a short time frame for the gym I decided to try one of the treadmill workouts I got from Runners World and boy was it hard. It was heavy on the incline and on the slow side, so I upped the speed because I didn't feel it at first. It was tough! In the 40:00-45:00 time slot, I upped my speed a lot and sprinted for one minute at speed 9. It was a good finisher move. Even though it was the only thing I did, I felt my time was time well spent.

my original plan

my modified plan

do you think the calories are accurate on treadmills? If so, I am
having a cookie, er maybe a few.

As I was leaving the gym an older gentleman smiled and said "it looks like you had a good workout". I've heard this a few times, what exactly does that mean? I am beet red, sweaty (doesn't it hurt when it gets in your eyes?!) and I smell like a skunk. I think he was trying to say "you look really bad". Hahaha! Do people ever say anything to you after you work out?

Off to our Company Christmas shin-dig in the lobby. Live band and all!

pepper stuffin n stuff.

2011-12-14T20:28:00.000-04:00

One more! One more exam! Then I am freeee. I am most excited to get back to the gym (it's been a week!), clean our place (top to bottom), wrap Christmas gifts, have no assignments/patients to call, and spend time with my hubby!!

Tomorrow after my last exam I am off to the gym, coming home to clean, cleaning for the Company Christmas event here in the building and then out for a snack to say bye to the girlies from school.

chicken stuffed peppers

Dinner tonight was very quick, easy and yummy!

mmm

In the mix:

shredded chicken (cooked chicken in the slow cooker and then used it for these)
stir-fried: red onion, garlic, chopped green peppers (just the leftovers), kale and spices
Worcestershire sauce (I had to google how to spell that. ha!)
barley, lentil, rice and split pea mix
a couple of tablespoons of pasta sauce

Mix the mixture and fill up the green pepper half way, stick a little sliver of cheese, finish filling it up, and top with cheese. Cook for 15 minutes at 400.

Kenny's card he sent to Max

Kenny also wrote up a card to send to Max . You can view the card I sent to him by clicking on the link in the last sentence. (his wish is to receive 1,000,000 Christmas Cards this year because he is sick with leukemia). I'm so excited for him, I really hope he meets his goal! If you're feeling inclined to send him a quick card just saying Merry Christmas here is his address:

Max

c/o Hailey Remish

417 Jones Street

Belle Vernon, PA

15012

Back to studying. Have a good night!

my stocking stuffer wish.

2011-12-13T09:52:00.001-04:00

Christmas 2010. I think nicer stockings are due?

I have to chuckle at my list I made for Kenny and he had a chuckle as well. What? You can't fit a deluxe Keuirg Machine in a stocking?

Dang it, he fixed my coffee maker last night (remember I thought I ruined it by putting the coffee grinds in the water section by accident?) Why do men have to be so handy?

Here's my stocking wish list:

keurig machine (deluxe version)
small colorful paper snaps (ask me for a better explanation)
small candles from Wal-Mart (glass ones with the covers)
gum with xylitol (Stride will do just fine)
lara bars
a gift card to Tim's (only in the absence of a Keurig machine)
lululemon running headbands (mid-width ones)
minty + shiny lip gloss

Well, off I got to cram some more for this final today. It's at 1:00 and I've been studying like a mad ~~man~~ woman.

My countdown states:2 days and 1 hour. I can do it. If you feel inclined, please say a little prayer for me and my Pharmacology exam. I need it.

Max's Christmas Wish

2011-12-12T12:54:00.000-04:00

...I wrote a local anesthetic exam and went to Costco with Kenny!

Just a super quick post. I am asking you to please get into the Christmas spirit and send a little 8 year-old from Pennsylvania a Christmas card. He is battling leukemia and his wish is to receive 1,000,000 Christmas cards since he won't be home for the Holidays this year.

I got this information from here

Just think, a card (which you probably already have), a stamp and you could help Max's wish come true!

His address is:

Max

c/o Hailey Remish

417 Jones Street

Belle Vernon, PA

15012

There's still time to send it and potentially make his Christmas:)

Thanks so much, guys!!

Off to study for Pharmacology. Only 3 more days until I can enjoy my favorite time of year!

semester highlights

2011-12-08T13:12:00.001-04:00

Well, now that I am supposed to be a book work for the next week I naturally am procrastinating.

she pretty much runs this place

Early this morning I went to the gym and pumped some iron (just kidding. Does 15 pound dumbells count as 'iron'?) then I cleaned the building, went and got a coffee (because I ruined my coffee maker that day I got up at 3:30am by putting the coffee where the water is supposed to go. Did I mention 3:30 is a little early for me?) and then I sat down to study.

I opened up my binder and looking me straight in the face was part of my paper that I passed in yesterday, the questionnaire part of it. Gulp. I fired off a quick e-mail to my Professor and told her I would be dropping it off ASAP. Now that's done and I'm back home sitting down to study.

I do go to a pretty school!

my second, or first home. It's about equal time:)

Well, a blog post wouldn't hurt, right?

on my wish list. How cool is this coffee table?!?! At Attica for over a grand.

love these! I remember saving something like this on Etsy. It must be meant to be,
and only $15 each!

Since this semester flew by and I (in general) had a great time with my ~~posse~~ buddies and my patients. I wanted to make note of some highlights from September until now.

I had awesome patients, I seriously loved almost all of them!

my older lady who invited me to her cottage this coming summer
my gay patient who I just loved!
the cutest old man ever! He thought everything I said was funny, so duh, I loved him
the guy who said I handled the instruments like one of my professors
the guy who hid is dentures on me. Yeah! I nearly had a heart attack
the guy who loved to chat, and I took 3 appointments with him, so I started to keep his mouth open with my fingers. haha!
my sweet little patient from Africa
the little kids we worked on in the town over from us

With my posse:

our birthday celebrations!
the annual Christmas Parade
trips across the street to Starbucks
sharing Pinterest e-mails all semester
more to come;)

Michelle made some adorable cakes!

Devan's birthday

my birthday supper, celebrated just yesterday, but better late than never. It could
technically be an early birthday celebration;)

Ok, ~~back to studying~~ going to start studying.

end in sight

2011-12-07T21:37:00.001-04:00

Today was our last day of classes, in only 7 days and 2 hours I will be on Christmas vacation! I took tonight off from school related stuff and the gym too. Oopsie. Tomorrow is when I buckle down and really get to studying. Studying so far in advance doesn't do anything for me because I don't feel the pressure, so a few days before is what works the best for me.

I learned a little life lesson yesterday. I have to say, I am a good student. I attend every class, I am there on time, do assignments on time, etc. Yesterday we only had one class in the morning at 8 am for one hour. Since it takes me an hour to bus in and back home I decided to stay in bed and just look at the lecture later.
Big Mistake!
When I woke up I went on the computer and noticed people in my class exclaiming on facebook at how it was the 'best day ever' and blah blah blah. I texted one of my buddies to ask what was going on and she informed me that since only 2/3 of the class showed up they were exempt from the exam. Yeah! Seriously!! Yup.
Want to see somebody really upset and frustrated? You could have seen it yesterday. Anyhow the test was written today and it is what it is. I guess to be a full fledged professional you can't miss an hour.

Guess what? Our Christmas tree goes up tomorrow night!!! I am so excited! Pinterest has so many good ideas for decorating white trees, but I think I am going to stick with what we had last year, maybe even keep the Santa hat as our topper:) This time next year, we should be able to have a real tree.... :D

Friday is a sure way to put Kenny and I in the spirit- we have our company turkey dinner at noon and then the annual Christmas Party in the evening at his sister's. I think a trip to Value Village is in my plans tomorrow to get some ugly sweaters, I think it's fun to unexpectedly show up in an ugly sweater. Last year at the school ugly sweater party mine was hideous with huge Bingo Wings!

Off to see Modern Family!

I moustache you to read this

2011-12-01T21:26:00.001-04:00

I hosted Sarah's baby shower which was last Saturday. It was a brunch shower with a waffle station, moustache cupcakes, scones and fruit. The theme of this party was moustache's, this kind of fit into the whole Movember thing and she is having a boy so I thought it would be a fun theme!

Tracing and cutting 30 moustaches from cardstock is no small task, but I was happy with the end result and I think people enjoyed posing with them, I had around 4-5 different designs. Sweetiecakes offered to make the cupcakes and of course they turned out great. Only two more months until the little guy arrives!

I only had my iPhone to snap pictures with, so if you had a real camera and were there, I'd love to get some better quality pictures from it...

mr.stachio made by Kenny O

my moustache creating station, many hours of cutting cardstock into sweet 'staches

and a goatee, in honour of the Dad of the hour- Donald
(please excuse the hair.thanks.)

made mr. stachio into signs

this was the other side of the room; these signs said "Boy Oh Boy!"

cupcakes by Sweetiecakes.

the sign says "I moustache you to make a wish for Baby Howard" and I had
a list of different wishes for the baby to be filled out

some gifts and guests, and some comics to be read:)

the Mommy-to-be and me!

I woke up at 3:30 this morning to cram for my final today so I am heading to bed. 3:30 is a little bit too early for my liking:)

great gifts for runners!

2011-11-30T16:50:00.001-04:00

Wednesday already?? I only have one week left of classes, and only 14 days until my Christmas break starts! I simply cannot wait to have a few weeks off and just relax, this semester has been an incredibly busy one. Speaking of which, blog post is a nice procrastination move for me. I'll study right after this, right after I do that....

Monday morning's spin class was awesome again this week- during one song she had us off our bike for 4 seconds, back on for 4 seconds, back off, back on, etc and then she switched it to every 2 seconds. It was such a great start to my week. Whooop!

Check out these few gifts for runners.

Coasters made from your running bibs! So cool!

Want these cool coasters? Get 'em here

of course this is my favourite!

If you're looking to get this bottle, get it here.

My first final is tomorrow afternoon so adios! Happy Wednesday, you know what that means? Modern Family!

pain and smiles captured

2011-11-27T13:22:00.001-04:00

Prepare for a few chuckles in this post. I was looking through these today and couldn't help but laugh out loud (literally, not just 'lol') at these pictures. These are all photos from the races I have done.

my first official race: 10km at 53:00 in 2008

Give'er- at the finish line, and by the looks of it I am reallllly relieved!

my first half marathon; 1:44:58 in 2009

hahaha! love my stance here. That gel pack in my hand
was well needed

my most difficult race so far, I barely trained and
had a hard go at it. Second half marathon; 1:48:25 in
2009

same half marathon as <-----
I love my minimalistic shoes so much more than these shoes!

...ready. to. sit. on. pavement. right. now...
Second 10km race; 49:04 in 2010

oops, look happy for the photographer...

thumbs up, yo. My third half marathon; 1:44:20 in 2011

baahhh, she cannot pass me. I have a bit of a competitive side to me...

Those are the races I have to my name so far. My goal is to have a full marathon under my belt this time next year! Hopefully you had a couple of chuckles, or full fledged belly laughs?

Spinning Tips

2011-11-22T18:41:00.001-04:00

I love Spinning.

It is difficult, but I love starting to sweatwithin the first 10 minutes of class. I'm not gonna lie-

20 minutes into the class I feel like quitting, but only for a second. It's the best way for me to get my water, I down that bottle fast!

I found some tips for spin class on the Women's Health online magazine. I took it directly from here.

If you're a spinner, or plan on taking a spin class this is a helpful link!

Guess what? After 3 weeks of setting my alarm for 5:30 am on Monday morning, I finally didn't press snooze yesterday. I got up and went to the spin class, It went from 6:00-7:00 and it was brutal! It was a different instructor from the evening classes. She was non-stop; high tension and a whole lot of sprint sets. It was a great start to a Monday!

Pedal Smoothly
Your goal: Spin in fluid circles rather than jamming down on the pedals. With the ball of your foot on the pedal, push down, then pull your foot through the bottom of the stroke, then pull up and back around. "A faster cadence works your cardiovascular system and doesn't tire your muscles as quickly as slower, low-gear pedaling does," says Dunlap. Your speed will naturally slow on hills and quicken on descents. Though you don't need cycling shoes, they help transfer power into your pedals while keeping your feet from fatiguing.

Eyes On the Prize
Resist the urge to put your head down when you're going hard or getting tired. It can slow your oxygen intake, tiring you out faster. (Not to mention it spells danger on the road.)

Core Performance
While your legs are busy spinning, keep your upper body still--don't rock side to side, especially while climbing. Always maintain a flat back and keep your elbows bent and relaxed (it helps absorb shock when you hit a bump). Hold your arms in line with your body, not out to the side. Keeping your upper body relaxed will reduce strain on your lower back.

Take a Seat
Your weight should feel evenly distributed, with 60 percent on the saddle (seat) and 40 percent on the handlebar. The saddle height should be positioned so there's a slight bend in your knee when your foot is at the bottom of a stroke. Most of all, you should be comfortable. Your best bet? Get a professional bike fit at a shop.

Get Up
Sitting is the most efficient way to ride--you can use up to 10 percent more energy when you're out of the saddle. But sometimes, like on a monster hill, you need extra power. When you stand, all of your body weight pushes down on the pedals, giving each stroke more oomph. If you stand, shift into a harder gear so your legs don't spin too quickly, rise up, and keep your butt over the seat.

Stop Smart
"Brake smoothly and evenly, lightly squeezing and releasing the brakes to control your speed rather than grabbing fistfuls at once," says Dunlap. About 75 percent of your stopping power comes from the front brake (left-hand side). But squeezing that one too hard can send you over the handlebar. Keep in mind that when you hit the brakes, your bike slows but your body keeps going forward, making it harder to steer. Shift your weight back to maintain better control.

last week recap

2011-11-18T22:24:00.001-04:00

Last week started off as a pretty stressful one. Monday night our class practiced local anesthetic on each other. For the first time.ever. Sigh. For someone who is seriously scared of needles this was a big challenge. 'Specially giving and receiving one on the palate.

I studied all weekend so I knew exactly where to stick Michelle. hehe. I volunteered to go first just so I could get it over with, and I was feeling confident at first because I knew where to inject at and how much to inject. The Dr. who was paired with us (complete sweetheart!) asked me if I was ready and I pulled the cap of the bad boy and then I froze (no pun intended. Har-Har). All of a sudden I starting telling her I couldn't do it (my partner was so confident in me at this point...) so she suggested putting the cap on and pretending to inject. I did this and immediately felt at ease. I gave it another go and took the cap off and prick. Done. It was so cool! I hardly injected any because the gauge was facing the other way and I actually couldn't see how much I was injecting. (Safe, I know. It was basically a drop, and the Dr. was right there).

We did two different injections; one on the palate and one directly above a tooth on the upper jaw (for all you non-dental folks;) In two weeks we move down to the lower jaw for two more injections. I am excited for these injections now that I've done it once.

some frozen smiles.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday night Kenny and I went to our spin class and found out our instructor is getting a new job so she'll only be filling in randomly :( I think I am going to join my old gym again though, they have such a great variety of classes and I miss my old gym on a regular basis. I googled away one class and came up with some great workouts (this site even had animated pictures so I know how to do them)

Here is some of them: (3 sets of 12 for all)
triceps: tricep pushdown with v-bar attachment
bench dips
lower back extensions (for those freakin' love handles)
hyperextensions (do not arch your back when coming back up)
lying back presses (your body will make a "U" shape)
Butt: single dumbbell squats
Biceps: preacher curls
hammer dumbbell curls
Abs: abdominal cable crunches (sit on your knees, flex hips slightly and place wrists above head
abdominal scissor kicks (ouchhhh.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is on the menu for next week: cilantro lime slow cooker chicken. Owning a slow cooker is perfect for clinic days at school which leave me at school until 9pm on Monday evenings. Here is the recipe thank you once again, Pinterest. I am very excited to make this. Cilantro? Lime? Salsa? Chicken? It's like the perfect ingredient list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday night at 4:45 was certainly welcomed by me, this week seemed like a crazy roller coaster week. Friday night Leah, Rachel and Tara came for a shopping trip and they stayed here for the night. Saturday morning we went to Two if By Sea across the bridge. I got a cookie the size of a tire for Kenny, and I took some bites.

I decided today that I don't actually love their coffee. It was kind of a sad moment for me, but I still love going there for a treat. Lately I have been adding cinnamon to my coffee grinds at home and it is so delicious, a subtle taste of cinnamon throughout my whole cup of coffee. Not to mention the soy egg nog I bought, that makes my coffee even more yummy.

After I got back home, Kenny and I ran out to do some last minute shopping for my friend Sarah's baby shower this weekend (it's a moustache theme!) and then we got a couple of Christmas gifts bought. It sure makes Christmas shopping easier when you draw names on both sides of the family!

Saturday night was the Holiday Parade downtown. It was +7! I met up with some girls from school and we needed to get a Starbucks (it's tradition). You should have seen the line! We ordered our drink within 5 minutes and then proceeded to wait over 25 minutes for our drinks! My drink number was 18. They made a few drinks that were incorrect and we snagged a mocha frappuccino to share with everyone.

Terrence the photo bomber

the Duggers Float

...and that's what happened last week:)

NYC Marathon 'live' illustration by Christoph Neimann

2011-11-12T11:32:00.001-04:00

Christoph Neimann (an artist) ran the New York City Marathon a few weeks back and did something very interesting while running the 26.2 miles. He did a live illustration of his run and coordinated his art with his twitter updates. It is so well done, I had a smile on my face reading/looking at it because it was cute and entertaining!

Please, Please, Please check it out! My favourite 'update' from his run is from his encounter with friendly people at mile 21.8 Here is the link: http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/

his running paraphernalia

About the Artist

Abstract Sunday mirrors Christoph Niemann's illustrations for The Times Magazine and is an archive of Abstract City, his Opinion column, which ran from 2008 through early 2011.

Niemann's work has appeared on the covers of The New Yorker, Newsweek, Wired and American Illustration and has won numerous awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Art Directors Club and American Illustration. He is the author of many books, among them “The Pet Dragon”, which teaches Chinese characters to young readers, “I LEGO N.Y.” and, most recently, “SUBWAY.” It is based on “The Boys and the Subway,” the first entry of the Abstract City blog. After 11 years in New York, he moved to Berlin with his wife, Lisa Zeitz, and their three sons. You can also find him on his Web site christophniemann.com or on Twitter @abstractsunday.

Source: http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/

What did you think of his run? (If you read it) :)

Hypothermic Half

2011-11-09T19:18:00.000-04:00

This race is sold out already! Boo, I wanted to do this so badly. I e-mailed the director to see if she could squeeze me in and they put me on a waiting list. The funny thing is that the half marathon walk is still open for registering. Do you think I could register as a walker and then run it? :)

I also think the fact it is full might be a blessing in disguise - remember my frost-nip ear a few years ago? haha! My ear tripled in size after a run in sub temperatures (like -15). I went to the Doctor because it was so painful, red, puffy and itchy. I (of course) thought my ear would have to be amputated so Kenny drove me to the walk-in clinic so I could hear it from a Professional that my ear would be fine:) The Doctor made a few jokes directed towards me and suggested maybe opting to wear a hat next time...

I love this:

(late) weekend update

2011-11-08T21:37:00.000-04:00

Friday night called for absolutely no school work on my part. Night off it was. Kenny was thinking along the same lines because we took off for a date night to the Armview Restaurant. It is one of my favourites, it's a retro diner redone with delicious food. I already blogged about this, so I'll shut up.

Kenny had some overtime from work, so he didn't have to go into work until 11:00 am. We heard through the grapevine that Two If By Sea was having their second birthday party and every drink on their menu board was $1.00!

Happy Birthday! Much less crowded than I had anticipated!

yay for a heart on my latte!

free cake:)

chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese icing + Kenny

I like this picture because I look like an angel. jokes.

green onion and cheddar cheese scone. The size of my head.
I did not need to buy this, but I did.

The little twins also turned 2 so we headed off to another birthday party! I don't have any great pictures of them, but it was a cute little party. Here they are eating a full cupcake each; Austin already polished his off

Sunday night supper was more along the breakfast line. I used Chocolate Covered Katie's 'Boatmeal" recipe (tripled the recipe so I could have left overs) and added 2 eggs to it so it had some more protein, 1 tbsp of chia seeds and I pretty much doubled the amount of pumpkin it called for:)

G'nite - off to study local anesthetic. Just wait until next Monday night- it'll be the first time I administer local to one of my classmates. It should be a good evening;)

name-less soup

2011-11-04T23:23:00.000-03:00

After reading Katie's blog over at Polkadotsoup where she blogged about her carrot chipotle soup (which sounds amazing, it has ~~condensed~~ canned milk in it!!) I realized I forgot to blog about the soup

concoction I came up with.

This is how it all went:

I had a ton of sweet potato, onions and carrots in my fridge that weren't getting much use. I'm always disappointed in myself when I realize I've wasted food, so I started chopping away.

-I cut up 3 onions and sauteed them in the pot with some sunflower oil until they were translucent.

-I added in my 6-10 chopped (and unpeeled. I am lazy.) carrots and sauteed them with the onions as well.

-I cut up 3 cooked (and peeled. I'm not that lazy) sweet potatoes

-Added one box of reduced sodium chicken broth and 2 cups of water to the mix

-I realized I had a butternut squash sitting on the counter, so I chopped that up

-Thennnn I added a peeled, chopped apple to the mix because another recipe I use calls for an apple

-I let the mix simmer for about 45 minutes until the carrots and squash were soft

-Then this is where I go spice happy. I added copious amounts of cumin, cracked black pepper, a lot of dried chili peppers and a teensy pinch of kosher salt.

........

When everything was soft, I transferred the soup to the blender and pureed it. Then I realized there was no protein in it so I added a cup of barley and a little extra water. I simmered the barley until it was nice and chewy.

Done!

hot peppahs.

Mmmm. Fall in a cup!

What would you call this soup? It clearly needs a name!

Tonight Kenny & I had a little date night at the Armview. I had a chicken soulvaki wrap on whole wheat tortilla and a side of smoked bacon + lentil soup. I am obsessed with soup. You want garlic? Order this soulvaki wrap. Holy Garlic. Kenny got a chicken club sandwich and we ended up sharing a few bites across the table. Normally it is just me begging for a bite, but Kenny was getting in on some of the garlic-y goodness too.

I am going to try this at the gym bright and early tomorrow morning!

Happy Weekend!

sushi to chia

2011-11-02T23:30:00.000-03:00

It seems like Kenny and I have been talking about going out for a sushi date for a long time. Last week we went for the Tsu Nami hour which is their happy hour and mostly everything off their menu is 20% off after 9:30 pm. Sushi is one thing I am ok with eating late at night, it seems so light and fluffy and I'm usually hungry again within the hour so it's a good late night food for me!

We got a spring roll appetizer. We compare every single spring roll we try to Baan Thai's spring rolls. Baan Thai definitely won over Sushi Nami's, but they were still good; how many fried foods can you think of that don't taste good? Also on the menu was the dynamite roll (tempura shrimp, cucumber, green onion and avocado), sweet potato tempura (basically sweet potato fries in sushi.Mmmm) and the spicy tuna roll. Delicious Sushi, and for all 4 dishes our meal came to $22, not bad!

*please tolerate my iPhone pictures, my battery on my real camera is lost, so here's some pixelly shots for you*

Kenny O

sweet potato roll, we both wanted the piece with the
fries sticking out.

Dynamite Roll. Mmm, I had this all to myself:D

Spicy Tuna. Deliciouss Fishess.

all together, and every last bite polished off!

School has been really, really busy. Not so much with exams, but with assignments, clinic and after school activities that are mandatory. It's pretty wild to think I only have 5 weeks left of first semester!

my ever faithful (rather high maintenance
needs-to-be-brushed-and petted) study buddy

Earlier this week our class split into groups and went to an elementary school to teach about oral health. I was nervous at first, but once we got in there and saw there were only 15 children per classroom, it went well and they were very well behaved, cute and asked really advanced questions.

Today we went to a different school where we actually clean teeth. I had a squirmy monkey today, but he was so cute! It is a nice break from normal clinic and a change of scenery.

Food:

As always I was surfing on Pinterest today and came across a nut butter with chia seeds. Since I put chia into everything I eat, I figured why not give this a shot? Some people are so grossed out when they realize chia seeds are actually the seeds from Chia Pets. This has never bothered me?

Chia Nut Butter:

so easy! Combine 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup peanuts into food processor until it has the texture of

peanut butter. This takes several minutes, like 10 minutes. At first the mixture will look crumby, but give it more time in the processor. Stop the processor every few minutes to mix it.

After you get your desired texture and consistency, add some chia seeds in and a spoonful of honey.

Process some more, just until the honey and chia seeds are combined.

Not sure I would include honey next time?

It's really Good! I am excited to try it on my toast in the morning! I think next time I would put in more almonds, sans peanuts and in place of peanuts add in walnuts; they are quite oily and I think that would work well!

Back to school work and Kenny is making Starbucks inspired Molasses Ginger cookies! Good thing there is another spin class tomorrow night:D

World's most beautiful Marathon?

2011-10-27T14:40:00.001-03:00

Jungfrau Marathon Route

I was reading Runner's World today and it had an article on the Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland. It is claiming to be the most beautiful marathon in the world. Check out the article here .

that is one steep n' steady hill!

It may be the most beautiful, but I also think it looks like one of the hardest!

A cool way to start off 2012? The Hypothermia Half in Halifax! I would love to do it, but I have a serious allergy (or maybe I am just a wimp) to the cold. If anyone would like to run it with me (hint, hint) I would do it! Just think - if a run is on your to-do list for 2012, you'll have it checked off in February!

apple picking (kind of) and a toothbrush

2011-10-25T22:39:00.000-03:00

The plus of being a hygiene student? Free stuff! Such as this SmartSeries 5000 Oral B Power Toothbrush which retails around $160.00! Along with that I got tons of free toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, a proxabrush and mouthwash. It was like Christmas morning for us girls, I'm not sure the general public would be as excited as we all were.

Friday night Marsha and I met up and went to the Celtic Corner for supper and a chat. I have been there a couple of months ago for brunch. It was amazing; fish cakes with homemade green tomato relish, toast, bacon and something else. The place was packed and no wait list. We scoured the entire restaurant for 40 minutes for a table. We finally found a table free up and we pounced on it. Not even 2 minutes later a lady asked us if anyone was sitting beside us. Weird question I thought, and then who plunks down beside us? Yep, her and her husband. I had to laugh, this would only happen to Marsha and I. I got a veggie burger, it was ok. I would only rate it a 7.5/10 whereas the brunch was definitely a 10.

Saturday was fun! It started off with a 7km run in the crisp fall air, it was the most ideal running weather. I wanted to keep going, but I had to get back and shower. We picked up Beth & Adam and took off to Wolfville (the same town the half marathon was in) for the Farmers Market. It is a very cozy, country market with delicious treats everywhere. I picked up a cosmic cookie (rolled oats, chocolate chips, molasses, craisins, and pumpkin seeds - no added sugar besides the molasses), a vanilla pomegranate cupcake and we all got sausages and loaded them up for lunch.

I love this little town; Wolfville

Wolfville Market

Kenny!

From there we went 'apple picking'. We walked up to where the honey crisps were at, ate many of them, took lots of pictures and left. The view from on top of the hill is amazing - the Bay of Fundy! I ended up buying a 20 pound bag of Cortland apples at another nearby farm Noggins . There was also a fall fair activity going on with a tire pyramid to climb, corn maze, fresh kettle corn, U-pick pumpkins, apples and herb garden! Noggins is definitely on our list for next fall!
*Pictures of apple picking to come!*

Back to Oral Pathology!

Rainy Thursday and spin class

2011-10-20T22:40:00.000-03:00

You wouldn't believe the rain is this part of the country! The highway my bus goes down was closed down due to all the water on the roads. Luckily I caught a different bus and skipped rush hour, I was unaware of the water filled roads at this point. I have to say I love rainy evenings, it's a great excuse to just relax.

photo from CBC.ca

Today was my first day back at the gym in almost 3 weeks. Bad, I know. I skipped out on the gym the week before my half marathon because I was nervous I would do something that would put me out of commission for a few days. Then the week after my marathon I was sore and we went away for a few days. Late nights at school this week, a Pharmacology midterm and here it is,Thursday. I went to the 1-hour spin class and Jen made it worth my while, I was sweating bullets within 5 minutes.

I was reading Carrots and Cupcakes Blog today and she posted about the oatmeal pumpkin loaf she made. My pumpkin obsession is still on fire so I whipped it up (all in one bowl, I love this recipe). Kenny rated it a 9.7 - The missing 0.3 points come from the lack of chocolate chips. Oops. Next time.

oatmeal pumpkin loaf

Recipe directly from carrotsncake.com
Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats
1.5 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup soy milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease loaf pan.
Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well.
Pour batter into loaf pan.
Bake for 55-60 minutes, until top is firm, and a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow loaf to cool for 10 minutes and serve warm.

*The only thing I changed was I only put in about 3/4 cup of sugar and a snuck a tbsp of ground chia seeds. I love sneaking fibre in without people noticing, hehe*

I'm off to catch up on Terra Nova and Modern family with Kenny (and Maggie)...

98

2011-10-17T16:52:00.000-03:00

My sweet little Grandma passed away last Monday, she was 98. It was a bittersweet time. It is always sad to say goodbye to someone special, but she is 'flying with the angels' as Handley said.

Grandma and I in February 2011

A plus to last week was getting to see my (almost) entire family (all except for 2 brother in laws) I seriously love my family, it was so comforting and relaxing to be together for a few days.

A few highlights:
-a quick trip to the Farmers Daughter with Dad, Ashley and Adam
- girls trip to Baddeck for the day
-seeing Katie + Dan
-seeing all but 3 cousins!
-late chats with my brothers and sisters
-waking up early and seeing Dad sitting in the kitchen
-the cousins hanging out at my house

my family!

almost all the cousins - missing Gwen, Amy and Hans

Valley Harvest Marathon

2011-10-10T07:40:00.000-03:00

On Sunday I ran my third half marathon. I have been logging many hours of training over the past few months and working more on my speed work as well (sprint intervals on the treadmill and spinning classes and high levels on the cross trainer machine)

I made a goal for this half; get a PR at 1:40 or even better 1:39! I felt this was attainable because about a month ago I ran 20 km in 1:41 with no water for 17km, no real 'carb load' the night before and no electrolyte candies. I thought for sure that with water stops, gels/candies and some healthy competition I would be well on my way to reaching my goal.

On Thursday and Friday I could feel a cold coming on so I kicked back the vitamin C and water and went to bed early. I felt much better on Saturday except that my legs felt very heavy and tired. This heaviness went into Sunday as well. What can you do? It's your body and it has a mind of it's own.

Kenny(who ran his first 5km!!!!) and I got to Wolfville around 7:45 am and picked up our kits. We put on our bibs, timer chip and headed to the start line. My race started at 8:30 and Kenny's at 9:15. We snapped some pictures, stretched and I could only swallow one advil, not the two in my package, but one was enough. (Isn't that what the commercial says?)

My run started off good, but I could still feel how heavy my legs were. I ran with the 1:45 pace bunny and figured as long as I got well ahead of him I was good to go, I lost him around 3 km and felt great! Everything was going great; beautiful, sunny Valley weather and friendly runners to chat to. Around 16km I started to really feel the fatigue so I kept popping my Chomps (which hurt my belly and made me thirsty, but they fuel 1 1/2 -2 hours of exercise). There were probably 2 big hills after my 16km fatigue really started so those hit me hard.

At 19km guess who catches up to me? The stupid 1:45 pace bunny!! My heart dropped and I asked him if he was ahead of time. He looked at his Garmin and said he was a bit ahead, but not much. Along with the pace bunny came a girl in a blue shirt who I started with, but got ahead of. I stuck with her and then at 20.5km she took off with a very strong finish and I was pretty much done. I was keeping a 4:50 ish pace, but I was feeling the heat.

I crossed the finish line at 1:44:20. It was no 1:40 and it wasn't a PR for me, but I was still happy with my finish. I ended up finishing 4th in my age group :) Kenny was proud of me even though he knew I wanted a specific time, he took pictures, video and gave me a big kiss...it's good to keep people like that around:)

Kenny finished up his 5km in under 30 minutes! I am so proud of him for running his first race, I am looking forward to doing more races together!

koho bar, chomps, bloks, garmin, advil and most importantly,
my frees!

brekky; ancient grain bagel with almond butter and sliced banana

almost to the finish line!

done!

done! representing the vibrams:)

getting re-fueled back at Acadia University

biting the medal

Whooo! Bring on the turkey dinner!

Lentil Hat

2011-10-07T19:18:00.000-03:00

I know Marcel the Shell uses lentils for hats, but I use them to eat. He also uses a ball of lent for his dog. Ahh, he is so, so cute! Please watch the clip, it's a short one and guaranteed to make you smile.

Earlier this week I made a lentil and barley soup. It was a meat-free soup, so it was an inexpensive meal. I have never really cooked with barley before, but it was a delicious addition to soup, I was totally loving the texture.

Want to make it?
Lentil-Barley Soup:
-olive oil (~2 tbsp)
-1 large chopped onion
-3 chopped carrots (un-peeled only if you're lazy like me!)
-1 tsp of sea salt
-3 cloves of garlic (more or less)
-2 tsp of cumin
-2 tsp of thyme
-8 cups of reduced sodium chicken broth (just kidding, use the salt loaded one if you like)
-1 cup of green lentils (don't use red, they get almost a puree texture)
-1 cup of barley
-small, big or huge handful of fresh spinach (I like a lot of it!)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1- In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add chopped onions, carrots and salt. Cook until tender
2- Add in cumin when the above is tender
3-Stir in chicken stock, lentils and barley. I added thyme in at this point
4- Boil.
5-Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for about 35-40 minutes or until the lentils and barley are good and tender.
6- Stir in your handful of fresh spinach, add salt + pepper as you like.
7-Enjoy!
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Well, since the half marathon is in 2 days, I naturally am eating more than I should. It's funny because I feel entitled to eating an unlimited amount of carbs before a race. Even if I was running a 1 km race I would still have a huge pasta dinner the night before.

This is what I had for both lunch and supper:

pasta and meat sauce?

nope. Spaghetti squash!

Delicious, local fall food and what a genius piece of food. To add some carbs to my supper I added a piece of toast with jam and cheese (don't make fun, I LOVE the jam-cheese combo. Family thing...)

I have to leave you with a direct quote from my favourite Professor. Yesterday in class we were looking at Geriatric Care, and hair loss was a subject that came up on her powerpoint. She had some celebrities as examples; some of them with a head of hair and some without. Donald Trump happened to be one example and she says:
"I don't know about you, but I find his hair is quite magical."

if you're craving this...

2011-10-06T17:38:00.000-03:00

I was ~~on Pinterest~~ listening in class today and came across an interesting bit of information. It seems legitimate enough, it comes from a company called Free Form Fitness in Ottawa, Ontario.

I can't make it any bigger than this, hopefully you can read it ok? I love finding information like this, this is totally up my alley. I don't know about you, but I completely skipped over the 'lack of appetite' row:)

I am going for my last run tonight before the race on Sunday. I plan on running 5km just to be on the safe side and avoid getting sore muscles and trying to reserve my energy for the weekend!

Today the temperature was a high of 6, a low of 1! (There was snow about 1.5 hours from here, snow!!) Guess what the temperatures are looking like for Sunday?

Sunny and 22! :-)

late twenties?

2011-10-05T22:24:00.000-03:00

Guess who turned 26 today? Me! For some reason I found the jump from 24 to 25 hard, and the jump from 25 to 26 seemed even greater. I think 25 might be the best age, but I think I'll stick around and give 26 a shot:)

My birthday started off great, my Dad was here! I don't get to spend every birthday with him, so that was special for me. At 12:05 a.m Kenny gave me his gift, a gift card to Cleve's Sports store to get a running shirt for Sunday's race. Perfect!

I arrived at school this morning in torrential rain and my baby blue scrubs looked sort of dark blue. I quickly cheered up when the girls presented me with my very own double walled stainless steel coffee traveller mug from Starbucks! I have been eyeing one for a few months now.

School was so busy today, it seemed to be non-stop, I got home around 6:30 p.m and slept for a while and the rest of the evening was pretty quiet. It involved studying for my Pharmacology midterm, but I did treat myself to a pumpkin ice cream cone:)

The girls are taking me out somewhere next week, a surprise! I will fill you in as soon as I find out...

pretty!

aquarium app on the iPad. She loves it!

Remember the rain I mentioned? This is the causeway a few hours from here. Crazy eh?

I'm old now, so I better get to bed;)

What do you consider 'late twenties'? We were having this conversation at school today...

October

2011-10-02T17:51:00.000-03:00

no umbrella? just use a 3 year old's that is far too small

hey, it kind of worked:)

Hello October! I can hardly believe I am over a month into school already. I love October, it's the last month I really like before May so I always try to enjoy it. Sometimes November to April can be a little dreary when you live on the East Coast.

Friday night kicked off with a free Chinese buffet, thanks to our buddy. It was a fun night with good food and great company. We hadn't seen him in a few weeks so it was nice to catch up. It's always fun to get a healthy dose of MSG, right?!

Saturday it rained so I started the day off at the gym with strength training, 20 minutes on the stationary bike and 15 minutes on the stepper. For my post-workout snack I had greek yogurt with raspberries, chia seeds and some cereal.

Since it was rainy and grey outside we decided to be lazy and sat in bed to get caught up on Modern Family. We hit up Farmer Clem's again because they had Honey Crisp apples! A spaghetti squash and a grapefruit also ended up on the counter. ( I am starting to make this a little Saturday morning tradition)

In the evening we went to our friends (check out her blog!) house for supper. It was a delicious chicken supper with ice-cream (my favourite) for dessert. Mandi and I had been trying to organize a coffee date for a few weeks now so it was nice to see each other again. We had a great visit and their little girl is such a little cutie.

I finally treated myself to a pumpkin spice latte and it was delicious.
I love fall!

On Sunday I went for a 10km run, for the rest of the week I am taking it easy because the half marathon is this weekend! Then it was off to church and I hung out with Marsha for a bit and then it was off to Kenny's parents place for the afternoon. Now I am sitting down to finish up an assignment and get organized for the busy school week ahead!

spicy pizza

2011-10-01T11:30:00.000-03:00

We picked up a pre-made Blue Menu multi-grain pizza crust a few weeks ago and threw it in our freezer. This week I picked up some spicy Genoa salami and a jalapeno pepper for some pizza toppings. I had tomato paste on hand so I added some pressed garlic and dried chili peppers to the sauce for some extra kick.

some green onions and jalapeno peppers

spicy.

Mmmm, made for a delicious lunch the next day!

What are your favourite pizza topping combinations?

fundraiser cookies

2011-10-01T10:33:00.000-03:00

Our class is responsible for the fundraising for our graduation dinner (for us and the faculty) so we had a bake sale this week. I had these special cookies I had been wanting to make for a while, so I took this as a chance to make them. I got the recipe from The Kitchen Magpie . These cookies are Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. YUM!

I was late getting home from school so I picked up a cookie mix rather than spending the time making homemade ones. Next time I will follow her cookie recipe, because hers turned out much better:)
I ended up putting too much cookie dough around the peanut butter cup so they ended up super flat and large, rather than the Magpie's perfectly shaped and sized cookies.

These cookies are delicious, anything with a peanut butter-chocolate combination is divine. It has got to be the best food combination out there.

'homemade in 20 minutes' :)

yum. it was hard to not taste test each one

Mmmm. A beautiful peanut butter surprise!