June 19, 2013
by Sam
15 Comments

WIAW: Getting My Snacking On.

Hello and good morning!

WIAW

And of course, happy WIAW! Thank you to Jenn and her inner chickpea for hosting!

So, this month’s theme is sensible snacking. And for once in my life, I think I’m actually going to follow the WIAW theme Wink

There seems to be a bit of a continuum when it comes to people and snacks. Some people stick to three square meals with nary a snack in sight. Other people seem to avoid meals because they’d rather just munch on things throughout the day.

I think I’m right in the middle. I can’t do the three square meals thing, but if I try to have a lot of little snacks instead of meals I never quite feel satisfied. So I’m a 2-3 snacks a day sort of person, with a little bit of veggie or fruit grazing in between. I plan out my snacks in advance, because frankly, it’s easier that way. 

On gym days, my first snack of the day comes before I head to the gym, so literally 10 minutes after I wake up. It needs to be something that I can throw together quickly.

Protein and Cereal

Yesterday, I went for half a protein shake (unsweetened vanilla almond milk and 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder) with about a serving of Fibre 1.

Between the gym and heading to work, I have breakfast.

Oatmeal

Oats with sliced strawberries and an egg/egg whites. Yesterday I was feeling the oats despite the fact that it was pretty warm and sunny outside. Cannot escape the oats craving, even in the summer!

I’m usually ok to make it to lunch without another snack, but yesterday my office had a morning meeting so the leftover fruit and pastries made it into the mailroom. Enter: a few hunks of unpictured watermelon. Watermelon is one of those fruits that I really like, but rarely buy out of pure laziness. Apparently, I like to have fruit access quickly?

Lunch: Asian-style coleslaw with some leftover pork tenderloin from dinner the night before. All classy in tupperware and plastic bags Wink I made the sauce for the coleslaw by mixing almond butter with a bit of water – good, but next time I would add soy sauce to add a bit more flavour. And probably sub almond butter for peanut butter, but right now I’m all out (the horror!). Baby carrots on the side for crunch.

Pork and Carrots

 

An afternoon snack is definitely needed to get me through the rest of the day. Because I work at the front desk at my office, it needs to be easy, quick and something I can pick at all sneakily. Bars, mixed buts and trail mixes have become my afternoon regulars. Yesterday, I had one of these:

Pure Protein Bar

 

(and clearly, forgot to take a picture)

These bars are pretty good – the stats are awesome, but the ingredient list is a little long/unpronounceable. Taste pretty good, but there’s a bit of an aftertaste. Overall, not bad for a store-bought protein bar. Still – I think I need to make some homemade ones soon.

Dinner

The snack monster comes out a little bit when I prepare dinner – which in this case, was pizza:

Pizza

 

I sauteed half an onion, half a bell pepper and a few handfuls of spinach and tossed them on a whole wheat crust with red sauce, turkey summer sausage, and shredded jalapeno havarti. Snacked on: various things before they went on the pizza Wink

My plate:

Pizza Plate

 

Two pieces and a bit of salad on the side for some extra veggies. Followed by a few chocolate covered raisins, because the sweet tooth always kicks in at night.

Speaking of sweet tooth, my last snack of the day always needs a sweet element. Lately, I’ve been making Sara’s pumpkin mug cake a lot.

Pumpkin Mug Cake

 

And clearly, I’m too lazy to plate it nicely Wink Topped with a bit of cashew butter.

So, for my snacks I tend to go for higher in protein and lower in sugar, and with enough calories to tide me over until my next meal (or the next day). Seems to be working for me right now!

<— Honeydew, cantaloupe or watermelon? I’m torn between cantaloupe and watermelon. Both are fantastic.

<— If you know you’re going to be out of the house for lunch, do you bring or buy? I bring. I’m pretty sure that over the entire school year, I bought a lunch maybe twice? Healthier and cheaper to bring it from home!

<— Where are you on the snacking continuum? Avoid snacking or super snacker?

<— What do you look for in a snack? High protein, grab and go, healthy fats?

June 18, 2013
by Sam
37 Comments

Not Superwoman.

Hello my darlings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s week has been going well so far.

Today, I want to talk about the superwoman syndrome. I know I fall into this mindset, and I don’t think that I’m the only one.

I think we grow these days being told we can accomplish anything that we put our minds to. That we’re capable of everything. You add that to a stress-driven, highly-productive society, and suddenly we find ourselves in the mindset that we always HAVE to be doing something. Relaxation is overrated, and stress is the norm.

A lot of people pointed out on my day-in-the-life WIAW that I have a lot on my plate, and get a lot done in a day. And they’re very much right – most days of the week, I don’t really take any time to relax or unwind. I wake up, go to the gym, go to work, make dinner, blog, and go to bed (usually, a little too late so I’m doing all of this on not enough sleep).

I love everything I’m doing right, but sometimes it’s a little much. Too the point where I feel completely overwhelmed and stressed out about my to-do list – leading to a fun little cry-fest one night last week. I’m not taking care of my own needs right now, and I know it.

Overwhelmed

I get it into my head that if I can accomplish something, I MUST accomplish it. I can work a full time job, care for a puppy, cook nice meals six nights a week, keep my apartment tidy, and blog five-six times a week (which is a job in itself, as much as I adore it). Because I’m physically capable, then I must do it, no matter the emotional toll it takes. And of course, everything I do must be done perfectly at all times. No matter that I started a new job and got a puppy in the same week (both huge changes) I must be perfectly well-adjusted and capable of everything at all times. Feeling like I’m being stretched too thin? No such thing – I can handle anything.

Basically, I think I have a bit of a superwoman syndrome.

Superwoman

Essentially, superwomen are perfectionists. They give themselves many roles to fill, and fully expect themselves to fulfill them perfectly. They don’t make time for themselves, and when they do, they feel selfish or self-indulgent for desiring a bit of pampering or downtime. They set impossibly high standards for themselves, and reach for impossible goals.

Sounds pretty familiar to me.

I have trouble taking time for myself and taking time to relax. Hell, even admitting that my current schedule is causing me grief and stress is hard for me to do and makes me feel a tad ashamed – I know that compared to some people, my current lifestyle is a walk in the park. I mean, compare what I do in a day to a single mom with 2 jobs and 3 kids, and I have the most relaxed life out there. But the truth is, I’m having trouble adjusting and I’m putting too much pressure on myself.

Attacking Days

So, I need to take a step back and reevaluate a little.

  • I adore blogging, so that’s clearly not going anywhere. But…I may have to cut back once in a while. I have to stop forcing myself to get out x number of posts per week, and just go with the flow a little more. I’d rather have the occasional skip day then put out something forced – because really, you can always tell when someone’s heart isn’t in it. I would hate for something I love so much to turn into a chore!
  • go easy on myself when it comes to dinners. If grilled cheese or Subway become more regular around here, it’s not really the end of the world. Again, cooking is something that I love to do, so I don’t want to just make it another checkmark on the to-do list.
  • more me-time. The last six weeks, I’ve been falling behind on shows that I want to watch, I’m only halfway through a book I’d normally have finished a week ago, and I finally got my nails painted for the first time in about two months. Oh, and I can’t remember the last time I had a bubble bath. I need more relax-on-the-couch time, and I need to make sure I get it.
  • this is already one of my monthly goals, but more sleep. If that means I don’t get a post finished one night…not worth sacrificing my sleep for. This also applies to the gym – if I’m really tired, skipping it is fine.

Relaxing

I can get a lot accomplished in my day, and I can get a lot accomplished well. But, I am NOT superwoman, and there’s no reason why I need to force myself to be. My sanity and sense of self-preservation is so much more important than being able to complete my daily to-do list.

So, that is my plan. Less superwoman, more sanity. Sounds solid to me Wink

Have a good one!

<— Bloggers: Do you stick to an ‘x posts per week’  approach, or are you taking a more relaxed approach?

<— Do you think you have a superwoman syndrome?

<— Do you try to find time to unwind on a regular basis?

 

img source 1, 2, 3, 4

June 17, 2013
by Sam
50 Comments

MIMM: Maybe Not My Backup Career.

Hello and good morning! How was everyone’s weekend?

So I had a busy weekend and took a few days to unplug a bit, but nonetheless I have to start off this post by wishing a happy belated Father’s Day to my dad!

Sam and Dad

Fortunately, I had plans to come home this past weekend so I got to spend some time with him yesterday. Love you dad! 

So I had a pretty awesome father’s day…

MIMM

And the rest of my weekend was pretty fabulous as well! Definitely deserving of the ‘marvelous’ descriptive. Thanks to Katie for hosting!

Friday Dinner

Eric works in an elementary school, and for the last little while some of his students have been telling him about Wingmaster, a local restaurant known for their insane amount of wing flavours – over 200 varieties. Eric requested that we head there for dinner Friday night.

So literally, all this restaurant has is wings. They have a few fried appetizers and sides (onion rings, fries, mozzarella sticks) and the celery sticks that come with the wings, but that basically covers it. 

So…that didn’t phase me. We went for wings, I realized that quite literally, all I was going to get was wings, and I was fine with that. Even six months ago I would have been unsettled and probably pretty anxious and that thought, but now? Nothing. I was excited to see what different flavours we could get! We decided to get three pounds of wings so that we could try three different flavours.

This was the list we had to work with:

Wing Flavours

Ummm….yea. Holy wing flavours, batman.

We finally came to our decision:

Wing Night

  • Top left: Medium Buffalo Bacon Blue Cheese. A really creamy, bacon-bit filled sauce with a bit of heat to it. Really good!
  • Bottom right: Carolina Gold. A sticky, sweet mix of carolina and honey garlic sauce. I think this was Eric’s top pick – he prefers a sweet sauce.
  • Top left: My pick of the day: peanut butter and jam. Yup…on wings. Strange but good much? It was actually one of the best wing sauces I think I’ve ever had!

I downed about 6 wings and munched on all the celery sticks it came with. And left guilt-free…I don’t eat this way all the time (in fact, I can’t tell you the last time I had wings for dinner…maybe half a decade ago?) so why should I feel guilty about it? If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last couple of years is that one meal (or one weekend) is not going to cause me to suddenly gain five pounds overnight. As long as most of my choices are healthy (which they generally are), then I’m fine.

Saturday:

Although the unhealthy choices continued a little bit into Saturday Wink because I was at a bachelorette party! The bestie’s older sister is getting married in Mexico next month (unfortunately, lack of funds + saving for HLS means I can’t afford to go) so we were celebrating Saturday night. The bride isn’t a huge ‘go-clubbing’, sort of person, so it was more of a girls night in…after we went to a pole dancing class!

First thing though, I had some girl time of my own with my mom when we went for pedicures and a polish change on my nails:

Mani

Pedi

Whenever I get a pedicure, I absolutely must have high-lighter bright toes. And the butterfly was just a nice touch Wink

Afterwards, my mom dropped me off at the bride’s house where we surprised her with a limo!

Bride and Maid of Honour

 

Have to roll around your bachelorette party is style, don’t you? Wink We went to the hostess’ (one of the bride’s friends from childhood) house, where we were promptly greeted with this:

Jello Shooters

 

Those would be jello shooters…a lot of jello shooters. Some of which were in the shape of starfish. They were the drink choice of the evening Wink

Unfortunately, pictures from the pole dancing/the rest of the evening in general are pretty limited for the internet. The bride and another guest are elementary school teachers, so I’m keeping pictures of them stripping/drinking/with penis paraphernalia (it was a bachelorette…of course there was penis paraphernalia everywhere) to a minimum. Don’t need any parents stumbling over that!

I can assure you that the class was awesome though: 

Pole Dancing

 

It was at Aradia Fitness in London (Ontario) and included dancing, pole and lap dance components. It was also BYOB (they had a little bar at the back), so we brought along some of the jello shooters for a bit of liquid (jiggly?) courage. I enjoyed all the components of the class, even though the lap dance portion was a tad awkward. You want to get familiar with someone you just met a few hours beforehand? Just give them a mock lap-dance Wink 

Obviously the pole dancing part was my favourite. It was actually a lot of fun to swing and hang around on those things!

Poles

 

And it’s actually a really good workout. The instructor had more muscles in her legs than a lot of fitness competitors that I’ve seen! It gave me a bit of a newfound respect for the athletic abilities that go into pole dancing….but I don’t think I’ll make it my backup career Wink

Class

Overall, it was a great experience and something that I would love to do again! They actually offer a six-week TRX class, which I think would be amazing to try.

After the class, we took the limo back to the hostess’ place for dinner, drinking and a slumber-party esque movie night. 

Dinner spread

Just some of the dinner spread. We had rolls with turkey, ham and all the fillings, hot apps (some of those came out before we headed to the class…I love me some pugs in a blanket), chips with pico de gallo and guacamole, meatballs, baguette slices, a cheese and cracker plate. bread with spinach dip….so much good food.

My plate:

Plate

Clearly I kept nibbling on the chips and guac/pico. Sooo good. And then a latecomer arrived with a watermelon, mint and feta salad, which of course I had to dive into. Watermelon and feta is a pretty ideal combination.

The rest of the night was an old-school movie night. We watched Now and Then (which I’ve never seen in full before. It was so cute!) and All I Wanna Do ( released under the title of Strike in the US and The Hairy Bird in Australia). Both were awesome, girl-party appropriate 90′s movies. I can’t even remember the last time I had a movie night like that, so I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I also had one of the cupcakes that I had brought with me as my contribution to the party…which I apparently didn’t take any pictures of. #bloggerfail. Basically, I made dark chocolate cupcakes (this cupcake recipe), filled them with the strawberry filling from this recipe, and topped them with a chocolate buttercream frosting and strawberry slices. Dark chocolate covered strawberries, anyone?

It was an awesome bachelorette party and a lot of fun – different that the clubbing sort of bachelorette party you usually see, but it was a great night. 

Sunday

Sunday, I was able to spend the day just lazing around at my parent’s house, which I haven’t done for ages. I’ve been in some pretty desperate need of some relaxation time, so it was great to get some of that in. Of course, ending with an awesome dinner that my mom made:

Chicken Potato Asparagus

Roasted chicken with BBQ buffalo sauce, a baked potato with a bit of light sour cream, and roasted asparagus. I love mom-cooked meals.

Before heading back to my boy and my puppy. A busy, but definitely marvelous weekend!

Hope you have a great start to the week!

 

<— Food guilt: do you ever experience it?

<— Fan of chicken wings? What’s your flavour? Sweeter or spicy?

<— Ever done a pole dancing class? Would you want to?

<— Married ladies: what did you do for your bachelorette party? Single/not-yet-marrieds: What would you want to do? I imagine mine is going to be of the going-clubbing variety Wink

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