Lazy Sunday

Today has been the laziest day I have had in weeks, and it was just what I needed. I have been so busy lately that I have had barely anytime to breathe let alone relax. (Working two jobs is tiresome! I can not wait until two turns into one full time. Fingers crossed it will happen soon.)

So today, I wasn’t feeling the greatest and decided to call in sick to job #2 – formerly job #1 but since I started at my newest job it has been demoted to #2 – and it was the best decision I’ve made all week. I literally did nothing. I pinned on pinterest, tracked Irene to see if we would be hit, napped, and just lazed around.

And got lots of cuddles in with this pretty girl

Now I am refreshed and renewed for a great week ahead!

Which is going to include getting my butt back in gear for training for my first 5k. I have accepted that I might be running out of time to really train properly for it, and that I might have to have a few walking breaks but I am determined to do it.

So. True.

I don’t know if I can call myself a runner yet, but I will soon. I want to be, and isn’t that half the battle?

Switchin’ it up!

Hiiii!

If you’ve been reading along, you might be wondering why I gave up on my original 5K training plan and started from scratch with the Couch to 5K program last week.

The short answer is: I really hated it.

I know, that seems harsh. But I really tried to give it a shot (twice!) but I just couldn’t get into it. The main two reasons were that it started out too much too soon (ummm I’m a brand spankin’ new runner who sucks at it. Sure lets just start running for 5 minutes when you have never ran before!) and it was in miles. Being in miles wasn’t that big of a deal, nothing Google maps/converter couldn’t fix for me, but it was a headache trying to make sure I figured it all out before I went to the gym. If I forgot to work it out before I left I was kind of screwed once I got there.

Basically, it was frustrating and a hassle.

Couch to 5K however is MUCH better. It’s time based (so it doesn’t matter if it is km’s or miles), easy peasy to remember, and it ease you in a little slower than the other plan.
I am in week 2 and so far I am loving it! Just enough of a challenge

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I have been obsessed with iced coffee lately. Seriously, McDonalds has me hooked with their “only a dollar, alllll summer” iced coffees. And yes, I sing that whenever I ask Brandon to get me one I finally started making them at home, but realized I really don’t have many containers that I can keep
my coffee in in the fridge. So I got creative and decided to use an old tupperware container. Hey , it works!

              (Splenda French Vanilla for coffee thingy, coffee and milk)

After my coffee, it was time to get ready to meet my momma for our lunch date! It was my day off, and since she gets an hour and half for lunch we decided to go for a little picnic lunch and do some window shopping downtown.

 
It was crazy hot and windy so I decided it would probably be best to braid my bangs back. I am slowly getting better at it! Thank goodness, because my bangs are at that awful awkward length and combined with the heat = a not so cute Meaghan.

Even though I brought my camera, the only picture I managed to take was of the park I was at while waiting for the bus to go home!

After our visit, I went home for a lazy afternoon – I caught up on Big Brother (even though I am ADDICTED to spoilers so I knew what was going to happen anyway) and just relaxed. \

I was in a bit of a funk all afternoon, so after supper I decided to walk to the library and pick up my copy of The Happiness Project.

After being on the waitlist for almost 3 months it was finally my turn to read the book. I guess that’s the “cost” of waiting to read it for free instead of buying it. Oh well, I’m just happy I can finally read it. I have heard such good things about it!

Now I am just waiting for The Bachelorette to come on, and for Brandon to come home from work.

Hope you all had a great Monday!

xox

Lazy Post

Working the night shift this week has been awful for trying to stay on schedule for blogging! As soon as I get in the door all I want to do is crash, and that includes tonight. Hopefully tonight is my last night shift for a while!

I am going to keep tonight’s post light on words, with a couple pictures of the highlights of the last few days. I’m too tired to put much more effort in that that

My eats have been pretty good overall the past few days, but I had little to no will power when it came to sweets this week (damn hormones!). I tried to keep them in moderation as much as I could and I’m not beating myself up too much about my indulgences because I know I did really well with everything else. I even finished my first week of Couch to 5K. (Which reminds me, my explanation of why I switched is coming tomorrow)

        Smoothies are always better in a wine glass!

Open-faced tuna sandwich – I always seem to eat these and tuna melts a lot during the summer

Had my niece for a visit, we made brownies and she was quality control


Brandon and I went to Crystal Crescent Beach – it was a perfect morning at the beach!

                                                  Gorgeous!

Goodnight!

Canada Day Weekend & Visit with Dad!

Hey!

Sorry I was MIA all weekend. My dad was in town and stayed with us on Friday and Saturday night so I spent most of my weekend unplugged making the most of our time together.

I probably won’t get out to see him again until this time next year!
Well, that’s if you don’t count Skype

Also, I didn’t formally keep a food log. Breakfast was healthy everyday, but the rest of it....well... I can basically sum it up with the following pictures:

“Those who like it, like it a lot”

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I had this incredible burger from Jack Astor’s Saturday for lunch with some sweet potato fries. I just looked up the stat’s on this burger. Ignorance was bliss my friends... I definitely won’t be ordering this again. It’s delicious, but not worth almost my total daily calorie allowance! *I’m not technically counting calories but I am trying to be conscious of them!

Today I tried to clean up my act a bit – after a weekend like that my body is craving healthy food!

I had my new favourite breakfast – Peanut butter toast with fruit and cinnamon on top. Today’s fruit was a peach:

I had a late breakfast, so after the gym (where I started my first day of Couch to 5K – explanation to come later, but long story short I really hated the last program I tried) I grabbed a snack size Brazilian Thunder smoothie from Booster Juice and a S’mores Luna Bar as my post workout fuel/late lunch:

Which I smuggled onto the bus and let me tell you, it is not easy taking pictures while it’s moving!

I forgot to take pictures of my supper I packed for work but it was pretty basic – w.w pasta with marinara sauce and broccoli and cauliflower. I also had a Nature Valley Granola bar and another peach.

Overall, not a bad day! Working weird shifts, like 3-11, can really throw off my day if I don’t plan it right. I need to make sure to pack enough food if I go out before work and restructure my day if I slept in late. I can’t wait until I have a normal job with normal hours! It’ll be so much easier to plan my days! I am sick of shift work!

Do you work random hours/shift work? If so how do you plan out your day if your breaks and meal times don’t always match up?
How was your holiday weekend?

Today is Tuesday right??

Because it sure feels like a Monday to me.  Maybe it’s because I took yesterday off for my birthday. Maybe nasty old Monday didn’t want to let me get away with having a good start to the week.

Why do I think this? My first tweet of the morning should explain it all:

From behind, they are identical.

At least I noticed my mistake BEFORE taking a bite. It could have been a lot worse otherwise.
Thankfully the day turned aroundWork was alright, went by nice and fast. Plus I got off a little early which meant I could go the gym earlier! Which was awesome because as much as I really do enjoy working out, all I wanted to do was come home and curl up on the couch and watch a few episodes of Mad Men. (Still on season 1, but so far I love it!)

Today was my second (second haha) day of 5k training – so far I am two for two! But I actually did Monday’s plan because yesterday I went by memory and accidentally did Tuesday’s instead. Oops! Oh well, they both got done – that’s the main thing!

After I finished on the treadmill, I went upstairs into one of the class rooms to do my strength training. When the weight room itself is too busy/crowded I like to go up there all by my lonesome. I still get a little unsecure and if I’m doing a new move I feel better doing it when no one can see me – silly I know.

For the strength training part of my workout, I did Gina's (from The Fitnessista) Summer Shape Up Week 2 workout:

1. Push-up (15- modify to knee push-up when/if you need to), followed by overhead press (12) – repeat 2 more times for 3 times total

2. Lunge and bicep curl (12 on each side)

3. Hold left lunge and bicep curl on 12 times; hold right lunge and bicep curl 12 times

4. Jumping lunges- 30 seconds

5. Single-leg deadlift (12); immediately followed by bent-over row (12)- repeat 2 more times for 3 times total

6. Weighted squats (25)

7. Squat jumps- 30 seconds (hold a light weight to make it more challenging)

8. Tricep dips (30)

9. Assisted pull-ups (30)

10. Ab burner

-50 frog crunches

-25 leg lifts

-25 bicycle crunches

-20 stiff-leg pullover crunch

-Plank 30 seconds

Holy.Crap. This kicked my butt. And I totally loved it. I wrote it down on a couple post it notes at work today so I wouldn’t forget what to do and left them in my gym bag so I can do this again!

That’s it for now, the next episode of Mad Men is calling my name! Hope you had a better start to your day than I did!

xox

Letttt’s try that again…

So, I have a confession to make…

I kind of maybe super failed at my first attempt at training for my 5k.

Like big time failed.

Like out of 6 workouts in 2 weeks I only got in maybe…three?

I had the best intentions, really! And I don’t mean to make a bunch of excuses but last week I really was sick. Well, kind of sick. More like I had a migraine for 4 days straight. Seriously.. Monday-Thursday I was popping ibuprofen and allergy meds like my life depended on it. Allergies + a low pressure system + hormones = practically dying Meaghan.

BUT – I’m going to say that was just bad luck/bad timing. And is not going to be a regular “excuse”.
So, I am starting over tomorrow. For real this time I have already scheduled my workouts into my planner for the week so I can’t pretend like I don’t have the time!

Now that I have that off of my chest – lets catch up!

I haven’t blogged in a week or so (something I am also blaming on my headaches.. I stare at a computer screen at work all day and couldn’t even consider looking at it when I got home too).  So since Mon-Thurs was very uneventful, lets talk about the weekend!

Friday was the first day in a long time I finally got to spend some QT with my kitchen. I hadn’t baked or really cooked in way too long (true story – Brandon has been cooking a lot for me lately, or we have been eating quick little meals…not cooking to enjoy but to eat. Boring!) so I itching to get cooking!

First, I made Andrea's marinara sauce.

Can I just say how much I *lovelovelovelovelove* this sauce?! Because I really do.

I’ve made it a couple times now and the love is only growing stronger. If you haven’t made it yet, do it. Now.. here’s the link. No excuses now!

Mmmm – it smelled "*so* good! Lots of garlic and onion – how could it not?!

The finished product! Not the best picture I know (and not even all of it!). I had already started putting everything away and I realized I had super slacked on the picture taking so I quickly took a picture of this container.

After the sauce was finished, I decided to get my bake on and make some delicious looking cookies I found on Jessica's blog. Brown sugar blueberry cookies to be exact!

Blueberries were also on sale for 1.99/pint this week so I took it as a sign I just HAD to make them

Except mine didn’t look quite as pretty as her’s… in fact they didn’t even really look like cookies.

 

 

 

 

  vs.

 

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More like random mini scone type things. Which is weird because I followed it to a T (tee? tea? I really don’t get that phrase…oh well!) and apparently I wasn’t the only one. I read through her comments and it happened to a couple of other people as well. At least they still tasted great!

Another great thing about this weekend? 
EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENTS!

Brandon, the wonderful man he is, decided to give me my birthday presents a couple days early. He knew I was having a rough week (on top of the headache I also found out I didn’t get that job I interviewed for a couple weeks back) and knew just how to cheer me up.

(plus some unpictured/already devoured chocolates from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory)

He listens to hints well . I couldn’t really think of any one thing that I really wanted this year but he knew I have been eyeing some new products at MAC, knew I desperately needed a new planner, and have been wanting to try the shatter nail polish! I couldn’t have asked for more!

I’ve already tried the shatter a couple times (it’s a real b*tch to get off!) and this is my favorite combo so far:

The picture doesn’t do it justice really… the blue is actually much darker in real life. And don’t mind my little kid hands haha.

And that’s the highlights of my weekend! Now I am going to spend the rest of my birthday eve curled up watching my favourite movie of all time (Funny Face) and get my beauty sleep.

How was your week/weekend?? What’s your favourite movie?

Better late than never right?

Today’s post was meant to be posted yesterday. I even started it Thursday night so I would be able to get it done before work on Friday…annnnnnd that never happened. So here are my Friday Saturday Fill In’s!

1. Hey! What’s up beautiful?!

2. I have never used the phrase: kernel of truth.

3. Eat Pray Love was a book that I could not get into no matter how hard I tried.

4. The best brownies are found in the middle.

5. First thing to note: I am probably the most uncoordinated person you will ever meet. I think I proved that to everyone in my Zumba class today.

6. I need a distraction from waiting to hear back about my interview! It’s driving me nuts waiting!

7. And as for the weekend, last night I went to my mom’s after work, today my plans includes continuing that visit with my momma (we went to Zumba!), visited my sister for a bit, and now I’m curled up on the couch watching a movie! and Sunday, I want to spend the day with Brandon – I’m trying to convince him to go for a walk on the trail by our apartment and then maybe going to pick up my grad photos!

I had a blast at Zumba this morning. It was only my second time going to the class so I am still learning the moves but I managed! I was definitely the most uncoordinated person in the class though, I think everyone else has been there a lot more frequently that me!
Luckily the room was big and there was lots of space around me

After Zumba, my mom and I headed back to her house to freshen up before we went to visit my sister. She is due in a week and we are all getting so excited to finally meet little Julianne! Since she is due the day before my birthday I told her she needs to do as many jumping jacks as she can, eat a bunch of spicy foods and maybe go over a couple speed bumps that day so I can have a niece for a birthday present!
Best birthday present ever I’d say I have high hopes for the speedbumps trick – it’s what brought me early and my first niece!

On a completely different note – I figured out how to show you the training plan I found for my 5k training.  I just completed the first week, and so far so good!  The only thing I didn’t do was today’s plan, but I am counting this mornings Zumba class because it was definitely an intense cardio workout!

I think for the intervals that alternate based on miles and not time I am going to do in the gym since it’s easier to keep track on the treadmill. Otherwise I really want to do this outside as much as possible. With summer weather finally here for the most part that should be easy-ish to do now!

Well, that’s all for now! Have you ever tried Zumba? Are you a pro or as bad at it as I am?

Training has begun!

Hii! How are ya?!
I am in SUCH a good mood today!!  

The sun is shining, it’s the perfect temperature out – super warm with a nice breeze, and I have the day off! I couldn’t ask for more right now. Especially since it has been raining for over a month! Seriously, a couple days ago I read that it had rained 35 out of the past 40 days here in Hali. So to finally have a nice day AND be off to enjoy it is amazing!

So far my day has been pretty great. I woke up without an alarm, made some toast for breakfast and watched last nights Bachelorette episode.

Speaking of which – how the heck is Bentley allowed to stay?! Judging by the “on the next” preview he seems to be leaving, but on his own accord! Shouldn’t the producers have done something first? I know it makes for more dramatic episodes but that’s just not right. Oh, and mask boy needs to stop being so creepy! *When there are this many people I can’t keep all of their names straight.. so random nicknames will be made up

During the rose ceremony I decided to start getting ready to go outside for a walk… then this happened:

Don’t worry. I still ended up wearing sunscreen, I just got distracted that’s all! Even with the sunscreen I am still a little red in my face.. I’m thinking I’m going to have to bump up my SPF 30 to 50 or something along those lines. And buy some hats.. big pretty floppy hats. Actually that’s probably not going to happen. I look like a complete tool in hats. I’ve tried.. but I just look silly so I have basically given up. Oh well!

I went for a 3 mile (5k) walk on a beautiful trail that is super close to my apartment. I haven’t gone on the trail in a while and I forgot how much I loved it! Its got some crazy steep hills too so it was a little challenging too. I was a hot and sweaty mess when I got home and couldn’t have been happier.

Today’s walk was actually day 2 of my 6 week program to run a 5k! I still want to run in the Valley Harvest Marathon and have convinced my mom to join me so I have to get my butt in gear for training! I have a friend from work who is actually going to be doing it too! I’m still trying to convince Brandon to do it.. we’ll see about that! I was trying to figure out a way to show you the plan on here, but it won’t work so here’s the link. I made it into a spreadsheet so it is easier to follow and will be printing it off and putting it on my fridge to keep track! I might also buy stickers to mark off the days as I complete them – who doesn’t love little gold stars?!

For the rest of the day I am planning on getting busy in the kitchen. I am going to make some blondies, maybe some marinara sauce I have been meaning to make, and prepping for tonights BBQ! I am making my first homemade burgers so I will let you know how they go!

xoxo