Busy busy weekend!

This morning the fam and I are running errands.
At noon I have to go to one of my best friend's baby shower
At 7 I'm going out for another really good friend's birthday dinner.
In between said shower and dinner I think I need to get in some shopping. I have alot of stuff to return from Christmas and I think I will make the trek out to Kanata to pick up a bella band.
Tomorrow morning i'm meeting my sister and her kids at an indoor play gym so the kids can
burn off some energy (it's so bloody cold here)
Tomorrow night it's laundry, meal planning, groceries and supper.


Good thing I've had more energy during this pregnancy then I had when I wasn't pregnant!

I know there will be yummy food at the shower and dinner is going to be deliciuos... so I probably shouldn't have started off the day with Eggo waffles.

Saturdays are my favourite day of the week

I suppose I don't have to explain why :)

Our fridge is on the fritz. A few months ago it got to be pretty warm in the fridge so we defrosted it one night and then it's been fine. Until now. It was with the house when we bought it, and the owners had been here since 01 so it's got to be 8 years old. Anyways, we have a few options but it's the last thing I want to be spending money on right now.

thanks Mizfit for reminding me to movemove this weekend. It's a tad windy out there but I think Carson and I will head out for a long walk and tobaggon later this afternoon.

I really have to keep my weight gain at a minimum this time around. Need I remind you that with Carson I gained 75 lbs? The last couple of months have been somewhat easy (well, that is before Christmas) because I had morning sickness and some days couldn't keep anything down (blessing in disguise?). But now my appetite is back, somewhat. There are still some things I can't stomach and mostly I am craving comfort foods. So today I'm going to look up some recipes for comfort food, but healthy ones. I love the Eat Shrink and Be Merry chicken pot pie, so I think I'll have to get all the ingredients ready to make that tomorrow night. Any good ideas for healthy comfort foods?

Last night I made the barefoot Contessa's hummus and it was probably the best hummus I've ever made and most certainly better than any store bought hummus. It took all of about 5 minutes too. Yumm-o. For lunch I think I'll have a hummus sandwich with sprouts, pickles and onions.

Since I've got pregnant I've gone through two big bottles of pickles, can't get enough.

Sunday morning run

Carson and I just got back from a nice long run/walk (and even slower walk when he wanted out of his stroller). It's freaking beautiful outside - apparently there's an insane wind warning for later so I'm happy we spent the morning outside.

My hubby and I

Dressed up to go out for dinner.... and just me being a goof.

Weekend of Chaos

This weekend is pure mayhem. My goals:

1/ I WILL stay within my points on Friday and Saturday.
2/ I will only eat ONE piece of Carson's birthday cake on Sunday
3/ I will focus on the VEGGIE TRAY before dipping into one of my yummy appetizers
4/ I WILL chase the kids around and spend my time minimizing the damage to my house (read: 12 kids + 14 adults) rather than sitting beside the table and eating non stop
5/ I WILL have one small spoonful of the 20+ dishes at the Caribbean potluck tomorrow night and spend lots of time on DDR rather than eating

I don't have high hopes of getting in much exercise, almost every minute of my weekend is booked.

I was going to go to the gym at lunch, but I think I'll do my Costco run at lunch rather than Saturday morning. Again, as I do every Friday, I tried to convince my husband to meet me for a big bowl of Viatnamese soup but he has a meeting and can't make it and I should just stick to the lunch I packed anyways.

Focusing on the positive

Maybe not everything in my life is going exactly as planned, but let's just focus on the things that are.

1/ I am LOVING my new job. The people, the work, the agency, the location, the free parking.. the list goes on.

2/ The gym at work. Right now it's not possible for me to work 7-3, so I'm working 8-4. Rather than working out at 3, I came in at 7 this morning. The gym was empty for my whole workout. It has everything I need (err except a bosu ball, I'm putting that in the suggestion box). The showers are beautiful (honestly, nicer than my own shower) with big huge ceramic tile, and long enough to keep your stuff (towel, toiletries bag) still in the shower but far enough away from the shower to get wet. The floors in the changeroom are nice big ceramic tiles as well and CLEAN as heck. The blowdryer is like salon-quality (kicks mine in the butt) and the lighting is perfect for doing make up. And I was at my desk at 8:05. Perfect!

3/ I have been ROCKING my eating habits this week and the scale is moving in the right direction again. I haven't felt deprived at all, or had any of my normal horrible beating-myself-up feelings. Which is always good.

4/ It's Friday. I'm heading out with the girls tonight for a little shopping and then some dinner. Tomorrow morning is the Santa Claus parade in Kanata, picking my mom up at the airport in the afternoon and I'm having the twins sleep over tomorrow night.

Happy Friday!

Gotta LOVE Fridays

Today was my last day at work, went out for lunch and shared a piece of chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.

I'm not sure you heard me. I said...

Chocolate
Peanut Butter
Cheesecake

Very good. Good thing I shared a piece, I don't think it was that healthy :)

Tonight after work (I left early) and we went to a friend's house for a bit. I got to see everyone I love and then came to put Carson to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to my brother's Reebok sale, then tomorrow night it's time to GO OUT. With FRIENDS. No CHILDREN. Woohoo!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

It's going to be tricky!

It's Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time
It's Tricky...it's Tricky (Tricky) Tricky (Tricky)
It's Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time
It's Tricky...Tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tricky) Trrrrrrrrrrricky

I can't say the word tricky without that song blasting into my head (I was into any kind of rap in highschool... love the Run DMC!)

So this is my last week at work and Wednesdsay, Thursday and Friday I've already been asked to be taken to lunch (who am I to say no?). Viatnamese on Wednesday, Thai on Thursday and Lebanese on Friday... how will I ever survive?

Then come Saturday night, Carson is going on a sleepover and the parents are going out to play. It's my best friend's birthday and I think we've alllined up sitters so we are going out! It's been too long and I am quite looking forward to it. Problem(?) is, it will involve dinner and drinks. Which is good. But not so good. You gals know what I'm talking about.

All the time in the world

I love Sunday afternoons. I just feel like I have all the time in the world. I went shopping with my Mom this morning, then I came home and went for a long run, had the chili that Jeff made this afternoon for supper, made my lunch for tomorrow, finished laundry, cleaned the house and am now sitting down for the first time today!

I wish we had this much time to spend at home, doing stuff, every day!

I love my life

Honestly, I do.

This morning we went to my sister Nadia and her husband Sean's house. Carson and Sofia had a wonderful time. Friends of ours and their 2 month old came by, I got lots of snuggle time with an adorable little boy. Then later that afternoon Carson and I headed to a baby shower, had lots of yummy food and played with hula-hoops. Then we went to Julie and Tim's for a BBQ - with all 8 kids/ Where I was told I looked smoking hot (I love you Tim!) and got lots of compliments (I think the sweater I am wearing is flattering). A few of us were talking about my new job and I, now, without a doubt, know that I made a good decision and this is a really really good move for me career-wise. The doors that will open for me after I put in some time here, I could be moving up high pretty quickly. Which is the kind of drive I've been looking for. My job was OK, but not the way I need it to be. Anyways, Julie made the most amazing meal ever (she's my Martha Stewart friend who is the best cook ever. I'd pay lots of money to eat at her restaurant... if she had one) and topped it off with a homemade lemon meringue pie that should be featured in a magazine.

Now we are home, Carson's happily in bed and Jeff and I are about to curl up in front of the TV. The perfect end to the perfect day.

Somewhat survived

It's always a bit of a relief when a holiday is over so I don't have to stress about the eating part. Yesterday was a complete success! The turkey was delicious, the dressing was yummy, the potatoes, roasted veggies and desserts were all amazing. And the whole family made it - meaning 10 adults (there are 4 siblings) and 6 kidlets.

I put on a Hallowe'en treat scavenger hunt for the kids and only had 1 tootsie roll for myself. I had a few handfuls of roasted nuts (so bad for you but taste so good), instead of getting baguettes and dips (like we normally do) I cut up a bunch of veggies and served with low fat sour cream dip. So I stuck mostly to those. Dinner was served so I took a small plate and had two small servings.

Uh oh, then came dessert. Nadia made "better than sex" cake and it was delish! I had a piece of that, plus a piece of apple crumble and a spoonful of ice cream.

When everyone left I made them all take their desserts with them (forgot about the ice cream, d'oh, will have to throw that out) and I let them all take a big plate of leftovers so that I wouldn't have too much here. There's only so much I can do with turkey.

Today is supposed to be beautiful and despite being sick, I plan on spending the day outside. I had the most horrible sleep last night, I kept coughing/sneezing and stressing about work (will get into that later) and got maybe 3 hours sleep in total. Me thinks I'll be taking a nap when Carson does this afternoon.

Perfect afternoon

We remembered that Kate's parents were having an open house this afternoon and went to see Kate and LJ and her fam! (I've known them forever, they are like family to me). I met Kate in Grade 7 and LJ came to our class in Grade 8. 20 years later and they are married (long but super happy love story). Anyways, she's pregnant and due in February. Kate is the reason I joined WW. Her and I had always been the same size, and then around 5 years ago she lost 40 lbs and looked SMOKING. It was only then I realized that I wasn't a lost cause and if she could do it, I could do it too!


Anyways, she's 20 weeks pregnant and has only gained 10 lbs and looks gorgeus. She has the most perfect-est baby belly, she's glowing, she's more beautiful then ever. Gives me hope for when I (if I) get pregnant again, that I don't have to gain 70+ lbs.


Here is us. I wish I could find a picture of us 20 years ago - I bet we'd look pretty similar!

Getting ready...

For Thanksgiving tomorrow! I spent Carson's naptime making the dressing (and now stealing hopefully an hour or so catching up on some TV, I haven't watched any this week!) and tonight afer he goes to bed I'll finish up whatever else I can, to leave as much time tomorrow for the last minute things.

It's SUCH a beautiful day outside, I spent most of the morning out there and as soon as the boog wakes up I'll be right back out there.

I'm starting to decorate for Hallowe'en too.

8:30 Saturday morning

And I'm dressed and ready for a run! Then I have lots of running around to do to get ready for tomorrow Thanksgiving dinner. Scale is definitely my friend today, but I've been rocking it all week so it's deserved.

I know I keep saying it, but I'm loving my oatmeal so much that I can't wait to get back from my run to make it.

Picture

A picture of Carson and I from last weekend:

Last Chance Workout

I may not be participating in BLBE, but I have been watching snippets of The Biggest Loser on TV and today after I posted about it being a so-so weekend, I decided to do a last chance workout! WI is tomorrow and I'm thinking it's a maintaining week, so I gave it one last push.

I got dressed, bundled up Carson and we went out for a 6ish km run. Plus, I was pushing a 28 lb toddler + 10 lb stroller (actually I have no idea how much the stroller weighs) and three bags of clothes/shoes for GoodWill (well, that was for only 2k of the run, I incorporated the clothes drop off into my route).

I'm back, sweaty, a bit sore and most importantly, quite proud of myself!

Lazy Sundays

It's been a super busy weekend, I've been single-mom'ing it while Jeff was on a golf trip. We've been here, there and everywhere. My eating has been ok. Not stellar. Not horrible. Just ok.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Monday (did I really just say that?)

4 more weeks until I start my new job... weeehooo!

Three cheers for Friday

1. Despite a late night (to bed at 11!), I was up at 5:30am to go for a quick 4k run (which, I ran faster than I did on Monday). I had been hoping to get up at 5 but I guess my body needed the extra 30 minutes. Note: I don't have an alarm clock, haven't had one since before I was pregnant with Carson. I have one of those internal (annoying) alarm clocks.

2. Even though I felt like I deserved it, I walk right by the coffee shop this morning and did not stop for a chai latte! I was supposed to go for one yesterday with a colleague, but decided not to. And last night after I put Carson down I felt like one and yet I didn't walk across the street to my favourite little coffee shop. I haven't had one in a couple weeks... I'm thinking this weekend. I like taking Carson over there, they have toys inside and he can play while I sip my latte. Perfect Saturday morning.

3. I'm already down most of the weight I put on during the cottage weekend eating fiasco. I have to get out of the rut of being good all week and then losing control on the weekend. I think now that it's the fall, our social lives tend to quiet down a bit so less dinner/lunches out with friends and family. Hopefully at least for a couple of weeks so I can get things under control.

I found a cute website, wordle, and came up with this little collage of all my feelings running through my head since I woke up this morning.



Edit: Ohhh I couldn't remember number 3 and even as I writing it, it didn't sound right. BUT, I put on my size 10 pants after they had been washed and they fit perfectly! They are big already (ugh, Gap jeans) and normally they have been tight the first time on after a wash. Yipee.

Super fun time!

I'm back! I had such an amazing time. I made some really great friends, ones that I could see myself being friends with for a while. There was probably every type of food under the sun, and we ate it. All. There were drinks. Mojitos, the best sangria I've ever tasted, Grey Goose, wine... oh my. I stayed up later than I have in a longggg time. We took the boat out a couple times, two of the other girls and I jumped off the boat into the coldest. water.ever. We jumped off a cliff. And for every minute of the time we were there, we were talking. Girls are the best therapy ever. We talked about everything, and I'm all the better for it today. Here are some pictures:

Stepping out of my comfort zone

This weekend I'm being brave.

I'm headed to a girls cottage weekend, for one night. Thing is, I'm not particularly close to any one girl who is going to be there.

They are acquaintances, girls I have met through one of my really close friends, Lisa. She has a huge social circle and one girl in particular, who lives in my neighbourhood who knows almost everyone in the city. She's super nice (and even lent me her maternity clothes when I was pregnant with Carson, too bad she's super slim and I used them for maybe three months), friendly, we have lots of things in common, but we've never hung out without my friend Lisa. She's having this crazy girls cottage weekend.

I've gone to a few social outings with Lisa, and therefore have been out half a dozen times with the people who will be at this cottage... but Lisa isn't coming! She has to go to a bridal shower in Toronto. Once I got the evite for this weekend I was all too excited. Then I found out Lisa couldn't go. I persuaded my younger sister to come with me (I hooked her up with a job through one of these girls) and she was going to come, until yesterday when her best friend got tickets for New Kids on the Block (don't ask). Again, as soon as I heard that, I mentally cancelled the trip.

Then I thought about it. Why shouldn't I go? It's for sure going to be an awesome time (swimming, four wheeling, tubing, fires, 20 girls in the woods.... totally my kind of night), I would make a ton of new friends, and I would be tackling one of the things I'd like to change about myself. Which is to be more outgoing, to not be afraid of people and be as social as I can be. Whenever I do something that I'm afraid of, or not comfortable with, I always come out feeling stronger and more confident with myself. I'm ALWAYS happy, in the end, that I did it. I know this won't be any different.

So there you have it. I've already arranged to drive up with two other girls, we leave Friday at lunch and are coming back Saturday after lunch. Yipee!