Stowe, Vermont.

I’ve arrived in Stowe, Vermont. I’d like to tell you it was an easy drive, with sunny skies and bare roads. But that would be a lie. It was actually one of the worst drives of my entire life. I would have taken pictures, but I was too busy clutching the holy shit handle for dear life.

To make matters worse, Susan the dumb bitch GPS lead us down the wrong route which forced us to back track adding an extra hour to our trip.

We stopped for a pee break and look what I found! COCONUT M&M’s.

Ever since I saw Jaime blog about them, I knew I had to have them. They were kinda gross at first taste, but the flavour definitely grew on me!

I also grabbed a Vitamin Water. I have no idea if we have this in Canada, but I feel a cold coming on so I thought I best get in some extra Vitamin C.

    

This tasted pretty terrible, but I chugged it back in hopes of fighting off the germies that are attempting to ruin my vacation.

We decided on an early dinner. After debating on the MANY fabulous looking restaurants that Stowe has to offer, we decided on Pie-Casso.

It was cozy, the service was great and the food was FANTASTIC.

Beverages:  Water and a diet pepsi.

To start: A deliciously garlicky Caesar salad.

And the main: The Leonardo- White base with mozzarella, sausage, spinach, basil and garlic.

I had this x3. Oink. In my defence, I only had a sandwich all day. I deserved it.

 

The pizza was great. It wasn’t oily or greasy in the slightest.

Its 7:20pm, and I’m in my PJ’s. Lame maybe. but seriously I’m mentally exhausted after that drive. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was going to die. At one point I actually texted my brother and told him to pray that his sister doesn’t die.

My plan: Check out who got traded today, and watch 127 Hours. Bliss!

Torture… Jack-Bauer style. DAMMIT!

Meet my gorgeous friend Lisa.

Each and every Saturday we meet for Body Attack. We complain how much we hate Attack. Then we drink coffee and talk for hours. We have both fully admitted the only reason we even go to Body Attack is to see each other!

There were no group fitness classes at ANY Goodlife location in the entire city of Ottawa today. They were cancelled for instructor training.

Lisa and I decided to meet for a workout anyways.

I should tell you that Lisa LOVES the Step mill. I LOATHE the Step mill. Truth be told, I’ve actually only done the step mill a handful of times. I hate it that much. Truth be told, I hate it because its hard.

Lisa decides that today will be the perfect opportunity to rekindle our romance with the torture device step mill.

On Wednesday I get an email from Lisa that went a little something like this:

Dear Amy,

You are going to need one of these after our workout on Saturday.

Love, Lisa

Attached was this image:

Source

She’s pretty funny eh? Actually it made me laugh hysterically.

So we get to the gym today, and I ask for a itinerary of our workout so I can mentally prepare for the torture I was about to endure. When she said 30 mins, I almost died. Seriously. Every second on that thing is like torture Jack-Bauer style for me.

I’d like to tell you that I rocked all of those 30 mins. But I didn’t. I had to tap out at 20 mins. My heart rate was THROUGH THE ROOF. I was actually a little afraid I might pass out. I got off, chugged some water and went for a little walk. When my heart rate returned to normal, I did a upper body and ab workout.

This is very hard for my “I’m in good shape” ego to admit, but that thing totally kicked my ass. I’m mad at myself for not pushing myself to complete the last 10 minutes. But, on the flip side I’m proud of myself for listening to my body.

Lessons learned:

1) My body is super conditioned to the things I do regularly: Running, Spin, Aerobics.

2) When you feel like you’re going to pass out, its ok to quit.

3) It’s ok to quit.

4) I must incorporate other activities into my workout. I’m going to make it my new mission to complete 30 mins on that stupid step mill.

5) I’m happy to have a workout buddy. Without her being there, I would have tapped out at 10 mins for sure.

Final thoughts:

To Lisa… thank you for being a great workout buddy and a true friend!

To the step mill…. you’re dead meat.

To my lovely readers… enjoy your Saturday! xo

A reenactment of sorts...

The following post is a reenactment. It is based the events on the evening of February 24th, which in turn reflects real-life events witnessed by the author.

I'm very lucky to have this little park beside my house. It makes a perfect place to play fetch with Jersey on evenings where taking her on a long walk just aren't feasible.

Last night, Jersey and I are doing our thing in the park. I throw, she retrieves. A pretty standard Amy and Jersey kind of evening.

When all of a sudden, I see a kid emerge out of the bushes below. He's running. Really fast.

Next thing you know a police officer, also running very fast and holding a GUN, emerges out of those very same bushes.

My inital thoughts: Hmmm, that's strange.

Jersey's initial thoughts: People are running, I want to run with them. I am going to bark like crazy and chase after them! This is going to be so fun.

My secondary thoughts: Oh shit, Jersey is going to get shot for chasing them.

I recalled her, and for once all the doggie obedience paid off. She came immediately and I grabbed her by the collar.

Jersey's secondary thoughts: My momma ruins all the fun. But I'm going to keep barking, because now they are on my turf!

Next thing you know there is a full fledge stand off in my driveway.

It looked a little something like this:

3 cruisers showed up, and there was a bit of a scene. And Jersey continued to voice her opinion. She was clearly pissed that all this commotion was going down on her ground.

At one point a police officer came over to address me standing there holding my grumpy dog by the collar, and told me to "go home". I politely pointed to my house, and told him thats where I lived. He then told me to "stay here".

After about 10 mins, the situation was cleared away and life resumed as usual.

Not your typical night in suburbia.

Lesson learned: Jersey might be more of a guard dog than I thought! :)

Any Vermonter's out there?

Confession: I treat my vacation leave like a savings account. It causes me physical pain to watch the nice little balance dwindle away when I use vacation time. As a result, I don't really take much time off. I've accumulated a nice little balance of time over the years that I've been working. I guess in the back of my mind, I've been saving it to take a big trip to Europe or Austrailia.

Enough of that madness. I want a vacation!

Usually my idea of a perfect vacation looks a little like this:

Alternating between lounging beside the pool and beach, warm breezes, reading a million books, taking cat naps, and eating and drinking A LOT.

Despite being incredibly relaxing, usually I come back from these type of trips with a few extra pounds and feeling lethargic.

This year its a different kind of vacation.

Skiing in Stowe, Vermont!

Image Source

I can hardly wait. I only have one day of work left, and then its vacation for an entire week!

I'm absolutely positive that there will be booze and delicious food, but I love the fact that its an "active" vacation. Hopefully I'll burn off whatever I eat/drink!

Has anyone been to Stowe? Any must see sites? Restaurant recommendations?

The hill closes at 4pm, so the evenings are wide open. I'm looking for suggestions!

I was saddened to learn that Vermont is the only state that dosn't have a Target. I love Target. I may have mapped one out for the drive down.... it will make a perfect pit stop! :)

Support Your Humane Society

Confession: I look at the Ottawa Humane Society's website every. single. day.

Even though I have my hands full with Samuel, Lewis, and of course my Jersey-girl, I look at the adoptions page every day.

Yesterday I saw this blog post about a golden retriever named Twizzler who suffered from entropia, a condition where the dog’s eyelashes are inverted inwards.

Dosn't it break your heart?
Image Source

Dosn't Twizzler bare a striking resemblance to Jersey? It really could be the same dog!


Anyways, I encourage you to go read the post about Twizzler. Good news is, she's on the road to a healthy recovery and has a long happy dog life ahead of her.

Both Samuel aka Black Swan and Lewis are from the Humane Society and are both the quirkiest, but loving cats ever. I often think that shelter animals are the greatest because they're just happy to have a second chance, you know?

Lewis was hit by a car before we adopted him, and has no hip joint. As a result, we was supposed to limp forever. I really think that he was faking the limp to get attention, because it only lasted a few months. He's now a healthy, pleasantly plump, gorgeous boy that wakes me up every morning with nose kisses.

Sam is allergic to "something" but the vets cannot quite pin point what exactly it is. Whenever he's having a reaction his face and paws get all puffy and looks kind of similar to this. To control his outbreaks, he receives steroid shots and gets prednisone pills. He's becoming border-line diabetic as a result. You know how most cats come running when they hear the treats being shook? Sam comes running when he hears the water turn on. Freak.

Jersey isn't from the Humane Society, but she was a rescue of sorts. We'll never know the entire story about her "youth" but I suspect there was some abuse as she's a very timid, nervous nelly type of dog. But with a lot of love and patience, she's grown up to be the best dog anyone could ask for.

The point of this post? My animals aren't perfect, but they are perfect in my eyes. They fill my heart with love, and make me smile each and every day.

If you're looking to add a furry member to your family, start your search at the shelter... ok? :)

A struggle

I rejoined Weight Watchers Online on December 15th. I've lost 14 lbs since then.

But why, WHY after years do I still struggle with exercise/food guilt?

Exhibit A: Sunday I was in absolutely NO shape to do any form of exercise, albeit, my abs sure got a workout from all the puking. I had Harvey's as my only meal of the day. I enjoyed every bite of that meal, but felt guilty afterwards.

When I got home, the wheels started turning with thoughts of how I will detox the booze out of me, and the workout I'll do to counteract the extra calories I took in.

I didn't go to the gym last night. I ate pasta, salad, and cake for dinner.

Do I feel guilty about it today? Absolutely.

I like to pretend that I have this perfect healthy balance, but really, I couldn't be farther from that. I think about food and exercise all. the. time.

But my question is, is exercise and food guilt necessarily a bad thing if it keeps me from derailing?

For example, if I know that I will be having a calorie/fat latent meal I'll hit them gym beforehand. Or, If I have a super heavy meal, I'll make an effort to eat lightly the next day. If I missed a planned workout, I'll lengthen my next workout. Does this make me crazy?

I will NEVER be able to not loosely track my food intake if I want to stay slim. Unfortunately I gain weight by just looking at food, despite my high level of activity.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this issue. Am I a whackjob?

Dirty 30

I'm 30 years old today. Eeek.

I had a wonderful birthday weekend. I became a ping pong super star.

Note: I use the term "ping pong superstar" loosely.

I got beat up when we lost.

I ate and drank like a queen.

And the next day, I puked. A lot. In fact, I took the meaning of a hangover to the next level. It was pretty awful.

The nice thing about keeping a blog, is being able to look back at old posts.

This is how I looked the day after my 27th birthday.

And this is what my kitchen looked like the day after my 27th birthday.

This is the morning after my 28th birthday, aka, the runner with a hangover. I got up for a 12k LSD after polishing off numerous bottles of wine.

On my 29th birthday, I got to meet my godson Connor for the first time.

I got an email from my friend Cathy this morning that got me thinking. She wrote, "Think about how much you accomplished in your twenties. Imagine what you can do in your thirties!"

She's right. I did accomplish a hell of a lot in my 20's, and I'm proud of my accomplishments. As of right this very second I'm going to stop being depressed about turning the big 3-0. I have a lot to look forward to!

I'm healthy, and happy. That's what counts. What more could I ask for, right?

Bring it, #30. I'm ready for you.

Feeling great!

I'm loving my hair these days. After months of growing, I can finally wear it back in a (albeit tiny) ponytail.
And with the bang, it actually looks like a hairstyle when its pulled back. Even when I had long hair, I always found it looked a little weird when I pulled my hair back with a long side swept bang.

I think I'm going to let my hair get long again. I'm pretty lucky that my hair grows quickly, so it shouldn't take TOO long.

I really liked it when it looked like this:

We'll see if that actually happens. Everytime I say I'm going to grow my hair out, it gets slightly below my shoulders, I get irritated and end up chopping it into a chin length bob.

Only 2 more days to the big 3-0! Eeek!

The lunch packer

I've become quite the lunch packer of late, merely due to the fact that there are not really any lunch options close by, and our cafeteria is outrageously over priced. I paid $12 for oatmeal there once!

Lululemon bags make great lunch bags, and it also reminds me to "Dance, sing, floss and travel"!

Since I showed you what was in my purse the other day, I thought I'd show you what was in my lunch bag today.

Green container = salad in a glass, stainless steel container = water, travel mug = coffee, banana, orange, strawberries, Madras lentils from Costo, and one mini peanut butter cup for dessert.

Observations: I eat a lot of fruit. But it my opinion, it's better than eating a lot of cookies. It may appear that I don't eat enough protein, but in my salad in a glass I added a scoop of protein at 25g.

Final thoughts: I love peanut butter cups. A lot.

Purse chaos

I haven't written too much about my recent office move. I guess I can write about it now as its long gone, and I'm sure a lot of you figured it out when I told you I was living in Huntsville and Toronto. Right? If you're Canadian, or watched the news in June you will remember that the G8 and G20 Summits were hosted in Hunstville and Toronto. So yah, that's where I was. I could write all day about what a rewarding experience it was... I really could. I am most definitely proud of the work I did there.

Anyways, my assignment has come to an end and I started working at another office (same department though) in January. I'm really enjoying my new team, but what I'm not enjoying is the fact I have to rely on public transportation as parking in the area is equivalent to a mortgage payment. Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but I'm not really that far off!

Sometimes my bus is on time, but often its not.

Last night was one of the times it was not on time, so I wasn't able to make it to the gym for Body Combat as planned.

It was quite chilly it Ottawa last night, so I embraced my inner Rocky Balboa and hit the streets with my boot-wearing dog in tow.


Confession: I have not been running on a regular basis for a LONG time. On average, of late I'd say I run once a week usually on the treadmill.

Last night, the Jersey and I ran about 6k and it felt FANTASTIC. I guess if anything it was reassuring knowing that I haven't lost any of my stamina. I guess all the cross training I do does keep my fitness level quite high.

Post run: Sweaty Amy = Salty Smootches from Jersey.

I felt great!!

There is no way to segue into my next topic. The crisis that has become my purse. Recently my wallet broke (Ok, really not that recently... like 5 or 6 months ago!) and this is the the contents of my purse. How embarrassing! I really need to get on the "procuring a wallet" bandwagon, in order to get organized. Its slightly embarrassing to pull out a stack of cards and sorting through them like a Gramma just to find your optimum card.

Or... like the time I got pulled over a couple months ago and it took me a good 5 mins to find my driver's licence. Not sure if I got a ticket because of his irritation at having to wait for me, the fact that my plate was expired, because of the ridiculous amount of attitude I gave him when he told me he was going to have my car towed, or my reply to him when he told me "control my dog".

"She's a golden retriever, not a doberman. What is she going to do, lick you to death?"

Bottom line: Procuring a wallet is a must. And soon.

Bottome line #2: I should be less bitchy with police officers.

Bottom line #3: I really do think that Jersey would have just gave him kisses.

A perfect afternoon snack

As this is a healthy living blog, perhaps I should get back to that eh?

When I saw The Wannabe Chef tweet about cookie dough hummus, it immediately caught my attention.

I made a very similar concauction, using his recipe for inspiration of course!

Into the food processor went:

1 can chickpeas
A hefty scoop of chunky peanut butter
splash of vanilla
Enough ED Smith Sugar Free syrup to thin it out.

After it was smooth, I folded in: Mini milk chocolate chips, mini semi sweet chips, and skor bits.


I always drizzle some EVOO on my hummus, so I added a tsp of chunky PB to my serving and tossed the whole thing in the microwave. AMAZING. The chocolate chips got all melty too!


I sliced up this beat up apple (with my letter opener!) and used it for dipping. DELICIOUS!

I saw that Jaime also made a similar version, but smoothed hers out with Almond Milk to make it a little more 'dippy'.

Thanks to The Wannabe Chef for the inspiration for this sweet afternoon treat!

Celebrity Crushes

I have a few celebrity crushes. I will fully admit that my taste is a little "off" at times, but I feel like I can totally justify my choices.

Some for a combination of their sheer talent and handsome good looks.


Some for their wit.

Some because they are dead sexy.

And some wear pinstripes.

My latest celebrity crush, though... I'm not even sure I should admit to it.

I confess: I am completely smitten for Steven Tyler.

When I heard he was joining Idol, I was kind of 'meh' about the whole situation. I've never been a huge Aerosmith fan, aside from the ballads I used to slow dance to in Grade 8. (Side note: despite NOT being a fan my very first CD ever was their "Get a Grip" album)

There's is just a certain "Je ne sais quoi" about him. I can't believe I'm about to admit this, but he just oooozes sex appeal to me. He's quirky, has a beautiful smile, and really appreciates the music.

I'm not a huge Idol fan. I really just started watching last season thanks to Lee Dewyze (shh, don't tell Derek Jeter) my other boyfriend. But this season has me hooked thanks to Mr. Tyler.

Who are your celebrity crushes? Especially the ones you're afraid to admit!!

My other quasi questionable celebrity crushes: John Travolta, Paul Plakas, Stockwell Day, Garth Brooks and Gordon Ramsey.

Bangs

My hair "growing out"is going pretty well.

Its long enough it get it back now, so as a result it was looking kind of like crap when I pulled it back with a long side bang.

I decided today to start rocking the bang again.

I think I like it.

Blog Pimping

Say hello to Cathy's New Blog! My real life friend turned blogger.

You may remember when I ruined her entire wedding by being the drunk girl that dropped the wine glass on the D-floor.

Cathy and I go all the way back to Grade 5 French Immersion. You see, we come from small-town Ontario where apparently there aren't enough kids to fill entire classes so kids from Perth (an entire 20 mins away) came to Smiths Falls to attend French Immersion. This was kind of a big deal in grade 5. We always referred to them as the "Perth People". I remember being slightly bitter because they got to leave at 3h10 to catch their bus, when the rest of us had to leave at 3h20. But anyways, I digress.

Despite being from rival towns, Cathy and I hit it off and became fast friends. I could go on and on about all the memories I have of our youth. There was the time that I tried to break up her and her BFF Brianne, when Brianne took a trip to Alberta. We had weeknight sleepovers when there were early morning ski trips. And there was the fact that my younger brother Patrick fell madly in love with her when he was a mere 10 years old.

One of my favorite moments in alcohol was with my brother and he called Cat and left a message a little something like this: *cue high pitched voice* "Hi Cathy, this is Toby calling. I just wanted to tell you I just don't think its going to workout between the two of us. I hear Patrick is available, and you should ask him out..."

I have canisters of notes that Cathy and I wrote back in forth, each ending with a simple phrase: "Our Law". Our law was only discussed once, but it meant that nothing we wrote about in those notes was to be discussed with anyone else.

Given all the writing we did, it's only fitting that Cathy grew up to be a "real life" writer and just recently quit her job to launch her own free lance business. I'm so happy for her, and have no doubt that she will succeed with flying colors.

Anyways, I was SO excited when an email popped into my inbox that started with "Hello by blogging friend" with a link to her new blog.

Cathy and I have many common interests: Sarcasm, running and our canine fur-babies. She's also turning the big 3-0 this year, But seems to be handling it slightly different than I am. She's all "this is the best year of my life" and I'm all "I need to buy expensive face cream" but hey, whatever works!

Go check her out!

Let's talk lady bits.

I must preface this post by saying this topic might not be everyone's cup of tea. That being, said those of you have been reading for a while know that I'm not shy and tend to be a little on the blunt side, so here goes nothing!

I bought a Groupon about 6 months ago for laser hair removal and have been getting treatments on my lip and chin. I've had fantastic results thus far, so when another great deal popped up yesterday I had seize the day. The best part about this Groupon was that it included the Brazilian bikini option... *cue horror music*

Now, this is where the conversation is going to get personal.

I am a fan of the Brazilian wax. I have paid my esthetician (whom I refer to as my waxer lady) a lot of money. It usually runs me about $90 for the Brazilian, eyebrows, tip and tax. At every 4-6 weeks, this gets costly.

I have even attempted to do it a couple of times myself. DO NOT TRY THIS. EVER. Trust me. During one particularly horrific experience, I actually considered just leaving the strip of wax on there and living with it forever.

Laser hair removal offers almost permanent results. My question is, do I reallllllly want to have a Brazilian when I'm 90?

My other concern (as gross as this is) is the potential smell. Yep. Crotch sweat. Aren't pubes there for absorption purposes?

What is the point of pubic hair? Will I miss it if its gone forever?

I guess I'm struggling with the decision to take it all off, or just do a traditional bikini.

If no one comments, I'll totally understand... but come on, I need your help! I have approximately 9 hours until my appointment to make this HUGE decision!

If I had…

If you don’t follow me on Twitter, here’s what I had to say after waiting for the bus for 20 mins after work.

I really need to pay more attention to the weather. It was beautiful all weekend, so I guess I got cocky and decided I could wear a cute coat. Cute, as opposed to the marshmellowy, yet warm down-filled coat I usually wear.

If you read Lynn’s blog, this might seem like a déja-vu, but I’ve secretly lusting after a red jacket ever since she posted about it. When I saw one at Rickis for just $49.99, marked down from $169.99 I couldn’t say no.

Please excuse the pictures. Its hard to find something tall enough to set your camera on that’s tall enough to use the self timer!

 

 

Cute, yet not very functional. Especially there was a huge drop in temperature today and it now feels like –26 outside!

Moral of the story?  See that little sun? That’s a weather app. USE IT.

  

I arrived home absolutely chilled to the bone, so I put on a big pot of chili. To be enjoyed when I return home from the gym.

TTFN!