Your Royal Wedding Guest Name

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In honor of the big royal wedding, let's find out what is your royal wedding guest name is!

Start with either Lord or Lady + Your first name is one of your grandparents' names.

Your surname is the name of your first pet, double-barreled with the name of the street (or one of the streets) you grew up on.

My guest name = Lady Rita Whiskers-Matheson

What is your guest name?

Pampered Chef

Last week sometime, there were 3 of us huddled around a computer at the office.

My boss happened to walk by and asked "What are you guys up to?"

The reply was simple.

We were having an impromptu Pampered Chef party at work! Duh!

They had a deal on last week that you got free shipping if you spent over $100, so 3 of us pooled our wants/desires and put in an order.

This is my bar pan. I looooove it. I use it at least 2-3 times a week. It's perfect for cooking for 2, but for anything else it's a wee bit small.

Enter my new Rectangle Stone.

Description from the website: From pizzas to cookies, baked goods will turn out perfectly on our flat Stoneware. Use our racks when baking to lift Stoneware pieces easily from the oven. Perfect for baking, reheating and crisping. 12 x 15 inches (30 x 38 cm).

I used it last night to make salmon.

Perfection.

In hindsight I should have ordered the large bar pan, as it has a lip... but this will work great anyways.

I love Pampered Chef. I really do.

Do you have any favorite Pampered Chef products?

Comfort in a bowl

It was cold and damp last night, and I was feeling incredibly lazy.

I wanted comfort food but was not really feeling in the domestic kind of mood. Costco to the rescue!

Shepherds Pie, served with a side of shredded maple brussel sprouts.

After the picture was taken I added a ton of hot sauce, and mixed everything up. It was delicious.

Shepherds pie + hot sauce = perfection.

Apparently we're breaking rain-fall records in Ottawa, so I suspect I will be craving a lot of this type of food.

What are your favorite comfort foods?

I may have to start feeling domestic in order save my wallet and my waistline.

Blog, what blog?

The end of a long weekend is here, and you know what? I didn’t take a single picture all weekend. That’s just weird. I ALWAYS have my camera with me.

It was a great long weekend.

Point form summary:

• We sold our house!
• We attended a lovely wedding.
• I puked a lot the next day as a result of said wedding
• We had Easter dinner at my cousin’s house.
• I watched a Cupcake Wars marathon all day yesterday
• Managed to sneak in a bit of exercise
• We grilled for the first time this year.

 

Pork tenderloin, grilled asparagus and fingerling potatoes cooked in foil with garlic and vidalia onions.

My long weekend has been extended by a day. I got a call yesterday morning that there was some sort of electrical problems at my office, so we couldn’t come in today. So disappointed!

I celebrated by using appliances that have been hidden away in the cabinets since the house was listed.

TOAST!

 

With a salad in a glass!

And you can bet your ass I left the toaster and the blender on the counter.

….and I haven’t vacuumed since Friday. I’m rebelling.

Side note: Blogging using a USB to upload your pictures is SO. MUCH. EASIER. I’ve been plugging in my camera this entire time. When I was hiding things obsessively cleaning a few weeks ago I found this USB that I got when I bought my DSLR. It’s so easy to just pop your memory card in there, plug it in, and upload your pictures right to Windows Live Writer.

Well, I guess I have no excuse not to go to the gym since I’m off all day. Body Pump at 12pm, here I come. Have a great day!

Black Bean Brownies

They are fudgey. They are delcious. And they have black beans in them? Hunh?

I've been known (accused?) of trying to "healthify" just about everything. One of my favorite memories is of my brother taking a bite of a chocolate-chip cookie and a huge strand of zuchinni coming out.

His reponse: "AMY! What the f_ck? Why can you just leave things alone?"

I have an office potluck today, and as a few of us are trying to reduce our pant size I thought I would give this recipe a shot.

The end result is sooo delicious!

And because I don't want to be known as "the lame girl who brings healthy food to the potluck" I also brought a Skor trifle.

Happy Thursday!

Office Shenanigans

Yesterday was a crazy busy day at work.

I was rushing to get ready to go to a meeting offsite, and I was trying to lock my computer.

I was trying to get my mouse to scroll to the "LOCK COMPUTER" icon, and was having absolutely no luck.

My colleague (aka - A Bruins diehard) just so happened to be observing this, and simply asked "Is there something wrong with your mouse?"

I flipped it over, and look what I saw:
He is a funny, funny man.

GO HABS GO!

Moments in alcohol

When I’ve had a little too much to drink, I get a little ummm wild.

Over the weekend we’re sitting around the kitchen table and my friend Curt says to my cousin Scott: “Hey Scott, I think I have a picture of your brother’s wife’s boobs on my phone.”

Immediately I knew that they were mine.

On my birthday weekend, I might have thought it was a good idea to steal Curt’s phone and not only photograph my cleavage but send naughty text messages AND update his Facebook status.

That might seem a little odd right? Not really.

Anyone who knows me “in real life” or that has the luxury of having me on BBM has certainly received a picture similar to this:

Yep that would be my cleavage.

I tried to deny it, but see that mole? I was wearing a lower cut shirt on Saturday night, so it totally gave me my cleavage away.

But frig, did we ever laugh!

While I rarely drink these days, I had a good laugh compiling some of my finer moments in alcohol to share with you:

Do you have any crazy moments in alcohol?

Edited to add: See that picture with my bra hanging out? That was taken at a bar on a website called startthenight.ca when Andrew and I first started dating. I sent the link to my family saying "Here's a pic of my new boyfriend and I". Classy Amy, realllllllly classy.

Beer syrup

The weekend absolutely flew by once again.

I spent the weekend at my cousin Scott's place AGAIN. I've come to the conclusion that it's just easier to vacate to accomodate all the showings.

I'm proud to say that I indulged on Saturday (read: drank a bottle of wine) but pretty much rocked my calorie goals on My Fitness Pal.
On Sunday, I was feeling pretty good but in need of a good sweat session to sweat out the booze. I rocked 50 min run on the revolving aparatus of death! I hate running on the treadmill, but I had the Washington/NY game to keep me entertained.

I decided a healthy meal was in order to end off the weekend on a good note. The star of the show was MAPLE SYRUP! That's not Bud Light Lime obviously. It's a bottle of syrup made by Scott!
I wouldn't dare using his high quality syrup for cooking... so I used his competitors to make maple glazed salmon.

I seriously think that salmon, broccoli and rice is one of my favorite meals.

I'm starting today off on a good note also.

Overnight oats in a jam jar. 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk, spoonful of greek yogurt, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 tsp raisins and a drizzle of syrup.

Here's to a healthy week!

My Fitness Pal

There was a bit of a revolution on Twitter this week. A My Fitness Pal revolution. (cult?)

Perhaps it was a sign when I got this email, that my current method of tracking just wasn't meant to be.

Truth be told I lost my credit card, freaked out and cancelled it, and then found it 10 mins later.

That being said, I should be honest about my thoughts on the new Weight Watcher's program: I didn't love it. Despite having some okay results, I felt like it took A LOT of effort to make the program work for me.

Between my high activity level, my high'ish fruit intake, and portion control issues I never really mastered a 'formula' that worked with the new program.

I also really didn't like the fact that pretty much every. single. food. I ate was not in their database. It drove me a little batty to be honest.

Enter My Fitness Pal.

Day One Observations:

• Every SINGLE food I entered was in the database. Including Tim Horton's (ass-tasting) coffee, Danone Creamy Yogurt and a Fibre-One bar.


• I love that all my "old school" WWers are on there with me. A lot of us "met" on the forums at weightwatchers.ca so it seems fitting that we've all migrated here.


• It scares me a little that everyone can see what I ate that day.


• I also like that I can stalk what others are eating. For instance, Angiealltheway had pumpkin oatmeal yesterday. :)


• I completely failed yesterday, as I ate chocolate covered pretzels for dinner.

Back on track today!

The $300 Store

With the house being on the market, a lot of shopping is happening as a result of being evicted for house showings.

We're big Costco fans at our house. I refer to it as the $300 store, because when we first started shopping there it was rare to escape with a bill less that than. I'm happy to say we've gotten MUCH better at keeping the bills on the low(ish) side and if I was a mathematician, I'd say the average bill would be about $150.

Costco staples include: Boneless/skinless chicken breasts, salmon, bread, diet pepsi, broccoli (maybe if I didn't buy it in BULK I wouldn't have the odour problems on the bus eh?), brussel sprouts, bananas, peppers, old cheddar, greek yogurt, and mushrooms.

The odd time we'll peruse the isles to see if there are any hidden gems. And this my friends, is definitely a hidden gem. Fabulous Flats flatbread!
I made a BBQ Chicken flatbread the other night and it was SOOOO freakin' good! BBQ sauce, chicken, mushrooms, green pepper, caramelized onion and a wee bit of grated old cheddar. Fabulous Flats also has a great recipe section on the website. Check it out! Served with caesar salad with avocado added. Adding avocado to caesar salad is one of the best ideas I've ever came up it. It makes it taste creamy and rich. Loved it!

Ironic that Lynn also posted about Costco, great minds think alike!

Do you also suffer from the horrid Costco $300 Syndrome?

25 Signs Your House NEEDS to Sell.... fast!

1. You have considered shaving all three of your animals to avoid vacuuming 453 times a day. Don't you think Jersey would look cute as a lion?

2. Jersey no longer gets a bed. She gets a comforter that is folded up and then stored in the closet.

3. This becomes a normal conversation:

Amy - where is Jersey's dish?

Andrew: In a box in the coldroom

Amy: ok

4. You seriously consider redoing an entire bathroom in a weekend in hopes it will sell the house faster

5. You are becoming broke because house viewings = shopping time!

6. Jersey spends A LOT of time outside. I see this look frequently.

7. Your gas budget is through the roof because you spend hours driving around to kill time/stalking during showings on rainy days.

8. 3/4 of each work day is consumed talking on the phone with your real estate agent(s)

9. You can barely breathe because your house is filled with Glade products

10. Rainy days = dirty dog = dirty floors = NIGHTMARE!!

11. Your real estate agent sends and email asking for a simple update and you reply with a 10 page novel which covers topics like eating cookies, your thoughts on the meaning of life, and stress management techniques

12. Pro: many trips to the gym

13. Con: Stress eating which negates any extra calories burned at the gym

14. The oven is no longer used to cook. It's used for produce storage.

15. You can vaccum the entire house in 5 mins flat.

16. Vacuuming the house in 5 mins flat becomes considered cardio exercise because you are a left a sweaty mess afterwards.

17. Your island now sports fresh flowers and your listing information at all times.

18. You eat more take-out than usual as cooking = dirtying up the kitchen .

19. When you open the microwave and it has mangoes in it, you don't think it's weird.

20. You don't use any of your fancy appliances anymore. Why? They are hidden in the basement.

21. You have mastered the art of strategically placing towels/photos to cover nail holes.

22. You talk to your lawyer, broker and agent more than you talk to your family.

23. You start to consider your lawyer, broker, and agent your family.

24. You need to invest in better eye cream because the lack of sleep as a result of stress is making you look like an old lady.

25. You can write an entire blog post about real-estate woes.

Confessions of a once-speedy runner

Confession: I used to be a faster runner.

I have ran a 5k in 29 mins, a 10k in 56 and a half marathon in 2:08.

These times aren’t lightening fast for some, but for me they were pretty freakin’ awesome.

That being said, some of my nightmare’ish races include a 5k in 38 mins and a half marathon in 2:42.

It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Ottawa, so the second I got home I changed into my running clothes, grabbed Jersey and hit the streets.

I was having a great run until I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a parked car. My inner thighs were huge, my stomach flapping in the winter, boobs all over the place, and the “bat wings” (arms) were flailing side to side.

I was completely devastated. My pace slowed to a crawl, and my mind was filled with negativity.

To make matters worse, I saw a former (very attractive/in shape/runner) colleague who was driving along the road beside the path I was running on. Traffic was reduced to a crawl so he had a good 10 mins to watch me waddling…. wearing spandex to boot. I was so embarrassed.

Each step became a challenge, and eventually I just started walking. I started seriously doubting this whole running thing, and wondering why I even bother.

It’s really hard not to compare where I once was, to where I am now.

Then I got to thinking…..

Who the HELL friggin’ cares how freaking fast I am running?

Who the hell cares if I’ve gained a few pounds?

I’m RUNNING!

I’m such a competitive person that I can’t help but compare myself to all the runners in the blog world, which often (read: all the time) makes me feel inferior.

Yes, I’m not as fast as I used to be. Yes, I’m not as skinny as I used to  be.

But I’m running.

I don’t run for time. I don’t run for distance. I walk when I’m tired. Truth be told, I don’t even know where my Garmin is!

But I’m running.

….and sweating. :)

Pink tags be gone!

I know this is mainly a 'health and fitness' blog, but we all have pets. If you've been reading before you may have noticed that both of my MALE cats have pink ID tags. Not anymore! Aren't they adorable? Go check out my post over on Ottawa Dog Blog for my Etsy post on Fetch-A-Passion Tags.

What's in my make up bag?

I saw this on Eat, Live, Run the other day, and I thought it was kind of fun.

Although I don't write about it too often on the blog, I'm pretty much a product-whore.

With the house being on the market, everyone else is looking in my drawers so you might as well too!

This is my make-up drawer. My "getting ready routine" is actually a 2 part process. I do my make-up sitting cross legged in bed, and finish it off in the bathroom.
In the drawer: AG Recoil, AG Stucco, Spectro pimple stuff, Avon Coconut/banana body mist, a lint roller, Pantene heat protector spray, Goody clear elastics, baby wipes, Biotherm day/night cream, Make Up is Forever primer in green, Avene eye cream, MAC Blush, Lancome juicy tube, and my Bare Minerals foundation, mineral veil and "warmth" and the brushes to go with it. This is my make up bag. I got it in a Lancome freebie a long time ago.
And here's what is inside:

Smashbox shimmer/highlighter, MAC Fluid line in dipdown/black, MAC Paint, MAC concelater, 3 MAC DIY compacts, 2 MAC holiday line pallettes, some single MAC shadows, tweezers, CC Bigelow gloss (my favorite gloss EVER) Anatasia highlighter pencil, MAC cream blush, a Clinique shadow compact, MAC liner pencil in Prunella, Lancome Hypnose mascara, brushes from Sephora, and my eyelash curler.

So yes, its quite evident I'm a product-whore, especially when it comes to MAC products.

My "can't live without you" list:

- Fluidline in Dipdown <-- Less harsh for day to day wear than black

- Lancome Hynose mascara <-- I get compliments all the time on my eyelashes, its all in the mascara baby!

- eye lash curler <--- my eyelashes are naturally straight as a board, and if I don't curl them they hit my glasses.

- CC Bigelow gloss in Plum <-- Perfect sheen with a touch a color

- MAC Shadows in Seedy Pearl and Trax <--- this was the first MAC color I ever bought

- Bare Minerals foundation <-- best foundation ever.

Confession: I also have another make-up bag with my 'reserve' collection. It's like Christmas everytime I go in tthere!

What's in your make-up bag?

Visite libre

Real estate gods, are you there? It's me, Amy. Please, please, please let our open house be successful today.

I'm sick of vacuuming.

The Bondi Band

A couple years ago Bondi Band sent me a few of their hand bands for review.

While I thought they were super cute, they just didn't work on for me. I think I have an odd shape head or something because regardless of what type of headband I wear, they ALWAYS slip off. I thought I would give the Bondi Band another try last night at spin class. I figured there is no jumping, so maybe it would stay in place.

Good news: It stayed in place.
Bad news: I should have looked in the mirror before going into the class.
I took this picture when I got into the car afterwards.

I died a little bit, thinking that I was surrounded by spandex-clad hard bodies looking like a complete dork.

Then I laughed at my ridiculousness!

Hello short bus.