Halloween Goal

I'm a very competitive person. I don't like to lose.

The last couple of years, I have made it a personal goal not to eat any Halloween candy.

This was not the case this year, as I ate about 3453 million of those stupid treat size chocolate bars on Saturday. But that dosn't mean I need to eat anymore.

So I'm going public with it once again.... I WILL NOT EAT ANY HALOWEEN CANDY.

....let's hope lots of kidlets visit tonight to rid my house of all the candy that was procured.

What are your Halloween plans? Do you hand out candy?

words

It's the weekend. I spend a lot of time on the weekend out of my "calorie comfort zone".

What exactly is my "calorie comfort zone"? During the week, I'm very much a creature of habit. I eat pretty much the same thing each and every day. I've complained a little bit lately about my life feeling a little bit like the movie Groundhog Day, where everything is the same. My food is definitely a part of that analogy.

The weekend however, is hard to control and hard to plan. I more often than not, eat way too much, and consequently spend the rest of my weekend feeling guilty and trying to undo the damage.

I had a BBM conversation this week with the lovely Angi this week regarding the crazy-ass thoughts that go through my brain. When I use the term "conversation" what I really mean is that I typed novel'esque BBM's, and she listened to the craziness. I'm a nut-case sometimes, but talking (or typing) about it makes me feel a lot better.

Here's a synopsis of things that were discussed:
- I dropped quite a few pounds during the summer, despite being injured and being unable to do very little physical activity.
- The reason? I really paid attention to what I was eating.
- I suffer from "I just burned 345308 calories, so I can eat 10 poutines" mentality, which undoes all the calories I just burned.
- Now that my shoulder is allowing me to workout like I used to, I'm cheating a lot more as a result of the "I just burned 345308 calories, so I can eat 10 poutines" syndrome. I think I might just stop tracking the calories I burn during exercise. That might work for me.
- Weight Watchers, while being the reason I was successful at weight loss, has made me a psycho. I wish I could undo that. I hate thinking about food all the time.

I'm not sure what the point of this post is, or if there even is one. My head is all over the place lately in regards to blogging, health, fitness and life.

I did something a little drastic this week, and stopped reading (cold turkey style) all the big blogs that drive me batty. I would get so angry reading some of them, and even more angry reading the comments. People worship these women, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Oddly enough, I feel a lot better not reading them.

And after spilling my guts in this not so well-composed blog post, I feel a lot better too.

I just need to relax about stuff, and continue to figure out what works for me. I think I'm doing okay, as I've kept the majority of my weight off for almost 7 years. I think I'll be just fine.

Thank you for support. Seriously. xo

Casual Friday

Today I took a step waaaaaay out of my fashion comfort zone.

Skinny jeans!
I paired them with a tunic-y sweater, and a collared shirt just to keep it classy.

I feel slightly uncomfortable though. I'm not sure if this look really suits my body type as I carry all of my weight in my stomach and inner thighs.

A belt might help, but I don't like the belt look. Stacy and Clinton have taught me it's important to emphasize your smallest part. However, my waist is a lot smaller than my hips/gut, so I feel like a belt just makes my waist look smaller and my hips looks 3459809 times bigger than they actually are.

Have no fear, this isn't becoming a fashion blog, because well, I have none.

I'm hungry. Time for breakfast. Have a great Friday!

Sending out birthday wishes to my dear friend Cathy today. Happy 30th lady!

Fall colours

It was 1 degree when I left the house this morning. It's almost time to get rid of my "commuting" flip flops. I must embrace that it's getting colder outside. I suppose I should also cave and turn on the furnace also. I think I could see my breath in the house this morning.

Usually, I'm a black pants kind of girl. I wear a lot of black with pinks, plums, purples and green. On my "Amy Day" I bought a couple of brown'ish pairs of dress pants. I've been gradually picking up a few shirts in the earthy-tone family to compliment them.

Last night I picked up this top at Reitmans. I think I like it. (matches my powder room towels too!)

What colours are you rocking this fall?

My nemsis = The carrot

When I was at my teeny-tiniest, I ate a lot of carrots. So many carrots in fact, that for a long time the mere sight of them made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.


I went to Costco on Sunday to pick up a few staples, including stewing beef. It was a chilly dreary day, I was craving a little comfort food. I also needed carrots for said beef stew.

At this point I had two choices.... and keep in mind my patience were already minimal just due to the fact I was at Costco on a Sunday.

1) Make an additional stop on the way home at an equally busy grocery store to procure a normal sized bag of carrots.

or

2) Buy a ridiculously large bag of carrots at Costco. Enough carrots to feed a small army in fact.

Guess what my afternoon snack will be this week?

Welcome back to my life Mr. Carrot. I will do my best to enjoy you, and hopefully after our time apart our love affair will be rekindled. If that fails, hummus makes everything taste better.

Do you have any foods that you can't stand as a result of over-doing it? Tell me I'm not the only carrot-hater out there?

Gramma Weirdo'isms

Yes, it's weird to post a pic of my Gramma's with a plate of pork chops. I wrote a post about it a long time ago. I haven't unpacked that picture yet, so this is the closest thing I've got.

So, those are my 2 gramma's. Gram on the left, Nanny on the right.

Over the weekend, I was talking to my friend about my little binge episode and was telling her I ate too many graham crackers with margarine. She was appalled at the mere fact that I would eat such a combination of foods.

I always thought it was a normal combination of food. My Nanny used to give this to me as a snack all the time.

We got to talking about some of the other combinations that we thought were completely normal, but looking back... maybe they weren't?

Gram:
Bread with butter, dipped in maple syrup
Pasta shells, with butter salt/pepper and a cheese slice

Nanny:
Graham crackers with margarine
Not weird, but she always had arrowroot cookies and red licorice in her pantry.

Did your grandmother teach you any weird food combinations?

Old Faithful

So, I kinda sorta didn’t go to spin last night. I was watching Y&R, and I thought “I’ll just close my eyes for 30 seconds”.

I woke up 45 mins later. Needless to say, I totally flaked out. No big deal right? Well, it would have been a big deal if I didn’t have a mini binge-fest on chocolate covered pretzels and macaroons. Ooops.

I made up for it this morning with a 60 minute disgustingly sweaty class. Sweat was coming out of every single pore I had.

I arrived home and made my “Gotta get back on the straight and narrow” meal.

Oats

 

And a salad in a glass.

 

I feel healthier already.

I’ll leave you with this picture of Sam I snapped this morning. He’s kind of a dork sometimes. Why on earth would he leave one paw on the lower step? He needs a helmet, I’m sure of it.

Happy Saturday!

Chick-Lit

Today is another “Amy day”. I have some vacation I need to use up, so there may be a few more extra long weekends in my near future.

I went to Starbucks and tried their new Salted Caramel Mocha. It was kind of gross tasting, and I was not a fan AT ALL. It was also 220 calories. NOT WORTH IT.

I was also perusing the book store, when I decided rather than spending money on book I should head to the library and sign up for a card. I went in not knowing what I wanted, so the end result is kind of embarrassing.

I can’t believe I got a VC Andrews book AND a book titled The Dog Park Club in the same haul.  

I never claimed to be a book critic!

I also made a stop at the Bulk Barn to pick up some nuts – MUCH cheaper in bulk form – and somehow these little buggers ended up in my basket. I love macaroons.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent with this little dork. We went to the dog park, and there were 3 other golden retrievers there. She was so happy.

I took this picture afterwards. Look how tired she looks with her droopy eyes. As I type this, she’s passed out on the floor at my feet. Tired girl.

It’s 3:48pm. I have plans for spin at 5:30. And that’s it.

Said spin class should be interesting given the fact I can’t walk. I’m SOOOO sore from Body Pump on Wednesday. Granted, doing Combat last night likely didn’t help either. Hopefully spin won’t kill me. Time will tell.

Happy Friday!

Pump it up

Confession: I generally roll my eyes when bloggers write about Body Pump like it's the best thing in the entire world. I've been doing Body Pump for years, and it's just part of my workout routine. It's a good workout, but is it life changing? Not so much.

Confession #2: I generally get stabby when said bloggers quantify every weight that they do.

Confession #3: Today I am going to write about Body Pump AND quantify it.

Source

The good news? For the first time since my bike accident, I went to Pump! I used really light weights for the chest, tricep and shoulder tracks. The only movements that really bothered me were chest presses and up-right rows. I also opted to skip the clean-and-press. I was just happy to be back, and working my muscles. I was started to feel a little soft.

The bad news? As a result of my hiatus, I am sore all over today. I love the pain though, so maybe it's not bad news afterall.

Carb Whore

Lately all I've wanted to do is go home after work, park my ass on the couch, and binge on carbs. Odd, but true.

Luckily (I think?) I have a guilty conscience so prior to those wishes and desires coming true, I usually go to the gym and get my sweat on. After a workout you don't want to und0 all the good work you just did, right? Ok... if I'm being 100% honest, after a workout is usually the time I do my worst damage in the calorie department. I struggle with the "I just burned _______ calories" so I can eat a carton of icecream.

Anyways, I was in a carb-whore kind of mood last night so I made Butternut Squash Macaroni and followed this recipe loosely. It was flavour was really good, and satisfied my pasta/cream sauce craving.

But it definitely wasn't mac'n'cheese. While I appreciate the vegan aspect of things, there is no substitute for mac'n'cheese. The sauce texture also got kind of funky as it cooled. Like I said, it was tasty... but if you want mac'n'cheese, make mac'n'cheese! :)

Not much else to report. I feel like I'm living on the set of Groundhog Day lately. Each day feels the same. I guess that comes a little bit with the weather getting cooler, the day light hours getting shorter, etc etc etc. Anyone else feeling the same way?

Warm Kale Salad

I'm about to write about the over priced cafeteria again..... sorry about that.

Despite being expensive, they do have some great food. Yesterday they had a warm kale/sweet potato salad that caught my eye. I decided to make something similar last night, and the end result was pretty fantastic.

Onion, mushrooms, garlic, wilted kale, craisins, toasted walnuts, roasted sweet potatoes, israeli couscous tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and a little maple syrup. Salt and Pepper added to taste.
I served it with a rather bland looking chicken breast.

I'm also eating the exact same thing for lunch today, and I can't wait!

I'm tempted to open up a food cart directly outside of the cafeteria, and offer the same selections for cheaper. My colleague bought a teeny container of the salad yesterday and it was $4.50. My entire huge bunch of kale was $1.99 and it made enough salad for at least 5 servings. Clearly, she's onto something with her ridiculous prices!

Butter makes everything better

The over abundance of apples certainly got put to good use, in the form of apple crisp.

And now I have a slight addiction.... to apple crisp. The stuff is delicious.

My first batch wasn't the greatest, but the second batch was spot on. The secret?

Butter. Lots of it.

I think apple crisp is one of those things that is best left "unhealthified".

I don't really have a recipe (shocker, eh?) but if I were to attempt one, here it goes:

6-7 apples

cinnamon

nutmeg

flour

large flake oats

white sugar

brown sugar

BUTTER

- Chop apples and lightly coat with cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar

- Mix flour, oats (I went 50/50) more cinnamon, white sugar (to taste)

- Use a pasty cutter thing-a-meh-jig and cut butter into the mix. You want it to be kind of wet'ish yet crumbly at the same time.

- Top the apples and bake for about 45 mins at 350.

I love you apple crisp.

Pumped Up Kicks

I got some new shoes yesterday, and tested them out this morning.

I’ve been wearing the same “21_0” series of Asics forever. They work for me.

 

This is where I should be telling you I had a fabulous run. But I didn’t. It was actually terrible. My stomach felt off and I felt like I had to take a huge poo.

That’s where mentally I tapped out and called it a day after 20 mins.

Am I disappointed? Kind of. Ok, yes I’m really disappointed with myself.

I always tell others that “any running, regardless of the speed, is better than no running” so today I’m going to listen to my own advice.

Why is Jersey looking so glum?

She picked up a tick somewhere. Gross.

Surgery has been performed, and all is well with her perfect little face once again.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Salmon is delicious

One of the staples in my diet is salmon.

Usually I simply glaze it with maple syrup, but I wanted something asian’ish so I tapped into my cooking spidey senses and whipped up a pretty delicious marinade.

Orange juice, soy sauce, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, honey, salt and pepper.

 

I cut the salmon into fillets, threw them into a pan, covered with marinade, covered and put in the fridge for a couple hours.

 

During those couple of hours I actually went to spin class and had my ass handed to me. Good news was I was sitting beside I rather hot man clad in spandex, so I gav’er the entire class. Can’t look like an alice beside hot men in spandex!

To cook the fish, I simply transferred the fillets onto one of my Pampered Chef stoneware pans and broiled each side for about 5 mins.

The end result was some pretty kickass salmon.

  

I served it on top of a bed of stir fried onion, zucchini, mushrooms and wilted bok choy. To stick with the asian’ish flavours I added a little OJ, sesame seeds and sesame oil.

A pretty delicious meal, if I must say so myself. Toot-toot!

…yep, I just tooted my own horn!

Overload

This is what happens when there is not a lot of communication happening in the “what to procure” department of any particular household.

Ok, our household.

Too many apples. Too many bananas. Too many mushrooms.

Your job?

One apple recipe. One banana recipe. One mushroom recipe.

Please?

……..and go!

Detox

The nice thing about being invited to 3 turkey dinners, is not only not having to cook, but also not having any tempting leftovers in the house.

That being said, I'm still suffering from post-turkey-guilt.

There is something almost refreshing about wiping my slate clean and starting fresh.

I made a batch of Carrot Apple Ginger Soup and a batch Chicken Divan loosely based on this recipe.

I've written many times about the overpriced cafeteria at my office. Despite being overpriced, her food is quite good. She makes both carrot soup and chicken divan and I can proudly say both of these recipes are BETTER than hers. I've never made my chicken divan with curry, so when I tasted hers I loved it. This week I'll have healthier versions of her food and save myself the $$.

I took yesterday as a rest day, so I'm itching to get back to the gym tonight.

I also plan to drink my weight in water.

How do you detox?

**I took pictures of my delicious soup, but the Blackberry network appears to be down world wide. I smell scandal**

Something kind of funny happened

Let's rewind to the year 2000.

It's my first year of university, and I looked like this:
It was one of our first nights out at the bar and I meet a boy named Mike. It turns out we are in the same program. We become fast friends.

Of course, overtime, we lost touch.

I was thrilled when I saw his invite on Facebook come in yesterday. I immediately accepted.

But then I got this message: I reassured him it was me, just a thinner version. He confessed to perusing my pictures, but thought it was maybe a cousin of mine.

Totally made my day.... especially after 3 turkey dinners.

Thankful

Today I am thankful for many things.

Source

But if I’m being 100% honest I’m especially thankful that my gym was open and that I could sweat out the turkey dinner(s) that I consumed yesterday.

Note: One of the invitees at dinner #2 is a pastry chef and brought 4 types of pie. I died. And tried all 4 of them.

I’m onto dinner #3 today. Give me strength. Hey, at least I have a bit of a calorie deficit to work with. Right? Riiiiiiiiiiight?

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Glaze

I’m not a great baker, mainly because I don’t measure things.

I’m starting to be known as the lame-o cousin who brings vegetables to family dinner.

In addition to my favourite shredded maple walnut brussels, I will be bringing this little masterpiece.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake with a Browned Butter Cream Cheese Glaze. 

I saw this recipe for pumpkin muffins, added some cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips and cooked in an an angel food cake pan.

And this is the recipe for the heavenly browned butter cream cheese glaze. I didn’t add all the sugar which kept it “glazey”.

Not bad for someone who sucks at baking eh?

Good News/Bad News

Good news: I went to Body Combat last night for the first time since my bike injury. While I can't say my shoulder felt amazing, it definitely didn't feel that bad. The hooks were especially difficult to execute but the rest was great!

I'm happy to say too that I didn't die cardio-wise so it makes me happy that all the spinning/running I've been doing has kept up my fitness level!
Source

Thank god I didn't look like the dude in the white. Creeper.

Bad news: The score of the ball game. I feel like I got kicked in the junk this morning. Could A-Rod be any worse at baseball?

Perception

Fact: I have a really hard time excepting compliments.

Fact #2: I have a reallllllllllllllllllllly hard time excepting compliments regarding recent weight loss, I turn every color of red, and usually end up saying ridiculous things in return.

I saw my lady-laser-bit lady last night. She got all touchy feeling and was full of compliments regarding my recent weight loss. She sees me every 5 weeks, so apparently she really notices it. When I was laying on the table (naked from the waist down - spread eagle, hot eh?) she touched my stomach and gushed some more about how much I've lost.

Truth be told, I have felt pretty svelte of late.

But sadly, when I look in the mirror that's not the first thing I see. What I do see, is my pootch. Sometimes I pick it up, and make it talk. "Hello, I'm Amy's flab"

Every part of my body is getting smaller. Every part of my body is getting toned. Except that blasted pootch. I've been living with this pootch for the better part of 7 years now, so I know there are no amount of crunches that will make it go away.

Even at my teeny-tiniest, the beloved pootch was still present.

I'm not exactly sure what the intention of this post really is. Maybe it's that I like my body from the waist down. Maybe it's that I accept my body from the waist up. Maybe I'm seeking reassurance that I'm not the only one that picks up their pootch and makes it talk?

...or maybe it's just that I'm my own worst critic.

It's all about perception baby.

Baseball Inspired Amy Fun Facts

Amy fun fact #1: I'm obsessed with all things baseball. In particular, the New York Yankees and if you've been reading my blog for a while you know my heart beats for Derek Jeter.

Amy fun fact #2: I've been playing ball since I was about 7 I think. I wanted to play 3 pitch, but my Dad signed me up for hardball. I was the only girl on the team. I also thought that if I didn't move the bat it wouldn't count as a strike. Good thing my skill got progressively better over the years.

Amy fun fact #3: I start just about every day by reading The Lohud Yankees Blog.

Amy fun fact #4: It caused me physical pain to watch the game last night. I honestly thought like I was going to throw up.

Amy fun fact #5: I got about 23940 emails yesterday from fellow Yankee fans, about 1293109854 trash talking emails from Sox fans yesterday. Clearly baseball was on all of our minds.

Amy fun fact #6: I'm genetically bred to be a Yankee fan. I can also talk sports with the boys. Thanks Dad.

Amy fun fact #7: I had a tongue ring for a while. Not cool.

Amy fun fact #8: I friggin' love the post season. Goooooooooo Yankees!

It's the little things

Today I'm all about the little things that make me happy.

- Discovering Matt Beilis' version of Someone Like You on You Tube. Adele's version makes me want to drive my car over a bridge. This version is slightly less depressing, and his piano playing skills make me weak in the knees.

- Finding the perfect nail technician that does them exactly how I like them, and dosn't look at me like I'm a freak when I ask for them super short.

- My second new pair of glasses that FINALLY came in. I like them.

- Coffee dates with new girlfriends. And how good that first sip of coffee tastes in the morning.

- Aveda Damage Remedy. It smells a little hippy-esque to me, but it makes my hair unbelievably silky and smooth. Love.

- Middle aged spin instructors (whom of which looked amazing in his spandex) who notice I'm wearing a NYY hat, and proceed to trash talk the Yankees the entire class. Despite the fact he was cutting up my team, I loved the witty banter.

What's making you happy today?

Baked Potato Soup & ABCD Sandwiches

It's Monday. It's cold. It's rainy. Welcome to Fall!

I hosted an impromptu luncheon yesterday. I knew I wanted to serve some sort of soup and some sort of fancy grilled cheese.

Sounds easy enough, right? But throw a picky eater in there, and the menu options become somewhat minimal. (Love you April!)

I decided on this Baked Potato Soup and ABCD Sandwiches.

A = Avocado
B = Bacon
C = Cheddar
D = Dijon mustard

I even made the sandwiches using WHITE bread.
A perfect cool-day kind of meal shared with wonderful family.

You may recall, that I have started shaping the life of my godson by making him a Yankees fan by osmosis?

Yesterday, I started on his musical talents.

I think he's well on his way to growing up to be a well rounded young man.