I'm a big proponent of finding time to treat yourself. I last did this as part of my 30th birthday back in January. Since the summer months are winding down, I decided that I needed a little more me time and decided to take the final two Fridays in August off from work.
Last Friday, I treated myself really well. At noon, I met up with a friend at Play Food & Wine in the ByWard Market for a succulent lunch. They specialize in small plates and at lunch you can get any two plates for $20! Great deal and great food. Afterwards, I made my way over to this amazing 'new to me' spa called Daya Spa and I got pampered!
I treated myself to three services: the organic customized facial (using all Eminence products), followed by the cucumber mint sugar scrub manicure and pedicure. Heavenly! The facial was amazing and my fingers and toes look pretty good too! I left feeling rejuvenated and happy -- just what I wanted!
What a fantastic way to start the weekend! Now, what should I do this Friday? Any suggestions?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Getting the most out of my food and my grocery bill
I'm an organized person, I think I've alluded to this before. I get a wonderful high from my house being in order and things having a place to call home. With school, I'm an über-nut, I won't even go into how I organize myself for school, because you'll roll your eyes and think I'm crazy.
I've recently redone my spare bedroom/home office to work better for me. I got so into doing it that I forgot to take some key photos before and after, but I'll post about it soon. My main bathroom is also undergoing a organization renovation, it still needs to be decorated and then photos will follow. My next task will be my kitchen, my tiny townhouse kitchen... drives me insane. My I've got a project up my sleeve to tackle that one.
The kitchen brings me to my subject for today. For about a year now, I've completely changed the way I approach food, which has brought some great results. One way I have done this is to treat food as essential fuel for my body, not as a comfort or something brought upon by boredom. Once you see food in this different light, you'll be amazed at what you will stop putting in your mouth... I roll my eyes with disgust at things I ate without question just over a year ago -- and it has MUCH more to do with the ingredient list than it does with the nutritional value chart.
You hear regularly people complain about the high prices for good food, REAL food. My solution is quite simple. I put my organization skills to use and I plan. I will NOT go to the grocery store without having a plan in hand. So before my weekly trip, I find out what I've got on hand, perhaps go through the amazing box of goodies that was recently delivered and come up with a meal plan - meals for at least 5-6 days (which leaves some flexibility) and that uses everything I buy so little goes to waste. I go to the store with a plan and I know what's in my refrigerator -- awesome for my health and my budget.
It has worked awesome. No more "what are we going to have for dinner?" questions when getting home from work, the answer is on a piece of paper on the refrigerator. The real question becomes, which of these awesome meals am I going to eat today.
I've recently redone my spare bedroom/home office to work better for me. I got so into doing it that I forgot to take some key photos before and after, but I'll post about it soon. My main bathroom is also undergoing a organization renovation, it still needs to be decorated and then photos will follow. My next task will be my kitchen, my tiny townhouse kitchen... drives me insane. My I've got a project up my sleeve to tackle that one.
The kitchen brings me to my subject for today. For about a year now, I've completely changed the way I approach food, which has brought some great results. One way I have done this is to treat food as essential fuel for my body, not as a comfort or something brought upon by boredom. Once you see food in this different light, you'll be amazed at what you will stop putting in your mouth... I roll my eyes with disgust at things I ate without question just over a year ago -- and it has MUCH more to do with the ingredient list than it does with the nutritional value chart.
You hear regularly people complain about the high prices for good food, REAL food. My solution is quite simple. I put my organization skills to use and I plan. I will NOT go to the grocery store without having a plan in hand. So before my weekly trip, I find out what I've got on hand, perhaps go through the amazing box of goodies that was recently delivered and come up with a meal plan - meals for at least 5-6 days (which leaves some flexibility) and that uses everything I buy so little goes to waste. I go to the store with a plan and I know what's in my refrigerator -- awesome for my health and my budget.
It has worked awesome. No more "what are we going to have for dinner?" questions when getting home from work, the answer is on a piece of paper on the refrigerator. The real question becomes, which of these awesome meals am I going to eat today.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Home, sweet home
I've been absent. But with good reason. Vacation! I was back home on PEI for about 9 days last week. Lots of fun, family, and food. I'm terrible at taking photos while on vacation but I took a few with my IPhone using the Instagram app. You see, I'm not very talented at taking photos, but this app makes even the worst photos look cool. Hence why it's perfect for me!
Here's a sampling of my beautiful island.
Here's a sampling of my beautiful island.
 |
| The beautiful approach on Air Canada's smallest plane, the Beech 1900 |
 |
| The summer patchwork |
 |
| Victoria Row in Charlottetown |
 |
| Birthplace of Confederation, Province House |
 |
| Charlottetown has a Starbucks! |
 |
| Anne, Anne, everywhere |
 |
| Summerside (my hometown) boardwalk views |
 |
| Summerside is funny |
 |
| Spent lots of time here... cottage by the ocean. Nothing better. |
 | ||
| There are tonnes of blueberry patches near the cottage. Dad picked about 2 litres in about 40 minutes. I could ate eaten 2 litres in 5 minutes if I wanted to. |
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Bad day
Ever have one of those days where you look back on it and think, hmmm, maybe I should have just stayed in bed? Well that was yesterday for me.
With perspective today it could have been MUCH worse, but it was a heart-stopping day nevertheless.
At lunch, I was driving along to an appointment, and waiting at a red light in a double left-hand turning lane. When the light turned green, I proceeded to stay in my lane (the outer one) through the turn. However, the lady next to me (in the inside lane) thought differently and slowly started to creep into my territory, so much so that I had to brake, drive practically up on the sidewalk, all the while blowing my horn. Finally she just cut in front of me. Seriously?!
Later in the day, I was playing softball in the same league I've played in for about 5 years. I won't get into the specifics of how this came about because it doesn't matter and I know everyone felt really bad about it. But long story short, a ball was thrown at me and hit me on the side of the neck/head right behind my ear. Let me just say OUCH. Luckily, I never lost consciousness. After a 5-hour wait at the ER, a small cut behind my ear was glued up and I was on my way. The doctors were not concerned about a concussion due to the area where it hit (mostly the thick muscle that runs up the side of your neck and holds your head up) and I haven't yet had any symptoms of head trauma, for which I'm grateful.
So today I'm grateful for my health, my most amazing friends and family, and my Y for always being there for me.
Love to all.
With perspective today it could have been MUCH worse, but it was a heart-stopping day nevertheless.
At lunch, I was driving along to an appointment, and waiting at a red light in a double left-hand turning lane. When the light turned green, I proceeded to stay in my lane (the outer one) through the turn. However, the lady next to me (in the inside lane) thought differently and slowly started to creep into my territory, so much so that I had to brake, drive practically up on the sidewalk, all the while blowing my horn. Finally she just cut in front of me. Seriously?!
Later in the day, I was playing softball in the same league I've played in for about 5 years. I won't get into the specifics of how this came about because it doesn't matter and I know everyone felt really bad about it. But long story short, a ball was thrown at me and hit me on the side of the neck/head right behind my ear. Let me just say OUCH. Luckily, I never lost consciousness. After a 5-hour wait at the ER, a small cut behind my ear was glued up and I was on my way. The doctors were not concerned about a concussion due to the area where it hit (mostly the thick muscle that runs up the side of your neck and holds your head up) and I haven't yet had any symptoms of head trauma, for which I'm grateful.
 |
| Source |
So today I'm grateful for my health, my most amazing friends and family, and my Y for always being there for me.
Love to all.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Things are very Pinteresting
So maybe a month or so ago, I found Pinterest. And I'm in love.
I love idea boards and having a place to 'pin' things I find on the web in an organized way. Pinterest does all this for you. I've been 'pinning' some home decor inspiration, some books I want to read soon, as well as great recipe ideas (including gluten-free goodness). I live in a smaller house with limited storage so I'm obsessed with searching for fresh ideas on how to organize. I believe my bathroom will the be next room I tackle, following the success I had in my spare room/office.
Check it out! You either need to get invited from a friend (you can ask me, leave a comment) or wait a few days by requesting an invite on the site. Once you're in feel free to follow my feed. I've also added a link in the right-hand column.)
Monday, July 11, 2011
My summer gardening project update
So a few weeks back, I was so excited about the prospect of having my own little oasis of herbs in my backyard this summer. A little update for you.
I've had mixed success. First I planted some cilantro and oregano in this massive pot. Each night after I planted the seeds, some little rascal outside dug them up. After 3-4 times, I was fairly convinced the seeds were gone. So I bought a cilantro starter plant while in the market one day. It is doing fabulously and is ready for harvesting. I have noticed that there are a few little sprouts coming up too around the cilantro. I'll have to wait to see if it turns out to be more cilantro or some oregano.
Next the mint. Never sprouted. So again I bought a starter plant in the market. It has grown a bunch as well. Can't wait to pick some of these beautifully delicious leaves!
Next is my parsley and summer savory. I should have likely started these seeds indoors a good month before I ended up planting them. But this was an experiment and I work by trial and error. Both are coming up slowly, hopefully I'll be able to pick some before the summer is over!
The basil, planted from seed is doing wonderfully. I'm going to transplant it into a bigger pot so it can spread out a bit more.
My two misses are my dill and my chives. I thought the chives would be easy, but I don't think the seeds germinated properly, same with the dill likely. Both had a couple little tiny sprouts at one point, but I think they died off, maybe due to either excessive rain or excessive heat we had in June here in Ottawa (you don't need a photo here, just picture a pot with nothing but soil in it).
So an OK effort. I'll have lots of "lessons learned" for next year!
On another gardening note, I came across this link recently. A city in Michigan is threatening jail time for a women who planted a garden in her front yard, with the hope that it would be a community project that neighbourhood kids could get involved in -- the city planning committee thinks differently. Utterly and completely ridiculous. Watch this video and see the utter and complete ridiculousness for yourself.
I've had mixed success. First I planted some cilantro and oregano in this massive pot. Each night after I planted the seeds, some little rascal outside dug them up. After 3-4 times, I was fairly convinced the seeds were gone. So I bought a cilantro starter plant while in the market one day. It is doing fabulously and is ready for harvesting. I have noticed that there are a few little sprouts coming up too around the cilantro. I'll have to wait to see if it turns out to be more cilantro or some oregano.
Next the mint. Never sprouted. So again I bought a starter plant in the market. It has grown a bunch as well. Can't wait to pick some of these beautifully delicious leaves!
Next is my parsley and summer savory. I should have likely started these seeds indoors a good month before I ended up planting them. But this was an experiment and I work by trial and error. Both are coming up slowly, hopefully I'll be able to pick some before the summer is over!
The basil, planted from seed is doing wonderfully. I'm going to transplant it into a bigger pot so it can spread out a bit more.
My two misses are my dill and my chives. I thought the chives would be easy, but I don't think the seeds germinated properly, same with the dill likely. Both had a couple little tiny sprouts at one point, but I think they died off, maybe due to either excessive rain or excessive heat we had in June here in Ottawa (you don't need a photo here, just picture a pot with nothing but soil in it).
So an OK effort. I'll have lots of "lessons learned" for next year!
On another gardening note, I came across this link recently. A city in Michigan is threatening jail time for a women who planted a garden in her front yard, with the hope that it would be a community project that neighbourhood kids could get involved in -- the city planning committee thinks differently. Utterly and completely ridiculous. Watch this video and see the utter and complete ridiculousness for yourself.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Amazing-town homemade blizzard
I came across this recipe a week or so ago. It's from Angela Liddon, who blogs at Oh She Glows about healthy living. She also creates tonnes of vegan recipes -- I've tried a few, not because I'm vegan, but because they are delicious, the no animal products is just a bonus in my opinion.
I recently made her Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch "Blizzard" -- and well, here I am blogging about it because it was that good. I feel the need to spread the word further. Dairy Queen has nothing on this -- and it's also gluten-free, seriously it doesn't get better. Try it!
I recently made her Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch "Blizzard" -- and well, here I am blogging about it because it was that good. I feel the need to spread the word further. Dairy Queen has nothing on this -- and it's also gluten-free, seriously it doesn't get better. Try it!
 |
| Source - Oh She Glows |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)