112| quarante pour trente.

{or, forty for thirty, if you're an anglophone.}

a lot of people lately have been challenging themselves. rachel did it by not shopping for a really, really, really long time. twelve whole weeks. that's 84 days of saying "no, thank you. i don't think i need this". tenthousandonly vowed yesterday that she was going to run three miles for thirty days.

but, as we've discussed i'm already working towards being a rational, sane consumer in a way that i wasn't before. and i hate running. not only do i hate running, but my knees hate it, and i don't really want a knee replacement at 30, thank you.

so, i am promising that i will bike {on the incumbent} for forty minutes for thirty days. mostly because i need to get my ass back into shape after easter. but also because i plan on doing this alongside other exercise {ie. weights, stairs, ultimate} and it'll be a good motivator.

i'm one of those people who cannot exercise alone. and if i'm alone, i need music. and so, my music selection has been dwindling lately, aside from a new-to-me neko case cd. so, could you pretty-pretty-please propose a few songs that would make my heart race while i'm on that bike for the next thirty days?

merci beaucoup!

100| saturdays are for...

my 100th post. not much of a surprise, i guess, but nonetheless a bit of a milestone for me--the type of girl who is non-committal to blogging, for the most part.

intially, today was meant to be a very hectic, yet boring saturday with studying and working out, and not much else. however, my day got sidetracked into an even-more-hectic-albeit-much-more-interesting day.

last night, i told andrew--after mini-golfing--that i was going to sleep-in, go to the gym, bake, and do school work all before five pm. he did not believe me, and i thought twice about my goals when i woke up from my deep, deep slumber this morning. i figured, going to the gym and doing school work would be enough {plus i'd already slept in}.

so, i hopped the train in the wet, mucky weather, undressed of course, to the library at campus, where i hunted high and low for books for all of three hours. my arms loaded, i then made my way to the gym, and worked out. for an hour and a half. wheeeee. please note, that at this time i had consumed all of a coffee and a small bowl of cereal. stress = energy.

i left the gym at three and there was a message on my phone, from andrew and our friend rainer saying that we were invited to friends' for dinner and perhaps we ought to bring dessert. i called andrew back, and made note that they'd be home in two hours and i had to shower and perhaps we best just pick something up.

well, my dears... i walked by a stand selling luscious bright red strawberries. and i will grant you that they looked tasteless in their plastic packaging from california. but what with the weather being dreary and my wanting spring, i decided right then and there, after consulting my blackberry {to make sure we had everything else} to make rachel's strawberry shortcake for dessert.

so, i grabbed what i needed and rushed home. 

was it easy like she said it would be? yes
was it tasted like she said it would be? yes*
was everyone pleased?oh, you bet

not to mention, i was able to achieve that final task that i wanted to do today. by five pm no less.

*i would argue that it was even easier, because in the time span of one half-hour, i made everything and i showered. snap.

|photo from rachel, because it all happened far too fast for me to capture on film|

97| om nom nom.

every thursday, andrew plays ultimate {i play wednesdays}. every thursday, i get to chill out and eat whatever i want for dinner, and do whatever i want in the evening. 

there is a long list of foods that andrew won't eat {fish, olives, melon} for various reasons, so thursdays are a great day for me to make/eat foods that i don't otherwise get. tonight, that meant a little bit of olive and a bit of melon into a tasty stirfry.

stirfry of random no-recipe goodness
per person

• 1 head of broccoli, sliced {include the stalk}
• 1 spicy sausage
• 1 sixth of a honeydew melon, cubed
• 6 spicy olives of choice
• 2 tsp olive oil {a smallish drizzle}
• 1/4 cup basmati rice
• 1/2 cup water
• a pinch of cumin
• a drizzle each of soya sauce and rice vinegar {about a tablespoon each}

cook the sausage in the olive oil until juicy and cooked through {3 minutes). add the broccoli and about 1/8 cup of water and continue frying. boil the water for your rice at this point. once the water has come to a boil, add the rice, stir and cover. set the timer for about 12 minutes. meanwhile, add the honeydew melon and sliced olives, as well as the soya sauce, rice vinegar and cumin. once the rice is soft and creamy, add it to the sausage/broccoli mixture and stir to coat.

served with sapporo beer.

om nom nom.

80| lunch hour

my boss went out for lunch with a bunch of other people from the branch for celebration.
i got my ass kicked by my personal trainer.

{there was something downright wonderful coming back from my workout and running into them in the elevator. call it self-righteous, but i think i worked for this pride. and mighty hard might i add.}

76| when is enough too much?

i had an interesting conversation with my trainer on tuesday, in which she asked me if i was going to the gym everyday. i told her what my activity routine each week was:

• monday, tuesday, friday, saturday: gym
• wednesday: ultimate
• thursday/sunday: rest, with a good bit of walking or what-have-you thrown in

come summer, i will add sometime-monday and definitely-tuesday ultimate to the mix, and scale back my gym days by one.

well, my trainer didn't think this was quite enough, and was suggesting that i "step up" my routine on thursday and sunday to include a jog. puh-lease! i love how exercising makes me feel. but then again, i also quite enjoy a good walk through the neighbourhood breathing at a normal pace. srsly.

i get that she had my best interest at ♥, but last week, my workout routine was such:

• monday, tuesday, thursday: gym
• wednesday: two games of ultimate, both played without any girl subs {chalk it up to just under three hours of hard running}

why didn't i go to the gym friday. or saturday? or at all until tuesday?
because my body was f*ing tired.

so, please, don't ask me to do enough if it's too much. because chances are, the long-term outcome will be worse than if i do just the right amount.

ps: i've already lost just under 10lbs in three weeks. so, really, i hardly feel like i'm not doing enough.
pps: there is no such thing as a beautiful picture of "exercise". believe me, i looked.

58| canned heat

disclaimer: i'm sorry for how long this post is, but i can't seem to get a javascript "jump" to work. anyone who wants to help in this matter, it would be greatly appreciated.

i had a very weird afternoon, which seems appropriate, given how sane my morning had been.

{pre-amble}: i worked seven years in retail and i have seen a lot of customers who unjustifiably get angry, just to get their way. while i don't believe that the customer is always right, i do believe in giving them the benefit of the doubt, especially when it comes to things that are sensitive, personal matters, such as finances, relationships, politics, and so forth.

my personal trainer {call her jenna} left the studio a few days ago, with no notice, and no opportunity to finish our sessions. jenna was downright awesome, so i was a bit sad to hear she had left, and i was a touch nervous about meshing with a new trainer. the club set me up with another trainer {call him eddy}, with whom i met for the first time today. i decided to do a bit of research of eddy, to see what sports he played, if we had anything in common. to be honest, my first reaction was that he was the opposite of jenna in many ways, but i wanted to keep an open mind about things.

my sessions with the trainers have been one hour in length, the idea being i get an opportunity to do about 40 minutes of weights, 10 minutes of core strength training, 5 minutes for warming up and 5 minutes for stretching.

first of all, i mentioned my concerns to eddy about transitioning into a new routine, and he basically brushed the comment off. turns out, his routine was super different from that of jenna, and i felt like i was back at square one. secondly, he was too much of a cheerleader for my liking: he really didn't care too much about my posture in the way that jenna did, and i really haven't the slightest clue how many repetitions i did at what weight, because nothing was written down.

i felt like the first half of my workout was more or less a waste of time, but i figured i only had a few sessions left, so what the heck, right? wrong. eddy took me over to the area with the mats to stretch out. one stretch in, the following conversation ensued:

eddy: so have you given much thought to pursuing training in the long term?
me: not at this point, financially i can't commit to something like that {bearing in mind that my training package was 14 sessions for $300, which is the downpayment for a personal trainer after you take the inital package}
eddy: oh, well what's your financial situation like?
me:i don't think that's your business
eddy: that bad, eh?
pause
eddy: well, could you aska family member to help you out, or do you have a line of credit you could look to for a downpayment?
me: it's really not any of your business what my finances are.
eddy: well, actually it is.

the conversation went on for the second half of my workout, the entire second half! eventually, i told him that i was a student, paying my tuition and planning my wedding {the first time i said "planning a wedding", and when i repeated it, his response was "oh, i thought you meant planning someone else's wedding". boys, seriously.}, but i really didn't feel like it was any of his business, and to be quite honest, he left me pretty upset, more because he kept prying.

so, i went and talked to the club manager, whose response was two-fold:

• "we instruct our trainers to teach their clients the importance of personal training in a long-term fitness goal"
• "you're being difficult, so why don't i just give you a refund".

i says, "pardon?". customer. service.

58| healthy cookies

a few weeks ago, heartoflight posted her recipe for my favourite cookies in the word: linzer cookies {which are essentially incredibly yummy jam sandwich cookies, but better}. i made said cookies, i loved said cookies, and my waist...well, if my waist had eyes it would give me a look that says "srsly? do you know how much butter you put in those suckers? you are on a diet, aren't you?"

in fact, i'm pretty sure andrew's response to my making cookies was pretty close to that:

you know, not that i'm complaining of anything, but it seems like whenever you're on a diet, you always go and bake. i like your baking, but it just seems like self-sabotage

not quite in so many words, but that was the idea. moderation, says i. i also have been getting into the {awful} habit of getting breakfast at the coffee shop again. chalk it up to my trainer quitting/being fired/disappearing into oblivion and not having trained with anyone since saturday {aside: i'm meeting with my new trainer tonight. he's a hockey player. i shall report back tomorrow}.

all said, i indirectly promised heartoflight that i would post my "healthy" cookie recipe. they're sort of like a breakfast cookies, which is what makes them healthy...so i am claiming. so, without further ado, i present yummy oatmeal chocolate breakfast cookies

ingredigents...

1 cup butter
1 cup {packed} dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon true vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour {i usually mix half white flour and half whole wheat for these}
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips {about 12 ounces}
1 cup sunflower seeds {or other seed/nut that is small and tasty, i like pumpkin seeds in the fall}
1/2 cup raisins, dates, apricots, or other dried fruit of your choice {optional}

now what?

preheat oven to 350°F.
lightly grease 2 heavy large baking sheets.
beat margarine and both sugars in large bowl until fluffy and well blended.
beat in eggs 1 at a time, the vanilla.
sift flour, baking soda and salt over margarine mixture and stir to blend.
mix in oats, the chocolate chips and nuts/seeds, dried fruit.
working in batches, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets. bake cookies until golden brown, about 14 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

*note: if you want crunchy cookies, preheat/melt the butter. if you want soft, chewy cookies then use the butter more or less directly from the fridge*

nom nom nom. who needs croissants when you have these?

image martha

50| saturdays are for...

• ...getting your ass to the gym at ten, only to have said ass subsequently kicked by your trainer {thrilling. i hate squats}
• ...shopping in the market for delicious things and bakeware {for today's cookie making}
• ...seeking out registries, and finding things to put on them
• ...eating delicious sushi, dim-sum style, and catching up with a friend
• ...enjoying some red wine and playing wii.

needless to say, it was a pretty busy day {we spent four hours doing registries}.

38| aprons: making breakfast happier since the victorian era.

my most favourite food in the world is breakfast or brunch. i know, this sounds like a meal. but for me, it is a food in the same way that pizza is a food. not to say that i gorge daily on hash browns, sausage, and hollandaise on eggs, because i don`t. i would, if i could do it without weighing a metric tonne.

that said, breakfast is also my least favourite part of my diet. yep, i just used the d-word. ick. i decided last week to start working with a personal trainer, but naturally some of that also means changing eating habits. in short, erinn told me: no more pastries for breakfast. eat breakfast before you leave the house. the latter, i simply cannot accustom myself to doing. this morning, however, was a myriad of natural yoghurt, banana, and a half peanut butter sandwich. all for 400 calories. i will be adding sugar to the yoghurt tomorrow. also, the banana will be riper, hopefully.

on weekends, however, i will eat my eggs and sausage and biscuit. because breakfast is this wonderfully magically meal that makes me smile so much deep down inside {notice how ever single "saturdays are for..." post starts with brunch or breakfast?}.

problematically, going out for brunch is expensive, and on sundays involves a half-hour wait no matter where you go in ottawa, followed by being rushed out of the brunching place. sigh. so, hopefully there will be more brunches at home, "the eggs and sausage, tomato and maybe even homefries" kind of brunches, rather than the pancakes-are-easy kind.

one of my favourite things about brunch, as much as i love it as a food, is also brunch as a space. it is everything i want in a space, especially when we go to one of my two favourite places {stonefacedollys or jak`s}. the atmosphere is so relaxed and peacefully, the food is always amazing, and as a space, it`s very decluttering for me. jak`s has a plethora of recipebooks, and the sweetest servers.

this weekend, they were missing one of their regular girls, and so one of the servers brought along her friend to help out. she had the most wonderful apron: half-length, pink and brown, with little eiffel towers everywhere, and two very lovely pockets with lace on the edges. swoon. i felt like it was a magic apron, and with it you could make the most amazing breakfasts.

the hunt for my magic apron has begun.

credit sarakhomemade

29| how the gym is like the dentist.

i'm trying so hard not to eat before going to meet with the gym membership dude. it's like eating sugary junk before you go to the dentist. it's just not done. or, more specifically, how many people brush, floss, and rinse with mouthwash before going to the dentist, even though you only do one of these things the other 364 days of the year {guilty.}

i will eat before i go, i just think that 11 is a bit early for lunch, when you have breakfast at 9. even if breakfast was small. regardless.