July 2013 Workout Schedule

We are coming up on the first of the month and we all know what that means….time to schedule those workouts for the upcoming month! Just get it over with, that way you know what you are doing so you have no excuses to get out there and get your body moving.

I leave for vacation July 5^th-I am gone for 24 days so I can’t have the excuse “I’m on vacation I don’t have to work out”. Heck, even when we go to an all-inclusive resort just the husband and I, I don’t take a day off. I go for a run on the beach, lift weights in the gym, just to make sure I don’t undo all my progress in just a few days.

So…here goes my schedule

Week One

July 01-early morning five mile run and abs work along with some stretching

July 02-Grouse grind with the teenager.

July 03-4 mile run, 100 laps in the pool, 100 jump squats, and standing abs

July 04-3 mile run, arms

July 05-this will be a fast, early morning 4am workout-5 minute warm up, 100 burpee burnout, squat challenge, 5 minute cool down/stretch.

July 06-2 mile run, standing abs

July 07-easy walk with my mom/stretching

Week Two

July 08-fast mile run, jump rope hiit

July 09-yoga with my mom

July 10-3 mile run, abs

July 11-ballet burn

July 12-Early morning 2 mile run, squats and back work

July 13-1 mile run, 100 burpee burnout on the beach

July 14-Sunrise stretch on the beach

Week Three

July 15-Beach run with my brother & sister in law. Don’t know how far we’ll go, just as long as we have fun.

July 16-beach boot camp-basically just create a bit of an obstacle course to do on the beach hopefully my brother & sis-in-law will join me. I’m thinking sprints in the sand, army crawls, sumo squats, walking lunges, etc.

July 17-Yoga on the beach

July 18-Beach run and abs

July 19-100 burpee burnout, inner thigh work, back work

July 20-beach run

July 21-stretching

Week Four

July 22-3 mile run and abs

July 23-Fitness blender barre

July 24-2 mile run and arm work

July 25-20 min hiit

July 26-1 mile run, jump rope hiit, squats, and planks

July27-Quick 2 mile run

July 28-Begins a recovery week-Stretching

Last partial week of the month

July 29-Stretching and walk (will have to be fairly early in the morning as this is a traveling day for me)

July 30-have a long drive to Seattle so will do some early morning easy yoga

July 31-Easy run, will go as far as I feel like but 2 miles max and stretching

First Friday of Summer Vacation!!

Hallelujah!!! It is the first Friday of summer vacation for us! It is so nice to see absolutely nothing show up under my "alarms" section on my phone! Today we are taking it easy. The kiddo had some girlfriends sleepover yesterday, so I am making them some apple turnovers for breakfast along with a fruit salad and a few scrambled eggs. I figured something healthy was in order after yesterday's candy bar......

I had m&m's, lego candy, chocolate disks, gummy bears, gummy worms, and chocolate coins. I put out some whole grain cereal flakes, raisins, almonds, and banana's in a feeble attempt to get something "real" in their bodies, but they were all about the candy lol My kiddo did make herself a trail mix to snack on later in the morning. I am proud to say the didn't gorge themselves, there was enough candy to satiate them during the evening sleep over.

So, after apple turn overs, eggs, and fruit they will be heading down to film some fashion video's, I think my kiddo is doing something for outfits for camp. She goes to camp every year so she tends to be a bit of an expert in that department. After that I think we will just work on finishing up her room. I can't wait to post pictures of the finished product! It's turning out so well! 

Today is also new restaurant Friday. I can't wait to see what we come across today-we're hoping to find a good specialty pizza place! As for the rest of the weekend I think it will just be rest and relaxation. We are just six days away from vacation so we're trying to just relax and enjoy being home. 

Our menu for the weekend has some surf and turf, grilled cheese, homemade donuts, and a new lemon chicken recipe I can't wait to try out! 

But, for now I have an amazing recipe I came up with last week. Thanks to some of the amazing ladies on the cooking board I belong to I had some inspiration and a basic base for the recipe I just embellished a bit...

Bruschetta Chicken

Serves 2-3

All purpose seasoning  or salt & pepper

2 Chicken Breasts, diced

1/2 lemon

1 box Cherry or Grape tomato's

Whole wheat pasta

1.5-2 cups of water

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Stock Powder or Chicken Bouillon

Pan large enough to sautee chicken and cook pasta.

Dice chicken and season with all purpose seasoning or salt and pepper. Squeeze 1/2 of lemon into pan, turn on med-hi heat and add chicken. Coat chicken well in lemon juice and sautee until there is a nice browning on the outside. Cut half of the tomatoes in half and sautee with the chicken.Smash them down a bit. After about 5 minutes add the water and vegetable bouillon. Break the whole wheat pasta (I used roughly a quarter of my box, maybe a hair over) in half or thirds and add to pan. Cover with lid and let simmer until pasta is tender and most of water is absorbed, about 12 minutes. Add the other half of the tomato's and let them come to temp with the rest of the food. You can serve as I did above with some Parmesan cheese, cucumbers and onions, and garlic bread.

I hope you all have a great weekend! We have a long weekend coming up so you Canadians out there have  a safe and happy Canada Day!!!

DIY: Vitamin E Eye Cream

I am loving this series! I have found I really, really enjoy making my own basic beauty products. So far I’ve showed you how to make your own homemade moisturizer and face wash. 

Today I am delving into more of a “specialty” product. This is a Vitamin E Eye Cream.

I came up with this when I discovered lines around my eyes and got tired of spending over a hundred dollars each month just on eye cream! I found a recipe and decided to give it a go. I've been using it for a few months and have been really pleased with the results I've seen! Obviously, I can’t go back in time so I still have some fine lines but I feel as though they are not as deep as they once were. I also feel as though they aren't as noticeable to everyone. 

I tweaked this recipe a bit from the original because I wanted more Vitamin E in mine. My thought process behind this was Vit E is a healing vitamin & so if I have a higher concentration of it in my cream, I may see better results. I have no idea if this is what actually happened or not, but it was my thought process!

Vitamin E Eye Cream

2 capsules from a Vitamin E bottle (I use this brand)

A bit of coconut oil

3 toothpicks

Lavender essential oil

Contacts case

Pierce each of the Vit E capsules & squeeze one full capsule into each side of the contacts container. Scoop in a little coconut oil (1/2 tsp should suffice), take one toothpick & dip it into your lavender essential oil & mix the Vit E & Coconut Oil together with the toothpick. Then, take the last toothpick & dip it into the lavender essential oil and mix the other side of Vit E and coconut oil together. Put the caps on tightly & store in the refrigerator. Put on each night before bed and in the morning before your makeup! Now, you don’t have to keep it in the fridge, I do simply because I love how cold it is on my eyes in the morning and I feel like it makes any puffiness from my sleep go away. Plus, coconut oil liquefies at 76 degrees Fahrenheit so this keeps it solid and makes it easier to apply.   

Coming up next week is cuticle oil and cuticle scrub….

Menu Plan Monday #11

Image Credit

Wow! What a weekend! Did you read my Sunday weekend re-cap?? Normally I just give a brief recap of our weekend in today’s post, but this past weekend was spontaneously fun and I felt warranted a post of it’s own!

I did still manage squeeze in my Sunday prep for meals and after last week I was needing to get back on the wagon, I fell off for a few days there! This is my daughter’s last week of school so I have something very special planned for that day…check it out:

Breakfast

Monday:

Kiddo: Pancakes and strawberries drizzled with local honey.

Me: Raw buckwheat porridge (make this, seriously, so good.)

Sunday Prep: Soak groats as soon as you wake up, will be ready to blend by the afternoon. Whip up porridge and make a parfait out of it, store in fridge for eating throughout the week. I already had pancakes frozen, if you don’t whip up a batch of these in freeze them in 2’s. Pre chop strawberries and store them in snack size baggies or small glass containers.

Tuesday:

Kiddo: Carnation instant breakfast and a hard boiled egg

Me: Creamy oatmeal and two egg whites

Sunday Prep: hard boil 6 eggs and pre-mix carnation’s. Oatmeal will be made fresh.

Wednesday:

Kiddo: Cinnamon apple french toast muffin with local honey.

Me: Omelet burrito with mushrooms, a little cheese, and any leftover greens.

Sunday prep: Make French toast muffins (recipe to come), slice mushrooms and store in a glass container. Shred a brick of mozzarella and cheddar and store in large glass container for the week.

Thursday: Last day of school!

Kiddo: Candy buffet. There will be an insane array of m&m’s, caramilk, chocolate milk, and whatever else I can get at the candy store! She is inviting a friend over that morning so I shall send them off hopped up on refined sugar and let them spend the day annoying their teacher for the last time! :P

Me: I will check and see first if there are any leftovers I can use up to make a healthy breakfast. Otherwise I’ll do an egg white and avocado bowl with thin slices of onion and mushrooms.

Sunday prep: Slice veggies and store in glass container. Go buy candy.

Friday: Summer vacation begins! One week until Florida!!

Everyone: Pot of scrambled eggs with home fries

Saturday:

Use up any leftovers from the last week looks like we’ll still have some pancakes, French toast muffins, eggs, oatmeal, porridge. So we’ll see and make it tasty!

Sunday:

Everyone: Scrambled egg crescents with fruit.

Lunch

Monday:

Kiddo: Roast beef sandwich on some garlic barbari with kale, a few apple slices, and hard boiled egg.

Me: Leftovers from Friday’s dinner.

Mr: Homemade hamburger, apple, and popcorn.

Sunday prep: make sandwich, slice apples. Eggs were hardboiled during breakfast prep.

Tuesday:

Kiddo: eat out at Playland-field trip for her class

Me: Leftover’s from Sunday’s dinner.

Sunday prep: when packing away leftovers portion out into lunch sizes.

Wednesday:

Kiddo: Field trip with her class to the pool may pack her something light like a pb&j, a little cheese slice, some fruit and water.

Me: Peanut butter and raw jelly on homemade bread with a hardboiled egg white and a quarter of an avocado.

Mr: Sunday’s leftovers.

Sunday prep: make jelly, super power chia bread. Egg was hard boiled with breakfast prep.

Thursday:

Kiddo-will eat out the last lunch of the year with her friends

Me: Check and see what leftovers are hanging around and need some using up. Otherwise nice sandwich with sundried tomato pate on super power chia bread with an over easy egg served with some cabbage salad.

Friday: First day of summer!

(Almost) Everyone: will depend on weather but I hope to pack a picnic of sandwiches, fruit, and any easy to eat leftovers to go sit in the park and fly a kite, play some Frisbee, etc just enjoy the weather. Otherwise we’ll to an indoor picnic down by the pool to feel like summer. Oh the joys of the PACNW!

Mr: Any leftovers that need to be used up he’ll take with him in the form of something tasty.

Saturday:

Everyone: Mini pizza’s with salad

Sunday:

Everyone: Croque Madame Sandwiches with salad.

Dinner

Monday

Bacon and cheese chicken breasts with mashed potatoes

Note for me: I will just have a chicken breast sprinkled lightly with cheese and a serving of zucchini.

Sunday Prep: Season chicken breasts and store in air tight container. Pre-cook bacon and store in separate container.

Tuesday

Korean sizzling beef with veggie cakes (zucchini/mushroom and corn)

Wednesday

Today is our anniversary and our dungeon’s and dragonscomedy night so we will just have dinner out. I will put together some sort of leftover lunchable for the kiddo since she will be at cheer and then with friends.

Thursday: Last day of school!

Confetti mac and cheese in the crockpot (recipe to come). I feel like doing something easy today and don’t want to fuss.

Friday

New restaurant Friday! The kiddo *may* join us on this one just depends on her plans with her friends. We found a little pizza place about 5 blocks from our house so I think we'll try that...hopefully they have many different types of pizza for us to choose from!

Saturday

Leftover smorgasbord-I am thinking leftover chicken and/or beef with raclette, a big bowl of seasoned popcorn, and fruits and veggies that need to be used up and any leftover lunch meat that needs to be used up OR breakfast for dinner-omelet's, bacon, leftover muffins, and maybe some hot chocolate and/or coffee!

Sunday

Lemon-garlic rotisserie chicken with sugar snap peas, corn and rice.

This is what we have going on for the week! What sort of delicious meals do you have planned for your fam??? 

What a Weekend!

Originally this weekend was supposed to be composed of nothing but being at home, relaxing, hubby catching up on some video game playing and me and the kiddo just going whatever instead this is what ensued....

Friday: 
What was supposed to happen: Nothing. I had a dentist appt, just a quiet evening. We thought about going to a music festival but were kind of iffy on it.
What actually happened: The kiddo's friend is going to Serbia for the rest of the summer so she invited my daughter and one other kid to spend the night, first they decided to come here and swim for about two hours. Then, hubby texted me and ask if I wanted to start new restaurant Friday since we did a new restaurant last Friday, so it would make a fun date night. So we headed over the Flying Pig in Yaletown. It was a really nice set up. It's very loud and the tables are a bit longer than you'd expect so don't go there if you are looking to cuddle up and get some romance in. You have to speak loud and be ready to be with people. This is what I had for dinner along with a glass of Riesling:

This was what we had as an appetizer. Bone Marrow Cheezy Bread. Seriously,  they bring you some just plain bread when you sit down, don't eat it. Immediately order this. It is AMAZING! I really could have just eaten this for dinner.

I had the BBQ Salmon. I'd never had BBQ Sauce on Salmon before but it was DELICIOUS! It came with prawn and Parmesan Risotto. The flavour combinations here were so complimentary to one another. I didn't want to stop eating, but had to force myself much like with the bread above for the last course....brace yourself it is amazing....

Vanilla cake with chocolate ganache.  I could hardly take but a few bites. It was very thick and creamy with the ganache. If you have several people to share with this is the way to go. Hubby get creme brulee so it was just little ol' me left to tackle this thing. I took a few bites then brought the rest home. After our 3 mile walk home I decided to eat a little more then the kiddo devoured most of it in the afternoon on Saturday and I ate it for dessert Saturday as well. It went the long haul providing some delicious chocolate satisfaction.

Saturday:

What was supposed to happen: Farmer's market, my last dentist appointment, lay around and do nothing the rest of the day. 

What actually happened: I woke up way to early (6:45) and lazed around until one of my friends said that all before 7 am she'd watched a movie and worked out. So, I got my butt up and slugged 8 ounces of water, did this warm up by blogilate, jump rope hiit by fitness blender, 100 burpee burn out, and the call me maybe squat challenge.  I love doing the 100 burpee burnout and one of blogilates pop challenges on Saturday's because they are fast, high calorie burning workouts that I can get over with quickly and enjoy my Saturday. I usually do them coupled with a run but I wasn't really feeling that this morning so I added in the jump rope HIIT. That was fantastic. If you don't have a jump rope, suck at jumping rope, or it's not practical for you to jump rope inside (like for me in my high rise just not practical) so I just mimicked jumping rope and found I was able to jump quite a bit more because I wasn't getting the rope stuck on myself. So after that I quick showered and ran up to the farmer's market. This is what I got:

Tons of goodies here. We go through a lot of eggs in a week and this was the first week for the local eggs so I got two dozen. Can't wait to show y'all what I have planned for those this upcoming week! Then, some local Raclette for the husband. A zucchini. I immediately wished I'd bought a second, but oh well there's always next Saturday. Then something new-garlic scraps. Apparently these make the world's most amazing garlic butter...I guess I'll find out! Some raspberries (not all farm's are ready with raspberries yet so this was a treat!), some strawberries, and some mushrooms. I wasn't too interested in the salad greens they had. It was mostly kale and I'm not a huge kale fan unfortunately. So, got home and put those goodies away then I went to the dentist, slept for two hours after that and then we caught the ferry to Granville Island. This is an amazing place to check out, especially if you are a visitor. There are tons of shops on the island, a lot of unique places you won't find anywhere else. They also have a giant market. During the summer it can be a little overwhelming. I know when I shopped there regularly last summer you had to be prepared to walk between people and get bumped around and whatnot.  

The ferry leaving David Lam Park to head over to Granville Island.

Approaching Granville Island. Weather didn't look to hot did it???

The marina next to Granville Island.

Fresh fish at the Granville Island Market.

More fishes!!!

Look at the coloring on this mackerel. Isn't it beautiful, it's almost iridescent. Makes we wish I had my dslr so I could have gotten really good pictures!

Octopus!! I'd never get adventurous enough to buy it, but I guess some do!

I love how these bottles looked, they were so pretty!

Gluten free vegan flax rolls! One of the few places around here that has something that looks appetizing for gluten free vegans!

 This one just cracked me up, guess they wanted to make sure you knew this one wasn't too pleasant smelling!

Inside the market there are food vendors where you can pick up a meal to eat right there. I love A La Mode. We ate there last year...they have a fantastic chicken pot pie! We got apple cinnamon sticky buns for hubby & the kiddo at another vendor (same one as the flax rolls), there is also a candy shop, a local meat place, a honey place (with multiple flavours of honey sticks), a donut place, some cheese vendors (hubby of course picked up some raclette and curds!), and a few fruit and veggie vendors. I don't typically frequents those, though because I get the impression they are not local as they had things like banana's and dragon fruit. Also I saw they had a place that makes dole whip. A must get next time I go! I thought I'd never find those anywhere but Disney! 

Saturday night: We had dinner at a cute little poutine place. I had some fries and a steamer dog. Not the best for me, but oh well. It was great time with the family and everyone enjoyed the meal so that's what mattered. Then once the sun set here-which is very late, usually not until well after 10 pm we went as a family down on the seawall to check out the Super Moon:

Sunday

What was supposed to happen: The kiddo rides carpool with her friend to cheer while I lay around and relax with the hubby.

What actually happened: So, the kiddo was told about a flyer training at her cheer gym so I was up and had her to the gym at 10am for a flyer training. I stuck around there as there was a marathon going on and I didn't want to get caught in the traffic. I treated her to lunch at Subway. I wanted to take her to a place next door called The Crab Shop since she loves shellfish but she said "it looks awfully...uh, fishy, can we please have Subway", so, I obliged. 

I was hoping we'd be able to walk there, but given the fabulous Vancouver weather it was raining and I didn't bring umbrella's so we drove. We did enjoy a nice long meal as she had two hours in between. I wanted to take her to walk around, but again because of the rain we didn't but there are some awesome things you'll find in this little ware house area there are several factory stores for clothing shops, an indoor play place, and a place where you can bring your own bottles and fill up on beer to take home. I wish they had a wine place like that! Next time it's sunny I'll have to take pictures and do a feature on the places in that area as if you aren't a local you would never know they are there!

Also, back behind her cheer place is a long set of rail road tracks. I once saw a train backing up on these tracks...bizarre!

Back it up...back it up...

I actually did manage to cook this weekend. I made two things my mother in law's spaghetti and cheesy garlic barbari for hubby and bruschetta chicken (recipe to come) with garlic barbari for the kiddo and I. I served it with a nice little relish of just cucumbers for hubby and cucumbers and onion for me and the kiddo! 

Overall it was nice to have a bit of a spontaneous weekend! Now we are going into the last week of school and down to two full weeks before our summer vacation to Florida! I am so excited to see my nieces and nephews, to meet one of my nieces and see my brother whom I haven't seen in almost 3 years! 

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Homemade Facewash

Last week I shared with you the first homemade beauty product I ever made-Homemade Coconut Oil Moisturizer. This week I want to share with you a gem I stumbled up as face wash out of total necessity.

Imagine this…one night I am in my bathroom, getting ready for bed and say to myself, “Oh crud, I forgot I was supposed to go to Shopper’s today & grab more face wash, dang it.” I then begin evaluating the bathroom I was about to turn to the horrific Bath & Body work antibacterial soap I was trying to use up when I remember my Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castille Soap in the kitchen! I run out, grab it, and run back to the bathroom. I used it, applied my coconut oil moisturizer and went to bed. I woke up with visibly reduced acne and redness. I figured it was just a coincidence but decided I would give it a try for a week. I've seen such great results I've never gone back to my usual face wash that didn't do much good, anyway.

So…ready for the recipe….

Yup, that’s it. When I first started I just used this straight up. Like I said though, I tend to have very acne prone skin (not really oily, but just prone to acne lol) so this works for me. However, over time I have noticed, even with the coconut oil it’s making my skin quite dry since the acne is gone so I have gone to diluting it at a 1:2 ratio of soap:water. However, I wanted to kick it up a notch & really do some good for my skin so I created this:

Fabulous All-Natural Face Wash

¼ cup castile soap

¼ cup water

¼ cup organic, natural aloe vera gel

2 Tablespoons organic glycerin

5 drops lavender essential oil

Mix all together and pour into a pump container. Use as you would natural face wash being careful not to get in eyes, as it does sting a bit (yes, I know from experience).

Let me know if you try this how you like it. I always give a new face wash 1-2 weeks before deciding if it works for me or not. Also, remember all skin types are different. If you have a sensitivity to any of these items please don’t use them. Also if this seems too harsh for your skin, play around with the measurements. Skin is a tricky thing & everyone’s has different needs…this fits mine, what fits yours?? 

What I Ate Wednesday/WOD's #7

Welcome Wednesday! I can't believe tomorrow is already my kiddos grade seven graduation. She's about to leave primary and get into secondary! So nerve wracking. I just can't believe it. *Sigh* Anyway....on to things that don't make us think about our baby growing up...

Here is a sample of some of what I've been eating.

Southwest vegan corn chowder with chicken and a side salad.

Egg white mug!!!

This was what my daughter and I split during father's day dinner...Beef Wellington...so amazing! I even tried some of the kid's mashed potato's and they were pretty good...if you like mashed potato's (which I oddly do no lol) 

These were also from our Father's Day dinner. They are fried Mac and Cheese sticks. We've been to this restaurant once before and I didn't get these...I regretted it every waking moment since...so glad I got them this time...definitely delicious!

Now, over the weekend I invested in The Eat Clean Diet book by Tosca Rena so after Monday my food changed a little as I want to put the healthiest foods possible in my Body and my loved ones bodies. So here's a sample of what I've eaten since Monday:

Scrambled Egg whites and oatmeal with bee pollen and flax meal. Ignore the vodka bottle it was housing chives last week! LOL

Ate at our local Urban Fare for dinner last night. Salmon was ok, but the root veggies were HORRIBLE. They don't tell you they coat them with something hideously spicy. They were awful. It was a very sad dinner.

Tuna with apple chips! This was the best way to serve tuna in my opinion!!! 

Salad. This was so good. It made me so happy.

Egg white omlette with salmon and mushrooms inside with home fries and toast. I skipped the toast and hardly touched the home fries, but the omelette was amazing!

My workouts have been going well. Getting in lots of running!

Last Thursday I did ballet burn. This was a great video. It really worked everything!

Friday my friend canceled on me and I get worried about bears so I didn't do the grouse grind but did to a high intensity, high elevation treadmill run since it was raining anyway. I was sweating like a mad woman after half an hour!

Saturday My stomach was very upset all day so I did a walk with my daughter then came home and did ab work.

Sunday a four mile walk and lots of stretching and a nap...oops lol I say oops because I was laying in bed chatting with hubby, he got up and went to the living room and next thing I know I was waking up!

Monday wound up actually being a day off. I was super busy. Just about the time I was getting ready to workout I had to hike it out to hubby's work because he forgot something. Then, I had a hair appt that took a bit longer than I expected, but I got the results I wanted! Then, just as I was going to workout after eating dinner I had a horrible headache from lack of sugar and just decided it was better to skip it altogether and take care of me. Which, my calorie intake was so low yesterday I was glad I skipped it.

Tuesday it started raining and was crummy so I did one lap up our 38 flights of stairs,  then did a challenge from one of my fitness message boards, along with 2 5 minute sessions of hiit with arm exercises in between each set (after one 5 min hiit session I did 3 rounds of exercises that worked biceps, triceps, and shoulders; after the second set of hiit I did 3 rounds of exercises that worked shoulders and back I upped my weights by 5 lbs more than what I usually lift). Then I did a cool down and some stretching.

Today is still crummy out so it will be  90 minutes of HIIT with fitness blender. Theoretically this should keep me moving and entertained.

I love having lots of inside workout options when the weather is crummy. Plus, I'm trying to up the amount of weight I am lifting to keep my sexy arms and make my legs stronger!

What was your favorite workout this week? Mine was definitely my four mile walk. It was fast, the sun was shining, the sea wall was packed with interesting people. It just made for a great workout.

Linking this up at:

How we made Father's Day special...

Since I have had the luxury of being a housewife for now the second year in a row I've been trying to make as big a deal of-even the littler-holidays as possible. Father's Day was even more special this year because our daughter was really into it as well.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was this:

The printable can be found here.

It's a list of all kinds of things she likes about her dad or how she feels about things, memories, etc. it's so cute and a great way to see how her answers change throughout the years. It's definitely a keepsake. I put it under his phone before he woke up so it was the first thing he saw in the morning. My favorite one is the first one, "My Dad is funny because he teases Mom." That about sums up this family. Good thing I have a thick skin ;)

On Saturday we traipsed over to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of balloons.

She had just take a pic for instagram of one of the balloons. As you can see these weren't the ones we wound up getting but she dragged those all over the store incase they didn't have anymore of the gold and blue balloons that were in this bouquet, she was determined to get them.

Being a goober in the elevator. You can see hubby's frosty float I am carrying there lol

We then created a very meaningful bouquet. I put them in the hallway of our bedroom so this was the 2nd thing he saw when he woke up:

Each balloon meant a little something: black and gold for our university. We are still huge fans so the teen knew he'd love those. The blue because its her dads favorite color. An "it's your day" one because we were celebrating him as an awesome dad. Finally, a pink heart because she loves him so much! 

Then, we cut out sheets of paper and we each wrote down a memory or a reason why we love him/think he's a great dad. We then tied each of ours to the bottom of each balloon. 

We then surprised him with chocolate milk and a cinnamon coffee cake. It was delicious!

After that we just relaxed around the house and didn't bother him while he played Last of Us. Once the kiddo got home from cheer practice we took him to his favorite steak house for a very manly steak and then to see Man of Steel.

It was a very eventful day with tons of memories.

How did you celebrate your dad or your kid(s) dad?

Meal Plan Monday #10

Whew! Getting a late start today. Our fantastic Father's Day threw me off of my usual routine! I'll have more on what we did for my hubby on Father's Day tomorrow, for now though here is this week's menu!

Image Credit

Breakfast
Monday:
Me: 4 scrambled egg whites & oatmeal with bee pollen & flax & chia seeds
Kid: 1 egg & two slices of shaped cinnamon bread

Tuesday
Me: same
Kid: carnation instant breakfast & banana

Wednesday:
Me: cream of wheat with bee pollen & flax
Kid: last of carnation instant breakfast, slice of shaped cinnamon toast & a banana

Thursday
Me: millet with hard boiled egg whites
Kid: cereal with raisins & banana slices & 1 hard boiled egg

Friday
Me: cream of wheat with bee pollen & flax & scrambled egg whites
Kid: cinnamon apple bowl with nuts & a hard boiled egg

Saturday
Everyone: oatmeal (me unsweetened with bee pollen & flax) everyone else with honey, nuts, and raisins

Sunday
Everyone: Homemade cinnamon donut holes with fried bananas

Lunch:
Monday
We all grabbed stuff on the go. Like I said I was so no prepared to start the week!

Tuesday
Me: chicken salad with half a sweet potato
Kid: hard boiled egg, French toast muffin, and sliced apple & kale
Mr: leftover pizza

Wednesday
Me: tuna on mushroom "crackers" with half an apple
Kid: chicken salad over kale with sliced apple
Mr: hamburger with cucumber & apple slices

Thursday
I will probably take the kiddo out as this is her grade 7 graduation day so I figure after the ceremony we will go grab some yummy food somewhere. There are tons of clean eating restaurants around there.
Mr: eat out

Friday
Me: cod with zucchini
Kid: chicken salad with apple slices
Mr: BBQ chicken & corn & cucumbers

Saturday
Them: grilled cheese with salad
Me: tuna & leftover cucumber or zucchini

Sunday
Fruit salad with egg muffins & toast

Dinner
Monday
Just grabbed take out from local market...due to having no sugar at all I was feeling pretty wiped.

Tuesday
Me: chicken salad & half an apple
Them: au jus dippers & salad

Wednesday
Carmelized chicken with rice & veggies (I'll just have seasoned chicken).

Thursday
Breakfast for dinner with a fab graduation cake!

Friday
Loaded baked potato bar (cauliflower for me)

Saturday
Honey garlic pork chops with rice and veggies

Sunday
Homemade hamburger helper  

Well, I hope everyone else had a much more organized and uneventful Monday than I had!!!! 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!!! I hope all you Dad's out there are having a fantastic day!

These are the three men I am celebrating today:

My dad

My amazing husband/partner in crime ;)

My awesome father in law, for without him I wouldn't have a partner in crime ;)

I know today we are spoiling my hubby....there will be pictures of everything to come but I know he'll enjoy the day to sit back, play video games all day long, eat a fantastic steak and see a totally awesome movie!

On a serious note though, I have a bit to say about each of them...

My dad always worked hard. Growing up I didn't understand the value of working hard and was just glad he did so my mom could take me to the mall all the time & I could go tot the skating rink! But, as an adult when I got married all too young I took that example and ran with it. I worked, went to college full time, raised a family. It was all his long nights when he owned his own business or working overtime when he had a deadline. He was always patient even when I acted like an idiot when he'd have business associates over or when I'd ask him to draw me something super complicated for a school project when I didn't realize he didn't actually know how to draw intricate things, despite being an architect. :P But, all these things really make a big difference and made a great impact on my life and I couldn't be more proud to have a Dad like him!!!

My husband became a father quite young, and it wasn't easy learning all the in's and out's of baby care. I remember one time when our daughter was 11 months & I was at work, hubby-being extremely sleep deprived after 3 days of overnights-changed her diaper & put it on backward he kept calling me complaining she was taking her diaper off and I was like well that's new I have no idea what you should do...turns out he was putting the diaper on backward & she was uncomfortable! ;) But, those are the humorous moments I am happy to share with him and be able to recount. He is wonderful because, like me, he has always worked full time, went to college full time (including law school), then still chased his dream of becoming a a video game producer. His career has helped us to give our daughter an education she can't receive in school-showing her most of North America by now. It has also taught her the value of hard work and change. I am also grateful for the time I am able to stay home with our teenager and make sure she stay out of trouble! ;) He is a great father, I couldn't ask for a better baby daddy!

My father in law has always been supportive of our relationship, even as two idiotic-basically teenagers-getting married. He and my mother in law helped me by watching our daughter when he was at bootcamp, he was our only visitor when we lived in a little military town in California-he taught me it's ok to still love peanut butter & jelly as an adult and that a long walk is not only the best exercise but the greatest bonding time I'd have with my infant. I couldn't be more happy to have him as my second father.

The last two people I want to mention are my brother and brother in law. These two guys are the best father's to all my nephews & nieces. I am so happy they are in my life to tease me, give me grief, and celebrate the best moments of my life with.

I hope you all spoiled your father's/baby daddy's today. ;)

Happy Father's Day!

Pizza Popcorn!!

The weekend is finally upon us, friends! I am so happy!!! Our schedule finally dictates we can take a date night this weekend! So, this is what my weekend will look like:

Friday: Early morning breakfast & errands, hike the Grouse Grind with a girlfriend (who is 10 years younger than me, my goal is to not make her stop so I can take a breather this time...we'll see how that works out! :P). Run more errands & find a new shirt for our date night. Get everything set up for father's day. Find a good movie to watch & make a fabulously healthy dinner.

Saturday: Get in the 100 burpee burnout, a good early morning walk. Get a few projects done that I want to surprise family with when we go back to FL here in a couple weeks to visit. Get in a late lunch/early family dinner before date night (I'm secretly hoping everyone will want Mongolian BBQ, but I'm not holding my breath). Then...date night! Can't wait to get out for some adult beverages & dancing, so glad everything is within walking distance!

Sunday: Mostly a relaxing day. Father's day celebration. Have a special dinner treat for the Mr. then another fun little treat after that! Wish I could say more, but he reads the blog & I want to keep it a surprise as he's a tough man to surprise!!! 

Anyway...I always try to make us a healthy family dinner on Friday as our schedules are kind of off during the week & we don't always get to eat together. Our snack for tonight though will be pizza popcorn it's actually quite easy! It's basically my base popcorn recipe with slightly different ingredients! 

Pizza Popcorn

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper (we use nature's seasoning or any other all purpose seasoning)

Pepperoni (cut into strips)

Bacon (diced or from a bag)

Mozzarella Cheese (grated)

Put the kernels in a paper bag & fold it down & pop as you would regular popcorn. Transfer to a bowl & drizzle with olive oil, mix it up to spread oil throughout. Season with all purpose seasoning or salt & pepper, mix to spread seasoning throughout. Then add grated mozzarella, pepperoni, & bacon. Other topping ideas include diced ham, diced veggies, or all the meats & all the veggies for a "supreme", add some Parmesan, provolone, etc. Just play around with your favorite toppings. I don't recommend adding pineapple, as it is kind of "wet" & makes the popcorn soggy. 

What are your favorite pizza toppings??? Mine are mozzarella, Parmesan, and provolone. Yes, cheese, cheese, and more cheese, please! :)