Saturday, August 31, 2013

My Life Story in 292 words


So, today's challenge topic is: Your life story in 300 words or less. 

This was hard for me! I have a lot I want to say about my life!!! But, this is about the gist of my life in a nutshell. It wound up being 292 words in total. I can't wait to read everyone else's!!!

Mi Familia

I was born and raised in 1980 in Jacksonville, FL to two amazing parents and a great brother who was 8 years older than me. When I was 4 my parents had a home built and we moved in there, which is where I met my best friend of 28 years. I went through life like any other child, we played outside until the street lights came on, sometimes later as we would get the flashlights out and play flashlight tag. I grew up and changed into a teenager. I met my first real boyfriend in 9th grade and went to prom, and then in 10th grade I went to a rival high schools prom where I actually met a guy that would be my future husband.  My next year of high school, my 11th grad year, I worked my butt off and graduated early after doing some dual enrollment at the local college. That is where I met (again) that guy from 10th grade prom. We moved quickly and were married within 6 months of dating. That December we welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our family and he joined the military which took us on a crazy journey around the country. We lived in Lompoc, CA, Denver, Co, Satellite Beach, FL, and Orlando, FL. After we both graduated from University we moved to Topeka, KS where I began teaching and found a career field I love. After the hubs finished law school we moved back “home” to FL but it wasn't really where our hearts were so hubby changed career fields and we've since moved to Austin, TX, Santa Monica, CA, and now Vancouver, BC. I am currently a keeper of my home and starting a blog and Etsy Business.

Welcome September!!!

So, September. This is a time of change. School is starting back, seasons are changing (whether or not you can feel it!).


For the month of September I am participating in a few challenges.

The first is a blogging challenge:


This is a blogging challenge that gives you a prompt to blog on each day, then you can share your link for the day! It's great if you are having a bit of writer's block, or like me are just starting a blog and need more topics to blog about! I am really looking forward to participating, she has some super cute topics to blog about listed in the challenge. If you are a blogger, or not and just want to write you should pop over and join in!

The second is a photo challenge.

Capture Your 365

This is a monthly photo challenge I just found. It appears as though they've had them each month, they give really a cute idea for a photo for the day to document your life! It's super fun and will really help me to remember each and every day! You should pop over and join too! 

The last is a fitness challenge. The details aren't set in stone just yet, but it's located here:


It will be a "bodacious booty" challenge to keep those buns looking quite nice. It will have a combination/variation of many of these exercises. Should be a fun one to get through September! 

I am looking to make September a month of accomplishment along with completing the last 5 weeks of Focus T25. What are you going to do to make September a great month??????




Wednesday, August 28, 2013

What I Ate Wednesday/WOD's #14

Hello! Welcome back to another edition of....


Over the last week or so I have really wanted to start focusing on nutrition again. When I lived in Santa Monica it just sort of came easy for me. Not quite sure why, maybe it was because I was constantly surrounded by fitness, it was warm all the time, and we had a lot of "fast food" places that served good, whole foods. Plus I had an objective in mind to be super healthy. Once we moved to the land of the rain I just sort of fell off the healthy eating bandwagon and wanted to know how many dark chocolate hot cocoa's I could drink in a day ;) They sure were good, but my thighs don't agree! But, I've taken my time to plan and prep this week. I've also really slowed down when it comes to meals and have been enjoying cooking really healthy foods again. I forgot how much I love to prepare and gently cook all those yummy fruits and veggies! So, anyway...here is the deliciousness I've consumed this week....

Beet Lemonade: Two small beets, one lemon, one apple put through the juicer. Very tasty! Plus, who can resist this guy's hot pink fabulousness?!


Last Thursday hubby & I had an impromptu date night and this bad boy was Flambéd right at our table. Totally worth the splurge!
Shrimp I had right along with the cheese. So yummy!


So, this was dinner the other night. Vegan pate, homemade vegan spaghetti o's , watermelon, grapes, and zucchini. The kiddo loved the spaghtetti o's! She's had several more servings since! haha

This is from an all local food truck. It was basically a salad in a pita (I just at the middle lol). It was super tasty, had 3 different types of fish in there!

This was my entree from our New Restaurant Day. It's a salad with some sort of maple dressing, and a veggie burger with all the fixin's. Very, very tasty, especially with that fried pickle! ;) Almost felt like I was back home....
Appetizer from our new restaurant Friday (which was really Saturday lol). Pretzel with mustard dip, the other was a bacon peanut butter dip, it was ok....
And one of my favorite things from the last week....Skinny Strawberry Margarita!

Those were my food choices. Some great, some eh, but getting to the better choices as the week goes on. ;)

My workouts have been going much better! Thank goodness I didn't injure myself too badly a few weeks ago when I fell during a workout  so I've been able to resume my workouts 100% with no issues and I've been going at them well! Here's what it's looked like for me:

Wednesday: T25 Cardio, Nooner Yoga at Canada Place, plus morning and afternoon stretching

Thursday: T25 Total Body Circuit, a little foam rolling (just learning, played with it a bit)

Friday: T25 Ab intervals and Speed 1.0 (by far my favorite workout from the series!)

Saturday: Lower Focus, lots of walking with the hubby and the kiddo around town

Sunday: Total Body Circuit, lots of walking around town with the kiddo stretching in the am & pm

Monday: Was supposed to be a rest day but I did a squat challenge in one of my fitness groups, 20 deadlifts on each leg from this silly exercise "game" where you share an exercise on your page & have to do 5 of the exercise for every like, then I found a new app called 7 that gives you a 7 minute workout everyday, then I did my T25 Stretching. It wound up being quite the "rest" day....Tuesday was super sore!

Tuesday: Super sore, but knew I had to get moving. We did a 3 mile walk to the aquarium, then I did my 7 minute app, then did T25 stretching. 
 Starting today I am in Week 5 of the Alpha Cycle of T25. I have a write up coming of what I think of the program thus far...a part of my honest account that got side tracked while on vacation. I'll start the week off with total body. This is my least favorite & I have it 3 times this week...as Shaun T says I'll have to dig deep ;)
I am also sad because this is the last week for Nooner Yoga at Canada Place. I am not sure it will happen because the weather is supposed to be fairly icky. But, I am glad for the bit of time I did get to join in. There is still yoga in the evenings at the same place on Tuesday & Thursday until Sept 12th, but it was canceled yesterday due to weather, I am not sure if it will resume :-/ I guess we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us!

Fitness Goals for the week: Stick to my T25 schedule, work on my splits each day, and only put good, whole foods in my body!!! What are your goals for the week?

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Menu Plan Monday #20

Here we are, 'round at Monday, again!

We had a great weekend. Our new restaurant Friday didn't go quite as planned. We were quite tired and just wanted to relax, so we just got some take out and enjoyed just doing nothing. Then, Saturday the kiddo came home from camp so we did New Restaurant Saturday. We tried a place called the Tap and Barrel, it's just a 10 minute walk along the water from our house and it's new so we had to try it! They didn't have the crispy chickpeas I wanted, but the kiddo and I split a fantastic pretzel and then I moved on to a veggie burger with a side salad. It was quite delicious!
Isn't that tee tiny little mushroom adorable?!

 Hubby had the complete opposite of me, he made up for my missing bad fat content (as any good husband does ;))! It was all quite delicious and we had the most amazing view during our meal.
My picture doesn't do it justice, but it was a gorgeous day despite the clouds!

Also, here is a sampling of what I got at the farmer's market this week....


Now the beginning of the week is a bit off as the husband is off on business so the teen and I are doing it easy....

Breakfast
Monday: Peach cobbler oatmeal bake
Tuesday: Eggs with fruit and avocado
Wednesday: Leftover peach cobbler oatmeal bake
Thursday: Veggie egg scramble with oatmeal
Friday: Whatever is leftover or egg sandwiches
Saturday: Breaka (our fave coffee shop) or pick something up at the farmer's market
Sunday: Eggs, bacon/sausage, paleo pancakes

Lunch
Monday: Quiche with tomato soup
Tuesday: Homemade veggie subs with soup and salad
Wednesday: Leftovers from Monday
Thursday: Homemade vegan spaghetti o's
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Leftovers/light easy things
Sunday: fruit/popcorn/nuts just easy stuff

Dinner
Monday: Stuffed squash
Tuesday: BBQ Chicken sandwiches with salad and veggies
Wednesday: Leftovers (this is our D&D comedy night)
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner
Friday: Try Korean BBQ again (hopefully we will find a true BBQ place this time!)
Saturday: We are supposed to be having family in town, may go out with them, if not we will just do surf and turf (one big steak, then shrimp and lobster)
Sunday: Again, with family in town we will be going out either Saturday or Sunday so we're playing that by ear.

This is my prep:
Sunday make and bake the peach cobbler oatmeal, and the quiche.
My fruits for the week are soaked in diluted vinegar and cut up and stored in individual containers for the week.
Four salads are prepped and set aside, along with two relishes for my husband (diced cucumber and tomato).
I premade a honey mustard dressing for each salad.

Snacks:
Cacao nib granola bars
Fruit kebabs and paleo mini-blueberry muffins

Prep for these: I made about 10 fruit kebabs and just stored them  in quart size ziploc bags (2 kebabs per bag) so they are grab and go. At the same time as I was baking the cobbler oatmeal and quiche I whipped up the muffins, once cool stored in snack size ziplocs so they are grab and go. Same with the granola bars only I wrapped those in parchment.

This way there is no way I can deviate from my menu this week. We are back to school next week so I will be diligent about sticking to our eating schedule!

Well, I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Sunday Social #5-Childhood

Sunday Social


Well, being a kid was tons of fun...what about being a kid isn't tons of fun?! So, here's a little about my childhood...


1. What do you miss most about being a kid?
Absolutely no responsibility. Playing outside until dark, and some days even after when we'd get a good game of flashlight tag going. Getting hurt and not being embarrassed about it. 

2. Dd you have a nickname growing up? What was it?
Katie was what everyone called me, mostly. My uncle did call me Katerbear a lot though. 

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?
Play on the see-saw and get "bumped" on it lol

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher mostly is what I can remember. Once I got into high school I remember wanting to go into advertising....

5. Did you participate in any school activities?
Not really. I was in drama club at one point and the yearbook committee, but otherwise I wasn't too into after school sponsored activities. I danced 4 days a week outside of school and did aerobics and walking at home so those were my "fun" things. :P

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about?
Ummmm....I don't really know. I know one time I went to bed mad & they got a picture of me sleeping with my arms crossed, and when I was 3 I bit my bother's nose (he's 8 years older than me) lol

Well, that's a little bit about my childhood in a nutshell. What is your favourite childhood memory?

Friday, August 23, 2013

Skinny Strawberry Margarita ....Happy Friday!

Good Afternoon!

This has been quite a busy week but we are finally at Friday!! Do you have fun weekend plans? We always try a new restaurant on Fridays and then after today we have an entire week to ourselves. So, I thought it only proper to start the weekend like this....

Mmmmmmmmm skinny margarita's! This is a bit of a cheater margarita, but it's Friday...

Start with these necessities....

Then, to give it the restaurant touch I used some organic coconut sugar, dipped the rim of my glass in a little water (which is in the small container to the left) then, I dipped it in the sugar. Was the perfect touch to the drink!

De-vein about three strawberries (I used on big one & two little ones).

Mash those babies up! Make sure you get them super mashed so you have a lot of strawberry juice. The pulp will be floating around in there, but that's ok it let's you know it's *mostly* real!

Then, pour in some of the Skinny Girl Margarita mix & be done! I cut a slit up the middle of one strawberry and used it for garnish. So fun! 

I love this mix because Bethany Frankel, believes in eating real food so the margarita mix is sweetened with agave. It's as real as you are going to get for a pre-made mix and I love that!
Strawberry Margarita
Yields 1
  • Skinny Girl Margarita
  • 4 strawberries, divided
  • Rimming Sugar
Take one strawberry and cut a slit up the center, wipe it around rim, set aside. Dip the glass in sugar. Put strawberry (the one you set aside) on the rim as garnish. In a shaker cup put last two strawberries and mash them up with a fork. Add two ounces of the Skinny Girl Margarita mix. Put lid on and shake vigorously. Pour into cup topped with sugar.

What is your favorite Friday activity? Mine is definitely our New Restaurant Friday's. It's so fun trying somewhere different.

Cheers!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

What I Ate Wednesday/WODs #13

Hello!! Welcome to Wednesday!!!


I couldn't resist, those meme's crack me up! So, let's talk about my workouts the last week. It hasn't been pretty. I tripped over my own two feet working out on Friday and bruised the heck out of my foot and ankle, and stretched a ligament pretty good! Then, Saturday night when we went to get our late night snack after dancing I fell off a curb and gave myself some nice little raspberries (ok, I took off some serious skin, should have been paying attention and not been so concerned about my carbs lol), so took more days off. :-/ But, I'm a tough chick and take it how it rolls....

Wednesday 14th: Total Body Circuit and Nooner Yoga at Canada Place (super lucky to get to participate in outdoor yoga in this beautiful summer weather!)

Thursday 15th:  Speed 1.0, one mile on the treadmill

Friday 16th: was supposed to be Total body circuit and ab intervals, but I hurt myself halfway through total body and just called it a day.

Saturday 17th: Foot and ankle were still hurting so just did some light walking and went dancing with the hub's later that night.

Sunday 18th: Saturday night I stepped off a curb and hurt my knees, one was still pretty swollen so hubby and I just layed around in bed all day like we were 20-somethings and relaxed!

Monday 19th: Total body circuit and ab intervals (modified, no impact due to knee and a strained ligament in my quad)

Tuesday 20th: took the day off, had tons of errands to run and just chilled, mental health day ;)

Today will be Cardio and Nooner Yoga at Canada Place, I may try and get a little run in too, but we'll see how the knee and quad are feeling.

Now for the food!!

It is of course....


So...here's what I've eaten over the course of the last week...

This is a Banana Walnut Bon Chaz bun. Light and yummy!

Breakfast one morning: one egg & two egg whites, a smashed potato, strawberries, lemon water with cinnamon and honey.

Dinner: Amy's veggie/lentil burger, smashed potatoes, and a zucchini

Some weird cocktail at a local Korean Restaurant. It tasted overwhelmingly like Kool-Aid, almost felt like I was back in college! :-/

Sub from our local market Urban Fare. It was all veggie...so tasty!

Well, that's all I have for now. I have some tasty things coming up next week as I actually did some baking ;) I am also going to address nutrition goals in my next WIAW post because I have some goals I'm going to be setting for myself to really get focused on clean eating again. Since our move last year we've had a heck of a time staying "clean", but we're getting there!

Hope everyone has a great, Hump Day!!!



Sunday, August 18, 2013

Menu Plan Monday #19

Happy Monday!!! Ready to start the week off, right? I am! I am kid-free this week so I am going to be working on projects and getting the freezer and pantry stocked with homemade snacks and stuff for back to school! So....let's get to the Monday duty....



Breakfast
Monday: Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh beet juice
Tuesday: Bon Chaz (tasty new coffee shop I've been wanting to try)
Wednesday: Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh beet juice
Friday: Cereal with Banana's
Saturday: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Croissants with fruit salad
Sunday: Cereal with banana's and sausage
Lunch
Monday: Strawberry Chicken Salad with Simple Honey Dressing (this salad uses up leftover chicken from our dinner Sunday night and in the dressing I'll sub Champagne Vinegar for the white wine vinegar)
Tuesday: Same as Monday
Wednesday: Trying out a new food truck that only serves fresh, local ingredients in their food.
Thursday: Tuna Melts on Zucchini "buns" with the "meat" of the zucchini on the sides
Friday: Ham Sandwich kebabs with side salad (I'll probably make a few and go see the hubby for lunch)
Saturday: We'll just to a light spread of snacks: popcorn, ham, fruit, nuts
Sunday: Grilled Cheese, chips, fruit/veggies/salad, sort of whatever is leftover
Dinner
Monday: Flying Pig in Yaletown with friends.
Tuesday: Skirt Steak Fajita's with tequila marinade, peppers, and corn
Wednesday: Twice bakes potatoes with Green Beans and Corn (yes, my Mr. Loves corn lol)
Thursday: Paleo chicken fingers with home fries and squash
Friday: New Restaurant Friday
Saturday: Spagheti with Salad and Garlic bread
Sunday: Whole chicken with corn, squash, salad, and garlic bread
Snacks
  • Fruit/cheese, fresh juice, nut butter & chia seed jam on pecans, no bake oatmeal bites, hard boiled eggs and squash/avocado, popcorn(scroll down for the recipe)
Dessert
  • Chocolate Chip Cookies (My fave recipe is from the Betty Crocker cookbook) 
  • Cosmic Brownies
Goodies to fix and freeze for back to school:
So, that's it for my week. Should be a busy one and full of delicious food. I am so looking forward to the Flying Pig, they have a delicious garlic bread...that may be my entire meal (don't judge :P) and the tequila marinated fajitas. What are you most looking forward to eating?



Sunday Social #4

Happy Sunday, all!!! Wow, what a week it has been. I am out this weekend with a small injury, but am hoping to be back on my workouts by mid week! I got the teenager off to camp, talked to her last night apparently being a counselor was a lot more work than she realized...but, work is good for them, right?! Any way, on to some fun stuff for Sunday...

Sunday Social


1. What is something you've always wanted to do but are afraid of?
Bungee jumping. I'm not really afraid of much and I love stuff that gets my adrenaline going. I'd really love to bungee jump, but don't know if I'd have the guts to go for it...unless I was on the Amazing Race.

2. Where do you see yourself in five years?
I really hate these questions. Thank heavens this isn't an interview, this is usually where I bomb. Seriously, I have no idea. Ideally the husband could find a project to work on somewhere in Europe so we could be working and traveling Europe together with our daughter.

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2013?
I am looking forward to celebrating all of our birthday's and the holiday's with my husband and daughter.....and getting new living room furniture. We need it!

4. What are your hopes for your blog?
My hopes for my blog are that I will find my blogging niche and that it will grow to have an audience that loves to read what I have to say everyday! I also hope to network and make some local blogging buddies!!!

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?
No I do not always see myself living in our current city. I love where I live in Vancouver, BC, but since the husband is in a project based business I know this isn't our last stop. I wouldn't be sad if it was because I do love this city, but given his business and our penchant for seeing the world....I know we have many more places to live before we "settle down". 

6. What is your morning routine?
Wake up
Lay in bed for about 10 minutes gathering my thoughts and adding things to my to-do list
Use the bathroom
Wash my hands
Brush my teeth
Throw on my workout gear
Wake the kiddo up
Put in a load of laundry
Unload the Dishwasher
Make us breakfast
Clean up breakfast
Sweep
Check my email/fb/etc
Get her off to school (this one & the one before are interchangeable lol)
Get the husband up and off to work
Make the bed
Vacuum
Workout
Shower, Dress, Make-up etc
Have protein green smoothie
Take a deep breath

These were fun questions this week. Now that I look at my morning routine it's pretty hectic, but it's usually over by 10 or 11 in the morning. What is your morning routine like? By the time you get to work or get everyone out of the house are you ready for a nap like I usually am?! 

Hope you all have a great Sunday!!!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Taking care of YOU!

Taking care of you. Hmmm...let's take a moment and think on that one. 

Whether you are a man or a woman taking care of you is probably the single most important thing. Life gets super busy whether you are a teen in school, a young adult in college, a recent grad single and looking for a job, someone settled in a career, newlyweds, families, I could keep listing but it seems that in today's society taking care of ourselves goes by the wayside. But, it shouldn't. As if we don't, we can't possibly give 100% to those we love and the things we love.


At some point we begin to feel empty. We need to recharge. Right now I'm not going to harp on eating healthy and exercising, although those are one way to recharge. But, I'm talking about recharging and focusing on your body for the minute and getting some time alone. You may say but I don't have time for that! There is a lot we don't have time for, but we make time for it because we want to. So, you is something you should take time out to recharge.

Even when I worked full time each and every evening I'd take 15 minutes (honestly it was usually after the kiddo went to sleep) and take a nice hot bubble bath. I'd close the door, turn on some relaxing music, read a book. Just get away from everyone and have some me time. That's just one small way I'd re-energize each day. Each week though I do try and take some time out by getting a mani and a pedi. I know not every one can afford this luxury. Heck, honestly, I don't afford the luxury...I do my own mani and pedi. It's easy and I lock myself in my bathroom and just take the time out.

Here are other ways to take time for yourself:
  • walk
  • massage
  • hair cut/dye
  • eye brow waxing/threading
  • reading
  • get a coffee alone
  • have lunch with a friend

These are just some ways that I take a time out. There are of course several others, just do what makes you happy! These things don't have to cost money as you can see many are free, you just have to know when to tell those around you I need a 15 minute break...you'd be amazed at what it can do for you!

Now, next week I am going to have a post on how to do an at home mani. To get ready check out these homemade beauty products and make a few so you are ready:
These are some easy to put together products that will make your mani glorious!

What is your favorite way to relax and take a time out? Also, do you have a date with yourself?


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

What I Ate Wednesday/WOD's #12

Last week I was so discombobulated! We had just gotten back from a month long vacation in FL, dd had a good friend come in from FL, so we were just moovin’ and groovin’ all week so I did not get around to doing a WIAW and my WODs! I was disappointed, but I am back in full swing now!

Workouts! 
Since the 31st of July I’ve been back at my T25. You can read about my first week of it here. Well, while on vacation I feel off the wagon because my brother and sister in law were with me and we wanted to do stuff together like run, make up our own boot camps, and kayak.  So, that being said, this is what my schedule has looked like over the last two weeks:



Alpha:
July 31st-August 6th
31st-Cardio
1st-Rest; took the teen & friend hiking up to a waterfall
2nd-Speed 1.0
3rd-Total Body Circuit
4th-Ab Intervals
5th-Cardio & Lower focus (I do cardio first so I can get a good sweat going, lower focus gives you a great sweat don’t get me wrong, but something about the cardio is just more intense and I like to get that over with)
6th-Rest
  • After this week I wasn't too terribly sore. I felt like I had good workouts, but I wasn't complaining every time I moved….

August 7th-August 13th
7th-Cardio
8th-Total Body Circuit
***After TBC I woke up on the 9th and was sooooo sore all over!!!! I was exhausted! But, I still got on it….
9th-Speed 1.0
10th-Lover Focus and Ab Intervals (This was our date night and I didn’t want to do a doubles the day after a long night, so I switched them ;))
****So glad I switched doubles and cardio…I was so tired after our evening out I almost didn’t do cardio on the 11th, but since I have an awesomely supportive hubby he encouraged me to get it done and I did! It did impress upon me how important it is for me to not stuff my body with crap because it was a hard workout after eating an apple fritter the size of my head for breakfast and lunch :-/
11th-Cardio
12th-Rest day; just stretching
13th-Rest day; just stretching
Coming up this week is Week 3 of Alpha Phase of Focus T25. It starts with Total Body Circuit and ends with a double of Total Body Circuit and Ab intervals.

My goals for this week: Complete week 3 of T25, run a total of 4 miles; stretch every morning and every night focusing on the splits.

Now here is a sampling of what I've eaten the last couple of weeks!



This is what I had for lunch prior to getting on the plane:

Cracker Barrel Pecan Pancakes. They were scrumptious!

This is our dinner on the plane that my sweet Mom made us:

It was a GIANT sandwich for us to split, purple grapes and green onions (my daughter loves raw onions lol), freeze dried apple slices, and freeze dried peach and peach slices. We snacked on this all throughout the day. Hubby brought us snacks when we got home but we were so full we didn’t need them!

This was my lunch when we went to Seattle, WA to pick up the teen’s friend from the airport. 
We stopped at Panera and I had this awesome corn soup, apple, and some Mediterranean sandwich. I’d never had Feta before this sandwich and I’m a fan!

This series of pictures is from the day we drove up to Squamish. We took the kids to see a cove (great beach area for some hiking and walking, beautiful scenery) and then we hiked through the mountains a bit to see a waterfall. After all that we were hungry so we hunted down this amazing little BBQ place in Squamish. We just got a big meal for everyone to split:

BBQ Chicken

Ribs, Brisket, and Pulled Pork
Macaroni and Cheese (this was strange as I think the noodles were covered in Turmeric then it just had a bunch of fresh cheddar on top), Hash (shoes string fries, like hash browns almost), and creamed corn with what I think is Siracha on top (I’ve never had that but it was ketchup like but spicy), the salad our vegetarian got, and a few of the sauces.

Last is the BEST lemonade EVER! It’s a special for the summer from Boylan’s. All real ingredients and super delish!


This was my farmer’s market haul from the 3rd. I got 3 different types of garlic…how many of you knew there were different types of garlic???? I certainly did not! I love going and learning new things about my food!


This isn’t something I ate but it’s hilarious:

$36 at Costco will get you  this GIANT tub of Nutella! I think I may go back upon the suggestion of a friend as a gag gift for the teen for Christmas or Birthday. This picture doesn’t do it justice but it was HUGE!!!!

These are some free latte’s we got when at Pike’s Place Market/The Waterfront when in Seattle last week. Can’t beat free coffee! ;)

This was breakfast one day. The egg was a bit over cooked, but I’ll get the timing right soon. It was tasty!

My farmer’s market haul from the 10th. So much delicious cheese! The crème frais is amazing! It’s super fresh and doesn’t have all the fatty filler like regular cream cheese. Plus it has a touch of raspberry in it…can’t beat it!! I have an amazing recipe using that and the strawberries coming up Friday!


The next few pictures are of our New Restaurant Friday Saturday. We went to Eighteen Twenty Seven in Langley. We were out that way for a party and it had amazing Yelp reviews. You can read mine here.
This is the Belinitini I had. Love the colouring of it and it was totally delicious!

My meal was seared halibut, a risotto cake, and fresh veggies. I am working on recreating that risotto cake. Amazing!

This is the apple fritter that made my workout Sunday less than stellar! As you can see it was GIANT. I wasn’t kidding! It’s from this great new bakery we found by our house called La Breka. Local and fresh, can’t resist a pastry like that!


Well, that’s it for this week’s edition! What was your favourite food from this last week??????????