Menu Plan Monday #28 +Weekend Recap

So this weekend in the city consisted of a whole lot of trying to stay warm inside! We've yet to go shopping for our skiing stuff because these three Florida babes just cannot make ourselves go out in O Celsius weather! Brrrr! But, here is a look at what our weekend was like in pictures...because we all know a pictures is worth more than words...

It started off with lots of fun at the Xbox One Launch at our local EB Games. My husband is in the industry and was always told being a gamer will grow old...they apparently didn't know he was still 10 years old deep down inside and being in the industry only makes his passion for every game that comes out that much more exciting...

Her winter coat has a hole...in the side...so she decided to come out in three hoodies lol! She wouldn't let me get a picture of it so I am posting this more embarrassing one instead ;) 

He came out in a thick hoodie & a thick fleece lined leather jacket! LOL I live with a bunch of winter wimps! How those two will survive snowboarding this year I have no idea!

Pleased as punch with this day one console!

I love how for all their exclusive games, those that picked them up on day one Xbox marked them Day One with the date. Makes it that much more awesome. Very classy, Microsoft!

Again with the "Day One"...this really makes the effort of getting it preordered and waiting a bit in the cold that much more worth it!

Friday brought about a trip to the dentist for my little and then we went to see Catching Fire...it was amazing go see it if you haven't. Then of course we couldn't give up our New Restaurant Friday. So we went to this little diner on Davie Street called Hamburger Mary's Diner. Not quite so sure why the reviews are so low on it. The food was great, drinks were awesome, and it was quite cozy to hangout with the family.

I think this was called the sunset. It was quite delicious and warmed me right up! ;)

These two sipping on the a couple of amazing milkshakes...Cherry & Strawberry! YUM! Btw, isn't this the most adorable father/daughter picture ever?!

Saturday I had some errands to run and was full of just tidying the house and spending time as a family...

I found some washi-like tape at the dollar store. It's not rice paper it's on, it is more like a wax paper but it is great for embellishing planners, cards, gifts,etc. Plus, three roles for CAD$1.25 can't be beat!

That night was spent around the table enjoying some monopoly, cocoa, Christmas carols and time unplugged as a family. Can't ask for more on a cold fall night.

Sunday was spend going to yoga with the teenager (I wrote about this on my facebook page), then she had a friend come over and they took off to hours of tumbling and cheer, then the husband and I just spend some nice romantic time alone. I swear, after 15 years you would think that gets old, but it doesn't. 

I did reach a goal this weekend finally...the entire weekend, at the end of each day I saw this...

This app is the Waterlogged App. During the weekend I get so busy that I forget to drink water, so this weekend I was determined to make sure I reached my 64 ounces every, single day...and I DID! YAY! 

So that way our weekend....here is my menu for the week...

Org Junkie

Breakfast

Monday: Cereal

Tuesday: Eggs hash (with peppers, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes)

Wednesday: French toast bake and hard boiled eggs

Thursday: (Happy American Thanksgiving, Friends!) I am keeping the kiddo home in the morning from school to watch the parade so we will have some gingerbread pancakes and maple syrup, we'll split a hot cocoa

Friday: Hard boiled eggs and leftover pancakes

Saturday: Leftover french toast bake or pancakes

Sunday: Big brunch of omelettes, bacon, and whatever is leftover of that french toast bake or pancakes

Lunch

Monday: 

Kiddo: Leftover pizza and an apple Me: leftovers of some kind

Tuesday:

Kiddo: Turkey wraps and peppers Me: Turkey wraps and mushrooms and peppers

Wednesday:

Kiddo: Sandwich with an apple Me: Leftovers of some kind

Thursday:

Kiddo: Turkey salad with apple or pear slices, almond butter for dipping Me: pumpkin spice protein shake and a turkey wrap

Friday:

Kiddo: Eat Out Me: Lunch with the hubs

Saturday:

Hamburgers with a big salad on the side

Sunday:

We will have eaten a big brunch so we will just snack on popcorn, cheese, etc.

Dinner

Monday: Chicken Alfredo with side salad 

Tuesday: Tacos with salad (these will be traditional & bean & veggie)

Wednesday: Ribs with salad, corn, and acorn sqush

Thursday: Pork chops and chickpea patties with sweet potatoes, potato wedges with cheese & bacon, and sauteed mushrooms & peppers

Friday: New Restaurant Friday

Saturday: Spaghetti (I will make spaghetti squash for me), with garlic bread and a big salad

Sunday: Sausage & peppers with salad and any leftover squash

• So, how was your weekend...did you meet any goals you were wanting to meet for the week? I did, I met my water goal! YAY!
• What is your favorite meal you are most looking forward to cooking this week? There are two, one the chicken alfredo because it is my hubby's favorite meal, my second are the ribs because those are my favorite!

Guest Post: Christmas Card DIY

Hello! Today we have a fantastic guest post thanks to the ladies over at Chaotic Goddess! They did an awesome swap for us bloggers to help each other out, and I got the amazing Tawny from Tawny's Tid Bits! Go check out her site to see my post! 


Hi everyone!!! I'm Tawny and I blog over at Tawny's Tid Bits.  I'm taking over Kate's blog today because we signed up for the Chaotic Goddess Swaps  and were so lucky to receive each other as partners.

Just a little about me before I bring you a DIY project (which it seems Kate and I both have in common).

You can learn a little about me here.
I'm a fairly new blogger (February 2013) and I love it, although sometimes I have my blogger ruts. Who doesn't?
What does Tawny mean? I knew of the definition, but I wanted to know more.
I ran my first 1/2 marathon this year and plan to do it again next. Will I ever do a full one? Ehh.. not sure.
I love Tough Mudders!
My husband and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary!
I love to geocache in my spare time! It's a form of free fun (well you gotta pay for gas).
I have a linkup every Sunday, Instagram Recap.
I have spelunked before, LOVED IT!! I want to do the 6-8 hour one, just haven't made the appointment yet.
I love DIY's..... about 70% of the time it is a success. Other times, not so much!
I love to cook and try out new recipes when I have the time.

Now onto the DIY stuff!!!! Christmas time is just around the corner so what better time to get started on DIY cards.  I've found plenty on Pinterest, but for some reason this caught my eye. Simple, yet cute!

You'll need:

• A notecard of choice.
• Super glue or plain ol' glue will do.
• Ink pad
• Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday's stamp of choice
• Any kind of stamp with birds sitting on a branch. 
• Ruler
• Color, size, and number of buttons is up to you.
• Black pen
• Stamp for the back of the card (optional)

You'll stamp the birds either at the top left or the top right, choice is up to you. Then you'll stamp the Merry Christmas at the opposite side on the bottom. You want room for your "ornaments".

Use your ruler to draw straight lines at whatever length you please.

Glue your buttons on. 

And for the back you can really do anything. For some reason I liked this heart, but I also have a "homemade" stamp. I thought about writing something on the back, but not sure what. Was going to sign our last name, but I will be writing it in the card, so why sign on the back? Any ideas?

Hope you enjoyed it and be sure to check out my Pinterest board for card making!


Be sure to stop by any of my social media pages and say hello!  Love to meet new bloggers!

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What I Ate Wednesday is BACK!!! +WOD's

Happy Wednesday, folks! What I ate Wednesday is finally back! I sort of got out of my blogging groove there for a bit, but I'm back in full force!

I will admit, I actually fell out of the habit of photographing some of what I was eating, so since I forgot last Wednesday to take pictures I figured I would feature what I ate this past weekend. It's a doozy of a weekend since it was my birthday! ;)

Friday, for my birthday the hubs and I went out and did a little shopping, we needed some nourishment so I got a beet smoothie from Jugo Juice. I love Jugo juice, it's basically Jamba Juice, but they have juice with beets! Yum!

This was a post workout lunch one day last week. It was a one egg omlette with 2 or 3 egg whites. It's filled with spinach, zucchini, onion, and a little ham. I had some toast with it. 

These next two beauties are from my birthday celebration. We went out with friends for my birthday, one of my friends actually has the same birthdate as me so it was fun to go celebrate together! 

These two above are from a place called the Bellagio here in Vancouver. It was ok. The lobster in it was amazing! I prefer a creamier mac & cheese though, but all-in-all not a bad treat on my birthday! 

Last is yesterday's lunch. It was from whole foods...some mac & cheese (super creamy and absolutely perfect) and a stuffed piece of tofurkey. It was really, really good! 

My workouts here lately have consisted of Focus T25. I joined a fitness challenge group that an amazing woman who runs this awesome page on Facebook (go like it!) started and this time around I am really seeing results! I think because I am in a group and am reporting my daily workout and how I did, plus I feel like I have workout buddies so it makes me more motivated to get going and workout hard! So, here is my schedule for the last week...I actually never took a rest day!

Wednesday: Total Body Circuit & Ab Intervals

Thursday: Cardio

Friday: Total Body Circuit & Lower Focus

Saturday: Speed 1.0

Sunday: Yoga at Lulu Lemon

***Start T25 Beta***

Monday: Core Cardio

Tuesday: Speed 2.0

Today: Rip'T Circuit

I am seeing some serious results this time around for T25, can't wait to see my results from Beta, especially since I am really trying hard to focus on nutrition this time around and not eat too much bad stuff (yeah, I'm laughing since this last weekend for my birthday I totally went all out & treated myself!).

What is your favorite workout you've done this past week?

What we ate in Whistler

When we were in Whistler last weekend we obviously had to eat! So, this is dedicated to all the delicious food we had that evening! If you want to read my reviews of each place you can visit my yelp page and check them out. 

On our way out of town up to Whistler we stopped in Squamish at The Campfire Grill. We ate here once during the summer and it is the best BBQ we have had outside of the southern U.S. It really is amazing. The guy who runs the kitchen (maybe the whole place, not real sure) definitely knows what he is doing...everything we get, every single time is amazing. If you are out that way you HAVE to stop there, seriously, it's not optional! LOL During the summer you can eat outside and view the mountains, during the fall this time we ate in doors and the have an adorable wood burning stove, it is all quite charming.

Our view out the window, the hotel is a little weird,
but very small town. Love the mountains though!

Inside of the place, it's small, but that's why we like it!

View out the back windows, that is where we ate this summer when we came.
They also have heaters set up all over the place, it can get
chilly in there so I was glad for the heater!

The food! It was so delicious! There was chicken, pork, brisket, ribs, roll, sweet potato mash, and mac and cheese. I wish the mac and cheese was creamier, but I honestly think that is the southerner in me because no mac & cheese I get up here is like southern mac and cheese.

The first place we ate at Friday night was 21 Steps. They managed to seat us right away, service was meh, they definitely could use to work on that, food was average. It was good, but not spectacular. Definitely a great place to chill and enjoy company. What drew us here was the meal special they had going on it was 3 courses for $35...really great for around here!

Starters:

Caprese Salad

Some sort of chicken wings, sadly the sauce they put on them was cold so we only ate one.

Mains:

Fish, veggies, and rice & beans

Ribeye...was cooked just right, the husband enjoyed it!

 Desserts:

Espresso Mud Pie! I pretty much just ate the giant chocolate chunks!

Creme Brulee

 The next morning we ate at the restaurant that was in our hotel, Elements. When we got on the wait list they said it would be about 10 minutes, but I don't think we waited quite that long. Once we were seated the service seemed a bit slow, but our waitress was great and given how busy they were I don't think it could be helped. Of course we hadn't eaten since about 6pm the night before, so by 10:30 am we were pretty much ready to chew our own arm off, 5 minutes felt like an eternity! So, take my "slow" service comment with a grain of salt ;) Here's the food...

Coffee! This was very, delicious. I find it hard to find
good coffee at restaurants, this was delicious though!

Crab Eggs Benedict. Can you believe that in my 32 years of life this was the first time I had ever had eggs benedict! It was a great first time!

Saturday night we dined at a great little Italian place called Quattro Formaggi. This was pretty good! Servings were HUGE!!!

Giant pepper grinder (found a Winners lol) highlight of the night I think! ha!

Spaghetti bolognese with beef and lamb and herbed ricotta. It was really good, but a huge portion, I only ate about a quarter of it! 

Fried polenta with fried prosciutto. Quite tasty!

Sunday for breakfast we went to Wildwood Cafe, but I didn't get any pictures, it's right near the village so it is worthwhile going over there. Prices were good and the food was amazing! Sunday night we ate dinner at Ric's, it was awful. I do not at anytime recommend eating there. Service was terrible, food was terrible, just an all around terrible time. Completely disappointing.

However, just around the corner from Ric's is Bear Foot Bistro. Inside they have an Ice Room with many, many different vodka's for tasting! The guy running it is a gem...full of personality and ready and willing to answer any and all questions. This was my favourite vodka of the night....

My favourite vodka at the tasting in the ice room. It tasted like pie, I thought apple but others thought cherry and pecan, we all felt like it tasted different...it sure was good though!

To wrap up this spectacular weekend I ended it with nothing but...

These are from Crepe Montagne . They were amazing and a great way to end the weekend!

All the places, with the exception of Ric's were really good and we would definitely dine at them again if we visit Whistler again.

Weekend Recap

Wow! What a weekend it was, obviously, since I am just now getting to my weekend wrap up! It has been such a hectic few weeks since I switched the name of the blog trying to get all the links and what not updated, it has take quite a bit of my time. But, I think they are all updated and are all repinned to pinterest! If you find one that isn't feel free to send me an email through my contact form on the right & let me know so I can get it fixed!

Anyway, moving on...we went up to Whistler for the weekend. This is a prime skiing location, but since we don't ski (yet) we went up before the season started so rates were cheaper and we didn't need chains to get up the road! ;) In any case here is the weekend in pictures....

When we first arrived our room wasn't quite ready yet so we took a look around the village...

Here is my husband climbing up on a very icy, slippery chair...he finds the most amusing ways to almost kill himself when we are doing something fun!

The gondola up to Blackcomb...there is another just to the right for Whistler.

Whistler mountain and the lifts...isn't it beautiful! In fact, they have gotten so much snow up there they are able to open for the season 4 days early! 

\\

Breakfast at Elements on Saturday. Absolutely delicious and pretty good service! You can check out my review of the place on yelp. After this we just toured the village some more, took a nap, and enjoyed the hot tub next to all the snow. It was a rainy day, but we made the best of it. We enjoyed a great italian place for dinner.

Sunday, we did a distillery tour up in Pemberton. They produce an organic vodka that actually uses local potato's! It's the only vodka I have ever heard of that is sort of a farm-to-table type deal. So anyone who like to "eat local" and you are in Vancouver you can now get Vodka and Whiskey that are considered "local".  Here are a few shots of the place and the equipment....

The guy was quite knowledgeable and really enjoys his job. His wife helps him run it and his brother, uh, "volunteers". They did a great job explaining everything (if only I had known you could get a Master's degree in distillation when I was in University!) and letting us taste all the goodies they produce. My favourite was by far their schnapps.

The last thing we did on Sunday was after a terrible dinner at Ric's, we popped over to the Bearfoot Bistro and did a vodka tasting at their Belvedere Vodka Room. It is kept at -25 Celsius so when you go in you have to wear giant parkas. I was in a dress & open toed heels and my toes were freezing by the end! So if you go I recommend wearing uggs if possible! ha! The guy who hosts the tastings is very knowledgeable and loves his job so be friendly to him and he will treat you right! ;)

So those are the highlights of our weekend. It was a ton of fun....can't wait to share with everyone the food, but that needs to be a separate post!

Check out What we ate in Whistler here!

November's Menu + my weekly meal plan

So, yet again it's been a while! Taking time out to write isn't necessarily easy when life is coming at you fast! We've had such beautiful weather here in Vancouver that I've definitely been taking the time out to get my Vitamin D in and enjoy the sun and colourful tree's while we have them!

So, here is a bit of a legend for how my meals are planned out:
Monday: easy meal that is yummy warmed up since we eat really early due to an after school activity
Wednesday: usually a crockpot meal or something that will be whipped up in 15 min or less due to two hours of cheerleading after school
Friday: always a new restaurant as we always try to go to a new place, these usually go cheap, moderate, expensive, we also use Groupon or Restaurant.com when possible.

But, I did manage to work on my menu for November...here's what we have:
1st-New Restaurant Friday-Harvey's...pretty good for a fast food burger!
2nd-I actually didn't cook...we split a pizza since the kiddo was out :P
3rd-caramelized pork chops with rice and squash
4th-soup and salad/baked potato
5th-Marinated round steak with squash and potato cheese rounds
6th-Crockpot turkey soup and whatever sides are leftover
7th-playing things by ear, will create a meal from whatever is leftover so we can clear out the fridge
8th-11th: Kiddo at Camp/We are out of town on a mini-vacation
12th-Chicken and cheese crescent rolls and salad
13th-crockpot beef and broccoli with rice (pinterest)
14th-Korean sizzling beef and rice (pinterest)
15th-Mini beef wellington with corn and broccoli
16th-Chicken wings with cheese and bacon chips
17th-Happy Birthday to me!!! We will go out to eat today & try a new place. I am hoping to try the restaurant at the summit of the mountain close to our house. *Finger's crossed* *hint, hint, honey* ;)
18th-Leftover night/breakfast for dinner if there aren't any leftover's to be used up
19th-taco's with corn and salad
20th-Soup and Grilled Cheese
21st-BBQ Chicken Pizza and salad
22nd-New Restaurant Friday-Nicli Pizzaria
23rd-Ribs and veggies
24th-Chicken alfredo and salad
25th-Baked potato soup with easy sliders (pinterest)
26th-Cheesesteaks with veggies and milkshakes
27th-Sweet and sour chicken with fried rice
28th-"fool" meal that looks like dessert but is really dinner, and dessert that looks like dinner but is really dessert. The kiddo requested dessert for dinner, so this what I am going to surprise her with.
29th-New Restaurant Friday: Spagheti (it's a Japanese take on Spaghetti)
30th-Spaghetti, salad, and cheese rolls

Now for this week's meal plan:

Breakfast
Monday: Kiddo: monkey bread bites; me: pumpkin granola
Tuesday: Kiddo: last of the monkey bread bites; me: pumpkin granola
Wednesday: cereal/granola
Thursday: cereal/granola
Friday: any leftover cereal/granola, if there is nothing we will just make a protein smoothie & call it a day.
Saturday-Sunday: Out of Town

Lunch
Monday: Leftover squash and nuts/tuna salad
Tuesday: Leftover soup and rolls or potato/salad
Wednesday: Taco's using up leftovers
Thursday: Turkey soup
Friday: Kiddo: eat out, as I won't see her to clean out her tupperware/thermos; Me: If there are any leftovers in the fridge I will have those, otherwise I will go to the salad bar across the street from my place.
Saturday-Sunday: Out of Town

Dinner
Monday: soup and salad/baked potato
Tuesday: Marinated round steak with squash and potato cheese rounds
Wednesday: Crockpot turkey soup and whatever sides are leftover
Thursday: playing things by ear, will create a meal from whatever is leftover so we can clear out the fridge
Friday-Sunday: Out of town

I get so lazy on weeks that we are going to be out of town. I don't like to have much in the fridge/freezer as I'm afraid what could being to smell in the event of a refrigeration disaster! LOL So, it's a pretty easy week focused on using up the leftovers.

Our daughter is off to girl guide camp this weekend and we are heading up to Whistler for  little mini vacation, if anyone has ever been to Whistler I am 100% open to suggestions on places we must try for eating out/night life! Where is your favourite place to go for a mini 4-day vacation?

Guest Post Swap

I am once again signed up for another swap...the best part about this one: it's FREE!!! Yup, you heard me 100% free to participate in, so it's a win-win for everyone. No buying, no packing, no shipping....just writing!



I am really looking forward to this one, as someone who is really just now getting into blogging I can't wait to share my writing on someone else's blog and also be able to share someone else's knowledge with my readers.

Basically this swap is going to be to create an article for your partner's blog that is your own unique writing but will also be valuable to their readers. I love things that help me to think outside the box so I can't wait to see who I get to swap articles with and come up with something amazing for their blog!