Shopping, smiling, sweating, and switching

Hi again! You know I’ve got free time when you get THREE posts from me in one day…

I spent most of the morning at Starbucks plugging away on my random to-dos. So much for freelancing, but yay for crossing lots of my to do list!

After lunch, which I’d packed for the day, I took advantage of the air conditioned mall and did some damage at lululemon. Oops. Don’t you know a girl can never have too much spandex? Believe it or not I never had one of the no limits tanks that every girl who works there seems to own in multiple colours. So this was like a rite of passage for me PLUS I am teaching my butt off these days PLUS I can’t pass up this hot hot pink colour. So I got the cool racerback and the power y tanks in the same shade and I’ll return them if remorse sets in but somehow I don’t think it’s going to!

chard, sprouts, sirloin, and spicy mustard :)

I look good in pink, right? Just tell the Visa man that…

I smiled a lot when I got free chocolate from Laura Secord, even if it was probably on the verge of expiry from Valentine’s Day. Om nom nom things that are free taste better and chocolate really never tastes too bad to me!

I ran some more errands/dealt with some appointments and then had myself an early dinner (like 4:30pm grandma/grandpa style) so that I’d have time to digest before heading to the park for bootcamp. It was uber hot so I tried to find a workout that wouldn’t make anyone ACTUALLY pass out, even if it made them feel a little like they might ;) .

kale, pork, dried apricots, and avocado

I came up with the following…

Warmup 

5-10 minutes walk/jog (around the park at own pace)

dynamic stretching (arm circles, hip circles, deep breaths, shoulder rolls, etc.)

Workout

1. Lower body circuit = 10 jump squats / 20 hamstring activations (10/side) / 30 reverse lunges with a leg lift (15/side) / 40 step ups / 50 body weight squats  –> repeat 2-3x

10 minutes run/jog

2. Upper body circuit = 5 plank walkouts with a pushup / 10 burpees / 15 decline pushups (feet on park bench) / 20 triceps dips / 25 super mans   –> repeat 2-3x

10 minutes jog/run

3. Core circuit = 45 seconds on/15 seconds off each of extended plank / plank up down / forearm plank / left side plank / right side plank / forearm plank

Cooldown/stretch

…but no one showed up! So I’ll be saving that for tomorrow! I ran into walmart really quickly to grab some batteries and some other random things I needed before I went to the gym. I got my workout on in the air conditioning and it wasn’t so miserable–I guess when you only hit the weight room every once in a while it’s not so boring any more. My workout was:

warm up (squats, lunges, high knees, jumping jacks)

circuit x 3 12 – 15 reps each of barbell squats, deadlifts, bent over rows, medicine ball swings, medicine ball slams, medicine ball pushups (passing the ball so one side is uneven), medicine ball roll ups, oblique twists with the medicine ball, and weighted crunches

spin class! 

So even though I had 0 participants at bootcamp I’m not too upset. It was something ridiculous like 40 million degrees outside anyways and I’m not taking it personally. Aren’t I resilient? I say that cuz in the past I’d take this as a fail–but now I’m taking it in stride instead.

I’m also smiling because this sad face I tried to fake to sum up the whole no participants thing proves that not only is happy healthier for me, it’s also way cuter.

NOT a good look for me!

And I’m smiling because I have a happy belly.

Post-spin, I snarfed some grapes and then started in on this bowl of yogurt with some chocolate when I realized I really wanted something chocolatier and was NOT feeling the yogurt.

So I put it away and whipped up a power ball — kind of like the ones I made earlier this year around Valentine’s day but without any real recipe or guide, just my belly as intuition. Rather than eating fake hershey kisses, why not toss together whole foods and good ingredients and enjoy something I made myself? Walking the walk! :) Warning: if you’re scared of fat, these aren’t for you! But note: you shouldn’t be scared of eating fat! :)

In the mix: 1-2 spoonfuls each of ground flaxseed, coconut (unsweetened), maple syrup, cocoa, and cashew butter plus a pinch of salt!

As you can see, after mixing everything together and rolling the result into a ball, I rolled it in a bit more coconut. And tah-dah, a simple and delicious snowball dessert that hit the spot. It was actually pretty big even though this thing looks tiny. I used almost 2 tbsp of cashew butter (I forgot how good it is). It’s been a long time since dinner…

On the agenda for tonight: sleep, sleep, sleep! Tomorrow I have bootcamp, a life coaching session, and a bike ride to look forward to. Looks like I’ll have time to share the playlist from spin tonight as well as maybe get down to work on that freelancing stuff I meant to start today. Wish me luck, and cross your fingers that bootcampers realize the early bird gets the worm!

Where is somewhere in your life that you’ve learned to stop taking things personally?
Do you go to the gym in the summer?
Do you shop at lulu? What’s your fav tank?
What’s your favourite colour to wear?

PS – Steph and I made it onto the London Free Press’s article about yesterday’s yoga event! :) How zen do we look (bottom row, I have the red top on and she had the pink pants that I loved and almost bought today).

 

Stuffed

Today was stuffed with fun, filled with sun, and oh so awesome. I am stuffed with froyo and a pretty delicious dinner and I’m just counting down til I face plant into my own bed! Home sweet home to my semi-airconditioned apartment = hallelujah!

I started my morning off with a run along the water in Bright’s Grove. It was beautiful. I really miss running along the water there–it’s where I grew up and so this morning’s run was my normal route until last year! Missing it…

Who wouldn’t want to run here?

I didn’t feel awesome during my run. It was pretty hot and I decided to just do a simple loop and I think it was probably about 4 slow miles. After the run I did a quick playground workout using the monkey bars with the best view around, in my opinion.

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My workout was a countdown with 10 reps each of squats, pushups, burpees, sit-ups, and (jumping) pull-ups, then 9 of each, 8, … 1 of each! It was really hard for me — the burpees got my heart rate up as expected but I looked at my heart rate and saw numbers higher than I have in a long time following the jumping pull-ups. Holy smokes I miss these workouts and am so happy to be back doing them!

I went to the water immediately following this one, which was particularly sweaty, and made good on my promise to jump in the lake post-run this summer. Done and done! :)

After I went back to my mom’s to change and pack up my stuff and grab lunch (leftovers), my afternoon was about seeing a bunch of friends (literally three different groups worth) on the beach.

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Fun! And yes, I put on sunscreen but I still got a bit too much sun!

We also played volleyball, football, and all that good stuff. I haven’t spent this much time just doing things for the sake of doing them in a long time and let me tell you — it felt awesome!

After we’d had our fill of sun, a few of my friends and I had dinner at Skeeter’s. My fav restaurant! I love the view and even though our service was slow, I was smiling. It might have had something to do with the beer I had and the favour that Angela gave me driving my car back — laying in the sun + lightweight = recipe for tipsy.

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I could not polish off this chicken club / caesar salad combo, but I did my best!

We ended the day with a stop at Kiwi Kraze for froyo when we got back to town. Perfection. My froyo was even festive and I didn’t mean to! Funny how that happens!

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I was a bit ambitious and couldn’t finish this either…that’s a first! …but luckily I’ve got friends who could!

If this weekend was about fun and relaxation, I think I win! I saw so many friends — :) — and I even put a dent in my summer bucket list–>sailing, fireworks, friendship bracelets, jumping in the lake post-run, etc. I’m plugging away and it’s hard to believe it’s July. I fully intend to make a fall list or maybe just to break out the bucket list for life when this summer one’s done! :)

This week is pretty low key — bootcamp, some spin classes, a meeting with a prof about an independent study, and gearing up for my bike trip to Virginia (I leave next week). There should be ample time for blogging and I’m looking forward to my first week without school on my mind. I got my mark back — a 79 <– not my best but certainly not anything to be worried about — so even that back of my mind concern has been put to rest!

Did I mention I spent this weekend smiling?

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candid, instagram-ed summary of the weekend!