Meeting Some Famous Bloggers

Hi Blog friends! I have a super nerdy/awesome blogosphere experience to share! I got to go to the Young House Love book signing.

For those that don't know Young House Love is a DIY/Home Improvement Blog by Sherry and John Petersik. There blog is so popular (like 5.5 Million page views in a month popular) that they both do it full time. This means all of their days are consumed with doing projects, writing, editing, and then posting, and answering comments (check out their day in a life page..certainly not easy work!). 

In addition to all that craziness, they also wrote a book called Young House Love with 243 DIY ideas. They had a photoshoot at their house while doing a kitchen renovation..they are crazy! Now that book has been released, they are in the middle of a book tour, while still maintaining the normal blog schedule and answering questions..wowza. 

When I found out they were coming to Toronto I was super excited!!! And the location was right down the street from me at a local West Elm. Huzzah! So I dragged Mike along and after a long line up process this happened....

Mini Blogger with Real Life Impressive Bloggers

The signing started at 6, so we got there at 4:30 and there was no line, so we went to grab Starbucks, and then went back in and there was a huge line up! We waited patiently and made some friends in line, then around 6 John and Sherry came out to sign. After waiting our turn we got our chance to say hi, and get their awesome book signed. 

Everyone had to make a little note of what we wanted them to say to speed up the process. I made them do a mad lib-esqe note. They laughed and took a photo of it...maybe I will be included in the highlights from Toronto tour!!!!

Hammering the Wall :)

They were super sweet and nice, and the best part was we got to the desk and Sherry says "Hi I'm Sherry" and then kind of caught herself and said "oh but I guess you know that". It was hilarious and just showed how humble they are. They also asked what the deal with Mike and I was because it must of been serious if he waited in line for that long. Mike is a good sport with these kind of things, and is a little bit of a DIY/home improvement nerd too!

The book looks like it is going to be full of awesome ideas and projects, and now I am going to be completely distracted reading through it for the next little while! 

The weird thing is I am not a fangirl by any stretch. I would probably not ask actors or actresses for autographs, and wouldn't go see an author do a book signing, but when you read about these people's lives every day it is different. Another blogger described it as meeting a pen-pal. Of course they have no idea who I am, so that makes it weird, but still it was a neat experience to get to meet them!

If you could meet another blogger who would it be??? Who would you wait in line for 2+ hrs to see??

Happy Halloween and Fall Things!

Whats new blog friends? Happy Time Change and Belated Halloween!

I love Halloween so much! I love the costumes, the candy, the spookiness. I also love that it has become a month long event.

Starting the first weekend of October with going to Halloween Haunt put me in the Spooky mood early on. Then last weekend I was babysitting my cousins and got to take them to a fall fair with a haunted maze. Awesome.

On actual Halloween day I had a big presentation at work so I couldn’t wear a costume but I did do the whole presentation with Halloween themed earrings in. Mike (because he still goes to school where they do fun things) got to compete in a pumpkin carving contest and made a Portal inspired pumpkin. He got 3^rd place and a free sweater!

Good Job Mike!!

Halloween night I took my cousin out trick or treating. Some of the houses we went to were amazingly decorated..with fog machines, and ghosts in trees. Very spooky. It also helped that it was dark and rainy. The funniest thing that happened was that we went to one house and I noticed all the adults were going up to the door too. I was like aww that’s nice they are giving candy to the grown ups. Then when I got up to the door, the lady asked me “Brandy or Scotch.” She was giving out DRINKS!! Hilarious! After a successful round of trick-or-treating, we went back to my Aunt and Uncle’s house, and ate Thai food and Candy...and so much Candy!

Yesterday a group of use went to a Halloween party, and we were dressed as the characters from Mad Men. A quick trip to value village (and copious amounts of hair gel/spray) resulted in this:

Cigarettes are fake..drinks are not :)

Not too shabby!!

My other friends dressed as salt and pepper, they were super cute! It was a good party!!

In other news..I am loving the time change right now. I got all my Sunday night chores done early and the extra hour meant I time to blog. I won't love it when it is dark every day when I come home from work, but for now I will take it!

Since it is well past harvest season for Ontario, our fresh city farm box has turned more "wintery". Lots of beets and kale. Last weekend I used up some of the other veggies and made a delicious Arugula and Grilled Pear salad with goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette..because I was bored (?). 

Ooo Fancy

The balsamic vinaigrette was 5 parts oil, 3 parts vinegar, and it was a great mixture for a lighter dressing. 

Tonight I made a soup (sans recipe) from veggies in the fridge that needed to be used. 

Soup!

I sauted some onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and diced tomatos. Next I added chicken broth and let it simmer for 20 minutes. After I added some leftover rice, a can of black beans, and a whole bunch of swiss chard. I wanted it to have a more tomato paste taste but didn't have any so I added half of a can of pizza sauce! Did the trick! Now I have a nice warm soup to get me through the week!!

What were you for halloween? What did you do with your extra hour today?

Life in Food Pictures

Hello Blog Readers

My life has become a little crazy whirlwind of work/tutoring/gym/life etc.

And because food is a key aspect of my life I will  summarize it in food pictures!!

Since tutoring has taken over my (and Mike’s) free time, we are trying to do all of our food prep on one day. Two weeks ago that was on Tuesday when I went to Costco/did groceries/ made supper/ and made all of this deliciousness to use up the food from Fresh city farm.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

Bean and Swiss Chard Soup

Ground Cherry Chutney

On Thanksgiving weekend I had a nice surprise visit from my friend Lynsey from Halifax. We hit up Canada’s wonderland for Halloween Haunt. I think because it was the first day (long way from Halloween) the line ups were non-existent. It was amazing! We did every single ride we wanted to do, and did all the scary mazes. We also had the obligatory funnel cake..it was amazing!

We also made a baby thanksgiving dinner: Roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, carrots, cranberry sauce and stove top stuffing. All the veggies in this meal were from fresh city farms (Organic non-processed aspect was ruined by stove top stuffing…but it was delicious!)

Chicken Dinner! 

For dessert Lynsey (who is a baker, unlike me) suggested we make Pumpkin Pie Cheese Cake. Due to the lack of canned pumpkin we made it from scratch! Cooked a pumpkin..mashed it in a food processer, had real whipping cream, and cream cheese and the result was amazing mini pumpkin cheesecakes.

I was thoroughly impressed!

After Lynsey went back to Halifax (sad face) I spend the rest of the weekend getting caught up on tv shows and trying to get prepared for  the week.

I say trying because I have no idea what happened. I felt so behind last week (even though it was short). This weekend Mike and I put a solid effort into having everything ready to go for the week. While Mike did 4 hours of ironing (worlds worst washer/dryer..Gah!), I spent some quality time in the kitchen.

I made chicken stock, cut and washed all the kale (so much kale!!), cooked a whole bunch of squash, and made an amazing pasta and steak dinner (it was too delicious to photograph!)

Then I had to do all the dishes, and make lunches.

But after a solid afternoon/evening of all that work I can happily report that all of our laundry is done, the meals for the week are 85% complete, and the apartment is clean!

Not only that but this weekend I went to see Argo (highly recommend it!), went to a Marlies hockey game, hit up the gym, hung out with friends, and watched some True Blood.

Whew. There needs to be more days on the weekend!!

Anyone else see Argo? Anyone else think it is normal to do four hours of ironing??

PS Follow me on Pinterest for Lots of Food Pictures!

My First Burrito..and a 5 km run

This weekend I ate my first Burrito and ran my first full 5km. They are totally related.

On Saturday it was Nuit Blanche in Toronto and we went out to enjoy the art and culture. It ended with  a ton of drunk teenagers at Young and Dundas Square. Best part of the night though was the food trucks. We hit up Gourmet Gringos, and I was hesitant (but also starving) because I am not a big bean fan, so I never had eaten a burrito. I know, this is crazy crazy fact. But then I ated it. And it was so GOOD! It was also ginormous. Now I want a burrito bad.

Anywoo that is totally not the point of that first line.
On Sunday after eating the aforementioned delicious Burrito, I got up SUPER early, and went to Run for the Cure. As I mentioned in this post, since I didn't run the full 5 km last year, I really really wanted to do the 5 km non-stop.

So I did continue with my walk/run training, but I ran out of time to complete the full thing, so on last Tuesday, I did 20 minutes non stop, and that was all I had time for. So I was pretty scurred I wasn't going to meet my goal.

Sunday was a gorgeous day, not at all like last year. I also had a team with me! Some work EITs joined in, some were intense runners, others were like me, trying a 5 km run for personal firsts. Mike was doing the run too!

Nice Sunny Run for the Cure

We lined up with the 15,000 other people doing the race, and once again started timing only at the start line and where we actually started running. 

So many people!

After we started running I was feeling really good! I was going a bit too slow for Mike so he went on without me, so I did the run with a friend at first, then I went off on my own (with the 100s of people at my pace). As I was passing the km marks I was remembering to last year when I stopped running at 2km, then couldn't run the 3-4 km mark etc. etc. And then I realized I was running past all of the marks. 

I was running a full 5 km. I was meeting a goal that I set almost 1.5 years ago. And that was pretty cool. 

I crossed at just under 33 minutes, so that means I had a pace at around 9.1 km/hr, not too shabby at all. 

And the best part, was I kind of want to do it again!! I will actually stick with running until it gets too cold, and my friend and I have agreed to try a 10 km in the spring. 

I think I had success because of the Burrito :)

Mmm Burrito. 

Anyone else try/do anything new this weekend? Anyone else craving Burritos?

Getting Organized for the Week

Recently, work and life (aka tutoring) have picked up so I have been busy for the past couple of weeks (a couple of 12 hr days at work followed by tutoring..yay!). 

I wanted to get back into the habit of going to the gym in September, then I hit a wall...literally. I accidentally moved too far over in the parking garage at my apartment to let a car by, and then scraped my car on one of the columns. Parking garage fail. Anyway that meant the car was in the shop for the 1st week, and that added a fun transit ride to my already busy schedule. Good news was I got a good deal on the repairs and got my car back in 4 days. (If anyone in the Toronto area needs car body work done...highly recommend Perfect Parts on Dundas St!!)

The next week I did make it to Body Pump!! It was the first time in sooo long since I went and for all of last week I was still feeling the squat track. Can't wait until I go again. I was planning to hit the gym/jog more but work got crazy busy, and then this weekend I got sick. Blech. I went 18 months without getting sick and so far in September I have had an allergy attack (yay ragweed) and then a minor cold..nothing major, but convientantly (I guess?) on the weekends. 

So today as I gear up for yet another crazy busy week, I wanted to let you in on a "typical" Sunday routine in our itty bitty condo:

1.Finish chores: I dealt with Laundry, Mike cleaned the bathroom (fair trade me thinks!)

2.Planned out our meals for the week, and ran to get a few groceries. We consider when planning meals that most of the time we come home from work/tutoring late, so we live on leftovers! 

3. Did meal prep for all of those meals:

Beets, Zucchini,  Romaine Lettuce, Beet Greens, Kale Salad..etc.

 This meal prep/making lunches the night before is the only way for us to be prepared to eat healthy!

4. I did something extra tonight..I have some big meetings at work this week so I figured it would be good (and fun) to plan my outfits:

Lots of blues and pencil skirts..that is how I roll. (Sorry for the bad phone pic)

I even got to dig through some old stuff to accessorize. I recently started reading a blog Putting Me Together, and the chicky on that blog has really inspired me to, well put myself together. I would like to think that I look professional for work, but my accessorizing was limited...so it is new project time!

Doing all that prep work, and looking over my calender and making a to-do list is one way that I can calm any stress before any extra busy week. A delicious cup of Chamomile tea also helps!

Nom Nom!

Anyone else have any Sunday routines? Anyone else eat as many beets as I do??

Restaurant Resistance

Happy Sunday night readers!

I am getting geared up to go back to work after another great weekend. The weekend was pretty chill, but did involve a Sunset Canoe adventure to Toronto Island with Mike on Friday (Groupons are awesome)

I love the Islands!

There was also a free Rugby game on Saturday, and my first hot coffee beverage since spring..it was chilly!!

With the "back to school" restart mode the other thing that Mike and I  were talking about recently was money..and saving money!! Mike and I are big on budgeting and don't splurge too much, but I think summer just lends itself to spending more (patios, shopping, fun activities..Canada's Wonderland..etc.)

One thing that I still feel I spend way too much money on is eating out. It is so easy to do in Toronto and as Gail Vaz Oxlade once said, people in general eat out way too much. Back in the day, people would get together and have dinner parties and potlucks, and a restaurant was a big fancy smancy event, but now people (including me) eat out all the time!!

So that all being said, one way to cut back on going out to restaurants is to make restaurant inspired food at home!

Last week I had a bunch of veggies that needed to be used up from my Fresh City Farm box. And I was craving Thai food (I crave Thai food at all time..lets be serious). So a catch-all veggie/tofu curry was born.

At home Thai!

I loosely followed the recipe from this website, but made some few changes. I doubled the recipe to make lots of leftovers. 

First I brought 1 can of coconut milk, and 2 cups of homemade veggie stock to a light boil (while stirring). The funny thing was the veggie stock had some beets involved so at this point it was a nice pink colour. 

Next I added some cauliflower, green pepper a pre-cooked sweet potato. I let that cook for a 5-8 minutes, and then added the spices, ginger, tumeric, curry, garlic, chili etc. Let it cook for 3 more minutes, then I added the drained tofu. I served it over rice.

This dish gave me what I was craving, but was super easy and way cheaper than going out to a restaurant! 

Tonight we were craving restaurant nachos. So Mike took over and made baked nachos with chicken. (Ate it too fast to take a picture..oops!) They tasted just like a restaurant, but was once again cheap and fast, and was most likely healthier. Yay! 

Any other simple restaurant inspired meals? Anyone else want Thai food all the time?

September Equals Running

And it is September. Holy Cow the time sure does fly. 

Even though it is September I am not jumping on the "end of summer" train. Yes the days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler, and the geese poop is everywhere...BUT I refuse to say "Oh summer is over"...hells no. That all being said, I love September, especially since I am no longer in School. The weather is perfect for outdoor exercise (minus the ragweed allergies kicking up), and most importantly September seems like a fresh start. 

To backtrack, just like June and July, August was full to the brim. I had my trip back to the Maritimes the first week, followed by a family get together for my Grandpa's 80th bday. Next was a big weekend with the friends that involved Canada's Wonderland, and actually going out in Toronto to a real life club. The weekend after that was a trip to Stratford to see 42nd street with my grandparents, and Mud run (more later). 

Since September is my "fresh start" I am trying to get back into exercising. I have a few specific fitness goals, and I feel really good about meeting them. I have also gotten back into running which is the main topic of this post. September to me still reminds me of high school soccer days, and it is my favourite time of year to jog. 

I got a head start by signing up for Mud Run on August 25th with two other girlies from work. Mud Run is a 6km obstacle race involving...mud. Lots of mud. This event was amazing and we finished in 1hr, not to bad! I was personally impressed with how I didn't feel as dead as I expected after the whole thing. 

So much mud, yet so much fun.

Having this run scheduled gave me motivation to get back into running. I pretty much stopped after my 5 km last year. So on the August long weekend I went for my first attempt at an outdoor jog. It was a horrible fail I ran maybe 3 minutes and felt like I couldn't breathe. But then something changed. 

For the longest time I was trying to run by distance "ok I will go to the next lamp post, the next sign" and that just doesn't work for me. So I decided to look up the Couch to 5km work out. I used that is inspiration to make my own one. For some reason I thought the first attempt should be Run 8 min, Walk 5, Run 2, Walk 3, then Run 1 alternate Walk 1 for 16 mins. 

And then I did it. 

For me, having the timer counting down makes it that much more bearable. It also helps me pace which I was really bad at. The next week I did 10 run, walk 5, run 5, walk 3, run 4, walk 2, run 3. So I suddenly went to running 2 minutes maybe to a total run time of 22 minutes!! The next week I went trail running and did run 12, walk 4, run 6, walk 4, run 6 and could have ran for longer!! Then it was the mud run, then I got sick, so running got put on hold. 

This weekend I went out on Sunday and did a 14 min run, and then walked for 20 mins (due to the stuffy nose), but then I went to the gym to do back and arms for the first time in a long time! Monday I went on a 16km roller-blade with my friend Brittany. Then today, in the rain, I did 14 min run, 3 walk, 10 run, 10 walk, with sore roller-bladey legs. 

My goal is to do the same run as last year, run for the cure, and run the whole thing without stopping. I still have a month to train, and I am in a much better running place than last year so I think this is a totally doable goal. And the best part of all this I actually like running now. Being outside, feet and pavement, it is getting as calming as yoga. I am much more red after running than yoga but you get the idea. 

The point in all this is sometimes you just have to figure out what works for you. Distance based goals didn't work for me, but "ok 2 minutes left out of 14, you can do it" works wonders. 

Anyone else have running methods? Anyone else a lobster after a run?