Awww

You guys are all so sweet :) Thank you for your comments, honestly they all made me so happy. I'll be reading up on all of your blogs very soon!! In the meantime though, I shall reward you all with PUPPY PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's my mom with two of the little darlings... The puppy is really for her, since all of her children will be out of the house come September! Our old sheltie used to follow her around the house everywhere, I think she misses having a cute furry shadow :)

There were 8 puppies, all 4 weeks old, which explains the crappy picture quality- who wants to focus on taking a good picture when there are puppies to be played with?!?

We will be taking a boy puppy home at the end of the month :)

In non-puppy (read: less interesting) news, I've been debating whether I should start posting my meals... As I mentioned in my last post, I've got a couple o' winter hibernation pounds to lose. I've been veering into overdrive snack territory, and taking pictures of what I'm eating will certainly cause me to focus more on meals and be more conscious of what I'm eating. It could also be kind of interesting, since my lifestyle right now is ultimate girl-on-the-run: I'm working two jobs, (clocking at most 60 hours a week), studying for an exemption exam to take at the beginning of august, and apartment hunting (you people must think I'm crazy for moving so often! haha). Oh, and did I mention that the only cooking apparatuses I currently have access to are a George Foreman grill and a microwave? If I can meet my healthy living goals, then ANYONE can :)

Anyway, I'm going to give this idea a bit more thought and maybe try posting my meals for the next week just to see how it goes. Thanks to all of you again for sticking around, I love hearing from you and even if I'm not commenting on your blogs please know that I am definitely reading :)

Is Anybody Still Out There...?

Wow it has been waaaayyy too long since I last posted. I have been lurking on all of your blogs, just not keeping up with my own! This month has been crazy, and that's an understatement. Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong, and I'm still feeling like I haven't gotten my feet under me yet. I apologize for the extreme vague-ness (am I making up words here?) but I would just prefer not to discuss and look forward instead. I'm trying to be positive but I'm really not a natural optimist- no time like the present to learn, I suppose :) I've also realized that I haven't been taking very good care of myself lately, both in terms of my eating habits and exercise. My health has always been a top priority, but lately I've been indulging in cupcakes and handfulls of trans-fat laden chips and crackers and other junk that I know just isn't worth it. When I feel good, I'm good to myself, but when I don't....Well, it's not pretty. I need to kick my bad habits and get back to the good ones. I've also gained 5 pounds or so in the last few months- nothing major, just a signal that I need to step back and change some things about my lifestyle. Sorry for such a downer post! I will definitely be posting more often now because I have seen how supportive the blogging community can be and I'm thinking this healthy living overhaul I'm going to make needs some of that support :)

Ok I can't make this all negative- my family is getting a puppy in 4 weeks!!!!! Our sheltie Tinkerbell died in January and we were all just so heartbroken... But we are getting a little baby boy sheltie puppy :) I went to visit him last night and there were 8 puppies in total and it was just the cutest scene ever!!! I'll post pics as soon as I get some!

All Grown Up & Graduated

I was so happy to have sun for Graduation Day! It was held in a huge tent on campus and was such an amazing experience....I can't believe it's done though, those four years went by way too fast. I just wanted to share a couple of pics from the day- here I am, on the right, with my sister Allison. She graduates from High School this June! I can't believe how old she is now.

With the parents
My amazing boyfriend :)

Here the photoshoot started to get a little out of hand. In an effort to keep things interesting, someone suggested I try climbling the tree. Hint for anyone wondering- 3-inch heels and tree climbing do not mix.
I moved again today! At least I'll be in this apartment for 3 months instead of just one so I can get a little more settled. I should be back to cooking within a few days :)

Tag!

Oooh Monica tagged me so I guess that means I'm it.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Let's see...5 things about me....
1. I played a ridiculous number of sports as a kid. I started off with soccer when I was five, and since then I have played competitive basketball, figure skating, track and field / cross country, swimming, hockey... I was even lucky enough to have multiple sport practice sessions the same day. Like 6am skating and then 4pm basketball followed by 7pm soccer. No wonder I could eat whatever the heck I wanted :)

2. I was "discovered" and did some modelling for a bit. This is funny because I'm 5'1". It was all stock photography, as in I could be the face of some bank's new student credit card. I'll be sure to let you all know if such fame ensues.

3. I'm very indecisive. I graduated from University with a BA in English Lit and Econ, but along the way I toyed with plans to become an Architect, a Registered Dietitian, a Doctor (ok a Brain Surgeon), or a Journalist. Needless to say, I drove my parents nuts.

4. I'm scared of everything. When I was younger I would throw a blanket over my head and plug my ears while "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was on because I was scared. My 5-years-younger sister would sit there laughing at me. I also slept in her bedroom, on the floor, every night for a week after watching "The Exorcist". She thought that was pretty funny too.

5. I'm a bit of a snob about my chocolate. Hershey's tastes like plastic.

Now I get to tag 5 people.. I'm sure everyone has already been "tagged" before so if you don't feel like doing it it's ok, my feelings won't be hurt :) haha

Miss Ruby Red at Ruby Red Vegan
Carmen at The Oatmeal Experiment
Kelly T at Every Gym's Nightmare
Melissa at Melissa's Journey (I'm cheating here because I totally saw she just did it so I'm getting in on that tag)
Tina at Carrots and Cake

Stop the Presses!

Just imagine the happy dance I did when I found this:

It's a CHOCOLATE COFFEE Larabar!!!!! My two absolute favourite flavours smooshed together into one amazing bar. And it tastes delicious. Rich, thick texture, and just a hint of coffee taste that isn't bitter in the least. Definitely my favourite Larabar ever, and I've tried nearly all of them now. I kept checking the label as I was eating this, as if somehow the all-natural ingredient list of dates, walnuts, hazelnuts, cocoa mass, cocoa powder, cashews, coffee would change to sugar, glucose-fructose, HFCS, butter, death, destruction.... Ok I exaggerate but seriously this tastes unbelievable, the next time I'm craving a brownie I know what I'll be reaching for :)

And another fun find for the day! Almond hazelnut butter. It tastes like plain almond butter at first, and then there's a hint of something vaguely nutella-like but without the chocolate. (Obviously the hazelnuts lol). I really liked it! I don't know if it can topple the reign of peanut butter, but it sure is a delicious alternative.

Back to the jobhunt, enjoy your humpday everyone!

Saturday Morning Pancakes and Other Musings

I woke up this morning craving pancakes. It was kind of an odd feeling- usually, I find pancakes too heavy and they tend to send me back into my warm bed instead of energized and out the door. But today my tummy demanded pancakes, no substitutes. I was worried that my increasingly sparse pantry might fail me in my breakfast quest, that is, until I happened upon the easiest, tastiest pancake recipe ever. Hannah is brilliant! (But we all know that already). I pretty much stuck to her recipe, except that I cut it in half, using part white pastry flour and part whole wheat. I also added a touch of vanilla extract, and had to sub in water mixed with some instant hot chocolate mix because I was all out of soymilk (desperate times, folks. I told you my pantry was bare). I used mashed banana as my fruit puree, left out the oil, and of course tossed in a handful of chocolate chips. And wow, what a pancake! Deliciously light yet perfectly filling, this little guy hit the spot. I chopped up the rest of my banana then cooked it in some cinnamon sugar as a side, and paired with some maple syrup this breakfast was nothing short of amazing. Make these pancakes!!! Now!!! You will NOT be disappointed :)


...Now back to the grill!!!! I have been grilling up a storm- no fruit or veggie is safe, I shall grill them all!! (Insert evil megalomaniac laugh here).
Last night's salad contained:
-Spinach and Romaine lettuce (ungrilled, unfortunately. Fortunately?)
-half of a grilled salmon burger
-grilled Pineapple
-grilled Baby Carrots
-grilled snowpeas
-grilled Tomato slices
-sundried tomatoes
-parmesan and goat cheese
-soy sauce/ honey/ red pepper flake/ five spice sauce dressing mixture


The grilled tomatoes especially came out sooo good! I even got grill marks on mine, though you can’t really tell in the picture because I proceeded to drown them in a shower of parmesan. The cheese melted into the hot tomato and it soaked up a lot of dressing and was so incredibly flavourful. I am now a firm believer that veggies are meant to be eaten after grilling- the carrots and snowpeas were so crunchy and tasty!

Pineapple was the real star in this dish, though I can’t take credit for that one. The roomie marinated pineapple halves in rum and brown sugar and then barbequed them at her parents’ place a few days ago. They developed a deliciously crispy, slightly charred crust and got even sweeter, if that’s possible. The combination of pineapple with the goat cheese and salmon was unbelievable.

Pictured below is tonight's grilled veggies delight, pretty much the same as last night's except without tomato or parm. I added in deli turkey and used raspberry flavoured balsamic vinegar for a dressing. Mmmm soo delicious :)

It was such a beautiful day today, so I chose to spend as much time as possible outside, walking. I discovered a couple of goodies along the way:

...And this. By far the BEST coffee-flavoured yogurt I have ever tried. Not too bitter and not too sweet, but creamy beyond any other. I loved it and have already gone through half the container. Oops.

My grocery finds tasted amazing together too, in case you were wondering :)

Have a happy Saturday night! I'm watching The Godfather for the first time (shame on me I know, I haven't seen any of those classic "must see" movies) and then tomorrow night I think I'm getting together with some friends to have an Italian-themed potluck while we watch more Godfather!

It's Official

...Everything tastes better grilled!

My roomie-for-the-month (that's right, I'm moving AGAIN come June 1st) let me play with her grill and let's just say that I've found a new love. I'm grilling everything. Seriously. My delicious treat was inspired by this recipe on Katie's blog, which definitely deserves the 'Sandwich of Dreams' title! Anyway, on to the food- I took half of a whole wheat pita, spread the inside with peanut butter, cinnamon sugar, and a touch of blueberry jam, then sliced up half a banana and put that and some raisins in there too. I grilled it for a few minutes (I couldn't wait any longer than that) and was rewarded with melty sweet banana peanut butter goodness! Oh my. Don't make the same mistake I did though and take a huge bite right away- grilled banana chunks get hot!

TGIF- Have a great weekend everyone!