Good evening! Hope you're having a great Tuesday!

Just wanted to share a funny read courtesy of Strange Funny World, in case you didn't get that ab workout in today:)
Enjoy!

How Do You Decide Who To Marry (Written By Kids)
A group of young kids were asked how to decide who to marry and here are the results which are pretty amusing.

1) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
- Alan, age 10

(2) No person really decides before they grow up who they’re going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you’re stuck with.
- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
(1) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
- Camille, age 10

(2) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married.
- Freddie, age 6 (very wise for his age)

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

(1) You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

(1) Both don’t want any more kids.
- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

(1) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
- Lynnette, age 8 (isn’t she a treasure)

(2) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that Usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
- Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

(1) I’d run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
-Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

(1) When they’re rich.
- Pam, age 7

(2) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t want to mess with that.
- Curt, age 7

(3) The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It’s the right thing to do.
- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

(1) I don’t know which is better, but I’ll tell you one thing. I’m never going to have sex with my wife. I don’t want to be all grossed out.
- Theodore, age 8

(2) It’s better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?

(1) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there?
- Kelvin, age 8

And the #1 Favorite is……..

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

(1) Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.
- Ricky, age 10


Question
Which answer was your favorite?
-- Definitely the last one for me!

Have a great night!

Hi Everyone! I hope you had an excellent weekend! 

Did you all watch the Super Bowl? We went to a party that was definitely equally, if not more, about the food -- so many delicious dishes! I hope you all indulged a little bit and had a great time -- I know we did! Homemade NY Cheesecake? Yes please! :)

The Mr & I had to work yesterday, so we have today off to make up for it -- not too bad of a deal if you ask me! We were able to sleep in (and sleep off a bit of that extra food...) before heading to the gym to try out a new (to us) workout.


Insanity 

Have you ever heard of the Insanity Workout? I was vaguely familiar with it, but didn't really know any of the details until it was featured in the current issue of Self Magazine. There is an article, as well as a short workout of the creator's favorite six moves in a circuit format. There are also tear out cards to throw in your gym bag for reference, and the online article has video demonstrations of the moves, which I always find so helpful! Plus, the plyometric based workout doesn't require any equipment, which is always a great option to have in your workout repertoire -- you can do this anywhere!

The Workout
Basically you perform the six moves for one minute each with no break, resting for a minute after you've finished all six. Go through the set three times for a 20 minute workout.

The Verdict
Oh. My. Goodness.
This was definitely one of the most difficult workouts both of us had ever tried. Even in our first round of the moves, doing them for a minute straight was pretty much impossible. We were both breathing as though we had been sprinting, not working out for 5 minutes... What a challenge! Even though the moves are all lower body based, we both felt that our entire bodies were exhausted after. A very good thing for a 20 minute workout!

You can check out the moves here if you're interested in a really challenging plyometric workout. We're going to keep at it and see if we can build up our tolerance, and hopefully someday we'll be able to make it all the way through without wanting to hurl... :)

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Questions
-- What did you think of the Super Bowl half-time show? 
     I thought it was better than the last few years, but I really prefer when the performers actually perform live -- I'm so not a fan of lip syncing! I'm also not a big fan of Madonna's new song, but I'm glad she performed a bunch of older hits!
-- What's the toughest new workout you've tried lately?
     I'm feeling like switching things up lately -- send me your ideas!

Cheers!

It's finally here! We made it!

In celebration of Friday's honor, I present to you some Friday Fun:

• If you are hosting or attending a Super Bowl party this weekend, please try to refrain from being one of these Most Annoying Super Bowl Party Guests.  I don't know if your friends are anything like mine, but I think I've got all of these characters covered :) But we love them anyway!
• Speaking of the Super Bowl, if I had time I'd make these, these, these, and probably this to bring to the party. Sadly, I don't think it's going to happen. Which one to choose???
• We received our Organic Produce Delivery this morning, which is super awesome! Not so awesome? I had to answer the door in my pajamas... and I was wearing a onesie. True Story.
• I'm totally obsessed with things that Mr & Mrs monogrammed on them... But hey, we're still newlyweds, so it's ok right? I'm particularly digging these, these, these, and these, just to name a few... Thanks for sucking me in Etsy! :)

Well I think that's about it! 

Question:
What are your weekend plans?
-- I have a baby shower to attend tomorrow (and a gift yet to wrap...), a concert to play on Sunday, and a Super Bowl party to hit up Sunday night. And hopefully some workouts and relaxing somewhere in there...

Happy Weekend!

It's been pretty quiet on the fitness front this week. Shin pain + busy work week =  hanging up the ol' running shoes. Even if they are the beautiful Limited Edition Mizuno Wave Rider 15's...

I know my legs need rest, but it's hard to do sometimes! Tomorrow the Mr & I are going to try a Tabata strength workout, as long as my legs feel ok -- finger's crossed!


Story of the Week:
We've had a very unlucky week with our car. It started last week when a pretty bad ice storm finally prompted the Mr to clean out the garage enough to fit the car in there -- it took so long to scrape the ice off of the car in the morning that we were about 30 minutes late for work...whoops! 
The next day we were driving home from the grocery store (it's only about 3 minutes from our house) and the car started making a strange sound & shaking.... We got it home into the driveway, only to realize that we had a completely flat tire. Not good.
It's later in the evening at this point, so there's nothing we can do about the tire until the next day. So, while backing the car into our very skinny garage for the night, and spinning the tires on a bit of ice in the driveway, the driver's side mirror had a little altercation with the wall....and was ripped off. Sigh. The next day, we repaired the tire (the seal between the tire & rim had come undone) and bought a new side mirror. 
You'd think that would be enough car trouble for one week, but wait, there's more!
Yesterday afternoon we were once again leaving the grocery store, when we were once again greeted by a strange noise coming from the car. It sort of sounded like snow caught in the wheel wells, so we didn't think too much of it. Cut to a few hours later (after dinner), when the Mr is driving me to my gig, and all of a sudden the car starts shaking / making this weird thumping sound.... He manages to get me to work, and get the car back home, and calls to set up a tow for first thing this morning.
It turns out that the rim that had caused the flat tire in the first place was so corroded that the lug nuts were coming off, and the tire was literally falling off of the car! Great, huh?
A set of new rims later, and hopefully the story of our horrible car week is over -- knock on wood!

Questions:
-- Have you ever dealt with running pain / injury? What did you do for exercise while you couldn't run?
-- Have you ever had a string of bad luck with your car? Or with anything else?

Have a great night! Remember, it's almost the weekend!

In case you need a laugh to get you through Hump Day... Enjoy!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I love my immersion blender. Love it!

This goes hand in hand with my love for pureed soups, which I know I've talked about -- it's definitely one of my favorite winter meals! While we do eat soup from a carton sometimes because of convenience, I prefer to make a big batch of my own soup to get us through the week. It really does taste better when it's homemade! 

So here's the newest addition to our soup rotation!

Sweet Potato, Carrot & Leek Soup

Ingredients:
- 3 Sweet Potatoes
- 3 Carrots
- 1 bunch Leeks
- Broth -- I used Chicken broth, but you could easily substitute it with whatever you have on hand
- Garlic
- Olive Oil
- Seasoning -- I use Mrs Dash

This soup is so easy to make: 
- Peel and chop your sweet potatoes, carrots and leeks
- Saute them in the bottom of a large soup pot with olive oil & seasoning
- Once they begin to soften, add just enough broth to completely cover your vegetables
- Bring to a boil uncovered, then reduce to a simmer and cover
- Once the veggies are soft (can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on your stove), remove the pot from heat and puree using your Immersion Blender (you could also use a regular blender if you don't have an immersion blender, but be sure to do just a little bit at a time)

And that's it! So simple! If you're feeling decadent, you could also add a small (or large....) amount of cream to the soup, although I think it's tastes just fine without it.

Enjoy!

Do you have an immersion blender?
What is your favorite kind of pureed soup?

Hope you're having a great day!

Happy Monday folks! 

Hope you made it through the most difficult work day (in my opinion) without too much stress! I always find that the thought of Monday is so awful, but once it's over, the week seems much less daunting. Is that weird?

On to some eats!

Since we first started receiving our organic vegetable delivery, we've noticed that every once in a while we end up with a bunch of veggies that need to get used up ASAP. Our method of choice? Enter the Stir fry!

For me, this is the easiest way to use up veggies that may be on their last leg. For this stir fry, I chopped up all the veg I had on hand (cauliflower, celery, carrot, yellow & green pepper). I threw them all in a pan with some olive oil and seasoning, and cooked them for a few minutes -- just long enough to heat them through & soften them slightly. I really like my veggies to stay crisp, not get soft/mushy. I added in some lean turkey meatballs that had been cooked previously and just needed to heat through, and mixed the whole lot together with some Thai stir fry sauce. Serve over brown rice, et voila!

This was a really easy & delicious meal, and honestly, it was just as good as a lot of restaurant stir fry's I've had. It felt like eating out, and was a fraction of the cost -- Win-Win!


What's your favorite way to use up your vegetables?
What's your favorite & least favorite day of the work week?

Have a great night!

Well, after a very busy work week (which didn't end until about 11pm Friday night -- yuck!), the weekend was certainly a more than welcome sight! Did anyone else feel like this past week was a doozy? And to make it worse, I this coming week looks like a repeat of last week, and then some... ilovemyjob.ilovemyjob.ilovemyjob....  :)

Anyway, enough with the whining, and on to more fun things! Weekend Things to be exact!

• I've given in, and jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon -- it's sooooo addicting! I love looking at other people's boards, and having a place to keep track of all those things I come across online and want to be able to find again. So much cool stuff! Click on the link to check out my page, and add me if you Pin too!
• Ever heard of Polyvore? It's new to me, and it's the coolest thing! In addition to lots of neat fashion info, you can go to this page and create your own outfits -- you just drag and drop clothes, shoes, accessories, etc, to the blank canvas until you've finished your masterpiece! And then Pin it to your Pinterest board... :) So fun!
• I think these and these are so cute! I'm thinking of re-creating them in canvas format and putting them up as kitchen artwork. Looks like a trip to Michaels may be in order...  :)    I'll be sure to post about them if I follow through!
• Have you ever heard of Birch Box? It's this really cool concept where you get a box of high end beauty product samples in the mail each month. I was so excited to find them, but then so sad when I found out that they don't ship to Canada :(  Enter Loose Button and their Luxe Box! Same concept, different country :) For $12 a month, you get a fun package of "deluxe sized beauty products" delivered to your door. I should be getting my first box in February, so I'll be sure to post about the contents. So excited!
• And for a little dose of fitness, this is my favorite resource for cross training/strength exercises. It was my go-to info when I first started working out regularly a year ago. It's super helpful because it's categorized by body type, and has a work out routine that will help with your body type's trouble areas. It also has video demonstrations of each exercise so you can ensure that you learn how to do them with proper form, even if you're a complete beginner who doesn't know what proper form is. Personally, I had a hard time deciphering the right way to do exercises just from the one or two pictures that are often provided. Videos make things much easier!

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! Tell me some of your Weekend Things!
~Cheers!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend and are feeling rested for the week ahead! No? Yeah, me neither :)

So I braved the crowds once again at the Lululemon Warehouse Sale -- whew, that was more shopping than I normally do in months, all crammed into one weekend. But I got even better deals today than I did on Friday, so that makes it ok, right? :)

Since all of my energy today was used up doing a 10k run (my legs finally feel better, and actually they felt even better than normal -- Hooray!) and then shopping, I thought I'd save my brain from working overtime and fill out a survey that's been floating around the blog world.

Twenty Questions
1) What is one of your favorite ways to spend a Saturday?
-- Waking up naturally, without an alarm clock -- it's the best feeling!
-- Have a lazy breakfast with lots of good coffee
-- Go to the gym
-- Spend the rest of the day reading, watching a movie, etc

2) List your top three favorite TV shows:
-- Glee
-- The Biggest Loser
-- Friends
* I'm also really excited for the new show Smash that's starting soon, so it may work it's way into the top 3 :)

3) Would you rather be in pictures or take them?
I'm ok with both, although I'd love to have a really nice camera -- I think then my answer would be take them

4) Why do you blog?
I blog because it's a fun way to document life, and a great way to be part of an awesome online community.

5) Share five websites that you visit regularly…
-- Facebook
-- Perez Hilton
-- Blogs
-- The Weather Network
-- MSN.ca

6) If you could have lunch with one person from your Twitter list who would it be?
-- John Mayer

7) List a few of your favorite snacks.
-- LUNA Bars!
-- Apples & Peanut Butter
-- Raw Veggies
-- Nuts

8 ) Do you have a pet? If so, what kind?
-- A Mini Dachshund named Hali

9) Which three material possessions would you struggle to live without?
-- iPhone
-- MacBook
-- Car I guess?

10) What’s your favorite drink?
Lattes from Starbucks, particularly Gingerbread ones when they're available

11) Do you enjoy cooking?
I do! Cooking & baking are both really fun for me. I hope to continue to get better at both!

12) Do you have children?
No thank you.

13) What are your favorite hobbies?
-- Reading
-- Playing musical instruments (can it still be a hobby if it's your job?)
-- Running
-- Reading Blogs

14) Would you consider yourself to be shy or outgoing?
I can be both, in different situations, but probably more outgoing on a regular basis.

15) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?
My tendency to procrastinate.

16) Who is your favorite actor/actress?
Right now I really like Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone. Particularly together, in Crazy Stupid Love :)

17) What’s the coolest thing you’ve done this week?
Lululemon Warehouse Sale!

18) Do you live near your family or far from them?
Far -- I'm in Ontario, they're in Nova Scotia. But it's only an hour and a half flight!

19) List three of your talents.
-- Playing musical instruments
-- Playing Cranium
-- Playing trivia games 

20) What is your greatest attribute?
I'm stubborn, which some might not say is a great attribute, but I think it's great -- I always stick to what I think is right!

Well there you go! Tell me some of your answers to these questions!
Have a great night!

You may think from the title of this post that I engaged in some sort of crazy workout yesterday that left me tired and sore all over.

Not true.

What I actually did was attend the Lululemon warehouse sale -- that's pretty much the same right? ;)  Let me tell you, I might as well have done that crazy workout, because I'm pretty sure it would have felt the same! 
My feet are tired & achy, and my back feels like death, and all in the name of a good sale! :)

The whole experience took about 5 hours (wow, that seems like a long time now that I think about it...) which included waiting in line to get in, shopping, waiting in line to pay, and waiting in line to get our coats from coat check. Yeah, it was a lot of waiting in line. And a lot of standing, hence the sore back & feet. Luckily I wore comfortable shoes!

But, it was worth it, because there were some great prices! 

The Haul:

4 tanks & a pair of crops.
The tanks were about $20 off, and the crops were $45 off!

But the true deal of the day was this:

This beauty was originally $118, and yesterday they were practically giving them away for .... wait for it .... $39! I would have been happy if that was the only deal I found!

Anyway, yes, the whole process took a long time, but the staff were friendly and as well organized as they could have been for an event of this size. Rumor has it that the last day of the sale has some even crazier deals (ie. fit as many things as you can in a bag and pay a flat rate per bag), so my friends & I are contemplating a second round... if I can find it in myself to stand in lines for a few hours...again :)

Happy Weekend! Any big plans in your neck of the woods?
Cheers!