Buh-Bye Beans

www.harina.com

Alternative titles I considered for this post:

When Javier's Wife Got Really Grumpy & Crazy

The Day the Machine Went Silent

Anyone who's ever read this blog know how much I love my coffee. And last Christmas, my Javier presented me with my very own espresso maker. It was either that or buy our own coffee shop.

www.perrylakes.com

It's a thing of beauty and it's been used nearly everyday since I I opened the box. Sometimes, 2 or 3 times a day.

But at some point all good things must come to an end, especially those that aren't making you feel very good. I love my coffee so that feels good, but it makes my heart race and my hands shake and I know I'm a true addict.

So I had my last espresso latte two days ago. It was supposed to be last night but I accidently left my travel cup on the counter when I left for work last night. So, I'm officially 2 days off the bean and I was very grumpy today when I got up and I had a headache. I almost caved when I went to get my groceries but I must persevere.

This is how I'm trying to get through it.

Raw Epicurean

I'm (green) juicing my little heart out. I've been reading the books Crazy Sexy Diet & Detox 4 Women. Both authors extol the benefits of drinking green juice everyday. And I actually like the taste. Today's tasty concoction was made of carrots, cucumber, romaine, and lemon. Mmmm. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I did feel energized after I drank it. Javier & Lizzie think I'm nuts!

Her Cafe

I'm drinking lots of tea too. I drank 3 cups last night and only 1 of the had any caffeine in it. I just purchased a new peppermint herbal tea plus a pomegranate green tea to keep me going too. I know green tea has caffeine but I hope the reduced caffeine content will help me make it through the next few weeks.

And what will I do with my machine?

Cutest Food

Well, lattes can be made with herbal tea instead of coffee. I plan to do lots of experimenting, made with my favourite almond milk. Yum.

My Recipes

And Lizzie knows that I can make the BEST hot chocolate on the block, so no fear. My machine won't really be too quiet.

So all is good.

START the Insanity

By now I think I should just be buying stock in the Beach Body programs. I've already purchased (and completed at least one round of) Slim in 6, TurboFire, and Chalean Extreme.

Slim in 6 really kick started my whole fitness regime way back in May 2010 and since I started working out I really haven't been able to stop. I workout 5-7 days per week (perhaps a little less when I'm away on holidays) and it feels fantastic. I have to push myself some (okay lots of) days to get myself off the couch but I'm always happy when I'm finished.

Am I healthier than I was before? It's hard to say whether fitness has had a great impact on my health because I also changed my diet to approximately 60/40 plant-based diet (60% veg) back in the summer. I'm still tired lots but I work crazy amount of shifts every month as a nurse. But I do think I am not nearly as tired as I would be had I not decided to start exercising. And I'm not sick very often, though I've never really gotten many colds or flus.

I really love all these programs and recommend them to my friends who complain about not having time to work out. What's great about them is that they can be done at home with very little equipment aside from the free weights (or resistance bands). And they travel with me. I just shove the DVDs, my runners, and a couple of resistance bands into my suitcase and I've got an instant workout, should the inclination hit when I'm away.

I think the only downside to working out with DVDs is that they can get boring and repetitive after a while. As much as I love Chalean Johnson's TurboFire & Extreme programs, I get tired of the same old workouts. And I suppose it's good to switch things up a bit.

I purchase the Insanity Workout yesterday and started it today. I'm a bit nervous because some of the reviews talk about people puking part way through some of the workouts, but I'll just do what I can right? Plus I'm still going to down my strength workouts at least three times a week and a little yoga for some flexibility. (And I wonder where all my time goes.)

On your first day you do a Fit Test to establish a baseline to see your improvement in the following weeks. You repeat the Fit Test every two weeks thereafter.

Here are my results. Just to keep myself honest.

Switch Kicks - 30

Power Jacks - 56

Power Knees - 80

Power Jumps - 25

Globe Jumps - 6

Suicide Jumps - 7

Push-Up Jacks - 11

Low Plank Oblique - 40

I completely suck at push-ups and suicide jumps (which are basically burpees), so I definitely want to see some improvement there. I attribute my reps with the first 4 moves to working with TurboFire.

Tomorrow the real work starts.

Just a small disclaimer. I am not selling these products, nor do I get any commission for recommending them. I've paid for all the programs myself.

Changes

www.potpiegirl.com

This is kind of what I look like right now. I just spent 2 1/2 hours fixing up this old blog of mine, but she definitely needed an overhaul.

Any thoughts on the new look? Javier thinks "she" looks mad and I tend to agree but I'm tired and having trouble fixing her eyebrows in Photoshop Elements. Any advice from some more experienced photoshoppers?

Have a look a my links page. I've added a whole bunch of new blogs that are fantastic in addition to my "friends" from before. I forgot how wonderful the blogging world was and how completely diverse my interests are.

Off to bed...toodles.

I need an inoculation...

'Cuz I gots the Bieber Fever

Lizzie and I had a girl's night to see the Justin Bieber movie.

At risk of sound like a 100-year-old lady, he's a very talented young man, but he needs to hitch up the back of his jeans.

Miss Lizzie and I always scoff and switch the station when he comes on the radio, but I think now we may have to listen once in a while. Lizzie has already warned me that I'm not allowed to go around singing "baby, baby, baby, oh" too often.

Lizzie had a pleasing blush to her cheeks when we left the theatre. I think she caught the fever too!

Tina Fey knows how we both feel.

www.chartrigger.blogspot.com

Shameful (Partial) Tour of My Home

Welcome to my home.

I know what you are thinking. What could could possibly be shameful about your home?

Well, the honest truth is nothing is really shameful. It's just not decorated the right way.

I try. I certainly do. A few years ago (or was that just last year) I did some decorating when we were trying to sell our house. It's a beautiful house. Really, it is. It just is a bit more bland than I would like. Plus I hate our couch.

Meet our current living room. I've just now realized how crooked the pictures are. I'm sure they've just shifted somehow. It didn't have anything with not measuring properly before I hung them up!

The wall colour is BORING. Plain old tan. It's the colour we had the painters use when we first moved in and needed to rid the house of evil smoke residue right away. It was never meant to remain that colour, but time passes quickly and almost 6 years later it's still the same colour. Note the central orientation of the television. I'd love a way to hide it in plain sight.

I call this the "current" living room because this room will become the dining room/sitting room once my family room is completed. See here for pictures of that disaster.

Take the door on your right and you will enter the kitchen.

It's really not a bad kitchen, but I'm ready for a change. Standard builder's oak, dark tile everywhere, and dark sage green walls are not compatible with my current style. I'm dying to take a sledgehammer to all the tile and a paintbrush to the cupboard. There are so many bloggers out there painting their kitchens. Imagine this space brightened up with granite or Corian countertops, white paint, new hardware, and some subway tile. Hmm, putting away the dishes wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Sadly, there is absolutely no plan in the immediate future to make changes to this room. See what I mean about being 20 steps ahead of myself all the time. "Get back to my family room, girl", I must tell myself constantly.

Oh well, since we are doing a tour let's move on to the second. Continue straight at the top of the stairs to our spare bedroom. This is about as far down on the list of priorities as possible, but I'm still thinking about it.

Honestly we don't have guests very often so it's not a big deal to have an ugly spare room, but wouldn't it be better to have a pretty room rather than an ugly room. Frequently this room becomes a storage room for Lizzie's outgrown clothes and a place to set up the ironing board. I once misguidedly attempted to move the ironing board downstairs to the laundry room, but it's two floors away and the idea of running downstairs in our skivvies to iron a shirt in the morning is not a great one. And no, I don't do all my ironing at one time, which really would make sense.

Okay, let's move on to our bathroom. Please forgive the counter top clutter.

My realtor described this as the "spa bathroom". I agreed initially but now I describe it as boring. Beige, beige, beige. It tried to add colour with a curtain, but it's never really worked out for me.

Note the excessive use of beige tile. The previous owners of our house did a very thorough renovation with an excessive amount of tile. Not my first choice of flooring for every bedroom in the house. But it's one of those things I will live with for now.

So there you have it. My "shameful" rooms. And that isn't even all of it!

Great Valentine's Roadtrip of 2011

Javier & I typically don't celebrate Valentine's Day. The commercialism, and blah, blah, blah. We always gets a little something for Lizzie and I do like to decorate, when I have the time. For us though, we like to think everyday is Valentine's Day (ha, ha).

This year we desperately needed an escape for a few days. We tried to wait until Family Week (which is next week) so Lizzie could come along, but I booked too many work days so it turned into a couple's getaway instead.

Our first stop on Valentine's night was Calgary to Le Germain, a brand-new, ultra chic, fabulous boutique hotel in downtown Calgary.

hotels.com

It's a bit snowier in downtown Calgary than it was when this photo was taken. It was our first visit to this hotel and we were both very impressed. The drinks in the lobby lounge are divine, probably even more so because I was on some intense painkillers (more on that another day).

This bed was so comfortable I could have stayed there for days, but alas we had other places to visit. We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast and, after running a few errands (Javier: new shoes, me: stack of books, knitting, and jewellery store), we headed off to our ultimate destination - Banff!

Truthfully, I was kind of hoping that we'd run into this guy...

Melissa Brandt via cbc

...but I guess he's hibernating for the season.

Actually we didn't see any wildlife this trip, no deer, no bears, nothing. I see more on my way to work everyday. Seriously! I was almost late for work last week because three young deer were walking down middle of the street to the hospital and I couldn't drive around them!

In Banff, we stayed at the fairytale that is the Banff Springs Hotel.

The Fairmont Banff Springs via banff.com

This is my favourite hotel in the whole world! And to make it even better we were upgrade to a junior suite on the Gold Floor, which is the cat's meow, to me at least. What more could we ask for - a private concierge, complimentary breakfast and evening hors d'oeuvres, and a large comfortable room.

Ah yes, a view.

We stood at the window and watched the moon rise one evening.

Isn't this beautiful? It makes me happy even with the snow.

There were plenty of cozy places to curl up with a book. I would have taken a nap here had it not been in a public area.

Rocky-Peak.com

Swimming in the outdoor pool is another treat at the Banff Springs. It was especially magical when it was snowing.

We did venture out of the hotel a few times and trekked down to the village. It was cold, but with down coats and mittens, made for perfect hand-holding weather.

We napped, we read, we talked, but most just enjoyed one another's company. We all need to get away on our own sometimes, just to remind ourselves of why we fell in love, how fortunate we are to have found one another.

Happy Heart Day

Welcome to my half-"heart"ed attempt at Valentine's decor. I'm pretty sure I remember being a lot more enthusiastic about decorating last year.

I love this wreath. It was, of course, inspired by one I found on the internet somewhere. I can't even begin to locate the original source. Just know it wasn't my idea.

Javier and I don't really celebrate the holiday but I've always tried to make it a little special. Even if it involves running to Safeway at 8:00pm the night before. I remember seeing a cute little bee valentine, but alas, they were all sold out.

Miss Lizzie wanted some smarties but again, the selection was rather limited last evening. But I think Lindor chocolates are a good substitute. She agrees.

I blame work for distracting me from properly celebrating the holidays.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Okay, except for the green chair, a black garbage bag, and some magazines I need to sort through, Step #1 is complete. Now the truly hard part begins, trying to decide how to decorate the space.

Do I want to go with some colour on the walls? I've been living with tan walls for too long and I know they've got to be painted a new colour, but what?

Green is always nice. I like the white panelling detail. The wood trim in the room is in seriously bad shape so I'm considering going white anyway.

Better Homes & Gardens

Of course this pale gray is kind of nice too, with some turquoise accents?

1st option

I'm definitely all about bringing some colour into the room. Maybe these curtains would be nice?

Holly Mathis Interiors

And some art on the wall is definitely needed.

Holly Mathis Interiors

Now this is wonderful! I'm just not sure Javier or even Lizzie would go for the pink. But it's just so much fun and the six-year-old in me loves it.

Harlequin via House of Turquoise

More turquoise. Hmmm. I'm sensing a trend here. Maybe this is a bit too bold though. Plus I think Javier may resist the wallpaper. After all, I did almost break my neck falling off the top of the ladder when I was trying to move the original wallpaper from the room five years ago. But I can always dream, right?

Living Etc.

I've been in "love" with this room ever since I first saw in on Decor8blog. Again, just a few colourful accents. I could totally make that pillow. And I adore this style of couch.

1st option via decor8

And some more colourful curtains. I think I'm seeing another trend!

Emily A Clark

Oh, the agony of indecision. There is so much inspiration out in the blog world, how will I ever decide what to do?

Project #1 - The Den

This project is the one most pressing at this time & the one I want to work on the least...at least at this point. The trouble is I've already moved ahead about 15 steps in my mind and am busy picking out a new couch, wall paint, sanding the floors...

Meet step 1 - Empty out the room

As you can see I have made some progress. Items have come off the shelves and some boxes have been filled. Some sorting of items has taken place, but I'll be honest, there's a lot of procrastination happening. For example, I got up after having a cup of tea, determined to take boxes downstairs and instead, I'm writing a new blog post. Oliver is judging me as you can see from this photo.

When we first bought the house, I quite liked the built in shelves in the room. It was great for storing books when the piano was in the room. However, it quickly became a hold-all for various papers, magazines, etc. that I just wanted out of the kitchen. Because this room is going to be a tv room/den, the built ins are coming out so we can fit in a new entertainment unit.

This is the mess at the other end of the room. Too many boxes of books!

I love the chair in the corner, but I'm quickly realizing there might not be room for it in our reorganization. Oh well, it's done me well for a $5 flea market chair that I painted a few years ago.

Stay tuned for some of my den inspiration...

Below is a completely gratuitous photo of a gecko we met on our Hawaiian holiday in December.

Let me RE-introduce myself

Hello all.

It's been AGES since I've written. August 8th (yikes) was the date of my last post. It was warm. It was sunny. There were flowers in the back alley. Now it's just snow, snow, snow. But life is good.

To any of my original bloggy friends...I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you so.

And to any new readers...welcome. I hope you'll visit again soon.

As I said earlier, life is good, very good in fact. I've been busy, busy, busy at work. I finally was awarded a PERMANENT, parttime nursing position on the neonatal intensive care unit. I've been working casual for almost 2 years, picking up whatever shifts were offered because I never knew when I'd get shifts. However, this meant working close to full time every month and working a lot of really yucky shifts. Now I have a schedule and I hope to get my life back. I still love nursing though. It makes me happy to go to work, even if it is an 11:00 at night!

When I'm not working, I'm ferrying my 12-(soon to be 13)-year-old around to figureskating, school, and piano. She's a busy girl and it makes for a busy family. But I'd rather have my child involved in lots of activity rather than twiddling her thumbs at home. But it does cut into my creative time.

I still make time for crafting, my stitching is my constant companion rink-side and for slow periods at work. And I exercise a lot, 7 days in a good week, 5 days a week minimum. Plus, I'm still trying to eat healthy, so food planning & preparation takes up a lot of time. But I feel great!

So why haven't I written for a while and why am I writing now?

Well, I guess I lost my blog mojo for a while. Life didn't seem very exciting for a while, at least not blog-worthy. My days are pretty much all the same, involving eating, exercising, driving to a from school, skating rink, work, etc.,working, and, once in a while, cleaning my home. Oh, and trying to fit family & spouse time in occasionally. I've not been great at this last item. I'm sure it's similar in most other families.

I couldn't think about what to write about so I just didn't. Plus my blog was suffering from a serious identity crisis. Really, how much can you write about cats and coffee, when crafting is so minimal?

But I think I've finally gotten my inspiration. What I'd really like to do is write about my journey to becoming house proud once again. I'm most definitely not house proud at this time. Not when there is a vast collection of boots and shoes clogging my entry way, junk everywhere and a future den filled with boxes of books, papers, and anything else that should be on the kitchen counter. We are in the midst of a major re-arrangement of rooms on the main floor. The den/tv/living room is moving to our former piano room/library. The piano moved to the dining room where it is currently sharing real estate with the dining room table. And the living room hasn't changed at all & won't until I finish clearing out the former piano room. I'm struggling with trying to stay focused on one task at a time. How else to explain why reorganized my food storage and spice collection, instead of boxing up books? And this might be a good time to confess how much time I've spent trolling the internet for home decorating inspiration. Have you met some of the DIY home bloggers out there? Oh, wait until I introduce you.

So here I am. I think this old blog of mine needs a wee re-design, so that will be in the works. I certainly hope you will return soon. I hope to resume regular posting, but I make no concrete promises.

Toodles...