book review + january review.

I just finished(and by finished I mean gave up 40 pages before the end because I couldn't stand it any longer) extremely loud and incredibly close.  initially, it was really dull and I was confused.  since I am about as stubborn as they come I didn't want to give up- I powered through slowly but surely until I decided I had given it a fair chance and had wasted enough time.  now.. I look forward to the movie, which I have heard is phenomenal! absolutely can't wait to see it. take a peak at the trailer...

and january.  january just flew by.  I can't believe I have already completed 1/3 of the semester although I know the hardest is yet to come.  so far I have managed to juggle work, school, and life and hope I can manage for the next few months.  I still manage to find time for yoga, running and time in the kitchen.  one of my favourite things about january is my bicycle.  I have come to love it and look forward to my ride to and from school each day.  excitement awaits for february.. reading week, birthdays and a trip to the westcoast to relax and rejuvenate.  maybe a little surfing too.  all good things- for now I have to keep my eyes on the prize and work hard during these next few months until I have only have 2 MORE CLASSES TO COMPLETE FOR MY DEGREE!!! happy days.

what was your favourite thing about january?

thought + tune.

todays awesome thing: a little bit of surprise dog time.  nothing like a cute pooch to put a smile on your face.  awesome.

this song is on my radar.  really jealous of all those who are going to this concert in april...

some awesome things.

last post, I forgot to post my awesome thing of the day.  so I figured to make up for that I would post a few today...

*using mason jars instead of tupperware- finally something that doesn't leak!! extra points for glass being incredibly more awesome than plastic.

*amazing cinnamon buns from the old town bakery in ladysmith that my fellow biology colleague so nicely brought to school for me.  saves me a trip to ladysmith, provides me with delicious baked goods, AND I can check that off my 12 in 2012 list! triple awesome-ness!

*doing an owl survey for a conservation project for one of my classes- AWESOME.  lets hope we see one.. or hear one at least. (this reminds me of another really awesome thing- one early morning run last fall we totally saw an owl on an electrical wire just hanging out.  that was so fab)

*a successfully completed ride to and from school with no accidents.. that seemed like a blessing in comparison to the series of unfortunate events on monday.  awesome.

*energy bites.  brooke gave me the great idea over on her blog so I made them this week for snacks. I have been on the lookout for healthy, protein-packed snacks and these do the trick.  awesome.

*this photo- enough said. gotta love pinterest.

awesome, awesome, awesome.  happy wednesday!

weekend love.

this weekend was filled with many wonderful things.  including lots of food-

cheesy quinoa bites

D wanted me to feature his dinner on the blog.. so here it is :) he only ate about half the steak, along with some wings, salad and quinoa bites.

we also picked up a nice loaf of cheese, herb and garlic bread from cobs bakery for a nice weekend treat.  this made some mouth watering grilled cheese sandwiches! so delicious

a dad's rootbeer- this made for a perfect saturday night homemade meal.

and sunday night- crispy shrimp tacos...

other weekend highlights included:

*a brunch date with the girls.  I especially loved when our server told us to "come up for air" because we were so chatty.  a massage, a sloppy, slippery 6k run, downtime with D and a coffee date with m & d. all in all a great weekend but I probably shouldn't have procrastinated on the homework.. going to be a busy week!   

thursday thought.

and that is how I'm feeling today.

todays awesome thing(well yesterdays actually):  first, the snow day.  and consequently when I went out for a short snow walk, came back into the building to be greeted by a sweet senior from the floor below me and she gave me fresh baked muffins.  AWESOME.

an episode of things I'm grateful for..

*a ride to school when it's snowing.  although I have missed my bike this week.
*my wonderful yoga teachers.
*warm slippers on these chilly days
*my education.  some days I am SO grateful that I have been filled with such a plethora of knowledge that helps me make smart decisions about my actions.
*BLOGS. seriously... every morning I can drag myself out of bed knowing that I will have some inspiring posts to read while I eat my oatmeal.
*how my teachers at school really look out for their students and want the best for them.  recently, I have approached a few of my teachers about summer job opportunities and they have been more than helpful.
*a clean kitchen.
*the opportunity to voice my opinion.
*tortilla soup... and banana oat muffins.

love all the colourful veggies.

mmm delicious.  I love me some jalapenos, lime, and avocado.

mmm muffins.

banana oat muffins with streusel topping.

happy tuesday friends! hope everyone is having a great week.  mine has been off to a very busy start but monday and tuesday yoga have helped me through.

todays awesome thing: a cat nap in savasana.  after a 90 minute yoga class tonight I took full advantage of savasana and dozed off... I think.  either way I felt rested and ready to tackle the rest of my to-do list :)

fitness goals.

my goal last week was:
4 days bike to and from school
2 strength workouts
1 run
2 yoga classes

I completed these goals for the week and was really happy about it.  I find it SO much easier to go into the week with a plan.  first I make my list of goals, like the one above, then I slot time in each day to make it all happen.  this makes everything easier to manage when the week seems to fill up quickly with school and work.  this week I made a similar list.

the strength workout I completed twice last week was an arms and abs workout.  I opted for working these muscles since my legs were pretty tired from biking, running and yoga.

I found this workout on pinterest and adapted it slightly:
10 pushups
20 dips
30 bicep curls(with 5 pound weights)
40 second plank
50 crunches (25 x 2 sets)
40 second plank
30 bicep curls (with weights)
20 dips
10 pushups.

short yet efficient! I think next time I would up the plank to 1 minute.

todays awesome thing: when I tell D he is on dinner duty because I just can't fit it in after a long day at school and then yoga.  and he agrees without complaining and I come home to a warm, delicious, vegetarian meal.  love him.

and this dog.

pinterest picks.

tortilla soup

coconut white chocolate cookies

mudroom

sunnies

jealous of this hair...

oh pinterest.  another little blurb for today.  I browsed through the book of (even more) awesome recently and have decided that for the next while, until I no longer feel like it, I'm going to list something awesome from that day at the end of each post.

todays awesome thing: when you commute to school on your bike and you DON'T have to scrape your windows in the morning.  I just hop on the seat and ride away. awesome.

thursday thought(s) + more.

a few thoughts this week from yogi tea bags..

*grace brings contentment*all knowledge is within you*you can run after satisfaction, but satisfaction must come from within*

here are some fish tacos I whipped up for dinner this week... so simple.  I made some guacamole on the side by combining an organic avocado, 1/4 diced red onion, juice of half a lime, one small chopped jalapeno and a pinch of salt.  oh my deliciousness.  I heart mexican food.  now only if I could learn to cook thai food... then I would be set!

and cupcakes!!! for moms birthday.. I used a simple chocolate cupcake recipe from annie's eats and then made a cream cheese icing by combining 1/4 cup each butter and cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla and 1.5 cups icing sugar.  blend together butter and cream cheese, then blend in vanilla, then add icing sugar in two additions and blend until smooth.  perfection!

I love celebrating birthdays.  happy birthday mom! (yesterday) :)

weekend.

highlights of the weekend:

*saturday morning rise n shine yoga pretty much got my weekend off to the best start.  I was so busy over the holidays that yoga was on the back burner but it feels so good to get back into it.  last nights yoga for athletes kicked my butt.  I can definitely tell this riding my bike to school is really taking a toll on my quads and the yoga and running that I do is that much more challenging.  I'm sure with time this will pass as the commute to school on my little bicycle gets easier and easier.  saturday after yoga and spending some time with abby at the library, I laced up my runners for a 6k jog around westwood with anthem.  we did intervals- 10min run, 1 min walk and I found that worked really well for me.  having that 1 min to look forward to was great motivation and always seemed to come at the perfect time.  saturday ended just as lovely as it started with a pizza party and great company.


*sunday was FAB! first stop... shine cafe!

D and I have been patiently waiting to try this restaurant in victoria.  we have heard so many awesome things about all the delicious variations of eggs benny they have and it did not disappoint! we got up bright and early sunday to head down to vic before the sunday brunch rush started at shine.  my benny was loaded with veggies- avocado, tomato, spinach, onion, pepper- and topped with a chipotle hollandaise.  YUM!! my taste buds were content.  unfortunately, the other restaurant we had planned for our venture was closed for lunch :( hopefully we can make another trip soon to try some more victoria restaurants on our list.

*shop shop shop.  our other purpose of the victoria trip was to hit up mec and lululemon for some gear.  I needed lots of biking gear/accessories and D needed a few things for mountain biking as well.  we got some awesome loot! these are my two favourite items that I picked up... the rain pants, shoe covers and fenders weren't overly exciting but very useful!

this headband/toque/earwarmer thing is so awesome!!! I used it for my past two days of riding and it kept my ears and head nice and toasty which is great for these chilly days.  I also used it for my run today- definitely worth picking one of these up if you are out in the elements on a regular basis.  love the purple too :)

these lululemon no show running socks are fantastic.  D and I each got some. they have a little cushion that you can see on the back to protect your heel.  marvellous!

this weekend was a good one. now I am looking forward to celebrating my moms birthday tomorrow- woop! happy tuesday everyone.

this week in the kitchen.

early this week, derek requested homemade chicken strips for dinner.  I loosely followed this recipe and they turned out perfectly.  I have now learned the trick to breading anything with panko bread crumbs is to coat it in FLOUR then egg and then finally panko.

since the chicken strips were such a success, I decided to use a similar technique on fish to make some fish tacos.  I still have some cod from my summer surveys and thawed a piece of that before getting to work.  I had three bowls- one with whole wheat flour, one egg, and one panko bread crumbs mixed with taco seasoning.  I dipped small pieces of fish in the flour, then egg, then panko and baked then at 400 for roughly 15 mins flipping halfway through.  cooking time varies depending on thickness of the fish.  I served these on hard corn taco shells with lettuce, green onion, chopped red pepper, sour cream and lots of fresh lime.  DELICIOUS.  so fantastic- unfortunately I didn't snap pictures of either of these meals.  sorry...

I have a few lovely recipes I am itching to try next week, hope they turn out!  I am kind of on more of a cooking kick rather than baking these days.. I think because I am still on sugar overload from christmas.  I'm sure baking will resume shortly!

I would really like to attempt to make this...

source

I think I would forever be in D's good books if I made him a loaf of this... :) happy weekend!

thursday thought + book review.

book review: sarah's key.

I absolutely adored this book.  I have heard so many mixed reviews but it definitely sparked my interest and I flew through it in a week. The book follows the story of a family in Paris who was taken from their home during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942 as well as the story of the family who then moved into their apartment.  It is amazing to read about how families struggled, were torn apart and their priority was simply to survive during that time period.  This book illustrated how oblivious and ignorant many people are about what went on during the war and I think that is something I really like about it.  Although the book isn't all cheery, roses, and happily-ever-afters, it reminds you how lucky we are to live in the world we do and how it wasn't always this way.  A great read!


Now, I'm reading extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathon safran foer in hopes to speed through it and see the movie! 


then the next few books I have lined up are:
*the girl with the dragon tattoo
*the hunger games
*the violets of march


oh yah.. and a few textbooks :) might take me a while to get through those few novels.

12 in 2012. in the kitchen edition.

here are 12 things I would like to attempt to make this year that I have never tried before:

*buns
*homemade flour/corn tortillas
*coconut cream pie
*pumpkin cheesecake
*lasagna
*cinnamon buns
*homemade pretzels
*black bean burgers
*red velvet cupcakes
*homemade oreos
*thai red curry w/ tofu
*croissants (eek!)


I'm going to channel my inner julia child and get down to it this year.  I know that as soon as I try some of these new things they will be a lot easier than I thought and I will be able to expand my cooking horizons even further.  no more boring meals!

12 in 2012.

the 12 places on vancouver island that I want to go to/see in 2012.  some I have been to before but am itching to go back. also.. I could probably come up with a lot more than 12 but I figure these will keep me busy enough :)

*hornby island
*kinsol tressel
*sooke
*shawnigan lake
*merridale ciderworks
*strathcona park
*salt spring farmers market
*kayak/whale watch telegraph cove
*cinnamon bun at ladysmith old town bakery
*hike in goldstream provincial park
*little qualicum cheeseworks

I think I have been pretty lucky and have explored a lot of this island but there is always more to see and I can't wait to visit some of these areas!!

one of my favourite places on this island.