dandelions forever

I am buzzing from my lunch. Yes. Every cell in my body seems to be thrilled and I feel amazing.

The power of greens.

Dandelion Greens.

Yes- you read correctly. After visiting the organic market yesterday I came home with some new greens to try. Fava been sprouts, A mix of oriental greens which are going to be dinner tonight for HB and I, and a bag of Dandelion greens. Unfortunately I don't think that any of the previous are local, as it is still a bit early in the season. However, I did manage to snag a couple of bunches of wild leeks, that ARE local. Yay!!

I sauteed the bulb of the leek in olive oil, added in the dandelion and the greens of the leek until just wilted, then added the sprouts and a hard boiled egg into my bowl. With some raisins for sweet and some sesame sticks for crunch, it was delicious! I can't wait for summer- it is always so nice to buy local, organic produce. Yum!!

I have a confession. I've been cheating..... on my gym..... in the comfort of my living room. I have a new obsession and it is called yoga. Almost 2 weeks of doing yoga at least 4 times a week and I feel like a different person. Taller, a bit tighter, and when I walk the new openness I feel in my hips makes me feel as though I have the walk of a supermodel on a catwalk. Fierce.

Greens and Yoga. I feel like a Goddess, and maybe in a few months I'll have the body of one too!

Shakin' things up

HTB and I are mow married!! Well, technically we were married 3 months ago... wow time flies!!!

After the wedding I took a flying leap off of the exercise wagon, and it is about time that I jumped back on. The lack of exercise honeymoon is officially over.

Thank goodness for this new bit of inspiration...

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Mexico.... Countdown..... 3 WEEKS!!!

3 weeks to go! I celebrated by eating copious amounts of pizza tonight. Poor HTB has been sick for the past week, so after a week of soup (even though we LOVE soup) something a little more... bad ass.... was in order.

Hence, the pizza.

Deliciousness.

Can you say crazy, full out, sweating like a mofo, kick butt workout at the gym tomorrow? I sure can!

With 3 weeks to go, I had to know if there has been any improvement on the dress fitting front. So this morning I slipped it on...... and it fits better than it has since I bought it! I still feel like it's a bit snug, but I know that in 3 weeks it will be amazing!! I can't wait for HTB to finally see it!!!

THREE WEEKS until we leave!!

Oh yeah..... and a week until CHRISTMAS!!

Happy Friday!

Friday Weigh In.... a few days late!

Sorry for the delay. I understand that you must be totally on edge waiting to find out how many push ups I can do, and if this BTB has lost a little poundage so I apologize for keeping you in a state of such suspense. I'm keeping this post short and sweet, so without further ado......

Push up Challenge! This morning I did my 3rd exertion test, and was able to do 30 full out man style kick your butt push ups. I might have been able to do a couple more, but I kind of wanted the use of my arms today and tomorrow with the last bits of Christmas shopping to finish up!! I'm amazed at how many more pushups I can do after only one month. I'm getting 'the line' and am finding it quite exciting to see the first signs of definition. I wonder how many more push ups I'll be able to do by the time we are in Mexico. I can just see me challenging some poor sucker to a push up challenge... I bet you 2 shots of tequila..... heehee!! He won't know what's coming!

Friday... err.... Monday weigh in! My lowest yet! 145. I'm officially back in the 'normal' range on our Wii! YES!!! I wonder if I can make it into my 130s by the wedding........

A gym beyond my wildest dreams- and believe me, I have some wild dreams.

Bracing myself against the wind and sleet, I tucked in my umbrella, pulled open the door and stepped into another world. Glass bubbles shimmered overhead while serene blue walls and magnificent white crown moulding showcased the soaring height of the ceilings. A wall comprised entirely of fresh green plants made me want to stop and inhale. I think I did. I had officially left the realm of ordinary, and entered extraordinary. I was in gym heaven. "Hi!" a gorgeous and friendly woman greeted me like I was the most important person on the planet. "It's so nice to see you! We're just expecting a mat delivery, so please just leave your boots over by the door and head on downstairs to the change room."

I peeled out of my boots and bounced down the stairs like a kid going to an amusement park. Already smiling, I glided around the corner and stepped into the change room.

I stopped in my tracks. This was NOT just any change room. Grey hardwood floors, cherry wood lockers, Aveda products in the slate and tile showers. A vanity area to rival any show homes, complete with hairdryers and cute little comfy stools to sit on while you beautify. Fabulous lighting, mirrors, but not too many. I actually laughed out loud when I entered the room. "This is my gym," I said to myself as the realization started to hit. "This is MY gym!! I am a MEMBER here! I get to work out here whenever I want," my mind whirred faster and faster, "I get to go to classes, use the equipment, and then clean off and get ready in a space that rivals the best spas." I was so blown away that I think I might have cursed out loud... but just a little one, so that's okay.... right? I mean, seriously, it really is that good. Really. Truly. Amazing.

What a score. I am so, so, so lucky that I happened to walk by on one of the days when they first started to promote the gym. And that they offered a crazy good discount to the first 75 members. So good that I get to work out at a freaking boutique gym in a gorgeous historical building for the same price as a normal gym. Did I mention that it's women only? Of course this is great, but also sucks that HTB doesn't get to work out in the same fabulous space. Sorry, HTB!

Yesterday, opening day, I had the entire gym to myself. Bad weather has its perks, I suppose!! Today there was only one other friendly woman there working on the cardio machines, while I sweated and kicked my ass doing sets on the bike, the weights (legs), the eliptical, some ab work and free weights (legs), more eliptical but going backwards this time, followed by me sitting down at a machine for the back and figuring out how to use it all by myself!! That is something I never would have had the courage to do before, and the funny thing is that the machine was so easy!! It worked my back perfectly, and really was easy to use. Feeling totally back-a-licious, I finished with 10 more minutes on the bike. phew. This going for granite thing is hard work!!

Bring it. I am totally ready for the hard work over the next 4 weeks. They are going to fly by, and I am bound and determined to not only fit my dress, but rock the -insert curse word here- out of it too. Tomorrow morning is push up challenge day 3, week four and I'll post all about it then. And I'll also have a Friday weigh in! Can't wait to share with you.

Okay- time to get dinner ready. It's lemon lentil soup night!! YUM! Have you tried it yet? Do it. It's so good. It's so easy. And it's even tastier and easier for leftovers. Oh yeah.

See you tomorrow!!

It's Open!!

My pretty, new gym opened today! Even the crazy storm we are having isn't going to stop me from going to try it out. Come rain, ice pellets, snow, sleet, freezing rain, wind and, my personal favourite, thunder snow (if only you could hear HTB say THUNDERSNOW in his awesome movie add/superhero voice- it is hilarious!) I am braving the elements to go and get granite!!

Stay tuned for a more detailed post about my new gym, my new weight, and my new record breaking pushup number!

Tame those sisters!!

I'm in love. Officially in love............ with a sports bra!

Far gone are the sports bras of the past, that smoosh any semblance of roundness into something as flat as a weirdly squished pancake. It is now possible to tame the sisters, and keep them perky at the same time! Behold the subject of my adoration.

The incredible Ta Ta Tamer!!

Although I haven't been able to put it to the running test due to an jaw injury, I am most impressed with this fabulous under garment. With adjustable and crossover straps, I can even wear it under my favourite tank tops! I love my 'sisters' and I especially love that I can now show my curves off while I work out. I jump, and the sisters stay still, without being smooshed 'Shakespeare in Love' style. No more flat as a pancake sports bra boobage on this Bride to Be! Yippee!

Yesterday was day 2 of week 3 in the HPC. My sets were 10, 12, 8, 8 and the last set I maxed out with 15.... I was so close to 16.... maybe tomorrow! No weigh in today, although, I did try on The Dress yesterday. It's getting closer to fitting without looking like a giant cream coloured stuffed sausage... I'm fairly confident that in FIVE weeks it will be fabulous.

Happy Friday!! Do you have fun plans for the first weekend of December? We're getting our first real Christmas tree!! And working out- of course!!

The worlds biggest Christmas geek..... and a soup recipe too!

Yes, it's true. I am a lover of Christmas. Of ALL things Christmas. The chocolate, the music, the tacky and not so tacky decorations. The blinking lights, the blow up lawn ornaments, mandarin oranges, baking and holiday parties. I even buy HTB and I an advent calender each year and proudly stick them on the fridge. My students think I'm cool for doing that (okay- probably crazy, but lets go with cool, okay?). HTB will even play me Christmas music in the middle of the summer if I'm having a bad day and he wants to make me happy!

I love the snow and the cold and bundling up all warm and cozy to go for a walk with HTB late at night after a huge snowfall. When everything is so still and quiet that the normal street we walk down every day is transformed to a glimmering, crystalline, magical wonderland. I love warming up with mulled wine, (or a glass of red on its own will do nicely too!) or a steaming mug of chai tea, or hot chocolate. I excite at the chaos of Christmas shopping and truly love that department store decorations go up in November. I love the atmosphere of anticipation in the last few days before Christmas, where everyone knows that it's only a matter of time until they get to stop and

breathe.

ahhh.

With our wedding just around the corner, both HTB and I are going to be eating more healthily this Holiday season. Oh, sure, we'll indulge too, but for the most part we are planning on eating a ton of one of the most amazing foods on the planet. Warm, filling, delicious, nutritious with infinite variations. Have you guessed yet? Yes! HTB and I are going to be sitting in our little coach house, snuggled in blankets, wearing cozy sweatpants and slippers, hands warmed by our bowls containing..... soup!! mmmmmm soup. Easy to make, easy to digest, and easy on the pocket book too. Yes, this year, soup, of all things is going to be our staple to get us through the holidays.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to take a Macrobiotic cooking class with the ever so lovely, and hilarious, Jessica Porter. I learned so much about food, nutrition, and also how to chew! Jessica's book, The Hip Chick's guide to Macrobiotics, is funny, informative and full of great recipes. You should get it. Even better, if you get the chance, you should try her cooking classes!! One of my favourite classes was the soup class. I came home buzzing after that class. Everything in the world just seemed so right, so brilliant, so..... high!! It's amazing what food can do!! My favourite soup from that class (if I had to pick a favourite) is Joan's Red Lentil-Lemon Soup. HTB and I LOVE it. Like, REALLY love it. Like, if there are any leftovers I'll even eat it for breakfast so I get to them first, kind of love it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Joan's Red Lentil Lemon Soup

(introduced to me at Jessica Porter's cooking classes!)

by Anne Marie Colbin

2 medium onions

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped or in paste)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon unrefined sesame oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup dried red lentils

5 cups light vegetable stock, or water

1 bay leaf

2 thin strips lemon rind (sometimes HTB and I add an extra strip if we are feeling particularly lemony)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

6 thin slices of lemon for garnish

In a 3 to 4 quart soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic paste and cumin and cook until the onion is golden, about 6 to 7 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, pick over the red lentils carefully; discard any stones. Rinse. Add to the onions with the stock or water and bring to a boil, skimming off the foam, if necessary. Reduce heat, add the bay leaf and lemon rind, and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and lemon rind.

Add the lemon juice to the soup and stir. Pour into bowls and garnish each with a slice of lemon.

Serves 6.

Yummy!! I can't wait to make this later this week!

FYI. For those of you who are following the absolutely riveting results of the hundred push up challenge that HTB and I are doing, we've graduated to week 3! Today my sets were 10,12,7,7 and I maxed out at 11 in the 5th set. Ready for an arm wrestle, anyone?

An Unexpected Post

No, it's not a post about pole dance classes, even though they are supposed to be incredibly fun and a killer workout. I was originally planning on writing about something completely different today, but as I started writing the following is what came out instead. I find it interesting that this happens on occasion when blogging, that sometimes the posts that you start out writing change entirely and new ideas come seemingly out of nowhere and write themselves.

Ok. I admit it. I've not been the most consistent worker outer throughout the course of my life. High school is where my first quest for fitness began. The journey began with an actual trip- a high school provincial honour band trip to Holland. Along with playing music, experiencing culture, making new friends, and learning that (much to my surprise and delight) boys actually thought I was pretty, I also discovered european chocolate, cheese and beer, and breakfasts of delicious bread, meat and more cheese, with a slathering of nutella on the side. It was a fabulous trip and I couldn't wait to get my photographs developed to show my family pictures of all my new friends, and all the amazing places we visited. What a shock it was to actually see myself in those pictures. I've always been curvy, but where exactly had that booty come from? And surely that tummy didn't belong to me. And since when did I have a double chin and chubby chipmunk face? (A very sarcastic thank-you to the person who took that most unflattering picture of me sleeping on the plane ride home!)

Still, I didn't really think too much of it. I was too busy enjoying my new friends. Going out to listen to jazz, or enjoy a coffee was far more enjoyable than worrying about how I looked. I'll never forget the moment I realized that something had to be done. I was sitting in a theatre with a couple of friends. Feeling a little cramped I tried to cross my legs. I couldn't. Hmmm. The ankle resting on the other knee would have to do, I thought. But there really wasn't enough room for that. Hmph. What was I supposed to do? Well, besides shifting uncomfortably on occasion there really wasn't much that I could do. I made it through the movie, and that night I remember looking at myself in the mirror. Really looking at myself in the mirror. Seeing where the white sweater I was wearing pulled in the wrong places, and noticing for the first time just where my pants were too tight. Yikes. This was not how I envisioned myself. Really wanting to continue this wake-up call, I weighed myself the next morning. 148. How could I be 148? Shocked by the number I felt the call to action.

My closest friend at that time is a huge part of my first success story. We went to step class together, went on epic, hard core bike rides together and went to the gym together. We sweated, laughed and cried together. She made me keep going in class when my face was beet red and my hair was soaked with sweat. She was a pretty sweater, and I looked like ass. I can just see her perfect hair in a perfect pony tail, perfectly out of her face. I can see my short, blazing dyed red hair sticking up everywhere that it precisely shouldn't, the absolute picture of anti-perfection. It didn't matter. She made me realize it didn't matter how I looked while I was exercising. That the results were far more important than the few minutes of looking like a blotchy, perspiring, purple faced crazy woman. We lost weight and gained confidence together. It was the perfect taste of health that I needed. It was the beginning of my journeys to and from, and back to being fit.

There have been many ups and downs over the past decade. I did a mini du-athalon. I wore my first bikini as an adult and a crazy small cover up on an epic trip to California. I realized just how much I like poutine. I love wine and beer. I discovered that I'm a fairly good cook. I met the man that I will spend the rest of my life with. Sweat pants and movies in really are a wonderful way to spend an evening. I got busy with life, my bike got stolen, and exercise became a part of my past. I walk mostly everywhere, and quickly too since I'm usually running late, but real, sweating, hard, kicking ass exercise kind of left my life for about a decade.

It feels right that as HTB and I are about to start the next chapter of our lives together exercise is making another appearance for both of us. We've enjoyed doing yoga occasionally for the past year and going for fresh, long walks in the park by our little place. It feels like it's a natural progression for both of us to want to take it up another notch now. HTB tried out the gym by our home yesterday, and is thinking about joining. I've joined mine, and am eager to start beet-red faced, sweating again this week. I discovered yesterday that the Wii is even more challenging when I added free weights to the squats and lunges, and I'm now able to do 12 good form, crazy man style, push-ups in a row. I'm back down to my lowest weight yet since I started my affair with the scale last month- 148.6. I did not buy zesty cheese Doritos yesterday at the grocery store, even though HTB had to stand between me and them to break the MSG craving trance I was in. Thank you, HTB. Decisions about what to eat, (or what not to drink!) are getting easier, and the exercise results are slowly becoming more and more visible, which just makes both HTB and I more inspired to work out and eat well. Admittedly, having less than 6 weeks to go until we're in Mexico helps too!!

What motivated you to start exercising? What motivates you to keep exercising? What are your favourite forms of exercise? I hope you join me this week for more Going for Granite adventures, including my favourite, easy to make soup recipe, and a post about the most seriously amazing sports bra ever!

From 0 to 60...

Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. I'm not at 60 pushups...... yet! But I'm most definitely on my way. This morning my sets were 5,7,5,5 and my max at the end was......

are you ready for it?

really ready?!

TEN!!

That's one more than my goal for the week! We are doing another exertion test this weekend, so I'll find out just how many I can do in a row before spaghetti arms set in. My goal for the test is 15. It's amazing just how fast you can get strong. Less than two weeks ago I could only do five in a row!!

Friday weigh in. Still 149 this week, but I didn't get to exercise as much as I really would have liked. No stresses about that, sometimes life happens. I'm just more motivated to make sure I keep active this weekend.

Happy Friday!!