Blogger Get Togethers Rock my World!

Hola Bloggies:

This past weekend’s trip to Banff marked my first extended blogger get together. I’ll admit I went into it slightly nervous and just hoping we would get along well. Turns out I had absolutely nothing to worry about. In fact I learned that there are a bunch of reason I love the healthy living bloggers.

 

 

They understand that a bowl of oatmeal in the morning can be a beautiful thing.

They totally understand that tea isn’t just tea. It’s something amazing and worth photographing.

They get why you get totally excited (!) when you see a product you have previously reviewed (and loved).

They agree that bison burgers + soccer = a beautiful thing.

They know that before eating one must take a picture of the food.

They won’t think twice of sharing overpriced raw food treats with you (in the end we agreed that we could do way better).

And as if that wasn’t enough – at the end of the day they’ll still go exploring gorgeous lakes with you!

I heart bloggers!

 

Question: Have you ever taken part in any blogger get togethers!?! How did they turn out?

Will Hike for Burgers

Hola peeps!

I’m back from Banff and sorely missing my peeps, Holly (The Healthy Everythingtarian) and Susan (The Great Balancing Act). Let’s just say vacation blows work out of the water! And although today was a pretty decent day I still found myself thinking back to awesome Banff times. Like the time we hiked a mountain and earned a delicious evening of eats in the process . . .

Usually I tend to stay away from adult bevies and burgers. But these holidays called for an exception! They called for an utterly delish veggie/portabella burger, the most amazing french fries (drenched in malt vinegar – yum!), and a Bud Light with lime. Awesome.

 

With a side of food blogger at work!

And what does one do for an encore after such a meal (special mention to the french fries)? One heads to Cows – a Prince Edward Island treasure! Home to the richest ice cream known to man. By the way, rich ice cream = delish!!!

 

Say “hello!” to 16% milk fat! lol

All in all it was an awesome day: we conquered a mountain and then feasted!

 

Question: Have you ever exercised just so you could eat something particularly rich? That’s not what I did in this case but it did get me thinking . . .

I Earned Every Single Inch of that View

Hola Bloggies:

How did you like yesterday’s entry? I’m rather proud of myself for blogging from the road – so I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures!

Back to where we left off . . .

On the afternoon of our first full day in Banff we accomplished what will likely be THE most epic of all of this weekend’s feats!! We climbed a mountain. Hiked up the whole thing. And not just any mountain – the highest mountain the Banff Area!!!! Us three blogger girls conquered a mountain!

You’ll have to excuse my use of exclamation marks in this post – I’m kind of proud of us!!!

We started our hike down by the village of Banff, right by where we were staying. From there we walked through the Banff Springs Hotel eventually ending up at a parking lot that marked the trail head to Upper Banff Springs (the tourists normally take automobile transportation to this point and then take the gondola).

It didn’t take long at all for us to fall rather silent. Don’t worry, we still liked each other! We were just trying to keep our breathing even! lol As Holly (of The Healthy Everythingtarian) said “It’s crazy how it just takes a steep hike to show you just how out of shape you are!” Still we kept on going. And by the time we got to Upper Banff Springs I had already worked up a sweat.

In order to psych ourselves up for the rest of the hike, we took a break at the base of the gondola for pictures.

Spectacular view much!?!?!? From there it could only get better!!!!

After eating an apple for fuel, all three of us bloggers started our way up the mountain. It soon became evident that our heart rates would totally remain “in the zone” during the entire hike. This was no walk in the park.

I had brought my Garmin along and turned it on at the base of the trail head (the one that lead to Upper Banff Springs). Based on the map we knew it would be about 5km to the top or roughly 3miles. To get to the Gondola Station we had already hiked 1.5miles. So by the time we were at the top we would be at about 4.5miles. This was helpful to know because it helped us to track our progress up the mountain.

Now I go hiking quite a bit. In fact at least once a week. But I’m still a chicken. Challenging hikes kind of scare me! They totally make me want to run home . . . where it’s flat. But I wasn’t going to be the blogger that wimped out and took the gondola – so I sucked it up and pushed myself!!!

The going was hard but the increasingly more beautiful views made it all worthwhile! Every time we caught a glimpse of the mountains through the trees we were absolutely gobsmacked. Banff is one of those places that people dream of seeing – and there we were! On our way to it’s highest peak (Sulphur Mountain). That’s the kind of stuff worth blogging about!! lol

To help ease our trip from the gondola base up to the summit we made a decision to take a break every 30 minutes. It was while stopping for our breaks that we realized how far we had come. Go us!!!

You see my red face? lol How about the sweat across my forehead (the sweat that would later turn into a crazy amount of salt on my face)? By this point my legs were starting to feel kind of heavy. We only had about a mile left to go but we could tell the trail was getting steeper. Funny how it coincided with when we were most tired! lol

Now this was the part where I started to have trouble. I had been drinking water but I guess I was low on fuel because I started to get light headed. Given that I live at a fairly high elevation I didn’t think it was due to being so high. Holly (of The Healthy Everythingtarian)  came to the rescue with a Larabar. Thank God!!!

With renewed strength we made our final push to the top. Near the end I kept on checking my Garmin. I knew how long the trail was and consequently how long we had left. Just when I thought I couldn’t make it any further (my knee was starting to hurt) we spotted the summit!!!! We had conquered Banff’s tallest mountain!!!!!

 

Voila, Holly (of The Healthy Everythingtarian), Susan (of The Great Balancing Act), and me!!! The trio of Healthy Living Bloggers feeling pleased as we could be!!!

And the views!?!? Oh my!!!! I think it’s safe to say I earned every inch of that glorious view!!!!

No picture we could ever take could do this magnificent place justice. Knowing that, we tried to take mental pictures of the stunning scenery surrounding us.

For reference sake, this is a picture from the summit of the mountain. You see those little buildings down there? That’s where we began!!! And look at how high we went!!!!

I pushed myself to the limit on this hike. And kids, peer pressure can be a great thing! Without my partners in crime I don’t think I would have hiked this mountain. My first really big mountain hike.

All told, we climbed 4.61 miles straight up the side of a very high mountain. In total the hike took us 2 hours and 22 minutes.

I will forever be grateful to my new amigas for joining me on this adventure! It was EPIC.

LIVE from the Rocky Mountains

Hola Bloggies:

Let me start off by saying, I’m having the time of my life with Susan (of The Great Balancing Act) and Holly (of The Healthy Everythingtarian). They’re both awesome girls and fabulous travel companions!!!

I arrived in Banff on Thursday afternoon and met up with the girls and since then we’ve been having an awesome time. Truth be told I was particularly excited to tag along (they planned this trip a while back and traveled from New Brunswick and Wisconsin to be here) because I don’t have many friends my age in my current city. Yeah there are one or two but they’re into different stuff. Hanging out with food bloggers, on the other hand, is perfect!!! No having to explain why you want to life a healthy lifestyle and no having to apologize for taking food pictures. Brilliant!

But enough talking – let’s look at some pictures!

The morning started off in typical food blogger fashion, with a hefty bowl of oatmeal. This one was loaded down with soy protein powder, a crumbled 1/3 of an All Bran bar, and a smushed banana. It was hearty and filling. Good thing because we had an action packed day ahead!

As we walked downtown to have coffee, we happily noted that the clouds were lifting! Perfect, considering we had grand plans of attempting to hike a mountain in the afternoon. Truth be told I was a little chicken about the whole mountain thing!

Our morning largely consisted of walking around the mega-cute city of Banff, drinking coffee, and doing a bit of shopping (why hello there incredibly cute Lululemon sweatshirt!). Eventually we headed to a local yoga studio for their lunchtime yoga class. Although, I have done tons of yoga DVDs and attended yogalaties class this was my first ever purely yoga class.

 

The yoga class turned out to be a multi-level flow class. My non yogi self managed to keep up with most of the moves. I only ran into trouble at the very end, with the balance postures. Instead of falling over I opted to settle into an easier pose and enjoy the ridiculous view out the window! Overall I was really pleased with the class and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rocky Mountain Yoga to others looking for yoga in and around Banff.

After yoga we were sweaty and starved. Just downstairs from the yoga studio we found a bakery that was just begging to be explored. While we were getting our food we noticed that the crowds kept on pouring into the place! Wild Flour Bakery turned out to be quite the hot spot in town.

I totally devoured by traditional ham sandwich on a baguette. The bread was dense, grainy, and perfect. Total score! And at a reasonable price (considering where we were).

After lunch we decided it was time. We were going to hike up Sulphur Mountain. Most people use the gondola to get up the highest peak in the Banff Region. But we were going to do it the good old fashioned way going up. On our way down we planned to take the gondola (my knees LOVED this idea). I was kind of intimidated but I couldn’t avoid it any longer.

We had a mountain to conquer!!!!

 

To be Continued . . .

An Early Foto Friday

Hola Bloggies!

It's been super busy in the casa today.

I know I didn't really mention it on the blog but a week and a half ago we were in a head on collision. As crazy as it sounds, we were waiting to turn at a T intersection when a vehicle turned directly into our lane. Thankfully no one was hurt but dealing with the insurance company has been time consuming. All of the going back and forth has turned me into a lawyer in my free time too. But as much as I would prefer to contain my lawyer activities to work I am incredibly blessed to have this skill-set; there's no doubt in my mind, that it's a huge asset.

Another reason things have been busy is I've been prepping for a weekend trip to Banff!!!

I will be taking part in a fun filled weekend with two other healthy living bloggers. Confession? I'm a city girl at heart and every time I go on a hike I'm pushing my bounds. Still, I'm really looking forward to my trip! There is basically nothing more spectacular than the Rockies on a clear sunny day!

How about you? What wonderful weekend plans do you have?

I'm out bloggies! But I'll be back on Tuesday morning!!!!

The Return of “Operation Bring it!”

Hola Bloggies:

You will remember some time ago I commenced what I called “Operation Bring it!” Basically my attempt to do a full cycle of P90X. I got off to a great start and then work  life got in the way. And although I kept doing most of the workouts I wasn’t doing them on the basis of the original plan and so I stopped telling you about them. But I’m not a quitter (no sir!) so it’s time I start updating you on the drops of sweat I’ve shed with Tony Horton.

This week I’ve decided to re-start the program where I left off. To make-up for the fact that I started it and then took a break I may add an extra week at the end. Either way I’m back on the band wagon and feeling rather proud of myself.

Want to know how I’ve fared in my return to “Operation Bring it?” Read On!!! 

 

Day 8 – “Operation Bring it!” - June 5th, 2010

My first official day back called for a return to the good old Chest and Back routine. I had done this DVD enough times that I knew what to expect – a massive amount of push ups!!

I have to confess that this time the DVD didn’t feel as long. The push-ups were still hard but somehow it didn’t seem to drag on (like the first time I did the workout). One thing that quickly became evident was how quickly I improved! On Day 1 I did a grand total of 162 push-ups with all but 26 of them on my toes. On Day 8 I did a grand total of 216 push-ups (!!!!!) with all but 27 of them on my toes. I was amazed at the difference!!!

I still say this is my favourite of all of the P90X workouts. There’s just something about the variations on a simple push-ups that I love. And the dive-bomber is still my fave!

Aside from P90X, I also went on a short two mile trail run (it started to rain so I had to turn around) through a local hiking path. It was glorious! My joints were pleased that I was nowhere near pavement and they rewarded me with a pace of 10min/mile. Which for me is basically blistering! I was one thrilled cookie!!!

 

Day 9 - “Operation Bring it!” – June 6th, 2010

All too soon it was time for the “Mother of All P90X Workouts!” The dreaded plyometrics day.

On Day 1 I felt like I was going to die during this workout. I had to keep on pausing the DVD to take longer breaks. Consequently it took much longer than an hour to complete the DVD! On Day 9 I didn’t have to pause for any extra breaks and I didn’t feel like I was going to die. In fact, I don’t know if I confessed this during my first recap but I got dizzy a couple of times. That’s seldom happened to me during workouts so I knew I was massively pushing myself. This time I still felt challenged but in a much safer and healthier way.

One additional change this week was my use of a heart rate monitor; I wanted to make sure I stayed within my calorie burning zone. I was thrilled to discover my heart rate stayed in the zone for the whole time with the exception of a few moves that caused me to head into my lactic acid build-up zone. It was an awesome workout and I could definitely see an improvement.

My goal for the end of the cycle? To be able to do the moves with the same absolute explosive energy as the peeps on the DVD. I believe I can totally get there!!

 

And then She Rested

What would have been Day 10 fell on a Monday – which as you know is the day I have my standing doggy hike date.

On this particular occasion we headed out on a two hour hike in the Rockies. Sometimes we take our hikes at a rather relaxed pace but on this occasion we were going at a really fast clip! In fact a really fit member of the group proclaimed it a death march! lol While I don’t think it was that bad I will confess to falling quickly asleep that night.

As if Monday night doggy hikes weren’t fantastic enough already we have decided to take on a group dinner at the end of each hike. This week one of our hike participants treated us to a lovely bbq featuring sockeye salmon, a mixed greens salad, rice, a dill yogurt sauce, and wonderful white wine. It was simply lovely! Unfortunately, I was so starved I neglected to take any pictures. But I promise to make up for it in spades!!!!

 

So there you have it – you’re all caught up now! Tonight I will be doing another of the P90X workouts but first I have to bake some “I Don’t Want to be a Lawyer Anymore Cookies” for the winning bidder in Bobbi’s bake sale and then of course I have to watch glee. Oh glee . . . how will I ever survive a summer without you . . .

 

Hasta Pronto!

Foto Friday

Hola Bloggies:

Happy Friday to you!!! And to me!!! :o)

This has been a long and rather trying week that has left me feeling all too ready for the weekend. I'm thrilled to pieces that I get a few days off to chill. And while the weather may not be perfect - I'll take it!!!

In other news - I took an unexpected and previously unplanned break from blogging this week. To be perfectly candid I did so because I thought I needed to re-evaluate my social networking. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love connecting with other like minded individuals and blogging really is a joy. Ditto for twittering. But at the end of the day I still have to make sure that social networking reconciles with my security concerns.

I won't be going into details into it in the blog but there have been some recent events that have made me question if having a public access blog in a good idea. For now I have protected my twitter updates but have decided to leave my blog open. If that should change I'll give you a heads up and let you know how you can get the requisite password.

But enough about that - it's Foto Friday and this week I'm featuring a picture taken on one of my many Rocky  Mountain hikes. As you can tell by the scenery it was an absolutely crisp and gorgeous spring day. There were remnants of snow on the higher elevations but on the whole you could tell the warmer weather was just around the corner.

I don't know about you but I never seem to get sick of those gorgeous Rocky Mountain views!!!