Panda Onesies and Tacos on Monday

Oh hi, it's Tuesday and I'm a little late to the game today. Sorry not sorry, except I'm Canadian, and I'm the most apologetic person you'll ever meet, so I am, in fact sorry.

I'd like to preface this absolutely pointless post by saying that I'm feeling rambly today and I just feel like word vomiting all over this blog, because I can (and I will).

Today is my final day of being a quarter centurion. I don't really know exactly how I feel about it. It's okay, it's not awful, but I'm not gonna lie - I'm not over the moon thrilled to be turning 26. Just saying. Juliette keeps (annoyingly) telling me that 26 will be THE BEST YEAR, EVER... so I'm trying to just go with that and let it happen. So, Juliette, no pressure - but you better sorta maybe kinda hopefully be right about that. Otherwise I'll just get Canadiangry and then apologize about it.

I feel like I never share pictures anymore, so lets look at some random things that are currently sitting on my iPhone begging to be posted on the blog...

(for the record, I'm pretty sure every single one of these pictures is on instagram)

Not sure if I've shared this on the blog before, but Justin's nickname is "panda". I don't usually publicly call him panda, but a lot of his friends do, and I'll refer to him as my panda... but that is beside the point. Last year, two of his best friends bought him a panda onesie as a joke gift. Well Justin brought it over to my place and I clearly had to prance around the house being a little panda for a while. Side note, fleece onesies are hot as balls.. are balls even hot? I don't know. But you get my point. I now have a panda onesie sitting in my closet that's begging to be worn... so this might not be the end of these types of pictures.

On Saturday, Amanda and I hung out for a while and walked throughout Gastown and along the seawall (with our friend, Sarah, but we took this selfie before we met her - oops). The fall weather has been gorgeous so far, and I'm loving it. Also, Amanda and I haven't taken a selfie in far too long so I feel like this was long overdue.

This isn't a good picture of us, at all.. but LOOK AT THAT BACK DROP. p.s. not to make you totally jealous or anything, but this is mine and Amanda's "backyard". It's a rough life.

Have you ever wondered what a cucumber would look like if it was left in the fridge for TWO MONTHS? No? Well you're welcome for this beautiful picture anyway. I had to clean this beast out of Justin's fridge on Sunday. It was a little bit gross. The rotten part of it had basically eaten the other rotten parts so there was virtually nothing left.

Obviously after looking at the cucumber picture, I felt like you needed to see my dinner from last night. Because Taco Tuesday. Except it was Taco Monday. Which is basically the same thing except it's not Tuesday and the words don't flow as nicely, because alliteration. Whatever, the tacos were still just as delicious even though it was on Monday. Oh, and to clarify - that's apple juice... because I am an adult and drink adult beverages.

I'm leaving this post on this note. I shared this barf-worthy collage on instagram last week and felt as though it deserved to be posted here as well. I have (literally, no exaggeration) about 247 selfies of Justin and I on my phone, so I put together a few that stood out to me as a 'throwback thursday' to some of my favourite memories from this past year with this handsome handsome ginger whom I love so very much (barf again, sorry not sorry).

And on that note, I think I'm going to peace out. I might not post tomorrow since it's "my day" to celebrate, or something. But who knows - I might make an appearance.

Twenty Six

Birthday's are weird for me. I always love my actual birthday and getting to celebrate with family or friends, but I'm not the typical person that counts down the days until my birthday, or waits (with anticipation) as the day quickly approaches. To me, it's just another day.

Honestly, I don't like being the center of attention. I'd much rather blend into a crowd of people than have people 'celebrate' me, or anything along those lines (this will make for a very interesting wedding (whenever I get married)). Anyway.

My birthday is two days away, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing for my birthday. All of my family is across the country, so I won't be spending it with them. All of my friends are spread out across North America, so I won't be celebrating with all of them either. I know that Justin and Amanda have something in store for me - but I have no idea what it is. And yes, it gives me slight anxiety. I'd much rather plan someone else's birthday and make THEIR day special than do something for my own birthday. I'm weird, I know.

Justin's birthday is 6 days after mine, and I have most of the details planned out for his 'big day', and I'm honestly more excited for his special day of the year, than I am for mine.

A birthday is just another day of the year. Nothing too crazy, nothing too 'over the top', but it's a nice day to feel special and feel loved - so I guess I'll just embrace that.

I might as well enjoy my last 48 hours of being a quarter of a century. On Wednesday I'll be a whole step close to 30 - yikes.

I just realized that I actually sound depressed about my birthday - totally not what I was going for, just writing out my birthday thoughts.

Setting goals, and stuff

Today is the first day of fall, and I really don't know how that happened... at all. Didn't we just celebrate the New Year, like, yesterday?

Okay, so I'm a terrible blogger and started this post yesterday but ran out of time before I could finish it... so I'm posting it today, oops.

Justin and I have been doing a lot of talking and planning our future (and whatnot) the past few weeks and we've got some big changes happening soon... which I'm sure I'll share on the blog in a week or two. But during a part of all of these conversations, Justin has suggested that we focus on four of the main aspects of our lives:

• Our relationship
• Our finances
• Our jobs
• Our health

We have decided that we are going to make 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month goals for each of these 4 areas of our lives. We're not going to share them with each other (or on the blog) until we've reached the end of that period, and then we'll open up the goals, read them to each other, see what we've accomplished and what we haven't, and continue to work towards them and better ourselves in the next 'period'.

It may sound weird/lame/whatever to some people, but I've truly found the most success when I write down my goals and then push myself to actively work towards them. So tonight, we will each sit down and put our goals into the different envelopes and seal them up (kind of like a time capsule) and open them when the time is right. So now I need to just do the super easy task of figuring out where I see myself at work, in health, financially, and in my relationship with Justin in the next month, three months, six months, or year.

J has suggested blogging (or vlogging) about our progress once we open the envelopes and share our goals with each other, so I think that will most likely happen. Right now we're planning on opening the envelops on Oct 25, Dec 25, March 25, and Sept 25.

...... so, let the thinking/planning process begins.

My Birthday Present?

I like surprises, I honestly do. If you ask my boyfriend, or my friends - they might tell you otherwise. It's not that I DON'T want to be surprised, it's that all of my friends and family and boyfriend all cave SO easily when I ask them a simple question like: 'whatcha doin'?', 'where are you going?', or 'whatcha buyin'?'... they don't need to tell me what they're doing/buying, where they're going, or what they're planning, etc. etc. etc... but they do. Then I'm flooded with all of the comments like 'Faith, you NEVER LET ME SURPRISE YOU', or 'Faith has to know EVERYTHING, alllll of the time... so I can't plan anything in secret or surprise her, ever'. This is not my fault. I'm just putting it out there.

Well, blog people, it's nearing my birthday, and these kinds of conversations have already begun... primarily with my better other half, Justin. He's started taunting me about my birthday present, and now I kinda sorta maybe totally absolutely want to know.. but it's because he brought it up. Ignorance is bliss, people. But if you say something... I'm totally going to want to know. It's science, or something. Whatever. This is what took place yesterday...

So, not to brag.. but I'm totally getting a penguin for my birthday. So you should probably just be jealous. (For the record, Justin made it very very very clear that I will in no way-shape-form be getting a penguin).

Happy Friday, y'all.

Sh*t My Boyfriend Says...

So, it's Thursday and I have yet to make an appearance around these parts yet this week... I really struggle as a lifestyle blogger. Remember that time I blogged every day in July? I'm thinking I might need to do something like that again for October or November to get back in my blog-game-groove-whatever.

Anyway, that was super rambly and long winded for no reason. The whole point of this post is to make fun of highlight some of the more hilarious qualities of my boyfriend, Justin.
Justin, I love you... please don't hate me for this post.

Justin is a HUGE sleep-talker. It is one of the funniest things in the world to me, because I've never really experienced this before. Whenever I had sleepovers as a child (or teenager... or adult), none of my friends (nor me... to my knowledge anyway) ever talked in their sleep. Honestly, I love that Justin talks in his sleep... it has provided countless hilarious conversations - some which I can't remember, but I know they were hilarious, and some were just WAY too funny to forget.

I feel like a few of the hilarious stories should be shared, because if I can't embarrass my boyfriend on my blog than what is the point of blogging? A little dramatic, but whatever. 

So, for the record, every single one of these conversations ACTUALLY happened. Yes, I like to talk back to him and provoke conversations (because it's hilarious, y'all would do the same thing).

Justin: Arghhhhh

Faith: What? What's wrong?

J: 210!!! (yells)

F: What? What's 210?

J: I SAID 210!!! (still yelling)

F: Seriously, what the heck is 210?

J: MY SHIELD (still yelling).

F: *giggles* Um, your what?

J: *snoring*

J: *sighs*

F: Morning babe!

J: *sighs again*

F: Are you okay?

J: *in a sad voice* My hammer is broken.

F: Your hammer? ..... okay, why is it broken?

J: Because I bought it at Pier 1.

F: *laughs loud enough to wake Justin up*

J: UGH, did I just talk in my sleep?

F: Nope, not at all, go back to bed.

*alarm goes off*

J: Nooooooo

F: *rolls over* Justin? are you awake?

J: *grabs me and holds on tight*

F: Justin, the alarm is going off, we have to get up

J: Go get the door

F: What? there's nobody at the door, we have to wake up now.

J: I can't let go

F: Please let go of me, I need to get up

J: *sighs* If I let go then I CAN'T HOLD THE PIZZA DELIVERY MAN!!

F: *laughs hysterically*

J: *wakes up* Nooooo, WHAT DID I SAY?

F: *still laughing, can't breathe* were you dreaming about a pizza delivery man?

J: I have no idea what you're talking about

J: No no no no no

F: What's no no no no no?

J: We don't have enough HUP's or NAC's for the month right now. The GP is down and Jim's going to be pissed.

F: Wait, is this for real or are you sleeping?

J: Can you hand me that phone?

F: Okay, so you're sleeping

J: We have to get our sales up

F: Babe, wake up - you're dreaming about work.. again

J: It's all about the ARPU

F: *shakes him*

J: Hey! I'm sleeping here.

F: *sighs*

F: *kisses Justin's cheek* Good morning

J: mmmmmmmmmorning

F: Why are you so handsome? (I try and be really nice in the mornings)

J: See, this *points to face*, is what happens when you carve a face out of an angel

F: Wow, really? You're the angel in this relationship? Isn't it supposed to be me?

J: There are boy angels, Faith. *exasperated sigh* But yes, I'm the angel in this relationship.

F: What about me?

J: ...What about you?

There have been probably 20-30 more hilarious ones, but some are probably too inappropriate to share and some I just cannot remember. But regardless, I always find such joy and amusement in the sh*t he says.

You should all hear the sh*t he says when he's awake... he's lucky he's cute(ish).

Don't Judge A Book... Or Something

Assumptions. Everyone makes them, and I don't know why. Okay, well I do know why, but I think it's something that we (I'm including all of you), or at least just myself, need to stop doing. Because you know what they say.. if you assume, you're just making an ass out of u and me.

Did I just get a little too real, a little too early in the morning? My bad.

So I'm going to tell you a little story, and it goes a little something like this...

Once upon a time (this past weekend), there was a girl and a boy okay screw this, it was me and Justin... I'm really not good at telling stories (fail of a blogger right here). So lets back track here, remember how on September 2nd I started a 90-Day Challenge to kick my health and fitness booty into high gear and finally melt the last of this weight (about 50-ish pounds) off my body. Well, when I set this plan into motion, Justin (that lovely boyfriend of mine) decided he wanted to do it with me, so we've been going balls to the wall (so to speak) with eating clean.

We are currently allowing ourselves to have one cheat meal per week (usually on Friday/Saturday). Since we were going to my friends housewarming party on Saturday night, Justin chose to have beer as his cheat meal last week so that he could drink with the boys. Well because of this, I made him promise that on Sunday night he would go on a nice long walk with me.
Sidenote: I've asked Justin to go on a walk (or run) with me about a few dozen times since we've started dating, and it has never happened. But I made him promise that this time would be different.

So on Sunday night we got ready, put on our workout clothes and off we went for a nice long walk. After about 20 minutes into the walk, Justin decides that he's feeling great and wants to run some intervals (how cute, I thought). Since Justin hasn't worked out in at least a year, and doesn't seem like he can walk OR run far, I decide to let him run the interval alone while I watch, and I know that I'll sprint to catch up to him once he stops running. Well, I watch as he runs.. and runs.. and runs. Finally when he's about 500-600 meters away from me, I realize he's not stopping... so I sprint. Full on sprint. I run as hard and as fast as I can (and since I've fallen of the running-wagon the past few months, it's not nearly as hard or as fast as I think it is). I probably looked a little something like this:

Just as I was about 100 feet from catching up to him, I started coughing and had to stop (I had a cold the days leading up to this and clearly hadn't fully recovered). But also, I'm just severely out of shape and needed a rest. So I stop running and switch back to walking, Justin continues to just run run run.. and run some more. I watched in sheer amazement as he ran completely out of my sight. My first thought was 'Holy crap that's impressive' and I was so proud of him. Then I quickly realized how out of shape I was and sprinted to finally catch up to him. When I reached him (he had FINALLY switched back to walking), I was sweating profusely and breathing like someone who should have been strapped to an oxygen tank, Justin was just walking with a complete and pure calmness - no sweat, no out of breath-ness, nothing. He smiled a huge smile and said 'I feel amazing!'

                                                       

I was shocked. Absolutely, 100%, no doubt about it - shocked. How could this man who hadn't worked out in a year, and who complained about knee pain while WALKING anywhere with me, and who walked at about 1/3 of my normal pace, run further than me and make it seem so effortless? I quickly started to feel insecure about my inabilities running along side him. But he never once judged me, he only pushed me to better myself.

I'll admit it, I was embarrassed. Justin wanted to continue to run intervals throughout the rest of walk, so we did. He pushed me, acted like a coach and yelled not to stop or slow down when I was getting tired. He told me to slow my breathing and try and keep a good steady jogging pace (instead of trying to sprint my intervals like I'm so used to). This man, who I had so greatly underestimated was teaching me the absolute true value in never judging a book by it's cover. Let me tell you, friends - this was a very humbling experience for me.

We have since gone for another run together and it went really well. I'm scared and nervous to run with him because I'm insecure about my abilities next to his, but I know that I have nothing to fear. Justin will push me harder than I'll push myself, and he will be there to support me throughout this entire process. I'm excited to have him teach me how to properly run - pace, breathing, stretching properly. 

I went into this whole 'challenge' expecting to have to push Justin, and encourage him along the way to stick with eating clean and working out, and to be his 'coach' of sorts. I wasn't expecting the roles to be reversed, and I wasn't expecting to learn such a valuable lesson (and in the first week nonetheless). It just goes to show that you really can't judge a book by it's cover, or something.

Goat Cheese Chicken Alfredo

Well, it's Thursday... and what better way to spend Thursday than watching (and possibly laughing at) Justin and I cooking together. Okay, so we vlogged a 'cooking' show, because my favourite Texan requested it. When I told Justin that a few people wanted us to vlog again, and that Lindsay wanted us to do a cooking show, he got really excited. I asked him what he (not we) wanted to cook (I just watched him to his thing... and drank wine... and ate snacks); he wanted to cook something amazing that he created/made for me when we first started dating: Goat Cheese Chicken Alfredo.

 

Spoiler alert, it's phenomenal. If there weren't so many calories in this (or the 42 pieces of garlic bread that I consumed with this), I would honestly eat this every single day. Mmmmmm.

Here's our vlog of how this delicious looking meal was created.



Justin so graciously put together the recipe to share with everyone, so here is how you can make this absolutely delicious meal.

What you need (to make this)

2 chicken breasts
Linguini noodles (enough for 2 people)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp dry white wine (have a whole bottle on hand so you can drink the rest)
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tspn fresh parsley
salt and pepper (to taste - so however much you want)
5 ounces goat cheese

Combine olive oil, wine and chicken broth in saucepan. 
Simmer over medium heat until reduced by half. 
Add parsley, goat cheese, salt and pepper, and garlic seasoning. 
Continue simmering and stirring frequently (until sauce is thickened).

Cook two chicken breasts however you'd like - we pan fried ours. Add flavour to it, whatever flavour you want. Then slice into bite size pieces.

Boil a pot of water... once it's boiling, add noodles and let them cook for 10 minutes (but you should know how to cook pasta by now if you're making this).

Strain pasta, put on plate, add chicken, then pour a lot of sauce on top. The more the better.

Enjoy.

*please note, this meal is high in calories... it's only 'special' to us because it's made with goat cheese and oil instead of milk and butter - so this is ideal for people who are lactose intolerant*

...And So It Begins...

Happy Tuesday, friends.

The first day back after a long weekend is always so hard (TWSS), so today the struggle is very much real. But today I'm not going to be complaining about how I'd rather be asleep instead of awake, or enjoying relaxing instead of working. No. Today it's all about getting myself back on track with my health and my weight, and today is Day ONE of my 90-day challenge that I told y'all about last week.

As of today, September 2nd, I am starting a 90-day challenge. I would LOVE for you to join me on this adventure and see what you can accomplish in the next three months. These goals don't have to be anything crazy, or they can be as crazy as you'd like - you're the one creating them after all. Your goal could be to go on more walks, lose 10lbs, run 5k, or even just eat healthier. Whatever your goals are, I want you to spend the next 90 days working towards implementing them into your daily routines.

I wanted to try and put together some sort of plan. Justin is doing this 90-day challenge with me, and I also have a few friends who have agreed to do the challenge with me do hold each other accountable and we keep each other updated every day or two via text/e-mail/whatever. This is going to be amazing.

Anyway, here are some of the changes that I'm making over the next 90 days:

• 99% Clean Eating

This one might be a bit of a struggle, but I am absolutely dedicated to getting back on track. I'm putting this as 99% clean eating instead of 100% clean eating, because I will still be allowing ONE cheat meal per week for Justin and I. I honestly find the most success with my weight-loss when I incorporate one cheat meal.


• No Alcohol

This one isn't actually that hard for me. I've successfully done the whole 'no alcohol' thing a few times and it wasn't too bad. The only part that sucks is the whole social aspect of drinking. I'll probably be declining a lot of hangouts with friends - and I'm really just hoping that I still have friends at the end of this challenge. I'm kidding. But seriously - don't bail on me, friends (or Justin).


• Strength Training Workouts (at home)

Right now I don't have access to a gym, and that probably won't be changing until October/November. In the meantime, I know a LOT of fantastic at-home workouts that I can do (and I know they're successful because I did them last year), so I have no reason not to be incorporating them into my life again.

• Couch 2 5K

I did the Couch 2 5k for a while last fall and got up to week 4 or 5 and found that I really loved the program, I just didn't end up sticking with it - oops. But I think this is a good way for me to try and kick-start my body back into running every day (or every other day).

For my workout schedule, I will be following the 'Body for Life' workout guide, and pairing it with the Couch 2 5k program. Since I don't have access to a gym right now like I did last year when I did this program, my workouts will be a little different, but I still want to follow this plan as closely as I can. This is what my schedule will look ideally look like:

WEEK ONE

Monday - Upper Body Strength Training (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps).
Tuesday - Couch 2 5k.
Wednesday - Lower Body Strength Training (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).
Thursday - Couch 2 5k.
Friday - Upper Body Strength Training (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps).
Saturday - Couch 2 5k.
Sunday - die REST.

WEEK TWO

Monday - Lower Body Strength Training (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).
Tuesday - Couch 2 5k.
Wednesday - Upper Body Strength Training (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps).
Thursday - Couch 2 5k.
Friday - Lower Body Strength Training (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).
Saturday - Couch 2 5k.
Sunday - REST.

These are what my two different weeks will look like, and I will just be alternating them back and forth for the entire 90 days.

Now for the food portion of this whole thing. Honestly, I don't know what it's going to look like for the entire month. Right now I'm planning it for about 5 days in advance, solely so that I can buy all the groceries, portion out everything properly, and food prep the things that are possible to prep in advance. This also makes it easier for both myself (and Justin) if we both know what we are each eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

I'll try and post one favourite 'clean' recipe per week to give you guys ideas for food, but for the most part, I'm keeping my food VERY simple.

Typical breakfast:

Faith: oatmeal with 1 tsp natural peanut butter, 1 banana, and handful of blueberries or raspberries (whatever I buy that week)
Justin: shake - skim milk, strawberries, banana, yogurt

Typical lunch:

Faith: leftovers from the night before, OR grilled chicken/turkey cooked (with lots of flavour - I like spices), and raw veggies and hummus
Justin: sandwich or pita, apple, and granola bar

Typical dinner:

Last year I was eating an egg/egg white scramble about 5 days per week. This year I'm going to be cooking actual meals every night, so for now I no longer have a 'go to' dinner. Stay tuned for this.

This is all the info I've got for now - but stay tuned. I'll be doing weekly updates (Justin has suggested a weekly vlog.. we'll see). Let me know if you're joining us in this challenge. It's time to make a change, folks. I can help to hold you accountable!