I Made It

For the past two or three weeks, I've skipped out on my Thursday workouts. Going to bed around midnight and waking up at 5am usually wears me out by Thursday, causing me to sleep in and pass on the gym. This morning I set my alarm and actually made it out of bed! I did a 50 minute spin class and I'm so glad I did! We did a lot of long tracks--like an 8 minute endurance track and a 7 minute sprint track--so time seemed to fly by. I feel great and at 8am, I'm ready to start my day. If I would have slept in as usual, I'd just be crawling out of bed and still feeling sluggish.

Remember yesterday I told you I had a surprise for you? I bet you can guess what it is! It's a recurring theme in the blogging world combined with one of my favourite breakfast foods. PUMPKIN PANCAKES!

Pumpkin Pancakes
-1/3 cup 5 Grain Pancake Mix
-2 egg whites
-1/3 cup water
-2 heaping tablespoons pure pumpkin

Combine pancake mix, water, egg whites and pumpkin in a small mixing bowl. Cook as you would normal pancakes. If desired, chill pancakes overnight. Add syrup, agave, walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseeds or other toppings. Be creative!


Super easy, right? They were so moist and chewy. The pumpkin definitely took pancakes to a whole other level.

Lunch today is a university tour guide luncheon. I'm not sure I'll be able to snap a shot of my lunch, but I'll try my best!

Something Fishy

Today was not a usual day. Right around lunchtime, a good friend of mine called me up and asked if I wanted to go out for lunch. Since I had another three hours to kill before a meeting on campus, I decided to take him up on that. Another friend met us at one of our favourite restaurants...SUSHI!!!

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but that won't stop me from googling what I did eat!

A piece of red snapper sushi (I know, I could only find a decent picture of salmon sushi)

Salmon avocado roll (roughly 8 pieces)

A bite of chicken teriyaki

And half a bowl of miso soup

I was still full of fish by the time dinner rolled around. I had a pear and a bite of some other odds and ends, but that was it for me. I'm still feeling the sushi in my belly.

I pre-cooked my breakfast for tomorrow and it's a new one! Thanks to everyone who gave me tips on how to be creative with breakfast. Check out tomorrow's blog to find out the surprise!

Not The Stephen King Kind

What on earth am I talking about, you ask? Well, I'm talking about FOG! I was greeting this morning by a thick fog that made visibility nearly impossible. My fiance had to go in to work early, so I took the bus to the gym. It was crazy foggy! For those of you who ever had a humidifier as a kid and thought it was funny to crank the thing before putting your face infront of it...no, just me? Well, that's what it felt like today!



(Just as an aside, Marylin Manson is blasting over the radio in the gym cafeteria. Weird! Not a mucisican you often here on the radio.)

Pilates today was different than usual. We had the chance to bounce around on the exercise balls and used them for the entire 50 minutes. Let's just say it was an incredible workout and I really hope we use them again! I also threw in 15 minutes of cardio before the class.

I bet you can't guess what breakfast is today? That's right, it's oatmeal yet again! I really need to get more creative. This time I had strawberry flavoured oatmeal with sliced bananas. I cut them last night, so they're a little on the brown side. No difference in taste though!




Any breakfast ideas that I can prep the night before, bring to the gym and eat after my workout? I'd make pancakes again, but I'm out of mix at the moment.

See you for lunch!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

What a gloomy day outside? It's actually pretty miserable. Not only is it wet and rainy, but it's cold too. No fun!

Since I only have one (loooong) class each weekday, I could come home early today. I decided to do work at home instead of at the library because I needed a lil comfort with all this gloomy weather.

Snackage for this afternoon included a cup o tea (not photographed) and two pieces of sesame rye crispbread with honey. I love creamy, spreadable honey instead of the usual liquid honey. It spreads better, doesn't soak into the bread as easily and it has a fun texture.


Me and Mr. Crispbread even had a little bit of a showdown!

And incase you weren't already experiencing the gloominess, I thought I'd share a little bit with you.

A Leave of Absence

My sincere apologies for being away yesterday! I was busy all weekend and failed to do any school work, so I needed to take a "work day" yesterday to get caught up. In addition, my stomach has been giving me problems for the past few days.

My symptoms include:
-feeling like I might throw up, but not accompanied by the usual nausea
-pain in my stomach
-acidic feeling in my stomach after I eat
-general feeling of indigestion or heartburn
-symptoms made worse after eating

Any ideas of what I could be suffering from? One of my roommates has a cold and the other has strep throat, but I don't think my symptoms match either of those illnesses.

This morning I did my second ever spin class. It was such a great workout. My legs feel awesome and weak, yet strong at the same time. I think I might make it a regular habit to go to spin class on Tuesdays and Thursdays with sleek and strong on Mondays and Fridays, and pilates on Wednesdays. Seems like a well-rounded gym schedule, no? Anyway, I was pretty sweaty by the time this workout was done.

Now for the daily eats! Breakfast was the usual oatmeal with chia seeds and a packet of sliced almonds on the side.



Lunch will include a bagel thin with a slice of smoked turkey and a sliced cheese string. I also threw in an apple and some veggies for some snackage.




See you for dinner!

Wedding Bells Everywhere

I'm going to make this a quick, picture filled post because I have a lot of catching up to do on my thesis and in my classes. Enjoy!

Off Again

The wedding last night was a lot of fun and I can't wait to share it with you...but you'll just have to wait. I accidentally left my camera with my fiance and he's back at our place right now. I'm at my parents house until noonish when my sisters (bridesmaids) and I will be going into the city for another bridal show. I'll post pictures of the wedding and bridal show (if allowed) as soon as I get my camera back.

Ciao for now!

Going to the Chapel

But it's not me who's getting married! My best friend from elementary and high school is getting married today! That means I will be gone until very late tonight and probably won't be able to update you all until tomorrow. I'll try and take tons of pictures of the food and everything else to share when I return!

Going back to my previous post... I can't believe I forgot to mention probably the most important thing about Jillian Michaels. She was the person who inspired this blog name!!! One of Jillian's catchphrases is "that's bananas" when she's talking about anything surprising or unbelievable. I loved the saying so much (and it just so happened to fit with my nickname) that I used it for this blog!

Now you know! ;)

My Mentor

One of my all time favourite fitness and health mentors has to be Jillian Michaels.

To those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, Jillian Michaels is one of the fitness trainers on The Biggest Loser. She is also a mentor, motivational speaker and overall fitness guru. She emphasizes fitness, living a balanced lifestyle and eating local, organic, non-processed foods. I recently read her book Master Your Metabolism and I highly recommend it. It'll open your eyes on clean, healthy living.

Jillian has overcome so much and now motivates other people to turn their own lives around.


Plus...she loves horses like me! :D

TGIF

Yes, that's right. It's FRIDAY! The most anticipated day of the work week (or in my case, the school week). I have wedding to attend tomorrow, a bridal show to explore on Sunday, a thesis outline to start/finish and a seminar to prep. What can go wrong? ;)

Sleek and strong kicked my weak booty this morning. Oh boy! Lunges and squats with heavy body bars until my muscles just stopped working. We also worked on the triceps, but the legs took the cake! I'm beat.

My attempt on a high protein, high fibre breakfast this morning was nearly a fail. I made some 12 grain hot cereal and mixed in half a scoop of strawberry protein powder with some diced strawberries. At first taste, it was disgusting! I wanted to throw it out and buy breakfast at the cafe. But after a few bites, it started to grow on me. By the end of it, I actually enjoyed the protein cereal. Strange!


Lunch for today includes some chopped veggies (likely to be paired with a tiny bit o' ranch from the cafeteria), an apple and a bagel thin with smoked turkey and a cheese string. The smoked turkey smells delicious. I can hardly wait!




That's all for now. Have a wonderful Friday and I'll see you tonight!

New Layout!

what do you think? I like it! It's clean, simple, easy to read...

Do you like this layout better or my previous layout?

First Farmer's Market

Today is Thursday. Thursday = day off from le gym! I slept in nice and late (well, until 8am). Getting caught up on sleep was glorious, but you know what? I really missed my morning workout. I felt sluggish all morning, I couldn't concentrate on my readings and I ended up having a 20 minute nap around 11 because I just couldn't stay awake. It felt wrong not exercising, so I biked 20 minutes to campus and back.

It was nice to be at home to cook breakfast though! I made another batch of Banana Flax Whole Grain Pancakes topped with crushed walnuts and maple syrup. What a tasty breakfast!


Lunch was a bit later on the day because I had a small bowl of cereal around 10:30. I paired a side of veggies with something new. I copied Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers with her apple and cheese sandwiches. It was probably one of the most delicious yet simple sandwiches I've ever eaten. Definitely a winner! Thanks Julie!




After lunch, I headed to my university's first ever farmer's market right in the campus parking lot. I picked up a pie pumpkin, an acorn squash, a rutabaga and two green peppers. It was a huge success! I hope it becomes a regular occurrence.




Dinner tonight was some whole wheat no-yolk pasta with asparagus and some baked squash. But now it's time for me to start doing some thesis prep. G'night all!