Bring on the week!

Today’s post is brought to by the little thoughts floating around in my head. Here’s what happening upstairs lately:

- Does anyone else think Girls on HBO is getting strange? Don’t get me wrong, I still really like it. But sometimes I’m just like … whoa.

- I want to start cooking with ingredients foreign to me. You know, step out of my comfort zone. I made a pot of mung beans to add to my pre made salads for the week. That’s a first step! Have you tried cooking with anything “new to you” lately?

- After this week, my Zumba classes will be half over! What?! My students had to preregister for the eight week session. I can’t believe it will be over soon! And then I guess I cross my fingers that I get hired back for another eight weeks …

- I have a big inkling to try shirataki noodles. I guess this could kind of go along with cooking new things. I’m so intrigued!

- I know it’s so two months ago, but I can’t stop listening to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ Thrift Shop. I couch danced when they performed on SNL this weekend.

- I want spring. I want cute sandals and dresses and no jackets and longer days and walks outside. Mother Nature had a complete emotional breakdown yesterday and it snowed heavy. I’m ready for this to end. Soon!

- I still need to see Safe Haven. I’ll probably go to the theatre by myself (and bawl, because it’s Nicholas Sparks and that’s required behavior). Have you seen it?

- I signed up to do a Color Me Rad 5K this summer! It’ll be my first race, even though it’s not competitive. I’m excited!

That’s enough word vomit for one day enjoy your day!

The magical date was last week, but I missed it while on vacation. I’m so grateful that people continue to visit Yellow Haired Girl everyday and read the nonsense that I have to say. I’m happy to have been able to connect with so many people over the last year. xoxoxo!

Onto more delicious things. Thanks, Jenn, for hosting this weekly party!

My eats are boring this week. I’ve been trying to get back on track following my free for all eating extravaganza while on holidays. This week is also really crazy for me, so a lot of my meals were made ahead of time so I can grab them on my way out the door!

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, baby. This is a 1/2 cup of oats + 1 cup of water + 1 scoop of Jillian Michael’s chocolate protein powder (still my fave) + a handful of thawed out berries. I love when the juice gets all pretty like that

Lunch:

Eaten while tearing my hair out at work (seriously, you should see what I looked like by the end of the day). I’m working on editing the final two episodes of my series. I’m in the home stretch! I made several containers of this salad on the weekend, and have been topping with various things all week long. Sometimes hummus, sometimes salsa, sometimes Italian dressing. The possibilities are endless. In the salad: quinoa + roasted squash + corn, + chia seeds + edamame + lentils. I think I put salsa on this one? I almost forgot to photograph it … so sorry for the mostly empty container. Also pictured: carrots + my jug of water. That thing is larger than my head.

Snack:

I’ve been eating this, out of the family sized tub, almost constantly. I’m an animal. If it’s lemon/citrus flavored, I’ll destroy it.

Supper:

Because I don’t care, I had the same thing for supper as lunch. I wish I was more exciting for y’all. I added cheese this time though! Cheese makes things prettier, right?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Some highlights:

- Grand Canyon. It’s beautiful. I’d seen pictures, of course, but they don’t do it justice. Totally worth seeing. Breathtaking.

- Shopping. I may or may not have brought home close to $400 in new clothes. I have a new outfit planned for each day for the next while! Oh yes, and I’m broke.

- The food. I ate so much. Lordy, lordy. Mexican (fish tacos are my jam), Italian, The Elephant Bar (I had the best salad of my LIFE … had never been there before), In-N-Out Burger (I’m Canadian, remember?) and many more meals. I need nothing but vegetables for a bit now

- It was only warm Saturday/Sunday/Monday, but I got some poolside time in. I missed the sunshine!

So I’m back now. That means back to the grind today, womp wompppppp. This week is hectic (tonight is my only free night … and I think I may need to work overtime), but I tried to prepare myself as much as I could this weekend so the transition went a little smoother. That meant meal prepping, Zumba practicing (still teaching, but wanted to go over choreography since I had a week off), and unpacking. That’s HUGE for me. I never unpack this quickly!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Needless to say, things have been crazy.

How was your Valentine’s Day? Mine was awesome. The best I’ve ever had. I’m a very lucky lady! <3

I’m about to fall off the map again. I know, I know. You’ve probably come to expect it from me now. I’ve been so sporadic with posting. As soon as I hit publish on this post, I’m packing my bright pink suitcase. I’m off to Phoenix for a week! Going to spend some quality time with my family and forget about the stresses of work. I can’t wait … it’s about 25 degrees warmer there than it is where I live in Canada. Come onnnnn sunshine!

Do you know what I’m looking to most about vacation? The eating. The fact that I’m going with my parents, and will try to let myself slip into “I’m a kid again” mode. I don’t want to make decisions. Just tell me what we’re doing next and I’m there. As long as I get to swim a few times, eat some delicious food, and shop until I drop … I’ll be happy. I really want to try and go with the flow for the next week. I make too many decisions in a day (duh, that’s being an adult and having a stressful job).

Have you ever been to Phoenix? Any suggestions for what I should do?

I promised a recap of my very first Zumba class as an instructor (!!!), and here it is!

The class was Tuesday night. I was told that 26 ladies were registered, but I only had 21 in the gym. The age difference is awesome, though! I have a group of 25 year olds … some middle aged women … and a group of 65 (ish) year olds. Everyone was smiley and sweaty by the end, so age really doesn’t matter

I incorporate a lot a lot a lot of squats into my choreography. It’s safe to say I will be sore until my classes are over (April). And I have been sore since I started preparing (December). Good for my quads and butt! I have two coworkers taking my class, and one of them couldn’t tackle stairs for two days. I got sick amounts of happiness out of that. I’m a freak, alright. But an exercise freak

I start the class off with some Tik Tok (what’s up, Ke$ha?!) and had some of the ladies giggling while I got right into it and got a little goofy. The front row was filled with younger girls, and they kept smiling. I found that encouraging, because I was a teensy bit nervous. When I knew they were having a good time, I was too!

I wore my Polar heart rate monitor (like I always do!), and found that I burned 630 calories in the class. I drove straight to my boyfriend’s house after teaching, and forgot to shut it off. Since my heart had been puuuuuuumping so much, I checked it when I parked and was up to an 800 calorie burn only ten minutes after I left the gym. Craziness! And then I wanted to eat an entire loaf of garlic bread …. that’s not a joke, either. Don’t worry. I didn’t.

All in all, I’m super pleased with how things went Tuesday night. I can’t wait to teach again tomorrow night! My quads and booty aren’t looking forward to it as much though

Have you ever taken a Zumba class?

Have a wonderful Monday!

I love you.

Like, really love you.

I’m so happy this day is here. Weeeeeeekend time! Here’s what is fantastic on this Friday:

- I taught my first Zumba class this week. IT WENT SO WELL. I pinky swear/cross my heart promise I will write a post about it for Monday. I was so happy with how the class went. Everyone was smiley and sweaty by the end of the hour. Plus, I have coworkers in it. One of them was so sore the next day, stairs were the enemy. I get sick joy out of that (insert evil cackle here)

- I get to sleep in tomorrow. And Sunday. I might nap all Sunday afternoon, too. It’s a pretty easy weekend for me. Zero complaints. I feel like my eyes have been half open since Tuesday.

- I leave for Phoenix in a week! Bye bye, chilly Canada. Hello, warm Arizona.

- A friend of mine and I are trying a new drive-in restaurant tonight. Burgers, shakes, fries, deep fried pickles. I like the sound of it. Alllllll of it. A nice way to kick off the weekend, I must say!

- Another great way to start off the weekend? By going to a play with my boyfriend! I like supporting the local arts, so we’re heading to a smaller scale production. I hope it’s good! I’m a theatre junkie.

What’s making your Friday fantastic? I want to hear it!

It’s time for another edition of What I Ate Wednesday. Shout out to Jenn for doing this every week!

This is what I ate on Wednesday Monday (I remembered to take photos again!):

Breakfast:

This bowl of overnight oats kept me fulllllll. It’s rare I stay satisfied until lunchtime, but this did the trick. This is 1/2 oats + chia seeds (no idea how much, just poured) + 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder + unmeasured amount of chocolate almond milk. In the morning, I sliced a banana and spooned out some crunchy peanut butter on top. Heaven. Made my Monday morning a wee bit better.

Lunch:

That is not a good photo. I didn’t know what I wanted for lunch. But I wanted easy. Mondays are hard enough, right? This is a whole wheat tortilla + tuna + chia seeds + cheese + mustard (I have a real THING for mustard these days). I wrapped it up and ate it while working on my laptop …

How dare you insinuate that I drink milk straight out of the carton? #sorrynotsorry

Supper:

Carby goodness. Whole wheat spaghetti + organic marinara + chia seeds + black olives + cheese. And a giant glass of limey water. Now that’s a good way to end the day, guys.

I’m realizing now that there’s a real lack of veggies in these pictures. Whoops. I’ll get ‘em next week

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Please don’t forget to visit Peas and Crayons to read some other fabulous WIAW posts!

Tonight is my first Zumba class as an instructor! I’m excited. And nervous. I’m mostly excited, but it will become mostly nervous about five minutes before class starts.

I got my attendance list yesterday morning, and am expecting 26 ladies. Can’t wait to daaaaaance my butt off.

I “taught” a mini class with my sister and her roommate on the weekend to get any bugs out. It’s amazing how much you can feed off of the energy of other people. I hope the atmosphere in tonight’s class gets me pumped.

Have I mentioned how sweatyyyyyy my playlist gets me? We’re talking an average of 550 calories burned each time I dance it through (love my heart rate monitor). No wonder my jeans are a little less tight these days I’ve been living and breathing Zumba (that’s why I’ve been posting less … I feel like I’m either sweating or catching up on much needed sleep)!

Wish me luck!

(Thanks, Jenn. You rock.)

Here’s what I ate on Wednesday Monday …

Breakfast:

I’ve jumped back on the overnight oats train! This bowl was 1/2 cup of oats + an unmeasured amount of chia seeds + 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder + an unmeasured amount of chocolate almond milk. I let it sit in the fridge overnight, and then added more milk + crunchy peanut butter in the morning. Plus black coffee, of course.

Lunch:

Another WIAW, another Subway picture. I’m just so dang predictable. Turkey on whole wheat + every vegetable on the counter. Deeeeelicious.

Snack:

I dove into the stash of homemade trail mix that I keep in my desk. In the mix: dried cranberries, cashews, almonds, yogurt covered raisins, and pumpkin seeds. There might be plain peanuts in there too. I can’t remember.

Supper:

I was miserable when I got home from work on Monday. Just the grumpiest person on the planet. I wanted something nourishing and super comforting … and that meant dinner in Tupperware It’s nostalgic and reminds me of my childhood! I also needed some fuel to work on Zumba choreography … once Biggest Loser was over, of course. Who says I don’t have priorities?! In the container: quinoa, edamame, chia seeds, olives, red lentils and grilled chicken breast. I melted some cheese on top too … added comfort (or something). I topped this with mustard and salsa (I know it’s a weird combo). I couldn’t eat all of this. I made way too much. But it made excellent leftovers for Tuesday!

There you have it! Thanks again for hosting this weekly partayyyy, Jenn!

I stayed in on Saturday night, lounged on the couch, watched my favorite hockey team and read a few magazines. It was some spectacular alone time, something I feel like I haven’t had much of lately. After such a low key evening, I woke up yesterday morning (after 10.5 hours of sleep, whaaaaat?!) and was ready to take on the day.

I downloaded a couple new episodes of the Josh and Ross podcast. If you’re a Chelsea Lately fan, I definitely recommend it. Those two are hilarious! I put my headphones in and before I knew it, I had spent two hours cleaning my apartment. I didn’t even know it needed two hours of dedicated time!

Then I headed to the gym. Since I’ve been spending so much of my “exercise time” working on Zumba (only 8 days until I start teaching!!!!), I haven’t been there that often. I climbed 50 flights on the StairMaster, and then did a serious upper body workout. My shoulders were screamiiiiiiiiiing at me. Love that.

Then, after a long walk to Starbucks to have coffee with a couple of friends (it’s amazing how sleepy the fresh air made me on the walk home!), I tackled seven million a few loads of laundry. And prepped some food for the week! I’ve been getting into a habit of making a big pot of quinoa (I add it into soups/my daily breakfast wraps/whatever else happens to come along) and a pot of red lentils (I like adding them to soups and pasta) lately. It really makes my life easier during the week.

Then more Zumba prep! And finally, Girls.

What. A. Day. And incredibly active, when you consider gym + walk + Zumba. My to do list didn’t know what hit it (and yes, I make at least one to do list each day).

Did you spend yesterday relaxing? Or was it a superhero Sunday like mine?