Monday and on track!

I bought some new items to add to my menu. One Bun multi grain bread which is 100 calories. Great because all I need is half of one to go with my lunch salads. (need my carbs :)

I also bought flavored weight control oatmeal and just tried it, it's yummy! (sorry for the french side of the pic, just noticed that!
I also read that protein is a must when eating salads. So far my salads consist of Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, chickpeas and now adding 1 egg, with balsamic vinegar. Yummy!

I also make sure to eat every 3 hours to keep my metabolism going but to also be sure I'm not starving, not good when starving.... starving will make it easy to eat anything in site! So I don't want to do that to me!

This weeks menu

Breakfast:
Smoothies or Oatmeal
1 Coffee

Lunch:
Salads (veggies and protein)
with half of a One Bun.

Snacks: Fruit/carrots/any 100 cal snacks.

Dinner:
Since I have been usually eating out for dinner, I need to be more aware of my choices and choose the healthier choice! Fingers crossed for a good week!

My goal calorie intake this week is 1500/day.
plus 2 workouts this week.

and so far Monday was perfect! :)

We are also planning a trip soon. However, I put in my passport renewal too late! So we are not sure if our trip will be in the USA or we might just travel within Canada. We'll make our decision by Wednesday.

Hope you all had a great week!

Weekend with the ladies!

Such a fun weekend! My mom hosted a baby shower for my sister in law. We all helped out and it turned out perfect! My sister baked a lot and boy the dessert table was delicious!

Mingling with family and friends...
Gifts for the big sister to be!
and lots of gifts for the baby!

After the shower we headed downtown Toronto for my sisters boyfriends birthday. We had so much fun, lots of laughs that's for sure!

I'm exhausted!

Tomorrow I'll be getting back on the smoothies for breakfast and salads for lunch. I really need to see the scale move backwards! Especially since we are planning a trip for next month. We are planning to do a road trip through the USA! New York-North Carolina - Miami! I'll blog about it once we fully decide on it, and I'd love to hear about the must go to places in these cities.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Jamaica trip pt 2

Now what's going to another country and not experience outside the resort... While in Jamaica we did a couple tours, we went to Dunns River falls, sooo much fun! and we also went to the Bob Marley tour, a definite MUST when going to Jamaica. I would have loved to do other tours as well but we only had a week. ;)

Here are some pics enjoy! :)
Climbing the falls was pretty tough! I couldn't stop laughing while climbing. It was by far sexy looking with butt in the air and trying to stay balanced ahah!

Husband was always trying to get me stand under the falls, but the rough water was shifting my bikini left and right! Out tour guide had a free peek! Very embarrassing! ahah!

Bob Marley Tour



Our Rasta Tour Guide.

We traveled up the mountain to 9 miles where Bob grew up. The scenic ride is amazing. We stopped on a corner to get some pictures, it was scary looking down that huge hill!

Here we are in Bob's house. The "single bed" he sings about is right there.

The meditation rock.
We also went in to see his tomb and lit a candle while in there, but no pictures were allowed inside.

The most special part of these tours is the ride there, going through the city, waving to the people on the street and seeing their daily life.

I didn't know what to expect when I went there, but it exceeded my expectations by far! Jamaicans are very friendly very relaxed people and everyone we met really had a connection to their country and proud to be Jamaican. I put Jamaica on the top of my trip list!

I had sooo much fun with my husband, we had a stress free fun week. Ahhh love vacations :)

(I know my crocs are not the prettiest ahah! But I wear them in the water, the bottom of the ocean freaks me out when my feet touch things ahahh!)

Amazing Trip to Jamaica!

Jamaica is BEAUTIFUL and the Jamaicans are so nice, friendly and welcoming!

By far one of the best vacations we have been on. So much fun in Jamaica.

And the food... let's just say I was NOT counting calories at all!

Our resort had delicious Jerk Chicken by the beach which we ate every day for lunch.

It's also a very relaxing very romantic place to be. Husband and I had so much fun!
One of our tour guide was warning us that in Jamaica you come as two's and leave as three's ahahh. Hmmm.

When we go to resorts we always do a couple outside tours to really see the country and the people. In Jamaica we went to a Botanical garden, a pottery making place, Dunns river falls and the Bob Marley tour. The Bob Marley tour is a must in Jamaica! The scenic drive to where Bob Marley's house is, is just amazing! I love hills of green, after green after green.

I'll write about that tomorrow with more pics!

For now I need some sleep! zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hello from Jamaica!

We are in Jamaica this week and it's beautiful!!!! Weather is amazing, food is yummy and the staff is very friendly!

I will write all about it when I get back! YEH MON!

:)

Lazy Monday Staying Indoors.

This is what it looks like here today, dark rainy, chilly! Husband and I woke up feeling under the weather, so we stayed home from work today.

Zoe wasn't feeling up to much either...
We decided to move our vacation up to April instead of June. Reason 1, I am having meltdowns regularly so I think a vacation is needed aha! But the real reason which is probably the cause of these meltdowns is work, the next couple of months husband and I will have busy days at work so we may not be able to take the time off. That is fine, because that means vacation is sooner than we thought!

We picked a place that was not on my list at all.... JAMAICA! I have never been there and to tell you the truth when I read they had Jerk chicken and corn on their beach grill....ummm that sealed the deal for me hahah!

So my goals the next few weeks are much more serious, bikini type serious!

Weekly goals :)

* Tea and 1 slice of toast for BF.
* Fruits/yogurt for mid morning snack
* Only 1 small coffee a day
* 5 days a week of home cooking, include many "green" veggies.
* Drink lots of water everyday! A MUST!
* Tracking calories on Iphone "my fitness pal app" 1300 Cals a day
* 3 bite rule on sweets
* 3 days a week basement work out: Ab Lounge and Gazelle 1 hour work outs
* No fast food! (no burgers, no fries, no pop!) :) Kicking this habit right on!
* 5 days a week Calli Cleansing Tea

Vacation anyone?

Bloggy friends I need your help! I read many of your blogs and know some of you travel to beautiful fun places and just know you can help me choose a vacation for our 3 year anniversary in June :)

So I made a little list, in no order. And with no relation, just places that pop up in our heads. We are looking to go away for a week end of June.

Some of our most memorable vacations have been those with beautiful nature all around. Places where we were able to go out and explore and just feel and connect with nature.

Some places we have been:
Cuba 3 times! Holguin/Varadero (Holguin wins, gorgeous scenery loved it)
Dominican Rep 2 times
Bahamas
North and South Carolina/Myrtle Beach
Sandiego
and some other smaller trips to the states and within Ontario.

I made a small list of some places we would like to go and have not been yet.

- Within Canada - BC or Alberta
- Caribbean Cruise (sorta scared of the sea eee)
- Road Trip to Florida (we enjoy long road trips :)
- San Fransisco (Always wanted to go here)
- Hawaii (The scenery calls me)

Is there any place you would recommend? Let me know your feedback! and I'll start on the vacation savings :)

Vacation Pics :)

My friends were asking why I didn't post more vacation pics so here are some more ;)
This was the tour I was talking about yesterday. It was fun and really nice to see how some Dominicans live and how they make their living. There are a lot of poor people there and they work really hard to make just a little bit of money. One thing the tour guide mentioned is to not give the children money, give them gifts but not money. At first I thought why not! Whats a dollar or 2 to me I'd love to give out some money. But he mentioned that if we do that the children will see it as easy money, and will not attend school but instead chase around tourists to make their living. When he put it that way it made so much sense, we never thought of that before. We met some of the cutest little children, I pray for all of them and hope they get the opportunity to go to school and have a brighter future.
This was one of our stops in the Jungle. Husband and I ran through it taking pics. People on the bus thought we we strange. It was so fun and I love palm trees and green landscaping. We couldn't resist!
Ha! and I got to ride a horse! I was terrified, I think the last time I went on a horse I must have been 7!

Macao beach, a public beach with no hotels. Part of a stop on the tour. The most beautiful beach I've ever seen!

Ok the next little bit might be TMI but I will share it anyway. If you look above on the day trip I wore tights under my dress. First reason is that I knew we were going to ride horses and the thought of bare legs on it grossed me out. Next the Tmi part. It was an extremely hot day, and the bigger areas of my body include my thighs! Not sure if any of you ever experienced this before, but my thighs touch and end up rubbing together and it is soooo uncomfortable! especially if it's hot! It's an embarrassing thing, but it's true!! :( I need to add lots of lunges to my exercises!

Back from vacation!

Back from vacation! Our trip to Punta Cana was amazing! The resort and weather were just gorgeous! We stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe. This resort is HUGE and landscaping is beautiful.

While on my trip I was sure to try and stick to my goals, most days it went well but the last 2 days I admit I caved and ate french fries! To be honest, my tummy was weak and really only accepted french fries, it was the only thing that would stay down... see french fries do some good :)

My Breakfasts were very light and I stuck to going up to the buffet twice, once for the main course and second for fruits and small dessert. Luckily I did not have too much trouble with over eating as many of the food selections were not that appealing.

We did have to stop for some real food as soon as we landed :) we went to Baton Rouge and I ordered Ribs with a fully loaded baked potato. I was not able to finish it, so I have lots of left over for today yum!



Ok so back on schedule!!! Tomorrow I will do my weigh in and measurements. Today I want to get back on schedule with my weekly goals. Weight nees to start coming off already!

My weekly goals to achieve this week:
1. No eating out! Home cooked meals 7 days a week!
2. Limit carb intake at dinners
3. 1/2 hour twice a week on the gazelle
4. 5 mins a day on the trampoline
5. 2 10000 pedometer steps
6. drink plenty of water/tea
7. Supplements; Take fish oil pills with lunch.
8. sea salt baths twice a week

Do you have any weight loss secrets that I can add!? Let me know, I'm looking for anything that can help!

My interview went well!

One more week and I'll get to be on the beach! Clearing my mind from all this job stuff! This Job stuff is really taking over my life! Well I guess it should until I actually get one huh, ahaha.

This morning I had my interview and thank goodness it went well! Before I went in, I reviewed all my notes (memorization is key for me, but really hasn't been working to my liking these days)
I went in and my heart was thumping so hard I could hear it! I was nervous at the beginning but slowly calmed myself down, which was sorta hard when I had the nervous voice in my head saying, "you don't know your stuff, you're going to stutter, he can see right thru you, bad stuff, bad stuff, run, RUN" (LOL) against the calming voice of "you know your stuff, you prepared enough, take it all in as more experience, you are doing well, don't worry, all is going fine" Calm voice won the match today and I was able to speak, smile, laugh and answer all questions without hesitation whew! (TAKE THAT NERVOUS VOICE!)

On FB Last night my aunt wrote on her status;

When life hands you lemons; squirt them in peoples eyes

Somehow this phrase makes me feel strong ahhaa, not that I would ever do that, but it gave me a different way of looking at things, with a sorta "Whatever" attitude.

I remember a phrase in one of the books I love (my soul just opened up) She says, don't let the wind rattle your core... I should really take that advice, since a lot of this stress has been totally rattling my core! I feel as I'm getting older I'm not as brave as I use to be, I remember kicking butt and taking names when I was in my early 20's, no one could stop me then. I was feistier, nothing scared me, I didn't care if people liked me or not, I just went for what I wanted and got it!. So not sure what is up these days! Hmm I need to tap back into that!

BUT! On a super good note! The Weekend is finally here! I have my sisters birthday and a friends wedding as well, Fun, Fun, Fun!! That is all I'm looking forward to right now! (oh and the beach next week, heehee)

Hump Day Update

Do you see that, the pic above... Yes that is the cake, that heavenly Sfoglia cake. MMM strawberries and cream with soft wafer like pastry in between... It's Torture! Why do I do this to myself. I can't get myself to throw it away! I have been good and only had 3 bites of it last night, but really why is it my fridge, for what reason other than to torture myself. Not sure how long the cake would be good for anyway, it has been in the fridge since Saturday, it's life is surely coming to an end soon ahah.

As for my weight loss and eating healthy goals, I have been doing pretty well. (other than the cake issue I'm having) I went and did large groceries and bought lots of fresh fruits and veggies and lean meats. I also bought some avocados this week to add to my salads YUM!
Walking through the aisles I noticed this Soy Gluten free chocolate pudding so I decided to try it. 120 cals and 1g fat and it is delicious! It really helps with my sweet tooth and really good for my evening snacks when I feel the most need for sweets.
Today my body is soo sore! I went for a nice long jog on Monday and then a brisk hour 1/2 walk last night. I feel great. Yesterdays walk was so long and I was so upset that I forgot my pedometer. I'll to that same walk tomorrow night and log my steps, I'm pretty sure the walk was over 10000 steps!

As for my weight, no change yet :( and 18 days to vacation - 7 days in a bikini!!!