Well, Christmas is over for another year…
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, were able to spend some quality time with your family and treated yourself to a glass of wine, some chocolate, or whatever that special "treat" may be to you.
I have really enjoyed my time home. I am so thankful to have the chance to spend a few days of quality time with family and friends whom I don’t often get to see or when I do, our time is always rushed. Some highlights from the last few days:

~ Waking up at 5am to take the train home for a doctors appointment. Ok, maybe that wasn’t a highlight but the ride wasn’t bad and I got a few minutes of sleep. I couldn’t allow myself to fall asleep because when I nap, I go into a coma and was worried I would miss my stop.

~ Waking up at 5am to go to the gym with my Mom. When I lived at home this was our daily tradition. It was nice to see the morning crew again. I wanted to get my sweat on and get moving. My workout: 15 minutes on the Stairmaster, 15 minutes running intervals on treadmill, 20-25 minutes of [interval] exercises that got my heart pumping!

Then I headed to work with my Mom for the morning.

~ Going to Church Christmas Eve with my family and family friends. Reflecting and remembering how truly grateful and lucky we are. Every Christmas Eve for the last Idon’tevenknowhowmanyyears, my best friends family has an open house. It was so nice to see and catch up with so many people and especially see two of my favourite girls

~ Waking up Christmas morning and running 7km on the country roads. I needed to move and knew it would help me to not feel guilty later in the day when the goodies came out. It was a beautiful day for a run. We had a green Christmas and the sun even came out at one point… bonus!

~  Spending time with my family, my handsome man and our kids. Each time we come home G-Man and I realize just how lucky we are… so fortunate to have a supportive and loving family. It can be hard because G-Man doesn’t have any family in Canada other than his boys. The rest are all in Mexico.. but thanks to technology and the telephone we can keep in touch often.

What has been a highlight for you from the past few days?

Even though Christmas is only four days away it sure doesn’t feel like it. Rather than snow it has been pouring rain and thankfully this morning it was somewhat mild out. I was pumped to get out for a early morning run and was glad I laced up before the rain came down. I had a short yet good 37 minute run. I wasn’t worried about time, distance or pace.. well ok, I was trying to keep a fast pace because I didn’t think I would make it far, I was just happy that I was out and moving (and that there is now snow!).

So, on to the good news…

Remember when I expressed my love for Chobani yogurt AND my sadness that it’s not available here in Canada? Well guess what? Chobani must have heard my crying because they wrote me to share the good news that it is NOW AVAILABLE IN CANADA!!! Is anyone else as excited as I am about this?! Come on, please say yes. I did a little happy dance when I read that (it’s true, ask G-Man). They have created a Canada specific site that you can check out here. They sent me a little package in a really cool lunch box with a few flavours to try.  I love all of them but I reallllly like the pomegranate. I love the fact that these small containers (170g) contain 14 g of protein and 0 fat.  That’s my kind of snack. Come on, Canadians… please tell me your as excited as I am that we can now enjoy some Chobani without having to cross the border?——————————————
When G-Man and I got home Sunday night, I wanted to make some granola bars so we would have them for the week although, I didn’t have much on hand. Actually, all I really had on hand was oats, mini chocolate chips and some left over trail mix from I don’t know when (don’t worry, it was still fresh).  I remembered these granola bars that I love and then got to work with adjusting the recipe to use what we had. So really, I give credit to Jenna and her brilliant recipes.
Simple Granola Bars

~ 2 cups whole grain oats
~ 1/3 cup maple syrup/honey*
~ 1/4 cup (heaping) peanut butter
~ 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
~ 2 tsp. vanilla
~ pinch of salt
~ 1/4 cup WildRoots 100% Natural Trail Mix

Directions:
In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients except chocolate chips

Combine maple syrup/honey*, vanilla and peanut butter in saucepan and bring to boil. Lower heat and let simmer for 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine heated mixture with dry ingredients and mix.

Add in chocolate chips and mix gently. Place mixture in greased 9 inch pan then allow to cool in fridge before cutting.

This recipe is super easy and super good. As long as you have your base you can really pick and choose what you want to add or omit to your bars and make them to your liking. *I mostly use maple syrup because I find the honey too sweet. Although I do add a very little bit of honey because it holds the bars together nicely.
ENJOY!

I hope you all had a good weekend! I know it’s Tuesday and I may be a little bit behind, but the thought is there nonetheless :) 

The last few days have been BUSY but really enjoyable. After driving through every type of weather imaginable (ok, almost), G-Man and I arrived at my parents for the weekend. I started my weekend with a workout at the gym with my sister. PS: Waking up early and having to scrape the car windows with freezing cold hands is the worst.

I made up a workout and we used my GYMBOSS. We had so much fun working out together and we were both spent by the end of it.
When we were laying out our mats and getting ready for the workout, I was trying to find a skipping rope but guess what? The gym didn’t have any skipping ropes.. can you believe it? I could not, and I told the person working the same thing. Anyways, we changed the skipping to jumping jacks and it worked out just as well. Workout with the Sista!

45 seconds full out, 10 seconds rest in between each move

burpees with push up
jumping jacks
lunge with leg kick (R leg)
lung with leg kick (L leg)
squats with press-up (I used 5lb dumbbells)
plank (centre)
plank (L  side)
plank (R side)
jumping jacks
push ups (regular)
tricep push up

and we ended with 20 sumo squats on each leg. They are KILLER! I saw these on BodyRock.tv and wanted to try them. I used a bench as my step and it was an amazing burn!  It was a quick workout but got the heart pumping and the sweat dripping. I think I’ll be coming back to this one when I’m short on time but still want to get a solid workout in.
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We went out of town for our big Christmas dinner. It was nice to visit with family that I don’t get to see very often, over some good food and a nice glass of wine. I have been trying to be so good with my eating and it’s really paying off. I don’t know how and it’s a first for me but I do not feel tempted with desserts which I am so thankful for! Yes, I will treat myself if I really want it, but I have been thinking twice before just digging in which is normally hard to do, especially this time of year. I haven’t been having my crazy chocolate cravings either which is a MIRACLE. Let’s hope this continues to last. I have been drinking my green smoothies faithfully and was actually craving them when I went two days without drinking them.

It was a good weekend for G-Man and I. We had some good talks about life as a couple, individuals and our hopes for the near future. I forced him to talk to me so I wouldn’t fall asleep driving home. He secretly loved it, I could tell.

What was the highlight from your weekend?!

Do you give yourself a break over the holidays or do you try to stick to your regular workout schedule?