Monday, August 23, 2010

Camping in our backyard!

Well almost. Friday night we legged it up the hill at the back of the house - 'Spion Kop', for a spot of overnight camping - just for fun! At around 2880 feet it's about 1000ft up from where we live and quite a tough slog to get there! Took us around an hour of 2 steps forward, 1 big slide back down in the very dusty, loose paths. For a moment there I was forgetting that it was supposed to be fun!

Unfortunately after a delay in escaping from work (typical Friday thing eh?!) We didn't quite make it in time for sunset proper (haven't the nights started getting earlier so much quicker this last couple of weeks?) but we still caught the wonderful warm dusky light. This was the view at the top just as we got there.
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And here is the reward; Cuba Libres and total peace and tranquility. Also though not quite a full moon it was so bright we had shadows - fabulous!
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And this campsite sucks - no?!
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We like this place we call home. Hiking and camping from the front door - is good :-)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A month of food

I think maybe we eat out more often than we gave ourselves credit for - oopps. A month of evening meal journalling certainly opened a few eyes around here. In our defence we spent several weekends away (and enjoyed our beloved and much missed Olive Garden experience on an overnighter in Spokane!). Another weekend we biked so hard and so far that we arrived in town in Kaslo, BC & Grand Coulee, WA after all the restaurants and closed or stopped serving food so had 2 nights in a row subsisting on bags of potato chips and Bloody Mary's (it's spicy, cold tomato soup right - so it's kinda food!)

But whatever our excuses here is July in Food, in all it's glory...
July 10 Food
(not all meals shown....you probably didn't need to see a bag of Miss Vickies chips right?!)

It's always great to try out a new recipie and find out it was great and it's gonna be a keeper. It doesn't happen too often (we love our regular favs) but this month I added a new dish to the list - Hummus Crusted Halibut. It was so simple too - and here's my first ever recipe share on this blog;

Hummus Crusted Halibut
- Halibut fillets
- Hummus (we used a spicy variety for some added kick!)
- Coarse breadcrumbs (I always chop up those last couple of grotty slices and crusts left in the bag of sliced bread and pop them in the freezer in a ziplock so I always have breadcrumbs on hand)
- Freshly chopped herbs (Whatever takes your fancy - I plucked some oregano and parsley from my herb planter this time)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper

Directions;
Spread the hummus onto the fillets of fish, Mix the herbs and S&P with the breadcrumbs then pat into the hummus paste, then drizzle with olive oil. I loosely wrapped them in foil and baked on the BBQ at around 375-400 degrees. When the fish is nearly cooked open up the foil so the breadcrumbs can crisp up a bit! Great with a salad or roasted veg (that's what we had this particular time)


Digital scrap page designed using papers & elements from 'Sisters at heart' digi kit by Tami Miller

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The road ahead...(about 13.1miles ahead to be precise)

So today I did it. Signed my life away....that 10km race I signed up for a couple of months back just on a whim (and then proceeded to do nothing about for at least a month after) Remember?! Well today in the space of a 2 minute phone call that 10km race grew to 21km - gulp - uh-oh!!

I am officially registered for the Okanagan 1/2 marathon on the 10th October. My FIRST 1/2 Marathon. And joking aside I'm excited too! I can't wait to put myself through a challenge I never thought I'd be prepared to do and I *think* I'll be just fine (just don't ask me how I'm feeling the week running up to the event because I AM sure of one thing - I WILL be a quivering, nervous wreck full of self-doubt that particular week!)

And I owe it almost entirely to this little device. The best $25 I've spent in a long time. The Nike+ sensor. Slip it in a pouch on your shoe, sync it with your iTouch/Phone and off you go - music on the go, a running log and personal trainer all rolled into one! It's awesome! And you've gotta smile when Paula Radcliffe gives you a pat on the back for your longest run to date or Lance Armstrong congratulates you for your new PB time! (yes, yes - little things please little minds!). Since getting the device at the end of June I've logged over 115miles! And I'm LOVING it!

I admit I've been chewing over the 1/2 marathon a few weeks. Once I got stuck back into a running routine of 3-4 times a week the 10km suddenly didn't seem so much of a challenge. I've done maybe 8 or 9 10km races in my humble running career (even if the most recent was 4 years ago with next to no aerobic activity in the last year at least) but I was up to distance and pace within the first 2 weeks! Having always previously aimed to simply complete I used to be stuck in a rut in terms of pace and never really improved. This time round it felt different. I wanted to be better, faster. I was running longer distances (so as to make the 10km seem easier on the day!) but I realised I could push myself and go further still - to the next level entirely!!

I started reading up on all sorts of 1/2 marathon training plans and starting pushing the distances of my runs (All the while keeping the idea to myself). I eventually mentioned it to Chris a week or two ago but today I actually made the switch with the registration.

Things felt different. I originally started running again 1) because I knew I had to do some exercise because let's face it - I'm of an age that I have to make the effort to prevent bingo wings and muffin tops and 2) When I kept moaning about the increasing figures on the scales I got bored of Chris telling me to quit moaning and to do something about it (he had a point)

But now the figures on the scale don't matter at all (just as well because they seriously haven't shifted in 6 weeks - go figure). I don't feel like I'm running because I need to or have to - I'm doing it cause I WANT to (you know when you were a kid and you took exercise for granted - you did it just because it was fun, not with the ulterior motive of health/fitness/weight control? - well that's how it feels right now) Honestly I'm scared as heck that this is a fad and I'll burn out or get bored - but for now I'm riding the wave!

And last weekend I ran my first 10 miler - my first double digit run! And I could have auditioned for the role of the Cheshire Cat right there and then (more so when Lance started gobbing off in my ear!!) - Go me!!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

10 Things today

  1. Have just eaten a whole punnet of fresh raspberries that I bought from this mornings farmers market in about 10 minutes flat (thank goodness Chris doesn't like them to have wanted to share)
  2. He would, however have wanted to share the Spicy Samosa that I also picked up and prompty scoffed for lunch
  3. Still smokey out there - darn forest fires. A sure sign of summer in the Okanagan sadly
  4. Only 50 days till I fly to Vegas for Inspiration Unlimited and get some creating time with great friends
  5. Considering cancelling the subscription to Zip.ca - our DVD rental plan. I mean we only subscribe to 2 rentals per month and we still don't watch them! We just don't watch TV! And I love being able to say that!
  6. Need to re-do my toe nail polish - love having painted nails for summer. Might have to buy some orange polish to match my fav summer blouse (OK so it's more orangey coral rather than the fruit! - because that would just be plain scary)
  7. Wants to use the BBQ more. But then you can't bbq salad can you, and we're eating a lot of salad at the moment
  8. Is loving running at the moment. So far so good. But the whole point of this exercise marlarky was to loose a few pounds, and I think the scales must be broken...
  9. Is fascinated that they use helicoptors to fly low over the fruit trees to dry them out after a summer downpour
  10. Wonders should I be concerned that when I recall the first 10 things on my mind right now 3 of them concern food (4 if you count the fruit on the trees)...

Happy Wednesday :-)
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