Sprinkles and Sunrise

Oh, man! I am so backed up as far as blogging! I'll try to keep it short!

On Friday night B and I went in to work. That was the same day as our errand trip to Victoria. We got off the ferry, went home and ate, then went to work. At the store in Victoria I bought some sprinkles (ok, I bought like 5 containers of sprinkles). I have been wanting them at work, so I figured I'd just buy what I wanted myself.

In honor of the sprinkles I decided to make cupcakes. My work-excuse is that cupcakes are a good way to use up all those little bits of colored buttercream from cake orders. But really, it's just an excuse for sprinkles. I made chocolate cupcakes, and used half chocolate buttercream, and half pink vanilla buttercream.

I was so excited about the sprinkles that I had to use some of each type.

I think they turned out pretty cute! Hope people decide to buy them!

Hurray! Sprinkles! (I know, I'm easily amused. But they just make me so happy!)

Ok, enough of that! No, wait...one more!

So, after the sprinkle fest I finished off all the other things I had to make for the night. It was a long one, as our last shift of the week always is. I thought I was pretty tired, what with being up for at least 24 hours with one 2 hour nap, and all that on only 2 1/2 hours of sleep to start with. But on our way home, about 5:30-6am-ish, the sun was just coming up, and everything was beautiful!

B pulled in at Oaks Bluff, which is a great hiking trail on our road home, and told me that we were going up to check it out. I grumbled a bit about hiking in my zombie-like state, but he convinced me. I'm so glad he did!

The trail is pretty much all up hill, lots of stairs and switch-backs.

The higher up we got, the lighter it got.

We went to a couple of the different look out points. It's all right on top of the bluff (hence the name "oaks bluff"), and looks out on the surrounding islands. Kind of magical.

This is a wild flower we found. It was so cute!

Beautiful shot, see the floating mountain?

This is cool too, it was clear enough to see the snow on the Olympic mountains!

B started an impromptu photo shoot of me, not really my favorite. Lucky for you I won't be upload most of these!

He really wouldn't stop!

Here are a few more shots that I just couldn't deprive you of!

Pretty sunspots on the way back down the hill.

Then we went to SLEEP!

I got up about 9 hours later and had this. Banana spelt muffin, plain yogurt with strawberries and raspberries, and my mug of jasmine green tea.

The day was so pretty that I spent most of it outside instead of blogging. Sorry, I'm realizing that this was NOT short, as I had promised you. But I obviously had some fun with the camera! It was a great start to the weekend!

Do like to take random photos on your digital camera, just in case they turn out cool? He he, I do, I do! How do you like to kick off your weekends?

Healthy Eating and Exercise: A Second Attempt

Yikes! Wednesdays are CRAZY! Every Wednesday I work 2 shifts at the bakery; A day shift to check in with my boss/friend Nora for order day, and my regular night shift with the guys. Not to mention that because I have a day shift I ride my bike the 6 1/2 miles to work in the morning. Not a lot of sleep happens, and things can get ugly.

Luckily, everything went just fine yesterday, and I got a good nap in. I also slept like a rock last night. Oh yeah!

So today I decided that I really need to step it up with the whole exercise and eating right thing. I've been feeling sorta chubby lately, and every time I look down at my midsection I think of Pulp Fiction and pot bellies. Not good! I did however weigh myself today, and I'm back down to 135 after being 140 for most of the year! Woot woot! Now I just have to keep working at it!

To work on the whole eating right thing I decided to try out a new recipe from Angela at Oh She Glows. Curry chickpea burgers. Of course my wonderful husband offered to help with dinner, which means we're having fresh french fries, but I promise I won't eat many(as in I won't take seconds ;) ) I hauled my laptop into the kitchen yet again ( I know, livin' on the edge!) and got out everything I needed for this recipe.

Things came together pretty quickly, as the recipe promised, and I love how few main ingredients there are. Granted, we haven't eaten them yet. But if they're as good as I think they will be, then i'll have to try this same basic recipe with other herbs and spices. I bet there are endless flavor possibilities! Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I formed the patties and laid them out on my sil-pat lined baking sheet. I only got 5 out of this recipe, but I made a couple of them kinda big for B and his dad.

Then I popped them into the oven for about 25 minutes. I did flip them once, just so they'd be evenly cooked. I plan on warming them on the grill just before we eat. We actually have some ripe avocado, so that'll go on top with some lettuce, mayo, and hopefully tomato if I can find one. We have fresh whole wheat Kaisers from the bakery too!

I think they came out looking pretty good! Great color, and seems like a good texture. I'm having a hard time restraining myself from demolishing one right now!

While doing the dishes I got to admire our yard and view. We live in such a beautiful place!

This of course inspired me to work on the exercise routine, so I started drying off (I say drying off, because it tends to look like monsoon season when I do the dishes. The counter, cabinets, my shirt, and shoes were all soaked!). While toweling off I discovered this! Guess I was a little too enthusiastic with the green food coloring at work last night! Seriously, that's above my elbow! How do I manage these things?!

I snagged one of my tasty banana spelt muffins from the other day (still delicious!) for a quick snack.

I think Izzie wanted some too!

Then we got ready for some cardio. Izzie LOVES walks! She recognizes my workout shoes/clothes and starts dancing around making happy sounds. SO cute!

We went to our mailbox and back, one mile each way plus lots of huge hills. I did intervals of 1 minute walking, 1 minute jogging the whole way, hills included. That got my heart pumping! When we got back I did some strength training. I use 5lb weights, and today I did arms. Here's the routine.

2 sets of 12 reps each:

chest press

overhead triceps extension

chest fly

triceps kickback

side lateral raise

alternate bicep curls

front raises

shoulder press

concentration curl

one arm dumbell row

I need to go finish dinner now, and get ready to go to work. Gotta get my stuff together for tomorrow too, as B and I are going to Victoria for errand day. The weather's been so nice, maybe we'll see the Orcas out and about on the ferry ride!

Do you guys work little errands in throughout the week, or do you do one big errand day? We obviously do it all at once! Sigh, it's gonna be a looong day tomorrow!

Everyone Else's Recipes

Today was a pretty laid back day. Slept in, recovered from company, puttered about the house. B and I made a short trip out to go get some free supplies from a neighbor. They had this great stuff for sound deadening that they were done with. Free materials for our apartment?! SCORE!

Later I decided to try out a couple of recipes that I'd found on blogs that I follow. A while ago I saw this posted recipe for banana spelt muffins, and it just sounded so good. So I got myself some spelt flour and invaded the kitchen.

Here is the link to the original post and recipe. The only thing that I did differently was to add some vanilla, and I used dark chocolate chips instead of nuts. They turned out great!

I took my recipe into the kitchen with me...kinda scary! Someone should make covers for crazy people who bring their laptops into the kitchen!

I didn't have any ground flax seed, just whole, so i used our (clean) spice grinder to make it into a flour consistency. Worked great!

I followed the recipe, and got my two bowls of ingredients ready to mix together.

I don't think the original recipe called for muffin papers, but I used them...I wish I hadn't! My muffins stuck to the paper quite a bit. Just don't do it! They would have come out of the pan just fine...oh well.

I scooped the batter into the tins using an ice cream scoop. I use these at the bakery too. It keeps everything the same size, so it all bakes consistently.

Then I topped them, and into the oven they went! What?! Psht! NOOooooOO! Those aren't chocolate sprinkles on my healthy muffins...Oh, wait, yeah they are. He he. I just like sprinkles, ok? Everything is better with sprinkles!

They baked perfectly in about 35 minutes. YUM! I had to eat one right away, and B ate one too. Pretty darn good! I think these will be breakfast and snack favorites for the next few days. I might even slather some peanut or almond butter on one...drool!

For dinner tonight we mostly had leftovers of all the food we prepared for our company. We needed a vegetable side though, so I tried out another blogger recipe. It was a really easy one for more flavorful frozen peas. I swear I took a picture of these peas, but, genius that I am, I think I erased them from my camera without putting them onto my computer first! Doh!!

They turned out pretty tasty. Here's the link, if you want to try them out yourself. Very fast and easy with very few ingredients.

I might just be having a muffin for dessert!

It's Tuesday night again, and I've got our room to myself as B is at work. What am I watching tonight? Probably Memoirs of a Geisha, and some Sex and the City. I read the book of Memoirs of a Geisha. It was a fast and easy read, but very entertaining, and a deeper look into a world I didn't know much about. Fascinating! I hope they did a good job with the movie!

Tomorrow I have to get up early and ride my bike to work. At least I'll be getting some much-needed exercise in! Night all!