Happy Monday!! Here in Canada it's a holiday so I'm enjoying an Americano here at Starbucks, munching on one of the cheese boxes that they have... which also includes an apple, some almonds and some dried cranberries. I'm not sure if it's a holiday in the US... apologies to my US readers if it isn't...
.... I think I have fallen off the bandwagon. Seriously. I haven't exercised in like 2 weeks. Why? Part laziness, partly because I'm trying to heal my shin splints. It's been two weeks since I've ran outside and I'm dying... quite literally. I feel like an Oompla Loompa. I think that combined with the fact that I've been eating whatever I want isn't reeeeeeeally helping things. Yesterday for example, I spent the afternoon and most of the evening at Williams Landing with C and our friends Steve and Michelle.
We ate SO MUCH FOOD and drank SO MANY DRINKS!! It was definitely not good for my waistline. We even had an espresso to try and wake us up so we could keep drinking. Not good, and it didn't work because I slept like a log last night...
HOWEVER... I started this post a few hours ago and since then I went to the gym! So yay me!! C and I decided to go to the gym this afternoon and I basically said outright "I want you to murder my arms in the gym."... If you've ever seen him, well, he has really big arms... so we decided to do chest and shoulders. We did the following exercises:
- incline chest press machine, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
- arnold press (shoulder press and pec dec with dumbbells), 3 sets, 8-10 reps
- Tricep dips (which apparently also work your chest), 3 sets, 8-10 reps
- Lateral raises with dumbbells, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
- Chest flys on cable machine, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
- Lateral raise machine, 3 sets, 8-10 reps
I was CLEARLY a lot weaker today than I remember being which was a bummer, but it's also partly because I hadn't planned on going to the gym so I didn't eat a lot or hydrate as much as I should have. Wah wahh.
So this past weekend C and I had a mini-road trip to Ottawa to see his parents! We drove there from work on Friday and didn't get into the city until about 9:30 p.m. We literally went up to our hotel room (we stayed at the Weston which is attached to the Rideau Centre) dropped our bags and headed out to the market area to find a place to eat. We ended up on the patio of Luxe Bistro... it was so cute. I loved it! I didn't snap any photos of the actual restaurant because there were people, but I snapped photos of my awesome meal. I started out with fish tacos...
And as my main I had the Seared Tuna Burger, but I got no bun and extra lettuce. It came and I was surprised because it was a bunch of pieces of Ahi Tuna placed like a meat patty.
Oh my god, it was absolutely, without a doubt, the best tuna I've ever had in my whole life. The seasoning was KILLER and it was cooked just how I like it, rare! The fries were also to die for. At one point I believe I broke the cardinal rule. I realized how full I was but continued to eat... whoopsies!
This was the view from our room before we went to bed. So beautiful..
The next morning we decided to get dressed and take a trip down to the market for some coffee before we headed to his parents house. I friggen LOVE downtown Ottawa.. it's so beautiful and the market is everything I love and more! I love littler merchants, checking out all the cool unique jewelry that they have, as well as the smell of all of the fresh fruits and veggies and herbs... I could spend my days at markets and be the happiest person ever!
I snapped this photo while crossing the street on the way to get coffee. I think this is the Chateau Laurier...? I could be wrong. But I think I remember seeing a sign that said that.
This was clearly a fruit vendor in the market. I wanted to buy so much stuff but didn't have cash. Womp womp...
On the way to his parents house he took me by the house of the Governor General... which had GUARDS!!! Seriously. I made him pull over really quick, throw on the 4-ways and come with me to take a picture. I absolutely could not pass this up.
Isn't that amazing????? They couldn't smile or move or anything. I was almost tempted to pose inappropriately against him because he couldn't do anything, but I didn't. Boo... that would have been funny. Lol!
So we finally got to C's parents house and omg... they are the most adorable things I've ever seen in my life. His dad answered the door and was so welcoming, gave me a huuuuge hug, it was super nice! His mom was upstairs getting ready when we got there, so she eventually made her way down and gave C the biggest, longest hug I think I've ever seen. She hasn't seen him in about 3ish years and he's her little baby so it was so nice to see her happy. I actually had to look away when she was hugging him or else I would have cried lol. I'm such a sap.
We visted for a while and then took his dad downtown to check out some venue's for their wedding anniversary. We drove past Parliament too! I think this is Parliament.... crap. I hope I don't have all of these places mixed up.
When we got back home his parents treated us to some AMAZING Jamaican food. Omg I've never ate so much Caribbean food in my life. We started with this Red Pea Soup.... I was literally the only one who had a second bowl lol. Good first impression huh? Then we had dumplings, ackee & salfish, codfish and tomatoes, some sort of pork and rice & peas. OMG... it was my food Heaven. I absolutely am in love with Jamaican food... it makes my mouth water thinking of it. Seriously.
After lunch we snapped some family photos before we hit the road. Check out this picture of C and his Dad... aren't they basically twins (minus the size difference)..
My C (he has the same name as his dad) got his looks from his dad and his skin from his mom! This is me with his parents..
So flipping cute. They still make sure to hug and kiss goodbye before one of them leaves, I almost died.
Good news, next month we're going back to their place for a little family get together and it's going to be CATERED by the same guy who made the red pea soup. I'm not eating for 2 days before so I can eat EVERYTHING. For real. Lol... if you've never had Jamaican food, you MUST GO EAT SOME NOW!! It's the best ever!!
Ok I'm going to sign off for the night, since that was probably one of my longer posts. Thank god for all the photos!!
Q: If you're in Canada with me, what was the best thing you did on your long weekend??
Q: If you're not in Canada and you worked today, how jealous were you of us Canucks that we had the day off? :)
