Feelings on Breakfast and a recipe

Breakfast is hands down my favourite meal of the day. Nothing gets me more excited than sipping coffee (or chugging in Alex's eye's) and reading the paper in the morning while Breakfast Television is on in the background. 

So imagine my excitement when I made Stuffed Breakfast peppers for breaky yesterday. Amazingly yummy and even more amazingly healthy. You bet I sent a picture to my best friend as we're both always looking new recipes to try out on our whole30 challenge in may. 

Stuffed Breakfast Peppers

1 pepper

2 eggs

mushrooms (handful)

salt and pepper

cumin

hot pepper flakes

Cut open pepper, add all ingredients in bowl and mix. Add into peppers and bake at 375 for 35 minutes.  

When the country music boyfriends go to country concerts

                                                                                                                                                                

The lady who took out picture even asked if we were sisters. 

Even after 20 months between, I can't wrap my head around the idea that Alex hates country music because I don't. Only thing I really listen to lately. Our car rides are very interesting I'll tell you that. 

So imagine my excitement when we saw Lady Antembellum last weekend with my bestie. Yes, I was hoping to brainwash him into loving it. Not yet but it is my goal. 

~

In other news, winter can leave any time now. March 5th and still so much snow and so much cold. All I'll say is if there is a hint of winter in the air come my birthday I wont be a happy camper. 

See ya, 2013.

End of the year post and reviews are my favourite posts to read. They never get old and I lurve looking back on everyone's year and remembering when such and such happened. 

For me and my family, 2013 was much better than 2012. I hope it continues that way. 

In January, my mom started radiation for her breast cancer. We were glad Chemo was over but nervous what radiation would do. Alex and I celebrated 6 months of dating. It's amazing-we thought we had our relationship at that time down pat, and really knew each other---growing is good. 

February, with it being cold was tough. This is when my Grandpa Hannon's health went down hill. Just couldn't kick a bacterial infection and he was in and out of the hospital for a good 3 months. Add in thinking he was going to go, the second month of 2013 wasn't good to us.  I also ran my 2nd half marathon in 2:07! 

In March, I turned 21 which felt great. And the weather turned nice--finally! I hit another running rut (again) (they happen) 

April was amazing--month of vacations  Karen and I went to Punta Cana for a week and Alex and I went away to Niagara Falls on our first trip away together. And I finished my 2nd year of school. 2 down 2 together. 

The year of weddings started in May, my brother childhood best friend and his girlfriend of 6 years got married. That was sweet. After looking at vacation pictures I got depressed with how I let my body and weight get.  I also got into golf during May---thanks to Alex. 

In June-we thought we were going to lose Grandpa Hannon. I was called home from school to say my good bye's, thankfully he made it and hasn't been in the hospital since. In the middle of the month, cancer had been around for a year. To make June happier, I did Colour Me Rad run (everyone should do it!) 

Best part of July was celebrating 1 year with Alex! 

August taught me life lessons about true friendships. I realized who was true and who is fake around me and people who bring toxins into my life. 

Summer was over and 3rd year started in September. It was also the time I shared my own fears about my mom heading back to work and the cancer.  Best part-Karen got engaged! 

October was a fun month, pumpkin patches and a 1:57 half marathon and joining the YMCA.

November was stressful! School was no joke and I felt that I had way to much on my hands/on the go. 

Lastly, December brought food changes as I joined the Paleo diet and started cooking more healthy meals.

I can't wait for 2014. So excited for things that are coming up and things we don't know about at this moment. 

Fluff

Happy October. I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving this month and going to the pumpkin patch! Fall is the best. 

~

I danced my shoes off (literally, as my feet were killing me) at a wedding on Saturday. Alex's childhood friend got hitched, knowing both the bride and groom made the wedding such a blast. 

I'm super sad the 2013 weddings are done. I wonder who'll get married next year? *cough* the bestie *cough*

~

On a sadder note, while I was dancing on Saturday Alcohol took my estranged Aunt passed away. We're all really sad for my cousins who now don't have a mom at all and sad that this substance took her from this earth.   Please keep my Uncle and his children in your prayers as they deal with this loss. 

The best friend is engaged!

Saturday Alex and I went to a co-workers of his wedding at his work, it was a blast and I couldn't stop smiling all night because earlier in the day Karen called me to say that she's ENGAGED! 

Matthias popped the question in the sweetest way and gave her a stunning ring. It's beautiful and so her. 

I can't wait for this wedding!

Vacation Withdrawal is the worst.

Coming back from vacation to real life is so hard. Especially coming back from the beautiful Punta Cana. Karen and I went on a girls week trip there this past week and it was so amazing. Never had so much fun with her and it was much needed. Now that she and I are in serious relationships we spend less time with each other so this week was great to spend together.

We mostly would spend the afternoons on the beach and later headed to the pool to cool off and enjoy more drinks. We got in some workouts at the gyms, gotta burn off that buffet food! 

We stayed at the lovely Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana (in the Ambar side) which is 21+. For a girls week we wished we weren't put there because we were the youngest by far in Ambar and by 10:30pm all the adults were sleeping. 

The weather was perfect. Only rained for a few hours on the Thursday during the day and the rest was sunny and HOT! The food was great, mostly North American food (pizza, hamburgers) but by the end we were sick of the same foods even though they did try and rotate different kinds in every meal. 

Other than that we can't wait to go back! Worth it. 

Friday Letters

Linking up with Ashley for Friday Letters.

Dear Blog, I am so sorry for not blogging. Shame on me. Dear summer, you are awesome. Dear BFF, you worked in Barrie this week and I missed.you.so.much, imagine how I would be if you moved to calgary. Dear Camp, 48 hours till the best week ever! Dear Shania, "man, I feel like a women" is the best karaoke song ever! Yes, I rocked that song.

We lost our concert virginity!

One thing people may not know about me is I love country music. Thanks to my brother who used to blast some Shania while I was in bed sleeping. So when I heard back in October that Lady Antebellum was coming to Toronto, I called the bff up and told her we were going. No ifs, ands, or buts. We had to go.

It was perfect timing too, with everything my moms cancer going on. It was awesome to dance and sing all night.

I've never been to a concert before so I was super pumped.

Everything was so good! Seeing my man Darius Rucker just made my night as we will get married one day.

Honestly, I can't put into words how good Lady A was, they kept saying how Toronto was their loudest stop in Canada for the Own the Night Tour...I'm sure they say that in every city.

Now, to find more friends who love country music!

The BFF's 1st 5k

I had such a great weekend. My "roomies" aka my parents went to Buffalo early saturday to sunday around dinnertime, so it was nice to have the house to myself. Karen came over and we watched the vow, stayed up till 2am and enjoyed some adult drinks.

But...the best thing this weekend was that Karen ran her first 5k! *

She ran the whole thing without stopping in 30:34. I on the hand kept getting really bad cramps. The ones where it hurt to exhale and when we got to the biggest hill at the finish line I needed to walk.

I finished in 30:58, not my best time but I am so glad to run it with karen.

So proud ofher!

*Karen has never been active at all and when she said she wanted to run a 5k I told her to download couch to 5k app. She went from not being able to run 3 minutes straight, looking at the next few weeks plans and being so afraid of not being able to run for 6 minutes straight to now running  5k in 30 minutes.

If you are thinking of running a 5k, download this app. It is amazing. Just give yourself 8-9 weeks and you''ll be there.

A little post about glee from tuesday *spoiler alert*

*If you haven't watched this past tuesday's episode of glee, (2/21) stop now, this post will ruin it for you*



I take it since you are still here you watched it or didn't because you hate glee *gasp!*

I watched tuesdays episode of glee last night with the bff and boy was it a good one. Glee is such a feel-good show and I love more than anything singing along, which I may or may not pretend I'm in New Directions, being best friends with Tina. 


Another thing I love about glee is how it touches on a lot of really touchy subjects that our world doesn't like to talk about. Like lesbian love, being handicapped but wanting to be a normal teenager, single parent households and so much more.

If you watched it tuesday than you know two things happened, things that are scary and real. Things that I felt it was needed to be written and try to help someone out there.

First: we saw David Karofsky try and take his own life as the result of bullying. To sum it up really fast, he basically came out of closest to Kurt and and a jerk head of a classmate overheard and spread it all over facebook and text. Karofsky goes to school the next day to find "fag" written on his locker. Horrible. Just horrible. He then goes home and hangs himself and thank god his father found him before it was too late.

At this point, I had tears streaming down my eyes. I can't imagine ever being in that place where I wanted nothing more than to dead.

But it happens. Happens every day, every moment, someone out there is being picked on because they are different and has the thoughts of killing themselves.

I know glee is just a show, and I know it's fake. No teenagers burst out in song every 2.4574854 minutes. At least not the ones I went to school with. But glee makes story lines from real situations like being a gay teenager.

So here it is: Picking on someone because they are different or because of who they find attractive is just plain wrong. You may not support gay rights but every one deserves to be treated the same and with kindness and love.
~

The other situation on glee? Was the texting and driving one. This one is my biggest pet-peeve and it's just plain stupid.

I can't tell you how many times I see on twitter people tweeting "only halfway home and have hit every red light." -That right there tells me you are not just texting but tweeting while driving!  And really? Do your followers need to know that while you are driving? Is it smart to put your life in danger for a tweet?  I didn't think so.

I can't tell you how many times I have yelled at my own family members who call me while driving (why didn't you call me before you started the car?) or have taken out the phone at a red light (you're still driving!)


It is so dangerous. How can you watch the road and type away while looking down? Answer: you can't. We might think we can but we can't!

So please? Put down the phone. The text can wait. If it can't, then pull over to a safe spot on the side of the road and send it.

Your life and the others on the road is not worth risking getting in an accident because you were texting.


*stepping off soapbox*
:)

Little joys.

Yesterday was a good day all around. So many things made me smile, so many things made me stop and remember to write down in my thankful book.

First, I went for an early 8.5k run at the gym. This was my farthest run all week and boy did my body need it.

Then, I found out my 2 hour class was cancelled so I only had a 50 minute class. Sweet!

And I had a great afternoon at Michael's shopping for supplies for my SIL's -to be bridal shower on March 10th.

But the thing that brought the biggest joy was one I have been praying about for months . It was the fact that my SIL and I had a long phone call last night.,

You see, in the almost 4 years since Danielle has been around, we've never been close. Some was partly my fault-being scared of her thinking I was annoying (me?annoying? NO WAY!) and some was my brother's fault, which I'm not reading to write about. I do think that the 10 years between us didn't help and the 2 hour distance wasn't helping either. I mean a 16 year old (when they started dating) and a 26 year like different things and it's hard to say to someone "let's go for a movie"- when you live 2 hours away.

Of course we talk at fam jam's, catch up and stuff.

But never alone. 

We've never gone for coffee or drinks together or texted (she doesn't have a cell so that is out of the question.)

When Ryan and D got engaged I started praying a lot that God would help make our bond stronger. I noticed at Christmas time that our bond was getting stronger as all night we talked and talked and continued talking when we got back to my house that night.

But I wasn't expecting what happened last night.

D called to say my dress was in and 20 minutes later I realized we are still on the phone, chatting away. Talking about wedding plans, showers, my brother and school.

I always have dreamed of having a close bond with my SIL, getting nails done, calling each other often just to girl talk. Dreaming of our kids being really close. Dreaming of calling her up and telling her that I'm coming up for the day.

I think now that she is almost officially part of my family we are starting to become close.

Now my biggest prayer is that we continue to grow and become closer than ever!

~

Happy 21st birthday to my best friend Karen! Excuse me while we enjoy a day of pad Thai, pedicures and ice skating.

On the coldest night of the year...

...we ventured out and went to a beautiful Christmas display downtown-ish.

mom and pop

and of course reindeer came! 

happy sunday!

Lady A, I love you.

You guys! I'm going to my first concert!

If you've been around here for more than a week you know I am a huge country fan.

Well when I found out that Lady Antebellum was coming to Toronto on June 16, 2012, I knew I had to get tickets for Karen and I.

After much heartache,  screaming at ticketmaster I got two tickets :) They are really good seats, a level above the pit.

Karen was so excited, as you can tell :)

Eck! So excited for June 16, 2012. Only what? 199 days to go? But who's counting....


Have a great day friends!

So much to fill you guys in about!

Linking up today with Cassie from Lowercase Letters.        .

~ I babysat Friday night for the first time in 2 years (I don't count babysitting my cousins who are 8 and 10 babysitting, more hanging out.) When I was 14, 15 and 16, I babysat either every Friday or Saturday night and sometimes both nights! For a 15 year old, making 60 bucks a week is gold! 

The boy wasn't...bad  but he screamed at the top of his lungs when he talked and his laugh wasn't a belly-laugh but an ear screeching sound. I didn't want to be rude but I had to tell him to keep it down,  ya know for the neighbours of either side of him...

He was a pain to put to bed. Pulled the "the other sitters let me stay up."  I'm sure they do but this babysitter has been up since 7, had two classes and wants to read her red book magazine. Oh gosh, this makes me sound so lazy. I'm not. And when he said he reads a book before bed...which is fine, I'm not going to say no to a story (I am supposed to encourage reading!) But I didn't know he read.every.little.thing INCLUDING the bar code. After 25 minutes of reading this book and 30 minutes past his bedtime I told him he could finish reading tomorrow.

Maybe I'm a bit rusty. Gotta get back into the swing of sitting.

~ I signed up for a 5k race on February 12, 2012. I got champagne and chocolate at the end :)

AND

I signed up for a 10k on may 5, 2012! So excited to train for a 10k :)

Karen wants to do a 5k in the spring too. She's never run one and I told her if she signed up then I would to! So ya, another race in march/April.

~ I had a great week on weight watchers. Lost 2.2 pounds! Total: 10.4 :) Another 13 pounds and I'll be at my goal!

~ Two weeks today I'll be done school :) The end is rear!!!

Well guys, I have a psych paper that is due at midnight tonigh, gotta get back to working on it!

happy day, friends!

Thankful Tuesday

Lately I haven't been myself. Maybe it's the stress of school and finding out that 24 hours is not enough time to get things done but I'm very moody and my poor parents are the ones who are paying for it.
I need to do this post to remind myself that everything will be okay in the end.

~I am thankful for my family who loves me and tells me daily to keep pushing through the exam period and tell me that I will make a great teacher.

~I am thankful for friends. Not just Karen but my new friends I have made at school. The days that I don't want to go to class, I remember the fun times we have before, during and after class and  this makes me go. Of course I feel used when they text me the night before our class to see what readings we have to do and when the next test is but I am thankful that they know that they can come to me for answers and a listening ear.

~I am thankful for Jesus. Every second Saturday is Ladies Class at my church and this past Saturday my church decided to hold a Ladies Retreat day and invite the 3 local churches (20 minutes away or less) to come. It was an all day event and I needed it. I have realized that going to church weekly isn't enough for my faith and I need to go to the re-treats held by the churches in Southern Ontario more often.

~I am thankful that I have 2 weeks left of class until exams!

~I am thankful that yesterday I was able to pick up my younger cousins from school. I hardly get to watch them at lunch/ after school because I don't go to class from 9-3pm now. Last night there was a scary family emergency on my aunts side of family that she needed to deal with so I spent about 2 hours with the kiddo's. I loved it :)

~I am thankful for a job. Enough though I complain about my co-workers, I know come January I might not have a job as the Mayor will be locking us out! That is a totally different post. So right now I am thankful for one!

~I am thankful for my high school friends who I still talk to a few times a week, my one friend Meghan and I are have plans to hang out lots this Christmas break I love her :) . I let go of a few friendships this spring that were really toxic and haven't looked back. I still get texts from the girls and I'll reply but  I won't be treated like dirt anymore.

LASTLY

~ I am thankful for blog friends. I love hearing about the everyday stories and reading the "I'm pregnant posts" and following along as some plan their weddings! I hope to meet most (or all!!!!) one day :)

What I'm loving Wednesday

Never thought I would say this but I'm loving my new 'do.

Remember this post? Where I posted a picture of what I was going to do with my hair my next cut? Well this past saturday I got it cut.

Except what I wanted is not what I got.

I told my hairdresser who has cut my hair for years that I wanted side-swept bangs and for it to be cut to my collarbone, I even showed him a picture from the same girl.

I didn't see it being cut as my hairdress comes to my house (long story: but he is best friends with my grandma so he comes over, they have tea and he cuts hair)

Since its at my house we don't sit infront of a mirror, so I didn't see how short he cut it until it was done.

This is what I got.

It hits my jaw line! The bangs aren't what the pictured showed :(

I was so excited to have the hair like the picture, so excited that I cried.

Luckly Karen came over to help me style it since I didn't like it sunday, I even said I didn't want to go to church that morning!

Since all my dead ends are off, hopefully it will grow fast so it can be a my collarbone ASAP!

~

The past few days I'm learning how to style it so it looks better.

Funny thing is: I didnt really like it but everyone does!

go link up with Jaime

that week went fast!

I'm back! And I have to tell you, camp was awesome! As I said, week 3 was for kids ages 11-13. The kids were really awesome this week, the people in charge of running activities said that this was one of the best year for participation. Usually we have a bunch of kids who don't want to be active and would prefer to sit in the grass and watch.

It was so good to hang with friends who live all over Ontario, who came out this week as bible teachers, counselors, cooks and crafts. Us staff weren't allowed to have "staff night out" (we put the kids to bed and hang out in the dining hall till the late) but Friday night we went out and had some fun with the campers. Let's just say a few of the staff did some fun pranks! Shaving cream may or may not have been used...

Karen and I had a blast together. She was in cabin love and I was in faith. For the record: faith is the girls cabin that isn't joined to another one so it got scary at night, after hearing ghost stories!

the signs on the cabins

My cabin

It was an exhausting week. Waking up and 7am, going to bed at 11 (yes, its 8 hours but its non-stop all day) but it was worth it. Sharing God's love with kids who come from broken homes is the best feeling.

Not only was it a great week for the campers for their walk with God but for me too. All week I had to be an example of what a "Christian" does/doesn't do, which made me more accountable. Singing praises to God all week was what my soul needed.

I am so thankful Karen came out this week. We love week 3 :) I want to move over to teen week next year (ages 14-19) but I get the feeling she wants to stay at week 3. We still have months to talk about it.

camp omagh what what!

The best thing about working at camp is the shirts. Staff get a free shirt that we have to wear the first day and last day (to help parents.) Last year we had a nice baby blue but the year before? Bright neon orange. They were so bright that no one wanted to wear it!

My girls were great! I've never had such a good group of girls before! The other counsellors were a little jealous when I told them that the girls always went to bed right away and never stayed up. They were very competitive for the "lights out first." Two bible teachers sit outside the boys and girls cabins and when the bell rings that signals time for bed, whatever cabins' lights are out first and quiet wins and gets lots of points.

After campfire I would stay outside and talk with some of the kids/staff and when I walked back to my cabin the girls were in bed ready for me to shut off their light! It wasn't even time for bed :)

Everyone year I get a picture of my cabin. Its nice to have to memories.

Faith!

Really really good girls.
They were close too. I had two sisters, two pairs of BFF's. The girl far right is from Korea. There were four other girls (all different cabins) who moved to Canada, came to camp and spoke no word of English. It was a challenge the first few days but slowly Jasmine learned her way around camp.

I miss camp very much. I have loved spending my summers there. Can't wait till next year and hopefully my girls (if they aren't 14) can come back!

happy monday

bye for now

Today my morning is filled with nothing but last minute packing for camp. Yes, that's right, I'm going to camp!

The bff Karen and I are going out to Camp Omagh for the week. We are counselling ages 11-13. Karen has been going to this camp since she was born and I first went in 2003. I did 5 more summers of being a camper then 3 years a go transitioned to be a counsellor.

Its a busy busy week but so worth it in the end. The day is full of God worshipping, laughing and smiles (cheesy..I know, but true.)

This is a picture from last year. karen and I

*I won't be around at.all this week. There are no electronics at camp and this year I will try to follow suit. I will have my cell but I'm bring my laptop therefore I can't read blogs! I'll catch up when I come back.

**Please nothing BIG happen when I'm gone!

meh, it's monday.

I bet you're just sitting on the edge of your seats to know what I'm going to ramble about this wonderful monday. No? Just pretend you are, mmk?

I hope every mother had a great and deserving day yesterday. Even those who have yet to have kids.
~

Mother nature is finally getting the message that it's may not september! Yesterday was 16 and today/tomorrow is a high of 17. Best of all, it's sunny! Like, get-the-sunglasses-out sunny. The rest of the week will be about the same with thursday being 22! Loves it. 

~

I got tired of wearing pants to church so when I was planning my church outfit for sunday I made sure I was wearing a skirt. It was a bit chilly but glad a wore a skirt.  The picture is from the best app instagram, its blue with flowers. Reminds me of a table cloth but as Karen says "a nice table cloth."

here is me sunday morning

Also I wore my new white wedges. I love them so much! 

I'm excited for my twitter/blogger friend Laura giveaway. Go check it out!
~

In 6 days I'll be in Alberta. My dad's sister, her husband and my two cousins live there. Since I'm off school I thought it would be a perfect time to visit them. I have tons to do before hand but honestly, it's the calmest place ever. I will be in the true country. Meaning nearest neighbours are half a mile away. I love it there. So peaceful.
~

I'm loving the face that I can schedule posts. I never knew it existed until last week. I know I know it's probably old news to most of you. It's great when things get busy. Confession: this is a schedule posts! Don't judge :)
~

Running is going good for me. Yesterday I was so bored so I thought "why not go for a run." 5km and 33 mintues I was home sweating buckets enjoying a nice shower.
~

Wedding plans are under way.  The venue is booked for may 26th for 2012! for my bros wedding, not mine. i wish. 

happy monday! 

I'm working on my roar!

Wanna know my favorite Disney movie?

The Lion King!

No surprise since I love animals.

As I said a few days a go, Karen and I went to see the Lion King on stage.



We went to Gabby's for dinner and enjoy talking and catching up.

We ALWAYS take pictures before we leave.



love this one.





Bathroom shots are our favourite things to do. It was really hard to get some because people kept coming in. We would snap some shots when people were in the bathrooms and quickly act like nothing happened when they came out of the stall. Finally karen said "who cares, I'm never going to see these people again." That is why I love her!



Not my normal face fyi

You know that surprise I was telling you about? just pretend you do. Well it turns out that our friend Elizabeth and her parents got tickets on the same day! It's neat how out of the hundreds of shows the Lion King is playing we all wined up going on the same day.

Two very sweet girls!

It was wonderful evening! There is something so magical about seeing live shows! I can't wait to decide what show we see next year.

happy saturday!