Balance Is Beauty

Hi Sugar Plums!

Before we get going – I have some EXCITING news to share! To my American friends, you were able to experience this excitement months and months ago – but us Canadians always lag behind I was shopping in the health food section of my local grocery store the other day and could not believe my eyes, I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming . . .

What was stocked on the shelf ??? None other than the PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY LARABAR!!! I have scoured the health food stores, grocery stores, basically any store for the new (well not so new to my lucky Americans ) flavour and have not been able to find it anywhere! Finally my prayers were answered – I could hardly contain myself with excitement. This flavour was everything I wished for and more!! It was the perfect combination of peanut butter and jelly – not to tart – just right! This has definitely taken the top spot in terms of flavours for me, I am totally kicking myself for only buying one – they better not be gone when I go back

In other exciting news, this morning I decided to lace up my running shoes and hit the snow covered pavement. The motivation behind me deciding to run outdoors vs. the comfort of my warm indoor treadmill was the new running outfit I received for Christmas! Lululemon did not disappoint this year, I absolutely adore this outfit and it kept me nice and warm for our below zero weather here in Toronto:

Sorry for the less than stellar quality photos – yes these pictures are taken in hallway closest doors I did 5 easy miles this morning and it was probably one of the most delightful runs I have been on in a long time – I truly enjoyed it so much and the 45 minutes flew by. I wasn’t overly concerned with my pace – but ended up averaging about an 8.4 min/mile pace – which is not too bad! The weather was definitely chilly but it was actually refreshing – I felt great when I was done! I definitely think I am going to start getting outdoors more often, rather than the treadmill, the fresh air makes such a difference!

When I returned from my run I was definitely hangry and ready for lunch, I whipped up this salad, which has basically been my staple lunch this week – I honestly can’t get enough of it (like I’ve mentioned many times before – I am SUCH a creature of habit when I find something I LOVE):

Broccoli/Cabbage Delight Salad

1/2 C Broccoli

1/2 C Red Cabbage

1/2 C Cauliflower

Carrot – diced

1/4 Apple – diced

1/4 Avocado

Celery – diced

1 Tbsp hemp seeds

Sprinkle of Sea Salt

Dressing

1/2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp olive oil/hemp oil/flax oil

1 tsp raw unpasteurized honey/ agave

I can’t say enough about this salad – feel free to mix up the veggies – depending on what you have (I basically just toss everything I have in the fridge in), as well as the seeds/nuts. The other day I threw in 1tbsp of raisins and 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds – AHmazing! Have fun with it and adjust the recipe to suit your tastes

After the salad my sweet tooth kicked in and I finished lunch off with a macaroon topped with almond butter . . . The Perfect ending to a delightful meal

After lunch I headed to the mall in search of a New Years Eve outfit – as I mentioned yesterday, hubs and I are hosting a party this year. I skipped into one of my favourite stores BCBG as I knew they were having an amazing sale and found a great dress for tomorrow night and may or may not have walked out with a couple of other items I’ll post some pics tomorrow of the items I picked up – I definitely walked out of there with a lighter wallet, but also with a HUGE smile on my face

Since I was on such a high – I figured it was only right to keep it going and headed over to Starbucks for my all-time fav Soy Latte and paired it with one of my homemade fig/date squares:

As if this day couldn’t get any better – Hubs and I are now off to the movies to see The Blind Side – I have wanted to see this movie for a while – so I’m super excited!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! I’ll see ya’ll tomorrow for a sneak peak at my purchases from today as well as some details about our New Years Shenanigans!

xoxo

Krissy

Bloggies!

It’s me! I’m still here. I took a bit of a longer vacay from the bloggie than I expected! We have been so busy over the past week visiting with family and friends that something had to give – sorry Blog!

I hope everyone was blessed with a wonderful Christmas spent with loved ones! I know I have been surrounded by all of my loved ones, which as been wonderful, and I hope for the same for all of you!

Christmas Eve, Hubs and I had to make our rounds – We began at my grandparents for dinner – homemade meat pies – which of course I opted out of, but everyone else raved about them (sorry no pic ). My Nanny (grandma) is such an AMAZING cook – she is in her mid 80’s and is still baking up a storm.  After dinner we headed over to my Brother-in-Laws house – it is their tradition for the kids to open all their gifts on Christmas Eve so we had a blast watching the kids rip into all their presents

We ended the night at a close friends house for a couple of glasses of wine and then called it a night. Hubs and I decided to stay over at my parents house – so it really felt like Christmas morning waking up in my childhood bed

I started Christmas morning off with a warm cup of tea

And then started on my Vegan Breakfast treat courtesy of Ange. I decided to try her Strawberry Spelt Biscuits, but swapped the strawberries for bananas.

Pre-cooked

Finished Product!

OMG – These were FANTASTIC! Honestly, they were SO simple to make and came out SO delicious – I definitely recommend this recipe – and you can have fun with toppings! My whole family enjoyed them – which again proves vegan baking can be just as delicious Thanks for a great recipe Ange!

I was so busy enjoying the company of all my family members that I really wasn’t very good about putting my camera to use (I really need to work on this – especially if I want to consider myself a blogger ) But here a few pictures of the company I have kept over the holidays:

 Twin doing what he does best – acting the FOOL!

Hubs!

My Christmas Bear – with out of control hair!

I have definitely indulged over this holiday season, and I am really looking forward to things calming down and returning to normal over the next week or so. Hubs and I are having our families over for New Years Eve, so we have one more big event and then hopefully life will return to normal! I haven’t completely decided on my menu for New Years Eve – we are doing pot-luck, so thank goodness everyone will be bringing something. I will definitely be preparing some vegan friendly appetizers and will share them with you once I have decided on them!

What’s Everyone’s Plans for New Years Eve? Ours should be pretty tame – just family and a few close friends to ring in the New Year. Over the next couple of days I will be reflecting on my goals for the New Year and will share them with you!

xoxo

Krissy

FRIENDS!!!! ONLY 2 MORE SLEEPS!!! Sadly, it doesn’t look like us Torontonians are going to have a White Christmas – the weatherman is calling for rain on Christmas Day There is something about looking outside on Christmas morning and seeing a blanket of white snow that just puts you in the Christmas spirit – oh well –guess we can’t always get everything we want can we?!

Before we get to today’s post I would like to give a little shout out to my Bro and the comment he left on yesterday’s post! I must confess and plead guilty to the charge before me – I have been known to be a present hoarder (GASP!). Maybe it’s because I get wrapped up in the excitement of watching others open their gifts, maybe it’s because I love having a stack of presents at the end of the morning all addressed to me – I will not confirm or deny either of these statements – I will instead allow you to be the judge and draw your own conclusions

Moving on . . . I decided to capture a day’s worth of eats on my camera today! I tell ya, it’s like a full time job There were so many times I went to take a bite of something and suddenly it hit me I had to take a picture!

Morning started with a delicious, refreshing Green Smoothie:

2-3 C spinach, 1 scoop Sun Warrior Protein Powder, 1/2 C almond milk, 1/2 C water, 1 banana, 3 strawberries, 1 tsp coconut oil.

About an hour and a half later I heard my tummy talking to me a little – so I munched on an unpictured handful of raisins + 2 dates (stuffed with almonds!) – the dried fruit was already in my belly when I realized I hadn’t taken a pictures (oops!).

Lunch was eaten on the run – like usual I was running behind – I had a work conference at 2pm and was frantically running out the door at 115 with lunch in hand:

Yes – another Green Smoothie – this is not typical at all for me, normally lunch consists of a huge green salad loaded with everything you can think of, but like I said today I was in a rush. My second smoothie of the day consisted of 2 cups of Kale, 1 scoop sun warrior protein powder, 1 scoop chocolate amazing grass, 4 strawberries, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water. The key lime pie is definitely on the top of my list for Fav Larabar flavours – it was scrumptious!

After my case conference I headed to the grocery store to pick up some last minute ingredients for some of the recipes I am planning for Christmas. On the way home I wanted to eat my own arm off – but instead grabbed a handful of dried cranberries I had just purchased. That satisfied me for the 10 minute drive home and then I dived into my coveted honey crisp apple stash:

Since these apples are SO expensive, but SO delicious, I have to ration my portions – I only eat 1/2 an apple at a time, so they last longer hehe I had 1/2 an apple with a side of Almond Butter.

These snacks, although delicious, really didn’t satisfy my hunger, so I immediately started on dinner.

1/2 Cup Brown Rice, 3 cups of steamed vegetables (sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and spinach), and 1/4 of an avocado. All covered in Braggs, hot sauce, and black sesame seeds. Words can’t describe how amazing this is – honestly I could eat this for the rest of my life and be completely satisfied. Now friends, here is my confession, and here is why I would bore you to tears if I documented everything I ate everyday – I have had this EXACT meal 3 (YES 3!!) nights in a row. To say I am a creature of habit is a little bit of an understatement. When I find a meal I love, I totally become obsessed with it and basically can’t help myself but eat it every night – this happens to my current kick. I know I preach variety, and I know I need to practice what I preach – but it’s just sooooooo good And I have a whole container of brown rice I need to use up and a fridge full of veg – so lets go with that excuse

My sweet tooth was quickly satisfied with a piece of dark chocolate and one of my macaroons:

Are you ready for what came next . . .

I strapped on my apron and back to the kitchen I went for some holiday baking.  I decided on a recipe from fat free vegan’s blog. Skinny Figgy Bars!

Fig + Date Filling

Dry Ingredients for the Crust

Ready for the Oven!

Finished Product!

They turned out pretty well – I may tweak the recipe in the future, but hubby tried them and enjoyed them so they passed the first test The problem when I strapped on my apron is that half the recipe ends up in my mouth instead of the baking dish. I have a hard time restraining myself especially when they just come out of the oven and smell SO yummy – I probably had between 1 1/2 to 2 bars over the course of my baking

So friends . . . There you have it, a day in the life of my eats! To be honest, I kind of enjoyed documenting my days worth of eating – be honest, is it something you enjoy seeing, or do you find it kind of boring. I don’t think it’s something I will do on a daily basis but I may incorporate into my blog more often if you guys are open!

I’ll be back tomorrow to share other recipes I am planning for Christmas!

See you tomorrow Loves!

xoxo

Krissy

P.S. If you aren’t already following me on twitter – please do! @balanceisbeauty

Hi Sugar Plums!!

Is everyone as excited as I am that there is only 3 more sleeps until Christmas??!! Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year and I know it’s because of all the special memories of Christmas I have as a child. My parents always made Christmas so special for my brother and I. I still feel the excitement and butterfly’s in my stomach on Christmas Eve just as I did as a young child. I remember laying in bed trying so hard to stay awake to hear the pitter patter of Santa’s footsteps on our roof, but always ended up falling asleep – I did have the proof of half eaten cookies and carrots in the morning though My brother and I would always be up at the crack of dawn (my poor parents) and would run down the stairs in excitement to see our over-flowing stockings as well as an overflowing tree that Santa had so nicely filled up the night before. We would always sit together as a family – with Grandma if we were lucky enough to have her that year (it was always war with the cousins with who got Grandma to sleep over!) – and begin opening the stockings. After the stockings were done we would head over to the Christmas tree. I’m not sure what Christmas is/was like in your family – but for us, only one person opens a gift at a time. We all watch each gift being opened – not only does it prolong gift opening (which I love!), but it is also nice to experience the excitement of each gift being opened and see all the wonderful and thoughtful gifts being exchanged.

After all the gifts are opened – we move onto Christmas breakfast – generally this consists of some sort of eggs and all the fixin’s – this year although I’m sure the standard breakfast will still apply – I will definitely be contributing a vegan portion to the meal. I am still undecided about what to bring – any good suggestions??!!

Although Craig (my twinsie) and I are now 27 years old, and I guess have to be considered adults (boo!), Christmas is still as special, as ever, I know if you asked him, he would tell you he still gets as excited on Christmas Eve as I do – and that is purely due to the amazing upbringing from our parents. Christmas has always been a time of joy, happiness, giving and of course love in our household and I know this tradition will remain and will be one that I pass on to my own kids one day If you guys are reading this I’ll see you all under the tree on Christmas morning xoxo

My eats have been pretty darn good lately, I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

Quinoa – banana oats with unsweetened coconut, carob chips and almond butter (which I generally eat for lunch – I find oats are too heavy for my tummy most mornings!)

Gluten-free cereal with chopped up apple and almonds. (mmm SO satisfying – it’s been a while since I’ve had cold cereal in the house – and it sure doesn’t stay around long when it’s here!). Again, usually I have this as a snack or as lunch as I find it a bit too much for my stomach as breakfast.

Dinnah! – Butternut Squash Soup (Pacific Brand) with steamed veggies, topped with a veggie burger and half a multigrain pita bread.

There have been multiple of these consumed – one of my favourite desserts/snacks – dates with almond butter – mmmmm so tasty!!

My breakfasts have typically been one or the other of the above options – either a green smoothie or green juice! I generally try to have my green juice every other day – doesn’t always happen, but that’s what I aim for

So that’s a little glimpse into SOME of what I have been eating – as I have mentioned many times, I do not capture anywhere near all of what I eat in a day. If you are interested, let me know and I can do a post where I blog everything I eat in a day – I just don’t find it to be all that exciting! I would never want to bore you guys, but if you want to see, I absolutely will

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!!!! 3 MORE SLEEPS!!! Anyone else counting down with me???

It’s your turn – I would love to hear your Christmas Traditions and fond memories from your childhood!

xoxo

Krissy

Friends!

I am still here – and apologize for the lack of postage! Hubs and I had a spectacular Christmas Party on Saturday night, which kept me busy all weekend long (clean up is NO fun!). We ended up having close to 70 people at our house, it was craziness! I am proud to say that I was on top of my game with my hostess skills – this girl did not even have one sip of alcohol. Although I’m not a huge drinker, I’m not usually one to turn down a couple of cocktails – especially during the holiday season, however I just wasn’t feeling it that night and decided to listen to my body instead of giving in to the pressures from the party goers. It felt great to listen to my body and felt even better to wake up the next morning feeling fresh with no trace of any hangover I wasn’t able to take many pictures because it was so jammed at my house, but before most of the guests arrived I snapped a few pictures of some of the appetizers we had out.

Veggie Tray with Tzatziki Dip (Hubs is Greek, need I say more?)

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Vegan Pumpkin Spread, More Tzatziki Dip with an assortment of pita bread and crackers.

Assorted Sushi Tray

For the Carnivores – some sausage rolls as well as chopped up sausage (TWSS) and some pasta.

Hubby and I bought that amazing warming tray on Saturday and it was amazing – the food was still steaming at the end of the night!

We had a huge assortment of other dishes – some Asian appetizers/finger foods, shrimp ring, some munchies – chips/popcorn and some yummy Shortbread cookies one of our guests brought!

Overall the night was definitely a success – hubs wasn’t feeling so hot the next day – but that’s always a sign of a good night  

Unfortunately I have caught a little bug and have been feeling a little under the weather this week. My eats have been all over the map – I’ve been having lots of warm soups, and heartier meals as my body has really not been feeling like cold salads or veggies this week. I know most people find their appetite disappears when they are sick – for some reason my appetite has decided to stick around

I have another exciting Christmas Party scheduled for this Saturday with my family – we do secret Santa with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins and because all of my cousins work shift work – we decided to do Christmas a week early because they are all available! I am super excited – I have grown up with these cousins and we are more like brothers and sisters than cousins – so many of my memories are with them and it is because of our close relationship that I love the holiday season SO much! I will keep you updated on what healthy appetizer I decide to bring – my family always looks forward to seeing what I come up with

Hope Everyone is enjoying their week! Only 9 more sleeps until Christmas!!! I can’t believe it!!!

xoxo

Krissy

Hi My Friends!

First off – thank you so much for all of your lovely comments regarding my hair – you sure do know how to make a girl feel good I am slowly starting to get used to it, and it’s only hair – it will eventually grow back

This week I set out to incorporate a lot of more raw foods into my diet. All went well, until today, but I’ll get to that later. First lets take a look at some of my eats for the week.

Since Saturday I have started my morning off with a green juice:

I took a trip to my local farmers market on Saturday and picked up a ton of green produce. In my juice was kale, romaine lettuce, celery, cucumber, sunflower sprouts and half an apple. It came out the most beautiful shade of green and with each sip I took I could feel my cells screaming with excitement

I started each morning off with this green juice around 1000am and then around 12-1pm I whipped up a green smoothie:

My green smoothies this week have been similar usually consisting of 1 scoop sun warrior protein powder, 1/2 c water, 1/2 c almond milk, 1 scoop chocolate amazing grass, 1/2 banana, handful of sprouts, 2-3 cups of greens (either kale or spinach or a combination), 1 tbsp hemp seeds.

Usually in the afternoon I turn into a snack face and some of my eats have included chia pudding

veggie snack plate with tahini dip

Believe me, there was plenty more – lots of handfuls of nuts + dried fruit, dark chocolate – definitely not a lack of food

Dinners have been huge salad beasts with raw bread on the side. Since I bought so much produce at the market I don’t want it to go bad so I have basically been overdosing on veggies – not the worst thing you could overdose on, is it??

I bought a jar of cultured vegetables at the market on the weekend – which is basically fermented sauerkraut (cabbage). Normally I make my own, but I have been eyeing the ones at the market for some time now, so I decided to splurge and try them out! Cultured vegetables have a ton of good bacteria in them, so they are great for your digestive system and help to replenish the good bacteria in your gut! Since eating them this week I have felt great – I just toss them in my salad and they are a great addition. Other nutritional highlights in my salad have been more sunflower sprouts (great source of protein for us vegetarians/vegans), hemp seeds (Great for essential fatty acids + protein), and pumpkin seeds (lots of zinc!).  I always slather my raw bread with a mixture of raw unpasteurized honey (I know it’s not vegan!) and almond butter – the combination is outstanding – if you eat honey, you must try this!

In the evening I have generally been having another protein shake to make sure I am getting enough protein into me:

 1 scoop protein power, 1/2c almond milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2c raspberries, sprinkle of cinnamon.

I tried a new recipe out as well, from Kristen’s Raw, her Banana Nut Cookie Dough Bites! Mmmm they were delicious, seriously tasted like cookie dough!

The base of the cookies were walnuts, then you mix in dehydrated banana slices, cinnamon, nutmeg and a little bit of agave. SO simple, yet SO tasty

Before I move on, I just want to assure you this is not the only food I have eaten over the past couple of days – I do not take pictures of everything I eat, I am constantly in the fridge or cupboard grabbing a handful of this or that – I just like to showcase some of the more interesting eats

One more exciting piece of news before I move onto how my desire to eat mostly raw came crashing down this morning

I got my SPROUTER up and running! I’m SO excited, currently I have mung beans (the little greens beans) and broccoli sprouts sprouting! They should be ready in the next couple of days. I will be sure to take pictures of the final products – they have already sprouted quite a bit, so I am looking forward to trying them out – nothing screams fresh, like growing them under your own roof

Now onto this morning…

So I awoke at about 445am to the wailing sound of the wind, I peered out my window and SNOW was falling like crazy! This was Toronto’s first official snow fall and boy did it ever snow! I had difficulty falling back asleep and my tummy wouldn’t stop growling finally around 6:30 I decided to give in a make myself breakfast (this is super early for me, normally I don’t eat until between 9 and 1000). With the cold weather and the falling snow, I could not get the thoughts of warm oats out of my mind – as much as I knew I should try to stick to my plan of green juice – I just couldn’t deny the intense craving I had for quinoa oats – so in the pot went 1/2c almond milk, 1/2 c water, 1/3 c quinoa oats, 1/2 banana, sprinkle of stevia and a scoop of almond butter was mixed in at the end! EXACTLY what I was craving! 

This is an old picture – just pretend the coconut isn’t there (hehe). Now lets get one thing straight – I’m glad I listened to my craving and honoured it – I don’t regret that one bit – but what happened after, is something I am not proud of! I totally spiralled out of control with the carb cravings! I guess because I hadn’t had too many whole grains the past couple of days – the oats sort of sent me into a tail spin – after my oats I had a small bowl of whole grain cereal, then about 3 hrs later I had a whole grain tortilla with honey and AB, then  I air popped some popcorn – and my hand has been in the kashi cracker box a few too many times as well! Not a good scene my friends, not a good scene! It is currently 315pm and I am feeling totally carb overloaded, and haven’t had as much as a speck of green – I hope I learned my lesson. Honour your cravings, but don’t go overboard!! Although I love the way eating a mostly raw diet makes me feel – I know, for me, it is important to also incorporate some cooked whole grains as well – otherwise what happened this morning will happen again!

Tomorrow morning I will definitely be back to my Green juice and this mornings love affair with every carbohydrate in my cupboard will only be a distant memory!

Hope Everyone is having a glorious Wednesday!

xoxo

Krissy

Anyone else experience this kind of downward spiral with the beloved carbohydrate, if so how do you keep it under control??

Hi Friends,

I have had quite the week – which is why you haven’t seen me around too much! I suppose I will get right down to business and explain why I have been in hiding for the past couple of days. I guess what they say is true a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

No, your eyes are not deceiving you – I chopped about 5 or 6 inches off of my hair – why you ask? I wish I had an answer, it seemed like a good idea at the time, I was getting tired of my old locks and needed something new – well . . . this is definitely something new.  I spent a good 2 hrs in complete and utter despair when I got home – I hardly ever cry, but I was actually uncontrollably crying. I am actually that girl that has no problems with change – I frequently change my hair colour, frequently change the length – but for some reason I couldn’t get a grip! Needless to say, I spent a few days sporting this look . . .

 It’s hard to tell from the top two pictures, but I actually have side bangs – I couldn’t get a good picture of it – I think I prefer the bangs pulled back though!

Now. . . here comes the worst part of the story. Lets take a few steps back . . . after leaving the salon, I called hubby and was pretty freaked out – he sounded extra chipper, and asked for my exact ETA – which I found odd. As I pulled into the driveway this was what was awaiting me on the driveway . . .

An EARLY Christmas present! Hubby bought me the Life Fitness Elliptical Machine and couldn’t wait until Christmas to give it to me Am I not the luckiest girl ever!! We also have the Life Fitness Treadmill – so this was an exciting addition to the family Sitting here now, I am SUPER excited about this amazing present – but poor hubby – I was so upset and distraught over my hair – the surprise didn’t go over as well as he had planned.  I feel horrible because it was such a sweet and awesome present, but because I was so upset over my hair I couldn’t truly enjoy the moment – and I know hubby was disappointed

Now that the despair is over and I am back to my old self again – Hubs knows how truly appreciative I am of this gift – I’ve already used it 2 or 3 times. I love being able to do a mix of both the treadmill and elliptical – it makes for a great work out and you don’t get bored of either one!

Other exciting news . . .

CHRISTMAS TREE is UP!!! And yet another reason why I am the luckiest girl EVER! Hubs lets me have a completely PINK Christmas tree and he even bought me a beautiful pink star for the top of it on our first Christmas two years ago!  The pictures don’t do the tree justice – it actually looks really beautiful in person. I am such a Christmas junkie! I LOVE it – the whole spirit of Christmas brings me so much joy. I find people are so much nicer during the holiday season – don’t you?

I’ll leave you with a few of my eats over the past couple of days – not surprisingly some salad beasts, as well as some SUPER green juices. I have been truly inspired by a DVD I recently order and viewed, Crazy, Sexy, Cancer – which is a documentary by Kris Carr where she chronicles her journey through her diagnoses of a incurable cancer. I will do a complete review of the movie this weekend – but if you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it – I am being honest when I say it has changed my life!

The bottom two pictures are from my dinner last night – I decided I felt like a salad but I was feeling like warm veggies so I roasted some kabocha squash, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower and served them over some organic greens, topped with a veggie burger. This was SO Delicious – I got my warm comfort food + veggies. On the side I had a piece of gluten free quinoa bread. This is my absolute favourite gluten free bread – it is by a company called Little Stream Bakery and it is a local company which I love! This might actually be one thing that is readily available in Canada and not in the United States (In case my American readers aren’t aware – us Canadians complain a lot because you have SO many great products there that we can’t get here )

I’ll leave you with a beautiful shot of the Green juice I have been enjoying lately . . .

Kale, Romaine Lettuce, Celery, Cucumber, Sunflower Sprouts, and half an apple for a little sweetness!

Have a wonderful Saturday and I’ll be back with my post on Crazy, Sexy, Cancer and how it has changed my life!

xoxo

Krissy

Question: Have you ever gotten a haircut that you instantly regretted?

I have come to terms with my hair now and am starting to get used to it. It made me realize how vain I can be at times – which I did not like learning about myself. Over the past couple of days I have been constantly telling myself how grateful I am that I have hair on my head and can afford to get it coloured and styled when I want to. There are many people out there who have lost their hair due to illness or cannot afford even a simple trim – this made me realize how silly I was being and how thankful I should be! It’s amazing how turning your negative thoughts into positive ones can make such a difference!

Hi Sugars!

I am back from my trip to The My Nation’s Capital – Ottawa! For my American readers, the pictures above are of our Parliament Buildings – I must say, the pictures do not do them justice, they were absolutely stunning. I honestly fell in love with the City of Ottawa while I was there. It is such a beautiful, clean city – although I must admit I could do without their cold temperatures. They are situated right by the water so they get the coldest winters EVA!!!

As I mentioned previously, I went on the trip with my Mom, Aunt, Cousin, family friend, and her daughter. We had a blasty time! Here are some pics of the trip:

 My cousin Allison and I (love her to pieces! She was my Maid of Honour in my Wedding). Whenever she is around there is bound to be too many laughs involved and this weekend there certainly wasn’t a lack of them

These are all pictures from the inside of the Parliament building. The craftsmanship and artwork in the building was stunning. Of course I had to snap a picture of their Christmas tree. The picture in the bottom right is of me standing in front of a monument dedicated to Nurses – I got all sentimental and had to give props to my nursing sistah’s of the past. Beside the monument were these beautiful inscriptions:

We had some great meals – but I was a bad bloggie and didn’t snap any pictures. I was enjoying my company so much that before I knew it my meal was finished and I hadn’t snapped a picture – Sorry! We had a late lunch/early dinner and I had a delicious Mediterranean vegetable wrapped with a side salad – it was TO DIE FOR!

 I did however, make a good find at one of the health food stores:

Kombucha! Which is a fermented tea – great for digestion and replenishing the good bacteria in your stomach! This was a product that was made in Montreal – I have scouted the health food stores in my area since I’ve been back and have not been able to find it anywhere – Kombucha is very hard to come by here! This particular brand was AHmazing! I love the feeling you get in your tummy when you drink it! SO Good!

O.K. Sugar Plums I must run now – I have a hair appt in 45 min! (My roots are SO embarrassing!!) I am contemplating a drastic change – but it’s going to be a game time decision! Stay tuned for updates!

I’ll leave you with a pic of the lovely ladies I spent the weekend with (notice how my hair is covered by a hat – that’s how embarrassing the roots are lol). It was so amazing to just relax, not think about school or work and spend some quality time with such wonderful women!

P.S. My Mommsies is on the left (pink shirt) isn’t she a DOLL

P.P.S. It was my POPsicles BDay Yesterday – So a Birthday Shout Out is definitely in order!!! HAPPY BDAY DAD!!!!

Isn’t he the cutest POPsicle you have ever seen! I Love that Man SO much!

Until Next Time!!

xoxo

Krissy