Happy Sunday everyone! I am now back from Ottawa but didn’t really post any updates this past week on what I was up to. It was a very busy week with training all day every day and in the evenings I kept myself busy with fun social things, either with the new friends I made at training or blog friends!

It’s funny because this was my second time visiting Ottawa and I was there for 5.5 full days and 6 nights. Last time I was there for 4 full days and 4 nights. But I feel like I saw so much more of Ottawa last time. Probably because for 3 of the 4 days I was touring around with Anais! That trip is recapped here, here and here.

In my true “photography” fashion lately I took a bunch of instagram photos last week so I figured I’d recap my week in one post, through those photos!

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When I first arrived in Ottawa last Sunday night it was cold. Like -20 C with the windchill! I was not happy since I had left a balmy 15 C behind in Kamloops. But it did give me the opportunity to wear the toque Lisa made for me finally!

After a long day of training on Monday I met Anais for a (very cold!) run. We ran 5.5 miles along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and then went back to her house where she made me a delicious dinner of rainbow trout and quinoa salad. It was great! Silly me didn’t get any photos of us together, though.

On Tuesday I participated in one of the social events with my training group! We did a tour of Parliament and then went for dinner and drinks at a nearby pub. It was really fun and great to get to know all the people in my group better! I ended up making some awesome friends by the end of the week.

Wednesday I hung out with Anais again and went to hot power yoga at her gym. The gym she goes to is AWESOME. It’s massively huge and it has a hot yoga studio right inside of it that is included with the membership. It was an intense workout and I was glad to fit in some yoga during my trip. We then went for tofu burgers (same one I had with her last time), which were amazing! I once again failed at getting a photo of the two of us though

Thursday was super fun! Our training group went to the Ottawa Senators game and had box seats, which was so cool!

Friday our training wrapped up by 1:00 PM. It was really sad actually, it was very group-focused training and I met some awesome people from all across the country. All of my friends were flying out that day and I wasn’t flying out until Saturday but a few of them had a late flight so we wandered around Ottawa a bit more. We walked back to Byward Market so I could eat a Beaver Tail!

A beaver tail is just a piece of fry bread with your choice of topping! I had maple butter which was super drippy and sweet, but delicious!

I love this photo I took near Parliament in downtown Ottawa. The contrast of the new skyscraper beside the older parliament building is so cool to me. I really love Ottawa and could actually picture myself living there one day.

After saying goodbye to my friends I got ready to meet Cynthia for dinner! She just happened to be in Ottawa that weekend for work as well so it was really fun that we got to meet up. I, once again, failed on taking any photos of us. Probably because we talked for two hours straight without stopping. It’s crazy how you can meet someone for the very first time but feel like you know them so well! We had delicious pad thai and then it was early to bed for me as I had a long run planned in the morning.

I met up with Rebecca bright and early on Saturday morning to run 18 miles (29 km). I woke up to see that it had snowed and was about -10 C outside so I admit I was really dreading this run.

Well it turned out that this was by far THE BEST long run I’ve ever done. Rebecca and I literally chatted non-stop the entire three hours and I felt amazing. By the last mile or two the bottoms of my feet were starting to hurt from walking lots the day before but overall it was a really amazing run. If I feel that good during the marathon I will be one happy girl! We also ran along the Rideau Canal which was gorgeous and even though it was chilly it was also bright and sunny.

Afterwards we went back to the Scone Witch for a delicious brunch which I basically thought about the entire last half of the run.

And then it was time to head home for me! I felt really good after my run and all day yesterday but I’m definitely pretty stiff today from running for three hours and then sitting on a plane / in airports for 8.

I had a really awesome week though. I met some great new people working for the same organization as me, I learned A LOT and I had some super fun times with blog friends. Nothing wrong with that!

How was your week? Do you like traveling for work or no?

I’m doing another WIAW post today. I decided to do things a little differently this time around. Every time I’ve posted my eats for the day it’s been a weekday and I would say Monday – Friday I tend to eat a) a lot of the same things and b) pretty healthy.

On the weekends it can be, and often is, a whole different ballgame. This is actually why I struggled with my weight loss for a long time. I used to go way overboard on indulging on the weekends. So now, while I certainly still indulge, I try to keep it more in check.

Anyways, these photos are from Saturday which was largely a relaxation/couch day with a 1-hour power yoga class in the afternoon. That night Eric and I had one of our classic date nights which included making a bunch of appies/finger food, having drinks and either playing board games or watching a movie (we opted for a board game on Saturday night).

Here’s what I ate on Saturday:

Breakfast: English muffin, two poached eggs (left them too long and they got hard. *tear*), a fruit + yogurt cup and a medium coffee with two cream from McDonalds. I kind of hate McDonalds, but Eric likes to go there for breakfast every once in awhile and I like their coffee. A lot actually. Ha!

Lunch: Some breton crackers with jalapeno-cheese, pickles, veggie chips and a mandarin orange. I went back for a second serving of the breton crackers + cheese + pickles combo, it was so yummy!

Pre-yoga snack: Luna bar!

Post-yoga: A couple little chocolates from the studio (one more that was unpictured).

Dinner: Here is where the appy/finger food comes in. All of the below was eaten over a course of about 2.5 hours. We snacked while we cooked the hot appies and then we considered to snack through a rowdy (and hilarious) game of Clue! There was a chip here and there unpictured but I tried to take pictures of as much of it as possible!

Some tortilla scoops with 7-layer dip (YUM!)

Apple martini (green sourpuss, butter ripple schnapps, vodka, cinnamon. HOLY YUM!)

Some foccacia bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic, cheese and crackers, pickle, olives. Side note: that brown-ish cheese is a ‘guiness’ cheese (yes, the beer) and freaking AMAZING!

Hot appies: coconut shrimp, beer-battered shrimp, spanikopita and some cheese balls.

WINE! Big class, probably about 8-10 oz?

I did some more snacking/picking while I was sipping my wine:

And I finished off the night with some strawberries, chocolate dip and two PB cups (one unpictured).

I was pretty full when I went to bed Saturday night and probably could have done without the last bit of extra snacking/picking but OMG I just love finger food so much. I could eat snack plates/finger food for the rest of my life!

And that was Saturday in food for me. Not the healthiest or the most balanced, certainly not enough veggies or fruit in there but damn it was good

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Questions of the day: Do you eat differently on the weekend vs. during the week? Do you like finger food as much as I do?

I’ve decided I’m going to start participating in WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday) once a month or so. I first saw this on Marlene’s blog and I’m excited to start playing along!

I’m still going strong with my food blog and it has helped with being more aware about what I’m eating, but I’ve only lost 3 pounds in over a month. Boo! I’m thinking with the holidays coming up doing it on this blog occasionally will keep me even more accountable. I don’t really care about losing over the holidays, as long as I don’t gain weight I’ll be happy

Here are my eats from yesterday!

Pre-run (5:30 AM): english muffin with grape jelly. Big glass of ice water.

Post-run (7:00 AM): coffee with 1/2 tbsp caramel macchiato creamer. I heart that creamer big time!

Breakfast at my desk (8:30 AM): 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/2 tbsp pumpkin butter, 1/8 cup raisins and 1/8 cup sliced almonds. Coffee #2 with caramel creamer.

I’ve been trying to only have oatmeal 2-3 times a week since it’s high in carbs and the way I make it is sugary. But I have to say eggs or green smoothies for breakfast just don’t hold me over like oatmeal. When I eat oatmeal it fills me up for 4+ hours easily!

Lunch (1:00 PM): leftover thai veggie burger (Mama Pea’s cookbook) on a kaiser bun with miracle whip, a pineapple slice and lettuce. Side salad with green leaf lettuce, spinach, beets, onions, goat cheese and sesame seeds with lemon poppyseed dressing.

Afternoon snack (3:00 PM): cool mint chocolate clif bar. First time trying this flavour. It was just OK.

After-work snack (5:30 PM): small apple with 1.5 tbsp peanut butter

Dinner (7:30 PM): small bowl of chili (that simmered in the crockpot alllll day and was oh-so-good!!), slice of cornbread with butter x 2

Late night ‘snack’ (9:00 PM): gingerbread tea with a splash of milk

If you look at my food blog you’ll notice that I tend to eat dessert a lot and also late night snacks of things like cereal etc. I’m trying *really* hard to cut back on those late night snacks as they’re more about satisfying cravings than hunger. I am trying to drink tea instead! Love holiday tea!

And that’s that!

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Questions of the day: Anyone else have a late night snacking problem? Any advice/tips?