The Freakin' Weekend + Workouts of the Week

Not to brag or anything, but I've kinda been kicking this weekend's ass. I had a to-do list a mile long and have been crossing things off of it like whoa. Dave was away from Friday morning until Saturday evening, and I was so busy that I PRACTICALLY DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE HE WAS GONE. Sawry, Dave.

My weekend kicked off with a Friday evening workout at a practically empty gym (whoohoo!), where I learned a new skill after recruiting a gym employee to show me a thing or two about the row machine. On the way home from the gym, I fit in a quick but surprisingly successful trip to the 4th Ave Salvation Army, where I found an awesome pair of AE corduroy pants, a cute sweater top, and a graphic t-shirt.

The rest of my Friday night consisted of leftover pizza for dinner (that part wasn't that exciting), an ice cream sundae from a new ice cream place on 4th Ave that I've been meaning to check out, and watching Justin Timberlake on the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show. I fell asleep that night while watching The Rescuers Down Under on Netflix in bed.

My Saturday began bright and early - and with the pleasant realization that it was snowing lightly outside. It hasn't snowed much in Vancouver the whole time I've been living here, so it's always sort of a treat. I honestly don't miss the snowy, cold winters of Massachusetts, but it is nice to have some snow falling every once in awhile.

I won't bore you with all the details, but my successful Saturday of to-doing included:

• depositing a check at the bank first thing in the morning (the teller commended me for "coming out in this snow," so I told her that I'm from Massachusetts and that "this isn't snow.")
• putting money onto my laundry card
• enjoying a solo breakfast at Abigail's Party
• stopping at the market for bananas and milk
• doing 4 loads of laundry
• an exciting afternoon activity of making a breakfasty quinoa with bananas, vanilla extract, cinnamon, brown sugar, and milk. It was exciting because I somehow managed to let the quinoa boil over 3 freaking times. (Sidebar: this quinoa recipe was pretty good, but I have big plans for making it taste way better the next time I make it! Then I'll share the recipe!)
• scrubbing my entire bathroom, top to bottom
• cleaning a ton of dishes
• renting and watching Runner Runner
• getting my tax stuff ready to send to my accountant (who is also my uncle)
• eating a dinner with David of delicious chicken tacos from LOCAL (I raved about these in my 2013 Favorites blog)

On top of all of that, I also managed to take and edit a ton of pictures AND EVEN WRITE THIS BLOG THAT YOU'RE READING RIGHT NOW.

Today I've got a few more odds and ends on the to-do list but most of the big things were crossed off yesterday. I love making a to-do list every weekend - it helps me feel super productive! Do you make to-do lists too?

I got in 4 decent workouts this past week, and there may even be another exercise sesh in my day today. We'll see how the day progresses! Here's what I did at the gym last week:

2/17 (lower body)

5 mins elliptical

15 squats, holding 25 lbs

1:00 plank

60 alternating lunges

1:00 plank

60 weighted calf raises, 12.5 lbs each hand

1:00 plank

60 bridges

20 deadlifts, 12.5 lbs each hand

1:00 plank

40 side lunges + plyometric pushoff (each side)

1:30 plank

2/19 (upper body)

2x:

   12 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

   12 bent over rows each arm, holding 12.5 lbs

   12 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

   12 Arnold press, 10 lbs each hand

   12 deltoid flys, 5 lbs each hand (+ 10 more mini flys with left arm)

   12 deltoid raises, 5 lbs each hand (+ 10 more mini raises with left arm)

 15 squats, holding 25 lbs

2/21 (lower body and core)

10 mins rowing machine

2x:

   15 squats holding 25 lbs

   30 Russian get ups, holding 5 lbs     

   40 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand

   60 Brazilian crunches

   15 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand

   20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

   40 alternating lunges

   30 cobras

60 bridges

40 bridges squeezing knees together

2/22 (upper body and core)

5 mins elliptical

12 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

30 weighted v-sit twists w/ 12.5 lbs

12 bent over rows each arm, holding 12.5 lbs

30 weighted crunches on exercise ball, holding 12.5 lbs

12 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

30 Russian get ups, holding 8 lbs

12 Arnold press, 10 lbs each hand

1:00 plank

12 deltoid flys, 7.5 lbs each hand

30 reverse crunch + leg raise

12 deltoid raises, 7.5 lbs each hand

30 cobras

15 squats, holding 25 lbs

If I do go to the gym today it will most likely just be for cardio. I'm going to try to mix-up my cardio a little more to keep things interesting. The row machine came into the mix on Friday, and I think the Stair Master is calling my name next.

Speaking of throwing things into the mix (not a great segue, but shut up), I love enjoying a glass of chocolate milk after the gym as part of my post-workout routine. I have heard that chocolate milk is a great recovery drink because of the combination of carbs and protein. Admittedly, I didn't do much research on this because when someone tells me I ought to have chocolate as part of my workout recovery, I will take their word for it, #AMIRIGHTLADIES?!

What do you do to get in your post-workout protein? Do you drink protein shakes? Have a favorite protein bar? Let me know!

I hope you're having a good weekend! Have you been checking things off of your list?

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Black & White Nails: Stripes and Polka Dots

I had high hopes for today's nails, as I prematurely boasted yesterday on my Facebook page. As it turns out, even with the aid of nail stickers, the "stripes" aspect of my "stripes and polka dots" nails didn't turn out perfectly. My stripe game needs some work! But my polka dot game is pretty on-point in this mani, if I DEW SAY SEW MYSELF, so hopefully you'll still enjoy it:

For these nails, I used:

• Snow Me White by Sinful Colors
• Stiletto by Revlon
• Quo by Orly dotting tool
• Quo by Orly detailer brush
• Essence nail art stickers (featured here)
• tweezers

For anyone curious, the dotting tool and detailer brush were part of a Quo by Orly set called Instant Artist. I bought it last year in this haul.

I started by painting all of my nails black, except my ring finger, which I painted white. Then I added the white polka dots to all of the black nails using my fail-safe method of making polka dots. After trimming down a few of the nail sticker strips, I lay them carefully across my ring finger and pressed them down firmly to (TRY TO) make sure that no polish would bleed around the edges. Then I used the black polish to paint over all the exposed white stripes on my nail and quickly used my tweezers to remove the strips before the black polish could dry or become tacky.

After removing the strips, I wasn't really super pleased with how my stripes looked. There was some bleeding, and the polish had apparently become slightly tacky before I'd removed the strips, so there was a tiny bit of "string-age" going into some of the white stripes.

Guys, I've never spent so much time on detailed clean-up of a mani. I know you wouldn't know it by looking at the final product, but I really did spend awhile trying to make that striped finger look better! First I used the detailer brush dipped in white polish to try to clean up the white stripes. Then I spent foreverrrrr using that same tiny detailed brush dipped in acetone to try to clean-up all around the cuticles on that nail. It's really hard not to make a mess all over your nail edges when you're using the striped lines tape/sticker method. If you know a secret to keep it clean, please share with me.

David is gone today and tomorrow, off on a hiking and camping trip with a friend. I'll have to keep myself entertained the next day or so, which shouldn't be too much of a problem. There is probably a solid amount of ice cream, laundry, take-out, writing, photo-editing and YouTube-watching in my near future. SHOULD BE A SOLID TIME.

What are you up to this weekend?

Know any good movies I should try to Netflix/RedBox?

What's your favorite YouTube channel?

Random update on 2/24/14: I completely forgot to mention that this mani was inspired by a fashion blogger's outfit! Alison over at Get Your Pretty On did a blog post where she was rocking a white-with-black-stripes top with a black-with-white-polka-dots scarf, and I thought the combo of the two B&W looks with two different patterns was so cool! I pinned Alison's outfit onto my Nail Polish board here! Sidebar, follow me on Pinterest for a good time. ;)

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{Linking up with The Nail Files, Friday's Fab Favorites, What I'm Loving Fridays}

Pops of Green in Grey Vancouver

One of the things I love about the weather in the Pacific Northwest (which is how I continue to refer to Vancouver, even though technically I should be saying "Southwest" now that I'm a Canadian resident), is that the mix of rainy days and sunny days makes everything a gorgeous, healthy shade of green.

This past Sunday started out as a beautiful clear day with blue skies, so I thought it would be a perfect time to head out for a walk with my camera and try to snap some pictures around my Kitsilano neighborhood. It seemed like too long since I'd taken some good Vancouver photos, and I was excited to see what sorts of pretty things would catch my eye out in the sunlight. Unfortunately by the time I'd finished getting ready to go outside, it had turned rather overcast again. Womp womp. Not to be deterred, I still donned my jacket and hat, stuffed my camera into my pocket, and headed outside. Here are some of the random snapshots from my walk:

.  the monkey puzzle tree  .

.  fern growing in the nook of a mossy tree  .

.  thick, bright moss growing on a tree  .

.  this tree was completely covered in moss on its north side... and devoid of any on its south side  .

.  half mossy  .

.  mossy curb and pavement, as seen from directly above  .

.  green lines  .

.  slightly different green lines  .

The grey skies were an omen, obviously. It started raining on me when I was still several blocks away from my house that afternoon. Not that I really minded -  I just tucked my camera away and scurried home. It's been raining off and on for over a week now, which is normal. We'd been spoiled by unseasonably sunny days for several weeks prior to this rainy stretch, so I can't really complain. After all, without all the rainy days, we wouldn't have all these pops of green all over the place!

I hope you are all having a great week. Has it been rainy or snowy wherever you are?

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My Gym Essentials

A successful workout for me involves several ducks aligning perfectly into a row that culminates with me eventually leaving the gym a bit sweatier - and a bit more self-satisfied and smug. (If you ever see me walking home from the gym, you will notice my swagger... and you will also notice that I am singing/rapping along audibly to whatever is playing in my headphones, with a pompousness that wasn't present on my walk TO the gym.)

Here's my step-by-step prep for heading to the gym, as well as what essentials I grab to bring with me in my gym bag:

Before I'm ready to head out the door, I start with some of Proactiv's Oil Free Moisturizer on my face. This is an oil-free, very lightweight, non-greasy moisturizer that I like to throw on before the gym because it's so light and absorbs almost instantly. I don't want to leave my face dry, but don't want to wear my thicker Aveeno daily moisturizer. This one is perfect.

Tom's Long-Lasting Deodorant in a wild lavender scent. I guess I don't need to say much about this - it's just deodorant. I use Tom's because it isn't an antiperspirant, and it's aluminum-free. Ladies, if you are still using an antiperspirant with aluminum, you should probably read a thing or two about that before you continue to do so.

.  tom's long lasting deodorant in wild lavender  .

Sephora Full Action Extreme Effect Mascara. I like this mascara because it's easy to remove, which is important to me when I'm just putting it on to go to the gym. Maybelline's The Rocket is my daily mascara, but it's so difficult to remove (even though it isn't waterproof) that it's not worth it for me to put it on before I go to the gym, just to wrestle with it an hour and a half later when I'm back at home and about to jump in the shower. Putting on a full face of makeup isn't me, in general, so it's especially not "me" when it comes to going to the gym. (Some girls go to the gym with their bronzer and eyeliner on, and honestly I don't give much of a crap if that's your style, but it's not mine!) But I do think that putting on a little swipe of mascara before heading out to the gym gives me boost of girl power. (Did I just type that? Good lord.)

.  sephora full action extreme effect mascara  .

Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm in Quenched. Getting dry lips while you're working out is the worst. THE WORST. I've raved about Baby Lips before, so I'll spare you too many details here. Suffice to say this balm keeps my lips moisturized - dare I say "quenched"?? - without adding any color. Basically the perfect "don't have to look in a mirror to apply" lip balm. This goes into my jacket pocket as I'm on my way out the door!

.  maybelline baby lips in quenched  .

Stud earrings. I discovered about 6 months ago that something about wearing a pair of simple but sparkly earrings makes me feel better about life while I'm working out. Seeing my little studs catch the light while I'm doing a shoulder press makes me feel a bit prettier at the gym. (Almost distracts from my bright red face and sweat-dripping brow.) Certainly, no one at the gym gives a crap if I'm wearing earrings or not, but it makes a pleasant difference to me. AND IT'S ALL ABOUT ME, after all.

My gym locker lock/key. Now I know what you're thinking: "Bail, your locker lock is probably the most boring thing you could write about." And you're right. So I won't write about it. You can just deduce from the context of the rest of this blog that it comes with me to the gym. I won't even show it to you again in a picture. If you're really interested, you can scroll back up and notice it smack in the center of the first picture in this blog. My, I've managed to write a lot about this lock that I vowed not to write about, haven't I? Let's move on.

iPod Nano 8GB. I cannot workout without music. I JUST CAN'T. So my iPod Nano is an absoluuuuuute gym essential. This little guy was a birthday present from my mom back in November 2008. I know this because she had the back of it personalized with my name and the message Happy Birthday 2008. She bought me a newer iPod Touch 16GB for my 2012 birthday - which I use the crap out of - but when it comes to my workout music, the itty bitty Nano still just makes more sense for me to bring to the gym. Plus, I already had the arm-strap/fitness case to fit my Nano, as you can see...

DLO Action Jacket for iPod Nano. And this is the fitness case I use! I've had this for a few years now and have always liked it. The velcro is still SUPER sticky after all these years and the arm strap hasn't lost any elasticity. The case has a belt clip so you can remove the iPod part from the strap part and clip it right onto your clothing or bra strap. Sometimes I have to remove the iPod from my arm strap to avoid getting free weights caught in the dangling headphone cord, and it's handy that I can just quickly unclip the iPod from the arm strap and re-clip it right onto my bra strap.

.  ipod nano 8gb (newest models here) / arm band (similar)  .

Two pairs of sneakers - one pair for walking to the gym, and one pair for my actual workouts. My "to the gym" sneakers are my Nike Alvord 8 running shoes. I've had these since 2010 and they were my gym sneakers until last spring when I replaced them with my Nike In-Season TR2 cross-trainers. The Alvords are still in fine condition for walking around and running errands - perfect for taking me to the gym while my cross-trainers stay safe and clean in my gym bag. The TR2s were featured in my 2013 Favorites blog, so feel free to read more about them there.

.   nike alvord / mec daypack / nike in-season tr2  .

Finally, the bag I take to the gym with me is that freaking fabulous bright pink backpack from MEC that you can see above. I love this daypack; it's cute, useful, and super lightweight. It's got a chest strap with a clip as well as a little zipped pocket on the inside, which is where I tuck my phone/locker lock/gym card.

Often I try to leave my wallet/debit card at home when I go to the gym, to avoid those spur-of-the-moment trips into London Drugs that often get me into trouble. There are way too many cool stores between my apartment and the gym... sometimes it's best to avoid temptation all together!

What are all of your essentials when it comes to heading to the gym?

Do you bring a water bottle or a sweat towel with you?

If you want some workout ideas, you can read my last "Workouts of the Week" blog here.

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Workouts of the Week

Heyoooo, I hope you're having a good weekend! On Friday night, Dave and I picked up a TON of delicious Chinese food and some snacks/candy, and ate it while we watched the first two episodes of Season 2 of House of Cards.  Anyone else watching that show? I'm not hooked on it (like I was with Orange Is the New Black), but it's a perfectly lovely way for me to spend a Valentine's evening with my gentleman.

Yesterday I started off my day with a trip to the gym, followed by a lunch with some blogging buddies (Stephanie, Alison, Jayne, Amy and Jen). Lunch was a great time, and I was really glad to have started my day with a workout. It feels good to be going back to the gym more regularly the last few weeks. I feel stronger already!

Here's a quick instagram pic I shared of the French braid I rocked to the gym on Friday...

French braids remind me of being a kid.

ANIMAL PRINT WORKOUT TANKS REMIND ME I'M A WOMAN.

.  #BraidSelfie  .

These are the workouts I did at the gym this past week - and feel free to click on any of the exercises to view a video demo:

2/9 (cardio with a little bit of legs and a little upper back)

35 mins biking (8+ miles)

3x:

  - 15 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand

  - 40 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand

12 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs

12 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs

2/11 (upper body and core)

5 mins biking

15 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

30 v-sit twist holding 12.5 lbs

15 bent over rows each arm, holding 12.5 lbs

30 Russian get ups, holding 5 lbs

15 Arnold press, 10 lbs each hand

30 lying overhead raise + double crunch holding 5 lbs

15 close grip chest press, 12.5 lbs each hand

60 Brazilian crunches

15 deltoid flys (+ 5 more on left arm), 5 lbs each hand

1:00 plank

15 deltoid raises (+ 5 more on left arm), 5 lbs each hand

30 cobras

15 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs

15 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs

15 lat pulldowns, 60 lbs

2/14 (lower body and core)

5 mins elliptical

15 squats, 25 lbs

1:00 plank

30 side lunges + plyometric pushoff (each side)

1:00 plank

60 bridges + 60 heat wave

1:00 plank

40 calf raises, 12.5 lbs each hand

1:00 plank

40 jump squats, alternating wide and close stance

1:00 plank

15 deadlifts, 12.5 lbs each hand

1:00 plank

12 lat pulldowns, 30 lbs

12 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs

12 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs

2/15 (cardio with a little legs)

30 mins biking, 7.3 miles

15 squats, holding 20 lbs

This week I asked Twitter for a favorite upper body move and Jenn clued me in to the Arnold press, which I'd never heard of before. It sounds intimidating because of the name, but the Arnold press is not much more than adding a little wrist rotation to a regular shoulder press. Click the linked demo above to see it! I added this move to one of my workouts this past week. Thanks again Jenn!

Do you have a favorite exercise move? 

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A Few Good Things

Between my trip home to Massachusetts in January and the first half of my February, a stash of photos has accumulated that seemed share-worthy. Here are some highlights from the last month of my life:

This is my 3-year-old niece, Tierney. She's a sassy little peanut. 

And my Mom and Gram say that she looks a lot like 3-year-old me, which I can get down with.

This is my 5-year-old nephew Cohen. He's a little coconut sweetheart. 

He wasn't feeling very well on this particular day. 

If you must know, he threw up a few hours after this photo was taken. 

So... now you know. 

As a Christmas present, my sister Mallory and my brother-in-law Doug got the whole family passes to an indoor water park in Lake George, NY. We all went together one Saturday while I was in Mass and it was a really fun day.  Here's a look at the park:

.  so. much. fun.  .

My younger brother and sister made sure to come visit me in Pittsfield while I was home. My brother Rob works on the north shore of Massachusetts, and my sister Markie is in her senior year at Fitchburg State University. I was glad they made the trip - they are hysterical. Here are all four of the siblings together - we try to take a group picture whenever we can:

.  clockwise from top  .
.  mallory, me, markie, robbie  .

Sidebar, see that piece of artwork behind Mallory's head on the wall? I made that back in 2009! It's one of my favorite collage crafts, EVER. Here's a better look at it, 

before it went into its frame:

So once I left Massachusetts and flew cross-country into Seattle, I had to then take a bus from Seattle to Vancouver. About 20 minutes into the bus ride, as we were crossing a busy viaduct in Seattle, the bus... stopped working. It just stopped working, right there in the lane! There wasn't even a breakdown lane, so we were really just stopped ON the highway.  

Rather than relay the negatives of that whole saga, I will share with you the silver lining to being broken down on the highway for 90 minutes that day: It happened to be one of Seattle's very few sunny-ish days... and we had a beautiful view of both Bainbridge Island as well as this new Seattle ferris wheel:

Last Saturday I joined four other fabulous local bloggers for a brunch date in downtown Vancouver. Rose, Britta, Tina, Amy and I met up at Twisted Fork Bistro on Granville St. and thoroughly enjoyed our food and conversation. I love the twisted fork detail at the top of their menus...

After brunch Rose and I headed down to the Seawall and took a nice walk on the bike path in the sunshine. Until last week, Vancouver had been really dry for the last month or so, which is unusual for the winter here. It's always nice to take advantage of the sunshine when it's around... even if it means that the weather is acting quite strange and the earth is actually dying. #Oops.

So those are just a few good things that have been going on in my life this past month. I hope you're having a nice weekend!
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Minty Emerald Ombre Nails

Happy Valentine's Day, bitchessssssssssss!!

Today's mani uses 3 nail polishes that have each been showcased on my blog in the last month or so. I showed you the Sally Hansen Jade Jump and Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir polishes in my Drugstore Madness blog, and Revlon Orchid polish was the first radiant orchid polish that I showed you in January. I was immediately interested in doing an ombre look using Jade Jump and Balsam Fir, and only by coincidence did it occur to me that I liked the look of Orchid being thrown into that mix as well. The 3 polishes just happened to be sitting near each other on my desk the other day, and I thought, "Well DAY-UM you three look like one hot ticket."

So yesterday I set out my little makeup sponge, my three polishes, my dotting tool, and some Scotch tape, and got to work on this little look:

I think my ombre is improving - this is just the third time I've done it. You can see the other two ombre looks here and here.

After applying two coats of Jade Jump to all of my nails (it was streaky after the first coat, but evened out much better after the second coat), I taped up my fingers with the tape. This ensures that less polish will get all over your fingers, and makes clean-up easier later...

Then I sponged on my ombre...

Here they are after I removed the tape - still some clean-up to do, but not nearly as much as there would have been if there'd been no tape!

You may be able to tell in that above picture that I also added a Revlon matte top coat over the ombre, because. Just because.

Finally I added my orchid heart accent using my dotting tool, and gave the heart a quick pop of top coat to make the shiny heart stand out more from the matte ombre.

What do you think of these Valentine-y ombre nails? It's definitely a bit more work to give yourself a sponged ombre mani, but it's worth it every once in awhile. Treat yo self.

Do you have any big, sexy plans tonight?

Do you exchange gifts with your lover? If so, what'd you get your S.O.?

And happy birthday to my baby sister, Markie - she turns 22 today! #MyLittleValentineAngelBaby!

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{Linking up with What I'm Loving Fridays, The Nail Files, and Friday's Fab Favorites}

All products were purchased by me!