Dinosaurs in Drumheller

For part 2 of my little summer vacation Chad and I went on a road trip for some camping in Drumheller. I've been wanting to go for so long!

The first thing we did after setting up camp was visit the Royal Tyrell Museum. A little piece of dinosaur heaven.
Seeing the skeletons of all this massive creatures is pretty cool and really not something everyone will experience. When I stop to think about it, it kind of blows my mind. Everything about it. How long ago they lived, the size and the fact that we really know a relatively small amount about them.

As well as dinosaurs, the museum also has a mammoth, sabre tooth tiger, turtles and tons of other awesome stuff. Some exhibits are interactive, others are just reading and they are all visually thrilling. It's freaking dinosaurs after all! Some of the dinosaurs in the museum are the biggest in the world, most complete, extremely rare and even the first of their kind to be discovered; a new species.

I probably should have paid closer attention in school, gone to Uni and been a Palaeontologist. Or an Egyptologist, that'd be cool too...

After the museum we took a drive up to Horse Thief Canyon for a little hike, then along the drive back we took the very short trip on Canada's last cable drawn ferry and another short stop for some pictures.

Paleo. (insert grumbling cave man noises here)

Since I've been having a particularly hard week it seemed like a great time for a good distraction and to be thrown into something new and exciting.

For me, that new thing is Paleo. A healthy whole-foods based lifestyle. I've been thinking about and considering it for a while and you know what they say. Why put off for tomorrow what could get done today. I'm so drawn to this because it's not just about the food. Paleo promotes health and well-being.

To put it most basically, there is no packaged food or refined sugars and it is totally gluten-free. Caffeine and alcohol or limited (or cut entirely), dairy should only be full fat and unpasteurized. As much as possible meat comes from animals that are pasture raised, grass fed and as natural as possible. Fruit and veggies should be local, organic and seasonal when that's possible. Though this would seem very restricting to some, I feel like it's in all the right ways.
Paleo is the "caveman" diet. Eating what we are meant to so the body can feel and work the way it should.

I think it's going to be a hard 30 day transition into it but will be well worth it if I can stick with it and really reap the benefits of living this way.
I am particularly excited to kick sugar. Mostly because I love it. A little to much..

So, here's the real question. Where the hell do I buy unpasteurized dairy???? Maybe I should just buy a cow.. or a full on farm.... I don't think it gets more fresh and local than that!
But let's be realistic. I'm far more likely to make animals into pets than food.... The best way to eat a steak is pretending it always looked like that, it never had a face or wore a bell. Poor Bessie.

You can definitely prepare to hear more about this as it starts and throughout the transition.
Be excited!

I personally find that with things like this it's best to know as much as possible. There is no point throwing yourself into something with best intentions and finding out it can't be sustained or won't work for you.
xoxo

Vegetable quiche

For my first go at a Paleo dish I whipped up a quiche. It is also vegetarian, but that certainly isn't the appeal of it. I made bacon with it too.. Yummy crispy bacon!

I haven't actually started my transition into Paleo yet but I was feeling eager to test out some recipes anyway. The fact that I could make this with things I already had in my kitchen makes me feel pretty good. The idea of a diet or lifestyle involving all things foreign would be wrong for me.

For this super simple and tasty quiche you need:

12 eggs (Free-range, pasture-raised, local)(In a perfect world)
1 tsp sea salt
1 large zucchini
2 medium carrots
Spinach, I used 2 frozen (thawed) cubes. (In a perfect world the produce would be local, organic and seasonal)
Butter (for the pan)

I chose to make half of this recipe but after it is cooked you can freeze any leftovers!

First things first, grate the carrots and zucchini then give them a little squeeze to get the some of the liquid out.

Next, beat the eggs and add them and the salt to the veggies. Then add the spinach.

Bake at 375F for about 45 minutes or until the edges are browned and the centre is puffy.

Serving this with crispy bacon and scones made an awesome Friday morning breakfast. Scones don't fit the bill for Paleo but since I haven't started my transition yet and I still have them I'm not about to waste them.

Enjoy!
xoxo

Home

Our little house is finally coming together and starting to look more like a home.

Besides all the things my grandparents brought for us, we have also gotten to the point of hanging pictures and decorating. It's safe to say that it's pretty random still and that very little actually goes with anything else, but I don't mind.

We have table and chairs to eat on, patio furniture for the balcony, dishes, T.V, my desk and plenty of other useful things. We are, however, still missing a few important pieces. The dresser for the living room (this will be the home of DVD's, game's and other living room stuff.) and the dresser for Chad's drawers that are currently living on the bedroom floor...

Living in a condo doesn't leave huge amounts of space for separate purposes so I'm planning on making the spare room very multi purpose. I do my make-up in there because the bathroom has no natural light. I have my desk in there and all my crafting/DIY stuff and Chad has his miscellaneous pile of things with no homes. Most recently I've decided I'd like to add some gym bits into the mix. Free weights, balance ball, bands.. small things. When trying to live healthier and more active, having stuff at home is important.






Outside of the spare bedroom, most areas are doing well on the organized livable front. It's pretty much just the living room area that still needs quite a bit of work. We can do everything in there but we have no shelves or anything to put movies, music, books, etc. on. The coffee table that is being used as a TV stand does the job but could be better and we still have a pile of boxes in there as well.

Spare room disaster!

Golden throne, anyone?? 

Being my first time moving out it has been a big thing to adjust to but I think I'm getting there. It would be nice to have my kitty over here with me, but I can't and that's life.
Do you remember the first time you were 'out of the nest?'

xoxo

Color on Color.. and some running

Today was the day. My 5K run that I felt totally unprepared for.

Color Me Rad is a 5 kilometre run that is more for fun than to be competitive. In fact, I feel pretty safe saying that a good chunk of the participants aren't actually runners. Just people that like a god time... does that sound dirty..?

Basically, everyone dresses in mostly white and goes to run. Every 1 kilometre there are people waiting to throw "color bombs" at us. The color bombs are brightly colored packs of powder (corn starch) and the effect is thrilling. One station even had colored water to spray at everyone!

Last year I was running between 1 and 5 miles five days of the week. Since being home from Europe I've only been doing 1-2 miles about 2 or 3 times per week. This pretty much sums up my feelings of being unprepared. That being said, I kicked this races ass!! Ran the whole thing with no walk breaks. I felt pretty good. And being brightly colored just seems to have a way of lifting spirits.

ANYWAY, I'll just let the pictures tell the real story.

After the run, color bombs flying

Notice the stained hands.. sexy

Having done laundry now, I can tell you that my socks did not

go back to white and neither did my top. 

Fine by me.

At the start line these were white. Now they look like candy. 

(Not recommended for eating though)

It's like tan lines, but instead of brown it's rainbow!!!!

If you want to know more about the race or if it's coming to your city, check here.

xoxo

Sunshine and Summertime

Lately we've been having some pretty crazy weather here and even more so in southern Alberta. Nearly as soon as we cleared winter forest fires started popping up. After that we had rain, rain and more rain. Tornado warnings. (Scary business. One even touched down.) And most recently is the flash flooding. Many cities were put in a state of emergency and plenty of people had to be evacuated. I count myself lucky for being unaffected but feel for everyone that is.

Now, it finally looks like summer. Hot sunny days. Mosquito's everywhere. Shorter shorts and sandals.

It's the little things.

On top of everything else, my favorite thing about summer and the thing I'm most looking forward to in camping. None of this 'glamping' stuff either. I mean real old fashioned camping. Surrounded by mountains, sleeping on the hard ground in a tent, everything smelling like camp fire and good simple food. I must admit though, a little girly camping trip could be fun..
Chad and I go somewhere every July and 3 of the 4 trips have been camping. This is year 5 and I'm hoping we can go again. Unfortunatly it won't likely be to my favorite spot because it's flooded..

I guess I have to consider the rain stopping as an extra good thing because it also gives me no excuse to not run... I have a 5K race this weekend and haven't prepared nearly enough. I'm pretty excited for it anyway since I'll have colored powder thrown at me while I run. Yay rainbows!!

Color Me Rad  5K run

This week has been pretty hot here. Feeling like mid to high thirties (Celsius) with humidity. This best way I can see to beat the heat is swimming. I got to break in my new bikini today and it was awesome! Chad doesn't seem to think putting a kiddie-pool out on the balcony is a good idea so we headed over to a proper pool in town. 

I'm much more of a lake/river/ocean kinda gal now that I'm older. I loved the pool when I was younger because it was close, convenient and fun. Some of that appeal seems to be gone now that I'm being splashed and kicked instead of being the terrible obnoxious one.... Either way, a great escape from the heat and a little extra exercise in my day. 

xoxo