Bike Ride To (Not) Doughnuts

I went on a pretty amazing bike ride on Friday, my longest of the season at 18.5km (11.5 miles) and almost two hours. It felt great and reminded me how much fun it is to be out on my bike. I also got to take in some views of farm country which are beautiful this time of year.

When I set out on Friday, I had the idea that I might be bike riding to doughnuts. Earlier this summer I learned there was a coffee shop within biking distance, and I thought it would be neat to ride home with some doughnuts on my back (I would definitely have earned them). Headed that way, when it came time to turn off the trail, I just didn't feel like getting doughnuts. I was so pumped up from covering so much distance on my bike, that doughnuts were the last thing I wanted. I kept on riding along the trail and I felt healthy and happy and all those other positive feelings that come from exercise.

But don't worry - I haven't lost my taste for doughnuts. There was a Beaver Tails truck in downtown Midland on the weekend and I didn't let it leave town before I got one.



Here are some photos from my lovely two hour bike ride from Friday night:

Riding the trail

Trees with the sun peeking through

Round Bales

Corn field

Art shot of my bike

Shadow me loves to be on the blog!

Pedometer (and Walking) Conscious

I have completed the first week of my 28 day reboot and things are going really well. I have successfully added activity to my daily life and I've been reminded that I find both walking and biking really fun.

Over the past week I walked 37,321 steps. I'm gradually working towards 70,000 steps per week, so I am very happy to be halfway there already. I also biked 27.2km (17 miles) over the week, and all this activity and sunshine is making me really happy too. :) 

My walking goals are also having a positive impact on my behaviour. On the weekend I was laying in the backyard reading, and at the end of each chapter I got up and walked around the house for about 5 minutes (about 500 steps). I'm really starting to be conscious of being more active and I love adding little pockets of walking to my day.

I am tracking my walking using a pedometer and it has become a great little motivator for me. I have daily step goals and it is a great gauge of how much more activity I need to do before the day is done. One of the most important things about wearing a pedometer is remembering to put the damn thing on. I often forget to attach it to my belt right when I wake up and when I get out of the shower. Too many times this week I found myself puttering around the house for a few hours before I realized I wasn't wearing it.

Over the past week I also realized that my pedometer makes a jingling sound. Jingling means it's working. No jingling means steps aren't being counted. A frustrating fact I discovered after a nice long walk around the grocery store, making sure to hit every aisle, to get my steps up. It turns out the pedometer needs to be strait up and down to work, so the waistbands of certain pants are too thin to keep it oriented properly. I've figured that out, but now I'm that person at the grocery store who keeps looking at her waist to make sure the pedometer is working.

The thing I am trying to remember is that regardless of whether my pedometer is counting as it should be, I am indeed walking more. That's what really counts (groan!), right?

Homemade Hamburgers

We used to buy boxed hamburgers, but we realized we get more bang for our buck (and our taste buds) if we make them ourselves. We either use ground turkey or ground beef, as they both make an equally amazing burger. 1lb of either meat usually makes 6 burgers, with each patty being about 3 oz. I make homemade buns to go with them, and I love the smell of hamburgers frying and buns baking at the same time. Smells like joy.

John is the patty maker in our house, so all credit for these yummy bugers goes to him.

First, break up the meat into a large bowl. Add some chopped onions.

Next add spices: garlic powder, chives, pepper, and Montreal steak spice.

Add some bread crumbs.

Mix with your hands to get to proper burger patty consistency.

Press into six patties.

Fry in pan, flipping once, until juices run clear.

Cook some burger toppings if so inclined. We fried up some onions and mushrooms.

Dress burger to taste and enjoy! I added feta to mine and it was burger bliss.

2013 Blog Milestones

2013 has been a big year around here for the blog.

I changed my template in March, joined some social networks (Google+ and Twitter), and started blogging more often.

I set myself some blogging goals and blogged more times in one month than I ever had previously (June: 30 times). I also successfully cleaned out my drafts folder (I deleted, posted, or archived over 20 posts). I reached my 300th blog post too.  It has been a very active year on the blog and I couldn't be happier.

I hit another milestone yesterday, by reaching my 113th post of the year. Not normally a significant number, but in this case, 113 posts is the most I've ever blogged in one year. Until now, of course.

Not since 2010 have I posted this often, and with this current post I'm surpassing my 2010 stat. With my 114th post, 2013 is now the record holder of the most blogging I've ever done in one year. The best part is that there is more to come. YAY! Thanks for being awesome, 2013!

Also, thank you for being part of such a fantastic year so far. :)

Jun's Roll Sushi Combo No. 5 #FoodPicFriday

The person I most often go out for lunch with is my Mom. We have lunched at many different places over the years, but we have our trusted favourites. Mom's favourite is Chinese food and my favourite is sushi. We found a place in Barrie where we can both get what we want: Jun's Roll. On this day, Mom got a breaded shrimp combination plate, and I got Sushi Combo No. 5: spicy crab roll (8 pieces), spicy salmon roll (6 pieces), with a spring roll on the side. The spicy salmon rolls had thick pieces of avocado in them that were so fresh and tasted amazing. This was my third visit to Jun's and I will definitely be back.

Jun's is in downtown Barrie, so when picking up lunch I got to fail at parallel parking twice, drove really far away from the restaurant, turned around, drove back, and then (thankfully) found a pull in space across the street. In my head I can parallel park. In real life, not so much.