Believe...Week 3 of the Move Nourish Believe Challenge

This week was all about Believing.

I Believe.  I believe in myself.  I believe I am worth it.  I believe in love. 

Day 1 - Spoil Yourself

When I think of spoiling yourself or pampering, my mind shoots right to the spa.  But on Monday of this past week I could not go to the spa because it was Family Day here in Ontario, Canada, so I was pampered by having the day off of work and enjoyed the day with my family.

We took the kids ice skating where my son was practicing his speed skating skills.  After watching some of the winter Olympic games he decided he would like to be a speed skater.  But as the week went on, he and some of the daycare children wanted to do Skeleton.  Eeek!  That could be nerve racking.  I was also spoiled by getting to snuggle with my son while watching movies and laughing together.

I do have a spa gift card for a Thai Treatment from Gina's Spa here in Waterloo, ON and I am looking forward to using this.  I have had this treatment twice before and it is LOVELY. 

 

 

Day 2 - 5 Mindful Minutes

 

This day was about finding or taking the some time for yourself.  At least 5 minutes, and I found it.

 

Once my family was fast asleep, I went down to our living room and lit a few candles and sat by the fire and RELAXED.  Something I don't seem to do enough of.  Well except for these past 16 days while the Olympics have been on, I did spend a lot more time watching TV than I normally do.  I just love watching the Olympics though, they are very inspiring. 

 

A quiet 5 minutes turned into a beautiful 15 minutes.

I am always go, go, go and I need to take more time like this for myself.

Because in the end, it helps everyone.

 

Day 3 - Be Happy

 

This day was a day to be happy.  Not just this day, but everyday.  I was looking through some pictures and I came across a picture of my back garden from last spring...that made me happy.

 

So beautiful.

Yes right now it looks like the bottom picture, but soon it will return to a beautiful green colour, mixed with hints of other colours from the spring flowers.

 

I have heard and seen so many people complain about the snow or how long the winter is...well I'm loving it!  That is why I love living in Canada.  Here we have 4 distinct seasons...Winter, spring, summer and fall.  Each one with their own colours and beauty. 

 

 

Something else that made me happy on this day was when I went down to the post box and my ENERGYbits order arrived.  AWESOME!!!!

 

This picture also contains more of the Olympics, that makes me happy. 

Canadian girls winning the GOLD in Bobsled.  

Plus it also shows my little girl and I on own spin bikes.  My daughter was not feeling well the last week, so on this day I kept her home from school and by the afternoon, she was up for a spin.  Her bike is just a plastic toy stationary bike, but at least she wants to participate and that makes me very happy.  I am happy that I am setting a good example for her and my son.  Soon my son should be able to ride the other spin bike I have here.  It will be great to build his leg muscles for speed skating.  My future Olympians. 

A Mum can dream.



 

Day 4 - Thankful Thursday

 

I am thankful for many things, but most of all I am thankful for my husband and together we have our two wonderful children.  The three of them are very supportive of me and my health and fitness goals.  Last week was a tough week because my daughter wasn't feeling well, some of the daycare children were out sick with a cold and I too was still suffering with cold symptoms.  As I write this to you now, I am sneezing and blowing my nose...blah.  I know that it's from not getting enough sleep last night(I will explain this in a bit).

 

My husband and I...well sort of.

This was the cake topper on our Halloween Wedding cake.

And beside us are our lovely offspring.

Yes they drive me crazy some days, but I like crazy.

 

On this day, I was also thankful that the Canadian Women's Curling team and Hockey team, both won GOLD at the Olympics.

 



Canadian girls ROCK!!!!

 

Day 5- Share the Love

 

This day was all about sharing the love.  Well I got to do this unexpectedly, as my kids had a snow day from school.  All the school buses were cancelled due to freezing rain.  It was also the day that the Men's Hockey semi-final game was playing...Canada vs USA. 

 

Over the course of the last 16 days I have been watching and then sharing results and pictures from the Winter Games through social media.  As I was sharing my love of the games, I received some love in return.  AWESOME!

 

The love was being shared right across Canada with the Men's hockey team winning the semi-final game and moving forward to the GOLD medal game.  Plus, the Men's curling team won the GOLD on this day too.  Way to go Team Canada!!!

 

So this past week was all about Believing and I truly believe in this wonderful country that I live in.  I am a proud Canadian.

 

This brings me to why I am not feeling so well today.  I went to bed too late last night and this morning, Sunday morning, was a morning that I was getting up to an alarm.  WHY???  Well I'm sure you know why already.  Me and the rest of Canada were all watching the GOLD medal hockey game between Canada and Sweden.  I have no problem with waking up early, but I didn't get a very good sleep because I thought I would sleep through my alarm.  I know that it's silly, but this was for the GOLD.  It was worth it, because as you probably already know, we won!!!!  So proud! 

 

 

This picture below is fantastic...

The top picture shows our Canadian boys just after the all received their medals.

The bottom picture is our Canadian boys coming together shoulder to shoulder for the Canadian National anthem.

LOVE IT!

 

 

I know that Sunday is the start of a new week, but with this being the wrap up of my week 3 in the Move Nourish Believe Challenge...I do BELIEVE in our Canadian athletes.

 

I enjoyed participating in the MNB Challenge these past three weeks.  Another challenge that I began yesterday is a 30 Day Challenge which I will talk about tomorrow.  I need to get to bed now and rest.

 

 

Good night and Stay Strong!

 

Trina

 

Get More Energy...Naturally

I have become aware of this company and their great product and wanted to pass along the information to you.  And earlier this evening I became a Brand Ambassador for them so that I can keep giving you more information in regards to all their products.

I have been in great need of more energy lately, well not just lately, but rather for awhile now.  These past few days I have battling a bit of a cold and feeling really crappy.  This morning though when I picked up the mail from the post box, I received a parcel containing just what I needed.  I got my ENERGYbits!

What are ENERGYbits?

ENERGYbits are 100% pure, organically grown, certified NON GMO algae.  They are sugar free, caffeine free, gluten free and contain NO additives, animal products, chemicals or fillers of any kind.

I am one for not wanting to take pills of any kind, even when I am sick, so the best thing about ENERGYbits is that they are NOT pills.  They are bits of GREEN food.  100% pure spirulina algae that has 64% protein, 40 nutrients, and GLA(Omega 3), and they are only 1 calorie per tab. 

I wish I would have had ENERGYbits while I was training for my half marathon last year.  Before my long runs I would usually have an energy shot(chocolate of course), but they were basically full of sugar, something that I did not want really.  But they did help me make it through my training and my very first half marathon.  Now with ENERGYbits I can fuel my body with something that is
all natural and really good for my body. 

With this year's goal to get rid of all sugar in my home, ENERGYbits will definitely help me do that.  I will be using ENERGYbits during training for my first FULL marathon.  EEK!!!  I have yet to decide on this, the race I mean.  The bits will be part of my life regardless.

So I mentioned at the beginning of this post about having a cold and feeling crappy.  ENERGYbits also offer the RECOVERYbits which will help prevent colds, recover quicker, build immune system plus many other great things.  Check them out.  I have been pretty lucky in the way of getting colds.  Since I began running my home daycare 3 years ago, and have two children of my own, I have really only had about 5 colds throughout that time period.  With RECOVERYbits, I can keep the numbers down low or better yet, non existent.

Last year I gave up on making protein shakes with protein powders because the powders had so many ingredients that I did not know what they were, and some, I could not even pronounce(that can't be good for me).  I like using and eating REAL food.  And ENERGYbits are REAL food just compacted into tabs for easy transportation that really pack a punch.  Great for hiking, running, cycling, and really for any activity that you chose to do.  You can pack your travel tin and stick in your pocket or bag, for the times when you are on the go and extra energy will be needed.
There is no need for a blender or mixer cup, just grab your tin and go.  A handful of about 30 tabs whenever and wherever you need that energy is all you need.

Go check out www.engergybits.com for more information about this great natural energy giver.

Please use the coupon code PHATSOSLIM to save 15% on your order.



 

It's been all about the Olympics since last Friday.  While my spin on Saturday morning while watching the games was great...

 

Canada winning GOLD and SILVER was pretty awesome too!

 

The Dufour-Lapointe sisters from Canada won took the top two spots in Women's Moguls.

 

After my post spin shower, I sat down in my orange chair up in our loft/attic and continued to watch the Olympics.  LOL.  We had friends coming over that evening so I had to get up and start cleaning.  We had a great visit, but they left, I took a seat in the my chair, which my husband has now named, "The Sochi Chair", and stayed up late to watched the games.

 

 

I ended up falling asleep in the Sochi Chair that night...

 

 

I think this late night with broken sleep(I woke up at 4:30am and watched some more and then drifted back to sleep) is why I have a cold now.

 

 

Canada is on quite the roll at the 2014 Olympic Games...

 

 

 

 

And there are more to come...

 

Like this future Olympian here...

 



 

LOL

 

Until then...Stay Strong! and Swallow your ENERGYbits.  You can chew them if you want, but it's better to swallow them.  Remember to use the coupon code PHATSOSLIM on your order.

 

Good night

 

Trina

Go on, get your Chog on! 

Going out to shovel more snow.

 

Here is my daughter and I...

We are Winter

 

 

 



Move Nourish Believe Challenge Recap

Along with my Just Plank It! Challenge, I have started a new challenge called the Move Nourish Believe Challenge brought to you by Lorna Jane and Fit Approach.

How it works is...each day a new challenge is presented and you must rise to the top to complete it.  Post your pictures on Instagram, Twitter and if you want to shout it out to the world in any other way go for it(the last part was my idea).  It all helps to get one to move and try new things and of course to keep you motivated to reach your health and fitness goals.

So the first challenge, Day #1 was to show off how YOU like to sweat.  This is my favourite way to sweat...

Me and my spin bike.

 

Today I actually rode my bike while watching the Olympic Games on TV.  I had my music playing while the TV sound was muted and sweat my butt off.

 

I witnessed Canada's Mark McMorris receive his Bronze medal. 

Canada's first medal of the games.

 

 

After my spin I watched Canada win a Gold and a Silver medal in the Women's Moguls.  Justine Dufour-Lapointe won Gold, and her sister Chloe Dufour-Lapointe won Silver. 

 

Way to go ladies!!!

 

 

Okay so back to my challenge...

 

Day #2 challenge...

 

Today I did some Yoga for my challenge.  Here is not the most flattering selfie, but it's me in Camel Pose...

 

The Yoga felt great that day.  I must get back into doing it more often.  This challenge was to get you to do/try something new or something that you don't do that often.  It's great to challenge yourself with different ways to exercise.  My shoulders were feeling it the next day. 

 

 

Day #3 Challenge...

 

5 Minute Plank

 

Now it could be split up during the day or you could do 5 minutes all together.  Because I am also doing my own Just Plank It! Challenge, I chose to split the 5 minutes up.

 

During my last plank, our cat Sok was curious as to what I was doing. 

She came over to get in the picture.

Wow looking at this picture of me, it looks like I am wearing a ton of black eye liner.  The only thing is, I don't wear makeup, well with the exception of lipstick and when my daughter puts eye shadow on me(which isn't that often).

 

For all of you that are taking part in my Just Plank It! Challenge, we are almost to the finish.  Next Friday, Valentine's Day is the day we bust out all that we can.  Keep on keepin' on with the 20 second planks a day until that final day and then give it all you got.

Just Plank It!

 

 

Day # 4 Challenge...

 

Grab a partner to workout with.

 

I was going to try and get my husband to spin with me, but instead we went for a winter's hike on this day.



It was a beautiful evening.

Enjoy the beautiful winter weather.

Yes we are getting a lot of snow, but hey, it's WINTER! 

AND we live in CANADA.

 

 

Day #5 Challenge...

 

Show your favourites...

 

1. Quinoa  2. My Spin Bike  3. Running  4. Palmer's Firming Butter

5. Inspirational Quotes to keep me going

 

 

I love quinoa!  For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for savoury, for sweet.  It's great for all!

 

Same goes for my spin bike.  I love spinning and I can feel my spinning legs coming back to me.

 

I do love running, but the winter has put my running on a temporary hold.  So while that is on hold, my spin bike is getting extra time.

 

Palmer's Firming Butter help keeps things tight.  It's also great for using through the winter months just to keep dry skin at bay.  Especially with all the snow shoveling that I have been doing each day out in the cold.  It has been a real help with keeping my skin from cracking from the cold.  Love it!

 

Inspirational quotes keep me positive when times get tough. 

 

Day #6

This week's recap, which is all of the above.  In addition to all of the day's challenges, my extra workouts involved a shovel and lots of snow almost everyday this past week.

 

I'm looking forward to week 2 coming up. 

 

Now that I'm moving(not that I wasn't before), it's time to nourish the body.

 

Tomorrow I will do a recap of my daughter's birthday.  Her reaction to the Katy Perry concert tickets.  It wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

 

Until then...Stay Strong!

 

Good night

 

Trina