Uncategorized Archives - Page 5 of 17

Category: Uncategorized Page 5 of 17

Family Weekend

On February 27, 2014

My dad’s birthday fell on Family Day this year so we’d planned to head out to the lake for the weekend for some skiing & hanging out with the fam. Unfortunately, N injured his ankle in soccer the weekend before, so skiing was no longer an option for him. We decided to head out anyway & enjoy a relaxing weekend with my parents.

My parents still ended up skiing, while we stayed back at the house. I love being out at the lake. It’s relaxing & beautiful. My parents designed the house themselves & it’s one of the best layouts I know. Columbia Lake itself is also gorgeous. The Rockies run down one side of the lake & the Purcells the other. It’s one of my favourite spots.

We spent most of our time eating, hanging out in the hot tub, enjoying craft brews, reading, & playing board games. Not a bad weekend if you ask me.

Sunday night we celebrated Dad’s birthday. Mom had picked up a sparkling rose from the Winery hosting out wedding this summer while she was out there, so we started things off sampling that. It was delicious.

Mom is also the master of cold appetizers. She put out a beautiful assortment of cheeses (including blue cheese with Branston pickle), crackers, olives, pickles, & dips. It’s one of my favourite ways to start a meal.

We sat around chatting until we’d polished almost everything off, when we sat down for the main event. Mom had made coq au vin, a delicious slow cooked, chicken recipe from France. I followed it up with a new desert recipe from Practical Paleo: a frozen berry tart.

It was a simple, delicious weekend to celebrate another year.

Happy Birthday Dad.

Gold Medal Game

By whoalansi

On February 24, 2014

In Uncategorized

I had planned to post about our weekend out at the lake next, but then Canada advanced to the Gold Medal hockey game on Friday. Hockey is our thing up here in the great white north, so we were understandably excited. Our women already brought home the Gold on Thursday in a crazy game that proved it’s really not over until it’s over.

Sochi is eleven hours ahead of Calgary so the men’s game would be broadcast at 5 am Sunday. Our premier announced Friday afternoon that Calgary bars would be allowed to open and serve liquor that morning. Bars immediately started making plans to broadcast the game & I jumped on board, booking a table for all our friends at National on 10th.

Most of our friends spent Saturday night playing board games until an hour before puck drop. N and I decided to catch some much needed sleep before heading downtown for the game. We set an alarm for 4:15 am & joined everyone at National Bowl around 4:45 am. I used to drive downtown at that time three times a week for swim practice, but I’ve never seen so many cars on the road at that hour. Like I said, hockey’s our thing up here.

And what a game. It was some great hockey! Despite the early hour, the energy in the bar pretty incredible. & infectious! Between dance parties at intermission & bursting into the National Anthem for the final 10 seconds, we were a rowdy bunch. It was an exciting event to witness.

There were some exceptions to the energy in the room…

After the game, we all toddled home for a well-deserved nap. It may have been a very early morning (or late night), but I’m so glad we all got together to watch the Canadian men bring home the gold!

Random Rants \ gluten free is unpopular

By whoalansi

On February 16, 2014

In Uncategorized

Let me start by saying I don’t mean to go on the attack. This matter caught my attention & I think it’s interesting, so I thought I’d write a quick little post.

A friend’s mom was flying to Hawaii yesterday. She’s celiac & always packs lots of snacks, but they ran in to a few delays & she found herself stuck on a plane with nothing to eat. I was kind of surprised to learn that West Jet doesn’t have gluten-free options. She has since tweeted them as it was frustrating to be delayed, hungry, & have no options. It’s already frustrating enough to have no control over delays, but add hunger to the mix…Well, we all know about hanger, right?

West Jet responded that they used to have some options, but were often throwing them out. The proved unpopular in their past tests.

Now I understand that Gluten Free does have some negative connotations. It is certainly unpopular with many people. & I don’t blame people for shying away from many Gluten Free products. There are a lot of things out there that aren’t great, especially when it comes to the cheaper options. I, personally, don’t often buy products that are meant to replace gluten filled products like bread & crackers. I’d rather eat real, unprocessed food every time.

And this is what bothers me. There are many things that are naturally gluten free: fruit, vegetables, cheese, and most meats, for example. Shop the perimeter of your grocery store & you’ll find that most of the items, outside of the bakery, are going to be gluten free. There’s no label marketing them as such; they just are.

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding around gluten free & what it means. One thing I can see right off the bat as a solution is to offer fruit or veggies. Even a salad with a simple balsamic vinegar & olive oil dressing is a nice, cheap, & simple alternative to a sandwich. I’ve often seen cheese, meat, & crackers offered on board. Why not find packaged crackers to add to the meat & cheese so that if someone is looking for gluten free, they can choose that option without the crackers having contaminated the rest of it?

I understand where West Jet is coming from & Customer Service is never an easy place to be. You’re never going to please everyone. I do, however, think that it’s an important thing to think about.

While I do believe that gluten free does take a little more thought, I don’t agree that it’s actually harder. The hardest part about gluten free is wrapping your mind around it. If you can get past the thought of getting away from grains, it actually becomes pretty easy.

Love \ Happy Valen-times

By whoalansi

On February 14, 2014

In Uncategorized

N –

I feel like a broken record already & it’s only February, but this year is going to be a good one. We have some great (big) plans & I can’t wait to watch it all unfold with you by my side.

As usual, you’re right – we’re awesome. Happy Valentines Day, babe! Let’s eat something delicious together in true A & N fashion.

Yours,
A

Life \ it’s only tuesday?

By whoalansi

On February 12, 2014

In Uncategorized

Do you ever just have one of those weeks where you just can’t wait for the weekend because it feels like the week is ganging up on you & you’re so grumpy even though you know it could be so much worse & then you realize…

it’s only tuesday.

Well, I’m having one of those weeks. It started with a spurt of productivity on Saturday. We’ve been living in our little condo for a year & a half & I’ve barely hung anything on our walls. I get all nervous about the commitment & chicken out. I know, I know. It’s silly.

So we have this floating shelf that I’ve been carting around from place to place since i lived in Montreal. Nope, that’s not a typo. I’ve been carting a $20 floating ikea shelf for 4 years. Stop judging me.

We hung it on Saturday though. Finally! & I got excited by how good it looked, floating there on the wall. I even bought a canvas & some paint & decided to be a little bit creative over the weekend. I was actually pretty excited about it. Sunday morning, I was arranging things on our little shelf when it came crashing down, breaking the brand new wine decanter we’d gotten as a Christmas gift from N’s brother, one of the new canvases, & an elephant – the only souvenir I’d brought back from Thailand for myself. I was pretty upset. See? This is what happens when you make a commitment with Ikea shelving.

Ok, so that’s not true. That’s just what happens when you don’t have a stud finder & you think you’ve gone far enough into a stud, but you haven’t & your drywall screws are pathetic excuses for screws. N fixed it & it’s definitely solid now (but just in case, I’m not putting anything that’s not already broken on it for a while).

Mom & I went for a drink to talk about some wedding planning afterwards & things were looking up for the week. Maybe you’re not so bad, Sunday. (Ha!) We made some delicious slow cooked Roast Beef & headed off to soccer.

Oh indoor soccer, you’re such a jerk sometimes. In his effort to avoid smashing into a girl on the opposite team, N wound up buggering up his ankle pretty good. We borrowed some crutches from friends on the way home & figured it was just a sprain. The next morning, as he hobbled to work, he slipped on the ice &landed on his injured leg. Something about how it felt (besides painful) made him think something else was wrong so he went off to the Urgent Care Center downtown.

Long story short: they think it’s broken. He’s in an air cast right now & in 10 days he’ll go back so they can take a look again & maybe have a better idea of whether it’s actually broken or just a bad sprain (something about the broken bone not matching up with where he’s having pain). We had ski plans for this weekend and a few other weekends in March so it’s disappointing, especially considering how much that guy looks forward to ski season.

I went off to work that night at the Y after my regular day at work. I usually dread these long days, but it didn’t help that N was at home alone with a broken ankle. This morning I woke up & realized I hadn’t double checked when my health & safety training for the Y was scheduled for. So I checked my email to realize it was tonight, right after work, at the other end of the city. Cue very grumpy Alanna.

All in all, none of these things is terrible, but coupled with a few other unfortunate things so far this week, they add up to me wishing for the weekend. On a Tuesday.

We could always run away back to Mexico too. That’s been my daydream for a while. I mean look at this place!

I promise there are more photos coming soon. More photos, less long winded posts about my first world problems. I’m supposed to be choosing happiness this year right? Working on it.

What If Money Was No Object?

By whoalansi

On February 6, 2014

In Uncategorized

So it’s funny when a show like Two Broke Girls gets you thinking about life. I mean, you just don’t expect that kind of show to make you stop and think, but this week’s episode did just that for me. (Stranger things have happened, but let’s talk about this particular strange thing for a minute).

What would you do if you were independently wealthy and didn’t have to do anything to earn money? In the show, one of the girls (you can tell I watch this a lot since I know their names) realized that the guy she was dating was a keeper because he never had to do anything, but chose to. He had all the money he could ever need. In his position, she would have never left her bed. Her dreams came from wanting to create a better life for herself. He pursued his interests instead of just comfortably living off his wealth, like she believes she would have in his place.

It got me thinking about what I would do. Would I be that person who just travelled the world for her own selfish reasons? Or sat around at home doing nothing just because I could? Maybe for a time I’d fall into one of those (don’t we all need a break like that sometimes?), but I’m doer. I’m rarely content to sit around doing nothing & actually usually feel guilty when I do. We all need lazy days sometimes, but I don’t like when they become the every day.

If I could do whatever I wanted I would certainly travel a lot – I’d travel, and read, and write, and eat (especially eat). I’d take photos and be creative every day. I’d probably go back to school and take all the classes that don’t combine to lead to a career or degree: photography, cooking, maybe even pastry. Maybe I’d work at a gym or a coffee shop or study nutrition in my spare time. These are things that interest me now, but that I’d never thought about in High School.

It’s funny how you think you know everything when you leave High School, but the older you get, the more you realize, there’s so much left to learn – about the world, myself, this journey I’m on…

I was chatting with a coworker about this and he showed me this video. It got me thinking so I thought I’d share.

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/je3rQevW-cw&source=uds

“Better to have a short life, that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.” – Alan Watts

So, what do you desire?

January in Instagram

By whoalansi

On February 5, 2014

In Uncategorized

It’s February! Hurrah! The last month that is truly cold. We may not get much of a spring, but at least it feels within reach once we hit March. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve already noticed the days getting longer and this month is so short that it feels manageable.

This post is pretty late for a January recap. We got home from Mexico late Friday night and spent the weekend attempting to get back into the swing of things. Of course, the first day back at work is always a bit nuts, but this month is busy on top of that. So it’s February 4th and we’re going to talk about January, ok?

1. I had my heart set on New Years Brunch at Wurst even though the boys were super hungover. I never have mimosas but it seemed like a great way to start 2014.
2. Ice cream after skating just feels right sometimes. Especially when it’s salted caramel from Village (don’t question it, just do it).
3. This paleo butter chicken & naan is a game changer. I will definitely be making this again (& again & again).
4. We saw a couple warm days in January. I managed to get in a few lunch runs to prepare for the beach. When the sun shines, this city is simply breathtaking.
5. Two of our good friends got married in Hawaii this fall. They hosted a post elopement party – we danced, ate, & drank the night away with some of our bests.
6. I’ll be hanging out in the massive Bow Building for the next couple months at work. It’s one of the coolest offices in Calgary, if you ask me.
7. We’d been planning this Mexico trip for almost a year and it finally arrived. This was our beach for the week (I know, right?). N’s rocking a sick tan.
8. The dusty, dirty, rugged streets of La Manzanilla won me over. I love this little Mexican town & already am daydreaming of going back.
9. The view from our villa was spectacular. I couldn’t get enough of it and took a sunset photo almost every night. (Can you blame me? Look at this view!)

That’s it for January. I’m working on some great posts as well as trying to edit my Mexico pictures. I took that take more photos resolution to heart. Prepare yourselves.

Happy Birthday, dear friend

By whoalansi

On January 25, 2014

In Uncategorized

In an effort to make better use of my dSLR, I brought it out with me the other night for a friend’s birthday. I’m always a little nervous to bring it with me to a bar, but I’m trying to let go of that. What’s the point of having a camera if you’re too afraid to bring it out?

These pictures aren’t great. I was mostly playing. The bar was dimly lit & people were having too much fun to sit still for me. None-the-less, it was fun to play a little bit & the night itself was a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday, Kelli.

Random Rants \ I do what I want

By whoalansi

On January 17, 2014

In Uncategorized

I’m often inspired by other blog posts and today is no exception. I bring you a post by Renegade Mothering today. (Before all the rumors start: no I am not having kids anytime soon. It’s just an interesting post!).

I think she hits the nail on the head with her post. You can apply what she’s saying to any choices you make in life. I hate being lumped into a group. I hate being told I need to be a certain way. I am the way I am, people!

“The SECOND you stick that label on my forehead is the SECOND I FALL DESPERATELY AND TERRIBLY SHORT and walk around feeling less than and like I’ve betrayed something. My people. My team.

See, these teams, they’re gonna want me to abide by principles. They’re gonna want me to be consistent – adhere to guidelines and tried-and-true methods. But I can’t. I just can’t. I’m a great starter. Terrible finisher. Profoundly inconsistent. Excellent intentions, invariably poor execution, particularly in critical […] moments.”

Could that be any more accurate? Is it just me or did that totally resonate with you too? Mostly, I find I feel this way when it comes to the way I eat. We did a couple paleo challenges last year, I read a lot of paleo blogs, and we still cook paleo-style meals most of the time. Am I paleo? Mmmm kind of? maybe? not really? I don’t know. I’ve started saying we eat Primal recently because it’s more forgiving than Paleo, & let’s be honest, I fall short of Paleo all the time.

At first, when people saw me drink a beer or have a treat, they’d be all “Is that Paleo beer?” and I’d roll my eyes. Yeah guys, I’m a genius & I found a way to make beer Paleo! There are no grains, sugar, or alcohol. (It’s water?) I’m sorry I failed you, paleo, but I’m so not sorry.

Do I feel awesome when I don’t eat grains, dairy, legumes, etc? Yes. Do I want to be on the Paleo Team? No.

I want to be on my own team. My team does whatever we want. We eat what we want and we deal with the consequences later. It works for me & mostly gives me the ability to keep my (in)sanity. (Oh I bet N’s reading this & thinking about all the chocolate he’s going to eat. That guy is a sugar fiend!!)

Does that mean I’m going to stop talking about how great Paleo can be? No. When I cook at home (which is 5/7 nights a week btw), I definitely choose gluten free/legume free meals. They’re easy, delicious, and make me feel good. So yeah, I’ll probably tell you the benefits of trying out a month-long challenge if you’re interested in hearing it. That doesn’t mean I’m part of the team. Cheat meals are the best, guys. Cheat meals save my life.

The same goes for the CrossFit Team or the Running Team or whatever other Team (get out of here, Swimming Team) you can think of that I’d possibly belong to. I don’t want your teams.

What I’m basically saying is that I want to take the parts of these teams that I like and apply them to my life however I see fit. (Don’t we all? Everything in moderation, including moderation, right?) I just don’t fit into a mould.

So here’s to the Soft Super Beef Taco and Mexi-fries I’m going to wholeheartedly enjoy tonight at Taco Time, friends. (Don’t judge me til you’ve had it.)

Welcome to Team Human.

New Year

By whoalansi

On January 9, 2014

In Uncategorized

I’ve been kind of putting this post off. Last year, I had it out in December. I was all prepared for 2013. I had my shit together last year, guys. This year, though. This year kind of snuck up on me. One minute, my wonderful boyfriend was down on one knee, asking me to marry him, & the next I swear it was New Years Eve. I swear that’s exactly how it happened.

I’ve said before that I believe in setting goals when you realize they need to be set instead of waiting for something like the New Year to take action. & I still believe that if I need to change something, that change should happen as soon as I realize it. That’s definitely something I try to live by, but like I said last year, it’s nice to look back on last year & decide what to do better this one.

Last year, I attempted to:

I can’t say I was entirely successful with any of these except maybe number three. We really don’t eat grains very often anymore. I’d say we’re usually 80% grain-free, 20% eat whatever we want. It’s a good balance, if you ask me, & something I’d like to continue. I’m still often very hard on myself when we do slip up, but I want to put it in writing: we did well, friends.

I wasn’t entirely unsuccessful with the other goals. There were months where I really did follow our budget better. & overall I think I’ve cut my shopping spending a lot. There were also times when we opted to have friends over instead of going out. I think we made an overall improvement there too. & there were times when I chose to be more appreciative & tolerant. That one is probably the biggest one I need to work on though. I promise to try, N. I promise.

With that in mind, here are my 2014 New Years Resolutions. (drum roll, please).

I think these are four challenging, but very achievable goals for me this year.

I generally try to be more specific with goals, but I made an exception with the first one. I think we’ve got a pretty good handle on our health (of course, as I write this I’m a bit sniffly). We weren’t sick often this year & when I was I could usually pinpoint why. Fitness Friday is still going strong & I’ve been making workouts, in & out of the gym, a priority. I’m not going to a CrossFit box like I would like to be, but I’m still making strides when it comes to my Fitness goals & that’s a good place to be. (I will master a handstand this year. It’s coming!)

This second goal probably seems odd to those who know me or follow my instagram. I do take a lot of photos. But I want to be more conscious of the photos I’m taking & make a better effort to use my DSLR. I’m trying to shoot primarily with my 35 mm lens. I like it so much better than my kit lens. I want to try to take more photos with it & not fall back on my zoom lens just because it’s easier. It’s time to challenge myself a bit with photography.

I’ve blogged way more this year than any other year & I couldn’t be happier about that, but I haven’t been actually, physically writing. Whenever I’ve lived abroad or travelled, I’ve kept a journal & writing in it – the physical act of writing things down – has always been very therapeutic for me. I’d like to get back to that. (& I’m starting today – my journal is currently in my purse!). Instead of mindlessly checking Facebook or Twitter in my downtime, I’d like to get back to writing.

This last one is a big one for me, & I think it’s a good one for this year. Too often I get pessimistic & over dramatic & let things bother me. I forget that this is a choice I make & that I can choose happiness instead. I’ve let myself forget to choose to be happy too often. I’ve let myself get carried away by the negative what-ifs & that’s not the person I want to be. As much as I’d like to be able to control every little aspect of my life, I can’t. There is so much that I cannot control. But, I can control how I react to things. & I can choose to be happy. This is largely inspired by the fact that we’re planning a wedding & wedding planning is notoriously stressful. This essay was another huge inspiration (thank you for that, Natalie. I don’t even know you for real, but thank you). I’m going to make this one happen.

So let’s go, 2014. Bring it on. I’m so ready for all the wonderful things you have in store for me.

Photo by 3haus Photographics

whoalansi

| FRANCOPHILE | OENOPHILE | LOGOPHILE | TUROPHILE | A self-professed foodie, lover of language, & travel enthusiast, I find joy in sharing my adventures as I eat, travel, & try to find the right words to tell you about it. International experiences are my jam, & I have some serious wanderlust. I'm cheesy, loyal, independant, & most of all, passionate; I wear my heart on my sleeve. I've been called intense, & I can't deny the label: I’m earnest & embrace my interests wholeheartedly. My experiences abroad have fueled an appreciation for a wide variety of foods & I love watching Calgary diversify. I delight in the ongoing search for delicious fare & take great pleasure in sharing my knowledge of Calgary's food scene.

View Full Profile →