WHOA lansi

Challenge Accepted

On December 21, 2012

I am a competitive person. Seriously competitive.

Back in July, I was doing a Burpee challenge with my CrossFit box: 50 burpees a day, every day. It was brutal, but by the end of the month I was so good at burpees. I wish I could have gone back to being that good at burpees this morning.

One of my coworkers and I did our 50 burpees at the office pretty often and one of our other coworkers, Emad, said that he could do 200 burpees. We obviously did not believe him. Who does 200 burpees? (Not me. Challenge not accepted.)

So yesterday, Emad decided he was going to talk about burpees again…and somehow challenged me to 50 burpees. I’m not one to say no to stuff like this. I mean, it’s not like I love burpees or something. I just hate losing. So, challenge accepted.

I walked in this morning, threw off my jacket, sweater, sorels, and hat, and said, “Let’s do this. 50 burpees.”

This is how it went down: Emad vs Alanna

Christmas Jingle

By whoalansi

On December 19, 2012

In Uncategorized

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas….

Actually! Finally! It’s less than a week until Christmas and I’m actually finally feeling in the spirit. People are handing out cards and chocolate, left, right, and center. We’re having a Christmas Pizza Party. My coworker is wearing a Christmas Sweater (UGLY Christmas Sweater). It’s freezing outside. I had my first eggnog last night (we were doing a month of paleo, so eggnog wasn’t so paleo friendly). I’ll be finishing up my shopping, wrapping my gifts, and making cards tonight. Hurrah!

Some Christmas ornaments we made a couple weeks ago!

In celebration of this, here’s some Christmassy music to enjoy at work.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
A

November in Instagram

By whoalansi

On December 12, 2012

In Uncategorized

It’s pretty sad that my last post was October in Instagram. I really need to get better at this blogging thing. Now that we’re not running all the time, I should have more time for this. I hope. Is it just me, or do I say that all the time? Oh well, on to Instagram!

Follow me on Instagram @whoalansi

1. D and I being very matching and celebrating a couple of awesome November babies’ Birthdays!
2. I did a lot of running in the winter weather while training for Vegas. Typical evening run.
3. My parents got me new skis as a combined Birthday and Christmas present. I can’t wait to try them out!
4. Attending Stars and Metric. Nathan got me tickets for my Birthday. It was an amazing show.
5. Nathan and I decided to take on Paleo for a month. We haven’t been overly strict, but even so, it’s been great! This is one of my favourite go-to meals: Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
6. I got new glasses. I feel like such a hipster, but I absolutely love them (and let’s be honest, I’m kind of a hipster wannabe.)
7. Nathan’s Christmas Party was at the end of November. We looked pretty great, I’d say.
8. After getting lost in the Plus 15 walkways at least twice, I think I’ve finally found my way. I get so disoriented in tunnels and passages.
9. Enjoying drinks at the airport before we flew out to Vegas with my parents on November 31 to run the Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon with my Dad. (More on that later!)

Obviously December hasn’t been much quieter than any other month so far this year since I’m uploading these to my blog 12 days into the month. I have so much to talk about and so many photos to edit! I better get to work! Less instagram, more DSLR.

October in Instagram

By whoalansi

On November 6, 2012

In Uncategorized

Follow me on Instagram @whoalansi

I’ve seen this on a few blogs and thought it was a really cute idea since I love Instagram! Here’s a little recap of October in Instagram photos.

1) We went to three seperate thanksgiving dinners: one with friends, one with my family, and one with Nathan’s. I can do without turkey for a while now.

2) Accidental matching gloves after our attempt at hiking Squaw’s Tit. We’ll be back for you in June, Mountain!

3) I’ve been incorporating a lot more paleo into our lives. This is one of my favourite recipes from my Practical Paleo cookbook. Not only is it super easy, it’s also delicious. Try out Pumpkin Pancakes, you won’t regret it.

4) Finally had a housewarming and it went pretty well (beside my massive hangover the next day!). My parents even showed up!

5) Wine Fest with some good friends

6) Rewarding ourselves for not eating out much by eating out. Model Milk was both beautiful and delicious. Definitely worth it.

7) Getting back into CrossFit after a bit of a hiatus for running. Still happy with my WODs and my kipping pullups are coming. Stronger all time!

8) A Halloween kegger with awesome costumes.

9) Finished off the end of a very foggy and snowy month with a Feast in the East Food Truck Event.

Vegas!

By whoalansi

On November 2, 2012

In Uncategorized

Today marks 1 month until Nathan, my dad, and I will be standing at the starting line of the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Las Vegas. This will be my third half marathon and both mine and Nathan’s first time in Vegas. I’m looking to finally break the 2 hour mark (last time I missed it by sixteen seconds). I can’t wait to see Vegas AND cross this awesome race off my bucket list.

Heather, Nathan, and I after Calgary 2012

Calgary’s weather has been making training a little on the difficult side, but it’s still been going surprisingly well. A month seems simultaneously like a lot of time and very little. That’s only 3 more long runs, 3 interval runs, and a couple handfuls of shorter midweek runs. Somehow it always seems like training flies by and race day is suddenly here. I’m sure this next month will be no different.

Hoping I feel better this time than Calgary Half Marathon

Vegas, I am so ready for you!

Such A Girl

By whoalansi

On October 10, 2012

In Uncategorized

The boy utters those words countless times throughout the day. This mostly occurs after I’ve spent 5 minutes doing something he thinks is pointless or ridiculous (such as perousing pinterest).

Fall is here. Actually, this just means that winter is here because we’re not fooling anyone into thinking we actually have more than two seasons in Calgary. Although I haven’t looked at my cold weather wardrobe in months, I’m pretty sure I hate it all. I know last season it was perfectly fine. I even bought a few things I know that I love. But whenever I open my closet I see nothing but ugly (with a few pieces I’ve recently added thrown in).

My biggest issue is that I hate wearing pants when it rains. Who likes wet pants? I sure don’t. So I usually go with boots and skirts and dresses. Most of my dresses are too summery and most of my skirts go with silk tanktops though. My work-appropriate, long sleeve winter wear doesn’t exactly get me excited. (Too-big turtle necks, plain sweaters, boring boring boring!)

I have a long list of things I want:

a red cardigan
a big wool cardigan
more skinny dress pants (black, green, mustard!)
Long sleeve blouses
High socks for riding boots
Yellow chevron skirt
Ankle boots
Patterned blazer
Peplum
Fitted dress shirts (that actually fit)
Oversized mens-style watch
Geometric printed sweater
Denim shirt
Dresses (that can transition from fall to winter to spring)
Knee-length pleated skirt
Maxi skirt
Tweed skirt

I could probably go on forever. Not only do I love lists, but I also love clothing. This post is a win-win for me.

Moving forward

By whoalansi

On September 24, 2012

In Uncategorized

Outside our condo

I hung the first three pictures in our condo this week. After almost two months, I finally committed to three spots on the wall and hung my three little pictures from Paris. That’s more than I can say for my place in Montreal, so I’m taking this as progress. I really love the idea of decorating our place and making it ours, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist and putting holes in walls seems really permanent. What if I change my mind and want to move it? Obviously it’s possible to change things, and it’s really not a huge deal if things are not quite perfect, but I still have a hard time making a decision.

Decorating aside, I’m loving our place. It took us a long time to find it and I’m very glad we didn’t settle for something else. Our condo hunt began back in May and we looked at condo after condo online. It was hard to find much of anything in any of the neighbourhoods we wanted. When we did find somewhere we were interested in, we found out we were up against upwards of 25 other people for the place.

Mid-move mess

We finally got lucky and found this place and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s a two story walk up on a beautiful tree lined street in Crescent Heights. We’re a block from Rotary Park in one direction and a block from amazing brunch places in the other direction. I can walk to work easily. We can go running on the bike paths within a few minutes.

Beautiful view from Rotary park

So far, we’re loving it. Between weddings, birthdays, and weekends away though, we’ve barely spent any time in our new place this summer. I’m definitely looking forward to winter, spending some time at home, and making our place our own.

New holes in the wall

The Paralympics

By whoalansi

On August 31, 2012

In Uncategorized

Seven years ago, my fellow coach – Karen – and I met an awesome twelve year old named Morgan Bird. Her parents had signed her up for a swimming bootcamp and we had the pleasure of being her coaches. At the end of the week it was obvious that Morgan was hooked. She signed up for Swim Club and started the following week.

That first year (and every year thereafter), Karen would say “Birdie, when you make it to the Paralympics, Coach Karen will be there to cheer you on.” Morgan would laugh, thinking Karen was ridiculous for saying that she’d qualify for the paralympics, but Karen was persistant in her belief that Morgan would one day make it.

I had the pleasure of coaching her that first year alongside Karen and then for another few years afterwards. I’ve still never met a happier or more positive swimmer in my entire coaching career. Morgan made my job easy by always being game for whatever was thrown at her and doing everything with the biggest smile.

Naturally, my plan was always to join Karen in the cheering section and now that day is officially here. Morgan made the London 2012 Paralympic Team this year and we’re off to London tonight. We’ll be in the stands for her 50 free on Sunday and you can bet we’ll be cheering our heads off. Let’s see those dash feet in action!

Absentee

By whoalansi

On August 2, 2012

In Uncategorized

The boy and I moved out! Hurrah!

It’s been a crazy week of moving, organizing, cleaning, organizing, cooking, shopping, and planning. We won’t have internet at home until the day before we leave for the wedding on Vancouver Island so I’ve been MIA with my blogging (excuses, excuses, I know). I don’t expect this to change until we get back from the wedding, unfortunately. It’s hard to update without an internet connection!

With so many exciting things happening this month, however, I expect to have lots to blog about once said internet connection is up and running. So don’t give up on me yet!

Until then, follow me on twitter (@whoalansi) if you’re really feeling the need for updates on my exhilarating life!

xo
A

apple love

By whoalansi

On July 10, 2012

In Uncategorized

So I just got a new mac. I’m typing on it as we speak. There are many reasons why I’m stoked about this (my old one was 5 years old & just wasn’t working any longer), but one is that it won’t take me 5 million hours to create a blog post. This means I may actually blog. Hurrah! Exciting, right?

As you can see, I’m totally playing it cool. Just hanging out in my shades, on my bed, and my macbook isn’t burning my legs. This is big, guys. My old mac was always burning my legs.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a nerd. I’ve got a French keyboard, I wear sunglasses indoors (by myself, in my bed, when it’s dark), and I’m about to admit to everyone* that the most exciting part of my night was reorganizing all my bookmarks in Safari (*all 2 people who read this blog). But seriously, is there anything more exciting than all your stuff being organized? I really need to do this with my iPhoto…and the rest of my life.

I obviously need to update more often because that leads into the fact that Nathan and I finally found a place to live! After over 2 months of searching, we are moving to Crescent Heights on Aug 1. I am so excited.

I’m also slightly terrified of the 15 years worth of stuff I have to pack up from my parents house and move into a new place. Wish me luck. (Seriously, I’m going to need it!)

WHOA lansi

francophile, oenophile, logophile, turophile

Page 30 of 35

Challenge Accepted

Christmas Jingle

October in Instagram

Vegas!

Moving forward

The Paralympics

apple love

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