12 Days of Accountability - December 2014

We are well into the holi-month and I can't believe how quickly December is flying by! I'm off to 3 events this week (including HoHoTO on Thursday), a family event the following weekend, squeezing in some great visits with friends, finishing my shopping and then BOOM, it's going to be Christmas!!

With parties, family events, work gatherings and increased social activity, it's not easy to stick to a normal eating routine and workout plan. There are treats EVERYWHERE, alcohol freely flowing and so many priorities to manage. One of the reasons I've come to love working out at home is because it makes it a lot easier for me to fit in my workout during those insanely busy weeks. But it's still not a walk in the park!

Because it can absolutely be a difficult time and I want you to be getting a head start on your 2015 goals (and/or continuing with your 2014 ones!) I'm going to be running a free accountability group to keep you on track and motivated right up to Christmas Eve!

The 12 Days of Accountability will open up this weekend and officially start on Monday. There will be all sorts of tips to keep you on track over the 12 days, a daily assignment, a meal and workout planner, bonus workout and meal ideas and a stellar group of gals alongside you pushing through the same challenges as we gear up for the holidays together! And of course I'll be there every step of the way for support, encouragement and motivation!

Does this sound like something you could use this holiday season?
Don't let the holi-month sabotage your efforts!

Comment below with your email address or connect with me on Facebook to secure your spot in the group!

Goals for December

After a busy day of singing on Saturday, I enjoyed an incredibly relaxed day on Sunday which included watching Gross Point Blank on the couch, eating gluten free pancakes and sipping tea whilst writing in my journal

It's been nearly a year since I left Weight Watchers, but I often associate certain times of year with things I would do with my members. December is always a tough month for anyone trying to lose weight with so many social activities, tempting foods and booze popping up everywhere. I was always a big advocate of setting small, realistic goals for December to help stay on track and give everyone something positive to focus on amid the frenzy. 

So I decided to utilize my own advice. 

After writing them in my journal on Sunday night, I posted a list of some realistic goals to focus on in the month of December. I have to say, that so far things are going really well! I've already surpassed my goal of walking to work at least 3x/week and am drinking lots of water and eating mindfully. I did a great spin class last night and have some more workouts planned for the rest of the week. 

I know that the next few weeks are going to get even more insane, with lots of social gatherings, pot lucks and a performance, but I'm happy to have these goals to keep me in line! They're also nice things I can do to take care of myself. While it's only a 10 minute subway ride to work, taking the extra time to walk gives me a moment to breathe and clear my head. Self care is definitely a really good thing!

I feel awesome about having these goals for the month and look forward to continuing to work at them! I'm also really excited about some cool things I have planned for my workouts coming up. The awesome people at Beach Body are going to be sending me a couple of their programs to review! I've watched a few friends have some amazing results with their programs which has been really inspiring. I'm going to be starting with 10 Minute Trainer in December, and then in January I'm going to start Insanity. Not gonna lie, I'm mildly terrified for Insanity, but I feel like I'm up for the challenge. Shaun T seems like a pretty cool dude, but I know he's going to kick my ass. 

What are some of your goals for December?

It's beginning to look a lot like...

The holiday season is upon us once again. The days are getting chillier...

earmuffs required

Holt Renfrew and The Bay's holiday windows are installed, Starbucks red cups (and Joy tea!!) are in full force, Christmas music is starting to pop up (everywhere but Shoppers Drug Mart) and finally last weekend, the Santa Claus Parade made its way through the streets of Toronto.

I kinda love the holiday season and I'm getting excited for some great events happening in the next few weeks, including some events where I'll be singing!

Saturday December 1st - Singing Strong Holiday Magic in New York

I'm thrilled to be participating in another Singing Strong 'Cabaret for a Cause'. Proceeds from this holiday themed evening will be donated back to Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and I'm looking forward to sharing the stage with an amazing group of talented performers, including the lovely Lindsay!

Linz & I at last year's Cabaret for a Cause

Thursday December 13th - HoHoTO 

HoHoTO is a huge holiday-themed party to raise funds for the Daily Bread Food Bank. This annual event has been going on since 2008, and has raised more than $165,000 and collected more than four tonnes of food for Torontonians in need. I think it's pretty amazing that something that started as a conversation over Twitter has turned into such a successful fundraiser for an incredibly worthy cause. 

Friday December 14th - Set Those Sails - A Night of William Finn

I'm really excited to be a part of this amazing project that Tara has been working on. William Finn writes insanely beautiful and moving music, and Tara has collected a stellar group of performers and musicians to bring his music to life. It's sure to be a wonderful evening and we'd love to have you there. 

Sunday December 16 - Canada Sings Riverdale Annual Carol Singalong

I love singing Christmas carols, and last year I had the most wonderful time sipping a warm beverage and singing carols in harmony alongside a brass quintet and organ. Canada Sings is a really neat organization that encourages people to partake in the joy of music, and the holiday season is a ridiculously fun time to do so!

Links include more details and ticket information. I can't wait for all of these events and would love to see you there too!

What are you looking forward to over the holiday season? Do you have any events that are now a tradition for you to attend?

Nutball-A-Roos For Family Day

It was a holiday here in Ontario on Monday and I enjoyed the day by hitting the gym for a run, frolicking and laughing loudly and saying inappropriate things in the sunshine all afternoon with sweet sweet Reggy, and spending some quality time at The Rooster with a tea latte working on content for the blog for this week.

I wanted to make something delicious and relatively easy for dinner and came up with the following:

Nutball-a-Roos with Zucchini Pasta
(I’ve been adding the term “a-roo” onto a lot of things lately… cute-a-roo, hug-a-roo, you get the idea!)

Nutball-a-Roos (vegan, gluten free)
1/2 cup nuts, soaked (I used a mix of pecans & almonds)
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes, soaked
1 tsp mixed dried herbs (I used sage, thyme & basil)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp wheat-free tamari
1 clove garlic, minced

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blitz until combined. You may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times. Make mixture into little ball-a-roos (I made 8 small, but you could make 4 larger)

Serve over spiralized zucchini mixed with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

1 lb brussels sprouts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400º F
Rinse your brussels sprouts. Trim off the ends, remove any sad looking leaves and cut in half. Toss sprouts with the olive oil, balsamic and add salt and pepper. Transfer sprouts to a pan and roast for 30ish minutes, moving them around every 7-8 minutes to prevent them from sticking or browning past the happy, crispy point. Remove when they are fork tender.

So much deliciousness!

How did you spend your Family Day?

This is my Winter Song to You

The last few weeks have been crazy and awesome and hectic and hilarious. I can hardly believe that it’s December!! This week marked the beginning of what I like to call the Holi-month and I had a blast with a lot of wonderful people at some great events.

On Tuesday I went to Hip and Urban Girl’s Champagne and Cookie Party with my sweet friends Reggy and Christine.

I promise, that if you put 200 women in a room with cookies and booze, there will be madness! There weren’t a ton of gluten free and vegan options aside from the BabyCakes snickerdoodles that I brought

and the delicious cookies that Reggy made (there was almond butter and cranberries involved, they were pretty fantastic) I think my favourite moment in the evening was a toss up between coming upon Christine with a platter of a dozen cookies in front of her, each of which had a single bite taken out of it

or the discussion Reggy and I had with the rep from Ohhh Canada about Tenga eggs making wicked stocking stuffers. Both moments were pretty amazing. Thanks to my Charlie’s Angels for a super fun evening and to Val for hooking me up with the tickets!

On Friday night I headed to the Cameron House with a some of my favourite friends for Graydon James & the Young Novelists’ cd release party.

The show was fantastic. They have some incredible harmonies, heartbreaking lyrics and the whole band is wickedly talented. The crowd at the lovely Cameron House had a stellar energy, which was enhanced for me by the fact that I had one of my besties on either side of me. And did I mention that there were cupcakes and tea goodie bags?? They are a fantastic band to see live and it was a pretty magical evening. Go. Buy. The. Album.

Finally Saturday I had my own chance to be on stage spreading some festive cheer in another Singing Strong cabaret in support of Buddies in Bad Times theatre.

I had a blast singing with some amazing singers (including my dear friend Lindsay), fabulous musicians (including Tara on keys) surrounded by a really fun audience and some great repertoire. There was an eclectic mix of tunes including some musical theatre, pop and jazz along with some holiday favourites that I got to sing lead on including Baby It’s Cold Outside (which is actually a creepy song…) and Baby Please Come Home.

Linz and I also sang Wintersong, which is just such a  beautiful song. It’s an amazing thing to be able to take our friendship to the next level by singing in harmony with one another! I also got to sing Christmas Lullaby from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for World (which is one of my dream roles) And of course the evening was made even better by the fact that there were some really awesome people in the audience to see me AND I was wearing a Damzels dress, which is always a good recipe for a perfect show. It was a brilliant evening and a great way to kick off the holiday season!

My holi-month continues with a party tonight, at least 3 pot lucks in the coming weeks, some more singing engagements and an evening at the symphony for Handel’s Messiah next week!

Do you have any fun plans for the Holi-month? What’s your favourite holiday tune?

PS – did you know I was nominated for a 2011 BroadwayWorld Toronto award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical? If you have a minute, please vote!!

Christmas Shopping? Oh Yeah! Gift Ideas to Make Your Life Easier

Do you like my attempt at making my desk at work more festive?

I felt like I was really ahead of the game when I started my Christmas shopping way back in August when Joey and I were in Niagara Falls. After that I forgot that Christmas was coming. It didn’t dawn on me again until I was in a card shop 2 weeks ago, buying a birthday card and heard “O Holy Night” playing in the background.

Oh crap.

Since then I’ve gotten caught up and am happy to report that I’m nearly 95% complete. Hooray! I know that for some of you reading this post might be your “O Holy Night” playing in the background, so I thought I would pass along some gift ideas for the loved ones in your life.

Every year I have a mini-Christmas with my friends Charis and Zoe. Our tradition started 4 or 5 years ago when I was back in musical theatre school. I didn’t have a ton of money so I bought them a whole bunch of little things like festive socks and candles. Since then our tradition has continued and each year I am always on the look out for really cool ideas that might not be on our elf lists.

Last year I found some incredibly unique items on Etsy that were absolutely perfect. The first were these great book stamps from Terbearco. Both of the gals are big readers and I thought personalized stamps to make their libraries complete would be lovely! I also got them each a fun coloured ink pad to use with the stamps. One of my other favourite finds for the girls last year were these coffee corsets from Jenn Gee. I even bought one for myself and still use it (although I couldn’t seem to find a picture of it!) It’s a great gift for those that you know drink coffee or tea on a regular basis and it’s nice because she has all different styles. Mine is leopard print with a pink ribbon, Zoe’s was beautiful blues & greens and Charis’s had a gardening theme.

There are thousands of amazing vendors on Etsy, each with tonnes of  great gift ideas. Some of my other favourite shops include Seagoddess Jewellery for beautiful handcrafted bellybutton rings, Heather’s super fun tote bags, and beautiful jewellery and fascinators (like the one I won back in the spring) from Ten Things.

Books are always one of my favourite things to give and I’m a big fan of Amazon’s Super Saver Shipping option! I would highly recommend any of the cookbooks I’ve reviewed on the blog this year for the gluten free folk or vegans in your life. Some of my other picks for the people in your life would be Make it Fast Cook, it Slow (amazing slow cooker recipes from Stephanie O’Dea), Gluten Free Girl (Shauna’s wonderful memoir) or Julie & Julia (for a good giggle).

I recently discovered Herbivore Clothing after winning this super cute wallet during Lazy Smurf’s awesome Vegan MoFo giveaway. They’ve got tonnes of great t-shirts, books and accessories for the plant eaters in your life and their shipping is very inexpensive (even to Canada!), which is always a plus when you’re ordering online. A wallet very similar to mine is currently in transit for a special guy I know (because he can’t stop raving about how awesome and small mine is! Shhhhhh don’t tell!! )

As much as online shopping is convenient, I love shopping in my neighbourhood and supporting the local businesses. Some of my favourite shops include El Pipil at 267 Danforth (wonderful housewares, accessories and clothing), iQ Living (amazing kitchen and house stuff), The Big Carrot (natural food and bodycare), Grassroots (green products)and Red Tent Sisters (women-friendly workshops, books and sexy products)

I’m always a big fan of homemade gifts and every year I always do some baking for my friends. Cookies, squares or truffles make lovely gifts especially when wrapped pretty boxes with a heartfelt card. Hannah over at Bittersweet has some awesome ideas for sweet treats to give. I will definitely be making some gluten free vegan treats this year for friends and co-workers as I’m doing my very best to save as much money as possible for school (which starts in 26 days! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) I will show you what I come up with in the coming weeks.

How is your Christmas shopping coming along? Are you always ahead of the game or are you a last-minute Lola?

What Does Preparing Yourself Mean to You?

Is your calendar for December filling up with social gatherings, parties, dinners and other events? Are you feeling overwhelmed? Now is the time to figure out how you’re going to handle it, by preparing yourself.

At my meetings on Saturday, I asked my members what preparing yourself meant to them and here’s what they came up with:

• Planning – including meals for the day and/or week, Points values for favourite treats as well as activity. Having a game plan means that you’re more likely to make things happen the way you want them to go. While it might seem daunting while you’re doing it, planning ahead saves you time in the long run and makes your life easier.
• Learning from experience – what has worked or not worked in the past? Where were you at this time last year and what are you going to do differently or exactly the same this year? Take these lessons learned and apply them to your intentions for the holiday season.
• Asking for help – getting support from others to help you through the challenging times is so important. Talk to friends. Read blogs. If you’re a WW member, make your meetings a priority. You’re not alone in this and will always have people to help you be successful.
• Taking care of yourself – Putting yourself at the TOP of your busy to do list even when you’ve got parties to attend, presents to buy or meals to make allows you to achieve balance. You can do this in whatever way feels good to you. Maybe it’s having a nap or going to bed an hour earlier. Taking an afternoon off work to do a bit of shopping. Finding some quiet time to do yoga or read a book. It’s an easy time of year to forget about the #1 person in your life – you. Putting yourself first, puts you in a better place to take care of everyone else in your life.
• Making healthy options available – Stocking up your pantry and fridge with healthy choices and easy grab n go options, making it easier for you to make good choices even when you’re super busy. Or if you’re attending a pot luck, bringing a healthy dish so you know you have at least one great option available to choose.
• Mentally rehearsing – Practice makes perfect! Who are you going to encounter? (I’m going to talk more about this next week when the topic is managing food-centered relationships…) What are you going to say? Where are you going to position yourself? What are you going to eat? Rehearsing these things ahead of time makes it a lot easier to actually do them when you get to the event.
• Keeping your goal in mind – When you have a goal, you have a direction and know what you need to do in order to get there. Is having a whole box of Turtles or skipping out on exercise for a week because you “don’t feel like it” going to help you get to where you want to be by December 31st? What needs to happen for you to reach your goal? What are some ways that you can remind yourself of your goals when things get busy? Maybe you could write them on a sticky or card to keep in a prominent place at your desk or stash in your purse.

It was great to hear my members’ thoughts on preparing themselves. Between all of them, I think they came up with some really great ideas and strategies and it was great because they were able to do almost all of the talking! Thinking about these strategies now is so important because the objective is that you’ll feel less overwhelmed and stressed by the time that you’re up to your ears in holiday baking, wine, and wrapping paper. Preparing yourself is setting yourself up for success!

How are you preparing yourself for busy times ahead?
Where would you like to be by December 31st 2009?
What needs to happen for you to get there?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

How is everyone adapting to this chilly weather we've been having? I hope everyone is keeping warm. 

It sure is busy this time of year and I hope that my meetings members got some strategies over the last few weeks for dealing with the people, food, social events, activity and time management. I hope that everyone's activity chart is filling up with stickers! I'm happy to say that I've got more than 5 on mine so far and this weekend I hope to add to it with some walking, hot yoga and belly dancing!

Sometime this weekend I'm going to post some ideas for WW-friendly holiday baking. I love preparing baked goods for loved ones around this time of year, and I especially love encorporating WW-friendly recipes into the mix. I've accumulated a good selection of holiday recipes in the last couple years and I've made a list of what I want to make. Hopefully the recipes will give you some ideas if you would like to get baking sometime in the next couple weeks. 

I'm happy to report that I finished my Christmas shopping before December even started and I even have a few gifts wrapped at this point!! I need to do my Christmas cards... I think that might be another project for the weekend. 

Tomorrow night is my work's holiday party and we're going to a Brazillian steakhouse! I've never been but I'm sure that it's going to be an interesting time. The food consists of a buffet with tonnes of cold salads, bread and seafood. Then once seated, your server brings you a selection of more than 10 different types of meats and sides. You have a card at your place setting that has two sides - green when you are still eating and ready for more and red when you're done or want to take a rest from the food. Wish me luck. I have a feeling that my card will be red for much of the evening and I plan to earn some AP's dancing alongside the Carnivale style dancers and drummers!!

I'm really excited for my meetings this weekend to share the 2009 Weight Watchers program with my members. I look forward to seeing all of you there and letting you know about the great changes to the program. 

Have an amazing week!!

PS - I know I haven't updated my soup post. I was nearly finished uploading/editing it one day and then my computer died and I was not happy. I promise I will get to it, but I hope that a lot of the recipes there will keep your soup pot full over the winter season! I made the stuffed green pepper soup two weeks ago and it was a big hit at our house!