Okay so recently I've had the opportunity to play around with my diet and figure out what works best for my body. Who knew that the answer would mean more carbs!! I am definitely not complaining. 

I'd like to start this post off by talking about my 'off' season so far. I know it has only been four weeks since BCs this year, but I have already had the opportunity to replenish my body for the better where I don't feel like garbage after every meal that I eat. 
It's all about that balance.
At least that's what everyone says, right? It's 100% the truth though! If we don't wake up every morning with that positive, balanced mindset, it throws off your entire day and makes you question every action you take. Why not wake up with a positive attitude and live it? The beauty of this mindset is that it's totally contagious. The good kind of contagious, like smiling. 
Lately I have been loving this attitude that I have woken up with. No matter what comes my way and what may resonate from the past, I know that I am so freakin' lucky to live the life that I do, and to be surrounded by people that I love and care for the most. Things have been really good lately, and I am happy to share that I'm exceptionally happy.

So what's the big deal today? I'm super excited to share this unreal thing that I've fallen in love with. Smoothie bowls. A bowl with a smoothie in it that you throw a bunch of cool things on top and eat it with a spoon. Yeah, eating it with a spoon. Might seem a little strange and some people already think I'm weird but they taste wonderful, keep you full for hours, and photograph really well. Yesterday I made my bowl with enough fuel to last me through a run and an afternoon full of deadlifts with my coach. Get a load of this...

Mmm. Memories. The beauty of smoothie bowls is that you can literally make your favourite smoothie and add whatever you want on top of it to enhance your smoothie bowl experience. 
For mine, I went to my go-to ingredients that I usually stick in my shakes.

It's been a long time coming, but I'm finally at the point where I'm ready to talk about it. Holy buckets, hold your freakin' horses. She's talking about love, people.
Vulnerability. What the heck does that mean... I don't even know if I know what it means fully, but from my understanding thus far, I think it means I'm supposed to open my heart.
I have spent the last year hiding behind a big brick wall being afraid to let anyone in. What do I mean by let anyone in? I mean like, let some guy into my soul. The deep stuff. Know what I mean?
I've got trust issues like you wouldn't believe. I hold a lot of stuff in, but I've got a big mind. Always thinking, always processing, but never emitting. 
When it comes to the 'R' word, or 'relationships' (oh good God), I have found that I have a tendency to run away. It's not that I'm the non-committal type, it's that I'm absolutely terrified of letting myself fall in love with anyone simply because I don't want to give my heart away to someone who doesn't deserve it.

I've been in love once, in fact I was completely head over heels for him. I really thought we would wind up married one day, we spent every waking minute of the day talking to one another. There was no one in the world that I was more excited to see or talk to at the end of the day than him. He was the biggest and most consistent part of my life for a very long time, and shared more memories with one another than I've ever had with anyone else. He knows me too well. Well enough that quite frankly our breakup affected my entire family, in a way it was like a divorce. I won't go too deep into detail, but ultimately we grew into two very different individuals who wanted different things in life at the time, and it ended before I knew it. Just like that.

In general when relationships end between two people, they tend to find love, or lust, in someone who is the complete opposite of what they had in their past relationship. I have met some pretty unreal guys since my 'big' relationship ended, but no matter what I couldn't get my past relationship out of my mind. I was always comparing, they weren't him. I was afraid of falling for someone else because I didn't think it could ever feel as real as it did before. I'm confident that the 'real' feeling is still a possibility, but patience for the right one is something I am still learning.
This is also why girls tend to think that there are no 'good' guys in the world... No, there definitely are. But we are too busy running away from them and chasing the ones that are so wrong for us, that we forget about the ones that were so right for us in the first place. It's just a really sad little circle we tend to run around in, I think many of us are guilty for it. I learned my lesson. 
My mom gave me some great advice a few weeks ago when I was feeling a little bitter about the idea of any kind of relationship. Don't be afraid to fall again, it will happen when you least expect it and when you're least ready for it, but when it happens, you'll know it's right. Moms always know best, right?
Patience.

Reflecting on the last year of my life, there have been more changes than I can count on my hands. My entire life is completely different from what it was last year, like holy smokes! I have met so many people, experienced so many changes, seen things I never saw before, my eyes have completely opened up, and slowly along with that, so has my heart. At this point in my life, I am not looking for love or wanting a relationship like many people are. Rather, I am taking this opportunity of being on my own to utilize my imagination and accomplish goals in order to build my future. 
"Don't you feel alone, though?"
Duh.
Sometimes it can get real lonely, don't get me wrong. I love that photo that has been circulating instagram lately that says "I can be the most independent girl 99% of the day, but the other 1% I just want to be little spoon". This could not be more true. The problem is that most guys don't understand independent women like I don't go to bed dreaming of being a housewife, thank you so much though! Right now, as selfish as it sounds, I just love the fact that I can do whatever I want with my life and not feel like I have to be watching my back because bae is keeping tabs of my life. No thank you. That said however, I am keeping a completely open mind, and a vulnerable heart, to whatever life throws at me. Like I said, I'm certainly not anti-relationship, I fully encourage it. I just want to make sure that for me, the next one that I do 'enter' is one that will prove to be beneficial for both parties, and that the relationship itself is a two-way street. What benefits them will benefit me, and vice-versa. I am confident that there is some kind of 'relationship' out there for everyone, and to keep your heart open. Just make sure that whatever 'relationship' you find yourself in, that it is equally beneficial for the both of you, but most of all keep your love close to your heart. There are some real winners out there.

<3

I can't be the only one that has been in the lineup at Walmart holding a big bag of Reece's mini peanut butter cups or Oreos thinking "I have lost. They defeated my willpower". Nope, not possible. I'm totally confident that there are several others who have been in the same position as me... Right?
Sometimes this happens to me. I have literally been in the lineup at a grocery store holding a huge tub of ice cream and a bag of chips thinking to myself don't do it man. It's loaded in preservatives. Preservatives cause cancer and diseases. You are on your death bed. This is going to kill you. Needless to say, I always leave the grocery store sweating buckets thanking Jesus that I didn't give in.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not bad at making treats. Better yet, they can't be bought or compared to something you can get at the store. Last night I was going through one of those hard craving moments and thought that I would take a stab at making my own homemade peanut butter cups but obviously a healthier option. Using simple ingredients and a little creativity, they turned out like little chocolate peanut-buttery truffle treats that are a little more guilt-free than the ones that come in a bright orange package.

Here's how it was done.
Ingredients:
*1 Camino Extra Dark Chocolate bar 
*1/2 bar of Camino Dark Chocolate with Coconut
*4tbsp PB2
*1/2 scoop Chocolate Iso whey protein
*3 tbsp almond milk
*Raw Cashews, chopped (optional as garnish)

In a small saucepan I melted an entire bar of Camino Extra Dark chocolate with half of a bar of Camino Dark Chocolate with Coconut and set it aside. In one of my mini cupcake tins I lightly greased the pan with coconut oil and poured a small amount of dark chocolate in 12 of the cups and put it in the freezer until it set.
In a small bowl, mix together 4tbsp of pb2 with tbsp water (to make the paste). Add in 1/2 scoop chocolate whey with the almond milk, a little at a time. Mix well.
Take the set chocolate out of the freezer and top with the peanut butter mix, and put back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Top off with remaining melted dark chocolate and put back in the freezer for 15 minutes. Once set, take them out of the freezer and pop them out of the cups with a knife and set on a plate upside down. If you are going to be fancy like I did, get your chopped cashews ready.

Love me some cashews :)

This is when things can get a bit tricky and only do it if you're good with a lighter. Using the lighter, lightly graze the top middle part of the peanut butter cup and quickly garnish with the chopped cashews so that they stay in place. They should then look like this:

Once you've done that, you can eat them. The texture of these bad boys aren't like typical peanut butter cups, only because the middle part isn't as powdery, rather more like a peanut butter toffee that's loaded in protein. If you aren't going to eat all 12 of them at once, put them back in the freezer until you're ready to enjoy again!

Yeah... They're pretty alright :)

<3

Oh yeah, here we go again. Another protein powder just released on the market and someone's gotta talk about it. 
See as much as I agree with that, this is one that I had to share with you simply because it was love at first sip. Pro Line Advanced Nutrition is a Canadian company based right here in BC, so you know you're getting a quality product made by a company that actually cares about what goes into their products. I had the opportunity to try it before I bought it, but what sold me over was the fact that it's sweetened with stevia and monk fruit extract as opposed to most protein powders which are sweetened with an artificial sweetener like sucralose. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the idea of sipping on a protein shake that tastes like the same birthday cake I had when I was 5 years old. What it comes down to however is that the more unnatural junk we put into our bodies, the more we experience unwanted side effects.

I think what tends to blind people from the junk that goes into products is that they look at a protein powder in a supplement shop and they see a new flavour and think, my goodness wouldn't it be amazing to have protein that tastes just like a red velvet cupcake?! Same. Next time you're due for some new protein, flip the container around and read the label. I try to keep it as clean as possible, sweetened with either stevia or xyla, something that will not make my blood sugars spike and eventually crash because we all know what that's like. Keep it clean, you'll feel better about spending the extra money on something that will benefit you more in the long run.

Yesterday I got to crack open the big 5lb container Pro Line Advanced Nutrition Iso-Advanced natural protein powder and whip up something yummy after a solid workout in the morning. The strawberry banana flavour literally lit up my senses, and I swear it's not because I was starving. I made myself a strawberry 'milkshake' to feed my muscles after running at the Apple Bowl track here in Kelowna, followed by an upper body plyometrics workout. I was actually surprised at how frothy the shake turned out to be after blending it all together! Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

*100g lactose-free, non-fat plain greek yogurt
*1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
*1/2 a banana
*4 strawberries
*1 scoop Pro Line Advanced Nutrition Iso-Advanced, strawberry banana flavour
*3 ice cubes

Blend everything together and drink up!

I had a hard time trying to savour this shake because it tasted that good. I have to say for a protein powder that has 31g of protein per 35g scoop, only 1g of fat, 1g of carbs and 1g of sugar, I am SO impressed with how good it tasted and better yet, no awful protein powder aftermath. If I can make any suggestion to anyone is to get your hands on this stuff. For those of you in Kelowna, head to Beyond Nutrition just up by Costco and Joey Kelowna, they'll hook you up! Have a great Sunday!

<3

Happy Hump Day! 
Woke up this morning feeling insanely energized and positive, felt the same yesterday as well. Something in the air perhaps? Maybe the rain is getting to me.
I had the pleasure of spending the morning with one of my closest girlfriends on a beautiful hike up Knox Mountain, regardless of the rain. I love being outdoors and putting this extra energy to good use. On the way up, we had discussed the fact that our gym here in Kelowna has started to carry this new juice which is made locally (what is this... local juice?!), so we decided that our post-hike reward would be to hit up this new fancy juice bar and see what it's all cracked out to be.

Glow Juicery in Kelowna has just earned itself two new regulars, that's how it has cracked out to be.
Walking into this hip little juice bar, I was so impressed right off the bat by how friendly the girls were in there. Offering samples of some of their incredibly addicting treats, along with extensive knowledge of where their products come from, I knew right away that this place was going to be a hit.
The thing about living in Kelowna, is that the city itself is still growing and developing. As a health fanatic, I am always seeking new places that offer gourmet yet healthy options that meet my specific macro breakdown in my diet. Let me tell you, Glow Juicery has definitely turned into one of my favourites.
This morning, I enjoyed the ener-g glow juice, which contains freshly squeezed pear, spinach, cucumber, celery and chlorophyll juices to fuel your body with a great deal of hydration. On the side, I had their red my mind salad which incorporates some wonderful and colourful greens topped off with their homemade dressing, I was in love. 

If anyone knows me, I'm a big time foodie. So when the girls started talking about their vegan, gluten-free banana cream pie we were won over. Like can we just get a load of this? It's real.

Sorry... I can't not get a close up of this thing. It doesn't do it justice otherwise. I'll just go ahead and admit that there were no leftovers.
We left Glow Juicery feeling clean and energized, without a sprinkling of guilt in our souls, only blissful happiness from head to toe. Needless to say, if you Kelowna people have heard of this place but have been hesitant to try it, get your little booties down there and get it in. I was absolutely blown away with the customer service and how clean it was in there. If you can't catch them during their open hours, Global Fitness Center right across the street has their juices fully stocked in their fridge. You can #showyourglow every day! So next time you are looking for a healthy option, head to Glow Juicery which is located at 1880 Dayton Street in Kelowna. Can't wait to go back!

<3

It's the first birthday I woke up feeling a year older. Not age wise, but maturity wise. It's also the first time I've felt as though I'm ready to take on this next year full force without having anyone hold me back. I had the best birthday yet... Woke up and smashed my leg workout with my amazing mom, sprinted Knox mountain in the blazing sun, enjoyed a fabulous lunch with my parents at Quails Gate Winery (I shared my dessert... I promise), and got to spend time with my two best friends who light up my life every single day... They're also the closest thing I have to siblings. Forever grateful for my sistas <3

Although birthdays may be overrated, and some people prefer to not even celebrate them anymore, I have come to the conclusion that it has to do with the fact that people are so caught in the moment that they actually choose to ignore smelling the roses and look at what's coming ahead for them. It's just a birthday, right? I don't think so. At least not this year. Given the fact that this is my last year before becoming a quarter of a century of age, I know in my heart that this is one of the best years to come. There is a lot to learn, and a lot to take in mentally, but the thing is if we don't let life do as it should for us, we aren't really getting anywhere.

I knew in my heart when I woke up Sunday morning, the day of my birthday, that this year would be different. This time last year, I was still involved in a relationship that had many restrictions on what I could and could not do, I was essentially trapped in my life and didn't know how I was going to get out. I spent an entire year ridding myself from the heartache that relationship caused and building my self-esteem back up from literally nothing. It took an entire year. At this point in my life I am not ready to publicly discuss how hard it was to make something of myself in the last year, but the one positive I can say is that I am a much happier, healthier human being than I was 365 days ago. I am forever grateful for those who have been able to step into my life and help me build myself back up. So with all of that said, my advice to those who are feeling like they are trapped or stuck in a rut whether it be with another individual or even themselves, ask yourself this: What can you do differently to make yourself happy? Sometimes it's the smallest tweak to your lifestyle that makes all the difference. Let yourselves be free. I know I feel that way... 24 is going to be an epic year.

<3