Friday's Letters.

Dear weather, you've been so-so all week, but today, BEAUTIFUL. It's days like today that I love living in beautiful British Columbia. Dear exercise, you've kicked my butt this week. Its been a tough transition, but I think we're doing good! However, my thighs and calves are beyond sore and there is ZERO chance I will be attempting another day at the 30 Day Shred until at least Sunday. Dear boyfriend, I am really enjoying our go to bed at 10:00 pm and wake up at 7:00 am routine. I am feeling 100x more productive each day! Dear new diet, I think I will keep you around for awhile. I am enjoying eating an half an apple every morning (it's nice to share half with the bf) and salad with dinner. I am also loving these new breakfast smoothies. Yum! Dear Dana at the Wonder Forest, thank you, thank you, thank you for the critique on my blog design. That was so very amazing of you to offer your critique to everyone who left a comment on your facebook! You rock! Dear iPhone, I know I have said this before, but I am sooo happy that I made the switch a few months back. I honestly don't know what I would do without you, and instagram! 

Friendship Bracelet.

via

Do you remember these? I sure do...!

When I was younger, which seems like such a long, long time ago, my friends and I were obsessed with making these bracelets. From what I can recall, I had several tutorial books and hundreds embroidery threads -- all different colors! 

I stumbled upon this post from Volcomunity today, and it would appear that friendship bracelets are back in trend. If my memory serves me correct, these bracelets are one of those trends that resurfaces every few years, each time with an updated look. Now that I think about it, I actually received one for Christmas, but with a few beads on it.

Anyways ... instead of going out to buy one, I thought I would share a few of my favorite DIY Friendship Bracelet links that I found and thought were worth sharing!

+ DIY: Friendship Bracelet
+ DIY: Friendship Braclets
+ DIY: Heart Friendship Bracelet
+ DIY: Grown-Up Friendship Bracelet
+ DIY The Fastest Friendship Bracelet
+ DIY: The Ultimate Friendship Bracelet
+ DIY: Fishtail Braid Friendship Bracelet

Don't these fabulous DIY's make you want to stop by the craft store and make a few?!! Or maybe that's just me who has this sudden urge to make a few!

An Apple A Day...!

In an attempt to improve my overall health, I have been trying to improve my diet. More water, less soda pop, more vegetables at dinner, and fruit for breakfast and/or snacks. It's a slow work in progress, especially reducing the pop. 

Today, instead of going for a piece of toast or an eggo waffle, I decided to eat an apple for breakfast. Because I was still hungry, I also may have had a chocolate chip muffin and a glass of milk afterwards. Another breakfast option that I plan to try later this week is breakfast smoothies. I even bought some quick oats to include in my smoothies! 

Although I know that eating any kind of breakfast is better than no breakfast, I have been learning about how some breakfast options are much better than others. For example, a healthy breakfast should include fruits, low-fat protein and dairy, and whole grains. This combination will also help you from getting hungry too quickly. 

I may or may not have mentioned this before, I am a fussy eater. As a result, my fruit options are limited. To help save time in the morning (and money, because buying fresh strawberries and raspberries can be expensive), I decided that eating an apple most mornings would be very beneficial. 

To help encourage me to eat an apple a day, I found three interesting health benefits: 

1. Eating one medium apple counts as one cup of fruit. So, after eating one, you are well on your way to meting your daily fruit quota. 

2. Apples are an excellent source of immune-boosting vitamin C. 

3. Prior to your work out, eating an apple may boost your exercise endurance. 

Obviously there are many more benefits, but they aren't very relevant to me at this point in my life. Now, I just have to make sure that my new breakfast routine sticks around longer than a few days. The mornings where I have more time, I plan to make breakfast smoothies with quick oats, frozen fruit, low-fat yogurt and juice -- maybe twice a week. What do you eat for breakfast every day? 

This Week for Dinner.

Dinner's this past week have been super simple, and as usual, have included some form of pasta! 

via

If it were up to me, I think I could eat pasta every day. While out grocery shopping this morning, we bought $20.00 worth of vegetables and fruit.

My goal is to start incorporating more salads into our evening meals, and to start eating more fruit at breakfast time. I also purchased some oats and low-fat yogurt so that I can make some breakfast smoothies. I have never tried them before, but I know I love smoothies, so I am sure these will be delicious! 

+ Monday: Leftovers: Cannelloni & caesar salad

+ Tuesday: Leftovers: Cannelloni

+ Wednesday: Tacos

+ Thursday: Leftovers: Tacos

+ Friday: Chicken Mozzarella. Recipe here.

+ Saturday: Leftovers: Chicken Mozzarella

+ Sunday: Homemade spaghetti sauce & pasta. Recipe here.

What's on your meal plan for dinners? Have you tried any new recipes lately? Do you have any delicious salad recipes? Feel free to share your weekly dinner menu for this past or upcoming week, no matter how simple or fancy!!