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New Home, same blog! onederlandorbust.net

New Home; Giveaway!

Hey everyone, Onerland or Bust has a new home! Check it out here and be sure to enter my very first Giveaway courtesy of Gnu Foods Flavour and Fiber bars! This will be my very last post on Blogger, so be sure to start following my new location www.onederlandorbust.net.

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Attention: I've moved!

Hey everyone!

Onederland or Bust has a new home!
Check it out here: http://onederlandorbust.net/  I'm still working out some kinks, but it's getting there :)

Tomorrow I'll be hosting my very first giveaway and you must be a follower, so be sure to head on over to my new home.

For some reason my comments didn't transition well and they're not showing in my new location, which is sad, but I guess it's time to make some new ones!

Thanks guys!

Bailey

Summer Bucket List Recap {& exciting news}

Back in June I set out to accomplish a Summer Bucket List. Today was actually the first time I looked at it since I wrote the post back in June and I was pleasantly surprised that I accomplished almost everything. 

let's see how I did...


2012 Summer Bucket List 

Go camping twice. Technically we only went camping once, but I'm going to cross this off as we also went to our friends trailer once. 

Visit some college friends up North. They actually came to visit me! For once I wasn't the one having to drive to them and we all got to go to the Toronto Zoo!

Looking for Timon and Pumba :) 

Go on a road trip. Well we didn't go anywhere too far, but we did drive up to Cottage Country and while there we visited a few places that neither of us have been to before. We drove there and back (about 5 hours) so technically this was a road trip.. right?! ;)

Home Away from Home

Run another 5k. My first 5k ever was back in June. Last weekend I ran the Terry Fox 5k and this coming weekend I'm running the Toronto Zoo 5k :D

Continue running regularly.  Check!!! :D

Reach my birthday goal. Unfortunately this did not happen :( But I'm on my way to a new goal for the next 11 weeks :)



Go strawberry/blueberry picking. Oh I definitely did this! 

Try Kayaking. I've wanted to try kayaking for so long and luckily for me, the place we stayed at in Cottage Country had kayaks! I definitely took advantage of this and went out twice. I loved it!!

Go on a hike. Unfortunately I don't know of many hiking places nearby. I'm hoping maybe I can cross this off sometime during the fall. 


Play tennis. The boyfriend and I got out and played it a few times and I really enjoyed it. I think we need to plan more tennis dates ow that it's not a bazillion degrees out. 
No pictures, sorry!


Go to a concert. On Canada Day we went to see the Tragically Hip and they were awsome!!

Try the new roller coaster at Wonderland.  We conquered the Leviathan back in June. Holy, it was intense! 

10/12 ain't bad if you ask me!! I had a fantastic summer and one of the busiest ever! I'm excited for Fall. The weekends are filling up fast already! It's going to be Christmas before we know it ;)

I hope everyone else enjoyed their summer as much as I did. 

Oh and some exciting news... On Monday I'll be hosting my very first Giveaway...so stay tuned!! :D 

This Fit Chick's 12 Week Program!

I'm not one to pass up a good opportunity so when I woke up to a  lovely email yesterday from Carrie at thisfitchick.wordpress.com I was intrigued!

Carrie is a certified personal trainer and blogs at thisfitchick.wordpress.com and she recently launched a new site www.thisfitchick.net where she’s selling her own 12 week Fitness Programs for $20-$30 (steal!). She’s asked me to participate in one of her 12 week programs and in return I will blog about my experience. 

This was pretty much a no-brainer for me and I said yes right away! Who wouldn’t want to try a new exercise routine that was created by a personal trainer!? I’ve worked with a personal trainer in the past and they’re great, but they don't come cheap. I also liked the fact that I could do these workouts from home. Not to mention that this fits in perfectly with my 11 week goals that I set for myself on Monday.  

Carrie sent me over the Slim and Sculpt 12 week workout program that is designed to help you lose fat while gaining lean muscle. Attached was also a nutritional guideline that she recommends following. The program itself looks really great. It reminds me a lot like the exercises I did with a personal trainer in the past. The program is broken down into 3 phases that are 4 weeks each. I don’t want to give up my running, so I will be incorporating my runs into this program whenever I can.

Each week I will do a recap of how the week went and I’ll be sure to post some progress pictures and stats along the way! If anyone is interested in Carrie’s Fitness Program be sure to check her out here and continue to follow me for the next 12 weeks to see how it goes! 

I’m excited to get started. It’s going to be a change and a heck of a lot more exercising than I’m used to, but that’s certainly not a bad thing! I’ll be starting on Monday, September 24th so stay tuned to see how it goes :)

You can also follow my daily updates on Twitter!

Pinspiring Wednesday - Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal Muffins

Happy Hump Day! It's time for another Pinspiring Wednesday!

Last week I made some delicious boyfriend-approved Zucchini Brownies. Now that Fall is right around the corner I've been wanting to make something with pumpkin. Lucky for me, Pinterest is exploding with delicious looking pumpkin recipes. 

Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal Muffins 

Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffins - Original Pin Source 

The original recipe called for a few ingredients that I don't keep on hand (Coconut oil and coconut milk) so I made a few alterations. I also added a cup of pumpkin puree instead of apple sauce. 

You can find the original recipe here or you can find my altered version below. 

Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup 1% milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 2 gala apples cut into small pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
3. In another bowl (or the same bowl if your forget like me) combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, oil, egg and vanilla.
4. combine both bowls and mix well
5. Fold in the chopped apples. Fill muffin tins.
6. Optional: sprinkle with sugar
7. Bake for 16-18 minutes.
8. Mine made 18 muffins (approximately 110 calories each)

Overall, I thought they were pretty tasty. I think I would add more spice next time, perhaps allspice? They make good breakfast muffins or something to eat before a workout :)

Friend Making Mondays: Blog stuff

Whoa, two posts in one day?! Crazytalk! 

I stumbled across www.alltheweigh.com the other day and noticed that she does this cool survey every monday called "Friend Making Monday" where bloggers sill out and post the survey on their blog then link it in the comment section of All the Weigh. It's a good way to connect with new blogs and bloggers. This week's theme was a little tough for me as I'm pretty new to blogging, but I thought I would give it a shot anyway. 

 If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic! source 

 Blog Stuff

1.  Have you ever met anyone through your blog that led to an in-person friendship/relationship? I haven't yet, but I'm certainly not opposed to it! There are so many awsome bloggers (and readers!) out there that seem like great people and I would be thrilled to meet them. 

2.  Most bloggers have a specific niche.  What would you discuss if it didn’t seem inappropriate on your blog? I think I would talk more openly about my personal relationships, however, my blog is still private from my real-life friends and I'm not quite ready to share it with my family or friends yet. I don't feel that it's fair to speak too openly about anyone in particular without their permission and permission means that I would b telling them about the blog which is scary! ;)

3. If you could meet three bloggers, who would they be? That's a tough one! I could name a handful that I would love to meet one day, but one in particular would be Katie from Runs for Cookies. Hers was one of the first blogs that I started following and her story is very motivating! I'm not sure if I would've started blogging or running if it wasn't for her blog! 

4. If you had to choose between Facebook or Twitter which one would you choose?  If I took this survey last week I would have said Facebook, hands down. However, I recently signed up for Twitter and I'm enjoying it, which has surprised me! I don't have a lot of followers on Twitter yet, so I still use Facebook more, but I can see Twitter becoming a new favourite in the near future. you can follow me here

5. Do you vlog (video blog?) I haven't done a vlog and I never really considered it. I personally don't really like watching vlogs, but I've heard that some people love them. Perhaps one is in my future! 

6. How many blogs do you read on an average day? It varies, but it probably averages around 10-12 a day. 

7.  What is the coolest thing that you’ve seen online recently? Andie at "Can You Stay for dinner?" posted a link to an article called "Hey, Fat Gir" recently and it really hit home! I would reccomend reading it. 

8. If you gave your blog a new name what would it be? I still like the name of my blog, maybe I won't in a year or so, but for now it can stay :)

9. Have you ever attended a blog conference like Fitbloggin?  If not, would you? I haven't, but I would love to! I've been hearing so much about Fitbloggin and I'm so jealous of all the people going - it sounds like a great time!

10. In the past I have asked why you blog.  Now I want to know why you read blogs?  What do you take from it?  I read blogs to stay motivated in my weight loss journey. I love reading about other peoples success and it's great to relate to others who are not only succeeding, but struggling. 

Anyone is welcome to participate in "Friend Making Monday". 

Be sure to read my post from earlier today :)

Summer Goals Revisited {Weigh In & New Goals}

I lost 2.5lbs this week bringing me back into the 240’s. Not too bad of a loss, I was hoping for more, but it was enough to get me back on track.

In June I decided to join the Lose a Marathon weight loss challenge. The goal was to lose 26.1 pounds from June 18 – Sept 17^th. I started this Summer off at 257.5lbs and I’m ending it at 249lbs.  That’s a total of 8.5lb lost. That’s a very slow loss over that past few months. I know I could have done much, much better. However, I’m not overly disappointed about my progress. I had one of the busiest summer’s I’ve had in a long time and one of the best. Almost every weekend was full of bbq’s, day trips; get togethers, parties, beach days, concerts, family visits and so on. Not only did I manage to lose weight during all of this, but I enjoyed every minute of my summer!

My wardrobe during the summer months is mostly capris pants, skirts and dresses (i.e. loose fitting clothes). I can clearly remember the past few Septembers when it was time to wear jeans or fitted dress pants and I had to squeeze myself into them!

But not this year! This past weekend I wore jeans for the first time all summer – they fit like a loose glove! These are the same jeans that gave my severe muffin top last winter. This morning I put on my go-to black dress pants and they’re about 10lbs from falling right off me – woo hoo!

**

I’m happy with my weight loss this summer, but I’m even happier that I stuck with running! The heat this summer was almost unbearable.  There were many days where I ran jogged in 105+ degree temperatures. It was hard, so hard! But I stuck with it and yesterday I ran the Terry Fox 5k and this coming Saturday is the Toronto Zoo 5k. I’m proud of myself for sticking with it and I have every intention to continue running throughout this coming year.

Woot 5k!

Crossing the finish line!

**

Now that the Lose a Marathon challenge is over, I think it’s time to hammer out some new goals. I initially thought that I would set some goals to reach by Christmas (only 15 weeks away!!), but I think that the month of December needs it’s own goals, which I’ll plan closer to the date. Instead, I’m going to set my goal for November 30^th – the day before my sister’s due date and the day my parents will be flying back for the birth :)

This gives me 11 weeks. To break it up I’m going to set a few smaller goals in between.

11 week challenge: (starting weight: 249lbs)

• -       Lose 2lbs per week
• -       Reach 35lbs (244lbs ) lost by Thanksgiving weekend (October 7^th)
• -       235lbs by Halloween
• -       Run another 5k race
• -       Continue running at least 3x per week
• -       Lose 22lbs (227lbs) by November 30^th

I was supposed to take progress pictures and measurements at the end of the Lose a Marathon challenge, but I’ve only lost 2lbs since the last time I took them so they likely haven’t changed too much. I will take my measurements and pictures again on Thanksgiving weekend and hopefully my progress will be better by then.

I think these are realistic goals and if I reach my final goal of 22lbs, I will have lost 50lbs to date, which would be amazing!

I’m going to set up a new page in my navigation bar and I’ll be sure to track my progress during the next 11 weeks! Feel free to join me in my 11 week challenge! 


You can also follow me on Twitter! :)

Shopping, Cooking, Tweeting, oh my!

Frist things first, Onederland or Bust now has twitter! Click on the Twitter button to the right and follow my tweets! I'm still pretty new to the Twitter world, but it's surprisingly fun to see what your fellow bloggers are up to on a regular basis! 

**

For my birthday a couple weeks ago I got a few gift cards and about $100 in cash. I know people say that gift cards are in-personal, but I personally love then. I'd much rather get that than something I don't like or will never wear. My boyfriend's parents bought be a $100 card to the outlet mall nearby and I just happened to be there on Thursday. Normally I'm one to hoard GC and use them when I REALLY want something, but I figured since I was there I may as well look.

What I really wanted was a pair of nice high boots, but the ones at the plus size store fit over my calves, but barely! I would only be able to wear them with dresses/skirts and I'd like to wear them with leggings or skinny jeans. Apparently I have large calves! :( 

I found this really pretty dress on sale for $29.99 and it looked great from the front... from the side, not so much! The bottom half was made of really clingy material and it showed off all my lumps and bumps - not cool! 

What I did find is a really nice running jacket! They had it in a pink and a greyish-purple colour. I initially liked the pink, but it was VERY pink and ended up with the greyish one. I really like it. It's rain and water proof, it has thumbholes(!) and it's warm enough that in the winter I could wear a heavier shirt underneath and probably be ok. That's right... I'm already thinking about winter running. I'm determined to continue running in the winter :D

I also picked up a halloween costume for my friend's 1 year old. She's going to be a cupcake! And a few outfits for the baby shower I'm holding in two weeks. Overall, it was a successful night of shopping! 

Yesterday was my friday off and it was a cool rainy day out - perfect for errands and chores around the house. First I went grocery shopping then came home to clean. The place has been neglected since my parents visit, so it was well overdue! I decided to tackle my closet and bring out my fall gear! It's not nearly cold enough to start thinking about sweaters and jeans, but at least now I'm prepared! As I was bringing items out, I tried them on to see if small ones now fit or if anything is now too big. Almost all the previous small items do fit, but I definitely need to lose an inch or two in my arms for them to feel more comfortable (goal for the next month!!). I did find a few items that are too big and I packed them up to give to a couple girlfriends. 

The crappy weather always puts me in the mood for homemade soup and SkinnyTaste (best site ever!) just posted a recipe for beef barely soup. This soup always reminds me of winters at my nana's - she always had a batch on hand. Luckily I picked up all the ingredients that morning so I decided to whip some up - Yum!

I've also been craving homemade pizza. The downside with pizza is that I could eat the entire pie! I bought the dough and decided to weigh it according to the serving size on the back. I ended up with 100g for about 200 calories, plus the cheese and sauce. My little pizza came to about 300ish calories. I enjoy making them on pitas and english muffins, but sometimes you just need the real thing! Anyway, I used the rest of the doug to make a big one for the boyfriend and I may have snuck a small piece of his later last night. ;)

Do you love my pig-themed kitchenware? My mom always finds these little guys and adds them to presents or stockings (yes I still get a stocking at Christmas). I think they're too cute. 

It's been a pretty successful weekend this far. Today I'm headed to the farmers market with my sister and tomorrow is the Terry Fox Run!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!