That time I got in trouble on the border crossing

Man. I can be a real idiot sometimes. I received a  finger-wag directed towards me, yesterday at the border crossing to USA, but we’ll get to that in a moments time.

run-for-heros-marathonSaturday afternoon seemed like the perfect time to drive down to Amherstburg Ontario for a marathon with my boyfriend. We had planned on staying overnight due to the race being on Sunday morning and we didn’t feel like getting up at 3am to drive straight from our apartment. So, we rented a hotel in Windsor.

Folks, let me tell you one thing I love about staying at hotels.

Cable TV.

Watching TV in bed is one of our little pleasures. The boyfriend and I are quite active in fitness so we haven’t had cable for over 5 years. The best part is, that we don’t even miss it! We have a TV in our apartment but we use it for Netflix (rarely) and he mostly uses it for training on his indoor bike trainer.

So zoning out in front of a TV on a Saturday night in the hotel room was glorious. As soon as I flicked to one of the channels, it stayed on that channel for the rest of the evening. Hilarious right? We watched Man-Tracker, and a few episodes of The Liquidator after that. I forgot how addicting it can be, and HOLY commercials. Forgot the annoyance of that.

detroit GM buildingWe had a great view of Detroit across the river, and I took a snap of the ginormous GM building lit up in these forever changing lights on Saturday night. Pardon the cell phone quality photo.

ironman-tattoos The next morning we drove back to Amherstburg for the race for a 7am start. I spotted a man who had a similar tattoo to the boyf’s. Ironman Canada finishers tattoo! The boyfriend has completed 5 ironmans in the last 5 years. 4 IMC’s and 1 Mont Tremblant.

ironmenThey posed together and shortly before the gun went off for them to race.

out-they-goand off they went!

hot chocolate and pretzelsIt was windy most of the morning so I stayed inside the building and warmed up with some hot chocolate and ate pretzels.

My boyfriend mentioned he was going to run a fast marathon and told me what time I should expect him to come through the finishers chute.

I went back outside early enough to secure a good spot around the fence. Half marathoners started the same time as the marathoners, so the half-people were coming in and I got a good view and wasn’t waiting too long in the cool windy weather we were having.

finish-line-crashWe had a little bit of unexpected excitement at the finish line. The blow-up arch ended up falling down right in front of people crossing the line! It was an easy fix and back up in no time. Oops.

The first marathoner came running in with his long, speedy stride so the spectators started ringing their cow bells and cheering.

Second place guy came in, and looked like he had a bad race (he seemed angry and swatted away his medal).

Third place male came in and looked a little older than I expected. None of these men looked relatively young so I was kind of surprised. Then again, it was a small race.

I spotted a guy who looked like my boyfriend. I didn’t recognize his running stride because he was going full tilt. His stride was quick and he was coming in fast. Holy dang-balls, it was The Boyf. I think I was the loudest person there screaming and shouting “YEEEAH BOYF. WAY TO GO. OMG FOURTH!! YOU GOT FOURTH OVERALL” even before he crossed the finish line. Then quickly after that I shouted at him to give me a high five. HAHAHA Who does that? An excited cheerleader girlfriend, that’s who.
finishers-chute2
Not only that he did his first ever sub 3 hour marathon. finishers-chuteWhat speed and endurance! Unbelievable. What a guy. It was a proud moment for us both.

He laid on the grass for a bit since his legs took a beating after that race pace. So I wrapped him up in one of those emergency blankets to keep him warm.sub-3hr-marathon
We were both thrilled with his results!chilly day after the race

It was a small race so he didn’t expect much in the way of an awards ceremony (there wasn’t one). scotts-prize

But he did place 4th overall and 1st in his age group so he was given two free movie tickets valid only at a location in Windsor.movie-tickets-for-Windsor

Like my new zip up hoody? It kept me warm throughout the day. I’ll be reviewing it shortly on the blog. Stay tuned!mpg-hoody

We clued up at the race site, buckled up and started the drive to Michigan.in the car with MPG sweater

We ended up going across the border to go see the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). I’ve always been big into taking a sickly over abundance amount of photos, and for some reason it didn’t occur to me that I should probably stop taking photos at the USA border crossing.

Got my camera out and started clicking away — when we got to the toll, I was taking a photo of a sign in front of us before we went to see the Border crossing guards. Looking through my cameras view finder, I saw a lady’s finger wagging at me. I jumped a little in my seat. I made an apologetic face as she walked over to the window mentioning that there was to be no photos taken on the border. Thankfully she didn’t interrogate us any more than scolding me for snapping pictures and off we went. The heart was-a pumpin’.

We were only in Detroit for a few hours, mainly to see the DIA (before they possibly shut down the museum). The building is just beautiful. All made of what seems to be marble and stone. Very historical and so stunning to look at.DIA
Inside the DIAinside-the-DIA
Some areas of DIA allowed for photos, and one of them happened to be the van Gogh area.van-Gogh-at-DIA
I’m not the biggest fan of van Gogh as I am more of Picasso. As a teenager and in my early twenties I painted a lot of “replicas” of Picasso and gave them away as presents to family members and friends. I haven’t really painted much of anything in the last 10 years. I did two paintings (and the last one in 2011). So I really do miss it. I don’t know why I stopped.

So. That’s that. I don’t really have much more in my blog post to say, so I’m going to end this post awkwardly and say so-long until tomorrow.

What did you do this weekend?

Have you ever gotten in trouble with officials, whether it be on the border or elsewhere?
This isn’t the first time I had something strange happen to me on the border.  When I flew up to Ontario with a few climbing buddies in 2003, we did a u-turn on the Niagara border. Literally. We were lost since we were looking for Niagara Glen bouldering area – the officials pulled us over for a quick moment and questioned my friend, the driver. Thankfully that was just it.

Are you a runner?
Gotta say, watching triathlons I don’t have any desire to ever do one. But watching running races makes me want to run a race again. Maybe another 5k.

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My birthday present to myself

Today is the last day of the paleo challenge. I have not cheated in the 31 days I’ve been on it. Since April 7 my lips have not touched a chocolate bar, or a sandwich or tea with 4 sugars. I’m pretty proud of myself!

My paleo goal was to buy myself some Reebok Nano 2.0’s in yellow to reward myself for not cheating. And my parents sorta bought them for me for my birthday.

I purchased them online because I got a 20% off coupon online (if you signed up for their newsletter). So I knew I’d wear them regardless. But I can officially wear them today. Brand new out of the box. Because it’s my BIRTHDAY today!

I’ll be smiling all day. Just like in this pic (that I took last night before heading to CrossFit).

Can you notice a change in my body? I sure can. Especially the waist area. I’m loving the way my body looks with clothes on lately. Like I stated before, I took before/after pictures from the Paleo challenege. You can’t really tell a difference which is disappointing. Plus, I’m a little reserved so I’m not sure if I’ll be posting a picture of me in a sports bra and shorts for the whole internet to see. You know? Who knows. I may brave it. My neighbor back home in Newfoundland told me to go for it.

Breakfast today will consist of paleo-something or other. But come 3:30pm I will be measured and weighed-in and then it’s time for a mini pig out session. Don’t worry, I’ll ease myself into it. I don’t want to be vomiting on my birthday. Or do I?

My Boyfriend bought me these climbing shoes over the weekend for a birthday gift. I tried them out on Sunday night and they were pretty sweet.

They’re the La Sportiva Katana’s in 36.5. I wear an 8.5 street shoe and I bought these in 5.5. That’s how tight they “should” feel. Nuts hey? I’ll always have gnarly toe knuckles. Too much information? I tend to over-share sometimes.

Plans for tonight? Well, I’m going to head in for a climb right after work because the Boyfriend is training super hard for his upcoming Triathlons this year. So I’ll have some time to spare before he’s back home. Then later on we’re heading out for some poutine, then frozen yogurt! Yum yum.

Cherrio folks!!!

By the way — I realized I didn’t upload my workouts from last week yet. I’m a bit behind on that. I worked out 6x last week which wore me right out. It’ll be up. Soon.

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Shopping Habits

You guys know already, I lead a pretty active lifestyle as my week usually looks pretty crowded with workouts from going to CrossFit, soccer, climbing and the occasional run and yoga session. Well, my (internet anonymous as he calls it) boyfriend of nearly 8 years, also is quite active as well as he is a competitive Ironman Triathlete.

We have a fantastic relationship where we’re both passionate about leading healthy active lifestyles. This also means that we rarely get to hang out with each other as one of us is always running out the door for exercising. We don’t exercise together, because our interests are completely different from each other’s.

Normally, we try to catch up with each other on weekends and do the weekly shopping with one another, but last weekend was a bit busy so I decided to pop into a few different stores after work yesterday.

An older gentleman walking into good ol’ reliable Canadian Tire saw me launch into the air galloping towards the front doors. He nodded his head and thumbs up’ed me when he noticed my antics. What can I say, I like to keep things interesting. Why am I documenting me shopping at Canadian Tire? Why not? The boyfriend saw a few things in the weekly flyer and wanted me to check it out since my office is close to one.running-into-Canadian-Tire

I had my cell on hand to take photos to send the boyfriend when I spotted my own deals. I bought a similar water bottle to this at one of his races the other year. I like these kind — but we certainly don’t need any more water bottles in the house.water-bottles-at-canadian-t

I tend to steer clear of the machinery aisles at Canadian Tire, and stick to the one’s that catch my attention. Hellooooo house wares.

So many colorful Kitchen-aid mixers. I’ve always wanted one, but I don’t even use my hand-held mixer all that often. I think I’d just want one to sit pretty on my counter top. I’ve always adored them. My aunt whips up the fluffiest mashed potatoes using hers.kitchen-aisle3

I don’t take things so seriously all the time. Can you believe that? Chomp chomp, oven mitts are going to eat you!kitchen-aisle

The paint aisle is another section of the store I like to browse around at. Here I am helping my co-worker select a few gorgeous shades of fuchsia paint chips for her en-suite bathroom. Jealous!paint-aisle

Spot that sale sign? Got that right folks… candy is on sale at Canadian Tire this week. Since I’m starting my paleo challenge on Sunday, I opted out of buying these large tubs. So hard to turn down a steep discount on candy. But I did. Try buying that at bulk barn. Not happenin’ for that price!sale-on-candy-at-Candian-Ti

Right around the corner there was a short aisle with all sorts of fun goodies for kids (errr… and even Adults, not gonna lie). This gadget below brought back memories of me being 8 years old in our backyard, playing for hours with a SKIP-IT! Didn’t know that they still made these. No one will judge me if I buy this for myself, will they?skipit-at-canadian-tir

It’s funny, whenever my Boyfriend and I aren’t around each other and we need to pick up some stuff at the store when the other one isn’t around, we usually take a quick picture with our blackberries and send it via bbm to the other person.

Omg they still make skip-it’s. Buy one for me for my bday!?” or… “I’m buying these for Alfie. His food bowls are disgusting. The End.dog-bowls

I want to get him dog bowls that don’t look like dog bowls. Something like what I found in the housewares section, glass food storage containers maybe? kitchen-aisle4

Both the Boyfriend and I enjoy going down the pet aisles to scope out the new digs they may have available for our Pomeranian dog, Alfie. This bag I’m pulling out from the shelf weighs about 3x as much as our lil’ dog. He’d have a field day eating all that delicious dog food. dog-food-aisle

Holy, all that shopping made me pooped right out. Time for a little cat nap before I head home. Ha ha! Not a bad deal, save 15% even before patio season starts. Sweet.sleeping-Canadian-Tire

Oh! Speaking of patio season – lounging by the pool is around the corner as well. What’s with the empty shelves in the pool aisle? Maybe they were re-stocking? Not sure!pool-aisle-is-empty

Have you ever analysed your shopping trips before? Do you make shopping lists and only go down the aisles you need to, or do you meander throughout the whole entire store, slowly taking your time? I have to admit, I do a bit of both. When I’m by myself and I have a list I like to go in and out of the store as quickly as possible. But if I’m with the Boyfriend, we enjoy taking our time on the weekends and seeking out new items for our home.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®. All opinions are my own.

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