The move: Canada to California

Alright guys, I’m back with the internet and I’m ready to blog again!

But where do I even start? It’s so difficult to jump right back to where I left off but I guess that is what the plan will be. Keep checking back each week day as this will be my plan – to continue blogging Monday through Friday, beginning with the adventurous road trip from Waterloo Ontario Canada, to sunny Northern California.

If you’ve been following me on twitter and instagram these next few posts may be repetitive for you, but if not — keep on reading.

We estimated our drive to be 40 hours, by the calculations of google maps. What we didn’t know was that it was going to take closer to 60 hours to do the drive, due to the fact we were towing a 17″ u-haul with a trailer on the back, where my car was.uhaul and car We did the drive in 3.5 days rather than the 5-7 days we were initially going for. As you can imagine, we were driving non-stop on the second and third days/nights, swapping seats and getting sleep in the passenger seat.

We said our goodbye’s to the Waterloo apartment that served us many good times and years at that place. packing up

Our plan was to avoid the winter weather altogether since U-Hauls are known for having bald tires and getting trapped in the snow. Instead of taking the i-80 across the USA, which crosses over some wintery states, we opted for the more southerly route i-40 which took us from Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, to Arizona and finally California. 

We aren’t too far from the Michigan boarder crossing, and since it was open 24 hours, we made it in there at 4:00am. Clearly we left Ontario late in the evening. I have to say, it’s pretty intimidating having your whole life packed up in a truck and having the boarder crossing guards decide whether or not to let you have an American visa for a few years. Right then and there they decide whether to turn you around, or let you into their country. When we arrived the boarder crossing was pretty much empty due to the hour we arrived at, so it didn’t take too long for us to have everything done there. Quite honestly, my knees were trembling while I was waiting for them to go through the process with us standing there in front of them. I couldn’t get my legs to stop shaking. The guys working the night shift were making a few funny jokes to us, and broke the ice a little bit. Perhaps he saw a terrified look on my face and decided to take action.

Once leaving the boarder, we thought everything would go smoothly from here. However, the boarder crossing was the only thing that went smoothly throughout the drive. When you look back on it nothing went terribly wrong but at the time we were down in our spirits. Close to 22 hours of being in the vehicle and losing just HOURS of precious driving time (sleeping at rest stops and going to  Walmart to get a sim card for our phones took up way too much time) we  ended up calling it a night when we arrived to Indiana and arrived at the Clarion Hotel in Terre Haute around 9pm the first night. sunset in the uhal

Tons of sleep later we woke up, ate a huge breakfast in the lobby. Scott and I took turns eating solo due to the fact we had Alfie and didn’t think the dog-friendly hotel would enjoy dogs being in the eating areas of their hotel. We were absolutely famished in the morning, and the woman in the kitchen made a funny comment to me when she saw my plate filled to the brim now empty, saying I was small but could pack away the food. Sure can missus. I was starved b’y. big breakfastCome back on Wednesday and I’ll fill you in on the details of day two.

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Canada Day Long weekend + a giveaway!

This has got to be one of the top ranked weekends in 2012 thus far. For one, it was incredibly relaxing and two I got to spend it all with my Boyfriend. Now, you’d think I’d always spend weekends with my Boyf. But I don’t. Many of you already know this about him but he’s an Ironman Triathlete and is always on the go, training on his bike, going for long swims and pounding the pavement going for long runs.

I managed to go for a run during the early morning on Canada Day and ended up doing more km’s than I ever have in two years. I think it’s due to the fact that I didn’t know where I was going, and I could keep going and wasn’t thinking about how fast I could/should be going. I ran 7.5km’s in total.

I came back pretty sweaty.

I didn’t run it as fast as I usually like to go, but that wasn’t the point of this run. It was just to get out there and go.Our dog Alfie was looking pretty antsy on Canada Day and the Boyf and I then decided to venture out on a walk with him.

We ended up going for 90 minutes in total. So long but so relaxing!

I even found a set of swing stets and started squealing with excitement and going high in the air. Then Scott reminded me it wasn’t all that high and started poking fun at me ;) It sure felt high ….

Of course Canada Day wouldn’t be complete without Fireworks and some treats! We also heard some hoodlums setting them off at 3:00am that night as well. It woke us up and we were pretty angry about it to be honest, ha..Seeing as we had intended on waking up early to drive to Grand Bend beach!!! YEAHH.

We arrived super early in the morning and reserved some prime real estate on the beach. The boyf and I stayed there til mid-afternoon, cooking in the sun, then cooling off with a quick dip in Lake Huron. It was the perfect day anyone could ask for on a beach. It wasn’t too hot when you were laying down but you did get hot, and ended up quickly cooling off in the water. A light breeze, not windy at all.I’m kind of glad I didn’t bring my iPad or kindle to the beach that day because my Blackberry had to be put away for fear of covering it in sand. Danger bay!

We even brought along some popcorn supplied by Orville Redenbacher, sandwiches, water and apples to chaw on while we were there.

We were done for the day and decided to venture on back to our homeland. It wasn’t long after this photo was taken that I took a big chunk out of my middle finger. I accidentally rolled up the window with one hand while my fingers were still at the top on the other hand. Blood. Everywhere. I silently cried, and I felt like such a little girl with tears streaming down my face while Scott pulled over the car and bandaged me right up. It wasn’t deep enough for stitches, and I think it was just the initial shock and pain that threw me over the edge. I’ll spare you the details and any photos. But I’m all good now, with a nice band-aid over top for a few days :)

Back to the grind tomorrow. Back to reality.

Now for the fun giveaway part of this huge massive blog post!

One of you lucky readers will get the chance to win one of Vanessa‘s tank tops from her Etsy Store at Ruffles With Love.

I could definitely see myself sporting some of these tanks to my local CrossFit box. Love them!! They’re not just for women either, there are some men’s selection on there as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter using the rafflecopter form above. Open to residents of the USA & Canada and it ends on Saturday night at Midnight (EST).

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My leftovers in Rubbermaid Glass

As per Leanne’s request I have posted a new recipe! About time I had a new one up on my recipe page, hey?

Good ol’ Lemon Pepper Chicken Stir Fry it may not photograph the best. But it’s darn tasty.

It only includes these simple ingredients!

Plus three packs of noodles, minus the powder sauce (because it’s bad for us, plus we can make it taste way better!)

Unfortunately for my clumsy hands, I dropped one of the smaller glass containers on the floor and thank the LORD it didn’t shatter, or even chip. I just washed it off and put the remaining leftovers in the rubbermaid glass for our lunches the next day.

I’m a GREAT cook haha, and I clean as I go. But when serving up supper — that’s probably when I’m the most messiest. Sorry for the splattery food in the photos. I could photoshop it out. But let’s get real here.

The value pack comes with three glass containers, and 3 lids (of course). I haven’t shown you guys the smaller container. The smaller one wouldn’t hold enough for a lunch, but something more like a sauce, or snacking type of foods between meals.

Apparently these are leak-proof. But I’ve yet to dare and test that out by tipping it upside down with my lunch in it, yet.

I’m liking the lids of the Rubbermaid glass though. They’re not difficult to remove at all thanks to the large “lips” for lids. See?

It’s a huge favorite of mine and I need to be careful to not make it 3 days out of the week for supper. I don’t want to get sick of it! I’ve always had this recipe on my website hidden in the archives, but finally decided to make it a staple in my recipe section of my website. It’s simple with some weird ingredients in it like vinegar. Would would have thought? That’s why I don’t experiment in the kitchen too much. I’m a recipe follower, and my Mom and Brother are recipe makers.

I made my lemon pepper chicken stir fry the other night and ended up sticking the leftovers in my Rubbermaid Glass containers. I’m not the hugest fan of left overs but the stir fry actually reheats well and doesn’t taste like leftovers. The only things I like to have the next day are that, and my homemade macaroni and cheese as leftovers.

The Rubbermaid Glass is everything safe. You can even use these babies in the oven to create some kind of fancy casserole if you have a recipe for something like that. If you do, please share. ;)

  • Microwave safe
  • Dishwasher safe
  • Freezer safe
  • Oven-safe up to 425ºF
  • Flex & Sealâ„¢ leak-proof lids won’t tear or break
  • Square-shaped to maximize space
  • Superior stain and odour resistance

Rubbermaid Glass containers:

(Click to enlarge)

Leave a comment/recipe telling me your favorite dinner recipe. Mine is most definitely the lemon pepper chicken stir fry my brother taught me how to make.

I’m not sure I’ve ever shown a photo of my Brother and I together. Here he is in his kitchen in Ireland (he now lives in Newfoundland) when I went to visit him a few years ago. Off I go on an airplane tomorrow to see him!

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