This is me enjoying my new wheels along my neighbourhood - this is option one of two beaches either side of my home! Beautiful!

Today was an absolutely wonderful day! I got to wake up late, made my way to the couch and was greeted by a delicious cup of tea! After getting myself very acquainted with the couch through a few episodes of Modern Family and a delicious breakfast, Luke and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine outside poking through the clouds (a rare occurrence lately) and hike up our beautiful Mount Mauao! After a slightly sweaty hike up to the top, we enjoyed the view at the summit and discussed our future plans here in New Zealand. Life is good! 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the couch, eating delicious food and even took a trip to the Library!  Towards the late afternoon the clouds began to dissipate and the sun really shone through! As I cozily sat on the couch and read through a magazine I decided the best way to take advantage of this late day sunshine was to go for a beach run. 

I have been aching to do this ever since we moved here, but for some reason I always held back. I am not a big fan of running and have found it hard to get myself into it. I've been working hard on the treadmill and finally felt ready for the big leagues! The Beach! :o) 

The run was glorious, exhilarating and fantastic! With my music pumping, the sun shining and the waves crashing in, it was exactly what I wanted to be doing at that moment!! Bliss!

Tonight, I'll be going hard at Boxing Bootcamp! I have been living in the Mount for two months now, enjoying my own personal gym as many days a week as I can muster, but still haven't quite met the results that I want. So, when your workout isn't quite working to your satisfaction, what's the best thing you can do...? 

I found a great deal on GrabOne Tauranga, $60 for 10 sessions of BoxFit - a boxing bootcamp - with Define Fitness. The studio they workout in is just down the road from me, which is perfect and convenient. 

I went to my first class last Friday morning and am SO happy that I did. The class was phenomenal, I forgot how wonderful bootcamps can be! They are not only a great full body workout, but they really push you to your max! A great bootcamp instructor will encourage you to push yourself...and having other people around to notice if you're slacking helps with the personal motivation as well! We alternated between boxing moves, weight lifting and other full-body movements. I had a wonderful time punching things, crunching things, lifting things and squatting things.. overall, it was a great workout. (I was reminded of that the next day when my body seemed to be a wee bit harder to move than it had been the day before (aka.. stiff as a board) It was a fantastic first class and I am excited for more. 

Bootcamps are a great way to meet like-minded individuals. It just feels good to get out and meet a few new faces, whether I will see them again in the future or not. And the fun part for me, the instructor was, of course, a complete gem, and I saw her earlier this week at the movie theatre... (she also arrived too late for Magic Mike tickets and ended up watching TED instead) . What better way to make a new town feel like home than to run into someone you know when you're out and about!! Perfect!

So tonight, I will continue on with my 10 sessions, tonight being number two. I am so happy that I took that step to include something new and different into my workout routine. Not only does it energize me, but it helps me to see results, which motivates me even more when I am working out on my own. Plus... it feels pretty good to know that you can pack a mean punch! 

Sometimes all you need is a little bit of sunshine in your life. <3

Luke and I are very far from being enrolled in Master Chef anytime soon. He is miles closer than I am..I am one of those lucky ladies that has most meals prepared for her by her lovely and wonderful boyfriend! ..but still.. we like to keep our meals simple, healthy, cheap and easy!! So tonight when we decided to try something completely different, with no recipe, and using literally everything we had on hand... well... I was a little skeptical. 

Potato | Kumara | Broccoli | Carrot | Onion | Garlic | Butternut Squash | Linguini Noodles | Mushroom Soup | Stale Bread Crumbs | a few Caesar Salad Croutons | Grated Cheese 

After boiling and frying most pieces, we popped it into the oven for some random, undetermined amount of time, eventually melted some cheese on top and... VOILA!

Mistake or Masterpiece? 

Every morning's breakfast... 1/4 cup freshly cooked oats, half a banana, a dollop of plain unsweetened yoghurt and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Yum! 

5:30am - roll over and look at clock.. know its too early to get up but happy that i already
                    feel rested - yay!
6:45am - alarm goes off
6:47am - happily check my twitter, email, facebook and blog updates :) ahh technology
7:00am - shorts, tank top, water bottle, obnoxious music - workout time!
7:30am - wishing I had someone there pushing me harder..but I keep on truckin'
8:00am - shower and primp for a hard 3-hour day of toilet bowl cleaning, shower scrubbing
                    and hotel bed making.. ahhhh my New Zealand work
8:15am - coffee and blog update while admiring the glorious mount sun shining through my
                    living room and waiting for my delicious oatmeal to finish cooking

Happy New Zealand Thursday Everybody!!  

What I'm thinking about
This morning I woke up to a photo sent from my old roomie Figgy showcasing massive flooding on the highway near Sicamous in the interior of BC. The photo was terrifying. I hope that mother nature decides to wrap up the explosion of water soon so there are limited damages and life can go back to normal.  
Click here for an online report that I found.