I LOVE SUMMER :)

SUmmertime in Tahoe!!

Spending time at the lake(s).. Tahoe and Donner, and dipping into the river after Yogging!

I spectated/cheer-leaded on Marco's Golf game for the "active force foundation" fundraiser!  Cloudy!

The "team ELECTRIC" (like the sunglasses... and like something cool...?) reading the green... the clouds loomed all day, but never burst! lucky us.

Other than spectating golfers (I only stayed for 5 holes...)  I've been working out a LOT.  Lot's of hours at the gym and getting stronger all the time!  Doing some med ball stuff today...

AND my favourite "after the gym" activity is MOUNTAIN BIKING!

We have been on so many awesome rides, but I can never figure out a way to document them to be nearly as cool as they really are.  Oh well, I will keep working on my ghetto vid-skillz.

P.S. no flowers were harmed in the making of this picture.

Reflecting.

Marco ripping down....such a sweet downhill!!!!  Well worth the gruesome uphill!

And we topped the day off watching Liz "just-let-me-hit-this-way-outfeild-and-run-three-bases-..." play softball. talent and amazing form.  I can see awe and jealousy in the eyes of her opponents watching from the other side.

nice work.  tahoe days are filled with fun activities!! plus a few crafts here and there. 

:)

Happy Canada Day tomorrow!! I'm heading home for the celebratory weekend and another 2 week (not weak...hahaha not) dry-land camp!

oh and a happy st. jean baptiste!!

Happy Saint-jean-baptiste!!
Probably the biggest holiday in Quebec all year other than Christmas!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Holiday_(Quebec)

biking!

A couple days ago Emily took us riding on "western states", "The WALL" (10 minutes or straight up-the-mountain-face gruelling cant-stop-or-you-will-not-make-it, but so tiring you want to stop everywhere, section of the ride...), and Finally to the summit which is called "painted rock."

This was the first of 3 bears I have since seen while mountain biking!!! Apparently it's a black bear... with highlights...

Some tricks!!! This is right at the top of "the wall"

And then at the top of "painted rock" we got some sweet lake views!  Looking over Tahoe City.

There were some crazy dark clouds looming....

But we were happy to be at the top and in the sun... with a SWEET downhill ride ahead of us!

The storm was quickly approaching... There was lightning going off like crazy in that cloud, so I put my camera into "burst mode" and took about 200 consecutive pictures, but not one had even a trace of lightning in it... :(  waste of time. oh well.

The downhill portion was sweet and inspired me to try to videotape the next ride we did.... BUT the whole tape was of my handlebars bouncing around and would have made people carsick... so NEXT TIME I will try again!  But for now, it's off to the gym.

I have been trying out a couple of different granola bar recipes, but have not yet found one that suited my tastes/nutritional values... SO I made up my own recipe!  And it worked!!

My Granola bars have no sugar, no oil, no butter and they can be gluten free if you change a couple of ingredients.

I call them: Anna's masterpiece bars for optimum leg power.

How to make "Anna's Masterpiece bars for Optimum Leg Power"

When making "Anna's Masterpiece bars for Optimum Leg Power" one must have determination, focus, and keen instincts.  And be creative!!  I would have added chopped almonds and sunflower seeds to this recipe but I didn't have any in the pantry...  

• preheat oven at 350

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 2 bananas
• 1/2 cup of yogourt
• 1/2 cup of raspberries
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 cup of flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1tsp salt
• 2tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of corn flakes or rice flakes or any cereal
• 1/2 cup of dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (optional...)

Step One:  Take 2 cups of rolled oats and spread evenly onto a cookie sheet.  Melt honey in microwave for about 20 seconds until it is runny and drizzle all over the oats.  Place the cookie sheet with oats and honey into the oven and let bake for about 10 minutes (or until the oats are toasted)

Step Two: In a blender, blend 2 bananas, 1/2 cup yogourt (any flavour), 1/2 cup of raspberries and 1/2 a cup of milk.  Blend until smooth.

Step Three: In a mixing bowl combine 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of cinnamon and the toasted oats.

Step Four: Pour the blended mixture into the dry mixture along with 1 egg.  Once mixed up add 1 cup of cereal, 1/2 cup dried blueberries, 1/2 cup dried raspberries, nuts and seeds, and chocolate chips.

Step Five: Grease a casserole dish and pour the mixture in.  Spread evenly.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes!

I would probably add nuts next time and sunflower seeds.  Also, I was thinking that I could add protein powder or another egg to increase the protein content!!

Anyway it seems like a healthy enough recipe, so I thought I would share it! Enjoy your "Anna's Masterpiece bars for Optimum Leg Power"

Lovin the WEEKEND

A forgotten picture from last week!!! Kelly McB, Mitch and I helped out Shona and Andrew's 11-12 year old team with dryland training!  Here we are trying to show them some warm up techniques!! Unfortunately our session got down-poured on, but it was still fun to be around the kids and their limitless energy!!

Since Calgary I have been training in Truckee!  The weather has been amazing and Marco and I used our "weekend break" to check out the "tour de nez" road biking race yesterday up at Northstar.  Tres inspiring.  The guys were RIPPING around these corners at ridiculous speeds!! 

Or should I say sub-light speed, light speed, ridiculous speed and ludicrous speed!?

This is super ludicrous speed.

All those crazy speeds on bikes motivated us to do our own ride!! Although we took it to the MOUNTAINS!! A medley of different trails, including the famous "Flume Trail!"  Emily and Dave leading the way.

My bike and the beautiful views of Lake Tahoe!

Action shot! hahaha. not really but I caught him off guard....

Looking down to the right of the lake, you can see the crazy turquoise colours along the shore! SO TROPICAL.

Anyway I was sketchily trying to take pictures while biking, while balancing, while braking, while avoiding this guy!!! good times.

To top it all off, we had a yummy picnic on the dock at donner lake.

MP style pose!

mes cheveux dans le vent. marco, the dock and the lake reflecting in my "Dr. Dre" shades.

gotta love the weekend!

I'm back in California after a great dryland training camp in Calgary with the team!  I feel like I am on a good path taking each day, each week, and each month step by step gaining more confidence and strength with time, patience, and hard work!!!

So, after a hard workout yesterday I rewarded myself with this DELICIOUS basil, feta cheese and watermelon salad! YUMMMMY!  I 100% recommend making this for a refreshing snack.

Other than working out at the gym and making yummy food, we've been able to get out and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL WEATHER (Finally....)  So here I am embracing the greenness of the forest yoga style... although I never do yoga...so my form is all wrong. sorry.

The snow flowers are blooming....reminding us that ski season is just around the corner!!! sort of...

Checkin out the rest of the hike....

some pretty flowers.

Cool  kind of dreamy whimsical-ish... 

MORE PILLOWS! I am on a roll.

I even made a pillow for this rocking chair...and I painted the dresser RED!! Keeping myself busy with crafts!!  And of course my best craft: Marco's face and a Marco Rocks hat.  That one took true skillz.

This blog is pretty random... just bits and pieces of life events that amuse me.

BOXING!!!

I made a movie of our boxing session from this afternoon!
Bear with me, it's my first movie ever, and I thought we all looked sort of lame in normal speed so I fast-forwarded the movie like it was my job!! hahaha. Anyway a little look at what our boxing session consists of! It takes about an hour and a half of PURE SWEATING!!! this is only 30 seconds or something!

Mon weekend blogue....continued.

A few more pics from the SUNNY amazing weekend!!

Happy girls after a happy hike.  Chillin on Kelly's deck enjoying the sunshine until 10PM... no joke. it's crazy like that over here.

Sunday was another adventure day.... a more timid adventure, but equally rewarding!!!

Shona, Andrew and I canoed from Banff to Canmore... a four hour river trip with great views, great snacks, and great friends.

And great techniques.

The great views...... Andrew, aka pro tour guide, was nice enough to spin us around periodically and give us some 360 views of the beautiful Albertan countryside! 

pose.

ahhhhh loving the weekend and the SUNSHINE!!!

An awesome weekend full of fun and laughs.  The pouring rain this morning didn't even dampen my mood after such goody goody goodtimesssssssssss! haha. like mon blogue. 

Hiking in Kananaskis!

I've been hanging out in Canmore this weekend with Shona, and we decided to go on a HIKE!  The girls joined us and we started what would be an intense and epic journey STRAIGHT up this mountain...

Our first pause for pics!! Mitch and MP Jumpin!

Britt was bored of hiking so she tried some new techniques.......

The rest of us were bored of hiking so we did a sextuplet down dog. Pure talent. Mitch, Britt, Erin, Eve, MP, moi.

We FINALLY made it to the top and enjoyed the view!! Looking down on Fortress ski area?

Britt checkin the views....

Happy picnickers! Our spot on top of the ridge for lunch.

HAIR TOSS

MP, Erin, Even and Shona with the SWEETEST backdrop Evaaaa.

The descent...not so sweet. alllll the way down to that road.....

I took it slow and steady.....about 45 minutes slower than the rest! 

Looking back up at where we were.... impressive!!?

And our refreshing reward.

Shona and I cooled off in a lake nearby.  amazing.

A great day soaking up the sun and enjoying the mountains and fresh air!!!

ahhhhhh.