Confessions of a Fitness Instructor

It’s been a long couple weeks with very little blogging going on.  I think things are getting back to normal around here so I can get back to my usual 2 or 3 posts/week, but to catch you up here’s what’s been going on lately.

A few weeks back (the week before the big Applebee’s trip) I got sick with a nasty cold.  As bad as a cold is at the best of times, having to teach fitness classes all week-long with a cold is even worse.  Thank goodness I don’t need to talk much while teaching Zumba because I had no voice for 2 or 3 days, and am still dealing with the cough that came as a bonus with the cold.

Then Sunday night J got really sick and we had to call the ambulance for him.  It’s been a rough week for him (and me) but I think he’s on the mend now, but there were a lot of nights with very little sleep for me so teaching classes has been extra rough.  By the time my last class was over today I was so tired I wasn’t sure I could drive myself home.  Thank goodness I don’t have anywhere I need to go this weekend!  As a bonus, due to all the craziness with people being sick, and me working and whatnot I shouldn’t need to buy groceries this week because neither of us has eaten a real meal since last weekend.

J lost 11 lbs from being sick, I on the other hand think I may have gained 3 lbs, mostly from replacing meals with cupcakes (cupcake of the month post coming at you soon!!).

I’ve been actively trying to use up all of the bottles of creams, lotions, etc. I’ve got hanging around here so one night I decided to use a serum sample I had.  I slathered it on and went to the computer for a few minutes before I noticed my face was burning.  I went and looked in the mirror and I was as red as a tomato.  Lovely.  I washed the serum off and spent the next hour putting coats of aloe vera all over my face in hopes that it would heal during the night.  Thankfully it did – here’s a shot of me after 4 coats of ale vera…

For some inexplicable reason I’ve been watching Being Erica on Netflix.  Yeah that’s right, I’ve been watching a crappy Canadian show – a crappy CBC show instead of any of the countless (much cooler) good TV series on Netflix.  Why?  Who knows.

On Tuesday I didn’t even realize it was Valentine’s Day until I read it on a sign on a bus I passed on my way to a class.

Our plans for the weekend are sleep, followed by lying around watching TV & movies, eat, nap, watch more tv then repeat x3.  It will be glorious.  I may wear my Red Sox jogging pants until Monday, I haven’t decided yet.

I hope you are all doing good and I’ll be back with a couple posts next week after I get myself all rested up.

Have a great weekend!!

This past weekend, myself and three friends (Arlene, Lisa and Cathy) piled into my car and headed to the city for a day of shopping and supper at Applebee’s.  I had never been to Applebee’s before so when I was contacted by them a month or so ago and asked if I wanted to come try out their new “Under 550″ menu items, and told me I could bring three friends I was excited to start planning the trip!

We started off by going to Lululemon (no shock there!), and then it was a trip to a shop I’ve been dying to go to ever since I discovered they existed

I’ll forgive them for spelling my name wrong

This place was like heaven.  So many cupcakes to choose from (not to mention cheesecake bites, cookies, ice cream treats, etc.) I really wanted one of each flavour but I held back and settled with two, a snowball and a turtle cupcake.

To say they were tasty in an understatement.  I think I would like to live in a bowl of that butter cream frosting, it was SOOOOO good.  Probably a good thing I live an hour away from the shop otherwise I’d be there every day, and I’m pretty sure I would soon be the size of a transport truck. :/

After we all had a chance to savour some Susie’s Shortbreads goodness, we headed to Halifax Shopping Centre for a bit more shopping.  I hit up The Body Shop and Sephora and got some goodies (face cleansing wipes, exfoliating face wash, satsuma fragrance oil, hand & nail cream, and blush), after a bit more shopping it was getting close to our Applebee’s reservation so we headed there.

And thank goodness, because we (or at least Cathy and I) were starving!

Our table was already set up and waiting for us when we arrived.  Arlene and I both got 7-Up to drink, while the other girls got water.  And I should have known better, I never order clear pop (7-Up or Sprite) when we go to restaurants in Greenwood because their water makes the fountain pop taste awful, and because we were in the city where that water isn’t so tasty (we get spoiled out here in the country ) so the pop tasted a bit off.  I was going to ask for a different type of pop when it was time for a refill but forgot and actually the second glass tasted fine (maybe I had just got used to it?).

For our meals we all ordered from the “Under 550″ menu as that is what we were there to review, I ordered the Steak and Garlic Herb Shrimp (which contained 541 calories)

It included a 7oz. steak with shrimp covered in a light cream sauce, herbed potatoes, broccoli & carrots.  The steak and shrimp also had brushetta and almond slices on top.  It was fabulous.  My steak was cooked perfectly, was really juicy and flavourful.  The broccoli actually out shined the potatoes, which is a phrase I never thought I’d say but the broccoli was amazing!

Arlene ordered the Roasted Garlic Steak (410 calories)

Hers came with 7 oz marinated steak, sautéed onions, herb potatoes and a Portobello mushroom filled with creamed spinach.  Her only complaint was that her steak was really peppery tasting, almost so much that she couldn’t really enjoy the steak itself because of the overwhelming pepper taste.  She did say the steak was cooked well and was juicy, it just tasted more like pepper than garlic.

Cathy ordered the Sizzling Chili Lime Chicken (410 calories)

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but hers was bigger in volume than the other meals – but that is to be expected with a meal full of veggies!  Hers was basically chicken and stir fry vegetables served over rice with a spicy chili sauce.  It looked really good, and Cathy said she would order it again.  She liked the level of spiciness and her only complaint was that she would have rather it be served on a plate instead of the skillet.

And lastly Lisa ordered the Teriyaki Chicken Pasta (the calorie count wasn’t listed for this one as it was a substitution option under the Teriyaki Chicken Pasta which clocked in at 364 calories.  Though I expect the chicken version may have a few more calories)

I don’t recall any complaints from her on her meal, so I’d say she liked it

After we had finished, our server asked if anyone wanted tea or coffee.  I’ve been fighting a miserable cold for the past week and had brought some peppermint tea bags with me so I asked for  some hot water to make tea.  I was so happy when they brought this over to me.

They totally made my day.  Some places act weird if you bring your own tea, but since many places still don’t serve herbal teas it’s not odd for me to have some in my bag just in case I can get my hands on some hot water

Sidenote – if you have a cold/sore throat, peppermint tea is your best friend.  And peppermint tea with honey is REALLY your best friend.  I’ve gone through nearly a whole box of tea bags, and half a jar of honey since Friday!

Then, our server asked the phrase that girls who have been shopping all day love to hear, “Does anyone want dessert?”  The next thing we know three of these

and one of these

were delivered to our table.  I was one of the three with the lava cake (called the Triple Chocolate Meltdown) and let me tell you, it was awesome.  The cake itself was really spongy and light feeling, though it was certainly rich with its molten centre.  Of course in my mind it would be pretty hard to go wrong with warm molten cake and iced cream

Lisa had the apple chimi cheesecake, and while hers looked really yummy I would have a hard time ordering anything else besides the “Meltdown,” it was spectacular!

Overall, our experience was great, the staff was helpful and we were treated very well.  I would most certainly plan to eat there again when I am in the city for the day.

I think we all fell into sugar comas not long after this as our drive back to the valley was pretty quiet there for a while

Disclaimer: While all the opinions and thoughts addressed in this post are those of myself and my friends, Applebee’s Canada did provide our meal free of charge in exchange for a review on my blog.