My Secret Garden

I spent all day gardening.  I was literally working on my gardens from 8:45am - 3:30pm today.  Thankfully, my mom stopped by around 12:30 to lighten my workload a little.  We turned the soil, weeded, edged and raked all of my gardens in the front, back and side yards.  This is no small task. 

Once everything looked clean and fresh we headed off to the garden centre to pick up some plants to fill a few empty spaces.  We MAY have stopped for a Marble Slab Creamery ice cream treat before heading home.  It is important to stay cool and refuel when gardening you know.  Once we got back from our excursion it was time to plant all the new stuff in their intended homes. 

My mom is a rock star gardening guru and the time spent working was actually pleasant with her to talk to and offer her sage gardening advice.  She has taught me a lot about gardening and I am so glad she is around to help.  I have a lot of gardens to manage all by my self and she made things seem easy.

My gardens now look like this...

Front Yard

Back Yard

Back Yard

Back Yard

Back Yard

I also planted some tomato plants and a small herb garden this year.  This will be my first attempts at growing something I am supposed to eat...I love fresh tomatoes in the summer and I can't wait to see if these bare some lovely salad additions.  Yum!

Basil, Lemon Grass and Rosemary

Once all the work was done it was time to play.  Bella has been learning to catch a Frisbee for the past year.  She is so quick and determined when we play.  It is amazing to watch.  She is a true doggie athlete.  Look at that form!!!  Remarkable. 

PBG Pups: Mrs. Bella

Guest Post by Bella.

Hi there!  My name is Bella.  My mom calls me lots of names.  Bella.  Bells.  Hells Bells.  Miss B.  Nice to meet you.

I am a Catahoula Boxer cross and I live with my mom in London, Ontario.  I don't mean to toot my own horn but have you ever seen a paint job as gorgeous as mine.  And my blue eye always catches everyone's attention. 

Whenever I am out with my mom on a walk or at PetSmart friendly people are always giving me compliments and telling me I am a pretty girl.  I can't really argue with them...I am pretty cute. 


The life of a Catahoula Boxer is pretty easy.  I spend a lot of time cuddling on the couch with mom.  My favourite spot is right between mom's legs when she is trying to watch TV.  So warm a snuggly.  I have to admit, mom is a pretty good snuggler too.  I am sure she loves it as much as I do.  Who doesn't love a good cuddle?  And besides, how could she resist this face?

My job is to guard the back yard and I take it very seriously.  It is my job to make sure we have no one trespassing in the back yard.  The worst offenders are squirrels.  Man, how I hate those darn squirrels.  Grrrr!

Well, I gotta run.  I have places to go and things to do.  Very busy.  Very busy.  Thanks for stopping by my mom's blog.  You might see me around here once and a while.  Have a good night!

Lie to Me

Does anyone out there watch this program?  The season premier is tonight and I am watching, blogging and cuddling (of course, with my girl Bella).    Please ignore the sweaty grossness that is me.  I just finished a 90 minute game of Ultimate Frisbee and we had no female subs.  But, Bella is the cutest isn't she?  She loves herself a good cuddle.

Tim Roth is great as Dr. Lightman.  If you haven't watched the show it focuses around the Lightman Group who are a group of professionals trained to "read" faces.  They can tell when people are lying, scared, happy and sad.  While the program is fiction it is loosely based on the science of reading facial micrexpressions and pioneered by Paul Ekman.  I find this kind of science fascinating.  Imagine, one eyebrow twitch or a grimace of the upper lip and you can tell exactly what a person is thinking.

Speaking of lying there has been a huge flurry of activity in the health and wellness blogsphere today because of this article in Marie Claire by Katie Drummond.  I am brand new to this whole blogging thing but I am sure that uninspired and thoughtless articles like this are nothing more than an outlet for an author who, unable to fine any real dirt on these inspiring women so she had to make it up.  Sure, I have no doubt that the quotes were accurate but it sounds like they were taken totally out of context.  To imply that blogs such as these promote or encourage disordered eating is laughable.  I am in awe at how MUCH most of these women eat (and drink!!  lol).  Katie Drummond is not a journalist and I hope subscriptions and readership of their magazine plummets.  I never really like there magazine much to begin with but you can be certain I won't be buying it ever again and I will let all of my girlfriends know about the lack of ethics at this tabloid.  

Do you have any thoughts on this kind of issue?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Moving on.  My eats were boring today and not photo worthy.  Oats, quinoa with greek yogurt and kiwi fruit, chicken, broccoli, pork loin, a Larabar (peanut butter of course) and a few scrambled eggs.  Not necessarily in that order. 

I had a good workout at the gym this morning before work.  A full body circuit, as follows:

12 - 15 reps per exercise, I did the circuit twice this morning:
5 minute warm up on the elliptical
Jump squats
Squats
Push Ups
Bent Over Rows 20lbs
Shoulder Press 15lbs
Wall Sit with Bicep Curl 10lbs
Triceps Kickback 10lbs
Walking Lunges
Front/Side Lateral Raises 8lbs (but have a slight rotator cuff injury and had to skip the front raises after a few reps)
Seated Row 45 lbs
Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl

This is a new routine for me and even though it looks pretty basic it was good.  Tomorrow is leg day...boo!