dogs - Balance & Spice

Seeing Double

Last night, Ant’s sister Erin came over for dinner, and brought a visitor!

two black poodles

In Ant’s mum’s house, we have Ebony (on the right.) But Erin brought over the lovely Penny to spend some time with us as well!

The two of them are hilarious together. Ebony is normally pretty mellow, but Penny is a mama’s girl who adores Erin. She follows her around, and is depressed whenever Erin leaves. The two of them (Ebony and Penny, that is) set each other off, and behave just like sisters!

two black poodles two poodles begging

Don’t they look like muppets?

Anthony was out for dinner, so we enjoyed some girl time. For dinner, we had roasted salmon, and I made a salad. salmon and salad

It was delish! Into the salad went avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, a bit of feta cheese, salt, pepper and a raspberry vinegar. Gorgeous.

spinach and avocado salad

Today, Ant and I have a 3 mile run on the agenda, but I’m having some tummy trouble, so we’re pushing it off until this afternoon.

So, I enjoyed a small but delicious breakfast of about 1/3 cup of oats, frozen cherries, a pinch of unsweetened coconut, almond milk, and a tsp and a half of almond butter.

cherries and coconut

I can’t say it’s quite as good without the sheep’s yogurt, but I want to make sure that my tummy trouble isn’t stemming from dairy, so I let it go for the day.

Filed Under: Balance & Spice Tagged With: dogs, running

Renovations are SO MUCH FUN!!!

19 Jan By Kat Reiner Leave a Comment

Evenin’ Jab

Hey all!

How do you like the new look?! It was designed by the AMAZING Karen Lewis of Simply Amusing Designs.

I’m so happy to have a design that reflects my personality a bit more, and make my bloggy-blog feel right at home.

After an afternoon of working, I went on a three mile walk with the perilous pooch. It’s still surprising to me how incredible quiet our neighborhood is…on an ambling, hour-long walk, we saw about four cars and the loudest sounds were birds on the power-lines. Alfie was still a hit though – the few people we passed couldn’t get enough of petting him.

After I got home, we sat down for one of my favorite meals prepared in a new way:

roasted vegetable salad done my way

Roasted vegetable salad – bar style!

Salad bar of pure goodness

Tonight we made it for my parents, so put out the ingredients individually so we could all top it how we pleased. We put together the lettuce and roasted vegetables, and then everyone topped their own salads with chicken sausage, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, olives, and macadamia nuts. It was a really fun way to enjoy a healthy dinner.

The feta cheese was provided by Athenos, who were kind enough to send me enough yogurt and feta cheese coupons to last for weeks!

Athenos feta cheese traditional

While I’ve tried their plain yogurt before (it’s very nice and creamy) this was my first time sampling their feta. Tangy, rich and delicious, it’s a great feta to use in this and any recipe that would be betta’ with feta!

Anthony also tried some of their honey yogurt for desert, which he really enjoyed and said he would definitely have it again.

Have a great night, all!

Disclaimer: All of the opinions posted are my own honest thoughts. Athenos has not compensated me for this post in any way except providing me with yogurt and cheese. Which was awesome.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: dinner, dogs, reviews, walking

Burlesque Spin Class

18 Jan By Kat Reiner Leave a Comment

Daily Jab:

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, all!

Hi everybody! I'm Alfie!

This is Alfie, our 8-year-old golden doodle. He’s my best bud, and I’ve missed him so much. We got him when I was a junior in high school, and after I moved out for college, I missed him like crazy. He’s a total doof – He doesn’t quite realize he’s about 75 pounds and acts like he’s around 8, so he still tries to sit on people’s laps, runs straight into walls when he’s chasing after a toy, and weirdest of all, will not eat if my mother’s not in the room. That’s right – we have a co-dependent pup who seriously lacks depth perception. Oh, and he’s also a dog toy serial killer. Give him a toy…

"Grr!! I will kill you with my cuteness."

And he will destroy it beyond any recognition. God help the squeaker in the middle – it looks like the remnants of a war zone.

I have slain it for you, my queen.

I’m so spoiled by Alfie that all I ever want in the future are big, silly dogs. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely for our first dog, but still, a girl can dream, right?

Breakfast today was meatballs and rice-cakes. How weird. How yum.

For the workout of the day, mom and I did a spin class, and I gotta say, the teacher was rockin’ it! She played everything from Let’s Get Loud by the Spice Girls to the requisite Born This Way by Gaga, and while it wasn’t the hardest class in the world, it was fun. My favorite is when she played the Burlesque sound track and I couldn’t help myself – I had to dance a little on the bike.

What’s your favorite work-out tunes?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: breakfast, dogs, workouts