Helllooooo there!!!!!! February 3, 2011

How about a posty post for the heck of it?   A little love from Erin helped me 🙂  I really miss blogging, but life has changed around a bit since I moved and don’t have internet access at home, nor do I have time to really do great posts at work.

How about some updates? Forgive the lack of photos, but I’m at work and lazy and don’t want to take the time. 

A) After my successful Quest To Be Fit, I should have started the Quest to Remain Fit.  Remaining healthy is the biggest challenge for me, how about you?  Can you stick with eating well and exercise through thick and thin?  Or do you fall off like I do?  I fell off, gained back a few pounds, plumped up the cellulite, and now need to kick the old arse into shape within 5.5 weeks for Spring Break. 

I) Chris, Lily, and I are all doing well,  and we are still loving our new house and neighborhood. 

U) I can’t help getting on the toning shoes bandwagon.  LOLZ!  These babies caught my eye:http://www.reebok.com/US/product?modelId=30039358&articleId=J22002  What about you, have you bought any toning shoes? Felt/seen any difference?  I just got mine yesterday, so we’ll see how they do tomorrow at the gym.

E) My uncle is engaged!  Totally random news for y’all, but exciting for the family 🙂

O) Random occurrence of last year: one of our cars was stolen!  Worst part about it was losing my f.a.v.o.r.i.t.e. sunglasses, but best part was that I got more than I paid for my car from insurance, and I got to actually choose a newer car (rather than being given an opporutnity to buy a family hand-me-down with colors I wouldn’t have chosen).  Vroom vroom!

Can you figure out how I titled each update?  Not quite our vowels, but something similar…Let me give you a hint: “konichiwa!”

Peace out loves, hope you’re all well!

Skipping along in the new year February 8, 2010

“Why do you delete my drafts, WordPress?”  That’s what Lily wants to know… I was working on a post for (get this) two weeks or so, and today when I went to upload pics the text went bye-bye.  I think that’s a sign that my post sucked 😐  Moving on then!

December and January went by very quickly, with many good things and not very many bad 🙂  I’m back in a semi-decent workout routine (ahem, except for the last week or so…) and am eating better most days.  Our annual trip to Mexico is 5 weeks away, so my motivation to firm up has been driven mostly by the knowledge that I’ll be in a bikini poolside very soon.  I constantly struggle with body image, though, and the appearance of my stretched-out-one-too-many-times skin.  This year my sis-in-law and her sister will be staying at the same resort while we’re there, so I’m more nervous to bare my blubbery ass in the presence of people I know.  Being nearly naked in the company of strangers is easier for me; how about you? 

In an attempt to firm up the mid-section even more I bought a Bender Ball.  Does anyone else have one of these?  I really do like how the ball supports me during exercises, but I just wish the workout video was a real workout and not just a fluffy set of a few exercises.  I told myself I’d do the video at least once a day….yeah right, are pigs flying yet?  I do it at least a few time a week, and still do some other ab stuff at the gym.

I’ve baked twice in the last two months; both times it was banana bread.  Sad how infrequent my baking is since I do love it so, but I’ve opted to be a lazy broad most weekends when I would otherwise be churning out baked goods that I shouldn’t be eating 😐 

Woops, I moved while Chris tried to capture my baking prowess.

In January I threw together a butternut squash soup on a whim, and it was damn spiffy.  I started by caramelizing half an onion in a little olive oil and a tsp. of butter (didn’t need it now that I look back; soup could have been vegan easily), and roasted the squash in my micro-convect oven til browning and soft.  Next I pureed the squash and onions with coconut milk beverage and s&p using my handy stick blender.  I toasted the squash seeds in leftover oil in the onion pan, and topped the soup with those.  (Cook’s note: put a screen over the pan, cuz those pepitas will jump out of the pan if you let them!)  I loved the taste overall, but will hold back on the onion a little. 

Side note–I really dig this coconut milk stuff!  I got the plain flavor, and for only 50 calories a cup and like no sugar it does seem quite rich and has a nice mild taste.  I’ve used it in my oats a bit over the past few weeks and like it.  It is the So Delicious product from Turtle Mountain; I found it in the health food refrigerated section of my local Fred Meyer.  I also picked up one of their plain yogurts on clearance and quite liked it as well.  Not sure if I’ll pay $2/yogurt to have more, but when on clearance for $1 I’d like to try more.  Last week I also ended up using the frozen coconut milk ice cream they make–tres fabu!  If you go to their site you can download a $1 off coupon under the “rewards” section.  The link button is wigging out on me, so I’ll just paste the url here: http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/coconut_milk_beverage.html

Let’s see what else I have pics of to share…

Oh, yeah, so Chris and I have had a few margaritas over the last couple months.  One night our table at Si Senor looked like this.  Just one big happy family!!  I forget how we got so many different sized glasses…the restaurant staff like to try to get us drunk, apparently, cuz we get a free drink or two each time we visit.

It snowed sometime last month, I think.  All the dates just blur together now.  Here’s Lily enjoying the whiteout behind our house.  I really love where we live now because there’s all sorts of trails and walking-friendly streets in and near our neighborhood.  Last weekend I took Lily for a 3 mile walk along a golf course and wetlands area; got to see and hear tons of birds, and meet lots of other dogs and their owners. 

The darling pup in front of our tree.  BTW, the tree is still at our house–it is on the front porch waiting to be cut down and recycled.  Yard debris is only collected once every two weeks, so between the three wreathes, tree, and smallish bin it is taking forever to get rid of our piney X-mas goodies.  Seriously makes me think about getting a fake tree…

Did I ever show you this white trash creative bumper configuration?  Bungee cords holding on license plate holding on the bumper??  Why didn’t I think of that?

I had a blood test done in early January b/c I thought symptoms of a hyperthyroid were returning.  ‘Twas not the case!  After reviewing my test results with the doc I think it has really just been allergies and low vitamin D3 (like super-low).  She thought I may be anemic, too, but I don’t agree b/c I haven’t had the symptoms of anemia, and the blood #’s didn’t indicate anemia.  My cholesterol and triglycerides have dropped significantly because of my vegetarian diet and regular exercise no doubt. 

Sorry my posting has been so far between.  I have missed blogging a lot, but am still trying to keep up with your blogs each week.  I’ve cut down on the number I read, and now that I use Google Reader I rarely read all the comments and visit new blogs.  I don’t want to stop blogging, so we’ll see if I can find a way to take more pics and post more often. 

Hope you’re all doing well out there!  Happy February!  Any special Valentine’s plans?  I read somewhere today that people would rather be with their pets than their lovers on Valentine’s…. I’m surprising Chris with a river cruise and brunch.  Delightfully hokey, but with free flowing champange anything is enjoyable 😉

Well, Maria called and she’s having withdrawals since we haven’t been to Si Senor since Friday.  Oh my… I might have to go for a habanero margarita (ay-ay-ay!) and some black bean soup.  I LOVE the habanero margarita–it is really hot at first, but you get used to the heat and don’t even taste it after several drinks. 

Adios, amigas!

How did I…. December 1, 2009

Make it through the whole month of November and only post once?!  I suck!!  Chris and I moved on Nov. 7, and life has been a blur since then.  Where has the time gone?  I’m totally reeling that today is December 1st.  😐

You’ll have to bear with me… I don’t have my camera cord at work, nor can I plug the card into the CPU, so all you get it text, people!  I’ve taken some great pics of food here and there, but for the most part I haven’t eaten well and haven’t exercised in like forever.  I’m having some issues with body image b/c of how the bod is looking these days, and the fact that I now have like 10 large mirrors around the house.  Handy for getting dressed, not handy for freaky critical ladies like me to evaluate the bod!

On a great note, Chris, Lily, and I love the new house 🙂  Our move sucked b/c of the torrential rain that day, but the process went just fine (and we managed to avoid killing each other ;))  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house, and when all was said and done we were quite proud to invite our families into our home and serve them a wonderful holiday meal.  I was in charge of the following dishes:

• turkey
• mushroom dressing (vegan)
• mushroom gravy (vegan)
• mashed potatoes (vegetarian)
• root vegetable gratin (vegetarian)
• green bean casserole (vegetarian)
• pumpkin pie

Leading up to Thanksgiving I was torn over whether or not to eat turkey/non-veg items.  Poultry is my veg weakness it seems, and that bird was talking to me all afternoon while I roasted it.   I had a small piece of white meat, but otherwise my meal was vegetarian.  I should have just made mashed or roasted sweet potatoes, as my gratin just wasn’t quite right.  Okay, but odd–garlic and nutmeg in the same dish?  Okay, Gourmet, I trusted you but am not convinced. 

I was such a proud little domestic goddess in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.  I planned the menu meticulously, created a Turkey Day Timeline for prep and cooking, and then went and got the flu 😐  Gah!  Thankfully I had picked up the turkey the Friday before T-Day, but I was illin’ when I intended to do my fresh food shopping on Tuesday.  By the time I got to the store Wednesday there were no green beans, no Brussels sprouts, hardly any parsnips, no white, cremini, or dried porcini mushrooms, and like 10 sweet potatoes to choose from.  Gah!  I ended up nixing my Brussels sprout dish (boo!!), went with frozen green beans, subbed in mini mushrooms and mixed dried, and all turned out okay. 

After Thanksgiving Chris and I enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend at home.  Our new neighborhood has lots of walking paths, and butts up to two schools.  We take Lily for walks, and play ball with her at the school, and so far she’s loving the new neighborhood, too 🙂  I wish it weren’t getting dark so early so we could walk more after work…summer, where did you go!?!

It has been so beautiful here in Portland this fall–lots of sun, and not much rain (but for that week we moved!!).  The tree outside my office has lost its leaves, so now my office gets more light and I have a bigger view.  I love the crisp fall days, the remaining colorful leaves, and the beautiful sunsets.  I’m totally in need of getting my holiday baking on!!!  I almost make cookies this weekend…. I’ve got a leaf-shaped cookie cutter begging to be used 🙂

As you may have noticed I’ve all but abandoned the blogosphere 😦  Not intentionally, but because I’ve had so many things distracting me, I’ve not had internet access at home (and probably won’t), and I’ve honestly felt a little guilty.  Because I don’t eat as well, am not working out, etc., I feel bad in a way.  Since I can’t share my triumphs and glories of fitness and food I’m not as jazzed about blogging.  I kind of feel like I’ve let y’all down a little cuz I’m not as inspirational as I was 😐  Nameen?

Oh, dude, I almost forgot…. I hit my one year blogiversary in early November!  I think it was the 7th…  Can’t believe it has been one year, and that I’ve made so much progress in that timeframe.  I know, I know,  was just ranting about letting you (me?) down, but in reality I do feel proud that I shed nearly 30 lbs. and got my ass in better shape by working hard, eating well, and using the blogging community for support, inspiration, and resources. 

Enough of this novel!  Words without pics are boring, no?  Thanks for reading, bloggies!  I’ve missed you and hope to reconnect more soon!  Hope you all had a fabu Thanksgiving and are excited for the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!

All hail the throne October 31, 2009

Check out the new goods at the house!

That’s right, new thrones!  Toto Aquia III dual flush, to be exact.  But that heinous toilet seat has got to go.  The plumber used an off brand seat, and as you can see it hangs over the edge and isn’t quite the same white.  I’m so picky about toilet seats, not even joking.  It should look like this:

My pimp throne

Bet you love the fact that we kept the heinous vinyl underneath the throne.  The budget blew up, we threw the idea of new vinyl out, and ended up going over budget anyway 😐  Boo.

Here’s the living room.  Yes, that’s a vintage Oreck upright in there.  Thing is a sucking beast!!!  We inherited that, and a big Eureka (behind it).  I think I may keep the Oreck.  We moved all that stuff today so the carpet can go in tomorrow. 

And the kitchen….not quite finished, but almost there.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the new stuff—sink, faucet, instant hot/cold, cooktop, and counters.

A few weeks ago I finally took my giant stash of non-curbside recyclable plastics to a local depot, Far West Fibers.  So easy to drop it off!!  They only request that you separate plastic film from rigid plastics.  Done and done!  BTW, the backseat was also crammed full.  Now I just need to take in the styrofoam…  I collect these items from our personal use and from our office; this stash had been piling since almost the beginning of the year.  Hooray for diverting crap from the landfill and recycling instead! 🙂

   

The other day Chris and I saw this while driving. Rope holding the license plate holding the bumper up with bungee cords.  Why didn’t I think of that?

 

Today we picked up a sweet new treat at Costco.  Jordan knows what I’m talking ’bout.  We’ll share next week once the place is set up.  Tomorrow we start seriously packing.  Like, get more than 8 boxes packed.  In fact, I kind of hope we only have like 8 boxes left to pack after all is said and done.  Wish me luck!

As far as food goes, here were the day’s eats:

Breakfast—Kashi Go Lean mixed with crack (Pumpkin Flax granola), raisins, cinnamon, and almond milk. 

Lunch—leftover pizza from last night: kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, parm.

Snacks—cheese samples at Costco: Bandon cheddar, Jarlsberg Swiss, Kerrygold Irish cheddar, and cambozola of some sort. 

Dinner—Grilled cheese with fries (!) 

Quite a cheesy, carby day.  Um, I guess there was a semblance of veggies in there somewhere 😉

She’s alive! October 30, 2009

Dude, I haven’t posted in like over a month.  Where have I been you say?  Inundated at work, fixing up the house, and zapped of brain power to do much more.  But, things are going well at least!  Chris and I move into our new abode next Saturday, and I have like 8 boxes packed.  Gulp.

I get to be kind of a bitch when the important, stressful events in life come up.  I want to be all packed (in an organized way) before the moving day, get up early, and get all the shiot moved ASAP.  That way there’s more time at the end of the day to get the basics unpacked and chill.  But, Chris is the type that won’t be packed on time, will want to wake up at noon, then take like two hours to “wake up”, throw some shit in a box, and then start the move.  Are you fucking kidding me, I say??!!  General Gettheshitmoved here ain’t gonna let that happen! 

So, what’s been going on the last month+?  Not a lot of pictures, but some fun ones indeed.  I turned 28 on October 16, and am feeling a little odd now that I’m so close to 30.  Not bad, just different I think.  I hear someone say they’re 20 or 22 and feel like I’m in a whole different generation.  At least I can enjoy a good margarita and shamelessly sport a sombrero 😉

Here’s some of what I’ve been enjoying lately:

F*ck ups at the house on the HVAC install.  We used a reputable company we’ve worked with for a long time, and who just installed A/C at my mom’s this summer.  Uh, did they forget how to do their job?  Crappy A/C lineset, stained my laundry room floor, put ugly vents on the outside of the house (“they’ll be nearly invisible” my ass!), burned the siding, took forever… Everything but the floor was fixed.  I asked for $200 off the bill b/c of the floor, the owner was only wanting to offer $100, and now he’s ignoring my calls.  Fucker.  Le sigh, as Erin would say.

Chris in the dining room (used to be a family room).  No more wallpaper!

Looking at the more positive side of things….wall paper removal and drywall repair went really well, painting is wrapping up (this biotch ain’t afraid of color!), the kitchen counter went in yesterday, plumbing work is going on today, carpet on Sunday, lights installed soon.  So close to being done!  Walking into the house is so different, I almost cried the other day. 

There used to be a soffit here! (Powder bath)

Have any of you moved into a house a family member used to own?  At first I felt really awkward even thinking of making changes, like my grandmother would be upset or something.  But, more and more I became comfortable with the changes we’re making, and I’m glad we’re embracing the house my grandparents built. 

Food and exercise-wise I’ve been a lazy overeater!  Hardly working out, eating lots o’ crap, and even some chicken (!!!).  When the cold weather came in I really wanted soup, so when we hit up Mexican I ordered tortilla soup.  Yeah, that’s happened a few times now 😐

For my birthday dinner my family went out to Typhoon! Restaurant, a Thai delight.  Eating vegetarian here is rather tough when you crave curry and their pumpkin specialties, so I opted to order what I wanted, fish sauce and all.  The kabocha soup and pineapple curry were to die for 🙂 

I feel rather bad eating the chicken and fish sauce foods.  The food has been good, too, making it hard to resist the tortilla soup especially.  I seem to have an affinity for poultry 😐  With Thanksgiving coming up, I’m not sure if I’ll indulge in the meaty eats or stay veggie.  It’s going to be a doosy.

On Sunday I made soup!  No recipe in mind, just thoughts of what may create a savory vegan delight.  Behold, the weirdest soup ever:

Brussels sprouts, onion, mushrooms, green beans, a jar of tomatoes & their juice, water, Italian herbs, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.  Although it sounds a fright, it turned out really well!  I still have one serving left for lunch today.  I found than un-veganizing it with some parm makes it even more fab 😉

Anyone try those new Reebok EasyTone shoes yet?  I hate the commercial, but am intrigued by the technology.

I’m having some issues with my camera uploading pics to the computer, and this post has gone on quite long already, so I leave you to your weekend!  Have a great rest of your Friday and have a safe and happy Halloween!  Doing anything fun to celebrate?

Thar she blows!!! September 15, 2009

Ugh, I overate again!  And I am regretting it royally, just like most other times I overeat.  I think I’ve turned to my old ways of eating too much because of some anxiety and anticipation I’ve been feeling lately.  The other night I had a bad incident that involved wine, a Cazuela, and then a DQ Blizzard.  Not pretty.

My life has been full of home remodelling related research, selling my car (sold on one day on Craigslist, and I got cash—cha-ching!), trying to be productive at work, and having a somewhat full social calendar as well.  Gah, where is my sane life??

Workouts have been sparse, but good.  I started a Couch to 5k program just to switch things up a bit, but I haven’t done many of the walking workouts.  I was supposed to workout tonight, and catch up with the Driz along the way, but I bugged out.  Speaking of the Driz, we had dinner at Fajitas on Sunday!  She joined Chris and I for the picnic-table, Cazuela drinkin’ fun and we had a great time 🙂 

Let’s see what kind of pics I have for you….not in order

Egg and egg white scramble with green bell pepp, tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, and carrots.

Naughty veggie pizza with thin crust, extra sauce, and light on the cheese.

Beer to go along with the naughty pizza 😉

 

So after my wine, Cazuela, and Blizzard madness of Sunday I was mad hungover 😦  I worked from home and tried not to hurl.  Around lunch time I felt better and had a can of Health Valley Fat Free Minestrone soup, doctored up with garlic powder, garlic salt, Italian herbs, and some canned parm (the klassy stuff, you know how I roll).  The soup was low sodium (read sweet and bland), but the add ins helped.

Lily helping me polish off evidence of the Blizzard….

Field Day 2009!!  My friend Kristina coordinated a fun roundup of local friends and clients, chock full of silly games, BYOB, and picnic food.  I participated in the egg carry, water balloon toss, and tug of war, and spectated on the sack race and kickball. 

Just couldn’t resist flashin’ the cash.  Uber klassy, I know, but I’ve never held that much cash at one time!!!  Crazay!  It’s all about the Benjamins, baby 😉  BTW, I’ve never sold a car, or used Craigslist, and it all worked out so smoothly.  I sold the car less than 24 hrs after listing!  Now, if selling my house could just be as easy… anyone got a suitcase with a few hundred grand coming my way??

Frozen treats August 31, 2009

And no, tonight I don’t mean a Dairy Queen!  I’ve been enjoying some frozen fruit this week, specifically grapes and now cherries.  Girlfriend and her addiction turned me on to the cherries 😉

 

Last week’s produce pact worked out well, and I ran out of fresh goodies on Friday.  Although I ate more fresh produce, I also had too much other food 😦  Overeating at dinner out, throwing in a DQ Blizzard, and drinking a lot probably counteracted the good feelings that eating produce created 😐  Anywho…

This month’s Gourmet Magazine had a great roasted cauliflower recipe.  I didn’t add the kalamata vinaigrette, but all was well 🙂  I don’t like the cauli raw (the man prefers it raw), and roasted is now my favorite.  Give ‘er a try! I like how this recipe called for the cauli to be sliced into big 1″ sections, rather than florets.

Lily was so cute at dinner tonight!! 

 

Since I was a bad girl and didn’t do the rest of my grocery shopping yesterday, I had no lettuce today for lunch.  So, I had a lettuce-less salad of carrot, tomato, avocado, bell pepper, mushroom, and some leftover multi-grain rice from Saturday’s dinner.

 

Yesterday was WillaKenzie‘s Day in the Vineyard, a private event for members with wine classes and a wonderful catered lunch at the top of the vineyard.  So gorgeous!  Here’s the spread from the wine & food pairing class.  I didn’t eat but the wild mushroom and chevre tart b/c of the shrimp and fish the other bites contained, and as I ate it the chef casually mentioned it had bacon in it. :shocked: *^%$%$#*&^%*&(*)????!!!!!  Why do ya gotta add bacon??

Daniel, the vineyard manager, raises longhorn cattle and keeps many of them on the vineyard property.  Here’s Chris getting up close and personal with a friendly cow (she licked his hand!).

This is the big daddy of the pack—Rodeo Maximus.  His horn span is a whopping 72 inches.  Whoa!!  Better not get too close to that bad boy!

This little darling was checking her reflection out in the truck.  So cute!  She nosed and licked the truck, and almost took out the mirror with her horn. 

Lunch was a green and lima (??) bean salad with a citrus vinaigrette, a quinoa salad with squash, tomato, red pepper, onion, a mixed green salad with caramelized hazelnuts and sundried tomatoes, and yummy olive bread.  Not pictured are my four desserts:  two oatmeal raisin cookies, one chocolate-chocolate chip cookie, and one almond biscotti. 

These two cattle have the optimal longhorns—rather straight out, and possibly a little corkscrew type curvature.  Aren’t they perty!!??

Speaking of perty…here I am!  We walked up to lunch rather than taking the shuttle van. 

 

Compare this pic with the one from last year:

Andrea and her hubby, Chris, had a party Saturday for their 30th birthdays.  I got snuggly with their baby, Basil.  He’s such a sweetie, and so darn cute!!

Dinner before the party was an inspired creation:  stuffed white acorn squash with multi grain rice, sautéed tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, and garlic, seasoned with s&p, Nature’s Seasons, and Italian herbs.  I roasted the squash for ~45m at 325, scooped out some flesh to make more room, then stuffed it with the cooked filling and baked another 15 minutes.  Sadly the squash itself was rather bland 😦  What can I do to amp it up a bit?

Lily had a vet appointment in Oregon City Saturday morning, and on the way back we stopped at Spicer Brothers Produce.  They had tons of great items, with about half of them being local and super fresh.  Fresh apples!  FINALLY!  Although none of the items were labeled organic, Andrea had a great point in that many local growers use organic and sustainable methods, they just aren’t certified.  Spicer’s had great prices on most items, and the guys seemed to smile at me a lot.  This sexy bitch got her bananas at the “overripe” price rather than the regular price. That’s what I’m talking about. 😉

I got three new items:  golden delicious apples, white acorn squash, and donut peaches.  After washing everything thoroughly I dug into a peach.  WHOA!  SUPER sweet taste, with only a mild peachiness.  Ideal for mixing in with less sweet fruits, or used in cereal and other applications.  The apples are great!  Might be a new fave of mine.

 

I thought Friday’s salad looked especially pretty:

After hitting up DQ for a Tagalong Blizzard Tuesday night, we treated Lily to a doggy cone again 🙂  She gets excited when we pull in to DQ now cuz she knows what’s coming.  Oops!

 

And that just about sums up the last week.  I’ve still been a less-than-stellar worker bee and am still having trouble getting back in to busy mode at work.  I’m rather like obstinant-non-worker bee 😐

So, I guess I’ll officially announce that Chris and I are buying my grandmother’s house.  This month we’ll be getting quotes for updating the house (gotta green the place up a bit, repaint some, remove wallpaper, change out carpet, add a fence, ya know).  After family is in town for my grandmother’s Celebration of Life party in late Sept. I think we can clear out the unwanted furniture/etc., and then in October the work can be done.  We anticipate taking possession and moving around Nov. 1.  Holy moley—can’t believe it’s really gonna happen!! It’s kind of surreal, frankly, and rather stressful.  But exciting nonetheless 🙂 

Tata!

Produce pact August 24, 2009

Over the last month or two my produce intake has fallen from a roarin’ presence daily to piddly eatins some days.  My energy, skin, fitness, and mood have suffered.  Granted there are a million factors that could be contributing to these last items, but I really think not taking in as much produce is a huge part of it.  I’m stuck in a vicious cycle of not getting all my nutrients from beautiful produce, suffering from cravings as a result, and eating not-so-great food choices. 

I have committed to increasing my intake this week, and have the fridge full of freshly washed and prepped produce to back me up.  I had betta eat it, cuz I hate throwin it away!

Here’s some of the week’s eats:

View Full Album

Yes, I had another Tagalong Blizzard!  Dangerous!

I managed to get to the gym three times last week, I think…maybe two.  I have GOT to get on the weight training wagon again and focus on abs, ass, triceps, lats, inner thighs.  Now that I’ve lost all the weight I want to, I’d like to get a little more cut and firm. 

The last few weeks I’ve been in a totally poopy mood a lot of the time, but I think the cloud is lifting now 🙂 

Not sure what else to say now so off I go!  Later bloggies!

Food review: Kardea Cranberry Almond Nutrition Bar August 18, 2009

Thanks again to the folks at Kardea who were kind enough to send me samples of their Nutrition Bars. 

The facts: 

• 1-1.4 oz bar contains 150 cals (45 from fat), 5g fat (0.5g saturated), 21g carbs (7g dietary fiber, 11g sugar), 7g protein
• 1g natural plant sterols to assist in cholesterol management
• 19 ingredients listed, including 4 sweeteners. Top five ingredients are: brown rice syrup, almonds, agave syrup, dried cranberries, and rolled oats

Observations:

• (+) soft texture was pleasing
• (+) large pieces of cranberry
• (+) nice fiber and protein stats to promote satiety
• (+) love that it only has 150 calories
• (-) not keen on the fact that it has four sweeteners:  brown rice syrup, agave syrup, evaporated cane juice, and sugar.  Does it really need all of those?
• (+) At least they are mostly low-glycemic sweeteners
• (-) almond extract taste was the first thing I noticed, but the bar doesn’t contain extract, just almonds.  Kind of fake-almondy tasting and struck me as odd.
• (-) not much of a cranberry taste
• (+) vegetarian (I’d say vegan, but they only claim “vegetarian friendly”)
• (+) kosher

(Note:  Since I wrote this over a month ago I also had some of the Banana Nut bar.  I noted the same fake-ish almondy taste at first bite.  I also ate another one of the bars, and noticed the same thing.  Not sure what it is, but not quite my bag.)

This spring I upped my fruit and veggie intake, and pretty much stopped eating bars regularly.  I eat them rarely for a super early a.m. pre-workout snack, or in a pinch for an afternoon snack when I don’t have anything else.  Nothing against bars, I have just been trying to eat more fruits and veg!

Given all of this, I liked the product well enough, but would probably not buy them on my own.  If you seek a softer snack bar with good nutritionals give them a try.  Especially if you like the taste of almond extract 😉

And Somehow things Improve August 17, 2009

Tonight I’m trying out Windows Live Writer; saw it on Miss Bender’s blog and thought is sounded nifty.  Loving it so far!  I really like that while I type the layout looks just like my blog, not just typing in some window without any frame of reference.  It also does spell check while you type!  Only thing I can’t figure out is getting the post to be sticky without having to go in manually on WordPress to do it.

I’ve mentioned a few times how I’ve been in a bit of a funk and listless.  Today was not much better—I slept like shit (undoubtedly from the shit I put in my body yesterday), and was just not in to anything this morning.  But, it all turned around when I took my car in for a service and was given this beauty to drive:

Amen!  The demons have been exorcised!  Amazing how driving a fun car with the top down on a sunny day improves your spirits 🙂  Yee-haw!  This lil’ beauty is a 2008 BMW 128i, convertible obv.  So fun, so easy, so free spirited.  Just what I needed 😉  I love you Jerry (my Rasmussen Service Advisor)!!!

I didn’t do a whole lotta workin’ today.  Instead, I took my tired, yet enthused, ass home early and went for a quick, super sweaty cardio date with the stairmill.  I didn’t eat breakfast today; Skinny Bitch was in my head, telling me to wait until I was really hungry to eat.  That was at 11:30 or so, and was just strawberries and cherries.  I also had a nectarine before I worked out.

Lunch was another story.  I was hungry, but I ate too fast, and had a little heartburn as a result.  It was worth it, tho 😉  1/2 a whole wheat pita stuffed with Romaine, avocado, shredded carrot, sliced grape tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, Nature’s Seasons, and Sabra hummus.  (I would insert a pic, but I’m too lazy to get the camera cord out.  I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera and the pic is on the internal memory.)  Yum!

I followed that up with the other half of the pita, and the rest of the Sabra.  Since the hummus is going fast, I opted to make a batch of it for the week ahead.  Westbrae garbanzos, Nature’s Seasons, cumin seed, toasted sesame seeds, olive oil, ‘zo juice, dash of vinegar, salt, garlic powder and pine nuts.  Mmmmmmy.

Let’s try out this Windows Live album thing, shall we?

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Um, yeah, that’s a DQ Blizzard at  the end.  I was driving all over town to have fun in the car, and somehow ended up at DQ.  This time I got a Doggy Cone for Lily, and a Tagalong Blizzard for myself.  Oh. my. god.  That was one helluva treat!  So tasty, so naughty, and so completely unnecessary 😐 

I put that on top of dinner tonight, which was a burrito at Fajitas.  I kind of got sick of burritos awhile back, and now I’m rather sick of everything else, so a burrito sounded good again.  Vegetables, rice, whole beans, verde sauce, olives, jalapenos.

Hm, what else do I have to share with you?  Yes, that is a trailer full of shitters there in the middle.  Too much to pass up taking a pic!

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Off I go to be a library geek and check the status of my books on hold.  Skinny Bitch only held me over for two days!  What’s a girl to do? 😉

Maybe Sabra does have something… August 16, 2009

Awhile back the great folks over at Sabra were kind enough to send me a few coupons for their delights, and Friday night I finally found Sabra products in my local Winco.  (Costco has them, too, but I couldn’t use a coupon there.)

Chris and I tried the variety shown here:

 

Overall I quite liked the taste and texture, but there’s something in here that makes my throat tickle/burn a little.  I got over that and consumed a large blob with lunch, and many other unpictured tastes, mostly with cucumber as my dipping agent. 

This week has been a tough one for me–I was especially unmotivated at work and feel like I just sat there all week doing nothing.  I’ve also been a tad depressed and listless at times 😦  Boo.  

On a positive note I worked out four times!  Monday was a full body weight sesh, Tuesday a hot date with the stairmill, Wednesday a walk/run with Lily, and Saturday a leg workout and stairmill sesh.  I was very happy to get back into the gym and sweat my little heiny off–hurt so good!

I mentioned Winco on Friday night.  I was feeling a little blah, and thought I’d venture out to Walmart (gasp!) to see what the store was like.  I haven’t been to a Walmart in over 5 years, since when I was in Klamath Falls with the ex.  Not my favorite place, but I was curious about their groceries.  I ended up finding a Danskin shirt for $5, and some leggings for $5.  No full-on grocery section, but they did have some things.  I picked up some tuna for Chris, a can of garbonzos, and some baking soda.  Woop-de-doo. 

Not in the mood to go home just yet, I ventured to Winco afterward.  I was saddened by their lack of organic produce, but very impressed by their bulk and organic bulk offerings.  Then I caught sight of the Sabra. Who woulda figured that the discount grocer would have Sabra?!  I also picked up Dreyer’s Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, which I promptly opened up and ate directly from the container when I got home :shocked:.  I totally didn’t need it, but was a bad girl and ate some anyway, only to feel a tad guilty afterward.

Let’s see, what else do I have here…

More of my own hummus and other goodies:

An avocado tostada, jalapenos fritos, cucumber with lime and jalapenos (grown by the restaurant manager :)), and some of Si Senor’s new salsas from their salsa bar.

Chinese food!  It had been a long time, but we were craving Chinese the last few weeks.  I should have gone with my intuition and ordered something with veggies as the base, but I’m a sucker for Kung Pao.  Here’s a vegetarian spring roll, Chris’ BBQ pork, and my Kung Pao Fried Bean Curd.  Yes, fried tofu.  I’ve realized I’m not a fan of the taste of tofu, but it was rather good fried–kinda chewy on the outside and soft/melty on the inside.  I forgot to ask for brown rice!

I liked how the blueberries nestled with the apple here 😉  Did I tell you I picked a huge bag of blueberries out of my dad’s yard?  He was going out of town so I took the opportunity to be a blueburglar. 

Thursday was Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen; what a fabulous excuse to go get a Blizzard! Of course I didn’t do so well when put on the spot–“What would you like?”  I was like a deer in the headlights!  I should have gone for the Tagalong cookie blizzard, but opted instead for a chocolate base with cookie dough added in.  Not too shabby, but Tagalongs or Reese’s would have been perfect in there.  Chris got the Thin Mint, and was kind enough to flip off the camera when I snapped the pic.  He’s so klassy 😉

Roar!

 Last night we attended another dinner bonanza at Typhoon! Beaverton.  Our friends Eric and Benny coordinated the evening and got 17 of us around the chef’s table to enjoy like 13 delicacies and tons of wine.  There were quite a few veg options, but I still did have a few non-veg things:  crab pad thai (picked out the crab; didn’t like the flavor of the dish anyway); a green salad with chicken (picked out the chicken); Drunken Noodles with chicken (picked it out) and Bo’s Lemongrass Clam Chowder (holy yum!!).  Other than that, I had Miang Kum sans shrimp, a veggie spring roll, spicy green beans, veggie fried rice, white rice, broccoli, and a few things I’m sure. 

I drank way too much wine, ate way too much rich food, and paid the price with an aching belly for awhile and some digestive repercussions.  I haven’t had meat/seafood/flesh for a long time now, and each time I’ve tried something with flesh in it, I haven’t liked it.  The only exception was the chowder, as that is just liquid crack.  Don’t believe me?  I had three small cups of it :shocked:.

Yesterday I picked up Skinny Bitch at the library and am about halfway through it already.  It has been interesting to read through the chapters and affirm a lot of the changes I’ve already made in my diet, exercise, and health overall the last 8-9 months.  Lately I’ve thought a lot about going vegan, but then I encounter foods I love and think, “No, I don’t want to go vegan, and that’s okay.”  Most of the time I don’t eat animal products, but some egg and cheese products give me great pleasure every once in awhile.  I don’t like milk, but the damn cheese!  And whipped cream, ice cream/froyo, and a few other things.

The book makes a point about the body’s pH, and specifically that being overly acidic causes a myriad of problems, including allergies.  I do love my morning coffee (drinking some now), but I know the acidity is not good for me.  Every time I think of reaching for tea I cry a little inside– no coffee? cup of joe? black gold?  But would it relieve the allergies I get? Joint pain? Skin problems I can’t get over lately?  Garhhhhhh… I will contemplate this further to see if I want to give up my tasty coffee with Silk Creamer.

Thinking more about vegetarianism and tough food encounters, Thanksgiving and Christmas have crossed my mind more the last few weeks.  Specifically, will I choose to eat turkey and gravy?  If there’s a big prime rib for Christmas I can avoid that no problem, but Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite.  What’s a newly vegetarian girl to do?! 

I leave you with a few more pics from last night.  Ciao, bellas!

Sabra ain’t got nuttin’ on me! August 9, 2009

Inspired by this wonderful blog today, I bought some canned garbonzos at the store and whipped up a quick and easy batch of hummus tonight.  This was my first batch in a real food processor–so easy and the results are great!  I used one can of ‘zos, some of their liquid, olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, Nature’s Seasons, toasted sesame seeds, and a touch of vinegar (no lemon juice on hand).  Yum-yum-yummy! I ate a small serving with half of a toasted whole wheat pita.

During dinner outside at Fajitas, I looked up and saw this cloud…it kind of looks like a duck!

Today I finally got new shoes.  My footsies have been hurting a bit when working out, so I stopped by Portland Running Co. and had the assistance of a knowledgable expert in selecting my new shoes.  Turns out that I overpronate, and these babies are more supportive toward the arch to help prevent that.  The guy also recommended that I go up a half size to allow more room for my feet to expand while working out.  Say what?!  Go up to a size 10?!  Oy vey…watch out for my massive feet! 

I know it has been a long time since I posted regularly, and there are lots of things I’ve done and eats I’ve had in that time frame.  My eating was off for about two weeks, and has been back to almost “normal” for about a week now.  I’m not consuming as much fruit and veg as I had been, but I think I’ll be back there soon. 

Today’s lunch: egg/eggwhite omelette with broc, carrot, tomato, red bell pepp, avocado, and some cheddar.  The cheese was an impulse add…not necessary.  1/2 of a whole wheat burger bun toasted with some Smart Balance Light.  Excellent!

Peach marionberry pie from Lee Farms after dinner at my dad’s last night.  Mmmmmm.   I visited the Lee Farms store with my daddy-o and also got some marionberry doughnuts :0 

This past Wednesday I was fortunate enough to attend a blogger meet up with Andrea, Sarah, and Nate.  So much fun!  We all had a blast talking about food, life, blogs, and more.  Considering I’d never met Sarah or Nate we all chatted like chums and shared a great evening together.  Thanks, guys!  Lookin forward to more blogger misbehavin! 🙂

(L to R: Andrea, Nate, Sarah)

At one point Sarah said something that struck me–she pictured that I was not as fit/healthy as I am from the way I speak about myself on the blog.  This confirmed for me that my negative body image comes out more than I realize, and that I need to be more positive about the progress I’ve made.  I’m glad she said something, cuz otherwise I probably would have continued being a negative nelly.  Thanks for being so honest and open, Sarah!  I appreciate it greatly 🙂 

I finally tried banana soft serve yesterday.  It was good, but for some reason I pictured it not tasting so banana-y.  Yeah, I know, it’s made from bananas, but still.  Good stuff, tho!  I bought some super dark chocolate and thought of mixing in some gratings next time.

Pancakes!  Don’t get too excited, I’m using up a box of Bisquick.  I doctored up the mix with ground flaxseed, and cinnamon, then topped ’em with a little SB Light and real maple syrup.

About a week earlier I enjoyed the blueberry version of these:

While Erin was in town I had all sorts of drama going on, but we finally managed to have a lunch date at Blossoming Lotus.  I enjoyed a Mediterranean wrap with cashew hummus, cucumber, kalamata olives, lettuce, tomato, and I had them add avocado.  So good!  I think Erin was jealous of my burrito butt 😉  Hehe!

If you ever get the chance to hang out with Erin–DO IT!  This wonderful lady has been a glowing presence in my life for over ten years, and I don’t know where I’d be without her.  Seriously.  She is such a good listener, counselor, partner in silly crime, domestic diva, and a hundred other fabu things.  And she’s gorgeous 😉 I love her to death!  Miss you love pie!

While my aunt was in town I made a yummy dessert inspired by June’s Gourmet Magazine.  I cooked some blueberries and maple syrup together, stirred in a little lemon juice, whipped up some cream with more maple syrup, and crushed some ginger snaps.  Those were all layered in some cute dishes and topped with some fresh blues.  Yum!

Let’s see…what else shall I post for you…

My bee house has residents!  See the blocked holes?  A bee carefully sealed those holes and someday soon I’m sure we’ll see baby bees emerge.  (I actually have no idea what will happen…this is the first year I’ve had a bee house.)

On the way to the blogger meetup the other night I popped into Dave’ Killer Bread Healthy Bread Store to pick up some surprise goodies for us all.  I picked up Sin Dawgs and Ginger Meltaway Cookies.  Oh. So. Good.  Turns out Andrea also stopped by there on the way!  Great minds think alike 😉  We all made out like bandits with Dave’s goodies that night, and I’m still working on the Sin Dawg (pictured below).

Whoa, this season of Real Housewives of Atlanta looks intense!  Lots of fights and yelling.  May be too much d-d-d-drama for me!

Since this blog isn’t exactly a progressive sensical stream of thoughts, let’s review some other random goodness:

-The Food Network has a show called “What Would Brian Boitano Make” coming out soon.  Does this call up crazy South Park memories for anyone!?  “What would Brian Boitano do…” (sing it!)

-Velveeta was invented by Kraft in 1928 as a convenient way to have “cheese” when most people didn’t have iceboxes.  In 1953 they created Cheez Whiz, and in 1966 EZ Cheese came on the scene.  Aren’t you glad you know these facts now?!  Some people make brownies with Velveeta in them (a moistening secret).  Ew. 

-Did you spill your glass of cola on the floor?  No worries, just grab the Smart Mop, clean it up, and “in these tough times wring it back into the glass and it’s ready to drink all over again.”  How economical!

-I might be moving!  Finally!  Don’t want to jinx anything, but I’ll keep you posted as details develop.  I hate living in the SE Portland metro area, and yearn to be back in SW Portland like none other.

-The IKEA catalog arrived in the mail yesterday.  It’s the paper form of crack, I tell ya.

-I only get B.O. when exposed to sunlight for prolonged periods of time.  No amount of working out or sweating releases the odor, but the sun does it 100% of the time, deodorant or no.  Have you noticed this before? 

-This post is getting long.  Time to wrap it up!

Later!

When life hands you lemons… July 28, 2009

…make lemonade!  I remember buying a greeting card that said that when I found out a family friend had cancer.  The line stuck with me. 

This last week has been a bit difficult, but has also had its positives.  I think that being together with family so much this last week has helped us cope, share memories, find some comic relief here and there, and band together to be productive and face what lies ahead. 

I’ve been up and down each day, but feel best when I’m helping to do something toward my grandma’s estate and settling her affairs.  Since I’m a financial planner I naturally dove in to help the family put together a list of accounts, to-dos, etc., and begin taking action.  My grandma had a great estate attorney and accounting firm who are getting all the legal and tax ducks in a row, but all the other stuff is rather daunting to my dad and his siblings.  But, alas, I quite enjoy it.  Financial geekery, ahoy!

The last week has been filled with especially bad eating and no exercise.  Y’all get a gallery since I’m too lazy and tired to individually insert all of the pics.  But here are some highlights, per my usual m.o.:

• Pizza three times for dinner, plus a few days of having leftovers for lunch.  Oy. vey.
• Dessert, dessert, dessert! 
• Mexican food for like 3 nights in a row.  E-gads!
• Hardly any fruit and fresh veg 😦  And I can feel it 😦
• The frickin’ heat here is INSANE.  It’s been well over 100 the last few days.  Tomorrow is supposed to be over 100 again. Then we’ll “cool down” into the upper 80’s this weekend. Amen for the A/C!!
• The Powerball jackpot is $102M, and I bought a $4 ticket.  And no, I do not condone this activity!
• I visited the cemetary where my grandparents have their names on a remembrance wall.  It was a beautiful, peaceful evening, and I am glad I went.
• On Thursday I get to see Erin!!  Yayaya!  I’ve missed her so!

Hope you’re all having a good week.  I’m ready for it to be over.  Tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday I’m helping my mom finish packing, move to her new place, and clean out her old place.   Should be a disgustingly hot and sweaty endeavor.  If I survive I’ll be back soon to tell you all about it, I’m sure 😉

Ain’t life grand? July 21, 2009

My life officially sucks.  I’ve been a bit of a depressed stress case the last several days, and then this morning my world was rocked a bit. 

My grandmother had an ischemic stroke late last night at her house, and my uncle found her unconscious this morning.  She’s in the hospital and still unconscious.  Her entire left brain was affected, and it does not look like she will recover at all.  This is the end of the line for her it seems 😦  I think my aunt is flying in from Colorado, and my brother from Seattle, so we can all gather to say goodbye and determine when to take her off of life support.  She is mostly breathing on her own, but every once in awhile the breathing machine kicks in.  She did not want any life prolonging measures, and at 88 I can understand why.  (Hell, at 27 I don’t want life sustaining measures.)  She’s had a long, fruitful life, but I’m sad that this all happened so fast and I won’t get to interact with her again.

Not sure when I’ll post again, but see you on the flipside.

Flippity flop July 15, 2009

My day kept swinging from postive to negative as if some sadistic bastard were flipping a switch.  Although the day went up and down and all around, it ended on a tres positive note 😉 

Yesterday’s eats:

Kashi Go Lean with bluebs and almond milkI'm diggin' the KGL's nuances and the voluminous portions, and may just have to deal with buying more cereal in a box, packaging and all.Romaine, boca burger, yellow bell pepp, avocado, mushroom, balsamic, grape tomsOh, and some pepitas for interest. Yay!Fruit, glorious fruit! And a carrot 😉

Pictures!

This was supposed to be posted on the 10th or something like that….no wonder I didn’t get any comments!!

____________________________________

I’m in another crappy mood, well sorta.  No reason really, but for being a tired, cranky biotch!  You get a pictorial with few words ’cause that’s what I fell like tonight…

Thursday:

Steel cut oats with fruit, cinnamon, and ground flax

 

Oh, mercy! Omelette with green chiles and sharp white cheddarApple pancake. Me oh my!Mmmmmmm.....cake

 Friday:

Granola with fruit and almond milk. Back on track to a healthy day?Yes, even though these were calling my name!

(No pic of my lunch salad: Romaine, avocado, carrot, yellow bell pepp, grape tomato, balsamic, black pepper)

A fruity snack to deter myself from eating a donutAnd more fruit b/c hunger wouldn't go away

 

View from the Chart House

Nummy bread and butter

Pasta with lightly cooked tomatoes, broccoli, red bell pepp, basil, and some cheese

Mud pie with chocolate sauce, nuts, and whipped cream

Key lime pie (Grandma was going in for it...)

And another piece of this beauty for dessert squared

Whew, I think I’m ready to hibernate.  Oh, wait, summer is just getting started.  Phoey.  Guess that means I have to work out tomorrow and start eating normally again!!

Whipper snapper July 13, 2009

I attended my 10 year high school reunion picnic this weekend, and now I wish I would have attended the main even Saturday night.  I pussed out thinking it was gonna be a drag, but now I’m looking through some classmates’ pics, wishing I were there to see more people.  I saw about 20 people Sunday

The last few days I’ve been totally lacking with my photos, although I’ve had some really pretty eats that I wish I could share with you. 

Saturday

Ikea $0.99 breakfast with fruit and coffee! Yogurt was my mom's.

 

 

Ginger cookie samples 😉

Funky Swedish seafood products. Fish in a tube???

After 4 hours at Ikea a froyo cone was in order 😉

These bars were in my mailbox when I got home!! First sample ever for the blog!!  I don’t eat many bars these days, but I’ll have to fit these bad boys in.

I was so.tired. after Ikea.  Not enough sleep, not working out regularly, and not eating lunch yet was wearing on me.  I finally had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean with berries and almond milk.

My first bowl ever of Kashi Go Lean. Good stuff! Apple and PB for a snack

The price of gluttony July 10, 2009

Yesterday was a food fest that I’d rather forget about.  But I can’t.  I consciously ate to excess and paid the price–I could hardly sleep last night.  A picture post is to follow; for now I will detail my gluttony.

Breakfast:

Started out innocently enough, with a hearty bowl of oatmeal and fruit.  Ended up with me drinking excessive coffee all morning.

Lunch:

I knew I was in for it as soon as my mom said “The Original Pancake House” as her birthday lunch choice.  Going in I was okay with overeating a bit since eating there is a rare treat, but once at the table I couldn’t control myself and “overeating a bit” turned into not being able to put the fork down.  In the presence of the Green Chile Omelette (we subbed in sharp white cheddar for the pepperjack–OMG!) and the Apple Pancake I kept finding my fork travelling from mouth to plate to mouth to plate to mouth… the flavor sensations of the cinnamony, sweet pancake were to die for, and the fluffy, creamy omelette was sensational.  What was a girl to do???  Keep eating and wash it down with more coffee 😐  I felt a bit guilty about overeating, but at least I wasn’t so full that I felt ill.

Dinner:

Another business function at Andina Restaurant in the Pearl led to consumption of two glasses of wine, and:

CHICHARRSN DE LANGOSTINOS crispy golden prawns studded with quinoa, served with huacatay-peanut sauce

HONGOS SALTADOS  wild mountain mushrooms wok-fried with onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, garlic, and ajm, served with Yukon Gold “papas fritas” and garlic rice

FLAN DE QUESO DE CABRA
creamy goat cheese and lemon cake, served with fresh seasonal berries laced with basil and habanero

and some of Chris’  MOUSSE DE VALLE Y SELVA a tiered semi-freddo of velvety lucuma and espresso mousses, chocolate ganache, and crushed cocoa nib meringue, served with espresso shortbread.

Holy shit, I ate too much, and it was not nearly as satisfying and tasty as lunch.  I ate only one of the prawns, and it totally wasn’t worth it.  Our waiter asked me if I wanted to skip them since I told him I was vegetarian, but I got them for Chris.  The main dish was good, but nothing spectacular, and the Flan was quite yummy (I only ate half), but I found myself nearly licking out Chris’ mousse glass.

Postre:

Yes, there was another postre!  We went to pick up Lily, and I had a slice of cake from Helen Bernhard Bakery.  It was pink champage cake with raspberry French cream filling, and vanilla French cream frosting.  To. Die. For.  But, more than this gluttonous biotch needed!  Ack!

This incredible combination of rich eats, sweets, wine, and what not left me kinda grumpy last night, and really tired.  I mean, I was tired from a lack of sleep, too, but I think the food made me drag.  I fell alseep for a few hours, then tossed and turned for many more.  Was there a lot of caffeine in those cocoa nibs or the espresso shortbread? I thought of getting up to go workout finally, but that didn’t happen.

Today my sweet tooth has kicked in since I ate all that sweet stuff yesterday.  Eating crap leads to wanting to eat more crap and so on in a vicious cycle, no?  One of my colleagues brought in Voodoo Doughnuts today–damn him!  I have successfully avoided them but for taking a picture to share with you later, as tonight is another feast in celebration of my mom’s birthday.  This time at The Chart House.   I called ahead and the only vegetarian dinner they have is pasta marinara or something like that; sounds fine by me.  I hope to do better with the volume of my eats, and hold off on dessert in favor of having more cake at my mom’s afterward 😉

If this post has made you crave unhealthy food or given you the desire to go stuff your face, perhaps my last words will deter that–Chris said the house smelled like I shit my pants last night from my gas.  That’s right, the house, not just the bedroom.  Aw, thanks, honey.  Ain’t that sweet?  I guess I expelled this lovely odor during the few hours while I actually slept, cause nothing was a rumblin’ before I hit the hay, or after I woke up.  But(t), apparently that mix of eats was lethal!

With those fine thoughts I leave you to ponder your Friday afternoon/evening. I’ll probably be back later to post pics of most of the above, along with today’s eats.  Chow!  Ciao!

Butternut, why do thee hate me? July 8, 2009

I’ve been uber frustrated the last three times I’ve made butternut squash chips–they don’t turn out like the crispy gems I’ve come to love.  Rather, they are a bit floppy and just not quite right.  I ran out of my canola oil spray and switched to olive oil spray; perhaps that is the culprit?  But tonight I didn’t really use spray (just a touch on the pan) and I still had issues.  Makes me wanna give up!  The only other change I’ve made is not nuking the squash for quite as long before peeling and slicing.  Is that my problem?  We shall investigate next time…

This blogger has been a cranky bitch the last few days, and has eaten erratically (or so it felt like).  I’ve eaten just to eat, gone for frozen yogurt quite a bit, and haven’t been satisfied at times.  I’m not sure what is up, but mentally things have been a little tougher and that has contributed to my issues. 

Notes of the last three days:

• I visited WinCo Foods for the first time in like 20 years.  What a trip!  They are a bargain grocer and also have some household items and toiletries.  Of course while I was there they had put away all the produce and bulk goods to clean the floor 😐
• Get ur ass boobs to Target to pick up a fabulous Champion sports bra for $12.99 (thru Saturday)!!  Two styles to choose from, like 15 colors, and both are super comfy.  The girls are in love!
• Chris modeled my Mexican Ropa Vieja salad for the camera.  That icky looking thing in the middle is a fried jalapeno–ay, ay, ay…muy picosa!
• Raspberries from Costco = heavenly add to this week’s produce 🙂
• Tomorrow is my mom’s birthday and it marks the beginning of three to four days of eating out too many times for various reasons.
• I’ve worked out twice this week, three times if you include tennis on Sunday.  Already 200-300% better than last week!
• The walls of my office are still naked and stark–I can’t commit to any art, picture, tapestry, or otherwise. 😐  Perhaps a trip to Ikea Saturday can cure that 😉
• This week has flown by!!  Yee-haw!! Oh, wait, tomorrow’s only Thursday.  Grrr.
• I finally bought avocados at Costco.  As Andrea noted, they are up to $1.50 each, but that is better than what the price has been at Freddy’s for the large Hass variety. 

Gotta love the gallery 😉

Oyasuminasai!

Weekend report July 5, 2009

Happy belated 4th of July!  I hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed some tasty eats 🙂  I haven’ t blogged for like 3 or 4 days… bear with me here!

I told myself I’d wake up early and work out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but that totally didn’t happen.  I worked out ONCE this last week–yipes!  And it was only cardio.  While I don’t think one week off will kill me, I’m afraid that going back will be really hard.  I don’t want this week off to build and build until I just don’t go the gym anymore, and I sure as hell don’t want to lose what I’ve worked so hard to build.  I be gettin’ my ass to the gym this week, fo’ sho!

Friday was rather boring, with both Chris and I working in an unairconditioned office from about 11 to 5, and a trip to Fajitas for dinner.  Afterward I trekked to Target for a pick me up, and ended up buying several things, including:

• Origin Calcium 600 + D with  60% RDA Calcium and 31% RDA Vitamin D
• Origin B-Complex sublingual liquid with 100% B-2, 100% Niacin, 100% B-6, 20,000% B-12, and 300% Panthenoic acid
• Origin Biotin with 333% RDA
• Up and Up SPF 15 lotion and SPF 30 spray
• Nivea My Silhouette firming lotion/gel (hate! too fragranced for me! boo:( )
• Dreyer’s Slow Churned Vanilla Frozen Yogurt (love!)
• Boots Expert Sensitive Hydrating Eye Cream (love!)

Origin and Up and Up are Target brands that seem to be great values and high quality products.  The supplements I chose are all vegan, have no artificial or unnecessary ingredients, and were very reasonably priced.  Here’s hoping they help me feel more energized, assist in metabolizing my food, prevent cracky teeth, and aid in the health of my skin, hair and nails.  I didn’t end up choosing a calcium chew b/c of the extra ingredients I really don’t want (sugars, oils) and the higher cost.  But, if I do buy any in the future I think it will be the Nutrition Now brand.

Saturday I opted for oatmeal for breakfast, and didn’t realize how patriotic this shot was until now.  I’m totally not patriotic, FYI, and the blueberries just kinda landed in that star-like pattern. 

After this and reading a bit I slaved away in the yard for two + hours pulling weeds.  Yee-haw, right?  At least I worked up a nice sweat and got in some vitamin D!

Our Fourth of July “celebration” was dinner at my dad’s house with Chris, grandma, my uncle, and my mom.  We always stand around eating a lot before dinner at my dad’s; last night it was cherries, Tumalo Peppercorn Goat Cheese, Kettle Chipotle chips, and some non-oak Chardonnay. 

My dad was really thoughtful and bought these so I could have a vegetarian dinner 🙂  He said he’s also interested in trying them–go daddy!

Dinner included: a Veggi Patti on a toasted bun with habanero oil guacamole, dill pickles, iceburg, nearly black heirloom tomatoes, sliced jalapeno, sliced Anaheim pepper; pasta salad with grape tomatoes, broccoli, red cabbage, red onion, red pepper, carrots, vinaigrette of some sort,  and parmesan cheese.    (My dad grew all of the spicy peppers we ate :))  We had some tasty French and Oregon wines as well. 

After dinner came slices of fresh watermelon, eaten outside while watching Lily eat her corn.  My daddy was really thoughtful and bought 2 ears of corn just for her!  We grilled it and let her enjoy it right off the cob 🙂

As if that wasn’t enough food, we jumped for the Lee Berry Farms rhubarb pie awaiting us in the kitchen.  I brought the Dreyer’s froyo over to go with the pie; it totally tasted like ice cream!  I forgot to photograph my first bowl, and show you my seconds here:

Sunday morning started off with a beautiful bowl of berries and granola, coffee, and finishing up A Good Year.  Made me want to be in Provence like none other…

This beautiful moth was enjoying the wildflowers; anyone know what the heck this is?

Chris and I played tennis for about an hour today with the Lily Bird acting as our ball girl.  She’s had quite an active weekend and is passed out under my feet now 🙂

Holy shit, BBC America did a documentary on the 18 girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts, that all got pregnant around the same time.  Crazy stuff!

This biotch is tired and ready to hit the hay.  In a rather meh mood for various odd reasons, but all in all the weekend was  good.  Here’s to a great week ahead 🙂

The hidden truth July 1, 2009

I’ve now been eating a vegetarian diet for about two months, but I admit I have not been that great at making sure some things I consume are not animal sourced.  Some examples:

• are those beans/rice/tortillas made with lard? animal broth?
• is there gelatin in this dessert?
• does that calcium pill have gelatin?
• does this dish have fish sauce in it?

Recently I’ve been studying my nutrition to determine if I should take multi-vitamin, calcium, and/or other supplements.  I’ve also been checking out supplements as I visit the store or browse online, and I am shocked by how many supplements contain gelatin and fish/shellfish sourced ingredients, even some that claim to be vegetarian or for vegetarians.

From what I’ve calculated in my daily nutrition, I think I’m lacking  in many things across the board 😦  I’ve never been a believer in vitamins and most supplements, and if I get on a kick of taking something I don’t usually stick with it that long.  I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on supplements, esp. since my increased produce intake has already upped the food bill, so I’ve set out to find a good vitamin that seems like a good value. 

Today I found these: Deva Vegan Tiny Tablets, and I’m thinking of giving them a whir.  I’m also considering calcium and B vitamin supplements, especially since I have “cracky teeth” and sometimes think my energy has waned during the last few months. 

But, I also wonder about taking a liquid vitamin, like Nature’s Way, and a chewable calcium tab in an effort to ingest more of the nutrition. (Hard pills may not break down in the gut and can just be shat out nearly whole!  Our bodies don’t absorb most of the pills we take, including pharmaceuticals, which is factored into dosing of pharmaceuticals but not supplements/vitamins.) Again, I’m rather blown away by some of the ingredients in the chewables…except for these, but dayum, they’re expensive!!

Any thoughts for me on vegetarian/vegan supplements? vitamins?

How ’bout some pics now?  A gallery of my top 8 pics, including:

• vanilla soft serve ice cream dipped in chocolate from Dairy Queen!  it sounded good and was oh.so.perfect.  I was very satisfied with this treat 🙂
• wildflowers in bloom!
• blueberry tea
• my first library book in like 20 years

This bitch is outta here!  I didn’t work out yesterday or today 😦  Boo.  I may get up early to get in a nice workout…but it’s already 11 so we’ll see how that goes. 

Toodles!

Creepy crawly June 29, 2009

Have you noticed many more bugs in your house the last few weeks? I know I have 😦  The spiders have moved in recently, and I fear we have a moth problem brewing in the living room.  Given that I don’t like using pesticides in the house, or in the yard for that matter, I usually squash spiders by hand and use the “clap’n’kill” method for moths. Suddenly I’ve seen 4 moths in the last 3 days, and I’m starting to freak out.  I just put out birdseed moth traps–a savior for anyone who has cereal moths in their home.  I also need to investigate the source (move furniture, pull cushions out of couches, vacuum like a maniac….).  Grr, just what I was hoping to do during my relaxing evening…

Anyhow, let’s review the last few days.

Sunday

My bed said it was glad to have me there, and I slept in until about 9 :0 

While outside with Lily I spent time appreciating the wildflowers now in bloom, including this magnificent red poppy.

With all this fruit in the house I opted for an all-fruit start to my day.  First I cut up the canteloupe, then enjoyed a big plate of strawberries, cherries, blueberries, grapes, banana, and canteloupe.

Lunch was a nice change of pace: toasted peppercorn focaccia bread with goat cheese & balsamic (mixed and smeard on one side), avocado, mushroom, yellow bell pepp, and romaine.  Tasty!!

Not pictured is 1/2 a nanner I snacked on while neck deep in yard work.  Chris and I were out there for over 3 hours and I feel like we barely dented the weeds and other maintenance.  Arrrrrrrrghhhhhhh!  It never ends.  Yes, my choice not to use herbicides is making our endeavor harder this year, but I feel better knowing the nearby river doesn’t receive nasty runoff from our yard.  I mean, we go and swim in that water during the summer, our drinking water comes from it (upstream), and Lily drinks out of it when we’re there.  I hate thinking of all the shit that flows off of people’s yards and into storm drains….

Dinner was a visit to Fajitas.  I was uninspired and opted for the veggie quesadilla again, easy on the cheese, with olives and jalapenos.  I drank too much of my Cazuela and was rather buzzed! 

My night was spent doing housework–washing all the produce, vacuuming, mopping the floor…. before I knew it, it was bedtime and I never got hungry.

Monday

A fabulous start to my day involved this bowl of granola with cherries, blueberries, strawberries, and almond milk.  OHhhhhhhh yeahhhhhh. 

A hot morning passed by (more on that in a minute) and before I knew it we were eating lunch.  I opted for a salad (big surprise) with romaine, goat cheese, yellow bell pepp, grape tomatoes, avocado, carrot, apple, chow mein noodles, balsamic, and a Boca burger.  I had a few bites of pineapple and canteloupe on the side.

Mid afternoon I munched on cherries, strawberries, a carrot, and an apple. 

Chris and I have noticed our offices become really warm quickly if we shut the door (no good when you gotta shut the door for a client meeting for like an hour!), and we weren’t sure we had any air flowing in there, ever.  Turns out the damn vents to our offices were shut off at the main air supply duct, but now we have cool air blowing over us thanks to Chris calling in the maintenance dudes.  Finally, amen!  We are also rather private and prefer to have our office doors mostly closed during the day, but we were paying the price with the air stagnation.  No more, I say!

On the way out I chugged the rest of my almond milk from breakfast.  Man, I love that stuff.  The flavor, consistency, and aftertaste leave me smiling every time 🙂  I prefer Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla–the refrigerated version. 

Dinner was a multi course journey that started with a wedge of canteloupe to quell the hunger while prepping my b-nut chips. 

Then something newish:  BBQ’d red bell pepp and mushrooms with Bragg’s, balsamic, and Northwoods seasoning.  Not too shabby, but not hot enough.

Here’s my b-nut chips prior to applying their seasonings.  Turned into a pretty pattern I didn’t intend!

Dammit, I took them out too early and they weren’t crispy enough.  They tasted good, but I wanted that crispy texture, dammit!!

Then on to some BBQ steamed corn with Smart Balance Light.

Sadly everything was just kind of meh 😦  I think my taste was sort of off or something…

After a 50 minute stair mill sesh at the gym I was feeling hangry (seems to be happening a lot lately).  I opted for a small Genisoy protein shake with almond milk and cocoa, and that perty bowl of mixed fruit.

And now I’m off to bed!  Giddyup!

Produce EXTRAvaganza June 27, 2009

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, I bought like 28 pounds of produce today! (And I eat nearly all of that within a week, sans rinds/seeds/pits of course!)  I have never added up the weight of the fruit and veggie goodness that finds its way home with me from the store; it was quite astounding to do so.

Buying organic on my trips to Costco ain’t happenin’ much, esp. b/c the prices have been great on their awesome offerings.  Costco’s selection varies between organic and non, too.  I almost need to go to Freddy’s first to check pricing and availability, then Costco, and then Freddy’s again. 

I’ve been really interested in reading other bloggers’ food cost analyses, finding out how much their grocery bills are, etc.  For your enjoyment, here’s what I brought home today and the total cost (I hope this doesn’t bore the shit out of you):

Costco: $26.95

• 3 lbs cherries $5.99
• 4 lbs strawberries $4.99
• 2 lbs blueberries $5.99
• one whole pineapple $2.99
• 2 lbs grape tomatoes $6.99

Fred Meyer: $40.15 (including BYO bag refund and $0.50 coupon)

• two Silk Vanilla Creamers $3.98
• 2.4 lbs butternut squash $3.10
• 4.79 lbs canteloupe $1.77
• 2 ears yellow corn $1
• 1.04 lbs carrots $0.61
• .18 lbs soy protein powder $1.62
•  6 peppercorn ciabatta rolls $1.50
• 1.28 lbs organic broccoli $1.27
• 1 red bell pepper $1.50
• 1 head romaine lettuce $1.00
• 1.08 lbs flank steak $8.63
• .86 lbs bananas $$0.51
• .32 lbs cremini mushrooms $0.96
• .91 lbs organic Fuji apples $1.52
• Burt’s Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub $7.99

Yowza, excluding the face scrub I spent $59.11, and we don’t have enough protein for Chris to last the week.  My add’l produce intake over the last month or so has increased our bill a bit, but what’s a fruit-addict like me gonna do when all this insane summer fruit is around? 

Do you use a fruitwash and/or wash your produce methodically?  I do, but didn’t get around to it for this batch of stuff, yet.  I’ll be standing in front of the sink for an hour or so tomorrow washing, rinsing, and spinning my produce to squeaky clean perfection.

And now for my predictable trusty content:

An early breakfast of vegan French toast with Garden Sausage, blueberries, and syrup at Bob’s Red Mill 🙂  And coffee, of course.  (Don’t hate me Andrea, I decided to do this late last night and used it as some alone time before the packing and sorting fun at my mom’s.)

I came home rather hangry and threw together a big salad with some fruit and veg on the side.  Salad had: romaine, grapes, apple, yellow bell pepp, carrot, avocado, Boca burger, chow mein noodles, sliced almonds, goat cheese, and balsamic.

I had to force in the last few bites of salad and saved the side fruit/veg for later, after my grocery shopping. 

Chris and I visited the gym for a few hours, where I busted out legs, triceps, 25 minutes of running & walking on the treadmill, and 28 minutes o’ sweaty fun on the stair mill.  I was getting hangry again at the end of this sesh, and was glad to quickly move on to….

Dinner was a repeat of a simple, voluminous veg fest:  steamed corn with Smart Balance Light, steamed broc, and oven roasted butternut squash chips.  Oh. So. Good.  I’d already had loads of protein early in the day, so I didn’t feel too bad about not having much with dinner.

I knew a fruity treat would be in order later on, and when the time rolled around I threw in a little crack as well.  Oh, bowl of fruity, granola-y goodness, how I have missed thee.

I’m ready for bed, but is it ready for me?  I’ll check it out and report back tomorrow 😉  Enjoy your Sunday!

June 26, 2009

We interrupt this program for a brief reflection…

It’s really hard to believe Michael Jackson is dead…at 50 no less.  He had such an intense life and influenced so many.  I remember when Thriller came out and I watched the video on MTV.  It kinda scared me, but I liked it.  RIP Jacko. 

It’s also hard to believe Farrah Fawcett died yesterday, too, at 62.  I feel so bad for her because of the type of cancer she had and how strong it was.  I didn’t watch Charlie’s Angels, or other projects of hers, but she did have the hair that changed the world.  RIP Farrah. 

~~~~~~~~

Ah, Friday is over.  My day was rather quiet, successful, and seems short looking back.  It started with a massive headache from allergies and dehydration, but thankfully I kicked that around lunch time.

I started off with a bowl of traditional oats with a little Silk Vanilla Creamer on top.  My kitchen scale went bonkers last night, so the proportions were a bit off probably, resulting in a goo-ier consistency.  I use the scale b/c it’s easy, and I can’t quite eyeball some things like 10g of protein powder, apparently.

I’m diggin my lunch salads as of late since I’ve moved away from burrito gut salads.  Today it had romaine, yellow bell pepp, the last of my leftover corn salad, Fuji apple, avocado, chow mein noodles, goat cheese (had that yesterday, too, and forgot to mention it), Boca burger, balsamic, and sliced almonds.  Phew, everything but the kitchen sink!

I had part of the fruit and veg for a snack mid afternoon, and the rest as a snack before dinner. 

Once home and outside with Lily and caught a few good pics:

She loves catching the ball, so I figured an action shot was in order:

The great people over at Blue Diamond sent me a little gift in the mail today–coupons for Almond Breeze and their other products!! Yippee!!  I went online and told them that I love their products, especially the refrigerated almond milk, and they sent me these as a way to say thanks 🙂

Chris was hell bent on eating at Fajitas AGAIN tonight, whereas I wanted to stay home and BBQ or something.  I always give in to the man, cuz once he gets Mexican in mind nothing else is good enough basically.  I also didn’t have anything to cook for him, so this avoided a trip to the store just yet.

For dinner I had a vegetable quesadilla, light on the cheese, with a little bit of sour cream and guac.  Chips and salsa, a tiny bit of a Cazuela, and half of a La Casa were involved as well. 

This bitch is getting tired of quesadillas and burritos.  At Fajitas there aren’t many other veggie options, other than cheese enchiladas, chile relleno, and other super unhealthy options I won’t go for.  I had better figure out something quickly because I don’t know if I can stand it much longer!

This lady bug stopped by to say hi 🙂

Tonight I hit up the gym for full workout session:  upper body weights, abs, and 50 minutes on the mill.  This was my first full workout this week…oops.  An older man was watching me do my chest workout (not quite seedy/creepy, but nearly), and when I walked by him afterward he was like, “Ma’am, excuse me?”  He told me I’m doing well and to keep it up, and that I look good now but am on track to look even better if I keep at it.  He didn’t say it quite like it may sound; it came across very positively and I thanked him for the encouragement.  Alrighty then…

Post workout snack was a shake:  almond milk, Genisoy chocolate shake mix, flaxseed meal, cocoa powder, and ice.  Tasty dark chocolate goodness!

And so I leave you.  It is already 11:30!  Shit, wish I had a little more time to just chill.   My plans changed a little for tomorrow morning, and I think I’d like to treat myself to a special breakfast, solo.  I’m heading to my mom’s house to sort through crap and pack stuff she’s keeping, so I wouldn’t mind some peaceful time alone and a nice treat beforehand. 

Oyasuminasai  🙂

Bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh June 25, 2009

Today wasn’t bad, just slow, rather laborious and allergic.  I also ate and drank too much at dinner and killed my chance of working out 😦  Boo.

This morning Chris got ants in his pants and was like “what’s taking so long?” while I made our lunches and my breakfast.  Um, your food!  It rather irritated me since I’m the one who does everything in the morning while he just gets ready and does his shit.  I think the torch hath been passed and he’ll be told asked to chip in more.

Once at work I had a bowl of NP Pumpkin Flax Plus granola with strawberries, blueberries, and half a nanner.  I forgot my almond milk at home 😐  Damn!  So I stopped at one of the coffee places in our office complex and got a cup of skim milk.  Definitely missed the almond milk…

Lunchtime rolled around and I consumed the random mess that was my salad:  romaine, Boca burger, yellow bell pepp, leftover corn salad, avocado, chow mein noodles, edamame, balsamic.  I also ate some of the pineapple (SO tasty), but none of the other fruit/veg.

That didn’t stick very well, as I was hungry what seemed like quickly (hour and a half? two?).  I had the fruit/veg and the rest of the milk.

Dinner was a burrito with carrots, squash, cauliflower, green beans, jalapeno, olives, rice, whole beans, and verde sauce.  Oh, and a little bit of cheese that I totally should have passed on (not enough to taste = not worth it).   I forgot to take a pic of my Cazuela… I didn’t think I had that much but ended up with a buzz.  Oops!

And about half of this sucker for dessert….

I’m tired, allergic, and impatient.  Oh, and PMSing.  What a glorious evening :-0

The Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion is on (this time for real, not the Chelsea lately version ;))…d-d-d-d-d-drama!  And pregnant ladies!

Tomorrow is Friday 🙂 But I’m not sure why I’m so excited since this weekend will be chock full o’ busy-ness.  Glory. 

Off I go to try to get some much needed sleep.  🙂  Nighty night, yo!

Fo’ shizzle June 24, 2009

Whoosh, there goes Wednesday 😉  Pretty good day, but I was avoiding some not so good conversations at work. 

Started the day off with a glorious bowl of Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Plus and GingerZing granolas with almond milk, 1/2 a nanner, some strawbs, and some bluebs.  (I feel silly saying “bluebs”…kinda like boobs.  Hehe, I’m a dork.)  I think I need to downsize this breakfast a little cuz I feel a bit tad full afterward.

Lunch was really cool today–catered affair downtown at a mutual fund company where we heard from like 8 portfolio managers.  So cool!  My plate has:  vegetable pasta salad with pea pods, baby bell pepps, grape tomatoes, parmesan, penne; strawbs, mango, pina, canteloupe; spinach and strawberry salad.  Berry good! (Dude, I’m in full dork mode now…) I also had a cup of apple cinnamon tea that was nice.  Chris and I were early so I sneaked in the pic before others were sitting at the table 😉

Since lunch was rather light and intellectually stimulating I was getting hungry once we got back to the office.  I finished up the rest of my fruit/veg from yesterday, and added some cheese cubes from last night.

And then I went back for more cheese and antipasti:

Love those balls!

Dinner was really yummy–a voluminous yet light mix of goodies to fuel my workout.  Butternut chips with organic ketchup, steamed broccoli, steamed corn with a tiny bit of Smart Balance Light, and a piece of New Seasons olive bread (toasted it and added a tad of SBL after I took the pic).  Lurved it all!!

Chris was taking his sweet time digesting, and by the time we left for the gym I felt like I needed a snack.  I had half a nanner and some toasted almond bits.

At the gym I did a good leg workout, a little bit of shoulders with Chris, and some fast and furious cardio.  Chris said the basketball situation was ridiculous (there were no balls to warm up with)and he didn’t feel like waiting around to get one.  I asked him to run with me for a little bit, and he did!  We both ran a fast mile and called it good.  I know, a whopping like 10 minutes on the treadmill, but at least we got a sweat on and pushed ourselves to run fast the whole time 🙂

I dreamed of a smoothie while getting cleaned up, and whipped up some almond milk, Genisoy chocolate shake mix, ice, and ground flax.  I was tempted to put fruit in, but opted to have it on the side.

Et voila!  That’s all folks.  Hope your Wednesday flew by and that you’re ready for the homestretch.  Can’t believe the end of June is here…. yipes, where’d the time go?!

Go for it June 23, 2009

That’s right, go for that little treat you want to eat right now, or go for that increased speed on the treadmill.  I have “gone for it” several times in the last two days and still feel good, in fact great in some ways.  I must admit a little part of me is afraid I’m going to balloon out when I miss a few days at the gym or eat a lot, but I’m not so afraid that I won’t partake. 

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Sure, throw some more berries in there and go to town on that fabu breakfast 😉  Now this is definitely not an indulgence that I normally avoid, nor is it unhealthy.  But it felt quite indulgent!

Lunch at Typhoon! with mom and a friend who is in town from Amsterdam (he is from Seattle and lives there–so jealous!).  We started with a cup of the Lemongrass Clam Chowder.  Yes, more seafood–this chowder is insanely good.  This spring they had a vegetarian corn chowder, but no more 😦  I did avoid the clams, though. 

For the main course my mom and I split Veggie Pineapple Curry.  I guess it has some fish sauce in it, but I still said go for it.  If there’s one dish I cannot stop myself from gorging on, it seems to be this curry.  I ate until I was full, but not gut-bustingly so.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Some fresh fruit and a carrot during the afternoon was a nice treat:

So was this half of a raisin cookie brought in by a coworker.  Soft and yummy!!  Now that I think of it, I’ve had more cookies in the last month than I have in the last year, I think.  They keep popping up in the office!  And I keep going for them 😉

Dinner was a Mexican Feast at Si Senor–Ropa Vieja with beans instead of meat.  I can’t deny eating the crispy fried goodness of the tortilla shell… it calls to me…”Eat me….eat me….you know you love my crispiness and addictive taste!”

At the gym Monday I decided to run for awhile, and ended up going between 5.0 mph and 6.5 (!) mph.  I didn’t think I had it in me!!  Running faster felt better, but I didn’t have the stamina to do it the whole time.  After half an hour of walking some and mostly running, I hopped on the stair mill for 20 minutes of fast intervals.  Sweaty goodness abounded.  Phew.

I’m not sure I was very hungry, but I ate the rest of my fruit and carrot with some goat cheese as a snack late last night as I made a classical music playlist for tonight’s workshop.  I’ve missed classical music and really enjoyed hearing it as I ripped the CDs into iTunes.

Tuesday:

A sunny (and unfocused) bowl of standard oatmeal. 

I got to “meet” Jordan today on the phone!  She is awesome and I’m glad to have learned more about her and hear her thoughts on blogging these days.  What she said really made me think about my own blog and why I do it.  I enjoy journaling what I’ve eaten and my activity, but I wish I had more readers sometimes.  But not so much that I’d leave fast, thoughtless comments elsewhere just to get clicks back to my page; does that make sense? 

My blogging is for enjoyment, not for business, and if I don’t get 1000’s of visits per day that’s okay.  I really appreciate my fellow bloggers who take the time to read my posts and leave comments, so ultimately I think I’d like to stick to quality and not quantity.  Thanks for spending so much time on the phone with me, Jordan!!  Your thoughts and observations are right on!

I had a late lunch of a random salad and some fruit and carrot.  The salad had leftover spinach, yellow bell pepp, avocado, orange, corn salad (corn, herbs, goat cheese, walnuts, olive oil), balsamic, and a Boca patty.  There is a carrot buried under those blueberries 🙂  Damn cherries have gone to pot and are tasteless now 😦  Booooooooo!

While at New Seasons picking up our workshop eats, I snacked on this tasty fontina and garlic asiago bread sample 🙂  Oh, that was good.

I was too busy to take pics of our platters and wine, but everything was great.  The deli accidentally made us an antipasti platter instead of charcuterie, so they whipped up the latter and gave us the former for free!! 

After the workshop I went for it: fresh mozarella, garlic goat, swiss, cheddar, and brie cheeses; kalamata and green olives; cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple; olive bread times like 6 slices; and a glass of white wine.  It felt like quite the decadent spread.  Ohhhhhh yeaaaahhhh….chick, chick-a chikaaaa. 

Of course I snacked while packing up the leftovers, too.  A few pieces of fruit and some more olive bread just fell right into my mouth.  Couldn’t see that coming…

And thar she blows.  Well, not really.  Just sounded funny.  Aren’t I a gas? “Well, not really.”  Don’t worry I’m not offended :-0

OMFG!  Chelsea Lately is doing a mock up of the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion–tooooooo fucking funny!  Do you watch Chelsea? Other E! Network shows? 

Peace out 😎

Father’s Day Feasting June 22, 2009

Sunday was a glorious day of food–nothing too heavy, most things just right, and several new things.  I wrote down something to get my dad for Father’s Day, then couldn’t remember where I put it the note or what it was all week long.  Oh well, my daddy still enjoyed me cooking up a feast for him 🙂

The Quick’n’Dirty special:

• Red Robin now has a ‘natural’ burger on their menu–no cheese, crazy toppers, sauces, or other flair–just a bun and veg on the side.  I ordered mine with a Boca patty and gave it a good squirt of ketchup 😉
• Lily likes to surf in my car–she puts her front feet up on the armrest between the front sead and stands with her big ol’ body there, looking out the windshield, leaning in turns and everything.  Crazy girl! (Safety note:  I’m a bad dog mom and don’t harness her in the car 😦  I don’t let her stand up in the car when I go fast.)
• Salmon just isn’t for me.  No matter how I try it, the strong fishy taste just doesn’t do it for me. 
• Berries = love 🙂
• In laws sometimes = suck.  First thing out of Chris’ mom’s mouth was, “You look tired, Chris. And you, too, Kersten.”  My reply was, “Thanks for the compliment.  Nice to see you too.”  Zing. 
• Grilled corn taken off the cob + herbs + olive oil + toasted walnuts + goat cheese = crazy good corn salad.  MMmmmmm!
• Lee Berry Farms strawberry rhubarb pie….’nuf said!
• I love my dad 🙂 

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s a B.L.O.A.T.! June 20, 2009

I had a fun new dinner that happens to have the acronym B.L.O.A.T. 

How about another backwards post?!

I just finished this smoothie:  almond milk, lots of strawberries, a drizzle of honey, ice, and some ground flax.

After dinner I washed & organized all of my produce buys from today, and snacked on some of the fruit along the way.  No pic.

Here’s the B.L.O.A.T. fun:  Boca Lettuce Olive Avocado and Tomato sandwich on a whole wheat bolillo roll.  The addition of the olive was especially tasty–I used my stick blender mini food processor attachment to process a few kalamata, herbed green, and one feta stuffed green olive.  Bomb!  A little went a long way 😉  I ate more tomato and avo on the side as you can see.

My body wasn’t satisfied after my first afternoon snack, so I went in for some raisins, almonds, and one piece of dark chocolate.  My tum wasn’t too happy, though.  Not enough fresh stuff today?

Before that I consumed a small bowl of NP GingerZing granola with cinnamon, sliced almonds, raisins, a pinch of salt, and almond milk.  The granola didn’t taste flat 🙂  Yeah!

After a morning of sorting through and moving boxes at my mom’s, lunch of my leftover half burrito was in order.  I also had the rest of my fruit from yesterday.

Breakfast was a yummy bowl of the usual oats 🙂

My pre-butt-crack-o-dawn workout snack was a Kashi TLC Chewy Peanut Butter Peanut bar with some raisins on the side.  I nuked them both and rather liked the warm raisins.

I had a big dinner last night, and never ate after dinner.  I was also dog tired–woof! Dinner was a big ol’ burrito of beans, rice, vegetables, and jalapenos topped with verde sauce.

Prior to and during eating I imbibed in this:

Lunch was leftover pesto pasta from Thursday.  Whoa, super heavy still.  I added more carrots and mushrooms, and even sopped up some of the oil before eating, but felt rather heavy all afternoon from it.

Friday’s breakfast was the same as today’s–yummy oats 🙂  I DID notice a difference when prepping these oats–I don’t think Freddy’s used Bob’s in the bulk bin prior to me buying this batch, as I noticed how much bigger the oats were when pouring them next to the old batch.  I wasn’t smoking crack when I compared bagged Bob’s and bulk before 😉 Bob’s turn out chewier indeed. 

This bitch is tired!!  And tomorrow won’t really be any relief for the weary–busy Father’s Day that includes another trip to Freddy’s, eating out at Red Robin for lunch, and cooking dinner for my dad.  I think I’ll get up early again to get working out done with and move on. 

Some random comments/reiterations before I leave you:

• my body needs lots of fresh food daily and I feel sluggish/bad if I don’t get it
• I can’t tolerate heavy/greasy/fatty/creamy meals any more
• I love fruit and it loves me 🙂
• I often forget to buy organic at the store even though I’m consciously trying to buy more and more organic
• washing fruit/veg immediately and getting it put away neatly is a godsend for the week ahead
• my house is a mess and I don’t feel like cleaning
• I hate the smell of mayonnaise
• Lily won’t leave me alone and it’s annoying me

Toodles!

Back by popular demand… June 18, 2009

…highlights of Kersten’s world.  Well, not really…I mean no one’s banging down my email inbox asking me to come back.  I know my little blog gets readers, I just wish there were more of you, and that you would comment more actively.  Any suggestions?

Pretty lunch–salad had romaine, avocado, grape tomatoes, burrito guts, verde sauce.  That glorious fruit has been my go-to for afternoon snacking as well 🙂

Mondo dinner of steamed corn with SmartBalance Light, oven roasted butternut chips with Northwoods seasoning and garlic salt (too salty), veggie burger with sauteed mushrooms, ketchup for the burger and chips.  I ate too fast 😦

Genisoy chocolate shake mix, almond milk, ???

Pina!!  I sliced up this baby and enjoyed the fruits of my labor.

I. love. fruity. cereal.  Kashi Go Lean Crunch with fabu blueberries, cherries, and strawberries, covered with almond milk I think.

My eyes enjoyed this more than my stomach–quesadilla with sauteed veggies, cheese, sour cream, guac, tomatoes.  Too many onions + too much sour cream + too much cheese + too much food = unhappy tummy. 

When the tum wouldn’t settle I went for 1 tablet of Alka Seltzer.  You ever use it?  At first it doesn’t seem better, but then comes the burp that cures your woes.  I know, gross details, but it works.

For some insane reason I thought I needed a treat later.  I ate one square of Cadbury milk chocolate with almonds, went “meh,” and instead had some roasted almonds and dark chocolate pieces. 

More fruity cereal, but this time with Nature’s Path GingerZing Granola.  I like the texture of this granola, but it is missing something.  Salt maybe?  It isn’t very zing-y to me.  I miss my crack–NP Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola.

A pretty lunch 🙂  Salad had romaine, pickle, avocado, grape tomatoes, cremini mushroom, balsamic, crunchy chow mein noodles, and a veggie Gardenburger.

Dinner tonight at McCormick & Schmick’s Fish House.  The menu was tough since nearly every entree had seafood or meat, but they are quite flexible with preparations.  I had them leave the fish off of the  mushroom pesto pasta, and asked for extra veggies to be added in.  It tasted really good, but I was expecting a real pesto, not a creamy white wine sauce with pesto in it.  The cream was too heavy for me, and totally weighed me down tonight. 😐

Sometimes I think I want creamy and rich things, but when I eat them I often regret it b/c I feel super crappy.  That helps me avoid the temptation to get/make them I suppose!  I did bring home half of this, and figure I’ll eat it for lunch tomorrow with more veg added in.  I’ve run out of other things to eat for lunch, so I’ll just have to grin and bear it.

This was Chris’ dinner–filet mignon with the obvi veggies.  I thought it was pretty and deserved a pic.

My exercise this week:

Monday–legs, abs, 30 min on the mill

Tuesday–upper body, 50 min on the mill

Wednesday–off.  too stuffed and gross feeling to move!

Thursday–legs, abs, 50 min on the mill.

I suppose that’s about it!  I can’t remember all of my genius “oh I should put that on the blog” moments from the last four days 😐

Bon nuit 😉

In absentia

Hi all!  So sorry I’ve been absent 😦  I’ve either felt too tired or shitty at the end of the day, or had other crap going on, and haven’t posted for like 4 days now.  I’ve had some good eats in there, and will post highlights tonight. 

Thanks for reading!

Workin’ it June 14, 2009

I feel like I was running from 11am to 9:30pm today…quite a marathon.  I went to work to finish my forms bank project and found my computer was acting hinky, and someone had knocked my tablet’s pen behind my desk.  WTF?? I noticed the recycling had been collected, and think when they reached for my box their other hand hit the pen?  Either way I was miffed.

This afternoon I sorted through all sorts of crap in my “closet” room.  Felt good to get rid of lots of paper I didn’t need, and kinda crappy to come across some other stuff.  What do I do with my wedding photo album (I’m divorced)??? 

My mom is having an estate sale next month and I plan on taking all my extra stuff over there.  Man, it will feel sooooo gooood to get rid of some things.  I also tried on clothes yesterday and found that I should get rid of like 10 pair of pants that don’t fit/are worn/just ain’t me.  Progress!

Tonight I did a mega produce washing session, and cut up a pineapple.  The fruits of my labor are quite sweet 😉

Let’s review the eats of the weekend gallery style since it’s late:

I’ve really been loving my cereal with berries 😉  One of those bowls has the Nature’s Path Ginger something-or-other granola in it rather than my usual Kashi Go Lean Crunch. 

Yesterday at the store I realized that the bulk pumpkin flax plus granola I like so much is Nature’s Path!  Did I mention the bulk-source to you guys last week?  There’s TONS of Bob’s Red Mill, Nature’s Path, and other great brands that supply the goodies in the bulk bins.  I love this–super high quality at a low price!  The steel cut oats I get are Bob’s; I did a comparison between bulk and bagged steel cut oats before, and totally didn’t realize I was comparing the same exact thing. 

Time for bed.  Can’t believe Sunday’s over already 😦  Boo.  Hope you all had a great weekend 🙂

Quiet on set June 12, 2009

My new office has been so quiet this week, which is a complete 180 from my last set up.  I no longer have a talkative office mate, loud laser printer, drawer-slamming staff member, busy hallway right outside my (interior) window, noisy door, or anything else that my old shared office had.  Phew! I cannot express how much of a relief it is to move on and no longer be in that suite 🙂  Yee-haw!

Today was a nice wrap up to my first week in the new space–quiet day, not many people there, got a lot done, had a good client meeting, good dinner, great workout, and now a great snack.  Only bad thing is I can’t stop reaching for the roasted almonds at my side!

Let’s recap the eats for the last few days.  How about a new style–meals side-by-side from both days?  Sounds good to me 😉

Breakfast: Kashi Go Lean Crunch with soy milk both days.  Add ins varied from banana to strawbs, bluebs, and ground flax. 

Lunch:

Thursday’s salad (Romaine, Boston, green leaf lettuces with avocado, pickle, grape tomatoes, balsamic) withwas a little sad after having sat in the fridge for over a day, but still tasted great!  I ate some leftover veggie lasagna on the side, and munched on the carrots, cherries, and apple mostly during the afternoon.

Friday’s salad was scrumptious! I nuked a portabella Gardenburger and put it over the top of the aforementioned lettuces, avocado, grape tomatoes, pickle, and balsamic.  I think the burger has cheese in it, which I don’t really like, but it tastes good nonetheless.  Chris tried a bite (total skeptic) and said it was really good!  I snacked on my fruit and carrots over the afternoon.

Dinners: a Mexi marathon; shocking I know.  Thursday I had my leftover dinner from Wednesday, even though I knew it would be rich and overly cheesy.  This time around I didn’t get the upset tummy; I think it may have been more from the onions, so I didn’t eat most of them in the quesadilla.  Fresh avocado on top.

Friday we visited Si Senor again, but this time I had the Pollo Azado Burrito, sans pollo 🙂  Tasty goodness involving flour tortilla, rice, black beans, grilled pepp/onion/celery/zucchini/carrot, topped with verde sauce and pico de gallo.  I also added some guac and jalapenos fritos.  Wooee, those were some spicy peppers 😉

Don’t let that picture fool you, the burrito was HUGE.  I ate half and was waaaay too full.  And don’t shit your pants, but I ate a small piece of meat tonight.  Chris was like, “Here, eat this” when he thought he found beans on his burrito, but no, it was beef.  Oh well, no biggie I suppose.

Snackins:

The first pic is actually from Wednesday night after I posted.  Chris broke into the PB and I joined in for some of that goodness.

I went to Freddy’s and Costco to stock up on fruit, including grape tomatoes, pineapple, strawberries, cherries, and a nectarine.  Lovin’ it!

Can you read “yum” on the rim of my b’nut plate?  I thought it would be cute to try to write with ketchup, but it was a tad tougher than I realized.  LOVED these “fries” and can’t wait to make more soon.

Almonds are tasting sweet to me suddenly!  I’ve never noticed that before.  Oh, and shhh, don’t tell my dentist I’m eating them whole.  I told her I love almonds and other nuts and she said to chop them up before eating them to prevent cracking my teeth.  That’s no fun! 

Workouts the last few days have been good, but for forgetting my towel Thursday.  When I realized it I was in the locker room, and thought WTF, I probably should skip cardio today.  I did a good leg workout and called it.  Friday was an upper body extravaganza, including two exercises for each back, biceps, chest, triceps, shoulders, and abs.  I followed that up with a super sweaty 50 minutes on the stair mill.  Mercy!

While doing lateral raises I noticed how my forearms have become defined and my veins are coming to the surface.  Good signs in the fight against excess body fat!  Now if I can just get the abs to cooperate…

Hope you’re keeping it real out there 😉

You’ll never believe… June 10, 2009

…where I found my keys.  I looked high and low, asked security and property management, scoured the house and car, and then today found them IN MY PURSE.  Yes, you read correctly, they were never lost to begin with.  WTF?? I was shocked to pull them out of the side pocket of my smallish purse today, and cannot believe I somehow missed them after looking through it like five times over the last three days.  WTF?, I say again.  Oh well, I guess at least I found them and don’t have to change the house locks.  I feel like a total do-do though!

Breakfast today was a staple with some new add ins–steel cut oats with honey, frozen mixed berries, soy protein, ground flax, cinnamon, and soy milk.  Coffee with Silk vanilla creamer on the side.

Yes, I know, soy soy soy, but I’ve got the stuff and plan to use it up.  I’ve read a lot more about soy over the last few weeks and am scared to eat too much of it, but I’m not the type to pour a half gallon of it down the drain or chuck a pile of protein powder.  One thing I don’t plan on stopping is the Silk creamer–love it too much and hate the alternatives.

This mix was pleasantly yummy, and the sweetness of the honey countered the berries’ sourness just perfectly. 

I ate rather late, so when Chris suggested lunch at 12:15 I wasn’t very hungry.  I ate my fruit and veg over the next hour or so.

The afternoon was chock full o’ action, and I forgot to eat my main lunch!!  Suddenly it was 4 and since we were heading to an early dinner, I skipped my “lunch.”  We hit up Westside Maria (Si Senor) and I tried something new: quesadilla ranchera.  Sounds good, right?  Well, it was 😉 

This consisted of three small flour tortillas layered with sauteed veggies and cheese, served with guac & tomatoes on top, black beans and rice on the side…along with Chris’ avocados 🙂 I ate half of this and was mighty full.  Not to mention having a tough time b/c the cheese was a tad rich for the tum tum. 

After feeling a tad ill for an hour the ickiness passed and I moved on to the gym.  I only hit up cardio, which was 50 minutes on the trusty stair mill doing intervals at 100spm/90spm.  Whoo, I was a sweaty beast when done.  And I craved fruit.

Somehow this ended up being my snack:  one carrot and 1 1/2 T Maranatha PB.  I was going to have an apple with it, and then decided to try the carrot/pb combo I’ve seen.  Not sure it’s my fave; I ate the carrots first and the PB alone after that 🙂  Lily caught sight of this plate and was tortured watching me eat two of her favorites, so I gave her a carrot and she snarfed it down.

Reading all these food blogs now is making me hungry!  Or is it thirst and allergies?  The last several nights have been tough for me on the “hunger-or-is-it-something-else? ” front. 

Now for some random moments with Kersten

-I must confess–over the last few weeks there have been several snacks not shown/discussed on the blog.  Most of them have been handfuls of almonds, a few crackers, a bite of PB while prepping oatmeal…that sort of thing.  Oh, and a few small pieces of the possibly non-vegetarian (“animal and/or vegetable shortening”) cookies hanging around the office. 

-I haven’t had a Diet Coke for over a month (as far as I can remember).  I was usually just drinking it at Si Senor, and since we didn’t go there for like 3-4 weeks I didn’t have any DC.  Tonight and last week when we visited I opted not to have one.  Don’t get me wrong, you know I still drink caffeine in the form of coffee every morning.

-Remembering to ask if rice/beans/other items are vegetarian is difficult. I totally forgot to ask during my last two visits to Si Senor.  I remember hearing someone else asking about the bean dip in the past, but can’t remember about the beans and rice.  I’ll have to get better at that. 

-My trouble spots are troubling me, but I don’t seem to be doing what’s needed to change them.  Is that troubling?  My inner and outer thighs, triceps and lats, abs, and lovehandle/hips are softer than I’d like, which is confusing.  I say that b/c five years ago when I got all skinny and fit with Miss Erin, I was firmer everywhere and approximately the same weight.  My workout routine is definitely not as intense as it was then on the weight front, but is more intense on the cardio front.  Correlation?  Causation?  Discuss.

-There’s a bike-by groper in Salem.  Watch out, Sarah!  You may be getting more than LovIN My Tummy soon!

Time for bed, yo.  Peace out.

Where’d my keys go? June 9, 2009

I’ve never lost my keys in my whole life before this last weekend.  In the back-and-forth and mayhem of moving I somehow misplaced them and cannot for the life of me remember where they are 😦  I also didn’t realized I’d lost them until Monday afternoon.  Booo!  At least I hadn’t put my new office keys on there yet, and I keep my car key separate (although if it was together with the others I would have noticed the missing keys sooner, and maybe reclaimed them.  Grrr.).  I shall search more tomorrow and hope they turn up.  Even though I’m pretty sure I lost them about 20 miles from home, and they had no address/name on them, Chris is obsessed with changing the locks now that I’ve lost my keys.

Tonight I shall rely on a galleryof pics for the last three days.  A few highlights/details:

• Grandma’s 88th birthday dinner Sunday ended with a HUGE serving of pie–homemade rhubarb and Lee Berry Farms marionberry (?) with a big blob (I typed ‘blog’!!) of whipped cream. 
• my first breakfast in my new office was Kashi Go Lean Crunch with mucho strawberries and soymilk.  Yummy and satisfying in more ways than one.
• no, I didn’t eat that meat pictured.  Chris thought it deserved a pic so I indulged him 😉  It was his dinner tonight of flank steak rounds with sauteed mushrooms and broc on the side.
• a fabulous batch of roasted butternut squash tonight.  They were mixed with canola oil spray, Northwoods seasoning, and some garlic salt.  Served with organic ketchup.  Mmmmmm…. I’m excited I have another batch I can cook up tomorrow or the next day.
• I’m missing all of that fruity goodness that I had last week.  When I put together my lunch it just doesn’t seem the same without the blueberries.  Must go to Costco and get more fruit!
• I didn’t go to the gym for like 3 1/2 days b/c of the move!  Oy vey. 

Last night I was about to post when nausea suddenly came over me, and I just about yakked.  Ugh.  Not sure if it was the super-red mystery sauce that was on my burrito or ???  Today I was fine, thankfully.

My office is just about set up, but for the artwork/decor.  I want to keep it simple, without clutter, so I need to rely on a really good piece of artwork and some simple, tasteful wall decor. 

I’ve been working on a big reorganizing project for our forms and brochures, and have quite enjoyed my inner organization nerd coming out.  I’ve got to cull 200 items down to about 130, map the damn forms bank, re-label it, and make sure no one feels like I left out there favorite items.  Personally I could do with about 10 things, but many of my colleagues are old school and like to have paper forms on hand, along with tons of brochures we never use.  Oh well, it is a rewarding task 🙂

Time for bed!  Ahhh…I’m tired, and bed sounds simply perfect.  Adios!

Yawn! June 6, 2009

Wow, I’m super tired.  I thought I got a lot of sleep, but moving the office today was really exhausting.  That beer in the middle probably didn’t help!

Friday

Slept like crap and woke up at the crack’o’dawn to go workout.  I had a whole wheat toast butt with 1 T Maranatha no-stir PB.  Also had a small cup of coffee with Silk vanilla creamer.

After my leg workout and 50 minutes o’sweatin’ on the stair mill I headed home to clean up and eat breakfast.  I had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with blueberries and almond milk.  Mmmmm.

Oh my god, give me a frickin’ break.  I just saw a Zylotrim commercial, and it puts this disclaimer on the screen: “Only for those who want to lose pounds of body fat.”  Who the fuck doesn’t want to lose body fat?!?!?  I hate those ads and the products they represent.

Anywho, Friday was quite discombobulated to start, as the office was ripped apart in preparation for the move (finally, yes).  No internet, no phone, didn’t want to work much anyway… I basically talked with people all morning until I headed out for my lunch date with my friend, Jenny.

We visited Thai Derm and had a delicious lunch while catching up.  We started with this cup of soup (tofu, herbs, ???).

I had Ruby Noodles–rice noodles with veggies, topped with red curry.  Oh, it was heaven!  If ya didn’t know I’m a sucker for curries, esp. Thai.  It had homemade bean curd on it, which was something quite spectacular actually. 

I added lots of pickled chilis, chili paste, and chili powder from this tray 🙂

Afterward we headed to her house for tea and chocolates, and talked for a few hours.  It was really, really nice to catch up with Jenny, especially since she’s expecting a little girl at the end of June.  I hope to see her again soon, and her little one, too!

Late in the afternoon I ate my fruit bowl:  cherries, blueberries, nectarine.

Dinner was leftover Ruby Noodles, with steamed broc, mushrooms, and bell pepp on the side.  This was way too much food, and I ended up putting away the extra veggies for another time.

Saturday

Even though I went to bed early I still felt a bit tired upon waking, but knew I had to get going to tackle the office.

Breakfast was nearly the same as yesterday, but I used organic unsweetened soy milk instead of almond milk.  I didn’t taste it separately, but it was good in the cereal.  Definitely thicker and a different color than almond milk.

At the office I set up the kitchen, moved some furniture, and did other crap for a few hours, working up a sweat a few times. Mid-morning I had a few almonds for a snack.  I also got to hold a hummingbird!!  She hit the glass doors to one of the buildings and was totally stunned.  I picked her up to get her out of the way, and keep her warm.  I felt really special to be able to see her that closely–her feathers were gorgeous!  After a few minutes she flew into a nearby tree.

Mid-day one of our coworkers offered us a beer to toast the new office, so we partook in a Pacifico 😉  Actually tasted good, but I didn’t need it.  After which we headed off to Godfather’s Pizza for lunch.  I know, I know…Chris wanted to claim his free lunch, and I didn’t object.  I had one small piece of cheese and two small pieces of veggie.  Not many veggies on that veggie, and it had a creamy base.  Tasted good, but not what I needed.

Around 4:45 we left the office, still with lots of stuff to do.  I can’t believe how torn up most of the office is, and although it’s not my stuff I feel like I should help out so the place looks decent come Monday morning.

Betcha can’t guess what was for dinner?  I drank too much Casuela, chips & salsa, half a burrito with veg and verde sauce, part of La Casa, and half a tequila shot.  Pedro offered the shot to me after I paid, and who was I to turn down that generosity 😉

Since tomorrow looks super busy I did the grocery shopping tonight, including buying four heads of lettuce–two Romaine, one Boston, one green leaf.  Part of this was for me, and part for the mondo salad I’m making for tomorrow night.  You ever washed and shredded most of four head of lettuce at once?  I’m beat from all that washing and spinning, not to mention the other stuff.

With those 800 words I leave you.  Sleep calls me…..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Giddyup June 4, 2009

Gotta love Kramer.  I’m lacking in the post-title-creativity department, so I’ll just get to the point.  The week is dragging on again, and I keep thinking yesterday was Thursday and today was Friday.

Thursday Wednesday

Breakfast of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, strawberries, and lots of almond milk.  Lovin’ this cereal drowned in the milk 🙂

Lunch of burrito guts on Romaine topped with dill pickles and avocado.  Some carrots, apples, blueberries, and apples on the side and for snacking later.  I really love all of the fruit I’ve been eating, especially the cherries and blueberries lately. 

 

Snack of fruits, and then later a Kashi TLC Chewy Granola Honey Almond Flax bar, nuked for 8 seconds.

Dinner was a visit to Si Senor–it had been like three weeks due to schedule and dog watching issues.  My mom joined us and we split a Si Senor Margarita on special for Ladies’ Night 😉  I had a Burrito Fresco, which is beans, rice &  grilled seasonal veggies topped with a zesty red sauce and salad greens.  Yummy!

That’s my mom’s Ropa Vieja salad in the background–my old favorite.

After dinner I was kind of in a funk for no good reason.  The humidity lately pisses me off, and when I dragged myself to the gym I was shocked at how hot and humid it was upstairs.  I decided to do the Arc Trainer, but boged out after 10 minutes b/c of the heat.  Downstairs I was much cooler on the stair mill, but still hatin’ it so I only did 20 minutes there.  At least I went to the gym, I suppose.

I ate a snack for no good reason when I got home–a few Kashi TLC Honey Sesame Crackers and some almonds.  Then I went in for a small handfull of the Kashi Go Lean Crunch. 

FridayThursday

Breakfast was the same as ThursdayWednesday, but I ran out of strawbs so I used blues.  Loved it! 

Lunch was another burrito gut salad with Romaine, without anything else added (guts on the bottom).  Same lunch companions of carrots, apples, blueberries, and cherries that I snacked on during the afternoon mostly.

Dinner was eaten at, surprise, Fajitas!  I had a burrito with whole pinto beans, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, olives, jalapenos, and verde sauce.  Chris thought his meal looked pretty damn good so I included it in the pic, too 🙂

Oh, how La Casa is good…

Gettin’ some Lakers v. Orlando action there.

Andrea phoned in that she was heading to the gym, so I took my overstuffed, semi-buzzed ass on over there to do a quick upper body workout while she finished up yoga, and then we did some cardio.  We walked, she ran, I walked, she walked, and then I ran.  Whoa, yeah, can’t believe it myself.  I did about 20 minutes at 5 miles per hour, so I guess that was about 1 2/3 miles.  I was surprised that I didn’t really feel winded, and I think I could have kept going 🙂  Perhaps this will help me firm up some of the jiggly pockets on my body and avoid some overuse injuries from just using the stair mill.  Cool!

And with that I leave you.  Andrea and I are going to be crazy dedicated ladies and workout at 6:30 tomorrow morning.  I suppose I had better get some sleep…

Have a great Friday!

Buzzin’ along June 2, 2009

You may notice that I’m now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher 🙂  I did this to try to increase traffic to my blog, and perhaps earn a few bucks here and there (if you’re kind enough to click on the ad when it is embedded soon;)).  I like Foodbuzz–it is totally like Facebook for foodies, and I’ve enjoyed the plethora of recipes, posts, restaurant reviews, and more on the site.

Was today only Tuesday?  Felt like Wednesday somehow.  Our new office’s carpet still hasn’t been corrected, as we found out that the correct carpet is a few days out yet.  Effin’ project manager is grating on me nerves, argh.  (Yes, that was in pirate fashion ;))

I added Bob’s Red Mill ground flax to my oats yesterday and today, and I think I noticed it more today.  Kind of a bran-y flavor?  My oats were a little bland, but I won’t go and blame that on the flax. 

Lunch was a burrito gut salad, consisting of Saturday’s burrito contents, avocado, verde sauce, Romaine, and some of my homemade hummus.  Good, but too many pinto beans.  Leftover fruit salad on the side (I know it looks a little scary, but still tastes good).

I snacked on this fruit and carrot over the next few hours:

At some point I went for the candy bowl for a sugary treat (why exactly I don’t know…), and came up with this:

Dinner was a really delicious, special treat:  Tortilla Espanola.  Chris introduced me to this when we got together, and I used to make it a lot for weekend brunch.  It is a really simple dish (basically and egg, onion, and potato frittata), and accompanied by some sea salt and olive oil you’ll swear you’ve died and gone to heaven.  You’ll think you’ve transcended heaven when you make a sandwich out of it and spread garlic aioli on the bread 🙂  Tehehe.  I enjoyed mine with half of a potato burger bun toasted and drizzled with EVOO & sea salt.  I seriously used my finger to get the leftover olive oil and salt off of the plate :shocked:  It’s THAT good.  I’ll be putting the recipe on Foodbuzz I think…

Before my trek to the gym I ate the rest of the fruit salad:

After a good leg session I mounted the mill of glory for 50 intensely sweaty minutes of torture cardio, after which I was beet-frickin red.  Chris was still playing basketball when I was done, so I had a nice stretching session and a date with the ab crunch machine. 

What could have possibly been in order after that workout?  You guessed it, fruitas.  Chris promptly ate that pineapple, so I replaced it with some smaller chunks we have leftover.  I’m telling ya, that pineapple from Costco really was great.  It was like $3.19 and it is perfect–sweet and juicy, firm, and golden.  I rather enjoyed cutting it up, too.

That didn’t quite hit the spot, so a handful of almonds were in order.  My little LB wanted some of that action, but she didn’t get any of that goodness.

And here we are! 

Time to watch some Cheers with the man and hit the hay 😉

Fruit-a-thon June 1, 2009

I couldn’t help myself this weekend in the produce sections of Fred Meyer and Costco.  I must have loaded up on 15 pounds of fruit along the way…six apples, a container of strawberries, two pounds of cherries, a few nectarines, bananas, a huge container of blueberries, and a whole pineapple.  Oh, and a kiwi ;0  I now feel compelled to eat fruit 24/7 to make sure it doesn’t go bad before I can get to it, but that’s not exactly a bad thing, no?

To save you a long read and too many pics, how about a few select pics from the last three days?

The end to Saturday’s venture to Fajitas–my own container (try it!  take your own instead of getting a disposable one from the restaurant) with my leftover burrito half, a napkin with some chips for Lily, and the infamous La Casa.

Shopping cart at Freddy’s.  Dawned on me the cart is kind of an interesting thing to look at, just like a fridge.

The now stocked fridge (pre-Costco).  I took an energy conservation tip and filled up glass jars and bottles with water, and put them in the empty sections of my fridge.  Everything is much, much colder now on the same temperature setting, and it seems like the fridge doesn’t work as hard.  It really does work! 

Sunday’s uber tasty bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with fabu organic strawberries and tons of almond milk 🙂

Sunday’s yummy lunch of a half sando with Yves, an egg white, Romaine, homemade hummus (more on that in a sec), red bell pepp, and pickles. Slew of carrots, cherries, and apples on the side.

The hummus was made from dried chickpeas, soaked overnight Friday, then cooked for 1 1/2 hours Saturday (smelled like bacon while simmering–very odd but indeed yummy).  I then pureed the chickpeas with toasted sesame seeds, garlic powder, a little salt, the simmering water, red pepper flakes, and some chopped green olives.  It didn’t taste that great right away, but the next day it was more developed and quite good.

Lily posing with the pineapple.  She was intrigued by its scent.

Sunday’s exciting dinner of fruit salad, grilled portobello cap and a grilled veggie burger topped with jalapenos & pickled carrots, green & red bell pepp, avocado, pickles, hummus, and Romaine.  Tres fabu!  Oh, and some Pinot Gris 😉

Tonight’s burrito creation from Fajitas.  I tried the mole sauce on it, and had veggies, rice, and whole pinto beans inside.  Mmmm!  I love mole, haven’t had it in forever, and thought, WTF, it should work on a burrito.  Only crazy thing is it looked like Pedro was bringing me a huge turd on a plate b/c of the color of the sauce!! :0  I hope the cook was proud of his creation 🙂  LOL.

And that’s all she wrote.  I must hit the hay for an early day tomorrow.  Hope you all had great weekends and good Mondays 🙂  Adios.

Fill up already! May 29, 2009

I’m feelin’ like a black hole today in the eating department.  I’ve hardly been able to escape hunger for more than an hour or two since this morning after I ate my oatmeal.  Grrrrr. 

But, ahhhhhhh…Friday is over 🙂  In a twist of events my office move is happening next week, not tomorrow.  The project manager somehow missed that they were putting in the wrong carpet (the entire suite was already cut out room by room and waiting to be stretched into place.  OOOPS).  They offered to just put in the wrong stuff, then pay movers to move out our stuff over a weekend sometime in the next month and put in the correct carpet.  Are you kidding?  Move my just moved in, new furniture when you could just correct it now??  Puhlease.   There was also an issue with our T1 line, so it all works out okay to just move next weekend instead.

OMG, I’m watching S&TC now and loving it this episode–the one right after Charlotte marries Harry, where Carrie’s Manolos go missing at her friend’s party and the friend refuses to “pay for her lifestyle.”  Carrie adds up how much she’s spent for the friend’s wedding-, child-, and other gifts–over $2,300, and registers at Manolo for the shoes she lost .  The friend buys them 🙂  Harry walks around naked all the time after Charlotte tells him to make himself at home, but she can’t stand him sitting naked on everything and talks with him about it.  He says, “I see, we’ve got an ass/white couch situation.”  LOL!!

Okay, enough of that shat, how about some eats???

Thursday

Traditional oats with steel cutters, soy protein powder, currants, cinnamon, PB, almond milk, and water. 

I think I actually worked all morning, and when Chris asked if I wanted to eat I wasn’t really hungry yet.  My salad was Romaine with leftover burrito guts, dill pickle, some add’l verde sauce, and avocado.  Cherries, apples, and carrot on the side, eaten over the course of the afternoon.

For dinner we visited Fajitas, where I probed more into the contents of the refried black beans and rice.  Supposedly there’s no lard in either, no chicken broth in the rice, and only a little bit of oil in the rice.  No shit?  Okay, Pedro…I’m gonna trust you.

I ordered a quesadilla with lots of veggies, a little bit of cheese, and guac on the side.  Score–it was tasty!  I told myself I wouldn’t drink before we went to dinner, but I ended up drinking some Cazuela and half of a La Casa.  😐

Once home I thought I’d try to catch The Drizz after her yoga class, but the booze clouded my mind and judgment.  I forgot yoga started at 7:30, not ended then, and I was a bit winded during my upper body workout. 

No way I was going to do time on the stair mill, so I walked for 50 minutes while watching “So You Think You Can Dance” auditions.  The only treadmill with a TV with closed captioning turned out not to display speed, time, incline, etc., but it worked so I just rolled with it.

 A trip to Target was in order after the workout.  Target has GREAT sales on Kashi this week!!  And check out their clearance section for a double pack of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with a coupon for a free 1/2 gallon of Silk.  I got all three items for $4.66–now that’s a bargain 🙂

Once home I tried out the cereal, but left the soy milk for later on after I blow through my almond milk.  Good stuff!  Crunchy, varied, and great drowned in the a.m.

While in the fridge I was inspired to photograph it for you after seeing the contents of many a fridge out there this week.  Can you tell I need to go grocery shopping?

Friday

Same breakfast as yesterday, but I drank more coffee today since I was feeling heady and it sounded good.  ‘Twas!

My salad was a tad different today–I tried fake meat!  I saw Sarah had tried the Yves “turkey;” I’d been eyeballing that stuff for awhile, so I picked up a packaged for myself.  Not too shabby!  I put in on Romaine with the guts of my leftover quesadilla, with dill pickles added in.  Cherries, apple, carrots on the side and for snackin’ in the afternoon.

I went for a Kashi TLC Chewy Peanut Peanut Butter Bar around 2.  So dry at first bite!  And then I remembered the miracle for bars–the microwave.  Once nuked that fucker was great!

Chris wanted a meat free dinner (I just about shat when I heard that), but, no, it wasn’t what you think.  He wanted to go out to watch the game after dinner, and figured he’d eat BBQ pork while out, so why not just leave meat out of our dinner?

I had a game plan in mind, and it turned out fabu 🙂  Roasted potatoes, onions, and red pepper with a little bit of oil and seasonings and portobello mushrooms (with their gills scraped out) roasted with Bragg’s, garlic, Italian herbs, and a little bit of olive oil.  The mushroom cap was so good!  Chris thought it was prepared well and liked the flavors, too–yippee!

I hit the gym for some cardio afterward, and sweated my ass off going faster than ever on the mill.  I did custom intervals at 105 spm/90 spm for 40 minutes, then slowed it down to 90 spm/80 spm for the last 10 minutes.  Woo-eee!

Afterward I hit up the Kashi Go Lean Crunch and almond milk.  Mmmmmm.

And then the Kashi TLC Honey Sesame crackers.  Loved ’em!!  This flavor is great, and the price was right 😉  $2.88 at Target!

I think the beast has finally been tamed.  I guess my carbtastic evening helped 😉

Thanks for bearing with me through this long post.  I know I type too much, but it’s tough for me to edit out much.  Hope you found it interesting at least 🙂  Later!

Watch out May 27, 2009

I’m in quite a funk.  PMS?  The sight of my stomach fat? Other life issues?  Who the fuck knows.  Bottom line is I thought my day was great, but realized the beginning and end have been full of moodiness, and a tiff with the man.  Grrrr.

Do you watch Sex and the City?  An episode is on now with so many truths about relationships and dating.  I love this show, but I’ve found that the later seasons are so true to life it is almost too depressing to watch. 

Tuesday

The oats were a wee bit different–currants instead of raisins.  I also forgot to mention that I used up the Better’n’PB, and am back with Maranatha crunchy PB.  I missed the chunky PB and the roasted flavor of normal PB; B’n’PB was also a little to sweet for me.  Oh well, I gave it a try!

My dad had a car issue come up, he was booked all day but needed to leave town the next day, so I took his car into the shop late in the morning.  I brought my lunch along with me, but forgot a fork 😦  First I had these apples and strawberries:

After awhile we figured out the repair would be another hour or so at least, and when the shop manager suggested I visit Nosh for lunch I took the advice. 

Nosh is a tiny little sandwich shop in close-in SE Portland.  They had a lunch deal with 1/2 a sandwich, soup, and a cookie.  I’ll take it!  I opted for the veggie sandwich on marble rye (cucumber, shredded carrot, tomato, lettuce, hummus) with the tomato ravioli soup.  It came with a really yummy little chocolate chocolate chip cookie.  This was  perfect lunch, but in reality I ate it all and was a little full.

The afternoon flew by, but not too fast for me to enjoy a Kashi TLC crunchy granola bar.

Can you guess what we did for dinner?

I think I need to exclude the beans, as they are refried, and most likely contain lard 😦  I forgot to ask again about the beans and rice.  Bad me!

I was just a little hungry later on, and wanted to try out my new find at the grocery store–a half gallon of refrigerated Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla!! Yee-haw!  The carton looked different, and at first glance I thought it was the same as the normal aseptic carton, but not quite.  The refrigerated version has more calcium, vit. A, and vit. D, and a creamier texture, I think.  I like it! 

Wednesday

Can’t believe we’re halfway through the week already.  It is almost not a good thing with what I need to do before our office move Saturday.  😐

Same oats this morning as yesterday…

After much sorting, recycling, and reorganizing of my desk, lunch rolled around.  I ate the salad that I didn’t have for lunch yesterday–leftover burrito, extra verde sauce, avocado, jalapeno, Romaine.  Some carrots and cherries on the side for shits and giggles. 

I didn’t feel that productive this afternoon 😦  I needed to do case work but just wanted to continue organizing and sorting.  I’ll have to bust some ass tomorrow to get my work done.

This nanner gave me a little fuel mid-afternoon.

I was super hungry before dinner, so I snacked on most of these while playing with Lily.

I forgot to plan out my side dishes for dinner fully, so I ended up having brown rice made with VegeBase broth, and added in some sauteed pepper, onion, carrot, and mushroom.  Pretty good, but needed more seasoning.  I had that with a portabella burger that I accidentally overseasoned, so they went well together 🙂  Beforehand I attempted to make a garlic bread snack out of a leftover burger bun, but I took my eye off of it at the last minute and they got a little brown.  Still tasty 😉

I also went for a cup o’ that fabu almond milk with dinner.  Lovin it!

After a good leg and stair mill sweat session, I needed more fuel.  Granola, strawberries, and almond milk came to the rescue.

The hunger was not satiated afterward, so I ate the rest of my Genisoy Deep Sea Salt Crisps.  Then I realized I’m thirsty and I have allergies, and those factors are driving my hunger.

I’m off to bed.  I got a lot of sleep last night, but had a sleep hangover this morning from getting too much.  Crazy how that works out.

Later y’all!

Majorly sporadical

Holy hell, I thought this was posted two nights ago!  Forgive me!!  Read on…

I have been so sporadical about posting (yes, that’s from “Clueless 🙂 )  Life hasn’t been any less busy lately, and I have a feeling this week will be a doosy with final move prep and actually moving.  Yee-haw!

Now that it’s been over two weeks since I’ve cut meat out of my diet, I’ve had a few challenges and surprises:

• Beano ain’t vegetarian 😦  I should have read the box when I bought it, but sheesh, it is fish based??!! 
• The Mexican food I’m eating is likely still not vegetarian b/c of the beans and rice.  I need to ask again.
• I ate a steak Saturday night (!).  Chris’ clients invited us to dinner at their house before I went on the veg trial, and he felt bad saying something about me not eating steak.  It was a big t-bone, tasted okay, but I could’ve done without.
• Getting enough protein, and not too much soy protein, is a challenge.  I may add in some egg whites to salads and such for a boost.
• I’m glad I was already eating healthfully before I started cutting out meats, ’cause for the most part my diet hasn’t changed.
• I’m not sure where I’ll go from here–veg with occasional meats? Ovo-lacto veg?  ???

How about a backwards trek through my last three or four days or whatever it’s been since my last post…

I just ate this:

Overall I’m a little disappointed in the big box of like 24 bars I bought at Costco, as they all seem way drier than the chocolate cherry chewy bars I had.  The flavors are good, though, and I like the big nuts in the trail mix ones 🙂  Hehe!

Dinner was yummy!  Portabella mushroom burger with jalapenos, avocado, dill pickles, a mushroom/pepper skewer, corn, and a roasted marshmallow afterward. 

I did some may-juh yardwork this afternoon, including mowing both lawns, weeding, and trimming trees/vines/weeds.  So glad it’s done (for this week at least)!

Lunch was a fruit festival’r’us, a la Sharon:

Leftover fruit from breakfast, apple, strawberries, cherries, and carrot for some veg variety.  After having like no fruit yesterday I needed this.

My mom and I visited a dog park in Lake Oswego after breakfast.  The dogs had fun, but didn’t play much since it wasn’t familiar territory.

Breakfast was a yummy treat at La Provence in LO.  We shared blueberry pancakes and the Colette omelette, which was more like an egg and basil frittata with tomatoes and Swiss cheese on top.  Yum!  I ate a little bit too much…

 

Sunday

I wanted something sweet, and most likely just needed water last night, but I had these.  Love!  Maybe in about three years I’ll eat through the multiple packs I have leftover from last Halloween.

This incredible drink should have been enough for dessert…

Dinner was a visit to see Maria at Fajitas.  ‘Twas a beautiful day so we sat outside with the LB.  My burrito turned out a bit different:  carrot, green beans, olives, jalapenos inside with traditional enchilada sauce and a LOAD of cheese outside (forgot to say no cheese), beans and rice on the side. 

Chris and I were at work for a few hours doing more scanning and organzing. So not exciting, but productive at least.

Lunch was the other half of Friday’s dinner burrito warmed in a skillet, and mixed with some TVP.  I thought it would be too much food, so I didn’t add the egg whites I’d planned on, but I was still hungry afterward and had a piece of toast with Smart Balance Light.

Breakfast was a traditional bowl of steel cut oats, eaten outside while playing with LB.

Saturday

We were invited to dinner at Chris’ clients’ house, and had a wonderful time.  They have a gorgeous backyard with a pond, beautiful flowers, a veggie plot, and more. 

Dessert was individual cheesecakes with strawberries and cream.  Heavenly!

Dinner was the t-bone I mentioned, grilled asparagus, a Romaine salad with onions, avocado, grapes, and homemade dressing, grilled French bread with olive oil, sea salt crystals, and green onions, and some crudite and crackers served with tapenade.

Lunch was ????  I can’t remember and I don’t have a pic. 

Here’s some of Chris’ pics from Arizona.  I made him promise to photograph some of his eats since he stole my camera 😉

Looks like it was my kind of menu 😉

There were tons of bunnies all over the place.  They have cute white tails!

And some ducklings with their mama 🙂

And that’s all, folks.  I’d love to give you like another ten pages to read, but I’m tired and tomorrow is an early day.  I will share that I bought the last of my office furniture yesterday!! 🙂  Yay!  Can’t believe our first day in our new office is one week from today.  Time flies.  Must be having fun then, right?  We’ll leave that one open for discussion…

G’night 🙂

Crazy days May 21, 2009

I’m back after a four day hiatus…life has been crazy busy with lots meetings and new-office related stuff.  I’m tired, so this post is going to be a gallery.  My posts today are lacking a few photos, as the man is in Arizona and has the camera with him.  I did pre-photograph most of my eats last night when I prepped them though 😉

Some high- (and low-)lights:

• A trip to Ikea today!!!!!!  First time I’ve been to the Portland location, and it was fab.  I bought things to outfit the kitchen in our new office.  Super duper highlight of this trip?  $1 Vanilla fro-yo at the end! 
• I spent like 3 hours today scanning in client files, and my hands are madly dry from handling all that paper.  I also vow to never use another staple again if I can help it.
• I made a trip to Total Reclaim today to drop off my styrofoam for recycling 🙂
• Tonight’s dinner was butternut chips with Northwoods Seasoning.  Fabu!  I found out Lily likes butternut squash, too 🙂  She is a beta carotene girl!
• Did I mention I’m tired?  I can’t remember because I’m so tired.  Wait, I just said I’m tired already 😐
• I had a nice walk this morning because I was too early to Ikea.  The Cascades Station area near the airport has a nice parkway to walk along, so I got in about 35 minutes of walking.
• Tomorrow is Friday!

Off I go to hit the hay early.  I think I’m getting up to work out early cause I don’t see it happening any other time tomorrow, and I haven’t done much the last three days. 

I hope you’re all having a great week, and I hope to catch up on your blogs soon!  BTW, I’m finally on Google Reader and loving it 🙂

Holy shit, Lily was going berserk so I let her outside, and she startled a possum I think!  That totally freaked me out.  There was some sort of little animal laying on the ground belly up, with her sniffing intently, but when I put Lily back inside and went back it was gone.  Phew, I’m so relieved it was only playing dead.  Crazy!

Toot toot! May 17, 2009

And I ain’t talkin’ bout no train!  Get ready for TMI, and skip this paragraph if you don’t want to hear about, uh, air.  Friday night at the gym I forgot to tell you all that I had to fight to hold in, ahem, some air expressions resulting from my addition of beans and more veg in my diet.  To help solve my, er, issue, I bought a bottle of beano at the store today.  So far so good!  Have you vegetarians out there experienced a similar thing?  How do you combat it?

Now that that pleasantry is over, let’s recap my sun filled weekend…

Saturday

Did I forget a pic of breakfast?  I had my oats outside in the sun

Lunch at Phil’s 1500 Subs in Forest Grove:  Small Grilled Veggie with peanut sauce.  I thought I may regret the peanut sauce decision, but it was fabulous and had a nice spicy kick that I loved.  The veg consisted of summer squash, zucchini (sp?), tomato, mushroom, olives, onions, bell pepp, lettuce, and maybe one I can’t remember. 

We headed out to Willakenzie for the Pre-Memorial Day member’s tasting, and that was great as well.  I didn’t take pics of the wine b/c we were with some of Chris’ clients and I didn’t want to be too weird at the outset, but I did take some pics of the view, and we got one of us 🙂

After hiking up to the high point of the vineyard and revisiting the tasting room we mosied toward home, getting rather ravenous as we went.  I threw together a totally weird dinner with three new ingredients, but it turned out well! 

Steamed carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, red bell pepp, corn, peas, whole wheat egg noodles, textured vegetable protein (new!), Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (new!), and VegeBase veggie bouillon (new!).  I also sprinkled in some chili flakes and garlic, and was quite pleased with the result.  I was not pleased that I horfed it down in like two seconds because of the mosquitos attacking me outside 😦

I bought the TVP a week ago, and the VegeBase Thursday, I think.  TVP is like a blank slate–add flavor in the liquid you use to hydrate it–so the possibilities are endless.  The VegeBase was yummy, and had lots of little bits of veggies in it (not too big, though) 🙂  I also liked the Bragg’s and can see why y’all are practically obsessed with it (ahem, like a certain someone who carries it around in her purse 😉 ).

After dinner we had some of this,

…and then some of this:  Drunken Goat and smoked gouda cheeses with Kashi TLC crackers…

…and then I had some of this yummy dark chocolate.

So tasty!  A nice end to my eating day 🙂

Sunday

A bowl of the usual oat mix:  steel cut oats, soy protein powder, almond milk, water, raisins, cinnamon, Better’N’PB, and more water added after cooking.  Yee-yaaaah 😉

After this we headed out to furniture shop fucking finally already.  And it went great!  Our colleague referred us to a new and used store where we found everything cost 35% less than we originally anticipated, and the desk set up we’d been eyeing met our expectations and then some.  Phew, now we just need to get chairs and file cabinets picked out, which I’ll do more of on Thursday.

We stopped off at the Milwaukie Farmer’s Market on the way home, and Chris found lunch in two bratwurst from a local business.   I saw some yummy stuff, but didn’t want to pay $6 for falafel when I had so much good stuff at home. 

I whipped up a scramble using leftover veggies from last night, and added in one whole egg, one egg white, Bragg’s, avocado, and Nature’s Seasons.  Bomb!  A few berries on the side only seemed appropriate 😉

Before heading to the store I snacked on a nanner.

Freddy’s had some beautiful cherries, and they were on sale for $2.98/lb.  Yummy, and a nice change of pace.

Chris really wanted to eat at Fajitas tonight; big surprise, right?  I wasn’t quite prepared for that, but acquiesced anyway since I’m nice that way.  We sat outside and fried in the sun while we drank our huge boozy beverages and ate our comida deliciosa.  Can you guess what I had??  I don’t know that there’s really another choice for me…

Burrito vegetale con frijoles y arroz, but this time it was a parte.  Muy bien!

Breaking Bad was fucking crazy tonight…do you watch it?  You should!  I was feeling a tad wilted after being in the sun and drinking a bit; an apple sounded perfect to revitalize me.

And then PB sounded good, too, so I had this little bit eaten really slowly.

I’m heading to bed now, as I have to be up early and ready for a big meeting at 8:30.  Hopefully all goes well 🙂 

Did you have a good weekend?  Tell me about it!

I’m drawing a blank! May 15, 2009

Seriously, I need to carry around a recorder to capture post ideas and titles I think of, cause when I sit down to write I can’t remember them at all!  😦

Let’s recap a quick Friday for ya, as I think I’m going to hit the hay a little earlier tonight for a change.

Oaty oats for breakfast.  I forgot to prep them last night, but adding hot water and letting it sit, then nuking them really does the trick 🙂

Leftover burrito guts with avocado and red bell pepp on mixed greens, carrot, blackberries & strawberries, Fuji.  I ate most of the latter later on for my snack.  Love the burrito/salad mix!

This weekend is going to be busy, and Chris knew he wanted to eat Mexican at least once, so we he picked tonight.  I ordered the same thing as yesterday, but forgot to specify no cheese.  The guts consisted of rice (forgot to ask if its vegetarian, again), black beans, carrots, squash, onions, green beans, and cauliflower.  Super tasty, of course 😉

Notice a certain someone begging in the background?? 

Check out this creamy goodness that is La Casa.  I love the frothy top and the cinnamon 🙂

After dinner I was feeling out of whack from allergies, but I popped a pill and headed to the gym anyway.  Not much in the mood for weights, I did 50 minutes of less-sweaty-than-usual stair climbing while reading. I stopped off at the scale afterward since I can’t help weighing myself about once a week, after cardio usually.  I dropped two pounds!  Is this the result of my vegetarian diet this last week??  I dunno, but works for me 😉

Tonight I didn’t think I’d eat anything before bed, but now I just realized that I don’t have to get up as early as I thought to fit in a workout, so I opted for a snack of Genisoy Soy Crisps–both cheddar and deep sea salted.  Now, I gotta tell you, each time I eat these I think they are even more awesome!  Voluminous serving size, good nutritionals, and they don’t go stale!  I’ve had the bag of cheddar for like a month and can’t tell at all.  No pic for ya, but I’m sure you can picture me sticking my hand into two bags of crisps multiple times 🙂

Wow, Joel McHale is having a violent night on The Soup!!  Since I’m not really paying attention I’m not sure what the reason is, but there’s all sorts of fights and shit he keep showing, and yes, most of it is entertaining.  Gotta love The Soup!

Later, yo!  Have a great night and fun weekend 🙂

One week in May 14, 2009

It has been a week since I’ve had any meat/fish/seafood, and for that matter eggs I think.  My eating hasn’t felt that different, other than incorporating three new things I never used to eat:  cauliflower, mushrooms, and beans.  I don’t know if I’ve felt different, but that’s okay cause I’ve been feelin pretty good since I moved to a healthier diet months ago 🙂 

Wednesday

Typical oats

I never really ate lunch b/c I was busy getting ready for a meeting.  I scarfed down a carrot and an apple around noon, and then had some grapes and the granola bar around 1:45.

My brother was in town dropping off his doggy for my mom to watch while he’s on vacation (phew, that was a mouthful), so we celebrated his birthday a little early with a dinner.  This was a bit of a challenge food-wise, as I guess I didn’t specify clearly enough that I’m on an ovo-lacto veggie trial; everyone thought I’d eat the halibut for dinner.  Believe me, I know it was good, but I chose not to eat it and brought on a little bit of wrath from the fam & Chris.

I had: a mixed greens salad with broccoli, bell pepper, apple, and almonds; roasted onion, potato, and red bell pepp; and roasted asparagus.  Oh yes, I lest not leave out the little glasses of champagne, sauvingnon blanc, and pinot noir 🙂

Say hi to Beaudin!  He’s such a cutie pie!

And say hello, er goodbye, to my dessert:  Lee Berry Farms rhubarb pie with Dreyer’s Slow Churned vanilla bean ice cream.  Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Awhile later at home Chris had some pretzels, and Lily strategically placed her head for handouts.  (Ignore the hideous furniture in the background.)

While reading Prevention I saw an ad for almonds and thought a few sounded good.  I was right 🙂

Thursday

Lily didn’t want to eat her carrot this morning 😦

Extra liquidy normal oats.

Almost lunch-time snack.

My real lunch.  This salad was full of random goodness, including Andrea’s seitan, avocado, red bell pepp, dill pickles, edamame, Romain, and mixed greens.  At first the seitan was good, but then it reminded me of the tofu I ate before my flu kicked in months ago, and I couldn’t eat the rest 😦  Booooooo!  Damn aversive conditioning is still killing me like three or four months later.  Erin, how do I get over this??

Snacky poo for fueling worky poo.

Veggie burrito at Fajitas!  This one was extra tasty and special, and consisted of:  flour tortilla (I don’t think they have whole wheat there :(), rice (forgot to ask if it’s vegetarian!!), carrots, black beans, green bell pepp, onion, cauliflower, green beans, and verde sauce.  Ay ay ay!

No, I didn’t drink that whole Cazuela…Chris helped me out with that 😉  I only had half of my La Casa, too.

Lily was such a cutie while we ate.

After a run to Costco and Fred Meyer I enjoyed the fruits of my labor, literally.

I’m pooped, and feeling a tad blah.  Can ya tell?  I’m not my usual chatty self obviously, but hey, I’m sure many of you would rather view my day in the form of pics rather than read my long editorials 😉  I’ll forive ya!

Thank god tomorrow is Friday, cause it’s felt like Friday for three days already.  The office buildout and move is starting to become stressful, esp. when the contractor comes back and tells you it will cost $555 to move 4 electric/data outlets.  WTF?  Are they made of gold and plastered with cocaine or what?  I have a feeling we’ll be skipping that and opting for some cord hiding supplies instead…

Hoping you’ve all had a great few days!  Adios!

Roll it up May 12, 2009

No, I’m not talking about smokin’!  Tonight I had another foam rolling sesh, and the legs are talking back.  I felt the same thing last night, but today my legs felt great. 

Chris and I only worked the latter half of today.  We lounged around this morning, and when the sun came out I attempted to eat my oats outside, but it was a tad too cold and windy.  Yummy oats, though!  I’m still diggin’ the soy protein powder in it and the texture it creates–I add way more water to my oats and like them runnier b/c of it.

Work went by so quickly, but not too quickly for me to enjoy a funky salad for lunch!  This random ass salad consisted of:

• Romaine lettuce
• guts of my leftover burritos (squash, carrots, green beans, onion, black beans, cauliflower, rice, celery, olives, ???)
• a few slices of dill pickle, diced
• edamame
• chunks of avocado
• diced red bell pepper

I really enjoyed eating this, and am now craving random salads.  Tomorrow I think I can try out Andrea’s seitan! 

The afternoon flew by as I did some work and had a meeting.  All went well, and we headed downtown for a business dinner at Andina.  I have had many culinary delights at this restaurant over the last four years, but tonight was a bit of an exception for a few reasons:  I didn’t eat the quinoa studded fried shrimp, and the vegetarian main was unimpressive 😦  Boo.  I didn’t mind skipping the shrimp, but upon seeing and tasting the main I was disappointed in how rich it was, and how lacking in vegetables it was.  This was the description:

QUINOTO DE HONGOS DE LA MONTAÑA grilled market fresh vegetables on a bed of golden beet and local mushroom “risotto” laced with truffle oil

Wouldn’t you expect like a pile of veggies on there?  What came out was a small cake of “risotto” (quinoa?) with three tiny asparagus spears and thin slices of cheese on top.  The dish also had cheese in it.  The truffle oil and cheese was just too rich, the beets seemed out of place, and the mushrooms were good I suppose (I’m still warming up to them).  My coworker also ordered this dish, and stopped to ask the waitress if he got the correct dish b/c there were hardly any veggies present.

At least dessert was good!  Lucuma is some kind of Peruvian fruit, but the mousse didn’t taste fruity.   Here’s the description:

MOUSSE DE VALLE Y SELVA
a tiered semi-freddo of velvety lucuma and espresso mousses, chocolate ganache, and crushed cocoa nib meringue, served with espresso shortbread

The cocoa nibs were fabulous, and the mousse rather rich. I wish it had more espresso and chocolate in it, so I kinda ate around the lucuma to get those 🙂

After this dinner I felt compelled to go to the gym to try to get rid of the heavy, full feeling I had, so I hit up the stair mill for 50 minutes while reading The Economist.  If you’re in to world news in a great format with lots of writing variety, this weekly newspaper magazine is awesome!  It has so much info it takes me like a whole week’s cardio to get through an issue.  And it makes cardio fly by 🙂

Next is where my foam rolling session came in.  I felt like I was cleaning the gym mat on a few of the moves, which is all the more reason to do it at home on the hair ladden carpet living room floor.  The pain on my outer thighs was excruciating, yet at the same time pleasing to roll out.  I can see how this is a bit addictive…

I know this post is mega boring because I only had two pics to share.  For entertainment you can revisit my lunch pic 🙂  I know I did! 

I forgot to mention I had a carrot with lunch, ate an apple around 3:30, and then had some strawberries just now. 

Later gators!  This chick is gonna fly the coop to go to bed 😉

It’s the pits May 11, 2009

As in, the bottomless pit that was my stomach today. 

I woke up super tired, with allergies to blame I think.  I should have known I was in for it in the hunger department because of that…

Chris, our other co-tenants, and I did a walkthrough on the new office suite for electrical, lighting, paint, and some other important details, and it took an hour and a half!  Holy shit!  I was hungry before we even left the house, and should’ve just eaten my oats on the drive in to work. 

Finally I got some satisfaction around 10am.  This is the standard mixxxx of steel cut oats, a little 7 grain (almost done!), raisins, cinnamon, almond milk, water, soy protein powder, and a new addition of honey millet granola from Whole Foods. 

When Chris wanted to eat around noon I didn’t object, in fact I was feeling a twinge of hunger already.  I had leftover pizza from last night, and a big carrot.  The pizza was whole wheat crust, steamed broccoli and corn, red bell pepp, tomato, olives, tomato sauce, a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, Italian herbs, and a little bit of each Drunken Goat cheese and smoked gouda.  I ate it cold and it was tasty!  Chris ate my strawbs, so just forget those are in the pic 😦

The apples came in handy like an hour later when my stomach grumbled.  “Sheesh, what is going on in there?” I kept thinking.  I forgot about the allergies.  Do any of you get that same, nagging symptom?

Then again around 3pm I felt that nagging feeling again and ate this yummy snack:

That hit the spot, and I wasn’t hungry again for like 3 hours.  Guess I just needed a bit of fat, fiber, and protein together for satiety.

(Fizzity fiz-uck I’m getting hungry again now. All this damn foodie thought and the pics are making me hungry!)

Surprise, surprise, dinner was a Mexi venture to Si Senor.  It seems that I will have to stick with burritos, and maybe salads, to avoid meat or a cheesy mess.  I had half a veggie burrito filled with black beans (OMG, did she say bean?!?! She doesn’t eat beans!), rice, carrot, celery, onion, and maybe something else.  It was topped with lettuce and a yummy red sauce; I stole Chris’ avocados, too 🙂  I also ate a ton of chips and salsa, and drank a huge Diet Coke.  I wasn’t even that full when I left, but I was satisfied, caffeinated, and ready for my workout with Andrea!

Around 8 we started busting out some chest, back, and biceps, then ended with a foam rolling session and some abs.  I didn’t do much for abs, but rather learned the art of moaning while rolling on a foam tube.  Felt damn painful at times, but like a good pain.  (Think strong, deep massage.) 

After groaning on the roller for 10 minutes, it was cardio time.  The gym was fiz-ull up, so our plan to do cardio together was fouled up by the lack of free machines in working order 😦  The Drizz opted out, and I went for a stair mill.  But first, she gave me this!

Homemade seitan!  It looked like a roll of sausage, and smelled like yummy onion and other savory goodness.  I hope to try it tomorrow for lunch or a snack 🙂

Once home I was in the mood for some crack, and strawberries, so I had a small bowl of honey millet granola with strawbs and almond milk.  MMMMMM!  The granola is really crunchy (like, teeth beware!), and coupled with the strawbs it was great.  The millet adds a sesame-like flavor, and lots of crunch.

But that wasn’t enough, you see, and I went back to the kitchen for the glorious fatty protein that is peanut butter, real peanut butter.  Lily wanted in on the action…she was jealous watching me lick the knife 😉

With that I move on to bed, safely separating the pit from the kitchen.  You may be saying, “if she’s hungry why doesn’t she just eat?” but this ain’t really justified hunger, it’s fueled by some crazy reaction my body has to allergens.  The last week has sucked allergy-wise, so perhaps this is the year to pursue more aggressive, targeted action (read: prescription drugs).  Do any of you take Rx allergy meds?  If so, what symptoms/allergens/meds combo are you lucky enough to have?

The Seinfeld “shrinkage” episode was just on, and now the John Voight Le Baron episode is on.  Funny stuff!  Gotta love the many sayings and -isms that came from that show!

I hit the motherlode May 10, 2009

Happy Mother’s Day!!  Today was really a nice day, as was yesterday, and I hope you all had a great weekend 🙂 

Since I’ve been running around all weekend I feel a tad tired, and I may just insert a gallery for ya.  Let me upload the pics and see what I feel like….

Oh my god, there’s 22 photos!  How about highlights?

• The Oregon City Saturday Market–small but fun..picked up some goat’s milk soap, jam, rugelach, and goat cheese for the moms.  They were a hit!
• A beautiful, sunny day Saturday
• Another veggie burrito at Fajitas Saturday night–this one had carrots, green beans, cauliflower (another one I hate but ate and it wasn’t so bad :)) and verde sauce….and cheese.  Soo yummy!
• Working out early and coming home today with a ravenous appetite.  I devoured my bowl of organic strawberries, pumpkin flax granola, and raisins with glee 🙂
• Yummy mother’s day treats from Lily (and Chris;)):  smoked gouda cheese, Drunken Goat Spanish cheese, honey millet granola, and hickory salt. 
• High Tea at the Heathman with Mom and Grandma–tasty goodness!
• Walking around downtown Portland afterward and enjoying the beautiful city.
• Putting up my bee box in the yard
• Making pizza at home tonight with my honey.  Fun, yummy, satisfying experience 🙂
• Leftover dessert from tea after dinner.  Yee-haw!!

Chris, my mom, and my grandma have all reacted well to my (trial of) going veggie.  And it has been a tasty endeavor so far, so I say, bring it on!  Thanks for all of your thoughts and support!  I feel really lucky that Erin introduced me to the blog world and that I have been able to learn so much from all of you.  🙂  Keep rockin’ ladies and germs! 

hit, I’m tired!!!  Gotta get to work at like 8 tomorrow, so I’m going to hit the hay now.  Happy trails to you 😉

Blah blah blah May 8, 2009

I woke up sooooooooooo tired this morning, and all I wanted was to stay in bed.  But, no, of course this is the real world and I had to get up and go to work. 

I enjoyed some coffee at home, then nuked the oats/7-grain once at work.  I’m almost out of the 7-grain, and excited to get back to just steel cut oats!

When Chris ate lunch around 11:30 I wasn’t hungry, and then all of a sudden at 2:30 I realized I never ate!  I wasn’t hungry still, but was feeling rather slow from staring at the computer all morning and doing some heavy lifting with my brain.  I did end up adjusting my lunch to be meat free.  I removed the turkey from my sando and added in some yellow bell pepp, and kept the usual pickle, romaine, and avocado.  I also ate all of the grapes and half the apple.

For some reason I wasn’t feeling so hot after this, but not really sick.  Allergies?  Annoying. 

I plowed on in my work, and we cut outta there around 4:30.  After swinging by home and grabbing the LB, we headed off to Fajitas for dinner where we sat outside 🙂  Lily wanted to roar for you in front of the camera.

Looking at the menu all I kept seeing was meat and cheese, cheese, or meat…until I figured I could get a burrito and just filler up with veggies!  I told Pedro to have the chef throw in any veggie he had, pass on the cheese, and this is what I got:

I shoulda taken a pic of the inside, ’cause it was good!  Bell pepp, onion, mushroom (yes, I ate mushroom, Queen of Fungus Hating that I am), tomato wrapped in a flour tortilla and smothered in enchilada sauce.  There was also rice and some fajita sauce mixed in there, and it was all quite a savory flavor combo.  I was full enough after eating only half, so I saved the other half for lunch tomorrow 🙂

The postre was perfect…1/2 of La Casa to satisfy my sweet tooth.  I love these little glasses, too.

All day I figured I’d go to the gym tonight, but when I got home I was toying with the notion of skipping it because my ass was dragging.  So I just got dressed and left to make sure I wouldn’t boge out.  Today was chest, back, biceps, and abs, followed with a 45 minute climb on the mill.

Okay, this seems SO fucked up to me… The Aleve commercial with the badminton lady who says her doctor told her she’s overusing her knees, and that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, so she takes Aleve to get rid of the pain so she can still play.  Um, does she have a death wish for her knees?  (Like I should talk though, cause I’ve stayed on the mill plenty of times when the knees weren’t feelin’ perfect.)  All Aleve commercials seem like this to me–people taking pain meds so they can avoid listening to their bodies and keep doing what they want.  Seems irresponsible to promote such things.

I wasn’t particularly hungry when I got home, but by the time I prepped my oats and coffee for the a.m. the tum was waking up.  I opted to have a 1/4 apple, Better’N’PB, and a few pieces of chocolate.  This didn’t quite hit the spot, but I think that’s cause the allergy hunger/funky tum is messing with me.

So, after I spilled my beans to you about vegetarianism/reduced impact diet, today felt kinda weird.  I still didn’t talk with Chris about it fully, but we had a quick exchange at dinner that was something like this: “You need the menu?” ‘Yeah, I want to try something new, without meat.’ “Are you getting all weird on me?” ‘Yeah, a little 🙂 I want to reduce my impact on the environment by changing my diet.’ “Okay, just don’t get too crazy!  I’ll just have to make up for you with my meat consumption I guess ;)”  ‘And I’ll counteract with not eating meat.’  “Okay.” 

Not exactly a philosphical discussion or emotional baring, but I guess that’s okay for now.  Chris loves meat and I like it, and I don’t have hopes of weaning him off of it any time soon.  He kept saying “Blech, just vegetables?” in a half serious/half joking manner.  It’ll be an uphill battle fo’ sho’!  I’ll have to be sly about inserting healthful things into his diet to see if he notices 😉

I’m heading to bed so I can get up early and do some cardio, then hit the Oregon City Farmer’s Market.  I hope it is a delight of sights, smells, and colors.  I leave you with a timeless quote I just heard:

“You’re going to love my nuts”–Vince, The Slap Chop/ShamWow dude