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!!!!!!!!!!!

Here I am, fat and on a quest to be fit once again November 7, 2008

Hi!  My name is Kersten and I’m a 27 year old Portland, Oregon, resident who is sick of being out of shape!  Once upon a time I was fit and trim, but then I started an intense job about 4 1/2 years ago and let my eating and workouts go by the wayside.  I am now battling the bulge, growing out of my clothes, have low energy, and hate how my body looks   No more, I say!!! 

I hope you will follow, join, or encourage me on my quest to lose inches, gain tone, and return to a mostly healthy lifestyle.  About one month ago I began eating more healthfully by making dinner at home 4 times a week, and by making my lunch for work 4-5 days per week.  While I don’t intend to be 100% perfect and healthy, I hope to eat mostly healthy foods, reduce my impact on the environment at the same time, and workout regularly.  My major weakness is Mexican food, which I currently eat 3 times a week between two restaurants–I do not anticipate that this will go away, but I hope to make better menu choices when I eat there.

Just today I bought a 2 year membership to 24 Hour Fitness–my long lost gym!  (Check it out!  Costco is selling all-club Sport memberships, 2 years for $290!  That’s about $12/month!!) I hope to attend some pilates and yoga classes, and begin an early a.m. workout routine to get my ass in shape!

I was inspired by my blogging friends at caretoeat.net to start this blog, especially Erin who was my workout buddy and major friend and source of support when I was fit once upon a time–love you girl!  Erin and Andrea are totally fun, majorly healthy, and a great inspiration to anyone hoping to eat and live well   Rock on, girls!

I went to the gym! November 8, 2008

Brace yourselves, people, I actually got off my arse and went to the gym today!!  Over the last week I have been checking out details about my local 24HourFitness’ classes, and the yoga and pilates selections piqued my interest.  I haven’t received my 24Hour membership voucher from Costco yet, so I downloaded a free 7 day pass online!!  Imagine that, I was actually MOTIVATED enough to be proactive and figure out how I could get to the gym today. 

Last night I kept thinking about heading to the gym, and this morning I wasn’t positive I would go, but at like 9:30 I decided to go for it and head to the 10 o’clock pilates class. The membership people were kind enough to not bore me with details when I got there. I headed upstairs, jumped on a the elliptical to warm up for a few minutes, and headed on in to the studio for my first pilates sesh in like 4 years.  I know, you say, “what are you thinking diving in to pilates right away??!!” but it worked out well (no pun intended!).  I was careful not to overdo it, stuck to basic versions of all the moves, and listened to my body so as not to hurt myself.  That hour flew by, and it did help me feel energized and accomplished

So, back downstairs I went, stopping in the ladies room to wash the hands along the way.  Touching things in the gym makes me feel pretty germy, and although I’m not obsessive about germs I felt the need to wash the hands.  I was also curious to see how much I weigh, but the scale in the ladies room was broken!  I’m guessing I’m somewhere around 155, but my scale at home is an crappy old spring scale that is totally inaccurate.  Oh well, I’ll use the scale upstairs at the gym next time.  [side note...the gym was PACKED TO THE MAX!  I got a little nervous about walking around in front of everyone with my ass ga-donk-a-donking around, but then I actually felt rather anonymous and un-spectacle-like because of the crowd.  Everyone is there to get fit, right, no matter what they look like ]

Off I went to meet with David in membership, and get the schpiel about how I need to do personal training to make sure I get results and work out efficiently.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the value of paying someone for specific, tailored advice, but I just don’t know if I want to hire a personal trainer for like $55/hour just to walk me though the target heartrate calculation, diet evaluation, and exercise techniques I’m pretty familiar with.  I’m kind of in the zone of creating my routine and executing it on my own for now, but we’ll see what happens.  So, David mentioned the “Biggest Loser” promo of 5-25minute sessions for about $100.  This sounds like a much better deal to me, and we’ll see if I end up pursuing it.  Sounds like a great Christmas gift (hint, hint to the fam).

I headed out and realized I was getting overly hungry, as I did not eat anything this morning.  That is a HORRIBLE habit I’ve gotten into over the last 4 years–not eating breakfast.  I love breakfast though, but usually I’m a bit lazy and don’t want to take the time to make something.  Now I’m going to make it a point to eat some breakfast every day, even if it is just a Clif Nectar bar (love those!) or some fruit…just something to get the metabolism going and fuel my morning. 

At first I thought I’d make some whole wheat French toast with syrup from Megan’s wedding, but then got a hankerin’ for something savory and made scrambled eggs with feta and kalamata olives in a reduced fat heart healthy tortilla.  One thing I noticed about these tortillas is they’re rather bitter unless I heat them up thoroughly, so here’s the pic of my little friend warming in the pan with his guts going along for the ride.  It was yummy!  I also had the rest of my Fuji apple from yesterday’s lunch.

So here I sit, mid-day Saturday, feeling accomplished and good about getting to the gym today.  I may go tomorrow, too, and try out the yoga class at 10.  We’ll see!

One last topic before I go for the day:  body image.  I have described myself as fat throughout my site, and I should probably describe what I mean by it.  To me “fat” does not mean incredibly overweight, it means having too much body fat and feeling too soft.  I’m sick of having my stomach fold over itself (or my pants!), seeing muffin top sprawl out of my low jeans, and watching my body jiggle as I move around.  I don’t like how I look in the few clothes I have left that fit, and most of what I see when I look in the mirror is the pockets of fat that bulge from, roll over, or stretch out my clothing.  No, no, I don’t have a totally negative body image, but I miss feeling svelte and being able to sit down without having the stomach runneth over the waistband.  I feel less beautiful than I should, and I know that by improving my fitness I will ultimately be improving my body image, body composition, and perception of my beauty

Thanks for reading!  Let’s finish with a question:  what makes you feel beautiful?  Please leave a comment or answer so I know you were here!   Have a great day!

Well, I thought I was done for the day… November 8, 2008

Thanks Erin and Heather for the comments!  Erin, you totally rock and I must thank you especially for the mention on your blog, caretoeat.net.  I’ve gotten lots of traffic because of it!  I do remember when we used to walk around 24Hr like we owned the place…heck, I think we did!!  I’ll have to remind the peeps at my new gym of that

After I posted earlier I got to cleaning a bit, which involved sweeping the floor and lamenting over quickly it gets dirty.   That’s the sweet Lily Bird who helps grow that pile of dirt and hair lightning fast. 

I later compiled the grocery list and headed out to Fred Meyer to stock up.  I hate how busy the store always is, and was glad to get out of there.  Here’s what I made for dinner:

Chicken, green & red bell peppers, onions, olives, a little cheddar cheese, and a some jalapeno salsa wrapped in tortillas and baked until hot and a little crispy on the outside.  I made a few extra for lunch over the next few days; mine are the ones covered in salsa   Chris is a wino and didn’t want the spice to affect the taste of his yummy wine.  I also had a little bit of homemade guacamole on the side, mixed with some salsa and touch of reduced fat sour cream-yum!  Here’s what we had to drink:

I am starting to get addicted to blogging!  It is fun, relatively easy, and I think it will continue to be a motivating factor for me.  I seriously think Erin and Andrea’s blog got me motivated to begin my health quest and use a blog to do so–props, girls!!!  I hope to motivate others as well   You have no idea how long I’ve been sitting here not wanting to get off my ass and get healthy.  Finally, a change!

Tomorrow’s plans to work out may be foiled… I’m having breakfast with my mom at The Original Pancake House (sooooooo gooooood!), and then heading to work for awhile.  Yes, work on a Sunday… a necessary evil given my workload and current economic goings-on.  I’ll undoubtedly be having Mexican for dinner, too.  I’ll have to photograph Chris’ and my beverage of choice there–the Casuela.  Not healthy fo sho, but at least it is mostly fruit juice.  Lately I keep ordering tortilla soup, and tomorrow probably won’t be any different

Nighty night y’all!  It is only 9pm but I’m tired and still have a little of that glass of wine to drink.  Keep it real!

Work it, baby! November 9, 2008

Sunday turned out to be a bit different than expected, as I did not go to work after all, but I was able to get in a work out   Yippee!

The day started out with me in a pissy mood for random and PMS-induced reasons, but ended up quite alright.  I got up early (<8am on a Sunday), wanted to kill a few people on the highway on the way to pick up mama, and headed to the Original Pancake House.  The wait was super long!  I chatted with a cute 7 year old named Taylor while I waited, and then was enthralled when we were seated and I was able to finally dig in to this:

A white cheddar and bacon omelette, oven baked to perfection!

I ate less than half of this, two little pumpkin pancakes, and one little regular pancake.  I stopped before I was full, and was very proud of my self for doing so.  Afterward it was back to mom’s house to watch giant squirrels in her yard for a little while–they are huge!!  Like little cats or something…

 

After I got home Chris and I ix-nayed work for the day–that was good news to me!  We made some coffee, I played with Lily, and then I checked out the gym schedule.  No more classes today, so I figured I’d go do some cardio later. 

Around 12:30 I started getting a little hungry, so I made a wrap with some new ingredients, a la miss Erin! 

A low fat tortilla with a little hummus, lots of spinach, some broc slaw (!), pepper, and a dash each of balsalmic vinegar and olive oil.  I also had a handful of grapes.  Tasted yummy, but my tummy wasn’t too happy afterward.  I think I had too much coffee this morning and trying to drink some after lunch didn’t sit well.  So I moved on with the day…

 

 

I thought I’d add some pictures of birds into my blog, as I am fitbird after all.  I really do like birds and have been amazed by the variety I’ve seen in my own backyard.  While Lily and I looked outside for a little while I thought she looked too cute and had to be photographed too. 

“Mommy, can we go outside?”  Well, sure…

Lily LOVES to play with the tennis ball, so while I entertained her I tried to snap some shots of birdies, but not many were around. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After going back inside a male Anna’s hummingbird came up for some fresh juice from the feeders, and I managed to catch a pic of him:

 Can you see him, to the right of the feeder in the air?

His red/black throat was gorgeous, and between sips he’d fly off and make metallic chirps from the tree.  Yay hummer!

 

 

 

I proceeded to start some laundry and clean out the fridge of some old food that had to go.  Instead of chucking or recycling the plastic tubs these items came in (hummus, olives, etc.) I decided to wash and reuse them.  They are perfect sizes for my lunch and snacks, so why not?  The other day I was reading about random recycling facts/etc., and realized that I don’t reuse much (or at least the whole reuse thing kind of hit me as I read about it).  I really try hard to recycle what I can, and reduce consumption, but I totally missed that I wasn’t reusing some things that would be easy.  I’m also trying to use both sides of paper before I recycle it, and wear my clothes five times before washing (haha!  just kidding on that last one of course–testing you to see if you’re paying attention )

I threw some more laundry in and gave the man a haircut.  He goes for a #1 1/2 buzz cut, so it is a pretty easy procedure every few weeks.  But, that meant more sweeping!  I swept the family room and kitchen areas again, too, and was of course amazed at the fur again. 

FINALLY we went to work out around 3:30.  I had 1/3 of an apple before heading out.  Chris is a member at Bally’s, so I dropped him off and headed off to 24Hr for some cardio.  I jumped on my trusty old machine–the elliptical–and did 30 minutes at the upper end of my target heart rate.  (Oh, I googled that and calculated it earlier so I’d know my healthy limits for effective cardio.)  I was floored by the fact that my elliptical had a TV and an iPod connector on it!  What is this new-fangled technology!??  It was great tho, cause my iPod battery was running low and I wanted to crank Justin’s “Sexy Back” to get me moving.  Now I can look forward to watching what I want to while doing cardio, which is pretty cool.

I felt good after the cardio, especially cause I knew I was heading off to dinner at Fajitas, our friendly neighborhood Mexican restaurant where everyone knows our name   This is the Casuela I mentioned:

Yes, friends, that is a whole pitcher full of orange and pineapple juices, vodka, tequila, grenadine, and some fresh fruit.  I know that fruit juice is basically just sugar, but at least there’s some vitamin C and other nutrients, right?  I drank about 1/3 to 1/2 and passed the rest off to Chris.

 

 

 

I did indeed order tortilla soup, which was quite yummy, but had more cheese than usual.  I love cheese!

Again I was able to stop eating before feeling full, but I was also drinking a lot of water and ended up feeling a bit full when we left the restaurant. The weirdest thing happened while we were there–an Italian guy randomly came in and tried to sell us pleather coats!  He only spoke Spanish and Italian, so Chris chatted with him in Espanol while I tried to understand.  This experience reminded me of being on a beach in Mexico, or a little street market in Italy.  Random!

Now my Sunday is winding down, and I feel happy and content.  And, tonight, fresh sheets!  I love fresh sheets.  Heck, who doesn’t?!  I managed to get a whole bunch more done tonight, too…prepped oatmeal for tomorrow, emptied the dishwasher, organized my closet a bit.  Feeling productive is good  

Thanks for reading!

I got ‘punctured’ today November 10, 2008

Happy Monday to you all.  Today actually was quite a happy day, surprisingly.  The day went quickly, too, which was awesome!  A recap of my day for you…

Woke up around 7, but didn’t crawl out of bed until about 8.  Got ready as usual and made sure to remember my pre-soaked oatmeal before I left. As I went to photograph it I noticed that Chris wrote something on my reminder, which totally made me laugh:

My reminder was sitting by a bag of trail mix, which apparently looked like some other type of food   That pic is of my uncooked oatmeal; the trail mix had raisins, almonds, peanuts, chocolate chips, and sunflower seeds. 

I tried photographing a Stellar’s Jay this morning as it swooped in to pick up peanuts, but it kept moving so fast all I could capture was a blur.  They are so pretty with their black combs and bright blue hues.  (Ack, Lily is trying to help me write this by putting her head on the keyboard and my hands–so cute!)

On the way to work I got totally hungry, almost hangry (love that term!).  I was really looking forward to the oatmeal, and popped it in the microwave as soon as I got to work. It seemed a tad bitter, so I added 1/2 a packet of Splenda and that helped a lot.  I didn’t really like the peanut and sunflower seed tastes in the oatmeal, so I don’t think I’ll be adding that particular mix into the oats in the future.  Oh well, I did like that the raisins I put in the night before were all plump and juicy–yum yum! :P

I was in a meeting from 11 to 1, and when I got out I was just starting to get hungry.  I reheated our leftover chicken burritos from the other night, and also ate a Fuji apple.  I think I ate a little too much, and then I started to feel bloated and rather miserable.  I worked a little more and headed out…

I had an acupuncture appointment at 2:30, which was quite nice today.  My acupuncturist, Randy, is using me as a guinea pig for an allergy treatment technique he’s learning:  NAET.  It involves treating the body while being exposed to an allergen, and works by teaching the body to not react to the presence of the allergen.  Today I was treated with tree pollen, as I think that has been giving me crazy bad allergies lately.  I only seem to have reactions when I’ve been outdoors; about an hour after exposure I start to feel heady, get sinus pressure and/or headaches, sneeze a little, and sometimes feeling nauseous or have flu-like symptoms.  Tylenol Multi-Symptom Allergy keeps my symptoms at bay, but I look forward to the NAET treatment preventing me from reacting in the first place.

My treatment was very relaxing, and I thought about working out and feeling good while I was resting with my needles in.  I must say I never thought in a million years that I’d want someone to put needles in me, but acupuncture is usually not painful at all and does provide relief for my ailments.  (It is only a little prick, if that, when most needles go in.  Sometimes areas are tender, because they are points related to issues I’m having, which hurt a bit more when the needle goes in and then it subsides right away.) I used to get migraines a lot, but I’ve only had two since May!  My emotions also seem to be more balanced, with fewer random ups and downs.

My acupuncturist mentioned the relational acupuncture workshops he does, and I’m seriously considering joining the next round.  It involves having acupuncture treatment while seated in a room with others who discuss relation and intention as a modality to achieve greater focus and well being.  Sounds interesting!

I got back to work around 3:45, and worked until about 5.  Not a super long day, but it felt productive and positive.  When I got home I made a salad and low-fat beef stroganoff for dinner.

The salad had spinach, broc slaw, celery, and green bell pepper, dressed with balsalmic vinegar and olive oil, with some cracked pepper and a touch of salt for seasoning.  The stroganoff had 93% lean ground beef, onions, beef broth, a tiny bit of low-fat sour cream, and cracked pepper; I served it over whole wheat yolk-free egg noodles.  My eyes were much bigger than my stomach, and I only ate half of each before I started feeling full.  I’m still nursing my caffeine-free Diet Pepsi now, two hours later, and I still feel bloated from lunchtime–bleh!

I don’t know if I’ll eat anything else today, but I’m craving a little something sweet.  Raisins?  Skittles?  A little birdfood with almond milk (hehe)?  We’ll see if I can justify eating anything else while feeling like a balloon.  I’m watching Law & Order now, and Lily settled down and is laying on my feet   Pretty basic evening here… what do you usually do on Monday nights?

A funky Tuesday November 11, 2008

Hi–welcome back!  Tuesday seemed to be blues-day for my honey, but it was okay for me, other than the nasty feeling tummy right now!  Started out the day getting out of bed around 8 again, performed the usual get ready/play with Lily/pack lunch routine, and was able to wear casual clothes because I didn’t have any appointments today.

I made my oats after arriving at work, and had the usual cup o’ coffee with sugar free vanilla Coffeemate.  I wonder if almond milk could work as a substitute for the Coffeemate?  I don’t like coffee with milk (not creamy enough), but I’ll try to remember to add almond milk this weekend instead of Coffeemate. 

Bob’s Steel Cut Oats with half almond milk, half water, and raisins

The oats were pretty good, but I still feel like they’re missing a little something…I’ll have to keep experimenting.

Lunch was a low fat tortilla with low fat turkey and the rest of my salad from last night inside–it was yummy!  I also had some apples (no, that whole tub wasn’t for me!), and then a few hours later a white cheddar rice cake.

Do you eat at your desk?  Some people think it is not good to do, and I know if I’m distracted I eat too fast, but lately I’ve just been taking a bit of a break to eat and then I go back to work.

The afternoon was the more funky part of my day.  I did not get the work done I should have, and I just kep thinking about the day being over with already.  I kept looking forward to working out, and eventually it was more of a need to work out that developed.  My hunger came back here and there, so I finally had a Special K20 protein water, and that was okay but the texture got to me and I couldn’t finish the last bit.

Around 4 I had a Clif Nectar cherry pomegranate bar–yum!  I love these bars and have a few each week.

Dinner was a doosy, as Chris and I could not decide what the heck to do for the life of us.  He was feeling a little down from random events of the day, and wanted to visit our neighborhood Mexican restaurant.  I, on the other hand, was feeling the need to work out and did not want to get stuffed or drink alcohol and then go work out.  But, I knew I needed to eat before working out and didn’t really look forward to cooking.  We eventually compromised and did go get Mexican, but I had a taco salad and took more than half home for later. 

I worked chest, triceps, legs, and a little bit of abs today   I also did 30 minutes of cardio, and felt great when I left the gym.  I went to Target and bought a yoga mat and reusable water bottle, too!  Hopefully I can start yoga Thursday night.  When I got home it was late, like 10:15, and my hunger was returning.  I picked at the rest of my taco salad, even though I knew I shouldn’t eat something like that this late.

Thinking about this or describing it is almost making me sick–I just started feeling totally icky a few minutes ago, and am not exactly sure if it is the salad, working out, …..????

I opened my yoga mat and Lily was kind enough to model for me:

It’s a little blurry since I didn’t want to use the flash…

Isn’t she a cutie pie?!  She was so good

Well, I’m gonna head to bed since I feel gross and just want to curl up.  Hope your Tuesday ended better than mine! 

Hasta manana.

Rain rain go away! November 12, 2008

It is SO icky here right now–windy, rainy, flat out blustery.  I’m sitting on the couch with a blankie wrapped around me watching Law & Order, and I can’t believe it is still before 9pm!  I’m going to try to go to bed at 10 since I have to get out of bed a bit earlier tomorrow.

The day started out fine, much better than I felt last night for sure!  I didn’t sleep totally well, and I was tired when I got up.  I went through the usual routine again, except Lily couldn’t find her ball outside so we couldn’t play  But, there were three squirrels in the yard this morning, and lots of little birdies   I managed to catch a pic of a squirrel and a Downy woodpecker (the’pecker is on the bottom right part of the little house).  Raccoons have been wreaking havoc in the yard the last few nights, pulling the bottom out of the platform feeder and getting the suet out of its house.

My breakfast oatmeal seemed better this morning, even thought it was the same as yesterday–steel cut oats with raisins and almond milk.  After eating I noticed I felt allergies coming on–suck!  Why can’t they go away already?!

This held me over for a long time, and I didn’t eat lunch until about 12:30.  I had a sandwich consisting of whole wheat bread, low fat turkey, avocado, spinach, and a little Nature’s Seasoning sprinkled on the avos.  It was yummy!  I forgot about the avo and was not very excited digging into it, but then the avo and Nature’s hit the palate and made me smile   Like my foil?  I made it a point to reuse it for a few days.  I’m not sure how to pack a sandwich without wrapping it in something so it doesn’t fall apart, but then I end up using more packaging over time than I’d like.  Any suggestions?

Around 2 I had a little snack:  a white cheddar rice cake.  I also made it a point to drink lots of water today to help make sure I was hydrated and to stave off hunger.  I chatted with my office mate about getting sick last night and the same thing happened to her–shortly after eating her stomach started hurting, nausea came over her, and she tossed her cookies.  Is it an incredibly quick bug going around?? 

I also had a handful of trail mix around 4 or 4:30.  Sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, raisins, dark chocolate chips.  No pic of that…

Traffic was slow on the way home because of the heavy rain, and it seemed so dark.  I hate how early it gets dark now!!!  Lily is so cute when we get home, and immediately she wants to go out and play.  She’ll totally go look for her ball and bring it to me before she does her business… a bit obsessive??  But, again, no luck finding the ball. 

I made a rather quick and easy dinner consisting of pan fried pork chops, mashed potatoes with Smart Balance Light & a touch of reduced fat sour cream, and canned Italian green beans.  I felt like I needed something to snack on while cooking, and that an extra serving of veggies would be great, so I made a little spinach and broc slaw salad with balsalmic, olive oil, S&P.

 Yummy!

Dinner turned out well, and although this plate looks large I somehow managed to eat it all without being full really.  The potates were good, especially since I added a little bit more Smart Balance   I like mine with chunks of potato in them, how about you?

One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot while eating is s-l-o-w  d-o-w-n. I used to eat too fast for a few reasons:  I would be distracted or thinking too much about something else; or, I would practically force myself to eat faster so I could get more yummy bites in.  Today it finally *clicked*:  if I eat slower I’ll be enjoying the food more, stretching out the time I get to enjoy it, and eating less.  DUH!  My last intentional overeat was about a month ago when I had chicken pineapple curry for my birthday.  I just could not stop myself from eating more and more and more, and afterward I was quite miserable because of it.  No more!

Now, a Recycling Moment with Kersten… While at the gym over this last week I noticed a HUGE number of plastic water bottles in the trash cans all over the gym.  Don’t these people recycle?  How can they just throw away something that will take like hundreds of years to break down??!!  On my way out I asked the front desk staff if there was a recycling bin for plastic bottles, and she said, “yeah, there’s one upstairs.”  ONE?  UPSTAIRS?  What good is that doing?  She made a note to ask management about it and try to get another one downstairs   I desperately wanted to dive into the trash and take all those lost plastic souls home to recycle, but I didn’t.  Boo.  Did you know that like 85% of plastic water bottles end up in the trash?  Double boo!!!

At my office only paper recycling is accepted by our property management, even though other items can be recycled at work throughout Portland.  So, I added a bin that is for all other recyclables, and it seems to be going okay.  There are 11 people in my office, and I’m still surprised that water bottles, cans, other plastics, etc, end up in the trash.  I do fish those items out of the trash, though.  At the end of the week I bring the bin home, sort it, clean everything, and recycle what I can at the curb.  I’ve started collecting non-curb recycling items to take to a recycling depot near work.  At least someone will take those little tubs, styrofoam, and other things my local trash carrier won’t.  Yay!  I’m thinking of taking a Master Recycler course in Jan/Feb, which involves a great amount of teaching around materials, processes, and problems in recycling, and requires some community service time to promote recycling.  Sounds fun to me!

Alright, it is already like 9:50 (I’ve been watching more Law & Order along the way), and I still need to update my iTunes and then hit the hay.  I enjoyed rocking out to Billy Idol and Duran Duran during yesterday’s workout session, and I need to make a playlist just for working out. 

Peace out!

Yogi bear, and the rain went away! :) November 13, 2008

Happy Thursday!  It is almost Friday I suppose–yay   Today was good in many ways, so let me detail my journey for you… 

First of all, it was bright and sunny today, and that really helped the mood.  ‘Twas a tad colder, but I’ll trade heat for dryness these days.

Chris and I didn’t get a whole lotta sleep (I was up til practically midnight after all!), but had to get up early.  The typical routine was just that, and off we headed to work around 7:45.  Upon arrival I heated up my new morning friend:  Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats with Blue Diamond Almond Milk and raisins.

“Good morning!”

My morning went quickly, and my mid-day lunch was slightly altered by a trip to the mall with mom to walk around and talk.  I quickly ate my nummy sandwich before leaving.  That’s my lululemon bag cum lunch sack that I faithfully pack the day’s food in  

The sando (thanks for the word, Erin and Andrea) was just like yesterday’s but only a half today:  whole wheat bread, low fat turkey, spinach, avocado, and Nature’s Seasons for shits and giggles.  The combo of avocado and Nature’s made me smile again, I must admit. 

Off to the mall I went with mama, walked and talked for awhile, looked in Sephora (an adult woman’s candy store, no?) and Papyrus (another adult woman’s candy store), then sat down at Newport Bay for ma to eat lunch and chat more.  I had coffee with 1/2 and 1/2, one bit of her chowder, and two of these bad boys:

Coconut crusted prawns with some sort of slaw

The prawns tasted good, but the batter has changed and is too plentiful I think.  I only like coconut in my pina coladas or fried, how about you?

After another quick walk we headed out and mom dropped me off at work around 1:30.  When I got back to the office I had that confused tummy feeling–full? hungry? I think it was because I didn’t eat much at any one time during the lunch hour.  At 2ish I began feeling hungry, so I had my salad:  spinach, broc slaw, green pepper, avocado, s&p, olive oil, vinegar.  It looked a little sad at first, but tasted great. 

Did some more work, read about recycling, and was referred to this link by a great client:

www.container-recycling.org    

Check it out!  Pretty informative!  Follow this link to sign a petition to request DEMAND a national bottle bill. 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-a-national-bottle-bill

Oregon has a bottle bill (deposit on soda/beer/regular beverage containers) and we have an 85% recovery rate because of that.  Compare that to the national average of closer to 40%…see the difference a bottle bill can make?  Effective Jan 1, 2009 we also have a deposit required on water bottles!  Yay, that should help prevent the ginormous amount of them that go into the trash. Yippee for recycling!

Chris and I left work around 3:45 to get home to Lily Bird (we don’t leave her more than 8 hours usually–longer than that feels cruel )  While playing ball with Lily outside upon returning home I saw lots of birdies!  Hummer, Cedar Waxwings, Downy Woodpecker… I captured some photos for you, too:

 

After that I changed and proceeded to prepare dinner:

Can ya tell what it is?

Chicken, smothered chicken.  (And my leftover Italian green beans from last night).  I sauteed bell pepp and onion, then chicken breast, put the two together, and added a little bit of cheese.  This is one of the first “real” dishes I made from my Betty Crocker cookbook years ago, and I still love it (sans ’shrooms since I hate those).  This tasty goodness energized me for my….

First yoga class!  Well, okay, I didn’t go straight to yoga…. Watched some TV, headed to PetSmart to restock Lily’s food and treats, and then hit the gym.  I was still early, so I did 25 minutes of cardio and cranked my iPod’s spankin’ new Work it, baby! playlist.  I bought “Disturbia” by Rihanna since I’ve been obsessed with that song lately, and cranked it on the elliptical.  At 7:25 I headed up for my class, new yoga mat and water bottle in hand, ready to strike a pose.

The yoga instructor’s name is Shelly, and she was awesome!  She gave good instructions, was sure to move around and help us out in our poses, and had a good sense of humor.  It took me awhile to get into the breathing pattern while holding poses, and there were a few poses that I totally couldn’t hold (don’t ask me which ones… no idea yet), but it was great.  A few times I felt light and wonderful, especially at the end.  I introduced myself to the instructor afterward, and I look forward to seeing her 2-3 times per week for more yogi wonder. :smile:

I left the gym feeling great, cranked “Disturbia” in the car, and proceeded to cry while waiting to get out of the parking lot (!).  I suddenly had an emotional feeling come over me that made me cry, but not in a negative way at all.  Weird, huh?  I know it was from the yoga working on my Qi (energy), as that was the same thing that happened after my first acupuncture session.  I was happy on the way home, and still feel happy now–awesome!

I had this little snacky-poo when I got home to stave off late night hunger–Cascadian Farms Vanilla Oat Crunch with almond milk.  Yummy, and slightly sweet since the cereal has so much sugar (ack, didn’t realize this before…at least it is not refined white sugar, tho).

 (oops, a bit of a shadow there…)

Erin asked me the other day if I noticed any differences already because of my new, healthy routine, and I didn’t think so at that point.  But after listening to my body a bit more since then, I realize that I have been happier every day and I am not getting cravings for sweet or salty goods (or anything, really), even tho I’m PMSin’ and this would be one time where I crave salty goodness and then a sweet chaser. 

I have to admit I weighed myself at the gym after yoga, and although my guess of 155 was accurate, I was still disappointed to see it on the scale (it was actually 157 but I took out two pounds for shoes and clothes–that’s fair, right?).  Whatever, I’m on the way to reducing that, and, more importantly, improving my body composition, mood, and general health.  Here’s to being happy and healthy   May you, too, find that zen in your life. 

‘Til tomorrow… stay sane and healthy.

A funky down and up day November 14, 2008

Happy weekend to you all!  Today was a bit up and down, and I was tired and had allergy symptoms almost all day.  Last night I couldn’t fall asleep, and woke up several times.  Did the full moon get to me?  Lily kept “tap dancing” around (that’s what I call the sound of her toenails on the floor), and she woke me up at like 5, after which I couldn’t stay asleep much.

I got out of bed around 7:45, feeling a bit stiff and sore.  Could it be yoga?  Sho’nuf.  Lily wanted to play with her incredibly squeaky ball while I got ready, and I think I may have to kill the squeaker in that thing to protect our hearing.  I realized while getting ready that I forgot to prep my oatmeal last night, and no way I could make steel cut oats in the micro at work without being presoaked… so I figured I’d eat a bar and moved on.

When we went outside there were lots of birdies around, so I had to run back in and get the camera.  There was a female hummer today   Not sure if she was Rufous or Anna’s…the pics turned out grainy b/c the camera setting was not optimal.  Here’s some of the feathered friends:

Spotted Towhee

WTF?  First time I tried inserting these three pics the last two disappeared.

Hummingbird

[obligatory text to make photos work...]

Stellar's Jay

I took Lily to my mom’s since we needed to be away from the house for more than 8 hrs, and chatted with mama for awhile.  She just received some yummy chocolates she ordered from some choc company (can’t remember the name…), and I ate a pecan turtle.  It was good, but I felt bad since I hadn’t had any breakfast yet. 

I got to work way late in the morning, in my funk and with allergies rapidly coming on.  Dizziness was the prominent symptom, and seemed to hang around all day.  I finally got my cup of coffee that I had been looking forward to, but it was not as good as normal.  On Fridays we don’t have coffee service in the office, and someone made coffee that didn’t taste quite right–not strong enough?  old coffee?  Either way, it disappointed me.  Boo!  I looked at a blogs for a few minutes to cheer me up, and it worked briefly.

Chris came to see if I wanted to eat early, and it seemed like a good opportunity to get out of the funk.  I had a half sandwich consisting of 1 slice of whole wheat bread, sliced sauteed chicken breast, spinach, avocado, and Nature’s Seasoning.  I should have put more Nature’s on it, as I forgot the chicken was unseasoned and a little bland.  My salad was boring, overly plain, and not tasty enough–spinach, broc slaw, Nature’s, balsalmic, and olive oil.  The under-dressed spinach left my mouth feeling like I had a velvet tongue or something–weird.  I think I’m going to stop using foil, unless I can verify it is recycled.  Aluminum production is like the most polluting industry out there, but recycled aluminum takes 95% less energy to make.  Only con is recycling aluminum that has been painted produces toxic gases   I need to find a way to pack my wraps w/o having them falling apart. 

After lunch I was feeling better, and got some work done.  Around 3:30 I got pretty hungry and ate two white cheddar rice cakes, which were yummy and satisfying.

Every time I got up today I noticed that my body was somewhat stiff and I had mild muscle soreness in various places–yoga sure did work ‘em!  But, being tired from a lack of sleep I felt a little sluggish while moving around.  I think I’ll do some cardio and stretch a lot before pilates tomorrow to help out with the soreness and stiffness.

It was Friday, so I grabbed the non-paper recycling box I provide at the office to take home and sort.  It was full=less trash in our landfills   I was still amazed at how much stuff I had to pull out of the trash cans at work during the week.  What do people not get about putting anything even remotely recyclable in my recycling bin???  I totally sort it all and see what can and can’t be recycled, so what’s the harm in throwing that plastic cup or bag in?  BTW, I did apply for the Master Recycler program last night, and will find out after Dec. 3 if I got in to the next session. 

Chris and I met my mom at our other favorite Mexican place–Si Senor–for dinner.  I was battling with what to eat, but I chose tortilla soup and a small margarita.  The tortilla soup is totally different than at our other fave place, and not nearly as rich.  It was a very lean broth with strips of crispy tortilla, chunks of grilled chicken, a little avocado, and a little cheese.  I wish I would have had fresh jalapenos to add now that I think of it.  This looks a lot bigger than it was…I ate most of the stuff out and left about half the broth, and I felt a little full.  I also had some chips and salsa beforehand.

The trip home sucked!  There was an accident near our house and traffic was backed up for miles.  (We work about 17 miles from where we live, and we ate around where we work.) It took us an hour to get home, but we had Lily with us and she was entertaining.  She likes to stretch from the back seat onto the armrest between the front seat with her head/front feet, and sometimes she’ll stand on the armrest.  I opened the sunroof and she stuck her head out–so cute! 

Tonight I organized some paperwork, did some bookkeeping, read a few blogs, and watched some shitty TV.  Now Lipstick Jungle is on; I heard no more episodes are being made tho, and it is being cancelled before the end of the season   It’s not an incredibly great show, but I do like it and was just getting into season 2, dammit.  I do think it is funny that tons of Brooke Shields commercials (VW, Colgate…) are on during the show–don’t we get enough of her during the hour?

Okay, so my funktified ass is going now.  Peace out, and may tomorrow be a merrier day!

A better day by far November 15, 2008

Happy Saturday-almost-Sunday   Today was a much better day for me, involving lots of productivity around the house and some tasty eats, oh, and some birdies!  Get ready for lots of pics…  I’m having issues figuring out how to gallery only certain pics; I number the ones I want in the gallery, but they ALL appear in the gallery after all.  Sorry!

I slept pretty well last night, but woke up here and there, and was tired this morning.  I finally got out of bed just before 9, went out with Lily (tons of birds), got ready to go to the gym, made some coffee, and had the last of my CascadianFarms Vanilla Oat Crunch with almond milk.  I was a total klutz andthrew coffee grounds everywhere when transferring them from the grinder to the basket.  I find myself getting klutzy right before my period, how about you?  I tried to do some menu planning and make the grocery list before leaving for the gym, but I was too rushed and left it for later.

After this I was rather full (had a big glass of water, too), and afraid that it would hamper my workout, but not so.  Pilates was good, but I wasn’t able to do all of the moves in today’s class for a lack of strength I suppose.  Loved the tight core feeling after leaving the class–work those abs, baby!  I also did some back and biceps exercises before heading out.

When I got home there was some major wildlife action in the backyard:  four squirrels and tons of birds.  We had robins, waxwings, hummers, juncos, jays, a nuthatch (my favorite, but no photo), chickadees, towhees, and I think a few song sparrows.  Here’s some of the day’s pics for your perusal.  That last one is of Lily smooshing her nose into the back door while watching the squirrels–it was too funny!

For lunch I didn’t have much but eggs to build on, so I made a two egg omelette with spinach, avocado, salsa, and a little cheddar.  It was so tasty!  I loved the mix of all the flavors, and could have left out the cheese after all. I was a total klutz while making this, too, and flung egg over the stove when I lost control of my spatula.  Oof!  That’s my trusty Nature’s Seasoning in the background…goes with just about everything!

 I cleaned up and proceeded to go outside with Lily again, and photograph even more.  After that I finished the menu planning and grocery list, and headed to Fred Meyer.  When I got there I thought I was in for it (there were like 3 shopping carts left–you know what that means) but it wasn’t too bad.  People were more aware today and not as aloof blocking the aisles and all that annoying stuff.  While looking through the lunch meat I practically ran into the Laughing Cow sale display, and put a Light wheel in my cart.  My total bill shocked me, but I suppose I bought some things I don’t get every week.

Got home, unpacked the stuff, and was getting hungry.  All that yummy food to choose from…options were plentiful and I finally decided on Kashi TLC 7 grain roasted veggie crackers, a wedge of Laughing Cow Light, and a gala apple.  It. Was. So. Yummy.  Especially the cheese on the apples–to die for!

Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum

Chris was napping, so I had a bit of the afternoon to myself and decided to sort my recycling and clean up the kitchen.  There are some things, plastics mostly, that cannot be recycled at the curb, so I put those in a giant bag and will take them to a recycling depot every once in awhile.  Sadly, though, the company that accepts those hard-to-market plastics (that’s why they don’t go in curbside, as they don’t have an active buyer’s market locally) is putting its collections on hold because of a slowdown in their business.  Poo!  Oh well, I guess that bag will just get extra-giant by the time I take it in. 

I emptied out my fridge of old condiments and a few food items that had to go.  Now, don’t get the wrong idea here… I really try hard not to over-buy food or waste things, but there are still some things that manage to go in there and stay past their prime.  It felt good to get rid of that clutter in the fridge, and to be able to recycle or reuse every container, bottle, or jar.  Here’s what I pulled out:

After this I emptied the dishwasher, did some handwash, and started getting dinner ready.  I made a chicken stir fry with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower (ick, for Chris), celery, and broc slaw; I used red wine vinegar, chicken broth, stir-fry sauce, and corn starch to make the sauce to flavor everything up.

It was good, but a little bit salty for me.  I made sure to drink extra water afterward. 

All I could think about after dinner was that yummy Laughing Cow Light experience I had earlier!!!  I kept telling myself not to eat unless I got hungry, but you know how thinking of food can make one hungry, right?  Chris asked if I wanted some wine, so that distracted me for awhile.

But, around 9 I finally broke down and had this:

All that for about 120 cals

Well, that’s about it for today.  Tomorrow I think I’m having 2 breakfasts!!  Yay!  My favorite meal   I’m going to lunch at the Original Pancake House with my mom and one of our friends, so I’m sure that will be my 2nd breakfast of the day.  Oh, one more cute pic of a passed out Lily before I go…

Toodles!

Sunny, beautiful, and blah :| November 16, 2008

So, it was a pretty day, but a sort of up and down day again.  I got out of bed around 8? 8:30? I let Lily out, but did not go outside, and made some coffee.  I almost had a coffee-klutz moment again with the grounds, but narrowly missed disaster.  I had a bowl of All Bran Strawberry Medley with almond milk and half a banana, and it was pretty good.  Sometimes the dried strawberries get to me, as they are a bit sour I think, so the half a naner was a good idea to add some sweetness.

After this my coffee was ready so I fixed a cup with some Coffeemate Sugar Free Vanilla, gathered some bird food and a few of the peanut butter and birdseed cakes I made yesterday, and headed outside.  I forgot to tell you!  I had some old PB and instead of rinsing it down the drain, I added some birdseed, put it in a muffin pan, and froze it yesterday.  The birds LOVE PB and were very happy and both were gone by the end of the day. 

That’s Lily’s Chuckit! in the middle…saves me from getting dirty hands while throwing her ball, and allows me to throw it further for her. There were tons of robins outside, and it was a tad foggy.  Here’s a few pics from the day:

A lone dove!

After this I got on the computer for a little while, and was amazed to see my blog had like 38 views yesterday!  Thanks, everyone!  Please leave me a comment and let me know you’re out there

My mom and I joined our friend Elizabeth at the Original Pancake House, and I ordered the same thing as last week:  Sharp white cheddar and bacon omelette that comes with 3 little pancakes.  I ate about 1/3 of the omelette, and 1 1/2 pancakes and stopped myself before feeling full   I forgot to photograph it, tho, so here’s last week’s pic of the same thing.

After lunch mom and I headed back to her house, and I collected some of her art to bring home with me.  My mom used to paint a ton, and she has so many framed originals and prints… I brought some floral related ones home since in the four years I’ve lived here I’ve hardly hung anything!!  I don’t want to live here another four years, but maybe if I hang some pretty art I’ll feel like there’s more of a piece of me/sense of home here. 

When I got home Chris had a roof repair guy on the way over, as a few days ago we discovered a leak after the hard, hard rain.  Ahhh!  I raked some leaves, cleared land mines (aka picked up poop), put away the hoses, tiki torches, and wheelbarrow, and smoothed the barkdust where Lily tears through it regularly.  I felt kinda bad that I didn’t think I’d get to the gym today, but at least I worked up a sweat in the yard.

I was in a funky mood at this point and felt like a workout would do me well, but I didn’t know if I’d make it to the gym tonight. I swept in the house, and got ready to leave for dinner at Fajitas.  Got my usual Casuela and tortilla soup, and the little drink is a “la casa,” the free drink they give you after you’ve eaten.  It has milk, ice cream, Bailey’s and cinnamon.  I was a little full and didn’t feel like drinking much, so Chris had most of it.

And, no, I didn’t drink that whole Casuela!  I had maybe 1/3 and gave the rest of that to Chris, too.

Now I’m home and feeling quite tired, and Lily is bothering me to go outside and play.  Off I go!  I’ll probably watch TV, prep some food for tomorrow, and go to bed early.  Ahh…bed sounds mighty good.

Hope you all had a good weekend, and thanks for reading

Monday was happy :) November 17, 2008

I finally, finally, finally got a good night’s sleep, and a ton of it, last night, so today started out pretty well when I finally got up around 7:45.  Lily was howling out the back door at that point, and it was our roof repair guys here to start the job.  Did I tell you about that?  We saw a leak last week out in the garage, and had noticed some dry rot in a few places outside.  Turns out the roof wasn’t braced properly in one place, nor were the valleys done correctly.  Our house is about 34 years old, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.

I was making lunch and figured that I’d heat up my oatmeal and eat at home since I didn’t know how the morning would pan out.  It was a little runnier than I’d like, and part of that was me adding more almond milk to cool it down so I could eat it sooner than later.  A question for you, though:  is it bad to eat my breakfast when I’m not hungry?  I’m not usually hungry when I eat my oatmeal, but I figure that it is a good kickstart for my metabolism and that it will keep my brain powered for the a.m.

The roof guys were busting out the repair, so I headed to Home Depot to get some paint for them (deal was we provide the paint and they’ll paint the underside of the eaves they repair for free).  At that point I had to cancel my acupuncture appointment    and Chris had decided to stay home for the day to monitor the work.  When I got back I made some coffee, waited to pour myself a cup, and headed to work.

I made a detour to Costco on the way in, and picked up an Rx, peanuts (for the birds/squirrels), multi grain chips, and Laughing Cow Light (!!).  I was SO excited they had Laughing Cow, as Chris and I just about killed that wheel in a day and a half.  The price was great, too, less than the sale price at Freddy’s per wheel. 

My new friend  :)

Once I got to work I got on the computer and took care of random tasks, then broke for lunch at about 12:30.  My wrap was a low-fat tortilla with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light, low-fat turkey, spinach, and broc slaw.  I was worried it would be a bit bland, but not so!  The cheese was so creamy, and I could probably even go with 1/2 a wedge.  I also had a small apple, and about 5 of the Kashi crackers.  I know I said I wouldn’t use foil anymore, but this is reused foil from last week. 

Back to work for about an hour, and I headed out for the day.  I know, I know, a very short day… I was getting energized and felt like working out, and couldn’t really get into work mode.  I thought I felt myself getting hungry on the way home–”no way, already?” I thought.  I tried to ignore it and drank an EmergenC when I got home, and more water. 

The gym was great–I did a full hour of cardio!  I went in with a goal of an hour, and wanted to integrate the beastly stair master, but was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it for very long.  I started on the elliptical and the first 15 minutes just blew by; getting to 30 felt like no big deal.  Then I approached the beast, climbed on, and proceeded to knock out 90 floors in my 30 minutes.  Yeah, I was going rather slow, but I did not lean on the machine and every step was quality   I hate seeing people lean all over the machine–what’s the point?

There were a few times I felt like getting off the stair master, but I stuck with it and used my music to pump me up for that last 15 minutes of sweaty glory.  (Erin, I totally have to agree that the stair master is a no-go without the headphones!)  Afterward I stretched, and thought a few people looked at me funny on the way up and downstairs.  When I got into the bathroom I saw my face was beet red–no wonder they looked at me like that! 

After I got home I played with Lily and ran around the neighborhood with her to get some of her energy out.  With the roof guys there and roof debris on the ground we didn’t want to let her out for fear of getting a nail, staple, or sliver in her paw.  After that I got cleaned up and started prepping dinner.

I was getting a tad hungry so I made a spinach salad with broc slaw, green pepper, a few kalamatas sliced, a little feta, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and pepper.  I made more than I thought I would eat so I could stuff the rest in my wrap tomorrow, but I ate it all!  It was a great pre-dinner snack. 

Dinner was a treat fo’ sho:  beef tenderloin steaks with mashed potatoes.  Yum yum yum yum yum!  I broiled the steaks with nothing but some salt on them and they were perfect–a relief ’cause I’m always nervous cooking steaks indoors (the grill is their rightful place).  The ‘tatoes had Smart Balance Light, a tbsp of reduced fat sour cream, and Nature’s Seasoning in them.  I topped mine with a hair more of the Smart Balance and sour cream for extra creaminess, but probably could have skipped it.  We had a Cabernet Sauvingon with our meal.  I forgot to take a pic before I dove in…  VEGETARIANS LOOK AWAY!!!

That was one tasty dinner, and although I didn’t feel full afterward I thought I ate a little too much.  I gave Chris part of my steak, and drank tons of water, and since I’m not hungry by now (about 9) I don’t think I’m going to eat anything else today. 

Today was a very happy day overall, and I’m so glad I was able to do a full hour of cardio.  In an effort to help the weight come off more quickly, I’m doing a little calorie research so I can be more aware of how many calories I’m eating to try to cut down a tad.  Who knew a medium potato has like 200 cals?  Yipes! Or that a cup of spinach only has like 8??  I knew the content of most items b/c of the nutritional labels, but some things (avocado, bulk raisins, potato, apple, olives…) were eluding me.  I used caloriecount.com for some assistance on those things.

I hope you all had a great day, and “see” you tomorrow.

p.s.  Of course now that I say I’m not hungry, I’m getting hungry thinking about all of this food!  Blogging does that to me, does it make you hungry, too?

Fast Tuesday November 18, 2008

It was Tuesday, right?  The day just flew by now that I think about it.  Typical routine getting ready today, but Lily got sick when I was done making myself up.  You could tell she felt bad for making a mess inside, but she didn’t seem to feel sick after that.  She got to spend the day with my mom, and go on two walks   Thanks, mom!

When I got to work I discovered the cold water tap on our cooler was broken–suck!  It really did make a difference in my consumption since we don’t have a kitchen and I pretty much didn’t even think of walking to go get a cup of water.  Duh. 

Breakfast was as usual, but it was a bit stiff today.  I think it sat in the fridge a few hours longer, and I used all almond milk to soak it.  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup almond milk + a dash after soaking, pinch of salt, handful of raisins, and voila:

I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera today so I had to delete some bird pictures that were on the internal memory to make room for my food pics   I had a few of each type of bird, tho, so it wasn’t too big of a loss.  Do you guys like seeing my bird/animal pics?

I plugged away for a few hours and had started getting hungry when Chris walked in and I read his mind–”ready for lunch?”  Yes!  My wrap today was the usual low-fat tortilla with a new mix of spinach, broc slaw, sliced kalamata olives, a little feta, a dash of balsamic vinegar, and some cracked pepper.  I also had half of a small apple with some of the Laughing Cow Light, and a few Kashi TLC Fire Roasted Vegetable crackers. 

 I retired that foil today…time to switch to reusable tubs all around!

The wrap was tasty, and surprisingly my lunch had decent staying power.  I started getting hungry about 3 hours after eating, and had my Fred Meyer brand Lite Vanilla yogurt with a cup of Irish Breakfast Tea.  I let the tea brew too long and it was quite strong, tho.  I should have added more water as I drank it down.

This snack totally did not have staying power, as I was hungry like 30 minutes later!!  So, I broke out the crackers, had a few, and then remembered I have Clif Nectar bars in my desk   I ate the cherry pomegranate one and it was so yummy.  I still can’t believe these bars have only four ingredients in them!

 Feel free to send some my way, Clif!

This helped hit the spot, and back to work I went.  I was not in a very “deep” productive mood today, which is what I needed to bust out the case work I have piling up.  Guess I’ll be cranking that out tomorrow under a nice veil of motivating stress.  Does stress help to positively or negatively motivate you?  For me it is mostly positive, but of course that depends on the source.  The recent super-crap the economy took in September was not incredibly motivating, but I managed to work some long ass weeks and the negative stress didn’t get to me for awhile.  Since then it has been more positive.

I was thinking of taking yoga at 6:30 at 24 Hour Fitness, and got all excited about that all afternoon/on the way home/while making dinner, but then a few things happened to steal my thunder:  Chris wanted to go workout later, and I realized I would have needed to sign up for the class in advance    Boo!  Oh well, I still ate my dinner too fast and was in a funk for awhile.

 Yay for spinach!

This was a rather yummy meal, inspired by a fellow blogger’s dinner I saw last week (I can’t remember who, tho   So sorry… let me know if it was you!!!)  This was whole wheat penne, sauteed chicken breast pieces, Italian canned tomatoes with juice, some sliced kalamata olives, fresh spinach, and feta.  It was pretty yummy, but like I said I ate too fast   I didn’t get full, thankfully, but felt sorta guilty about eating so fast.

After this I stewed for awhile for no good reason, and put that icky state of mind into being productive.  I folded my laundry, washed the pans from dinner, reorganized my workout clothes drawer, hung up a bunch of clothes laying around in my closet, and got my oatmeal ready for tomorrow.  Oh, I also took Lily out and ran around the neighborhood with her for like 10 minutes.  We still aren’t going into our backyard much b/c of the roof repair debris, but that should all be cleaned up tomorrow   She’ll be so excited to get out there and run around like a banshee with her tennis ball.  And I’ll enjoy my time with the birdies again, too

We finally went to work out around 8; Chris works out at Bally’s so I dropped him off and headed to 24.  I got in 15 minutes of the stair mill and 15 minutes of elliptical before I had to head out to go get him.  My elliptical machine had a fan built in–so nice! 

After getting home and cleaning up I enjoyed this bowl of All Bran Strawberry Medley with almond milk, as posed for your enjoyment:

This just made me think of Mad Men for some reason, a comment Duck made in the last episode of the season about selling product.  I miss that show already and can’t wait for next season.  Did Breaking Bad start up again…oh crap, I maybe missed an episode or two.  What are your favorite TV shows?  I like shows on the Discovery Channel, E!, and Comedy Central in general.  Specifically Mystery Diagnosis, Chelsea Lately, The Soup, Chocolate News, and some reality smut mixed in there. 

May Friday be here soon!

Say what?! November 19, 2008

Today started out just fine, with a typical getting-ready routine, but I ate my oatmeal at home since we were stopping at Chris’ dentist on the way in.  Lily was going to my mom’s again and was with us, so I walked her around outside the dentist’s office for awhile and then went in to snag some coffee and read a magazine while I waited.  Here’s the boring oats pic of the day–1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup almond milk + a dash on top when done, 1/4 cup water, and a tbsp or two of raisins:

After Chris was done I dropped him at work, dropped Lily at my mom’s then went to work (Chris and I work in the same office, but rather than having him go along for the ride to drop Lily off I took him to the office on the way).  When I pulled into the parking garage at work Chris called and told me there was a problem with some business I had just placed, and that I may want to get there sooner than later, so my stress level rose right away.

Turns out some business I did in Idaho was erroneously tagged as an unlicensed sale due to a home office error (say what?!), but it totally screwed up the business processing, compensation, and other shit that took me two hours to fix, caused some tears of frustration and a strongly worded email to a company leader, but somehow ended on an up note when the client said, “Don’t sweat it, no problem” to having to complete an entirely new set of paperwork.  Phew!  I was so mad at my home office, tho, as this is the 3rd screw up they’ve had with my licensing and registrations this year on items that were strictly in their hands to do correctly. C’mon, people, do your fucking jobs with some pride!

I finally ate around 1:30 and was quite pleased with my lunch, although not that hungry.  My wrap was the same as yesterday, just folded squarely to fit in my Gladware  It was a low fat tortilla, spinach, broc slaw, feta, kalamata olives, cracked pepper, and balsamic vinegar.  I didn’t eat any cukes, or Laughing Cow Light, but I had a few of the chips.  They were my recent purchase from Costco, and are really nummy–they’re by a brand called Food Should Taste Good, and they are multigrain tortilla chips made with flax, sunflower, sesame seeds, oat fiber, brown rice, quinoa, and soy.

My lunch today didn’t have as much staying power, probably because I wasn’t in such a great mood and didn’t eat much other than the wrap.  I had a light strawberry yogurt before my meeting at 3 to try and secure some brain power for the next few hours.  The texture of this and the other one seemed pithy.  I don’t remember that from before… I may have to try a different brand.

 

That’s a blurry pic of me in Mexico on my digital picture frame slide show.  The little lady bug in front of the frame came from Mexico in 2007   Hopefully Chris and I can afford (both time and money wise) to go there again in March.  That would be so great considering the lovely state of the economy and our morale at times.

My meeting went by quickly and around 5 Chris and I headed out.  He wanted to go to our favorite westside Mexican joint, but surprisingly I wasn’t all that excited about it.  Their menu prices just went up by about $1 on most items, meaning I’d be paying $9 for just about anything I’d usually order.  I was also slightly bummed I wouldn’t be cooking; I thought I’d be making stuffed peppers at home. 

I ordered Ropa Vieja (yes, Spanish language readers, “old clothes” or “old rope”), which consisted of a fried flour tortilla shell (love those!), chicken, romaine lettuce, avocado, sliced green olives, cantaloupe, and a light vinaigrette.  It is usually really good, but wasn’t quite as tasty tonight.  There was more cantaloupe than pictured (ate it all), and I ate part of the crispy shell.  I also had a small margarita and a few chips & salsa.

I stopped well before getting full b/c it wasn’t very tasty/satisfying   There goes $9, but at least we had a coupon for about $8 off the tab and our favorite waiter was working and hooked Chris up with a free margarita.

We picked up Lily and got home to find that the roofers were pretty much done, and had powerwashed all of our concrete, and the roof I think.  Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen our concrete that clean before, but I feel bad that they used a lot of water to do it   Top Chef was starting up, so I ran inside to catch it from the start.  Can’t believe some of the comments by the people who didn’t make the show–ouch!

I got a litte hungry around 7:30 and had this, a low fat tortilla with my Laughing Cow Light wedge from lunch.

 Apparently I love flour tortillas

That STILL didn’t cut it, and I wanted to eat more around 8.  I sort of wanted sweet over salty, but not a lot of bulk, and somehow I opted for a small glass of almond milk.  Yummy!  I made it a point to use multiple senses to enjoy it rather than just drinking it down while staring at the TV.  The smell was nice, and taste good, and the sight pleasant, too.  I couldn’t hear anything coming from it, tho–hehe.  That’s Lily’s birthday gift to me underneath it; I used to read Road & Track a long time ago and missed being up to speed on cars out there, so Chris helped her buy it for me

I saw how wool is made tonight on Discovery’s “How It’s Made”–neato.  Now I know where my shirt came from and how it got its soft, not scratchy texture.  I’m super tired all of a sudden, and may just go to bed after this.  I like watching TV and reading in bed some before I pass out.  How about you?

p.s.  Friday is drawing even closer–yippee.  We are going to wine country this weekend with my dad, which should produce some good pictures.  Yay!  Do you like wine?

Wednesday (Today) Friday November 20, 2008

Odd title, I know, but today just felt like a quick day somehow.  I wasn’t a good girl and went to bed later than expected last night, woke up a few times, and was tired this a.m.  Kind of like Andrea at caretoeat.net…woke up early, stayed in bed, fell back asleep, then was groggy.  I finally got up when the roof guys started their final push to get our roof and ensuing clean up done.  I knew we’d be at home for awhile, as we were waiting for the head roofer to crawl up in the attic to do one final repair.  I nuked my oats, which were the usual steel cut with part water/part almond milk, raisins, a pinch of salt, and a new add in–cinnamon.  I had it in there yesterday, too, but forgot to tell you. 

I worked a bit from home while drinking my coffee, and when the roof guys were done Chris and I headed out to inspect the yard for nails and other debris.  The guys were pretty good about picking things up, but when they powerwashed the patio/walk/driveway they blew debris and nails into the yard.  The magnet they used to pick up the nails didn’t totally work, and last thing we want is for Lily Bird to step on a nail or staple   I put out birdseed and the last two peanut butter cakes, and we instantly had a wildlife sanctuary bustling out there.  Here’s a few of the critters:

Flock of bushtitsThree squirrels in close proximity!

The squirrel hanging on the suet feeder was trying to enjoy one of the peanut butter cakes–quite intent on getting it, wasn’t he?

It was raining cats and dogs at times, and we were pretty soaked by the time we went in.  Lily was super wet, too! We got cleaned up, I made lunch, and we headed to work mid-day.

 

I ate this not too long after getting there.  It was a BIG wrap consisting of a low fat tortilla, a wedge of Laughing Cow Light, tons of spinach and broc slaw, pepper, and some balsamic vinegar.  I had a few of the chips, too, but none of the carrots.  I dove into case work, and before I knew it 4pm rolled around and I was getting hungry again.  I reached for the chips, and ate them all before I could take a photo!  Yum yum!

Chris and I had our weekly business meeting (except it has been a few weeks since our last one…), we shared some good news and thought about our business planning for 2009.  Chris has a corner office, and the veil of darkness outside was seeping in and making me want to crawl into a warm bed.  We headed home, played with Lily outside (yay!) and I started dinner.

This may look familiar…”as seen on last week’s table…”  Sauteed pork shops, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  The mashers had my new favorite combo:  light sour cream and Smart Balance Light with Nature’s Seasoning.  Yummy!  I ate a bit too much, even though Chris had part of my pork chop, and i was full afterward.  Not a good thing b/c I needed to get ready for yoga and head out!

I had about a half hour to digest and didn’t feel full by the time I started yoga, thankfully.  The class was good, and I think the instructor stepped up the difficulty a little this week.  I enjoyed class, but need to be careful of my shoulders and elbows in certain poses.  I felt relaxed and calm afterward, and just wanted it to continue all night. 

But, as we all know, sometimes being at home is not relaxing.  I washed dishes, prepped my oats and Chris’ tuna salad for tomorrow (YUCK!  I hate tuna with a passion!  Ah, what we do for love ) Lily and I also played more, too.  She is very happy to have the run of the yard again.

I thought I’d maybe be hungry again tonight, but it is late and so far the hunger hasn’t boiled up again.  I’m sure I’ll be ravenous in the morning!

Can’t believe we’re a week away from Thanksgiving!  I’m planning on making an apple crisp for our get together, and am looking forward to all of the yummy food.  I am still going to try really hard not to stuff myself, and I think the most challenging part will be taking only a tiny bit of every dish I want.  I go for turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy usually, followed up with a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  Now I’m getting hungry!  What do you like for Thanksgiving?

Nighty night!

Maria! November 21, 2008

Finally, the week is over and I suppose it ended on a good note.  I went to bed too late again, but other than that my day started and ended up alright.

My breakfast oats caused a little stir in the office, as the power use caused the surge protector to flip off and briefly disconnect our internet power, too.  The micro sounded really bad, then just stopped, and I thought it was just a crappy microwave.  Oh well, at least everything was fixed with the flip of a switch.  My oats were yummy;  I think the cinnamon is a great addition.

I snagged a new chair (at least new to me) from a colleague today when he got a new chair.  My old one was too big and now I don’t think I’ll end up slouching as much at my desk   I enjoyed my coffee as I worked and read the news, and then lunch crept around.

My wrap today wasn’t as good…rather blah, not tasty enough in the right ways… tortilla, avocado, spinach, broc slaw, black olives, and pepper.  I also had a few carrots, and some Food Should Taste Good chips with a little Laughing Cow Light.  At least that was good

I don’t remember much of the afternoon, and around 4? 4:30? I had a Tiger’s Milk bar.  I was going to have a Clif Nectar, but then the sound of peanut butter got me.  I like Tiger’s Milk, but can’t believe the 2nd ingredient is high fructose corn syrup.  Grrrrreeeaaaat…

Chris and I left sometime around 5 to go get Lily, and arrived to see my mom walking her on the street.  Lily was so excited to see us she nearly pulled my mom over.  I can’t believe how strong our girl is!!

We had horrible, horrible traffic on the way home due to an accident, and it took us like an hour to get over to our neck of the woods.  We were already planning on going to see Maria; this is the term we use when we go to our fave Mexican restaurants.  When we first went to Fajitas, they used to play a song that had a chorus of, “Maria!!!….Maria!!!…Maria!!!…” and it kinda stuck with us. 

I had my fave tortilla soup, and opted not to put any sour cream in it.  I added lots of jalapenos, but they weren’t as spicy as I’d hoped.  I had my Casuela, too   It all tasted good, which is nice b/c Chris and I proceeded to get into a slightly heated discussion about giving each other feedback, the environment, and use of resources.  B/c we’re together so much (live and work together) he said it is tough to take personal feedback from me, and that it feels more like nagging.  Yipes!  He also says I leave lights on, I say he showers 25 minutes too long…blah blah blah…not terribly fun but we didn’t end up mad at each other.  I think the alcohol fueled it a tad and I was glad to get out of there and get over it.

Since we’re going wine tasting mid day tomorrow, I thought I’d make lunch for the road.  The wineries provide some snacky food, but nothing substantial enough to call lunch.  Not a good thing considering you’re tasting wine…  So, I headed to Freddy’s to pick up some spinach, almond milk, and apples.  They didn’t have the almond milk I wanted, so I got some Silk Pumpkin Spice Soy Milk.  More on that in a minute.

I sauteed some chicken breast for our sandwiches/wraps tomorrow, and prepped my oatmeal using half soy milk and half water.  At that point I thought I’d taste it, as it smelled decent enough. 

First of all, as I read the carton I nearly cried:  170 calories and 28 grams of sugar per cup.  I should have read this at the store, as I probably would have realized how sweet it would be.  I was shopping quickly and bought based on a whim.  Second, the sweetness nearly killed me… did you see Top Chef this week and watch Padma spit out the meringue?  That’s how I felt.  I guess I’ll have to use it to make oatmeal, pancakes, or something else I can mix it with.

Wow, it is already 11:15, and I should hit the hay.  We’re off to wine country, and then probably to have dinner with Chris’ parents for his mom’s birthday.  Should be a long day.  I hope I can get a workout in; I may end up going earlier in the morning since we need to leave here around 11.  I can’t take my pilates class  at 10

Hope you had a nice Friday, and that your weekend is great!

A funny link for you! November 22, 2008

Good morning!  I woke up with a horrible headache during the night, no doubt alcohol triggered, and am still suffering as I sit her infusing my body with caffeine and drugs to make it go away.  Hopefully that will all kick in soon…

One great, funny link a colleague sent to me a few years ago still has be laughing today, and I hope you enjoy it, too! 

Make sure your sound is cranked up!

http://ww12.e-tractions.com/snowglobe/

Have a great day, and I’ll post later about my eats and adventures of the day.

Grape escape November 22, 2008

Aw, Saturday is already over practically!  Quick weekends suck, no?

This morning I was desperate to get rid of my headache, but thankfully didn’t feel sick to my stomach as sometimes happens.  I had my oats and some coffee to start the day while watching the critters outside, and a few pieces of apple too since I was cutting two up for lunch and it wouldn’t all fit in the container.  It was so cold last night!  Down in the low 40s and foggy-brrrrrrrr.  My oats warmed me up nicely, and the pumpkin spice Silk gave a hint of sweetness and spice.  Given that the Silk is so sweet, I thought my oats may follow suit, but I only used 1/4 cup of it in them.   Maybe I can use it in my coffee, too…

I was in no condition to work out, and was rather bummed about that.  I want to go to the gym 4 times per week, and not going today means I went 3 times this week.  Perhaps I can fit in an extra day this coming week since work is light and I have a day or two off in there.

Wineries don’t often have much food to eat with the wine, so I made lunch for my dad, Chris, and I to enjoy beforehand.  I tried something a little different:  I cut up low fat tortillas into thirds, spread on some Laughing Cow Light, sprinkled on broc slaw, added spinach, and put in a strip of chicken.  They rolled up nicely and were cute in my Glad Ware   I made six of them, and also a sandwich for Chris (he’s more of a sando type of guy). 

Chris and I departed for wine country around 11:15, and arrived at Archery Summit around noon.  We sat in my dad’s car and ate for a few minutes, then entered the man made caves under the winery and starting our tasting.   

 

Archery Summit had some cheese paired with 3 of the 4 wines, and all of it was nummy.  In general, the wine here was good, but it is a bit overpriced for what you get.  It was a beautiful place, though   I had 3 small pieces of cheese, a few pieces of bread, and 3 1/2 small wine samples.

We moved on to Willakenzie Estate (www.willakenzie.com), where Chris has been a member for like a decade, and I’ve been going for about 4 years now with him.  We know a lot of the staff there, so it is kind of like our winery equivalent of Cheers.  It was so busy!  We moved through the six samples of wine, four of which were paired with some yummy foods, and showed my dad around a bit.  He left around 2:45 or so, and Chris and I stayed to chat with friends and have more good wine.

 The winery still had three vats full of fermenting grapes, and were punching them down each hour for us to see.  It looked like quite an odd stew of purple matter, and you could smell the fermentation a bit.  Interesting!  Woops, dropped my hairbrush in there… haha, j/k.

The foods I had were the lesser funky of the four offered:  pulled pork on polenta with scallion, and (get this!) a wild boar pate with an unidentifiable chutney and frisee on a water cracker.  I’m surprised I ate that last item, as I’m not a big fan of pate and boar just sounds odd.  I also had several table water crackers throughout our visit.  I didn’t eat the scallop and lamb bites, as I’m not a fan of those proteins.  The wine here was good, and we took home our Cellar Club Member selections from the last year, basically.  (It was too hot to have them in the car before when we visited, so we left them there until now.)  Yay, a whole case of wine to add to the collection   If you visit the webiste and decide to join, be sure to say Chris and Kersten referred you! 

We left Willakenzie around 4? 4:30? and headed to Forest Grove, where Chris grew up, to eat at his favorite sandwich shop:  Phil’s 1500 Subs.  We split a large fajita sandwich on whole wheat, which was really yummy, but I ate too much   My hands totally still smell like onion, too.  Isn’t it amazing how onions stink up clothes, hands, etc?  This is a pic of my portion:

 

 Chris was being silly and decided to flip off the sando/me as I took a picture.

Our drive home was loooooooooooooonggggg, dark, and windy, as I went the back way and missed a turn that would have saved some time.  Chris was snoozing a bit, and he didn’t notice until it was too late.  I’m glad to be home, but feeling a little out of it.  I hardly slept last night, too, and would love to get some sleep and completely be rid of my headache.  I’m afraid it may come back due to my wine consumption, but so far, so good.  I really want to work out tomorrow, but may end up skipping yoga.  I don’t want to, but I’m afraid I may hurt myself (shoulders, elbows, and aggravated knee) and that would be no good.  Perhaps some cardio and weights instead to strengthen and help me be ready for more yoga Tuesday.

Tomorrow I’m going to lunch with my mom at the Olive Garden, and I hope to visit the new Trader Joe’s (www.traderjoes.com) nearby afterward.  Do you have TJ’s near you?  Do you shop there?  There’s also a Market of Choice about 10 min away, but I haven’t ever shopped there. 

Well, time to retire into my comfy bed and watch some TV.  I love watching TV from bed, how about you?

Non stop action November 23, 2008

As much as I hate that Sunday is nearly over, I am excited that this is only a 3 day week and that Thanksgiving is Thursday.  Today was really busy after I got going, hence the title.

Lily was up and at em by 7, and she came to nudge me a few times but I didn’t get up until just before 8.  I guess I slept pretty well, but I was tired and just wanted to stay in my cozy bed all morning.  I put some coffee on and went out to play with the girl (it was so cold…frost was all over the place), and happened to see a flock of [don't snarf your tea, Andrea...] bushtits.  I wishI could capture more of them at once, but they’re so busy moving around it is rather hard.  Here they are enjoying some suet:

Once back inside I poured a bowl of All Bran Strawberry Medley with almond milk, and made up my coffee.  Last night all of my containers were dirty, and since I didn’t feel that great I was fine with not prepping my oats.  I like the various textures of this cereal, especially the little waffle/grid looking things. 

I watched about a half hour of Top Chef reruns, called my mom to figure out our lunch time, and then got ready to go to the gym.  I don’t feel like I’ve been doing enough weight training, so today I was intent on getting in a good session and come cardio.  I supersetted legs and then back and biceps, and was still amazed at how long those 10 exercises took.  I worked legs hard, and was a bit shaky while stabilizing myself for my upper body work–yowza!  My quads felt a little jelly-like heading downstairs to do my cardio, so I was totally holding on to the railing just in case they should buckle.  Cardio was good, but not as long as I’d have liked:  25 minutes of moving fast on the elliptical.

I got home in just enough time to shower, make myself pretty-ish, and head out to the Olive Garden.  I ordered minestrone soup, salad, and breadsticks to help avoid over eating and try to be a bit healthier than my usual fettucine alfredo.  I also had a bite of my mom’s carbonara–heavenly!!

I was able to avoid eating until I felt full–yay!  Good thing b/c we headed off to Old Navy and Nordstrom Rack afterward to look for a few things Ma needed.  I tried on some stuff at Old Navy, but ended up buying only a cute pair of hot pink flats for $7.49.  (BTW, I love pink, especially hot pink/fuschia/magenta).  I didn’t see anything at the Rack, and was getting incredibly tired while we were there.  Seriously, I felt like I could have napped right there on the floor!  After Ma and I parted, I headed to Freddy’s for the grocery shopping, and was dreading it a bit b/c of how tired I felt. 

Freddy’s was majorly busy, and I felt like a zombie, but managed to keep my head on straight to get the shopping done in one fell swoop through the store.  I’m making an apple crisp and a winter veggie dish for Thanksgiving, so I gleefully picked up lots of apples, and some parsnips, carrots, onions, and an acorn squash.

I got home around 3 and had a snack after putting away the groceries.  It consisted of 1/2 an apple, a tiny bit of Laughing Cow Light, and one of my leftover mini wraps from yesterday.  I forgot to take a pic.  Oh, and I had 3 or 4 of the Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips, too.

I don’t know how I managed to wake up again, but I didn’t really feel tired after getting home.  I proceeded to play with Lily, sweep the house, take out the recycling and organize the kitchen a bit.  I have been really trying not to put off the inevitable cleaning/organizing duties and am finding that I feel a lot more productive and happy b/c of it.  I still procrastinate on some stuff, but mostly feel like I’m getting the hang of being a domestic diva again  

Tonight’s dinner menu consisted of stuffed bell peppers, and I started prepping that at 4-something at a nice leisurely pace.  This dinner takes a little leg work and a few pans, but it is well worth the result   Tonight’s stuffing consisted of 93% lean ground beef, brown rice, canned Italian tomatoes in their juice, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, a hint of cayenne, garlic, onion, and Nature’s Seasoning.  I like to cut the peppers in half, since I find that a whole stuffed pepper is too much food for me usually; after I stuff them I pour on a little tomato sauce.  When they’re done I put a small spoon of low fat sour cream and some shredded cheddar on top and pop them back in the oven for a minute.  Yummy!  We enjoyed dinner with a nice jammy zinfandel.

I’m excited to have a pepper for lunch or another dinner, too.  They are one of those foods that often tastes better on the 2nd day after cooking, once the flavors have melded a bit more. 

After cleaning up dinner I was getting the itch to have clean carpets, and since Chris wasn’t feeling up to it I vacuumed.  I also put in some laundry since I figured it couldn’t hurt.  I finally sat down by the fire with Chris and read the rest of my Road & Track, andsome work related stuff.  Around 9 I started getting a bit hungry, so I had some Danon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt with almond slivers, raisins, and chocolate chips (the latter two plucked from my trail mix from like 2 weeks ago).  It was good; this yogurt is definitely an improvement over the Freddy’s brand. 

 Damn, I gotta work on my photography–shadows abound!

I’m excited for my oatmeal tomorrow morning, as I’m trying a few new ingredients.  Check back tomorrow to see how it goes!

Hopefully you can see this pic of Lily sniffing my new shoes.  She had her nose fully in the shoe, but moved before I could capture the pic.

Lily is nudging me to go outside again one last time and play, so off I go with her, and then on to bed.  Hope you had a nice weekend

Cold and quick! November 24, 2008

Just like it sounds, the day was cold and fast.  It helps that I got out of bed late, I’m sure.  There were tons of birds and squirrels outside, and I caught 4 of them in close proximity to one another.

After getting to work I tried out my new oatmeal combo: steel cut oats, part pumpkin spice Silk, part water, slivered almonds, and dried figs.  Yum yum!  And, I was able to enjoy my whole cup of coffee before it went cold. 

I had acupuncture at noon, and had a snack of half an apple at 11:45.  No pic, sorry…rather boring anyhow, no?  My appointment went well, another allergy treatment for tree pollen, but I’m a total dope and forgot I’m not supposed to be outside for 24 hours! I totally spent time outside with Lily twice tonight.  Duh.  (It was SO cold when we got home…even with my down jacket on I still felt the hard bite of the cold.)

Anyhow, I ran into a mortgage guy I know on the way back into my office complex and we chatted for a long time.  I didn’t get to eat my wrap until about 1:45, and I was hungry!  The wrap was good–low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw, sauteed chicken, and a touch of balsamic vinegar.  It was perfect!  I also had those last two apple pieces. 

 

My office mate was craving popcorn (and has been for like two weeks ) so she popped a lonely bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Movie Theater Butter that has been sitting on the fridge for awhile.  I had a coffee filter full of it, and enjoyed it quite a bit.  I hadn’t had popcorn in a long time–thanks for the snack idea, Kristin!  (yes, my office-mate’s name is Kristin, and mine is Kersten.  Used to be worse, as my old office had me, Kristin, Kristi, another Kristin, and Chris.  Say that fast five times!)

 Woops, forgot to take a pic before eating nearly all of it!

Chris and I got the Thanksgiving details settled finally, as we weren’t sure if his parents would be able to join my family’s dinner b/c of his mom’s work schedule.   After talking with her for awhile he wanted to escape to a Mexican dinner, so we left work early enough to hit up happy hour at Si Senor.  I was going to have a cup of tortilla soup, but then these called my name:

More about those in  a sec.  I had chips and salsa first, and the salsa was extra spicy today.  I also went for a Diet Coke, and before my food arrived my stomach was hurting a bit.  I had one Taco al Carbon (double corn tortillas, chicken, pico de gallo, and a little guac put in it), and felt satiated.  My stomach was still hurting, and in fact a bit worse, but at least I didn’t feel sick.  I don’t know what it was…spicy salsa? DC?  Whatever it was, eventually it went away; yay, cause that meant I could go work out tonight.

I hit the gym and did chest, triceps, abs, and 50 minutes of cardio.  Lily was in the car, and I didn’t want her to get cold so I chickened out on the last 10 min of cardio.  When I got to the car she was fine, and she was enjoying watching everyone come and go from the gym.  She is so cute…no matter what she’s doing!  I love how she’s all wiggly and happy when I come home or get back to the car.  It makes me feel good

After cleaning up and playing with Lily, I made myself a snack.  I had the yogurt I packed for a daytime snack (Danon Light and Fit vanilla), and added in All Bran Strawberry Medley, a few almond slivers, and at the last minute, added half a b-nanner.  It was calling to me from the counter as I photographed the first edition of my snack…’eat me! you know I’m tasty!’  It sure was. 

Afterward I was still feeling a tad hungry, but didn’t eat anything else.  Then I figured out that it is my allergies, dammit.  I hate the flu-like symptoms I get with them sometimes, and the random super-hungry feelings they can cause. 

Today I did a little more calorie and weight loss research and figured I should be losing about a pound per week.  ‘Yee-haw, a frickin’ pound?’ I first asked myself (cause it sounds so slow), but then I realized that would be an annual average of 52 pounds, which is more than I need to lose and sounds significant.  So, I told myself not to get too hung up on the weight loss and to keep focusing on eating less still while working out more.  It was good motivation for the gym tonight.  The good news was I’ll be done with my weight loss in about 23-25 weeks Now if the damn scale in the ladies locker room could just be fixed… it seems like a conspiracy to have everyone weigh themselves right by the personal trainers in the open gym, which will then get them motivated to use the trainers. 

I’m going to head to bed to fully relax and get cozy…and of course, watch a little TV   I’ve been annoyed by the TV selection tonight so far, so we’ll see if there’s anything worthy of watching other than the news.  Stay warm out there, and hasta manana.

Tickle me Tuesday November 25, 2008

My post probably won’t be as interesting as my title…just sounded good.  It has been nice having this short week, and I’m getting excited to begin the Thanksgiving festivities.  I’ll be in the kitchen peeling, chopping, mixing, and baking—sounds good to me!

Chris didn’t feel so hot today from a cold or something he has, so he stayed at home with Lily.  I got up late again, desperately wanting to sleep even more, and did the usual routine to get ready.  TOTALLY forgot about the don’t-go-outside-per-the-allergy-treatment again this morning, so I’m sure the tree pollen treatment didn’t stick again.  Poo.

On the way to work I called 24 Hour Fitness to sign up for the yoga class, as the 6:30pm Tuesday class has a * next to it indicating you need to sign up in advance.  The chick at the front desk told me I had to sign up in person, and that if I did it more than 1 hour before class I had to pay $1.  Okay, so I figured I’d head to the gym early and do some cardio.  More on this topic later…

When I got to work I microwaved my oats, got my cup of coffee ready, and began the morning reading session (email, company webpage and news, market news).  I worked in a semi-dark office today, with just the lamp on in the office, and it was nice and peaceful.  I’m sure my oats enjoyed being consumed in the darkness, too–they couldn’t see me coming as well

[imagine oatmeal here]

Okay, WTF, I swear I took a pic of my oatmeal and there is nothing on my memory card… strange.  It was steel cut oats, part pumpkin spice Silk, part water, slivered almonds, and raisins.  I find that adding a touch more of water after nuking them for 2 minutes makes them the perfect consistency.  Yummy!

Plugged away on work and personal BS for awhile, and heard my officemate say she was hungry but had to wait for her husband to come by like an hour later.  I waited to eat til after she left b/c I thought it would be cruel to eat in front of her.  She left just before 1, and I enjoyed my wrap:  low fat tortilla, turkey, spinach, broc slaw, and 1/2 a wedge of Laughing Cow Light.  I forgot the balsamic, but the wrap was still plenty good.

 That’s a Varied Thrush on my wallpaper.  One of my fave birds!

Plugged away some more, and did more nutrition research.  Along the way I found out that Utz is a real snack company!  On Mad Men this season (best drama ever!), Sterling Cooper handled the Utz account and I never knew it was a real company.  I guess their products aren’t distributed here…  I was looking on caloriecount.about.com for tortillas and their tortilla chips came up, too.

Around 3 I had a really tasty snack:  Danon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, 1/2 a nanner sliced, and cinnamon.  It was heavenly!  Of course I totally choked on one bite of banana with lots of cinnamon and had a tickle in my throat for a few hours. 

  ”Eat me!”

Chris’ mom called me, and we ended up talking for like 25 minutes about random stuff, and Thanksgiving.  She’s poultry intolerant, so I wanted to figure out what kind of protein she wanted instead.  A few things she said made me nervous about our dinner; let’s just say it should be entertaining if someone says something she doesn’t like

I left work around 4, and found somewhat heavy traffic on the way home.  Boo, I hate traffic, especially lately!  Makes me not want to take the highway home, and perhaps head the back way until the fall/winter nightmare highway traffic subsides.  I don’t even want to think of what it’ll be like tomorrow as everyone flees town for their Turkey Day destinations.  I can’t wait until I live less than 18 miles from work…

I got home to find my honey had stayed in bed all day, and he didn’t eat anything!    Never a good thing… so I heated up two halves of stuffed pepper from the other night, and made sure he had everything he needed.  I got dressed for the gym and had a snack while doing so:  Clif Nectar cranberry, apricot, and almond bar.  I like the texture of these bars, and the fact that they have like 4 or 5 ingredients.  Simple=good.

I was all anxious to get to the gym and reserve my place in the yoga class, so I headed out hoping I’d get there at about 5:30.  On the way to the gym I realized I forgot a towel, but, alas, I had a $5 coupon for the pro shop from when I activated my membership!  I signed in, and then asked the guy for the yoga sign up sheet.  He acted like I was speaking Greek, and then got it, only to say “you don’t need to sign up.”  Huh?  Then why did the girl this morning say I had to?  And why is there a * next to it on the schedule?  Grrr…sort of frustrated by that, but glad I didn’t have to worry about it in the future. 

I hit the elliptical for about 35 minutes, cranking Justin Timberlake and some other tunes for a little help.  It felt good, and I was excited to head upstairs at 7:30 for yoga.  The class was great, it was warm in the room, and I had a mild sweat going the whole time.  Nothing like a little sweat to reassure you you’re working hard   Most of the poses felt more natural this time around, and the flow of things was a bit easier, too.  It was challenging, though!  We did half-moon and bird of paradise in the mix; half-moon went well, but bird felt awkward and probably didn’t look so pretty.

On the way home I stopped off to buy Thanksgiving protein for Chris’ mom, and a few more parsnips for my roasted winter veggie dish.  I thought a few people looked at me funny at the gym and the store, and when I got home I saw why—I had some mascara under my eyes and on my cheek!  When I was sweating in yoga I must have been a little hasty with the towel and smeared it.  Woops!  Mental note to check the face in the mirror before I leave the gym.

I was looking forward to reheating the last half of stuffed pepper for my dinner, but got sidetracked in a conversation with Mama.  Finally, around 8:15 I had my glorious little friend, who looks a little splayed b/c I cut and smooshed him to heat better in the micro.

  I added a spoon of low fat sour cream for shits and giggles.

Tasty dinner, and now I sit here around 10 doing my blog.  Sheesh, where did the time go!  I gotta get crackin’ on adding some things to eBay; there’s a 50% off listing promo through today, and it is nudging me to finally list some things I’ve had sitting around to sell.

Hope you had a nice Tuesday, and thanks to everyone who read my blog today!  Over 40 of you were kind enough to stop by.  Please do leave comments, feedback, suggestions, whatever… I love reading your comments

Ready to go! November 26, 2008

Yippee, Turkey Day is almost here.  Today was rather slow, but all in all felt productive and positive.  I had a little funk this evening, but snapped out of it by doing food prep.  More on that later…

I was up later than usual last night, until a little after 1.  I listed 16 Cow Parade cows on eBay (they were a reward from my old office manager), got done around 11:45, and then decided to read some Road & Track.  There was an interesting article in there about oil use, unconventional liquids, and water.  Sounds like we’re in the shitter on non-OPEC oil production, and that water supply will be one of the key problems, perhaps moreso than oil.  Check it out here: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=36&article_id=7319

Lily has totally been my alarm clock this week, coming in to say hi and wake me up around 7, and insisting I get out of bed around 8.  It is kind of good, though, because that way I get up and start my day earlier on weekends, which I like.  No where near the 5 am alarm most of you have, but early enough for me

Chris wasn’t feeling too hot again, and while he decided whether to stay home or go to work I had my oats.  Steel cut oats, pumpkin spice Silk, water, almond slivers, dried figs, cinnamon, pinch of salt=yummy.  Chris did decide to stay home, so I also made coffee and took a cup with me to work when I left.  I suppose I enjoy having coffee in the car, especially when it is cold like it has been lately.

I worked for a few hours, and nearly ate out of boredom before I was hungry.  Alas, thinking about food make me hungry, so I had my wrap around noon.  Low fat tortilla, turkey, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw, and pepper.

 I was drinking hot water with lunch b/c I was so cold!

It was hard to warm up today for various reasons, and I think the hot water helped.  Kinda weird though, just water with no tea or anything (didn’t feel like it).  And yes, I used a non-recyclable cup   I can reuse it thought I didn’t want to use my regular coffee cup, b/c even when it’s clean it still smells like coffee! 

I knew traffic would be horrible today, and I didn’t need to stay at work, so I left waaaaay early, like at 1:30.  Even then I hit some traffic, but not much–  phew.  I was already getting hungry thinking about my yogurt snack awaiting me, but when I got home I first heated up some soup for Chris and played with Lily outside.  Then I indulged in my snacky poo:  Light & Fit vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, 1/2 a nanner sliced, and cinnamon.  I forgot to take a pic before I stirred it…

After this I felt like doing something other than watching TV or reading, so I began prepping my veggies for the roasted veggie dish I’m making tomorrow.  I gathered some of the victims on my cutting board for you to see:

 ”Haha!  You’re no match for my incredibly large and sharp chef’s knife!”

…Or so I thought.  That acorn squash’s skin armor was really hard to get through!  I had no idea how tough those puppies are! Don’t know if I needed to, but I peeled the SOB, too, which involved cutting the squash into sections and peeling them individually.  Hopefully it all turns out well.  I’m just going to roast them simply with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Maybe a little balsamic or nutmeg if it seems right, but I haven’t made up my mind.

After that I sat down for a few minutes, and Lily wanted to play again, so I went to the back door.  Behold, a Sharp Shinned Hawk had caught a bird and was eating the last bits of it!  Holy moley!  Lily and I scared him when we walked up to the door, and he flew into the tree nearby, but then came back, grabbed the last of the bird, and flew off.  I went out to inspect the feathers, and I don’t know what kind of bird the hawk got.  Here’s the scene of the crime:

Wow, nothing left but feathers.  The orange on the feathers makes me think it was a Varied Thrush or Spotted Towhee   Oh well, that’s nature for you!

I was kind of in a funk after this, but not because of it I don’t think.  I was getting a little hungry and had a spinach and broc slaw salad with S&P, olive oil, and balsamic.

After this I got dinner ready, and as I prepped my chicken I realized just how natural it is for us to be a bit grossed out by handling meat, and that alone is another good reason to be a vegetarian.  I’ve never considered being one before, and I do like chicken and beef mostly, but just a thought that crossed my mind. 

Dinner was plain and simple:  sauteed chicken breast with whole wheat egg noodles.  I put Smart Balance on the noodles, cut up the chicken, and sprinkled canned parmesan & ground pepper on top.  I know, I know…canned parmesan?  Yes, I like it on pasta. 

This was a bit too much food for me, but I ate it all anyway.  I was still coming out of the funk and was just kind of eating it mindlessly for a few minutes.  Bad, bad me!  I ended up feeling full, although not too bad.  That strange confused full/hungry feeling came over me as I digested; I find it quite fascinating that for a few minutes my stomach really seemed to be telling me I was hungry, yet I knew I had eaten and was full. 

Hmm…what did I do next?  Uh, I think I cleaned up, started the dishwasher, and sat down in front of the fire to read for about an hour before Top Chef.  I read more of the Road & Track, and before I knew it 7pm rolled around and I went into the living room to watch TV.  I have DirecTV, so I get new non-local-network shows premiering at eastern time, and then repeated a few times that night usually.  It means I can watch Top Chef, Mad Men, and other good series early

Top Chef was good, quite a doosy of a kitchen they had to cook in!  I won’t say anything in case you haven’t seen it yet, other than that dessert seems to get the best of ‘em!  I’m surprised that in so many seasons the contestants haven’t learned to step outside their comfort zone and learn how to make better desserts before going on the show.

I talked with my mom and brother, and my bro asked me what I was doing tomorrow morning.  “Probably going to the gym, why?” “You should go on a walk with Dad and I in Mountain Park at 10:30, with the dogs.”  “Okay, sounds great!”  I’m excited, as I’ll get to exercise and spend some time outside with some family and the pups   My bro and his wife have a cute Bison Frisee/Havanese mix–Beaudin–and Lily loves to play with him. 

Knowing that the walk would take a few hours out of my day, I decided to prep the apples for my crisp.  I peeled, cut, and cored 10 apples and then added lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.  Woohee, I think I got enough peeling in today to reach my annual quota!

I ate a few of the apples before putting them away–they were so good!

I also mixed the dry ingredients together, so my work tomorrow should be really simple.  Yay for prep work!!   That definitely got me out of my funk, and I finally feel all warm and cozy… now I get to go climb into my cold bed.  Brrr

I can’t believe how excited I am for Thanksgiving…it is so weird.  You’d think it was Christmas and Santa was coming tonight or something.  Are you all excited and ready to cook up a storm?  What’s your favorite part of the holiday?  I LOVE the smell of the turkey and gravy, and the taste of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  [Drooling now...]

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone, and I look forward to seeing and reading about all of your yummy Turkey Day eats and fun family experiences.  Be sure to take lots of pics!

Gobble, gobble…gobble-gobble November 27, 2008

Whoo-ee, what a day!  It felt so loooong, and had a few speed bumps in there.  But, here I am, somehow not in a comatose state from all of the food I consumed. 

The day started out well, with me getting up around 8:15 and knowing I was going for a walk around 10:30.  Lily and I played, and the wildlife came out in droves. 

I had my oats, but today added a bit of nutmeg since I had it for the apple crisp.  It was so yummy!  To recap, the oats consisted of steel cut oats, pumpkin spice Silk, water, dried figs, almond slivers, cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg. 

I got ready for my walk, got Lily ready, too, and headed over to my dad’s house to carpool.  Lily was excited b/c she saw lots of dogs and people walking in my dad’s neighborhood, so while my dad changed we ran around his back yard.  There was a bright orange fungus growing at the edge of his lawn, and it fascinated me.  I forgot to take a pic!  At first I seriously thought it was flower petals or an orange peel.  Way cool!

We went for our walk on Mountain Park, in Lake Oswego, and it kicked my ass!  It was my brother, my dad, my bro’s dog, me, and Lily.  We huffed it up the hill, moving at a good clip, and finally reached the top of the hill about 50 minutes in.  At that point I noticed my left heel was getting rubbed by my shoe for a few reasons.  1) My left foot is a half size smaller than my right, so sometimes shoes are a little big for it.  2) I wore low cut socks, and the left one kinda shrunk down into my shoe.  On the way downhill my feet were barking at me a bit more, and I was kicking myself for not thinking more about the socks I wore and the friction I’d experience.  Grr.  My feet hurt pretty bad afterward, but my dad wanted to go to Whole Foods and I wasn’t about to say no.

We shopped for Friday’s dinner, and ended up getting halibut, rice, brie for a starter, and some beer   While there we sampled some yummy Seaside Cheddar.  I LOVE their cheese section and could probably just stand there all day asking for samples.  As you can see, my cheddar sample was HUGE.  I stabbed the toothpick into the bowl of cubes, and accidentally snagged that big boy on the end of my toothpick.  I was famished from walking so I gladly ate what I got

When I got home I felt tired, sore, and the dogs were barking.  As I bent over to untie my shoes Lily accidentally head butted me so hard I cried!  I’ve totally got a bruise on my forehead.  I made myself a typical wrap for lunch, and got out my yogurt snack that I prepped earlier.

The wrap was a low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, turkey, spinach, broc slaw, and ground pepper.  I probably didn’t need the sidecar of yogurt, but I ate about half of it and saved the rest.  It was Dannon Light & Fit vanilla, half a nanner, slivered almonds, and cinnamon.

After this I got to baking my Thanksgiving dishes, starting with the vegetables.  They smelled yummy as they roasted, and I was happy with the finished results.  This consisted of parsnips, onions, carrots, acorn squash, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Simple and tasty.

I was in quite a funk for some reason this afternoon, and totally emotional.  It was so weird and unexpected, and Chris had just the thing to try to snap me out of it:

 Cheers!

Next the apple crisp went in.  Just mixing the topping up made me drool!  Check out this pre-baked dish of goodness.  It smelled like heaven already and I totally licked off the beater from my mixer.  Wow, out of control!

As this baked I thought I was going to melt b/c the smell was to die for.  The finished product looked beautiful, with the top all crispy and brown, but I forgot to take a photo since I was in mad prep mode to get going to Grandma’s house.

After arriving at G-Ma’s I helped to finish and dish things, and the usual family stress crept in.  Too many people helping out in the kitchen, too many things going on at once… “hand me the wine.” 

Once we finally got seated for dinner, I just about died at how good the food was   SO TASTY!!! I put too much food on my plate, at it all, and even had a little more afterward.  And, yes, those wine glasses are both mine   The plate o’ goodness included: white turkey meat, mashed potatoes, dressing, roasted veggies, two kinds of cranberry sauce, and gravy over half of the above.  The bowl back there had fruit salad with apples, orange, bananas, walnuts, cherries, and whipped cream (zoikes!). 

I was so bad and kept picking at the food as we cleared dishes and put leftovers away.  Naughty girl!  My sis-in-law’s dressing was super tasty, and I kept sneaking bites every time I passed by.  Someone slap my hand away!

Dessert was fabulous, and I had tastes of my apple crisp and my mom’s pumpkin pie.  The whipping cream froze solid during its short stay in the freezer (don’t ask…), so we opted for the blow-on kind instead.

Here’s where I really went over the top–too much food=uncomfy tummy!  I had a hard time sticking to my guns today, obviously.  All I can say is at least I worked out a lot this week, otherwise I think I would be feeling a lot more guilty now.  Did you all workout more to get ready for today?

I think Chris’ parents had a good time, and everyone got along really well and had fun.  Phew, and yay   The puparoos were really good during dinner, and here they are laying down watching the kitchen activity.  They were both laying with their heads on the floor, but Lily heard me and lifted her head up.  Hi sweetie!

Lily is tuckered out, and so am I.  I’m watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion right now–wow, them bitches are crazy!  Off I go to watch more and drink massive quantities of water (too much vino). 

Hope your Thanksgiving ended splendidly  

Free and Lazy Friday November 28, 2008

Wow, it was only Friday today.  Sweet!  I passed out on the couch last night and didn’t sleep all that well, part couch and part alcohol consumption I think.  Does alcohol do that to you, too–make you wake up after one sleep cycle or so?

I finally got up around 9 and did the usual take Lily out/make coffee/make oats routine, but for using a different type of oats today.  I used the rolled oats I had left over from my apple crisp, and made them on the stovetop with pumpkin Silk, water, raisins, and a pinch of salt.  When they were nearly done I added slivered almonds, and I topped off the finished product with some more Silk.  I liked the taste, but think I prefer the chewier, heartier texture of the steel cut oats instead of the mushier, softer texture of these.

I sat around reading blogs, watching some TV, and drinking coffee all morning.  I can’t believe how sore my legs are today from the walk yesterday!  It is great!  I also did a little yoga this morning, as I saw it was on Fit TV and got in like 10 minutes of practice.  I was in a pretty good mood, and enjoyed being able to relax.  I kept wondering about going to the gym, but decided to take the day off b/c of my crazy sore legs and feet.

For lunch I had some leftover roasted veggies, turkey, and a little bit of gravy.  Yummy smell as it heated, and great taste:)

After this I went to Fred Meyer to pick up some things for dinner tonight at my dad’s, and for Chris, Lily, and I in general.  I didn’t do the usual menu planning b/c I didn’t feel like it.  I knew I had protein for the next 2 days already, that I could finagle some sides, and we have Thanksgiving leftovers.  No shortage of food here.

I’ve seen a lot of cottage cheese incorporated in all of your blogs out there, so I decided to finally buy some and test it out.  Now, let me tell you about my last experience with cottage cheese. .. It was, oh, about 8 years ago in college (holy shit I feel old saying that) and my boyfriend liked to eat cottage cheese with ranch dressing.  I had never liked cc before that, but one night after drinking too much Franzia white zin with the bf I ate like half a bowl of his cc and ranch concoction.  I promptly got sick (mostly from the wine, I’m sure) and haven’t really wanted to try cc since then.

Enter 2008’s blog scene and my taste test today.  I just had like 1/4 cup with some no salt added Saltines (bought them for Daddy’s halibut recipe, and saw they have high fructose corn syrup in them!!:|)  I ate a few spoonfuls of the cc alone, and noticed how the curds remind me of salty mozzarella in taste and texture.  Great, b/c I love fresh mozzarella   Paired with the crackers it was pretty good, and I’ll see about trying it in oats, with fruit/jam, cinnamon, or other preparations.  I would love to hear your favorite cottage cheese dishes/concoctions/recipes–please leave a comment for me!

 Not too shabby

What did I do after this? Hm…more blogging I think.  I felt kinda lazy and didn’t want to clean or unload the dishwasher, so I was on the computer for awhile. 

Around 4:15 we left for my dad’s so I could put the pie in the oven early before he came home from work.  The pie was from Lee Farms of Tualatin, Oregon: http://www.leefarmsoregon.com/  I also prepped some of the salad, crushed the saltines, got out the brie and promptly began eating it, and enjoyed some Willakenzie 2006 Pinot Blanc.  (My G-Ma also brought over some Spanish sheep’s milk cheese that was really soft, creamy, and mild.  Mmmmm.) Lily asked if she could have some too, so I gave her a cracker:)

I was good, eating just a few bites of everything while keeping busy in the kitchen.  My dad got home and we did more prep, then started cooking when everyone was there.  The halibut was SO good–moist inside, crispy outside, fabulous taste and texture.  My dad coats it in an egg wash, dredges it in the ground up Saltines, and pan fries it in some butter and olive oil–100% perfect!  For sides we had red Bhutanese rice, leftover mashed potatoes (G-Ma insisted on bringing them over since she had leftovers she wanted to pawn off), and a spinach salad with broc slaw, red pepper, and a little basil.  A very yummy dinner that wasn’t overly large.  I decided to forego the potatoes since we already had one starch.

Chris picked out two fantabulous wines from my dad’s cellar: a Bergstrom 2001 Paso Robles Syrah, and an Archery Summit 2005 Red Hills Pinot Noir.  Both were really full bodied, had great flavor, and gone too quickly.  The 7 of us drinkers went though 4 bottles of wine in all.  Here’s pics of the cellar and the Bergstrom:

My dad’s hall closet is under his staircase, and has a bunch of open space in the back; it also happens to stay at a perfect, consistent temperature for most of his wine, so it is therefore his main “cellar.”  I always think it is fun (and funny) to whip out the flashlight, part the coats, and crouch in the closet looking through his wine.

Next we moved along to the yummy pie, but not before I had a few more bites of cheese while sort of helping to clean up.  The marionberry pie was TO DIE FOR.  I don’t think I’ve ever had pie that good before–perfect taste, texture, and crust, not too sweet and not too tart.  I added a little spoon of ice cream, too:)

Double yum!  We had some coffee with our dessert, and sat/stood around chatting in the kitchen and family room for awhile.  All in all it was a great evening, except for me eating a tad too much on all fronts.  Thankfully we don’t get together twice a week like this, or else I’d be in trouble for sure on the eat-fewer-calories front.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the food and socializing, but it is easier for me to control my portions and nutrition when making my own meals, or when eating out at familiar places. 

There’s my honey and my little girl:)

Now Chris and I have succumbed to yet more wine.  I’m feeling like quite the wino lately.  We are enjoying a Willakenzie 2005 Selection Clonale 114 Pinot Noir, and it is yet another great wine.  I like tasting the individual clones that are blended to create the wines.

There’s a Mork & Mindy marathon on SciFi right now, and it is suprisingly funny and entertaining.  Right now they’re about to get married and Mork is turning into a dog b/c his alien master doesn’t approve.  Lily heard Mork bark on TV and started growling… such a good girl protecting us.  Love her

I’m out for the night, folks.  Hoping to get in pilates and cardio tomorrow, how bout you?

S-S-S-S-Saturday November 29, 2008

Today did not feel like Saturday at all, more like Sunday I suppose.  I was tired and a little cranky last night after I posted, and I went to bed around midnight.  The last few weeks I have had a hard time warming up in bed, even with the quilt and a blanket, so I wore a long-sleeved shirt last night and that helped a lot

I woke up maybe around 7, but stayed in bed and dozed in and out until about 8:45, when I realized I had better get going to be awake and make it to pilates at 10 on time.  I started the coffee, poured a bowl of All Bran Strawberry Medley with almond milk, and headed outside to play with Lily.  I totally forgot to take a pic until after I ate.  Oops.

[imagine cereal here]

Andrea (at Care To Eat) said she’d try to be at pilates, and she was there!  I was surprised b/c I thought she went to a different location of 24 Hour Fitness, but it was good to have someone I knew there in class   Go Andrea!  After class I did 40 minutes of cardio on the elliptical, then headed home in a state that told me I needed food even though I wasn’t hungry. 

What to make, what to make…??? Wrap? Leftovers? Eggs?  I ended up making a wrap with a 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, one lightly scrambled egg, spinach, and broc slaw.  I knew I wanted an apple, so I decided to try one with some cottage cheese.  It was a good combo, but the apple wasn’t that great so I only ate half of it.

I began busting out housework so I wouldn’t have to do any tomorrow (yay!), and got quite a bit done.  I hit a wall around 2 and was insanely tired.  Are the last 2-3 days of activity catching up to me? Did I overdo it? Am I just tired?  I don’t know… I was also getting a tad hungry already, so I turned to my new friend, cottage cheese.  Can’t believe I’m eating it! I’ve been missing out for the last 27 years. 

I had Food Should Be Good multigrain chips with it, and it worked out well.  As I ate this I watched Hell’s Kitchen reruns on Fox Reality, and caught the last season finale.  I thought I may fall asleep on the couch, but ended up staying awake and watching the whole thing while tending the laundry on commercials.

Chris suggested we go to Fajitas (neighborhood Mexican restaurant) for dinner, and I was kind of relieved since that meant I wouldn’t have to cook.  Tortilla soup sounded good, so I did indeed order that with a Casuela, too.

I added lots of jalapenos to my soup, and ix-nayed the sour cream.  I loved the fiery mouth effect of the peppers! My inner ears started to feel hot and itchy–a sure sign of spicy heat. When I was younger I hated spicy stuff, but now I love it.  I’ll need to figure out how to incorporate some Sriracha or spicy curry into my diet soon… Anyway, I ate too much and got home feeling quite full.  I guess a lot of it was fluid, but I need to stop myself before I get full.

The week is finally winding down to a close now, and I have mixed feelings on it.  One one hand, I worked out 5 times this week, with two great leg workouts and a nice walk/hike outdoors:)  On the other hand, I ate too much each of the last 3 nights and didn’t drink enough water this week:(

Tomorrow is a new week, and I’m determined to eat well, work out at least 4 times, and continue (ahem, restart) my approach of not eating until I’m full.  I’ll start out with yoga in the morning, and I am looking forward to having steel cut oats again for breakfast (better prep those now!).  I bought them in bulk this week at Freddy’s, and they definitely look different than Bob’s Red Mill (smaller, a few dark specks in there).  I’ll let you know how that goes. 

I hope you all had a nice end to your week, and I know I’m glad to have one more day off before heading back to work.  How about you?

Posting tonight… December 1, 2008

Hi friends– I didn’t post last night because Chris and I watched “Heat” and I was too tired to post after that.  Stay tuned tonight for Sunday’s and today’s eats and activities.  A little preview:  I had cottage cheese in my oats this morning!  And, I’m feeling smaller in my pants today–yay, finally some results:D

Kersten

Flipping the calendar (off) December 1, 2008

It is sooooooo weird that December is already here.  Where is the time going?  Ahhhhhh!  Over the last few years it seems that life has been accelerating rapidly.  How bout you?  On to the posting madness… Let’s start with a pic of yet another female hummingbird that is visiting my feeders:

This means there are at least 4 coming by!

Sunday was good, especially because I got in a rockin’ yoga class–more on that in a minute.  I started out at about 8, made coffee, cooked steel cut oats on the stove top, played with Lily and enjoyed some blogs.  I’ve figured out that I totally prefer steel cut oats soaked overnight then nuked rather than done on the stovetop.

I headed out to the gym, got warmed up on the treadmill, and plunked my yoga mat down in the biggest class ever.  There were like 50 people in the studio, and a few had to be turned a way I think.  I saw Megan S. and her sis-in-law (hi!!) in class This yoga session was pretty intense, moved quickly, and was warm since there were so many bodies squeezed in there.  I felt kind of inept a few times, but it was a great overall.  I had planned on doing cardio and weights afterward, but just did a quick bicep/ab/back workout instead.

Since I already ran out of my new friend, cottage cheese, I stopped by Freddy’s on the way home and managed to fill an entire grocery bag with stuff.  I got a big container of fat-free cottage cheese to try and other usual stuff.  I was getting pretty famished, and made the same lunch as Saturday (sans apples): low fat tortilla with one egg, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw; cottage cheese on the side.  At first the f.f. c.c. tasted kinda weird to me (funny aftertaste?), but it was still good. 

Not sure what I did after this…blog some?  Play with LB?  Shower? Who knows…

I snacked on the same thing as Saturday, too, while reading up on yoga poses. It was cottage cheese and Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips.  Mmmmmmm…..

Putzed around more in the afternoon, and got out some chicken I’d had in the fridge to cook for our lunches this week.  Peeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeeeewwwww! It had gone bad and smelled kinda fishy   Damn.  At least I bought fresh chix and can cook that up, as we’re about out of lunch meat.

Moving on to dinner… I was bad at menu planning and didn’t really have any sides, so we used mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, and dressing from Thanksgiving.  I cooked up a pork chop for each of us; when I opened the package I saw one was pretty small–perfect for me   I gave Chris the carrots from my roasted veggies, and had the remaining parsnips, squash, and onions.  I also had dressing.  It was all yummy.

I never got hungry after dinner, and felt like I had a good day since I was back on track eating well.  Chris and I decided to watch a movie around 9, and we chose “Heat”.  We enjoyed a Willakenzie 2004 Emery Pinot Noir–soooooooooo tasty.

That wrapped up Sunday

On to today, Monday.  Hmmm…got up later than I should have, felt discombobulated making lunch since it had been so long, but then felt skinny when I got dressed for work!  My pants were definitely looser than they have been, and my shirt.  Yay!!!  That put me in a stellar mood all day.

I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast until 10:30.  I should have known better and eaten at home.  I was doing work stuff, had to pick up wreaths I ordered from a colleague in the next building, and take Lily to my mom’s house.  I was really hungry and enjoyed my oats tremendously.  I mixed in a big spoonful of cottage cheese!!  It was somewhat creamy, and I think the little curds plumped up in there BTW, this was the first day I had the Fred Meyer bulk oats, and I couldn’t tell the difference from Bob’s Red Mill.

 I’ll add more next time…

I went into a meeting after this, and emerged hungry already around noon.  Chris and I sat down for lunch in his office, where I had half of my wrap (low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, turkey, spinach, broc slaw, ground pepper), a little bit of the cottage cheese pictured, half an apple, and water.

Around 12:45 I left to go to acupuncture, which also went well.  I saw my naturopath and conveyed the good news that I have been working out and eating well, and that I feel so much better.  She was really excited for me–thanks Dr. B!  My acu. session went well, and back to work I went.

I was hungry again and ate the rest of my lunch around 2:30, sans cottage cheese (Chris had it with his lunch). I should have photographed the “butt” of my wrap for Erin!

Man, I was a bottomless pit today, and ate my banana around 4:45.

Hello little nanner!

Chris told me Maria was calling (aka he wanted to go to Mexican for dinner), and that didn’t sound too bad to me at all.  My 5pm meeting couldn’t make it, and around 6 we left to go to Si Senor.  I had an Original Margarita and a Chicken Monterrey Burger (small chicken breast with jack cheese, lettuce, avocado, and jalapeno(not pictured), oh and fries on the side).  I ate waaaaay to much of the burger…spurned on by the yummy chicken, avocado, and roasted fresh jalapenos (not to mention margarita buzz), I kept putting food in my mouth.  The jalapenos were bloody hot, and I kept trying to find something to kill the heat, too (or at least that’s part of my excuse!).

So, although my day started on a good note, I feel bad for overeating tonight.  No, I did not eat the whole burger, or even half of the fries, but I was full and knew it while I was still eating.  Bad me!  Lesson learned and I will do my best to be more diligent in the eats dept. this week. 

I think I’m going to find some yoga online and do a little sesh here at my house.  I have a 4:30pm meeting tomorrow but hope I can make it to the 6:30 pm yoga class.  I’m really digging the movement, exercise, and breathing so far, and am excited to become more proficient.  It is really awesome that all classes are included in my gym membership–thanks 24 Hour Fitness!

On a random note, my WordPress Dashboard said I had like 300 views today!!!!!!!!!!!!  Say what?  Is this a fluke?  Did your view counter look right today?  That’s like 10x more than my normal traffic.  If it is true, thanks for visiting everyone!  Please leave a comment and say hi

The humanity! December 3, 2008

Today started off great, but the lack of manners, class, and common decency witnessed after 7pm just about killed me.  Brace yourselves for my rant in the latter half of this post.

So, got up to go to work and the man & I decided to sleep longer   Yay.  I fell back asleep for like 1 1/2 hours, and had some crazy vivid dreams.  When I finally dragged my arse out of bed I made coffee and heated my oatmeal.  I mixed in more cottage cheese but forgot my almonds.  All in all, a yummy start to the day.  While I made this I was on the phone with DirecTV per the promo letter I received–they’re giving us $10/mo off for 12 mos, and free Showtime and Starz for 6 months.  Sign me up!

I worked from home for a few hours (aka blogged and sorta checked my email and news), but the company website and applications were on the fritz today so I got frustrated and mostly blogged.  After I packed lunch I went to the office, and ended up eating around 1:40.  Typical wrap for lunch (low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, turkey, spinach, and broc slaw), a little bit of cottage cheese (all that was left!), and half an apple.  That hit the spot

I worked for a bit, chatted with my office mate, and just now realized I forgot to contact a client about something.  Shoot.  Anyway, I ate the other half of my apple around 3:45, mostly because I knew I should have something to support my brain power for my 4pm meeting.  Forgot to take a pic, tho.

[imagine apple here ]

My meeting went well, and I headed on home starting to get hungry.  Thankfully traffic was not bad at all, otherwise I would have been frustrated by that fo sho.  Lily was so cute when I got home…her little wiggly greeting will never get old

I cooked up chicken breast and green beans for dinner, hoping it would be light enough that I could work out sooner than later.  I probably should have had more calories for dinner; not until later did I realize this was fewer than I was going for.

Chris and I watched Showtime for a little while, and I headed off to the gym.  Here’s where “the humanity” got to me… A nice guy opened the front door for me, and all began well.  The gym was packed.  I started with a quick warm up on the treadmill, then began to bust out legs superset style.  Here I was annoyed by two girls chatting it up while one of them *barely* worked out on a leg curl machine.  I wasn’t using that machine, but ones on either side of it.  They were there for like 10 minutes doing nothing and totally oblivious.  Grrr.  C’mon, if you’re gonna be at the gym can ya please work out and not just take up space?

My supersetting didn’t go so well since it was so busy, but that didn’t upset me.  Next frustration was a meathead doing tricep rope extensions–I didn’t know he was using that particular stack (no water bottle/towel/keys/etc.), but during my first set I noticed he was standing rightnexttome.  When I finished he said “I was using that” and practically pushed me out of the way to get on it.  Fucker.  There were only 3 other open stacks at the time.  So I took an open one.  I was glad to head downstairs for cardio after that.

The cardio machines were TOTALLY FULL.  I didn’t want to go upstairs to use the non-TV machines, so I just waited for a minute.  First I was going to use a stair mill, but the chick getting off of it took about 5 minutes to stretch on the damn thing instead of moving on. Her crime:  being totally oblivious to the fact that people were waiting to use the machines.

So, I took an elliptical that opened up and started cruising.  Phew.  TV worked, closed captioning was on(not sure how you turn it on but I prefer it since I listen to music on the iPod at the same time). Next, I see two cheerleaders (t-shirts had high school cheer squad on them) do some “cardio:” they fucked around on two machines in front of me for about 5 minutes, one of them putting both of her feet on one footpad and pumping with her arms like a kid. The other one looked like she was made up to go to prom–not exactly indicative of someone who is trying to work out. Their crime:  not being serious about what they were doing.

Next, fat man with no t-shirt pacing around on his phone in front of the cardio area.  Ewwwwwwwwwwww.  He had some nasty body hair, too.  It was one of those things where you try not to look but somehow still do every once in awhile.  I think most of the people on the machines were trying to keep their dinner down.

Lastly, young asshole spits in the recycling bin.  Grrrrrrrrrr.  Is it that hard to read “recycling” in big letters on the side?

By this time I got to my 45 minute goal and got the hay out of there.  At least the cardio was good

I stopped at Freddy’s on the way home, only to be annoyed by sick kids coughing and sniffling and not doing anything to keep their germs to themselves, and young assholes who tried to cut in front of me at the self-scan.  But I saw they now carry Flat Out! wraps!!!  I’ll have to try those when I run out of tortillas.

At least I got my cottage cheese, and a d’anjou pear , and got home safely.  I swear, it is evenings like these that make me want to give up on human kind.  I guess I believe in karma, and just figure if they’re putting out negative energy they’re going to get some back.  Hopefully my annoyed ass wasn’t putting out a bad vibe…

After I cleaned up I had a snack of 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese mixed with 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese, and some Food Should Taste Good chips.  My little bowl runneth over!  Yummy and satisfying. 

My eBay auctions all ended tonight, and I sold 13 of 16 items!  Yay!

So I leave you my trusty bloggers.  Sorry I wasn’t in a great mood when writing this tonight, but thanks for reading anyway   Hopefully some of you will share your experiences or feedback with me, I would appreciate it a lot.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture! December 4, 2008

I felt a little shaken up today, rather ditzy, forgetful, and clumsy since I woke up with a monster allergy headache that didn’t want to go away until late this afternoon.  Phew, b/c I had plans to attend Zumba with Andrea Care To Eat tonight. 

When I woke up I realized I that in my huff last night I forgot to prep my oats. Oh, no!!!   I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat, and ended up taking a banana and a pear to eat for breakfast.  I ended up eating only the banana, and forgot to take a pic.  I should have forced myself to eat more, but I was at work and didn’t want to go buy anything or eat the cookies at the office.

I had a poopy morning b/c of the headache, and didn’t get much serious work done.  Around 12:30 I had lunch:  wrap consisting of low fat tortilla with sauteed chicken, 1/2 wedge LCL, spinach, broc slaw, Nature’s Seasoning; ~1/2 cup low fat/fat free cottage cheese mix; and about 1/2 and apple. 

I ate the rest of the cc and apples later on.  Twas a tasty little snack, but I forgot to photograph it (again)!

Chris and I went to my mom’s house for dinner–homemade turkey soup with dumplings, and a salad with broc slaw, red pepper, dried cranberries, walnuts, and a balsalmic vinaigrette.  Yum yum!  I didn’t eat much b/c I was afraid of being too full for Zumba.  But, I wasn’t really full, in fact I was still a little hungry, and I had some brie with these yummy TJ’s cinnamon flatbread toasts. 

Lily wants to get her pic in the blog, too. 

We headed on home around 6:30, I changed, and grabbed a few spoonfuls of ff cc before heading out.  Yes, that’s me eating straight from the container!

Zumba kicked my ass, but was really fun.  Andrea and I tried to keep up, but I know I couldn’t get some of the moves, especially the boob/ass/hip shaking while doing other moves.  We were nice and sweaty afterward, so I can only figure that was a good workout. 

At home my eBay sales were awaiting packaging, so I started getting them all wrapped up.  Quite a project, and I ran out of materials for the last two.  Here’s the herd of cows bidding me adieu.  Mooooooo!

Top Chef was replaying at 11, and I was feeling a bit hungry after all that packing.  I had a wedge of LCL and some Food Should Taste Good chips.  That hit the spot.  Did you like tonight’s Top Chef?  I thought the elimination was well justified.

Wow, it is 1am, so I had better get to bed.  Of course I’m not that tired, dammit.  I’ll watch TV for a little while probably and head to bed.  Nighty night!

Holiday party kickoff December 4, 2008

I knew that today would end with my first holiday party of the season, so that gave me something to look forward to all day.  I was a tired girl today…watched some of the South Park movie after I posted last night, and fell asleep on the couch for a short while.  Erin & Andrea, that’s one fantastic swear-a-thon for us! 

(OMG, my dog has horrible gas right now!  I can hardly stand to sit here, holy moley, what did my mom feed her today!?)

I ate breakfast late this morning, around 10:30, and knew a friend was bringing pizza in for the office at 11:30.  I figured I wouldn’t be that hungry this way and could avoid the pizza temptation mostly.  My oats consisted of 1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup pumpkin spice Silk, tbsp slivered almonds, tbsp+ raisins, good shake of cinnamon, and pinch of salt.

As I ate I prepared shipping labels from my eBay sales.  I tell ya, the whole packing and labelling process took longer than I thought it would!

I worked, then finally had a 1/2 slice of Pizza Schmizza Zorba pizza around 12:30, which had chicken, basil, tomato, and polenta on it.  It wasn’t quite as tasty as I’d hoped…I originally thought it was Spicy Thai when I saw the pizza, so most things taste bland compared to that spicy goodness.

After a meeting and working more I at my salad around 2:30 or 3.  Spinach, broc slaw, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

I knew that tonight’s holiday party would be really light on food and potentially heavy on booze, so I ate another snack around 4:30.  Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt (3/4 cup? 1 cup?) with a tbsp slivered almonds, half a banana, and cinnamon. Yummy!  Chris stopped by to chat and had a taste, and I was surprised he liked it a lot   I had the other half of the nanner like 15 minutes later.  I couldn’t leave half of it…wouldn’t have eaten it tonight or tomorrow and didn’t want to waste it.

I ate this while proofreading my email to the people in my office suite; I was trying to politely ask them to use the recycling bin that I manage for anything that could be recyclable.  I still see tons of recyclable stuff in the trash

Left work around 5, picked up my mom, and headed to the party at Carl Greve, a local jewelry store.  They liquor everyone up and offer drawings in the hope that we all buy jewelry, I suppose, which is kind of what happened 3 years ago when Chris bought my rings.  Hehe. 

I had a few glasses of champagne, and three pieces of appetizers circulating–crostini with parmesan, tomato, and goat cheese; sushi roll with avocado, cucumber, carrot, and wasabi; and endive with Dungeness crab, avocado, and caviar.  None of them were that good, so I didn’t bother to have more.

This year was not nearly as busy as previous years, and the jewelry didn’t seem quite as va-va-va-voom either.  My mom was hungry, and I knew I should eat something eventually, so we walked down the street to Typhoon! (best Thai place ever!) for dinner. 

We had salad rolls (rice wrapper, rice noodles, basil, shrimp, peanut sauce), pumpkin soup (pumpkin, coconut milk, spices, ???), and pineapple fried rice (rice, chicken, shrimp, pineapple, onion, dried chiles, ???).  I was desperately craving curry, but wasn’t that hungry and figured I’d overdo it fo sho if I ordered that.  The pumpkin soup was rich and spicy, and actually fulfilled my curry craving   I didn’t eat too much and felt satisfied when we left.

I love Thai food and wish we ate it more…curry=my second love.

After this we went back to the party (where Chris had stayed), I had another glass of champagne, and we headed home not too long after.  No, no purchases tonight.  We don’t usually buy anything but love looking at all the pretty stuff   Each year we pick out something we would love to buy; tonight Chris picked a Roberto Coin enamel and diamond garden motif gold ring , or rose enamel and gold earrings shaped like roses.  I wish!

I can’t believe it is almost midnight already.  Off I go to bed in the hopes of getting a lot of sleep.  Nighty night!

What day is it? December 5, 2008

I feel totally disoriented today.  I worked from home and keep feeling like it is Saturday.  Also, I am dizzy today!  I think it is allergy related, but it is majorly annoying.

I started off the day with a newer oats combination:  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup pumpkin spice Silk, 1/4 cup water, tbsp raisins, tbsp slivered almonds, cinnamon, dash of salt, and a dash more of water and 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese after they were done cooking.  Rich and creamy, slightly tangy, yummy.  I bought some pumpkin and need to remember to add that in!

(BTW, I LOVE that I can select multiple pics to upload at once now and that this new version of WP is a lot faster!!!)

I had some good coffee, played with Lily, blogged, worked, and shipped the last 3 eBay boxes I had. 

Lunchtime came around, and I mad a yummy wrap:  low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, semi-scrambled/fried egg, spinach, and broc slaw.  I also had ~1/4 cup ff cottage cheese mixed with a big spoon of lf cottage cheese. 

The egg and LCL taste so good together!!  I strongly suggest you give it a try on a sandwich, in a wrap, in an omelette, etc.  While eating this I noticed I zoned out a bit, though, and wasn’t as mindful of what I was doing as I should have been. 

I putzed around this afternoon, not even sure if I can recount what I did… I had a small snack of 1/2 wedge LCL and some Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips around 3 or 4.  Forgot the pic of course.

I watched the 4pm news and some shows on the Food Network.  I’m liking Good Eats again (didn’t like it for a few years), and watched an episode about fruit cake and one about roasting meat.  That made me nice and hungry, and excited to head off to eat Mexican food.

Off to Fajitas Chris and I went, and I had my usual feast:  some chips and salsa, tortilla soup, and a Casuela. 

I added a tbsp of sour cream to the soup tonight for a little extra indulgence.  Bad me!  The soup was probably cheesy enough that I didn’t need it, but it was good   The jalapeno was nice and spicy, just as I like it.

 ”La Casa” for dessert

I didn’t sleep as well as I’d hoped last night (kept waking up, sleep wasn’t very deep), and I know I’m watching Lipstick Jungle at 9, so I figured I had better post earlier tonight. 

There’s another party tomorrow night–Erin, Joel is back in town for the holidays and Chad & Chelsea are having a party.  Should be fun!  I’ll try to take some pics and post them for you   We’ll miss you!

Party hard December 7, 2008

I am soooo tired and rather out of it this morning.  Sorry I didn’t post last night, as I went straight from dinner to party and got home at 1 am. 

I’m getting ready to head out to yoga, and will post this afternoon or do a double this evening.

Some previews:  Saturday involved pumpkin oats, buying a Christmas tree, Chinese food, and a party!  Today will possibly have a party in there, too, but a mild one

Happy Sunday!

Wrapping up the weekend December 8, 2008

Well friends, ’twas a busy weekend and I’m now finally able to post for Saturday and Sunday.  I had a nice weekend overall, and am glad to have accomplished some good things, but am disappointed in myself for over eating in certain bad ways.  Read on.

Saturday

I finally slept well and had to drag my arse out of bed to get going and make sure I was awake for Pilates.  I heated my oats, which were switched up a bit:  steel cut oats, pumpkin spice Silk, water, pumpkin, cinnamon, and pinch of salt.  Not sure I liked the texture so much…a little too gooey for me.

 

Pretty cinnamon swirl   Thought I’d showcase my trusty Coffee-mate, too.  BTW, I added a tsp or tbsp of the Coffee-mate to my oats for sweetness.  Sounds gross, but works well.  I used to do that a lot in my old office. 

It was SO cold–like 20 something and frosty–yesterday morning.  I took a pic showing how white the grass was, but not sure if you can tell.

 ”Hurry up, Mommy, my toes are cold!”

Pilates was good, but not quite as intense as when Karlyn teaches.  I also did 45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and felt accomplished.  I totally need to do more weights, tho! 

Afterward I headed to a local Christmas tree lot (5′ Doug Fir for $15!!), and then Freddy’s for the weekly grocery trip, and was amazed at how busy it was.  I jumped in the U-Scan line even tho I had ~20 items, as it was deserted.  I hate waiting in the regular lines. 

I was ravenous when I got home, and made one of my new trusty wraps you’re probably bored of seeing:  low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, 1 scrambled egg, spinach, broc slaw.  I also had some cottage cheese   I snacked on an apple and the tiny remnant of ff cc that was left while cooking.

 

Yum.  I cleaned, played with the LB, and organized around the house a bit before deciding I needed a snack of the other half of my LCL wedge and Food Should Taste Good chips.

Mmmmm.  I’m still amazed at how yummy LCL is.  Thanks a million to Erin at Care To Eat for this and her other awesome eats

What did I do next?  Not sure.  Oh, I know, I FINALLY took a few minutes to use a blow dryer with diffuser to dry my hair and was happy with the results.  Volume, baby!  My hair is baby fine and rather thin, so volume is a rather foreign concept.  Oh, we also watched “Dexter” on Showtime and it was great!  I think we’re hooked.

We headed out to dinner at Imperial Garden, a local Chinese place.  I knew we’d be tempted by all sorts of food at our party later, but figured that starting off with a full stomach would help me resist the temptations.  Chris and I shared two appetizers and one entree:  BBQ pork, fried shrimp (LOVE fried shrimp), and Kung Pao chicken.  Everything was good, but I ate a little bit too much.

  Who dat?

Notice the annihilated food (or lack thereof) behind my fortune! 

We headed off to Chad & Chelsea’s for the par-tay, and overall had a good time.  Chelsea always gets lots of food and a huge bar, so there was no lack of calories to be consumed if that was one’s prerogative.  I successfully avoided the goodies until about 10, when I had a piece of peppermint bark. It went downhill from there.  Rob and Erin know why…

The 2nd pic is bread with hummus, and the 3rd pic is what was left of the table around 11.  I had another piece of peppermint bark, bread with hummus, bread with olive oil, red pepper with hummus, vanilla ring cake, a few tootsie rolls, a few Jolly Ranchers, and a few bebidas.  Somehow I avoided the Doritos and cupcakes, thankfully.  For drinking I mostly stuck to club soda with a splash of pina colada juice, but added vodka in here and there.  One word to describe what happened food-wise: disaster.  I felt guilty, disgusted with my lack of control, and upset that I noshed on so much stuff!  Yet I kept on eating.    We left around midnight.  It was fun to see everyone, but I totally didn’t get pics of anyone!  I’m such a dork in that dept. now that I’m focused on photographing my food.

Sunday

I woke up today feeling a bad-food-induced hangover.  It was tough to get out of bed, but yoga was calling my name and I was really looking forward to it.  I had a bowl of cereal since I (of course) did not prep my oats last night.  All Bran Strawberry Medley with unsweetened original almond milk.  And a cup of coffee.

I got to the gym just in time for yoga, and found a spot at the back of the super crowded room next to Megan S.   Hi!  I was feeling challenged by the moves b/c of my “hangover,” but persevered and was glad I went. 

Next stop, Costco for some Stacy’s Pita Chips (the BEST chips I think), coffee, and a spankin’ deal on a 3-pack of Calvin Klein tank tops for $14.99.  You should have seen my workout garb today–about two sizes too tight and also too short.    Dirty laundry is to blame.

Lunch was a little different–scrambled egg on one slice whole wheat toast, spread with 1/2 wedge LCL, topped with spinach.  I also had about 1/2 cup of ff and lf cottage cheese mixed, and some Stacy’s chips. 

I was tired, but looked forward to decorating the Christmas tree   The Doug Firs are bushier, without much space within to hang things, so the overall look is different.  But, pretty

 Sorry, a tad blurry.

Chris and I had a quick, easy dinner consisting of sauteed chicken breast and brown rice made with a can of stewed Italian tomatoes.  Easy and good.  I sprinkled a little canned Parmesan on top for shits and giggles (not pictured).

Off we went to the Louis Vuitton holiday gathering.  Yes, I know…LV, the most hoity toity malletier I could find, right?  Well, the mom has a history of gifting such things to me and I must admit I like them.  No, I can’t afford the stuff myself right now, but would love many of their items for my collection. 

I had champagne, a few mini-quiche, a macaroon (!), and a few little chocolate truffles (!).  Great, another bad eating night, I thought.  More champagne to kill the conscience.  I enjoyed looking at all the fineries I can’t afford, and speaking some Nihongo with the store associates. 

That’s me, my macaroon, and my champagne; and me and my mom (along with some poor guy we captured–sorry dude). 

Just watched the new Dexter–fabu!  Too bad we didn’t have Showtime previously.  Oh, I’m also enjoying some wine, and just grabbed a few Stacy’s Pita Chips.  (The insanity continues.)

I’m honestly looking forward to this week (weekdays, specifically) since I can control my eating/diet much more effectively during my regular routine.  I really want to lose weight, I know I chose the wrong season to start, but I’m still determined.   Here’s to a better week.

Monday December 8, 2008

I couldn’t think of a post title. Sorry bout that.

I just realized I forgot to include a snack picture yesterday–how dare I leave that out!!  It was an afternoon delight consisting of 1/2 cup Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt, 1/2 a large banana, 1 tbsp slivered almonds, cinnamon, and my last dried fig.  Tasty!

On to Monday… hmm, woke up groggy as hell and stuffed up.  I think I might be allergic to my Christmas tree.  Not sure tho, could be a cold sneaking up on me.

My oats were rather normal, but not as sweet as usual b/c I didn’t have any more pumpkin spice Silk.  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbsp slivered almonds, 1 tbsp raisins, cinnamon, dash of salt.  Still good tho. 

 

I ate this rather late, and had a second cup of coffee that gave me a bit of an unwelcomed buzz.  It made me a little anxious given everything going on (end of year business stuff, Christmas season, etc), and my allergies/cold/whatever were making me feel poopy anyhow.  I ate lunch around 1:15 while working.  Wrap with low fat tortilla, 2 slices of turkey, 1/2 wedge LCL, spinach, and broc slaw.  I ate about 1/2 cup ff/lf cottage cheese mixed, and a few pcs of the apple.  I heart cottage cheese

Off to acupuncture I went, and was glad to do so.  I figured Randy could calm me down with some strategic needling.  I had a balancing treatment today, which involved putting needles up and down my spine on either side to positively influence my chi and body systems.  Sounds kooky but is totally relaxing and works.  He also did some needles for my tight calf and anxiety/PMS.  After the needles come out I got a great Chinese back massage, and a little linament at the end.  I smelled like an old fart, but sure felt good–totally relaxed and wishing I could just curl up with a cup of tea and rest. 

But, back to work I went.  My stomach freaked out a tad and felt horrible for a few hours.  Possibly a side effect from the needles, or my allergies/cold wreaking havoc on me.  I was hungry, tho, so I had my d’anjou pear, some Stacy’s pita chips, and some lemon blossom herbal tea.  The pear was a little weird–the skin texture/mouthfell wasn’t so great, and the taste was mixed between sour and sweet.  Odd.  The chips were nummy.

My tummy didn’t settle down for a long time, and I felt rather funky for awhile.  Finally around 5:30 I had a few apples before we left work, and the tum settled a bit.  We knew we were going to “see Maria” tonight at Fajitas, and I almost didn’t want to go since I still felt weird.  Thankfully that went away on my drive home and I had my usual Casuela and tortilla soup at the restaurant.

A little macro action for ya on the pics lately.  Check out the white meat chicken, avocados, fresh jalapeno, and cheese in my soup.  Super-yummy!  Love the detail of the super-close-up pics.

I was a tad full afterward, but not in a gut-busting or guilt-inducing way.  The tum started aching awhile after dinner, and still hurts a tad now.  I hate the tummy aches I’ve gotten a few times over the last month.  They don’t seem consistent to any one type of food, restaurant, or otherwise.  It reminds me of how my stomach hurt after I had the stomach flu way back when–painful, slightly nauseous, and uncomfortable.  Bleh.

Chris and I are enjoying a fire now.  It only took forever to get started, tho, since the wood provider sold us wet wood and said it was dry.  Grrr.  Speaking of dry, it is really dry here right now!. My hands are tight and miserable.  Supposed to snow this weekend and be really cold for a few days on either side.  Brrrrr! 

I’m a tad out of whack as you can tell…sorry for not being my usual smartass funny self!  Hopefully I’ll return to normal soon:)   Hope you all had a great Monday!

Check out this post! VitaMix blender giveaway on Eating Bender!!! December 9, 2008

Hey everyone! Check out this post and mention that I sent you. She’s giving away a VitaMix blender (aka the queen bee of all blenders).

http://eatingbender.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/vita-mix-super-5200-giveaway/

Good luck, and please remember to mention that Kersten sent you!

Vrooooom, vrooooom…eat my dust red liver lips December 10, 2008

I’m like a kid in a candy store today with the loaner car I got from the BMW dealership while my car is being serviced:  a new 335i sedan with ~4k miles on it.  So that’s what like 300 bhp feel like?  It goes 0-60 in 5 seconds.  Wish I had the dough to buy this car!  Seriously, I like to drive cars with guts and be aggressive with my shifting and cornering   My nearly 9 yr old 323i just doesn’t cut it in those depts. most days.  Anyone else wish they drove at Le Mans in a rockin’ car??  Or the Autobahn!?!

Moving on, I’d have to say I’m in Andrea’s boat today–it’s only Tuesday and it feels like Thursday.  Let’s get it over with already.  Except for the car thing–can I drive it more, please?!  (Yes, I’m obsessed.)

My day started well, and I had half of an apple before leaving the house (no pic); I knew I wouldn’t get to eat for awhile and was already hungry.  I did a bit of extra running around to drop off Chris, Lily, and my car, but I got to the office by 9:30 and had my oats.  Today I added a little brown sugar to the steel cut oats, almond milk, slivered almonds, raisins, cinnamon, and pinch of salt.  The sweetness was nice, but not too strong. 

The morning was soooooo slooooooow.  Around 11:30 I was ready for lunch.  My same old (boring yet?) wrap: low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, turkey, spinach, broc slaw.  I ate a little bit of each side:  ff/lf cottage cheese mix, Stacy’s pita chips, and apple pieces.  Mmmmm.

Around 2 I headed to Freddy’s to pick up some allergy stuff for my mom and drop it by her place, as she was feeling icky today and ran out of med.  She had just baked a pie, and I was on my way to the dentist, so I ended up swinging back by her house afterward to eat a piece!  It is called Razzleberry by Marie Calendar, I think. 

I headed back to work with Lily in tow (shh, don’t tell the car place I had her in the car   I did have the seat cover, at least), worked for about an hour, and had the rest of the cottage cheese that I made Chris leave for me

We left around 6 and stopped by my grandma’s house to pick up some Christmas tree ornaments on the way to dinner at Si Senor (aka Westside Maria).  My grandma stopped getting a tree years ago and wanted to get rid of the rest of the ornaments she had.  They are all really pretty, and some are really old.  I feel special that she gave them to me rather than giving them away or chucking them (not beyond her to do that with sentimental items…).  I’ll have to photograph some of them tomorrow if I have time to add them to the tree.

On to dinner–Chris and I split the Si Senor special:  charcoal grilled steak and chicken, grilled mushrooms in a butter sauce (ew, hate fungus; Chris loves this dish, tho), rice, avocado, and a little slaw of some sort.  Our fave waiter, Javier, also hooked us up with some roasted jalapenos.  Ay, muy calor!  Oh, and we had homemade flour tortillas that are the best ever! 

I ate one tortilla, maybe 1/2 of the chicken, some steak, rice, two slices of avocado, and one of the jalapenos.  I also had a Diet Coke since I knew I was going to work out and didn’t want any alcohol.

I drove like a frickin’ banshee on the way home (took the back way for more windy roads and opportunity to rocket away from full stops).  Lily hung in there, and thankfully she does not get car sick or we would have been in some trouble!

After we got home I changed and left for the gym.  I did a good round of legs, and hit up back, biceps, chest, triceps, shoulders, and abs with 1-2 exercises each.  I totally feel like I haven’t been hitting the weights enough, so I figured I should at least moderately work all major muscle groups tonight.  The gym was crowded, but not too bad.  I was able to superset a lot of stuff. 

Only thing that annoyed me was a chick who was totally hung up on herself, and who was pretty bold about it.  She did split stretches on the mats for like 20 minutes (in teeeeeeny shorts, no less–peekaboo!), then proceeded to use free weights, leave them strewn all over the floor, and at the same time had her shit on 2 benches for like 20 minutes while she was elsewhere.  Hm.  She was also treating her friend like her servant: “get me more water” “where’s my towel?” I heard her chatting with some guys (could hear her over my music) and the only words coming out of her mouth were about the large amount of weight she does on various exercises, and that she’s strong for her size.  Grrrreeeat.  Excuse me while I curb my desire hurl on you.  (aren’t I chipper?)

I hauled ass home (LOVE the sport shifter and paddle shifters on the steering wheel!  Never had the paddles before and they are FUN), did some cleaning and lunch prep for tomorrow, and here I am now blogging at midnight!  Yipes!  Where’d the last two hours go?!  I had a snack while doing the lunch prep:  Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla mixed with a big spoon of pumpkin, some cinnamon, and some slivered almonds.  Mmm…nice combo.

I also had a few spoons of ff cottage cheese around 11:45, as hunger bowled me over after I started writing this.

I’m not heading into work early, thankfully, but would like to watch some TV and hit the hay.  What’s the weather like where you are?  It is supposed to get colder and snow here this weekend!  This had better not foil my breakfast plans with the ladies on Saturday, dammit!!  SO looking forward to that

The day is finally over December 10, 2008

Not a very fun day.  PMS, random other shit, blah blah blah…it is finally over.  Quick recap for you:

Breakfast at home, lunch at home, looked at Grandma’s ornaments (check out the “Made in Western Germany” tag), snack at work, short cardio sesh, dinner at Fajitas (again!)

I had to return the wonderful car I came to love over the last day, did the office recycling, and prepared for Chris’ and my little seminar tomorrow night.

I’m watching Top Chef now…quite interesting what everyone is coming up with for Gail’s bridal shower.  Not sure if I’m going to make it through the whole episode since I’ve got to get up early. 

Here’s a gallery of my day, sans dinner since I forgot my camera at home. I had the usual Casuela and tortilla soup.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day!!!  It will be long, but hopefully I’ll feel like blogging in the evening.

Adios!

Yay! It’s almost Friday! December 11, 2008

Today was long, yet not slow.  We got up around 6:30 and I cut Chris’ hair (buzz cut, yo… I don’t think I have skills to do a real cut).  Allergies had me groggy and headachy, and I was anxious to get to work since I had an 8:30 meeting.  With my irritability I was probably a little impatient with Chris this a.m.  Sorry, Honey!  You’ll love this–one of my brakelights went out this morning; do I have good timing or what (since the car just got serviced yesterday…)??

We got to work around 8:15, I reviewed my shiz, got some coffee, and then got a call at 8:28 that my client was sick   Booo!!  This was the third appt with this client that I’ve tried to have in the last two weeks. 

Oh well, that meant I could eat my oatmeal sooner than later   I forgot to take a pic AGAIN   I had 1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, a little water, tbsp+ of raisins, cinnamon, tbsp slivered almonds, and pinch of salt.  [imagine yummy oatmeal here]

Around 10 I took Lily to my grandma’s house to give her to my mom, who was there getting my g-ma’s flat tire changed w/some help from AAA.  Yay for roadside assistance.  I’ve never changed a flat by myself.  Is that bad?  I helped my bro do it a few times, but never all on my own. 

Chris and I had lunch with a mutual fund wholesaler at Gustav’s, and I forgot my camera.  I had a 1/2 turkey rotisserie sandwich and a cup of lentil soup.  The sandwich had ciabatta bread with a nice thick piece of turkey, muenster cheese, herb cream cheese, and a mustard-mayo sauce that I asked them to leave off (gag).  I didn’t feel like complaining, so I scraped it off and added lots of pepper to mask the remaining flavor.  The lentil soup was good, but I’m not a huge legume fan b/c of the texture.  I also had black tea with lemon.  OH, and a big dill pickle spear

I was hungry like an hour later AT 1:45!  I guess I wasn’t that full from lunch, and the tummy wanted something else.  I busted out my snack of ff/lf cottage cheese, an apple, and Stacy’s Pita Chips.  mmmmmm.

Chris helped me with the cc, and I saved 1/2 the apple and some chips.  Thank goodness I did that, as I was hungry again around 3!  I was a bottomless pit today, I suppose. 

I ate these while reviewing the New Seasons catering menu for our next seminar.  I usually get some easy foods and set them up myself, but wouldn’t mind something a little more gourmet with less effort for about the same price.

Chris and I headed to Fred Meyer to buy stuff for the seminar, and then proceeded to do our usual set up routine in the general conference room in our office complex.  Here’s what my little spread looked like.  Guests started arriving right before I took this so I didn’t get in there to get a really good shot.

Our spread consisted of:  a veggie platter with ranch; grapes; whole wheat baguette slices; table water crackers; hummus; meats (roast beef, low fat salami, turkey, ham); kalamata and green olives; muenster and provolone cheese; red and white wine; and water.  I had a plate, and snacked some on top of that, after we were done.  Not sure what the caloric intake was here, but I didn’t eat until full. 

The only thing I didn’t eat some of was the broccoli and cauliflower.  I really don’t like raw broc (other than slaw!) or cauliflower in general.  Yesterday on Erin’s blog I forgot to mention one of the nastos I eat sometimes has been ranch dressing.  I hadn’t had it for a long time until tonight.  I used to love it on my fries at Red Robin :O  That cheese was so creamy and good, esp. the provolone.  Some of the grapes were HUGE–so much fun!

We chatted with Alex, the presenter at our seminar (we invite wholesalers to present topics and just do a brief opening and closing ourselves), and then headed out to get Lily at my mom’s.  She was so cute tearing around when we got there; she loves to run around on the deck outside between Chris and I. 

I am tired, it is 11, and I think I’m going to jump into bed!  Yay for Friday nearly being here, and for the weekend ahead.  Hope you all had a good day, and yes, today was much better than yesterday for me

Phew, the weekend is here December 12, 2008

Today went from good to bad several times, and overall I feel a bit discombobulated!  I’ve just been a total mess the last few days it seems, from physical dexterity (like spilling water all over myself twice at the gym today), to being an emotional weirdo.  I am hoping this all passes soon.  PMS be damned. 

What’s the weather like where you are?  Whoa, 103mph wind gust on Mt. Hood today!  Weather is getting a little hairy here, with major cold rolling in Sunday.  We’re expecting the longest and coldest winter spell since 1990 is what the news is saying!! Oy vey!  I was 9 and don’t remember what 1990 was like.

Anyhow, here’s the start of my poopy-ish day:  I was awakened to hear Chris making coffee, and thought it was like 5.  Not so…my alarm went off a minute later.  Get up, now?  Ugh. I was tired, Chris has another cold, and I wanted to go back to bed.  Didn’t happen.  So I got ready, and then saw that I forgot to prep my oatmeal last night :sad: Boo!  So I grabbed a cup of coffee and we left for a short work day.

Work was fine, but without my oats I felt a bit lost.  I finished my coffee and wondered what the hell I was going to eat.  I remembered I left 1/2 an apple in the fridge, so I ate that. 

Nevermind that I totally forgot/didn’t even see my office mate keeps a box of instant oatmeal on the fridge.  Duh.  Chris reminded me that I had a bar in my desk, so down that went.

That’s an osprey on my computer screen.  They are so big and beautiful… they summer up here and we see them build nests on cell towers near lakes and rivers.  We’ve even seen them carrying fish back to their nests! 

Worked for a few more hours and left around 12:30.  Chris asked if we could have burgers for lunch, and it didn’t sound so great.  But, then I started thinking about ways to make it a little more healthy and thought my friend cottage cheese may play a part in that.  I made Chris’ burger first, and nearly died watching him load his bun with mayo, especially since it splucked all over the place.  Bleh!  Next I made mine… 1/4 lb 93% lean beef, Nature’s Seasoning, few tbsp ff/lf cottage cheese, spinach, whole wheat bun, with some carrots and Stacy’s Pita Chips on the side.  Pretty yummy and filling!  Oh, and I had organic ketchup on it, too.

I felt rather poo-ey at this point.  Down and blah, and thought I should go work out to see if that helped. I had to do laundry, and while getting dressed I nearly cried.  When I looked down and saw my stomach while changing it seemed bigger and flabbier That didn’t help my mood.  I eventually left and ended up doing a full hour of cardio on the elliptical.  Not sure I should have, because the body was a bit sluggish with a few hip, knee, and back twinges here and there, but I felt accomplished at the end.  I weighed myself, and think I have lost a few pounds.  24 Hr fixed the scale in the women’s locker room, but it still seems a little wacky.  I think I’ve lost 3-5 lbs tho   That made me somewhat optimistic.

And then I felt like shit when I got home b/c of ???  I had a small pre-dinner snack since I was getting hungry:  Dannon Light & Fit vanilla with slivered almonds and cinnamon.  Mmmm.

After getting cleaned up I proceeded to make a chicken stir fry, and felt even shittier.  Allergies? Low blood sugar?  Mack truck hit me?  WTF?  I hate feeling that way.  The stir fry had chicken, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green bell pepper, broc slaw, teriyaki & stir fry sauces,  and sesame seeds.  I desperately wished I had some Sriracha at this point.

I got through about half of this before giving up and going to lay down and watch TV.  Eventually I started feeling better, and was hungry again.  That’s when my friend cottage cheese came to the rescue   Ff/lf cc mix with some Stacy’s on the side.  This little wonder snack made me feel even better–yay!

Now I’m watching Lipstick Jungle and could possibly be getting hungry again.  I’m starting to feel like a bottomless pit, with a headache suddenly.  Bleh.  When will it end!?  It dawned on me earlier that I have not been good about taking my throid remedy the last few weeks.  That could be catching up with me but doesn’t explain the allergy/cold symptoms. 

Holy shit Lily will not leave me alone.  Enjoy these while I go let her out…

Okay, I’m back, and I ate a chocolate caramel while I was gone!  They were a gift from a colleague, and thankfully Chris already ate most of them   It was so yummy!  No pic, sorry. 

Alrighty, off I go.  Hope you’ve all enjoyed your Friday night!

Special post: Banana Pumpkin Spice Muffins December 13, 2008

The bananas I bought earlier this week were never eaten, were getting brown spots on them, and were begging to be made into something yummy. At the same time I had most of a mondo can of pumpkin to use, but didn’t know what to do with it.  *Ding!* “Make some pumpkin banana bread!”  Oh, but wait, I can’t fathom using sticks of butter, or cups of oil, and loads of sugar in a recipe right now.  Just couldn’t do it.  So, I explored my options for lower fat and lower sugar alternatives, and ended up being inspired to amend some bread and muffin recipes I was looking through to create my own muffiny goodness.

Banana pumpkin spice muffins

Makes 24 muffins

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1 cup ripe bananas (2 large), roughly mashed
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray bottoms of muffin pan cups with Pam, or use paper muffin cups.  Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add wet to dry and mix gently just until moistened.

(Enjoying some white wine between batches)

Fill each muffin cup ~1/2 full.  Bake 12-15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or just barely moist, whatever your preference is.  Let rest for a minute, then remove to wire rack to cool.  I highly suggest you eat one now with some Smart Balance Light or your favorite spread/butter.  Mmmmm!

Estimated nutritional content per muffin: 95 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 3 grams protein, 2 grams fiber.  (Calculated using caloriecount.about.com)

I suppose this recipe could be used to make a loaf/loaves, too.  In that case, you should probably bake at 350 degrees.  Not sure of timing…

The finished product is satisfying, but not sweet.  Definitely not as delicate as a refined-sugar loaded, oiled up version, but still hits the spot   And just under 100 cals each!  Awesome!  I think I’ll eat another one

Check this out… All three of my eggs were double-yolked!!!!!  I’ve never had that happen before.  Now I’m totally curious to see if the rest of the dozen is the same.  They are cage-free, vegetarian fed hens; I bought a different brand today.

F-f-f-f-f-f-f-freaky!

Enjoy your muffins

Sweet Saturday December 13, 2008

Today was nice, sweet in many ways (figuratively, that is), and satisfying.  I got up around 7:45, let the Lily Bird out, and got ready to go eat at Bob’s Red Mill with the ladies.  Andrea at Care To Eat, her cous-in-law Megan M., our friend Megan S., and I met at Bob’s at 8:30 and proceeded to order our nummy eats.  I had the #4: two eggs over easy, hash browns, and biscuits.  Plus coffee, of course.  That’s a little gratis side of Bob’s grits, too.

I never used to like over-easy/runny eggs, but like them now in a few select applications.  Mixing them with hashbrowns and ketchup is a fave!  I had one egg, the other egg white, ~1/2 the hashbrowns, and one biscuit with a little butter and marionberry jam.  I left behind one egg yolk, one biscuit, and some hashbrowns.  I still managed to be pleasantly full, tho

Chatting with the girls was fun, and at about 9:30 we mosied to the gym for pilates.  Karlyn was back today, and led us through a good session that beat my abs and booty up.  Ye-yah!

I headed on home, played with the LB, and made coffee with Chris.  It was really cold today, and the warmth of a hot bevvie sounded great. 

After this I started menu planning, but got hungry.  I made Chris a tuna melt, and made myself a satisfying plate of 1/2 cup lf/ff cottage cheese, ~7 slices smoked turkey, 1/2 an apple, and ~8 Stacy’s Pita Chips.  Nummy!  Definitely a voluminous lunch (the v-word is borrowed from Miss Erin at Care To Eat

I was full for awhile, then hungry not too long after.  So I had 1/2 cup Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt with 1 tbsp raisins, 1 tbsp slivered almonds, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

After this I continued menu planning, but kind of had a cooking block and didn’t plan too specifically.  Whateva.  I went to the store and was blown away by how full the parking lot was, which of course meant the store was packed.  A few people frustrated me with their obliviousness, but it was okay for the most part.  I bought some Flatout wraps, and some freshly ground almond butter   Can’t wait to try those.

What did I do next…not sure.  Oh, I ate a spoon of the AB–I really didn’t wait, did I?  It had staying power!

I also ate this little clem while I was putting groceries away.  He looked so sad and lonely, and wondered why he’d been sitting around for so long untouched.  No more, little clemmie-poo!

At some point I started dinner, which I wasn’t too excited about:  beef stroganoff.  I wasn’t looking forward to the beef and richness of the dish, but couldn’t think of what else to make for myself without a lot of add’l effort.  So I added some fresh spinach to the stroganoff and it wasn’t too bad.

This dish consisted of whole wheat yolk-free egg noodles, 93% lean ground beef & onion sauteed together, a touch of reduced fat sour cream, and a sauce that had a little butter/flour roux and beef broth mixed.  I added lots of pepper and fresh spinach at the end. 

Here’s where I had a majorly satisfying moment:  I made muffins!  (Which you can see below in my other post of the day.)  I like love baking and was happy to work on my project for awhile.  I’m very happy with how the muffins turned out, and I’ve already eaten 3   Hehe.

My kitchen was a a freakin’ mess after having cooked and baked today, but I didn’t really mind cleaning up b/c the mess was worth it

Now I sit here having another glass of chardonnay, watching some random Encore movie, and feeling happy about my day.  I hope yours was equally satisfying!  Have a great rest of your weekend!!!

p.s.  The weather is supposed to be below freezing here for the next week   Snow tomorrow/Mon and perhaps Wed/Thurs, too.  Seriously, I just hope I can make it to yoga!  I’ve missed it this week terribly.

Winter wonderland [edited to incl. food photos] December 14, 2008

Hello everyone!  Hope your weekend ended well.  Somehow I have a feeling that mine is not over since there was a bit of a blizzard here today, and it isn’t supposed to be above freezing for a few days.  Living ~18 miles from work makes me not-so-inclined to brave the snow and drive on two busy freeways in a rear wheel drive car without studs or chains.  Know what I mean?

The snow started this morning sometime after 6, and I think we got about 4 inches here at my house!  Wow!  There’s not a lot of snowfall here during the winters, and this is supposedly one of the worst storms we’ve seen in over a decade.  Four inches of snow is that bad, you ask?  For Portland it is; I know it’s nothing compared to the feet of snow that fall in many places. 

Anyhow, good thing I prepped my nummy oats last night because I needed something to warm me up after playing outside with Lily for awhile.  I had ~1/3 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, tbsp raisins, tsp slivered almonds, cinnamon, and a spoon of almond butter once heated.  Not sure I’m diggin’ this almond butter b/c of the texture/taste combo; may have to splurge and go for the Barney Butter.

Alrighty, so moving on then.  I had a late morning snack of a pumpkin banana spice muffin with some Smart Balance Light.  I ate this while gazing out the window admiring the accumulating snow.

 

I was a tad down for some reason, but felt better after a nice hot shower.  I fixed lunch for Chris and myself, first making him an omelette with the freaky double yolked eggs.  All three of the eggs for his omelette, and the one for my wrap, had double yolks!!  Seriously, this is bazaar.  Has anyone else ever had a whole dozen eggs be double yolked???

My lunch was a Flatout light wrap with 1 wedge Laughing Cow Light, one scrambled egg, a few slices of deli ham, a few sliced kalamata olives, and a handful of spinach.  I had a sidecar of lf/ff cottage cheese   This was tasty, but almost too much so.  I didn’t need that many olives since the cheese and ham gave the wrap a salty kick already.  But, it was still good, and I like the wraps. 

Chris built a fire, I blogged, we played outside some, and eventually I had a snack–another muffin.  I ate this one alone, no accompaniment.  After eating it I thought I should have added another banana or more applesauce for more moisture in the recipe, perhaps. 

Dinner time rolled around and I decided to make sauteed chicken breasts with peppers and onions, and mashed potatoes.  I added cottage cheese to the mashed potatoes!  I know, I’m a cc freak these days….  It was good; only bad thing was the potatoes weren’t quite done and were a little watery, but the taste was still good

We enjoyed the fire more, I tried to play with Lily in the dark (still relatively bright b/c of the snow!), and decided I needed to do some yoga.  I searched on YouTube, found a few videos to try, and got in maybe 20 minutes of yoga.  Lily seriously did a few downward dog poses with me!  She came up while I was on the mat in that pose, and did her version of the pose twice.  So cute!  Doing the yoga, and Lily’s participation made me feel good

I got hungry around 8, and had an Erin-inspired snack:  yogurt with a muffin in it.  I used Dannon Light & Fit vanilla, another of my muffins, some raisins, and a little almond butter.  Yummy!!!

We watched Dexter at 9–so good!  I’m sad I missed the whole season but for the last 3 episodes.  Californication was on afterward, and that was a riot, too.  I had a spoonful of almond butter when Dexter was on…hehe.

I think I’m going a little stir crazy, and probably will be there for sure tomorrow if I can’t get out safely to exercise or something.

Sorry my post is so boring and almost anti-exciting tonight. [Yay, I was able to add pics!]

Off I go to let the pup out one more time and prep my oats.  Stay warm and sleep tight!

Pics from Sunday’s snow December 15, 2008

Yay!  My photo uploads worked today   Here’s a few pics from our backyard yesterday during the snow.

I’m going to be a Master Recycler! December 15, 2008

I heard back today from the Master Recycler program that I got into the winter class!  Yayayayaya!  To learn more about it check out www.masterrecycler.org

There was no new snow this morning, but I didn’t really like the idea of driving the 18 miles to work.  Chris and I hung out at home and had coffee.  I also had a bowl of cereal, as I totally forgot to prep my oats last night (I suck!). All Bran Strawberry Medley with almond milk.

We drank coffee, chatted, and eventually I made lunch.  More freaky double-yolked eggs, but not all of them.  2/4 were single yolks this time.  I had a Flatout wrap with one scrambled egg, 1/2 wedgle LCL, a few slices of ham, spinach, and broc slaw.  I also had 1/2 an apple with the other 1/2 of the LCL wedge.  Yum!

At about 12:30 we made the trek in to work.  It wasn’t bad but for our street and a few icy spots on the freeway thankfully.  I was nervous tho that we shouldn’t wait too long to go home or it would be icier.

I ate a muffin mid afternoon while dealing with work shiz.

Hm, worked a bit more, then drove home.  Traffic was a bit heavier but we didn’t have any incidents.  I went to work out after getting home, but could only do 20 minutes of cardio (!!).  I told Chris I’d be home in an hour, but a blob of traffic meant it took me like 20-25 minutes to go the 2 miles to the gym.   Boo.

For dinner we went to Fajitas, and in true form I forgot my camera.  I was feeling the need to cut a few calories out of dinner, so I chose to forego the cheese in my tortilla soup, and I drank less of my casuela.  I added extra jalapenos to my soup, and man, they were spicy tonight.  My tongue was painfully on fire for quite awhile, but I loved it!

One of Chris’ client’s sons was on Wheel of Fortune tonight, so we watched that after getting home.  He won like $40k in cash plus a Canadian vacation.  Awesome!

I have been watching random TV tonight, including Trainspotting right now.  I had me a little snacky-poo earlier, too.  Same as late last night:

Dannon Light & Fit vanilla, muffin, raisins, almond butter=tasty.

I was seriously down on my fitness progress earlier, but Chris helped me “see the light”.  I still feel motivated, thankfully, and know I just need to stick with my healthier life.  I will see results, I will lose weight, I will succeed.  Now if I can just get through Christmas and the bad eats coming my way…

On the bright side, at least I already prepped my oats for tomorrow This means I’ll have a great start to the morning fo sho.  In fact, I found a whole bag of Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats in the cabinet when I made my muffins the other day.  Totally not sure from whence they came, but the use by date on them is still like a year away.  Cool!

Mixed eats December 17, 2008

I didn’t post last night because I was SOOOOO tired.  I’m home today from work because the weather is too much of an unknown, and I’ll be damned if I get stuck on the other side of town. 

Yesterday morning started with playing outside with Lily, then a big bowl of Bob’s steel cut oats with raisins, almond milk, cinnamon, and a spoon of almond butter stirred in while hot.  (I had coffee too, of course!) I definitely noticed the difference between the Freddy’s bulk oats and these now that I switched back to Bob’s.  Bob’s has much bigger oat pcs.

I love how pre-soaking the raisins with the oats and almond milk makes them plump up!  They are all juicy and round usually.

After breakfast I don’t remember the next few hours.  Bloggin? Playin outside?  Chris had been trying to reschedule an appt. with a client b/c of the weather, but hadn’t gotten a response, so all of a sudden at 12:15 we blew outta here and went to work.  I grabbed a few random things to eat for lunch, and ate around 1:30.

I had lf/ff cottage cheese mixed, a Fuji apple, and one slice of turkey.  That didn’t hold me over totally, and when we left work around 3:15 I grabbed a homemade chocolate chip cookie a coworker made.  Luxuriously yummy!

I tried to savor it but was in the car and talking at the same time, so I probably ate it faster than I should have for utmost enjoyment.

Chris shared with me he wanted to eat Mexican again b/c we may be housebound for a few days, and I wasn’t too excited about that b/c it would interfere with me getting to the gym.  Hmmph.  It was either don’t go eat with him and workout, or eat with him and not workout.  Neither was good, and I said I’d go eat with him later.

I was still hungry when we got home (loooong drive of an hour b/c of traffic), and had a phone appointment coming up, so I heated up two muffins and smeared ‘em with Smart Balance Light. 

That hit the spot.  I had my meeting, and then we left for Fajitas.  It was really busy!  Everyone getting out before the storm?  I had my very typical dinner:  casuela and tortilla soup.  I had a little bit of cheese in the soup this time.  Mmmm.

Jalapenos and avocado rule

 All was tasty, but I felt so bloated afterward!  Fluid overload!  We went to Costco, and then Fred Meyer, to pick up some staples before the storm.  Both places were really busy, and Freddy’s was just about totally cleaned out of meat, eggs, and bread.  Of course, all the healthy stuff like fruits, veggies, whole grains, and low-fat dairy were still in high supply.  That meant I got all I needed   I picked a new cereal you’ll see later on in my recap of Wednesday. 

After getting home I felt soooo tired, and resigned to having some wine and watching Law & Order, then Mash.  The wine was great, and I fell asleep on the couch around 11.  Nice comfy end to the day

Check out the HUGE Fuji apples from Costco in the background.  They were only $6.49 for like 12 apples (like 10 pounds since they’re so huge).  INSANE deal.  Organics are the same price, too!  Here’s greater detail for you:

Holy shit I just had deja vu while re-reading my post.  Deja vu is so weird!  Almost creepy feeling for me sometimes.  Did this already happen?  Ah!

Have a great day!

Screw the weather forecasters December 17, 2008

Friggin’ weather forecasters couldn’t get their shit straight for today’s forecast.  They tease us all week, even today, with “2-6 inches of snow in the valley…” and then it RAINS most of the day.  Poo.  I was so looking forward to more snow.  Maybe this weekend.

For like the 10th time in two weeks I forgot to prep my oats, but  thankfully I picked up some more cereal last night.  A new one in the Freddy’s organic section (remember when it used to be called the “health food” section??!!).  I also had a Fuji apple before this.

I bought this partially b/c of price, and partially b/c of the textures it appeared to have.  I didn’t read but the front of the box at the store, and was fearful this morning when I read on the back panel that it had a mild chai flavor.  I had a bowl of it with almond milk and really liked the flavor.  Coffee followed, as usual.

I did a little work, watched some TV, read a few blogs, and then went to the gym around 11:30.  The snow was really coming down when I got there, but wasn’t sticking and never did.  I saw a teacher from my high school while warming up on the treadmill–Hi Mr. Runion!  After that I did some superset back, chest, tris, and bis, then legs.  Next I did a more intense-than-usual 30 minutes on the elliptical, and it felt great.

Afterward I headed to the new Trader Joe’s (finally!) to pick up some treats for my blogger Secret Santa recipient.  The store is really open and airy, unlike the other jam-packed locations, and wasn’t busy, so shopping was easy.  There are so many yummy things there I had a hard time picking gifts.  I got myself some cinnamon flatbread, and some Gardenburger Riblets to try.

Just as I was leaving I got a call that a colleague with terminal cancer passed away last night.  Sad news that struck me hard at first, but after the shock went away I did okay this afternoon.  The guy was someone I’d known for the last 4.5 years, but his personality was not one I really cared for usually.  Still a very sad situation, though.  Sigh.  He ate like crap his whole life, never exercised, and found out he had colon cancer when his colon finally ruptured and he had emergency surgery about 1.5 years ago.  Case in point to continue eating high fiber, low-fat foods and exercise.  He was only like 45.  RIP Dave.

I was a little shaken up when I got home, and had a few pieces of the cinnamond flatbread with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light.  Mmmmmm.  Tasted kind of like cheesecake!

 

I took a nice hot shower, then started to make lunch.  Chris wanted a tuna sandwich, and I thought I’d go for a riblet wrap.  It was incredibly tasty, and the texture was really great.  I loved the BBQ sauce with it, too.  That was the best BBQ I’ve had in awhile   My wrap consisted of a Flatout with the riblet, spinach, and broc slaw.  I also had 3/4 of a Fuji apple.  I think I found a new food friend in the riblet… and they were surprisingly inexpensive at TJ’s.  Yippee!  (I love BBQ sauce, BTW.)

Having a late lunch made the afternoon go quickly.  I wrapped up my Secret Santa items and took them to the post office.  I hope they make the recipient happy   I”m excited to get my Secret Santa package, too. 

I nearly forgot I had a 5pm teleconference, but remembered on the way to the post office.  Phew.  I had a few bites of ff/lf cottage cheese when I got home.

My meeting went well and afterward I started making dinner.  Chris wanted burgers, but I was seriously considering making the other riblet!!  I opted for the burger, tho, and it turned out really well:  ~1/4lb 93% lean ground beef, whole wheat bun, wedge LCL, a pickle, spinach, and organic ketchup.  I also had a whole Fuji, and was quite full, but not in a big, bad, ugly way.

Chris and I had some Cabernet Sauvignon with and after dinner, and eventually a little hunger got to me, so I had a piece of cinnamon flatbread.

Before I started my post Lily wanted to help me comment on blogs:

Well, that does it for me for the day.  I’m pooped even tho I don’t feel like I did a lot.  Hope your Wednesday was good, and that you’re all staying safe in the crazy weather that is hitting all over the country.  Nighty night!

Only one week til Christmas?! December 18, 2008

Wow, cannot believe we’re in the homestretch to Christmas.  Where has the time gone?!  I have bought only one person’s gifts, two if you include Blogger Secret Santa, and have many to go!  Guess I’ll be running errands this weekend with all the last minute shoppers like me and hoping what I need is still in stock.  How are you all doing with your shopping?

Today felt productive, and is ending on a nice note because the snow is finally sticking outside   Pretty!

The day started off with a new oatmeal combo:  steel cut oats, almond milk, water, frozen berries, cottage cheese, and cinnamon.  I put the berries in last night before microwaving, and may add them after heating next time to preserve more whole berries and for add’l texture.  This mix could have used some add’l sweetness, too.  Perhaps I’ll seek out some stevia.

 

The weather was odd today, with snow over most of the area except for our house, I swear.  It was raining when I woke up and when we went into work mid-morning, and the temp was around 37. 

I worked a bit and then had lunch around 12:30.  I had: a Flatout wrap with a 1/2 wedge of LCL, 4-5 slices of turkey, spinach, broc slaw, and cracked pepper; ~1/2 cup lf/ff cottage cheese, and 1/3 of a Fuji apple.  Tasty and filling.

Worked, worked, worked this afternoon to catch up from not working much this week, and found out that Chris and I will probably be reaching our last annual business goal next week.  Perfect timing, eh?

Around 3 Chris came in and wrote me a note in Spanish:  Tu amiga Maria te llamo y te hecha de menos, y espera que vengas a reunir con ella.  Basically, he wanted to go to our fave westside Mexican restaurant, Si Senor.  Okey dokey.  To prevent pigging out on their unhealthy happy hour menu, I had the rest of my apple around 4.

At Si Senor I had a big Diet Coke and Tacos al Carbon.  Each taco consisted of two corn tortillas with grilled chicken and pico de gallo inside; I added in a little guac, some lettuce, and ranchero sauce.  A few chips and spicy salsa sneaked their way into my tummy, too

(Wow, I’m watching a TLC show about landslides–crazy stuff!)

Chris and I always take a doggie bag of chips home for Lily.  She loves the corn tortilla chips and Chris started feeding them to her in a cute way–he puts one in his mouth and then lets her take it from him.  So funny!  I tried it out tonight, and had him take a pic for you to see how silly we are.

I had hoped that yoga would still be on tonight, but sadly it was the only class of the evening that was cancelled   Boo hoo!  No yoga class yet again b/c of the weather.  But, I got dressed and headed out anyhow since I knew a good workout would feel great.  I nearly fell on my ass walking into the gym, as the temp was dropping, wind picking up, and snow falling when I arrived there.  I did an ab and lower back workout, then ~50 minutes on the elliptical.  Felt great just as I’d hoped!

When I left the snow was sticking a lot more! Pretty!  I got home safely, cleaned up, and decided I needed a snack.  Cottage cheese sounded like a good base, and I added some of the Peace cereal I showed you yesterday.  It was tasty, but apparently I wanted something sweet b/c I kept thinking it wasn’t sweet enough while eating it.  So I had a piece of TJ’s cinnamon flatbread, too.  Not exactly sweet but hit the spot.  I love the cinnamony, buttery taste of these crispy suckers.

The house seems to be getting messy and staying messier these days, even after I clean.  I think part of it is extra holiday related stuff is piling up, and we’ve been home more to create more mess.  I had to do something about it so I cleaned the kitchen up and swept the floors.  Much better (sigh of relief).  And, for those of you tracking me, I remembered to prep my oats for tomorrow.  Yay!  Here’s a random pic of the snow accumulating I took out back tonight.

Off I go to fold some clothes and then watch more TV before hitting the hay.  I was sad the Top Chef wasn’t on tonight…forgot it won’t be back for a few weeks b/c of the holidays.  Do you miss it, too?

Oyasumi nasai.

Winter wonderland…errr…sort of December 20, 2008

Yesterday I woke up to this!  How pretty!  Just a small accumulation, but enough to make ya smile, ya know?  I have tons of pics for Friday, so perhaps I’ll reduce the verbiage for ya.

 

Morning eats: 

1) steel cut oats with almond milk, water, raisins, slivered almonds, and cinnamon.   Mmmm…classic favorite.

2) Fuji apple

My little glove thief!  For some reason she always loves carrying off gloves and sniffing them to death.  SO cute

Lunch was pretty typical, but for some reason not quite fully what I’d hoped. (Perhaps that’s ’cause I’d been dreaming of a riblet.  I decided to save the riblet for the weekend.) Details are:  flat out wrap with 1 whole egg & 1 egg white scrambled, 1/2 wedge LCL, Italian herbs, spinach, broc slaw; 1/2 cup ff/lf cc mixed; Stacy’s Pita Chips.

The snow was all melting off by this point   We stayed home until the afternoon and eventually went to work, knowing we were heading to a party around there at 7pm.  I took some heavier snacks since I knew the party eats would be plentiful and sinful:  two Fuji apples, wedgle LCL, and lf vanilla yogurt mixed with raisins, cinnamon, and slivered almonds.  I ate 1.5 apples with the LCL, then had the yogurt right before we went to the party.

The party was great!  The MOST dense Christmas decorations I’ve ever seen in a house, but not gawdy or overdone somehow.  This is a colleague’s house, and he and his wife set up SIX trees, a few villages of figurines, a 6′ diameter wreath, and tons of other decorations.  So pretty!  Thankfully we did go, as the drive up was hairy, the car was a slippin’, and the snow was falling.  I thought we may be trapped there fo sho.

Here are my plates: 

1) 1 fried shrimp, 1 pc. bread with baked brie, 1 pc. beef teriyaki, 1 cracker with goat cheese and roasted tomato concasse.

2) 1 rice krispie square, 1 choc/toffee peanut blob, 5 peanut M&Ms. 

‘Twas perfect!  Oh, and I also had 2 glasses of Champagne, and water, of course.

Okay, you are going to think I’m crazy now… I MUST go work out even tho there is lots of snow falling now and my neck is fucked up (more on that later).  I can’t get in cardio while at home, and the weather is only supposed to be worse later today and tomorrow, so I’m going to brave it. 

I’ll post today’s stuff later, and more pics from last night.

Peace out!

White out December 21, 2008

Wow, Saturday brought an incredible amount of snow to the Portland metro area.  I think we had 6-10 inches, but the wind made it difficult to measure very well. 

Since I have so many pics and am feeling rather poopy at the moment with sinus issues, I’ll insert a gallery for your viewing pleasure.

The day started out with a romp in the backyard snow, feeding the birds, and eating a bowl of Peace Cereal with almond milk and frozen berries.  I thought putting the berries in my cup of almond milk would help defrost them, but it ended up the other way around!  The berries all had a coat of almond milk on them, which is why they appear white in the pic.  But, it was yummy. 

I went to the gym and did ~45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical.  My neck was killing me yesterday morning, which I’m fairly sure is a result of me sitting on the computer and looking to the side to watch TV, or perhaps even spending too much time on the computer in general; the pain developed over the last week, but has been more intense the last few days. It is the right side of my neck that hurts, and yesterday even one small false move would send pain shooting up my neck.  Grrrr.  Thankfully I was able to keep my upper body still on the elliptical and avoided pain for most of my workout. 

I hit the store on the way home, and made lunch when I got back.  I had a sundried tomato Flatout, one fried egg white, spinach, broc slaw, 1/2 wedge LCL, with 1/2 a Fuji on the side and the other 1/2 wedge LCL.  Mmmm.

Chris and I decided to go for a walk in the snow with Lily down to the Clackamas river.  We ended up putting a fleece vest on her to protect her from the snow a bit.  So cute!  Our walk down was good, but it was snowing hard and the wind picked up when we got down to the river.  Lily was so cute in the snow   We stopped at the Starbucks in Safeway on the way back, and I treated myself to a small hot chocolate.  It was so decadent!  I haven’t had hot chocolate in a long time, and the creamy goodness was quite a treat.  Chris had a caramel apple cider–that would have been far too sweet for my taste.

We got back a full 2 1/2 hours after we left!  The last mile felt like walking in sand b/c of the texture and depth of the snow.  Yay, it was a great workout and really pretty and fun, too

I was so tired when we got back, and tempted to take a nap, but we got cleaned up and made dinner.  Chris wanted something far too rich for me (sausage and pasta), so I had a Gardenburger riblet and a spinach salad with broc slaw, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Yum yum yum yum yummmm! 

Eventually I got hungry, so I had a bowl of vanilla yogurt with raisins, almond slivers, and cinnamon.  Chris had some of the fudge pictured–check it out–it is made by monk in Amity, Oregon.  It has 200 cals in a ~1″ cube, and that was enough to help me say no.  I’ve found that if I just don’t go in for a taste/small bite at all, it is much easier to say no to the foods that would blow up my daily intake.  How bout you?

Freezing rain started to fall at night   Boooo!!  That means we can’t play in the snow anymore, and it is tough for Lily to get around.  We let her out when the ice was still thin, and she hopped through the ice/snow around the yard, but was confused and didn’t like it.  Chris was sweet and got out there to stomp an area clear for her to do her business.

Today the ice is like 1/2″+ thick, and we had to go remove it from a larger area for Lily.  I hate the ice, and the fact that we can’t go for another walk in the snow, and that Lily can’t play.  She relishes in running around the yard chasing the ball, and she’s going a bit stir crazy so far today.  We’ll see what happens and I’ll report back to you later on today’s eats and happenings.  Hope you’re staying warm and dry where you are!

Icy madness, and is wine killing my diet?! December 21, 2008

The freezing rain started yesterday evening, and ended up leaving about a 1/2 in coat on all of our beautiful snow   Boo!  It is hard to walk in, and I fear that Lily will cut her feet on the shards of ice if we let her walk all over in it.  Chris and I cleared off an area for Lily, and you can tell she is sad she doesn’t have the run of the yard today.  She enjoyed trying to tunnel under the ice, though! And she chewed on the end of an ice coated branch for a second.  (She’s barking in her sleep now! So cute )

When I woke up my neck was markedly better–yay!–but still a bit messed up.  After clearing the ice I had a bowl of Peace cereal with almond milk and raisins, and a few cups of coffee with sf Coffeemate Vanilla creamer.

My tum was not a happy camper this morning. I had a bad sinus headache that persisted til mid day; perhaps that was part of the problem.

There were tons of birds today, especially since Chris was kind enough to put out fresh water for them to drink.  There were tons of robins and juncos, some towhees and house sparrows, and a few house finches. Fun!

Mid-day brought hunger later on than expected, and the things that looked good to me created a snacky lunch of a Fuji apple, lf/ff cottage cheese, and Stacy’s Pita Chips.  Nom nom…the multi-textural experience was quite pleasing.

 

Eventually a mid afternoon snack was in order, so I had a Fuji sprinkled with a little cinnamon (why, oh why, have I not thought of this before?!), some yogurt with a few almonds and cinnamon, and a few TJ’s cinnamon flatbread pcs.  ‘Twas a cinnamon experience I greatly enjoyed You must try the apple with cinnamon.

I was totally sad that we couldn’t go walking in the snow, and I ended up watching some TV, blogging, emailing, and reading a bit today instead.  We had a few inches more of fresh snow late this afternoon, but nothing can make all that damn ice go away.  We haven’t lost our power yet, so I wait with baited breath and flashlights for that to happen. 

Dinner was inspired by a read of my favorite cooking magazine, Gourmet:

If I had ground beef I probably would have attempted a meatball!  I opted for an easy marinara sauce:  sauteed onions, one can of Italian tomatoes, extra garlic, herbs, and some chili flakes.  I had this over whole wheat penne, and it was quite good.  I added too much pasta, tho–I had hoped to eat the whole batch of tomato sauce with just a little pasta, but mis judged when adding it in.  Oh well.  I sprinkled some oh-so-fabu canned parmesan on top.  I know, I know, but at least it is real cheese with nothing added but a few natural preservatives.

Afterward Chris and I decided to have wine, specifically a 2002 Gago red (de Espana).  I had some, walked Lily here and there, and finally had a snack a few hours later.  This was a conundrum at first–I was hoping for peanut butter, but that would have killed my wine palate for sure, and same goes for the creamy LCL I had listed as second.  Hm.  So, I went for a few white cheddar rice cakes.  Hit the spot, and low-cal.  Gotta love it.

Here’s where I had a mini lightbulb moment about wine calories and me not losing much weight.  “Could it be? Am I killing my diet by having a few glasses of wine a few times per week?!  No, say it isn’t so!”  I guess each 4 oz. glass has about 100 calories.  Damn.   So we opened our 2nd bottle of wine

The last few days I’ve been rather down at times, and mostly about not seeing much progress on the weight loss front.  I do see more definition in my arms & shoulders, a reduction in cellulite (I think), my legs may be a little smaller, Chris sees a difference, and I know I’m making progress, but it just seems so small.  I need to do more intense weight training, and keep up the cardio, and perhaps then I’ll lose the 1lb/week I’m hoping for.  I really hope to go to Mexico in March and not have an embarassing body again this year.  I’m heavier than I was last year, so at least I’d like to be down 10lbs by then.  I’m trying to eat around 1500 calories per day in the hopes that most days I run a 500 calorie deficit to attempt to lose the 1lb per week.  I know that if I’m building muscle at the same time the weight loss may not be there, but, c’mon, I’ve been busting my ass and eating well for what feels like a decently good amount of time now, and I want to see my cellulite lessened more and my roll-of-shit-in-the-middle be reduced.  Hmmmph.  Okay, I’m done ranting for now.

Off I go to finish my first (and only) glass of this shiraz. 

For those of you that have had a goal of losing weight–de-lurk if you would and tell me what your weight loss experience/timing has been.  Am I eating too much bad stuff?  Am I eating too many calories?  Not enough working out?  What the fuck is up with me?  I appreciate your comments in advance.

Saucin’ it up in the snow December 22, 2008

Wow, I didn’t realize the snow would persist into today as much as it did.  We now have over a foot of snow in all places outside, up to 2 in some areas.  Crazy!  It was really pretty this morning to wake up to the additional snow and quiet.  Remember that table from yesterday, it only had like a foot of snow on it, and now it is closer to 2 (see photo below)!

Chris started illin’ during the night, and was not feeling so hot this morning   I took care of the LB, made some coffee, and Chris attempted to go back to bed, but he couldn’t get comfortable so he got up. Flu? Major tooth infection (seriously)? We’re not sure.  He’s been feeling pain in his mouth for a few days and I fear he has an abscessed tooth.  I told him to call the dentist, but of course he didn’t.  Men. 

I nuked my oats, and decided to add applesauce for shits and giggles.  It was good!  I liked the additional flavor it added, especially with the cinnamon.  The total package consisted of: steel cut oats, unsweetened almond milk, water, raisins, slivered almonds, unsweetened applesauce, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.

 

Somehow I didn’t end up eating until 10 I think…not sure how that happened.  Time flew this morning.  I made Chris lunch around 11, farted around on the computer, cleaned out the fridge, and slowly went stir crazy.  Around 1 I decided I was hungry enough to eat lunch.  I wasn’t sure what to eat, but as I looked around I saw my leftovers from last night.  I decided to sauce them up by adding some cottage cheese and chili flakes.  Ohhhhhh yeahhhhh.  The cottage cheese was a nice protein addition that blended in well. 

Chris passed out and I decided to walk to the store, which is 4/5 of a mile away.  With the snow still coming down heavily, and mixed forecasts not much above freezing the next several days, I figured I might as well get some more food for us since I won’t be driving anywhere soon.  Lily is almost out of her food, too!

I bundled up, grabbed my backpack, and set out hoping for a pretty walk.  Honestly, the area I live in is somewhat ugly, so the snow is a welcomed presence that beautifies the trailer parks up the street, the semi-run down houses, and the sparse industrial look of the rest of it.  This is what I encountered along my way to and fro:

 Icicles abound on my gutters!

 Wow, lots of snow covering those cars.

 Pretty trees over the sidewalk.

Fred Meyer was very busy, and the bread and meat departments were majorly lacking.  And, they stocked sliced raw almonds in the bin for blanched slivered almonds!!!!!  What is a girl to do?  I got the sliced almonds On my way back it was a more difficult walk, as the plow had gone by and totally buried the sidewalk in even more snow.  I was haulin’ a bigger quantity of shit than anticipated in my backpack and shopper bag, and I got nice and sweaty.  Hey, at least I got a workout out of the whole thing, right?

A snack was in order, so I sliced up a Fuji and mixed some lf and ff cottage cheese.  Why mix, you ask?  The 2% seems decadent, and the 0% a little lacking, but together they’re perfect   I also had the Diet Pepsi that I grabbed on an impulse while in line at the store.  Mmmm…I’ve been wanting DC or DP lately.

I had only 1/2 the apple and 1/2 the DP, saving the rest for later.  Here’s a pic I got just before the sun went down.

 Check out the table’s snow depth!

Chris was still sleeping, and I putzed around here until about 5:30 when I realized I was really hungry.  I didn’t want to wake Chris as he slept on the couch in the family room, but I could not resist the urge to microwave a riblet  

Dinner was nice: Flatout with the riblet and some spinach; spinach salad with a wedge of sliced Fuji, sliced almonds, balsamic, olive oil, S&P.  Tas-tay.

Chris finally woke up around 6:30, and thankfully didn’t feel any worse.  Still tired, but hungry enough to eat some soup.  Gotta take care of my baby, ya know?

We watched some Law & Order, and then Animal House.  Haven’t seen that in ages, and it was great.  I had a little snack-a-roo near the end:  the rest of my Fuji, a wedge of LCL, and a few TJ’s cinnamon flatbread pieces.

Now it’s nearly 11 and I’m really cold!  I think I’ll take the LB out one more time and then hit the hay.

Thanks to those of you who commented on yesterday’s post.  I feel better reading about your experiences, and receiving your encouraging words.  I wish Erin was here to help me kick ass during workouts like 4 years ago!  Love ya, girl!

Take care, and keep it saucy

The booze has got me fiz-izzled! December 23, 2008

Today was a nice relaxing day for the most part that started out well and is going to end with a repeat of Top Chef I missed over the last few weeks.  I forgot to tell you I kicked my foot into the foot of the couch yesterday, and my foot ain’t so happy.  Can I say foot more in one sentence?

I decided not to have my usual oatmeal for breakfast today, instead opting for Quaker Oatmeal Squares with almond milk and banana.  I picked up the box of cereal yesterday for only $2!  They are usually $4.59 or so; if I had room I’d have bought more probably.  I hate how expensive cereal is.

Not sure what I did all morning… walked Lily out in the street I think, was online some, and did a few things around the house.  Eventually I made Chris lunch, and contemplated what to do for myself.

I settled on a new salad:  spinach, chopped turkey lunch meat, a chopped cooked egg white, a few slices of chopped apple, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.  So tasty!!  I also had the rest of the Fuji apple on the side.

This didn’t have much staying power, so shortly thereafter I had ~1/2 cup of lf/ff cottage cheese.

Chris spotted a varied thrush in our yard while I was cleaning up the kitchen!!  We haven’t seen one in the yard for a few years, so we were quite happy to spot her. She stayed around all afternoon   We also had a new bird today–a white crowned sparrow.  Nifty!

The ice didn’t seem as bad today, so we let Lily have the run of the yard.  After hearing that my mom’s neighbor’s dog nearly severed a toe b/c of the ice I was super anal about clearing an area and only walking her on the leash in that area.  She was very happy to get to play ball and romp around.

My hands and feet got really cold all of a sudden, and when I came in hot cocoa sounded really good.  I mixed some almond milk, cocoa, and tiny bit of sugar (why did I even bother??), microwaved it, and then ended up adding some whipped cream on top.  Yummy!  The almond milk was a great base and added that much more depth to the drink.  This was the first time I used almond milk in a hot beverage application.  I also had half a nana shortly after this.

Chris mentioned walking to the Mexican restaurant, and at first I thought he was kidding, but not so.  After he cleared the snow off of our wood shed we got ready and headed out.  The compacted snow was slippery in areas, but the walk was good.  I felt like I was speed walking to keep up with Chris, as he is 6′2″ and I’m 5′5″, so I had to tell him to slow down here and there. 

We had our usual round of Casuelas, and I had tortilla soup sin crema, con un poco de queso, solamente jalapenos a parte.  Mmmmm.  Another epiphany came to me as we ate…the 1/2 pitcher of Casuela that I usually drink is also killing my diet.  Doesn’t seem like much, but ~24oz. of fruit juice and booze 2x/week adds up to 700+ cals.  Eeeeeeeeeek!  And the La Casa (ice cream, milk, Bailey’s, cinnamon) ain’t helpin’ either.  Scheize.

 My Casuela Soupie soupie! La Casa

Our walk home was nice, and somewhat entertaining when we saw 3 semi trucks stuck at the light in one intersection.  Woops!

Lily enjoyed playing a ton when we got home, and now we’re watching Law & Order.  Can’t believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow, and that I have NO GIFTS for most people on my list.  Double woops. 

I sent my Secret Santa gift last Wednesday via Priority Mail, and my recipient hasn’t received it yet   I didn’t get delivery confirmation, but hopefully she gets it tomorrow.  I just hope it isn’t lost   I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I receive mine, too

Well, off I go to get comfy and watch Top Chef.  Hope you all had a great Tuesday!

Merry Christmas Eve! December 24, 2008

Hi everyone!  Today was rather shitty throughout, but has ended up well, thankfully.  I was really emotional today, and not quite sure why–frustrating!

Things started out with us seeing an inch or so of new snow, and I tried my Quaker Oatmeal Squares warm this time.  I microwaved the squares and almond milk, then added half a nana.  Not quite the texture I was hoping for, but still good.  I’m totally sold on warm almond milk, and may just drink that alone!

The morning was boring.  Chris slept all morning trying to get rid of a headache, and I chatted with family, watched TV, and blogged a little. 

I was in such a funk I didn’t eat lunch until 2pm!  I had a wrap consisting of a sundried tomato Flatout, turkey, spinach, 1/2 wedge LCL, and ground pepper.  (My broc slaw already kicked the bucket, even tho it is just 2 days old!!)  I also had an apple with the other half wedge of LCL.  Yummy, and decently filling.

Chris wondered if we could get out to Costco to get gifts, but I was skeptical of the road conditions.  The freeways looked fine, but the roads we were going to drive on were an unknown.  I chatted with my dad, and he said there were bad ruts, lots of icky, snotty slush, and probably no way my car could make it b/c of ground clearance and traction. 

My dad invited Chris and I over for dinner, and he came to pick us up around 5.  Chris and I madly shoveled the driveway while my dad was on his way, and I checked the mail box when I got out to the street.  Low and behold my Secret Santa package was shoved into the mail box, and it took both me and Chris pulling on it to get it out!  Fuck the postlady, seriously.  She folds all of our magazines in half (hard crease that makes reading them a pain in the ass), jams the mailbox too full, and now this?!  She also bent the mailbox door, probably while she braced herself to shove the package in.  WTF was she thinking.  I’ve had at least 10 post people in my life over various states and I”ve never had service this bad.

Anyhow, my package was full of so many fun things!!! Bars galore, cocoa, gifts (including Christmas socks!)…see the goodies?!

Chris and I left a layer of snow and ice on the driveway, and my dad was so funny–he jumped out of his car and finished shoveling the driveway when he got here!  Once we got on the road I was so glad Chris and I didn’t try driving.  I couldn’t believe how stupid people were being on the road, and how crazy the ruts were. 

We stopped at Freddy’s for a few last minute items, and then headed back to my dad’s.  We made elk tenderloin medallions, a potato/onion/carrot saute, and a broccoli/brussel sprout saute.  We also had a spinach and baby greens salad with tomatoes and a red pepper.  Mmmmm!  Of course we also snacked on a few crackers and cheese beforehand.  Thankfully the cheese was so stinky I couldn’t stand it. 

Liz (my dad’s wife) asked if my dad planned dessert, and when he said no she popped up to get these:

I just had one, and it was milk chocolate with vanilla ice cream.  So yummy!  And thankfully just 60 calories   I also had a few grapes after dinner as we chatted.

Chris and I brought my dad’s car home, and in the morning we’ll be stopping by to pick up Liz on the way to my uncle Erik’s house for brunch.  My dad is on call and not sure if he can make it, but hopefully he can.  My cousin Nick is back from Marine Corps basic traning for a few more weeks; I can’t believe he went into the military!  I’m curious to see what he thinks of it all.

I hope you’re all having a very Merry Christmas Eve out there!  I’m off to watch 2 Days in Paris.  Love the scenery!

Au revoir!

Crazy Christmas December 25, 2008

A late Merry Christmas to everyone!  Another rather funky day that started off not so hot and ended up well. 

Woke up feeling like a zombie, got ready quickly, wrote out Christmas cards, and headed out.  The sideroads still sucked, but thankfully my dad’s car got thru it all no prob.  Chris and I picked up Liz, and my dad, and headed to my uncle Erik’s for brunch.  A family friend and his girlfriend were there, and their dog, and my uncle ended up ix-naying having the doggies in the house.  At least it was pretty and snowing

The usual breakfast prep chaos was underway when we got there, and we just kind of got out of the way.  I realized the table was only going to fit 7-8 people, and there were 10 of us, so somehow I knew Chris and I would be relegated to the breakfast bar.  No matter how old we get, we are still the kids of the bunch I guess.  Sad thing was no one really paid much attention to us or cared we were off to the side.  Oh well, we just killed the bottle of champagne on our own! 

Breakfast tasted good, but was quite sinful.  Thankfully I did not ever feel full! Coffee with 1/2 & 1/2 and a few glasses of champagne were my bevvies. 

 Love the bubbly!

My first plate, clockwise from the bacon on the left: 1/2 pc peppered bacon; bear claw pastry with almonds (SO yummy); bread pudding; baked spiced french toast; egg casserole with bacon, olives, potatoes, onions, cottage cheese.

Second plate:  apple crisp with whipped cream.  Apples were good, crumb topping tasted a little funky, yet for some reason I ate it all anyway.

Then my mom was telling me “eat this, try this, eat this…” so I had one of her chocolate chip cookies.  Mmm. 

After breakfast the family friends left, and I thought we were going to open gifts but my grandma suddenly had ants in her pants and couldn’t stand hanging out there any longer since we “weren’t doing anything”.  So for whatever reason we all went to her house to open the gifts, and prep the meat for dinner tonight.

No food there, thankfully!  I did get a few really great gifts, tho:  a grill pan and a kitchen scale.  Yay!  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh, and 2 jars of Barney Butter Crunchy!  My dad went ape shit on the gifts…if I knew he was getting 2 jars of the BB I’d have had him get the smooth, too.  But whatever, I excited I get to try BB now, and will soon be reviewing it to get my free T-Shirt from Jennifer

Chris and I ended up going to my mom’s for the day since we didn’t have a car and live a long distance from where the action was (read–my dad didn’t want to drive us home/couldn’t give us the car/we had no chance in hell of getting home at this point).  Lily was so funny in the car on the way over first half standing/half laying on the floor and seat, and then she laid down and put her head on the box in my mom’s lap.  So cute!

My mom’s backyard. It was snowing while we were there!

I had some coffee in this cute penguin mug.

My mom and Lily checking out the presents and the tree:

Chris wasn’t happy at all about not being able to go home and relax between family events, but it all turned out just fine.  He was able to read and then watch the Lakers/Celtics game.  I helped clean up my mom’s kitchen, and in the process ate a few things: a spoon of pumpkin pie mix; a few little slices of parmesan (gift from the uncle–the real stuff); and a bite of a chocolate chip cookie (“taste this one”). 

Chris put a red ribbon around Lily’s neck…I got a pic as she laid on me while I sat on the couch (not something she gets to do here at our house since she’s not allowed on the furniture [mostly]).  LOVE the LB.

Around 5 Erik picked us up and back to Grandma’s we went.  Non-meat eaters beware…plentiful meat pictures below.

Erik set off some fireworks when we got there.  Fun!

Beef tenderloin searing in the skillet before going into the oven:

My cousin Nick in his dress uniform (Marines).  He looked really nice…still can’t believe he’s in the military!

We watched the beef like hawks, meaning it took forever to get done.  My dad kept opening the oven to take the temp, readjusting the oven temp, etc., and like an hour later we sat down for dinner and it.was.so.good.  Clockwise from the potato:  twice baked potato; french green bean/onion/red pepper veggie medley (baked?); beef tenderloin seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper, and cooked with a few slices of bacon on top for additional moisture.  Wow!  I also ate one 1/2 piece of the bacon.

This is my mom’s “chappin’” fruit salad: apples, banana, orange, maraschino cherries, walnuts, and whipped cream mixed in.  Yowza. I should have stopped eating before I had this.

I also had a few glasses of yummy champagne (three types of champagne in all!), and an incredible Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinor Noir (2004?).  After dinner my family cleaned up the dishes, and threw away far too many recyclable items.  So, I did some sly garbage diving involving removing aluminum cans, foil, paper, and plastic from the trash.  Yay for recycling!

Soon thereafter we had dessert:  homemade pumpkin pie (my mom made it this afternoon) with too much freshly whipped cream.  Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Okay, NOW I was way overly full and the discomfort lasted until a few hours later.  Not like gut-busting full, but sorta painful tummy from too much food.  It was worth it, tho, to have all that yummy food I suppose. 

My dad gave Chris and I his car again (he can walk to work), and that means I can get to the gym no matter what tomorrow!!!!!  Awesome… AND there’s a yoga class at 10:30.  All the classes have been cancelled this week so far, but it seems like the roads are improving enough that it will be on tomorrow.  We’ll see.  Either way I plan on spending at least 2 hours at the gym to rev myself up and burn off some of today’s indulgences.  Yee-haw.  Seriously.

Shit, looking at www.tripcheck.org the road to the coast is mostly clear even at the summit now, so maybe Chris and I could make it down there tomorrow after all.  We’ll see what happens.

I think I’m going to add another page to my blog–”The Three R’s”–to throw in add’l recycling links, suggestions, Master Recylcer stuff, etc.  Hope it helps inspire you to be green, reduce, reuse, recycle, and think more about reducing your impact on the environment.  Hope you’ll visit that page, too!

Aw, the LB is curled into such a tiny ball right now.  She contorts herself into some of the most uncomfortable looking positions sometimes…I don’t know how she sleeps in them.

Nighty night!

“Exercise the demons!”…and a Barney Butter review! December 26, 2008

I haven’t watched Fletch in awhile, but that line sprang to mind when I was thinking of a title with “exercise” in it. 

I woke up SO tired and with that dragging feeling, but know I got enough sleep.  I think it was from eating all that rich and random food, and drinking throughout the day yesterday.

For breakfast I had steel cut oats with almond milk, cinnamon, raisins, and a big spoon of Barney Butter crunchy.  Very tasty, indeed!  The butter is so good since it has big crunchy chunks of almonds in it, the flavor is rich but not overpowering, and it is not too sticky like peanut butter can be.  I greatly looked forward to having it on its own later.

I also had coffee, and could tell I was a bit dehydrated, but wanted to head in for yoga at 10:30.  The drive was okay, but for big chunks of compacted snow/ice and slushy side streets.  I got in 15 minutes on the elliptical, then headed in to a whopping class size of four.  We didn’t have music, but that was okay by me.  This instructor is pretty fast paced and does more difficult sequences, and today was working hard to help us perfect our moves.  I swear I was in warrior 1 and then warrior 2 for like 5 minutes each.  Murder on the thighs!  I think I may have tweaked a knee, my foot is still aggravated (but not by yoga), and otherwise I felt drained afterward.  I did a set each of bicep curls, incline chest press, tricep press, lat pull down, and abs before heading to the elliptical for another 15 minutes.  The drained feeling was not fun   But I felt good leaving since I was there working out for 2+ hours! Yay!

Home I went to play with Lily and make lunch.  I knew I needed to save some calories for the Barney Butter I wanted, so I opted for a great salad like I had earlier this week, with one addition: spinach, turkey, apple, egg white, shaved parmesan, pepper, and red wine vinegar.  The parm was fabulous in it…mmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmmmmm.

I was rather full after this, so I held off on the apple/Barney Butter lunch dessert I had planned for an hour or so.

When I did have my lunch dessert, it was fabulous.  I had a little over half an apple with a bit tbsp of Barney Butter, and ended up eating the apple plain first so I could savor the nut butter all by itself.  Very tasty, indeed.  I licked every bit of it off that spoon, and the plate where it touched

So, Jennifer and the whole Barney Butter gang, you have one great product!  Thanks to all you bloggers out there, too, who have mentioned Barney Butter previously and intrigued me enough to ask for it for Christmas.  And, thanks to my dad for buying me two jars of it

Chris and I ventured out to Costco and PetSmart to get some late Christmas shopping done, which was quite fun but for the disgusting traffic.  You’re going to love this–I’m totally excited about the new sports bras and socks I got, you don’t even know.  My socks are all at least 5-10 years old (!!!!), and aren’t quite so padded or smooth anymore.  We also got lots of wine, and some gifts for my dad.  Lily also got some piggy ears!  Gross, but she loves them.

We stopped by Fajitas on the way home for the usual feast and imbibing, but I held back a bit thankfully.  I only had 1/4 to 1/3 of the casuela, and didn’t eat as much soup, so I wasn’t gut busting full when we left. 

I hadn’t planned on eating anything after dinner, but now I’m getting hungry and can’t decide between Barney Butter and parmesan cheese.  Hm, there’s also cottage cheese…. I’ll have to report back later on what I actually do.

How are you all doing today?  Christmas food hangovers?  I hear ya.

Malware sucks December 27, 2008

Our computer was pinged with a malicious software program last night, and Chris spent most of today getting rid of the damn thing.  It started last night when he was online and suddenly got bombarded with messages about a program being allowed to change settings (!).  Damn thing sneaked in, changed settings to allow itself, and then proceeded to try to appear like a bonafide Microsoft program.  A red shield icon with an “x” in it appeared in the system tray, and a bubble saying our computer wasn’t protected kept popping up.  If you clicked on it the computer would try to go to a website with links in it, and then proceed to upload all sorts of info from your computer.  Thankfully that did not happen to us.

We had heard of this malware before, and since it looked fishy we didn’t click on anything.  I was asleep, and Chris worked with it a bit, gave up, and then resumed today.  We uninstalled the program, which was called “MS Antispyware 2009″ published by CrucialSoftLTD, but the damn icon was still there in the system tray.  Eventually we did a system restore, which made everything better   Yay.  And, we blocked the website in Internet Explorer, increased security settings, and hope it won’t happen again.  Bleh.  Go to your internet tools/settings RIGHT NOW and block this website (I’ll type it craftily so it does not appear as a link here): http colon backslash backslash helper-security dot com.  Hopefully that will help prevent you from accidentally clicking on anything should it get loaded on your computer somehow. 

Anyhow, on to eats and activities!

Last night I did end up having cheeses instead of Barney Butter… first I had a ~1″ cube of parmesan, and then ~1/2 cup lf/ff cottage cheese mixed.  They were okay.  Chris and I played chess; did I mention that yesterday? He won each game.  I hit the hay around 11:30.

Today I got up just before 8 so I would have plenty of time at the gym before pilates at 10; I had plans to go to lunch and shop some with my mom afterward.  I had a bigger breakfast than normal since I knew I would be busting ass for 2 hours at the gym:  1/4 cup steel cut oats with 1/4 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup water, 1 T raisins, and dashes of cinnamon; and a piece of whole wheat toast with a T of Barney Butter   Mmmmm! I ate these while  trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the computer.

On to the gym! I did a quick warm up, 5 leg exercises, and then ~30 minutes of cardio.  Pilates was busier than yoga yesterday, but still a smaller class than usual.  I did okay on some moves and totally sucked on others, but I got a good workout.

I rushed home to shower, got an update on the computer malware crap, and hurried to my mom’s house.  My dad wanted his car back by 2:30ish, so my mom and I only had about 2 hours to do much with.  We were going to eat lunch at Pizzicato, but my mom saw the Chinese place next door and decided she’d rather have that instead.  It was a buffet!  And very yummy.  Let me see if I can even remember what was on this plate, clockwise from the string beans: sauteed string beans, veggie chow mein, egg foo yung (covered), veggie tofu stir fry, pork potsticker, General Tso’s chicken, Kung Pao chicken (covered) other chicken I don’t remember, broccoli beef, honey BBQ pork, sweet and sour chicken.  And hot & sour soup on the side. 

Phew, I finished off most of that plate :shocked: and had a few bites of my mom’s desserts: orange jello cube, small palmier, few bites of doughnut.  I was quite full afterward, but all the food was good at least.  I ate too fast, tho.

On to Target!  There was so much Christmas stuff on sale since people weren’t able to get out to shop before Christmas.  I bought the last of the gifts I needed, and we headed out about an hour later.  I totally forgot to get my new crew socks.  Damn.  Still wearing holey ones!

I got to my dad’s a little after 2:30, he dropped me off here at home, and the computer saga continued.  In the process of removing the malware Chris removed a few other components that weren’t malware, so the system restore ended up being our best option.  Thankfully that worked well and all is normal now

Chris hinted he wanted to go see Maria, but I wasn’t feeling that up to it.  Too bad I wasn’t feeling that up to cooking, either.  I was so tired!!!  So, we went to Fajitas after all, and I had an exact repeat of last night:  tortilla soup, casuela, and la casa.  Chips and salsa, too, of course.

I know, rather boring since you saw the exact same things yesterday!!  I need to figure out a good dinner for tomrrow night.  I also need to clean and organize a boatload of shit that’s accumulated over the last 3 days… better get up early again!

The snow is almost entirely melted now, with some slushy stuff still around here and there in the yard.  It is like 50 degrees, too.  No more snow   Boo. 

Can’t believe tomorrow is Sunday.  I totally don’t want to go back to work, ever.  I’m such a lazy ass, I tell ya.  I wish I could just be a domestic goddess who volunteered as a garbologist regularly.  How ’bout you?

Busy bee! December 28, 2008

Wow, the last Sunday of nearly two weeks off of work.  Like Andrea, I’m not sure how it is going to feel to be at work tomorrow!  I just spoke with Erin and she, Andrea, and I are going to dinner tomorrow night.  Yippeeeee!  I’m so excited!

Today was a very busy day; I felt like I was going non-stop from 9 to 9, but in a good way.  My oatmeal this morning was nummy; it consisted of:  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp raisins, big dash of cinnamon, and a few tsp of Barney Butter.  Tasty goodness!

I headed to the gym for yoga, and was dismayed at how dirty and ugly everything looks outside now that all the snow is gone.  It made me want to live in a snowier area several times today.

Yoga was great, I sweated a lot, and I’m glad I went.  I felt so good, in fact, that I headed to Target afterward to get crew socks and check out the grocery section.  The grocery area is pretty expansive now, and the prices seem really good on some items.  It could be dangerous, though, if I go there more often and end up shopping in other areas! I love Target. 

Once home I made a quick lunch that was very tasty indeed:  sundried tomato flatout with one egg white, 4 slices of warmed turkey, a little parmesan cheese, spinach, a few small slices of Fuji, a dash of red wine vinegar, and ground pepper.  Mmmm!  I also had the rest of the Fuji and about 1/2 cup of lf/ff cottage cheese.  A perfect lunch

Love the detail of the parmesan rind!

I think I got online for a few minutes, watched TV for a few, and then started my cleaning fest:  unloaded, loaded, and ran the dishwasher; put away snow clothes; cleaned kitchen counters; swept floors; washed wine glasses; put away Christmas wrap and decor (tree is still up, tho!); reorganized recycling in garage; put wine glasses to donate in boxes; did Lily’s laundry; played with Lily; organized Lily’s food and the birdseed….  Eventually I made the grocery list and went to the store.  I even returned bottles/cans and took back a boatload of plastic bags (I hardly ever do those two things, hence the pile that had grown in the garage).

Dinner was easy to make, and turned out yummy.  We had roasted chicken breasts with carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes.  Amidst the storm craziness the only chicken I could get at the store the other day was split chicken breasts with skin and bones on, but they were great for roasting.

After dinner the cleaning fest continued:  loaded stuff into d/w; did handwash; did my laundry; prepped oatmeal; prepped lunch items; made to-do list for work and personal items for Monday; put Lily’s biscuits away (I transfer them from the box into a reusable tub to stay fresh); organized receipts…

I’m so glad I got all that stuff done today, you don’t even know!  I hate coming home to a dirty house during the work week.  Nothing like dirty dishes (or a clean d/w that I need to unload), dirty floors, and shit stacked up to ruin my mood.  How ’bout you?

I had a new snack tonight that I’ve seen all around blog world:  a banana with nut butter (specifically BB).  This was really tasty, and I think will be even better when the nana is a litte more ripe. 

Well, the day is winding down and I think I’ll head to bed.  I know it will be tough to get up, no matter how much sleep I get. 

I hope you all had a great weekend   Toodle-oo!

Double duty December 30, 2008

How about a two day recap for ya?

Monday morning was painful since we had to get up before 8.  It was really dark, raining hard, and I had to drag my ass out of bed.  Ugh.  Thankfully I had prepped some of the lunch stuff, so that went more quickly than usual.  When I got to work I had my oats and a cup of coffee.  After not having the coffee from our service at work for 2 weeks, I noticed just how caffeinated it is!!  Wowza, I was buzzin!  My oats were yummy:  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup water, 2 tsp Barney Butter, 1 tbsp raisins, and a big dash of cinnamon.  I was so busy while eating it I forgot to take a pic until my last bite!

My day was busy busy busy, and went really fast.  I had a technology issue with one of my software applications, and while I was on hold for like an hour I ate some lunch and continued getting ready for my meeting.  I eventually had to hang up without getting the issue resolved.  Grrreat.

My wrap was a sundried tomato flatout, a few slices of turkey, grated parmesan cheese (ooh-la-la!), spinach, broc slaw, and ground pepper.  I also had ~1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and 1/2 a Fuji.  Yes, my place mat was a client file :-O

I was in meetings all afternoon, and quickly had a little snack between meetings around 2:45.  Dannon Light & Fit vanilla with 1/2 a nana and lots of cinnamon.

I had an acupuncture treatment after my last meeting. Yay! I have been feeling a bit out of whack the last few weeks as you know, and I think my treatment helped.  Afterward I thought I was going to get Lily, pick up Chris, drop him at home, and meet Erin and Andrea, but Chris suggested that he eat at Mexican and my mom could meet him there.  That turned into her picking him up, taking Lily with her, and having dinner with him, and me getting to go downtown to get Erin earlier than anticipated!  Sweet.  I had the other half of my apple on the way out of the office. 

Erin was shopping when I arrived downtown (I’m jealous!), and after I picked her up we headed out to NoPo (North Portland) to Dalo’s for Ethiopian cuisine.  I remembered Andrea mentioned it before, and I was excited to try something new.

Our evening there started off with a laugh, as the door was locked and no one would let us in when we knocked!  Eventually someone left and we headed on it.  For dinner we all shared a vegetarian platter with a lentil chili, other lentil mix, cabbage/onion/potato mix, and spinach with onions.  The bread was really intriguing…spongy, stretchy, and cold.  I’m not a big fan of cooked spinach, but everything else was nummy.  Thanks, Andrea, for the great suggestion!

 The injera up close

We had a blast talking about life, blogs, and our crazy young histories.  It felt so good to laugh, reminisce, and have a really great time. I miss socializing with the lady friends, especially Erin since we don’t see each other much.  Thanks for the great night, ladies!  I was totally high on the laughing endorphins for hours afterward

Today (Tuesday) was still a painful morning, but not as busy of a day.  I started out with the same oats as yesterday, which I totally thought I photographed but didn’t. 

Work, work, work, and then lunch while on hold for yet another technology issue (this one related to personal stuff).  My lunch was the same as yesterday, too:

The afternoon flew by, too, and when we got home Chris wanted a burger, so I fired up my new grill pan.  Low and behold we still had some bacon we took from Christmas, and I cooked that up for him, too.  My burger was a bit more plain, no bacon, but that was fine by me

In all I had 1/4 lb. 93% lean ground beef with grated Parmesan and spinach on top, 1 tbsp. organic ketchup, a sliced dill pickle, and about 1/2 a Fuji.  I became full more quickly than anticipated, and made sure not to overdo it since I knew I’d be heading to the gym.

Yoga was okay; I had a difficult time detaching enough to fully get into it.  Afterward I did an upper body workout, and a cardio circuit of 10 intense minutes each on the treadmill, stairmill, and elliptical. 

After I played with Lily and got cleaned up I knew I needed a snack, and some nut butter had my name on it.  I had the rest of my Fuji, a few tsp of raisins, and a tbsp of Barney Butter. 

And so Tuesday ends….have a splendid Wednesday/New Year’s Eve!  No big plans for us… how bout you?

“Merry New Year!” January 2, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!  I’m excited to see my blog is getting a lot more traffic these days, mostly courtesy of the bitchin’ babes’ blog, Care To Eat.  Love you ladies!

If you know what movie I’m quoting, let me know!  Love the classic comedies.

Sorry I’ve been absent for a few days…New Year’s Eve I was downloading Spybot on the home computer, and then doing mega scans (which took a few hours to do everything) to make sure I don’t get any more malware.  Last night I was getting ready for the beach, and then the power went out when I was going to blog.

Now I’m at work and am not sure I can get all my pics off of my camera, but I’ll try!  I leave for the beach in a few hours and will again be absent until Sunday night or Monday.

So, back to Wednesday, the 31st:  Chris and I worked a full day, which started out with breakfast at work and plugging along for what felt like several hours too many before heading home.  The eats:
 The typical steel cut oats and coffee

 The typical wrap, pita chips, apples, cc

 Snack of what I didn’t finish for lunch

[Imagine Mexican food from Si Senor here]

At Si Senor I had the Pollo Azado Burrito (HUGE flour tortilla stuffed with grilled chicken, zucchini squash, carrots, onions, tomatoes, celery, bell pepper, and rice, and covered with tomatillo sauce) and an Original Margarita (fresh lime juice, lots of booze).  Mmmmmm…all of it was fresh and tasty.  So sad I forgot the camera since I had the burrito, a new dish. 

My mom didn’t want to be alone on New Year’s Eve, so Lily stayed at her house to keep her company and provide soudn effects for the New Year (Lily barks at fireworks sometimes). 

Chris and I headed home and had a quiet evening of TV and organizing receipts (bleh).  Around 11:30 we cracked open this bottle of Cava:

 It was only $8.99 at Cost Plus!

Then Chris and I proceeded to ring in the New Year, and have a heated discussion/semi-fight for 2 hours.  Not fun, but I think we’re okay now.  We seem to fight, get it all out, and then are happy the next day even if things weren’t resolved.  Are we weird or what? 

New Year’s Day involved me eating my oatmeal in the car (!!!) on the way to my mom’s house to pick up Lily, but here’s a pic before I left the house:

I had hoped to get in a workout after picking LB up, but Chris was rarin’ to go to work.  We putzed around the house for awhile, ate lunch, and then headed out:

This lunch was a new take on the new salad I’ve had recently:  spinach, two egg whites, apples, broc slaw, Parmesan cheese, red wine vinegar, ground pepper.  I totally missed the turkey, but it was still good.  My lips were on fire afterward from the acidic vinegar and spicy pepper.  Whoo-ee!

Coming to work sucked, but was rather brief (a few hours).  We had my dad’s birthday dinner, and wanted to work out before that, so we left around 3:15.  My timing totally sucked, and I was only able to get in an intense 20 minutes of cardio   I did intervals on the stairmill, starting at levels 6/9, moving to 9/11, and then coming down to 6/8 and hanging on for dear life at the end.  Wow, that was hard!

Dinner was a fantabulous evening of gluttony at The Heathman Restaurant & Bar in downtown Portland.  Executive Chef Phillipe Boulot creates a wonderful menu full of French Northwest fusion cuisine, borrowing from traditional French techniques while adding in Northwest ingredients.  Bottom line=yummy.  We started with Duval Leroy champagne and moved on to an Oregon Pinot Noir:

  SO good.

My first course was a pear and goat cheese salad.  Totally not what I expected, but incredibly delicious:  the pear was poached in red wine, I think, and pan seared; slivered almonds complemented the micro greens; and the pomegranate vinaigrette went fabulously with the creamy goat cheese.  I ate it all, but for a few bites given away.

 Heaven on a plate.

I also had 1/2 a small piece of bread with butter before this.  The butter was so tasty.

Dinner was hanger steak with bordelaise sauce, l’ami louis potatoes, sauteed spinach, and an onion preparation I can’t remember the name of (half an onion hollowed out, filled with greens, cream, herbs, and baked).  Wow, the amount of meat they gave me was insane.  I gave half of it away, and nearly finished the rest of what was on my plate.  Yikes!

 That’s the onion in the foreground.

Holy moley, that was a good dinner.   But wait, oh no, we were not done by any means!  The dessert & cheese menu was incredibly expansive on this eve…check it out:

 The left side was desserts, the right side cheese.

For some reason the profiteroles sounded good (pistachio ice cream, chocolate ganache sauce), so I ordered those and a decaf coffee with cream.  Ooh la la.

Here’s some of the other desserts my family ordered:

 

Tapioca and prunes brulee.  Light and flavorful.

 

Guittard chocolate decadence (3 frozen mousses: white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate.) The dark chocolate one had salt sprinkled on top–this was a food orgasm for sure!!!

Traditional Tiramisu.  ‘Nuf said.

So, all in all I ate a lot, but it was all so good and I didn’t feel too full while we were there.  Alas, on the drive home I kept getting more full and eventually felt uncomfortable for awhile.  I was very glad I was able to get in my small workout at this point.

The evening was chaotic getting everything ready for the beach, and having the power go out 2 or 3 times.  I thought I may be screwed with getting the laundry done, but all was fine.  Chris and I played chess by candlelight We also had some sparkling red wine my mom gave us:

I went to bed around midnight, and before I knew it 7 am rolled around and I had to get up.  Guess what was outside?!  Snow/sleet!!!!!!!!  Not much, but totally surprising.  Sorry that pic is so dark, but it was really dark outside I suppose. 

I had my usual oats this morning again:

I’m really liking the nut butter in my oats b/c of the rich flavor and chunks of almonds.  Have you tried nut butter in your oats?  Go for it!

I’m a little nervous about the drive to the beach, as a lot of rivers are at flood stage today, which means one of the highways at the beach may be closed.  I could go another route, but it takes and hour longer to drive.  And, there was a mudslide on Hwy 26 last night, but it seems to have been cleared now.  If you’re in Oregon, this website is really helpful for figuring out traffic and road conditions:  Trip Check

Well, I’m off to get a little more work done and hopefully leave before too long.  I didn’t have any lunch fixins at home, so Chris and I will probably eat at the cafe up the hall from our office.  I’m excited for the beach, as is the Lily Bird    I’ll take lots of pics and try to post Sunday night for you all to see!

I hope you all are having a good New Year so far, and that you have a great weekend.  Here’s to a year of happiness and health for you all!

B-b-b-beach, biotch! January 5, 2009

I’ve had that title in my head all day since leaving the beach.  The rhyming was quite catchy to me.

Chris and I just got back late this afternoon from our weekend on the northern Oregon coast, and it was nice to be in a beautiful place with no computer for a few days   Lily Bird had a great time, and I have TONS of pics of her, the beach, food, etc. 

Back to Friday then…Chris and I opted for a quick lunch, and you’ll never believe where we went:  McDonald’s!  I had a grilled chicken BLT, minus the tomato and bacon, with ketchup added.  In other words, bun, chicken, lettuce, tiny bit of ranch, and ketchup.

We headed on down to the coast, taking the longer, lower-elevation route on Hwy. 30 along the Columbia River.  It was pretty, and snowing for quite awhile, but not slippery thankfully.  Here’s Lily looking out the window as we drove over the Youngs Bay Bridge in Astoria. She walked into the picture but it was perfect!

 

I knew it would be really cold at the beach, but I didn’t expect to see sleet/snow on the sand and in some places around town! 

We had a little stop over at the McMenamin’s Sand Trap right across from the hotel before heading to dinner.  I had tea in order to save calories since I knew the eats would be good with Erin and her family.

The evening at Erin’s was so fun!!  We had dinner, played games, had yummy nibbles and wines, caught up on lots of things, sat by the fire…

Roasted chicken, edamame/white bean/ herb/celery salad, nummy bread with butter.  We had a Tyrus Evans Pinot Noir, and sparkling water, with this.

A plate of desserts: chocolate oatmeal cookies, cheesecake bites, shortbread cookies, meringues, peanut butter cookies…. I had at least 6 pcs.  And a few glasses of champagne.

From left:  Megan, me, Erin, and Jack.  Chris was taking the photo–thanks, honey!  I’m so glad we spent a long time over there and were able to relax, play, eat, and laugh a lot.  I love Erin and miss her a lot while she’s away.  I often suck as a friend b/c I don’t pick up the phone  much, so blogging has really been a fun way to stay connected more.  Thanks again for all the fun, sweetie!

Saturday morning Chris and I planned on going to breakfast “early,” but by 9 I was hungry and still waiting for the man to get ready, so I had half of a really ripe nana with some Barney Butter, warmed in the micro.  Not quite white I had hoped for (nana’s taste was too sweet for me), but still good.

The view I had while eating. Love it.

We went to McKeown’s in Seaside for a late breakfast, and it was quite tasty.  I was in the mood for a variety of things, so I had the Lite Breakfast (one egg, potatoes, fruit), one buttermilk pancake, and half of the scone/bread sampler they bring for starters.  And coffee with cream.  Mmmmmm.

[can't access page 2 of my media library; check back for more pics]

Afterward we walked around Seaside with LB for awhile, strolling north and south on the boardwalk, and stopping to get some salt water taffy.  If I don’t get taffy while I’m there from Phillip’s on Broadway I just don’t feel like my trip is complete.  I got a mixed 1/2 lb. (didn’t sound like so much when ordering it…) of vanilla, peppermint, butter, and cinnamon.  So yummy!  Basically insert a few pcs. of taffy in between most meals for the rest of the weekend…it would have been hard to photograph each piece I ate

When we got back we went for a long walk on the beach with Lily.  We let her off the leash and she was lovin’ it– tearing around, sniffing to her heart’s desire, and meeting a few other doggies.  She did splash in the waves a bit, and didn’t seem phased at all by the freezing water.  She ran and ran and ran and ran, and was quite tired when we got back to the room.  I had to bathe her tho, since she smelled like sea water and had sand all over.

Chris and I then had some French red wine while putting together this puzzle.  At first Chris wasn’t that interested in it, but then he got in on the puzzling action and helped me complete it.

We decided to eat at McMenamin’s for dinner, and I had the veggie pizza.  It wasn’t quite cooked enough (not scalding hot and crust not as crispy as it could have been) but it still tasted good at least.

We headed back to the room and played a game of chess, then opened the cava and I had a snack.  Fuji with a wedge of LCL. 

I was soooo tired from not sleeping very well Friday night, and I pooped out right after we started watching “When Harry Met Sally.”  I did sleep better last night, but still woke up a lot. 

This morning (Sunday) I knew we weren’t going out for breakfast, so I got up around 8:30, took the LB out, and had the oatmeal I’d prepped Friday night.  As I ate it I realized I forgot the raisins in it, but didn’t care enough to get up and add them in.

You’ll never guess what Chris and Lily did last night and this morning on the couch:  snuggle!!  Chris doesn’t let Lily up on the couch, but since we were on vacation he tried it out.  They were so cute together!

We packed up and headed out around noon, again driving through Astoria.  We stopped for lunch at the Cannery Cafe.  I had clam chowder and panini with olives, tomato, and cheese.  Everything was pretty rich and tasty; this was my last meal in vacation mode, so I went out with a fatty bang.  :shocked:

The restaurant is on a pier with a lookout, so afterward we got LB out of the car and looked around for a few minutes.  It. was. so. cold.  After 5 minutes and a few pictures we got back in the car and drove on home.

It started snowing right after we arrived at the house!  Not a lot of accumulation, but pretty Of course Chris was thinking of going to Fajitas for dinner, but I had visions of working out in my head so I vowed not to get stuffed, and not to drink alcohol.  I had a Diet Coke, and a soft chicken taco with pickled jalapenos.  Tasty and perfectly filling without being too full. 

Then I remembered about La Casa, and drank half of it. 

 

After this I went to 24 Hour Fitness and cranked out a nice leg workout, some abs, and some cardio.  After a chat with Erin and Andrea last week I took their advice and switched up the workout a bit.  I did Smith machine leg presses, and dead lifts, instead of just the usual machines.  Yay!  I forgot how great the dead lifts are, and I prefer the Smith machine over a stack machine any day.  (Why did I wait til now to integrate it?)  Cardio was 1/2 an hour of elliptical intervals, and then I was done.

I went to the grocery store, cleaned some house, and had a small snack of mostly ff cc.

Honestly, I was trying to deny myself a snack b/c of all the bad eats I had this weekend, but then I got real and realized I needed some food.  This was a perfect snacky-poo for yours truly.

Now I sit here, blogging away for what seems like hours on end, and I should totally head to bed.  I’ll try again to add in page 2 of my pics tomorrow. 

I hope you all had a great weekend!  Yay for weekends!!  Can’t wait til the next one is here   How ’bout you?

Right back in the thick of things January 6, 2009

I feel like it has been forever since I had a whole day at work that was productive, didn’t go really slowly, and didn’t involve me wanting to get outta there.  How sad is that?!  Thankfully today was good and 5:30 rolled around before I knew it.

Last night I knew I didn’t prep my oats before I went to bed, but I was too into getting my blog done and then too tired to take the time.  Since I got up a wee bit later anyhow I just decided to have a Luna bar and coffee for breakfast.  The bar was yummy with lots of little crisps in it and pieces of fruit. 

Lunch rolled around and I had a lunch you’re probably all bored of seeing:  Flatout sundried tomato with turkey, spinach, rainbow slaw, sliced apple, cracked pepper; lf/ff cottage cheese; Stacy’s Pita Chips; and a Fuji.  Half of the cc was for Chris, and I left some Fuji and chips for later.  Yawn, I know.

After a little while something sweet sounded good, so I broke out the saltwater taffy   I had one piece each of peppermint, vanilla, butter, and cinnamon.  Check out what I did with my cinnamon piece; it was so soft and malleable I couldn’t help it!

I found myself getting hungry at some point this afternoon, so I had a little banana.  It was so cute!

I like my bananas with a tiny bit of green on them, and no black spots.  They are just too darn mushy and sweet once they start getting black spots.  How do you like your nanas?

As we walked out to the car to leave I ate the last 3 pcs. of my Fuji:

I already had dinner in mind when eating the apples, and the execution ended up turning out perfectly.  We had smothered chicken chicken grilled in my fancy new pan with sauteed onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos on top, plus a tiny bit of cheese) and mashed potatoes (mixed with Nature’s Seasons, a spoon of light sour cream, and bit of Smart Balance Light).  Yummmmmm!

Oh my god, Dame Edna is on The Graham Norton Show!  I love her character…she’s been around forever on BBC and in entertainment and she’s still knockin’ em dead   Go, Dame!  I should get some glasses like she’s wearing–rhinestone wings would suit me, no?

I ate my dinner a bit too quickly, but thankfully it was intentionally smaller and I didn’t end up overly full.  Good thing because I had a workout in mind all day!

On the way to the gym I hit a pothole the size of Australia and dented the rim on my front left wheel!!!  Holy shit, how did that not pop my tire?  All that damn ice and freezing weather caused many potholes to open up really wide, and I should have known better since I drive that stretch to the gym all the time.  Shit.  Thankfully the tire guy at Costco said I don’t need to get it replaced, and it is not unsafe.  My spare tire is a full sized wheel just like that one, so I guess I can swap it out if I want.  This whole incident totally pissed me off and made me want to put a cone in the road where that damn hole is. 

My ire gave me a bit of a spark working out, as did listening to Limp Bizkit Significant Other cranked loudly while doing weights   I hit up the upper bod with some different exercises than I’ve been doing, and with a bit more intensity.  I’m seeing a lot more muscle in my arms, and am sooo glad that the flappin’ triceps aren’t flappin’ so much anymore.  Yay! 

After doing some back, triceps, chest, biceps, shoulders, and abs I headed downstairs for a major cardio sesh: 20 minutes of intervals each on the elliptical, stair mill, and treadmill.  This all added up to one hot, sweaty me and a lot of calories and stress down the tubes.  Double yay!

Yesterday I weighed myself on the gym scale, and I swear the thing knows it is me and refuses to show a weight of less than 153 :shocked:  Boo.  Fuck it!  Thank god I’m seeing progress…hopefully 10 pounds will just fall off soon, and if not, at least I’ll still be toning up, right?  Even with all of this positive thinking I’m still a tad disappointed with not shedding the pounds yet.  I don’t like seeing more than 140 on the scale, and I was the skinniest I’ve been as an adult at 125.  I think 130 would be great.  I was doing more cardio than weights recently, but I read somewhere that doing only cardio can lead to a lower resting metabolic rate, so I have a renewed gusto for the weights now.

Once home I showered, did some recycling, loaded the dishwasher, did the handwash, played with Lily, did some laundry, and here I am watching BBCA.  It is late already! Like 12:30!  Holy shit!  About an hour ago my tummy grumbled and I had another cute little nana:

Woops, that pic turned out bigger than expected.  I still am not a master of inserting pics after two months.  Whateva.

Chris is having a fire and sitting on the couch that Lily gets on when we’re gone.  After his beach experience cuddling with Lily on the couch he said he may do it here at home on that couch, and low and behold he is there with her right now!!!!!  SO. CUTE.   Check it out:

She is so happy to be snuggling with her daddy right now   Since Chris doesn’t let her up on the furniture while we’re home she doesn’t get to snuggle with him much (he gets on the floor with her every once in awhile).  I just added another few logs on the fire and she is even cuter.  I’m a little jealous, actually!

My legs are so sore from yesterday already, I’m hobbling around–it’s great!  I miss that super soreness, but have been a little too lazy or easy going on the weights for the last few months.  I really prefer free weights and barbell machines over stack machines for like 90% of my exercises; how about you?

Goodnight and an early happy Tuesday to you!

Glad it’s over… January 6, 2009

Today wasn’t so bad, but started out kinda crappy and didn’t end up a whole lot better.  Personal stuff, business stuff, and client goings on mostly ended up being slightly negative today.  Thankfully nothing huge or life changing, so let’s move on…

Ah, breakfast oats are soothing and oh so good.  I ran out of Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats and am back to Freddy’s bulk.  Not sure which I like more.  Bob’s are bigger and chewier, but they don’t absorb as much liquid as the bulk oats.  Perhaps I’ll just switch back and forth over time for a little variety here and there. 

Steel cut oats, almond milk, water, raisins, Barney Butter, and cinnamon.  I ate these at home while getting ready this morning since we were running a tad on the later side.

I’ve just about killed my first jar of Barney Butter from Christmas.  Wowza.  I like it, but must admit I haven’t had many other nut butters and I am no expert.  I may have to make a special trip to Whole Foods or Trader Joes once I kill the 2nd jar. 

When I booted my computer at work this morning here’s what I was greeted with:

Say what?!  Aw, shit, more computer crap?  I called the Technology Help Desk as the message suggested, and they only told me to keep changes.  Say what again?  You want me to keep possibly viral changes?  Shit again.  I did and the computer seemed to work fine until I got my McAfee scan going, when it zonked out, lost the task bar, and froze.  After a reboot and successful scan I think I got all the junk off of it.  Technology is such a pain in the ass.  But it makes my life easier and I love blogging so I ain’t gonna swear it off or anything like that

Chris and I had a lunch appt that boged out this morning, so we ended up going to Red Robin for lunch (danger!!), but only on the condition that we get a teriyaki chicken burger since we always split something and I didn’t want a calorie overload. 

I think I got the bigger half, and, yes, I did dip the fries in a little bit of ranch.  Since I don’t like mayo at least I saved a few calories by leaving that off.  I used The Daily Plate to figure out the nutritional content, and it is estimated to be about 480 calories plus the ranch.  Not too bad.

The afternoon had a high point with a great client conversation, and then a lower point with a shitty client conversation–basement flooded and $20k+ of damage not covered by insurance.  For anyone out there who has a sump pump or high ground water, just get flood insurance.  Homeowners insurance won’t cover ground water seeping into a house, so you best not find that out when something shitty has already happened. 

I was hungry around 4pm and had a snack of cottage cheese and a small banana.  I also had tea during the afternoon.

Around 5:30 we headed out to Si Senor, and I forgot to take my camera into the restaurant.  I thought I may be working out later, so I had a big Diet Coke (24 oz!).  I wanted to switch up the menu a bit, so I had two crunchy tacos: one chicken and one picadillo.  I also had chips and salsa, of course. 

[Imagine two cute crunchy tacos with meat, lettuce, and a tiny bit of cheese here.  Then imagine me adding pickled jalapenos to them for some spice ]

Chris and I watched the new Nip/Tuck on FX at 8 (shows come on at east coast time on DirecTV), and man, it was craaaaaaaaaaaazy good!!  I haven’t watched it much for a few years, and I miss it.  I think I may have to get the DVDs to catch up.

Wow, where does the time go?!  It is almost 11 and I need to go to bed.  I haven’t gotten much good sleep for about 5 nights and I miss it.  I also ran out of my cortisol manager supplement that helps me sleep, so that ain’t helpin’ my cause. 

I was going to workout tonight, but my body is sore all over (in a good way) and my knees hurt a bit (in a bad way).  As much as I burn to get healthier, I don’t want to overdo it and set myself back further.  I can’t workout tomorrow night b/c of my first Master Recycler course, but I can still get in 4 or 5 days of workouts this week so skipping tonight isn’t that bad.

On another note, I’m totally aching to start using my kitchen scale!!!  My dad got me a great spring scale that can do liquid or dry foods and came with a pour bowl, but I know Chris’ mom also got me a nice digital one.  We are having Christmas with Chris’ parents on Monday, so I have to wait until then to see which one I like more.  Today I thought about it and since the digital one uses batteries it is not as environmentally friendly as the spring one, but reading and using the digital one may be easier.  What to do?!  Sheesh, the hard decisions I’m faced with, eh?  Vote and let me know what you’d do :0

AMF!  (And if you know what that means say hey-ay! I’m such a crass bitch sometimes )

Master Recycler, Part Un January 8, 2009

Hello there faithful readers!  There are about 50 of you on average each day now   Yippee!  I would love it if more of you commented, tho (hint hint!).  Come on out of the woodwork and let me know what’s up in your neck of the woods. 

I was super lazy and tired this morning and didn’t get out of bed until 9am.  Holy shit.  Pretty lame, right?  Eventually I arrived at work and ate my oatmeal there.  Same mix as yesterday, but it didn’t seem quite as flavorful. I think I’m not adding as many raisins, so it hasn’t been as sweet.

My work computer is annoying me big time…got the same “registry altered, possibly by a virus” message on start up today, had a few crash/freeze incidents during the day, and just hope I can do a restore tomorrow and be rid of the shiznit.

I was busy busting out work and dealing with the computer stuff, and didn’t end up eating lunch until about 1:45.  Sundried tomato Flatout with 1/2 a wedge LCL, two slices of turkey, a handful of spinach, a grab of rainbow slaw, and some ground pepper.  I missed the LCL and will be adding that back in more.  That’s a whole little Fuji on the left.

My 3pm meeting ended up lasting until 4:55 somehow…shouldn’t have been that long.  I had to bust ass outta there in order to get home and make dinner before heading to my first Master Recycler class!  I threw a quick and easy meal on:  whole wheat spaghetti and Prego Italian Sausage pasta sauce  with black olives added.  I’m not a fan of Italian sausage–it’s for Chris–but the sauce is good.  I grated some fresh Parmesan on top

And I was off!  I arrived a few minutes late and was almost blown away by the wind.  We’re having quite the wind storm right now, but not as much rain as was predicted in the city. 

Class was interesting and informative, and I like the leader, Lauren.  Our topics tonight were solid waste and Oregon recycling laws.  I had no idea that our landfill waste is trucked all the way out to Arlington, like 135 miles from Portland–85 trucks per day, with each truck carrying 5-6 tons of garbage.  WOW!   And, Seattle’s waste is brought down to the same landfill! The recovery rate (recovery = reduced, reused, recycled, composted, or used for energy) in the Portland metro area is 55%, and the City of Portland is 64%.  The methane gas gathered over the old St. Johns landfill is used to power the kilns at cement factories locally, among other things.  I borrowed a video called “Affluenza,” which is about the hyper-consumerism that has plagued our country in the last several years.  Hopefully I can watch that tomorrow.  I’ll add some factoids and links to my Three R’s page for y’all to ponder.  Love the details I get to learn!

I got a little hungry during class, and they had Hot Lips pizza!  Wish I had known that and I may have saved myself instead of having pasta.  But, alas, I resisted and ate this great bar from my Secret Santa when I got home:

This bar deserves two thumbs up:  great texture, great taste, organic, vegan, low-glycemic index, all natural, low sodium, good fats…need I say more??  The sunflower seeds are abundant and provide most of the nutty flavor, but there were also walnuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, rice crispies, and are those peanuts I see in the pic?  Thanks, Santa! 

Chris had Billy Joel blasting and was doing at-home karaoke!  He sang a few songs to me; it was sweet   I took a pic as he read lyrics off of the computer while he sang yet more later on.  That’s my silly man trying not to laugh when I was taking the pic.

I’m sad I missed Top Chef tonight, and I’ll have to try to catch it on reruns for the rest of the season.  I don’t have the patience to watch it online.  Oh well, at least I’m missing it for a great cause

Hope you all had a great Wednesday!

Yackety-yack, don’t talk back January 9, 2009

All of a sudden I’m not feeling so hot.  I think I’m hungry, tired, and have allergies (my Christmas tree is still up and drying out!)

Today was punctuated with periods of lots of talking, and in between Iwas pretty much silent for a few hours.  Some days are weird like that, you know?

I woke up and realized there was no oatmeal waiting for me, so I had a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares, almond milk, a sliced banana, and a sprinkle of cinnamon for breakfast while making today’s lunch.  Yummy, but I wish I had more time to eat it slowly rather than wolf it down.

The morning went rather quickly, and Chris had a long meeting so I held off on eating until about 1.  He was too busy to eat (he’s so bad!), so I ate at my desk while I read blogs. 

Flatout sundried tomato with 1/2 a wedge of LCL, two slices of turkey, spinach, rainbow slaw, and ground pepper; small Fuji apple; handful of Stacy’s Pita Chips.  Thanks for the comments on how my wraps look!  I like seeing the cross section of them when I cut them in half   Flatouts are pretty easy to roll b/c they’re stretchy and soft; I usually have to be careful not to rip tortillas.

Hmmm….I was mostly silent for the afternoon working on various stuff, including my shitty work computer virus issue, and blogging here and there.  I had peach black tea while I was working. 

I really need to take an insulated mug to work for my afternoon tea.  When I need to use a cup like this I reuse it as long as possible without it seeming gross.  Cups like this aren’t recyclable b/c of the plasticized liner

Suddenly it was after 4 and I was starving, so I had about 1/2 a cup of this lf/ff cottage cheese mix.  That’s a Doggie Dooley in the background!  It is basically a mini septic tank for your dog’s waste.  I’m thinking of getting it so I don’t have to throw away Lily’s poo; with the help of environmentally friendly enzymes & water the poo will break down and seep into the ground.  Only thing is I have a ton of clay in my backyard, so I’ll have to search for a good place to put it.

Then I wanted something sweet, so I had two pieces of taffy:  peppermint and vanilla.  Mmmmmmm.

We left around 5:30, and Chris mentioned going to Fajitas for dinner.  I figured I wouldn’t drink and I would get just a taco, so that was fine by me.  Once there our favorite waiter, Pedro, just brought us two Casuelas since that’s what we always order.  What was I gonna do?  Refuse it?  So I had part of it, one beef taco, and one chicken taco.  And the obligatory chips and salsa beforehand, of course.

I traded some of the cheese on these with Chris for some of his jalapenos

I think I reached my limit about half way through this, so Chris got the other half. 

Once home I changed right away and headed to the gym for a leg workout and cardio.  It was great!  I pumped the Limp Bizkit again and it was great.  I was annoyed a few times by stupid stuff, though, and really did want to break stuff here and there.  The weight plates were totally disorganized and all over the place, and so many people were on their damn phones texting and just sitting on machines not doing anything.  Seriously.  It was a texting convention.  Were they all texting each other in a big conspiracy to take up space in the gym???  At least they didn’t get in my way too much.

Cardio was a mix of 20 minutes of intervals on the stairmill followed by 20 minutes of walking on an inclined treadmill.  Sweaty goodness!

I was getting toooooooo hungry a few minutes ago, so I had a few pcs. of TJ’s Cinnamon Flatbread.  It’s a little stale but still good

I can’t believe how quickly my dishes piled up the last two days.  Ick.  I had to take care of that shit when I got home, and now my blogging adventure has me going to bed a tad late (nearly midnight).  I must get more sleep tonight. 

Take a look to the right under “pages” up at the top o’ the page. I’ll be adding new pages in The Three R’s as I learn more about waste, recycling, reducing, reusing, etcetera, in my course.  I hope you’ll learn a lot, too, and share your knowledge with those around you   Nothing there now but a test page, but I’ll try to add a new page each week.  Let me know if there’s anything in particular you want to know about or need help with!

BTW, I added some new links today:  TerraCycle, a link to stop the weekly junk mail coupons in your mail, and a link to The Daily Plate.  Check them out if you have a second!

In parting, a picture of Chris with Lily Bird on the couch next to him.  Awwwwww

My cup runneth out January 10, 2009

Woo hoo!  This week flew by for some reason. Can’t believe it is Saturday morning already and I’m loving it.  I got up super early to take my dad and Liz to the airport, and I’m stayin’ up to enjoy a nice long morning!  You may not know this about me:  I like having a long morning when I get up early.  I know I’m totally a night owl usually, but when I get up early I relish in the earliness.

I ran out of like every food I ate yesterday, mostly after I had my portion for the day.  Must do some major restocking today!

Yesterday was quite standard fare in the a.m. and for lunch, but deviated in the p.m.

Breakfast in the a.m. was my ever popular steel cut oats, water, almond milk, raisins, Barney Butter, and cinnamon.  Mmm, mmm, good.  Notice anything different?  I decided I needed to spice up the pic somehow…

That’s the little Mexican ladybug bobblehead that sits on my desk.  She thought the oats smelled great, too

The morning went pretty quickly with the work I was doing, and around 12:30 I was at a stopping point and decided to go for lunch.  Chris was still in a meeting, so I ate at my desk while reading blogs.  Same thing as yesterday, except I ran out of spinach and only had rainbow slaw as the veg in my wrap.

I was in a chatty mood with my office mate, Kristin, and that helped pass the time as I worked.  I really did get a lot done, tho, even tho I was talking. 

Hunger came knocking eventually, so I had a Clif Nectar Cherry Pomegranate bar.  There was a tiny piece of nut shell in it!  Eeeek!  I cannot stress how much I love the simple goodness of these bars since they only have four ingredients, are moist, have nutty chunks, and are 2 full servings of fruit.  They are very sticky, tho, so I always hold them with the wrapper.

After a little last minute frustration at work over an employee not doing her job, we headed home and I began preparing dinner.  I’m totally scared to mention what Chris had to eat…let’s just say it was a stroganoff prepared with meat from Canada from an animal with antlers   I had no interest in eating it, even tho it pretty much looked and smelled like beef.  A client of his brought him the meat and we’ve had it frozen for awhile.  I’m glad to have finally cooked it and be moving on.

My dinner, on the other hand, was vegetarian as it turns out.  I had a Gardenburger Riblet and steamed broccoli sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.  I guess it was more like a dinner snack since it was so lite on the cals.  I knew I was going to work out and didn’t want to feel bogged down.  Yummy!  Must restock on those riblets!

How do you like your broccoli?  Chris loves his steamed until it’s a mushy mess, and I like mine on the al dente side.

My workout was good, and thankfully the gym was not very busy.  A girl was smoking on the doormat to the front entrance (!!! :shocked: ); apparently she doesn’t know the law is to stand at least 10 feet from the door.  Anywho, when I got onto the floor the weights were anywhere but where they were supposed to be, so I spent awhile re-racking what others had scattered about.  Did my good deed for the day

I then set into a decent upper body workout with mostly free weights.  I’m lovin’ the additional muscle mass I see My body naturally has a tendency to grow large arm and shoulders, and have a relatively little mid section and hips, so I look kinda Popeye ish sometimes.  He-he.  At one point some creepy asshole was staring at me and smirking while I was doing seated rows.  Ew.

I hit up the Abench, standing side bends, and the ab cruncher machine in an effort to firm up the mid section.  I swear my stomach is fatter than it was!  Ahhhhhhh!  But I do feel smaller and leaner in general.  Oh, the drama. 

Cardio was about 50 minutes of intervals on the elliptical.  I was on there when 9pm rolled around, so I watched about 1/2 an hour of Lipstick Jungle before heading home.  Since when did Joe Bennett go broke?!  Wish I had a DVR.

I hadto clean up the kitchen, but I was also getting very hungry.  No more cottage cheese, fruit, yogurt….and then it struck me…cereal!  Yay!  I like eating cereal but don’t do it very often.  I had Essential 10 with almond milk.  I like the cereal in general, but some of the chai spice pieces almost get stuck in my throat each time I eat it.  I may not go for a repeat on it once I’m done.

Chris was watching “Highlander” (I had never heard of this series before meeting him; have you seen/heard of it?), and I decided it was time to hit the hay.  My sleep has been suffering a bit, and I knew I had to get up at 4 for the trip to the airport. 

Check this out–like the dork I am I set my alarm for 4 pm instead of 4am, but woke up anyway at 3:30-ish b/c I had to pee so bad, and stayed in bed until it seemed like it was after 4.  Low and behold it was 4:15, so I had to get my ass going.  I totally got lucky there.  Now it is about 6:15am and I may disassemble the Christmas tree and do some other house stuff.  Lovin’ my long morning already, even tho I’m dead tired. 

Chris’ parents are coming over Monday night for our Christmas celebration, so expect to see/hear about a lot of cleaning and organizing this weekend.  We’re having pizza (yeah, I know), so no major food prep of any sort, but I just feel like the house is totally dingy and cluttered again.  It is strange…his parents’ house is a cluttered, dirty nightmare, but I still feel obligated to make my house look spic’n’span when they come over.  Gotta set a good example, ya know?  

Tata!  Talk to y’all later.  Have a great Saturday

Bionic woman January 10, 2009

What’s up?  How was your Saturday?  Mine has somehow been really, really long, way more than I thought I would be able to stand.  I woke up around 3:30 and got up at 4:15 this morning.  Oy vey.  But, I did look forward to my long morning and productive day.

After I dropped my dad and Liz off at the airport I came home, put on the boob tube, posted for yesterday, brewed some cafe, took down the Christmas tree, and finally ate around 7 I think.  Steel cut oats, almond milk, water, cinnamon, raisins, Barney Butter.

Taking down the Christmas tree was sad   It had been up for like a month, but I always get kinda sad when putting away the ornaments and stuff.

After I ate I can’t remember much til I left for pilates around 9:30.  I was feeling pretty tired…I think I organized a little more and watched TV.  That is so crazy I can’t remember!

Pilates was good, bad, and ugly all at the same time.  I did really well on some moves, and sucked major ass on others.  Since I have done abs the last two days some of the ab work was pretty tough for me in class.  We did a cool new move today that I liked, tho:  a modified helicopter.

After class I was seriously feeling strange from how tired I was.  I chatted with Andrea and her friend after class and they probably thought I was on something! 

Once home I played with Lily and made lunch:  a sundried tomato Flatout, two slices of turkey, one scrambled egg, 1/2 a wedge LCL, and rainbow slaw.  I added a few shakes of Italian herbs to the eggs, but the whole wrap wasn’t as tasty as I expected.  I also had some Stacy’s Pita Chips on the side since I was totally out of fruit, cottage cheese, and other possible sides.

I was soooooo tired after this, and have another memory gap between noon and 1-ish.  I think I was just parked on the couch watching TV and talking with Chris, and between 1 and 2 I tried napping but never quite fell asleep

Eventually I went to the grocery store.  Oh, but first I was too hungry and I finally ate this Luna Nutz Over Chocolate bar I’ve had for awhile.  It was good, but I think I liked the berry almond one better.

I am so happy to be stocked up again on fruit, veggies, and snacks/sides.  I had a major need to buy fruit arise while I was perusing that section, so I ended up with Pink Lady apples, some small pink grapefruits, and bananas.  I look forward to tasting the apples and grapefruit tomorrow.

Once home I unpacked the groceries, cleaned out a few things from the fridge, and prepped dinner items.  I somehow started getting a second wind while doing this, and didn’t feel really tired again until just now (nearly 11:30!  How did I make it this long!!???).  I drank a big glass and a half of this Diet V8 Splash Tropical Blend, too.  I know, it has Splenda in it…but I wanted something tasty without tons of sugar and this did the trick.

Dinner was easy and pretty good, but I keep feeling like something is missing flavor-wise from my stir fries.  Chicken, carrot, broccoli, green pepper, onion, stir fry sauce, red wine vinegar, garlic, and toasted sesame seeds on mine. Oh, and the last bit of brown rice we had.

I started thinking about snacking a few hours later, and here’s sort of how my thought process went:  ‘Hmmm, I want some yogurt, but not just yogurt and banana like I usually have.  Banana and Barney Butter?  Too caloric.  Cereal and banana?  Too plain.  How about a little of all of them put together with a dash of cinnamon.  Okay!’  This worked out to be around 220 cals, I think: 1/4 cup Quaker Oatmeal Squares, 1/4 cup Dannon Light & Fit vanilla (more Splenda!), 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp Barney Butter, dash of cinnamon.

The tastes were good, but I think the banana wasn’t quite ripe enough since the whole mix wasn’t as sweet as I’d hoped.  I really liked the BB, yogurt, and cereal tastes together.

I’m really, really tired now and must finally get some sleep.  This is the first week in a loooong time that I have not had a full night’s sleep any night this week.  Oy vey again.  Hopefully I can pass out now   I’m excited for yoga tomorrow, esp. since I haven’t been for over a week. 

Ciao, bellas!

Super Sunday January 11, 2009

Woo hoo, I got some sleep last night!  I set the alarm for 8 so I could get up, eat, all that jazz, before yoga, but it was so hard to get out of bed.  I really wanted to sleep in all morning, but finally dragged my ass out of bed at 8:45. 

Coffee, oatmeal, and a little blogging followed.  I was really slow and clumsy for a little while, but eventually I perked up and was glad I got up instead of sleeping more.

Around 9:40 I left for yoga, and arrived to find the studio already open (no class beforehand) and the room really full already.  Wowza, that was one full class today.  We had to stagger and get pretty close, and the body heat was pretty intense.  It was a good class, tho!!  Loved it!! I was totally expecting to suck but actually did rather well and felt great.  So great, in fact that I did a half hour of intervals on the stair mill afterward.  Yay!

I ran to Costco afterward to pick up some laundry detergent, and ended up coming home with a stick vacuum, too!!  I’ve had my eye on the Electrolux Ergorapido for a long time now, and decided that having easily cleaned floors was worth the $90.  I hate sweeping with a passion, and I hate getting out the big vacuum to do the hard floors even more.  It is charging now and tomorrow I should be able to report on how the initial use goes. 

When I got home I was famished and really wanted something yummy and a little different.  I opted for a spinach salad with turkey, egg white, apple, shaved Parmesan, red wine vinegar, and black pepper.  The spinach was tough   So sad!  It is a fresh bag with a date 1 week from now and I’m so upset it is not tender.  Boo.  I had the rest of the Pink Lady apple and some cottage cheese on the side.

I began cleaning and organizing, and a few hours later I was hungry again, so I had some yogurt with sliced almonds and 1/2 a banana, and a grapefruit.  Yummy!  The grapefruit was really ruby red and juicy, and although it was a tad bitter I did not add sugar and loved it as it was

More cleaning and organizing, a shower (yes, finally, ew) later and we headed out for a roundabout of tasks.  I dropped Chris off at the gym and went to Goodwill to donate a whole trunk full of stuff.  Whew, that felt good to finally clear it out and help others in the process.  Then I ventured inside the store (an outlet store) and was almost horrified at first.  Imagine diving in giant bins of secondhand goods in a big open, stinky warehouse.  Wow.  It was intense.  I looked at some of the clothes, furniture, etc, and decided to head out without getting anything.  I think I’ll stick to the regular retail-style thrift store in the future. 

After the store and picking up Chris we headed to dinner at Fajitas.  My mom met us there.  I had part of a Casuela (super boozy tonight! :/), chips and salsa, and a ground beef taco.  I know I should have had chicken, but the beef sounded tastier. 

And, of course, I had La Casa to wrap things up.  This is such a sinful mix…I asked again what is in it and found out it is made with 1/2 & 1/2, not milk!  Eeeek.  So, all in all it is 1/2 & 1/2, ice cream, and Bailey’s blended with a nice dash of cinnamon on top.  I drank the whole thing b/c the convo was a bit stressful. 

I became really tired at dinner and coupled with the convo that put me in a funk.  After I got home I went into a tissy and began ripping nails out of the walls and hanging art that has been sitting on the floor in my  spare bedroom for far too long.  I’ve lived in this house for 4 years, and only had a few things on the wall.  Most of our walls were riddled with nails that Chris’ ex put everywhere, and they were all way too high for enjoying any art.  I hope Chris likes the new configuration…he’s out right now.  He was resistant to me taking down his old posters and hanging real art, but I think he’ll either like it or just deal with it.  It has really bothered me that for 4 years I haven’t had hardly any of my art hanging.  When my mom moved this summer I took a smattering of her art that I like, and that is most of what I hung up.

BTW, I say “my spare bedroom” b/c we have a 3 bd. house, and one of the bd’s is my closet; I call it my bedroom.  Now if I can just clean out the rest of the extra shit that has accumulated in there…

Well, it is almost 11:30 and I’m ready for bed.  I hope you all had a nice weekend and are ready for a great week ahead!!  I’m glad I had a productive Sunday, and look forward to enjoying my clean house and my new vacuum all week.  Cheers

My, my…Monday January 12, 2009

So it was Monday, and not a very eventful day I guess.  Slept in a bit, went to acupuncture, had Christmas with Chris’ parents finally, blah blah blah.  It wasn’t quite a case of the Mondays, but sort of felt like that.

We had to get ready rather quickly, and I knew I didn’t have time to eat my oatmeal at work before acupuncture, so I ate it while getting our food ready for the day.

I think the new cinnamon I bought tastes a little different…not quite sure what it is, but it just seems a little bit off. 

Acupuncture was intense.  I went in not thinking I had many problems (elbow, knee, shoulders just slightly off), but I was quite the pincushion today.  Randy put needles a little deeper in my traps to induce fatigue and make them relax.  They were indeed fatigued today and sore.  He used a balancing approach today more than anything, which involves treating the energy channels related to the problems.  For example, my TMJ is on the gall bladder channel that runs on the side of the legs, so he put needles in the side of my legs.  My knee was hurting a little, which is on the liver that runs down the arms as well, so he put needles in my arms.  Other than the traps my body felt great today

I wasn’t that hungry when lunch time rolled around, but I ate a little anyway of the standard fare:

When my hunger returned I had the rest of the apple and some chips.  Then it came back again and I had the rest of the cottage cheese.  No pics since that would be a tad redundant.

I had some tea and lots of water this afternoon as I spent like two hours trying to de-bug my computer.  McAfee kept finding a rootkit issue over the last week and deleting it, but it keeps coming back.  Internet Explorer kept encountering errors and needing to close, so I wasn’t able to get very far on any of my online applications.  Fucking thing wouldn’t even go to a restore point.  WTF.  I’m not sure what to do at this point.  I was trying to download AVG today since I heard good things from a coworker, but the installation process kept freezing   Boo.  Hopefully tomorrow brings solutions since I need to use the damn thing for some work due in the afternoon. 

That’s my little food and workout journal in the foreground.  I remembered an insulated mug for tea at the office!  No more wasted cups   Anyhow, moving on…

Chris’ parents were coming over for dinner, and we decided on Godfather’s Pizza, so I called in the order this afternoon and ran to get it when we got home around 5:40.  The smell of it in the car was absolute torture on the way home!  Oh so good!  I didn’t photograph anything as I ate tonight…didn’t really want to explain the whole blog thing for some reason.  I took pics afterward. 

Dinner went pretty well, the pizza was okay, and all in all the night ended fine.  My pizza was a medium thin crust Hawaiian light on the cheese and with black olives added.  Good, but would have been better fresher (traffic held up the parents).  I had three pieces; I looked up the nutritional info online beforehand and knew each one had about 190 cals.  I also knew I had 700 cals left for the day before reaching dinner and I was just fine expending most of them on dinner.

Dessert was a chocolate plate with fudge and chocolate almond squares.  I had 3 squares of this:

 MMM!

Chris’ mom gave me a digital kitchen scale, chocolates, and a little black lab ornament for Christmas   The kitchen scale is heavy duty:

Holds up to 22 lbs!  No problem weighing my turkeys and roasts, I guess!!!  Or HUGE batches of bread??  Hahaha.  I don’t have a 9V battery, tho, so I have to wait to use it until tomorrow.  I’m still kinda torn over the whole scale thing…neither one of them is exactly what I had thought of and I don’t know what to do.  This was no cheap scale, either, and I feel bad she spent so much on it. 

After Chris’ parents left he asked something about if I was going to mention the artwork change/if I thought he’d notice, and then he said he didn’t really want to discuss it.    Great.  That should be a fun discussion.

Oh, and I used my new stick vac tonight!  I was super excited and whipped it out right when we got home, and I liked it   It is really easy to use, and seems to vacuum pretty well.  It doesn’t have a very wide track, so if you’re trying to vacuum a large floor it may take a little while (probably not longer than sweeping), but it is great for what I need.  We detached the hand vac and attacked some dust and cobwebs, and I used it not too long ago when Lily came in from outside.  Yay!  No more broom!  Emptying the dust cup is easy, and filter seems to grab the little particles of dirt and dust well.  Double yay!  Chris even used it to vacuum under the dining room table and under where the couch had been when we moved it.  Go honey!

Shit, it is really late all of a sudden, and I just kinda feel like putting an end to the day.  I hope my traps aren’t sore tomorrow.  I look forward to working out, a few good client meetings, and a good dinner.  Shit, I just realized dinner will take a long time to prepare and I have a later meeting.  Shit again.  Tune in tomorrow to see what happens!

Busy bitch January 14, 2009

Today was pretty busy and went by really quickly.  But all in all, it was good and much better than yesterday

I woke up around 8 and finally got up at 8:30.  I had my oats while making lunch for Chris and I, and was kind of sad to wolf them down in between tasks.  I like the nut butter in my oats, but I may have to do something a bit different to kick things up.  I saw Erin got some figs, and remembered that I really liked dried figs in my oatmeal.  Mental note to get figs when I run out of raisins…

I’m like Andrea and prefer my oats on the dry side, and these were a tad too mushy for me since I added some water when they were done.

My morning was a bit frustrating b/c of client issues and computer issues, but I think I started making some progress on the computer front.  Eventually I ate lunch with Chris around 12:30, but wasn’t that hungry.  My wrap was slightly different today.  I used a tortilla instead of a Flatout b/c I forgot Flatouts until I was clear on the other side of the store, and the tortillas were right in front of me.  They are Mission Life Balance Whole Wheat and seemed pretty good.

Back to work and solving financial problems.  In my line of work what seems like the smaller problems end up taking the most time and energy.  For example, helping someone develop and implement a budget and reduce spending is really hard, but building an investment portfolio and doing their retirement plan is somewhat easy.  Seems backward, but rings true.  i had some lemon ginger tea while I crunched #s.

Before I knew it 3:30 rolled around and I knew I should eat something before my two back to back meetings.  I bought a Kashi Go Lean Roll the other day, and tried it out.  It was caramel nut something flavored, and not that impressive.  The sticky texture made it hard to eat, and the flavor was a little too protein-bar-y.  But, with lots of protein and fiber it held me over until after 7, so no gripes there.

I had the other half of my apple while heading out of the office:

Because of our long day and hunger Chris and I decided to go to Si Senor for dinner instead of cook at home.  I had chips & salsa, and 1 1/2 tacos (one chicken, 1/2 beef).  I forgot the camera in the car and was too lazy to go get it.  After we ate we picked up the LB at my mom’s house and went home.  I knew I had to go work out since tomorrow would probably not work out (no pun intended ), so I headed off to the gym at nearly 10. 

I set into a leg workout, did some abs, and then wrapped up with a sweaty 15 minutes on the stair mill.  I am so happy that spending time on the stair mill is becoming easier; I used to barely last 10 minutes, and lately 15-30 minutes haven’t been too tough.  Andrea, thanks for the idea to do intervals!!  It totally makes the time go by and is easier mentally than doing the same speed the whole time.

I got home around 11:15 and now it is after 12:30!  I had better go since I have to be up earlier tomorrow.  As you know, I have been SO bad about going to bed at a decent hour for the last two weeks.  I just can’t say no!  At least the sleep I’ve gotten has been better   Nighty, night, y’all!

A socially responsible day January 14, 2009

I did not sleep well last night   I woke up a lot for various reasons, but at least after I got up I didn’t feel tired at all today.

I wolfed down my oats as I prepped lunch.  That was the last of my oats until I go to the store, so a change is in order tomorrow.  I had a bigger than usual bowl of steel cut oats with more raisins than normal, Barney Butter, almond milk, water, and cinnamon.  I figured out that this cinnamon tastes almost floral; guess that’s what I get for buying the cheap stuff

(side bar:  FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK.  When I insert pics it deletes a paragraph!  Ahhhh.  Just had to insert all pics and write afterward.  WordPress, fix this shit!)

I started my day with a rep from Calvert Investments, one of the oldest and largest socially responsible fund companies in the world.  It dawned on me that I should probably put my money where my mouth is and support socially reponsible companies around the world.  Duh!  I like their new approach, too, called the SAGE Strategies, that strive to push currently non-socially responsible companies to become more socially reponsible. 

My lunch was the same as yesterday.  I left 1/2 of the apple, a few chips, and most of the cc.

The afternoon went quickly, and I think I finally solved the damn computer problem!!  Yayayayayaya!  Finally. I read more data on the item McAfee kept removing (it was called StealthMBR!rootkit), found out it was embedded in my registry, that I was not letting the fix stick b/c I kept undoing the changes at startup, blah blah blah, I think it is fixed now.  Microsoft Security Center was helpful, as that’s where I learned what the program was and how it could have affected me.  Turns out it was a nasty bug that could potentially steal info off of my computer, passwords, have remote control, etc.  Not kosher!  But, supposedly Microsoft doesn’t think it has hurt anyone yet.

Anywho.  Eventually I ate my last two chips, and not too long after had two pieces of taffy, one peppermint and one butter.

We left work a little early so I could prepare dinner before heading to Master Recycler class.  I made stuffed peppers, and found a way to save water while doing it–nuke the peppers instead of boil them!  I totally forgot the rice until the last minute and ended up nuking it until par-cooked.  Thankfully it did end up cooking mostly while in the oven. 

All in all, this recipe was: 3 green bell peppers halved lengthwise & nuked 5 minutes, 1lb 93% lean ground beef sauteed with 1/2 a chopped onion, I then stirred in 1 can tomatoes with green chiles, 1/2 can tomato sauce, Nature’s Seasoning, Italian herbs, Jerk seasoning and ~1 cup cooked brown rice, then stuffed the peppers, poured a little more tomato sauce on top, and added a little shredded medium cheddar after baking.  I baked them for about 30 minutes, and all was well! I  also had the rest of my apple from lunch since I only had one portion of pepper.

Tonight’s MR class was about the recycling process and curbside recycling.  Not much new stuff, but some great tidbits.  I know I said I’d post under my new page, but I’ve been bad about doing that.  Sorry….I’ll get there

Around 8:30 we had a break, and I had a little snack of 2 wedges pita bread, ~2 T hummus, 2 small celery sticks, 2 baby carrots, and 1/2 of a small slice of poppyseed bread.  Good stuff!

During class we passed around this pie plate showing what usually happens to glass at a paper mill:

Not pretty, eh?  The glass hurts their machines, and then gets bound up with paper fibers and staples/paper clips, which then cannot be sorted out and scrapped.  That’s one ugly mess!  Here in the Portland area we recycle glass separately from our big bin of mixed stuff, and that reduces the glass contamination drastically.  Paper mills still get tons of glass mixed in, tho, so until our population is more diligent it will still be a problem.

Well, I’m tired, it’s 11:15, and I think I’ll go to bed a little earlier than I have lately. Tomorrow will be a bit long again, and no oats to start me off!  What will I ever do?

Yay, Friday is over! January 17, 2009

Hi everyone.  Sorry I didn’t post last night…my day was long and I was not in a posting mood when I got home for working out at 11:30 last night :shocked:

Hmmmm…let me rewind a bit to yesterday morning. 

Quaker Oatmeal Squares, half a banana, and lots of almond milk.  I really like the taste and texture of these squares a lot   The banana was a little too ripe for me…

Off to work, a busy morning I didn’t expect, and an uncomfortable caffeine/endorphin buzz.  Bleh.  I ate to take a break and try to wind down so I could feel more relaxed while preparing for my afternoon client meeting and doing other stuff.  I have a tendency to work myself up sometimes, but I’m usually mostly relaxed.

Lunch was a leftover stuffed half pepper and half an apple.  Yummy!  That was my last apple

The afternoon went quickly, and I was happily ready when my 5 o’clock called and asked if we could meet at 4, and then showed up at 3:30.  My meeting was good and quick, and I think it was afterward that I had this snack: the rest of my Pink Lady, and a cup of Dannon Light n Fit vanilla with 1/2 a banana and too much cinnamon.

We worked more and then Chris told me Maria was calling his name.  Eventually we got to Fajitas and couldn’t figure out what to order…a taco? Taco salad? Burrito?  We finally decided to split Carnitas de Pollo, and it was so yummy!  I’d never had it before, but it is Chris’ favorite.  Pedro also made us our two customary Casuelas, but I didn’t have much b/c I wanted to work out. 

After dinner I eventually got to the gym, like at frickin’ 10pm   I busted out a full upper body workout while rockin’ Limp Bizkit and watching two goons make fools of themselves.  Same goons from Tuesday night lifting heavy weights like an inch and making a spectacle of it.  I moved on to abs and then a half an hour of stair mill intervals for some sweaty glory.  I’m so happy I can knock out a half hour on that bad boy.  Andrea, that’s so funny you thought of Erin and I on the mill while doing your intervals the other day!  I thought of you while on the mill last night

I got home at 11:30 like I mentioned, and was in a bit of a funk.  After showering and taking care of the LB I just went to bed to read some for my MR course.  I didn’t end up falling asleep until 1:30 tho!  Bad me!  I read and watched Graham Norton and You Are What You Eat on BBC America.  Have you watched the latter show?  It is kinda gross to see what the people eat but pretty informative health wise.

~~~~~~~~

Today (Friday) was good, fast, and busy.  I had another bowl of the oatmeal squares for breakfast, but I was out of fruit completely and ate them with almond milk only.  Still yummy

Chris wanted to grab a coffee on the way into work (no coffee service on Fridays and the coffee the staff bought to make sucks–Folgers).  We had a coupon for McDonald’s, so I had a large sugar free vanilla nonfat latte.  Too much vanilla, but not too bad.

Because of my meeting schedule I didn’t end up eating lunch until about 2:30.  Yikes!  My lack of fruit was sad, but everything tasted really good today, especially the wrap for some reason.

The afternoon zipped by, and eventually we headed out around 5:30.  I knew dinner would be grilled chicken and yukon mashers, but I was struggling with the other component.  I didn’t just want the same old boring plate with canned green beans, and when I got home I saw my little friend the butternut squash!  Yay, something to mix it up a bit!

I tried squash fries….excellent and fun!  First I nuked the squash for 5 minutes and kept thinking I may need to duck and cover.  Even tho I stabbed the little guy a few times, he was still hissing and actually rolling around a little in there.  I cut him in half, scooped out the seeds, and then used my mandolin to cut him into fries.

The fries were coated with some fake Pam and jerk seasoning, then baked at 350 (couldn’t remember Erin’s preferred temp) for about 25 minutes, stirred once.  So tasty!  Chris was skeptical at first, but tried some and thought they were just okay.  Whateva, more for me!

Chris and I went to workout, which was just a half hour on the elliptical doing semi-hard intervals.  After I got home I did a little MR reading (actually not in the book pictured), and my tummy rumbled.

I wasn’t sure what to eat, and ended up just eating a tbsp of Barney Butter all alone.  Chris was annoyed watching me eat the thing for 5 minutes, it was funny.  Finally he was like, “just eat it already!”  Hahahaha, you wish.  Gotta savor the flavor, biotch!

Writing my post always takes me like an hour, it is crazy.  How about you? I don’t know where the time goes.  I must go to bed so I can get up early for my MR field trip.  I feel like I’m in school again with the classes, field trips, teaching others, and “homework.”  LOL. 

Hope you had a good week and are looking forward to an even better weekend   Ciao.

MAJOR P.S.: I think I’ve made more progress on the weight loss/muscle build front!  I’ve gotten more comments, clothes are fitting looser yet, and the scales, although inaccurate, are weighing me consistently lower.  Fuck yeah! I think I’ll go through my closet this weekend and see if I can fit back into anything, esp. work clothes.

Weekend wrap up January 18, 2009

Aw, so sad that the weekend’s over already   It was fast but good for the most part. 

Saturday

I went to bed too late Friday night (or Saturday a.m. I guess), and getting up at 7 to get ready for the first Master Recycler program field trip was tough!  I was excited to see the various locations on our agenda, though :)  I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat again until after 1pm, so I had the rest of my oatmeal squares with lots of almond milk, and my usual coffee with sf vanilla Coffeemate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was SO cold and frosty out!  We started our field trip where we have class, and then went to the Blue Heron Paper Mill, KB Recycling, and the Metro central transfer station.  Wow, an eye opening experience that was informative, and a bit stinky   I’ll be posting details and pics about it on a new page under The Three R’s.  But, a few pics for your amusement:

 

Haha!  See, recycling can be fun!

 

 

 

 

This was on a conveyor belt at the paper mill…I think it is the machine that separates out all of the bulky non-paper shit mixed in with the recycled paper (cans, bottles, etc.).

The paper mill is helping to reduce carbon output…with a bold gathering of ferns hanging on to this structure.

Don’t laugh.  That’s beautiful, tired me with a huge stack of recycled paper at KB Recycling.  This place is like a mile from my house and I never knew it existed!  Wow my teeth are yellow.

After materials are sorted they are baled together.  The baler squeezes them out slowly like a big turd!  Gawd, am I obscene or what?

This was just laying on the floor around the bales!  Had to take a pic b/c it was just so weird to see.

Some great facts about the hazardous waste collected in the area.  WOW, that’s a lot of stuff saved from polluting our environment through improper disposal.

We got back to the starting point around 1:45 or 2, and I was getting a big hangry.  I had to run an errand, forgot to run another one since I had food and the evening’s events on the brain.  BTW, I think I totally smelled like trash from the waste station…my shoes reeked from the goo I walked in, and I think my clothes had a little funk going on.  Peee-eeew!  Great reason to reduce the organic matter in your trash; keep that stuff out and the trash will smell a whole lot better

When I got home I snarfed down a small slice of leftover pizza, and made a random wrap with grilled chicken, butternut squash fries, LCL, and ground pepper. Totally weird, but not too bad.

I was really tired and desperately wanted to just relax, but Chris needed a haircut and we basically had to get ready to go to his dinner event.  My shower pepped me up a bit, and before I knew it we were off to the Pearl District, specifically Andina.

Chris’ event went well, the food was really yummy, and the room we were in was great!  Here’s what I ate:

White sangria with pineapple Bread with three yummy sauces Uh, where'd the bread pic go? Quinoa studded fried prawns with spicy sauce

Chicken with a yummy tomato ragout

Goat cheese and lemon flan

Dude, I was full!  But not too horribly.  Everything was tasty, had great flavor nuances, and was served beautifully as you can tell   Afterward we joined a friend and his girlfriend at The Vault/V.  It was a nice evening all in all, but I started getting a nasty migraine while still at V.  Thankfully a tortilla, some ibuprofen, and sleeping pill helped put me out of my misery when I got home around 11:15.  Fuck, that was a long day!

Sunday

I woke up with a remnant of my headache, but I really wanted to go to yoga so I made myself get up, drank some coffee, had some more ibuprofen, and was rarin’ to go for class.  I was totally out of my normal breakfast items, so I ended up eating Dannon Light’n'Fit vanilla and a Luna Iced Oatmeal Raisin bar.  That bar was great! I highly recommend it

Yoga was really great today–very active, refreshing, cleansing, and balancing   Yay for yoga!

I ran to the grocery store afterward, and tried out a new thing today:  using my own containers for meat and bulk items, and using no bags at all for veggies/fruits.  May sound lame, but I had never used my own containers for bulk/veg/fruit…I usually bring bag a plastic bag to reuse.  Today I had large cottage cheese containers in hand, and asked a customer service rep exactly how I needed to proceed so as to not get charged for the container’s weight.  It was easy, and I’ll totally be doing this from now on for whatever items I can.  The butcher got a kick out of my request, and wanted to put the container in a plastic bag   Then she realized it kinda missed the point

On the way home I decided I wanted breakfast for lunch, specifically cereal.  But I also added in an apple and some cottage cheese.  The Braeburn apple was pithy, dammit.  Now I remember why I stopped getting them.

And, on to my second course…Peanut butter Puffins!!!  Barbara’s cereals were on sale 2/$5, and b/c I see these around the blog world all the time I thought I’d give them a try with some almond milk.  VERY tasty.  Loved ‘em.  The texture was a bit rough on the mouth at times, so I’ll just have to let them soak more in the future.  I may have to sneak a few in as a snack tonight…

I scrambled to get ready to pick up my dad and Liz from the airport, and after that stopped at the car wash.  (My car was SO dirty from the snow and rain!)

After I got home I sorted out the office recycling, and reorganized my recycling stockpile in the garage.   (Are regular light bulbs hazardous?  Can I recycle them, too?)  I whipped out my new stick vac and cleaned up the house a bit–love it!  No more big, stinky vacuum to haul around for daily touch ups, and no more dirty broom. 

I had a nanner for a snack, and just for shits’n'giggles I decided to weigh it.  I even tared out the peel!

Anywho, eventually Maria called and we were off to Fajitas for dinner.  I had my trusty tortilla soup and a Diet Coke.  And the fabu La Casa followed.  Chris’ mondo burrito is pictured in the background.

BTW, I’m eating a small bowl of puffins right now

Well, that is about all, peeps.  Thanks for sticking with me for the long post, and I swear I’ll get The Three R’s all jazzed up with some great info for you soon.  Maybe even tonight!

I hope you all had a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by

Quick and sick, yo! January 20, 2009

What is up with the tummy lately?  I think my eats after working out have not made the tum happy the last two days.  I was absent last night due to fending off a huge urge to give my dinner back from whence it came.  Bleh!

Anyhow, it seems I’ve had a trend of two day posts lately.  I’d rather be posting each day…sorry bout that!

MONDAY

Breakfast was Barbara’s Shredded Oats with 1/2 a banana and almond milk.  I ate it quickly while getting Lily and food ready for the day.

I was SOOOOO tired and felt like I was semi comatose all day.  It sucked.

Lunch time rolled around eventually, and I had a whole wheat tortilla with sliced turkey, 1/2 a wedge LCL, spinach, broc slaw, and pepper.  The Braeburn apple was not pithy!  Yay!  I also had some of the pita chips.

This didn’t stick with me for very long, and I went for some CC and pita chips a little later.

Because both of us were so damn tired, Chris and I left work early, like around 3:45 or 4.  I figured a good workout would help wake me up a little, so I hit the gym and did legs, abs, and 40 minutes of cardio.  I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and then proceeded to wait for what seemed like forever for a stair mill.  There were 3 people that had been on there more than 20 minutes, but they seemed oblivious to the rule that you get off after 20 minutes if someone is waiting.  Poo on them!  Finally a guy got off and I climbed on for 20 sweaty, glorious minutes.

On the way home I tried to come up with a creative chicken dinner; I did not want the typical, boring grilled chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes I ended up thinking of sauteed chicken with onions and stewed tomatoes, so I whipped it up, along with green beans and leftover mashed potatoes.  I didn’t get very far from the usual boring meal, eh?

Tasted great, but I ate too much and then my tummy started hurting pretty badly.  Chris didn’t have any discomfort, and about a half hour later it clicked that maybe I had too much onion.  My tum is sensitive to onion, especially onion that’s not cooked fully, so I think that was to blame.

I had some Tums, then an Alka Seltzer, and went to bed early.  My stomach did feel mostly better before I went to bed, thankfully.

TUESDAY

Waking up today was really hard, even tho I got a full night’s sleep.  I listened to some of Obama’s inauguration while getting ready, and I’m excited for this new administration!! 

While outside playing with Lily I ate my breakfast: a bowl of PB Puffins, 1/2 a banana, and almond milk.  My hands were SO cold while holding the bowl out there!  Brrrrr.

Off to work we went, and I dove into work.  Not very remarkable I suppose.  Eventually I had lunch, which was the same as yesterday, exactly.

The afternoon went quickly, and was rather mediocre.  I found out that my compliance officer thought I gave tax advice (totally not my intent, and a HUGE no-no for us financial planners), so I got a bit stressed out.  Ah!

I had the rest of my apple sometime this afternoon.

Chris wanted to visit Si Senor for dinner, so we left around 5 for that.  I had a big Diet Coke (gasp!), one chicken taco, and one beef taco.  Yup, there are tacos under that pile of lettuce.

After we got home I headed to the gym for upper body, abs, and cardio.  Today I did 20m on the stair mill, and then 25m on the elliptical.  The weight floor was SO busy tonight, even busier than yesterday.

I needed a little snack after I got home, so after looking around I decided on 1/2 a banana with a tbsp of almond butter.

Now I’m off to read up on recycling goodness for my class tomorrow night.  Some great facts are in there. Like that in the Portland metro area 20 TONS of inappropriate material is placed in curbside recycling bins every day.  Whoa!  That costs our local recyclers a lot of money, and means some recyclable materials may end up getting contaminated or thrown away   Study your collector’s rules and stick with them as much as you can!  Putting something recyclable in that they don’t collect (i.e. wrong size of tub, frozen food boxes, etc.) clogs up the system and means the collector must pay to dispose of them.

Off I go, have a great one

Wednesday wonders January 21, 2009

Even though I can’t get enough sleep to save myself, I had a great day today.  I woke up a little cranky, but that dissipated by the time I started working around 8:30

I had a bowl of oats this morning;  I somehow remembered to prep them b/c I knew I wouldn’t have time to eat a bowl of cereal at home.  I snarfed them down while finishing my meeting prep for my 9am conference call:

After reading the many Barney Butter reviews out there, and talking with fellow consumers, I somehow think there is a consistency issue in the production of the stuff.  Some say the chunky is like all chunks and no butter, some say it is sweet, and I say it is a little salty.  I like the stuff, but I haven’t had any other AB but store ground, which wasn’t so hot, esp. compared to BB.  Oh well, just a thought.

I worked for about 4 hours and broke for lunch.  Same thing as yesterday, but with a few spoonfuls of cc.

It was a colleague’s birthday today, and his sister brought in these bad boys:

They were calling my name all afternoon, but I resisted the urge by eating the rest of my apple and working.

Before leaving work I had a few quick bites of cc b/c I was getting hungry.

I made whole wheat spaghetti with Prego Italian Sausage sauce for dinner (fancy, I know), and forgot to take a pic.  I also added some canned Parmesan on top.

I did a little Master Recycler related reading, and then headed off to the class around 6.  Tonight’s topics were e-cycling (electronic waste) and composting.  Yay!

E-cycling is a huge issue since computers, TVs, and other electronics have a lot of metals that are big contaminants if they get into ground water or are incinerated and get into the air.  The average CRT or TV has 4-6 POUNDS of lead in it!  Holy shit!  I had no idea it was that great.  Another great fact was that 1 ton of e-waste has more gold than 17 tons of gold ore.  Whoa, new meaning to the phrase “gold mine.” 

Composting has been on my mind, and I think I’m going to set up a bin/area in the next few weeks.  Our yard has been abused by someone who shall remain nameless with various pesticides, our soil sucks, and I hate throwing away the food waste and yard debris we produce.  Organic waste breaking down in a landfill will produce methane, but in a compost bin/with oxygen it will not.

I also learned about worm bins, and how easy they are to set up and maintain.  Great for people without much/any yard, with a lot of food scraps, or those who don’t want to deal with composting outside.  Here’s a bin the size of an average curbside recycling bin. 

Class let out a little early, and I realized I wanted a snack when I got home.  I had one serving of PB Puffins and almond milk. 

Yummy.

Top Chef just came on (which I usually miss b/c of the timing of my MR class), so I’m gonna watch this and hit the hay, yo!

Hope your Wednesday was merry

Quicky-tricky-icky January 22, 2009

Thursday was busy and productive.  I’m sad to admit I ate out twice today, and will be eating breakfast out tomorrow, too.  Mostly a function of work meetings, but nonetheless a tad depressing and disturbing since I don’t know the nutritional content of my eats.  I’m a control freak in some odd ways, and totally not in others, if you haven’t picked up on that yet.

Today’s breakfast was steel cut oats, almond milk, water, Barney Butter, raisins, and cinnamon.  I also had coffee with Coffeemate, of course.  I must work on finding a substitute for my ickety-ick fake-o Coffeemate.  Love the flavor, and the fact that it is a little sweet, but hate the idea that it is like 100% fake.

Lunch was a business function downtown at the Governor Hotel, catered by Jake’s Grill, with InvescoAIM.  A great market outlook and economic analysis of the shiz-nit weez been goin thru.  I ate a little bit of clam chowder, mixed greens salad with champagne vinagrette, cumin crusted chicken, roast beef, goat cheese crostini, and olive bread.  Whoa.  And a Diet Coke.  Wooza. 

All that financial speak made me crave sweetness, so I toured the dessert table and opted for the “healthy” choices:  a small fruit tart and strawberries.

No one commented about me taking pics…hopefully they didn’t think I was too weird!  I kind sneaked that one of the dessert.

Lunch staved off afternoon hunger for a looooong time, as I worked until like 5:30 without getting hungry.  I had the Dannon Light’n'Fit vanilla with 1/2 a banana and cinnamon that I had packed for the day:

Chris’ last meeting went on forever, but eventually we were on our way home.  He started speaking of Mexican on the way, and once you mention it and think of it there is no going back.  Off to see Maria we went.

Tortilla soup, a Casuela, and La Casa later I’m feelin’ pretty good, but rather guilty about eating out again as I referenced earlier.

That little dish held the fresh jalapenos that I scarfed down :0 Spice is nice, no?

Crap, it is 10:30 already.  I didn’t get much relaxing time tonight.  I have three new magazines I haven’t touched, and I somehow am not in the mood to read them lately.  Gourmet, Birds & Blooms, and Vogue are all waiting patiently for me.  Eventually I’ll get there.  Tomorrow is an earlier than usual day so I guess I should just hit the hay.

Before I leave for the night, I hope you all don’t think I’m like mega depressed or anything.  I’m just a bit cynical in this later hour as my Casuela buzz wears off  

Toodle-oo, fellow bloggers!

Friendly Friday January 24, 2009

Hello blogger friends!  Today was rather nice and mostly friendly, and has left me feeling happy. 

The day started out early, getting up before 7 (I know, can you believe it?!) to meet a business partner for breakfast at La Provence in Lake Oswego.  Although I felt a tad guilty about eating out again, I didn’t just want to go for oatmeal or fruit for breakfast.  So, I ordered the blueberry pancakes and ate half of them   I also picked the blueberries out of one of the remaining pancakes   Nummy!

 Don’t they look good!?

At work I was distracted by clutter on my desk and not feeling organized, so I spent some time going through things, going through a few drawers in my desk, and getting all my 2008 business tax stuff together.  Being more organized in my environment helps me be more mentally organized and ready to tackle projects.  It also gives me time to procrastinate while I clean

Around 12:30 or 12:45 I couldn’t fight my hunger any longer (busy bee), so I sat down to eat my wrap, half and apple, and some cc. 

The afternoon seemed dauntingly long, and I was somehow migrating out of work mode and into lazy mode.  Not good considering all I have on my plate.  I did get some work done, but also screwed around online for awhile.  Chris said he wants to go to work Saturday, so I know I’ll have some time to make up for my laziness.  Bleh.

When I got hungry I wanted starch/carbs, but didn’t have any, so I ate the rest of my apple and my cc.

Hm, what did I do next…not sure.  We left work around 6 I think and Chris started sheepishly telling me he wanted to go to Si Senor.  I must admit I wasn’t too surprised or opposed to the idea, so we went and invited my mom.  I had chips & salsa, a big Diet Coke (is that like the 4th this week?), a little bit of margarita, and a tamale.  Very tasty.  Made me want to make my own so they could be lard-free and have more fillings

We mosied home, and I changed to go to the gym.  (Oooh–Rose, a commerical for the Jack LaLane juicer is reminding me of you!  Love the juice posts and hope you start a blog.  Now I’m craving juice )

I forgot a towel, but since I was doing legs I didn’t really need it I guess.  After I did my leg routine I went to the front desk to buy one, but the guy working said the till was closed   Boo.  He must have seen how disappointed I was at the thought of using papertowels to mop up my copious sweat, or going without, because he gave me one for free!  I totally hope he doesn’t get in trouble.  That was such a friendly move that it pepped me up for my cardio.

I spent half an hour doing intervals on the stair mill, and then did 15 minutes of high-incline walking.  I liked how empty the gym was since it was late in the day, but now it is like 12:30 and I must go to bed!  I have a hot breakfast date at 8:30 in the morning   We are going to Bob’s Red Mill and I think I will join her in having a vegan breakfast.  (Figure out who it is yet?!)

Oh, I forgot to mention my evening snack:  PB Puffins and almond milk.

Have a great weekend everyone!  And thanks for stopping by.  I know I’ve been lagging on reading and commenting on all of your blogs, and my readership is down b/c of it   I am feeling a little bit disorganized on the at-home tasks lately since my Master Recycler course is taking up a bit of time each week.  And I’m not sneaking blog reads at work as much…

A perfect Saturday January 24, 2009

Today was really nice, and I mean really, really nice.  I think everything went well from start to (almost) finish where I sit right now.  Super yay!

The day began a bit slowly and with sluggishness as I pried myself out of bed at 7:50.  Ugh.  But the thought of Bob’s Red Mill was enticing, and before I knew it I was pulling into the parking lot and looking at this:

WHOA, a little bigger than I thought.  Anyhow, this is the water wheel and stream in front of Bob’s Red Mill retail store and restaurant.   I love coming here   The old school mill is pictured below.

I looked around at all of the goodness, damning myself for not having already created my grocery list so I would know what I could buy without guilt.  They even have frozen vegan donuts!  Chocolate covered!

When Andrea arrived we took a gander at the vegetarian menu, and as I mentioned I wanted to try a vegan breakfast.  No, not a huge step or big deal, but I wanted to think a lot more about what I ate and try to avoid animal products.  Andrea recommended the biscuits and gravy, and I totally forgot about staying vegan. Were they vegan?  Did they have milk derivatives? I don’t know!  And I’m pretty sure I put some sort of milk based creamer in my coffee   Kudos to all of you who are vegan and remain very thoughtful about your food intake!!

The biscuits and gravy were really, really yummy.  I haven’t had something that rich tasting yet not too heavy in a long time.  Oh, mercy! Mmmmmmmmmm.  And the fruit cup on the side was just what I needed to round out my meal. 

We talked a lot about various things, including how we each married like the same guy (seriously, it is rather crazy!), and then we headed off to pilates to get long’n'lean.

Class was good today, and I felt more balanced and in control today during our moves than two weeks ago.  After class I did a half hour of upper body, and I tried the “squirreliptical” as Kath calls it.  It was a bit awkward at first, and harder than I expected, but I had a good half hour of intervals while watching random stuff around the gym.  This machine is on the 2nd floor of the gym, upstairs from the regular cardio area I use, and there aren’t any TVs mounted on the machines.  That half hour seemed sooooo long; I wanted to quit several times during the first 15 minutes.

After the gym I went home and made myself a nice easy lunch: an open faced sandwich with 1/2 a wedge LCL, one egg +one white scrambled, a slice of turkey; an apple; and some cc.  That hit the spot

Whoa, there is an intense movie on IFC now, “Flannel Pajamas.”  I like IFC and the different perspectives the movies provide. 

By the time we both ate and I cleaned up, neither of us felt like going to work like originally planned.  Yay!  I could stay home and relax like anyone should be able to do on a Saturday.  I ended up cleaning, doing laundry, and making an attempt at meal planning.  My food has been way too boring lately, without enough variety or spice, literally, so I opted to get some new things, additions, and more veggies.

I hit the store…and forgot my shopping list.  Because of that shopping took forever, but somehow I remembered everything.  It’s a miracle!  Some of the fun things I picked up included: produce wash, Silk vanilla coffee creamer, a butternut squash, strawberries, tofu, barbecue sauce, and Sriracha :0  Love it!

Washing my produce was rather satisfying.  Here’s my pile of freshness drying on a towel; the wash is on the left:

For dinner I had meatloaf in mind, and as I cleaned veggies I thought of adding diced celery and shredded carrots for more bulk.  My meatloaf consisted of: 1lb. 93% lean beef, 1 slice diced whole wheat bread, small shake of bread crumbs, one egg, 1/2 onion diced, 2 stalks celery diced, 1/2 carrot shredded, 1 clove garlic smashed, a glug of BBQ sauce, a squirt of ketchup, lots of ground pepper, and Nature’s Seasons.  It smelled so good!

On the side were baked potatoes and over-cooked broccoli.  I kind mis-timed the meatloaf being done and the broccoli sat for awhile.  It was so soft it couldn’t be picked up but by a fork in the stalk portion.  Ew. 

I added Sriracha to my meatloaf and potato, and BBQ sauce to the potato.  It was so good!  I probably ate too much of the potato just so I could have more of the sauces.

That’s Smart Balance on the potato, too.  I liked the meatloaf a lot, but Chris didn’t quite agree.  It was so tasty!  Maybe too much onion, but otherwise really perfect.  I think he just doesn’t know or like meatloaf much.  I guess this means I get the leftovers?  We drank this while eating:

Haha, no I didn’t drink Sriracha… it just wanted to make an appearance on the blog

Tonight I’ve been chillin’ working on recycling posts under The Three R’s, and watching TV.  Aw, I forgot the dryer buzzed….wrinkled clothes, here I come.

I ate a snack a little while ago: hulled strawberries and two pieces of Ghiradelli 72% chocolate.  I haven’t craved chocolate in awhile, but tonight it sounded yummy.

I’m a bit tired and think I’m going to take the LB out and go to bed.  A part of me really hopes Chris decides he doesn’t want to go to work tomorrow. If he goes he’ll want me to go as well.  Not like I don’t have work to do, but mentally I wouldn’t mind a full two days off.  (Or a whole lifetime off for that matter! )

Later y’all.  Have a great Sunday!

Gone too fast!…and, Tofu on You ;) January 28, 2009

*I am a total dork!  I saved this one as a draft instead of publishing it on Sunday!  Grrrr….. *

Why do weekends have to be so fast?  This weekend has ended up well, did not involve work after all (yee-yeah!), and has laid the groundwork for a week with some new food combos.  I’m seriously excited to put Sriracha on like everything possible and break a sweat from the heat!  Ya feel me?

I’ve got a block of extra-firm tofu pressing in the fridge right now, and I’m tempted to cook it tonight so I can use it for lunch tomorrow   Hell, I’m gonna get on that NOW.

I sliced it into 12 pcs., rubbed some BBQ sauce and Sriracha on it, and baked it for 35 minutes at 425.  It’s done…check it out:

Before:

After:

Perhaps I overdid it a bit, but it still tastes good   More details on that in a minute.

On to the rest of my day…

Last night I totally thought of prepping my oats, but got distracted and never did it.  So, this morning I went for a bowl of Barbara’s Shredded Oats with two sliced strawberries and almond milk.  I also tried out a new creamer in my coffee… Silk French Vanilla Creamer.  Yay!  I found an alternative to the super-fake-o Coffeemate!

Around 9:40 I left for the gym to hit up my usual Sunday yoga class.  Holy moley, the class was packed already by the time I entered the door at 9:55.  Because there’s no class beforehand anymore everyone moves in early and the place fills up fast.  I got a spot up front and was perfectly happy, tho.  I forgot my towel AGAIN, but managed not to sweat all over the place.  I opted to head out after yoga rather than do cardio without a towel.

Not too long after getting home lunch started calling my name.  I was struggling to figure out what to eat when I remembered my Gardenburger riblets in the freezer.  Perfect!  I put that in a tortilla with shredded carrot, chopped celery & green bell pepper, and green leaf lettuce.  It was really messy, but divine.  I also had some carrot and pepp on the side, and an whole apple. 

The afternoon was easy and productive, and at one point I finally made some bird “suet” from old PB, trail mix I didn’t want, bird seed, raisins, and old cornmeal.  Want a bite?  I poured it into old suet containers and my tofu container and popped it in the freezer.  I hope the birdies love it tomorrow

I also refilled my hummingbird feeders, but totally pushed my thumb through the plastic on one of them!  I guess 2 years in the sun has made them brittle   I got sugar water on my arm, the counter, and the floor.  Boo.  At least we still have one feeder.

Eventually I realized I was pretty hungry around 3:30, and went for a modified regular snack:  Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry with 1/2 a banana.  It tasted good, but I got more of the fake sweetener taste in this flavor.  Freddy’s was out of vanilla

Around 5 we went to Fajitas for dinner.  I had the same thing as last time there:  tortilla soup and part of a Casuela.

Not pictured is the guilty goodness that is La Casa: a small glass of 1/2 & 1/2 blended with ice cream and Bailey’s Irish Cream, then topped with cinnamon. 

I bought the tofu yesterday and was hoping to have it for dinner tonight or tomorrow, but then I realized we are eating at McCormick’s tomorrow, and that having it for lunch would be great.  Prepping and baking it was so easy!  I’ll have to experiment with toppings and see what else, besides my current fave flavor combo of BBQ and Sriracha.  Told you I’d put it on everything I could!  I ate three of the driest looking pieces with more of the said sauces:

Oh, and I had a few small glasses of chardonnay.

No, both glasses aren’t mine, sillies!

Shit, when did it get to be 11:45??  Oy vey!  I’m outta here and off to bed.  Might as well start the week with a good amount of sleep…

Take care, and I hope your weekends were very enjoyable

Happy Birthday To Me….again! January 26, 2009

Hey everyone!  This girl’s Monday was not so bad, how about you?  I woke up not wanting to go into work, and consequently going in late, but was reasonably productive during the day. 

I should have had my oatmeal at home, b/c with all of my lateness and dropping off LB at my mom’s I didn’t get to work until after 10

I used my scale to add ingredients, rather than using measuring cups, and I think I mis-weighed my liquids last time b/c this was really liquidy compared to normal.  Oops.  Moving on…

Eventually we ate lunch, like around 1, and it was a nice change from the norm:  tortilla with roasted tofu, celery, carrot, and green bell pepp, BBQ sauce, green leaf lettuce, and some Sriracha.  Yummmmmy!  I also had Wheat Thins Multigrain Crisps, 1/2 cup cc, and 1/2 a Fuji. 

I felt sorta hungry a few hours later, and I realized it was my allergies making me feel a bit weird.  I find it odd that one of the effects of allergies on my system is increased hunger, or a sense of being hungry.  I took and allergy pill, drank some water, and ate the rest of my Fuji.  Those are bald eagles at NW Trek Wildlife Park in the picture frame.

I had mega filing to do today, and didn’t get as far as I’d hoped.  I was organizing client files, updating profiles, and calling clients as I went.  Slow going, but really productive.

Tonight we had plans to go to McCormick’s to use a few gift certificates, one of which was from my birthday.  I had quite the spread:  coconut fried shrimp, filet mignon with green beans and carrots, and blueberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream.  And a Diet Coke with dinner, decaf coffee with cream afterward.  I ate moderately, sharing all of my food, and ended up pleasantly full but not uncomfortable. 

Happy Birthday to me….uh, I guess I’m celebrating on a quarterly basis now?  I had asked the waitress about using the certificates we brought, one of which was from my b-day as I said, so that’s why she put the candle in the dessert.  It was cute and fun!  I think I could get used to this quarterly thing.  Remind me to celebrate again in April!! 

After dinner and running an errand we headed home, changed, and left for the gym pretty much right away.  I dropped Chris off at Bally’s and moved on to 24 Hr. to get in 30 minutes on the stair mill doing level 8 intervals.  Not super fast, but enough to make me sweat   I’m gradually increasing the level as it becomes less difficult to do the fast interval for 2 minutes.  Progress, yeah!

Allergies are making me hungry again, I think.  Perhaps a small snack of 1/2 a banana and some Wheat Thins Crisps.  Not sure what else to make… I need to prep my oats, too.  Off I go before I forget!

Hope you all had a less-painful-than-usual Monday   Thanks to my new readers for stopping by, and thanks to Sharon for commenting!  I hope some more of you will de-lurk to say hi   Night night, yo!

Bleh Tuesday January 28, 2009

What’s up bloggies?  I have been slaggin’ (slacking and lagging) on the blog lately…just figured out I totally didn’t publish my Sunday post.  Well, it’s up now, so check it out. 

Got a question for you… does my post come up all screwed up looking?  When I view it, the posts appear side by side, rather than just one long single column, and the tools on the side are covered/gone.  Grrrr.

I got into a bit of a funk yesterday afternoon, and just didn’t feel like posting last night.  Today isn’t exactly starting off any better b/c I had really interrupted sleep last night.

Anywho, back to yesterday morning:  it snowed here in Portland!!  It started at 7 something, was sticking by 8, and had accumulated to over an inch by the time it stopped around 11 something.  Chris and I got to work okay, but traffic was absolutely horrendous. 

We went straight into a 9am meeting, and at 10 I was finally able to eat my oats.  I forgot to take a pic!!  Ahhh.  My oats were yummy, and I figured out I did not mis-weigh the liquids on Monday b/c I re-weighed for Tuesday’s batch and got the same #s.  [Imagine my little Gladware of oatmeal here.]

I had the LB in the car b/c we weren’t able to get to my mom’s house before our meeting, so around 11 I took her to my mom’s.  Driving was fine, but for my mom’s street.  When leaving I had to turn the traction control off and just give the car a lot of gas to burn through the snow and get traction.  Yee-haw!

Chris and I had a business lunch at 1pm in Lake O…yet another meal out with too much rich food.  We were served a chicken breast with parma or prosciutto and cheese on top, wild rice, and a veggie mix of yellow squash, red peppers, and purple onions.  We also had a mixed greens salad, and for dessert, a chocolate banana cream pie!  Yikes.  I ate a little too much overall, and am scared to know how many cals were in this.  No pic b/c it was just a small group of 6 of us and it would have been awkward to whip out the camera.

Back to work, a few urgent client projects, another meeting, and pretty soon the day was almost over.  Chris came in to ask about what time we were going to leave, and then he said he wanted to go to Si Senor for dinner.  WHAT?! Eat out again!?  Uggghhhhhh!  I told him we have meat at home that I didn’t want to go bad & that we’ve eaten out too much lately, he said we can’t eat out tomorrow or Thursday anyway, blah blah blah…but I said yes rather unwillingly.  Then he wondered why I was a little off in the mood dept.

Oh, I ate half of a Fuji apple before lunch, and the other half before dinner.

For dinner I had chips & salsa and a chicken taco with pickled jalapenos.  I also had part of a big Diet Coke since I knew I’d be working out later and able to burn off the caffeine.  Everything was just kind of meh b/c I wasn’t really into it.

After dinner I worked out, but I wasn’t feeling some of it.  I did a whole body weights workout b/c I didn’t do weights yesterday, and knew I wouldn’t do any Wednesday.  I followed that up with 30 minutes of moderate level elliptical cardio and moved on out.

Once home I wasn’t very hungry, but after reading some blogs and watching some TV I started getting that way.  I had a cup of Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry, and proceeded to spill it on myself as I tried to photograph it!  Ahhhh.  That’s when I knew I was not going to blog and just wanted to eat and go to bed.  This photo was after I recovered from the spill.  At least most of my yogurt was still in the bowl

Hopin’ your Tuesday was a bit merrier than mine!  Cheerio.

MIA…”Drink your fluids” January 30, 2009

Hey everyone. I came down with a flu or bug on Wednesday night, and am almost myself again. I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days. I’ve missed you all!

I will post to catch y’all up tomorrow. Drink lots of fluids and take your vitamin C

Back in the saddle again! January 31, 2009

Hi friends!  I’m finally back after like 4 days MIA.  So sorry ’bout that… I got a flu/bug that was not too nasty, but just rather annoying, and I wasn’t really in the mood/energy state to post. 

A strange thing I’ve noticed about myself the last few times I’ve been sick (as in hailing the porcelain throne):  whatever food I ate that day I can’t stand anymore.  It is weird.  Let’s just say I’m not sure I can eat tofu for awhile.  [Stomach churning at the thought.]  Moving on…

Wednesday’s Master Recycler class was great!  We learned about household hazardous chemicals and the life of plastics.  I am totally excited to rid my house of all the chemical shit we have around.  Anymore I can’t stand the smell of most things, but now that I know more about how harmful they are to the environment I am surely not going to buy them again.  We also learned about how “biodegradable” plastics are a recycling nightmare, as they only contaminate other plastics. So, please note, if you have plastics that say “PLA” on the bottom, do NOT put them in the recycling bin.  They are also not readily biodegradable, so they won’t fare well in your compost pile.  Best to reuse them until they break, and then chuck ‘em.

Here’s an odd thing about the advice Metro gives on hazardous waste–they say to use up the shit I have now, rather than taking it all to the hazardous waste facility.  I guess I’m kinda confused…it makes sense not to waste things, but if I can prevent using more chlorine bleach, for example, and releasing environment-harming chlorine gases, shouldn’t I do that?  Or if I can prevent applying more chemical-based lawn & garden products that could run into the river, shouldn’t I?  I guess I’ll try to ask and clarify why to use up stuff vs. just take it in to be safely disposed of.

During class my stomach was really, really unhappy, and I thought about leaving a few times.  Somehow I made it through those 3 hours, went home, loaded up on the Tums, then Alka Seltzer, and then got sick.  Bleh.  I was freezing all night, had a painful tum-tum, and didn’t sleep very well.

Thursday I was in bed like all day.  Getting out of bed to then sit down and check my work email was even tiring.  It was nice to have a down day and watch lots of TV, sleep, and snuggle with Lily Bird   I finally ate around 1pm:  a bowl of Barbara’s Shredded Oats with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a small cup of coffee with Silk vanilla creamer.

After that long, hard day of being in bed (yawn!), I was craving a piece of pizza.  I watched “Snapped” on Oxygen and there was a Pizza Hut mentioned in there during discussion of when/how a killer lured her victim in, and that’s what got me started on pizza.  Chris was kind enough to stop and run in to Pizza Schmizza on the way home and grab our dinner.  I had a slice of cheese   Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Friday was better, but I still wasn’t 100%.  The tum was still a bit off, and the thought of my traditional lunch foods made me want to hurl.  I couldn’t even stand the smell of lettuce when prepping our lunches.  So weird!  I ate a bowl of Shredded Oats with almond milk while getting things ready.  Forgot the pic…

By 11:30 I was feeling a bit off, and thought I should eat something.  I was also incredibly thirsty all day.  My mom ended up getting this flu/bug, too, and while on the way to drop off LB at her house she asked that I stop and buy a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup for her.  I picked up one for myself, too, and had half of it for lunch.  I also had Wheat Thins Chips on the side. 

 

That’s better  

I was quite busy at work, and around 2:30 I had the rest of my soup while on the phone with a client.  Great manners, I know, but he knew I was illin’ and didn’t mind. 

I wasn’t lasting as long as I’d hoped, and wanted to leave by 4pm.  Going to dinner at Fajitas sounded good, since I totally wasn’t up to cooking and could get a big bowl of tortilla soup   So I did just that!

I really shouldn’t have had any booze (yes, that’s a Casuela on the side), as it gave me a big headache.  I only drank as much as you see gone in that pic, and handed the rest off to Chris.  This didn’t stop me from drinking La Casa, though. 

Friday night/Saturday a.m. I still had a bad headache and didn’t go to yoga this morning.  I did enjoy laying around more and watching TV, though.  I had the same breakfast I’ve had the last few days, so I won’t bore you with the pic.

When I got hungry later on I sought out something different, and ended up putting some Barney Butter and raisins in a tortilla and grilling it ’til warm.  Mmmm!  Thanks for the inspiration, Erin!

I needed more than that, and was still totally lazy figuring out what to eat, so I had a small bowl of PB Puffins with almond milk.

These weren’t quite what I’d hope for flavor-wise.  They were just ho-hum to me.  I like them, but I’m not sure I’ll buy another box.  I’d hoped for a peanut butter version of Barbara’s Shredded Oats or Quaker Oatmeal Squares.  Anywho…

I didn’t do much this afternoon, either.  I did, however, finally tackle the huge pile of dishes/crap that had stacked up in the kitchen starting Wednesday morning.  Chris was a sweetie and emptied the d/w yesterday, so thankfully that helped things go faster. 

Hunger struck after that, and I totally craved fruit, so I finally had the other grapefruit I bought like two weeks ago.  It was yummy!  I squeezed the juice out of the rinds after I ate the sections and drank that, too.

When dinner time rolled around my thoughts turned again to Mexican or pizza.  I totally didn’t have anything to cook, and didn’t want to, and Chris wasn’t opposed to Mexican.  Total repeat of last night, except my soup was even yummier!  I let them put the regular amound of cheese and a little sour cream in tonight, and it was incredibly rich and tasty.  (I’ve excluded sour cream and some cheese for calorie purposes for the last few months.) Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.  So satisfying!

And, La Casa was fabulous, too.  Note the orange peels in the background… I ate all of mine and Chris’ orange slices that were in our Casuelas. 

You’ll notice that I pretty much abandoned healthy eating the last 3 days for the sake of eating what sounded good, and would comfort me.  I don’t feel too bad about it, either, since I was sick and was just really doing what my body asked. 

I imagine that tomorrow I’ll get back on track naturally, which will start with oats or cereal in the morning, followed by yoga.  We’ll see if that taxes me, and if I’m up to a weight and/or cardio workout as well.  I won’t push it if my body is too tired, but I look forward to at least doing yoga.

Just gotta throw this in… last night Chris lost his keys :shocked:  He was out at a local bar or two and doesn’t know what happened to them.  He walked home as usual, I heard him at the front door so I let him in, and he didn’t notice until right before dinner that his keys are missing.  We searched high and low, in the yard, in the street, and still can’t find them.  I’m kinda wiggin’ out knowing his keys are out there somewhere, but at least there’s no address or identifying information attached to them.  Anyone breaking in here will have to answer to the LB and a loaded .44 Magnum (seriously), but I’m still at tad uncomfortable.  Have you ever lost your keys and felt this way?  I’m going to make Chris change the lock set tomorrow if he can’t find them tonight. 

Well, I think I’ve probably tuckered out your eyes reading my huge blog!  I type pretty fast, and have a tendency to write a lot.  Thanks for hanging in there with me, and for your well wishes since Wednesday!  Peace out, bloggies!

One dimensional meals February 1, 2009

Erin, you’re a genius.  I wasn’t sure what to call my recent disgust with foods related to my brief, albeit impactful, flu..it is aversive conditioning.  And it’s making me not want to eat much of anything complex, green, or healthy for that matter.  I think I’m getting some junk-like cravings b/c I haven’t had good nutrition for several days now.  My eats today did involve a little variety, but otherwise seemed incredibly one dimensional and lazy (read:  carb-o-licious).

Morning came far too quickly and I wanted to stay in bed when the alarm went off at 8:30.  But, I knew yoga would be good, so I got up, made some coffee, and had a bowl of Barbara’s Shredded Oats with unsweetened almond milk.  Plain, but good! 

Love the pic of that oh-so-happy family on the cereal box that I inadvertently captured with my breakfast.  They’re all so happy for Barbara’s products

Yoga was the busy beast I’ve come to love, and it kicked my weeny ass today.  Get this, holding my arms up in Warrior Two was super tough!  That took me by surprise.  Yet somehow I did a million planks without pussying out and doing the modified version.  ??  Whatevs.  Afterward I wasn’t feeling up to the add’l workout I’d planned in my mind, so I went home.

Lily was drooling a lot when I arrived!    It was so weird!  She hardly ever drools, and I figured out it was just one side of her mouth.  Because she was acting totally normal we didn’t freak out…we googled it and surmised that she had hurt that side of her mouth or had a tooth issue.  The drooling stopped within an hour, thankfully, and she’s still her crazy, cute little self.  I wonder if dogs can bite their cheeks like humans can.

My lunch was a bit different today:  one tortilla spread with 1/2 a wedge LCL, then topped with a tiny bit of shredded medium cheddar cheese (can’t remember last time I had chedda!), then grilled til golden and melty; one cup of Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry; followed by one Fuji apple.  All in all a yummy, strange lunch.

I used to live off of tortillas and cheese heated up in the micro or on the stove.  I think I would still live off of it if I could…that melty goodness is SO tasty and hard to beat.  When I was a kid I LOVED melting cheese on Doritos.  (Gawd, the thought of that is making me drool now!)

Chris and I went in to work for a little while, mostly to figure out how to open his file cabinet since he lost the only key.  We arrived to see this flock of geese wandering through the complex.  So cute!  That guy in the foreground was stretching and put his leg straight back, and then the same side’s wing straight back!  Talk about balance!  He would be a great yoga master

Chris and I were able to jimmy the top door of his filing cabinet open, and then unscrew the locking mechanism from the lock itself to get the drawers unlocked.  Voila, open sesame!  No, we’ve never broken into anything before…and we had quite the comedy going on with this one for like an hour.  I even called locksmiths and asked if they could make a key based on the code on the lock.  Well, usually that can work, but this particular lock was put on furniture made by over 30 manufacturers, with over 10 different lock styles and key possibilities, meaning it still would have been a pain in the ass to figure out.   

We came home so Chris could watch the Superbowl.  I totally despise NFL football, or just about any football for that matter, and kept myself busy for awhile by going to the grocery store.  Before I left I ate a handful of Wheat Thins Toasted Chips with the other half of my LCL wedge from earlier.  These chips have HFCS, dammit!  I guess HFCS is used instead of sugar for the browning properties it provides.  Hmmmph.  They were an impulse buy b/c of price, but I really do like the flavor.  Back to Kashi or Stacy’s when they’re gone I guess.

I got some new things at the store:  organic butternut squash soup carton on sale for $1.67, Fred Meyer Shredded Wheat cereal, curry powder, white vinegar, and Romaine lettuce.  It took me forever to settle on a cereal.  I wanted something with high fiber, low sugar, some protein, and versatility.  Most everything was $5/box or had like 30 ingredients, so that’s why I got the s.w.–the only ingredient is wheat and they were like $2.69   The vinegar is for cleaning the house–no more chemicals or having to pay for green pre-mixed cleaners!

For dinner Chris wanted pork chops and oven potato fries, and I wanted to go nuts with the butternut and the soup, so somehow all worked out well.  I nuked the b-nut whole for 5 minutes, then cut the upper section into cubes and sauteed it with some onion, a tiny bit of EVOO, and a tiny bit of butter   I haven’t used butter for a few months in my home cooking.  Chris’ fries were really easy:  cut potatoes into wedges lengthwise, put on baking sheet skin side down, spray with non-stick spray, sprinkle with seasonings, and cook at 425 for 25-30 minutes.  I heated a little bit of the b-nut soup, added some of the sauteed b-nut/onion, and curry powder, and had a little bit of a pork chop along with the rest of the b-nut/onion saute.  I also ate a few of Chris’ fries

Chris’ pork chop was riding along on my plate here.  I ate most of the soup and b-nut on the side, and about half of my pork chop before feeling really, really full. 

While cleaning up after dinner I also cleaned out the fridge.  I felt bad b/c I wasted more food this week than in a long time:  chicken that went bad before we ate it, leftover meatloaf we didn’t eat, green leaf lettuce that makes me want to puke, a few pieces of tofu that do the same, and some limp celery.    Not good people, not good… I hate wasting food and feel quite guilty, esp. about the chicken.

I moved on to the recycling, organized a tad, did some laundry…blah blah blah, got hungry and decided to have a snack.  I finished off the box of PB Puffins with almond milk.  They were better tonight than yesterday.

 Crikey, it is like 10:35 already. I think I’d like to end the day by watching a little TV in bed before falling asleep   I’ve been one cold lady tonight, and getting warm in bed sounds heavenly.

Busy busy bee February 2, 2009

Today was pretty much non-stop work action from 9 to 5, and I feel like it was a good day overall. 

Do you guys watch Top Gear on BBC America?  It is so funny, informative, and entertaining.  I’m watching the Winter Olympics Special episode right now.  They’re going to be using cars to complete sports such as target shooting, slalom, and more! 

This morning I realized I forgot to prep my oats , so I had to grab something quick on the go.  I opted for a cup full of dry Fred Meyer Shredded Wheat, and ate that when I arrived at the office along with some coffee.

The shredded wheat is gloriously plain and crunchy, and I managed to enjoy it.  I look forward to it with some almond milk and perhaps some apple.  Heated a la Erin?

The mo’nin flew by, yet seemed long, and eventually Chris and I ate lunch together around 12:15.  I had one piece of whole wheat, spread with 1/2 a wedge LCL, and topped with a few slices of peppered turkey and some romaine lettuce.  I also had half of a Jonagold apple, a serving of Wheat Things Toasted Chips, and a little bit of the CC.

 Bzzzzz…..the afternoon was quick and productive.  Around 5:15 Chris and I left for home, and we were amazed that the traffic was super light!  Yay!  We changed for the gym, I grabbed a few Wheat Thins Toasted Chips, and we headed out for the gym with the LB.  I knew the gym would be a nightmare, so I opted to run and walk with Lily around Chris’ gym while he worked out.  I haven’t exercised in the cold for a long time, and it is amazing how my lungs felt after running a bit.  Now, I am no runner by any means… it was probably stints of a few hundred yards that I ran, but it still felt good to do that and not feel like a wind bag. 

After the gym we stopped off to see our friend Maria at Fajitas.  The restaurant was totally empty!  Did everyone overdo their Superbowl celebrations and stay in tonight??!! 

The typical fare was in order: a Casuela that I drank too much of, tortilla soup sin crema, and La Casa to fnish things off.  I drank too much booze, ate too much soup, and felt like a bloated piggy on the way out!  At least it was mostly fluid, right?  That’s what I say at least…

The L-Word was pretty damn good tonight.  Do any of you watch it?  I thought Monday night TV sucked, but I found two shows (or at least repeats) that are good  

Now it is almost 10:30, and I’m going to bed to continue watching Top Gear and hit the hay.  Another long day is ahead tomorrow, so I best be ready to go!

Hope you all had a great Monday

Uh, it’s Wednesday February 4, 2009

Great title, right?  I’m seriously not able to think of anything else at this point. 

I missed posting yesterday because of a really busy schedule and later night.  The day was good and rather fast…how ’bout a quick recap for ya?

TUESDAY

Steel cut oats with almond milk, water, raisins, Barney Butter, cinnamon; and cafe, of course: 

Jonagold apple; Wheat Thins Toasted Chips; whole wheat bread with 1/2 wedge LCL, peppered turkey, romaine.

Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry

The rest of my Jonagold

My bebidas at Si Senor: one small glass of their Original Margarita, and one massive Diet Coke :O

Followed by the special (split with by mom):  fish taco (not the crispy fried kind), barbacoa (?), rice, tortillas

I worked out and then hit up the grocery store after that.  Because I’ve had a bad run of meat going bad the last few weeks, I decided to stop by the store and buy it closer to when I know I’ll cook it.  While there I bought some Genisoy Protein Shake and lots of fruit.

The shake tasted really good!  I mixed ~1cup of almond milk with ~3tbsp of the mix, and loved the texture and taste.  It kinda tickled my throat, though…dry sensation as it went down.  Aftertaste was good, too!  Yay, a new method of getting protein   I used to use protein powders and bars back in the day, but haven’t wanted to make the committment to buy a $40 tub of protein I’m not sure about.  This cost $12. 

These strawberries were beautiful, smelled great, and sadly tasteless   We’re so spoiled by our incredibly tasty Oregon berries up here that the Cali ones rarely suffice during winter.

THURSDAY

I forgot to take a pic of the oats!  Exact same as yesterday…refer to the above pic, por favor.

Lunch brought a new/old adventure!  Avocado, and pickles!  I didn’t intend to mix the two together, but then it sounded like the combo would work.  Whole wheat bread (butt!), 1 slice avocado, romaine, peppered turkey, and sliced dill pickle.   Tasty!  I also had 1/2 a Jonagold and the rest of my Wheat Thins chips.

Eventually allergies and hunger had me feeling not so hot, so I ate a ‘nana.

If you can read the note in the background by the screen, it says “put Kristin’s flowers back.”  Her nearly dead flowers were causing my allergies, but when I told her that yesterday she didn’t seem to really agree.  I moved them out of the office after she left for the day, and put them back whe n I left.

Dinner was a nice plate of whole wheat linguine with Prego Italian Sausage & Herb tomato sauce and black olives.  I made a little garlic bread (whole wheat, Smart Balance Light, garlic powder, Italian herbs) on the side for Chris and had 1/2 a piece.  Oh, and a little canned parm on top of the pasta, of course   I ate a little too much…Felt really full and rather bloated heading off to my Master Recycler class.

Class was great!  We learned about food waste and commercial waste.  In the metro area 30 tons of paper are thrown away by businesses EVERY HALF HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Holy shit.  And we’re supposedly a green community for the most part.  75% of business waste is recyclable. 

I think some of my Master Recycler volunteer hours will be helping local businesses utilize our FREE recycling program from Metro called Recycle At Work.  Businesses get personalized evaluations from top to bottom to help with everything from identifying recyclable/avoidable waste, providing boxes for recycling, providing education for employees, advice on smart purchasing, reducing resources needed, and more. 

I brought a snack in tonight:  cranberry chevre from TJ’s, Kashi TLC multigrain crackers, and sliced organic Fuji apples.  It was a success!

My snack:

Clean plate = happy guests, and happy provider   I’ll use that leftover chevre (butt!) as a tasty accompaniment on my sandwiches the next few days I think.  Naughty me!

Time to go to bed now blogger friends.  Tomorrow is going to be super busy, but I like that b/c it means it will be fast, too

Peace out

What’s up? February 7, 2009

The last two days have seemed long, yet gone by quickly.  Does that make any sense?  I feel like I’m behind on everything in every aspect of my life!  Ack!  The days are going by so quickly I’m not sure I can catch up :|

THURSDAY

Woosh, it came and went like that.  I had four meetings, some drama, and a big Diet Coke   The day started with my favorite oatmeal combo:  steel cut oats, almond milk, water, raisins, Barney Butter, and cinnamon.  Everyone keeps saying it makes the office smell good

 

After this I went into back to back meetings until around 12:30, then I ate lunch and processed some business quickly.  Lunch was a small sando (ww bread, peppered turkey, avocado, pickle, romaine), Jonagold apple, Kashi TLC multigrain crackers.

After this I headed out to my acupuncture appointment.  My allergies have been acting up a lot, and the nasal passages were a swellin’ and I had a headache brewing.  Whatever he did helped a lot, but eventually my pressure came back

A snack was in order during the afternoon, especially because I had a 5:45 meeting.  I’m diggin’ my Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry these days.  At first I didn’t like the fake-ish taste it had, but now I don’t even notice it.  Freddy’s hasn’t been carrying the vanilla in the large container, so I’ve been going with the strawberry.

Before my meeting I got to thinking about the evening ahead, and that cooking at home afterward would probably push dinner out to 8:30 at least.  So, we opted to visit Si Senor afterward instead.  My meeting went until 7:3o I think, so I’m glad we chose to eat out.

I deviated from the norm quite a bit and went for a small chicken enchilada, and the huge Diet Coke I seem to be drinking a lot these days.

Once home I knew I had to hit the gym, totally not optional.  I went for a harder upper body workout than before, and half an hour on the stair mill.  I’ve been doing more time on the mill, and less time overall doing cardio.  Just haven’t been up for 45-60 minutes the last several weeks it seems. 

I didn’t get home until about 11:30 :O   After cleaning up a tad and prepping my oats I let Lily lick the almond butter spoon   She’s so cute…I wish I could come close to her beauty! 

FRIDAY

Chris and I slept in quite a bit this morning…didn’t fall asleep until after 1, and bed was just too comfortable this morning.  I ate my oatmeal at home; same as usual and yummy.

I thought I’d try on some of the jeans I’d outgrown, and they fit!  Yippee!  It is interesting because I’m smaller than I was last time I weighed ~145; I didn’t fit into those jeans then.  Yippee again for progress!

Work was lazy, not terribly productive, and pretty quick.  Around 1-ish we ended up eating lunch.  We ran out of the usual lunch supplies, so I had a ww heel with Barney Butter and banana, heated a little.  Also had 1/2 a Jonagold and Kashi TLC multigrain.  The nana didn’t get consumed til later…

Chris and I booked a vacation today!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!!  Work has been so mentally exhausting the last 6 months, and I think we really deserve some time off.   We are taking our laptop and planning to work some while we’re gone, so I’m going to try to blog some, too   I think I’ll wait til then to tell you where we’re off to.

I had the same afternoon snack as yesterday.

Dinner had been planned out for awhile, and I was excited to make it, but the execution wasn’t quite what I’d hope for.  I roasted a pork tenderloin (pre-seasoned–southern peppercorn), made polenta, and sauteed mushrooms in butter and chili powder for Chris (ew, fungus!).  My polenta took a helluva lot longer than expected, and for caloric reasons I opted to leave out the can of corn that I’d planned on adding.  In hindsight, I should’ve just added it.  Everything tasted good at least, and we have some yummy leftovers for the weekend.

I know this pic looks a bit sad, but don’t let that fool you.  I put a little Smart Balance Light and parmesan cheese (not canned) on my polenta. 

Nip/Tuck was on from 8 to 9, so I held off on the gym til after 9.  Do you all watch Nip/Tuck?  It is scandalous! 

The gym was good–another heavier leg workout and 30 minutes on the elliptical.   The gym was pretty tame at least, and I didn’t have any issues gettin’ my work out on. 

Once home and cleaned up I opted to make a protein shake.  ~12 oz. almond milk and water mixed, and ~5 tbsp Genisoy chocolate protein shake mix, and the other half of my nana from earlier.  I love my Braun stick blender, BTW!

(uh, I can’t insert the pic for some reason…)  It was tasty!

Time for bed, folks.  Gotta get up and hit the gym for pilates, and then get ready quickly to head out to wine country :)  Chris is going to check out 24 Hour Fitness with me tomorrow!  I hope he switches to 24 Hour soon so we can cut down on the driving for our gym ventures and he can have a bigger, more outfitted gym at his disposal.  He loves basketball but hasn’t played for years, so I hope he can hoop it up at 24 Hour and get back into his passion

Have a great Saturday!!!

Maranatha vs. Barney Butter February 8, 2009

I’m down to the bottom of the Barney Butter jar and figured I should pick up some new almond butter soon, so I grabbed a jar of Maranatha crunchy today at Freddy’s.  Erin loves Maranatha, and I’ve only ever tried Barney Butter and store ground stuff, so I thought I’d do a taste test and review the two brands.  There were like 5 kinds of Maranatha…raw, crunchy, creamy, roasted, etc.  I went with the No Stir Crunchy, which is roasted.

Wow, what a difference between the two!  I now understand why Erin was like “BB ain’t all that” or something along those lines.  Maranatha is the polite, well-behaved, refined version of almond butter (think classical music), and Barney Butter is the all-out, in-your-face-roasted-taste, rock star opposite (think heavy-metal).  The flavor nuances of Maranatha are much more pronounced than the rather one-note Barney Butter. 

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I really like Barney Butter, especially the huge chunks of almonds in it   However, I do like the smooth, more complex flavors of Maranatha.  If you’re looking for something unlike peanut butter definitely give Maranatha a try.  Barney Butter really does taste like peanut butter and have the same texture, whereas Maranatha is quite different.  I also like that Maranatha doesn’t seem as oily at BB, nor as sticky on the tongue.  Here’s the nutrition comparison:

More power to you in your almond butter journeys!

Back to the normal blog scene for me: daily eats.  This weekend has felt like a nosh-fest   I ate too much, drank too much, and gave in to cravings more than I have for awhile.

Saturday breakfast:  shredded wheat with 1/2 a nana and almond milk.

Chris and I took his car out to wine country for an event at WillaKenzie.  It was a gorgeous day and riding with the top down was really fun.  We stopped at his favorite sandwich place, Phil’s, for lunch.  Here’s where it went downhill… this beauty is a Fajita sandwich.

This was really good and left me feeling (over) satiated and somewhat guilty.  Whole wheat bread, cheddar and provolone cheeses, grilled chicken, pepperoncinis, green bell pepp, onion, olives, lettuce, and sour cream.  Yum-o-rama!

We then went to WillaKenzie and met some of Chris’ clients for the annual Valentine’s tasting and wine release.  First we tasted a Pinot Gris (I skipped the tuna food pairing); second came a Pinot Meunier with a TJ’s French truffle. Ooh baby, they are soooooo good! 

I grabbed the double truffle

Next up was the Clonale 113, served with a civet of wild boar and chickpeas (I abstained but photographed).  I liked this wine a lot.

We were a bit warm, so we headed down to the patio for some cool air.  Such a beautiful day and a beautiful view!

Back inside for more wine… up next was Clonale 114, served with a pate of some sort on toast (I abstained).  We went on a tour at 3, and tasted the Plaisir a Trois while listening to Thibaud, the winemaker, discuss the wines, winemaking, cellaring, and more.  Each year WillaKenzie orders about 200 new barrels at a cost of $900k!  Holy shit, I had no idea barrels were that expensive.  Well worth it to impart good flavor on the wines, though.

After tasting this and a barrel sample of the Wasenwail clone, we headed back upstairs for the final tasting and food pairing:  Late Harvest Pinot Gris with a Rogue River blue cheese terrine with walnuts and apple.  Holy.  Moley.  This was an insane flavor combination that I just had to have again!!!  I don’t normally go for the funky cheeses, but this was divinely prepared and paired ecstasy on the tongue. 

We hit up a few of the stations again (truffles!), and called it a day around 4:30 or so.  Even though the sun was low and it was cold, we drove back with the top down again and the heat blasting.  It really was a great drive in beautiful country

On the way home Chris and I talked ourselves into going to Mexican for dinner at Fajitas (yeah, that took a lot of convincing–not).  I can’t believe I had like half of a Casuela   I ate one tortilla full of Carnitas de pollo, but couldn’t stop picking at the plate afterwards.

After dinner I developed a nasty headache.  While wine tasting I had only one glass of wine really, but the variety of wines and timing of drinking kinda screwed me up I think.  Allergies didn’t help either…

Eventually I got a craving for something, and ate a few bricks of Cadbury milk chocolate with almonds. 

I passed out on the couch at 10 and went to bed around 11.

Sunday

Getting up this morning was hard, mostly b/c I still had that damn headache.  What is it with me and headaches lately?  Yoga sounded like a good idea, though, so I pulled my ass outta bed and got ready.

Breakfast was shredded wheat with sliced strawberries and almond milk, and coffee with Silk vanilla creamer.  The cereal combo was a bit sour from the not-so-tasty strawberries…perhaps I should invest in some Stevia.

Yoga was good, but for being next to a really loud breather.  Same thing in Pilates yesterday.  Totally drives me crazy and I really can’t seem to zone it out.  It’s not Lamaze class, people!

After class I came home and determined I could not take the disgusting kitchen that had developed:  clean dishwasher needing unloading, sink and counter full of dirty dishes, etc.  Cleaning felt good and wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Lunch time came around and wasn’t sure what to eat…protein shake with other stuff?  Egg?  Tortilla?  I settled on one egg and one egg white scrambled, put in a tortilla with 1/2 a wedge LCL.  Nummy.  I also had half of a Jonagold, and some Kashi Fire Roasted Veggie crackers with the other half of my LCL wedge.

After my grocery shopping I did the almond butter taste test as a snack.  I tell ya, it really is amazing how varied the same product can be.  It is fun to try the various kinds, tho.

Dinner time rolled around and I got to preparing ground beef soft tacos.  I sauteed the beef with onion, chile powder, Nature’s Seasons, Tabasco, salsa, and BBQ seasoning.  For taco fillers I had a little homemade guac, reduced fat sour cream, more salsa, a little medium cheddar, romaine, and pickled jalapenos.  Whoa, mama, those jalapenos were spiiiiiiiiiicy! 

I totally shouldn’t have, but I ate a second one   Oy vey. 

After a bit Chris started saying he wishes he could have a Casuela at Fajitas, to which I responded he was crazy and that I didn’t feel like going out, esp. just for a drink.  After about an hour of his pouting in a cute way I somehow gave in and we went for bebidas.

Remember those jeans that I fit into Friday?  Well, they felt a bit tighter tonight.  Amazing how the body can change in a few days.

Of course they brought us chips, and I couldn’t resist having a few.  Noe, our waiter, also brought us La Casa!  It was sooooooooooooo tasty, and I’m sure it had like 400 cals.  Oops!  There goes the day’s health watch…

So here we are, at the end of a weekend that disappeared before I knew it, and it is already after 11.  Boo.  Can we rewind the clocks a day or two? 

Did you all have a good weekend?  I hope so!  I’m off to take Lily outside one more time and hit the hay.  Oyasuminasai (good night in Japanese) :Z

Let’s get physical! February 9, 2009

“I wanna get physicaaaaaaal….”  I was driving to work the other day when a road construction flagger called in and asked for an Olivia Newton John song.  The DJs were blown away by that combo, and chose “Let’s Get Physical.” 

Monday has come and gone, and it was actually good I suppose.  I was tired all morning, rather groggy after staying up until 1 a.m. watching “The L Word” and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” on Showtime.

Breakfast was my basic oats mix:  steel cut oats, almond milk, water, raisins, Barney Butter, and cinnamon.  Smells so good!

Nummy in my tummy!

The morning was rather slow.  Who knows what happened between 9:30 and noon…Calls, emails, reading, constant internet issues….and then it was time to eat lunch.

My wrap today was SO boring:  ww tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, thick slice of peppered turkey, and a leaf of romaine.  I’ve gotta pep it up if I’m gonna survive the week.  On the side I had Kashi Fire Roasted Veggie crackers, and a Fuji. 

Yawn!

After more internet issues with the company website I did more emailing, case work, a little personal finance, and research.  Around 3:30 I had my trusty afternoon snack of 1 cup Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry.

Chris and I headed home around 4:30 to get back to the LB.  After a good round of messy playing outside, Lily was settled in and I started dinner.  ‘Twas a fun and easy adventure!  I made oven fried potato wedges, steamed broccoli and carrots, re-done polenta in the oven, and reheated pork from Friday.  The potato wedges are so easy and quite tasty, and I liked the steamed carrot chunks.  The polenta could have used a bit longer in the oven, but I didn’t put it in early enough I guess. 

This filled me up pretty well, and I enjoyed having all of the variety on my plate.  Oh yeah, that’s my Diet Big K Cola in the background (Freddy’s version of Diet Coke). I’m hooked these days…

After dinner and watching part of a bad movie Chris and I headed out for 24 Hour Fitness.  We both did weights, I climbed on the stair mill, and Chris played basketball!  Yay!   His sports passion is basketball, but he hasn’t played in soooooo long, it was sad.  But, alas, no more!  He really enjoyed playing for like an hour, and felt like he didn’t do so bad for a guy who hadn’t played in like 3 years.    He was also looking forward to it since Saturday when he got his guest pass to the gym.  I think he may be a convert, folks…movin’ on over from Bally’s to 24 Hour seems to be in his near future!

Chris was done with basketball exactly when I was done on the stair mill.  I went faster tonight on intervals, and was on that bad boy for a full 45 minutes.  I figured out I need to do 45 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week to kick start my weight loss and results.  Only doing half an hour for the last month has probably slowed down my progress more than I realized.  I really wanna look better for my vacation!  Let’s just say it involves a swimsuit. 

After working out I had a Genisoy chocolate protein shake made with 1 cup almond milk and a heaping 3 T of the shake mix.  SO good.  I really like the taste of this, as if I haven’t told you enough already.  It is also easy to blend (no blender required); I use a small, flat whisk to mix it. 

Tasty, frothy, thick goodness

I’m in a great mood now; must be the endorphins from a longer cardio sesh and the fact that my honey got to play b-ball   Whatever it is, I’m takin’ it to bed with me now and hope it is still there when I wake up.  Tomorrow will be a long day…and with some possibly challenging clients book-ending my day.

Hope you all had a great Monday as well!  Ciao, bellas!

Heading upstream February 12, 2009

Do you think much about where your food comes from?  The steps products go through in before they arrive in the store?  Other “upstream” facets of your consumption?  Just like most of us have been taught, I’ve focused so much on the “downstream” facets of reusing, recycling, and wasting while forgetting the more impactful lifecycles of the products I consume.  Tonight’s Master Recycler class focused on preventing waste to begin with, rather than just managing what we’ve already consumed; ’twas an eye opener!

In the past most recycling has been motivated by reduction of what is sent to landfills; while this is important, upstream reductions are much more significant environmentally.  Recycling is great, but we must all step back and consider how what we use is sourced, manufactured, transported, and distributed.  For example, I focus a lot on packaging of products I buy…but guess what!?  The actual food and product choices I make have much more of an impact than the packaging choices I make.  Simple enough, I know, but it was totally a “duh!” moment for me tonight.

Seriously, y’all, I’ve been sooooo busy or lazy during my downtime and haven’t posted all the key topics of my Master Recycler course on The Three R’s.  I promise I will do this before the month is over to help give you more information to empower and motivate you to reduce waste in your home and workplace.  Fo’ shizzle!

On to the eats of the last two days…

Yummy breakfast oats just like you’ve seen for the last several days… I ate in a rush b/c I got to work a little later than expected, and had a meeting in like half an hour. 

 

Lunch:  boooooooring wrap of ww tortilla, peppered turkey breast, avocado, romaine; pithy Jonagold apple ; yummy Kashi Fire Roasted Vegetable crackers.

Afternoon was busy, eventually had a snack of lowfat cottage cheese before my meeting.  Yawn.  Wanna know what is cool, though?  That card in the background is a thank you from a client for being his financial planner for the last 3 years and helping him   He was so sly…waited til our meeting was over to give it to me and totally surprised me.  I want to clone him!

Dinner was a visit to West Side Maria, aka Si Senor.  I opted to have a cup of tortilla soup, and chips & salsa.  Oh, and the giant Diet Coke that is equivalent to two cans :shocked: 

Once home I played with the LB, changed, and went to the gym for a leg and cardio sesh.  I stopped at the basketball court on my way in b/c it was closed, and found out some stupid twats hung on a rim and BROKE THE BACKBOARD.  WTF?!  I was instantly saddened b/c I knew Chris would be out of luck trying to play b-ball there for a while.  Shit.  They said it may take weeks to fix.  What I want to know is why they can’t switch out one of the boards from the side of the court and re-open it sooner than later.  Whatevs.

My leg workout was good, and cardio was a tough 45 minutes on the stair mill.  Unlike Monday night, I wanted to get off after 5 minutes and the sesh felt so grueling!  Ahhhhhhhhh!  Somehow I hung in there and sweated my ass off for the full 45.

Once home I made a Genisoy choc protein shake, and had a little spoon of Maranatha a.b.  on the side.  That’s one of Chris’ baby spoons!  LOVED the a.b….SO tasty and refined.  And, it dawned on me that it is not sticky, unlike Barney Butter that is super sticky just like most peanut butters. 

I totally got depressed looking in the mirror when I went to take a shower.  I’ve slimmed down and toned up some, but I’m still jiggly, unfirm, bumpy here and there, and somewhat scary looking naked.    I feel skinny sometimes, but after looking in the mirror I just felt fat and wondered when I’m going to lose the icky body.  My problem areas are all over, all over, and all over.  Seriously, stomach/sides, fronts of my thighs, and backs of my arms bug me the most.  I think I’m going to hit up the fitness mags for some more intense bikini-oriented workouts for the next 5 weeks.

On to Wednesday

Late start this morning = ate at home.  I used Maranatha in my oats, but the flavor was a little too tame…. I don’t want to add more b/c of the caloric contribution, so perhaps I’ll just live with it or find another add in to mix things up.  I still did like the creamy toastiness imparted by the Maranatha, tho. 

Lunch today was a business affair at The Stock Pot.  I had hot tea, chicken with wild rice, sauteed green beans & carrots, and a whole wheat roll with butter.  I was careful not to eat too much since the food was good; I took my time and ended up not feeling full   But then the cheesecake arrived   It was a toffee flavor, I think, with a little chocolate sauce over the top.  I had just a few bites and said no to the rest.  No pics b/c of the table set up, crowd size, and b/c the speaker was actively presenting while we ate.  It was pretty, tho!

No afternoon snack since lunch carried on until about 1:30, and we left early because of my Master Recycler class tonight.  Chris mentioned going to Eastside Maria, aka Fajitas, and I couldn’t help admitting that it sounded good.

I had part of a Casuela, tortilla soup, some chips & salsa, and the grand finale of La Casa.  Mmmm.

And that’s all she wrote, folks.  Well, almost.  I must take a moment to thank those of you who have delurked lately!!  I’m so happy to hear from you and am excited to read your blogs as well

Have a great Thursday!  Hang in there… Friday is almost here

Blast off February 13, 2009

I looked up a bunch of workout programs today on fitnessmagazine.com and honed in on the following:

1. The Ultimate Ab Workout Plan (4 weeks long)
2. Get a Bikini Body in 4 Weeks
3. Your Flat-Abs Handbook
4. Lose Every Bulge in 3 Weeks (some Hollywood inspired thing)
5. Bikini Body Workout:  Complete Cardio and Sculpting Routine

Tonight I did #2 and the first week’s plan for #1.  I am amazed that the moves look easy but are pretty challenging, and left me sweating a bit   I felt like a total dork at first busting out the routines, but then got the hang of things.  I’m desperate to blast off some calories and flab before leaving for my vacation, so I hope this change of pace kicks my ass into better shape a little faster.  I figured that I should be down about another few pounds by now since I’m three months in to working out and eating less…just more motivation to step it up a bit for the next 5 weeks.

Have any of you done these types of workouts (i.e. 4 wk program/fitness magazine programs) and had good results??  I’d really like to hear your take on them, so please de-lurk and let me know!

The Day’s Eats and Activities

Erin asked a question today about what we do first thing in the morning…today was really bad as I hit the snooze button for like an hour before getting up!!!  And I still wanted to go back to bed after that. 

Since I got a late start I ate breakfast at home again and made coffee.  Nummy steel cut oats, raisins, Barney Butter, cinnamon, almond milk, water.

I was busy at work and didn’t end up eating until lunch until about 2.  My wrap was a little different today, and yummy!  Whole wheat tortilla, dried cranberry crusted goat cheese, peppered turkey, romaine.  My Jonagold was pithy again   At least the Kashi TLC were tasty!  I ran out of turkey and romaine so my wrap was a little empty

After busting my ass to get ready for my 4pm meeting I was stood up   Hey, it happens here and there…People get busy and forget about meetings sometimes, esp. when they’re scheduled a quarter in advance.

I guess Chris thought I agreed to go to Mexican again tonight, as he came in to my office around 5 and started speaking of such things.  Say what?  I thought he was crazy, but whatever, I was a kind partner and agreed to go as usual. 

We went to Si Senor, where I had a massive Diet Coke, chips & salsa, and one chicken taco.  Simple, tasty, perfect portion size.  ‘Nuf said.

That’s Chris’ huge margarita in the background.

I hit up the gym around 8 and busted out the aforementioned workout, plus a 3-way cardio sesh of 15 minutes of intervals on each the stair mill, elliptical, and treadmill.  I was watching 30 Rock while on the treadmill and laughed out loud a few times…it was so funny!  I don’t watch it that often and was totally amused.

Once home afterward a little shaky-poo was calling my name…

The all-star lineup, posing next to the finished product.  I used 1 cup almond milk, 3+ TBSP shake mix, ~1/2 TBSP Maranatha, and 1/2 a nanner.  SO yummy and satisfying!!!  BTW, I love my Braun hand blender and it’s multiple attachments.  It is powerful and really easy to use, and all the attachments can go right in the dishwasher.

Guess what?!  It’s after midnight, so technically that means it is Friday!!!  Yippee!  This week has gone by pretty slowly; not bad really, just annoying.

What are you all doing for Valentine’s Day?  V-Day is a tough one…so many people get caught up in the perfect gift or the perfect dinner… I like to just focus on those I love   Chris and I are joining a group of mostly strangers at Typhoon for a multi-course meal.  I’m totally hoping it is just 8 courses of curry and not too much seafood   I need to get me some curry on a more regular basis!!

Happy Friday to you   Toodle-oo.

Crazy daze February 13, 2009

Yo yo homies.  I’m feelin’ a little out of it, crazy, and rather daze-y at the moment.  You’ll see why in a moment…

Friday is finally over.  Longer day than I anticipated, less productive than I’d hoped, and now I’m feeling a tad on the lazy side in a guilty way.

Woke up late AGAIN and had my oats at home.  New oats combo!  Instead of raisins I put in 1/2 of a ripe nanner while doing my oats prep last night, and it turned out pretty well.  I’m super picky about bananas, their ripeness, and banana flavored things, so this wasn’t my favorite combo, but it was really good.  Something about bananas gets to me in a bad way once they’re ripe.  Too sweet and gooey!

After breakfast I eventually mosied to work, was busy for awhile, and eventually I was ready to eat.  I think I was more mentally tired and wanted a break, but hunger wasn’t too far off anyway.  Today’s lunch was a little different fo’ sho!  I had:  a piece of whole wheat bread with Maranatha a.b. and raisins (!); and Dannon Light’n'Fit strawberry.  I never ate my apple…

My whole afternoon was consumed by a tough case; I was working on it for what felt like forever.  A little frustrating, but at least I did get somewhere…  I had a snack of Kashi TLC Fire Roasted Vegetable crackers along the way.

Around 6 we called it quits, and guess what Chris mentioned on the way home.  Yes, that’s right, he wanted to go to Mexican again for dinner.  What?  No, you’re crazy, I said.  We already planned to have spaghetti at home and I was going to go work out.  Somehow that all fell apart on the drive home, and I agreed to go but not drink anything so I could still work out. 

But, alas, our waiter automatically brought us Casuelas!  What was I to do?  Refuse that pitcher?  So, I drank some and decided I probably wouldn’t end up working out tonight.  I felt bad, but at least I did enjoy the food and beverage. 

Now I sit here watching Scarface, fighting off a headache.  I totally shouldn’t have had the booze, as I’m succeptible to a headache right now hormonally.  I also do feel a tad guilty about not working out.  Guess that means I’ll really bust it out tomorrow morning!

Tonight seems like a great opportunity to go to bed a little early   Chris is already asleep on the couch next to me, and Lily is passed out on her cloud bed   My cute little family…

Did you all have a good Friday?  Have a great weekend!

Best dinner ever! February 16, 2009

Let’s get right to the point, people:  dinner at Typhoon on Valentine’s Day was probably the best dinner I’ve ever had in my life.  I’m struggling to think of anything that continued to amaze me like the 15 items we ate Saturday.  Oh, and the endless supply of great wine.  I’ll give you all the details I can remember in a minute…

Saturday started with my headache being horrible and me feeling quite icky from it.  I got up thinking I may go to pilates, but just didn’t feel well enough by the time 9:30 rolled around.  I made coffee, and ate my traditional oats; this was the last of the Barney Butter. 

I was feelin’ better after breakfast, but still not quite right.  I slept a little on the couch; felt so good

Lunch was two eggs scrambled (accidentally dropped in the 2nd yolk!) in a whole wheat tortilla with a wedge of LCL.  I also had my apple from Friday that I never ate.  Damn pithy Jonagolds got the best of me last week.

The afternoon rolled around and Chris and I mosied to the gym.  The basketball backboard wasn’t quite fixed yet, but they opened up the court and guys were playing half court games.  They got booted at 3pm, tho, for the boot camp class, no pun intended.    That cut my cardio shorter than I’d hoped. 

After getting home I pampered myself a little by painting my toenails.  Sounds rather ordinary, but I haven’t done this in MONTHS.  Last time my little piggies were painted was in September if you can believe it!

Now comes the exciting part…after getting all gussied up Chris and I arrived at Typhoon around 7 for our special group dinner, and so the ecstasy began!  Wine abounded–no corkage fee and lots of people in the wine industry equals tons of great wine!  We brought Kim Crawford 2007 Sauvingnon Blanc, and we also consumed Willakenzie 2007 Pinot Gris, Vidon 2007 Pinot Noir (excellent for such a young wine!!), and some Mumm Napa sparkling white. 

First dish was some sort of mini roll served in a wine glass with a sweet sauce.  No idea what was in here, but it was yummy and hot!

Next came spinach wraps, and vegetable spring rolls.  Mmmmmm!  The wraps had freeze dried shrimp, sliced hot peppers, jicama, peanuts, fried rice noodles (?), and sweet chili sauce to put inside as we pleased.  The rolls were perfectly yummy.

Here we paused for a little gift bag and drawing from our lovely hosts, Eric and Bennie.  We got a bag of Hershey kisses, and some of us got a number for drawing prizes.  Chris and I got to choose between wine, a gift card to Red Robin, and a gift card back to Typhoon…Chris chose Typhoon!  Perfect for me any day!

Next was where the mind was blown!!  Bo Kline’s clam chowder with lemongrass.  Holy. Moley. I know it sounds odd, but if you ever get a chance to visit a Typhoon you MUST try this soup.  Even if you don’t like chowder or lemongrass, somehow I think you will like love this.  I really had to resist eating more than a cup of it.

Up next was a cascading delivery of incredibly yumminess in the form of like 8 dinner entrees and sides. Forgive me I do not know the names of them all! Flaming fish, pineapple curry, green beans, beef with heavenly sauce and peanuts, drunken noodles, fried rice, crab pad thai, and another I can’t remember at this point!  Everything was soooooooooo gooooooood.  This really was heaven on a plate.  I had a little more of the curry since that’s my 2nd love…

I ate plenty, and was full, but thankfully not gut-bustingly-uncomfortably full.  Dessert was really unexciting if you ask me, probably a good thing since dinner was so fabulous.  It was sticky rice and a custard; I had a few bites, but no need to post the pic since it wasn’t so pretty.

After dinner we went to a little bar called Friends in Beaverton, and proceeded to listen to and do some karaoke and drinking.  I didn’t do either, but had fun.  We left around 1am, and I didn’t end up getting in bed until about 1:45.  :sleepy:

Sunday

I was dead tired in the morning, but still got up for yoga   My breakfast was a cereal mess…inspired by all you fabu bloggers out there who display these frequently.  Barbara’s Shredded Oats, Fred Meyer Shredded Wheat, and chai spice cereal I can’t remember the name of now.  It was tasty!

Yoga was great today, and since I knew I was heading back to the gym later with Chris I didn’t do anything else after class.  In between gym sessions I did a little cleaning and ate lunch.  A rather boring experience… one scrambled egg on a toast butt with 1/2 a wedge LCL, and 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese.  Sorely lacking in fresh fruit or veg, right?

Sometime afterward we went to the gym around 3, and I started off with cardio so I could get in my full 45 minutes to an hour.  I did 35 minutes of fast intervals on the stair mill, and then about 10 minutes on the elliptical.  Chris got booted from the basketball court again, but for volleyball this time.  He was kind enough to let me do an ab workout before leaving, though.  This time I did the fitnessmagazine.com Your Flat-Abs Handbook, and it was great!  Lots of stuff for the obliques, and it seemed to be quite effective.

Once home I had a choc. protein shake, and we did some yard work.  I raked around the barkdust to prevent Lily’s footsies from being so messy when she plays catch.  She has done a number on the lawn, too, so I staked & twined off an area in the hopes that it will recover a bit.

You won’t believe it, but we went to Mexican for dinner again. That is like 6 nights in a row we ate out   Bad bad bad bad bad!  I tried to control myself and didn’t have a Casuela, and only had one chicken taco and chips & salsa.  I watched Chris eat a cheeseburger with a fried egg jalapenos, and fries on the side; I almost asked him for a taste at one point it looked so good.

After dinner came shopping at PetSmart and Fred Meyer.  Nothing too exciting here.  Lily had fun sniffing around at PetSmart, and nearly pulled me over she’s so strong!

Once home I unpacked everything and dove into the work recyling.  It took me over an hour to sort out, wash, and put away all the stuff!  That was two weeks’ worth of recycling, and really wasn’t too bad to deal with.

Afterward I rewarded myself with some tasty fruit:  a beautiful Fuji, eaten European style with a knife.  Mmmmmm….. I’m so glad to have crisp, yummy apples again

Chris later attacked my Maranatha with some Ritz, and I couldn’t forego that a.b. action, so I had one cracker with probably 1/2 a tbsp of a.b.  Very good indeed!

I was going to post this last night (Sunday), but Chris and I kind of got into a tiff and I had to hold off.  Thanks for checking back and reading, though!  I’ll be posting about today (Monday) shortly…. stay tuned.

Mostly Monday February 16, 2009

Today being a holiday helped it feel not-so-Monday-ish.  I still worked almost a full day, but work didn’t feel too burdensome or boring.  In fact I was consumed by the same case I was working on Friday, but finally got it done.  Allergies have been plaguing me…can we have a hard rain up here already or what?  It seems all of our moisture is heading south to California and causing quite a bit of nastiness all up and down the state.  Hope those of you in California are staying safe, warm, and dry!

I forgot to prep my oats last night, so I packed some cereal and almond milk for breakfast to eat at work:  1 serving Fred Meyer Shredded Wheat with 1 tbsp raisins, and about 3/4 cup of almond milk. Not too shabby!

Around noon Chris wanted to eat, so we sat down and I had a little sando of 1 pc. ww bread with 1/2 wedge LCL and 2 slices peppered turkey; most of a Fuji ; 1 serving Kashi TLC Fire Roasted Vegetable crackers.  I totally forgot greenery at the store, so the sando was lacking vegetable matter completely. Oops.

Work work work, finally finished my case, and rewarded myself with a snack of  1 cup Dannon Light’n'Fit vanilla.  Freddy’s finally had vanilla yesterday, but now I think I may prefer strawberry since its got more goin’ on than the ‘nilla.  We’ll see…’nilla is more versatile and I can mix other stuff into it.

When we got home I started preparing dinner:  sauteed pork chops with steamed broccoli & carrots, and oven fried potatoes.  Trusty favorite these days, and tasty.  It is also voluminous (Erin!)without being heavy or highly caloric. 

Random fact of the day for you here:  tradable bonds go all the way back to 1171 in Venice!  Holy shit!  For over 100 years they never missed an interest payment.  That is a long time to have bonds around, and a great track record on defaults.  Me and my financial geekery!

Around 7:30 I headed out to the gym, and did the fitnessmagazine.com Bikini Body Workout:  Compete Cardio and Sculptine Routine.  This was a bit tougher, as between sets I had to do a minute of moderate intensity cardio; I did jump rope and jogging in place.  I think I also mis-read the instructions b/c I did three sets of each move, rather than just 1 minute of it and then moving on to the next.  We’ll see if I am nice and sore from it tomorrow   I followed this up with 45 moderate minutes on the stair mill.  Oh, the sweaty glory  

Once home a shake was calling my name…”Oh Keeeerrrrstennnn….you know you want me!”  To which I replied, “yes I do!” and proceeded to make a Genisoy Chocolate Protein Shake with chocolate unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 a banana.  SO yummy, rich, and thick!  I like the choc. almond milk since it is a nice tame chocolate taste.  I’ll have to give it a whirl in my cereal or oats, too.

I decided that I hadn’t had quite enough calories, so I had the other half of my nanner and a tiny bit of a.b. as I prepped my oats.

So here we are, the end of the day…. Did you take today off?  Switch up your routine b/c it was a holiday?  Hope you had a great Monday no matter what you did!  Keep it real til next time

Tues to Wed February 18, 2009

Quickly my friends, as I’m tired.

Tuesday

Rather blue about my weight loss/fat loss progress… a client told me he’s lost like 20 lbs in 5 weeks on the South Beach Diet and I wanted to crawl in a hole with my measly 10 lbs in 3 months.  I mean, you guys see how I eat, it’s not that terrible, it’s no more than 1500 cals/day most days, and I exercise a lot.  I seriously think my only-half-an-hour of cardio January fucked up the progress.  Whatevs, I’m still motivated and pushing forward.

Usual oats:

Turkey and ww butt sando, Kashi TLC crackers, F-f-f-fuji!

The rest of my crackers with lowfat cottage cheese.

The infamous Casuela from Fajitas.

The ever familiar tortilla soup with jalapenos.

The most decadent drink ever…La Casa.  Creamy heaven in a glass.

I hit up the gym after dinner (I had just a few sips of the Casuela and gave that and over half of my La Casa to Chris), and felt a little out of it from my funk.  Did one of the four week bikini workouts, an ab workout, and 15 glorious minutes on the elliptical.  I didn’t do as much cardio intentionally; trying to do 45 minutes 4-5 times per week and thought I could use a lighter day time wise.

I ran by the store for a veggie and fruit stock up fest on the way home since I was feeling bad about my progress.  Figured I’m not eating enough fruits and veggies anyway, so buying a lot and integrating them more would be good.

Wednesday

Better day mostly, but I’m so tired. 

Loving the Maranatha in my oats.  If you remember from when I first put it in my oats I said it wasn’t flavorful enough there, but I was wrong.  Today it really shined through and was perfect.

Different lunch today…a little too light.  Spinach salad with turkey and cucumber, carrot and celery sticks, and grapes.

Dinner was ww linguine with Prego sauce and a little canned parm.  Classy, I know.  Tasty, but I forgot the pic!

Master Recyler class was good:  construction & demolition reduction/reusing/recycling; green building & renovation; and event recycling.  Great presenters and some tasty eats:  small homemade kumqwat (sp?) and cranberry scone, few tbsps Costco trail mix (waaaaaaay too salty).

And that’s all she wrote, folks.  Here’s hopin’ your Wednesday was wonderful

Alternative Thursday February 26, 2009

For some reason this post didn’t get published last week… 

Sorry I’ve been MIA for a three days; I’ve had a crazy schedule and been a bit sleep deprived.  You’ll get a nice long post today though!  Oh, and I don’t know if many of you saw my post from Valentine’s Day, since I posted twice in one day and it may have slipped by.  Please check it out–Best Dinner Ever!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yo, what’s up in blogland?  I’m watching Millionaire Matchmaker right now…muy interesante.

Today was pretty good, rather fast, and tomorrow is Friday!!!  The day started off with a nice bowl of oats, standard Kersten-style:  steel cut oats, almond milk, water, Maranatha almond butter, raisins, and cinnamon.  (Reminds me I need to prep my oats for tomorrow!)

Worky worky, then lunchy lunchy eventually.  Today was a ww bread butt with 1/2 a wedge LCL, 1 slice of peppered turkey, carrot and celery sticks, and 1/2 an apple.

After a meeting and more work I had a snack of 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese.  In case you wondered, I haven’t been eating as much so I only buy the lowfat kind, rather than the fat-free kind.  Chris doesn’t like fat-free, either, so I might as well buy what he likes too.

We left to go pick up our food order from New Seasons for our workshop, and I ate the other half of my apple in the car.  No pic…

The food was gorgeous!  And not much more compared to me creating it myself.  I forgot to take a pic of the third platter before it was attacked…it was a Mezze platter with hummus, spicy feta, dolmas, spanakopita, olives, and pita bread on the side.  The other two platters are pretty self explanatory, and were yummy!

One of our workshop topics was alternative energy, and I really liked the presentation from our Calvert Investments wholesaler.  He is really passionate about the topic in his personal life, too, and even has solar panels on his house.  Great topic considering I’m getting the green bug and we’re in the Pacific Northwest where green abounds in many ways. 

I know, I know, my platters weren’t quite so green…I forgot to ask the New Seasons deli if I could bring in my own ceramic platters for them to use.  Maybe I can return them for re-use?

Sheesh, it is almost 11 and I have to get up at a normal hour again.  What did you all do today?  OMG, Real Housewives of New York is on.  I may have to watch it some…crazy divas and drama are sucking me in!

Nighty night, y’all!

Posty post February 21, 2009

Great title, I know.  Seriously going blank.

How was your Saturday? Mine was pretty good.  Let’s get back to Friday first, though…

Friday

Totally forgot to prep my oats even though I reminded myself while blogging :shocked:  As I got our lunches ready I put some vanilla Dannon Light’n'Fit and shredded wheat in a tub.  Some banana sounded good, too, so I brought one and a knife along as we left for Chris’ dental appt.  It was supposed to be quick, but totally wasn’t so I was starving by the time we got to work.  This was a yummy breakfast, though!  I forgot cinnamon…that would have made it perfect.

Lunch involved integrating some leftovers from our workshop the night before.  I can’t let the leftovers go to waste, can I?!  My sando had a little bit of goat cheese, a few slices of dry salami, and spinach.  I wasn’t that hungry when we ate so I didn’t eat all the apple or grapes.

Friday was a beautiful day in Portland…unseasonably gorgeous…. so I had no problem leaving work early   I ate a little snack of a Clif Nectar bar as we walked out to the car, since I knew I’d need something to fuel our next activity.  It is so weird…chewing the nut pieces in these usually makes my teeth hurt.  No, it’s not the bar, it is my TMJ; I clench my jaw and my teeth are a bit sensitized b/c of it.  Yummy bar tho!

We hit up 24 Hour, where I knew I had to do an hour of cardio to make up for the lack of it earlier in the week.  My goal is to do 225 minutes of cardio per week (45 min 5 times per week), and since I was behind I needed to catch up a tad.  I did 45 minutes on the stair mill (whoa, that was hot and hard!), and finished with 15 minutes on the elliptical.  A nice ab session followed, and then I had fun watching Chris finish up his hoopin’ in progress.  Considering he hasn’t played much in a long time he is doing really well!  White men really can jump

After cleaning up we hit up Fajitas for dinner.  I had like an 1/8th of a Casuela, some chips & salsa, and tortilla soup sin crema y queso.  I was SO full after consuming this that I couldn’t even have a sip of my La Casa.  I threw in a piece of gum and called it good.

I did a few household things once we got home, and we went to bed at 10:30!  I didn’t fall asleep until after 11 I think, but it was nice to get in bed earlier than usual.  I think I’m going to aim to do that again tonight

Saturday

I got up around 7 for my second Master Recycler field trip:  Reuse in Action (or so I will call it…).  After getting ready I had my typical oats, but with a small twist:  I used chocolate almond milk instead of vanilla.  The chocolate flavor really didn’t come through, but that’s okay.  This was a yummy combo that I enjoyed with coffee con Silk vanilla creamer.

The field trip was great   First stop was Free Geek, a charity dedicated to helping the needy get nerdy, as they say.  Basically you can donate any computer related item and they will test it, then refurb it or recycle it.  They build computers for schools, needy people, and their volunteers.  Pretty cool reuse in action!

Next stop was Community Warehouse, a charity dedicated to providing basic housewares to families in need.  They also have an estate store with various donated high end furniture or non-necessary items for sale.  The store helps fund about 1/3 of their operating budget, and had lots of cool retro and newer stuff in it.  I think I’ll donate to this organization in the future rather than Goodwill; I didn’t know that Goodwill dumps off unsold stuff to overseas locations where it is more of a burden than a help

Third stop was SCRAP, School and Community Reuse Action Project.  This is another specialized organization whose mission is: “to inspire creative reuse and environmentally sustainable behavior by providing educational programs and affordable materials to the community.” They accept items that can be re-purposed in arts, crafts, and hobbies, which they then sell to the public in their store.  Really cool!  And super cheap…they aim to sell the stuff for 1/4 of what you’d pay retail, so it is a really affordable and fun resource for art centers, teachers, and others looking to find supplies or inspiration for their creative projects.

Fourth and final stop was The Rebuilding Center, which is the biggest construction & demolition (C&D) re-use seller in the country!  They collect re-usable/excess C&D items like cabinets, sinks, tubs, light fixtures, tile, doors, windows, and so much more.  This is a candy store for those doing renovations, remodels, or other projects around the home and yard.  The Center is run by Our United Villages.  Such a great place to visit!  Makes me want to re-tile the bathroom, do a new kitchen counter, and more.  The offices are really amazing, as they use mostly old doors to create the floors and walls, along with lots of other stuff to create the tables, beams, and more.  So cool.

I got home around 1, feeling a little delirious from not eating yet, and made up a plate of goodies:  hummus, spiced feta, kalamata olives, pita, strawberries, grapes, goat cheese, swiss cheese, apple, dolmas, and a slice of dry salami. This was a yummy sampling of tasty goodness, but I restrained enough that I didn’t feel full afterwards

After letting that settle and waiting for laundry I was off to the gym for another mega cardio sesh and some weights.  My sports bras weren’t dry yet, so I ended up wearing a semi-wet one to work out in.  I figured I was going to sweat it up anyway so what did it matter, right?!

I started on cardio since Chris put me on a time budget, cranking out the same hour of cardio as yesterday:  45 min on the mill, then 15 on the elliptical.  Considering it was after 4 at that point I headed out.  I know I haven’t done a weights/resistance workout in the last few days, but I think burnin’ it up on the cardio is going to help me lose a few more pounds sooner for my vaca, so I’ve kinda put that as priority one lately.

Dinner was an exact repeat of last night:  small part of a casuela, chips & salsa, and tortilla soup w/o cream or cheese.  Tonight I wasn’t as full so I did drink about 1/2 of my La Casa

Fo’ shizzle, yo.  I bet some of you out there think we’re crazy b/c of our Mexican food addiction…sometimes I think we’re a little crazy, too! 

What are your Sunday plans?  I think The Driz may be joining me in yoga!  Fun!  Haven’t seen her for awhile, so I get to check out her new haircut and catch up.  We should totally hook our men up to play basketball, as they’re both two tall white guys who play like no one’s business, or so it sounds like   I think Chris will be out for awhile though since his ankle doesn’t seem any better today   It is really weird…no swelling or sensitivity to the touch, but pain when weight is put on it and he flexes his foot while walking.  Tendon issue?  Ligament issue?

I be outta here.  I’m looking forward to a nice yoga sesh in the morning, and some good weights as well.  Hopefully the workout will motivate me to get all my housework done, too!

Later!

Three-peat February 22, 2009

The weekend is already over   Sure felt like it flew by and that I didn’t really get to relax much.

I’m going to be quick so I can get to bed:

Woke up early for a Sunday, made coffee, played with the LB, and nuked my oats:  steel cut oats, 1/2 a ripe nana, cinnamon, chocolate almond milk, almond butter.  Tasty!  I detected the chocolate more in this batch and liked it

After this I was off to yoga, and The Driz did join the class today!  She did great, too!  Girl, you played like youz  novice, and you looked like a pro   I hit up an upper body workout afterward, and was ruing not hitting the weights for the last 1 1/2 weeks as I did the other workouts.  They are definitely good for the legs, but seem to be lacking for the back and biceps especially.

Once home lunch was a new, delicious creation:  a scramble!  It was one egg + one white, some sliced green bell pepper, left over roasted potato, kalamata olives, feta cheese, and Nature’s Seasons.  I had it served over a piece of whole wheat toast, with some grapes on the side.  Num-num-nummy!

I did a bunch of housework, and was itching to return to the gym to do cardio.  Chris said yesterday that he wanted to go today, so I held off doing it this morning.  I told him to be ready after I got back from the store, but he was still kickin’ it watching TV!  Ahhh!  I was getting a little hungry so I had a snack of lowfat cottage cheese and a handful of Kashi TLC Fire Roasted Vegetable. 

He finally got in the shower and I cleaned the fruits and veggies.  Do you use a fruit wash?  I finally started using one a month ago and can totally tell the difference on my grapes and apples, but not so much on other things. 

Once at the gym I jumped on the elliptical and told Chris I needed at least 30 minutes of cardio.  He was done around 35 minutes; at least I got a good sweat on. 

Here’s where my blog title comes in… not exactly a surprise that we went out to Fajitas for the third night in a row.  I had a small part of a Casuela, a few chips and salsa, and split Carnitas de Pollo with Chris.  Very tasty; I had two tortillas of it.

The restaurant was really busy this weekend, and tonight Noe was all alone serving us.  He brought us a larger than usual La Casa b/c he felt bad the service wasn’t as fast, I think.  I had about half of it.  To. Die. For.

No more food today…that dinner was a little too much and has held me over quite well.  I’m off to bed, and hope to get some good rest.  I didn’t sleep so well last night, although I was in bed and sleeping off and on for about 8 hours.  I love bed, and sometimes miss the days where I would stay in it all day long reading, watching TV, doing crosswords, whatevs.  Do you ever do that?

Adios!

Figgy puddin’ February 24, 2009

I can’t remember if I’m stealing post title here…Forgive me if so!

Fred Meyer was out of bulk raisins yesterday (how is that even possible!?), so I opted for an alternative:  dried figs!  I haven’t had them in awhile so I figured I’d enjoy the change of pace as well.  I cut up one dried fig in my steel cut oats, almond milk, water, cinnamon, and Maranatha.  I can’t remember if I used chocolate almond milk…

I know, the plastic abounds…supposedly I’m poisoning myself with pthalates and BPA by nuking my oats in plastic, and eating hot food with the plastic spoon isn’t good either.  The office doesn’t have a kitchen, everyone uses plastic, and I hate seeing it used only once when it is quite durable.  I wash it in the dishwasher and take it back to the office for reuse, but I can’t say that everyone is on that reuse train. 

Worky worky, and eventually lunchy lunchy.  I’ve been enjoying having more fruits and veggies with lunch over the last week   Today I had one slice ww bread with 1/2 wedge LCL, once slice turkey, and overflowing green leaf lettuce.  I also ate celery & carrot sticks, some grapes, and half a Fuji.  Yay!

I can’t believe how long paperwork can take sometimes.  Totally not a productive use of time to spend two hours preparing applications and getting them in the mail. Can’t wait til I have an assistant!

Today is Chris’ dad’s birthday, and I knew we were heading to the Old Spaghetti Factory, so I did a little sleuthing on their menu and nutritional content.  Oy vey!  It really is amazing how many calories are in the average portion of pasta served with typical meat sauce, and when you get into specialties like vegetarian lasagna, mizithra & browned butter pasta….watch out!  Details of what I chose to eat below…

Eventually I ate the other half of the apple and the rest of the grapes. 

We left for Hillsboro around 5, stopped at Target for a birthday card, and met the parents at OSG.  I figured out I could have the Minestrone Soup (60 cals for the cup), most of the Pasta Marinara (560 for the whole serving), and a piece of bread (~80 cals/slice), without wrecking my day’s intake.  The soup was good…probably the highlight of my meal actually.  My pasta was just meh; could’ve used more herbs and a fresher taste, but I still ate about 2/3 of it. 

Dinner went pretty well, Kurt seemed to be jovial, and I didn’t let him get away with sneaking under the birthday radar.  When the waitress asked him what kind of ice cream he wanted, I made sure to tell her it was his birthday.  I just thought they’d throw a candle in it, but they had our whole dining room sing to him!  Oops, way to embarass the in-laws!!  (Note, Chris and I aren’t married, but we pretty much refer to e/o’s families as the in-laws, and they pretty much consider us married.)

Once home I played with the LB and got suited up to go to the gym.  I thought I’d do cardio first, but all the good stair mills were taken so I headed upstairs to do legs.  Leg press, calf raise, dead lift, kick-squats, kayak-abs, inner & outer thigh and I was done.  Those kick-squats are from fitnessmagazine.com and really get my heart rate going!

Downstairs to cardio and all the machines were free   Yay.  I like the newer stair mills b/c I can customize the intervals for a perfect workout.  And, whew, I was a fountain o’ sweat tonight.  It was great!

I tried to talk myself out of eating anything when I got home, but hunger nudged me to eat a little.  I cut a dried fig in half and spread 1/2 tbsp of Maranatha between the two.  Mmmmmmm…..

Speaking of Maranatha, I just bought a new jar and noticed a little contest mentioned on the tag:  a yoga giveaway!  Go to www.maranathafoods.com to enter for one of 37 chances to win a great prize!

Holy shit, I just had to visit The Olive Garden online to see if they have nutritional content on there, and yes they do.  I say, holy shit again.  When I would eat one breadstick, one serving of salad, and a lunch sized fettucine alfredo I was consuming like 1300 calories, almost 80 grams of fat, and over 3,000 mg of sodium!  :shocked:  Crap, sometimes knowledge is a curse, no?  Now I don’t know if I can fathom eating fettucine alfredo ever again knowing that.  I guess it will be once I’m at my goal weight and have a few calories to spare in the budget, and I eat only part of a lunch serving.  I can’t believe the salad alone has like 350 calories and 27 grams of fat per serving!  And they have two low-fat options available, FYI.

With that glorious over-load of information I leave you.  I hope you all had a great Monday and are ready for a kickin’ Tuesday   Ciao!

Happy Days February 26, 2009

I totally thought of that title while thinking of the days of the week and then the “Happy Days” song came into my head.  That’s like the tenth time “Happy Days” has come up in the last week!

Sorry I’ve been MIA the last three days; work schedule, working out, being tired…didn’t really have the energy to blog at the end of the day.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday definitely had their ups and downs, but today has ended up happy somehow.  I’ve been rather sleep deprived and working my booty out in preparado por mi vacacion, and I think I’ve lost a few more pounds!  Yayayayay!

Here’s a gallery of my rather typical eats the last few days, with a few exceptions:  I added part of an apple to my oats rather than fig or raisins (yummy!), and I mixed yogurt with protein powder and banana (kinda like puddin’!).

On to Friday tomorrow!!!  I had a really unproductive work week   Today I was so tired I just felt like staying home in my poopy mood, but Chris told me he needed my help on a project and got my grumpy ass to go in to work. 

Nothing much new in my world, how about you?  I really need to get on some personal projects, and the tons of work I have hanging out there.  Anymore it seems like time flies and there’s hardly enough hours in the day to fit in a few projects, working out, eating, and sleeping.  Guess that’s life!

Happy Friday to you all   Catch ya later.

Hangriness abounds February 28, 2009

Friday, oh Friday, why did you tease me with your lack of hunger until now?  After getting home from my workout I’ve been hungry…and two little snacks can’t seem to make it go away!  I just need to plug it at this point.

The day started off a little later, and I ate my breakfast at home, outside actually while playing with Lily   I totally forgot to prep my oats last night, and was sad when I remembered this morning.  I opted to have shredded wheat with a whole banana and almond milk, and quite enjoyed it while standing outside on this brisk, sunny, clear morning.

After dropping Lily off at my mom’s I proceeded to Starbucks for my Friday coffee fix.  The office uses Folgers to make coffee on Fridays, and I just about gag thinking about how gross it tastes.  Today I forgot my own cup, and decided I could scour the store for one on clearance and treat myself to a new one.  I found a really pretty red, sparkly mug and filled it with a skinny vanilla latte.  Yay!

My day at the office was busy!  But not that productive   Whatevs.  At some point I had my light lunch of: sando with one slice ww bread, one slice turkey, and green leaf lettuce; a Fuji; and some grapes.

My afternoon was really busy, too, and I kinda forgot to snack because of it.  By the time we left to head to Si Senor to meet my mom I was getting pretty hungry. 

Tonight I felt like having something different…that’s one thing about visiting Mexican restaurants 3 times a week while trying not to spend too much or eat poorly–I get kinda bored of the selection at times.  I opted to split a chicken quesadilla with my mom, had a whole giant Diet Coke, and of course chips & salsa. 

I at the two pieces on the right with jalapenos, avocado, and that sour cream smeared on top (!), and felt satisfied and a little full. 

My ass was dragging a bit when I got home.  Maybe a little emotionally tired and weighed down from my richer-than-normal meal?  I didn’t want to skip the gym, tho, so I changed and headed out.

I had to get my blood flowing a bit when I got there, so I warmed up on the treadmill for 5 minutes.  My ass was still dragging pretty bad, but I managed to bang out a decent weight session.  Then I headed down to the cardio zone for 30 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 15 minutes on the stair mill.  Somehow all of that wasn’t too hard, and I rather like doing 15 minutes on the mill as the last bit of my cardio. 

After I got home and cleaned up I tried on (brace yourselves) bikini swimsuits!!  Holy shit, it didn’t go too badly either.  I felt okay about what I look like in the two I tried on, and do feel like I look better than last year, and a lot better than this summer, when I last wore one. 

Hanger kind of took over after that, but I felt like I’d consumed enough cals for the day so I had half of a Luna Iced Raisin Oatmeal bar warmed in the microwave.

Uh, yeah, that didn’t cut it.  Reading the Trader Joe’s circular probably didn’t help either, as it seemed like an especially tasty issue.  So I prepped my oats for the morning and dressed a fig with 1/2 a tbsp of Maranatha.  That helped, but I still feel a little hungry…in fact, a bit hangry.  The anger here comes from not feeling satisfied, and from looking at all this yummy food and not being able to eat it (um, feta tapennade?! sign me up!).

And now…a fitness progress update

I think I’ve lost about 12-15 pounds now on my quest to be fit!!!  I am amazed, actually, and kind of don’t believe it at times.  I think I’m around 140-143 now   Better than that, though, I’m smaller, feel leaner and tighter, and am still motivated and plugging away to lose the last 5-10 lbs.  Since I tackled the bikini tonight I’ll have to check out some other clothes, esp. since the vaca is just over two weeks away!!! 

Do you keep clothes that are too small in the hopes that you can fit back into them one day?  I know I have over the last 2-3 years, and I’m glad I did.  I can understand getting rid of clothes that are way too small or too big, but when you’re overweight it is really sad to get rid of the “ideal” clothes just b/c your ass is too big to fit them currently. 

When I was skinny 4-5 years ago I got rid of all of my bigger clothes, so when I gained weight over the last 2-3 years I was forced to wear just one small part of my wardrobe.  I’m really looking forward to fitting into a cute dark, slim pair of jeans I used to wear.  When I fit into those I think I’ll feel like I’ve conquered the world

I don’t want to sound crazy or obsessed with being skinny; I hope you don’t think I am.  I guess I remember what I felt like 4-5 years ago (confident, fit, empowered, pretty, sexy) and I want to have that again.  Is being thin addictive?  Is that how we venture into unhealthy territory with our eating, body image, and exercise?  I know it is kind of sad that many of us include being thin in part of our definition of ideal, but I suppose being thinner and fitter is kind of a secondary thing to the primary goal of feeling better about myself.  What do you think?

Tomorrow is going to be busy, so I’m heading to bed to get my zzz’s.  Send Andrea well wishes on her race tomorrow!  I can’t wait to hear how she and her daddy do!!  Good luck, girl, go get em’

Can we get it over with already? February 28, 2009

Tha’ts how I felt most of today as I waited and waited for Chris to get ready to go workout.  I was not a happy camper.

I went to bed last night all optimistic about being productive today, and thought I’d get up early to go grocery shopping.  Um, yeah, that didn’t exactly happen…the alarm went off at 7:30 and I was soooo tired, and then I realized Trader Joe’s doesn’t open until 9am.  I got all excited last night about TJ’s while looking at their circular, and decided I’d just stay in bed and go tomorrow instead.

I got up around 8:30 and got the coffee going, played with the LB, and then ate my oats:

I hit up the gym for pilates, and then came home expecting Chris to be ready to workout.  He was still in bed at 11!  I dragged him out of bed, he ate a little, and then proceeded to take like two hours before being ready to go to the gym.  Ugh.  I just wanted to get it over with already and move on with my day.  I ended up reading blogs, cleaning some, and playing with Lily in that time frame.  I also ate a snack thinking we’d go sooner than later…I should have known and just eaten a full lunch:

One egg white, and one slice of ww toast with 1 tbps Maranatha a.b.

After all that waiting I got slightly hungry again, so I ate a fruit leather, the other half of my Luna Bar from last night, and a few grapes. 

Finally we left to go workout around like 1:45.  I did cardio first since I wasn’t sure how long Chris would take, and I wanted to make sure I got in my time.  I did half an hour on the elliptical, and about 25 minutes on the stair mill before Chris came to collect me.  Worked out perfectly I guess.

We had plans to go to my dad’s for dinner tonight, so we got cleaned up and headed on over there a little early.  Dinner was so good!  We started with Kettle Death Valley Chipotle chips, carrots, and red pepper. A few toasted TJ’s sundried tomato & habanero tortilla strips, too

And don’t forget the wine… a Sauv Blanc and a Syrah.  Both were great!

For dinner we had hamburgers.  Mine had ketchup, pickles, lettuce, and cracked pepper.  Pefectly juicy and tasty, and somehow I wasn’t full afterward.  So nice!

There’s usually dessert at my dad’s, and tonight was homemade, homegrown rhubarb with mixed berries, and some Haagen Dazs vanilla on top.  I ended up with the big bowl!  It was so tasty.  I really feel like I got some special, yummy treats tonight and I feel really satisfied about it.  Yay!

 

Chris and I cracked home more wine after we got home, for which I am regretting drinking more right about now. 

I’m tired, a little cranky from the wine, and ready to sleep lots.  Better prep my oats while I remember!

A test of values March 1, 2009

Hey there.  Is everyone gearing up to watch the new Celebrity Apprentice tonight?  It starts in less than half an hour so I gotta make this semi-quick.  It is a two hour episode tonight!

I definitely regretted drinking the additional red wine last night after we got home, as I woke up with a headache   I was not planning on going to yoga, and I stayed in bed until 9:30! 

Once up, got the coffee going, played with LB, and settled in for my bowl of oats and cup of joe while reading blogs.  Same ol’ tasty oats, nothing different today.  Stay tuned tomorrow for a variation!

We hung around the house all morning, and I fantasized about going to Trader Joe’s to buy the week’s groceries while Chris went to the gym.  That eventually materialized at like 1:30, finally.  Just before we left I realized I never at lunch!  I had a quick snack of ww toast with Maranatha:

Here’s where my values were tested and where I was totally disappointed.  I’ve never bought all of my groceries at TJ’s, just a few odds and ends, and I was shocked at how much packaging they use, the lack of bulk products, and how they even package their produce individually in many cases. 

I began in the produce section and saw that the only broccoli was individually wrapped crowns.  Hm, no go there.  The trifecta of grapes looked good, but were packaged in a clamshell that isn’t recyclable at the curb.  I grabbed those anyway.  Next up, Chinese BBQ pork in plastic (tough to avoid with meats), quart of yogurt (impossible to avoid plastic packaging with dairy), crackers (okay, I can handle the box & bag), soup (individual aseptic cartons that can only be downcycled? or, steel cans I can deal with), oats (is that cylinder even recylable?), dried fruit (no bulk anywhere??? tons and tons of small plastic packages)…

By the time I got through the whole store I was almost feeling sick from the excess of consumption and packaging all around me and in my cart.  Don’t get me wrong, I really love TJ’s foods, but today I saw them in a whole new light as I walked through the store.  The one aisle I didn’t visit was the frozen foods; I didn’t have anything frozen on the list to buy, and all frozen food boxes are not recyclable. I felt really sad and disappointed that I couldn’t feel good purchasing half of the stuff there, and I ended up putting everything back except the pork and the yogurt. 

I went to Fred Meyer after getting home, and felt much better about the choices I was able to make there.  Even though packaging is not as important as the food inside of it, I still really want to reduce the packaging, especially plastic, that I use; I tested and clarified my values today and it felt good to be strong.  At Fred Meyer I had the choice to use my own containers for dried fruit, oats, lunch meat, and produce, which meant the only commercial packaging I had was for crackers, jam, Silk creamer, soup, and bread. 

What can I do to reduce my packaging and footprint further?  I am thinking of making large batches of soup and bread dough to freeze so I can have tasty, homemade, healthier choices that I can wrap myself in reusable containers.  Today I also looked in to Community Supported Agriculture to see about getting a local farmshare.  Whether or not I do that, I plan on attending farmer’s markets this year to see what kind of local items I can buy.  I love markets and haven’t visited any here in Oregon for years

I want to research where my food comes from more, and learn how to make better upstream choices that reflect my values of increasing sustainability and reducing my eco footprint.  Okay, enough of my earthy-broad rant

I looked at Stevia today at Fred Meyer (forgot at TJ’s), and it is so expensive!!  Like $10-13 for a bottle, box of packets (packaging!), or drops. I decided to forego it for now.

After shopping and putting groceries away we headed off to Fajitas for dinner.  When I ordered my soup Noe asked me if I wanted a large bowl, or a small one.  “There’s a small one??? Sweet, sign me up!”  More portion control and less waste.  I had that, part of a Cazuela (I used to spell it wrong), chips & salsa, and part of La Casa.

Yummmmy in my tummy!

Being a bit out of sorts for most of today has made me want to eat a lot this afternoon and evening.  Emotional eating sucks!  Or is it that I have’t had enough whole foods today, including fruits and veggies?  Eventually I caved tonight and decided to try out the TJ’s nonfat plain European style yogurt. 

Holy moley it is sour!  As I licked off the tub seal (can’t waste any, right? ) I thought it tasted like sour cream or cream cheese, and began thinking of all sorts of savory applications for it.

I decided to have half a cup with a few tablespoons of sugar-free raspberry preserves I picked up today.  Yes, sugar-free and Splenda-full…couldn’t justify the high caloric content of 50 cals for one tbsp of jam   The combo was good, but still sour as you can imagine.  I think this yogurt tastes good, and I knew going in that it would be sour, but I’m going to have to get creative this week to spice it up a bit and see how best to use it.

We’re watching the Celebrity Apprentice now…what do you think?  Interesting mix of celebrities this time around!!!  That poker player chick is quite a pushy pistol! 

Okay, time to go upgrade the computer.  Wish me luck with my technology!

Chop chop! March 3, 2009

My hair was getting obnoxiously long and lifeless, so after a few months of waiting (seriously) to get it cut I finally was able to visit my hairmaster today.  Picture follows below in Tuesday pics…

Monday

Ugh, the week starting already.  Just not feelin’ it!  Breakfast was good though   AB&J oats! Standard steel cut oat/almond milk/water base, but I added a bit of sugar-free raspberry jam and almond butter..and still added some cinnamon.  Tasty!

Can’t remember what the heck the morning held…

Lunch was quite standard fare:  ww bread with turkey and lettuce; Fuji apple; green grapes.

I knew a potentially unhealthy and big dinner was coming my way, so I didn’t mind not getting hungry or eating much during the aftertoon.  Probably a mistake… I did have the other half of my apple.

No photos for dinner b/c I was in the middle of a table surrounded by people I didn’t know. The run down for you:

• appetizer of 1/2 a crab & shrimp cake, some fried onion straws, a few pieces of calamari, and a piece of spanikopita. totally should have skipped all but the cake.
• salad of mixed greens, vinaigrette, blue cheese, and candied pecans. I ate too much of this and could have stopped eating after this probably!
• main course of baked chicken breast, mashed potatoes, a measly 3 pieces of asparagus, and some crab with a rich yellow sauce that I gave to Chris.
• dessert of creme brulee.  oh my god, it was a huge dish and I ate like 1/3-1/2 of it. 
• coffee with cream

I totally should have gone slower and not eaten so much of the rich items, as my tummy was really unhappy afterward.  Like seriously sick feeling.  It is interesting how eating a lot of rich food doesn’t settle with me now.  Does that happen to the rest of you healthy eaters out there?  Reminds me of about 8 years ago when I was in Texas–I didn’t eat processed foods or fatty foods for a few months, then had a McDonald’s cheeseburger and totally felt ill from it.  More reason to eat well, right?!  It has kind of got me wondering about my vacation and if I’ll be able to eat well then.

I had to go workout after dinner settled finally.  At the gym I proceeded to do a wimpy-yet-time-consuming set of legs and abs, and then rocked out an hour of cardio split between the elliptical and the stair mill.  Alright!

Afterward I had to eat a little something to refuel, so I had a prune and 1/2 a tbsp of almond butter.

 

Tuesday

Somewhat normal oats, but I used a prune instead of raisins.  Good stuff!

Worked a bit, then left for my hair appointment.  Finally!  I waited a long time to set an appointment, so my dude was out of town and then booked for a few weeks after he returned.  My hair has been lifeless and not curling much lately, mostly from the dryness I think, but also b/c it has gotten long.  My fine hair doesn’t do so well when put to the weight test. 

I ate some carrot and grapes on the way.

Chop chop!  I told Keith, my hair guy before I was born , that as long as I can pull up the top part into a pony he can cut it as short as he wants elsewhere.  And short he went!  He stacked it a bit from back to front, layered it, and highlighted a tad.  Here I am post-appointment, taking a pic of myself in my car (no, not in motion!).

Since I only get my hair done 2-3 times per year (I’m totally lazy in that dept.) I rather like him making it short, and then growing it out a little.  Thanks, Keith!

Back to work I went, and ate my sandwich on the way.  I know, driving and eating…I was a bad girl today.

Once back at work I did a little of this’n'that, and eventually ate my snack of TJ’s plain European style yogurt with two tbsp of sf rasp jam.

Chris told me Maria was calling, so we visited Si Senor for dinner.  I’ve been buggin’ out about eating out so much, but for some reason tonight it didn’t bother me.  I had chips & salsa, a big Diet Coke, and a cup of tortilla soup.  Chris got Al mojo de ajo, aka shrimp & mushrooms in garlic butter.

Once home we played with the LB, and I headed out to the gym.  I hadn’t been at the gym this early on a Tuesday in a while (7pm) and it was still sooooo busy.  I managed to get in a decent upper body workout, though, and some good abs.  Cardio was good, but I was feeling a little tired; I did 30 min on the elliptical while watching Good Eats (coconut cake!), then 15 min on an old stair mill.

My evening snack tonight had the goal of being low in sugar.  I realize that I often eat my last snack close to bed, and any carbs I consume may just sit on my belly   I had about 1/2 a cup of TJ’s yogurt, 2 T sf rasp jam, 1 T a.b., and a cup of unsweetened chocolate almond milk on the side. 

One thing I’ve noticed a lot lately is how many sporting events are sponsored by fast food or junk food.  The TVs by the stair mill area have been on sports for a week or two now (yawn, just shoot me), and I have been amazed by all of the Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Taco Bell, Burger King, and other junky ads I’ve seen.  That made me think of the foods available at sporting events, and how they’re all just piles of poo as well   I must admit that in the past I have loved getting a Red Rope when going to see the Blazers.  And a hot dog sounded really good the other day!

Here in Portland I bet a vegan/vegetarian cart would totally fly at just about any event.  I haven’t been to anything in so long that, for all I know, one may exist already. 

Alright, time to head out!  Chris and I have another educational workshop tomorrow night, so I’m not sure I’ll be bloggin’…. “see” y’all later

Marketing March 4, 2009

Today was quick, and somewhat productive.  Feels like it should be Thursday already, tho!

Getting ready was kind of weird since I have such short hair!  In the shower I was like, where’d it go?  And blow-drying it was really fast and easy.  Yippee

Breakfast was a bit late, and was the standard oats mix:  steel cut oats, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, water, almond butter, a dried fig, and cinnamon.

We had a business lunch at Red Lobster.  Meh, definitely not a restaurant I care for… since I ate a late breakfast and this was early lunch I just had a salad and one biscuit, and some hot tea. 

I got a bit hungry around 2-ish, so I ate this Quaker True Delights snack bar that I got for free on their website.  I used to eat gobs of Quaker chocolate chip oatmeal snack bars as a kid, and the texture, taste, and smell took me back to my childhood.  I liked the chunks of chocolate, whole almonds, and low sugar content of the bar, but I don’t think I’m so interested as to buy any.  I eat bars infrequently these days…once a week maybe?  Does anyone want the coupon for $1 off a box?  I’ll send it to the first person who comments below that they want it.  (I’ll email you after you comment to get your address).

Sometime around 4 I got a little hungry again, so I ate my Fuji from yesterday.

Chris and I left to get ready for our workshop, heading to New Seasons to pick up our platters, wine, and bread.  The platters were so pretty again!  I forgot to take in my own platters this time around, so I got plastic containers again

Here’s what the spread ended up looking like, charcuterie plate, olive ciabatta, and fruit & cheese plate:

Everything was SO tasty, esp. the bread!!!  It was so fresh and full of yummy olives.  New Seasons sliced it up for me at the store and it was still a little warm   I ate way too much of this stuff after our workshop was over, esp. the cheeses and bread.  Bad me!

That’s it for the day.  It’s already after 11 and I have (I typed ‘hate’ first!) to get up early for work.  I hope you all had a great Wednesday, and are ready for the home stretch of the week

I forgot my title March 5, 2009

I need to start writing my ideas down…I thought of a great title earlier and cannot remember it for the life of me. 

Today was pretty good   Except that I forgot to prep my oats last night!  I packed a cereal mess quickly while I was making lunch, and then remembered we had lunch scheduled again today   Ooops.  Whatevs, it worked out okay. 

The cereal mess was shredded wheat and Peace Cereal Essential 10.  Yes, I still have that box from like a few months ago, but it isn’t stale.  Imagine that.  I added 1/2 a banana, and took some almond milk along to pour over it just before eating.  Yummy, but not like the wholesome goodness that is oatmeal.  I’ve been eating oatmeal many times per week for the last 3-4 months, and wonder if I’ll ever get sick of it.  I look forward to it daily

Busy busy bee at work, and hunger struck a bit before our noon lunch meeting.  Since I accidentally made lunch I ate my little, plain-ass sandwich to help out the hunger:  ww bread and peppered turkey. A few carrots as well.

We went to Red Lobster again, and I had a garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette again.  No pic today, as the person we met with was someone we don’t know very well, and I didn’t want to seem like too much of a freak (yet). Chris loves salmon, and since I detest it we rarely have it in the house.  He was ecstatic to eat it two days in a row, and I was ecstatic to not have to deal with the smell cooking it at home

Around 2 I got a little hungry, so I ate my grapes and the rest of my carrots. I love when the grapes are all fresh and crunchy!!

More worky worky…today was a lot busier than I thought it would be, but that’s good   I was sort of hungry again around 4:30, but knew we’d be leaving soon to go home and have dinner.

I made fried rice for the first time ever, and I think it turned out okay.  The Trader Joe’s BBQ pork I bought was really fatty, though, so I had to trim out a ton of it.  The whole shebang included ~8oz. pork, 1/2 a carrot, 1/2 an onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 small broccoli crown, 1 clove garlic, 2 eggs, about 3 cups of brown rice, a few dashes of soy sauce, some Nature’s Seasons, and I topped mine with toasted sesame seeds.  This made enough for both of us to eat dinner and have  a little leftover. 

Do you ever notice that Chinese food doesn’t leave you full for very long?  It is so weird…Chris and I used to notice this when we’d eat lunch at the Chinese place by work (Royal Panda–it moved!) we’d be hungry like an hour later.  Tonight that meant we could leave to go workout sooner, as Chris didn’t have to digest for two hours.  Yay!

I switched up the order of things and did an hour of cardio first (1/2 stair mill, 1/2 elliptical), and then hit up legs and abs upstairs.  Chris hooped it up for like 1:45!  Wowza!

When I was done I was feeling a little low, so I ate the Luna Berry Almond bar that has been in my gym bag for a few months.  Squished, but still delicious   No pic since I left the camera at home. 

Now I’m off to bed.  I’m still horrible about getting to bed early enough to get a full night of sleep these days. I’m addicted to The Graham Norton Show on BBC America–he is so funny, and his guests are usually quite entertaining, too.  You should check it out!

Beware of the bitch March 6, 2009

Somehow I made it through this week without being much of a PMS ridden monster, but today it came out a few times, esp. tonight.  Rawr!  I was frustrated that like three staff people neglected to do one really important thing at work, and dinner was rather frustrating for many reasons.  More on that later.

The day started off well…tired because I did watch some Graham Norton at midnight and set the alarm for 7, though.  I treated myself to a non-fat vanilla cafe au lait at Starbucks this morning (last of the gift card), and had my oats along with that.  I’ve been wanting more sweetness in my oats, but don’t really want to add fake sweetener.  Did the raisins make it sweeter?  Dunno, but I’ll live without added sweetness.

Chris had lunch with a friend, and I didn’t want his sandwich from yesterday to go to waste so I ate half of it.  I will spare you the details, but let’s say it had some unhealthy meat, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, and a tiny bit of goat cheese.  So yummy!  I also had about half of the apple and grapes.  I ate while building an investment portfolio….ooh la la.

That didn’t hold me for very long, so I ate the rest of my fruit around 2:30. 

The rest of my afternoon didn’t feel very productive, and I’m starting to get a little anxious about getting ready to leave work and be on vacation.  I know I’ll be swamped next week with appointments and other work, and I hope I don’t go insane.   

After Chris’ last appointment we headed for Si Senor to meet my mom for dinner.  Everything started off okay, but went downhill.  They’ve tweaked their happy hour menu like 3 times in the last 2 weeks, and we ordered based on what the rules were on Tuesday.  Turns out Chris’ shrimp appetizer isn’t on happy hour, so he ordered Nachos Idaho.  My mom didn’t want sour cream on her quesadilla, and Chris didn’t want guacamole on his dish.  The kitchen mixed that up, but they swapped toppings and everything seemed okay.  Until Chris ate two of his six “nachos” and discovered there were beans in them!  He and I hate most beans, so he was totally disturbed when he realized what that funny taste and texture was.  He is rather farsighted and didn’t see the beans on the menu when he ordered… 

I was getting rather irritated at dinner from my PMS, and I think the touch of alcohol I had made it worse.  I had a Diet Coke,  part of a glass of margarita, some chips & salsa, and a cup of tortilla soup.  I also ate some pickled jalapenos on the side

I had to head to the gym to burn off some steam, but decided to visit Target on the way for some cheap entertainment and price research.  The last few times I’ve been in Target I’ve noticed the price of goods was higher than at Fred Meyer; since I need some toiletries and such I thought I’d look at the prices there.  I did find a great deal on Clif bars!  Box o’ six for $5.99, or $1.09 each.  Most of their bars were $1.09 each, which is a better deal than Freddy’s.

The gym wasn’t very busy, and I hopped on the stair sweat mill for a tortuous 45 minutes.  I wanted to wimp out and reduce the intensity for the last 10 minutes, but stuck with it and completed the full 45 at a good pace.  Then I headed upstairs for a puny upper body session, mostly b/c I just wasn’t feeling into the weights tonight.  I did some quick back and biceps, a little bit of abs, then moved out.

My after-workout snack was new–yogurt with protein shake mix.  Since this yogurt is plain the combo reminded me of a mild chocolate cheesecake.  Not the best, but okay considering what it was.  Nice and fluffy at least!

I’m still feeling like a pessimistic little bitch over here, so I think I’m going to go to bed and watch some TV.  Sounds like a nice, comfortable way to end my day   Gotta prep my oats first!!

Nighty night!

Frigid bitch March 7, 2009

Yes, that’s right friends, the bitch was out again today.  This afternoon I was cold and in a bitchy mood and Chris made a joke about me being a frigid bitch, which actually cracked me up and made me feel better.  PMS be damned!

My morning began with an overly tired me dragging my arse out of bed around 8:30, getting ready, and eating my normal oats concoction:

I prepared lunch for us, but Chris ate his sandwich before we left and then I totally forgot my lunch on the way out the door.  Work sucked a bit, but I did finally get most of the work software stuff loaded on our laptop.  The bitch emerged at work and didn’t go away until later tonight.

At work I was sad to have forgotten my food, but thankfully my office mate keeps some food around.  My choices were popcorn, instant oatmeal, or an old Power Bar.  I chose the strawberries’n'cream oatmeal, but considering the low calorie content it was more of a snack than lunch.

Wow, this was SOOOOO sweet and fake tasting, but some part of me liked it.  I think the frigid bitch had a sweet tooth today

Eventually I ate a snack–there was a Clif Nectar bar in my desk drawer

I also had some green tea with mango to try to warm up, but had to put my jacket on eventually since I was so cold.  I was so cold that it was hard to control my hand to write!  Thankfully most of my work was on the computer.

Chris hinted at visiting Fajitas for dinner, justified it in all kinds of ways, and I agreed we could go there.  A small bowl of tortilla soup sounded perfect. Funny coincidence–we saw our waiter, Pedro, on the freeway while driving home!  “We’ll be there soon!”

I did indeed order the soup, and I asked for a little bit of sour cream to make it richer and tastier.  Mmmmm.  I also had a little bit of a Cazuela, even though I knew I’d be working out later.

I hung out at home for awhile before working out.  When I did go I hit up the stair mill for 45 minutes and came home.

My snack was a little bag of cookies I got from my blogger Secret Santa.

I also ate a prune while prepping my oats, and now my tummy just won’t stop rumbling!  Scheit…it is like 11:30 and I should go to bed, but the hunger is strong…what to do?  Off this frigid bitch goes to figure things out.

Have a great rest of your weekend

So begins a crazy week! March 9, 2009

Somehow today was a happy Monday!  I thought that was an oxymoron…

‘Twas a busy few days, or so it felt, and I’m getting rather anxious and excited for the vaca.  I hope you aren’t sick of hearing about it already… I’m also excited to post some while I’m there so y’all can partake, too!

Saturday

I TOTALLY forgot to set my clock forward an hour and woke up thinking it was 8am, and that yoga was in two hours.  Not until I sat down at the laptop at 10:05 DST did I realize what had happened.  Shit, no yoga for me  

Very typical breakfast, but with a splash o’ almond milk on the oats after cooking:

We finally  left for the gym at like 11:45, and I hit up an hour of legs and abs.  Mercy!  Chris was hoopin’ it up, but there was no one to play with   I joined him for some shooting and a 1:1 game, and it was really fun!  He’s like 6′2 and I’m 5′5, he’s played for 20+ years and I have no real b-ball experience, and he pretty much schooled me, but we laughed our asses off the whole time

I was famished when we got home at like 2:30, and I shoved in a quick snacky lunch of ww bread with turkey, carrot sticks, grapes, and some plain yogurt with sf rasp jam.

After this I cleaned up and headed out to do some birthday shopping for the man, but I really didn’t have any luck   I also did some shopping for vacation supplies, and can’t believe I blew $50 so fast!  Razor refills, toothpaste, allergy pills…shit adds up quick.

It hailed and snowed yesterday afternoon bigtime!  We had a thick layer of hail on the ground and a little flurry of flakes.  Pretty, but effin’ cold, mo’ fo’s.  I’m ready for it to warm up already.

For Chris’ first birthday dinner of the week we headed to Black Angus in Vancouver.  Chris loves the prime rib there, and I kind of struggle to find decent things on the menu, but last night was really good overall.  I had a few small pieces of their yummy molasses bread with butter, about half of my salad with a really oniony vinaigrette, and about half of my teriyaki sirloin with a baked potato and steamed veggies.  I also grabbed a few of Chris’ fries

I was quite full when leaving, but eventually needed a little something to wrap up my day.  The house is really devoid of food, way more than I realized, and I broke into the box of South Beach Diet PB cereal bars I bought for the trip.  Not too bad…crispy, PB’y, and hit the spot.

I ate this while watching Breaking Bad on AMC.  Have you seen that? Or Mad Men?  Two of the best shows out there!

Monday

I couldn’t sleep much last night! It sucked to wake up and move around, not feeling quite tired or comfortable enough to just pass out like I needed to.  We got up a bit earlier to be at the office by 8, but that turned into 8:30 with us lagging and traffic sucking a bit b/c it was snowing again!  I forgot to prep my oats last night so I had a cereal mess of shredded wheat and Essential 10 with lots of almond milk.

Work was very busy I ate some around 12:30–ww bread with turkey, grapes, Fuji, carrot sticks.

My 1:00 was an energy intensive meeting, but well worth it. I was nervous about it b/c he emailed me and was like “we should meet.” Those are often foreboding words, but once we sat down it was all good.  Yay! 

So, do you remember how I said I was upgrading my computer?  It was so I could gain full access to work applications at home or on vacation, and it turns out I’m screwed.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with a guy from the technology help desk trying to figure out a way to fix the issue that I didn’t realize I had until I called randomly about something related.  I have Vista Home Premium, which is not compatible with a few of the applications (even tho they’re okay with Vista Business), and my computer could have totally crashed, but I’m lucky and somehow the whole disk encryption application didn’t kill my computer.  Shit.  That woulda sucked!  Turns out I need to install Vista Business or XP Professional to create compatibility with the other software I need to run.  Bleh.  Maybe it isn’t worth it…moving on.

Tonight we had Chris’ second birthday dinner of the week, this time at Godfather’s Pizza with his parents.  I swear, what else could I do this week to throw off my fitness program?!  But, I must admit that the pizza tasted really and I was able to enjoy two pieces and a small beer without feeling guilty

I realize that doesn’t look so appealing now… I blotted off the extra grease and put some parm and chili flakes on it.

We have leftovers, so I think pizza may be in my near future again.  I really love pizza and admit it is one food I have missed a lot over the last four months.  I’ve had it a few times, and have really tried to savor it each time.  Nothing like a special treat now and then, right?

We got home around 9, and Chris pretty much went straight to bed!  Very odd for him.  I used the opprtunity to sneak out and birthday shop, and buy a few groceries for the week.  I had success with his birthday gift, and Lily got him something, too  

I’m pooped…it’s just after midnight and I’m going to join the man in bed.  That’s twice in the last week he’s beat me to bed–so rare!  Hope you all had a good Monday

I’m still alive! March 12, 2009

Crazy week indeed…can’t believe it is already Thursday night.  I was planning on posting tonight but I left my camera at work! 

I am ashamed to admit we’ve eaten out every single night for the last week, but I haven’t felt too bad about it.  I guess I last posted Monday, and since then we’ve eaten Mexican each night. 

Chris had a great birthday yesterday, and the weather has been really sunny and pretty, but frickin’ cold.  I’ve got to bust out some major work tomorrow, and I think I’ll be going in Saturday as well.  Oy vey.  I’m really beginning to feel some stress about getting ready to leave town, but so far it hasn’t made me a crazy bitch   That is yet to come! 

What do you do when you’re getting to crunch time for a big project/trip/test/etc.?  I make lists and clean/organize.  Right now I think I have three lists going–stuff to buy, stuff to take, what to do before I leave.  Oh wait, make that four…I have another what to do before I leave list at work.  I suppose I’m always afraid I’ll forget something and making lists seems to help a lot.  I feel the need to clean and get everything organized so I can have clean/uncluttered space physically, but it is mostly a mental exercise, too.

I should be able to upload my pics tomorrow and catch up for the week.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I’ve been up to!  I’ve missed you!

4 days in 10 minutes March 13, 2009

Not sure where to start…nothing terribly remarkable about the last four days, except Chris’ birthday (Wed) was fun, he’s been in a good mood since Wednesday morning, and I’ve been working like a mad woman.

I’m so tired and crazed as I try to get ready for my trip without going insane.  Thankfully I just have one bigger item to do at work tomorrow, one meeting, and then I can finally get down to figuring out what clothes to take, how to pack, etc.  I’m getting anxious about packing since I haven’t really scoped out my clothes yet, and since my closet room is a total frickin’ mess!  It looks like a bomb of clothes blew up in there

Surprise, surprise, I ate Mexican food out a ton this week.  And tonight I’m ashamed to admit that we’ve eaten out every night for a full week and a few days I think.  Ugh, so bad, I know.  I totally should have bought some food for the house this week (beyond basic fruit and yogurt) so I would have been forced to eat here more. 

Okay, I think my ten minutes are up.  If you can, take a look at the background of the last picture above   Chris and I ate outside at Fajitas tonight.  He walked there with Lily before I was done at work, then I joined them as they sat outside!

Fuck, I’m so annoyed with Chris tonight, and just about everything in general.  I guess I’m just in that annoying bitch phase as I go crazy getting ready to leave at work and home.  I haven’t been this consumed by leaving town for awhile. 

I’m getting up at like 5 tomorrow to go to work, then I have breakfast with my mom at 8, and my appointment at 10.  Wish me luck!

En route to ???? March 15, 2009

The week finally came to an end yesterday with a huge push of activity, and my stress is finally relieved.  Ahhhhh….that feels better.  Right now we’re at the airport waiting to hop to San Francisco, en route to ?????  I’m toying with the notion of playing a guessing game with you.

Here’s the last day of eats, including breakfast today at the airport:

We got like 2 hours of sleep last night   Totally took longer than thought to get the clothes together and pack.  And I discovered that I fit into most of my smaller clothes, so the wardrobe suddenly grew about ten fold.  I hope I brought enough of the right things…

So, clues about where we’re going:

• it is sunny and dry
• the booze runneth freely
• it is on the coast
• pirates used to hide here

Can you guess the specific city we’re heading to?  It may be international, just to give you a hint

Boarding starts in a few minutes…gotta move!

Hola, Amigas! March 18, 2009

Hola from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!  Sun, sand, booze, crazy food, and recreation abound   I suck, I know. 

Chris’ and my vacation has been really nice so far, and we still have lots of time to sit back, relax, and enjoy getting away from the cold and rain that was Portland when we left. 

I am really happy to report that I feel great in my clothes, I feel okay in a bikini, and I’m still working out while down here.  There is a lot of rich, good food to be had, so I had better keep my arse moving lest it blow up while I’m here!

Our trip down here was smooth sailing, and we got seats in the exit row on both flights   Chris is 6′2″, so the extra leg room was well appreciated indeed.

 

What was the first thing we did once we hit got out of customs and the timeshare harangue at the airport?  Have a beer, of course!  And yes, we drank it in the shuttle ride to the airport.  It felt so naughty.

Once at the hotel we had a few more beers…it was happy hour after all, and 2 for 1 Dos Equis sounded pretty good. We also had nachos, which were incredibly tasty and we totally devoured the whole plate.  I even at the tostada cup that the guac came in

We got some groceries that afternoon, and made ourselves a little turkey ham and egg sandwich for dinner.  The grocery store had a giant aisle dedicated to canned fish!  So odd to see…but what was more odd was the huge section of devotional candles!  Erin, I know where you found yours

I found regular Quaker oatmeal at the store, and got some Skippy Roasted Honey Nut Super Chunk to add in.  Pretty good, but I miss my steel cut oats   

We worked out in the a.m.; I’m glad to have the decently equipped workout room available for free.  They have a 30 minute limit programmed into most of the cardio machines, though, so I’ll be doing a bit of rotation there to get in some longer sessions.

Lunch on Monday wasn’t memorable…so let’s skip to the incredibly amazing dinner!  We love La Dolce, and visit it multiple times we’re here each year.  This time around we had a green salad and a pizza with salami, prosciutto, and kalamata olives.  And lots of Parm on top… SO good.

We wandered the Marina area afterward and then headed home around 11:30.

Tuesday was nice, but I was anxious to get out in the sun again.  I don’t go for tanning beds anymore, but put me out on a lounge chair by the pool and I soak that shit up (with SPF, of course ).

Dinner last night was at Bohai, an Asian restaurant offering Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Indonesian, and other Asian cuisines in a really cool atmosphere.  The service was so fast…my food came in like 5 minutes or less.  I had the Kung Pao chicken and a Dos Equis.

Afterward we went to Ole Ole, a Spanish place on the Marina where there’s a Spanish guitarist/singer we like.  We noticed the Tortilla Espanola on the menu, and had to give it a try along with our 5 beers.  Yummy!

Today breakfast was the same, but lunch was a change–egg white on toast, tortilla with PB, and a yogurt smoothie.  Pretty good!

I’ve been snacking on my Clif bars each day, and I really do like the oatmeal raisin walnut variety I got at Target.  Soft, chewy, full of good stuff, and lots of fiber and protein. 

Today we sat on the beach near the surf, and the cool breeze off of the ocean was great.  I couldn’t get away from the cigarette smoke by the pools, so we decided the beach was better   After awhile we played football, then came in and ate our leftovers from last night’s dinner.

There have been tons of whales going by each day while we’ve been here, and I’ve gotten some great shots of them breaching.  So cool!  I wish we were on one of those boats!

Now it’s time to get ready and hit the town for some people watching and cervezas!  I think I may treat myself to some gelato, as well.  There’s a place called Senor Sweets that has like 50 to choose from, including Straciatella, my favorite. 

I know I’ve been consuming more than at home, but so far so good.  I am really happy that my efforts over the last 5 months have paid off and that I’m smaller, firmer, and happier about my body.  I figure I deserve a few treats, right?

I hope you’re all having a great week!  I’ll try to blog more often now that the internet connection situation is a bit better…the wireless has been down quite a bit over the last few days.  Adios!

La semana segunda en Mexico March 23, 2009

I’m in freakin’ heaven   There are still five whole days of vacation ahead of us!!!  Yippee!! 

I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging as much, but the internet connection situation is a little frustrating since we have to pay $8.50 for 24 hours of shitty wireless, or $3.50 per half hour of good wireless/use an internet cafe computer.  Whatevs.

We went horseback riding the other day, and most of what we did was fun.  However, there are some depressing points of being in Mexico, specifically that the animals aren’t as well taken care of, and that there is trash all over the place.  We rode in a dry river bed and in the desert some, and there are tons of places where people have just pulled up in their car or truck and dumped off a load of tires, construction waste, etc.  Strange thing is there are way more advancements in waste management here this year than in previous years–garbage cans for organic garbage, separate places for bottles and cans, etc.  I guess the education part is rather lacking, though, as it is not clear how to use some of the bins and I’m guessing many of the locals aren’t well informed either. 

Yesterday I was a total dope and burned the shiznit out of my ass, and fried my legs and back a bit, too.  Looking at my ass is comical and somehow entertaining, although it does hurt a tad.  After I discovered the redness I whipped up another fruity, boozy beverage.  Nothing like a good bebida to kill the pain, no?

Some of the people we met gave us their left over groceries when they checked out yesterday, and we scored some frozen mangos, juices of durazno and pina, and a multitude of other stuff.  I made a few smoothies with the mangos and durazno juice   Muy delicioso!

We have enjoyed eating at La Dolce two more times since my last post, and at The Office twice (best burger ever!).  Although there are lots of restaurants to choose from, we are rather glad to revisit the same few we know are good over and over. 

Chris is waiting for me to get ready so we can head out for people-watching and some bebidas…. 

I hope you’re all doing well!  Adios

Buenas dias! March 25, 2009

Ahhhhh……I’m enjoying a slow morning watching the ocean and doing some online perusing.  I do miss the blog world

The last few days I’ve let my hair down, so to speak, on eating and drinking.  I’ve been a bit more liberal with the pina coladas (my favorite drink), and the late night snacking.  Or at least it feels that way.

Random side note, speaking of hair.  I LOVE MY HAIR CUT!  It is so easy to manage and take care of for sunning, walking, going out, swimming, drinking , whatever.  Perfect vacation hair!  Yay!  I think I told Chris I love my hair like ten times a day for the first 5 days we were here.  Now I see why he just loves to cut all of his off and not deal with it.  (He has a #1 1/2 buzz cut goin’ now.)

Spout!  There are a few whales I can see spouting now   There haven’t been nearly as many this week.  We are going snorkeling in a few days, and I hope to see some while on the boat.  This year they seem to be mostly Humpback whales, whereas in years past they seemed to be gray whales a lot of the time.  I’m constantly amazed that such a large animal lives in the ocean and survives as it does, migrating every year and living on a diet of plankton. 

Some pics for you:

Mama whale putting her fin out, baby whale breaching

 

Yee-haw! That is one huge cactusAlong the marinaYes, that's one turtle on top of another!

 

Out at the Tiki Bar enjoying bebidasJust in case you couldn’t see how cute I looked Some pretty sunset colorsCute towel creations from our chambermaid

Alrighty, time to get this party started.  It is 11 and I still haven’t eaten breakfast.  Probably because I had guacamole and chips last night at like 11!  Eeek!

I think we’re doing wave runners today, and I hope my burnt booty can stand it.  The salt water and sand grinding up on it for a half hour doesn’t sound like too much fun, but wtf??

Hasta la proxima ves!

The return of the real world March 30, 2009

My two weeks of paradise are over, and I’m right back in the thick of things here in the real world.  Let’s recap some of the Mexican delights I had the last few days of the vaca, as well as some general pros and cons of Mexico.

Pros of Mexico:

• Sol, sol, sol! 
• Friendly locals
• Lots of bebidas and the ability to drink anywhere
• A great selection of food and bebidas in town
• Whales!
• Lots of walking too keep my ass from blowing up

Cons:

• Overly friendly locals
• Too much food, and too much rich food
• Craving ice cream, finally getting it, and being disappointed
• Wafts of sewer smells in the streets—peeeeeew!
• Overly anxious vendors, including small children
• That we had to leave

Our last few days were really nice, and included lots of great food as you can see!  Some highlights:

• Organic tomato and grilled panela cheese salad with olive oil and pesto at The Office
• Giant Cadillac Margaritas and Queso con Chistorra at Los Deseos
• Tortilla Espanola sandwich and Sangria at Ole Ole
• Bloody mary at 5 in the morning while waiting for our plane back to the U.S. on Sunday

Once back we stopped at Fajitas before we even went home!  It is rather funny we went to Mexico and didn’t eat much Mexican food, and then we get back and run right to our favorite local Mexican joint

I was soooooooooooooo tired Sunday from getting less than two hours of sleep, but I managed to get a second wind, then a third wind, and keep goin strong.  Getting up at like 3 am sucked ass, especially because the clubs were still pumping as we drove out of town.  It was painful to leave that early.  Our flights were good, but we had two stops along the way:  Phoenix and Las Vegas.  Landing in Vegas was a trip since The Strip is like spitting distance from the airport!  Crazy!  

I was rather hangry like the entire way home; it was annoying.  My eats Sunday included:  part of a Bloody Mary, a breakfast sandwich on whole wheat with egg, bacon, & cheese, a Clif Oatmeal, Raisin, Walnut bar, a hot pretzel with marinara sauce, chips & salsa, tortilla soup, part of a Cazuela, and part of La Casa.

Once home and settled in I went to the store and felt totally discombobulated since I hadn’t done grocery shopping at Freddy’s for like 3 weeks.  The highlight of my trip was the long visit to the produce section to pick up the bounty that is Fuji apples, green grapes, carrots, an orange bell pepp, bananas, Romaine lettuce, and a cucumber.  Yay!  Fruit and veg!!!

I even remembered to prep my oatmeal last night, and was ecstatic to eat it this morning.  Mmmmm.  I totally forgot my camera, and don’t have pics of my yummy breakfast and lunch.

Lunch was a small sandwich on whole wheat bread with Romaine, dill pickles, avocado, and peppered turkey, with a carrot on the side.  The sandwich flavor combo was great, and the carrot was so nice and sweet   I was full after that, though. 

The tum has been a little funky for the last few days, mostly b/c I’ve been eating so crappy, and way too much rich food, the last several days.  I felt a little out of it and full this afternoon, but eventually needed something sweet, so I ate my grapes and apple.  Loved the grapes!

My sweet tooth was calling, telling me I haven’t been eating enough whole foods lately, so I answered by eating one small Tootsie Roll   Then when