Happy Easter! April 12, 2009

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Whatever!  As a kid I loved the egg dying, candy baskets, and of course the egg hunts!  For schedule purposes my family got together last night, and we had a great time 🙂  Let’s start at the beginning of Saturday…

Getting out of bed was hard!  So tired!  But I made coffee, played with Lily, and ate a bowl of my fave granola with a banana in it.

I was totally thinking that pilates would suck since I hadn’t been there in so long, but it went really well 🙂  Yay! 

Afterward I visited Costco for a few staples (birdseed, olives, coffee…ya know ;)).  There were tons of great buys, including Bear Naked Granola, Maranatha Almond Butter, and many more that I raced by. 

I was formulating my lunch in my head as I shopped and drove, and I was pleased with the end result 🙂 :  Egg white scramble with olives, green bell pepp, Italian herbs, tiny bit of garlic, and avocado on top; toasted bread butt with Smart Balance Light; carrot sticks.

Chris’ lunch was a bit different, and involved frying up a mess of bacon :0  Somehow I didn’t feel the urge to eat any of it, so I didn’t!

We got all gussied up for dinner and headed off to work (work is close to my grandmother’s house, where dinner was), busted out a few less than stellar hours of the shiz, and headed to G-Ma’s. 

There were 9 of us for an early Easter Feast, and everything was great 🙂  Ryan, Merrill, and Beaudin came in from Seattle (brother, sis-in-law, and their pupparoo) and I was really happy to see them and catch up.  Lily enjoyed playing with Beau, too 🙂  Check out Beau in his bunny ears!

The evening started with a soft cheese of some sort on rice crackers, champagne, and red wine.  Moving into dinner we had a pork roast with raspberry chipotle sauce; roasted green beans, red pepp, parsnips, and onions; roasted potatoes and carrots; homemade applesauce; and a fruit salad with apples, oranges, pineapple, dried cherries, stawberries (I think?).  Everything was so fresh, delicious, and light, and I was perfectly satisfied afterward. 

But what is a great meal without a great dessert??  My dad loves Lee Farms‘ pies, and they are always a hit at our dinners.  Lee Farms is closed until May 1, and I’m not sure if they offer shipping of their frozen pies, but you must check them out if you like pies.  We had strawberry rhubarb pie with vanilla bean ice cream…heaven on a plate 🙂

Lily and Beau had a little wrestling session, which was rather hard to photograph, but quite entertaining to watch!

Later on once we were at home, I ate four marshmallows before bed 😐  They just call my name–so bad! 

I developed a headache that is still nagging this morning, and I didn’t go to yoga.  The new weight workouts I did totally kicked my ass, and I’m sore all over, too.  Although I feel quite broken this morning I’m in a good mood nonetheless. 

Well, off I go to do my taxes.  Oh, the joy of taxes… Remember to get yours done!

Random note:  have you seen the SoyJoy commerical with the candy fighting the soybeans?? So cute!  It just came on TV and totally made me laugh.

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 🙂

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!