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!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

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 🙂