My main problem is, in my great attempt to not become boring (which I believe may be part of my being, an expiration date sort of curse, if you will...) I make lists on how to be less boring. These lists usually detail how to be more spontaneous, more unforgettable or extraordinary or stimulating.
But a list is a bore and an adventure isn't planned. So I'm barking up the wrong tree, aren't I? I'm probably going about it all wrong and missing the point and making myself even more of a cliche than before.
But lists are what I know for now, some sort of comfort, and the good thing about a list is in the possibility of getting fed up with it getting you nowhere and being able to crumple it up and throw it absolutely away.
I do not want to be this kind of B.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
O is for obsession (or out of control)
I have an issue with sunglasses.
As in, I love them too much. A good pair of sunglasses can really do a lot for me, not gunna lie.
Just don't say no. (<---- my thoughts when I see any that I like)
Because of this I have acquired many and it's a little out of control, really. I mean, I think I have a problem. I've known this and joked about it for a while now. But seriously. I never get rid of them after I stop wearing them (or even after they break), and some of them are just awful.
I haven't told many people about my problem but it's time to come clean, I think. Like, really public. (Or at least as public as this gets, right here, this blog that I think maybe I only read... because I'm not really going to update my facebook status or anything. About sunglasses? Come on.)
I'm self indulgent, but I'm not that bad.
Anyway... back to the self indulgent thing...
I got really bored late Monday night. You see, I do not work on Tuesdays so I usually have some extra stay-up-late time on Mondays. The problem is, I'm usually very tired on Monday and not really looking to go out and use up the energy I don't have. I like to go home, cook myself some yums (healthy yums), and hang out with my roommates (read: parents who don't make me pay rent - yay! love you) in my jammies until it's late enough to go to bed and feel ok about not wasting a night where I don't have to at least try and feel guilty about staying up too late.
Fun fact: I used to go hang out at my friend's house - The Dome - but the new year brought on some complications with that plan and it's fizzled out and now I'm a real homebody on Mondays. (And by "complications" I mean I got lazy and other people who used to hang out started being giant flakes.)
Confession: The Bachelor is also hugely responsible for how this Monday at Home routine came to be. I had a commitment to watch it & feel better about myself because I wasn't as crazy as anyone who was on the show. But now it's not on anymore, so my Monday's are technically free, so now I'm just a loser that's started refusing to hang out with her friends.
Instead I do things like make the Kitten take pictures of me in all of my sunglasses.
Yes, that's what I spent my latenight time doing Monday night. Travel with me, if you will, back to this time. It's 12:20am. Exile on Main St (my fav Rolling Stones album, duh) is on shuffle in the background (mainly to remind me of what I should have been doing, what most sane people would have chosen to do, which was reading Keith Richard's book LIFE because it's good and I want to read it and - oh yeah - reading is a normal way to pass time). I find some lip gloss in an old purse and put it on. I find that I like it, even though it's bright pink and I'm not sure I can work it. I decide, after about 23 seconds of staring at myself in dim lighting, that I can pull it off, so I put more on and sing into the mirror. While doing this I find that I still like how my hair looks and think about how things like that will be good when I find a boy who will someday want to marry&live with me (and we are still young enough to want to be pretty for each other at 12:20am). Then the Kitten knocks something over on a shelf and I find my stash of sunglasses and marvel at how unecessarily (and beautifully) large it is. I start putting them on while I sing, grow bored with just looking in the mirror at myself singing, and brilliantly decide to turn it into a photo shoot since I 1) have nothing else to do and 2) I feel sort of good about taking pictures of myself now cause I'm all "healthier" and, hey, it's sort of fun and totally hard not to feel good when you are me, and tired, and totally loving Mick Jagger singing about the Good Lord shining a light on you.
So... Midnight (+20) Photo Shoot it is!
Again, the Kitten took all of these. She is oft' forced to hang out with me during these late night bore-sesh's and do stuff she wouldn't normally do, like use an iPhone to take pictures.
Let the intervention begin.
Next time maybe I'll post pictures of my awesome new scarves. It's a thing I'm starting.
Finalthought: I'm so in love with the sea.
As in, I love them too much. A good pair of sunglasses can really do a lot for me, not gunna lie.
Just don't say no. (<---- my thoughts when I see any that I like)
Because of this I have acquired many and it's a little out of control, really. I mean, I think I have a problem. I've known this and joked about it for a while now. But seriously. I never get rid of them after I stop wearing them (or even after they break), and some of them are just awful.
I haven't told many people about my problem but it's time to come clean, I think. Like, really public. (Or at least as public as this gets, right here, this blog that I think maybe I only read... because I'm not really going to update my facebook status or anything. About sunglasses? Come on.)
I'm self indulgent, but I'm not that bad.
Anyway... back to the self indulgent thing...
I got really bored late Monday night. You see, I do not work on Tuesdays so I usually have some extra stay-up-late time on Mondays. The problem is, I'm usually very tired on Monday and not really looking to go out and use up the energy I don't have. I like to go home, cook myself some yums (healthy yums), and hang out with my roommates (read: parents who don't make me pay rent - yay! love you) in my jammies until it's late enough to go to bed and feel ok about not wasting a night where I don't have to at least try and feel guilty about staying up too late.
Fun fact: I used to go hang out at my friend's house - The Dome - but the new year brought on some complications with that plan and it's fizzled out and now I'm a real homebody on Mondays. (And by "complications" I mean I got lazy and other people who used to hang out started being giant flakes.)
Confession: The Bachelor is also hugely responsible for how this Monday at Home routine came to be. I had a commitment to watch it & feel better about myself because I wasn't as crazy as anyone who was on the show. But now it's not on anymore, so my Monday's are technically free, so now I'm just a loser that's started refusing to hang out with her friends.
Instead I do things like make the Kitten take pictures of me in all of my sunglasses.
Yes, that's what I spent my latenight time doing Monday night. Travel with me, if you will, back to this time. It's 12:20am. Exile on Main St (my fav Rolling Stones album, duh) is on shuffle in the background (mainly to remind me of what I should have been doing, what most sane people would have chosen to do, which was reading Keith Richard's book LIFE because it's good and I want to read it and - oh yeah - reading is a normal way to pass time). I find some lip gloss in an old purse and put it on. I find that I like it, even though it's bright pink and I'm not sure I can work it. I decide, after about 23 seconds of staring at myself in dim lighting, that I can pull it off, so I put more on and sing into the mirror. While doing this I find that I still like how my hair looks and think about how things like that will be good when I find a boy who will someday want to marry&live with me (and we are still young enough to want to be pretty for each other at 12:20am). Then the Kitten knocks something over on a shelf and I find my stash of sunglasses and marvel at how unecessarily (and beautifully) large it is. I start putting them on while I sing, grow bored with just looking in the mirror at myself singing, and brilliantly decide to turn it into a photo shoot since I 1) have nothing else to do and 2) I feel sort of good about taking pictures of myself now cause I'm all "healthier" and, hey, it's sort of fun and totally hard not to feel good when you are me, and tired, and totally loving Mick Jagger singing about the Good Lord shining a light on you.
So... Midnight (+20) Photo Shoot it is!
Again, the Kitten took all of these. She is oft' forced to hang out with me during these late night bore-sesh's and do stuff she wouldn't normally do, like use an iPhone to take pictures.
I Wear My Sunglesses @ Night
(by myself... like a lonely creep)
 |
| One The current "Everydays" |
 |
| Two Got these as a surprise gift from a friend the other day Red+beads=fun&loveable but not Everydays |
 |
| Three Got these for a Rockstar party in 2007. I need to find more reasons to wear them. YesIdo. |
 |
Four Former Everydays... I'm cheating in the pic cause they are broken on the other side. But you cannot see it.  Whoa, these are actually 3-D glasses The Kitten is wearing rainbows!  Six Ah yes, Tilly's glasses. Redversion. Stupid Tilly's and their buy one get one 1/2 off...  Tilly's galsses - Greenversion Pissed a little bit, cause these are still rad but the green is peeling off of them. Leperglasses.  Tilly's glasses - Zebraversion? I don't even know what was wrong with me. Sorry.  Big white glasses, say what? Can't rock these, but can't throw them away either.  Hannaglasses I stole these from my friend Hannah in IN! When I visited 2 yrs ago. They are broken now as well. Second cheat!  Big green glasses that used to be Everydays. I forgot I had these, what a surprise for me! (See how surprised I am?)  Tilly's glasses uh-gain?! Zebrapurpleversion?? So sad with myself right now...  Hot Carl's Aviators! (Hot Carl = male-bro alter ego) (You want to hang out with him) (He's a good time)  Not sure where these even came from... Dad aviators? Could be useful in future for costume parties.  Close up because these have gold flecks in them See them? See them!  Old. Gross. Pink. I can't even enjoy wearing them.  Seventeen Also old. Not sure where they came from. That's how bad my problem is.  Eighteen More zebra print?? I don't even remember liking zebra print that much. Couldn't even put these on, but Kitten insisted on a pic.  Giant Golds I got them as a gift from Nat for my Bday last year. The remind me of my grandma. |
Next time maybe I'll post pictures of my awesome new scarves. It's a thing I'm starting.
Finalthought: I'm so in love with the sea.
Jar O' the Day:
Friday, April 1, 2011
A spoon full of tricks
So, Mary Poppins and Dick Van Bert were totally getting it on, right?
caught
This has really been on my mind lately.
I mean, I can't imagine any man singing a song called "Jolly Holiday" about a woman who he's not getting any bedonk from. Even if he is British (and obviously, therefore, extremely familiar and comfortable with employing the word "jolly" on a regular, heterosexual basis) it's a bit too gentlemanly a gesture. He obviously wants her, and her suga', and I don't really blame him. Girl can rock an umbrella.
(I've found your muse, Ri-Ri)
Ella Ella Ella
Further proof of Bert's true intentions: Single guys do not escort strangerchildren about the town for naught but to be kind. I don't care who you are, or how cool your job is (chimney sweep = hanging out in other people's houses, dancing with their wives, no dress code, and inviting all of your friends over for a dance party in the middle of the day...uh, sign me up) you are not awesome enough to make it through a whole day with those two (--->) without knowing there's a pot o' sugar at the end of the free babysitting rainbow.These kids are a giant bore (read: way too obsessed with kites).
Also, there's this to consider: cartoon animals.
this movie is not blatantly about drugs
We know from our good friend, Popular Culture, that cartoon animals are one of the main indicators that some - eh-hem, sugar - has been gotten by at least one of the parties involved in the live action shot they appear in.
 |
| 500 Days of Summer |
 |
| Who Framed Rodger Rabbit |
 |
| The 3 Caballeros |
 |
| Songs of the South |
Mmhmm. Zip-a-dee-do, indeed.
Hollywoord works in patterns. You just have to know what to look for.
This also poses a whole new question: Is Mary Poppins the original Summer Finn?
The biggest difference that exists between them, their male counterparts, is probably the key as to why we don't make the connection between the two girls auomatically. Bert the Chimney Sweep and Tom Hansen could not be more un-alike in their reactions to the ladies. We can only blame the guys' differences in this area on their varrying levels of experience, but it's probably the only reason why we don't have to watch Bert have a mental breakdown after M.Pop umbrella's herself the heck out of town (and out of his arms) at the end of the movie. Knowing that this is how she rolls, and that she despises commitment (
Both Mary and Summer are full of tricks&lies that they mask with their clever combination of distraction and conviction, which defintely are always motivated by some sort of selfish ambition on each of their parts.
 |
| Do not trust this |
Mary - Tricks kids into doing chores for her
Distraction: Sugar is yummy!
Conviction Tool: Flawed health tips
Selfish Ambition: Tiny slaves
 |
| Same page, for sure |
Summer - Tricks Tom into easily becoming her non-boyfriend-boyfriend
Distraction: Look how pretty I am!
Conviction Tool: GF/BF labels = LAME
Selfish Ambition: Friends with (one sided) benefits
 |
| So eager to spend time together |
Mary - Tricks Mr. Banks into taking his children with him to his place of work one day. A bank. Every child's dream hang-out spot. (She couldn't have suggested Disneyland?)
Distraction: Our outings sound like drug trips? Well, at least the children know what I do on the job.
Conviction Tool: Bad parenting
Selfish Ambition: Spontaneous day offConviction Tool: Bad parenting
 |
| Look how pretty I still am |
Summer - Tricks Tom into thinking he has a 2nd chance with her at their mutual friend's wedding
Distraction: Look how pretty I still am!
Distraction: Look how pretty I still am!
Conviction Tool: Haven't you missed me?
Selfish Ambition: Friends with one-sided benefits at a wedding
 |
| help. them. |
Mary - Tricks the Banks' into believing that flying a kite is in any way a decent way to pass time
Distraction: Family time
Convition: I have to leave anyway, figure yourselves out
Selfish Ambition: Bert's getting clingy again, I gotta bounce
 |
| whoops |
Summer - Tricks Tom into attending her engagement party
Distraction: Look how pretty I am!
Conviction Tool: How can you say no to my prettiness?
Selfish Ambition: If this guy gets cold feet,we can hang again, right Tom? Remember. I'm very pretty.The are exactly the same and I cannot believe I didn't notice it until now. The only difference is how the boys in their wake handle their game. Therein lies the key to likeability. No one has issue with Mary because Bert doesn't freak when she leaves him to no doubt go get her next spoon full of sugar.
If only Tom Hansen had studied Mary Poppins instead of The Graduate. He never would have let his view on love be falsely molded by such a pure, uplifting, wholesome look at love.
If only Tom Hansen had studied Mary Poppins instead of The Graduate. He never would have let his view on love be falsely molded by such a pure, uplifting, wholesome look at love.
He would have been prepared for ladytricks and deception and avoided the girl he clearly couldn't handle.
But, then again, he also would never have gotten any of Summer's sugar.
But, then again, he also would never have gotten any of Summer's sugar.
Jar O' the Day:
Monday, March 28, 2011
Drinkingoutofjars
It's my new thing.
I may change the whole blog to center around that, honestly, instead of just focusing on my diet-thang. Because, really, I have a lot more to talk/write/ramble about.
I'm going to need a pretty rad collection of jars
(that should go a little something like this...)
I will not drink out of jars that I put lights in if that's what you are worried about.
I cannot wait to have my own house (read: place to live that is entirely and/or mostly mine - does not have to be an actual house - will most likely be an apartment) to decorate. I'm really swimming with ideas of what I want a house to look like and I'm ready to put my thoughts into action.
Unfortunately for me, time is not on my side with this. Sorry Mick.
Weekend recap:
I went to LA Friday-Saturday to help feed/serve homeless people on skid row. We worked at the LA Rescue Mission and got to serve dinner Friday night & breakfast Saturday morning.
Besides all of the emotional/spiritual/relational awesomeness that happened during the trip, avoiding sugar and starch went very well, too. I was able to pick noodles out of my lasagna at dinner and had fruit and scrambled eggs for breaky.
And when I got home and weighed Sunday morning I was actually 2lbs down from Friday's weight.
Now don't go getting too excited about it, though. I messed all that up nice&good Sunday evening. But it was worth it. I celebrated some good news with some lovely Downtown Disney coffee drinks and my friend Matt who was more than helpful in my decision to "cheat" on the diet.
I am not very good at using my camera phone, obviously.
So of course the 2lbs I lost came back, but I was prepared for it and can actually handle it because I wasn't planning on them being gone so suddenly anyway. Life is too short to pass up celebrations, and I'm too aware of what's going on with my eating habits to be afraid of a little indulgence now and then.
By the way, does anyone know how to spell cinnamon? ( <--- Is that right??)
Cinnamon
Cinammon
Cinnammon
Cinemon
Sinamen
Synuhmon
I think I forgot how. But almond bread should never be eated without it.
Drinkingoutofjars!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Magical Tricks
I've come to the conclusion that my body is now involved in some sort of magical trickery against me.
Wait, no - magical trickery for me.
As in, in my favor.
Because yesterday I made and consumed this beaut' right here:
And I did not gain any weight. At all. We're talking no interruption in stabilization, people.
Never in my life have I been able to eat such great foods and not gain weight or the impending guilt that comes in a pretty little package with said great foods. It's got to be magic.
That up there is called Cheese Crust Pizza, and it's my new favorite thing. Not being one for illusion, Cheese Crust Pizza is exactly what it sounds like. It's pizza with crust made of various cheeses (and eggs, but they're just in a supporting role). So again we have no sugar or starch in sight. Just a tasty, yummy, magical dish of wonderfulness.
Now, obviously I did not consume the whole thing and not gain weight... that would be a few major steps backwards physically, mentally, and self control-ly. But I did have two pieces and did become insanely full afterwards. My dumb braincells ridiculed me all night for my full feeling, too. It's tough to retrain your logic to a new style of living when you've settled it in so securely to demeaning you for bad choices.
When things like this come around - good choices that so resemble bad choices they even fool your smartest, most hard working braincells - it's just a battle you have to fight through. Some people will understand this, because you've made some sort of transformation like this before, and some will not. If you are part of the latter group then just let me inform you - telling yourself that you are a different person and making better choices does not always do the trick. It's like retraining trust in yourself. You broke it, now you gotta fix it.
Luckily for me, the fixin's taste so damn good....
On my pizza I put mozzarelli cheese (Yes, I know that it's mozzarella cheese, but my mother - for some reason - always calls mozzarella "mozzarelli" and I'm trying to keep that going because it's funny and sort of Italiano sounding), grilled chicken, and mushrooms. The recipe calls for pizza sauce as well, but eh.
You have been following the saga of Car + Tomatoes while reading this blog, and a connection between us has been established, it's true. But I draw the line at red saucemush. I don't think I'll ever befriend the tomato sauce.
So, like a good little cook, I cooked to my own tastes&preferences and just left the sauce right off of this sucker. I'm selfish like that.
Anyway, this stuff is dang good. I cannot even go into anything else right now. It would be wrong to take attention away from it.
In fact, here's the picture of it again because it deserves to be shown off twice:
Wait, no - magical trickery for me.
As in, in my favor.
Because yesterday I made and consumed this beaut' right here:
Never in my life have I been able to eat such great foods and not gain weight or the impending guilt that comes in a pretty little package with said great foods. It's got to be magic.
That up there is called Cheese Crust Pizza, and it's my new favorite thing. Not being one for illusion, Cheese Crust Pizza is exactly what it sounds like. It's pizza with crust made of various cheeses (and eggs, but they're just in a supporting role). So again we have no sugar or starch in sight. Just a tasty, yummy, magical dish of wonderfulness.
Now, obviously I did not consume the whole thing and not gain weight... that would be a few major steps backwards physically, mentally, and self control-ly. But I did have two pieces and did become insanely full afterwards. My dumb braincells ridiculed me all night for my full feeling, too. It's tough to retrain your logic to a new style of living when you've settled it in so securely to demeaning you for bad choices.
When things like this come around - good choices that so resemble bad choices they even fool your smartest, most hard working braincells - it's just a battle you have to fight through. Some people will understand this, because you've made some sort of transformation like this before, and some will not. If you are part of the latter group then just let me inform you - telling yourself that you are a different person and making better choices does not always do the trick. It's like retraining trust in yourself. You broke it, now you gotta fix it.
Luckily for me, the fixin's taste so damn good....
On my pizza I put mozzarelli cheese (Yes, I know that it's mozzarella cheese, but my mother - for some reason - always calls mozzarella "mozzarelli" and I'm trying to keep that going because it's funny and sort of Italiano sounding), grilled chicken, and mushrooms. The recipe calls for pizza sauce as well, but eh.
You have been following the saga of Car + Tomatoes while reading this blog, and a connection between us has been established, it's true. But I draw the line at red saucemush. I don't think I'll ever befriend the tomato sauce.
So, like a good little cook, I cooked to my own tastes&preferences and just left the sauce right off of this sucker. I'm selfish like that.
Anyway, this stuff is dang good. I cannot even go into anything else right now. It would be wrong to take attention away from it.
In fact, here's the picture of it again because it deserves to be shown off twice:
Car + Cheese Crust Pizza = BFF
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Ups & Downs
It's happened. My first cooking failures :(
There's not much else to report right now besides that. My weight is stable. In the past 5 days it's only faltered .4lbs in either direction or it's stayed exactly the same. I can't ask for much more than that right now. The best part is, with these new eating habits, I don't even feel like I'm "dieting" or missing out on anything that I "can't" have.
So... my kitchen short comings...
On Monday night I made almond bread. It's pretty hearty but not quite as sweet as I imagined it being. I had to alter the recipe from the Trader Joe's cookbook a little bit, because it called for agave nectar as it's sweetner. And while that's definitely better than just straight up sugar... it's not entirely sugar free. Again stevia came to the rescue. That always makes me nervous, though, since I never know exactly how much stevia to substitute in due to it's stronger-than-most taste.
In the end I think it turned out really well. My parents and I all like it a lot, and it lives in our house, so that's good. My grandma didn't care for it much, I don't think. I visited her yesterday and brought her some. She ate her whole share but said to me,"You know, I think the taste isn't my favorite because things with no sugar in it are just a little weird."
Of course they are grandma. If by "weird" you mean "not posionous" ;)
I cannot tell you what it tasted like, since I did not dare taste it. But I can tell you that it smelled as gross as it looks. No way was I letting that thing go anywhere near my egg salad. Or really anything besides my garbage disposal.
Ugh.
So, that was Part 1 of my Egg Salad Disaster Experience.
Part 2 is this:
That eggmush right there is supposed to be my 6 hard boiled eggs. Guess not.
I'm not quite sure what went wrong with the hard boiling of the eggs. I followed every instruction I found online about how long to keep the eggs in the water and all that. I even asked my grandma her opinion when I saw her yesterday and she couldn't think of anything I did wrong. I guess I'll just have to try again later.
Perhaps once my shipment of Duke's comes in (because, yes, I did break down and order some). I had to. It was inexpensive and I really really do want egg salad on this diet, dangit!
So that's where I'm at today. I now have a few failures under my belt kitchen-wise, but it's all good. You can't win them all, and all that. I made some flaxmeal muffins yesterday, too. I don't count those as a win or a loss. They turned out exactly how they are supposed to, they are just kind of bland. So we'll see. The next step I want to take is experimenting with my own ideas a little bit. I want to try the muffins with almond meal instead of flax, because so far all of the almond stuff has been really yummy. Also, I'm thinking of trying the strawberry cream pie as a chocolate cream pie using cocoa powder.
Until I get a chance to do all of that, though, I think I'll attempt some simple recipes from the TJ cookbook. Like more stuffed mushrooms... yum. That's a definite "up."
There's not much else to report right now besides that. My weight is stable. In the past 5 days it's only faltered .4lbs in either direction or it's stayed exactly the same. I can't ask for much more than that right now. The best part is, with these new eating habits, I don't even feel like I'm "dieting" or missing out on anything that I "can't" have.
So... my kitchen short comings...
On Monday night I made almond bread. It's pretty hearty but not quite as sweet as I imagined it being. I had to alter the recipe from the Trader Joe's cookbook a little bit, because it called for agave nectar as it's sweetner. And while that's definitely better than just straight up sugar... it's not entirely sugar free. Again stevia came to the rescue. That always makes me nervous, though, since I never know exactly how much stevia to substitute in due to it's stronger-than-most taste.
In the end I think it turned out really well. My parents and I all like it a lot, and it lives in our house, so that's good. My grandma didn't care for it much, I don't think. I visited her yesterday and brought her some. She ate her whole share but said to me,"You know, I think the taste isn't my favorite because things with no sugar in it are just a little weird."
Of course they are grandma. If by "weird" you mean "not posionous" ;)
The almond bread
Now for the bad part of Monday night's endeavors: the egg salad attempt.
I've made egg salad before. Quite successfully. So I didn't think there would be any problem attempting to do it again. I love egg salad and am thrilled it's something I can have. The only stipulation is that I have to use sugar-free mayo in it this time. I did not know this until quite recently, but mayonaise has sugar in it. I knew it had a bunch of icky crap in it, and I'd actually cut down my consumption of it quite signifigantly prior to this diet. But egg salad has always been an exception to the Mayo is Nothing But Fatmush (so don't use it) rule. So, even though it's allowed in egg salad and egg salad is allowed in my belly, just any kind won't do. I found out that my options were few.
1. Order Duke's sugar free mayo online
2. Make it yourself
I love ordering things online. I think it's brilliant and fun. But I have never ordered a food product online and I thought it would be silly to start. So I chose option #2 and dove into making my own sugar-free mayo from scratch.
This is what happened:
I cannot tell you what it tasted like, since I did not dare taste it. But I can tell you that it smelled as gross as it looks. No way was I letting that thing go anywhere near my egg salad. Or really anything besides my garbage disposal.
Ugh.
So, that was Part 1 of my Egg Salad Disaster Experience.
Part 2 is this:
I'm not quite sure what went wrong with the hard boiling of the eggs. I followed every instruction I found online about how long to keep the eggs in the water and all that. I even asked my grandma her opinion when I saw her yesterday and she couldn't think of anything I did wrong. I guess I'll just have to try again later.
Perhaps once my shipment of Duke's comes in (because, yes, I did break down and order some). I had to. It was inexpensive and I really really do want egg salad on this diet, dangit!
So that's where I'm at today. I now have a few failures under my belt kitchen-wise, but it's all good. You can't win them all, and all that. I made some flaxmeal muffins yesterday, too. I don't count those as a win or a loss. They turned out exactly how they are supposed to, they are just kind of bland. So we'll see. The next step I want to take is experimenting with my own ideas a little bit. I want to try the muffins with almond meal instead of flax, because so far all of the almond stuff has been really yummy. Also, I'm thinking of trying the strawberry cream pie as a chocolate cream pie using cocoa powder.
Until I get a chance to do all of that, though, I think I'll attempt some simple recipes from the TJ cookbook. Like more stuffed mushrooms... yum. That's a definite "up."
Monday, March 21, 2011
Stable?
I think I'm stablizing, which is great because it means that my body is getting used to what I'm giving it and not having any crazy reactions to anything.
We had to negotiate a bit on this, my body and myself, but I think we've found some understanding between us. I've moved my cheese intake down from "Obsessive" to "Reasonable". My muscles have stopped being sore after enduring any sort of workout, and therefore have stopped hording water (that shows up on the scale as extra poundage). And most importantly I've started accepting myself how I look right now, and come to terms with the fact that this is how I'm going to look for about one more month... and it's a heck of a lot better than I looked about one month ago!
My eating has been pretty much the same for the past few days. Chicken salads, veggie scrambles, and more chicken dishes at night. I've been dabbling in greek yogurt + strawberries and I'm really loving that combo.
The sad news is that the strawberry cream pie is gone. The happy news is that everyone who tasted it enjoyed it greatly! I'm so excited about cooking... I'm making almond bread tonight. I cannot even wait. I have so many lists of things I want to try and make, but I'm being patient and not making them all at once since then I'd want to eat them all at once. And that's not really part of the agreement me and my body are in right now. I've agreed to pace myself... so yeah. Almond bread only tonight.
Oh, and sugar free mayo! I am making that tonight, too. From scratch! For egg salad. That's going to be exciting for me, let me tell you.
So, I made more of this the other day:
To review - it's tomatoes, motzerella, spinach, and balsalmic. That's slightly different from the batch my friend Ashley made for the picnic about a week ago... but I think it'll be good this way, too. The motzerella I got was marinated in italian spices, which I think will be tasty. I have yet to try this, I'm thinking tonight with some chicken. I don't want the tomatoes to think I've forgotten about the relationship we're building.
I've finally found a balance with working out, too. Which is nice. My body's not freaking out everytime I move. I've now got a good routine worked out at home between the treadmil and the weights we have in our garage, so I've been doing that nearly every other day. No hot yoga for me tonight :( I went on a pretty extensive hike with two friends yesterday (in the mountains, to a waterfall!) and slipped on some rocks and managed to pull a muscle in my ankle. Boo. No lunging or balancing for me. Perhaps Wednesday I'll be all healed up and ready to yoga in the sauna again.
The hike yesterday was amazing, btw.
I'm told that the hike is 2.4 miles each way to the waterfall. The drive there was pretty enough, but hiking through the mountains was pretty dang impressive as well. This is why I love southern California - we have so much within driving distance of us, even mountainous waterfall landscapes. I didn't even know all of what I saw yesterday was there.
We had to negotiate a bit on this, my body and myself, but I think we've found some understanding between us. I've moved my cheese intake down from "Obsessive" to "Reasonable". My muscles have stopped being sore after enduring any sort of workout, and therefore have stopped hording water (that shows up on the scale as extra poundage). And most importantly I've started accepting myself how I look right now, and come to terms with the fact that this is how I'm going to look for about one more month... and it's a heck of a lot better than I looked about one month ago!
My eating has been pretty much the same for the past few days. Chicken salads, veggie scrambles, and more chicken dishes at night. I've been dabbling in greek yogurt + strawberries and I'm really loving that combo.
The sad news is that the strawberry cream pie is gone. The happy news is that everyone who tasted it enjoyed it greatly! I'm so excited about cooking... I'm making almond bread tonight. I cannot even wait. I have so many lists of things I want to try and make, but I'm being patient and not making them all at once since then I'd want to eat them all at once. And that's not really part of the agreement me and my body are in right now. I've agreed to pace myself... so yeah. Almond bread only tonight.
Oh, and sugar free mayo! I am making that tonight, too. From scratch! For egg salad. That's going to be exciting for me, let me tell you.
So, I made more of this the other day:
I've finally found a balance with working out, too. Which is nice. My body's not freaking out everytime I move. I've now got a good routine worked out at home between the treadmil and the weights we have in our garage, so I've been doing that nearly every other day. No hot yoga for me tonight :( I went on a pretty extensive hike with two friends yesterday (in the mountains, to a waterfall!) and slipped on some rocks and managed to pull a muscle in my ankle. Boo. No lunging or balancing for me. Perhaps Wednesday I'll be all healed up and ready to yoga in the sauna again.
The hike yesterday was amazing, btw.
I'm told that the hike is 2.4 miles each way to the waterfall. The drive there was pretty enough, but hiking through the mountains was pretty dang impressive as well. This is why I love southern California - we have so much within driving distance of us, even mountainous waterfall landscapes. I didn't even know all of what I saw yesterday was there.
A view into the valley from our hike down the mountain
(taken with the Hipstamatic 1969 camera app on my phone)
This is the waterfall we hiked to
The hike was all down hill on the way to the waterfall, and all up on the way back. Needless to say, the way there was a breeze. Once we got down the mountain we had to hike quite a ways into the rocks and such to reach the actual fall, which also involved forging a small river, haha. That was fun. The boys I went with probably could have lept over the thing on a few of the more closely placed rocks... but me, not so much. We ended up having to cross on some rocks that were nestled under a tree in the middle of the river that was covered in fire ants.
Yay adventure!
Both boys I went with love things like climbing, so we managed to get ourselves to the top of the waterfall, too. I'm pretty sure it's the most intense climbing I've ever done. I felt really great about having done it afterwards, though. And I know that I probably wouldn't have been able to do it without being completely misarable 30lbs heavier. Being out there, walking and climbing and not feeling insecure all of the time was incredible. It's really something I only thought I could imagine, not achieve. I'm so excited to think that by summer I'll be down 30 more!
Anyway, it was a great day. The hike back up wasn't so bad. Once we got past an initial steep incline it felt just like a bit of a challenging walk. I really need to get hiking shoes, though. Up until now I've been using some old Vans and their traction is not going to cut it. I've got a throbbing ankle today to remind me of that fact. Hiking was just never something I thought I'd get into. But really, what's not to love? Being outdoors is pretty great.
And, amidst a pretty reliable, stable life (thankfull for that, of course), a little adventure every weekend or so is greatly appreciated.
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