Monday, January 31, 2011

Tempus Fugit

I can't believe tomorrow is February 1st already. It seems like it was just New Years; sometimes it really does feel like time is flying by. Nothing terribly exciting tonight, so let's talk about next Monday. Y'all know I'm on WW and I'm trying to be healthier, so one of the things I'm doing is eating meat free at least once a week (sometimes more depending on the leftovers situation). Next week will be the first post in my new blog series Meatless Mondays. So that's something to look forward to...and the Steelers beating the tar out of the Packers this weekend...that too.
=)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Just relaxing

I'm glad this weekend was pretty relaxing. I definitely needed it.
=)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Parades, Fireworks, and a new castle light show.

Embedded below is a video of the new night time castle show, "The Magic, The Memories, and You." Take a minute (or all nine) and check out the video.



Did you watch it? Pretty cool, right? Well, the family and I went out the the Magic Kingdom tonight to see it in person. After months of hearing about it and then my Dad sent us this video we are all pretty excited, and we were blown away. The video gives you an idea of what it is, but plain video just can't capture it. Because it isn't like the lights that are projected on Cinderella's Castle during wishes; it's a projection screen...like they literally turned the castle into a movie screen. There were moments when there were moments when you weren't sure if it was the actual castle or the projection. Seriously people go see it. This show is taking place after the Electric Light Parade, which we also finally got to see tonight as a family, and right before Wishes.I'm not joking go see it!
Also, remind me to y'all later about the woman who threatened me by wishing pigs would poop on my house. Craziness I tell you.
=)

Friday, January 28, 2011

Things I Love...

I know this is usually Thursday's post, but this was a really rough week for me so it's really important to acknowledge some of the positive things going on this week. So a few things I'm loving this week:

1. These super adorable Mickey and Minnie cake pops. I will totally be attempting these sometime soon.
2. Michaels, JoAnn, any craft store; I'm not a seriously crafty person, but I seriously love crafty things and pretending that I'm crafty. This weekend's project: Steelers Cupcakes!
3. Laughing Cow Cheese; this stuff is a weight watchers BFF. Just saying.
4. Cornbread. I made cornbread on Monday, it was Jiffy and it was awesome and homey and cozy. Don't judge me!
5. The very un-heavy traffic on my drive home tonight! Yay weekend!
=)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sharing What's Real

Sometimes I wonder if a blog was really the best way to accomplish this goal. Nearly halfway through the year and I'm really starting to love it (even when I don't have much to say), but this is a very public forum. I know there aren't many people reading this, but it's open for anyone who stops by and I sometimes feel like I can't say what's really on my mind because of who might read it. I'm feeling so much turmoil and I would love to just let it all out, I think I might actually start to feel better, but I can't do that here. Maybe it's just that I'm a worrywart or paranoid, or plain afraid, but this was supposed to be a place where I could be totally honest and I feel like I'm hiding.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

No subject

It always amazes me how one thing can ruin your whole day. I'm so emotionally exhausted.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tuesday: Weight Watchers Day

Starting Weight: 247.4
Weight Last Week: 241.2
Weight This Week: 237.6

I lost another 3.6 this week! Holler!
The WW assignment this week was to eat out on plan. Y'all this was an EPICFAIL! Seriously, I did not make good restaurant choices. I ate out three times and a half times this week; which is considerably more than I've been eating out since I made this "lifestyle choice". Let's discuss my good choices first though, because there were a few...
The Good: The half meal out was at book club on Thursday; I had a cup of French Onion Soup and a Vodka Tonic at StoneWood Grill. It probably wasn't the best choice, but I really love their French Onion Soup there and I planned for it so I fell like that one worked out ok. Friday I had sushi (my fav!) and I did pretty good, mostly fresh veggies and fish, no fried rolls or mayo and only a part of a Philadelphia roll as an end of the week treat. Again I planned for that and ate more fruits/veggies at lunch so I stayed within my Points. But seriously youguys the weekend...DISASTER.
The Bad: This weekend was tasty but not at all WW friendly or even you know remotely healthy. My first meal of the weekend was at La Tropicana Cafe; a bustling little joint in Ybor. The food was really really good, but there wasn't a single thing that resembled a vegetable on the whole menu. I ordered an egg cuban and a cup of coffee. The sandwich was good; scrambled eggs with ham, chorizo, and cheese on crusty cuban bread, but the coffee stole the show. It was traditional Cuban coffee, strong and dark, and filled with cream (I'm pretty sure it was real cream not milk). The saving grace was that I don't like sugar in my coffee. Then Sunday there was brunch at Cantina Laredo and the potatoes from heaven. I know I said sushi was my favorite, but Mexican is my favorite too! I told you guys yesterday that I ordered the Chilaquiles at brunch and all about the fabulousness. Yummy shredded chicken, spicy sauce, fried tortillas, and queso, holy heart attack on a plate! What I didn't tell y'all was about the real highlight. Some kind of potato dish the name of which I cannot remember (and it was in Spanish so I probably couldn't spell it anyway), but thin sliced potatoes, cream sauce, cheese, spices, and a crunchy topping...almost like a gratin but like a hundred times better.
I have discussed before that I love food...like a lot. And clearly I'm still having trouble making good restaurant choices. I could say it was because both meals were with new groups of friends, but that's just an excuse. I just need to make better choices. Here's to the coming week!
=)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Yesterday...

Since the only thing I posted about yesterday was football (yay Steelers!) and all I did today was work (blah), I figured today's post would be a good time to tell y'all about yesterday's hi-jinks. I made a trek, and by trek I mean the about 1.3 miles to the mall, to the Suncoast Art Festival with a few of the other women from my book club. It was really fun and there was a lot of great art; definitely some things I could see owning in the future. After we strolled the festival we had brunch at Cantina Laredo, which is always fabulous. I had chilaquiles yum yum yum!! Then I made chili for the AFC playoff game and part of tonight's dinner. Both of which were awesome if I do say so myself. My next project will be to figure out how to make Steelers cupcakes for the Super Bowl.
=)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Playoffs

I'm watching the Steelers/Jets game. So no post tonight.
GO STEELERS!!
=)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

I love Saturdays!

Saturdays are generally made of awesome. They're the perfect combination of lazy and busy. Today was just such a day. Y'all probably don't remember, but remember when I told you about my book club? Well it's through meetup.com and I recently joined a second group. This morning we met for breakfast at a cafe in Ybor City and went to the Saturday morning market. It was really pretty fun and I got a ton of good produce, a really pretty scarf (it was FREEZING and I was not prepared), and a fantastic bottle of honey. The afternoon was spent doing house chores (blah), a nap, and then I made a super-fabulous dinner. There will be more on that in the future.
=)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Sushi Night!

You guys I had like a gazillion points worth or sushi tonight and it was awesome. Sushi is definitely one of my most favorite foods. Now I'm full, happy, and sleepy. Goodnight!
=)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Happy Friday Eve!

This is one of those weeks when I'm really glad it's almost the weekend. It's just been crazy at work and I've actually had a fairly busy week. I'm working on making the blog better; I'm planning on the return of Things I Love Thursday and I'm working on a few other things. So hopefully I'll get that all up and running in the next week or so...

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Gah!

Today was just one of those days. I was extremely busy at work and experienced a series of personal mishaps. But I made cookies tonight, that always makes me feel better. And Tomorrow is Friday Eve.
=)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tuesday: Weight Watchers Day

Starting Weight: 242.6
Weigh-in: 241.2
That's a 1.4lb loss this week! And it puts me over six pounds in two weeks. *happy dance* I did have some challenges this week and mostly they involved cake. We celebrated YoungerBrotherGreg's birthday this weekend and my mom made the most to die for cake; chocolate/raspberry with chocolate frosting. Then I went to the Festival of Chocolate and had mini cupcakes from Frostings, Inc and ice cream. If y'all couldn't tell I have a serious sweet tooth. But I did 45minutes of Wii Fit on Monday (yay me!) and I found an awesome healthy recipe to have for dinner. So all in all a successful week.
=)

Monday, January 17, 2011

Unsure

Everyday I'm a little closer to being halfway through with this project, but I'm not sure I'm accomplishing anything other than to record how many days in a year I can say I'm tired. I'm really trying to focus on being a better blogger.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday Fun Day

I spent today at the Festival of Chocolate. It was fun times and I took tons of pictures. I promise more on the whole shebang tomorrow.
=)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Celebration!

Today was a pretty awesome day. It started with Lunch with the Ladies at Bahama Breeze (which I love!) Our monthly lunches are always fun. Then we celebrated YoungerBrotherGreg's birthday. We went to Stefano's a local Italian place where the food is just fantastic, but not especially diet (or "lifesytle choice" as Greg puts it) friendly. I had some pretty fantastic scallops. Then we had cake and sang Happy Birthday. YoungerBrotherGreg's actual birthday isn't until Tuesday, so I'll be wishing him Happy Birthday again then.
=)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Finally Friday...

I'm glad that the weekend is finally here. This week felt exceptionally long and the hospital was just packed to bursting. I hace a feeling I'm going to extra appreciate my extra day off.
=)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Being a better blogger...

My goal to be a better blogger is not going very well. I don't have much to write tonight. I'm working on it though.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

With a very big Yawn

I'm like ridiculously tired tonight. Work was very busy today. That's all I can think of tonight.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tuesday: Weight Watchers Day

Ya'll I can't believe I'm putting this out on the interwebs:
Starting Weight: 247.4
Weight Today: 242.6
Thats -4.8lbs!!!!! You guys! I lost almost 5 pounds this week! =). This week wasn't all successes; there was an incident Thursday with a bowl of pumpkin trifle and a two-hour traffic delay, but overall I'm going to call it a win. This weeks goal is to eat more power foods and less processed foods. Hopefully I can continue this trend!
=)

Monday, January 10, 2011

A Sucessful Day

I'm super tired tonight, but it's a sort of good kind of tired. This evening was super fun; I made dinner for BFFMandy and I then went shoe shopping (DSW is my favorite!) Dinner was Turkey and Black Bean Quesadillas with Zero Point Salad. Yum!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Whew...

As lazy as I was yesterday, I was busy today. I had double things to do today and I didn't get all of them done (my closet is still not cleaned out; nor am I fully unpacked from Christmas). I did however get the downstairs cleaning done and I finished my laundry. I also planned out this weeks meals, went to the grocery store, and made dinner. Now BFFMandy and I are currently sitting in the living room watch The Craigslist Killer (which is only just okay; the reason I bring this up is there was a commercial for a movie about Amanda Knox which prompted a conversation that went like this:
Me: I can't believe there's already a movie about that; it's still in the news. And I don't think she did it anyway...
BFFMandy: I don't think she did it either, mostly because we have the same first and middle name.
Me: That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard
BFFMandy: Oh really? I thought Barrack Obama as President was the most ridiculous thing you'd ever heard.
Now I'm not using this blog to discuss my political beliefs, but I will tell you I found this particular exchange to be hysterical.
=)

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy Saturday. I had somethings planned, but I wasn't feeling well so I mostly lounged around. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow and I'll be able to get somethings done.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Tarot Cards

I had my first every tarot card reading tonight. I'm not sure if I belive it or not; I certainly want to because she said great things, but I'm not sure...

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy Friday Eve!

Oh my goodness! Today was just flipping nuts. Work was actually ok and I left on time and then it took me two hours to go about fifteen miles. I'm so very glad it's almost the weekend!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Rewrite: Working on my Resolutions

I'm totally rewriting my post from yesterday. I read over it again this morning and realized it made very little sense. I blame this on a combination of being ridiculously tired and trying to watch Live to Dance while I wrote.
What I was trying to tell y'all is that I have embarked on a new journey, taken steps towards my first New Year's goal, and a gazillion other cliched saying. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting (referred to from now on as WW because I am lazy). I have done WW before, several times actually, and let's just have a moment of honesty: if I follow the program I lose weight. Period. The problem is that I have yet to learn how to eat the food I love in a healthy way. Hopefully I'll manage to do that this time around.
I'm participating in the new WW PointsPlus program, which at this point appears to be only mildly different from the previous Points program. The things that seem the most different are zero point fruits (no more using up your precious points on things like strawberries, mangoes, and grapes), carbohydrate foods seem to have significantly more points than they used to, but lean proteins seem to have fewer. I'm pretty sure I said yesterday that I get 40points in the system. Can I just tell y'all that it's a freaking TON of food. I told my mom today, I'm a little concerned it might actually be too much food, but it seems to work for other people so hopefully it'll work for me.
SideNote: I made Quinoa and Shrimp Salad for dinner. It was pretty spicy, but pretty awesome too! No pictures cause it looked mushy and weird, but it tasted flipping fantastic!
=)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Working on my Resolutions

So my very first goal for the new year was to go back to Weight Watchers and tonight was my first meeting. I'm officially enrolled in the new PointsPlus program (in which I have to eat a ton of food). I actually get 40 points in a day which seems like an unusually high amount to me, but I'll follow the program and see what happens.

Monday, January 3, 2011

The Daily Grind

I am wicked tired tonight; like falling asleep on my feet (well not really since I'm already in bed, but you get the picture). Today was my first day back at work after a very relaxing vacation. Then after work I ran about a gazillion errands; including the grocery store.
Usually on Sunday afternoon/evening I plan what I'm going to eat for the week and do my prep cooking. Since I wasn't home yesterday I did all that this evening after work. I made tzatziki sauce (to go with falafel later this week), I made pumpkin oatmeal, and roasted butternut squash. If I had a little more energy I would've chopped up all the stuff for tomorrow's salad but I don't so I didn't.
Tomorrow is my first new Weight Watchers meeting. Hopefully all goes well.
=)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

BFFMandy's Chocolate Chip Cookie

So you know how like 80 years ago I promised ya'll Christmas cookies? I'm fiiinally posting my first Christmas cookie recipe...after New Years...whatever.So this year for Christmas everyone got their favorite kind of cookie; up first is my CousinMichael whose favorite kind of cookies (for like forever) are chocolate chip. For as long as I can remember we've made chocolate chip cookies from the recipe in the Toll House Cookbook; the cookies are a classic and they come out crisp with morsels of chocolate. This year though (mostly cause I was home after surgery) I attempted and conquered BFFMandy's Chocolate Chip Cookies. These cookies are soft, chocolate-y, pillows of awesome-ness. This recipe makes like a zillion cookies (I stopped counting after 11 dozen) and my family gobbled them up. One of my most favorite things is that you can mix and match your chips. I used a blend of milk and dark chocolate, but BFFMandy usually uses a mix of chocolate and peanut butter chips. So seriously if you're jonesing for a chocolate chip cookies, make these ones.

BFFMandy's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used two 12oz bags, I could have used two and a half).

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

=)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Hello There 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I pretty sure I said that last night, but extra good wishes never hurt anybody. Today I celebrated with my family in the way we have for many years; by disassembling Christmas. It was an especially bitter-sweet afternoon this year, because for the first time in my life I'm glad the holidays are over and I'm not sure how many of our traditions will remain intact. 
I've mentioned before that this was a difficult year for my family and for myself. We've had a lot of medical issues and conflict in 2010. Looking back on this year the difficulties and scares are so prevalent, but I know that there were high moments and triumphs. I'm hoping and praying that 2011 brings health and peace. 
This, I suppose, is where I begin my 2011 Resolutions. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but I don't actually believe in New Year's Resolutions. I've often felt that "resolutions" are too broad and they set people up for failure. I am, however, I HUGE fan of using the start of the New Year to reflect on the last year and set new goals. So here I my goals for 2011:
1. Go back to WW.  Good Ole Weight Watchers. I want to improve my diet this year, really make permanent change in how I eat. The goal is simply to go back to Weight Watchers and follow the program.
2. Make at least two of my posts a week more substantial. Not that you guys don't already know this, but I'm a terrible blogger (for serious). The initial goal of this blog was to write something anything everyday for a year. But I'm now that I'm a quarter of the way through (!!!) my year, I'm not sure "something anything" is cutting it anymore. 
3. Shimmy, Shake, and Move. Basically be more active. Specifically do some sort of physical activity for at least 30 minutes at least 4 days a week. It can be anything the gym, the Wii, a walk in my neighborhood, or even taking the stairs at work. 
4. Be kinder. I need to meditate or pray or both and find a way to be kinder and less judgy. 
5. Visit two new places. Extra points if they are places on my Bucket List. 
6. Take my LCSW exam. This is what I've been working for since I was in college; I will take my liscensure test this year!
7. Actually cook some of the recipes I've been saving. I have about a gazillion recipes saved in my Google Reader from Tastespotting and the blogs that I follow. I need to actually start cooking them or get rid of them.

That's all I've come up with today, but as I think over the last year and head into this one I might come up with more. 
Welcome to the World 2011. 
=)