Chocolate Cake!!

The big secret from yesterday was that I was making a cake for a friend at work for her birthday.  Sunshine, (real name, fact,) had her birthday this month and even though I was late (bad friend, fact,) I decided to make her a cake.  It was bad enough that it rained on Sunshine's birthday :)

I got a couple of recipes off the internet, if I can find them later or tomorrow I will link to them.  The first was for chocolate buttercream frosting.

Seriously, I could have eaten this with a spoon right from the bowl.

After the frosting came the cake:

All was going well until...

Fail

I tried to take it out of the pan too soon and it all fell apart.  Deep breaths.  I needed two so I just sucked it up and started over.  All came out well in the end.

Isn't it pretty?

The best part is that Sunshine liked it.  For someone who is the pickiest eater on the planet, this was a huge success.  The rest of my team like it as well.  All I brought home was an empty plate.  I'm really sorry for the lack of links to recipes but I will find them and link them tomorrow.  I was cleaning tonight and it's late and I'm too tired to look for them at the moment.

I'm not having the best day either.  I have personal stuff going on right now that I don't want to get into, but it's taking a huge toll on my mood.  Not to mention getting an infuriating facebook message from someone I barely know attacking my religious and political beliefs.  Those are not things that I tend to mention on this blog and I still won't, but there is nothing worse than arguing over those two things.  It never gets anywhere and at this point in history, there is no such thing as "let's agree to disagree."  Although I did try that and it didn't work.  UGH.  Hopefully I get a good night's sleep and wake up for a head-clearing run.  I think I will watch a little RHONJ reunion to put me to sleep.  Nothing like Danielle's craziness to put a smile on my face :)

Homemade Pizza and a Beer, The Dinner of Champions

Phew.. this has been a long hot day.  I've been slaving away all day in the kitchen, sweating and cursing and breaking things and making new ones.  I have to hold off telling you part of it till tomorrow cause shhhh, it's a secret.  But I can fill you in on dinner!

Dinner was homemade pizza, made with the same crust I used to make this.  The recipe for the crust is here.  I made two, one for J and one for me.  I started mixing the dough in the kitchenaide.

Then I formed a ball, rubbed it with olive oil, and let it rise for an hour.  I ended up with this:

While it was rising, I got the toppings together:

Pepperoni, pepper, onion for J.  Mushroom, pineapple, pepper for me.

I split the dough and made two pizzas.

J's

Mine

Cook em up!!!

Sorry about that.  I got a little carried away and forgot I was a food blogger before I cut into mine.  It was very, very good.  Especially when washed down with a Labatt Blue Light Lime :)  Bud Light Lime used to be my favorite beer, but since Labatt started making a lime beer, it has trumped all others.  Labatt is my favorite brand since I'm almost Canadian you know.  I come from a town that waves both flags after all.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Mine was pretty boring and uneventful so this is all the fun stuff I have for y'all today.  See you tomorrow when I can share the rest of my day!

Working Overtime For No Extra Money Blows

Seriously.  Y'all don't even know.

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday.  I found myself with not a whole lot to say and I figured better to skip it rather than bore everyone.  This hasn't been the best week.  I don't really know why, other than I started my period the other day.  (Sorry to any men reading this right now.)  I will be at work and counting the minutes till I can go home and that's not really like me.  I'm really tired which I'm sure is related to this time of the month.  It's just ugh.  The first couple of days this week I was SO BORED at work.  My job is like this, it goes from boring to slammed to boring to slammed, all in a cycle.  So guess what happened... today I got slammed.  It started yesterday but today it all really hit the fan.  I woke up with a migraine so I didn't go running.  I couldn't get rid of it all day so I was sort of drugged on meds and just trying to get through the day.  At 4:00, I had a meeting where I found out that there is work to be done that needs to be done by tomorrow morning at 10am.  Seriously??  I came home and relaxed for a while and finally got rid of the headache, and then sucked it up and logged into work and spent two tedious hours inputting data from a spreadsheet.  I just finished and I don't even have the energy to shower.  I washed my hair in the kitchen sink and am going to call it a night in a few minutes.

To try to say something positive about the week, I have two things:  First, I think I mentioned that my car needs some extensive repairs.  I had a quote from my mechanic for about $1200 worth of work, and could be cut down to $630 before taxes if I didn't repair something that was recommended, but not necessary.  Being broke at the moment, I decided on the $630 repairs obviously.  The thing is, I'm not too thrilled with my mechanic lately.  I used to love them and felt like they really did a good job, but the past few times I've gone something bad has happened.  This all came to a head when I got an oil change and my Check Engine light came on right afterwards.  I brought it in, they said they checked all fluids and they didn't know what was going on but they were sure it wasn't related to the oil change.  I got home and had a bad feeling and popped the hood.  Look at that, totally out of coolant.  They checked my fluids?  Really?  I'm pretty sure coolant is a fluid, and a pretty necessary one in the 100 degree NC summer we have been having.  Anyway, I'm rambling... so I was talking to a friend and she asked me to bring the estimate to her mechanic and ask if they could do it cheaper.  So I did, I literally walked in and slapped it on the counter and said, "Can you beat this?"  Mind you, I brought the $630 estimate.  After checking and looking everything over and looking at the car, they brought me their estimate.  It was for $566, AFTER taxes.  But wait... it was for the work that was originally quoted at $1200.  Sold, done, it's getting fixed tomorrow.  Oh yeah, and this place will bring me to and from work as well.  Fabulous, fabulous.  Do you need to ask if I will be switching mechanics?

The second thing is that I ran twice this week.  This may seem like a failure but I don't think so.  Tuesday it was pouring rain, so I missed it.  Today I was dealing with the migraine and was absolutely unable to go.  Tomorrow the car needs to be in at 7am, so there won't be time.  I plan to work out this weekend to make up for it but I am proud that the two days where I woke up and was able to go, I went.  I wasn't lazy, I didn't choose to sleep for another hour, I just did it.  That makes me happy.

I'm about to pass out so I'm going to sign off now.  I apologize for no pics, if it makes you feel better, you have seen all the food before.  I am not being creative this week :)  I hope you all have a great Friday!

An Amazing Salad

You are all about to be treated to almost a full day of meals from me.  Crazy, I know, I don't think I've ever photo'd every meal of the day.  You're welcome :)

I woke up this morning all set to go running.  My breakfast/lunch was packed and ready to be picked up from the fridge, I drank a bunch of water last night, went to bed early, etc.  I was awake enough to get up before 6 so imagine my frustration when it was pouring rain at that time.  I'm just not hardcore enough to run in the rain.  Back to bed I went.  I will try again tomorrow but I promise as long as it isn't raining I will go!  I just got off the phone with my best friend, we promised each other that by the time we see each other at Christmas, we each will have lost 20 pounds.  Not to mention that I will also have Brittany to answer to :)

I was starving when I finally got up an hour later so I made my new favorite thing:

Toast with peanut butter, half a smashed banana, drizzled with honey.  It was easy, quick and filling.  I also ate a yogurt mess later in the morning, but I figure you can only see so many pictures of those :)  Lunch was the salad I promised you all yesterday.  I sat down and got it together, only to realize I had left my camera at my desk.  I went back to get it and Jenny said, "You better take a picture since you promised on the blog that you would!"  The perils of having IRL people reading the blog... ;)

Spinach, iceberg lettuce, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 mango, feta cheese, topped with organic orange-cranberry vinaigrette.  It's really good, and actually very filling.  I never cease to be surprised when a salad fills me up without any bread or anything else.  I think it must be the fats in the avocado, mango and seeds.  Either way it's a good thing!

After a painfully long boring day at work, I came home and made dinner.  I realized that I'm in a serious pasta slump lately with all the shrimp pasta and mac n cheese.  It seems like every night I have some variety of pasta.  Tonight I decided (grudgingly) to break pattern.

Two over easy eggs and cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with Earth Balance.  It was filling but not super satisfying.  I am a carb freak and as such, I tend to wayy overeat pasta and breads.  When I realize that it's out of control and I start to cut back, I have cravings and get a little miserable.  Don't misunderstand, I am definitely not advocating low carb.  I clearly had 3 pieces of bread, granola, and a bunch of fruit today.  But for me it's not about what I eat, it's about portion size.  I let myself eat as much fruits and veggies as I want but portioning pasta is hard for me.  I can easily put back half a box in one sitting when a serving size is actually 1/7 of the box.  At 200 calories a serving, that means without paying attention I can eat up to 700 calories worth of pasta and that doesn't count the sauce, cheese, olive oil, etc that I top it with.  I also don't count calories and don't believe they are all created equal, but I DO know that packing away 1000 calories without even realizing it isn't a good thing.  So I need to cut back to "regular" sizes even if it means being a little miserable for a couple of days.  I will adjust :)

I'm out now peeps.  I gotta prepare to run tomorrow and hope it doesn't rain.  Have a fabulous night :)

Advice Needed

Do you see this sweaty mess??  I woke up early this morning and finally went running.  (By the way, running is a total exaggeration.  I went "wogging," as Brittany would say :)  Aka, walk/jogging.)  I went to sleep early last night and woke up this morning, in the dark, and forced myself out of bed.  Molly was super excited.  I stumbled out the door, hated myself for the first half, woke up for the second half, and felt great by the time I got home.  It was a terrible time, 2.6 miles in 45 minutes, but I took practically the entire summer off and now I'm back at square one.  We had gotten as good as 25 minutes.  We will again, I'm not too worried about it.

Getting ready for work was kind of rough though.  Even after a cold shower, I couldn't stop sweating!  I am not one of those people who doesn't sweat.  I sweat a TON.  It takes a while for me to cool down so after the shower it was pretty difficult to straighten sweat-wet hair and put on makeup.  The makeup went on ok.. the hair ended up in a bun.  There was no saving it.  Plus, I had to get food ready so I didn't have time to just sit down, chill, and cool off.  So tonight, I got everything ready for food so that if I go tomorrow I will be able to take a few minutes to sit down after running.  I'm hoping to go tomorrow, but there are no promises.

This afternoon I got a migraine.  I learned a long time ago that strenuous exercise causes me to get migraines.  I first discovered it with spinning, which was later at night and I would wake up with the migraine.  Now, even though my time may make it look as though my run isn't a huge deal, I find it difficult and therefore strenuous.  I get really really hot and that is the main cause I think.  Also, even though I do my best to relax I always have tight shoulders and neck afterwards as well.  This also causes headaches.  I googled "exercise induced migraines" this afternoon and I was shocked to find out that up to 35% of people suffer from this!  And it's for the reasons I thought, overheating and tensing up and also the spike in blood pressure that comes with exercising.  I like working out, and I need to work out, but I don't always want to be suffering a migraine every day that I do work out.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Are there any suggestions?   I'm taking Excedrin migraine for them but I'm sure it's not healthy to take them every day.  I drink a ton of water, I warm up and cool down, everything that was suggested.  But if any of you have a tried and true idea I'm all ears.

Sorry for the lack of food pics today.  I made a great new salad for lunch today but didn't have my camera.  I will try to take a pic tomorrow, it's SO good I will have to share it.  Breakfast and dinner were standard and don't really need mentioning :)  I'm off to stretch my tight muscles and watch one more episode of Without a Trace.  Bed early so that I'm more likely to wake up in the morning, goodnight blog friends :)

A Strange Saturday Evening

Hello everyone!  How is your weekend going?  Mine is ok, I have been sort of laying around all day.  I planned to exercise today but I've been so behind on sleep that I let myself just sleep all morning.  This afternoon I cleaned my kitchen.  It took forever, I hadn't cleaned since I got home and J let it get to be a mess and it's kind of built and built till it was a little ridiculous.  Everything is good now though :)  After the kitchen was clean I spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV.  J went to see family so it was definitely a perfect chance to veg out.

Dinner was my shrimp pasta minus the shrimp.  I took the tomatoes and cream and put on top of pasta.  It was really good and quick.  After dinner I really wanted something sweet, but there isn't anything like that in the apartment at the moment.  Until I remembered the heavy cream I used for dinner... and had a fabulous thought...

Do you see where this is going?

Yummy :)

Homemade whipped cream and blackberries.  I can be very creative when I want something!

I'm watching something odd at the moment on TV and I feel compelled to share.. you know how you are channel surfing and you end up watching something you would never plan to watch?  Well, that's what happened tonight when I came across this show on polyamory.  (No clue if that's spelled right.)  Basically, the show is following a woman who has two boyfriends, and they all live together.  Her and one of the men have a baby together, and the father of the baby also dates other women.  The other guy seems happy to just be with her and help with the baby.  It's definitely interesting.  They all appear to be completely happy with this arrangement and everyone is the best of friends, and I don't really know what to think.  On the one hand, I think it's totally bizarre and absolutely not for me.  I see her come in from a walk with one man and give the other man a kiss, and then he turns around and introduces her to his date.  I'm not really a jealous person, but I would definitely NOT be ok with my man introducing me to his date.  Not even if I had just come in from a walk with my OTHER man.  On the other hand, if they are all truly ok with this relationship and are happy like this, then to each their own.  It's none of my business.  If nothing else it makes for some really interesting TV watching.  On a purely feminist note, (another thing I definitely usually am not,) I am thoroughly enjoying that this is a woman who has multiple men.  Whenever you hear of this kind of thing it's usually a man with multiple women.  It's nice to see the tables be turned!

These Are My Confessions...

...just when I thought I said all I could say my chick on the side says she's got one on the way...

This post is sparked by a conversation I had with a coworker the other day, about health habit "do's" and "don't's" that we either do or don't do.  (Wow, that really didn't make any sense at all.)  There are certain things that I have in the past tried to do because I'm "supposed" to do them, and things that I DO do that I felt kind of guilty about because I'm "not" supposed to do them.  This led me to think of things both health and non-health related, and before I knew it I had a list that made me look like the biggest misfit on earth.  BUT... I truly don't care anymore.  I am who I am, and this is the list of confessions that make me, me.

• I love mayonnaise.  Plain, regular, Hellman's mayo.  And don't give me that "lite" junk either.  I love how people are all, "mustard please," and trying to tell me that mustard should be a healthy replacement and how I shouldn't eat mayonnaise, and mayonnaise is gross.  Back off.  Mustard has a place, but that place is NOT mixed with tuna fish, and it only has half a place in a cheese sandwich.  The other half is for mayonnaise.
• I also like iceberg lettuce.  I will let you other food bloggers regain composure... no, I do not eat solely iceberg in salads or sandwiches.  But I can tell you that I like to mix it in there because I like crunch, and as much as I like raw spinach, crunch it does not. 
• I despise broccoli.  For most people this is their most loved vegetable but I hate it and always have.  It doesn't matter if it's raw or cooked, covered in cheese or marinara, I do not like it and I am going to stop forcing myself to eat it.  I'm 26, I don't have to eat it if I don't want too.
• Two very popular items in the blog world, nut butters and figs, are underwhelming to me.  (Somewhere, a food blogger's head is exploding.  I can feel it.)  Everyone talks about both of these things so much that I had to try it all, almond and cashew butter and figs.  The almond and cashew butter... meh.  Definitely not going to spend all that money when I like crunchy peanut butter better for a fraction of the cost.  And even then I really only eat peanut butter stirred into oatmeal or the occasional PB&J.  Figs to me taste like an under ripe peach.  I truly don't see the hoop-la surrounding this fruit.
• I use white sugar.  Yep.  I said it.  With that being said, I rarely come across a need to sweeten anything other than my morning coffee, so it's not like it's a whole lot of white sugar.  I had stopped a while back and was using Agave nectar but there seems to be controversy about that now.  I flat out refuse to use anything artificial to sweeten anything I eat so sugar it is.  If I need a lot for baking and such, I do try to go organic.
• I am extremely label conscious.  (See, I had you all thinking just now that I had abandoned all health beliefs and was running for the hills, didn't I?)  I am very very VERY aware of the HFCS, hydrogenated oils, and artificial sweeteners running rampant in food today and 99% of the time I want none of it.  The other 1% is attributed to the random Apple Jacks cravings, when I want candy, or at someones house and have no other choice.  It's fine with me to have a teeny amount of these things in my life, but by no means ever do I want to consume them daily.  Or even weekly for that matter.
• I have never in my life eaten a Twinkie.  I have also never watched the Goonies.  I put these two things together in one because it elicits the most "omg!!!" reactions from people.  Due to the shocking nature of those statements, it has now become a bizarre mission for me to never engage in Twinkies or the Goonies, and continue shocking people for years to come.
• I watch a LOT of TV and I like it.  I thought of this one today when my friend Jenny (hi Jenny!) announced that her and her fiance are getting rid of cable after football season.  She is excited because this means they will find something else to do together and hopefully spend more time together.  I am all for living life and not being attached to the TV.  But voluntarily giving up cable is not an option for me.  I love my RH, Jersey Shore, Criminal Minds, 90210, Melrose, Grey's, and I am going to stop there before you all think there is a serious issue going on.  I enjoy going home after work and zoning out.  I don't mind spending time watching TV with J.  I like it. 

• This final confession isn't so much a confession as something that I have decided not to care about anymore.  Since I moved to NC from NY, I have had numerous people tell me that I come across as unfriendly, bitchy, and rude.  This has come from coworkers, both boss's, people who have become friends who have told me their first impression of me, etc.  I guess it made me mad mostly because the latest conversation with my boss was about how I don't smile at people in the hall.  He actually had someone complain about this.  Seriously, you clearly do not have enough work to do if you are running to my boss to tattle that I did not smile at you in the hall.  Get a life.  And the funny thing is, I think I'm a friendly person.  I think I treat people well, and I think I do well covering (at work anyway) when I dislike someone.  No, I don't walk around with a perma smile and never have, but this doesn't mean I'm unfriendly.  It used to bother me, it doesn't anymore.  I have come to realize that this is not on me, it's on other people because if they talked to me, they would see that I'm nice and outgoing.  They simply choose not to try.  Their fault, not mine.

Don't I look like a nice person????

Owen's Blog Debut!

                                      

Oh my God.  What is that??  It looks delicious.  Oh yeah, that's right.  It's the obsession I can't get over.  This time there was vanilla Chobani, Bear Naked granola, blackberries and raspberries.  Blackberries and raspberries are BOGO at the store right now, and even though they aren't organic, mama needs to fix a very expensive car part right now and BOGO berries are heaven sent at the moment.  And FYI, I'm hoping that name dropping things like Chobani and Bear Naked will cause the companies to sent me like, lifetime supplies of these things.

                                   

                                                                      All Mixed Up

Dinner tonight was Bang Bang Wednesday from Bonefish, aka $5 Bang Bang shrimp!!  I also got this the other day after the horrific airport experience and it was basically heaven in a takeout bag.  Did you know that if you get the order of shrimp, you get a little loaf of bread also?  And... that I have connections with Carraba's that hook me up with spices, so I mixed them in EVOO and had a feast. 

                                  

                                 

Yes I had already dug into the bread before the pictures.  I'm such a bad blogger.  Truth is, I didn't even finish this meal.  I was stuffed and I have about a third of the shrimp left in the fridge.  The other day I inhaled it and was comfortably full, but I guess the difference between Monday and today is there was nothing in between the yogurt bowl at 10 and the shrimp at 8:30 on Monday.  Today there was an unpictured PB&J, some Doritos, a little bit of cottage cheese, and a Bojangles egg and cheese biscuit.  (Cottage cheese and PB&J were all organic, the Doritos were a snack size, and biscuit was a terrible, terrible craving:) )  There also was a lot of desk-sitting, and the other day was all running around at stupid airports.. coughcoughLaGuardiaclearthroat...  You see the difference.  So I'm thinking I will take the extra shrimp and top a salad with them for lunch tomorrow.  That sounds fabulous right?

I'm off to finish watching Kourtney and Khloe, and then probably at least one episode of Without a Trace or something.  Kourtney, I have no clue what you see in Scott.  He's a total douchebag, you can do MUCH better, you are beautiful and you have a beautiful baby, a million men who do NOT wear pastel sweaters tied around their necks would be more than happy to treat you well.  Just sayin... and speaking of adorable baby boys, I got permission to post Owen pics from Owen's mommy, so prepare to see the most adorable child on earth.  Are you ready???

See you all tomorrow :)

Andd I'm Back!

Whew.  Hello everyone.  It has been a whirlwind few days!  I would have posted last night but the person I "steal" internet from went and secured their connection.  WTF????  I need to suck it up and buy my own wireless router.  It's on the list right after I fix my car.  ANYWAY...It was a decent trip, some things happened that I didn't want to happen at all, but at the same time I wasn't altogether surprised either.  If you knew and understood the dynamics of my family, it would make sense.  But I don't want to get into all that now.  I did get to meet my brother's girlfriend and I really like her.  I also met my best friend's son, (my "nephew,") and attended his 2nd birthday party, I love him right to pieces!!!  He is completely and totally adorable.  I am not going to post a picture though, because his mother is very private and I don't know if she would like that.  I will have to clear it with her first.  Just know he is the cutest little boy on the planet :)

In other (not so fabulous news,) I have a serious issue with USAirways at the moment.  I had 4 flights with them.... they messed up all four.  We were delayed twice without explanation.  One flight had the roughest landing I have ever experienced, I'm talking the plane tilting wildly from side to side, and sudden drops that made my stomach come up into my throat.  Not pleasant, I hate roller coasters and that's exactly what it felt like.  Although, in my opinion, the pilot did it on purpose to get back at the most annoying family on the plane... the family with 2 children that screamed the entire flight.... the family that when we were 2nd in line for takeoff, rushed their 3 year old to the bathroom.  I will never forget the flight attendant's face when she asked in disbelief, "Why is he not wearing a diaper???"  (The answer, by the way, was, "We have diapers but are in the process of potty training."  Um, buddy?  Put the damn diaper on.  This is not the time.)  We lost our spot in line.  Then, when we were about to take off again, someone else went into the bathroom.  The pilot came on, "Attention passengers.  Whoever is in the bathroom needs to get out now, because I am not losing our spot in line for a second time.  We WILL be taking off in about one minute, so hurry it up!"  In a way, I don't blame him for the landing.  I was just as irritated.

This is all nothing compared to the final flight, which due to an EXTREME unexplained delay by USAir, I was flying American.  (And don't even get me started on trying to find a whole new airline at LaGuardia.. that's a whole other blog post, suffice to say I will be avoiding that airport like the plague from here on out.)  Anyway, the change was sudden and took place within 20 minutes, so US did not transfer my luggage.  I'm going on day two of work without makeup and my hair back due to lack of a straightener.  Thankfully, I am pretty sure it's coming today.  But this warranted an extra hour and 15 minutes at the airport due to the long line out the baggage claim door, and the one SUPER slow old woman working the desk.  Awesome.  I was supposed to be home by 5:30.  I finally made it at almost 9.  If not for a surprise takeout order of Bang Bang Shrimp from Bonefish, I may have totally broken down before getting home.  And I may or may not have totally cried anyway as soon as I laid down.  It was a really stressful day.  BUT... it is what it is, right?  As soon as I have my luggage back I can put the whole thing behind me and make sure from here on out that there will be no more USAir, or connections through LaGuardia.

Alright, enough complaining.  Although I will say you are lucky, because that is an extremely condensed version of all the things that went wrong.  Here are some pictures from the happier parts of the journey:

All these wonderful fabulous friends of mine made my trip so fun, I always have a great time with all of them.  They are the best friends a girl could ask for and I miss them like crazy!

I will see you later IF I can find a wireless network that isn't smart enough to be secured :)  Have a great day everyone! 

Andd I'm OUT!!

All Packed

I am all ready for my trip home to NY in the morning.  With the exception of last minute toiletries, this is it.  It looks so small!  If you know me, you would know that I usually pack like crazy and end up wearing about 1/3 of what I bring.  I'm trying something new, but having a slight panic attack that I will want something and won't have it.  Oh well, no turning back now!   I'm very, very sleepy now so I think this is going to be a short post since I need to be up at 3am.  You can bet I will be sleeping on that plane!

Since I'm from Northern NY and it's the country surrounded by more country, I probably won't be blogging while I'm gone.  My parents have dial up internet and I don't have the patience.  I'm also not bringing my laptop because it's my work laptop and I need there to be no way I can be coerced into logging on.  There was a small emergency last night that I spent all day at work trying to fix, and I had to leave the rest in my boss's hands.  Since it wasn't my fault at all that this issue happened, and I worked all day trying to help fix it, I don't want to be spending any part of vacation working on it.  I told my boss he could call if he needs too, but I know if I take the computer I will feel guilty and end up working.  So... if I can borrow my brother's laptop and have the time to find somewhere with WiFi, I will try to post.  If not, well, I will see you all next week!  Send up extra prayers for me, I have a fear of flying and I'm starting to get all nervous.

                                        

Molly knows something is happening, I got a big kiss right after this pic.  I will miss my girls and my boy!

The 100th

Hello friends!  Today is the 100th post of TLD!!  I don't even know what to post about on this special occasion....  Hey, on the 100th episode of Friends, Phoebe gives birth to her brother's triplets.  I don't know if I can top that.  :)

Today started off at about 12:30 this morning, when I finally went to sleep.  My mother called late last night because my brother's girlfriend was having severe abdominal cramping and she was scared.  After I talked to her and calmed her down they went to the ER, where it turns out it was probably a side effect of a medication.  Crisis averted, but no sleep.  I had intentions to at least try to run, but there was no way when the alarm went off that I was going anywhere.  I haven't really woken up today at all, and right after this post I will be going to bed.  I need to catch up!

Anyway, I got to work this morning and looked on the calendar and saw that my insurance was due today.  So I get online to pay it, (remember, it was due TODAY,) and the page says, "This policy has been cancelled due to non-payment."  The HELL?  Cancelled?  At 10am on the due date?  Oh hell no.. and I called and the agent of course has no idea what has happened, and of course it was reinstated but how annoying.  And the even more annoying part... this happens almost every month.  Either on the day it's due, or within a few days if I'm slightly late.  Thanks a lot Allstate.  I don't feel as if I'm in good hands.  (Lame, yes, I had to say it.)

My day went on until I came home and stumbled in the door practically asleep, with all intentions of taking a nap... and then I couldn't sleep.  Does this ever happen to you??  Man.. I was so mad.  I've been relaxing watching Without a Trace and Criminal Minds, but still.  All I wanted was about an hour of sleep.  I was too tired to plan any kind of amazing meal, so "breakfast" it was.

Egg, pepper, whole wheat toast

2nd yogurt mess of the day

All together now..

In honor of Holly, who likes to add Froot Loops to her yogurt messes, I decided to put in some Apple Jacks.  There is Chobani vanilla yogurt, berries, granola, and Apple Jacks.  (The yogurt is under there, I swear.)  I buy sugary cereals for myself maybe 3 times a year, but when the craving comes, there is no fighting it.  It's usually Apple Jacks or Lucky Charms.  My mother never allowed that food in the house so I definitely do not eat it regularly.  Sometimes though, there is nothing like a bowl of sugar and chemicals :)  (For the record, it was fabulous.  And I may or may not have went back for more cereal and yogurt.  And then, MAYBE, just cereal dry from the box.  I won't confirm or deny anything.)

I am off to load the dishwasher, put the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and hopefully be in bed asleep in 15 minutes!  Ciao!

It's Like It Never Happened..

I have a massive disappointment for y'all tonight. 

Today after I came home, I actually went to the gym.  That's right, I came home, changed, walked to the apartment fitness center, did 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill, and walked back.  I took pics of my sweaty self as proof, and showered it up.  Then, I made J a couple breakfast packets, aka potatoes, bacon, onion, pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder.  I took pictures of the whole process.  I ate dinner, laid back, grabbed the laptop and camera... and the memory card wasn't inside.  The pictures are saved on my camera, but not on the memory card and since I have no cord, I can't get them on the computer :(  I can't figure out how to save them to the card either, so I guess I'm SOL for this post.  BUT, I swear I worked out.  I'm pretty proud of myself actually, 30 minutes of intervals.  I can relax guilt-free tonight.

While I was on the down cycles of my intervals, I was reading a magazine whose health advice I actually usually respect.  Remember my Cosmo rant?  Well, this SELF magazine had a great quote inside.  It's a little long, but it really made me think about exercise, and health in general, and how I really need to get off this lazy streak and get moving, more for my health than anything else.

"On average, you replace about 1 percent of the cells in your body every day.  And each cell comes in a little stronger or a little weaker than the one before, depending on the chemical signals you send by how you live your life.  Thus, you end each day with a body that is a little bit younger or older than before- your choice.  Nutrition and emotion are key players in this process, but the most powerful change you can make is to exercise.."

I love this.  It reminds me of an article I read not too long ago, which discussed how you really are what you eat.  It talked about how your body's only source of energy to replace and repair cells is the food that is consumed.  That's it.  So if you are a person who intakes a lot of unhealthy fats, a lot of chemicals, a lot of processed foods, that's all your body has to work with.  But if you make an effort to eat whole, good, unprocessed foods, your body has all those vitamins and minerals and antioxidants to work with.  I truly think this is why people who live healthy lifestyles genuinely look better.  I'm not talking about weight at all, I'm talking about the glow of the skin, the hair, the nails.  The cells are healthier, which makes for a healthier person overall.  I can definitely tell a difference in my hair and skin since eating a more "whole foods" and organic diet.  I need to work on my shortcomings, like not exercising, and make myself get up and get out there.  I know I talk a lot about wanting to lose 20 pounds, 20 pounds, 20 pounds.  And yes, I should honestly lose this weight.  But more than weight loss, it's that I want to be a healthy person.  I don't want diabetes, heart disease, cancer.  I don't want to have to take fist fulls of pills when I'm older.  I don't want to physically age faster than what nature intends.  I know from watching family members that this means taking control NOW, right now while I'm young and can set a solid base for the rest of my life.  Not later, after a heart attack or chemo, or gastric bypass.  I don't want a "scare" to set me straight.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and mainly that's all I'm trying to do.  After all that, THEN it's about the 20 pounds.  (Which, lets be honest, if I lose it I will be a healthier person.)

Anyway, wow, that's not at all what I planned for this evening.  I guess the loss of pictures wasn't the end of the world.  I think I will sign off now and spend the rest of my evening reading the magazine and watching Criminal Minds :)  Goodnight blogworld!