Oops... Did I Just Eat Bacon?

I totally did.  By "accident."  But it's all good :)  Remember my potluck at my office?  The one where I made banana pudding? 

Well, that's where it happened.  Most of the food at the potluck was meat-based so I had very little options.  The options I had, I did not request the full story.  I was in full on "don't ask, don't tell" mode.  One of these options was clam chowder, and I LOVE clam chowder.  You all know I eat seafood so when I saw it on the table I was pretty excited.  The woman who made it started to tell me about it, because she knows I don't eat meat, and I stopped her midsentence and said, "If there is bacon in it, I don't want to know.  I will either discover it and pick it out, or else I won't find anything."  She looked at me like I was slightly insane and just nodded her head.  I got a bowl.  I started eating.  I definitely ate a chunk of bacon.  I spent the next minute or so picking the rest out, and happily finished it.  She told me later there was also chicken stock in it, so I guess it was a vegetarian fail all the way around.

A year ago, (hell, a few months ago,) this would have prevented me from even eating it.  I was pretty strict about the meat intake.  I still don't eat meat on purpose or anything like that, but I have created a new ruel for myself.  When it comes to potlucks, holidays, dinners at a friend's or out somewhere, I'm not going to stress over a little chicken stock or possible meat in certain dishes.  Life is too short to worry about whether I'm being strict enough with my eating choices to the point of not enjoying a social gathering.  It's sort of the same epipheny I had when I stopped my vegan eating... I truly love cheese and greek yogurt.  I could give them up, but I don't want too.  The thought of never having parmesan cheese or cream cheese ever again is a little more than I can bear.  (This is also why I still eat seafood.)  I miss steak, but I don't need it so badly that I will break down and have one.  But clam chowder at a potluck?  Am I really going to let a little "don't ask don't tell" bacon deter me from eating something that I don't regularly eat, something that I enjoy?  No.  I'm just not going to do that.  Life is too short not to have a little clam chowder here and there.  With that being said, here is a shoutout to my co-worker for making Mexican layered dip with beans instead of beef because she was thinking of me :)  While that was very nice of her, I don't ever expect people to do that whenever I come over to eat, or when there is a function at work. 

I also will not listen to my boss when he points to the shredded pork or the sausage balls or the crockpot full of meatballs, and tells me they are vegetarian.

Part of My Catch-Up

Good evening bloggy friends :)  Anyone else attempting Jenna's Old Fashioned Banana Pudding and rocking out to BET in the background?  No?  Just me?  Ok then.  Remember yesterday when I said I had a whole other post planned out?  I decided now is time for that post :)

First things first.  I had a great weekend!  I did a lot of walking/running with this girl.

I went to a park in town with my good friend Jenny and walked her two dogs.  It was beautiful, we walked a trail through the woods around a lake.  I never even knew the park was there, and it's literally maybe 3 miles from my apartment.  The weather has been so nice lately, 60's and 70's so there was no crazy sweating.  It was just a gorgeous day.

Jenny and Boyd

I completed the weekend making a homemade pizza, vegetarian chili, and cornbread.  The weather has make me want chili and now I have enough to last all week!  No pics this time around, but I will post the recipe next time I make it.

Jay and I are still broken up, and still living together.  It's getting less awful as we seem to have an unspoken pact to try to get along.  He still pisses me off, but until we can find other living arrangements I guess this is how it has to be.  I have the most amazing friends to help me through all this crap though.  I got this adorable care package in the mail from my high school friend Juliana.

Isn't she adorable?  I'm not gonna lie, I shed a little tear when I opened it.  It was super thoughtful and made my day.  (There was also a pack of M&M's in there.  I don't, um, know where those got to..)  I have to say that I have the best group of girlfriends that get me through anything and everything. 

There may be a little more to say since I've been gone for so long... I've eaten lots of good stuff, had a blogger come visit, and just gone through everyday life.  But I've been up and at 'em since 7 this morning so I think I'm going to go snuggle in my bed and watch TV.  I haven't stopped ALL DAY.  I will see you all tomorrow with my banana pudding review from coworkers :)

One more thing:  Those two beautiful ladies I spoke about in this post have each started a blog.  Jenny's is about life with her 24-going-on-7 year old husband and is hilarious.  Juliana's is about a little of this and a little of that, living in NYC and being fabulous :)  AND, my lil bro started one as well about politics.  He can be serious, but I see it taking some humorous turns.  Looks like I've been inspirational.  I'll go ahead and brush my shoulder off.. go check them out and give some love as they are all new to this blogging thing and deserve attention!  Have a great night peeps :)

                                                                                

Well, I've Bashed Cosmo... Now It's Marie Claire's Turn

I want you to know that I had a whole 'nother topic planned for today.  (I'm so, so sorry I've been so absent.  I'm working on it.)  I planned to tell you about my weekend, the first in a while that's been honestly relaxing and refreshing.  The one where I hung out with a good friend, walked 3 dogs, took a couple really good naps and ate some really good food.  Yep, that's what I was going to talk about... till this hot mess took over the blogging community today.  Take a minute... read it... I'll wait..

I want to say that out of the "Big 6," I only follow two, Kath and Jenna.  You know Jenna, she has been the inspiration for a few of my recipes on the blog.  However, I do follow a whole lot of other healthy living blogs and never have I ever seen anything to warrant this kind of article.  To say that people who are truly living a healthy lifestyle may either have disorders or influence others to have disorders is ridiculous.  I'm confused as to when a healthy, strong body became synonymous with unhealthy.  Is this because obesity is SO RAMPANT in America now that when we see someone at a healthy weight we automatically assume they are underweight and unhealthy?  Since when did it become unacceptable to be upset when an injury prevents us from working out?  This claim was made towards Jenna, who cried one day because her feet were too blistered to run.  Um... so?  Aren't injuries frustrating?  Isn't it possible that she might love running and be upset when she is physically unable?  I mean damn, I played an entire season of soccer in high school with a stress fracture, taping my foot before each and every game and practice.  Was I suffering from exercise bulimia, or simply just maybe could I not even entertain the thought of taking the season off?  I loved soccer, and playing through a minor injury was not even a question.

Among other ridiculous mentions in the article... I love the part where she mentions that at the Healthy Living Summit, bloggers chose yogurt and fruit over the croissants and muffins, and one of the 6 made a comment that those kinds of foods were not asked for.  Wow, the audacity to actually eat fruit for breakfast instead of a pastry?  At a Healthy Living conference??  Oh, the insanity.  And yet, somehow this is looked at as a bad thing.  Also a bad thing?  The inspiration to readers to exercise.  The author takes it and twists it all around making it look as though people who read these blogs are immediately going out and running marathons without proper training, injuring themselves, and causing major damage.  I'm not saying this doesn't happen because maybe it does, but that's not the blogger's fault.  Just as posting pictures about food causing a trigger for some with eating disorders is also not the blogger's fault.  Most bloggers who post about running races also post their training plans.  Most will also make a point to tell you that they do not post pictures of every single thing they eat in a day.  So all these doctors weighing in on the articles saying they aren't getting enough calories and whatever, let's all use a little common sense.  There was most definitely some unpictured food consumed that day.

I feel as though this article was just a blatant attack.  Kath posted in this post about how she thought the article was going to go.  She, and the other 5 girls, all had interviews with this woman and yet none of their thoughts and quotes were shared.  This makes me very sad.  I honestly think this author should be fired.  It's worse than the Cosmo article.  What makes me even sadder though, is how bad America has gotten in terms of health.  Now it's a bad thing to run and train for marathons.  Now it's a bad thing to turn away the muffins and croissants in favor of fruit and yogurt.  Now it's a bad thing to try to be conscious of your health, and to weigh a healthy weight.  A healthy weight is now looked at as "too" skinny.  But on the flip side, everyone is complaining about the obesity epidemic and how lazy we all are. 

To say that I'm appalled by this would be the understatement of the year.  I think it goes without saying that I will be posting a comment to Marie Claire directly, and no longer purchasing their magazines.  This was so irresponsible and combative an article that I am no longer interested in anything else they have to say.  I'm sure I can find better advice in blogland.