Florida Food Snob

Shoulda. Coulda. Woulda.

2011-05-16T14:29:00.006-04:00

I was a snob.

I was going to write on this page but I didn’t.

I didn’t... because I couldn’t have my own URL or a fancy header.

You win.

I dreamed of documenting my entire culinary school experience. Every detail – down to how many meringues were whipped during my Contemporary Cakes… but I didn’t because I didn’t have my own URL or a fancy header.

Now, I don’t have a URL, a fancy header or the journal entries.

If I wouldn’t have been such a snob –

I would have more than I have now.

Folks, it is completely acceptable to be a snob about certain things like your butter’s temperature or how long ago your ice crème was churned but not about your life style.

Live. Even if youre not living how you would have pictured it.

The Classroom in the Kitchen

2010-11-10T11:32:00.009-05:00

I have a confession. I’ve been telling you stories.

For the most part these stories have been factual. The problem is the stories were one sided. My first term in culinary school is coming to a close and it is time for me to come clean about the things that go unsaid.

Part One: Confessions from the classroom in the kitchen [SOURCE]

Day One: If your confidence is in any way associated with your appearance find another way to equip yourself. Not only will you be treated like “one of the guys”, you will begin to resemble one instantly.

Prepare to be stripped of every object or material that makes you an individual.

No long or fake nails. No nail polish. No facial piercings. No makeup. No loose hair. No exceptions.

Exhibit A: My personal record is 12 minutes to assemble the costume.

Fresh faced. Pressed Clean White Jacket. ~~Trendy~~ Checkered Pants. Neckerchief with Centered Metal Pendent. Black socks. Non-Slip ~~Elf~~ Shoes. New Hat. Clean Apron. Towels - Lots of Towels.

No exceptions. No variations. No questions.

[SOURCE] Day Eight: The 20 hours a week you spend on school campus will not compare to the 20+ hours a week you will invest studying and practicing. You will be required to absorb thousands of facts that are being poured over your head at light speed. Think fast because learning is done on your time. School time is used for teaching.

Day Twelve: Google “TEAMWORK”. The majority of the people who you come in contact with at said institution will have similar interests but that does not mean they are all as passionate or as friendly as you. Accept it quickly and move forward!

Exhibit B: You will use one cutting board most days but will be expected to wash 33 of them.

Remember, Teamwork?
[SOURCE]

Day Fourteen: You came to culinary school to cook? Well, sit patiently until it is time. You earn the right to use the equipment through knowledge and experience. Nothing will be given freely. And if your belly is growling, too bad! Eating is done on your time. Culinary school is not an open buffet!

Day Twenty: Taste or creativity is not your main concern in the food industry. Safety is! Therefore, you will learn more about time temperature control and food borne illnesses than any other subject while in “Introduction to Culinary Arts”.

Don’t fret my friends, administrations staff takes your best interest into consideration ~~sometimes~~! They understanding that you sleep five hours each night, get twelve paper cuts a day at your nine to five job, suffer though their harmful curriculum with a toxic smile while attempting to maintain a healthy lifestyle and manage a household, all in the hope that one day you will earn the title “chef/baker”. So, they kindly provide you with thirty pounds of books, knives, and supplies to lug around that way you can clear your schedule of any weight lifting appointments.

“What does not kill you will only make you stronger”?
Well, when I complete this program I better at least have superhuman arm muscle strength to make up for my carrot colored palms, blood orange stained nail beds, masculine completion and these tired eyes that I’m hiding behind.
[SOURCE]

I’m not going to lie. I’ve struggled. I’ve succeeded. I’ve cried. I’ve smiled. All in just six short weeks but, most important something has been awakened that I didn’t know was sleeping. That something is now what wakes me up when sun shine and caffeine aren’t enough. I’m not going to lie, I feel naked in a novel way…. And I’m thrilled about “it”.

What is something that you wanted to earn?

You know, things that are worth the effort?

Week 4: Enough

2010-11-03T16:44:00.001-04:00

There are plenty of things that I wish I could change…like my bank accounts balance or the FACT that my curls WILL fall flat or my dog’s obsession with peeing indoors!

I should scream from our roof top while mooning the world to express my disgust, right? Well, since Orlando is more on the discreet side I don’t think he would appreciate the hate mail that we would receive from disturbing the neighborhood with my exposed my pale behind.
[Source]
Regardless of the day’s trivia, I take pride in the progress that I’ve made towards letting go of my attachment to perfection. I can honestly say with that I have no desire to be “perfect”. Actually, this past week has shown how life can be even more fulfilling when I simply do my best at that given moment. I don’t have to be flawless to be outstanding or successful. I can’t always be the best but….

- Orlando believes he can survive on carbs and protein alone thus it was good enough to be his dinner.
- Bailey claims that playing tug-o-war in the front yard was good enough. He doesn’t need to go to the dog park to feel my love.
- Practicing knife skills two hours before the practical while watching Biggest Loser was good enough to be considered prepared for the exam.
- Producing only half the amount of nearly perfect batonnet, julienne, small dice and brunoise cut carrots as my competition was good enough to earn an “A”!

- Thursday was the day that simple farfelle (bowtie pasta) with a basic warm sweet and spicy tomato chutney happened to be good enough for three peers to ask for the recipe.

- Incorporating the intimidating purple potato into a mashed potato dish and a potato salad dish is not an easy task. Pheeew, good thing the flavor of my group’s dishes were good enough to mask our unpolished garnishing skills.

- Hesitantly preparing the bacon hominy “cake” topped with a fried egg was good enough to win first place in two categories.- Who would have thought that an incidental tortellini in crème sauce dish was good enough for my unseasoned teammates to declare that they indeed don’t despise tortellini and the asparagus that was hidden inside of the roux didn’t kill them!
- Dish washing may seem like a major drag but rubbing elbows with my classmates while get slashed by sanitizer and chatting about Daikon radishes is good enough to make me want to come back and do it all over again and again….

Now, the moment you have been waiting for!
This week’s envy exhibit is a double feature -

The blissful bakery window

And a seasonal treat from the advanced students!

I hope ya'll had an amazing Halloween! For us Halloween has turned into a movie night involving kiddy pajamas, wine, cookies and pacifying my inner juvenile when no one is looking.

Week 3: Spotted

2010-10-26T23:15:00.012-04:00

You see the way this photograph was taken? Blurry and unstable but trying to capture the moment...its an exact portrayal of how I'm functioning these days.

Come week end I'm left with empty pockets and a brain that is overfilled.

Then, I ponder where did all the time go?

Where in the world did the 168 hours before my midterms escape to? Lets investigate!

42 short hours devoted to sleep. [Source]

38 hours spent earning the money required to support my lavish lifestyle.
25 mandatory hours extracted in the class room where I learned about:

Spices

Herbs

Clarifying Butter

Step 1: Melt REAL butter. Do not boil, stir or disturb in anyway.

Step 2: Remove milk solids without mixing or bring the "moisture" from the bottom. Pure milk solids look appetizing, huh?

Here is the "moisture" (water substance) that rest on the bottom of the pan. Yuck!You are left with pure clarified butter.

Clarifying the butter increases the smoke point so it wont burn as quickly and it keeps much longer. Note, the taste will change slightly.

Blanching

First: Cut and X on the bottom of the plump tomato and place it in boiling water.

You will know it is done when the skin starts to peel off.

Then, shock it in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Next, remove EVERY SINLGE seed. Not even one seed left behind. Or else!

Then, chop into submission. The end.

I spy with my little eye! This beauty!
I was paralyzed by her presence. Maybe one day when I grow up I will own one of my very own...

Mrs.Vitamix pureed the tomatos with sugar and salt into a shot of vitamin c!

I perfected the Bouquet Garni and the Sachet.

Both of these are used to add flavor to stocks in a way that is easily removed and doesn't disturb the other ingredients. The Bouquet Garni is simply leek, celery, carrot, parsley stem and thyme. The Sachet is the one that looks like it is in a bag. Inside of the cheesecloth is parsley stem, bay leaf, cracked pepper, 2-cloves and garlic.

This weeks bakery photo is brought to you courtesy of the "new-to-me" bread window I discovered. Can you see my drool on the glass?

{End of this weeks lessons}

Another 6 hours absorbed from studying.
Followed by 3 hours of practicing knife skills.

Check it! If youre interested, I found this video on knife skills. It is one of the better ones I've seen. My first practical exam is this week on MY knife skills. Ekkkkk

2 wimpy hours spent working on my fitness. [Source]

4 meaningful hours invested spending time with the family.

Watched my little brother spar.

Met the newest member of our family. Welcome, sleepy baby cousin Kylyn!

And laughed at my mom's costume.

Obviously, Kylyn did not want to be included in this photo.

And 30 minutes stolen to drop the pup off at his grandma's for a sleep over.

6 glorious hours catching up with my BFF from elementary school who I have not seen in years!

3 painful hours updating our budget and paying expensive bills.

2 short hours invested in the bedroom with the love of my life

Resulting in.....

Things that I would have never dreamed of neglecting - like washing my hair, cleaning the dishes or meal planning just didn't make the cut this round.

I'm sure we can survive on beefy-mac, dry shampoo and paper plates this week.

Until next time my friends... That is if I survive the 2 HUGE midterms this week and the state SafeServe certification exam!

Week 2: Vampires

2010-10-19T22:52:00.011-04:00

You know what I learned this week in school? There will always be means girls, no matter their age. Oh and… if you sacrifice a few hours to study you might just get a 92.5% on your first test! Ekkkk. Not tryin to name drop or anythang but someone may have had one of the top test scores and she might have received an orange tootsie pop as a reward from her Chef. Just maybe…

Week two provided me the opportunity to absorb the knowledge that has been streaming through my veins. Everything here is exceptionally fast paced, takes some getting used to! Though I’ve already forgot what well rested feels like I am exactly where I should be.

Our class was finally able to get our hands dirty!

Some even got them a little bloody but my record is

Kristy (2) - Knives (0)! No finger cots for me this week…

Julienne, Brunoise, Batonnet, Tourne, oh my! Clearly – My skills have not completely developed.

And then there was the epic tastings.
The mission: Prepare onions four ways. Raw. Lightly cooked. Caramelized. Burnt.

Prior to the tasting I hated raw onions. After the tasting I still loath raw onions. I mean does it get more pungent and offensive than raw freaking onions?!? Onions were meant to be caressed delicately in butters and browned to their glory not chopped and shoved in my mouth. Ugh. Bleeeek!

The burnt onions are my work of art. See I got mad skills. My group did great! Look at Wanda’s caramelized beauties! Yes, please!
We all dried our tears and processed to flavor testing.

Did you know that this is how we taste? [Source]

In this challenge we tasted each flavor. Sour (lemon juice), Salty (salt water), Sweet (sugar water) and Bitter.

As we drank the liquids we were instructed to indentify where on our tongues we actually tasted them!

The diagram above proved true to my pallet. I did notice that I was less sensitive to the sugar water :le sigh: Chef claims we can train our pallets to be more of a supper taster. I’m intrigued…

Then, there was some more drinking. Of course not chilled wine or warm herbal tea but FISH SAUCE. Yeah, I’m talking fish in a bottle! Well, the first sample was basic fish stock. The second sample was the basic fish stock enhanced with Umami (fish sauce).

I have to say, fish sauce is defiantly a secret trick of the culinary trade! It seemed to brighten every flavor in the basic stock and enhanced the salt profile to perfection. Some people felt it was slightly over powering but the saltiness that was achieved is indeed the perfect balance! It was that type of edible harmony that makes you question if you are still mortal. According to Chef, this fish sauce can be used in all types of dishes not just fish or stock.

He won everyone back when he began feeding us Jelly Beans. I promise it was part of the lab, exploring textures and contrasts. We honestly don’t eat jelly beans and do shots of fish sauce in our free time.

Confession: You can find my nose glued to the bakery windows daily in-between breaks, before and after class, during session….. Every moment I get I chase the aroma that fills the hallway down to the bakery. I peer through the windows envious of the mess… That beautiful mess that evolves into fluffy love which rests in a plain metal bread pan waiting to be chewed into submission.

You see it was a very productive week. Stay tuned for Week 3!

Herbs. Spices. Salts. Resumes. Oh and more FOOD SAFETY….

By the way, what do you consider yourself?
A super taster? A medium (average) taster? Low level taster?
Did you know that smokes taste less than non-smokers?

Introduction to Culinary: Week 1

2010-10-11T23:05:00.002-04:00

It seems like a blur at this point! I can’t be sure if it’s from the sleep deprivation or the carb coma that I’ve been living in but I survived, even made a few memories.

Like my first attempt at playing dress up: Fail. Neckerchief should be rolled thin and tight not like the photo below.

Then, there was the second attempt where I mistakenly wore my toque the wrong way. Oooppsie.
Fact: The 101 folds in the chefs toque represent the 101 way an egg can be prepared.

I‘ve been consumed by absorbing the history and fundamentals of cooking. Deep stuff I tell ya!

Did you know the French Revolution mainstreamed polished cuisine? Before then only the wealthy experienced such educated cooking.

We are required to be familiar with all kitchen equipment, tools and various measurements / conversions. There was even a lab to demonstrate the different between measuring volume and measuring weight.

Weight is the most accurate measurement when cooking. Fact: 1 Cup of flour is 8 ounces by volume but closer to 4-5 ounces by weight.

By the way, ice crème scoopers are undercover measuring devises. They have numbers on them that represent the number of scoops that it takes to create a quart.

Safety has been and will be main focus of everything we do in this class.
The Pro: I’ve learned more about bacteria, fungi, virus and parasites in my first week of culinary school than I learned in an entire semester of biology and I will be “SafeServe” certified (critical for employment).
The Con: Hours upon hours of studying, videos and lectures focused on food handling safety can be draining!
Like:
- The danger zone for food is 41 degrees to 135 degrees
- Bacteria multiplies every 20 minutes in food
- Cooking kills most bacteria/viruses but is will not kill toxins

Did you know: Europeans often serve a salad before dessert as a pallet cleanser and “clarified butter” has the moisture removed?

Of course I clearly couldnt forget these decadent buttery rolls.

Obviously I didn’t cook them, the advanced students where generous enough to donate a few dozen to our class. Maybe they could hear my tummy rumbling?

Eating “dinner” at 5PM has taken some adjusting. My schedule has went from the traditional Monday – Friday 8AM – 5PM to… Working Full Time + School Full Time
Wake up call 5:30AM!
Work 7AM-3PM
Workout 3:30PM-4:30PM (unless I have homework)
Cook Dinner 4:30PM-5:30PM
School 6PM-10PM
Sleep 11PM – 5:30AM
Repeat….

My weekends are going to look like this very often.

In those 48 hours I have to squeeze in time with my love, the pup, the family, household chores, alone time and still make the meal plan then grocery shop in addition to completing assignments and conquer my half marathon long training runs. The man of the house has volunteered to handle Monday night’s dinner, which is a huge help! Have I mentioned how much I love him? He helps make my world turn.

Quick Question? Was I high when I decided to train for my first half marathon during my first term of going back to school? It seems that way….

This past weekend was my 5K prep race.

The picture is a bit misleading.
It does not indicate that I:
-woke up 30 minutes late
-had NO FRUIT in the house
-only had enough time to stuff a cereal bar down my throat for “breakfast”
-drove to the wrong location
-blamed my mom which resulted in a argument
-sped 80mph to make it to correct location
-arrived to starting line with 5 minutes to spare
How this could all have been prevented? Plan. Plan people. Plan!

The race taught me something about myself. I am more than capable if I choose to be.
Before

During

After

Then, there was some of this……

My first “pace buddy” experience went well! She was trailing me the entire race. Her heavy controlled breaths from behind are what pushed me to keep pace with her. I’ve been running easy slow 13 minute miles, Sunday’s 5K time was 33:10:50! I totally rocked the 11 minute mile and my body is punishing me today for sure!

The ‘ol knees and thighs are tight and sore but I surpassed my expectations and maintain a smile! Achievement unlocked.
Check out the ~~luxurious onsite bathrooms~~… I mean out houses….
Wish me luck as I begin week 2 : Knife skills and Mis an Place. Hopefully next week’s recap will be written with all ten fingers. Ekkkk we pick up our knife bags tonight. Beyond stoked!

I bow to you..

2010-10-03T22:19:00.003-04:00

The crux moment: I knew because the excitement had worn off - the atmosphere turned awkward and forced.

Then, a petite jolly man appeared in the room with all beige walls. His confidence was large enough to feed a small country.

I was forced to confront all that I doubted. My body was invisibly shivering while my neck shot sparks into my shoulders. “Is it safe to come out? Am I among peers or the court?” I still could not be sure but there was promise. Poker face maintained. Until Mr. Petite Jolly Man (also known as DEAN of the school) called ~~my bluff~~ our bluff – He won our hearts in sixty seconds flat! Forty two of us bowed to him!

First Lesson of the Night: The majority of people SMILE when they clap for others (noted)

Shortly after the Second Lesson of the Night: the secret to a happy life as a chef– make people HAPPY and applaud yourself

“Wait was I included when he called us chefs? Me, a chef?"

At that moment I realized my ultimate purpose of going to culinary school is to… yeah become a c-h-e-f. Me, a professional chef. This isn’t a dream. No one is going to wake me up.

This just in, confirmation: “For homework read chapter one of your safely sanitation workbook and read chapter one of “on cooking” with the corresponding workbook pages”

The affair is young and thrilling….tomorrow is the day I look you straight in the eyes and surrender my pride.

We all get stuck…

2010-09-28T06:14:00.011-04:00

From traffic to weight loss plateaus, we all have been there knees deep in muck! That is why movement and change is often viewed with glorifying goggles!

Each of us knows the struggle that comes with being “stuck”. We walk miles to move mere inches. Me…. I’m stuck in a way that is new to me. This stand still has been weighing me down more than a sixth graders backpack!

I’ve wanted to talk to someone but there really isn’t anything to talk about.
I’ve wanted to runaway but they aren’t ready for me yet.
I am captive against my will until the clock turns in my favor.
Sounds kind of serious, huh?

I haven’t talked about my current job on the blog. There are many reason for that. Personal reason. Professional reasons. and Privacy reasons.

With a surplus of complaints that surrounds all of us I try to do my part to limit the negativity that I spread but sometimes pieces begin to crumble and seams are exposed before your ready.

You see if I look at my life with honest eyes I can’t hid that…

I owe it to my soul to feel a sense of fulfillment even on week days.
I owe it to my heart to find joy in the actions I take and words I speak.
I owe it to my spirit to spend my time at a place where I am welcome.
I owe it to my mind to apply it between the hours of 8:00AM – 5:00PM Monday thru Friday!
I owe it to my body to use it for more than sitting at a desk 40+ hours a week.
I owe it to my faith to believe in where I am going.
I owe it to my future family to be confident in my choices.
I owe it to my legacy to follow my passion and seek out my purpose.

This is a lot to accept but if I arrive at a place one day where my heart can sing, my hands can create and my soul can grow than there really isn’t much more I can ask for.

Orientation is this Thursday and School starts next Monday.

The power is in the eye of the beholder and I am the beholder for once!

I hope yall had an amazing weekend. Thank you for “listening” even though there wasn’t anything to “talk” about. What do you owe to yourself?

No big deal…

2010-09-21T19:01:00.006-04:00

Yall made me blush from your comments… Thank you!

You ever have one of those day where you just want to be alone? No words. No pressure. Nothing! That is me today. Join me while I take a mental vacay? My weekends are what keep me alive!

Last weekend started early with someone special keeping me company at the office….

Our next stop was that bad place where they stick thermometers up his poor butt! Dun Dun Dunnn

Then my weekend – went some thing like this -

Pale legs are sexy!

My wine glass is keeping me great company – excuse me while I get ready to watch Biggest Loser season premier and relax my irritation away….

Wish it was Sunday…

2010-09-15T22:09:00.000-04:00

because that is my fun day!

Confession: every other thought that crosses my mind has to do with culinary school, if I don’t redirect this energy I could be headed for a mental danger zone or you know gain 20 pounds easily! Yes, my future is knocking at the door and it is more my style but I can’t completely over look the scene of the present can I?

Sunday - I literally jumped outta bed, leaped into my running shoes and dashed out the door. I arrived quickly at my destination to do some luxurious trail running.

My friends, I feel guilty calling this a workout. I mean I sweat like I’m on a spin bike and the ‘ol Garmin says that I’m burning major calories but I might be loving trail running more than wine these days! Did I just say that? Are my southern roots showing?

If you saw this precious deer on the treadmill in front of you wouldn’t you forget how hard you were working? Sorry you have to look so hard, she’s camouflaged.

Yes, it is true I was feet away from a real life deer on my run!

I saw her hoof prints for over a mile and was worried they were hog/boar marking….

I saw the world largest owl too but it was gone in the blink of an eye! Moments later an alligator crossing sign appeared– not cool but deer and owls kinda epic!

I ventured out on a different path this time and it was the best decision ever! There is a long wooden board walk the stretches at least a ¼ mile! On the boardwalk you can see the baby fishes through the clear water.
Obviously – swimming is encouraged?

Since I am a newbie to trail running I ended up with some attractive battle wounds! Many, many painful blisters from walk/running over 6 miles in wet shoes and socks to be exact but I could not have started my half marathon training in a better more peaceful environment!

I totally ended up with farmers tan (I.E: sock tan lines around my ankles) and mud globs for souvenirs – To be honest it made me feel like a bad ass. No big deal…

Well, I was increasing my happiness meter until I read Caitlin's recent post about her finances. Y’all know I’m working on taming the grocery budget, right? I’ve only mentioned it a ~~million~~ few times...

Her post and the endless comments made my brain go into over drive. This topic and the epiphany of why I suck so bad at budgeting is mostly due to my lack of envisioning an end reward, deserves it’s own post. How in the world can I save money just because I’m supposed to, I need a freaking goal! Duh!

One of my newest accomplishments: Cooking the proper portion of pasta and saving the rest. SCORE!

I’ve discovered a few more tools for savings success that I will be sharing soon enough. Well – I haven’t been successful with using them yet but they seem effective.

If you are looking for some mental stimulation – check out this post from Morgan about blogging frequency. Even though I’m still a new to blogging and I don’t take it as SERIOUS as others, I thought her point of view was very intriguing.

The Situation

2010-09-12T14:53:00.007-04:00

Back at the beginning of August I made a list. The list was 121 things that I wanted to do in the next 1001 days. The reason? A) I’m list driven B) I’m tired of talking myself out of my own happiness C) I never complete anything. Well, here is the first edition of updates.

Memories in Progress:

#8: I registered for a 1/2 Marathon! Training began today – More details coming soon. I will be posting my training plan in the “shaping” section this week.

December 5, 2010

#35: Read “Operation Beautiful”, just started reading “Eat, Love, Pray” and have 10 books left.

#41: I am in the process of recording my grocery spending so I can learn how to wrangle my food budget.

here and here is the proof

#88: I reserved a booth at my brothers Fall Festival to host my first bake sale!

#101: Remember Mr. Culantro’s Hair Cut? My herb garden is still kickin!

Culantro is growing back healthy, basil is surviving and lavender is down to 50% but they are all breathing!

Adventures Completed!

#9: 09/06/10 - I rode my bike to the gym (12.5 Miles!) even though I was sun burnt, dehydrated, dizzy and exhausted I accomplished my mission and learned alot about extra long workouts!

#38: 09/04/10 – I played in a public fountain, even though every one was staring and pointing! No Big Deal…

My mom and brother joined the fun.

That’s how we roll.

#42: 09/11/10 – For the first time EVER! I colored my hair dark brown and I love it! It feels so much more fall.

Don’t mind my before picture featuring the “I half braided my hair WET the night before my 3 month over due hair appointment” look…

It was my mom’s birthday and somehow I ended up with cut, color, mani, pedi and wax!

I wanna talk about me..me..me

2010-09-06T20:26:00.004-04:00

First, let me apologize for the typos in the last post. Wine is not recommended before proof reading!

It has been far too long since I have done so many things that I WANTED TO DO! My oldest brother was over for the long weekend so him and the man of the house have been in the World or War Craft trance since Friday. While they stayed glued to their computers I focused on answering: “Kristy, what do you want to do?”

Friday - I forced myself out of thy shell just a bit. After work I was craving some yoga, so…

1 – Google Search, 28- Minutes, 12.1- Miles and 1,433,571 nerves later I arrived at:

“Happy Hour Yoga” – Very miss leading by the way! There were no cocktails or air conditioning involved!

It was an intimate, ADVANCED, challenging class but I left feeling beyond rejuvenated. Pretty sure the teacher was a real life Guru! When I left, I felt like I drank a few glasses of wine then hit a blunt. Like wooahhh… But I arrived safely to my destination and indulged in a few of my favorite finds at our local mall.

Brought the boys home one of their favorite treats.

Those my friends are evil caramel apple empanadas from Taco Bell, they cling to me but I didn’t cave!

After sleeping 12 hours, bleeeek! I woke up bright and early and went on an adventure. Last month I discovered a nature preserve just 1-mile from our house! True Story! I promise!

The pictures speak for their selves.

5 miles later I realized I can no longer deny my passion for trail running -

Thanks to my amazing ~~step~~ dad: while he healed my sick truck, I got to spend the day with my mommy and little brother and just a little operation beautiful action…..

Gourmet Ice Cream and Dog Treats!

Do you see that shadow painted on the left of the wall?

A sneak peck at when I’ve been working on today. Hint: I rented booth at my brothers fall carnival.

And I had to finish my bosses birthday gift.

Best. Card. Ever!

I did manage to cross a few things off my 1001 Days project too, pictures coming to prove it coming soon!

No better way to end such a lovely long weekend…Right?

Did y’all do anything that you wanted to do?

Heavy Minded

2010-08-31T20:50:00.000-04:00

It is bizarre. At times we hold ourselves to unrealistic expectations but justify the same actions for others. Why are we so hard on ourselves? One thing I attribute to my spiritual growth over the past few months was accepting that I can’t do it all. I honestly just can’t and you can’t either. We can maintain a certain level of superhuman strength for a period but not without a steep price. Sadly, we again are the ones who suffer from the lack of sleep, stress acne and appetite for life! This week I’ve given extreme effort to being more selective with my time, my stressors and my direction. Random I know but I had to get that though out of my mind.

We should be focused on filling our core with healthy, loving, peaceful thoughts and actions. Each day I get a little closer to my goals but at the cost of sacrificing instant gratification. Okay, that went a little deeper than I expected but I do have something uplifting to share. I promise!

Since there are now over 1,000 healthy living bloggers registered with the Healthy Living Blogs Database – I’m sure most of you already know what all the buzz is about but if you haven’t seen or heard of this lovely site check it out and register! Bloggers from all over are uniting on one local site to share their thoughts.

Here is a preview of my guest post that will be published tomorrow. _________________________________________
Twenty four months ago if you said “health” I heard “diet”…. and immediately saw visions of power bars, treadmills, liquid meals and leafy bitter greens. Yoga was something “tree huggers” did at music festivals and I couldn't pronounce zumba?**

Healthy Living = Flavorless Cruel Torture

Tipping the scale at 218 pounds I thought I had no choice but to bow down and accept the lashings from “dieting”. I survived months of vigorous discipline and lost a whopping 65+ pounds. I kept my gym appointments like it was my job, measured every cheerio that went into my mouth and started my day with both feet on my home scale. #scaleobsessedMAJOR. I truly believed I was living healthy because I was active and losing weight and everyone was telling me how great I was “starting to look”.

What few saw was “dieting” defined me, dieting consumed me. Through blogging and reflection I’ve realize that I was invested in finding eternal happiness from points counting and how many activity points I earned. It was something that I was finally was good at! There is a long dark story associated with where I’ve come from- diet pills, night time binges, try to skip a meal to make up for an over indulgence! My quest for a healthier life has been sculpted from all of those experiences. Each of us have our own past, some dirtier than others. It truly does not matter where we come from what posses the most value is where we are going. I… I am seeking the ripest most fruitful life of balance. Balance between my character, core, belly and body. Hey – They say shoot for the moon and I have an entire life time to get there.

To savor life’s graces is one of the greatest gifts that I rarely have time to open. After a long talk with myself then the boyfriend I chopped up my timeline to perfection. I vowed to experience life not to just function through the day. My goal is to simply be better today than I was yesterday. Some days I don't completely succeed but I’ve learned constancy seems to be key. Leading a healthy wholesome lifestyle should not be reflected by numbers, labels, classifications or prejudices but simply by how you feel about yourself, your life, your body, and your habits. The definition is within each of our individual souls.

**Since I have converted to a zumba loving tree hugging yoga freak! No harm intended.

_________________________________________
I went to finalize my financial aid paper work for culinary school and the graduating class’s final projects were in display. I was able to sneak a few iphone pictures.

I leave you with this.

Who do you rely on for your happiness? Do you base your satisfaction on how many page views you receive? Or how many people noticed your hair cut? Do you wait for your partner to open a bottle of wine or do you pour glass for yourself?
I am learning that when I close my eye each night the happiness and comfort that I felt throughout the day depends on me and me alone. The amazing people in my life and my countless blessing are he icing on the cupcake!

Challenge: Practice feeling good no matter what! Can you work towards lowering certain expectations? Are you capable of teaching yourself to find satisfaction no matter where you are, what you are doing or where you are going?

Spanglish Empanadas

2010-08-26T17:23:00.001-04:00

We all have eaten something somewhere at some point that leaves us days later waiting, wishing, hoping for a magical second or third serving to appear. Most of the time these foods are not the usual “Tuesday Night Tuna Casserole”. These foods are heavenly. They dance around in our head with halos over them calling for us in our dreams. No surprise they are usually a challenge to replicate.
Well, what if your partner had a list of magical life changing treats that they missed from their childhood. Things you have NEVER eaten or cooked? One could….
A) Find a local place that sells them and be completely disappointed with their version.
B) Stalk his mother to get her to translate her recipe from Spanish to English.
C) Google your heart out. Compare 12 different recipes to figure out which ingredients are constant and which are “optional”. Take your research to the love of your life to get his input. Then, finally step foot on the dusty road of trial and error until you end up with a product that looks similar to Google images.
D) Pretend like it is no big deal if they never experience that joyful food again.

Since I’m such a loving caring considerate girl friend who might just happen to have a deep infatuation with Latin/Spanish cuisine a select few of his favorites have been re-developed through approach “C”.

What is worth all of this devotion you ask?

One example, beef empanadas of course!
Disclosure: The following is based on my personal pallet and seasoning preferences. I am not claiming that these are authentic empanadas. They have been created based on my own opinion and the man’s feedback.

Last weekend I visited a local farmers market where you buy larger quantizes of produce for very very cheap! The trip did save my wallet from unnecessary pain but it left me with my hands full of green peppers and cilantro.

Which is why I am introducing you to the magical world of sofrito. Consider your life changed from this point forward.

Sofrito is a pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro season blend which is a base for many Puerto Rican traditional dishes, especially beef empanadas!
It is simple to make but takes some time to prep. Also, the exact ratios are difficult to measure. This is the definition of an “eyeball measuring” recipe. You can buy this stuff premade at the grocery but the flavor does not compare to the fresh stuff. Think jarred El Passo salsa verses real salsa – OR – Keg beer verses bottled beer.

This is the site I reference to make my sofrito (man approved). They use supersized qualities and various methods but here is my version. It includes the sacrifice of one of these…. Guess which one?

!CULANTRO!

Before After
Spanglish Sofrito Ratios:
2 – Medium Onions (chopped)
1.5 – Medium Green Peppers (chopped)
3 – Small Sweet Red Peppers (chopped)
8- Green Olives (whole) **Optional** I loath’em but he loves’em and you can barely taste’em.
1/3 Cup – Whole Garlic Cloves (I’m a cheater and use the pre-peeled cloves, shame on me!)
FULL hand of Fresh Cilantro (steams and all)
10-15 Fresh Culantro Blades
1TBSP – Oil

Put everything in the food processor and mix until completely pureed. The end.

It will keep in the frig for 2 weeks in a sealed jar. I usually take the leftovers and divided them into ice cube trays and freeze for future use.

Okay now that the hard part is done :wipes sweat:
Let’s move on to the main event, adapted from the one and only Goya Foods.

Spanglish Beef Empanadas
Ingredients:
1LB Lean Ground Beef
1 Medium Onion (Chopped)
6OZ Tomato Sauce
10 Green Olives (Sliced)
3 Packets Sazon with Achiote
6-8 Cloves of Minced Garlic
1 TBSP Dried Oregano
1TBSP Olive Oil
1 Package White Goya “Discos” (In the freezer Section) – Maybe in Culinary School I will master making homemade dough?
Oil for Frying

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a skillet (medium heat)

2. Sauté Onions and Garlic. Cook until soft. Do not burn the garlic!

3. Add ground beef. Cook until browned.

4. Stir in olives, sazon, oregano and sofrito.
5. Once that is mixed well add tomato sauce. Bring to low boil.
6. Lower heat to "medium low" and simmer until mixture has thickened. (About 10-15mins)
7. At this point be sure to begin to heat your frying oil to HIGH heat.

I usually use the infamous “Deep Fryer” but this time I didn’t! I went old school with a deep skillet on the stove top with fresh canola oil in it. Best decision ever! They came out much more crisp and the dough didn’t absorb as much oil.

8. Place one “disco” on a plate.

Put a heaping scoop of the thickened beef mixture in the center of the disc.

Now it is time to seal these beauties!

9. Dip your finger in water and trace the edge of the disc with your moist finger.
10. Fold dough over. Make sure beef filling is completely centered. You do not want any of the filling to touch the area that you moistened.

11. Use a fork to press the dough to the opposite side to seal.

12. Fry until crispy (honestly - just a minute or two)

Enjoy!

Job < Career

2010-08-20T18:01:00.010-04:00

Howdy, while the sun takes it’s time to set I needed to occupy my brain before it starts telling me how baking brownies & pretzel rolls is better than running.

Proceed with caution:

amazing, life changing, EPIC news ahead!

Yes, this news does require the use of all of those adjectives! Me and this site are going places- sweet, glazed, naughty places…

Remember Project 121 in 1001, my 2.5 year knock off bucket list? One of my aspirations is to “enroll in an higher education program”. Here is the dealio. Fresh out of high school I attended a large university, where I studied business and finance. Why was I studying such a dry, boring, repetitive subject you ask? Because…. That’s all.

I thought I was safe with a business degree.
I thought I was going to get incredibly rich from dealing with other people money.
I thought a 9AM-5PM office job was convenient.

Boy was I wrong!

I hated the courses that I was taking. Ummm, Failed Accounting I twice right here! I skipped class so often to avoid the torture. Two years later, once my courage and bank account were completely drained I finally decided to transfer to the local community college and finish the last two classes that I needed to obtain my Associates degree. In May of 2009 I graduated with my Associate of Arts degree. For the last year I’ve been looking for my purpose. You know? Trying to find something that inspires me and brings me joy…. hoping that it could provide an income.

I think I’ve found IT!

I have been accepted into the International Baking and Pastry Program at Lincoln Culinary Institution.

15 signatures, 4 meetings,

3 hours of financial aid applications and 1 interview later

Class Starts October 4th!

WoW – I got butterflies just typing that.

Life is going to change major. This is a dream come true! When I graduate from the program in 18 months I will be seeking my first career. No more jobs! A FREAK CAREER doing something that I’m passionate about!

Since I will need to practice my hope is to document the entire experience on this blog. Finally, these pages will take more from the shape that I intended. I want to share my ambitions and creativity. I need to use my real voice!

And I mean who wouldn’t want to read posts about impressive cooking techniques?

Here is a preview of what is to come in the future.

Introduction to Culinary Art – All the basics!
Baking and Pastry Techniques
Artisan Breads and Viennoiserie
American and European Pastry and Baked Goods
Contemporary and Classical Cakes
Techniques and Artistry in Sugar
Techniques and Artistry in Chocolate
Food Beverage Management
Foodservice Operations
Then, I will have three levels of externships at local establishments.

Word on the street is your performance throughout the program determines the quality and location of your externship. Ekkkkk!

Big changes headed our way. I’m also working on moving the site over to wordpress. I hate that I can’t reply to comments. Stay tuned!

You Stretched Your What?!?

2010-08-15T18:12:00.005-04:00

Woooowsaaaa… Waking up to not just one or two but MANY comments brought me so much joy! Thank you again to everyone who took their time to share such kind feedback! Now here we go with….

WEEK 1 Recap of PROJECT SAVE MONEY :

AKA- monitoring your grocery purchases so you can spend your allowance on something other than peanut butter and marshmallow fluff

Mission Accomplished

Last week’s grocery shop was a major challenge! I wanted to make sure all of us survived the weeks eats before I shared my evil methods. It is no secret that my grocery shopping habits have gotten just a little unruly over the past few months.

Our combined incomes and my strategizing allows for a very generous monthly grocery budget. (About $600 – Don’t forget we live in Florida where EVERYTHING is more expensive!) I make great effort to buy variety, quality, nutritional, wholesome foods for our meals. This often works against me because I OVER SPEND AND WASTE, even thought we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner from home at least 5-6 days a week!

As a young couple we are clearly a “pay check to pay check” household. There might be a tiny bit of paper security in our coffee can-piggy bank and I have plastic cards that will buy me things but we live on a budget, like most do. In the past If I spent too much at the grocery store I would pull money from another fund. Last week I chose not to utilize that option. The result?

A $55 grocery budget for three people and an empty freezer. Okay – the word challenge was an understatement.

I lived to tell the tale….

1. Make a meal plan

2. Take inventory of what you already have

3. Make a list of “absolute must” and “maybe” items

4. Added up guesstimated $prices$ for everything

5. Make a new list of the specific things you will buy that keep you within budget. Next to each item write their guessed $ so you can compare at the store. This will help you decide if you need to sacrifice a “maybe” item.

Tips for stretching your dollars:

- Absolutely NO sporadic purchases one shop out of the month

- Buy juice from concentrate or fresh squeeze your own, mix with water and sugar for a beverage *Man Approved**

- Take it old school with Kool-Aid *Man Approved**

- Have breakfast for dinner one night

- Buy whole chicken breasts then remove skin and bone yourself. Will save you tons!

- Use less ground meat in your normal recipes and add beans to make them more filling and hearty.

- Get creative with what is in your pantry. Try using All Recipes : Ingredient Meal Search Tool to get ideas.

- Cut back using foil, plastic wrap, and baggies. Use your reusable Tupperware! The planet and your pocket will thank you.

- Only take the trash out when it is completely full! Trash bags are $$$$.

- Skip on paper products (towels, plates, napkins). Don’t be so lazy, go reusable!

- Take it easy on dish soap and washer liquid. Use the proper amounts and only run the dish/washer when its full!

If you seek further “savers” knowledge, check out Trading Up DownTown. Amazing “new to me” find.

I’ve got the baking bug, so we might just end up with cookies for dinner.

For your entertainment…

Last Weeks Meal Plan:

Sunday – Waffles and Egg, Bacon Biscuit Sandwiches

Monday – Tater Tot Bake, men everywhere bow down...

Tuesday – Kielbasa Jambalaya **Kielbasa is a super budget friendly protein/meat

Wednesday – Grilled Chicken Parmesan with Pasta

Thursday – Chicken Enchiladas

Friday – Mojo Pork Chops and Spanish Rice

Saturday – Take Out

Double Dose, Meal Plan for this week:

Sunday – Homemade Pick your own Pizza with salad

Monday – Chicken, Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado Sandwiches

Tuesday- Stuffed Peppers with Mashed Potatoes

Wednesday – Chinese Chicken “Fried” Rice with Edaname

Thursday – Beef Stroganoff with Broccoli

Friday – Grilled Sirloin with double stuffed potatoes

Saturday – Take Out

Sipp’in Gin and Juice

2010-08-10T19:31:00.002-04:00

Ugh, that song will not leave my head! But delish Jambalaya is on the stove, so all better. Yum!

Lets be honest, we cant be happy, smiley, cheerful and peppy ALL the time unless one of the following applies:

1. You live & work at the North Pole where your daily routine includes fireplaces, homemade hot chocolate, fresh baked cookies, sweets, treats and toy making. (Source)

2. You are one of the seven dwarf who’s name rhymes with sappy.

I usually make a conscious effort not to blog when I’m down and grumpy. No one enjoys constantly reading about how depressed,gloomy and negative someone is. But the truth is we are simply not “ourselves” at times. Right now. This moment. I’m experiencing this – it is a negative feeling that I can’t identify. Is it the sadness that I feel from having so few “friends” or is it that I’m not going to the HLS this weekend to make new ones? Am I discouraged because I’m not getting ~~any~~ many comments on this blog? Am I disappointed because I struggle so much with forming habits that last? Or am I irritated that the man of the house and my brother have devoted the majority their extended waking hours to nothing except play STARCRAFT for far too long. FML… I just heard one of them say “when do you wanna get those 15 more guys?” :SIGH:

Who knows? Maybe it is all those crappy thing combined that has me prematurely PMSing but now that I've identified that these are feeling that I do not enjoy or want to indulge in I have to choose the way I proceed. Bubble Bath and Wine immediately to follow this post. Note to self: Great choice!

“If you keep doing what your doing. You’ll keep getting what your getting.”

Stole the concept this week and applied it to my approach to reintroducing activity back into my life. Since the injury I’ve been taking it ridiculously easy on the movement front. Over the past two weeks I’ve kept saying to myself “I'm going to workout 5-6 days… at least 1 hour… no sweets… no diet soda…”. I was setting myself up to fail. This week I took the unraveled path – being kind to ME.

My mind seems to have forgotten that my body needs time to acclimate back into strange territory, even if it has only been a few weeks.

I challenged myself to more obtainable goals.

Workout 4 days at least 30mins
Eat consciously
Journal what I eat

That is all. It is going well thus far. I am have been indulging a lot with my free time. I’ve made time to read and take the pup on long slow walks and tonight I have my hot bubble bath scheduled. Even made time for yoga class last night which was delightful!

I've been reminded how critical my mental well being is. Treating your soul kindly feels so fulfilling! Don't you agree?

What are some little simple pleasure you indulge in to find your balance?

Peace on Earth

2010-08-06T19:54:00.006-04:00

Okay! Enough! I must pry my eyes off of The Operation Beautiful Book and tell you a story because I am officially – ~~crying~~ touched… I did not think it was possible but I might love Caitlin’s book more than I love her blog!

Operation Beautiful is a movement that is close to my heart. I have only read through page 17 but that page featured a post-it that described the life I am running away from.

The note read:

“Don’t be a copy of someone else – be an original of yourself”.

Do you remember the show Nip/Tuck? Ever watch an episode?

It is was a good’ol trashy FX series where the main characters are male plastic surgeons who lead wealthy abstract lives. Anyways – The point is their introduction theme song lyrics were:

Make me beautiful.

A perfect soul.

A perfect mind.

A perfect face.

A perfect lie.

Every episode the first question the doctors would ask their patience in the consultation is “So, tell me what is it that you don’t like about yourself”.

The doctors job was to make these people – b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. (believe me it WASN’T just women either!) Many of them saw it as finally being perfect. The show was clearly for a “mature audience” and far fetched but it did influence my perception of reality as did magazines and gossip sites.

I admired this illusion of obtainable perfection. I felt my hair wasn’t blonde enough, my breast hadn’t developed enough, I wasn’t popular enough or thin enough. I simply just didn’t feel like I was ever enough… The fact was I wanted to change EVERYTHING about my self, even my stubby baby toe and the tiny freckle between by eye brows.

I wanted people to see me and see someone that was attractive.

I wanted others to be envious.

I wanted to be beautiful.

I wanted to be flaw less.

Most of all I wanted to change the way I felt about myself.

The odd thing is I was never really made fun of and I had great friends. I just didn’t get the attention that the other girls did or at least the attention I ~~wanted~~ needed. My mother was always very sensitive to my emotions but she truly just did not understand what I was experiencing. The trademark reply was – “stop it, you know your beautiful, smart…”. On top of that she raised us to be extremely giving. She reminded us to treat elders with respect, yet never focused on respecting our bodies. She reminded us to be kind and caring to others, but never emphasized the importance of taking care of ourselves. We were raised to put others needs before our own just as my mother always does. These are all things that I've had to seek out as an individual. Please, do not be mistaken. I don’t not blame my body image issue on my mom! The one thing she did always encourage us to do was to be comfortable in any situation. Which we all know is easier said than done! During that hormone surge I needed guidance, direction and a positive respectable role model. Unfortunately – I filled that gap with tanning beds, alcohol, poor nutrition and eventually boys. Thankfully Orlando came into my life at the perfect time.

I believe that finding our inner strength takes discipline. We have to regularly remind our selves often what our beliefs, goals and passions are in order to form the habit of expecting to achieve the lifestyle we deserve. We have reminders for EVERYTHING else, why not our own well being?

Operation Beautiful is just that, a little reminder. This amazing simple gesture genuinely adds happiness to peoples day, sometimes even the author catches the smile bug too.

Funny thing is last two notes I’ve posted I noticed were more unique than the ones I’ve left in the past. It seems that I may have written these few to myself in secret? It felt even more special leaving them because the message was actually personal.

As Operation Beautiful would say I’m starting to changed the way I see. The transformation doesn’t happen in a day or a week, it takes falling down and getting back up again.

Even thought I haven't reached my goals yet, I’m finally able to value exactly where I am at this very moment. I’m extremely grateful that I’ve learned how to accept I have something inside of me that is unique and worthy, now I have to set it free and embrace it. That something does have a purpose in this world, just like yours does! I didn’t need to change my appearance to find a place where I was welcomed, who would have thought? I simply had to discover elements of myself that brought me joy like what defines me and my interests. Also, battling mental and physicals challenges has helped tremendously with building my confidence. It feels liberating to allow my heart to speak rather than chase someone’s shadow. Its like going a month without a diet soda and then opening the frig to a crisp cold unopened can of Diet Dr.Pepper!

I hope you enjoyed my story. It makes me extremely giddy when I find things like Operation Beautiful and Size Healthy. I know I am no longer “obese” but I grew up the fat kid who became the chubby teenager who blossomed into an obese young adult.

Op Beautiful is -

Women ending Fat Talk -

Sort of like Gays fighting for Equality – or -

Marijuana smokers rising up against the FDA.

Peace.On.Earth.Thats.All.

Do you count the days?

2010-08-02T20:33:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh, just got home from yoga. Feeling loose!
As soon as I walked in the door I grabbed the pup and went on a 40 minute walk. Glad to report there was minimal pain with the increased activity.

Lets be honest – Mondays are NOT most people’s favorite day of the week, me included! Another reason to do YOGA on Monday! When I heard the alarm today the first thought that went running through my mind…. “Do I have any sick time left?” Sadly, the boss is on vacay so skipping work was not an option. That is unless I wanted to skip my way to the unemployed line.

Since I need my income to support my addictions, lets talks about my weekend! That’s where all of the good stuff happens.

I watched seasons one… two… and three of Weeds over the weekend! :embarrassed: It unfortunately sucked me into an “I can’t move – paralyzed – trance” or AKA Lazy Couch Bed Potato Syndrome. Last night, I had great intentions of getting a little activity in with the Kardashian workout video that I rented from Netflix, but that obviously didn’t happened. I was sleeping by 9PM. – Watching that much TV is tiring! Who knew?
BTW: Who is this inactive, home bound, 10hour+ sleeping lady who stole my body? I went from working out 6-8 hours a week to walking to the frig. WTF? Note to self - My leg is injured but I can still move my other limbs. My goal is to start posting my activity on the “shape” page to be more accountable and maybe you can get some ideas to steal? I also plan to use this here bloggie soon to be more accountable with my eats, we shall see. I’m a think-er there days not a do-er but I’ve been going a lot of thinking!

Weekend Round Up:

We had an early dinner planned of Avocado Burgers and Fries. The boys taunted me with their seasoned fries while I enjoyed some yummy sweet potato baked ~~fries chips~~ slices? Nom, Nom, Nom.
(Bad Blogger = No Real Picture) But here is a knockoff-visual so you can fill your dreams.

Sunday was the usual After Weight Watcher Meeting Breakfast:

10 AMish Bar & Fruit

Post grocery shopping was light since I was planning for our early dinner together.

Delicious Yogurt

In this is picture I used a few new setting on my digital camera. More Crisp Right?

Then, Blue Corn Chips + HOT Salsa + Smokey Almonds

Saturday – I spent the entire day cleaning!

Simple Fuel.

Trying in finish off this bag of bloody toasted oats cereal. They seem to be ever lasting!

Okay now on to the serious business! Remember: I switched to the Sunday Weight Watchers meeting last week prior to staycation? Well, I had a very relaxed staycation week and the scale reflected just how relaxed my decisions have been. I owned what the scale read, but what shocked me was the leader’s response. (last week I shared with her some struggles I'm having with the plan, my limited activity because of the injury and how I miss my old leader dearly)

She was very concerned and shocked to say the least. Twice during the meeting she said something and looked/nodded in my direction. I started to get offended. Then, out of no where my brain simply told my mind “make better choices to feel more proud next week”. My brain taking control like that felt so empowering! I personally accredit it to how much I’ve been talking to myself lately. I’m not crazy I promise!

Anyways – I feel like my bluff has been called. Clearly she cares and wants me to succeed. Now, the ball is in my field. How will I progress? Stay tuned!

Do you find that your weekends are where all the fun happens?

Mine do! And I’m not okay with that. Something else to improve upon -

“Don’t count the days, Make the days count!”

#42: eating my spending money

2010-08-01T15:00:00.002-04:00

Okay – let me back up a little and explain my previous post a bit more. I am the type of person who often has issues with prioritizing but at the same time is an Olympic gold metal winner in the “writing lists” division. I constantly try to write all my thoughts down so i don't forget them. The issue is I get so consumed by just trying to make it through each days preset tasks that the good stuff on my lists rarely comes to life.

Example – I usually do all the house cleaning and errands before I do fun, enjoyable things.

But Guess what? I’m an adult now and I am allowed to choose how I spend my time. That is why I wrote a list to live! I'm ready to blossom with a life filled of bliss.

The first task I’ve decided take on you ask? (42) Staying within my grocery budget for three ENTIRE months. Three months, that is 90 days!

The reason I need to subject myself to such pain? Because my grocery spending has gotten outta control. I’ve been spending ALL my extra money on peanut butter, wine and cheese the past few months and I’m suffering from non-perishable shopping withdraws. Fall is right around the corner and my wardrobe needs some major attention… and the small little fact the we waste and we waste big! No bueno!

My pre-planning strategy:

Make a weekly dinner menu
Base dishes on which proteins are on sale
Make a shopping list
Only purchase items that are on the list
Allow for (3) spontaneous purchases each shop
Bust out the old coupon organizer
Break down purchases into categories to form a more realistic budget

_________________________________________

Dinner Menu Outline – Days might switch around but you get the idea…

Sunday	Avocado Burgers W/ Baked Swt Potato Fried
Monday	Savory Pork Tenderloin W/ Spanish Rice & Plantains
Tuesday	Lasagna Rolls W/ Salad
Wednesday	Roast Chicken W/ Scalloped Potatoes and Green Beans
Thursday	Taco Baked Layer Pizza W/ Corn
Friday	Slow cooker Beef Stew

This Weeks:

(Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner – For Three Adults)

*= special item for the boys

= on sale or buy one get one

Pork Tenderloin		Lasagna Noodles
(1) Peach		(2) Bananas
Beef Roast		Bertoli Sauce
1LB Lean Gnd Beef		Tomato Paste
(2) Pkg Chicken		Rice
Roll of Paper Towels		*Nestle Quick
(sm) Zip Locks		*Dirty Chips
(1) Apple		Corn on the Cob
Paper Plates		(2) Pkg Cheese
Eggs		Lettuce
*Buttermilk		Refried Beans
Yogurt (Plain & Greek)		Salsa
Bread / Rolls		Garlic
*Lunch Meat		Grapes
*Juice/Tea/Lemonade		Laughing Cow Cheese
Taco Kits		Bacon or Kielbasa
Canned Tuna		Plantains
(2) Avocados		Cilantro
Zucchini		(sm) Green Bean Pkg

Shopping Mission Complete: Here are my stats

Total Spent: $191.57 - $125 (Necessities/Perimeter)

=$66.57

Spent “middle/frozen section of grocery”

______________________________________________

Meats $30

Produce $20

Dairy $15

Bakery $5

Beverages $40

House Supplies $10 + $5 (Vitamins)

Base Price $125

For the next month I’ve got to continue to monitoring our food purchases and see where we can improve. Stay tuned!

I accidently bought 4 spontaneous purchases instead of 3. Oops, but it is a huge improvement from before.

99 Problems but Dream in’ Ain’t One

2010-07-31T11:04:00.002-04:00

121 things in 1001 days

The Mission : Complete 121 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. Why? Because. I NEVER finish anything, except my plate. I want to live life not just function…

The Criteria : Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days? They say the key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days ( 2.75 yearsish) is a more reasonable period of time than a year. It allows for several seasons to complete the tasks, which helps with organizing and timing. Promoting success?

START DATE: Sunday - August 1, 2010

END DATE: Sunday – April 28th, 2013

NUMBER IS ITEMS COMPLETED: 0/121

KEY: Italic = In Progress / Bold= Completed

Health and Fitness

1Survive thirty days without diet soda

2Cook dinner at home for thirty days without repeats

3Fit into my size 4/6 clothes

4Obtain a fitness instructor certification

5Go to bed by 10:00PM for a week

6Become a lifetime Weight Watcher member

7Complete the Julian Michaels 30 Shred Circuit Workout Video

8Run a ½ Marathon

9Ride my bike to the gym

10Run a Marathon

11Be able to do the crane pose

12Take tennis or golf lessons

13Hold plank position for more than 1 1/2 minutes

14Become a triathlet

15Take a Bikram yoga class

16Ride my bike to my mom’s house

Family

17Camp in the yard with my brothers

18Go “garage sailing” with my mom

19Spend the day with my mom for no reason

20Take my Aunt Deb on a date

21Go to the drive-in theater with my brothers

22Beat a video game

Relationship

23Have sex in a public place

24Dress up like “Star Wars” characters

25Get a bikini wax

26Wake up in the middle of the night and have sex

27Go out to dinner and only order drinks & dessert

28Have sex for (7) consecutive days

29Kiss in the rain

30Get an outdoor couples massage

31Watch porn alone

Personal

32Learn the basics of better photography

33Rent a limo

34Get a tattoo

35Read 12 books: no cheating

36Win some money

37Burn something that pisses me off

38Play in a public fountain

39Save $1,000 of my OWN $money$

40Take an ice bath

41Stay within my grocery budget for three months

42Color my hair DARK brown or BLACK

43Eat at an upscale restaurant (dressing-up required)

44Photo copy my butt

45Start a higher education program

46Get a passport

47Love myself naked

48Learn how to make authentic Pastels

49Perfect a Flan de Queso recipe

50Swim with Dolphins

51Delete my facebook & myspace account

52Learn to play an entire song on the keyboard

Travel

53Go on a cruise

54Attend a blogger convention

55Visit Amsterdam

56Attend !Fantasy Fest!

57Eat dinner in Miami at an authentic latin dive

58Go on a road trip with no itinerary

Experiences

59Go horseback riding on the beach

60Spend $100 at a strip club

61Watch a musical or play

62Eat a fish taco

63Make something out of clay

64Do a body shot

65Go to the shooting range

66Plant a tree

67See Jason Mraz live

68Milk a cow

69Ride a mechanical bull

70Send a message in a bottle

71Take a cooking class

72Have professional pictures taken with Bailey

73Go on a night fishing charter boat

74Test drive a car I cant afford

75Attend a “wine tasting”

76Fall asleep under the stars

77Attend an NFL game

78Donate Blood

79Go water rafting

80Attend a fashion show

81Spend an entire week “unplugged”

82See Jack Johnson in concert

83Go an entire month without using disposable products (i.e. paper plates&towels, baggies, ect) at home (toilet paper is the ONLY exception)

Creative

84Learn to salsa dance

85Perform twelve random acts of kindness

86Tie-Dye something

87Learn how to paddleboard

88Host a bake sale

89Create a yoga/mediation room

90Make homemade pasta

91Repair a vintage clock

92Write a song

93Sew an outfit

94Paint my nails and toes like a rainbow

95Make my own wine

Materialistic

96Buy Rain boots

97Own something Chanel

98Open an IRA

99Buy a telescope

100Start a college fund for each of my brothers

Other

101Grow an herb garden

102Volunteer for a day

103Obtain a concealed weapons permit

104Constistancy= Establish a AM routine

105Give my lunch to a homeless person

106Constistancy= Establish a PM routine

107Jump in a pool/ocean fully clothed

108Adopt a sibling for Bailey

109Learn to speak Spanish

110Contact a congress person to support a cause

111Raise over $250 for a charity

112Learn to accept “good enough”

113Discover a way to enjoy drinking coffee

114Send my mom flowers

115Make homemade sausage biscuits and gravy

116Become a happy early riser

117Spend an entire weekend doing ONLY thing that I WANT to do

118Try a vegan/vegetarian restaurant

119Play connect the dots with my freckles

120REALLY – Go camping

Finally

121Make a new list when this one is complete

___________________________

Stay Tuned –

Projects starts tomorrow!

Snack Packers

2010-07-28T11:02:00.005-04:00

Gahhh - I hate when I think of something ingenious and then forget!

I should really hurry and type before I forget everything!

I'll be the first to admit that the topics can be very repetitive and uninformative at Weight Watchers but this week’s focus was useful to anyone who eats, food that is - n/a to vamps.

I used to have a strict eating schedule during the week:

8:30A - Breakfast
10:30A - Snack (the usual piece of fruit)
1:00P - Lunch
4:30P - Snack
8:30P - Dinner

Recently, I've noticed that when I eat a wholesome breakfast (Oats, Greek Yogurt, Whole Grin Muffin) with fresh fruit instead of cold cereal or egg whites with toast, I'm not as snacky through out the morning. Minusing my AM snack usually prompts an earlier lunch, but I' m not complaining. The amount of protein in my lunch truly effects if I need something to munch on before dinner. I'm enjoying giving my body an opportunity to be vocal, if I'm real real alert I can give my body what it needs.

Here are a few of the unique suggestions I stole from the meeting:
(Weight Watchers promotes 0-2 point snacks which usually = 50-150 calories, remember each of us have personal caloric needs)

Cut up "Flat Out Bread" and bake in oven for mock "tortilla chip"
Laugh Cow Cheese + Greek Yogurt + Spinach = Dip
Homemade Hummus
Homemade Blackbean Dip
Bake then Freeze Egg Soufflé
Baked Cinnamon Apple Slices (thin)
Shredded Vegetable Cakes
Hungry Girl "Apple Slaw"

Some of my all time favorite snacks!
Edamame
Apple + Peanut Butter
Frozen Grapes
Pickles
Sour Creme + Powder Ranch Season + Carrot Sticks
Cold Cuts
Frozen Banana Slices
Raw Veggies
Raw Fruit (with cool whip or fluff)
Vita top
Crabmeat
Yogurt
Smoothie
Pickles
Any Nuts (I LOVE Smokey Almonds and Cocoa Roasted Almonds)
Hard Pretzels
Air popped popcorn with Cinnamon
Salsa with corn chips
Cold Orange slices

Snack on peeps!

What are some of your fav snacks? Are there any snack foods you cant find a less guilty substitution for?

One day I'm obsessed with something and the next I’m sick to death. Do you go through food "phases"?

And I’m off to cook pasta with meat sauce! Back to reality – staycation is over.

Going to die OF excitement!

2010-07-27T21:03:00.001-04:00

Six hours from day three and five hours from day four of staycation were spent creating and organizing this here new blog template! (Something I've been fantasying about for weeks) I am beyond proud and excited. Everything looks to be accounted for and functioning properly.
The only thing is a few of the old post fonts were distorted but NO BIG DEA- just gotta bear with.

Is someone going to wake me up in five minutes? I feel like I'm dreaming. My blog finally has personality and I did it all on my own. Just me and blogger help forums. I'm glad I did the trial and error method myself. It was ridiculously time consuming and would not have happened without that 2-liter of diet Pepsi last night. I Invested 10+ hours and saw the sunrise this morning, while the boys were glued to Star Craft II.
I learned a bunch of new options and tools that are available! High Five - For self teaching and feeling advanced! Now that the page is organized and categorized I have more structure for my thoughts. I'm known to be random at times.

Confession- I would like to post more often and learn how to use my digital camera properly.
I’ve downloaded Windows Live Writer – and life got whole lot sweeter! So it might be easier to accomplish.

Can you keep a secret? As I proof read my weight loss success story I was weary to hit publish. It exposes my very personal insecurities and struggles. Please know that by sharing the pictures I’m attempting to move on to the next phase of my life. I no longer want my weight to be my identity. It is a reflection of where I have come from, not where I am going.

I hope you enjoy my journey and philosophies.

Bread, Books and Peanut Butter

2010-07-26T12:27:00.005-04:00

Ahhhh, waking up at 10:00AM on a MONDAY… it’s been a while. Sadly, I woke up to find that my Monroe piercing is red and swollen. This hasn't happened since the day I got it pierced! I immediately brushed my teeth, cleaned it and put the longer stud in. Fingers crossed!

I have bunches to share but first the best greatest news EVER! Thursday, I went to the referral massage therapy session. Fun Fact: He turned out to be a holistic doctor, who also does acupuncture. Honestly, he was one of the most informative and knowledgeable doctors I’ve been to in years! Anyways – on to the good stuff. After he found the pull and assessed the “level” I was finally given an educated answer. His recommendation was heat, heat, heat to loosen the muscle when it contracts. Once I can walk throughout the day with no pain (which happened Saturday) I can try to walk a mile, then 2 miles, then 1 mile “light jog”…. to build up to a short run.

Things he emphasized most:

STOP any activity if I feel ANY pain
Heat & Stretch OFTEN (before and after activity especially)
Soak in ~~WARM~~ HOT WATER when possible (I’m addicted the HOT HOT HOT bath water, dish water, shower water – The man always tells me I’m burning my skin off.)

Yippee for doctors who were attentive in school!

Saturday night the boys were out so I called my mom to go to get something to eat. We ended up at Panera Bread – I had a gift card from the Race for the Cure to use.

Black Bean Soup & Simple Turkey Country Sandwich with small sweet apple.

There were a few shops in the plaza where I scored my favorite things.

FRESH BREAD – BOOKS – PEANUT BUTTER

Later that night I enjoyed a few yogurt covered pretzels with…wine (yea, again – hey its staycation)

Day 2 of Staycation:

I’ve had sometime to sulk on my choices and opinions toward my lifestyle and my approach to money, food, exercise, chores, school, relationships… My mind has been overly active as always but for once I’m going slow enough that I can stop to listen to what I’m asking myself. The point? I began my Sunday at a new Weigh Watcher meeting. I did this not because I need their program but because I promised myself that I was going to become a life time member NO MATTER WHAT. And yes, I can say I don’t need their program at this point I want it. You want to know how I know? I have not been to a meeting in 3 weeks and I lost 6.2lbs since July 6th! I’ve taken a different mental approach to my eats and I’m enjoy it tremendously. I have about 10-ish pounds left to lose. (I say -ish because I don’t want to commit to a number) This new leader is super fun and had some great ideas, ill try to share’em sometime this week.

Just a little “Pecan Pie Larabar” after weigh-in. Not my fav, reminded me of horse feed.

Pollo Tropical Caribbean Soup for lunch that I grabbed for free while running errands. I had to return my Polar Heart Rate Monitor because it didn’t have GPS and they didn't have either of the ones I wanted, so I'm looking for a bargain on eBay.

Last night we went to the Sublime, Dirty Heads & Matisyahu concert. It was an outdoor venue and it rained for the first hour so I didn’t bring the camera. We headed home around 12:15AM and we were starving since we didn’t have dinner. I did have this snack on the way though. Ugh, the only thing open that late Taco Bell. I didn’t go over board with calories but its been a while since I’ve had fast food like that and I clearly have a food hang over today. Best Cure? I went with a green monster and a bagel thin.

I hope your Monday is moving along nicely.

Do you find that when you eat well and balanced then, eat something overly processed and fat injected you get a tummy ache?

Its funny – Taco Bell has never tasted worse than it did last night. Have your standards towards ingredients risen since being more nutrition/health conscious?

I’m in a baking kind of mood… UhhhOhhh

Got my nails painted BLACK!

2010-07-24T14:42:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Staycation!

This is what I came home to last night, in addition to my love shining the kitchen, my brother scrumbing the bathroom and candles littered ALL OVER the house. It was very thoughtful and unexpected. They spoiled me. Inside of my welcome basket was a zebra print snuggie, score! Our house is often kept at arctic temperatures so long to living the majority of life with goose bumps and long johns in July.

The boys had a late lunch but I was famished so snack time it was. What better way to start a vacation than ~~a glass of red~~ crisp wine?

Did I mention I was hungry? I kind of ate these too..

Yesterdays eats at work were on the hearty side.

Breakfast was divine! Toasted Coconut Pumpkin Oats On to the high light! –> Lunch My first attempt at cooking with lentils. It was a simple vegetable lentil tomato based stoup, not sure if it was stew or soup. But the cool avocado on top of the warm lentils was incredibly filling and yummy! Its been a while since I've had an Florida avocado because Hass have been on sale week after week. I forgot how much lighter and less creamy they are! It was refreshing. Gotta get them more often! Confession - I day dream of having avocado trees filling my back yard.

The boys did a remarkable job cleaning but obviously the floor cleaning is in my future not theirs.

:NERD ALERT: Looky what the dollar store surprised me with!

I’m totally VIP of the “I brush my teeth in the shower” club. Are you?

Its been a productive day so far

Went to Bank
Picked up prescription
Snagged a few veggies at Publix & returned the expired yogurt dressing that they sold me for $6!

I believe my future will include the following:

Laundry folding while watching She’s Out of my League (In progress but blogging takes priority, right?)
Yoga Video off of Netflix Instant Que
Set-up new Heart Rate Monitor
Long walk with this guys when he wakes up
Pluck the eyebrows
Work on new blog template

Since the boys will be at a “jam session” (AKA Boys Night) I’m thinking I will have plenty of time to fulfill my wish list.

Don’t mind me while I relax even more – my main objective over the next 5 days is to simply s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n.

Do you ever do “staycation” vacations? What types of vacations do you favor? I’m a tropical kind of girl and would love to go on a cruise ship.

I’ll be back later, I went to a holistic doctor who does massage therapy for my injury and he gave me some exciting news!

Battle Wounds

2010-07-19T22:51:00.008-04:00

I’ve dried my eyes now I’ve got to do that thing that adults

are “supposed” to do… called being “mature” and finish off this bottle of

wine…..

So, you’member how I told you that I pulled my groin muscleand I had to take some time off from lower body activity? Then, I played doctor and told you I was all better and went to body pump? Bad news… my injury showed its ugly face last night. Not because I was pumping iron that is, it was indeed the 4 mile morning run yesterday morning that deserves the credit! I really thought I was better. It had been days since the pain subsided. I know I felt pain the entire run, but I thought it was just tight from taking time off. According to my doctor I severely pulled a groin muscle and now it is even more irritated and inflamed

then before. Gotta get an ultra sound later this week followed by some massage therapy sessions. The entire 34 minute drive back to the office I had tear streams running down my face as I sobbed to Orlando. The weird thing is if someone has asked me specifically why I was crying I couldn’t have answered them. There were so many emotions I was fighting surrounding the few facts that the doctor provided.

The most devastating comment, I have to take 2-4 weeks off from all lower body exercise and 5-7 day of no activity AT ALL (of course depending on the discomfort level :sooner VS longer:)!

Through said mental break down things about myself and my current situation were exposed and I need to accept them in order to excel to the next level of readiness.

Primary Offenders =

- Life changes without notice at times and all you can do is your best

- There really is a lot of disappointment surrounding an “all or nothing

mentality/lifestyle”

- I don’t have experience with losing weight without hours of cardio involved

- Our fitness levels are allowed to increase and decrease without being a

considered a failure

- Life doesn’t restart, rewind or fast forward. Each day we live possesses equal

opportunity and value.

- I’m afraid of repeating my history

- Fitness is not a chore, it is a luxury and it has become a huge part of my forever life

I’ve acknowledging them but can't be sure that I feel settled just yet.

One of the big announcements I wanted to share was I decided

to register for my first ½ MARATHON – October 16th or 17th! Yesterday, literally was DAY ONE of my training plan. My first “slow & long run” and I had two more runs scheduled Wednesday and Friday. I put so much effort into personalizing my 12-week training plan. Possible options are: see how long the recovery takes and maybe alter my training to a 8 or 10 week plan.

Alternative, register for a later race. The only issue with option b is if I go back to school I won't be able to invest as many hours into running. Either way, time will tell.

Off we go on another rant...

For so long the equation for my weight loss was undisturbed.

Force myself to do as much activity as possible +

Eat my “WW allowed points” (very ~~anal~~ exact measurements) =

Weight Loss Success

Numbers don't lie, I lost 68 pounds in 12 months with that formula. Sounds

effective, ehh? The missing value is the past 6 months.

Brain Teaser: What do you do when you are in such a mental hurricane that you drown yourself in calories?

My Experience: The best thing that I’ve done is decrease my drive for control. I have seen a huge improvement in my hunger signals since I’ve been focusing on what my body is telling me verses the numbers, the amounts or clock. This approach is like playing with fire – there is a great opportunity to get burnt but an equal chance of igniting a spark. My advantage is I know the types of foods that energize and nourish my body so those are the primary eats I've been taking in with limited sweet of course and plenty of water.

Brain Tester: What do you do when you are not physcially able to run, bike, step?
Mentally and Physically?

My Experience: None - Maybe you can help me? Any suggestions? Lost in translation... Google?

Mommy dropped off an ironic yet sweet get well gift. Do you see what I see? A Polar HRM and super absorbent athletic socks. I'm so spoiled... At-least I admit it.... HRM USE = something to look forward to!

We have Chicken Francisses in the slow cooker and about to go prepare some cilantro infused rice with baked yucca fries. nom. nom. nom.

Sundays.Eats.

Post Run Fuel was fresh ground peanut butter toast with a yummy gala apple.

F.R.E.E to a good home - I loaded it up and secretly placed it against a wall before the man of the house could wake up and tell me not to garbage pick. Did you know I've always wanted one of these but suppressed it? :)

Then, I was off to run errands. Scored huge at Dollar General and Goodwill. Forgot to get a picture of all my loot but it included an 1981 Weight Watcher 365-Food Book. Should be entertaining to see how the program has evolved. While I was out my tummy was growling so Planet Smoothie it was. I got some type of strawberry-banana lemonade slush, it was divine. Cured my summer time lemonade craving fo'sho.

While the boys unloaded the grocery bags I enjoyed this for lunch. The bread was so incredibly fresh and soft. I HEART THE BAKERY!

Their payment for unloading the groceries was Taco Bell, bleek! We ended up with a random order of cinn-twists. I proceeded to get our monies worth by consuming 1/2 the bag.

I'm not sure if it was PMS or me wishing it was FALL but I was in a naughty baking mood this ~~year~~ weekend. Since my brother is back at the house these shenanigans were clearly encourage. I wanted a share a few of the ~~indulgence SUGAR HIGH-~~ Get ready to wipe the drool.

Homemade Peanut-butter Cups

Homemade Oreos

And thats all she wrote. Rise and Shine comes early. Packed tomorrows eats. check!

What are some trademark foods that you've made from scratch? I think the homemade usually taste better but in a different way. T MINUS 4 work days until STAY-CATION! Woohoo!

It hurts even when I type….

2010-07-15T13:48:00.011-04:00

Yesterday was the first time my body did more than walk up and down our stairs in over a week! My lame groin injury has kept me down….

Resting is something I struggle with. It’s difficult for me to determine when I NEED REST or if I just “want” the rest. When I take rest days because I want them there is always guilt involved.

This was the first experience I’ve had where sucking it up and pushing through was not an option. Every single step I took caused me pain, bad pain! The ENTIRE 60 minute spin class I took before accepting my injury felt like someone was trying to rip my leg off of my body. Not fun….

The eye opener was real how much happier I am when I’m active and how much more my body likes me. SHOCKER: when my mood is down and body is down my eats seem to head in the same direction. So that brings us to last night. I felt like my body was ready for a little activity that wouldn’t strain my groin muscles too much. Once I committed mentally to testing the sweaty waters I got a little excited about the gym. Does speeding home, running upstairs to change and then reading in the gym parking lot for 30 minutes to make sure I don’t miss the class qualify as slightly eager? Didn’t think so…
Then, my enthusiasm was cut off 10 minutes into the class. I felt weak. I felt angry. I felt terrible. It was like I had taken a fall that would require months to recover from, so dramatic I know but at that time my mind was in a dark place. I was comparing every movement I made to the other people in the class. Honestly – Every other thought went something like this - “I used to be able to do this better”, “you are wasting time because you are barely sweating” ,“why am I doing to terrible”, “you are not pushing hard enough” .

Lets be honest 7-10 days of little to no activity defiantly decreases your endurance and strength but not enough to cry about. I know from experience that after a week of getting back into the swing I will be just as strong and dangerous but last night the only positive I could identify was that my pulled muscle was not hurting.
I was proven wrong. I was trying and my body knew it but my mind just expected more. I literally had to ROLL out of bed this morning because I’m so sore. My entire body is sore. Summary = my mind didn’t feel pumped from last night but my body was! Lets just call this a learning curve so next time I need to focus on myself, no one else.
Did you know that these make me happy?

And this was my “I woke 15 minutes before having to leave the house” breakfast.

Have you had to deal with an injury? How did you handle it?

Thank God! I was only out of commission for a little while. The idea of being hurt for months brings tears to my eyes but then this guys reminds me how special each day is!

I am looking forward to getting some fun stuff done this weekend. Hopefully soon I will have two big announcements. Hint: The first one has to do with tonight and the other will follow – perhaps in a few weeks? I can use all the positive energy that you can send my way.

His and Hers

2010-07-11T00:57:00.009-04:00

Remind me again why I am watching some show called "Bridezilla"? Not sure I can take another minute of this ear poison.

I ~~spent~~ wasted way too many hours watching TV this weekend. But wait I have a doctors note...a minor injury last week. Can you believe I pulled my groin muscle?!? Today is the first day that the pain has started to subside. Depending on how work goes tomorrow I'm thinking about skipping the usual spin class and just go to a yoga class, to ease back into things- ya know?OMG! This"Bridezilla" just said "it would totally be ok if Sarah didn't eat until to wedding".... Wow... Just a different level.

I'm getting better at remembering to taking pictures. TaDa!

The puppy in the window that was onsale. L.O.V.E

Went to my first job site, note the gifted pink cowboy hardhat.

Attempted to cook"Chinese Food", Result: Needs Improvement-

Next Time = Thicker "Rice" Lo-Mein Type Noodles and Less "Sweet" Flavor more Smokey.
I did enjoy the way the cole slaw mixture cooked down with the noodles!

Yum, Edaname.

Quick Work Lunch= Toasted Bread Thin + Canned Tuna + Laughing Cow Cheese + Carrots

Snacker

On the way Long List of Bores I have been p~~utting off~~ waiting to do:

Order Check Refill
Order Bailey's Flea/Heartworm Meds
BalanceCheckbook/Budget
Refill Spice Rack
Wipe outFrig & Freeze
Refill the propane was also on the list of accomplishments

My Reward: Tender Grilled Filet Mignon+ GrilledVeggies + Baked Scallion Potato

Saturday
Breakfast: Blueberry Creme-cheese Cool-whip + Open Face Omelet

Lunch:

Leftover Chicken Chili turned "Dip" + Tostitos Dippers

Snacker Major:

Highlight of the weekend the "toystore" WHOLE FOODS

His Purchases:Sandwich Rolls + Juice Overload + Dirty Chips + Thick BACON

Hers Purchases:NUTBUTTERS(Almond, Fresh Raw Ground Peanuts & Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter - Addicted much?), crackers, carrots, sparkling water, wraps, bananas, beans, tuna, to die for cinnamon popcorn, sushi, greek yogurt, sundried tomato hummus, canned pumpkin and mix, Artichoke and Fresh Fruit Salad)

Pop corn didnt even make it home before I sampled it. I was STARVING (for sweets :hehe:)

Our Purchases:Grouper, Coconut Flakes, Wine, Avacados, Insents, Grn Peppers, Garlic, Cheeses, Pizza sauce, Salsa, Apples, Sweet Potato, Wheat Panko, Wheat Flour, and Corn

These carrots make mehappier than finding $5.00 on the floor.

They look likethe carrots from thebooks in my childhood. Can. not. wait. to. eat!

Mystery Vegetable of the Week: Artichoke **More to come when I discover how to cook this thingy**

Ahhh, Food-net Work Challenge. Thats better! At Food'R'Us (AKA: Whole Foods) I scored us some Ricotta Salata cheese and an Aged Asiago that went on our whole wheat flat pizzas last night. He voted thumbs down on the wheat dough, prefs 'em white when it comes to any grains. (#workinprogress)

Menu Flavors: Three CheesePepperoni and Sausage, Onion& Pepper Pizza: Mr. Man plated the pizzas buffet style in the candle light before I could get a picture but they were a beauty!

Downing #4 of these as I type..... I'm getting too good at baking sugary, fatty, soft treats. MUST STOP PRACTICING! Mr. Man's drug of choice is soft cookies with icing pouring off of them.I should sneak a picture of the how much he smothers his sweets in icing. Thinking he loves icing as much as much as I adore nut butter?

The Man and I had a wonderful afternoon. We pulled a his and hers at the movie theater too. His treats! First we saw this:

and enjoyed

In between we had 20 minutes so we walked next door to Whole Food to get a bottle of water for $0.99 instead of the $4.75 at the theater.I also picked up these minus the Twizzlers that were leftover from the first movie concession. Followed by:

I Think I might love Edward and Jacob equal now. Still deciding - Ask me tomarrow, k?

Tis the night before work and I'm home all alone. Guessing I should take advantage and lay it down. Heres to starting Monday day on the BEST.FOOT.EVER. With 6 hours of sleep? Ekkk....

Why does iphone take so long to sync? 43 minutes already...

Do you ever see more than one more at a time? Ever see the same more more than once in the theater?

Palms full of glitter

2010-07-08T10:28:00.002-04:00

Last Night's Cost

3HRS researching blog editors, installing, adjusting & composing this

30Mins Uploading & battling the pictures

1.5HRS Of ME & Orlando trying to publish post on new program

= Expensive FAILURE and I went to bed pissed off at technology

Since I have accepted the fact that I cannot live without the new iphone 4 and sometimes its better to sleep on things - I can start this Weekend-Eve and re-edit the post....

Yesterday was day one of - working towards becoming the best version of myself that I can be. Not gonna lie ~~anymore~~ , it wasn't as easy as I predicted. By 4:45PM I was trying to talk myself out of the spin class that I PRE-REGISTERED for, even paid the $1 reservation fee! Luckily - my car drove me to the gym safely. Verdict: survived the 50 minutes of aerobic therapy. I will tell you what! When, I got into the locker room and realized that I packed (on Sunday) LOOSE fitting gym clothes spin class didn't sound as painful.^ Proof I went :-) Love me some t-shirts and comfy pants

Since I already suffered through the class I gave myself a free pass on the 20 minutes of weights I was planning to do. Baby steps... Baby steps.. Something is better than nothing... and that is exactly what I would have done so I deserved the reward!

Holiday Weekend Was Long, Sweet, Hot, Social &

Too Much Food with loads of activity

Friday: kicked off with 40 minutes on the elliptical + 20 minutes of weights/abs

Saturday: Early wake up call for Zumba class. (Saturday my gym is hosting a special 2hour Zumba class that I am totally registered for!)

Post Zumba - Meet my new heartthrob "The Nut Split"
Banana cut in 1/2 + 1TBSP Peanut butter + 1/2C plain yogurt + sprinkles

= Orgasm in my mouth!

I proceeded to make a very very dainty dessert that is beyond your wildest dreams. So many layers of flavor! I present to you the product of this lady's inspiration and recipe :-)

Dessert Fruit Pizza
Sugar Cookie + Creme-cheese Topping + Fruit + Citrus Glaze + Toasted Coconut = BLISS

Ohhlala

I followed her recipe exactly except....

We didn't have coconut rum so I used 1TBSP Coconut extract and 1TBSP GOOD Quality Rum (The man of the house does not even know I stole from him stash) and toasted about 1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes to garnish on top. I brought it to my mothers backyard BBQ and there was a brawl over the last piece. Heehehe
I could seriously go for a shot after the morning I've had....

Major accomplishment on Sunday - woke up early and went for a quiet run, no ipod. Decided to check up on my old 4 mile route since we haven't seen each other since January and... guess what... I ran the entire 4 miles no problem! I've only been running about 2 miles twice a week so I'm thinking spin class twice a week has improved my overall endurance. I was so freaking proud!

I'm exhausted just recapping all of that - on ward to yesterday's eats!

Breakfast made we want to vomit! I can not eat toasted oats + berries + almond breeze for a EVERY LONG TIME. Did I mention that my breakfast was terrible and I'm sick to death of it? Shortly after my internal temper tantrum followed by my full bowl going in the trash I realized that I was happier when I put effort into my packed breakfasts and lunches, imagine that... I see planning in my weekend.

Rediscovered these gems since they were on SALE!

Lunch = Raviolis with marinara florentine (I made two servings a few weeks ago and froze'em)

Dinner was slow cooker Chicken Chili :cheers:
Topped with 1/2C rice and avocado. CHILI - any style and flavor I'm in!

My original closing said "night, night". Totally unapplicable now... Grrrr - I have issues with "letting things go" sometimes... Can you tell?

Do you rediscover any produce when it comes in season?

What about the slowcooker are y'all BFFs or strangers?

I know I'm looking forward to the weekend! I've been so axious this week....

I’m not “that girl”… I’m just… Me

2010-06-30T13:37:00.006-04:00

Recently I took a “break” from blogging then came back and deleted all of the posts that I had previously written. My excuse was that I wanted to “start fresh” and take my blog in a more purposeful direction. The truth is it was because I felt like had failed. I was hiding from being exposed and wanted a distraction from reality. When we log on to our various social networking accounts we truly can be anyone that we want to be. Brad Paisley wrote a song called “online”. The song talks about everyone being “cooler online”, in the song he expresses that when he gets home and fires up his Macbook he is taller, thinner, richer and more interesting. It is entertaining to think of the fictional lives we could lead but when we rest our heads at night we have to sleep with our organic self.

Well, it’s time to be honest with ME because I’ve been doing some pretending lately….

#1) I have not accepted my body exactly how it is. For me the term “weight” has never been numerical. When I weighed 218 pounds – I had never seen that number on a scale or in writing prior to my first Weight Watcher meeting. I knew I was “fat” and “over weight” but had no idea what my actual numerical weight was. How did I know my weight was not acceptable besides the fact that very few stores carried size 18? Well, obviously when I looked in the mirror I saw a figure that was growing in size. I slowly began not to recognize the features or the disposition of that person and worst of all she was completely empty. Then there was the fact that very rarely did anyone compliment me, touch me or even get to know me for that matter. It seemed that people were afraid of me. Or maybe it was that summer when I wanted to go down a water slide and the employee of the park questioned my ability. None of these are the reason why I joined Weight Watchers but they were my reality for many years.
In my eyes there is always room for modification and word on the street is that we are never completely satisfied with our appearance but I know that I want to lose more weight to get closer to being the best version of myself that I can be. Please do not misunderstand what I wrote. I have a high level of self wroth and I do not base it solely on my physic/appearance but I want to be more comfortable in my own skin. I try not to associate my body image with a numerical value. Instead it has always been a reflection of how I feel and how I see myself. I believe that my results from exercising and eating better have provided me with a tremendous amount of pride and I know I can take myself to a deeper gratification level once I focus.

#2) I have a very rooted desire to improve my relationship with foods. I hope to become comfortable enough to share some of the darkness that I still experience so these struggles can become more approachable. I have come a long way but the path isn’t ready to end yet.

#3) I long to become a lifetime member at Weight Watchers. (Yes, you read right – I still have not got to my goal weight at Weight Watchers. I have gained and lost the same 10 pounds for the past 6 months.) It really would mean a lot to me to accomplish this simply because when it comes to self improvement projects I tend to surrender. In no other aspect of my life do I accept anything less than complete effort, why should my identity be treated differently?

#4) I want to be more consistent with how balanced I eat. I have begun to let go of habits that enriched my day so I need to reel it back in.

#5) Ultimately, I want to give being a Weight Watchers Leader a shot and to do so I have to be confident in what believe in.

The truth is I have finally decided that I am going persevere even though I’m fatigued. I can accomplish these things if I want them badly enough. For so long I have put EVERYONE else’s needs before my own, but today I deserve to feel fulfilled and not settle for second best! I will rewrite my history….

I avoided claiming that I am going to do a list of crazy irrational things to reach these goals purposely. All I needed to solidify is that I believe I am capable. My goal is just to be better today than I was yesterday.

Each of the categories require further development, so I’m going to go be with my thoughts for a while. Be back soon!

While I’m gone why don’t you go ahead and find something about yourself that is unique?

Away we go!

2010-06-09T14:29:00.000-04:00

Signing off until we get back from our vacation in Key West! I hope all of you have kicked your summer off to the right note. I better come back hella tan! All week I've been day dreaming of waves crashing, sun shining, the smell of sunblock and an adult beverage in my hand while I bum it in my swim suit.

But before I go I wanted to share something sweet with you -

Around the holiday season Angela over at OSG mentioned a man who collectes produce stickers because he makes art by reusing the stickers and sells some of his work for charity.

Well, I collected my stickers for a few months then kind of forgot. Recenlty, I got tired of seeing the plastic bag with stickers all over it taped to my desk so I sent them off to him not sure if he still wanted them. This week I got a surprise from him! A thank you note. If you wanna check out his master peices here is the link.

Peace Out - Can't wait to tell you all about our trip. The laptop is not invited - Just me and my brown eyed boy!