A Year full of Yay.

December is upon us already. I seriously can NOT believe it. This year whizzed by faster than a paranoid streaker.

I must admit though, even with its ups and downs, this has been a fantastic year. Which in all honesty I have not been able to say in a long loooong loooooooooong time. And for that, I'm incredibly thankful! I know it's not quite the end of the year yet but I feel like sharing some of those wonderful things with you now anyways.

• I remained employed during these tough times. YAY!
• Nick and I had our 1st Anniversary in June! :)
• My little old car is still putting along with no problems.
• I'm back to living a healthy lifestyle, working out and eating right.
• I discovered the magical wonder of Food Blog Land and fell in LOVE. AWE YEAH!
• Oliver (AKA crazy cat) and Nick are getting along better, most of the time. HA!
• I'm feeling good and looking better week by week. YEAH, I just gave myself some props, so what? Don't hate on me! :)
• I realized how much I enjoy cooking good, healthy and clean food.
• I've rediscovered my love of photography. Maybe one day I can take classes and get better!
• I'm FINALLY redoing my tattoo. Which is still a work in progress but only for a few more weeks. PAINFUL YAY!
• Nothing serious broke in my house this year. The FEW things that did, Mr. Handy Nick was able to fix. HE EVEN FIXED THE DISHWASHER PEOPLE!
• The folks have both started exercising. This makes me very happy!
• I have been financially "not in a scary place" this year.
• I've been healthy. I haven't even had a cold!
• No cavities. HA HA HA!!

Okay, I may be stretching it a bit here, BUT, it's been a great year overall. Everyone I care about is healthy, happy, employed, being loved and living life with joy. What more can a person ask for?

How about oatmeal? YEP! That's what my body was asking (screaming) for this morning!! "FEED ME OATS you devil woman! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!" I had to obey these angry little voices inside. They were scaring me!

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup water
• dash salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice
• 1 banana, sliced
• 2 tbs sugar free peach preserves

Tasty-tasty! And it made my angry little voice inside my head disappear for hours, which was nice. It started screaming again by about 12:30 though. "FEED ME.... FEED ME...." So I hurried up and heated up my lunch. Which consisted of an egg white scramble that I cooked up last night.

• 5 egg whites
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 3 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• handful of broccoli, chopped
• sea salt & pepper to taste

I also had some Trader Joe's Peach Salsa on the side and a toasted English muffin sprayed with my beloved spray butter.


On our break today Ann and I ran to Target. In the 10 years that I have worked at my current job, I'm honestly NOT sure if we have EVER went a solid week without visiting Target. Scary right? Half the time we don't even know what we want. It just sounds good so we find ourselves driving there. That red bullseye has us hypnotized I tell you. THEY'VE GOT US GOOD! I picked up some Christmas treats and toys for my Fur Baby (Oliver cat) and something for my Papa. YEP, that's right Papa, I got you something else. YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT! HA!

My afternoon snack once again ROCKED MY WORLD today! It was another yogurt mess with Oikos yogurt....


POM arils....


And a blueberry VitaTop.


This one also gets a 10 out of 10. I don't know what those folks over at VitaLicious are doing but they are doing it right. I am addicted to these things. ALL OF THEM ARE SO GOOD... EVERY SINGLE FLAVOR! I SWEAR!

My yogurt mess was delicious! I devoured this bowl like an animal!


Before we knew it 5:00 rolled around and we were off to the gym. Here is my workout.

Horizontal Chest Press

Weight of Machine x 15

+10lb x 14

+20lb x 10

Seated Chest Press

30lb x 25

40lb x 16

50lb x 12

Inclined Chest Press

20lb x 14.5

30lb x 8

20lb x 12

Modular Chest Press

30lb x 20

40lb x 18

50lb x 10

Eliptical Machine

15 min, 134 calories

Bike (random, uphill setting, level 5)

15 min, 5.4 miles, 100 calories

My shaky little legs were on FIRE by the time we left. WHEW! It felt good though. I did 15 minutes on the eliptical! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? My right leg hung in there just fine! I WAS SO HAPPY....AND SHOCKED!

Nick wasn't home tonight. He was visiting his mom for dinner. I took full advantage and took a nice long bubble bath, lit some candles, made a nice warm cup of coffee (yes, coffee at night because I'm crazy) and turned on So You Think You Can Dance. I was in HEAVEN!

I was also hungry so I made myself a nice salad for dinner. I LOVED IT!

• romaine leaves
• green onions
• black beans
• cherry tomatoes
• avocado
• Morning Star Farms mushroom burger
• red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper to taste
• spray butter

Yes, I ate every single last little bite. I may OR may not have talked to myself about how good it was between bites. YUM!

I'm still sipping on coffee. It's 11:00 at night. I'm SO going to regret this!! :)

Circus.

I walked a tightrope to work (drove on 77 North) and even though I had a few close calls (blind semi driver and morning road rage party participants) I made it in to work okay. I attempted to open a hidden door with my invisible key (electronic door openers we use at work) and entered into a magical land full of joy and wonder. I juggled (read, replied and deleted emails) like a good little performer and oohed and aahed my audience (clients + coworkers) with my magnificence. HA!


I delicately and gracefully swung my magic wand (pen) and made things disappear (crossed things off of my to do list) with the simplest of ease. Then a thick fog filled the air and music began to play and clowns started dangling from the ceilings. Well no, not really. I was trying to make it all a bit more interesting. HA!

What I'm trying to say is that this morning was HECTIC and sometimes I feel like my life is a Circus. And yes, clowns DO freak me out! I mean, just look at this "thing"! EEEK!


Thank goodness it's going to be a short, 3 day workweek. :) YAY!

Breakfast was super fast and super simple. A cup of coffee, a banana and an Appleberry VitaTop. It was still frozen when I grabbed it this morning so I microwaved it for maybe 20 seconds. OH MAN. It was good! Moist, hot, sticky and delicious! I think I will try microwaving the next one I have as well. This one gets a 10 out of 10. It was full of cranberries and blueberries. YUM! Thanks VitaLicious! So far I'm loving ALL of your products! Good stuff!


Look at that fat little cat in the background on my calendar too. I want to SQUEEZE IT!

After breakfast it was back to work. I had a lot to get done this week! I CAN DO IT!

I swear it was noon in the blink of an eye (perhaps I was under a spell...). Time for lunch! I packed a quick salad. Seriously people, it was ridiculous! So simple and so delicious!

• Sweet Butter Lettuce
• Roma Tomato, sliced
• 1 serving of Fake Crab Meat
• 1 English Muffin, toasted and torn into bite size (crouton) pieces
• Spray butter

That's it! Nothing was needed. It was so good! I don't know why I never thought about turning an English Muffin into croutons before. They were warm, chewy yet crunchy around the edges. I DO DECLARE! I HAD A MOMENT OF BRILLIANCE THIS MORNING when I thought of this!

For our break today I managed to leave (disappearing act) and got some more Christmas shopping done. OH IT'S ALMOST TREE TIME PEOPLE! I CAN'T STAND IT I TELL YOU! I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My afternoon snack today was a protein shake with 1 cup of vanilla almond breeze and a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder. YUM! Like chocolate milk with a KICK! Why yeeeees, gym fuel CAN be delicious!


Speaking of the gym, here's what I did today.

High Row Machine (plate loaded)

50lb x 25

70lb x 20

90lb x 15

Wide Grip Lateral Pull down

50lb x 20

60lb x 15

70lb x 6

Low Row Machine (plate loaded)

20lb x 20

30lb x 15

40lb x 12

Standing Lateral Pull down (cable)

25lb x 20

30lb x 20

35lb x 12

Treadmill (10 min., .55 miles)

5 min. at 3.2 speed

5 min. at 3.4 speed

Bike (10 min., 3 miles)

Random setting, Level 5

Crunches with 8lb ball

x20

x20

Crunches with 10lb ball

x20

x20

Regular Crunches

x20

x20

Double Leg Raise, Reverse Crunches

x20

x20

Crunches with 8lb ball

x20

x20

It was a good workout. I was in dyer need of a warm beverage when I got home. It was raining, cold and nasty out and I was frozen to the core! I walked into the house and immediately brewed a WHOLE pot of coffee. Bad idea at 7:30 PM? Oh I'M SURE it is. However, I HAD TO HAVE IT! I also picked up these coffee syrups at lunch and I was dying to try them.


Then I started on dinner. I decided on a nice and spicy Indian dish tonight. I picked up a jar of curry simmer sauce from Trader Joe's on our trip a few weeks ago and it sounded perfect. Nice and SPICY. First I made some rice.

• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 2 cups water
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash cinnamon
• 1 tsp dash cumin
• 1 tsp hot curry
• splash spray butter

I boiled the water, added all of the above and then cooked it on low heat, covered, for 20 minutes.

While the rice was simmering, I added 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite size pieces) into a saucepan and covered it with the curry sauce and one cup water (per the instructions on the jar). Then I added....

• a bag of frozen cauliflower and broccoli (thawed in microwave)
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 3 green onions, chopped
• MORE hot curry powder (oh yeah baby)

I simmered the chicken curry mixture for about 15 minutes. Somehow I managed to finish the rice and the chicken at the same time. It all turned out delicious. The rice was bursting with flavor and the curry chicken was so spicy and tasty. Nick and both slammed. The stuff was so hot it made my nose drip. It was worth it though.


Well, it's time to go. Nick went upstairs to work on his computer and I'm going to sneak in a quick episode of So You Think You Can Dance. I can't seem to catch up this season!!

Have a great night! :)

Positives vs Negatives

Well....this morning sucked! I'm down only a half a pound! Nowhere near what I was hoping for. So lets discuss the positives and the negatives shall we? Let's look DEEP inside my fragile mind and unstable self to sort out perhaps what the hot heck is going on here!


It bumed me out and I was in a mad rage all the way to work. Ann can atest to this. I called her and vented during my entire ride in. Might I add, we work together. NO MATTER. I couldn't wait until I got to work!

Positives...

• Physically, I feel great.
• I enjoy working out, most of the time. :)
• I've lost an official 25.6 lb in 110 days. (AWESOME)
• I enjoy the healthy foods I eat.
• My clothes are starting to fit better! (Fanny pack is almost gone. NO LIE!)
• I have more energy!
• I'm much more active!
• My mood overall has gotten much more positive. (Remember, eat good to feel good!)

Negatives...

• I obsess about everything I eat. (I weigh everything. Is that creepy?)
• I NEVER allow myself cheat meals or splurges.
• I can't enjoy a beer or a glass of wine without serious guilt. (No matter what I say about it in my blog.)
• I stress out when I don't lose weight.
• I then read over my food and workout journal to see what I did wrong (or different), even though I know I did nothing wrong!!
• Half of the clothes in my closet still don't fit. (I've lost weight before and hung on to all of my "small" clothes. Refusing to let the past go was a BAD plan!)
• I'm freaking OUT about Thanksgiving and will probably not fully enjoy myself now because of no loss.
• Blah Blah Blah......

Oh I could just go on and on. I shant bore you though. Apologies! This was just a rough morning. I was convinced that I had lost weight. For some reason my dormant psychic powers tend to be spot on about weight loss. Not this time! Because I'm incapable of not doing something about it, I plan to perhaps revamp the workout schedule a bit. If I don't do something, it will drive me mad. MAD I TELL YOU!


Enough self wallowing. Let's move on to breakfast. Which might I add, was a complete and total FAIL! My lovely morning continues I guess.

Here's what I was working with.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup water
• dash cinnamon
• 1 sugar free peach fruit cup
• 2 tbs fat free apricot preserves
• 1 pack Greens Plus orange greensickle superfood

As I was prepping it, it tasted good. Great in fact! The last thing I added to the mix was the packet of Greens Plus Orange Greensickle. Uhm.... It immediately tasted weird. So weird in fact that I was forced to toss the whole bowl out. Now you KNOW I never throw food out! There was no way I was going to eat that though!! I'm sure the Orange mix would have tasted great in lets say a smoothie. However, in HOT oatmeal it just tasted like HOT ORANGE INFUSED GRASSY MUSH! No thanks! I couldn't get over the weird mix of aromas either. Oh this made me SO sad! It looked pretty though. HA!


Thank goodness I had a backup Kashi cherry dark chocolate granola bar in my drawer. WHEW! Breakfast disaster averted! Kashi, you old dog you. LOVE YA!


Lunch went a tad bit more smoothly. I made a quick veggie sandwich with the following.

• 2 slices pumpernickel bread
• 2 servings of garlic hummus
• green bell pepper slices
• English cucumber slices
• Roma tomato slices

YUM! I can't get enough of veggie sandwiches lately! I must admit, I don't think it would be very difficult for me to convert to a vegetarian lifestyle. I do love me some CHICKEN and TURKEY though!! Not sure about this. I'll have to ponder it over! :)

I also shared a can of orange flavored Zevia with Ann. I really like this one. I think it might be my favorite. Not too sweet with a great orange flavor. YUM! :)


For a super duper MINI 20 minute break away from the office today I did two VERY exciting things. I got gas and I picked up a few ingredients needed for dinner tonight. WHOAH, hold back the applause please!


Then it was immediately back to work. It was a very busy day in the office today. For my afternoon snack I decided to try a Banana Nut VitaTop courtesy of the lovely folks over at VitaLicious. I love this Company! All of the products are so dang delicious! And they're only 100 calories, include 15 vitamins and minerals and are packed with fiber! As usual, I brought in two so I could share with Ann and get her thoughts on it as well.


Ann gave it a 7 out of 10. She thought it was a bit dry and the banana flavor could have been stronger. She liked the chocolate ones much better.

I agree with Ann on this one. It gets a solid 7. Though a bit dry, I liked the overall flavor. The chocolate varieties that I've tried thus far were more dense and had a richer texture, which I prefer. This wasn't bad though! Trust me, I've yet to try a bad one!

After work I decided to JUST GO HOME for once. I can't remember the last time I did this. It's either off to the gym Monday-Thursday or off to the grocery store on Friday. Oh it felt SO nice!! However, let me share with you my LAME reason for doing this. The ad for my grocery store runs from Sat.-Sat. and last weeks ad wasn't a very good one! I always come home to the new ad in the mail on Fridays, which isn't available in stores or online until Saturday. I wanted to check it out BEFORE I decided if I should just get shopping over with tonight or hold off until tomorrow. I was hoping for some good Thanksgiving sales. LAME right? Oh my incredibly exciting life just blows my mind sometimes!!

I was right though. The ad for tomorrow was better. YEAH! So I immediately made a nice cup of peppermint coffee and read this to unwind. It was SO nice not having anything to do for about an hour or so. I took FULL advantage!


I also came home to these lovely coupons from the very nice folks at Food Should Taste Good. I plan to use them tomorrow and buy a few bags to try. I've heard good things. I can't wait to sample them. I hope my grocery store carries the brand!


For dinner it was.... twas.... come on guess......

TACO SALAD TIME! DUH!

But first, Nick and I decided to make a quick bottle of SodaStream pop. We decided to try the cranberry-raspberry flavored syrup this time.


1, 2, 3 DONE in seconds. I freakin LOVE this thing! The pop was fizzy, tasty and not too sweet, which is good. Very good! 8 out of 10. I like the orange flavored syrup better though. I'm an orange pop kind of Gal!


Now on to dinner. Here the usual recipe.

• 110 grams (2 servings) Morning Star Farms grounds
• 1/4 cup black beans
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 of the taco seasoning packet
• splalsh of water to keep it all moist

I cooked this for maybe 10 minutes to blend the flavors and then tossed it on top of some chopped romaine, diced tomatoes, one serving of fat free shredded american cheese and 1/2 an avocado. Then topped it all with some sour cream and red pepper flakes. Yep, still good and I still enjoy having this every Friday for dinner.


OH, AND GUESS WHAT? The X'box 360 is back today. G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S!!! We're immediately going to celebrate by watching numerous episodes of my BELOVED Gregory. As in House M.D. OH I'VE MISSED HIM SO! Sexy, scruffy little thing!

Have a great Friday night everyone! Tomorrow is another day and I hope to wake up less moody and more ready to tackle the challenges of another week towards my weight loss goals! :)