Noga

My yoga teacher is out of town this week and even though there is a sub, I'm skipping Level 2 today because it just wouldn't be the same. I'm going to work on the house, on getting rid of all clothes that are not flattering or don't fit or that I don't wear. I will be ruthless.

I got new photos taken for work yesterday. It was very fun. I was feeling good after a yoga class, then I went and got my hair done. I love having my make up done. There is something so soothing about having someone brush and dab at your face for half an hour (except the mascara part which almost made me puke for some reason) and then you look at yourself in the mirror and your face is smooth and flawless and radiant and you look like a news anchor woman. I immediately wanted to buy all of the make up that made me look like that, but I didn't.

Then we did some head shots, and went outside for some more photos. Here's me and me with the photographer and the make up artist. What a fun day!

Please note, my face is not usually that color. It's just the extra makeup for the photos.

Food Prep & Picture Day

I still haven't done any cardio today. Whatever germs are in my throat are still there and are not compatible with heavy breathing. So I went to Whole Foods and got my groceries for the week: broccoli, golden beets, asparagus, shrimp, artichokes, lemon, chicken thighs, broccoli rabe, scallops, arugula, and a wall of Fage yogurt. I have lots of grains and beans in my pantry, so I was all set with those.  

This was the cranberry pecan roll I had on my way home. When I got home, my lunch was a piece of pork loin and broccoli stir fried with Braggs, hot sesame oil and 5 spice powder. Lovely and light.  

Afterwards, I cooked the beets, cubed them, and put them in tupperware for the week. I also cooked the 2 artichokes and took out the spikey things from the middle so I can eat them when I want to, I also made a pot of brown rice, and roasted the asparagus. This will give me lots of choices for lunches and dinner this week. I think dinner tonight will be scallops, roasted asparagus and brown rice.

This is the odd dog who tries to shove into small places to be next to people. I was lying on the couch and he was trying to get very close to me, but was really almost pushing me off the sofa.
I will do some upper body work tonight, and at least go for a small walk with the dog (not that dog. That is The Boy's dog. My dog is normal but not nearly as photogenic), but other than that I will take it easy.  I'm just cleaning and doing laundry (hoping the things on the line dry before tonight), and wishing I had more tupperware or zip-lock bags so I could prep the broccoli rabe.  

Lazy Sunday

Not too lazy, we did manage to get in a 45 minute walk at the park on Driftway with the dogs who found this puddle to jump and play in. Note to self: bring towels when taking the dogs to the park in the rain.  And I did some plank and side plank (inside, not out in the rain.)

We ate well - tacos on Saturday night with some of the grass fed beef from the farm, and a bit of lemon sherbet for dessert. Then he made omelets with pesto for breakfast this morning, and we had the leftover taco fixings over lettuce for lunch.

Now I've got to wash some dishes and think of things for lunch this week. I think that Farro will be the Grain of the Week, and I have some broccoli to cook, along with some cauliflower.

Dinner will maybe be an artichoke and I don't know what else yet.

More Dining

Amy loves her Bun! 
Jess wants to love her Pad Thai, but it is too spicy. So it gets packed up for Amy's husband. 
Jess loves her Bun! It is not too spicy. It is just right. 
Leanna loves her Pho and tries to pose, and then wonders why her shoulders are lopsided.  

Second Walk or Don't Always Believe The Map

We started out well - we had a map, we had a plan. And the map was great for a while. And then it decided to stop working, and the path (which was not on the map) we were on through the woods of Turkey Hill took us here (not quite the woods we had in mind):


So our nature walk turned into walking down a rather busy road past a very busy ice cream hut:



until we finally reached the Great Swamp: (that's me)



This is Jess




The walk turned out to be 90 minutes. There were lots of up hills, very pretty woods, no bugs and perfect temperature.

My planned trip to Whole Foods afterwards to get zucchini to make Black Bean and Corn Wontons was aborted due to Tired Legs and Dread of Crowds. Now I'm lying in bed with my feet up and feeling quite accomplished for the day.

You can read Jess's version of our adventure on her blog.

Chocolate Nibs and Farro Grains

Sometimes the afternoon post brings just the right thing. Like a little box of organic raw chocolate from Snake & Butterfly Chocolate, a new little operation in California. The camera didn't really capture the funky little designs on the top of the smaller piece; the larger piece has chocolate nibs which is what the texture on top is.  The camera also failed to capture the lovely, smooth, dark chocolate taste, the kind that satisfies you with just a small piece. 


Lunch was at Burton's Grill and I had a chicken dish with Farro, which is one of my favorite whole grains. It is like a very chewy oat or barley type of grain. You can find it at Whole Foods but try not to look at the price on the package because I think it is $7.00 for a pound.  However,  it is filling and healthy, and well worth it.  Burton's is a nice place because the servings are normal sized and not some gigantic thing that you either force yourself to finish and then feel gross, or take home "for dinner" but really eat in between lunch and dinner because really it was part of your lunch.  I wish I had remembered to take a picture of my lunch, it was quite pretty.  

My Very Own Fitness Blog

Everyone else has one apparently, so I wanted one, too.

As for the title, well, I love beets, I love butter and I love mountaintops. And one of my goals is to be here around the end of August, with warm up trips to Lafayette (one of my favorites) and perhaps my old faithful friend Kinsman.

I don't count points or eat anything sugar free, "lite", or "diet." I do eat grass fed beef, pastured eggs from one of a few farms near me, real butter (although less of that since I stopped eating english muffins), beets, kale, arugula, coffee, brown rice, sushi, chocolate chips for dessert, and whatever else I think my body wants to eat. Another goal is to really listen to my body when it tells me what it wants to eat (and doesn't want to eat.) Lately it seems to want yellow foods - gold beets and grape fruit. And it really wants the farm stand to open so I can have baby arugula. Nothing like the bitter greens of spring to cleanse the liver. Ooh, and the raw goat milk that will be ready in May.

I will tell you at some point how much I weigh, and what my measurements are - maybe, but I will definitely keep you up to date on what I'm doing, eating and accomplishing. And in later posts I explain how I came to be this heavy, and what I think of it.

The golden beets of happiness. Boiled, then cubed with salt and pepper. They are the perfect addition to any meal.
Tonight's dinner, prepared in my tiny kitchen. The stove and counter are all one piece so dishes cannot be drying at the same time food is being prepared. It makes me be more tidy, less cluttery. I wish for a smaller cutting board. Anyway this is what it is: 1 piece of sirloin (fat trimmed and given to the dog), some onion, peppers, kale all seared with salsa, the wrapped in a tortilla (or 3) with more salsa. Less meat than I normally use, but they were perfect. The onion I chopped was too much, so I now have some partially cooked onion waiting to be made into something else.
mmmmmm. a few chocolate chips for dessert topped everything off perfectly. And since all the cool kids are cutting back on their wine intake, I figure I might try that as well. So, just water with dinner.

Other changes I've made so far:

1. I have not eaten english muffins with butter in 3 weeks. These were the bookends of my days but then I ran out (after years of making sure I never ran out of those whole wheat english muffins) and the world didn't end so I wrap my eggs in a tortilla now, and I have no need to snack on tortillas, unlike the english muffins which were pretty much the yummiest things in the world when spread with butter and sprinkled with salt. You'd think that having given them up might have lead to some weight loss, but no, it seemed to lead to a 3 pound gain.
   
   
2. I clean my kitchen before I go to bed. This means I also fix my lunch - which is usually brown rice, a vegetable (kale and beets are this week's choices) and then chicken, shrimp or steak, although I might make some chick pea curry for one of the days this week. I like a sort of routine with what I eat.
   
   
3. I walk every morning for at least 30 minutes, and longer on the weekends.
   
   
4. I go to bed early (it is 8:41 pm and I'm posting from bed) and get up early (alarm is set for 5:30 am, I'll probably be up by 5:45.)
   
   
5. I've actually gone to bed feeling a little bit hungry the past few nights.