What to do with a grey Sunday morning.

Hike, of course. No need for suncreen, and the trails are much quieter. Somehow even though it's only 60 degrees and there was a light mist, I still managed to sweat my tail off. That is why I do not like summer. I think my internal thermostat is set higher than most people's. Which sadly doesn't translate into higher metabolism, just a bright red face and more sweat. But there were some lovely cool breezes. And there were no bugs, thank heaven.

Anyway, you can see the trail map here. If you see where Exit 2 is off the highway, I took the red trail to the observation tower, then the upper blue line trail to the big star (State Police & reservation HQ) then the lower blue trail back, and the red trail back to my car. It took 2:45, and as you can see from the elevation lines it involved lots of up and down. I had my hiking poles with me this time and was so thankful for them. Hiking as a 4 legged creature instead of 2 legged one makes my knees very happy, and gives a good arm workout, too.

Since I hike alone, I often just have random thoughts running through my head, and for part of this hike I imagined that I owned a little cabin up in the White Mountains and I imagined how I would decorate it. It would have been (or will be, you never know) really cute.

I had cereal before I left, a little of the veggie pie on the hike and some blueberries and strawberries (including some little blueberries that I picked!), and then had an english muffin with avocado on it when I got home.

Dinner might be shrimp, tagliatelle and leeks with roasted broccoli on the side.

Market Scores

This morning's take from the market:

Mint (for the jicima salad)

Broccoli

Kale

A pretty little pottery dish for my salt

Zucchini

Breakfast was Barbara's Shredded Oats, lunch was a little of last night's dinner (mahi mahi and fingerling potatoes) mixed with some broccoli and some freeze-dried blueberries. Dinner will be something involving those veggies. Maybe a veggie pie?

My house needs cleaning, and I'm going to bike or walk or something before the day is over. The sun is finally out after weeks of rain.

I'm in Cleveland, Metaphorically, But Not For Long!

You know when you start out on a road trip, like from Boston to San Francisco, and you're all excited. You stock up on everything you need - snacks, water, music, maps, money and you hit the road in high spirits determined to get to your destination. And then after a while, you're in Cleveland. Your water is gone, your snacks are lost under the seat, your legs hurt, you're tired, you're hungry and you have to pee. And you're in Cleveland.

So what do you do when you end up in Cleveland? Do you think, "well I tried to get to California and I failed, I guess I'll go home." Do you think "It's going to take me a really long time to get to California. Cleveland seems nice. I think I'll just stay here." Or do you say "Let's find a hotel, clean out the car, restock our snacks in the morning, fill the gas tank and get the heck out of Cleveland!"

Well, I'm getting out of Cleveland (and leaving .6 pounds behind from my 2 week stay here). No offense to those who like it, but I'm outta here. I have restocked my kitchen with fruit and fish, will be picking up some veggies tomorrow at the farmer's market, will be drinking more water even when I'm at home (for some reason I only remember to drink water when I'm out and about), and will be biking or walking or yogaing this weekend no matter what the skies decide to throw at me.

Goodbye Cleveland, I'll see you in Davenport! (wait, that doesn't sound right.) I'll see you in Des Moines! (hmm, not really feeling that either.) You know what, I'm just going to be driving west on Rte. 80, beep if you see me.

Dinner Yum!

Sometimes I get my dinner inspiration from a Twitter friend who tweets about work during the day, and dinner at night. Tonight, she said she was making this for dinner:

Tagliatelle With Leeks And Shrimp Recipe. And when I saw it was a recipe from Lidia's Italian Table I knew it would be very tasty, and it was! Sadly, I left my phone/camera at work so there is no photo, but it was pretty and pink and green and gold. The sauce was made by simmering the stock down, so not too much butter or cheese was needed. And I added some crushed red pepper for a little zing.

I also bought some jicama. It is really best mixed with some lime juice, chili powder and mint and eaten as a salad, but I'm snacking on a little of it in an attempt to get a little more fiber for the day. It tastes a bit like a raw potato. I think that maybe it will be best to save it for some sort of salad tomorrow, as I don't want to ruin the memories of my lovely dinner with the taste of raw potato.

As far as plans for moving tonight - probably going to be some bedtime yoga.

One Foot In Front of the Other

This is how I will get where I want to be. It would have been easy to say "oh, I burned all the calories I need to for the week on Sunday so I can cut back on my exercise," but that wouldn't have propelled me any further down this path.  So, yesterday morning I did some gentle hatha yoga (then lay in bed and watched movies in the afternoon because my knees and feet were killing me so I just envisioned all my cells repairing and restoring themselves) then this morning I got up and back into my routine of a morning walk with the dog.  

I was very glad to find that my cells had indeed restored themselves and I am not achy at all any more.  

Breakfast: eggs on toast. 

Lunch: carrots, ham & cheese on an english muffin with avocado. 

Dinner: ? Fajitas maybe? Lentil something or other? 

Hungry!

Clearly my body is still trying to make up for the fantastic calorie burn yesterday, as I am starving (or else my body is gearing up for winter since it is 56 degrees and pouring rain out). I had a normal breakfast at 8 (whole wheat english muffin with avocado) and by 10:30 I was eating my lunch (ham and cheese on whole wheat bread).  Now it is 2:30 and I am famished. There is some flat bread pizza that I'm reheating and hoping that a nice combo of carbs, protein and fats will keep me sated for a while.  

I might also need a nap. 

Putting the Mountains in "Beets, Butter & Mountaintops"

The view from Bald Peak to the Mt. Kinsman summit. 
I finally made it to the mountains. It rained all week last week and I wasn't going to go to New Hampshire for the weekend because I thought it would just rain up there, but it didn't! It was a little grey and cloudy, but it was perfect hiking weather. 

The trail head was .6 miles from the lodge (it used to be .4 miles but we found it had been relocated .2 miles down the road.)  So, we walked a ways before starting the hike. (Someone dropped a car off for us at the trail head so we could drive back. Heaven.)  

This hike was the inaugural climb for my 4 year old niece and 1.5 year old nephew, who alternately walked, were carried or rode in some form of carrier.  When hiking with small children you cannot rely on book-time to determine how long of a hike you will take.  This hike to Bald Peak, including the walk to the trail head, took about 5 hours. Book time was 2 hours. But the pace did not seem overly slow, and the grown ups appreciated the rest stops and seeing a 4 year old with a little backpack and hiking pole trekking along singing quietly to herself makes for a rather nice hike.  

The trail was very pretty with lots of brook crossings, and at the top we were visited by a very large Newfoundland dog named Bella who apparently made the trip a few times a week with her owner.  

My feet hurt, which I think may be from my hiking shoes. They seem to make the soles of my feet hurt. And I then drove home for 3 hours after the hike which resulted in stiff muscles and my limping around Whole Foods as I picked up some provisions.  But I feel good today and hopefully some yoga tonight will help loosen things up. 

We now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Caloric Intake

I was in the city yesterday which meant that my little routine of lunch and dinner was altered and I ended up eating out for those 2 meals. I also ended up getting about 45 minutes of fast walking in as I trotted around the city from the train to my destinations and back again.  

I ate at UFood Grill for lunch, which is healthy fast food. And healthy doesn't even need to be quotes, because it was. But I had a rather high calorie (and delicious) falafel wrap.  Then I went here for dinner and had steak tips. (that's what my dinner looked like, including the little rosemary sprig) And a Harpoon IPA. Both of which were again delicious, but pushed my caloric intake up over what I generally like it to be for the day.  

So, this morning, I tracked yesterday's calories in Sparkpeople, estimating dinner as best I could and then I moved on.  

My hamstrings are very stiff and sore from one of my yoga workouts combined with sitting in a conference for 7 hours yesterday.  And today I'll be sitting in a car for 3+ hours. But then I will be at the moutains and hiking, even if it's pouring rain.  So I'll try to stretch them gently today and do some walking before my drive so I'm not hobbling about tomorrow. 

Yogaaaaah

I'm loving the YogaDownload podcasts (except for the way one of the instructors rolls her "r"s when saying chaturanga.) Today was yoga for weight loss, which had a lot of "chin locks" meaning you tuck your chin to the notch between your collar bones during certain poses to stimulate the thyroid. For the well endowed that becomes more difficult during inverted poses since tucking your chin into your chest is either impossible or makes it difficult to breath, but the workout it self was a good invigorating one. It ends with plow and shoulderstand which are 2 of my favorite poses.  

Breakfast was 2 eggs on toast. Lunch is...I'm not sure. Carrots, couscous, maybe there is a chicken thigh in the freezer? 

Spa Meal

This is the kind of meal that I always think they would serve at Canyon Ranch.  "Wild caught turbot fillet (5 oz) over a bed of whole wheat couscous (3/4 cup) accompanied by local asparagus and roasted sweet potatoes." Although I'm not sure if they'd have the Sam Adams to go along with it. 

It is so pretty and tasty and healthy (700 cals for the whole thing including the beer. 64 grams of carbs if you count those, and 8 grams of fiber.) And it was fast to prepare, which was good since I was hungry.  The veggies roasted in about 15 minutes, the couscous was done in 5, the turbot in 6 or so. 

I must highly recommend this meal, or something like it. 

And the nice thing about an early dinner is that if/when I do yoga later, it will have had time to digest and not be sitting in my stomach while I attempt bow pose. 

Carrots and Bunnies

I decided that the best way to carry my carrots to work was in a little bag with bunnies on it. Thankfully the bunnies did not eat the carrots. And the sandwich wanted to be in a bag, too, so it's in the pretty blue and brown one.  I found a little hummus in the fridge to accompany the carrots. Chick peas are much better blended with tahini and olive oil. And it got my fiber intake up to where it needs to be for the day. And it's delicious.  

The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow

I sometimes have to force myself to not go to bed before 9 since I will usually then wake up around 3am which isn't fun. But yesterday I did my YogaDownload Lunar Flow which was so relaxing I was in bed at 8:45 and asleep by 9:30. And I slept like a rock the entire night, until 5:30 when I woke up to listen to the birds for a while, then got up and walked the dog. 

Dinner last night - I wasn't overly hungry when I got home so I started with a  Sam Adams Blackberry Wittbier (Wheatbeer) which was yummy and not too sweet. Then I had an open faced tuna sandwich on my whole wheat no-knead bread with some chopped up pickled jalapenos in it. Yum! 

I need to find some more veggies, and get some more fruit because at the end of the day Sparkpeople is telling me that I have not had enough carbs and some days I've not had enough fiber. And then I don't get all green check marks, and I am motivated by green check marks. 

Today's plan:

Breakfast - I think eggs and mushrooms, maybe in a whole wheat tortilla. 

Lunch: PB&J. Carrot sticks. 

Dinner: Couscous, asparagus and turbot from Trader Joes. 

See, only 3 servings of veggies there. Maybe I'll make some slaw out of the cabbage at dinner. And have some dried cherries as a snack. We'll see what Sparkpeople thinks of this plan, and make adjustments as necessary.  

Have a great day! 

I don't really like whole chick peas

I think I knew this.  But now I'm picking at my lunch trying to avoid the chick peas and just get asparagus and cous cous. But I do have some mozzarella sticks that I can eat instead, and when I get home I will plan my lunches for the week so that I don't end up with this very weird combo again. 

Alright, I just put the whole lunch away. It was starting to gross me out.  So a little of the salad and 2 oz. of mozzarella will have to get me through until I get home.  

Bridge to Somewhere

 I started doing the free 25 minute sessions from YogaDownload. The instructor talks kind of fast but they are a good workout.  I did a gentle yoga session last night and slept like a rock afterwards. This morning I did the Morning Flow yoga which was full of back-bends like Bridge, Locust, Wheel (which I can't do yet), some Warrior poses then Plow & Shoulder stand to end. It was nice and energizing and a great way to start the day. 

And I just realized that I have a YinYoga DVD from netflix that I can do tonight.  

Breakfast was 1/2 a piece of wheat bread before yoga, then the rest of the kale/cabbage frittata chopped up. It was about 2 eggs worth.  Lunch is a room temp. salad of whole wheat cous cous, asparagus, chickpeas & 1/2 a small avocado.  I had not prepared it last night, so it was pretty much created out of things that could be cooked in 5 minutes or less. 

Now time to start the work day. I wonder if the rain will stay away to allow for a little after work bike ride. 

Of Cabbages and Things

I made a bacon, kale, and cabbage fritatta yesterday.  That used up a few leaves of the giant cabbage, and was very yummy.  

Then I made some flatbread pizza for dinner with some cabbage ribbons on it. That was kind of weird.  I was going to make some stuffed cabbage leaves but that seems like a lot of work. For now the giant leaves are sitting in a bowl in my living room since my kitchen is too small to hold them and me at the same time. 

There's bread in the oven, which I am waiting for so that I can have some for lunch.  Making food from scratch is a good way to manage your eating, since you have to wait a while for things to be done.  Of course that only works if you don't keep anything else in the house to eat.  

Little else to report here. Tracking on Sparkpeople continues. Fitting into smaller pants continues. Lack of aerobic exercise hopefully coming to an end soon. 

Moving in the right direction

My scale and I, that is. Down 4 pounds. 30 to go.  And I seem to have hit the nice stride where I'm able to plan my meals and know what works to get me through the day (and what doesn't.)  

I have a gigantic leafy cabbage sitting in my living room. It's a thing of beauty, and now I get to figure out some cabbage recipes. Maybe moo shi something. Or kim chi. I had one leaf chopped up in a veggie fajita last night, but I'll need to eat more than that.  No wonder so many cultures have fermented cabbage as part of their diet. They had to preserve it since it grows so large.  It appears as though I need some sort of crock and perhaps a wooden mallet to pound the fermenting cabbage.  If I drew or was a photographer, I think I would draw a lot of pictures of this cabbage, or take its photo. It's weird to think that it started as a tiny seed and turned into this giant thing just from dirt and compost and sunlight.  I am not sure why this cabbage has touched me so, but it has. 

I haven't really been exercising too much. I do my sit ups and lift my hand weights most mornings, and I walk with the dog in the morning. The sun is back out after a week of grey and rain so there might be a bike ride in the works. And I have to see if I can remember how to heave the kayak up onto the top of my SUV without having it fall on me like I was Brett Michaels at the Tony Awards. 

For now, I'm finishing my coffee and then I'll go and see if there are any eggs at the farm (my landlady put the kibosh on my chicken project, she's getting on in years and the idea of chickens made her "uncomfortable"...) so I'll keep supporting my local farm for now.  

Avocados are not local

Avocados are not local but I don't care. I have taken to eating about 4 of them a week. They are cute little organic California avocados from Trader Joe's. And 1/3 of a cup (1/2 of the avocado) has 5 grams of fiber. It also has 11 grams of healthy fats.  And it makes an amazing spread for my whole wheat English muffin with a little salt and pepper.  

The other half can be mashed up and used as a dip for carrot sticks, or added to a fajita at dinner. Or served along side some seared shrimp. 

The days I have avocados I stay fuller longer and I like to think they improve my skin. And they just taste so good. I remember my grandmother serving a 1/2 an avocado on a plate, drizzled with olive oil and topped with salt and pepper (yum!) and I remember when I was little and my dad gave me a little slice of avocado to try and I thought it was slightly weird but also good. And I remember when I lived in California and avocados grew on trees (literally) and they were in all the sandwiches and everywhere. 

This post has been brought to you by the National Avocado Appreciation Society. Of which I am now the president. And founder. Or this post was brought to you by not quite enough coffee yet. 

Anyway, I love the avocado and I highly recommend adding it to your daily menu.

This is How We Do It

We* just get up every day and put our shoes on and walk.  Whether or not we feel like it.  Whether or not we want to.  Although most of the time we want too. We plan our meals and our choices. We get the bike out of the shed and ride it. We just do these things. We become one of those people that you see who does those things. We realize that it feels good to move and be mindful of what is going into our bodies.  

*The royal "we." 

So, today I got up and put my shoes on and walked. Then after breakfast I did a resistance band workout for my arms.  Even after just one week of these renewed habits I can see and feel a difference.  

Just like a triathlon!

Sort of. 

I walked this morning with the dog and my coffee.  Well, first I rolled out of bed and onto the floor and did my sit-ups and some lifting of my 10 pound weights. It helps me wake up, and makes me think I'm still sleeping since I'm lying down.  

Then I make the coffee and put it in a travel mug and go out to walk with the dog. Sometimes I see my neighbor with his coffee and we do the coffee wave to each other. 

After work I had an errand to run, and I decided to take my bike. And wear my bathing suit under my clothes just in case the water was warm enough for a swim. And it was. It was refreshing and breath-taking and I can't wait for my after work swims. (Note to self: do not wear grey t-shirts to swim or you will look like a lactating mother on the bike ride home.) 

So, I walked and biked and swam today and it feels great! 

Well, Hello There

I tried to make a smoothie this morning out of greek yogurt and frozen blueberries and raspberries. It needs work. I think greek yogurt is too thick for smoothies and I had no orange juice to thin it out, so I added a little water. It's rather tart. But it's full of antioxidents and fiber, so I guess it will do. 

I've taken to rolling out of bed and onto the floor to do my sit-ups in the morning. That way I'm sure to get them done.  Then the dog and I go for a walk, (I bring my coffee in a travel mug) and we both have a nice start to the day. 

Things I'm learning: 

1. Avocados are delicious, and have fiber in them. 

2. Sparkpeople has a free iPhone app! 

3. A 20 minute walk in the a.m. +  a 20 minute walk in the evening + 25 minutes of yoga before bed = over an hour of exercise effortlessly integrated into the day! 

4. If I don't have about 900 calories between breakfast, lunch and a snack I come home from work famished and cranky.  Knowing this, I can make sure to plan so that I have enough calories throughout the day, and can prepare dinner at a normal pace. 

Long Day

I have a long day ahead of me. Work and then a meeting in Waltham until 8 or so, meaning I won't be home until 9. And since all this week I've been going to bed at around 8:30, I hope I can stay awake. 

I went for a walk for about 20 minutes last night. I didn't exercise in the morning because I used all my exercise time looking for something I had hidden away to keep safe but then needed.  But I did do a bunch of trips up and down the stairs trying to find it, so maybe that counted a little.  The truth is sometimes when I get into slug-mode, I just stay there. And then my skin feels sensitive to cold and I am sick of bundling up to go walking and my bedroom is freezing and I don't want to turn the heat on anymore but yoga in socks and a hat is inconvenient.  It looks like tomorrow will be very warm, so maybe I'll leave work a little early and go walk in the woods.  And there is YogaDance next Friday which I will go to. 

That said, I'm going to put on my shoes and go for a walk soon. After I finish this coffee. 

Stress

Today was a stressful day, but has ended well. Lots of work to do, and last minute tax stuff to deal with. But, since my word of the year is "AWAKE" it is good to pay attention to my stress and my money stuff and deal with things head-on. So I did. And because I had again planned my meals in advance, there was one less thing for me to think about.  

Breakfast, after about 20 minutes of a self-led yoga practice, was raisin bran and milk. I had an orange before yoga, which was much better than having cereal first, so my stomach was not all sloshy during down dogs. 

Lunch was similar to yesterday: 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/3 cup pinto beans, 2 cut up hot dogs, and a few ounces of roasted aspargus from last night. 

Dinner will be cooked by The Boy: grilled ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches and a beer. Or two. 

My brain is tired now and I'm leaving work. 

Monday Evening

I loved having all my meals planned out today. I took some time last night to plan out breakfast (raisin bran and milk) lunch: 1/2 cup of pinto beans, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup of roasted cauliflower and broccoli. 

And then dinner: 

I made about 5 oz. of the steak, 3 of the potatoes and a little more than 1/2 the asparagus. The veggies were drizzled with oil and roasted on high heat for about 25 minutes. The steak was seared on a stove top grill about 3 minutes per side. It is very tasty and filling and goes fantastically with the Sam Adams Scotch Ale. 

I also have some dough rising from the No-Knead Recipe from The New York Times. I started it last night, and it will be done tonight. I make it with 1/3 white, 1/3 whole wheat, and 1/3 rye flour. The rye doesn't add that weird rye flavor, but it does add more flavor.  Dessert may be a small slice with butter. 
And in case any one is interested in the calorie counts: 

Breakfast: around 300. 

Lunch: around 350 

Snack: orange at work (90) hardboiled egg upon arriving home (80) 

Dinner, including beer and bread: 850. Since I tend to eat more at night when left to my own devices, I usually find that scheduling more of my calories for the evenings works better when I'm tracking. 

Calories were 50% from carbs, 25% from fat, 25% from protein. 

I am still working on getting back on track with my working out. I started to do yoga this morning but 15 minutes into it I got annoyed and stopped.  I'm not worried. I know that it will turn into a habit again if I keep doing it. And if I can get up at 6 every morning so I have 1 hour for coffee and waking up, 1 hour for exercise and writing, and then an hour to get ready and get to work. 

Preparing for the Week

I'm preparing my fridge and myself for the week ahead. By making everything myself, I know what's in it and can easily track it in Sparkpeople.  
Some hard boiled eggs for a quick snack.

Asparagus that has been washed and the ends snapped off. I chopped half of it for steaming and adding to lunches, and left the rest whole for roasting for dinner.

An assortment of citrus for breakfast and lunches.

Pinto Beans. This recipe from The Pioneer Woman is so simple and so delicious. It has a couple of chopped up bacon ends in it for flavor. They are simmering away on the stove right now and smell heavenly.

Brown rice is on the stove, too. Made with veggie bullion.

Roasted broccoli and cauliflower, adapted from The Amateur Gourmet. This recipe is fantastic, I don't usually add cheese because I forget, but it's amazing if you add some shrimp to make a dinner.
This is my trusty little scale.  
And these are the chicks that I went and visited at the feed store. I'm getting 6 (0r maybe 8) in a month or so, so that I can have fresh eggs and cute little friends who run around my yard saying bock-bock. 

On the Importance of Tracking

Yesterday there were not so many green check marks on my Sparkpeople page. I had a fine breakfast (a little higher in cals than normal) and lunch, came home from work feeling peckish, had some toast with fresh mozzarella, snacked on a piece of cake, opened a beer and then tracked my calories and discovered that was it for the day, folks. All used up. Hmm. Ok then. 

I looked at the kinds of food I'd eaten, realized that I was within my ranges for protein, carbs, fats (a little over, but the day before was a bit under) and that I was not hungry and decided that I was done eating for the day.  My beer was a lovely Sam Adams Honey Porter which took me an hour or more to drink, so that tided my tongue over until it caught up with my stomach. 

I'm noticing that when I start tracking my food, I get better about tracking my money. I love charts and things like that to show me my progress.  When you are out of money, if you keep spending you are just getting into debt. And when you've reached the end of your calorie allotment for the day, if you keep eating, you're getting into calorie debt. 

Without tracking, I would have had my little bread and cheese snack and then just counted that as a an appetizer and would have gone on to fix something else for dinner.  By tracking, I was forced to just sit and think - "ok, this says I've eaten enough calories for the day. Let's see, do I feel like that is true? Yes, actually, I do. Ok, lets move on to something else."  I need the outside information to help me calibrate my inside information.  

Plan for the day: eggs & toast for breakfast, trip to the dump, Lunch Party at my mom's with more cake and planning for chicken coop building. 

Pizza and Beer and Shake Your Soul

That's what I had for dinner last night, and managed to still get happy green check marks from Sparkpeople. I make my own pizza, so I know exactly what goes it in and can easily track the calories, etc. I brought 1/3 of a batch of dough over to The Boy's house and we made mushroom and onion pizza. And had Mayflower Golden Ale. It was the perfect combo.

And I can't remember if I ever told you how much I loved my trip to Kripalu last fall, but I have found a program I want to return for: Tribal Jam. 5 days of dancing my little heart out. I used to look at the Kripalu YogaDance/Danskinetics as something "other" people did. And when I was there for 5 days in the fall, the first day I thought "I'm not doing that, it will be a bunch of weird people dancing around." But then the friends I'd made convinced me to go. Our teacher was Daniel Leven of Shake Your Soul. It's hard to describe, but I can say that my life changed while I was dancing. I actually had the thoughts "if everyone did this, there would be no war" and "I think my life's purpose is to dance." That's how good it makes you feel - good enough that your brain thinks weird things and you don't find them weird at all.

When I came back home I searched for more YogaDance and found it. Granted it was an hour away but I didn't care. The instructor has live drummers to lead our dancing, and we move and sweat and laugh and dance.  

Breakfast is toast and butter, lunch - the remaining 2 oz. of pulled pork, whole wheat cous cous, green beans & okra. Yum. 

Short Report

My alarm went off at 6, but I didn't get up until almost 7, which is later than I like when I'm fitting exercise into my morning. I can feel it in my arms and hamstrings that I did yoga yesterday. In my sleepy haze before coffee I put on my walking clothes and socks so I was ready to go outside after coffee. A nice 35 minute walk. I'm working on mapping out some walking routes near my house so I don't have to do the same thing every day, and can have a variety of lengths and routes to choose.

Lesson The First (and Second)

Today we learned two things:

1. How to Plan for Dinner When You Have a Late Client Meeting (yes, 6pm is late to me. And I have a 7pm in 2 weeks. What was I thinking? I'm usually in my pj's by 8.)

2. How to Deal When Someone Gives You a Cookie.

We'll start with Lesson 2. You say thank you. You eat the cookie. Because it is homemade and yummy. Then you put in Sparkpeople that you ate a cookie. And you give thanks for the Passover that caused the cookie to have to go out of the home and wander the lands until it found its way into your belly.

Lesson 1. You pack a small and interesting assortment of high protein foods for dinner to keep you full but not stuffed. I packed my little Bento Themos with 2 hard boiled eggs, some pickles (the fresh pickles from Whole Foods), carrot sticks, and almond butter. Then I ate the carrot sticks after lunch and forgot about the almond butter, so I used the cookie to eat that. It was a dear little dinner that lacked for nothing.

I am now home from my client meeting and having a lovely Harpoon Dark Beer. According to Sparkpeople I am well within the ranges for calories, fat, protein, carbs and fiber for the day. And I feel perfectly not hungry/not full. Just right.

Planning for Success

So, last night after weighing my sweet potato and deciding that a hot dog would go really well with it (both things dipped in ketchup, yum) I figured I'd plan my meals for today. After all, I plan my work day with a to-do list to keep me on track, so why no plan my meals as well.

I decided that breakfast would be raisin bran cereal, and lunch is a tuna sandwich and some green beans. One thing that tracking is showing me (which I sort of already knew) is that I need more fruit and veggies in my day. Thankfully the organic farm will open soon which will make that much easier to do. I have to meet with a client at 6pm, so I need to figure out something to eat around 5:30.

I walked yesterday at 8am, which is sort of too late, so this morning I started my yoga at 7:30, done by 8. I did sun salutations with Shiva Rea, which is always nice. Each day I can start a little earlier, so that ideally I'm starting at 7.

I'm going to experiment with taking sneakers to work today and taking a walk down to the end of the street at some point during the day. I think it might be good to get the fresh air and movement during the day.

Hopefully future entries will be much more exciting but I'm feeling sleepy right now so this is it.

Tuesday Report

The thing about this is that it takes more time. Like the time to actually think about making a well rounded meal, the time to get out my little scale and weigh my food to get my eyes trained again (it turns out that 2.5 oz. of pulled pork is the perfect amount for lunch, 6 oz of broccoli is a little much, and 1/2 cup couscous is just right.) The time to keep the kitchen clean so that there are pots and pans and tupperware to use for lunches. The time to weigh a sweet potato (8oz) check on Sparkpeople what the nutrition is (200 calories) then try to figure out what will go with it to make a cohesive dinner and not just a patchwork of foods designed to meet my nutritional needs for the day. I know once I get into the flow of it I will be fine, but this is like if I had to check my bank balance before I spent money and then make sure I was spending it in the places I needed to be so I ..... wait a minute, I may be onto something here.

Anyway, I walked for 40 minutes this morning and dinner is a sweet potato and some other stuff. 

We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I'm reading back over my Sparkpeople Journals from last year at this time, to see what I was eating, when I was exercising, to try to get back on track. I appeared to eat a lot of egggs, oat meal, chick peas, shrimp, beets and couscous. It's nice to have the old meals to look back on, so that I can just recreate them now instead of trying to figure it all out from scratch again.

A Series of Unfortunate Events last year caused my weight to be the least important thing. It still isn't important, but what is is being strong and flexible and healthy - and getting in touch with what and how much and when I eat is part of that. As is remembering when I used to exercise, and learning to make it part of my life again. And I know that using something that tracks what I do really works for me. It works for getting my work done at my job, and it works for making sure I'm doing what I need to do at home.

My sneakers are sitting by the door, with my socks on them. I remember that having my socks near my sneakers helped me get out and walk. So, I keep a basket of socks by the door so I don't have to go back upstairs for socks when I want to walk.

Then I have to think about what to have for lunch. I have broccoli, some pork, some pickles and maybe a banana, too.

I'm going to commit to blogging here at least once a day for the remainder of April. And I'm going to commit to tracking at least one meal a day on Sparkpeople until the end of April. And I'm going to commit to going for a walk at 8a.m. this morning.

Yoga on a Sunday Morning

Yoga this morning. Shiva Rea Lunar Flow. 40 minutes of various vinyasas. I should have eaten a little before I started, since towards the end I was wobbly. Now I'm eating an oatmeal muffin. It is the Lynne's Muffin from Laurel's Kitchen. You soak the oats in buttermilk overnight. I ended up soaking them for a few days, and forgot to add raisins or sunflower seeds. And I'm having an apple that I picked a few weeks ago during an Apple Picking Trip. They have been stored in my unheated mud room, where my onions and potatoes live and are quite happy.

That's all I think. I have to get the clothes off the line.

When in Doubt - Roll it Out (Your Yoga Mat, That Is!)

Went to yoga again last night. Work is not my favorite thing these days - I keep feeling like I should be doing something other than what I am doing, and the twitch that was in one eye is now in both eyes so I figured some Lunar Flow/Yin yoga would be good. And it was. There were only 3 of us in the class, so we got lots of hands-on assists with the postures which I really like, even she had me drop down a little further in chair pose, or utkatasana. Your mind gets a little clearer when your quads are saying "hey, remember me?"

The Yin part of it was poses held for a minute or more. And you are relaxed into the pose so that your muscles can fully relax and stretch. It wasn't a strenuous, painful stretch, but finding your edge and holding it there and breathing. Then after a while of that, we moved to the Lunar Flow which was slowly flowing between poses, holding the poses for a breath or two or three. She helped us work on our alignment which is something I miss when I practice at home.

As we were lying in Savasana, the thought ran through my head "let's see, class is over at 6:45, then I'll go to the dining hall for dinner which ends at 7:30." My mind thought I was back at Kripalu for a moment, and when I realized that I was not there and would actually not be going down the hall for dinner, I got a little sad.

I bought a ten class card, so I will be going back again. The studio is warm and peaceful, and so far the instructors I've had have been quite good. And class ended with Om and Namaste, which I always like.

Kale, Egg and Tofu Dinner

Last night's dinner was a mix of things from the freezer and the fridge.  It started with a chopped up bunch of frozen kale.  I stocked up on this stuff over the summer at the farm stand, and will hopefully be able to get a few more bunches before they close for the season. I like the flat leaf kind the best, then the dinosaur kale, then the curly kind. I take it home and peel it off the stalks, and then put it in a zip lock bag and freeze it. I don't blanch it or anything, and it seems to work out fine. 

Then some tofu was pressed and fried with some rice (I cook a big batch of rice over the weekend and then eat it all week).   

The kale was added after the tofu was a little brown, then I sprinkled on some hot sesame oil (which I couldn't really taste) and a little teriyaki sauce and then added an egg at the end and dotted it with some sriracha sauce.  

The tofu did not have much flavor, since I didn't marinate it in anything and the bit of bacon fat I added to the pan didn't flavor it either.  But, it tasted fine and the texture was good. 

Late Lunch

Lunch was a odd meal today. I was rushing in the morning, and had eaten a lot of rice over the weekend so I wanted something else. I settled for a Trader Joe's chicken chili buger, and some blue and red potatoes that I had roasted over the weekend. The potatoes are from the organic farm nearby. I have been stocking up on them ($2.00 per pound) for the winter and have them hanging in bags in an unheated hallway so they will be happy for months to come.

Restorative Yoga

I went to Restorative Yoga class last night.  That is the kind of yoga in which you are supported by bolsters, pillows, blankets and other props so that you can fully relax into the poses.  What I found was that as my body become completely relaxed and my mind did not have to think about holding a pose - my heart opened more.  I kept finding that my eyes were tearing up, and occasionally a tear would roll down my face.  It was not disconcerting, I've been in yoga classes before where someone has started openly weeping, but it was interesting.  I think it was so quiet and still that whatever had been wandering around in there finally had a chance to come out.  

After Yoga it was Taco Night at the Boy's house. Ground beef and venison in a spicy sauce, wrapped up in a tortilla with crisp lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Yum!  

This morning's breakfast was another muffin with butter.  I think I should have had an egg or two with it, since I'm a little hungry now.  

Lunch report later. 

Breakfast

These muffins are the Lynne's Muffins from Laurel's Kitchen.  They are oatmeal, buttermilk, honey and sunflower seed muffins. Topped with butter that I made yesterday, honey from the organic farm, and a few grains of pink Hawaiian Sea Salt. 

I've been researching chickens on BackYardChickens.com . I've already figured out that I can have up to 15 without having to get a permit, but I will probably have 4 -6.  I'm figuring out how to make a strong, safe coop and run for them and was checking out the coop at the organic farm.  Theirs was much bigger and had about 25 chickens which all came out cooing when we went to check them out.  

I figure I have until February to build the coop, since that is generally when chickens are ordered. 

Same Blog, Different (slightly) Subject

If you subscribed to this blog back when it was a "weight loss" blog, you should know that I won't be posting about weight anymore. This blog's focus has changed to more of local eating and cooking blog, but I left most of the old posts since they were about food and cooking.  

Posts will be more along the lines of local eating, cooking from scratch and when spring rolls around, the chickens that I will be getting.  

Hope you enjoy it! 

A Return to the Kitchen

I've returned to the kitchen. The last few weeks (2 months) have again been riddled with the worst anxiety I've ever known.  I am hoping it is under control now.  And when you are dealing with adrenaline coursing through your veins, or where ever it courses, almost constantly, the last thing in the world that matters is how much you weigh. I would have taken 30 extra pounds to have felt better.  A side affect of all that anxiety was a complete aversion to food until I had to eat for fear of passing out - at which point I would try to eat something dense in calories like pizza or bread and butter.  There was about a week where I was eating nothing until dinner, and even then I was only getting about 800 calories.  And I didn't eat a I wasn't cooking, I wasn't preparing lunches, food was a chore, something to be choked down to keep me going. 

So, my weight loss has remained steady, maybe down a few pounds.  My exercise has mostly been walks with the dog, in between thunder and lightening storms.  (We are waiting for one to end now so we can head out.) The dog hates thunder, so she and I have been on a steady dose of Rescue Remedy.  I spray it in her water, and put it in mine. 

But today I bought groceries, and cooked them and ate them! I bought kale and froze it since it seems to wilt quickly, and cucumbers, zucchini, purslane which has more omega-3 fatty acids than any other vegetable, and chicken and bacon and yogurt. I got all the vegetables at the organic farm for $10.00.  What a bargain. 

These are the lovely pot stickers I made tonight:
The insides are ground turkey, ginger, garlic, egg whites, soy sauce, hot sesame oil, finely shredded napa cabbage (I used the food processor) and a few leaves of kale finely shredded. Broccoli minced in the food processor would be good, too. I got the little pot sticker maker in my stocking when I was young. I thought it was kind of odd at the time, but it turned out to be one of the best presents ever.
Here they are waiting to be put in the pan. The batch makes a lot. More than I can eat at once, so the rest I make and freeze on parchment paper, and then I put them in a zip-lock bag. They can made cooked from frozen, so they are a very easy, fast and healthy meal. And very fun to make.

Here they are sticking to the pan. First they are cooked with a little oil to get brown, then you throw in a 1/2 cup water and put the lid on so they can steam and cook for about 10 minutes, then you remove the lid to let the water all cook off. I just drizzle a little soy sauce on them, but I suppose you could make some sort of fancy dip.
They are one of my favorite meals. Other than the fajitas. But thinking about it, they are pretty similar to the fajita in that they are a meal all wrapped up in some sort of flour based container.  And they have kale in them. 

I have a feeling the dog and I will be walking in the rain tonight. But there are worse things than rain.  

What I've Been Up To

• Swimming on Saturday. Biked about 8 minutes to the beach and had a lovely swim. 
• Walking and trying to Swim on Sunday. Walked about 20 minutes to a different beach with the family, more waves and wind so not as much swimming. 
• Trying (and I believe succeeding) to get anxiety under control.  That sort of made whatever shape my body was in sort of irrelevant, which was why I haven't been blogging.  I've maintained my weight loss so far, but just not lost anymore. 
• Meditating on a semi-regular basis.
• Being very busy at work. 

I haven't kayaked this year yet, which is something on my list. And I haven't hiked yet. But I am working on my internal fitness as well as my external, and I have definitely been climbing some very high mountains in my mind!  

Alright, off to do my morning pages and to sit for a bit. 

Flying Bobs and Green Eggs

I went to the carnival last night with the boyfriend and his daughter.  She and I went on the Flying Bobs which was one of my favorite rides when I was younger.  It was SO MUCH FUN!! And much faster and scarier than I remember.  The only downside is that I have felt sick to my stomach since then. But it was still worth it. It felt like we were going to go flying off into space.
 
We walked down there, about a 10 or 15 minute walk, after having BLT's for dinner at his mom's house. It was a lovely lovely evening.

I slept in this morning, so no yoga. Breakfast was a banana muffin that the boyfriend's mom had given me the night before to take home for my breakfast . Lunch was this delightful mix of eggs, kale and garlic scapes from the organic farm. It tasted like a kale frittata and was quite good cold.  It looks kind of small sitting in the bowl, but it was 4 large kale leaves, 2 eggs and 3 garlic scapes and some olive oil. 

Depending on the weather and the tide, I might take a bike ride down to the beach for a swim after work.  

Lunch Time Report

The rice/bean/salsa mixture actually turned out well. I had wanted to saute some veggies and then simmer the beans with it for a while, but I didn't want to heat up the house so I will do that next time. This time I just drizzled some olive oil over the mix, which added some healthy fats. It is very tasty! And I bet some of those mango sausages that Amy wants to marry would go very well!

Yoga Mood-rah

More yoga this morning. This time it was 30 minutes from the Kripalu Moderate Yoga CD. Table poses and standing poses and some forward bends. My poor hamstrings were a bit shakey during some of the forward bends. I didn't realize that I'd stretched them so much with Seane Corn, but I guess I did. I was in a bit of a funk this morning and was hoping the yoga would lift my mood. I'm not sure if it did.

Breakfast was eggs, broken into the pan and scrambled with the spatula since I was too lazy to prescramble them. Lunch is an odd mixture of brown rice, black beans and salsa. I have some plain yogurt and raisins and a little peanut butter as a snack. It was starting to get hot in my house this morning, so I was just sort to throwing things into containers.

Sore Arms and

I can tell that I did yoga yesterday. All of those (that?) chaturanga are making themselves known in my triceps, and my hamstrings can tell that they did something yesterday and my sides know there were twists involved. It feels good, though.

The party was nice yesterday. We had hamburgers with homemade ketchup (not made by me) and some yummy goat cheese brought and some garden lettuce and lots of fun.

I slept until a little before 7 today, so I didn't walk but I did sit for about 10 minutes.

And because it was muggy and I didn't have any bread, I had no breakfast and couldn't figure out what to bring for lunch that didn't involve cooking. What I ended up with was a bowl to cook the mushroom soup that I have here at the office, and then I put some of the brown rice into the Bento with a dab of butter, and put some peanut butter and raisins in the other section of the Bento and figured that should get me most of the way through the day. I'm about to go heat up the brown rice for breakfast.

I might try tracking my calories on Sparkpeople again for a little while. Just for kicks.

Sunday Salutations

I went to the organic farm yesterday. They have eggs out at 11 am on Saturdays, but since there is usually a big line for them I decided to go at 11:30 and not bother with the eggs. Well, when I got there they were down to 2 bunches of kale! which I quickly bagged up, and then I turned around to see what else they had and there was a dozen eggs left! What luck! I also got some arugula, and garlic scapes which are the top of the garlic plant and a nice mild addition to a salad or stirfry. So, lunch was tofu, kale, garlic scapes, 1/2 a zucchini and an egg, over a bit of brown rice that I finally got around to making. It was very good. And I got a little bunch of sweet pea blossoms.

I walked yesterday for a bit, nothing strenuous, and I lifted my hand weights.

This morning I did 45 minutes of a 90 minute vinyasa flow with Seane Corn. I've embedded the video here so you can see that she talks quite fast and is much more intense then the soothing calm of Shiva Rea that I'm used to.


But the practice was nice once she settled down. She was good about making sure you were in the correct position of a pose before moving on, which is what I like. It was a sweaty workout, which was probably a combination of the actual workout and the humidity.

The plan for the day is to go to my mom's for a party, with the Boy and the Girl, and the rest of the family.

Still Moving

I walked this morning for 30 minutes. And I've decided to work from home today. Which means I can go to the farm stand at some point and get some more kale. And I can sit at a window and work and hope it doesn't get too hot.

Breakfast was walnut raisin bread. Lunch will most likely be tofu/kale/egg.

Frozen Tofu = Yum

After I made yesterday's lunch, I cut the rest of the tofu into 4 oz. blocks, and threw them in the freezer in zip lock bags. Freezing tofu makes for a firmer texture (and prevents the weird pink slime that grows on it if you don't eat it soon enough after opening the package.)

This morning I took the tofu out the thaw for maybe 1/2 hour, then rinsed it under warm water to get some of the ice off. Then I made the same lunch as yesterday - pan seared tofu (let it cook on its own for a while to get brown on a few sides), kale, garlic scapes, zucchini, and egg. Seasoned with Braggs, chinese 5 spice, and hot sesame oil. The texture of the tofu was much better today. I think next time I will press it before I freeze it.

Up too late to walk today, but I did sit and meditate for about 7 minutes. Breakfast was walnut raisin bread with buffalo butter (non-homemade). I am committing to 1000 minutes of exercise for the month of July. Whether I feel like exercising or not. And now I'm wondering if the water is warm enough for swimming yet...

For your reading pleasure, 2 new articles from the New York Times:

Lying about your vegetables

11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating

1. Beets:
2. Cabbage:.
3. Swiss chard:
5. Pomegranate juice:
6. Dried plums:
7. Pumpkin seeds:
8. Sardines:
9. Turmeric:
10. Frozen blueberries:
11. Canned pumpkin:

Monday

I walked this morning for about 45 minutes.

Breakfast was walnut raisin bread with the last of the butter. I'll make some more this week.

I prepared lunch this morning - pan fried tofu with 5 spice, Braggs (soy sauce), asparagus, kale and an egg.

I'm very hungry now. I don't have a yogurt with me or I'd eat it. I may have to eat the lunch soon and then just get something later.

ETA: I just ate my lunch.

Sunday Second

I walked for a hour. It was a very nice walk, and I realized that for most of June I did not walk. If worrying and anxiety burned calories, I'd be set, but it does not, and is not healthy. I need to stop letting how I feel dictate what I do. I need to just get up and walk even when I feel like hibernating. I need to move on my yoga mat and sit on my zazen cushion even when I am afraid of what might come up. I need to go see my acupuncturist a few more times.

I did some yoga tonight - a yin yoga practice of holding the poses for a while. It felt good to stretch, even though it can sometime bring up emotional things that I've been storing way inside my joints. It also made me sleepy, which is a nice side effect.

Dinner was a pork loin chop, pan seared, and then I stir fried a bunch of chopped asparagus in the pan drippings. Very very tasty. I should have made some brown rice for lunches, but I'm so sleepy now that I think I will go to bed soon.

Sunday Sewing

I've been sewing all day. One outfit for a person who doesn't even weigh 20 pounds. But it is very cute and if I can find my box of buttons my little nephew wll actually be able to wear the outfit without its falling down.

So now it's 3pm, and while I've been standing for most of the day at my sewing table (otherwise known as the ironing board) I haven't done any actual exercise. So, I'm about to go to the hilly place by the ocean for a walk, before I come back and recommence my button search, and then start to sew a pair of shorts for my other newphew because the whole double sided crossed-bodice, snap crotch, and buttoned straps just isn't going to happen twice today - but I do want them both to have semi-matching outfits on the 4th of July

I made some more walnut raisin bread and have nibbled on that throughout the day. You can't really eat when sewing. I have a lot of kale and some garlic scapes that need to be made into something around dinner time.

The Boy has finished his 2-day 150 mile charity bike ride and should be arriving back around these parts by ferry sometime this evening.

And here are some not so good photos of the outfit.

Tuesday evening

A short post to keep me on track.

I have not eaten all the butter, just in case you were wondering. I took a loaf of the bread and some of the butter to The Boy's house. I have been eating 2 slices of the bread as toast in the mornings, and it does quite a nice job of keeping me filled up until lunch time. I will definitely be making more of it this weekend. The Boy will be

My exercise has really slacked off. When I had those few weeks of anxiety, I just really didn't want to be out moving, and I slept more. I think I've kicked it, though. (I will say that I used to discount people who got anxiety and thought they should just 'get over it'. Not anymore.) I did about 30 minutes of yoga on Monday morning which felt good, and then I meditated for 20 minutes. It led to a much more calm and focused day, and carried over into today. Most of this afternoon and evening it poured rain here, but it finally stopped and I got in a 20 minute walk with the dog. I saw a firefly.

And for those of you who didn't like the sometimes negative tarot cards (even though I told you those didn't count), here are some nice affirmation cards instead.

Putting the Butter in "Beets, Butter & Mountaintops"

Today at Whole Foods I found organic, grass-fed, unhomogenized heavy cream. And you know what that means - homemade butter!
It starts off just like you are making whipped cream. You beat it for a while and nothing happens, and you wonder if anything will. And then....
...it passes quite quickly from whipped cream into something strange. I think mine skipped the whipped cream phase altogether, or else I blinked and missed it.  Then a minute or two later...
...the buttermilk starts to separate out and the butter solids start to clump together.  Pour off the buttermilk and keep beating for a while. 
Here's the buttermilk. 
And here's the butter! Then you sort of knead it with a spatula to get more of the butter milk out, and I salted it, too.  It has a very strong flavor because it is grass-fed.  I haven't tried it on the bread yet, I think I will wait for morning.  

Exercise today consisted of weeding about 80 pounds of garlic mustard and some other invasive vine out of the raspberry patch.  The poor plants were getting strangled by the weeds, so I spent some time in there this morning getting bitten by mosquitoes and trying not to get scratched on by the raspberry stalks.  Hopefully, they will be happier now and we'll have berries soon.
I'm going to walk the dog after dinner (which will probably be posted about as well.) 

Bread & Butter Blog?

If this keeps up, I'm going to have to start a blog about bread making. But, since I don't buy bread for my house, and have started making it again, this post falls within the guidelines of my blog which are "anything I want to write about that is not sewing and is marginally related to eating or moving or my boyfriend's dog who eats everything."

OLP and I were trying to decide whether pedis or wine would be more relaxing after work, when I realized that what would be most relaxing was kneading bread dough. Because when I knead dough, I am just kneading dough. I can't worry about things because I'm making sure that the dough is the right consistency, and I'm getting happy when it turns from a ragged ball of dough into a smooth lovely shape as I take care not to add too much flour, but also not to leave it too sticky.  It is the only chore, besides sewing, which I find meditative. I think I was meant to be a farm housewife.  

Today's, or rather tonight's, loaf was the Italian Whole Wheat Walnut Raisin Bread from Bread for All Seasons. This was not the everyday, workhorse bread from last weekend. No, this is a lovely sweet and rich loaf. The batch has a 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of honey, 3 cups of walnuts, 2 cups of raisins and 4 cups whole wheat flour and about 2 cups of white flour. I weighed the dough because it was so heavy - it weighed over 4 pounds.

After the dough rose, it was laid out and then half of the walnuts and raisins were pressed into it.

Then I rolled it up, flattened it again, and pressed the rest of the nuts and raisins in (so there is a layer of walnuts and raisins inside that dough, as well as on top of it):
Then I rolled the dough up again, and formed 2 loaves. Most of the nuts and raisins are on the inside, which I think keeps them from burning.  Then the loaves sit to rise again. 

Here they are after rising, which some parchment paper to keep them separated.  I ground a little flax seed on top for decoration.  


And here they are out of the oven. They are gigantic. I don't remember them being that large last time I made them (which was 10 years ago, so I might have forgotten.)  I had 2 slices with some grass-fed butter that I'd found at Whole Foods and it was perfect.  I will be bringing one of the loaves to the Boy tomorrow, after making sure he has a dog-proof place to store it since I will not be very happy if the dog eats this bread! 
If you like making bread, this is a very satisfying loaf to bake, and makes wonderful toast! And because it is so rich, just a little bit is perfect. 

I'm going to the farmstand tomorrow to see if they have kale yet. Let's hope so! 

Nary a green in sight

I'm of the belief that a diet should be balanced over a week, not necessarily every day, and so the fact that my dinner was completely void of vegetables does not concern me. It was a lovely pork chop cooked with salt, pepper and rosemary, and then a slice of my whole wheat bread topped with fresh mozzarella and a drizzle of olive oil. All on a plate that is almost too small.

The bread is nice because it's good enough that I want to eat it, but not so good that I want to eat more than a slice. And it's just so satisfying to know that I made it myself.  (I brought a loaf of it to the Boy's the other night, and he called the next day to say that his dog has jumped on the table and eaten it. All of it.  The dog is approximately the same size as the loaf of bread...)  

My massage was heavenly, and just what I needed. The masseuse is very strong and has the spindly little fingers that just stretch and rip the muscles and fascia to get them to relax. It sounds painful - and it is at the time, but I left there and my back didn't hurt so I'm happy. I did some more yoga tonight to get my legs and hips stretched (it has been too long since I did pigeon pose) and hopefully that will keep me on track.

And here's a cool site to get free Tarot Card readings. Just remember not to take it too seriously if it is doom and gloom. But do take it seriously if it is good news!

Same lunch, different day

Look's surprisingly like yesterday's lunch, no? Today was: one chicken thigh, 1/2 a zucchini, 2 aspargus spears, and the rest of the bunch of broccoli rabe. Then I toasted a peice of the wheat bread, chopped it up and put it in the bottom of the bowl. Yum. But the bread might have been better with a little bit of butter. Maybe the butter from this morning's toast could have been used at lunch.

I have decided to not go to my networking event tonight, and to get a massage instead. Much better.

Checking In

Yes, I did my yoga last night. It was mostly hip openers and twists and lots of down-dog. My lower back seems to have seized due to the stress and lack of exercise, so I was trying to relax and stretch the muscles around it so the bones could shift. It seems a little better this morning. Of course when I got to a networking event tonight and stand in flats for 2 hours I'm sure it will be none too pleased...

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and almond butter. And I did remember my yogurt today. And the stress seems to be abating.

Fajita Night!

Ah, fajita night. My old friend. My trusty companion that comes bearing all the veggies I need for one day. I knew I needed more veggies for the day, and wanted something quick, so I threw together a batch of fajitas: about 4 oz. of shrimp, 1/2 a zucchini, 1/2 a small red onion, 3 mushroom, small bunch of broccali rabe - seared on high heat with salsa, then wrapped in some whole wheat tortillas spread with a little plain Fage yogurt. The perfect amount, and they tasted perfect. For dessert I had a few walnuts.

The dog and I went for a short walk when I got home, but her back legs keep giving out on the way home, so more more walkies tonight. I think she spends too much time running away and frolicking in the woods when we go to The Boy's house, and then has to recuperate for a few days when we get home.

I am committing to doing a half hour of yoga before bed. There, I've said it. And I'll post in the morning to let you know it was done.