Back to the drawing board...

So, the last 7 days were pretty horrendous as far as the diet goes. So, for starters, my mom is a 2nd grade teacher at a Catholic grade school, which means that at this time of the year, every year, they have first communion. Now with the amount of kids at our church that go through this, they hold it over 2 weekends. Of course, with any major event in a child's life, comes a party, and the teacher and her family always get invited to several. So, I got free meals last weekend, saturday and sunday and this weekend, saturday and sunday. And cake. Lots of cake. Those parties, in and of themselves are not too bad, but this past week was National Lab Week. At my place of employment, we celebrate this week, pretty big time. I was on the committee this year and it pretty much revolved around food. Monday was bagels, tuesday was appetizers, wednesday brought a little relief with healthy snacks (veggies, fruit and hummus), but by thursday it was on to the dessert bake-off and friday was a catered lunch by mamma mia's. Ouch. And to top matters off, after eating a full plate of food at a communion party this afternoon, I went to a good friend's surprise birthday party and gobbled down some beer, pizza and cake. Hey, at least when I break the diet, I go all the way:) 

Tomorrow brings a new week and I'm back to losing the freshman 15. Back to counting calories and running several times a week. 

Now there was one plus to this week as far exercise goes. On saturday morning, I hiked 12 miles with the Boy Scout Troop from the church. I have an in with the scoutmaster (my dad) and it made for a good morning of exercise. You do get a little sore after walking for over 3 hours, but at least I didn't whine like a couple of those kids. Wow, you would have thought that we were dragging them across the state as much as they complained. Pretty much knew we were in trouble when the "how much further" talk started after about a half a mile. Apparently the title of Boy Scout does not equal tough. 

Apple Cider Vinegar & The Big Bang Theory

Those two things have nothing in common other than the fact that I have chosen to blog about both today:) First, the diet news. So, things go really well when I eat by myself, but when other people are involved in the food decisions, it doesn't go very well. I still have maintained a single pound weight loss. Now only 13 more to go until I reach the weight listed on my new driver's license. I went to get my new license today as the old one expired back on my birthday and they never asked if my weight or hair color or anything has changed, so they simply listed what was previously listed on my license that I got back in 2000. So, I continue to struggle. 

Anyway, on to the topic at hand....

So, in this month's Glamour magazine they interviewed Fergie and during the interview, she mentioned that as part of her diet plan, she takes 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar after lunch and 1 tablespoon after dinner. According to her trainer, it helps stimulate the liver to eliminate toxins, helps the colon eliminate fats and she claims, keeps her stomach flat. I decided to investigate a little as I don't ingest weird stuff before I make sure it won't cause any permanent damage. As I found out, apple cider vinegar has long been one of those home remedies for many things. It is high in potassium and has been thought to be helpful with diabetes, allergies and like Fergie said, weight loss. Now, the key with the apple cider vinegar is that it must be organic and unfiltered. So, after a trip to Outpost, I was ready to give it a try. After dinner one day last week, I took a half shot of it. Ouch. Straight vinegar, not so great. Several places suggested putting it in a huge glass of water and slowly drinking it, but dentists have said that sipping the acidic drink for a long time can cause tooth decay. Other suggestions said you could put some honey in the water and vinegar to cut the taste, but I don't think adding honey is so smart when trying to lose weight. So, I decided to try it in just enough water so I can stand drinking it and not too much that I can't slam it back quickly. I typically need a large glass of water as a chaser, but it's been going pretty well. I can honestly say that I feel good, and I have tons of energy. I'll keep you updated as this goes on. 

On to my next topic-

The Big Bang Theory- no, not the actual theory, the tv show. It's on CBS on Monday nights at 7pm. It is hilarious. These two physicists who are just the ultimate geeks happen to live across the hall from this really pretty, kinda ditzy blonde who works at the Cheesecake Factory. Those three along with the guy's two other physicist friends make up the main characters of the show. The main guy played the boyfriend on Roseanne way back when and the girl was in the John Ritter show, 8 Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter. This show is hilarious, particularly for all you slightly or more than slightly geeky like me. The four guys are completely obsessed with comics and sci-fi. The Halloween episode was great with Leonard dressing as Frodo, Raj going as Thor, and Sheldon dressing as the doppler effect. But, as good as I think the show is, it hasn't gotten much coverage in the press. So, I'm going to do my part to get out the word so that it keeps showing up on my tv every monday. Check it out- I highly recommend it.

The End of an Era

I remember the first time I saw Loricious. I walked into Intro to Psychology at 8am (it was a morning floater) on a tuesday morning, the first day of my college classes. There I saw several different people, everyone pretty much sitting by themselves, no one really talking much. And among them all was this girl in a t-shirt and jeans and a baseball cap. The cap was cream color with a navy blue brim and a red Nike swoosh on the front. I remember thinking... "what have I gotten myself into". Of course, as the semester wore on, the girl and another classmate, The Dark One,  wound up making me laugh on many occasions. As we neared the end of the semester, I found myself wanting to be a part of whatever fun it was that they were having. So, I asked the girl with the baseball hat who had an ongoing battle with the boy to sit in a specific seat every day, to study with me. And she accepted. And that was the beginning of a friendship that has now lasted for almost 12 years. Wow.

We have lived together for 3 years, 2 in college (sophomore and junior years) and one more a couple years after graduation in the centipede-infested place on the east side. I think I have more stories and memories of our friendship than any other. From our days in Sensenbrenner Hall where we would play quarters with shots of vodka and peach schnapps. Loricious slept on the couch most of the year because her lofted bed served as her laundry basket. But, she did clean off her bunk and let me take the couch when I came back from a party shortly after being initiated into the sorority and was too drunk to get up into my own bed. I also remember both of us at separate times, falling out of those lofts. And then junior year when we had bunk beds, I remember stepping on her multiple times as I got up in the morning. (while being awakened by the sweet sounds of New Kids on the Block- mainly just to annoy the crap out of her). We pretty much picked on each other over the years (along with one blow out fight, that we now laugh about so hard it makes us cry)- I annoyed her, she threw water on me.... I let F****er into our room to put masking tape all over her bed, she let F****er and others into our room to hang all my underwear from the tree behind our house, and many, many other instances.

Graduation was really tough for me because I was moving back to Milwaukee and no one else, at the time, was heading here. So, a year later, when Loricious decided to move here to attend graduate school, I was thrilled. Finally, one of my friends was close by. We lived together for another year, battling centipedes and a crappy landlord. The friendship made it through that, too. I remember being at a friend's wedding in St. Louis (back in college, that friend was known as Sac:)). Loricious had just started seeing her future hubby and the look on her face when we got back from the reception and she had a message from said guy. And over a year later after a lot had gone on between them, I remember the look on her face when she told me that it looked like they were getting back together. I know she was cautious, but still so excited. And of course, I remember the day she got married and how unbelievably happy she was that day. Probably happier than I have ever seen her. And how excited I was to be there and be able to witness that. 

And now, she is moving forward. On a new adventure with the hubby. I will miss nights with the girls at Mamma May's place. And I will miss meeting her for shopping at the Farmer's Market followed by coffee. Even though we didn't see each other every week or even every other, she was close by and that always helped. She has been a calming influence for me at many times and helped me reason through things. I will be really sad in a couple of weeks when she heads off for another state. But, of all my friendships, I will be damned if I am going to let this one slide. I'm grateful that I will get to see her one more time before she leaves and I'm sure as she's reading this, she's probably crying just like I am. But, I'll miss her so much. And I wish her all the happiness life has to offer in her next adventure. 

Loricious, you better stay in touch, because there is no way you are ever getting rid of me. Even if I have to show up on your doorstep for a surprise visit.... or maybe just mail you a rock every once in awhile from an anonymous sender:) Good luck my friend, but not goodbye.

Beware the Pasta Sauce

No, I'm not about to share some earth-shattering story about how pasta sauce is now believed to cause cancer or anything kooky like that. Rather it's the jar that you need to watch out for....

A few days ago, I got home after running some errands and didn't have a ton of time before another meeting, so in the interest of quick, I decided to make some whole wheat pasta and sauce. Easy and still healthy. I got the pasta boiling and opened the refrigerator because of course I don't make a whole jar at once, so I usually have an opened jar in the fridge. Anyway, I put my hand around the lid and started to open it when I felt something slice through my fingertip. When I looked at the lid to see if the glass was broken, it became clear that what cut me was the little bit of dried sauce around the edge of the lid from the last time I opened the jar. I never thought I would incur an injury from dried pasta sauce. The cut isn't too deep, but definitely deeper than your average papercut and it isn't healing very quickly. 

So, to conclude my public service announcement- the next time you are opening a previously opened jar of pasta sauce, please check for dried sauce around the lid to save yourself from a similar injury. Hope that helps you all:)

Random Thoughts from the Weekend

Nothing major happened this weekend. Went running on friday night at the Y. I haven't totally decided if I should feel good that I'm getting in the workouts, even on a friday night, or if it's just kinda sad that I spent my friday at the Y. Anyway, it was a good workout and I even had enough energy when I got home to do a little weekend cleaning.

The cleaning continued on saturday morning along with a little side-trip to Miller Park. So, I had to get tickets for the Venture Crew that I am advising. We are going in May to see a game for an outing. Anyway, I called the ticket office on saturday morning and was informed that if you buy your tickets over the phone- there is something like a $3.25 fee per ticket. Plus, there is a $4.50 or something charge to the whole order. Does anyone else think it's crazy that the Brewers are charging fees that are on par with Ticketmaster? The only way to get tickets without the fee is to go to the ticket office at Miller Park. So, I hauled my cookies over to the stadium in the middle of weather that couldn't quite decide between raining and snowing. I guess it was a snowy-rain (or maybe a rainy-snow?) and it was cold. Of course, I was not the only person who needed to get tickets on a saturday morning. But, we do now have our tickets for the Spring Madness promotion- for those of you familiar with Brewers promos, it's kind of a combo of the 5-county thank you promo (half off tickets) and the turn-back-the-clock promo ($1 hot dogs and small sodas). So, the new promo is a few days of half price tickets under $26 and the $1 hot dogs- not a bad promo and I'm not the only one that thinks so- the bleacher seats for the game in question are already sold out. 

Saturday night, I started catching up on all the crap that I DVR'd this past week. I have a few friend that essentially forced me into watching several episodes of the first season of Rock of Love on VH1. It's another one of these dating shows along the lines of the Bachelor, only in this one, the bachelor in question is Bret Michaels, lead singer of Poison. You can really only imagine the kind of girls who are on a show like this. Unfortunately for Bret, the girl he chose at the end of the first season pretty much dumped him on national tv at the reunion show. So, VH1 gave Bret another season to try and find his "Rock of Love". On wednesday or thursday, they aired a clips show of never-before-seen footage from the new season as the finale is airing right now (sunday night). I've pretty much been thinking through this entire season that these girls are crazy, but the clips show just made that so much clearer. The two finalists- Ambre and Daisy are quite the ladies. I've thought Ambre was pretty decent until I find out during this clips show that during the first day, she was wearing a midriff-baring top and Bret commented on her nice stomach. So, apparently, she would get dressed each morning and then take a scissors to whatever shirt she put on and turn it into a midriff-baring shirt. I've just been wondering what she's going to do when she gets home and all her shirts are cut in half... 

And then there is Daisy. Wow. Bret keeps commenting an how hot she is and granted she's thin and has admitted to having boob implants but she really needs to sue whoever did the work on her face. I'm pretty sure she had a nose job and you can't miss her lips. I think she must have gotten like a triple-dose of collagen in them. And of course I can't wait to see which idiot he chooses tonight:)

Ok, enough of my rambling and whatnot. Just a few observations from a rather boring weekend. 

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Update: Bret picked half-shirt girl Ambre. At least now she has somewhere to wear all those tops:) 

The Biggest Loser

No, that is not me in any way, shape or form. However, Tuesday night, while on the treadmill, I caught a good portion of the tv show, "The Biggest Loser". I've never really watched that show before, but it happened to be on the tv in front of the treadmill I was using. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the set-up- severely overweight people go on the show to compete at losing weight. Really I think everyone winds up a winner in this show. I mean just about everyone manages to lose at least some weight. Ok, anyway, back to my story. So, they are just about done with this season and the show I saw was the penultimate one. There are 4 people there right now, 2 guys and 2 girls. I watched them work out like crazy and at the end of the show, they each had to get on the scale to determine how much weight they lost this week. There is this one woman, Ali, who looks pretty thin these days. Not skinny, but I don't think anyone would call her heavy at this point. Prior to this episode, Ali had lost 88 pounds. She gets on the scale and the numbers start spinning around and I pretty much almost fell off the treadmill when they announced that she now weighed 135 pounds. There is now a contestant on the Biggest Loser who weighs 3 pounds less than me. At that point in time, I was getting pretty tired from the running. Well, this little piece of information helped me kick it into another gear. I know Ali has spent many weeks working her butt off, literally, to weigh what she does, but still there was some part of me that felt that I should not weigh more than someone on that show. I guess if this is a motivation for me- I'll be running again next tuesday during the finale:)

Yogurt

Ok, so I made this gluco-granola stuff that they had in the book. It's got wheat germ, steel-cut oats, walnuts, coconut and a few other things to make it all stick together. You could eat it alone, but the book suggests tossing some in a half-cup of plain yogurt. 

I remember when I was younger, my mom borrowed someone's yogurt maker to entertain my brother and I one summer. I was really excited about making yogurt and couldn't wait to taste it. Once it finished, I popped the top of one of the containers and took a big spoonful. Ugh. It was awful- which my mother quickly explained was because it was plain. Flash forward to now. Somehow I thought that I wouldn't mind the plain yogurt as much. Wow, was I wrong. It's still awful. Even with my yummy gluco-granola in it. I could barely choke it down yesterday. Today, I opted to try the granola in some low-fat cottage cheese that was in the fridge. Much better. 

In the future, I'm thinking it's worth the few extra calories to get the vanilla yogurt. 

A brief slip off the wagon...

I had a couple of days totally off the diet- but with good reason. I turned the big 3-0 last thursday. Or, as I prefer to call it, the first anniversary of my 29th Birthday:) Anyway, to celebrate, my boss took me out to lunch a day early on wednesday and my family took me out to dinner wednesday night. Obviously, no diet at the Dogg Haus and Cheesecake Factory. Then on thursday, the old roomie, Dirty Girl #1, and her fam. took me to dinner. I had choir that night, but several of the choir folks took me out for a few drinks after rehearsal. So, on friday it was way tough to get back on the diet after a couple of days of high fat yummy-ness- but I managed to make it. 

The weekend went well and I am actually starting to enjoy leftovers- which is pretty unheard of for me. Awhile back I stopped even taking home any leftovers at restaurants, because I knew I would never eat it. 

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if this is due to my slip-ups or what, but I have not lost any weight yet. I'm going to increase my running a bit more this week in preparation for the half-marathon in about a month, so hopefully that will help. I'll keep 'ya posted:)

On the diet...

Ok, so with Easter and then a week of dog-sitting I didn't have time to blog or to diet. Living at someone else's house doesn't make for the greatest place to try and start a diet. So, I finally started yesterday. Day one went pretty well. My pumpkin pie smoothie in the morning was really good- although I think I need to add a few more ice cubes next time. My mid-morning snack of hummus and carrots was great, but lunch was a little shaky. Grapes and chicken are tough to mess up, but the Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad was not so great. Rather bland and tough to stomach what the recipe calls a serving. But, by the afternoon snack, it was good again- raisins and raw almonds. Dinner, on the other hand, was awesome! I spent a ton of time making this Turkey Shepherd's Pie. It was sooooo good! I was rather shocked as I don't always do great with first-time recipes. Anyway, with all the cooking for this diet, I have been forced to do dishes much more frequently than I typically would. So, I'm doing my many dishes from cooking dinner and in the midst of running the garbage disposal, the sink suddenly starts to fill with this brownish, gunky water. And it didn't go back down. So, I called the landlord and waited- it did drain finally- in a mere couple of hours. Thankfully they did come and fix whatever the problem was today, but with the dirty dishes still sitting there all night- I woke up this morning to the smell of cooked onions. Not a pleasant morning smell. 

Day 2 has gone well, also. Although given the lack of a sink, I wound up eating the same stuff as yesterday- ah leftovers. So, two days down. I'm heading out to go running now.