Random Snapshots

august goals

As of August 10th I will be officially finished with school so I expect to have more free time for the last 3 weeks of August.  I'm ready to re-claim my life and get some stuff done.  In the words of Big Black, I'm going to DO WORK SON!

1.    Control my eating out and get to the gym more often:  I anticipate having more time at night to plan my meals throughout the day which will result in less eating out.  I'm giving myself 2 months to get back on track and shed a few lbs.

2.    Finish a knitting UFO:  This is ongoing for me.  I really need to begin finishing what I start.  I'm shooting for finishing the 2nd Lindsay sock and possibly my Hey Student! cardigan.

3.    Start a date-night tradition with Adam:  This has been on my mind a lot as school winds down.

4.    Get in the habit of tackling a small cleaning project in the house every week on a certain day:  For example -- Every Wednesday try and purge/organize a small portion of a room such as the "junk drawer."  I can manage something in small bits like this and think it will really add up.

5.    Do something that I haven't had time for: Edit and order a bunch of photos, learn to embroider, get back to reading, or do some home project.  Something along those lines that I haven't had time to do in the past 2.5 years.

hello august; you've come so fast!

I'm sure you're dying to know how I did on my July goals, right?!  :)  Humor me because I don't have a lot to blog about right now. 

1.    Print some photos:  I printed a couple for my mini book and one to frame for a birthday gift.  Better than nothing!

2.    Update my blog banner:  Done. 

3.    Continue to work on my EliseJoy summer minibook:  I've added some photos as well as paper trinkets from the month of July.

4.    Get my Sock Summit homework done: I'm very close and this has to be done by Wednesday so I'm calling it good!

5.    Eat better and workout a little more: I've been eating OK, but not working out at all for the last 2 weeks.  I have gotten some Pilates sessions in.

6.    Finish up at least one knitting UFO: Done!  My Embossed Leaves socks were done mid-month.  I didn't finish up a 2nd FO, but my goal was met with one.

Stay tuned for August goals. 

water.drinking.heaven

 

Do you guys use this stuff?  True Lemon and True Lime?  If not then you should buy some immediately!

It's crystallized lemon and lime (they have orange too, but it's not my favorite).  All natural, no additives and it's not sweetened (although they do have a new sweet product that I haven't tried yet).  It's the best stuff ever if you're trying to drink more water during the day.  You can find True Lemon products in the baking aisle of your grocery store near the sugar and sweeteners. 

I like water, but this stuff makes it so much easier to get my daily requirements in.  I love it!  I've been going through it like crazy so last week I decided to order the 500ct boxes of lemon and lime.  They arrived yesterday and I was so happy!  I took this picture to post on their Facebook page in an attempt to win a free t-shirt.  HA!  I hope I win!  :)

Happy Wednesday to you all. 

mid-July already?

This month is flying by me at a rapid pace.

On July 1st I set a few July goals for myself.  Simple and easy -- just a few things I wanted to accomplish before the month ends.

1.    Print some photos:  Not there yet, but I still have 14 more days in the month.

2.    Update my blog banner:  Done.  This one should last me through summer.  :)  In addition I've decided to just stick with Typepad for now instead of piling one more unimportant thing on my stack of stuff to do.

3.    Continue to work on my EliseJoy summer minibook:  I won't cross this one out yet, but I have been working on it.  I plan to keep it up through August and finish it in September. 

4.    Get my Sock Summit homework done: Not there yet.  I really need to set some time aside to do this, but the thought of knitting 6 sock cuffs is not appealing to me.  I've got my knitting mojo back right now so I'm enjoying my projects.  But, it has to be done!

5.    Eat better and workout a little more: I'm on Day 4 of Cooler 1 and it's going well so far.  Aside from skipping meals due to lack of time I haven't cheated once.  I've been tempted, but put it out of my mind.  I know I'll make it through tomorrow which is my goal of 5 days.  We'll see how it goes from there.  That being said, I haven't worked out much aside from Pilates.  This week I haven't had the energy with the low cals on Cooler 1.  I'm done with school in 3.5 weeks and have plans to hit the gym hard!

6.    Finish up at least one knitting UFO: Done!  I finished my Embossed Leaves socks on Sunday.  It's been far too hot for a sock photoshoot, but I will get around to it.  In the meantime I have a photo of my Lindsay socks which are coming along nicely.  I really plan to finish these by the end of July as well.

Overall I feel pretty good about getting a few things done.  I'm really anxious to get through July though because that leaves only 1 week into August until I'm done with school.  I know, I know, it seems like it's all I can talk about lately, but in my defense it has been a long ass 2.5 years. 

Cooler 1 - Day 1

Today I'm starting on the Cooler 1 eating plan from the Eat Clean Diet book by Tosca Reno.  If you have the book then you know which plan I'm talking about and hopefully you're wishing me good luck!  If you don't, then I'll tell you that it is a strict eating plan which consists of about 20 different foods.  This plan is used to break a plateau, jumpstart weight loss, lose the last 5-10lbs or prepare for a fitness contest. 

Personally, I'm hoping to jumpstart my weight loss as I've been having a problem doing that on my own for the past 2 months. 

This is the type of eating plan that shouldn't be maintained for more than 2 weeks.  I'm hoping to get 7 days on my first try, but realistically I know I can do 5 days without a problem.  I expect to have a little bit of low energy and maybe feel a little deprived, but I don't think it will be that bad.

Has anyone reading this done Cooler 1?  If so I'd love to hear about your experience -- good or bad.  I'd also love to hear from any other clean eaters. 

Here's my meal plan for today in case you are interested:

Meal 1: 3/4c oatmeal. I choked down 1/2 of it plain but then had to add a little bit of agave to finish.  I should have had a lean protein here too, but I wasn't prepared.

Meal 2: Egg white omelet w/ sauteed spinich & 1/2 sweet potato

Meal 3: Spinich salad w/ radishes, tuna and fresh squeezed lemon, 1 apple

Meal 4: Hard boiled egg whites, celery sticks

Meal 5: 1/2 sweet potato, tilapia and grilled or steamed veggies

I didn't get to the grocery store last night so I packed what I had.  I'm going to hit the grocery store on the way home to get some chicken breasts for grilling and more high water content vegetables (spinich, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, zuchinni, etc).  The idea here is to always pair a lean protein (egg whites, chicken, lean turkey, bison or non-oily fish) with a complex carb veggie or fruit.  On Cooler 1 you eliminate the fruit (except for 1 apple or pear per day) and eat high water content, low glycemic index veggies.  The book gets into more specifics of the plan.  I suggest that you buy the new "Expanded Edition" if you are interested in the book.  This newer version goes into much greater detail about the Cooler plans.

I'll try and update daily or every other day with my meal plans and progress if anyone is interested.

Happy Monday!   

twentyninth birthday

I got to celebrate my 29th birthday twice last week!  The first celebration came on my birthday - Thursday 05.07.09. 

I got my favorite breakfast - McDonald's Egg McMuffin without meat - and my favorite drink - Starbucks Black Tea Latte w/ soy.  And I was greeted with flowers from my Dad shortly after arriving at my office.

After work Adam took me out to dinner at one of my favorite local, Italian restaurants.  I had some wine, caprese salad and my favorite entree there.  

Adam got me a new knitting bag - the Namaste Zuma bag.  I have been carrying it ever since and I love it so far!  It's smaller than my last bag, but very roomy and deep.  I also like that it has a very hard bottom and sits up on its own.  

I received some other great gifts including some Pilates DVDs and a gift certificate for yarn from my Mom and a Twilight umbrella from cousin Denise.  Yes, I said Twilight umbrella!  Perfect gift for a Twilight lover in the Seattle Metro area, no? 

On Saturday night we met up with some friends to celebrate again.  We had drinks, dinner and a lot of good laughs.  It was great to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen for a while.

 

Allison & I shared a bucket of rum!  Check out that huge cookie that Megan brought me - it was delicious.  You can also faintly see a sweet little bottle of Patron that Allison gave me for my margaritas.

It was a good couple of days.  And a good last-birthday-in-my-twenties celebration too!

natural week: day one

Day One: Eating

 

1. First Produce 1, 2. Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket Produce Scan of the Week, 3. ~PRIME PRODUCE~, 4. Some produce from The Farm, 5. prickly produce #2..., 6. Produce Market Ayuthaya,Thailand, 7. christmas market produce, 8. Gorgeous Fresh Produce at Reading Terminal Market, 9. Produce From The Tuesday Farmers Market - In Market Square Pittsburgh

Six months ago I bought The Eat Clean Diet: by Tosca Reno and read through it within a couple of days.  I recommend this book if you're looking for an easy-to-read manual on eating clean.  It's a good starting point for anyone who wants to clean up their diet.  My only complaint about the book is that eating by Tosca's meal plan can be expensive.  She includes a lot of additional health items like flax and bee pollen which may be good for our health, but certainly aren't necessary for the recipes.  I haven't really gotten into that stuff -- just gleaned the important information.   

Eating clean is pretty simple actually -- it's just eating natural, whole foods and cutting out anything which is processed and/or fake.  Adam and I really good at this -- when we eat at home.  When we cook we make most everything from scratch.  Our meals are fairly simple and usually consist of a lean meat, a lot of veggies and either a starch or whole grain.  We don't buy anything that is pre-packaged or contains fake stuff.   

We eat out fairly regularly as a result of our schedules, but always make the effort at home to eat clean.  We both agree that we feel much better in general when eating clean.  It's easier for Adam -- he's not a candy or junk food junkie and I am!    

I think the biggest misconception about eating clean is that it's boring.  A lot of people think eating this way means all the food will be flavorless and that's just not true.  There are many options for flavoring food in natural ways.  It's all about substituting and finding the "clean" way to cook. 

Here are some helpful links:

• Clean Eating Magazine and Cooking Light Magazine -- I subscribe to both and they are good resources for new ideas on clean eating.
• Clean Eating Club
• Clean Eating Works 
• Clean Eating Online 

Is anyone else a clean eater?  If so, I'd love to hear recipe suggestions, website links, helpful information, etc. 

corn chowder

 

I made this a few weeks ago and am cooking up another pot today.  It was surprisingly good -- Adam really loved it and had two bowls.  He asked me to put this in our regular rotation.  The recipe is very simple with only a few ingredients so I thought I'd share it.

Corn Chowder

• 2 cans (15oz each) whole kernal corn, drained

• 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces (I used roughly 6 smal red potatoes)

• 1 onion, chopped

• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

• 2 cups 1% milk (I used skim and it turned out fine)

• 1/4 cup trans-free margarine (I used a spoonful of Smart Balance)

1. Place all ingredients in a 4-quart or larger slow cooker.  Stir to combine.

2. Cover. Cook on low 7-9 hours.  Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

3. Puree half of the batch in blender. Return pureed mixture to cooker and cover.  Cook on high 1 more hour.  Garnish with chives, if desired.  (I used green onions that I had in the fridge which were really good).

4. Enjoy!!

I've got a weeks worth of posts lined up starting tomorrow.  Since it's still Earth Month I thought I'd talk about some natural products and practices in my life.  I'm not a hippie by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like to live as naturally as possible in many areas of my life -- especially eating and health.

breakfast

What do you eat for breakfast? 

Breakfast is tough for me because I'm NOT a morning person.  But I know I need breakfast so in the past I spent a lot of time making the wrong choices by getting something on the go.  These days I'm trying to get up a bit earlier -- and when I say bit I mean bit -- and eat breakfast at home.  Usually cereal or eggs. 

Recently I've acquired a taste for oatmeal.  I never liked it in the past and I think that had everything to do with how it was prepared.  All I had ever tried was that instant, pre-flavored oatmeal in packets -- man, that stuff is nasty! 

Anyways, I've been trying to experiment with different oatmeal mix-in so I don't get sick of it. 

Here's what I had this morning:

 

Oatmeal, honey, walnuts & bananas.  I cooked my oatmeal on the stove and mixed the honey and walnuts in when it was done.  I sliced the bananas over the top so they wouldn't get mushy.  It was really good.  I think I like brown sugar better as a sweentener, but the honey was good.   

savory poached eggs with tomatoes

This is what I had for dinner tonight:

Here is the recipe: Savory Poached Eggs with Tomatoes.  

OMGosh -- it was delicious!  This will definitely become part of my meal rotation.  Very simple food which is what I love.  This only took about 10 minutes to make and it was really easy.  Plus, these are all foods that are usually in everybody's fridge at all times.

  

How do you like that bowl?

My aunt made and painted these sometime in the 70s.  She gave them to me when I moved to Washington.  Nobody else wanted the set, but jokes on them because I love these bowls!  So vintage and kitschy.  I love vintage stuff, but we don't have a lot of it so this is a great start for me.