Wonderful Wednesday and Weigh In

Do you know what's great about a three day weekend?  A four day work week.  It is already Wednesday and I am more than okay with it.

I have been very reflective last night and this morning.  As the fall begins I am noticing that I have many friends going through huge life changes.  Some of them very exciting and some scary and sad.  There are deaths, twins on the way, divorce, apartment hunting, child support issues, wedding planning, and several new homes to warm with parties.  Life has all kinds of twists and turns.  It makes my September calendar picture more than perfect.

Thank you Mary Engelbreit

I like plan B.  I know most people's lives don't go according to plan.  If they did, we would all be much more boring.  However, with faith and patience you seem to always get to where you need to be.  To all my friends no matter what life is challenging you with currently take a deep breath and have faith.  Love and hugs to you!

Wednesday is now my weigh in day since I am back to logging everything online with Weight Watchers AND since my scale has been located and unpacked. 

Good deal.  I am down 5.3 lbs since rejoining weight watchers.  Slow and steady.  I did make a couple of drive through visits this week, but I watched portions and even ordered a kids meal at one of them.  Imagine what kind of progress I can make if I cut those out entirely!  I know the beauty of a weight loss plan like weight watchers is that you can allow for those indulgences.  I still like to wonder what if.  :)  I have been great about the gym.  I have gone at least 3 times for the past few weeks.  Let's see what this weight watchers week has in store for me.

As you might know from yesterday's post it was my niece's birthday.  My sister shared this fantastic picture of her on Facebook yesterday and I of course stole it, ordered a print of it for my house, and must share it with you today.

My seven year old.  Yes, mine.

I was talking to Chelsie on the phone yesterday evening wishing her a happy birthday and hearing about her day.  I always joke with my nieces about what grade they are in and how old they are.  I do the how old are you now?  20?  16?  You get the idea.  Last night while I was talking with Chelsie I was doing that to her and she was laughing and right after I guessed 16 she says, "NO!  Seventeen!!" I laughed and she said, "No, seven!"  It was funny.  We are silly girls.  She reported that she had had a wonderful birthday and she got to choose what was for dinner and she and the family were going for sushi.  Good choice, Chelsie, good choice.

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!  Anyone else doing any fall reflection?

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

First things first...as I mentioned in Friday's post my friend Roberta's mom was having brain surgery.  The surgery was a great success, they were able to remove all of the tumor and a cyst and she is now recovering.  Thank you for sending your good thoughts and prayers in Roberta's family's direction!  Please keep them coming...she is now in the recovery stage and we all know how hard that can be.

Last weekend started with Friday Funday at The Ginger Man.  The husband loves the g-man for it's gigantic tap wall of craft beers.  I also enjoy trying all the beers, but Friday I limited myself on beers to limit calories...I was proud of me.

Their beer menu is so big they call the food part of their menu Solids.  I think that's hilarious.

We played some darts.  The g-man improved their scoreboards.  I was happy, they used to be pretty bad.  I don't know how that E + D heart got there.  Honest.  Daniel won...he would want me to report that.  Not by much of course.

The rest of the weekend consisted of cleaning up and out in preparation for our end of April move.  The scale didn't budge as I was hoping it was going to.

Previously:  -4.6
This Week:  -0
Total:           -4.6

But hey...not budging means I didn't gain either, so I will take it.

In other extra fun news, I got my car inspected over the weekend, so now my car is due for its next inspection in 2013.  I am wondering if the state of Texas is paranoid about the number 13 or if it is just worried its residents are paranoid.

Here's a sticker with a 2012 expiration date.

Here's my new sticker.  Interesting.  I wonder if 2014 will be 14 or 4.  How is your state handling next year ending in the dreaded number 13?

New Recipe Adaptation and Unofficial Weigh In

Good morning!  It is chilly here this morning!  I made an incredible dinner last night.  I adapted a recipe from Eat, Live Run called Lightened Up Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta and it was fantastic! Thanks Jenna for the awesome idea!

In Jenna's recipe she uses Tony Cachere's Creole Seasoning.  I love that stuff and I had NEVER thought to put it in pasta.  Fantastic idea!

Jenna uses cream in her sauce and for that I substituted Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese.  I was very pleased with how this substitution worked.

I also switched shallot for garlic and onion since that's what I had on hand.  Here's what I did:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 chicken tenders, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder
• 2 cans diced tomato
• 6 wedges laughing cow light swiss cheese (I think next time I will reduce this to 4, the sauce ended up a little too thick as it cooled)
• 2 tsp Tony Chachere's
• 4 servings uncooked spaghetti
• olive oil from misto sprayer

Cook chicken at 375 until cooked through (about 15 minutes).  While the chicken is baking, cook your pasta according to package directions and start your sauce.  Saute onion in olive oil in a large covered skillet.  I used my misto sprayer to add the olive oil to my pan, but I gave it a generous spray.  I would estimate I added half a teaspoon of oil to my non-stick pan.

While onion is sauteing add 1 tsp of Tony Chachere's.  I will be honest I didn't measure the seasoning I used the eye ball method and gave the onion a generous coating.  When the onion is translucent add the minced garlic and saute a minute longer.  Add tomatoes with their juices and bring to a simmer.

Add the cheese wedges and let them melt and bring the sauce back to a low simmer.  Add more Tony Chachere's as needed.

Yummy, simmering sauce

Once your chicken is done, let it rest and then cut into bite sized pieces.  Serve one cup of pasta with two sliced chicken tenders and a generous cup of sauce.  This recipe made 4 servings.  The weight watchers points + on this dinner was 10.

YUM!

Where's mine?

Sorry Sammy...not for pups.

My other fun from yesterday evening was my cool new martini glass.

Yay!

My excitement this morning came from a visit with the scale!  I am calling this an unofficial weigh in since my weigh in day with WW online is actually on Mondays, I won't be recording this there, but I was still happy!

Previously: -4.6
This Week: -1.2
Total:          -5.8

Have a fantastic Thursday!!

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

It is a gloomy day here in Houston!  Ugh!  That didn't stop workout buddy and neighbor, Rebecca and me from getting our walk in this morning.  I was proud of us...we didn't have any rain while we were out there, but we did have some thunder and lightening.  We got our half hour in and almost two miles done.  I didn't get on the scale this morning because by the time I had remembered it was weigh in morning I had already had way too much water for the weigh in to be accurate, so I skipped it.  I am glad I make the rules for this.  :)

This weekend was boring in the blog sense, but busy in the chores and errands department.  We did have lunch at Lankford Grocery which is delicious and Guy Fieri approved. 

If you are in the Houston area, I recommend it.  The burgers are awesome, cheap and HUGE you could definitely split one with someone and be plenty full.  They don't take credit cards though, so be sure to have some cash on you if you stop in.

We took down our Christmas tree...exciting I know.  It looked like a dead Christmas tree exploded in our house.

And then made a run for it.

Oh, wait...that's pretty much what happened.  After we cleaned everything up (thank you husband for doing most of the work on that!) we got to put our other new end table in place.

Love it!

Sammy did a lot of pretending she was the cat by lying on the back of the sofa in the den.

She's so pretty.

This morning's tea is being enjoyed from my Valentine's Day mug.

We watched a Bones episode last night (love that show) that took place on Valentine's Day.  The characters were having the usual disagreements about Valentine's Day.  I am and have always been okay with the day...single or in a relationship...I like hearts and candy.  I do tell my husband not to get me flowers on that day since I think they are over priced.  So tell me, how do you feel about Valentine's Day?

Happy New Year and Weigh In

I am back from vacation!  I know you are very excited.  I am very excited because I got on the scale for the first time since my December 12 post and I only gained .4 pound!  I decided that over the holiday I would continue with my workouts, indulge a little and be mindful of what I was putting in my body...but take a break from the scale.  I was so happy with my weigh in this morning.  In years past I have put on a lot more holiday weight, so I will take a .4 gain as a victory.  Here are the details:

Previously:  -5.0
This Week:  +0.4
Total:           -4.6

We just returned from vacation in Carefree, AZ...I did a few short posts from Arizona, but tomorrow I will be posting more pictures and my review of the resort where we stayed which was called The Boulders.  I will give you a small preview of the review and tell you we thought the place was pretty awesome.

My favorite cactus

Small cactus fact for you that I learned on my trip.  These cacti live for hundreds of years (some up to 300) and they grow for 50 - 75 years before they begin to grow their first arm.  Crazy right?  So this cactus I am with is much older than the one in the background on the right.  I found it very interesting since I had no idea cacti lived for so long.

We had such a great time that it was hard to leave, but I am happy to be home.  There is no place like home, right?! 

I am pretty sure Sammy felt the same way.  She got to vacation at Bed and Biscuits Pet Spa here in Houston.  She loves it there (and I love for her to be there); she gets to play with all the other dogs during the day at day care and they have a doggie pool...she loves that part.

Yes, that is Friends on in the background

She looked happy to be home too, don't you think?

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

I had a fabulous weekend.  I will go ahead and tell you now that I didn't get on the scale this morning.  I worked out all week last week, but this weekend was full of higher calorie meals, snacks and drinks.  I know it is a gain and I know it would push me toward throwing up my hands and not caring until the new year, so I skipped it.  I packed my healthy lunch and my gym bag and I am moving forward.

Now the weekend...we went to Hattiesburg, MS to celebrate Christmas with my sister, brother-in-law and nieces.  The husband, my mom, Sammy and I hit the road Thursday afternoon.  We were discussing all the truck drivers and since they pretty much live in their cabs, do they decorate for the holidays.  We had all decided that if we drove trucks we would have at least a Christmas tree in the cab with us.  This trucker had the exact right idea.

I bet he had a Christmas tree in his cab.  There were much more lights on the truck than just the little bit on the front, but I missed that while getting my phone out to get the picture.  Love it.  Merry Christmas from I-12.

This was our first trip to Hattiesburg since my sister moved into her new house.  It is gorgeous and I loved cooking on her new stove.

Mashed potatoes and green beans...Mmmm.

Hello pretty gas stove with spider burners.  I want one.  This was the makings of Christmas dinner...we had beef tender, mashed potatoes, green beans and crusty bread.  Yum.

One of my fave KB shirts

We had a few cocktails at the Keg and Barrel on Friday night and listened to an awesome Irish band.

My niece Courtney saved up her allowance and did extra chores to earn money so she could buy everyone in the family a Christmas present.  Sweetest thing ever.

Love my new necklace.  It is very special to me!  Courtney gave the husband a Beatles t-shirt.  She is so thoughtful.  When she started getting into music, Daniel gave her a Beatles album that was the first one he bought for himself when he was a kid.

And this picture of my sister and Sugar doesn't really have a long story...I just thought it was super cute.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

Friday night the husband and I had a date night to have dinner and go see White Christmas at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.  We had dinner and drinks at Artista which is located in the Hobby Center.  The pan seared scallops were amazing.

Yum.

Excited for the start!

The musical was nothing short of awesome.  The cast had amazing voices, especially the lady who played Betty...I wish I could sing like that...actually I wish I could just carry a tune...I would settle for that at this point.  At the end of the show it snowed in the Hobby Center.  Seriously, how awesome is that?!

Pretty decorations

I love being out at Christmas time.  The Hobby Center was decorated so beautifully.

And their gift shop apparently has a direct line to Santa.

I didn't touch, I swear.

Saturday night we went to a wedding down near Seabrook, Texas.  Natalie and David got married and they looked so happy!  We were very happy for them.

 

 

All the best to Mr. and Mrs. Weekley.

And now for the weigh in...

Previously:  -3.9
This Week:  -1.1
Total:           -5.0

Slow and steady is the way to be.  YAY!

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

We had a super weekend!  Our Friday Funday involved a trip to the Saint Arnold's Brewery.  Let's start there, shall we?  Beer is always a good place to start.

Loved the front doors to the brewery.

Every week day afternoon Saint Arnold's opens to the public at 3:00 for happy hour.  It costs seven bucks a person, but that includes a tasting glass, 4 tokens for beers and an optional tour of the brewery.

Where they make the good stuff.

Mmmm...beer.

We took the tour, which was cool, but I wish they took you in to where the bottling happened as well.  The tour included the making of the beers only.

Brock Wagner one of the founders of the brewery giving the tour.

Saint Arnold's is Texas' oldest craft beer. They told us that on the very first tour of the brewery they had two people who wanted to attend.  There were a few more of us on Friday.

Kevin adding hops.

Yum.

I like it.

I am sorry to tell all of you who do not live in Texas that this beer is only distributed in Texas.  I guess that gives you an additional reason to visit.

My favorite beer of the day is a new one that I had not tried before called Santo.  I not only liked the beer, but the art on the label is awesome too.  I had to purchase this pint glass because I liked it so much.

On Saturday we went and picked out our Christmas tree!

So many choices!

Home.

Beautiful.

Yes our star is crooked.  We will fix is eventually (maybe).  My mom came over to decorate the tree with us and we had a lovely dinner of creamy mushroom chicken over egg noodles and green beans (recipe to come).  It was a wonderful Saturday night!

Sunday I got all of the Christmas presents wrapped.  I just have one more present to buy and that is for my mom...she is so hard to shop for.  I am waiting for an awesome idea to come to mind...or even just a good one.

And now the weigh in...

Previously: -2.6
This week: -1.3
Total:          -3.9

I will take it.  I have been stressing about losing weight during the holidays.  As you might remember, I skipped the weigh in last week so this is actually a two week loss.  I realized that my stressing about whether or not I would be able to lose over the holidays was fueling some extra snacking.  I have made the decision to keep moving and keep tracking...even if I have an off day here or there that is much better than an off month!  So here I go!

What are your biggest challenges with staying on track over the holiday?  And who is the most difficult person to shop for on your gift list?

Weigh In

You can find the weekend recap in a separate post...I didn't want my pity party to take away from good news.

Let's start with the weigh in.  I started not to get on the scale this morning and just post that I had gained.  I knew I had, I stopped tracking about Wednesday last week and I knew there was no way I hadn't gained, plus (skip ahead to the next paragraph if you wish to avoid TMI) I was PMSing like a crazy person and I am still feeling bloated this morning.  Anyway, I thought it would be better to just face the music, put on my big girl panties and deal with it.

And what did I find?  Well, that I am dealing with a 6 pound gain.  Awesome.  I have considered that some of that is probably water weight, and I am sure it is.  Great.  It doesn't change the fact that I did not listen to my body or my mind for that matter last week.  I was lazy, my workouts were not super strong and they were not as consistent.  What makes it worse?  I knew that moving more would make me feel better; but that didn't get me off my butt for a workout.  It is SO frustrating and discouraging to me...I know that working out makes me feel good, but I was still lazy.

Then there was the eating.

There was some that was thoughtful fabulous indulgence, for example Daniel and I had dinner at Canopy on Saturday night.  I ordered the herb seared scallops with asparagus and butternut squash risotto and balsamic reduction.  It was delicious and worth every calorie.  I ate until I was satisfied, but not too full and then stopped.  It was great and I felt good about it.

There was some eating that was thoughtless and useless, like a stop for fast food after a party (and a few too many cocktails) on Saturday.  Did I enjoy it while I was eating it?  No, not really.  I was actually thinking about how I wouldn't be happy with myself later.

Now, what do I take away from this?  On the positive, I am learning.  I was right about how I would feel about the fast food...I felt terrible Sunday morning.  Not from a headache and hangover, but because my stomach was so unhappy with me.  I can walk away from the experience knowing that once I make the connection to actually listen to my head and my body that I will have made leaps and bounds of progress.  Right now I am still at baby steps, but at least in my mind they are steps in the right direction.  Now just to master the listening to myself.

What's my plan for this week?  I plan not to be intimidated by Thanksgiving.  I do not have to overload my plate and there will be healthy choices to make.  I plan to focus on my family.  My nieces are in town, there is a lot of opportunity for activity points to be had with three energetic gals.  I plan to take it one day at a time.  I am heading for yoga at lunch time, I am excited...yoga always makes me feel good.  Tonight I am making my baked tilapia for dinner.  It's easy, delicious and HEALTHY!

Here is how the weigh in broke down.

Previously: -8.6
This week: +6.0
Total:          -2.6

All I can do is move forward and continue to improve, right?  Right.

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

Ugh...

That is really all I have to say about that.  I am a little emotional today after a disorganized week with little self control in the eating department, especially over the weekend.  The best I can say about last week is that I made it to the gym more often than not.

I haven't organized my thoughts completely about what I want to say about my weigh in, so I will wait on those, but here are the details.

Previously: -8.2
This week: +5.4
Total:          -2.8

Again...ugh.

The Tutankhamun exhibit was amazing!  They of course wouldn't let you take pictures inside the exhibit, but it was well worth the trip.

We had lunch at the Bistro Monarch which was fabulous and delicious. I loved this chandelier with the lamp shade on it.

We had salads that were tossed with calamari and then I had a turkey sandwich.  This was probably the best eating choice I made all weekend.

I also made new friends this weekend.

Chance

Jeb

In case you hadn't noticed, I am a bit of a dog lover.

Who knew?

I hope you have a wonderful day!