The olympics have released me

I'm so happy that the olympics are over!  I loved them, but I think that I let it get a little out of control.  Watching it every night from 8-12 really deprived me of much needed sleep.  I feel like I learn so much about winter sports each olympics, or I forget in 4 years the mechanics of bobsledding and the point of the biathlon....cross country skiing plus shooting stuff...  The next winter olympics will be in Russia in 2014 - doesn't that seem so far away?  In 4 years I know my life will be much different.  We'll for sure have a new home, a new dog or two, a family car or two, and probably 1 child (scary but true).  This is the last time I'll ever be able to fully dedicate myself to watching every sport on every night, so I'm glad that I hung in there and saw everything. 

What I want to know is where was Alex Trebek?  He's Canadian, and famous, and I would think pretty valueable to their country... I mean if William Shatner can make and appearance I would think that Alex Trebek could too.  I think may enjoy Jeopardy a little more than the average bear though.

I've never seen closing ceremonies before that I remember, and they were nothing as I expected.  I thought they would be a simple closing and thank you, I didn't think there would be so much singing and dancing and bizarre comedy involved.  I was just like: ok it's over, why are they still going, the man said he declared the games closed.  Apparently there's a lot more to celebrate with giant inflatable things like beavers and moose.  Yeah, giant inflatable beavers.  I bet you there won't be giant inflatable beavers in 2014 so good thing I caught them this time around!  beavers.

Honey Bees need help!

You know this little guy?  It's the honey bee of course, and he's doing his job by pollinating that pretty flower.  We need honey bees because they not only pollinate pretty flowers but they are super efficient at populating our agriculture.  Today, I listened to an old episode of one of my favorite podcasts: Stuff You Should Know, and it was about Colony Collapse Disorder.  CCD is this very strange phenomena where an entire colony of honey bees completely disappears, their hive is abandoned and they just vanish.  There are a couple of key pieces of evidence that it really is CCD: presence of capped brood in the hive still, and food stores left behind.  Normally, bees wouldn't ever leave offspring or food behind.  There are a lot of theories about why this happens: illness, pestacides, cell phone towers, yeah there's lot of theories.  Anyways, bees are essential to our food supply, without them, we'll all have less food, with less food, we'll all get really thin and angry and poor, the food will eventually run out and we'll die.  That of course is a very quick storyline of what might unfold.  The truth of the matter is that scientists are in a bit of a panic over this problem and are trying to find man made ways of pollinating in the same method of the bees, but so far nothing is better than the natural efficiency.

This all leads me to the time I karate kicked a honey bee in Bar Harbor, Maine while on vacation.  I was walking down the sidewalk and a harmless bee appeared right in front of me, and my instinct was to kick it, so I did, and it was pretty hard.  The bee went flying.  You have no idea how guilty I feel right now!  Our food supply is diminishing and I might have killed one of the most valueable insects on the planet for no reason at all.  Yeah I don't feel bad about all the lady bugs that I accidentally smooshed, or the ants that I trap in poison and sticky traps, but I feel terrible about that 1 bee.  I've been thinking about it for hours now, you probably think I'm crazy but it's actually kind of shocking to me how much remorse I feel...I hardly ever feel this kind of regret.  I don't even know how to make it up to him.  Actually yes I do, the podcast suggested that a way to help out the bee community would be to plant lots of bee friendly flowers in your home garden, join this project to help bee research, and to buy local honey.  

I know most people will just think I'm being totally ridiculous, but here's the thing: when something actually grips you, I think it's important to not just let it fade away even if it seems really small and stupid to other people.  I really don't care if people think I'm weird because I want to plant some sunflowers in my yard to help bee research, I mean who does it hurt?

Jack Shephard's Pie

Today, I made shepard's pie for the very first time.  I've had it many times since having a husband, it's a total dude food, but tonight timing meant that Abe planned on making it but I would have to.  Sure, no problem!  I made it as healthy as possible, although not skimping on the ground meat which came straight from the farm.

• Meat marinated in some worcester sauce and cooked till no longer pink on the stove top in garlic and onions with a packet of onion soup mix thrown in to simmer with salt and pepper.  Preheat oven to 400.

• A half a bag of frozen corn and a can of corn mixed into the meat to catch some flavors.  

• Many potatoes peeled, boiled, and mashed with only 3 tablespoons of butter. [I can't even begin to tell you how much butter and olive oil Abe likes to use in his]

• Layer meat on the bottom of the big pan and potatoes spread over the top, do not cover, bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes and prepare yourself for some comfort food with far less fat and calories than it's original recipe.

I know everyone probably knows how to make shepard's pie, but I feel like it's a little underrated.  I mean you make a batch and then you have it for atleast two meals for a couple, 4 for smaller eaters.  It really has to be the most inexpensive meal I know that doesn't involve rice or pasta!

In the spirit of the very last season EVER of Lost, Jack approves.  Good sport.

The onion volcano

This is something you see everyday right?  A scorpion bowl for two!

This was the beginning of our night with teppanyaki at Kiku Yama in Dedham, MA.  The food was fantastic, our chef was a little lackluster but that didn't change the fact that watching someone cook in front of you is totally awesome.  Since it was about 11pm when we got to this point of he night, I took home almost everything and it was just as good today for lunch.  Everyone had a really good time, especially the boys!  We're starting a once a month teppanyaki club because that's how serious we are about this style of eating.

It's like my worst nightmare

- Scene -
Abe and myself getting home from work, unlocking our door, and walking through the entrance way to our nice and open apartment.
Lights flick on.

Abe: what the heck, did you open all the window shades this morning?
- 3 giant windows with giant shades are all open -
Me: no...
Abe: are you sure?  did you do it last night?
Me: no!  i would never do that.
Abe: what the heck, a realtor must have shown the place today.  that's so annoying, why didn't they tell us!
Me: omg, our place is a disaster.  i have underwear sitting on the dresser, my jewelry is all out in the open...  even on a weekend, i only open 1 window shade, never all 3!
Abe: i'm calling the landlord!!!
- Abe calls landlord, landlord calls doorman, nobody let anyone into our place today as far as anyone knows -
Me: DO WE HAVE A GHOST!!
Abe: that is not logical.
Me: then who was it!
Abe: i'm getting us a security system. 

- End Scene -
- Panic not ended -

New 'Do

In other news, I cut off my long hair!  It's amazing how heavy my hair can get when I let it grow really long, I instantly feel more awesome now.

Happy Friday!!

Tired, Hungry, Annoyed.

So tomorrow is Friday, and let me tell you that this eating 1,500 calories per day thing is going well on the outside but is not going very well on the inside.  I really didn't think that I'd feel hungry all the time.  I lunch at noon:

Looks great right?  Lunch box worthy even!  The major problem being that I only feel satisfied for 1 hour, I'm not even kidding and by 2pm I'm really hungry.  Luckily at 3pm I have a snack, this week it's been an apple which really doesn't do much at all. 

I've been eating a packet of instant oatmeal with half a banana mixed in for breakfast, which is actually pretty darn good.  I feel that it fills me and it stays with me till about 10:30 and then I mentally coaching myself through until noon when I can eat lunch.  I feel that I'm eating very healthy and the right amount of calories for someone trying to lose a few pounds and my size, I just wasn't prepared for the physical feeling of being hungry.  When does this feeling end?  Also, my energy level has been way far down underground.  So I'm thinking: hmm, I must be doing something wrong.  I am doing something right though, I've been eating 2 fruits a day!  I struggle to eat fruit through the winter time, but this week I've been excelling at this one. 

Tomorrow I'm bringing some nuts to snack on...that's my solution for right now, and I hope it helps!  I'll figure this out, it's either timing or a missing ingredient I'm sure.

On a total sidenote: Go USA!

I smell you!

Today my breakfast and lunch were the same old stuff [see lunch-tastic image].  Also you can see the calculator on my desk that people like to steal from me all the time.  Yeah it happens, but it always finds its way back home!

(almond butter and jam on a sandwich thin, a carrot all chopped up, 2 slices from a block of cheddar cheese, 1 serving of wild harvest wheat thins, and a mini juice box...look at all that wasted plastic!)

Dinner was much more exciting:

Asian tofu and veggie stir fry

(Broccoli 65, peppers 25, onion 20, tofu 200, fresh ginger 2, soy sauce 20, sesame oil 75)

1 cooked cup of white rice 200

Of course when I cook like this calories are a bit of an estimation.  I make this meal all the time but this time I cooked it with far less oil and sauce than usual and I think it actually came out tastier!

Daily Total of: 1,544 calories

This year I'm not giving anything up for lent because I'm on a diet and that is sacrifice enough when you're me and you love food as much as I do.


Today I was walking to the train and someone in the general area around me had a bag of fast food.  I could smell those golden delicious french fries oozing out of somewhere papery, and I tried to find it so I could give that person a nasty look for torturing me.  I don't even really love fast food that much, but just knowing that I'm just not eating any of that stuff + being super hungry + having a pinched nerve in my neck = someone else needs to suffer with a look that could kill.  Luckily for that person it was also rush hour and I couldn't find it with all the bustling people!

Mini juiceboxes and lunchboxes

I don't want to bore you all with my meals every day...so today I basically ate the same thing as yesterday with a few changes and the results are -

Total: 1,599 Calories today
Verdict: I'm hungry...
The Wii says I'm down 2.6 pounds from Sunday.  Success.  How do you lose 2.6 pounds in 3 days?  I'm guessing I dropped some water weight that I was carrying from the Chinese food buffet we visited over the weekend.  It wasn't worth it, seriously.  I'm feeling much better now, and starting to see what real portion sizes are thanks to calorie counting...they are in fact much smaller than I previously thought!  I've been eating a very different lunch than usual because it's a lot easier for me to be exact in the quantity vs. counting up every little thing I put into a mega salad plus dressing.  My lunches are actually really cute...they belong in a lunch box!

  [This was actually my lunch from Monday, I ate half my sandwich before photographing because I was so ravenous!  The Chobani is still sitting in the fridge at work, I'll probably forget about it forever.]

Obviously, this would be my lunchbox if I weren't about 15 years too old for one!


Packed lunches woo!

Full of Sweets

Red velvet cupcakes and a blueberry pie.  That is what my Valentine got for us, which is very nice, but also very bloating.  Turns out that I've actually been over indulging for quite some time now...

Body image is a funny thing.  Sometimes I feel fantastic about myself, and other times (sometimes in the same exact day) I feel like I could really use a total renovation.  Ever since we got back from the cruise in January I’ve been feeling a little less than stellar.  Turns out that it wasn’t just the vacation, but it was life on top of the vacation (three birthday celebrations, and a valentines day on top of that), and now it seems that I've gained a bunch of weight.  Luckily for me it’s the middle of winter and sweaters are my friend right now!  Nothing was worse than seeing my weight – At night mind you, after a weekend of really horrible eating, and also after a delicious Cambodian Valentines dinner….also 1 slice of blueberry pie and a half a red velvet cupcake.  I KNOOOOOW!  I know that I make all my own food choices and this is really all my own fault, but it doesn’t make it any easier. 

It’s time to get back on track because this is not the way I want to feel about myself.  This week I’m going to concentrate on portion control and counting calories.  I don’t usually count calories because I feel like I have a general idea of how much I consume but I think that it will be helpful for a couple weeks.  This is also our first full week of P90X since the cruise, we had a lot of scheduling conflicts and work travel, but we’re getting back on track and already feeling the immense muscle pain from way too many pushups on Saturday.  According to one of those online calculators, I need 1844 calories to maintain my current weight, or 1344 to lose 1 pound per week.  I’m going to aim for 1500 because I’m pretty active and the thought of only eating 1300 makes me Hangry. 

Today:

Breakfast:

small banana 90 cal

2 cups of coffee 18 cal

2 tbsp of fat free coffee mate 50 cal

1 tsp of sugar 16 cal

Lunch:

Thomas bagel 250 cal

1 tbsp of almond butter 100 cal

1 tbsp of raspberry jam 50 cal

Juicy Juice box 70 cal

½ a serving of wild harvest wheat thins (8 total)  65 cal

(I think today’s lunch was a little calorie heavy, I’m going to switch to a sandwich thin instead of a bagel tomorrow…see this is already working.)

Afternoon snack:

1 medium apple 70 cal

Dinner:

1/3 cup of brown rice 100

2 cups of beef and curry sauce with potato, onion, and carrots mixed together

(350+150+100+20+55=675)

Today's Total:  1,554  wooo!  
and we still have the p90x tonight to do.
 

Tomorrow's goal is to cut some of those excessive calories from my lunch. 

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to those who enjoy it, and happy Sunday to those who don't.  I'm kind of in between for this one.  I like the idea of going out to dinner and wearing pink and getting thoughtful cards.  I don't like the idea that there is a holiday to celebrate thoughtfulness and romance, people should be thoughtful all the time (even though they're not).  I can definately see how this day would really annoy someone who was single or just out of a relationship, it's not very fun to look around and see all these people coupled up and in love.  I've been there, and it sucks, but there will be a stage all though life where you're single up until you're married...you can't always be in a relationship, I know some people who seem to be but not everyone is that lucky.  This isn't a romantic movie though, you should probably see what these couples are like outside of the 1 day a year that they try their hardest.  I think the image would be much different!

So anyways, it's just another day, but maybe you could do one nice thing for someone else whether or not it's a partner. 


   

I was weird as a child too

Do you remember this bear?  His name is Teddy Ruxpin and apparently he has a cassette player in his tummy and he sings.  He was invented like 20 years ago...so I should probaby remember him, but I only know of him. 
Abe: do you remember Teddy Ruxpin?
Me: Ruckspin or Rupkin?
Abe: Ruxpin...he had a casette player in his stomach and he talked.
Me: ...I didn't like toys with noise.

Cookie Me This

My friend, who also happens to be a very talented cookie stylist sent me a package of cookies for Valentines Day.  It was also the day that we got 5 packages at our front door, and her package was by far the most exciting and delicious.  I tore this thing open and in the first night I ate 2, the next day I ate 2, and it turns out that I Really like the taste of the frosting on these things.  It is perfectly sweet but not too sweet and it just looks so pretty.  My favorite part about these cookies is that the frosting is nice and firm and the cookie is more soft, the contrast in texture makes me really happy.  These cookies are going to be gone by the end of the weekend...and I am going to be 3 pounds plumper, unless they happen to be low fat and low calorie - that would be a miracle, and she would be a millionaire. 

Even small animals want a snow day

Tomorrow its predicted to snow in Boston A Lot.  This would be really effing cool if I were a teacher or a student, but I'm actually a cube monkey and the office never closes for the weather...they do close for the marathon though, go figure!  My game plan is to wear my most snow proof stuff and pray to the fun gods that someone might let me out 2 hours early.  I remember back in the day when you'd have a big test but there was also a potential snow day.  What did you do?  Did you study for the exam just in case, or did you completely blow off all the studying and just pray as hard as you could for snow?  Of course I always studied because there was just one time where I studied only a little bit instead of 100% and then that feeling of being so ill prepared for my test was enough to make me never do such a thing again.  I like to stick my toe into the pool of rebellion every once in a while...

In a perfect world, I would get a phone call telling me not to endanger myself by leaving the house.  We would sleep in till 10am, and later Abe and I would go out in our snow gear for a fantastic lunch of Korean food not too far away.  We'd be full and happy, perfect for backpack and sneaker shopping.  I'd find the perfect pair of Asics and Abe would find the perfect pair of Adidas sneakers...of course they'd be on sale.  The afternoon would be spent watching our current Netflix: Bruno and Julie and Julia.  There will be a wonderful Mexican style meal waiting for us in the crockpot for dinner (there actually is, [squeal!]) and we'd feed tortilla chips to each other dunked in gaucamole while snuggling on the couch, because we never eat the the kitchen table like we should.  This is probably a really boring day to most people, but I'm being realistic here, if it is a real snow storm then we can't really go too far and honestly I don't want to day dream beyond the possible!

Please let the phone ring in the AM.

Mini Pies!

This project has been a long time in the making, I found it and then I had to order the little jars and those took way too long to come to my door.  I mean when you make mini pies, you don't just want to make like 3, you want to make a ton since they just go into the freezer.

I can't take credit for this wonderful idea, directions can be found here: 
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-jar.html

My suggestions would be to double or triple the pie filling amount because nobody makes just 4 pies, especially when you're me and you have say 20 mini jars to fill...I really did think that I'd make that many but I just didn't get enough fruit.  This is my pie filling:
2 cups of fresh blueberries
2 tbsps of white sugar
2 tsps of lemon juice
1 -2 tbsps of flour
1 tsp of melted butter
a pinch of cinnamon

The project was really easy and simple, it took me less than 1 hour to make two different kinds of fruit pies and 6 pies total.  I used pre-made crust dough this time, but next time I'll attempt to make my own.

Then you just put them in the freezer when they're all done and you can take them out whenever you feel like a single serving pie.  You just take off the top and bake in the oven on a baking sheet for 50-60 minutes when browned on the top.  These are mason jars so you don't have to worry about glass in the oven, unless you are worried in which case, just bring to room temp first and then bake.  I'm sure you'll be pleased with these little treats!

The Royal Chos

I got Abe a full adidas track suit with sweat bands for his birthday.  Many people would think this is stupid, but we think this is fantastic.  I mean obviously it looks great right?  I might get a matching one...

Happy Birthday to Abe

Happy Birthday to you.  It's been a really crazy busy year with work and travel and everything else.

You are currently in transit and can't see this fantastic photo of you Eating the snorkle, but let me tell you, it will bring the page views.  I'm kidding people, he totally gave me permission to post this...

You've accomplished a lot in this past year: marriage, Infamous, Uncharted 2, swimming, driving a tractor and feeding cows, learning to exercise again, and turning a new leaf with health in general.  I'm sure he has a ton of goals for this next year, and one of them is most likely finishing the P90X and surviving Another move.  My goals for him is to end the elbow pain and to eventually lace up those running sneakers : )  It's Ok if it doesn't happen though.

I think this is going to be a good year for us.

Counting down to...

We are just a few days away from signing a lease for our new place.  I think that everyone can agree that apartment hunting is the pits, we've been really lucky and viewed no more than 2 or 3 apartments per move.  You might call this settling, but we see it as saving our sanity - also apt hunting season always seems to fall right around when Abe does a ton of traveling so our only option is to make a quick decision. I can't wait to put all our stuff into boxes and hire movers to take them to a new home where everything will have a place that's not on the floor or stacked weirdly in a corner.  Abe will never complain about the amount of tupperware we own (we have far less than most people!) because there will be enough room for all of it and more...which means I'll be buying more of course.  I'm already in nesting mode because I'm determined to make this place a really great place for us to live.

We are just two days away from Abe's birthday.  This generally means that him and his BFF throw a huge party to celebrate their births and we may or may not survive it.  Last year Abe was traveling on his birthday so this year he may make up for it.  I have a feeling its going to be one to remember, only because every drinking experience either one of us has had in the past month has ended really painfully or gross.

We are only ten days away from Valentines Day.  We really don't celebrate Valentines Day, one time we literally did nothing, another time we made dinner at home and sipped on prosecco, and last year...yes last year was the year that we decided to really do something and you know where we ended up?  Joe's American Bar & Grill in a Suburb!  Also we grabbed some desserts at Whole Foods and sat on the couch stuffing our faces with fruit tarts and a meringue the size of a sea turtle.  At the time it all seemed like a good idea, but now looking back I don't see the point in all that.  We certainly were not celebrating our love, we were just out to dinner surrounded by couples eating moderately bad food.  This year I say we can do better somehow, I'm just not sure how.

  

Lost is back!

I don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't watched it yet!  But I can't hold it in.
So don't read this if you haven't...
But if you have, I have some questions starting with: WTF.  Next: who the F is Jacob's nemesis?  He's a really bad dude, I mean I remember him from other episodes but I don't remember much about him at all probably because they didn't want to develop him yet.  I can't believe he beat the crap out of Richard, I mean Richard is like a thousand years old and he just took him down like he was a regular human but he's not he's like super human.  I can't believe we found out what the smoke monster was finally...it's totally Not what I thought it was going to be!  I wonder what Miles heard Sayid say when he was dead, he must have known that he wasn't totally dead yet or something like that.  Or maybe it was something very important... It's really weird seeing Locke not as Locke.  I'm so happy that Lost is back, my brain is finally stimulated again.  I have to clear out these cobwebs!

  

Singles Night

Have you ever seen this many socks without matches?  None of these socks have a partner, I mean where are the other 30 of these things!  Moments like these make me want to pull out my hair.

5 Closets!

I think that we found our new home tonight.  It's much more space than we need: 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, dining room, living room, office/game room space, 4 season porch, pantry, a cute little counter space area in between the living room and the kitchen for the coffee maker and our juicer to have a home, and a minimum of 5 closets, plus laundry, parking for two cars, quiet neighborhood near a bus stop and the Movie Theater!, and a cute set of french doors in the living room, all freshly painted walls and nice hardwood floors, also he's going to paint the kitchen a new color for me.  it's actually 2 floors as well with one bedroom (future workout room) and storage space on the upper floor.  The downsides are that it's older so the rooms and closet spaces are shaped kind of oddly, we probably won't be able to fit all our big bedroom furniture in the master bedroom so we'll have to split it up into another bedroom, we actually need to walk outside to get to our laundry in the basement, but the basement isn't a serial killer basement...it's not finished but it's not scary either, no pets, many many windows will need window coverings, and we could actually get lost.  I hate to say this, but the place kind of gave me the creeps...I'm not sure why, but it just didn't really feel warm so I'm trying to blame that on their poor decorating and the Jesus room - there are 2 locked rooms the landlord uses for storage up out of the way, we looked inside and one was normal and one was a Jesus room, we're talking like church items and saints and crosses and lots of stuff that a very religious person might have and it used to be his Uncle's stuff when he lived there and he just keeps it in there.  He wanted to show us so we wouldn't think there was something Weird in there, and I was like thinking I'd almost rather not know. 

So this place is not perfect, it's the Exact opposite of what we have right now, but what we really need is more space for less.  I think we're going to take it, there's so much space there that we could find a way to make it our own for a year until we find a house.  We're going to need a whole lot more things to hang on the walls now that we have 1,000 more walls!