Currently…

My friend Maria from It’s a Beautiful Life inspired me today! I’m going to try and post more often.  This will help! Here’s the “Currently” post! 

Thinking About: I’m going to Italy on May 18th for 20 days.  I want to go RIGHT NOW.  I want to get a hair cut, get my eyebrows waxed, get my nails done and pack lightly and correctly.  I tend to over pack or under pack and both are a bad idea.  I’m hoping I can under pack and find a place to do a bit of laundry.  We’re also stopping over in Copenhagen (for a whole 19 hours!), so I need to figure out what we should do there.  Get a hotel and sleep a bit or just party all night… I’m guessing we’re probably going to want to sleep.  My baby cousin Colleen is going to be there studying abroad, so we may have to hang out with her! 

Feeling: excited! See above.  I’m also a bit stressed out.  Lots of things happening this summer! Italy, Detroit for one of my bestest friends weddings, Orange County for a sweet little girl’s 2nd Birthday Party and hopefully some people coming to visit in Somerset! (FAMILY AND FRIENDS, HELLOOOO! Please come visit!) 

Watching: Secretly in LOVE with The Only Way is Essex. It’s totally the Jersey Shore of the U.K. but I can’t help myself.  I watched a few seasons on Hulu last year and then found the rest of them here.  Don’t judge. 

Reading: I just finished the 5th book of Game of Thrones, I Can Barely Take Care of Myself by Jen Kirkman and Attempting Normal by Marc Maron.  I’ve had a lot of reading time lately.  I’m currently reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I just got Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting in the mail today, too! You can find me here on Goodreads! 

Looking Forward To: Hopefully getting to see most of my family and a lot of my friends this summer.  I miss my people! 

Making Me Happy: Eating really amazing and delicious HEALTHY food.  I’m such a food person.  I equate memories with food I ate.  I research places to eat when traveling and tend to base my experiences upon the type of food I had.  Italy is going to be so amazing.  Oh goodness.  

And that’s that.

twenty thirteen or two thousand thirteen

Happy New Year, friends and readers!

I normally hate to make resolutions because I generally don’t stick to any of them, but this year is different.   After the past year, I finally feel like I can stick to them and feel really good about myself when I do. So, here goes, blogverse:

1. Less thai food, more Weight Watchers recipes.
2. Work harder. I tend to be a pretty lazy human being.
3. More exercise.  See #2.
4. Spend more time with my family (including my husband)!
5. Pay off my debt.  Ugh. Last year was the year of saving for the wedding, and since I saved up so much, I can DEFINITELY get this stuff paid off rather quickly!

I’ve done pretty well in the past 7 days! A failed bike ride attempt (I’m still nursing a cold I’ve had since December 17th!), a nice long walk with Billy, lots of delicious and healthy meals, and some credit card payments! Go me!

I’m also looking forward to a healthy 2013 for my husband.  He has a neurology appointment this week and an MRI and appointment with his surgeon next month.  I can’t wait for him to be able to drive again (freedom for him more than anything), for him to reduce the medication he’s on and for him to feel like himself again.  I love that man more than anything.

Happy thoughts to all of you in this new year!

xo

I Love Fall

James and I went up to Somerset (see previous two posts) this weekend with his sister and her boyfriend.  Fall is in full swing! Fall color, crisp evenings, fall vegetables in full swing! Ah, it was amazing.  I had a great time.  I woke up each morning, made a healthy breakfast and set out on my two-mile walk with Billy.  It was amazing.  Crisp in the shade, a really nice and warm in the sun.  The grapes are all changing color and man.  I just love it up there!!!

I also ate really well: Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes and Cilatro, Asparagus and Swiss Cheese Fritatta (although asparagus isn’t in season, so I used broccoli) and this delicious recipe: Asian Glazed Drumsticks.  I’m going to make all three again.  Everyone enjoyed my cooking! Success!  The drumsticks were a huge hit.  All in all, I lost 5lbs last week.  It’s a little too much weight, but I’m guessing about 2lbs of that was water weight/bloating from all of the boozing I did the week before.  I’m getting so much closer to my goal weight.  10lbs! I can do it!!!

I hope you all had an amazing weekend

A little taste of fall

Duality

I recently read a post from one of my favorite bloggers (Camilla!) about city life and country life and it got me thinking about duality.  The definition is as follows:

noun

1. a dual state or quality.

2. Mathematics . a symmetry within a mathematical system such that a theorem remains valid if certain objects,relations, or operations are interchanged, as the interchange of points and lines in a plane in projective geometry.

I absolutely love duality when applied to my life.  James and I have our life in San Francisco.  City living in a great little neighborhood that feels like a suburb.  We can eat any type of food at any time of the day, we can go shopping at amazing stores for anything we’d ever dreamed of, and we have a city full of people to interact with.  We also have our life in Somerset.  Amazing country living with our huge vegetable garden, our beginning of an orchard, the pond with cute turtles, the lake across the street with geese and fish!  The closest decent grocery store is about 30 minutes away, there is no mall, the only restaurant near us just reopened and it’s a pub in the middle of wine country.  Very funny.  I can walk for miles without seeing a human being. Just horses, chickens, water buffalo and the cutest goat I’ve ever met in my life.  In San Francisco I’m connected to the world via my iPhone, my computer, my television… in Somerset the only connectivity we have is television and a land line.  We have no internet, our cell phones don’t really work.  I believe in this duality of life.  A place to be really busy with people and work and life… and a place to relax and care only about the fireplace, the garden and when my next 2 mile stroll with the dog will be.

It’s hard to stay healthy with such a stressful life.  Sometimes you really need to stop and make the best of your life.  If that’s buying a house in the country, great! If it’s going on a weekend trip away to Lake Tahoe every few months, even better. Don’t forget to stop and breathe.

woops!

I ate too much and imbibed in too many glasses of wine and bottles of beer this past week and gained those 2 pounds back! Woops.  But that’s okay.  It’s only two pounds and I really had a great time, so those 2 pounds are a testament to how much fun I had with friends and family celebrating Halloween and friendship.  :)  I got back on track yesterday after my weigh-in and I feel great.  I made one of my favorite skinnytaste recipes: Crock Pot Chicken a la Criolla and stayed within my points.  I even had delicious chocolate as a treat!  So I’m feeling pretty great.  I’ve been cutting my dog walks in the morning short by a few minutes, so I’m not getting my full 2 activity points, so I need to find another walk that goes a LITTLE further so I can get that extra point!  I generally don’t use my activity points for food, but every once in a while it seems like a good idea – like when I go out on a date with my husband!

I hope you’re all doing amazing and that you have a really fun and safe Halloween tomorrow!  And if you’re on the east coast, I hope you’re staying dry and warm! xoxo

sixteen

Hi and Happy Wednesdays!  It’s been a rainy few days with LOTS of bursting beautiful sunshine in between some fun rain.  It just reminds me that fall is here and to stop pining away for a real summer.  It was really hard for me to spend my first San Francisco summer wishing for heat.  I’ll get used to it eventually! The 58 degree foggy summer weather is actually pretty nice once you get over the fact that it’s Mid July and you haven’t seen the sun since May.

Anyway! Guess what? I’ve lost a total of sixteen pounds since I first started trying to lose weight earlier this year! That’s awesome.  I lost another 2lbs this past week, which is really incredible to me.  I kinda fell off the wagon this past weekend, but not bad enough to gain more weight back.  Last October’s Martha Stewart Living had this amazing recipe for Beer Braised Short Rib Pot Pie that I made last year.  Well, it was rainy and cold so I was really craving it.  It is definitely not a skinnytaste/weight watchers recipe, but boy was it delicious.   It also didn’t help that after I made the skinny pumpkin granola, I had a whole can of pumpkin puree to use, so I made the biggest pumpkin bread ever – and not a skinny version! But I’ve been really good and only eat a tiny little piece every once in a while.  :) I got back on track on Tuesday and made turkey meatloaf (I know! I ate turkey and didn’t get a migraine!), garlic sweet potato mash and a salad last night.  Tonight I’m making summer veggies with sausage and potatoes!  It really helps to plan meals out on Sunday before going grocery shopping so I’m prepared for most of the weeks meals.  I just feel so much better about cooking when I don’t have to go to the store for something I’m missing, or having to come up with something at 4:30, ya know?

Hope you’re all enjoying the awesome fall weather!

xo

bright side

There’s a bright side to everything if you’re willing to look for it.  I’ve been finding the bright side of almost everything negative in my life for the past 10 years.  I find it comforting to know that there’s light in all darkness and that life is what you make of it. That’s all.  Honestly.  Sometimes it’s totally okay to ignore the bright side and focus on the negative.  We’re humans.  We do it all the time! So go ahead, be negative, but not for too long, okay? Your friends won’t want to be around you that much anymore if it’s too much

Weight Watchers really works well for me.  It may not work well for others, but I absolutely love the website, the app on my iPhone, and the accountability because of those things.  I’ve lost 4lbs since last week while sticking to it.  I’m sure it’s mostly water weight, but that’s okay! It’s progress and motivational and I will continue! I made Slow Cooker Pork and Green Chile Stew on Saturday night in Somerset.   I wish I would’ve added more jalapenos and maybe some red pepper flakes, but it was pretty tasty! It was even better the next morning with some scrambled eggs! I also made Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach last night and it was SO GOOD.  You guys, these recipes are so good.  I hate the fact that I’m using low fat everything, but it really doesn’t matter.  It’s still incredibly tasty and delicious. (most things!)  I’m going to try and make the pumpkin granola next! Yummy

By the way, my nephew has me hooked on Hay Day – a farming game on my iPhone that I cannot stop playing! If any of you want to be my friend, my game center name is edublizzie.

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Day 2!

I killed it on my first day back with Weight Watchers! I went for two long walks with the dog, ate only my allowed points (even though we got salads to go!) and didn’t eat my activity points! YAY! I slept really well and started the day off on a positive note with another walk and a healthy breakfast.  I’m going to lunch with my sister before my doctors’ appointment, but we’re going somewhere with salads where I can pick and choose what I want.  Always good as long as I stay away from salad dressing, croutons and cheese! (which is good to stay away from because I’m lactose intolerant!) Very exciting.

The fall weather has arrived in San Francisco.  It’s cold, overcast, and I think it rained a little last night while I was finishing up reading Game of Thrones.  What a great book! I know I’m nerdy, but holy cow.  It took me months to read it, but it kept my interest and I read almost every night.  I’m looking forward to the second book.  We’re heading up to Somerset this weekend, so I’ll have plenty of time to read, clean up the garden and soak up the woodsy air.  And go on those amazing 2 mile walks in the morning with Billy!

Being healthy is a lot of work, but once you get into a routine it’s really easy to stick with.  I hope all of you have at least one healthy routine you do a day!

Cheers!

Healthy Town!

Hello!
I’m back at my healthy (keeping myself accountable) posts! I started Weight Watchers again today.  I kinda slacked a little before and after the wedding and have gained four pounds of those I have lost.  It isn’t a lot, but boy it’s really easy to put weight on and so much harder to take it off.  Weight Watchers helped me lose fifteen pounds and I am almost positive that once I get momentum going I’ll be able to lose another fifteen and maintain that weight loss.  I’m not trying to get supermodel unhealthy skinny.  I think 160lbs on a 5’7″ frame is perfectly healthy and normal! My doctor thinks so too.  I think I’ll be a size 6 at that weight, but maybe more of an 8.  It’ll put me in the correct BMI tier (even though I think BMI is stupid.) It’ll make her happy and I’ll probably feel a lot better.  I’ll have more energy for long hikes, walking up stairs without heavy breathing, swimming, cycling, etc.  Fall is probably not the best time to start this again, but I think it’ll help me get through the pumpkin madness and the Christmas madness.  :)
Gina’s Skinny Taste blog of Weight Watcher friendly recipes has been a savior to me and I am so excited to start making more meals from her site.  The Weight Watchers website has a lot of recipe ideas, but Gina’s are so much better! They’re flavorful, fun to make and everyone in my house has loved everything I’ve made.  She even has skinny pumpkin flavored recipes.  UM, OKAY! If you know me at all, you know how obsessed I am with pumpkin and making everything pumpkin from the first day of fall until the end of Christmastime.  Pumpkin is just so delicious.  Savory or sweet! Look at all of these amazing pumpkin recipes! Even if you’re into WW, you should try a few of these out and see how you like it.

On a completely unrelated note (that’s how my brain works), the Fall Issue of my favorite online magazine came out today!! Take a look! The Violet is amazing and I think you’ll really love it!

Xo