UNTITLED

I'm not sure what to title this blog post. I think "Week One" has been played out.

This was a crazy-busy week. We found a house, looked at said house, applied for previously mentioned house, showed my mom and Jacob the afore-mentioned house, then were chosen as the new tenants of the...uh...house! It's the perfect house: a mile to Jacob's dad's house, a block from the Little League fields, close to the bus line for Jacob's school (he starts Junior High next year, and even though I am completely capable of driving him, he wants to take the public transit. Yeah, that won't last long.) It's in a cute little, out of the way neighborhood, walking distance to the Alameda Creek Trail and the historic Niles District. It's also walking distance to several of our good friends' homes! It has a beautiful view of the hills from the back yard, which will be lovely to look at while we're floating in OUR POOL!

We're excited about the pool for many reasons. And not just the obvious one (the opportunity to sip drinks with umbrellas in them with good friends while the bbq is warming up). Jacob can actually (finally) have friends over now without me having to import them from a far away land, and how much fun will they have in the pool? We're also excited because it's long enough to do laps in and Rob and I both love to swim. What a great new exercise opportunity! And we can even swim naked if we want to! (I think Rob is most excited about that last one).

The house itself is pure awesomeness. It reminds me of the family cabin; exposed wood beams in the vaulted, planked ceilings, lots of light, old wood floors and some cedar plank walls in some of the rooms. Definitely some "crunch" and old world charm, but also a nicely updated kitchen. The yard has TONS of plants and trees: kiwi, apple, two cherry, fig, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tingo, blackberries, boysenberries, raspberries, green grapes, red grapes...I'm sure I left some out...Trumpet flowers, honeysuckle, bougainvillea, too many to list. The owner (and our new landlord) is a retired Ethiopian engineer with a penchant for proper relaxation and an Italian wife who loves to plant and cook fresh food. I am beyond excited to get there and start roaming, picking fresh flowers and plucking fresh fruits and berries, and cooking in my new kitchen.

With all this excitement - I did manage to lose 2.5 pounds this week!

I did some cooking. Our new favorite is too good to properly describe but I'll try. It's like a medley of wonderful sweet and spicy flavors, co-mingling in your mouth, all vying for your favor. But you can't choose because you love them ALL. It's called Bobotie (pronounced "buh-BOO-tee"). It is a South African Meat Pie made with ground beef, onion, apple, carrots, raisins, and a spice mix of cumin, curry, coriander, cloves, chili, salt and pepper:

Throw in some red wine and mango chutney:

 top with milk and egg:

And:

Oh my gosh...best thing I ever ate! I served it with a cucumber and melon salad with a mint, lemon juice, yogurt dressing.

I also made a wonderful Cioppino which we planned on eating for a few days (made with a small fortune in sea food), and our fridge died! No more Cioppino.

Another night we had Stuffed Grape Leaves (which I forgot to photograph), but were so delicious that we accidentally ate 6 servings between the two of us. I'm pretty sure it was 6 servings if it was eaten as an appetizer. We ate them as our main meal...so....right?

Apropos-ness

Since it's been about year since I started my blog, I guess it's appropriate that I am where I am. Starting over...but not exactly from the beginning. It took the first 6 months to lose 14 pounds. Then I spent the next 6 months experimenting with different approaches to nutrition and exercise - putting some weight back on, taking it back off, and now here I am...4 pounds up from my lowest weight after my Clean Eating experiment and determined to lose that, another 10 pounds, and call it a day!

I'm hoping I'm up four pounds due to water weight...I've kind of gone off the green, clean wagon and I can really feel it in every part of my being. Physically, I feel puffy and bloated (salt?). Emotionally, I feel kind of down and moody (sugar?).  And generally, just sort of tired and..."off". Taking all of the garbage out of my diet made me feel so good, and now that I've put some of it back in, well, let me just tell you...the difference is crazy! I will totally take the former over the latter any...day...of....the...week!

Speaking of which - today is my weigh in day and the first day of  my official START (over) week! I'll probably do better after the corned beef is gone. We're having Reuben Sandwiches tonight (what are ya gonna do, right?), then tomorrow I'm off to the farmer's market and grocery store with a long list of fresh, local, wholesome ingredients from which I'll make a week's worth of (hopefully) wonderful meals. We're going to do a Cioppino one or two nights. Then there's a Greek themed night with Dolmas & Pita Bread w/Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, and I'm going to try something totally new and exotic; Bobotie (South American Meat Pie) with a Honey Dew and Cucumber salad!

Hopefully with the return to my natural, greener eating ways, I'll find the energy to do something a little more strenuous than the walking and yoga which have become my fitness "staples". A hike when the weather clears, perhaps?

Wish me luck!

Where's My Tracker? WHERE IS MY TRACKER????!!!!

It's time to do it.

I've been maintaining my weight for 9 months now, with a little blip up and then a little blip back down, and then a little farther down. Then...NO! Yes..a little blip back up!

I'm getting confused. And a little car sick with all these ups and downs. I am ready to embark on the 2nd leg of my journey. Let's finish this thing once and (please God!) for all!

Blogging the progress (or lack thereof) seems to help. I feel like it holds me more accountable, so to speak. I don't want it to read: Week One: I'm a loser. Week Two: I'm a loser. Week Three: I'm a loser. Know what I mean? So I try harder because I know that my sister in law, Nancy, will be reading it! Ha ha ha (Hi, Nancy!)

I've lost three 5 lb bags of potatoes worth of weight (as you saw from my "high tech graphic" on a previous post), now I'm ready to rid myself of the last two or three bags of potatoes.

First - I had a FANTASTIC "girls only" weekend for a friend's 40th at a fabulous beach house on the coast, where myself and (wow, it's hard to count right now, I want to say 10 or 11 other women?) ate and drank ourselves silly. Crab feed, cake, booze, cheese, cheese, caviar, booze, cheese, cheese, chocolate, and more cheese.... This was my view for the weekend (yes, that's a hot tub out there):

What was I supposed to do? DIET??

I got one walk on the beach in, busted a few moves on the dance floor (enough to be slightly sore the next day. Who knew the Roger Rabbit was such a great workout?),

("inside joke" from "the secret weekend")

and a very wobbly, slightly hungover, probably shouldn't be doing this, yoga session on the gorgeous deck over looking the beach. But the rest of the time. Yeah. Ate and drank.

Now it's time to get back on track. Just as soon as I'm done with this bag of veggie chips (only 5 ingredients.....thumbs up, right? Not when I can't...put...the...bag...away!).

I'll be a Clean, Green, Weight Watchers Machine starting in 5...4...3...2...NOW!

My goal - get more active (again), and lose the last 12 pounds by Memorial Day! (Rob asked "Why Memorial Day? Is that when we remember pounds lost?" Yes....why yes it is).

Happy Anniversary, Bloggy Blog!

Wow! Has it really been a year already? For my blog's one year anniversary, I decided to take a little walk down memory lane. I've (cleverly) inserted hyper links through out this post in case you want to stroll along with me!


I remember when I first started this blog in March of 2010. I decided that I would track my fitness and weight loss goals for my upcoming wedding. What better way to track my journey than with a blog, right? And of course, as most journeys go, I didn’t always anticipate the little detours I would take. Or where I would end up.

I wrote about calories ingested and workouts accomplished, of course. But reading through the past year's blog entries, I realize that I wrote about lots of other things as well.

One of my earliest posts was about a sweet little baby cow (or steer) called #431. Many times, when my friend and I hiked the hills above Pleasanton, we would run into our #431. Every time I gazed into those big beautiful, curious eyes, I grew increasingly aware of my disconnected relationship with food and the responsibility I have, or felt that I should have, toward the source of my food.


Over the course of the past year, I continued my food "RESEARCH", growing increasingly dissatisfied with the role that I felt I have played in the food industry. It all culminated; my love of food and cooking, my desire to make a difference (as small as it may be), my timely meeting with #431, my goal to be healthier and to cultivate a healthier relationship with food, etc.  into a more CONSCIOUS WAY OF EATING.

Sadly, #431 is long gone. He and his buddies have been “harvested” and replaced by a new crop of cattle. But none have been so sweet and curious as that little guy. Thank you #431... I bet you were REALLY tasty (sniffle...sob...sniffle).


In my early blog entries, I wrote about my favorite “Champion of Food”, Michael Pollan. I blogged a few times about my passion for yoga, my small TRIUMPHS and big TRAIN WRECKS, my crazy obsession with the SCALE and all things FRITOLAY.

I blogged about my absolute frustration with PLATEAUS  and the clothing industry, as well as my complete obsession with the ever-illusive “perfect” pair of jeans (seriously, I have not ONE, not TWO, but THREE blog entries dedicated to jeans!).


I blogged about my insecurities, but also about how (more often than not) I am completely at peace with myself, IMPERFECTIONS and all.


I’ve waxed poetic about BACON (hidden in a blog post I wrote when I was feeling particularly self-absorbed and didn't like it!), about the WOMEN who have inspired me, (to do something CRAZY) and about STARTING OVER. And over. And over.

I blogged quite a bit while training for the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon. And then I blogged about the HALF MARATHON afterward!

I blogged a brief entry about our WEDDING, and then I posted our BUDDHIST WEDDING VOWS! (Which has gotten hundreds of hits from all over the world, by the way! I'm so glad it might be helpful to some!)

I’ve blogged about the importance of a SUPPORT SYSTEM, about HONESTY AND EFFORT, and touched on a few of my  LIFE PHILOSOPHIES, as well as my FOOD PHILOSOPHIES.

Looking back through my blog, I am more aware than ever, that what may appear to be a simple blog about weight loss, food and fitness to others, has really been much more for me. It’s where I could express my FRUSTRATION, and go "public" with my GOALS and RESOLUTIONS (3 of the 4 I have kept!).


I don’t know that I can say I’ve learned anything new about myself. I’ve always had a pretty good amount of “self-knowledge”. But the blog has been a fun outlet to express myself and share some of my "personality quirks". Like my obsessive nature, my super hero ability to whine, and my tendency toward self-deprecation to the point where some people, who don’t know me, might mistake my humor for flat out low self esteem. Oh, and my tenacity (I can beat a dead horse. And even though it's dead, I'll saddle it up and try to ride it again). Nice!

The blog has kept me honest and held me accountable. I put it out there for anyone (or no one) to read.

Basically, what I mean to say by all of this is this: hidden in between all of the statistical weight/workout/food entries are little gems. And it’s these little gems that define who I am and what this journey has been about for me. I am the little gems, not to be confused with the number on the scale or the calories on my plate.

I just used that as an excuse to write. So, thanks for reading! : )

So, where am I now and have I accomplished what I set out to do? That is a tough question. Looking back, I imagined that I would have lost a little more weight by now (by last June, to be precise!). But what I've accomplished and gained in the past year has proven to be a trade off that I'll take gladly. And I've lost this much:

And I can tell you this - I don't care if you have 10, 20, 50, or 100 pounds to lose. It's fucking hard!

Betcha' Didn't Know....

Today, I was reminded of a story...

Before I met the love of my life, I did actually do a bit of dating. One of the more colorful characters I dated (who shall remain nameless), was a Native Plant Restoration Biologist by day, and a Fire Poi Spinning/Dumpster Diving/Burning Man Earth Guardian most nights, weekends, and for 7 solid days in late summer.

What is Poi Spinning, you ask? Well, Poi is a performance art in which a ball or balls suspended from a length of flexible material, usually a plaited cord, or chain, are held in the hand and swung in circular patterns. Poi is one of the traditional performing arts of the Māori people of New Zealand, and has developed into many forms used worldwide.

If you light the Poi on fire, for example, you are spinning "Fire Poi".....like this:

Fire Poi Spinners are the people you will generally see on the outskirts of free concerts in city parks (or literally outside concerts that you have to pay to get in to) or at art festivals like Burning Man. They are usually found together in groups with your didgeridoo players, traditional jugglers, gyroscopic jugglers (devil sticks), ribbon dancers, the odd Mime or two, etc. (hacky sack games will sometimes spontaneously sprout up in and around the performing artists, because there is room, but should not be confused with a "performing art". Hacky sack is a legitimate sport.)

Anyway. Yeah. He was "that" guy (not literally THAT guy in the picture, but "that" guy).

I'm trying really hard not to be derisive, but fear that I'm failing miserably. For this, I do apologize. And yet I go on....

So, one day he shows me these beautifully hand crafted "fish", made with emerald and blue satin fabric, stuffed with batting, looking quite remarkably like beautiful...um..."stuffed animal fish" (replete with sequins...lots and lots of sequins), that he had designed and sewn himself. Because, as we all know, any hippie worth his sea-salt sews his own clothing, costumes, poi, and shoes (yes, shoes).

He attached them to his poi chains and off he went, spinning into the night!

The reason I'm telling this story is that a) it just cracks me up in that smug "judgemental-semi-conformist-person-laughing-at-people-who-I-don't-understand" kind of way, and 2) I want some sort of record claiming (most probably pointlessly) intellectual property for what I dubbed his creation. Are you ready?



Wait for it.....wait....for....it....




KOI POI!

Good, right?