Mom’s been gone this weekend to Asheville with some friends, and I’m so happy she’s home! She brought me some nifty gifties back from the Biltmore Estate, but I’ll get to those in a mo…
For brunch I tried my pumpkin butter on an Arnold’s thin…I had a small amount that didn’t warrant its own jar, so it slept in the fridge overnight and ended up in my tummy this morning.
Maddy wanted some, but sadly she got none.
Verdict: too much ginger. I followed a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, and while I was making it I thought that 2tsp of ground ginger sounded like a lot, but I went for it anyway. I should’ve followed my instincts. It’s not terrible by any means, it’s just got some mad TANG to it.
Lunch was leftover pasta and broccoli…boooring. I thought I ate half the pasta last night but obviously I had less than half…this is a lot more than I had last night. I did share a lot with the dog, though.
Then I had an unpictured cake pop, of course. Sad. At least I’m being honest!
I did some more cleaning and organizing and had a snack in the early afternoon:
These are amazing! And not toooo bad, calorie-wise. Yeah, a plain apple would be even better. Meh.
I also designed some labels for my apple and pumpkin butters:
These labels have ribbon threaded through them around the jar…super-cute if I do say so myself!
So back to my souvenirs…mom brought back 6 bottles of wine – 3 red and 3 white…
…wine glasses…
…and a few things from World Market I didn’t photograph, including a bottle of Chardonnay on sale, a couple bottles of Halloween wine (because I love that sort of tacky holiday thing), and another container of pumpkin pancake/waffle/muffin mix that I’ll be tearing into tomorrow morning!
We busted into the World Market Chardonnay at around 4pm…Mom was unwinding from her trip and we were snacking on veggies and crackers, so we decided to christen the new wine glasses. When I went to pour our 2nd glasses, I said “you realize it’s not even 5pm, right?” and Mom smartly replied, “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!” Touché, Mama…touché.
(ew, weird vertigo-inducing angle). BTdubs, that tub contains light veggie dip…only 30 calories for 2Tbls! Not the best-tasting stuff in the world, but the calorie density outweighs that fact.
Then we opened up a jar each of apple and pumpkin butters:
The pumpkin butter was better this time around, and the apple butter was – HOLYCRAPOHMYGOD – amazing. Like, smack-your-grandma amazing.
And I followed up the snackfest with another one of these monsters.
The craziest thing happened shortly after this…our power went out for seemingly no reason. It was pretty blustery today, but not knock-down-powerlines windy. It was out for almost 2 hours, so during that time I got some work done on my cleaning and organizing. One of the biggest things I’ve been doing is going through old magazines – I’m a magazine whore and currently subscribe to Self, Shape, Fitness, InStyle, Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Weddings, Lucky, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Allure, and Real Simple. Sometimes I don’t read them right away and they pile up, and several of those titles I keep as resources/cookbooks, so I had a whole bunch stacked up in various places. With the fitness magazines, I tear out the workouts and keep them in a ginormous binder…and then never touch them again. This is a huge problem I have – collecting things to use, then never using them (mostly with exercise videos/books/articles). I digress. I went through magazines today and tore out useful stuff and threw the rest in a big box to recycle.
After working on this task for awhile, we took the dogs outside for a short walk and to see if our neighbor’s house had power, but of course the power came back on during the 10 minutes we were gone. When we got back, we got ready to go out for dinner…no need to guess where we went, of course.
Mozzarella & Tomato panini (sans fresh tomatoes…ickypoo) with French onion soup (I doubt I’ll ever go to Panera and NOT get this ever again) and a green tea. Aaaand carby bread on the side. Loverly carby bread. On the way out, Mom and I got pumpkin spice lattes to go! They’re not as good as Starbucks’, but it was definitely good!
I swear I’m keeping the Harbison Panera in business all by myself. And they’re keeping the fat in my ass in business too…
Dessert while we watched the English Office on OnDemand:
I’m really excited that I got my first commissioned order of these – I’ll be making a double batch for a bridal shower co-hosted by my mom’s friend. I’m such a nerd…I can’t wait to work in the kitchen on these bad boys while the personal DVD player keeps me company.
While that wraps up my day, I wanted to touch on where I’d like to go with the blog…I’d LOVE to get my own domain name and maybe switch over to a hosting company, but I don’t even know where to start. If anyone reading this has ANY tips or advice on either of these things, PLEASE let me know, even if you’re a lurker. (Especially if you’re a lurker – I’d like to know who’s reading!)
Also, I’ve kinda started writing some about my history with weight gain and loss which I hope to post within the next week or so. I don’t want this to be just a “here’s what I ate today” blog, and I’m hoping that will add some depth. Also, I DESPERATELY need to use this blog for its intended purpose – accountability. I need to exercise so badly it’s not even funny, and I need this blog to serve as a guilt trip for when I don’t (and a place to celebrate when I do!). I know other gals do challenges and weekly reports and stuff, so I need to figure out something I can do to push myself both to exercise and to blog about it. I’d like to report my weight loss (I’m so inspired by Chubby Stubby Kay and her blog weigh-ins!), but I’m SO weird about people knowing my number. I’m fine with displaying pounds lost, but the number on the scale is a little more powerful for me. Plus, it’s difficult to know the exact poundage lost because originally I was counting on scales from Weight Watchers meetings which I’m no longer attending (which deserves its own post). The scale in the bathroom has always been different from the WW scales, so I don’t know exactly what to count from. Aaaand I’m rambling.
Maybe one of these days I’ll nut up and start putting my actual weight on here…that would definitely make me more accountable than just saying “I ate good/bad stuff today and did/did not exercise.”
Anyone still reading deserves a virtual cake pop. Pick your fave.
Hey,
ReplyDelete1. I think that NoMeatAthlete is starting up another blog to help bloggers w/ questions like that ones you have about getting a domain. I have thought about it as well. I too, don't know where to start.
2. Maybe add another page to your blog where you put your weekly weigh-ins or losses up. That is something that you do if you want to start the accountability thing. You don't have to say how much you weigh, just that you have weighed in.
3. Are you going to WW? If you're not, then go by the scale in your house.
Hope that helps. Those cake pops look amazing.
Hey there!
ReplyDeleteFirst time commenter, long time lurker, LoL. I LOVE your blog...LOVE it! I love looking at your oh so yummy food pictures and love how you write. So yeah, I basically stalk your blog, LoL.
Thank you for the blog shout-out, you are AWESOME! When I first thought about doing a weight loss blog, I had no intentions of posting my actual weight. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that by putting my actual number out there for everyone to see, it would push me to want to change that number. Was I embarrassed about putting my starting number? Oh yes...there were even a couple a tears. But then the most amazing thing happened, the number started getting lower and lower each week and that was an INCREDIBLE feeling! Yes, I have had my ups and my downs, my last weigh in was a six pound gain. It sucks to post the gains, but believe it or not, the gains are what push me even more to become a healthier me.
I know it is scary to post your number, but you CAN do it, Kat! That number on the scale doesn't define who you are. You are fan-freakin-tastic! Stay strong and know that you CAN do this and you are WORTH it!
Holy hell, I have written you a novel, LoL. Sorry about that. I'm always here if ya need someone to talk to or if you need a little push. :)
Oh and btw...Martha Stewart is my idol, LoL.
Both of you gals are so sweet and supportive...thanks for being that way, and I'm here for y'all if you ever need me!
ReplyDelete@eatingjourney - I seem to remember a few posts about this sort of thing, especially around the time of the Healthy Living Summit, I'll try to scrounge some up and share what I find. About the scale thing, I was kinda dumb and didn't weigh on my home scale all the time while I was going to WW meetings; when I pieced together my records, they weren't too far off, so I'm just guestimating. :D
@Chubby Stubby Kay - thanks again for that...I'm fine with the blogosphere knowing my number, but I start itching when I think of people in my "In Real Life" sphere stumbling upon my weight. But like you said - it makes me want to change it even more. And this morning when I read your comment, I totally did choke up! Thank you!!
Hey Kat, my host is Dreamhost and I lovelovelove them. Great customer service, easy to use, etc. And they have a "one click install" for wordpress (Which I think is the best blogging platform out there. period.) which I use.
ReplyDeleteIf you use the coupon JOYFULMAX you can get your first year of domain + hosting for something ridiculously low like $25. Let me know if you have questions or anything. I 100% recommend them.
Thanks, Em! I've got some "free time" coming up this week and I'm going to do some research...I'd have to move my blog from Blogger to Wordpress and then commit to a hosting company, so needless to say, I'm nervous! I might have to pick your brain soon. :/
ReplyDelete