Year of Health

Last day of 2009! What an amazing year. As I've mentioned a few times before, 2009 has truly been my "Year of Health". A few stand-out points from this year:

• I started this blog days before last New Year's in an effort to manage my crazy snacking tendencies and to exercise more. I'd like to think it was one of the best decisions I've made regarding my health.
• I also started an exercise journal so I could track my weight fluctuations according to my workout schedule. I highly recommend doing this if you don't already.
• After 16 months of planning, I married my best friend on May 31st!!!
• I 've been going to a chiropractor since September for my shoulder tension & back pain - so far so good.
• I finally made that dreaded doctor's appointment (ladies, you know what I mean) and everything went great.
• For the first time in my 24 years I have muscle tone and definition. Not a lot, but enough for me to notice and I love it!

I've been experimenting with Greek yogurt lately, trying to figure out why it sometimes bothers my stomach. Still no real evidence on this but I do eat it even though I look 5 months preggo afterward.

Yogurt mess with plain Oikos, Kashi Go Lean, cinnamon, banana and cashew butter.

Mid-morning snack:

I kept it pretty light for lunch. Just a simple raw veggie, hummus and apple day. I found these little single serving portions of hummus from Tribe. It doesn't hold a candle to Sabra but I like the convenience factor. This was just the classic flavor.I think I should start bringing a placemat to work, this sticky break table makes such a terrible background...

I had a few to-do lists typed up at home so as soon as I got there I went straight to it. I'm normally exhausted after getting up at 5 but as long as I don't sit down I can be productive. I stand all day (8.5 hours) at work so plopping down on the couch always sounds so inviting...

After knocking out a few chores around the house I turned on the tv & grabbed myself a glass of Chardonnay. I watched the new series on TLC called One Big Happy Family. Has anyone else seen it?? I DVR'd it the night it aired (Tuesday) and watched both episodes yesterday. I liked it, the family is really close, they have what they call a "truth night" once a week where they admit to something they did that week w/out consequences. I'm totally stealing that idea when I have kids. Here's a little background info from realitytvworld.com:

Norris, the 41-year-old father who weighs 340 lbs., is a stay-at-home dad while his wife Tameka, a 36-year-old who weighs 380 lbs., is responsible for financially supporting the family while also serving as the disciplinarian for their two children -- 16-year-old Amber, who weighs 348 lbs., and her 14-year-old brother Shayne, who weighs 308 lbs..

Scary isn't it?? I don't know why but I love watching shows like this. Another favorite show that I always have on my DVR is You Are What You Eat. I think Gillian McKeith is hilarious.

I hopped on my stationary bike for 4 miles while waiting for Dave to get home from work.

When he walked in the door he immediately announced that he's made all of his business goals for 2009. This was incredible news since my husband is one of the most ambitious people I know. We now officially have ZERO balances on credit cards, both business and personal. Such a good feeling!! He even made enough profit this year to pay off his Dodge Ram - which also means no car payments in 2010. :) (My Jeep is paid for. So are his other three vehicles.)

We celebrated by opening a bottle of wine that his sister gave me for Christmas:We each had one glass. Apparently it was a wine-y day for me!

After two glasses of wine, a short workout and nothing in my stomach since lunch I quickly made a delicious and random dinner. Half a sweet potato topped with cottage cheese, avocado, s+p and hot sauce. With some leftover meatloaf topped w/ketchup & mustard. (This was on a salad plate.)

Then for dessert I pulled the good stuff from the freezer.

Question: What is one great thing that you have done for yourself and your health this year? (see mine above)

What Resolution?

Now that 2009 is coming to a close many people are making their New Year's Resolutions. Now personally, I have never been one to do this. I guess it's because I have the memory of a goldfish I would rather make the necessary life changes as they come along - not wait until that one special time of year to change myself. It's not an insurance plan, it's YOUR LIFE. You don't have to wait for the enrollment period to come around every January 1st in order to fix what's broken.

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One thing I DO make a habit of is purging my cabinets at the beginning of each year. You know that old bottle of lotion in the back of your medicine cabinet? What about the 2 year old bottle of relish in the bottom shelf of the fridge? These items can pile up over time and I like to take a few hours each January to toss any old containers that may have passed their expiration dates.

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Skin care products and makeup examples: (information from About.com)

• Skin and body care products - Simply look on the back of the container. Many times you'll see a number on the bottle or tub. The number is usually 6, 12, 24 or 36. What this means is that you can safely use this opened product for the number of months it says. But remember that dipping your fingers into product does bring bacteria into the mix so be sure to use your best judgement. Any unopened products that are still sealed usually have a shelf life of 3-5 years.
• Lipstick - Some experts say 1-2 years. Others say up to 4 years. What everyone agrees on is that if it smells rancid, throw it out, it's spoiled. Extra tip: If you store lipstick in the refrigerator, it will last longer.
• Nail Polish - Up to 12 months, depending on the quality. Dollar store nail polish? Toss it.
• Concealer - Up to 12 months.
• Powder - 2 years.
• Cream & gel cleansers - 1 year.
• Pencil eye liner - Should be sharpened regularly. Will last up to 3 years.
• Eyeshadow - Will also last up to 3 years.

Condiment/food examples: (information from ehow.com)

• Mayonnaise - Good for two to three months if not opened. If opened, it is good for two months in the fridge.
• Ketchup - This will last for one year unopened and eight to twelve months opened in the fridge. If opened and kept at room temperature in the pantry, the shelf life is 1 month.
• Mustard - Mustard holds up pretty well. It is good for two years unopened. Once open, its shelf life is six to eight months in the fridge or the pantry.
• Jam, Jelly & Preserves - Store these unopened for up to one year. In the fridge, they will store opened for one year.
• HALF & HALF - Store it unopened in the fridge for up to four weeks. Once it is opened, its shelf life is only one week!

One thing I like to do is to take a Sharpie and mark the date when I opened a new container. Works well for anything that I've thrown into the freezer too.

Breakfast yesterday was a melty, crispy banana and almond butter "quesadilla". It takes a bit longer than I like to spend on breakfast in the morning but the end result is worth it. Not that I don't like a nice leisurely breakfast but if you learned anything from my timeline post, it's that I prepare and eat my breakfast in about 8 minutes flat on weekdays.

Mid-morning snack: Dr. Kracker Sunflower Cheddar flatbread w/LC and an apple.

This snack ended up being a lot more filling than I had anticipated. I generally eat lunch a couple hours after my snack but when the time came I wasn't very hungry. Unfortunately I have a pretty specific "lunch window" that I have to take advantage of.

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When that time came I got out my "salad" and orange and just kind of looked at them for a bit. As stupid as I think it is to eat when I'm not hungry I really had no choice.In the "salad" -

• garbanzo beans
• 2 chopped carrots
• whole red bell pepper, chopped
• sprinkle of baby spinach (this is why I put salad in paretheses, this is really just a pile of chopped veggies w/beans)

Topped with Annie's honey mustard dressing.

Yeah. It was good but definitely lacking that certain spice - hunger. I also realized that I don't really like oranges. They're ok but not very special to me. Looking back I should have just waited because once I mess with my hunger cues the rest of my day doesn't go so well.

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After work I came home on a mission to eat some protein. I made my favorite McFlurry protein shake with Cookies & Cream Spiru-tein, soy milk and ice.I also had some Dr. Kracker Fire Roasted Crisps for a salty contrast.Like I said before, messing with my hunger cues is never a good idea. I polished off this bag of pretzels right after the shake & crisps.

Then I took a short nap to try to get back to normal. I felt the snack monster roaring away inside and that usually means I'm tired.

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Usually, but not this time. After a short 20 minute nap I had another sunflower cheddar flatbread with Sunbutter.

Funny story, when I took the first couple bites of this I must have inhaled a whole sunflower seed because I started coughing like crazy. I couldn't seem to get it dislodged so I drank a bunch of water and started to feel better. Right after that I had a sudden sneezing fit. I think it went into my nose?? I must have sneezed 15 times which is funny because I've never been a multiple sneezer. Are you a multi-sneezer?

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Anyway, after I sufficiently ruined my appetite for dinner I decided to eat anyway. Stupid. But I feel bad not eating that one meal per day that I get with the husband. We had meatloaf which was good, and some sort of potato-veggie mix that was gross. Tasted like processed plastic.

Irritated with myself and overly full I changed and went downstairs for a sweat session on the treadmill.

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Workout: 2 miles speed-walking (3.8 mph) with incline

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Post workout snack: A small handful of raw almonds.

I think I may have an idea for an actual New Year's Resolution - Follow the Intuitive Eating principles more. I like that one and I'm pretty sure I can remember it.

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What's your biggest vice from 2009?

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Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

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Timeline of a Grazer

4:47 am - Alarm clock goes off, I reach for my iPhone and check my email under the covers. I also spend a few minutes on my Google Reader reading a blog or two to help me wake up.

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5:02 am - Hop out of bed, grab work clothes and pick up my husband's cat, Vern. Plug in straightening iron and pee (yeah, still holding Vern). Brush teeth, wash face, do hair....

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5:30 am - Run downstairs to boil water for my English Breakfast tea. Grab a few Kombucha green tea bags to throw into my purse for work. Run back upstairs to finish hair & do make-up.

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5:57 am - Say goodbye to hubsy, put on socks and perfume. Sprint downstairs and take oatmeal out of fridge. (I soak my extra thick rolled oats in water overnight to plump them up.)

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5:59 am - Mash banana into oat/water combo & pop into microwave for two minutes. Add soymilk & stevia to tea, grab lunch from fridge and dash out to garage to start my Jeep.

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6:01 am - Oatmeal is ready. Add cinnamon, flaxseed, apricot jam and Sunbutter then try to get a good picture before shoveling it in.

6:07 am - Drive to work, notice that my gas light is on but am too lazy and out of time to stop anywhere. Cross fingers I can make it...

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6:32 am - Clock in and start my workday. Realize I don't have another person coming in until 10. I hope that it won't be busy so I do a quick blog post before it gets too hectic.

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9:00 am - Where is everyone?? I'm so boooored. And sort of hungry.

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11:22 am - Wow, my stomach is making all kinds of noises, what time is it? Oh crap, it's been over 5 hours since breakfast. Time for a snack!

12:55 pm - I take my lunch break. I wish I had had time to go to the store on Sunday, this is pathetic. There's no way this will last me for the rest of the workday. 2:05 pm - I see a new tin of evil has arrived. Doesn't anyone have anything else to do besides fatten people up this time of year? I refrain from indulging - I've had enough sugar these past few days. That and surprisingly, my lunch is still with me.2:38 pm - Change into jeans and a long sleeve top and head out to take the deposit to the bank. Grab some tea and a Hershey's Hug. See a gas station along the way, stop and fill up.2:50 pm - Teller at the bank is hitting on me. Ha. The look on his face is funny when I said I spent Christmas at my mother-in-law's house. Well, he asked...

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3:15 pm - Walk back into work, close my register and clock out. Head straight to my hubby's shop to chat and then I'm off to the grocery store.

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4:09 pm - Walk out of grocery store and promptly rip open my current favorite bar, Clif Mojo Mountain Mix.4:12 pm - Get stuck on some ice in a roundabout while trying to eat it. Disbelief sets in that I am in 4-wheel drive WITH brand new all-terrain tires and a two foot patch of ice still traps me in place. Sucky.

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4:30 pm - Marvel at the sun setting behind the Rockies and try to get a good picture.4:56 pm - Put away groceries and snack on some Oikos w/cinnamon and almond butter.
6:31 pm - Prep dinner. (Turkey breasts w/a sprinkle of flour dipped in an egg white/dijon mustard mix and some panko bread crumbs. Sprinkled with chopped fresh garlic, sea salt and pepper and baked for 15 min on each side (30 min total) at 350 degrees.)7:12 pm - Eat! Nom nom. Nom. Add some Frank's hot sauce to everything post-picture. 8:15 pm - Still hungry but want to get a workout in before bed. I drink another glass of water and then change into my workout gear.

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8:25 pm - Turn on Jillian's 30 Day Shred DVD and start Level 2. Curse Jillian while failing to keep my balance when doing her pendulum lunges.

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9:04 pm - Pack lunch for following day and silently cheer at how shaky my arms and shoulders are. I hope I'm sore the next day.

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9:15 pm - Eat a small bowl of Kashi Go Lean w/vanilla soy milk. That's right, Naomi, I made sure to eat something after my workout this time! :)

9:20 pm - Take a shower and hit the hay. 4:47 am comes pretty early...

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You have three chances to enter and then I will choose two lucky winners on January 9th.

One year ago...

Last year for Christmas, I asked for a camera. Little did my poor then-fiance, now-husband know what I was planning on doing with it when he bought my little purple Nikon Coolpix. He even had the foresight to get me an extra memory card and a digital picture frame.A few days after Christmas, I wrote my first blog post on December 29, 2008 - exactly one year ago today. My initial plan was to blog about my journey to losing inches & becoming a buff bride on my wedding day, May 31, 2009. My wedding came and went but I just couldn't let my little blog go. I was finally getting subscribers and consistent comments! I couldn't believe people out there actually wanted to read about my boring daily life and the snacks I fuel myself with.

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While I've been reminiscing, I've also been planning a bit of a giveaway to thank all my dear readers (and lurkers!) for stopping by each day to read my rambles. I have two items to give, both are food-oriented of course.

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First up, a Cuisinart electric fondue set.

Second, I'm also offering a pasta machine!

Which do you want more??!?!

Rules for entering:

1. You can only pick one item.
2. Leave a comment with your item of choice, the fondue set or the pasta maker, and tell me ONE RECIPE/MEAL you want to make with it. Will it be beer cheese dip for your Superbowl party?? Or how about some homemade noodles for your grandmother's famous chicken noodle soup??
3. Link back to this post for an additional entry and leave a comment letting me know you did so. (I don't do that Twitter nonsense so tweet if you want but that won't get you anywhere.)
4. Add me to your blogroll or become a follower and leave another comment for a third entry!
   

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Contest ends at midnight on Friday, January 8th.

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White Out

We made it home!!! Thank goodness.

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After we left Fort Collins on Thursday morning we hit a long stretch of pure ice immediately after hopping onto Interstate 25. From there to Cheyenne, WY it was pure hell. My fingers and hands were sweating like crazy. One truck passed me at 40mph, hit the ice wrong and swiftly flew into the ditch in a giant cloud of powdery snow. Luckily from Cheyenne the roads cleared up and we were able to make pretty good time until we hit Kearney, NE. The storm must have just blown through there because it was a war zone. I wish I had taken photos but the sun was down by then. Over thirty five to forty cars & trucks overturned on both sides of I-80. Eleven of those were semi-trailers. Ever seen an overturned semi?? How about 11? Scary. One of them was so badly mangled and twisted that the cab was turned an extra 45 degrees underneath the back trailer. Awful. We had a near fatal accident from a passing semi over a snow-drift filled bridge but luckily it missed us by inches, all Dave kept saying was "We're dead. This is it. I can't get away from him."

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I did get a couple photos of them on the way home. This one was being pulled up by a crane.

Dave's oldest sister and her husband made it in from Missouri an hour or so after we did Thursday night. They had a similar experience on the drive in. The six of us spent the night chatting at my in-law's house, sipping beer and trying to predict the weather for the weekend.

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Christmas day arrived and we woke up to a white out. Blowing snow, 50 mph winds and no way to get out. Sadly, Christmas dinner was supposed to be at their house. No one made it. :( I did however, give Dave his present as soon as everyone woke up. I wish I had thought to take a photo but I didn't. I gave him a brand new, semi-automatic Mossberg shotgun. He loved it!! Then he surprised me with a little black bag.

Earrings!

The rest of Christmas day was spent watching movies, drinking and eating. I did manage to sneak away for a bit and get some pics of the Christmas decorations. Dave and I didn't decorate at all this year so it was fun to see so much holiday cheer in his mom's house. She had two full sized Christmas trees.

Plus a ton of these porcelain Santa figurines. Each one has different features and different props. Her mother (Dave's grandmother) makes them, we have one at home but the poor thing never saw the light of day this year. She even sews all their little clothes!

I had a couple glasses of wine in me by this point...weirdo.Look who is on the family wall now....The view outside:See that little dark rectangle behind the truck?? That's my Jeep. :(

There was about 3-4 inches of snow total but with the winds it created 4-8 foot drifts all over the place. Unfortunately they live out in BFE on a minimum-maintenance road so there were no snow plows at all. After 24 hours inside even I was getting bored.

As well as a bit tipsy and full of sugar.

The next day (Saturday) Dave's step dad decided to take his giant four-wheel drive tractor out to plow the roads for us. He got stuck about two miles down the road. IN. A. TRACTOR. The drift that nabbed him was 6 feet high and 50 feet long. This is my brave husband going out with his brother-in-law to dig out and rescue the $60,000 tractor. It was the most entertainment I had all weekend...Sadly only a few family members made it out on Saturday night, Dave's other sister being one of them. We had a good time, playing darts & card games, eating too much dessert and drinking too much wine. Dave's mom even made prime rib for everyone on Friday. Speaking of food, I bet you're wondering where all my food pics are right? Well, I only have a few. All taken with my iPhone. But all good!

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Saturday Lunch: Salad w/leftover prime rib, sauteed mushrooms and honey mustard dressing.

Saturday Dinner: Homemade potato soup & a multigrain roll with ham. And wine. :)Sunday Detox Lunch: Ruby Tuesday's salad bar. A little bit of everything....

There you have it, my snow-filled, wine-induced, Christmas weekend. It's pretty strange to think that I didn't leave the house once from Thursday night until late Sunday morning! Poor Dave, his step dad & brother-in-law were going insane.

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Which brings me to the best quote from the entire weekend. Chuck (brother-in-law from Missouri) received a phone call late Saturday afternoon from a friend. When asked how he was doing - his response, (in a thick, Southern accent) was "Well, I'm about to go nibble on the end of a gun."