Things Ate Today: December 1, 2009

Note: I will be updating this throughout the day. This is in case you read this in the morning and think it is all I ate ALL day and tell me I have an eating disorder or something,

Breakfast: kashi cinnamon harvest cereal (dry)

Snack: whole wheat ritz with laughing cow swiss light wedge (minus one cracker, a coworker stole one without asking right after I took the picture) haha

Lunch: 1/2 California blt with cup of chili from San Francisco bakery and cafe







Afternoon snack: kashi pumpkin flax seed granola bar & mini bell peppers







I left for work at 630am and then didn't get home until 7pm. I was beat. So when I finally got around to getting dinner together I went for an option I knew would be fast, easy and tasty. I thought it might bore you though because I had it very recently but after a long day I was out of ideas. I hope you understand.

Dinner: mashed potato taco with mixed salad and pico de gallo. As well as a salad with laughing cow wedge, walnuts and cranberry sauce.






This is one of my favorite meals right now. Perfect combo of sweet and salty and spicy. Mmm.

So, in other news Michael and I got our marriage license today!! Yayay. We are going to get court house married either this weekend or next. Then we can have the Brazilian one all legal an awesome. We are getting registered there so we had to do it this way. Works perfect for me

Tomorrow I am waking up early to go to the gym even though it will be very cold (low 40s or 30s) which is only a problem because I have to walk to the gym. Haha. I can suck it up though!

The food logging was not hard at all today. It did keep me from grabbing a fun size pack of m&ms today. That counts for something right?

How did you like this format today?

Brazil Preparation

I am going to make some rules for myself, only because I know it will make me feel more in control with this whole losing weight thing before I have to wear a bathing suit in front of people and a wedding dress.

Before Brazil Rules:
No Beer (wine is allowed, but only 1 -2 glasses at MOST)
No Burgers
No Fries
No Chips
Each snack has to have at least SOME fiber in it
A baggie of veggies a day
Workout 4 times a week (at min)
Report all Food Ate on Blog Daily


Any other suggestions for things to cut out for a month? (I refuse to cut out sugar, carbs, or CHEESE but will try to keep these to a minimum.

A Little Better So Far

Good news, my intense voracious appetite is gone. And just so you know it is not really true hunger, but it feels like it. It is some over abundance of acid in my tummy that really messes with me. I went to bed early last night just to avoid it. It gave me *hangry* like symptoms.

For breakfast this morning I made something new from cooking light. I made their potato apple latkes. I changed their recipe up a bit but not too much. It was essentially graded potatoes, apples, some flour and an egg (they did not suggest egg and that was crazy to me). I served it with some light sour cream and apple sauce and an egg.

This was a great breakfast. Maybe not the healthiest but it is better than if mike and I had gone out to breakfast. Speaking of which, we have not eaten out since Wednesday night. Yay.

After breakfast I went to my apartment to get a few other things left behind. After that I went to the mall. Mike and I are getting license married on Friday so I wanted a cute dress. In order to get married in Brazil we need our marriage license and what not from the states.

So onto shopping. I got an adorable coat for really cheap. Then got a cute dress, cardigan and necklace for Friday. Some teeny bopper helped pick it out for me and it actually ended up being really cute! Also note while at the mall I walked a lot and as fast as I could walk past people. I think it counts as *some* cardio.

For lunch I had 2 leftover latkes with a tiny bit of light sour cream and cranberry sauce. I also had a ham sandwich. Yum.


In a few minutes I am going to head to the gym. I am going to do day 2 of the c25k thing. It motivates me at least. Not sure about weights though because I am sore from yesterday.

The rest of my day will consist of being sad that I don't have tomorrow off, building some bathroom furniture from ikea, and coming up with a fun dinner tonight that includes our leftovers. :-)

I ate too much today

Things I ate today:
•Ab and banana and honey sandwich on Arnold thin
•Salad with cranberry sauce and walnuts and laughing cow light
•mac n cheese with ham
•random cheese samples at central market
•whole wheat ritz crackers w jalepenos cheese and walnuts
•mashed potato tostada with pico de gallo w lettuce
•salad w pico and laughing cow (2)


When will it stop? It needs to stop now.

Here is a picture of my mashed potato tostada. Mmm.

Yummy Leftovers

In the last few days I have had a voracious appetite. Not the best time to have this with all this crazy amount of food in my house. At least I have been eating all my food from home though.

For breakfast today I had an arnold thin with some almond butter, honey and banana slices. I grilled it so everything was all warm and gooshy. Mmm.

I spent my morning going to the farmers market to pick up some local coffee beans. After that mike and I went to lowes and bought a lawn mower. Now I really feel old. Haha.

For lunch I made a salad topped with cranberry sauce, a laughing cow light Swiss cheese triangle, and some walnuts. This was absolutely spectacular.

The second part of my meal was some leftover mac n cheese with some slices of ham. Mmm.


After lunch mike and I went to see The Fantastic Mr Fox. Although it was nit my gave Wes Anderson flick it was one of my gave animated movies. Yay.

After that we went to central market to pick up a few small items. Then I went to the gym. I did the first day of the c25k program from an iPhone app. After that I did some weights. Now I am trying to scare away my hunger with some unpacking.

I seriously cannot get rid of my hunger. I hate when this happens. Even veggies and lots if water is not helping. What do you do when this happens to you?

Thanksgiving Success

For our first time hosting thanksgiving I think Mike and I did pretty well.

We started out with the turkey. Mike's aunt helped us start it out by taking care of the insides. She also made the turkey do a little dance for us. Haha.

For the turkey we rubbed it with olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped fresh Rosemary and stuffed it with a ton of garlic.

We also had a honey baked ham which was to die for. Mmmm.

We of course had some mashed potatoes. I think mike and I are pretty close to perfecting those. We added some grilled onions, garlic, chives, cream cheese, butter, veggie broth and some bacon. We also topped it with some cheese on top that didn't end up melting. Oops.



We made a green bean dish that was mostly based off a cooking light recipe. It started off with some butter, fresh green beans, grilled onions, garlic and mushrooms. I also added some bacon pieces, fresh thyme and dry sherry. Mmm. I forgot to take it's photo though. Other forgotten photo dishes include crossaints and ham. Also the gravy which mikes mom made that was tasty.

The stuffing was pretty easy and tasty. I used some box kind of stuffing, then added celery, onions, garlic, veggie broth and sliced green apples.


One of my favorite family dishes includes the yam casserole. I started with two cans of yams. Then added cherry pie filling, apple pie filling, chopped walnuts and a little brown sugar. Of course some mashmallows on top too.



Mike made a pumpkin cheesecake pie based off a Paula dean recipe. Of course it was amazing.


We also had a Brazilian dessert made by mikes aunt. It included Brazilian chocolates and lots of sweet condensed milk (as well as other ingredients too) It was very tasty!

We have a ton of leftovers and I am already thinking of ideas to make meals with them.

For breakfast I made scrambled eggs with grilled onions, garlic, mushrooms and ham. Mmm.

For lunch I had my traditional turkey sandwich with miracle whip and yellow mustard. I plan on making sandwiches with different variations of sauces this week.

For dinner I had some mac n cheese with my leftover green bean dish. Mmm. I had been craving ma n cheese for awhile and hope i got rid of it with this meal.



Other leftover ideas include brown fried rice with ham and veggies, turkey with black beans and rice, bean soup with ham, turkey chili with cornbread, and potato tacos. Mmm.

Tomorrow includes a hike at the greenbelt, a new lawnmower and lots of unpacking. Today involved lots of much needed relaxation!

What a weekend!

Wow this was definitely a jammed packed weekend. On Friday I went with mike to evangaline cafe on Brodie. It is a Cajun restaurant. I have never had Cajun food before (why??) and it was absolutely amazing. the restaurant was very austin. It was low key, kitchy and delicious. I got the oyster contraband to share with mike. It was some fried clams with some sauce and other delicious things. My main meal was the bean and rice. It was slightly spicy and very tasty.

After dinner mike and I went to walmart to see if they had any thanksgiving tablecloths yet. They did not. I settled for a cream colored one. Much cheaper than bed bath and beyond.

On Saturday mike and I woke up early and went to Ikea. We needed a few things as well as a few ideas to fix up out place. We ended up spending a lot more than we intended but got some great finds. I got some much needde bathroom storage cabinets. We got a coffee table. Also curtains, sheets and duvet covers. Also some other random items that were needed. We held back on some awesome lighting but are still dreaming about them. Haha.

Below are the curtains we got that I also hemmed. :-)

After that I went to our apartment to pick up a few things we needed. Then central market for some thanksgiving decor. I decided on just using different types of squash to make a center piece.


After that I went to target and got some other stuff we needed as well as michaels to get some stuff to hem the curtains.

I then hemmed the curtains, put them up, decorated the table and did some other random things. After that mike and I met up with Amanda to watch Paranormal Activity. Oh Lordy that was terrifying. Mike even admitted that it was scary.

Today (Sunday) i woke up early again too. I went to best buy with mike and bought a new tv. We had some tiny 20 inch tv that i got back in 2006 when it was not at it's prime. It looked absolutely silly in our big living room. We got a great deal on a samsung 32 inch tv and are in live with it. You can see it below with the latest episode of californication playing.



We then went to costco to get some things we needed for thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately we have to go back bc Texas is lame and wont let you buy beer on Sunday before 12. I guess that is my reward for waking up early? No beer at super cheap prices. Boo.

After that I got the rest of what we needed from Heb. Fortunately that was much cheaper than I thought it would be.

Then I unpacked, and ate a delicious sandwich with laughing cow Swiss cheese, ham and jalepenos. Mmm.

I also sent out some additional wedding invites, and some thank you cards. Then did the paint touch ups in the guest room. I will make sure to show you the final results when it is done. I even have before photos. Yay.

Then I did some laundry, cleaned up the kitchen and unpacked a few more things. For dinner I made mashed potato tacos with beans on the side. I was trying to perfect the potatoes for Thursday. The tacos were pure heaven. Still dreaming about them.

Now it is time to rest up because I need to wake up early to hit the gym in the morning before work.

Work tomorrow should actually be more relaxing than my weekend. Funny. Hahhaha. Don't get me wrong though I am incredibly excited for how the house is coming along and for hosting thanksgiving. If I am not at my moms for thanksgiving , hosting it is second best! Yaya.

I hope your weekend went well!

Still No Hot Water -- So Gym It Is

So still no hot water. Not until Thursday. This means I went to the gym this morning to workout so I could take a shower at their place. I love the short walk to the gym. it is incredible. Unfortunately there is a Mexican food place and a Starbucks in the same shopping center which is tempting. ahhaha. I have resisted both days though.

Tomorrow I have an early morning meeting (8am) that I have to be on time for. I think I am just going to go to work without a shower tomorrow and take one at night when the shower should be in working order. Let's hope that works out. Otherwise I would have to get up at 530am and I am not sure I am that motivated. haha. Maybe I will be when I wake up tomorrow and feel gross. haha.

So one thing that also is a bummer with the lack of hot water and no stove, is the fact that the heater also does not work without gas. Didn't think about that until last night when it was 60 degrees or less in my HOUSE. Of course the cold front happens right when I have no hot water right?

Note: when I walked to the gym today it was 40 degrees, and when I walked back with WET HAIR it was only 46 degress. That gets me extra hardcore points right? hhahaha.

Also our internet works, just my wireless internet does not work. I think I need a new wireless router. Ours stopped working correctly after some power surge we had a few months ago. Someone at work said he could give me his since he got a new one. I might just do that, because I do not have an extra $60 laying around.

We are completing our order for wood laminate for the house. I am super excited. Also Dean (Mike's dad) painted our living room yesterday (a dark gray) and it looks spectacular. I am super excited to see everything else done. I hope to help out sometime this week. Yayaya.

The pups love the new place. They wear themselves out every day now. They spend their days barking at squirrels, other dogs, etc. They need to learn to calm down a bit, but not sure it is within their genes.

On the food front, eating is going alright. I am trying brown rice out again today with a lunch order from work. Hopefully I am not sick the rest of the day.

I left the scale at my apartment and so have no idea how much I weigh. Strange for me.

I have to drop by the apartment tonight to get a few jackets I left behind, my wedding invitations and some other random things. This will be AFTER we complete the purchase of the laminate flooring tonight.

Tonight is going to be nuts. But I can do it.

I think today is going to be a day where I need to create a list for myself. Otherwise I will go nuts. haha.

Have a good one!

Moving Updates: Brrr

I am all moved in, extra for a few small things left at the apartment still.

The move went really smoothly with all the extra help I had. Thanks again Dean, Diva, Teddy, Amanda and Daniel! Yaya. It is greatly appreciated!!

The only snag so far is that I did not realize that in Texas you have to sign up for gas from a different company than the energy company. In California it was just one company and one bill. Or that is how I remember it at least. So I did not transfer service for gas, and it was turned off. So now I have no hot water or use of a stove until Thursday. Ooops. Thankfully Dean will be there on Thursday for when the gas company comes over! and when Time Warner comes over today. YAYAY.

So funny story on how I found out the hot water was not working. On moving day, Mike thought it was a great idea to get our dogs a haircut so they would be out of our hair. It worked out pretty well. So we got our cute little white dogs home, perfectly clean. We showed them there new backyard, and OF COURSE the first thing they do is find the only mud patch in the yard and rub all in it. They came back looking spotted. So of course I had to give them a bath. The water was not getting hot. Then I was thinking back to how our stove wasn't turning on either when we attempted. We thought a pilot light was just out and forgot about it. And then I realized, NO HOT WATER, because NO GAS. AHHH. Then thanks to twitter I figured it all out. Needless to say the dogs got a VERY cold bath.

I ended up going to the gym this morning to avoid a cold shower at home. My gym is literally a 5 minute WALK away, so that is perfect. So I walked there this morning (when it was only 40 degrees!!) and did a little elliptical action for 30 minutes. Then I took a shower there, and went home to do the make up and hair dryer action. It all worked out very well. I am going to have to do that tomorrow and Thursday as well. Glad this situation is forcing me to go to the gym and realize that it is not so bad waking up early and going there. It really was nice this morning.

Dean and Mike are starting to paint our walls today! I am so excited we chsoe some great colors. I will have to take pictures and show you. We have a lot of customization we want to do on it. Yaya.

I will have more details later this week. In the mean time, my meals might be boring at night since I cannot use a stove. haha.

We Have a House

I know I already said this yesterday but I have to keep repeating it to believe it. I picked up the keys today and mike and I stopped by with the pups in tow. We brought a box of glasses given to us from my friend Molly. Yay. The dogs loved it and they both fit through the doggie door. Adorable!

After a long day, I finally got back to the apartment around 9pm. I hadn't eaten dinner yet so I just through a ready made Indian meal together. It was pretty tasty.

For a sneak preview of the house I will show some photos. Also we do not have any front of the house photos yet for some reason.

Obviously the grass needs to be handled but how cute are those chairs out there?


This is our cute little shed. It us air conditioned and has a freezer in it and lots of storage space. Also it is actually clean inside. I always imagine them to be dirty and filled with bugs and lawn mowers. Haha.


This is what will be the guest bedroom. I love the built in book shelves! Not sure about the curtain yet but no worries.


This is an awful photo (meaning camera did not do a good job) of the living room. I live the fireplace.


And for whatever reason I took a photo of the front door for you.


We will be taking out the carpet and putting in wood paneling. We will also paint the walls some fun colors.

If you get some sort of inspiration from these let me know. Any of you out there good at design??

Now it is time to thank dean and diva for making this all possible!! Thank you for your help with this and through this! It means the world to me.

Now I need to get to packing. First box tonight? Only worked 12 hours today and only got a few hours of sleep. No big deal right? Haha.

Have a good one!