Progress and Macaroons

Well, I did gain 1.4 pounds from my week of overindulgence. Could have been worse. But, then again, it usually takes about 2 weeks for the full effect to show up, so we'll see.

I am happily back on plan. Weight Watchers is changing their program dramatically by the end of November. I am just hoping that all of the fun weight watcher's cookbooks I have will not become obsolete. Of course, I could always use the recipes and convert to the new plan as they helpful for losing weight and are delicious.

I worked at Raw Melissa's kitchen last night. We made macaroons and key lime pies, more sandwiches and spring rolls. Speaking of spring rolls, they come with the most delicious Thai Nut Sauce. The recipe is in her new cookbook-- Faves.

Later...I started this post a few days ago. About time I finished it. Well, I have not done as well as hoped with tracking the last few days. I don't know why it is so hard sometimes. Having said that, the only thing I can do is recommit to track everything that I eat today.

We did a family photo session with my cousins. I have been having fun processing those photos. It was overcast so we thought we wouldn't be able to capture the golden/pink time of the evening. Well, we learned a lot about timing. Next time I would do more poses as well. It's all about experience and learning from, right?

Here are a few of the ones I have been playing with.







After this photo session, we went back to their house, had dinner from kneaders (thus my difficulty tracking....) and then cleared out the living room and danced. Rob and Tina are both great swing dancers. I want to learn how to dance in the biggest way. I struggle with following. I danced once with Rob--he attempted to teach me some things. I felt like I made a fool of myself. I need to cut myself some slack and become teachable. The great thing in all of this is that I, Maren, was dancing. Even though it was not skillful, what a dream come true.

Being November and all, reminded me to bring back my daily gratitudes.

1. Living in Utah. I love it here. I am happy happy happy that we made this move.

2. My health. I am still improving, but I have practically come back from the dead that I am grateful for what I can do every day.

3. Working with Raw Melissa. What a wonderful opportunity. I am loving every minute of it.

4. Theatre. Seeing the Scarlet Pimpernel a few weeks ago and watching the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables in the theatre. Musical theatre moves me and I love it.

5. That we are now a two car family and our second car is darling and one I have wanted for years.

Life is good.

-love you all!

..Maren

Yes, I know......

being a witch goes great with Christmas themed background. I just like this picture. Maybe I'll have some good Christmas ones to choose from before the season is over.

A Whirlwind and a Resolution

I've already put some of this on facebook, so for my facebook friends--please forgive the repeat. I've added something new on the end, I promise.

Jeff and I were starting to notice that having another car might be a helpful thing. Now that I am well, I am out and gone A LOT. (*hooray!!*) Having one car has really worked for us since Jeff telecommutes and I wasn't getting out much. That is changing and we are both getting more involved in activities.

So, we started looking online for fun. We found a Mini Cooper that looked promising, so we went to take a gander at it. Right next to it was my dream car from about forever--a Mazda RX8. Jeff has also been wanting something sporty, but thankfully, this car has a back seat so it is more practical.

Buying the car took a bit, as it does, so we had Reilly go over to some friend's houses. (thank goodness for church, I do love our new ward). When we got back, the boys went out to see what we had bought. It was really cute. Reilly's friends were oohing and ahhing. Reilly kept saying "this is the best day of my life". Funny kid.

Anyway, here is a picture.



And for my resolution. Today is Wednesday, which also happens to be the day that we go to Weight Watchers. This particular Wednesday at Weight Watchers is not going to be a fun one (I kinda wanna skip!). I had a bit of too much pleasure this past week eating pastries and desserts from Kneaders--and it's not even the Holidays yet! I really do hate throwing away weeks and sometimes months of hard work, yet I didn't consider that when I was indulging. oops.

I had mentioned in my previous post that I was looking for something to focus on and blog about. I think I will do what was suggested and come up with different themes monthly or so. I might even start a separate blog for that. I wont officially get started until the new year though.

However, there is one goal that I really want to work on now and I am having trouble with the accountability part. We are now entering the tastiest time of the year. I would like to commit to keeping track of my weight watchers points--all of them, from a little nibble or a taste here to meals. I am allowing myself to go over my allotted points if I choose as long as I write them down, but when I track I rarely go overboard. My goal is to do this daily and be accountable to the blog for it. For the purpose of having something finite, I will do this on my blog through the end of the year, with the intent of losing 10 pounds from today (so, I guess I do need to go to my meeting.........). If I can lose 10 pounds through the holidays, that will be quite a feat.

The beauty of this is that weight watchers works. Whenever I track my points, I lose weight. I has never failed. And, I can still eat yummy things, it just takes more work since I need to make lightened up recipes. I have yet to find a weight watchers recipe that I don't like.

So, to make this doable, I am starting today, Wednesday November 17th 2010. The final goal will end on January 1st, 2011. I want to break it down into manageable pieces. My tracking week starts on Wednesday, since that is the day of the meeting. My smaller objective is to track every day this entire next week (and I'll be traveling over Thanksgiving to make it a bit trickier to do). Even simpler still--I am going to start by tracking today. I love breaking things down into daily tasks.

I just had another idea that will probably motivate me to eat healthy food. I'm sure no one really cares, but if I have to put on the blog what I ate, I just might think twice before eating something too refined. Mostly, it will be dinner and snacks. I usually have some sort of cereal for breakfast and a green smoothie for lunch with a vitatop. Having my green smoothie daily is also very important to losing weight. I usually lose when I have them daily (did I this past week? nope!). They are healthy but they also fill me up and I don't crave or want to eat too much.

Anyway.....I have rambled FAR too much about this.

I'll check back in with the damage report and how things are going.

A Blog a Day

I enjoy reading blogs by ambitious people who decide to do something everyday or so much in a year. For example, in this blog she is reading 365 books in 365 days. I can't even imagine how that could be possible. Then, my newest favorite photographer, blogs here, a photograph a day taken and edited with his Android phone to show that being a great photographer isn't just about having a great camera. Boy does he prove that too. Then, of course, there was the blog made famous by the movie "Julie and Julia", where another ambitious soul decided to cook every recipe in Julia Childs famous cookbook in one year and blog about it.

I love that kind of thing. I've often wondered if there would be something I could focus on for a period and blog about. My problem is that I have so many things I am interested in that it is hard to narrow it down. Plus, I get bored rather quickly and move on to something new. What does that say about me? Hmmmmmmm. I would love to do a photograph a day as that would get me to use my camera more. I am also interested in cooking and making healthy food that is also delicious. I could blog about the new recipes that I try. That would be more of a once a week thing than every day (who knows though, wouldn't daily be cool?).

I love love love to read. But, it takes me awhile to finish any book as I usually only read a few minutes before I fall asleep.

So, what should I focus on and blog about? Maybe a separate blog dedicated to that focus so this one can remain about my family's comings and goings. Maybe a blog about finishing all of my unfinished projects. I'm sure that is also telling quite a bit about me. I'm going to think on it. I may not be able to pull off a blog a day, but maybe a blog a week? That would work too and probably be more realistic with how I work.

My life has really picked up the pace lately, so it's not like I really need a new project right now. I just think it would be fun.

I leave you with some pictures from my cousin's Mad Hatter Tea birthday party.

Design in Progress

I am obviously redoing the background and banner. It is being a work in progress. I want to finish it now, but alas, I have an appointment I need to get to. Hopefully today.....

Catching Up

There has been some requests on facebook to give more detail about my new job. I have mentioned Raw Melissa on this blog before. She is local and makes the most decadent and delicious raw desserts. I had her make a chocolate raspberry truffle pie for my birthday. Yummmm. For some reason, I really wanted to work with her from the moment that I met her. She is fun and has fantastic energy. She has a new website that is pretty awesome. Check it out here.

She mentioned on facebook the other day that she was looking for some volunteers. I, and several others, jumped at the chance to work with her. She had positions for two and of the many who originally were interested, I, so far, have been the only one who has been serious enough to follow through and start working. I am compensated with lots of freebies.

It's a really part time position (perfect for me). 4 hours a week or so. I started this week. I was nervous for my first day. It was the first time I've worked outside of the home in ages and all of my fears of my health were at the forefront of my mind. It could not have gone better. I felt fantastic and had a wonderful time.

Raw Melissa has recently landed a deal with Whole Foods in our local 4 state area. Her business is growing and I imagine the holidays are going to be a very busy time. She also has an awesome new cookbook out that can be purchased here.

That is what's going on with that. I have certainly come far.

Last night, Jeff and I were privileged to go with my parents to the Hale Theatre to watch their production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. This was my first time to this particular theatre. I was blown away. The talent was incredible. I absolutely LOVED the show. I wish I could go back and see it again, but alas, it is sold out. I don't know what it is about this area, but there seems to be so much more to do. There are always classes, entertainment and BYU events that I am interested in going to. The problem is saying no to most everything. I am so happy we are here. We have done more in the last few months that we've lived here than we have in our entire 12 years of marriage. My health is a big part of that, I know, but it's more than just that.

Anyway, things are going exceptionally well. Anyone who wants to come and visit, our home is always open!

Love you all!

-Later,

Maren