Update, Update, Update!!

Okay, I know, I know... it's been a while, right? Nearly a week since my last update, but I am still here and kickin'!Some updates...Tried a new recipe from one of Joy Bauer's books. My awesome nutritionist allowed me to borrow the book, and man, did I get some good recipes.

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Feast your eyes on "General Joy's Chicken"!However, don't be fooled by appearances. It may look tasty, but it... wasn't? It wasn't

awful

, but it wasn't the most delicious thing I've ever tasted either. I'm not sure if I did something wrong with the recipe, or if it was something else, but man... it

tasted

salty. Which is odd, considering that the majority of the ingredients had no salt or were low sodium.Ah well. Joy, you've given us some tasty recipes, and we still need to try out a few more, but I don't think I'll be adding this one to the repertoire.Something else new that I tried this week!I present to you... DESSERT HUMMUS:

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I know how it must sound, but look, it's

delish

. 80 calories for 2 tablespoons, paired with graham crackers and it's... -mimes kissing fingerprints- Haven't tried it with fruit, but I'm sure it will be really good!Full disclosure, Zumba last Sunday truly kicked my butt. I've continued to exercise, but I don't think I've fully recovered from the ordeal. I decided to rest Monday, today, and tomorrow. My joints feel like an old granny's (apologies to any old grannies reading this). I'll be back at it again, sweating with Jillian Michaels, on Monday!In addition to the delicious WIN of the dessert hummus, one dinner this week

was

a success. Take a gander at these zucchini boats:

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Ignoring the burnt bits of cheese that conveniently fell off and crisped up on the pan, these zucchini boats are super good, and fairly low cal! The "guts" of the boat are pieces of chicken, mushrooms, and summer squash, all in marinara sauce and topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. I can't tell you enough how good this dish is.Also, my mom was craving carbs, so we added a little bit of noodles to curb that.All of this suffering through tasteless "healthy" Chinese food hasn't been in vain. I did get to do some cool stuff. Here are the results from my Marvel night masterpiece!

I'm no Van Gogh, but this came out pretty cool. Not sure what I'm going to put in it though...Another big event, and yes, it is a big event, was that I was graced with my cat's presence one morning.

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This never happens. Let me tell you. She's not at all cuddly or likes to be petted. When she gets this close to me, I take it as a victory.This is Minerva, my dilute torti cat. I love her, even though she hates me, and I'm pretty sure there are times that she wants to actually kill me. Probably in my sleep.Camp NaNo, at this point, might as well just not have happened. I am slowly but surely writing for a different project than the one I declared for Camp, but that's okay, because I'm writing! I'm not writing a lot, but

I am

writing. I'm sure my Now Novel mentor is chomping at the bit for the next chapter, so I better get on that, right?You guys ever heard of Dietbet? Basically, you bet money on yourself to lose weight, and after the challenge is through, if you won, you get to split the 'pot' with other winners. A co-worker and I signed up for one of the challenges! It's 4 weeks long, and we are challenged to lose 4% of our weight. For me, the number to lose is kind of daunting for 4 weeks, but I am determined to try!I promise I will get a little better with updates!Ciao, friends!

Advil Is My Friend

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Today was a great day! Got to spend it with my bestest friend, and have tons of fun!We first met for pedicures, which is always a good time. Especially when you get extra massage, and then SURPRISE shoulder and neck massage. The guy literally put his knee into my back and pulled my shoulders and arms to stretch my chest. It was the best feeling, let's be real.Took advantage of the Skinnylicious menu at The Cheesecake Factory. I've never had anything other than cheesecake there, so it was nice to have a meal. It was sooo good, and so worth it. Minimal calories for eating out, and even splurged and split a tiramisu cheesecake with the BFF. I was feeling guilty about it, but then... well, I'll tell you in a second...Escaped the coolest escape room I think we've ever done! The BFF and I have made it a hobby to do these. They are so much fun, and they certainly work the critical thinking skills. This one was pirate themed, and even had a few Goonies references. We escaped with 9 minutes left! Another victory in our books!Okay, so, why I eventually stopped feeling guilty about lunch... was dragged to Zumba. FRIGGIN' ZUMBA. WE DID AN HOUR OF IT. IT WAS TORTURE. BUT IT WAS KINDA FUN? 30 minutes would have been sufficient. The body is going to hurt tomorrow. Can't wait. Already took some pain meds. Hopefully, will sleep like a ROCK tonight. Whew. It was a lot of sweating, let me tell you. I don't think a shower has ever felt so good.Anyway, cutting the story short... to sum up: I didn't completely over do it with food today, and even made up for it with some crazy exercise. Will be taking tomorrow off as my rest day, instead of Sunday. Besides, I really don't think I'll be able to move...Also, it's weigh-in day tomorrow! Will be interested to see what it says!Did not get much written on Camp NaNo. Might have to call this one a loss. I think I'll try and get a few words in after I publish this post.Back to the grind tomorrow!Ciao, friends!

Still Here!

HAPPY FRIDAY!I am still here! It's been a few days since I posted. I promise that my silence has not been because I fell off the wagon and have been ashamed to report that. On the contrary, still going strong, even though most mornings I'd rather stick pins in my eyes rather than exercise. But I'm making it! I'm surviving!Yesterday, my mom and I did a little shopping at a local farmers' market. We got a ton of fresh veggies! For dinner, we steamed up the green beans we purchased, and man, can you tell the difference! It's amazing, really!This weekend is actually a free weekend for me! Not entirely sure what I'll be doing with myself tomorrow, but Sunday I get to spend with my BFF! We have made it a habit that when we get together, we do an escape room. They're so much fun, and we've been super successful. I think besides one time, we haven't been able to get out of the room in time, and that's with just the two of us!Tonight is Marvel paint night at a local art studio. There's going to be trivia, and of course, you paint something Marvel-ific! I've been to this studio before, and I think I have a good idea of what I'm going to paint. I am a huge Captain America girl, and what I have in mind is very Cap themed. So, I'm excited!Hopefully, I'll get to do some writing at some point. My Camp NaNo word count is just horrendous. But, in other news, my Now Novel mentor is super excited to read the next chapter of that particular novel in progress, so that's exciting to hear what she'll have to say!Well, that's all I have as an update! Each day is creeping ever closer to the first day of my first big girl job! I'm excited to get started!Ciao, friends! 

Back At It Again

Another Monday has come and gone. At my weigh-in this morning, I found that I was down 0.8 pounds.I should be excited, right? I lost, and didn't gain!I guess after the high of the first weigh-in, 0.8 pounds is kind of a disappointment. Which brings in that little voice in my head that's called Crippling Self Doubt. Maybe I should just quite while I'm behind? The food cravings were intense today because of it.But you know, I didn't give in. I kept under my calorie count for the day.Tomorrow is a new day. Another day to stick to healthy eating, and another day to get back in the saddle of exercising. I guess I'm just going to have these days. Where it feels hard, and you get discouraged because you're not seeing results. I should know by now that weight loss doesn't happen over night, no matter how much I really want it to. Patience is the key. Patience and perseverance.It's kind of amusing the things you can be patient about, and the things you can't be patient about. This is one of those things I can't be patient about. I want that LBD tomorrow.But nothing good has ever come with minimal effort and attention.So, that's just what I have to continue to tell myself in this journey. That there will be days better than other days. That I have to be patient with myself, and to not get discouraged. That I have to persevere, even on the days and weeks where it feels like I should just binge eat everything that makes me feel better.What's that old cliche? Rome wasn't built in a day.I am Rome. The Eternal City. Birthplace of a culture and a history that has endured for millennia up to this very day. I am the Republic. I am the Empire. I am Julius Caesar. I am Marcus Aurelius.I will be patient.I will persevere.I will do this.Ciao, friends!P.S. Yet again, zero writing was done. However, my mentor over at Now Novel has sent me feedback on the first chapter of a novel I am working on. She says I have TALENT, and that she is looking forward to working with me. So, I guess, can't bitch too much about today, can I?

Whoops...

So, I forgot about yesterday's blog post, my bad.

It was Day 10 of 12/14ish, and I was giving tours left, right, and center. By the end of the day, I had walked 4+ miles, and went up 11 flights of stairs. Didn't reach 10k steps, but came close. I know 10k steps is the average to reach but... baby steps.I am now on Day 11 of 12/14ish, and can't wait to be done. Today was my day of rest from exercise. I complain about it nearly ever day, but I'm glad I get myself out of bed and do what I need to do.Tomorrow is Weigh-in Day of Week 2! Can't wait to see the results. No matter what they are, I'll keep on plugging. Because I need to. For me.

That's about all I've got for yesterday and today. Camp NaNo is at a stand-still right now, but I'm hoping to blow past where I need to be, and soon!

Ciao, friends!

Friday the 13th

OH SNAP! LOOK OUT! THERE'S JASON!!JK.Today was Day 9 of 12, well, 14, I guess. It was fairly uneventful. I managed to get a tiny bit of writing done on this short story I'm working on. Short stories are a whole other ball game for me, but hopefully it'll turn out... coherent?Today was better in regard to cravings and getting up to exercise. So, I guess I just gotta roll with the punches as they come, right? Went grocery shopping with my mom after work and it was an interesting experience. Kudos to us for having tons of produce in our cart. One thing we did splurge on were those cake in a mug things. It's just confetti cake, and it's about as many calories as I would have for a snack, maybe. Not going crazy here, but a girl's gotta have her cake and eat it too... on occasion.You know what else is great and refreshing for the soul? Getting your hair did. My hair used to be about chin length, maybe a little long, because I have these crazy curls, right? For the past year or so, I've been trying to grow my hair long. And OMG, it's long!

Left is 2016 (I think), and right is 2018, today. Cray! I've never had my hair this length before, and I'm loving it!There was no wordage on my Camp NaNo project. However, my awesome Now Novel mentor is reading the first chapter of one of my other works, and I'm excited to get feedback from her!Anyway, I'm off to watch some more How to Get Away With Murder.Ciao, friends!

Thorsday

Okay, so, today was a test of will power, I think.I woke up this morning not wanting to exercise. I laid in bed, and laid in bed some more, just wanting to go back to sleep for about 50 years. But I got up. Still considered not exercising. Hemmed and hawed some more... until I finally just DID IT.Workout 2 of Jillian Michael's Beginner Shred and man did it shred my will to live. In a good way though? If that even makes sense. I pushed through the voice in my head telling me that I could just skip exercising. I pushed through and told that voice where to stick it. And did it. That felt really good.Day 8 of 12 was good! Though later one when I was sitting down for dinner I got a text from my boss that has now made the 12 streak 14. Le Sigh. Makin' it rain, makin' it rain...One other test of will was that for the first time since I started my lifestyle change journey, I was hangry for a really big, juicy cheeseburger with bacon on it. And fries, lots of fries. I wanted it so badly that my eyes were crossing. I wanted a sundae too (thanks best friend...). But you know what I ate? I ate pepper pizzas. Basically a mini pizza with green peppers as the 'crust.' And it was good. And I'm okay. For now anyway.Camp NaNo did not go forward again at all today. I really want to get that win. I just feel like I haven't really had a chance to sit down and focus on my writing with this gigantic stretch of work days. But I don't want to get too far behind, because in a matter of days we'll be HALF WAY THROUGH JULY. It's amazing. It's almost a month before I report for my first ever day of my big girl job.Well, I'm off to bed. Hopefully the will to get out of bed and exercise tomorrow morning will be better than it was today. Fingers crossed for me, guys.Ciao, friends!

Hump Day

I am typing this post from bed. No, I'm not sick, just nearly forgot to do a post. Thank goodness for mobile apps, amiright? My day was actually uneventful, which is a bummer because that means I don't really have anything exciting to report to you. It was Day 7 of 12 and I can't wait until the day I can sleep in! Exercising is still going well, I was under my calorie count. But you want to know what count I did neglect? My Camp word count. Yet again. We're less than halfway through the month, I guess I could still catch up right? On to another day of work tomorrow! Ciao, friends!

Why Do We Even Have to Have Tuesday?

But seriously. Isn't Tuesday one of the most useless days of the week??After my shift today, I will be halfway through my 12 day work stretch! Hopefully, it'll all be downhill from here, and it'll go by quickly. Lemme tell you, I am tired.So, I have bursitis in my right shoulder, and it has mostly improved under a regimen of Aleve. However, it is not 100%. Today, the PA suggested physical therapy. I've never done physical therapy personally, but I used to volunteer in a clinic. I hope it'll help! Certain exercises are just this side of twinging my shoulder. So, let's get up to 100% here!I submitted my contract for my first ever big girl job! I am excited to be entering my first year of teaching. August 15th is my report date, and it can't come fast enough, let me say. Of course, in September I'm going to be wishing that it hadn't come at all.Still no more progress on Camp NaNoWriMo as I am writing this blog post. I am hoping that once I am finished with this, I can go accomplish something there. I have had first contact with my Now Novel mentor, and I am excited to be working with her! I hope she will give me some good feedback!Honestly, that is about all that I have for today. I blame Tuesday.Ciao, friends! 

And On the Seventh Day...

I rested.

Yes, today was the day I chose to take a bit of rest from exercising. However, not resting from continuing healthy eating habits!

If I am being honest, I have found myself not being as hungry the past couple of days as I usually am. Normally, I'm chomping at the bit to have something, and, in hindsight, it's probably because I was bored.I am a boredom eater.As well as an eater of feelings, stress eater, so on and so forth.

Thankfully, I haven't been absolutely starving when it comes time for, say, dinner, and therefore I don't overeat. It's a really good feeling, and I do hope I will be lucky enough to have more of those days, than the other type of day where I feel like I'll waste away if I don't eat something.

So, today I started my walk to Mordor! It is an app literally called "Walk to Mordor," and you log how many miles you walk in a day. It's just under 2,000 miles to get from Bag End to Mordor, and they give you milestones along the way! So, I know I said I would rest, but technically I walked during my lunch break. It was difficult not to take advantage of the sunny, nearly non-humid day. I didn't walk much; about 15 minutes. I've left Bag End, but haven't made it to Tookland yet. Can't wait to see what other milestones I hit! You should definitely check out the app. There's a plus, as you can add friends to accompany you on your journey!

Tomorrow is the moment of truth. A full week of lifestyle changes, and a full week of blogging! I will be getting on the scale and reporting in with the results!

Here's to many more weeks!

Ciao, my friends!

Workin' for the Weekend.

Work Day 3 of 12!

Honestly, not many thrills today. Worked with one of my favorite coworkers, and headed home after for some dinner. Then, went out for a coffee with a friend!Breakfast and Lunch were the same as yesterday. I better change it up very soon or I'll probably start getting bored. Actually, I can go for a long stretch of eating the same kind of thing before I can't take it anymore.Dinner was zucchini boats! They're delicious! You take a zucchini, half it longways, hollow it out, and put this delicious filling. Top it with mozzarella and a bit of parmesan and bam! Filling meal!Did you like my 'bam!'? I feel like Emeril when I say it.Another note on being bored... I feel like this is definitely a danger zone. You get bored and you're more likely to quit. At least in my experience. I think the important thing to do here is to make sure you've got a lot of different recipes and variations of meals to keep things fresh and interesting. That way complacency doesn't rear it's ugly head. I also think it is important to switch up the method of exercise. Of course, I'm not a personal trainer so I can't really speak as an expert on this. In my case, I like to switch between Jillian Michaels and the Betty Page fitness video. I'm a super beginner, but I like to do a bit of yoga as well. I think my plan will be on days where I rest from the more intense exercises, I will do yoga instead!Camp NaNoWriMo update: Uh... don't even ask. I'm cheating a little by counting the words I'm writing for a short story towards my goal. It's not exactly the project I declared, but it's writing, and that's what matters, right?Ciao, and see you tomorrow!

Good Grief...

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This getting in shape thing is... well... for the birds, haha.But no, seriously, I'm okay, I haven't given up. Today was my first trial in getting up earlier to exercise before work. It was tough, especially after the teacher nightmare I had last night. It was startling, but that's okay. It's just a dream for a reason, right?Day 2 of 12 of work!Breakfast: Basically the same as yesterday. I had another one of my delicious baked egg cups with a piece of Dave's Killer Bread smeared with peanut butter and topped with banana.Lunch: This image pretty much sums it up.A meal prepped meal! What a concept! I just reached right into the refrigerator, put it in my lunchbox along with some other snacks, and voila! AMAZING. TRULY.Dinner: I actually used the plate method that my nutritionist has told me about. Half of my plate was a mixture of summer squash, green pepper, and mushrooms all sautéed with garlic, olive oil, and a few spices. One quarter of my plate was baked chicken, and the other quarter was a red potato!Snacks: I didn't eat my usual apple for an afternoon snack today, but I will most definitely eat it tomorrow. For my mid-morning snack, I ate a container of vanilla Greek yogurt!Don't even get me started on Camp NaNo today. I'm 2,000 words behind. I wrote ZILCH today. I was hoping to enter a short story into a competition by Monday, but... the short story isn't even written. I suppose I still have time, it IS a short story, but it doesn't help that I've never written one before.Ciao!

Happy Fourth!

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Happy Fourth of July! Happy 'Murica Day! Happy Birthday to the true American icon, Steve Rogers/Captain America!How was your day? Here was mine...I didn't sleep particularly well again last night. I think it's just my brain being busy and not being able to stop thinking. I was up around 3:45am and when I couldn't go back to sleep I went ahead and watched the latest

The Handmaid's Tale

episode. It is such a great show! If you're not watching it, you should be! After I was done, I was able to catch a few more Z's. The rest of the day is just playing catch up with the plans that I had.I did about 20 minutes of yoga today. I think I went a little too hard on Jillian Michaels, and my body is saying "slow down!" Gotta listen to the body, amiright? I'll be back to Jillian on Thursday. Or! I keep forgetting that I also bought this DVD called Betty Page Fitness. The routine is based off of poses and such from Betty Page photos. I'm excited to try it out!Today, I pre-made baked egg cups! I am also excited to try these out! It'll be a quick breakfast, after you nuke it in the microwave for a bit, have fruit with it. Tomorrow will be the moment of truth! Below is the before and after!

So, breakfast was different today! Had one scrambled egg, a piece of Dave's Killer Bread smeared with a bit of peanut butter topped with a banana. It was super good, and actually pretty filling!Lunch was a salad, real exciting, right? But that's okay! Topped with a bit of Greek salad dressing, it was definitely a somewhat filling lunch. No complaints here.Dinner: Spiralized zucchini with a dash of pesto and some baked chicken and cherry tomatoes. Desperation for carbs took over, and my mom and I both ate a flour tortilla XD. For dessert we had these chocolate/peanut butter things that are supposed to be the lower cal version of peanut butter cups (which is my candy weakness). And they were seriously good!I think I'm being tested. A lot of those Buzzfeed Tasty videos crop up on my Facebook newsfeed, and I can't help but be enticed to watch. It's usually something really sweet looking, or something artery clogging that looks delicious. My own brand of torture to watch, maybe I should cut that out! XDI made my word count for Camp NaNo again today! Need to keep going strong to meet word goal by the end of the month.Hey, you know what? I've got this! You've got this! Make the best of your day, and seize the opportunities as they come.Until tomorrow!