Well….I’m sad to say our mystery dinner will not be featured tonight   :(

 

Before the tragedy occurred, I had a Gnu bar while heading to the gym.

 

 

I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill, and it actually went by somewhat fast! It’s definitely not the same as running outside, but I tried changing my speed every 4 minutes and that kept my mind off the total time.

 

So – to dinner.

 

Beadie was right!  It was going to be an awesome pot roast. 

 

I had a sirloin tip roast with the chopped carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms in the crockpot this morning with some beef broth, onion soup mix, and a couple splashes of sherry. We were SO excited about having it tonight!

 

We got home from the gym around 6:30 tonight to find out that the crockpot wasn’t on anymore! I know I set it this morning simply because ours doesn’t just have an on/off switch. I have to turn it on, pick the way I want to cook it, set the time I want, pick high/low, then hit start – which triggers this horrible beeping sound – and it did that this morning! It was on and ready, but apparently, it did not want to be our dinner tonight  :(

 

Since we were too scared to finish cooking it, we went to one of our favorite local places, The New River Grille.

 

 

I had my usual here: Buffalo Burger, no cheese, with Onion Rings. Yum!!!

 

 

 

I ate all the onion rings, all of the burger, but only 2/3 of the bun. My burger fell off near the end, so I just took off the rest of the bread to make room for my onion rings  :)

 

I’m sad about the roast, but this dinner was really tasty.

 

 

 

Happy Weight

So, SELF has been talking about this “Happy Weight” for a while, and after reading Caitlin’s goal for her new blog as a Mrs  :), it got me thinking.

 

In the newest SELF, Lucy Danziger, Editor-in-Chief, had this to say:

…you’ll learn how to find your happy weight – a number that isn’t so low you have to obsess over every morsel, or so high that it’s unhealthy. Usually when I finally manage to lose pounds, they creep back, but I’ve been at my happy weight for a year and a half now. How? This time, I decided to be healthy from the inside out. Cheating on my diet was never a big deal, but cheating on my heart feels like a betrayal of my commitment to living healthy. So now I eat not to maintain a number on the scale, but to fuel my body to do the sporty things I love.

 

This really resonated with me, especially after my year this past year.

 

Working with Weight Watchers always has me kind of focused on the scale. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to weigh yourself and keep track of where you are, but it should not be the controlling factor.

This past year, I finally realized that I am more than a number. Running really changed my thoughts about myself, my weight, and my health. Once I was really able to run more than just a few minutes at a time, I just always thought of how strong my legs were getting and how my lungs were getting used to breathing this way.

I tried really hard to get the “good food, bad food” thoughts out of my head and quit freaking out if I ate, say onion rings, one night.   :)  

I want to focus more on enjoying my life, my family, my friends, and my food rather than what I should/shouldn’t be eating or how much I weigh that day.

I love this idea of “happy weight” – it encompasses everything that I’m trying to do now:

• eating healthy and balanced most of the time
• exercising on a regular basis
• taking time for me (bubble baths, reading, etc)
• enjoying everything – including onion rings and chocolate!

 

Everything has a place in life – the key is making sure you find your balance.

 

That’s all my rambling for tonight  :)

 

LOST is on – and I may have a few no bake cookies and a glass of milk while we’re watching.

 

What do you think about the “happy weight” idea?

I am SO excited that LOST starts up again tonight!!! This is one of our favorite shows – I hate that they wait until January to start the season, but I do like that it’s pretty much a new episode every week until May.

Breakfast this morning was really good and just what I wanted.

2 over easy eggs over grits

1 kiwi and 5 strawberries

skim milk

plus, a mug of coffee once I got to work.

Work is work – busy morning clearing through submissions and emails. I got a lot done, so I’m happy about that.

I was pretty excited for lunch today, too!  We had some leftover fat free refried beans in the fridge, so I wrapped about ½ cup in a La Tortilla wrap (the 50 calorie ones) with a slice of fat free cheese and some hot sauce.

I had a salad with romaine, diced tomato, diced avocado, and a little olive oil on the side.

And 2 clementines.

These are so good right now!  Every single one has been perfect – I’m always sad when they’re gone.

We have a meeting with our entire department this afternoon to go over a survey and probably all the budget stuff going on with the state and the school. I’m hoping they’ll have stuff for hot tea – it’s usually freezing in that building.

We’re going to the gym after work to run on the dreadmills, then home for dinner and LOST!

I’ll have a review post tonight for the mystery dinner and some musings on something I read this morning.

Today seemed SO long at work – it probably didn’t help that I had a horrible, pounding headache for most of the afternoon.

 

Around 3:30, I had some Candy Cane Lane tea and almondina cookies to take my mind off of my headache.

 

                                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had some Aleve in the car – the only thing that works for my headaches – so I took some on the way home. My headache was already getting better by the time we got home, so I went to the WW meeting near our to see the ladies I know there. Since we’ve been going to the gym after work on Tuesdays lately, I hadn’t seen them in a few weeks and I missed them! After WW, I went by the grocery store to pick up some more milk and came home.

 

Dinner? Leftovers with one twist – lots of green instead of fruit!

 

 

 

1 slice of the frittata from last night, some leftover roasted potatoes, plus a BIG simple salad of fresh romaine, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Why so simple? I was just too lazy to get out anything else for the salad  :) 

 

Why was I so lazy? BECAUSE….I was making No Bakes tonight!  Nick asked for them and I had everything I needed, so now we have these:

 

 

 

Pure, cocoa -y goodness.

 

This is my mom’s recipe for No Bake cookies and they’re one of my favorite cookies ever.

 

Her recipe is SUPER easy, too, but they do not set up if the weather isn’t right (muggy) AND you have to have to a stopwatch or timer with you.

 

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• vanilla

Put sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Let it boil EXACTLY 3 minutes!  Then take off the heat and stir in the cocoa, oats, and vanilla.

Spoon onto wax paper or parchment paper and let set.

Enjoy!

 

 

Here are a few things I prepped for dinner tomorrow night while packing my lunch… 

 

 

 

 

Any ideas what I’m making?    :)

Does today feel like Monday to anyone else?  I keep getting confused and have to look at my calendar every 5 minutes.

Work was crazy and busy this morning – my email was full and not fun to go through, but I got a lot done! Two cups of coffee helped with that.

I got to watch President Obama’s speech – did you?  He really is a great speaker – it was crazy to see how many people were there! Regardless of everything that happened in this election and who you voted for, it was still amazing to really see history being changed today.

Lunch today is a little boring, but still tasty!  I had leftovers of the wheatberry dish from Sunday night with some broccoli and two clementines.

What did you think of the speech (if you saw it)?

Back to work I go!