turning over a new leaf

I'm going to try to do an entire day of posting what I eat. I have so many photos on my phone of various meals, but then I don't get around to posting about them because I'm laaazy. well, laziness and successful communication don't mix, so I'm going to try to be a little less lazy (a-hem).

we're out of bananas at home, so instead, I had some cafeteria oatmeal for breakfast. I added raspberries (but ate them before I thought about documenting them, which is a shame because they were beautiful - bright red and gigantic. sadly, they tasted like atomic sour warheads) and blueberries to the oatmeal (the blueberries are deliciously sweet). I love oatmeal. once upon a time, I used to eat oatmeal and broccoli nearly every day...well, that kind of fanaticism can't last forever, and as you may have supposed, I went through a fairly long spell of eating neither nearly every day. now I'm all about moderation. stay tuned for lunch (which may be tricky because I'm supposed to go out with my manager, my director, and a vendor). what's the protocol for that? just whip out the phone and snap away as soon as the meal comes? then blog on the spot? that would be pretty funny, actually.

sloooow on the uptake

what are these tiny pictures?


the HOT POTATO CAFE was on Kitchen Nightmares, the Gordon Ramsey show. go to hulu and watch it for a good Fishtown experience. the owners have the real f-town accent. I can hear them screaming down the street now.

I was pretty excited about the restaurant before it opened because, in my imagination, it was going to be a place that offered giant baked potatoes and an amazing toppings bar. in retrospect, I should have realized that it wasn't named, the Potato Bar Cafe, but whatever - I was eagerly awaiting the restaurant's unveiling. I walked by the dark window many times, and then one day, a printed menu was taped up! I eagerly scanned the page, looking for the potato section, but there wasn't one...just a random assortment of over-priced food...apparently the City Paper panned the place in a review titled, "Spuddy Hell." that's exactly what I was thinking, standing in front of the closed cafe, like, "what in the spuddy hell? where are the freaking potatoes on this menu????"

I never went there, but was excited to see the show, which I heard about at our favorite neighborhood diner, Sulimay's. I won't spoil anything, but I'm just going to say: 1) I'm addicted to the show, and 2) the chef is cute (the Hot Potato Chef, not Gordon Ramsey).

I made Laura laugh hard

it was a good thing I didn't catch her while she was sipping a beverage, 'cuz her nose would have been burning and there would have been spray everywhere. I have to admit, it was kind of hilarious once I said it out loud. we were discussing our plans to go to the gym, how to get it around our work and lunch schedules, etc., when I told her that I was feeling nervous about my workout. a questioning look registered on Laura's face, like she was thinking, "did I miss something? is she still talking about going to the gym?" and when I confirmed that it was getting on the treadmill that I was indeed nervous about, she laughed, and I laughed, and it was suddenly really funny.

but I was feeling yucky and low yesterday and knew there wasn't a prayer for me to finish a real workout. I used to get really nervous before track races, and that's how I felt yesterday. so, I finally dragged my *ss to the gym and walk/ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I wanted to go for an hour, but couldn't finish it up. I couldn't even run my now customary 15min before walking, so I alternated two minute jogs and 1 minute walks. I finished 2.6 miles in 30 minutes.

I had a good night sleep, and I'm feeling much better today. I also made sure I had a greenie (with chocolate amazing food), and lots of vitamins. I've been gobbling vitamins and drinking emergen-cs since I got a sore throat. I think I'll be fine...

I took the day off to relax, clean closets, cook something yummy (I'll take pictures and post them this time!), and look through my old issues of Domino magazine. why did I schedule time to look through old issues of a decorating magazine? because I'm crossing my fingers that someone will finish the process of buying my house (we signed the agreement of sale on Monday!!!!), so that I can finish the process of buying someone else's house (we signed the agreement today!!!!). this is what the front of the house looks like. we've been discussing the purchase of this property since August 1, 2008...I still can't believe that there's a possibility we could be in residence beginning March 12!


looking forward to some yoga today. have I ever mentioned that one of my dreams is to be a yoga instructor? I think that I'd like to teach jivamukti, or be like my yoga hero, Ruth Allen, and teach some wild hybrid class that kicks butt. I like yoga because it makes me understand my body, but being really chubby makes yoga difficult and slightly discouraging. what I've noticed most about being "bigger" is that I have to keep telling myself that moving my body around will feel natural again someday. I went blithely through most of my life without having to think about exercise and diet - and my body just did the things I asked it to do. c'est la vie!

awww, what should I name it?

have you seen my pet fat?


I suppose it's real. maybe I should get this for John for valentine's day. that would be a hit, I'm sure! what do you think, would it motivate you? I'm not sold, but I'm totally intrigued...

failure = failure

I have failed at tracking my calorie count. I guess that it's just not for me right now. this blog has helped me so much, in terms of being mindful of what I eat (yeah, I KNOW I still eat things like fried calamari - I'm not saying I don't, but I'm MINDFUL of it when I do : )), and whether or not I workout. adding the layer of calorie counting would probably help me reach my goal weight faster, but for whatever reason, I'm just not using the iphone application...maybe I'll try again in a few weeks.


today I ran another 1.5 miles in 15 minutes with the treadmill set to 1.0 incline. after that I ran and walked for another half hour at various inclines. I tried to put myself through a track-type workout with drills, but I was feeling kind of lazy and I stopped short of an hour...quit after 45min. I got to watch the food network during my workout, so I'm not sure why I was feeling so lame.

I am making a resolution to get better at posting my food!!!

question

a-ha! yoinks!

yes! I just snagged the Jodi Picoult book, my sister's keeper, from our library. I've always wanted to read it, but never wanted to buy it, and was too lazy to go to a real library for it. I knew if I'd waited long enough...it's like how I get to read really old US Weeklies the two times a year I get my hair cut. I love that stuff, but don't want to pay for it. hey, we all have the TMZ / train wreck / rubbernecking curiosity in us, right?

I've been meaning to post the link to our house listing for ages, so here it is - finally! tell me what you think.

today I ran a recent personal best of 15 minutes, at 6mph, with the treadmill at a 1.0 incline. I finished up my 20 minutes (1.9 miles) with a one-minute walk thrown in. I think my 'running' is definitely on the upswing. my modest goal is to add one mile to the run each month. anyway, I limited the treadmill to 20 minutes today so that I could do the fitnessista's back and bicep workout. this time there were a few moves that I couldn't do in full view of the two other people in the gym (even though they weren't paying attention to me). I had to do my stability ball T's and Y's and my lateral obliques in the class room. I should have done my frog crunches in there too, but I was just too lazy to walk across the gym again.

and I think my soul may have become corrupted by my job because I was shown an intuniv yoga mat today, and my first thought was, I want one of those! really? do I really want a yoga mat with the name of an adhd product on it? ...maybe NOT!

I'll leave you with this thought. have you seen all the great things that can be done with ground beef? if not, I'll lend this to you sometime.