Tuesdays by the Numbers

1. This was lunch on Monday. Not for nothing, but the quiche is so good. Why did I avoid kale all this time? It's so hearty!



Quiche, leftover salad with honey mustard dressing, blackberry yogurt with blackberries, clementine and more blackberries. I also had granola but I forgot to eat it.

2. This was my outfit on Monday.



I don't know why I keep trying with this cream Gap long cardigan, but I am not giving up! I love it on the hanger but it doesn't love me back the same way. This time I paired it with a purple and dove grey knit top from Loft, my black skinnies, and my beloved cuffed booties (2 wears so far, the only repeats of the week).

3. This was my outfit on Tuesday. It was still so dark out at almost 8am, my flash went off!



I love this lilac cardigan, but it's a little short and doesn't work well with my weight right now. I worked it out by adding a longer tee. The scarf and the necklace also balance it out.

4. Kelly asked about my new purple cardigan. It's from Nordstrom, and it's still on sale!

5. Is anybody else watching The Voice? Boy, that Blake Shelton is a tall cool drink of water. Yee-haw.

6. In four days, I will be in Florida, reading my Kindle by the pool. I rarely go to warm places during the winter (I like winter!) but I'm looking forward to the trip. Maybe I will even have some guest stars on the blog again! :)

7. SuperTracker update: I ended up bailing on the SuperTracker site. Like with WW, it's just too much work having to look up all the different foods I eat (even using the Favorites option). I would rather just write it down and track it on my own. So I am back to my trusty Excel spreadsheet, the one right next to my clothing one!

8. I need to find a filling snack. I get plenty of veggies and fruit in, but I think I am low on complex carbs and protein. Nuts are okay, but you only get a small amount in a portion. I guess popcorn? Maybe some bread/crackers and Laughing Cow cheese? Anyone else have any suggestions?

That's all I got for Tuesday!

A shifting of interests

Lately, I am far more interested in what I eat than what I wear.

I did a lot of winter clothes shopping, and I feel like I am set for a while. My closet has been cleaned out, so I can see and be honest about what fits and what I like to wear. I find that I am repeating a lot of the same outfits, which is pretty new for me; since I've had Low Fat Dressing I've been conscious about wearing different combinations, always changing it up in some way. But lately I am okay with wearing the exact same thing I wore a week or two weeks ago; if it worked then, why not let it work again?

This has cut down on my getting-ready time, which I suppose is partly why I have moved toward this; work was so crazed in November I didn't *have* the time to spend coming up with new creative outfits, so I started sticking to the basics, and I found I liked it. So I got lazy about taking my photos; I'm not quite ready to move the whole endeavor back upstairs to the office, but I'm finding it harder to get a picture done in the morning (I am ready to snap at the moment my neighbors are leaving for the day, which is pretty embarrassing) and I feel all frumpy by the end of the day.

But I did promise I would take photos this week, and I have stuck to that!



Hubby took the first one on Tuesday night; I have no idea why he constantly takes blurry pictures. God bless him. I took the Wednesday one myself in the kitchen the next morning. Yeah, I think it's time to head back up to the corner of the office; the light is better and it's faster. Will do that today!

Anyway, I liked Tuesday's outfit with the skinny belt giving that loose cardigan a more professional look. Wednesday's has my favorite yellow sweater from Martin + Osa; it's probably time to retire it, but I just love it and will miss it. :( The pants are Gap straight legs, one in grey and one in black; so comfy and much better than the skinnies! And of course it's winter, so my scarves have come out to play.

This, however, is where my interest lies these days.




The talk my doctor gave me has been pushing me all week. It's time to start eating better, to take all the things I know and like about good nutrition and good food, and putting them to work. I've started taking my lunch to work, and even better, I am tracking my food again. I am still having a big no-WW block in my head, but I created a spreadsheet based off the Core plan, which is the WW plan I always loved the most. It is the most focused on eating whole, fresh foods with the fewest options for mass-prepared foods, which of course falls right in line with my foodstyle and interest in seasonal eating.




The other tab in the spreadsheet has my weight, so I will start tracking that too. No more hiding my head in the sand! This is far and away the most I have ever weighed in my life, and the thought of gaining even more devastates me. I have got to turn the Titanic around, people.

The Sunday cooking project has turned into a regular habit; I now spend the time in the evenings that I used to spend perusing fashion sites and blogs looking at recipes and healthy food sites. I have also started bringing my lunch in again, like I said; this was a big change at the office, but I am making sure that I sit with everyone anyway to eat, so I engage in the social aspect of lunch if not the caloric foodbombs I was indulging in with them every day. Plus, my varied fancy lunchboxes ;-D are quite the hit; I think my co-workers may even like the tall Mr. Bento with its round 4 containers more than the flat colored one in the picture above. :)

Anyway, I started writing this entry on Thursday night, but didn't finish until Sunday morning. Now I am off to start cooking this week's foods and to catch up on outfit posts from the second half of the week. See you again in a bit! ;-D

Long Weekend

I took Monday off so it's been a nice long weekend. It probably seems really soon to take it after Thanksgiving, but I had my annual physical on Monday so I figured why not? Saturday was personal errands, groceries, and a great new hair color and cut, but Sunday was the day where Things Got Accomplished.

We decided to re-arrange the living room first; moving around the TV and the couch to different walls. It freed up a lot of space, more than we expected. Cleaning out all the corners helped; I think I finally convinced my husband to decrease the number of cat chairs in the room so they are lower than the number of human chairs.

I'm not kidding about that. This is what we had.



Total: two perches, one sofa (yes!), two beds.The humans only had a couch and a recliner. And the cats prefer laying on us in our human chairs most of the time anyway.

Freeing up the space showed us that we could easily fit two chairs by the window; we'll have to replace the recliner with something smaller but it's all worn out anyway so it's time. I've actually been perusing the La-z-boy site; who knew that they had such great furniture, and so many choices of fabric? There's a huge showroom near us, so I am checking it out ASAP. These are among my favorites so far; we shall see if I am still feeling the love after I try sitting in them. :)

That one is a recliner!

I do like a nice colorful piece of furniture. Our couch is deep red.

We also decided that we need an ottoman/storage bin as a coffee table, and Target appears to be the best source for that. So many options! I also need to hunt down some DVD boxes for the TV stand; I wanted to use these but they don't fit a DVD case. Dang it!

Besides redecorating, I also did some cooking on Saturday. First up was a quiche; I used the left-over pie shell and eggs from Thanksgiving, and added a dollop of skim milk, leeks, a box of spinach, chopped bacon, and lots of shredded swiss, cheddar and parmesan cheese. Relatively health-conscious, but more importantly delicious and filling. One piece is all you need.



The next one is healthy, and also delicious. It's a recipe I made up myself, after consulting the internet and not quite finding the idea in my head that I wanted to make. This is a big step for me; I always, always use a recipe. I even used one for the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving!

This time I flew solo, and I made roasted butternut squash soup. So good!

First, I roasted a butternut squash. No seasonings, although I could have added some herbs or spices. I just cut the squash, scooped out the seeds, and roasted it in a pan with a 1/4-inch of water for an hour at 350 degrees. When it comes out, try to be stronger than I am and not poke it with your finger. :)




Onto the soup!
Heat up olive oil in a soup pot, then add:
-small onion, diced
-couple stalks of celery, diced
-carrots, diced (I added extra because I like them)

Saute the veggies for 5 minutes until it softens. Add minced garlic, and a small diced Yukon gold potato (adds thickening and creaminess without adding cream). While those are cooking, scoop out the squash from the rind and add it to the mix. Season with kosher salt, pepper, Worchestershire sauce and some Northwoods seasoning (optional). Let it cook up a few minutes more, then add a box of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 15-20 minutes so everything cooks enough. Use an immersion blender to puree, or add to a blender in batches.

I added a piece of bacon on top of mine. Otherwise it was just vegetable soup! :)




This and a slice of quiche will be filling me up for days.

The last day of my long weekend was spent at the doctor for my annual physical (I'm healthy, but fat. Yeah, that's pretty much what she said, but nicely. Time to kick the foodstyle into high gear.) I then started to put up decorations for the holiday, but the big tree was too big, and the small tree is missing a stand. I give up on that for the night!

Back to work on Tuesday, and back to daily photos. Promise!

It's Deer Season!

Three days of rain, and the transition to fall is just about complete.




We've got a scarf artfully folded, my ruffled long cardigan from WHBM, a Target summer dress layered within an inch of its life, the first wearing of tights, and OMG the shoes. My beloved Franco Sarto Deer booties have come out to play.

You guys, it is Deer Season.

I know I have raved about these shoes in the past, but I didn't label it well so it's buried somewhere. Anyway, I have had these shoes for 3 years now, and they are my total workhorses all fall and winter long. They are perfection: patent oxford heeled booties with fake laces and brogue detailing. I love them so much, I own them in three colors.



They look even better in natural light.



The details on them are perfect, and the heel...I love that it's a pump heel instead of a chunkier one. There's something so sexy about the curve of it, especially contrasted with the more masculine look of the oxford.





The greys are absolutely my favorites, but the burghundys, oh how I love them too. The color is so rich.





The laces and the bow are fake, which means I never have to worry about them coming undone or getting crooked. The shoes are a stretch patent so they just slide right on.

I call the black ones "the spares". I bought them last year after spotting them at Famous Footwear on clearance; I didn't know there were any still around so I scooped them up. They don't get worn much, but just in case anything happens to the heirs, I've still got the spare as backup.





Did I mention yet how comfortable they are? The 3-inch heel is perfect, and the stretch patent means they stay put on my feet; I have run down halls in these with no problems at all. The only downside is that I wear them so often during the long winter I barely need any other shoes for the season. *gasp*

Man alive, I love Deer Season.




Daily Food Tracker: Wednesday
Breakfast: Einstein egg and bacon sandwich on thin bagel
Lunch: Panera Pick2: turkey artichoke panini, broccoli cheese soup
Snack: chocolate chip cookie, pretzel m&ms
Dinner: the last of the lazy lasagna filled in with a lot of squash, tomato sauce, and turkey meatballs
Snacks: WW ice cream bar, toast with Laughing Cow cheese

Boy, I sure did eat a lot of bread. Clearly my body wanted some carbs! I'll work on mixing in a little more fruit and veggies today.

Back in the (Daily Food Tracker) Saddle

Oh my gosh, this week is crazy busy at work, plus I just started an anatomy and medical terminology class in the evenings two days a week for the next six weeks. Which coincides with the deadline for my major project almost exactly. GREAT. So if I am scarce for a while, my apologies. I can't do daily posts, but I will do some group ones, promise!

Last Friday:




Did I tell you guys I WON a JMS belt giveaway from Kimberly's Fab Finds Under $50 blog? I did, and here it is making its LFD debut. Thank you Kimberly, JMS and KMart for doing this giveaway; I love my new belt! it goes very well with this edgier look I have been sporting lately. I have several more ideas for it too.

This was semi-casual at the desk on Friday, so I went with pointed black flats from DSW, my Gap skinny pants, the ON "Breezy" blouse in grey dots, a taupe ON ruched V-neck long-sleeved tee worn backwards, and a triple-strand black bead necklace. It's one of those necklaces that I never seem to wear but when I do I wonder why I keep avoiding it.



Emily seemed to like it.

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Monday was cold and rainy, the kind of day where you want to snuggle into a cozy sweater and drink tea. I did the former, at least; unlike my sister, I am not a tea drinker. :)



This was the new sweater I got from Old Navy this weekend; it's a great thick knit, very soft. I kept the self belt this time but I can easily swap out my new rocker belt for a less-cozy look. I paired it with another new ON top (sleeveless with a sweet chiffon bow at the neckline), my NYDJ ponte skinnies, pewter mesh cuff from Banana Republic (Shopping Friend, do you still have yours in the silver version?) and an old pair of tweed flats I got from the Ann Taylor Factory store for about $10 several years ago. Again, another item that gets limited wear -- tweed flats are only wearable for about 3 weeks a year -- but when I wear them, they are just right for the occasion. Hard to let them go when they keep working, you know?



I am usually not a fan of black pants/white top/colored sweater, but the blue-purple is very understated in the sweater, and something about this just really clicked for me. It would not have had the same warmth for my skin tone with a colored or print top.

AND! I made lunch! In yet another lunch box that I own, LOL. (I have 3 types that I rotate depending on the foodstuffs. Or I just use a paper bag on the days I am on the run.)







Daily Food Tracker: Monday
Breakfast: Don't remember, LOL
Lunch: turkey sandwich with cheddar cheese and olive muffaletta on wheat
Snacks throughout the day: yogurt and blackberries and strawberries, homemade trail mix combo, fudgy brownie (the woman who passing them out had made them for celebrating finishing her radiation treatments. Please tell me how you would turn that down.)
Dinner: reheated lazy lasagna with turkey meatballs

That poor orange; I packed it two days in a row and never ate it. Oranges are hard to eat when you are in a conference room or someone else's office; they're so messy!

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Tuesday: Another rainy day, but I was at work from 8am-8pm so it was time to bust out my new leopard shoes!



The whole outfit was designed to highlight the shoes. And I got tons of compliments on them, as you can imagine. The ON cropped collarless denim jacket (now on sale at stores, grab it while you can!), cream Caslon camisole, black Target dress, black Vera Wang for Kohls leggings, and of course the Payless leopard wedges with red bows. I added the gold-brown long knotted necklace to bookend the color of the shoes, so they didn't get lost in a sea of black and kind of tied it all together.



Surprisingly, my feet were in pretty good shape by the end of the day, but they definitely aren't as comfortable as some of my other shoes. I think the black ones will be returned too, and I will keep looking for a different fall shoes. But the leopards are a keeper, for sure!


Daily Food Tracker: Tuesday
Breakfast: english muffin with light cream cheese and apple jelly
Lunch: spaghetti squash with homemade sauce and turkey meatballs, pomegranate yogurt
Dinner: Panera Pick Two: turkey artichoke panini and broccoli cheddar soup
Snack: toffee nut cookie from Panera

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I've got another early start today, so I am off. Before I do, here is a question for my readers: has anyone ever done a fall/winter CSA? (Especially anyone who lives in the snowy north.) Good experience, bad, so-so? I love fall veggies way more than summer ones, so this post has me thinking...I will check some of my local ones out. Might be worth it! And fall veggies do keep better, so there's no pressure to get it all eaten before they wilt...

Replacements, and my Missoni update

Maybe it's the return to layering weather, but I have been feeling inspired lately as I get dressed. Just before I get in the shower, I stack a couple of outfit options together -- dress and a necklace, these skinny pants and a top, that olive Gap jacket I haven't worn in a while -- and while I am getting ready, I ponder what other elements will complete the outfit. Sometimes my ideas work out, sometimes they don't. But because I have everything visible in my closet, if it doesn't work out I have an alternative right in front of me.

Take Tuesday's outfit. I knew I wanted to wear the skinny pants and a longer blouse-top. This Gap blouse (a replacement for my still-mourned LOFT polka-dot top) doesn't get enough wear, but it should. There was something about the volume of the top that wasn't working this time, so I added my new patent belt from Nordstrom (to go with my new dress that is out getting altered). The new Old Navy sweater in coral (haha, another replacement for that awesome melon/coral Banana Republic sweater I wore down to the pilly nub) was just what I needed to stay warm as the temps went up and down the scale today. The glittery statement necklace (from LOFT) and my Sam Edelman embellished cheetah print flats were the final Fall 2011 Trend items that completed the outfit.





It all came together remarkably fast, for me. :) Of course I have probably just jinxed myself and I'll be late for work getting ready today! LOL.

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Daily Food Tracker: Tuesday
Breakfast: yogurt, berries, fiber one cereal
Lunch: shrimp po' boy, fries
Dinner: 2 Coney hotdogs on wheat bun with Hormel chili, broccoli slaw, wine
Snack: english toffee ice cream bar

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Let's talk about the buzz of the internet for a minute: the grand opening (and closing) of the Missoni collection at Target.

Like I said yesterday morning, when I went online at 5:30am, everything that I had had my eye on (that awesome throw, the glass bowls, and the long cardigans) were already sold out. I put a couple of other items in my shopping cart, but it was nothing I had my heart set on, so I didn't buy them. I logged off, updated my blog, and went to work.

Little did I know the chaos that then erupted. The stores were reporting lines when they opened up, and people were buying everything they could lay their hands on. My own local store even got a mention in the Chicago Trib. Demand was so high the website crashed.

Unaware of this, I stopped at two different stores in my area, the first of which I assumed would have plenty of stuff because the clientele isn't that fashion-forward. Both stores were totally cleaned out.

Store#1's sad shoe display. I'm surprised the hordes actually left the shoe boxes.




Store #2's shoes. They tried filling it in with their regular shoes, like anyone wanted those today.




The only piece of clothing I could find, a lone x-small sweater hanging sadly on a cleaned-out rack. There was a black dress there too but someone came along and took it before I could take the picture.




This was all I could find of anything Missoni at the second store: a dozen plates, some bowls, and 4 glasses. And there were two little old ladies picking over them anyway.




I'm not going to lie, I am sorely disappointed everything's gone. I really was looking forward to buying several items for my house; we're starting to think about redecorating, and I had my eye on a few that I knew would be good items to use as base pieces. That plan is now trashed, so I am going to start using Pinterest to collect ideas for redecorating instead. Can anyone send me an invite?

And excuse my language, but I have no intention of buying any Missoni pieces from any of the assholes who cleaned out the stores to sell it on Ebay. Seriously, they're assholes, and they ruined a lot of shopping fun for a lot of people. If anything, I'd rather save up and buy a real Missoni piece before I would buy anything from those jerks.

Funny what a belt can do

Target update: OMG, the Missoni collection is pretty much already sold out online since I got up at 5am this morning. Everything I wanted to order is already gone. There are "limited" stock of a few items at my local stores that I will be checking out, but if you wanted anything you better get going ASAP. 

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Monday brought the heat back. And how! So I got another wear out of my favorite sandal/dress combo.




This time I wore a new fuschia Caslon cami under the grey Old Navy Dress, and added the belt from my jungle tunic on top. My Clarks mushroom sandals, a couple of burnished silver pieces of jewelry, and I was ready to go. I didn't think I could wear a belt with this dress because it had a self-belt with a string bow, but it actually works well with one. Duly noted!
 
I love how either Emily or George loves to be in the doorway when I do my morning shots. Such silly cats!


Daily Food Tracker: Monday
Breakfast: yogurt, berries and fiber one cereal
Lunch: BBQ Beef sandwich and half-order of fries
Snack: mini Reese's Blizzard from DQ. Have you seen the mini? It's about 8 oz, just perfect for a small indulgence.
Dinner: Hubby roasted a pork loin we had taken out of the freezer, but it was about halfway done when he tried to convince me to order a pizza. I stayed firm, reminding him that I not only had a Blizzard but a BBQ sandwich already today. So we had a personal first: he ordered pizza, I ate from the fridge. VICTORY!!!
I had pork loin, broccoli slaw, and a piece of seeduction bread with laughing cow cheese.
Snack: english toffee ice cream bar


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Not sure what to call the way I am eating now; it's not a diet, it's a new style of eating. Heh, a foodstyle. That's what it is. Anyway, my new foodstyle is actually going very well, and I am starting to see the results on the scale. Down four pounds since I began!

What makes me happy about this is that it most definitely is not a diet. There are days I eat well, and days when I don't. But I keep going, keep reminding myself to get more fruits and veggies in, keep eating smaller portions when I eat out, and so forth. We eat out about 50% less than we were, and we're both enjoying getting back into cooking. Luckily, both Hubby and I are pretty good cooks, and we have similar tastes in food.

So far, this foodstyle feels like the right move for me. More right than going back on any diet. I'm using a lot of the tools I learned on Weight Watcher points, on Core, even from Medifast. But it's real food, it's real life, and I'm not obsessing over eating all my points or getting all my meals in. I'm just eating, better and less.

I'm very pleased.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it's all a blur of pants

Boy you guys know me too well; pretty much everyone nailed my choice on Thursday. Guess I should try to be more unpredictable in the future.

Nah. :)

Friday:




I called this my "don't mess with me" outfit. The chains, the multiple necklaces and bracelets, the denim jacket, the skinny pants. I was feeling pretty bad-ass.

Then people messed with me! Boo!!

So I had a beer. Heh.






Let's just say it was the kind of day where I accidentally ate pizza twice in one day. Really! It was an accident! I forgot what we ate for lunch until after dinner. Ooops.

Daily Food Tracker
Breakfast: Special K cereal with skim milk
Lunch: mini spinach pizza
Snack: yogurt
Dinner: frozen olive pizza, beer

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Saturday:
I finally figured out why my casual outfits never seem to look as good as they do in real life; I always slump in my pictures! I think I am going for a casual slouch, but it doesn't translate. So I'll be working on breaking that habit.




It was cool on Saturday, so I "bundled" up for my hair appointment and some shopping. Found a gorgeous day dress on sale at Nordstrom; it's a little too big on top so I thought I would take it to a tailor. Then I stopped by a different department to see my friend Marianna from YLF, and she convinced me to have them alter it there! So I'll be picking up next Monday. I'm very excited; it's a nicer dress than the Old Navy/Target ones I have been wearing lately, and it's one I can layer the bejesus out of all winter long.




George likes my Saturday outfit too! I bought the top and sweater at the LOFT Outlet with my friend Jessie earlier this summer, but I don't think I ever wore them together. They're cute, I will have to do it more now that it's cool enough for sweaters again.

Daily Food Tracker: Saturday
Breakfast: I don't remember, yogurt, maybe?
Lunch: 2 McD's cheeseburgers
Dinner: spaghetti squash, mushroom pasta, tomato sauce, chopped up meatloaf, blue cheese crumbles. It sounds awful but it is it seriously delicious.

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Sunday, no outfit photo because I was a bum all day. I didn't do a lot of food prep this weekend, just another batch of broccoli slaw. I tried to bake another spaghetti squash but it was rotten and I put my finger through it. Bought another one and promptly put too much water in the pan so the squash turned into mush when it baked. This is just not my week for spaghetti squash, I guess.

Daily Food Tracker: Sunday
Breakfast: Hubby made scrambled eggs with chopped pepper bacon, spinach and onions. So, so good!
Lunch: Skipped it because I was still full from breakfast
Dinner: Since the spaghetti squash was such a bust, I had just the mushroom pasta with tomato sauce, sauteed spinach and turkey meatballs.
Snack: english toffee ice cream bars

But even though I didn't prep, we've still got lots of easy-to-cook foods available, most especially a giant container of spinach. Guess I was needing the iron, because that was the first veggie I made a beeline for at the store.


And that was my weekend. How was yours?

How well do you know me, readers?

For a set of all-day meetings, I was undecided between three variations of the same outfit. Readers, you guys have been seeing my outfits every day: which do you think I chose?




Vote now in your head. Answer at the end of the post.

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Daily Food Tracker: Thursday
Breakfast: frozen pancakes with local maple syrup
Snack: Trader Joe's fig bar
Lunch: tuna salad on wheat, Sunchips, homemade chocolate chip cookie (they were having a bake sale in the cafeteria of the hospital)
Snack: pomegranate yogurt
Dinner: spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, blue cheese crumbles and chopped up meatloaf :)

We have been doing very well using up all the foods I made on Monday. I was wondering why there was still so much left...that's right, it was a long weekend and a short week. We've only been eating it for 3 days, not 5. LOL!

Sunday will be Prep Day. I am thinking about a pot of tomato sauce, black bean and corn soup, and veggie prep. We have some great gypsy peppers I want to use in a stir fry or skillet or something...

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So what did you vote for the outfit? It was tough, but I went with this one:






Initially I wanted to wear the black blazer with the purple dress, but the weather is really odd for shoes right now; it's too cool for my sandals but not cool enough for full booties. And I have to really love them to wear flats with dresses. So the open toed bootie look is really the best, but these are the only ones I have. (FOR NOW. I will be hitting DSW this weekend for sure!)

Once I knew the shoes had to be part of the outfit, I switched out the cami and necklace from cooler silvery ones to browns and golds...but then the black blazer looked out of place. This time, it didn't "go". But this taupe-purply sweater from Gap -- which is also tough to pair with, like the steel blue can be, did go, and it brought out the purples and the browns more in everything.




It just ended up being much prettier than I thought it would be. I was pleased.


Did you guess right? :)