Close Call

Not sure if you noticed yesterday, but I had a really close call with the blog: Google summarily disabled my account, which locked me out of Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Google+, and worst of all, Blogger. For a brief time they shut down LFD altogether, but then reinstated the link without allowing me to log in. For the day, LFD was careening down the internet highway like a car without a driver!

By 10:30 last night, after two pleading messages, they reinstated my account. They did not explain why it was disabled in the first place, so naturally I am concerned it could happen again. It scared me to realize how much of my internet presence is tied to one web conglomerate, and how it could all disappear in a blink.

I'm taking action to prevent some of that from happening again: over the weekend I will be moving LFD to Wordpress. It might be a bit bumpy for a bit; I hate learning new interfaces so I might be crabby as I get familiar with my new surroundings, but I hope you will all come with me as I move! I have some new ideas for regular features this year, like monthly magazine reviews (think of it as sharing the pages I dog-ear to remember, LOL), more recipes, and maybe even some conversations about exercise. (!!)

Anyway, I was so flustered yesterday by losing my blog and my Reader I didn't manage to get an outfit photo. But I got one of my laptop lunch box!




Meatloaf sandwich, roasted carrots (so good I just ate them cold!), flavored yogurt with kiwi, blackberries, and pomegranate seeds, granola for the yogurt, and clementines. (Oh, and an oatmeal packet for breakfast.)

The last outfit photos of 2011

Wow, what great responses to yesterday's post about weight-loss tips! Cynthia, I love the link to that NYT article you sent. So much to think about!

I also loved that there were some common tips that work pretty much universally: track what you eat, track your progress (somehow), plan your meals, and have a positive attitude.

I would add just one more: enjoy what you eat. It's food, and well-prepared food is supposed to be enjoyable. Food is not just fuel; it affects all of our senses. So don't waste your calories/points/checkboxes on something that doesn't taste good. Conversely, not everything that tastes good is calorie-laden. Fresh oranges, homemade tomato sauce, a simmering bowl of seasoned bean soup, a slice of warm crusty whole-grain bread -- these are healthy, delicious, satisfying choices.

Anyway, onto the outfits!



This was Thursday before Christmas, one of my last days at work. We had our department holiday party after work that day, and this easily made the transition to party wear. Plus, I finally added some color to the dress!


Friday was my last day of work for the year. Hurray!



This transitioned into a travel outfit nicely -- all I did was lose the belt. :) I got the turquoise top from Lane Bryant this summer, but have yet to find the right outfit for it. This was close...maybe it will work better with my black ponte skirt? I definitely liked it with the long-sleeved top under it. A work in progress for 2012!

This one is for my sister: the last Bento of 2011.




Leftover Maui chicken from the Yardhouse, peeled clementines, and pomegranate yogurt with blackberries.  Yummy!

I hope you all have lovely New Year's. We'll be staying in that night, but I have plans for the day and the next day. Plus reflections and resolutions to make. Plan on seeing a few more posts this weekend from me! :)

Happy New Year!

Merry Merry and all that jazz

Lunch/Snacks on Tuesday:



The Great Gift Basket onslaught has begun. We got a couple of them from vendors this week, one of which was a Trader Joe's basket. Candy Cane Jo-Jo's, I cannot resist you. So I am doubling-down on bringing in lunch as much as possible this week, and making sure on the few nights we are home we are eating from the fridge, not from the delivery boy. So far, so good -- we had a potluck lunch yesterday, and I brought baked (whole wheat) ziti, and everyone else brought salad, veggies, fruit salad...and chocolate cake. But the ratio of healthy to junky was much higher than usual potlucks, so maybe I'm starting to rub off on them!

I only got a quick shot in the mirror in the morning of my outfit. Not sure if it really worked; there is something funky about the proportions of that black chunky knit Kohls sweater on top. I think it's too short for my body, because it tends to remind me of a superhero cape when I wear it. Hmm, it might be time to retire it. It's starting to pill, anyway...



This was the baked pasta I brought. I felt so bad; I mixed together spinach and homemade tomato sauce together with some chopped chicken sausage for the pasta, but as soon as I mixed in the low-fat ricotta cheese the whole thing went from an appealing red and green to a brown goop. Sigh. But it came out pretty well; everyone had some at work, and Hubby polished off the last of it when I brought it home.



Wednesday was a good outfit day.



Nordstrom Babeau teal cardigan, LOFT beaded necklace, Gap polka-dot blouse, Nordstrom patent skinny belt, INC ponte skirt from Macys, Assets tights from Target, and my beloved Vince Camuto boots from Nordstrom. The outfit was completely based on the boots; they are my "flat" boots, so are ideal for this period while my back is healing.





Self-portrait!

Don't know if I'll be able to post any other entries before we leave for Christmas, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a lovely weekend, and peace to all.

Fill my Bento!

Looks like I struck a nerve with yesterday's rant about sizing, hunh? Sounds like many of us have been or are in the same boat, too small for the women's sizes but with very few options in the misses. I do have some nice 16s in my basement closet (where all my smaller sizes are) so I'm less worried about what to wear when I get down to there, but 18-land is making me nuts. I guess I need to kick up the dieting to solve that problem, since the retailers sure aren't going to be lending me a hand! (Although I liked the suggestion about QVC and HSN; I may have to check that one out! Thanks, Abby.)

Anyway, that leads me to today's topic: lunch.

I went full-on grocery shopping for the first time in months on Thursday, buying all kinds of basic staples and options for dinner and other meals, filling our cabinets and fridge again after the last few months of Medifast. All we had then were salad fixings, chicken breast, and spaghetti squash. You could have been blinded by the bright light of our fridge, it was so empty. No more.

It felt so good to have some really basic items again in my house: couscous and brown rice, plain yogurt, Special K cereal, clementines, cooked shrimp, skim milk, eggs. Spinach and cucumbers, chicken sausage, bags of cabbage, polenta, mushrooms, carrots, onions and garlic and oh Lord, even potatoes. Potatoes!!

I made sure to get easy items for breakfast: fruit and yogurt, whole-wheat english muffins and Better N Peanut Butter, Special K cereal (cinnamon pecan is my flavor of choice). And despite my laziness the last two nights to make the broccoli-cheese chowder recipe, we have had plenty for impromptu dinners: chicken sausage with sauteed spinach, the last of the spaghetti squash, etc. But I forgot to come up with lunch ideas!

Luckily, I do have my Mr. Bento posts from this summer for some ideas, but those are mostly summer foods. I am craving the heartier stuff, like sandwiches and soups and carbs, but that's not what I have in my fridge. I have all the snacks and "side dishes" (fruits, yogurt, almonds, cucumbers, etc) but I can't think of many good main lunch dishes.

Here are some ideas I'm considering:
-shrimp salad, mixed with chopped celery and onion, some cocktail sauce and mayo, on a bed of spinach. Add slice of seeded bread, mixed fruit salad, plain almonds, and clementines for rest of lunch and snacks throughout the day.
-Saute the shrimp in Old Bay for dinner the night before, then mix with couscous and chopped veggies for leftover lunch.
-hard-boil the eggs for egg salad (need pita or bread or red pepper half to eat it in)
-buy roast-beef wrap at delicious local deli and add tomato soup

But that's it. Everything else involves buying other things. Can you guys think of other ways I can "remix" my foods to fill up my Bento? What do you bring for lunch -- maybe I need better grocery shopping ideas!




(From this summer.) Salad from the Whole Foods cold bar! That's a good idea...

What do you eat for lunch?