I'll Write More About This Later

At Least It Isn't Lying to Me

I set up the Wii Fit yesterday. The first thing it did was weigh me, and then ask how much my clothes weigh (35 lbs?). No biggie, that is until it made my previously skinny Mii FAT! My Mii barely has a neck, which is total b.s. Big belly? Check. Large thighs? Check. Neck? CHECK. Here is the picture of my Mii.

I'm not sure you can really tell, but believe me, this Mii is a fat ass. It is hard to take a picture of a tv with a camera, but I'm still impressed with how it came out. Back to the review.

Thus far, the Wii Fit is pretty awesome. There are all kinds of fitness games, which I am terrible at, and most of them focus on improving your balance and posture, two things that I definitely need work on. There is also this great "run" workout that you can select, where you run in place, but your Mii is trying to run with another Mii and that is kind of cool. So far I'm terrible with the yoga (my personal trainer last year told me that i was the most stiff atheletic person he knew. well now i'm the stiffest fatty, so i have only deteriorated.) I'll write more reviews as I play more games, but I think this is definetly a great system for kids who like to be indoors (or their parents don't push them to outside activities) and also for people that are scared of a gym. It gets you off your behind and you have a good time with it. Hooray for Wii Fit! Oh yeah, and I'm still going to the gym tomorrow at 5 am because I need to fit in a nice bathing suit for January and Wii Fit isn't going to get me there single handedly!

File Under: I Think It Is Both of Our Faults

This morning I received a phone call from the guy that rents a room in my cottage. I actually have my phone near my bed now b/c I use it as my 5 a.m. gym alarm, so he got lucky in that respect. First I opened the phone and said "I don't want to go the gym yet" and hung up, and then he called back and he said "how close are you to the cottage?" Apparently, when he left the house on Monday he didn't lock the door. I went over there on Tuesday afternoon, put my key in the door (assuming it was locked) did my thing, and locked the door on my way out. He got home late from travel last night, and while he was wanting to get into his warm bed, instead he had to drive to WaWa to meet me halfway so I could give him my key. It was pretty comical but it did actually interrupt my gym time this morning (today was a bonus day-so I'd already met my weekly goal) because I didn't fall asleep again until almost 3 and I needed more than 5 hours of sleep to run. Just thought that was great.

In another note, I ordered my new camera yesterday. I'd like to post a link to it, but Blogger has decided that it no longer wants me to be able to post links, pictures, or anything of value. Nor will it let me remove the survey I put up there. NICE BLOGGER!

Ooh oh oh, Lindsay and I booked our "Honeymoon Cruise" last night as well. We're going on a seven night cruise (which is why I think it is a honeymoon cruise b/c I think it is the same one Marc and I had booked when we were getting married...but God knows anymore) to Belize, Grand Cayman, Hondorus, and I think Cozumel in January. We're both so excited and it will be nice to have a girl's vacation. Hooray for vacations!

Here is a link to one of the ebay items

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEUSX:IT&item=170218805758

Recipe Thursday: Thai Spicy Basil Eggplant & Asparagus

Thai Spicy Basil Eggplant & Asparagus
Serves: 2
Prep Time < 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 eggplant, cut into chunks
1 bunch asparagus, bottoms removed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (I added more)
1/2 cup FRESH basil, leaves chopped once or twice (don't over chop!)
1-2 tbsp soy sauce (I used a lot more b/c my sauce wasn't too "saucy"
touch of toasted sesame oil - optional
pinch of dry basil - optional

Directions:
steam or stir-fry eggplant (steam ~15 minutes)
meanwhile, steam asparagus (~10 minutes)
saute garlic a little water 5 mins (using wok or large skillet)
add flakes, soy sauce, and basil. saute 3 more minutes
add eggplant and asparagus, stir to coat, cook 1 more minute or until warm
add optional dry basil before serving
serve over brown rice

I recommend doubling the sauce recipe, as did the original poster. It was just better that way. Mircea really like this stuff, and I felt that it was missing something but couldn't really pinpoint it. I thought it was way better the second day.


(My blogger is all sorts of jacked up right now. I want to give credit where it is due. This recipe is from "The Happy Herbivore" and I will post the link once I am able to do so.

Completely Frustrated

I have finally made the decision to part with a lot of the knick knacks that my mom had collected over the years. It took me 7 years to make that decision and about 2 weeks of selling to realize that it was a poor decision. First item I posted didn't sell. Then I posted another item, well below it's worth. I shipped it to the guy and he emailed me to tell me that he thought it had been broken and glued back together (although very well, he told me the trick for checking) and now he's sending it back. I don't care about losing the $17, no biggie, I feel bad that I sent him a product that I thought was in mint condition but actually sucked. I am just frustrated because 1.) I know my mom collected them thinking there would be some investment in them-there isn't, 2.) I can't even sell them for nothing (seriously, I listed them so cheaply children could purchase them with their lunch money), 3.) I have to check ebay constantly b/c I'm always getting questions, etc. on my posts. So unless any of you care to collect some Precious Moments figurines from 1981 (i can't guarantee they are in mint condition, but now i can tell you how to know if they are broken) I am going to donate them to the local charity, where they will hopefully get some money for that charity. I have a beautiful set of tea cups that I'd been holding onto as well, and I can't get a bid on them (though about 20 watchers, but my price is so cheap I can't go any lower, it's not worth the packaging price). Any thoughts? Although I love to help out charities, I hate to see that the stuff my mom had invested in for me, isn't worth a thing and now my memory is tarnished by all this crap I'm going through. I'm sorry I'm sort of whining, I'm just really frustrated, I didn't want to part with them but holding on to things doesn't bring people back, and I hate that this was my responsibility and not my dad's, who made me pick them up from his house when he got married because he didn't have room for stuff from his old life. Argh!

A Vegan-Tastic Weekend!

This weekend was my first real test in eating vegan. It’s not that I was tempted by non-vegan foods, it is that I ate out 3 meals over the weekend and still managed to stay vegan.

On Friday, I went up to see Lindsay and she humored me by joining me at the Sunflower Restaurant in Vienna, VA. The whole menu was vegan (except milk for the kid’s meal) and it was delicious. Lindsay got a curry that had mock meat in it, and the flavor was delicious, but we agreed that the consistency of the “meat” could have been a little less…disgusting. I had the veggie sushi bento box and it was, if I may say, un-freakin-believable! It was so delicious and wonderful and it’s made me realize that I can make veggie sushi and still be happy. So next time I make sushi I am going to make both, and hopefully I can resist the temptation for the fish. I really want to, I feel so bad for still eating fish, but I haven’t seen any videos of poor treatment of fish and that is probably the only reason I can still eat the sushi. I also discovered jicama and it was quite delicious as well (I did almost cut off my thumb preparing it, and have a squat fingernail to prove it) so I’ll be using that more.

On Saturday after a disastrous drive to Arlington, Lindsay and I met some friends at the PF Chang’s restaurant. I’d verified ahead of time that I would be able to enjoy the Buddha Delight. It is described as a wonderful meal of steamed veggies that include baby corn, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, snow peas, and water chestnuts. I also requested that tofu be added to my plate as well. My meal arrived and I basically had a bowl of steamed broccoli. First of all, the tofu was missing, and the only other veggie I had in there besides broccoli was 1 piece of mushroom, 3 tips of asparagus, and some sliced carrots (which if I had been thinking would have asked them to omit b/c I don’t care for them all that much.) After prompting the waiter brought my tofu, which was good, but I’ll admit paying $7.50 for a bowl of steamed broccoli was a little ridiculous. I’m thinking this cook was a little off because everyone at the table was pretty dissatisfied, except Lindsay who had peppered beef and commented “if you can mess up peppered beef you probably shouldn’t have a restaurant.”

On Saturday night I went out with Mircea and some friends of his to what I referred to as “the testosterone crab feast”. It wasn’t enough that I was the only female, but I was eating vegan while they all ate crabs. I had some fried zucchini, which leads me to say “technically vegan” because although the lady said that they cooked all the veggies in one fry “vat”, I am pretty sure she was just saying what I wanted to hear so I could eat something at the establishment. They were really good though, and I made up for it with some long island iced teas (sans the splash of coke) so I was still happy. We then went out to the Dew Drop Inn, which was the Redneck “dance club” that Mircea and I met at. It was fun, and I even got my sweetie to dance with me for one song. I definitely learned a lot about guys at a bar, and thought that I was probably cramping their style. Notes to share with the females in the house: one of the guys there, who was supposedly going through a divorce, took off his wedding ring before we got to the Dew Drop. Now if he was getting a divorce I consider him single, but he apparently doesn’t consider himself single because he was wearing it in the first place. I tried very hard not to be offended by that, but I was. Jerk! I will say this, men just stand at the bar looking at women dance. It was a little sad. But we did stand in pretty much the same place I found Mircea a year and a half ago. I guess that’s his comfort zone.

Ok, enough rambling. I ran this morning before work (at 6 am) and it was really good. My knees hurt a little bit today, but I’m going to do some more stretching tonight and probably ice them as I have habitual knee issues.

Vegan Shopping

I'm going to see Lindsay tomorrow and we have some big plans. Mostly I'm forcing her to take me for some retail therapy, but it's the good stuff. We're going to go to Trader Joe's (the closest one is well over an hour away-it's a travesty) and for lunch we're going to Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant. With the exception of one thing with milk on the menu, everything else appears to be vegan, so I'm super excited. They even have vegan sushi, so I'm thinking I might be able to learn new taste sensations so I can really be a vegan, instead of one who plays one on the internet.

On Saturday, Lindsay has a date with some girlfriends, and I'm tagging along to P.F. Changs. Now they make me a little mad because they aren't so "vegan" or healthy, though they like to pretend they are healthy. I am not at the point where I think that they need to have a veggie only wok, but I understand the people that are concerned about that. There is pretty much just the one vegan dish, which is the Happy Buddha, which is just steamed vegetables. I am hoping they'll put some tofu in there, they seem pretty agreeable to that.

I am so excited to be stocking up on all the good vegan treats. Woo-hoo!

Pledge to Be Veg

World Vegetarian week is 19-25 May! I am not one to push my opinions on others (but I love to share them) so I am just guiding those that are interested to Pledge to be Veg for 7 Days. Ok, stupid blogger won't let me put a link up, so here it is. Just cut and paste. Now I have a ghetto-fab post. (it wouldn't be my first one)

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/7day_veg_pledge

It Had a Face

I had one of the biggest scares of my life yesterday, and I felt I handled it very well. Mircea, however, called me a 5 year old, but he expects me to be a big burly man most of the time, and that is just...odd. Whatever, off the subject.

Mircea and I took some stuff to a local donation center yesterday. We've been going through every closet in the house and going through things trying to "spring clean". I put on my great little slip on shoes so I could take the stuff out in the rain. My shoe felt a little tight when I put it on, but I was in a hurry with the rain so I just dealt with it. We're in the car for a few minutes and I just couldn't handle the tight shoe anymore. It felt like there was some toilet paper or something up in the toe box of the shoe. I take off the shoe. I shake it and put it back on. still tight. I look in the bottom to see what the obstruction is. I blink my eyes and look again. I manage to not let out a blood curdling scream as I see a face looking back at me. I put the shoe up on the dash which is when Mircea says "what the heck is going on?" and I say "there is a face staring back at me in my shoe." This is the face that was staring back at me in my shoe.

Apparently this creature was hiding in the warm, stinky toe of my shoe, and then I slipped my big 0l' foot in there and killed it. I feel that it would have killed me. Or eaten my toes. Or poisoned me in some way, rendering me completely useless in my life, immobile, and destroying my illustrious running career I've worked for years to cultivate (these are of course exaggerations, but at the moment I could have died of fright). I finally get the spider out of my shoe and out of the car, but the memory is still very vibrant. I felt like there was something in my shoe the rest of the drive, and even thought about it when I went to bed. This morning when I put on my other shoes I checked them with a flashlight and banged them on the ground, trying to evict any faced creatures out of the shoes. How gross and scary is that? I will never be the same again.

400 Rants, Raves, Blathers, etc

This is my 400th post. There has been a lot of crap between post number 1 and now, but I think we've seen some pretty interesting things. In the time it took me to write 400 posts I have started running, stopped running, and then started again, started graduate school, graduated graduate school, gotten engaged, called off a wedding, , moved out, moved in, moved out, moved in with someone, cried a million tears, smiled a billion smiles, made friends, lost friends, lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, ate meat, went vegan, and spent a total of a year living away from my precious kitties. So it's been something else. A bit of an adventure, a wild ride, if you will. And it's far from over-though I may not always blog about it.

Today's blog isn't of any great value. I'd planned to blog about Jesus Christ Superstar, but I think that post will come up as a homage in a few days. LOVE IT!

I can review the Flat Earth Peach Mango Paradise Fruit Crisps. They are very good, and contain a 1/2 serving of fruit for every ounce. I thought they were super tasty, but they were a little higher in fat than I'd prefer and I guess it would better to eat a peach or a mango. The other thing that makes me mad is this "flat earth" is actually a division of Frito Lay, and their jumping in on the "small companies are better, buy natural" mentality that has taken over the U.S. (though the rest of the world always did it) by tricking us into believing that they are a grass roots healthy company and they don't have Chester the Cheetah doing Cheeto lines in the back room (get the Family Guy reference?). Whatever. They are tasty, and the Peach Mango and Apple Cinnamon (I think) are vegan, and the rest of them contain milk, so their out for me. But probably quite delicious. They have the crispiness of a Baked Lay, which is quite wonderful as well.

I am currently selling all my Precious Moments on eBay. My goodness has this been an undertaking. I am currently waiting for a response, because my first buyer offered to buy my entire collection and that would make me so happy because I wouldn't have to worry about this crap anymore. We'll see what happens.

I'm Angry

I was preparing some recycling at work and found out that the wax coated boxes (like mac and cheese, frozen foods, etc) are not recyclable. WTF?! Why would these companies use these boxes when they can't be reused or recycled? I don't understand. I have done some research on it, and it appears that they are not recycled in my area and that just breaks my heart. Plus, I have been "recyling" them for months, so they have just been going to the trash. Consumers love a pretty box, convenient packaging...and apparently they love destroying the Earth and overfilling the landfills, making our planet a big old trash can. Man I am so pissed right now. My Kleenex box says that is is made from 100% recycled paperboard, but it does not appear to be recyclable. Does anyone have any insight into this, or am I just going to have to curl up in fetal position and freak out (like I am already doing)?

Darn old Blogger won't let me post a picture, but it would just be me making an angry face.

I Heart Tofu

I've been experimenting with tofu. I'm sort of a mad-scientist in the kitchen with this stuff and I have yet to perfect it. I'm the best sushi rice cooker in the whole world, but tofu still vexes me. "Freeze it, then cook it" my friends say, and when I do that it is all wet and spongy. "Just bake it" they say, and then I burned it and it tasted wrong. Just plain wrong. So I don't know what to do. I got recipes off the internet, followed them to the letter, and mine tastes nothing like they claim their's tastes like. Either I'm a bad cook (which we know isn't likely) or they are a bunch of liars and their tofu is a spongy mess like mind. Ok, so I'm not a great cook.

I am probably having sushi tonight, but I'm not enjoying it like I used to. The guilt factor is so high that I know I'll be weaning myself off of it. I am still going strong elsewhere, but I am not eating as healthfully as I was before, so I sort of need to recommit to the Skinny Bitch. I'm not being a total crazy person, but I had a couple of Atomic Fireballs (sugar) and I had a sip of some soda (when I thought I might dehydrate in the car) and that is just unacceptable.

Best sandwich ever (other than the delicious Lone Star from Jimbos). Smart bacon, avacado and veganaise. Yum yum yum!!!

Wii Would Like to Exercise

I did it. I read about the Wii Fit and I pre-ordered it. I hope it is as good as it seems like it could be, and that it will help keep me more active at home. As several people can attest, I'm not very good with following directions, and have some sort of dylexia ONLY when doing workout videos (and dialing a phone after I've recently used a calculator, but that is different) so this might be a challenge. But we'll see, maybe it will be fun and it will give me an excuse to play the Wii because I NEVER play it anymore. Not even for the Hero. The Guitar Hero that is.

Wii is also looking into Pole Dancing. That's wholesome. "Wii would like to slut?" I'm just being mean, pole dancing can be a good workout-for a skank. I'm kidding again, I just can't stop myself. I have the Carmen Electra strip tease workout video set, but the striptease ones made me feel ridiculous so one of my friends has them now. I won't shout out to her though...or will I?

I just looked on Amazon.com and now they are sold out of Wii fit. It's like the Army 10-miler all over again-I'm at the right place at the right time. Woo hoo. Except that I just ate some Skittles before realizing they aren't vegan. It's been an accidental omnivore day here in Lusby. Oops!

A Cry for Help

Today after lunch I ate two Sugar in the Raw packets. I wanted something sweet and had a couple packets in my desk. I guess it was like eating rock candy without that little stick and the sticky saliva on my cheek, but it was still a little rough.

All of This Before 8 a.m.

This morning has been a comical one to me. I just have to share the two things that really got me laughing this morning.

Qantas Airlines: I was watching CNN Headline News (with my true love Robin Meade) this morning and the Quantas commercial came on. It was all nice and flowery and talked about their "83 years of continuous flight" (which got me asking a few questions in my head) and their exceptional service. The best part? There was lovely, soothing music in the background...and it was "Down Under" from Men at Work. HA!!!! In a side note, Colin Hay of M@W (I made up that acronym-I work for the Gov't, we do it all the time) performed a great song on Scrubs called Overkill. File that under the "still rockin'" tab in your awesome book.

Fox 5 Morning News: I was watching Fox 5 this morning (because every 30 minutes on CNN Headline News this stupid Comcast Newsmakers with Tony Hill interrupts the program and I must change the station because that is such a stupid show) and one of the entertainment anchors was out at a horse race track talking about something stupid, I don't know. Etiquette at the track or something. The guy back at the newsroom says "Aren't you going to wear your floppy hat?" (a la Pretty Woman) and she replies, and I quote, "I am not going to shoot my wad this early in the day. I'll wear the hat later." WHAT?!?!?!?! When did "shoot my wad" become anything other than a men's locker room explanation of premature ejaculation, and when did it become appropriate to say on television (on anything other than my beloved South Park)? What has this world come to? I did write a letter to Fox5 expressing my state of shock over this comment. I don't really find it offensive...I find it very odd that this lady would say something like that at all. Certainly not a woman saying that, and certainly not to describe "prematurely wearing a hat". Yikes!

Activity Challenge

I have been kind of lazy with my running this week and I really need to get myself active now that I'm done with school. I'm declaring May "Activity Month" and challenging myself to "31 Days of 31 minutes of physical activity" per day. I'd like to do a full hour a day, but I know that will be challenging for me, especially on the weekends when I tend to be laziest.

The following activities are on my approved list:

walking
jogging
workout video
kayaking
gardening (only if I'm lifting the bags and really "workin' it"
complaining-i'm just kidding, if I could whine to lose weight I'd be so skinny
weight training
swimming (I don't fit in my suit anymore, I'll have to do the aformentioned to get back into the suit first)
cycling

I can't think of any other activities, but I really need to be more active and stop being so lazy all the time. I think I'm having trouble with the running because it is frustrating. I can't run very long and I miss how "easy" it used to be when I was running consistently. I know that I will get back there (if I just flippin do it) so I will keep chugging along.