Anyways, about yesterday…

So I woke up and went on my morning walk.  It was so cool and nice out–it felt like fall with that big, clear blue sky and crisp air!  I’m going to miss my morning walks when school starts.

Breakfast

Special K Protein Plus + raspberries (leftover from cake!) + almond milk

Since meals aren’t as big of a deal to me anymore and I don’t want them to last for hours on end, I’ve been enjoying having cereal for breakfast.  I mean, it tastes good.  Who cares if its gone in like 5 minutes?

Workout

45 minutes elliptical intervals

25 minutes planks

• 3 x 4 min ball planks
• SUPERSET
• 4 x 1 min front planks
• 4 x 1 min side planks (per side)

I’ve also noticed that lately workouts aren’t as big of a deal to me either.  I just kinda do them without really thinking about it.

After I showered and put on my make-up, my mom came to pick me up.  We did lunch at Bruegger’s.

Lunch

Cafe Sesame Chicken Salad

It was good.  We were in a hurry (and I was hungry) so I ate it kinda fast.  But I loved the crunchy sesame seeds, and the dressing was so good that I brought the leftover stuff home to use again!

Afterwards, we went to an appointment with my counselor.  I was going to her every two weeks for a long time (since… February?  And before that, I was going every week.)  Well, at my last appointment, I was doing and feeling so well that we decided to wait a month and see if maybe it was time to “wean” me off of counseling.  Well, with this whole zit nightmare… yeah, mentally, I’m not feeling too great at the moment.  I basically sat there balling like a baby the entire session.  But my counselor is really great.  I left feeling a bit better… and with another appointment for next week.

Its amazing how quickly life can change.  Now I’m dealing with a whole new set of problems (and I won’t lie… I’d rather have my old problems back in a heartbeat.)  Life is basically one struggle after another, isn’t it?

Anyways… my mom and I baked some dark chocolate chip cookies yesterday afternoon:

We took them to our square dancing lesson, and they were all gobbled up by the end of the night! 

But before we left for square dancing, I threw together a quick salad to make sure I was packed full of veggies for the day.

Dinner

Salad with romaine, spinach, Tuscan-blend veggies, bell pepper, tomato, Italian dressing, shrimps, salad bits

The shrimp were leftover from the Beaufort Stew and they were delicious!  There were actually a lot more of them… but I ended up eating most of them before they even made it into the salad!  Haha.

Then, of course, we went to square dancing.  My usual partner was back today, so I had a blast with him twirling me around like crazy.  And my grandpa gave me a birthday shout-out. 

Well, that’s about it… we’re going out to dinner tonight for me “real” birthday (even though the party was on Sunday!) so I probably won’t update tonight.  And then I have Wednesday… and then school starts Thursday!  Eeek.  I’ve been looking forward to it for so long now… I just wish my face would get better so I could enjoy it more!

So, yesterday my family had my 17th birthday party!  I don’t really do “party” parties (ahem… I loathe them) so every year on my birthday we just have a little family get-together, like we do for anybody else’s birthday.  Its really just a fun little excuse to get everybody together.  It didn’t even really feel like “my” birthday–even though I did get to open presents and blow out the candles on the cake!  Heheheh. 

But anyways, before we get to all that… (photo bomb at the end of this post–you guys will actually get to see a photo of me for the first time–le gasp!)

It was a pretty typical morning.  Woke up, peeked into the mirror hoping for some kind of miracle, got minorly depressed, slapped myself out of it, put on make-up, went on a walk…

Came home to one of my favorite parts of the week–Sunday breakfast!

Breakfast

Special K Protein Plus + blueberries + almond milk; coffee with non-dairy creamer (a.k.a. best stuff EVER!)

Sure, its just cereal.  But what I love about Sunday breakfasts is the seemingly leisurely pace of them… sitting at the table with my family, reading the comics before leaving for church.  Its just nice, you know?  If one good thing comes out of this horrible face nightmare, its that I truly do not care about what I eat anymore.  Its just food.  Living is much more important.

Went to church.  We’re still doing that series on evangelism… this week we had a guest pastor, though, and he was really good!  I enjoyed it, even though I’m still not sure I’m cut out to be an evangelist…

Went to McDonald’s with my grandparents afterwards to chat for a bit while they had breakfast…

After that, I went and cleaned my mom’s shop.  Hairy, but it was fine.  I don’t sweat the small stuff very much anymore.

I was starving when I came home!

Lunch

Salad with romaine, spinach, bell pepper, tomato, Tuscan-blend veggies, Italian dressing, veggie burger, salad bits

This was one huge, colorful salad beast.  Nomnomnom.  Love my veggies.

Then, I showered up and did my hair and make-up for the party!  I hate that it takes so much time… but I’m getting used to it.  I’m trying to just accept that this is part of my life for the moment.  I really should just be grateful that I have such beautiful hair and eyes and that the make-up covers the zits so well.  I really am blessed.  I have to learn to look past the one (major) negative and see the many positives!

The family started coming over (my Aunt Bonnie and grandparents) and we all just hung out and chatted for a while.  I don’t get to see my aunt but maybe once a month or so, so we had a lot to catch up on!

My dad did an amazing job on dinner!

Dinner

Beaufort Stew!  (shrimp + sausage + red potatoes + corn + big pot + Old Bay = YUMM)

That’s not my actual plate.  I didn’t want to “make a fuss” with bringing my camera to the table, since I was the center of attention and all.  But my dad noticed that I didn’t take a picture and he freaked out:  “You didn’t take a picture!  You need a picture for your blog!!”  So he went and plated up this and photographed it all on his own.  It was kinda really cute. 

If it was a photo of my actual plate, you would have seen 17 shrimp (plus an ear of corn!)  One for every year I’ve been alive (it wasn’t even on purpose either–I only realized it after I finished and counted the shrimp shells!)  They were some good shrimp, too.  My dad makes a pretty kick-ass Beaufort Stew, if I do say so myself.  I’m so proud!

I didn’t actually get any pictures of the cake itself… just of me blowing it out!

CAKE!

I blew them all out on the first go!  Hope my wish comes true. 

My mom made the cake!  Its was chocolate with dark chocolate frosting and raspberries (my special request–uber expensive so I never get to have them!)  Delicious.  I had a nice big fat slice and about a million raspberries.

Then… present time!

PRESENTS!

 Yes, that is my little brother stroking my present… is someone envious?

Hahah, naw, he’s too cute. 

 I got a salad spinner…

And (I swear this photo isn’t staged at all, but I probably couldn’t look more goofy if I tried!) an ice-cream maker!

Now I just need to figure out how to make ice cream out of almond milk.  Muhahahah.

I also got some cash and a cool bed lamp from my aunt, a gas card from my grandparents, and a book and toothbrushes from my little brother (??!)  I hope he’s not trying to tell me that my breath stinks!

Hahah…  So, yep.  It was a pretty nice birthday.  After that, we hung around and watched some boring Indy car racing and a golf tournament, which was somehow actually kinda fun.  But it was such a gorgeous night out!  I really wanted to drag everybody out on a walk (it seriously felt like HALLOWEEN!) because it was so cool and breezy, but I figured no one else would want to.  I don’t have an active family, at all… kinda a pity, I guess, but I love them all so much that it doesn’t even matter.

And that basically sums up yesterday!  Today’s been another busy day, but we have square dancing tonight, so I probably won’t be updating until tomorrow… which is the day I really turn 17! 

Did you notice a change in my tone?  Today’s been pretty great (though this morning I was rather stressed out and emotional.)  I’m trying to be more upbeat.  This is not the end of the world.  Gotta keep saying that.  And keep praying.  My favorite time of day is at night when I go to sleep… because there’s always the chance that I could wake up in the morning and have it be all better!  Of course, by the same logic, when I wake up and it isn’t “all better”, that makes my mornings pretty depressing…

Anyways… so this morning I went on my usual morning walk (and got rained on a bit!)  Couldn’t decide what to have for breakfast…

Breakfast

Tropical trail mix (while waiting for eggs to cook…)

Eggbeaters + spinach + ketchup (post-photo)

I was going to make pancakes… but we had no fun fruit to throw in them.  So I made just eggs instead, with spinach (since I try to make sure my meals focus on a fruit/veg nowadays.)  I finished off the little snack baggie of trail mix that’s been hanging around forever, too.  I just ate the nuts, banana chips, and the ONE piece of dried pineapple left in the package… but I wasn’t feeling the raisins, so they got trashed.

After that, I wrote this morning’s post.  And then I had my first ever little “blog down” experience.  Apparently I was violating WordPress.com’s Terms of Agreement or something of that sort?  Ummm… yeah, right.  But I just emailed them and it seems to be fixed now, so no biggie.

Workout

75 minutes legs

• Warmup:  Squat jumps – 4 x 25
• Wallsits – 3 x 1.5 min
• Front lunges – 30 lbs, pyramid set
• Plie squats – 15 lbs, pyramid set
• Deadlifts – 30 lbs, pyramid set
• Calf raises – 30 lbs, 4 x 25
• Hip abduction – 5 lbs, 4 min (per leg)
• Hip adduction – 5 lbs, 4 min (per leg)
• Front single-leg lifts – 5 lbs, 3 x 1 min (per leg)

Yeah, so… the same workout that I usually do in 60 minutes took me 75 minutes today.  I hit a roadblock.  At the plie squats.  I must have stood there, hypnotized-like, for a solid 5 minutes between sets.  I don’t know why.  I was just not motivated to bang out those reps!  And it started out so good, too.  Usually, I start a workout “slow” and then get faster and more motivated as I work through it.  Not the case today!

Showered after that, and put on more make-up.  I can’t believe I took the luxury of not wearing make-up for granted for so long.  I would love to have the freedom to leave the house without having to worry about putting it on…

Then I vacuumed and Swiffered the floors for my mom before lunch.

Lunch

Salad with romaine, spinach, bell pepper, tomato, imitation crab, edamame, Italian dressing, salad bits

Yum.  I love that imitation crab stuff.  I’ve never even had real crab.

After a little blog-reading and Ghost Whisperer watching with my mom, we headed off to do the weekly grocery shop.  I asked to go today instead of tomorrow, so I can use that time tomorrow to do my hair and make-up (ugh I hate even having to worry about it!)

Tomorrow we’re celebrating my 17th birthday (even though its not really until Tuesday.)  The family’s coming over and we’re going to have Beaufort stew, which is pretty much my favorite meal ever.  I haven’t had it since last summer at Edisto with my best friend’s family.  Her dad makes the best Beaufort stew ever… but I’m hoping my dad can make it good, too!

So yeah, update probably not going to happen tomorrow night… I wanna just enjoy my family. 

For dinner tonight, I really wanted a chocolate microwave cake… but, coincidentally, in the past two days that I haven’t had one, my face has actually shown some improvement…  Its really evil, actually.  First, I can’t have my favorite food.  And now I might not be able to have my second favorite food?!  That’s just cruel.  But oh well.  I’ll do what I have to.  No food is worth a face like this.

But anyways… I decided to get creative

Dinner

Soy sauce stir-fry with broccoli, peppers, carrots, green beans, snap peas, edamame

I should really learn how to cook Chinese/Japanese food.  They don’t use cheese… I’ve always been such a Mediterranian food lover that I’ve hardly ever ventured out farther than Italian/Greek food!

Anyways… do you think I got enough veggies today?  Every single meal!  Come on, veggie power.  Do your stuff.  Make my face better.

So, yeah… yesterday… was hard, but it seems like that’s the norm lately.  It was family night though, so at least that was fun.  I’m really grateful I have such an amazing family.

I woke up and went on my morning walk, as usual.  Came home to breakfast.

Breakfast

Chocolate-banana protein shake, topped with crunchy peanut butter.

This was seriously amazing.  So creamy and good and sweet and delicious.  It almost killed me, though.  I curled up in my bed under my covers for an hour afterwards, shivering my butt off.  So cold.

Workout

45 minutes elliptical

20 minutes shoulders

• Seated shoulder press – 30 lbs, pyramid set
• SUPERSET
• Lateral raises – 5 lbs per arm, pyramid set
• Front raises – 10 lbs, pyramid set

Wasn’t in the mood to lift weights today.  And I started my workout really late because I kinda feel asleep after breakfast.  And the TV remote is broken so I couldn’t switch channels when I got bored.  Oh well.  No big deal.

Showered, more make-up…

Lunch

Okra fries and veggie burger, with ketchup + mustard

Simple.  Good.  Whatever.

After lunch, I headed over to my grandparent’s house.  I was really down on myself.  My face is so ugly, and now my chin is really dry and scabby so make-up doesn’t even hide it.  I tried to cheer up, but before I knew what was happening, I was crying my eyes out.  My grandma is so sweet and so perfect.  She said the perfect things and she gives amazing hugs.  I love her so much.

God, now I’m crying sitting here typing this.

Anyways… after I cried I felt a bit better, and then we were off to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner.  It was pretty awesome.

Dinner

Salad with romaine, mushrooms, tomato, bell pepper, broccoli slaw

Homemade personal pizzas!  (mine = tomato sauce, mushrooms, bell pepper, onions, olives, turkey sausage, no cheese)

And a side of sauteed zucchini and leftover sausage…

It was a hit.  Everybody loved it.  My pizza had a minor blow-out, though.  My dad said it looked like a painter’s palette with the little thumb hole, haha.

We made dessert, too…

Dessert

Cranberry-walnut bread

Yum.  I’ve been craving some cranberry nut bread all summer.  I enjoyed a nice fat slice with two mugs of hot hazelnut decaf while we watched Mars Needs Moms.

Surprisingly, it was a pretty good little movie.  

Moms really are the best.  My mom and grandma are my God-sends.  I don’t know what I would do without them.  I love them so much that it truly is beyond words.  I feel like I could go to them about anything, and they can almost always magically make me feel better.  I should really just be so grateful that I have these two wonderful, amazing women in my life who I know will always love me, no matter how ugly my face is.

Darn it.  I’m crying again.

On my walk this morning, I realized that the mirror has become kinda like the scale was to me when I was anorexic.  I check it obsessively, just like I used to hop on the scale every hour or two.  Hoping for an improvement.  Always disappointed.  I’d really just be happy if my chin cleared up.  My forehead can stay zitty.  Just my chin, please God.

Anyways… sorry for being a broken record for the past… week…  This is just one of the most awful things I’ve ever gone through in my life and, unlike other awful situations I’ve been in, there seems to be nothing I can do to make it any better.  Believe me, I wish this wasn’t happening.

Another bare-bones post.  Not in the mood to blabber.  And to tell you the truth, haven’t been in the mood to eat, either.  It has nothing to do with my ED.  I just feel shitty and depressed.

After another long morning walk…

Breakfast

Peach protein pancakes

Been making an effort to eat more fruit.  This was good.

Workout

45 minutes elliptical intervals

30 minutes triceps + chest

• SUPERSET
• Tricep dips – pyramid set
• Pushups – pyramid set
• Single-arm tricep kickbacks - 10 lbs, pyramid set
• SUPERSET
• Chest flyes – 10 lbs per arm, pyramid set
• Chest press – 30 lbs, pyramid set
• Skullcrushers – 15 lbs, pyramid set

Wasn’t as hard to motivate myself to workout today.  I needed the endorphines.

Lunch

Chocolate microwave cake

Yeah.  Should really stop eating these and start eating more “real” food.  Nothing like looking like a zit-faced monster to jump-start a seriously healthy, dairy-free, whole food diet.  Its funny, but my diet is more restrictive right now than it ever was when I was anorexic.

Afternoon passed by in a blur… don’t even remember it.  I did crosswords.  Very mind-numbing.  I highly suggest it if you need a distraction.

Dinner

Salad with spinach, romaine, tomato, bell pepper, sauteed green beans, edamame, imitation crab, Italian dressing, salad bits

Big bowl of nutrients.  Should probably be eating two of these a day.

Well… that’s it.  I’ve been hitting the hay earlier and earlier the past few days.  I don’t even want to stay up to watch Rookie Blue tonight.  I just want to sleep.  And wake up and have this facial nightmare be over.  Sometimes, I actually pinch myself… because this is so awful, it just has to be a nightmare.

Oh, thank you guys so much for your kind comments.  They really do make me feel better… but don’t feel obligated to comment if you don’t want to.  I know I never really have anything to say when somebody else writes depressing posts, so I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to say something because they “should”.  I completely understand if you don’t.

This morning I took a really long walk.  I was gone for over two hours… it was nice.  Kinda distracting.  I got so far from home that I spooked myself a little bit.  But it was a gorgeous morning.  I saw lots of turtles and baby squirrels.

Breakfast

Special K Protein Plus + strawberries + almond milk

Simple little breakfast.

Workout

45 minutes elliptical intervals

25 minutes planks

• 3 x 4 min ball planks
• 4 x 1 min front planks
• 4 x 1 min side planks (per side)

Since my face has gotten so bad, I never feel like working out anymore.  It just seems to pointless to me.  But once I’m done, I usually feel better…

I showered and put on makeup before running off to my high school… I returned the Calculus book I got yesterday and got a new one, because I figured out some pages were missing.

Lunch

Chocolate microwave cake

Could all the cocoa powder be causing my zits?  Probably should stop having this every day.  I’m willing to try anything to get rid of this curse.

Mopped around all afternoon… when my mom got home, we ran to Walmart to get my school supplies.

Dinner

Salad with romaine, spinach, tomato, bell pepper, edamame, Caesar dressing, salad bits

I thought maybe soybeans would help raise my estrogen and help the zits go away, or something?  God, I’m so desperate its not even funny.  This is awful, guys.

Anyways… I guess I’m done for the night.  Sorry for being such a downer.  This is just so bad.  It makes everything I’ve dealt with in the past–anorexia–seem so silly and stupid.  Why did I worry so much?  I had a clear face.  I should have just been happy.  *sigh*

This morning I woke up bright and early to go on a long walk.  It gave me an hour or so to think some stuff through.  Just because my face is broken out, it doesn’t have to ruin my life, you know?  I’ve got to remind myself that no one else is looking as critically at me as I am.  So what if I have zits?  I’m still the same person!

… But still, thank God that they seem to slowly be getting a little bit better.  Thank, thank, thank you God.

Oh, and two more happy things helped to cheer me up.  One, the skinny kitty is being fed!  I found her today sitting on someone’s stoop, eating a big plate full of tuna and cat food.  I had brought cat food to give her, but turns out she didn’t even need it!  That was a huge relief.

And two, this little guy makes me smile almost every morning, and today I finally managed to snap a photo of him!

I love bunnies. 

Breakfast

Strawberry protein pancakes

I sliced some of the strawberries straight into the batter, but most of them ended up being topping.  I forgot that I had bought a thing of strawberries and they were starting to go bad!

Workout

45 minutes elliptical intervals

20 minutes biceps

• Concentration curls – 15 lbs, pyramid set
• Cross-body hammer curls – 10 lbs, pyramid set
• Bicep curls – 10 lbs, pyramid set

Another “blah, why even bother” start (was feeling a little bit down on myself still) but I felt better after I finished.

After I showered, I did my hair and put on makeup.  That made me feel a lot better, too.

Lunch

Chocolate microwave cake (torn up into a million pieces, of course)

Since I’m not eating late at night anymore, I’ve been having these at lunch.  I stopped eating after dinner because I’ve started to go to bed earlier and get up earlier, to prepare for school!

Speaking of school… after lunch, I headed to my high school for schedule pick-up!  Eeek, so exciting!  I’m such a nerd.  Here’s my 2011-2012 senior class schedule:  (my school’s weird and has “A” days and “B” days, so we have different classes on different days…)

1A:  AP Psychology
2A:  AP Calculus AB
3A:  AP English Literature
4A:  Sports Nutrition

5B:  Study Hall
6B:  AP Calculus AB
7B:  AP Macroeconomics (1st semester); AP US Government (2nd semester)
8B:  Honors Anatomy/Physiology

Phew!  Gonna be quite a year, eh?  I’m super excited for Sports Nutrition!  I let myself have one “fun” class a year, and that’s the one I choose this year.  And I’m equally super excited that I have a year-long study hall!  I was so sure that it wouldn’t fit into my schedule, but it does!  YEAH!!

And I already know that I have AP Psych with one of my best friends, and another friend in Calculus.  So that’s good. 

Dinner

Salad with romaine, spinach, tomatoes, bell pepper, sauteed broccoli, imitation crab, balsamic

Yumm!  Big bowl of deliciousness that left me super stuffed afterwards.

And that’s it for me tonight!  The power’s currently flickering in my house (huge thunderstorm outside) so I better hurry up and post before it goes out for good!  Have a good night!

So, yesterday, Monday… I think I’m going to need someone to slap me really hard.  Ugh.  My face is really beating me down, guys.  I just can’t stand it.  My self-esteem has gone to shit and I honestly feel depressed.  I slept half the day yesterday because I could just not come up with one good reason why I should even get out of bed.

Today I’m feeling a bit better, but, yeah… yesterday was pretty much the pits.  At least this morning, I woke up with some hope–hoping my face would be better.  Its not.  But at least I got out of bed.

Anyways…

Monday’s Workout

45 minutes elliptical intervals

45 minutes abs

• Lemon squeezers – 4 x 25
• Oblique twists – 15 lbs, 4 x 25
• SUPERSET
• Weighted crunches – 15 lbs, 2 x 50
• Crunches – 2 x 100
• SUPERSET
• Bicycle crunches – 2 x 100
• Cross-ankle oblique crunches – 2 x 100
• Situps over ball – 100
• Side crunches – 2 x 100 (per side)

This was after I finally dragged myself out of bed.  It was kinda like, “blah, why am I even bothering?”  Oh well.  I did feel a lot better after I was done.

I didn’t eat much yesterday.  Had a lot to do with feeling shitty about myself, I guess.

Monday Breakfast/Lunch

Chocolate microwave cake

Monday Dinner

Leftover rotisserie chicken breast, mashed cauliflower, coleslaw

That’s it.  Spend most of my waking hours blog-reading.  At least I’m caught up now.

But then, we went square dancing.  You know what?  I like being around people.  I like laughing and smiling (even if I had to fake it a bit at first.)  Even with my face looking like this, I’d rather be around a bunch of fun people than be home alone by myself.  Its distracting.  I like it.  I’m sick of summer/staying home/being by myself.  I want to go back to school and be social and busy all the time again!

So yeah.  Even though yesterday was kinda a pity-party for me, it ended on a good note.  Today’s been pretty good too.  See you tonight with an exciting update on the skinny kitty and my new class schedule for senior year! 

Yeah, my face is still really bad.  Really bad.  I can’t even count the number of zits on my chin and forehead.  There’s more of them than skin.  I just thank GOD that at least they’re flat red marks mostly (versus big whiteheads like they were a few days ago), so its easier to cover them with makeup.  I just have to keep reminding myself that this isn’t the end of the world.  It kinda feels like it, though… I can’t stand being so hideous and dirty feeling.  I can’t believe I took my clear skin for granted for the past three years.

But anyways… yesterday!

I went on a long walk before church… and I found this cat.  She is so skinny.  I honestly couldn’t believe it.  Her hipbones jutted out like triangles.  You could see her ribs through her fur.  Every bone, even her eyesockets, was visible.  When she arched her back into my hand when I petted her, her vertabraes were sticking out so much that they felt like balls on a string.  But she was still such a nice cat.  She purred like a motorboat.  I almost started crying; it just broke my heart.  I wanted so bad just to pick her up and take her home and feed her.  But… I don’t know… would that be considered “stealing”?  She was sitting at the end of someone’s driveway and she was so friendly that she had to be someone’s pet.  Would taking her be like stealing her?  Obviously, if I knew that she had no owners or if the owners were just not feeding her, I would have taken her.  But I don’t know the extenuating circumstances.  Maybe she’s really sick and even though her owners are feeding her, she can’t keep weight on?  Or maybe she’s a recent rescue (I’ve never seen her before yesterday morning.)  I didn’t know, so I didn’t take her… but I may have tried to get her to follow me home.    (I got her to come about halfway with me, but it was 2 miles to my house and I guess she got tired/bored and didn’t want to walk anymore after that.)

Anyways, what would you guys have done?  I was planning on going back with food this morning, but my mom wouldn’t let me because a suspicious van with blacked-out windows has been circling the neighborhood since 5 AM and she was afraid I would get abducted.  But I’ll probably go back tomorrow–with food!  I’ll bring my camera and take pictures of her for you guys.  I got the bright idea this morning while watching Animal Cops to call the Humane Society about her… but I really don’t want her to end up getting put to sleep in a shelter.  Still, that might be the best option… I just don’t know…

When I came back home, Mom had breakfast made for me!  I smelled it as soon as I walked in the door!

Breakfast

Blueberry protein pancake with SF syrup; decaf coffee with almond milk

She used the same recipe I used to make my usual protein pancakes, but her’s came out way different than mine!  Probably because instead of 6 normal-sized pancakes, she decided to just pour all the batter in and make one super huge, thick, cakey pancake.  It was yummy… of course I enjoyed it while reading the comics!  Its not a Sunday morning without the funny pages. 

Oh, and can I just say how happy I am that the coffee produced no ill side effects?  YEAH.  Usually, I get woozy and dizzy after a cup (even decaf.)  But this time–no problems!  Though, I have to say, real cream is much better than almond milk, haha.

Went to church with my grandparents… started a new series on evangelism.  Eeek.  Not my strong point.  I feel like whenever I try to lead people to God, I just end up pushing them away, you know?  This makes me try to avoid talking about my faith when I’m around my non-Christian friends… when I really do want to share with them about God!  My faith sometimes feels like the only thing I can cling to, and I can’t imagine my life without that tiny bit of security.  I want them to feel it, too.  Can anybody relate?

After that, we went to McDonald’s so my grandparents could get breakfast (they really like McDonalds, lol…)  Then I swung by the house to pick up my mom and we went grocery shopping before lunch.

Lunch

Protein shake with 1 scoop chocolate whey, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup almond milk, lotsa ice, 1 melted square Baker’s unsweetened chocolate

Ahhh–felt good to satisfy my cold and creamy chocolate cravings after a few days without my chocolate cheesecake!  This tasted delicious.  I don’t even care that it made me freezing cold for an hour afterwards.  Almond milk is going to be a life-saver in my new (mostly) dairy-free lifestyle!

After lunch, I went and cleaned my mom’s shop.  Hairy, as always.

Then I came home and chilled for a bit, since I already cleaned the house on Saturday… read some magazines and stuff.  (I’m kinda “hoarding” the last few chapters of The Poisonwood Bible… I know I need to finish it, but its so good that I don’t want it to be over!)

Dinner

Salad with romaine, spinach, bell peppers, baby vegetable medley (carrots, snap peas, cauliflower), shredded rotisserie chicken breast, salad bits

Ugh–strangely, despite my obsession with my beloved chocolate cheesecake, the dairy I miss the most is the cheese in my salads!  A salad is just not as tasty without cheese… no matter how much stuff I put on it.  Though, the salad bits weren’t bad.

Oh, and I realized yesterday that the little packs of steamed and sauced veggies that I’ve been using the past couple days are Pictsweet Steamables, not Birds Eye.  Sorry!

We decided to go out for a special treat last night.  Frozen yogurt is my favorite dessert EVER!

Dessert

Plain, Thin Mint Cookie, and Cappuchino frozen yogurt with brownie bites and cookie dough

Yummm!  This was actually mostly plain flavor, but you can’t even see it because of all the goodies I piled on top.  It was delicious.  I ate the cappuchino flavor first, and then mixed the Thin Mint and plain together, and saved the toppings for last!  Actually, my favorite part of getting frozen yogurt is the tasting.  I’m a tasting fiend.  I tasted literally every flavor last night before settling on these three!

But, I have to say… now that I’ve cut back on dairy for a few days, my body did not appreciate the sudden dairy onslaught.  Tummy troubles.  Yuck… but just goes to show me that my body really doesn’t like dairy!  And I swear, my face was worse this morning after eating it.  No food, no matter how tasty, is worth a face full of zits.

And that pretty much sums up yesterday.  I feel like I talked a lot in this post.  Sorry about that.  But I felt the need to write!  I’ve been in a funk all day, but now I feel a little better… I put makeup on halfway through typing out this post, so that makes me feel better, too.  And I’m excited to go square dancing tonight… even though my usual partner isn’t going to be there!  Eeek, what am I going to do without him to push me around, lol?

Anyways, let’s get this two-day recap flying!  Going to be a quickie, I think.  I’m hungry… but I have a TON I want to share!

Friday Breakfast

Protein pancakes!

Now that I’m cutting back on dairy, I figured I’d give one of my old favorites a try!  I’m planning on making big batches of these on the weekends, freezing them, and then popping them in the toaster on school mornings for a quick breakfast.  The only dilemma is… the recipe makes too many pancakes!  Haha, not really (because you can never have too many thick, fluffy pancakes.)  But in order to make them the correct size to fit in my toaster, I have to make like six of them… and it takes a while to warm up six pancakes in a two-slot toaster! 

Friday Workout

45 minutes elliptical

30 minutes chest + triceps

• Pushups – bodyweight, pyramid set
• Tricep kickbacks – 20 lbs, pyramid set
• Tricep extensions - 15 lbs, pyramid set
• SUPERSET
• Chest flyes – 10 lbs per arm, pyramid set
• Chest press - 30 lbs
• Skullcrushers – 15 lbs

I wasn’t really in the mood to lift weights, but I did it anyways.  My reward was the skullcrushers at the end!  They’re my second favorite exercise, after deadlifts (love those!)  What’s your favorite exercise?

Friday Lunch

Salad with spinach, tomato, Tuscan-style veggies

Its evil that I just bought that huge tub of feta for salads and now I can’t eat any of it!  But even without it, this was really good.  You guys should check out those Birds Eye vegetables.  Their sauces are delicious.  This “Tuscan” blend was broccoli, carrots, peppers, onions, and summer squash in some sort of herby olive oil.  Really, really great.

I think I ate a chocolate microwave cake, too… a really small one!  We had hardly any eggs left.

Then I picked up my little brother from daycare and we went over to my grandparent’s house!  We hung for a while before going to dinner at Zorba’s, our favorite local Greek place.

Friday Dinner

Iceberg salad with olive oil and vinegar; chunk of warm bread

Broiled salmon with steamed veggies

Yummmm–I love their salmon!  Today it was just a tad overcooked though… sad face.  Oh well.  I had to ask for my salad without the cheese–heartbreaking!  But the bread was hot from the oven and just so good…

Afterwards we went to a square dance (just to hang out for a while) and then my grandparents wanted to swing by McDonald’s on the way home…

Friday Dessert

Oreo McFlurry

Ugh.  Okay.  These things used to be my favorite thing in the whole world; I remember beginning my mom to stop for an Oreo McFlurry many times when I was little.  But this was NASTY.  I don’t know if they didn’t mix it right, or what…  It was just McDonald’s soft-serve with Oreo powder on top… I remember there being huge chunks of Oreo with the cream part still inside!  It was just so disappointing.  Never again.

Oh, by the way, McDonald’s soft-serve is actually frozen yogurt.  And I can eat yogurt. 

I was the first one asleep and the last one to wake up on Saturday!  I had some kooky dreams, too.  You don’t even want to know. 

My grandma and I cooked an awesome breakfast!

Saturday Breakfast

Scrambled egg whites with tomato; hashbrowns; turkey bacon; toast with honey; peaches and blueberries

It was sooooo good!  The hashbrowns were really spicy, and the toast with honey reminded me a little bit of our recent vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge where I had biscuits and honey every morning!  My grandpa approved, too.  He’s a meat-and-potatoes kinda guy. 

A little while after breakfast, my little bro and I went home.  I actually lied down in bed for about an hour before…

Saturday Workout

60 minutes legs

• Warmup:  Squat jumps – 4 x 25
• Wall sits – 3 x 1 min
• Lunges – 30 lbs, pyramid set
• Deadlifts – 30 lbs, pyramid set
• Plie squats – 15 lbs, pyramid set
• Calf raises – 30 lbs, 4 x 25
• Hip Abduction – 5 lbs, 4 min (per side)
• Hip Adduction – 5 lbs, 4 min (per side)
• Front single-leg lifts – 5 lbs, 3 x 1 min (per leg)

Was NOT in the mood do to this at first, but once I got going it got a bit better.  Was having a moment of low self-esteem.  My face was really depressing me, and it was effecting my workout… it was just like “why even bother?”  I just kinda wanted to go back to bed.

After a shower, I decided to be productive instead of going back to bed like I wanted to!  So I vacuumed the house before my mom came home.  My mom is amazing.  She made me feel better almost the instant she walked in the door.  I love her so much.

Saturday Lunch

Salad with iceberg, snap peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, Tuscan-style veggies

Yummm!  Love big bowls of veggie goodness.  Makes me feel clean on the inside.

After lunch, my mom and I ran around town doing stuff.  I just didn’t want to be in the house.

Saturday Dinner

Rotisserie chicken leg and thigh; homemade coleslaw!

My mom and I made the coleslaw!  So easy and so yummy.  A lot better than the stuff you buy premade in the store.  We just used the recipe out of some old cookbook we had in the cabinet.

And that’s about it!  Phew, recapping two days is a lot of work… but its kinda becoming the norm around here lately, huh?  Well, I’m off–my belly’s grumbling and I need a chocolate microwave cake!  See you tomorrow guys!