This will be short and sweet tonight, since I've had a long day and my knee is absolutely killing me. I ate great today, and am hoping my knee is feeling better tomorrow so I can get back on the elliptical. Otherwise, looks like just strength training and swimming for me.

BREAKFAST:

• string cheese
• egg
• smoothie (V8 blueberry pomegranate juice, carrots, spinach, zucchini and flaxseed. Definately healthy, but totally gross. Not a fan of this V8 juice) I sucked it down but won't be making it again.
• coffee

LUNCH:

• veggie sandwich
• minnestrone soup
• fiber one chocolate brownie

SNACK:

• V8 veggie juice
• pretzels
• orange

DINNER:

• 2 mini veggie pizzas
• screwdriver (like I said, long day, bad knee. ha.)

Time to sit down, relax, and enjoy a Modern Family marathon!

In order to motivate myself further these days, I am committing (right here, in public), to RUN a 5k this fall. Yep, you heard it here. Gonna make this happen! Now, I know that to many people, running a 5k is nothing spectacular. For me, it's huge! I'm hoping to be at least 50lbs lighter by then, and given that I'm turning 40 this year, this is something that I want to do before then. My friend Barb will be joining me, and I'm hoping to get a few others as well. I think it would be fun for a group of us girls (and guys) to encourage each other along the way. SO excited about this, friends!!

As a result of what I will forever refer to as the "Spirulina incident", I searched out a tastier alternative today. SUCCESS!!

My friend Robyn suggested Greens wild berry burst. It is chock full of great stuff, and after putting it in my smoothie this evening, I must say I loved it. It will be a daily staple from here on! I can't wait to make it for Paco and the kids tomorrow. Seriously, just check out the nutritional info. It also has raving reviews on Amazon.

So, here's today's shakedown:

BREAKFAST:

• chobani greek yogurt, satsuma orange, V8 juice, fiber one bar, coffee with creamer

LUNCH:

• Progresso vegetable soup, laughing cow cheese wedge, satsuma orange

SNACK:

• yoplait delights choc raspberry cup, fiber one bar, pretzels

DINNER:

• power smoothie (orange juice, spinach leaves, baby carrots, weight watcher vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries, greens wild berry burst powder, ground flaxseed)

Looking over the last few days, I notice that I tend to eat alot of the same foods over. For the most part this is easier since I eat both breakfast and lunch at work, and I like to bring a bunch of food on Monday and eat on it throughout the workweek. Next week I'll mix it up a bit to keep from getting bored.

Didn't get to work out yesterday or today and am really missing it. Back at it tomorrow!

Other completely random thoughts:

• I really should get my Christmas tree down. Geez.
• That amish bread baking in my oven smells so stinkin' good right now. Good thing I just had dinner.
• I wish I hadn't let my son put the bulk of his homework off until tonight. You know, since it's due TOMORROW.
• So glad tomorrow is Friday!
• loving 2012!

Today was a good day. Until I put Spirulina in my smoothie. HA! I really want to like it because I know it's amazing for me, but...wow. It has quite a unique taste. I was able to get it down but didn't bother offering any to the kids for fear that they would never drink a glass of Mom's weird colored smoothies ever again.

I'm smart like that.

I'm going to keep trying with the Spirulina and see if I can "acquire a taste". Tomorrow I'm trying a wheatgrass smoothie.

On to more exciting things..like today's menu. HA. Seriously, if anyone is even reading this, feel free to skip this. It's my way of keeping tabs on myself. :)

BREAKFAST:

• V8, string cheese, hard boiled egg, orange, coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. (oh how I LOVE this creamer)

LUNCH:

• veggie sandwich, orange, chocolate raspberry yogurt cup, string cheese

SNACK:

• Pretzel sticks
• Spirulina power smoothie

DINNER:

• "Spaghetti", made with tofu shiratake noodles and marinara sauce with garlic, onion and mushroom. Good thing I had that smoothie earlier because this wasn't all that fab.
• 2 small pieces garlic bread

I've been thinking alot about how much of my life I have spent being overweight. Basically, most of it. That stinks. I remember my mom took me to a Weight Watcher meeting when I was in my early teens, and now I'm 39. How did I let this go on so long? And, how did I manage to lose 70 pounds and then start gaining again? Maddening. Frustrating. Inspiring. I've got to do this now or I fear I never will!!

Coming tomorrow: my "bucket list" of things I plan on doing when I'm lighter and more fit!

(borrowed from Simply Positive)

Happy Tuesday! Let's have a looksie at how I did today:

BREAKFAST:

• greek yogurt with honey and strawberries
• hard boiled egg
• V8 juice
• coffee

LUNCH:

• veggie sandwich (sandwich thin bun, laughing cow blue cheese, red/orange peppers, cukes, sprouts, spinach leaves and peppercini)
• hard boiled egg
• satsuma orange
• chocolate raspberry delight cup (the BOMB. I actually feel like I'm cheating. All the thrill, none of the guilt...ha)

DINNER:

• "chicken" burger (morningstar "chik'n" patty, chipolte laughing cow cheese, red/orange peppers, tomato slices and peppercini). Seriously yummy, folks. I made these for Paco too and he raved about them.
• another hard boiled egg. Must have been craving protein today!
• green smoothie (2 cups spinach leaves, 3/4 cup low cal vanilla almond milk, 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, 1 banana, 2 tbsp ground flaxseed). Yes, it's an ugly green color...but I swear it tastes great.

Not too bad! The great part is, I still have 5 1/2 points left for the day and I'm not hungry.

We are smoothie lovers around this house, so I am always on the lookout for new recipes. Check out SmoothieWeb. Tomorrow I'm trying the Spirulina power smoothie. We'll see if I can get the kids to drink it ;)

On a different note. I'm trying to decide whether to leave this blog as it was originally intended...a blog about our family life. It seems as though I will be using it more as a journal to track my progress, and my future goals. Hmmm. I'm leaning towards starting a second blog that would chronicle my weight loss, etc. Something to think over...

The contest

Last week, Paco and I challenged each other to a weight loss contest. Now, those of you who know me are aware that I am incredibly competitive. A year and a half ago, I lost 70 pounds (and won) two weight loss challenges at work. I went completely vegetarian for a year, went to the gym 4 days a week and felt fantastic.  Unfortunately, then I got lazy and gained 40 of it back. So, over the past few weeks I've really been looking at the root of the problem and am so excited to get back at it.

So, here we go again...take 2. (or, take 200...ha) I just do so much better when I'm getting healthier WITH someone else. It's more fun and I feel held more accountable.

So, here's our strategy:

• Weight Watchers. It works, unless you're a slacker (who, me?)
• back to my regular gym routine (went the last 5 days straight, it feels great!) We belong to the YMCA so the kids get to come and swim, play basketball, climb the rock wall, and get their own excercise in as well. WIN, WIN!
• Vegetarian life...for me, anyway. Ive been sticking with it for the most part but have not been as disciplined as I was in the past. I felt SO much better then!  Paco does like alot of the meat substitutes out there, but he's not willing to give up meat entirely.

We are 5 days in, and things are going great. Here's what I had today (I get that this may be boring, so feel free to skip over it)

BREAKFAST:

• Oatmeal with flaxseed, satsuma orange, V8 juice, coffee

LUNCH:

• hard boiled egg, string cheese, greek yogurt with strawberries, satsuma orange, chocolate raspberry yogurt cup (kinda had to throw this lunch together as I was planning on a big veggie sandwich but forgot to bring the stuff with me to work :)

SNACK:

• fiber one bar, string cheese, egg

DINNER:

• artichoke/veggie panini (got this off the Hungry Girl website.) Oh. Yum.

Fortunately, with the wonders of technology, it is so easy for us to track everything on our phones, and finding the WW points value is as easy as scanning a barcode (barcode scanner rocks!). I so love technology.

First weigh-in is this Thursday...our *final* montly weigh-in's will be the end of each month. Highest weigh loss percentage wins. We figured betting money would be silly, so the loser has to do 5 days of all housework, laundry, etc.

Gee, what WILL I do with all my free time that week? :)

quietness

It's 5:30 am on Saturday morning. I love the peace of the early morning. I am much more of a morning person than a night owl, and it's not unusual for me to be up by this time on my days off of work. This morning is no different, as I sip peppermint mocha coffee, poke around on the laptop and snuggle with Oscar on the couch. I confess I'm guilty of putting his blanket in the dryer so he could be warm and snuggly. 'Cause he loves that sort of thing.

We had a visitor in our bed all night....Gracie. Also known as the biggest bed hog EVER. Seriously. These days she is sporting a cute new short 'do. That girl is such a daredevil. She would have went shorter but I stopped her, fearful of the inevitable "haircut disaster". Cole on the other hand, stands his ground and refuses to have his haircut. Every day a little piece of my heart breaks away. HaHa. Paco says I have to choose my battles, and in the grand scheme of things I'll have to agree to let this one go for now. Here's the little miss:

We have been leading our cub scout pack in a service project building "Hunger Bags" that go to the food bank. So far we have built 550 bags, and are doing more tomorrow. We also participated in another local food drive, in which we were able to donate an entire pickup truck FULL of donated food. Awesome!

My friend Barb and I went to a Women's event this past week and listended to Abby Rike speak. She was a contestant on the "Biggest Loser", who lost her husband, 5 1/2 year old, and 2 week old in a terrible car accident. Her story is amazing. It helped me put my own life into perspective. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with life lately.Just have had some tough stuff going on.  I wish I was better at not looking at the "big picture" and just taking the small steps every day. Sigh. I continuously have to re-correct my thinking and remind myself of the things that matter.

 I wonder if this blog post will make any sense because it seems like I'm blathering. Oh well. Think I'll just click publish at the end and not look back. :)

I'm on day 3 of a 4 day weekend. It's been divine. I've done some relaxing but am also tackling some daunting projects that have been hovering over me. Case in point:

Cole's room.

I wish I could play some really dreadful and haunting music right now to make this moment more theatrical. What IS it about boys and the mess they create? We moved Cole to the huge downstairs bedroom early this summer simply to remove his mess from the upstairs...haha. Now, it seems as though it just spreads out of his room into the family room, up the stairs, and back up into the dining room. Long story short, I made huge progress. Cleaned out the closet, got rid of a ton of outgrown clothes, set up his new bedframe, bought new bedding, and got him settled back in. We've still got some cosmetic work to do, as we tore out the moulding and closet doors when we remodeled/recarpeted. Cole still wants to paint it a "cool" color. All in good time. I've got some big painting projects on deck for winter. (kitchen, living room ceiling, Cole's room) While I was at it I cleaned out our family room, and still managed to find time to sit down with my hubby and watch "Bridesmaids". (Note: HILARIOUS, but certainly an "after the kids go to bed" flick).

Today I'm tackling the storage room. If you don't hear from me, send help.

lazy summer days

I have always been a busybody. Moving on from one thing to another, rarely taking breaks or spending much time relaxing. I've just always felt that I need to be serving a purpose at all times. If I'm not at work, I'm working at home. I really struggle with dissaray and disorder. This is not a good thing when you have children. I have wrestled with this for the past 9+ years of motherhood. I know I need to let things go, but its so hard for someone like me to do.

But I've been working on it.

This summer, I've really tried to put things in perspective. Yes, there are plenty of weeds that need pulling. carpets that need cleaning. Papers waiting to be sorted and filed. Projects abandoned. A storage room that turned into a dumping ground during the remodel. And so on....and on....and on. You know the drill.

Instead of obsessing about it, (well, ok I still do), I am focusing on a bit more relaxing and fun time with my family. Lounging at the beach with my kiddos and friends. Going to splash pads. Sleeping in a bit later. Coffee with girlfriends. Kayaking, luau-ing, wine tasting. Floating in the pool. Camping. Baseball games with our scout friends. Visiting with my husband. Reconnecting and healing old wounds. It's so unlike me to give myself so much downtime. And guess what?

It's pretty damn nice.

kayak and wine tasting

Last night we spent the evening with our friends Steve and Barb on a kayak and wine tour. It was a warm, beautiful night!

Ready to get in the water! This was Paco's first time kayaking..

Steve and Barb...they were naturals!

 Barb and I, enjoying some wine...

 A beautiful evening paddle!

 Paco and I...notice I spent alot of time making him do the hard work while I took pictures...

Another great adventure!