Special Broadcast Y'all

Hi Everyone! I usually post on Monday but I wanted to drop a special publication alert.  As some of you may recall, I went to grad school for writing so I'm always trying to publish.  I haven't managed to get a whole book out there but I've published several poems and yesterday I received my copy of the Spring 2013 edition of The Binnacle which is the "Literary Magazine of Coastal Maine."  I am so fortunate because they chose to publish FOUR of my poems in that edition.  I posted pictures below because I'm a nerd but I was really pleased.  In case you want to check this magazine out or want to purchase copies, I included some info under the pictures.  Yay!

The link to The Binnacle's site that you can copy and paste is: http://machias.edu/faculty/necastro/binnacle/.

According to them if you want to purchase an issue:

For each copy you would like, please send $5 US plus shipping to The Binnacle, 19 Kimball Hall, University of Maine at Machias, 116 O'Brien Avenue, Machias, MN 04654. Shipping charges are $2 for the first copy and $1 for each additional copy in the same order. Please be sure to include full contact information, especially your postal and email address and PLEASE INDICATE WHICH EDITION OF THE BINNACLE YOU WANT THEM TO SEND. Mine is SPRING 2013.

Thanks y'all!

Proceed with your day.

Cookie Monster

Hey y’all! I tell you what, I have had a busy year and it’s only going to get busier.  I work full time, I’m going to have two classes to teach in the fall, I’m going to concerts, football games, New Orleans and New York City!  I am so lucky to have all of these opportunities and the means to fulfill them.  I may not have any spare cash but the experiences I have are totally worth it.  Now, if I can control the amount of food I eat, I would be in great shape.  I didn’t weigh this weekend just because I had such a carb fest the week before but I will weigh this weekend.  I went to the beach and didn’t do terribly so hopefully after a solid few days, I will balance out.  The truth is, I haven’t lost weight in over a year and a half.  I have kept my weight within 10-15 pounds of the lowest I’ve ever been which isn’t bad but I can’t shake the plateau.  I was daydreaming yesterday about the times when I was at least 100 pounds heavier and the thought of going through that again is terrifying.  It’s not just the number on the scale, it’s the feelings that you have with that.  I could never return to that point.  The problem is that when you are discouraged, especially when you work so hard, it can give you a defeated attitude.  I also don’t want that.  I guess we all go through this.  I will continue to try and be better and as always, I exercise every day.

I made some Peanut Butter Cookies last week that are under 50 calories per cookie.  All you do is mix peanut butter, a sweetener like Splenda or Truvia (I prefer Truvia), 1 egg and some baking soda and then drop a cookie sized amount on a cookie sheet and bake.  I love peanut butter cookies…well…I just love cookies in general.  These tasted pretty good and they were super easy but I will warn you, they have a severe aftertaste that comes with the sugar substitute.  If you are already sensitive to the taste of artificial sweetener, you may not like these.

On Thursday, I celebrated my friend Arianne’s birthday by going to watch St. Paul and the Broken Bones at the Green Bar in Tuscaloosa.  They were amazing. We even got to meet the lead singer, Paul Janeway. If you’ve never listened, I highly recommend it.  We had a blast.  I also went to the beach this weekend with my friend Nish and had a great time. Thanks for thinking of me, Nish!

I hope everyone has a great week.

Good luck with any goals that you’ve set for yourself. 

Let’s support each other.

Bye!

“Tomorrow’s another day

And I am not afraid

So bring on the rain…”Bring on the Rain-Jo Dee Messina

Need To WHIP Myself Into Shape...

It’s Monday again, y’all.  It feels like a Monday, too.  This day has Monday stank all over it.  Oh well, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  After the week I had last week, and believe me, it was a doozie, I was worried that the weekend would be even worse.  Don’t get me wrong, it certainly had its moments but man, I’m a lucky girl.  I don’t just have one family member or one friend that would do anything for me, I have several.  Not to brag or anything but there wasn’t one second of my weekend when I didn’t have the option to lean on someone that loves me in some way.  There are some changes happening and I’m going to have to make some adjustments but at the end of the day, I have everything I need.  Hopefully all work, personal, sleep, financial and tire disasters have gone to bed…at least for the week. 

Now, onto the purpose of this blog, LOSING WEIGHT.  I was down a few ounces again when I weighed on Friday.  It’s moving very slowly right now.  I had too much to eat this weekend so I don’t expect any great loss on Friday.  I have problems with stress eating and loving beer but I’m working to get those things back on track.  I am going to the beach this weekend (thanks Nish) and I’m going to try to do a good job while I’m there which I know will be difficult but I have got to get out of the mindset that just because I leave town, I don’t have an excuse to eat what I want.  I’m also going to start the Couch to 10K program this week for a change so hopefully things will begin to move a bit faster soon.

I don’t have a recipe this week but I did want to give a shout out to Cool Whip…specifically Cool Whip Lite.  I won’t pretend that Cool Whip is GOOD for you.  It contains a lot of artificial ingredients and it certainly doesn’t add much in the way of nutritional value.  However, you could do way worse in terms of dessert.  At the end of the day, it’s low in calories and fat and you can use it in so many ways to trick your body into thinking it’s having dessert.  You can mix it with all kinds of things.  My mom used to mix it with orange Jello for a creamsicle effect and sometimes she’d mix it with pudding for a chocolate fluff type of thing.  I like to mix it with berries.  If you take a huge dollop or two of Cool Whip and mix it with blueberries and strawberries and you will get a filling treat that doesn’t make you feel guilty.  Also, I don’t know if you know this or not but if you freeze cool whip, it takes on a consistency that resembles ice cream.  Out of the freezer,  it tastes great alone or topped with berries or chocolate chips.  Cool Whip is not natural but it is better than eating that pint of Ben & Jerry’s or any other treat that is loaded with fat.  I like it because it kicks fruit up a notch. 

Since I mentioned I like beer earlier, I thought I’d give a shout out to my friends at Druid City Brewing Company in Tuscaloosa who had the grand opening of their taproom on Thursday.  I am so proud of these guys.  They are making a great, local product and working their behinds off to make Tuscaloosa proud.  So far, they are doing all of that very successfully.  If you are from Tuscaloosa, you have no excuse…make sure to stop by.  If you aren’t from T-town, make sure to stop by if you ever drive through.

My parents, Oma and Aunt Kris got back from Alaska last night and they had a blast.  My parents have always been good at bringing my brother and I goodies.  I got some earrings made from glacier ice but I also got a couple silly gifts.  I got a mini brush to clean the lint out of my belly button but I think the real take away here is that my parents brought me two moose-poop themed gifts.  While I appreciate the gesture, I have to admit I’ve been wondering why seeing poop related products made my parents think of me.  Perhaps there are some changes that I need to make.  In all seriousness, I’m glad they had fun and I’m definitely happy they are back safe.

I want to give a birthday shout out to my friend Arianne who is celebrating a birthday this week.  Happy Birthday, Arianne!

I hope you all enjoy your week!

Bye!

“Time can come and take away the pain,

But I just want my memories to remain,

I hear your voice,

I see your face,

There’s not one moment

I’d erase.

You are a guest here  now…” How-Regina Spektor

Mug Life.

Hi y’all.  I weighed this weekend and I’m coming down a few ounces at a time.  I will take it.  I so badly want to take charge of my body and whip it into shape but it’s such a slow process.  All I want is to get back for the immediate future is to get back to my lowest weight but I’m moving at a snail’s pace.  I have a little while before football season starts so I’d like to reach that goal before then but it won’t be easy.  I’ve done a really good job the past couple weeks so I just need to be patient and keep it up. 

So, the Hungry Girl is by far my favorite healthy cook.  I bought a massive cook book of hers and I just love flipping through it and making her recipes.  She is the best at making simple recipes that echo familiar comfort foods.

She has a whole section on “egg mugs” and “egg bakes.”  She loves cooking with Egg Beaters.  I know that people hate them and if you have only had them microwaved with no flavor, I understand.  I urge you to give them another shot.  They are pretty versatile.  Essentially the Egg Beater, while a little strange, is a blank canvas that you can add any flavor to.  I went kept it pretty traditional and just added cheese and bacon.  All you do is mix it together and heat it up.  I had a piece of toast with it and it was quite tasty.  You can add salsa or veggies.  She even has a Buffalo Chicken Egg Mug.  It’s worth a try.

I trust everyone had a wonderful fourth.  I had fun with friends and family and SPARKLERS! It’s crazy how much joy a simple firework can bring but I love those things.

My Dad and I went to see My Morning Jacket, Wilco and Bob Dylan last week at the Tuscaloosa Amp.  My Morning Jacket was really good and Wilco wasn’t bad either.  Bob Dylan was another story.  I realize that the man is a legend and he knew the Beatles and all but he wasn’t great.  He had all these rules about the stage, ticketing and lighting.  You could barely see him.  I know he’s never been a great singer but it was on another level and he didn’t sing a song anyone recognized for 20-30 minutes.  I am glad I can say I saw him but that’s pretty much the only redeeming factor of his performance.  Dad and I had fun, though.

My parents are in Alaska on vacation this week so I’ve been holding down the fort with my brother.  I hope they are having a great time.

Here’s to a great week!

Bye!

“If I had known what I know now,

I never would have played so nonchalant.” Come Back…Be Here – Taylor Swift

Red, White and Blue, Y'ALL!

Hello Everyone! I’d like to start by giving a birthday shout out to my Dad! His birthday is on Wednesday.  We are going to see Bob Dylan and a few other bands so I hope it’s a good birthday for him!

Also, I would like to say an early happy birthday to America!  I am ever so grateful for all the men and women who have served our country.  I hope you all have a safe and fun time celebrating this week!

As you may remember, I didn’t post last week because I was in Orlando for a work conference.  We stayed at the Gaylord which was nice.  They had a place where you could look at turtles and alligators.  We mostly worked but we did get one night to go to Downtown Disney which was nice.  We ate at the House of Blues and walked around.  Before I left for Orlando, my weight hadn’t fluctuated much.  I knew that I wouldn’t eat great there so I didn’t weigh this weekend.  I’m going to do my best to be a good girl this week and see where I’m at on Saturday.  I will definitely have a recipe to share next week.

So, the first picture that says “Everything will come out alright,” was spotted by me in the bathroom of a sports bar in town.  I am smart enough to know that this is a play on words that can apply to what you do in the bathroom but it also struck me as quite poignant.  It could be that I was playing Bingo and drinking beer but this graffiti made me stop and think.   I was going through my phone the other day and found a picture of myself that I had sent to Jordan a few months back.  In the picture, my eyes were swollen.  If I ever cry before I go to bed, my eyes swell enormously almost to the point where I can’t open them.  I was being a bit dramatic by sending Jordan that picture which if you know me is no surprise.  The point is, the picture was taken only a few short months ago and I could not tell you exactly what made me so upset.   It’s interesting how there are moments where you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.  When you are pushing through something, you don’t always know that there’s another side.  I can certainly apply this to my weight loss journey, especially right now because it’s so hard to keep the weight off, but the struggle to know that everything will actually come out alright is a difficult one.  When a toddler falls and gets hurt or is punished in some way, they think that in that moment, their lives are horrible and they will never get over it.  We all know that within a few seconds, that toddler is laughing or playing again and that moment of terror is over.  Adults are the same way but sometimes it takes longer than a few seconds to move on.  We throw tantrums and place our problems on a pedestal thinking that there is no greater problem on the earth than the one we are dealing with.  I think this selfish behavior is perfectly normal.  I am trying to remember the “other side” right now.  I’ve been kind of mopey lately and I know why but I also know that “everything will come out alright.”  I don’t know if this mentality comes from getting older or if it’s the fact that I have people in my life that are always there for me like my family and friends (like my mom, Dad and brother and other family, Jordan, Cassandra in the picture, Nish, David) so no matter what, I can look to them and they can go through it with me.  I also try and have perspective.  I see so much pain and suffering in the world and it’s important to remember we are all so tiny in the grand scheme of things.

I didn’t mean to get all sappy but it’s amazing what kind of wisdom one can gain from the bathroom wall in a bar.  Again, I hope you all have a great holiday.  I am determined to jumpstart the weight loss again so it’s time to work hard.  Bye everyone!

“Been some bad times I’ve been through,

Damage I cannot undo,

Some things,

I wish I could do all all over again,

But it don’t really matter,

Life gets that much harder,

It makes you that much stronger,

Oh, some pages turned,

Some bridges burned,

But there were,

Lessons learned.

And every tear that had to fall from my eyes,

Everyday I wondered how I’d get through the night,

Every change, life has thrown me,

I’m thankful, for every break in my heart,

I’m grateful, for every scar,

Some pages turned,

Some bridges burned,

But there were lessons learned.” Lessons Learned- Carrie Underwood