Travel, Birthdays, & Dieting

Gosh, it has been a while since we wrote last and lots has happened, so instead of boring you all with every tiny detail I will hit the highlights of the past few months.

First of all I went to work in January for Massage Envy and I can honestly say I LOVE my job. I really mean that. It is so incredibly rewarding to help people every single day and I keep thanking my lucky stars I ended up choosing this path for my life. It was certainly not what I originally thought I would be doing, but I'm happy it's where I ended up.

It is nice to be more than a wife and mom (not that I don't love those things) and to have an identity that is all my own and it's one that I am very proud of. And on top of that it has been a positive influence in my life in that I try really hard to practice the things I preach to my clients: Eat right, Stretch/Exercise often, and drink plenty of water. But more about practicing what I preach later.

I have also been traveling a great deal the last few moths. In February I went with my husband and his family to Vegas for the second time (we all went 3 or so years ago too). It was our first big trip with out our little monster with us and while we missed her quite a bit it was really nice and we realized we need to take some breaks for us to have play time too. Unfortunately I have no pictures of our Vegas trip for you (Hello, what happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas...unless it gets written about on a blog) other than ones from the Rugby World Sevens match (why we went when we did).

This is the USA team...and yes, that guy's face is bleeding. 

On to March. In March Emily and I went with my Mom and Aunt to Gruene where we met up with my brother and his wife and kids. This is a yearly excursion for us and a total blast. We go to the animal park and the caverns, but mostly we just do a lot of sitting around a relaxing. This year was no exception and we had a blast.

Gruene is Green.

The Caverns.

Emily and my Mom. 

April was a good month as well. Very busy... One of my very closest friends and I took our little ones to Lubbock to the Science Spectrum and to a live Butterfly exhibit there. Which by the way is going on through June 12th so if you live fairly close you might want to check it out. Here is a link with the info: Butterflies Alive! The exhibit was small, but it was fun to take the kids and an easy day trip for us. Later in the month Shea and I went to Dallas on our second childless trip. We went to "Edge Fest" and to a Metric concert at the House of Blues. Both were amazing. We drank to much, spent to much money, and acted like we were 17. Needless to say we had an seriously fabulous time.

Butterflies and Emily at the Science Spectrum.

Me in Dallas about to head to Metric (My most favorite band EVER!).

In May was New Orleans with my dad. And all I can say is FOOD FOOD FOOD. Everything I put in my mouth was good but the best things were the Duck St. Philip (duck with a raspberry and pancetta demi-glace on a bed of spinach with a side of whipped sweet potatoes) from Irene's, the Bread Pudding Soufflé from Commander's Palace, and the Barbecued Shrimp from The French Market Restaurant. But in all honesty there wasn't a single thing I ate in New Orleans that I didn't like. The trip was really nice and yes, we had gumbo (The Gumbo Shop had the best of all we tried out). I should mention we did a lot of the touristy looking around and even took a city tour which was neat. We got to meet two very cool sisters who had a baked goods stand in the market that were Sicilian and we stood around swapping tales for about an hour with them. One of them have me a dried fava bean that had been on the St. Josephs alter to keep in my pantry (to bring blessings that you will always have food there) or wallet (so you always have money).

I happen to Love New Orleans and feel like its very much a refection of my soul...of lots of peoples souls. It is both decadence and despair. Absolute joy and total squalor. It is beautiful yet dark and eerie.

When I returned from this trip I was 5 lbs heavier. Seriously. It helped kick me into starting a new diet... but I'm getting ahead of myself. May was also a very special month because my sweet little girl turned 2! I still can not believe she is already 2. Time with her goes by so fast. (By the way she has defiantly entered the "terrible twos"...which like so many other things, I have eaten my words on because I didn't believe in "terrible twos" before I had a kid. Ha!) While she is trying at times, overall she is a really really good girl and often I find that I am more disappointed with myself for losing my temper and lacking in patience than with anything she does. Parenting is not for the weak ladies and gentlemen. And all the clichés you have heard are true. Anyway...I digress. May was a good month. 

A few NOLA pictures. 

And here is my little love on her birthday and at her party. 

 If you are wondering when the hell I am going to post a recipe... I'm getting there. When we were in NOLA my dad got a strawberry shortcake at Commander's Palace and when we came home he decided to make some of his own. He generously shared one with me (ie. I invited myself over and ate his food) and it was so yummy I decided to make miniature ones for Emily's birthday party instead of cake. Emily LOVES strawberries, they are in season, and I wanted her party to have an air of casual and fun.

My dad found the recipe here: Shortcake . The recipe comes from Food Network's Alton Brown and is great. I tripled this recipe and I doubled the amount of sugar in the shortcakes (though they still were not sweet).  Also AND THIS IS IMPORTANT instead of ice cream we used  one container of crema mexicana table cream (This stuff) mixed with one regular sized container of sour cream, sweetened with a bit of powdered sugar (to your taste...I think I used 1/4 cup). Beat until frothy then refrigerate. The berries we chopped up and added a little sugar too, then refrigerated to let macerate. I let mine sit over night and it made a nice syrup but you don't have to let it sit that long, probably 4 hours or so would do. The shortcakes were a hit and the party went off with out a hitch.

Now... fast forward to last week and we are to the "diet" part of this entry and what I have been eluding too this whole time. In short, as a food lover I have indulged a little too much (ok, a lot too much) and a little (lot) too often in foods that were not exactly the pinnacle of healthiness. Over the years this has added up...namely on my stomach and I'm not comfortable with myself anymore. Health and nutrition had always been important to me. I mean...the essence of my love for food and cooking is at its most basic level loving creating something that is nourishing for myself and others.

SO after I got back from New Orleans and Emily's birthday was over I looked at my scale and cried a little. Well maybe I just wanted to cry, but I also remembered that I want to lead by example for not only my clients (and not be a total hypocrite) but I also want to be a good example for my daughter so I embarked on my better eating "diet".

My goal is to stay under 1,200 calories a day and still maintain a good balanced diet. I needed to cut back on fats and sugars (carbs) and eat more protein and veggies. Thus far it has been much easier than I originally though! Honestly, the first 3 days I thought I was going to die. Like... starvation. And then I stopped being quite so hungry as my stomach started shrinking back to normal human proportions and my body adjusted to me not eating enough for 3 people.  Also eating good FOR you food is fairly simple as I like veggies and "health" food.

The biggest help for me is when I actually count my calories I pay attention. I don't do the whole "Oh, one more helping is fine" or "Well, just one or two of those can't hurt". I wont say that keeping tabs on my food is a piece of cake, but its not as hellish as one might think.

Most days at lunch I eat a salad and measure out my dressing OR eat Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice. Since I am at work I need something fast yet not diet busting. Dinner always varies on what veggies I can get my hands on and what I have eaten the rest of the day. The places I really had to focus on where breakfast and snacks.

Here is some of the stuff I eat during those times that is great and low cal.

Breakfast: 
2 Egg Whites with a touch of Mrs. Dash's garlic herb seasoning - 45 calories
5.3 oz container of Stonyfield plain organic nonfat greek yogurt - 70 calories
Starbucks Low Cal bottled Iced Coffee - 50 calories 
A medium grapefruit - 90 calories 
Two Moms in the Raw Granola Gluten Free Organic Gojiberry bar - 210 calories

Snacks:
Central Market Organic Mini bag Popcorn - 100 calories
Bolthouse Farms 2oz bag baby carrots -  25 calories
Quaker Stila oat clusters - 80 calories
Banana - 110 calories
3 Skinny Cow peanut butter creme chocolates - 130 calories

In general I have usually consumed around 400-500 calories by dinnertime which lets me be a little more flexible with what I cook. I promise I will toss up some recipes soon with examples of that.

I have also started taking my vitamins AND trying to drink at LEAST 80 oz. of water, with a goal of 100 oz. a day. In order to accomplish that I use two tools. The first is that I carry around a 20 oz. plastic "jar" with a huge straw in it (This thing) everywhere I go. The second is I make a huge pitcher of Infused Water and keep it in the fridge so if I get sick of normal water I have another option. This is my favorite "recipe" so far for it.

5 strawberries sliced
1/2 a large cucumber peeled and sliced
2-3 lemons sliced into disks
5 quarts water

Put all ingredients in a big ass pitcher and refrigerate overnight. Use within 5-7 days.

So the dieting is going fairly well and I have lost the 5 lbs I gained in New Orleans. The exorcising is much harder, but that is for another blog. Hope you enjoyed reading this and as I said, I will be posting more recipes soon.

-Catie