Spring but not Spring

This weather is weird, man. I don't know what to make of it. On the one hand, I love the cold, and I really am enjoying every last drop of it that we're having...but on the other hand, I pulled my spring/summer wardrobe out like a month and a half ago, and...I haven't been able to wear any of it without throwing a sweater on top! Today was the last straw, though. I got new flip-flops (finally!).

Let me tell you a story about flip-flops: I don't like them. Never have. Not the flimsy, $2, Old Navy kind that everyone wears, anyway. I agree that they're easy to slip on as you run out the door, and they're cheap and easy to replace, but come on. They're ugly, and cheap, and I refuse to wear them. (Well, the cheap rubber kind at least.)

I do have a pair of Diane von Furstenberg flip-flops (that, for the record, are almost two years old and still functioning), and last year I bought a pair of black Polo ones. Unfortunately I made the mistake of throwing them in the washing machine once, and they did not survive that too well, so I've been on the lookout for a replacement pair for a while now...and today I found some! Josh and I were at TJ Maxx when I spotted these adorable black (Coach) flip-flops with a sweet little bow on them.



And I bought them. Duh. They're plastic, which makes for easy cleaning, and way durable, and, they actually have grip on the bottom! Bonus. These are easily going to become my go-to slip on everyday shoe.

Yesterday my newest bracelet arrived, a Marc by Marc Jacobs black/white leather piece, very cute:



I love it! (bottom one is also Marc by Marc Jacobs, but I already had it...just hadn't taken a picture yet!)

Anyway, I have one more thing coming, a dress that should be here Thursday, and then it's back to a self-imposed shopping ban for April.

Today (Tuesday) was the only day this week I didn't have a doctors appointment. Yesterday I saw the orthopedic specialist, tomorrow I see the psychiatrist, Thursday the eye doctor, and Friday I have an MRI on my knee. It sucks. I absolutely hate going to the doctor, any doctor, but it is a necessary evil. I'm just ready for it to be over with! At least yesterday's was the only early appointment, the rest of them are in the afternoon, so I don't have to get up early.

In other news, I kind of got off-track with my goals this month. Like I said before, it ended up being a really strange month, but I know that's no excuse. Obviously I'm still restricted from working out (doctors orders), but I'm trying to get back to eating right. I did ok while my parents were here, but since I was sick last week, I wasn't eating much at all, and now I'm trying to get back in the habit of cooking daily. (Which is only hard because doing that produces a lot of dishes, and loading/unloading the dishwasher is painful due to a lot of knee-bending.) I have only lost one pound so far this month - I'm not really pleased with that, but I'll take it. It's better than a gain.

Since I've got a lot going on the rest of the week I might not have time to post until the weekend, but I hope everyone is having a good week! Maybe it'll warm up and I can wear my new shoes out sometime this weekend! :)

Food and Fat Tuesday.

I slept 10 hours last night. I think I'm dying. I don't understand why I am so tired all the time! I used to think it was a side effect of my depression, but I've been doing really well the past six weeks; eating right and working out consistently has definitely helped improve my mood, but I still sleep like a hibernating bear.

I keep hoping that maybe it's because I'm doing a lot more than I used to (I'm cooking at least two full meals a day now, in addition to doing three or four 10 minute workouts through-out the day, along with my normal housewife & pet-mom duties) and that after a while it'll balance out, but it seems like after six weeks my body should be used to it by now...right? I really don't want to have to go to the doctor, but I know that it could also be something like a thyroid problem, which would also explain why, despite the incredibly dedicated way I've been eating/working out, weight loss has been slow. Ughh. Why can't I just be normal?

Oh well, not going to dwell on that now.

 Goal update: still doing really well, on all of them! Food logging, calorie-counting, working out, and not buying anything - all in check. Man, I'm awesome.

Since today is Mardi Gras, I'm making jambalaya in the crock-pot! I've been doing amazing on my goal of planning out meals. Usually we plan for a couple of days at a time, and we never buy meat too far in advance, because we never bother to put it in the freezer. Anyway, on Thursday of last week I planned out meals for everyday this week, made a huge grocery list, and we went and bought everything. Then, when I got home, I immediately portioned out the beef and chicken into ziplocs with one pound each, and threw them in the freezer. I also cleared some space on the fridge and put the menu up there, so now everyday I see what's on the menu for the next day and pull that meat down to the fridge to thaw! We try not to have the same meat two days in a row: this week we're have two days of beef, two of chicken, one pork, one fish, and as usual, Sunday is soup day. (AKA leftover day, or Mandi-doesn't-cook-so-fend-for-yourself day)

I'm also having fun finding new recipes that are gluten-free, healthy, and that we both really like. So far my new favorite is beef, black bean, and brown rice stuffed bell peppers. So amazing. Coming in at a close second was this shrimp fried rice. Another one that surprised both of us with how well a bunch of random things tasted together was the quinoa-chicken-sweet potato stir fry. I was so worried about that one, that initially I didn't even tell Josh everything that was in it, because I was afraid he wouldn't even try it: but he did, and we both liked it!

One that we haven't tried yet (because I just found it this weekend) is this one for beef carnitas made in the crock-pot...definitely putting that on next weeks menu! Delicious looking, and I love things made in the crock-pot. So easy. (All of these are on my food board on pinterest, fyi.)

I even made my own delicious recipe for almond crusted cod, using the leftover almond bits after I made almond milk. It was so good that I'm making it again this week (I have lots of almond leftover - I used two pounds of them and made a whole jug of almond milk.) Maybe I'll measure stuff and document my recipe...

Well thanks, internet, I have officially made myself hungry. I'm going to go find something to eat while I wait for my jambalaya to finish up...oh, and I think it's about time I started cooking the rice that's going to go in it, too!

Monday musings

I'm one week into my month of not buying anything and so far so good! It kind of helps that I have stuff I ordered last month that's being delivered sporadically throughout the month, so even if I'm not buying anything, I'm still getting stuff. Today this bracelet came:

So pretty! I love it.

Oh, I wanted to mention this too; I've never really watched The Biggest Loser, not from the start anyway. Occasionally I would catch an episode here or there, or tune in to the finale, but today I had just finished my workout when it came on, so I sat down to watch. It was week two, so this is the earliest I've ever gotten involved, so to speak, and they had a consultation with a doctor for the results of some tests, and something he said really hit home with me. He told one gentleman, "If you had leukemia, wouldn't it be worth it to take two hours out of your day for chemotherapy?"

It just clicked, you know? That all the times I've made excuses for not working out, or for eating a slice of pizza, what I've really been doing is keeping myself sick. If I had any other illness, I wouldn't refuse treatment or cheat on taking medicine - I would do what I needed to do to get better. I sat there, stunned for a minute, letting that philosophy penetrate my mind, and then I got up and started doing more mini-workouts during commercial breaks. Squats, weights, crunches and leg lifts; these are my treatment and healthy food is my medicine. This is no longer a ploy to lose weight that can get tossed on the back burner when something else comes up - this is my life, and I need to be healthy in order to enjoy it to the fullest.

Which brings up another point; my schedule, or lack thereof to be exact. All my life it's been the same - school or work on weekdays, and weekends to catch up on everything else. But yesterday, while I was trying to load the dishwasher in a commercial break during the NCIS marathon Josh and I were watching I realized: I've been doing it all wrong.

My only job now is to be a housewife, and all that stuff that I've been trying to squeeze into a weekend, should be stretched out over the week. My weekdays should focus on cooking three healthy meals for us, picking up after each one so the kitchen mess doesn't pile up, and doing one chore or cleaning one room per day (so as not to get overwhelmed), and my weekends should be mine; to do what I want to, whether it's go on a shopping spree or lay at home watching TV. I need to flip my entire way of thinking around!

Anyway, I've been doing good with my other goal of logging my food intake. I realized that (fortunately!) I haven't been eating as many calories as I thought I was, but I also know that I need to cut out or cut down on a couple of things cheese. I'm trying, and so far I have, and since my moment of clarity today, everything suddenly seems so much easier. I know it won't all be, and I know that I will have moments where I struggle, but...I don't know, I just feel different somehow.

I'm putting together a review post of all my favorite gluten free products, so hopefully I can get that done and posted soon!

Out with the old, in with the new.

This year I'm taking that literally; as soon as I finish writing this I plan to clean out my closets, my make-up, and my life, though not necessarily in that order. :)

I realized, sometime in the past week, that while I don't always intend to, I have held onto a few things longer than I should have. It started with finding some make-up that I won 7 years ago! I think, in part, I held onto it because it was the first thing I ever won, (and also because it was really high quality stuff), but I'm also pretty sure that the fact that I haven't made a dent it any of it in SEVEN YEARS is a pretty good sign that I need to just let.it.GO. I have a lot of make-up, but I wear it so rarely, and I go through and inventory it even more rarely; that is definitely happening tonight. Anything more than a year old is getting tossed.

I also have a tendency to hold onto clothes, because I hate to waste even the tiniest scrap of fabric; and yet I continue to pile up scraps and pieces, with no real intention for them. I hope to take time this week to go through, and really narrow down my fabric box to only things that I really like, and will use/wear. Everything else is going in the trash (if it's too small to use) or Restore if there's enough of it that I think someone else could get some use out of it.

As far as my life, I really need to buckle down and focus on getting my nutrition in order. I was doing so well at the start of this year, and then my stomach problems starting getting to be too much. Once I cut out gluten (finally! It was so simple, can't figure out why it took me years to just do it) I started feeling better, but it threw my eating plan out the window; up till then I had relied on high fiber bread as a major part of my daily meal-plan. That, combined with an injury threw me into a depression in which I ate nothing but nachos and diet pills, and then started drinking more. (Brilliant, right?) Anyway, moral of the story is, I did not do my body well this past year. I have plans to fix it, gradually, and incorporate different things into an over-all lifestyle change, rather than a diet.

One of the major aspects of this is my intention to quit drinking. I've already gone almost three weeks now, and am ringing in the new year with sparkling apple cider. To keep myself in check Josh has agreed that if I can get through to next December without drinking, I'll get a Balenciaga for my birthday next year! Very exciting.

I've also decided to really start taking care of my skin. I've always made sure to wear a daily moisturizer, one with an SPF, but now that I'm heading towards 30 I'm taking it a lot more seriously. A face wash in each bathroom, day cream SPF 30, and a collagen building night cream are my new best friends. Also, definitely making sure to slather on the sunscreen anytime I spend more than 15 minutes on the sun. I know I got good genes, but I am not taking any chances!

Fashion-wise, I really want to focus more on investment pieces. Staples, if you will, classic pieces that will stand the test of time. I have no intention of stopping my thrifting, just cutting down my shopping sprees at regular stores. I have a few pieces in mind already, and am looking forward to sunny days when I can continue to expand my collection of sunglasses!

Anyway, these are my goals. What are yours?