Ok, it’s been a crazy couple of days trying to figure all this out, but looks like my Dad and one of my brothers are coming out to visit.

This has all been happening pretty fast, since they just got back from a vacation that I was supposed to go on (but my finances prevented me), and the two of them decided just to pop out and come see me.

Dad’s always wanted to see the giant redwoods. It’s ALL he’s talked about since I moved here to California, and I keep telling him that I live in SoCal and those are WAY WAY WAY up north.

Well, one of the roomates is heading out for 3 weeks to go visit his family, so that leaves an open bed here in our place, so this would be the perfect time for a couple of them to just crash here. So, that’s what we’re planning. Dad and Bro here for a week, with a quick flight up to San Francisco for a day or two, and a drive up to the Redwood forest, then a few days chilling back here before they fly home.

I’m SOOOOOOO excited. Most of the time I just fly home to see them because it’s a lot cheaper to just fly one person, and not have to worry about hotel stays (I just stay with the family) but this is one of those RARE times when it would work out that they could actually stay with me.

So, my blogging might be kind of sparse over the next week or so, but expect some pretty pics of the San Fran area, and our walks in the redwood forest after things slow down a bit.

Now, my dilemma. Trying to find inexpensive things to do in the area while they’re staying with me. Long Beach has a bit of a nightlife, but I’m trying to figure out inexpensive things to do around here in LB, or in LA. I’d suggest a day at Disney… ‘cept that they JUST spent a week in Disney down in Florida.

So if anyone’s got any ideas to keep us occupied around here, or any suggestions for hotels/sites to see or otherwise up in San Francisco it’d be GREATLY appreciated.

Ohhhhhh… I’m soooo excited, but a bit nervous. I know we’ll be hitting up restaurants often, and I’m going to do my best to keep my eating under control, but so much of what we’re doing is just going to be spontaneous, that it’s going to really take some thinking on my part to keep on track.

At least I’ll be able to cook healthy while we’re just staying here, but when we’re out and about… keep your fingers crossed for me that I don’t overindulge too often.

So today’s excursion was to the Santa Monica hills. The trail we took was only 2.1 miles, but ended at the ruins of the Roberts Ranch House, which was built in 1903, and burned down in a wildfire in the early 80’s.

After wandering around there for a bit, we started doing some rock climbing to get up a few levels of the stream/waterfall that was coming down the mountain. Very light rock climbing mind you, no harnesses or anything that extreme,but having to use rocks/tree’s/roots as hand and foot holds and slide down on my butt a few times, and that was a bit scary for me. I’m no mountain goat, but I gave it a shot,and I did fall once while crossing the stream. No injuries, other than to my pride, as there were other people in the area at the time.

As tight as my budget is right now. I’m going to have to invest in a new backpack and an actual pair of hiking boots, because these sneakers just don’t have enough traction, and my sling type backpack kept slipping and throwing off my balance. A trip to the E/R would be a lot more expensive than a bag and a pair of shoes, so that’s going to be my reward to myself once I get into the 170’s.

On the way back we made a quick little drive along the coast through Malibu and Santa Monica. Fair skinned irish gal like myself is by no means a beach babe, and I’ve actually only put my feet in the water twice in the four years I’ve lived in California, but let me tell you…. those waves looked mighty appealing today, especially being all hot and dusty as we were.

Unfortunatly, my fall at the stream wasn’t my only slip today. We ended up hitting Red Robin for lunch, and I went for a burger and fries, though I know if I really tried I could have found something healthier on the menu. So, the exercise I did today didn’t quite cancel out the calories I had for lunch, but… I’m a carnivore, and the red meat was calling me. /sigh

I think I’m going hiking again tomorrow, so I’ll just have to do better calorie-wise.

So I haven’t blogged in a couple of days, reason why is that my back has been out, and my PC time has been cut down a bit.

I’m not exactly sure what I did to it, and I’m blaming at least 60% of it on “girlie issues”, so hopefully things will get back to normal shortly.

The thing that’s really bugging me, is that the scale has been slowly creeping back up by a pound or two. I’ve been fairly sedentary for the last week or so because of the back issues, but I’ve still been watching what I eat and staying in range (perhaps a bit more salt than usual though), and I’m hoping that’s what’s causing the slight gain on the scale.

I’m just in a tough headspace right now, between the pain, and the scale torturing me. I’ve been looking at my calendars, and for the last two months I’ve done well at keeping my exercise to 4-5x a week, and these past two weeks it’s been down to twice a week that I’ve been able to squeek out a little bit of a workout.

Keeping my fingers crossed that as soon as I can be active again, the scale will drop back down. I worked so hard to get to that 184, I hate the thought of having to backtrack and work off the same 2-3 pounds all over again

*sigh*

Anyways… just wanted to give an update. I’m not a happy, shiny me today. *pout*

So my new sneakers were christened in style, went to San Gabriel mountains again and went to a different trail this time. We started out on the half mile trail, which was really cool, it followed a small stream and kept crossing back and forth across it, so there were times we were climbing across rocks and such.

To my surprise, the trail ended at a small cliff face with a beautiful waterfall, so we stopped there to snack on some nuts and veggies, and discovered that the trail actually continued on… if you were into actual rock climbing. LOL.

We didn’t stay long enough to watch, but there were people there preparing to rappel on the wall. That looked really interesting, but I’m a klutz, not sure I’d ever be up for a sport like that.

Anyways, we walked back and took a different trail, this one much more level, with wooden bridges spanning the gaps. And although I didn’t get to snap a picture, we got to see a doe and her fawn grazing close to the trail. If I hadn’t already felt so peaceful from having a quiet little snack by a natural waterfall in the middle of the woods (ahhh, happy sigh), that would have done it. I used to see deer wandering around in the woods behind my family’s home, and it was always such a wonderful uplifting feeling every time I got to glimpse these beautiful creatures, and as soon as I saw them I couldn’t stop smiling.

We left them to eat in peace and walked to the end of the trail and back, and got to see them again, but by then I was hurting a bit. My back’s been giving me grief for a few days again, but I had been looking forward to going and didn’t want to let it stop me. The new sneakers were starting to hurt a bit as well (I have a bone spur on my left foot, and it takes a while to break in new shoes to get comfortable in that spot), so we called it a day. Wasn’t as much exercise as I had hoped to do, but I know better than to push my body too far and suffer for it later.

Stopped for a quick lunch, and just split an absolutely amazing pastrami sandwich between us from some place called “The Hat”.It’s supposedly famous for it’s sandwiches, and although those are something I very rarely splurge on… this was well worth it! Those guys got it down pat.

Relaxed for the rest of the night watching episodes of Firefly (my friend is a Firefly newb.. I love getting more people hooked on it)

Can’t stop the signal!

Hiking, waterfalls, deer and Firefly? Yep.. I’d count that as a good day.

So, after poking around the ‘net I realized that there’s a farmers market not too far from me every Thursday afternoon, and I decided to go check it out today.

I’ve been to farm stands, and actual farms back home, but haven’t checked out the local farmer’s markets since I moved out here. Well… that was going to change today. I set a reminder and everything so I wouldn’t forget again and hopped in Kaylee (my car) and went to check it out.

It was a little weird picking through all those yummy fruits and veggies while practically in the parking lot of a CVS, and I got a little sad thinking that if I still lived back home, I could grow some of this myself, or hit the local farms and farmstands, but as soon as I saw how fresh everything was I put it out of my mind.

I picked up a few different things, some corn, peppers, the yummiest strawberries, green beans, some nuts for my hike this weekend, and a few more goodies.

Our fridge has been looking so healthy lately, but right now it’s just blowing me away. I think the only unhealthy thing in there is a bottle of margarita mix.

It was just another one of those days where I really do appreciate the changes I’ve made in my life, I love the fresh foods, and I’m really enjoying cooking again. As are my roomies that have been enjoying the fruits of my labor.

81 I’m a happy camper today.

Well, no gadgets today. I went back to the basics.

I’ve wanted to do this for a while now, but on my tight budget I’ve been putting it off. Today I found some good sales, so I made myself a little container garden with my most used herbs. Sweet basil, garlic chives, flat leaf parsley, oregano and thyme.

It’s a far cry from my herb garden of the past, but since I have almost NO space I’m pretty limited. But it’s a start, since I’ve been eating healthier my palate is changing and I miss the taste of fresh herbs.

This apartment complex is not the ideal garden environment, but hopefully my lil green friends will thrive. Plus, it give the kitties something pretty to look at out the screen door, and TRUST me.. they had a blast while I was planting. They attacked those chives like there was no tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have to put a little catnip plant out there too. Midget probably misses the homegrown.

I’ve always heard that you should take a multi-vitamin, especially while diet/exercising, so I started taking a Once a Day Weight Smart in addition to a vitamin C (I’m a smoker, so it’s recommended that I double my daily C)

Here’s the thing I’m worried about… the iron.

How much iron is too much? All the multi’s I looked at had 100% of your recommended iron (18mg), and looking at my Sparkpeople charts, when I don’t take the vitamin I’m way too low on iron, but when I do I go over.

So, how the heck do I balance my iron intake if my vitamin has me covered for the whole day as is, and doesn’t give me any leeway?

I R so confused.

A few days ago I mentioned that Roomie #1 brought me home a stability ball from work. Well, I’ve never used one of those before, and I’ve just kind of been getting comfortable with it (and LMAO because it kind of freaks out the kitties… LOL. I wonder if they think it’s a play toy for a GIANT kitty, and when that cat’s gonna join our lil household. *snicker*)

So, I know youtube has a bunch of the sparkpeople workouts on there, and I started browsing them, and adding them to a playlist. I even tried a quick one out yesterday, and Woah… I definitely felt “the burn” moreso than I have just sitting on the ball doing archery in WiiSports Resort (I LOVE my new game!!)

The thing is.. up til now I never realized that you could view youtube vids on the Wii. Last I checked it didn’t work. I was quite shocked and elated yesterday to find out that the Opera browser now supports youtube vids.

So now, that opens up a whole new world of exercise options for me. Youtube has SOOO many workouts, “how to” dance tutorials (I wanna learn the hustle. LOL) and cooking vids that I now can view on my big ole living room tv.

I am no longer chained to my PC desk. Now I can chain myself to the big TV in the living room, which has a LOT more room to exercise, and can be viewed from the kitchen while I’m cooking.

I already love my Wii, but I’m lovin’ it a bit more today. If I haven’t already said it a thousand times… lemme say it again.. I LOVE technology!!!!

Ok.. I’m a packrat. I’ve got clothes from a decade ago that I haven’t fit into since. But heres the thing… I used to have a very active job (working in a nursery/garden center) and I was allowed to wear jeans and shorts, so long as they weren’t blue. Soooo… I had spent a fortune at Macy’s buying some durable neutral colored jeans, shorts and slacks that would hold up well at work, and I’ve had that box of clothes in my closet for a decade (even shipped it with me when I moved across country) because I was DETERMINED that someday I would get back into them.

I’ve been in an 18 (sometimes 16) for a few years now, and that box of size 14’s has been taunting me!

I started my weight loss committment in the middle of May when I bought my WiiFit with some birthday Best Buy gift cards (thanks lil brothers!!) and “tried” to put on some of those clothes, just to get an idea of how far I was away from that mini goal. Sad to say, most I couldn’t even get past my hips, let alone button or zip them up. *cry*

Today, going through my closet and realizing that the size 18’s I’m still holding onto are really getting way too big(not much money for clothes shopping, so decent jeans in my wardrobe are scarce) and I might actually have to buy a BELT!! I decided that it’s been about 3 months, let’s just “see” how much closer to that goal I had gotten. The scale has been mean to me, and has only told me I’ve dropped 15lbs, but the measuring tape has given me 12inches, so surely the weight is shifting and maybe I can at least pull them all the way up, and give myself that little ego boost.

I’m not an overly emotional person, but tears actually formed in my eyes as I tried on that first pair, not expecting anything too exciting… and they zipped. Yeah, I still have a belly, and they gave me a muffin top, but damnit they were ON and zipped (and not like in the 80’s having to use a pair of pliers to get them zipped. LOL) I was literally in shock!!

I had to take them off, and doublecheck the tag. Yep, size 14!! It’s literally been a decade since I’ve had a 14 on my body. So, I pulled all the other pants out of the box and tried on every single one. Half that box fits, and the other half… I’m not that far away!!!

Some are too dressy (officewear) or out of style and will be going into the salvation army bag with my 18’s, but I now have a half dozen or so jeans and shorts added to my wardrobe. Hooooo-friggin’-ray!!!!

here’s a couple pics, but I had to take them at pretty awkward angles (standing on a bench), so as a reward this week I’ll be buying myself a full length mirror!

First pic is of me in a pair of 16’s that were so tight on me a couple months ago that the seams started to fray in the zipper and the hips, Second pic is me in my new/old jeans.

All in all, I’d call that a pretty good shopping trip to my closet

So…today was all about cooking and cleaning (though I did my EA Active workout in the morning)

We had a bunch of leftovers that needed to be used up, so I decided to experiment a bit.

I’d been eyeballing a recipe in a WW cookbook for a while now, and decided to make it up since I had some leftover white rice. Avgolemono soup. (Greek chicken/lemon/rice soup)

I used to LOVE getting it back home, and haven’t had it since I moved out here, so figured I’d give it a shot.

Let’s just say…. EPIC FAIL!

I hated the taste of it, it was definitely not what I remembered. But!!!! I’m on a tight budget. I dont want to waste all those ingredients. YIKES. Quick… what can I do?

I drained the broth, and put the chicken/rice/spinach mixture in a glass baking dish. Added some cheese and sliced tomatoes on top and VIOLA… Greek casserole. LOL. (Or at least that’s my story. .and I”m sticking too it!!!)

It actually came out pretty yummy. We’ll see what the roomies think of it tonight.

Anywho.. here’s some pics of my lunch and dinner Fridge scavenging adventures.