My Goals, Progress and My Life…

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and Hanukkah . We had an uneventful but good Christmas this year.

Christmas Eve was spent with Mike’s side of the family. It was a potluck dinner with family and opening presents with niece and nephews and other kids. Despite telling everyone couple years ago we don’t want gifts or no adult gift exchange my SIL still ended up getting us something. I feel very guilty when someone gets us gifts and we did not buy them anything. If somebody tells me no gifts I won’t bring gifts that’s how I am. I guess some people don’t listen. Yes it was nice of her but it kind of puts me or rather us in an awkward position. Granted it wasn’t anything too pricey but the fact that she bought us something just made it weird for us. Oh well, next year we’ll have to repeat - NO GIFTS - to everyone again.

Christmas Day was spent with very good friends who invited us for dinner. As previously mentioned I’m not much of a drinker but I’m always curious to try something new. We bought our host some nice Whiskey (not my fav) and I had to try a shot of it to see how good it was. Well, after 2 mins of taking the shot my whole face was flushed and I was more than a little buzzed for most of the night. (Basically I would have felt no pain). When that wasn’t enough she had a good bottle of Vodka so I had to try a shot of that as well and what do you know I spent most of the night sitting down in one chair feeling mellow . Oh I did drink 1 glass of Whiskey Sour for the entire night. Oh did I mention WS is my new fav drink. Yes, I’m a cheap date!

We opened our presents Christmas Eve night when we got home. I really got nice stuff this year. One of my presents was a nice surprise. We do lists in our house cuz this way you can pick and choose the gifts you want to buy for the other person. I know it takes away the fun but believe me you need lists when it comes to certain folks, otherwise, you’ll get gifts like USB snowman and USB Christmas tree for Christmas . Yes I got those as presents couple years ago. Anyhoo, lists work for us.

I got an iPod Touch, nice watch, wireless headphones (which might be going back as slightly big for me), couple gift cards. I was thinking of getting a pda but wasn’t sure if I would put it to full use. But it seems pda is out the doors now that newer technologies are emerging. I’m a gadget person and this is just perfect. I’m so in love with my iPod Touch. I live by my calendar and this just makes it so convenient. So my iPod Touch was the surprise I wasn’t expecting.

Well, this is my last blog entry for 2008. This year went by too fast for me. Lots of things happened. I made many new friends, Mike and I decided to follow a path of better healthier us which we hope to to follow for the rest of our lives, my cousin got married, we completed 3 married years and have known each other 5 and many more things…

Hope all of you have a wonderful and Happy New Year.

Closeup of the watch:

I’ve been a baaaad blogger and friend and I apologize for that.

I’ve been a little sick for the last few days and it’s just not been fun. I had to take off Friday as I felt horrible and my throat was just killing me. I could not swallow even my spit as it hurt like a mofo to swallow. I guessed it was tonsillitis as I recognized the symptoms. I had it twice as a kid. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t strep as the symptoms are very similar since they’re both caused by the Streptococcus. So had to make a rush phone call to my doctor (I could barely talk cuz my throat was hoarse) and I was hoping she would be able to see me as she’s always busy. After the initial check up she gave me some pills and took a culture. I had a follow up check up with my doctor yesterday and she told me that my culture came back negative and I don’t have strep. Woohoo! While the swallowing part is normal for now I’m just left with a cough and a slight cold.

I’ve also not been counting my calories every single day for little over a week now. I’ve been see-sawing within my current weight. I lost some lbs last week but I haven’t kept it off. I weigh what I was 2 weeks ago. It’s possible the slight weight gain is cuz of TOM but who am I kidding? I can’t blame every weight gain on TOM.

Exercise is also off for now. I did run on my tready 2 weeks ago and felt good but then I stopped again. I can’t pin point what it is but something is off with me and I so desperately want to figure out what. I definitely want to lose all the weight as consistently as possible but somehow I’m having the hardest time at the moment. I know what I have to do but trying to find my mojo is just getting to me.

I hope once these holidays are over I’ll be back on track. I have to. No ifs or buts!!

On an awesome note, I went to see 3 Doors Down concert last Thursday at the Patriot Center in VA. It was so much fun. I love 3DD and to see them perform live for the first time was beyond wonderful. There were 2 other bands who performed before them - American Bang and Switchfoot. American Bang were noisy and I was really hoping they would go away soon. Switchfoot were eh but a whole lot better than AB. I’ve heard Switchfoot songs on the radio. But the star of the night were 3DD of course <3 no question there.

Happy Holidays

Please forgive our grease monkey looks. We went to the concert straight from work

Original Recipe here - By Alton Brown
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups Dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Hardware:
- Ice cream scooper
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheets
- Mixer

What we used or subbed:
- Real organic large Eggs
- Smart balance butter
- Toll house chocolate chips
- 1% Milk
- Light brown sugar (I didn’t have dark brown)
- King Arthur Unbleached bread flour
- 2 Tablespoon for scooping the cookie dough out
- Kitchen aid Stand Mixer

Method
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
- Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough until firm (for about 30 min to 1 hour).
- Then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning.
- Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

*** Make sure you chill the dough between batches of cookies.***

Chocolate Chip cookies ready to be baked:

I’ve been such a bad blogger lately. I haven’t been around much for support either and I am sorry for that. It could be the weather or maybe that the time’s just slipping by me and I can’t seem to catch it.

My weight loss is going eh. I want to speed it up but I’m just not feeling motivated for anything in my life right now for some reason. It’s not that I don’t want to do stuff but I’m finding it hard to focus on things. And I believe it’s related to my lack of exercise. I haven’t been on my treadmill in almost a month. Why, you may ask? Well, it started with wanting a new tready and selling the old one. I had a couple week gap there. Then last couple weeks or so my toe’s been hurting really bad and it’s making very difficult to walk sometimes let alone do any form of strenuous activity. I finally went to a podiatrist couple days ago and thankfully it’s nothing life threatening, things will get better but it’s going to take some time. So I’ve used that excuse (even though valid) for last couple weeks not to exercise. Yes, I could do strength training or other forms of non cardio workout to compensate. But I’ve fallen off the exercise wagon and I’ve been struggling to get back on it. I feel I’ve lost my mojo. I was doing SO good a month ago. *sigh*

Recently, I was discussing with M that I don’t know what motivates me to do anything. I’m not reward driven at all. For me, if I need/want something I’ll just go get it or do it. So setting rewards like, for example, going to a spa, buying a new outfit, going to a shooting range, taking a trip, hair cut or things like that etc. will not motivate me to work extra hard on any goals I set. All these things I can do any time and any day of the week if I chose to do so. So what motivates me? Is something wrong with me? I am always excited to start a new project, anything that interests or fascinates me. I set goals, start a project, and when it gets to a certain point I lose interest. I need something to keep me going!!

Am I an oddball?

I am drawing a blank here. I don’t know how to even begin to figure out. I could ask my psychologist friend to shed some light on this matter. But she lives in Australia and email makes it hard to communicate sometimes. I could google? But there’s so much info out there that I know I’ll get information overload. I know I’ll eventually figure out myself by analyzing stuff. I analyze things to death.

M thinks it’s my current brainless job that’s playing a major role in my feeling this way. He says I was different in my previous job. Is it possible that my lifeless, brainless, lack of a career job has something to do with how I’m feeling or doing? I don’t know. I was also 3 years younger then. I’m not denying that my unhappiness with my current job is not affecting me, sure it is, but the underlying question of my lack of motivation and what motivates me to do anything still remains.

Maybe you guys can shed some light?  What motivates you?

Happy OP Monday everyone!!

Why is it always SOOOO hard to go to work after a long weekend? I feel better I’m not the only one who feels this way. Not that I had really late sleep-ins past few days. I woke up around 7ish during my long weekend and yet I feel that the day is going to drag today .

Our Thanksgiving was fun. We had a friend couple over for dinner. We tried some new recipes and kept it simple but delish. I did not pig out that day. In fact, all day I had survived on my 7am cereal and then had my din din at 6 pm. Weird. I was not at all hungry that day. But after that day I haven’t touched the leftovers.

Mike’s being helpful and taking it for lunches. We don’t have a ton left but still enough to last few meals. I don’t want to eat it simply cuz I’m regulating what I eat this week. I did no exercise and no food logging past few days and I am suffering the repercusions. While I did not gain weight I did not lose any either. And that’s unacceptable. I am going to hop back on the saddle and kickstart my loss again. My cardio exercise is going to be limited this week cuz I have toe pain on my right foot and the pain comes and goes. It really hurts and swells up. Till I go see a doctor and find out what is wrong my cardio workout will be restricted. I’m going to concentrate on strength in the mean time.

Here are some of the Thanksgiving pictures…

Have a wonderful OP day.

Here you go . Pictures from our first soy candle making experience.

We bought our Soy Candle making kit from Michaels. We went with a kit cuz it had almost everything we needed to make candles (except the double boiler and the pour jug) and it would give us an idea if we really wanted to get into this or not. Let me tell you making candles was super easy. We’ll be buying our candle supplies from the Wholesale Supplies store since it’s a lot cheaper to go this route. The candles look so good and have a creamy texture after they set. Good enough to eat . We might have to invest in a heat gun as couple candles had cracked at the top which is normal and easily fixable by slightly melting the top layer with a heat gun. This time we just used a hair dryer and it worked fine.

Candles have to be cured for at least 48 hours before they are ready to be burned.

Let me know if you would like some I will mail you a candle.

Soy Wax ready to be melted in double boiler

Candle containers ready for the wax to be poured in

Liquid wax after mixing fragrance and color

Candle ready to be lit

We finally got our treadmill delivered Saturday morning. I’ve been waiting for it for the past 2 weeks now. So excited

I haven’t been working out regularly for the past 3 weeks or so and it has started to show. Yesterday, after my morning cereal and coffee, I decided to do my usual workout on the new treadmill. I’d been doing interval training on my crappy old tready for about 45-60 mins so I figured I’ll do 45 mins just to begin with. I decided to go with one of the built-in interval training programs in the tready. I set my min speed to 3.3mph and max to 5.3mph with 1%-2% incline.

On my old one, automatic incline was not possible so I would just do it at 0% but speed I set was the same. However, the continuous motor speeds of the 2 treadmills differed a lot. I used to run for 1 min at the highest speed and 2 mins on low speed. The built-in prog on the new one was making me run for 2.30 mins at 5.3mph w/ 2% incline and 2 mins on low w/ 1% incline. I’ve been told and also read in many articles that if you’re walking or running on a treadmill always do it at 1% incline minimum cuz that is the normal tread you would be running outside on the road. As if you do it at 0% you will be running in a decline motion which is not good for the body.

So, I’m running and trying really hard not to look at the timer counting down. I did it few times and after probably the 3rd time or so in a hoarse whisper I’m jokingly saying *heeelp* to my dear hubby who was doing weights near by. I was breathing SO hard that I thought I was going to die. I had to stop my workout after 30 mins cuz I could not go on. I regret taking a break from my workouts cuz it seems all my effort of past months is down the drain. I need to get back on track and make sure I workout every day.

Of course, to make things worse TOM paid a visit yesterday afternoon. Running during this time is not something I like but I’m determined to get some form of workout done today.

Oh we finally made our first soy candles yesterday. More on it later

Have a wonderful OP day everyone

As part of doing something together, this year we decided to make our own candles. I know ambitious right? But I thought it would be something fun to try and not to mention it may awaken, if any, suppressed creative gene in me . We decided to go with making scented Soy candles.

The candle making idea came from the DIY Christmas gifts website which was originally brought to my attention by an online friend. I am not at all creative but somehow I liked the idea of making candles as we use them a lot ourselves. I don’t know about you guys but I hate to pay $18 for a candle. I buy candles only on sale but it still gets expensive.

After googling a lot on candle making steps and also checking out Jo-Ann’s Fabrics and Michaels for supplies and costs we decided to go for it. Thanks to another online friend’s help, I can buy my supplies via an online wholesale store and save $$$. I am so excited about this project.

Let me know if you have any scent preference? I might send you a candle . But, first we’ll make few just for us to make sure they’re OK .

Here’s to a fun candle making experience and not burning down the house .

I finally went to my first ever Zumba class last night. A friend of mine suggested we should go check it out and see what the hype was all about. Well, I can definitely say this after 1 hour of Zumba that I can never compete in - So you think you can dance? We were told lot of ass shaking is involved in this and sure enough I was shaking my tush a lot .

I sucked ass in the Zumba class. Was it a good workout? Sure. Will I go again? Probably not. For now I think I’ll stick with my treadmill and weights and once I get in shape I’ll try it again. That said, I’ll be going to this class again (only 1 more time) next Thursday cuz they said the class will be free. I am not going to pass a free class no matter how bad I am at Zumba . And just for my entertainment I’m taking Mike along too next week to do Zumba with me .

Have a wonderful OP Friday everyone

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
(Thanks Josephine )

1 box chocolate cake mix
2 large eggs
1/3 cup oil
3 dz unwrapped peanut butter cups (approx)

- Mix the cake mix, eggs, and oil until well blended. Shape into balls (we used a tablespoon to make the cookie balls) and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

- Bake at 375 deg F for 6 to 8 minutes. You need them to be soft to press the PB cups

- When they come out of the oven, immediately place a peanut butter up upside down on top of each cookie, pressing lightly to secure

- Allow cookies to cool completely and enjoy.

I used:
- Pillsbury Chocolate cake mix
- Giant brand eggs
- EVOO
- Reeses Pieces PB cup large (little over 2 dozen I think)

NOTE
Well, I fully intended to bake these but I chickened out at the end. I’m not much of a baker. So Mike baked these but we had a disagreement on the size of peanut butter cups. Whether to use the big cups or the mini cups? I wanted to go with the mini PB cups but Mike wanted to go with the regular sized ones. Our cookies look little deformed cuz Mike got his way . He loved them though.

Cookies ready to be baked:

Cookies with Peanut Butter Cup…not the right size

Notice My cookie on the left?? Somehow the chocolate batter and Jam do not mesh well

Woohoo! I bought my first ever running shoes. Some of my friends recommended that I should buy running shoes and definitely go to an actual store and get fitted. Thank you very much . I had no idea they would be so comfortable.

The associate at the store asked us few questions, watched us walk a bit and started bringing shoes out. I tried on Brooks, New Balance, saucony, couple others and finally went with the New Balance. Apparently, the associate (I think her name was Katie) told me I need light motion control shoes and so does Mike. However, Mike had a very difficult time finding a pair that fitted him well. I think he tried every type of shoes in that store and we still ended up with 0 shoes for him. He’s got wide feet but some of the shoes were cutting into his foot so it was uncomfortable. They’re going to order some shoes and call him to come over and try them.

Katie, also told me that I should keep my exercise shoes separate from day to day sneakers which I agree. She told me I could buy the same exact sneakers just for everyday wear too since they’re comfy. Apparently, just cuz they’re running shoes does not mean I cannot wear them as everyday sneakers. I didn’t know that.

Oh and also I wear 7.5 normal width but she told me to buy 8 or 8.5 since that’s what they recommend to people to go a size up. This is cuz the foot swells after you workout so a size bigger gives more room for the foot to breathe and fit well without hurting.

Oh when I tried some of these shoes my instant reaction was, ‘wow! I could kick ass with these shoes’ . I think Katie probably thought I was nuts

My New Balance shoes

Check out that support!!

Well, I’ll be cheering from the sidelines this election as I can’t vote yet. I honestly doubt if I will be able to by next elections too. Now in next 8 years I definitely hope so otherwise I’ll be very very upset not only cuz I can’t vote but for the most important reason . Anyhoo, I hope all you wonderful people are going to vote today or have voted earlier. Funny thing happened last night I was making sure Mike wouldn’t forget to vote certain areas on the ballot so I asked him hey make sure you vote this and that and his response was, ’so in this free country I’m voting your choices’ . Well, somebody’s got to since they won’t let me!! He was just teasing me cuz we were both going to vote for the same if I could.

Although here in MD I heard they don’t check your ID or registration card. Some credibility huh? Who knows? I think they’re making an amendment (which people can vote for today) for the ability to vote anywhere in the state which will make it convenient especially for people who work as they can do it closer to their work place. Also I believe they’re calling to make voting available early here cuz right now we can only do it via absentee ballot. I also heard it on the radio that they’re calling for extra law enforcement officials as they’re expecting some issues near polling stations. Let’s just hope things go peacefully today. I don’t understand why people cannot respect other people’s choices. Stupid people!

Halloween party at our friend’s place was really fun on friday. Unfortunately, no drunk stories . In fact, I was barely drunk that night must have been the weak drinks and the fact I barely had any since I was driving later. I just had 1 mango margarita and 1 mudslide ummm…Now we were all talking loudly, dancing crazy shit and eating food. I finished all the cucumber by the time party ended. I wasn’t too bad that night. I tasted almost everything there in moderation. Some of the costumes people wore were awesome. I was lame and now wish I had put in little more effort. Oh well, there’s always a next time .

Here are some pictures from the party. You can click on them for a bigger view. I have some more at home which I forgot to bring to upload.

Mike and I (check out my black nail polish )

Mike being a wizard

Our hosts - Jeff and Sylvie

How can I forget cuteness - Smokey - Our host’s dog

Mike and I (at our place before we left for the party)

Just us girls