Hello everyone,

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

I went to a food and wine show yesterday which was a lot of fun but of course I ate and drank too much.

Then I went to a local fleamarket today and traded in some paperbooks for new ones then I went for a walk in the afternoon sun.

How is everyone else doing?

Wow, it sounds like you had a fantastic, relaxing weekend, mauvaisroux. Mine was okay. The weather is simply gorgeous down here; the leaves are turning; the temp is perfect, but I have to spend most of my time inside writing papers and essays. I have never had a semester this jam packed! Oh, sweet, sweet January, you cannot come soon enough!

The weekend was productive. I got my first big grad school application sent off (which included two essays) and a paper on Mary Daly almost complete. I did make time this weekend to make some yummy Butternut Squash soup, which was delish and really autumnesque. It's already gone though! Must...make....more.

Also, took a break Saturday night and went to the movies. We saw The Darjeeling Limited--Wes Anderson's new film (he did The Royal Tennebaums, Rushmore and some other quirky films). It was one of the best films I have seen all year! A must if any of you have time (or make time like me).

This morning, I am sitting in my office in the writing lab, was all pumped to finsih my paper and I left my flash drive at home. Grrrr...., but that means I have time to check in with you all. I have been following the threads, but with all these papers out the wazoo (seriously, I have written 4, have 3 more to go, one of which is my 40 page thesis) not much time to post. Thanks for being here and being inspirational.

On a brighter note I weighed in at 154.5 this morning and am wearing pants I couldn't wear this summer

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Your weekend sounded fab mauvaisroux! Good luck with your papers and grad school app Ollie! Also, congrats on wearing those pants I can't wait to fit into old clothes, it'll be like having a whole new wardrobe, at no extra cost

I had a wonderful weekend, I went to Witchfest on saturday (posted a thread about it in paganchicks) and spent yesterday recovering from the late night and mead intake!

I'm feeling wonderfully inspired to do and be the best I can, which is great, but I'm also nervous as I have a preliminary interview for a job tomorrow. I really want the job and I KNOW I can do it, the main problem is overcoming the nerves. And with nerves disappears my apetite I must eat some lunch/tea. It's 4pm here and I've only eaten toast today!

I hope everyone is having a good week

Ollie - good luck with you applications and papers and congrats on the weight loss!

going2B - your fest sounded really fun ( I posted a reply in the paganchicks forum) and good luck with your interview!

I am still swamped at work and spent 2 hours this morning just replying to telephone messages and e-mails.

It's my mum's birthday tomorrow so we are going out for a light supper and then to a craft show. We are also going to try to shop for gifts for the Samaritan's Purse shoebox drive which we have to have packed and dropped off by Saturday.

Thanks for the well wishes on all my papers!

goin2b--How did the interview go? Well, I hope.

I feel like I am post-happy, but I need to be, so bear with me, After my initial 10 lb. weight loss, I could feel myself slacking off a little. I must have been thinking "Okay, 10 lbs. I'm done. Yay!" Nope. Not even close. I won't let myself do teeter. So I am stepping it up. If it takes me posting on here 4 times a day, to remind myself of my goals, so be it!

I don't know about everone else, but when the weather starts to turn like it is, I get in soup making mode! What is everone else cooking? I need some fab fall food ideas. Oooooo...I love alliteration.

Oh yeah - the soup is on! I love making soup and stews as well as doing a bit of baking.

I unfortunately can't share my soup recipes as I just kind of throw them together. I took my mum's Scotch Broth and made a vegetarian version, took a Tuscan bean soup recipe from the 3fc front page and tweaked it by adding garlic and some fresh grated parmesan - most of my stuff is tweaked or off the top of my head - I should really write these things down. I will look for a few to post.

At the craft show today I bought a kit that included an Indian cookbook and a set of six spices to use with the book. The company is from British Columbia and they grind all their own spice blends. One of the owners is Indian and she wrote the cookbook - they are very simple basic Indian food recipes - I am really looking forward to trying out the recipes and the spice blends.

Mmmm....I heart Indian cuisine! We have a fantastic Indian restaurant in town, but I have never tried to cook it at home. It's so different than any other food. Let me know how it turns out. What spices came with the book?

I made Vegtetable soup yesterday...and I am like you, I always just throw stuff in a pot. I need to fill up my spice rack though. I'm down to a few spices and when that happens a lot of the stuff tastes the same. It turned out great though. So easy and low cal.

Hi everyone

The prelim interview went well, I passed the online and phone interview (the job is based on the phone) and was booked in for a face to face intereview/selection day thingy the next day. When I got there mine and another girls name weren't on the list and they said there must have been a mix up and they were fully booked. I was really bummed out, was on a high from everything going through so quickly, but got another selection day booked for this coming wednesday, so fingers crossed for that! Also it's in the afternoon, so I'll be more awake for this one, lol.

Me and my other half make soups regularly, we've been trying new recipes, but I tweak mine too. We made a sweet potato soup last night, which we've had before and is YUM! It's going to be lunch and dinner, I'm sure

I've also dipped into my savings to buy some supplies to start making things to sell on ebay. I got loads of ideas for things to make for sabbats and festivals at witchfest and got to thinking, why not try selling them too? I scoured ebay for similar items, and there is definitely a gap in the market Let's just hope it's not because no one wants to buy these kinds of things!

Unfortunately, my healthy eating has not really gotten off the ground and my sleeping is all over the place too my OH has a lot of uni work on at the mo so is staying up later than usual and I'm getting myself into the habit too! I must stop it. I'm going out to get a few more bits in town today then plannning to go for a run just before it gets dark... has anyone else noticed how quickly daylight disappears lately?

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Good luck with the job interview going2bhealthy!

Ollie - the kit came with cumin seeds, turmeric, garam masala, red chili powder, black mustard seeds, Thana Jeeroo (something new to me) and a blend of whole spices (black peppercorns, cardamom pods and a couple of things I don't recognize).

I may try out the butter chicken recipe later this week. I could eat Indian food 5 days a week!

I was off work today (3 day weekend for government workers) so I made some soup this afternoon - Italian chicken soup (my own concoction of leftover chicken cooked with whole garlic cloves, onion, carrot, canned tomatoes, spices and tini pasta shapes topped with some fresh grated Romano cheese - yummy!)

The house smelled amazing with a pot of soup simmering on the stove.

Hey everyone - sorry I haven't been around in a few days... been battling my own demons around here. for everyone this week!

Oooh, I could smell the spices from the Indian food in here. If you're going to flaunt it, at least share recipes

Thanks for the wishes mauvaisroux! Butter Chicken??? That sounds DELICIOUS!! And I agree with Suzanne, we want recipes

Enygirl - I hope things are on the up for you! Remember we're always here for you

After a stupid argument with my other half last night I feel a bit bummed out and I have that interview tomorrow which I no longer feel prepared for or excited about I'm going to have to find some energy from somewhere. On the upside, I bought some fruit tea bags to try and wean myself off hot drinks that involve milk and calories and the ones I tried this morning are really yummy!

My aim for today is to do my gym ball workout, eat dinner at a civilised hour and go to bed relatively early. Hope everyone is doing well!

Going2bhealthy - here's some good vibes for your interview -

Enygirl - and some for you!

Work was busy again today and I can foresee no rest until Friday.

I'm starting back at my yoga class on Friday night and I am really looking forward to it. It's a tough class but I feel really good by the end of it and it will probably help release the stress from the work week.

I will share a few recipes once I have tried them out.

Well, they called last night and cancelled the interview AGAIN! I'm not happy at all about this I heard from the agency I went through today and was told that other people have had this problem and we were all supposed to start training on monday and that they are waiting for confirmation as to whether we can just temp there from monday until a permanent interview date comes up. Fingers crossed for that, but to be honest I'm sick of being messed around by these people. Having heard so many good things about how they treat their employees, they aren't very good with their potential employees!!! But I'm going out for a drink with a new Witchy friend in a couple of hours which should let off some steam. Let's see how well I stick to the diet cokes!

going - I'm sorry that they're giving you the running around! how crazy!!

Thanks for the positive thoughts and support I'm doing better... just had some issues with the ex earlier this week - but they're temporarily worked out. I wish he would just disappear! Apparently there aren't enough shooting stars for that wish to come true!

Good news of the week thus far is that my weight is fluctuating between 185-187 instead of 191-193 two weeks ago! Woo Hoo! Now if I can just get it down to fluxing 123-125 I'd be all set