I’m the reigning champion at my office.  I have been for the past two years.  I love the smack talk, the competition, the thrill of the game.  However, I’m probably not going to win this year.  I took too many risks on my bracket.  Oh well.  We’ll see.

This year the office motto is: “Anyone but Maria…” Maria would be me.  It’s my given name, whereas I use my middle name for the blog.  I like it better.  It’s lighter, and less virginal. 

For all of you that have brackets this year I wish you good luck.

Let the smack talk commence.  GO KU!

I wanted to keep it light today because I’m in a happy mood.  Here are some outfits:

Sweater: Target Merona

Top: DB (black corset on the bottom and white on top)

Pants: DB

And I figured that I would add pictures of make up.  Because I love it and have a huge attachment to it.  I’m obsessed with it.  I know that I may cheap it up on the clothes, but I never skimp on my makeup.  The majority is MAC.

So with the outfit above I wore this combo:

Lid: Stars ‘n’ Rockets

Contour: Blackberry

Liner: Blacktrack Gel Liner

Top: Merona Target (it makes an appearance again)

Sweater: DB

Pants: DB

Lid:  Chrome Yellow

Outer Lid:  Woodwinked

Contour:  Espresso

Highlight:  Retrospeck

Liner: Dipdown

Top: I don’t remember.

Sweater: Anthropologie

Pants: DB

I can’t remember.  At all.  It’s pretty sad.  I usually write it down.

Sweater:  Old Navy

Top:  New York & Co.

Pants: I’ll give you one guess…

Lid:  Expensive Pink

Outer Lid:  Knight Devine

Contour:  Scene

No liner. GASP!

I also snapped this pic at work and I really liked it.  I figure I can post a good one every once in a while.  I don’t consider myself photogenic at all.

Well, my obsession with makeup is really big.  I’ve done makeup for weddings, photo shoots and friends.  I’m working with someone right now to prep her for a figure competition.  We are going over her makeup this weekend.  I’m really excited about it.  This will be my first figure competition makeup.  If it goes well, who knows, maybe I can make this a more permanent job.

I have formspring now so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask!!  The link is off to the right.

I love my house.  When we bought it the house was literally 2 x 4’s, a little insulation and drywall.  There was nothing in the house, at all.  But, it was cute, small and perfect for us.  We signed the paperwork and got our first house.  When we finally moved in I noticed that there was one very important thing missing.  I didn’t have a pantry.  Gasp!  Who doesn’t have a pantry?  Who doesn’t build a pantry into a kitchen?  Being a foodie, you can imagine not having a pantry.  OMG!  Here is my empty space.  Look how sad it looks.

Now look how dorky it looks.  I love my husband, but he is a goofball.

Here is what I ended up with.  It isn’t quite finished.  If you can tell at the top there is a small piece missing.  It will be put in on Wednesday or thereabouts.  It needed to be ordered.  This pantry had to be custom made.  It’s exactly what I wanted.  If I could build another one, I would.  It also needs door handles which I will be picking up today.  I know the pic looks crooked.  It’s not the house, it’s the photog.

I was so excited for dinner the other night because I was craving chickpea and onion soup.  I know it might sound a little gross but it is actually really yummy.  I felt like I needed a heavy dose of veggies.  I made my own version of Chickpea Tomato soup.  Here are the ingredients:

I actually only ended up using one of the cans of diced tomatoes.  It was more than enough.  What you can barely see in that pic is the zucchini that is sitting next to the onion.  Ok, so I chopped the onion and added about 2 cloves of garlic to some EVOO and sauteed until they were translucent.  Then I added the green beans, diced zucchini and chickpeas and let them get a little soft.  I added the diced tomatoes, with all of the liquid and stirred it up.

I then added some of the chicken broth, about 3/4 of the container, and let it get all happy.  You can use vegetable stock for a veggie version, I just didn’t have any.  I let it simmer for about 30 minutes while I cooked up some basmati rice.  Which is my favorite.  It is actually a healthy choice in rice.  It scores 58 on the Glycemic Index, whereas Brown scores 50.  Granted, brown rice is still probably better for you, it’s a toss up in my book based on flavor and texture alone.

The final product.  So after cooking it lost a bit of its beautiful colors but it was still delicious.  I served it over the basmati rice and enjoyed every bite.  Bean was a fan as well.

On a sad note I will not be eating at The Cove again.  I was thoroughly disappointed in my last visit there.  I ordered their SOL Sampler.  The menu describes it at follows:

SOL Sampler Seasonal, Local roasted vegetables, Organic Hummus, Black Bean Fritter & Whole Wheat Flat Bread  $9

However, what I got was something totally different.  I got a small serving of hummus (maybe 1/4 cup), the equivalent to a small (6 in.) whole wheat tortilla (not flat bread), a raw beet, carrot and dill salad, some sauteed red swiss chard and some burnt leeks.  There was no black bean fritter, no roasted vegetables.  And I paid $9 for it.  I complained and was informed that they had recently changed and what I had gotten was what they got from the farmer’s market.  They also said that they didn’t serve the fritter anymore.  They didn’t offer to get me something else.  They didn’t apologize for the fact that their menu had said something else.    I wasn’t happy.  It was very little food for $9.  It wasn’t good and I was really upset.  So, I don’t know if you can tell but the plate was a salad plate, too.  You can see a little of the fork.  Extremely disappointed.  I went with my BFF who was also less than thrilled.  My BFF ordered their Bella burger.  She asked them to add avocado to it.  When she got her food she lifted the bun and saw that it didn’t have avocado and she said something to the server right then.  The server then took it back and said, “oh yeah, this one isn’t yours” and then walked it to another table.  My BFF then got her burger but we were both shocked that the waitress had taken a sandwich to another table that had been touched by her.  Needless to say I’m never going back there again.   It has to be said, I was SOL (totally intended).

My goals for this week are:

Blog more than once.

Workout at least 4 times.

Document my meals and outfits for the week.

Not to be so hard on myself this week.  Last week I was brutal.

I haven’t been.  I have what was described as a bone bruise.  I fell and hit my shin a few weeks ago, but thought nothing of it.  I kept running and as I increased my intensity I started to have a lot of pain.  I was limping around and Hubby finally said, “Stop!”.  I went to the doctor and was told to lay off it for a week or six.  But…being the stubborn woman that I am, I can’t wait to get back at it.  I’ve been icing it every night and not running on it.  I really want to try and go for a run tonight.  I don’t want to hurt myself, but I feel the need to move.  Because of my injury I haven’t even been able to do yoga or walk effectively.  It’s pretty sad.  Swimming has been a no go lately because I haven’t been able to work around my Hubby’s schedule with school and picking up Bean.  I’m crossing my fingers that I can go for a run tonight.  We’ll see.

Glasses

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been contemplating getting contacts.  Well, I now have two new pairs of glasses and a set of contacts.  Why?  Because I’m kind of a doofus.  On Friday, I was cleaning my glasses with my shirt.  A big no no by the way.  And something happened to them.  They got scratched and very cloudy.  I thought I had killed the anti-glare coating.  I took them to and eye place and they said that they were irreparable.  I decided to get new glasses then.  Duh.  I called to get my prescription and found out it was expired.  I went to get a new prescription.  Went back and had the glasses made.  I asked them for no anti-glare because I figured that if it was that easy to ruin it I didn’t need it.  First mistake.  Second mistake was going home and taking a closer look at the glasses.  I figured they were ruined so I made a solution of one part dish soap to two parts water and dropped the glasses in.  A few hours later I went to look at them and they were fine.  Let me clarify: I just spent almost $80 on an eye exam, ~$200 on eyeglasses, $15 on contacts.  My husband’s reaction, priceless. So, I have contacts for when I want them and 3 pairs of glasses that match everything in my wardrobe.  Really.  EVERYTHING!

Allergy

I’ve mentioned in the past that my son has an allergy to nuts.  Well, we had a bit of a scare this past weekend.  We had gone to eat at a my boss’s house.  He was having a going-away “party” for a co-worker.  He had people bring stuff to eat.  One person brought carrot cake.  Carrot cake with walnuts.  My son loves cake.  Really, it’s a fateful love affair.  We told him he couldn’t have any, we told all of the adults not to give him any and we left it like that.  Well, he’s apparently very sneaky and quick.  He managed to get some cake.  I feel like mother of the year.  Anyway… when we left I looked at him and saw that he had a bit of a rash on his face.  It set off a warning bell.  However, since no one had given him cake I didn’t delve deeper.  We drove home and he fell asleep in the car.  We put him to bed and the next morning when he got up he came into the room with me.  He got on the bed and asked for something to drink.  I gave him some milk.  He fell asleep, which is extremely odd for him.  Once he’s up, he’s up.  And about 30 minutes later he puked everywhere.  A lot.  It got me thinking about this allergy thing.  I don’t want to be a paranoid mom but I may have to be.  He could have gone into anaphylactic shock and stopped breathing while he was sleeping.  I don’t want to be one of those paranoid, crazy mothers, but what can I do?

After cleaning him up and noticing that his mastocytoma:

A mast cell originates from the bone marrow and is normally found throughout the connective tissue of the body. It is a normal component of the immune system and as it releases histamine it is associated with allergic reactions. Mast cells also respond to tissue trauma. Mast cell granules contain histamine, heparin, platelet-activating factor, and other substances.

was inflamed I asked him about the cake.  He looked at me and said, “I had cake.  It had nuts.  I’m glad my tummy doesn’t have nut[s] anymore.”  Why don’t kids listen? Along that same note, why don’t parents learn?

Lessons learned:

• Bean likes cake.
• He will eat it if you don’t watch him.
• Allergies are no joke.
• I will never look at carrot cake the same way again.
• I’m never letting him out of my sight when food is around.
• I’m an idiot.

I’m totally beating myself up about this one.  So please don’t call me irresponsible.  I’ve learned my lesson.

Organization

Since spring is upon us almost I’ve started thinking about my organization skills.  I thought I would post a couple of things that I do to make my life easier.

• I rarely use coupons.  I feel that coupons make me buy things that I don’t have a space for.  It also makes me spend money on things I don’t need to get.
• I organize my sheets into sets.  I take the fitted sheet, top sheet and one pillowcase and fold them up.  I then put all of those components into the remaining pillowcase.  That way they are always together.
• I keep a list of what is in my freezers.  I make a list of the frozen proteins, veggies, and fruits and as I use them I cross them off.  It keeps me from overbuying items and the grocery store.  It also helps me plan out the menu for what I’m making for the week.
• I have a routine that I follow on a daily/weekly basis.  It helps keep me on track for what needs to get done.  I do certain chores on certain days for example.  Sunday is laundry day.  I may do a supplemental load on Wednesdays.  I have a schedule that I follow to get my son ready for school and bed.  I stick to it for consistency and for effectiveness.  I don’t like to feel like I’m rushing around.  It stresses me out.
• I have a designated dump zones.  One for paper stuff like bills and mail.  It’s a drawer in my desk.  Then I have another drawer where I put everything else.  I have a lighter for candles, tape, coasters, etc., you know all of the stuff that you ask “now where did I put that?”.
• I clean every Saturday.  Every Saturday.  I vacuum, mop, dust and clean the bathrooms.  It keeps everything manageable.  I firmly believe though, that if you don’t mess it up, you don’t have to clean it later.
• I’m not a neat freak.  I just like things in their place.  It makes my life less chaotic.

I think this has to be the most random post I’ve ever made.  However, it’s out there.  If anyone has questions I do have a formspring account now.  You’ll find it over to the right hand side.

Well, today was one of those days.  It was so frustrating.  Where should I start:

• I lost a conference I was planning to the Sales & Marketing group.
• I didn’t have enough coffee
• I broke my glasses.  Well, not exactly.  I’m taking my f-ed up glasses to Costco to get a refund.  They are less than 1 year old and the anti-glare coating peeled off.  Ok.  Peeled off.  WTF?
• Had to get new glasses because I have no backup.
• Had to get a new prescription because my old one was expired.
• Won’t have my new glasses until tomorrow at noon.
• Someone said something that reminded me of bad things.  FB can be evil.

On the bright side:

• I got sample contacts.  Hehe.  I’m going to use them occasionally.
• It wasn’t as expensive as I expected.
• Got to spend the evening with the hubby and Bean.

Also, my BFF who totally gets me left me this on my my doorknob at home:

Wednesday:

Look at those pretty Anthro-esque details…  But, no.  It’s Dressbarn.  Yup.

Thursday:

Check out the little red velvet edging on this cute little shirt.  It’s Banana Republic.  It has tiny white pinstripes and the little white detail you see there.

Friday:

Let’s channel the 80’s.  Why the hell not?  It kind of looks like I’m workin’ it in the pic.

Well, here’s to having a great weekend.  I’ll be posting pics of the new glasses tomorrow.  I might even smile in this pic.

Without:

With:

Here’s a Bean picture.  He’s wearing his dad’s shoes.  I’m telling him to take them off and put them away.  He says to me, “I got this, Mommy.” Literally.  This is what that looked like.  This little man is a bit of a smart alec.  I’m not sure where he gets it.  Really.  I have NO idea.

My new obsession… This is the best stuff.  Perfectly filling snack.

Monday:

Shirt: Wraparound Light Blue Dressbarn shirt

Pants: Black Slacks from Ross (I’ve mentioned I’m cheap frugal, right?)

Tuesday:

Dressbarn.  I swear their stuff is cute, if not crappily named.

I could lie about the name but there really isn’t a point to doing that.  I’m proud of my outfits.

I needed this:

It was amazing.  You can barely see it but there was a layer of dark chocolate (for me) and a layer of milk chocolate (for Hubby).  Also, the Febreze is on my desk at work.  The outside entrance, next to my office, smells like wet dog.  Literally.  Wet, stinky, dog.  I spray it at least 4 times a day.  The boss is convinced that it is because he smells.  He doesn’t.  He actually smells relatively nice.    It’s just a coincidence that he steps out of his office right when I spray it.  I’ve actually only gotten him once.

I’ve been trying to carry a different purse around.  You know, to switch it up a bit.  This is one of my oldest, but dearest.  It’s about 6 years old and it is Guess.  I love it.  It’s functional and still trendy enough.  Today, I’m carrying a pink one.  I’ll post pics later.  I’ll have some other outfit pics, too.

I’ll have a run update later.  Be prepared.  The post will involve words like “stress fracture”, “stupid nurse practitioner”, “ibuprofen” and “would you like a prescription for Vicodin with that pout?”.  I’m just sayin’.

Hope everyone is having a better day than I am.

Top Searches

done dieting, is a good idea to put cheese or teabags on feet blisters, whore filetype:jpg, sad dancers, shaker salads.

I would never put cheese on blisters. Ever.

Sidenote: I have Formspring if you want to ask anything… It’s on the sidebar above the 5K information.

I love my cat.  Here he is showing off his I love Monday face.  That is exactly how I feel today.  Wow!  I’m exhausted from the weekend.

My son had friends over:

Holy mess, batman!  Needless to say there was a lot of picking up involved.  Daddy was responsible for helping with this because Daddy was the one that was left with the kids.  It looks a lot better now.  When I see pictures like this I just know I had a boy!

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

I had an Old Navy / Target kind of week.

There was nothing remotely cute from Saturday.  It was just one of those lounge-y days and I just relaxed around the house.

Sunday:

Started off with this.

Then I realized that this sweater had a small pull in it.  I have to take it back to the store.  So I switched to this.  I’m really not sure what I liked better.

Anthro Wind Rippled Tee and Vera Wang.  Banana Republic belt.

My boys.  Hubby and the Bean just playing around.

Hubby is 6′4″.  My son is 3.8 months old.  He’s tall for his age.  He measures 43 inches I think.  But, it’s when things like this happen that I realize how tall Hubby is.  Behold the Bean doing a ceiling walk.

Have a great Monday everyone!

]]> http://donedieting.org/2010/03/01/random-pics/feed/ 3 Lu http://donedieting.org/2010/02/25/running-around-a-story-on-progress/ http://donedieting.org/2010/02/25/running-around-a-story-on-progress/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:46:56 +0000 Lu http://donedieting.org/?p=683 ]]> We’re going to go with progress.  I’m making progress. A recap:

Things I’ve learned:

• I can run
• I’m not fast
• I supinate
• Shin splints hurt
• I desperately WANT to do this.

Things I have yet to learn:

• Stretching is important (for shin splints)
• I will get faster
• I will get stronger
• Hydration is key
• There are NO excuses

Things Hubby has to learn:

• Stop telling me you used to be slow.  Like me.  I’m graceful and I run gingerly.  Like a delicate flower, damn it.
• I will buy new shoes until I find the “right” ones.  I don’t plan on running in Christian Louboutin so stop stressing out.
• Stretching is not an invitation.  For anything.
• I love to run with you.
• I will, one day, be able to run more than you.  Challenge? (I put that one in to see if he really reads my blog.)

I had my feet evaluated and I supinate.  Since I got new shoes I have no more knee pain.  However, I have shin pain.  I think I can work it out.  I’ve been icing it and resting it.  As long as it isn’t a stress fracture, it shouldn’t stop me.

I signed up to do a 5K.  On May 1st.  So, potentially this blog will be a whine fest after May 2nd.  Ow, my feet.  Ow, my blisters.  You get the picture.  I promise not to drag it out.  However, chocolate helps me heal so if you need my address…

I know that this is what I want to do.  I want to run.  I want to say I can run.  I want to say I can run and not feel like I have to preface it with anything.  I’m stubborn and pigheaded.  I don’t think I can do a 5k.  But, in the spirit of stopping the negative talk, I’m going to do it.

Why this 5K?  When I was 20 years old, my grandmother died from breast cancer.  She was 69 years old.  She didn’t fit any of the “characteristics”.  I wish she was still with me.  I saw her decline from start to finish.  I was there when she passed.  When I did my first Komen Walk I promised myself that I would run it one day.  That was 4 years ago.  I always find an excuse.  I always manage to do something different.  I’m tired of being that person.  The excuse maker.  The slacker.  I am going to run this because I said I would.  The next step will be to do the 3-day Walk.  It’s 60 miles.  Somehow, that seems less daunting than running a 5k.  Go figure.

The C25K is broken up into segments of 3 days.  Every other day you run.  So, I’m on day 2.3.  That’s theoretically Week 2, Day 3.  It consists of a 5 minute warm up, 20 minute run/walk combo (run 1:30 minutes, walk 2 minutes) and a 5 minute cool down.  It’s harder than the first week, but I can do it.  It’s not as hard as next week will be.  And, I’m looking forward to it.

See everyone soon.  I’ll write later on the epic fail that was dinner with Dad.

I know I should look forward to any time with my parents who are getting older.  But, when you preface a bribe dinner (he’s paying) with a “we need to talk.  You trust me, right?”, it isn’t easy to imagine that the outcome is going to be pleasant.  I’m just not looking forward to this.  I have a vague idea what he wants to talk about, I just don’t think I’m going to be receptive to it.  I know that he is just going to try and convince me that he is right.  I don’t think he is.  Would it be wrong to order Scotch on the rocks with a beer back as an appetizer?  Just kidding.

On to other, more enjoyable things…Like chocolate.  Mmmmm.  I needed this chocolate yesterday afternoon.  I was seriously craving anything with chocolate.  Yes I raided the candy jar at work.  Only once.  You just have to love the Valentine’s Day leftovers.

And lunch.  Lunch is an enjoyable thing.   It was Thai food.  I love Thai food.  I got a Noodle Bowl.  This one had some teriyaki beef, cilantro, rice noodles, carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber, and lettuce on the bottom.  It was delicious and it hit the spot.  I love it when lunch works out to be healthy and delicious. I didn’t eat the spring roll.  I’m not a fan of them.

I went for a run last night.  It was actually a lot better than I expected.  It was freezing out.  I don’t know if you saw my twitter update, but it snowed in San Antonio.  Snowed for exactly 30 minutes.  It didn’t stick and today the high should be 60.  Yep, gotta love TX.  I’m going to post an update later today about some of the things I’ve learned from running these past two weeks.  You know, other than I’m kind of a wuss still.

After the run I had a huge craving for a salad.  Excuse this bad picture.  It was spinach, beets, green beans, salmon and a little dressing.  It was delicious.

When I came in this morning there was a gift sitting on my desk.  Balloon flowers!  I’m not sure why a co-worker brought them in, but she had left them on my desk with a note saying they were for me and that there was another one for my son under my desk.  I didn’t snap a pic of the one for my son, but it’s a bike.  The flowers come out of the little balloon vase.  I think they are adorable.

And now for the outfits:

Monday

This little cardigan has a lace back on it.  Obviously, I forgot to take a picture of that.  I’ll owe you.

Tuesday

I love this sweater.  It’s warm enough for snow, but not to stuffy because of the 3/4 sleeves.  I love to pair it with unexpected items.  Like this striped shirt.

Now, I have to be honest.  I don’t always buy the most expensive items.  I usually end up getting reasonably priced, cute items.  I’m frugal.  I hate the name Dressbarn.  It drives me nuts.  I want to moo every time I walk in the door.  However, I have found cute items there.  The outfit from Monday is all from there.  The pants and striped shirt from Tuesday’s outfit are from there.  Don’t judge.  I’m not proud of the name.  It would be much cooler to say they were from Nordstrom’s or something.

And, my new favorite lip color… Which is from MAC.  It was a limited edition that I got sometime over the summer.  I love the packaging and the color itself.  It’s called Purple Rite.  I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m wearing it in Tuesday’s pic.

I’ll have my run update later today or tonight.  Stayed tuned…