Christmas. It came and went.

I can’t believe Christmas is over for 2011.  It’s like a wedding.  I get so excited and there’s so much build up… then it’s over in a flash.

It started when I decorated our house and put up our tree…

 

Followed by some baking…

 

Before we knew it.. Christmas Eve was here.  Which meant it was time to celebrate my niece’s first birthday!

We wrapped up her party and got ready for our annual Christmas Eve party at my aunt’s house.  The sun was shining at my parents’ house and presents were under the tree.

Then, we partied. The big guy himself even stopped in to join the party for a few moments!

My niece was curious about him…

The party wrapped up around 10pm and we hit the road back to my parents’ house (about a 1hr drive).  My sisters, our significant others, and my niece and nephew all slept over at my parents’ house (10 of us in total).  When we woke up at 7am… Santa had come!

“We plunged into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice.”

This was the aftermath…

By noon we were packed up and off to Christmas with my surrogate family (my brown family)

Isn’t it no wonder I love Christmas so much?  Now that you see how we celebrate, I’m sure you understand.  I love Christmas. (my cousin’s 8 year old daughter asked me to take this photo)

I already look forward to Christmas 2012.

Terrible Blogger

Hello strangers!

Let's call a spade a spade. I'm just not the blogger I used to be. I don't make the time for it. I'm not as enthusiastic about it... And I'm not losing weight!

I started this blog many years ago and took years to even tell anyone (besides a couple of close friends) about it. I never did blog for anyone else but myself. Having anyone read it was just a bonus! Sometimes I miss blogging and sometimes I don't. I think I've come to realize what I miss is blogging about my success.

This isn't a goodbye. I'm not quitting attempts to be healthy or blogging itself. I'm not deleting my blog (I use it for my own inspiration!).

I guess I just wanted to say that I know I don't post often and I don't know when I will post again. Maybe soon... I did just get a Nikon SLR for my birthday after all!

To anyone who may still read this.... I thank you. I will be back periodically!

I love sweets

Hello. My name is Jennifer... And I am addicted to sweets. I have a serious sweet tooth. I crave these things (photos are of sweets I made for Christmas a couple of years ago).

I have managed to avoid sweets tonight (and all week!), despite desperately wanting them.

In other news... Day 3 down, 27 to go in project: earn an elliptical!

Tomorrow is weigh in day but I'm not hopeful. The scale has not been my friend this week. It's actually been down right stubborn. It's okay. I'll get it next week!

Check in

Just checking in to report I made it on the bike again today. 2 days down, 28 to go!!

Today's lunch was quick and quite yummy. I don't have lentil loaf made so my salad was just spinach, nutritional yeast & mmmm sauce. Amongst other things (like pineapple! Which I can't get enough of lately!)

Happy Thursday!

30

In less than a month I will turn 33. I think it will be a lucky age for me. 3 is my lucky number... So having two of them in my age has to be extra lucky, right?

Since moving (1 year ago) my old treadmill has sat in the dark, cold, unfinished basement. Truth be told, it didn't work the greatest anymore anyway. As you know we have a bike in our office at home & I do use it regularly. But... I'd like an elliptical.

A deal has been made here that I cannot refuse. If I go on the bike for at least 30min every day for 30 days... I get an elliptical!

Day 1 was today. 29 to go! I WILL do it.

In other news... I had my first honey crisp apple of the season! It would appear more local orchards are now growing them. Score!!

I'm off to finish watching The Biggest Loser & call it a night. Gotta bike in the morning!

TGIF

Happy weigh in day. Or is it? I was up 0.8lbs this week. I will try harder next week!

To console myself I had pumpkin oats with PB for breakfast. And hummus with pita chips for lunch. And a bun. A white bun even. Mmmmm. Buns.

Pardon the iPhone photos.

Have yourselves a great weekend!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

I made pumpkin cupcakes for Thanksgiving that are worthy of their own post.  I found them at Skinny Taste. They’re simple.  All you’ll need is:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup pure pumpkin
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix it up & bake 20-25min at 350F.

The outcome is divine.  I really wasn’t expecting them to taste quite so yummy.

For the kids… I threw a little decoration on them.

Now… if only they were muffins, I could have them for breakfast!

Pumpkin Pie Meringues

I started making meringues a few years ago after I discovered how easy they are (when you have a stand mixer!) and how low cal they are. I started with this recipe.  Eventually I took out the peppermint and started substituting other flavours.  Cocoa powder, Coconut, strawberry (the candy flavourings you can buy at Bulk Barn work well!).

A couple of years ago at Thanksgiving I decided to make them with some of this:

Delicious.

Pumpkin Pie Meringues:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 225F. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Whip egg whites in the mixer until they form white peaks.  Add in the salt and cream of tartar.  Add in the pumpkin pie spice.  Slowly add in the sugar until you see this consistency:

I use a piping bag and sometimes a fancy tip to pipe meringues on to the foil covered cookie sheet.  Bake for 90 minutes.

Here’s the final product.

Voila!

Reality & Recovery

I’m not going to lie.  I thought I did fairly well this weekend.  I didn’t eat desserts at 2 of the 3 Thanksgiving meals.  I didn’t snack.  I had 2 glasses of wine all weekend.

The scale told me today that I really did indulge too much.  I guess I could lie to myself, but the scale won’t lie to me.

I honestly don’t know where I went wrong.  But I was pretty upset today.  Luckily, I didn’t reach for a cookie.  I ate healthy.

Breakfast was some pumpkin oats (which, were really to die for):

• 1/4c oats
• 1/4c egg whites
• 1/4c pumpkin
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 1tsp pumpkin pie spice

I mixed them all up & cooked them in the microwave.  While it was still hot I added 1tbsp natural PB.  It tasted a lot better than it looked.

Lunch was a smoothie.

• 1/2 small frozen banana
• 1/2c frozen strawberries
• unsweetened almond breeze
• spinach
• chocolate Amazing Grass
• 1/2 scoop protein powder

For more specifics about what I ate today in order to recover from the weekend… check out my food diary!