Oh my goozness, it's Friend Makin' Monday

I drafted but did not push this entry yesterday - apologies for the lapse!  Weigh-in Tuesday will follow later today.

I'm trying a new thing this Friend Makin' Monday... introducing one of my friends to you!

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a viral video that I literally watched three times in a row.  It was called "Fat Rant," and in it, a beautiful plus-sized woman took on several different characters, speaking to the camera about what it's like to be overweight, and how to treat overweight people.  It was my introduction to the Fat Acceptance movement.  And it was my introduction to Joy Nash.





Joy Nash developed and wrote the piece as a solo performance, and adapted it for video... which spread like wildfire.  Her performance was smart, insightful, and funny.  I fell in creative-crush.

A year later, I was involved with a Fat Acceptance online community and headed to a gathering of the local Fatshionistas.  (That's not my word, that's actually the name of the group.  Clever.)  When the host called me with information, I realized she was Joy.  That Joy.  Joy!  We met and became friends, and have collaborated on a few creative pieces, including her amazing performance as Roz (the second-grade school newspaper reporter) in our workshop reading of our animated kids' pilot, Bubble Gumshoe.

This year, Joy premiered her solo play, My Mobster, at the Hollywood Fringe Fest, and we had the pleasure of seeing it (both in development, and there at the Fest.)  And it is brilliant.  The Fringe Fest agrees with us: they selected her show for the "Best of Fringe," and it is playing once more, this Saturday.  Tom and I are going to go see it again, and I hope you locals will consider joining us.  She is a firecracker, and her story of a relationship with a wild, romantic possibly-mobster is both hilarious and full of beauty and life.  Just like Joy herself.  Let me know if you want to join us - you can get tickets here.

All right... I'll be back with a weigh-in tomorrow, with some really fun coming soon.  Til then, take care of you.

Friend Makin' Monday: The Driving Force

It's a brand new week and I've already gotten a lot done in a single morning.  Here's hoping that I can keep up my productivity because I have a lot to do!  So let's get this week started...

Today's Friend Makin' Monday question is: what is the driving force behind your weight loss?

Well, I've already detailed my turning point, which was the death of my mother.  And the strongest driving force that has kept me going is, without question, my desire to be healthy.

'Cause I want to spend as long as I possibly can with this guy.
(Taken by Rochelle this Saturday at Slimmons.)

Every little healthy step I take, I am one step farther away from the diabetes that I am working to avoid.  Both of my parents were diagnosed with diabetes as a result of their obesity.  It's just one of the illnesses I'm hoping to stave off through exercise and mindful eating.

I'm lucky.  Although I'm genetically predisposed to Type 2, or adult-onset, I started this process early enough to prevent it, provided I continue making these healthy choices.  Not everyone is that lucky.  Once you've got it, you've got it.  And if you have Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, no amount of healthy eating or exercise can prevent it.

Our friend Madz, a high school student in Southern California, just celebrated her two-year diab-versary of Type 1, and we had the opportunity to celebrate with her (and another friend of ours, her excellent mom Katie Sue, who's a regular reader here.)  We are so proud of the two of them, who have kept Madz alive and kickin' (and even horseback-ridin'!)  To commemorate her two years of insulin-balancing, we ordered her - what else? - a plush pancreas.  Madz and Katie are all-around awesome ladies, and we were thrilled to be there with them for the occasion.

This adorable pancreas is made by I Heart Guts.

I'm off to tic more off my to-do list.  Even if you're as busy as I am... be sure you take care of you, first and foremost!

Friend Makin' Monday... caught red-handed!

It's a beautiful day in Los Angeles, and it also happens to be Tom's first day at his new job.  (Yay, hurray!)  It's a ten-hour workday for him, but he's very happy and it seems like it will be a good fit.

My freelancing jobs are more flexible, and allow me to work from home.   This means I get to do all of our errands and much of our cooking while he works on-site, so while my schedule is a little jumbled today, I'm feeling happy and productive.

Being alone at home also means that I don't have anybody there with me while I eat most of my meals.  It's not like anybody stands over me anyway, but there's something nice about knowing there's someone nearby who could catch you red-handed if you were eating inappropriately... or who could help you talk through food challenges.  I used to have a tendency to eat more when I was alone, So I'm going to be working extra hard to stay accountable to myself, logging meals as they happen instead of a day later, and so on.

Fortunately, we have a great food schedule for the week, including a few special items we picked up at the Farmer's Market.  My favorite?  Persian mulberries!

He's kind of tendril-covered. That's normal.

  

We first discovered Persian mulberries in 2008, through an article in the Los Angeles Times, which described the berries as having "a toxicating effect," and "intensely sweet, but with a nice, balancing acidity. The flavor is almost wine-like in its complexity."  They're delicate, plus the trees only produce a limited quantity... and at the time, the berries were so popular that farmers often hid their baskets underneath the market tables, only to be purchased by those in the know.

We headed straight to the mulberry farmer that Sunday after reading the article, and requested one of those sneakily hidden cartons.  After tasting one berry, we couldn't resist.  We ate the rest of that carton for breakfast while sitting on the curb.  And it's a good thing - they're so fragile that you practically need to eat them right away.  Either they melt in your mouth... or they melt right there in the carton.

They're still mostly a word-of-mouth delicacy these days, but instead of hiding underneath, they sit inauspiciously in a corner of the few mulberry farmers' tables.  They're always kind of leaky from the tender berries' deep juices... and if I didn't already know them to be the most complex, flavorful berry around, I would never consider purchasing them on looks alone.

   

They're good with fat-free Greek yogurt... but honestly, they're even better on their own.

  
I tend toward the simple with mulberries, because they have such a unique flavor.  I wouldn't cook them, or even mar their flavor in combination with anything else.  I'd maybe consider using them in a salad. Really, the only time I've appreciated them as much as straight from the carton was last year, when Tom had the brilliant idea of making sorbet with them.  But that's a recipe for next mulberry season, alas, because this one is just about over.  I'll be sure to let everyone know when the season starts next year... because you'll surely catch me red-handed that day.

From the mulberry juice, that is.  These puppies STAIN.

  
And now for a little Friend Makin' Monday!  Today's topic is "A Letter to My Future Self."

Dear future self:


Hello! What is the future like? Do we have rocket packs and flying cars yet?


I am doing well.  My year, so far, has been transformative in so many different ways.  I feel like I'm finally on the right path, of following my heart (not my jerking knee or my anxious brain or my addicted stomach) toward doing what is best for me.  Are you keeping up with all of the changes I made?  I don't know when in the future you are, future self, but no matter when it is, all of the changes I've made have been with the goal of maintaining them for life.  (That's why they aren't drastic, or uncompromising.) 


What I haven't been able to master (yet) is the writing career.  I've definitely made great strides toward it, but I'm really hoping that you've carried out all that I've set up - and more.


How's the family, future self?  Were you able to have a child? Adopt one? Are the kittens still being adorable and mischievous? Do we have a dog yet?  If the answer to those questions is "yes," then it also means we probably have a house.  Are you gardening, and cooking fresh produce for everyone?  I can't wait to see it, taste it, smell it... live it.


Thanks for being such a great influence. I'd like to think I did all of these good things with you in mind... because I'm hoping you and I will have a long, beautiful friendship.


I love you. No matter what you're up to these days.  But whatever that is... I hope you're taking good care of you.


xoxox
present self


OK. That's it for today, but I'm looking forward to sharing my upcoming posts with you.  Come back soon for some harvest-time recipes, a bit of insight on my weight loss progress, and a very Californian adventure, plus lots more.  And in the meanwhile - please, take care of you!

Zen-Makin' Sunday (a prequel to Friend-Makin' Monday)

Recently I've felt like a bit like I'm Fozzie Bear, standing onstage amidst an onslaught of rotten tomatoes.

Which is, to say, not so swell.

  

But I received some excellent advice on Thursday - to rest.  I think there's been so much going on that I have felt more and more stretched, less and less centered.  Certainly less present.  So I heeded that advice, and made sure that did things that were restful.

This is not to say that I sat around on the couch.  In fact, I did very little of that.  Rest doesn't have to involve inactivity.  It's almost more of a mindset than an action.   It may actually be more about what I didn't do, than what I did do.  I call this "zen-gathering."

I did not...

• ... stress about work or budgets.
• ... try to numb myself with food (and I'm proud to say that throughout all of the emotions or stress I've gone through lately, I have been able to keep myself from eating emotionally.)
• ... talk about myself negatively, even once, all day Sunday.  I've been a wellspring of negative self-talk lately, and that's unusual for me. I made a conscious decision to nip it in the bud, and as a result, Sunday felt so much more happy and balanced.

 
I did...

• ... work out, very hard.  That made 6 for 7 days this week (with one planned rest day) - which is my best record since surgery.  Saturday's workout was at Slimmons as usual - though it was particularly fun for us since it was movie-music themed.  Richard came dressed as Frank-N- Furter, and I couldn't resist waiting in line for a picture afterward.

If this picture had audio, you'd know that "Singin' in the Rain" was playing as Patty took it.

• ... see a movie.  We're still riding on our stored-up Arclight points, so we got to see Cowboys & Aliens for free.  I won't spoil it for anyone, but I will say that I felt modestly positive about it, and that Daniel Craig sure packs a punch.
• ... collaborate with Tom to plan out our food and work schedule for the week.
• ... spend some chill, relaxing time with friends.  As I grow older, I seem to be less of an extrovert, in the sense that I get more energy out of time alone (and with Tom) than I do from time spent with others.  But mellow time with people I enjoy always reminds me that just because I'm more introverted than I used to be, it doesn't mean I'm not an extrovert.
• ... go on our weekly food shopping trip, including Super King, Trader Joe's, and our farmer's market, which is just beginning to hit prime harvest season.

That trip to the farmer's market - along with the nix on negative self-talk - might've been the turning point for me.  I was consistently grouchy for over a week, but that all changed when I sat down at the Farmer's Kitchen, a farm-to-table restaurant run by the market.  While we waited for breakfast to arrive, Tom and I shared a four-ounce cup of nearby Carmela Ice Cream's new flavor, Lemon & Olive Oil.

I know, I know. Ice cream for breakfast. Isn't that unhealthy? Could that be emotional eating?

Well, it would be unhealthy if it was a large serving, but it was a tiny serving.  It would be unhealthy if it were full of fillers and candy and crap, but it was organic, with natural ingredients made by an artisan company.  It would be emotional eating if I were not otherwise addressing the emotions I've been feeling, but I have been working very hard on that.  Or if I wasn't hungry (I was), if it triggered a binge (it didn't) or if I wasn't mindful.  And I was extremely mindful.

In fact, it was a very sensory experience.  I closed my eyes and let the tangy flavors linger on my tongue.  I thought about the ingredients, about the way they work together, and how it could inform my own cooking.  I talked about those ideas with Tom.  It was as mindful an experience with food as any I've had. Although though there were only a few spoonfuls of the ice cream, focusing on it mindfully made it infinitely more satisfying than any large bowl of low-quality junk food would have been.  Better than any gourmet meal that I didn't pay attention to.

That experience led to the next... and the next.  I reflected as I enjoyed my Farmer's Kitchen egg-and-squash-blossom scramble with sauteed fresh greens.  That mindfulness inspired a few of the beautiful fresh market purchases we made, which will in turn inspire some upcoming posts for Finishing the Hat.  It's surprising just how much one little thing - like a small but savored indulgence - can inspire and snowball into more and more mindfulness and creativity.... whereas mindless emotional eating can snowball into binges or other unhealthy behavior.

Do you pay attention to your meals?  Or do you multi-task, do you have to read or watch or talk while you eat?  You might consider taking some time to really think about and savor your food.  It's surprising how vibrant a meal can be when it's the center of your attention.  Take care of you today, and give it a try!

And, finally... Friend Makin' Monday: the Girly Edition! I actually helped contribute to the questions this week.

1) Do you like to shop?
I do. I find it creatively stimulating. I love looking at product design, I love discovering things I've never seen before, or new ways at looking at things. All of these things can be done at a well-curated museum... but just as easily done at a well-curated boutique. I do far more window-shopping than purchasing, and I find it just as enjoyable.

2) How often do you wear makeup?
It seems that my answer is directly correlated to how long I've known people.  If I'm comfortable with you, I'm probably not wearing much makeup, or any at all.  If I know I'm meeting you for the first time, you can bet I'm wearing some makeup (albeit natural-looking.)  I think it's a confidence thing.

3) How do you feel about nail polish?
I can't keep it on my fingernails - I'm a peeler.  So I buff the fingers and (sometimes) paint the toes (if I'm pampering myself.)

4) Do you consider yourself a feminist?
At this point in time, I think it's kind of odd that anyone would not think of themselves as a feminist. Really, at the core, feminism is about equal rights and respect for women.  Every man and woman should want that.

5) What's your biggest challenge as a woman?
I've seen gender prejudice in action in the workplace.  Heck, do you see how few women work as directors, as compared to men?  I'm not sure how you solve that problem... but I'm going to keep doing my best, and hope that people will see it.

6) Do you wear skirts and dresses? Or do you prefer something else?
I love skirts and dresses, because I think they're cute, and I generally find them more comfortable than anything else.  (Full disclosure: I'm probably wearing bike shorts underneath, which is the key to that comfort.)

7) How do you feel about high heels?
I have never, ever, EVER felt comfortable in them. Maybe it's my weight. Maybe it's just me. But give me a cute pair of strappy sandal wedges or ballet flats, and I'm happy. 

8) Do you subscribe to magazines?
Boy, howdy.  My favorite is Real Simple, though I also subscribe to Health. As a treat, I sometimes buy myself a copy of Martha Stewart Living, or her health offshoot, Whole Living.  On a plane I almost always read Entertainment Weekly.  I realized recently that if you combined all of the magazines and blogs I read, the collective mission statement would read:  "Let's host a freakin' gorgeous - yet tasty and healthy- dinner party.  And then watch a movie afterward."  Is there any wonder I came up with Supper Club 600? 

9) Do you shave your legs/wax/use depilatory/go au naturale?
I'd like to say that I shave regularly. Really, I would.  Semi-regularly is probably more like it. (Sorry about that, friends at Slimmons.  I have a husband who just doesn't care about absence or presence of leg hair.)

10) What is your favorite thing about being a woman?
I love that I can embrace my femininity, and be strong... and that in this culture, at this time, those two things don't have to be contradictory.

Friend Makin' Monday, sans unicorns and rainbows

It's a brand new day.  It's a brand new week.  And I'm still here.

It was a bit of a frenetic weekend.  Lots of cooking and prep for SC600 - which I managed not to photograph even once.  That works out OK, though, because we'll be doing a second SC600: BBQ Edition soon, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Sunday brought major exhaustion - including a brief nap that accidentally turned into a three-hour-nap.  It also brought with it some major food addiction struggles.  I was feeling emotional, and experiencing 2 or 3 out of the 4 "HALT" conditions that can lead to relapse.  I fought food cravings all day, and managed to avoid indulging by talking through my emotions, resting, and seeking out healthy food.  (Even when hungry while out late, I managed to order a turkey burger instead of something much worse.)  I did, however, eat a brownie.  I ate it mindfully, just the single-serving I bought.  I felt sated and no longer felt the need to cram every kind of everything down my gullet.  As I said to Tom earlier in the day - that craving had nothing to do with food.  It had to do with wanting not to feel emotion.

But I'm still here.  And do you know why?  The answer also happens to be the answer for today's Friend Makin' Monday question.

Was there a defining moment in which you realized that you needed to lose weight? 

Yes.  There was.  And it isn't pretty, so if you're looking for rainbows and unicorns, maybe it's best you move along to LisaFrank.com.

My defining moment was actually a defining month. May, 2009.  It was the month my mother died.

Mom suffered from an auto-immune disease called ITP - which is a complicated condition, but boils down to her immune system consuming her blood cells, which made her bleed internally unless she took steroids.  Which she did for the duration of the disease.  Which lasted for twelve years before she passed away.  Most people gain weight from a couple of days on steroids.  Can you imagine taking them for twelve years?  Unfortunately, I can, because I saw it happen.  Along with the fatigue from the disease, it caused a vibrant, warm, spitfire of a woman to disappear before my eyes.

Before all of this went down, Mom had issues with behavioral eating (which I've discussed earlier and elsewhere) - and was already morbidly obese. But everything was compounded by the steriods, not to mention being exhausted and having her joints slowly destroyed. Which led to weight gain. Which led to more exhaustion, worse joints, more weight gain, more exhaustion, worse joints, more weight gain.  An infinite cycle of it.

There were years of slowly slipping mobility.  Of my dad doing all of the housework and caring for her 24/7. There were walkers, wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, vans with elevators, chairs with mechanisms to lift her out.  And after her fall at the end of April 2009, in the retirement home where she was so miserable, there was even a mechanical sling that lifted her from the bed to the toilet on wheels.  She couldn't move herself at all anymore.  This is when I left Los Angeles to spend what I thought would be a week in my hometown, cheering her up.

But within five days at the retirement home, she'd contracted a blood infection from the pressure sores.  Her weight pushed so hard against the surface of the bed that it wounded her.  And because of her diabetes, healing would be impossible.  She spent the rest of that month in the hospital, and I stayed for all of it.

Soon there was an around-the-clock air pressure mask, for lungs weighted down so that not enough oxygen got to them.  Significant mental confusion followed, including an extended period of hallucination that my father and I were working with the mob to have her killed. (Which sounds funny now, but was heartbreaking then.)  And eventually, there was the discovery of her congestive heart failure.  There were a few precious days of lucidity as we all said our goodbyes.  And then there was coma.

And then, there's the day I don't talk about much, or think about much, for that matter.  The morning she woke up from the coma.  They were flipping her over to try to clean her rotting wounds, when she woke up screaming from the pain.  She didn't stop, or fall asleep again, until they administered the dose of morphine that allowed her to relax long enough to die that afternoon.  And we were all there with her, horrified, watching her suffer, and then watching her slip away.

I do my best to remember my mother as she was before all of this. A force of life to be reckoned with.  Quickest with a joke - with the least appropriate joke for the occasion, in fact.  Passionate about family, about celebrating, about understanding and communicating with her loved ones.  And those memories make me happy.

But the memory of her dying?  I have to return to it now and again.  It keeps me on my weight loss journey.  Because although it was an auto-immune disease that compounded her health, it was her weight that made that disease so much more difficult to bear.  Someday, somehow, I will die, too.  And when I do, I do not want my weight to make that experience worse than it needs to be.

__


Thank you for being here with me today, everyone.  This isn't an easy story to share.  I work so hard to make my journey to better health one that is filled with joy.  I firmly believe that one can find so much to love and live for while one is losing weight, even within that very process.  And I promise that I will continue to share my discoveries about the joy of healthy living here, day by day.  But some days, I have to remember what set me on this path.  I just wish my Mom didn't have to die for it to happen.

Please.   Please take care of you.  And tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

Food (and Friend) Makin' Monday at Eat Real Fest

As a healthy living blogger in Los Angeles, I'm always on the lookout for local happenings that encourage Angelenos to eat real food instead of fast/processed/marketed food... or "edible food-like substances," as Michael Pollan is fond of calling them.  So when I heard about Eat Real Fest at Helm's Bakery, I slapped it on my calendar immediately.   I mean, just look at their description and their mission statement:

"Eat Real combines a state fair, a street-food festival, and a block party to create a celebration of good food. At the Eat Real Festival, participants learn where food comes from, who grows and makes it, and how they make it. ...  All food incorporates regionally-sourced, fabulous, and sustainably-produced ingredients.

"Eat Real is a social venture business with an affiliated non-profit focused on promoting and teaching food craft. Eat Real’s mission is to help revitalize regional food systems, build public awareness of and respect for the craft of making good food and to encourage the growth of American food entrepreneurs.

It touches on so much that I care about, and a lot of what I embrace with the changes I've made to my eating, toward the goal of better health.  So Saturday morning, Tom and I hit the road - Carmageddon be damned - and checked it out.

I have much to share about the festival, but that will have to wait until an upcoming Adventure Wednesday.  Today is Friend-Makin' Monday, the perfect time to tell you about the highlight of my day at Eat Real: meeting my favorite Food Network star, Aarti Sequeira. 

   
Tom and I are avid fans of The Next Food Network Star, and last season was especially compelling to watch - not just because of Aarti's scrumptious-looking Indian dishes, but because of her warm personality. (Plus she had an enviable collection of flower hair clips - something I've been wearing for years, too!)  We cheered out loud when she won, and we've been watching her series ever since.  (We even used her chai and raita recipes for our Indian-themed edition of Supper Club 600!) 


I kept seeing her around the festival, and I was almost too shy to go up to her.  In LA, it's considered good form to smile politely and not approach celebrities... but I always felt such a connection to Aarti, so I mustered my courage and approached her.  She was every bit as warm and sunny as she appears on-screen.  (More, if that's even possible!)  It's a rare opportunity to meet someone who inspires you, and meeting her was a complete joy.  I highly recommend watching Aarti Party on Food Network, or her earlier online food/variety series Aarti Paarti.  Here's my favorite episode, which includes her recipe for Huggy Buggy Bread Pudding (plus some excellent ukelele action.)








All right!  We've got a great week ahead of us, with some recipes, some crazy shoes, some neon-green Ghostbuster ectoplasm, and my thoughts on being healthy at every size.  I hope you'll come back and visit soon - and in the meanwhile, please take care of you!

Happy Fourth of July FMM - plus a special recipe for the holiday!

Happy Independence Day!  And also happy Friend Makin' Monday.


If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links there too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts.

FMM: What Are Your Plans For Today?

We're relaxing, hopefully finding some red nail polish, and visiting our friends' home at the top of a hill in Silverlake, with a view of all of the different fireworks in the LA basin.  It's so fun to gather with loved ones on holidays.  Though I do miss my family - we were all together this time last year, and this year we're spread across the country.  So I'm doing one traditional thing I grew up with, thanks to my mom.

When Mom celebrated the holidays, she really celebrated.  Every season had its own set of decorations ("frou-frou," she'd call them.)  This is the kind of woman who owned a plush firework toy.  And when she cooked for the holidays, it was elaborate.  Food was celebration.  And on the Fourth of July, it was red, white, and blue.  Pancakes, specifically.  It was such a tradition that when I was abroad during Independence Day between sophomore and junior year, I missed them so terribly that she made them for my welcome-back party.

In my new outlook, food can still be celebratory - but it can't be the center of that celebration.  It can be enjoyed, but it can't lead to overindulgence.  So I wanted to take Mom's "American-as-Apple-Pie Red-White-and-Blue Pancakes" through my Finishing the Hat recipe filter, to see what I could swap in order to bring the calories down.  And it worked!

Simple ingredients, tasty results!

There are three recipes I'll be making for this one dish - the applesauce pancakes, the blueberry compote, and the cherry compote.  We'll start with the blueberry.

Blueberry Compote

• 2 cups blueberries
• 2 tb cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 tb honey
• 1 tb lemon juice

Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of the water.
The mixture will resemble milk once it's dissolved.

Simmer the blueberries and 3/4 cups water in a saucepan over medium-high heat for 7 minutes.
Then lower the heat, and add the cornstarch mixture. Cook for a few more minutes.

It will be ready when the liquid coats the spoon.

Turn off the heat, and then add the lemon juice.

On to the next sauce -

Cherry Compote

• 2 cups cherries
• 2 tb cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 tb honey
• 1 tb lemon juice

Halve and pit the cherries.

Then follow the same directions as the blueberries, cooking for 10 minutes before adding starch, instead of 7.

Also great over ice cream!

And now, for the main attraction.

Whole-Wheat Applesauce Pancakes

• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup yogurt
  1/2 cup water
• 1 egg

Mix liquid ingredients, then add the others until incorporated.

Because of the whole wheat flour, it will be slightly gummier than your usual pancake batter.

Using your 1/3 cup measure as a serving of pancake - cook over medium-high heat until ready, then flip.

They'll puff up quite well because of the baking soda & powder.

Then garnish, and serve! Or serve and let your guests garnish - everybody loves to design their own.
Red, white, and blue-licious.

Our secret ingredient for the "white" is Fat Free Reddi Wip, which is 5 calories for 2 tablespoons!

  For 1 TB Blueberry Compote:

 For 1 TB Cherry Compote:

  For 1 Pancake:

I hope you all have a lovely day.  And for you American readers, I share with you a gratefulness for our freedom (and a fondness for bright explosions on the fourth of July.)  Enjoy them, and take care of you!

Friend Makin' Monday in the fridge... plus, a grocerytopia contest!

Happy Monday!

We had a nicely balanced weekend, which included both fun times and mellow times, including...

• Attending a sing-along downtown, and sang until I was hoarse.
• Trying a new vegan restaurant, where Tom had his very first date shake.
• Sweating (profusely) during an excellent workout at Slimmons
• Watching a brilliant solo play, performed by our friend Joy Nash (who you may know of Fat Rant fame, or as our Roz in Bubble Gumshoe.)  Man, the next time she mounts this production, all of you locals have to come with us.
• Getting a bit blue, though I managed to nix any emotional eating, and lean on the support of my friends.
• Kitten snuggle time, in the midst of our still-going Buffy marathon. (We just started Buffy 7/Angel 4, for those of you playing the home game.)
• Lunch out and party planning with friends. This included sharing a root beer float, which I thoroughly enjoyed and do not regret in the least. Even if it puts me at a plateau this week, that float was exactly what I wanted - was therefore extremely satisfying.

It's going to be another great week, so I'm happy to be kicking it off today with a Friend Makin' Monday that so beautifully collides with what I was already planning to share with you!

I've mentioned our amazing produce store, Super King, before.  This place is GROCERYTOPIA!  They have remarkable fruits and vegetables.  So, inspired by my last haul, I have a contest for you today!  Check out this picture of my last haul, and post a comment here with your guess of how much - to the penny - our bill totaled.  (By the way, Alexa and David, as our fellow Super King shoppers... so sorry, you're ineligible this time.)

This haul includes: 3 packages of mushrooms, 1 head of cauliflower, 5 stalks of rhubarb
1 package of blueberries, 2 kabocha squashes, 3 onions, 1 ginger root, 1 package of cherry tomatoes,
4 tomatoes, 1 bag of cherry peppers, 1 eggplant, 1 bag of grapes, 2 heads of broccoli, 5 bananas,
5 peaches, 3 oranges, 1bunch of basil, 1 bunch of cilantro, 1 bunch of dill, 1 zucchini, 7 cucumbers,
8 limes, 3 lemons, 1 bunch of squash blossoms

If you guess closest to the correct total, you will win an unusual prize... Tom and I will make a custom meal plan for you!  We'll ask the winner what his or her favorite foods are, and then we'll create healthy, balanced recipes for a whole meal built around them!  I'll announce the winner on tomorrow's post, and then we'll share the recipes we come up with here, in an upcoming entry, so you can all enjoy.  Good luck!

And now, a happily thematic...

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at  www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts.

FMM: What’s in Your Fridge?

1. List a few common items that can always be found in your fridge.  Produce. Produce, produce, produce!  In order to meet our combined goal of fruit and vegetable servings for the week, Tom and I buy a combined total of 77 servings of veggies and 49 fruits each week.  Beyond that, I always keep my favorite vanilla Greek yogurt, low-cal tortillas for sandwiches, and easy-to-grab protein, like boiled eggs and a batch of chicken I've grilled for the week.
   
   
2. What kind of milk do you drink? I tend to have a glass of skim milk each day, and I make it through about a quart a week.
3. Do you prefer fresh or frozen vegetables? Oy, fresh.  We're blessed with California weather, which means California produce.
4. What do you currently have to drink in the fridge? Milk, sparkling water, and our water filter pitcher.  We occasionally have something else for a party, like single-servings of juice to mix with the sparkling water.  But we've cut out all soda. (This was a big thing for Tom, who used to subside on Splenda Diet Coke.)
5. How often do you clean out your refrigerator? Now that we buy so much produce, we pretty much have to clean it out every week as we bring the new stuff in.  Otherwise it won't all fit!
6. What’s the healthiest thing in it right now? Produce, produce, produce! A whole fridge full.
7. What’s the most unhealthy thing in it right now? Eight ounces of salted caramel ice cream, from our favorite local artisan company, Carmela.  We bought it especially for a dinner party we're having tonight - just enough for all four of us to have a half-cup.
8. What do you wish you had in it that you don’t have now? Kyoho grapes and heirloom tomatoes. They're not in season until August.
9. How often do you shop for groceries? Typically, just on Sunday. It's our big food-shopping day.  We begin by planning our menu for the whole week, and then depending on our needs, we go to the farmer's market, Super King, Trader Joe's and Ralph's.
10. What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now? Well, nothing is really weird to me.  But you might find our little container of homemade Thai chili paste a little unusual.

All right!  I hope that you kick off your week by doing something great for yourself.   I'll be back tomorrow with our contest winner, plus a weigh-in Tuesday.  Til then, take care of you!

Friend Makin' Monday, plus a dedication to Dad

Oy, as a contrast to all of last weekend's activities, this weekend was spent convalescing, as both Tom and I have some sort of flu-bug.  This meant we didn't infect any of our Slimmons friends (and we missed Richard dressed as Woody from Toy Story. Bah!)  And we didn't infect any of our other friends, either.  Sleeping, fluids, some trashy movies (When In Rome is TERRIBLE but The Sorcerer's Apprentice is worse.)  And a marathon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the cure to what ails anybody.  We also caught up on The Glee Project (which is pretty fun) and Food Network Star (which has been aggravating me. I'm terribly unfond of Penny and can't wait for her to get too catty for the sensible judges to appreciate.)  Yes, that's right, I watch reality TV.  But it's always been limited to food and musical theater competitions.

Yesterday I was the majority of a continent away from my pop on Father's Day.  This is one of the bummers of living in Los Angeles.  But I'm really looking forward to him visiting in September.  Lots of fun awaits us, Dad!

I'd like to dedicate today's blog to him.  Thank you, Dad.  You've been a wonderful example all my life -  of warmth and loyalty, of grace under fire, of loving support.  I will do my best to follow your example, all my life.

It's good to know that you found my off-kilter perspective amusing even when I was wee.
Thanks for encouraging me to stay weird.  And thanks for growing those sideburns.

  
Also, it's Friend Makin' Monday...

 If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here and at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts.

FMM: Yes or No?

1. Do you use coupons? Yes, a little, but the mailings we get seem to advertise sales, not offer coupons.  We certainly shop the sales.
2. Do you like football? Yes.  I grew up in a University of Michigan Football household, so I'm predisposed to it.  But it turns out, as an adult I just don't have the time, and it isn't interesting me as much.  I actively dislike watching professional football, though. (Any professional sport, actually - no thanks.)
3. Are you in a relationship? Yes, it's a marital one, and Tom makes me happier than I ever expected anyone could.
4. Is your phone always within arm’s reach? No, not always. But often.
5. Do you like thunderstorms? Yes, I do, and I miss watching them something fierce. Though I don't miss the damage they can cause.
6. Can you cook? Yes, I can, and I've gotten better with more practice this year.  I am not the household cook, though.  I'm the household sous chef and baker.
7. Are you – or have you – lost weight? Yes, 56 pounds as of last week.
8. Do you know how to read a map? Yes, I do. Doesn't everyone?
9. Do you wear makeup? Yes, but infrequently - and when I do, it's usually pretty minimal.
10. Do you read regularly? Yes, probably every day. 
11. Are you publicly affectionate? Yes I am, but only in a PG kind of way.  We are very hands-holdy huggy.  We'll kiss if the mood strikes, but Tom is less overtly PDA-prone so it's a rarer display of affection.
12. Do you like picnics? Yes, very much! I haven't had one recently and I'm so overdue.
13. Do you have a/c? Yes, I have central air, but we're not using it very much this summer, for budgetary reasons.
14. Have you ever been out of the country? Yes, to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, and a quick layover in England.  Strange that I live this close to the Mexican border and have never been.  I even speak Spanish.
15. Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Yes, I do.  Got on one for the first time in... maybe 10 years... and it was just like riding a bicycle.  (Har har.)

OK, I'm off to try and be productive and not a flu-ridden slug today.  I will try to take care of me, and I hope you will take care of you, too.  

Friend Makin' Monday, plus a weekend recap

We had a bit of a crazy weekend, full of interesting and unusual outings, so I thought I'd kick off the week by recapping our fun, in brief:

• Tom and I went with Alexa from The Curvy Nerd to catch a Friday evening showing of X-Men First Class. I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it.  I thought the history parallels were clever, and found the characters and their relationships compelling.  (I could've done without the actual members of the first class, but there was enough Charles/Erik to keep me involved.)

• We kicked off Saturday morning with a trip to Slimmons, where we wore our swimsuits for Richard's "Life's a Beach" dance party.  You can see us dancing to "Beach Baby" early on in this video from class...

• Saturday was also my mother-in-law Jean's birthday, so we spent the afternoon with her - introducing her to our new kitten Lon, seeing the very zen documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams at the Sunset 5, and enjoying a light dinner at the nearby Veggie Grill restaurant. 

• Our friend Samantha, who is an excellent and fun artist, had a show at Space 2710, so we ended the evening checking out her adorable felt pug-in-hat portraits.

• I'd been invited to check out a Curvy Closet Raid from the lovely local plus-sized fashion icons, Danielle, Reah and Monique - so we hit the road around 7, hoping our early-bird arrival would make for all kinds of wormy fashion.  Well, that metaphor's terrible, but you know what I mean!  I ended up scoring a lot of beautiful pieces from each of the women, all which will help fill out my closet as my wardrobe is starting to shrink (while I do.)  Thanks, ladies, for the excellent threads!

• While on the road, we took the opportunity to check out some local estate sales.  We love the chance to peek at LA real estate (and find cool vintage scores!) and it's cheap entertainment, too.  We found one excellent treasure that I'll be using for a blog entry soon!

• It was Gay Pride Day in Los Angeles - and Tom and I are big supporters of gay rights, so we went with some of our gay friends to watch and cheer for the pride parade and attend their party.  While there, one singers from of the marching choruses spotted me singing along to "We Dance" from Once On This Island.  He hopped out of line to come invite me to join!  I love singing and haven't done it with a group in quite a long time... so I'm actually giving the offer some consideration.  I need more showtunes in my life.

• Exhausted, we headed home to play with kittens and listen to the soundtrack for Trey Parker and Matt Stone's new musical, The Book of Mormon, for the first time before watching it sweep the Tony awards.  If you're curious, it's on sale at Amazon today for $1.99 - that's how we purchased it.  Huzzah for sales! It is hilarious (and very irreverent and explicit, so listen at your own risk.)   It turns out that our satellite was knocked off alignment and won't be fixed until later this week, so thank goodness for streaming TV online.  

Man! That was a busy weekend.  No wonder I slept in today (and took so long to post my blog entry!)

It's still Monday, so of course I've got a Friend Makin' Monday question to include...

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts.

FMM: If you lived in a movie, which one would it be?  And which character would you play?

Oh, the first one that comes to mind is Amelie, from Amelie.

  
At least, she's who I aspire to be, in ways.

I love the gentle, peaceful sort of whimsy of the film.

  

I love that Amelie creates adventures for herself.

And that she encourages others to embark on their own adventures.

She's shy, but she overcomes that shyness to do good deeds for other people.  And she sees things that no one else sees.

  
OK.  I've got a to-do list as long as the day, and half of the day to do it in, so I'm off to work on that.  I hope that your day is lovely and fun, and that you spend it taking good care of you.  Til tomorrow!

It's a happy birthday Friend Makin' Monday!

 It's a happy day here at the TodiMooers Thai Pad.  It's Tom's birthday!

I wish I knew him at this age, but I wasn't actually born yet!

 
He's definitely the best friend I've ever made.  So I'm just going to do a quick Friend Makin' Monday post, and get back to celebrating my sweet husband.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen.  The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Why Do You Blog?

I blog because I am on a journey that is improved immensely by sharing it - whether it's celebrating my successes or examining my challenges.  It helps me stay on the path.  It helps me understand the process.

I blog because Richard Simmons continually teased us about how well we eat.  And we discovered it's kind of rare to be able to fully enjoy food but lose weight.  And we think it shouldn't be rare.  So hopefully, the things I learn and try will help others, too.

I blog because it helps me continually hone my skills as a writer.  I have creativity that burns inside of me.  If I don't use it and share it, I wither and get seriously blue.

I blog because I like meeting new people. I've already met so many wonderful folks through Finishing the Hat, and I've even gotten closer to friends I already knew.

I blog because it is so damn fun.




OK, dear ones, I am off to birthday my boy.  Have a beautiful Monday, and come back for more fun this week - hopefully some good news tomorrow, and a recap of our latest themed dinner on Wednesday.  Take care of you!

Friend Makin'... Tuesday?

Happy Tuesday!  And welcome to everyone who has found their way here from Fitblogger, where I am the featured blogger of the day.  Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll introduce yourself so I can say hello.

I had a wonderful weekend with my family, followed by a smashing holiday Monday with friends.  And that leaves me a little bit...

So all week, you'll find my usual daily series one day behind.  (Except Friday, because I'm skipping Theme-Free Thursday.)

I'm kicking off this week with...

please take a moment to answer this week's question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen.  The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it's time for this week's topic!

FMMT: ABC's of Me

Here's how it works...you'll choose topics about yourself, your likes, dislikes, etc.  according to each letter in the alphabet, and share a little with us. Oh shhh...you know you love it. ;)

A is for aqua.  I will shortly be painting my bedroom walls aqua.  It will be so nice to get our bedroom decor together... we've been putting it off for a couple of years.  For me, a well-decorated and organized room leads to a well-decorated and organized brain.

B is for backyard.  I don't have one and I have been desperately wanting one.  For tending to a garden full of beets & blossoms.  For sipping tea and reading (or writing!) a book. For catching a waft of jasmine on the breeze.  Can I come and visit yours?

C is for citrus fruit.  I love to cook with it.  I love to eat it.  And my kitchen is decorated with it.

D is for drama club.  My high school drama club was the first group to which I felt like I truly belonged.  I still treasure each one of the friends I met there.  I imagine that those around us found us tremendously geeky.  But the beautiful thing about us is that we didn't really care what everybody else thought - we loved each other, and we weren't afraid to be unapologetically ourselves.

E is for even numbers.  I prefer to leave the television volume on an even number.  I don't know why this is, but I feel very strongly about it.

F is for freestyle.  I've been swimming for exercise for years now, but I've finally mastered freestyle/crawl recently, thanks to my awesome snorkel.

G is for Greek yogurt.  It's one of my favorite foods.... and I put it in everything lately.  If you're a regular reader, you probably knew that already, though.

H is for Hollywood, where I live.  I love it here. I love our local Farmer's Market.  I love easy access to movies and culture.  I love that the subway runs through it!

I is for inches.  I am surprised how many I've lost since January. Just yesterday, I was laying on the grass in a friend's backyard, and realized I was feeling the bones at the top of my ribcage.  For the first time I can remember.

J is for jewelry, which is one of the only things I collect. I love hand-made and vintage pieces especially.  But really, I enjoy anything that is kind of unique or unusual.  I'm not into fancy gems or stones (outside of my sapphire engagement ring and sapphire-diamond wedding ring) but I love me some bakelite or some vintage Czech beads. 

K is for kitchen.  We spend so much time in there these days, creating our own recipes or testing out others'.  The food we've been eating makes me feel satisfied and healthy.

L is for listening.  I love to listen... to friends' stories, to all kinds of music, to podcasts, to my kittens' purring.  Ironically, I'm nearly deaf in one ear.

M is for movies.  Since the lights went down in the theater where I saw my first one (Cinderella) to the one I saw on Sunday (Pirates) I've had a lasting love affair with cinema.  I watch all kinds of them - and obsessively.  I worked in the industry, and I have aspirations to have my own screenplays hit the big screen someday.

N is for nieces and nephews. I have ten. It is all kinds of awesome to be an aunt, though I wish they weren't all so far away in NorCal, Indiana and Michigan. (At least nobody's in Milan anymore!)

O is for obliques.  Richard Simmons has told me that I am particularly good at oblique crunches.  My obliques just keep getting stronger and stronger!

P is for Powers Waterworks, the name of my production company, should I ever own one.  I got the name from something my father used to say when he picked up the phone: "Powers Waterworks! Which drip would you like?"

Q is for quest.  I still need to post the most recent stage in Cake Pop Quest 2011.  And you need that recipe, because these babies are only 58 calories per pop!!

R is for retro.  I don't know quite how I stumbled into my personal aesthetic, but I just love things that look... how to say?... out-of-date.  I don't mean "Shaw Report" out-of-date.  I mean really out of date.  You kids enjoy your 80s neon stilettos.  I'll be over here in my circle skirt and ballet flats.

S is for Sondheim, my very favorite musical theater legend.  I harbor a secret desire to be a lyricist, though I fear I wouldn't have half of Sondheim's cleverness.  Someday perhaps I'll try it.

T is for television.  I'm not a couch potato, but I do watch a fair bit because I also aspire to write television.  My favorite current shows are Modern Family, 30 Rock, Community, Parks & Recreation, How I Met Your Mother, Mad Men, and Glee.  My favorite of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

U is for urban-dwelling.  I've known I should be a city girl since I saw my very first skyline.  I was probably seven and it was probably Detroit.

V is for Venice, one of my favorite cities on Earth.  Particularly Murano Island, where the community of glass-blowers create the prettiest objects d'art.  I am nuts about blown glass.  I am still mourning the loss of one of our bags after our honeymoon, which held the Murano vase - our big souvenir of the trip.

W is for writing.  I try to do a couple of hours every day.  It is simultaneous the easiest and hardest thing I ever do.  And I love it.

X is for exes. I don't do well with exes of any sort.  Ex-boyfriends.  Ex-bosses.  Ex-friends.  I am unspeakably awkward once a relationship is through.  I don't mean to be, but alas, this is a shortcoming of mine.

Y is for yellow.  I love so many colors, but yellow is probably my very favorite.  It was the main color theme for our wedding.  You'll see some pictures of it soon.

Z is for zen.  The tenets of Buddhism really speak to me, so I do what I can to gather zen in my life.

All right! I'll be back tomorrow for a Weigh-In Wednesday with an alternative to a fast-food summer "treat" without the chemicals and crap calories.  Hope you're all recovering from wonderful holiday weekends - and that you're taking care of you!

Friend Makin' Monday Awesomeness

Happy Monday!

I have all kinds of fun stuff in the works for this week - I can't wait to share it all with you.  Today's post, since it's our last full day with Kenz and Kent, will be a short but sweet Friend Makin' Monday!

What makes you awesome? List at least five qualities/hobbies/habits make you cool and unique? 

1)  I have a good heart.  I am full of love, I have a lot of positive energy, and I like to share that with the people around me.  And now, thanks to all the exercise I've been doing, my heart is in physically good shape, too!  I keep freaking out nurses with my good blood pressure.  "Are you feeling OK?  Shouldn't your blood pressure be higher?"  Nope, I'm feeling just fine, I've been making my heart happy with knee-lifts and bicep-curls!

2)  I'm creative.  I live and breathe creativity.  This comes out in so many different ways. From my writing to what we made last night for dinner. From my birthday parties (I once held a day-long creative retreat at the Old LA Zoo, where we drew, acted, danced, and made impromptu performance art) to the way that I dress... I don't feel complete unless I'm expressing myself in a creative way.

3)  I'm brave.  When the time is right, I'm not afraid to take a gigantic step toward making my life what I want it to be.  For instance, when I moved to Los Angeles nine years ago, I came to the city without a job, an apartment, family or friends in the area.  I knew I wanted to be here, and with the help of my parents, I made it happen.  And over those nine years, I've built a career, I've established a home, I've started a (two-person and three-cat) family, and found support and love in a community of which I am proud to be a part.

4)  I am a "fun aunt" to ten nieces and nephews.  It helps that I'm the youngest sibling of both sides of the family, but I am proud to be an aunt that gets along with, understands, and appreciates each of them.  I love them all to pieces.  (And I can't wait to meet our newest one, little Charlotte!  I hope I'll be one of her fun aunts, too.)

5)  I love movies and television.  LOVE.  I don't talk about it much here on my blog, but I'm a complete nerd when it comes to the big and small screen.  (And the stage, for that matter.)  I have a great background of knowledge and experience as a watcher (and a maker) of movies, and that makes me an excellent person to recommend entertainment.  If ever you're looking to watch something that will make your heart blossom like a spring peony, just ask, and I'll make a recommendation tailored to your tastes.

What are five awesome things about you?  Do tell.  (I want to know that you know you're awesome.  And I want you to know that I know you're awesome.)

All right!  I'll be back tomorrow with some exciting news AND an exciting link to my guest post on All the Weigh.  Until then, take care of you!

Friend Missin' Monday

Dear Mom,

Happy birthday. You would have turned 65 today, if you were still alive.

I just wanted to tell you how much I miss you.  How I miss our long phone calls.  How I miss your laughter.  Your way of bringing people together.  The way you understood people.

I miss the way - I'm almost embarrassed to admit it - that you spoiled me.  I'm pretty sure that every clerk in every stores where we shopped together eventually said "can you be my mom, too?"  I fought you on every purchase, because I didn't want you to blow your pin money on me.  But you spoiled everyone you knew.  Everybody but yourself.

My friend Kenz has this weekly blog post called "Friend Makin' Mondays."  Today's post inquires what celebrity you would meet, if you could.  But I wouldn't choose to have lunch with a celebrity.  I'd choose to have lunch with you, if I could.  So today is "Friend Missin' Monday," instead.

Now, don't get me wrong, Mom.  Of course I'd invite a celebrity to lunch with us. But Richard has become more of a friend now than a celebrity to me.  Do you remember using Deal-a-Meal, while I watched his TV show with you?  Do you remember sweating to the oldies together?  How in the world a five-year-old could fixate on the crazy guy on her mother's exercise video?  How did he become her imaginary friend?  I really don't know now, and I bet you didn't either, back then.  But he did.

And now, as an adult, how in the world did he become my real friend?  I would guess that if you had any say in the matter, it might have been your doing.  Because my life has changed so much for the better since I met him.  And you never told me while you were alive, but I think we both knew - I needed my life to change.  Because I didn't want to end up suffering, the way you did.

We wouldn't go out to some fancy restaurant, the three of us.  We'd sit together at my kitchen table, and I'd serve some of the food that Tom and I have been cooking lately.  I'd show you just how amazing and delicious that healthy food can be - and how wonderful it feels to enjoy it in moderation.  I'd make you beautiful fresh salads with citrus fruit and toasted almonds.  I'd serve roasted carrots with rosemary, and maybe some seared scallops.  We'd each have a cake pop in my latest flavor concoction, and it would be everything we needed for dessert.

Richard would talk to both of us about our eating, and about our exercise.  We would discuss how we got to where we are, and how we can get to where we want to be. 

In two weeks, you'll have been gone for two years. And I can't serve you that beautiful lunch today.  And Richard and I can't talk to you about getting to where you want to be.

But I can make that beautiful lunch for myself.  I can go to the pool and swim and swim and swim for as long as I can.  I can keep learning new exercises to get stronger, new flavors to savor, new ways to express myself.  I  know I can get where I want to be.

I'm spoiling myself, Mom.  I'm doing it for you.