Thanksgiving and Weight Issues

I had a great trip home.  I took time to be thankful for my family, my job, and my life.  I have a wonderful boyfriend who really makes my life better everyday and great friends!  Nothing is perfect, it is what it is.  And all-in-all, life's good.  I'm not homeless, unemployed or utterly alone.  Winning!

The only thing that was wrong with going home:  not enough vegetables!!!

I, as many people in America, struggle with those extra pounds.  Lately, I've been making efforts to work out more regularly.  With two gym memberships, I am exercising at least 5 hours a week, usually 7-10.  However, I constantly overeat.  Food is just SO GOOD GUYS.

In an effort to be better this week - me and the bf just made a grocery list and I'm going to cook breakfast for all week today.  My menu this week:

Breakfast:  oatmeal casserole, greek yogurt and a banana
Lunch:  turkey sandwich, vegetable soup, carrots, and an apple
Dinner:  vegetable (kale, broccoli, cauliflower or salad) and a pre-portioned frozen meal

We've decided to try pre-packaged meals for dinner for portion control to see if that works for a few weeks.  I'm not super excited about the idea, but I'm willing to see what happens.  After Christmas, I want to buy a juicer and start a modified Paleo diet.  I really want to see what it's like not to eat processed foods for awhile.


For now, I want to share this great oatmeal casserole recipe I got from my parents.  It's super delicious and great for cutting up into bars for all week.  It's awesome cold or warm!

Baked Oatmeal:

3 cups oatmeal
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk (or almond milk)
3-4 cups of applesauce (depending on how moist you like your oatmeal)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
nuts and seasonal fruit, optional

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients, put in a rectangular baking dish (11x7 ish).  Bake for 35 minutes.

Today, I'm going to make this with apples - I think next week I'm going to do bananas and strawberries!  I'm also going to get chia seeds at the grocery store today and add those for extra nutritional value.

What will you put in your baked oatmeal?

Meeting a Writer

One of my lifelong dreams is to be a writer.  A storyteller.  Someone who writes books, from home, for a living.

And I haven't blogged (written) in months.

A few weeks ago, bf and I were at the shore, enjoying a few days of calm, work free days.  It was a quiet beach, the weather was perfect, and as we were walking back to our towel and umbrella set-up, the family in front of us asked if we'd take a picture of them.

Bf took the picture of the grandma, granddaughter, mother and uncle.  We ended up talking to them for awhile.  Trent talked to the uncle who was a garbage man from Binghampton, NY.  I ended up talking to whoever wasn't taking care of the granddaughter.  The grandma was a writer who called us a "beautiful couple".  She had just written a book about an interracial couple, and we reminded her of them.

I asked her if she did the whole write an outline and make sure the story follows the proper build up, climax, let down cycle thing they always taught us about in school.  Nope.  She just writes.  She has a dream, she knows it will make a great story, and then she writes it.  In a few months.

Her advice:  "just write.  Stop talking about it and thinking about it and just do it."

Who knew Nike's slogan applied so well to every single aspect of life?