Thursday 2/28/13

I worked from home during the morning so I got to make myself eggs! I wish I had the motivation to wake up and make breakfast because eggs always feels like such a treat. I had 1 egg and 1 egg white over medium, a piece of toast and an apple with some peanut butter:

As I mentioned yesterday, both lunch and dinner weren't totally in my control. I went to an event at the Boston Park Plaza and they served up an insane spread of food for lunch. First, we were handed a mimosa as soon as we walked in. Talk about being wined and dined:

For lunch there were 4 giant spreads of everything you could think of. I made up a big plate and tried everything, but tried not to actually finish anything. I did okay and avoided the desserts!

For dinner I went to another local organization's Gala.

I thought we'd be served dinner but apparently it was just "hearty" appetizers. I didn't really see any appetizers, but I snagged one mini crab cake and had 2 glasses of wine.

When we got to the table there was an antipasta snack plate for each person.

Cute, but definitely not enough for dinner! I grabbed a mini macaroon on the way out and heated up some chickarina soup (sans chicken) when I got home. I also had a handful of pepperoni and a pickle.

Not a perfect day, but at least I blogged about it!

Wednesday 2/27/13

Breakfast today was cereal and some grapes:

Around 11:30 I had a cheese stick:

And for lunch, a turkey and tomato sandwich, carrots and hummus and an orange:

Around 4 I had another cheese stick and a reeses cup egg. Why are they sooo good??

When I got home I was hungry so I had ANOTHER cheese stick (maybe I should stop buying these) and a slim jim. Slim jims are probably the least natural thing I could be choosing. Not a good snack.

For dinner I had a two egg omelette with mozzarella cheese, 2 slices of toast with butter and split this fruit bowl with Tom (grapes, apple and clementine). I also had some OJ on the side.

I'm nervous about tomorrow. I have a lunch meeting and will be attending a dinner. The food options at Galas are usually on the healthier side (protein, vegetable, grain) so I should be okay, but I won't be able to take photos. We'll see how I do.

Updates & Goals Check In

Eek I suck. Things have been pretty busy lately and I just haven't felt like updating. I have a very small goal of updating my food every day for the next 5 days, no matter what it is!

My eating hasn't been terrible but it certainly hasn't been perfect the past few days. It would be impossible to remember everything so here's a few snapshots:

Oven baked cod (in a tinfoil packet) with veggies and garlic & chive mashed potatoes

The only picture I took from Tom's awesome bday dinner with his parents

We didn't end up eating these :( I have been scarred by my sister's oyster story and we were nervous they went bad.

Homemade pizza for dinner last night!

2013 Check-in

Professional Investments

I finally got a raise at work! It was a long process and I'm pretty proud at how I handled myself during it. Negotiating your salary is scary but it can only be easier from here. I'm really looking forward to not having to worry as much about money. Woohoo! I'm already seeing some great benefits from the raise in my work. I feel more motivated to take risks and initiative and think both me and the organization are going to benefit from it. I've also been more active in getting involved in the nonprofit community in Boston. This week alone I'm going to 3 events -- yesterday I went to a data management tool training, tomorrow afternoon I'm going to an event/auction seminar and Thursday night I'm going to another local organization's Gala. I also signed up for a development and event planning two day certification course in March. Things are going well! I've been lacking on the volunteering and need to find something that interests me. I have some ideas but need to put them into action!

Social Investments

I've done pretty well with keeping in touch with old friends/family. Not as well as I could be of course, but I have been adding e-mails and phone calls to my work calendar, which is helping. I feel like I've been really busy the last month and haven't been able to see/keep in touch with my friends in Boston as much as I would like. This is one of my most important goals for this year and I need to make it more of a priority.

Personal Investments

- Gah, I forgot I was supposed to be getting rid of my pen chewing. I haven't focused on this at all, maybe I'll start googling now..

- I haven't seen a doctor about my skin yet but I've been trying some new things. No miracle workers yet but  I'm happy I'm at least being semi-proactive on this front.

- I have a trip booked to Europe in April...yay travel plans!

- I'm a little behind on my 30 book goal for this year. I spent WAY too long forcing myself to finish "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman. I really should have just given up but I finally finished last night. Right now I'm at 4 books for the year (The Language of Flowers, The Night Circus, The Magician King, and The Age of Miracles). This morning I started reading Cutting for Stone.
- I'm also a bit behind on my 100 yelp review goal. I currently have 15 and should be at 16 or 17. Not bad!

- Fitness wise I am way behind on my goals. I don't know why I can't get myself to the gym, and I have no interest in discovering/rediscovering an activity I enjoy. It's pretty sad considering how much I loved zumba and other group fitness classes at one point. I'm also annoyed at myself because I'm paying an extra $20/month at my gym for the option of fitness classes and have yet to go to one. Ugh. Not sure where to go from here.

- I've lost a few pounds so far this year but am not ready to set any legitimate goals in stone. I think I'm scared of failing again, so having nothing solid to work toward makes it less frightening. Baby steps for now are okay with me. 

Not goals related, but this is so random. I went to the eye doctor and was given steroid drops (because my eyes suck) and every time I use them I get this crazy terrible taste in my mouth. The first time this happened I freaked out and thought I was hallucinating but a quick google search told me it's normal. SO weird.

Pledge - Day 25

Day 25 (Wednesday) was a pretty decent day!

Breakfast was the same old cereal and a banana.

For lunch I had a sandwich with turkey, avocado and tomato on a WW roll. On the side I had some raw veggies and popcorn trail mix.

I had a longg meeting after work and we had it catered. Luckily there were some healthy options! I had a small piece of salmon with yellow rice, salad, and a piece of bread.

And a ginger ale!

For dessert I had an unpictured blondie that was soooo good.

When I got home me and Tom split a couple of oysters and I had a cheese stick. Not a bad day!

Pledge - the last few days

Sorry for the lack of updating. I had another super unplugged weekend and yesterday was just plain busy.

Unfortunately I have some bad news. I totally let my healthy eating go over the weekend.

Friday started with the normal cereal for breakfast, then a roast beef sandwich on whole what bread and an Honest Tea.

On Friday me and Tom went out to dinner to Erbaluce. I didn't take any photos but we ordered:
- a bottle of Erbaluce wine (of course)
- 2 starters: razor clams and a radicchio salad with burrata cheese and a potato and pistachio dressing
- My entree was spaghetti with lobster oil and sea urchin roe
- We shared the chocolate truffle dessert which was AMAZING

The whole meal was just really really great.

On Saturday this was delivered!!

A box of 100 fresh Island Creek Oysters. Yummmm!

We managed to wait until the next day to crack open some oysters, and for breakfast I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and an orange. Eventually me and Tom went on an adventure to buy food for the brunch party we were having on Sunday. We didn't end up eating again and suddenly it was 5pm and we were both starving. We stopped at TGIF for dinner and I just totally let go.

We ordered mozzarella sticks and potato skins to share, then I ordered the chicken fingers with fries for dinner. I only took a bite or two out of each chicken finger but finished everything else. I seriously felt gross for the rest of the night from this. It really goes to show how eating quality food changes how you feel.

I went out with some friends that night and had a beer and a half, then called it quits for the night.

On Sunday we were up bright and early for the brunch party! On the menu was:

Drinks:
Bloody Mary's with garnish (celery, olives, bleu cheese stuffed olives, slim jims, chorizo and cheddar skewers, lemons and limes)
Mimosas
Screwdrivers
"Manmosas" (hefeweizen instead of champagne)

Food:
Oysters
Eggs to order (omelettes, scrambled, over-easy/medium/fried)
Bacon
Breakfast Potatoes
Toast/English muffins
Clementines

The party was awesome and all the food was great, if I do say so myself :)

Later that night we ordered pizza and some apps. I had a slice of cheese, a few mozzarella sticks and some french fries.

I was feeling pretty down on myself about the weekend. Even though it was really fun, I felt pretty out of control eating wise. I don't know why I just stopped caring, especially at Friday's. On Sunday night I decided I would be back on track Monday and I have been!

I didn't have any real food when I woke up on Monday, so breakfast was a banana with peanut butter.

I wasn't terribly hungry for lunch so I just munched on a slim jim and some whole wheat bread. Strange.

Eventually I went to the store and picked up some food for the week and dinner that night. Me and Tom made turkey burgers from scratch and sweet potato chips! On my burger I had a slice of provolone cheese, tomatoes and pickles and served it on a whole wheat roll. I also had some snap peas and a Lipton green tea on the side. Deeelish!

Yesterday I was back to work and started off the day with cereal and a banana:

Lunch was a turkey and tomato sandwich, chopped veggies, and a clementine.

Dinner was whole wheat pasta with sauce and mozzarella cheese and grapes.

Throughout the day I also snacked on 2 cheese sticks, some olives, and a slim jim. I need to get those things out of my cabinet!!

Pledge - Day 20

Happy belated Valentine's day!

So I'm definitely doing a less perfect job at sticking to the pledge this time around. Still, I'm feeling good about it. Just being conscious of what I'm eating is something new from the last year, and even if I haven't been making perfect choices, I've still been making better ones! So here's day 20...

My train was running so late so I got to work just in time for a meeting. By the time we finished it was pretty late, so I just ate a banana and called that breakfast.

For lunch I really wanted something hot. When it comes to the food court, there really isn't much to get that's both healthy and hot besides soup. I wasn't feeling it so I went for a small side of bake ziti from the pizza place and got grapes from ABP. This may not seem like the best choice, but before the pledge I was eating a huge portion of the baked ziti, plus a garlic roll, plus a diet coke! And can someone just pat me on the back please? It's been 20 days since diet coke!!

Tom decided to make us dinner to celebrate V-day. We started with some wine...

And some oysters!! He bought 4 different kinds and we shucked 'em ourselves with our cool little shuckers.

For the main event, he made lamb chops, fingerling potatoes and spinach. So good!

For dessert we walked down to my favorite ice cream place and got some. I got peanut butter cup with m&ms, but there were hardly any pb cups in it. Bummer! Lucky I still have a few Reeses hearts leftover...

Pledge - Day 18 & 19

I've been sucking at updating...here was day 18 and 19.

Day 18:
Breakfast -- cereal and a banana

Lunch was eaten quickly: a cobb salad from Finagle: lettuce, tomato, onion, hard boiled eggs, avocado and bacon

I was super hungry for dinner and we ordered takeout. I got a vegetable udon noodle stir fry and a sushi roll:

Day 19:

I worked from home in the AM because I had an early call, so breakfast was 2 eggs, a WW sandwich thin, 2 pieces of bacon, and a glass of OJ:

Lunch was the first time I really wasn't in total control. I had a lunch meeting with a hotel catering manager where I was definitely being wined and dined. We ate at the in-house restaurant and he ordered 1 of every appetizer for our very small group of 3. I had a small piece of a chicken quesadilla, a veggie flat bread and a crab cake. For my entree I ordered the Bibb salad which came with dried apricots, cranberries and pecan encrusted goat cheese. I ate about half. I also had a handful of fries. I think I did pretty well considering! No pictures though cause that'd just be weird.

For dinner I went with the same thing I had yesterday: vegetable udon stir fry and brown rice. I love those noodles.

I promise to be better about updating!!