So not only did I get to hang out with the fabulous Isabel, but we also invited Shana from Gorillabuns to join us. We went out for bbq because Isabel has never had ribs. She’s also never had okra, which shocked us both. We were going to make her order some, but they ended up not having any. Boo! Oh well, next time.

I think we all enjoyed the food.

But the company was what was really awesome.

The comfy bed didn’t hurt too much either.

It’s just so nice to get to spend time with someone I love like a sister.

I haven’t posted about any of the food/dieting thing lately because I hate feeling like this blog only focuses on one thing day after day.

So to give an update, I haven’t lost much more weight. Mainly because there was some really crappy eating during that storm. And that week we ate out a lot.

So I’m only down another 3 lbs for a total of 10 so far. I’m still cooking as much as possible and not eating out breakfast or lunch. I’m still not drinking coffee or lattes.

It hasn’t been hard at all not eating fast food breakfast. I’m a girl who loves donuts, sausage rolls, and biscuits with egg and cheese and meat in them. However, it’s pretty much the easiest change to make. There’s a McDonald’s and a Sonic right next to us here in this new location, but I haven’t gone there once. I even stopped one morning and bought donuts and sausage rolls for the guys who had to move all of our stuff to this new building… and I didn’t get any for myself. So of all the changes I have made I would have to say that a healthier breakfast (even if it is just cereal) has been the easiest.

Giving up the coffee has been pretty easy to do as well. Yes I miss it, but it’s almost one of those out of sight out of mind things. I’ve never really cared for the coffee we have here in the office. Those coffee service places never have good stuff. So the temptation isn’t staring me in the face all day.

The two areas I need the most help with are 1) fighting my sweet tooth and 2) learning to cook healthier. Both of these things SUCK.

Butter and salt. Why must these things be bad for you?
Cookies and ice cream. Why can’t these be vegetables?

I’m also struggling with the budget. I cannot shop for two weeks worth of groceries at one time. Too many things go bad before I can use them. It’s almost a given that if I buy fresh produce it will go bad. I think I subconsciously do it on purpose.
Of course I also don’t want to go to the store every 3 days. I try to limit it to once a week, but I’m just having a hard time stretching my budget like I need to. I can’t imagine if I had more than two mouths to feed. (although sometimes I do, but my sister is always very good to help out with groceries)

I don’t do the coupon thing. I’ve tried, but it just doesn’t help. Mainly because I’m already either buying what’s on sale or I’m buying generic. And if the generic is just as good and still costs less with no coupon, then I’m going to buy generic. There really aren’t too many items I have to have name brand. We also don’t have a lot of the grocery stores here that most cities do like Kroger, Albertsons, Trader Joes… and I know a lot of those have membership cards that save you more money. We do have Wal-Marts but I really try to not give them my money if I can help it. Plus when it comes to meat, they aren’t the cheapest.

So I guess I still need to find my groove when it comes to the grocery budget. I also need to keep on hand a nice rotation of recipes that I can stretch over several meals. This is difficult because we are picky eaters. Only we’re picky about different things.

Thom hates things like soup and cheese and eggs and noodles, but he loves sushi and Asian foods and brussel sprouts.

I hate mushrooms, tomatoes, sour cream, sushi, and most fish, but I love casseroles and cheese and soups.

We both hate bell peppers. So there’s that.

So you can see how finding recipes that we both enjoy is not that easy. Which is why most nights I find myself cooking a meat, a starch, and a veg. And it’s typically very boring. Except for the nights I make that crispy onion chicken. Man I cannot get enough of that. And another thing I’ve started doing is roasting my broccoli in the oven instead of cooking it in the microwave. It’s like night and day. And it is awesome.

It’s nice to have other bloggers to lean on for inspiration and support. Let me point you towards Britt. I may not be vowing to eat out only once a month, but I’m totally inspired by her and what she’s doing. Plus she’s a lot of fun to share recipes with. I’m also leaning heavily on Tasting Kitchen for recipes. Any time I find a recipe I want to try I just add it to my online recipe box. And then if I really like it I print it out and stick it in my binder. I’m excited to fill that binder up with nothing but awesome recipes. If only I could find more of them that were healthy.

This post ended up being way longer than I meant it to be. And it’s also kind of depressing. So I think I will go to my happy place now. And by happy place I mean I’m going to go listen to my Lost podcast. Because HELLO? Last night’s premiere was nine kinds of awesome right? (another reason I love Britt)

So excited for tonight!

I’ve definitely done my share of Lost posts on this blog.

I Need Answers
Deep Thoughts By Benjamin Linus
Lost In Love and I Don’t Know Much

Those are just a few.

I’m really really glad that I was able to convince my husband to start watching this show. He’s kind of a hard sell when it comes to shows I like. Can you believe he doesn’t like Friends? I think he’s just jealous!

So since I’ve already done a post about what questions I want answered, I figured I’d ask Thom what questions HE wants answered.

1. Is Charlie coming back? He’s in the commercials. Does that mean he’s coming back? (when asked if he wants Charlie coming back he says “Only if he doesn’t do heroin.” hehe)
2. What’s going through Vincent’s mind when all this time traveling is going on?
3. WHY DOESN’T RICHARD ALPERT AGE?
4. What is the meaning behind the numbers?
5. How did the polar bears survive in the tropics?
6. Why is the smoke monster so mean? Has anyone ever just given him a hug?
7. Who picked out the name for the Dharma Initiative? Is it named after some chick called Dharma?
8. How did they fit those VW vans on the submarine? Is there a freighter we don’t know about?
9. Is there any connection between the island and The Bermuda Triangle?
10. Who’s going to go on from this show to have the biggest most bad ass movie career?

I personally think that last question is silly and has nothing to do with the show, but I just couldn’t stand there only being 9 questions instead of 10. So I guess we get quantity and not quality.

And for my die hard fans out there, don’t forget to listen to the Lost podcast with Jay and Jack. It’s the best!

We survived the storm! It was over hyped in my opinion. Oh well. Right now we’re in that phase where it’s warm enough to melt it off the streets, but still hang out everywhere else looking all pretty and whatnot. And it’s a big deal for me to admit the snow is pretty. I hate snow. HATE IT.

I spent copious amounts of my weekend watching HGTV. The best channel ever. And it’s inspired me to make a list of all of the little projects I would like to tackle in 2010. Even the really small ones like buy a new bath mat.

So I wrote them all down and I am going to try and tackle them one by one. The biggest one at the end of the list was to sand and stain the kitchen cabinets and replace the hardware. I’ll try and refrain from laughing each time I look at that list.

There are two very exciting things going on this week. The first being that LOST starts tomorrow. SQUEEEEEE. And the second being that Isabel is in Oklahoma and we have a date Thursday! If OKC was just a little bit closer I would hang out with her every night and keep her company. Hopefully by Thursday she will be so bored of Oklahoma and her co-worker that she will think that me taking her out for BBQ is the best thing ever! (can you believe she’s never had ribs? Criminal!)

The ice storm hit. We did not lose power. Many others did or have. It has snowed all day today and it’s really quite pretty outside. I can say this because I have power. If we were without power I would be cursing that snow HARD.

Here are some photos of just how much snow we’re getting.

This was taken at about 10 am

This one, about 3 pm

That tree is starting to get really weighed down with snow.

I’m looking forward to a long weekend of NOT leaving the house.