Dinner and a Movie

I’m up early as usual, luckily I have no where to go because I’m getting sick again. No joke.  One whole side of my throat is really swollen and after a look, my Mom (medical background) thinks my tonsils are infected. My speech is all slurry and I can’t swallow very well. Today is Remembrance Day, so no doctor until tomorrow.  Seems the healthier I am the sicker I get.

AND I have been chilled to the bone 24/7. I have 2 different heating systems on at work plus my BFF, Honeywell blasting at my feet  Honestly, don’t know how I could live without this thing. I’m wondering if this is related to the weightloss?

 
Anyways, regardless of my silly throat, Mom and I had a great time on our date last night. I met her after work and we headed over to the Ramada for dinner at the Peppermill. The lighting in the restaurant was horrible and my pictures reflect that.

  
We got there before they officially started serving dinner so we had to sit in the bar.   No prob, I did find it chilly though. Turns out they were having issues with their water systems and didn’t have any coffee.  Won’t lie, I was disappointed, had been looking forward to an afternoon pick-me up.

 

We ended up splitting a glass of wine, a local white - Grand Pre L’Acadie Blanc.  Although I wasted it by only having a sip or two.

 


They brought us over a small loaf of seedy bread and garlic butter to munch on while we browsed the menu.  I had 2.5 little slices with a bit of the fantastic garlicky butter. Counted as 3 Points.

 

I stuck to my original plan and ordered the entrée-sized Spinach Salad w/ a Grilled Chicken Breast.

 
In true WW-style I immediately got rid of one of the cups of dressing.   The menu indicated that there was supposed to be apple and almonds in the dish but I didn’t see/taste any.  The Jarlsburg cheese did give it a nice flavour though. 

 

I counted this salad as 10 Points -  spinach, tomato & mushrooms 0, egg 2, cheese 3, dressing 2 and chicken breast 3. Over all it was good, give it a 6/7 out of 10.  Honestly though, nothing spectacular.  I think I could’ve found a better way to spend 13 points (half of my daily points) at home. I am proud of my healthy choices though, lots of veggies, protein and dairy! That is how you stay OP at a restaurant.  Really simple if you’re focused.

Going to point out the obvious here too, and admit that I’ve become quite the food snob, especially when dining out. If I’m going to pay a decent amount of money for something then I expect it to taste exceptional. :)

My body was craving caffeine so we made a quick detour to the Starbucks drive-thru.  My Mom nearly died from laughter when she heard me order a “tall, non-fat pumpkin spice latte, no whip.”  Yup, turns outs I’m finally down with some of the ‘bucks lingo that all the cool kids use.  ;)  Totally hit the spot AND it’s my first red cup of the season!

 
We made it to the movie with plenty of time to settle in.  Does anyone else find all the advertising annoying?  I know it’s the same thing as commercials on TV, but I really disagree since you’re paying money to see the film.  Ok, well tonight I wasn’t paying, I scored some tickets to see Coco Avant Chanel from the wonderful folks at The Coast but still. Thanks again by the way!

 
 
Here’s a summary of the film from IMDB:
Several years after leaving the orphanage to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar both. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats. When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel further opportunities open up, though life becomes ever more complicated.

I really enjoyed the movie. It was my first time experiencing a film with sub-titles.  So neat, I do a have a bit of a background in the French language so it was quite interesting to see what I could understand.  The sub-titles were great too, by the end of the movie you didn’t even realize that you were reading them and watching at the same time.   What a life Coco had before becoming a famous designer! I knew she was the genius behind the LBD and woman’s suits but I had no idea that she originally started out making hats. Did you guys? 

Yup, was a great Mother/Daughter night for sure!
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So plans for my day off include trying out my new French press compliments of Things To Do For Two, with a full review to come.  Getting in 2 cardio sessions, checking out my newly dug-up yard (septic issues) and cooking. 

I kind of thought I might head up to the cenotaph too, I always went to Remembrance Day services when I was younger, it was a nice tradition and a great way to remember all those who fought for our country/freedom.   This will depend on how I feel though.

Alright, off to check up on all my lovely bloggies now!

Burger & Fry Kinda Night

Evening bloggies, how’s everyone doing?!    I’m doing well!    The past 3 days I’ve been following the plan and getting in my cardio.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Santa Shuffle 5K is going to be a breeze.  Feels good to be this focused.    Cheese!! :-P

Want to give a shout out to Jenny, who was down 1.4lbs at her WI today.  Awesome work chickie! Still waiting to hear Janna’s results, crossing my fingers for her!

I must confess that I did have a minor slip up this afternoon, nothing that a few WAP can’t handle though. :) I was hungry and craving something sweet after my walk home and ended up making a tortilla roll-up with a tbsp of cream cheese and a smear of chocolate frosting that has been hiding in the fridge. It was good; counted for in my handy journal (4 pts) and I’ve put a stop to this by getting rid of the temptation. 


I know, nasty shot of the garbage can, but you get the point. Oh and for the record, the take out container is hubby’s. :)  Feels good to write all this out though, think this helps with the behaviour modification. 

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So, Is anyone else glad Wednesday is a holiday?  Breaks the week up quite nicely IMO. Tomorrow night I’ve got a date with my Mom!  I won tickets from The Coast to see the film Coco Avant Chanel so we’re making it an evening out with dinner beforehand at The Peppermill. Being the good little Weight Watcher that I am, I’ve already decided on the spinach salad and grilled chicken.  Watch for a review of the dinner and the film. :)

Speaking of dinner…..on tonight’s Supper menu is one of my fav meals of all time.  I only discovered black bean burgers earlier this Summer and now they’ve become a weekly staple in our household. Even the hubby, who is a tad picky, loves ‘em!   

 
The burgers are made with organic black beans, mixed bell peppers, onions, BBQ sauce, flour & seasonings. There is no real recipe, you can use whatever type of beans you want and throw in whatever chopped veggies & seasonings you have on hand.  I got the ratio amounts of beans:flour from Kath. On occasion, I have used breadcrumbs instead of flour too and it worked just fine. Oh and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce is great in them!

 
 

I’m a huge fan of the Weight Watcher’s Hamburger Buns, I think it’s the cornmeal. hehe.  Topped my burger with some yummy old cheddar, ketchup, mustard, tomatoes and baby spinach.  Sides of cucumber & McCain SuperQuick Fries.

 
Plans for the evening include a date with my elliptical machine and my DVR’d Gossip Girl episode. I’m excited about exercise again and am glad to be out of whatever rut I was in. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful start to the week!

The Perfect Saturday

Morning Bloggies!   Yesterday was GREAT! The perfect Saturday. It was a gorgeous day out, I got in a great work out with some awesome friends, there were good eats, Starbucks and a loss at my WI.  Honestly, what more could a girl ask for? :)

First and foremost, I want to say how proud I am of my friend Holly, who came and joined WW Meetings with Ang and I. It’s going to be great to have yet another person there for support.  Holly has a blog, “One Day At A Time,” so if you have a moment you should stop by and check her out! 

 
If you follow me on Twitter you already know that I weighed in at 196.0, which is a loss of 3.8 lbs!  I’m so addicted to my crackberry and of course, had to tweet my results right away. Tons of wonderful people sent me some love after posting my results.  Thanks so much everyone!  I’m pretty pleased with the results, not too shabby for my first week at all!   As I mentioned yesterday, my goals for this week  are to stay focused on the plan, earn at least 20 APs and make sure to get my oils & dairy.


Snagged a 3 Month Planner.

  
Our meeting was packed!  I don’t think there was another seat available.  This' week’s discussion was all about sustaining motivation and how to stay on track.

 
This topic was really fitting for us.  We’ve just made the change to meetings and have begun re-focusing on efforts, so the motivation is quite high.  There was a lot of talk about how to stay focused long-term,  what strategies/tools everyone used etc. Some people made it a game, others just too it one day at a time. Before the meeting started, Terry (our leader) asked both Angie and I , if we wouldn’t mind sharing a bit with the group.  I was a bit nervous, you know a room full of 60+ people and all, but just reiterated how motivating it can be to see real changes to your health. I explained about my previous bad health and how I’ve managed to take complete control over the diabetes, blood pressure etc.   We both took a moment and explained how we’ve managed to develop the most awesome support system ever, that being the blogs.  There were some questions about that and I gave out a quite a few stickies with our blog addresses. If you’re a WW Meeting visitor,  hello and thanks for stop by!! 

Terry left us with very fitting quote from Deepak Chopra

”The easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.”

That quote sums up exactly what we’re doing here in blogland.  We’re out supporting, encouraging others to succeed in hopes of succeeding ourselves.. I don’t think we can go wrong.

After the meeting the three of us headed over to my old gym, where we met Jaime for a work out.  I got in a 25 mins run on the hamster wheel (4 warm-up, 20 running, 1 cool down) and some stretching. I miss my gym, I know I’m lucky to have cardio equipment at home but there’s something so inspiring/motivating being around others working out and pushing themselves.

So…. can you take a wild guess at where Ang, Jaime and I ended up afterwards?  LOL, I don’t think any G2G is complete without a trip to Starbucks for a good gab session.  ;)   I was still quite warm from the work out and opted for an Iced SF Vanilla Americano. (I added a splash of non-fat milk afterwards).  YUM, it the spot and was 0 Points.  Usually I try to stay far away from artificial sweeteners but every once in awhile I make an exception.

 


It was well past lunch time when we arrived back at Angie’s place, so we immediately set out in the kitchen to whip up some healthy eats. You know there was a bigass salad involved! :)  Greens, red onion, pom seeds, honey crisp chunks, carrots and beets.  Dressing was a blend of evoo and the BEST BALSAMIC EVER!!!!  Check out Little Miss Martha here, hehe:




We also made a tasty curried tuna salad sammie. Easy combo of canned tuner (as I call it) mayo, carrot, onion, garlic powder, pepper & curry powder.


This whole meal was only 8 Points AND It was tasty, healthy & filling! The perfect way to re-fuel. YUM!



We spent the afternoon on the laptops messing around with layouts in hopes of finding the perfect re-design for angiealltheway.com. This is quite the process so there’s nothing to show yet but we’re working on it.  The day quickly turned into night without me even really noticing.  We did spent a great deal of time laughing.  Poor Mr. Angie had to suffer through it all, luckily he’s a pretty good sport about all our crazy blog/weight watchers stuff. :)  

For Supper, I was excited to try a few new things!

My first POM Spritzer – yum! This would be excellent with vodka.



The other being our main eats, which were “Calorie Smart” pizza from Pizzatown.  (Calorie Smart pizzas are made on ww tortilla shells instead of regular dough.)  We ordered two different ones to share:

PT Tex Mex  - Salsa Sauce, Grilled Chicken Breast, Banana Peppers, Red Onions, Green Peppers, Shredded Mozzarella and Cheddar Blend.

Western Steak - Famous Pizzatown Sauce, Bull’s-Eye BBQ Sauce, Sirloin Steak, Red Onions, Green Peppers, Sliced Mushrooms, Shredded Mozzarella and Cheddar Blend.


Point-wise we figured 12 in total -  4 for the tortilla, 4 for the meat and 4 for the cheese.  These were both fantastic but The Western Steak was my favourite.  Yum, yum!

 
Yup, that wraps up my Saturday. Thanks to everyone who made it so great! :)

This morning I have a few things to take care of for a friend’s blog and then I plan to spend the afternoon in the kitchen….stay tuned!

‘Twas The Night Before My First WI

Yup, tomorrow is the big day.  It’s my first official weigh in after a solid week of being on track.  I’m very eager and hoping for some good results.

Looking back on this week I can’t say that I really had any trouble following the plan at all. I was lacking a bit in the oils and dairy.  Most days I only got one of each instead of 2.  I’m going to try and fix that this week though. I earned 8 activity points, which isn’t great but I’ve been busy between working full time, the part time social media and having a bit of a life. :)  This week coming week I’m going to aim to earn 20.  I think that is do-able especially since I have both an elliptical and a treadmill in front of the TV where all my shows are on the DVR just waiting to be caught up on.

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My day was pretty decent.  Can’t say that I really enjoyed waking up to this nasty mess though:

Yup, snow.  BOO. This should not be happening for another few weeks.  You hear that Mother Nature, back off!! No more snow until December…..It was SO cold and wet.  I was chilled to the bone all day, even the fire isn’t do it for me.

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I did end up staying late at work to do some last minute stuff for bossman and now I’ve just gotten back from grocery shopping.  I’m fully stocked for the next week, probably two.  I did a bit of meal planning before I went to the store and you know what, I think its going to work well for staying on track and within my budget.  

You’re probably wondering what I’m going to make…guess you’ll have to wait and see ;) Hehehe.  Given the weather of late no doubt there will be lots of comfort foods (revised to be healthier of course!)  So stayed tuned for a few recipes over the next week.

Wish me luck tomorrow, I’ll be sure and post my results!

Night!