Marching Along

I, like most Americans, have some weight to lose, and to help motivate me I bought myself a Fitbit. I love this thing, and it's connected to my friends, who are constant reminders that we are cheering each other along.

Features I love are the challenges, that it keeps track of Lifetime steps, and the badges! I am obsessed with badges and Lifetime personal goals, and this weekend I hit 2 of them! I have taken more then 1,000,000 steps since getting my Fitbit in November, and I have climbed more then 1,000 flights of stairs. These badges and personal goals remind me to eat better all the time, and one of my worst eating habits is not packing a lunch. This week I'm making it a goal to eat lunch in every day, with the goal to make March be an entire month of eating in for lunch.

To start this week I made myself a simple cucumber noodle salad with mozzarella chunks, chopped tomato, and a 50/50 balsamic and olive oil dressing that is seasoned with the lovely 21 Seasoning Solute. It turns out that cucumbers loose a lot of water after you chopped them up and it was kind of soupy. Next time I'll know to pat them dry after cutting.

Today I'm back to Thug Kitchen for Grilled Veggies Couscous Salad that I've only changed slightly (it's like a disease). I swapped out the couscous for quinoa since it doesn't go bad as fast. Couscous is actually a tiny type of pasta and only lasts about 2 days after being cooked. Quinoa lasts about 6-7 days which means that it's perfect for making a hug batch and then dishing it out a little bit at a time for lunches through the week. It's stupid simple to cook, and I grilled veggies for dinner and just added the few extra things I needed to the grill for lunch. It took 10 minutes to create!

BTW if you want to add me on Fitbit click here
Also, here is the noodle cutter I love and adore, but remember to try to pick it up locally!

Art, Drinks, and Chocolate

This weekend was packed full and I didn't even get today off from work! None the less I truly feel like I had a 3 day weekend.

Maybe it's May Day fever but mid February is a very popular time to have a birthday in Ben's and my families. I have a grandmother, an aunt, Ben's cousin, and a friend all with birthdays this weekend.

We went to visit my wonderful grandma Sue, who is an artist in Petaluma, and we walked, ate good food, and raided the local establishments for local brews.

Sue Heinz Landscape made with just ink and coffee

This almond tree near grandma Sue's home has
 informed us winter is over and spring is here.
I have mixed feelings/drinks about this. 

After driving all the way back home we took right off for a double date to and ended up seeing Hail, Caesar!, which I'll let you go see and make up your own mind on how it was because our party was of mixed reviews.

Valentine's Day was kicked off with eating See's for breakfast before heading out to a birthday party for the lovely Alex (who is the sister of Ben's cousin Nick, whom I hold dear to my heart), and then to Deadpool.

I cannot rave enough about that movie. I loved everything about it (well maybe not the part when the guy gets his head taken off by a motorcycle chain. I could have done without that). I want to see it another ten times, but alas we were having over friends for dinner, and we told them they had to see it before coming over because we needed to talk to them about it (we're all pretty geeky).

 Dinner consisted of a fine selection of beer, blackberry bourbon fizz, and in the spirit of Lady and the Tramp spaghetti and meatballs. Now it was not  just any standard spaghetti and meatballs, but I also made bean balls and zoodles (I swear my vegetable pasta cutter is a gift from my heathen gods).

I have a thing for Thug Kitchen and they turned me on to Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute, which is my go to seasoning for just about everything for just $1.99 per jar! What says better tasting then quality ingredients at a bargain? Thug Kitchen makes these amusing pictures and they're motto is "Eat like you give a Fuck", which is something we should all remember.

Lastly, should you be in the Petaluma area, and have a love for food, jot over to Thistle Meats and get a gift card for yourself and promise to get over to support them in a couple weeks. A drunk driver hit their storefront, and such an disaster can have huge consequence for a small business.