Ryan's Lunch

Good morning all!

How was your weekend? Mine was good/busy/work-filled. BUT, yesterday, I went to the Wild Animal Park. The Wild Animal Park is a sister park to the San Diego Zoo, except it's the prettier, more accomplished sister in my opinion. Love that place.

I went with Christina and JGago, and since I'd been there before, I immediately dragged them on the Journey to Africa safari tram ride. It's fabulous. Then, we checked out a gigantic lion and proceeded to the Sumatra Tiger's cage, where I was mauled.

Do not be fooled by the picture. It was dramatic.

Okay. So, I didn't really get mauled by a tiger, but I did fall down in dramatic fashion in front of the tiger's cage. Thankfully my purse managed to wrap itself around a fence post and totally secured my right arm like a vice grip, thereby slinging me around so that I landed squarely on my elbow. I was so tangled up, Christina had to come detach me from the fench post. Awesome. :p

After that, I came home and decided I deserved a dip in the pool with my new bikini. It was a victory! No one fainted, gasped in horror, or cried for their mommies. Mind you, there were only two mothers and three eight-year-old boys there, but still. No one gave me a second look, and I'll take that, thank you very much.

After my very quick dip in the pool, I proceeded to make my husband's lunch (for today).

Ryan's Lunch

Did you know I make my husband's lunch almost every day? I like knowing that he opens his lunch box at work and has a healthy meal made with love. :)

I try to always include some type of fruit. Strawberries were out of this world cheap, so that's the fruit of the week. He usually prefers a citrus fruit, though.

For his "main course," I usually send leftovers, but we didn't really have anything. So, a turkey and cheddar sandwich on whole wheat. With mayo, because he loves it.

And, what would lunch be without a big, green salad?!? Nothing at all, of course.

I added hardboiled eggs, a small bit of cheese, and some dressing in a smaller container.

Plus strawberry yogurt and a strawberry-kiwi juice. Yes, this lunch is obviously themed.

Note: He doesn't eat all of that at once. I think the yogurt or fruit end up as snacks later or earlier in the day.

Now, I'm off to make an iced coffee (decaf) and write write write.

Do you make your hubby/significant other's lunches?

Breaking Out: My First Bikini

That's right boys and girls...

Today, I did something monumental. I bought my first bikini at the age of 28.

I look alot more confidant than I actually feel, but do you know what I realized recently?

There might not be a tomorrow. Now, before you think I'm being morbid, let me explain.

Seriously, there might not be. My friend's recent death has reminded me that I live as if there are endless tomorrows. I tend to think that someday I'll be fit enough to run a marathan. Someday, I'll wear a single digit sized pair of jeans. Someday, I'll be thin enough to wear a bikini. The truth is that's not guaranteed. Only today is. And, do you know what else? Someday, God willing I reach that someday, I'll look back on the me RIGHT NOW and go, "wow. she wasn't half bad."

I know that because I do that now.

This was me in 2005.

(w/my niece Emmy)

A year later with my brother:

By this time, I'd like probably 60 pounds, but did I feel good about myself? nope.

Fastforward to 2007 when I moved to Cali. I was 201 pounds down here from the black swimsuit with Emmy above.

Smaller here than I am even now.

And, do you know what? I felt like a WHALE when I saw these pictures. Yet, I'm smaller there than I am now.

The way I feel has nothing to do with how I look. It has to do with my perception of myself. If I let myself, I'll always think I'm not slim enough, not tan enough, not pretty enough. I've watched my size 2 mother do this same thing to herself her whole life. I would love to have inherited her natural metabolism, her thing body, her pretty hair, but instead I inherited only her fears. And, I will NOT pass that on to my children.

Damn it. I am enough. I am not going to turn 38 or 48 and look back AGAIN and wish I'd just appreciated my body for what it does for me. It let me lose 201 pounds. It's withstood dozens of diets that utterly tortured it. It lets me exercise. It let me get married once when I shouldn't have, and then again when I should have. It deserves to wear a bikini even if my thighs still have loose skin, even if my stomach has about 20 pounds too much fat. Even if I have stretch marks.

Seriously, guys, I don't want to be that girl, who never appreciated herself or her body. I don't want to be the girl who never wore a bikini because she didn't have the perfect body. I want to be the girl who lived life despite her flaws.

So, Jasmine, shut up and rock it.

P.S. Gulp. I think that was one of the scariest posts I've ever written. :p

Life is a Coin Toss

You all know how often I tell you that life is beautiful.

Well... the truth is there is a flip side to every thing. Life is beautiful, yes, but it is also terribly, terrible tragic sometimes.

My friend Nathan died yesterday morning in his sleep. I don't know why, and it doesn't make sense.

When I found out yesterday, I was devastated. More so that I would have even thought. We were friends mostly during my Sophomore-Junior years of school. And, now, when I look back, I realize how much of an influence he and other friends of that era had on my life. Funny how you don't appreciate things like that until it's too late. Recently, we caught up again on facebook, and we emailed back and forth. His last email to me was telling me what a genuine friend I'd always been to him. I wish I had said something more. That's always how it goes, though.

He will be buried on Sunday, father's day. I can't stand to think of his daughter growing up knowing that her father was buried on father's day.

Last night, I felt just awful. Ryan came home, and though we skipped our Wednesday run, we still managed to do the shoulders and back CD of P90X. We haven't missed a day yet. He said I'd feel better afterwards, and he was right, of course.

Then, we ordered pizza and watched a funny movie. It was Get Smart. Very cute.

This is the box. I didn't think to take a pic of the pizza. It was sausage and yum.

Today, I've mostly been nursing a cup of coffee and trying to catch up on the work I couldn't seem to concentrate on yesterday.

Now, I'm trying to remind myself to be thankful for the time I had not just with Nathan, but with all the friends that have meant so much to me in my life. There are so, so many good people and things to appreciate. I forget sometimes, all caught up in things that really, probably don't matter.

I hope I'm not too depressing here. I just wanted to check in and say that I'm still here. Chugging along. I actually have alot of cool things happening blog-wise that I'll be updating you on very soon.

Be well, friends. xoxo

Ways Not to Lose Your Mind

You might think this blog will be me telling you ways to deal with stress when in fact you are completely wrong. I'm hoping you can tell me, because I'm going insane.

Let me tell you why.

My mom is coming next week.

Dad's not coming.

And, I'm working like CRAZY to get all my work done before she gets here. Which means basically double-time.

Additionally, Ryan and I have added P90X to our life. So, in addition to running four times per week, we have an additional 6+ hours of P90X. This means that for more than six hours a week, our living room becomes a deluxe torture chamber...

complete with whips...

(Resistance bands.)

Uncomfortable sleeping quarters...

and an evil man who scream at us to do things our bodies can't handle.

 

The added benefit is that I now fit into these:

My fat jeans. Yes, my fat jeans were getting tight. :(

The unfortunate consequence of adding all that workout time to my life is that my house has become utter chaos between work and workouts.

If you know me, you know this is HIGHLY messy for me. Ugh.

I'm also now wearing braces on both wrists, so that has slowed me down a bit too. Boooo.

Good news though!!! After three months of waiting, we finally got our new couch.

Love it! Love it! Love it!

Oh, and I've been eating, but not nearly as much. I've mostly been making things in bulk. Like this:

Garlic-Chicken Spaghetti w/Orange Peppers

and

Polenta - one of the most amazing foods ever

I swear I've been eating more than polenta and spaghetti, but seriously life is fast right now. I'm also working on giving Eat Move Write a new home. Very, very soon it will go on to greener pastures from Blogspot. Very soon, my friends. Very soon.

Oh! Guess what? Speaking of traveling, do you guys watch Man Vs. Food? You know, that show were the guy eats gargantuan amounts of semi-nasty, greasy food just to say he did it. :) Well, he came to San Diego! The episode airs tomorrow. Here's some info:

About the Show

Adam Richman, a food fanatic with a serious appetite, travels around the country taking on the most legendary food challenges. Adam has held every job in the food business and is now on a journey to explore the best eats our country has to offer. Whether it's a fourteen pound mountain pie, or an eight-patty burger, Adam is ready for the challenge.

San Diego Episode - Wednesday, June 16 at 9:00 E/P


Next Wednesday, Adam will experience the best taco in San Diego at Licha Libre and a burrito full of... french fries? After that, Adam visits Phil's BBQ and tastes a tri-tip signature sauce that changes flavor as he eats. At his final stop, Adam will be taking on the Broken Yolk Iron Man Challenge at the Broken Yolk Cafe. In this challenge, Adam will attempt to take down a twelve egg omelette that is smothered in chili and a pound of melted cheese. This omelette is served with a side of two biscuits and nearly two pounds of hash browns. In one hour, Adam will have to achieve what 96% of people have failed: finish everything on his plate. Can Adam finish it?

Want to know more about Adam's ultimate hunger quest or how he attempts to conquer the unbelievable legendary Broken Yolk Iron Man Challenge? Be sure to watch the season premiere episode (followed by another all-new episode in Boulder) on Wednesday, June 16, at 9:00 E/P. If you're interested in getting updates via social media, check out the Facebook Page and our @ManvFood Twitter account.

Tootles,

2010 San Diego Wine, Cheese, & Chocolate Festival

Happy Monday all!

How was your weekend? Mine was great/busy.

Friday night, I had the honor of attending the San Diego Wine, Cheese, & Chocolate Festival. My friend JGago helped plan the event on behalf of Wine Smarties, a local wine education company that she interns with. Ryan and I went as (blog) press.

It was a beautiful (!!!) eve in San Diego, the perfect weather for a festival.

There was alot of wonderful booths there, serving primarily wine, cheese, and chocolate - go figure.

We stopped by Honest Tea's booth and tried out their new Honest Ades. Our favorite was Pomegranate Blue. We also tried Cranberry Lemonade and Orange Mango.

The Pomegranate Blue was amazing. It is by far and away the best flavor of Honest Tea I've tasted so far. Seriously, go try it. Hurry!

My favorite booth was Cupcake Love, a Solana Beach-based cupcakery. I got to meet the owner, Ilene Lamb. According to the Web site, Ilene and her husband stumbled upon the idea for a bakery while on vacation and Ilene fell into "cupcake love." The rest is history... a serious delicious history...

 

They offered three flavors of cupcake: peanut butter chocolate, chocolate sin, and red velvet. Between my photographer husband and I, we tried all three. Peanut Butter Chocolate was the major winner. Oh, be still my heart.

Another blog favorite was on hand to give away free bags of everyone's favorite "chips."

Popchips! I have to confess, I've tried these once before and didn't love them. I'd only had the BBQ flavor, which is actually their bestseller. This time, though, I tried Salt and Vinegar. Score! Amazing. These "chips" have a great crunch and tons of flavor. With only 100 calories per bag and no preservatives (with a 52-week shelf life!), these "popped chips" are perfect for food bloggers on the go. They call them "love without the handles." Oh, and get this. They're based in San Francisco, but they have local sales and marketing representatives that they call "pop stars." Love it! :)

After all that food, I had to find something to wash it down with (well, other than Honest Tea). You know I'm not a drinker, but I did decide to take one for the team blog and give it a shot, since this was a wine, cheese, and chocolate fest. And, guess what? I actually tasted a wine I like!

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly is based in Modesto, California. They've been making wine since the sixties and definitely have the skill on lock. Known well as an "affordable" wine, Barefoot offers a variety of wines to suit even the most discerning tastes (ie: me).

I tasted the Moscato Spumante, which from what I understand must be called a "bubbly," not "champagne" because of the region where the grapes are grown. Again, I'm not wine expert. That would be JGago. :) No, really, she is. Certified, even. Oh, and I scored a sweet purple foot magnet. Too cool for school.

Oh! And, yet another blog favorite was in attendance to regal the attendees with their fabulousness.

Luna Bar! They were giving away samples of their White Chocolate Macadamia bars. Oh, and did you know Luna is a division of Clif Bar?!? Who knew?!

This is yet another example of a free sample swaying me back to the flock. I've never liked Luna bars, but now that I've tried this flavor, I'm in Luna love. They gave me a free bar.

...which I promptly ate the very next day for breakfast before I went to the zoo (a story for another day).

One of our last stops for the evening was to Orfila Winery, an Escondido winery that gets huge thumbs up by JGago.

Obviously, it was starting to get dark and our pictures weren't coming out well. Unfortunately, one of the coolest companies at the event was also our very last stop of the day. The pictures didn't turn out at all, but I want to tell you about ONEHOPE. OneHope is a great wine company that partners with various charitable organizations to put out certain types of wines. For example, they offer a Breast Cancer wine, a Troops win, and an Autism wine. The last of which is a cause near and dear to my heart because my brother-in-law is autistic.

Ryan and his brother Sam

The way OneHope's program works is that for every specialty bottle of wine, 50 percent of the purchase goes to that charitable organization. It's a great company that you should really check out. Visit their website here.

So, to sum up: this night was incredibly fun! It was so cool to see so many local companies represented. I'm hoping some of them will want to do some blog giveaways. Cross your fingers! :)

And, by the way, the event itself was put on by the Women's History Museum of San Digo, who are rallying to get a spot in SD's beautiful Balboa Park. To raise money, they were selling fabulous tank tops and t-shirts. I will leave you with the tank top's quote:

Well-behaved women rarely make history.

Work it women. :)

Tootles,