Asheville!

This weekend was really fun! I think Ryan was surprised and happy with everything we did.

Friday we left around noon and drove 3 1/2 hours to Asheville. We checked into our B&B - it was gorgeous! We stayed in the Ralph Waldo Emerson suite. It had a jacuzzi tub and one of those huge showers that sprays waters from nozzles on the wall as well as above. The room itself was beautiful with tall ceilings, a stone fireplace and a huge bed with tons of fluffy pillows.

We met one of Ryan's friends for dinner at The Laughing Seed Cafe - an awesome veggie restaurant. I had the tempeh Napolean - yum! After that we went to this bar/art gallery and the boys had beer while I just hung out.
Later we went back to our room and had hot cocoa in the jacuzzi :)

Saturday we were served a huge 3 course breakfast - we had warm pineapple and cheese (surprisingly good!), oatmeal creme brulee and a nut pastry.
Then we went to The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa (super turn of the century fancy shmancy feeling). This is the place I want to come and stay if I ever get to a huge goal like my goal size or finishing grad school - a reward for something huge. Ryan had an hour long golf lesson while I sat in the cart. Then he played 9 holes while I went in the clubhouse with my laptop and tried to get some work done for a presentation I had due for class Monday.

After that we went to a place called Marco's pizza for lunch - Ryan remembered it as being good and wanted to go there. I wasn't too impressed. I ordered broccoli and spinach on my pizza and it came out wet and soggy. But he was happy and that's all that matters - it was his b-day.
We went to the Fresh Market next door and picked up a few bottles of wine to bring back to the B&B.

That afternoon, Ryan had an hour massage while I did some more work.
We went out and walked around downtown, had Indian for dinner at Mela's (soooo good, but we took most of it in a to-go box because we'd eaten so much already that day) and then went back to the room to nibble some chocolate b-day treats we'd picked up downtown, have a glass of wine and enjoy our room.

Sunday, Ryan woke up not feeling well - he has a cold. What I'd scheduled for us was an all day homebrew (beer) workshop, but since he wasn't really up to it, we went to the place it was going to be at (Hops and Vines) and he picked up a few bottles of beer to take home. We canceled and signed up for another workshop for 3 weeks from now. This is a beginners workshop so it's actually going to work out better than the one that was planned for his weekend - which was intermediate level (which we're not).

We then walked around downtown, went back to Laughing Seed for lunch, and got on the road back to Tennessee.

I'm so glad we went. It was an expensive weekend, but I wanted to do something big for his 25th, and I think it turned out really well. Asheville is the cutest town! And now we get to go back soon :) This time we'll just stay at the Hampton or something - and probably just 1 night unless we decide to make another weekend of it and go see Biltmore on that Saturday - I will be on spring break.

I think I've been on a little bit of a post-vacation let down since we've been back. I have a lot of work due this week and next and we're doing all these tedious standardized tests at work - it's hard to get my energy up for it all, but it's all good.
I'm happy we got to do all those thing and happy to be back at comfortable home :)

leaving today!

Yay :) We're going on our trip for Ryan's birthday today! I'm super excited. I think he's going to really enjoy everything. I have surprises for every day that I know he'll love. And when we get back I'll tell you what that is.
I decided that I would tell him everything we're doing for each day at the beginning of that day. Except for today when I'll tell him when we leave. Actually, I put little cutesy poems in his birthday cards to tell him :)
I still have a lot of work to do this weekend, so hopefully I can find some time here and there. Maybe Ryan will want to take a nap or something :) I'm not a napper, so that's good study time for me. He's going to do the driving once I tell him where we're going so I can do some work in the car. That's always tough with the laptop though. But I'll do what I can.
I need stuff from the internet and I doubt the little B&B we're going to has wireless, so I'm going to try to download the pages I need to my computer before we leave.

I weighed in today since I won't be here tomorrow and even though I wasn't 'dieting' all week, I was a little disappointed. As of yesterday I was down 2.2 pounds from last weigh-in and then all of a sudden today I jumped right back up exactly 2.2 pounds to 166.6 -the same as last weigh-in.
Silly body! I guess I did eat heavier yesterday - right at the end of the day and unplanned.

Breakfast: banana and granola bar
Lunch: leftover pesto tortellini - I just packed the rest into the little pesto container, so not much
Snacks until I got home at 9 - Mary's Gone crackers (13), cashews (small handful), raw red cabbage, carrots, 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus
Dinner: (Ryan had surprised me and had it ready when I got home - I would've been okay without it, but it was yummy and the warmth was soothing to my cough) - a cup of potato and garlic soup, 3 slices of teriyaki tofu and a slice of toast with a sprinkling of olive oil and parmesan
Dessert: (really didn't need this - total impulse when Ryan brought it out - ate mindlessly while watching Top Chef - note to self: no snacking while watching food shows!) 5 Danish butter cookies

I'm don't have any plans to watch the diet while I'm out of town. I'm not going to go crazy, but I'm going to celebrate Ryan's b-day with him and not worry about it. Right now I'm mostly just concerned with avoiding binging or any hint of it like secret eating or eating emotionally, since those things crept back in the 2 weeks before this one and it scared me. And for me, I usually don't have a problem making healthy choices when I'm not doing those things. I love veggies and fruits and whole grains and all sorts of healthy foods - I don't like greasy foods or fast food at all - I do have a serious sweet tooth, but it's okay when I'm eating out and sharing and being social.

I'm off to pack, then I have half a day of work and we're on our way!

Wed. food journal

Trying to keep this simple & short right now but still have a record of health and diet...

Breakfast: rice cake and almond butter
Lunch and mid-day snacking: granola bar, banana and strawberries, 1 handful barbeque chips and 1 handful of pita chips with hummus (that's what happens when I don't pack a lunch)
Snack: Cadbury Egg and Reece's Pieces (1 package)
Dinner: leftover tortellini with pesto and parmesan
Snack: later when Ryan came home I had some steamed broccoli w/lemon and a bite of his mac and cheese plus a bite of his eggroll

To me, this is a perfect example of a day without planning ahead. This is nothing like a bingey day, but definitely could be a lot better.

I went to my doctor today and she said I have a sinus infection and gave me a shot of antibiotics and a shot of steroids (one in each side of my hips - ouch!)
She wrote me a prescription for some heavy-duty cough medicine with hydrocodone in it for my cough, but it was $75 so I just took some Robitussin DM instead (pretty gross).
She also recommended this fizzy thing that disolves in the shower...Suda Care Shower Soothers or something
And she recommended this solution to use with a squeeze bottle or Neti Pot for clearing out my nasal passage - it's called Sinus Rinse. I used it and didn't mind it. It didn't have that nasty feeling that nasal sprays usually do - very gentle. Pretty gross what comes out though, but I guess it's better out than in.
She said I should keep taking my sudafed and advil and my allergy pill and my guifenemine (probably didn't spell that right - generic Musinex) so I just took all that and am off to bed very hopeful that I'll feel better soon :)
Somewhere in the back of my head I remember being a person who was careful about taking too many meds...hmmm....wonder where she went?

Tues. food journal

Quick entry for food journal today.
I'm still trying to get so much work done before we go out of town on Friday. I'm going to have to bring some with, but hopefully it won't be too bad.
Still sick - I made a doctor's appointment for during my lunch today. But I am feeling a little better this morning. I only had 2 or 3 bad coughing fits in the night and got a lot more sleep than yesterday. The funny thing is, yesterday at work I was so miserable, but I felt better pretty soon after I got home. I think it makes a big difference just getting to lie down and have a cup of tea. At work, if I talk too much (which is hard to avoid) or walk or climb stairs my throat and lungs were burning like I was in a sauna, but not as fun. So...my (very small) dilemma is - if I'm at home, I feel sick but well enough to get through the day at work. But if I'm at work and using energy, I feel like I'm not being productive enough and that I should've stayed home.
I could totally do the work we're doing this week (inventories for the ESL standardized test) at home, but unfortunately I don't have the kind of job that lets me make that judgment call and trusts me to work here.
So - I'm going to work, then to the doctor and depending on how I feel mid-day I'm considering taking a half-day. We'll see.

Here's what I ate - my appetite was nonexistant in the earlier part of the day so I just sort of snacked. But when I got home I wanted warm food and made a fairly big early dinner.

Breakfast: blueberry crisp Clif Bar
Lunch: banana
Snack: ~4-5 pita chips; handful of cashews (~12)
Dinner: bowl of cheese tortellini with pesto, 3 veggie meatballs, and broccoli w/lemon and parmesan
Snack: 1 small ginger lemon cookie

It's early

Well, I'm sick. Blech.
No pinkeye - I think that was just from allergies or getting a cold or whatever this is that's keeping me up.
It's 2:30 AM or some nonsense and I've just been sniffling and hacking and coughing next to Ryan and I feel bad that he's probably not sleeping much, so I thought I'd get up, drink some tea and post my food journal from yesterday. My lungs are much happier with me vertical.
I think I have a cold, but yesterday I glared suspiciously all day at all the mold on the pipe coverings in my classroom...I also found out that "they" gave us 16 months in the school - something about how any longer in there wouldn't be safe. This is our 2nd year there, so I guess we're on about month 14 (?) not counting breaks. Hopefully that 16 months # was an overly conservative estimate. Soooo...I actually hope I have a cold and all this constantly getting sick this year isn't because of that building.

Anyway...yesterday wasn't too awesome on the food front...could've been worse.
Breakfast: banana
Lunch: Amy's veggie & bean burrito
Snack: half a Clif Bar (oatmeal raisin)
Random, pointless grazing at school: 3 biscuits (little chocolate cookies), & 4 Hershey's kisses
Snack: (in car on the way to class)~1/4 of a bagel sandwich with cheese, hummus, lettuce and cucumber
Snack: (before & after PM class) raw cabbage, cucumber and carrots; 2nd half of the Clif Bar

Guess that's all for now.

Ewwwww

I may have pinkeye.....sooooo gross! Not an attractive post - don't read this if you'll be disgusted with eye details, okay? Okay.
I'm not sure - it's not bad. I was extra goopy when I woke up, but not stuck closed. I'm blodshot on one side, but not totally pink. Yesterday I was super itchy and cruddy in my eye...
I had trouble studying because it's in my right eye and it was making it hard to see out of that eye. I have good vision in my right eye and that's the only reason I don't wear glasses - that eye takes over - if I close my right eye I can't see well enough to read without a lot of strain.

I read about it on WebMd and it said it can be the super-contagious if it's viral or bacterial, but can also be caused by allergies. My sore throat is actually better, but I've had a cough and conjestion and been very sneezy for a few days....could be a cold. I also have allergies - so - could be no big deal. I am at higher risk than most because I work in a cess pool...I mean a school.
It's Sunday, so my Dr.'s not in her office . I'm torn about whether I should just wait and see if it's allergy-related and gets better or if I should go in and be seen in case I need to wait 24 hours until I can go back in to work - I'd rather not take a sick day over this.

The Pre-K assistant who works in the room next door to me said that the doctor she goes to sees about 8 other teachers from my school - and says that they all go to him with the same symptoms. He thinks it's connected to the building we work in - he thinks the building is making us sick. There's visible mold on some of the ceiling pipes. The building is OLD - maybe 90 years? And it's been condemned. But I'd assumed it was safe for us to use it after our old school had a fire the spring before I came here. Can a building be un-condemned?! All I know is what I can see - which is super shady floors that feel like they're about to break through when you walk on them and windows that have quite noticable drafts rushing through them...plus the crap on the pipes....
I don't know, but it would be interesting to see if we have a higher rate of being sick than teachers and kids at other schools - if our allergies are worse - if we're out for more sick days/absences, etc.

Anyway...enough rambling.
Yesterday wasn't great for my diet, but here it is.

- I had an apple for breakfast.
- I was still starving mid-morning so I had a slice of Ezekiel bread with 1 tsp. olive oil and nutritional yeast for a snack.
- We went to Indian Buffet for lunch and I filled up my plate once but didn't go back. I had a cold chick pea/apple salad, rice and 2 triangles of naan with a scoop of a lentil dish (dal makhani, I think), a scoop of a potato dish (it was new....just potatoes and seasoning) and a scoop of a spinach dish (saag...umm...i don't know). I also had chutney and a few onion pakora.
- Later I stopped at Walgreens for Kleenex and Valentine's Day cards and got 2 Cadbury Eggs, a marzipan chocolate piece and an almond chocolate bar - and ate them all that afternoon. So much for my resisting cravings post.
- I was obviously stuffed after that so I didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day except some baby carrots.
Forgot my multi.
Drank plenty of water.

Ryan bought himself some cheap golf clubs at Walmart and went out to play yesterday. I felt bad about not going with him because it was Valentine's Day, but I was trying (and miserably failing) to get my work done. He was romantic and said that everyday was Valentine's Day and we could plan as if it were February 14th any day I wanted. Or everyday. He's a keeper. ;)
I'm going to try to read about 10 pages in my text (which will literally take me an hour if I stay focused...pathetic) and then take my laptop out and at least ride on the golf cart with him while I work. (he wants to go out again today).

Wish we had President's Day off so I could relax about the work, but we used too many snow days and the board voted to make it an attendance day...no biggie, really, but I feel bad if anyone had made 3 day Valentine's Day weekend plans in advance and had to cancel or take a personal day.

Alright - I'd better get movin'!

Weigh-Day

166.6
+0.8 from last week (but down 3 lbs. since 2 days ago when I put a stop to eating the house down)
-9.4 total
51.6 to goal

About what I expected. This is just 1.2 less than what I weighed when I started the detox.
The past 2 days have been good for diet, the 11 days before that - terrible! I'm actually lucky I haven't gained more.
I haven't exercised in 2 weeks.

It's a frustrating, unhealthy cycle I've gotten myself into, but all I can do is try my best today.
I might take Ryan out to Indian Buffet for Valentine's Day, but if I do that I'll eat light the rest of the day.

I'm off to get a pile of work done.
Trying to be extra productive so I don't have to bring work with for my weekend away with Ryan for his 25th b-day next week. :)
I'm sooo excited.
I hope he loves what we're doing although I can't talk more about it because even though I don't think he reads my blog, it's not a secret from him and, well...you never know when he'll get curious.

Oops - almost forgot my food journal from yesterday

breakfast: rice cake w/1 tbsp. almond butter
lunch: lentil veggie soup
snack: 12 (?) baby carrots, 13 Mary's Gone crackers and 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus
dinner: 2 pieces of Ryan's shepherd's pie (tofu/veggie)
snack: orange
I remembered my multi and drank at least 10 cups of water - I was thirsty!

Didn't add up points or calories. I'd say ~24 points if I had to guess and maybe ~1400 cal.
I should enter it later just to see if I'm guessing close or not.
I wish SparkPeople had a recipe function like the WW recipe builder - where you just enter your recipe and the number of servings and it figures out the info in each. I know I could do it manually, but it would be convenient if the site did it for me. They don't have that feature, do they? Hmmm.
A little low on protein and veggies but not too bad. Normally I'd have more veggies with snack but I need a trip to the grocery store.