Weekly Weigh In and a SUPER fun weekend

Moment of Truth:
11/11/13: 153 lbs
11/18/13: 152.8 lbs

I know, this is not very exciting, but considering HOW MANY times I ate out last week, I am VERY excited by this. This was my eating out schedule: Tuesday lunch, Tuesday dinner, Wednesday lunch, Thursday dinner, Friday lunch, Friday dinner, Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner, Sunday lunch. And while I made somewhat smart choices, I'm convinced that there is so much salt in restaurant food than the amount I put in my own cooking. How do I know this? My fingers would swell up like fat sausages!!! Hey, a loss is a loss, and while I strive for more, this week, I'll take it.

Friday night, Nick and I went to see Capital Cities and Fitz & The Tantrums at the House of Blues. What an awesome show. Fitz & The Tantrums were absolutely electric-- they had the crowd on their feet dancing and singing!!

In fact, the crowd was so into the show that it was really difficult to get any pictures-- this was the only one I managed to get- the rare quiet moment (ballad) in the show!

Saturday, Nick and I decided to head over to University Circle, and started off our afternoon with a stop at the Cleveland Museum of Art for some lunch. I have to be honest: I absolutely LURVE sitting in that atrium grabbing a bite to eat. It reminds me so much of being in Europe that its honestly a little escape from reality.

Beautiful even on a grey day. Nick staring into the mouth of a dragon. 

After lunch, we headed over to the Museum of Contemporary Art to check out ARTScape. 

I had originally planned to just buy Christmas presents, and while I did that, I also found a piece for me.  You'll have that :)

Saturday night was dinner at the newly opened outpost of Red, The Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland. The space was really nice: dark wood and red lacquered walls, an the food was INCREDIBLE!!

I ordered the tuna steak (top right), simply seared; it was SO SO SO good. Nick ordered the ribeye, and then we finished up with a gigantic creme brûlée (the crust was slightly thicker than normal, and really gave it a nice crunch and caramelized taste).

And now, you have a glimpse of why I only lost 0.2 lbs this week. LOL.

Either way, it was a great week. This week should be better; I'm only scheduled to eat out Monday dinner and Tuesday lunch…. for now.

Happy week all!!

Thursday Tunes: Some throwback sounds

I have been battling some winter badness (cold, sore throat, etc), so I've pretty much spent the past two days sleeping! However, I have had an opportunity to listen to some brand new music with throwback sounds, that I absolutely LURVE LURVE LURVE. Seriously I have been blaring these two sounds on repeat all week!


Bastille: Of the Night

And Rizzle Kicks: Skip to the Good Bit

Seriously, how catchy are these songs?!?!

Weekly Weigh In and I'm Blending Like Crazy

Weight on 11/4/2013: 153 lbs
Weight on 11/11/2013: 153 lbs
Weight loss: 0!!!

UGH! I am really mad that I didn't lose ANY weight this week, but I can pinpoint the exact combination of things I did wrong:
1. I ate WAY too much artificial sugar, mainly in the form of dessert left over from the Divali party we hosted last weekend. This problem has since been fixed: I threw all the dessert in the trash. (If you're curious Divali/Diwali/Deepavali are all the same thing)
2. I didn't work out enough. I normally work out 5x a week, and this week I only did 4 workouts. Zumba, Strength Training, Barre, and a workout DVD. While not bad, I didn't work out at ALL this weekend, which certainly didn't help with..
3. Alcohol. This is my downfall. This Friday we were are at a going-away party, which ended up with late night Taco Bell (I know, I know…) and Saturday, we were at Matt's #GiveMe30 Birthday party. Champers and pudding shots. Tabitha is a pudding shot genius, and unfortunately, I had too many.

So, lessons learned.

On the plus side, I made a life-changing new purchase: a reconditioned Vitamix!! If you're not familiar with the Vitamix, where have you been? Its the absolute gold standard for blenders, and is seriously amazing. It blends everything so so smooth, and can even make soup!! Tonight I made a broccoli-cheddar soup for dinner, but adapted the recipe to make it lower calorie!

1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup 1% organic milk
1/2 cup sharp cheddar
1 head broccoli (from Fresh Fork)
1/4 leftover cauliflower
salt + pepper to taste
And ALL I had to do was blend it!! It made 3 huge cups of soup, so I have lunch for tomorrow too!! I also made a beet and apple smoothie this week, but I loathe beets (they taste like mud) so I just sucked it up and chugged it for the nutrients.

Anyway,  I am committed to doing better as far as food + exercise go this week. I need to lose these 3 lbs ASAP! I am missing out on some really awesome sales!!!

The name's Bond...James Bond (The Jump Back Ball 23 Kickoff Party)

Let's take a moment to admire these handsome men. Now, lets take a moment to think of February in Cleveland. What do these things have in common? The 23rd Annual Jump Back Ball!!! Ever since my first Jump Back Ball (the 20th), I have been completely obsessed with this event!! 21 and 22 did not disappoint either, and since I absolutely LUUUURVVEE the theme for 23, I'm sure it will exceed all expectations. If you haven't figured it out by now, the theme for the 23rd Jump Back Ball on February 22, 2014 is Shaken Not Stirred, an homage to the 23 Bond films that exist to date!!

So, if you want tickets to this incredible event, I highly suggest you make your way over to The Jump Back Ball Kickoff Party this Thursday! You may be going "oh, February is so far away! I can wait!", and I am here to tell you that you really shouldn't because
(a) last year the event sold out less than 30 days after the kickoff party, and
(b) the kickoff party offers the LOWEST prices for these highly coveted tickets. The tickets are $150 each, $115 if you are a Playhouse Square Partner. VIP tickets are $200, and the exclusive VIP tickets get you into the party early and also get you some fabulous food catered by Dante!

The details for the Kickoff event:
When: Thursday, November 7th, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Where: Cibero Privado (the private room at Cibero, at 1438 Euclid Avenue)

Hope I see you there!! Now, in the mean time, I'm going to check out some iconic Bond girls and figure out which one of them is going to inspire my outfit for Jump Back Ball 23!!

Disclosure: I am receiving one ticket to attend this event due to a partnership to promote this event. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. 

Listening Now: Panama

First thing first; I was supposed to check in with a weigh-in Friday, and then I decided that I wanted Monday to be my weigh-in days, partly so that I keep my weekend indulgences in check. Sadly, out internet went down last night, so blogging was not to be.

Either way, as of Monday morning (11/4/2014), I weighed 153 lbs; down 2 lbs, only 3 lbs to go before I can get a new outfit!!

Anyway, for the past week, I've been listening to music by this band named Panama, out of Australia.  Panama released a full-length album in 2012, but I discovered them because I heard their song Always on the radio, and instantly fell in LURVE!




Here is an interview that tells you a little bit more about them, and the Always EP is available for purchase on iTunes now!!

XO

Wardrobe Malfunction

Yesterday, was a normal day at work. I was in a Halloween-y outfit: black skinny pants, black top, orange sweater. Everything was good with the world. And then. It happened. I SPLIT MY PANTS!!! From the crotch, all the way down to the middle of my thighs. BOTH THIGHS!!!! DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!! I pulled my sweater down and took quick but short steps (lest I flash someone some inner thigh) to my desk, put on my knee-length jacket, stuck my laptop in my bag, and got the hell out of there to work the rest of the afternoon from home (with un-split pants).

As funny/disastrous as this was, it has served as a wake up call. Truth is, I have put on some weight. Actually, that's a lie. In the almost 10-years that N and I have been married, I've put on 30 lbs.
30 lbs!!!!!!!! And moved up many dress sizes. And to be honest, I am not comfortable. I love fashion, and while I've learned to camouflage, fashion is not as cute or fun when you're not the weight that you're supposed to be. So, this unpleasant pant-splitting incident has gotten me motivated: motivated to eat right and workout, and set a real goal, and put it out there in the world for you to see. So here's my goal: I want to be 130 lbs by our 10-year anniversary in July. That's a 25 lb loss. Totally achievable.

A few years ago, I saw a dietician when I was in India, and she put me on this great eating plan where I lost 10 lbs. But then I stopped being vigilant, and they creeped back on. So its time to go back on this plan. There's really nothing radical about the plan, its mainly portion control. I will tell you more about it as the weeks progress, but needless to say, I will be checking in with you every Friday to let you know how I'm doing, starting with this Friday.

You will probably see a lot of tweets relating to my workout activities, so if you ever want to join me, just let me know!! Oh and one more thing. I'm not allowing myself to buy any more clothes. Each 5 lb loss gets me a new outfit until I reach my goal, and that's pretty much all the clothes shopping I'm allowing myself.

So, for the sake of my love of fashion, this 130 lb goal weight is an absolute necessity!

Let's do this!!!!

Listening Now: October Playlist

Whoa, has it been a month since my last post? Where did all the time go? I will catch you up on some of the very fun things I've done in my time off, but for now, here is the October playlist:
1. Better Off- Haim (new album)
2. Heart Out- The 1975 (new album)
3. Hold Me- Tom Odell (he hasn't hit it quite big here yet, but his album is great)
4. All I Know- Matrix & Futurebound (great workout track)
5. Oceans - Coasts
6. Free- Graffiti6
7. Beneath Your Beautiful - Labrinth feat. Emilie Sande
8. Afterglow- Wilkinson (brand new album released yesterday!)
9. High Low Middle- My Brightest Diamond (a good reminder for life in general)
10. Glowing- Nikki Williams
11. Lost & Not Found - Chase & Status (LOVE them, new album)
12. Always - Panama (I am OBSESSED with this song)
13. Count on Me (feat Moko) - Chase & Status (this is a another great workout song)
14. Elevate - St. Lucia (they were an openers for Two Door Cinema Club earlier this month, so good)
15. Do What U Want - Lady Gaga (she's BACK in all her pop glory!)
16. Endless Summer - The Jezabels

And there you have it! 16 tracks that I'm listening to on repeat!!
XO