Tales of a fourth grade nothing.

Be sure to check out my latest Baby Steps to Body Love Challenge update and see my new challenge!

I spent Friday night fixing Colorhungry mama’s birthday present.  What was it, you ask?  A cake plate!  I decoupaged it. I absolutely LOVE decoupaging. I’d decoupage my bedroom walls if I could!  Here’s the finished product:

I’m starting to exercise and be more active again- and of course, this means that it’s playlist making time! When I was a kid I sang along with my parents’ antiquated CD collection and memorized every word of songs from the likes of Michael McDonald, Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel, Boston, and Air Supply. I listened to them non-stop.  To this day, if I happen to catch an Air Supply song on the radio (don’t laugh- this actually happens on occasion), I still anticipate the next song on the CD it came from.  While I was growing up, though, we rarely listened to the radio in our house- my parents were both deaf and didn’t have much use for it. I got a rude awakening in the fourth grade when I was introduced to Ace of Base- up until then I believed I was pretty posh with my musical taste.

As I’ve gotten older my musical tastes have grown more diverse, but according to various sources, I still have some majorly cringe-worthy songs in my iTunes repertoire.  I was putting together a playlist to run on Saturday night and came across all sorts of nostalgia inducing goodness that I will share with you.  Let the ridicule commence:

Best of Air Supply Album- featuring “All out of Love”

Barbie Girl- Aqua

My Heart Will Go On- Celine Dion (ok, I confess- there’s a lot more Celine than this.)

Shadow- Ashlee Simpson (there’s just no excuse for this one)

Bodyguard Soundtrack

Cyndi Lauper- Time After Time

Belinda Carlisle

 That’s just a small sampling.  There are much worse things than that.  I think there’s some Hilary Duff on there somewhere.  Accidentally.  On purpose.  Anyway, what did I end up with for my playlist? 

 Champagne Supernova- Oasis

Keep on Your Dress- The Pigeon Detectives

Leave out all the Rest- Linkin Park (Twilight song!)

Emergency- Paramore

Walk On- U2

City of Blinding Lights- U2

Everything we Had- The Academy Is

Franklin- Paramore

The Pretender- Foo Fighters

Rascal Flatts- No Reins

21 Guns- Green Day

Three Libras- A Perfect Circle

The Way You Make Me Feel- MJ!

 What are your current workout playlist must haves?

 Food-wise it was a good weekend.  I’ve been rediscovering my love of whole, healthy foods and cooking.  When I take the time to prepare a meal for myself, I find that I’m acutely aware of what I am eating and I really savor it more.  What’s really amazing is that I feel good about what I am putting in my body and that makes me feel better about myself. 

 Now, without further ado: Weekend (ok, and Monday!) Eats.

 All day Friday I had a hankering for breakfast for dinner.  I got home and knew EXACTLY what to do.  

Pumpkin maple French toast topped with bananas, warm apple cranberry butter (thank you, Trader Joe’s!) and just a couple of dashes of organic powdered sugar! It was incredible. So seasonally appropriate.

Ok, so maybe the plate wasn't very seasonal...

Saturday was off to a late start and I ended up having a makeshift brunch.  I started off with some muesli and banana with extra raisins, and when I realized that the muesli from the grain bin at Whole Foods wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, I finished off the banana and dried fruit, before chucking the rest and making myself an overeasy egg on whole wheat with soy mozzarella.

 

Of course it needed ketchup!  For me, it’s gotta be Heinz- and the organic has no HCFS.  Delicious!

Ok, this was cheesy, I admit it. *sheepish grin*

The perfect accessory...

Dinner Saturday night was a bit of a lonely affair, but I managed to throw together a nice brown rice pasta with lemon pepper garlic shrimp, basil, kalamata olives, and some feta cheese.  It was exactly what I needed to fold some laundry and watch the fights on CBS!  Woo hoo, Strikeforce(because there’s nothing better than seeing two men beat the crap out of each other, obviously)!  Yes, I know- I lead an exciting life. 

 

I went green for breakfast on Sunday morning- lots and lots of spinach sautéed in garlic with kalamata olives, tomatoes and a couple of eggs- all scrambled up and topped with just a dash of leftover feta. The whole wheat toast on the side is topped with some fat free cottage cheese and it’s a surprisingly tasty combination!

 

Lunch was simple- grilled soy cheese sandwich (no butter, just some TJ’s olive oil spray) and some tomatoes and cucumbers. 

 

Then it was off to my aunt’s in Rhode Island to celebrate Colorhungry mama’s birthday!

The cake:

 :

Hard to see and get a picture what with all the dim light, but we had sausage and meatballs in homemade marinara, spinach and mushroom lasagna, salad, roasted asparagus and a salad. It was delicious!

The glass of wine:

The Tess:

It was a really fantastic time.  My aunt is a wonderful cook and it was so fun to see my family- we’re Italian (hence the Italian feast!)- and loud(aren’t the two synonymous?).   

I’m also really happy to say that for once, I didn’t completely hate every single picture of myself.  This is some serious progress for me because in general, I either hide my body or cover my face in some way, if I’m not avoiding the camera altogether! 

 And finally, we’re at Monday night. Tofu and shrimp stir fry with a homemade teriyaki marinade, over wild rice and topped with half a tbsp. of chopped almonds.  I’m really getting into a tofu groove and enjoying working with something that I never had any inclination to voluntarily ingest in the past.  I’m pretty pleased with this fact.  What’s your favorite tofu recipe?  Any suggestions?

 

WHEW!  This is a long post- I had a lot stored up over the weekend, but I don’t have internet at my apartment yet, unfortunately.  If you’ve made it this far, thanks for hanging in there!