St. Louis and Ethical Eating

This past weekend, I was in St. Louis to help celebrate my friend Amanda's wedding, which was a blast, but one of the harder ones of the last year. I knew there wouldn't be a lot of options for me as an ethical flexitarian, but decided in advance to make the best of it. I wanted control over my food choices and my budget, so I made sure to bring along some corn thins, a packet of Justin's honey peanut butter, a couple of Luna protein bars and some oatmeal, figuring I'd at least have breakfasts and lunches covered. I ate one of the protein bars on the way there, and decided to have oatmeal for lunch. When I arrived at the hotel, I quickly discovered that there was no coffee maker or microwave, and the hot water was permanently set to around 80 degrees - hot enough for showers, but not for oatmeal. Strike one.

I ended up heading to a Walgreens with Amanda's mom and aunt to pick up some snacks for her son, and bought some dried fruit, a spicy V8 and a cheese stick. Not the best options, but having landed at 9:30 am and it being almost 3 pm, I was starving!

Then the rehearsal dinner came around - let me preface this by saying that I in no way ask, demand or expect to always have my food choices catered to - and it was really hard. Pizza and Applebee's appetizers were served, and I realized that I had three choices: eat in a manner that would go against my ethics, eat crap that would make me feel bad both mentally and physically, or just not eat. Option 3 just wasn't going to happen. Option 1 meant that I could eat chicken breast and the beef out of some burgers, and make do, but the thought of it literally made me gag. Option 2 meant eating pizza and mozzarella sticks, with a few sticks of celery on the side.  Guess what I went with? Option 2. I decided that eating meat was just as ridiculous a decision for me as not eating at all, and couldn't bring myself to do it. So I ate the celery (which quickly ran out), the pizza and the mozzarella sticks. I'm not proud of it, nor am I proud of how much of it I ate. It was, however, the best choice at the time - I'm glad I followed my gut. Plus, I knew that I'd be doing C25K the next morning, which would at least negate a slice of pizza :)

I got up bright and early the next morning to "run", and guys, it was rough. Between the fried foods and the dehydration issues from the night before, I was lagging, and every interval was painful. 15 minutes and that was it. I called it quits, and headed back to the hotel. I noticed there was a Starbucks in the hotel lobby, so I grabbed an iced coffee and a cup of hot water and headed upstairs for some oatmeal, and it was glorious! The rest of the day went pretty well; went to the salon with the rest of the bridal party to get our hair done, had lunch with the bride, groom and their families (they had egg whites and fruit, thank G-D!), and helped Amanda get ready. The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch, and then it was party time!

The reception turned out to be even tougher than the rehearsal, and my dinner consisted of cheese, crackers and fruit. Even though I know I did the right thing, it was really hard watching everyone enjoy the delicious meal, and choosing not to partake in it - I'm starting to understand how tough it can be for E as a vegetarian. I made a choice on what I choose to eat and how I choose to spend my dollar, and it's not always going to be easy, and this weekend was a great way to learn that lesson. By the end of the night, I'd devoured two pieces of wedding cake - tasted awesome, felt horrible. I've been hearing about this cake for months, and wanted to try both flavours. I usually split with E, but since he wasn't there, I figured I could half of each slice. It's times like this when I forget about ED, and I was quickly reminded. Emotion and stress overtook, and it was like I had no control over my fork or the hand that guided it, and it sucked. It sucked real hard. It was bad, but it could've been much worse, and I'm thankful that I was able to stop myself before I had a full-out binge.

The next day, everything was good again - headed to the airport, hopped on a couple of planes, ate some tofu and veg at CVG which was very necessary, reconnected with E, and all was well with the world.

Long story short: had a great time and was glad to be there, but I'm glad it's over!

Picture Time:

Room Tour!

The entryway

The bathroom -

modern, clean and see the shower behind me? 

Amazing!

My blogging station/classroom,

thwarted by the $9.95 daily internet fee

4 pairs of shoes for 2 days - 

I obviously like to be prepared for anything!

Rehearsal dinner-ready

The bed

The beautiful view from my room

Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals and the ceremony location

Meet Me in St. Louis

Happy Friday!

I'm writing this en-route to St. Louis, where I'll be playing bridesmaid for the first time for my dear friend Amanda. The wedding's taking place at Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals - so excited!

Started the day off with an early morning wake-up call, heading off to Huntington Tri-State Airport, with a quick coffee stop along the way. I don't know who was more in need of the have - me or E!





The leg to Cincinnati was uneventful, except for two things: the Luna Chocolate Cherry Almond protein bar I munched on, and this, the most awkward thing I've ever posted online.

No seat belt extenders for this gal! Despite it being unflattering to the mac, pictures like this remind me how far I've come. Not only can I fit comfortably in the seats, but folks chat me up when I sit down next to them instead of running away in horror. It's all about the little things, folks!

I was still hungry when I landed in Cinci, so I grabbed a quick breakfast at Moe's Bar & Grill. Sitting there and listening to Celine Dion, I felt like I'd been teleported back home to La Belle Province. It was a nice reminder of home.

I ordered a cheese-less veggie omelet that was stuffed with roasted red pepper, broccoli, onions and tomatoes, with sides of dry rye toast, home fries and black coffee. I had 2/3 of the egg, all the veg, half of the potatoes and 1 slice of toast with strawberry jam. It hit the spot!





Now I'm listening to Green Day, and enjoying a Fresca and staring down some Biscoff that I intend to save for tomorrow's oatmeal - I feel like Kath!





I have some posts I'm working on which will hopefully get uploaded this weekend. Have a great weekend, and enjoy your Fist Bump Friday!

remember me?

Hello lovelies - you have no idea how much I've missed you!
Thank you to everyone for all of your support and kind words after the mini-tri; it's meant everything to me!
Tons has happened since my last post -

I tried my first macaron - amazing!



Also found my BFF from back home - say hi, Tim!

It's still a little awkward for us to meet up 900 miles from home, so we don't see each other much.

E and I had a garden, after all. We ended up with a mass of herbs, some jalapenos, and a few tomatoes. We also had raspberries, but we let the bees keep most of them.


We got to get a guard 'dog' to keep our veggies safe. Meet Porter.

Celebrations!

The big 2-6 and the big sangria.

Final game of the Stanley Cup at Pittsburgh's finest


giving in to my deepest, darkest secret - being a housewife!

Trying out some goodies...


and some not-so-goodies....excuse the awkwardness that apparently is my hand...

plus, who could forget hanging out with E's dream gal and a few of her co-workers?


A lot's changed, guys - some for better, some...not so much.

Finally got my permanent residency, which means that I'm now employed and in school. I've enrolled in a local community college to up my GPA to get into the program of my choice in a year or so at the university level, which may or may not be dietetics. I've also figured out the bus system, which means that my car's still staring at me from outside the house, wondering why I can't man up and drive already. Me too, car, me too...

I went home in September for the first time in over a year. It was awesome to see my peeps, but I'm bummed that I couldn't see everyone. Unfortunately, I came back home less than a month later - my best friend lost her dad. It was one of the most tragic losses I've ever experienced, and being there was a really tough thing to do. I also learned that one of my cousins is in the last stages of cancer. Not a happy month over here, but I'm hoping that from now on, every time I go home, it'll be for a happy occasion.

So, what have I been eating? Everything! Between the stresses of a so-called new life, traveling, family issues and more, I've done the opposite of "eat less, do more". Thankfully, I haven't gained a pound (weird, right?), but I can definitely feel the difference. I'm grouchy, lethargic, and feel downright pudgy! I just plain feel unhealthy, no matter what I eat. It's been a wake-up call, my ah-ha moment. I always thought when I was really obese that I might've been fat, but that I was healthy. Well, guys, I wasn't healthy at 294 lbs. last December, and I'm not healthy at 245 lbs. now. Am I a size 18 instead of a size 24? Yeah. Is that healthy? For me, not so much. Sometimes, life is just about what feels good, and being this big just doesn't feel right. I've started to journal again, and just make better choices. I'm also starting to get back in the gym, slowly but surely, and it's making a big difference. I just plain feel better - about myself, e, the world. It's funny, a year ago, I would've been thrilled to feel this good, and now, it's not good enough. I couldn't miss something I didn't have, but now that I've had a taste of this kind of life, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

What's been your ah-ha! moment in life?

on the road again

I made a pretty important decision this morning - I'm not tracking my food or exercise intake all weekend. I tend to get a little obsessive, and I'm trying to eat like a normal person, and normal people to obsess over or record every bite and step. Don't worry - I'm not going to take this as an excuse to shovel down everything in sight! I will pay attention to what I eat, and enjoy every bite, meaning if I don't enjoy the first taste, there will be no second. We'll see how this works; if nothing else, it's an interesting experiment!

We headed down the road pretty late yesterday, and kept waiting and waiting until we were finally both so hungry we couldn't stand it. We headed over to a Burger King, where I had a pretty mediocre grilled chicken sandwich. Other than it not being the best of condiment choices, I really dislike mayo on most things, so I just got mustard instead.

Thankfully, I'd made my favorite fruit salad earlier in the day, so E and I munched on that for a little while - it definitely made up for the earlier sandwich! Apple, pear, walnuts and cinnamon mixed together with a small container of vanilla Oikos - super simple and delicious!

Side note: Oikos has got to be my favorite yogurt of all time. It's thick. tangy, high in protein, fat free and low in carbs, and is a great substitute for sour cream or mayo. Love it!

An hour or so later, we got pretty munchy, and broke into the Krinkle Sticks. OMG, these were amazing, and were like a thicker Pringle! Light, crisp and totally yummy, they're also gluten-free, cholesterol free, dairy free and vegetarian, which means pretty much everyone can enjoy them. E and I were totally fighting over the bag, and it fulfilled both of our snacking needs. It really is Snacident Prevention!


After all that driving it felt really nice to have a room.


Especially one with a view!

We got a corner room on one of the top floors, and the views of downtown are amazing, especially at night. Too bad the internet's ridiculously expensive! As soon as we checked in, we headed down to the convention, picked up our passes, and headed to the food court to get some dinner. Sushi and Thai? Yes please!

I had an order of salmon and avocado sushi, which was really fresh and tasty.

E and I also shared a plate of veggie Pad Thai - really flavorful, but didn't taste the same without lime juice, crushed peanuts and tofu.


Tattoo conventions are some of my favorite places on Earth - great people, amazing artists and a heck of a lot of fun. We spent a fair amount of our time at Innerstate, a new live painting exhibition. 40 of the world's best tattoo artists paint live for 5 days straight from morning to midnight, with convention attendees streaming in and out and a DJ spinning tunes. I honestly could've stood there and watched for hours, and we'll probably be back today and tomorrow. This painting by Muriel Zao had me entranced:



Finished off the night with a trip to the bar, which is always the most popular part of the convention! Started off with some bar mix and a Pearl Harbor Punch - Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, pineapple juice, sweet and sour , a grenadine float and a cherry. Fruity and tangy, this went down like nothing at all! At 92 proof, one was enough for this lightweight!

We needed sustenance to even out all the booze, so E and I split an order of veggie nachos, which were the cheesiest nachos I've ever had! I ate a little less than half.


We're heading to a tea house today for brunch, but expect a recap tonight! If you know of anywhere totally awesome in Columbus, OH that we should check out, leave a comment or e-mail me at livelaughgrow AT gmail DOT COM.

mo breakfast, mo problems

My workout plan for this morn didn't work out so well - their machines are a piece of crap! One of them wouldn't stay on for more than a few minutes at a time, and the other decided my heart rate was 45. Needless to say, I didn't do all that much! I got through 10 minutes on the treadmill and 15 on the bike before I got fed up, so it's better than nothing at all. Thankfully, I brought a resistance band with me, so I'll probably just do that tomorrow.

I'm a total sucker for hotel breakfasts, especially the continental kind, which is loaded with excess fat, cholesterol and sodium, among other things. I tried to take a different approach this weekend, and brought along a box of Kashi GoLean and some walnuts so that I can at least have a healthier option for breakfast. I was really happy when we headed down, and I spotted a bunch of little cereals, including Kashi Heart to Heart and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a childhood fave.


Breakie = GoLean & Heart to Heart & Cinnamon Toast Crunch with walnuts in nonfat milk with 3 egg whites and half a sausage patty. Yum! At 449 calories, this was definitely better than it would've been - I passed up biscuits, gravy, waffles and the whole nine yards.

I've already planned out lunch, and I'm bringing some carrots to munch on later if I get hungry, so I should be fine. Goal today? Not eating other people's food! It's the bites and nibbles that get me in trouble, so no tastes for me today.

Check out the little piece of love I found floating in my bowl this morning!


Have a great Saturday!

Cinci and Jon Stewart on Palin

Our weekend in Cincinnati was great, and we had a blast.

Not only did we get to see Bodies: The Exhibit, but we also saw Augustana, Counting Crows and Maroon 5 put on an awesome show (if I can figure out how, I'll be putting up video). We stayed at our favorite mid-priced hotel, Drury Inn, which is always a super value, and very clean, and ate at a great deli, Melt. Not only did they have some great sandwiches, but they cater mostly to vegetarians, which E was over the moon about, so they had a lot of inventive dishes, such as biscuits and vegan sawmill gravy. We also got to visit Jungle Jim's, an amazing supermarket that covers 6 acres - it took us 5 hours to get through it, and that's with skipping several sections!

Tuesday marked a month of married life for us, so last night I made us a simple meal of Eggplant Patties, Indian Stewed Veggies (mushrooms, broccoli, green beans, onions, garlic, tomatoes and spinach) and some Potato Kugel. Tonight, I'm rehabbing some of the leftover veggies into a sort of quiche, with ricotta and phyllo.

Here are some clips from the concert:

This Love, Maroon 5



Wake Up Call, Maroon 5



Mr. Jones, Counting Crows



Rain King, Counting Crows feat. Augustana



Today, I'll leave you with a clip from Jon Stewart, on Sarah Palin.