I'm having a HUGE sale!

I'm having a huge buy 2, get 1 free sale in my Etsy shop at the moment - it's a great time to stock up!

I'm a Celebrity!

I am so excited to be the latest recipient of the following award!


Special thanks to LizzieJane for nominating me for this - quite an honor coming from someone with such a great blog! Here's my list of nominees that I'd like to receive this award as well:

KitchenMage
The Blue Between
Pepito
Etsy for Animals
The Anti 9-to-5 Guide
It's Meow or Never (which will be great when it gets going)
Posie Gets Cosy

Here are the rules for this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.
6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking every body's mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!

A Perfect Day ...

I had the most wonderful day in Seattle with my beautiful Aunt Christie. I don't get to see her nearly enough and she invited me to have lunch with her today - how exciting!

We decided to eat here:


There was a huge Norwegian Cruise Lines ship docked and it made for very interesting conversation. The food and service was great - Christie enjoyed the fish tacos and I had the Hawaiian Cobb salad (less shrimp and bacon).

Our waiter overheard that it was my birthday recently and brought out a complimentary Sundae:


I'll have to figure out how to calculate those Weight Watcher points later. It was *delicious*.

The weather was so beautiful and the sun was out in all it's glory. Even Mt. Rainier graced us with it's presence:


All in all, it was a perfect day and the fresh air and great company was just what I needed.


All my love to you, Christie, for spending the day with me and for the lovely birthday gifts .. you and David are *beyond* thoughtful and I was really touched by you both today. I love you.

An Unexpected Guest

I came home from work tonight and was delighted to find a strange and unusual inhabitant in my garden:



Discovered by JE Smith in 1797, the Small Eyed Sphinx or Paonis myops is hanging quite delicately from a single daisy stem on a hanging basket. A rare treat - I've never seen anything like it - he's quite handsome in a strange, mothy kind of way.

*****************************

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 13
Daily Points Remaining: 6

Breakfast
- None

Lunch
- Zero Point Tortilla Soup: 0
- Piece of bread: 3
- 24 oz water

Dinner
- 1 Quorn Unchicken breast: 1
- brown rice: 2
- 1 cup brussels sprouts: 0
- 2 tbps teriyaki sauce: 2
- coke: 3

Snacks
- 1 cup baby carrots: 1
- 1 kiwi: 1
- Reeses peanut butter crunch (small): 2

Choices

This evening, I had a special treat - dinner with my Dad. I met him at California Pizza Kitchen and ate an entire Margherita Pizza. It was delicious but costly in terms of points. The important part was that I "budgeted" for it earlier in the day. That's the beauty of Weight Watchers - planning, awareness and choices.



*****************************

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 13
Daily Points Remaining: 0

Breakfast
- None

Lunch
- 1 cup quinoa: 4
- broccoli: 0
- asparagus: 0
- cabbage: 0
- red pepper: 0
- yellow squash: 0
- zucchini: 0
- teriyaki sauce: 0
- 16 oz ice tea

Dinner
- 32 oz iced tea: 0
- 1 Margarita Pizza (California Pizza Kitchen): 21

Snacks
- None

Tortilla Soup - No Points!

I found a recipe for Tortilla Soup that has NO Weight Watchers points. I tried it and it is SO good. Here's a pic:



Instead of using salsa, I used Pico De Gallo and I also added some "Franks Red Hot" hot sauce. I like things spicy. Mmm....

I took a 25 minute brisk walk at lunch today. The weather was perfect here .. I felt like I could have kept going!

******************************

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 17
Daily Points Remaining: 3

Breakfast
- 1 kiwi: 1

Lunch
- 1 cup quinoa: 4
- broccoli: 0
- asparagus: 0
- cabbage: 0
- red pepper: 0
- yellow squash: 0
- zucchini: 0
- teriyaki sauce: 0
- 16 oz ice tea

Dinner
- Bowl of Tortilla Soup: 0 (post a comment if you want this zero point recipe!)
- 7 tortilla chips: 3
- Can of coke: 3

Snacks
- 1 pita: 4
- 2 tbsp hummus: 3
- 1 cup baby carrots: 1

I love my house.

o-m-g. Two for one sale at the garden center so I added more plants. I am tired.



******************************

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 17
Daily Points Remaining: 3

Breakfast
- 16 oz iced tea: 0
- 1/2 lrg onion bagel & crm cheese: 4
- 1/2 banana: 1

Lunch
- Taco time salad (no meat): 4

Dinner
- Veggie sandwich: 5
- 16 oz. ice tea: 0

Snacks
- 94% FF popcorn: 4
- 16 oz water: 0

Bleh. Binged.

I binged today on a bunch of crappy food. I also bought more plants. I think I'm addicted to both at the moment.. Weight Watchers doesn't seem to be as easy as it was the last time I did it and I'm dead set at having something in the way of a pretty garden, if it kills me (and it might - oh my back!).

Here's a photo of my newly planted flower bed .. I'll add more to it tomorrow. I was so excited .. I had a bird take a bath in my birdbath .. he had an absolute blast.



Now I've decided that I need to rearrange my office so that my desk faces the window so I can look out at my feathered friends while I work. Jotting that down on the list of things to do tomorrow.

******************************

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 17
Daily Points Remaining: 0

Breakfast
- Cereal and milk: 5

Lunch
- 1 cup quinoa: 4
- broccoli: 0
- asparagus: 0
- cabbage: 0
- red pepper: 0
- yellow squash: 0
- zucchini: 0
- teriyaki sauce: 0
- 16 oz Water

Dinner
- Veggie sandwich: 4
- 16 oz Water

Snacks
- 16 oz unsweetened ice tea: 0
- 20 oz Coke: 5
- Jack in the Box Onion Rings: 11
- Ranch dressing: 4
- Trader Joes chocolate: 3
- Trader Joes chocolate meranges: 2

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I went shopping at Flower World today and bought some new plants for the garden. Going for that cottage look - will get them all planted tomorrow morning.







******************************

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 34
Daily Points Remaining: 0

Breakfast
- Fresh fruit: 4

Lunch
- Subway Veggie Delight - 6": 4
- Green Tea Ginger Ale: 3

Dinner
- 1 cup quinoa: 4
- broccoli: 0
- asparagus: 0
- cabbage: 0
- red pepper: 0
- yellow squash: 0
- zucchini: 0
- teriyaki sauce: 0
- 16 oz Water

Snacks
- 13 chocolate merange cookies: 2
- Trader Joes 100 calorie chocolate: 3
- Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream: 2

Weight Watchers Begins ......

I started Weight Watchers again - not because I necessarily want to lose a ton of weight but because I picked up some pretty terrible eating habits while I was sick. I'm pretty excited about it - the last time I did Weight Watchers, I felt fantastic and had lots of energy. I highly recommend the program to anyone who might be considering it.

With each daily posting (yes, I'll be posting daily now), I'll append my food log for the day to show my progress.

Starting Weight: 154.2 pounds
1st Goal: 15 pounds
Weekly Points Remaining: 35
Daily Points Remaining: 3

Breakfast
- Nothing

Lunch
- Pasta Salad: 8
- Coke: 3

Dinner
- Spinach Salad: 6
-- Strawberries
-- Bleu cheese
-- Almonds
-- FF balsamic salad dressing
- 16 oz Water

Snacks
- 1/2 WW Cookies & Cream ice cream bar: 1

My Birthday Cake

My 35th birthday was marked with the presentation of the perfect cake - a LADYBUG CAKE!! Imagine my excitement when my team presented me with this:



They sure do know me well. Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so special!

Christian the Lion

No.....

...we're not working today, Mama.

Today is "Caturday".



I mean it. I'm watching youuu.

Scaredy Cat

My cat Holly has been wearing a "cone" for a few days after a visit to the vet. Her brother doesn't quite recognize her at the moment.

Paws for a Cause ...

It's coming and I couldn't be more excited!

The Catalyst for Change

"I'm seeing a rebirth and reawakening in this country to political activism. We're seeing something in this country we haven't seen since the late '60s. We're seeing record numbers of people getting involved. The catalyst for all this, the common denominator, is Sen. Barack Obama. He has lit a fire in many hearts across the country."

~ Kalyn Free (Native American Superdelegate)

A 12 Pack of Kittens, Anyone?

"Si Se Puede Cambiar"

Our Product Photography Service

Take a look at the product photographs on your web site. Are they blurry? Small? Dark? Having your product photographs professionally shot is surprisingly affordable and is a great way to attract new customers! A picture is *definitely* worth a thousand words! Take a look at some of our photography work and then contact us for a free estimate for your project.

Sunday Paws

Having just received 5-6 inches of snow, it seems that today is a lazy kind of "don't go anywhere" day.

Holly, Hunter and Panda agree. With that, I present you with "Sunday Paws" ...