Ok, so I'll admit it. I LOVE vodka. Seriously, I really do. Not to say that I drink everyday. In fact, I don't drink MOST days, but I'm a stay at home mom, and let's face it, Monday thru Friday are spent with kids, mostly trapped in the house and by Friday night, I could frankly use a drink. The problem is, my 1 glass of Grey Goose usually becomes, 4, 5, maybe even 6? NOT GOOD. Then, that's usually followed by some outing or at home party on Saturday night that includes the same routine.

So, for the last few weeks, I bust my ass from Monday thru Friday working out and eating perfectly. Literally folks. I'm working out like a contestant on the Biggest Loser over here. There's rarely a day that I don't exercise for 2-3 hours. I run for at least half an hour. Then I do one of my MANY dvd's, which are usually one of Cathe Friedrich's or the old school THE FIRM or our newest thing P90x! Then I follow that hour up with either a 35 minute or hour long step routine (either a FIRM one or another Cathe Friedrich) So I'm working out a LOT. Not to mention, that in order to have the time to workout like that, I wake up at 6am, make lunches, cook breakfasts, sweep/mop/take care of animals, do a load of laundry, or whatever needs to be done so that I can clear 2-3 hours of time for myself while the kids are at school.

All that happening during the week should really just make me want to sleep all weekend. Why on earth do I insist on partying like a rock star come Friday night, only to wake up on Monday with the same 5 pounds back I just spent all week losing? This is dumb, right? That's what I figured too, so last week, after the 3 day weekend, I decided I'm giving up my Grey Goose until I reach goal. Amazingly, it was very easy. The trick was, however, to not let myself feel anxious. SO, I worked out. I only did a short run on Saturday, but then I came in and took a nice, long bubble bath. It was great. Then this morning, I got up and did my usual Monday thru Friday gig. I feel great today, and go figure, I'm in the 150's!!!! YEAH!!!!

I'm thinking if I can keep this up for the next several months, I'm going to be at 140 in no time. And a glass of Grey Goose will be a nice little reward!

So my son, Sebastian, asked yesterday if he could help cook dinner tonight. Of course  I said yes and we started to look through the fridge and pantry to decide what he wanted to cook. All on his own, he decided we needed to use skinless, bonelesss chicken breasts, sugar free apricot preserves, romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, and raisins. So, with a little tweaking, that's exactly what we made. I mixed some of the apricot preserves with some chipotle tobasco sauce and glazed the chicken with it. Then I baked it. For the salad, I mixed romaine, celery and onions. Then I made a dressing of 1/4 cup of the mandarin orange juice from the can, 2 tbs. of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbs. of honey and 1 tbs. of dijon mustard with a nice grind of black pepper in it. We dirzzled that over the lettuce and then added the oranges and raisins. YUM! The whole dinner is about 400 calories and completely delicious! I think I have a little budding chef on my hands!

I haven't written on here in quite some time. I don't know why. Well, that's a lie. Yes I do. I completely fell off the wagon for a while there and it took me some time to get a grip on things.

Worst of all, I started smoking again in late February. Within days I was right back to a pack a day habit. It took me until mid April to realize what a fool I was after having worked so hard to quit in June! So, I put the patch back on, sucked it up, realized that I can NEVER have just ONE cigarette, and got back on that train. Of course, since I was smoking, what the heck, why work out? You can't breathe anyway, right? And since you can't exercise, why bother eating right? It's a complete snowball effect for me and I fell right into it. When I finally realized what was going on, I was back up to 172 pounds!

However, for the last 6 weeks, things have been back on track. I'm working out like crazy and while I've only gotten down to a mere 160.5, my body has gotten a lot smaller and the entire shape of it has changed. I've also gone off of the Atkins diet and switched to a 1200 calorie, lower fat, high protein, no sugar, no refined carb diet. The carbs I eat are in the form of veggies, fruits, and a few whole grains like double fiber bread, flax seed wraps, the occasional brown rice and skim milk. I'm actually enjoying food a lot more now and I feel just as satisfied eating this way. I REALLY love my fruit/milk/yogurt/protein powder shakes and I am addicted to turkey wraps loaded with veggies and dijon mustard. 

So anyway, that's my update. I'm going back to school in August. I decided I want to become a teacher. I have a degree already so it isn't going to take me long to accomplish that. I'm hoping I'm maintaining a happy, healthy 135 pounds by the time I start school, but if not, that's ok too!