Sleepy

Last Sunday I bought a bicycle. It's a cruiser style bike. It's orange. I love it. =o)



Behind my house, and all around my neighborhood, there's marshlands that you can bike and walk through. From my house, the trail to get to the marshland starts from the water pump station next door, then goes east towards the bay. It runs behind a park, the golf course, and the airport before getting to the marshland. To get back there, it's about 2 miles. That makes the round trip roughly 4 miles. There are several trails that I want to explore.



Biking is so much fun. I forgot how much I love it. I haven't owned a bike since I was a kid. In the 7 days since I've owned the bike, I've ridden that route 4 times...maybe 5. I wanted to go out today and explore a new area, but it's windy and cold. I did a ride last night and the wind just makes it miserable. I was riding into the wind the whole way home. It makes things that much harder when you're on a one-speed bike. lol. Instead, I did a 3/4 mile run on the elliptical. I think I'll do another one later since I had a 1,000 calorie breakfast (pancakes).

Yesterday I bought a basket for my bike. I want to be able to bike down the street to Mi Pueblo to pick up a few groceries as I need them (or make a Starbucks run) and carry them home easily. The basket has a separate base that is attached to the bike and the basket sits on the base, so it's removable to use as a shopping basket inside the market. How neat! I got a bike lock, too, so my awesome bike doesn't get stolen.

I actually named my bike, too. LOL. I've named her Clementine. Technically my bike is a men's bike, but since it's pretty much standard that all vehicles are referred to as "she" I thought it was appropriate to give my bike a girl name. LOL.

Having the bike has really helped with my weight loss, too. I don't actually own a scale, but I can see it when I look in the mirror. I can feel it in my clothes. Plus I've already seen/felt a difference in my stamina. I don't get so winded walking up 2 flights of stairs at work. =o) That's really awesome.

I'm really liking the LoseIt App for my iPhone. It's really helping me stay under 2000 calories a day. I didn't want to be drastic in my calorie cutting because I'd end up screwing things up and getting discouraged and give up. My plan is to lose weight slowly, get down to 200 pounds by the end of the year. Once I hit 200, then I'll drop my calories again to get down to my goal weight of 175 by the end of next year.

I've always done drastic diets, and failed miserably after 2 weeks. Or a month. This isn't a diet. I'm just holding myself accountable for what I'm putting in my mouth and making wise choices to stay in my calorie count. The other day I actually made poor choices in my lunch and dinner choices and was out of calories for the day, but was still starving at 9pm. Know what I did? I drank water to keep off the hunger, then went to bed. I didn't give in and eat. I was really proud of myself for that.

So that's what's new. I think I'm gonna lay down and try to nap. I'm sleepy. My Sunday paper will just have to wait a little while longer. LOL

What you mean he don't eat meat? That's OK. I make a lamb.

What's up my fellow bakers?

I come today, bearing a wonderful gift: My Birthday Cake. This is the cake that my mom has made for most of my birthdays over the last 31 years. I am still trying to perfect the execution, but I'm getting better every time. LOL.



Doesn't it look tasty?

This cake is made with Pistachio Pudding! It's also kind of a weird green color, but trust me: It's delicious.

Here we go...

The ingredients:



1 white or yellow cake mix
1 pkg pistachio pudding mix
4 large eggs (I only had jumbo, but that's just fine)
1/2c orange juice (no pulp please)
1/4c water
1/2c vegetable oil
3/4c chocolate syrup
powdered sugar (or, if you don't have any like me, use chocolate frosting)

Combine the first 6 ingredients and mix well (I used my hand mixer for a couple minutes).

Then pour 1/2 - 2/3 of the batter into a prepared bundt pan.



Take the chocolate syrup and mix it into the remaining batter



And pour it on top of the original batter. Don't mix it! Let the magic happen on its own.



Place in a 325 degree oven and bake for 45 - 50 minutes. When a toothpic comes out clean, let it cool in the pan, on the counter for an hour. Then you can turn it out.

When it's completely cool, dust with the powdered sugar. That's the traditional way. But since I didn't have any in the house, I took some frosting that's been in my fridge for about 2 months and melted it down. I drizzed about a 1/4c of chocolate frosting on top.

When you cut it open, you see the magic:



Truth be told, I was impatient and cut into the cake while it was slightly warm, so it was a bit crumbly. It's best if you make this early in the day so it's nice and cool by the time dessert rolls around. lol.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

Fatty Fatty 2 by 4

So I intended to give blood at the American Red Cross today, but was turned away because my blood pressure was too high. The first time the nurse took it, she got something like 200/115. The 2nd time she got 182/110. The 3rd and 4th time, she got 162/108. Their limit is 180/100 and you have to be under both to give. I couldn't get there.

I quit smoking in June or July and assumed that would lower my BP because it always has in the past. I don't know what's different now, but I am so not happy.

I walked out of the Red Cross office and had to do the walk of shame in front of about 5 other people waiting to donate. I was so emberassed and so depressed. I still want to cry now, almost 12 hours later.

I think I've decided that when I move into my new place, I'm going to go vegetarian and eventually vegan. This is my last ditch effort to change my ways before I find a doctor to get some kind of bariatric surgery. I don't want to end up on a myriad of pills by the time I'm 40. I also don't want to look like my mother in 30 years. I know it's not going to be easy by any means. I freakin love meat and chicken, but if I make myself go vegetarian/vegan, I'll force myself to stop using convenience foods as a crutch. I'll stop looking at vegetables as an option. And going vegan will force me to cut out most junk food, too.

I just can't live like this anymore.


Edited to add: BTW, this has nothing to do with my physical appearance. Frankly, I think I look good. I'm always told I look good and even got told I was beautiful by a perfect stranger this morning. I don't need to lose weight to look good, I need to lose weight so I can live to 100 and continue tormenting people, making more enemies, and loving my friends. ;o)

Opening Day at AT&T Park

So last week my dad called and asked if I was busy on Tuesday, the 7th. I told him of course I wasn't, I don't work. LOL. So he invited me to the Giants season opener. Through a series schedule changes between him and a couple of coworkers, he got the 7th off without even really knowing it was Opening Day. When he realized it, my mom got him tickets for the game (She works for Levi Strauss and can get tickets for free because they have a section of seating just for employees - it's directly above right field...conveniently called Levi's Landing.).

There were 6 tickets, so my dad also invited his best friend Carl (whom he's known longer than I've been alive), another friend named John that he's known for about 7 or 8 years, and my brother. We ended up having an extra ticket, but we kept it so we had some extra room (the seating in the Landing is benches, not regular seats, so we got some extra butt room...turns out it was very needed. lol.)

So my I met my dad at his house in Concord at 9:30, then we hopped on BART to get downtown. Once downtown, we walked through a little bit of rain towards the stadium. We stopped at the Gordon Biersch brewery for a morning snack and a couple of beers. LOL. It was just after 11am. lol.





We got to the stadium just after 12pm and met up with Carl, then hung out waiting for John. My brother had his ticket already, so we'd meet him inside.

This was our view:




Since it had been raining, they coverd up the infield with a tarp to preserve it. At the begining of the game, some of us were worried that we'd end up with a rain delay or a cancellation because of the rain. Aside from a light drizzle for 5 minutes after we entered the stadium, the rain stopped for the day.





Taylor Hicks was on hand to sing the National Anthem. He's in town doing Grease, so I guess the Giants figured they'd just borrow him for the morning. LOL. A giant flag was also pulled across the entire field by volunteers:





Captain "Sully" Sullenberger was also at the game to throw out the first pitch. He's a local (lives in Danville), so I thought that was way cool that they asked him to come out. You'd think he'd have been invited to do the Yankee's game. LOL.

Then the players came out...I could practically touch Randy Winn in right field. Well, not quite since I was like 3 stories up, but it was pretty cool!






I snuck a picture of the boys because I didn't figure they'd be up for a photo shoot. LOL.

From the far end, to the front is my dad, John, Carl, and Mike (my brother).




And, of course, the obligatory self portrait. lol




That was already after 3 beers and a foot-long bratwurst. I *heart* stadium food. LOL.

The game was pretty cool. It was kind of a roller coaster in pace. The first inning was exciting and flew by...the next couple were slow as hell...then things picked up again as more runs were scored..then it slowed down, then the last inning picked up again.

This was the first game I've attended in a long time where the Giants actually won. LOL. I'd convinced myself that I was bad luck for the team. But the Giants spanked the Brewers - 10 to 6. Not too shabby. LOL.

After the game, everyone went their separate ways, Mike, Dad and I hopped in a cab to get to my brother's work to pick up his car and head home. My brother drives like a cabbie, but scares me more than a real cabbie. LOL. I hate the way he drives. Most people aren't agressive enough and he's TOO agressive. LOL. Anyway, we got back to their house and my mom had dinner ready for us - Soy sauce and garlic marinated salmon with rice and broccoli. One of my favorite meals. SOOOO yummy!!!

Then I came home and watched American Idol....I fell in love with Adam Lambert just a little bit more. Yes, I realize he's gay. I don't care. LOL.

If you read the whole post...thanks! I'm not usually this verbose, but I had an awesome time and wanted to share.