One of the gifts we got for Jessica for Christmas (a My First ballerina Barbie doll).

Standing next to the Xmas tree at my job.

I'm a lucky girl

Beautiful flowers that my husband gave to me yesterday!

I love the free chocolate of the month club!

Macadamia mosaic chocolate

anniversary gift from husband

The pretty new clutch wallet my husband got me an anniversary gift (nice!! I love it)

Slices of the quiche (they came out without falling apart even without the pastry crust!)

Has red peppers, green onions, cheddar and monterey jack cheeses, ham, salt & pepper.

quiche

I made a pastry-less quiche for dinner.

One of my favorite lemonades! (S Pellegrino IS my fav sparkling water to begin with!!)

walk the walk

I try to walk the walk when I can for some exercise (plus I can rely on my own two feet better than the light rail) - as long as it doesn't rain. This is the view on the way home.

Cosi quiche today for breaky

(half eaten here in pic) I finally got a quiche at Cosi! (lorraine style) It's so bacony and peppery; I love it!

tote bag from Amy's

In addition to coupons for free food, Amy's also sent me a tote bag! Cool, huh?! I do miss Amy's food (I lost more weight eating Amy's) plus I love the way their Mexican dishes taste...especially since we have no Mexican restaurants anywhere around my house for 20 miles or more. Amy's is expensive though because it's organic and no GMO's (had to cut down because of costs). Maybe instead of a lunch from a place near work I can just pick up an Amy's meal instead!

picked up lunch before breakfast

I picked up an Amy's entree on the way to work for lunch later (using a coupon for a free product...so I tried one that costs 6.29). I love their enchiladas anyway! (I don't even care that it's gluten free and dairy free, I just like the way it tastes...the sauce is the best sauce I've had on an enchilada!) I also got a box of two croissants for 1.99 which is a good price for around here since Cosi is the same price for one (and it doesn't taste buttery enough) and Seattle Cafe is $1.50 for one (tastes right though). Was going to pick up a quiche but they only sold it in a full pie or half but not 1/4 pie (the lady I ride the train with who walked with me, Yuin, says I should have gotten it earlier in the week and saved half for another day. She is also Chinese...but she's like me and doesn't speak Chinese and likes other cuisines too...although we had a convo about moon cakes!)

9/18/09 fasting glucose

Yep, coconut cookie waffers and strawberries seem to do better than cake and strawberries!

9/16/09 fasting glucose

Again...

Diets

Diets work and they don't work. Almost all diets work...as long as you can stick to them (however they are almost always very hard to stick to because mostly you have to deprive yourself of particular foods - the ones you love of course, deprive yourself of eating anywhere close to the amount you need, eat or drink things you wouldn't ordinarily do so otherwise or be meticulous with buying the right foods and preparing it and therefore not living or socializing the way you would like. I've tried so many diets and so far the most pleasant ones are the ones that are more like lifestyle changes but give you slower results than perhaps you'd like (but more chance to keep the weight off). I've combined Paul McKenna's 4 Golden rules with "French Women Don't get Fat" and then take into account my pre-diabetes (which if I didn't have would making losing weight quicker). I do want to lose but I
want to be healthy doing it! ("French Women Don't get Fat" = compensations and figuring out what you could 'afford to go without' and which things you absolutely have to have in order to make you happy and enjoy your food and to make sure you move your body).

a fav salad

One of my favorite salads: Quiznos side salad with cheddar, onions and tomatoes with raspberry chipotle dressing (the dressing is awesome). It's just 2.13 with the tax! (worth it)

9/15/09 fasting glucose

I'm trying to take these numbers directly after I get up but I also need to tweak when, how much and what to eat at night (it's hard - I get home fairly late, go to bed late but get up early). However a walk from the train terminal to work without eating anything and resting half an hr makes my number at least 6 greater than when I get up (not really accurate).

9/14/09 fasting glucose

Cookies as a late night snack...

9/09/09 fasting glucose

*sigh*

Sunday 9/06/09

Cutting the cake and serving them on plates.

Birthday Girls

The birthday girl and her daughter and the other birthday girl with her mama.

Sunday 9/6/09

My little girl loves cake as much as I do!

My birthday cake by Shop-Rite bakery

Vanilla cake with cannoli cream and strawberries with chocolate buttercream frosting.

Sunday 9/6/09

I made this small cake for Kaylee.

White after Labor Day

I totally don't adhere to "Don't wear white after Labor Day". I love white (and black and black & white and almost any color with white...or black - both of which are neutral colors). No one says "Don't wear black after Memorial Day", do they??! (so why the reverse?)

9/08/09 fasting glucose

South City Grill in Jersey City

Yesterday I went to South City Grill in Jersey City on my lunch break. I love their seafood!

bread basket

The bread came fresh and warm, just the way I like it.

Lobster linguini at SCG

The lobster linguini in the saffron cream sauce at South City grill is really good.

9/4/09 fasting glucose

9/3/09 fasting glucose

Don't know why it's higher. (other than after lunch number was higher although within range and I didn't eat much yesterday but ate something every so many hrs)

9/2/09 fasting glucose

White House Black Market black dress shoes and bow cafe bag

I love the dress, shoes and the bow cafe bag (in both the red here but especially in the black as depicted with the wide leg trousers).

WHBM turtle neck skirt and belt

I love this whole outfit especially the ruffle belt!

White House Black Market wide leg trousers

I love these wide leg tweed trousers by WHBM.

sweet treat

Had a choco taco to help keep me up this afternoon!

Shop-Rite bakery

I'll order my cake from this menu later...I hate giving up! (Besides the fact that it makes me feel bad it also sends a message to give up easily, to my daughter. However time is money and so are ingredients and there is risk in trying to make my own cake for the party and no one gets good birthday cake to eat for dessert!)

9/1/09 fasting glucose

1 point better than yesterday.

LOUSY, SH*TTY DAY!

My birthday is coming up, but ever since last year it’s been depressing; not because I turned 30 last year but because my cousin died from a motorcycle accident and was buried the day before my birthday. For the obvious reasons, I didn’t invite THAT many people to my birthday party last year but no one showed up but my husband, daughter and parents. If it were not for the fact that I was turning 30, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered last year. This year the turnout is better but I think it will always be somewhat sorrowful because I will always remember that we said good bye to my cousin the day before. My aunt is also having a BBQ on the same day, so I guess I wouldn’t expect anyone from that side of my family to celebrate my birthday with me (except my parents of course). I wanted to send them something in fact but I feel very broke (so broke I am not asking for any birthday gift this year though there are so many things I want, wish for and like so much). I will also always think how grateful I should be to be able to celebrate the start of another year of life (or a marker to say I’ve made it past the last year to the next year of life).

Work continues to be boring. I am good at my job but it is not my passion (fashion, clothes and accessories are). Above that, I don’t belong to any group and I hate that it’s clique-y here. Not that I would have gone, but everyone else was invited and most went to another co-worker’s BBQ this past Sunday. They also get a birthday cake for everyone’s birthday (everyone except for me that is). I’ve been working here as long as or longer than most of them as well (and I am in the median age of all of them – half of them are younger by as much as 5 years and half are about as much as 5 years older than me). I am sure they know when my birthday is because I always mention it (or bring in my own sweets to share with them and tell them it’s my birthday so I brought treats in). This year I will not bring any treats in. Even though my boss is in that group and I report to him, I’m not part of the group (I do sit a few aisles over and secluded from everyone but that shouldn’t matter). I am the only one NOT in a group (I also hold the one and only position in what I do). Can I wish for a new position (even here, but within a group) that makes as much or even more than I do now? It’s hard, because it’s not like I can do any extra towards my career due to commuting and time constraints (it’s too costly to drive to work, especially with my gas guzzler…the one that wouldn’t shut up this morning even pressing the panic to make it stop, but then it’s always been that I can press the button to make it go off and I’d have to be almost on top of the car to make it stop). Today will be extra busy with the month-end close, so I guess I need to focus a bit better.

8/31/09 fasting glucose

chocolate ice cream

Seriously this is the best ice cream I have ever made! (and I did it without my ice cream maker...with exception to the cooling tub) I made this yesterday and will make it again for my party!

Nachos classic appetizer from Jefferson Diner

I got this to go to share with my family. It was really good! It was kind of more like a salad with mexican toppings. Could stand a little more beef on top but the taste was actually really good the way it was (definitely an appetizer and not quite a meal).

pic from another angle

Oh yeah and it's a vanilla cake with vanilla pudding, strawberries and vanilla butter cream frosting.

fixed up a bit with frosting

Another layer plus my handwriting

Crack still shows.

1st layer frosting

Got a huge old crack...

vanilla cakes cooling in pan

8/29/09 fasting glucose

It's always a little better on the weekend?

ice cream aftermath

Within range but on the higher side!

ice cream

Had the second free ice cream from yesterday at 1pm.