Did you know that my favorite breakfast is oatmeal?

Did you know that I eat it almost every morning?

Did you know that I’m doing a giveaway?

Did you know that you can enter it HERE?

Did you know that this month is National Oatmeal Month or NOM?

Did you know that Bob’s Red Mill is ALSO doing an oatmeal giveaway?

Did you know you can enter that by clicking HERE?

GUESS WHAT I HAD FOR BREAKFAST??

YEP!! Oatmeal…

I made Chocolate Overnight Oats. SO GOOD!

Topped with a whole banana made it that much better!

Isn’t that a pretty bowl?

I had fun playing with my new camera too.

Gluten Free Chocolate Overnight Oats:

In bowl of your choice (pretty doesn’t matter, but makes it more fun) mix together the following…

• 1/2 c old fashioned rolled oats (mine were gluten free)
• 1/2 c vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 c water
• 1 TBSP organic ground flaxseed meal
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Place in refrigerator overnight (covered or uncovered – it’s up to you). In the morning add 1 TBSP chocolate peanut butter (oats will be a little creamy) and pop in the microwave for 45 seconds. Remove and Stir. Microwave for another 45 seconds to 1 minute. Remove and stir again. Peanut butter should incorporate into the oats easily. Top with one banana sliced.

ENJOY!

Did you know that I have two celebrity fit obsessions?

1. Jillian Michaels
2. Bethenny Frankel

I work out with Jillian Michaels almost every single morning. I use her 30 Day Shred, No More Trouble Zones and more recently Shred It With Weights. I think she is the BOMB DIGGITY of fitness! Her DVD’s are tough, sweat inducing, ass kicking and FUN all wrapped in to one.

Now – I have been watching Bethenny Frankel on Real Housewives of NYC since the VERY beginning. I love her personality, humor, straight forwardness, fashion sense and hard core attitude. She is no nonsense, balls to the wall and HYSTERICAL!

For Christmas I put her Body by Bethenny DVD on my Christmas Wish List. When Jason asked me to narrow down that list the Body by Bethenny DVD still made the cut, but sadly Jason couldn’t find it anywhere in St Louis.

So I still haven’t been able to try it out and that makes me sad, but I’m strong and will make it through. I’m going to break down and buy it from Bethenny’s website tonight!

Why am I mentioning this tonight?

Well – I have a goal. Actually Jason calls it an obsession, but whatever…what does he know?? If you follow me on twitter then I’m sure you’ve seen tweets like this…

Or this…

Or this one…

Yep…I’m kind of obsessed. I just adore her so much. What can I say? She’s fabulous!

(photo source)

(photo source)

But hey – remember when Ellen wanted to get on the cover of O Magazine? She talked about it everyday on her show. She tweeted about it all the time? She polled her audiences to see if they thought she should be. She even emailed, wrote letters and I believe called Oprah’s people (or so she said) to try an campaign for herself. And do you remember what happened…

SHE GOT ON THE COVER!!!

So I’ve decided to take a page out of Ellen’s book and pester the SHIT out of Bethenny Frankel. I’m going to tweet her, facebook her, write email after email to her publisher and PR people BEGGING her to let me interview her for my blog. I figure if I don’t get arrested for stalking I might actually be able to get her to do it.

And WHY wouldn’t she? I’m pretty awesome myself…RIGHT?

So I’m asking for help from ALL of my readers. If you see a tweet mentioning this mention, retweet it. If you see a facebook status mentioning this mission, like it. If you hear of me being arrested for stalking Bethenny Frankel, please put together a fundraiser to help bail me out of jail.

My mission started on June 29th, 2010 when I wrote a blog [post about channeling “my inner Bethenny” and it moves into full force right now!

Want to help me?

Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits. ~ Robert Brault

Having said that (I ate oats for breakfast, a sandwich and soup for lunch) here’s something that I just recently discovered and am completely addicted to as a snack when you really want something sweet.

One tablespoon of chocolate peanut butter (melted slightly) and a banana sliced. OMG!!!

If you love chocolate, peanut butter and bananas – You. Must. Try. This.

And now…

Last night I left you with a little teaser. You can see my late night here.

So, as promised, an awesome giveaway!

I walked in to my house yesterday after a long day at work and a mad rush to get the girls picked up before the snow storm hit (incidentally – Linsey alone got a snow day) when I saw a rather large box sitting on my front porch.

I LOVE GETTING LARGE BOXES!

Upon opening it I was even happier than when I saw the box because what was inside is something I love even more than getting large boxes.

OATS!

Not just any oats … GLUTEN FREE OATS!!

And a super cute apron!

I love Bob’s Red Mill products. When I decided to move our family towards a gluten free diet I started doing a ton of reading. I recently finished The G-Free Diet by Elizabeth Hasselbeck and was amazed to find that oats can possibly have gluten in them.

Since oats are without a doubt my absolute favorite breakfast I decided to buy gluten free oats and leave the regular ones for Jason. (It seems that he and Linsey can go with or without gluten, but Regan and I are the ones who will benefit most from a gluten free diet.)

Guess what – Bob’s Red Mill has gluten free oats (among a TON of other gluten free products) so I approached them about doing a review/giveaway.

Guess what – they said SURE!!

Guess what else – the oats came yesterday and TWO readers will win a gluten free oat pack (1 bag steel cut and 1 bag quick cooking) just because I love you guys that much!

Here’s how to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me what your absolute favorite breakfast is (mandatory).
2. Tweet about this giveaway IF you’re on twitter (let me know!)
3. Put this link in your facebook status IF you’re on facebook (let me know!)

THAT’S IT! The winners will be picked by random number generator on Monday January 17, 2011.

Moving on…

All this breakfast talk made me hungry for breakfast food so as I type Jason is in the kitchen making gluten free biscuits (Bob’s gluten free biscuit mix) and I will be making spinach & cheese scrambled eggs.

YUM!!!

Before I go I must let you in on how my girls, Linsey and Regan, spend a snowy evening at home. Normally they are fighting, screaming, threatening some sort of violent revenge on the other because this ones touching that one or Regan has kicked Linsey and she is determined to make her sister deathly afraid of her (hasn’t happened yet) or Regan is mad that Linsey took the remote and dared to turn off The Wonder Pets in exchange for Sonny With A Chance or just because they are bored and attempting to plunge the leg of a plastic Dora the Explorer doll sounds like a pretty good way to pass the time.

Not tonight.

Tonight they are doing this – quietly – in Linsey’s room…

Guess What I Am was all they needed to grasp that sisterly bond.

That would be Regan (The Cow Girl) because “I’m like Jessie mama!”

And that – well that is Linsey (The Baby) and she’s “acting like Regan and screaming for no reason“.

At least they both know who they are and getting along – for the moment.

If sisters were free to express how they really feel, parents would hear this:  “Give me all the attention and all the toys and send Rebecca to live with Grandma.” ~ Linda Sunshine

After another G-R-E-A-T workout this morning with my new Jillian Michaels DVD, Shred It, my muscles were so sore. There were a few moves I had to alter because my muscles hurt so bad. Who knew that jumping squats would hurt so bad the next day?! Anyway – as you can see I am in LOVE with this DVD, but I’ll give you a real review after I’ve done it for 30 days.

Breakfast was gluten free toast with almond butter and banana slices.

With a mug of yummy coffee!

All together now…

During breakfast Regan had to show off her new shoes. Actually she BEGGED me to take a picture of them.

CLOSE UP!

Then she DEMANDED that I take Linsey’s picture so she “can be on your computer too Mommy!”

Is it sad that my 3 year old knows the pictures I take of her will end up on the internet??

Linsey was busy reading the name of the band being played on our DirecTV music station to be bothered with a picture.

Of course she came around – my girls are BOTH a couple of DIVAS!

I had a snack about mid morning and let me tell you these little babies are becoming a favorite in our house. Regan even likes them!

Lunch was (you know!) a rerun…

I need to find some gluten free crackers ASAP because I still get stomach pains after lunch even though I’ve turned my veggie sandwich on whole wheat into a garden salad with Newman’s Own Honey Mustard dressing.

I tweeted about the Huckleberry Finn issue today after seeing it on the news, but I’ll get to it in a second. First – dinner…

Jason wanted to go out, I wanted pasta and the girls were too busy playing to care where we went. We compromised with Noodles & Co because I had some money left on a gift certificate. The four of us ended up eating for about $11.00 – TOTAL SCORE! I went with my usual…the Tuscan Linguine with tofu.

Next time I have to remember to order it with rice noodles because my stomach is really pissed at me right now. It was sooooooo good though.

Rewriting Huck Finn?

We keep HLN (Headline News) on at the deli all day everyday. I like hearing the news and they throw in fun pop culture tidbits also. It’s a win win for everyone. Today though I could NOT believe what I was hearing.

A publishing company is rewriting Huckleberry Finn!

( photo source )

WHAT???????

You can read the official story via HLN right here, but the cliffs notes version is this…

• Many schools have taken Huckleberry Finn off of their reading lists because of the “harsh language”.
• Some groups of people find the language to be insulting and unneeded in this day and age.
• NewSouth Books, an Alabama based publishing company, will reproduce Huckleberry Finn without the N word while replacing it with the word slave.
• They will also reproduce Tom Sawyer without the word injun.

Here’s what I think (keep in mind this is just MY opinion):

1. Huckleberry Finn was written in a time when that was how people spoke.
2. The moral of the story is to NOT be racist.
3. Mark Twain was one of our greatest literary minds and to change his words is completely wrong.
4. Taking this book off of the reading lists in schools because it makes people uncomfortable is ridiculous. You do not start learning until you have left the comfortable and ventured into the uncomfortable.
5. Reading this book now (in its original state) is living proof at just how far our country (and people) have come.
6. “Rewriting Huckleberry Finn is like reproducing Roots without the whips.” (I heard that on the news today!)

I am personally appalled that anyone is allowed to do this to begin with. I think this is censorship at it’s worst. When this book was written black people were considered “non citizens” but Huck Finn was very close with Jim (the black character in the book) and as you read the obvious point being made is that hatred, racism and prejudice all together is NOT how to live your life.This book does not promote hatred. It is teaching acceptance of everyone because we are all people.

Changing the words of this book is simply opening the doors to all kinds of changes in beloved classics that may “offend” certain groups. If we go back and rewrite history by altering the language in old books what will future generations be able to learn from them?

I say they will be learning nothing.

I say we will be doing them a great disservice.

I say we should protect our books, our freedom of speech and our ability to deal with uncomfortable situations by learning from them and NOT repeating them. These things really happened (or at least the ideas and thoughts did) and our country was really like that. To change it to make people feel better is sugar coating the way previous generations behaved. We cannot learn from our past if we can’t even face it.

As a parent, whether it’s assigned reading or not, my daughter’s will BOTH be reading Huckleberry Finn among many other great novels of the past. The words in those books will be great conversation starters for us to discuss history, political issues and a great many other things.

I hope that other parents do the same.

What do you think about the rewrite?? Are you for it or against it?? Why?? Will you let your children read the original version??

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ~ Author Unknown

I decided to fast for 5 days to flush out impurities in my body.

I fasted yesterday. Living on distilled water, lemon juice, grade b maple syrup and cayenne pepper. It didn’t taste awful, but it didn’t taste great. It didn’t satisfy any cravings and I started getting a headache. I decided that fasting wasn’t the answer either (or maybe I’m just a big baby).

Instead of fasting I decided that clean eating was a better “fast” then not eating anything for 5 days. I eat pretty “clean” already, but I knew I clean it up even more. Gluten and dairy are out for the time being and probably forever if things go according to plan.

I’m still keeping a food journal for now and writing down any and all significant pieces of information regarding how I feel after each meal, what I’ve eaten, how much and what time of day. I’m going to figure this out!

So this morning I made breakfast. It looks like your ordinary breakfast, but what’s inside is all that matters.

I stumbled upon this gluten free pancake mix at my regular grocery store the other day and knew we had to give it a try. I’ve been tossing the gluten free diet around in my head (and on the blog) for a few weeks now for Regan’s asthma and figured we might as well start incorporating G-Free foods into our diet slowly. This was a great piece to add. I didn’t follow the directions on the bag to a T.

We are cutting back on egg consumption (and I wanted scrambled eggs) when I have Ener G Egg replacer. I don’t see the need for adding in fattening oil when I can use canned pumpkin instead.

Breakfast looked like this today…

It doesn’t look any different from our other pancake breakfasts, but I felt good about serving it to my family because I knew that the ingredients used to make it were so much better for all of us.

With a small drizzle of maple syrup these pancakes tasted great and great fluffly texture. Then I realized (after the fact) that the soy bacon my girls love has wheat gluten in it. That won’t be back on our breakfast plates!

My small mug of coffee was even gluten free because I used chocolate almond milk to sweeten it up a bit. I really hope this change in our diet helps all of us feel better. Everything I have read seems to be pointing in that direction…

Linsey has gone to see the new Narnia movie with my mom and my computer work is done for the moment (apparently Regan’s has just begun)…

It’s time for me to get busy cleaning house so that Jason doesn’t divorce me on the grounds that I make him do all the house work AND take away his gluten!! What he doesn’t realize is that eventually I will get my claws in deep enough that his meat goes away too…

Have you taken a look at my Farewell to 2010?

Or read my 2011 Resolutions yet?

What resolutions did you make for 2011?? Do you even make resolutions??

Enjoy your Sunday!!

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined. – Henry David Thoreau

I’m befuddled…

So after the morning fight with myself of not being able to wake up and then struggling to get out of bed I made my way towards the bathroom blinking my eyes open the whole way.

I made it through my shred workout and was fully awake by the time it was over. I always feel great after my morning workout – sweaty, but great.

While in the shower I was talking to myself (I do this a lot) about how I’ve been feeling and what I thought it might be.

Weather?

Time change?

The holidays?

Regan’s big girl bed that she loves getting out of at all hours?

Stress over the deli being slow?

Change in our routine with Jason & Linsey being on winter break?

Diet?

After the last thought I decided to start journaling again. I wanted to see what I was eating, when I was eating it and how much of it I was actually eating.

Hopefully I only have to do this for a week or two to see if I see anything that needs to be addressed, but I’m not giving myself a time limit.

The girls wanted Panda Puffs for breakfast which was fine by me. I’m working in the gluten free foods for Regan and luckily everyone else is enjoying them as well. She won’t be gluten free 100% until after January 11th when we see the doctor, but I’m making the progression now so it’s already in motion when I get the go ahead.

I had the last two TJ’s gluten free frozen waffles.

Topped with a small banana and honey walnut cream cheese.

A mug of creme brulee coffee was definitely a must!

Part of my problem is probably attributed to the fact that money is tight after the holidays and the deli is extra slow right now. It’s to be expected being the end of the year and all, but it still causes us to take a step back and be a little nervous for a bit. Things will pick back up soon, but while they’re slow it hurts!

I’ve also decided to add snacks into my days when I can. Normally we are so busy at the deli that having a snack beyond popping a cucumber slice into my mouth on my way to the dish pit is impossible, but right now I have the opportunity to make my meals a tad lighter and eat snacks. So I did…

Then at lunch I had a small cup of soup with a few crackers instead of a bowl and my sandwich was a bit smaller as well – still filled with veggies, a slice of swiss cheese and avocado spread.

After Linsey and I picked Regan up we came home and had to change into jammies right away. The rain and bringing up of the trash cans from the street and splashing through the puddles got the bottoms of our pants soaking wet. Luckily I have nothing against warm, fuzzy, cozy pajamas!

We decided to veg on the couch for a bit while we waited for Jason to get home. We watched an episode of Oprah I had TiVo’d with the ENTIRE cast of The Sound of Music! The girls and I LOVE that movie so we enjoyed watching the show too. Of course there were snacks involved…

Once Jason was home I began making dinner. It was pretty simple stuff tonight because I went with a box of gluten free mac n cheese (for the girls) from TJ’s and left over veggies from last night. Plus I made carrot fries!

The girls are ending their Wednesday night with a little Just Dance…

Let Regan’s coughing fit commence.

And I’m already ready for bed…

Do you keep a food/exercise journal?? Why?? Why not??

A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.  ~ Charlotte Brontë

I stayed under the covers a lot longer than I needed too this morning. It was so toasty in my bed under those warm and fuzzy flannel sheets. The news and tweets were also quite alluring as I looked for reasons to procrastinate my imminent venture out into the cold, hard reality of the hardwood floors through out our house.

Eventually I drug myself out, put on the dreaded cold workout clothes hanging on the bathroom door and made my way into the living room. I should expect it, but once I got into the workout I wasn’t cold and I was really into the workout.

Breakfast was my old favorite – chocolate cherry overnight oats.

Plus a steaming hot mug of pumpkin spice coffee cause it’s to die for!

The deli was slooooooooooooow today – all day. I munched on cucumber slices to pass the time. Then when lunch time rolled around I had the exact same thing as yesterday. I’m not real exciting when it comes to lunch these days, but I’m cool with it.

Linsey and I ran some errands after the deli closed and I picked up a book that was recommended to me by Nicole.

(photo source)

I can’t wait to start reading it tonight, but first we had to have dinner. I threw together some oven roasted sweet potatoes, oven roasted brussel sprouts and MorningStar Farms riblets.

Plus bar-be-cue sauce for dipping!!

Now I have to go because our first Netflix movie arrived today and I promised Linsey we would watch it tonight!!

(photo source)

Newsies! I used to love this movie when I was a kid and I KNOW that Linsey’s going to love it too. So I gotta go so we can start watching it now!

My formula for living is quite simple.  I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night.  In between, I occupy myself as best I can.  ~ Cary Grant

WRONG I TELL YOU!

But like a good girl I procrastinated for about 20 minutes reading twitter, facebook and the AP got right out of bed and put on my workout clothes. I met my girl Jillian in the living room for my very own personal training session. I originally said that I wanted to move on to level 3 of the 30 Day Shred this week, but I decided to give myself one more week of level 2 and move on to level 3 at the first of the year.

Jillian proceeded to kick my ass for 30 minutes and then the torture was over. The shower and steaming hot water were calling my name. Actually they were screaming my name with a bull horn and bells and whistles and flashing lights because I skipped the shower yesterday.

After the madness of showering and getting the girls up, out of bed and into school appropriate clothing we moved into the kitchen to get breakfast going. I was definitely ready for something in my tummy by then.

I’m not an “eat before my workout” girl. I feel sick and nauseous if I do that so I work out in the mornings before I eat anything. Once in a while I will have a small mug of orange juice, but rarely. My stomach just can’t take it.

Testing the waters…

Yesterday I took a shopping trip to Trader Joe’s with the girls and we bought everything we needed to get through the next few days, but I bought the gluten free versions of everything on my list. I’m hoping that by switching to gluten free foods Regan’s asthma will settle down without having to take so many medications.

I’m not a big fan of doctors. I dislike vaccinations. I hate pumping my 3 year old full of a laundry list of meds and I’m determined to find a better alternative. After much reading and researching and chatting with others in the same boat I decided that given the gluten free diet a try was the way to go.

She’s not 100% gluten free yet because to be gluten free at school and provide her with appropriate foods I need a letter from her doctor. We go back to the specialist on January 11th where I plan on discussing this issue in depth.

Jason is kind of pissed at me for taking this step without consulting him and/or a doctor first. I didn’t really know what to say because the diet of our children has always been left up to me. It was never something he had much opinion about one way or the other. When I went vegetarian and took Linsey along with me he said he didn’t care as long as he didn’t have to be one.

When I announced that Regan would also be a vegetarian when she was born he said, “Ok. I figured.” So this is a new situation for me. To please him I won’t make the full switch even at home until after we see the specialist. I’m going to ask them to test her for a gluten sensitivity and go from there. Whether it shows up or not I think that going gluten free could really help her and us for that matter.

I know many people who have had allergy tests done and had unclear or wrong outcomes so putting much faith in what the doctor has to say is difficult for me, but I will go in with an open mind and listen to what they have to say.

Moving on…

The girls had gluten free frozen waffles with yogurt and cinnamon and made absolutely no complaints about the difference. I’m guessing they couldn’t even tell.

I tried out the gluten free bread. I toasted it and then topped it with honey walnut cream cheese and banana slices. HOLY YUMMY GOODNESS!

This bread (by Food For Life) was so dense and filling with a subtle hint of sweetness. It was way better than I expected and I was definitely full when I finished.

Plus a huge mug of piping hot pumpkin spice coffee.

That really hit the spot. I heart coffee!

After a fairly busy day at the deli (at least busier than we had expected!) it was time for lunch and I was beyond ready. I rarely get time to have a snack at the deli so when lunch rolls around I’m famished! It was gluten free, but it sure was good.

A bowl of tomato soup with a veggie sandwich on whole wheat was exactly what this freezing cold day called for.

Then Linsey and I split this chocolate coconut cream cupcake!

After the clean up was finished Linsey and I ran a couple of errands, picked Regan up from school and then headed home. I got a load of laundry done AND did the dishes.

Aren’t you proud?!

The girls played some Wii and then when Jason got home I got dinner going. I put some leftover bruschetta that Jason made yesterday for a catering gig to good use.

I cooked this bag of pasta and poured the reheated bruschetta over the top.

He also had some leftover brocolli and cauliflower so I put that to good use as well.

Dinner was served!

Everyone loved it!

No one complained!

Maybe gluten free won’t be so hard after all!

They were all rewarded with these tasty treats…

I had two as well.

I know that Jason and I are a team and the diet’s of our children should be a mutual agreement, but giving up the control of that area is hard for me. I have certain moral and ethical and health issues that some people may not agree with me on. I think a lot of health issues can be resolved or lessened by a change in diet. Many people aren’t willing to make that change and then want to poke fun, tear down or make rude comments towards someone who is willing. I’ve been dealing with it for years so it doesn’t n bother me as much as it used to.

Do you have dietary issues that cause others to pass judgement on you?? Are your dietary choices a point of conflict in your life?? How do you handle it??

It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class.  ~ Author Unknown

As a kid when winter rolls around you pray for snow days. Well, as an adult (with children of your own) snow days can be a bit of a stress inducer. Which is exactly what happened this morning.

Now that Jason and I own our own business the girls being sick, one of us being sick or even a snow day really throws a wrench in the whole plan. Upon waking up this morning I was greeted with phrase adored by school age children around the world:

“Due to inclement weather __ School District will be closed today.”

Linsey was thrilled and pranced around the house singing, “I don’t have to go to school today!” (even though she had a field trip today and we stayed up late finishing that 3D project)

Once hearing this phrase Regan instantly started singing along. Except the major catch in this song was that Regan DID have school today. Since preschool doesn’t involve buses or children walking to school it was business as usual. That didn’t sit well with her.

Finally she was content (for a little while anyway) watching cartoons in my bed while I took a shower and got dressed. Then it was breakfast time. In unison they both declared, “We want cereal for breakfast.”

Easy enough!

Myself, I needed a nice warm bowl of pumpkin pie overnight oats. DUH!

Topped with a little shredded coconut and a few mini chocolate chips it was perfect on such a cold day. I had to have a small mug of orange juice though.

All together now…

The drama continued on during breakfast because Regan was highly insulted and very sad that Linsey got to go to the deli and she had to go to school. I must have promised her everything under the sun, but eventually she decided that going to school would be ok and we got in the car to slip & slide drive over there.

On the way to the deli I realized I didn’t have my coffee mug with me (I guess I promised that to Regan too) so I made a quick stop at Starbucks for a triple grande skinny hazelnut latte.

Trust me – it made the day that much more tolerable!

The deli was pretty dead today. IT was dead yesterday. I think it’s a combination of the weather, the fact that Christmas is around the corner and every one’s broke. Needless to say Linsey was able to drive me just that much more crazy today because we were slow and she was bored. When she told me that she hadn’t brought her homework with her I wanted to shake her and scream at her and tell her that she is the most scatter brained 9 year old I know, but then I realized – she’s 9!

OF COURSE SHE’S SCATTERED BRAINED!

So I just kept quiet and found things for her to do. I used a chocolate cupcake as leverage to keep her behavior at least bearable and by the time we closed she was a little angel. I guess chocolate makes a good bartering tool!

I didn’t snap a picture of my lunch today, but I had a cup of tomato soup and half of a veggie sandwich on whole wheat bread with swiss cheese. It hit the spot on so many levels.

Dinner is back to our usual Thursday night out at Sweet Tomatoes and my coupon this week is AWESOME! Dinner for four at $19.99…SCORE!

At the beginning of the month I wrote a post called Tis The Season and it was basically my Top 10 gift ideas for the foodie/health nut in your life (or me – whatever!). According to my husband it’s too long and he needs me to revise it down to Top 5 so he has an easier time shopping for me.

I know! I know! Christmas is in 9 days and we STILL haven’t even started shopping yet. What can I say? I shop better under pressure…

So for Jason here is my Top 5 favorite things for Christmas 2010…

#1 ) Adoraboots in gray from Old Navy!

#2 ) My perfect jeans from the Gap (in size 4 please!)

#3 ) The Body by Bethenny work out DVD because it is too cold to exercise outside right now. Plus then I’ll have 5 work out videos to use all week long!

#4 ) I’m really wanting to start taking yoga classes. Having some kind of a class membership at Centennial Commons (our local fitness center) would be an amazing gift and a little time away from the girls each week.

#5 ) I am in desperate need of a new yoga mat for my at home work outs (or that yoga class I hope to start taking ) and this Infinity Aurorae Mat looks awesome.

#6 ) I’m DYING for a point and shoot! This Canon Power Shot looks amazing for the price.

Ok so that was actually a Top 6 list, but whatever. That should be easier for him to choose from – no?

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO COMING UP!

I wanted to end tonight’s post with a lesson. And tonight’s lesson goes as follows…

Never use a chef knife while talking on the phone. IT WILL END BADLY…

Yes, dear readers, that is Jason’s thumb. And yes, dear readers, he cut the tip of it off. And yes, dear readers, he was on the phone. And yes, dear readers, he was talking to me. And yes, dear readers, I feel a little guilty. But yes, dear readers, I also find it extremely just ever so slightly humorous because he’s a professional chef and should know better and is always telling me NOT to do certain things while I’m talking on the phone and one of them was using a knife. I guess he was right and I better be careful in the future…

The snow doesn’t give a soft white damn whom it touches.  ~ E.E. Cummings

I have been seeing a lot of emails, tweets, facebook status updates and tips on different websites that basically ALL say something like this… “How NOT to gain weight this holiday season”.

That used to be my fear. You know – that I would ruin all my hard work between Thanksgiving and New years. I would stress out about it weeks before the holidays even started. In my head I planned out how much I would exercise, what I would eat and what I wouldn’t. I would convince myself that the only way to “make it thru” the holidays was to either deprive myself of all the specialty foods that only came around once or twice a year or work out like a mad woman to counter act those foods. Then, inevitably, I would feel guilty later for eating two pieces of my grandmother’s pumpkin pie or a few too many cookies at the annual cookie party.

I call BULLSHIT!

I’m no longer interested in deprivation, scare tactics, unreasonable expectations regarding exercise and guilt trips later. I am FINALLY at a point in my life where I’m (mostly) comfortable with myself, my choices and and my ability to enjoy the holidays (or any other time of the year) without making myself miserable.

I handle the holidays like I handle EVERY day. I eat the most of the healthy options and enjoy a few of the not so healthy ones. I don’t set unrealistic expectations on myself on regular days so why would I do it on special days?

I believe that life is meant to be enjoyed and cherished and LIVED! A couple extra sugar cookies or an extra slice of pie or a second dinner right before bed a few times a year does NOT an unhealthy person make.

I OBVIOUSLY don’t live like that every day- that’s a totally different story, but enjoying the holidays with family and friends is NOT going to “throw you off track” or “cause you to gain weight” or “counter act all the healthy choices you make every day” because you don’t make those choices on a daily basis.

If you have a healthy life style already in place then living it up with an extra slice of pie on Thanksgiving, diving into the fruit cake for another piece on Christmas or enjoying multiple drinks on New Years is nothing to worry about or stress over or feel guilty about later. Just go back to your regular life style the next day.

That’s how I see it anyway. I decided a while back not to put crazy restrictions on myself for any reason and the holidays are meant to be enjoyed with the ones you love.

SO ENJOY THEM!

Speaking of the ones I love…

I just want to thank EVERYONE who came out in support of Linsey this weekend. The Nutcracker was a HUGE success and she had the best time performing. I think she really found her groove. She looked so natural and comfortable up on that stage. I couldn’t have been more proud of her. Between you and me – I shed a tear or two on opening night because she just looked so amazing.

As soon as the photographer’s pictures are posted on the website of her dance school I will share a few with all of you. I took some, but they turned out AWFUL because the lights on the stage are just too bright. I’m not well equipped for that kind of photography. (HINT HINT )

Once the final show was over Linsey decided to skip the cast party because the weather was terrible and I think she was just plain exhausted. We opted to have a family party at home with special cookies, pizza and Shrek 4.

I cannot tell a lie (well I can, but in this case I won’t) these cookies were TERRIBLE!!! Linsey loved them, of course, because they were loaded with sugar (her favorite food group) and had tons of icing. I could only stomach half of one before feeling like I was going into sugar shock.

Normal Life…

Life around here has pretty much gone back to normal. Jason’s home in the evenings now because finals are over, but that’s the only major difference. I even enjoyed pumpkin pie overnight oats this morning!

I chugged a mug of chocolate cherry cordial coffee. OMG!!! It was fan-freakin-tastic and kept me go-go-going too!

We’re still suffering through arctic temperatures here in St Louis so for lunch I enjoyed some smokin hot and fire roasted tomato soup with two slices of whole wheat garlic cheese bread for lunch. It was perfect!

I must admit that I have a bit of a sweet tooth (it’s kind of my Achilles heel) so I satisfied it with a super yummy vita top.

Winter and I are NOT BFF’s because, well, I hate it! Besides the holidays I don’t feel there is one single good attribute about the winter months. I don’t like the cold, I hate driving in snow and I despise the fact that it’s dark by 4:30 every day. So I get tired early in the evenings and don’t want to get out of bed in the mornings. This means that working out is really hard for me right now because my prime work out time is between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning.

This leads me to my confession (it feels good to get things off your chest) of the week. Since you, dear readers, are like my therapy I feel like I can be honest with you and admit that I haven’t worked out since Friday. I can also admit that I don’t feel guilty about it in the least. Sleeping that extra hour these last two days has felt great!

But I know that working out is important to keep me healthy, energized and feeling good so tomorrow I will be up getting my ass kicked by Jillian Michaels no later than 6:00 in the morning.

What you’re really here for…

The winner for the Noodles & Co gift card was chosen by Random Number Generator. And the winner is…

Katie: I actually have never been to Noodles & Company. Its on my list though, I would most likely get INDONESIAN PEANUT SAUTE or the med with tomato bisque. Now this made me super hungry!

Just email me your mailing address so I can get it to the lovely folks at Noodles & Co!!

Jason and Linsey are on their way home and he’s going to make us a yummy dinner. I can’t wait to see what we’re having!! Stay warm out there kids…it’s a cold one. :tears:

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. ~ Nelson Mandela

Linsey has Nutcracker dress rehearsal tonight and then the show starts tomorrow so I will be out of the blog world probably until Sunday evening. We have family flying in from Atlanta and other people driving up from Springfield to watch our little ballerina.

While I’m gone check out my Q & A post.

Check out my Top 10 Favorite OpenSky things.

And enter to win your very own Anything Card from Noodles and Co!

Don’t forget that you can still purchase tickets to The Nutcracker here.

Have an amazing day, enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll see ya’ll Sunday!!

“Where there is love there is life.” Mahatma Gandhi