Action Packed Weekend and BYOC

Wow, what a weekend and it's not even over! Friday night I went over to my parents' house to sleep there since it's half the distance to get there from my office than my house, and we had plans on Saturday morning so it all made sense. My mom had some great coupons and we went shopping and she treated me to 3 new shirts at Kohl's that actually fit me, so that was awesome.

Saturday morning we got up and got ready to head out. One of our favorite authors, Jennifer Weiner, was doing a reading in Ft. Lauderdale so we were going to lunch and to see the reading. We went to Seasons 52 for lunch. Has anyone been there? It's a bandster's dream restaurant. The food is fancy, but it's very fresh and seasonal...and everything on the menu is 475 calories or less. We shared a spicy shrimp and pineapple flatbread (400 calories total, so about 130 calories for my portion). Then I had a bowl of buffalo chili, which came with spicy sour cream and cornbread (335 calories, 28 grams of protein, and 7 grams of fiber total). Then we indulged in dessert, which they serve in a shot glass:



I had chocolate peanut butter mousse, and my mom had a bite, so I ate about 3/4 of it for about 225 incredibly decadent calories. Yum. It was a very indulgent meal for not too much damage on the scale. Yes, it was about 750 calories but I'd put money on it that pre-band, I'd eat double that at one meal and not be nearly as satisfied. It kept me full for 7 hours.

After lunch, we headed over to Borders to see Jennifer Weiner read from her new book. If you don't know this author, I highly recommend reading her. Her first book, Good In Bed, is about opening a magazine and seeing an article written by her ex-boyfriend entitled, "Loving a Larger Woman," and it seriously throws her for a loop. Anyone who has ever had weight issues would love this book. She also write In Her Shoes which became a movie with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. Awesome.

Jennifer was just so engaging and hilarious and it was such a good time. Here are a couple of pictures from the event. The first is Jennifer reading her new book, and the other of when I met her:






Last night my husband and I hung out with our AWESOME friends Greg and Donna. We had dinner at Tijuana Flats (my favorite) and talked and talked and talked until about 1:3o in the morning. We love those guys. The four of us have been friends for over 10 years and we have done so much cool stuff together, including an AMAZING trip to Hawaii. Greg actually married us, and Donna was my matron of honor. We had such a great time last night.

Today I am going to pick up my "niece" (not technically my niece, but she's my dear friend's daughter who I've known since she was a fetus) to take her out to lunch and a movie for girl's day. So...I better run off and get ready, but here's my BYOC...

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1. Because I’m going hardcore on Monday to lose my last 15 before vacation I’m curious….what’s the oddest diet you have tried? Or which ones have you tried and were any successful?

Honestly? I lost a lot of weight quickly on Atkins, but I couldn't maintain it for long. When I actually got angry at a friend for baking chocolate chip cookies, I knew I was in a bad place. But to drop a few pounds quickly? Yeah, I'd recommend doing it for 2 weeks. Other than that, I've tried a LOT of diets (haven't we all?). I've done cookie diets, shakes, low carb, low fat, NutriSystem, Jenny Craig (3x), Weight Watchers, phentermine...you name it.

2. Do you prefer baths or showers?

I like baths if I have a nice, large, CLEAN bathtub. Otherwise showers are it. My house doesn't have a bathtub at all so it's been awhile.

3. What is your favorite breakfast food?

A big ol' breakfast burrito filled with eggs, cheese, hash browns, sausage, and smothered with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. Um yeah. It's been awhile since I've had that, and the one time I've had something similar since being banded, I don't think I ate half. My other favorite used to be a big southern breakfast - scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, biscuits smothered in gravy, hash brown casserole. I don't think I've had that in over a year. Now? I have leftovers more often than not, or I'll have a turkey sandwich on a sandwich thin or hard boiled eggs (which I am sick of right now) or a bagel thin with cream cheese and smoked salmon or something like that. The only thing I don't love in the morning (even though I've tried) is anything sweet - yogurt and fruit, granola, cereal, pancakes, smoothies...none of that stuff works for me in the morning, although I love Greek yogurt with fruit and Kashi Go-Lean Crunch as a snack or dessert.

4. What’s your least favorite word?

I hate the word "moist." It's so gross. I hate when people refer to food as such...moist chicken, moist cake...it just makes me think of sweaty and funky. I also cringe over "axe" as in, "Let me axe you a question." Other words like the "n" word as in black people and the "f" word referring to a gay person are just words that I won't even say or write.


5. Repeat question…make someone a Superstar for a day! Whose blog or comment spoke to you or stuck with you the most this week and why?

Gilly's post about Zombieland was just awesome!!!