Short Side of Life

This past weekend I tried something that I have never done before.  Travis’ mom and her new family brought their four wheeler and mule to use at the Off Roading Vehicle area in the South Randolph area of Tuttle Creek.  Saturday afternoon Travis and I joined his famiy out at the camp ground for dinner and mudding, if we were interested.   I am not ashamed to admit that I was born and raised a city girl and have an aversion to mud, so I did not jump at the idea.  The ORV area was nice enough, it consisted of mud, dirt, and water in ditches and wooded areas.  At first my plan was just to watch everyone else get dirty, but after a little bit of persuasion I joined in on the fun.  The first ditch we came to went straight down into 2 feet of muddy water and the only way across was through it.  So straight down into the mud pit we went with my feet up in the air the entire way in order to avoid getting them covered in mud, which is how I spent the next 30 minutes.  I managed to get away amazingly clean, which I can’t say about everyone else.  The trip was definitely amusing, but not something I would repeat any time soon.  I think I will stick to swimming in water and not in mud.

I enjoy snacking…a lot.  I have tried to reign in my snacking habits after joining Weight Watchers, but it was no use.  However, I have found several low point or zero point snacks that I do not feel guilty munching on in the middle of the day or as a late night snack.  My newest find that I am very excited to try is Brothers All Natural Fruit Crisps.  Travis and I ordered several different types of the crisps including the Pineapple crisps which have a 1 point value and the Fuji Apple crisps which have 0 points and 2 servings of fruit in one little bag.  Unfortunately it is going to take 7-10 business days for the delivery, so we will have to wait to sample this amazing find.  One of my favorite low point snacks are the Hostess 100 calorie muffins and 100 calorie cakes.  I enjoy the banana muffin and coffee cake, and chocolate cake snacks (great from the fridge) which are each just 1 point.  If you enjoy popcorn I highly recommend Pop Secret 100 calorie Kettle Corn.  The entire bag is worth 2 points, but since a bag of popcorn never completely pops I only count it as a 1 point snack.

Besides having a bad snacking habit I also have a killer sweet tooth.  My favorite sweet find so far is the Dairy Queen Fudge Bar.  At just 50 calories and 5 grams of fiber it has an amazing point value of 0.  Another sweet item I have tried and enjoyed is Bryers 100 calorie 2 point fudge swirl ice cream which comes in a portion controlled cup.  Weight Watchers also has a line of ice cream and frozen desserts, but I do not think they are that great for the amount of money you spend on them.  Weight Watchers does however have great chocolate and carrot snack cakes which are delicious and only 1 point.  

A few of the low point snack items I have found are from HungryGirl.com which is a fantastic website with great recipes and ideas for people who are watching their weight.  One thing I have noticed about her recipes is that they contain a large amount of ingredients that I wouldn’t normally have on hand and might not use again, but they look delicious and I have several of them on my list to try and her cookbook is on my Amazon wish list.

While all of these snack and treats are delicious my most favorite snack food that is good any time of the day is and will always be pineapple. 

Recently I have started to try my hand at cooking and baking, specifically diet friendly foods.  My interest in this first came about when my former office manager told me about how you can subsitute a can of diet soda for the eggs and oil in a cake and it should taste the same.  Since Travis is willing to try anything at least once we decided that a taste test was in order.  While the cake did have similar flavors the texture and moistness did not hold up.  I did find that when used in a recipe such as Better Than Sex Cake the differences of the diet cake were not noticeable.  Another low calorie cake recipe that I tried recently called for a can of pumpkin puree instead of oil and eggs.  I have heard of using applesauce to replace oil before, but I have only recently read about using pumpkin.  The recipe was a huge success, the cake was moist and rich and delicious and I had several people at work ask for the recipe.

Many of the diet recipes I have looked through claim that they taste similar to the original recipe.  While this may be true for some things I have found that it is not true for all recipes.  One recipe I found this to be true for was cream cheese brownies.  The recipe that I used for low point brownies was a recipe I found on Weight Watchers’ website.  I had high hopes for it since it included cream cheese, which can make anything delicious.  Turns out the addition of cream cheese was the only part of the brownie that was good. 

More recipes and pictures to follow.

I have been dating my Geek for a little under 3 years now and over the years have learned to appreciate all sorts of new things that I never would have liked before.  One notable thing is trying new and different food.  Growing up I was one of the pickiest eaters you would ever meet, now I am trying all sorts of new things (within reason).  However, my biggest change that came from dating a Geek is slowly turning into one.

 Growing up I was an averagely skilled computer user, given enough time I could figure out anything that was required of me, but I did not delve much past that.  After dating Travis for several years I would say my mediocre knowledge has advanced into a much deeper knowledge and appreciation for computers and technology.

From dating a Geek I have been exposed to many aspects of the Geek life and have become well learned in many subjects just by listening to conversations I consider over my head.  Some of the things that I have picked up along the way include general knowledge of technology as well as a love for gaming.   While I have never played WOW I have learned, through many many conversations, to appreciate the interesting things that the game offers.  I know more about operating systems and servers and clusters and hardware and software than most people with a Bachelor of Arts in History.  I now own a macbook instead of a PC and understand why one is better than the other.  I play Rock Band and Guitar Hero, love the Wii, and I own a Nintendo D.S. an ipod and a sidekick.  This year will be my second time attending Quakecon, a convention of gamers that sit around and play Quake.  Travis has attended this event for several years and has spent the last few being the director of BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer).  I have always considered this a nerd convention but after going last year my perspective of the event has changed significantly.  Travis has made some great friends there and I am looking forward to going again this year, this time as a volunteer.  

I am not saying that I am a geek, and I may never fully become one.  I still rely very heavily on other people to help me when I am technologically challenged (and when I can’t reach the paper towel rolls).  But after dating a geek and having great friends who are also geeks I am more understanding of the culture and its many offerings.   I am proud to say that I am marrying a Geek and I look forward to learning new things every day, no matter how nerdy they may be.

Yesterday Travis and celebrated our -1 year anniversary, one year from yesterday we will be getting married.  We thought it would be fun to celebrate in style so we went to eat at 4 Olives.  Dinner was fantastic and it is always fun to put my Wine Tasting class skills to work.  It was the perfect excuse for a great date night.  

Its hard to believe that we are getting married in a year, the past 3 months have flown by.  Although we have most of the big planning done there are still a lot of small detail to take care of.   I thought scheduling a wedding a year and three months in advance was advantageous of us, but it turns out for a Kansas City wedding we were right on schedule.  If you would like to know more about our wedding please visit our website at the Wedding Wire or our website at The Knot.

Welcome to the short side of life, where things are always looking up!  

As my first post I would like to share some monumental news.  As of today I have officially lost 60 pounds (61 to be exact) on the Weight Watchers plan which I started in September of 2007.  It hasn’t always been easy, but with a great support system I was able to kick ass.  Here is a visual timeline of my weight loss:

New Years Eve 2006/2007, not even my heaviest.

New Years Eve 2007/2008, 3 months into the plan and 30 pounds lighter.

March 2008, 45 pounds lost.

Most recent photograph from May 2008, 58 pounds lighter.

As of now I still have 15 more pounds to lose in order to be at my ideal weight.  Stay tuned for more weight loss updates.