Sugarless. Hiney-less.

I have been completely off sugar for a total of 7 weeks now.
No sugar, grains, sugary fruits, or white potatoes. Only Protein, healthy fats (butter!!), small amounts of dark fruits (blueberries, pomegranites...), dairy, and veggies.
The purpose of this diet was to get rid of a fungal sinus infection (doesn't that sound disgusting?).
The side effects:
Weight loss
Cured from Hypo Glycemia
Hopefully cured from sinus infection (I have a follow-up appt today)

So far, I have gone down a pants size (from 27 to 25) and lost at least 15 pounds. I don't have a scale but when I weighed myelf a couple of weeks ago at a friend's, after dinner with full clothing on, I had lost 12 lbs. Now, I am even thinner than that. I measured my waist this morning: 25 1/2 in waist, 28 1/2 in hips.
I wish I had before & after measurements.

My boyfriend is sad about the weight loss. He misses my 'old butt' (don't tell him I told you).
For me, if it was bathing suit season, I would be stoked. But it's sweater season. And now all of my clothes are baggy on me... Boo.

Ahhh accidental weight loss. A problem most people wish they had.

Look at me from the side. Do I look skinny to you?

Christmas Time!

My family and I had been attending a Messianic Synagogue for the past 5 years and, therefore, had stopped celebrating Christmas as heartly as we once did. It is (for me) impossible not to be festive around this Holiday season so we still decorated a little and exchanged gifts, but I was trying to decide what Christmas really means to me. Between me and God. Not what someone told me to think or believe.

Messianic circles circles don't celebrate Christmas at all. The Bible does not specifically tell us to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (like it tells us to remember the Passever, etc) and, apparently, the holiday was originally planned by the church over a pagan holiday to get people to celebrate their holiday instead of the pagan one. I think that last one is the thing that really puts people such as Messianic Jewish believers off of Christmas. Well, that and the commercialization of the holiday. Some also say that Jesus wasn't even born at Christmas time. Well, I consider that, whatever day you want to celebrate it, remembering the birth of our SAVIOR is an admirable, reccomended, and wonderful thing to do.

For me, the start of winter is such a cozy, exciting time, it begs for celebration and special family time! 
In the words of Abed from the show Community, "The meaning of Christmas is that Christmas has meaning." Christmas means family. It means traditions and giving. It means rejoicing that our Savior came to earth (whether He came in December or July or whenever He was actually born). Christmas means something different to everyone.

I love Christmas. I love the smell of a real Christmas tree and the dim, twinkly light let off in the living room by a lit tree in the evening. I love hot apple cider and cooking with family. I love that people's jobs give them extra money during this time in the form of a Christmas bonus. People remember what it is to think about what other peaple like and want.
I love the 'holiday brain' in the workplace. Where people are easily distracted by a flury of new snow out of a window and take time to leave little gifts on co-workers desks. I think its wonderful when baking projects get started and those who would never sit down and paint a picture decorate gingerbread men or cut paper snowflakes.

So I happily rejoin the ranks of hearty Christmas celebrators with a fresh perspective on why these days are so merry and bright.
 

My boyfriend and I at a Tacky Christmas party

Remember: "The meaning of Christmas is that Christmas has meaning." Define what it means to you and each year remind yourself what your very own meaning of Christmas is.



My dear friend and co-worker spent a whole Saturday making
and decorating gingerbread cookies to pass out at work, etc.



Branching out in a fall sort of way - Dress for Less

November 23, 2011

I've had some fun dipping into my fall wardrobe.. finally!
ALSO, Thrift Town had a 'First Day of Fall' Sale with all clothes 50% off. I did quite a wardrobe re-vamp.
Here is a work week of outfit (you must forgive the fact that most of these were taken pre hair blowdrying and/or pre makeup):

Shirt: Thrift Town

Pants: Second Time Around -

Newberry St, Boston, MA

Shoes: Payless Shoe Source

Shirt: Thrift Town

Skirt: Secondhand

Belt: Urban Outfitters

Tights: Marshall's 

Shoes: Payless Shoe Source

Dress: Marshall's

Belt: Thrift Town

Pin: Family Heirloom

Shirt: Target

Shoes: Payless Shoe Source

Sweater: Thrift Store (J Crew)

Undershirt: Gap

Pants: Forever 21

Shoes: Thirft Town

Scarf: Flea Market (was a gift)

Sweater: Thrift Town (Ralph Lauren)

Skirt (actually a dress): Fossil (gift)

Shoes: Thrift Town

Necklace: Gift

Perfection

November 14, 2011

Mmmmmm! It is getting colder!

I'm still rushing it along clipping snowflakes at my desk.

I have discovered something so wonderful that I may actually perfect paper snowflake making this year like I had hoped: Templates.
Cheating? No.
Utilizing resources. Yes. Win. Major win.

These are the best templates I found
Free and printable!

Here are the ones I clipped:



Check out the detail!

 Now, being the uber nerd that I am, I did not stop there. I stumbled upon the mother of all snowflakes: THE STAR WARS SNOWFLAKE. Not one, mind you, but two.

Here they are:


Boba Fett and a Clone Trooper



Obviously: Darth Vader

Here's the link to these mothers

Sugarless. Pancakeless.

November 12, 2011

I have cut sugar completely out of my diet for 3 weeks. I mean ALL sugar. That includes all grains which turn to sugar in your stomach. Oy vey! Thankfully, I can have small, occasional amounts of fruit.

My favorite meal is breakfast and after a couple of weeks I've been really missing pancakes and the like.
In my ponderings on how to get around this, I considered almond meal.
Google turned up with some pancake recipes like this one (I couldn't find the one I used again but it was very similar. Shoulda pinned it :) using only almond meal for 'flour'.

Not too shabby. They definately tasted like almonds and were an interesting texture, but for being pancakes, I was eternally grateful. I did cheat a little and add a tiny bit of maple syrup with the strawberries and blueberries that I heated up in a saucepan for topping. But hey, real maple syrup has minerals in it so it's good for you, right?

The almond meal doesn't dissolve like flour so each pancake was a little different in texture based on how much liquid to almond ratio I got in my little ladle.

I wouldn't consistantly substitute these for regular gluten free pancakes that use grains such as rice and oats, but they were a worthy substitute in my time of depravity.

Bon Appetit!

On The Line

November 10, 2011

Wonderful vintage date... thingy.

I have received some great Birthday cards this year! Here's how I displayed them in my cubicle at work.

Got alot of people stopping by to check them out (especially the 'Freddie Murcury' one!)

Hang them on a 'clothesline': string with mini clothespins. Works great for photos and Christmas cards too!

P.S. It's finally looking like fall here!

Delicious Autumn!
My very soul is wedded to it and if I were a bird
I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
~ George Eliot

Fun times, Birthday Times

November 7, 2011

I had a wonderful birthday this year.
Birthdays are a pretty big deal at my house. I never thought much of it until I started finding out that not everyone has such extravagant birthdays. Usually we stay up way too late the night before a family member's birthday so they wake up to a house full of decorations. Now that I am the only one of my siblings left at home, birthdays are a little more low key... compared to how they were.
My mom did a superb job this year. So light and cheery! Taking advantage of our City Sukkah frame that had not been taken down yet!

She made me such a lovely breakfast!

Fruit & cheese kababs and fresh squeezed orange juice included!

She got very creative with DIY gifts. (LOVE)

She stenciled me an apron with a Julia Child quote

Matted and framed a painting that I had done as a kid

It was sweet, personal, and all around home grown. What could be better?

~*~

The weekend of my birthday, my dear, sweet, wonderful boyfriend took me horseback riding for the first time. My mom grew up with horses and talks about them all the time. I feel like I know about horses and how to ride... but somehow I missed the actual riding experience until my 24th Birthday! I travesty that was remedied beautifully. :)

I even got to meet some wonderful friends for dinner. What a satisfying Birthday. I'm happy.

Thank you!

Love, Caitlin