Ann Arbor State of Mind

Finally, a Saturday that wasn’t spent waking up at 4am and sitting a car for four hours. That’s good too, since its ridiculously cold out today and skiing would not be my first choice of activities.

Tim had to go into work today to have some meeting, so I’ve been up since around 7am when he left, but that’s much better than 4am. Hung around on the computer a bit this morning, then made my menu list for this week and grocery list. Went to the bank and then grocery shopping. I had a couscous salad (if you can call it that) with smoked salmon and broccoli. This afternoon I cleaned up the kitchen a bit and then baked some flax seed muffins. I was really stoked about the bag of flax seed I got (two pounds!) since it was very finely ground. The last one was a little more coarse. I did the math and they are only 140 calories each AND they have 2.4 grams of Omega-3s in them–(Mayo Clinic recommends 1.6 grams per day.

1.) Read the above 26 books in 2010. I’ve finished 3 of the books on the list and I am now onto Everything I Want to Do is Illegal by Joel Salatin. Poisonwood Bible took a while, and I flew through South of the Border, West of the Sun–Murakami novels are such quick reads.
2.) Drink 64 oz. of water each day. I think I’ve been doing well on this, and I have actually only had coffee once since posting these rules (mostly because the coffee at work isn’t work wasting the energy on).
3.) Work out at least 5 times per week. For the week of January 24th to 30th, I went on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
4.) Lose 20 pounds. 123.5 lbs when I weighed myself this morning. I think I am going to start back on the strict calorie counting. It’s all about getting into the swing of it again–and preparing for what I’m going to eat. Although, those muffins I made are like little fiber bricks so I feel like I’m immobile right now, hah.
5.) Bring lunch to work at least 4 days per week. Week of January 24th to 30th was a fail, only two days out of five (but of the three times, I went I only paid for it once. Tim paid for a thank-you lunch one day and I got a birthday coupon from Noodles and Company that I used.)
6.) Remember to take my Vitamin daily. Easy. I usually have a spare one in my lunch box in case I forget.
7.) Try my best to be dairy free.
List of milk from Monday until now:
Monday: none!
Tuesday: cheese from lunch burrito; Lobster bisque at dinner
Wednesday: slice of cheese from dinner at Outback,
Thursday: none!
Friday: cheese on pasta at Noodles (forgot to tell them no), cheese in white bean chicken chili at Olga’s (I don’t think they can take it out, but I could’ve gotten the Peasant soup that I also like and avoided it)
Saturday: none!
8.) Go to bed earlier. I’m usually good on this one, since we don’t really watch any shows that are on past 10pm, except Law & Order, but we record that.

So, Thursday night Tim’s mom stayed over and she can’t have caffeine anymore, so she brought me over three huge boxes of Lipton tea, just the normal black kind. I don’t think I’ll have to buy Tea for like five years now.

Saturday we got up really early again, at 3:30am this time, to pick up Tim’s friend Ken and then drive to Nub’s Nob for a ski day. Unfortunately, Google Maps didn’t really know where Ken lives– he street is too new. So it sent us to the same address in Plymouth instead of Canton, so we got a bit of a late start.

All in all, it was a pretty good day, minus the Google maps fail, and then the brown bag lunch room at Nub’s not having microwaves.

Sunday was spent mostly cleaning the house, since I had every plan to meet Sarah at the gym, and then it was closed due to a burst pipe. Nathan and Jen came over and we made pizza for dinner. We really need a bigger oven…

Goal Updates
1.) Read 26 books in 2010. I just finished Poisonwood Bible this morning, so tomorrow I’ll be starting South of the Border, West of the Sun by Murakami Haruki.
3.) Work out at least 5 times per week. This past week I went Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. I was planning on going today, but when I got to the gym, it was closed since a water pipe broke.
5.) Bring lunch to work at least 4 days per week. I was four out of five days this past week, brought down on Friday by small town barbecue. But, 4 days was the goal, so I made it.
6.) Remember to take my Vitamin daily. I think I’ve been good every day so far this week.
7.) Try my best to be dairy free. This week I had some mac and cheese with the barbecue sandwiches on Friday, a slice of cheese on my sub from subway Saturday night, and well, this morning’s breakfast at Tim Horton’s was, well, epic fail on the no dairy part. Tonight will also be bad since Nathan and Jen are coming over and we’re making pizza.

Since I pretty much have the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day (lunch is soup except for when I want to get rid of some leftovers), I will probably only put on here what I have for dinner. Yesterday was Oyakodon (a Japanese chicken and egg over rice dish) and tonight was just simple spaghetti. Oyakodon is one of our staples, and I have a recipe written up that I’m going to put up again.

I figure it might be a good idea to update on my goals every now and then, and since today was a good day for them, so here they are, and with an extra one

1.) Read the above 26 books in 2010. This is now 25 since I finished The Prodigal Summer last week. I read part of The Poisonwood Bible today during lunch and also at the gym while I was waiting for Sarah. I think reading during my lunch is a good idea, and it gives me a little time to not think of work.
2.) Drink 64 oz. of water each day. I found out today that my little Solo cup that I’ve been using for the past who knows how long is actually 16 ounces if you read the bottom. I was only guessing 8 ounces, but 16 is a rather good surprise. Aside from the black tea I’m having right now, I’ve had only water all day today. TMI, but I peed a lot.
3.) Work out at least 5 times per week. I met with Sarah today, and I’m planning on going again on Wednesday, Friday with Sarah, Saturday, and then Sunday again with Sarah.
4.) Lose 20 pounds. This is going slowly, but that’s okay. I’ve kept the same 10 pounds off since this past summertime. I was at 125lbs today.
5.) Bring lunch to work at least 4 days per week Two out of two days so far this week.
6.) Remember to take my Vitamin daily. Two out of two days so far this week.
7.) Try my best to be dairy free. Milk is pretty much my enemy. I have made the switch to soy yogurt. Soy in my lattes, soy in my Chai. Part of this “no milk” effort also is to get off of Frappucinos (nom nom nom) which are very yummy but ultimately make my stomach revolt. So the Frappucinos are a problem, and
8.) Go to bed earlier. This one is too vague I decided. “Earlier” means 10pm on weeknights, 9pm if I have to wake up to work out with Sarah in the morning. I wake up at 6:30am usually, so this makes for 8.5 hours of ‘rest.’

New Goal!
Ann Arbor Shamrock Run 5K on March 14th, 2010
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This was Sarah’s idea. This is why I’m going to the gym on Sunday with her (its not one of our usual work out days). We’re going to meet at noon and grab some treadmills to test out how far I can get in 30 minutes. I’m going to work out on Saturday as a sort of test run so I can have an idea of what will happen on Sunday.

And in case you don’t know, 5k is 16,404 feet. Blech.

Here is the latest update of my books to read in 2010 list.

1.) The Prodigal Summer: Barbara Kingsolver Finished
2.) The Poisonwood Bible: Barbara Kingsolver started
3.) Hear the Wind Sing: Murakami Haruki
4.) Pinball, 1973: Murakami Haruki
5.) A Wild Sheep Chase: Murakami Haruki
6.) Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: Murakami Haruki
7.) South of the Border, West of the Sun: Murakami Haruki purchased
8.) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: Murakami Haruki
9.) Sputnik Sweetheart: Murakami Haruki
10.) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: Murakami Haruki
11.) Lolita: Vladimir Nabokov
12.) The God Delusion: Richard Dawkins
13.) Food Politics: Marion Nestle
14.) Fargo Rock City: Chuck Klosterman
15.) Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story: Chuck Klosterman
16.) IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas: Chuck Klosterman
17.) Eating the Dinosaur: Chuck Klosterman
18.) Downtown Owl: A Novel: Chuck Klosterman
19.) The Life of Pi: Yann Martel
20.) The Urban Hermit: Sam MacDonald
21.) Stones into Schools: Greg Mortenson
22.) The Glass Castle: Jeanette Walls
23.) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: Mark Haddon
24.) Food Rules: Michael Pollan
25.) Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front: Joel Salatin
26.) What the Dog Saw, and Other Adventures: Malcolm Gladwell
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I’m not sure I really want to call them resolutions. Resolutions seem like things that you are supposed to carry on. Goals are more like “now” things.

1.) Read the above 26 books in 2010.
2.) Drink 64 oz. of water each day (not counting water during workouts. For each cup of coffee or pop, add that amount of ounces to the total.
3.) Work out at least 5 times per week.
4.) Lose 20 pounds
5.) Bring lunch to work at least 4 days per week
6.) Remember to take my Vitamin daily
7.) Try my best to be dairy free
8.) Go to bed earlier

I think I’ll start working on #8 right now.

I haven’t updated anything in a couple of days so I’m going to do a little bit of catching up.

Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Another day spent mostly filing and then going to the Fed-Ex store. They really like me there since I actually understand how to fill out the international shipping form and the customs form. After work, I had a bit of time before going to work out, so instead of getting lethargic and sitting at home, I packed some food and my book and went to sit in the lobby area of the gym until it was time to meet Sarah.

6:00am: soy yogurt, granola, flax seed
12:00pm: Potbelly’s Wreck on Multigrain with cup of Baked Potato soup
5:00pm: peanuts and bagel with pepperoni and provolone– snack at the gym
7:30pm: Chinese food with Amanda- hot and sour soup, beef and broccoli; at Gourmet Garden

My gym snack, on my sweet new sandwich wrapper

Friday, January 15th, 2010
Filing. More filing. Not enough legal sized hanging folders. I need to decide if I want to buy some and expense them or wait until the end of the month when we order supplies.

6:00am: soy yogurt, granola, flax seed
9:00am: slice of cheese danish on the “free food” table
12:00pm: Chicken Tortilla soup, half Whole Wheat bagel
5:00pm: workout at the gym
7:00pm: Broccoli, Italian spicy pork sausage, potato wedges

gosh I love potatoes, nom nom nom

Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Friday night when Tim was on his way home from Akron, we decided that Saturday we were going to go skiing up at Nub’s Nob. He was originally going to go to Alpine Valley with some of this coworkers, but I talked him out of it (my street is steeper than Alpine Valley) and talked him into the 4.5 hour drive to Nub’s. We woke up at 4am and were out the door by 4:30am, arriving at Nub’s at 8:30am. Unfortunately, my snow pants were still in Ann Arbor, so I had to go buy a new pair of snow pants. I might try to sell them since the North Face ones we bought in Colorado fit much, much better and don’t go up five inches above my belly button.

It was a pretty good day, surprisingly not busy for MLK Day weekend. I had packed lunch and dinner the night before (four sandwiches) and some peanuts, a clementine, and chips.

Sunday, January 17, 2010
Managed to sleep in this morning to a whopping 8:30am. Spent most of the day not doing too much. Made my meal plan for the rest of the week, then a shopping list. We headed out to Old Navy in the afternoon, they were having a 50% off clearance stuff sale. I got two tank tops, a shirt, and a dress thing. Then we stopped at Panera since we were both really hungry and went grocery shopping at the Whole Foods next door.

8:30am: soy yogurt, granola, flax seed
1:00pm: leftover Chinese food and couscous
4:00pm: Half Chicken Chipotle sandwich at Panera
7:30pm: Broccoli, Steamed Potatoes, Japanese style hamburg steak with onion gravy

Hamburg Steak

Woooo Lady Gaga concert last night

That “wooo” right there makes up for all the noise I didn’t make. I’m a pretty quiet concert go-er, especially since I don’t go to pop concerts and I don’t really know how to act at one. I mean, we actually had assigned seats. That’s strange.

But! It was a really sweet show! I got my $45 worth of crazy outfits and general fabulousness.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010: Food and Exercise
5:00am: granola, soy yogurt, flax seed
6:00am: strength training with Sarah
9:00am: half of a whole wheat bagel
12:00pm: Pad See Ewe from No Thai
6:30pm: Half Chicken Chipotle Sandwich, cup Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
This was another one of those “why do we have this?” sort of days at work. I spent probably the majority of my time moving files from one drawer to another, and getting rid of all files that were before the year 2000. Why can’t we have all electronic filing? Oh, because then I wouldn’t get dry hands and smell like old basement. (and I just love old basement smell…) It’s been about 80 degrees in the office at work, so at least I’m drinking a lot of water, mainly in an effort to drink it before it gets to room temperature.

Tim left this morning for Akron for work and while I don’t really mind being by myself, I don’t like it because it messes with any dinner menu plans that I had, so I get to eat leftovers.

Today’s Food
6:30am: soy yogurt, flax seed, granola
12:00pm: half whole wheat bagel, Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
3:00pm: slice of weird (but awesome) chocolate-y, molasses-y bread stuff on the “free food table” at work
7:00pm: leftover Japanese style beef curry with udon noodles

Leftover Curry

Monday, January 11th, 2010

It seems to be one of the most important questions I ask myself when I look around my office. Why do we have this, or, more often, why do we not have this?

Needless to say, I got rid of a lot of things today that had just been moved around for the last, oh, 10 to 18 years ago. Even just random papers, fax covers, 1998 road atlas…. hand drawn maps from the pre-maps online era. We now have lots of fresh binders and some more room in the storage room. Apparently we’re not supposed to have things at a certain height from the ceiling, fire code. I managed to get rid of some of the odd shaped ones (aka shoe boxes) and sort some of the normal ones on the extra shelf room that was created.

I still have some work on the organizing to do tomorrow, and by some, I mean A LOT.

Today’s Food and Exercise
6:30am: Black Cherry Soy Yogurt, granola, flax seed
9:30am: Clementine, Half Whole Wheat Bagel, Peanut Butter
12:30pm: Minestrone Soup, water crackers
3:30pm: trail mix with nuts and dried fruit
6:00pm: biking on the trainer
7:00pm: Chili, shredded cheese, half bagel with provolone and pepperoni, Barbecue PopChips, Cascal Light Red Soda

Tonight’s Dinner

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Ended up not doing too much that day. Tim went to the ski swap in the morning to search for cross country ski boots and then we went to St. John’s to see my uncle that is in the hospital– all sorts of complications from just getting his gall bladder out– pancreatitus, dialysis, and he has sepsis from being in the hospital. He’s been in the hospital for 36 days or so now.

Afterwards, we hadn’t eaten, so we stopped at Panera in Dearborn on our ride home, since there isn’t anywhere to eat at before there really. Got home, talked about going to see a movie, but that never actually happened.

Saturday’s Food:
Breakfast, around 8am: soy yogurt, granola, flax seed, plus a whole wheat bagel (one half with peanut butter, one half with honey)
Lunch, around 3pm: Panera– half Chicken Chipotle Sandwich, Cup of Clam Chowder
Dinner: Leftover Manicotti and Shrimp from Friday at Olive Garden

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

I was home alone most of the day on Sunday since Tim and Adam went skiing at Mt. Holly. I can’t recall off the top of my head how much a daily lift pass is there, but its way too much for what you get, so I stayed home.

I went grocery shopping in the morning, got home, started the chili in the Crockpot and then made lunch for myself. The rest of the day consisted of laundry, folding said laundry, some reading, and riding on the trainer bike for a while. Also watched Batman Begins and Wasabi (horribly dubbed).

Sunday’s Food:
Lunch: Hot Udon Soup with Chikuwa, Narutomaki, Tofu, and dried nori
Dinner: Chili

I know, I didn’t eat much at all, just wasn’t very hungry.

Udon with Chikuwa, Narutomaki, Tofu, Nori

Under All that Cheese there is Chili, I swear

Friday, January 8th, 2010

I guess now I can’t complain about work, since officially the first week into the new year is over, so I’m back in the swing of things. And things didn’t actually fall apart as much as I had thought they would over the break.

Today’s Food and Exercise
6:00am: Raspberry Soy Yogurt
12:00pm: Spinach and Mushroom Pizza from Domino’s
5:00pm: Banana, Peanuts, Walnuts
5:45pm: strength training with Sarah
8:00pm: Stuffed Manicotti and Shrimp

We had a mini sales meeting in the morning and somehow the idea to buy pizza for lunch for the sales people came up, so that’s where the pizza came from. I usually don’t eat pizza, ever, unless unavoidable. Cheese doesn’t like me. I have chewable that I take if I actually want to have milk stuff, like at Olive Garden with the manicotti. It’s odd, it’ll bother me sometimes and then sometimes not, so I usually just try to avoid it. And really, the idea of milk is really gross to me. That comes out of a cow’s where? No, thank you.We’re the only creatures that drink milk other than that of our own species, and also after weaning. Grossssssss.