If you want to read the healthcare bill in its entirety

You can do that here From congress-The Healthcare Bill

On another note..I will be attempting to swim on this messed up ankle today. I hope it doesn't hurt and I can workout a bit, cause I feel like a bum.

Weekend Reads 3/26/2010

Afrobella discusses her search for a natural hair salon in Chicago and the natural hair tax  (for example a relaxer at a salon may cost $60 but for a simple natural hair style may begin at $100+) that seems to be added on to services rendered for natural hair

Do you shop vintage, resale or thrift? Avoid bringing bedbugs home with these simple tips.

Got an iphone (apple stopped making screen protectors), Nokia n900 or other electronic device that hard to find a screen protector for? DIY an easy, cheap one with material that you probably have laying around the house.

A clever way to keep track of outdoor laps using pebbles

Reach great heights! Tips for learning and perfecting wearing fabulous high heels

Recipe of the Week
I have not personally tried this recipe, but when I came across it I had to share!
Hangry Pants posted this vegan brownie recipe using avocados; its supposed to be chocolaty and cakey---yum! Recipe at Hangry Pants here.. and below!


Ingredients

• 1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 3/4 C Cocoa Powder
• 3/4 C Raw Turbinado Sugar
• 1/2 t Baking Soda (these really rose, less is better if you like less cakey brownies)
• 1 T Flax
• 3 T Water
• 1/2 Avocado
• 2 T Almond Milk (or as much as needed to create a batter)

Directions

1. Peel and cut 1/2 of an avocado and blend in a food processor until it’s a creamy texture.
2. Add 3 T of water and 1 t of ground flax to the avocado to make a flax egg. Let it sit for a few minutes while combining the rest of the ingredients.
3. In a large bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking soda.
4. Blend the avocado and flax egg in the food processor to combine.
5. Add the avocado flax mix to the fry ingredients and mix.
6. The mix will be too dry to mix completely. Add as much of the Almond Milk so that it creates a batter.
7. Bake in a prepared baking pan for 20 minutes at 350*

Just a note, I used a loaf pan and it made about 10 brownies of varying sizes.

--Note- If you don't want it to be vegan--substitute one egg instead of the (flax/water "egg" mixture) and regular skim milk instead of almond milk--maybe with a drop of almond extract.

Dammit--I twisted my ankle..

 I twisted my ankle and I have to work, too.. This day has colossally sucked..I hope this weekend is better.

Weekly Weigh In 03.26.10-- Down 13.8

Yippee! I weighed myself tues and i was at the same weight. I'm glad I'm losing again,  I cannot be totally disappointed because although I didn't specifically track my calories this week I only ate foods that I know their calorie content and composition, so I knew I didn't hit over 1300/1400 daily when i eyeballed my intake for the day. I only got to exercise once (Monday) then my knee was bothering me until Wednesday/Thursday.  Hopefully I can get a workout in today before work! I've done yoga every day this week with Priscilla P on PBS.  If you catch Priscilla Patrick yoga stretches on PBS they started back at number one this Monday. In Toledo, they show two 15 minute episodes back to back the first one is a rerun of yesterday's yoga then the second one is the new one for today..

Weekend Reads 3/20/2010

There is a Part II to that Lady Gaga- Telephone video analysis here the gaga monster retweeted Part I and commented on it.
I am soo in love with this video, I watch it daily..and my pussywagon keychain is in the mail! Yess!!

Alcoholic Drinks that won't wreck your diet from Cheap, Healthy, Good.. (how dissapointed I was to see that my two go to drinks (Mai Tai and Coke with Rum) were among the bad, bad.

"Consider what you give your attention to each day. It’s a precious resource and it determines the shape of your life."
When I read this quote on Zen Habits I immediately felt guilty, my attention is spread across things that don't really matter when compared to my goals (grad school, medschool, MCAT!). In this article they gives ways to Reclaim your attention from things that distract you
(Facebook, Twitter, RSS feed--those three are my biggest ones I unsubscribed from over 100 RSS feeds two days ago)

One reason to decrease the amount of processed foods eaten: 80% of salt intake comes from processed foods "Cutting Salt as Good as Quitting Smoking"

Another reason to continue regular excercise: Exercise slows telomere shortening (and aging) (you have to read through the exercise while blogging stuff, Nice tips like the  twitter tummy tuck ;)

I hope you have a nice weekend, its getting colder around these parts.

quickie post weekly weigh in 3/20/2010

Down .02 (12.8 total)

Although I feel like a cheater because when I checked on Wednesday I was up 2+ lbs. but miraculously on Friday I'm back down..hmm.

I didn't stick to my goals for the week so those are going to stay constant for next week.
I ended up eating out 3 times last week,  I only exercised once (on friday) outdoors, I only tracked my calories for 3 days..

Maybe I need to tackle these little things to be more successful in my endeavors.
To reiterate weekly goal
Workout 4 times this week; only eat out once this week and track my intake every day.

Weekend Reads 3/13/2010

I've checked out some essiential pre-med "leisure books" I'm currently reading Atul Gawande's- Complications: A surgeon's notes on an imperfect science I must say, I was worried about not being able to stay interested but It is keeping my attention. Hopefully, I can read instead of watch TV!

ETA: Lady Gaga tweeted THIS link: a blogger's very insightful analysis of her Telephone music video featuring beyonce. I simply saw the video as visual and auditory bliss/overload. I love reading the analysis and digging deeper!

If you haven't watched it yet




I was inspired by Ella's March Mantra is about respecting yourself and others--personally it is exactly what I need to be doing each and every day.

The Glamorous Grad on the Parisienne beauty philosophy: French inspired makeup and why women of Paris always look fabulous.

Do you really need that fancy DSLR? Lifehacker reports on how to Get the most from your point and shoot camera,

Some things to consider the old Rent vs Own debate for housing

Helpful advice on decluttering your home--base the worth of an item on its value NOW not when you bought it.


Featured Recipe:


Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
*my version inspired my TGI Friday’s red pepper pasta with sausage and chicken. I usually serve this as a side dish, but it can be made into a main dish by adding italian turkey and chicken breast.

1 container of  good Alfredo Sauce
3-4 medium slices of Roasted Red Pepper
½ red onion
Some oil for sautéing
1 box of prepared Whole Wheat pasta
Parmesan cheese (for flavor/garnish)

Slice the onion and sauté for 1-2 minutes and set aside.
Heat the alfredo sauce and red peppers use a stick blender to combine. Add onions to this sauce.
Pour this over prepared pasta and mix and top with parmesan cheese.
Can be served immediately or saved for later.

Weekly Weigh In 03.13.10-Seeing behavior patterns

 -12.6 (no change)

Sigh...

I have no valid excuses. Yes I've been busy but I've managed to get my workouts in. Its staying on track with my eating thats getting me off kilter and it only takes a little planning. After I eat or prepare food at home for about 2 weeks, I get bored and start to eat out more. 

Maybe I should start having weekly diet/fitness goals to help keep me motivated to stay on task..

For next week it will be to eat out only once next week, track my calories daily and exercise 4 days next week and do one session of 30 day shred. 

I walked in the park twice this week, its warming up nicely around these parts. I know I haven't posted much this week-- I've been busy with work ( I worked a whole bunch of days in a row)

Since I'm staying off machines (the dreadmill and my favorite the elliptical) I need a method to keep up with my heart rate so i can tell when I'm hitting my target. 

My favorite hairdo--a vintage-y updo also an alternative protective style

I promised I would do a hair post last week. I was doing a photo-tutorial for this hairstyle and my camera died! I tried using my video phone but it wasn't working out too well. I can explain in text and if there are any questions I can clarify..

Here is the do.

The pic isn't so good because I had to use my webcam to take a photo.

Tutorial.

1. Start with freshly washed, towel dried hair.

2. Part hair in three sections 1/4 in the front (the bangs/pompadour) 2/4 in the middle (the updo part) and about 1/4 in the back, back for the rest of the hair that won't fit in the updo.

*note* Try and see if the back can fit into the updo part before you have the back section.

For the front:

You can use the rolling method and just roll the wet hair inward and bobby pin down as you go. That doesn't work for me because my texture is looser in the middle and tighter on the sides.

Or you can do it this way--

What I do is take the front section and pull it into a pony tail with the hair band close to the end of the hair.

Then tuck it back intothe part of the ponytail that is loose and secure with bobby pins if needed.

For the middle:

I pull the hair up and at the very ends I french braid making sure I get all the edges in then when I get to the end I tuck the free part of the braid back into the "french braid" so it is invisible. The trick is, when the hair dries it will puff up giving you more texture/volume.

For the back:

This is the part I have to redo almost everyday, I just pull into a low ponytail and tuck the ends under (making a little bun in the back) so that my ends are protected.

XOXO

enjoy!!

I'm not the best explainer, hence the reason I was trying to do the photo-tutorial. I alternate between this style and 2-strand twists every other week.

Questions? Ask away in the comments!!

Weekend Reads 3/5/2010

Sheryl from Bitch Cakes writes about figuring out what's working for you for your personal weight loss?, there are alot of good ideas mentioned in her post. 


Exercise or Not: Why sitting at a desk all day is bad for you


Fabulously Broke: goes into how (almost) everyone is making less and less money, but still refuse to cut back on non-essentials to be able to live on less. 


Recipe of the Week:
I have none this week, but I do have a cookbook recommendation and feature recipes!

Book to checkout: Rocco DiSpirito's New cookbook Now, Eat this. is a cookbook that remixed calorie laden classic comfort foods into slimmer ones under 350 calories a serving! I have not read this book or tried any of the recipes yet, but he was on the Rachael Ray show today a made a few and they looked delish! I think this book is worth checking out at the library or even paperbackswap! When I get my hands on a copy I will do a more thorough review. 

Note: You can get a few feature recipes HERE from Rachael Ray's site.

I listed them here as well: 

Rocco DiSpirito's Deep Dish Pizza

Rocco DiSpirito's Crispy Mozzarella Sticks Fra Diavolo

Rocco DiSpirito's Strawberry Graham Cracker Tarts

Weekly Weigh In 03.05.10

-12.6 overall (+.2lbs from Wednesday/Thursday)

I weighed myself yesterday, to see if the creep was trying to come back. It wasn't :)  I bought a tape measure so that I can also keep track of the inches lost, as well. I think i'll do that next week.

In other news, I think stepped down on my foot wrong while exercising or something because when I was trying to do my side steps for WATP, it started throbbing. I tried to rub it and continue but that wasn't an option. I think I'm going to lay off the lateral movement and pushing off on that foot hurts

This week, to give that foot a rest I should try & do more strength training and just walking on the mill, we have one that i can dust off I just dislike walking on it. Its warming up (50s) around here for a few days, I can hit the park!

I tried on those LB dresses and they are lovely and fit perfectly when I'm standing, but as soon as I sit..it looks awful--let me explain. I am a true apple shape (Top heavy/large stomach/skinny legs) and it looks a mess when I sit down and the dress has a split that opens when i sit. It really looks like I'm ready to flash the goodies any second. So sigh, dress is not for me..yet. I may want to get it altered if I decide to get it..

Shopping adventures

I broke the shopping fast and got this lovely knit shrug from TJ maxx for 10 bucks! It normally retails for $298 I had no idea what to do with myself. I even though its holey, its very warm. Perfect for fall/spring.I really like knits so I'm trying to stock up on them and comfortable wedge shoes while they are in style. I am very proud of myself -- I was in TJ Maxx for about an hour, and the shrug was the only clothing item I bought. I spent less then $20 on a TJs adventure. Normally I get sucked in by TJ's clearance items and buy much more then i intended. An item I would really like to get for the spring/summer months is a versatile dress, preferably a shirt-dress. I got a Lane Bryant print ads in the mail the other day, and I was shocked and delighted to see these beautiful dresses.

I'm particularly in love with the denim one, I see so much potential there, but it is the safer option.. i think the polka dot one is more interesting and its classic, too! LB has been surprising me lately, now I just need to mosey into the store sometime and which one looks better on me so I can start making spending decisions.

I'm still abiding by my shopping ban terms--I can buy no more then 2 items (clothing items) a month AND they must not be similar to anything I already own and lastly I may buy wardrobe staples that I currently do not own (ie shirtdress :))

Mid-week weigh in 03/03/2010-- I knew it!

I suspected as much but that random weight gain about 2 weeks ago was definitely PMS/period related..boo hiss. I can't take fluctuations like this..I wonder if there is a way to decrease the amount of bloat for that time of the month.
I got on the scale, to spot check this morning and I was down 12.8 lbs..sigh of relief!
I'm really glad that I didn't devour everything in sight during the past week and a half.. I crave sweets badly during that time.. I had more sweets that I should have but not as much as I usually do and I think that is because of me keeping up with the exercise, it keeps me happy :)

Today, I really didn't crave sweets, I really can say for the first time in a long time, I didn't have a dessert today..Shoot, I take that back I just had a mini-almond joy but technically its Thursday now So i didn't have a dessert all day yesterday :)

endnote, It better not creep up by friday.. you know how that dredful +2 likes to taunt me..