Vegging Again!

To answer the comments-I don't know how long I plan to do the veg thing. I believe I answered some of those questions when I last spoke with Jaime, but here are my answers:
I don't think I want to be completely meat-free forever. I will probably include chicken, turkey, and fish at some point...when, I'm not sure. For now, I'll stick to the veggies until I get tired of it.
As far as animal by-products goes, I don't really pay that close attention. I eat eggs and dairy. If I know that something has lard in it, I will most likely avoid it. I think that's the greatest challenge-knowing whether something has animal products in it. I wouldn't eat soup flavored with bacon, but I might eat soup flavored with chicken stock or something like that. If something has been cooked with the meat, I will just take off the meat in a pinch. But in general, I am trying to avoid foods like those.
So that's my update!

Update on the Vegging

Well, as my friend J. has pointed out, it has been nearly 3 weeks since I wrote about being a veg. It is actually quite easy to do, and I am not really missing hamburgers or steak at all. I do miss chicken a little...but it's pretty easy to avoid when there are delicious other things such as cheese and bread and pasta and fruit and a myriad of vegetables to choose from.

I did have some challenges when I went to some barbeques recently. However, that was easily resolved-at one barbeque, I simply ate a light meal before and focused on the variety of salads and fruit. At the other one, veggie burgers were provided. And boy, do they taste good on the grill!

Labor Day weekend is typically a big barbequeing (sp?) weekend, and last weekend was no exception. Jim's family loves meat, and of course they wanted to barbeque. I grabbed some portobello mushroom Morning Star burgers and found that they were amazingly delicious. The second day, I made vegetable skewers with tomatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers, and pineapple. I put a light coating of spices on them, and voila! They were delicious. So, I am going to stick this out for as long as I can. I don't notice any negative health effects so far. I feel pretty good. I tend to wait to eat until I'm super hungry. Being a veg helps with this because instead of shoveling a cheeseburger, fries, and a large caffeinated soft drink into my face, I am now eating a lighter meal consisting of something like a corn soft shell taco, black beans, onions, cilantro, a light dollop of sour cream, and some low fat cheese, with herbal tea (natural caffeine). It fills me up just as much, and doesn't make me feel sluggish and slow by the end of the day.

On another note, I did buy some multi-vitamins and some iron. I have been taking these daily, which is something I've always tried to do in the past and failed....now I have the motivation, and I've been pretty good about it.

Vegging Out

Well, this past summer I discovered that I am unhappy with my weight. No, I don't think I'm fat. However, I do not like the fact that I seem to keep expanding. I am about 10 pounds heavier than I was 3 years ago. I do not like this. I attribute it to my love of cheeseburgers. I have been very lazy this past year. I think part of it is because I started working and not getting enough sleep. I felt too tired to cook anything healthy, so I went to Portillo's and Culver's far more often than I should have. I didn't exercise for about 4 months. Instead, I napped for an hour and then ate a cheeseburger. Then Jim came and stayed with me for 5 weeks while he worked on a project for his job in Schaumburg. We ate out every night because his company paid for it. This was not good for healthy eating. Again, too many cheeseburgers and Italian beef.

Now, I am exercising about 4 times a week. I walk about 3 miles or about 45 minutes worth of exercise. I find that walking is a good workout when it's really hot out. I also do my Wii Fit for 30 minutes a day.
Anyway, I've decided that the best way to get to my healthy weight and maintain it is to cut out the meats all together. I have recently developed a love for goat cheese these past few weeks, and I have noticed that my meat consumption has greatly declined. So I'm going to try it. I don't know if I'll stick with it, but I think it will be an interesting experiment.
Starting....now!

Blog Name Change

I changed the name of my blog to better reflect what I talk about, which is nothing. Sort of Seinfeld-ian, don't you think? I wasn't sure if my items were of particular interest to anyone besides Jaime. Nothing in particular is a good summary of my musings. So that's why I changed it!
I have discovered that there is nothing to do except embrace my hair. It's just frustrating when I want to change it, and I can't. Stupid curls.
Oh well. I think I'll appreciate it more when I'm old and everyone is getting perms to try to fluffen up their limp, dry hair. I just wish I could have sleek wavy hair sometimes.

Lazy Summer

Class is over for the summer! So now, I can truly be lazy for almost 3 weeks. What a fantastic summer this has been! Endlessly long. I almost want to go back to school, just so I can wear my new clothes and shoes!
That's all I feel like posting today. I think I'll take a nap!

New Cat!

I can't find the motivation to finish my project that is due tomorrow. Sigh. Procrastination.
However, I do want to say that I got a new cat. I now have 2 lovely cats. The older cat is my ragdoll, Katrina. She is the best, if somewhat moody. Now she's even moodier because I brought in a little BeBe. BeBe is an exotic short haired Persian. Basically, she has the funny squishy face without the long fur. She is black and white striped with little white legs. I'm hoping that Katrina will get over her moodiness and accept BeBe. It's for her own good! I thought she could use a playmate. So, we shall see. I know it might take a while. Of course, I am being extra kind to Katrina. I love my cats!

I haven't blogged in a long time because...

I've been too busy actually doing things! Yes, I admit, I blog when I'm bored.
And this summer, I have been super busy with my online Master's degree program. Quite frankly, when you are required to do 10-15 hours of work a week online, including readings, discussion postings, and projects, you are not going to want to blog for another hour or so "just for fun." I am not at work, so I don't have to be on the computer if I don't want to.
Aside from my program, I have been traveling all over the Midwest-the Ozarks in Missouri and jet-skiing, camping in Michigan, going to the beach in Chicago and visiting the Shedd aquarium (I haven't been there in over 10 years!)
Running a lot, hanging out with my Champaign friends and Jim, eating ice cream, and playing with my new Wii. So really, I'm just kinda sick of the whole blog scene and I have little interest in talking about my daily activities online. I don't think people want to read about them anyway. I am sure that I will continue updating this more regularly when school starts again, but for now, I am enjoying my vacation and using the computer as little as possible...except to look at cats (I'm thinking of getting another one), shop on ebay, and make various online purchases. teehee.