No ribbons this year...

A little sad. I promised myself that I wouldn't even hope to win a ribbon. And broke that promise. Results this morning and my dear little jellies were not honored by the judges.

But we're having a party next weekend to celebrate jelly (among other things)!

Bo-Bo, and my first paying client!

Last weekend Justin and his friend Dani were down. We had some good, easy food - played Mario Cart - watched tornado warnings on TV - and had some camera fun too.

Saturday night - late late late - we set up some moody light. Justin's been asking for years for a "martini noir" picture - so we finally made it happen.

AND... AND... I've landed my first paying client. A portrait sessions with a trans-model from the modelmayhem site. I'm terribly nervous (haven't shot many women), and it's only $50 - but it's income! So I'll be setting that up for sometime in September - hopefully before we go on vacation.

Here are the pictures of Justin.
[click to enlarge]

Anitra

Anitra sat for some portraits yesterday. She was a good sport as I played with her hair and draped her in fabric (the beers helped...).

Here's my favorite!

[click to enlarge]

I'M OVERWEIGHT!! Wah hoo!

I've been consistently weighing in each morning at 208 to 209 lbs. 209 is my magic number for moving from "obese" to "overweight". Pretty exciting since I've been sort-of trying to get back down since ... about a year or two.

Doug also did the caliper body-fat pinchy thing this morning, so I'll know my new bodyfat percentage tomorrow or Monday. All of my fat pinchy numbers are down, so that's exciting.

It's the end of our 12-week fitness challenge and I lost 10.2 pounds.

No show

Mr. Bodybuilder bailed again.
I'm trying to be sympathetic, knowing he's going through alot personally - but I'm really tired to the constant scheduling/bailing. He mentioned something about getting into shape before a wedding in a month or so - I'm not going to hold my breath. And I'll probably just start telling him to contact me the day he's available - I'll decide then if I'm in the mood that day.

Spent the night making more tomato water and editing photos of Jeramey. He was very pleased with the results. I shoved a large bunch of lavender into the one batch of tomato water, hoping to infuse the flavor - we'll see. We're heading to the Trio's for dinner tonight, so I don't know if I'll have time for a test batch - but tomorrow night is currently wide open.

I keep thinking today is Thursday.

Dance Party This Weekend!

MGMT's Electric Feel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM&feature=player_embedded

One of those days when I wish I could pull off the carefree, semi-waifish neo-hippie thing. Oh well. This video will have to suffice.

Tomato Jelly Take 2 Tonight. Found out I need to pre-register by August 11 and

Mr. Chad the bodybuilder is stopping by. He's got some paperwork he'd like reviewed - for weeks now on Monday he writes "what's your week like?" we schedule time, and then the day of, when I check in, I get the "I'm just not feeling it today..." thing. Tonight's the last straw.

Latest photo shoot

So last week I connected with a professional photographer who was cleaning through his equipment. For $60 I got a softbox, a boom stand, two additional stands, three strobe lights and an old Vivitar flash. Crazy.

Granted, most of the items are a bit shabby - eg. the spokes of the softbox (it's like a small tent) were poking through the fabric - but I fixed it by reinforcing those areas with pen caps! But seriously, most softboxes I see on CL or eBay go for at least $125. The Vivitar can be resold on eBay for $20-$40. The light stands (which, granted, aren't the sturdiest things out there) would cost at least $20-$30 each - and a boom stand (it lets you extend a flash above the model/subject) starts at $80 from B&H. The strobes, who knows - no less than $40.

I'm not saying it's all worth $300 - but for me to go out and get all of this equipment would surely have cost more than that. And now it's all mine!! Mwah mwah mwah...!! And now I can start to take truly kick-ass portraits with amazing lighting.

So another shoot with Jeramey. Such a relaxed and fun guy. I told him he should hit the MAC counter to get some light foundation - ok. I've sent him some expressions to practice in the mirror, which he sheepishly admitted haven't received adequate practice. But more than that is the familiarity - we've hung out for quite a few hours now and it shows in the photos.

Here's one from the latest shoot - I'd mentioned that we have this crystal garland from Christmas and he was totally game for playing around and draping. As a practical matter, the light should be softer in spots so he isn't shiney - but I think it works nonetheless...


[click to enlarge]

Spelt is my friend!

We hung out with E&T on Saturday night and brought over dinner (they had their first baby 4 months ago) - I wanted to make a summery pasta - bounty from the farmer's market, etc. - and decided it was time to try spelt pasta.

The dinner turned out lovely - roasted-then-sauted pattypan squash, grilled portabellos, fried mortadella, carmelized onions with garlic and spelt spaghetti. Cory made a dill vineagrette and tossed it with roasted beets.

The spelt wasn't as tasty as normal pasta (it also went from underdone to sort-of mushy in a second)(which I think often happens to some whole-grain pastas). But things went well!

And yesterday I picked up some spelt hamburger buns from the Wedge - added a bit of chicken salad. Again, things went well!

So hello spelt, my new wheaty friend!


Awesome second photo shoot with Jeramey yesterday. I got some portrait lights from craigslist - and they made for some kick-ass photos. Will post one later tonight...

A misunderstanding...

So the model that approached me to shoot - he's a part-time actor who does website design and also does leatherwork (embossed dresser tops, chair seats, etc.) - but his profile and email were both well written and interesting. So of course I wrote back this lengthy tome explaining that this summer I'm concentrating on headshots and "comfortably undressed" shots (my phrasing) - that I think the notion of 'artistic nudes' is overwrought and hate all these "I'm a sculptor of light and bodies" crap - my idea is you get as undressed as you're comfortable and then we take great photos! I also told him it would be fun to photograph his leatherwork, imagining him cobbling away making an ornate chair, etc. And hadn't heard back from him.

He wrote back last night. Again, very articulate. Still very engaged and excited to work with me. Loves the idea of comfortably undressed. Open to anything as long as it's "classy". And he also wrote:

"As for my leatherwork - I just got a pair of knee-high doc martens and want to make some tight-fitting leather pants to wear with them and either a fitted harnass or vest .. haven't decided yet what the top will be but I have a nice rubber (nastypig) shirt that could work too"

I was at Eli's having drinks with Cory and Bob - and started roaring with laughter...

I wrote back later admitting that I'd been completely clueless (upon revisiting his leatherworks site I noticed many ornate cuffs, one with an optional spike)- I failed to connect the picture in his portfolio of him as the evil barber, in tight leather pants, suspenders, and black boots with a two-inch heel (photographed by "MN Leather Pride"). I think it's hilarious that he thought I'd heard of nastypig, purveyors of the finest rubber clothing. But I'm totally psyched to work with him.

So in the pipeline:
V, the semi-pro football player
R, the swimmer
S, the fetish craftsman
J, the Asian twink
O, the dancer
M, looks like the Twilight vampire boys

For our comfortably undressed photoshoot S-the-fetish-craftsman is going to construct "tiny tight shorts"! Who knew I'd be shooting couture??

Tomato Jelly Attempt 2 this weekend - wish me luck!

Tomato Jelly - Photography Update

Tomato Jelly

You'd rightfully assume from the title that the tomato jelly wasn't a complete success. It didn't gel completely and the taste was off. Sugar is key to the gelling process, but it ended up making my delicious tomato water (with salt, white pepper and lavender) taste like tart honey with a tomato aftertaste. So we'll try again this weekend.

I'll try again this weekend. Next step is to concentrate the tomato flavor by reducing the tomato water - adding more lavender during the reduction process - adding more sugar and then seasoning after the sugar is added. That should give me the right syrup - and then I can hopefully duplicate again and add the pectin.

I'm very determined.

On the plus side, after the tomato water came to boil, I restrained it - which removed any remaining tomato solids and the pepper - so it was perfectly clear - and yellow. But perfectly clear!

Photography

Last night a model asked me to photograph him! [insert triumphant sounds in nature]

It's a big deal because thus far, I've been the one approaching models. Asking them if they'd like to shoot. Proposing shoot ideas. Hoping they won't flake.

It will still be an unpaid shoot - but I feel like I'm very close to the cusp on that point too. Results from my last few photo shoots have been pretty amazing (I haven't posted pictures of the shoot with Oliver - yet). They are really beginning to have a professional/could-be-in-a-magazine feel (the North Dakotan in me just threw up a bit for writing such self-promoting words).
And when I do ask models to shoot, the response is totally different. Where I used to be lucky if I got one 'yes' from ten e-mails - now I'm batting almost 100%. It's almost overwhelming - I've got shoots in the works with 8 models - and four more that are in the "maybe" category. I have a google spreadsheet to track the different shoot ideas!

I know Cory is very eager to have me start making some money from this hobby. And I am too - but I'm also nervous. Charging for shoots means I'm no longer in charge.

So it's a bit odd, overwhelming, wonderful, and scary. Last week I was asked what my goal is for photography - and it dawned on me that I hadn't pondered a goal. I realize now that my goal thusfar has been to attain some level of perfection/skill - to get those shots that look like they've been torn from Out magazine - to build a portfolio that makes people want to work with me.

New goals:
1. Get paid for a photo shoot
2. Perfect 20 - have 20 amazing shots on my modelmayhem portfolio
3. Start working with female models (still a bit scarred from shooting with Sam the collarpopper)
4. Develop photography website that (a) looks amazing, and (b) details photo packages

Happy Anniver-za-ry

Yesterday was our 2-year wedding anniversary. I think we might celebrate more formally this weekend (the Aquatennial fireworks are on Saturday night and they harken back to the day much more effectively than a random Tuesday night). Cory and I was each sort of la-dee-da and indecisive.

So we had a few drinks at Eli's and grabbed takeout - took a nap at 8:30pm - and then watched The Music Man and ate frozen pizza. It was perfect.

I was starting to hope that my body just needed a gluten-vacation - this morning I'm not so sure. It's just so hard to tell - is it the late night pizza and vodka? or is it the gluten? I should/could be more scientific and create some regimented test...

Tonight is the torchlight parade!

And finally... meet Mr. Flowers - we shot on Sunday for five hours - he's a really funny and laid-back guy. He'd scraped his forehead on a shingle three days earlier and asked me to photoshop away the scrape, which I did on the other pictures.

I had a bun on Saturday night...

We hosted four old AmEx co-workers for dinner. Hamburgers in the style of Vincent, a Restaurant. They turned out very nice. I decided to risk it and have one of the non-spelt kaiser rolls. Things seemed fine.

So we'll see... perhaps I just needed a gluten break? Perhaps I just need to dial down the intake?

I hate uncertainty.

Morning at the doctor's office

Turns out you can't take the celiac test unless you're eating wheat.

So I'm stuffing my face with pizza. Not really. It's just one of those really stupid things in the medical world. And my doctor actually looked at me like I should start eating wheat again!

Today's distraction - guinnea pigs eating watermelon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS5h3cX8sHI

Brandon in Wonderland

We're going on vacation!

September 10 - September 16, we'll be in Boston/Cape Cod! Truly one of our favorite places in the country. We'll go to Provincetown. Eat lobster bisque. Lounge around in the amazing sunlight!

So I checked tickets again this morning. The Southwest fare that I didn't grab on Tuesday had gone up to $400+ per ticket - but I checked hotwire and booked two tickets for $310 total! We're flying American Airlines, with one stop in Chicago.

Also - just found out that Cory pass his LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy) exam!

... .. ... .. ... ..

Distracted. Picking up projects on my desk, remembering that I intended to complete them on Thursday. And now I just put them in my briefcase so they can come home with me.

Here's a fun distraction -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FpD8wF1s6E

Text message response from Mr. Brandon last night after I sent him two of the photos:
"Im back sorry yes saw them love em but u got me excited for those other shoots they WILL B awesome! Beer and remote ha! Soon!? Next week let ya kno Sat avlblty"

Yay!

New Model - Brandon

Working with a new model named Brandon. Very relaxed and funny guy. Doesn't hurt that he's incredibly handsome and has a crazy body.

We recently shot around the park for a few hours. A themed shoot involving reading Alice in Wonderland - I'll post some of those pictures later.

In between switching shirts, I asked him to pause for a moment...

The best part is that he's very excited to work with me again! My style is apparently just what he's been looking for. He wants pictures that make him look good, but aren't the standard "stand there in your Calvins and look pouty". I explained that my idea for underwear shots would involve laying around on the couch with a beer, but still looking really hot. Or standing there with a cup of coffee, looking really hot. So we chatted through more shot ideas and he seems very excited.
(since he's so goofy I even suggested him making an omlette while wearing an apron, sans underwear - he responded that as soon as I said apron he had the same cheeky idea)

So that was nice.


On the tattoo front, I found out that as long as I avoid areas that are already prone to psoriasis break outs, I should be ok - as long as I diligently apply the salve stuff they recommend. I'll also schedule my humira injections to overlap a bit more than usual.

Dorittos - how could you?

For the last week and a half I've been testing out a gluten-free diet - and I'm feeling much better. Even apart from the digestive crap, I'm more energetic during the day, I don't feel sick after each meal, I can leap over tall buildings in a single bound...


Yesterday on the way home I stopped at Target for some face soap, cole slaw mix, onions, etc. and picked up a snack-sized bag of Dorittos. I was mid-crunch on the fourth or fifth chip when I noticed that they contained wheat flour?! Betrayed! (of course by that point I had to finish the bag)


The plus side is that the (presumably) small amount of wheat flour didn't appear to throw my whole system out of whack. So rather than suffering from full-on celiac's disease (where even trace amounts of gluten are devastating), perhaps I'm just wheat intollerant.


Which means... crossed fingers... spelt!
The Wedge has about three different loaves of gluten-free bread, but they've got tons of spelt options! Hamburger buns! Pastas! There's a chance that spelt flour could readily substitute for all purpose in baked goods.


Ah spelt, that ancient varietal of wheat. Be my friend please.

Pondering a tattoo again...

So I've sort of wanted a tattoo since the mid 90s - but being the indecisive libra that I am, I've never been sold on an idea long enough to make it happen. The previous idea revolved around "Gay, but fierce" in sort of futuristic Japanese characters. Didn't happen.

Here are the latest inspirations:

I'll also have to run this all past my dermatologist to make sure that it doesn't turn into some freakish psoriatic mess!

Pride Pictures 2009

Pride 2009 was a beautiful weekend.

As we've done for the last few years, we brought down a host of furniture and assembled a 'living space' on Hennepin Avenue. In the shade of the Bellevue, with easy access to tasty beverages (courtesy of Eli's) and a private bathroom (courtesy of our condo).

It's odd how every year I'm really struck by the absolute happiness of Pride. Say what you will about the drag queens, nudists, and leather daddies with saggy asses - it's the weekend each year that we each assert our pride in being who we are. We were sitting outside of Eli's Saturday afternoon next to a large table of 20s/cute/boisterous gay boys and a rather drunk and butch lesbian couple stumbled by asking for directions to the park - drunken exclamations of "Happy Pride" were genuinely traded between folks that would usually scoff at the other.

I miss it already. And dream of Provincetown...


Litte Genevieve Neerland - an early supporter of equality and pride (she also had several drama queen moments throughout the course of the parade)


Some guy from the parade, running up to say hi to some friends
This adorable boy sitting next to us connected with a friend marching with the awesome (and hot) mayor of Minneapolis RT Rybak

A drunk guy who'd run up to accost/celebrate with friends


Our friend, Cindy Bartell - her all-girl punk band "Tetes Noires" played at Pride in the 80s!

Kaitlin and Clara (K has the awesome tattoo) - adorab boy in the background...
Rainbow Bright!
The Trio was gender-bending that day..
Neil, Anitra, and Carl - what a hot trouple!

Cleaning the Shower Curtain

I can't think of a more fitting first SincerelyMaxine project/entry than cleaning and reusing a shower liner that would otherwise be discarded and replaced.

Maxine’s bathroom’s had plastic shower doors that slid on tracks and had built-in towel bars. A little heater built into the wall could be turned on after you were done, making lots of noise and giving off that toaster/electricity smell. Toilet paper and kleenex had crochetted cozies that matched the wallpaper. I wish I had a picture.

My showers have always worked on a curtain-rod, shower liner method. And for years now we’d periodically spring for the $3 curtain liner at Target. Last time I insisted that we spring for the $7 deluxe liner that included metal grommets (the budget liner inevitably tore at the top), but this time we’d clean the shower liner once the inevitable grime accumulated.

Don’t get grossed out – either you confront this same problem, or you’re throwing a lot of money away.

So here’s how you do it:

1. Remove the shower curtain

2. Set washer to ‘hot’ and regular cycle

3. Add regular amount of detergent and half that amount of bleach

4. Rehang the shower liner (don't put in the dryer)

While it dries, treat yourself to a martini with the $7 that you saved.

Sincerely Maxine

I've been scheming about a new blog for a while... I'd like somewhere to focus on projects that don't involve my blood pressure or waistline. Things like making jelly, how to darn socks, making granola bars, etc.

When the whole economic meltdown hit last fall, it dawned on me that many of my friends were simultaneously experiencing a reevaluation of the whole "American dream". It suddenly felt like my parents' dream - fast food, easy food, big cars, master suites, early retirement.

And my latest obsession was canning foods for the winter. Eating locally. Learning to extend the life of my clothing. These were the skills that our grandparents and great-grandparents possessed. These were the skills that my parents happily left behind as they raised their own families.

So this new blog is called Sincerely Maxine, after my grandmother. I'm going to post the items here for now, but eventually hope to transition them to a new, dedicated site. I hope you enjoy - and insofar as you have project ideas, let me know!

Toodles March!

Odd that March has flown by. I've never been a huge March fan.

I'm finally getting over the worst cold I've had since college - I missed a week of work and I've been blowing my nose for five days now (and it isn't the quiet drip).

Tomorrow we're restarting the budget and hard-core diet. I feel like I say that alot, but March has been good for getting back to the swing of things. I'm hugely excited to start utilizing our vegan cookbooks more - and we'd both like to feel good when we travel to Chicago for B&C's wedding over memorial day.

Tonight is my favorite cable-access scrabble show. And today I picked up a book at the library on fermented food (tempeh, saurkraut, etc.) that I'd requested over a month ago. Simple pleasures.

March Goals

Finalized March goals. Oddly, I'm already halfway through my workout goals for the month!

I blew off Friday afternoon after my counseling appointment and met my friend SD for a leisurely stroll around Lake Calhoun. Yay Spring!

AB's 30th birthday party was Saturday night. We had a blast. Stayed up too late. Chatted with several friends we don't see too often. And for some dumb reason at about 12:30 I started stuffing my face with pears, chips&salsa, and little cubes of cheddar.
At 5/6am I was visited by a nasty bout of acid reflux. And then went back to bed until 1/2pm.

We finally made it to REI! So odd. I usually visit REI about once a year. Lost gloves in December - all the other stores have moved on to bathing suits - REI always has gloves.

This time it felt sort of welcoming! Like I semi-belonged looking at camping gear and high-tech exerclothes! CC weren't on the same page as far as what camping gear we were picking up this year (I'd forgotten that he hasn't spent hours on REI's website). We were going to buy titanium sporks, but decided to wait on everything.

Finally, we've finally started getting serious about diet. In order to make menu planning a bit easier, I've assigned each day to a different group (and have just typed that, I'm struck, once again, by what an anal nerd I truly am):

Wholey Sunday
Tofu Monday
Beany Tuesday
Wednesday - varies (dinners with the Trio)
Thursday Sandwiches or Pasta
Fish Fridays
Random Saturdays

Last night we had bulgar and sesame chicken stirfry (with fake chicken strips). The bulgar took the place of brown rice. Very delicious and filling!

Tonight is tofu! Actually tonight we're having Korean, inspired by this months issue of Gourmet magazine. We stopped at United Noodles yesterday for supplies.
I'm excited for:
Tofu with garlic and pepper sauce (with authentic Korean hot pepper flakes),
Sauteed oyster mushrooms, and
Kimchee (from a jar)

March

Looking back on February, it feels like a mixed bag month. We ate through a bunch of our meat and overly-processed foods (and remembered fondly how wonderful it was to feel healthy in January). I filed our taxes and ordered cookbooks (but failed to finish my fiction book). I worked out consistently with Doug (but failed to get in the additional cardio workouts to get up to 12 workouts total). I had a falling out with my parents.

I'm hopeful that spring will make everything a bit better. I'm not generally a huge spring-fan - but I think this winter's overcast nature has me pinning my hopes on greener lawns and pastures.

Time to get back to healthy eating.
I'm going to finish a book.
I'm working to get my other blog project setup - and need to begin working on the photography and text that will make it worth reading!

Tomorrow is my first session with a counselor to discuss the situation with my parents. I think it would be great to have some sense of what to do about them by the end of March.

;)

Hi Carol.

Cookbook Crazy

Our tax return arrived this week and CC and I have been working through the list of home improvement-esque purchases. We've made lists - pared them down - thought of new items - discovered creative ways to save on list items.

My two favorite examples: REI tent I crave = $158, Target tent = $35. Since we're not 100% sure how much we'll enjoy camping, this year we're going for the Target tent. Second, the nice vacuum we bought several years ago isn't working - but we've found a vacuum repair shop.

So today was the day to pull the trigger on cookbooks. I've been checking them out from the library for the past couple of months. Since we're moving back to the mostly-vegan diet, I wanted to invest in a bunch of cookbooks to use. Additionally, a couple of the library books were good, but we felt like the receipes could be tweaked to improve things. And while I'm sure that my handwritten notes would benefit future library patrons who checked out the book...

The six books are:
Vegetarian Times Cookbook
Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure
Veganomicon
Vegan with a Vengeance
Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way
The Asian Vegan Kitchen

Shortest North Dakota trip, ever

CC and I drove up to Fargo on Thursday. We were going to spend the night hanging out with my little brother who's in college in Moorhead, continuing on Friday to Jamestown to spend the weekend with my parents.

I called Mom to let her know we'd arrived safely in Fargo and she asked if I'd connected with Dad - he'd been calling repeatedly. She told me she'd been working all week to prepare a room for me and a room for CC - and would that be acceptable? I calmly said no. Then she asked if they could pay for a hotel room - I said that was fine.

We then tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to have a fun night with my brother.

When we got to our hotel, I checked and my father had left the following voicemail:

"Yeah Nathan, this is your Dad. Um, I understand that you have not, that we were expecting you to be communicated with one way or another but I understand it’s not done but here’s the bottom line. For your visit with us this, um, weekend we are preparing separate bedrooms for you and for Cory and expect that your sleeping will be in accordance with that. If you feel that this is, um, an inconvenience to you both and, um, you feel that’s unacceptable, we will, um, pay for, um, staying at a hotel while you’re there. This is very distressing to your mother and, um, and that’s why it needs to be talked about because, ah, we’re concerned.
We very much still want you to come visit us and, um, pray this isn’t going to be an issue because we love you both dearly. But as you know what, you know how we feel about the issue, so. Call me if um, later, if you um want. But, um, this needs to be talked about. Or at least you need to be aware of this. Thanks. Love you very much. Bye." [my italics]

We drove back to Minneapolis on Friday.

Magic 61!

Yesterday I had blood drawn to check cholesterol, glucose, liver function, etc.
Today was the results show.

Good news!
Cholesterol – was 260 – now 199 (61 points lower)
Triglycerides – were 365 – now 304 (61 points lower)
LDL Cholesterol – was 138 – now 99

Blood pressure and liver functions were both normal!

Glucose is still a bit high, so I’m going on a medicine for that.

We chatted about the new diet. I rambled on about Omega-3’s and sardines. The new plan is to stay on the cholesterol/blood pressure/glucose medicines until May and recheck. If things improve even more, we’ll start dropping the medicines (I’m on the lowest doses of each right now).

Moment of Weakness

Hungry this afternoon and Doritos in the vending machine were calling for me.
Upon arrival, realized I'd spent all my cash at lunch.

Saving $1000 next year

Our T-Mobile shackles disappear this month and I've been eagerly shopping around.

I know CC would adore an iPhone, but we both know that's not in the cards. On top of the $199 to buy the phone, the voice/data plan runs roughly $85+ just for one number.

Here's how the 2009 plan is shaping up.

I'll switch to a pre-paid plan. With both T-Mobile and AT&T, $100 buys 1000 minutes that don't expire for a year (and if you buy another $100 card next year, the remainder rolls over).

For CC, we'll go with one of the options below:
1. Basic plan with Sprint. $29.99 buys 200 anytime minutes and free nights & weekends. Plus $5 for 300 text messages.
2. Basic plan with T-Mobile $39.99 buys 300 anytimes minutes and free nights & weekends. Plus $5 for 300/200 text messages.
3. Modified pre-paid plan with AT&T. $40 montly buys 300 anytime minutes and 500 night and weekend minutes, that rollover. $5 monthly gets 200 text messages. No annual contract.

Seems sickening to think that even with this new budget plan, we'll still be paying $700 for one year of cellphone usage.

But... I added up last year's bills - $1,734.07.

I'm going to have a cup of green tea to celebrate.

Just to review - over the last year, our

No barfing!

Made it through this latest weekend without getting sick. Quite a treat. So we finally put away the Christmas stuff. Well, to be more specific, we put things in boxes and tubs and everything (except the two large tubs) has been put away.

Getting mentally prepared to head back to North Dakota the weekend after next. Mom has requested that we don't make curry ("Dad's stomach...") and she doesn't want anything "too weird". She told me today that she's making salmon for dinner. She doesn't mind as long as she doesn't have to touch it.

Comments like that remind me of Sandra Dee? Have you seen "Semi-homemade"? She never touches any of the food. She uses tongs to apply dry rubs. Sandra Dee would be on my least-favorite folks list except that each show includes a themed boozy drink. I don't mind big-haired, Christian, suburban housewives that drink. Semi-boozehound?

So I'll finally be showing CC my old haunts. I'll take him to the concrete buffalo statue, drive by Perkins (we'd gather there after finishing work at the video store and chainsmoke), and see the high school (they tore down the junior high last year).

Maybe some night we'll take my little brother to the Eagles club. The year before my move to Minneapolis my co-worker friends at the video store were finally old enough to drink. We frequented the Eagles - I loved the pink scolloped vinyl booths. I never frequented the other bars in town. During a venture to The Office, I heard two meatheads discussing Ford v. Chevy trucks ("Well I rolled my Ford truck.") and at The Brass Rail I ran into a classmate who still had that flippy bangs look going on.

Plus you can still smoke in North Dakota bars. Ick.

The grand tour of Jamestown will probably take 30 minutes. Sad.

Reinstituting Goals

Starting again in February, I'm going to refocus on goals. And borrowing a page from Carol, I'm going to have a single goal in each of several groups. I hope to finalize the categories tomorrow, but I've got a rough idea already.

Not too much to tell lately. Both CC and I fought a 24-hour something. I got sick Friday night and couldn't sleep. After hours of shivering, I finally threw up and then spent the day in bed. That makes two consecutive weekends I've spent fighting illness. And I'm sick of it.

Both CC and I considered vegan month a success. We haven't really begun the transition to the anti-inflamation diet yet - I think we'll make it a month-long process, otherwise we'll end up tossing a bunch of food. And tossing food is neither green nor thrifty.

I'm very eager for spring.

Sick lately

I thought I would/could escape. Silly Nathan.

After seeing CC's illness progress last week, I knew that Friday morning's scratchy throat spelled bad news. I remember back in the chain-smoking days - when scratchy throat instead prompted the question: am I sick, or have I been smoking too much? I remember smoking ultra-light Newport menthols when ill - ultra-lights were the only thing my throat would tolerate, and the temporary change to menthols tricked my lungs into thinking I was still smoking a full-flavored ciggie.
Pathetic.

Last Monday was the five year anniversary of quitting smoking. I celebrated with several/many drinks on Sunday and spent most of Monday lazing around hung over.
Pathetic.

This is the last week of veganism. It's gone by so quickly. And hasn't felt that difficult. We haven't eaten out much at all (which has been amazing for the budget). I've dropped 10 pounds (Mr. Scale had happy news for me this morning). Changes to my cholesteral come on February 17.

We thought about breaking the vegan diet last weekend to begin our new anti-inflamation diet. They're more similar than different. And oddly, I was craving fish. Since I've become convinced that Dr. Weil's diet is our best bet for long-term health, it seemed so arbitrary to delay beginning that diet for another week. But we held fast - primarily because I didn't want to explain to so many co-workers why I wasn't still vegan (the folks who, when I explained that my cholesteral was sky-high, said "Why not just take Lipitor").

In many ways, the new diet will be so much stricter than veganism. No more artificial sweeteners (goodbye Diet Coke and orange drink from Rainbow) and no more fast food (goodbye Big Mac). Severely restricted animal fats, refined flours, and other dairy. So goodbye bread and butter.
Hello whole grains, soy products, wild mushrooms and green tea! Hello sardines and fatty cold-water fish!

And no, Dr. Weil's diet doesn't require you to be so severe/strict - but, I figure that insofar as my chronic diseases are related to inflamation in immune responses - and insofar as any of the restricted foods may trigger a disproportionate allergy-like response from my immune system - then my best bet for getting well and reducing my dependence on prescription medicines is to follow this anti-inflamation diet as strictly as possible.

Plus, I'd rather have abs than brie.

Sore again

Worked out with Doug again yesterday. He mixed things up a bit and since I got there on time, we were able to include some leg exercises. So I'm sore again today, but certainly not as bad as last week. If things feel better tomorrow, I'm going to check with Doug about scheduling workouts on Monday and Friday. We'll see.

Tonight will be our first Thursday night games and tea party. Last week we started celebrating the non-smoking anniversary early by having drinks at Eli's. So this week we'll make some oolong tea and play a game. (I'm going to take Maggie for a special Thursday walk while CC's still at work) We're in the midst of the final season of The Wire, so this week's game session might be on the brief side.

Not too much else. I've been feeling pretty lazy this week - on Tuesday night I jazzed up a pasta sauce and we tried Barilla's semi-whole grain pasta (not awful). Last night the Trio hosted us. Tonight we're having vegi burgers that have been chilling in the freezer for a few months.

It's always so strange when a four-day week seems to drag on and on...

A New Day

Difficulty concentrating today. Shocking, I know.

Today is January 16, 2009.

Lunch out with co-workers. Luckily there was a garden burger on the menu.



Christmas decorations coming down this weekend. I'd be happy just taking down the ornaments. Then we could have a Valentines Tree - an Easter Tree - a Pride Tree - etc.

This morning I was thinking about George Bush and how proud I am to say that I never voted for this worst-ever President.

Thursday's don't feel as special

Still very sore today from the weight workout, so I cancelled tomorrow's session with Doug. He was very understanding, smiling devilishly when I told him I was still so sore. Need to keep stretching.

Dinner last night turned out well - although I burned some of my fingers with steam coming from the pressure cooker. All those unheaded warnings from the cookbooks - well, they'll be headed hereinafter.

Here's a picture of the granola bars CC made last weekend. Super delicious, with honey, almonds, and cashews - I think we'll make more next weekend and include some dried fruit.

That's all for today.

Thursday night used to mean drinks later when CC got home from work. Relaxing with cocktails in anticipation of the weekend.

It's odd - I'm not missing the vodka/drinks so much, but I do miss having a ritual. I need a new ritual.

Sore... very sore

Actually it isn't that bad. Lots of stretching going on today. And more leisurely treadmilling with CB after work (we actually milled last night for 30min)(CB got rewarded with two Grey Goose martinis - I had three virgin Natini's [i.e. club soda in a martini glass, with a cherry]).

The Trio is coming over tonight for Top Chef. We're going to have the cabbage from last night (delish, but I thought it'd be better on day 2), Thai Chickpeas, and the Lima Chili salad from last weekend. We soaked all the legumes last night and CC cooked the lima beans this morning. Go Teamwork! Go pressure cooker!

Lunch out today to celebrate my assistant's birthday. My first big foray into attempting to stay vegan at a non-Asian restaurant. Fairly successful. Thai sweet potato soup and a salad of roasted beets and watercress (sans goat cheese). After explaining to the server that I was vegan, they left off the goat cheese but included the shaved parmesan (I'm sure it was just a mixup from entering the order in the computer). Oh well - and at least I didn't have to explain to her what vegan meant.

In a weird way, it's been nice eating out and seeing how CR lives all the time. I remember times when we'd go somewhere and she'd be so excited that there were three vegan options.

Jella. I feel like jella.

Just got done working out with Doug. First attempt at weight training in ... 10+ years. It was nice having someone be in charge of knowing what to do - how many - what weights - how to stretch, etc. All I had to do was keep focused and lift/push/pull.

Leftover stuffed pepper for lunch - quinoa, mushrooms and black beans. Very tasty and not to labor-intensive.

So we're beginning week 2 of the vegan detox. The scale had happy news this morning. Sad how affirmation from the scale affects my enthusiasm. When I stepped on the scale last week on day 3 and saw that I'd dropped 3 pounds, I was ready to sign up for life.

Last night I picked up a blood pressure cuff at Target and my bloodpressure was 117/78! Probably due to the medicine - but I don't care - it's such a relief to feel like somethings back in line.

Tonight's dinner is Hot & Sour Mushroom Soup (shiitakes and enoki mushrooms with homemade lemongrass broth) and Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage (in the pressure cooker). This past week I've been uber-thankful for the pressure cooker - and as we further explore the world of whole grains and legumes, I'm growing ever more reliant on it.
In fact, last Saturday when CC was making the mushroom/sun-dried tomato risotto, he adapted the recipe to use the pressure cooker!

Lazy Weekend

A lazy, successful weekend.

Friday night we met up with friends from law school at the King & I. My first foray into not partaking in vodka - it went ok. I had mango and club soda. CC stuck to water. We ended up eating there too - much mock duck and tofu.
Then watched the Sex & The City movie. It's still a bit odd when we watch TV - CC's sprawled across the green couch, me lounging on the blue couch - TV tray sans vodka. But it worked out. I enjoyed several glasses of black current juice and club soda. The movie was spot on. A little long perhaps, but we weren't bored and couldn't think of any bits that should have been skipped.

Saturday was our lazy lazy lazy day. I made lima bean salad with sweet chili dressing for lunch. CC made granola bars in the afternoon while I worked on cleaning the SmartRoom (homemade granola bars are AMAZING!!). Dinner was mushroom and sun-dried tomato risotto from Vegan with a Vengeance. We didn't leave the house all day.

Yesterday was a bit harder. Many times lazy Sunday meant hanging downstairs at Eli's, enjoying martinis and french fries. We ran around SuperTarget and The Wedge to get groceries - and decided that vegan food from Pizza Luce would be a good treat.

Golden Globes with soy cheese pizza and vegan muffaletta - what could be better?



Today I'm meeting with the personal trainer at work - crossed fingers - because I'm scared...

Day 4

CC was able to duck out of work early last night, so we flew over to Ikea for some new storage boxes. I discovered we have this huge space above the buffet in our SmartRoom that these boxes fit perfectly. So this weekend I'm going to gather up all the papers, textbooks, DVD cases, season decorations, Bratz dolls, EVERYTHING that doesn't need to be very accessible and/or that we don't feel like sorting through now - and it's all going up there. As god is my witness, we're going to reclaim use of the SmartRoom!

After Ikea, it was fun with the pressure cooker. We make Armenian Red Lentil and Apricot stew from Lorna Sass's vegetarian pressure cooker book. Unfortunately, we didn't have red lentils (my bad from last week's pre-shopping inventory check). I decided we should just substitute yellow split peas - which mostly worked. They didn't cook as quickly, so the stew had to be simmered for 15 minutes - after which time the split peas were still very al dente. Oh well.

Then it was on to the hummus. CC had soaked the chickpeas that morning, so that cut 15 minutes off the time. I tried quartering the recipe - remembering the last hummus debacle where I used all of the Trio's tahini (which is expensive) and ended up with a gigantic tub of hummus that we struggled to consume before it went bad. We ended up with a little over 1 cup - which is just perfect for lunches today (along with green pepper crudite and fresh bread.


I stopped at the library last night to investigate whole-foods cookbooks - hoping to find one by Christina Pirelli (of Christina Cooks). While the website said it wasn't checked out, it wasn't on the shelf - although I did find a cookbook from Dr. Weil. I have this feeling that we'll probably end up following his advice with respect to diet and well-being.

Overall, I'm pretty frustrated. I don't know if you feel this way too, but having listened to enough environmentalists, progressive food policy folks and nutritionists on The Splendid Table, I really don't believe much from the Food and Drug Administration. For example, didn't the la-de-da food pyramid change twice in two years... Do we really think that General Mills and Cargill would allow the US Gov't to seriously explore the health benefits of long-term vegetarianism or veganism?


The other irritation is that everything else is so anecdotal - for instance, I read yesterday that Alanis Morissette recently went vegan and now her alergies have cleared up.



So I think Dr. Weil will end up being our authority for the time being. If only he didn't have such a strange beard...

Day 3

Things are going swimmingly. Delicious dinner last night. NT does such a fabulous job making pasta, and the sauce was delicious. Here's a photo! (CR's been photographing their meals, so I stole this one from her blog)

Today's lunch was previously-frozen eggplant curry that had an unfortunate look, but tasted ok. Tonight I'm making hummus, apricot and red lentil stew, and fresh bread. The pressure cooker will be getting a workout.

When refilling my water today at lunch, I passed someone eating a piece of pizza. Oh well. But other than that things are going swimmingly.

Day 2

Made it through Day 1! No cookies or candy corn (which has been sitting there 7 feet from my office). No bites of leftover cheesy pasta. No booze. It was a good day.

We got groceries last night and then CC made borscht in the pressure cooker. I forgot to photograph it, but it was red and delicious.

Tonight we're heading to the Trio's for homemade pasta and pesto - I'm super psyched!

After dinner last night, instead of sitting in front of the TV, watching nothing of substance, and missing the little glass(es) of vodka I usually enjoyed, I went to the study and worked on this other blog project I'm starting. Wordpress released an update that they kept asking me to install - so I gave it my best shot. And completely screwed something up (I didn't lose any content). This whole website infrastructure thing is so unintuitive. But hopefully this little escapade will help in the long run.

Top Chef tonight!!!!! Double elimination and the British judge who says "It's the bland leading the bland."

Day 1

Thank god for the deep freeze.

CC got home last night and we looked through our food on hand. We had leftover Indian Chili in the freezer that's vegan, and today's lunch. I made the grocery list, so tonight we'll get supplies for the remainder of the week. Boiling steel cut oats for this week's breakfasts was just too daunting, so we're having Kashi bars this week (making homemade granola bars this weekend).

So far so good (acknowledging it's only been about 4 hours). But I've noticed during diets in the past that on that very first morning I find myself absentmindedly grabbing a cookie (which I never eat) or handfuls of whatever candy someone has around. I'd rather have abs than brie... I'd rather have abs than brie... There's no place like home...

Here are couple of pictures from last weekend. I rented a fisheye lens from the local camera shop. T'was tons of fun - Maggie was very curious - probably because I'd moved the dining room table around.

Vegan borscht tonight! I'll take a picture.

The New Year begins today

Apologies for the long silence. Such an odd time, Christmas. Last week, for example, I "worked" Monday, Tuesday, and a couple of hours on Wednesday. I thought my time had to be entered Friday, so I came into work - only to find out it's due today at 5pm. One of the partners I work for asked if I wanted to join them for drinks (it was 2pm).

So even though Christmas was a week and a half ago, it's felt like some long foggy time of unproductivity. It also affected my blogging. I'll try to post some pictures tonight - but no promises.

CC gets back from NoDak today. We left on Friday, so it was a weird weekend. Both Maggie and I spent lots of time laying around, not talking much. Watching reruns (I watched Independence Day one and a half times last night) and infomercials. I had hoped to begin cooking some vegan staples (steel cut oats for breakfasts), but spent most of yesterday cleaning out the SmartRoom. It wasn't wasted time, but I am more stressed about tomorrow's vegan detox month beginning.

As I was digging through the freezer, etc. - I started wondering if I should just throw most things out. Tonight, for example, we're tossing all the meat and dairy from the fridge. But what about the frozen sausages in the freezer? And CC made a HUGE quantity of chicken stock before leaving for NoDak...

It wouldn't be a huge issue except that I'm very much hoping to return to the George Bush Diet after January (fish=ok; meat/poultry=not ok)(i.e., eat nothing smarter than George Bush). So I think the sausages should go. But that seems wasteful. I'll check with CC.

We also need to purge a bunch of booze. I'll be too tempted by any clear booze (tequilla or vodka), so those have to go.

Vegan Month starts tomorrow. I'm nervous for some reason. I'm not too worried about cheating. I'm not afraid that I'll feel hungry all the time. I would have missed beef, but I read this little article in the Wedge newsletter about cows that have triggered my guilt again (I think cows are the cutest of the meat animals). Additionally, I've decided that we need to keep perspective if things get difficult, if we're tempted to cheat/quit. For instance, the most important things are no booze, no caffeine, and eating vegan. If I break down and have a Boca burger during the first two weeks, that's better than having a martini. If we don't have homemade bread made, better to have a vegan sandwich on store bread than to feel defeated and wind up at McDonalds.

Maybe I'm worried about cheese. Many people I've discussed Vegan Month with keep returning to cheese. I'm a fan, certainly - but I've never thought about cheese as so essential. Until I start thinking about cheese-less pizza.

So tomorrow it begins. And in honor of the endeavor, I've crafted two special mottos:

I'd rather be thin than drunk.

I'd rather have abs than brie.