the pure interest

Today was day 8, and I didn’t have a chance to post, so I’ll just give it in past tense. I did ok with my eating, although I fudged what I ate for dinner - I just didn’t want any more meat, and I had to stop at my parents to take care of the cats, and all I could think about was the grape nuts and fresh strawberries they had - so that’s what I ate. Not too bad, very healthy, just not what was recommended. I also had the morning snack for my afternoon snack so had no protein smoothy which was sort of a bummer.

Today’s Meals

Breakfast: Egg White and Tomato Omelet (although I actually had multigrain waffle with cottage cheese and fruit)

Snack: 20 almonds (had later with some dried cranberries)

Lunch: Salmon and arugula/romaine salad with light italian (Instead Meghan and I went to Marketplace grill and I had an amazing salad with grilled chicken, light italian, and some parmasan cheese & croutons - I know - i’m bad)

Snack: Strawberry protein smoothie

Dinner: Baked or Broiled Chicken Breast with, frozen peas and carrots (ooooor grape nuts with fresh strawberries and a bit of sugar)

Workout: Cardio Party (I did Cardio Party Remix - 30 min + some weights)

So… how am I? I am really stressed at the agency - things are kind of crazy for me. It’s a good problem, but we keep getting new projects!!! I barely have time to quote them all and get it together, plus work on existing projects that are dragging on.

Physically, I was down another pound and a half this morning which was great. Today, the lower back is a bit achy, but I’m planning on asking for a massage from the hubby. There was so much to do when I got home, so that was a bit overwhelming, and it’s done now (dishes, laundry, cat feedings, litter, etc., blech).

I’ll tell you what, being accountable on the internet is pretty exhausting. it’s hard to believe I’m already on day 6 of this. Only 5 more days to go (counting today). Yesterday went really well until a big picnic we had with some friends at Aaron & Kelly’s - again, thanks guys. It was so much fun! But, I basically threw rules out the window and ate normally last night. Sometimes I think it was worth it, other times I regret it because I was fighting waves of nausea all night due to eating more in quantity and more fat then my body has had in a week. I think I DON’T regret it way more though - everything was soooo good. And truthfully we had a lot of fruit and veggies - the main splurges were a hot dog, a little too much ranchy cornbread salad, a cupcake, a piece of cheesecake and a bit of cookie cake. (do you see where my main weaknesses lie?)

The picnic was great with little kids running around all over the place!! I’ll tell you what, kids are way funnier then adults, and they don’t even mean to be. They just… are. From Candace screaming with laughter when Brian peaked out from behind a corner, to watching she and Eli enjoy a classic game of “ring a round the rosie” (little do they know where that originated), Logan calling his mom and dad old, and Camden actually ENJOYING playing with Connick! 

Ok, the fact that all of those names are represented on the internet, INCLUDING THE DOG, freaked me out a little bit.

Back to business. Weigh-In today. 4.2 lbs less then Monday. Water retention, bloating, etc. aside, that is good news. I’m seriously impressed with myself. This morning I’m feeling a little bit off, sort of queasy (maybe as a result of overeating last night?) But excited to workout for the first time since Tuesday!! The busy-ness eliminated that possibility for three days!! Ok enough…

Day 6 Menu:

Breakfast: Feta, Black Olive, and Tomato mainly egg white Omelet (for me just eggs, tomatoes and feta)

Snack: Fruit & Cheese

Lunch: Turkey and Hummus Pita (I don’t even own hummus)

Snack: Peanut Butter & Banana Protein Smoothie

Dinner: Grilled Ahi Tuna Salad (no on tuna, probably use shredded chicken instead)

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Have a great Saturday everyone! the plans for me today are workout, clean, shoot a wedding, some web work, and do a lot of yardwork.

Thanks to Emily, I wanted to try this today. You make a collage of Flickr photos that correspond to the answers below. Normally I post my own photos but I was really interested to see how I could visually represent myself with other people’s photos! I wasn’t totally happy with it because a lot of the ones I chose would not allow uRL linking, so I had to pick sometimes my 4th and 5th choices for images, and some images had black borders which sort of ruined the symmetry so I ended up going in and manipulating myself a bit. But, still successful I think!

The Questions
1. What is your first name? Rachel
2. What is your favorite food? Yogurt and Berries
3. What high school did you go to? Harbor Creek
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Matt Damon
6. Favorite drink? Water
7. Dream vacation? Hawaii
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate Cake
9. What you want to be when you grow up? A Mother
10. What do you love most in life? (Worship)ping the Lord
11. One word to describe you. Emotional
12. Your flickr name. Pure Motif

The Concept
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

Look at that little guy!!!! Source.

All week I’ll be posting 2-3 pictures a day that are different colors… I’ve just been so visually stunned with all the colors of the season. Unfortunately it’s cold and rainy today and hasn’t been real warm for a few days.

As far as me, here’s been my weekend

• mother’s day was wonderful - especially seeing my grandmother at our little get together. I think it’s the first time she’s been at my mom’s house since she was diagnosed with cancer. 
• My sister made some beaaaaauuutiful cupcakes. She’ll be posting about those later. 
• Danielle/Dave, Brian and I planned our Niagara cottage getaway (leaving on Sunday) and it made me SO SO SO EXCITED!! 
• My dad and I built my little shed this weekend. It was a bit tricky, but so worth it. I am just overjoyed having all the CLUTTER gone from our teensy-weensy backyard. It is refreshing.
• Talked to Michelle. I love you girl. I’m telling you, you can and you will.
• EDIT: This is a shout-out to KRISTIN who is finishing her last paper, projects and finals for her MASTERS degree TODAY by midnight! You can do it and I am so proud of you!

With the country receiving their economic stimulus, it’s interesting for me to learn what people plan to do with theirs. Are they putting it right back into the economy? Paying off federal debt (loans, bills, etc.)? Giving to charity?  Well, this is where half of mine is going. A small 6′ x 3′ shed for our tiny backyard. This is an item that I’ve needed for two years but my hubby has been resistant to spending our household money on, because the outside of the house is sort of my domain - he just doesn’t really concern himself with it. We made a decision that we could each do with our check what we wanted. Some of mine will go on my student loan, and the rest spent on this shed and potentially a small used (cheap) lawnmower.

Interesting and Flashy? Not really.

Necessary? Very.

Brian is using his plus some to add a bunch of cool pedals to his new birthday present, a VOX AC30 Amp, purchased by my family and a friend for him in a SCREAMING good deal. Don’t worry, we’d never ever be able to spend the full retail price on this. When I say screaming deal, I mean 1/4 price. This amp is a beautiful, prized thing for guitarists of his style/genre, and I am so thrilled for him to have his first amp ever! Here are some pictures from when we surprised him with it!

So, where is your economic stimulus check going?

Tune in next week, I plan on doing a color week - one new spring picture of a different color everyday.

We’re all excited for another Meta Cafe! The last one was a a great time of just hanging out, gaming competitions, coffee, goodies and conversation.

One of my first big freelance projects finally wrapped up last month, and I was so excited to have the real CD in my hands. I think the look of it really goes with David’s style. You can listen to him here, and pick up a copy of the cd.

I also completed some web order buttons and banners to go with the style.

Anyway - it’s been a really fun project, and I’m actually quite sad that it’s over. The good news is my husband and I are still working on our worship CD, and I’m pretty much ensured to be the chosen graphic designer on that job ;-), so I know there is another one on the horizon.

I’m sorry to my normal commenting-bloggy-friends that I haven’t been commenting lately, I’ve been really just scattered and haven’t gotten to many blogs. Also, it is so warm and sunny out I’m trying to be outside more than in!