Day 1 - Challenge-less... (um, who are we kidding??)

Hi All,

I say challenge-less as our 30 day challenge for eating clean ended August 30th...  But seriously, who am I kidding... certainly not you guys - we all know life is full of challenges.

So I guess I should say - Welcome to Real Life.  The count up has now ended and we deal with Life - Full of challenges, forks in the road, bumps, twists and turns, ups and downs and a whole lot of love, fun, laughter, tears and slobbery doggies noses.  

Welcome to the Emilyverse.

First some things that I want to say about the clean eating Challenge: 

• I learned that preparation is absolutely key to eating clean,  and one day of prep makes all the other days much easier to handle.  When the decision has been make already and the breakfast and lunches are packed - it literally becomes a no brainier. 
• Eating Clean doesn't mean flavorless, texture-less crappy meals... Quite the opposite. Full of fresh flavors, there really wasn't anything that I missed out on.  I was never deprived, and often time so full I couldn't eat all that I had prepared.
• You will have much more energy after eating clean
• You may not go into this for weight loss, but I'm sure you will lose weight.

I didn't go into this for weight loss (as you've read about in my previous posts).  I found out about this challenge just as my husband was first told he may have diabetes.  After taking blood, our doctor advised him to immediately to quit the carbs, white starches and sweets and he will then re-test to see where his levels lie. 

It is our hope that with the Doctors advice we'll be trying to handle this with a change in diet and eating... .  We have a lot of learning to do and will be seeing a Diabetic Nutritionist in the next week or so... but at the time we heard this was a possibility, this challenge came into my sights and I decided it fit with what I would need to be doing moving forward.  

I am so glad I did.  I've lost 9 pounds in one month doing this challenge.  Overall since January, I've lost a total of 26 pounds.  Pounds I wasn't really looking to loose, (as you mush have read in "I'm OK with that") but now that they are gone - I'm pretty OK with them staying gone. If more go - fine.  Not so fine if they come back, so I'll make sure I am very aware of what I am doing from now on. 

I feel good eating clean - so I will continue to do so.  Will I have a bit of something here and there that isn't considered clean?  Yup.  But when I do so - it will be my choice, it will be in moderation and it will not be reverting back to unhealthy eating.  It will be done with a plan!

SO - where I left off from my last blog of clean eating was going out to dinner to celebrate my friend Dianna's milestone birthday.  Happy 50 Dianna!!  We took a ferry over to Fire Island and had dinner at a place called Flynn's.  It was a nice buffet where I ate as clean as I possibly could...  :)  1/2 a lobster, baked halibut, prime rib...I did have one baked clam and I did eat a piece of bread from the bread basket... but not half bad for a night out and I'm happy with my choices on my last day of this challenge.  I ate as clean as I could. 

So... Pictures.. 

The boat... The MoonChaser

On the Boat

Fire Island Light House

Group Shot at sunset

Sunset

Now I'm going to bore you with my last few days...  :) <Oh come on, you're not bored... ;)>

Thursday afternoon Jet Blue was kind enough to take me up to Rochester (for a fee of course!) where I was met at the airport by Mom.  I am spending the Labor Day weekend up at Keuka, helping her close up the cottage.  

OH - if you are new to this blog, you may not know much about Keuka Lake and what it means to my family and I...  But you can read about it  Here....... and Here... Or Here... ... OH..or Here ....  ...Or absolutely HERE (which I'll be referencing at the end of this post). or at an almost obnoxious (who, me??) rate on my FB  page, pictures currently!!

It is my happy place.  It is one of the two places on earth (the Other being...Wrapped in my husband's arms), that I fell the most at home, happy, content, at peace and at one with all the universe. Everything is right with the world, and how could it not be when this is what I'm looking at:
And this is where I am blogging from:

The only things missing are my three partners in crime, Dave, Sam and Lilah:

my world

This is my very first time in 12 years that I've been at the lake with out Dave.  
And the first time in my LIFE that I've been at the lake and my dogs (either family dogs when I was young, or mine since I've had my own) aren't here.  

It is very, very strange for me. 

Dave had to work and since we just got back from Maine...

in case you didn't see Maine

Someone had to stay home and make some money and take care of the pups and cat.  I'm quite certain he would trade places with me in a heartbeat!!  And yes - I'd have let him, if it were possible. 

So - Mom picked me up and we drove to the cottage by way of first - stopping off at the store to get me some of my clean eating staples; and second, by having dinner at the Switz, a local Keuka restaurant.  And there, my friends is where I had my first bit if Pasta in over a month!! I only at a few bites of the angle hair (and oh, was it delicious!!) but I mostly ate the sauteed shrimp and scallops that were on top of it - done with lots of garlic and some olive oil - a really good "welcome home" dinner, if I do say so myself!  

OK, Break time as it is hot in this sun and with not a cloud in the sky... I need to take a dip!

Dipped.

and a bit of a stretch...

Friday - Day one of project close cottage started for me with a clean breakfast. The stores up here have all summer been running specials on berries - buy two, get three free!  So I got two big boxes of strawberries, two of blueberries and one of blackberries and made a huge bowl of mixed berries with a bit of lemon juice to eat while I am here.  I had that along with my yogurt and chia... but.. not my usual yogurt and chia.  My sister and said while we were up in Maine (and after a discussion that the only yogurt they had at breakfast was regular, not Greek, yogurt and I couldn't eat it!!) that she had switched over to Siggi's yogurt.  It is Icelandic style yogurt - I had seen it in the store and never paid attention to it - but when I was in the store up here, they had it on sale so I figured, why not?  It has more protein than my current yogurt but also a few more grams of sugar (2)... but less on the ingredient list.  I was happy with that.  So my yogurt was this Siggi's Mixed Berries and Acai... and my Chia was a mix (as it was the only chia they had)... a Chia mix that I don't have in front of me now... but it was really, really good!  I have a new favorite clean breakfast!!

We did some work to clean up and pack up the back of the cottage and after a store run we had a lunch of Mozzarella and tomato salad with hummus and chips.  My chips were from Saffron Road and were Lentil and Chick Pea chips that were so good.  Not a usual chip fan (other than Tostidos) but I will go back for these again!

I took in some dock time on a gorgeous day:

and Dinner was a lovely Cobb salad with roasted chicken breast, avocado, feta cheese, tomato, egg and cucumber.  So filling - and I got Mom to eat clean for two meals!!  She just went along with the flow - but it was a good flow!

I spent the evening last night with an old friend and a new friend - and was super glad to see them!  Todd used to live next door to us here at Keuka and we've spent many a summer with our siblings, paling around and having fun... we even had a great summer in NY one year when he came down to NYC to intern.  As usual, his parents moved (just down the lake a bit) and life happens and  so the "see you next summer" ritual went dormant for a few years.   

Thank Goodness for Facebook we have reconnected and we've made sure these past two years to see each other in the summer time.  While he had met Dave once before...years ago - last year Dave and I met his lovely wife Katie for the first time.  This year, we did meet up in early July when Dave and I were up here for vacation...  but I was the lucky one and got to see them again.  Time with old friends and new friends (who are now no longer new - Katie's an old friend too!) is one of the best gifts a girl can get.  

I'm routing for them to bring the Kids and Sam (the dog) to Long Island for a visit - Oh, what a time we could show them!!!  

And now on to today - are you with me still?  I try not to have my blogs be so long (and hopefully not boring, though I joke they are - cause really, who wants to read about me.. ??) 

Well, congrats if you are - I'd probably would have stopped by now cause I'm not nearly as funny and entertaining as The Bloggess and Beyonce the metal chicken (and SERIOUSLY: If you've never read this - take a moment and do so.  First time I did, I nearly peed myself laughing!) 

"Knock-Knock Mother Fucker" ...  You'll get it if you read it!

But Maybe someday I can be - if I really let all the girls in my head loose, said 'Fuck it' and let them take over. (Oh, Swear girl!)

But then you'd realize how nuts I really am... 

Not that I care - I am nuts... (Hi, Crazy girl)

But its much harder to swallow when all the personalities come out and play... 

I feel sorry for Dave.  

But maybe he likes it...

Shut up, Kinky girl. 

Ok.  Me - Emily...  Up and at 'em early on Saturday...8am so that we can wake up, have breakfast and go visit Grandma.  Another clean meal (for Jacqie too! Oh.  Jacqie is Mom, by the way) of Egg Mugs and Avocado toast.  Egg mugs - an old and easy favorite from the Weight Watcher years of two eggs in a mug with some cheese (cheddar and swiss) that is nuked for a minute or so, stirred and nuked again for another minute - presto!  Instant Omelets - in a mug. Two eggs for each of us and one slice of Oat Wheat Bread and mashed avocado for us both - and we both couldn't eat it all!  So much protein and such a good meal and it was too much. 

We drove the hour to see Grandma, who had a recent accident a few days ago.  

At 99 and 1/2 years young, she has taken to flipping herself out of her bed (that is surrounded by two huge bed sized pillows and is only inches from the ground with mats on the floor - yes, she has done this before!) and this time she nailed the landing by slamming her head on her Oxygen tank.  

Yup - this is Grandma post fall...

Thank goodness she is OK.  She isn't in any pain and they'e done neurological testing on her and was all good.   And Grandma today - her color is better (and now looking much more like she is a rainbow of colors vs being on the loosing side of a bar brawl). 

We then had lunch with my Mother's older sister, Joyce and her daughter Debbie.  

OK, so my Mom doesn't have an older sister... but that is how they refer to themselves.  Joyce is the lovely lady who was my grandmother's aid for years and years prior to her stint in the assisted living place, which ultimately led to her place in the nursing home.  

Joyce used to help out my Grandma a few days a week. "Help Out" is code for they'd get into lots of trouble together because they are both stubborn, independent ladies who liked to have fun and laugh together while slipping up icy long driveways neither of them should have been on... but ultimately, the house got cleaned, errands got run and neither of them killed themselves or each other.  Thus - Joyce is family... and we had a nice visit before ultimately returning to the Lake, got the ceiling fan blades all cleaned and then I took my lake break to finish my blog. 

Yup.  Life is good right now.  I should do this blogging thing full time... and I would if someone would pay me for it - and I could see a view like this all the time... 

OH - and as for the above mentioned post that I said I'd mention again - I'm going to Bully Hill for lunch tomorrow.   YUP, I'm excited.  and YUP, what I eat won't be 100% clean - but my breakfast will and my dinner will - so I'm OK with that.   And I know this meal is the memory of many amazing meals here - So I'm EXCITED!!  :)

I'll leave you with my view tonight...

Happy Cloudless Sunset

Until Next Time...

EAT (Lentil Chips with Hummus, as I am right now!)