snacks

Vacation odds & ends

Not a whole lot going on in my world this week. I’m getting in lots of writing time, as well as playtime. Enjoy this roundup of randomness.

The diet is going about the way it usually does when I’m at the Boyfriend’s: Lots of meat, cheese, nuts and Atkins bars; fewer veggies. But the carb count is under control, so I’m still hoping for a good scale reading in the morning.

Exercise is okay. I’ve gotten more than I would have before bootcamp, but not quite as much as I was getting while doing bootcamp. I did W2D1 of C25K Tuesday morning, then took another 20-minute walk on the treadmill after dinner.

Imagine that: I had time to kill and had just read Roni’s inspirational post, Wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

Sadly, when Wednesday rolled around, I used the “I walked twice Tuesday” excuse to skip getting on the treadmill Wednesday.

Ah well. What’s that saying? Progress, not perfection … Two walks in one day is progress, definitely.

— While I was at Starbucks in Flagstaff Tuesday for writing time with some friends, I saw the cutest car. It’s a Mazda, I believe, and I just love the color. If I were in the market for a new vehicle, I just might go for a green one. A few years ago, I was in love with metallic copper/orange, but that green looks mighty appealing. You don’t see many that color out on the road.

The one color I won’t be getting? Any shade of gray. Three of my four vehicles have been that color.

My first, a Mazda GLC, was what they called “Toronado Silver” — but it was really a dark, metallic gray. My second car, a red Chevy Cavalier, broke the mold. But car No. 3, a Nissan Sentra was again — you guessed it — dark, metallic gray. The saving grace was that in some lights, it shimmered kind of purple-y. When the Nissan got totaled in 2005, I ended up with a slightly used Ford Focus in … silver.

So you see why I want my next vehicle to be some other — any other — color. A sapphire blue would be nice, too.

— On Tuesday, I found myself with time to spend in my favorite “office,” the terrace outside the Starbucks in Sedona.

When the Boyfriend had an apartment in Sedona, I used to hang out there to write all the time. Who wouldn’t love that view?

Unfortunately, my regular writing sessions with a view ended when he moved in December. I spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon there on Thanksgiving (inside, because the wind was a little chilly that day), and that was my last long visit.

— Apparently, Arizona is on fire. There’s more than one wildfire burning, and the smoke has settled in the Verde Valley.

There are at least five fires, according to this news report. One of them is near Crown King, about an hour’s drive from the Boyfriend’s. Another is somewhere around Payson, about an hour and a half away. The result is a lot of smoke blowing this way. The sky is usually a brilliant blue, not yellow-gray.

Hmm. I’m beginning to think I might have something against the color gray.

I know I have little desire to read “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I don’t have anything against erotic romance … Some of my favorite stories to read are in the Harlequin Blaze line, the company’s raciest. And I’ve bought my share of racy e-books. But anything that started life as “Twilight” fan fiction is suspect in my book.

Y’all can start throwing things at me — or leaving hateful comments — if you want, but I’ve tried to read the “Twilight” books and cannot get through them. I can barely get past the first chapter. They’re poorly written; the characters are whiny. If “Fifty Shades” is anything like them, there’s no way I’m plunking down $10 for an e-book I won’t be able to finish.

— I have a new snack obsession. I finally cracked open the bag of Thai Lime & Chili Cashews I picked up at Trader Joe’s on my last visit, and they’re fantastic. They’re a bit spicier than I expected them to be … they’re even spicier than the “tangy lemon” almonds supposedly made with real Tabasco.

Maybe my Midwestern taste buds are finally adapting to their new home, because spicy or not, I find them seriously delicious. I need to measure these puppies out carefully lest I down half the bag.

Yeah, I know the bag already looks empty. That’s because I transferred the nuts to a bag with a zippered top. Can’t have my favorite new snack going stale!

Breaking a bad habit

Today I realized something: I snack a lot.

My snacks aren’t bad for me — with the possible exception of the midafternoon Starbucks concoction. But that can’t be considered a snack when it takes the place of lunch, right?

There are, however, a lot of them. On Wednesday, I snacked right through the afternoon and into the evening.

First, it was three slices of salami spread with 1 T cream cheese. Then a 3 p.m. “lunch” of a premade salad from the produce department at Safeway … 1/4 cup of curried walnuts … a stick of colby-Jack cheese … two stalks of celery with 3 T nut butter.

Dinner (at about 8 p.m.) consisted of Pesto Chicken Salad (from the New Atkins for a New You Cookbook) wrapped in lettuce leaves. And at about 10, I had something sweet: An Atkins caramel nut roll — kind of like a Snickers, but with a lot fewer carbs.

All were eaten at my desk, when I had a few spare moments — desktop dining at its finest.

I think I need to designate a time to leave my desk and eat a real dinner … like a normal person. The nutritionist I consulted a couple of times between Atkins and WW suggested that.

Better to take her advice to heart late than never, right?

While I try to break the snack habit, I’ll also be trying to develop an exercise habit. I lapped the mall a couple of extra times for 5 to 10 minutes of walking.

Still not much, I know — but it’s better than nothing.

I’ll just have to take the following advice to heart:

Fantastic Friday Five

Back by popular demand … it’s the Friday Five.

Okay. I really didn’t hear a peep from anyone about last weeks’ five, but I had so much fun with the post that I thought I’d do it again. (Besides, I just spent time creating this really cool graphic in Photoshop … so you’ll probably be seeing a lot more Friday Fives.)

Five things on my bucket list

1. See my name on a published book, sitting on bookstore shelves
2. Ride on the back of a motorcycle
3. Go on one of those Pink Jeep and/or Vortex tours of Sedona (and while I’m at it, blow $25 on having my aura photographed)
4. Return to England and Ireland
5. Learn to run so I can run a  half-marathon

Five habits I need to break

1. Spending so much money at Starbucks. Those faux Frappuccinos — iced latte made with heavy cream and sugar-free caramel syrup, then blended — are delicious, but I’m sure they’re hindering my weight loss progress … no matter how low-carb they are.
2. Biting my nails.
3. Over-using the word “really?” (As in “Really, dude? You just pulled out in front of me?”)
4. Drinking diet soda. I used to drink more water than anything, but the scale has slowly tipped back toward diet soda. I even have a 12-pack under my desk at work so I can avoid paying the outrageous vending machine cost.)
5. Snacking when I get off work.

Five bands/singers I love (right now)

1. Katy Perry
2. Black-Eyed Peas
3. Lady Gaga
4. Flo Rida
5. Eminem

Five bands/singers I will always love (my classics, so to speak)

1. Depeche Mode
2. Billy Joel
3. Neil Diamond
4. The Eagles
5. Bryan Adams

What can I say? I’m a woman of many musical moods!

Your turn. Pick one — or more — of these fives and share your answers. I can’t wait!