Numbers are Cotton-Headed-Ninny-Muggins

I'm not a numbers person. I'm really just not. In my opinion, number are better left in the hands of "numbers people" and I do not qualify as one of those people. By the way, the title is not calling "numbers people" Cotton-Headed-Ninny-Muggins - I've just really had an urge to watch Elf all week.

Going through this weight loss journey, my worst fear is gaining back weight that I've lost, not losing any weight, or really not losing "enough" at a time. If I'm eating right and working out but I am not losing weight on a scale or only like 1/2 a pound at a time, it makes me want to ask, "What's the point?"

Anyone else ever feel that way?

But if I lost 6 lbs. in 24 days, that means that I lost 2/3 of a pound a day. Over time, that adds up...it just may not look that way on the scale.

Before I began this journey, I read a book called Made to Crave. I totally recommend it to anyone and everyone. This is what she says about weight-in day:

Define your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale. The scale does help measure our progress, but it can’t tell us everything. It can’t tell us if the problem is too much salt intake that is making us retain a pound or two of water. It can’t tell us if we actually lost a pound of fat but gained more muscle from weight training. And (in my case this week), it can’t tell us what time of the month it is and then give us automatic credit for the extra two pounds or so those glorious few days bring to us.

So, I had to stop and ask myself the following questions:

• Did I overeat this week on any day?

• Did I move more and exercise regularly?

• Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last Wednesday?

• Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration?

• Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God?

• Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I’d had a successful, God-pleasing week?

So, why oh why do I get so tied up in a stupid number? And why did I almost let it trip me up and send me to the kitchen for a 750-calorie binge? (Don’t worry. I had a yogurt and tea instead.) Sweet friends, we need to define ourselves by our obedience, not a number on the scale. Okay? Pinky promise? Good. We are all in this thing together. And we will get the weight off, even if it is 1.8 pounds at a time!

I've started a new tradition where I read this after I weigh-in - and it really does help. I also have the bullet points printed out and taped to my bathroom mirror. I asked myself these questions and give a verbal answer (I guess that means I do talk to myself after all).

If you struggle at all with what the scale says, do this, and make sure that you're stepping on the scale with a mindset of obedience rather than getting caught up silly numbers.

Now, onto something else -

I'm totally obsessed with some new music...well maybe not new, but newer and new to me.

The album I'm currently obsessed with is Ron Weasley's Ed Sheeran's "+". I totally jam out to it almost everyday on the way to work right now. Just a disclaimer, he's British, so you have to beware of the language. He doesn't use bad language in a demeaning or derogatory way, he just kinda slips it in there. I don't condone it, but I really like his music.

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Buy Ed's album on iTunes here.

Little interesting fact: Ed has actually written songs for/with One Direction. He's a brilliant songwriter (image me saying the last sentence with a British accent).

That's about all I have for today, folks.

Summertime.

Turn on the radio.  Just kidding, you don’t have to.  But even if you’re someone who can say that the last time you listened to FM radio was when Justin Timberlake was sitting on top of the charts with 4 of his best friends known as ‘NSync, I’m sure that you would agree with my next sentence.  Music is a very powerful tool.  It engages the senses.  There are certain songs that, when I hear them, instantly transport me to the season of life and place where I first heard it.  Sometimes a song will make me nostalgic for my college days.  Other times, it will remind me of great times with my friends from youth group.  Often, a song can remind you of a sad memory or something unwanted.  To this day, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t hear Eye of the Tiger and instantly want to jog the stairs of a monument.   Colossians 3:16 talks about how music is a gift from God and can be used to praise God.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." - Colossians 3:16

Jessica and I were recently driving down the road without an iPod and Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” came on.  Neither of us had heard that song in half a decade but somehow were able to scream every lyric at the top of our lungs.  Lyrics and melodies get stuck so far down within our subconscious that we are able to access them when we least expect it, and in this case for Jessica and me, when we hoped no one else was looking.

Psalm 119:11 says “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”  I want to be someone that stores scripture so deep down into my subconscious that I can retrieve it at any given moment when necessary.  I wish I could reference the book of Romans as easily as Nickelback’s break out hit. 

One of my favorite bands during college is a band called MAE.  Their name stands for Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience.  That’s a lot of big words just to describe how music and sounds effect all of your senses to determine your experience.

Every year at the end of the Spring semester as I was about to leave college, the first song I would listen to after I packed my dorm into my car and headed home for summer vacation was MAE’s song “Summertime”.  It’s an upbeat song celebrating what’s ahead, and leaving something else behind.  Five years later, even when I listen to that song, I always remember that time in my life and am thankful for where God has brought me and the personal victories I have achieved since those days.  

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Today is the first day of Summer. As one season passes and we begin a new one, I will be sure to listen to that song and reminisce over the memories it brings back.

Turn on the radio.  Just kidding, you don’t have to. But if you did, you might just find a song that creates some new memories. 

What songs will you listen to in order to celebrate past seasons today? 

To download the song "Summertime" by MAE, visit the iTunes store here. Or visit their MySpace page here.

A Picture-sque Weekend

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm actually really sad that the weekend is over. I took a half vacation day on Friday and I literally had the best weekend I've had in months.

Here's the weekend-in-review-via-pictures (I like combining words today):

Friday Jason and I went to see one of my best friends graduate from Samford's nursing school. I am so proud of her and it was also great to see my Little (little sister in Phi Mu)!

Yay MK!!!!

After graduation, Jason and I drove to Decatur, AL to see our friends Mark and Lindsay. Lindsay was on the Casting Crowns tour opening for the band while Mark, her husband, was also on the tour as an assistant tour manager. Jason and I became friends with them in the fall and we were excited to get to see Lindsay play at Soul Stock.

Lindsay McCaul - and yes, you should go buy her album, right now!

The event was sponsored by Show Hope, which is an organization that helps people adopt from overseas by raising money for grants and also raising awareness about orphan care. If you've ready my blog at all...you should know that I was totally excited about going to a Show Hope sponsored event (I cried like three times while we were there).

One of the cool things that is connected with Show Hope is called the Red Bus Project. It's literally a big red bus that goes around to college campuses and it's set up like a thrift store on the inside. It's super awesome and if you ever see this thing, you should definitely check it out!

After Lindsay played, Steven Curtis Chapman's sons played. I'd heard a lot about their band, Caleb, but I'd never seen them live before. They were great and Jason and I had a great time relaxing outside listening to their music.

After Caleb, there was a speaker from Show Hope who talked a lot about adoption and what the organization does. Jason and I listened for a little while, but then we got super hungry so we hit up the booth that was selling Chick-fil-A sandwiches. YUM! Jason also bought us matching-ish Show Hope t-shirts! Thanks Jason!

I promise the top shirt (Jason's) is blue, not pink.
The editing made both of these shirts look super girly.

The headliner for Soul Stock was Steven Curtis Chapman. He and his wife started Show Hope after adopting their three little girls from China about 12 years ago. It was only appropriate that that headlined for the first Show Hope sponsored event, right? I definitely re-lived ages 6-9 since he played a lot of his older music.

I loved everything about the event (except the bugs).

Saturday morning I woke up early, per my usual weekend routine. I waited to get a text from Jason saying that he was awake. We were able to go for a walk and do some work around his apartment and mine. I made us some lunch to save money. I hadn't been to the grocery store yet, so I literally threw together random things for myself, but it ended up being pretty good!

I had Italian seasoned green beans with shrimp and a baked sweet potato on the side.

Later that evening, Jason and I went to Chili's for dinner. I had the chicken fajitas with no sides while he went for the chicken crispers with corn on the cob and fries. We had a coupon for a free molten lava cake (hello splurge day), so we split that for dessert. It was good, but not sure if it was worth the calories (that sounds like crazy talk coming out of my mouth, but it's the truth...my how things have changed). Jason made me promise I'd never tell him how many calories are in that cake.

Saturday lunch, Sunday lunch, Saturday dinner

After Chili's we used another coupon and saw What to Expect when you're Expecting at the Edge Theater. It cost $6 for both of us to see a movie and for Jason to get popcorn. Now that's what I call a cheap date :)

The movie was actually really funny...and surprisingly clean. It has some language in it, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Sunday was the greatest day of all. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was great for some reason! I was actually able to sleep in (which is unusual for me), and then Jason and I went for another walk. After our walk, we made lunch and caught up on some TV shows. After TV/lunch time, we went to the pool for the first time this season (it was Jason's first time ever).

When we walked up to the pool, there was a man laying on a float in a teal speedo. Last year, my mom came up to stay with me on Memorial Day weekend and this same man was in the back of my apartment (I guess his backs up to mine) doing yoga in his chair. Well, yesterday Jason decided that it was too hot  to just sit in the chair, so he got in the pool (Jason, not speedo man...he was already lounging on his float). Speedo man started talking poor Jason's ears off. Turns out...he's from Miami and he's an alligator wrangler.

I couldn't help it. I had to take a picture.

I texted my mom while Jason was talking to the man and she said, "Well, it's official. Jason will literally talk to anyone!" So much truth.

After about an hour at the pool, we had to go back to my apartment to wait on the guy from Charter to come fix my internet...again. After he left, it was time to head to church.

Church was great, dinner was get (yummy yummy Thai food), and then we went to Jason's apartment to work on getting the pedestals off of our new washer and dryer.

They're so dusty, which wasn't a big deal. The pedestal came off of the dryer super easy. But the washer was a whole different story.

After about 45 minutes of trying to get the bolts out, Jason decided we'd go buy a better tool later. Poor guy, in the middle of all of that, he killed at least two spiders (probably more) and had to clean off all kinds of bugs and nasty stuff that we apparently purchased with the washer.

Overall, great weekend. I honestly didn't want it to end. But next week is a long weekend (WHOOHOO!!!) and I'm sure it will be great as well!

Enough of the rambling from me...what did YOU do this weekend?

Gather 'rounnd...it's Story Time

I feel like I should begin this post with, "Good morning girls and boys," like on Barney & Friends.

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But, I won't.

However I do have a story for you this lovely Friday morning.

As many of you probably know, my wonderful fiancé is a bit like a cartoon character (or so people say). He is so outgoing and I admire him for his whit, sense of humor, and ability to be 110% himself in every situation.

This is how I envision Jason as a cartoon.
When he see's this, he'll probably say that this dude has cool hair. Just a guess.
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But, last night I wanted to crawl into a hole.

One of our friends opened for a band a couple of weeks ago at a venue here in Birmingham called Workplay. She asked one of our other friends to play guitar for her during her set (they lead worship together at church and are on worship staff together). Through that, our friend who plays guitar met the guitarist from the headlining band.

Well, Jason has met that band a couple of times himself and he's done sound for them at events at Samford, so we're both familiar with them (although I'd never met them). Someone saw on their website that they were playing a house show in Birmingham last night, so our friend who plays guitar texted the guitar player of the headlining band to see if it was an open show and if so, could we come. He said yes to both, so last night Jason, our friend who plays guitar, his wife, and me went to the "house show".

When we arrived, there was a sign out front that was in kind of a graffiti font, so none of us could make out what it said. We thought it said, "Best of..." and then Jason told us they were probably being artsy and didn't want anyone to know the last word.

We got about halfway down this driveway and we see a bunch of people...well no...teenagers...out by the pool. Then our friend's wife (who's my friend as well, but I'm trying to only use pronouns) said, "Did that sign say 'Class of 2012'?". Why yes, I think it did.

By that point, we'd already been spotted and one of the parents came out and asked if we were friends of the band. So, instead of saying no and running away quickly and gone to pick up dessert somewhere (which is what I wanted to do), we said yes and went to the party...the high school graduation party.

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 Turns out, a most of the students went to a private, Christian school in Birmingham and a large handful of them will be attending Samford in the fall. I considered laying some groundwork for my sister, who will also be a freshman at Samford in the fall, but I decided she probably wouldn't appreciate that. Who wants their older, party-crashing sister finding them a roomie and new BFF?

It ended up being okay. I felt awkward the whole time, but the guys had fun at least. The kids didn't even know we were there and the parents probably thought we were besties with the band...or something.

As we were leaving, we started discussing what the owners of the house must do for a living (the house was beautiful and huge). Turns out...he's in advertising...

...how about that?

We were offed cake but we declined - which is a reflection of how awkward we felt (we, meaning me and the guitar player's wife). 

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening, and we ended up taking away a great story.

T-shirts, Buses, and Autographs, Oh My!

Let me start out this post by saying THANK YOU! I have been overwhelmed by the encouragement of all of you who have expressed appreciation for my honesty on yesterday's post. I know this may sound silly, but I can honestly see that the Lord is working through what I'm writing each and every day. I started writing this blog on a pretty daily basis just because I missed writing and I wanted to do a cleanse. I had no idea that this would turn into a platform for me to share struggles and triumphs, encouragement, and prayer with people! I am certainly thankful for each one of you. Please, never hesitate to contact me via Facebook, Twitter, text, or email. I enjoy the encouragement, honesty, and prayers from others. I also love returning encouragement and offering up prayers!

I was so excited about posting again last night, but I was a little distracted. I went to see Switchfoot at Samford with a group of friends from church. The only thing that wasn't good about the night was the fact that Jason was in Tulsa, OK and Switchfoot is one of his favorite bands.

But wait...I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday was a good day. I popped out of bed in time to do the 30 Day Shred before work. I'm a little sore today, but not as bad as usual. That's a good sign, right?

I was super hungry after that, so I ate some Great Value nonfat vanilla yogurt while I was getting ready for work. I also drank some water because the 30 Day Shred always makes me thirsty.

I was really excited about my lunch yesterday. It wasn't anything special, but it was healthy and it tasted good.

Only the front mug is full. The other two were just previous hot beverages.

Lunch:
2 oz. deli turkey
1 slice reduced fat provolone cheese
1.5 c. spinach leaves
1 tbsp. chia seeds
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 sugar free Jello cup
8 strawberries
1 green apple
1/2 cucumber sliced

I also realized after I finished eating that I was going to need some coffee.

As soon as I got home I saw another Arnold in the hallway! Wedding gift #2 had arrived!!! This time Jason wasn't here to open it with me, but that's okay. Technology is wonderful. I sent him pictures and we got to celebrate together via text message.

Yay for big boxes and bedding! We honestly need both.

Then I went to work making dinner. I get home around 5:20 or 5:30 each day. Yesterday, I had to make dinner and eat before 6:15 because that's what time we were leaving to get to Samford for Switchfoot. I decided to make a Taco Bake, which is really just a nice little name I created for combining all my favorite taco fixins.

Taco Bake:
Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 packet Old El Paso Original Taco Seasoning
• 2/3 c. water
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained (no salt added)
• 1 small jar medium salsa
• 1/2 c. Kraft fat free cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
2. Brown the ground beef and drain out the oil.
3. Mix all of the first five ingredients in a large skillet.
4. Pour mixture into a square casserole dish. 
5. Spread salsa over the top.
6. Sprinkle cheese to cover the top in a light layer.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

It was delish! One of my friends arrived as I was finishing up eating. I offered him some Taco Bake and he seemed to like it. I also had plenty left for leftovers!

Next, it was finally time for Switchfoot.

Here's the rundown of the night -

Get to Samford.

Feel awkward because we were about 5-7 years older than all the kids (literally kids) standing on the floor.

Finally the opening band comes out to play. I like The Rocket Summer but I don't know a lot of their stuff. They were good though.

Realize I left all of my money in the car.

Run to my car to get my credit card so I can buy Jason some merch.

Text Jason to see which Switchfoot shirt he wanted.

Stand there and wait for him to reply.

Decide not to wait any longer. A line was forming behind me, and having a fiance who sells band merch for a living, I didn't want to be that girl.

Buy Jason a black shirt. Buy myself a little something too.

Go back inside and find my group. Wait patiently for Switchfoot to take the stage.

Watch Switchfoot put on an awesome show.

Wait outside for Jon Foreman.

Walk around the backside of the Pete Hanna Center to find the buses.

Wait for Jon Foreman some more.

Meet Jon Foreman.

I got starstruck for sure...but not as much as the girl who had him sign her Samford ID.

Tell Jason. Jason got jealous.

Decide to possibly drive to Chattanooga next week to see Switchfoot again. This time with Jason (P.S. If anyone knows a place we could possibly stay, let me know, seriously!).

So that about sums up what turned out to be a really awesome day.

As usual, here is my calorie count for the day (much better than Wednesaday):

It's Friday, so enjoy the weekend and the goings on of finals, Springtime, or whatever it is you kids do these days :)

Enough rambling, I must go eat lunch!

Day 7: The Last Hurdle

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I can totally relate with every emotion this little guy is experiencing. All day I've been carrying this track race analogy around in my mind.

For closer examination of this picture, I'm the little dude jumping. My face is saying, "The finish line is right there! It's so close. Just one more hurdle and I can do it!" The people behind him watching are all of you! I've had so much encouragement along the way and I'm so thankful for it! The people behind him standing up and looking are all of you who are saying, "Girl, you crazy!"

This morning I got up an hour before my alarm went off because I'm so excited to go home. I usually roll over and check all of my random emails that I get throughout the night and when I did that this morning, I came across this...

...thus the reason for my excitement.  David's Bridal, I am eager to see you as well!

Today, the cleanse is supposed to be all about the soup. I packed everything up in my handy-dandy Publix bag, packed my car with dress shopping supplies, clothes for the weekend, and my ice chest full of fruit and I was off to work. About 4 miles away from my apartment, I had to pull over and rearrange how the soup was situated because it was spilling.

I was planning on just eating some soup around 10:15 or 10:30. But by the time I got to work, I was really hungry. Since soup was about the last thing I wanted at 8:30 a.m. I decided to cheat just a weeeee bit and I grabbed a handful of grapes from the ice chest. I very highly doubt that eating six grapes first thing in the morning on day seven is going to ruin my cleanse (but if it does, I'll let you know).

Out of curiosity and excitement, I checked Jason and my wedding website to see how many days we have until we say, "I do."

I almost squealed at my desk. Less than 150 days!

On a side note, but still an important note, today is the one year anniversary of the tornadoes that affected so many lives in Alabama. I hope and pray that those who have lost loved ones as well as dear possessions will rely on the hope that we find in Christ alone.

Growing up on the coast of Florida, I feel like I know all too well the power that a storm can have on our lives. In my almost 23 years of life I believe that I've also experienced storms spiritually and emotionally that affect each one of us in different ways. Whenever I hear reports of storms on the news, or experience them first hand whether literally or figuratively, I am reminded of Job.

Job 1:20-22 says (after all of his possessions, wealth, AND children had been taken from him), "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."

A dear friend of mine, Mandi Mapes, wrote a song after the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010. I believe that the lyrics of this song are true in our lives in any type of storm.

In Your Arms (by Mandi Mapes)

 To read the rest of the lyrics to this song, go to the Radical Experiment page. If you'd like to read the story behind these lyrics, visit Mandi's blog. If you'd like to buy this song, go to iTunes.


So onto soup...

Eat to the smile!

I ate my first soup around 10:50 a.m., my second bowl around 12:30 p.m., and my third bowl around 1:00 p.m.

I was able to leave work today around 3:15. It was so wonderful to get on the road a little bit early.

After four hours of driving, I entered Destin with this beautiful view.

I truly do love my hometown. I'm proud to have been born and raised in paradise.

When I walked in the door, I was greeted by my parents and my beautiful sister, Carlee. I was starving. I had only eaten about 150 calories today, and I was in need of something...but not soup.

I heated up my soup and took a bite. I almost gagged. I've heard that a lot of times when you change your diet drastically, your body will give you cravings when you're in need of a type of food (I don't think this is true with ice cream though, unfortunately). 


This is what I ended up eating for dinner:

PROTEIN!

Dinner:
Mom's leftover ground turkey
Corn
Black beans
Kidney beans
Watermelon

Although I "broke" the cleanse tonight, I feel good about my decision. You have to listen to your body. And I didn't break out a gallon of ice cream, I just reverted back to the previous day's eating plan (poultry and veggies).

Well, I'm going to call it a night and spend some quality time with my family. My mom just said, "I think I'm obsessed with wedding stuff right now." I think that's my queue!

Tomorrow = COFFEE!
Cleanse = COMPLETE!

P.S. My mom just said, "Ruching does amazing things for people." We're watching "Say Yes to the Dress" preparing for tomorrow! AAAHHH! I'm convinced my mother is a cartoon character.

Day 6: Downhill Slope ... & Cake

Well, here we are with just one day left of the modified GM's cleanse. I feel like it's been an uphill climb for the last six days, and now I'm on the downhill slope.

This morning I got up and cut up the biggest cucumber I've ever seen. I packed a snack box full of cucumbers, celery, and veggie hummus. With snacks and herbal tea in hand, I headed off to work.

Although I'm not a musician and I only sing sort of well in the shower, music is a big part of my life. It can honestly completely change my mood. It wakes me up on the five hour drive to Destin that I've recently been making frequently. It gives me strength to push through a good workout. It allows me to pour out my heart to God with words that I am not clever enough to come up with, but that I truly desire to express. It taps into emotions that I'm feeling, whether I'm mad or sad or hurt or excited. And honestly, it sets the tone for my day.

I'm a big fan of shuffle. There are very rare occasions when I select a specific artist or album that I want to listen to, especially on my drive to work. It's kind of like a little surprise every three or four minutes, and it just makes life more interesting. Whenever I get a "good shuffle" in the morning, I know I'm going to have a good day. This morning was one of those times.

Can you guess what time I have to be at work?

I have time for about four songs on my way to work. And these four songs just made my day brighter. Jason has been gone for eight days, and I really miss him. I was overly excited that our song (Goodnight Moon by Go Radio) came on right as I was turning onto the exit for work. I try not to listen to that song a lot because I don't want it to get it old, but today was definitely a day I decided to sing along!

When I got to work I headed downstairs to fix my water and prepare my cucumber for breakfast.

Nothing exciting...just cucumbers.

It's strange how I've always boxed in certain foods as "breakfast foods" and I get so upset when I'm out of boiled eggs, oats, cottage cheese, or yogurt (my usual rotation of breakfast options). Usually when this happens, I just throw in the towel and head to McDonald's for an Egg McMuffin. Now, due to these veggie days, I know that I can eat healthy at breakfast even I only have lunch/dinner foods around. Now the Egg McMuffin can be something I choose to get on a day that I'm wanting to treat myself to something a little less healthy, rather than get it out of "necessity".

Over the last six days, I've had to withstand a lot of temptation. There's been an invite to Pinkberry, which is probably my favorite yogurt shop. I've had 64 K-Cups delivered to my apartment. My roomie and her fiancé made chocolate chip cookies one night. My roomie and her fiancé made curry one night. My roomie and her fiancé made Mexican food one night (okay, basically I live with someone not doing a cleanse, which is okay, but it's been hard). We went to Rojo yesterday for lunch. Each of those things have come and gone though. If I just got through that meal, it was over and I'd made it through. Then, we had a wedding shower at work. The leftover cake has been sitting in the kitchen and it's literally torture. Today this happened: 

The first thing that went through my mind was Matthew 6:23.
Maybe a little dramatic, but it was such a temptation...all..day...long.

I've always identified with this little guy, but thanks to self-control that can literally only be from God, I have not even tasted the cake!

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I just love that. That literally describes my relationship with "dieting" and food perfectly.

Today for lunch I met up with two friends from the Children's Homes. We decided to go to Moe's because they have Thank You Thursday. I'd never heard of such a thing, but I quickly learned that it means you can buy one meal and get the second for $2.99 and you get two large drinks. Awesome deal! I opted for the Alfredo Garcia Streaker, which means a chicken fajita with no tortillas. I went without cheese and only got veggies. 

Fajita chicken + grilled onioins + green peppers + cucumbers +
pico de gallo + shredded lettuce + corn pico = delicious!

Needless to say, real food tastes amazing. But it was also super high in calories. Probably not the smartest idea for a cleanse, but I'd only had 25 calories so far today. I'd say with the taste, price, and fellowship, it was totally worth it! It's also awesome that I was able to meet friends for lunch without going off the cleanse.


As soon as I got home from work I hit the ground running heating up leftover chicken and squash and making my soup. Let's just say I had to run the dishwasher and our entire dish drying rack is now full. 

Here's my dinner:

Dinner:
About 6 oz. leftover crockpot chicken
About 4 c. leftover zucchini and yellow squash
Salsa

I also got tired of the Hunger Games cup and I found this lovely cup in the back of my cabinet. Roll Tide.

So, here are a few shots of the process of making the soup:

Cabbage, chopped onions, Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix, celery, diced tomatoes

And here's the finished product:

Soup Recipe:
1 Head of cabbage
1 Onions chopped
Celery chopped (I used my leftovers from veggie days)
2 Cans plain diced tomatoes, no salt added
2 Packets Lipton Beefy Onion Soup mix
9 c. Water
Bring to a boil and stir frequently.

After dinner I headed to the Summit to meet a friend I was buying a Kindle from. I'm so excited to finally have some sort of digital reader.

Last, but certainly not least, it was time to pack! I'm leaving from work to go straight to Destin tomorrow. I had to store my soup and pack an ice chest to take fruit home.

Fruit on the left, soup on the right. What's up road trip?

I'm not used to packing food, so I hope this all goes well. It has to sit all day tomorrow at work and the 4.5 hour trip home.

As much as I'm ready for this cleanse to be over, I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about not having the strict food restrictions. I'm hoping and praying that I have an easy transition out of the cleanse and a seamless move into a healthier lifestyle.

Here is my calorie count for the day:

And now it's time to quit rambling and go pack my clothes...LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!