Thanksgiving indeed!

This weekend was Thanskgiving (here in Canada) and we took time to give thanks for all the good stuff by eating, relaxing, eating, spending time with family and eating some more. Three guesses as to who has a diet and cleanse in her immediate future...

But it's all good because a weekend filled with turkey, wine and good times is always worth it.

{Fall decor...wherever possible!} 

{Brother and dad -dinner at the parents}

{younger brother was a "turkey assassin" with all the wrong moves}

{older brother's best "Blue Steel" for the camera}

{Mom trying to get us to "eat more!"...as always}

{relaxing post dinner with the football game and more drinks}

Happy Thanksgiving long weekend to all my fellow Canadians...we have so much to be greatful for!

V-day miracle. For real.

We've all heard of Christmas miracles but on Monday a Valentine's Day miracle happened. 

Husband brought home flowers. 

I just about fell out of my chair when he walked in with these.  Yes they're boring super-market roses (probably $19.99 from Safeway) complete with tacky Baby's Breath but who cares. He actually bought flowers.  Swoon and sigh, he loves me.  

Ooooohkay, of course it does take more then flowers to demonstrate his love but the fact he took the time to buy these proves that he's not completely clueless on Valentines day.  I may have to retract my last post.

{ Photo evidence is always required when documenting a miracle}

We went out for a romantic Valentines Day dinner to a local restaurant called LeVilla.  We inhaled enjoyed several deliciously decadent courses including Saffron Seafood Chowder, Duck Breast and Arugula salad, Oysters Rockefeller, Enoki Mushroom Risotto, Lobster with Black Truffle Hollandaise, Filet Mignon and then dessert (since we apparently weren't completely full yet.)

 And of course we enjoyed several bottles glasses of an amazing Sauvignon Blanc. 

 It was all obscenely calorific.  Yum.

Ingeniously after a few glasses of vino I completely forgot to pull out my camera to snap some pics of our meal.  However I did take a pic of the heart shaped pizza I ordered for the kids from Boston Pizza. They thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen and it totally made up for the fact that they weren't allowed to join us for our adult-only dinner.

 {Who orders over priced heart shaped pizza on Valentines Day? Mama Does.}

I hope all you lovelies enjoyed your Valentines Day with the ones you love the most and that you were gifted with something pretty...like a super-market bouquet of flowers.

Entertain me Vegas...

I'm leaving for Vegas in a couple days and sadly this might likely be my only winter "vacation" this season if you call Friday to Sunday a "vacation", never mind that Vegas is freezing ass currently. (I already live in the North Pole and now I'm traveling 1031 miles/1659 kilometers straight south for more cold weather? Srsly weather gods?)

I'll be fine, I'll just console myself with fabulous retail shopping and massive portions of food while dining out.

Ha! God bless America. 

So as you can tell the 10 lb. rapid weight loss plan didn't really come together since I'm already talking about Vegas food binges, though I have been trying to eat well for the last few days. Honestly!

We're going again because Husband is on business at the huge CES Consumer Electronics show. So basically Vegas will be a techie-geek-mecca while we're there. And since I only pretend to be interested in the tech show (for Husbands benefit) I'll be spending my time in Nordstrom or the outlet malls. 

I've been to Vegas plenty of times but I can't help but feel I might be missing out on something while shopping the whole time. We always try to maximize our time there by getting tickets to a show, dinner in a great restaurant or two and always a night out at a club but what else is there to do? (I realize that sounds like a ridic question...) And we only ever seem to go for around 3 days so I suppose the tour of the Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon is a no go (as much fun as that sounds...)

I'm NOT a gambling woman so the casino is out. Money should only be spent on a sure thing like shoes! I cannot handle losing things. Especially money. 

{boring?}

So tell me lovely readers, what do you recommend doing in Vegas?

 I only have a weekend, and I'll likely be by myself most of the time (sounds like a blast right?)

 Lay your ideas on me, what do you like to do while in Vegas? What's fun, interesting, exciting,,,even if it's all a bit cheesy. It is Vegas after all. 

I'm up for anything (minus male strippers, that's no fun going to alone. So I hear.) 

{not this time thanks}

Eat nothing...

Christmas is winding down around here and things are finally getting back to normal after an über busy December. Normally I'd be kinda lamenting the fact that Christmas is over but I'm still looking forward to a few more family get togethers after New Years.  Yes more food and wine.

Question: how is one supposed to lose 10 lbs by January 6th when the fattening food won't go away?

  (Why the seasonally inappropriate quest for rapid weight loss you ask, we haven't even hit New Years yet?)
 Its because Mama and Husband are off to Vegas the first week of January and while we're there my plan is to find some serious dealz shopping for clothes, clothes and more clothes. 

 However I've apparently (over the last month) managed to eat a third of my total body weight in Ferrero Rocher, cheese and red wine. 

Obviously one solution is to maintain the December status quo and just continue eating, but then walk the Vegas Strip and shop till my legs fall off, thus burning off the extra el-bees that have recently decided to call my muffin top "home." 

Or I could pull a Bethenny Frankel and "Taste everything, Eat Nothing."

{What does that mean? Like literally eat nothing at all?  Well she did shed all her baby weight in 3 weeks...}

Let's keep it real here. I shall continue to eat, and I'll in all likelihood not drop 10 pounds by January 6th. However the elliptical trainer and me are gonna be on a first name basis. Hopefully?

What is your plan for the post holiday slim-down?

Just like Olivia Newton John, let's get Physical....ok?

I haven't spent much time talking about the ongoing "Massive Weight Loss 2010."  As always, "massive" is a huge misnomer but I'd like to think that big titles will equal big results?!  I got my starve on before we left for Greece this summer but after that I've kinda been in a holding pattern as far as working out and eating really "clean" are concerned. Well no more friends. It's time to get crack-a-lackin' (again) and get my derriere back to the gym (consistently, no, once a week isn't good enough.)
 Turkey fest Thanksgiving, and candy binge Halloween are behind us and there's honestly not a lot going on in November so what better time then now to work on my fitness? My pre-New Years resolution is to do my darnedest to not gain a mountain of el-bees over the Christmas season.  And if anything, by creating a buffer of sorts now (fitness and weight-wise) then I can deal with the inevitable indulgences (read: chocolate, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, egg-nog) that are coming my way next month while still fitting into any dresses I may want to wear to Christmas parties. (Currently my calendar is open and I'm accepting party invites, feel free to send them my way...)

Lets talk strategy...

{80's aerobics? No, no leotards necessary. I'm talking about working out at the gym 3+ times a week}

+

{Salads salads and more salads. Insert fork here}

+

{No devil foods}

=

{Things I'd like to wear for the many many parties I'll be attending. Cuz I'm popular like that...?}

What are your plans/stategy for handling the deliciousness and  indulgence that comes with the Holiday season??

I'm not that hungry...for now.

So I posted some of our holiday pics on Facebook the other day and got a lot of great comments from friends and family about how enjoyable our holiday looked. True enough. But then I also got a few comments about how much food/eating/drinking there was in our pics. I guess I hadn't really realized it but it looks like our entire vacation revolved around food and eating. Pictures don't lie. Apparently we spent the whole 5 weeks chowing down in restaruants, tavernas, at our home or at friends homes.  Is that so bad?...only for those who don't enjoy gaining massive amounts of weight I suppose.....

{Out for dinner with the family at a Taverna, that's my Mama beside me}

{Husband and his brother}

{ With sister-in-law out for dinner with the whole family at another Taverna}

{Cousins from Canada enjoying the wine a bit too much!}

{Another day another dinner out}

{Eating at my Mother-in-law's village. Rustic setting but some seriously tasty food!}

{Seafood pasta with Lobster and Octopus}

{At Husbands mom's village, Petravouni}

{Another Taverna with friends from Canada}

{ Husband, a cousin and Kid #2's second birthday party bonanza at our house}

{ 40 people anxious for cake-time}

{My mother in law would kill me if we didn't feed our guests "properly"}

{Cake time!  2 cakes to celebrate 3 birthdays. Apparently you can get a birthday cake with your fave soccer team's logo, and fake leaves, and ribbons, and soccer trophies?! Only in Greece...}

{Out for drinks with my sister-in-laws BFF's}

{Friends over for coffee on the patio}

{My SIL cooks up a mean Octopus (well he's not mean anymore...)}

{Our last dinner at our house, BBQ for 15 people}

 Needless to say that the diet is back on like Donkey Kong. I honestly didn't gain that much weight due to running around after the kids, housework, and sweating profusely in 40 degree celcius weather.
The food in Greece is fabulous and when my mother-in-law is cooking if you don't eat everything on your plate she'll give you the guilt/stink-eye combo. Reason enough to eat up! And honestly, it's not really that hard...

Loooong weekend

It has been a long weekend indeed! Friday night I went out with some gf's to a "passion party"...y'all know what those are. Now anyone can purchase adult novelties (aka, sex toys) in the comfort of their friends home. If anything it was good for a laugh...and a lot of wine. No guilt because of the wine that nite. We all went out later for more drinks and apparently somehow ended up at home around 4:00am. Bless Husbands heart....he  was oblivious and really couldn't care less when I arrived home. Yeah, he's caring like that.

The next day BFF and I met up with with BFF#2 and her kids who were visiting from out of town. (My) Kid #1 came along and they all went swimming in her hotel pool and water-slid (is that the correct english?) all day. We ordered some food in and I ate enough Pizza, McDonalds and more Pizza to cause the worst post-hangover food hangover ever. I think I had a weeks worth of calories and fat grams in one day. In fact I know I did. (You know how the day after you drink all you want to do is eat crappy/greasy/carby food?) Well I did and the diet gods are NOT impressed.

Saturday was busy, but Saturday nite had me driving Kid #2 to the Emergency Department because he had a fever of 105 F. Not so good. He'd been sick for a few days with a fever but I just chalked it up to a bad cold. But on Saturday nite as he lay lifeless and sprawled out on the couch I figured it was time to seek a professional opinion. Why is it that we always have to take our kids to Emerg at 2:00 in the  morning?? And why is it so damn busy at 2:00am???  We were home by 6:00am and Kid #2 had a confirmed case of Strep throat, an ear infection and an upper respiratory infection. Yay for antibiotics!  He's doing much better and Mama is finally caught up on her sleep.

Moral of this story is...
hangovers+redicuously long playdates+sick kid+lack of sleep = a LONG weekend. 

Happy Tuesday kids.....

It's on like Donkey Kong....again

I've had this rant brewing for a while...it's go time.

So I've been going on about "Massive Weight Loss 2010" for forever and this week I've decided that its time to get down to biznizz on these last 10 pounds. Bless your blog-reading hearts for putting up with my endless whining about muffin tops/mummy tummy/bikini phobias etc.  
Here's a little back story on my weight loss woes. I have a man-sized appetite (more like line-backer sized) and I absolutely adore food. Really really adore it. Lots.
I have for all of my adult life fought kicking and screaming managed to keep my weight within the "healthy weight range" for my height. Except while I was pregnant. Then the proverbial wheels fell off. Way off. I gained over 70lbs with Kid #1 and over 60lbs with Kid #2.  Apparently being with child is code for eat everything in sight. And then go back for seconds. A calorie crime scene.

{Mama 2 months after Kid #1 was born. Dang.}

{Mama 2 years after Kid #1. Ignore windblown hair/lack of make-up.}

I did lose all the weight and more after Kid #1 (snaps and cheers for me) but it did take over a year and a half. So here I am after my second baby and he's now a year and half, and I'm down over 50 lbs. I still have 10 pounds to lose but I'm feeling stalled-out and plateaued. I know that it's only 10lbs but I really want to be back at my fighting weight. I guess it's about being back to a place where all my beloved, overpriced jeans fit again...and back to the weight I feel most fabulous at.  I have seen Thinness, and it's a beautiful thing.
So what's the problem...just get 'er done!! Well the problem is I'm tired of dieting. It's been a redonculously long road and this Mama is tired of counting calories/points/carbs. I want off this ride please.

{source}

Of course no one knows better than I that weight maintenance is a way of life. I'll forever have to be diligent with working out and with my food choices. Again Mama, put down the Cadbury Mini Eggs, the Easter Bunny hasn't even showed up yet...   I'm gonna do this!

What's got me worked up, spurred on and newly motivated? My own mom is on the diet of the century thanks to the take no prisoners style Dr. Bernstein Diet. While she's in good health she's unfortunately at least 60 lbs over weight and really needs to lose the pounds. AND she's all "hey it's only been 4 days and I've already lost 3.5lbs,,and I'm not even hungry!"  This is most def the kick in the ass that I need. If she can do it God knows I can?!  My bitching and moaning has got to stop and I've got to show this fatty-fat who's the boss. And no it's not Tony Danza.

Hunger you are my friend. I will not resent you. Bring it on bitch.  (Oh, and anyone who says you can lose weight without being hungry lies, just sayin'.)

...soon to be even more