Losing & Life

I finished my 10 day juice fast on Friday.  I am pretty strict about my eating habits and I must say that it was harder than I thought. The first days were the easier ones.  Its the last days that get ya.  I tended to be looser with myself, but all in all it went well.  I am still doing 2 juices a day with a normal (sensible) meal for dinner.  I have 10 pounds to go and I plan to get there sooner than later.  Then I will post pics of my before and after.  I shudder when I look at the before photos.

This week I went shopping for D2.  We hit the mall in search of some 18 month jammies and shorts.  Poor girl gets all of D1's hand-me-downs and is growing just a slight bit faster than D1 did.  Time for more clothes.  I was trying to hold off until fall because we have a ton of cute fall outfits but her belly wasn't going for it.  Poor kid is popping out of her PJ's.  While at the mall I happened to walk past The Limited.  Now, I am not a Limited shopper, and I haven't been since high school, but they had an awesome houndstooth skirt.  The outfit on the model was awesome.  I walked in and looked for my size.  I was in luck... they DIDN'T have it.  On my way out I got stopped by an employee.  She asked me to try it on and I explained that they were out of my size.  She prompted me to try on a smaller size. I replied "if I fit into THAT then I will DEFINITELY buy it!"  Well,  I FIT INTO IT!!!  YAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!  Makes that juice taste a bit sweeter!  Now I just have to find a reason to wear it!

Life is settling down a bit.  We are still waiting on the barn quote and I have contacted our financial advisor dude to get his opinion on the situation.  We will see what happens.  I just finished getting my references together for my applications and lastly I have to get my essay ready.  I want to get them submitted this week.  Then its sending off for my transcripts and the waiting game starts.  Hopefully I get my interviews sooner than later so I can relax.  Once I know that I am in (or not) then I can mentally prepare for next year.  Fingers crossed!

Tonight I made an awesome dinner!

Grilled Salmon with a Creamy Pesto Sauce and Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Boil potatoes until tender, drain and reserve. Return the pot to the stove top over medium heat. Add butter and bananas to the pot. Cook bananas 5 minutes and add the juice of 1 orange to the pot, reserve the zest. Allow the juice to cook out, 1 minute. Add potatoes to the pot and the stock and sugar. Mash potatoes, banana, stock and sugar together until well combined. Season with nutmeg, salt, pepper and orange zest, to your taste. Mash to combine spices and serve.

1 pound Salmon

8 Oz Cream Cheese (cut into blocks)

4T Basil Pesto

3/4C whole milk

Grill salmon on George Foreman grill (or similar) sprayed with pam.  Cook approx 10 mins until fish flakes apart. In small saucepan over med heat warm milk & cream cheese.  Whisk until blended.  Add Pesto.  Spoon over cooked salmon.