Oooh...double post day

Sparklie gave me an AeroGarden for Christmas. It's yellow and very bright and it grows plants indoors. The plants come in pod form and the pods dangle in water and the roots grow in the water. Kind of like those weird potato experiments from elementary school, only these will turn into useful fresh herbs. I planted Thyme, Basil, and Dill on Saturday. The Thyme and Basil plants are already starting to grow! There's tiny green leaves and everything. The leaves on the Thyme plant are smaller than a 4 leaf clover, and very cute.

I'm pretty excited to make roasted carrots with fresh Thyme. Maybe in a few weeks or a month or something.

My Nemesis

The elliptical machine has been my nemesis at the gym for as long as I can remember. Today I shattered my personal best on the elliptical by 5 minutes. I got 10 continuous minutes on the elliptical last Thursday, then today I decided I was going to try for 15 minutes and totally got 15 continuous minutes on the elliptical.

The balance is shifting. I kicked the elliptical machine's butt instead of the elliptical kicking my butt.

My Fall-Back Job

I was waiting for a guest to arrive at the security door of my floor at work, then one of my co-workers walked by and told me that at least now I'm ready for my fall-back job as a greeter at Wal-Mart. At least I can just laugh at stuff like that.

That's not even the funniest thing that happened to me today. But I'm not going into that here.

Happy Valentine's Day! At least it has been funny.

Clothes from long ago

This morning I was having the hardest time thinking of something to wear - nothing looked really appealing. So this morning I reached for something that I haven't worn in a year because it didn't look great the last time. Today I tried it on and if fit perfect, maybe even a little loose.

I'm so excited to be getting back to a better clothing size.

Monday Morning

I heard birds singing this morning. It's the first time I've heard birds singing this winter. Spring must be on the way.

Saturday Weigh-in

I have lost 14 pounds since I started the Mayo Clinic diet, and 11 of those pounds since I started working out with a trainer twice a week and going to the gym on my own 3 times a week. Here are some benefits I've already noticed:

1. I sleep better.
2. I haven't needed to take a Claritin-D in about a month.
3. Clothes fit better.
4. General health is better.
5. General mood is better.
6. Water intake way up, caffeine intake slim to none.

Totally worth it.

My kind of Pizza

I've been playing with various pizza toppings for the last month and a half or so, ever since the Mayo Clinic Diet recommended Veggie Pizza. I've made artichoke and mushroom pizza, pineapple and mushroom pizza, pepper and zucchini pizza, and zucchini and mushroom pizza. (Clearly, I like mushrooms.) Tonight I made this Veggie and Chicken Sausage pizza. It was awesome. I adapted it from a recipe that I read in Clean Eating. I used zucchini and mushrooms with the chicken sausage rather than the spinach that was suggested in the recipe.

Go forth and try new pizza toppings. You might be surprised.