1: 2 weeks. -6 lb. woot!

2: Paul just sent me this message he got by accident-
"For some unknown reason I was googling [name hidden from google] today. He is my great grandfather. My maternal grandmother was Auguste Vintschger whose brother was [name hidden]. Jr (I guess). What I do know is that Uncle Gus, whom I never met was married to my [name hidden]. I could not find this reference on your blog. But I guess we're related somehow. [name deleted] . I live in Palo Alto, CA"

Wow- random family I never knew about, found via estrip! [name hidden] was my great-grandmother's sister.
I also learned yesterday that someone has made a whole website about my family, going back to like 1550. Apparently there are only like 400 of us?! The site is hard to use though, so I might be missing stuff.

3: New Andrew Bird came out yesterday.
I love these lyrics-

From "Anonanimal"-

The seemingly innocuous plecostomus
Though posthumous
They talk to us
They talk too much

See a sea anemone
The enemy
See a sea anemone
That'll be the end of me
Vicious fish was caught unawares
In the tend'rest tendrils
Underneath her tender gills and

I will become this animal
Perfectly adapted to a music hall
I will become this animal

Anomalous appendages
A non-animal

4: Congrats to our new president, and good luck. I hope he can live up to even half the hype. And on that note, a completely wrong card, just to lighten things up a bit.

So, I'm really trying to stick with this move more/eat less business. So far so good, I'm down about 4lb.... The other night I went to Coles, and was SO jealous of the big juicy bacon cheeseburger and fries on the other side of the table, while I munched on my salad with dressing on the side.... But, I was good.... And I've been exercising, even if only a little, every day (well I've missed two)... I just keep looking at cute clothes and stuff and imagining how worth it it will all be when (not if! WHEN!) I can look hot in a bathing suit....

I haven't bought myself any new clothes in FOREVER, b/c I don't have the patience for shopping and have no fashion sense, but I just got a new catalog today (that I'd never even heard of- Boden??), and OMG I want about 75% of the things in it. Seriously, it's worth looking-
example- I want the dress AND the purse-


The thing is, I never cook. I end up eating a lot of Lean Cuisine type things, and cereal. And the food at work is so awful, and it hasn't even been two weeks but a cup of bland vegetable soup and a lousy salad with the only "lo-cal" dressing option is getting boring...

So I was perusing the weight watchers menu section... and wow, I'm almost inspired. They have a "staples" shopping list, that I really should just go out and buy. It will cost a ton initially, but then it would be so nice to actually be able to make something on a whim, without requiring a trip to the store.

Some of these "make stuff healthier" cheater recipes suck, because they take all the deliciousness out, but some are really good. I think this will be my first venture:

Thai chicken and string beans-

Ingredients
3 cup(s) uncooked string beans, washed and well-drained, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 spray(s) cooking spray
2 tsp jalapeno pepper(s), seeded and minced, or 1 medium Thai chile, seeded and minced*
1 medium garlic clove(s), peeled and smashed
1 cup(s) light coconut milk, divided
2 tbsp green curry paste, **
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce, (nam pla; see note)
1 tbsp lemon grass, minced**
1 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
2 tbsp basil, fresh, minced
2 cup(s) cooked brown rice, or cooked jasmine rice, kept hot

Instructions
Steam green beans in a steamer basket on stove or in a microwave, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well; set aside.

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add jalapeno or chile and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup of coconut milk, curry paste, brown sugar, fish sauce and lemon grass; bring to a simmer.

Add chicken and reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add string beans and basil (mixture may separate). Add remaining 1/4 cup of coconut milk (sauce will be smooth again). Simmer until hot, about 1 minute more; remove garlic clove and serve over rice. Yields about 1 cup of chicken-string bean mixture and 1/2 cup of rice per serving.

I love it. :) I did a lot of christmas shopping at the Onion store this year, and actually almost bought myself that exact bottle, but I think they ran out.

Voila!


And I gave this to Dan:


And these to my BIL:


Hmmmm. Well pix are not uploading. [what's wrong paul? they're all sitting down there saying 0 percent complete. x2. They're only ~30k .jpg files...]

But Santa Drew gave me a water bottle that says "I will never take this camping"

I gave Dan a tshirt that says "Your favorite band sucks"

And I gave BIL a T that says, randomly, "Owls are assholes" and a coffee mug that says "I enjoy Colombia's second finest export"

Ok, so once again I spend my free time yesterday NOT doing chores (I mean really, so what if the christmas tree stays up one more day...)
and instead, did fun things.

Saw Slumdog Millionaire -> FANTASTIC

went STRAIGHT from there to Gran Torino -> ALSO FANTASTIC

then came home and watched a few episodes of Flight of the Conchords -> FANTASTIC,

and then fell asleep on the couch.
Woke up at 3 and went to bed.

Woke up again at 415 to drunk texts from friends, and was depressed b/c it was time to get up.

Then at like 5 of 6 got texts asking me to come out... friends were still out partying, while I was on my way to work.
boooooo.

But aside from that- great day.
I am also in a facebook faceoff which is very entertaining. Some nutty chick who is stalking a friend of mine and thus hates me since I'm his friend, called me nobody and fat, and I said I'd rather be fat than stupid and crazy. We went back and forth, then I deleted all my messages so now all that's left is her craziness, and it makes no sense with half the convo missing. (not that it made much sense to start.) Ahh, fun to be juvenile for a bit. (she had it coming, I promise.)

Go watch all those movies/shows!

Not now, RIGHT NOW!

:)