I’m back!

Vacations were great. Thanks for asking. But too short, as usual. My grand-ma and my mum miss me and I miss them both very much as well. I like living in the US, but it’s sometimes hard to leave the ones you love behind.

I saw my friends and my cousin, whom I all love to death. Alright, some more than other, but who’s keeping scores?

I’ll post a few pictures (maybe) later. I haven’t decided if I want to show my little face on this blog yet.

I brought a whole bunch of goodies back with me:

• Chocolate, off course, I grew up near Switzerland so I had to.
• Some Herbes de Provence. I’m pretty sure I could find something similar here, but at what price I might ask!!?
• Quinoa Seeds. I have been reading in many magazines about Quinoa seeds and am very intrigued with what I could do with them. So I’ll give it a try.
• Grenadine Syrup, which I do not find at my local Shaw’s. If you know where I can find that, please share.
• Some Bouchee a la Reine mixture, which if I attempt to explain will sound gross, but is in fact delicious.
• Vanilla Beans, which are horribly expensive here, but was able to buy 10 for 10 Euros at the farmer’s market. What a deal!
• Ground Coffee… I still do not buy in the US. I’m sure it’s all up in my head, but I think it tastes and smells better.
• A many more things…

I have a little of home in my own home.

My goal of losing 5 lbs in September is dead! I was on my way there. Down 2 lbs before I left. But I gained it all back. Ok, not a terrible, terrible thing considering I gained 10 lbs last year when I went. It could have been worse, but still not encouraging.

Aaaahhh, but it’s still good to be back home.

The Little Blog that Could goes on vacations

Sorry I haven’t posted new entries in the past few days. I’m going on vacation today!! YAY!! and I had to do some transitioning at work. This past week and a half has been hectic at best.

I can go and relax now. I will be back in 2 weeks…

Weight Loss – Week 1

I am committed to losing 30 lbs by Jan 31, 2008.

The diet officially started on Friday, August 31, 2007. I weigh in at 162 lbs. I mentioned SELF’s makeover challenge website last week, but I found another website, which is even better: Calorie Count Plus, by About.com.

The site is easy to navigate and pretty intuitive. You are bound to find your food in the food search feature. It tells you through the day, how many calories you’ve taken in and spent. There is a very nice forum. The community is very motivating and nice.

There is a great post by a member who’s name is Trisha listing out the phases of a diet. I think she’s done an outstanding job. Overall, I greatly recommend this site. And did I mention it was free?

For my diet, well, it has consisted of no more than 1,400 calories a day. I try to keep it at 1,300 if I can. Sodas are out, water is in. I have to work on getting a more filling breakfast because I get hungry during the afternoon. Anyway, I will weigh myself on Wednesday morning. I keep my fingers crossed.

Edit — Weigh in 

So there it is: 0.5 lbs. That’s what I’ve lost since Friday.  Nothing to fall over about, but it beats gaining anything, especially in my first week.  That would have been depressing.