Scarletpappion: June 2005

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Just because I can't EAT it, doesn't mean I can't THINK about it

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core.
You often find yourself on the outside looking in.
Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works.
You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Success

Dinner and dessert were both a success last night! I was unsure how either one of them would turn out. The "Big Easy Shrimp" was really not that easy and the preparation time was about 1 hour. The taste was well worth the wait! I couldn't believe how many flavors I could taste in that dish. And I really couldn't fathom that I MADE IT! Along with the cajon style shrimp I made "Roasted Vegetables". I just cut up zuchini, squash, onion, peppers and asparagus into bite size pieces and tossed them with extra virgin olive oil and fresh ground pepper and salt. Put them in the oven for about 20 minutes and voila! It looked like alot of vegetables, but to my surprise, we ate every last bite! The shrimp dish ended up having quite a bit of leftovers, but we will be eating that for lunch with our salads. The Espresso Custard cups were delicious and even though I was too full to eat all my serving, Suz didn't have a problem finishing it off.

Again, I didn't get out of the kithen until 9pm. It's weird, how can it take the same amount of time every night? Suz told me I need to go to work early so I can get home earlier. But I don't think that's going to work. The traffic going both directions any earlier that when I leave would be a nightmare. And hopefully this cooking prep time will get alot easier once I get the hang of it.

I have noticed my cravings are going away and my appetite isn't nearly as strong. Even when I'm hungry, it's a different feeling than it was before. I used to be famished all the time. I would eat and an hour or two later I was starving again. But I know now that it was the crap I was eating. The quality of the food I am making now is superb. I'm just thankful we have both enjoyed the meals and we go to bed not feeling hungry.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Second Day on South Beach

and already, it's killing me. I know the first few days are the hardest. About 2 hours ago I could barely keep my eyes open and I felt very anxious like I wanted to scream! Then my friend Kat emailed me. While I replied, I found a new burst of energy and have managed so far not to rip any fellow co-workers heads off...yet.

This new way of eating is quite a feat. I was in the kitchen making dinner, lunches, desserts and snacks until 9pm. This is my new workout: Cooking. I was exhausted by the time I finished. Tonight, it will be the same scenario. For dinner, "Big Easy Shrimp" with sauteed peppers, onions & vegetables. Dessert, which I made last night will be Espresso Custard Cups. They actually look pretty delicious. Let's hope they taste as good. Last night I made the Ricotta Vanilla Creme. I was afraid to try it. It looked a little unappealing. But after the first bite, it actually tasted...Good..Damn Good. I can also make the Cocoa, Almond or Lemon Ricotta Creme dishes.

For some reason, I wasnt' very hungry today. I ate my omellete with 2 pieces of Canadian Bacon at 10am and for lunch I ate my salad w/ peppers, spinach and feta cheese, a piece of Light Bologna rolled up with cheese a deviled egg and 5 pistachios. It's now 4:30 and I just ate my string cheese and the remainder of the pistachios. I still have a few things left that I will bring for tomorrow.

I can only hope this new way of eating will stick with me. I do enjoy the foods, but it sure does seem like alot of hard work. And I am quite the lazy person. But I want to be healthy. I'm not getting any younger. And it wouldn't hurt to shed these excess layers of fat. For now I am keeping my fingers crossed that both myself and my love can get through the first two weeks. Once we do, phase 2 and 3 should be smooth sailing.

Friday, June 24, 2005

I am...

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

A view from Arch Rock

Ferry Ride Back to the Mainland.

Saying goodbye..Fort Mackinac in the background.

Me and Suzy on the Carriage Ride

Carriage Ride

Arch Rock

Susan w/ a butterfly on her head

Me and Maverick

Mackinac Island

What a great vacation! We left Thursday night and drove until midnight, found a Red Roof Inn and got some much needed sleep. While we were at the lobby desk getting our room, some drunk guys come in and say they lost their key card. This is happening right as the clerk is telling us our room number and showing us how to get there. At this time I notice one of the guys leaning over and looking at the room number. We get up to our room and the first thing we noticed is the message light blinking on the phone. It was an invitation to room 107. They wanted us to come down at 1am and drink beer. We ignored the message. About 10 minutes the later the phone rings again. We didn't pick it up. We turned out all the lights and fell asleep. The alarm was set for 8am, so we could take showers and get an early start. I woke up, went to the shower and turned on the hot water. A few minutes later I put my hand under the water; it's still cold. I try again and again...still cold. I call the operator. She tells me "Sorry, we are having problems and the entire hotel is out of hot water". A little peeved, I went ahead and washed up with cold water and headed out to pay for the room. Now I'm at the front desk and not too happy that I didn't get a shower. The clerk offers me 1/2 off my room. I accept. She starts talking to her co-worker about the construction workers and I interupt "you mean the guys in room 107"? She looks at me confused and I tell her the story. She ends up refunding the entire night. So I saved $70 on a crappy hotel room. I was thinking what a start to our vacation!

We got to the tip of the mitt around 1pm and took the Catamaran Super ferry across to Mackinac Island. The day was a little overcast and the ride over a bit chilly. We found our friend and dropped our packs off at her apartment. We decided to have some lunch and look through the many shops. That night we met our friends for dinner at the Euro Restaurant. We ate outside and had a perfect view of the shoreline. We talked the night away and when I looked down at my watch it was 10:30pm and still LIGHT outside. We went back to the apartment and watched a little t.v. then went for a walk with our friend and her dog. She took us up about 10 flights of stairs for a spectacular view of Lake Huron. Then we walked a wooded trail that ended in a park and walked back to the apt. It was a long beautiful day and we turned in for the night.

Saturday we woke up pretty early, got ready and out the door before 9am. We met our friend for a quick breakfast and helped her out with the Dog and Pony Show. What a great turnout! We ended signed everyone up and gave them their numbers and then we got to lead the parade with banner. It was very unexpected and what great fun it turned out to be! Hopefully they send us some pictures. After the show we got to go horseback riding. And they offer unguided riding. So we got to take off on horses for almost 2 hours of wooded trail riding through the island. It was amazing. The horses were great! Which is hard to come by. We even got to trot and canter. That evening we met our friends for another delicious dinner. Then we headed out for a night at the walk-in movies. We watched Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve. It was filmed on the Island way back when. It ended up being a bit chilly that night and we all cuddled under the blankets.

Sunday we decided to take a ride on our bicycles around the island. We stopped at the Butterfly house and enjoyed all the beautiful butterflies. We also climbed about 15 flights of stairs to see the Arch Rock. It was worth every step! What a view! We stopped a few more times at various spots to enjoy the scenery and take pictures. Then we came upon a snack shack and stopped for a soda and cookie. Feeling recharged we took off on the last leg of the ride. About 2 miles down we came around the side of the island and the wind was going against us. My batteries started getting really low and I was huffing and puffing. I thought I was going to pass out. My legs did not want to pedal anymore. It felt like I was getting nowhere. There was still another 2 miles to go. After what felt like eternity we arrived back onto Main street. Just in time for the Lilac Festival Parade. We put the bikes away and found a spot to watch the parade. The streets were lined with people and all the shops closed to participate in the parade. After the last float we decided to take a self guided horse and carriage ride around and through the island. I was in awe the entire ride. Mackinac Island is so breathtaking. I had the time of my life and neither one of wanted to leave.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Mackinac Island

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

1 Day and Counting..

Wow, where did the time go? It seems like I just got back from vacation. Now here it is, 1 day from now I will be on my way to Mackinac Island! I am so excited. I love road trips! I was shopping for a bicycle to take with me, but a friend loaned me one, so it just saved me at least $60! The nice thing about Mackinac Island is there are no motorized vehicles allowed. Which means we either have to walk, ride a bike to take a horse and buggy!

We were supposed to leave on Friday, but since it's an 8 hour drive, we decided to leave Thursday after work and drive as far as we could. Probably about halfway, then get a hotel and an early start on Friday morning.

I plan on taking pictures and will be posting them when I get back. Not much else has been going on lately. Just been catching up here at work. Finally all caught up and now I leave again! It keeps me on my toes!

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

West Coast Choppers

Jaws...

Huntington Beach, CA

Huntington Beach Pier

Mmmm..California Artichokes

My mom's shipyard. A view from the Harbor.

Quick Update

It's been a while since my last update. Just wanted to let everyone know I came back from California. I had a really good time and as I expected, the time flew by entirely too fast!

I went to the Orange County Fairgrounds Swap Meet with my Mom on Sunday and shopped a few hours in the morning, before the crowds arrived and we bought alot of fresh vegetables from the Farmers Market. The artichokes were so big and beautiful I had to ship 2 of them back home! Unfortunately, my artichokes aren't scheduled to arrive until Friday. I can only keep my fingers crossed they make it safely to me and stay fresh.

Monday we went for a Harbor Cruise on a friends electric boat. It was a beautiful day. We cruised around for a few hours then went back home and had a BBQ.

Tuesday my brother and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood and we had a really great time! Since the kids weren't out of school yet, there were no lines and we zipped right through all the rides and attractions! I will post some pictures.

Wednesday I spent time with my best friend from H.S. Molly. She made us pancakes for breakfast, then we met her husband for lunch at Dave & Busters and played some pool. We walked around the mall for a little bit, then went back to her place. We talked and caught up with each other for several hours. Then we had dinner and it started to get late, so I let her get to bed and drove back home.

Thursday my brother and I hung out again and drove around Long Beach, where we grew up and checked out our old stomping grounds. On our way to downtown Long Beach we decided to visit the Long Beach Aquarium. It was Great and there were no lines! So we got to see everything and were out of there after only a few hours.

Friday I went to Knott's Berry Farm with my Mom and brother. We went on all the new rides. Our favorite was the Xcellerator. It was AWESOME! Very Fast and smooth, it actually gave me goose bumps! Again, there were no lines and we were done with the park by 4:00pm. We drove back home and had another BBQ. Yeah, we BBQ'd almost every night!!! We ate really good! Lots of steak and chicken and salads and vegetables! My mom is on the South Beach Diet, but by the way we ate, it sure didn't feel like a diet. I think I gained like 10 pounds too! I promised my mom I would give it a chance and try it when I got back home. I decided this weekend I would clean out the cupboards and get rid of all the sweets. So next week should be interesting. No sugars or carbs for 2 weeks. I have to get Susan to do it too, otherwise I might as well forget it!

Anyway, this was supposed to be a Quick Update. I have a ton of work I am trying to catch up on. If anyone wants to see my vacation pictures, just send me your email and I will send you a link. Otherwise, I will be posting a few pictures for all too see.

: Name: scarletpappion; Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

I am currently in a committed relationship with the woman I fell in love with a year ago. After she finally realized I was the one for her, we moved in together and began our life journey together. We love riding our motorcycles and playing with our babies; Chopper (Dane Mix), Jules (German Shepard), Potito (Chihuahua), Eve (baby kitten), Baby Kitty and Thomas (fat cat). Yes, we LOVE animals. But we are currently at our maximum capacity!

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