Thanks for all the sweet posts about the Faces of Beauty project. I was taught NEVER to toot my own horn so even participating was a big deal. Now that I’m out looking for a new job, I wish I’d been raised to Toot Toot away because it’s those other tooters who have the advantage! Also, at 44, I figure I’d better flaunt the face for as long as I can!

Today’s an awesome day because Jimmy Moore posted my blog as one of his “Superb New Low-Carb & Health Blogs for September!” Jimmy Moore’s story can be found here, and he’s just an all-around nice guy who wants to share his success, get to the bottom of much of the contradictory health info, and inspire others. Thank you Jimmy for promoting other blogs that help carry your message.Hope my Vegan and Vegetarian friends will forgive me as I continue my foray into Controlled-Carb, low-sugar, um, very non-vegetarian eating. Each of us has to follow our own path.

Speaking of which, I just finished reading Born Round by Frank Bruni and would love to send off my copy to the next blogger who’d like to read it. Leave me a comment if you’re interested, and if more than one person does I’ll randomly pick a number. Then maybe that person can pass it to the next reader. It’ll be like our own Oprah book club! Media mail costs  almost nothing, folks, and I think this food journey from a male perspective is worth passing around.

That’s all I got for now. Tonight’s my second Hydrofit class and before that I plan to whip up a big batch of that broccoli salad. Can you even stand the excitement?

So I think we can all agree that summer’s over, at least here in the PNW.

I don’t happen to feel as gyped as a lot of Seattleites but maybe that’s because I was preoccupied with a lot of other things this summer. I can’t say we even got out and enjoyed it much so not much to miss now that it’s gone. Chris was super busy with work, and I was just doing my thing. I did take advantage of the Farmer’s Markets so there’s that.

One of the things I do look forward to every summer is our neighbor’s dahlias. She’s elderly and this year, instead of digging them up and storing them over winter, she planted all new ones. I never would have had the energy to start over like that after her last ones were so glorious, but she did.

This year she got some doozies:I had a couple favorites, and next time I’ll have to put my hand in there for perspective because a couple were literally dinner plate size:

Bigger than my head, I swear!

Back here at home, we tried a couple new things. I fed Chris pizza for breakfast:and I made Fig Newton oatmeal with dried Black Mission figs and Jay Robb’s Vanilla Protein Powder:Both were big hits!

Is anyone else super excited for Autumn? I say BRING IT!

Check out thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com for awesome fall ideas! She's as excited as I am!

PS. I was one the Faces of Beauty yesterday! You can be one too! I’d love to see your smiling face there!

I have two embarrassing confessions to make. One, I ate hot fudge sundaes every day for the last week and a half, and two, the hot fudge was originally a gift for another blogger but it never made it out the door. Oh wait, here’s one more: I bought the Fudge sauce last February so it sat around for a while, trying to make it to the post office, until I finally broke into it.

Why am I even sharing this humiliating story?

Because I’ve lost 2 lbs!

Hot fudge sundaes remind me of being a little girl and going out to dinner with my beloved grandparents, so clearly I was in a nostalgic mood when I went on my Sundae bender. We bought this sauce at the Vashon Country Store which is awesome because, for now, I can pretend that you can only get it by taking a ferry ride to a remote island. I think that’s best, don’t you?

In fact, Wax Orchards is a Seattle company, and I’m sure there’s plenty more where this came from.

So why wasn’t this a huge diet disaster?

First of all, my sundaes were small, always less than a cup of NO SUGAR ADDED vanilla ice cream. Secondly, this fudge sauce is fruit-sweetened:It’s their richest flavor so it didn’t take a whole lot to make a satisfying sundae, and, really, the nutritionals aren’t that bad (because it’s also Fat Free). In fact, you could use it and still fit into Belly Fat Cure guidelines if you’re careful.Of course I’m not advocating eating Hot Fudge Sundaes every night, but it’s nice to know that an indulgence doesn’t need to ruin all your efforts. I also think these kind of products are linked in to the whole natural sugar vs. processed sugar debate that’s going on right now, though I’m not a scientist so I can’t really elaborate on that.

I’m just glad the jar’s empty.