Wow, I’ve certainly missed blogging, but time is at a premium these days. I LOVE my (newish) job, and that’s been going really great.

No good news on the diet and exercise front. I’m up about 10 lbs from my lowest summer weight before I got my job. I was only up 5 lbs for a long while but this month has been brutal. I’ve really been trying to determine what’s been causing me to overeat, but I can’t put my finger on it. I just know it has to stop!

I’m almost 20 lbs from my Weight Watchers goal. I’d love to see that number on the scale again in 2012, but I have to work for it.

In the New Year, I plan to get back to Clean Eating, work in more protein, take a break from wheat, and really crank up my juicer. I also plan to exercise more, for realz.

Look for me on Twitter, and please say Hi!

Merry Merry Christmas everyone!

Photo by Marianne McCoy

For all the very best reasons, I’m going on a little blog hiatus. I have some great opportunities coming up, along with some challenges, and time is going to be in short supply. I will still be on Twitter and probably commenting on blogs more than I should, but just know I’m still out here and will come back when the time is right.

I’m very proud to say that a project I’ve been working on since January, Backyard Barter, is going to launch soon in the Seattle area. It’s been a total labor of love, but I think it’s going to be a great addition to the community. We hope to go live sometime in August.

I may come back with a whole new blog so please make sure I have your email address (if we’re not already in direct contact). I can’t express enough how much I’ve appreciated all the love and support over the last (almost) two years!

Smooch, smooch!

Now go support Susan and see the real power of the blog community in action!

My own thoughts crossing my mind this morning: “don’t forget to put on pants,” “why does my hairspray stink,” “remember be positive but not so perky it’s annoying,” “don’t overuse ‘Super’ as a reply.”

OMG, I’m so over this.

Anyway, to keep my mind off of it, I figured I’d dump a few photos on here, call it a blog post, and skedaddle off to prove my worthiness in the working world.

First off, dinner at Emmer & Rye:I had the Wagyu beef. This was a half portion (plenty) for $22. The full portion is $40. Yowsa! It was delicious in a clean and honest way. Not a lot of goop and gravy.

On the other end of the pricing spectrum, we have this simple lunch fixed at home:Asian turkey burger made with green onions, Bragg’s, and Chinese Five Spice served with ramen noodles that were cooked in veggie broth and Sriracha, then drained. (The ground turkey was BOGO and the ramen was five packs for 79 cents. I doubt this meal even cost $1.30.)

Totally random, but relevant:Mama and daughter tigers at the Point Defiance Zoo. They’d put Mama on a diet, down to 5 lbs of meat per day from 10 lbs. per day. Let me tell you, she was PISSED! I have video of her jumping up that chain link fence if anyone wants to see it. My uncle and I (the family members on perpetual diets) had a good laugh over this.

We had a good laugh and then we went out for pizza.

Message from my personal blurry watermelon:Word to the wise. I wonder who the genius was who came up with that tagline?

A perfect Carrot Cake breakfast bake from A Loser for Life:and finally, probably my cheapest dessert combo ever:
Mix up brownie mix according to package. Add half of the mix to your pan, then layer on broken chocolate bar, then top with rest of brownie mix and bake. My brownie mix was FREE with a doubled coupon and the candy bar was 75 cents. Yep, for realz (and, no, I didn’t find the Golden Ticket and win a trip around the world. Darnit).

Weightwatchers PointsPlus expenditure: Priceless.

Honestly, I made those forever ago. I remember eating some then sending the rest to work with Chris.

So how that for some randomnicity, right Janetha Bean?

Ok, I have to go do some last minute primping. It’s windy today which is wreckage on my hair.

I wish I could walk in all cool, calm, and collected, but I always feel more like this:Good thing nerds are in fashion in Seattle!

Thanks www.nabiscoworld.com/newtons/fruit-thins-fig-honey.aspx

Not to be confused with Nabisco’s Newton Fruit Crisp bars, which have received truly awful reviews.

Way to rebound Nabisco because I thought these light snappy cookies were divine. Yep, that’s right, divine.

Sublime even.

But you’re talking to a weirdo who prefers vanilla over chocolate and oatmeal-raisin over most anything else.

While I was dreaming up fun ways to use these crisp, figgy gems, our hands kept reaching into the bag. But not in a bad way, in a couple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away kinda way. I caught Chris with his hand in the cookie bag more than once, and he is not a sweets person (but I married him anyway). What we loved most about these cookies was the spice and the subtle fruitiness. They are certainly not overly sweet, but more like a tea cookie.

Which made them the perfect compliment to some over-the-top, sweet overload that is Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns ice cream (sue me, I had a coupon):

Seriously fun site: http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/our-flavors/

Behold the gloriousness that is the marriage of Fig and Cinnamon:Its celebrity name is Figamon, and it’s damn sexy.

Fine Print: Though I received the Nabisco product for free through Foodbuzz, all opinions are my own though sometimes I listen to that guy I married, but not very often.

For those following WeightWatchers PointsPlus, Danica calculated the Thins at 4 PP for 3 cookies (I trust her). Half a cup of Ben Jerry’s is gonna cost you EIGHT PP, which includes 28 grams of sugar! (I just lost the Belly Fat Cure people too.) Like I said, I had a coupon for B&J’s and ate it 1/2 a cup at a time, counted the Points, and, before the carton was empty, I grew tired of it so the rest went in the trash. Big whoohoo for me.

That’s what I’m saying!

On Friday, I enjoyed a fabulous hot and sunny day in Portland. I had just gotten the news that there was no need to come in on Monday to meet the founders of the company I’d had two interviews with – they had decided to go with a internal candidate. Ugh.

As disappointed as I was, I knew the best pick-me-up was a quick visit with the two cutest Peas I’ve ever seen and their ever-stylish and fantastic Mama. Sometimes life just helps to put life in perspective like that.

For dinner, Chris and I walked over to the D-Street Noshery – the site of the afore-mentioned Mango Tour. We were a little late, but we had a brief chat with the mango reps (now that sounds like an awesome job!) who were lovely as they offered me their very last mango.

We’d never been to this Cart Pod before and deciding what to have for dinner was tough, but we finally went with Herb’s Mac and Cheeses where we ordered the special of the day: Mac ‘n Cheese with Mango, Bacon, and Blue Cheese.

Yes, it was as AMAZING as it sounds.

We also got a Bacon, Spinach, and Pepper Jack Mac ‘n Cheese which was very good, just not as good.

Not all Cart Pods serve alcohol but we were blessed by the presence of the Captured by Porches tour bus. We tried the Invasive Species IPA (a little too hoppy for me) and a Blonde Ale. The Blonde Ale hit the spot as we chatted with an amusing little tyke who wanted to show us all the tricks his stuffed dog could do. He was too cute, and we had a nice time chatting with his parents and trading Food Cart recommendations. This is the kind of thing that makes us love Portland so much.

And the bacon doesn’t hurt.

This is about recovering from Friday night:That’s a Bacardi Scorched Cherry rum and Diet Coke, my friends. This is how Chris’ birthday cocktails started, and it ended with me singing karaoke, not once but three times, ending with “I Had The Time of My Life” with a girlfriend.

Yeah.

Yesterday was brutal, but I’m good today. More to report when I’m back to being totally human.

If this is how we celebrate the possibility of getting new jobs, I’m scared to see what happens when I get a job.

Didja do anything fun this weekend?

Here’s some blah blah to tide you over until I can really get to it:One of these bags contains homemade tortilla chips and one contains organic dog treats. Guess which one I reached into without looking and almost ate from?Tuesday night I had a dinner date. Fortunately, she didn’t want any of my Lobster Mac ‘n Cheese. (She’s so smart already!)Oh. My. God. This gave Praline Bacon a run for its money in the My Favorite Food category.

Hop on over to EastBurn to get it and order whatever’s on Nitro – I had a Clem’s Cream Ale. Nitro’s awesome!

After dinner, I walked home by way of a little dessert place. Super cute! I bought a carrot cake square, but was too full to eat it until morning. It made excellent fuel for painting.

The Hubster’s birthday is this weekend so I’ll try to take lots of pics and get something of substance up soon. In the meantime, I need to start conjuring up past workplace accomplishments for my interview tomorrow. Tell us about a time when you … Ugh, I hate those questions. I’m an office manager. My job didn’t have that many memorable moments.

There was the day that an employee told the managers to go to Hell as she stormed out the door. That was pretty memorable.

Mine works for a variety of reasons. The first of which is that we’re both the same kind of crazy. When the forecast says it’s going to be the first decent weekend of the summer, what do we decide to do? Drive three hours to paint the Love Pad.

No, wait, we threw the dog in the car, drove three hours and painted the Love Pad while it was 85 degrees outside.

Reason #2 our marriage works so well: we both love this stupid dog so much.

After we prepped and primed the living room, we walked 20 blocks to the river, and, though I totally hadn’t packed the right shoes, it was so worth it:

I’m not sure I can even express how much I love this guy or how big his heart is.

Not the guy on the bike. I don't know him. Nice enough guy, I bet.

On the way home, we picked up Mexican food at La Palapa and a six-pack of Bridgeport Kingpin Red Ale. Source

Some days just scream to be beer days, and this was one of them. We sat on the floor of the Love Pad, surrounded by paint fumes, ate Rockfish Tacos (mine) and a Carne Asada burrito (his), and drank beer. Life was good.

And we’d worn out the dog, which is not that easy.The next day I had two things on my mind: bagels and chalkboards.

We woke up early (after not sleeping so well – our neighborhood is funky awesome but LOUD) and hoofed it about ten blocks to Kettleman Bagel Company for bagels and coffee. (Yeah, that’s us at 7:30 am with empty travel mugs and barely brushed hair traipsing through the hood. Hi! Nice to meetcha!) I’d read in my Food Lover’s Guide To Portland that Kettleman had the best bagels in Portland, and, being a New Yorker, Chris does love a good bagel.

No pics (mental bagel, NOW), but I will tell you they do make great bagels with excellent texture – not too chewy. PS. Their Cinnamon Raisin bagel has 8 Points, as opposed to the standard 6 Points for store-bought. Oh well, I ate it at 8:15 am and counted the Points almost 12 hours later. *Shrug*

This is key: A marriage is held together by long walks and breakfasts together…sometimes a high-calorie starch.

(and by keeping hilarious but embarrassing and humiliating stories private. That’s the hardest, believe me!)

And, finally, my marriage works because of compromise. Last week, Chris didn’t think we needed the huge vintage schoolroom chalkboard that I’d seen in a nearby shop. Once he saw how bright the dining area looked with the new paint, he changed his mind. I was soooo afraid it would be gone since chalkboards are SO hot right now (as seen here and here), and it was really cheap ($65). But I called the shop right when it opened, and they said it was still there! (Ok, technically I called back after leaving a message 15 minutes before they opened because I’m impatient like that.)Now that’s love: Chris cleaning the chalkboard he hadn’t even wanted but knew I desired. Not to mention the fact he rode back from the shop with 75 lbs of Cady on his lap so the chalkboard would fit in the back of the car.

Sigh.

That’s simply how it works.

(On Twitter, someone reported that their receptionist blurted out, “Oh my God, how could you have put on so much weight overnight?” At least my gal didn’t say that!)

The thing that bothered me and my Buddy the most was that it wasn’t like we’d spent the weekend in Paris eating fantastic creamy cheese along the Champs-Élysées. We’d just been eating crap in our own houses for no compelling reason. We know we are smarter than that.

www.popcornindiana.com

Not crap. Totally delicious. Bought with a coupon for killer deal, but I ate the whole bag. Wanh wanh.

The other thing was that I knew this weight gain wasn’t totally real. Some of it was, and I needed to own that, but I knew about half of it would be gone as soon as I flushed out the salt, etc. (Let’s just call it “etc.”) I’m guessing that half of my gain is real and will set me back a few weeks. I can recover from that. It actually motivates me just a little bit more to work harder.

This is when I really rely on the amazing bloggers who inspire me every day. Here are some of my new-to-me favorites:

Loser for Life – Marisa has been doing great on WeightWatchers, and she posts terrific photos and recipes. I cannot wait to make her Breakfast Bakes!

Shannon’s Kitchen Creations – Shannon posts the Points on her recipes and reminds me that I have to give Zumba another try.

Gina’s Skinny Recipes – Otherwise known as SkinnyTaste, Gina posts gorgeous, easy recipes and includes the Points count on each. I made her Chicken Divan, a dish I would never have thought of in a million years, and it was awesome!

These lovely ladies make cooking on WeightWatchers a no-brainer. Which is great when we’ve been acting, er, not so smart.

Have you discovered a new site recently that’s put an extra spring in your step?

I started out nice and healthy with a “Chopped” salad from McMenamin’s Barley Mill pub:It was pretty much the most unchopped “Chopped” salad I’d ever had, but the bigger pieces let me pick around what I did and didn’t feel like eating. I’m usually not a big fan of Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing, but theirs is fantastic.

We walked our hood Saturday afternoon (a total of 40 blocks which is about 2 mile walk), rested a bit, and then met up with Lisa and her beau for drinks and dinner. After drinks at the Sapphire Hotel, where one Mojito pretty much put me on my keister (as my Grandpa would say), we sauntered over to Apizza Scholls for some of the best pizza I’ve ever had IN. MY. LIFE.First pie: 1/2 Sausage & Peppers, 1/2 Hot Capicollo & Niçoise Olives (my favorite).

Remnants of second pie after we’d fallen into a pizza pie coma and forgotten to take pictures:That’s the Pig & Pineapple half. The other half was Margherita.

We took four huge pieces home and ate them over the rest of the weekend. Good cold, but not *as* good.Super fun night out! We got a ride back, and then I pretty much crashed (after trying to convince Chris that we should walk over to the 10:40 showing of Hangover 2. Sometimes I get crazy ideas after a few drinks.)

The next morning, we met up with our real estate agents for a congratulatory brunch at ScreenDoor, a super popular breakfast spot within walking distance. Here, I met the love of my life:You’re gonna need a close up of that:That, my friends, is Praline Bacon.

Let that sink in for a second.

Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like: Bacon covered with nuts and sugar.

I had two bites and went straight to Heaven. But, seriously, two bites was about all I could handle (we’d gotten it to share, thank goodness).

We’d chosen to sit outside to cut the wait down from 45 minutes to about 20. Even though our teeth were chattering, we had a great time and the food was amazing. I had the Migas:and Chris had the Po Boy which I think had chorizo on it:We barely made a dent in our ginormous breakfasts, but we had enough fuel to walk back to the pad, where a nap was in order before heading out to a BBQ at a friend’s house. At the BBQ, we had sausages, chips, coleslaw, and cherry pie. My poor stomach. My poor neglected diet.

But let me tell you…it was totally worth it.  Some of the best food I’ve eaten in years.

Never fear, I’m back on plan now and getting to goal. Next post, I promise, I’ll give you a rundown of the blogs that are inspiring me these days.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Birthday, Janetha Bean!