Goals. I got me some.

So, the summer cold has hit but thankfully not as hard as it could have. I thought it might have been allergies but Saturday afternoon it transitioned into a full blown head cold. I’m not feeling spectacular but I sound like a chain smoking late night tv commercial phone chat participant.

I had to cancel my trainer on Friday and rollerblading on Saturday because I couldn’t breathe and my plugged ears made my balance off a bit. I’ve been drinking a lot of smoothies to help soothe my scratchy throat including a super yummy McD’s blueberry pomegranate smoothie last night on my way home from the bar. Sunday, I did treat myself to a little snack I brought home from the states on Friday - Mint Oreos.

I don’t normally like junk food from the U S of A but damn, they are SOOO tasty. The easy access top re-sealable peel thing is too easy to access panel to the minty goodness. I did bring a few other things to try out (fiber one peanut butter brownie treats and “Crispy” Girl Guide mint chocolate flavored wafer bars) but I’m going to try to space them out.

All this leads me to my newest goal. I met with the bride from the Italy wedding trip and while I was there discussed dress code for the wedding. It’s formal, without needing a gown so I decided it’d be the time to bring out the dress I bought almost two years ago to wear to Neil’s fancy-pants Hunt Club Christmas party.

I bought the XXL but never ended up wearing it so when I went to return it, they said I could only exchange it. I decided to get the XL instead and put it back in the closet for next year’s party with the goal of losing 15 pounds that year. We ended up not going that year either so once again, it just lived in my overflow (guest room) closet, waiting to be worn. I think I’ll be just the right size to wear it when I get to the Italy target weight. I really don’t want to buy another dress so I really want to make it work!

Note: I passed out Sunday night after writing the above. I didn't get to post it so I'm just going to post as is and continue on with today's post.

Today was going well with the exception of having no voice. I had a shake for breakfast, planter’s mixed nut snack, steak, taters and broccoli for lunch, snap peas, mixed veggie and hummus and fiber one brownie treat. I tracked everything I ate with my fitness pal app. Then I got home. I decided to make my banana chocolate chip loaf. I like to make it in a bundt pan just for kicks.

I like to follow the recipe but then put half of the batter, then the “topping” then the rest of the batter. I drag a knife through to swirl the topping. Of course I had a few of the chocolate chips from the bag (sort of “one for the mix, one for me”). I probably had about ¼ cup of chocolate chips by the time it was all said and done. Durr. It’s cooling on the rack and I know I’m going to have more than a few pieces. I might slice it and freeze it, or I might just have to bring some in to work for the hungry masses.

Dinner went in the oven shortly after. One of my favouite things to take a ziplock and put marinade and frozen chicken together and leave it in the fridge to thaw overnight. Today was a particularly great day for me as I picked up Jack Daniel’s marinade already in an industrial ziplock bag.

It smells SO great in my house right now - first with the banana cake and then with the chicken. Here’s a recipe for the banana muffins I made into the “cake”.  http://www.grainstorm.com/blogs/recipes/3680692-banana-chocolate-chip-muffins


Note: After I took it out of the oven, I had a bit of an issue taking it out of the pan. I’d recommend not making this into a cake but possibly dividing it up into a few loaf pans. It was fairly raw in the middle so I had to put it back into the oven to finish cooking which made the outside a bit more dry than I’d like.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to be hauling my ass out of bed at 5:30 to go to a 6am power barbell class. The only thing making me go is that I asked Sabrina to go with me since I have no time to go to any of the evening classes this week. I could easily bail but I don’t want to be the one to call it off. It’s like workout chicken. Bring it on.