Hey guys! It felt sooooo good to get dressed and leave the apt for the first time since the surgery! I’m definitely ready for my bed soon, but it was great to get out into the night air. Peter had secretly been wanting to see the Sex and the City movie since it came out, so we went to see a 7 PM showing on 42nd st. I like to go to theaters downtown within walking distance, but it was raining and P prefers the larger screens uptown, so we hopped in a cab. Before we left we went to the Balducci’s next and got some waters and snacks. Since I had a large brunch and a lunch/dinner combo, I wasn’t very hungry. I got a small bag of Grand Pop’s Best Kettle Corn:

This was a new buy, and I really liked it: the perfect amount of salty and sweet - and not sickly sweet or sticky either. Definitely will be a repeat buy. I had almost the whole bag (P helped some). Snack was 204 calories, 39g carbs, 4g fat, and 3g protein.

P liked the movie, although about 5 min in I thought he was having ‘movie goer’s remorse,’ when he leaned over and said, “Uh, yeah, this is a little too girly.” Haha! He liked it overall though, so it was a success.

When we got home, I had a coconut bar as a treat:

These coconut bars are not the same ones I have in the work freezer. These ones are Edy’s and not as good. I’ll have to remember that when I need to restock! Snack was 120 calories, 3g fat, and 3g protein.

I’m headed to bed soon. P’s assignment for the rest of the weekend is to get the new domain up and running, so hopefully that will be good to go soon!

A storm is thundering outside right now, but rain hasn’t started yet - this is my favorite type of weather - just before a storm!!  Any second now, the rain will crack and just soak everything. Yum! :)  For lunch today, I finally had enough energy to cook something - hooray!  I decided on a salad because we have tons of CSA greens to use up.  The basis of the salad was all sorts of greens: spinach, lettuce, braising mix; and for on top I mixed 10g walnuts, 1 oz feta, and my own mix of grilled turnips and radishes.  You can find the (very simple) directions for the salad on the ‘Salad Concoctions’ page.  So here was the finished product:

This salad was so filling I couldn’t finish it!  I ate all of the greens, walnuts, and feta, and left about 25% of the turnips and radishes.  It was really tasty though, there were a bunch of different tangy and sweet flavors in there that were really satisfying.  Lunch was 409 calories, 44g carbs, 24g fat, and 10g protein.

Even though I’m calling this lunch, I probably will only have a snack later on tonight.  After all, it’s almost 5 PM already!  P was talking about going to the movies, so maybe we’ll do that.  It would be nice to get out of the house!

Pancakes always bring such good memories and feelings for me.  My mom makes the best blueberry pancakes - and it was always such an event when she made them!  My family really loves big weekend breakfasts followed by small lunches and dinners.  At my house, the kitchen is always poppin on weekend mornings and then dead the rest of the day.  I guess that’s why I’m such a lover of brunch!  Here are my delicious pancakes topped with strawberries and banana:

I had three pancakes total, along with a couple forkfuls of maple syrup.  Brunch was 840 calories, 127g carbs, 29g fat, and 22g protein.

No agenda today…more resting.  Happy Saturday guys!

Another quiet night in - I’m so boring lately!  Sorry guys!  I will be so happy when this recovery is OVER!  This afternoon I had a snack of nonfat vanilla yogurt with strawberries:

Snack was 133 calories, 28g carbs, 0g fat, and 6g protein.  I love this combo!! It tastes just like strawberry shortcake.  I especially like the cool yogurt mixed with the hot berries - yum!

For dinner we ordered in Chinese.  I had to get my favorite: an egg roll!!

Sometimes I’ll get summer rolls instead of spring or egg rolls, because it’s the same stuff steamed instead of deep fried.  But tonight, I wanted the real thing. :)  I also had some steamed chicken and veggies:

It felt nice to get some veggies!!  Dinner was 521 calories, 80g carbs, 8g fat, and 37g protein.

I think the agenda reads: bed.  P is EXAUSTED and passed out at 9:30, and I’m not long behind.  Tomorrow I think pancackes are on the menu, P was talking about them all night for some reason.  Crazy boy. Night!

I know this lunch must have tasted good, but I am so swollen and congested today that I can’t really taste anything. The textures were really great, though - so I guess that’s the best I can do right now. I made a sandwich on toasted Euro rye bread with the last black bean burger from Veganomicon; a Light Laughing Cow wedge, some delicious CSA spinach, and some great mustard. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: mustards, sauces, jams and jellies are worth their weight in gold. They’re totally worth the extra $$ for something great. So here’s my sandwich:

I also had a coconut bar:

I took a little bite out of the corner. :)  Lunch was 519 calories, 90g carbs, 6g fat, and 30g protein.

I did end up going up on the roof, but after 15 min, I started feeling really sickly.  Maybe the sun was draining my energy?  Have a great Friday afternoon, guys!

Hey guys, another long day of rest and relaxation yesterday. P was kind enough to pick up our second CSA batch last night:

From left to right, starting in the back: spinach, lettuce, salad mix, turnips, radishes and braising mix. We still have some stuff leftover from last week so I’m really going to be pushing salads in the next couple days.

P made an Annie’s mac and cheese for two last night, so we split that. I also had some more cottage cheese and granola.

This morning I made myself an Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin with two tbsp PB and a banana:

Brunch was 475 calories, 74g carbs, 18g fat, and 15g protein.

I snapped this photo last night, and I wanted to use it to formally introduce you to my cat, Horseshoe:

(She pulled those wires into her bed.) Horseshoe is 3 yrs old; I got her from a shelter in Va when she was a few weeks old my Junior yr in college. She grew up with a bunch of different dogs and thinks she is one: she’ll greet you at the door, follows you around, sleeps at your feet. I’m probably a dog person, but HS is the bomb. She needed some love on the blog for being such an excellent caretaker while I’ve been recovering.

Apparently it’s beautiful outside, so I may head up to the roof with a magazine for some fresh air. Have a great day guys!

Hey guys,

Yesterday was the first day since I started the blog that I’ve gone an entire day without posting.  I kept meaning to, but I was tired all day long and I figured I shouldn’t push myself to do things because I think I ’should’ or because I ‘have’ to. I read this article in Body + Soul yesterday about perfectionism and how women put all these unnecessary, self-imposed requirements on themselves that only cause harm in the long run.  I know I won’t lose my readers due to one day of no posting, so why shouldn’t I skip it so I can rest?  The world won’t end, and life will go on.

Yesterday I spent the day dozing and lying around on the couch, as per the norm this week.  I started off the day with a bowl of banana creme muesli, made with 1/2c oatmeal, 1/2c nonfat vanilla yogurt, large banana, and a tbsp of flax:

A little while after that I had a cup of nonfat cottage cheese plus 2/3c of Pumpkin Spice Granola (softened, so I could eat it):

Then I got a treat in the form of more get well gifts!  Balloons from my parents (replacement balloons from the original ones the company accidentally sent which said ‘Happy Birthday!’:

Plus a gift basket from my co-workers:

So sweet of them!

A little bit later I had a PB & J on some whole wheat chollah:

And later, I had some mint fro yo:

When P came home, he brought M&M’s, gummy worms, and jelly beans - grr!  I had my share of each of those.

This morning, I started out with snacking on some M&M’s, I’m afraid to admit!  But for lunch, I got one of the veggie wraps from Bully’s:

I’ve eaten half of this so far.  Plus I got fruit dish which I’ve had a few bites from, and these french fries, which I’ve had about 10 of:

I like my fries crispy, and these are more doughy.  Not great.

So that’s what I’ve been up to (plus a few random scoops of coconut sorbet thrown in there)!  Eating junk and watching alot of tv.  I’m starting to get a little restless..I think I need to cool it with the junk, and start back with my usual eating.  Filling my body full of junk when it’s sick is the opposite of what I need to do.  I’ve just been giving into comfort foods a little too much.

Today is CSA day, so P’s leaving work early to pick that up.  Expect to see a new bounty tonight!

Hey guys,

I’ve spent the better part of today working on getting my new domain (www.winningfriendswithsalad.com) up and running on wordpress.org. Then I enlisted P to help me the second he walked through the door. We’re 85% done - I’ll be glad when this thing is up and running, probably tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. The majority of stuff is done, just alot of clean-up. Thank goodness for my ‘technical adviser’ - I’d be lost without him!

This afternoon I kind of lost track of my calories, but it’s just as well. That breakfast really filled me up - I had very little appetite for the rest of the day. At some point I had some garden vegetable crackers with 2 wedges of Laughing Cow:

And later I had some coconut pudding:

When P came in, he ordered dinner for the two of us. He ordered a grilled cheese and cooked spinach for me:

Plus a vanilla milkshake:

P said he got me the spinach because he said he knew I was ‘missing my vegetables’.

He’s right about that one - I’ll be happy to get back to normal eating! Night all.

Surgery went excellent!  Thank you all for your kind words.  Seriously, the best possible outcome I could have asked for: medium-mild pain, and huge results already.  Let me backtrack:

I did not sleep well at all last night!  I kept waking up on the hour, completely restless.  Worked to my advantage in the end because I was really afraid I would sleep through my call time - but of course, waking up at 7:30 was no problem.  A quick shower and final apt inventory later, we hopped in a cab to the hospital.

P and I got to the hospital at 8:30 on the dot, where I did some paperwork and they told me my surgery was scheduled for 10:30.  At 9 AM, they took me back to pre-op, with a kiss from a worried Peter.  There I changed into the most unflattering sack ever.  Luckily I got a bathrobe, which gave it some shape, and I folded up the sleeves as well - hey, I’m 23!  Let’s not add insult to injury. 

By 10:15, I started to get antsy.  I had finished every halfway decent magazine in the pre-op waiting room, and I could feel the adrenalin coursing through my body.  I started to pace, which led to jumping jacks, wall push-ups, grapevines, jogging in place, knee kicks, and finally stretching, breathing and meditation.  If you had told me 6 months ago that my biggest source of comfort in a stressful event was EXERCISE, I wouldn’t have believed you.  But it really made me feel better - just to get some energy out.  Despite the looks it got me.

They finally called me at 10:50 to talk to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist.  I was on the table by 11:10.  Tears ensued.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room.  I rated my pain on a scale of 1-10 as a 6 - so not too bad! (And I am not one to downplay pain or suffer in silence, as my mother would say.)  I felt like I had been punched in the nose, and my mouth was painfully dry.  After 2 hours of dozing in out of Percoset and Demerol induced sleep, I was discharged.  A quick cab ride and four painful flights of stairs later, I arrived at my new home: the couch.

P was kind enough to been in touch with my parents all day through texts and calls, as well as preparing and tracking all my foods and meds.  He is, as my mom said today, ‘a mother’s dream’.  At the hospital, I had 1c cranberry juice (unpictured).  After settling on the couch, I had 125g oolong tea (unpictured).  About an hour later I had a green tea and a coconut popsicle:

About an hour and a half later I had about 3/4ths of this peach smoothie, ordered in from Bully’s:

And an hour after that, I had 1/3c of light mint chip frozen yogurt (unpictured).

P left to go to the gym, and made a skillful dinner of Annie’s organic mac and cheese when he came
home:

I ate about 1/3rd of this.

As far as results, my nose is definitely swollen, but no black eyes or packing needed!  But it’s visibly straighter and I have more breathing ability in my right side than I’ve had in years - and it’s only going to get better!  Despite being exausted and definitely unanimated - I’m doing alot better than anyone thought I would be at this point.  I’m taking Tylenol with Codeine and and antibiotic, as well as two different nose sprays.  Plus, I heard from the doctor that I can’t excercise for 10 days.  Boo.

Plan for tomorrow is more rest/recovery.  Hopefully the bleeding will stop soon.  Night!