All Things Delicious.

Yes.  That includes:  TCBY, and Chris Thile.  And yes, I also need to apologize for how few and far between my updates have been.  I'm safely home in Milwaukee now, so I'll be doing closer to daily updates. :)

So, yeah.  Let me start at the beginning.

My Brother and I are huge Chris Thile (and Nickel Creek) fans.  We have been to roughly 20 of his shows, and we drive all over to see him play.  This past weekend we saw the Punch Brothers show in Boulder,  and ran into our old choir teacher!  It was really fun to see the show and hang out with her and her family:




Then two days later drove up to Beaver Creek, in the mountains, to see another one.  The drive typically should take around 2 hours, but on the other side of the Eisenhower Tunnel, the weather was crap snow and the drive ended up taking 3 hours.  We missed most of the show and only saw five songs.

BUT.  The guys came out into the lobby, and we got to meet them all.  Oh, holy, crap.

You guys, seriously.  I met Chris Thile before his solo albums and all his genius was on display for the world.  It was cool then, but this time around, for some reason, I totally fell under the spell of his amazingness.  I was shaking so hard... when he put his arm around me, I thought my knees were going to give out.



/sigh.

He's number 2 on my top 5 for a reason, y'all.  Now I have met the guy, and seeing as though he Tweeted me last month, and (at least pretended to) remember who I was when I met him, I figure I have half a chance to seduce the guy at some point.  I'm not kidding.  Seriously.

SO!  If you don't know his music or the Punch Brothers (his current band) - check out "Deceiver" and "How To Grow a Woman From The Ground."  Phenomenal albums.

Moving on.

The binge!  Okay, I don't mean the "binge," 'cause it wasn't a "binge."  I mean, the "planned, controlled cheat.  Well, I have to report that I haven't done the Taco Bell yet.  I still want to, but just wasn't hungry when I got home from the airport and today I also wasn't hungry.  But, I'll tell you that I DID have TCBY.  In fact, it was sort of ridiculous.  I got two small sizes... one White Chocolate Mousse and one Peanut Butter.  The White Chocolate Mousse, I got chocolate chips on.  Oh, yummmmm.  It was just awesome.

A little over halfway through:

And then, the end (3rd cup is my Mom's):




I was so....




But also so....





So yeah!

At this point I don't feel mad at myself or like I did anything "bad."  I did feel a little uncomfortably full after I ate them, but they were frickin' delicious.  I did find myself questioning whether I'd be still wanting to eat the Taco Bell, and as of right now, I still do.  I have been eating low carb other than the TCBY, and sneaking two of Dan's curly fries from Arby's.  

I had the opportunity to eat bad when I had Denny's with my Mother on Tuesday before my flight.  I actually said to her, "Well, I'm already cheating later today so shouldn't I just say to hell with it today?"  She was supportive, but I ended up ordering a veggie omelet.  She just said, "You can't help but to be good!"  Well, I guess not.  I just feel like I'll be I'd rather be in control.  I mean, yes, when you decide what you want to eat, you technically control that... but sometimes we feel OUT of control when we make those excuses.  You know:  "Well I've already eaten bad today, why not go all out?"  or, "I'll start my diet Monday morning." 

I did take a picture of the omelet.  The thing was incredible, it looked just like the menu.



My Mom got the yumtastic Slamwich with fries.  Mmmmm....


I'll have more updates and photos of other stuff tomorrow. Don't despair! I just don't want to put everything all on one post. :) <3

~Jenn

A giant tub of cheese and music.

Yep. So, thank all of you so much for the lovely comments on my dress and the sweet Anniversary wishes! Dan and I went to the Melting Pot for our anniversary and it was DEliCIOUS...!!! I went into the day absolutely freaking out about dinner. I looked up all the nutritional info I could and started obsessing about how I could possibly eat healthy at this place.

Ultimately I decided to forget my obsessions about it and just enjoy a nice dinner.

Here's what we did:

First course: Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue, served with granny smith apples, breads and veggies. (400 calories)
Second course: Alpine Ridge Salad, A bed of mixed greens topped with oven roasted tomatoes, award-winning Gruyère, Raclette and Fontina cheeses, hard-boiled eggs and honey roasted almonds, topped with a robust shallot vinaigrette. (300 calories)
Third course: Fondue Feast cooked in Court Bouillon. Filet Mignon, Sauerbraten NY Strip, Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bratwurst, Hefeweizen Marinated Shrimp, Roasted Garlic Crusted Chicken, Sun Dried Tomato Ravioli and Fresh Vegetables. (495 calories)
Dessert course: Bananas Foster, Silky, white chocolate swirled with bananas, brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon, flambéed tableside. Dippers: Fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, Rice Krispies Treats®, marshmallows, pound cake and brownies. Holy YUM. (673 calories.)

Oh, and we split a bottle of Asti champagne, my favorite!

So... overall, the numbers were a little terrifying, and I won't even get into the sodium count, but I only had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and one ritz cracker that day. I still stayed with a pretty low amount of calories considering what I ate!


In other news, I wanted to share with you all some of my favorite cold weather eats. When the temperature drops, people tend to want to eat warmer foods and this is what I like:

Diet hot chocolate (15 cals per packet with hot water)
Sugar free apple cider (made with hot water)
Hot tea
Healthy Choice soups
Spaghetti Squash with italian seasoned diced tomatoes (the low sodium/no salt added kind)
Oatmeal for breakfast

So, what do you guys like to eat/make when it's cold outside?


Also, I realized that I haven't done Music Monday in a really long time. I'm gonna share two things with you guys. One of my favorite artists is Chris Thile. He used to play mandolin in the band "Nickel Creek" and now has put together the band "Punch Brothers." He's so incredibly talented. As far as I'm concerned, I find him to be the most talented musician alive. My brother and I are going to do three back to back Punch Brothers shows in January - we're watching them in Boulder, then going to Aspen the next day and then Beaver Creek the day after that. We used to road trip a lot to see Nickel Creek play (Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom is awesome!), Salt Lake City, etc.

When we went to the show in Salt Lake, we met Chris Thile. It was awesome. It was really late at night and I didn't want to be a huge pest so I just shook his hand and we didn't ask for pictures or autographs or anything. I'm hoping my brother and I will get to meet him again in January.

Here are some photos of my brother and I (first photo) and my best friends Jesse and Wes when we went to see them in Tulsa:




Here are two photos of me when we met Chris last time, and I was MUCH hotter for this trip than the previous one:




That was my favorite hair, ever. I can't wait until my hair grows out again so I can do the same hair. Possibly, forever and ever, amen. Gah!





Anyhoo! This song, How to Grow a Woman from the Ground is one of my very favorite songs of all time:




And if you're a fan of good music, and like an easy going, laid back, Jack Johnson/John Mayer kind of sound, you need to check out Mestizo. One of my favorite bands, ever. One of their earlier songs (also a favorite of mine) is on my main website. They're local to the Denver/Boulder area, so you should check out one of their shows if you're in the area. One of the things I miss most about living there is going to their shows. :(

This is a sneak peek of one of the songs, Fade, off of their newest album, and it's one of my favorites of theirs! You can buy their newest album here. I guarantee any album you buy, you're gonna love.

~Jenn

Shoutouts and Bloggognition.

Quickie weigh in = 200.8. I am .8 pounds away from having lost 25 pounds since December, and I'm .8 pounds away from the lovely and delicious Onederland.


Moving on...


So, I don't know about you guys, but I Google myself. All the time. I like to know where my name is popping up, and who's mentioned me in the Bloggosphere, the Web, whatever.

I want to thank a few people for some shoutouts!


Tony Momo over at Shh-Momo for quoting my opinions on Chris Thile~! As I've said before, sir, you have excellent taste. :)


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Jessi over at Shrinky-Dinky for sharing her own inspirational photos, including the ever gorgeous Goddess Kate Winslet!


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Mike over at Tootaloosa for mentioning a silly little schnibblit I found awhile back, a while back. I'm sorry I missed it, but you're still the best. :)


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Okay. Now I have a few more odd ones.


Thank you, McDonalds. You finally found me. You put me into a Social Media study (bottom of page 3) about what people's impressions are of your shit filled company.


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I'm sorry that you found me when I only had 10 Google followers, and therefore you might consider my "credibility" to be low. I look forward to many, many more posts like the one you quoted me on in the future to tell people why I think you are the scum of the earth. I hope every last one of your buildings burns to the ground during the night, that your CEO's go bankrupt.




And now for the crazy whammy.

Have you guys heard of Izea? It's a website that ranks blogs. Like, the top 100 sports blogs, and the top 100 whatever blogs.

Apparently, I was the number 4 Fitness and Health blog yesterday and today.


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You guys, seriously. What???

All I can say is THANK YOU to ALL of you, my lovely amazing readers who somehow find what I have to say to be worth a crap and want to read it every day. You guys are amazing. THANK YOU!!!!



~Jenn <3<3<3<3

Thile Thursday & Weigh In

Weighed in this morning at exactly 209, which was where I was before I left on vacation. :) Not too terrible considering I haven't had exercise in over 2 weeks (really) and I just came off of a vacation, a cruise, and Christina's birthday dinner at Maggianos. We'll see how long it takes before I see 208! :)

And it's Thile Thursday. Check out Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground... every time I listen to this song I get really happy. :)

Thile Thursday

It's technically Thursday in Milwaukee, so I'm doing this now. I'm starting another music day, dammit.

CHRIS THILE.

If you don't know who he is, you will soon find out. He's the most talented musician on the face of the earth, period.

Now, I love my John Mayer, but if I had to choose between the two when it comes to any of the following, Chris would win: Song writing, instrumental ability, composition, ingenuity, brilliance, vocal talent.

So yeah, that just about sums it up.

Here's one of his greatest songs (the title from one of his albums) How To Grow a Woman From The Ground: (Audio only because none of the videos give justice to the sound.)



I'm gonna type out the lyrics here because they're amazing:

I caught a string full of fish down by the dam
I'll drag them back to the field; they should be dead by then
Wipe the sweat off my neck and tally ho the plow
I'm gonna grow a woman from the ground

The night was a chalkboard with a fingernail moon
If the fish ain't dead yet they will be pretty soon
Kinda like the feeling at an old folks home
Even though you love them you can't wait for them to go

I'll call her Angelina she's a teacher I once had
A halo of honey wrapped around her head
And she always used to give me some when I was a kid
I told her that I loved her and then I went and hid

I'll take you into town and I will show you off
There's room on your dress for a corsage
And I'll open every door for you

I opened up my almanac and in my mind I read
Cut your wrists on the fins of the fish and drain all you can
So I rolled up my sleeves and then began to draw
Lines just as deep as the days are long

I sewed up my wrists and soaked the ground with my blood
Stained up my clothes pretty good and I turned that dirt to mud
I could not help but close my eyes and lay my body down
'Cause I heard it takes forever to grow a woman from the ground

I bleed for you now and I'm skinny as a rail
And I'll be so obliged to keep you nice and warm and safe

...And won't you be so proud of me?