Weight Watchers has worked for me in the past and I’ve considered signing up again.  But, I don’t really use the online tools that they offer, other than the food journal (or whatever they are calling it now).  I like logging in and adding my food and watching my points decrease and knowing how many I have left for the day.  But I’m thinking I really don’t need to pay to do that, so I’m looking into alternative. 

Sparkle People looks promising.  Anyone ever use it?  Have another recommendation?  Let me hear it!

Next weekend I am heading north to Virginia, to a small little cabin near the Shenandoah National Park.  A few of my good friends from NY are meeting me there for a “Girls Weekend Getaway”.  I am so totally stoked about it.  It’s been almost a year since I’ve seen my BFF Sara and that is much too long.

This will be only the second time that Sean and I have been apart since we were married 3 years ago. It’s not like we’ve planned to always be together, it’s just how it turned out.  I’ll kid with him sometimes and “inform” him that I know what he’ll be doing while we’re apart - look out strip clubs   It’s all in good fun of course.  He can go to a strip club tonight if he wanted.  He just has to promise to take me along too because it’s not fair that he would be the only one getting to look at hot chicks! 

For his first weekend home alone he has scored quite the adventure.  He invited his two nephews (ages 15 and 13) over for a weekend of Rock Band.  And Sean is totally stoked about it.  He’s already talking about practicing his “drumming skills” this week so he can try to keep up with the “young kids”.  It’s hard work being 37 and competing against teens who learn faster and play better.  I’m sure they’ll whoop his ass. I’m almost sorry I’m gonna miss that!
 

So besides overeating and not exercising (ie. being fat), I have this other problem too. 

I buy fonts like some people buy coffee everyday.  I don’t need these fonts, I just like them and think I might need them one day so I better get it now before some font nazi comes and deletes all the fonts I crush on.

I don’t even want to calculate the amount of money I have spent for letters, on a screen.  It’s a sickness and I need help.

Come to think of it, I also have a problem with the purchasing of domain names.  That might even be worse.  I’m such a winner, right? 

So, tell me I am not alone.  What’s your secret?

A good friend gave me the exact kick in the ass that I needed to make some changes in my life. 

I’m fat.  We all know this.  And the battle to lose weight has always been difficult.  I’ll get into a groove for a few months and the pounds will come off and then I get lazy.  I get tired.  I make excuses.

I’ve been doing really well with making good healthy food choices (except for when I make delicious banana bread with caramel frosting) but I suck at exercising on a consistent basis.  I have always hated exercising but that is not a good excuse.  There is no good excuse.  Period.

As Casey said: 

You have GOT to exercise. You can’t write it off as it’s too hard, it’s too cold, I don’t have time. Fifty percent of your heart health (at least) is tied to your physical activity levels.

Get up and get moving. You have to do it. If you won’t do it, you might as well write off diet too, because you can’t win the fight for your health by just doing one of the two necessary changes.

Well today I got up and I got moving.  I took the dog for a long walk and then came home and jogged for 20 minutes on the treadmill.  Tomorrow I’m going to get my bike looked at so I can feel more comfortable bike riding without the fear that the seat is going to break off or the whole thing is going to collapse under the sheer weight of my ass. 

I know I can do this.  I need to do this.  I want to do this. 

I swear, I only played for 20 minutes! 

I thought we were friends.

Maybe I should consider turning this into a baking blog.  Or perhaps a Pumpkin Porn blog?  hmmmm

Last night I made, for the very first time, a scrumptious Pumpkin Dump Cake.  I skipped the pecans.  I’m not a huge nut fan.  I like nuts alone, but not in desserts and regular meals.  Also, about 10 minutes before it was done, I took the cake out and sprinkled dark brown sugar over the top and then finished baking it.  The brown sugar created a wonderful sweet flavor that blended well with all the pumpkin spices.

This will be another recipe for our family cookbook.  Great on pumpkin flavor, easy to make and absolutely delicious. 

I never get tired of this sight.  Though I could certainly do without all the leaves. 

I’m still thinking about the pumpkin scones.  mmmmm leftover. even better.

But, let me tell you about The Bananana Cake.  I wanted to make something else besides the pumpkin scones.  I wasn’t sure how much anyone else, like my husband, would like a scone, of any variety.  I considered an apple crisp or tart but couldn’t decide on anything.  So I looked into banana cakes, muffins, breads.  I usually do a quick google search before I hit RecipeZaar and I don’t even know why I bother with google because RecipeZaar is where I usually end up.  I’ve found so many great recipes there.

I found the Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting pretty quickly.  It had some great reviews and the caramel frosting had me intrigued.  I thought I would like it but wasn’t sure anyone else would.  I looked for other recipes but the caramel frosting had me from the beginning. 

The cake was quick to make - margarine, sugar, eggs, banana, milk, flour, salt and baking soda.  And it took about 40 minutes to bake (recipe called for 45 minutes).  The frosting was just as easy.  I made it ahead of time and then frosted the cake right before serving it. 

Everyone seemed to love it.  Full of banana flavor and the caramel frosting had just the right amount of sweetness.  It wasn’t overpowering at all.  I would probably heat the cake up a little before serving next time.  Maybe 15-25 seconds in the microwave to give it a nice warmth.  I’ll definitely make this one again.  It’s a must-have in the family recipe book.