Blitz -- I got through the WEEKEND!

what I ate at Sweet Tomato on Saturday (only the two plates, not the third)
with samples of salad dressing that I just tried a little bit of)

So I KNEW the weekend would be my hugest challenge of all...because I'd be out and about and not at home. On Saturday morning, I was kidnapped by my good friends Diane and Margaret, thrown into their car (with my ukulele) and FORCED to ride to Santa Cruz to the beach with them to play ukuleles on the beach! Yes it is definitely a ROUGH LIFE! what a gorgeous day at the beach it was.

PERFECT day at the beach where over 100 people showed up to play ukes! me with my friends!

I brought HMR shakes (70 plus) with me and some Benefit bars -- all I had time to gather. bought a banana and a coffee at the coffee shop and mixed with 70 plus...that worked in the morning! Then lunch time rolled around and of course we were STILL at the beach. and usually I LOVE to order a fish taco from this Mexican place and eat it outside on the beach which is what my friends were doing, and I was like, ohhh nooo! I can't do that right now! so I sipped on a house iced tea and Diane mentioned something about there being a place called "Sweet Tomato" near where I live and perhaps that would be a good option. Okay, cool... and Margaret had brought some fresh strawberries too! so we hung out and played a little music on the beach before we had to reluctantly leave as it was a gorgeous perfect day! Diane drove us to the Sweet Tomato which was AMAZING, Fresh Choice on steroids I think! just rows and rows of wonderful already cut up veggies that I could just pile on my plate (or plates, whatever the case may be)...including the kidney beans and garbanzo beans! 

So we had a feast there and I avoided the main dishes -- but I didn't really see anything there that freaked me out too much... digging the iced tea and the limitless salad stuff. Thrilled that there's a place I CAN actually go to if I want -- even though I probably won't go there too often.

The evening was no picnic cuz Jen who is staying with us AGAIN baked chicken and it smelled sooo good and I knew I couldn't have any...! that was tough. but I got through it just fine and I got my 10,000 steps in -- the dog loves the fact that I take her on long walks now!

Sunday morning, I awoke to rain...it sounded good. I knew I was heading to San Francisco to Uke Rebellion, a HUGE CHALLENGE for me! I brought food stuff, a turkey chili entree, benefit bars, 70 plus shake mixes, umm...what else? so I did order a veggie sandwich at the cafe where we have uke rebellion, BUT I scraped all the veggies off the bread sort of successfully and just ate the veggies cuz I couldn't get the nice ladies who work there to understand I just wanted veggies on a plate! they are sooo sweet though...and I didn't want to cause too much hassle and it's not that hard to scrape the veggies off on to a plate. I ate another banana too cuz they had bananas and I can't eat apples right now (due to dental issues).

Things went super well until I walked around with my friends and we stopped at another cafe -- but then I realized it's easy. they ordered beer. I don't drink beer ANYWAY>..never have. I rarely drink, so I just ordered hot tea and ate a Benefit bar and I was FINE. but most cafes only carry bananas, or maybe apples if you're lucky... that's pretty much your choice unless you want a muffin or a pastry or something! 

So the weekend was a MAJOR SUCCESS!!! I DID IT! I stayed in the box successfully and I'm sooo thrilled cuz now I know I can do it. if I can get through a weekend, I GOT THIS! and I've gotten 10,000 steps every single day since Thursday (Wednesday I only got about 6,500) but I figure Thursday was the strong start day...the only issue I have is I don't eat all my entrees. I tend to go more for the shakes and the oatmeal as meal replacements...must get two entrees in every day which is what I"m "supposed" to do...but I've been successful so far.

next weekend more challenges arise -- as I spend several hours at Bronco Billy's Pizza Palace for a ukulele jam...stick to the salad bar. they have a pretty good one there with some of my "faves" which include the scallions, those little green onions -- fresh mushrooms, garbanzo beans and of course the leaf spinach, lettuce, tomato and all the normal stuff in a salad bar. and all the iced tea and/or diet soda I can get...a nice go to. good thing I'm not a beer drinker! 

Just gotta figure out a way to incorporate the entrees better -- having one for lunch right now -- the turkey chili. I have enough of them, but I don't think I got enough variety. sometimes at night I much prefer the HMR oatmeal with the blueberries! I am not sure why. I think cuz it's delicious, warm and easy on the stomach if I have to eat later in the evening when i get home from all my activities. I always warm up a pile of blueberries and just eat that...and I feel like it's a real meal just like I've had an HMR entree..and I still LOVE the fruit. yeah, it's that horrible sweet tooth of mine... but I've been really working on upping the veggies...and sticking with my faves. 

and the walking has been really cool... I know I should do more, but this is a great start.