THE NEW ME (AND CHICAGO)

Okey dokey then. 45 days and 11 pounds. Now I'm at 181. Hurrah!!! On the 20th, when I will weigh again, I only have to be at 182, so I'm ahead again. So far, so good.

I got the new Asics yesterday, and will try them out today, trooping down the Path. We'll see. Threw out the old Adidas. I also bought a pair of Avia, and a new Adidas, the top rated ones in "Consumer Reports", August. I just happened to have it on hand when I was looking at new shoes, because it was a kitchen issue, and I hope to remodel my kitchen in the near future. How coincidental was that? It had nothing to do with my alpha obsession.

Now I'm trying to walk every day, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. But every day I ice my knees for 20 minutes when I come back. With packs of frozen vegies. The left one still bothers me, so I am hoping the new shoes might take care of that.
And I have come off the diet plan, mostly. I feel stronger now about my food choices. I think that is the big change in these past five days. At the Celtic Fest on Saturday, I had a corned beef sandwich, which consisted of a ton of very lean meat, on two pieces of quite fresh rye bread, and not humonguous sized bread either. Some mustard, and a dill pickle sliver rounded it off. Plus some iced coffee with Splenda and no milk, because all they had was half 'n half. I think I did all right there.

I have stuffed my freezer with all kinds of meat choices and frozen vegies, bread, bagels, waffles, and the fridge with fresh fruit, all the yogurt in the world (there was a sale), and low-fat cheese and lunch meat, tuna, eggs, milk, and salad makings. I should be good for a long while now, and can just make my own choices. I'm not too sure about the yogurt, as it has a lot of sugar, but at 100 calories it would make a good choice for something sweet, and not too caloric. Plus there are still some 30 calorie frozen popcicles, and a container of mango sorbet, which is out of this world, and a ton of vitamin A.

So we'll see how all this plays out in the coming days and weeks. I pulled off the shelf again my old stand-by cookbook, in which I am working my way thru the index. "1,001 Low-Fat Recipes". I do have a couple of reviews of it on Amazon, because it is a strange cookbook, and if you don't know squat about cooking, don't even think about it. Not that it's hard, it's just that sometimes it's plain wrong. I had stopped at "pizza" (I've been working on this index since 2002), so that's where I will pick up, at fajita pizza. I must be careful here. But I think it's the serving size that I must follow. And be very careful with the ingredient list, as that will influence the calorie count, which is listed for each recipe.

And a house guest is coming in Thursday, I musn't get carried away in food prep for her either.

45 days down.

THE CELTIC FEST

How great is this city or what!! On a perfect autumn day, Saturday the 12th, we attended the Celtic Fest, and what a wonderful time we all had. Free!! Although if I had known about the flat $25 rate that the Monroe underground garage was charging, I would most certainly have made other arrangements. But it was right across the street.
We got there around noon, and left at five, all of us just feeling so energized and alive. Definitely a must for next year( minus the parking fee).

Where else in the world can you sit and hear an amazing, fabulous Irish band, Larkin and Moran Brothers, while watching a huge bare mast lazily float by behind them on Lake Michigan? Incredible. Bagpipes, which I love, crafts, sheepherding, stupendous Irish dancing, just all things Gaelic and Celtic. And of course watching men walk around in sexy kilts. For free, mind you, all free. No wonder I think Chicago the greatest city in the world. Sure New York is great too, but it's Central Park cannot compare to our Lakefront. No way. Of course I must admit the weather played it's part in this most delicious day.

Three cheers for Chicago (with or without the Olympics).