Another fill . . and photos of bands

After a week of being plateaued (and able to eat more than I should), I decided to go in for another fill. I am now at 2.75 ccs in my 5 cc band.

While I was in the exam room waiting for the doctor, I realized that I had my new camera in my bag. So, I took photos of the two band demonstratives that were in there. I thought the Realize brand did a particularly good job, since they show examples of what restriction looks like. Check it out (see the little stomach opening thingies on the base):
Here was the Lap Band brand's demonstrative. Also very interesting (obviously, the metal thing is just to hold the demonstrative and not part of the band system!)

I thought these photos might be especially interesting for people who don't have a band and aren't really sure what it will look like. I know that I found it interesting to see how the ports vary from one brand to the other. The brand I have is Inamed -- I wish they would have had a demonstrative of it so that I could compare mine to the two above!

Parties, Exes & PBing. . .

A while ago, I mentioned that I was going to have to see my ex-boyfriend at the engagement party of our mutual friends. This is the guy who I was totally in love with, but broke up with because after 2+ fantastic years together, he still didn't know when/if he'd ever be ready to get married. Turns out that my FB (former boyfriend) extended his Peter Pan Avoidance Tour (read: multi-month post-breakup vacation), so he was not at the party, which took place on Thursday.

It was a nice party and I enjoyed seeing everyone. Yet, on some levels it was a bummer, mainly because it just reminded me of the breakup. A small consolation was that I hadn't seen a bunch of FB's friends since before my surgery, so at least I felt good knowing that I looked better than I did the last time I saw them.

The party was at a very cute Spanish restaurant and we had a private room with nice wines and passed hors d'oeuvres. Unfortunately, I got totally stuck on the first thing I ate (a deviled egg -- which I thought I'd chewed very well. . ). I got that "I am going to throw up" feeling and headed for the bathroom. . . only to find out that it was a single room situation and someone was in there! I had a napkin in my hand and just stood there, praying that the person would get out before I threw up! Fortunately, the door opened just in the nick of time, and I was able to PB in privacy. Thank God. . . that is just so not what I wanted to project at that party!. . .

Show & Tell . . . Hobbies

I've been a fan forever of beautiful stationery, wrapping paper, ribbons and penmanship. I've been doing calligraphy since I was 11 and have been making cards for as long as I can remember.

(Here's a self-photo shot I took this weekend in the studio. . .)

So, a few years ago, I took lessons to learn how to do letterpress printing. (That's the type of press used for many high end wedding invitations. Below is a photo of a letterpress I've used for several projects.) Since then, it's become a big hobby of mine. Occasionally, for my very nearest & dearest, I offer to do the calligraphy for their invitations -- or even to make their invitations -- as their wedding presents. Also, for the past several months, I've been working with a private tutor/graphic designer to learn Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop.

So, that brings us to this weekend! I spent about 8 hours at the studio printing the invitations of my very good friends Adam and Erica (that's Erica with a "c," not "Erika" with a "K" -- two different people!).

(Here's a shot of my filthy gloves, screwdriver, palate knife, California wash, scissors and loop!)

(The yellow thing on the press is the
border design for their invitation)

So, since I'm doing a bit of tell. . thought I should show you a few projects that I've done on the press!

Here are the bachelorette party invitations that I did for my friend Sharon (I posted photos from her wedding in Greve, Italy some time ago). The cartoon looks pretty much like her, albeit in cartoon version! She has a total pirate fetish, hence the "Yargh!" and skull & crossbones skirt!

Here are the wedding invitations I did for my best friend last year. She was born in Taiwan, and we wanted the invitations to reflect that -- so we used the traditional Chinese good luck colors, red and gold, and the characters for Double Happiness, which are often used for Chinese weddings. (BTW, was a really fun wedding & she looked amazing!)

And, here are the invitations that I printed this weekend. I love LOVE LOVE the paper that I found to use as the belly band (a phrase that now makes me think of my lap band!). My friends really wanted something summery, casual and fun for their summer beach wedding and I feel like this fits the bill!

So, that's my show & tell for this evening. If anyone has an interesting hobby, would love to hear about it!

TWENTY-FIVE!

It's finally official! I have now lost 25 lbs! Actually, as of this morning, I'm down 25.2. One of the very best things about the band is that, although I've been on this "diet" for nearly 4 months, I am still very motivated and feel that this is a very sustainable course. That is so very different from how I've felt on any other weight loss plan (and, let's face it, I never got to the 4 month mark on any other plan)!

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Five things I've noticed after losing this weight are:

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1. I'm starting to look like myself again, instead of a puffy, more matronly version of my old self.

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2. I feel lighter and healthier and, emotionally, I feel really good about making the decision to get banded and making it work.

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3. The robes at the spa I go to give better coverage (I went for a massage yesterday. Normally I feel like their robes are just a little too skimpy. I checked the size and saw that it was the same as usual and realized that the difference in coverage is due to me losing 2.5 inches from my hips and my waist! NSV!)

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4. My back doesn't tighten up as much when I go for long walks (not that it was ever that bad -- just something I noticed)

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5. My feet don't hurt as badly when I wear heels (nothing like having 25 lbs less of pressure on them. . . )

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(For some reason, this program is taking the returns out of my post today, so I thought I'd use dashes to break up the text -- if anyone knows how to fix this, be sure to let me know!)

Fun with friends

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd been a little stressed about seeing a very dear old friend and her 2 sisters because I was worried about what they would think about all of the weight I put on during the years since our last visit. It really was not an issue at all, and we had a fantastic time.

I thought I'd share a few photos from the weekend! Here my friend (Sofia) and I are posing with Max at my apartment.


We had dinner at Buddakan on Saturday night, which was delicious and a total blast. (If you saw the Sex in the City movie, this is where Carrie & Big had their rehearsal dinner.) The other girl in this photo is Sofia's sister, Daniella.

This one is of Sofia and her other sister, Eugenia. Super cute photo!

And, lastly, here we are at The Mermaid Inn (cute restaurant in the East Village) with my friend Brooke on the girls' last night in town.

I actually wound up telling Sofia and her sisters about me being banded during their first night in town. They were totally supportive (after all, they are from Venezuela, where cosmetic and similar surgeries are very common -- plus, they are just very open, cool people!) and I was glad that I told them. My other friend in these photos (Brooke) has known about the surgery before I had it, so that wasn't an issue either.

I feel very lucky that I've been able to tell family and friends about the surgery and that everyone has been so positive about it. I think that they can tell that I'm feeling good about it, and that's bound to help as well.

NSV! But Embarrassing!

Yesterday, for the first time since I got banded, someone who doesn't know about my surgery let me know that she noticed my weight loss.

One of the secretaries in my office stopped me as I was going into the kitchen and yelled "HAVE YOU LOST WEIGHT?!?!" While I'm thrilled to death to finally (!!) have someone who doesn't know I'm dieting notice and say something, that was pretty embarrassing! Hopefully no one heard her (we were the only ones in the kitchen). Not that I am ashamed of doing well on my diet, I just don't want to call too much attention to it at work! Anyway, while HOW it happened wasn't a dream come true, it felt pretty good anyway!

Seeing old friends

One thing that I've stressed about through the last few years is seeing old friends who I haven't seen for a long time. This stems from me being ashamed that I put on so much weight and being embarrassed for my friends to see how out of control my weight was.

This past weekend, a very dear friend of mine (Sofia) and her two sisters were visiting from Venezuela. Sofia and I became friends when I lived in the Bahamas (2000-2001) and we spent a lot of great time together there, going out dancing, doing fun things during the weekend, talking about life, guys and the usual stuff! I visited her in Venezuela in 2001, but -- though we stay in touch through e-mail and Facebook -- I actually hadn't seen her since then!

So, going into this weekend, I was in the funny position of both feeling fantastic about being down nearly 25 lbs -- while at the same time knowing I am 45 lbs heavier than I was the last time I saw my friend. Of course, I know that our friendship has nothing to do with how much I weigh, so reminding myself of that was a good thing to do. Unsurprisingly, it was totally a non-issue and I had a great time!

TWENTY-FOUR

Wha. . Who put that photo up here? This post is NOT about Kiefer Sutherland! :) I'm down 24 lbs as of this morning! Not 23.8 not 23.9, but a solid 24. WOO HOO!

(But that doesn't mean I'll deprive everyone of this other Kiefer photo that I came across this morning. After all, I'm in a GREAT mood!) :)

Recipes to Share?

Another quick note while I'm talking about cooking. If anyone has good band-friendly recipes to share, I wanted to invite you to post them (or a link to the recipe) in the comments to this message. I'll try out any that sound good to me and will let you know how it goes (with photos if I'm really with it that day)! :)

Cooking with Catherine #3

Now that I finally (!) have a new camera, I'm excited to share a really, really delicious recipe with you for a very easy and band-friendly soup -- Butternut Squash Soup with Blue Cheese and Walnuts. http://www.freshdirect.com/recipe.jsp?recipeId=rec_tb_rstbttrnt_squash_sp&trk=srch

How gorgeous is the color of this soup?!

This is my second time making this soup -- it is seriously delicious, and by only using a wee sprinkling of blue cheese on top (and either limiting or omitting the walnuts), you keep the calorie count low. I also made a few tweaks to the recipe, which are mentioned below, and it turned out really well (it also turned out great the first time I made it, when I followed the recipe to a tee).

You start with fresh butternut squash (though honestly, the lighter squash here didn't look so great, so I only used the dark one this time).



Even though the recipe says to cook the halves, I peel and cube them first, then coat them in a little bit of olive oil, freshly ground pepper and a teaspoon of sea salt. Then you roast them in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

I really love my olive oil bottle (above). I bought it in a little shop in Positano, Italy three summers ago. I was there with my mother -- who is a great person to travel with -- and we had a fantastic time!

While the squash is roasting, chop up 1/2 of a Spanish onion (I used a small white onion here and that worked just as well) and one pear.

In a large pan (I use my big non-stick wok), heat some olive oil and cook the onion and pear in it at medium heat for 20 minutes without browning them. (Nothing tricky here -- just stir once in a while and make sure the heat isn't too high.)

After that, add in 1/2 cup of wine and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then, add in 5 1/2 cups of stock (recipe calls for vegetable, but I used chicken stock and it was great). BTW, one of these containers is about 4 cups.

Bring that to a boil, then add in your roasted squash and cook at a low simmer for 30 more minutes. Then, let the soup cool a bit, put it through your blender or food processor, and you're done! (I left out the honey this time and didn't miss it at all.)

Once the soup is done, I divvy it up into individual serving Ziplock containers and put a little Roqueford cheese on top. I then put them in the freezer and take one to work for lunch every day (unless I have other plans). By lunch time they are a little thawed and only need about 3 minutes in the microwave.

You can see that I still have some of the chicken & chile soup in stock! That recipe is in an earlier post -- I've made it 3 times now!

Bon appetit!