Fun at the Guggenheim

The Guggenheim Museum has parties on the first Friday of every month -- and they are really a lot of fun. They bring in a DJ, set up a bar, and open up the museum until midnight. It always draws a really fun crowd and gets pretty packed! Last night, I headed over with my friend Marjorie to meet a few other friends there.

Despite that we all got rained on and are looking a little frizzy, I thought I'd post a few photos.

Here is me remembering not to fall over the wall. . .

Self portrait of J, Marjorie & me

And another one of the crowd. Fun night!

Scar Fading. . .

One of my good friends recommended that I start using a scar-fade treatment called Epi-Derm. She had really good results with it, so I bought some on-line about 2 weeks ago (here is a link to the company's site, in case anyone is interested - http://www.biodermis.com/scar_products/epi-derm).

I bought the Gel Patch that cost $29, but in retrospect, I think I would have done better to get the $40 sheet. I just didn't want to spend that much before I knew whether it worked. So, now that I know it does, I'm going to buy more. I feel like it's really working well.

Also, I didn't realize at first that you are supposed to use medical tape to keep these on (they stay on fine without it during the day, but not so much when you're sleeping). Each strip that you cut (whether from a patch or a sheet) lasts about 10 days. . if you don't lose it! (You wash the patch and skin once a day.) So, a little bit should last a pretty long time if you use the tape.

Here is a new photo of my two scars.

And, below is the photo that I took on January 9, 2009. You can see that the big scar has gotten a bunch lighter and is no longer as red. As far as I can tell, most of that just happened in the last 2 weeks. Both scars also seem to be a lot more flush with the rest of my skin.

Thirty-five!!

Finally! It was taking forever to get down that one last pound to take me to 35! Of course. . that's because in the interim, the scale went back up 2 lbs as a result of me overdoing it a bit at the dinners and events I've had lately. But, it's down now. :)

I just realized that in 3 lbs, I will have lost a pound for every year I've been alive! I'm happy too that my initial prediction (that I'd be down 40 lbs by sometime in April) is pretty much right on target. Wow. I can't believe how smoothly all of this is going. Not that I don't get stuck and slime here and there, but by & large, it has just not been very hard.

Worried friends. . .

I went to the Patent Prom last night and had a really good time. I caught up with a bunch of old friends, met a lot of people, and managed not to drink too much (I live in mortal fear of being hungover because I can't throw up from the lower part of my stomach like a normal person anymore).

Here is a photo of me with my friend Monique and an attorney named David who she works with from time to time.

Monique and my friend Rob (who I've known very well for more than 10 years) are the people I had dinner with on Thursday night. At dinner, I ordered a beet salad to start, and tile fish with risotto as my entree. The salad was huge, and I could only eat a little. I also couldn't eat much of the fish, and my friends exclaimed "Oh no! You didn't eat anything! Was it alright?" I reassured them that it was fine, and I had the leftovers packed up, since I really hadn't eaten much.

Rob walked me out of the Waldorf when I left last night, and we were talking. I asked him if he'd noticed that I had lost weight (we are close friends) and he said yes, but he said that he and Monique were concerned that I wasn't eating. I didn't want to tell him about the band, so I just said that what I'd ordered wasn't really what I had wanted and that (I use this one a lot) part of my new diet is chewing each bite 30 times, so I get full faster.

I hope that made sense to him. I really don't want my friends to think I have an eating disorder! I could tell Rob about the band (and maybe I will at some point), but I wasn't really planning on it. I really don't want him to be worried. Maybe I'll tell him if he brings up the eating thing again.

Here is a photo of me & Rob. I didn't post it initially, and my mom called and said "Wow! Rob really aged a lot!!" She thought he was the older gentleman in the first photo!

I'd be interested in hearing from fellow bandsters how you handle this kind of thing. Sometimes I feign a stomachache (though I don't want to act sick or have people fuss, so that's not my favorite) and sometimes I feign having had a late lunch. Other than that, I'm at a loss!

Dress Stress and Old Photos. . .

I have a black tie event tonight (it's the NY Intellectual Properties Assn's Annual Judge's Dinner. . . a.k.a. "The Patent Prom"). :) I really, really did not want to buy another gown for this event, given that I'd only be able to wear it once, in all likelihood.

So. . last weekend, I tried on the beautiful midnight blue gown that I wore on Halloween (there is a photo posted from back in Oct.) and it still looks decent. HOWEVER, I must have spilled something on it, since it had a spot that I hadn't noticed. I took it to the cleaner and said that I had to have it on time for a Friday event. I thought that meant Thursday night delivery (my cleaner is in my apt. building and they give the clothes to the valet service when they are ready. . believe me, I know how ridiculous this sounds). :)

Thursday night I get home and . . no dress. Cr*p!! I wanted to make sure the spot was out on Thursday so that I could emergency shop on Friday if necessary. So, I decided to go through my closet for backups. It wasn't pretty, people.

The brown dress I wore to my friend Sharon's wedding (there's even a photo of it in an early post) is totally too big. It just looks bad. . loose in all the wrong spots. And, this pretty bustier/long black skirt combination that I bought to wear to my cousin's September 2004 wedding is still too tight (WAY too much cleavage for a work event). And there wasn't anything else that was a viable option.

I was kind of stressed last night -- what if the dress doesn't come in?? What if it still has a big spot on it? (A: I'm wearing it with the spot and pretending I got it that night. . ) :) Long story less long? It's totally fine -- it's here, the spot is gone, and I'm good to go! WHEW.

I will admit that this event has been a stressful one for me. I'd managed to skip it for about 7 years, but at my current firm, it's a must-attend event. It's also the one time during the year that I am bound to run into a TON of people I've known through the years. And, given that I hadn't seen many of them for years (i.e. years when I put on a significant amount of weight), I was always nervous about how people would react when they saw me.

The thing is, the people I was worried about knew me when I looked like this:

This is me with my friend Sascha back in the summer of 1996, when I worked as a summer associate at my first firm.

This is another photo from the same summer. . . I was about 145 lbs then. . . a great weight for me, and I felt pretty darned good.

Last year, I ran into one major @$$hole from my old firm (he was born that way, so I don't take it too personally), and he was really drunk. He didn't recognize me at first, so I said "Hi, X . . How are you?" He drunkenly looked at me and realized who I was. If you could have seen the way he looked at me, I am sure you would have wanted to smack him. Clearly, he was thinking "Holy S, have you put on a TON of weight!" I'm not imagining this or being overly sensitive -- it was really that obvious. This was particularly horrible, since we were standing with other people who I know and like, and it would have been impossible for anyone to miss his reaction.

So, while this year, I'm not exactly the spitting image of my 25 year old self, I'm feeling much better about how I look -- and future prospects for how I will look -- than I did last year.

BTW, can you BELIEVE that I thought I needed to lose 10 lbs when I was the weight I was in those photos?!? What in the world was wrong with me?

Close[d] Encounters. . .

I haven't written for a few days because I wasn't sure exactly how much I wanted to blog about this. Still, it's totally band-relevant, and definitely part of this process.

On Monday night, I had dinner with my ex-boyfriend. The one of the Peter Pan Avoidance Tour. I told him about the band back in November, which was the last time I saw him (I was about 13 lbs down then) before he took off on a 3-month trip.

On an emotional level, the dinner was a really good thing for me to do to get some more closure. It's hard for me to understand how a guy who says he loves and cares about me, that I'm his best friend, that he still feels the chemistry between us, and that our relationship is "World Class" and "the best one [he's] ever seen" wouldn't also have the desire to marry and have children with me. But that's the case. So, while I really thought he was the right guy for me for more than 2 years, it turns out that he isn't after all, since those are two things I really want.

OK, so now for the happy band-related part. I did get to walk into that restaurant knowing that I am 34 lbs thinner than when I started (and than the version of myself he likely has in his mind, has in photos, etc.). I also got to see that "WOW!" look when he saw me take off my coat. He kept trying not to give me the full-on elevator-eye treatment, but it was clearly a struggle for him. And, it was great to hear how good he thought I look and all of the nice things he had to say about that. He also noticed that I'm actually thinner now than when we first met, which is true. So, I guess that's an NSV -- definitely a very bittersweet one, given the things we talked about, but an NSV nonetheless.

And, to lighten the mood, here is a photo taken of me last night at Artisanal (great bistro-style restaurant with amazing cheeses -- my friends and I were happily surprised to be given the table in the private cheese cellar, which was amazing! Look at all of the cheese behind me. . )

Some More Show & Tell

Not too long ago, I posted photos of myself in the studio doing a letterpress project. Last weekend, a friend of mine (who is a photographer) and I got together and staged a photo shoot for my various letterpress projects in my apartment. We worked for 11 hours, using things that I had around the house as props! He did an amazing job and I am in awe of how beautifully everything turned out!

Here are a few shots that I thought you might enjoy.

These are the Christmas cards I made for myself to send last year -- the text is from Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. The inside says "Merry Christmas from the Little Town of NYC!" :)

Here is a fun shot of the bachelorette party invitations I made for Sharon! There are 2 invitations in the shot -- one showing the front, the other showing the back.

Close-up of the bling & the pirate skirt -- Sharon loves pirates. . . there may even have been a pirate stripper at the event . . . :).

And, here is a photo of the invitations I just finished printing (the ones I was making when I took photos in the studio). :)

These are the RSVP cards that go with the invitation. The stamp plays off of the compass on the map shown on the front of the Save the Date and the logo I made for them that was inspired by it.

And, here are the Save the Date postcards (though these were computer printed, not letterpressed).
Hope you enjoyed these! :)

33 . . and restricted!

As of this morning, I'm 33.6 down. Wow! Between the economy and the state of my love life at the moment, I haven't been feeling all that chipper lately. However, at least the band helps me to make sure that there is one area of my life where I'm consistently happy about how I'm doing!

I'm at very decent restriction right now. However, I notice that I seem to be tighter at night and wind up "sliming" a lot when I have dinner (fortunately that's only happened when I've been alone). Maybe there is some correlation between eating in front of the television and not paying enough attention to how much I'm chewing. . Hmmm. (Doh! How did I not think of that before?!) OK. . I'll sit at the table like a civilized person next time. :)

A Few Very Expensive Bites. .

(This photo of my friend Nadia & me was taken last weekend at The Silver Spur in Soho)

Last night, I went out to a very nice restaurant -- The Modern, which is the restaurant in the MOMA (www.themodernnyc.com) with my friend Erika. Unfortunately, my band was pretty tight, and I was having trouble eating all day. AND they only have prix fixe menus, so I wound up having to order a 3 course meal and only being able to eat very little of it. I did, however, have them wrap up my (basically untouched, gorgeous & delicious) dinner for me, despite that I wouldn't normally ask in such a nice restaurant. So, between dinner and wine, I wound up spending nearly $200 (we split the bill, which was almost $400. . . ) to barely eat anything. That's the last time I will do that, barring a special occasion where someone else picks the restaurant.

One of my friends asked me some very thought provoking questions in an e-mail recently, and I thought that this might be interesting to post. Here goes:

Q: Now, that you changed your eating habits thanks to band, do you think you will be able to keep these habits after the band is taken out?

A: Even though it is possible to take out the band, it is not intended to be temporary. I'll leave it in indefinitely, assuming there are no problems that can't be fixed without removing it. Most people who have their bands out gain weight again.

Q: I never realised that you were unhappy when the scale went up. Did you ever talk about it with anyone?

A: Not really -- my philosophy is that my weight was in my control and that, as long as I wasn't going to take the steps necessary to lose what I wanted to lose, I had no business complaining about it. I definitely felt bad about it, but had such a hard time finding the will power needed to take off a significant amount.

If you think about it, I've been on this "diet" for about 5 months, and it will probably take about 10 more months for me to get to my goal (I'm not really sure about that -- I'm trying to be conservative in projecting my progress). To stay on a strict diet for 15 months without ever messing up would not have been possible without the band. I just do not have that kind of iron will power to be perfect for so long.

Q: What do you think were your eating habits that made you gain?

I'm generally a very healthy eater -- lots of fruits, vegetables, fish, etc. I've thought about how I gained this weight and realized that there are a few reasons. I basically put on 10 lbs a year by eating just a bit too much for my (sh*tty) metabolism on a regular basis. Part of how I did that was by drinking wine with dinner more often than not, and then going for a snack around 9 or 10 at night -- despite that I didn't need it. So, in addition to the wine, I'd also have the extra calories from the snack. I also would "splurge" here and there and have dessert once in a while, or even the occasional (but very rarely) hamburger & fries.

To make sure that I succeed with the band, I've stopped having wine at home, unless it's a special occasion. That cuts down on calories, as well as the urge to eat late at night. Of course, if I go out, I can have wine or a cocktail -- the idea was just to make it so that those extra calories are the exception, rather than the norm.
* * *

Must get running -- going to get my hair done today, then am going to a St. Patrick's Day party tonight!

Another fill. . .but a tiny one

I went to my doctor yesterday -- mainly because I forgot I had an appointment and it was too late to cancel by the time I remembered! I've been at very decent restriction, though I'm sure I could go a bit tighter. I talked to my doctor about it and, since I had taken the time to go to her office, I kind of wanted a teeny top-up of my fill, just to spare me coming back later.

So, now I'm at 2.85 in my 5 cc band. I don't notice a difference from before the last fill.

I asked her about sliming -- which happens to me sometimes, and she said that it's what happens when you eat a little too fast or don't chew enough, and (warning: gross) the saliva pools on top of the stuck food in your stoma. That's why it comes back up -- because it can't go down. Now that she explained it to me, it seems obvious, but I hadn't really put this together before.

The scale seems to be really moving now that I hit the magic number! I'm down 32.4 as of this morning. Onederland really makes stepping on the scale a pleasure, and I'm feeling so motivated to get closer to goal (albeit at an appropriate pace).

Measuring Up, Part 2

I took my measurements again last night, since I'm at a 10 lb point. And, I've lost 11.8 inches in total! Here is how I've done since I started:

Waist: -3.2 inches

Hips: -3.25 inches

Chest: -3 inches (thank goodness it's slow loss . . no perceivable issues there so far. . .)

Wrist: -.5 inch

Forearm: -.4 inch

Thigh: -1 inch

Calf: -.75 inch

Ankle: 0 (same)

Upper Arm: .6 inch

Since my last measurements, which I took on January 26, 2009, the change has been:

Waist: -.7 inch
Hips: -1 inch
Chest: -2.75 inches (yikes! Guess it did finally come off there. . )

Wrist: same
Forearm: .1 inch
Thigh: .75 inch
Calf: -.75 inch

Ankle: 0 (same)
Upper Arm: .1 inch

(So, that's a loss of 6.15 inches in the last 10 lbs.)

Interesting to see that now the weight came off in different places (alas, mainly off the top. . ) during this last 10 lbs.

By the way, I got on the scale this morning, and it's the same as yesterday! I'm happy about this because every time I lose, I generally stay the same for a bit before I lose again. And, sometimes, the scale will be artifically down because I'm dehydrated or something and it will bounce back up a little the following day. HOWEVER, if it's the same 2 days in a row, I can relax a little and know that the loss was a real one. Onederland, I'm here to stay!

ONEDERLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can hardly believe my eyes this morning, but I'm officially in ONEDERLAND. By today's count, I am down 30.8 lbs! I was so happy to see that number on the scale that I had tears in my eyes!

Another observation. . .

I forgot to put this in my list, but the shoulder pain from the operation seems to be totally gone and has been for some time. I'm not sure when it ended, but I just realized yesterday that I wasn't having it anymore.

Getting there!

As of this morning, I'm a solid 28.0 down! I'm really excited to get the next two off! I know that it will take a week or two, but I also know it's just around the corner. :)

Observations roughly 4 months post-op

I'm about 4 months and a week post-op and thought it might be interesting to record a few things I've noticed about how I'm feeling.

* I'm almost 30 pounds down and feel really fantastic (despite that I felt hideous at this weight on the way up).

* I'm pretty calm about small gains on the scale, since I know I tend to bounce up and down a bit before each loss.

* The changes I've made toward food are now habit (I've been bringing my lunch to work now for about 4 months, am having a sensible breakfast (yogurt, oatmeal or a SlimFast) when/if I'm hungry in the morning).

* When I wear heels, my feet don't kill me right away, the way they used to.

* A cute guy flirted with me over the weekend and I'm feeling much better about having to start dating again.

* I don't want to cry when I see photos of myself. (In fact, apparently, I want to post them all over this blog . . . LOL!) :)

* I'm still being way too lazy about working out. At a fellow-bandster's suggestion, I've told myself that when I get off the next 3.2 lbs, I'm going to recommit to the gym.

That's all that comes to mind right now.

Snow Day!!!

(Views from my window this morning)

It's official! My office is closed today due to the snow storm and high winds. I got up early and will work from home for much of the day. However, this morning, I've been spending time finishing up my friends' wedding invitations. I was in the studio last night for about 4 hours, cutting the invitations and RSVP cards and printing the return addresses on the envelopes for the invitations and thank you cards. All in all, I am really pleased with how everything turned out!

Here is a shot of the super-scary guillotine that I used to cut the invitations! It could totally cut off someone's head -- yikes!

And, in band-related news, I am 3.2 lbs from ONEDERLAND. I am really excited to get back there -- Has been a while!

Snow Day?

I just got an e-mail from my office. . . turns out we may be closed tomorrow because of the snow. Fingers crossed!!

I had a really great weekend. A friend of mine was in town from Shanghai (she used to live in NYC and moved to China about 2 years ago). She and her husband have this great (very modern & cool) house upstate, and they invited a bunch of friends over (with kids & even a few dogs) for an all-day get together. There was lots of food (I was not very good, but my band kept me in check), plenty of wine, a bonfire outside, and even fireworks after dark. Plus, it was one of the nicest, warmest gatherings that I've been to in ages. Wish I could turn back time so I could do the whole thing over again tomorrow!

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!