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“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” ~ Jonathan Swift

Monday, April 27, 2009

Excuse me. Have you seen my diet?

I've been really bad!  This past weekend's beautiful weather made everything seem like a great idea.  

Friday:

You know, just when I was thinking about how I should detox from that greasy Teacher Appreciation luncheon, I fell off the wagon.  The weekend began with a bang with a bunch of friends in Olde City.  I was only supposed to have my one beer but then here I was, with a tequila sunrise.  At least I ate a Clif Bar before going out???

Saturday:

I woke up kind of hungover, being a lightweight these days.  Outside was 90 degrees and sunny!  I scampered around town picking up anti-inflammatory goodies; this was probably wishful thinking.  When I went home, I made yogurt (also wishful) and then met up with friends for a pre-dinner dinner.  Water ice!  Vegetarian Burrito!  Corona!  All in my tummy.  The beautiful weather made everything look so delicious and refreshing--and they were.  I had a great time. 

Ok, so what?  Big deal.  Just stop eating bad stuff after that, right?  

A good college friend was visiting, so the night was just getting started.  Here is where things went exponentially south. Hoping to show him a taste of the Philly foodie scene, I booked reservations at Matyson.  Both being very good walkers, we showed up too early and headed to a nearby bar where I decided to have what he was having: Jack Daniels on the rocks.  Like I said, everything just seemed like a fantastic idea this past weekend.  Dinner was good and I tried to stick to my anti-inflammatory plan.  We split a lump crab "cocktail" thing and then I had seared scallops.  Along the way, we are easily going through our bottle of wine.  Naturally, dessert seemed like a good idea!  I read glowing reviews of their butterscotch pudding, so you can see where this is headed.  It was so good!  So good!  I don't even care for sugar, but this was like drinkable dang it.

THEN.

I had to take him to Capogiro.  HAD TO.  He ordered the tangerine and dark chocolate.  For myself, the tangerine and Mexican chocolate.  At some point, we swapped so I guess I ended up eating dark chocolate too.  The weather was so wonderful, we decided to end the night with margaritas.  At this point, I was so drunk he ended up finishing my drink, thank goodness.

On Sunday, I woke up with a raging hangover and an aching tummy.  This is my retribution for playing with my diet these days.  Playtime was over and I tried to get my act together.  I drank tons of water and met up with my mama for some steamed fish and sauteed snow pea greens.  It's time to detox for real.  This week's lineup of meals include pasta with seared shrimp, salmon and lentils, and quinoa stuffed bell peppers.   Along the way, I'll be popping fish oil capsules and drinking my Vega protein shakes...

Monday, April 13, 2009

2009: Year of Stupid

The universe hates me.  I am sure of it now and wonder how stupid 2009 will get before I hit bottom.  I had a disheartening eye appointment today.  My vision has worsened since December and there's blood in the back of my eye.  After five hours at Wills Eye, I walked out with another Avastin injection, a $15 copay, a $100 injection bill, and a tender bloodshot eye.  I ended up bursting into tears at the doctor's office, which was mortifying and another stupid thing that happened. Hey, at least my antibiotic drops were free...thanks, universe.

So, now I'm questioning a lot of things.  I was so excited about my new approaches but it's been close to five months now.  I am trying to get my new batch of acupuncture treatments refunded; at $500 a month, I'm not convinced this is worth it.  I'm broke and stressed about being broke...on top of stressing about all those other things 2009 has dumped on me (personal life falling apart, crashed hard drive, piling debt, lost luggage...it's really getting a bit unbelievable).  

What to do?  I'm free and clear of auto-immune activity, so I'm back at square one.  My retina specialist has a hunch that this is infectious in origin but that's all he's got.  Hopefully I can get my acupuncture refund and that will help ease my mind.  I'm still sticking to the diet though; I have had too many other health benefits and honestly, I like eating healthier.  

Here's to my rotten day.  I'm gonna finish my soy chicken cheese steak now and then drown my sorrows in really bad television.