My 500th post, and a giveaway

This is my 500th post. Hip, hip, hooray!

I started this blog in December of 2005 to help cure my boredom during my school Christmas break. My friends Kristi and Jenny had recently become bloggers and they persuaded me to join them. My first post was about the TV show 24. I've come a long way since then. My blog started as place for me to write about silly things, vent about school, and communicate with friends. It was back when blogging was relatively new and not many regular people like me were doing it, or even knew what it was. I started it for fun and I had no idea that four years and five hundred posts later I'd still be going strong.

I love my blog. I love sharing myself here with the world. I know a lot of my friends and family read my blog to stay updated on my life and look at pictures, and I love having a place where I can chronicle the events in my life. But I also love having a place to put my thoughts. I may not be the best writer, but it is wonderful to have a creative outlet such as this.

Of course, this blog would be nothing without you, my readers! I really appreciate your support, feedback, and comments. I started with about two loyal readers and now I have a solid readership of people from all over the world. Thank you readers! To show you all how much I appreciate you I am holding my first ever giveaway! I will send one lucky reader something completely delicious from my kitchen. I'm not quite sure yet what exactly that will be, part of it depends on how far I will be shipping the package, but I promise it will be yummy! And I am open to suggestions.

To enter the contest all you need to do is leave a comment telling me why you love my blog. JUST KIDDING. What I'm really interested in hearing about is why you like (or dislike) blogging. Do you have a blog? If so, why? What is your purpose for your blog and what about blogging do you enjoy? Also, what do you look for in other blogs that you follow?

I will select the winner with the help of Random.org on Saturday November 14th at 12:00pm so make sure you have your entries submitted by then. One entry per person please.

Again, thank you to all of my faithful readers!

Evidence I'm losing my mind

Yesterday I accidentally put Steve's glasses on instead of my own and wore them all day. Eight hours passed before I even noticed.

I had a training meeting today in another location and I was rushing because I was way behind. When I got there I discovered that I wasn't ten minutes late, I was one week early. The meeting isn't until next Friday.

Maybe I was meant to be a blonde? Or maybe I just really need a weekend. I'm going to go with the latter.

Delicious!

I am so far behind. Not only did I miss the deadline for last month's Daring Bakers Challenge again, but it's been nearly a month since I posted anything food related. October was a crazy month and I guess my baking fell by the wayside. But I'm back in the game!

To start, I have belatedly completed October's Daring Baker Challenge of the French Macaron. I made vanilla bean macarons with both a chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream filling. They were absolutely delicious and cute too.

Visit And Now for Something Completely Delicious for the recipe and more details.

What the what?

I have the potential to create a little stir with this post. If anyone still reads this blog. The thing is, I don't like 30 Rock. Hate is too strong of a word, but I really dislike it. I just don't find it to be all that funny. There are a few moments that I enjoy, I'll admit, but the rest of it is just a whirlwind mess. I've seen every episode because Steve likes it and everyone is always talking about how funny it is and it wins awards, and so I give it a new chance every week. But you know what? It just doesn't do it for me.

The latest plot line is centered around Jack's quest to find a new cast member that is more "American" and who can help make their show more relate able. It's interesting because this is one of the main reasons why I don't like 30 Rock. There isn't a single person on the show that I can relate to. The main characters are too ridiculous. I think Tracy Morgan's character would be far more hilarious if it weren't so over the top.

For me, 30 Rock is too far out there. It tries too hard to be funny, with each beat of each episode screaming "Laugh! LAUGH!" It has all the components of a good show (I love Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey), I just think it misses the mark.

And apparently I'm not the only one who shares this opinion. Germans hate 30 Rock. And so do the Brits.

On a somewhat related note, has anyone else noticed a sharp decline in The Office lately?

A new goal for a new me, Part 2

In August I set a weight loss goal for myself and wrote about it here. To sum up, in case you forgot, my goal was to lose eleven pounds in eight weeks with the help of the Steve Ward Diet (also known as the Line Diet). My eight weeks were officially up last weekend. How did I to? Well, let's have a look.

You can see that it was one bumpy ride. Very bumpy, for me and my graph. But it does trend downward and you can see definite improvement. And I came within a pound and a half of my goal, something I am very proud of! You'll notice that my line stops abruptly one week before my end date. That's because I was on vacation and enjoying a little indulgence and the daily weighing-in (and the weight gain) was ruining all the fun, and so I decided to end the dieting session. I have since started a new chart with a new end date to get myself back on track and lose the last few pounds (and possibly a few more).

I didn't reach my goal, that's true. But I came very close. This "diet" is proving extremely effective for me. Having to weigh myself each morning has made me very aware of what I eat and how much exercise I get. And I have more self control now than I've ever had before. The satisfaction I get from stepping on that scale and seeing real results is so much more than the fleeting satisfaction I may get from straying from my healthy regimen.

The main thing this diet has taught me is that up until now the weekends have completely ruined my healthy efforts. I would be very good during the week and eat right and exercise nearly every day. But then came the weekend and I guess I just thought that two little days couldn't undo five. I'd start Saturday off with a big delicious, and calorie-filled, breakfast and it went downhill from there. Literally every pound I lost during the week was put back on by Sunday and each week was the same cycle, as you can see in my graph. It took me several weeks before I was able to change my habits and get to the point that even with a slight weight gain each weekend (you've got to live a little, right?) I was still down for the week overall.

I've been home from vacation for over a week now and I'm finding it hard to get back into my healthy habits. What is it about going on vacation that makes maintaining weight loss so hard? Do you have any advice or tips for staying healthy on vacation? Halloween and the other quickly approaching holidays won't help either. At least my daily hop on the scale should keep me from going too overboard.

I know some of my readers expressed interest in The Line Diet after I wrote about it. Has anyone tried it and have results to share? I think I'll report again in a month on my progress. Wish me luck!