| Tuesday, October 23, 2007 |
| My TV Reviews |
Hola amigos. If you're wondering why I don't post as much as I used to is because my days really don't have much variety in them. I pretty much just wake up around 8:30, do school work from 9-4ish, exercise for about 30 min, make dinner, and then watch ER reruns or whatever show is on, and hang out with Craig. Oh maybe that's what I can talk about..my view on shows this season. But first, an update for you: health journey is going well, I am down 17.5 lbs from where I started a month ago. My goal is to continue at the rate of 2 lbs per week until I reach a healthy weight for my height. Slow and steady wins the race... and keeps the pounds off.
 So... a few weeks back I talked about the shows I was going to follow this season. Well, my priorities have been compromised due to a growing obsession with past seasons of ER. You see, I've always loved ER and have been watching on and off for years upon years (it's in its 14th season), but ever since I got season 4 for Christmas last year, I have been completely addicted in downloading and watching every epi since then. I just finished season 9 a few nights ago and I am SO SAD that Abby and Carter don't stay together... but I knew they were doomed from the start, being that in the current season she is married to Luka.. but whatever... anyway, all that to say that most nights I don't feel like watching anything but ER, so I haven't given some of the new shows as much of a chance as I would have.
Grey's Anatomy: definitely funnier than the last half of last season, which I appreciate. I enjoy watching but am not a fan of all the new interns... I miss Addison there though, she should've stayed. Oh and the George/Izzy thing irritated me to no end. I'm happy about the turn of events with it though and hope that George and Callie work it out.
ER: As I mentioned earlier, it is in it's 14th (and rumored final) season and doing pretty well. Unfortunately Luka and Abby are on their way out now, which is sad, but if it ends then it wont matter. Since I'm so engrossed in what's happening in past seasons, I can hardly pay attention to what's going on, except that I enjoy watching.
Private Practice: I'm really curious to hear people's thoughts on this show. I have been watching since the first epi, but last week I just couldn't be bothered. Is it just me, or do they keep ending up at the hospital? Wasn't the point of this show to be different than Grey's? I like the cast, especially Amy Brenneman, but the show is just not catching me. I'll be a casual watcher, at best.
Dirty Sexy Money: I watched the first 3 epi's, and really liked it, but decided to let it go a few weeks ago due to the fact that I really just wanted to watch ER.
Pushing Daisies: Super cute show..is anyone watching this? It's really funny and well written. Unfortunately it's on at the same time as my Spanish class so I only see the last half each week.. but I think I might tape them because they are really good. I didn't start off with this show, but my parents did and got me into it.
Law and Order SVU: I don't think I'll ever be able to give up this show, even though I can feel the writers running out of story lines. My guess is that it will last only 1 or 2 more seasons, but it won't be the end for Mariska Hargitay. She's generated a huge fan base and will probably do more films after SVU. Regarding this season, it's been pretty good, slightly predictable, but better than last season.
Okay that's it for my reviews. Let me know if you have any thoughts or if you've gotten into any new shows I didn't mention!Labels: Dirty Sexy Money, ER, Grey's Anatomy, Law and Order SVU, mariska hargitay, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies |
posted by jamie @ 3:38 PM  |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, October 16, 2007 |
| Update |
Okay new post time... I haven't had much to say the past few days. Craig and I have both been really busy with school work, in fact I'm just taking a break from school for 30 minutes before I have Spanish class at 6pm (I started at 9:30 am..!). I've got 2 papers due at the end of this week. The first is a persuasive research paper 5-6 pages long on the Death Penalty and why it should be abolished, and the second is another 5 page paper on the roles of Women in Hinduism and Buddhism. Phew!
Other than that, not much is going on. Last night I went to check out a place I'm going to start volunteering at. It's a horse ranch that holds lessons for disabled children. The program I'm working with is called a 'Therapeutic Riding Program' and my job will be to walk along side kids as they ride the horse and make sure they don't fall off.. last night was my first time and I must say I'm not sure how well I'll be able to hold kids up when the belly of the horse is higher than my head... we'll see though. It was just really fun to be out in the open air with horses, ponies, dogs, a goat and sheep, and a miniature pony. Oh yeah and a cat and rooster. Very fun!
Lastly my health is going well. The weight loss slowed down but that was to be expected. I'm 15 lbs lighter and fitting more comfortably into my clothes, whic h is a great feeling. And because I love deserts, my recipe of the week is a combination of getting good vitamins and one of your fruit servings, while making it a desert. It's a baked apple, and it's yuuuummmmy and only has about 111 calories and 1 gram of fat!
you need:
1 apple
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
a few drops of vanilla extract
.5 tsp of margarine
Cut the apple into slices, with the seeds and core cut out
Put the apple back together and put tin foil around it, to hold the shape
Open the apple up a bit and drop in the brown sugar, extract and margarine
Close up tight and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes
YUM! Here's my pic from today. Labels: baked apples, weight loss |
| posted by jamie @ 5:31 PM |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, October 09, 2007 |
| Skinny Food |
 Happy Thanksgiving (late) Canadians! Hope you all had nice yummy dinners... This was the first time in 5 years that I wasn't celebrating thanksgiving in Vancouver - crazy, huh? Well we had a nice time, went to Craig's parents house. That was fun, being able to pop over there for the evening. We had amazing food and I brought the green bean casserole, of course! Can't have thanksgiving without that, at least I can't.
Being that it was thanksgiving yesterday and I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted, I worked really hard today to eat healthily and work off some of those extra calories. So I wanted to share with you an extremely filling, tasty and low-cal, low-fat, and low-carb dinner I had tonight, that I invented. You might think it's crazy, but you wont after you try it!
Shrimpscetti (creative, huh?)
1 zucchini
5-6 large shrimp
garlic clove (or 1 tsp crushed)
olive oil
1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
a pinch of basil, salt, pepper, and parsley (fresh parsley would be best, but i used dried).
Now who doesn't like pasta? I don't know many people who aren't fans. But the obvious thing about pasta is that too much puts extra padding around the middle, for most of us (not craig). SO, this part I did not invent, the zucchini replaces the pasta in this dish because zucchini is basically a great vegetable with little flavor on it's own, so it sucks up all the flavors around it and then tastes like them. So you need a zester, or peeler if you don't have one, and you want to zest the whole zucchini, skin included, down to the seeds. You will basically end up with just the middle tube on the zuchini. Put this in the frying pan with olive oil. Add the rest and cook up nice and hot. Trust me, the lemon juice and garlic and spices flavor the zucchini so it takes even better than pasta! Yet you sort of feel like you're eating spaghetti. You could use the zucchini like that with red sauce as well.
Yum-o! as Rachel Ray would say. The best part about it is that I was totally filled up, and the whole thing was only 175 calories! Check out the nutrition facts that I whipped up on Sparkpeople. Here's some pictures I took. Nice and green!  Labels: low calorie, low carb, low fat, zucchini pasta |
| posted by jamie @ 8:00 PM |
|
|
|
| Saturday, October 06, 2007 |
| Makin' Progress |
Well I am happy to report that I have lost 14 lbs as of today. It's been a great start, but a lot of weight loss in the beginning is water weight so I know that it will slow down after this week. My goal is to lose around 2 lbs a week now, which is hopefully the healthy kind of weight loss that doesn't come right back in a month.
Other than that, things are going well. I'm settling into the routine of school and keeping up with my assignments. I really like the online environment and I think it really works well for me. I've handed in 4 papers already and so far have A's in each class, going into week 5. Not too shabby! Here's a screen shot of what my spanish classes are like. I sit there looking at this screen with a headset on while talking with around 15 other people plus my professor. The screen changes like a power point presentation and he has some sort of device that allows him to draw on the screen and it shows up on mine. Pretty neat, huh?
Still loving Sparkpeople - it's been a huge help in gaining control of eating. I knew it would be a big commitment, but so far the time spent on that site has been wonderful. I just can't believe that kind of service is free! It really is amazing... I got my mom all set up on there now so we're going to be working on this weight loss together. It always helps to have people "around" you that are working at it too.
Well that's it for me these days. Hope all is well out there in blogland!Labels: Empire State College, sparkpeople, weight loss |
| posted by jamie @ 7:36 PM |
|
|
|
| Monday, October 01, 2007 |
| A day in the life |
I had to take a break from school to share a story with my blogging friends. This is a snippet of an actual conversation I had with my mother the other night over the telephone.
Jamie: (rambling on about something)
mom: (to dad, in the background) "....Carl there's another deer in the yard!"
(unidentified words in the background)
mom: (to dad) "Are you going to get your gun?"
Jamie: What? Did you just ask him if he's going to get his gun?
mom: yes, there's a deer in the yard! He's gotta get it!
Jamie: Are you serious? You shoot the deer that come into your yard?
mom: Well they eat my flowers!
Jamie: Wait a second.. I mean dad is out in the yard killing a deer right now?
mom: well, not killing, just scaring it with his gun.
Jamie: a real gun??
mom: no, his paintball gun.
And there you have it my friends. My parents shoot deer that come into their yard with a paintball gun.
Just had to share that.Labels: crazy, deer, paintball |
| posted by jamie @ 1:31 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
