"You have to own the personality you are!" ~Judy Smith, Esq.



The real Olivia Pope!!!!



Well what a week I have had! Today I can truly exclaim TGIF!!! TGIF!!! TGIF!!! Well unless you've been under a rock some where you know all about the hit ABC show Scandal by Shonda Rhimes of Grey's fame. Well I got a chance to meet the real life "Olivia Pope" she had a lecture well really more of a chit chat with a room full of admirers, myself included! She was great! So down to earth. In fact she left the stage to be closer to the audience. She talked about the show, work life balance (she is married with two sons), and discussed her career and gave awesome advice for the college students in the audience.

She was gracious enough to take pictures with everyone who waited in line which was awesome! She seemed really at peace with herself and that came across loud and clear. She made the comment "You have to own the personality you are!" when discussing how she conducts business and how she deals with people. She is not a shrinking violet lol and she said basically you have to know yourself and do what you have to do. It really spoke to me because my personality is not for everyone. A few of the friends I was with gave me a silent nod lol It made me think of the fact I wasted a lot of time trying to make people like me and in retrospect some of these people made their minds up long ago that they just would not like me. I let that quest go. I can't change but so much at 37 and to be honest I am happy with who I am. Not that certain things about myself can not be improved but if it doesn't work for someone I am not going to break my neck and spirit to change for them either.

Anyhoo good experience! I have not been feeling 100% not sure what that is about but I can say I've been eating a bunch of crap (Micky Ds, Roy Rogers, Red Lobster, etc.) and not working out consistently! So there you go. I am working on that though. I was playing on facebook on my way to work and I saw an e-book  on Paleo for $15.00 so I am going to get it. The guide my soror gave is great and I have gotten some great info there so this will supplement that!

Seeing the picture with Judy Smith was a reality check I was W---I----D---E--- around the middle! Granted she is TINY...NO...tiny.... BUT STILL!!! I was like no no no Cylia if we are back to cropping pictures we know we are wayyyyy off plan! No LOL!!!

So I am starting fresh in April with my WW Paleo Plan. Paleo works well with Weight Watchers because it focuses on eating clean and in WW fruits and veggies are 0 points. I feel full and its an overall good marriage of my dietary needs and weight loss goals. HOWEVER COMMA... This emotional eating is not good. Any stress I am still reverting to soothing myself with food and if it was an occasional slip it would be one thing but I am not going to keep beating a dead horse.

So yesterday I did well I went to another agency for lunch and came upon this great salad called the Lebanese Fattoush Salad. It was awesome! I added some pulled pork that was slow roasted in a Paleo friendly way. Below is the picture! 

I did not have the pita but here are 2  versions of the salad. It is very light and tasty and I plan to make some at home because this dish was $13.00 :-/ at the salad bar! But it was some kinda good!!!


 INGREDIENTS:

•1 head of romaine lettuce (or any other lettuce), torn in pieces
•a bunch of purslane or mâche
•a few Persian cucumbers (or English-hothouse, or just plain cucumbers)
•a few tomatoes, diced
•a few radishes, sliced
•green onions, sliced
•a handful of chopped Italian parsley and a handful of fresh mint
•a green pepper, diced (optional)
•a large loaf of pita bread or 2 small pita breads
For the Fattoush dressing:

1.2 small lemons, juiced
2.1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
3.2 generous tablespoons of sumac, plus extra to sprinkle on the pita breadsticks
4.2 or more cloves of garlic mashed in a dash of salt in a mortar
METHOD:

1.Brush the pita breads with plenty of olive oil; sprinkle plenty of sumac on top.
2.With kitchen scissors, cut the bread into thin breadsticks. Toast in a 325F oven till crispy and golden. Set aside.
3.Prepare all the salad ingredients; mix the dressing; when ready to serve, toss the salad with the dressing and serve the breadsticks on the side, or break them up the traditional way, and incorporate in the fattoush.

OR

Found WW version PointsPlus Value: 4 per serving
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 0 min
Cooking Time: 0 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
3 head(s) romaine lettuce
4 Tbsp dried spearmint
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
4 Tbsp Filippo Berio Olive oil
2 medium lemon(s)
1 medium English cucumber(s)
1 medium uncooked red onion(s)
1 medium fresh tomato(es)
2 tsp kosher salt
3 clove(s) garlic clove(s) , finely minced
Instructions
1. In a large mixing bowl, finely mash garlic into salt. Chop tomato and add to bowl and combine with garlic and salt mixture and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes. In the mean time, cut English cucumber into half moons and chop red onion. Add to bowl. Add the dried mint, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Chop romaine and toss in the large bowl. Serve


Here's another version you can check out!
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/09/recipe-for-fattoush-lebanese-crumbled.html


Aside from that all is well. I had a pretty stressful week at work its a really busy period and I am juggling a lot of cases. Also the Manfriend was under the weather but he's feeling a bit better now but we haven't seen each other since last week. :-( Today is Good Friday and I was debating taking off because he is off but figured I should go to work for at least  6 hours and leave a bit early to spend time with him :-)

I have some great trips coming up sorority related and just for fun so I need to be careful with my leave! So I am here! Its funny I was telling him about my two upcoming trips my Dad 70th Birthday I am going to Florida and the follow week is my sorority conference. I could hear the pregnant pause on the phone like "Well what about me?!?" So I was quick to ask him to take me to the train before my conference so I could see him before I leave and I told him I would take a late train. Its so weird being in a relationship!!! Thinking about the other person and when you have a consistent schedule with each other its difficult to balance it. The one great thing is several of his family members are in a sorority too and they are very active so he told me he is used to it. So we shall see but I have been talking to Sorors that are married about that balance so I will do my best and be sure to keep the lines of communication open. Fortunately both trips are quick...but I have a cruise coming up in June/July that I will wait to mention down the line lol I am so excited about that trip it leaves from Puerto Rico and goes to St. Croix, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia & Barbados!!!

Can't wait! Tomorrow I will go to Weight Watchers and face the music it will not be pretty to be honest I don't even know how I missed so many meetings! You know its bad when facebook friends email you to see why you havent checked in lol But it was a nice email saying I inspired them to join and they ahve had such ood results they were checking on me :-)

My Mother was here last weekend and mentioned a co-worker lost 50 pounds by joining Over Eaters Anonymous. I looked it up and my co-worker actually told me she lost 80 pounds over 8 years ago by going to meetings. I went on line and looked up a meeting and went because I often say to my family and friends WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME I WAS THAT BIG?!? They all swear (well my family does) they tried to talk to me but I wouldn't respond kindly (lol) I don't recall that lol so I said IF she is taking the time and effort to actually talk to me about it I should listen this time. I am 40 pounds from goal... So that's till 60 pounds lost...I am proud of that 60 pounds but it is sad to be that far back up that's regaining almost half my weight back in 2-3 years. Long story short I didn't find the meeting and the women I called said they have not been members of OA in almost 5 years. So I need to do some more research but there are phone meetings and online meetings so there are options. Its just more help, support, and accountability.

I was looking at the old pictures I still have on my walls and I was thinking for the first time I should change them out for new pictures because I don't want Manfriend to see them. I can't say I ever felt like that before and I don't know if that's the/my ego or an attempt to move on from that Cylia. I am still debating it. The hard part is a lot of my newer pictures I don't have printed off although I have started doing a few but Lord knows where they are. So I don't know but I gotta make a decision today before he sees them.... I'll report back.

But if you have had that experience please let me know. I know on facebook so many people have confided in me their weight loss stories (privately) but there are nooo picutres anywhere of their former selves.  I have left most of mine up. It is who I was those were still good times and moments in my life I was just severly overweight. But I can't say when someone digs up an old picture I don't cringe just a little bit... but I deal with it and I've been pretty proactive about posting before and after pictures to help others. In fact when I posted the salad I had for lunch yesterday someone posted that I helped them make a healthy choice for lunch after seeing my salad. That is all I want to do help others and be helped in return.

But not sure what to do about the old pictures I will think about it....

Anyway its pretty quiet at work so I figured I would update my blog. So one thing off my to do list today :-)

 Have a great Good Friday and Passover and Resurrection Sunday!