Eldorado

I am trying to lose weight, but in my efforts to do that I am not willing to give up all the things I enjoy....like going out to eat.  Scott and I are eating out less frequently and I am being more mindful of my diet in general, but we still go out periodically.  The Friday before last, we decided to finally go to the Eldorado Grill-- which we have been meaning to do for quite some time.

Cute place on Willy Street.  It's 1 of several establishments that share a building so you go into a common entry way and then enter the restaurant.  It's smaller than we expected, but cozy and charming and comfortable.  I wish we had gotten better pictures of the inside.

We started off with margaritas.  They were good, but I need to remember that I really don't love margaritas all that much. 

For dinner, I ordered the special and Scott had some kind of seafood enchiladas.  The food was so good, it makes you want to put the "f" word right in the middle of another word.  Like, the food was outfuckingstanding.

The language may be crude, but the food was awesome.  Scott's enchiladas...

My fish special....would make a "something to write home about" topic....



Mine came with 2 sides.  I got mashed potatoes and collard greens.  Those greens.  Oh my.  Those greens.  So, so good.  I would go back again just for those.   Incredible flavor.  Almost tasted like they had been grilled.  Mmmmm.

We shared a piece of melt-in-your-mouth flan for dessert.

We were impressed with the Eldorado.  It exceeded our expectations and is now on the list of places where we would take company when they come to town.  That's a high compliment.  Loved it.

It's Been 6 Weeks

Actually, it's been 7.  I told myself if I hadn't started losing some weight by the 6 week mark since I started my Fit Bit exercise regimen, I was going to give up and just accept my fatness.  In 7 weeks, I've lost 7 pounds.  My goal is 1 pound a week, so I have achieved that.  Although truth be told, I had hoped for a little more rapid loss than that in the beginning.  It's better than gaining 7 pounds, that's for damn sure. 

At this rate though, it will take me a little over a year to achieve my goal.  I need to lose 63 pounds from where I started.  As of today, I have 56 pounds to go.  That's a mighty long way, but at least now it's 50-something to lose instead of 60-something to lose.  (Hey-I'll slice and dice it any way I can to feel a little progress.)

So, I'm going to keep plugging away at it.  I have achieved, and usually exceeded, my goals every day for 7 weeks:  minimum of 10,000 steps/day, minimum of 5 miles/day and minimum of 30 very active minutes/day.  I've pushed through a bad cold and 2 menstrual cycles to achieve the daily goals.     

I got my 250 mile badge this past Thursday.

I'm going to keep going.  One step at a time. 

Fit Bit Continued

I have learned a few things about my Fit Bit since I last wrote on this blog. 


#1- I learned that you get initially seduced by e-mail updates and badges but if you want to continue receiving them, you have to sign up.  As with most things that require you to sign up, there is a fee. 

#2- Scott has been very encouraging and as part of that he paid the $49.99 annual fee for me to sign up for the Fit Bit dashboard.  It's actually pretty cool.  Lots of information available. Formats, like bar and line graphs, that are easy to understand.  You can track your own progress as well as see where you stand in relation to others in the general population.

#3- I earned my 50 mile badge.  The next mileage badge isn't until 250 miles.  That's a mighty long way.  So far I have gone 164.54 miles.

#3- It will be 4 weeks Monday since I started.  I have met my goals every single day.  Minimum of 10,000 steps and 5 miles per day.  Also minimum of 30 very active minutes per day and 50 ounces of water daily.  After 4 weeks at that pace, you would think I would have lost some weight.  Yeah, not really.  Maybe 2 pounds.  I told Scott that I am going to give it 6 weeks.  If I haven't lost some weight by the 6 week mark, I'm giving up and just accepting my fatness. 

But, for now I gotta go...I've still got a half mile to walk to get to 5 miles for the day. 

Fit Bit

I'm not one for gadgets.  I do just about the minimum to get by with technology of all types.  My work cell phone hasn't synced to my e-mail for months because I don't know how to re-set it.  I can't even watch a movie in my own home because I can't work the combination of the TV, the PSP that plays the movies and the surround sound system.  If I really want to watch a movie, I'd better hope Scott is home to get it going for me.  I'm not proud of this.  It's just the way it is.  Patience is a virtue.  I didn't get that one.  I have neither the patience for  nor the interest in trying to figure out how gadgets work.

There is always an exception, right?  I found mine.  I first learned of it last December when I was reading a magazine in a hair salon.  I saw a blurb about something called a Fit Bit Zip.  I don't recall the details of the blurb, but it piqued my interest enough that I wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in my wallet.  I have come across that piece of paper (I made some other notes on it as well) several times over the past 8 months.  Finally, 2 weeks ago when I was piddling around on a quiet Sunday morning (kind of like now), I Googled the Fit Bit Zip.  Interesting.  And I seriously need to lose some weight.  And it's only 60 bucks. 

Ordering on-line was an option, but some local retailers carry it also- including Best Buy.  Scott and I had some errands to run anyways, so I added Best Buy to the list and stopped in to buy my Fit Bit Zip.  It is about the cutest little thing.  I believe it comes in 4 colors, including black- which would typically be my go-to choice.  But, I decided to step out of my usual and I got the Fit Bit Zip in this color.  Would this be considered chartreuse?  (And why can't I move the image up closer to this text?  See-- I'm making my own point about how technologically behind I am.  I can barely manipulate this blog.)

image from mashable.com

I totally dig this little gadget and I even know how to work it!  It tracks steps per day, distance and calories burned.  It also has a clock and a little smiley face when it is "resting".  Two things that I love most about it:

1. It wirelessly syncs to my iPhone.  The app on the iPhone shows the steps, distance, calories burned, very active minutes, water consumed and weight.  I think you can set it up to track other things, but this is good enough for me.  On the iPhone, it will sync to show you where you are in terms of meeting your goals at that very minute and displays your progress on bar graphs.  It does a bunch of other neat stuff too.  Too much to get into here.

2.  When you reach certain milestones, you get "badges" sent to you via e-mail.  So far, I have earned my 5000 steps/day badge, my 10,000 steps per day badge, my 15,000 steps per day badge and my 50 mile badge.  I had a deficit of praise as a child.  As an adult I recognize this because any little bit of praise I get just puffs me up-- including a computer generated "badge" from Fit Bit.  (Hey- it doesn't take much when you lived a childhood devoid of praise or affirmation.) 

3.  OK- so there are 3 things I love most about it and not 2 like I wrote above.  The third thing that I really love about this gadget is that you get an e-mail with your progress report every week. 

The Fit Bit is great for me because I am highly competitive, even with myself.  It has been supremely motivating for me to have something tangible/visible showing my fitness progress each day.  When you achieve your daily goals, the categories on the iPhone app turn green to show that the goal was met.  Highly competitive me has to have green on everything.  And I have since the day I started almost 2 weeks ago. 

I love this little thing.  It has given me a much needed push.  Now let's hope I can keep it up..... 

Questions, Round 2: Who Knew....?

After I got done paying $100.00 for shampoo and conditioner (see previous post), I met up with Scott at this place in Chicago.

I had a beer to try to sooth the pain of my ridiculous expenditure.  After the edge softened, what to do next?  Spend more money, of course.  Alcohol and spending money-- great coping mechanisms.  Anyhow, after we left Miller's Pub, Scott was excited to show me that in Chicago they have an entire Carhartt store.  Scott does love him some Carhartt's. 

Two points I should make:
1.  The day we were in Chicago was Scott's birthday.
2.  I have a hat fetish.

I went into the Carhartt store with the intention of letting Scott pick something out as part of his birthday special treatment.  There is actually lots of cool stuff in the Carhartt store, including stuff for women.  Who knew?  

If my waist line was smaller, I would totally wear both of those outfits.  And the bags?  Loved the bags.  Who knew Carhartt had such cute bags for women?

And, who knew Carhartt has such cute women's hats???  I had to have both of these. And it wasn't even my birthday.  And I had just spent $100 on shampoo and conditioner.

 Here is the inside of the purple one.  Striped.

Those were just too cute to leave in the store.  Although now that I think about it, I bought hats that will cover up the hair that I will be washing with $100 worth of product.  If I'm going to wear hats anyways, I could probably just wash my hair with dish soap.

Questions, Round 1: Why, why, why.........

.....didn't I ask more questions about these products when I was at the Vidal Sassoon salon in Chicago last weekend?

I asked the stylist doing my hair about color-conserving shampoo and conditioner options.  I have been using the Aveda Color Conserve line for a long time and just wanted to make a temporary change.  I get bored if I use the same products for too long.   My first question to the stylist was, does it really matter?  Do shampoo and conditioner products that claim to help conserve hair color really work?  She said, yes, I should definitely use color conserving product.  OK.  Then I asked her if she had a line she would recommend.  She said, yes, Kerastase.  There.  Right there. Right there is when I should have asked another question.  I should have asked:  how much do those products cost?  But, I didn't.  I just said something along the lines of, "I'll try it."  The stylist was nice enough to put the products up at the front desk for me while I changed after my hair was done.  I went up front to pay, was given my total and thought, "damn, did I break a window?"  Later that day when I got the Kerastase shampoo and conditioner out of the bag, it became clear to me why my total at the salon was so much higher than I expected.  Kerastase shampoo?  $39.99.  Conditioner?  60 bucks.  (I feel faint.)


And another:  Why, why, why......

.....didn't I put on a higher grade of sunscreen when I was doing this yesterday in Lake Waubesa?

I am burnt up. 

Questions, Round 2 coming soon.....

5 Years

March 14 marked our 5 year wedding anniversary.  On the day itself, Thursday this year, I was in La Crosse for work so Scott and I didn't get to celebrate on the actual date.  My friend, Kori, happened to be in La Crosse for work on Thursday, too, so she celebrated with me at one of my favorite spots- the Starlite Lounge.

Scott and I did our celebrating together yesterday.  We've had the "new car itch" so we started the day looking at cars.  Some we thought we would like, we immediately ruled out once we saw them up close and on the inside-- like the new Maxima.  Beautiful on the outside.  Not functional for us on the inside.  After looking at several different vehicles, we agreed that we would really like to have a Cadillac SRX.  Nice thought.  Ain't happenin'.

It was cold and dreary yesterday so we were glad to finish up the car window shopping and get someplace indoors.  First stop:  Bon Fyre.

Love Bon Fyre.  They do a lot of wood grilling in there, so it always smells so good and feels warm and cozy.  We started with Irish Margaritas.  Here is my cute boy with his.

We had dinner reservations, but not for several hours.  We decided to tide ourselves over with a Thai-chicken flat bread.  That thing was delish.  By the time it arrived, Scott had moved from an Irish Margarita to an Old Fashioned.

After Bon Fyre, we stopped in Steinhafel's.  We custom ordered a new living room chair from there about 8 weeks ago.  It has finally arrived and is ready for pick up.  We didn't pick it up yesterday, but we did stop in to look at lamps.  I love the look of a Tiffany style lamp in the front window of a house.  To me, they just look so glow-y and welcoming.  The problem is, I'm not sure Tiffany style lamps really go with our furniture or the new chair.  My dilemma:  do I really care?  That's a question to answer another day.


After walking through Steinhafel's, we made our way downtown.  We had dinner reservations at 5:30 at the Tornado Room.  We found a spot right in front of the restaurant, but we had a couple hours to kill-- so began the drinking tour.

First stop:  Tipsy Cow.  (Let me just say the 2 block walk from the car to the Tipsy Cow was just about the longest 2 blocks I have ever walked.  The wind was really whipping through downtown and it was bone-chilling cold.  I am sooo ready for Spring.)

The Tipsy Cow is in a cool corner building.  And Scott looks cool, too, in his coat and hat.  You know I adore that boy.

One beer each at Tipsy Cow and then on to another local favorite.

Madison's.....in Madison.  This is the sign that greeted us on our way in.  Right on.

As we were walking up to Madison's, we saw an Irish band entering another establishment across the street from where we were:  the Great Dane.  The band members were wearing kilts, playing bag pipes, the whole bit.  It became apparent that folks were celebrating St. Patrick's Day a day early, probably because celebrating a drinking holiday like St. Patty's Day on a Sunday could impede one's ability to get to work the next day.  Scott decided to pay homage to the Irish with a good ol' green beer at Madison's.  Good job Scotty.

Erin's Snug Irish Pub is a joint way out on the east side of Madison, technically in Sun Prairie I believe.  A group of clearly drunk people were on some kind of a St. Patty's celebratory tour in the Erin's Snug Irish Pub double-decker bus, which was parked outside of Madison's.

I am 1000% sure some of the folks we saw getting on that bus (I think they had been at the Great Dane) are nursing some serious hang-overs today.



After Madison's, we stopped at another local favorite.

We love the swanky Opus Lounge.  By that point, we didn't have much time to lounge, though.  The time of our dinner reservation was closing in.  We had just enough time for Scott to enjoy a Hacker Pschorr (gag) and I had a Flirtini (which I really didn't need.)

Five-thirty-- dinner time at the Tornado Room.

I always feel enveloped by the dark coziness of the Tornado Room.  Great ambiance.  And, generally, we love the food.  Last night, though, we were actually disappointed.  It was OK, but not nearly as good as what we are accustomed to from this place.  Not sure what was up with that.  A new chef maybe?  Whatever the case may be, the food definitely fell short of our expectations- which is a bummer for many reasons, including the fact that it ain't exactly cheap.

That was about it.  Plenty of food.  Plenty of drink.  Then it was time to get home to this.

 Larry.

Last year on our anniversary, we had both Rudy and Jada.  This year, both those sweet girls are gone (so hard to believe) and Larry is the new addition.  A lot changes in a year.  A lot changes in 5 years.  I asked Scott, for our 5 year anniversary, if we should reflect back on what we thought went well and was good over the past 5 years and what we thought we should work on and try to do better in the upcoming 5 years.  Scott thought about it for a moment, looked at me, and gave me a quick shake of the head. No, he didn't want to do that.  And, that's really OK.  I appreciate Scott's approach to life.  Straight-forward.  Simple.  He neither over- nor under- thinks things.  He's optimistic and, even in hard times, truly believes things will work out and be OK.  He's not a worrier.  He takes life as-is without needing to reflect, analyze or anticipate.  He just lives life.  Quite frankly, he is every thing I'm not.  And I love him for that.   
  

Scott- This Is For You

Scott has asked me several times recently to update my blog.  He says he is tired of seeing the picture of the guy picking his nose.  So, until I have time to write something else, Scott this is for you.  Isaac is definitely much cuter than the guy digging in his nose.  And he looks so cozy curled up on this fuzzy blankie.  Isaac = VSB (very sweet boy).