Babbles of a Lover and a Fighter

Ah, festival season is upon us.  Traffic is wacky and tourists are fun to people-watch.  The weather’s been exceptional, and it’s been fun catching random bands and amazing foods at events like Wednesday at the Square.  And shout out to The Rum House for the most ridiculously delicious Creole rib and brisket tacos EVER.

We also made it to the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival (first time!) where there was deliciousness to be had and a really good Beatles cover band to be heard.  When we first got there, there was basically a road of everything fried and everything strawberry, but we’ll get to that later.  The rides were your typical (scary) carnival rides:

and only got crazier as they lit up when the sun went down:

As with most festivals, strawberry fest was prime for people watching.  Most notably this adorable strawberried little girl:

(I think I will make some overalls like that) and this dude who WON A GIANT PIG (jealous.):

He literally stood like that for HOURS.  I mean, the pig looked squishy and comfy enough to make one wonder…

And the food.  Oh the food.  Anyone who knows me knows I am a fat kid at heart.  It’s craziness like these monstrosities…

(yes, that’s a CINNAMON-BATTERED, POWDERED SUGAR-DUSTED FRIED STRAWBERRY.) that make my taste buds squeal and my arteries cry.  It’s a love-hate thing.  Also, not pictured, we sampled spicy meat pies, chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry lemonade, grilled corn, sausage…and other strawberry and non-strawberry foods.  All fantastic.

And afterward, we all kind of felt like this:

…and this (if Katy were “food” in general):

DOES NOT WANT.

So yes, my first time at Strawberry Fest was strawberry-licious.  Lots of food, music, friends, people watching, strawberries and fun times.  Double rainbow!  Double thumbs up!

Days 19-22: TBA

Day 23
Breakfast: Chicken empanada, potato salad, water
Lunch: Chicken empanada
Dinner: Chicken nachos, Diet Pepsi, toffee almond popcorn

I like to be unplugged for a few days every once in awhile.  It reminds me to get out more.  I was actually in Dallas the past few days to visit my family.  Lola’s in town for my bro’s graduation.  Pretty tired from closing tonight, though, so I’ll just leave you with this:

Deuces. =)

Breakfast: little bowl of pasta (penne, tomato sauce, broccoli, string beans, yellow squash), slice of pepperoni mushroom pizza, diet pepsi
Lunch: sourdough bread and garlic butter, side salad with italian dressing, spinach and artichoke dip, couple bites of sausage penne pomodoro, iced tea
Pre-workout snack: apple cinnamon nutri-grain bar
Exercise: 2 miles running, 3×10 10lbs shoulder press, 3×10 15lb triceps, 3×10 10lbs chest presses, 3×10 10lbs flies
Dinner: 1/2 leftover sausage penne pomodoro, water

Breakfast: strawberries, cantaloupe, English muffin (olive oil butter, strawberry jam), 3 pieces of bacon, a few home fries, scrambled egg, water
Lunch: soy vanilla bean frap, leftover fried rice, broccoli, orange chicken and 3 wings, water
Dinner: lasagna, caeser salad, water, pecan bar
Exercise: 20 minutes biking (6.9 miles?), 1 mile running
Snax: water, a few cashews

Breakfast: Oatmeal (granola and brown sugar), 3 slices of bacon, English muffin (butter and strawberry jam), a few potato things, diet Pepsi
Lunch: 16 oz. of Italian Wedding soup and corn, tortilla chips and salsa
Exercise: 0.5 miles walking (3mph), 2 miles running (5-6mph), 0.25 miles cool down, 100 crunches/reverse crunches
Dinner: Can of white Albacore tuna, tortilla chips, Cadbury Creme Egg, glass of milk

I kept a food and exercise log in my old Livejournal, and for about 327 days, I sat down every night and reflected on my meal choices (good and bad) and exercise routines (or lack thereof).  I found it to be extremely helpful when pondering why in the world I have such a hard time losing weight.  There’s no one to blame but myself for my ridiculous sweet tooth and almost painful need for something crunchy with every meal (i.e. tortilla chips, Sun Chips, kettle chips…ask anybody), but I’ve seemed to maintain the same weight +/- 7 pounds these past couple of years with nary a hardcore workout routine.  “Hardcore” is relative, I suppose, but anything short of marathon training or pushing your body so hard you have to add protein shakes and supplements in order to prevent your body from eating itself isn’t truly “hardcore” to me.

I think I am the typical quasi-exercising, semi-health-conscious type…portion controlling rather than substance controlling, exercising through the high but never until I’m completely empty.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a concrete goal as far as pounds or inches to lose; I just want to feel good in a bikini, to not muffin top over my pants, and to keep these love handles the size of a Big Wheel’s and not like those crazy ape hangers.

Working at a restaurant and recently finding the Holy Grail of lactose-free milk-like beverages has significantly upped my caloric intake as of late, and with a trip to the Philippines on the horizon (65 days and counting!), it’s time to hunker down and get my workout on.  The plan is to exercise at least 5 days a week with a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio + abs + strength training.  I think I’ll continue to record my food and exercise just to get an idea of how well (or poorly haha) I’m doing for these next couple of months.  And hopefully it’ll keep me from going an entire month without updating.  Wish me luck =)