Warmer weather and salads

I must admit that with the warmer weather that I haven't been writing as much as I'd like.

I have noticed that when the weather is warmer that I don't feel like eating hot bowls of ramen or stews. I am back to craving salads. I had on last night for dinner and it hit the spot.

Yep, I'm also trying to eat a bit better. As much as I love noodles and pasta, it's also nice to not get into a carb coma and nap after a huge bowl.

I made a one-skillet chicken dish with green beans and mushrooms. It turned out nicely. It was my first time following this recipe.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Weekend and cooking

I feel like I need another weekend. This one blew by too quickly.

I tend to cook on Sundays. I made french toast and chocolate banana muffins. I also made turkey salad and made wraps.

All were low-carb. I find that I sleep better when I cut back on carbs and sugar. It's cool.

Appointments, movie, staycation, and beyond meat

It's a bit busy for me this week. I have two medical appointments. I am squeezing a movie in. I am also doing another staycation.

My staycation is a bit different, though. I am going into the office every day next week. I want to reduce the time that I am on the road and enjoy a different part of the city. Naturally, I haven't even thought about packing. I leave on Saturday, so I have time.

I have had beyond meat crumbles twice in my meals. The first time was in soup. The second time was on a salad. I liked them.

The downside is that it doesn't really agree with my stomach. I need to figure out what exactly is in  beyond meat when it comes to vitamins.

Back to a lower carb regimen

I have been reducing my carb and sugar intake these days. It's not exactly a surprise that when I reduce my carb and sugar consumption, I have more energy.

I started doing this reduction last week. I don't think that I have taken a nap all week. It's impressive.

When the weather is colder, I tend to enjoy carbs. I plan on eating carbs in moderation.

I'd like to get back into eating salads at lunch time. I took the first step and got back into buying baby spinach.

Hungry and cooking

It's past midnight and I'm hungry. The debate is whether I am truly hungry or if I need to drink some water.

I know that if I have something to eat now that it will keep me up longer. I will see if it will go away.

On Sunday, I made tuna salad. I also fried up an entire package of bacon, which will last me the whole week. I also sauteed brussel sprouts.

I enjoy cooking on weekends. It's unfortunate that weekends are so short.

Mac mini is happy again as I prepare for bloodwork

My Mac mini has good and bad days. Yesterday was bad. Today, my Mac mini is operational and happy.

I know that it's time to get a new Mac mini. I just don't want to shell out for one. They aren't exactly cheap. I can always use my laptop, which works fine.

I'm currently fasting for bloodwork. I had a decent salad for dinner from Chipotle. I am oddly still full from it. However, I am planning where I want to get breakfast after I'm done with my bloodwork.

Low-carb changes for the better, including chicken wings and bacon

On the whole, getting back to a low-carb diet has been pretty good. I have lapsed a few times, but I'm okay with it. I'm doing a ton better.

I make sure that I have salads for lunch again. I definitely have more energy.

For lunch the other day, I ordered New York-style wings. I didn't know that having wings that aren't battered or dusted is the Big Apple way. You get sauce off to the side. I asked for my wings to have sea salt and pepper, and ditched the sauce. Yay!

It has been ages since I have bought bacon to fry at home. It was on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart yesterday. I got a package. I'm thinking that a bacon, lettuce, and tomato salad sounds inviting.

Getting strict with being low-carb

I have been on the maintenance part of losing sixty pounds roughly seven years ago. I was on a strict low-carb diet. I have kept the weight off, which is probably one of my greatest accomplishments.

For five of those years, I changed up my salad for lunch. I find that if I lean towards carbs for lunch, I am sluggish for a couple of hours before it wears off.

I wanted to have a sandwich for lunch. I swapped my salad out for it. After nearly two years of having sandwiches for lunch, I wanted my energy back.

It helps that my guy is on a keto diet. It has inspired me to go back to eating salads for lunch and being more strict with eating low-carb foods.

I'd say that I have been pretty good at ditching processed foods. I make breakfast in the morning, and have enjoyed sautéed mushrooms, eggs, and sausage for breakfast. I even made low-carb pancakes and poured sugar-free syrup on them. They were surprisingly good.

My energy is up. Sometimes, when I work from home, I feel the need to take a brief nap after my day is over. I have been doing that less in the past couple of weeks.

It's all good. My guy has been pretty good staying on his keto diet while he is away on business.

"Remember how we used to laugh when that woman would smuggle food from the hotel lounge?" he said to me the other day.
"Yes, I remember that fondly. She put food in styrofoam cups and left," I remarked.
"I am becoming that person, except that I put cheese and eggs in plastic Ziploc bags for work," he said.

At first, I felt a bit embarrassed for him. However, considering that it's probably easier sticking to a keto or low-carb diet when you bring your own food, his method makes sense. He is also transparent (the clear see-through bag speaks volumes) about bringing his food to work.

Now that I think about it, it's not bad at all. You have lounge access because you either paid for it or have earned it. Why not take a snack with you when you leave? It's not like you are hauling the entire food spread home. I don't find that greedy by any stretch.

I go on business in three weeks. I'll see whether I will be doing the same thing as my guy.

Coughing fit after seeing poultry blood at the supermarket

It has been an interesting learning experience when it comes to having bronchitis and how my coughing gets worse when I am mildly stressed out.

On Saturday, I felt well enough to go out and get some groceries. I haven't had much to eat for breakfast, other than cereal and English muffins. Then again, my appetite has been shot until now.

The person in front of me at the supermarket checkout had packages of chicken drumsticks. One of the packages had the plastic wrap torn wide open. I was watching the man try and put it back together. He then had chicken blood and juices on his hand, which he decided to wipe on his jeans.

I used to work in food services. It's not the proper way to handle food. I sensed a ton of food contamination happening, among other things. Considering that I am recovering from being sick, I am sensitive to spreading germs.

I spotted chicken blood that his package had started by the product scanner. Sure enough, the cashier scanned my mixed bean salad across the blood and the scanner. I had to point out that she needed to wipe the blood off her scanning area as well as my bean salad container.

She was good with my request. I was so grossed out, but thanked her. I paid for my goodies, put them in my bag, and headed over to my car.

By the time I had loaded everything in my car, including me, my coughing fit had started. A minute later, I was okay.

I am typically not that squeamish when it comes to seeing poultry blood. However, I am not my normal self, so it was an observation that I found intriguing when I am sick.

Travelling can be so much fun

Two Sundays ago, my guy and I met at our workplace. He told me that he'd get a taxi to come pick us up at around 07:30 to head to the airport.

I had arrived ten minutes earlier. The ramps on and off all highways by the airport were not plowed, so it was slippery driving over snow-covered roads, including the parking lot at work.

I saw the taxi guy circle. My guy arrived ten minutes later. He helped me drag my luggage over to the taxi.

My guy and I go into the taxi. It was like we were about to have treehouse time, but we refrained! My guy looked at my down jacket that I was wearing. It was new. He commented that I looked like I was a vacationing girl in Aspen.

I held his hand. As usual, it was cold. I tried warming it up for the brief five-minute ride to the airport.

My guy and the taxi driver had a bit of a spat. My guy wasn't thrilled that the taxi driver didn't greet him with a cheerful good-morning statement. Rather, the taxi driver said that he had been "circling around for a while." That was untrue. I was there and only saw him circle one time and he wasn't there for a long period. My guy was a bit upset that the taxi driver was charging him a higher flat rate than normal.

Anyway, my guy and I got to the airport to check in. We both found out that our flights had changed. The first segment was cancelled. My guy had two flight segments. I managed to get three. I wasn't too thrilled.

My guy was making me get embarrassed, as he was saying sweet things about me and listing what he wanted to do to me. He enjoys when I get that way. I can't help it. It's who I am.

After speaking with the friendly person at the baggage drop-off counter, my guy and I were on the same flight segments. He asked for our seats to be next to each other. For the first flight, we couldn't have that done. However, we were together on the second flight.

It was quite the walk down to the gate. I still feel like I walk slowly. I told my guy that I appreciated his patience. He advised that I don't walk as slowly as I think that I do. He was impressed that I was doing so well. He's just plain sweet.

My guy got hungry. Our flight was boarding at around 10:00. My guy ordered a jerk chicken tropical salad and was chowing down on it.

We were the last folks to board the plane. I sat down first. He quietly asked me if I was comfy. I was for being on a smaller plane. He continued walking to nearly the back of the plane.

He surprised me by coming up to me and giving me his salad. I had told him that I wasn't exactly hungry, but he wasn't there to just give me food. He leaned over and kissed me on the lips. It was incredibly nice and sweet.

The first segment of our flight lasted an hour. It was uneventful, other than my eating salad as a snack. I got off the plane and waited for my guy to join me. We had arrived in Newark.

My guy travels often, to the point where he has access to any Star Alliance lounge. We seems to be star-crossed lovers. We sat next to each other in brown leather chairs. We kissed and made out. We got tea and snacks. We made out some more.

We needed some lunch, so we headed out to a food court. I wanted to look at the gate information for our flight. My guy discreetly groped my left buttock as we were looking at the flight information screens. It was nice and I was getting turned out. We walked hand-in-hand over to the Earl of Sandwich.

The server called us "lovebirds." We were holding hands the entire time before our meals came.

It was nice that our flight from Newark to St. Louis was only an hour. My guy and I sat next to each other. We kissed and made out some more. He managed to grope my right breast. He then played with my crotch. I actually came twice on the flight and tried to keep my voice down. It was a first for both of us. I played with my guy's hard cock in a discreet manner. It would be messy, so it was more of a taste of what was to come (no pun intended).

My guy admitted that his business trips would never be the same. He wanted me to be with him on every single one. I joked that he could grope the guy next to him on his next business trip and play with his man boob. We laughed.

My guy slept for a bit on the plane. I tried to, but I was wide awake.

Anyway, my guy was throughtful in making sure that I was okay as we deplaned. We passed by a Starbucks in the terminal. He was impressed that I didn't jump to get a drink there.

We headed to the baggage area to fetch our luggage. We then went to find the shuttle to take us to the car rental place. We had to wait for one. So, my guy helped me put on my jacket, hugged me as we sat on the bench, and groped my right breast again as we kissed.

So, the shuttle came. We got on it with our luggage. My guy and I sat behind the luggage storage area. We continued to kiss, hold hands, and he groped my breast again. A car shuttle ride will never be the same!

We got our rental cars and drove over to the hotel. We checked in and unpacked briefly. I went ahead and tried figuring out where all the restaurants were. My guy wanted Chinese, so we went to one close by. Unfortunately, it wasn't open on Sundays. Instead, we went to a Mexican restaurant and had a lovely meal.

We came back to the hotel and showered. My guy and I climbed into bed together. We cuddled. He gave me a lopsided spanking on my left buttock. Our clothes came off. I was straddled on top of him. He was sucking each breast. He came. So did I. We then cuddled in each other's arms before we drifted off to sleep.

The day was long, but magical.