Dear Peeps,  (Yes, I mean you, reading my blog)

I just recently learned about a Gravatar.  No, it is not an awesome monster/alien hybrid or anything cool like that… it is a Globally Recognized Avatar!!!

I had always wondered why I left comments on blogs, and I just showed up as this stupid little shadow, but other people had pictures!  I didn’t know why…. but, thanks to Roni’s Weigh blog that I read daily, I now know that I just needed a Gravatar!!!!  So I went to their site, and I got one.  I’m very excited because now when I leave a comment on someone’s page, they will see a cute little picture of me.

And so, go to the site so when you leave me comments, I can see your cute little mug, too!!!

Lots o’ bloggin’ love,

Robin

p.s. - I like using the word “peeps.”  When waitressing, I used to call my customers peeps (Such as, “I’m going to go see if my peeps need anything”).  I used that term in front of my parents, and my mom said “What’s ‘peeps’?”  And I turned to my dad, and said “Daaaad?”  And he said “friends.”  And I said, “Yes, it’s short for ‘people’.” Then I probably said “Silly mommy.  Get with the times!”

p.p.s - I do not like peeps the candy.  I do remember that Maria like peeps when they are stale. 

I wanted to write a little something about why I blog. Recently it’s come to my attention that I’m tending to blog about nothing (this isn’t due to others pointing it out - well, my mom questioned one of my posts - but no one else has commented on my boringness). I certainly don’t mind that, because I really think that I am using this medium to express my thoughts. I will think about certain things, or will accomplish things, and instead of just thinking about them, I have decided to write them down. Perhaps it makes me more aware of my accomplishments, no matter how small or trivial they may be (cleaning out the basement, my magazines, books, and clothes).

It was brought to my attention this past spring that I live mostly in my head. A friend of mine, who I was spending a lot of time with, told me that while everyone in the room is speaking about something, I would sit there quietly. It was obvious, to him at least, that I am taking in what everyone is saying, and I am thinking my own thoughts and opinions about it in my head. I usually don’t discuss them out loud, but my gears are clearly turning. Even when it would just be the two of us hanging out, I would still tend to be very quiet. I would do a lot of thinking in my head, and sometimes he had to drag my thoughts out of me. Sometimes I feel as though I have mini conversations in my head, or that my thoughts are constantly racing.

I find that blogging is a way for me to get the thoughts out of my head, and onto paper. Well, e-paper, I guess would be the term. I think that it is healthy to write about everything and anything, and as David Sedaris once said, he wishes that he could go back to his diaries and read about how much gas cost ($1.77), or how much it was to see a movie ($7.75 in Fitchburg, $9.50 in Worcester), or even how much a gallon of milk was ($2.99, abouts – I pay exactly that for my ½ gallon of organic). But instead of the things he is really interested in (the costs of things back then), he is stuck with the writing of how crazy his family was growing up. I would like to think that perhaps I will go back to this blog in 20 years, and I will be able to not only read about gas prices (because I’ve talked about them several times), but also about what other crazy things I was talking about (losing power for 12 days, mom driving me nuts about bottled water, etc.).

It will also be very interested to read about how I am doing both physically and mentally, it having been less than one year since I’ve gone through radiation treatment (and surgery) for cancer. When I am forty-four years old, how good will my memory be on what it was like to have radiation? I’m sure I will cherish the pictures I have. (When I was measured with the Geiger counter, I had to shout “Dad! TAKE A PICTURE!” Because, really, how often are you measured with a Geiger counter? I wanted a picture! – and he was just standing there like a doofus, camera in hand NOT taking pictures)

And so, because of my goals for blogging (expressing my thoughts and getting them out of my head, and just writing about my day to day life), my blog is a bit of a hodge-podge of topics. I understand that it may not be the most interesting blog to read, but it is what it is. I have found that I could not write a food blog, because I eat the same thing every single day. Honey Bunches of Oats, half a banana, ½ cup of skim milk, along with ¾ cup of egg whites. For lunch, I either have tuna or chicken salad, a vegan veggie burger or a mini pizza. All of which I make on a high fiber English muffin. Lunch also includes a spinach salad with sunflower seeds, a red pepper, and light honey mustard dressing. Dinner is my only meal of the day that is different and even dinner seems to just rotate day by day. That is why I’m trying to get more interesting with cooking, and I just took out three cookbooks from the library yesterday to study up and get ideas. But I enjoy what I eat, and I look forward to it. Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen from the You On a Diet! Book said that it is best to eat the same thing every day. That way, you’re controlling what you’re putting in your body, and you won’t slip up and have something bad for you. (Or something, I’m not sure what their real explanation is). I’m sure I could take really beautiful pictures of my cereal and my mini pizzas (and here is my mini pizza getting beautifully browned in the oven, and let me put it on this delicate china plate to make it even more beautiful) – but I won’t bore you with that (again).

And so, this is me. For better or for worse, this is my blog. Mostly I write it because I enjoy it. I’ve found myself writing three blog posts a day. I love it. I have things that I wish to write down, and for some reason, I publish them on the Internet.

Kath, from Kath Eats Real Food, always makes delicious looking oatmeal.  She eats it every morning for breakfast, and every day it is different.  She adds pumpkin, peanut butter, granola bars, bananas, wheatberries, all sorts of things!  Finally, I decided I couldn’t just look at her pictures anymore, and I had to make my own.  I followed her ingredients exactly for her Banana Whipped Oatmeal, and made it tonight.  To it, I added blue berries, wheat germ, and Go Lean Crunch.

I hated it. 

I picked out the blueberries, and the Go Lean Crunch that wasn’t all soggy, and ate that.  The larger chunks of the cereal I separated in the bowl to eat later.  I would be much happier with a bowl of cereal.  This is the bowl after I was “done” with it.  The cereal is separated on the right.

Since I hadn’t enjoyed the oatmeal, but was still hungry, I finished what was left of the cereal in the box (only about a half cup), and added blueberries and raspberries with skim milk.  It was delicious!

I’m bummed that I didn’t enjoy the oatmeal, I guess I will just have to enjoy Kath’s pictures.

However, she does have an amazing recipe for Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars, which look absolutely delicious.  I do like oatmeal bars, and Oatmeal cookies, so I think I will like the snack bars.  I think it’s the soggy consistency of the oatmeal that I don’t like.

And Happy Birthday to Sally who is 25 today! In seven months exactly, I will be 25!

Fruit salad (cause it is delicious)

Wonderful friends at both of my jobs

Jenny at Macy*s for bringing me to see Twilight (I give it a 93 out of a possible 100).  We’re going to try to hang out more and watch sci-fi/fantasy movies together.

Trevor, Liz, and my dad for letting me be a part of Beers For Good, even though I’m not a beer enthusiast.

Being the healthiest and most fit I’ve ever been in my entire life (minus having cancer).

Being almost done with my degree.  One more class, and then my internship!

A mom and dad who understand that I’m trying to save money, and let me live at home rent free, and they even buy me groceries.  I try to cook for them, but I’m terrible at cleaning up after myself.

My friend Jay who introduced me to the TV show How I Met Your Mother.  It’s fantastic.

My friend Niles who always makes me smile at Destare, and who goes and picks up trash with me. (He’s the only one, you environment hating dead-beats).

Honey Bunches of Oats.  I couldn’t start my day without it!

Emiliano for hosting this blog free of charge.  (I didn’t even know that until last week, but I’m very thankful)

Fruit salad  (I just got a second serving!!!)

Diet Pepsi Max (Megan will kill me, but I LOVE it)

That Barack Obama won the election

I am voting tomorrow, and I decided I am going to run to the polls.  I used mapmyrun.com, and it is 1.38 miles each way.  That is the perfect amount of exercising, and I have to vote anyway, so it’s win win!

I had a work meeting down in Auburn tonight from 5-9, I thought they’d be feeding us, but they didn’t!  Luckily, I had brought veggies in tupperware (baby carrots and red pepper slices).  Even luckier, we had a break mid way through at 7:30, so I ran down to the food court in the mall and grabbed a mini turkey sub from Subway. It’s a 4 inch sub, so it was only 200 or so calories, not much for dinner, that’s for sure.  When I got home at 10, I was still hungry.  There was lasagna in the fridge, and apple pie on the counter.  I thought to myself “Well, I am craving pie, so I could just have pie…. or I could have lasagna AND pie.”  I chose lasagna and pie, and I wish that I had only chosen pie.  Now it’s 10:50, and I’m overly full.  Blah.

Emiliano (who designs the look of my website) is suppose to be changing the layout, but it hasn’t happened yet.  He was working on it a bit last night, and ever since then, I keep checking back and hitting “refresh”  because I’m very excited about the new look.  I decided that the look of it now is too boring (it’s just black and white, with my pictures at the top!).  If I don’t add a photograph to my entry, it’s even more boring!  It needs color, and just needs to look more interesting.  More eye popping.  It needs eye popping graphics!  Until he changes it, I’m just going to keep hitting “refresh” incessantly. Oh, and I gave him more pictures for my banner.  They are all pictures I’ve taken in various parts of the country.  Actually, I think all the ones on it now I took in New Mexico.  Hahahaha.  So…. various parts of New Mexico. (If Megan would send me that one I took on the pier in England, then I could add that.  Hint. Hint.)

I’ve been reading the site Kath Eats Real Food a lot lately (I get it in my RSS feed).  She updates it about 3 times a day after every meal.  She takes beautiful pictures of the food she eats, and it sure does look great.  She even puts the food on her plate so it looks pretty.   I can’t imagine how she can find the time to take pictures of the food she eats at every meal, AND describe exactly what she’s eating.  Seriously, she will take a picture of every single item (one lunch she had a sandwich, carrot sticks, an apple, a yogurt, and a dum dum lollipop), and there is a picture of every item, PLUS all of them together, on the table.  Seriously.  Six pictures in total.

She does, however, eat amazing looking breakfasts.  Here are the ingredients:

1/3 cup oats, milk, water

1/2 large banana

Salt, vanilla

1 tbsp ground flax

2 tbsp wheatberries

1 tbsp raisins

1/3 crumbled Honest Foods Country Square Chocolate Brownie

Spoonful Butter Toffee PB

I would make this, but without the wheatberries (cause I don’t know what they are), the peanut butter, or the brownie (sometimes she adds a crumbled up granola bar).  Oh, and I would add a little granola.


Oh, and she drinks mini glasses of wine, unless she uses wine glasses made for giants (or unless she takes the picture after she’s already drunk 4 ounces).  I’ve checked, and they’re all this small!

Kath, I love looking at the pictures of your food, I really do.  And right now, I wish that I had taken these pictures, because they are so beautiful, and they’re going to make my blog entry look awesome.  Keep on with the real food,  it really is beautiful.  And yummy.  And that’s the best part.