Remains of the meal...

Today has been a day full of schoolwork and joy!!! Joy! You question me? Yes, joy. Today, two friends shared their lives with me. I love how existential writers will name their characters K, or M, or whatever to hide an identity, so I will do that here. Earlier today, K shared with me some information about her past, present and future family. M has been having a difficult couple of days. She shared with me how she's been coping and we spent some time looking at photos online. The specific information and conversation shared isn't what's important, it's the time spent, the confidences shared and the relationships that we continue to build that are important.

One of these women told me how lucky she felt to have such a strong network of friends here in Boston. I've felt like that so many times, especially in recent years. The conversations that I had with these two women today ranged from the everyday to highly personal events. We talked about our jobs, our projects, our travels and shoes. We talked about nothing and we talked about everything. Today was the kind of day that shapes who are we, the kind of day that lets us be the person we hope to become. Happy without jealousy, empathy with judging, and sharing without reserve or fear. Today was the kind of day that I'm grateful to have had and will think back on when I'm feeling down or alone or just blah. Today was the kind of day that, when I look back on it, will remind me of how rich my life is and how lucky I am for all of those in it.

I'll bet you're wondering what any of this has to do with what I ate today...well, I shared lunch and dinner with these women. Both women were supportive of my efforts to eat healthily, but why wouldn't they be?

OK, I messed up and forgot to take a picture...but, that WAS a ham, egg and cheese sandwich on whole grain with a fruit cup and cappuccino from Panera.



Before lunch, I did eat 6oz. of plain non-fat yogurt, that I also forgot to photograph.

mmm mmm good! Onion Soup and Greek Salad with french baguette and hibiscus tea

 Fruit salad as my dessert...lots of pineapple in this one, just the thing to hit that sweet spot!

Once again, I forgot to photograph the actual meal, so this would be the remains of the meal...mom's spaghetti and some salad. For salad dressing, we used a mustard dressing from Jamie Oliver. I had a meatball AND a hot sausage!

After dinner, we took a walk to Coolidge Corner for some frozen yogurt...Warning, this is not my frozen yogurt from this evening. I did, however, eat plain fro yo with mango, strawberries and blueberries tonight as well...Consider this 'stock food footage'.






And the not so good part of the day...I did have a second bowl of pasta tonight with a meatball. I love my mom's spaghetti, but the extra carbs at night are not good. Carbs at night can actually affect your sleep and help you to gain weight. Jillian Michaels, from The Biggest Loser, tells us all about it in her book Master Your Metabolism. The good news? Tomorrow is another day and I've got a very healthy breakfast and lunch already planned.