Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

So... it was kindly brought to my attention by a dear (and encouraging) friend that I hadn't blogged in over a month!! Feeling sheepish, I posted a quick snippet of my review of October's Yumvelope, but that was weak in comparison to my typical posts. I.. am.. a slacker..

I do this, I do this and then I berate myself (clearly). I get in a good rhythm, do something diligently, then I take a break (such as vacation) and never get back on the wagon. I did it with flossing too! I flossed for like 6 months straight, went on vacation, and then forgot to start flossing again. Now now, I started back up so don't get all "ew" on me.. According to dentists, no one flosses anyways.

But, I digress, now back to the topic at hand. I'm back to wanting to blog again but I have some new things I need to add to my regime.

I recently saw some alarming pictures of myself on facebook and realized that I needed to drop some lbs post-haste before this got anymore out of control. So I joined (re-joined) my trusty weight loss plan- Weight Watchers!!

It is seriously the only commercial program I've found where people consistently and efficiently lost weight and I highly recommend it. They take the effort out of tracking your food intake and I have to admit- it's so fun adding the food and exercise to my list!*

One snafoo about this whole thing is, I swear that they penalize carbohydrate intake and reward lean proteins (ei. boneless skinless chicken breast). This makes for a tough, tough time for a vegan or vegetarian. Now some of you might think I'm crazy because the fruits and vegetables are free, but I swear that the nuts, beans, seeds etc. are higher points than their meat equivalents in protein (due to higher fat and carbohydrate I'm sure) so it's tricky meeting your protein needs.

So anyways, my point is, I'm going to valiantly search for WW friendly vegetarian/vegan products and also come up with some decent meals that don't blow your WW budget and are also vegan (or just about).

I'm sure some of you could argue that simply switching to a vegan diet helped you with weight loss instantly but, unfortunately for me, I'm a big snacker and I need to work on portion control- ergo, I use weight watchers.

Anyways.. wish me luck!

Yumvelope Review - September 2012

I have to say, there's nothing more exciting than getting stuff in the mail, and when it's food, I'm even happier... 

I love you Yumvelope, I'm here to stay.

Abuh?! Maple and Sea salt popcorn? How decadent!! 

Mike and I have a thing for gummy bears, and boy were we excited to realize one of the packets was sour, so basically like sour patch kids.  I have to say, the flavor in these surf sweets was way, way better than gummy bears or sour patch kids- it was berryful and delicious! Yummm... 

I didn't really dig the sweet potato leather thing but I liked the idea.. it was kind of bland though. The granola bar was really good though! I wish I had more of those! 

The whole food snack bar was meh.. I'm getting tired of all the cinnamon flavored stuff though- not that big of a fan! 

........This was epic. I want to buy this in bulk. I mixed the toasted coconut chips up with some steel cut oats and I was tap dancing all the rest of the day. A good breakfast will do that to a person, well at least this person. 

As with other chips, I had to share these with Mike but I didn't mind! They were decent, a whole grain tortilla chip. Nothing to write home to mom about. 

Yumvelope Review - August 2012

Awe crackers, this got lost in the shuffle of my unwritten posts list! Sorry Yumvelope, my darling, delicious, dependable Yumvelope.....

So in this bunch we had a yummy assortment, everything was a sweet, no salty unfortunately. 

I have to be quite frank and say that I wasn't in the mood for hot tea in August, so I put that in my cubbard for later.. and... I haven't used the baking mix or cashew butter yet.... 

Oh.. and I still have the biscotti... teehee

The fig bar tasted like a fig newton which was exciting though, and the bliss bar was surprisingly good even though it looked a bit weird.. 

I was just too busy in August to write a full review.. I'm a slacker.. but at least you can see what was included in the envelope eh?

Yumvelope - October 2012

Well today was a crap-tastic day at work. Pittsburgh kept with it's typical climate, which would be cloudy, rainy, and depressing. While nothing in particular happened at work today, people were just super annoying and I was just ready for the day to be over. So imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered my October Yumvelope had arrived today! It's like they knew..... 

Oh and they definitely knew.... that I needed chocolate. God love them. 

I saw the words chocolate and salty and I tore into this back immediately, ripping the top off with my bare teeth before pouring the contents into my mouth. Okay, it didn't actually go down like that, I used scissors like the classy broad that I am, and I ate a few pieces. It's.. so.. good... 

What? Another Cocomo product? Alright! Caramel Corn? I dig it! I'll letcha know how it is! 

I'll most likely be trying these before the nights over......

These too....

Another Cocomo product?!!?!? I'm super excited about this one! I've heard of quinoa being used as a breakfast grain but never bothered to try it out. Apparently now I won't have to, it's already been done for me! It's pretty high calorie though so it will most likely have to be my only breakfast item. 

Mmm... I have seriously been considering signing up for two yumvelopes because I want more of the items once I finish them- and this one only convinced me even more to do so! I can't get over how much stuff fits in one regular sized envelope! Wowzah!