No Sugar/No Carbs = No Fun!

I have been challenging myself over the last month in a way that I never have before. Oh sure, I've dieted before and I've limited my sugar and carb intake, but I've never actually not cheated while doing so. In fact, I did a 'life-style'-change-diet a few years back with my husband and mother-in-law called the Fat Blast; in said diet, they encourage you to significantly limit carbs and cut-out sugar. Even though I was doing it with the support of family, I was a cheater - I would sneak a little candy here, a little cookie there, and all that cheating probably started the day after the 'diet' started.

You have to understand.....I grew up in a home where treats and sweets were the glue that held together our family fun times; so much revolved around baking together and then blissfully enjoying the 'fruits of our labor'. I was privileged enough to get fresh-baked cookies in my lunch almost every day - so hot they had to be wrapped in foil, and as they cooled they would take the shape of the foil, molded in to amorphous blobs, but such very tasty blobs! I made my first batch of Ranger cookies when I was 7 and my grandparents were in town - the whole family joked that they were 'rock hard'. I don't know if they really were or not, but it only momentarily annoyed me and instead fueled my desire to show them all that I could master the craft of baking. Since then, I have plowed my way through numerous cake, cookie, pie, and dessert recipes, undaunted by the unfamiliar and the strange....and I have consequently learned to love baking, and have simultaneously looped my husband in to the love of all things sweet. In fact, we consider ourselves "foodies", and while we certainly know our limits when it comes to what's appropriate to eat, and what's not, when we go on vacations, it's a feeding free-for-all. In fact, we jokingly agree that we plan our sight-seeing around the places we plan to eat - but we have found some amazing places to eat by doing some on-line research about the local favorite eateries at each location. But....I digress.....I made a decision a month ago to cut-out sugar and carbs and to see if I could exercise my will-power for an extended period of time, let alone a day or two. Needless to say, since making my decision, I have struggled every day; I even told Scott that I have had some very vivid, and flavorful dreams during which I have enjoyed some of my favorite treats, only to wake and realize it was all fiction. I've also resorted to indulging in what I refer to as 'food porn', or in other words, scouring food blogs with colorful pictures and descriptions of each recipe; Scott insists I'm torturing myself. There have been days when I want to go totally Cookie-Monster-crazy on a plate of brownies, and I'm getting fairly tired of meat, however, the pay-off for me is that I've lost over 20 pounds, and I'm feeling pretty darn good. I've learned to curb a very bad vice, and I've convinced Scott to join me and he's down over 6 pounds. Now, that's not to say that I'm ready to permanently give-up sugar and carbs; I will definitely revisit some of my 'friends' in the near future, but hopefully with a renewed sense of self-control and discretion.

I Bet You Didn't Expect This....

So....it's absolutely inexcusable that Scott and I haven't posted in so long. Basically, we are at home so infrequently, and are so busy with work/school, that posting on my blog is about the last thing I want to do every day. Anyway, I've decided to give you a month by month update of what's been going on since our last post, so here goes:

JUNE '09: As we mentioned before, Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to work at Camp Erin, a grief camp for kids who have lost a close loved-one, like a parent or sibling. Scott was in a cabin with a group of boys ages 8-10 and enjoyed rousing games of "I'll kick you in the go-nuts" (one boy's phrase for gonads). On the other hand, I was in a cabin with a bunch of pre-teen girls (ages 11-13), and they were all about the pranking of the boys' cabins. We laughed, cried, played, and generally had a blast. I will be going back again this year ('10). Check out the video from 2009:

JULY '09: Scott travelled to LA to work on his upcoming album with fellow bandmate, Chris Chappell. Their album is set to be done in a few months, and it has some very catchy-dance beat-up tempo-Erasure-like songs and I feel like I have to dance every time I hear them. While in LA, he and Chris had a chance to take in a Depeche Mode concert....lucky-duck! We also got to see Grease at the 5th Avenue, and it was a blast. Taylor Hicks, the former American Idol winner played Teen Angel and gave the audience a preview of his upcoming album. Admittedly, Scott and I are not fans of country, but the audience really got into it.

AUGUST '09: Scott and I battled the heat and the bugs in August. I started teaching a class at Good Samaritan meant to dissuade juvenile shoplifters from shoplifting again. Basically, all the kids who participate have been charged with Theft 3, but they will not have that charge on their permanent records if they attend the class. It's actually quite fun to be back to my teaching roots; plus, I get to poke fun at teenagers for being imbeciles.

SEPTEMBER'09: Scott started his first hospital rotation for his respiratory therapy program, drawing a hospital all the way down in Centralia. While he loved working with his mentors and the people in the hospital, he didn't love the hour-long drive there and back three days a week, while maintaining a full-time work schedule as a massage therapist. He had to leave our place by 5 am every morning of his internship, and did not return until after 7 pm. Needless to say, for three months, I had a zombie of a husband.

OCTOBER '09: I had the opportunity to go down to Provo to meet my new nephew Zachary Myers, who joined Mallory and Elliot. It was exhausting but fun! Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to attend a Q&A session at Benaroya Hall in Seattle with stage legend Steven Sondheim. For those of you who don't know, this is basically Scott's legend and he was enraptured the entire time; I learned a few things about musical theater that I had never known. A mere 5 days later, we returned to Benaroya Hall to hear the Seattle Symphony provide the soundtrack for "Psycho" on the big screen. Many people in the audience came in costume, but I think our favorite was a cross-dresser who looked like Tipi Hedren from "The Birds" complete with fake crows attached to platinum wig.

NOVEMBER '09: We enjoyed a Thanksgiving day with the Hinckley's and Mom Hinckley provided us with a delicious dinner. Scott and I took responsibility for the turkey again, and have to give full credit to Alton Brown's helpful tips on Food Network.

DECEMBER '09: We lucked out this year that we didn't feel left alone for Christmas. In fact, my entire family, the Fey's, came to Puyallup for Christmas. We enjoyed an amazing time together, ate wonderful food, and had family pictures taken. Even my younger brother, who had just graduated from Army Ranger school was able to attend before shipping out to Korea. I was once again impressed with my sisters-in-law for their proactive natures in decorating the house, which my dad would have been content to leave festive-free. The entire family worked together on a hilarious retelling of the Christmas story replete with costumes. The kiddos amused us all with their enthusiasm and excitement over their gifts and we formed a family band. Scott and I got a lot of cuddle time with our new nephew, Zachary, and fun play time with the kiddos, Mallory and Elliot. We were sad to see everyone go!

JANUARY '10: On New Year's Eve, Scott and I went to First Night in downtown Tacoma, as we had last year. But this year we got to enjoy the fun with Scott's parents and my little brother, Joel. We saw a painfully bad troupe of older Asian women who purportedly were performing traditional Korean dance? Unfortunately, I could barely contain my laughter it was so bad. We picked things up with a local band, exhibit by glass blowers, and street performers. The group rang in the New Year at The Melting Pot, where we enjoyed 4 courses of deliciousness. How fun! FEBRUARY '10: Scott and I celebrated - Valentine's Day, our 6th anniversary, and my 33rd birthday. We splurged a little and spent a couple of days in Seattle at the 'W' Hotel overlooking the downtown and the water. We ate too much amazing food, visited some touristy sights, and went to a dine-in movie theater, all while dodging the bipolar Seattle weather. On Valentine's we got to eat brunch at Tilikum Cafe, wandered the Pike Place Market, and dined at Tom Douglas' Dahlia Lounge for dinner. The next day we went to the Gold Class Cinemas where you order and dine in the theater - it was truly an experience. For dinner on my birthday, we enjoyed the company of my dad and Scott's parents in Bellevue at Maggiano's. Scott also began his second hospital rotation at Madigan Army Hospital on Fort Lewis base and Sara took her national licensing exam to become a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist.

MARCH '10: I passed my licensing exam....you may now refer to me as Sara Fey-Hinckley, M.A., LMFT! I also started a get-fit program and have lost a total of 15 pounds in almost 3 weeks. I will keep you posted.

Life remains busy for us, but we feel blessed and extremely glad to be passing through this life together, trials and all.