Tag Archives: drinking

Lyssa’s off the sauce: life as a booze-free gal

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I’ve never been a huge drinker. When I do drink, my friends and husband find it comical that after just one glass of wine or one hard cider, I already have the boozy pink glow and the sillies. One time, my best friend and I finished off two bottles of Gewurztraminer between us and the night ended with me dancing in a pair of dutch-clogs on the patio in my bathing suit. Ah, memories. I always thought that alcohol for me was one of those “Eh” type pleasures in life — I enjoyed it, but not often, and  have been seriously “drunk” only about 10 times in my life. Don’t get me wrong; at Christmas time, I love nothing more than an icy glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream, with a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top. I also love a fine glass of really full-bodied red wine, the kind where the tannins drench your tongue in all those fabulously dark, fragrant whiffs. I’m not a regular beer gal, much to my father and husband’s dismay. (Fun fact: did you know at our wedding, my dad actually gave my husband a dowry? Not kidding – my dad brewed my husband a custom beer called “My Daughter’s Dowry”) However, in the past few years I’ve grown to love hard cider, especially Angry Orchard. It’s refreshing and light but still packs a buzz-bangin’ punch. I also got into a bad habit of a weekly lambic, a sweet fruit beer that’s like candy that makes you drunk. It’s AWESOME.

Because of my new medication for my PCOS, I can’t have alcohol. Actually I can, but my doctor told me that with my insulin resistance problems and body type, each time I drink, I’ll have to accept that my weight loss will stall for the next few days. Bummmmer. Not to mention my liver is thoroughly pickled, apparently not from my once-a-week libations but just from life in general. Hopefully I’ll get the results to that this week. Anyhoo, I didn’t think I’d miss booze until after a week without it had passed, and I realized how much I missed a chilled glass of Moscato in the bath tub at night. I didn’t realize how much I used alcohol to unwind every now and then. A couple of ciders on the weekend, a glass of wine at night, a glass of red with Italian food for dinner. Probably not the best de-stress technique in the world, but I wasn’t harming anyone, definitely not overindulging and would never get behind the wheel in my buzzed state, so in my book, a little buzz at home to take the edge off? Why not? (I used to work on my thesis with a good buzz going, and yes, I graduated! Grad students, I highly recommend it. Thesis writing is unpleasant, so if you’re a wee bit inebriated, it dulls the pain of big words like “hegemony”.)

Enjoying some champagne at a friend's wedding

Enjoying some champagne at a friend’s wedding

Dinners out with friends are super hard, when the alcohol is flowing and the conversation is going and I’m in the corner with my glass of water. A few nights ago my husband and I cooked dinner at home and we ate our grilled chicken and vegetables on the patio, savoring the dusky glow of Los Angeles. I swigged a sip of his red wine and was overwhelmed at how rich and sweet it tasted, how the grapes filled my mouth with notes and aromas like a sherbet sunset in Napa valley.  I was going to try to be 100% clean n’ sober for the duration of my weight loss activity (which is like, omg, forever), but I decided that special occasions are worth the splurge, so tonight at Monique’s beautiful wedding, I participated in the champagne toast and enjoyed every sweet sip. Will my weight loss stall? Probably, but what else is new? Plus, if nothing is happening, nothing can stall anyways, right? Hahaha. I shouldn’t say nothing is happening because it’s very possible I’ve lost weight, I just haven’t had the chutzpah to get on the scale in the last two weeks. Scale PTSD, much?

So now it’s out in the open. I miss booze. It had a more important place in my life than I thought it did. Sniffle, tear. It sounds like I’m an alcoholic when I say it had a place in my life, but you don’t realize how much you like something until it’s gone (except for PMS, aforementioned thesis and the Chicken Pox.)

What’s your attitude towards booze? Something you don’t even think ab0ut? Do you refrain? Do you overdo it? Is it average? What’s your fav drink? For the record, a peche Lindeman’s Lambic is probably my favorite booze on earth. Crap. Now I want one….instead, amuse me with your drink of choice! Cheers, folks. It’s 5:00 somewhere.

Weekly Weigh In #2

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Today was my second Weight Watchers weigh in, and I was feeling pretty confident. I tracked everything I ate, and only ate 29 of my flex points. I didn’t get much exercise and I probably could have done more water, but in total, the week went well and I was sure it would result in at least a pound lost. I stepped on the scale and I…

Gained .2

I believe the first thing out of my mouth was “What the f*ck?”, except without the little asterisk because I’m pretty much a sailor’s daughter.  The leader offered a few suggestions, like, “Did you use all of your flex points?” No, I didn’t. “Did you eat something salty for dinner last night?” No, I didn’t. “Are you near your monthly cycle?” Sorry if it’s TMI, but no. So WHAT THE FFFFF!! I moped through the rest of the meeting and felt sorry for myself (and may have tweeted a couple of pouting tweets), and then I got over it. Shit happens. So I didn’t lose this week when I feel like I really should have. Life will go on, and all I can do is keep on tracking, and try to identify why I didn’t lose this week.

Here’s a few thoughts – I was bad about drinking water. I’m back in school and my schedule is now in full-on crazy mode. I’ve felt thirsty a lot, and I know by the time I get to that point, I’m already dehydrated. So this week, more water. I also didn’t exercise much because of aforementioned bad schedule. This week I need to get movin’, even if it’s just walking a few laps around the campus at work. I also wonder if I’m eating too much fruit. Even though it’s 0 points, it still has calories, and yesterday I ate 3 clementines, a peach, a banana and a cup of pineapple. I struggled with this the last time around on PointsPlus, so I may need to see how the next couple of weeks go and re-evaluate my fling with fruit.

When was the last time you were expecting a good thing to happen and it didn’t? Are you the type of person that suffers a setback and bounces right back, or are you like me, and need to stew and pout about it for a bit before you move on?

Ugly Sweater Party

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Hi Everybody, hope you had a wonderful weekend! I did! Saturday night we had a small party with friends to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. Matt and I had been wanting to celebrate with an “Ugly sweater” party for quite some time, and this event definitely did not disappoint. All of my future parties will be themed. They must be. Themes = awesome.

People started trickling in around 7 and we grabbed a quick group shot…

Quick! Take a picture before everyone's drunk!

Later in the night we had an “Ugliest Sweater Contest”… Here are our winners!

Our Prize Winners! From L to R - Sacha and Monica, third place. Daniel and Shelley, First place. Luis, Second Place.

The amount of details in these sweaters was amazing! Shelley hand sewed lights into hers, Luis’ said “Pimpin’ Aint Easy…”

Can you see that? "Pimpin' Aint Easy"

Some of our other attendees had awesome sweaters, too.. Check out the details on Emily and Matt’s! Emily also sewed on dangly Santa embellishments and created this charming vest for her husband Matt….

Matt looks thrilled about his outfit!

We had an assortment of yummy treats… like creepy Coraline-esque ranch dip snowmen with veggies….

A snowman made out of ranch dip!

And also some delicious “Jolly Jingle Juice”…. (This stuff went FAST! People love boozy punch!)

Please ignore my focused "MUST SERVE MORE ALCOHOL" face...

And if the jingle juice wasn’t enough to warm up frozen buns and hands, we had a fire bowl going outside to add some warmth to the chilly 50 degree So Cal night (go ahead and smack me, Midwesterners and East Coasters… but 50 is freezing for the sunshine city).

Roasty Toasty by the fire

The grad school gals cut loose and relaxed for a few hours, thankful for a break from looming deadlines and mass media jargon….

Smile and say "Hegemony!"

And the happy hostess enjoyed wonderful gifts from her generous guests, like this adorable drunken reindeer wine holder from Virginia…. (I named him BUZZED BLITZEN)

Buzzed Blitzen

It was a wonderful evening having fun with friends before the insanity of finals and the usual holiday stress kicks in – but this night was a great reminder of what life’s about… the good times spent laughing with your friends. Have you ever been to an Ugly Sweater party? No?! If not… We’ll have a giant one when we have a bigger house! How many holiday parties have you been to or are you invited to this season?

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

 

Fettucini and Friends

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Hello dear readers! Did you have a good weekend? I did, well actually, I am, because I’m writing this to you on a lovely Sunday afternoon while my adoring husband naps next to me. Last night, we invited our awesome friends Jason, Juan and Randy over for dinner in honor of my sister’s visit to Los Angeles. I knew I wanted to make fettucini alfredo because it’s simple, delicious, and fun to make when guests are over. For a more detailed explanation, visit the Pioneer Woman – but here’s how ya do it.

1) All you need is: 1 Box of fettucini, 1 thing of whipping cream (you need 1 cup), 1 stick of salted butter and 1 tub of parmesan cheese.

Easy Peasy Heart Attack Pasta

2) Boil water for your pasta.

3) Slowly melt the butter in a large sauce pan. SLOWLY. If it burns, you’ll have brown butter, which is yummy, but not what you want.

4) When your butter is mostly melted, add in 1 cup of cream. Let it chill out for a couple seconds and then gently whisk together . Let the cream and butter mingle for awhile and add a few cracks of pepper, if desired. When it’s hot and mixed well (medium heat) – again – not too high, or you’ll end up with scalded cream – turn off the stove and get a large serving bowl.

Mix it up!

5) Add 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese to the serving bowl. Pour in the butter/cream mixture. Let it hang out for a couple minutes to melt all the cheese, and then whisk again, gently. You can add more black pepper, if you want.

Pepper, cream, butter and cheese = BFFs

6) Your pasta should be almost done. Add the cooked, drained pasta directly into the cheesy, creamy serving bowl. Using tongs, gently toss to coat. Add one more cup of parmesan cheese and toss until all cheese is melted. You just made fettucini alfredo – and DAMN, is it good.

Mouth is watering...

Come to mama.

Obviously this isn’t a meal you eat every week (if you can do it, all power to you), but as an occasional splurge, it’s an awesome dinner party dish. We combined it with yummy pomegranate margaritas my sister made, red wine, a bolognese sauce, a green salad and garlic bread. SUPER TASTY! As you can see by the many bottles on the counter – we had a good time. What’s your go-to dinner party dish?

I will always revert back to my rock n' roll roots when posing for photos!

Here's a picture of my sister scrubbing my stove. Because you know, doing the dishes and wiping down all of the counters wasn't enough.

PS: I want to thank you all for your awesome and heartfelt comments lately. Getting comments is my FAVORITE thing EVER, and it’s so cool to connect with you. Thanks. Your comments are like little warm fuzzy hugs sent over the interwebz. <3