When life gets in the way...

Tonight's work day was EPICALLY long. Not only was I scheduled to work thirteen hours, but then I got out more than a half an hour late because S. (father) got home from work late, thus making me late, and cranky, and tired, and more than a little bit annoyed. Knowing that they appreciate my willingness to stay does not make up for the fact that if I'm supposed to leave work at 8, and it takes me an hour and fifteen minutes to get home, thus getting me in at 9:15, I have to still find time to work out, make and eat a healthy dinner, shower, and oh yeah, maybe say hello to Alix? Did I mention I wake up at either 4:15 or 5:15 AM to get to work in the morning?

Needless to say, the making dinner and working out did not happen tonight. We ordered healthy vegetarian Thai food from the place around the corner, ate less than half of it, and will have the rest tomorrow. We also calculated our calories for the day (an annoying, time-consuming process), and came out around a healthy 1400 or so. Possibly more because of the Thai food, but takeout is a rare occurrence around here so we'll allow it. I snacked on whole wheat bread with the vegan spread, Greek yogurt, an apple with peanut butter, and grapefruit today. I also did a yoga dvd while Monkey napped but I didn't really feel like it did much. My plan for these long work days is to bring my 30 Day Shred or Cardio Max dvd's and do them while Monkey either naps, watches his Baby Einstein videos nearby, or giggles at his ridiculous nanny jumping and sweating all over the living room (probably the last one). To lighten the mood of this cranky post, I'll share the highlight of my evening with Monkey: a poop-tastrophe (poop + catastrophe = poop-tastrophe). Stop reading if you're afraid of poop.

Monkey gets really cranky and fussy around 7:30-8:00 PM. It is his witching hour, and nothing really helps except walking slowly around the house with him in the sling, being careful to avoid all the awkward corners and furniture alignments that one-bedroom NYC apartments are famous for. He is sleepy but won't sleep, he isn't hungry, but wants his ba-ba (pacifier), he doesn't want to play and will howl indignantly if I so much as think about setting him down (enter, the life-saving sling I now own), and he certainly, most definitely DOES NOT want to go to bed. So there we are, wandering the house, watching the Food Network on mute, when I catch a whiff of something bad. Steeling myself for the wrath that awaits me removing him from his cozy sling, I quickly unwrap him and lay him on the couch to change him. (The changing table has been converted to a bookshelf because he was scaring the bejesus out of me with his ability to almost rocket himself off the end. Hence, the couch is safer.) I grab my supplies, unwrap his diaper, and find, to my horror, that we have a SUTB situation (Shit Up The Back). Waaayyyy up. Envision this: Giggly Monkey is thrilled to have his manly bits uncovered and so is handling them with glee, poop has covered his front, backside, and halfway to his armpits, I am balancing him on his belly on the side of the couch while I carefully, carefully roll the poopy clothes over his head to avoid getting any more of it spread around. I toss the clothes in the hamper (Not. My. Problem.), and come to the executive decision that naked Monkey needs a bath. STAT. So in we go, gleefully splashing in his baby bathtub, getting a good scrub all over and then a cozy towel wrap, a fresh diaper, a lotion rub-down, and some fleecy frog pajamas. A few cuddles later, and my munchkin man is fast asleep....just in time for his dad to come home and wake him up. Again - Not. My. Problem.

New Recipes

I made two more recipes from my Vegan Planet cookbook today and both were smashing successes. The first is a breakfast spread to go on toast or bagels (or fruit, I suppose). It's not too sweet, nutty and smooth and delicious, as well as protein-filled, low in fat and animal product free. I had it on a piece of whole wheat toast this morning for breakfast and it was satisfying and more interesting than plain nut butter.

Bagels-for-Breakfast Spread (Sweet)
4 oz soft silken tofu, drained
1 medium ripe banana, peeled and sliced
2 T almond butter
2 T pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Refrigerate for several hours to allow the flavors to develop. This will keep in the fridge for about 3 days.

Then, for dinner, Alix and I had another recipe from the same book, called Fennel, Pecan, and Watercress Salad with Orange Vinaigrette. It was amazing! The combination of textures and flavors was delicious and it felt good to have something so healthy and satisfying for dinner.

Fennel, Pecan, and Watercress Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
1 navel orange, peeled
2 large fennel bulbs, trimmed
2 bunches watercress, tough stems removed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 T frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 T water
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Remove the pith from the orange, then cut sections from between the membranes and set aside. Halve each fennel bulb lengthwise, then cut crosswise into paper-thin slices. Place in a large serving bowl, combine with the watercress, orange sections, and toasted pecans. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, orange juice concentrate, water, mustard, salt, and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil until blended and pour the dressing over the salad. Toss to coat evenly and serve immediately

We loved this salad! We didn't cut the fennel very well so the bites were a little awkward, and the dressing was delicious, but a little excessive. When I make it again, I will add more watercress to use the rest of the dressing.

In other news, after working out twice yesterday, we were too worn out to do it today. Tomorrow we plan on starting our second exercise dvd program, called Cardio Max (another Biggest Loser spin-off) in addition to the 30 Day Shred workout. It will be our last day of Level 1, and then we'll be moving on to Level 2 of the Shred program. Wish us luck!

Venturing into Veganism

Today was a good day! After waking up, we had a healthy breakfast of yogurt (sadly, none of the high-fat stuff I have previously advocated) and blackberries, plus a glass of V8 and our handful of vitamins. After a trip to the dog park, we did our fifth 30 Day Shred workout and noticed increased endurance from our first day. While some of the strength moves are still very difficult, the cardio sections barely make us break a sweat and the abs exercises feel productive but not excruciating. Since we didn't work out yesterday (our shopping trip brought us home by 11 PM and we were exhausted), after I got home from work tonight, we did the workout again. It was definitely challenging to do the workout twice in one day, but still doable. I have already been able to consistently increase the number of push-ups I can do with every workout.

After our second session, I made a dinner of Pseudo Caesar Salad from the book Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. It was delicious, tasting like Caesar salad without the high-calorie dressing and it was devoid of animal products. I've included the recipe and a picture below, in case you'd like to try it out. With a little help from my mom and some Internet research, I was able to find miso paste at Fairway Market and the recipe came off without a hitch. All would have gone well today, except for the sad, sad fact that I work at a bakery that is famous for their huge, delicious cookies. Between my snacking at work, and the cookie I brought home for Alix, it was our one big slip-up. But improvement is the name of the game - not to mention, thank God I only work at Levain two days a week. We're still not feeling any weight-loss, which is frustrating, but we are feeling stronger from the workouts. I guess we'll have to give the weight more time to come off since we've just recently started eating throughout the day (normal people do that, right?).

Anyway, here's the recipe for the delicious salad. Any encouragement, advice, and support is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Yummmm

Pseudo Caesar Salad
Croutons (or French bread with crusts removed, cut into 1-inch cubes and toasted at 325 for 25 minutes)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T tahini paste
1 T mellow white miso paste (I used "mild" paste because I decided "mild" was more important than "white" and there wasn't an option for both)
2 T lemon juice
1 tsp tamari or other soy sauce
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1/3 c olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 head romaine lettuce

In a food processor, combine the garlic, tahini, miso, lemon juice, tamari, Worcestshire, and olive oil until blended. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Wash and tear the romaine, then toss with the croutons and dressing. Serve immediately.

Good Eats (Healthy = Expensive)

The above equation isn't exactly a groundbreaking conclusion, but it is one that we were reminded of anew tonight during our grocery shopping expedition. This was an epic week for shopping, mostly because we're revamping our diet but also because we're still restocking our pantry after the move to the new apartment. We discovered tonight that our local grocery store (Fairway Market) is open until 1 AM, which is amazing because due to my work schedule, we cannot go shopping when normal people do, around 6:00 or 7:00 PM. In addition, Alix's and my anxiety goes into hyper-drive if we are forced to grocery shop in a store packed with angry, bitchy, self-entitled New Yorkers so shopping at 10 PM like we did tonight was perfect. Our second amazing discovery is that Fairway Market, which is huge already, has a second floor full of organic food!! We thought that leaving the land of Whole Foods would mean the end of our ability to purchase organic, but not so. Fairway is overwhelming and large, but navigable when we are some of the only customers, and the staff is reasonably helpful. The only item on our huge shopping list that we couldn't find was white miso paste, probably because we had no idea where to look for it or what it even resembled (it is for a recipe from my cookbook, Vegan Planet). Maybe we'll try another store?

Look how long our receipt is!

We spent $159.17 total, with no meat products on the list. The most expensive thing we bought was a bag of pecans for $9.23, the second in line was almond butter for $6.99, and third was a wedge of cheese for $6.70. The least expensive item was a navel orange for $0.89 , followed closely by individual grapefruits ($0.95 each) and bottles of seltzer ($0.99 each).

Our planned dishes for the week include lasagna, the pecan fennel watercress salad previously mentioned, a vegan Caesar salad, roasted brussel sprouts, pierogies with sauteed apples and onions, pappardelle with spiced butter, and leftover cabbage rolls (I hope to post pictures of all our meals this week for your mouthwatering enjoyment). Since I'm becoming more committed to packing food for my long work days, we bought essentials like grapefruits, berries, apples, the makings of almond or peanut butter sandwiches, celery, yogurt, and cottage cheese. Alix and I agree that eating much more frequently throughout the idea makes us feel weird and whale-like, but the reality is that it's more healthy to eat like this than it is to wait until 8 PM to eat anything, and then eat everything in the house. We're adjusting. Hopefully all this work, plus the workouts, will have some results. Not sure if this is related, but my belt was one notch tighter this morning than it's ever been. Small victories!

Third Time's the Charm

Today marks our third day of 30 Day Shred. For those of you counting, technically this is the fourth day since we started, but we didn't work out yesterday due to television obligations. As a side note, Alix and I watch very little tv but we are committed to two shows - Biggest Loser and 16 and Pregnant (or Teen Mom, whichever season is currently showing). Unfortunately, both are on Tuesday nights which equates to an epic three hours of tv since Biggest Loser is on from 8-10 and 16 and Pregnant is on 10-11. Sometimes we miss Biggest Loser depending on how late I get home from work, and it's undeniable that I am extra tired on Wednesday mornings from staying up so late, but I feel fine partaking of this small weekly pleasure. Anyway, I digress. Tonight was workout number three for us and it was surprisingly easy. I can't believe how much easier it has gotten since the first day! There is one strength move that still kills us: static side lunges with arm raises...with five pound hand weights. Ideally, we would own two sets of weights each, one of 3's and one of 5's, but I'm not really willing to shell out the extra cash and energy to go buy them. Besides, my goal is to work up to the static side lunges being easy-peasy with 10 pounds of added weight. So the plan from here on out is:

1. Don't eat dinner before working out. Tonight involved some serious cramping due to the tuna sandwich and tomato soup dinner that preceded it (Mama, you were absolutely right, I should not have eaten dinner first.)
2. Plan meals better during the day. For me, since I work 14 hour days, I need to pack essentially every meal in order to prevent an epic gorge once I get home. Tomorrow's planned meals are grapefruit, baby carrots with peanut butter, and PB&J. Then, come home, work out and eat dinner. Tomorrow's dinner will be pasta with homemade pesto and crumbled goat cheese feta with sliced tomatoes on the side.
3. Drink more water, pre- and post-workout.
4. Stop weighing ourselves obsessively and only do it once a week. Weight fluctuations are normal and may or may not reflect the work we are putting in.
5. Try out some new recipes from our healthier cookbooks. How does fennel, pecan, and watercress salad with orange vinaigrette sound?

Aiz not chewing...Aiz growing muscles.

6. Grocery shop with discipline! This means buying what we need for our planned meals, healthy snacks, calorie-free or low-calorie drinks and THAT'S IT. No more impulse purchases of challah, Nutella, or whatever else it is we chow on that is now off the meal plan.
7. Keep Puffkin (aka, Rupert) away from the hand weights. Apparently, they look like delicious chew toys.

Shred It, cont'd

So, Alix and I bought the hand weights that you're supposed to use with our new workout dvd today and it turns out - brace yourselves - that it's a lot harder with them than without them. We debated between buying 5's or 8's and dear-God-thank-you we bought the 5's. We did Phase 1 of the workout series again tonight and boy, was it hard. Second day workouts are always worse, because you're sore from the day before. Add in the additional ten pounds for every strength move, and we got one tough butt-kicking. We're recovering on the couch with the window wide open, sweaty hair hanging in our faces, and I'm not kidding when I say that it's actually hurting my arms to type. I knew it had been a while since my rowing days as a college athlete (and even longer since Alix's softball days), but I am more out of shape than I realized. We steeled ourselves for the ultimate test: before and after pictures. I desperately don't want to take the before pictures, but I know that if I do it will only motivate me more to finish the plan and be proud of the after pictures. We learned that side pictures are generally more flattering than front pictures.

Further adjustments to our health plan: we are keeping a food diary, and we are going vegetarian for the month (after tonight, because tonight's pre-planned dinner was cabbage rolls). How about you, readers? Anyone ever successfully put into place a weight-loss slash get-fit plan? How did it go? Any words of advice for us as we begin our journey?

Shred It

At long last, the workout/healthy body part of this life plan is being put into effect. After a serious delay due to a scary surprise health problem and a relocation to save our finances, Alix and I were finally ready to start our proposed plan: 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. For those not addicted to the hit tv show The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels is a hard-core, nut-crushing, smoking hot trainer who whips 400 pound people into shape who then made millions of dollars by making dvd's that whip normally flabby people into shape. The workout dvd we now own and started today promises a weight-loss of up to 20 pounds in 30 days. However, we both know that this is marketing at its most improbable and is also not desirable - neither Alix nor I need to lose 20 pounds. So we're determined to actually do the damn thing for 30 days and see where we wind up. Each workout is only 20 minutes and there are three levels. We predict that we'll do Level 1 for a week, Level 2 for a week, and Level 3 for the last two weeks (we're ambitious, competitive, and driven when put to the test but lazy, sloppy, and inert when not). The pressure is on. If I can have abs like Jillian Michaels after 30 days, while also managing to show off some cleavage in a sports bra, then I will be one happy camper. (Can this workout dvd actually give me cleavage too? Because that would be cool.) Additional sources of exercise in our lives include carrying our 32 pound dog up and down 3 flights of stairs every time he needs to use the facilities (yay for a 4th floor walk-up apartment). In my case, I've also taken to carrying my smallest - but rapidly growing - buddy around in a sling instead of putting him in his stroller, which he hates. Monkey loves being hoisted around by his ever-buffer nanny, especially when it's in his cozy little sling nestled up against me. Did I mention he's 20 pounds? Something about this body of mine better be changing with all this effort! Now if I could only stop snacking on cookies while I work at the bakery...but hey, nobody's perfect, right?

Thirty days to look like this? I'll do whatever it takes.

Movin' and Groovin'

The biggest adjustment to our stretched finances occurred this past week -- Alix and I moved! To a place with lower rent, that is. Instead of our cushy studio in midtown, we now live in a cozy one-bedroom on the Upper West Side whose rent is $600 less than the old apartment. It's true that paying a lower rent comes with side effects: our super speaks almost no English, cannot comprehend why two women live together in a one-bedroom (awkward looks abound whenever he sees us), and is convinced that hot water dripping steadily from our ceiling is a problem that does not require attention until three days later. We also are now the proud owners of a fridge that doesn't open all the way (because it runs into the counter), two closets that are finicky about opening and closing, and a bathroom door that won't shut because it's been painted over too many times. Thank goodness Alix and I are way past the point of needing toilet privacy. If you come to visit us, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to deal with a cracked door. We'll talk louder while you're in there, don't worry. Despite all of it, we're so much happier here, it's only sad that we didn't move sooner. We love our huge windows, high ceilings, view of the church, the fact that we have a BEDROOM (!!!), that there is room for the boys to run, our counter space...the list goes on and on. Between the lower rent and my two jobs (hooray for working 70 hours a week...literally), we're definitely going to make it. That is, if we can find someone to assume the old lease at the midtown apartment...
But it's more fun to look at pictures than think about scary things like paying two leases, right? So here you go:
First, the old apartment (whose pictures are decidedly better, as they were taken during daylight hours)

The terrace where I grew my herbs and tomatoes

Living room area

Kitchen area

Tiny kitchen

Next, the process of moving:

Eating Indian takeout on a Zappos box because we no longer had a table.

Boxes galore

And finally, the new place:

The foyer

The main room

Dining area

Kitchen area...please excuse the mess (those dishes are actually clean, just haven't been put away yet).

And just for fun - the apple pie I made today. Jealous? You should be.

The Working Life

Since I'm the only one in our household of four that is currently working,* and this blog is partially about finances, I figure writing about my job is fair game. My job, as I've mentioned before, is to take care of a darling 6-month-old boy while his parents work ridiculous hours finishing their medical school residencies. This, in turn, means that I also work some pretty ridiculous hours that require me to start work at 6 AM most days and work 50 hours a week, plus overtime if I wish. In addition, my hours change weekly and a typical day could be anywhere from 6-4, 6-8 (yes, that's 14 hours), or noon-8. Knowing full well that hours like this were part of the job means I don't technically get to complain about them, but seriously, it's hard sometimes. I long for the monotony of a 9-5 workday that includes both a reliable, unchanging wake-up time and the ability to come home for dinner. Hours aside, I truly love my job. Taking care of my little dude is second nature now. I know his every expression, need, and babble. I make him laugh, I rock him to sleep, I have entire conversations with him, responding to a typical string of constant-vowel combination with things like, "Well, yes, Monkey, that's true, but I also think that the nutritional value of green beans makes them an important part of your diet."
"Gaaaahhh, bsssh, guaah. Bah."
"Mmm-hm, yes, I agree, this breast milk is top-notch. Do you want to play in your bouncy seat?"
"Gaaaahhhhhhh!!!"
"Alright dude, bouncy seat it is."
And so on. My job doesn't feel like work, it feels like being a mom, something I've been dying to do for, oh, about ten years now. I don't have to dress up (in fact, it is undeniably better if I don't), and I don't have to answer to a horrendous boss. Monkey's mom and I are far more like friends than we are a typical employer-employee pair. I know that sounds idyllic coming from a nanny, but it's honestly true. I've worked for other families before that I would not hesitate to compare to the parents in The Nanny Diaries, and the family I work for now is the furthest thing from it. Does it suck waking up at 4:30 AM every day especially when I have insomnia that keeps me from sleeping for more than three hours at a time? And coming home so late at night that all I can do is eat and collapse into bed, barely having a conversation with Alix? Yes, yes it does. But my buddy's smile when he sees me bright and early and the way he burrows joyfully into my shoulder as soon as I pick him up definitely make it worth it.

* * *

It would be nice if this cute little blog post could end there, but sadly, it can't. Despite my working such long hours, our sky-high rent and my medical costs are putting too much of a strain on our budget. So, I did like all poor twenty-something's do, and I got a second job. I start work tomorrow at a famous little bakery on the UWS that makes cookies so good they make you want to take your clothes off. It scares me that I'll be working upwards of 65 hours a week now, but I can't ignore the fact that going into debt was not a part of the post-college life plan. Still, I'm pumped about half-price cookies, working with people my age, and hopefully staying financially afloat.

*This is not to say that I pay for everything. Alix and I split costs exactly down the middle, it's just that she pays with the earnings from her year of working as a paralegal before she started law school. Tucker and Rupert, on the other hand, cost a lot and contribute nothing other than mad cuteness.

Unsolicited Advice

First of all, apologies for the hiatus from posting. We've been dealing with a lot these last couple of weeks, but everything seems to be working out for the best. Since the topics of our blog (saving money, eating healthy, etc) have taken a hit as we've been consumed with the other challenges facing us, the topic of today's post is something different that's been irking both of us more and more: unsolicited advice. I have to believe that everyone is subject to this most unwelcome commentary to their life at some point, but for reasons I still can't quite discern, as young women we seem to receive more advice than most. People particularly love to give us advice about raising "my" child (the baby I nanny for), raising our dog, and maintaining our relationship. Two of our favorite conversations regarding the first two topics are paraphrased below for your amusement:

The background to this scenario is that for the first half of the summer, while Alix and I were both working, I would often have to come home with the baby in his carrier in order to walk the dog around lunchtime. I would take the dog out for five minutes, and attempt to gracefully pick up poop while keeping a fussy, sweaty baby away from the rambunctious dog and said poop. One day while I was doing all of this, a man felt the need to stop me mid-poop pickup and tell me:
"You should really put a hat on that baby!"
"Mm-hmm, thank you for your concern."
A. It was a cloudy day. B. We were in the shade of our 12-story building. C. We were outside for two minutes. D. The baby was pouring sweat in the 90 degree heat and would enter full-blown meltdown mode if I insisted he continue to wear his sun hat, which, thank you very much, I do put on his downy head when there is the slightest chance that sunlight will make contact with his skin.
The man walked off, disgusted by my poor parenting skills, while the dog continued jumping, and I continued scooping, before herding us all inside so the baby could nap. Truly, thank you for your concern.

Alix's experience occurred while she was walking Rupert home from our vet's office, a place that Rupert inexplicably loves. He loves it so much, in fact, that he will often put up a huge fuss on the walk home as he strains to walk backwards to his beloved vet, Dr. Walsh. At a particularly trying moment, Alix stood patiently clutching the end of the leash while Rupert defiantly flopped on the sidewalk (this happens more often than you might expect). While waiting for him to move, a large, obnoxious woman came lumbering up to Alix and insisted that "she wasn't handling the situation correctly" and that she "needed to bring a toy along" to entice the dog to walk with her. She then proceeded to attempt to lure our timid puppy towards her, a maneuver that is destined to fail, since Rupert is terrified of anyone obnoxious enough to get in his face. After failing to entice our dog, she took another crack at offering Alix a solution.
"Are you married?" she asks.
"No..." responded Alix, not really seeing where this was going.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" was the immediate response. Without waiting for a reply, she followed with, "The dog must have a stronger bond with your boyfriend, which is why he doesn't listen to you."
Ah yes. Thank you, kind stranger, for your concern, not only with our dog's discipline but with Alix's sexual orientation and relationship status. In a feat of irony, Rupert immediately got up and trotted home with Alix, despite his apparently stronger bond with her boyfriend.

Maybe you should let your boyfriend walk the dog...

Since these two incidences, we've received more advice than we even want to remember. The concerns regarding our relationship probably annoy us the most, since we are happier than literally anyone else we know. We acknowledge this without a sense of superiority, only with frustration at the apparent inability of people to believe that a 22-year-old and 24-year-old can manage a relationship of a maturity and commitment that few other people our age do. Whatever. Maybe thirty years from now, people will stop giving us advice on everything we do. Actually, you know what, they probably won't. Guess we better get used to doling out a steely smile and the stock reply "thank you for your concern."