Pièce de résistance

I’ve resisted temptation for 16 days – 5 more to go! Here are the highlights:

I said “no” to:
- spaghetti at a family dinner
- homemade pumpkin cream cheese bars
- 10 takeout pizzas vying for the “best in town”
- Cookies from the Cookie Company in my department
- drinks and snacks at the bar
- Homemade cookies at Game Night
- jalapeno poppers fresh out of my oven
- A box of chocolates/cookies at a lunch meeting
- A giant jar of frosted cookies sitting 2 desks away
- the Cheese Nips and cinnamon ice cream that keep staring at me whenever I open my cupboard or freezer

…Plus countless images like this one on Pinterest. *drool*

I talked to:
Martha Stewart! The segment they did about the cleanse aired live on Tuesday, and they’ve posted it online: http://bit.ly/wISBTq One of the other “cleansers”, Erin, had already lost 14 pounds as of Tuesday! There is a chance (albeit tiny) that we’ll be asked to make a return appearance for an update on the cleanse. I doubt it will happen, but I’ll be sure to post if Martha calls!

I got picked for:
a random drug test at work. I’m pretty sure that’s the cleanest urine that facility’s ever seen. EVER.

I scheduled a:
massage at a local spa! I’ve been stressed and I still haven’t cheated on the cleanse. I’ve earned a non-food reward!

I lost my:
mp3 player! It’s been missing since a gym visit last week, and I’ve searched high & low. I really miss my workout playlists!

In the crockpot: Kale, white bean, & potato stew
In the fridge: Toasted coconut muesli

Martha & a Mouthful of Bugs

I’ll be on The Martha Stewart Show live via webcam on Tuesday. The producer tells me it airs live, but I’m not sure that’s the case in my area. The three “weeks without” I’ve been doing are taken directly from the 21-Day Detox Challenge in Whole Living Magazine….a Martha Stewart magazine. As I’ve been making recipes, I’ve been following Whole Living’s blog posts and Facebook page. One afternoon, they asked their Facebook followers if any of the 21-day cleansers would be interested in talking about their experience on The Martha Stewart Show. I replied with my contact information & received a call about an hour later. The next day, I received a laptop, webcam, and microphone that they’d overnighted for me to use (not to keep…). Lucky me, I work at a TV station, so I’m using the studio at work to do the segment. I won’t have to miss work, and I’ll have great lighting J

We did an equipment test & quick run-thru on Friday, and everything went smoothly for me. The only bad news? The rehearsal is at 7:15am on Tuesday (ouch!) before the live show at 9:30am. So – if I look really tired or sound like Frankenstein, now you’ll know why.

My kitchen is in a constant state of disaster - just as I finish a load of dishes, I have to start another one and hand wash another sink full of them. Plus, my sink is backed up (and no, that's not a detox euphemism...), so I guess I haven't been being careful enough about all of the vegetable peelings going down the garbage disposal.

Today, I made my first –and long overdue- visit to the Open Harvest co-op grocery store in Lincoln. I’d heard nothing but glowing reviews about it, and it –mostly- lived up to the hype. First, the service was incredible. I knew the woman who was handing out samples because we’d met through a couple shoots for work. My cashier was the friendliest, most helpful guy ever. Second, they’re super green. I expected this, but it was cool to see people bringing in their own containers and leaving with reusable bags & boxes (you get a discount for doing so). Thirdly, I found some of the weird ingredients for the cleanse that I couldn’t find ANYWHERE else! Delicata squash, miso soup powder, hemp seed, and tons of no-sugar added organic dried fruit. But it wasn’t all good news…I came home and mixed up some of the dried fruit with nuts to make some cleanse-friendly trail mix. I had eaten a couple of handfuls when I noticed ANTS in the jar!!! I am quite sure I ate a few of those little guys, and they’re NOT on the detox menu! haha That being said, I’ll take my chances & revisit Open Harvest. – but I’ll be double checking my fruit.

Currently craving:

- chocolate

- Amigo's soft taco

- Sam Adams