been m.i.a!

I have not posted in a while, life in my world has been busy. I have had a family member that was sick. work has been crazy all the different things happening around there. I have been is a rush at the gym also because I am on a quest to loose the few lbs I put on and get finally back on my gym schedule and I have been doing fine but it is coming off slowly, which is fine and I also have to try and not focus on it so much...sometimes it is hard to do while other times it is not. I have been having a minor health issue that I need to get iron infusions and the weekly appts. but I take it in stride. In about 2 weeks or so, i have an engagement celebration/party to go to for a girlfriend of mine, and i have to find a dress which is a black tie kind of thing...and I am dreading this to a tee! I have no idea what to get I know I want a dark color style I am not sure something that makes me look cute and hot and amazing! My body i have my flaws but it will be a challenge to find the right dress, then in Jan my same friend will be getting married and I will have to find a dress for that as well! I have time to worry about that. I got to work fast lol to find a dress before July 18Th lol! The whole financial times right now sucks big time, I am in the process to get things together but it is slow and sometimes you take 2 steps forward and one step back lol,why does living in NY have to cost so much? Why does gas have to go up and why can't the gas stations and companies not raise the prices...they make billions a day from the gas being bought why not help us out since we need the gas cause you need a car to get anywhere in NY! My birthday past in April...the 23rd to be exact and it was a good day! I had fun. I got into cooking and baking again...I truly love and enjoy cooking and baking and really creating something for family and friends to enjoy! maybe i will go to culinary school to become a chef...who knows, but I do plan to get my certificate in personal training I plan to hopefully start this in Sept! The end of Aug early September I am taking a real vacation out of NY and going to San Fran, ca to visit my brother and my niece and my new baby niece...I so can not wait for this!!! I need to just get away for a bit! well I am signing off here for now, but I will update more soon, and regularly...life happens and keep you busy! peace and hair grease see ya l8ter ;op

happy easter everyone!!!

I hope everyone had a good Easter holiday today? I did not do anything, I had to work,and my parents were just chilling at home. It was a nice day in ny today, It was sunny 50's and a tad windy lol but I will take that. The past few days have been busy for me i took wed, Thursday off of last week because it is passover and the first nite of the sedar...( i know that is probably spelled wrong). It was nice...it is a tad long and after one drink of wine i was gone...I was ready to go! and i got my grove back as far as working out and watching my diet better i kind of got into a rut, that got aggravated by being sick at the beginning of the yr, but all is better and well now, i am back on the wagon as it were lol. I have 4 more days then I will be on vacation!!! I am not going anywhere, because there are things here that are up in the air and I am going to totally relax, not do any cooking/baking I am going to even try and not look at food or foodnetwork I will relax and just take a breathe. I will have fun hang with friends and enjoy my days off, I hope the weather is nice while I am on vacation? we will have to see about that! I will still be at the gym everyday...at least 5 days, sweating like a pig lol...no pain no gain...lol but i love it! I will post more later. have a good nite :o)

see ya l8ter peace and hairgrease ;op

is spring finally here?

today it is 62 ish in ny and sunny and windy but it is a very nice day out in ny today, friday and saturday were yucky with rain and such and wind. sunday turned out to be a nice day. I think it is too nice to be inside or stuck at work...lol, I have 11 days til my vacation no work for me!!! I am happy about that, I am not going to do any cooking/baking I am just going to enjoy it I am not going anywhere but i will hang with friends and do stuff like that. The peanutbutter brownies I made last week are gone my co workers loved them and so did i lol i love peanut butter! I do enjoy cooking/baking but I do get sick of it so on my vacation I will not be doing any of it!!! I am at work right now working and I had a free minute to come blog for a second...I will post again later!

peace and hairgrease...see ya l8ter ;op

Kraft Dessert Scale

my saturday at home on my day off!

Well it has been a few days since I last posted, but there has been alot going on around here...I did not have a chance to get here and post. Well yesterday friday april 3rd i went to the gym to train and meet with my trainer, I thought we were meeting at 10 am it was actually 8 am lol it was crazy yesterday so i worked out with her, she punished me good! lol I stopped by the store to get the last few things I needed to make my dinner. I made lentil soup, this is a different take on my moms lentil soup and I love hers too and i wanted to make lentil soup and this was my first time. I got the recipe curtesy of food network barefoot contessa ina gartner! It was so yummy and I was impressed that it was so good and it came out perfect the first time around. the barefoot contessa lentil soup is made with green lentils and has leeks in it to give it a different flavor kind of like a tart flavor...I saw her make it on the foodnetwork show, and I was drooling...lol. I have some lentils left over and I will make a salad out of the lentils. Today saturday I chilled out around the house and I did my dinner for tonight, it was beef sirlion kabobs with parmesan orzo. I did not kabob it, I took one elephant garlic and chopped it up and put it in a ziplock bag and I put the meat in as well and then I took kraft greek vinegrette salad dressing and pour some in the ziplock bag and mixed it around and put in the fridge to marinate for about an hr and a half, while that was doing it's thing I did the orzo I did the orzo to the box directions and drianed it and put it back in the same pot with a tsbp of olive oil and i chopped fresh basil and some oregano and shredded parmesan chesse until it will well bleneded and I tasted to see if it needed anything and it was perfect there was enough salt in the cheese to salt the dish and when I put my water pot on to do the orzo pasta I salted it very well. and then I took the marinating meat out of the fridge and let it sit for a bit, it is good to cook meat room temp so it cooks the same all the way threw, i learned that on foodnetwork shows. I heated my pan and put like a tsbp and a half of olive oil and put my meat in and cooked it on one side and then turned it...the smell that was comming out was yummy, the garlic and olive oil...boy I wished I had smell-o-vision...lol! when I was done with that i made pumpkin chocoalte-chip muffins i wanted to make bfast items for the week and to take to work I used a mix that is for make loafs of bread...I love pumpkin...also when I get a box of cake or cookie or whatever it is I like to do the other recipe or not the ordinary recipe, becuase it is different and special and you will get the oohh and ahhh factor! they were good, by accident I did not start the timer which I thought I did but some how i knew they were ready. I then made finally the last baked good of the day was authenic enhglish scones...they were plain but I sprinkled cinn-sugar on top of them and i used a cookie cutter to make the shapes...they scones were my first try too and they came out good...I imed my good friend laurie in london and told her the good news...it was my first try and it was perfect! I have found recently that the recipes I have been doing have come out the way they are supposed to and i am still practicing and getting better with my cooking, I enjoy it so much and it is relaxing for me and I love creating food and new and different foods to eat. I would say i am still level one chef wannabe! I watch food network all the time...fave channel and I read magazine for the recipe and articles whether it be my fitness magazine or a regular magazine sometimes there is good info in there. I like to also create and cook meals that are healthier and low cal low fat and find ways to make it better in those areas. I think to be a good chef or cook is learning everything you can, and I have learned alot of "tricks" from watching my fave foodnetwork shows...I pass them on to friends and they are like really I am likes "yes" lol it is a hobby with me right now but maybe during the summer I will go to the local bakery and ask if I can watch them for a day to see what it is like...who knows we will see, well I am tired and it is about my bedtime...I want to get an early start on tomr days since I will be working, get the few errands I have before work and such. have a good night and as I always say...

peace and hairgrease...see ya l8ter ;op

yahoo pingbox!

yahoo has something new for your blogs and facebook too! yahoo pingbox, all you have to do is go to the yahoo messenger screen webpage and at the top right click on yahoo pingbox and it gives you instructions to add it to facebook and your blog. what it is really if you are blogging you can im privately with the person it seems kind of cool. I will try it out for a bit, but i wanted to put that out there in the universe to everybody...lol, i am tired i am going to bed now way past my bedtime...i did my nails they look cute...i have a broken nail and i could not leave it it was snagging on EVERYTHING so i had to fix it and then might as well do them now. i will take a pic and post it here on the blog for anyone that is interested! nitey-nite all see you later!

peace and hairgrease...see ya l8ter ;op

well today is march 30th and man this year is going by so fast already! one more day and it will be april! where does the time go? I am at work, right now i had a free quiet mintute to post a bit. it was busy since i came into work at 3:30 this afternoon. while i was at home it was pretty quiet the way i like it...lol. my parents have been out of town since the 22nd of march woohoo!!! i have had the house to myself and i have enjoyed it a bunch lol. Today it is a nice sunny day in ny i think like 55 degrees and it is very windy and it is making it cooler. i like to send to some friends of mine and one of my groups a weekenight dinner recipe, tonight i sent chicken with 20 cloves of garlic from kraft.com and the weekenight dessert was chips ahoy cheesecake cookies which are fun to make and eat...lol i enjoy sending recipes to friends, it gives them i am sure a different idea on what to make and a good way to try something new...even my friend from london, laurie...( hi laurie, rosie, and petey and angel leons) i send her stuff and i make like a package up for her of the baked goods i made and i send to her because i know she enjoys it a ton, plus it is a treat for her because london has different things there then here in america...my goal is really to get to london this year! i want to see my friend laurie and really have a vacation by myself! I just love when laurie says " biscuts" when i tell her i made shortbread it is soo cute lol...well here it is shortbread and there it is biscuts lol. my other european friend gaily poo poo ( my nickname for her) she is from new zealand...i would love to take a vacation there one day maybe in the next year, also i love it if me and gail could go there together and she can show me all the places to go and not just the "touristy" places either lol, i love her accent too...i am sure when she is made oh boy that accent come flying out lol, lauries accent is cute too, i love an english accent! i have known laurie i think like 3 yrs or so i joined this cat group and she was a member of it and we started talking i believe and hit it off from there...laurie if your version of this is different please let me know lol, and i can talk to her about anything and she is always there to listen if i can ever get the time change right...lol. It is hard sometimes when i need to like vent or talk laurie is sleeping or at work it is 6 hrs different in london. but when i do see her online we will chat talk about what is going on in life for that day...or whatever is on our minds. i consider her a bff ( best friend forever) because she liked me for me and all my crazy things i do and my nurotic things i do as well. we have had our differences but we sometimes agree to disagree and leave it at that. i tell her all the time please retire so you can move to america and live in ny...it would be fun,fun,funner laurie is an older woman, it is weird i find that i can connect more with people older then me or my age...like gaily...lol she is the same age as me i am 8 months older then she is...she is a hoot i just love her, we have know eachother i think it will be a year now she joined the cat group i am a member of...gaily if my remembering is wrong i know you will let me know ! lol Not knowing anything about gail when you speak to her you would think she is american by the things she says and talks about, but i know she is from new zealand! her hubby is american and from california, and gail is a great gal i consider her a bff again i can talk to her easily and i get a take it as it is answer and she is honest with me...we can joke around etc we have fun. I am planning on making a trip to go to ks to visit her this year. laurie is a cat lover...aka"kittehlover" she had 2 cats...one went to the rainbow bridge on 2-14-09 " angel leons" he was a tabby cat boy and rosie is a "moggie" as they say in london, which means a black and white cat...or like a mutt cat...like here in america we have a mutt breed. I tell laurie all the time that your cat rosie is not a cat she is a human in a furry catsuit...lol because i sat that she does not act cat like...i made a card for rosie and i emailed it to laurie for her...since cat do not have email lol and she sat on lauries lap and saw the card and does a "meow" and jumps down that is her way of saying she likes it and even in pictures she is so regal and she has the cutest black spot on her nose it looks like her nose is not there but it is...she is a pretty cat, when i go to london and visit my friend laurie and her hubby pete and rosie i plan to give rosie and scritch on the nosey of hers lol. gail is another cat lover...she is a big catlover! gail is very talented, she likes taking pictures of her kittehs...which i affectionately call them the cabello kittehs...lol and she get them perfect and i have never seen a bad picture from her yet. she tells me since her cats were itty bitteh kittehs she had a camera in their face and they are used to it. she truly has a gift...that i push her on all the time to get into professional kitteh pictuere taking! she is also very crafty, she has made some things for her kids and friends etc and her kittehs are not normal either and i tell her all the time. gail has 4 kittehs...jag is a grey cat he is 2, then possum she is a calico tabby cat she will be 2 in april, and then there is dreamy huck he will be 2 in i think october! he is a chocolate point ragdoll...gail correct me if i am wrong lol and then there is the baby kitteh tang and she will be a yr soon and is a orangie "aka orangie" tabby cat with white on her as well. her cats like to play together and the snuggle together and they are not very cat like either...i laugh when i speak to gail that none of the cats i had do the things your cats or lauries cats do...what is it that you do? i would like to know maybe we can bottle it up and sell it...lol i will post poctures of the cabello kittehs later there is a picture on my blog wall of rosie and also there is a picture of tippys...that story iwill tell at a later time. well i am going to stop here for now. I just wanted to post a little bit more when i had a free second to blog! i also wanted to tell you abit about my life so far lol and my friends...i hope you enjoy what you are reading...more later!

p.s. i wished that one day i could be talented like gail is with her camera and her kittehs and her kids...i am trying right now to perfect trying to be a cook...chef in training lol ;o)

peace and hairgrease...see ya l8ter ;op

my real story about me...well the last 4 yrs and part of my whole life lol!

ok here is my story in the kinda short form. I have lived and grown up in ny all of my 36 almost 37 yrs of life next month my bday...remember Laurie and gaily...lol ;op

all of my life i have been overweight i would say since i was 9 or 10 years old. i was a skinny kid up until then and i guess i started to like food more, i have not figured out that question yet for myself.

for the next 10-20 yrs of my life i struggled with weight and i was on every diet know to man, women and children...lol

i was self conscious of myself and i would try to compensate for it by being funny so that it would not show that i was sad or being made fun of did not hurt me.

when i was in junior high school and high school i would say i was not picked on, but i always knew i was "different" because i was heavy, i had my group of friends, but what bothered me was that all the friends i had in elementary school and junior high school all went away. I am the same person then as i was in high school just a bit older and so what i was fat! I am and was still the fun and cool person to hang out it...i just can not stand clickes or groups , for instance of the jocks can not talk to the nerds, or the pretty popular girls can not talk to girls that are not pretty right away or who are fat...you know what i think of that...( grown words about to be typed) I think it is BULLSHIT!!!! I say this because who cares what other people think they are the ones that have no backbone and go with someone else just because they say so! come on now people!!!

now i am alot older and i have a facebook page i am finding alot of friends and people from my past that i have thought about and would love to see again, to catch up or rekindle a old friendship.

anyway ...i got off the subject...hehehe well like i said i was fat my whole life, i have 2 older brothers and i just got heavier and heavier and when i was 32 yrs old i was at my heaviest about 286 lbs and both of my brothers just had new babies and i had my rock bottom moment... i was like i want to roll around on the floor with my nieces and nephew, but right now i can not because i am so heavy.

i was tired of being sick and tired, everything i did from walking the hall at work to get to my office or going up stairs it was a job and a half, shelping all 286-296 ish lbs along and i was 32 yrs old and i had sickness of a 65 yr old i was on like 10 different pills. i had high blood pressure,diabetes, my asthma acted up when i was alot heavier, also my allergies kicked in full force too. i was a mess and i was too young to be going threw all of this, i went to my dr and i have been told my whole life you need to loose weight, well when i went to see my primary dr, it was for a check up i beleive and he said to me and my mom was in the room with me, is that you need to loose weight or in 10 yrs YOU will be DEAD! because all the co-mobilities i had. well after that a friend of mine was going threw surgery and i had been tossing around the idea of doing gastric bypass surgery, getting any and all info i could.

I went to see dr ren in Manhattan at NYU, and i saw her informational meeting and after all the info i had gotten i was not about to use her because she did not take my health insurance. since i worked in a hospital i did not want to use the dr that was at my job...since i saw these drs on a regular basis i did not want them to see me like that. after i came from dr rens information meeting i gave the dr that was doing the gastric bypass that was at my job, he recently left there and started his group at another local hospital. i went to his information meeting and got all the info and i felt he was the right dr for me, he answered any and all questions i had and still does til this day! he is the most caring dr i have ever known he reminds me of my father...lol there was a list of things i needed to do to get ready for the surgery and doing this list that the dr gave me it, to work on and that it makes sure i was really ready to do this. i was ready my parents did not want me to have the bypass and they wanted me to to the lap band...

my take on it was this...i had my "rock bottom" moment when i just got tired of being sick and tired and trapped in my own body, since i choose to do the surgery i am going full speed ahead! i am ready for any and all of what would happen i was not scared at all. so jan 3rd of 2005 at st catherines hospital, in smithtown ny i had gastric bypass surgery...( also know as wls) and i lost about 120 lbs...i was about 286 i think when i had my surgery i was about 296! i was a size 30-32 before and on 10 plus meds and after surgery i was off of all of them except for a few last one...the allergies were bugging me. i got down to the weight of 165 lbs and then i had another surgery i had a tummy tuck in july of 2006 and remove the loose skin from my stomach...i had gotten up to 180 ish because i was so bloated and al the stuff they fill you up with in surgery and then lost 15 lbs in under 10 days...lol i like that kind of diet lol and i was able to wear a 2 piece bikini for the first time in my life...i finally felt that the "real" me was finally coming out...when i was about 165 i was about a size 8-or 10 ish and i could fit in skinny clothes and not have to got to the plus sizes and i can try and buy right off the rack and not have to get anything altered...i am petite as well and short! but it was such a feeling it is hard to describe...but i felt like te real me that was hiding all of those yrs under all that i had has finally come out and i can be myself! I go t threw ups and downs after this happen i had alot of family stuff happen and my grandma past away and about a yr and a half after that my other grandmother that lived with me and my parents house passed away and recently my uncle, so i got into a rut and was not exercising as much so about a year and a half ago in aug i choose to not be stuck here and i went back to the gym and i got a trainer...after about a mo it did not work out with him, and i got another trainer and she is great she owns the gym and now is a great friend, she is a hoot i love her and i started working with her and within i think less then yr or about a yr i lost like 60 lbs i was down to 142 lbs and lost over 6 inches from my body. and now i would say i am in kinda a rut i was very sick in dec 2008 with a bad cold and i was unable to workout and i was working on no sleep wither, my whole sleep pattern was not healthy either. what i did was after having a really bad sleep pattern in the beginning of march i choose to force myself to change my sleep pattern and force myself to go to sleep earlier! I work at night til midnight and drive an hr to get home so i would be wound up. But i say that did a world of difference! i have more energy and i can function as a normal person again and it has been hard and a slow process but i did put on a few lbs and i am now working hard again to get my routine back i was working out before 5-6 days a week and now or before i was sick in dec i was doing 4 days a week since i was in better shape i could get away with going only four days and now it is once a week. I also train one day a week with my trainer...i also have exercising equipment at home and i would use that. but i got into a little bit of a "rut" lol like we all do sometimes and i am getting back in the swing of things and i will be able to loose the weight again. what i find funny is that i loved food before but in a different way...i wanted any and all the more the better that i can get in my mouth lol. now i love food in a totally different way, it is weird i love food as to cooking and making recipes and doing it in a healthier way, also when i look at food i eat with my eyes first and that gets me going and i want to create " great things with food" when i am not working or working out at the gym i am cooking and baking, i just love and enjoy it so much and i love trying new things and recipes and i try to challenge myself when i am cooking...to see if i can try and do the recipe and when it comes out good, it makes me happy to be able to cook for my family and friends and they enjoy it all everytimes i am cooking. cooking is like therapy or meditation kinda , when i am in the zone i am focused! I am into getting healthier and living a healthier lifestyle and cooking healthier and different things to learn about it and try new food i would not before is fun to me. what i love the most is getting a smile on the the face of someone who has tasted my food.

in my future plans...i hope to one day go to culinary school and for the fall i am trying to get into school to get my lic to be a personal trainer , i enjoy working out and i get such a high from that and i feel so much better afterwards.

i have often been asked by friends for help whether it be food or a recipe , as well an idea for a party as to what to cook or help with their health and lifestyle and loosing weight and food itself. I have been there done that and i could help alot of people with this blog and in general, which is what i want, but right now i am going to BED! I think i have typed enough and i am doozing here at the computer i will post again tomorrow!

p.s. i will say this last thing have the gatric bypass surgery was the "BEST THING " i ever did and if i had to do again i would, i had the best drs, in my circle!

peace and hairgrease...see ya l8ter ;op

my second blog entry will be a little bit about me...enquiring minds want to know...lol!



well my name is jennifer and i am 36 soon to be 37 yr old single i live in ny.

i have no kids and exhubbys...lol.



i am a serious catlover...some of you already knew that. i love food and cooking and baking...one day in my long list plan i want to go to culinary school to be a chef. i am also going to be getting my lic. in to be a personal trainer...i hope to start this in the fall.



i love to cook on my days off from work, i am in the healthcare field i and cooking or baking for my parents friend and co-workers.



i enjoy trying a new recipe and new things that i would not normally try before. sometimes i really amaze myself at how good i can cook i will taste something that i am cooking and it will be perfect and taste like what it should be.



i also when i do a new recipe i follow it to a tee especially with baking because with baking it has to be exact or it will not come out right.



i think i am a perfectionist with my cooking and anal retentive too, i like for my meals or food to be perfect and look perfect...the age old saying first impression is always important...and at times i kind of get self conscious of my food when it does not look the right way i will find another way to fix it, or will try again from the begining.



i like fashion and clothes too...my vice is bags i love a good bag lol

i will say i have fave of perfumes,food recipes i like and stick to generally...here they are!



fave perfume is- clinque "happy" or "happy heart"

fave food- italian...i love it soo much!, i also love curry it is yummy! i also like a good buger too.





my fave chef/cooks- rachael ray...i love her cuz she is soo animated when she cooks and comes up with the greatest recipes, paula deen...she is a hoot love her accent and she remind me of my grandma and younger one...she has passed on now, bobby flay i love his food cuz it is SPICY!, emeril- cuz he puts the BAM in it and he is the spicy southern cooking is gosh mouth drooling all the way!, ina gartner...becuase her recipes are simple and cleaning looking and texture wise and make you want to eat it right threw the tv and she puts it out there that a normal foodie person like me can understand...not all the chef talk lol ;op



some of my fave places to get a recipe is- http://www.kraft.com,www.foodnetwork.com/, http://www.bettycrocker.com/, i made a beef cassoulet recently and i was nervous for making it because it was supposed to come out a certain way and have a dutch oven...which i do not have you and hope to get one for myself for my bday next month! and i did it in a regular soup pot and it came out awesome...pat on the back for that and my parents ate it and they loved it! on fo the things i have made they loved lol.



i love sushi...california roll,veggie roll, there is another one...but it left my head right now...more with that later.



to sum it up i enjoy cooking it is realxing to me when i have had a hard or busy week and i can go home and create a meal the everyone will enjoy wither it be family or friends and even my co-workers!



so check back frequently for updates...i may in the future do a cat of the day or person or the day etc...to be continued!



peace and hair grease see ya l8ter ;op

first post for march...hello to the blog world!

march 29th 2009...
this is my first blog entry on a pushing of a friend..thanks gaily...lol i started a blog.

my blog is going to have alot of things and it is my view of the world and anything else i choose lol...for example it will be on dating and being single in your late 30's, food and cooking,recipes, health and fitness, cats...a SERIOUS cat lover ( aka kitteh lover) fashion and just what the day brings. i hope you enjoy your visit i will update more on the blog later.

peace and hair grease...see ya l8ter ;o)