Weight Watchers was a full house on Saturday morning, and I give all the credit to Mickey, our leader.  She’s funny, upbeat and sometimes we don’t get to the weekly topic, but that’s okay – it always renews my inspiration when I attend every Saturday.

I ate out twice last week when my cousin was in town – both times I ate burgers and beer, so I am quite alright with a gain of .8.  I also averaged 16k steps a day, so it all balanced out.  So while I’d rather be maintaining my weight 35 pouns lighter, I am going to enjoy the summer and not over think every lick and taste.

What a gorgeous weekend we had in Chicago!  Saturday was my “chore day” although I am rethinking how I do that.  If I broke up my chores into four sections, I could do one thing Monday through Thursday leaving me wide open spaces on the weekend during the summer.  When I finally sat down on Saturday evening while I was grilling, I started looking around for things to do on Sunday.

But first, let me talk to you about this BBQ rub – so good!  Code 3 Spices sent me a care package, and I realized I never took a picture of their amazeball BBQ sauce (that is 1 point for two tablespoons and delicious), but I’ll be using it all summer, so there will be plenty of opportunity to see it.  $0.25 OF EACH BOTTLE PURCHASED IS CONTRIBUTED TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT SUPPORT POLICE, FIRE, MEDICAL & MILITARY PERSONNEL – yes I am shouting that because that is so awesome.  You can check out their products here.

That his not an affiliate link, but I like to share products and companies that I actually use and like.

I did bone in chicken thighs.  And I ate the delicious skin – that 5 ounce chicken thigh is 8 points and worth every point.  So good.

Part of my meal plan this weekend was making waffles – haven’t made any for so long.  Hannah was making corned beef hash.  Oh my Lerd, I love canned corned beef hash.  1.5 ounces was only 2 points so I added it on top of my egg waffle.  Half of my waffles is 2 points, topped with egg and baby spinach, 1.5 ounces of the hash (2) and then a drizzle of sugar free syrup – 5 points for the whole plate.

It was while we were eating breakfast that Hannah said that she and Jacob had no interest in going to Swedish Fest in Geneva with me yesterday.  That’s what I decided to do.  Geneva is only 45 minutes from where I live and it was too gorgeous of a day to stay inside.

Geneva has tons and tons of shops, and of course they were all open because of Swedish Fest.  Um, let’s just say that some of the stores were a bit pricey!  Take that candle below for example – I loved it, until I saw the $90 price tag.  I went to another store that had really unique jewelry, and was told there was a 50% off table in the back of the store – yep, you know I was all over that.  Until even at half price, the cheapest thing was $200 šŸ˜›

It was just nice not to be in a hurry and wander in and out of the shops before the parade started.

“Create your own happiness.” I could have easily skipped my trip just because I didn’t have anyone to go with, but I wanted to go, so I went!  And so happy that I did.

I got to pet an Alpaca!  That’s the closest I’ve ever been to one and it was so soft.  No wonder they like to use their hair to make apparel.  They had a store right behind this tent called Alpaca to Apparel – so cool.

This parade was long – maybe two hours?  After watching it for about an hour, I was getting hungry so I decided to see what my lunch options were.

Um, I’ll take one funnel cake, corn dog and french fries please!  #ha – no

 

http://www.mybizzykitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/img_0931.mov

In the end I made my way to a restaurant that was right on the parade route and I enjoyed some shrimp tacos and a tecate light for the last hour of the parade.  I had a great time, even if I was by myself.  The only thing is that when I asked for a table for one, the hostess was like “just one?!”  Yep!  

Then I sat down, and the server came by and asked “do you want me to wait for the rest of your party to arrive before ordering?”  Um, no, it’s just me.  Pretty sure I am not the only person to have eaten by myself at that restaurant.

I’d definitely go back to Geneva again – probably with my Mom and Hannah next time because I know they would love it.  

Since I ate a late lunch, I didn’t think I’d be hungry for dinner, but around 7:45 I got really hungry.  I decided to make sweet and savory breakfast toast.  The one below was 1 ounce of bread (2) topped with a tablespoon of avocado (1), a fried egg, 1/2 piece of bacon (1) and Tapatio hot sauce.  

It’s nice when Hannah is home to take my food photos – she’s a much better photographer than I’ll ever be.  Photo credit for the breakfast toast goes to Hannah – šŸ˜€

But this toast might kick my beloved avocado toast to the curb – I saw someone I follow on Instagram (ZeroPointsGiven) make this ricotta and strawberry toast and I immediately took a screen shot of it to remind me to make it.  The next day my sister tagged me in her photo and was like “this screams you!”  Yep!

So simple – 1/8 cup of part skim ricotta (2) spread on toast, with strawberries, balsamic glaze, agave nectar (1) and fresh basil.  Yum!  Sweet, salty, crunchy – perfect.

I found a farmers market in Geneva that was just breaking down when I walked by, so I got two loaves of bread for the price of one.  So delish.

And I got my 10k steps in yesterday – that sometimes rarely happens on a weekend. šŸ˜€

Pretty sure I should have bought this šŸ˜€

Question of the Day:  how often do you dine alone?  Does it make you feel uncomfortable or you just don’t care?

Happy Monday friends – make it a great day!