Last night Deutsch and I decided to take part in the march against Prop 8.

In the last U.S. election, Californians voted to pass Proposition 8. In short, this Prop bans the right for same-sex marriages. Now if I have my facts correct, yesterday the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and it remains law. However, the 18,000 couples who married during the Rainbow Window (Same-sex marriage approved by the Supreme Court before the election) last year will remain legally married.

So yesterday’s ruling was a lose/win situation. Congratulations to all the gay and lesbians couples that were married during the Rainbow Window. To the rest of you that did not drop everything and make a mad dash to the court house to say “I Do”… I’m sorry - you’re basically screwed. Until the next election.

Deutsch and I were proud to join the thousands of people who rushed to the streets to stand up for what we believe in, equal rights for all.

Of course, I’m sure I am over simplifying the facts and missing crucial information, but this basically sums it up. Here is a good article from the L.A. Times that helps explain.

Here are some pictures we took during the march:

Day 7

Breakfast:
Veggie Quiche Cups
V8 Low Sodium Veggie Juice
Coffee w/ FF Milk

Morning Snack:
Mozzarella Stick

Lunch:
Green Salad w/ Green Goddess Dressing

Afternoon Snack:
Roasted Chickpeas

Dinner:
Left-Over Soy Beef & Bean Chili

Dessert:
Mocha Ricotta

Exercise:
Walked 4.6 miles to the bank and movie theatre.
Saw “He’s Just Not That Into You”. It was okay. I found it started out very anti-men saying all men suck, big time!. However, it slowly, eventually turned itself around, not hating men quite as much. It ended with men only sucking a wee bit.

I didn't have any South Beach pictures for you today so I thought I would show off our babies, Brando & Foxy.

Day 6

Breakfast:

Veggie Quiche Cups To Go (egg beaters, spinach & asparagus)
V8 Low Sodium Veggie Juice
Coffee w/ Fat-Free Milk

Morning Snack:
1 Reduced-Fat Colby/Cheddar Cheese Stick

Lunch:

Butter Beans, Arugula and Spinach Salad w/ Green Goddess Dressing
Sugar-Free Cherry Creamsicle

Afternoon Snack:
Oops! Missed this one. My bad.

Dinner:
Left-over Buttermilk Salmon Chowder

Dessert:

Peanut Butter Cup

Exercise:

4 Mile walk up Runyon Canyon!!!
Finally a day without cool temperatures and rain!
I saw 2 firsts today. In Runyon I’ve seen people walk their dogs, horses, birds, lizards, and even a goat, but today I saw a lady walking her… cat!!!! I felt so bad for the little one. Poor thing must have been terrified, since the dog park is filled with DOGS!!! My 2nd first was actor, Julian Sands. Hubba hubba! (I used to have a crush on him in my early 20’s)
Tomorrow the storms will be back, so I guess the pilates will be too!

Apologies for my lack of description for my Day 5 post yesterday. Usually I finish up & publish my day’s post at night before I go to bed. Last night I was distracted by the not-so-riveting white Bentley L.A. slow car chase, not driven by Chris Brown*, then not by DJ Khaled**, but by someone not of celebrity notoriety. Sadly, the chase then standoff came to an end by the driver taking his own life. A very unfortunate end. Thankfully, no one else was injured in this chase, as the distraught driver was aware of his surroundings and never went above 40 miles an hour and always used his turn signals.

Like I said the chase itself was not riveting, however, the news coverage and internet chatter was. It was amusing listening to all the local anchors insinuating in every imaginable way that the driver was Chris Brown, but without actually SAYING his name. Good thing for them they did avoid saying his name, as they would be facing some legal problems today.

What was amazing was watching Twitter just EXPLODE! D & I were reading the Tweets, but could not keep up with them. They were coming in way too quickly to read. So interesting to see how many people are using and depending on this technology.

When the chase finally came to a stop and the standoff had begun it was incredible how the paparazzi and curious people/fans started to converged onto the scene. People!?! Guns are being drawn! Bullets could be flying! Have you never heard of stray bullets or friendly fire?

Sadly, once the media learned that the driver was not the famous Chris Brown or the semi-famous DJ Khaled all coverage of this event abruptly ended. Just like that it was over… on TV at least. The tense standoff was still going on. However, once it was confirmed that the driver was just an average, luxury-car owning (not even referred as a “Bentley” anymore), Joe, nobody cared. I’m hoping that the driver was not aware of the lack of interest to his fate once the true identity was known.

I guess I am just as guilty as anyone else for being sucked into the media frenzy. I just could not turn away. Sad.

*Chris Brown - Entertainer. Age 19. Best known as a singer with chart topping singles. Reportedly in a relationship with Rihanna, a singer as well. Most recently in the news with accusations of domestic violence charges.

**DJ Khaled - A Palestinian-American DJ, producer and radio personality for the Miami-based urban music radio station WEDR. He is also a member of the hip hop group Terror Squad.

Day 5

Breakfast:
Scrambled Egg Beaters w/ Soy Bacon Strip
Vegetable Juice
Coffee w/ Fat-Free Milk

Morning Snack:
Celery w/ Peanut Butter

Lunch:

Greek Salad

Afternoon Snack:
Mozzarella Cheese Stick

Dinner:
Buttermilk Salmon Chowder (had a picture, but D said it didn’t do this yummy dish any justice)

Dessert:
Peanut Butter Cup

Exercise:
60 Minute Pilates

Day 4

It was a good day. The two highlights were the trip to the Farmer’s Market and our dinner. Today was grocery shopping day. We decided to purchase our veggies from the Farmer’s Market instead of the grocery store. It always feels good buying and eating something that is locally grown. We also like to support our local farms. As an added bonus, our excursion was part of our exercise as we decided to walk instead of driving. It was a little damp and chilly, but still fun.

Peppers at the Famer's Market

Tomatoes on the vine

No fruit allowed, but these berries looked so good I had to snap a shot

We finally had success with one of our dinner recipes! We made Soy Meat & Bean Chili and it was excellent!!! Not only was it quick, easy and inexpensive, it is healthy! This receipe is definately a keeper. We had leftovers, which we threw in the freezer. It will be great to heat up on a lazy day. Perhaps next Saturday. Also we resurrected an old dessert that is not only Phase 1 friendly, but delicious! The ingredients are: 1 sugar-free fudgsicle, 2 tbsp of peanut butter, 2 tbsp lite or sugar-free whipped topping (like Cool Whip). Just mix all the ingredients together in place in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. We prefer ours to be colder, so we place it in the freezer. YUMMY!!!

The day went as follows:

Breakfast:
Fat-free Cottage Cheese w/ Cucumber & Cherry Tomatoes
Soy Canadian Bacon
Vegetable Juice
Coffee w/ Fat-Free Milk

Morning SnacK:
Peanuts

Lunch:
Egg-Less Caesar Salad w/ Soy Chicken Strips

Afternoon Snack:
1 Reduced-Fat Colby/Cheddar Cheese Stick

Dinner:

Soy Beef & Bean Chili w/ a dollop of fat-free sour cream

Dessert:
Peanut Butter Cup

Exercise:
Walk to Farmer’s Market (approx. 3+ miles)
20 minute Pilates

Day 3

Today was a bit more of a challenge. Saturdays we are lazy. We don’t like to cook on Saturdays. We managed to make a nice breakfast (thanks to D), but lost all motivation to make a good lunch. We decided on yesterday’s leftovers. By the afternoon guilt was setting in. So we exercised (which kicked our butts) and had our planned lunch salad for dinner. All is well in the world again. We were hoping to get some more exercise in by walking to our movie theatre, but it has been raining for the past couple of days. So we were forced to take the car. Saw “Taken”. Quite the action-packed movie, but a whole lot of violence. Our day went as follows:

Breakfast:

Asparagus & Feta Cheese Omelet
1 glass of vegetable juice
Coffee w/ fat-free milk

Morning Snack:
Mozzarella Cheese Stick

Lunch:
Left-overs (Greek Soy Crumble & Eggplant Slices)

Afternoon Snack:
4 Sticks of Celery w/ Natural Peanut Butter
(D had 19 peanuts)

Dinner:

Crispy Tempeh Salad

Dessert:
None

Exercise:
60 Minute Pilates!! Whoo Hool We rock!

This turned out to be a pretty successful day. Ok, perhaps one disastrous meal… but I did exercise today! Dinner wasn’t quite the way I had hoped it would turn out, but it still tasted good. I guess taste is the most important part. The plan was Greek Soy Meatballs and Grilled Eggplant. However, the balls were a failure and the poor color choice of eggplant gave the whole dish a sad beige shade. I did excercise though! The day went as follows:

Breakfast:

Egg, Soy Canadian Bacon & Tomato “Sandwich”
Coffee w/ fat-free milk

Morning Snack:
1 Mozzarella Stick
(D had a reduced fat colby/jack cheese slice)

Lunch:
Mixed Salad (greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers & kidney beans) w/ homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing
1 Cherry Creamsicle

Afternoon Snack:
4 Celery Sticks w/ a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese

Dinner:

Greek Mini Soy Meatballs that became Greek Soy Loaf that ended up Greek Soy Crumble (Note to self: When using soy in replace of meat, avoid any food that needs to be molded, ie: meatballs or patties)
Grilled Eggplant

Dessert:
Mocha Ricotta Crème

Exercise:
YES!!! 20 MInute Pilates

Well, overall it has been a somewhat successful day, no cheating. However, exercise was a complete failure. I hope to do better tomorrow. As you read my menu for today, you will notice the use of soy meats. This is my choice, as I don’t eat meat. South Beach allows most, if not all meats. Day 1 went as follows:

Breakfast:
1 egg white, scrambled
1 slice of soy Canadian bacon
1 small glass of vegetable juice
Coffee with fat-free milk

Morning Snack:
4 pieces of celery with hummus

Lunch:
Egg-less Caesar Salad w/ soy chicken
1 sugar-free orange creamsicle

This is the yummy Egg-less Caesar Salad w/ Soy Chicken. This is a keeper!

Afternoon Snack:
1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese
(D had a mozzarella cheese stick)

Dinner:
Portobello Mushroom Burger (without the bun)
Steamed broccoli

This Portobello Mushroom Burger may not look pretty, but it was very tasty.

Dessert:
Lemon Zest Ricotta Crème
(D had Mocha Ricotta Crème)

Exercise:
None. I suck.

It has become painfully obvious to me that the holidays have been far too kind to me… and my waistline. My butt has been enjoying the good life for much too long. It is time to fight back. My plan of attack will be exercise and the South Beach Diet.

I plan on two forms of exercise. The first will be walking up Runyon Canyon. From my start to finish, the walk is about 4 miles long. With half of it being all up hill. It is not an easy walk, but it is an enjoyable one. Beautiful views (on a semi smog-free day) and many, many, many cute dogs. Runyon is a popular dog walking park in L.A. All shapes, sizes, colors, breeds and barks. Yes, a very enjoyable walk. My second form of exercise will be pilates. I do pilates on my living room floor. I have two Windsor Pilates recorded on Tivo. A 20 minute session and a 60 minute session. Hopefully, I will be able to stick with my plan.

As for the South Beach Diet, there are 3 phases:

Phase 1 will last for two weeks. It is a strict diet of NO sugars, breads or pastas. This tragically includes all fruit and alcohol!!! Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a starvation type of diet. I will be eating plenty as South Beach insists that every day one consumes breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and DESSERT! One can’t really complain about that meal plan.

Phase 2 is intended for people who wish to continue to lose weight. Once Phase 1 is complete the body has been purged or cleansed of all sugars. Phase 2 slowly reintroduces sugars. This phase continues for as long as one wishes to loose weight.

Phase 3 is intended for people who wish to maintain their weight. This phase allows you to eat everything you want, but within moderation. Keeping SB rules in mind. Phase 3 is meant to be more of a life style rather than a temporary diet.

The South Beach Diet has many cookbooks that provide excellent and tasty recipes for all phases. I see a lot of cooking in my future. At least I won’t be doing it alone. My husband has also noticed his waistline growing as well. He has decided embark on this adventure with me. Hopefully, the buddy system will keep us strong.

I will try (but not promise) to write a daily post of Phase 1. Wish us luck!