weekend round-up

With the "Healthier Tara = Good" plan kicking off on Monday, this weekend felt a bit like a collection of last suppers. Marc surprised me Friday by taking me out for a lovely, lovely dinner at Tommy's Not Here, which I haven't been to in about 10 years. We pigged out on crepe-wrapped escargot, prociutto and bocconcini, pancetta and penne in a gorgonzola cream sauce, raspberry sorbet and drank a delicious Zinfandel. It was a great night.

Saturday we took advantage of the glorious sunshiney weather and had a lovely big fat walk out on Ramsey Lake with Bailey, ran some errands and hung out. We observed Earth Hour like good ecomaniacs of course. I poured myself some chocolate grappa and we read our book by candlelight (yes, we're one of those couples that reads together -- I have my book, Marc has his book and we have "our" book which we read aloud and it's great), Bailey observed by taking a giant nap. Post Earth Hour we ventured to the Townehouse to see chum Rob and his kick-ass band Statues (PS: Kaili I'm so buying you their CDs --you'd love!) and in the process discovered a great act in Malcolm Bauld. Former member of other kick-ass band The Frenetics, he's now out doing the solo thing and sounds the way Bruce Springsteen would sound if he grew up in Nova Scotia. We picked up a copy of his record Covered in Dust and it's pretty great (minus 1 skipper track). Thanks to Rob for the heads up about this guy. We also got to see Horses who, while a fun band, were not as good as Malcolm. At least not that night anyway.

Sunday I busted up ice on our walkway cuz I'm super tough and strong and prepped for the aforementioned Healthier Tara = Good plan. I'm attempting to shed these incredibly pesky and persistent 10 pounds that showed up this fall. On the agenda, meal planning and shopping for the week. My basal metabolic rate is 1400 calories/day (multiply your weight by 100 and if you're active you get to add calories in there, setting me at about 1400) so on the menu we've got buckets of fruits and veggies, tofu, chicken and even some ice cream. Managed to find some great new health store finds (blog posts forthcoming) and attempted to get into some healthy mind-set. It's actually shaping up to be quite a bit less painful than I originally thought and hopefully should be an uneventful 2 months. First step, washing my workout clothes so they're lemony fresh for Monday. Every little bit helps. We ended the night with many episodes of Big Love from the second season cuz it's the greatest show ever and helped me forget about Monday, at least for a little while.