it’s a good thing there is no cheese in my house.

You guys, I feel like a crazy addict. It’s Day 4 of our cleanse, and really Day 3 of the no-cheese world I am living in (because I had cheese earlier this week by accident) and thoughts of brie are haunting my dreams.  It’s a good thing there is no cheese around, or I am sure I would have dove right into it last night.

Last night, I was making dinner for Jeff and I, coming up with a lackluster protein (beans) for our spaghetti squash with pesto (homemade, sans cheese) and Brussels sprouts. I thought chicken, but we’ve been chicken heavy this week, and Jeff doesn’t like fish, and I hate the idea of tofu. I was making dinner, hungry from an afternoon of clementines and a handful of cashews, when I realized: I can have peanut butter. So I got myself a teaspoon of it, and let me tell you, peanut butter has never tasted so good.

I really wanted to add cheese to the pesto, cheese to the dinner, eat cheese before and after the meal, but I had to stay strong. So instead, we had popcorn for dessert as a treat (popcorn is intrinsically pretty good for you!) I was dreaming of cheese as I enjoyed my peanut butter, hoping that I could make it to Tuesday (Tuesday! So many days from now!) when I can eat cheese again.

Surprisingly, the no processed foods hasn’t been so hard (except you guys, I am so over nuts. I think I need to rethink this strategy and come up with some other snacks than cashews) but the cheese, the cheese! I can’t wait until I can get at that again.

In the meantime, I am stocking up on veggies and protein (just had leftover lemon chicken, potatoes, green beans, carrots, and broccoli!) and am trying to drink more water. This weekend, I plan on getting some oatmeal ready for next week’s breakfasts, making my own hummus to snack on at work, and figuring out some more snacks (maybe even good old peanut butter!) to bring to work so I’m not starving by 5 pm.

Any delicious snack ideas for me, guys?

Best after-school snack. Ever.

Take some milk.

Add some frozen blueberries.

Add some other frozen berries: blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry mix.

Add some TJ’s frozen yogurt.

Blend. (well.)

Add some peanut butter.

(blend.)

Serve. Immediately. To you, and a friend. Enjoy.

Sunday is…

Sunday is…sleeping in past the time you think you’re going to sleep to. Up to rain, knowing that North = sunshine (maybe.) Picked up by a best friend. Wandering around Target for 30 minutes looking for a non-highfructosecornsyrupy snack. Peanut butter and bread. New stickers. Little Miss Sunshine. The best Yoda shirt in existence. A knife somewhere in the car. Driving, Third Eye Blind, DMB, The Script….driving. Arriving to a less cloudy sky. No draws in the car — meeting up with a friend, borrowing hers. Two climbs, in two hours or less. Getting to the top. Twice. Even when I wasn’t expected to. Scrapes, scratches, success. “Why can’t we have a boom-box in the woods??” Driving. Driving driving, Third Eye Blind, Tonic. A gallon of water shared between the two. Picking up my fave Hayford boy. Driving. Massachusetts. Salem. Engine House and Drew. Watching the Celtics game, enjoying company, and Sam Summer. Eggplant parm, and salads made especially for the veggie-hungry girls covered in dirt in the booth. Learning how to drive stick shift. Driving all the way home. Pissing boys off at a stop sign because I was too nervous to shift into first. Getting yelled at by Jeff and Lauren, encouraging me that I can do it, and then I did. Scrabble. Muddier. 50 point bonus. Coming in second anyways, because checking in at home = more important that winning Scrabble. Shower, cleaning the dirt and the reminder of the success of the climbs. Sleep at midnight. Another LAP-JLP perfect day.