...What's happening in the single's ward? Here are the best parts!

We have officially been in the singles ward for a few weeks now, and here's what we are experiencing. I'm going to put this in a list form, just for the heck of it. I'm tired of lonely paragraphs.

1. Everyone is SOOO cute! Okay, so I'm one that doesn't fit into the normal girly click. I stand on the outside and usually just watch and judge. I like it there. I'm most comfortable there. I found there were a lot of people in my old wards that I just didn't like. This ward is totally different. I love everyone! I think it's because I'm not competing with the women, so I only see the best in them, and I am not looking to date the men, so I'm not categorizing them into groups of date-able or not.

2. Reed conducted for the first time last week and he tried to say "will be accompanied by..." and said "will be accomplaced by..." (yes, that's an original by Reed).

3. The ward heart-attacked our door and left us brownies! WAHAHA! It was amazing!

4. We got asked to teach Temple Preparation and forgot that today was our first week, until Papa Allred said last night, "So how's your lesson coming for tomorrow?" Both of us gasped and I covered my mouth and let out an "Oh crap!" Yeah, winged that today...

5. BTW, today was also the first time I've taught a Sunday school lesson besides Primary, and so not preparing was awkward.

6. I sat down by myself today in the back, and a guy ended up sitting next to me... Talk about the most awkward 1 hour and 5 minutes of my life! All the awkwardness you can imagine just bundled up into that much time. It was terrible, and we didn't even say a word to each other. I just kept folding my hand on my lap with my ring on top. 

7. Reed had a bishopric meeting at 7 AM this morning. At 6:35 I woke up, looked at Reed, and yelled "You have to go now!" (the only thing that came to my mind). I hopped out of bed with him, gathered his clothes and tried to help him get ready, as he just kept saying "go back to sleep, it's okay." 

8. I got told that I was awesome because I wasn't a "fake Utah Mormon" who was "standing at the door saying 'welcome to my home', and trying to impress everyone at FHE". I'll take that as a compliment. Unless that means that I'm just not friendly.

9. Reed got asked to pass the sacrament today. Guess he blends in a little TOO WELL. He was like- "I can't, I have to sit up there." I'm pretty sure that guy felt like a moron. 

10. I got asked if I was visiting... Yes? Sorta? Maybe?... No. Definitely not visiting. I'm here in this ward probably longer than you will, babe ;)

11. That awkward moment when everyone knows your name, and you don't remember anyone's?... Every time. Blast. 

12.  The other bishopric's wives carpool and are friends and sit together. They have each other. I'm 30+ years younger... I come alone, and sit by random people. 

13. Got a sweet text last week from a girl making sure I knew about the RS activity this coming week. She wanted me to be there. These people make me feel more loved and accepted than I've ever felt before. It's been 3 weeks, and I have already received so many blessings from being in this ward. 

All in all, very adventurous. These are just the highlights of our time so far. The good news is, I think I still see Reed more now than I did when he was scoutmaster. And I get to go to all the activities with him. Looking forward to the year ahead of us. :)

A New Adventure for The Allred's...

When Reed and I got married I expected us to go to church, get thrown in nursery or something, and just slide under the radar for- like- 5 years. That didn't happen. Reed was instantly made scout master after expressing enthusiasm for scouts, and I was asked to be a girls camp adviser, and recently asked to serve in the Primary presidency. 

Then we got a phone call...

On September 20th we met with a stake presidency over a BYU young single adult ward, and Reed was asked to serve as the second counselor in the bishopric. We have been married 8 months, and we now have a HUGE adventure ahead of us! (for the next year, at least)...

And in case you wondered, that phone call created the worse 30 hours of my life. The anxiety was overwhelming. While Reed was at work I had to call Katelyn just to calm myself down. After originally skipping breakfast, I skipped lunch too. Couldn't eat with that much anxiety.

How do we feel now? I was completely mortified after hearing what the stake presidency asked of Reed and I. This is a little judgmental, but sometimes when people in the ward are on the stand speaking about how humbled they are that they got a calling, I think "You may be humbled, but I can see in your face that you know you're the best person for this job..." Maybe I should be embarrassed that I admitted that I think that. We're all friends, right? Ha! Anyway, I honestly think that this is the most humbled I have ever felt. All week I have thought about every bad thing I've done, and that I do, and how I have so many things to work on before I should be someone that is looked up to. 

Reed loves serving, he loves people, and if I didn't think he was the most amazing man in the world, and wasn't perfect for me, I wouldn't have married him. He is. I truly believe that. But I can think of a hundred couples more qualified than us to fill this calling. All I know is that ward is going to teach us a lot.

Every person I've met has been so amazingly sweet. The girls have all told me not to be afraid, and that they are all excited for us to be here. I have missed BYU wards. The testimonies, the strength of the young adults, the charity... it's all inspiring. Yes, they are already teaching me . 

On a less serious note, we went to interview with Reed having a face full of scruff. Yesterday he walked in with a clean shave, and the stake president mentioned twice how great he looked. Also, during our interview the stake president also asked me to sit by all the women, but please not the men. He then told Reed again yesterday, "Make sure that the elders quorum knows that she is your wife so that they don't ask her out." I'm flattered ;) I guess we are all basically the same age here. That won't happen. I'm taken for good.

Well I'll be sure to update you all on our adventures throughout this next year with this new calling. I'm very excited about all of it! Guess it's time to take Reed to hike the Y now, right?

Am I an Allred Yet?....

Am I an Allred yet?....

Turns out I married into an adventurous family! Which I guess I knew, but didn't see the full extent of until I spent the 4th of July with them, and went dirt biking and shooting with them. I'm not even going to get into the 4th of July right now. Dirt biking and shooting... WOW! Okay, so in the last few years I've discovered I've loved being on the back of a man's motorcycle. Now I only ride on the back of Reed's. But when I found out this guy could ride, he became 10 times hotter to me! Now I'm not saying I wouldn't have married him... but... ha! No, just kidding, I still would have fallen in love with him. He's a charmer. 

Okay so let's start at the beginning... 
We were going to rent a bike from some place in Salt Lake, but then they turned out to be super sketchy-sketch and I literally told the guy "No way, we are not doing this!" in a very firm voice after he asked how much we had in our bank account, while holding our debit card. Anyway, so that just meant that the Allred men had to share bikes a little more so that we could still come. With me marrying in, it kinda messed up the bike situation a bit. 

We had previously decided to spend the night at the senior Allred residence to save us time with the weekend. By "senior Allred" I mean the parents. Not an old folks home... seriously, stop thinking that. Anyway, we spent the night there, mom and dad make us breakfast in the morning and as we were eating, Papa Allred decides to inform me that there are no facilities for bathrooms anywhere near where we are about to go. I stopped dead in my tracks... "excuse me?" Yeah, maybe I was seeming more hard core than I actually am? I don't know, but I DON'T do no bathrooms. Like- at all. So my goal for the day was to just not drink water, even though I know it's completely unrealistic. How can you go without water and without using the bathroom within a 10 hour period? Yeah....

Oh! Oh! Oh! I forgot the best part!  Well when we got to senior Allred residence we tell them our story and they magically whip out this Honda Trail 90, I think? Okay, so it's this tiny adorable little motor bike, and they ask if I want to ride it out at the salt flats. So we took it out to the church parking lot for my very first motorcycle riding lesson. And yes, Reed was overprotective of my sensitive head (5 concussions), and made me wear a massive helmet for a 10 minute riding lesson. Okay, so this is me... AH! so cute! 

and Mom, I know you're reading this, so just know that we were very careful with this.

Okay, so we load this bike up and take it to the salt flats. Fast forward to us going. Whew! So here we are, I'm riding like 15 miles an hour, basically mortified of crashing. Not that this little bike would smash me at all or probably even hurt me. It's a cute little baby! So grandpa lets Reed take his single passenger bike, and poor Reed (grandpa boasts about his excellent riding) is being so patient and dealing with going super slow. We drove out to the salt flats from our parking spot and I felt so bad that he had to deal with me that I was ready to go back and let him party. I'm just a way better passenger than rider. I'm happier that way too, because that means I get to go fast and have fun with Reed. So the family sacrifices a lot, and they switch all their bikes around so we could ride together the rest of the day. 

REED IS FAST!
 Honestly I was a  little bit scared for a while there.

That boy is born to ride. I wish I could give him a motorcycle. He needs one. It's his calling, seriously. 

So the day keeps passing, and we head back to the canopy where other family is chilling, and I've had to go to the bathroom the whole time. I would look at Reed and hope that my puppy eyes would convince him to drive me super far out to use the bathroom, but it totally didn't work. After our aunt and cousin went in the wilderness I decided I needed to suck it up and brave it. So I did. I think walking to a spot was seriously some of the worst anxiety I've had in a long time. Yes, you heard it, I had anxiety about going to the bathroom. Laugh while you can. but I had a successful endeavor... (with the help of the husband man). And I told myself it would not happen again the rest of the day.

There's a trail that the boys go on every year to the power poles at the top of some mountain, and I was being a brave girl and refused to be left behind. So a few of us went up there, it's about a 40 minute drive there... It was pretty! The switch backs and cliff areas were horrifying, but as I gripped Reed's shirt I would remember what grandpa said before we left. Wouldn't let some of them go up because they weren't experienced enough for the trail, but Reed was such a good driver that he knew Reed would be fine with a passenger. So I faced a fear there as well... BOO YEAH! Reed drove perfectly. I didn't get a scratch on me with those tight, steep switchbacks. I'm also a talented passenger though ;). That could be thanks to my friends with motorcycles in the last few years. 

Here we are at the top of this fun little mountain:

In between it all we played with our cousin's adorable baby, and sat around chatting, and I avoided liquids. 

Finally a million hours later we got to start shooting! I'm all about shooting. Hand guns scare the crap out of me and always have, but I do GREAT with a shotgun! I had a lot of firsts today...

I hated Reed's gun though.... way too strong...

Here I am with a gun that I'm most experienced with. I had talked myself up a bit, so I was nervous to put one back in my hands after it has been about 6 years since I shot one, but...

I hit 12/14 of what I shot at. That's right! I'm bomb with a shot gun! Here is where all you men get upset that you don't have a wife that can naturally shoot that well. Reed was impressed with my shooting skills. He had no idea! 

All in all this was an extremely successful day. I had an enormous amount of fun!! I only wish we had our own bike. 

So I ask you... am I an Allred yet? 

The Engagement

So back in September, Reed had a work trip he had to go on (I think I previously mentioned that). It was a hard 2 weeks, I missed him like crazy! We had already picked out the ring, and put a downpayment on it. As far as I knew, it was just waiting to be picked up. So the whole time he's gone, he's got me back at home asking when we were going to be official, and he kept saying, "when it's right, it will happen, but it won't be right after I get back." All I took from that was- 'wait- is he going to back out of this? Is he changing his mind?' I was so worried that he'd leave me. I was hooked to him. 

The day he got home from Wyoming, I stayed up in Salt Lake because it was so late to be driving home. He lived with his parents, so it wasn't sketch, people, just so you know. The next day I was getting ready, and he claimed he was going to pick up the ring because it was done being sized and stuff, but nothing was going to happen. He even planned the whole day with me to lead me away from thinking that the engagement would happen. But as we all know, girls are pretty suspicious of like- everything, so I was hoping and thinking it would still happen. He disappeared for about 40 minutes while I was getting ready, and then came downstairs to see what I was up to.

We had planned a picnic in the park, with a motorcycle, and a walk through the park. That was what I wanted to do. Well he packs us a whole lunch in a backpack, and then comes downstairs... and paces... No joke, he'd come in the bathroom, say he loved me, kiss me, then go and literally pace the hallway. That's when I knew it was going to happen. He claimed he wasn't nervous, but come on, he totally was! 

Well we go to the park on the motorcycle and all I thought was- 'this park sucks... there's no way he'd propose here... it's loud, it's by a busy road, and there's a weird track around it...' I mean- I was hoping it wouldn't happen there. Well then he says we are going to take a walk at a different park, so we take the backpack back to his house and drive down to Liberty Park in SLC. We get there and I'm scanning the parking lot for his friend's car. ...but i couldn't find it (I figured if I could find her car, I'd know that this was happening). We park and he's suddenly like- "I have to make a phone call." I'm a brat, so I responded with- "to who?" he says, "my friend". Then I kept saying "why?" Well he turns away, so I turn away and pull out my phone and text one of my besties and all I say is "I think it's happening now! Stay tuned!" 

So we turn back around and he gets off the phone and whips out this neon pink bandana, and all I think is, 'oh honey, don't wear that, it's so tacky and doesn't match your outfit!'  ...then he walks over and puts it on me... yup. Duh.

So I'm blindfolded in this park I have never been to, and he's walking me around and I'm killing the moment by saying things like: "Please don't let the geese get me! I hate geese! I don't want to be attacked by a goose!"
Reed: "You're not going to be attacked by a goose"
Mel: "do you plan on pushing me in the water? because I hate getting wet."
Reed: "no, why would I push you in?!"
Mel: "If I fall in the pond, promise you'll save my phone!!"
Reed: "Your phone? I'll save you!"
Mel: "well my phone is really expensive"

*starting to climb some ridiculously steep hill*

Mel: "this is a big hill... is this a big hill or does it only seem big because I can't see anything?"
Reed: "It's a good sized hill"
Mel: "I don't like it."

Then we get down and get to his friends and I can hear him talking to so spurt out "I hear you talking! come back!" So he comes back and claims he told me we were about to walk onto a dock, but I TOTALLY didn't know, and about had a heart attack! So I'm freaking out because the ground is moving, and I'm thinking- 'I know this will probably be romantic, but he'll probably still push me in". Well it takes him a while to get me down there to the end, because I'm being stubborn about walking on a moving ground, but finally we get there. By the time my blindfold is off, he's on one knee with the ring...


The only thing is: when he proposed, I guess I just assumed he'd know I was going to say yes, so I'm not saying anything because I'm a bit frozen and I'd imagined this my whole life, and here we are! So after a few seconds, I spit out- "yeah! yes!" Then there was hugging, much kissing, and as I turn around, we have an audience. Yup, people were filming, taking pictures, and just standing around clapping. It was like an awkward movie... things like that actually happen! haha! My life is an awkward movie, I love it. Oh, and in the background on a large bridge was a massive sign that said "will you marry me?" 

So, yes I guess I knew it was coming, but it was more of hoping it would come. And it was pretty darn amazing! :)

Reed and Melanie- Our Love Story- Part 2

Reed and I texted every day, almost all day. Although we lived an hour apart, it didn't keep us apart. Ever. We took turns driving to each other's houses every day that he wasn't working nights at the arena. I'm not sure who knows this, but Reed is extremely romantic. I on the other hand, am an awkward duck. I always want to be romantic, but when it comes down to it I get all embarrassed and uncomfortable. Well I am not going to go into details about our first kiss, but let's just say there was Park City, a resort, a ski lift, and a tree with our names carved in it. It was adorable.

Reed said he loved me really quickly. I had never said that to anyone, so I had a really hard time saying it out loud. I knew I loved him really quickly, but at the beginning he would text me and say things like- "love ya" and with my roommate by my side I'd say something like- "yeah, right." Finally she said- "why do you keep saying that?!" It was like a light bulb. Why can't I admit that someone loves me? Why can't I just accept it and accept my feelings? Bam. There it was. There was one day that Reed said, "I love you." I don't remember my responses, I think I just sat there and smiled... he'd then say, "you don't have to say it, I can see in your eyes that you love me." It was true.

Never did I believe it was possible to love someone so quickly! I'm a Psychology major and I've learned all about infatuation, and how it can make you believe you're in love, but really it's not love... it's infatuation. I was really worried about that. We decided after about 3 weeks, I think, that we were meant to be together. I don't remember how it came up... we might have been joking about marriage one day and it just made sense? I really don't remember, but it was definitely him. I was really scared, but we went for it. We both had been praying about it all, and it all felt so right. We talked about waiting until March so that people wouldn't think we were crazy, but for some reason we felt we needed to get married as soon as we could. Besides, I don't care if you all think we were nuts, in the end it was about us, not everyone else.

One day after a nice win at the RSL game, we went ring shopping. We didn't tell anyone. We even bought a ring and didn't tell anyone. About 4 weeks after our first date, he asked my parents if he could marry me. I was terrified. I imagined the worse possible scenario. Them both saying that we were crazy, not thinking, and needed to think about it more, or something. All my parents said was, "why are you asking us? It's yours and Melanie's decision." I couldn't believe it. Then my mom added how excited she was that she got to be a part of the asking. (my mom is adorable, in case you didn't know. If you don't know her, you're missing out).

Later when Reed had left I asked her what she really thought. She said I was 25, and smart, and capable of making the right decision. She added that she trusted that decision. Well there it was! Approval... from my parents, at least. I think we waited a few more days before talking to his. They were a bit more shocked... :)
My favorite was after telling my little sister, she said "the first day I met Reed, I knew you guys were going to get married." (not exact words, but pretty close). That made me pretty ecstatic.

Between our "engagement" and our actual engagement, Reed had to go out of town for work. All I could think was that if I was in fact infatuated, or wrong about this all, I would definitely know in the 2 weeks that he was gone. Would I miss him? Would I care? I couldn't imagine that I'd get happier when he left, because I was already so happy every second that I was with him. Well he left, and I'll be honest, I was a wreck. I spent two weeks moping around, wrapped in his blanket, wearing his gym shorts, and his hoodie. I think my parents thought I was insane. I didn't hang with friends, I just followed my parents around wrapped in Reed's blanket, not wanting to get out of bed some of the days. We facetimed every night, talked on the phone every night, and still texted all day long. I don't know how people do long distance relationships. Respect, my friends. That was not fun for me.

The night he came home was a Friday. It was 11 at night, I drove up to Salt Lake to be there when he got home, and I just wanted to hug him all night long. I didn't ever want him to leave me again. I knew needed to marry him, I knew I needed to be with him for eternity...

Reed and Melanie- Our Love Story- Part 1

I've always been the girl that criticizes. I've criticized friends for short dating periods before getting engaged/married. I've criticized friends for meeting on social media. I've hated on couples over and over again. Why? Not because I was bitter about being single, but just for the sole purpose of hating. And people bug me. I'm not a fan of PDA (Notice how my Facebook contains NO pictures of Reed and I kissing?). My good friend and I always found a reason to hate. In fact, we made a list of rules at one point for our apartment. Ready for this?

-Thou shalt not touch

-Thou shalt not look (ie. cow eyes)

-Thou shalt not speak of marriage

-Thou shalt not relive thy dates to thy roommates for hours

-Thou shalt not make off hand remarks about the loneliness of singleness

-Thou shalt not get googly-eyed over texts

-Thou shalt not suck face within the confines of 314

-Just get off the beanbag altogether!

-Don't burn your dang food!

-Stop cooking with your boyfriend. You gross me out.

We had personal experience with roommates who did these things, obviously. We were happy being single, living it up, and being ourselves. 

I was definitely one to talk (what with my short courtship and all)... and where is this friend, you may ask? She's married. Got married about 6 months ago.

Now... don't get me wrong... we weren't haters ALL the time. We went on dates, flirted with guys, and did our part in church of sitting boy girl. But we felt like we had better things to do, like play endless hours of Just Dance or Glee Karaoke. 

So where does my story begin? Well...

Once Upon A Time...

A friend talked me into getting this little iPhone app called Tinder. That's right, our story starts with Tinder. It took me weeks to get the guts to use it. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a dating app. You get shown a picture of your gender choosing and a short profile of them, likes and dislikes. Then you decide if you like them or not. If you both happen to like each other's pictures, the app then lets you chat with each other. The rest is up to you.

I went on many dates from this app, but nothing was promising. My roommates accused me of having "fear of a functional relationship", and I didn't deny it. I didn't really want to be exclusive with anyone. I was through with getting hurt. 

Well one day in July I see a picture. It's this red headed guy with goalie gloves on. He looked full of energy and although I'd never been into red heads, I thought maybe he'd be entertaining. In comes Reed. We started talking and he mentioned taking me to RSL games, and Jazz games, and all I thought was- 'save your money, boy, I don't stick around long.' Well before we actually met in person, we spent 3 hours and 40 minutes facetiming on our phones (it's like Skype for iPhones). Reed took me out on Saturday, August 2nd. Before our date I made a wish in the fountain at the mall... just a simple wish, hoping this date would go well. 

Reed took me to Red Robin, and after dinner Reed made a similar wish in the fountain and we continued our date. I have this rule that first dates shouldn't go longer than 2 hours. Then if I don't like the guy, I can get our quickly and never talk to him again. Well for some reason, this tall, quirky, red headed guy intrigued me. I wanted to spend more time with him. Our date lasted about 7 hours. 

We proceeded to go out on a date every day over the course of the next week. 

Part of me wanted to run away because I was still scared of commitment. I had 2 awesome friends who basically said "if you're only running because you're scared, then you're an idiot". So I stayed. I love those friends for saying that! 

Before Reed and I became official, we had to have that super awkward conversation. You know, the one where one of us wants to know what the heck this is... Yeah...

So I get this text from a friend saying "I stopped by your apartment but you weren't there. I'll come by another day."

me: "oh, I'm with Reed at my parent's house"

friend: "Who is Reed?"

Me to Reed: "Reed is my... Reed is my...."

Reed: "Reed is your what?"

Me to Reed: "Reed is mine?"

Reed: "yes"

me to friend: "Reed is mine"

Friend: "Your what?"

Me to Reed: "Reed is my...."

Finally Reed spits out: "Do you wanna say boyfriend?"

Me to Reed (hesitating): "...yes....?"

Reed: "Okay, say it."

We became actually official that night in the rain. 

...This is where our love story begins... 

What I Eat To Stay On Track (requested post)

So I've been asked to write a blog about the foods/recipes that I eat. Little help to those of you that want to eat better. Remember: I'm not a nutritionist, and I'm not perfect. This is just what I do in my own life.  I'll be honest, this is not going to be a very long list... but maybe it will help you get ideas.

As far as snacks go, since I don't eat chips anymore, I've switched to wheat thins and salsa. I know.. it sounds gross, but it's actually not. I'm also addicted to goldfish, and pickles. Those are my usual snacks.

I replaced regular mayo with Kraft Mayo made with Olive Oil. It's actually delicious, and has a bunch less fat than the other stuff. I don't use margarine ever. I buy Smart Balance Light Butter. It's a lot more expensive, but it tastes better, and essentially is better for you.

I was told yellow cheese is worse for you than white cheese. I haven't checked up on that, but I've switched to white cheese if I HAVE to have any.

If something comes in whole wheat or whole grain, I buy that over white. When I go to Costa Vida I even get the salad with the wheat tortilla. I also don't get the tortilla chips on top... because they're chips...

I eat a ton of pasta. I buy whole grain pasta and that is a lot of my meals. Sometimes I pair that with toast, or steamed vegetables. Not usually meat with it, though unless it's chicken. It is also good with black or pinto beans.

Speaking of chicken, here's what me and Michelle love making:
Pizza! Since I can't have regular made pizza, we make our own. So we buy whole grain crust, boil or grill our chicken and just use marinara sauce out of a can. Then we load on red peppers, green peppers, sweet onions, olives, tomatoes, spinach and on my side I will put a tiny amount of cheese to help it stay together a little. By tiny I mean- less than a quarter of a cup.

We also like to make chicken things in our crockpot. We have experimented a lot with it. We will put in our chicken, let it cook for 3 or so hours, drain the fat, and then add onions, peppers, garlic, and most the time, bbq sauce, then cook it another 2 hours or so. We have also done it with taco seasoning, and sweet and sour sauce. We then put it on a bun, over rice, or in a tortilla, or whatever makes us happy that day. Sometimes I take my leftovers and mix it with pasta. It sounds gross, but it's actually good. The best thing about chicken in a crockpot is that you can just experiment with it. So we switch it up almost every time we cook with it.

I have a rice cooker with a steamer, and that is also a favorite of mine. I can put the rice in, and then the steamer goes over the rice and I just steam veggies and eat it with some boiled or grilled chicken OR beans. whatever gets you your protein.

Recently a friend of mine made stir-fry. That's also a good option. I'm pretty sure he used all fresh vegetables, and then for a healthier alternative you can cook it with a little bit of Olive Oil, mix in some chicken and eat it over rice. Voila.

I love steamed broccoli. I'll just buy it fresh and steam it myself and eat it on a baked potato. Naturally, it makes the apartment smell like crap, but it's really good! You could even put black or pinto beans on your potato, too. That sounds good...

I don't recommend this next one as a habit, but we do it every now and again when we want a treat, since I don't eat french fries. We get red potatoes and slice them up, put them on a sheet that we rubbed a small coat of olive oil on, and then throw seasoned salt over them, cook them for 40 minutes or so on 350 and eat them. That's my unhealthy food. ssshhh....

I love hashbrowns. I don't know why. I really shouldn't eat them because they're all processed, but I love them. So actually I eat those a lot, too.

Fresh salsa is delightful. I love buying Macey's fresh salsa whenever I can.

Instead of eating chips and veggies with dip, try Hummus. they have a lot of different flavors, and it's actually not that bad. I like pairing hummus and salsa and eating them together so I don't feel overwhelmed by either one.

I just discovered pre cut celery sticks by The Biggest Loser at Walmart. I am not sure if Macey's has them, but they taste better to me than that random celery you pick up and chop yourself. Don't eat it with cheese. I like to eat it plain or if i'm feeling rebellious I will dip it in my low fat crunchy peanut butter.

For those of you who don't like regular milk, try Almond Milk Vanilla flavor. DELICIOUS! I hate milk.

I don't buy sugared cereals. It's tragic, really. I love eating Honey Bunches of Oats and Life cereal. They have tons of vitamins. My favorite is to mix my bowl with Honey Bunches of Oats Cinnamon and honey clusters or something. Those taste way good mixed. Try it.

If you are like me and have to have ice cream in your freezer, the double churned ice cream has like- half as much fat. I think it tastes better, too. Switch it up a little.

Turkey Burgers! Okay, Turkey everything. If you haven't tried this, it's worth a shot just once. I feel like most people can't tell the difference. Heck, at the last 2 family BBQ's we had, someone ate my second turkey burger and they had no idea. Punks. Turkey sausage is also way good. Just buy it once, and if you hate it, you can eat your greasy pork. It is worth trying, though. I just tried turkey bacon earlier today and it wasn't too bad, either. Even my friend who was with me tried it and didn't think it was bad and he loves good solid fatty meat. so those are good switch outs.

I am now realizing from this post that I eat a lot of carbs... but it's delicious... and I'm still losing weight, so you tell me if I'm in the wrong. WaHa!

I read in some dessert recipes a lot that you can replace oil with applesauce. I've yet to try it, but when i do, i'll let you know. that's something to look into as well.

Just remember that whatever you do, or if you fail a day, it's not the end. One time won't kill you. Heck, I ate pork ribs yesterday and that doesn't mean I'm going to give up and not keep eating healthy. In the words of a friend: "You had meat?!?!" (he means red meat)...Yeah, A treat every now and again is okay for you, so don't be too hard on yourself. Every now and again I will have punch instead of water. So even I am not perfect at it all. I realize you don't have the advantage I do. If I eat a portion of something that I can't, I will get sick and nauseated and so I have a constant thing holding me back. I have found it easier though to completely cut out chips, fries and all beef products, and caffeine. Otherwise it will be too hard to stay away. So know your boundaries, I guess.

As a general idea for myself in looking at what I can and cannot eat, if it looks greasy, I stay away. If I know there will be a lot of fatty things like butter, oil, or anything of that sort, I will stay away from it. Use your best judgement, because most the time that's what I have to do.

Also most restaurants have healthy options that you can try. Red Robin will switch out fries for fresh fruit. They also offer fresh wraps and I'm pretty sure they have turkey burgers. Ihop has labeled their menus so that the healthy options are pointed out. They have things you can switch out. For example I went there today and had whole wheat pancakes, egg substitute, turkey bacon, and hashbrowns (the hashbrowns were the unhealthy part). For the other things, they've totaled up the calories in the meal so you know exactly what you are eating. Cheesecake Factory even has a whole menu of meals under 500 calories. Panda Express now offers steamed brown rice, and grilled teryaki chicken. So if you are going to waste calories, at least do it sensibly. Most the meat there is deep fried before it's pan fried. That's double crap. So next time you go out, don't overeat and indulge in all the fat. You can still be good and eat pretty well while going out with your friends. My next adventure will be to go to papa murpheys and order a pizza without cheese.

That's basically all I can think of right now. If you have questions you can email, text, or facebook me. I'm happy to help anyway that I can, and help motivate you if you want to do better. Also, if you have recipes or ideas of food that I could eat, I'd love to have them. Sometimes it gets boring eating the same things all the time.
Until next time... :)