Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Very Excited
It has been a LONG day. We packed all of our belongings into a container to be put on a ship and taken over the water to Kona early this morning. Hoping we get settled fairly easily. I'm looking forward to fresh Macadamia nuts and Kona coffee. Moreover, I'm especially looking forward to being permanently based somewhere (for the first time in years) and having Isaac home every day. Woot!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Succinct
I did something long overdue. I had our website domain name changed to something less ridiculous to type in:
New domain name, same website. Will add more guest info in a week or two.
New domain name, same website. Will add more guest info in a week or two.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
130 to go!
130 days to go until the Schaefer-Giguere Wedding of 2010!
Actually, it will possibly be the Schaefer-Giguere Wedding of the century...or maybe even all of eternity (exciting). I wonder how many Schaefers have married Gigueres in the past. Hopefully none. I want my kids to have a deep gene pool, and inter-marrying does not normal offspring make. In case you were wondering.
At any rate, I'm doing my best to plow through the check lists. According to TheKnot (wedding guilt-monger that it is) I'm about 2 months behind on a ton of check list items. According to rational human beings who live in the rest of society however, I am ahead of the game. Who to believe?
We are looking forward to seeing so many faces that we miss and love this summer. We hope you guys bring your good vibes and par-tay attitudes. Just for you, we'll practice staying up past 10pm for the next 4 months.
For those guests who received a save-the-date (invites will be on their way soon-ish), we've been keeping the website updated with information we hope will help our out-of-town buds plan the trip easily. Head straight to the "Guest Information" section.
Or, you could also put trip planning off until the last possible minute. Whatever suits your style.
I am hoping (but not promising) to have the rest of the guest information fully updated in a month...or so.
Click Here to visit our TheKnot website.
Actually, it will possibly be the Schaefer-Giguere Wedding of the century...or maybe even all of eternity (exciting). I wonder how many Schaefers have married Gigueres in the past. Hopefully none. I want my kids to have a deep gene pool, and inter-marrying does not normal offspring make. In case you were wondering.
At any rate, I'm doing my best to plow through the check lists. According to TheKnot (wedding guilt-monger that it is) I'm about 2 months behind on a ton of check list items. According to rational human beings who live in the rest of society however, I am ahead of the game. Who to believe?
We are looking forward to seeing so many faces that we miss and love this summer. We hope you guys bring your good vibes and par-tay attitudes. Just for you, we'll practice staying up past 10pm for the next 4 months.
For those guests who received a save-the-date (invites will be on their way soon-ish), we've been keeping the website updated with information we hope will help our out-of-town buds plan the trip easily. Head straight to the "Guest Information" section.
Or, you could also put trip planning off until the last possible minute. Whatever suits your style.
I am hoping (but not promising) to have the rest of the guest information fully updated in a month...or so.
Click Here to visit our TheKnot website.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Aloha, Maui.
We're saying aloha [goodbye] to Maui and aloha [hello] to the Big Island this month. Another move so soon. Here's the announcement! It's official, we're setting off for bigger---and hopefully better---things. Kona or bust.
Now that everything is all caught up, maybe I'll give the blogging a rest for a while.
Now that everything is all caught up, maybe I'll give the blogging a rest for a while.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Out with the delicious, in with the soy
My doctor gave me a HUGE list of food do's and don'ts based on my cholesterol, accumulated iron in my blood, and my blood type.
It looks something like this:
Never eat your favorite foods again.
Ever.
Don't even think about it.
Ok, so it's not actually that rigid. But if I really want to get my cholesterol down, and keep my iron down at a "safe level" and just be a more fine-tuned machine, I really have to cut out the things on the "avoid" lists and work in more of the things on the "highly beneficial" lists.
What does this mean exactly? It means that I am more-or-less a vegan now. Not for 100% of my meals, but probably for at least 90% of them. The only kinds of cheese I can have on an "infrequent" basis are goat cheese, feta cheese, or mozarella. No more milk, cream, or butter for me. No more yummy French cheeses.
I can not eat sherbet or ice cream anymore, but I may have yogurt and frozen yogurt.
I am not supposed to eat meat anymore. I can, on an infrequent basis, have chicken, game hen, or turkey, but I can't make it a regular habit.
I must say "goodbye" to fried foods and a list of oils and greasy frying things. I will say "hello" to more things like grapeseed oil (which is excellent for pan-frying, I just found out), and EVOO.
There is a long list of fish that I am allowed to eat (hooray!), however, I can't eat it raw (cause of the iron thing), and most of it is fresh water fish...which is not easy to come by in Hawai'i. So I may as well not get my hopes too far up about that one.
No more of some of my favorites: oysters, clams, squid, crab, or lobster.
Fear not! The list has opened my eyes up to all of these other foods in the world I have a tendency to ignore.
I have learned that attempted taste-alike soy-based "cheeses" are disgusting. If it's the flavor people go for, it would taste just as good to melt plastic over my veggie burger. Totally disgusting. I'd rather just live without cheese all together and use a slice of avocado instead.
Veggie burgers are actually delicious. As is Pad Thai with tofu. Chocolate soy milk is truly amazing, and eating more fresh vegetables and fruits is definitely making me feel better already. Getting my proteins from beans and soy and eggs. (Thank God I can still have eggs!). I love the excuse to have almonds and walnuts nearby at all times, too.
Taking lots of B-vitamins since I'll be eating much less meat.
Going to keep up with my daily workout routine. I may have to be eating double over-time to keep enough protein in my body to keep building muscle, but I guess it's all a learning process.
In 8 weeks, I will get to see if this is all working and making me more healthy! It's a big change, so I really hope there's some pay off for it.
It looks something like this:
Never eat your favorite foods again.
Ever.
Don't even think about it.
Ok, so it's not actually that rigid. But if I really want to get my cholesterol down, and keep my iron down at a "safe level" and just be a more fine-tuned machine, I really have to cut out the things on the "avoid" lists and work in more of the things on the "highly beneficial" lists.
What does this mean exactly? It means that I am more-or-less a vegan now. Not for 100% of my meals, but probably for at least 90% of them. The only kinds of cheese I can have on an "infrequent" basis are goat cheese, feta cheese, or mozarella. No more milk, cream, or butter for me. No more yummy French cheeses.
I can not eat sherbet or ice cream anymore, but I may have yogurt and frozen yogurt.
I am not supposed to eat meat anymore. I can, on an infrequent basis, have chicken, game hen, or turkey, but I can't make it a regular habit.
I must say "goodbye" to fried foods and a list of oils and greasy frying things. I will say "hello" to more things like grapeseed oil (which is excellent for pan-frying, I just found out), and EVOO.
There is a long list of fish that I am allowed to eat (hooray!), however, I can't eat it raw (cause of the iron thing), and most of it is fresh water fish...which is not easy to come by in Hawai'i. So I may as well not get my hopes too far up about that one.
No more of some of my favorites: oysters, clams, squid, crab, or lobster.
Fear not! The list has opened my eyes up to all of these other foods in the world I have a tendency to ignore.
I have learned that attempted taste-alike soy-based "cheeses" are disgusting. If it's the flavor people go for, it would taste just as good to melt plastic over my veggie burger. Totally disgusting. I'd rather just live without cheese all together and use a slice of avocado instead.
Veggie burgers are actually delicious. As is Pad Thai with tofu. Chocolate soy milk is truly amazing, and eating more fresh vegetables and fruits is definitely making me feel better already. Getting my proteins from beans and soy and eggs. (Thank God I can still have eggs!). I love the excuse to have almonds and walnuts nearby at all times, too.
Taking lots of B-vitamins since I'll be eating much less meat.
Going to keep up with my daily workout routine. I may have to be eating double over-time to keep enough protein in my body to keep building muscle, but I guess it's all a learning process.
In 8 weeks, I will get to see if this is all working and making me more healthy! It's a big change, so I really hope there's some pay off for it.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Doctor, doctor, gimme the news!
Had a meeting with my doctor today because my blood results were in. The aim was to confirm a diagnosis of hypoglycemia (which was confirmed). He had my overall health and nutrition tested in case there were other things that needed to be addressed. Today I learned that...
-My Vitamin D levels are low. Surprising, since I live in Hawaii of all places and spend hours and hours outdoors every day. Apparently sunscreen also blocks Vitamin D, and I wear sunscreen every day. Easy to fix.
-My overall mineral and vitamin nutrition (besides blood sugar and Vitamin D) is really good.
-My immune system is very healthy.
-My LDL (bad) cholesterol levels are "shockingly" high.
Let that last one be a newsflash to skinny people like me. I eat well, I am a long distance runner, I work out every day, but my cholesterol level is still not desirable. Partially genetics, partially my love of fine meats, shellfish and French cheeses. (What can I say? It's hard to say no to a good hunk of brie).
If in doubt, and even if you're not, maybe it's a good idea to have your blood cholesterol tested. Being young, fit, skinny, and health-conscious may all seem like they're going for ya, but cholesterol is a sneaky little devil.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a list of "beneficial foods" and "foods to avoid" the doctor gave me and I'm going to have to go to battle with the contents of my fridge.
-My Vitamin D levels are low. Surprising, since I live in Hawaii of all places and spend hours and hours outdoors every day. Apparently sunscreen also blocks Vitamin D, and I wear sunscreen every day. Easy to fix.
-My overall mineral and vitamin nutrition (besides blood sugar and Vitamin D) is really good.
-My immune system is very healthy.
-My LDL (bad) cholesterol levels are "shockingly" high.
Let that last one be a newsflash to skinny people like me. I eat well, I am a long distance runner, I work out every day, but my cholesterol level is still not desirable. Partially genetics, partially my love of fine meats, shellfish and French cheeses. (What can I say? It's hard to say no to a good hunk of brie).
If in doubt, and even if you're not, maybe it's a good idea to have your blood cholesterol tested. Being young, fit, skinny, and health-conscious may all seem like they're going for ya, but cholesterol is a sneaky little devil.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a list of "beneficial foods" and "foods to avoid" the doctor gave me and I'm going to have to go to battle with the contents of my fridge.
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