I'm baacckk!

Hey guys! 

Long time no blog, right? 

Boy, do I have a lot to talk about!! 

But pictures are worth a thousand words, so I figured I would give you a visual tour of the hilights of summer 2009:

We made lots of fun food on the campfire- pancakes, french toast, even tortilla lasagna, but my alltime fave had to be the Thin Mint Rice Krispy treats 
On July 30 I turned 20 years old (officially not a teenager anymore! whoo!) and my wonderful boyfriend came all the way from Canada to visit me!
I had a big party with family, home friends and camp friends! Twas a wonderful night. 

Here's the spread, courtesy of Pick Pockets (one of my fave mid-eastern delis) and my momma!
Because there were so many people I had not one, but two cakes- a carrot cake from Gregg's, and the best cake of all- dark chocolate with raspberry filling and the BEST home made frosting in the world, made by my amazing Grandma =)
(Yes, I am apparently five years old and requested a Hello Kitty cake. Love it!)

The next day I celebrated my second day off by heading to Boston with Nick and a couple camp friends, Hermione and Peko (camp names of course!). We ate at a Buddist Centre for lunch and it was incredible!
After a couple more long weeks, we had another weekend off where Peko and I went to the farmer's market,  and she bought me one of these FABULOUS fresh-baked whole wheat banana walnut scones. I want to learn how to make some myself!!
Lunch was Tuna Nicoise 
And dinner was fresh tomato sauce from the farmers market over whole grain pasta with basil and parm

We had an amazing staff banquet, but then it was time to say a sad "so long"... but not to this fun girl, because she's staying with me for 4 days after camp!!

So today was my official last day. I had a wonderful summer, full of many ups and downs, and I'm sad it's over, but also glad to finish the rest of my summer. 

As I mused about in my last post, the camp eating situation has been tough. I wish so much I could sit here right now and tell you that it went alright, I ate balanced, kept snacking under control and stayed a good size. 

Unfortunately, this was not the case. 

The summer was not easy. And with this came stress-induced binge eating, too many sweets, WAY too much snacking and, needless to say, a weight gain of approximately seven pounds. 

Also needless to say, I am not happy with this. I have been struggling with binge eating for a long time, and I thought I had put a stop to it until I started this job, and it came back again full circle. 

When I came home  last weekend after those seven weeks at camp I looked in the mirror and was horrified. I was disgusted with myself, with what I had let myself become. I know I have the strength to control myself and eat healthy, and not let this happen. But this summer I let my mind get the best of me, and my body and health suffered. 

After my initial shock of looking at myself and realizing how much bigger I was, trying on clothes and realizing nothing fit, I decided to put an end to this once and for all. Right then and there I vowed to make a change. 

For the last few days, I have been eating extremely healthfully, and exercising dilligently in hopes I can shed a few pounds in a healthy way before school begins. 

And on September 1st, 2009, my eating habits and the blog are going to go through a big change. 

Inspired by the lovely Janetha and her mom, I picked up a copy of Body for Life and have decided to take on the 12-week challenge along with my mom, who also wants to get back on the healthy track once and for all. 

I LOVE the concepts in this book, and I highly encourage you to pick it up if you have a chance, and I will be hilighting some of my favorite concepts in a later post (soon I promise!). 

But for now, it's back to the basics- lots of fresh organic produce, lean protein, low fat dairy and whole grains to stay on track 

My grocery shop today: 

And my favorite new snack find: 

Can you say yum?!?!

So that's about all I have for now, I'll be back again posting regularly- but I will be in Canada from the 17-26th, so I will probably be doing a big recap post when I come home- I'll let you know if I'll be posting when it's a bit sooner. 

I'm also toying with the idea of changing the blog format, because I'll be doing BFL in September, some of my meals may be a little repetitive and boring- are any of you interested in more of a hilights/recipes/articles format instead of a 3-meals-a day setup?? I'd love to hear your opinion!

It feels so great to be back!! 

xo

K