I know it’s only June but I’m someone who likes to plan ahead. With my recent weight loss I’m more comfortable with my body, so much so that I’m actually dressing better. I don’t need to wear oversized shirts to feel comfortable, I can now wear more fitting clothing. I do still have a long way to go in order to reach my final goal of 150lbs, I have about 50 pounds to go with that one, so of course I’m not dressing like a hooker or anything but I’m certainly fitting myself with better clothing.

So where am I going with this? By the time October rolls around I hope to have lost another 20 pounds, figure five pounds a month for the next four months - that’s how it (in theory) should even out. I’m looking around for Halloween costumes. Yes, again it’s very early in the year but with the way things go in America, by this time next month the Christmas items are going to be out in most department stores. So at least I’m mentioning the fact that there are a few important holidays before then - you know?

Sean wants me to look into the adult costumes, some of them are pretty risque so I’m not sure if I’d actually take it that far, but I will admit that some of them are pretty cute. At the same time, however, we’re not sure of where we’re going this year so there’s no real way of knowing if dressing up will even be worth it. I don’t look at costumes for just Halloween though, however that’s private business so I’ll leave it at that. I have to say, I rather like the school-girl outfit, but what man doesn’t like to see that on his significant other - you know? They have a Paris Hilton knock-off, but I think all you’d have to do to dress like her is go into the juniors department and find a skirt that just barely covers your butt - that’s just my humble opinion of course.

Either way I hope to reach another 20 pounds-lost goal so I can buy myself one of these costumes. Maybe I’ll get lucky and there will be a coupon code or something so I can save even more money.

I just came across a really cool site that all foodies would absolutely love! It’s called KeyIngredient.com and it’s a digital Food Recipe database where you can find all of your favorite foods made many different ways. I signed up and posted the recipe that I’ve fallen in love with this week. It’s Gillian McKeith’s Shepherd’s Pie. With everyone you post you can pick up a really cool widget to publish it to your blog. I think I’m going to go through my arsenal of recipes and post them all through keyingredient.com so I can easily display them on this blog for all of you.

On a side note, I’d like to say thank you for all of the “Congrats” that I received from my previous post. I didn’t get many comments on the site but I did get quite a few emails asking the “How’d you do it?” question. Eating healthy and stepping up on the exercise are all you really need to do. Dieting is hard but it’s not as evil as everyone thinks it is.

I’ve learned to fall in love with the right foods, and fall out of love with the wrong ones. By cutting out all of the saturated fats, sugars and high carbohydrates - you can really make a difference in not only your physical appearance but how you feel on the inside as well.

I hope to be able to use keyingredient.com to get in touch with many other dieters and food-lovers in general so I can find the best recipes and learn to love the right foods even more.

I’ve only been a member for about a half hour or so (at the time of posting this) but in that time I was able to search for quite a few different tips, tricks and techniques that could really make anyone shine in a healthy kitchen with simple and tasty ingredients.

As I go through the database I’ll share a few more recipes as I try them. This could be a huge addition to the site with just these widgets alone. I’ll still continue to post my own recipes in the regular format though. I’m working on setting up a hack for the blog where you can convert my food related posts to a print-friendly format. That should work out pretty well too.

While I absolutely hate to admit it, part of me believes that I’m beginning to lose my eyesight. When you look at a screen all day long and rarely focus on anything else, things just don’t work as well as they used to. I still have better eyesight than anyone I know, probably because I come from a family where almost everyone needs glasses in order to see, and my sister is one of them but she’ll NEVER admit to it until she’s completely blind and attempting to drive somewhere. My father on the other hand, he’s needed glasses on and off for quite some time to read and now he really can’t do much of anything without his glasses. Up until he was about 30 years-old he never needed them, he had better than 20/20 vision, now things are so blurred for him that he’s more than likely going to be blind at some point later on down the road.

Another person with really bad eye sight is Sean and unfortunately he doesn’t have medical insurance to even get his glasses fixed, let alone update the prescription in general. I do believe that with my search I landed upon what I believe to be a Great Discovery: Zenni Optical. They sell prescription glasses online. There’s a huge selection of frames with everything from single vision lenses to bifocals. They even have tinted sunglasses for those who need corrective sunglasses as well. I guess no one likes the “clip on” look anymore…heh. They sell internationally too, so no matter where you’re located you can still get the prescription you need.

And the Best Thing Found: Zenni Optical sells everything at such low prices because they only sell their own manufactured frames direct to the customer, with no middlemen and no advertising budget. So you have to say that the ability to purchase Zenni Optical $8 Rx Glasses is a pretty damn good deal. Head over to their site if you’re interested, tell ‘em I sent you because I truly believe that anyone being able to save money on anything Health/Vision related is a great thing.

A trait that many people don’t know about me is my musical abilities. I grew up around music but when your parents both really grew up in the 60’s and 70’s then naturally you’re going to have some amazing music in the background while you’re children are growing up - you know? Another trait I’m quiet about is my painting addiction. I’ve been itching to get to a canvas with some oil but that doesn’t look as though it’s going to happen anytime soon.

The one I can act upon is the musical taste. I don’t think it’s possible for me to get any work done unless I have some kind of music going on in the background. For years I had extensive training in everything from orchestra to rock. I played the clarinet, flute, base clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and even dabbled in percussion just to round myself out. I’ve attempted to play the guitar but I’ve never had any formal training in it. The one thing that has stuck with me throughout the years, and probably has a lot to do with how quickly I can type is the Piano. I started on a rinky-dink little keyboard and now I can sit down at a baby grand and just play my heart out. It’s been a few years, and I’ll admit that I’m a little rusty but that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of getting back into it, you know?

For anyone interested in the piano, whether they’re new to it or just looking for some new and interesting things to putz around with. I came across a site where the owner publishes a newsletter on Piano lessons & piano chords. It’s completely free and if you’re looking to spend a little money you can purchase a full-blown piano course on DVD as well. The course is meant for adults but I’m sure a child would have no problems with it either.

Sean is having some trouble with his car. I’ve been poking around online in search for payday loans so that I can get a quick $1,000 transferred into our bank account in case we have to fix anything. Of course the money will be sent right back if it turns out that it’s an easy fix. Hopefully we’ll figure something out before we have to make the 5 hour drive back to Delaware on Monday. Originally we were going to leave on Sunday but only a fool would try to leave New York on a Sunday afternoon. With all of the traffic on the southern state parkway and then the traffic heading down the turnpike in Jersey, it’s really not worth it, you know?