Dinner with Dear Friends

The rain was falling for much of the day but by the evening it had stopped. Everything is so green now! 

For this dinner date with very special friends, I wore a deep pink double-breasted knit jacket from Stein Mart with a black tank and black side zip pants from Talbots. The box bag is from T.J. Maxx as are the shoes which are a couple of years old.

Thank you for reading my blog. Today is a bit of a celebratory post since this is my 100th! It has been great fun sharing with you.

Chilly Date Night

Spring continues to tease us. The temperatures dipped into the forties last evening, and the wind was fierce, which means I looked for something warm for Friday date night with friends.

Because of the high winds, we moved the photo session into my foyer this evening.

All the elements are repeats, but I'll recap them for you. The wool double-breasted jacket with three-quarter sleeves is from Talbots last fall. The three quarter sleeve jacket is a great choice for cooler spring weather. This time I paired it with black wider leg pants and Ros Hommerson low heeled pumps. I was sad to get an email from Ros Hommerson announcing that they are going out of business. All of their inventory is half price now. 

When I wear wider leg pants, I always wear them with a lower-heeled shoe for safety reasons and the fact that it seems to be a much better balance.

Under the jacket is a black tank top from Stein Mart, and I carried a black leather clutch with gold trim. My earrings are gold and black, and the bangle is the same red as the jacket with gold trim. I rarely wear gold jewelry because of my skin tone and gray hair. 

 

The odd little "room" to the right of this image is the entryway to the downstairs.

Navy and Nude

On this Wednesday date night, I wore a navy knit dress and nude shoes.

Spring has finally arrived here in East Tennessee!

Nude shoes are often the most logical choice to wear with a dress, but they look especially fresh and modern with navy.  These BCBGeneration nude pumps were found at  T.J.Maxx.

The copper, silver, and gold woven clutch is many years old. The pearl, silver, and gold earrings are also several years old. The silver and gold necklace is a recent purchase from Stein Mart. I am also wearing my favorite pantyhose by Hanes. 

The navy knit dress was recently found on a sale rack at Stein Mart.

Classic Casual

Kelly green with navy and white is a classic spring combination.

A lightweight three-quarter length sleeve cardigan in Kelly green looks great with a white tank and dark wash jeans. The Kelly flats are perfect to wear with jeans. Add a natural color tote to keep your look fresh and modern. If you add a necklace, remember to wear only small earrings or none at all.

Tomorrow I will announce the monthly give away to one lucky subscriber to the blog. Good luck!

How I lost more than forty pounds and healed my body.

Taken at a Victorian Bed and Breakfast in North Carolina.

At the age of fifty-four, I was frumpy, fat, and very unhealthy.

The pictures above were taken about three years ago before I started eating natural, unprocessed foods.

The picture below was taken last month.

I have maintained this weight for over two years. Hundreds of people have asked me how I lost weight and reversed my health problems. The simple answer is that I changed my choice of foods. My health and stamina returned to the levels of my early thirties in just a few months. I will turn fifty-seven this September.

My gentleman friend and I are very active socially, which means we go out to eat and attend lots of parties and functions. As you know, special food is always a part of these social situations. Most of the food served in restaurants and sold in grocery stores in America is highly processed, heavily salted, with lots of added sugar and butter or other fats. This is also why many of my friends started to gain a lot of weight as soon as they came to America.  

After reading the book "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, I realized that nothing in my daily diet was high in nutrition or provided a sufficient energy source. That's why I was always hungry two hours after I ate!  

I started eating the breakfast described in the post here and at the top of this page under Recipes. Breakfast for me is at about six in the morning. I am often just starting to feel hungry at about one in the afternoon. I have a large leafy green salad with lots of steamed, roasted, or sauteed vegetables at about two in the afternoon.  I use unsalted vegetable broth for cooking instead of butter or oil. My salad dressing is an aged balsamic vinegar. There is no oil, croutons, bread, or cheese served on or with this salad. That's normally my last meal of the day, and I never feel hungry at night. I drink hot tea, water, and occasionally a glass of wine.

This is my diet 95% of the time. I still eat whatever I want when we go out to dinner during the weekends. (I do not eat red meat or pork.) 

It is a simply healthy way of eating, and I never feel that I am missing anything. I don't count calories or go to the gym. The fact that I feel so much better and have so much more energy serves as my motivation to continue to eat like this for the rest of my life.

I hope that by sharing my story, I have given you the motivation to learn more about food and how it can make you feel great or miserable.