I'll eat my words. Among other things.

Mmmm.  The Food Network, more specifically The Barefoot Contessa, may propel some back peddling on my part.

I'm working on the baby weight reduction on the bod- it's working, happily- but it's quite a slow process.  It requires patience, dedication, and reduced calorie foods which bite hard.  If you do anything for a few days, you get used to it and then these routines become habit and then they're just thoughtless parts of your day.  I think that's why my weight is starting to come off on its own.  I'm just back into the swing of healthy, reduced calorie eating.  Delicious.  I kid.

Home with my nugget, I run around, do errands, clean, garden, play with her, take care of her and maybe even shower.  The day's fly and I'm able to watch first hand this little girl discover the same world that has become a relatively non eventful backdrop for me.  But I myself have discovered something new.  The Food Network.  Actutally delicious.  No kidding.

Today, I have a few moments while she's in the ExerSaucer (best thing in the world, by the way) to sit and relish vicariously a moment in the life of Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa.  I spent my whole life channeling the lives of uber thin, highly fashionable movie stars/models and I've had my head up my bikini bottoms.  That is not living.

Ina lives to eat whole, real, non processed, natural foods that burst with color and life and flavor.  Two words: wine and cheese.  A few more words: bright red cherry tomatoes, brown caramelized onions, sunny yellow lemon... slurp- Vienna can I borrow your burp cloth?  Ya, thanks.

I want that now.  I want a kitchen polka dotted by white pots of thyme, parsley, and basil.  I'd like a large chopping block situated by my knifes laying underneath onions, peppers and tomatoes ready to blend and be roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Flank steak and goat cheese.  Oh god.

Vienna is now lying next to me on the floor, rolling around slobbering on her toys and she just kicked me and woke me from my naughty fantasy.  (She rolled for the first time by herself a second ago!  Call me what you want but that's the stuff I live for right now.)  And the point of all of this is I want it all, I guess.  Comfort in my skin without having to forego the potato skins roasted with chives, sundried tomatoes and bleu cheese.  I want Vienna to learn red by looking at tomatoes and apples, green by peppers and celery and lime, white by cheese and bakery fresh sour dough bread, yellow by lemons.  I want my husband to come home to a whole meal- made at home, not just a bag of steamed veggies I threw in the microwave that goes with a Trader Joes frozen stir fry.

Time.  Body image.  The two main reasons that meals are desecrated into low calorie, quick enterprises that may taste good, but lack the artistry and joy that can go into the creative process.  My new idol is Ina Garten.  Her colorful, flavorful, way of life.  I want that for my family.  And my belly.  I mean six-pack.

How cozy does that look?!  That's all for now.