Snow in the spring. On the one hand, it’s a beautiful thing. Like tonight – it’s falling in huge, mesmerizing flakes. It’s hard to deny how lovely it looks. But then, on the other hand, it seems to serve as a reminder that we live in New England and basically March in New England stinks. March here is filled with days that are 60 degrees, followed by a day of snow. We are expecting a few inches tonight – after 8 inches last weekend.

The good part is that the snow doesn’t last long. The snow from the huge storm last weekend is almost entirely gone. But still – MUST we still get snow at this point? Can’t we just actually have a real spring?

Each year I am hopeful that we will have a true spring. More than a couple of weeks of warmish weather. It has been a few years since we’ve had a spring like that – and they are few and far between, but I am hopeful. I’m hopeful that my 1st grader will have more than a handful of baseball games – that his practices and games won’t be continually rained out like they were last year. I am hopeful that we won’t go from freezing temps, to solid rain straight to hot/humid. There is always the chance that this will be the year! We’ll see. Think Spring.

I just picked up my youngest son from daycare. His birthday was on Sunday – he turned 4 (can’t even believe it). So today I brought in cupcakes (the ones that I cheated on my diet with) for his class. He was so excited about it when I picked him up. He told me how they all had them for snack in the afternoon, and there on the board it said “afternoon snack – Cupcakes for Aidan’s Birthday”. Even the teachers were excited. It made me realize – sometimes some good ol’ chocolate cake can really just make your day. And if there’s brightly colored frosting? Well, there’s a reason for the expression “that’s icing on the cake”.

(And in case anyone is wondering, the 4 lbs lost are down to 3lbs after all that chocolate cake and buttercream frosting this weekend…)

Well – it’s done. I just relucantly ate my oatmeal, fruit and “omlette”, completing 3 days of the Perricone Face-lift Diet. So here’s the “skinny” so to speak -

What worked:

• I lost close to 4 lbs (so I guess it’s good for weight loss!)
• My neck looks marginally improved – not quite so saggy. BUT – is that merely the result of losing weight? Probably plays a big part.
• I did seem to have a little more energy – especially considering I had 2 nights of 6 or fewer hours of sleep and then had to be “on the go” the day after.

What didn’t work:

• I have to say, truthfully I WANT my skin to look a lot better but I can’t really say there’s any noticeable improvement
• My skin tone looks about the same as it did before

Is it worth it?:

• Maybe to lose weight and feel good about what you’re eating (but big question – if I were to have my mercury levels tested right now, what would it look like? All that salmon…)

Oh yeah – and I forgot to mention a couple of tiny things . I did cheat twice last night. One rather small, and one pretty major!

I had a very small piece of pizza last night with my dinner – the rest of the family was eating it and it looked so good. Because we had a huge snowstorm, I resorted to frozen pizza but I swear it tasted unbelieveable to me!! Second, at that point I decided I needed a good snack last night. So I just took a flying leap off the wagon and ate a cupcake (I was making them for my son’s birthday) without frosting, though, and a little Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked frozen yogurt. Oooooh boy. Yummy!

I’ll let you know how fast the weight comes back on. I’m guessing by Monday with the weekend I have ahead of me…

Just a quick note. I’m struggling! I just finished my 5th serving of salmon in 48 hours. That’s a LOT of salmon. Today I “cheated” by having spinach sauteed with garlic with my lunch. But it was good, and I figure that’s an OK cheat. But will I make it through the rest of the day? Not sure.

The bonus of this is that I have lost 3 lbs! That’s nice! And my skin does look healthier so far. Not a huge difference by tiny lines are less noticeable and my saggy baggy neck is a little firmer (the skin is more elastic). I have a generally healthier glow, despite the fact that I am a little sleep deprived.

The biggest challenge – next to the monotany of the menu – is preparing the food. I had a dr’s appointment for my son at 8 am this morning. I had to get up, make that oatmeal/omlete/fruit breakfast, eat the eggs (I ate the oatmeal and fruit in the car) and drink the water, get the boys up and dressed/brushed and out of the house by 7am. Drop one at daycare and then drive the other downtown to the dr’s (a story for another day!) So fitting that meal in there was not easy – but actually not as bad as I thought it might be.

The question is, once I eat my corned beef and cabbage (a requirement when marrying into the McGovern family) on Saturday and the birthday cake for my son on Sunday – will all of my hard work be for nothing? Will the effects be immediately sucked out of my skin and into the fat and calories of my splurges? Hmmm….

Perseverance. That’s how I would sum up today. I actually refused all of the sweet and savory temptations that came my way. Yummy Udon noodles (another weakness), potato chips and HUGE incredibly tasty looking cookies at a lunch meeting. Birthday cake, chips and salsa, guacamole dip at a birthday party. I couldn’t even believe it. This is NOT my thing – I basically don’t possess willpower. I can’t figure out where it came from.

I literally sat in a big lunch meeting today like a total dork and brought out my carefully packed salad with salmon (which tasted good but not nearly as good as those Udon noodles would have), and my cantaloupe (which by this time is starting to be only a tiny bit appealing after having eaten it for the past 4 meals).

Later, I announced to co-workers that I was off to enjoy my snack of turkey, nuts and apple. The looks I got were not of interest or admiration, but more of general puzzlement. And tonight at my friend’s birthday party, I had to leave when they brought out gooey chocolate cake. It pretty much doesn’t get more tempting for me than that. But I did it!

Dinner and the evening snack were not easy, but I persevered. Just one more day to go!

And I’m so proud of my husband who went along with this until he realized he blew it by drinking coffee (a big no-no) – and eating pretzels while making dinner. But he’s done pretty well, especially since he was bamboozled into this whole thing.

I’m sure for those of you who have dieted before, you’re thinking I’m a big whiner. That is true. I know. For Pete’s sake it’s only 3 days! We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. The thought of grilled salmon for 2 more meals is not doing it for me at this point…

I woke up with gusto this morning knowing it was the “big day”. The first day of my facelift diet. Now I have to say, I’m in my late (late, late) 30’s and I’m not covered in wrinkles or anything. I take good care of my skin, use natural products (from Garden Girl, of course!) and watch what I eat. For the most part. Ok really, it’s that I eat healthy meals, but I have a huge weakness for sweets. Huge.

But the fact is, being in my late, late, late 30’s, I have noticed that my neck is beginning to sag a bit, and my eyes are getting a little droopy. So when Perricone says “The Three Day Nutritional Face-lift focuses on food, the most powerful ally in the fight against wrinkles, sages and loss of skin tone. Once you see and feel the results you will realize that there is a face-lift in your fridge.” – I knew I had to try it. For the sake of research for Garden Girl, at the very least.

I can give up bad stuff for 3 days, right? So off I went with my shopping list to Costco. Thank goodness for that store. I bought almost everything I needed there. What I didn’t get there, I got at Trader Joe’s – my true love. Yes – they greet me there with a big smile each time I go (about 4 times per week…) thinking “How much will she buy today?”

Anyway – I spent a total of about $85 for the food. It is more than enough for my husband and me for the 3 days. I looked like a lunatic though with huge bags of fruit and lettuce and spinach. And I could barely fit it in my fridge.

I will admit, I was more than slightly disappointed that the samples weren’t out yet when I was at Costco. I had eaten an organic pop tart for breakfast, and then slid right into Krispy Kreme when I left Costco. There – that should be enough sugar, fat and carbs to get me through the 3 days, right? Disgusting? Possibly. Tasty? Truly. Do I get bonus points for trying the Whole Wheat donut? Or does that just mean that I’m a sucker?

So, here’s the diet I’m looking forward to for the next 3 days:

Breakfast:

• “Omelet” of 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg (I’m convinced they call this an omlete to make it sound much more enticing than scrambled eggs, which is what it is)
• 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal. Plain. Yuck. (I usually layer mine with a healthy sprinkle of brown sugar)
• 1 c. cantaloupe and 1/4 c. berries.
• 8-12 oz. water BEFORE breakfast and another 8-12 WITH breakfast

Lunch:

• 4-6 oz. grilled salmon or canned tuna
• 2 c. romaine lettuce with 1 T. olive oil and lemon juice
• 1 c. cantaloupe and 1/4 c. berries
• 8-12 oz. water

Snack: (This CRACKS me up)

• 2 oz. low salt turkey breast
• 4 raw, unsalted hazelnuts (I did almonds)
• 1/2 green apple (why 1/2?? not sure)
• 8-12 oz. water (do you see a pattern?)

Dinner:

• Same as lunch but add 1 c. steamed spinach or broccoli

Snack:

• Same as afternoon snack.

Well, I made it through the first day quite easily actually. I started at lunch, and was darn proud of myself. This was the first “diet” I had ever done. I will admit that the snack of turkey and an apple did not seem appealing as I typically reserve evening snacks for my sweet tooth. But both my husband and I were surprised at how satisfying (ok, that’s a stretch – how about, not terrible?) it was.

Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.

“Here it goes” basically describes a lot in my life. From starting a new business, to trying new food, to meeting new people. It’s a great saying, isn’t it? It says – “I’ll try it and see where it takes me.” Not that I jump into things without thinking – I’m a big believer in analysis (I have a background in marketing research) but there should always be a hefty dose of “here it goes” to go with it.

So that is how I’m approaching this blog. I’ve just really started getting into blogs. I know, how “turn of the century” of me. But now that I’m into them, I love it! I love hearing people’s perspectives on so many topics. Some relate to business, others are more fun or personal. So I figured, why not? I’m rarely at a loss for things to say (…) so why not write some of them down? And if people read it, and even better COMMENT on it? How cool is that?

That brings me to why I chose today to start this blog. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile (see? the analyst in me) but just never found a good time. But I decided this was a good time, mainly for my own purposes. Why?

Well, I just started Nicholas Perricone’s 3 day “Nutritional Facelift” diet. For those of you who don’t know, Nicholas Perricone is a leading skin care expert and dermatologist. He has written numerous books on aging and how to combat it’s effects on your skin. Since I started Garden Girl natural skin care last year, http://www.gardengirlskincare.com, I have been reading everything I can about skin care. Nicholas Perricone is one of those “must reads”.

The book I’m reading currently is The Perricone Prescription. It is really interesting. In it he has a 28 day diet. Since the thought of that scares the bejeepers out of me, I decided instead I would opt for his 3 day diet. For the next few days, I’ll give you an idea of how it is going. BTW – I hoodwinked my husband into doing the diet with me. He was just falling asleep when he agreed to do it. He had no idea what he was getting into!