Hitting the streets with Operation Beautiful

Good morning, lovelies! I love Saturday mornings before the day starts… the weekend seems endless! There’s a lot planned for the day, though, so here we go!

Yesterday I had the last of my Spicy Thai Coconut Corn Soup for lunch.

I ate it cold and added 1/2 avocado, tofu, tomatoes, cayenne pepper and LOTS of salt and pepper. It was mighty fine, if I do say so myself.

I also had an Axelrod vanilla yogurt…

… and some coffee. We’ve been making it at home more to save some dough…

As planned, we went to Hot Power Fusion (“It’s called HPF now, people,” my instructor said) yesterday afternoon.  I figured the bathroom at the yoga studio was the perfect location for my first Operation Beautiful posting:

A few months ago, Caitlin posted a link to a video about the negativity that women have learned to feel for their bodies, about ending Fat Talk.  Caitlin started her own project called Operation Beautiful, which incites women to leave positive affirmations for other women in public places like restrooms, locker rooms, even supermarkets.

Caitlin says: If my little blog only does one productive thing, I hope it helps readers realize how truly toxic fat talk is  — it hurts you emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  I want to reach as many people as possible with my End the Fat Talk message.

Here’s a video Caitlin made that articulates her mission far better than I ever could.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqOEP40Pmdg]

I went back after yoga to see if my note was still there, and it was!

As you can tell from my sweaty self, class was hard.  HPF, while only 60 minutes (as opposed to normal Bikram’s 90) was a lot more challenging for me.  I still found myself to be a lot more flexible than usual, but for some reason my balance really off for the first half of the class.  It felt great to bend and sweat, though, and I think it made my cold a little weaker.

This guy was on fire yesterday! You should have seen him in Padangustasana… I was so proud.

I had half a Chocolate Chip Clif bar after class, but when I got home I was still starving, so I had a banana.  I haven’t been so good about getting my fruits and veggies recently…

I met my friend Lisa for dinner last night at Citrus.  As I’ve said, I’m really not a fruity drink person, but this Prickly Pear Martini (on the left) sounded so good! It’s made with Absolut Pears, Triple Sec, and Prickly Pear purée. Nom.  Lisa got a Pineapple Margarita on the rocks… it was bomdiddlyicious as well.

I wasn’t really in the mood for chips, but I had two and dipped them in the warm, spicy bean dip that came with them.

I ordered the shrimp, corn & Poblano cheese quesadilla (topped with avocado and salsa) and added spinach to it. Again, I haven’t been good about getting my greens in…

I usually wouldn’t order this kind of a thing at a restaurant, but I’ve been pretty healthy most of the week (cocktails excluded) so I got what I really wanted.  Lisa and I haven’t seen each other for six months, so we had a lot to catch up on… and ate veeeeery slowly.  I savored every bite!

When I got home a few hours later, I was feeling snacky and had some Reduced Fat Triscuits (I never buy these myself… they’re too addicting!) and had them with Roasted Red Pepper Sabra. Mm-mm good.

Around the blogs: Remember my beautiful friend Sarah?

She’s started her own blog! Check her out at Sarah’s Balancing Act.