Knitting & Knives

Erica met a friend for breakfast & a knitting class.  

Meanwhile, Chris was drafting up some knives.

📷: Kopis Designs.

Then we were off to a 75th surprise birthday party followed by Trevor Noah with friends.  Flowers for the birthday beauty:

Say Cheese!

Day time double date with Kirk & Amy today.  Lunch, shopping, and perusing the cheese cooler at Cheese Importers.  Then, Pliny the Younger at Oskar Blues.  Pliny the Younger has a very limited release each year.  2012 was the last time we got our hands on some. 

Icarus

We watched Icarus today on Netflix.  It is nominated for an Oscar.  We give it two thumbs up.

When filmmaker Bryan Fogel sets out to uncover the truth about doping in sports, a chance meeting with a Russian scientist transforms his story from a personal experiment into a geopolitical thriller. Dirty urine, unexplained death and Olympic gold are all part of the exposure of the biggest scandal in sports history.

Best Kitchen Gadget

We've continued to eat healthier since the 21 Day Sugar Detox.  Eggs and hard boiled eggs are easy and quick snacks and this little gadget - The Dash Rapid Egg Cooker is awesome.  Perfect hard boiled eggs that are easy to peel every time in about 7 minutes.  You can also make poached eggs and omelettes in this cooker.  It's tiny and easy to store too.

Last Night in Paradise

                    

2,412km Away From Everything

                     

Art & Wine

One of the daily activities was painting.  Erica painted this picture today while eating cheese & sipping wine:

           

McCation!

Home for the next week:  Secrets Maroma Beach Riviera Cancun.

We are sugar free, leaner, and ready for the beach!

21dsd

We started the 21 day sugar detox on January 1.   

No fruit, beans, refined foods, potatoes or sweet potatoes, sweeteners (natural or artificial), sugary drinks, peanuts or cashews, corn, peas, or beets.

What have we been eating?

Chili

Cheeseburger Soup

Mexican Cauliflower Rice Casserole

Chicken Wings

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Tuna Salad

Rotisserie Chicken (with pesto or buffalo sauce)

Mashed Cauliflower

Sugar Free Flour Free Cupcakes (omit raisins/coconut sugar/honey)

Snacks: pistachios, baby carrots, unsweetened sunflower seed butter & almond butter, pickles, olives, celery, cheese

Drinks: unsweetened almond milk, unsweetened coconut milk, hot tea, coffee, mineral water

Erica has lost 8.5 pounds.  Chris has lost 9.5 pounds with 5 days left to go!  We did have a nice anniversary dinner at Beast + Bottle with dessert and a glass of wine each, but this didn't set us back.  We're not spending money eating out and we're cooking again.

This is not sustainable for the long haul, but we do want to continue to eat less sugar and carbs after our 21 days is up. 

Gravity Blanket

Erica ordered a Gravity Blanket through KickStarter all the way back in June.  It finally arrived today.  It weighs 20 pounds.  

It’s the same concept as a thunder jacket for dogs.  The weight/pressure is calming.  And it really does make you feel at ease and relaxed in just the little time we’ve tried it out tonight.

Chris is so much more relaxed now!  Zoey can’t get underneath it, so she doesn’t like it.

Zoey's Year in Review

Zoey has her own instagram (@hairless_wonder).  These were her 9 top liked photos in 2017.

Mystery Foreign Object

Zoey had some eye troubles this week.  It started Tuesday night.  Zoey wouldn't open her left eye.  It looked irritated and she wanted to rub at it.  So, to the vet she went on Wednesday morning.  The vet confirmed she didn't scratch her cornea and she was diagnosed with nonspecific conjunctivitis.  

Wednesday night it looked like she had a big eye goober in her eye.  Erica tried to get it out, but it wasn't a goober, it looked like it had hairs in it and it looked connected to the inside of her eye.  

Do you see it - the little black/gray blob in the lower corner?  Z was miserable.

So back to the vet she went on Thursday.  By this time, her eye was extremely red and there was a blue haze over her pupil.  The clump was what we guess was a small compacted hair ball (?)  (The vet said she had never seen anything like it & she has seen a lot of things) and was attached by what looked like a single hair onto the inside of her third eyelid.  Z's eye was numbed and the mystery foreign object was removed.  There's inflammation behind her cornea that the vet was concerned about.  But her eye drops seem to be doing the trick and her eye is fully open again.