And my taste buds sang

Yesterday morning started out early and early mornings are not something I do well. (That’s what I get for checking my work email on Sunday – but at least I was prepared when I got in!) But it also started of with my cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and the icing I licked off my finger from the cinnamon bun I put into a Glad container. I hope my teeth enjoyed the acoustics of my mouth, because my taste buds sang “Alleluia” (like the nuns “The Sound of Music”) when I took that first bite of my bagel. One would think it would have been the “Hallelujah” chorus from “The Messiah” (much more boisterous), but it was 6:15am after all. Handel’s choral masterpiece rang out when I had the first sip of Beringer cab sauv at Cactus Club. Words cannot describe how lovely it was to have a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon after two very long weeks and a very hectic day.

Cactus Club on Burrard was the venue choice for the sole reason that they have Granville Island Winter Ale on tap. Clearly a Sean decision and I was happy to oblige that decision. 🙂 We were joined by fellow cleanse participant, Claire, Aussie Brent, and Sean’s friends Geoff and Richard H. from work.

I won’t go into detail about everything that we ate – the pictures (though not the best as they were from my iPhone in a dim restaurant) kind of say it all (except I forgot to take a photo of the lovely prawn and butternut squash ravioli – OMG it was good) – but it was so nice to be eating to enjoy and not care about a list. Sean, Claire and I were on Cloud 9 – real food! There we were, cleanse survivors with our meat and bread and there was brawny stuntman Brent with his chicken Caesar salad because he wasn’t that hungry.

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I am very happy to have bread back in my diet, not just for my bagels and wraps, but if anything because my clothes will, hopefully, fit properly again. When wheat disappeared, apparently a portion of me did as well. I have a lovely highwaisted black skirt from bebe that I decided to wear this morning with a purple blouse and black knee high boots. It’s not a floaty skirt at all but when I put it on, all I could do was sigh because I didn’t have time to change. I suppose I could up my squats. Or maybe just eat more bread. (My friend Delisa from work says to me “Yasmine your skin looks awesome!” – which I am sure comes from all the veggies and water, but I joked that it was because I was eating bread again. I swear, I missed bread more than I missed going to Mexico. Bizaare, I know.)

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This cleanse was refresher on discipline and restraint. It was so difficult to adhere to such a strict diet, but I don’t like to fail and I actually feel pretty good. Restraint with food seemed to have provided restraint with shopping, because The Bay was having a Coach purse sale and even though I stopped and looked – completely torturing myself when I found a WONDERFUL bag – I didn’t(!) buy anything and I walked away. I have other more important  things that $200 – that was the sale price – needs to go towards (like groceries, my Visa bill, etc.), but dammit, I wanted that purse. At the same time, I am so proud that I didn’t just hike out my credit card and buy it.

And now, we wait for Panago to deliver while watching the first period of Vancouver at Dallas. (It seems that we have, as someone said to me today, hopped back on the naughty train. But I think we deserve pizza after practically eating the produce market out of business. 🙂 )  American Airlines Center is very empty tonight due to the ice storm. But there are some people there and it sounds like as pee-wee hockey game – you can hear everything. Must be a throwback for some of those guys.