Author: Gigi Shaw

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The Virus that Shall Not Be Named

It has honestly been so long since I have blogged and I am just so frustrated about it.  How did I let it go on so long?  How did I walk away from something I love doing?  Life, man….that’s life!  My father called me a couple of weeks ago and read a blog to me that I recognized as my own.  My Aunt Wilma had printed it up for him and he loved it so much he said he wanted to frame it.  That blog, Southern Comfort, was a catalyst for our epic trip and actually for how much our father-daughter relationship has improved so much in the last several years.

Life has definitely been a whirlwind for the last couple of years!  I think my last post was about my upcoming trip to Tanzania (Have Passport, Will Travel) with my dad after the death of my Aunt Ann.  Unfortunately, I never did post about that amazing trip!  That will be next on my list of things to do on this blog!  Since then, I have also traveled with my husband and my mother to Italy.  It was incredible as well!  I also got a promotion at work…we won’t talk about that because my blog is designed to NOT be about work!

However, I do want to touch on the pandemic.  I’ve decided to call it the Virus That Shall Not Be Named.  It has affected so many lives in so many negative ways.  While I don’t want to get into the specifics of work, let me just say that lately I have been feeling a little bit of a loss.  I had many “high octane” days in the battle  zone and now that things are winding down I have found it has been difficult to assimilate back into normal life.  (well not normal life….will it ever be normal again really?). Have you felt the same?  I wonder!  I think a lot of people are feeling a little lost.  We have lost our normal way of life, experienced minor inconveniences (off brand toilet paper) that in some cases have become bigger, we have lost some security whether or not in our own finances at least in the overall economic health of our community and our nation.  There is a lot of uncertainty around us.  And there are other people out there that are really suffering….loss of jobs, loss of health, loss of family….just so much loss.

So it was really helpful for me to read this article:  Relieving Worry and Frustration During a Pandemic by Dr. T. Craig Isaacs, Clinical Psychology.  I wanted to share this with all of you as well.  I think there is sound advice in there even if you aren’t a religious person.  Live in today…in the WHAT IS, not the WHAT IF.  I think it is important for us to find our purpose in all of this.  I loved the quote ” working to help another is good medicine.”  So here I am, trying to spread this good medicine to all of you, because it certainly helped me when I hit the wall this past week.

We will get through this….we will prevail.  We always do!  My job (outside of my job) will be to write….share some amazing stories that I have be delayed in sharing, finding a diversion for myself, and hopefully for you, and limiting the toxic things that are eating at our conscientious right now….media, social media, and did I say media….

Stay strong, be safe, have faith!

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Trial By Fire

My husband and I moved to Las Vegas over a year ago from Redding California.  I joke a lot about California being a Texas girl but this past week was no laughing matter.

We love Redding and most importantly a whole lot of people that live there.  Last week, a broken down car started a wildfire that has been devastating beyond measure.  I anxiously paced through my house trying to access all types of online news sources to have a better understanding of what was going on in our former home.  I spent many hours on the phone feverishly texting and calling people that are near and dear to my heart to make sure that they were not in harms way.

Thursday night was the worst.  The fire was so close to my former hospital that I feared for all of those that I worked with for years and the patients.  Neighborhoods were engulfed and people were fleeing for their lives when a fire tornado formed and plowed through the western and densely populated side of town.  Rolling evacuations had people evacuating not once but sometimes up to three times.  The stress was palpable even from 500 miles away.

Many peoples lives were changed forever.

Tragedy, despair, hopelessness, and helplessness were the themes of the days of that very long weekend.  But resiliency prevails.  Hope wins.  Love conquers. Now I see the posts and the newscasts and more and more there are stories of hope, stories of kindness, stories of giving, and stories of love.  It really makes you proud of the human race.   And the fire rages on…but it is losing it’s power…and that’s because of the people and the love.

See they don’t call it a trial by fire for nothing.  It’s a test in which each person and in this case the whole community is exposed to flames in order to assess their commitment, their courage, and their ability to perform under pressure.  This community has passed the test that Mother Nature so rudely subjected them to.  This community is rising from the ashes, bonding together in the most beautiful way.  I’m so proud of this community and all of the people fighting for it.

Henry Ward Beecher once said, “We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.”

God Bless Redding.

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Have Passport, Will Travel

Not too long ago I wrote about traveling to Houston for my aunt’s funeral.  It was a tough but good week.  It’s always hard to say goodbye to a loved one but on the other hand it is a wonderful opportunity to get together with family that you don’t see often enough and to catch up.  So it’s bittersweet I guess.

We should probably be a little better about keeping up with our family when loved ones aren’t dying….but we tend to live like there are a million tomorrows.

Anyway, my dad was having a really tough time with the loss of his sister.  My mom took it hard as well.  Even though her and my dad divorced many moons ago, her and my aunt Ann were the same age….so it all starts to hit home right?   For me, it’s the realization that my parents aren’t going to be around forever.  UGH.

My dad has not always been an easy person for me to get along with.  We had a strained relationship for many years.  We see things very differently in the world.  I’m a cup half full kind of gal and he is a cup almost empty kind of guy.  He’s agnostic/atheist, I’m Christian.  He’s temperamental, I’m laid back.  The list goes on and on.  So needless to say there hasn’t been a lot of common ground.

However, the one thing my dad has always been passionate about is travel.  Not that he has done a lot of it, because he hasn’t.  But he has always dreamed of travel.  I have always been passionate about travel and I do it every chance I get.  It’s probably the reason I have chosen to move around the country and abandoned my roots back in Texas.  Now the thing that has always been on my dad’s bucket list is Africa, specifically the Serengeti in Tanzania.

After talking it over with my husband, I called my dad.  “Dad, do you have a passport?”.  He said, “yes I do.  It probably needs updating.  Why?”  I said, “do you have anything going on in October?”  He replied, “I don’t think so.  What’s up?”

“Dad, we’re going to Tanzania on an African safari!”

Little did I know how those words would transform his state of mind and our relationship!  So that’s what I have been doing instead of blogging lately….planning our trip!

I’m so looking forward to this big adventure!  It is certainly the most bold trip I have ever taken.  We have created packing lists, vaccination lists, medication lists, and on and on.  I purchased a new camera and I have started taking photography classes in the evening.  I’m reviewing every YouTube video I can get my hands on.  I want this trip to be epic.

I’m already thinking about the next trip that I will plan….a trip to Italy with my mom.  She has always wanted to go to Tuscany and I have always wanted to travel to the Amalfi coast.

If there is one thing I brought home with me from saying goodbye to my aunt is that you only have one life to live.  Don’t wait to live it.  Don’t say someday I will ‘fill in the blank’.  You have numbered days and no one knows the number but God so we better make the best of it!

Stay tuned though…I will be sharing our big adventure here before you know it!

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Never Settle

I think I’ve told you that I’m from Houston….so needless to say I have been an Astros fan for my entire life.  I remember going to games when Jose Cruz was the star outfielder for the Astros.  They would announce his name and drag out the Cruz as long as they could….”Jose CRUZZZZZZZZZZZZ”!

Last year, when the Astros were in the playoffs, I was very excited.  We had been to the World Series only once in franchise history when we were completely shut out.  I remember sitting at one of our favorite restaurants (Luna Rosa) in Lake Las Vegas watching one of the games with the New York Yankees.  A New York fan and his wife were sitting behind us as I was rooting on the Astros.  He let me know that the Astros would not be winning this part of the playoffs because they “always choke”.  I told him to put his money where his mouth was and to agree to buy us dinner when the Astros beat the Yankees to move on in the playoffs.  He declined….smart decision on his part.

When the Astros beat the Yankees in game seven and took their first American League pennant to move towards the World Series, my husband and I were sitting in yet another restaurant in Lake Las Vegas.  We hadn’t moved into our house yet and were making frequent trips out there as we were getting close to the move int date.  As soon as the final inning was over, my phone rang.  My son was on the other end and was very excited….”Mom!  I just bought 2 tickets to Game 5 of the World Series with the Astros at home in Houston on October 29th”.  Without a second thought, the next words out of my mouth were, “I’ll be there.”

Well here’s the catch….that is the same weekend we are moving into our new house.  So my husband is looking at me a little cross eyed and slightly annoyed.  “You know we are moving that weekend!”  But here I am the eternal optimist…the one who always believes where there is a will there is way.  So it worked out!

The movers came the Friday before that fateful Sunday game and packed up our apartment.  They dropped off that load on Saturday and I furiously unpacked and organized everything I could knowing they would be back on Monday morning with the load from storage.  Sunday morning, I got on a plane to Houston, my son picked me up, and we had a nice lunch with my parents, my daughter, and granddaughters.  Next we checked into a hotel downtown.  Then we headed over to the game with Uber.  It was the most amazing game.  If you don’t believe me, look it up.  It was the highest scoring game in World Series history and the Astros won 13-12 in the 10th.  BEST NIGHT EVER.  The only thing that would’ve been better is if they had swept the LA Dodgers and that would’ve been the World Series winning game.

Of course, a ten inning game ends late and with that huge win we hung out down by the park after the game for quite awhile and enjoyed adult beverages with all of our fan friends.  We got to the hotel at 3 a.m. (what was the point?), slept until 4, and he took me to the airport.  I was home in Las Vegas by 7:30 a.m. and beat the movers with the second load by several hours.

I was a sleep deprived zombie that day but I will never regret that quick trip.  My husband finally got over being perturbed by it too.

This past week when we were in Houston for my aunt’s funeral, we did steal away for a little bit and go to a game with the kids.  It was so amazing to take a picture with the World Series trophy.  We had such a great time watching the Astros win yet another game.

Their motto this year is “Never Settle”.  That totally resonates with me.  See I’ve never settled in life.  I’ve been asked to and I have passed.  Thank goodness I never did.  My life has been very blessed because I have personally lived with that motto.  Don’t settle in life.  Don’t assume there is not a way to do something that you really want to do.  Always find a way….you’ll be happy that you did!

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Southern Comfort

Circus peanuts.  I find myself this week thinking about circus peanuts…not the salty kind that you toss the shells in the floor of a bar but the soft, orange, marshmallowy candy circus peanuts.  Why you ask…well here it is.

I was raised in Houston, Texas and much of my youth was in the 70’s.  Now, many people don’t consider Texas to be the South but it is. It’s not dixie South but it’s the South.  The people, the attitudes, the independence, the hard working blue collar environment, the mannerisms, the “y’all’s”and the food all come together to give one that Southern experience.  Maybe as the modern times are increasingly making us more of a global community, it may seem less Southern but the southern ways still are major threads in the fabric of society down there.

A major staple in the southern way of life is the love affair with food. Whenever you went to anyone’s house, food was always in the picture.  It reminds me of going to my Granny and Papaw’s house as a child. You couldn’t get inside the door for more than 5 minutes before my granny would be asking  if you wanted something to eat or drink….she would start pulling things out of the fridge and the pantry, pulling out plates and utensils, to the point that even an individual with the staunchest self control would buckle under her super power and succumb to eating something. She was magical like that.

There were a few things that were ALWAYS available in my granny’s house and they are as follows:  Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream (because there is really no other kind), Coca-Cola, Ho-Ho’s, and Circus Peanuts. Now, you may wonder, how is it that an ice cream company doesn’t make more than one flavor of ice cream. Well they do of course!

But once the pure taste of Blue Bell’s homemade vanilla ice cream passes your lips and takes you back in time to a simpler place you will never ever want to eat a flavored ice cream again!  When I eat a bite of this ice cream images of hot sweaty summer days and dad cranking the old ice cream freezer while I add rock salt, sounds of cicadas off in the trees, the sting of a mosquito bite on my leg are a few of the things that come to mind. I can see my Papaw standing in the kitchen mixing my coke float, taking his time to make sure it was perfectly mixed through and through, checking at the last minute for taste with his finger.

It’s like going home.

So back to circus peanuts. It’s another one of those things that I think of and even crave when I’m homesick, sad, or preoccupied with a problem. It’s comfort food to me. Now of course, there is comfort food and there is comfort food. When I’m not melancholy, comfort food is all the good things Southern….buttermilk fried chicken, fried chicken steak with cream gravy and mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, corn on the cob, peach cobbler, Texas chocolate sheet cake, pecan pralines, and the list goes on and on.

But when I tell my husband I really want an old fashioned coke float or circus peanuts, he knows the comfort food I’m looking for is much deeper than it sounds. He will come and rub my shoulders and ask me what is troubling me….he knows it’s SERIOUS. See that was my childhood.  At my Granny and Papaw’s house, they fixed me a coke float or gave me circus peanuts (or both) EVERY SINGLE TIME  I visited. I cannot for the life of me think of one time I did not ingest either one of those items in all my years at their house. (So there is no doubt why I have always struggled with my weight.)

I can close my eyes and see their little yellow house with the chain link fence and the big tree in the corner. I can see all of the beautiful flowers blooming in the yard. I can see the perfectly manicured grass. I remember the clothes lines in the back yard with the sheets hanging on them to dry. I remember the gray porch swing that I fell out of when I was little, breaking my two front permanent teeth out before they got a safety chain. Those broken teeth broke my Granny’s heart. She cried and cried.

So this week I was thinking of circus peanuts and I’m headed back to Houston. I have to say goodbye to my dear aunt who lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. While it has been expected and I know she is in a better place now, I am having a harder time than I anticipated. I have spent the last several weeks on the phone with my cousin who was actively losing her mom and I realized how much I miss home. She told me on several occasions that she wished I lived there. My other cousin was there sitting with our aunt and remarked to our other aunt that it reminded her of when she and I sat with our Granny as she was dying.  And just like that I am transported back to that ICU room in Park Plaza Hospital.

Granny had undergone a kidney resection because she had a tumor on her kidney.  She had done quite well but a few days into her stay took a turn for the worse.  She had always refused to be on dialysis…even if it was temporary.  She had watched her neighbor for years get transported every day by ambulance for dialysis and she had decided that dialysis was just pure evil…even if only for a few days.

So Granny went into renal failure and organ failure and we abided by her wishes even knowing that dialysis would’ve given her a chance. I stayed by her bedside for days on end holding vigil, many times with my cousin Bridget. Family came and went but none could handle seeing her that way for very long.  She had some very lucid moments though…many times in the middle of the night. I remember one night, I was laying with my head in my crossed arms on her hospital bed, she reached down and grabbed me by the pony tail and pulled me up towards her face. “You worry too much”, she whispered.  Sometimes she sang to me…”don’t mess with my toot toot”. Those were some of the most precious moments of my life.

When her heart rate slowed and her breaths grew further apart, I stroked her beautiful face and told her how much I loved her. I held her in my arms when she took that last breath.  I literally felt her spirit leave her body, felt the warmth of it in front of my face, and then swoosh, she was gone. I close my eyes and I can feel her there with me.

So I’m going home to Texas, home to say goodbye, home to love on my family and home to Southern comfort. I know I will eat things I shouldn’t but I’m not going to worry about that.  I just accept that it is my portal to the past….to the simple life as a child I was too anxious to grow out of. Love your life my friends….and don’t waste a moment of it.

 

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Steak, Steak, Steak!!

I’m from Texas originally and I love all things beef.  Recently, the mister and I were at a restaurant and the waiter told us that he had lost a lot of weight because he became a vegan.  I’m pretty sure the State of Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics would revoke my birth certificate if I became a vegan.  I really have no interest in being vegan….I’m sure its a wonderfully healthy and miserable life. (Please don’t be offended vegans…but meat is in my blood.)

My husband (6’5″ and a big guy himself) went to a doctor in our former residence in California when his very nice and quite intellectual petite female physician told him on more than one occasion, “you need to be a vegan.”  He’s a pretty easy to get along with kind of guy so he shrugged that off over the course of several physician visits.  However, one particular day after receiving a jury summons and encountering some teeth gnashing drug induced zombie in traffic, he arrived at the doctor’s office with an elevated blood pressure.  Again, the good doctor said to my husband, “you need to be a vegan,” which sparked the following tirade from my husband:

Continue reading “Steak, Steak, Steak!!”

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Bourbon Peach Basil Smash with beMIXED

  • 4 oz. Be Mixed Ginger Lime mixer 
  • 1.5 oz Bourbon (I used The Duke but also love Knob Creek and Angel’s Envy)
  • 1/2 peach diced
  • 4 leaves of basil

Muddle peach and basil with ginger lime mix, add bourbon and ice.  Shake and pour.  4 Weight Watchers Smart points.

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I lack creativity…..there I said it

You all know that I speak of working long hours and eating out but half the battle in eating well is having a little creativity in the kitchen.  Being raised in the South, I know how to cook a cadre of really good tasting but not good for your rump size food.

So when I’m stumped for what to do for dinner when we are staying at home, it’s a bit challenging for me to come up with something beyond grilled meat and a salad.  I blogged about Gigi’s Throw Together Salad and let me tell you even that was a chore to put together that recipe because I seriously throw it together without thinking, pretty much whatever is in the refrigerator on some days.

My husband is retired and he never really cooked that much before.  So same thing….low creativity in the kitchen with high calorie outputs.  Enter Home Chef….

We love Home Chef!  This has been life changing for us.  First, we don’t have to go to the store.  I hate going to the store and there are so many temptations on all those end caps that it is like a gambling addict walking through a room full of screaming slot machines.  Second, Home Chef taught my husband how to cook.  BONUS!!  Third, we don’t waste any food, EVER.

They have many choices and you are never stuck with a meal you don’t like.  I frequently get online and plan my meals weeks in advance.  They deliver the meal to your door weekly.  Everything is in portion sizes so it is cost effective and there is no waste.  The recipe cards have nice pictures and are easy to follow.  Meals usually take 25-30 minutes to prepare with 45 minutes pretty much the max time.  You can choose low carb, low calorie, gluten free, and vegan options.  You can also order lunches, smoothies, and fruit baskets.  The price is amazing with meals starting at $7.99 a piece.   When was the last time you had a meal in a restaurant that was tasty and healthy and only cost $8!

When I do make myself go to the grocery store (or in most cases order online) and I have a meal in mind, it frequently costs $40-50 to purchase all of the ingredients which you always have too much of and then it sits in the pantry or the refrigerator and goes bad.  Not the case with Home Chef!

The good thing about these meal services is that it does expand your  ideas and gets your creative juices going.  One night, I remembered that my husband  had made a really good fish taco with coleslaw so I pulled out the recipe card and did a spin off version of that with some food we had in the refrigerator; chicken breast instead of fish, chili infused olive oil, slaw mix, Sriracha, lime juice, avocado slices, and wheat tortillas.

There are other services out there such as Blue Apron, Sun Basket, and others.  I’m sure they are all comparable.  We actually started out on Blue Apron but there were some strange things on the menu that I couldn’t wrap my brain around.  Home Chef has been a perfect fit for us.

For Weight Watchers followers, I simply add the recipe online and the serving size (in our case 2) to calculate what the points per dish are.  There are some higher point dishes so I am careful on those days to make sure I eat lighter at breakfast and lunch.    Tonight: Crispy Onion Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Green Beans.  Mr. Shaw gets all the mushrooms, not my thing.  I calculated this meal out to be 9 points. 

 I did add the Bourbon Peach Basil Smash from be MIXED that I spoke about on my blog be MIXED. 

 Four points for that lil darling and 13 points out the door for dinner and the drink!

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.”  So be happy and just try it!

 

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My Memorial Day Hiatus

Changing the mindset is half the battle.  I realize on this new journey to have a healthier life that I’m in a totally different mindset that I have been in the past.  I have talked before about not approaching this lifestyle change as a diet because of the negativity around that word.

According to The Online Etymology Dictionary, the word diet originated from Old France (huge shocker, ugh the French, always so healthy) in the 13th Century “diet, pittance, fare” and goes on to say “often with a sense of restriction”.  The Greek referred to it as a way of life (lifestyle change), so I suppose I shouldn’t be so sensitive to the word except to me it still encapsulates the word DIE at it’s root.

Changing your mindset or your habits is slightly harder to embrace during the holidays and the summer holidays are especially challenging for me.  So here’s a recap of my Memorial Day weekend…

First, my sweet 75 year old mother came to town in tow with my adorable 3 year old granddaughter.  You have to give my mother props for being willing to endure a 3 hour plane ride with this rambunctious child!  It was a wonderful long weekend and let me tell you….I forgot how hard it is keeping up with small children.  Props to mom again.  Wow!

So we did a lot of swimming and a fair amount of eating.  My husband’s birthday was on Sunday of the long weekend so of course, we had to have a BBQ and invite the friends and neighbors.  Now, had I not had to entertain a 3 year old, I may have been more inventive in my food selection and preparation but seriously, it is all I can do to hang with her.  She wakes up at 6:30 every morning like clock work, even on Saturday and Sunday.  What?!  Who does that?  THREE YEAR OLDS!!  By the time they finally go to sleep at night you feel like your ran the Boston Marathon, TWICE!  “Gigi, watch this” plays on repeat in my head a million times.

Then I realize, I really didn’t make very many bad choices.  For snacks we had unsweetened applesauce, fresh fruit, and sugar free jello cups.  I was slightly panicked though because I felt like I was on a bit of a hiatus and I didn’t track my food on the Weight Watchers app the entire time.  While I was enjoying the time off of work, my husband and I got away every other day or more to ride our bikes so we did get some extra exercise in on top of chasing the kiddo around and in the pool.

So I started thinking what is the mindset of the healthy in shape person?  They aren’t running around every day counting every morsel that they eat. But it can’t be easy for all of them, right?  My downfall is that I have always thought like an overweight person.  “I had a rough day, I should reward myself with a <fill in the blank>”, “I’m stressed, let’s go get a <fill in the blank> from the drive thru”, “I worked out last week so I’m going to take a break this week”.  Food shouldn’t always be a reward just like “diet” food shouldn’t always be a punishment.  You have to find other ways to reward yourself.

Now I am saying things to myself like, “if I eat that burger I should probably plan a long bike ride for tomorrow”, “I think I will have fruit instead of dessert”, “it’s going to be too hot today to ride my bike, so I think I will swim laps for 30 minutes”.  Or better yet, “today was stressful, I think I will go work out to burn off some steam”.  Food cannot be the crutch, the solution, the cure, the pacifier.  Food is fuel and you don’t put gas in a car that hasn’t driven anywhere and still has a full tank. How silly would that be?

So with that said, I’m down 15+ pounds in 7 weeks, 18 according to my home scale.  I can do this.  You can too.

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be MIXED

So if you know me at all, you know that I love to entertain and I love to do so with cocktails.  I don’t drink daily or weekly, so don’t worry, I don’t need that 12 step program.  Remember, my addiction is food.

But if you are modifying your lifestyle like me, you also know that the dreaded cocktail can add on tons of empty calories that aren’t friendly to your waist line.   And let’s be real, vodka sodas make me sad.

Well let me introduce you to be MIXED!  Jen and Cristina created be MIXED out of a love for spending time with friends and a love for indulging in the good stuff.   Jen is a Type 1 diabetic so she needed some better low calorie options for creating cocktails sans the vodka and soda option.

Be MIXED is all natural, zero calorie cocktail mixers that really add a pizazz to your rum punch.  They currently offer three flavors: cucumber mint, ginger lime, and margarita.  The really cool thing is that that they have a ton of recipes using all types of liquor as an option, so the “Skyy” really is not the limit.  Options exist such as cucumber watermelon cooler, kiwi margarita, spiked blackberry lemonade, pineapple smash, lavender lemonade, and peach basil smash to name a few.  Goodbye vodka soda!

For those of you on the Weight Watchers journey, most of these drinks can be made for 3 points each.  (Just the points for the alcohol).  Compare that to an Italian Margarita at Olive Garden (14 points)!  You can thank me later!

Where to buy you ask?  Online is the best option except for some locations.  They have a store finder on their website.  Good news, you can get it on Amazon Prime and with any luck they could add it to their Prime Now menu.  I highly recommend trying all three flavors to see what you like best.  Use the online recipe tool, choose your liquor of choice and your bartending expertise and Voila!

Cheers!