Scrolling back through the few days, I realized why I keep this blog. To keep myself accountable. “But it’s my birthday week and I lost 50 pounds this year?” I’m glad I have photographic evidence to remind me to only do this once a year!

The sweet Casey e-mailed me this morning and told me to “enjoy every indulgence imaginable!” Casey, I did not let you down!

I spent the day with my mom and was kidnapped back to NJ for the evening for dinner. (I wanted to have dinner with my parents but my dad had to work late, so NJ it was.) I went to the Sicilian Sun in Ho-Ho-Kus (yes, that’s a real town name) with my parents and two of my wonderful friends.

My dad and I started with spiedini di mozzarella, which is basically fancy mozzarella sticks or a fancy (breaded and fried) grilled cheese sandwich. It’s similar to another dish called mozzarella en carrozza. My dad and I always get it at our favorite restaurant, Portobello, which is also where I had my Sweet 16…11 years ago. Ah!

Then, I moved onto chicken parmigiana with some spaghetti on the side. (Note, we do not go to fancy Italian restaurants. They are nowhere near as fun, or as good, as the family-owned hole-in-the-wall kind of places.)

(I ate about half of it and left the rest. I was going back and forth with myself about whether I should bring it home, but once was enough for me!)

To be honest, “real” pasta is no longer as good to me as whole wheat pasta. I could taste the empty calories and realized I used to keep eating to get that satisfaction that never came. With white pasta, I’d go from not-yet-satisfied to wanting to burst in 2.5 seconds.

Yum ice cream cake! This? Worth. Every. Bite. But I did make my mom throw out the leftovers afterwards.

There you have it. I’m not perfect, but I”m going to get back to my healthy eating tomorrow and my healthy drinking habits…Saturday. I’m going out for dinner (sushi) with friends tomorrow night and then meeting people out for drinks afterwards.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE SWEET BIRTHDAY WISHES! XOXO