I know that sounds weird but I’ve discovered it’s totally true. For the past couple days I’ve been closely monitoring how I eat. I hadn’t realized before I started this monitoring that I tend to eat whatever food I see. If there is a bag of almonds on the kitchen counter and I go into the kitchen to get some tea, I’ll eat an almond or two without even thinking about it. Isn’t that awful??? So now that I’m trying to keep within my calorie range per day, I’m paying stricter attention to what I put in my mouth. Stopping the random grazing is not as hard as exercising self-discipline during mealtimes. I’ve always loved the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano because she teaches you how to be more thoughtful about eating--how to enjoy eating as pleasure without eating large portions. I had fallen out of that habit, so I started reading the book again to help me limit my portion sizes at mealtimes. I won’t say my mealtimes have been easy, but they haven’t been horri...

Speed Dating with Associate Editor Emily Rodmell Update: They're capping the list at 100 but sign up anyway so you can be put on the waiting list! Tired of searching and searching for the right match...for your manuscript? Ready for your characters to get the love and attention of a good editor they've been waiting for? Well, Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense and Love Inspired Historical are looking for new authors, and Associate Editor Emily Rodmell will be listening to your ideas in a new pitch opportunity we like to call: Speed Dating with an Editor. This opportunity is open to anyone not published with the Love Inspired lines and only requires that you have a synopsis ready and a desire to write for the inspirational (Christian) romance market. You'll have the chance to pitch her your idea in one paragraph, and she'll respond by filling out a comment card like the one below that shares her first impression of the idea. Check one: __I'll cry if yo...

Can you hear me squealing with glee???? Got a pint of strawberries in this week’s basket from my organic co-op. They were de-lish! The pint looks a little empty in the photo because I, er, ate one or two before taking a picture.

Warning: TMI post ahead! I was dismayed to find I’d gained 7 pounds since January, which I know doesn’t sound like a lot, but for someone my height (5’2”) it translates into one pants size up, and so I only barely fit into ONE of my pants and ONE of my pair of shorts! Aargh! I have been wearing sweatpants and occasionally a stretchy corduroy pair of pants ever since my Oklahoma/Texas trip because I was working on multiple deadlines and I got sick twice, so I was pretty much not going outside much. I didn’t notice my weight gain until I tried to squeeze into a pair of jeans for a lunch out with MaryLu Tyndall and I couldn’t button them. So I got back onto SparkPeople.com ( friend me! ), which I hadn’t logged into because I had been on deadline and SP tends to be distracting for me (so many neat articles and forums). MaryLu also inspired me to start watching my eating more than I used to. When I was training for the Honolulu Marathon , I didn’t put as much effort into my food ch...

I found this article by America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School about four myths when it comes to meat. I totally did not know that about marinades and I had never even heard the myth about chicken. Although now that I think about it, Mom always rinsed her chicken. What did you think? Anything surprising?

I was thrilled to find the first artichokes of the season in my organic co-op basket this week! I used this pressure cooker method to cook them. They were a tiny bit overcooked, so I might go for only 5 minutes next time. I grew up eating them with mayonnaise (plain, aioli, and also sometimes with soy sauce mixed in) but Captain Caffeine can’t stand mayonnaise. Normally he eats them with melted butter, but last night we ate them with extra virgin olive oil and garlic salt. How do you cook artichokes? Any favorite recipes? I’m looking for any good recipes since we’ll start getting more artichokes from the co-op in the coming weeks.

So, the backstory because I know you’re just dying to know: My aunt was classically trained in opera, and my father has a nice bass voice although I only occasionally heard him sing when I was growing up. I’ve always loved singing and I sang in an a cappella group in college, although I know that I’m nowhere near good enough for American Idol or Broadway. Right now, I lead worship music for church 1-2 Sundays a month, and I lead worship for youth group meetings at church 2-4 times a month. Singing worship songs is not the same as opera or Broadway musicals, and I’ve lost some of my upper range, so I decided to take voice lessons. I wanted to not only regain some of my range, but also I wanted to sing better for my own enjoyment and for my worship leading. I’m really fortunate because one of the staff leaders for youth group just graduated college and she majored in music, and she hooked me up with a friend of hers who’s a music major at one of our local universities who also teac...