A Year Without Cookies - Week 52. COMPLETED!!

(mmm... pass the plate!)

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In thin mints? Somoas? In trefoils?
In cups of cola?
In root beer, in Tab, in Fanta, in Sprite?

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?

How about looooove? How about loooooove?
How about love?
Or Chips Deluuuuuuuuxe?
Try Chips Deluuuuuuuuxe?

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand snack times to plan
Five hundred twenty-five thousand ix hundred minutes
How do you measure the health of a woman or a man?

In truths that he learned
Or in times that he cried
In dreams which he yearned
For the sodas deniiiiiiiiied?

It's time now to chow down
For the struggle finally ends
Let's celebrate
Remember the year
then have cookies with friends!

Remember the love
(Oh you got to, you got to remember the love)
Remember the love
(And soda's a gift from up above)
Remember the love
(Share love. Give love).
Measure in love....
(Measure, measure in Chips Deluuuuuuxe!)
Seasons of love...
And Chips Deluxe....

It's been a year! I did it! It's nice to know that self-restraint is possible. Now it's over. Oh thank heaven, it's no longer 2011! Give me that plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies over there! Nom, nom, nom, so good!

A Year Without Cookies - Supplemental: Other Dessert Sitchies

(WARNING: Objects in picture are larger than they appear!)

As the Year Without Cookies clocks down its final hours, I feel like it must be noted that while there were no cookies consumed and no sodas imbibed, it certainly wasn't a year without sweets. DEFINITELY not a year without chocolate. I probably relied more heavily on things like mini chocolate bars or mini-peanut butter cups or low-cal pudding packs to get my chocolate fix. Desserts in general are delicious, and I cannot go without them. But even so, I must have put a bit of a dent in my sugar intake by eliminating the two greatest offenders.

That being said, they serve a dessert at the Museum of Natural History that I consider simply over the top. Just looking at it gives me a sugar rush and has me reaching and inspires a Pavlovian need to reach for a glass of milk and guzzle it down. It's a brownie served on top of a cupcake. Really? I mean, REALLY? This thing is crazy. It's just too much. Of course Migu always asks me to get him one for a snack, but even if we shared it, that would be overkill. Could you imagine me trying to get him to sit down and do his homework after eating even half of one of those things? He'd be spinning around like the Tasmanian Devil.

So not all desserts are created equal - especially in terms of sugar and calorie intake. If I was going to eat this thing, I might as well just down a whole carton of Chips Ahoy's and call it a day.

Less than 48 hours to go! Woohoo!!!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 51

(Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow. Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow...) 

The Panettieri house, after Christmas dinner...

Dad: HEY, DON'T YOU WANT SOME CHRISTMAS COOKIES? EAT SOME CHRISTMAS COOKIES!
Owen: I have not eaten cookies all year.
Dad: WHAAT??
Owen: I HAVEN'T EATEN COOKIES ALL YEAR!
Dad: OH...

Neither of us is hard of hearing. We just talk LOUD.

Merry Christmas, Folks. The last largest hurdle has been jumped. Less than a week to go now.. It's almost done. There were many wonderful Christmas cookies on display this week, but I avoided them all. It was a tough one. Home-made cookies. Store-bought cookies. Somehow they always taste sweeter at the holidays.

I bought myself a post-New Year's box of Mallomars this week. Somehow they always seem to disappear from store shelves during Christmas week. So I've got those delicious treats chilling in my fridge. Less than a week to go. It finally ends!!!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 50

(The Last Delicious Temptation of O)

FIFTY WEEKS! Very nice, O. Very nice. It's just the final two hurdles of Christmas Week and New Years Week and we're done.We can build this dream together. Standing strong forever. Nothing's gonna stop us now.

Yet temptations abound. I was in my boss's house this past week and there were homemade cookies and I was told I could "eat as many as I want." I honestly don't know if my boss is even remotely aware that I've been on my Year Without Cookies and how close I am to finishing. It must have come up at the office at some point, but I don't think he's that conscious of it. He was probably just trying to be a good host. Unless he's trying to undermine me right at the end. Neither option would surprise me. He sometimes likes his psychological games!

I did take a good hard look at what I was missing. . oh, home made cookies look so good! They are much harder to turn down than store-bought cookies. Still, none were consumed. I'm sure they will come to haunt me in my dreams.

Soon we will be down to single digit days! AAAAHHH!!!!!!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 49

(yum! yum! gimme some!)



This week, I was walking through CVS and came across the display shown above in the cookie aisle. Soon all of this will be mine again!


Week 49! I can't believe it. On-Maternity-Leave Co-Worker Suki came by the office this week and while we mooned over her totally cute-ums baby girl we both marveled over the fact that the year was almost over and I was actually going to make it. It's very exciting to be right at the end, my friends. Very exciting indeed.

My time in the cookie aisle reminded me that I have so many tasty options to sort through on my eventual Cookie Reunion Tour. I assume I will first go for chocolate chip cookies, because that only makes sense. And I have to buy myself a box of Mallomars this week to keep in my fridge for the beginning of 2012. It's too hard to find them after the holidays.But after those kinds are gobbled up, there are so many more varieties at the ready. Woohoo!

Next Week: We're at 50. FIFTY!! I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it! I LOVE it! At this point, I might become a licensed joyologist.

Spain wins 2011 Davis Cup!

 (The Reign in Spain falls mainly on every plain.)

Congrats to Our Hero, Rafa Nadal and his Spanish teammates for winning the Davis Cup trophy this weekend over Argentina. This marks their 5th Davis Cup Trophy in the past 12 years and 3rd on the last 4 years. Clearly, the depth of the Spanish roster has been quite impressive over the past decade to produce such consistent results. It's also a very nice way to end the season for Nadal, who had a rough go of it at the ATP World Finals last week and suffered a string of tough defeats in Finals throughout 2011.

 (Rafa grabs Monaco's ass, before handing it back to him in the first match of the tie.)

This weekend he absolutely thrashed Juan Monaco in the first rubber 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 and then held off a strongly contested Juan Martin Del Potro in the 4th match  1-6. 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (0). In between, David Ferrer came back against DelPo in the second rubber 6-2, 6-7 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to give Spain a 2-0 lead and then David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank won a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory Saturday over  Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez keeping Argentina's hopes alive, but still on the brink of elimination.

Spain hasn’t lost on clay in Davis Cup for 23 ties, and holds the record at 21straight on home soil.

Argentina was trying for its first Davis Cup trophy in its fourth final. Always the Bridesmaid in Argentina! :( I'm very glad Rafa got to win 2 points for his team and his country. I hope these wins inspire him to come back in 2012 with renewed aggression and determination to win. 4 Grans Slams await, plus the Olympics in London! Time for Rafa to be #1 in the world again!! Vamos!!

A Year Without Cookies - Week 48

(Happy Minty Holidays!)

Wow. Week 48? Is there really so little time left in 2011? It has all just been flying by. It still doesn't feel quite like Christmas. Maybe it's the climate changey high temps in the 50's and 60's in NYC. Maybe when I get my tree next weekend it will start to hit home that I have to buy gifts for people. This week marked the arrival of some Christmas candies - not cookies! - that I ordered from a couple of co-workers' kids in their annual school drive months and months ago. Delicious mint chocolates! yum yum yum! I am planning to rely on Andes Candies to get me through the holidays. Andes Candies always make me think of my Grandparents. They knew quality chocolate treats!

The long runs have finally started kicking in (and kicking my ass) with Marathon training. I'm so glad i'll have empty cookie calories to enjoy the week prior to the race. And I really miss having a nice tall glass of Sprite with my carbo-loading pasta dinners. Soon. SOOOOON!