I’ve been very sad all week.  Coupled with what was already going on in my life, the death of Cory Monteith just really made my weak heart break.

You see, at one time, I was heavily, heavily involved in the Glee fandom.  I was a major Gleek.  I attended 3 Glee Live concerts in two years (spending insane amounts of money to get good seats), wrote a ton of Glee fanfiction, and made the best friends that I have in this world thanks to being a part of that fandom.  And even though I wasn’t Cory Monteith’s biggest fan a lot of the time, his passing shook me deeply.  At 31, he was just far too young to go.  And to see that addiction is what took him under hits all too close to home.  I’ve seen what addiction has done to my own family and I just cannot imagine how his loved ones feel.  And the fact that he was seriously battling these demons while the eyes of millions were upon him just… hurts.  He was always smiling, always helping others out, and spoke out about his troubles.  I just keep wondering about the “what ifs”.  I know that we can’t wallow in the coulda/woulda/shoulda aspects of life, but when something so tragic happens, I just can’t help it.  It’s such a waste to see someone’s light go out so quickly and so very permanently.  I just hope that Cory’s finally at peace, because Lord only knows the battle that raged inside of him while he lived.

In other news, I’ve been working out and eating a healthy diet for about a month now.  I have my weigh-in with my fitness coach tomorrow but as of last week’s weigh-in, I’d already lost 10.2 pounds.  I’ve struggled with weight issues my whole life, but finally, at 34, I feel like I’m taking control of it.  I’m doing the Curves Complete program and, so far, I’m loving it.  I’m also making healthy decisions with everything I put in my mouth and that feels amazing.  I’ve learned to really read labels and consider my choices.  This is also giving me a chance to eat more organic, which is why we’re shopping at Trader Joe’s more and more.  Since I work a weird schedule, I have to take a lot of convenience foods with me.  One of my favorite foods is dry cereal.  I know that Cheerios are supposed to be super-healthy to eat, but the healthy Cheerios are also the gross ones.  They taste like the box they come in!  I’ve found that Kashi Heart to Heart cereal is amazing, and we just discovered Trader Joe’s Fruity Os.

They’re like Cheerios meets Fruit Loops but with way less sugar and a delightful citrus taste.  I’m addicted!And we went to my grandparents’ this weekend, who loaded me up with a lot of fresh veggies from their garden.  I still need to use the cabbage and zucchini and green peppers, but I had some cucumbers from them and some leftover cucumber in my fridge, so I made cucumber bread.  It’s supposed to be very similar to zucchini bread, which I’ve always loved, but….

Looks delicious, right?  WRONG.

I mean, it’s not terrible or anything, but it’s not great, either.  It’s just… mehhhh.  I think I’ll stick to zucchini bread.  Or beer bread.  Anything but that stuff.  Blech!