...decided I have a new favorite clothing store for my daughter.

I finally found a store full of clothes that Meagan will actually wear and there is no Hannah Montana gear in site!

It's called Crazy 8 and the best part is – the clothes are super affordable and super cute. Even the boys' clothes are cute. I recommend it for anyone who has kids.

I also love it because Meagan's school dress policy requires that the kids' clothes not be too flashy and be without blatant branding. I'm pretty sure we have been violating the policy the last couple of years with all of her Disney Princess, High School Musical and Hannah Montana t-shirts. Now I won't be getting those looks of concern from the nuns in the hall.

I really hope this is a store that can stay in business through these bad economic times. Check it out for your self at Clackamas Town Center or shop online.

...got the new Nordstrom catalog!

Finally, a good one! The last few editions have been pretty lame. Maybe they realized that and stepped it up due to a drop in sales. Anyway, I pretty much want something on every page. I just need about $2,000 more a month. I'm sure my Dad will understand.

Gotta go, Nordstrom just opened...

...lost another pound!

Yeah. It's finally working. The only problem is this weekend is girls' weekend at the beach. We never eat healthy and I there will be plenty of drink involved. We'll see what kinds of functional foods I can sneak by the girls.

Today I tried Odwalla MoBeta because I feel like I am coming down with something. Love it. It always makes me feel better. Here's how I'd rate it:

Taste: 9 (I love it, but don't love it so much I want to buy one every day like a soy latte love it)
Nutrition: 9 (great for what I need it for - Beta Carotene and Antioxidants)
Hunger Control: 8.5 (not bad. For some reason, juice works to control my hunger pretty well)
Cost: 7 (expensive, but worth it to treat myself when I am starting to feel sick)
Overall Score: 8.375

Stay tuned to see how many pounds I gain back after going on a weekend that's all about over doing it...

...I lost a pound!

Yeah! 4 more pounds to go. I guess it does work if you really replace less healthy meals and snacks with the functional foods. At least I know I am getting all of my daily required vitamins and fiber etc.

Here are the latest products I tried:

PowerBar Pria - French Vanilla Crisp
Taste: 8 (I'm really into Vanilla in these functional foods/beverages. Tastes better than fake chocolate)
Nutrition:8.5 (I wish it had more than 1 g of fiber, but it does have only 110 calories and 60% of your daily folate)
Hunger Control: 6.5 (very, very tiny)
Cost: 6.5
Overall Score: 7.375

PowerBar Pria - Chocolate Peanut Butter
Taste: 7
Nutrition:8.5
Hunger Control: 6.5
Cost: 6.5
Overall Score: 7.125

Pacific Natural Foods Creamy Tomato Soup
Taste: 8.5 (as good as you are going to get out of a box or can)
Nutrition: 8 (I love that it's only 100 calories per serving)
Hunger Control: 9 (I really wasn't hungry for 3 hours after eating the soup and was able to avoid sharing Meagan's Minibon)
Cost: 7.5 (a better deal than V8 Soups, but still expensive)
Overall Score: 8.25

I am trying hard to stick to my 6 small healthy meals plan today, but we're going out to dinner tonight. We'll see if I lose any more weight...

...tried some more functional products.

and STILL no weight loss. I'm sure it's due to the fact that I haven't cut any meals out of my diet, I just eat the functional products on top of everything else.

I've found a few new decent items, but they're pretty average.

I was shopping at Fred Meyer this time and it doesn't seem to have as many options as Safeway or New Seasons. I did try two different flavors of Fred Meyer's Active Lifestyle Chewy Bars. I do have to say you get the most bang for the buck with these in comparison to anything else they have in the store. They taste pretty decent, they are larger than the average, they have more fiber and cost less. Here's how they rate:

Active Lifestyle Oats & Chocolate Chewy Bar
Taste: 7.5
Nutrition: 9.5 (9 grams of fiber!)
Hunger Control: 9 it's bigger than the average and has lots of fiber
Cost: 8 (though - be careful about directly comparing them to others in a box. They only offer 5 bars in this one. Seems like they are trying to be tricky.)
Overall Score: 8.5

Active Lifestyle Oats & Peanut Butter Chewy Bar
Taste: 7
Nutrition: 9.5 (9 grams of fiber!)
Hunger Control: 9
Cost: 8
Overall Score: 8.375

I also did try the SlimFast Optima French Vanilla Shake Mix
I have to say it's really not too bad. If I were at Safeway, I still would have bought the Safeway brand, but didn't have that option. It really doesn't make me feel full and it has 200 calories rather than 170 per serving like the thicker and better tasting Safeway canned version. This is how I rated it:
Taste: 9 (as good as you'll get with these mixes)
Nutrition: 8.5 (I like the protein and 4g of fiber, but 200 is too many calories)
Hunger Control: 6
Cost: 6.5
Overall Score: 7.5

Tomorrow my goal is to actually let these items be substitutes. I'll let you know how that goes...

...went to the pumpkin patch.

It's that time of year.

When you have a four-year-old you want to do more than just pick out pumpkins at the supermarket so we chose Leipold Farms in Boring, OR. I had high expectations because they seemed expensive when I read about them online and seem to offer activities for all ages.

It wasn't what I expected. They did have a big corn maze I can't judge because we didn't go through it, but we did take Meagan in the preschool kids area. Gross.

Meagan wanted to ride the rickety old carousel and that was the best thing that area offered. Everything else was dirty and broken down. You can sort of see "Heather's Tea House" in this picture, which was probably great 30 years ago, but I am amazed it has been removed as a safety hazard. Meagan went inside briefly, then came out and said "that was creepy!"

Meagan did enjoy all the painted wood cut outs to stick your face in, so that was probably the best thing about it for us. She also enjoyed eating the bland tasting caramel off the apple we shared.

I do have to say that they had pretty good pumpkins and they were cheaper than we expected. Last year we went to a great pumpkin patch in Hillsboro that offered train and boat rides. I think I'll go back to Hillsboro next year...

...and it was school picture day!

I didn't even know it. I just happened to look at the school calendar right 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave.

Crap!

I didn't even give Meagan a bath the night before.

I had to think fast. How could I get Meagan excited about getting her hair done, when she normally refuses to have anything in it? How could I get her to wear something "picture worthy" and do all this in 10 minutes without making her freak out?

I decided to get her into too. I let her know I just realized it was picture day and it was an emergency fashion situation. She decided she wanted braids. Easy. She picked out her nicest dress (though she seems to have gotten a few inches taller since wearing it last). Easy. She looked so cute she wanted me to take some pictures of her before we left.

She's so Top Model. We'll see how the school pictures turn out...

...realized I forgot to post yesterday.

Yesterday, Meagan and I went to visit our newest family member and got some more good pictures.

What a sweet little boy. He is so low key and slept most of the time we visited. When the nurses came in to weigh and poke him he only squeaked a little.

Kelly is also doing amazing and looking great. Of course, it helps that Keeton slept almost through the night.

Before heading up to the hospital, Meagan and I stopped at Elephant's Deli just off Burnside in NW. They make excellent chocolate mousse and it's Kelly's favorite. She loved it and at it BEFORE dinner. Good for her!

By the way - my other favorite item at Elephant's is the Tomato Orange Soup. Best. Soup. Ever. Try it.

...my sister was in labor!

at 9:21pm tonight - after 23 hours of labor - my little sister Kelly had her fourth child and her fourth boy - Keeton Joseph Thomas Sayre.

It was awesome. I got to be in the room so I could help take care of two of her other sons, Daniel and Ian who also wanted to witness the birth. Kelly was amazing. She was so calm throughout. She made it seem like giving birth was no big deal. Of course, she did have an epidural.

I didn't get to stay to see how long Keeton was or how much he weighed, but I think he was a heavy little guy. He's all chubbed up, just like his brothers were.

It's so fun to get a new family member.

I'll update with day old pictures tomorrow. For now, I am tired and I'm going to bed...

...wondered why I bother shopping for clothes for my daughter.

Meagan has 2 closets full of cute clothes. It's not just me that buys them - her grandparents and aunts are just as bad. She also has a ton of hand-me-downs from her cousin, Kaylee.

Some of her clothes and shoes are very expensive, others are just cute and were bought thinking she would love them. However, Meagan only loves about 8 items of the hundred or so she has. The 3 in these pictures are pretty much her staples.

She loves her Hannah Montana shirts, her dresses that twirl and two skirts with a soft waistband. I think the other parents at her school must think that the poor girl's parents totally neglect her fashion needs.

This, of course, isn't the only way she is stubborn. She also won't wear things her in hair to keep her bangs out of her eyes and she won't wear sneakers, but she is her own person and I am happy with that. Letting go of trying to control Meagan's look was pretty hard for me (those of you who know me can imagine), but I'm glad I did. I want her to feel independent and secure in her own "style".

So, I will let go and save some money at the mall. I'll appreciate it while it lasts. In a few years, she'll probably want to go to the mall every weekend.

Plus, no matter what she is wearing, she's adorable.

...finally went to Voodoo Doughnuts!

I have been hearing about this place for years and wanted to check it out. First we tried to go to the original location (SW Third near Burnside) and there was a line outside the door. We decided to check out the newer location on the East side and I'm glad we did. No one was there!

The Voodoo Eastside location is on 15th and Davis and I highly recommend it. It's in an old building that looks like it used to be fast food restaurant joint. It's painted 60's pink on the outside and furnished with a mish mash of goodwill seating in the inside with a few video games.

Most important, however was the doughnuts. YUMMMM. I would have like to sample several, but I tried the boston cream type with maple on top. Meagan had the Boston Creme and Roy had the cocopuff covered chocolate donut. They were all as good as I wanted them to be.

There were also some I would definitely not try, but I think were hilarious - like the maple bar topped with bacon.

I can see why this place has gotten so much buzz. The people are friendly, the donuts are good, the decor is campy and you can even get married there! The employees are ordained! Awesome.

I love this place and I'll go again. You should too. The downtown location is open 24/7 and the Eastside location is only closed from 3-6am. I'm never awake at that time any more anyway(:

No, doughnuts don't really fit into my functional foods quest, so I'll continue that tomorrow...

...found a soup I like.

So my quest continues for the best functional foods and beverages...

Today I tried Pacific Natural Foods Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. Now THAT's what I wanted a red pepper soup to taste like. Yumm. It didn't have as much fiber as the V8 soups or as many vitamins, but I still prefer it for the taste and value.

Taste: 9.5 (As good as you are going to get out of a box) Nutrition: 6 (I like that it's only 110 calories per serving and 5 g of protein, but it only has 1g of fiber and not enough vitamins)
Hunger Control: 8.5 (I was pretty satisfied for a couple hours)
Cost: 7.5 (This stuff costs about the same as the V8 soup per ounce)
Overall score: 7.875

I also tried the Vanilla Caramel Crisp Balance Bar and it was good, but more of the same.

Taste: 8
Nutrition:7.5 (It's only 100 calories and has 15% of bunch of vitamins and 5g of fiber, but I didn't like that it had 4g of fat)
Hunger Control: 8 (Not bad for a small bar)
Cost: 3 (Again, I can't believe these bars are $1.25)
Overall score: 6.625

I still haven't lost any weight either, but tomorrow I am going on a long run. Maybe that will help...

...tried some more products.

I haven't lost any weight yet, but the fact that I haven't gained any after eating so much cake is also pretty noteworthy.

The latest functional foods I tried are:

Chocolate Chip Clif Z Bar - it wasn't as good as the Chocolate Brownie, but I still think it's one of the better for having low calories and a bigger bar.

Taste: 7.5
Nutrition:6.5 ( I decided to give it a half point higher because it also had a good amount of folate and calcium on top of the 3g of fiber)
Hunger Control:7.5
Cost: 8 (expensive, but still one of the least expensive in it's category)
Overall Score: 7.375

Chocolate Mint South Beach Living Bar
Taste: 7.5 (It tasted better than I expected)
Nutrition: 8 (I love that it's only 100 calories and has 5 g of fiber, but I wish it didn't have so much fat and had more vitamins.)
Hunger Control: 7 (It's small) Cost: 5 (It's not the most expensive, but it really shouldn't be more than $1 a piece. It's not worth it)
Overall Score: 6.875

Cafe Latte LightFull Satiety Smoothie - I just recently heard about these and was excited to try them when I saw them on the shelf UNTIL I saw that they were almost $2.50 a piece! I picked the one I thought I'd like the most, but didn't plan to buy more unless it really made me feel full. It didn't. It did taste very good, however.

Taste: 9
Nutrition: 8.75 (love that it has 5 grams of fiber and only 90 calories, but other than that there isn't much)
Hunger Control: 5 (I really had to grade this one down because it brags about it's satiety effects all over the bottle. It even implies it in the name. When I was done with it I was still just as hungry as before)
Cost: 3 (way too much for me to afford to buy more of on a regular basis. I don't even think I would buy it once in a while since it doesn't really work)
Overall score: 6.4375

Cream of Broccoli Campbell's V8 Soup - You've read my earlier rants about my disappointment in this new soup line, but I was surprised today to find out this is my favorite of the 3 I've tried. It had the lowest calories and the best taste. I still don't think I'd buy it again though.

Taste: 7.5
Nutrition: 8 (Lovet hat it was only 80 calories and had 3 g of fiber, but I would have given it a higher score if it had more vitamins)
Hunger Control: 8
Cost: 8
Overall Score: 7.875

Stay tuned for more functional food adventures...
Cost: 8