Cooking Measurements 1c= * grams

Granulated sugar: 1 cup = 200 grams
Brown sugar: 1 cup, packed = 220 grams
Sifted white flour: 1 cup = 125 grams
White rice, uncooked: 1 cup = 185 grams
White rice, cooked: 1 cup = 175 grams
Butter: 1 cup = 227 grams
Almonds, slivered: 1 cup = 108 grams
Oil: 1 cup = 224 grams
Maple syrup: 1 cup = 322 grams
Milk, non-fat: 1 cup = 245 grams
Milk, sweetened condensed: 306 grams
Broccoli, flowerets: 1 cup = 71 grams
Raisins: 1 cup, packed = 165 grams
Milk, dry: 1 cup = 68 grams
Yogurt: 1 cup = 245 grams
Water: 1 cup = 236 grams
Confectioners sugar: 1 C = 110 g
Cocoa: 1 C = 125 g

Today's life so far...

I never seem to be able to get on or a little under 1,500 calories for the day. Boy am I bushed today was supposed to be like the greatest day for eating; at least I didn't go like 2,800 calories or something. The past week I've been binging and everything and I told myself that for New Years I'm going to watch what I eat. I was close then my mom made some home style pizzas of our culture (Arabic) so yeah I ate like 3 1/2 of the meat pie and 2 of the cheese. I was able to find out how many calories the meat pie had and was shocked it was like 220 calories per pie! The pie was the size of a serving of pancake (3"-4" diameter).

Running today was very... wow it was painful I did dance aerobics the other day and then came out to run and my calves were on fire! I at least got the chance to vindicate myself! I hit Cranbrook and was very confused because our fast runner was going Cranbrook; I was supposed to hit Salem (Salem Drive). So I started running back towards Braintree/ Wise and then I didn't see any big signs so then I ran towards Cranbrook then I still couldn't see Salem so I ran back and forth just trying to see Salem when it hit to me that maybe Salem is past Cranbrook. I figured that maybe it's a five miler because of the bike paths so I ran ahead and found Salem! Yay! So I at least got that down pat. Hopefully I could run that faster.

I found this cool blog called Arabic Bites! It's so cool because lately I've been trying to be in touch with my heritage and everything and learning so many new things of my culture I want to know how to cook some of our foods and I was so happy to come across that blog. I'm thankful for the person who's posting recipes on it and they're doing a real good job with their presentation and how we can understand it.

I seriously need to get going on my homework; I have a Spanish project and English/ biology to study for. Homework is so annoying but I'm going to get going now and become stress free.

Thanks for reading!
-hananabanana

TOTALLY NOT GOOD

Oh... my... gosh! I've been pigging out this whole week and haven't ran for 3 days straight! What am I going to do?

I have to calm down and hopefully on Monday when I meet up with the running gang I'll get back on track but every day I've been sleeping for 12 hours straight. I skipped Friday out of laziness and now I regret that because I need to be in a group to run; it's more motivating.

I need to get more friends on this whole blog thing. I managed to get a lot of friends from calorie-count.com! It's great you get this support for your weight loss and everything and I get to learn my eating habits and what I need to do to eat better/ healthier. I've been on the computer 2 days straight just reading articles. Ughh running on Monday is going to be something!

Has anyone heard of Ambit Energy or something? My dad has joined and people have been making money off the thing. He just started and managed to get one person to join under him. It goes like this:

You join Ambit under someone (visit their website). It's a one time fee of $400 to join and what you do is you get your own website and you have to get people to visit it and join under your name. For every person you gather you get $100. Gather 5 people you get a bonus and upgraded to the next level. The first level is Marketing Consultant. Then Regional, Senior, and then National (I may have skipped one).

Anyone remember how new phone companies broke the phone monopoly during 1990 or something? This Ambit Energy thing is exactly like that. Rather than wasting millions of dollars advertising their product they hire people to do it online. If you read all the stuff and how the program works you'll know it's not a scam or anything; you're working by getting people to join under your name and switch to their company Ambit Electricity has been accepted at your state. If you guys are interested or have any questions visit maquil.energy526.com and if you still have questions post them here and I'll answer them as best as I can.

Thanks for reading!
hananabanana

Ambit... Breaking the Energy Monopoly:

Click here to check out
The Ambit Energy Leaders emPower the Vision!

If you would like to join please visit the site: maquil.energy526.com

One crazy story

Thursday: I had to be one time for Art Awards at Schaumburg Township Library (1st place new artist award)

Today my coach let me run four miles today. FOUR MILES!!!! I was so happy! I was improving and everything but I was so scared too. Everyone else of course was going five miles 'cause that's what they do; they're so good.

So I'm running Schaumburg to Braintree then Braintree past Duxbury to Wise. I've been on Wise for a while then I see Salem Drive. I know they told me to go Salem but I thought since it said Salem Drive that it's not it and I go further.

I see Roselle and I ask a guy and he says if you take a left to Roselle then you hit Schaumburg Rd. And well from past experiences Schaumburg Rd. has always been shorter than Salem so I go further.

I past Jewels Osco and everything and I'm passing Plum Grove now. I'm still running and tired and so freaked out because I don't want to be late for the art show or anything and I DEFINITLEY don't want my parents to get the police calling or anything and right now I'm just running for my life... literally.

I hit Michigan lane and the minute I see "Welcome to Elk Grove" I know I went WAY too far. I stop and ask a guy for directions and he says to go back to Plum Grove and take a right to Schaumburg. I listen to him and when he says "You're this far?" I just got even scared and started to run back knowing that my coach will get soo angry because I've done this before during the summer. I start running back then I walk. I walk because I'm too tired and not talented enough to run this much all at once. At Plum Grove I see a lady in a white truck with her friend. And I ask her if she can give me a ride. She says no and I just take a right to Schaumburg. When you see how far that was though; like the sight of that down hill slope and how never ending it was I was just terrified.

So I'm actually TRYING to get running 'cause I was sooo scared and I was like "If I don't get back the police will be searching for me" and as I'm running that same lady that I talked to just before honked her horn and let me inside. No words can describe how RELIEVED I was. This was like a Christmas miracle I swear; I cried to her for two minutes saying I'm sorry if I troubled her.

She told me the reason she didn't pick me up earlier was that she thought I was a hitch hiker and didn't want me to kill her or anything. That's highly understandable I didn't hold a grudge on her in the first place. She was telling me "when I saw you I knew you weren't a hitch hiker and after dropping my friend I had to come back. But never get into a car with anyone and never ever pick anyone up because you never know they could kill you." She and I were saying how it was sad we have to be paranoid about helping people and then she dropped me off the Schaumburg High School. Her name was Michelle. I hope I never forget her because she's like a saint to me and she didn't steal me or anything. It was 4:30 and we started running at 3:10.

Yeah and I call my mom to pick me up and thankfully she didn't know I was lost. She picks me up and right before we're home I tell her 'cause I feel guilty for hiding this from her and she was shocked and angry but yeah I guess the award cermony thing for getting 1st place in the new artist category at Schaumburg Township Library sort of balances it out. At least I still get to run.


Friday

The next day I told two people and when I was talking to the assistant coach (Mari who's also my geometry teacher) everyone found out and this kid named Paul Brewer who also runs was like "How could you be so stupid, has anyone ever taught you to never get into a car with a stranger?" I wasn't thinking at the time when I was lost! Geeze I didn't want my parents having to pick me up because they'd probably never let me run again.

The whole day I put up with the criticism and I confront Mac. Mac says "Hanan getting lost and getting into a stranger's car; you did everything wrong. Didn't you read the street signs, you've ran on Salem before. If you do this again we'll have to make you run laps around the school." He says some more things I didn't catch but I go to the trainer to stretch my hip and go to the bathroom to wash up.

I come to the group with tears in my eyes and Mac's like "don't cry you'll make me cry" and I just sit down crying with my face covered and say "You're right Mac, I should've known this. People my age know how can't I? I'm an idiot" and he's just like "Well good... at least you learned your lesson" and yeah they're trying to give me "easy" road runs so I don't get lost because as everyone can see I can't handle a complicated one. I do four miles going Knollwood.

I feel stupid and after I run I find out that on Thursday (when I got lost) I ran five miles. I was impressed but angry because I was an idiot. My brother who's a year younger knows streets and this sort of things and I don't; I'm going to have to study maps.

That's my story and yeah I don't know what to say except again I feel stupid.