Ice cream at the end of the tunnel

If anyone really knows me they will be able to answer this question... "What is Natalie's favorite ice cream?" I consider myself to be an amateur ice cream connoisseur. I think amateur and connoisseur cancel each other out so that just makes me someone who enjoys eating lots of ice cream. But to answer the question, my favorite ice cream is Black Raspberry Chip from Graeter's Ice Cream in Ohio. Here's a picture of it.

Ironically enough, my second favorite is Pumpkin ice cream from... yep, you guessed it... Graeter's. When I was living in NJ, I wrote Graeter's asking them when there were planning on opening shops on the East Coast. They actually wrote back saying that they didn't have plans to do so and I was pretty bummed about that. Anywho, I have decided that this will be my first dessert after my 30 day dessert fast. I am heading to Ohio next week for the afore-mentioned wedding and I'm almost just as excited to have this ice cream, which I haven't had since 2005! And it will really be a treat since I have been abstaining from desserts this long.

I have gotten lots of compliments from friends and family about this goal I've set for myself and while I feel good about it I have to admit some shortcomings. No, I haven't had dessert, but this doesn't mean I have abstained from sugar. A couple of times I have made french toast or pancakes for breakfast just so I could slather on a good dose of butter and syrup. And on our trip home from Utah, I stopped at a Starbucks and ordered a sandwich and before I knew what I was doing I was walking out with a frozen such and such with skim milk and whipped cream... I always get strange looks for that one. It's like I'm trying to be healthy with the skim milk but then I add whipped cream... doesn't quite work. Anyway, I told myself that was my drink with lunch... but in reality I probably shouldn't have ordered that, or at least left off the whipped cream. But honestly the drink was in my hand before I realized what I'd done, so now I've just avoided Starbucks altogether.

But that's it. Those are my admittances. If you are going along on this ride with me and you've chosen to give up something for 30 days, stick with it. It's a good feeling to know that you have that power within yourself. Believe me, if I can do it, no wait... if Jenny McCarthy can do it, then we all can.