What made me smile today…..and some bad dates

This post is going to be all over the place so hang on!

Today was actually a great day for a Monday, who knew that could happen??

For breakfast I tried a new greek yogurt snack—Athenos Greek Yogurt

It’s separated into the greek yogurt portion and then the “fruit” portion which was more like a strawberry jam. It was just enough to hold me over until my mid morning snack and provided some protein (11g) so clicks to that.

I met up with one of my former co-workers for coffee at Caribou Coffee. She recently got laid off (for the second time) and has a few more days on the job and is actively looking for other positions within our company. If my company told me I was being laid off then expected me to work after that, I would think they were out of their minds. But then again, I probably wouldn’t be able to get any severance so would comply. We have some openings in our department so I wanted to give her a background on what we do to see if she was interested. My job isn’t horrible (for as much as I complain about it), I just don’t think it’s a good fit for my personality.
Can I just say how happy Caribou’s cups make me?

 Starbucks should start writing inspirational sayings on their cups just to play the game.

They were also giving out free samples of Somersaults Sea Salt nuggets. I grabbed a few for the road as I love me some free samples.

It was cute, when the cashier told me about the free samples they had both the Sea Salt flavor along with the salt & pepper flavor. I grabbed a salt & pepper one but he said “Oh, the salt & pepper ones aren’t free however they’re coming out with a Destiny’s Child one soon” I tilted my head then nodded and finally laughed, it took a few seconds for me to get especially since I only had one cup of coffee in my system but I thought it was a witty remark. Witty remarks plus free samples on a Monday is guaranteed to plaster a smile on my face for a full 10 minutes.

We had a huge company wide call we had to be on a bit later. I was thinking that they were going to talk about lay offs or something negative but it turns out they were going over 2010 performance. We also found out we are getting a bonus! My company has an incentive plan each year where if the whole company does well with profits and stock price, they award out a nice bonus to eligible employees. And this girl is so eligible. It’s going to be $500, which is nice but isn’t as high as it used to be. When I first started with the company, it was around $2,000 but then the economy went down the crapper and here we are. I like that you can defer to entire amount to your 401K (plus they will match up to 5%) or you can defer just a portion and then keep the rest. I aways try to defer half of it to my 401K then get a little to play with since they tax the hell out of it.  Hooray for money!

Last night, I made whole wheat spaghetti with mushroom and onion sauce and topped with fresh parsley. I had a little for a late dinner as well. I was sooooo full from Growler’s and the smorgasbord of food but needed to get a little something in my tummy before going to bed. I had for lunch today as well along with a piece of Great Harvest Bread Rosemary Garlic bread. The bread was absolute perfection-I dipped into the spaghetti sauce but it was moist and didn’t need any extras such as butter or extra virgin olive oil. Their bread has no preservatives and no artificial ingredients so I don’t mind paying a little more for it (around $5 a loaf).

Another thing that makes me smile? When celebrities open up restaurants. I’m not ashamed to admit that I kinda want to visit Iowa to check out Flavor Flav’s “Flav’s Fried Chicken”

For dinner, I had no idea what I was going to make. It’s Monday, so I wanted to stick with Meatless Monday so I began to heat up some red onions, jalapenos and black beans on the stove top.

Why do black beans seem more like purple beans most of the time?

While that was cooking, I nuked a baked potato while jamming to the Rolling Stones. I simply cannot cook to silence anymore, I must have my Pandora on. When that was done, I topped the potato with the black bean mixture. I think sub consciously I was inspired from The Auspicious Squirrels baked potato goodness

Then topped with salsa

And no tater is complete without cheese

Yes, a cheese-tastic, meatless meal made in minutes made me smile.

And we can’t forget about this little guy

Lincoln always makes me smile. Even if he does do the thug pose with lifting up his chin in the air like he is all tough and stuff. Rock on you little eight pound poohuahua!

Another thing that made me smile?

New challenges!

I saw this 30 Day Challenge on Janetha’s blog  the other night and was instantly intrigued.

Yeah, I like talking about my day, random things, food, workouts, etc. but sometimes it’s fun to mix it up a bit so here we go!

Day 1-Your current relationship,  if single, discuss how single life is.

I am single. Which I am fine with for now. I would love to be in a relationship however the main thing that is holding me back at this time is me. I am not happy with my weight. I’ve lost a lot of weight in the grand scheme of things but have gained about 15 lbs back this year due to me not consistently going to the gym anymore, stopped running and eating out too much. I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin at the moment, which is really sad. I don’t care at the moment what I dress like or how my makeup or hair looks when I go to work since I am not looking for a relationship (plus every guy is either married or too preppy for me). Along with that, I am kind of over drinking at the moment. I love a drink more than anyone else but I am not going to sit at home and have drinks by myself, that’s just sad and a bit unhealthy. So while friends have been inviting me to go out to drink at night and meet guys, I’m really just not interested since I don’t like how I look at the moment. But that’s why I am going to the Y again, consistently working out so I can change this and get back to my old regime and get this weight off.

Not only with my weight, I am not at a point in my life where I think I should be in a relationship due to my work situation and not knowing what I want out of life. This is something that is on my mind almost every minute, every day….which is a bit exhausting. I need to figure out what I am doing with my life, where do I want to be, etc. before jumping into a relationship.

That being said, I thought I would share some of my interesting dates in the past :

*Nips guy-his nipples wouldn’t go soft throughout the whole date. Absolutely disgusting. And it wasn’t like it was cold out—it was May….in North Carolina….that means hot!

*Young Rush Limbaugh-One guy took me out to a local sushi bar. I had been to that sushi bar twice previously that month on two other dates and had the same waiter each time! So by the third time, he came up and greeted us and shook his head when he saw me there with yet another gentleman. When he asked what we wanted to drink I smiled and said Captain and Ginger (like the previous two times) and winked. I am so not a winker but felt quite sassy doing it. The date ended up being a right-wing nut whereas I am a liberal kind of chick. He started spouting off why I should own a gun and shoot at anyone that invades my property and how all gays should be deported. Yeah. So I drank….and drank….and drank some more trying to drown him out. Oh, I forgot about the edamame. We were chowing on edamame as the appetizer and his tooth kept falling out into the bowl. Beautiful. And then he ended up getting so drunk, he stumbled into the womens restroom thinking it was the mens. Some old lady who was in there started to  shoo him out of there and I believe that was the only part of the date that I smiled. That and when I saw he picked up the tab.

*The Ex Convict-this could be my worst date ever. For starters-we were walking around Uptown Charlotte and decided to go into Starbucks. I was wearing a white and black top (along with a new Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy bra) and felt cute. My hair was kicking, the conversation was flowing and we were going to get java. How could this not end well? I order a raspberry soy mocha and the lid wasn’t on all the way, so yes, it spilled down my new white and black top and seeped into my bra so I smelled like a lovely raspberry soy mocha. I laughed it off (I had to or else I would cry) and we continued walking around Uptown since he wasn’t familiar with the area. While walking, I walked smack dab in the middle of a pole. I was sober. So embarrassing occurrence #2 out-of-the-way. We finally settled on dinner and went to a local sports bar/restaurant and sat in the patio area so we could people watch and be able to actually hear each other. We ordered an appetizer of spinach and artichoke dip and whatdoyou know, while going to take a bite of it, it spilled down my cleavage. At this point, I smelled like a sour raspberry soy mocha and spinach and artichoke dip-who wouldn’t want a piece of this?? The first date conversation was there, asking questions, answering, etc. when he casually said “Yeah, when I was in prison” Exsqueeze me? Huh? And he snuck it in there by saying it all casually, that’s what killed me! He said it in the tone of “Yeah, when I go to the supermarket,  I like to buy bananas” You don’t say something about your time in prison with that inflection. So I smiled, put down my napkin and just said “Spill” and he told me the story of how he went to prison for statutory rape with a 16-year-old when he was 20 years old and was there for four years. At this point, I wanted to get out of there but dumbass me let him pick me up at my place so he had to get me home. Grrrrrr. I wished I was smarter. We finished dinner and on the way back to my place to drop me off, he stopped at the gas station and told me he wanted to pick up a surprise for me. I hoped he didn’t mean condoms b/c yeah, not happening. While he was in there, I texted a friend to tell her what happened and to call me in a few hours to make sure I was alive. When he got back to the car, he wouldn’t tell me what he got and then drove me home. He asked me to come up to my place and I let him because why not let an ex-convict who’s a lot bigger than me and could rape me into my home? Lincoln didn’t like him one bit so that should’ve been my sign right there and he wouldn’t stop barking his balls off when we got in. So I finally asked him what the surprise was and he told me he was going to make me a clink meal. A) Didn’t we just have dinner? B) What the f*** is a clink meal?? Being a curious girl with an insatiable appetite, I let him make said clink meal.

 The contents

*Beef Ramen

*Cheetos

*Ketchup

*Mustard

Crush the cheetos until they are a fine texture. Make the ramen noodles as normal, mix in the flavoring then drain the water out. Mix all ingredients together and voila-a clink meal. I’m ashamed to admit but it was actually a good meal and liked it. Until he told me that they made it in the trash cans in prison. Eww.

*Red Coat Guy-a guy who I dated back in college. Really nice guy however when it was time for my sorority’s spring formal to roll around he brought some suits over to my apartment to get my opinion on. He brought two-a red one and a purple one. And no, he was not a King of Comedy. He was just a white boy from Jersey who really liked the colorful suits. I was wearing a simple red dress with spaghetti straps so I told him red would be the best option since we would color coordinate well together. That we did. My sorority sisters still talk about Red Coat Guy.

*Tow Truck Driver. This one is a long story but I’ll keep it short and simple since it was a long time ago. He took me to Denny’s one night, which is oh so classy, I know. And you know, on a date you ask each other what you’re thinking about getting, etc. He asked me what I was going to get and I said “The roast beef sounds good” he slowly put down his menu and said to me with a straight face “That’s too expensive” I’m sorry? Denny’s roast beef is too expensive?? So being a girl who holds a grudge, when our waiter came over to take our order, I order the roast beef, plus an appetizer….and a shake. Eff that. If you want to enjoy my company, you will buy me the damn roast beef. When I went home a couple of summers after that, I saw him on the front page of the local paper and that was wanted for aggravated stalking. Beautiful.

With a track record like that, maybe you all can see why I don’t want anything at the time.The sad thing is that these are just a glimpse of my bad dates and not all of them. I clearly do not pick the right men and need some help in that department. If you know of someone who I would like and vice versa along with nipples that go soft, not a right-wing nut, hasn’t been in prison and will buy me roast beef- holla atcha girl!

What made you happy today?
What’s your relationship status?