Relaxing

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Hopefully everyone had a nice relaxing day off like I did and remember why we are all off–can’t say that enough. Thanks to all past and present who have served and protected our country! Can it be a three-day wknd every wknd? I got an outstanding 10 hours of sleep last night, which is remarkable for me. I was in a lot of pain and there was tossing and turning but sleeping in until 10A just felt right. I will work extra hours and go in early, stay late, not take lunch (hold on, I already do that). I’ve been on a major egg white kick lately if you can’t tell so I decided to kick it up a notch for breakfast.

I made rolled oats on the stove top with almond milk then chopped up two Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups and dashed some cinnamon and peanut butter in the mix.

This was a great combination but it didn’t sit well with my stomach 😦 I was bored and watched Dr. Phil and The View for a while. There was a ridiculous rainstorm this morning and finally a break hit so I got ready quickly and hopped over to the supermarket. Not literally of course but the way my legs were feeling, it could have happened. It hurts to sit down and let’s not even talk about going down or up stairs.

I got a lot of good deals at Bi-Lo including my Chobani’s! They were on a sale a few wknds ago for $1 each and I went a couple different times and turned out none were left. But today, I cleaned house. And they even had the Pineapple flavor I’ve been hearing so much about and I cannot wait to try it!

I checked out and was super happy-my bill was originally $107 but brought it down to $61 with all of my coupons. Because I? Am awesome with being frugal. As I was checking out, the rain started yet again and it was coming down hard. Of course I didn’t take an umbrella with me because for some reason in my mind, I think “Oh it rained once today, it can’t rain again”. Grrrr. I waited in the lobby for 10 minutes and it let down a little and decided to go as fast as I could (which is not fast at all with the condition I was in) to my car.

Lunchtime was soon approaching and I made pork tacos. Are you shocked? I promise, I will start making something different soon. I had a bit of Frank’s Red Hot wings left in my fridge and hate when I have a bottle taking up space with just a little left in it. I cut up a pork chop with covered with Frank’s and let cook on the stove top

The tacos look plain but were really tasty with the Frank’s and avocado

 I spent the afternoon with Kim and Jennifer

I love Shape magazine and LOVE Kim K but wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend my money on it since the whole-she-endorses-diet-pills thing. But Janetha mentioned it was actually a good issue and I trust her judgement so I Kardashianed that bad boy up!

Along with that, I also caught up on some shows and a movie.

Umm, why have I never watched It’s Sunny in Philadelphia? I’ve had a lot of people tell me I would like it but never took their word. I added it to my Netflix queue and absolutely love it. With a little guy resting in my lap. I don’t blame him though, sometimes he does have a rough day of playing with his toys, going on walks, getting treats and such, he just has to relax.

I polished off the last of my Trader Joe’s Three Layer Hummus

And my battle wound from the rock yesterday is getting bigger and more colors. Yeah, it’s across my entire right thigh. Dear Grandfather Mountain-can I please have my skin back? Thanks, Tiffany.

 I made the mistake of watching the Tyra Banks show. I never had beef with Tyra, I actually used to like and respect her a lot. Kinda like a mini Oprah (pun kinda intended) in the making. But the more I watch her show, the more she drives me crazy.

I had my leftover Magical Mystery Tour Pie for dinner.

May Goal Evaluation

*Keep on running  -did not happen. I tried in the beginning of the month and my knee pain was growing worse so I decided to lay off of the running for now and just walk in the mean time.

*Think outside the running box in regards to workouts and mix it up with other things (kettlebell, yoga, etc.) -with my lack of running this has been going alright. I’ve been trying to work out with my kettle bell more and even put together a full body for out for myself with the kettlebell and different weight dumbbells I have.

*Be more aware of my sugar intake and try to keep it less than the recommended intake of 40g-I’ve been doing great with thise for someone with a sweet tooth. When looking over my food diary throughout the mnth of May, I was above 40g however those were mostly from fruits so I don’t consider that a bad thing. I think, it could be worse by having something processed as opposed to an apple or banana. I will continue to keep an eye on this though.

*Track my food and exercise on a daily basis–22 out of 31 days. Not too shabby in my book

June Goals to come tomorrow!

Has anyone else seen the new Huggies Jeans Commercial? Seriously creeping me out.

Hurts So Good

Happy Sunday everyone! I went hiking today, I left at 8A and got back home at 10P and am completely beat but I will share some stuff about today before I pass out.

I went with a group to Grandfather Mountain, which is about 2.5 hrs away from Charlotte. It has amazing views and living here for 3.5 yrs, I never visited. I am always up for something new, especially on a three-day wknd, so I was game and excited to go!

Before I left, I made a breakfast burrito with black beans, mushrooms, egg whites, cheese and salsa

On another note, Lincoln is diggin the new chair.

I took Lincoln to my friend’s house to hang out with her dog since I was going to be gone for a good part of the day. I carpooled up with three others and it was a nice day out (we were at 5,000 feet elevation so it was a bit cloudy up there)

And the scary part—The MILE HIGH swinging bridge—eek!!

I did not want to walk on this at all but had to cross to see a gorgeous view of the park. It’s only 228 feet long however I was trying to walk as quickly as possible and not look down. It was a bit shaky but kept my ye on the prize…land!

Then the hike began, we were doing a trail that was four miles long to the top of another mountain. I am used to dirt trails and not rocks and this one was all rocks. We were basically rock climbing/hiking and to make it worse, it started raining. I feel about three times then took a NASTY spill. I was stepping onto a rock and fell right in between two. I screamed out and we stopped to check out the damage. My hand was scraped, both legs scraped badly and bleeding. I was trying not to cry but was in pain. We stopped for ten minutes then kept going and I did another 10 minutes but it got to the point the hill was at 50 degree angle and all wet rocks and I couldn’t go any further because my right thigh, which was scraped the worst, was in pain. The rest of the group was way ahead of me and there was an older couple walking down and they asked if I was ok and I started crying and they yelled to my group saying there was no way I could go on. One of the girls came down and went back to the car with me because she had her dog with her so that was nice not to go back alone. The walk back was rough. It took about an hour and I had to do it with extra caution since it was so muddy and wet. It was an amazing workout but I was in complete pain. We hung out at the car for almost two hours before they got back. And now…..my battle scars (I am already hurting, bruised and in pain so I fear what tomorrow will bring)

Yeah. Nuff said.

Some other pics

We met up with the rest of the group and was ready for grub!! We drove into Boone where Appalachian State University is and decided on the Mellow Mushroom-a hippielicious pizza place (hmmm first fruit hippies and now pizza hippies. Maybe I AM really a hippie at heart?)

Everything looks amazing and our table split cheesy garlic bread as an appetizer. I decided on the Magical Mystery Tour Pizza (love the name)—pesto, button and portobello mushrooms, spinach, feta and jalapenos.

Good lord, these hippies know what’s up. Amazing. And our table got four small pizzas so we shared and I still had half of this left so lunch or dinner tomorrow is taken care of!

I took a long soak tonight and am going to ice my body up. Lincoln knows I’m in pain and is being a sweet baby just resting on my lap (on the side without the bruises thankfully)

A short one

Today has been packed, this is the first chance I’m getting to sit at home and relax for a bit. I woke up at 7A because my friend was going to help me pick up my new chair at Good Will. In exchange, I told her I would take her out for brunch so it all worked out. While I was waiting for her, I made a breakfast burrito with egg whites, one egg, black beans, grilled mushrooms, shredded cheese and salsa.

Mexican and Breakfast in one? I could totally have this all the time. I wish I was like my friend who didn’t like Mexican food but unfortunately, I love it. We stopped at Panera and got brunch, I had a jalapeno-cheddar bagel with cream cheese and a medium coffee. And I may have had half of my friends cheese pastry. Um, never heard of it before and it was fabulous! I really don’t need to know about this though since it could easily become an addiction.

After that, we stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods so my friend could get new tennis shoes. I took that time to look at the weights there and they had a pretty sweet sale going on–$.89 per lb. I picked up a 15 lb dumbbell since I only have an 8 and 10 lb dumbbells and excited to work out with it!

The new chair!

And yes, I’m blogging from it right now while Lincoln sits behind my head. It is super comfy and I’m down with anything ottoman or that I can rest my legs up on so we are good to go! I have visions in the future of me curling myself in this seat and reading and falling asleep. Thanks Good Will for the sweet deal!

It’s been raining on and off all week but it started to clear up this afternoon so I went to the pool with friends for three hours and got some good sun time in. I use SPF and all but I really need to start wearing a hat to cover my face as well. I can only keep of this facade of looking 25 for so long.

I got back and was still full from the previous eats so went with my usual after pool standby of hummus and a piece of pita bread. I used Trader Joe’s Three Layer Hummus (which is near the end–eek!)

This is short n sweet—I have a ton of things to do, laundry, shower before meeting up with a girlfriend of mine for dinner and a drink  (yes singular) tonight. I am going hiking tomorrow and need to get my rest and would imagine a hangover during a four-hour hike would be much fun. Which reminds me, I need to back my bag with water and goodies for that tomorrow.

It’s going to be a long one!

I’m not dead

Hi all-Happy Frickin Friday! So I’m up and running again and so happy. My settings were set to private when I looked yesterday morning (don’t recall changing this though?) and throughout yesterday and today, I would try to change it and nothing. Frustration. Thanks to everyone who checked up on me though, I would never block y’all for my blog 🙂

Speed Street is going on in Uptown Charlotte now-it’s a three day street festival dedicated to Nascar since there is some race during Memorial Wknd. They have vendors, live music, cars ……lots of them and endlessly roaring their engines. Normally, I wouldn’t care. But when all of this is four floors below me, it’s annoying. The bass from the music was so loud my windows were rattling and I thought there was a bomb going off or something. And we had two people out of the office yesterday so I was covering my work plus someone else’s, trying to keep my sanity with that and my blog not working while avoiding a headache, so yeah, unhappy day.

I had a Venti Skim Carmel Macchiato yesterday because hey, I needed it (ok and had a free drink coupon to the Bucks)

OMG, I haven’t had an iced one since I lived in Phoenix four years ago and it was just as good as a I remembered it! Moderation though is key, I do not need this every day and don’t need to be taking in 300 calories from something I can drink.

Breakfast was an AMAZING wrap—eggwhites, feta, roasted zucchini, potatoes and mushrooms topped with ketchup

This was tasty and it kept me full for a loooong time. Which was good since I didn’t have lunch to 2P–thanks work. Lunch was leftover-baked chicken with hummus and feta with roasted zucchini, squash, potato and mushrooms.

I love having plates at work now. I don’t feel like an animal just eating my lunch from a plastic container. And pink is so happy 🙂

I came home, blog still not working, which made me even more frustrated than the day left me. I picked up a box of Trader Joe’s Three Grain Blend the other night because I was out of rice and wanted to make risotto since I’ve never made it before.

I was happy and excited—I started grilled up some mushrooms in the meantime (can you tell I like the shroomies?) and took it out of the box and found this.

I didn’t expect it to be all in one block, I just thought it would be normal rice so I was kinda bummed since I didn’t want to make the whole thing because I am one girl who can only eat so much of one thing (greek yogurt,avocados and Mexican food excluded). Plus I wasn’t sure if risotto would freeze well, anyone know?

Since the shrooms were already grilling and I had black beans in the fridge, I decided to go with my old stand by of tacos.

Delicious! Last night was nothing special, I hung out, took a bubble, tried to comment on blogs but that wasn’t even happening and ended up going to bed early so I could get a good night’s sleep. I wasn’t sure if my teammate would be back in the office so I didn’t know what kind of day to expect.

This morning, I had Yoplait Greek Yogurt, Trader Joe’s Very Cherry Blend and Blueberry Flax for breakfast

Today wasn’t bad at all. My teammate was back in so I didn’t have to cover his work, my desk was slow (due to a bunch of people being out on Friday so not alot of work coming my way) and it was just relaxing for once. Very rarely do I get to say that about work. The hippies were out but not in their normal spot due to Speed Street so I had a Hippie Search going on and picked up some peaches, apples, zucchini, onion, avocado and red peppers.

I got to take my first real lunch break and went with a co-worker to explore Speed Street. The two things iI do like about it is the

 A) Fair food! They have nachos, fries, turkey legs, gyros, philly cheese steaks, crab cakes, hot dogs, etc.

B) Freebies–a bunch of different companies set up booths and give away free stuff. Being the frugal girl I am, it’s my favorite part of the madness

I’ve been talking about the gyros all week-long to everyone at work and how excited I was to have one.

Looks good right?

No. Worst Gyro EVER. It wasn’t lamb meat, it was steak like the kind in a philly cheesesteak with no flavor yet lots of grease. The tzatsiki sauce had no flavor either, it was just sour cream or yogurt and it was so greasy it fell apart. I am pissed about my aspirations for the gyro and the $8 I spent when I could have walked across the street to Showmar’s and get one plus fries for $6.

I did however, get a lot of swag.

There was a sausage stand which I may have stopped at a few times. They were giving out free sausage samples and pork roast samples and it was absolutely delicious. I think it was Smithfield’s? Anyways, I decided if I ever decided to open up a male brothel, it shall be named “The Sausage Stand” . The rest of the afternoon was slow and I got a bunch of stuff done. I was counting down the minutes until I could catch the first bus out of there. I worked 8 hours OT this wk so I had no problem whatsoever with leaving early.

I made a HUGE dinner tonight because I was famished from the half-eaten gyro. I started off with a cucumber and tomato salad with oil and vinegar topped with feta

Ever since I saw Mo’s Pretzel Coated Chicken recipe, I’ve been dreaming of it all week.

I used Ken’s Lite Honey Mustard to coat the chicken since I was feeling something creamy (that’s what she said) and crushed up some Snyder’s pretzels and served with, what else…zucchini, squash, potato and mushrooms!

This was fabulous. It was like comfort food but so easy to make and not too bad for you. I get so bored with chicken breasts that I love any recipe that will mix it up a bit.

I had an awesome strength training session tonight.

Kettlebell

• Upright Deltoid Row (13 reps, 3 sets)
• Shrug (13 reps, 2 sets)
• Side Bends (13 reps, 3 sets)
• Straight Leg Deadlifts (13 reps, 3 sets)
• Bentover Row (13 reps, 2 sets)

Dumbbell -10 lb

• Shoulder Press (13 reps, 3 sets)
• Lateral Raise (13 reps, 2 sets)
• Bench Press (13 reps, 2 sets)
• Concentration Curls (13 reps, 2 sets)

Misc

• 30 pushups
• Three sets of planks
• Jumping side to side in between workouts

Like I said, awesome workout and nice burn!

I felt really energized after and started to think that I used to go to the gym and mindlessly hop on the elliptical and not even burn that much nor feel challenged at all. I am so happy not going to a gym anymore because I feel like I’m not wasting money on it and have found new ways to work out and challenge myself.

I went to Goodwill afterwards in search of a backpack. Weather permitting, I am going on a four-hour hike on Sunday and wanted something to keep all my stuff in and I haven’t had a backpack since high school so it was time to shop for one. No way was I going to spend $30 on one so Goodwill it was! Not only did I get a backpack for $3, I got two fun plates I can bring to work (you will be seeing these in the future!) AND a new oversized red microfiber chair and matching rolling ottoman—-for $70!! I forgot my camera and didn’t have my phone in the store but the chair is gorgeous and super comfy. I didn’t have room to take it home in my car so I called a friend and she is going to help me with it in the morning since she has an SUV. So happy—pics to come!

I stopped at McD’s on the way home since I was dragging on got a Medium Iced Coffee with Cream and Two Splendas. And now I am going to be wired!!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous start to the long wknd 🙂

check check….

I think I have some kinks to work out still but if you can see this please leave me a comment so I know I’m up and running—thanks 🙂

Issues

So apparently my blog isn’t working and I am having major issues with the privacy setting–hope to be back soon (if anyone can read this that is??) Hope everyone is doing fabulous!!

Once, Twice, Three times not a lady

Sing it Lionel! Unfortunately, I am not a lady. I cuss, drink beer from a bottle (which my sister lovingly calls me a redneck because of this) and I am crass. I can’t help it. I will never be an elegant lady and am cool with that.

On the bus this morning there was this super hot dude driving next to us the whole way. Naturally I kept staring at him since he had his windows down and was jamming to his music and I can easily appreciate beauty. He finally moved up ahead of us in traffic and I saw the huge rainbow sticker on his car. Talk about a fail.

I had an AMAZING breakfast this morning. During the work week, I usually have oats or greek yogurt as you know but decided to kick it up a notch today! I had a sweet potato and egg-white wrap. I had half a sweet potato left over from dinner last night and sprinkled some paprika on the egg whites before nuking for a minute and a half in the break room

Fabulous! And it kept me full for the entire morning so even better in my book. I would have never tried this combo but saw it on many blogs out there and decided it couldn’t be half bad. Overnight oats on the other hand, blech, no thank you.

I got my a** handed to me at work today. It was super busy, issues galore and  didn’t even get a minute to track my food for the day or catch up on news. However, I saw that the hippies were out  which made me happy.

All that for seven bones—not bad at all

Enter unlady like instance of the day:

I was on the phone with a co-worker in Delaware catching up since I haven’t talked to him. I was multi-tasking with emails, work, etc. I got an email with a lady from UK asking me to “kindly provide the documents requested” and this lady is just a thorn in my side. I then said aloud “Kindly suck my nuts” then realizing I was still on the phone. Crickets. Crickets. Is this thing on?! He was still there and broke out into laughter because he’s never heard me like that. When I’m at work, I am surprisingly professional and not “me” at all.

Once, not a lady.

Lunch was nothing special-just a huge roast beef and pepperjack sandwich on whole wheat with tomato and spinach

Nothing really interesting happened this afternoon other than Stinkalicious is off for the next week and a half!!! Woo Hoo—no annoying voice, no funky smells and just peace. So happy. And one of the new girls on my team is now on Team Anti-Stink so she has my back. Stinkalicious was saying bye to everyone and being very dramatic about it and she just sent me an IM with an eyes rolling emoticon. Love it!

On the bus ride home, I was sitting with my legs kinda open and lounging with my chair tilted back a bit. We were in traffic yet again and looked over to my left to see the car next to us with a teenage boy looking at me all weird. Oh yeah, didn’t mention I was in a skirt huh?

Twice, not a lady

I got home and Lincoln was super happy to see me. Whenever I get home from work, he freaks the eff out–running in circles, hyperventilating, assaulting my face with kisses, you get the picture. We had a nice walk although it was a little soggy on the ground with the on and off rain we’ve been having. These two cute boys were on their second floor balcony and said hi and was watching me and Lincoln but not talking (because that isn’t awkward at all) and I slipped and fell in the mud. Oh, still in a skirt and all. And did I have shorts on under? Hell no, so I mooned the strangers with my Ed Hardy-esque undies.

Three times, not a lady

I didn’t have any plans for dinner but had chicken defrosting in the fridge and decided to make Hummus-Feta Chicken Breasts

I butterflied two breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper and spread Athenos Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and topped with feta because it’s betta and baked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

While that was cooking, I cooked snap peas, mushrooms and zucchini in extra virgin olive oil with pepper, paprika and garlic salt

My after dinner snack was a bowl of sliced yellow apple and peach

I’m finally getting around to watching No Impact Man tonight and am excited to watch it!

Salty N Sweet

The series finale of Lost was one beautiful episode. I absolutely loved the flash sideways and how everyone started to remember the island and the connections and relationships they made on it. I stayed up until 2A reading message boards and Lost blogs because I am a dork like that and for the most part it seems like everyone was happy with the ending however some feel like it didn’t finalize everything and saying that the creators lied when saying the island wasn’t purgatory (which it wasn’t, the flash sideways was). All in all, I am going to miss Lost. It was the only show I ever watched that delved deep into the characters, their development and both their past and futures. I can honestly say I will be shocked if another show comes along that has made the impact Lost has made on me.

I had a Supercharge Me cookie this morning since I caught the late bus into work. I also had a Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino Bottle since I wasn’t lazy and didn’t feel like making coffee. This was way too sweet for me and I used to drink these a lot. Add another item to the list of things I am just not diggin anymore. Looks like Operation Watch My Sugar Intake is working because all these sweets are just now too sweet for me and I’m not enjoying it like I used to. I think I have been doing decent with watching my sugar intake (ok except for the occasional ice cream serving) but looking at my sugar this month, a majority of it seems to be from fruit which yeah, it’s a lot of sugar but in my mind, it could be worse by eating something processed with tons more sugar.

I had a bowl of oats around 10A with Trader Joe’s Very Cherry Blend and Trader Joe’s Blueberry Flax—fruity delicious warm goodness (also one of my ex boyfriends nicknames—JK!)

I  was dragging this morning. I had two cups of Starbucks at work and pretty much a walking zombie going though the motions most of the day. Thank God for good eye makeup because I would have just looked horrid without it! I caught up with my co-workers with Lost and we just talked and talked about that so that made my day go a little better. I was busy but nothing out of control so I got to

A) Drink lots of water because I had time to go to the bathroom. Sad huh?
B) Take a 10 minute break in the morning
C) Take a lunch break and catch up on Lost Blogs

Life is good 🙂

I had a turkey and Pepperjack cheese sandwich with Dijon, tomato and lettuce on whole wheat with cucumbers and Athenos Roasted Red Pepper Hummus for lunch.

I finally tried Better Balance Lemon Herb Protein Chips, which have been sitting in my snack drawer at work. I wasn’t anxious to try these because some of these protein snacks can be quite tasteless and just blah.

Surprisingly enough, they were fabulous. I had half a bag and would love to try more. They have other fun flavors like Crispy Parmesan and Chili Nacho Cheese and will need to try those soon! Now to jump on the Vita Top bandwagon!

I tried something different for dinner: Pita Puff Coated Catfish Bites

I threw in Trader Joe’s Pita Puffs in the food processor

I cut up an 8 oz catfish fillet into bites, dipped in eggwash and tossed in ground up Pita Puffs with barbeque seasoning.

Then fried in 1/5 tbsp of vegetable oil

Drizzled with wing sauce and served with half a sweet potato

The verdict: I really liked the alternative of this as a coating for meat as opposed to bread crumbs, panko, etc. but I forgot that it was the Sea Salt Pita Puffs so it was a tad on the salty side (note to self, get the unsalted kind next time!)

I had a good Kettlebell/ Weight workout tonight including:

10 lb dumbbell

• Shoulder Press (2 sets, 13 reps)
• Lateral Raises (2 sets, 12 reps)
• Front Raises (2 sets, 13 reps)
• Curls (2 sets, 13 reps)

20 lb. Kettlebell

• Halos (4 sets, 12 reps)
• Upright Row (3 sets, 13 reps)
• Squats (4 sets, 12 reps)
• Swings (3 sets, 12 reps)
• Shrugs (2 sets, 13 reps)

Mixed with that, I did a lot of jumping, booty shaking and kicking.

Random workout but I felt amazing afterwards. I let Lincoln out of his holding cell (AKA my bedroom) and we went for a 15 minute walk then came back and had my post workout snack: Baked Apple with Cinnamon and Peanut Butter

And spent. I am exhausted and ready to catch up on blogs and crash!

Lost :(

I can’t believe Lost is over for good tonight. Since there is stuff on from 7P to Midnight, I had to take a two-hour nap this afternoon so I could stay awake—no way I am missing this! 

A pretty boring wknd all in all. Payday isn’t until Friday so I am kinda waiting on that since I paid more than I normally do on my credit card. I hate having all this time to do stuff but no money–sucks. 

I started yesterday with eggs in a hole with yellow apple slices on the side. 

 

 

I was pretty bored plus it was overcast out so I decided to go into work to catch up from being off on Friday and of course, get some OT pay 🙂  Anywho, I knocked out all of my emails from Friday plus a bunch of stuff I needed to review. I even applied for some other jobs and it felt good to be caught up. I will definitely be catching the late bus tomorrow since I won’t be going to bed until 1A or so. Ay Chihuahua. 

Yes, that would be Lincoln napping in my arms like a baby.

But happy times were soon near—the hippies were out! I didn’t have a lot of cash on me so only got a few things. 

 

I had a late lunch –I brought a California Pizza Kitchen Personal Size Margherita Pizza. 

 

 

I got home and pretty much just lounged around the rest of the night. 

I was reading The Auspicious Squirrel and saw that she made Pasta Primavera a few wks ago and  been wanting to make it (or a variation) ever since. I usually make tacos or asian stir fry with all my fresh veggies but never really thought to do it Italian style. 

I made mine with Farfalle Pasta, Chicken, Homemade Pesto, Zucchini, Tomato, Mushrooms, Onions topped with a dallop of Greek Yogurt and Feta Cheese. 

 

 

 

 

FANTASTIC! I loved this and was nice to have a cold pasta for a change. 

 I fell asleep at 9P because I’m lame then woke up, cleaned the kitchen, did laundry and watched some tv. I had dessert of Skinny Cow Chocolate Fudge Brownie single portion 

 

 

This morning, I was gearing up to go on a walk and possibly a run and made a waffle and egg breakfast sandwich using Nature’s Path Original Flax Plus Waffles. 

 

 

 

I went for a two-mile walk  which was frustrating. Both my knee and ankle were killing me so I had to stop after that but wanted to do more. I tried running a little but my body did not want to roll with that. Why is my body acting against me now? For years, I was lazy, ate horribly and just a mess and now I want to be active, be healthier, etc. and I keep having this issues. Annoying to say the least. 

I went to the pool for two hours and caught up with some friends there and by the time I got back in, I was starving! I made black bean quesadillas topped with avocado for lunch. 

 

 

I saw that Naomi made these SuperCharge Me Cookies the other day and noticed I had the ingredient list in my kitchen and have been itching to make them! I used whole wheat flour and didn’t have any coconut on me but threw in some extra raisins in there instead. It took less than five minutes to mix and made 12 big cookies. 

 

 

 Try this cookie recipe now! It was awesome, moist  and flavorful. I put in a few extra dashes of cinnamon and really enjoyed the flavor of that along with the vanilla, raisins and chocolate.  My shadow was by my side also waiting for a taste 

 

After that I took my nap, I grabbed a Diet Mountain Dew so I could jolt my system to wake up for Lost. 

 

Dinner time was nearing and I had one of my favorite meals for a night of one of my favorite shows. I made Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken with bok choy, mushrooms, onions and snap peas. 

 

 

And that’s it. I am absolutely loving this Lost Flashback of all the moments in Lost history. I cannot wait to see what happens tonight!!

Sushi and Jen Lancaster

Thanks everyone for your opinion on the dress situation. I think I am going to wear the purple dress to the wedding but keep the pink and black one around for fun! I woke up at 8A because I scheduled a pick up for Salvation Army today since I have a ton of stuff to donate such as a dining room table, clothes, end table, tv, and more. This was the third time I’ve tried to plan something and was hoping that it would be the charm. They couldn’t give me a time of when they were going to be here and just said from 12 to 4P. They later called me telling me te guy who was supposed to be on my route threw out his back. Not happy. I am just trying to donate some stuff. Edit, a bunch of stuff so they can sell and make money for their organization but apparently they are to unorganizde to schedule something for me so I will be going to another organization. ARRRGH!

Since I was up , I made some coffee and an egg, cheese and tomato sandwich on whole wheat

I watched some of the Today show which I don’t prefer but was too lazy to get up and change to Good Morning America. Sam Champion is just fabulous and makes the show a happy viewing for me.

It was nasty out—humid and overcast. I was planning on getting some pool action is so that was out of the question and just felt blah so went back to bed for two hours. When I woke up, I was still feeling off. I should have been happy to be off work but the whole Salvation Army disorganization got me off to a bad start. Plus not being able to go to the pool and no one to call up to do anything didn’t help either. I like a little organization and a plan if you can’t tell.

I was craving greasy take out Chinese food but kept telling myself “NYC NYC NYC” since I am going in July and really didn’t need it. I ended up going to Harris Teeter to get some sushi. When walking in, there was a Boars Head tent with four older gentleman all in red vests sitting there. When I walked by, they all started playing this old-time music and it reminded me of the Seinfeld episode when Elaine goes to the Dixieland Deli to pick up tickets she won on the radio. I just wanted to get my sushi, get in and get out but there was a Boar’s Head/ Harris Teeter validation party going on so people, music, free samples everywhere. Which, I would normally be up for but wasn’t digging it. I picked up a Spicy Tuna Roll and AvocadoVegetable Roll.

Fresh and delicious-two thumbs up!

After that, I watched Arrested Development Season 3 on Netflix. I am trying to not watch too many in one sitting since that’s the least season and am absolutely in love with the show but it is not more 😦 I did a 20 minute kettlebell session then got ready to go out and get my mani/pedi on. I had a Groupon for Polished, an awesome nail bar here in Charlotte. I paid $30 for a $60 All Out Mani/Pedi including paraffin wax and sugar scrub (I got pomegranate). I love Polished, the atmosphere is very modern yet intimate. They have a variety of gossip magazines (love since I refuse to spend $4 on them) and serve wine and beer. Any place where I can get my nails did and have Yuengling is A-OK in my book.

Then I was on my way to what I’ve been waiting for all week—Jen Lancaster at Barnes and Noble. As many of you know, she is my absolute favorite author. I’ve been reading her stuff since Bitter is The New Black came out and frequent her blog-Jennsylvania. I met her once before in Chicago a year and a half ago when my friends were in town for a wedding and she happened to be out doing a reading there.

 Sigh, miss my highlights.

Now, from Polished, it was 10 miles to where the Barnes and Noble she was going to be at was. So you would think on a Friday afternoon it would maybe take 30 mins? Oh no. Hour and a half bitches! And I had to pee. And it was raining. And it’s Race Week here in Charlotte (Nascar, fun, yay). I thought I was going to murder someone by the time I got there. We are in Charlotte, NC not Chicago, Boston or LA. Driving time like that is not acceptable in my book and why I don’t drive many place. I met up with one of my co-workers and got a Caramel Macchatio from the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble. Yum. I haven’t had one of those in four years and it was fabulous. We listened to her reading from an excerpt from her newest book, My Fair Lazy, and she was fabulous, witty and entertaining as always. She had a Q&A session afterwards then signing time was up next. We waited for an hour and a half. The ladies in front of us brought her gifts and suddenly felt like I was being one upped by these strangers. When I got up to her, did I say something witty or someone intelligent to my favorite author? Oh no. I believe the exact words were “Um, yeah, I feel like an effin jackass that I didn’t bring you a gift but I have a Werther’s Original if you want?” She laughed and chatted for a few while she signed my copy of Bitter is the New Black and signed a copy of My Fair Lazy for one of my sorority sisters who was supposed to see her in DC the other night but didn’t make it.

Way too smiley in that picture but I was happy (and hopped up on Starbucks!)

My friend and I were starving and ended up for another sushi-riffic meal at Eez Fusion & Sushi, I’ve heard great things about Eez but am never really up in that part of town so I was excited to try it! We each got a beer and ordered some sushi. They literally had two pages full of sushi selections (I am talking Cheesecake Factory length menus).

I got Mark’s Roll-Fresh tuna, jalapeno, cream cheese, kani and scallion roll, coated with panko and flash fried. Topped with Japanese cream sauce and sriracha. Served with ponzu dipping sauce.

And the TNT Roll-Spicy tuna, kani, avocado and fish roe

Both were absolutely terrific and this may be a new favorite place of mine. I really liked the atmosphere, it was dark with Japanese inspired art and lighting fixtures and had great upbeat music playing.  Plus they have have late night half priced sushi at 11P so I will need to hit this place up again when I live closer to there. Yay for new sushi places!