Love is the best ingredient

After the sucky drive from Charlotte to South Florida, I was stoked to see a package waiting for me at home.

Love Grown sent me some of their granola to try. I like granola, trying new things and free stuff so score!

Since I’ve seen them all over the blogosphere and I love supporting the smaller businesses out there.but I wanted to see what they were about.

From their website:

Love Grown Foods is a company that was formed to create delicious foods made with pure and simple ingredients that ALSO encourages you to live a healthy and active lifestyle that you love. We are founded on the beliefs that you should be able to pronounce every ingredient in a product and that food should be nutritious and healthy while also tasting great! As a company, we are determined to be a part of the movement towards the use of purer products with wholesome ingredients that are also affordable.

Here at LOVE GROWN FOODS, we take pride in the fact that all of our recipes are made with LOVE! Our bold flavors and wholesome ingredients reflect our own desires to live healthy and active lives while still enjoying great tasting foods. A healthy diet is one that is free of added chemicals, and it is for this reason we strive to LIVE FREE!

• Free of Refined Sugar
• Free of High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Free of Trans Fats
• Free of Hydrogenated Oils
• Free of Artificial Flavors
• Free of Preservatives
• Free of Gluten
• Free of Genetically Modified Ingredients

This definitely spoke to my inner hippie. Plus I think it’s pretty cool they put it out there on their website they they encourage those to live a healthy life that you love compared to some other companies who offer products that appear to be healthy but when you read the ingredient list, can’t pronounce any of them.

The first one I tried was the Sweet Cranberry Pecan

This was the perfect combination of sweet and tart. It was tasty cold but think it would be better warmed up in the cooler months (which I hopefully will be seeing in the fall because I know Florida won’t have any that fit my standard) However, I love the coconut slivers in it and soon realized that all the ones they sent me had coconut in them!

Apple Walnut Delight was next

This was my favorite-it was light, crisp and flavorful. Plus, the walnuts make me feel like I’m eating something naughty but not so much. Tres deceitful!

Raisin Almond Crunch was the last one on the list

It was a little skimpy at first so I added blueberries to beef it up a bit. I love the whole almonds in them and of course, the coconut.

And I got some mini bags to take with me on my travels. I can’t wait to dig into the Cocoa Goodness!

The 12 oz. bags of granola go for $4.99, you can order online or find in a store near you.  I’ve never seen it any stores before (just on the blogosphere with everyone and their mom reviewing it) but you can search on their website to see what stores near you carry it (I didn’t see any  see any in South Florida) For me personally, the price is a little steep for granola but a bag lasted me a week so this would be an indulgence for me to buy since I’m a frugal girl. However when looking at other granolas, Love Grown seems to be less in calories and fat and of course, made with the good stuff including the best ingredient of all: Love.

 

Thank you Love Grown for giving me the chance to try your granola!

Are you a granola fan?

Do you buy granola or make your own? I tend to buy mine from the bulk bins at Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Earth Fare and similar stores.

Food truck fail

On Wednesday night, I went to a food truck round up at Esplanade Park in Fort Lauderdale. This was the first one of it’s kind since they all seem to gather in parts of Miami so I was super stoked to take part and try some of the food truck cuisine of South Florida.

 Natalie was also game so I had a food truck partner in crime for the evening! When I rolled up I saw hoards of people and the parking situation was absolutely out of control but they have a ton of lots, garages, etc, around. We walked over to the park, this is what we saw:

Absolute madness.

I couldn’t wait to jump in there and get my grub on.

However, first we decided that a cold one was in order so we went over to the ticket booth to get some tickets for beer. The lady told us that they didn’t expect this kind of turn out so they were no longer selling tickets because there wouldn’t be enough beer. Major bummer, especially since hello-it’s July in Florida and cold beverages would be much appreciated. Even more so if they are adult friendly. But then luck be a lady tonight! A man came up to us and told us that we could have his tickets, no string attached.

So we did what any sensible person would do-double downed so we wouldn’t have to wait in line again

Unfortunately when we tried to go back to the line, the booths were already cleaned out so we should have triple downed instead. Oh well, they were still free.

We got in line for Mr. Good Stuff and waited in hopes that we would soon be greeted with some tasty arepas.

Notice how it’s light out in the picture? I hope so. We waited….and waited….and waited. I listened to some obnoxious dude behind us chatting away about mortgages to the girl he is with (I really hope they weren’t on a first date because homeboy slice killed his chances when he started talking short sales) and dealt with people in front of us letting their friends cut in line. Oh yeah. Didn’t mention how they were a kickball team so it just wasn’t one person cutting in line-it was almost an entire team. Ugh.

By time we got close enough to see what items they still had available, we decided to bail and go to another truck. It was nearing 815pm and I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch time so a side item such as fries wasn’t going to cut it. We checked three other food trucks but to our dismay, there was no real food. Each of the trucks were down to one or two items and they all seemed to be in the appetizer family. Can we say food truck fail? Pair that up with hot, humid, beer, empty stomach and we decided to leave and go to an establishment where we would be guaranteed food—Brick House Tavern. The place was hopping for 9pm on a Wednesday night and they definitely go with the notion that bigger is better-from big booths to big beer bongs at tables around us to the waitresses with big bosums that made me feel like I was at a Hooters instead. And hello-check out this big beer menu!

That’s what I’m talking about!

Food wise-everything looked good at the moment. I kinda wanted to get two or three bites of each appetizer since they equally looked amazing. They even had fried stuffed olives-I’ve never heard of such thing! After much deliberation I got the Fondue Mushroom Burger with a side of fries. Gah, this burger was tender, juicy and hit the spot.

I should have went with Natalie’s side item—garlic tater tots, topped with fresh garlic. They were out of this world and I had to stop myself from grabbing one! I loved this place and want to go back again for the chicken and waffle plate they have.

Even though the main goal of the night was to get some food truck food, it was still a fun evening. It was great to see the camaraderie of all the food trucks out there and the different kinds out there such as grilled cheese, sushi, dim sum, tacos and more. However, next time this happens, I will be there beforehand waiting in line anxiously for food.

 
Does your city have a big food truck following?

Have you “dined” at a food truck? If so, what’s your favorite?

 

PS—-Want a chance to win a Weber Grill & Original Brat Hans Products worth $160? Head over to Simply Life!

Frugal Friday: Boston and Beyond

Happy Frugal Friday! Hope everyone is ready for the weekend and that it’s starting to cool down wherever you are. The weatherman said that in South Florida the heat index today will be 110 degrees so this girl is all about staying inside in the A/C. My parents said something about going to see a movie this afternoon at one of the $2 theaters so they are embracing Frugal Friday as well!

When I went to Boston, Stephanie took me to this awesome used bookstore she frequents. I love used bookstores but this one also had cd’s, dvd’s, magazines, records and other goodies. I soon got the lay of the land and found that they had racks in the front featuring best sellers, chick lit, cookbooks, etc. Along with that are rows upon rows of books, all organized  by genre. It was very easy to navigate through with very reasonable prices.

Not only did I get a couple of books (Devil in the Junior League was read on the way back to DC and a fun, quick read), I also snagged some books on cd, which I still call books on tape. I like to think people know what I’m talking about when I saw books on tape so hopefully that’s the case.

I listened to Something Blue on the way down to Florida and it really did help time go by quickly. I read the book years ago and knew the premise of it but forgot certain parts of it. Plus, after seeing Something Borrowed a couple of months ago, it was fun to continue the story from Darcy’s point of view plus now I can totally see Kate Hudson as Darcy. Every though I prefer the books to movies, I am hoping that they come out with Something Blue as a movie. I am waiting to listen to the Lovely Bones on another long trip. I read the book and it was a little too depressing for me but given the way the book reads, I think the book on tape will be really interesting. I got both of these for under $8. If anyone of you book on tape people would like “Something Blue” let me know and I will be happy to pay it forward and send to you!

While at the Lululemon store in Boston, I went up to the cash register to ask how much their red bags are. I’ve never bought anything there before but I see their bags everywhere and dig them because they are a) red, my favorite color b) I love the quotes on them, just looking at them makes me smile. Besides me Coach purses, I don’t think I can say that about any bags I own. The sales associate told me that they don’t sell them, that they are the bags they put purchases in. I must have looked pretty down while saying “Oh” because the sales associate took one then slid me it on the DL and that definitely turned my frown upside down!

I got to the train station a bit early on Monday and was bored after a half hour, the people watching gods were not being good to me. I found out where the closest CVS was and took a walk over there to stock up on snacks, drinks and more. Stephanie gave me this coupon for $3 off HerbaShine hair color and it must have been in the stars for me to buy it because it was on sale for $7 at CVS.

Pair that up with a $.50 extrabucks coupon and I got hair coloring, swedish fish, Gatorade and a sandwich for $11, not too shabby. But then I thought about my purchase and how sketchy I looked buying hair dye when about to get on a train. That’s like straight out of a movie when a chick kills someone then moves somewhere random like South Dakota to start anew. No worries though, Stephanie is still alive and I am too afraid of prison to do that anyways. I’ve never seen a CVS carry sandwiches like that and they had a pretty decent variety like a club, chicken caesar and buffalo chicken, which I got.

 

I later enjoyed on the train along with some pita chips that I bought at Trader Joe’s that weekend. A great, portable meal for about $5.50 as opposed to just a sandwich on the train for $7 or $8. The buffalo chicken was surprisingly tasty, a lot better than I expected from a drug store.

When I stopped in Charlotte for a night, my friend and I went to Target to look for dresses. Naturally, this meant that I would buy a crap ton more than a dress, including three pairs of shoes for under $30 (one of them not pictured because I have too much stuff and can’t find them at the moment)

While making my way down to South Florida, I saw this sign for free coffee if the restroom wasn’t spotless at Dunkin Donuts. I thought I was going to walk away with a free coffee since it was a DD located within a gas station but no dice, the restroom was completely spotless

I stopped at a friends house the first night I was back in FL and she has an avocado tree in her backyard that is growing avocados left and right. But they aren’t the avocados that I’m used to, like the Haas ones from California, they are Florida avocados and I’ve never heard of that even after growing up in Florida.She gave me a bag of them to take home but said I would have to wait awhile for them to be ready to eat.

As you can see, they are much bigger than the Haas ones and the skin is smoother as well. I sliced one open yesterday but it still wasn’t ready-boo.

I have been doing excellent with not eating out that much. I only ate twice this week and one of them was with a Groupon I had for Wings n Ale in Coral Springs

When I bought the Groupon, I thought the name sounded very familiar and when we pulled up, I realized that I had been there before. I was surprised to see it still in business because it’s in a random strip mall in the corner and if you blinked, you would probably miss it. The inside was very small with about eight or nine tables and you seat yourself. They have a small bar area and only two servers working that night. It was packed and our server mentioned that everyone who has been there in there was because of Groupon. One of the many reasons I love Groupon is because it helps support local businesses so I was happy to see that it was hopping!

Since I tried their wings before, I ordered the blackened mahi sandwich and it was superb. The fish was freah and blackened perfectly with a hint of spice. Plus I kinda dig that the mahi filet is square and served on a round bun-just like Wendy’s hamburgers!

 

Do you do a lot of shopping while traveling or try to save your money on other things?

Have you ever had a Florida avocado?

Do you have a good avocado recipe? I’m looking to do something besides guacamole!

 

 

My first panini press

Old age has not only brought me crows feet, forgetfulness and a few grays hairs. It’s also brought procrastination. My sister bought me this beautiful Hamilton Beach Panini Press for Christmas….ie. back in December of 2010.

Last week, I finally took it out of the box. I don’t know what took me so long-maybe it was because I knew I was going to move and didn’t want to clean the press then pack it up again or just intimidation. I took it out of the box and was entranced by it’s shininess. So silver, so clean, so unfamiliar.

And how small it was, do I even have to insert a twss? Yes, I will anyways—TWSS! I say go with the notion, go big or go home and from the size of the packaging, I thought the panini press would be bigger. And now all of a sudden I have Girls Talk by TLC in my head

I swear,you can’t take me or my ADD anywhere.

But back to the panini….I haven’t had a panini in awhile so I wasn’t sure what my first creation was going to be. Plus we didn’t have that much on hand at home so for my first panini I kept it simple-ham, muenster cheese, brown mustard and baby spinach. I made the sandwich then put on the griddle, closed the lid and let it do it’s magic for about four minutes.

Very tasty and definitely a fun way to change up mundane sandwiches. However, summer wasn’t the right time to try this out for the first time, I should have tried it in the fall or winter.

I decided to get a little more ambitious with my second panini, thanks to the help of TJ’s Red Pepper Spread.

I love this stuff so much and am now regretting the fact that I’m back in FL where the closest TJ’s is eight hours away-oi. Anyways, if you haven’t tried this stuff and are fortunate enough to have a TJ’s near you-please go out and buy it-you won’t regret it. I’ve used it on sandwiches and dips in the past and Caitie mentioned that she mixed it with sour cream and used as a pasta sauce so that is next on the agenda.

The other add-ins were thin slices of leftover bbq chicken, spinach, tomato and onion. I think the combination of overloading plus having a less hearty type of bread and the spread were my downfall because after a couple of minutes on the press the panini looked like this

I tried to fix it but there was no use in make it pretty. Sometimes you have to take things for what they are and look beyond the exterior. This was a Quasimodo of panini’s.

Bad looks aside, I still tore this thing apart. The red pepper spread was a great sauce to add and didn’t even need cheese (maybe that was another problem?)

Do you own a panini press? 

What’s your favorite panini combination?

Any panini press tips?

How many frickin times can I say panini?!!?

Tempting Tapatio

Sup homies? So, the last few days have been anything but exciting. They’ve been pretty boring so here are the highlights:

#1. Operation eat leftovers is still in tact

Leftovers of enchiladas that I made on Friday

Taco salad with leftover chicken than I made on Saturday

I spiced it up by adding my homeboy Tapatio. At first, I picked him up the other night in Wal Mart and wasn’t going to take him home. But fate had a different plan. See, what happened was that I picked up one bottle and dropped it on contact. All. Over. The. Place. I’m talking my flips, capris, legs, toes-the Wal Mart floor was covered in Tapatio. It was quite nasty and I feared that there would be a midget who was craving the hot sauce around to lick it off my toes. So I walked up and down the aisles of Wal Mart searching for just one employee but couldn’t even find that. I found some paper towels around so I could de-Tapatio myself off but the entire night I reeked of it, even after showering, Even though he is a slippery bitch, I still got nothing but love for him.  I love the heat he brings to the table and how cheap he is. What more can you ask for in a man?

#2. I’m legit and got a library card here!

They have a huge selection of books plus I found these. When I lived in Charlotte, I would have had to wait a month or two for these. I’m especially excited about The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest In since I’ve been searching for the free or cheap version everywhere but can’t find it. Plus I only have it for two weeks and it’s a little over 500 pages.

#3 The YMCA sucks here. I found out that I can only go 14 times in one year not 14 times in one month as I thought. They have the basics there but I am used to more variety in a gym. They have a small cardio area but older versions of machines and mostly treadmillsI went yesterday and had a less then stellar workout.

So I am going to attempt to the scam the system and go to the one here then go to the one in the county over since it’s only 15 minutes away.

#4. I’m going to start swimming. I used to be a huge swimmer and oddly enough, that was when I was in my best shape —a long, long time ago. My parents have a pool and even though it’s obviously not an Olympic size pool, I can do laps, not have to worry about bumping into anyone else and now feel like I can be serious about it since I got some goggles after the Great Tapatio Mess of ‘11.

#5. Operation make food at home is still going on as well.As mentioned before, my parents go out to eat all the time. I told them I would be more than happy to cook for them to save some money and eat at home. Tonight I make breaded chicken cutlets and Triple Tomato Sauce penne from Food + Wine. I didn’t have a few of the ingredients on hand so I used what I had and make my own sauce, my revisions are in red:

1. 1 pound penne
2. 2 medium tomatoes (5 ounces each), cut into 1-inch dice one can diced tomatoes
3. 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained 1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
4. 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/4 cup
5. 4 large basil leaves 1/4 cup chopped parsley
6. 1 garlic clove  about three tablespoons minced garlic
7. 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

I mixed the ingredients in my magic bullet then put it on the stovetop on low and threw in some sautéed mushrooms. I pounded two chicken breast then made smaller cutlets out of them. Then dredged the chicken in flour, eggwash and breadcrumbs with oregano and pepper mixed in then fried on the stovetop in vegetable oil.

Only three of the four burners on my parents stove work and of course every time I try to cook something, I forget which one it is so cooking in this house is super fun. However, I was quite impressed that my parents had some organic whole wheat penne on hand

And they scored it for $.99-nice job parents!

I really loved the sauce and it took no time to make. In the past I have used diced tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, wine and various spices but I haven’t used tomato paste all that often.

Another great thing about this recipe? It made a crap ton of food which means lots of leftovers-looks like I’ll be eating this the rest of the week.

#6 This living with my parents thing is not going to last long. I already had one freak out session so let’s hope I can make it to October without us at each others throats. I will be out of here for most of September however I have August and the early part of October to get through. I’m going to try to look for some temp work for the month of August so I can get out of the house and earn some money and of yeah, keep my sanity.

#7 As frustrated as I am, I still have the fur babies to keep me company

If you’re a fan of the heat-what’s your favorite hot sauce?

Have you ever lived with your parents as an adult? If so, how did you keep the peace or was that not an issue?

All Apologies: July Edition

Happy Monday? It definitely feels like a Monday but at least I got an early start on stuff today. I decided to break out another edition of All Apologies. I haven’t posted one since the initial one back in May and have gotten some let’s just say interesting search results that have brought people to my blog in the past month. Once again, to those who have been directed over here in search of one of these terms-I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. Some of my favorites are below (with my comments in red):

shaka wear plaid-I’m more of a polka dot kinda gal, never was a prep plus plaid does nothing to shrink the appearance of my booty.

splenda addiction –I know, I know. I’m well aware that I have one and I tend to swipe them as well. You can’t take me anywhere.

kucher’shka-hmmm no clue

cute qdoba boy- Someone better not be mackin on my forbidden fruit of a qdoba boy back in Charlotte!

athenos greek yogurt commercial actress johanna-I’ve never seen an Athenos greek yogurt commercial. And I’m kind of pissed off at their company because they won’t offer any coupons online plus they blatantly tell you online if you try to write them, they still won’t send you coupons. That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

funky hippie kitchens-I wanna go to one!

how healthy is catfish

pics of whipping table- Sorry, cannot help you

cool whip covered breasts—heeeeeeey-ooo!

Girls act weird uptown-

Sunnu Neyal Porn-I had to laugh at this because naturally, I thought of Neyal. Then I wondered what kind of funky porn Sunnu Neyal does.

Harris Teeter dragon

Cute Starbucks barista-I haven’t seen too many cute male ones. All the attractive male ones seem to be too pretty and of course, like the men.

Making shrooms to get high- Can’t help you

Greek god of sex-I am not sure but I think I shall research

leonardo dicaprio touch me there fotos-SAY WHAAAAAAA????!!!!

Scottish breakfast burrito-I’ve never had Scottish food so I’m not sure what this would entail but color me intrigued.

ryan gosling crazy stupid love workout

sexy thai girls drinking pomegranate juice

paula deen excited-you mean her riding men like horses? I would be excited too!

moody bloated tired-Ouch.

what were bad things about shaka-See above

i have a red welp on my are what kind of bite is it-I had one last summer and it was nasty. I’m still not sure what happened or if I reacted negatively to something I ate or put on my face but fear not, it went away

since i ganna go to over there today starboucks-holla?

what is taylor swifts favorite condiment-I don’t know and I don’t care for that evil bunny

be my hippie-OMG, is this like be my valentine??

hung men in speedos

ex con licking-I think I may have a story about that

leonardo dicaprio con nutella – screw peanut butter cups-this is the new combination! What is Leo up to these days anyways? A lot of people seem to be searching for info on him but I can’t think of if I’ve seen him in any movie previews as of late.

living with amy bacon wrapped tater tots-Maybe Amy’s roommate googled this to make for Amy’s  birthday today?

julius peppers naked-I’ve never seen him naked but there has to be a better site to find nude pictures of him than my blog

tina turner speaks vietnamese-This made me laugh because I thought of Meet The Parents “jack talk Thai. Jack talk Thai very well”

ex boyfriend from college 12 years ago- that would be my ex boyfriend who wore a red suit to our formal to match my red dress. It was either that or a purple suit and I figured he would look less like a King of Comedy if he were wearing red and a white, Polish dude.

(source)

RIP Bernie

green monster purple nipple-do you know how tempted I am to make two slushy green monsters and place purple skittles right in the middle to resemble nips?

If you have a blog, what’s the most interesting search result you’ve had recently?

Home cookin’

So, I’m home alone.

(source)

Sans red bib, although I’m not opposed to it. Thankfully I’m not fighting off burglars (and hopefully no peeping toms). When I got home on Friday I thought my parents were going to be there that evening from traveling to the west coast of Florida. But then they told me they wouldn’t be in today and was instantly elated. I had the house to myself, could do whatever I want, throw a party (not so much) and just have some me time. After living alone for five hours, I’m used to being alone and have my own schedule. However the last month has thrown a wrench in my normal schedule since I’ve been crashing with my friends the entire time. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but love for them but by the end, I just wanted to get back home, to somewhere familiar and have some me time.

And another thing I was looking forward to? Some home cooking! When I pillaged through my parents kitchen, I saw not only was the entire thing a complete wreck with items in random places and no real order but there was also no food. My parents are notorious for going out to eat just about every night so I wasn’t surprised. I already told them that we are going to have a talk about that and then told them we are going to take about the organization or lack thereof of the kitchen space. But I soon realized that I’m now in South Florida which means I don’t have my go to supermarkets that I had back in Charlotte. I did a search online to see what we have here and then soon realized that none of the stores offer double coupons. I’ve heard that before but figured that there has to be one right? Um, no. None of them do, thumbs down friends.I scanned the weekly ads and ended up at Winn Dixie since they had a decent BOGO sale going on. I saw that they also offer Fuel Perks just like Bi-Lo in Charlotte, so for every $50 you spend, you get $.05 off your gas bill. Doesn’t sound like much but it definitely adds up after awhile. I picked up a bunch of groceries including my staples such as chicken, cheese, tortillas, frozen veggies and greek yogurt.

Ok and some new-to-me beer

All my parents have on hand is Baileys and other after dinner drinks. I’m sure I could make some kind of interesting concoction but when it’s near 100 degrees and humidity like no other, I just want a cold one.

The first thing I made was black bean and spinach enchiladas. But of course I forgot the key ingredient-enchilada sauce. Perhaps it was because I was distracted by the fact they didn’t carry El Pato enchilada sauce and I didn’t want to pay $2 for Old El Paso sauce. So like I do with anything, I winged it.

I mixed chopped onions, black beans, cooked spinach, jalapeno seasoning, salt and pepper with shredded cheese

Then I nuked half a block of cream cheese and added the melted goodness to the mix

Spread on a tortilla. I usually dunk the tortillas in chicken broth but, surprise, I forgot that as well.

Due to the lack of enchiladas sauce, I spotted some diced tomatoes in the pantry. I added garlic, red pepper flakes and pepper to them then spread over the enchiladas and topped with cheese.

13 minunutes later, my belly was growling and I had an audience that was apparently hungry as well

Sorry Lincoln, you are half Chihuahua but no enchiladas for you!

Ah, how I miss a home cooked meal!!!

Saturday night I made bbq chicken with shelled edamame and roasted red potatoes

I had a coupon for Stubbs BBQ Sauce and being the bbq lover I am, was excited to see if it lived up the much heard hype. I tried a bit before I smothered the chicken in it and I really like it. It has a tangy kick to it that gave it a little bite but also a bit of sweetness.

I marinated the chicken in that for three hours then cooked on the stovetop while the roasted potatoes cooked in the oven. I made a random little mix of pepper, salt, ground mustard and jalapeno seasoning to coat the potatoes with and it was excellent! The best part is I have leftovers of both throughout the week to nosh on instead of going out for something and spending more money than I need to.

So, yes, even though the last few months has been restaurant fest, you are going to start seeing less on here. I’ve been spending way too much money on going out and we will see if I can change my parents spending habits at all. I love to go out to eat but it is not doing anything for my figure. Plus, cmon, who doesn’t love a home cooked meal?

Do you make meals at home or go out to eat the majority of the time?

Reunited and it feels so good

I picked Lincoln and Mickey up on Friday morning and I seriously thought Lincoln was going to have a heart attack when he saw me. He wouldn’t stop convulsing or hyperventilating and after about five minutes, he finally calmed down. I’m so happy to be with my pup again but it’s weird having him right by my side since I’ve been Lincoln-less for the past month. He looks smaller then he did before and it’s just great to see him again! So this weekend I will be spending some quality time with the pups and tackling this hot mess

Happy weekend everyone!

pedal to the metal

Oi. The past two days have been long with a capital L. I’m making my way back to Florida and the drive has been straight up boring. When I was young and in college, I had no issue driving the 18 hours straight home but now? No way Jose. I make stops often just to stretch and my ideal time span is six to seven hours a day.

I left DC yesterday morning. I gave myself some time to mentally wake up, have breakfast and pack the last of my car. I made one last stop at Trader Joe’s the day before since we don’t have any in Florida. I even checked their website and the closest one will be in Mt. Pleasant, SC when it opens. I love Joe but I don’t think I could do an eight hour trip for him. My sister gave me a gift card for my birthday so this was the ideal time to use it and stock up on non perishable goodies.

I’ll even miss their art

 

I said goodbye to Riley and was on my way to Charlotte

And if anyone in the DC area knows this person, I would love to meet them because I feel the same way!

No matter how I tried to mix it up with cd’s, the drive home dragged on. I got to work on my tan a little at least. This is the most comfortable way for me to drive since my knee often aches after awhile. And the truckers seem to let me pass whenever I’m sitting like this so two birds, one stone!

I stopped at Sheetz in Mebane, NC and took a picture of the gas sign to compare it to last year when I stopped there on my way up to DC

July 20, 2011:

April 8, 2010

Makes me sick.

I got to my friends house and took it easy the rest of the night. And by taking it easy I mean an hour and half trip to Target. I am looking for the dress I wore this weekend but in blue and have now been to three Target’s and can’t find it. I can find it in grey but it’s not flattering at all. I am going to try one or two more Targets then go online and try to find it there. And can someone please tell me why there is this sign in the baby section?

Don’t worry, baby fever is the last kind of fever I will ever have. The reason I was in that section was because my friend who I stayed with is ready to pop any day. Matilda wanted to see how pregnant she was and possibly whisper the baby out of her

She climbed up on her belly and whispered a few nursery rhymes but no luck. I was kinda hoping she would into labor that night and I would deliver the baby. Then it would be turned into a Lifetime movie and Tori Spelling could gain a bunch of weight, get her boobs even and dye her hair brunette to play me in a movie about sorority sisters who deliver each others babies. Homegirl is still preggers, oh well, will just have to keep the faith I will deliver a baby one day.

The drive to FL started off on the wrong foot today. I decided to go back to my lets hit the snooze button again game so I didn’t get on the road until 9am. Once I got through Columbia, SC there was an accident on I 26. I waited there for about 30 minutes having to pee and in desperate need of gas.  Soon enough we were on our way again and I stopped got gas, went to the bathroom and stocked up on some refreshments. I went back to my old college liquid diet of Mountain Dew and coffee for extra energy for the 11 hour drive. Good thing I went to the bathroom because once I merged on to I 95 traffic was at a dead stop.

 

That was at 1145am and at 2pm I was still there.

I was getting restless, Matilda was getting restless and I am so happy my car is in working condition. I got outside and was chatting with the car next to me and their A/C went out and they were traveling with two dogs and a kid. I am bad enough on my own in the A/C so I can’t imagine not having A/C and traveling with child and dog would be like.

By the time I got to the southern part of Georgia, it was around 5pm…..eight hours after I left. It normally takes me four hours to get there but the trip was doubled due to the traffic. I could have powered on, been delirious and drove all the way home but I knew that wouldn’t be safe and didn’t want something bad to happen. I stopped at Starbucks and figured out my next steps and decided to get a hotel room for the night.And this Microtel I’m staying at is total sketch. My parents recommended this place to me and there are some weird, skeevy men in the parking lot. I unloaded everything that was in plain view of my car so that took some time up all in hopes my car won’t get broke into in,

Backtrack, I have bad luck with moving. I often lose or damage things and when I made the cross country drive from Phoenix to Charlotte five years ago, something bad really happened. I was driving through Amarillo and it was a torrential downpour. I’m from FL and used to rain but I had never seen rain like this before in my life. I couldn’t see in front of me and had been driving for 12 hours already so I pulled over to the first hotel I could find off the highway. It looked a little run down however I was only going to shower, nap for two or three hours then get back on the road. So I did and when I went out to my car in the morning, the back windows were bashed in completely. There was some stuff left in my car however they stole my underwear, computer,toiletries, contacts, photos and other random stuff. I was in complete shock that this happened in a three hour timespan and was scared to drive on to Charlotte. The funny thing is is that I had three or four Coach purses sitting in the back of my car which were probably worth more than most of the stuff they stole. It still pisses me off to this day and it’s one of the sole reasons I hate Texas (well, that and GW) So now I am completely paranoid anytime there is stuff in my car and I’m staying in foreign to me area, especially when there are undesirable looking people around.

And back to today. So this skeevy hotel room is full of my stuff now and I am hoping to get a good nights sleep, shower and get home tomorrow afternoon. Seeing that I’m back in Florida, I had to stop at Publix (AKA one of the best grocery stores ever) and pick up a quick dinner of buffalo chicken tenders and cole slaw

And I got the Real Housewives with me

Let’s hope this bed doesn’t have bedbugs

What are your tips for staying safe while traveling solo?

Has anyone seen this commercial for Summer’s Eve? I keep cracking up every single time I see.

 

Up to Beantown: Part Two

More Boston love! Stephanie took me to one of her favorite places for brunch on Saturday morning, Zaftigs

We got there early but apparently not early enough since everyone else and their mom had the idea to go there that morning. Even though there were a some people waiting outside, we got a table right away complete with a waitress who lacked personality. I got the San Francisco Joe’s Special-turkey hash with spinach, mushrooms, onions with a side of home fries, toast and watermelon. It was way too much food and way better than any kind of eggs I can ever make.

However,  once I saw Stephanie’s french toast, I came down with a little case of food envy.

Gah, I die.

The best part of the meal was listening to the table next to us. It was one skeevy guy in his mid twenties and two college aged girls. He reminded me of a third rate, unattractive Jason Siegel with two or three unbuttons undone on his button up shirt. Homeboy wouldn’t shut up. He started to talk about how Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are all one in the same and that is when Stephanie and I shut up and just listened. Then he decided to be generous and pick up the entire tab (perhaps because he wouldn’t shut his pie hole the entire meal?) then when the girls were all “Noooooo, you can’t do that!” he said “If I can’t take my girls out for a meal, what good am I?” or something about that effect. Blah. Sometimes I don’t mind tables closetogetherlikethis in a restaurant, other times when I have to listen to random, weird conversations, not so much.

We went walking around later and the dilemma of what to wear came up. I hate pants in the summer time but can deal with capris. I was feeling more like wearing a casual dress around but that meant I would wear flip flops. There was nothing more I wanted to do than wear sneakers since we would be walking around a great deal but that was out of the question. I wish I could make sneakers work with a dress but there is no way to make it look good

(source)

Go on with your bad self Sarah!

We started off around Quincy Markey and near the Government Center

Somehow we ended up in the middle of an African festival.

Then we ran into some street performers who were just about to get started so we found a place somewhat in the shade and watched them.

Then started dancing, breakdancing and doing flips then they started grabbing people from the crowd to take part in a special exhibition. Of course, they grabbed yours truly. At first they lined me and threes others up one in front of the other and explained that they were going to flip over us. Oh joy. The last thing I need is a man flipping over me, especially when I am without health insurance. Then they had us bend over. Um, I was in a dress so the last thing I wanted to do was bend over in front of a bunch of people since as one of the performers said I was “juicy” to another performer. Gross, I still take offense to that comment. They had the decency to cover the girls up though so we didn’t look like a 2 Live Crew video. So we were just waiting there and I guess the guy flipped over us. We were just bending over waiting, my knee was killing me and I just wanted to get up into normal pose again. Stephanie was awesome and took some pictures of it though so you can see what I’m talking about

And I walk away unharmed-score!

We went into the madness that is Quincy Market afterwards. This is a total tourist spot complete with shops, carts, performers and restaurants but it was fun to see since I am a tourist and all.

We perused the carts and shops

Amen

Made our way over to Boston Common and that’s just about the time my camera died so please enjoy a few last pictures before we got there

Walked through the gardens and saw the swan boats.

Made our way over to Newbury

Saw all the shops there  including pretentious ones like Chanel, Gucci and others that I will never ever be able to afford. There were some cute, independent ones as well.

Too bad we didn’t have time to stop in these coffee shop, I adore the name.

Stopped at Stephanie’s on Newbury, it was that weird of time where you don’t want a meal but you need a little something in you to keep going. And our feet hurt. And we were sweaty and were in desperate need of a cold one.

Then heaven was placed right in front of us-Warm Vermont Goat Cheese appetizer.

This picture does this no justice whatsoever. When they brought it to us, the cheese and oil were bubbling right in front of our very eyes. I just kept staring at it since I’ve never seen goat cheese bubble like that before. We tried to tear the bread but it was piping hot and burnt our fingers when we tried to. But we powered on and tore away anyways since we didn’t want to miss the wonderfulness that is warm goat cheese.

So please check out Stephanie’s photo. Stephanie-Cookie Battle, not Stephanie of Stephanie’s on Newbury. Hmm, that was a tad confusing.

Reason #62 why I want a DSLR

After the walking fest we rested our feet and then  went to Margaritas for dinner for some much needed Mexican food. Ok, much needed margaritas with a side of Mexican food.

I was very excited to have my margarita (thanks Steph for the pic)

It was absolutely gorgeous out and right on the Charles River. I wish I would have got a picture of the patio because it was spacious and quite busy for a Saturday night. I wondered if there was going to be anything cheesy like a mariachi band that comes around to each table but she said there was nothing alike that there. Phew. I could have gone for tacos, nachos or fajitas but my body was in desperate need of veggies since there was a lack of greens and other fresh stuff that day and day prior. I got the Chicken Baja Salad which was adorned with a heaping portion of veggies and I swear my body felt better once the veggies were consumed.

And to go off on a short tangent……

Look who Matilda got to meet while in Boston?

Matilda and Cecil got along very well. They reminisced about the days of Eisenhower and when you could get a quality cup of coffee for $.10.

Sunday was another long, fun day around Boston. And visiting a city means one thing–blogger meetup!

The Other Side was very  *ahem* interesting. By interesting, I mean hipster. Our server had jorts on while another man sported a fedora and other people just had a sense of irony about them as hipsters do. The whole seating arrangement still vonfuses me since the host said there couldn’t be more than 49 people in the building at once so he could have sat us partially before everyone arrived but then if more people arrived after that and our guests hadn’t, they would have to wait for someone to leave. We told him how many people were in our party and he couldn’t grasp the fact that we had five people in our party, not five. I guess he wasn’t a genius at math like in Good Will Hunting, maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part that I would run into some closet prodigy.  Leave it to me to order a meaty dish at the mostly vegetarian/vegan restaurant.  I don’t care, the Ham Solo was worth every single bite!

 

Ashleigh, Stephanie, Caitie

Me and Erin

Matilda even made a guest appearance!

Group Shot!

Ashleigh, Erin, Caitie, me, Stephanie

 Another successful blogger meetup! It was wonderful to meet these ladies and put faces/names to the blogs, take part in some good conversation, enjoy good food and drink and escape the heat for the day. I love how real the Boston girls are and they were just all around fun!