Organized Chaos

I live in a state of organized chaos. 

Whether it comes to my kitchen with my limited counter and cabinet space

The contents of my fridge

And yes, when I am feeling uninspired and too lazy to look through hundreds of recipes that I have at my fingertips, I simply pull up a stool to the fridge and stare until I come up with meals to make.

How I organize my cookbooks

Hell, even my magnets on my fridge are organized chaos

And especially at work, this is my desktop on a day where I have 95% of my work done and I’m feeling good about it

My thoughts are  in a state of organized chaos. ALL. THE. TIME.

But I’m cool with that since that is how I am used to things being and living. Some may not understand that but that’s how I am and operate. I have so much going through my brain on the daily, it’s difficult to keep things straight but somehow I manage. I thank my Blackberry memo pad that lets me jot down random thoughts and things I need to get done and of course, Post It notes. I can’t live without Post It notes.

(source)

Even living with Lincoln is a state of organized chaos since he is the dog who like to rest with a pillow on top of him, not under him

My workouts are in a state of organized chaos. I go to the gym with no idea what I’m going to do but knowing I want a killer workout. I do this because the gym I go to gets busy which means that finding a machine can be difficult. I try to find any kind of machine I can whether it be elliptical, treadmill or bike and go to town on it. Afterwards, I usually do some kind of strength training but again, unplanned. since that is how I roll.

Meals are sometimes in a state of organized chaos and unplanned….like on Monday.

I had off on Monday but since I have been so overloaded with work, I went in for a few hours to knock some stuff out without distraction. I was there for two hours and really didn’t get that much done nor did it give me the peace of mind I was hoping for.

I made a tuna, green onion and avocado salad with tomato on top of a sandwich thin with a side of Kashi Mediterranean Bruschetta crackers

This was such a fantastic and flavorful combination! I didn’t use any mayo and it was still rich and creamy.

Dinner was a bit unorganized as well and the brainchild of sitting in front of the fridge for a few minutes.

I chopped up some tofu then pressed for few hours

Mixed with taco seasoning

Then fried those little suckers up

I added some black beans and corn that was looking for a home

Then I remembered I had cooked mushrooms that were also in need of a home

While that was cooking, I chopped up a few springs of green onion and two jalapenos (with gloves of course!)

Then added everything together….plus some tomato, cheese, avocado and salsa

I already have enough organized chaos in my life, why not add some more to the mix with food?

This was such a terrific meal but I got too ambitious with my toppings and they were difficult to eat. I love that since most of the ingredients were fresh I didn’t have to add alot of seasonings to the mix except for the taco seasoning.

And it left wonderful leftovers such as a naked burrito bowl.

Dinner on Tuesday night was a completely random one….. brown purple pink green monster!

Instead of using baby spinach like I always do, I used kale instead after reading about a kale smoothie on Thorns Have Roses. I love me some kale but never thought to use it in a smoothie before so I was a tad apprehensive. I mixed with almond milk, strawberries, flax-seed and Spiru-tein Blueberries and Cream protein powder

I would never really crave a green monster for dinner but I had my permanent crown put on Tuesday afternoon and was supposed to stick to soft foods for 24 hours.

Do you live your life in a state of organized chaos?

How do you keep your thoughts and life organized? Paper, phone, calendar, planner?

PS–Win a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate!

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?

Black Bean Bonanza

Thanks for the feedback on the facebook stalking. It seems like most admitted to it with a few thrown in there who think it spells out bad news. I like to hear what people’s thoughts are on it with exes since I like to stalk for a day or two and then get bored with them. I think it’s the whole intrigue of where they are now, have they changed-if so, for better or worse, etc. I became friends with another ex from college this past spring and we ending up talking one night and he changed….for the worst. He was a really nice guy when we dated but has become bitter towards women, almost in a masochistic way. It’s weird how much people can change. I have gotten a lot nicer and more patient since college but some others I’ve seen have changed in a negative way. Oh well, people are people.

So, I’m on a little black bean kick. The madness started last night. I wanted to make something quick and delicious for dinner but after scouring my cupboards, I couldn’t come up with anything. Then I remembered the six-pack of black bean cans I had sitting there and black bean burgers automatically popped into my mind.

Except I didn’t have onion, pepper or any eggs, which I always use in mind. I was going to say eff it since I had something cooking on the stovetop but really wanted to make black bean burgers since I got the idea in my head. I finished up my cooking and went to the supermarket to pick up some onion, peppers, eggs and other random stuff then back at home to start on the burgers.

I chopped up half an onion and one pepper then threw into a mixing bowl with breadcrumbs (about 1/3 cup) garlic, chili powder and a dash of salt.

I threw a can of the black beans in my magic bullet with a little of the liquid from the can to soften them up a bit. Every black bean burger recipe I’ve seen tells you to mash with a fork and that never works for me, so I figured this can’t hurt.

They were watery but definitely broken up more than mashing with a fork, I threw into the mixing bowl and mixed with the other ingredients and one egg.

After doing that, I threw boil-in-a-bag brown rice into the microwave and cooked for 10 minutes.

I will definitely be doing this again, I always make mine on the stovetop but this is way more convenient.

I formed into four patties and threw them on the stovetop with a little oil in there already.

I flipped about three or four times

I put half the bag of rice on a plate, topped with salsa that I received in the holiday gift exchange from Anna with the burger on top.

And how cool is this picture on the protective seal of Daisy’s sour cream? I love natural beauty, especially when paired with sour cream.

I then topped with a couple of tablespoons of cheese, microwaved for 30 seconds then topped with a dollop of sour cream and tabasco

Mission accomplished–a quick and delicious meal.

This is definitely the best black bean burger I’ve made to date. I like to think it was because of putting the beans in the magic bullet. I had one later last night alone and it was zesty and moist-hooray!

I did a short kettlebell workout after that which later turned into a Michael Jackson dance party…..again.

Kettlebell-20 lbs

Upright Deltoid Rows (13 reps, 3 sets)

Halos (13 reps, 3 sets)

Shrugs (13 reps, 3 sets)

Lateral Bench Press (13 reps, 3 sets)

Dumbbell Raise (13 reps, 2 sets)

Swings (13 reps, 3 sets)

Side Bends (20 reps, 2 sets)

Deadlifts (20 reps, 2 sets)

Between the legs pass (25 reps, 2 sets)

Dumbbell-15 lbs

Tricep Extensions (13 reps, 2 sets)

Curls (13 reps, 2 sets)

Misc.

Push Ups (25 reps, sets)

It felt great to move and get my heart rate up there after a long weekend of eating and sleeping!

Getting back to work today was rough. I had to catch up on so much but there were a lot of people out of the office which helped because that means fewer distractions for me. One of my co-workers told me he had a Qdoba BOGO coupon that expired on 12/31/10 and asked if I want to go. Lunch for $3?? Of course I want to go.

And you know what I got?

A naked grilled chicken taco salad….with extra black beans. What can I say, when I like something, I really, really like it! I hate trying to snap a picture in front of my co-workers, I feel so sketchy doing so because I do it really quick and hope no one hears my phone cam go off. Anyone know how to turn off the sound of the camera taking a snapshot on Blackberry? I searched all over the help guide on my phone and can’t find squat.

At work, it was me and the guys, which I love. We talked about sports, naturally. Then they started talking about Julius Peppers, a defensive end for the Bears who used to play here for the Panthers. One of the guys was saying how huge he was in person-both tall and wide but he is one of the quickest in the league. I’ve seen him play but never realized how huge he was so when I got back to my desk, I googled him. All the pictures seemed to be of him in uniform but I wanted to see a normal picture so I clicked on one of the Google results and went to the webpage. And my computer froze. Of course, it wasn’t a normal page. Oh no, it was some page called “Sexy Black Men” and my frickin computer froze! I was waiting for my manager to walk by, ask what was going on and then get fired for looking at porn while at work but thankfully, that didn’t happen. When my computer restarted, I finally found a normal picture of him. He is a pretty big guy–look at those hands!

 I need to start looking at the names of these sites before I click on them…..especially while at work!

 Dinner, again, black bean burgers. I can’t help myself!

Mmmmmmmm. I need to make another batch of these….soon!

And now I’m off, I am going to a friend’s house tomorrow for NYE to just hang out, watch movies, eat and drink. I am going to be making some appetizers to bring over to her place but need to put my shopping list together.

New Year’s Eve: Amateur night or paint the town red?

Start spreading the news

I’m leaving super early tomorrow! My flight is at 6A so I will have to be up at 3A since I am checking a bag. But I am flying on Jet Blue so there is no fee and I’ve heard great things about them so I am anxious to see what makes them supposedly stand out.

Thank you sleep gods, I got 8.5 hours of sleep last night and felt fabulous rolling out of bed. If I didn’t drink so much water at night, I could have slept longer but my rule is if it’s a reasonable hour and I get out of bed, there is no reason for me to go back. That being said since I was lounging in bed, Lincoln got extended cuddle time since he was being boarded today.

It seems like some of you don’t know of other bloggers in your area—you should throw it out sometime on your blog. I had absolutely no clue there were others in Charlotte til I saw Lauren post something about having an area meet up—-you never know who is reading and could be interested!

I ran a bunch of errands this morning and got fueled at Starbucks: Grande Iced Coffee with Skim Milk and one pump Raspberry Syrup and a spinach/feta/eggwhite wrap

This was my first time trying the wrap and it was great! Rarely do I get food at Starbucks but I will be trying this again if I am in need of breakfast. I went to Ross, Kohls and Target and then got back to hang with Lincoln and get some packing in

Look at this cute oils and vinegar variety pack I picked up at Ross courtesy of the clearance aisle–$3.49

For lunch, it was breakfast time again. I made an egg white omelet topped with Trader Joe’s Cuban Style Black Beans, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes with a whole wheat sandwich thin with spray butter and cinnamon sprinkled atop

A green purple monster with Almond Milk, Baby Spinach, McDonalds Parfait and blueberries topped with granola

This was a super meal! I loved the combination of the black beans, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes as random as it was. The purple monster was fabulous as well, I think mostly because of the McDonalds Parfait. Meals like this make me happy I am cleaning out my cabinets and making random concoctions 🙂

I took Lincoln to the boarding place and I didn’t cry or anything! That’s a complete lie. I was fine until she took me back there into where he would be staying and I was in sensory overload with all the puppies barking and licking me, Lincoln grasping onto me for dear life and the whole experience of him not staying with someone I know. I started bawling, kissed him goodbye and left. I get too emotional when it comes to that dog!

I went to the pool for a fews and got some reading in. I saw some people playing pool volleyball and they were short one person so I joined in for an hour. I miss playing volleyball so much! I used to play alot but pool volleyball is definitely my favorite since I am not a beach volleyball person (hate the sand)

Dinner was Ziti from the Olive Garden —I snagged some yesterday in a to go container before it was all gone so I would have something other than breakfast foods to eat today.

I took some Tylenol PM and waiting for it to kick in soon! I need to get as much sleep as possible now since I know I won’t be getting a lot this wknd. Will I be blogging? You’ll have to stop by and see! I’m really not trying to be a tease, I just really have no clue 🙂 I will have gazillions of pictures when I get back though-that I know for sure!

Til the next time……

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 🙂

Swallowed your hollaback girl

You know it’s going to be a happy monday when you’re morning “coffee” is brewing at home and you forget to put grinds in the night before, waaaa waaa waaaaaaaa 😦

I had a Venti Iced Coffee with Soymilk and three splenda’s from the Bucks for a morning pick me up

I had a new concoction for breakfast–Chobani Strawberry, Sliced Peaches, Unsweetened Coconut and Fiber One Cereal

It was a party in my mouth–a lot of flavor everywhere!

I was evil again and loaded more chocolate onto my co-workers. I like how I am telling them what to do.

I had lunch with Gwen

Would have much preferred lunch with Gavin though…..hello daddy.

Sigh……ok, what was I talking about? Oh yeah….lunch. fun.

I love it when lunch doesn’t sound appetizing at all but then you taste it and find yourself wrong. I didn’t want my lunch today although it sounded good when I put it together last night….potato wedges,baked tofu bits, black beans, jalapeno, shredded cheese and a side of greek yogurt.

 I love when a meal proves me wrong. This was asbolutely fabulous.

For dinner I had baked panko porkchops and broccoli slaw with T Marzetti Honey Balsamic Dressing and tomato

I finally got off my butt to go run. I haven’t ran since my 5K……yeah over two wks ago. My knee and calves were hurting for the first wk and then last wk, pure laziness deterred me from workking out. I need to get on a consistent schedule again whether it be running, walking, kettlebell, etc. and stick with it. I feel so much better when I work out and only takes an hour out of my day. An hour which I have been sitting on my butt watching tv.

I went to the YMCA where I used to go to before they jacked up my rate to $65/month because I turned 30. Not happy about that. The YMCA was where I started my weight loss journey and was one of the only gyms in my life that I felt comfortable going to. I know it is just money and that I shouldn’t have stopped going but I basically lost motivation doing cardio only and the fact they jacked up my rate because I turned 30 really pissed me off. Basically, if I was married and had children it would have been cheaper per person but since I am 30, single and no kids, my rate gets jacked up. I have a reminder of that enough every day (and from my mother) that I don’t need that getting in the way of my gym rate.

Rant over……so I went to the YMCA I used to go to go because they have an outdoor dirt track. After 12 minutes I wanted to stop but then this track came on and made me smile

because it then made me think of this movie

And those two things just kept me going. I ended up walking/running for 35 minutes. Not too shabby for not working out at all in 2 wks.

I stopped at Harris Teeter on the way home and got some cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach, apples and bananas for the week. I then went to Walgreens to get some bubble bath, which I couldn’t find. Weird. I went to one of the ladies who work there and asked where the bubble bath was and she had no clue what I was talking about. Which confused me because was in her 40’s and sounded like she was from here and I had to explain what bubble bath suds were and she looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to take a bubble bath.

Yeah, I am 29 30 yrs old and love my bubble baths, shoot me.

She then said they have Mr. Bubble where I shot back with “Mr Bubble sucks”. All said with a smile though since my humor wins everyone over 🙂 I ended up with bath beads which also sucks but oh well, momma needed a long soak!

I came home and made a green monster. I’ve had some morning green monsters the past two wks but was ready for a proper protein filled green monster after my run. In the mix tonight—baby spinach, blackberry kefir, vanilla whey protein and milk.

Holy shizzle—this is the mother of all giveaways!!! Click here to win a Health Refridgerator Makeover on Danica’s Page—or don’t because I want to win lol 🙂 Includes a $100 gift card, healthy recipes and tips on what to stock and more!

This was a great start to the week! It is quarter end which is a super busy time for my line of business. Tomorrow should be another slow day at work then the craziness will resume on Wednesday. But I will be gone by Thursday afternoon on my way to Indiana! I am stopped and staying at my friend’s place in Charleston, WV Thursday night then drive the rest of the way to Indianapolis on Friday morning. Some things that I get excited about when going to Indianapolis:

Cafe Patachou: They have an awesome menu and great coffee–Highlander Grog is my favorite and I always buy a bag to take home with me!

Fannie May Trinidad’s—I will be stocking up

Meijer—so much better than WalMart and they always have cute sports apparel for cheap….along with scratch off lotto vending machines 🙂

 And my sister and my nieces of course 🙂 But those are a few of my favorite Indiana things.

 And Ricky Martin—you go! It’s about time and I always knew you were too pretty to be straight. You can officially drink from the cup of life, shake your bon bon and live the vida loca. But not too loca since you got the twins.

Meh

Feel like crap today, I am tired, my ear hurts and just sad. And it’s such a beautiful day so I have no real reason to be sad but am. I think this place is taking it’s toll on me and I need to find something else asap. I just wish I didn’t have to worry about bills for a few months and if that were the case, would be set! I have a few thou saved up for my moving ventures which will start me off with rent somewhere, some furniture and moving expenses. I am to the point that I don’t sleep well during the work week because work makes me so sad and I don’t want to go but during the wknd I am fine. When I walk outside out of work, I am my normal happy fun self but when I am there-a complete 180. I can’t go like this much longer and need to really get into my butt into gear with finding something else. Meh.

 I rode the train today since I didn’t have any cash on hand for the bus. I like the light rail because it has way more of a flexible schedule than the bus but the downside is the people are way sketch on there. When I got to work, I had a granola bar and Grande Pike from Starbucks with two pumps of SF Cinnamon Dolce.

And then some greek yogurt with berries, flax and unsweetened coconut

If you’ve been wanting to try Yoplait Greek Yogurt (which I’m not sure if I do or don’t), click here for a coupon to print out.

Lunch was a salad with mushrooms, onion, parsley and tomato topped with T Marzetti’s Light Balsamic

And then some Bubble up Pizza Casserole leftovers!

One of my co-workers and I went for a 25 minute walk since it was another gorgeous day out!

I came back and refueled with Wallaby Organic Berries and Cream yogurt mix. I never heard of this before but it was on sale at Earthfare for $1

It was decent. A tad too sour in my opinion but not too thin or thick.

I came home and checked my mail box and found this beauty from Missy Maintains! This is the first thing I have ever won in the blogosphere-yay! I am going to NYC for 4th of July wknd and plan on using it then-can’t wait to try the much talked about Lite Choice. Thanks Missy!!

Speaking of giveaways, click here for a chance to win some Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter—lots of easy ways to enter a few times!!

I walked over to my neighbor’s apartment with Lincoln after work so he could play with her dog and we could catch up.

She told me about this great site—IDUMP4U–anyone heard of it?? You can pay this guy to break up with your significant other instead of doing it yourself. Personally, I would never do it but is HILARIOUS!!!

We walked back and by that time it was already 630P–where has this day gone? I hate how when I am at work it goes by super slow but when at home, super fast. But such is life I guess?

I made black bean quesadillas with salsa and greek yogurt mixed together for dipping—yum!

I am going to go for a run and try to clear my head a little. I put some new songs on the ipod to make me happy and maybe I will catch Lost for once (I haven’t really watched in the past two wks–sad!!) On another note, the water is being turned off yet again by my apartment complex just like a few wks ago. This better be soon fixed, I cannot do showering with baby wipes and walking to Starbucks to use the restroom!!

The day that would not end

It’s 10P as I type this and I feel like it should be midnight. Such a long day filled with lots of running around!

If anyone out there likes Panda Express, they are giving away FREE Honey Walnut Shrimp on Wednesday 3.10, click here for the coupon—no purchase necessary! I normally don’t go there but a little greasy Chinese food is just what a girl wants and needs sometimes.

Bowling was a bust last night. There was a 13 yr old beating me and when it was my turn to go up and I was swinging my arm back, I accidentally released the ball backwards. Thank God it didn’t hit anyone or damage anything! Needless to say, it was a bit embarrassing!

I slept in until 9A, which is super late for me. I wake up early during the work wk and try to wake up no later than two hours after my normal wake up time during the wknd.

I made coffee and a big wknd breakfast.

I don’t what I envisioned in my head but this turned out to be half a baked potato,Morningstar Italian Veggie Sausage, scrambled egg and egg white, cheese, onion, parsley topped with Sriracha and ketchup with an english muffin topped with Trader Joe’s superfruit spread.

And the errands came to a start!

First stop was Petsmart to get Lincoln a new dog tag

I love the varsity letter print—it’s so cute!! They had an adoption fair going on for the dogs and I almost walked over to check them out but didn’t want a repeat of this

Then I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get some new running shoes

How hot our these?? Nike Air Max Run Lite

 

I hit up the supermarket after to get some stuff for two new recipes I am trying out tomorrow!

Black bean quesadillas were for lunch

The filling (Black beans, cheese, onion, parsley and jalapeno)

 

Made on my favorite–Trader Joe’s Habanero Lime Tortillas with a side of greek yogurt and salsa.

a fresh yellow apple on the side

I love being able to take my time and my meals during the wknd instead of having to heat leftovers at the office. One of these days when I win the lottery that will all change!

Still haven’t gotten enough from all the giveaways I listed the other day? Go to Kate’s site for a chance to win some chia seeds!

It was 60 degrees and sunny today so I went on the greenway near my place and ran/walk for an hour (about 3.5 miles)

Conclusions to while running

*I don’t like running in hot weather or when it’s sunny out

* I don’t mind running when it’s overcast and grey but feel like I run better when I run at night

*I do better when I run, sing and throw gangsigns simultaneously

*I hate running on the greenway for the following reasons

1. Too many kids
2. Too many families taking up the entire pathway who then stop on said pathway to look at a duck
3. Some people don’t understand the phrase “Coming up behind you”
4. I listen to rap when I run…..and explicit. I sing along and some people just don’t like when I sing along to Eminem’s “Shake That” ex. “Said he wants a slut, hope you don’t mind. Heard you was freaky from a friend of mine”

I really want to run but my body didn’t want to. I wasn’t hungover from last night since I only had two beers but really had to push myself and could only do a few minutes at a time then walk and then repeat.

I came home and made this beauty

Best Green Monster EVA!!!!! I made it with the following

*Dallop of greek yogurt

*Silk Soymilk

*Chocolate Whey

*Frozen banana

*Almond Butter

*Baby Spinach

I think it was the combination of almond butter, banana and greek yogurt but this was the most wonderful one I have met yet. So rich and creamy!

I limped over to the bubble bath and soaked for a good while. I was in soooo much pain! I whimpered and read my book and was so relaxed. So relaxed when I got out, I was watching tv and crashed for two hours.  I love having nothing to do sometimes!

My legs were hurting so bad that I was going to make dinner but decided to take out so I wouldn’t have to stand and cook so I drove to Harris Teeter for yummies. I drove along the route that I ran the other night and was amazed that I actually ran that. I kept thinking to myself , “Wow, I am awesome” ala Ron Burgundy

And yes, I am a big deal 🙂

I decided on a salad from their wonderful salad bar

And Hawaiian Sushi, which I had never tried. Sushi topped with two fabulous A’s—almonds and avocados?? Yes please!

I enjoyed this while watching Bruno.

 Bad idea. Especially the beginning with the scenes of him and his lova. For those who have seen it, I need not explain more.

After dinner snack was some kisses….unfortunately the candy and not the real kind

One of my neighbors came over and just hung out and caught up on stuff going on since we haven’t talked in awhile. Now, just hanging in for the evening and I am contemplating taking yet another bubble just to ease my pain. I am going to feel sweet tomorrow!!

Jim Gaffigan was on Law and Order tonight and Kathy Griffin on Law and Order SVU. Being that they are my two favorite comedians, I leave you with my favorite skits of theirs