Stache envy

I guess working for the past week and a half put me into a routine and now I’m thrown off since I really have nothing to do. But that will change tomorrow…..for two days at least. My friend got me a two day gig doing some data entry at an office right near my house so that will get me out of the house for a bit. I pondered riding my bike over there but then I got images of Jim Halpert riding his bike to The Office resulting in a very sweaty (rawr) Jim.

I think I will take the car instead because I’m sure no one wants to see me in spandex. And you sure as hell can’t pay even me to look at myself in spandex. So yes, the car will be the best option for now.

Today, I’ve been keeping busy with lots and lots of tv thanks to the Boca Raton Public Library!

Check out all those titles! I went in there yesterday morning and they have pretty much every show known to man. I like to think of myself as a TV buff but there were tons of shows I’ve never heard of. And they have Alias and Lost, my need for everything JJ Abrams is now complete.

I decided to give veggie products a chance again after my “beefless tip” mishap on Friday night.

Morningstar has never steered me in the wrong direction and I thank them for that. I usually get their black bean burgers but have heard wonderful things about the Tomato & Basil Pizza Burgers. I cooked one patty on the stovetop along with some zucchini stripe then places over a bed of rice and my new favorite hummus.

I found a mustache while making dinner.

Dinner was sausage and peppers and while cutting the peppers, I noticed a few in mustache form ala Mr. Pringles. Nothing wrong with that for I am all for the mustache….on a man that is. I’m Italian so I don’t need any help in that department. And for you other mustache lovers out there, check out some famous mustaches, I love that they have a few of the characters from the Muppets on there. But I gave up the pepper and started to cook instead. I threw the peppers in a pan and let cook with some olive oil, salt and pepper.

Took the peppers out, let the sausage cook then added the peppers back in.

I added a jar of sauce to the sausage and pepper mixture and let simmer. I wasn’t a huge fan of this sauce, I found it to be bland. To compensate, I added some minced garlic, oregano and basil in an attempt to give it some kind of kick to the tastebuds.

Threw on top of some spaghetti and voila, dinner was done.

Great meal and there was a lot leftover for more meals this week! I usually only cook sausage to make meatballs so this was a simple and quick alternative to that (and less messy of course because rolling out greasy sausage in your hands is not clean kitchen friendly)

Since we supposedly have a hurricane coming later this week, I wanted to get a bike ride in since I wasn’t sure if I would be able to later this week. I say supposedly because they hype it up so much down here and most of the time it ends up turning or downgrades to a lower category hurricane. When Hurricane Andrew hit, we really weren’t affected too much but Hurricane Wilma did a lot of damage to our house. Thank God FEMA had finally gotten their act together for that one.

Oh yeah, the bike ride. I felt like Forrest frickin Gump tonight! Except that I was biking and I’m not slow (unless I haven’t had any coffee). I wasn’t planning on a long ride but ended up going for almost an hour through both sketchy and nice parts of Boca (yes, Boca Raton has a few sketchy areas)

Now for a daily dose of cute

You’re welcome.

Starting off on the wrong foot

The weekend didn’t start off on the right foot.

Let’s start with my experience at Gizzi’s Coffee Shop  during my lunch break on Friday.

I passed by this place a few times while working the past week and decided to stop in for a mid day pick me up.  They have a varied selection of coffees and teas and when I saw Vanilla Soy Latte-I knew that’s what I wanted. I ordered it and on the menu it said $3.24. The barista/cashier  continued to charge me $.50 extra for the soy although the price was listed on the menu for a vanilla soy latte.

Me: Why is it $4 even when it says $3.24 on the menu?
Barista: Because of the tax
Me: So you’re trying to tell me that it is $.76 tax on a $3.24 drink? That seems a little ridiculous
Barista: That’s what it’s telling me—– I guess “it” was the cash register and not the creepy clown.

Hmmmmm….something about that seems fishy.
Yeah it may be only $.50 but it’s the principle of it. You all have to understand I am part Polish, I am all about pinching my pennies. I finally got my latte and hunkered down by the fireplace where they have books and magazines to read. I am down for any place in South FL that has a fireplace! They have the most comfy leather chairs I have sat my tush in in a while and after sitting in a hard, cold chair at work, it was most welcomed.

The latte was good-not horrible, not orgasmic, just good. I am still a little annoyed about the $.50 but what can you do? Hopefully this wasn’t a prelude to what my weekend was going to be like.

When I got home from work, I was beat. Beat from sitting at a desk all day and scouring the Internet. Even when I was working full time, I never liked Friday nights. I was always so tired by the end of the week all I wanted to do was cook a nice meal and hang out for the night at home and maybe sneak a gym session in. So I decided that was exactly what I would do on my last day of work.

I bought this Gardein Beefless Tips a couple of weeks ago and have been curious about them but also, a little scared to try them. Beefless tips just sounds dirty and as much as I like a meat-free alternative every now and then, something about fake beef skeeves me out.

I chopped up some red onions, mushrooms and let cook along with some of the beefless tips (I really can’t help saying the phrase beefless tips over and over again) along with some red pepper flakes and minced garlic.

I added in some frozen edamame and soy sauce to the mix and let all cook together so I guess I was going the stir fry route?

I despise cooking rice because I always mess it somehow-under cooked or overcooked and sticking to the pan. I would buy a rice cooker but I’m doing the whole saving money thing and don’t eat enough rice to justify buying it. Steamfresh has been my favorite, lazy way to go with “making” rice as of late, just pop it in the microwave for five minutes and done!

Notice that the beefless tips aren’t in the finished product? Yeah, I took one taste of them and spit it out after a few seconds. I can’t put into words how nasty the beefless tips tasted. I imagine a homeless persons shoe that has been soaked for a few days tasted the same as it. It was spongy and tasted like something that could kill me. When it was done cooked, I picked all of them out of the pan and threw them away along with the package. I’ll be sticking with Morningstar from now on.

Ient to the gym shortly after than made my way to Winn Dixie to stock up on some snacks for the weekend

Chobani was sale for $1 but looks like other people were as excited as I was about it being so cheap. Another sign that the weekend wasn’t going to turn out well.

I managed to get a few in my basket and finally tried the Mango flavor. Which is? Awesomness is in a cup. I think it is my new favorite flavor from Chobani! n another note, look at how gross and dingy Winn Dixie’s dairy shelves are. NASTY.

Saturday things finally started to look up. It started with eggs and Al Fresco chicken sausage

The plan was to make an egg scramble of sorts but while cooking, I saw that it has more potential than that. What once was scramble, soon turned omelet!

I am way too excited and proud about this but omelets aren’t my specialty. So when it happens, I want to tell the world.

Yes sir.

My mom declared it a morning of cleaning and once she started Gettysburg the movie blaring on her mini tv in the kitchen, I knew I had to get out. I made my way over to the beach to go do something…..anything. I thought it would be the perfect time to break in my new shoes and get some exercise in early on. I headed over to Deerfield Beach to walk and get some sun. For 9am in the off-season the beach and boardwalk (really a sidewalk but boardwalk sounds more beach-y) was packed. I love how they have a set place to keep track of your mileage when running and walking and it’s always been a preferred spot for me whether it be going to the beach for the day or hanging out on the boardwalk. I put a good two miles in and as soon as I was done, got out of there since the parking prices at the meters are pretty steep.

Scenes like these make me want to never, ever leave Florida.

Elton John was wrong, Saturday night wasn’t meant for fighting, it was meant for Groupon!

Always a sucker for a deal, I bought this Groupon for Lucille’s Bad to the Bone BBQ. But then I second guessed my purchase, you see, Lucille and I have some history.When I was a teen, I had a bit of an attitude problem (that unfortunately still holds true to this day) I went through a slew of jobs such as working at Walgreens, Papa John’s, Supercuts and our girl, Lucille’s I worked there for a very long two months as a hostess but got canned and I *may* be a little bitter about that still. All I remember is them saying something about how I had an attitude and never smiled therefore, they wanted me out. I guess I didn’t fit the ambience of a bbq joint and haven’t stepped foot in since. However, you give me a 50% off deal and you can bet your butt I’ll be there.

The place looked exactly the same as I remembered it and I was still one of the youngest people in there thanks to the early bird, senior citizens crowd. Some things never change I guess.

I ordered the beef brisket  sandwich, which has sweet relish and chopped onions mixed in and a sweet potato on the side.

 

As you can see, the beef brisket was nothing short of amazing—it was succulent and the relish and onion mixed in gave it a little extra something I wasn’t expecting. I love that you can get a side other than fries there and even though the sweet potato was drenched in butter, I was happy with it. The beach and the bbq were signs that maybe the weekend wasn’t going to be so crappy after all.

Add some free $20 play from Calder Casino in and it turned out to be a pretty swell weekend.

Don’t mock the penny slots, I won $3 off this baby! It’s all slots at this place and I really struggled to find a slot that wasn’t a penny one. I would have killed to have found a nickel slot but they were few and far between. But I did notice a Sex and The City slot machine—when did that happen? I didn’t get a good look at it since the voo doo woman playing it was giving me the stink eye and I didn’t want her to turn me into a chicken. I wonder if the symbols on it are flirtini’s and Jimmy Choo’s?

Have you ever been underwhelmed with a product like I was with Gardein?

Beach or mountains?

Another day, you know the rest

It was quite lonely today. Really the only people in the office are the owner (who is on vaca) and receptionist who is “training” me and goes on vaca tomorrow. I use the term training very loosely since there isn’t a lot to learn. I answer the phone and take messages. Easy enough right? Not when they stick me in an office with no phone. That’s right no phone computer or even chair, good times. They finally brought me a chair and with that they gave  me some work. I was so excited to use this little brain o’ mine and was ready to give my all to the filing, stamping and places labels on files chores they gave me. Too bad that only took 15 mins to get through. At least I wasn’t alone, I had a rubber duck to keep me company.

Because every office should have a rubber duck yes? Don’t worry I haven’t gone Castaway-mad yet and started talking to him. But there is six more days left on this assignment so let’s not rule it out.

Hmmmm…what could I do next? I needed to me challenged and think a little so I contemplated if my shoes were really black like I thought they were to match my skirt or brown like the sole is.

After much debate (umm with myself) I decided they were black. Hope I’m right because I’ve been rocking them with black capris and skirts! Lunch was another lonely one….in my car. I don’t believe they have a lunch room here (or they haven’t shown me) and I wanted to get out of the office and possibly see the sun but not be in it so it was me and a salad.

Things didn’t get steamy between us however I added grated parmesan to the salad which made a world of difference. Who knew?

When I got back, I read  my latest issue of Ray Ray  in hopes of some inspiration for meals because my cooking been pretty much non existent this week.

It worked however it left me wanting to eat my own hand since I was starving.
And can we just say holy airbrushing skills batman? She is one of those people I can’t watch on tv but I love her recipe books, magazine, etc. Like Giada, she has become too animated and a wee bit obnoxious over the years and as her fame has risen.

(source)

When I got home, I was ready to chow down but remembered the whole lack of cooking thing going on. So with that, I had nothing prepared except chopped veggies and salad mix and today is not a day I wanted to double down on salad. My parents said they would go out for me if I wanted to eat out and I am not one to turn down a free meal so we got in the car and went to Pei Wei. I ordered my standard tofu pad thai and the portion size seemed a lot bigger compared to the one in Charlotte.

But something didn’t taste right. I am all about the peanut sauce but there was too much on this and the environment was throwing me off. This Pei Wei was one of the loudest I’ve ever been to. We were sitting a table in the middle and I couldn’t even hear my parents talking across the table from me. I kept saying “Huh? I can’t hear you” and tried to have a few bites before taking the rest to go. I thought I was going to drop by the time we got home, I was tired, cranky and had a headache but powered through and went for a 5.2mile bike ride.

Who’s your favorite celebrity chef? Rocco DiSpirito all the way!

Anyone have some fun, work appropriate websites I can go to? I finally got a computer but am trying to not overdue it with the websites.

What I’ve realized this week

*I don’t like how the price of Dunkin Donuts coffee is increasing. At first, I thought I was going crazy because the iced coffee seemed to more expensive here than in Charlotte. But then I did a little research and turns out the price of their iced coffee and breakfast sandwiches at certain locations has gone up and may still go up. And of course, I think Dunkin has rockin iced coffee but not really a fan of their hot coffee. And vice versa for Starbucks.

*I have an unusual obsession with Mob Week

Mind you, they play movies that I’ve seen a hundred times. However, something about that it’s on for hours on end really excites me. I didn’t want Mob Week to end but of course, all good things must come to an end. Perhaps they should create a mob station? I would totally subscribe!

*I miss Lost. A lot.

‘Nuff said.

*As much as I complain about how hot is it outside and how I can’t wait for winter to be here, I’m going to miss salads come fall and winter. I’ve been chomping down on them a lot lately and eating a salad in the fall or winter just doesn’t do it for me.

*Bonding with mom isn’t so bad. My mom and I are close but not like Gilmore Girls close. I don’t tell her my secrets, indulge her with information about who I’m dating and admit, I can be pretty secretive with her. She is unemployed at the moment and wanted to go shopping to get out of the house and do something with someone instead of sitting at home alone. We  went shopping, had coffee and it was nice to hang out. I think I can definitely do it in small increments like three or four hours. Otherwise, we will likely kill each other.

*Once again, I need to cut myself off from all things Groupon. South Florida not only has one or two Groupon options, they have three! I get the emails for Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach daily and while that’s nice for saving money and trying out new businesses, I need to stop buying. I bought this Groupon awhile back when I lived in Charlotte for my parents to use and my dad insisted on my mom and I going for lunch the other day.

I don’t know how I have the ability to pick out places that are dead but we were the only table in there

It was a bit creepy but way better than being surrounded by noisy people. Our server told us that it picks up at nighttime and I can see why. Hello drink specials! And I noticed that they are all day drink specials so I guess if I have nothing to do and feel like a good day drinking session is in order, I know where to go.

Not only are the lunch items cheap, you get a salad with any lunch item

I got the chicken franchese and the chicken took up half of the plate

That’s what I’m talking about! More bang for my buck!

To top it off,  you get dessert with any lunch entrée!

It’s been too long since I’ve had a decent cannoli. The ones I had in Charlotte were pretty crappy but this here was the real deal.

*I love to spoil my dog

Lincoln isn’t having a dog party anytime soon since A) that’s ridiculous and B) momma has student loans to pay before throwing her non existent money towards a dog party. But that doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy a fun treat right? I got him a martini doggie treat and he scarfed it down, like momma like dog.

*I love riding my bike again! I usually scoff when I hear people say that once they find something they truly enjoy, it doesn’t feel like exercise anymore but I kind of know what they mean. I love going out there without a plan and seeing where I’m going to end up. I felt ambitious on Sunday and went for a four mile ride in the afternoon. I felt like I could have kept going but I underestimated how much water I would need. I rested for a bit then went out again that night for another four miles.

And that’s it…..for now at least. I’ve realized a whole lot more but I am just about dead to the world with a headache from hell. My sister has been in town so we have been going around non stop. She is getting married in October and lives three hours away so when she comes to town, she wants to get as much done as possible. Plus, on a happier financial note, I am going to work tomorrow! My friend is a recruiter and hooked me up with a week and a half long gig doing reception work. The girl is going on vacation next week and is going to train me the next three days and then I will be on my own next week. Get out of the house and get some extra cash? Sign me up!

What have you realized lately?

Tell me something fun going on with you! I am so behind with reading blogs, checking Facebook, etc.!

Murray

EEEEEEK!

Good eek, of course!

I’m so happy and it’s all due to Murray.

No, Murray isn’t Matilda’s boyfriend. Murray is my bike from high school and was brought back to life on Monday, sporting two new tires and all (but who knows Matilda may want to go on a ride with me)

I used to go on bike rides all the time in the summertime when I was younger. Some of my best memories are riding over to the beach, which is about five miles away. My friends and I would head over there in the morning and spend the entire day at the beach. We would ride back in the late afternoon, stop for a snack then get home and was wiped out. I really miss those days where I could just hop on my bike, enjoy the sun and splash like I didn’t have a care in the world.

I went for a bike ride the other night just to test it out since I haven’t been on a bike since forever ago. And wow, my butt has always been big but that seat hurt. I pedaled on and made my way around the neighborhood, just like I did in high school. I went around for 20 minutes since I didn’t want to overdue it but it felt so good to be out there again! I am going to start riding more often and my goal for the end of the month is to make my way back to the beach again. I had no issue doing this in high school but I was much younger then and much lighter so at least I have something to strive for.

And I’m excited to pimp my bike out. First thing will be a bell

(source)

I totally want the sumo wrestler!

Do you ride a bike?

Any tips for me?

Housesitting

In honor of Matilda, Neyal sent me a link about a monkey rescued from a thrift store, just like Matilda! well except the whole sadistic monkey thing like Copernicus. I read the post while at the library and had to leave because I was crying from laughing and fear of peeing my pants at the library.

And I know, there’s been a lack of Matilda lately (which you may be happy about since some think she is creepy) Although South Florida is a mecca for retirees, she doesn’t like the humid, hot climate here. While I’m in the pool each day, she just sits yearning for a dirty martini.

Maybe her shenaningans will ensue again, who knows.

 

Not a lot going on here though, I housesat for one friend this weekend. It was great-I got to enjoy HBO, wireless and be by myself again. After living alone for so many years, I’m used to silence and doing my own thing. I can handle other people but sometimes a girl needs her own space you know? I’m housesitting/dogsitting today for another friend while she is away for the day. She is coming back tonight but I get to hang with her cute pups who I am wining over with string cheese.

And she even gave me a nice gift for doing this.

She really didn’t have to but I will never turn down a bottle of wine.

Also, it’s been avocado madness lately!

The avocados my friend gave me are finally good to go so I’m starting to use those bad boys up. I made a salad yesterday topped with Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken. It was on sale for $6.99 at Winn Dixie and I had a $1 off coupon so this was the perfect time to buy plus I haven’t had any since I used to make pasta salad.

Then at night I made a Mexican casserole with pork, black beans, onions, peppers, black olives, mushrooms, cheese and enchilada sauce. I was so excited to find El Pato since I haven’t been able to locate it at the grocery stores down here. I found this huge can of it at Big Lots so I used some in this recipe then froze the rest for future use.

I didn’t have enough tortillas to crisscross for the top layer but I made due. I then topped the vegetable, black bean and pork mixture with enchilada sauce and cheese and let bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees

Avocado was the perfect topping for this! I mean really, how can someone not love avocados? The flavor, the richness, the fat—oh yeah!

There were still avocados to be consumed so today I made a guacamole knock off. I didn’t have my recipe with me so I just mixed the avocado with salsa and sour cream.

I’ve seen this chips before but I must go to Target and find them stat! Maybe all this Mexican food will boost my memory?

I finally finished The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest today.

I felty like I’ve been reading it for awhile but it’s only been a week and a half, if that. If you haven’t read this serious, please go out and get the three books! This was the best series I’ve read in a long time and I can say each book was a true page turner.

I went to the library today to pick up some Italian cds I’ve been waiting on—holy crap-in just about a month I will be going to Italy! I need to learn the basics stat! I found this gem while perusing the titles in the new arrivals aisle:

Yet another reason why I love the library here. In Charlotte, it would have taken me months to get this book but here I can get it right away but only for two weeks. Perfect motivation for me to read it quickle! We’ll see how this book is. I wasn’t overly impressed with her last book but who knows, this is a different take so it may be worth reading.

I’m trying to limit my workouts at the YMCA since I can only go a limited number of times each year, instead of month but had a great workout yesterday

I’ve also been swimming which is going quite well. I’ve been doing anywhere from 50 to 60 laps on my swimming days along with some breaks to tread water for two to three minutes. I’ve also been doing lunges in the water and that has been kicking my butt. The best part is that I feel no pain in my knees which is a welcome relief since I always have pain in my knees after a workout.

And of course, hanging out with my pups

Linky is way dirty. I need to get him in the tub and give him a bath, especially since one of my parents dropped ketchup on his nose but they won’t tell me who did it.

Sigh, I love my dirty dog.

So yeah, that’s about it. Not a lot to write home about but just waiting for the days to pass until it’s time to fly off to Europe. One of my friends is a recruiter here so I’m hoping she can help find me some part time work……if not, maybe I will try some more housesitting?

Read any good books lately? Please share with the class!

Do you ever housesit for friends/family? I love how it seems like a mini vacation, even if I am just down the block!

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?

In plain view

I started Monday with an early morning workout.

Ok maybe not so much early morning but a 11am workout. What can I say, it takes a few hours for me to mentally wake up.

And can we just say holy workout from hell?

Kettlebell 20 lbs

*Plie Squats (15 reps, 4 sets)

*Tricep extensions (13 reps, 4 sets)

*Lateral Row (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Shrugs (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Halos (13 reps, 2 sets)

*Chest Press  (13 reps, 4 sets)

*Side Bends (25 reps, 2 sets)

Dumbbell 10 lbs

*Deltoid raise (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Tricep kickbacks (13 reps, 2 sets)

*Curls (13 reps, 3 sets)

In between sets, I would do sets of 30 jumping jacks or crunches which made me super sweaty in no time. It may not look like a lot of stuff but this workout had me reaching for my water. Oddly enough, no matter how tired I get when strength training, I can keep going. Not so much with cardio though, I get too bored after awhile and can’t concentrate.

*

Kicked

My

Butt

I don’t even want to talk about how much pain I’m in today but to say I’m hurting a bit is an understatement. I couldn’t cool down after that even after showering and lounging for awhile but I’m I got that out of the way early on so I could go play!

First stop was Wagging Tails Thrift Store, which benefits the Humane Society.

This place didn’t look like much from the outside but once you step inside, it’s like a huge warehouse full of junk! And I’m talking really, really random junk!

I wanted to buy these and some clear pepsi to go along with it

Other random trinkets included:

I have no clue who the Fercos are but I imagine some kind of Siegfried & Roy knockoff? Aha, turns out they are just like Siegfried & Roy and will have their own show on Animal Planet!

All BSB, all the time!

Oddly enough, one of the Twilight movies is playing in the background as I type this. I am definitely not Team Edward, he is too emo and needs a tan. Team Jacob all the what!

Look what I found!

I guess others don’t hold Dawson’s Creek in such high regards as I do?

And this place has Playboy dvd’s right in plain view for all to see. Awkward much? Personally I would never buy nudie dvd’s at a thrift store but to each his own. And if it’s raising money for the pups, that can’t be bad right?

After that and the longest trip to Target ever, we went to lunch at a Panera-esque place, Corner Bakery. I have to say, I really like how pretty much every place I’ve been to in DC has the calorie contents in plain view. A girl could definitely get used to that. A girl being me of course but I guess if other girls need it, it’s ok as well.

I ate a light Asian wonton salad since it was humid and hot out plus I wanted to save room for something sweet….cupcakes! My friend and another friend mentioned Lilly Magilly’s and once they did, I knew we had to stop there for a treat.

I love the pink and black décor of Lilly’s plus the beautiful display of cupcakes. Plus, the aroma of cupcakes just make me happy.

We split two cupcakes to get the true Lilly’s experience. I got the chocolate coconut and Neyal got the red velvet cupcake. She says she always orders red velvet wherever she goes to test the place on how they do. Me, I like to get whatever sings to me that day.

Both cupcakes were fantastic but the coconut was definitely my favorite.

I’m still curious who Lilly Magilly is though.

Matilda was there with us! I’m sad that Matilda scared some people out there—she means no harm!

We stopped by 7-11 on the way home to take partake in free slurpee day! I thought the idea of them giving out 7.11 oz slurpess was creative but cmon, give me a bigger slurpee. I’m not a midget so my slurpee shouldn’t be either.

Later on, the plan was to have shrimp and mango kebabs on the grill with grilled veggies

But then Mother Earth decided to be a bitter beezy and ruin our plans

We brought everything in before the rain hit and put the kebabs in the oven and let the veggies cook over the stovetop. I made cucumber and tomato salad to go with the veggie themed meal and dinner was served!

 

Do restaurants post calorie content for public view where you live?

What’s your favorite thing to make on the grill?

For my kettlebell users-what are some other exercises I can do? I need to mix it up and will occasionally do wind mills and swings with my workout but other than what I normally do, I’m at a loss of what else to do with mine.

Coastin

Yesterday was spent in Whiteville, NC and beyond. I slept in until 1030am….again. Around noon we walked over to Sophie’s, which is located in an old pharmacy and serves sandwiches, wraps, salads and coffee.

I got the Lenie sandwich-turkey, cranberries, cheese and sprouts with a side of pasta salad.

The sandwich was good but I would have appreciated more than 12 penne pasta noodles as a side dish. Oh well, you can’t win at everything.

I was feeling a bit dead still so I went back to my friends place and knocked out a little workout with my kettlebell (20 lbs)

*Tricep extensions (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Upright Row (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Chest Press (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Side Bends (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Squats (13 reps, 3 sets)

*One Legged Deadlifts (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Deadlifts (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Halos (13 reps, 3 sets)

Resistance bands

*Bicep Curls (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Reverse Fly (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Front Lateral Lift (13 reps, 3 sets)

Definitely not the calorie burn I was hoping for but at least I did something and ache quite a bit today so it’s a win.

After my friend got back, we were on our way to Myrtle Beach. I’ve only been to Myrtle once and that was in the wintertime to see The Killers at House of Blues so I haven’t had the whole summertime experience. I went to my bff, Yelp to find a sushi place in Myrtle Beach and soon found Soho.

If you passed by Soho, you would never know it’s a sushi place given it’s outdoor patio with beach décor and that it’s nestled in between two beach food restaurants. But once you step inside, it’s dark, intimate.

One thing I love about South Carolina? Happy hour specials! We got there at 6:30pm, just enough time to partake in some $2 domestic beers.

I got a salad to start out with.’

It was good but would have been even better if it weren’t swimming in ginger dressing

We got a few rolls-Philly Roll, Kono Crunch Roll, Double Crunch Tempura Roll and Spring Breeze Roll

Double Crunch Tempura Roll and Spring Breeze Roll

The sushi was absolutely amazing. The Spring Breeze Roll was cold on the outside and hot and crunch on the inside, it just melted in my mouth. If you’re ever in Myrtle Beach and want some sushi, check this place out! It’s a two blocks away from the beach and a few blocks away from Broadway at The Beach, which was out next stop.

This place was out of control busy but I guess that’s what you get where you go to Myrtle Beach huh? People watching was absolutely amazing. I’m talking about guys wearing the shocker shirt, tweens dressed like hoochies and redneck children running amuck-something for everyone I tell you.

I was in some desperate need of coffee from the situation earlier that day so we made a stop at Kiss Coffeehouse.

When my friend told me about it, I lit up a little….even if I am a Starbucks girl. I absolutely love KISS and love to rock and roll all night! Ok, not really seeing I like to be in bed by midnight but give me some Detroit Rock City any day!

Heeeeeeeeeey-o!

I got an iced coffee, the only thing that didn’t rock was the $5 price tag that came along with it.

Third day of going au natural with my face. I am not diggin this no makeup look but refused to be that girl who wore makeup on the lake and didn’t find my makeup until late last night. That $26 Benefit Erase Paste is worth every single dollar because those bags under my eyes need to go bye bye.

Afterwards we met up with one of my friends friends who was celebrating his birthday at the bar at Logan’s. I was going to have a beer but my friend ordered some long island iced tea esque drink served in a mason jar. They had a ton of flavors to choose from-orange, mango, watermelon, cherry, etc. That sounded much better than a beer so I went with the cherry because who doesn’t love the sugar rush you get from grenadine?

It was funny that she ordered that because on the way to Logan’s I was thinking about long islands and the last time I had one. I used to down those baby’s in college and like to think that and my discovery of ranch dressing led to weight gain but soon stopped because I got absolutely trashed off of them. Then I thought the last time I had one couldn’t have been college could it? But then it came back to me. The last time I had one was a few years ago on a first date. Note: Don’t drink long island iced tea’s on a first date with a guy.

Second note: Don’t drink long island’ iced teas on a first date with a guy then challenge him to see how many you can drink in one night.

Third note: Don’t drink long island’ iced teas on a first date with a guy then challenge him to see how many you can drink in one night…..on a Tuesday night when you have a real job to go to the next day.

Fourth note: When you do this and he pulls up to your apartment complex, instead of stepping out of the car, you just slide right out…..of an SUV. Don’t do this.

Final note: If you do all of the above you will go into work still drunk the next day and wondering why your butt is completely bruised the next morning.

Do you have a vacation spot you go to in the summer?

Long Island Iced Teas-love em or hate em?

I ride solo

Today started out well despite it being 100% humidity outside. Don’t hold me to that though, I don’t know if that is a fact but it sure as hell feels like it. Scratch that, it just feels like hell but with humidity. Living in Phoenix was bad enough since in the summertime it felt like you were stepping into an oven anytime you walked outside. But at least there you didn’t sweat it out like you do in Charlotte. I give up doing my hair in the summer months and have been skimping on the makeup as well. I figure what’s the point? I’m going to sweat it off and I’m looking to meet a man in the next four days (because with my luck right when I’m moving I will meet the love of my life) so why not let my natural beauty glow? Or why don’t I just glow? Another thing that was great about Arizona with it’s lack of humidity was how my hair looked. And yes, vanity reasons are valid reasons when choosing a place to live. I grew up in Florida most of my youth so the frizzy mess that was my hair was the only way I knew it could be…..until Arizona. No frizzy, hot, wild mess. My curls would hold and wouldn’t fall flat after five minutes of being outside. Sigh, those were the days.

Oh yeah, back to today.

I ran a bunch of errands and hit up DD for breakfast.

Still not diggin the new flatbread and still haven’t wrote a letter stating my opinion. Maybe one of these days I will get to it.

When I got home, I went to town on my kitchen. I cleaned the oven as well as I could but there is still some grit showing in it and on the burners. I cleaned it yesterday as well and thought I would try again but didn’t make much progress. I cleaned my fridge and bathroom as well. I picked up some Mr. Clean Magic Erase things at Target this morning and got some scuffs off the walls. I wish Mr. Clean were a babe, he is hot and he is a man of his word—the magic erase worked!

I had a Groupon for Luna’s Living Kitchen to burn through. I’ve only been there once before and that was for breakfast so I was interested to see if their lunch would be better.

Since the Groupon was for $10, I looked at their menu ahead of time and had the game plan of getting the hummus plate and a smoothie. They have an awesome, unique selection of raw, organic and locally grown food that you won’t find at many other establishments in Charlotte. I love that. What I don’t love is the pricetag it comes with. Some of their lunch items are $11 or $12 and that just doesn’t work for a girl on a budget. Thank you Groupon for making it happen.

I sat outside and the server asked if I had been there since they changed their menu. I don’t know when that was so I told her no and she mentioned they added some quinoa burgers to the menu. Hmmm, I like quinoa. I like burgers. And god knows a hummus plate probably wouldn’t hold me over until dinner. I ordered the Fire & Brimstone Quinoa Burger topped with chipotle hummus, salsa verde, veggies and hot sauce.

Not gonna lie, I didn’t want to bite into it because it was so beautiful. A+ for presentation. I love pretty foods and appreciate when restaurants take time to work on presentation but taste is definitely more important. The burger didn’t’;t hold too well together and the salsa verde didn’t appear or taste to be salsa verde at all, it was more guacamole like. Nothing wrong with that!

I ate every last bite of it and even though I am a frugal girl, I would go back here again for this burger alone. If you are in Charlotte or ever in Charlotte, I definitely suggest this place. And the patio is dog friendly as well!

I had to get back home soon after since Salvation Army was coming over to pick up the last of my things. I went from this

to this

It’s very depressing and the only piece of furniture in my house is my mattress. I tried to donate it but they won’t take used mattresses. I tried to plea with them that it hasn’t sewen a lot of action and is in great shape but no dice. I guess it’s against the law to sell used beds in North Carolina?

Once they were gone, I packed my packs and went to the Y. I really wasn’t in the mood to workout. My legs were still a little sore from yesterday and just felt blah and icky from the heat. I did 8 minutes on the elliptical then got restless. I found a recumbent bike with a working tv and what do you know, Sex and The City was just starting so that’s how I killed 30 minutes of cardio.

Knocking that out plus watching a great episode, the one where Carrie and Aidan meet, left me in a good mood.

(source)

I just love them together. I wish SATC could be on forever and ever! Which reminds me, I need to backup my computer!

I brought my bathing suit with me and went into the whirlpool. And that’s when the weird stuff happened. I was the only one in there but it felt so good to stretch out and soak, I was moaning and may have screamed out “dirty bitches”  a few times because I was in seventh heaven. Mind you, I don’t have a bathtub just a standup shower so now when I get into a tub or whirlpool, it feels crazy good. I wasn’t being dirty or anything but 31 years is starting to take a toll on my muscles and it felt wonderful to ease the pain away. I was totally that girl in the whirlpool.

I showered, changed and then plopped down with a diet coke and some crackers and enjoyed the free wifi the YMCA offers to members.

Seriously, check out this lounge area, it reminds me of a cruise ship All they need is Isaac in the corner to make some umbrella clad drinks! I miss you, Love Boat.

I stayed there for a couple of hours then I went to Just Fresh since I had a coupon for a free sandwich or salad.

I definitely wanted to use this up before I left since it’s free. The best part is I didn’t even have to purchase the sandwiches or salads to get this car—my old neighbor left it in my mailbox when she was moving out!

I ordered the Mozzabella Salad-mixed greens, fresh mozzarella cheese, roasted portabellas, red peppers, tomatoes, pecans and balsamic vinegar dressing. The salad hit the spot-my only complaint was that it was drenched in dressing. I would order on the side next time.

Since I’m officially a country song-I have no job, no dog and no furniture, I may as well spent the rest of the night at the YMCA hanging out and maybe working out again, yes?

Do you do things solo? As you can see I have no issue going to eat by myself, go to bars by myself and have traveled to Vegas by myself among other cities. Last night when I was complaining to my friend about how bored I was, she suggested going to a movie. I’ve never been to a movie by myself before and it just seems weird to go alone, even though you won’t be talking to anyone. Who knows.

 

PS-And thanks to everyone for dealing with my incessant I-miss-Lincoln ramblings, I haven’t been myself the past few days and it’s all because of his absence. I can’t wait to see him next month!