Swap Shop Swat

My sister was in town this past week to finish some registry stuff for her wedding this fall. She came in early on Monday, instead of Tuesday  and when she called me to tell me, I was already out of the house at Ikea. My friend texted me to see if I wanted to go and I really didn’t need anything at Ikea since I am without my own place but I am up for anything to get me out of the house. We went to Salad Creations to nourish before the big shopping trip . I was so happy to see they have Salad Creations here because I wasn’t sure if they were just a NC thing. But on the same note, I was also bummed because I had a punch card and threw it out when I moved. I told the cashier this (because she had a look on her face that said “Tell me a story!”) and she ended up giving me double stamps that day because she felt bad for me—score! I got the Thai Crunch salad and was in love with the modern bowl it was served in.

The salad was great and believe it or not, that was the junior portion. I never get the salads on the menu there, I just create my own with whatever I’m feeling that day but I will definitely get this salad next time I go.  All about the asian persuasion, even if in salad form. So we went to Ikea and we all know how that goes, walking around, stopping to stare at every single thing and then being duped into thinking I could actually do some of the stuff they have on display such as their gorgeous kitchens. Like Target, Ikea sang its siren song to me and I got a few items I wasn’t planning on but everything was super cheap and I only ended up spending $15!

I got home and my sister said she was craving some lettuce wraps from PF Changs. I’ve only been to PF Chang’s a couple of times before but heard they had a great happy hour deal in the bar area. We made our way in and it was empty but I guess you can expect that for a Monday night. The PF Chang’s in Boca was smaller than any other Chang’s I have been in and kept wondering where the rest of the restaurant was. They do have a little patio area to the side though. Their special runs from 4p to 6p in the bar area alone and includes beer, wine, specialty drinks and appetizers.

I got the hot and spicy wontons and  pork tacos while my sister got the chicken lettuce wraps. The service kinda blew considering the place was empty but I can deal with crappy service in exchange for cheap food. Never would I have imagined the pork tacos would be good at asian fusion restaurant but rock on with your bad self Changs!
Afterwards we went to Macy’s to work on my sisters registry. The only thing that displeases me more than a rude salesperson is a rude salesperson who is supposed to be happy for those getting married or having a baby but is bitter instead. The girl we were working with was a complete beezy and seemed inconvenienced that she had to help us. My sister and I are a pretty fun bunch, especially after two beers. so I’m not sure what her beef was. And I’ve officially decided that after helping her pick out items for her registry, I need to get married. I want gifts like waffle makers, cake pans, a nice coffee maker and other goodies. I guess companionship and love would be nice also but I could really clean house with registering for stuff. Or I can just pull a Carrie Bradshaw and instead of shoes, I could register for food processors?

While perusing the different items in the housewares section, I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw this

Tuesday was going to be a long one so I woke up early and went for a quick bike ride. Once I got presentable and looked like a lady, my sister, mom and I made our way to the Swap Shop.  Theknot.com message board recommended going there for flowers on the cheap so that was the main mission….if we could get there that is. The Swap Shop is located in an *ahem* less than desirable part of Fort Lauderdale. When we pulled off I95, we saw multiple intersections barricaded off by the police. Add three helicopters in the air flying around us and I started to have Goodfellas flashbacks. But once I remember I only had Advil PM on me and can be narcissistic at times, I felt relieved that they couldn’t be after me. Turns out that there was a robbery and a shooting at a check cashing business (see, less than desirable part of town) so the SWAT team was called in. After a lovely ride through a quite sketchy neighborhood, we got to the Swap Shop. And if I thought that neighborhood was sketchy, I was wrong. The Swap Shop was sketchy with a capital “S”! Scary Swap Shop Swat—say that three times fast! My dad and I used to go once a month when I was younger and I never remembered it being that sketch. But then again, I was young, naïve and not quite jaded. My mom, sister and I made out way through the outside flea market where all the junk is then went inside through the food court. We made the mistake of not using the restroom before hand so we had to use theirs. It smelled like funk, bad cheese and cabbage. I had to squat, which I very rarely do and was afraid to touch anything in fear that I would develop open sores all over me. And of course there was no soap in there because that would make some sense. Good thing I always have a couple of hand sanitizers on me! We finally found the flower people which we were right next to the produce stands outside.

We looked at a fewer different florists they turned out to be more than half the price that she found online. My favorite was the dyed orchid I found because fuchsia and turquoise are two of my favorite colors.

 

There was also this interesting, little food stand there.

I feel compelled to try it when I have nothing to do for a few days, just in case I get food poisoning. Something about swap shop seafood just doesn’t sit well with me.I made my way over to the produce stands right after.

I found some interesting stuff and when I went to three different stands to ask what this was, I got three different answers
*Soft and sweet
*Apple
*(Grunt)  followed by something said in Haitian

If any of you knows this or wants to grunt at me as well, please hook a sister up, I‘m curious now. I found really cheap buys, like really cheap all of this for $4.25 so I was a happy gal!

With prices like that, they are close to knocking off my beloved Charlotte hippies from their pedestal. We’ll always have produce, dear hippies.

What exotic fruits or produce have you tried?

Where would your dream wedding registry be?

Cursing the Swedes

Greetings from Panera!

I’ve currently loafing off their free Wi-Fi they offer here….one of the many reasons I love Panera so.

Blarg-why am I up so early??

 I woke up at 5A this morning for no reason whatsoever. And when you live in Charlotte, that blows because nothing is open and seeing that it’s Sunday, a majority of businesses don’t open until after noon. Seeing that I am not a churchie, this doesn’t fare well for me but god bless Panera for opening at 7A! I got the Breakfast Power Sandwich to start off with. I’ve never had this before and was pleased with it for the most part. It seemed to be a little soggy on the bottom but it comes in at 330 calories so I can deal with that.

I also got a free coffee thanks to MyPanera rewards club. If you haven’t joined–what are you waiting for? Not only have I gotten free coffees, lattes and teas but I’ve always received free pastries and bagels. Sign up now!

Check out the swag I got! You can’t take me anywhere…..

 I’m really stoked to try that mayo. I don’t ever buy mayo since I’m not addicted to it or anything but if I have to use it, I have tons of packets on hand.

Yesterday was interesting day so let’s just start with that. I woke up at 6A on a Saturday-completely meh worthy. I didn’t have any plans for the day and the Y doesn’t open until 7 or 8 so that wasn’t an option. And it was miserable outside. I don’t mind the rain that much but when you had a skiddish dog who dislikes the rain, it can be a bit difficult to deal with. Especially if it’s more than a steady drizzle out there because once we get back in, I have to towel dry him since he doesn’t reek of wet dog.

But he is pretty damn cute so I guess I can deal with it.

 I remembered a Groupon for Luna’s Living Kitchen I bought a couple of weeks ago. Luna’s is not only a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, they also offer raw options as well. I’ve heard good things about this place and switching it up with something vegan or raw could be an interesting switch up from the normal eggs or oats I have for breakfast on the weekend. Plus cold, rainy, dreary weather is totally an ideal let’s-go-get- hot- breakfast setting. 

I ordered the Bombin Buckwheat Blaster (with fresh kiwi, apple, banana, blueberry and raspberries) and a cup of coffee. About $11 for that…..breakfast for one person. But Groupon was paying $10 for that so only $1 and some change out-of-pocket. If I didn’t have a Groupon, I would definitely not pay that much for a bowl of buckwheat. Free refills on the coffee so at least I had that working to my advantage. 

Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous?  There were so many bright, colors in front of me, I felt like I had to wear sunglasses. It was a big, hearty portion with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg and a  wonderful breakfast to start a cold, rainy morning off on. One of the employees dropped by, asked how everything was and if I’ve been before. They are so dang friendly….and dare I say natural….there, I love it and wish more places employed people like this. I really like how they have fresh fruit sitting out by the window in the front and the staff will walk back and forth from there and the kitchen picking what they are about to use in a dish, that’s just cool seeing what’s going into your food. All in all, a great experience however I will only be going back to Luna’s if I a have coupon (lucky for me, I bought two Groupons) or want to splurge. Their prices are just too high for my budget with eating out but I really love their concept.
I got back home and it was Bob Vila time

Which naturally, I sang to “It’s peanut butter jelly time”. Whatever happened to him by the way?

I wasn’t doing major home renovations or anything, just fixing my bed frame. Which that itself is a huge project since I am really not a home improvement kind of girl. It took me about 15 minutes just to find my hammer and screw drivers so yeah, this was going to be interesting.

Basically, what happened was Ikea sucks.

No, just kidding that’s not what happened but they do kinda suck.

My bed frame broke…..and not because of anything fun. It broke because it was $90 and I had to put it together at home instead of ahem, a professional bed frame put together-er doing it.

So I’ve been ghetto-fab taping it up with duct tape

Classy I know. So naturally, my thought is “Ok, the duct tape and rockiness are ok for me but what if I meet a gentleman caller soon?” Not like I will meet one soon because this is one of the slowest seasons I’ve had and haven’t even been on a date since August-meh! But still what we to happen, things get saucy, then hi-come to my broken Ikea bed because that doesn’t make me look like a whore or anything.

So I lifted up the mattress to see what exactly was going on with this stinky bed frame and found the root of the problem

Hmmmm…..pretty sure that it shouldn’t look like that. I removed the ladder thing from the bed and found that the actually frame was really shaky. So I grabbed my screwdriver to see if I could tighten things up a bit. Then I remembered that Ikea has their own little do-hickeys to use when putting together their furniture so a regular screw driver was going to be of no help to me.

So I started to curse everything Swedish….

Ikea

Meatballs

(source)

My ex boyfriend who was Swedish

I cursed everything Swedish….. except Abba of course

(source)

Dear ABBA: I love you and owe so many mornings to you since your Pandora station is always there to properly wake me up!

Soon enough, I got everything in check. Turns out the middle partician was wobbly so I taped that bad boy up and then taped up the corners as well.

I got the mattress on and it was Lincoln approved!

Afterwards, I made the mistake of turning on WE, then getting sucked into the Joan and Melissa Rivers reality show then Ghost Whisperer. I’ve never seen GH but I actually enjoyed it–besides the fact that I was crying every other minute. Hello emotions–it’s nice to see you come out and play while I try to kick back and watch tv! One of my friends texted me asking me if I wanted to meet her at the Y for a workout so I jumped at the chance since I needed to get away from the couch and crying.

I met up with her at the Y, I’m not used to working out with someone so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We got machines next to each other-she ran, I ellipticalled for 35 minutes (is that even a verb? If not, I’m making it one), then I rowed for 10 minutes. When we were both finished with cardio, we did some leg presses and leg extensions then I did some side bends with a 25 lb weight. And you know what? Had such a good time! Working out with someone made the time fly by and it was fun to catch up, gossip, talk about boys, etc. I can’t wait to meet up with her again for a buddy-workout!

I had plans to meet up with some friends at Big Daddy’s for dinner and was stoked to go. I am always down for a burger and fries and Big Daddy’s is one of the best in town. I walked over there because I figured the walking would cancel out maybe a slice of cheese I was going to devour on the burger and every little bit helps right? When I was about a block away, my friend told me they weren’t going to make it since they were fighting. Hooray for less awkwardness come dinner time but boo for cancellation at the last-minute. I wasn’t so gung-ho about it that I had to have a burger so I ended up turning around and going back home. I toyed for a few ideas of places I could carry out from but really didn’t want to spend the money. I would’ve made something  but was feeling too lazy.

Enter in the solution:

Times like these are why I buy frozen pizzas!

Holy cheesy yum! It was difficult to have only three slices and be satisfied, I could’ve downed the whole pizza. Instead while cutting up my slices for dinner, I sliced the rest of the pizza and put in the fridge asap so it wasn’t as accessible to be.

I had the last of my pumpkin ale.

LOVE THIS STUFF! I need to re-stock asap.

A good day all in all……I’m a little less hateful towards the Swedes than I was at the beginning of the day.

Ikea-Love it, hate it or *gasp* never been??

Let Them Eat Carbs

I love double posting days!! I lasted at the pool for two hours this afternoon. I was sweating bullets after I hopped in the pool a few times and even had a little sweat rag to help me out a little. I really need one of those fans that mist water on you and then I will be all set.

I got back to the dogs and made chicken tacos with red peppers, onion and avocado for lunch topped with T Marzetti’s Light Ancho Chipotle Ranch (I am sure you are sick of seeing this but I am going through all of my food and still have half a bottle left!)

Scrumptious. Avocado, you never fail me. I was soon on my way to hit up some different stores in search of clothes for NYC this wk. I went to Kohls and got a cute top for $30, umm, yeah that’s expensive in my book. I used to love their stuff but lately find it a little meh. I was in a different area of town and saw a Ross and quickly turned that way to see what goodies I can find. I got two dresses, two tops and a new workout DVD all for $40! I love you Ross.

But the big event of the day was next. The big event that has been four years in the making:

YES!!!!! I haven’t been to Ikea since I lived in Tempe and we had one right near my apartment. We got Ikea this past year but it’s on a completely different side of town for me and I heard it is a crazy house there. I recruited one of my co-workers to meet up with me there since she has a truck and with list in hand, we got to shopping!

I ended up getting a bed frame, tv stand, kitchen cart, two rugs and some other random goodies

All of this came to $100 under my budget for Ikea so I was loving that. I was expecting to be absolute madness on a Sunday afternoon . It was crowded but nothing over the top and we got out of there within an hour and a half, not bad at all.

Dinner came next and I was at a loss as to what to make. I am loving this whole “Let’s eat everything in the fridge and freezer” but I don’t have anything that’s calling out to me “Eat me!!”

I noshed on the last of my Tribe 40 Spice Hummus with Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits

And I present, a most random meal: Pierogies, baked sweet potato and zucchini

This wasn’t anything too spectacular. The sweet potato was too crisp and the zucchini too mushy. I normally cook my zucchini on the stove top and will be sticking to that routine from here on out. The pierogies were good but I usually make sautéed onions and mushrooms and a side of plain greek yogurt with them so it was a tad bland.

Random thought of the day: How does David Caruso have a job? I am watching CSI Miami right now (purely because I don’t have a remote control and am being lazy) and this is just horrible. Is his acting supposed to be a joke? Please someone fill me in because this makes me believe I can obviously become an actor or a big Hollywood agent, who helped him get this role.

Hope everyone is gearing up for a great week! It’s quarter end for me which means the next three days will be dead at work but then things pick up on the first of the month (wake up wake up wake up) but who will be off on the the first of the month? Moi. I need a day before going on vacation to get things in order, get last minute shopping done, lounge by the pool, get my nails and my brows did and sadly, take Lincoln to the boarding place he is staying. Also, there is a Charlotte blogger meetup in the works for this Wednesday so that is super exciting to look forward to b/c that will be my first blogger meetup and then when I go to NYC I am meeting up with the lovely Mo and Mari–can’t wait!