M&M

I am really digging making my own breakfast at home. I love that I can whip up an egg and cheese sandwich within minutes and am no longer spending $6 for a box of some frozen, preservative ridden sandwich pack. Now if I could only get motivates to make some bacon or sausage with it…

I don’t dig bringing a lunch of leftovers that I know isn’t going to be anything special. I brought over the rank chicken from the other night but this time covered in Heinz 57 sauce (because cmon, it makes everything better) with a side of brown rice.

Can we all say “Boooooooring” in unison? Lets! It was decent, it somewhat filled me up but it was more meh than anything. Thank god there were no pineapples in it because I might have thrown up.

I am so happy I stocked up on kiwis the other day at the store. I love kiwis so much (yet hate kiwi flavored stuff) and is a reminder that summer is almost over. Anyone else just take a bit right out of one? Or is it just me? I always heard growing up most the vitamins are in the skin so I just eat like an apple.

Unlike yesterday, it was busy today. Pet peeve of the day-when I am busy with my own work and have the highest volume work load but people still ask me to help them with their stuff. I am doing double what you’re doing and I’m not asking for help, someone please explain this to me? I was in no mood to be messed with, I had at least four people complaining about one person on our team and kept giving out my managers info so they could speak with her directly. I can’t help that some morons are still working on our team (note—it wasn’t Stinkalicious although were some complaints about the stinker today)

Yummy coconut pineapple bread on top of Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt. I brought in the rest of the coconut pineapple bread so I wouldn’t eat the entire loaf. We have many a hungry people in my office so they were willing to take it off my hands. I heated up the slices for them and they kept telling me how good it was.  I will admit, I like the compliments, it makes me feel good.

I had a $30 Groupon for the Deck, a local beach themed restaurant in Dilworth offering seafood and summer style foods.

The Deck is a somewhat newer place and in a location that one would think would be good but businesses never seem to last there. I was itching to use the Groupon and in the mojito so my friend and I walked over there to see what it was all about. We wanted to enjoy the rooftop deck (hence the name of the restaurant) and there was a little wait. We wasted no time and headed straight for the bar. $5 Mojito’s and $6 Martini’s on Wednesday nights? Don’t mind if I do……

I started off with a French Martini. I had a few sips of my friends for the first time when I was in Phoenix this past weekend. When I heard $6 martinis I knew I needed to try this! It was absolutely fabulous.

Martini and Mojito love

A table finally opened up and up we went! They had an awesome singer outside playing great music like DMB, Jack Johnson, Pink Floyd, Sublime and The Beastie Boys. I was in heaven! I could just sit there drinking mojitos and listening to Mr. Magic Hands sing songs of others. Oh yeah, I can’t do that. I have a little thing called work getting in the way of my schedule. Boo.

Next drink on the agenda was the Mora Negra Mojito-muddled blackberry, lime, sugar with mango juice and Bacardi Superior. Do I ever have to tell y’all that it was delicious?

I chowed on some chips and salsa while my friend had the She Crab Soup and dinner came shortly.

I got the Honey Wasabi Tuna Burrito-honey marinated yellowtail tuna with rice and pico de gallo in grilled flour tortilla. Look at how gorg that tuna is!! It was late by time my friend got off of work and I was starving but I guess my eyes were bigger than my tummy. Our server was peculiar, he came up to us asking if we were mad at him because we weren’t eating. He kinda sounded serious maybe he is buddy buddy with the cook? It was great but I just wasnt in the mood for scarfing down the plate of food (What has happened to me?? Did I just type that!?) It was a nice Mexican alternative to the usual fried, cheese ridden Mexican food I find in many restaurants.  As I am a Florida girl, I love anything beach themed and everything on the menu was looking mighty fine.  I was happy with the food but the drinks were the highlight for me.

Has anyone ever tried shrimp and grits? Supposedly, theirs is the best in Charlotte but the idea of it kinda skeeves me out. I like shrimp and I like grits. But together in unison? No thank you.

So I’m watching LA Ink right now and this is my first time watching it. Has Cat Von Dee always sounded so……gruff? I am sure homegirl slice could kick my ass but she sounds a little man-ly. And who says we don’t learn something new every day?

And how did I not know about M&M’s Premiums?  When did they come out with all of these? They have Mint Chocolate, Raspberry Almond, Triple Chocolate and more! I don’t know if I should thank or curse Christina for sharing this link with me but I will say thank for now (untul I go up another dress size at least) I wonder if they will ever make a chocolate espresso flavor or gahhhhhh…..cookies and cream! I will be in M&M heaven. I must find a Costco soon so I can go buy a feedbag of it and be in M&M heaven! Or perhaps I should just walk over to The Deck and be in another M&M kind of heaven. Ohhhh……M&M flavored Martini……now we are talking.

Happy humping 🙂

L.A. Face with an Oakland Booty

 I got two compliments about my weight loss from co-workers today—which was totally unexpected! I have been feeling somewhat discouraged lately and trying not to go by the numbers on the scale and more of how my clothes fit, which have been getting looser and looser. However a good portion of my life has gone with the idea of paying attention to the scale and not to inches, how clothes fit, how I feel etc. it is a bit difficult to get used to.

Anyways, it was a nice way to start my morning and a reminder to myself to keep moving forward and not get stuck on the notion that I have to be a certain number. I will state this now-I am a big booty gal

Enter in one of my most favorite Nike ads

 I am happy to be living a healthier life style, incorporating healthy foods, habits and workouts in my life but sometimes wonder what would happen if my butt keeps shrinking? It’s the bane of my existence….yet the thing that defines me. I am little in the middle but got much back, cursed with an Italian butt, etc. I don’t want to be some normal girl with a normal figure but at the same time sometimes hate my booty and the attention it brings.

 Oh Sir Mix A lot-you sing to my heart. 

 I am a true LA Face with an Oakland booty but what happens if I keep losing weight and my booty goes bye bye? Fortunately, I don’t think it will ever go away not be a flat a**sed girl, it’s just not in my DNA.  In my perfect world, we would be able to decide where on our bodies we wanted fat to dissolve from (along with me donating my fat to the starving kids in Africa) Sigh.

On a random note– I totally want to buy this shirt!

 

Now onto protein I’ve noticed ever since giving up a majority of meats I have been light headed and had zero energy. I was looking at my food diary from the past wks and I can see a significant drop in my protein intake. Before Ash Wednesday, it ranged from 85 to 140 grams a day and this past wk most days have been in the 40’s and 50’s range. As much as I don’t want to, I am going to try meat again for a few days and see if I feel back to normal. It is important for me to stick with what I gave up for Lent however it is most important for me to feel healthy and normal

That being said, I made nachos with ground turkey and black beans for dinner.

My snacks this afternoon were a kiwi and a tangelo

Lunch was the same as yesterday–Morningstar veggie sausage link, broccoli with whole wheat thin spaghetti

Breakfast-Oatmeal, flax and frozen berries

Onto the good stuff—-The Bachelor!

That whole thing with Roslyn was ridiculous. I will her that she is a really good actress with all the acting she did last night with the she said vs. she said when it came to her fling with the producer

 

And then with the low blow she hit Chris Harrison with saying that he was hitting on the producers wife? Wow. I am looking forward to the finale and seeing the girls (love on the commercials they have “Will Jake choose sugar or spice?”) meet his parents. From what they are showing, it looks like his family loves Tenley and not showing so much for love for Vienna. At least the finale is set in Hawaii—so no more turtlenecks for Jakey Pooh.

Riff Raff

I got to try out my new rainboots today! It was raining non stop this morning…..not a good way to kick off a new wk. I went into work early so I could catch up on anything that I may have missed by leaving early on Friday. When I got in, it was nice and quiet except Stinkalicious was giggling and very excited about the thunder today. This person is 50 something and they are making a remark every time we hear thunder. I appreciate the little things in life but cmon! Each time thunder hit, they made a remark about it “Ohhhhh….scary” (in a serious tone not a playful tone), “Haven’t heard that in awhile”…blahblah blah.
I go into work each day trying to be nice but mornings like this make it so hard.

Breakfast was Oikos Greek Yogurt with frozen berries, coconut granola and flax

Did anyone ever watch From G’s to Gents (Season 2)? Such a good show—not. It was on this time last year and when I first saw it, I thought it was a joke. It is probably one of the worst reality shoes ever but I was addicted to it…..until Riff Raff was kicked off.

Don’t know about Riff Raff? Well you’re about to get schooled.

From MTV:
1. Age: 26
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Occupation: Unemployed

– A freestyle rapper under the name “Texas Tornado,” Riff Raff has the MTV logo tattooed on his neck.
– Riff Raff says that he cheated his way through 11th grade and once started a fight in school because he was bored.
– Lives in an apartment decorated like a nightclub, complete with turntables, blacklights and a “Riff Raff” banner.

This cat was crazy yet so loveable.

And I guess he came out with his own cd? I am sad they airbrushed the Bart Simpson tattoo on his chest off……that just spells out gangsta to me.

Oh Riff Raff, you will always hold a special place in my heart.

I didn’t have too much time to work on meals last night so I made spaghetti with steamed broccoli and Morningstar Italian Sausage Link. I mixed with some evoo, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes.

The snacks were an apple, banana, kiwi and honeydew…..wow, I was all about the fruit today.

I came home and indulged in some Baked Ruffles -Sour Cream and Cheddar

 RIP Marshall Fields

I’ve had a horrible headache all day and about to attempt a nap.

A treat for the feet

I went out today for the sole purpose (haha pun intended) of pampering myself but it looks like my feet got the hookup today! But first I had to fuel before the shopping!

I had a wrap with Smart Deli Roasted Turkey, tomatoes,mushrooms, onion, lettuce and Ken’s Lite Honey Mustard and a kiwi

I was a bit reluctant to try the faux turkey but was pleasantly surprised. Plus it was only on sale for $2/package so yay for trying new and cheap things 🙂

And the day of me began!

First stop was SteinMart. Which I never really go to but my friend told me they were having a really good sale. I went online to their site first and signed up for their email notifications and got a 20% off coupon-holla!

Why don’t I shop at Steinmart? I don’t know but am going to start!

I almost bought one of these adorable aprons but passed (I especially love the Domestic Dive one)

And ran into these two cute pairs of rainboots. Decisions decisions.

I absolutely loved the pink.black.white ones but thought they would get dirty easily with mud and rain so went with polka dots (HUGE polka dot fan here!) After the 20% coupon these were only $20-score!

I then saw these cute Rampage blue heels…..75% off!!!

For $9.95 how could I not buy them?

All this shoe action made me think of this video:

Since I was on a roll bargain wise, I headed to the clearance rack and found this cute wallet for $8.85

I refueled with an iced coffee from Caribou

Then got a much needed pedicure. I love pedicures for not only how good they make me feel and how cute my piggies look after but also because the place I go to has the best gossip magazines and god knows I am not spending $4 on those!

The final product (sadly, I rarely stray from red)

For anyone who has a foot fetish-you’re welcome

I broke open one of the bags of Ghirardelli chocolates and tried the Caramel flavored

I don’t like Sundays in the first place but absolutely hate Sunday afternoons. All I want to do is take a nap but can’t because then I won’t be able to sleep tonight. It is gorgeous outside but still in pain from Friday’s tattoo removal session so I am trying to hold off on running on working out with kettlebell until tomorrow.

Walking On Sunshine

20 degrees and snowing last wk……60 degrees this wk? Hello global warming, it’s nice to meet you!

It’s an absolutely gorgeous day in Charlotte and I have been on the go all day and taking a break for now!

I had to wake up early to take Lincoln to get groomed then I came back made some french toast with baked apples on top and my first cuppa joe.

I thought this would be really good because I had pancakes with baked apples on top from Cracker Barrel but these disappinted me. It was edible and tasted good, just not as good as I thought it would. I nuked the apples for 2 minutes and topped with apple pie spice and splenda. Then poured over the french toast and topped with syrup. I’m sure it was better at Cracker Barrel because of all the sugar and stuff (plus they put whipped cream on their pancakes and you can’t go wrong with that) but it filled me up and prepared me for the busy day I was going to have.

First stop was the post office to ship out some clothes I sold on ebay this past wk. Then I drove a few miles to South Carolina to get gas. It’s about a ten minute drive to the border and gas is about $.20 cheaper to I fill up on the wknd and am good for two or three wks (I really don’t drive too much at all due to the bus and train during the work wk).

Next stop was onto my good deed for the day….Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control

They are no kill and in dire need of food. I saw this on the news the other night about how food donations for animals are at an all time low and knew I needed to help! Enter in the four unopened bags of dog food that I got for free but Lincoln didn’t like. They have been sitting in my kitchen for a good year .

I was so happy to help the poor doggies! Sometimes I think I like dogs more than people—they don’t talk back, aren’t selfish and just want to love. But that’s another rant for another time! Then I made a huge mistake, I asked to see the dogs. They pointed me over to where they keep the dogs up for adoption and I walked in. That’s when my heart sank. Thankfully, there were only 18 dogs but to me, that is 18 too many. They were all so happy to see people!  I kept getting licks from them and it was just so sweet to see all of them so happy. But then I started tearing up because you could tell they were good dogs who don’t have a home and there was nothing I could do ( I warned y’all I like dogs more than people sometimes). I would love to have more dogs (but not to the point I am crazy dog lady) if I had more room but I am in an apartment which is room enough for Lincoln and I. Plus if I brought some doggies home, I think that would break his heart.

Speaking of which-next stop was to pick up Lincoln from his morning of pampering! Now if his momma could only get a day of pampering…..

How adorable are we? hehe

Lunch was sushi from Harris Teeter-Spicy Salmon Roll

And a kiwi (which this package of six at Trader Joe’s was $2.20 but for one at Harris Teeter is $.69 each–dislike!!)

Lincoln hoping to blog

Bad news on the Shamrock Shake hunt—I stopped by two McDonalds’s today and none in the forecast.

I’m not going to completely give up on this though. I am gonna keep searching through McDonalds in the area ….and learn how to say Shamrock Shake en espanol or learn how to dance like a leprechaun so people who don’t understand what it is will know what I am talking about!