Input this

So if I thought my temp job last week was boring, I was sorely mistaken.

This one is the mother of all boring jobs and it’s all due to two works:

Data entry

Blah.

Sure, I can type and have input data before but I never knew how redundant it can be. Also, I didn’t know how lazy teenagers are these days. I am inputting information from seminars held for high school students who are interested in going into the legal profession. They fill out surveys at the end of their visit and reading their handwriting is impossible and some of their answers, well, how about I just show you.

Exhibit A:

When I first read this, I thought maybe the girl was just being cute.I mean, she interested in being a lawyer so she can’t be serious, right?

But then I read on

Oi vey but props to her for saying she wants better food especially since I could sympathize with her since this was my lunch

Exhibit B:

What’s up with these kids not wanting to walk anywhere? They were on a gorgeous Ivy League campus and a majority of the answers are them complaining about them having to walk everywhere. Really? Killing me softly I tell you. At least some of their answers are entertaining-one of the boys left his twitter name on his survey and I so wanted to log on and follow him but I resisted temptation. Another boy was talking about how he was bummed that he couldn’t get into the girls dorms after 10pm—bad boy there. Other answers were quite heart warming, 99% of the surveys talked about how the best part of the seminar was making new friends from across the country who they would have never met other wise.

I was supposed to work 10 to 5pm but the power went out at 1pm so the other temp and I sat around in the dark with the rest of the office since we didn’t know what to do. Everyone is friendly enough but not going out of their way to be nice and they aren’t too chatty so starting a conversation with them was out of the question. Personally, I wanted to start singing kumbaya but I didn’t want to show off in front of strangers. Plus why not just sit there and play on my phone? I’m getting paid for it right? So that’s what we did until our supervisor told us we might as well go home since the didn’t know when the power would be back on. I got four hours of pay for three hours of work so I really can’t complain.

So I went home and I was completely beat….just after four hours…what is wrong with me?? I came home to a nice surprise though, some Warrior Crunch that I won over on Meals and Moves!

I made pizza last night with the last of my Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix and leftover sausage and peppers.

I decided to spice it up by adding Trader Joe’s Roasted Red Pepper Spread instead of pizza sauce

 

What a great pizza! I still have a good portion of the spread left and I know what I will be using it for next.

You all remember when I tried Gardein’s Beefless Tips and they were horrid? Apparently, I didn’t learn my lesson because I had this tonight for dinner

Moo Moo’s Vegetarian Cuisine Poblano Chick (Pea) Patties. Once again, I got bit by the curiosity bug when I saw this on sale at Winn Dixie. I’ve had chickpeas in the past whether it be in salads, burgers and falafel and love all things hummus so I thought these would be delicious. Plus I loved the irony of the company’s name. You can heat these up in the oven or microwave and being famished from a long day of data entry, microwave it was.

The moment of truth came and I should have known how it was going to pan out by the smell of it. It smelled exactly like a Lean Cuisine entrée, which to me, is one of the most disgusting smells. It reminds me of plastic veggies sprinkled with potpourri for some reason. But I took it out of the microwave and carried it on and placed it on my plate

 

It didn’t look anything like the picture (shocker) It reminded me of an undercooked, over sized snicker doodle covered in corn chunks. Need I say more? Two bites in, I slide it off my plate and even the dogs didn’t want anything to do with it.

That’s when you know it’s bad. No more vegetarian friendly dishes for me, unless, it’s Morningstar of course but Morningstar never disappoints. I have no real reason to buy these since clearly I am a carnivore but I love all the creative things that companies have in place of meat dishes. I’m a sucker for creativity I tell you.

Thank God my dad made shrimp and scallops.

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?

Frugal Friday: Saving money when without home

Happy Frugal Friday! I am about to hit the hay because I have to wake up early for another traveling adventure. This time?

(source)

Boston!

I haven’t been there since I was 11 years old and can’t wait to experience it as an adult. I’m taking the train up there so I’m sure that will be an experience itself and am intrigued by the whole train business. I haven’t been on am Amtrak train since I was in fifth grade when we went up to DC for the safety patrol field trip. I can’t wait to people watch but don’t think there will be as many skeezers on it than a bus. Stayed tuned for tons of pics and blogger meetup details!

As many of you know, I’m still living the vagabond lifestyle and much to my surprise, I haven’t been spending a lot of money. We’ve been eating out but not as much as I thought we were going to. If not eating out, I’ve been having leftovers at home (AKA Neyals house) or eating meals at home. Neyal likes to go out to eat but she is all about saving money and calories as well so we have been doing one meal at home and then go out for one each day if we don’t eat both meals at home.

Leftover chicken verde stew

Ropa Vieja made in the crockpot

Neyal’s garden is sick. But in a good way! She has a ton of vegetables growing right there in her backyard which saves her money on produce, especially in the summertime. Right now she has tons of peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, basil, parsley and more.

Check out these zucchinis!

Matilda took a liking to the big zucchini right away

I stopped by Trader Joe’s the other day after reading about Stephanie’s love for Joe.

I tried the tortellini bowl for lunch the other day and it was wonderful! It is pretty much the same as Amy’s Pesto Bowl. I usually have to add protein or some kind of space to kick up a frozen meal but this didn’t need anything additional.

 

When we went to the thrift store the other day, they had a ridiculous music selection. Not just cd’s, they also has cassette tapes, records and I saw an eight track! They cd’s were only $1 each so I grabbed some for all the road trips ahead of me. Apparently  I was trying to go back to my college days.

And yes, I did buy the Baha Men cd. One can never get enough Who Let The Dogs Out. Plus, there could be other hidden gems on there!

We went to 7-11 on 7-11 for a free 7.11 oz slurpee.

I’ve collected a bunch of reusable shopping bags at different events throughout the years. Instead of using them for shopping only, I use them day to day as well.

My Vitamin Water bag doubles as both a gym bag and a beach bag for me . It smells really interesting.

And my Food Lion bag used to be used for grocery shopping but now it’s used strictly for groceries. I cleaned out my cupboards when I left my apartment in Charlotte and the remainder was snack foods so why not take it on the road with me?

Instead of going out for fro yo, we made spinach ice cream the other night. I’ve made spinach smoothies but never spinach ice cream so I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. Neyal got the recipe from Costco magazine, I couldn’t find it anywhere online but I found this recipe for it which uses the same ingredients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We followed the directions to a T but it still came out more like a smoothie than ice cream. It was good though,thanks to the agave nectar.

Totally not Frugal Friday related but has anyone else heard about the new Style Network show Big Rich Texas???

It’s supposed to be like Real Housewives but only saucier and cattier—can’t wait!

How have you saved money this week?

Do you grow your own vegetables or herbs?

Did you get your free Slurpee on 7/11?

A good start to the week

Mondays are blah. But I had a good start to the week

*Went to Lowe’s

*Was amazed by how many hot men are there are 9am

*And how many hot men work there. Perhaps I should go to Lowe’s more often?

*Went to Dunkin to get my free Wifi on.

*Was disappointed since it wasn’t working and I just spent $1.08 on an iced coffee

*Asked the DD employee if something was wrong with the Wifi, she said “No, it’s working” and pointed over at a guy and said “See, he is on” I looked over and replied “Ummm, he isn’t even on a computer”!”

*Thought I was being punk’d and decided to leave

*Wondered if Punk’d is still on? Probably not with Ashton going to Two and a Half Men

*Thought about what my favorite Demi Moore movie is, still going with One Crazy Summer

*Went to old faithful, Starbucks, to get my free wifi on.

*Met up with a friend for lunch at Table 274, a new restaurant in Cotswold.

Like I would actually pay full price for a meal!

I’ve been curious about this place since it opened a few months ago but heard mixed reviews. I figured I would wait a couple of months to check it out so they could work out their kinks. Because they are working out their kinks and what works and what doesn’t solely for me.

I ordered the Roasted Vegetable Wrap-Roasted artichoke and tomato, sautéed mushroom, goat cheese and arugula

All of that for only $7! The wrap was tasty as is anything with goat cheese. But I was expecting it to be hmmmm….not soggy. The inside was good but a tortilla was definitely not the ideal way to hold it together. It would have been better on a pita or focaccia, something to hold it better together because it started falling apart after awhile. The sweet potato chips were a bit of a disappointment, most of them were limp and soggy. But then when sifting through them, I would find a good, fresh one in the mix.

*Visited my second Starbucks of the day. Apparently, I will pay full price for the Bucks

*Wondered what David Lee Roth is up to these days

(source)

*Didn’t bother to look, somehow I was assured that he is alive and well

*Went on a mile and a half walk with Lincoln. There were a few minutes were I didn’t think he was going to make it since he was dragging and panting in search of shade and water.

*Noshed on leftover tacos but this time added some Spicy Wholly Guacamole to them, always a welcome addition.

*Flipped through magazines and went to bed by 10pm. I don’t feel like I did that much but I was ready to crash.

Oh I left out one major thing I did on Monday:

Booked a trip to Italy!

Like you even have to guess what the question of the day is…..

Have you ever been to Italy?

Tame and lame

Yep, that would describe my weekend. Friday night was exciting but the rest was pretty tame and lame.

Saturday morning was solely dedicated to packing and getting rid of junk. I had someone from Craigslist come over at 11am to look at my tv stand and they bought it—woo hoo! One item down, a whole lot left to go. I paid $100 for it last year and got $60 in return so I think that’s pretty good plus that can be a credit card payment for next month.

Of course, I put on Twitter about how if no one ever heard from me again, it was because I’d been killed. I never used to be weird about it but then this guy had to go ruin it for everyone.

(source)

The rest of the day was nothing to write about, errands, cleaning, gym. Fun.

I went through my freezer and saw that I had some shrimp that should be used soon so I decided to make shrimp, veggies and pasta. I cut up red peppers, onion, zucchini and shallots and seasoned with

I seasoned the shrimp with pepper and garlic then cooked with extra virgin olive oil on the stovetop until cooked thoroughly. I topped with parsley and grated parm. The best part was that this didn’t even need any kind of sauce since it was so flavorful and absorbed the extra virgin olive oil that I cooked the shrimp in.

I wanted to do something on Saturday night but nothing was going on. No one was around or responded to my texts if they wanted to do anything (nice) and no one asked me to do anything and I didn’t want to spend any money. Around 8pm, I got up and went to Freedom Park with Lincoln since there was still some light out. we walked around the lake, canoodled with other dogs and enjoyed the night. I t started to turn dark and the rain was coming in so we went home and hung out. The rest of the evening was spent with this guy

I’ve been trying to make Lincoln rock a faux-hawk but he isnt having any of that.

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning but not my choice. I didn’t get to bed until midnight and couldn’t take Lincoln out since it was down pouring. What does that mean? I woke up to him on my chest

I made an awesome bowl of oats—chocolate banana chia oats. These were bomb. I was just going to add the banana and chia seeds but had a little left of a bag of morsels to use up and most definitely didn’t want to be wasteful.

I went to Target to grab a battery and left with a battery and three tops. So typical

I also picked up my dad a Father’s Day card. I love my dad but I feel awkward picking out a card since they are too sappy for my taste like “You picked me up when I fell and now I pick up my kids when they fall” and other lame stuff like that. I just want a card that says “Happy Fathers Day, love you” but apparently Hallmark and the other big shots don’t want to produce stuff like that.

 

By the time I got back from Target, it was 9am and I was bored….again. So I got on my sneakers, grabbed Lincoln and we went for a mile and a half way and then to the park

Lincoln was chasing so much squirrel that his chain broke! His retractable chain went out 15 feet and now the string won’t go back in. So now we have to use his old leash which only goes six or seven feet out and when you have an energetic pup, that just doesn’t jive.

And something else broke apart but with the help of a wrench

Sing song the bed is dead!!!!!! That was my independence day and while everything didn’t break completely apart, it’s dismantled. Thanks Nic for the tool tips—I appreciate it!

Lunch was leftover mushroom flautas from Vida and kale chips. I believe in making the most of what you got and definitely when it comes to cooking, why use to sheets when I can use one?

I got creative with dinner on Sunday night. I had leftover spaghetti from Saturday night so I halved the leftover portion, added two tablespoons of cottage cheese, thawed frozen spinach, red pepper flakes, garlic, spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese

Took one portabella mushroom, cleaned it out, sprayed with extra virgin olive oil from my Misto then stuffed with the pasta mixture

Topped with more mozzarella

Bake for 15 minutes at 375 and then top with parsley and done!

This was a fun way to make spaghetti interesting as opposed to just the blah leftovers it sometimes can be! Plus if there’s an opportunity to get some mushrooms into my belly, I won’t pass it up.

Also this weekend I’ve been trying some new smoothie concoctions thanks to my friend, frozen mango

Berry, mango, coconut water, chia seeds and greek yogurt

Mango, coconut water, chia seeds and greek yogurt

I’m out of protein powder and in limbo regarding what flavor or brand I’m going to buy next step. So to get my protein in the meantime I’ve been adding greek yogurt along with coconut water instead of milk and I love the consistency, it’s still thick but not as heavy.

 

Does anyone else feel me on the wanting a non sappy Father’s Day card?

Do you sell stuff on Craigslist/Ebay/Amazon?

Random question-anyone familiar with Google Analyticals? I have the code to add it to my site but I’m not sure where exactly to enter it in since I do everything by posts. It keeps telling me to put it anyone on my site, please help if you know where I should put it!

How to kill time in a cubicle part deux

Another boring day with nothing to do. Thank God, it will be all over tomorrow at 4pm because there is nothing more I can do with my day.

A run down from today:

*Organized my coupons (there will be an upcoming Frugal Friday on my couponing ways!)

*Read magazines

*Touched up my nails

*Proclaimed I’m never going to indulge in a bloody margarita again after last nights festivities

I got home, passed out around 845om, woke up at 1130pm and went back to bed around 4am. Suffice to say, I felt like crap today.

*Indulged in a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte

 

I say indulge because rarely will I order a $4 drink if I don’t have a free drink coupon.

*Practically cried when I saw my Chick Fil A coupon had expired because grease was the one thing I needed in my system

But got a free bagel with cream cheese instead

*Found some websites to waste time

This one was my favorite: Dads are The Original Hipsters

*Went to the library to return a few cds

*Found out that Jon Secada is still alive and well and putting out cd’s

*Got some new cd’s

*Wondered why I went buckwild with a BOGO sale on M&M’s and Starburst at CVS

*Marveled at how great my hair looked with it’s natural curls coming out to play  without doing anything to it

*Read about  Bru’s Wiffle in Santa Monica and decided I will be there if I am in Southern Cali again.

The serve Belgian waffles but not just for breakfast dishes—they have it as the base for other dishes such as Chicken Curry Salad Waffle and a Pizza Waffle!

*Watched Shiba Inu’s live for a ridiculous amount of time. They were absolutely adorable but then I started to get concerned because do they ever go off line? When do they get to go outside and do their business? What happens when they grow up, will there be replacements like with Menudo?

*Found out Fage offers coupons online

But Athenos doesn’t since it’s a Kraft product and per their website

“During special promotions we may offer coupons in order for people to try something new at little or no cost. The brand must pay for these coupons and the number of coupons available is limited by brand marketing and promotion budgets.

We do not offer Kraft coupons upon request, but look for them in newspapers, magazines, and on product packages”

Thumbs down, Athenos, thumbs down.

*Went to Target to shop

Found a cute jacket on the clearance rack along with a pair of fun sandals since it looks like I won’t be wearing my flip flops as much as I have been.

*Had a killer lunch of leftovers

*Googled pictures of Colorado and Colorado Springs. My best friend just moved there and I think I am going to visit this summer!

(source)

 

Please tell me something excited about your day!

So I smile

Wow, we have some ball lovers up in this piece huh? I love it. As Monique commented, all I could think about while making the balls was the Schweddy balls skit from SNL

(source)

Today was a great day. Mostly because they announced my resignation at work so I am free and clear to tell people I am leaving. Some people on my team already knew about my departure but there were some who were kept in the dark about it since I’m not too close to them. I also found out that there are two other people on our team leaving so there is going to be a lot of work spread across the remainder of the team. I am trying to do as much as I can before I leave because I don’t want some of my friends to get my accounts that I did absolutely nothing on and have them do all the work that I should have. I’m good like that.

I was sitting at my desk after lunch and started to get a flutter in my stomach. I thought it was a bit off since I had a huge lunch of leftover stir fry

But then I sat back and thought why was my stomach feeling that way? I got up from my desk and took a walk outside and I was so happy I decided to do so since it was absolutely gorgeous out. And then something odd happened, I smiled. It’s been a long time since I smiled for no reason and it’s all because of the possibilities that are coming my way from leaving my job. No longer will I feel restrained by my job and feel like I am going nowhere. No longer will I not want to get out of bed in the morning. No longer will I dread each and every day and that I am slowly wasting my life away. No longer will I have huge bags under my eyes and people telling me how tired I look like the past month or two (I hope at least!) I am starting to feel good about everything that is going on, even if it means instability and not knowing where I am going to be in three months. A few of the guys on my team told me they are envious of me picking up and leaving since they have other obligations such as family, mortgage, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I have felt stuck at company and in this city for too long. For some reason, I felt obligated to just go in and out every day to work, bust my hump and repeat and be unhappy. I’m happy something inside of me finally awoke and gave me a message that it’s time to live and not just exist! At first I wasn’t so sure about my decision but I starting to feel more and more confident about my decision and myself as the days pass. So I smiled…..and I smiled the rest of the day!

Hell, my dinner even made me smile. I didn’t have a meal planned so went to my standby of Mexican food and made quesadillas. I didn’t have any cooked chicken on hand and was so lazy I didn’t feel like opening a can of beans but soon I found my secret ingredient.

Steak.

I went to BLT Steak at the Ritz Carlton on Monday night, which that night deserves a post of its own since it involved beers, peach mojitos, a $300 bottle of wine and yeah, The Ritz Carlton. For a girl who does Frugal Friday every week, going to the Ritz is major! I got the Hanger steak and had a few bites leftover and when a steak goes for $26 , you can bet your bottom dollar I am taking those last few bites home! I cut up the steak and placed on top of the jalapeno, onion and cheese mixture

I had the quesadillas with a side of blue corn tortilla chips sprinkled with Tabasco sauce.

Apparently I either need to A) Go to the Ritz more often for steak or B) Add steak to my quesadillas because these were ammmmmazing! I think option B) will be more feasible for me in the future. Unless I find a sugar daddy and with the way the dating scene is looking lately, that is not happening.

I had a stellar dessert soon after-a smoothie with blackberries, almond milk, flax-seed, Spiru-tein Blueberries & Cream protein powder and *finally* chia seeds!

Totally feel like I’m supporting the Lakers with that smoothie! I was stoked to get a package of chia seeds in the mail today. I’ve seen much hype about them in the blog world and there was a post on Carrots N Cake about them today so I felt compelled to try them at once. I added them while blending the smoothie in my Magic Bullet so that weren’t whole but a seedy texture afterwards. The smoothie didn’t taste gritty or seed-like yet it was still tasty and packed with benefits-score!

What made you smile today? Thoughts of leaving my job definitely did along with this guy

Occupying the night

Happy Friday Eve! Glad to see you all liked the post about Cecil’s stay in Charlotte. We had some great times and even though Cecil drank alot, he wasn’t hungover not one bit….strange. I’m happy to say that Cecil’s next stop will be in Boston, he is so excited for it since he is a huge history buff (ok, ok and Sad Adams fan!)

So this week has been a long one, which is weird since this weekend went by so quickly. Days have been dragging on at work and I am getting everything finalized there. They haven’t announced my last day yet but my whole work crew knows so I’m just counting down the days at this point (16 more days if you’re curious). I’ve been absolutely exhausted when I get home so my nights have consisted of:

*Quick meals

I love to cook but this entire week have just felt unmotivated to do so or have been mentally exhausted. I wanted to order in a couple of times but I stuck to my guns (and wallet) and decided to dine at home.

 Leftover enchiladas and salad

Seriously, how is Mexican food even better leftover?

-Easy, half assed chicken parmesan

I used whole wheat flour, chopped parsley, garlic and red pepper flakes, coated the chicken in it then cooked on the stovetop

I think this was the first time I didn’t have any shredded mozzarella on hand so I just topped with grated parmesan cheese. I also had cooked spaghetti sitting in the freezer so I microwaved that for about six minutes. That definitely helped me time wise since I didn’t have to wait for the water to boil, cook, drain, etc. And  there you have it-a quick, easy meal that I could also eat for lunch!

*Vino

*New restaurants

On Wednesday night, I went to the Crepe Cellar in NoDa. I’ve heard fabulous things about the Crepe Cellar from friends and reviews for both brunch and dinner. I love crepes any time of the time-whether it be sweet or savory so I was excited to finally check it out. This is a very small place with only nine tables in the entire restaurant with a small bar area so you have to be sure to get there at the right time or be prepared to wait since they don’t take reservations.

I started off with a much-needed beer-Belhaven Twisted Thistle

Ok, so everything on the menu looked good. They had po boys, french baguette pizzas, pastas and more but I couldn’t go to the Crepe Cellar without order some yummy, warm crepes so  I got the Queen City crepes-roasted chicken, bacon, cheddar topped with oven roasted tomato dressing.

Check out that lovely purple slaw!

The crepes were good but nothing out of this world. Perhaps I had my heart set on some crepes that would make me want to re-enact the deli scene from “When Harry Met Sally”  but sadly this wasn’t the case. They tasted like a hot wrap I could’ve ordered at an Applebee’s or elsewhere and was missing the magic touch.  Also, they didn’t have that much of a selection of crepes-about five or six entrees and the same number of dessert crepes. I would expect a place with the name Crepe Cellar to have more of a variety of crepes but I guess that’s not what they are going for.

*Workouts

Some lackluster….

When I went on Tuesday night, I just could not get into it. I did 30 minutes on the Precor elliptical and then just left-no cool down, strength training, nothing. I wasn’t in the mood to work out so I’m glad I got a little movement in but it was definitely a meh workout.

On the other hand, tonight was a kick ass workout!

It was a complete 180 from my workout the other night, I did 35 minutes on the Precor AMT then various upper body strength training such as chest press (40 lbs 13 reps x 3 sets), row (80 lbs 13 reps x 3 sets), lateral pull down (60 lbs 13 reps x 3 sets) and shoulder press (20 lbs 13 reps x 2 sets). When I walked out of there, I felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the world! Even if the dude on the AMT next to me smelled of sweat and sweet man juice and the other dude next to me was hacking up a lung. Hello, if you’re hacking up a lung, maybe you shouldn’t be working out? That’s why there is a thing called rest.

Speaking of fitness, for those of you who blog about fitness, have you joined FitFluential yet? FitFluential is a new company founded by Kelly Olexa and Jennifer Edwards  and it’s a wonderful way to put your blog out there while connecting  with some of the best brands around. I highly suggest you all check it out, you can sign up here ! You can also find FitFluential on Facebook and Twitter.

What’s been occupying your nights?

Viernes

Work actually gave us a break and allowed us to leave early on Friday–no joke! Management asked us to come into the conference room for a few minutes and told us they were letting us leave at 1pm because they recognize how much we have been working lately. Of course, none of us believed them when they told us this so we asked them a few times if they were being serious. When they said 1pm, I naturally asked “Eastern standard time?” just to be sure they weren’t letting us leave at 1pm Pacific standard time or something cruel along those lines and soon we were out of there!

I met up with one of my friends at Three Amigos Mexican Restaurant because I was in desperate need of a margarita (because who doesn’t want a margarita at 1:30pm on a sunny Friday?) and tortilla chips. Some of you may remember Three Amigos from my Charlotte field trip day last month and I was stoked to check it out again.

A margarita was definitely on my mind but once I saw my friend having a Coca-Cola, thoughts of a tequila filed drink went adios

We noshed on their lovely guacamole and caught up on things

After this, I didn’t need too much food but I love Mexican leftovers. I had no idea what to get since everything there sounds delicious, comes in huge portions and best of all, is very reasonably priced. I went with something different-veggie enchiladas poblanos (I wanted to stick to no meat this Friday to make Grand Master J happy  as opposed to last Friday with its meat filled glory from Primanti’s)

I’ve only tried mole a few times so this was new to me but delicious. I was so full from the chips, salsa and guacamole that I had two of the enchiladas to take home with me for leftovers this weekend. When I got home, the one thing on my mind was to snuggle with Lincoln and nap. But he was content with sitting in the sunlight and working on his tan.

Soon we were on the same wave length, even if he was still working on his tan.

Good thing he didn’t need SPF! Is there even doggie SPF, like a spray version? 

I made it to the gym after my nap and did 25 minutes of upper body strength training then onto cardio- none of the ellipticals were open so I did 25 minutes on the treadmill with an incline ranging from 3.5 to -3.0. I haven’t just walked in a long time so it felt good to do something different plus I got one of the machines with a tv and E! kept me entertained.

Some thoughts from E!

*I don’t mind in plaid shirts but after seeing Seacrest in one, I don’t think I like them anymore.

*Khloe Kardashian has her own reality show—really?

*When is American Idol going to go off the air? I think they should American Idol for seniors as opposed to just the youngin’s.

*I like Ashlee Simpson’s short ‘do

(source)

Some other random things……

*I love my dog, that’s all

*I have a mild obsession with a couple of international men as of late

Kieron Elliott

Rhys Darby

Did anyone buy the Living Social deal for Spa-Lami yesterday? Or the Forever Young Puppy of the Month Club?

PS-Enter to win some raw, Rawxies cookies here!!!

Springing Sunday

Sunday was a much better day than Saturday. I’m feeling back to normal now but still a little spooked by the driving incident. Thanks all for your kind words, I really appreciate and you know how to make a girl feel good! It was a good day, even if it was the day where we sprang forward (Arizona excluded of course, I didn’t like not changing time when I lived there and still get confused if they are two or three hours behind the East coast). When I woke up on sunday, I was groggy as all hell but was quick to get ready because I had plans for brunch at Terrace Cafe!

Terrace Cafe was voted best brunch in Charlotte and heard about it from Diana when she came to visit Charlotte and my sister. If out of towners are telling me how good this place is–I had to try it out! The thing I was looking to most was of course was the infamous Red Velvet Waffles but they also have S”mores french toast so I was conflicted on what to get. Sweets like those or savory like their breakfast casserole or Eggs Benedict? Sweet wins all the time and I went with the Red Velvet Waffle with fresh fruit (in an attempt to get some vitamins in at brunch) and a skim latte.

The waffle was out of this world amazing but it was so sugary and rich I could only finish 3/4 of it.  The drizzled sauce on it was a cream cheese sauce–yeah, you can only imagine how good that was. The fruit was amazing as well and I had a fully belly and a smile on my face when I had to be rolled out of there.

After the food had digested, Lincoln and I went for a 30 minute walk. It was the perfect day—70 and sunny and there were so many people out with their pups, Lincoln got some play time in there as well. I went to the gym shortly afterwards and had a good workout. I don’t know what’s up with my left knee but it’s starting to act up again and the front lower part of my knee has been killing me whenever I go on the elliptical. I finally found the right stride and resistance on the elliptical  that wouldn’t kill my knee and ended up doing the Precor crossramp with a 8-11 resistance going backwards. I did 30 minutes of that then did various leg strength training—leg press (240 lbs 13 reps x 4 sets), leg extensions ( 80 lbs 13 repx x4 sets), hip adductors (140 lbs 13 reps x 4 sets) and hib abductors (110 lbs 13 reps x 4 sets)

I did some cooking as well but not as much as I wanted since it was gorgeous inside and didn’t want to spend the day inside. I made cole slaw pasta salad with cole slaw mix, spaghetti, black olives, mushrooms, green onions, parsley, mushrooms and feta cheese. For the dressing, I kept it pretty sour with a mix of extra virgin olive oil, lime juice and red wine vinegar.

I’ll probably cook some chicken to add to the mix so I enjoy as a quick-lunch this week.

Dinner was leftover Chipotle BBQ Chicken with cole slaw pasta salad

That was the last of the chicken, le sigh.

I made cranberry walnut bread using the banana bread recipe I used this week. I just subbed out the bananas for dried cranberries and walnuts. And you know what? It was a HUGE fail.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take me a good five minutes just to pry that brick out of the pan.

Hmmmm, looks burnt and tiny. Does not look edible.

But when I cut it open, it was absolutely gorgeous on the inside. I guess looks can be deceiving and I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…..

I texted Leila to tell her about my cooking fail and she said perhaps it was because bananas are wetter and it didn’t need to cook as long and that made sense to me. Any other thoughts on where I went wrong? I tried a slice and it was definitely edible but not the easiest thing to chew, I figure if all else fails, I can use as biscotti!

I really don’t want to go back to work tomorrow–where the hell did my weekend go? I had plans of going into work today to play catch up but that obviously didn’t happen and just hope this week goes by quickly. Pretty soon I am handing in my two weeks notice—cannot wait!!

Breakfast–sweet or savory?