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!

Whipping it out

Coming back from being out of town sucks. It sucks normally but sucks even more when you only have three weeks left in your home. I’ve been trying to separate things to give to charity and pack the rest of my stuff up but it’s hard. I will look at a piece of clothing I haven’t worn in awhile and remember the day I bought it or first wore it and have a hard time parting from it. So my new rule is that if I haven’t worn it in the past year, it’s going to the thrift store (old college shirts don’t apply to this rule as one of these days I’m going to get a quilt made out of them)

Along with that comes going through my kitchen, trying to use as much as I can without throwing it out before moving day.

So until my lease runs out, I’m trying not to buy anything except for produce, milk and yogurt.  I bought a bunch of produce on Monday and it should be enough to get me through the week.

However, going through all the food in my cupboard sometimes leads to mundane meals such as breakfast on Tuesday.

I know you all haven’t seen a bowl of oats in a long time. Mostly because I find it so drab that I don’t feel the need to post the oats I eat since they never look magical. Besides, who wants to stare at pictures of oats? Actually, scratch that. This bowl was quite tasty and it was my first time adding chia seeds to oatmeal. I added it with the oats and water when it was in the microwave instead of soaking them in water like I normally do. Banana and agave nectar were the other add ins for a simple, filling breakfast.

I met up with friends for lunch at Savor Café on Tuesday afternoon. I’ve only been to Savor once before for lunch and was quite pleased so I was stoked to check it out again.  I love going out to eat and trying different places but don’t have many places I frequent all the time so when I find one I dig, I go with it.

Let’s talk weird/annoying stuff.

This table.

Ok, I don’t like posting pictures of strangers on the Internet b/c I wouldn’t want someone to do that of me. But this table was driving me bananas-they all sat down, whipped out their phones, looked at the menu, whipped out their phones, the guy in the black ordered a salad, got the salad and yep, you guessed it, whipped out his phone while eating the salad!! I could not stop staring at them because what is the point of going out with others if you’re going to be staring at your phone the entire time? I will break out my phone when I’m with others but not the entire time or even a majority unless someone is going to be meeting us and I need my phone or  am expecting a call/text/email that I need to take.

I’ve even had friends who would text me when we were out….right across the table from each other. For real? Drives me bananas. I know I would not do well without my cell phone but sometimes I need a break from it and turn it out. I don’t like being connected all the time. Don’t even get me started on when a guy pulls out his cell phone on a date…..

I finally peeled my eyes off of the iPhone table and saw that my friend had a gift for Linky!

He is going to be bling blinging all over Charlotte! Bitches will definitely be up on his sack….if he had one.

I ordered the Farmers Market sandwich

I love that they allow you to order any side item you want with a sandwich. They have the standard fries, cold slaw, pasta salad, fruit and side salad and they also have a casserole of the day. The one for Tuesday was cauliflower casserole which sounded delicious but I wasn’t in the mood for anything too heavy. The side salad is the perfect portion and it’s loaded with toppings. Hooray for garbanzo beans!

The salad was good but the sandwich? HEAVENLY! I can’t remember the last time I ordered a tomato/mozzarella/basil concoction. Maybe because I don’t think I ever have? It just never appealed to me but it was so hot out and sounded fresh, light and zesty. The combination along with the balsamic vinegar hit the spot but the superstar of the sandwich was the bread. Look at how fluffy it is! And the grated cheese, good lord, the grated cheese.

We went to Central Coffee afterwards and chatted outside. In the shade and with an iced coffee in hand, it wasn’t too bad out but I can tell this summer is going to be a scorcher.

Lincoln was feeling a little neglected when I got home

But neglect soon turned into love when I whipped out part of my friends leftover turkey burger she gave me to give to Lincoln

Where do you stand on the cell phone issue?

Whipping the phone out at the dinner table or out with friends: Yay or nay?

An update

Hey all–glad you all  are entering the I Love My Dog bumper sticker contest—I absolutely love hearing about everyone’s dogs so keep em coming! Lots going on so I am going to attempt to categorize this and make it light and easy

On the food front: A whole lotta randomness has been happening. With the weather getting nice out (you know, since it’s February and all) I’ve been craving less than stellar stuff….like nachos. However, it’s rare that I have tortilla chips at home seeing that I can plow through an entire bag in one sitting. So what to do when a girl wants nachos and doesn’t have tortilla chips? Make her own!

Instead of brushing with extra virgin olive oil like I normally do, I sprayed with vegetable oil non stick spray then sprinkled black pepper on them. I popped them in the oven and cooked for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

This was a terrific way to make nachos in a pinch and did the trick for me!

Friday was a stressful day at work. I was running late plus we had a two-hour training to get to from 10A to noon–who does that? What kind of masochist schedules meetings and trainings on a Friday? I just don’t get it plus Friday is my day to catch up on stuff and tie up loose ends. I turned to old faithful to relieve some stress—a gyro and crinkle cut fries from Showmars.

Oh Beatles even though I love you so, I beg to differ, sometimes all you need is grease.

A new sweet treat I’ve been having lately is a chocolate Vita Top topped with Pumpkin Spice topping from Smuckers.

I bought the topping some time ago on clearance and completely forgot it. When scouring my cabinets I found it but had no clue what I was going to do with it since I rarely have ice cream at home (their fate ends the same was as tortilla chips)

Do I need to say how delicious this is or does the picture do it justice?

Another sweet treat that I indulged in this weekend?

SHAMROCK SHAKE!!!!!

Can I get a holla?

Yep, that Shamrock shake didn’t live to see five minutes of life on this earth. I slurped it down in record time….and without brain freeze thank you very much. Last year, I didn’t have success with finding a Shamrock shake so you can imagine how excited I was to find one this year! When going through the drive thru, I told the employee at the window how happy I was about the Shamrock shake and he told me that he was happy for me and I quote “Your hair looks good, boo” Just what I needed to hear after getting my hair done. Love. Now the question is, when am I going to have my next Shamrock shake?

Shortly after, I had plans to go day drinking so my friend picked me up and we had plans to go to Angry Ale’s since I had a Groupon for $20 worth of food

We thought it was a little odd when we drove up no one was out on the patio on such a beautiful day. I guess we didn’t hear about the fire that happened there back in January. Oops, sorry Angry Ale’s! And for those of you who know how frugal I am, don’t worry, I already contact Groupon and got a refund!

We ended up going down the street to Brazwell’s.

There is when we had some real nachos.

Those nachos but my mock nachos to shame.

I went with the buffalo shrimp as my main course. Why am I saying main course? It was 3pm on a Saturday on a patio where I was enjoying $2 Coors Lights. I guess I am too lazy to change it, yes, that’s what it is.

The crowd started to get a little too early 20’s, pastel colored popped collar crowd (i.e. the reason why I cannot date in this godforsaken city)  soon after so we headed to Dilworth Neighborhood Grill to let the day drinking commence.

I guess Coors Light is currently the “it” beer because there too it was only two bones. Or maybe they think Coors Light just sucks and they were trying to get rid of it. Lucky for them, I will drink cheap beer. I actually prefer Natty Light over some others.

I was just really happy to be back in dress-wearing weather. It felt nice not having to bundle up in layers and rocking some sandals.

I love day drinking, I prefer it over night drinking actually. Of course the sad thing is that day drinking must come to an end at some point unless you live in Alaska. I hate the transition from day-to-night drinking like when you’re at a bar day drinking, a couple of hours pass, you walk outside then boom, it’s night-time. It always catches me off guard as if I don’t know the night is coming or something.

I indulged in some shrimp pad thai with shrimp from Noodles & Company. I wasn’t too impressed with their pad thai, it was more meh than anything. But then again, I really wasn’t expecting anything authentic from Noodles & Company when it comes to Asian fare. I got the shrimp pad thai and there was some chicken in it–good for me, bad if I was a vegetarian.

I had some oats with Pumpkin Spice topping + baked apple+cinnamon+flax seed

Holy deliciousness!

Roast beef sub with potato salad

On Sunday night, I made an interesting new dinner!

First I cooked some baby carrots in the crockpot for five hours on low with water and 1/4 cup brown sugar

Then the main event–cooking a whole chicken

I’ve never cooked one before so this was a new experience. I took it out of the packaging and just stared at it—what was I supposed to do with it?

I quickly googled what to do with an entire chicken and realized I had to reach inside and pull out the innards. Gross. Don’t worry, no pictures of that b.c I put on some gloves, grabbed it then tossed it in the trash.

I patted the chicken dry then rubbed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, parsley and green onions

I cooked at 400 degrees for a little over an hour. Having a meat thermometer would have been extremely helpful

Such a beautiful bird! Luckily, it was cooked all the way through just right.

Dare I say, this was one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever made. Having the bone in makes such a difference with the flavor and makes it more succulent. The seasonings I added were simple but just enough to make my senses come alive!

Exercise wise: I went to the gym on Friday night and did 45 minutes on the Precor AMT then did some upper body exercises such as lateral pull down, chest press, row and deltoid row

On Sunday, I attended  a free  Combat Cardio class at Dick Harrell’s Martial Arts studio courtesy of Yelp.

I was a little nervous to go to the class after watching the videos–this looked like another CrossFit type of class. But I am always up for a free class and mixing it up from my normal regime.

We started out with a little jog then ran in a circle inside while people with in the middle individually and practiced kicks, jabs and crossover jabs.

Then we partnered up (I had the same partner at my CrossFit class so it was good to work with someone who I’ve worked with before) and there were five station rotations-burpees ,  sit up passes (with a 12 lb medicine ball), wall squats (with a 15 lb medicine ball) sprinting (with a resistance band while your partner pulls against you) and kicking. Not that that is exhausting enough but we did that set four times in a row which totally kicked my ass. I can say with certainty that I hate burpees and surprisingly enough, the sprinting was my favorite. I now have parts of my body hurting that I never thought could hurt but it’s a good hurt if that makes sense? Plus I had a pretty sweet calorie burn–thanks Yelp for sponsoring this–I am looking into going to more classes there!

Job wise: Work still sucks. Even though Monday was a bank holiday I went in for a couple of hours just to get stuff done. I will be putting in my two weeks notice in April so I can get a good reference (hopefully?) then ride out the rest of my lease. I have plans to check out Pittsburgh at the end of March. I have a bunch of friends who live there, hear it’s a fun city, near WVU where I went to college and is cheaper to live than Charlotte. I’ve been looking into what I will do financially and think I am going to take out some of my 401K–just enough that I will be able to live off of and then still have a nice portion left so I can roll over into a rollover IRA. Still working on paying off my one credit card I have and paying extra on my student loans and car loan.

So yep, that’s what’s going on over here–a busy and full weekend!

Have you ever cooked a whole chicken?
Anyone else having gorgeous weather?? I am confused how it’s 70 and sunny in February but I’m actually enjoying it!

Something old, something new

The last few days haven’t been too exciting. It’s consisted of some old things

*Going to the gym

I love being back at the gym! I feel like each workout I’ve had has been a solid one involving both cardio and strength training not to mention a pretty sweet calorie burn

*Bowl of oats

I never have an idea of what I’m going to put in rolled oats when I started making them on the stovetop. When they are cooking, I go through the cupboards to see what can be added. I’m not much of a savory and sweet breakfast person but today I was. I had oats with walnuts, shredded coconut, maple syrup and flax-seed–absolutely delish!

*Sonic

I rarely go to Sonic anymore but used to go all the time when I lived in Phoenix. Their slushes are great not to mention their chicken wraps and their to die for tots.

And some new things

*Falafel Salad with baby spinach, carrots, cucumbers, tomato, kalamata olives and Laughing Cow wedge

*Root canal

I had my root canal on Friday. I can’t believe how quick and painless the procedure was!  They couldn’t have been friendlier and I had such a great experience. I told them how scared I was and they assured me that everything would be alright and it would be a quick. painless process. After hearing about root canals gone wrong and how horrible they are to go through (ok and possibly from watching Little Shop of Horrors too much as a kid and thinking dentists are out there to hurt me), I was a bit apprehensive. They numbed me up, let me know that if I felt any pain just to raise my hand and started to drill. And you know what? it wasn’t bad at all! Soon, they were finished and I was like “Huh, that’s it? Really, that’s it?” They explained the post-procedure care in depth and the surgeon even let me know about an Italian restaurant or two to try that were unknown to me. Working on my grill and talking restaurants? Hell yes!  When can I get my next root canal??

*Special K Chocolatey Delight

Hello, where has this been all my love? Or more like, why did it take me so long to try this? I’m not a cereal person whatsoever but bought this on sale a few weeks ago and cracked it open last night. I’ll admit it-I had two bowls in a row. It was wonderful.

*Do it yourself dog wash

I don’t have a bathtub so I can’t give Lincoln a bath in the tub like I used to. And sometimes, dare I say, Linky gets Stinky. I don’t know what he does but he stank this week so I researched a few do it yourself dog wash places and found Bark Street

They have a couple of bath tubs set up along with shampoos, conditioners, dog cologne, towels and dryer so it’s a one stop shop. Lincoln is a bit skiddish so I knew this would be an interesting experience. Um, Lincoln didn’t like his mama giving him a bath. He wouldn’t sit still and kept jumping up to the edge to give me kisses and was shaking like a little drowned rat.

Soon enough, we were home and he was happy sitting in the sun

*TASTYKAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, not necessarily new to me but it’s been forever since I’ve had one but I owe this beautiful reunion to Kace from Then Change It. She hosted a Tastykakes giveaway and since I need my ass to get bigger, I entered and was on a mission to win! Ok, I don’t need my ass to get bigger (trust me, it is not a white girl booty) but I can’t resist the power of Tastykakes!

Thanks again Kace for hosting the  giveaway and sending these my way!!

*Queen’s Feast Restaurant Week

I’ve never been to RW here but it’s a great deal—$30 for a starter, entrée and dessert. I went to George’s Brasserie and they had a varied menu list that would make an omnivore, pescatarian and vegetarian happy. The starters ranged from soup to mixed greens to shrimp and the main entrée menu had chicken, spinach and mushroom crepes, snapper and short ribs. The dessert menu offered rich desserts such as creme brulee, chocolate mousse and apple tart. Service was absolutely out of this world and I couldn’t have asked for more plus they have really cute servers, nothing like some eye candy while dining–hi boys!. Our server explained the wine list to me since I was intrigued by the whole “Interesting” section and how it compared to the merlots, cabernets, etc. He was on point with filling our bread basket along with refills and was prompt with taking our order.

The food let me down. It was good don’t get me wrong but nothing that made me want to foodgasm. I started with the Mixed Greens topped with fried Brie, candied pecans, fresh pears & pickled red onions with raspberry vinaigrette

Fried brie?? Any kind of fried cheese is welcome in my belly and the brie was bomb. I’m not a huge brie fan but fried brie and I could totally be best friends.

Next was the entree-Pan Seared Snapper with lobster & corn basmati topped with herb beurre blanc

The snapper was fresh and meaty but lacked flavor. The lobster under it was a nice touch and was good but it seemed a bit dry. The basmati rice both were laid on was just mush without flavor. Totally edible but no one flavor popped out at me.

The left dessert-Rustic Apple Tart  with Chantilly cream

You can’t really go wrong with apple tart. The cream on top was amazing and decadent…..not one bit of this was left behind!

What’s something new you’ve recently discovered?

Also, does anyone know how to fix an Open ID problem? I can comment on WordPress and self hosted sites but when I try to comment on Blogger sites it won’t let me—very frustrating! So if you don’t see me commenting, I am trying but the commenter gods won’t let me.

While my mandoline gently weeps

Another snow day. Well, ice day. It is absolutely horrible outside and everything is iced over. Initially, we had to go in at 10AM but on the first voicemail, it said to call back at 8A to see if 10A still rang true. When I called back at 8A, I learned our entire office was closed so another day at home.

What’s a girl to do? Clean? Organize? Workout?

No, I choose breakfast, naps and Dr. Phil

Breakfast was rolled oats with canned pumpkin, cinnamon and dried cranberries

A Thanksgiving bowl of oats if you will!

The rest of the morning is self-explanatory–naps and Dr. Phil. I am getting completely sucked into Dr. Phil and this needs to stop asap…..probably tomorrow since it looks like I will go back to work then.

I needed to get out of the house so I walked over to Dilworth Coffee and Harris Teeter. It’s only a few blocks away but it felt like it took me over to get there. I had to watch each step and was slipping every other step. Last thing I need on my plate is to fall on the ice and hurt myself so I strolled on over and got myself a cup of coffee. Surprised they were open but also surprised that I was the only chick in the place. It was sausage fest 2011—woo hoo! I sat around there for awhile, sipped my coffee and read. Very relaxing and nice to me around people as opposed to a needy fur-baby (got nothing but love for you Lincoln but momma needs her space sometimes!)

Tuesdays at Harris Teeter is $2.99 any half sub day, I got turkey on a whole wheat wrap with mustard, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers and black olives. Fresh and delicious!

I decided to break out my mandolin that I got for Christmas. My mom sent my gifts to me this wknd so it’s been sitting around in the box and felt it was time to pop its cherry.

I sliced a potato into thin rounds, brushed extra virgin olive oil on them and then tossed with Spike seasoning.

The main dish was baked chicken stuffed with a Laughing Cow cheese wedge, spinach and mushrooms.

I cooked the frozen spinach and mushrooms on the stovetop with garlic and black pepper until soft.

I took one chicken breast, wrapped in plastic wrap then pounded until flat

Spread the laughing cow cheese  wedge over the chicken

topped with the spinach/mushroom mix

And of course, some extra mozzarella cheese to add to the gooey cheese factor

Fold the chicken breast over and secured with toothpicks

Why buy toothpicks when I can get them for free? Thanks Chipotle!

 Proceed to toothpick the chicken until it looks whole again. Disclaimer: you may curse at the chicken when it’s being difficult with you when toothpicking-such as “I effin hate you, you effin chicken” don’t worry, it can’t hear you and won’t get talk back at you!

When closed up, sprinkle some seasonings on both sides of the chicken. I chose to keep it simple and went with black pepper and garlic.

Cook on the stove top with extra virgin olive until cooked thoroughly

When I’ve made stuffed chicken in the past, I’ve baked in the oven so my only issue with this method was getting the side and ends of the chicken. I wasn’t sure what to do so I would hold it for a minute and let cook!

When the chicken was almost done, I took the potatoes out of the oven

I should have sliced them thicker and used foil (but was out of it b/c I didn’t pick it up in one of the three supermarket visits in the past four days) but they were edible. I also had corn heating up in the micro then topped with pepper and spray butter when done.

The meal?

Gorgy, melted, ooey gooey chicken goodness!

But it didn’t stay pretty for too long

I’ve had some good dinners in the past few weeks but this has been the best-hands down! It was a perfectly balanced meal with meat, carbs and veggies and took less than 30 minutes to make (yeah Rachael Ray, I’m looking at you!) The chicken was succulent and tasty and only took a few seasonings to make it so. The stuffing reminded me of spinach and artichoke dip so I think I will make spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken next time around. When I was lucky, I would get a bite of the stuffed chicken with a potato and all was in the world for a couple of seconds. Way easy to make, I recommend making this tasty chicken!

After seeing Laury’s post, Something in the way she moves, I’ve had “Something” in my head all day. Which is perfectly alright with me since I love the Beatles and to me, their music is timeless.

My Top Five  Favorite Beatles songs

1) While my Guitar Gently Weeps

2) Across the Universe

3) It’s Only Love

4) All You Need is Love

5) A Day in the Life

And you can’t forget when they went solo

John Lennon

1) Oh My Love  (One of my top 10 songs of all time)

2)  Instant Karma

3) Woman (I sing this to Lincoln all the time but instead of woman replace it with “Lincoln”, you need not tell me I’m a nut)

4) Watching the Wheels

5) Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

Paul McCartney (with some Wings thrown in there) This mans energy absolutely amazes me

1) Back in the USSR (I like Paul’s version better than the Beatles)

2) Maybe I’m Amazed

3) Live and Let Die

4) Ebony and Ivory

5) Wonderful Christmas Time

George Harrison-never really got into his solo music but love My Sweet Lord

Ringo Starr-sorry Ringo, I don’t like any of the stuff you’ve done solo.

It’s sad that only two of the Beatles are still alive, John and George were such wonderful musicians. If any of you like classic rock, I suggest Wonderful Tonight by Patti Boyd. Married to both George Harrison, then Eric Clapton, she was the inspiration for The Beatles “Something” and Claptons “Beautiful Tonight. If you don’t know the story of Boyd, here’s the short story of it but I definitely recommend “Wonderful Tonight”

Are you a Beatles fan?

Beef, it is NOT what’s for dinner

You know what’s not fun? Waking up at 445A for no reason whatsoever. ARGHHH! I was planning to wake up at 6A but kept tossing and turning and finally surrendered to the day. I made some pumpkin oats topped with cinnamon and almond butter. My motor skills weren’t in tact yet so I went with quick oats in the microwave. And wow—I can taste such a difference after eating rolled oats yesterday. These tasted like mush and was just blah. I picture that they serve this kind of stuff in an old folk home since I really don’t have to chew at all, I could’ve just slurped it up. 

 

Oats fail. 

Even Lincoln was unhappy with the final product. Or maybe he just didn’t want to be up at 515A doing nothing, me either Linx, me either. 

 

I met up with Brittney for lunch and we went to Blynk Organic. I’ve been wanting to check out this place for a while and am happy I finally was getting the opportunity to do so.They have a variety of sandwiches, salads coffee, tea and smoothies that you can nosh on in the seating area to the side of it (pretty retro-esque too, I like) We decided to dine al fresco since it was absolutely perfect out. Brittney showed me a secret patio on top of the Dean and Deluca building. I like secret places. Ok, maybe it wasn’t so secret but I never knew about it so it was secret to me! 

 

Brittney!

I got the Saladena sandwich—roasted red peppers, artichokes, mozzarella, balsamic and spinach on a tomato basil roll. It was absolutely fantastic and fresh! I love when I actually get away from my desk, it’s such a nice way to break out the day. 

I really had nothing to look forward to for the rest of the day. My workload was pretty light but I snuck in a mile walk in there so yay for productivity! 

But then I had a dilemma . I started contemplating things in my life and the main thing I was thinking about I couldn’t settle on. What was it you ask? Well, it’s a very deep and important question that I am sure many of us have had to face at one point or another in life—should I buy cheese for dinner? I was planning on making a rice bowl with black beans, red onions and peppers for dinner but no cheese. Cheese makes everything better but do I really need cheese? Answer-No.  But then again, would I be eating this for dinner and think to myself “Yeah, this is good but it would have been great with some cheese”. I mulled over this for a good 30 minutes and went to my co-workers asking what I should do about my situation. I thought one of them was going to throw a stapler at my head since this was the biggest issue I was having today while some of them are dealing quarter end issues like interest being paid out and libors. 

And you know what? I ended up getting my cheese……and it was everything I dreamed of and more. 

Rice bowl sounded good but surely, I could make something better and a tad more creative right? Then I remembered Mo’s post on making Skinny Chimichanga’s and felt compelled to make a baked chimichanga/burrito hybrid of sorts 

I made boil in bag brown rice last night to save some time today then mixed half the bag with black beans (half can), shredded cheese (1/3 cup), Habanero peppers, red onion and chile powder then filled the tortillas 

 

 

I sprayed with canola oil spray and baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes 

 

 

This was terrific and a nice alternative to tacos or a rice and black bean bowl. Now looking at everything I noticed that I was a vegetarian today, rock on with my bad self. Thanks Mo for sharing!! 

I got home thinking I was going to have dinner and fit a nice nap in afterwards. I was going to draw the drapes, turn the lights off and snooze while watching Family Guy. I forgot that there were men working on my roof today so constant banging and yelling for a good two hours I got home. Ugh. Good thing I was so tired that I ended up zonking out anyways and woke back up at 730P but felt like I slept for so long thought it was 730A, I hate when that happens! 

When I finally realized what time it was, Starbucks was the first thing on my mind. I wasnt  in the mood for coffee but for cold tea and seeing I don’t have anything here but coffee, water and hot chocolate, off to Starbucks I went! 

I got a Venti Shaken Iced Green Tea.Lemonade with two splendas–so tasty. 

 

 And for my coffee lovers out there–tomorrow is National Coffee Day—hooray! Check out this link for specials to see if any places in your hood are giving out free stuff. I don’t recognize some of the coffee places 

And with that, I feel like I need to go run to tire myself out again.

Justifications

Yesterday was absolutely nasty. But I will put down that this was the first weekend in a loooooong time that I haven’t been hungover so that’s an accomplishment for me! Wow, writing that down it sounds kinda sad but whatev….non hungover weekends don’t happen too often during football season for me.

I woke up and made scrambled eggs with peppers and avocado with a sandwich thin topped with cranberry reservesthen had a killer kettlebell session.

Kettlebell-20 lbs

Halos (13 reps, 2 sets)

Shrugs (13 reps, 2 sets)

Squats (15 reps, 2 sets)

Upright Deltoid Row (13 reps, 3 sets)

Swings (13 reps, 2 sets)

Side Bends (20 reps, 3 sets)

Dumbbell-15 lbs

Curls (13 reps, 2 sets)

Shoulder Press (13 reps, 2 sets)

Lateral Raise (13 reps, 2 sets)

Dumbbell -10 lbs

Tricep Extension (13 reps, 2 sets)

Tricep Kickback (13 reps, 2 sets)

Misc.

Donkey Kicks (13 reps, 2 sets)

Pushups (15 reps, 2 sets)

And today I hurt.

After that, I was still feeling ambitious and decided to walk over to Festival in The Park. I forgot that they were calling for a 50% of rain that day and thought I could get there in time since it’s only a 15 minute walk from my place but overestimated myself. About ¾ of the way, it started drizzling so I headed back and when I was somewhat close to home, it started raining cats and dogs. Which, how amusing would it be if it actually did start raining cats and dogs one day? I wouldn’t want those cute babies to get hurt but for visual sake it would be amusing. On another note, I am still waiting for it to rain men.

Damn you Weather Girls for it most definitely does not rain men in Charlotte.

So, like I was saying. Raining cats and dogs but not literally. I had to hang out on the stoop of a vacant condo for it settle down a bit and even then, it was still coming down consistently.

 And I absolutely hate when I am wearing my flips and my feet get wet. I was sliding all over the place and I think it’s just a gross feeling in general. Kind of how I imagine it would be to get a tongue foot bath. Nasty.

And then it rained and rained and rained some more. I had lunch and  watched movies and napped the rest of the day.

 It was perfect. Little Lincoln was comfy as well and was happy to partake in cuddle time.

I had an eggplant to use so I made roasted eggplant, red pepper and artichoke penne for dinner. I am not a big fan of the red sauce so I tossed with butter, grated parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and oregano.

Yummy. Nothing beats butter and grates parm I tell you.

I brought back an oldie but goodie for breakfast but with a new twist—pumpkin oats. I’ve seen bloggers adding pumpkin to their oats and never tried it. Um, why did I wait so long? I cooked on the stovetop with almond milk and added a few dashes of apple pie spice then topped with brown sugar when done.

Hollar.

And apparently there’s been a shortage of pumpkin this past year but USA TODAY says it’s over. Go figure why I couldn’t find canned pumpkin the other night.

There was yet another bake sale going on this week but for American Heart Association instead of Breast Cancer like the other week. Goodies this time were a bit cheaper—only $1 for anything on the table. I went with a decorative rice krispie heart.

 Again, my rationale that since my money is going to charity, calories don’t count (not a good rationale to have by the way)

I didn’t make anything for lunch last night but brought a simple lunch of a sliced chicken breast sandwich with buffalo cheddar cheese and tomato on a sandwich thin with a side of apples and cucumber. Look at me being all healthy.

Then my co-worker bought over his leftover French fries from Bojangles. I can’t turn down French fries and especially can’t turn down Bojangles fries. They had a super salty Cajun seasoning on them that in turn, makes me eat them only once or twice a year. I contemplated throwing them away but there are starving kids out there so that would be wasteful, yes?

Also, it’s quarter end week which means they bring in ridiculous amounts of sugar ridden snacks in hopes that hopping us up on sugar and caffeine won’t leave us too bitter about being here.

Nice view eh?

I got to leave work a little early since I had a Doctors appointment. And not a fun doctor like the OB GYN or dentist—my laser tattoo removal session.

My tattoo is almost completely faded so this should be my last session to get rid of the color (tip—green is the hardest color to remove so if you are thinking about a tattoo with green in it —make sure you really want it)

My next session will hopefully be them scraping it down since the scar has risen a bit from all the sessions I’ve had. It’s a painless procedure for the most part but they give me seven to eight shots of Novocain to numb the area so that is the worst part. After that, I just have to wait for the area to numb up completely and then they get to work. The actual laser part only takes a few minutes and then they bandage me up and I am good to go. The longer in between sessions the better they say because of something with the pigments and the treatments being more effective.

I love their retro waiting room.

I got home pretty early despite the slow drivers on the road because people here can’t drive in the rain and hung out with Lincoln for awhile. For dinner, I made the biggest slice of pizza ever.

Ok, so it kinda looks like a scroll. Don’t judge.

I topped with leftover eggplant, red pepprs and artichokes from last night and mozzarella cheese

So big, I have to cut in half so it would fit on my plate

Served along side with some fresh strawberries

C’est Magnifique!

And with that, I’m out. It’s not even 7P and I feel like I could fall asleep. Hope everyone had a happy Monday!

PS—Check out Prevention RD to win a mandolin!!

Weekend Recap

 On Saturday, I was up and at em at 5A. WTF is that all about? Let’s just say I was not a happy camper about the situation but couldn’t go back to bed so I laced up my shoes and got to walking. Ok, well not quite…..it still a bit dark so I watched some infomercials then walking I went. It was so peaceful out and I only saw a couple other people out running and walking, I absolutely love desert early mornings.

Not bad for almost an hour of walking. I stopped at Starbucks on the way back and got a grande coffee and then made a breakfast smoothie with blueberries, half a packet of Spiru-Tein Banana Protein Powder, Almond Milk and Xanthan Gum

 As many of you know, I am not a nut butter fan at all. I will eat it every now and then (especially when covered in chocolate) and have read many rave reviews of Peanut Butter & Co. Bloom had it on special for $3 a jar this week and I bought a jar to see if I would like it.

Success! I haven’t had oats since it was cooler outside and decided to bring it back on Sunday morning. I sliced a banana then sprinkled the slices with cinnamon, laid rolled oats over that and then topped with a dollop of the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. Yummy. I think if I bought the White Chocolate Peanut Butter they had I would be done (thankfully they were sold out when I bought this jar)

 After seeing this recipe on Tamara’s site, I was in the mood to bake. I still have a supply of POM Wonderful on my hands and haven’t baked in a while so I bought the few ingredients I didn’t have on hand and got to baking! I don’t have a cake pan but have muffin pans on hand so I made cupcakes with this recipe and bought Fun-Fetti cake mix instead of vanilla cake mix.

I love playing with food dye

 These were great but I was expecting more pomegranate flavor so I would use more next time.

After seeing the cooking demonstration on pesto at Carrabba’s on Saturday, I decided to make my own.

 

Lincoln was even eating good. I had to either use or throw away the last turkey burger I gave the other night and knew he would appreciate it

I made home-made pizza with Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough topped with mushrooms, olives and fresh basil and scallions.

I met up with some girlfriends for lunch at Fox and Hound It was Sunday at noon and  hot outside. Why not have a drink? I tried the Fruit Loopy-Three Olives Grape and Cherry vodka, Triple Sec, hurricane and sour mix with a splash of Sprite.

OH

MY

GAWD

Can I just drink this forever? Ok, maybe not forever because I would go into sugar shock but I could seriously down this in a few sips since it was so good!

I kept flip-flopping between wings, a burger, sliders or a sandwich. I love bar food so much but everything else looked good. I finally had to just close the menu and decide on something because if I didn’t I would have never made a decision. I hate that. I wish more restaur ants would have Choose Two options because sometimes I want to try something new but then what if it disappoints?

Anywho, I got the Black Forest Sandwich—grilled turkey, applewood bacon, Monterrey jack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and honey mustard on a Bavarian pretzel roll.

I stopped at Earth Fare after that to look around and ended up getting a Magenta Magic Smoothie

It was great but this alone reminded me that I can make my own smoothies at home and save $4 or $5 a pop. Damn you smoothie cravings!

I went to Ross and got some great deals—two dresses and a Nike Fit Dry shirt (for only $5—holla!!)

I went on a two-mile walk and then did some yoga poses when I got back home. I even ran a bit on my walk and it didn’t hurt too bad and my knee isn’t hurting any more from when I don’t run so I may start incorporate more running into my program again. Well, when it gets cooler at least, I am so not a hot weather runner.

I really had no clue what to make for dinner. I have lunch for the next couple of days courtesy of Carrabba’s but then I remember my beautiful white eggplant I bought the other day

Eggplant Parmesan it was!

I cut the eggplant and dipped in eggwash then in seasoned breadcrumbs and baked for 17 mins at 400 degrees. I flipped half way through and sprinkled with marinara sauce, mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese a few minutes before it was finished then placed on noodles. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out since I wasn’t frying it but it was delicious and the texture was similar to meat.

Oh, Lincoln got pretty! I almost forgot about his day of beauty.

Dirty Dog

Clean Dog

I am really confused where this weekend went. I feel like I just got off work on Friday and once again, back to the grind. This needs to change soon.

Oink Oink

Yep, that pretty much sums up the past two days for me. My eating has been a tad off course with work getting busier which equals me being tired and cranky along with some family drama going on. I am not going to get into the drama because I spent last night dealing with it, crying for hours which resulted in puffy eyes today and just feeling drained. I am sure I am overreacting about this situation but last night, I cried for two hours last night and wrote in my journal about everything I was feeling–frustration, sadness, etc. and afterwards, that made me feel a tad better. But again, enough of that.

I started yesterday with a green monster with chocolate protein, coffee, baby spinach, almond milk and splenda. But I forgot the ice so it was a tad on the warm side….but still good!

After reading about April’s smoothie, I am absolutely convinced I need to buy Caramel Toffee Fudge Whey. There is no way that cannot taste good!

I had oats with peanut butter, raisins and unsweetened coconut flakes for breakfast

Lunch was a chicken salad pita with french fries from Showmars

Yum, I could eat this everyday.

I got home and didn’t have a plan for dinner but had some chicken defrosting in the fridge. I decided to make chicken cakes.

Chicken Cakes

8 to 10 oz boneless skinless chicken breast

1 egg

1/4 panko or breadcrumbs

1 tbsp mayo

1/4 cup onions

Salt, pepper (whatever seasonings you like, I also add garlic and chopped cilantro)

Throw onions and cilantro in food processor than add chicken

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl

Form into patties (I made three with these), heat 1 to 2 tbsp vegetable oil, place cakes on the pan and cook

I also had some sliced zucchini and mushrooms cooking on the stovetop with extra virgin olive oil, paprika, garlic salt, red pepper flakes and pepper

I was starving when this was cooking and was trying to hold off on snacking until it was done then I remembered reading Diana’s post yesterday about eating what you want and said eff it, I’m grabbing a small bowl of chips.

Soon enough, the patties were done and dinner time was here!

I grabbed some wing sauce and light ranch dressing to make it buffalo-eque on placed on a kaiser roll

Breakfast this morning was a Kashi Cookies and Cream Bar…..eaten on the bus so no pic, sorry! But this day was horrible, the puffy eyes were out and all the crying last night left my eyes so dry so my contacts were not working so well. I never wear my glasses outside the house so contacts it was and I was rubbing my eyes all day and felt like I couldn’t see. Talk about annoying. And we had three people out of the office…..on a team of six people so yeah. Not a fun day at all. I was even cussing like a truck driver when I was talking to people who I deal with….note…..I rarely cuss at work unless I am very pissed off or very very very very stressed. I had one guy email me telling me to take it easy this wk and not jump off a bridge. Eek! I am not that frustrated!

Lunch was another take out one from Showmars—-gyro and fries

That’s what I’m talking about! Next wk I will be planning better so I am not eating out yet again, this madness has got to stop ASAP. I hate spending money on lunch when I can eat it at home and have just been lazy in that field.

After I got off work (at a reasonable hour to boot), there was only one thing that could make me feel better. And his name is Trader Joe.

There once was a girl named Tiffany who lived in the land of North Carolina with her fur baby Lincoln. Tiffany had been trying to create new health goals for herself each month and one of Tiffany’s goals for the month of June was to cut back on cheese and dairy products.

Well, that goal is clearly out the window.

The first thing I did when I got home was cuddle with Lincoln who was absolutely psycho today. He was scratching at me, kissing me and just happy. It made me feel better. We went for a nice walk then I switched into my comfy clothes and glasses. Anyone else do this? I hate lounging around in business casual wear and when I am home for the evening, usually slip on some yoga pants and a tank top. But I always leave my ghetto baby girl big ass earrings on, go figure.

I made a meal I haven’t made in forever—pizza rolls!

Pizza Rolls

Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough ( I use about half of the package)

4 slices provolone

4 slices salami

Turkey Pepperoni

Ok, that’s the main ingredients so it is super easy to make and you can modify as you like. I cut the provolone and salami in half and then roll out the dough into thin strips. Top with provolone, salami and pepperoni then roll from one corner to the other and place on a greased cookie sheet. I then mix extra virgin olive oil, crushed red peppers, oregano and parmesan in a bowl and brush onto rolls before placing in the oven. Bake at 375 for 13 to 15 mins or until golden brown.

And a cold one to wash it down with!

The fur baby was watching the rolls very closely

I absolutely loved the World Cup Concert tonight–Shakira was my favorite performance and I need to catch some cames! Hope everyone’s having a fabulous start to the wknd!

Relaxing

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Hopefully everyone had a nice relaxing day off like I did and remember why we are all off–can’t say that enough. Thanks to all past and present who have served and protected our country! Can it be a three-day wknd every wknd? I got an outstanding 10 hours of sleep last night, which is remarkable for me. I was in a lot of pain and there was tossing and turning but sleeping in until 10A just felt right. I will work extra hours and go in early, stay late, not take lunch (hold on, I already do that). I’ve been on a major egg white kick lately if you can’t tell so I decided to kick it up a notch for breakfast.

I made rolled oats on the stove top with almond milk then chopped up two Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups and dashed some cinnamon and peanut butter in the mix.

This was a great combination but it didn’t sit well with my stomach 😦 I was bored and watched Dr. Phil and The View for a while. There was a ridiculous rainstorm this morning and finally a break hit so I got ready quickly and hopped over to the supermarket. Not literally of course but the way my legs were feeling, it could have happened. It hurts to sit down and let’s not even talk about going down or up stairs.

I got a lot of good deals at Bi-Lo including my Chobani’s! They were on a sale a few wknds ago for $1 each and I went a couple different times and turned out none were left. But today, I cleaned house. And they even had the Pineapple flavor I’ve been hearing so much about and I cannot wait to try it!

I checked out and was super happy-my bill was originally $107 but brought it down to $61 with all of my coupons. Because I? Am awesome with being frugal. As I was checking out, the rain started yet again and it was coming down hard. Of course I didn’t take an umbrella with me because for some reason in my mind, I think “Oh it rained once today, it can’t rain again”. Grrrr. I waited in the lobby for 10 minutes and it let down a little and decided to go as fast as I could (which is not fast at all with the condition I was in) to my car.

Lunchtime was soon approaching and I made pork tacos. Are you shocked? I promise, I will start making something different soon. I had a bit of Frank’s Red Hot wings left in my fridge and hate when I have a bottle taking up space with just a little left in it. I cut up a pork chop with covered with Frank’s and let cook on the stove top

The tacos look plain but were really tasty with the Frank’s and avocado

 I spent the afternoon with Kim and Jennifer

I love Shape magazine and LOVE Kim K but wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend my money on it since the whole-she-endorses-diet-pills thing. But Janetha mentioned it was actually a good issue and I trust her judgement so I Kardashianed that bad boy up!

Along with that, I also caught up on some shows and a movie.

Umm, why have I never watched It’s Sunny in Philadelphia? I’ve had a lot of people tell me I would like it but never took their word. I added it to my Netflix queue and absolutely love it. With a little guy resting in my lap. I don’t blame him though, sometimes he does have a rough day of playing with his toys, going on walks, getting treats and such, he just has to relax.

I polished off the last of my Trader Joe’s Three Layer Hummus

And my battle wound from the rock yesterday is getting bigger and more colors. Yeah, it’s across my entire right thigh. Dear Grandfather Mountain-can I please have my skin back? Thanks, Tiffany.

 I made the mistake of watching the Tyra Banks show. I never had beef with Tyra, I actually used to like and respect her a lot. Kinda like a mini Oprah (pun kinda intended) in the making. But the more I watch her show, the more she drives me crazy.

I had my leftover Magical Mystery Tour Pie for dinner.

May Goal Evaluation

*Keep on running  -did not happen. I tried in the beginning of the month and my knee pain was growing worse so I decided to lay off of the running for now and just walk in the mean time.

*Think outside the running box in regards to workouts and mix it up with other things (kettlebell, yoga, etc.) -with my lack of running this has been going alright. I’ve been trying to work out with my kettle bell more and even put together a full body for out for myself with the kettlebell and different weight dumbbells I have.

*Be more aware of my sugar intake and try to keep it less than the recommended intake of 40g-I’ve been doing great with thise for someone with a sweet tooth. When looking over my food diary throughout the mnth of May, I was above 40g however those were mostly from fruits so I don’t consider that a bad thing. I think, it could be worse by having something processed as opposed to an apple or banana. I will continue to keep an eye on this though.

*Track my food and exercise on a daily basis–22 out of 31 days. Not too shabby in my book

June Goals to come tomorrow!

Has anyone else seen the new Huggies Jeans Commercial? Seriously creeping me out.