Another day, you know the rest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(source)

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

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

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

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

Shake it like a Salt Shaker

Ugh, I feel like I should be this girl right about now.

I am in sodium city and drinking a gallon of water as I type trying to hydrate. Random thought-how cute of a Halloween outfit would the Morton’s salt girl be? But now looking at the picture again, the Morton’s salt girl is a little slutty–why is she wearing a dress so short? Isn’t she like 11??

I barely got any sleep this afternoon and was craving something salty and sweet and this is when SodiumFest 2010 happened.

I photographed one bowl of salt n vinegar chips but had two, it was so good.

Dinner was Tofu Pad Thai from Pei Wei

 I didn’t even polish off half of this since the sodium got to me and packed the other half for lunch. I love Pei Wei-PF Chang’s food with a budget price!

I finally picked up a bottle of GT’s Organic Raw Kombucha after seeing it all over the blog world

From the website:

Kombucha is alternately known as a Chinese tea, a plant, or a mushroom. But it’s not really any of these. It’s a living culture of beneficial microorganisms, and in Kombucha’s case, the whole is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts! Our Kombucha is delicately cultured – some liken it to fermentation – for 30 days. During this period, essential nutrients form like active enzymes, viable probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants and polyphenols. All of these combine to create an elixir that immediately works with the body to restore balance and vitality. Kombucha has been used for hundreds of years throughout the world as a daily health tonic. The culture resembles a light brown, tough, gelatinous disk—and because it’s a living, growing entity, it can regenerate and create new cultures with every batch. In fact, GT’s Kombucha and Synergy are made from Kombucha cultures that are descendants of the original culture GT grew to create his first bottles.

Kombucha has been a health-promoting and life-enhancing wonder food since as early as the Tsin Chinese Dynasty of 221 BC. Its popularity has been documented throughout history in all corners of the world, from Russia to India, Germany to Japan.

In his autobiography, Nobel Prize winner Alexandr Solzhenitsyn wrote that drinking Kombucha helped him survive the Siberian slave camps of the former Soviet Union.

Kombucha may be known by many different names in other parts of the world, including Manchurian Tea, Manchu Fungus, Tea Kvass, Mo-Gu Fungus japonicus, Kwassan, and many others.

A report on NBC’s Dateline stated that over three million people regularly drink Kombucha.

It has great stats and I adore the last ingredient!

All in all, I liked it–it was a little bitter-tasting but nothing too unpleasant. I didn’t drink the whole bottle but I will definitely try again!

I said it before, I do not like daylight savings. It is 930P and it feels like 7P–wtf? I am sure tomorrow morning will be just lovely!

For my Bachelor-loving fans out there–remember 20/20 Inside the Bachelor: Stories Behind the Rose is on tomorrow night. Scandalous-can’t wait!!

FML? How about LOVE my Life?

Let’s see…. this morning-lost my access id to work. Which if I was a normal person, would not be an issue. However since I am Miss Unorganized 2010, I keep my bus pass and Starbucks gift card in the plastic access pass envelope as well. God forbid, I take five seconds each day to put it in my wallet….GRRR.

I went to the Charlotte Transportation Center to check the lost and found. To get a visual of this place disregard this picture and picture a bunch of people who look like they are going to riot at any second. Each of them are smoking or drinking something and yeah, that’s the fabulous Charlotte Transportation Center for you.

Or as I like to call it, the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. After waiting for the Lost and Found to open, I felt and smelled like I had been in a bar all night. And it was only 8AM. The girl at the Lost and Found was something pleasant but forgot to say something like “Hi”, “How may I help you?” or something of that nature. She just stared at me shocked that someone was actually in there (yay for my tax dollars being put to work) But no go on my id being there so I gave her my phone number but don’t expect to hear from her.

I walked over to my building to find the only comfort that I could at the moment-La Starbucks.

 I love the baristas at the Starbucks in my building and they always put me in a good mood. When it was my turn to order, they asked me how I was doing and of course I asked “Do you want to real or the fake answer?” and they said “Real” which always makes me happy and spewed off my issues.

Which gets into another rant of mine for the day…..this whole FML business

I know I can be negative and snarky however try to keep a positive mindset. But when my friends are updating their status on facebook saying stuff like “Woke up late today, fml” “just got cut off in traffic fml” it really bothers me. FMH (Hour) I can understand but your life really?? I think that’s a tad dramatic. I could totally say fml about losing my access id, bus pass and Starbucks card but I choose not too. What brought this to mind was a facebook status from a co-worker from Phoenix who I started the bank with. Today is the third anniversary of her daughter’s passing. Her daughter died suddenly from an asthma attack and was only nine years old. Her facebook status was in memory of her daughter’s passing and with my foul mood today plus the crappiness of losing those items this morning, it really put things into perspective. Those were material possessions that I could get back right away however for her to have to bury her own child and me sit here complaining about losing that stuff is just ridiculous. Not sure if this makes any sense written out but in my head it does.

I know I sound like
but needed to get that off my chest.

Breakfast was cold vs hot with my baked apples over Oikos Plain Greek Yogurt with some flax. I love this combo, it just tastes decadent compared to the usually cold berries and greek yogurt.

Lunch was spaghetti squash that I made last wknd that I thawed out with Morningstar Veggie crumbles, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, evoo, red pepper flakes, oregano and garlic. I wasn’t sure if it would be good after being frozen but I actually liked it more since it was mushier. I had ¾ of this because I was so full.

I went to the library and picked up Eat Drink and Be Vegan for some ideas since I am not going to be eating chicken, pork or red meat for the next 39 days!

Yay for new things!

Dinner was sad for me. My friend, my only friend in Charlotte who actually wants to do stuff and no boyfriend, fiancée, husband is moving. She is leaving this wknd so this was out last dinner together. We went to Pei Wei which is one of my favorite chain places! Every time I go I really attempt to try something new but just can’t do it. I am a risk tasker but what if the new dish isn’t as good as old faithful? But then, what if it is so much better? Ahhh decisions!

Started off with some edamame

And then onto the main event-Tofu Pad Thai!

Good -bye friend.

 

After that, I decided to head to Target. I was sad and full and Target always makes me feel good!

Is this heaven? No, it’s the Target Valentine’s Day Candy Clearance Aisle

 I could have gone buck wild but went with one bag of Hershey’s Hugs Raspberry Kisses–$1.44/bag–holla!

 And Friday is right around the corner-yay! Fortunately, I get to leave work early tomorrow. Unfortunately, it’s because I have a laser tattoo removal session. More to come on that tomorrow….