Housesitting

In honor of Matilda, Neyal sent me a link about a monkey rescued from a thrift store, just like Matilda! well except the whole sadistic monkey thing like Copernicus. I read the post while at the library and had to leave because I was crying from laughing and fear of peeing my pants at the library.

And I know, there’s been a lack of Matilda lately (which you may be happy about since some think she is creepy) Although South Florida is a mecca for retirees, she doesn’t like the humid, hot climate here. While I’m in the pool each day, she just sits yearning for a dirty martini.

Maybe her shenaningans will ensue again, who knows.

 

Not a lot going on here though, I housesat for one friend this weekend. It was great-I got to enjoy HBO, wireless and be by myself again. After living alone for so many years, I’m used to silence and doing my own thing. I can handle other people but sometimes a girl needs her own space you know? I’m housesitting/dogsitting today for another friend while she is away for the day. She is coming back tonight but I get to hang with her cute pups who I am wining over with string cheese.

And she even gave me a nice gift for doing this.

She really didn’t have to but I will never turn down a bottle of wine.

Also, it’s been avocado madness lately!

The avocados my friend gave me are finally good to go so I’m starting to use those bad boys up. I made a salad yesterday topped with Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken. It was on sale for $6.99 at Winn Dixie and I had a $1 off coupon so this was the perfect time to buy plus I haven’t had any since I used to make pasta salad.

Then at night I made a Mexican casserole with pork, black beans, onions, peppers, black olives, mushrooms, cheese and enchilada sauce. I was so excited to find El Pato since I haven’t been able to locate it at the grocery stores down here. I found this huge can of it at Big Lots so I used some in this recipe then froze the rest for future use.

I didn’t have enough tortillas to crisscross for the top layer but I made due. I then topped the vegetable, black bean and pork mixture with enchilada sauce and cheese and let bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees

Avocado was the perfect topping for this! I mean really, how can someone not love avocados? The flavor, the richness, the fat—oh yeah!

There were still avocados to be consumed so today I made a guacamole knock off. I didn’t have my recipe with me so I just mixed the avocado with salsa and sour cream.

I’ve seen this chips before but I must go to Target and find them stat! Maybe all this Mexican food will boost my memory?

I finally finished The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest today.

I felty like I’ve been reading it for awhile but it’s only been a week and a half, if that. If you haven’t read this serious, please go out and get the three books! This was the best series I’ve read in a long time and I can say each book was a true page turner.

I went to the library today to pick up some Italian cds I’ve been waiting on—holy crap-in just about a month I will be going to Italy! I need to learn the basics stat! I found this gem while perusing the titles in the new arrivals aisle:

Yet another reason why I love the library here. In Charlotte, it would have taken me months to get this book but here I can get it right away but only for two weeks. Perfect motivation for me to read it quickle! We’ll see how this book is. I wasn’t overly impressed with her last book but who knows, this is a different take so it may be worth reading.

I’m trying to limit my workouts at the YMCA since I can only go a limited number of times each year, instead of month but had a great workout yesterday

I’ve also been swimming which is going quite well. I’ve been doing anywhere from 50 to 60 laps on my swimming days along with some breaks to tread water for two to three minutes. I’ve also been doing lunges in the water and that has been kicking my butt. The best part is that I feel no pain in my knees which is a welcome relief since I always have pain in my knees after a workout.

And of course, hanging out with my pups

Linky is way dirty. I need to get him in the tub and give him a bath, especially since one of my parents dropped ketchup on his nose but they won’t tell me who did it.

Sigh, I love my dirty dog.

So yeah, that’s about it. Not a lot to write home about but just waiting for the days to pass until it’s time to fly off to Europe. One of my friends is a recruiter here so I’m hoping she can help find me some part time work……if not, maybe I will try some more housesitting?

Read any good books lately? Please share with the class!

Do you ever housesit for friends/family? I love how it seems like a mini vacation, even if I am just down the block!

pedal to the metal

Oi. The past two days have been long with a capital L. I’m making my way back to Florida and the drive has been straight up boring. When I was young and in college, I had no issue driving the 18 hours straight home but now? No way Jose. I make stops often just to stretch and my ideal time span is six to seven hours a day.

I left DC yesterday morning. I gave myself some time to mentally wake up, have breakfast and pack the last of my car. I made one last stop at Trader Joe’s the day before since we don’t have any in Florida. I even checked their website and the closest one will be in Mt. Pleasant, SC when it opens. I love Joe but I don’t think I could do an eight hour trip for him. My sister gave me a gift card for my birthday so this was the ideal time to use it and stock up on non perishable goodies.

I’ll even miss their art

 

I said goodbye to Riley and was on my way to Charlotte

And if anyone in the DC area knows this person, I would love to meet them because I feel the same way!

No matter how I tried to mix it up with cd’s, the drive home dragged on. I got to work on my tan a little at least. This is the most comfortable way for me to drive since my knee often aches after awhile. And the truckers seem to let me pass whenever I’m sitting like this so two birds, one stone!

I stopped at Sheetz in Mebane, NC and took a picture of the gas sign to compare it to last year when I stopped there on my way up to DC

July 20, 2011:

April 8, 2010

Makes me sick.

I got to my friends house and took it easy the rest of the night. And by taking it easy I mean an hour and half trip to Target. I am looking for the dress I wore this weekend but in blue and have now been to three Target’s and can’t find it. I can find it in grey but it’s not flattering at all. I am going to try one or two more Targets then go online and try to find it there. And can someone please tell me why there is this sign in the baby section?

Don’t worry, baby fever is the last kind of fever I will ever have. The reason I was in that section was because my friend who I stayed with is ready to pop any day. Matilda wanted to see how pregnant she was and possibly whisper the baby out of her

She climbed up on her belly and whispered a few nursery rhymes but no luck. I was kinda hoping she would into labor that night and I would deliver the baby. Then it would be turned into a Lifetime movie and Tori Spelling could gain a bunch of weight, get her boobs even and dye her hair brunette to play me in a movie about sorority sisters who deliver each others babies. Homegirl is still preggers, oh well, will just have to keep the faith I will deliver a baby one day.

The drive to FL started off on the wrong foot today. I decided to go back to my lets hit the snooze button again game so I didn’t get on the road until 9am. Once I got through Columbia, SC there was an accident on I 26. I waited there for about 30 minutes having to pee and in desperate need of gas.  Soon enough we were on our way again and I stopped got gas, went to the bathroom and stocked up on some refreshments. I went back to my old college liquid diet of Mountain Dew and coffee for extra energy for the 11 hour drive. Good thing I went to the bathroom because once I merged on to I 95 traffic was at a dead stop.

 

That was at 1145am and at 2pm I was still there.

I was getting restless, Matilda was getting restless and I am so happy my car is in working condition. I got outside and was chatting with the car next to me and their A/C went out and they were traveling with two dogs and a kid. I am bad enough on my own in the A/C so I can’t imagine not having A/C and traveling with child and dog would be like.

By the time I got to the southern part of Georgia, it was around 5pm…..eight hours after I left. It normally takes me four hours to get there but the trip was doubled due to the traffic. I could have powered on, been delirious and drove all the way home but I knew that wouldn’t be safe and didn’t want something bad to happen. I stopped at Starbucks and figured out my next steps and decided to get a hotel room for the night.And this Microtel I’m staying at is total sketch. My parents recommended this place to me and there are some weird, skeevy men in the parking lot. I unloaded everything that was in plain view of my car so that took some time up all in hopes my car won’t get broke into in,

Backtrack, I have bad luck with moving. I often lose or damage things and when I made the cross country drive from Phoenix to Charlotte five years ago, something bad really happened. I was driving through Amarillo and it was a torrential downpour. I’m from FL and used to rain but I had never seen rain like this before in my life. I couldn’t see in front of me and had been driving for 12 hours already so I pulled over to the first hotel I could find off the highway. It looked a little run down however I was only going to shower, nap for two or three hours then get back on the road. So I did and when I went out to my car in the morning, the back windows were bashed in completely. There was some stuff left in my car however they stole my underwear, computer,toiletries, contacts, photos and other random stuff. I was in complete shock that this happened in a three hour timespan and was scared to drive on to Charlotte. The funny thing is is that I had three or four Coach purses sitting in the back of my car which were probably worth more than most of the stuff they stole. It still pisses me off to this day and it’s one of the sole reasons I hate Texas (well, that and GW) So now I am completely paranoid anytime there is stuff in my car and I’m staying in foreign to me area, especially when there are undesirable looking people around.

And back to today. So this skeevy hotel room is full of my stuff now and I am hoping to get a good nights sleep, shower and get home tomorrow afternoon. Seeing that I’m back in Florida, I had to stop at Publix (AKA one of the best grocery stores ever) and pick up a quick dinner of buffalo chicken tenders and cole slaw

And I got the Real Housewives with me

Let’s hope this bed doesn’t have bedbugs

What are your tips for staying safe while traveling solo?

Has anyone seen this commercial for Summer’s Eve? I keep cracking up every single time I see.

 

Up to Beantown: Part Two

More Boston love! Stephanie took me to one of her favorite places for brunch on Saturday morning, Zaftigs

We got there early but apparently not early enough since everyone else and their mom had the idea to go there that morning. Even though there were a some people waiting outside, we got a table right away complete with a waitress who lacked personality. I got the San Francisco Joe’s Special-turkey hash with spinach, mushrooms, onions with a side of home fries, toast and watermelon. It was way too much food and way better than any kind of eggs I can ever make.

However,  once I saw Stephanie’s french toast, I came down with a little case of food envy.

Gah, I die.

The best part of the meal was listening to the table next to us. It was one skeevy guy in his mid twenties and two college aged girls. He reminded me of a third rate, unattractive Jason Siegel with two or three unbuttons undone on his button up shirt. Homeboy wouldn’t shut up. He started to talk about how Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are all one in the same and that is when Stephanie and I shut up and just listened. Then he decided to be generous and pick up the entire tab (perhaps because he wouldn’t shut his pie hole the entire meal?) then when the girls were all “Noooooo, you can’t do that!” he said “If I can’t take my girls out for a meal, what good am I?” or something about that effect. Blah. Sometimes I don’t mind tables closetogetherlikethis in a restaurant, other times when I have to listen to random, weird conversations, not so much.

We went walking around later and the dilemma of what to wear came up. I hate pants in the summer time but can deal with capris. I was feeling more like wearing a casual dress around but that meant I would wear flip flops. There was nothing more I wanted to do than wear sneakers since we would be walking around a great deal but that was out of the question. I wish I could make sneakers work with a dress but there is no way to make it look good

(source)

Go on with your bad self Sarah!

We started off around Quincy Markey and near the Government Center

Somehow we ended up in the middle of an African festival.

Then we ran into some street performers who were just about to get started so we found a place somewhat in the shade and watched them.

Then started dancing, breakdancing and doing flips then they started grabbing people from the crowd to take part in a special exhibition. Of course, they grabbed yours truly. At first they lined me and threes others up one in front of the other and explained that they were going to flip over us. Oh joy. The last thing I need is a man flipping over me, especially when I am without health insurance. Then they had us bend over. Um, I was in a dress so the last thing I wanted to do was bend over in front of a bunch of people since as one of the performers said I was “juicy” to another performer. Gross, I still take offense to that comment. They had the decency to cover the girls up though so we didn’t look like a 2 Live Crew video. So we were just waiting there and I guess the guy flipped over us. We were just bending over waiting, my knee was killing me and I just wanted to get up into normal pose again. Stephanie was awesome and took some pictures of it though so you can see what I’m talking about

And I walk away unharmed-score!

We went into the madness that is Quincy Market afterwards. This is a total tourist spot complete with shops, carts, performers and restaurants but it was fun to see since I am a tourist and all.

We perused the carts and shops

Amen

Made our way over to Boston Common and that’s just about the time my camera died so please enjoy a few last pictures before we got there

Walked through the gardens and saw the swan boats.

Made our way over to Newbury

Saw all the shops there  including pretentious ones like Chanel, Gucci and others that I will never ever be able to afford. There were some cute, independent ones as well.

Too bad we didn’t have time to stop in these coffee shop, I adore the name.

Stopped at Stephanie’s on Newbury, it was that weird of time where you don’t want a meal but you need a little something in you to keep going. And our feet hurt. And we were sweaty and were in desperate need of a cold one.

Then heaven was placed right in front of us-Warm Vermont Goat Cheese appetizer.

This picture does this no justice whatsoever. When they brought it to us, the cheese and oil were bubbling right in front of our very eyes. I just kept staring at it since I’ve never seen goat cheese bubble like that before. We tried to tear the bread but it was piping hot and burnt our fingers when we tried to. But we powered on and tore away anyways since we didn’t want to miss the wonderfulness that is warm goat cheese.

So please check out Stephanie’s photo. Stephanie-Cookie Battle, not Stephanie of Stephanie’s on Newbury. Hmm, that was a tad confusing.

Reason #62 why I want a DSLR

After the walking fest we rested our feet and then  went to Margaritas for dinner for some much needed Mexican food. Ok, much needed margaritas with a side of Mexican food.

I was very excited to have my margarita (thanks Steph for the pic)

It was absolutely gorgeous out and right on the Charles River. I wish I would have got a picture of the patio because it was spacious and quite busy for a Saturday night. I wondered if there was going to be anything cheesy like a mariachi band that comes around to each table but she said there was nothing alike that there. Phew. I could have gone for tacos, nachos or fajitas but my body was in desperate need of veggies since there was a lack of greens and other fresh stuff that day and day prior. I got the Chicken Baja Salad which was adorned with a heaping portion of veggies and I swear my body felt better once the veggies were consumed.

And to go off on a short tangent……

Look who Matilda got to meet while in Boston?

Matilda and Cecil got along very well. They reminisced about the days of Eisenhower and when you could get a quality cup of coffee for $.10.

Sunday was another long, fun day around Boston. And visiting a city means one thing–blogger meetup!

The Other Side was very  *ahem* interesting. By interesting, I mean hipster. Our server had jorts on while another man sported a fedora and other people just had a sense of irony about them as hipsters do. The whole seating arrangement still vonfuses me since the host said there couldn’t be more than 49 people in the building at once so he could have sat us partially before everyone arrived but then if more people arrived after that and our guests hadn’t, they would have to wait for someone to leave. We told him how many people were in our party and he couldn’t grasp the fact that we had five people in our party, not five. I guess he wasn’t a genius at math like in Good Will Hunting, maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part that I would run into some closet prodigy.  Leave it to me to order a meaty dish at the mostly vegetarian/vegan restaurant.  I don’t care, the Ham Solo was worth every single bite!

 

Ashleigh, Stephanie, Caitie

Me and Erin

Matilda even made a guest appearance!

Group Shot!

Ashleigh, Erin, Caitie, me, Stephanie

 Another successful blogger meetup! It was wonderful to meet these ladies and put faces/names to the blogs, take part in some good conversation, enjoy good food and drink and escape the heat for the day. I love how real the Boston girls are and they were just all around fun!

 

Up to Beantown

Hello all! If you can’t tell from the title, it’s going to a Boston recap kind of post. So if you’re not a fan of Boston or recaps, please feel free to move along.

The plan on Friday was to wake up early which shouldn’t have been a problem since I’ve been working up at 6am with no problem at all. But of course the day I have a train to catch, I decide to start using the snooze button like it’s no ones business. I never hit the snooze button since it’s one of my biggest pet peeves ever. I don’t get the concept of setting an alarm if you’re just going to hit the snooze button over and over again. I would rather wake up, bitch about waking up so early and get on with my days but yeah, the day didn’t start out well. Neyal drove me over to the Metro and gave me specific instructions on what to do. I’m not sure why I was so nervous about riding it alone but she assured me I would be fine since the mentally challenged do it all on their own every day. I’ve been on there before with others but I guess when going at it solo with a time restraint, I wanted to make sure everything would be right. I was surprised at how easy it was. The only issue as always was sketchy people on there which odds are, there will always be a few bad apples. This girl was sitting across from me and just kept staring at me. It was very creepy, when I was look over to the side, so would she. When I would look down, so would she. I wasn’t sure if we were playing the whole don’t bat your eyelashes game but I was relieved when the Union Station stop finally came up.

All I had to do was go up the escalator and I was there. They have a bunch of self serve kiosks just like the airport so it was easy to get my ticket and go.

Leave it to me to sniff the aroma of Starbucks in the air. The line was absolutely out of control as expected however I thought it was pretty efficient of them to have someone going to each person in line, getting their order and then telling the baristas via headset. I thought I would go up to the cashier, grab my coffee and go since there eight or nine people in front of me. But I got up there and my drip coffee wasn’t ready and I got my sandwich and the cheese was melted to the bag, it wasn’t a good way to start the morning. Add that to some creeper hitting on me while charging my phone and I was ready to get on that train.

Well, Matilda was ready as well. She was excited for her first trip to New England.

All aboard!

Matilda was the perfect girl to have with me since we got a seat on the quiet car. I wish planes would adopt this because it was so nice and peaceful. No cellphones, loud music, loud conversation or crying babies What more could you want? When someone’s phone went up, the conductor came right over and told them no phone calls, how it was the quiet cart and all. I just raised my fist in the air a little and mouthed “Word” since silence is golden.  I slept a little and chatted with the lady sitting next to me. She boarded in Philly and was telling me about the u2 concert in Philly the night before. If I can’t get tickets for the u2 concert, I will happily life through someone else who has been. I would have loved to have been at that particular concert because another favorite band of mine, Interpol, opened for them instead of Florence& The Machine, who has been opening for them this tour. I wanted to sleep more but it just wasn’t in the stars, this better not happen when I go to Italy because I will definitely need to rest on that trip.

I even got to see a bit of NYC before we got into Penn Station.

While on a 20 min break, Matilda got her own seat

I should have kept her there because maybe that would have kept the people at bay. Apparently, everyone wanted to sit next to me and the girl who sat next to me at Penn Station broke the cardinal rule of being a girl with big hips : Thou shall not sit next to another girl with big hips. It was uncomfortable all the way to Boston.

The second part of the trip was pretty dead. I broke into my Clif Carrot Cake bar right after we left NYC

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this flavor. I’ve liked just about any CLIF bar flavor I’ve tried in the past but there is always the risk of making a bar out of a popular flavor and it turns out like crap. To say the bar was extremely tasty would be an understatement. It was flavorful, moist for a bar and the only thing that would have made it better was some cream cheese drizzle.

By 5pm I was in Boston, hooray I survived the Amtrak! Stephanie was gracious enough to let me crash at her place and show me her city for the weekend. We took my suitcase over to her car then made our way over to the Seaport District for much needed dinner and drinks (not in that order). The plan was to go to Temazcal, a newer upscale restaurant right on the water but there was already a wait….at 5:15. Um no. We tried to find a spot at the bar but the place was absolutely jam packed, which is definitely a sign it’s doing well. I even got to hear my first Boston accent while waiting in line to speak with the hostess. I heard some guy say “We’re just going to the bah (bar)” and I giggled to myself, I love Boston accents!

We went over to Jerry Remy’s  right next door. There was a little wait and when I say that, I mean 10/15 minutes not this hour long bull crap. We made our way straight to the bar to get some hoppy refreshments in our system and the place was a complete sausage fest-score! Not only did it have nice views of men, it also had nice views of the food. We noticed that pretty much every table had an order of nachos on it and they looked heavenly with cheese, chips, sour cream, meat galore. When we sat, we finally found out why the nacho craze at Jerry Remy’s. On their menu, they guarantee cheese on every. single. chip. I’ve never heard of something so wonderful and now questioning why we didn’t order the nachos?  I ordered the Remy Burger with a side of sweet potato fries because I needed real food stat. I’d been chowing on snacks all day so a big meal was a must plus I needed a little something something to soak up the beer.

Sweet potato fries count as a vegetable serving right? Right. Even though they weren’t orgasmic, they were good enough to down. The burger was magnificent and I ate up every single bite, Jerry Remy’s was a great spot for a low key,  dinner option after a long day of traveling.

I marveled at the skyline, well, a part of the Boston skyline on the way back. Also at the beautiful scenary, people walking around and smell of the water. I feel spoiled when I go to a new city since Charlotte’s skyline is lame and the Uptown area is pretty much a ghost town after 5pm.

And that’s all for now. I am leaving DC tomorrow morning and have way too much to take care of in the next 15 hours. Stay tuned for more Boston fun!

Do you like the process of traveling such as packing, waiting, sitting next to strangers, etc or would you rather just get there without the fuss? Some of my friends hate going to the airport and having to wait with others then sitting next to strangers but I find it oddly exciting!

When you travel, are you chatty with others around you or do you keep to yourself? I’m a chatty Cathy most of the time but occasionally like some quiet, alone time.

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?

In plain view

I started Monday with an early morning workout.

Ok maybe not so much early morning but a 11am workout. What can I say, it takes a few hours for me to mentally wake up.

And can we just say holy workout from hell?

Kettlebell 20 lbs

*Plie Squats (15 reps, 4 sets)

*Tricep extensions (13 reps, 4 sets)

*Lateral Row (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Shrugs (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Halos (13 reps, 2 sets)

*Chest Press  (13 reps, 4 sets)

*Side Bends (25 reps, 2 sets)

Dumbbell 10 lbs

*Deltoid raise (13 reps, 3 sets)

*Tricep kickbacks (13 reps, 2 sets)

*Curls (13 reps, 3 sets)

In between sets, I would do sets of 30 jumping jacks or crunches which made me super sweaty in no time. It may not look like a lot of stuff but this workout had me reaching for my water. Oddly enough, no matter how tired I get when strength training, I can keep going. Not so much with cardio though, I get too bored after awhile and can’t concentrate.

*

Kicked

My

Butt

I don’t even want to talk about how much pain I’m in today but to say I’m hurting a bit is an understatement. I couldn’t cool down after that even after showering and lounging for awhile but I’m I got that out of the way early on so I could go play!

First stop was Wagging Tails Thrift Store, which benefits the Humane Society.

This place didn’t look like much from the outside but once you step inside, it’s like a huge warehouse full of junk! And I’m talking really, really random junk!

I wanted to buy these and some clear pepsi to go along with it

Other random trinkets included:

I have no clue who the Fercos are but I imagine some kind of Siegfried & Roy knockoff? Aha, turns out they are just like Siegfried & Roy and will have their own show on Animal Planet!

All BSB, all the time!

Oddly enough, one of the Twilight movies is playing in the background as I type this. I am definitely not Team Edward, he is too emo and needs a tan. Team Jacob all the what!

Look what I found!

I guess others don’t hold Dawson’s Creek in such high regards as I do?

And this place has Playboy dvd’s right in plain view for all to see. Awkward much? Personally I would never buy nudie dvd’s at a thrift store but to each his own. And if it’s raising money for the pups, that can’t be bad right?

After that and the longest trip to Target ever, we went to lunch at a Panera-esque place, Corner Bakery. I have to say, I really like how pretty much every place I’ve been to in DC has the calorie contents in plain view. A girl could definitely get used to that. A girl being me of course but I guess if other girls need it, it’s ok as well.

I ate a light Asian wonton salad since it was humid and hot out plus I wanted to save room for something sweet….cupcakes! My friend and another friend mentioned Lilly Magilly’s and once they did, I knew we had to stop there for a treat.

I love the pink and black décor of Lilly’s plus the beautiful display of cupcakes. Plus, the aroma of cupcakes just make me happy.

We split two cupcakes to get the true Lilly’s experience. I got the chocolate coconut and Neyal got the red velvet cupcake. She says she always orders red velvet wherever she goes to test the place on how they do. Me, I like to get whatever sings to me that day.

Both cupcakes were fantastic but the coconut was definitely my favorite.

I’m still curious who Lilly Magilly is though.

Matilda was there with us! I’m sad that Matilda scared some people out there—she means no harm!

We stopped by 7-11 on the way home to take partake in free slurpee day! I thought the idea of them giving out 7.11 oz slurpess was creative but cmon, give me a bigger slurpee. I’m not a midget so my slurpee shouldn’t be either.

Later on, the plan was to have shrimp and mango kebabs on the grill with grilled veggies

But then Mother Earth decided to be a bitter beezy and ruin our plans

We brought everything in before the rain hit and put the kebabs in the oven and let the veggies cook over the stovetop. I made cucumber and tomato salad to go with the veggie themed meal and dinner was served!

 

Do restaurants post calorie content for public view where you live?

What’s your favorite thing to make on the grill?

For my kettlebell users-what are some other exercises I can do? I need to mix it up and will occasionally do wind mills and swings with my workout but other than what I normally do, I’m at a loss of what else to do with mine.

Guest post: Meet Matilda

Cheerio! My name is Matilda and I am looking forward to telling you about why I am posting on Simply Shaka.

I was once a queen in England  (in my head) and I wasn’t meant to be in America. You see, I was trying to board the plane to come over to the States with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife, Kate this past weekend. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to see the beauty that is America. I hear amazing things about Wal-Mart, apple pie and a magical place called New Jersey. But security wasn’t having that. I attempted to sneak in on the liquor cart but they caught me and weren’t very nice to Miss Matilda. They said something about how I was batsh** crazy and smelled of FRIS vodka. They were correct….about the FRIS at least. I blacked out for a bit and ended up at some dingy place called Unique Thrift Store in Wheaton, MD. I was so excited to go to a place called Maryland since my mums name was Mary but this thrift store place?  Is nasty.  It smelled of sweat, mothballs and Chinese take out….and not in a good way.

Despite my skepticism, once I arrived there I saw I was in good company with others from all over the world!

 

 

Look at these daredevils hanging upside down!

There wasn’t much to do in Unique thrift store.

On occasion I would lie in the flower beds

Reminisce about my dream to visit the metropolis of Reno  and hook for a night

Spend quality time with my new found lover-Orange Pete and my step daughter-Baby Lily. Aren’t we lovely family?

I saw Orange Pete across the aisle, ranging from the rack without a care in the world. Our eyes met and the nostalgia of puppy love hit me, I was only so lucky that Orange Pete was into older women. I hope he knows that I have not a dime to my name and am in excellent health so I will be around for awhile. There was an ordained minister on hand who was brought to Unique Thrift store from Canada. He was also shipped against his will after speaking ill about Tim Horton’s and refusing to get a maple leaf tattooed on his ass. But he is still a man of God and just like that, Orange Pete and I were wed.

Lily, even though I am not at Unique thrift store anymore and not your real mother, I will always love you.

 

 

I miss my baby however I’ve been occupying myself by hanging out with Riley. And can I say I prefer Silver Spring to Wheaton? The air is cleaner and I do not have to have sanitizer on hand 24/7.

Look at this little bugger eyeing me! I think he wanted to make me his chew toy and Matilda does not play that way.

He took a liking to me—how could you not? He better watch his back, Orange Pete has quite a temper.

I’ve dodged him for now but every now and then will see him out of the corner of my eye licking his lips.

Like the queen I am, I supervised dinner since what, you expect me to cook? Preposterous!

The ladies made a wonderful Chicken Verde Stew with Hominy. I used to order my men to chop heads now I’m ordering these gals to chop celery and carrots. Oh how things change!

A delicious bowl of stew, even good in the summertime, who knew??

I can say that even though I am not touring the west coast with William and Kate I fancy the states (outside of Unique thrift store that is)

There is an abundance of cheap things to do, like going to the public pool. Public pools are fit for royalty you say? Not quite but the wackadoo who is toting me around likes to keep things on the cheap and work on her tan. I keep telling her that she shouldn’t be in the sun that much because it is going to advance the aging process. But instead of listening to me she threw me into her pool bag and away we went

These gas prices? Are cheaaaaap!

No Matilda, no cry

When I was the queen, I had staff to turn the pages for me since my little nubbins don’t do the trick (also, I don’t want that nasty ink on me) I miss the days of ordering people around.

I’d like to order that little brat behind me around, doesn’t he just look like a trouble maker?

After a day in the sun, there was one thing on my mind.

Oh yes, Miss Matilda likes to get her drink on. She also likes to refer to herself in the third person.

And you all know what happens after a few drinks. The girls start to get loose and the boys start to get aggressive. I met a suitor you see but after a few minutes of forced conversation at a Thai restaurant, I was bored. I need a man animal who will speak his feelings and tell me what he wants.

I say, sometimes the power of alcohol brings even the unlikeliest of people, errr, animals, errrrr, specimens together! I thought we had a moment when the instrumental version of “My Heart Will Go On” was playing but apparently he isn’t into Canadian or English women. His loss. If you’re wondering about my recent nuptials, I never claimed to be faithful to Orange Pete. Doll vows are different from humans.

My new owner and Neyal (thanks for the photo luv)

Now, I haven’t been in the US that long I do have one question……what in bloody hell is a beaver muffin????

You all will most definitely see me again. I am going to a place called Boston this weekend and cannot wait to sight see!

The queen is not dead.