Waiting…..

Ok, can I just say that this is my last week of work? Time has flown since I’ve given my notice to my employer, even with me giving away my whole portfolio. I am not going to miss the work one bit but I am really going to miss my coworkers. They are the best crew as a whole that I’ve worked with in a long time and none of them smell like my old co-worker who smelled like bleu cheese and ass.

As for the weekend, well, you guessed it. It went by too fast as usual. We didn’t get to leave early on Good Friday like everyone else I know but I ended up scooting out of there at 4:15pm. I’m sorry but if I have no accounts to work, am falling asleep at my desk in between reading cooking magazines, my time can definitely be spent better elsewhere. Plus, what are they going to do-fire me? I think not. I hope not at least.

I went to the gym right after work and it was a dead zone which was a nice change of pace. Nothing irritates me more than having to wait for a machine. Edit, nothing irritates me more than others who are waiting for machines and hover around you while you work out, as if that’s going to help time pass quicker. Why don’t they just go find something else to do instead of just standing there? They are there for a workout, yes?

Regardless, I don’t even remember what I did besides the Precor AMT but I must have had a rockin workout

I wasn’t in the mood to cook afterwards so I just whipped up a quick meal of asian cole slaw.

Always does the trick.

I also came home to a package from my sister—my Vera Bradley Puccini bag she picked up for me at the Vera Bradley sale in Indiana.

The theme for Saturday’s lunch was let’s-see-how-much-produce-I-can-fit-into-one-meal. It started with Athenos Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Spread on a tortilla to make a quick wrap with red peppers, cucumbers and carrots

 

Complete with a side of apples and nectarines

Shortly after, I attended the Yelp Charlotte Elite  Cajun Invasion at Cajun Queen. I visited this restaurant only once before and was let down by it since it’s supposed to be the best Cajun restaurant in Charlotte. But feed this girl free food and drink and my vote may be swayed.

Wine was provided by Three Girls Wine

I didn’t try any but my friend said it was wonderful. I am temped to buy a bottle since I am one of three girls. However, I am always skeptical of any company or product that doesn’t have a website. It’s 2011, get with it.

The reason I didn’t try any was all because of Mother Earth Brewing.  This was my first time hearing of this beer but found out there are a North Carolina brewery in the eastern part of the state. Hooray for local brews!

The Weeping Willow Wit was my favorite-very comparable to Blue Moon. By the end of the event, I switched over to Sisters of The Moon, which is an IPA. I’ve never been a huge fan of IPA’s but starting to grow an appreciation for them as of late. Plus, the hippie names make me smile. I couldn’t remember the name of Sisters of the Moon  but kept calling it obscure names like Brothers of Jupiter or Fathers of Saturn. The beer rep seemed amused and that’s what I was aiming for. What can I say, my need to make people laugh is part of my charm.

We started with appetizers of shrimp and fried oysters.

Then they told us that the buffet line of entrée items was being served so we grabbed some more grub. I didn’t even need any more since the fried oysters and shrimp had my heart but I wanted to see if the Cajun Queen could wow me this time around.

 

Enter in jambalaya, etouffee with crawfidh, grilled chicken and peach bread pudding. All of it was absolutely delectable and I could have gone for seconds but didn’t want to seem like a complete pig.

You win Cajun Queen.

All in all, it was a fun event to attend. They open at 5pm daily so it was pretty baller to have the restaurant to ourselves and the house band that has been performing there for 24 years even came in to play for us.

Thank god, I had all that beer in my system because it helped me out with falling asleep right after. I needed the energy since it was one of my co-workers birthdays and didn’t want to bring the lame sauce by only staying out for a few hours.

Carrying on the cajun theme from that afternoon, we started at Bourdreaux’s in NoDa for hurricanes.

 

I love their hurricane menu because they are categorized by Category 1-5 Hurricanes-1 being the weakest, 5 being the most hooch filled hurricane you can get. I settled on a category 4 since I had to drive that night and wanted to enjoy the drink instead of wincing every time I took a sip.

Soon after, we headed to Solstice Tavern then to Sin City for karaoke.

Sin City was not what I thought it was going to be. When I think Sin City, I think of bright lights, a huge area and sketchy people. Well, sketchy people it did have. I’m talking more men with neck tattoos than I’ve ever seen in my life, bad hair pieces, worse karaoke singing and vampires.

Yeah, I said vampires. This guy was standing next to us and he had his vampire teeth in. As soon as I saw this, I was on a mission to relocate to another area of the already-small karaoke area.

I heart when randoms get in the background of pictures. And why do I still throw deuces? So three years ago.

Good times had by all. And I even hung until 1am or so with only having a couple of drinks. I am really going to miss these people.

And now it’s Easter afternoon. My Easter hasn’t been the greatest……I woke up early and went to the park with Lincoln where I killed two birds with one stone by listening to a church service that was going on. Then I came home to lay outside before going to a friends for lunch. All was right with the world, the sun was out, it was hot out but not so hot I sweating my balls off and I had Bitter is The New Black in hand since I can read Jen Lancaster over and over again. I made my way inside to freshen up and my door was locked. I started to panic—I never lock my back door if I am hanging out in my yard but for some reason the second lock was locked….not by my doing. I suspect by my landlord when he showed my house a few days ago. I went to the front door and it was locked and thank God I had my phone on me because I had to get in touch with my landlord stat. I called him up and he told me he was three hours away. Of course he was. He told me his wife was in town and could come by and let me in but she would be an hour or so. So I waited…..in the sun which only got hotter and the minutes were going by so slowly. Soon, she showed up and let me in but by that time I was in no mood to be social with anyone (I’m a bit moody for those who do not know me) and just wanted to cool off at home. He called me to make sure I got in and then sprung it on me that he was showing my house. Today. From 4pm to 6pm. On Easter Sunday, in case you didn’t catch that part. Who the hell shows a  house on Easter afternoon, can’t they wait one day? What if I had plans or people coming over? I charged up my computer and went to one coffee house but this random creeper kept following me around. I would get up and move because he smelled like trash and was singing “Amazing Grace” but once I found a new location, there he was. I drove home since it was around 530pm to check the status of if he was done or not and he said he had one more set of people that he was waiting on. So I sit here at Starbucks, blogging my little heart out.

Please tell me your Easter was better??! I just want to go home.

Day off? Not so much.

I feel like today has been crazy and hectic-just like a week day for me but hold up, it’s Sunday. I have tomorrow off from work yet again for more dental work. Yay. I have to get a crown and my appointment is in the afternoon so I just figured I should take the whole day off instead of going to work, cramming to get a bunch done and then leaving again for the day. I already had a ton of things to get done on Thursday afternoon that was going to be pushed until Tuesday so I went into work today. Ugh.

I wasn’t too thrilled to go in but I knew if I held off on this stuff I would be behind the rest of this week plus I wouldn’t have any distractions from other people, emails, calls, IM’s, etc. I knocked alot of stuff out-of-the-way but didn’t catch up completely. This week will go a little smoother for me though since I finished some of the major things I needed to finish. It was nice to have my Pandora playing without a care if someone didn’t like the song it was on and it felt wonderful to do some stretching and yoga moves in my cube while printing something out. When I was done, I went to Starbucks just to say hi to my baristas and they asked if I wanted any coffee. Naturally, the answer was yes so I scored a free coffee without even asking for it. I love my baristas!

It was another gorgeous day in Charlotte-sunny and 70–what what?? Global warming, you’re a tricky little minx but I’ll enjoy the nice days you give us in January. I drove around for a bit without a plan-I could go back home and do nothing. But it was around lunch time so I went to Panera (since me going twice in one day last week wasn’t enough). I went to a nice one to spice it up a bit and got the Pick Two combo with broccoli and cheddar soup with the smoked turkey sandwich. Classic, simple, yummy.

The food was enjoyable however I had horrible luck with seating. The booth in front of me had an older couple and the woman was on her phone the entire time—like before they even sat, through their meal and when I left. Hello rude! I wanted to invite the older gentleman over to my booth to lunch and we could talk about whatever–WWII, Jersey Shore, Obama, you name it. The ladies behind me were talking about their “friend” who has ugly children. And both tables were extremely loud and not trying to mask their volume whatsoever. I just don’t get it. I may take a quick call if I’m out with someone but I will step away and make it quick. How can someone have the nerve to be on their phone through an entire meal? Even though I was dining alone, I flipped through this cookbook that my sister got me for my birthday

There’s too much in this book that appealed to me and I forgot my mini post it’s which I always stick on recipes I want to try it. Still, it was fun to finally sit down was thing and see what it’s all about.

I got back home, hung out with Lincoln and took him out for a 30 minute walk then came back home and was restless. I couldn’t relax or sit back yet I really didn’t have anything that needed to be done right away. I flipped through the channels and nothing was on–which proves my point of Sundays suck without football. I ended up going to the gym even though I intended to have a day off. I did a 35 minute interval session on the Precor Crossramp. I did the entire session striding backwards which is surprising even to me since I rarely do an entire session going backwards. I’ve never done the interval session but actually enjoyed it and felt like the time breezed by!

I felt like doing a little more afterwards and did hip adduction (110 lbs, 2 sets) and hip abduction (135 lbs, 2 sets) sets then leg presses ( 180 lbs 14 reps, 2 set/220 lbs 14 reps, 2 sets).

Quite a nice burn–especially since I wasn’t even planning on going to the gym today!

Dinner was all Trader Joe’s tonight. I had a few pieces of Mandarin Orange Chicken that I wanted to use up

While I let that bake, I threw some mushrooms, red onion and sweet peppers into a pan and let cook with red pepper flakes, garlic, black pepper and soy sauce.

I had frozen broccoli warming up in the microwave and once that was finished, threw into the pan and let cook with spices and sauce

Soon, the veggies were finished and ready to eat!

Then, threw the chicken on top and a quick, healthy meal was set!

I grabbed my chopsticks and chowed down-this was a delicious meal even sans carbs!

30 Day Challenge. I’m choosing to answer there whenever as I’m not a girl who is disciplined and can stick to a plan.

Day 4-Your views on religion.

Religion is a touchy subject and I’m not a very religious person so this is going to be short and sweet. I pray every night but don’t go to church since I feel like I don’t get anything out of it. I don’t mind people who are ultra religious since they have that right to be but like anything, when you try to push your beliefs on me, that’s where I cross the line. Everyone deserves to have an opinion that should be respected but I hate when others try to push their beliefs/views on you.

All this being said, I’m tired. I feel like today wasn’t even a day off and I’m completely wiped. Explains the lame post huh? Hope everyones Sunday was a bit more exciting than mine.

*Do you dine solo?

*Ever try one of the Hungry Girl recipes? If so success or meh?

Love my vitamin V

 I tried something new last night. Not a new vegetable, sauce, product or exercise. But something more fun than all four combined–the Valium.

And I liked it.

When I went to the dentist a few weeks ago, they were concerned about me since my blood pressure was high (Note, never have had an issue with high blood pressure). Along with that, I was very nervous about my upcoming procedures like root canals and crowns….even the teeth cleaning. So they prescribed me some good stuff–antibiotics for my tooth that I’m getting a root canal done on (one of two that need it), some drug to help me with nausea (must ask Diana what it is when I find the bottle) and Valium, my new vitamin V.

I’ve had all three sitting around for the past weeks but a bit afraid to open up the bottle. I don’t know if it’s fear of the unknown or fear that I may become addicted to the stuff but tried half a pill last night so I could get a good nights sleep along with hopes that my quad pain would go away. So I went into the kitchen, sliced that sucker in half, went back to the bathroom to put the other half back in the bottle and the bottom dropped and scat went the valium. I freaked out and was suddenly on my hands and knees searching for the valium since I didn’t want the precious babies to go to waste. It was like a scene from an indie film where a junkie loses her pills. Mind you, again, my quad was in complete pain but I didn’t care, I just needed my pills. Plus Lincoln was standing right there so I feared that he would eat one and god knows what would happen if little man digests one.

I took the half that I had in hand and felt good, really good. I watched Gilmore Girls (because I can’t stop and want to move to fictional Stars Hollow) and rested the remainder of the night. I fell asleep right away, didn’t wake up at 3A like I do every other night and woke up this morning energized and all that good stuff.  I was looking forward to the next time vitamin V and I would meet.

This morning floated by, I knocked out a bunch of work since I was leaving early for a dentist appointment. I brought soup for lunch but wanted something substantial since I would be having dinner later than normal. I remember a 25% off coupon from blynk organic that I swiped at the Yelp Holiday Detox this wknd (I may have swiped *ahem* five or six of them) and soon headed across the street to blynk to get some fresh, organic grub.

blynk has a variety of cold and hot sandwiches plus salads that are pre-arranged or you can create your own. Plus they have a lunch duo that includes half a sandwich plus soup or salad for $7. And it’s healthy, natural goodness so I don’t mind spending a few extra bucks for that. I love that you can go to their website and they tell you the calorie/fat content for all the items on their menu plus they have plus they have other nifty tools like a BMI calculator and links for green living, natural health,etc. After a few seconds of scanning the menu, I went with the Chicken Twist sandwich-grilled chicken, cucumber, celery, basil pesto yogurt, tomato and mesclon on a pretzel hoagie roll.

Hello lova! I was curious about what a pretzel hoagie roll was and it was absolutely terrific. It was full, fluffy, not terribly chewy with the perfect hint of salt. The chicken was cut into big chunks and the basil pesto yogurt sauce was absolutely tasty. I wish I could have bought a container of that alone!  I swore to myself I was only going to eat half but devoured the whole sandwich by the end of lunch. When I go back to blynk, ordering something different is going to be difficult since this sandwich has my vote!

Paired up with some carrots and Laughing Cow wedge, this meal filled me up and left me looking forward to my next visit to Blynk.

So I continued to work and then I looked at the clock. One hour until my dentist appointment. Per my dentists instructions, time to take two valiums so bottoms up-down they went. What does two valiums feel like? Effin fantabulous! I haven’t felt so laid back in a looooong time and while I usually get anxiety at work while making calls, I was totally at ease and probably sounded high or something. Mama felt good. My co-workers looked at me a little weird telling me that it was the most laid back they’ve ever seen me. I wish I could be like that all the time, I can totally see why people get addicted to the stuff! I refuse to become addicted to anything but it was perfect to take before my dentist appointment which usually stresses me out to the max but this time around I was all like “Hakuna matata bitches”

Dinner was delicious–I picked up some sushi from the supermarket–Ultimate Chile Roll. Sounds funky, I like the word ultimate (definitely don’t use it enough) and love chile anything. Look how gorgy it was!

The perfect roll. It barely needed any soy sauce to dip in since it had a lot of flavor and was fresh. The Perfect Roll. It kinda sounds like it could be a title of a movie, like “The Perfect Storm”. It could be about a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who wants nothing more in life than to be a top-notch sushi chef but no one believes in him or his abilities. So you watch the journey of him grow in his culinary skills along with growing emotionally and mentally and at the end, he creates the perfect roll and shows everyone how high he could fly. Must write Hollywood soon with this!

I also had a side salad with baby spinach, tomato, carrots, cucumber, red onion and avocado to get some veggies in for the day.

Especially after watching this segment on GMA this morning on how loading diet with veggies and fruits may be life saving. This salad along with my banana, kiwi and apple earlier on today leave me done for the day. Take that heart disease!

Christina from Hungry Meets Healthy posted a pic of what’s inside her purse. When it comes to my purse, I abide by the motto “Always be prepared”. If I were to ever go on a game show where they asked for a random item and if I had it in my purse, I would win. My purse is an absolute mess but better to have too much junk than not enough right (does not apply to junk in the trunk). So I figured I should venture into the depths of my purse to see exactly what’s in there. Here we go……

Sadly, this isn’t a lot for me. I’ve been using a new purse so I like to keep it somewhat clean and neat and this is little compared to how much crap I regularly hold.

Contents

*Planner and Journal

*Two Bath and Body Works sanitizers, one can never be clean enough

*iPod shuffle

*Phone charge (tangled with the iPod)

*Antacid -you never know when you’re going to need it

*Two wallets -I take one to the gym to carry my iPod, keys and gum

*Abercrombie & Fitch gift card that was given to me five or six years ago but have yet to use. I need to check if it has a balance still!

*Makeup bag

*Eye drops, nail file, brush, hair band

*Two rings and ghetto baby girl earrings. I thought I would love the earrings but they are too heavy for my delicate ears.

*Heart rate monitor strap. I’m now questioning where my watch is and why the stinky strap is in my purse

* Lollipop (probably from a bank), cough drops and gum

*Umm, soy sauce and buffalo sauce from Chick Fil A. I’m horrible about this. Not only do I swipe Splenda from Starbucks, I take extra soy sauce where I get sushi at the supermarket so I don’t have to buy it.

Now my question is–how the hell did the soy sauce get in my wallet?

What’s in your purse (or man bag)?