Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Archives for November 2011

Celebrating at Windsor

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Remember how I said we had some exciting family news??? Wellllll….

STEVE GOT A BIG PROMOTION AT WORK!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!

I wasn’t allowed to let the cat out of the bag before some more things were finalized, but he is super happy and excited to begin his new position as a linux engineer (whatever the f that means) December 15th! Tonight, I invited his mom, sister, grandma and grandpa as well as my mom and Hank out to dinner to celebrate! I’d been wanting to try Windsor for a while now and the food looked perfect for what Steve likes. Windsor has unique, elevated bar type food. Steve actually didn’t take any food pictures–he was too busy celebrating 😉 But we all really liked our food and the atmosphere!

Steve has worked so hard and I am so proud of him and happy that he is finally getting some long deserved recognition!

Is it PDA to post a kissing picture on my blog? I kind of hate PDA.

Steve’s grandparents are in town for the whole week for Thanksgiving, so it was nice that they were able to join us.

Isn't my mom cute? I love her :O)

After a really stressful and challenging week, I jumped at the sight of beer and enjoyed a delicious draft Black Butte Porter. Yummmm.

I love dark beer. Dear waistline: Get on board, please.

I really enjoyed Windsor, but I have to say after trying Beckett’s Table on Friday, it was definitely hard to live up to and I would choose Beckett’s Table any day of the week. I think Steve enjoyed himself though, and luckily I was in much better spirits tonight.

It’s hard to really explain what’s been going on without giving too much detail, but essentially I am learning lessons–I am learning that my job(s) include aspects I never expected and that I don’t like, but they are worth it for the end result (regardless of how many career tests I took at midnight last night in hopes that a new path would spark). The truth is, no matter what career path I choose, people are gonna be a holes and yell at me and make me feel like crap. Maybe it’s not as hard when it’s not something you care about? But maybe not. Might as well at least get yelled at and belittled doing something I love, and maybe one day I will grow a thicker skin and it won’t bug me so much. That’s the goal. Until then, I have some really great mentors that keep me sane and build me up when I feel like I’ve been broken down. I’m so grateful for them.

Alright friends, I haven’t really slept since like Wednesday night so I am thinking I might go to sleep in about 5 minutes. It’s 9pm. Apparently I’m 103 years old. Goodnight 😉

Family Dinner

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This week my aunt is in town from Kansas City! She usually is only able to make it out here about once a year, and unfortunately she has to leave on Thanksgiving morning so last night I invited the family over for dinner at my place. I would almost always rather cook and be in my own home than go out, but sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what to make for people with such a variety of tastes. My dad is vegetarian and Steve is a meat-a-tarian, and my grandma is, well, old. I really love spicy foods, but sometimes I worry that it will be too spicy for someone older. Not sure if that even makes a difference?

Anyway,  a few weeks ago, Lauren posted a recipe for Pumpkin Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili. I was immediately intrigued and tried it pretty soon after. Let me first say that Healthy Food For Living is probably my favorite recipe blog. I have absolutely loved every recipe I have ever tried and her substitutions have introduced me to several things that I now do on a regular basis. If you’ve never read her blog, check it out. However, when I made this chili the first time it was a little bit of a kitchen flop. You see, I had also recently seen a recipe for chili that you top with unbaked cornbread and then throw in the oven so the cornbread bakes on top. Well, the chili takes at least an hour to set and then the cornbread takes like 40 minutes so by the time it went in the oven it was 8pm and I was hungry enough to start chewing on my left arm. Well I decided it was done before it was and the cornbread to chili ratio was not working. I mean, I LOVE carbs but there was so much bread to so little chili and the bread was not really cooked and although I knew the chili recipe was good because everything tasted good, it was definitely NOT something I would share on here haha.

Last night, I used my brain a little and made cornbread muffins instead 😉 I followed Lauren’s recipe almost exactly with the exception of adding adding some canned green chilis (I’d already opened the can for the cornbread, so I figured might as well), adding a can of corn, and using half regular black beans and half cuban style. I also doubled the recipe because I was cooking for 6.

The chili was delicious. *Almost* perfect. The one thing I would change next time is I would either boil/bake/microwave the sweet potato chunks for a few minutes first to cook them through slightly, or I would put the whole thing in a crockpot and let it cook on low probably all day long. Some of the sweet potatoes were cooked enough, but some of them were not quite as soft as I would have liked, but no one seemed too bothered by it 🙂

For the corn muffins, I took a box of Trader Joe’s cornbread mix, 3/4 cup reduced fat buttermilk, 1 egg, 1/2 can medium heat green chilis and 1/2 cup pumpkin. Mixed everything together, transferred to muffin tins and baked according to directions on the box, although muffins definitely cook up faster, so you have to keep an eye on them.

I left Steve in charge of filling the tins, so we ended up with 1o huge muffins instead of 12 haha. He of course took all the credit for their deliciousness because I let him take over at the end.

The nice thing about this meal is that even though the chili takes a while to cook, once you put everything together, it just does the rest of the work on it’s own which gave me time to visit with the fam.

My aunt Rocky

I’m glad this is documented because I think this is the most conservative outfit my dad has ever worn.

G-ma. I think Steve did a pretty fab job on this picture! Doesn't she look good for 88?!

Steve got artsy with the camera. For a change 😉

Annnnnndddd Janie brought over our Chanukah/Christmas present super early!! She reads the blog so she knew exactly what I wanted!

"Present!!! I love presents!!!"

IT'S THE FLAMINGO!!!!!!!!!!

EEEEEE!!!! The wait is over!!!!

Do you remember how long I’ve been wanting this flamingo light?!?! Since last year!!! Obviously, I was ecstatic! I’ve said it a million times, but I am the easiest person to shop for. It doesn’t take a lot to make me happy, and I love presents so much that pretty much anything with a little bit of thought, I go over the moon for. Janie is actually a really fantastic gift giver. Last year, she got us holiday martini glasses that I can’t wait to break out this year–perhaps an eggnog martini is in my future 🙂 She also got us this

Menorah ornament!!!

Steve and I almost bought that ornament and actually when I was at Target yesterday with Bethany I almost bought the flamingo. So glad we didn’t buy either! Thank you Janie for the amazing kick off to the holiday season!

After dinner we had some cranberry bars for dessert, and took some family pics.

I am not a fan of this picture and I do not find it flattering, but it is necessary for the funniness that is about to come, so I'm taking one for the team, or the greater humor, or something.

After I looked at this photo, I started complaining about my double chin. All the sudden in pictures, it appears without fail. I have to be super careful about my angles because I’m vain and I do in fact care about it. As I started complaining, my dad suggested I try his neck exercises.

Thanks for the tip dad. Clearly, I have something to learn about my strength training from you 😉

“You see how I tighten in the most tensed position?” Oh yes, there is no arguing about tightened and tense position hahahaha. My dad is ridiculous and now you can see where I get my silliness from. My mom is actually pretty silly too. I didn’t stand a chance!

We spent the remainder of the evening loving on the puppies.

Clementine is learning to raise the roof.

And I'm trying to learn from her how to be cute. She is the master.

Can you see the photographer dog favoritism? Poor Winnie always seems left out of all of the pictures 🙁 If I was in control of the camera, there would be shot after shot of Winston in all his glory! 🙂

 

Undy 5,000 Race Recap

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Hello friends! So in an act of craziness I planned my long run the day before a race this week. I don’t usually run consecutive days in a row, and I have never run the day after a long run, but unfortunately, the universe doesn’t always revolve around the schedule I would like to have. What’s up with that? Get it together universe. Anyway, I woke up today for the first time ever with my legs feeling sore from my run. I mean, my legs have been sore plenty of times. From bodyworks, squats, lunges, etc, but never from running. I was super stiff when I woke up this morning, but figured the run was just for fun and it would be nice to loosen my legs up a little.

Nicole got to our house around 7:30 and we headed out to the race. My only other race to compare it to was the Komen, and I definitely liked that this one was less crowded and legitimately timed. We got there pretty early so we took some pictures in our awesome outfits.

Super hero undies give us super speed powers! That is the goal, anyway.

"I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!!!!" Or something like that.

We also tried to take jumping pictures, but I ended up with an awful double chin, so that is definitely not getting posted. Sorry Nicole, I’m kind of vain 😉 Also, there was a man wearing the EXACT same outfit as me. Seriously, same undies with tight black pants underneath, same shirt, and green shoes. It was pretty crazy. We shared a moment and I wanted to ask him to take a picture with me, but sometimes I’m actually shy and easily embarrassed.

I loved looking at all the fun (and some terrible) outfit choices and group names/slogans before the race began. All the underwear just gave it a really fun feel. Finally after shivering in the freezing cold Arizona winter, it was time to start. Unlike the Komen, once we passed the starting line, we were able to get our own space and find a good pace immediately. After just the first half mile, I realized how heavy and tired my legs felt. Yikes. I started to feel nervous about being able to finish the race and 3 miles is a short run for me these days!

The volunteer cheerleaders were pretty lame, I have to say, especially at the beginning. We ran by and they gave a half hearted clap and maybe a “yeah.” I was a little disappointed, but to be honest, I’m not used to a personal cheering squad so it’s not something I think too much about in terms of a race. I have a lot of really cool real life cheer leaders that tell me how awesome I am after. Mostly Steve, but also others 😉

Anyway, by the third mile I was sure that I was nuts for doing this after yesterday’s run and I was not feeling warmed up and good, I was feeling slow and like I weighed a million pounds and like finishing an other mile would be an impossible feat. Somehow though, we were still keeping up a pretty good pace and I was so grateful to have Nicole to push me to keep my pace up, and to both of our surprise, we ended with new PRs!!

Don't I look awesome here? I mean, most flattering picture ever.

And here I'm trying to decide the most strategic place to collapse and never get up.


I felt pretty exhausted for a good minute afterwards, but then I was back to normal and really glad I did it! Again, with only one race under my belt, the PR isn’t the HUGEST deal, but it was like a 3 minute difference, so it makes me happy. After the race, we had brunch at St Francis in our undies. It was also awesome. Then I got half way in the pool and called it an ice bath. It was pretty miserable, but I feel better. Then I foam rolled and stretched for what felt like an eternity. These after run necessities are almost as time consuming as the running itself! I definitely regretted not doing all of these things yesterday, so today I tried to make up for it 😉

Beckett’s Table

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There’s nothing like a night out with friends to cheer you up when life kind of sucksis challenging. Last night Steve and I met up with Jason and Nacho and went to dinner at Beckett’s Table, a new-ish comfort food/wine bar. I had read about it and been wanting to try it for a while. It was a little chilly out, but there was no wait outside so we sat out by the fire.

Nacho has that deep in thought look down!

I started with some pinot

Did you know a long run makes a drink that evening about 100x more enjoyable?

I loved this place pretty much from the second we walked in. I loved the decor, the ambiance, and next to our table there were even flowers and fresh herbs. Awesome. Nacho tried to instruct me in a photo shoot.

"Okay, nnoooowww look down!"

I seriously could not decide what to order because everything looked so good! So I decided to order enough food to feed an army try more than one thing 😉 I got the roasted red pepper soup as an appetizer.

Check out that huge bowl!

I loved this soup soooo much! Usually when I’ve tried roasted red pepper soup, it just tastes like tomato soup, but this one really tasted like roasted red pepper! It was huge so I shared with everyone and all the boys dipped their bread in it. In fact, I think we all shared a little bit every single thing we ate which I love because then you get to try lots of things! I ordered the petite chicken with biscuit stuiffing.

Luckily, although I loved everything, mine was my favorite! And check out Steve's amazing photography in this picture!

Jason ordered the chicken and dumplings.

Not my fav, but still good and the boys loved it

Nacho ordered this spicy green chili stew

Yummmm

And Steve got my second favorite. Shepherd’s pie.

Serious yum.

I wasn’t planning on ordering dessert, but when Jason and Nacho did, Steve and I couldn’t help sharing a bite or two. The desserts were just as incredible. Nacho ordered the “award winning” fig and pecan pie. We asked to see the award, but the waiter just laughed at us. He was funny, I enjoyed him,

Flakey crust, topped with lemony ice cream. Award deserved.

Jason’s was even more amazing though. A deconstructed s’more with totally original and unique flavors. So yummy.

"You would never know I'm a s'more because I'm cool and disguised and more delicious!"

It was a seriously awesome night. Those boys make me laugh so hard. Perfect Friday night 🙂

And Then There Was 9

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And 9 was hard.

9.17 to be exact

Harder than any number that came before it. Usually around midway, I start to think about how much longer I have to go, get tired and wonder why I ever signed up for this to begin with. Then I can feel the end in sight and I get a second wind and am compelled to run faster and faster and reach my goal, reach this new distance.

Today, midway I started to think about how much longer I had to go, got tired and wondered why I ever signed up for this to begin with. Then the end was insight, and I got more tired and wondered if I would reach it. Every step I felt more out of breath, more exhausted. This was my first time running with a partner who is definitely faster than me, and pushed to be faster and to dig deeper. I kind of held it together….until the end when I begged to stop at every traffic light whether it said don’t walk or not. Yes, I paused my garmin, so no, my time is not as awesome as it looks, but that doesn’t change how proud I felt when we reached 9 miles. Tears welled up in my eyes when I realized that even though today was the hardest by far, I pushed through. I didn’t give up, and I ran my little heart out.

I have never been a big talk and runner, but actually the great conversation with Nicole made the first four miles fly by. I am so happy and grateful that I have wonderful people to do my training runs with! I don’t know how I’d manage otherwise!

So I’ve kind of disappeared for a while. The truth is that in being sick and not working out for almost a week straight, I didn’t feel like myself. Maybe taking it easy is what my body needed, but it is not what my brain needed and I’ve been kind of stuck in self doubt land. I didn’t feel like being Debby Downer, so I just kind of kept to myself.

After the run this morning, I felt ridiculously happy. Like puking rainbows and sunshine kind of happy. Teaching at job #1 went fantastic and I was on cloud 9. I felt like myself, I felt happy to be alive. Then I went to job #2 of the day where I was for the 100th time this school year berated by yet an other parent, and I feel as though I am almost back to square one. It has been a hard few months with work, and I know I need to develop a thicker skin and not let things get to me and have confidence in my abilities, but the truth is I am not a super confident person in any aspect of life. I am very easily swayed in my self views by the feedback I get from others. It’s something I’m working on, but it’s not easy and certainly doesn’t happen overnight.

I have a LOT of students, and a strong personality. Most of my students/parents are appreciative and love what I do, but of course they are less vocal. No one calls your boss to say “Ari is such a wonderful teacher! Thank you for hiring her to teach my kid!” Really parents, you should do that because the ones with the smallest problem have no problem calling and giving a piece of their minds. So mostly, we only hear the bad stuff. I wish it was different, and I wish I was less affected by it, but only one of those are in my control and hopefully I will be able to say that I let it roll off my back.

I had high hopes for this post being super upbeat and focused on how amazing I felt after my run and how I was 100% back to being happy cheery ole me. In the end, I’d rather it be 100% honest.

But I will leave you with this tid bit of happy exciting news. I skinnified a copy cat recipe of the Starbucks cranberry bliss bars yesterday and it turned out seriously delicious, so I will be posting this weekend! And I have a fun race tomorrow with fun friends, so all will be good.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…

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CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

At least, at Starbucks it is. You can imagine my excitement when I walked in to get my coffee yesterday afternoon and all of this was happening!

"Look at me. I'm making Christmas happen. I am essentially responsible for bringing you Christmas. You're welcome."

Christmas tumblers!!

And decorations!

It all just makes me soooo happy! I know, I know, I’m a total sucker for this time of year. Before I left for Starbucks, I put Winnie and Clem outside and for a total change, they decided to be super cute.

All that cuteness must be tiring.

I also had not been able to get roasted sweet potatoes off my mind since I kept reading about them on Carrots N Cake, so I made some for myself and they were oh so delicious.

Misting of olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. 400 for approx 30 minutes. Yum

And then later in the day, this happened

An apple slicer apparently doesn't stand a chance against the honey crisp!

I seriously just looked at the apple so confused for a good minute before deciding I had to figure out how to salvage it because it was the last honey crisp in my house and they are so delicious!

In other news, I have accomplished pretty much nothing exercise wise since Saturday. I feel just barely better than yesterday, so I’m just trying to wait it out and not make myself sicker. I’m planning to hopefully do a short run tomorrow, but at the very least be back to spin on Thursday, I have a long run with Nicole on Friday (YAY!!!) and the Undy 5000 with Nicole, Mariel and *hopefully* Kara if her ankle is back to normal on Saturday!

And lastly, I can’t talk about exactly what it is yet, but our family did get some pretty fantastic and exciting news yesterday!! I can’t wait to be able to actually share it when it all becomes official! 🙂 Have a good day everyone!

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup, The Cure for Everything

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Well friends, it has been a loooonnng day. I woke up this morning feeling sicker than I have all week. Maybe attempting to jump back into running 2 days in a row the second you start to feel better isn’t so conducive to healing after all? On top of that there has been an ongoing….situation…I’ve been dealing with at work. I wish so much that I could post about it, but you know how it goes. By the time I got home all I wanted was comfort food, so I made a version of grilled cheese and tomato soup. The cure for all things.

Open faced "alternative bagel" with sundried tomato laughing cow and goat cheddar with a few drops of Sriracha

From an awesome Progresso can + garlic pepper, dried basil and Sriracha

Now I plan on spending the rest of my night like this

Super Simple Pumpkin Brownies

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Okay, I almost never do this, but sometimes it is just nice to bake something that take like 3 steps. Sometimes you can take a normal boxed baking good and make it your own and enjoy not having to spend hours preparing said delicious baked good. Every once in a while I do something like this

Oh my gosh! It's from a box! I know, you're horrified.

And of course, I don’t follow directions. I change it, and make it my own until it’s something more like this

Super Simple Pumpkin Brownies

yield 25 small brownies

  • 1 box TJ’s Reduced Guilt Brownie Mix or No Pudge Brownie Mix (or honestly, if you follow these directions, I bet you could use any brownie mix and still have it be at least healthier)
  • 1 cup pureed pumpkin
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 25 grain sweetened white chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 8″ square baking pan.
2. Mix all ingredients except chips. It will take a few minutes and batter will be very thick.
3. Transfer to baking dish. If desired, top with chips.
4. Bake for approx 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cut, plate and top with red fat pumpkin ice cream and sprinkles!

Taaaaddddaaaa!!!!

Good Friends, Good Run, Good Food

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Happy Sunday friends! Unfortunately, I went to bed and woke up feeling sicker than I have this entire time. I really felt like I was getting better Thursday and Friday, but maybe I pushed too hard when my body needed rest? It’s just a dumb cold, but it still feels pretty awful. At least it didn’t stop yesterday from being pretty fantastic!! I started the day with an awesome 5 mile run with Mariel. Mariel and I have been blog friends for a couple of months, but didn’t actually meet in person until yesterday. I was a little nervous that it might be awkward to be like “Hey, nice to meet you, let’s run” but it wasn’t at all! We actually chatted almost the entire time–which I NEVER do while running, so I kind of panted like a 500 lb man, but hopefully Mariel didn’t mind 😉 I was also pleasantly surprised to find a conversational pace was pretty much the same for both of us. I get super self conscious about my pace, but I felt like Mariel was a great running buddy and I hope she ends up joining Kara and I more often! And on top of the great company and chatting the whole time, I shaved a minute off the last time I ran 5mi!

Not too bad for being sick 🙂

After the run, I went to Starbucks (I know, you’re so surprised), and got seriously the most delicious drink. I almost wasn’t even going to post it because it’s not the healthiest and if you are anything like me you are going to want it over and over and over, but it’s a lot better than the latte version and just so delicious.

Grande sf vanilla bold coffee with a little steamed egg nog. Delicious.

After my coffee, I got ready and went to rehearsal, then came home and got to cooking! Jason and Nacho came over for dinner and a movie 🙂

"Hiiiii uncle Nacho. Put me down now please, I'm a big girl!"

I LOVE this picture of Clementine! Look at her cute, long little body! I love Winston, but Clementine definitely wins in the looks department.

Jason is so funny–he always wants to be right in on the action. The rule in my kitchen is that if you’re not functioning, you have to be on the other side of the counter. Too many people in the space gives me anxiety and makes me cranky! Jason wanted to be in the kitchen, so I gave him a job. I tried to get him to clean the sink again, but he opted for de-rine-ing the goat brie.

"I can cook too!"

Of course, I also made dessert which Nacho had fun playing with.

"I make Ari's food look as fabulous because I look fabulous!"

I absolutely loved everything I made last night and will def be posting recipes soon. Between dinner and dessert, I used an entire can of pumpkin. I’m sure you’re shocked 🙂

After dinner, we watched Crazy Stupid Love. I love that movie so much. I definitely feel like it was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. We all saw it in theatres together back when it was out and as soon as Steve and I saw that it was out on blue ray, we picked it up immediately. In fact, it was one of our “for us” purchases from our shopping extravaganza.

Alright, I’m off to down a bottle of cold medicine with a side of breakfast. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Ari’s Epic Day Off

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Ok, listen, a day off might not sound super epic to you, but after almost 2 months straight of working every single day, I had been dreaming of this day and planning this day for weeks! When I got sick on Monday, I started to fear for the worst, and imagined myself spending my one day laying at home with a blanket on the couch. That may actually sound like a nice day to some of you (minus the sick part) but I am not a girl who likes to lay on the couch! Luckily, by the time I left rehearsal Thursday evening, I could see that things were looking up!

My day started the way every day off should, with pancakes!

Whole wheat oatmeal blueberry pancakes. With a side of yum.

 

Actually, it started even before that. My alarm went off at 6:15–yes I am crazy, I accept this and I headed out for my first run since MONDAY. Oy! My original plan for the week had my long run on Thursday so that Friday would be completely off from everything, but Kara got injured and I got sick and no long run happened. In fact 2 days of no exercise other than physical therapy and a few step touches happened, and I was not feeling like letting an other one go by. So I got up early to get it done and out of the way so I could get on with my day.

Not too shabby, right?

 

Hooray!! I ran! Check me out!! Oh, and no double chins please! Ohhhh and about those holes in my arm pits...I'm a starving artists.

"Okay, now take a shot of me in action!" So realistic. I used Stanislovsky technique to portray the character of "Ari running" College education=money well spent.

So theeennnn, the pancakes finally came. I asked Steve “Should we make breakfast here or go out?” He replied “So I know today is all about you, but it’s also about me in that I don’t want to clean anything.” That meant we were going out, because in this house the cook doesn’t do dishes! Well, more like in this house I don’t do dishes. Anyway, we went out to The Good Egg for some pancakes!

Steve got pancakes too!

Obviously, coffee was the next stop

Grande bold coffee, 1 pump sf mocha, 2 pumps sf vanilla, 1 pump sf peppermint, steamed soy. Just order it, who cares what looks of judgement you receive?

I really really need a new mani. Or at least to remove the remaining orange polish from my fingers…

After coffee we were on a holiday shopping mission! Gifts for other people, decorations for us! We spent the day at some of my very favorite stores. First up was Hobby Lobby. Other than the time I thought I was going to die in the Hobby Lobby which is a story for an other day (short version is overreaction to undercover cop leads to people screaming that someone has a gun at the front of the store and Kara and I being escorted through the back–yikes!), it is always one of my favorite places to be. If there is one near you and you haven’t been, go immediately. Like, right now.

Usually about half the store is on sale for 50% off. I think everything we bought was actually half off and look at that cart full of stuff! They have tons of knick knacky type things (PS: How does one spell knick knack? nick nack? I have no idea.)

Steve: "Act like you're gonna eat it!"

As well as crafty type things and lots of home decor. The entire time we were there I just kept saying to Steve over and over “This is the best day!!” I mean I could go to Hobby Lobby any morning before work on my own, but it’s just not the same as having a day with no schedules where you can do fun things with your favorite person on Earth!

Next on the list of favorite places (in case you didn’t anticipate this one)

Because it is so much better than Walmart, and K-Mart---let's not even go there about that one!

They have some super cute holiday puppy outfits right now, including PET PAJAMAS!!!!

"Why do I have to be in the picture? It's about the pajamas!" "Because I said so!" "FINE!"

Can’t you just picture Clementine in those little PJs!

"I'm cute on my own. I don't need pajamas."

I know I’ve said it about a zillion times, but I just really want this flamingo!

"If I'm going to take this picture, you have to pet the flamingo"

"WAAIIITT!!! I want to pose like it too!"

They also have a ton of other shiny decorations I want to put up outside the house.

Presents!!! My favorite!!!

And doesn't this little guy just put you in the holiday spirit?!

And then I saw the one thing I could not live without. I did not get to buy my beloved flamingo, but I simply could not leave the store without purchasing this.

"Buy me Ari!!! I am a kitchenaid mixer ornament and I just happen to be the exact same color as your own kitchenaid mixer. You cannot leave this store without me. I belong on your tree!!"

Heather, can you believe it?!?!?!!

After spending way too much money at Target and Hobby Lobby, we headed up to the Biltmore to meet Lisa and Ashleigh for lunch at Paradise Bakery. Let me just say that ever since Paradise Bakery got bought out and changed their menu, it is not nearly as good. I still love the tomato soup, but the sandwiches are not my fav anymore. They got rid of the delicious veggie one with the roasted red peppers and havarti cheese. Boo. But the soup and the cookies are still delicious.

Look, the guy drew a cute little smiley face in Steve’s soup with the sour cream garnish!

"I am a happy soup"

I ate mine with half a grilled cheese sandwich, but the soup was definitely the best part! That and the two bites I took of my m&m cookie. Yes, I took 2 bites and threw it away. I REALLY wanted those 2 bites. I did not, however, want an entire 4oo calorie cookie.

After lunch, we shopped around a little more, I got some necessary things done at the Apple store (bought a warranty for my mac book and got my broken ipod replaced). Then I went into Lulelemon and drooled over work out clothes I can’t afford. Steve found this on the outside of the store, which is so me it’s not even funny

Thank you Lululemon for reading my mind. After we finished shopping at the Biltmore, we said goodbye to Lisa and Ashleigh and headed back to our side of town to meet my mom, Hank and Charlie for coffee.

Not only is coffee more delicious in a mug, but did you know you get a 10 cent discount?

I always worry about making fun of my Jewishness on the blog for fear of offending someone, but I do think it’s funny that

1) I’m Jewish and care about getting a 10 cent discount.

2) This post has been almost entirely about Christmas.

After coffee we picked up dinner and beer. Yes, every single meal I ate yesterday came from a restaurant, and I am okay with that. Beer from Whole Foods (so many of my favorite places in one day!) and dinner from Chipotle.

It looks almost homemade if you put it in a real bowl!

When I get take out from Chipotle, I always wait and use my own fat free sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and lower fat/calorie cheese at home. That way I still get them, but not the full fat versions that I don’t want! I got a bowl with a little brown rice, a little pinto beans, fajita veggies, steak (same nutritionally as their chicken. I looked it up), lettuce, pico and medium salsa. Topped at home with fat free sour cream and goat cheddar. Yummmmm.

Then we watched caught up on some of our fav tv shows and brought out the beer!

"I have 2 beers! One in each hand!" 🙂

We did the mix and match at whole foods. I ended up only trying a few sips of the ones we opened because I didn’t want to mess up my getting better with too much alcohol.

After we finished eating, I decided I needed a lounging on the couch after my epic day off outfit.

"Mom, you embarrass me with all your 80s clothes. I wasn't even born when those were popular."

 

"Mom, you're so weird."

I almost wore my onesie, but leg warmers won.

Honestly, I just had the most amazing day, and although I wish I could have like 5 more days off, I feel slightly rejuvenated and just really happy that I got to spend some quality time with Steve and that I have such an amazing husband who will go along with whatever I want to do to make me feel special and ensure that my day off is absolutely perfect!

Have a great weekend everyone–hope you all enjoy your time off this weekend as much as I enjoyed yesterday! 😀

Lucky Strike

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A few weeks ago Hermano was given a pass for 2 hours of free bowling at Lucky Strike for up to 8 people. For those of you that don’t know, Lucky Strike is like a fancy bowling alley that is also a full restaurant and bar. As John put it, it’s “businessman central”. Apparently Hermano thinks all my friends are cooler than his so the two of us went along with Steve, Jason, Nacho and John.

While we were waiting for everyone with real jobs to get out of work, Hermano and I hung out at the house with the puppies.

We got there a little before our reservation so we sat down and had some drinks

Unfortunately I’ve come down with some awfulness that is prob just a bad cold, but feels like the plague, so I had water when I really wanted a beer and even still felt progressively worse as the night went on. But that didn’t stop me from at least trying to have some fun!

I like this picture because I look skinnier in it. That's how I judge the quality of a picture. Sorry Steve.

It was obviously a night of serious bowling

My score from both games combined was 85. I am the best person ever to bowl against. Guaranteed win. Except, the second game I did beat Hermano. John and I spent most of the night catching up because we hadn’t seen each other since our pedicures and I MISSED him!! That is, when we weren’t being interrupted by pokes and glares and angry words about how we were holding up the game. Whoops. Sorry friends. John actually bowled pretty well, but spent most of the night complaining about the getting up and down from his seat and energy spent throwing the ball.

He had a long day of singing and dancing. Hard work my friends. 🙂 And to make matters worse, he had to deal with this

And then there was this

Then Steve made us mess with the curtain to be his photo back drop because he thinks every road is his race track and every place we go is his photography studio. 🙂

So of course John and I did a prom pose


At one time we referred to each other as hubby and wifey. Of course, I was the hubby and he was the wifey, but that’s a long story…

I’m so glad we got to go!! And to get the bowling, shoes and 2 appetizers for free? Pretty sweet deal. I wish we would have gotten some food pictures, because this my friends was NOT bowling alley food! They have salads and fancy sandwiches and even some unique flavor combos! I got 2 chicken sliders with tomato soup and it was delicious. Definitely did not taste super healthy, but what can ya do.

It has not been the healthiest week. Other than my physical therapy (which does feel surprisingly like a work out), I haven’t worked out since Monday and I just drowned my sickness sorrows in a bowl of pumpkin ice cream. When I’m sick, all I want to do is sit around and eat ice cream all day. For me, saving up all day for my 4 ounces when I feel like death warmed over is actually kind of an accomplishment. I hope I feel better soon because I am getting super antsy and I want to get out there and RUN!!!! Tomorrow was supposed to be 9 miles, and it’s just not gonna happen 🙁 Doesn’t mean we’re not moving straight to 10 though next week. I will not be set back. I have been dreaming about those double digits for a long time now!

Have a good night friends!!

Sicckkk. Boo.

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If you don’t want to read my whining and complaining for the remainder of this post, I suggest you stop reading now. When I’m sick I turn into a big fat cry baby. Waaaahhhhh. I’ve been feeling pretty icky since Sunday and I spent most of yesterday trying to deny it, although I would like to think that perhaps this sickness is to blame for my lame run yesterday. I always end up with the weirdest symptoms and it always feels like it must be strep throat this time, but I don’t get strep. Ever. It’s a gift or something. I always end up with a sinus infection but I don’t feel sinusy. Just a super bad sore throat and achy and tired. I was going to still try to make it to spin today, but it just wasn’t happening. Instead, I made myself some hot oats, went to the Bux for some hot coffee, chatted with Kara and drank some Emergen-C.

I really wish I had made her take pictures because something else I am super wimpy about is things that taste bad. I mean no one likes bad tasting food/drink/etc, but I make a huge deal about it. I can see why I have so many friends. It took me almost an hour to nurse this thing (which I have refused to try based on smell until this point) and every single time I insisted on plugging my nose. But honestly, if it ends up working, I will continue to drink, plus, repeat as necessary because I do not want to be sick. I do not want to miss work outs or training, and missing work with my job(s) is pretty much impossible. If I can’t find a sub myself I am pretty much SOL and I have to go in anyway and infect all the kiddos with my germie goodness.

I also am not going to let this ruin the fun I’m supposed to have with some free bowling! Hermano got a free pass to Lucky Strike which is pretty much the coolest bowling alley ever. It’s a restaurant and a bar and a bowling alley all in one. Can’t wait! Sorry world, I am that person that does not stay home when I’m sick and completely disregards your right to not be infected by my germs. I refuse to let sickness keep me from living my life!

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