Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Independence

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Although I’ve always been a people person and loved being around others almost 100% of the time, I’ve also always been really independent when it comes to my relationship with Steve. I had a lot of friends in high school that I felt would drop all their friendships when they were in a relationship and I never wanted to do that with my friends, so I sometimes hardly saw Steve at the beginning of our relationship, and even when we lived together, I often went out without him, and really kept my independence and being an individual a priority.

Then I went away to school and we spent 2 1/2 years being apart. I hated a lot of things about it, but to this day, I really value the fact that i was able to experience college on my own, grow, discover who I am, and have the experience of living with my best friend. When I would come home to visit, I felt like I had to spend every moment with Steve before we would be apart again, so when I moved back for good in 2009, I fell right back into that, and spent every waking moment with Steve. We began to meld our lives more, and more, and before I knew it, I was definitely more a part of an “us” than a “me”. I didn’t feel like I had lost myself, but I did begin to lose sight of my independence and why it is important to me.

We’ve come a long way. but it’s still a struggle sometimes to find balance. And then, sometimes, life forces balance on you, and I kind of feel like life is a bit of a jerk, but I guess it’s okay and all for the best and all that stuff.

Yesterday, Steve left for a 5 week trip to California. He got a fancy new job that is based there, and he will be able to work from home, and then he will be here all the time and I will probably wish he was back in LA, but he has to go there for training first. Obviously, I was thrilled about him leaving. I even helped him pack. I’m such an awesome wife.

You're welcome!

I also definitely did not unpack the things he’d already packed and hide them. That would not be a fun game. For him. Anyway, the silver lining in all of this (other than, you know, the whole awesome jump for Steve and his career) is that I have the next 5 weeks to refocus on some of my independence, as well as other relationships with family and friends. Although I already miss him a lot and kind of wish the 5 weeks was up, I also know that we have the rest of our lives to spend together, and it’s good for me to focus on myself as well. Not to mention that I already signed up to leave him for 6 weeks this summer to go play at theatre camp, so I guess we’re even. 😉

So for the next 5 weeks, I will be focusing on being comfortable spending time with myself, having awesome workouts, putting quality time into family and friendships, and cleaning my house. Come on Ari, let’s keep this honest.

I know some people really enjoy their alone time…If you were left alone for a month, would you be excited or bummed? What would you do? If you already live alone, do you like it?

Lost Dutchman 1/2 Marathon Race Recap

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Best.Race.Ever.

I could honestly leave it at that. But I won’t. Don’t worry, I will give you a long 2000 word post with all the deets.

You didn’t click the little x yet? Awesome. Thanks for that 😉

Lisa arrived into Phoenix Saturday afternoon and we headed over to the race expo. We received these emails about the “record crowds” they were expecting.

"Where are they?"

The expo was pretty small, so we picked up our bibs, looked around a little bit and I bought a headband.

Definitely different from the Rock N Roll one, but honestly, I don’t know that I need all the bells and whistles. After the expo, we went home for some carb-o loading goodness! I made Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese (YIKES! I need to update that recipe with better pictures. It’s from a long time ago!) and roasted broccoli. Yummmm. Healthy, carb-full, and deliciousness.

After dinner, Lisa and I proceeded to give our husbands a concert of our favorite show tunes every song we both new with really simple chords that we could actually play. We ended with Do You Hear the People Sing, I sang my best loudest high C, and Steve and Sam simultaneously asked us for divorces we went out to get some Gelato before heading to bed early for our 4:40am wake up call.

This morning, we woke up, had some coffee and toast with sunflower butter and banana, and some iced coffee and we were out the door by 5:30. It was still pitch black outside and collllddddd (for Phoenix). We arrived at Prospector Park where race volunteers literally escorted us into the proper parking space and immediately found our way onto a bus to the starting line. This race was incredibly well organized and all of the volunteers were super friendly and helpful! I was impressed!

We hung out for a bit with the boys while we waited for the start, then did a bit of a warm up jog and made our way over to the starting line. I felt pumped and super excited. I was running a race with one of my long time best friends–her first race, and my wedding gift to her. I just felt so happy for the entire experience.

I was also super nervous though. I signed up for this after Diana highly recommended it, without even looking at the elevation. Then, I heard from other runners that it was super tough and HILLY.

Oyyy!!! Then, I read the reviews which claimed it was “A great course for serious runners”. But I’m a comedic runner. Not serious at all. Nope. Not one bit. I was sure that I was going to run this slower than PF Chang’s. In fact, I even added more music to my playlist so I wouldn’t run out! I intentionally did not talk about pace goals on the blog because I was sure I would end up embarrassing myself. But I did have one, and it seemed totally out of reach, but it was there, burning a hole in the back of my mind. 2:09:XX. I figured there was no way I’d make it just a month after finishing in 2:13:58 on a more challenging course, so I only told Lisa and Steve–and only when Lisa asked.

Anyway–back to the race. We got to the starting line and I was surprised because at 7:15 on the dot, there was no announcement, no Star Spangled Banner, just a sudden gun shot and the race had begun! Well, okay, if you say so! About 1/2 a mile in, we saw Steve and Sam and kept it totally cool.

Soon after we turned the corner and were running right towards the sunrise in the mountains. Holy crap, it was gorgeous. I felt so honored to be running into something so beautiful and I realized for a second how awesome my life is. I can run into the sunrise. That is something I never thought I would appreciate, but my views and ideas of happiness have change…a lot.

I had told Lisa we needed to start slowly so we wouldn’t burn out. At PF Chang’s, I got tired at mile 8 and had to walk/run until the end. In fact, in every single race I’ve done, I’ve gotten tired from going beyond my pace and had to take walking breaks. Even all of my 5Ks. So when we ran the first mile in 9:33, I was getting ready to yell at Lisa for not starting out in the 10s like we had discussed. I had all of this fear about not being able to keep it up, and how I would burn out, but then I realized I felt great. The pace felt dare I say easy. And I thought to myself… What if I can keep this up for the whole race?

I made a little goal with myself right there–if I ran every mile below 10 minutes, I really could meet my goal of finishing sub 2:10, so I was going to not be a little bitch and tell my friend her pace was not maintainable. I was going to suck it up, keep running and really go for a PR.

For the next 4.5 miles until the turn around, it was pretty much rolling hills the entire way. Nothing super steep, but pretty much just a lot of running and nature. The crowds were sparse to say the least–it was all about me running because I love to run. For the first few miles I was definitely pushing to keep up with Lisa, which was good–it kept me going. We reached the turn around at mile 6.55, I took my Gu, and I realized I still felt really good. I had already maintained this pace for half the race and I really felt like I could keep it up. A PR began to feel really doable and I felt so motivated and excited!

It was an out and back, so the rolling hills continued, but mile after mile ticked by and I kept feeling good. Lisa and I stayed together, but didn’t really socialize. We were both just focused on the task at hand and enjoying being focused on the same thing together. It was perfect because I felt like I had support, but it wasn’t a lets-chat-about-life type of thing.

Before I knew it, we were at mile 8, which is where I crashed and burned at PF Chang’s. But this time, it felt totally different. I felt like I had the energy to push through until the end. I started to get really excited. And even better–we were still completely on track! Every single mile had been below a 10 min pace! We kept trucking along, and then at mile 9.5, we reached the toughest hill of the race, and it lasted for a good mile! I was tired, and I felt like I was slowing down, but we still kept our pace, and finished our toughest mile in 9:58.

By mile 11, I was tired. Seriously, tired. But Lisa was still going and I hadn’t walked yet (excluding for a couple seconds to take water at stations), so I kept pushing. This is the time I would usually think “Oh, if I’m gonna finish strong, I’d better take a walking break”, but I didn’t, and you know what? It didn’t kill me.

At mile 12.5, we saw Sam waiting on the side lines. He came out and ran with Lisa and I started to get a little teary. This was my first time meeting him, and I realized one of my best friends found a husband that will come out and push her to the end of this race–he gets her, and she is so happy, and we are running fast, and I have this awesome life-long friend who has pushed me to the end of this thing.

I started to think that maybe, just *maybe*, I could even finish in a new goal: sub 2:05. I would really have to push it til the end, and I was beyond tired at this point. I could tell Lisa was feeling slightly better than me, and I encouraged her to go up ahead, and I tried to keep her in sight. I wanted to stop about a million times between mile 12.75 and the finish line. Right about mile 13, I saw Steve and tried to look happy in the pictures.

 

 

 

 

This one's my favorite 🙂

After this point, I looked down at my watch and gave it absolutely everything I had left. I stopped my Garmin just after the finish line, check it and it said 2:05:02. Not quite my late race goal, but honestly, I was ecstatic!!!!!!! I shaved 9 freaking minutes off my time in ONE MONTH!!!! I ran at a pace that i thought was completely out of my abilities. I set a record in a race I didn’t think it was possible. I could not believe that I had done all of these things. It seemed unreal, and almost more exciting than my first half marathon.

2:05???? That’s almost like the times I read about on other blogs!! That’s a 9:32 average pace!!! 9:32!!!!!!! Single digits!!!! Are you freaking kidding me? And this course was not easy! Holy crap,

Lisa had finished just seconds before me, so I quickly caught up to her, hugged her, and told her how incredible she is–or at least I hope I conveyed that! This girl decided to train for this race a month ago! It was her very first race and she practically carried me to the finish line! She forced me to see that I am better than I give myself credit for. That’s what the friends do. They help you to discover that you are better, faster, stronger, and more capable than you knew. I have so many things to say about what I discovered today, that I am going to save my post race thoughts for an other post.

After we finished, we sat in the grass to stretch for a few minutes before getting back on the shuttle.

Sam & Lisa--aren't they the cutest couple?!

"Look!!!! We have medals!!!!"

"2:05!!! What? That says 5:02? Oh...."

We never claimed to be smart...

"Take more than 1 picture so we're smart twice as often as not smart!"

"Let's lunge to each other"

You wanna know the icing on the cake?

I checked my official chip time. You wanna know what it was?

2:04:59

And now, I’m crying again.

I just can’t believe I did that. I can’t believe the pride I feel in myself since I took up this little “hobby”. I can’t believe how much my life has changed.

Hey Lisa! Thanks for being my inspiration today. I am beyond grateful to you.

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and making me feel like I have a place to share about my accomplishments. I am a happy girl today. 🙂

 

 

 

Barrio Cafe

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When I told people that I was having a birthday dinner with my Starbucks friends, I definitely got some odd looks. I mean, everyone knows I have a coffee problem, but maybe they didn’t know they extent 😉 The truth is, I’m just a chatty person and I like to meet new people, so after 3 years of seeing the same baristas almost every day, having one of them officiate my wedding, and running a half marathon with an other, this group has become pretty important in my life.

I gave Kara a list of a few restaurants I’ve been wanting to try, and left the rest up to her. We ended up going to Barrio Cafe. As soon as we arrived, it was like love at first sight! It has a tiny, hole in the wall feel. There was live music, and the whole atmosphere seemed really authentic! There was a pretty significant wait, but we all sat outside and chatted, and the food definitely was worth the wait!

In addition to the Starbucks group, Nicole, Lance and Carolyn were also able to join us. It ended up being the perfect group! When we first sat down, we immediately ordered margaritas and took lots of pictures.

This is my super awesome friend Amelia who married us. She makes good faces, 🙂

Carolyn

Mona

Kara

Nicole & Lance

Charlie

I was a little surprised when the salsa came out with a bread basket instead of chips, but it was delicious!

The margaritas were also pretty amazing. Nice and tequila-y, and not super sweet. I hate a marg that tastes like sour mix!

We ordered the guacamole–they make it table side, and oh my gosh, it was absolutely incredible!!

I was totally skeptical of the pomegranite seeds because I usually don't like pomegranites, but it was such a perfect flavor combination! I must try putting fruit in my guac!

And look, we did end up getting chips also! But bread and salsa is a surprisingly delicious combination.

Then the food came and everything looked incredible.

Enchiliadas

Tacos--I had a little bit of food envy when these babies came out!

Steve and I split this steak dish that came in a sweet and spicy sauce with bleu cheese on top. It was ridiculously good. The steak was crunchy and slightly charred on the outside, while perfectly tender on the inside! YUM!

Every single item I tasted was absolutely delicious. I must admit, I was a little surprised at the prices when I first opened the menu, but the flavors were all unique and well worth the price.

After our dinner, we had cookie bar cake made by yours truly 🙂

Carolyn, I'm sorry I suck and never bake anything gluten free 🙁 Glad you enjoyed your plate anyhow.

And we resumed our photo session…

They even have a super awesome graffiti wall that we had fun in front of!

Me + Starbucks group

Oh no! Someone killed Carolyn! And apparently, rolled her over afterwards...

At least she looks happy about it.

Oh good! She came back to life! Hey Steve, I don't appreciate this whole from below angle that makes me look like I'm expecting. Let's work on that.

Okay, you picked me up, we're good again 😉

And then Nicole suggested we practice our jumping pictures….

Clearly, I don't need any practice.

We regularly pose for White Girls Can't Jump Weekly.

This was just one of those nights where everything is pretty much perfect. Perfect company, food and atmosphere. I was also super in love with our waitress who was hilarious and even tried a piece of the cookie bar cake! Ohhhh, and the band even sang me happy birthday! Pretty much, if you live in Phoenix and haven’t been to Barrio Cafe, that needs to change immediately. And if you’re ever visiting from out of town (like if your name is Mac and you will be here in a month), you cannot leave Phoenix without eating at the best Mexican restaurant I have ever been to.

Special thanks to Kara for organizing such an incredible night, and everyone who made the last couple of weeks super special for me 🙂

 

 

Barrio Cafe on Urbanspoon

10 Years Later

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10 years ago, I had my first surprise birthday party. Up until that year, I had always been very involved in planning my birthday and making it exactly the way I wanted. A month or two before I turned 17, my friends and family began asking what I wanted to do, and to every one of them, I replied “nothing”.

Sixteen was a very hard year. Maybe the hardest of my entire life. I haven’t really talked about it on here, but shortly after I turned 16, my best friend took her own life. It was not something my 16 year old self was at all prepared to deal with or knew how to handle. Less than a year later, and exactly one month before I turned 17, an other close friend took his life as well. The last thing I was in the mood to do was celebrate. I agreed to a small dinner with my family and my two closest friends (Bethany and Jason–the two that are still my best friends ten years later) at my favorite restaurant–Avanti.

That evening I arrived at dinner, and my jaw almost hit the floor. An entire long table in our own private area filled with friends and family. I had never let the control of my special day go long enough to let anyone surprise me (just pretend to be surprised by that, okay? 😉 ), but here when I least expected it and thought I didn’t want it, was everyone I loved in one place here to surprise me–and they did! I had absolutely no idea. I was overwhelmed. I realized in that moment, that even in sorrow and life’s most challenging times, there can be joy, and it is okay to let yourself feel happy, even when your current situation is, well, not.

I looked around the table and saw the effort that my dad had gone to make me feel happy again, and I looked at all of the support and people there who loved me. My friend Charity hadn’t been able to find a ride, so she called a cab to take her 20 miles to be there to celebrate my birthday. Where do friends like that even come from?!

When my dad started to ask about my birthday this year, I was honestly hesitant to go back to Avanti (where I have been every single birthday since then, with the exception of while I was at UI), because to be 100% honest, Italian food kind of stresses me out. Then he said “But it’s the 10 year anniversary of your special surprise party!” And I remembered that incredible night–I couldn’t resist.

This year, in the theme of keeping things small and being able to spend time with more individual, smaller groups, my Avanti dinner consisted of my dad, Hermano, Janie, my grandma, Steve and me. Steve, Hermano and I showed up to a table with balloons on top (including Tigger, and purple and green–my dad definitely remembers details of what people like). We sat down and ordered some drinks while waiting for my dad, grandma and Janie to arrive.

One of my favorite things about Avanti is that they always encourage Hermano to play their piano!

They have a professional that they hire to play on the weekends, but both him and the manager are always asking Hermano to play and making comments about his improvements! Sometimes, I can even be convinced to sing with him. Today, after the rest of the family arrived, we decided to do Coldplay’s Fix You together. By the time we got near the end, all of the memories of my birthday 10 years ago, as well as the friends I was missing flooded back and I started to feel a little emotional–not necessarily in a bad way, I was just caught a little off guard.

I will never forget what my friends and family did for me that year, but it doesn’t always feel quite so fresh, and it was a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am, and how much I have to be thankful for.

This year started out a little bit stressful, but it got better really quickly. Of course, Hermano making fun of our dad helped get me out of the cranky mood I started in.

If you don't know my dad, this will make absolutely no sense. Sorry. If you, do...it's funny, yes?

After hours and hours of waiting pretty soon, my dad, grandma and Janie arrived.

I had no idea what I wanted to order. I wanted pasta, but I figured I needed protein and blah blah blah. I don’t even remember the last time I ordered pasta at a restaurant, but I did. Avanti has the BEST gnocchi. Seriously, they melt in your mouth! I ended up ordering a half order of gnocchi in rosa sauce and a side of roasted veggies in spicy red sauce topped with gorgonzola cheese. Everything was amazing,

I have two plates. I like to have more than one of things 🙂

I couldn’t finish my pasta because I knew I had to save room for dessert!

For as long as I can remember, my dad has given me the same birthday cake. He asked me years ago what kind of cake I wanted and I replied “Marble cheesecake with an oreo crust.” I am a girl who knows what I like. It is out of this world and it’s been my annual cake ever since.

"I wish...."

You wanna know what’s in that delicious martini glass? White chocolate mint martini. Yes, it is as amazing as it sounds.

After we ate, I opened presents–can you believe I am still getting presents?!

Thanks dad!

YAY!! Compression socks! Thanks Janie!

After presents, we had some fun were completely ridiculous with the balloon clip. We’re really mature in my family.

Yup, that's what I get forever and ever. Excellent choice, self.

Balloon clips are dangerous. They should come with a warning.

Example 2.

My favorite.

It definitely would not have felt right this year without our annual dinner, and I am so grateful for the many opportunities I’ve had this year to spend time with people close to me. Thanks dad for always making me feel super special this time of year! I am a lucky girl!

 

 

 

Birthday Celebration Part 2

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Sunday morning, I had a very exciting date with my friend Christina for a special 90 minute spin class with Linda AKA the best spin teacher ever. I recently found out that the first Sunday of every month, Linda generally does a special 90 minute class and I was super excited! Poor Christina–it was her very first spin class! But she did so AWESOME! She was a champ and made it the entire 90 minutes, after several people had gotten up to leave–get it girl!! I ended up going 34.5 miles that class! I was soooo excited when I saw the screen pass the 30 mile point! Why oh why can’t every spin class be 90 miniutes??

After class I had a few minutes to squeeze in a cup of coffee with Christina (this girl and I have been friends since preschool!) before having to run home. Steve told me I needed to be ready to go by noon and class ended at 10:30. I like to cut things close 😉 At around noon, Hermano, Jason and Nacho arrived and I was told the plan was to ride our bikes to Dilly’s Deli. About 14 miles round trip. Well, okay then! I am not one to say no to outdoor exercise with people I like!

So we were off!

We arrived about 40 minutes later at Dilly’s for lunch. I was starving and couldn’t wait to get my hands on one of their yummy sandwiches!

And here, I am eating the sandwich. Cute, right?

After lunch, we rode home. Oh my gosh, by the end my butt was soooo sore! Sorry for the TMI, but those seats are rough! Steve and I had a little down time, so we went to Goodwill to get some props to improve our food photos, then went to Lululemon because I have gift cards and there is a skirt I’ve had my eye on! Unfortunately, they only had the skirt I wanted in one size and it was not the right one 🙁 We came home, made pb&j cookies, and then we were off to meet up with Jason, Nacho and Bethany for dinner!

Steve wouldn’t tell me where we were going to dinner. I had an idea that it would be somewhere from my list of restaurants I want to try, so I was excited when we pulled up to Gallo Blanco. Unfortunately, they decided to close for the day and not put it on their website or answering service. Jerk faces. We ended up heading to Delux Burger which has also been on my list.

I was very happy with the beer selection 🙂

In case you've never read the blog before, I like my beer dark and sweet! This was half hazlenut brown and half double chocolate stout. Like nutella. Yummmm.

I'm Ari, and this is my beer. We'll be here all night long.

 

Steve got some nasty frilly beer. Obviously, I am the man of this relationship.;)

The food was good, but not amazing. The fries were reallllllyyyy good. We shared a basket that came in a mini shopping cart and they were sweet potato fries with this super yummy mustard sauce. The burger however, was just good. Not bad, but if I were to go back, it’d probably be for just beer and french fries, which is super nutritious in case you didn’t know.

At the end, the waitress surprised by bringing out a sundae with a candle!

Nope, I'm not excited at all.

Luckily, everyone helped me out with this thing! I knew there was still cake at home (oy vey), and this thing was huge! Also, I almost never eat real ice cream. It’s one of those things I just can’t justify, but this was delicious and even with 5 of us, we couldn’t finish it, so I don’t feel so bad 🙂

Birthdays make me happy!

This guy also makes me happy.

Besties!

After dinner, we headed back to Jason’s house to break out the birthday cake! I had requested my dream cake months ago, and Steve remembered!! A fro yo cake from my very favorite fro yo spot Yogurtology!!! I requested their oatmeal cookie flavor with nutella–my favorite!!!

Amaaaaazzzzing!

This cake had a cookie crust, a layer of nutella on the bottom, and then the oatmeal cookie fro yo on top. It was even more delicious than I had imagined!! And you know what? It cost about $11. Friends, if you’re not going to make the cake yourself, get it from Yogurtology! I still have a couple pieces left, and I do not plan on sharing 😉

Thanks to Steve, Bethy, Jason and Nacho for an amazing friend-day!!! Love you guys!

Disneyland Road Trip Day 3

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Monday morning, in full vacation mode, I canceled my alarm as soon as it went off and thought “Well, 3 days off from working out can’t be the worst thing in the world”, and let me tell you, it was an awesome decision. Steve and I had a fabulous lazy morning. He wished me a happy birth-week first thing (I love him) and was being super nice. We finally peeled ourselves out of bed, got our things together and drove up to LA to see my awesome BFFFF Chase!

Chase was one of the first people I became close with when I transferred to UI. He came in my second semester and we just clicked right away, plus we had the awful theatre tech class together so we latched onto each other in hopes of getting through it together. He moved down to LA almost a year ago, but I haven’t seen him nearly as much as I would like considering we’re just a 6 hour drive apart.

We went to see his home which is in a super cute area in West Hollywood–I think? We started with breakfast at Joey’s Cafe. The menu was filled with lots of delicious looking items and lots of healthy choices, so I was super excited! Of course, after I saw something with goat cheese, the other items didn’t stand a chance 😉

Egg white omelet with spinach, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese. It was delicious.

Steve got a breakfast burrito.

I tested it of course to make sure it was okay for him. It was delicious, but the guacamole tasted like it must have been poisoned so I tried to convince him to give it all to me in an attempt to save his life.

Chase’s was almost as good as mine. If it had goat cheese, it would have totally blown my omelet out of the water!

Honestly, is anything more delicious than quiche? I could just eat the crust and be perfectly content.

After breakfast, Chase took us on a tour to explore the neighborhood.

I love this one! This whole post reminds me of the days when we would sit on Chase's balcony couch and take pictures of ourselves for hours on end. One time we even took a picture to compare whose calves were the most buff. Chase won, I came in second and poor Kyle lost, but watch out Chase--with all my running, my man calves have grown to epic proportions!

Chase makes the best picture faces.

I just do jazz hands.

It seemed like we had just gotten there when it came time to take Chase back home and start our way back to Phoenix. I was sad to have to say goodbye so quickly, but I’m just glad I got to see him for a little while! It’s been way too long.

The drive back was lots of me singing at the top of my lungs, and lots of me sleeping while Steve drove. Oh yeah, and many more “Are we there yet?!?!?!!”s. Finally, we were back home and I was thrilled to be reunited with some familiar faces!

Yawning or sneezing, or maybe just playing the camera game...

"Dad! Don't forget to take my picture for the blog! I can be cute too!"

Clementine, please try to look more cute next time.

 

Disneyland Road Trip Day 2, Part 2

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After a full morning and afternoon at Disney, we were happy to get a little time to refresh and get some non touristy food before heading back for the evening. I had read a few of Monica’s suggestions of good local places to eat in the Anaheim area, and after she posted about eating at Slater’s 50/50, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Once Steve looked at the menu, it was clear that it absolutely needed to happen.

They are most famous for their 50/50 burger which is half ground beef, half ground bacon. That sounds intense. What I loved most was how open the menu was. There were tons of options that included some healthier options like chicken and wheat buns. I am the pickiest person on Earth, so obviously I went with the create your own option.

Grilled chicken, goat cheese, cranberry sauce, greens, tomato and cucumber on rye bread. Basically if goat cheese is ever an option, it ends up on my plate.

Steve created his own too.

Fire beef with every spicy option the menu had pretty much. His spice tolerance is insane!

I started off with more beer, because obviously I didn’t get enough the night before.

I promise, I do not have an alcohol problem.

Before we knew it, our food was delivered.

My sandwich

Steve's burger

And we couldn’t not get the sweet potato fries with pumpkin dipping sauce–oh my gosh, must recreate!

Maybe this could be my last meal?

The food was amazing. I got sad when I was full because it all tasted so good! Maybe I should be embarrassed by that? If you tasted it, you’d understand! Definitely the best meal of the trip.

With full bellies, we headed back to the park, anxious to get there for the fireworks!

Then we got the super sad news–the fireworks had been canceled! 🙁 Major bummer. We ended up going into the Disney museum which I had never been in either. It just never interested me as a kid, but I really enjoyed looking at everything this time.

Then we rode Thunder Mountain again, and got to see the castle at night which was beautiful.

After a while, we felt like we’d done everything we really wanted to, so we decided to meet up with Nicole, Lance and Chelle in downtown Disney for some drinks to celebrate Nicole and Chelle’s successful half marathon! Nicole shaved 15 minutes off her previous time and Chelle completed her first half! We spent the remainder of the evening drinking and chatting about everything. Well Nicole and I talked a lot. The rest of the group had a hard time getting a word in edge wise with both of us around. Sorry guys.

It got late before we knew it and we parted ways and headed back to our respective hotels. It was definitely the perfect way to spend a day at Disneyland!

 

 

Disneyland Road Trip Day 2, Part 1

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Steve and I woke up bright and early Sunday morning and the first thought that crossed my mind was “Nicole’s running right now!!!” I hadn’t realized when we made our plans that it was the same weekend as the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon, but the stars aligned and I ended up being in the same place as Nicole on her race day! I grabbed my phone to see where she was from her twitter feed, and then Steve and I went to where the race was going by our hotel, but unfortunately we had already missed her. We got dressed, grabbed coffee (obviously) and walked over to the park.

Disneyland is so incredibly nostalgic for me. My dad used to take me every year for my birthday. In fact, one of my 2 very favorite birthdays in my soon to be 27 years of living was when I was in elementary school and I woke up on my birthday (I think I was turning somewhere between 7-9–dad??), and started getting ready for school, but my dad stopped me and told me I wasn’t going to school, then surprised me and took me to Disneyland for the day! I will never forget it. As soon as we got to the gates my heart felt ready to burst! Maybe I’m nostalgic or maybe I it’s that I have the mentality of a 6 year old, but this place just brings me so much joy–it really is magical!!

We got there right as the park opened, so we had no trouble getting on the first few rides. We headed straight to Indiana Jones, then Space Mountain, then stopped in a few shops to get in full Disney spirit.

I'm a princess

Steve is not.

"I have to wear the birthday hat because it's almost my birth week!!!!"

Then I saw Woody!!!

Woody and I get along because we both have wiener dogs.

And Steve took more pictures

Is it just me, or is Disneyland super nice looking compared to other theme parks? It makes Knottsberry farm look like the state fair!

Water is pretty. We don't have any in the entire state of Arizona, so for us it's like getting a picture of a lunar eclipse.

Then, we went on the Mark Twain boat ride. I don’t think I’d actually ever been on this thing. It definitely wasn’t a thrilling ride or anything, but it was nice to see the sights.

We walked around a lot, explored the different areas and went into lots of the Main St. shops.

Steve told me to look classy. I think he forgot who he was with....

LOOK!!! It's the castle! It's magical 🙂

I want my house to have a moat. Hey Steve, can we please make that happen? I don't think the HOA will mind...

It's like this shirt was made with Steve in mind. I always tease him about being grumpy because we have such opposite personalities. Really, he's just reserved, but I kind of have the personality of a toddler with a caffiene problem.

And now for my favorite picture!

Thank you Disneyland for knowing everything I've ever needed in life.

Next up, it was time to hit up Thunder Mountain Railroad! Do you remember being a kid and thinking this ride was so awesome and scary because it went sideways?! That’s big thrills for D-land. And of course Steve assumed the purpose of rides were to give him photo opportunities. I was actually pretty impressed with the photos he got mid bumpy ride!

After the ride we walked around a little more

Steve loves stars and I still have the delusion that "I'm the greatest star" so this picture made total sense. I hope you just heard Barbara singing in your head too. Heather?

At this point the park was starting to get crowded, so we decided to hang out around downtown Disney for a bit before getting out of the area for dinner. Stay tuned for part 2…

Disneyland Road Trip Day 1

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I remember going through all of our wedding gifts the day after the ceremony (the only thing that could ease my sadness about my house suddenly being so empty!) and seeing a stuffed Minnie and Mickey bride and groom. I turned to Steve and I was like “What kind of present is this?!” like a spoiled brat, then we looked into the box and realized that several of my CGST friends had all chipped in and gotten us DISNEY PASSES!!!! I felt like a big jerk for about 3 seconds, then forgot because I was so excited! Well, almost a year later they were getting ready to expire because I am the world’s worst person at scheduling vacations and taking time off work, so Steve and I quickly found a weekend where we could squeeze in a trip before my Spring schedule got into full force.

Saturday afternoon Steve picked me up from rehearsal so that we could immediately be on our way to California. It’s about a 6-7 hour drive from here depending on traffic (which is always bad once you get anywhere near LA), and we I have no patience so we wanted to get there as quickly as possible. Most of you have never been on a road trip with me. You are the lucky ones. As we all know, I have the maturity and attention span of a 1st grader with ADHD, so the entire 6 hours consisted of me singing along to almost every song and asking if we were there yet about 100 times. I’m not really sure why Steve married me.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel and we were both super hungry. I asked the front desk lady where she would recommend for a good local restaurant. She gave me a Disney tourist brochure with everything at downtown Disney. I was like “Oh no, we have a car so we can drive somewhere. Where can we get some local food.” She flipped over the brochure and said “Oh there’s better places on this side” to which I responded “Del Taco?” Seriously. That was the first restaurant I saw on this “better side”. Her best suggestion was Red Robin, so we got on yelp instead and ended up at a German restaurant called The Jagerhouse. We’d never really eaten German food and I liked it because their photo on yelp was a picture of beer.

I started to order a glass of their dark draft, but when Steve said he was going to get one too, I suggested a pitcher. I thought it would be equivalent to about 3 glasses. I was pretty surprised to see our waiter turn the corner carrying this

Apprently, a pitcher is a crap ton of beer for two people. Who knew, huh?

Look at that, we each have a glass and there is still so much left! It's like it's refilling itself--how awesome would that be!

"There is a problem, I have too much beer."

"I know! I will drink some!" For this photo, Steve insisted that we did all sorts of embarrassing manuvering and posing in the middle of the restaurant while everyone stared and thought we were nuts. I guess that's what it means to be a food blogger.

And then, all of the sudden, this happened

"How on Earth did that happen? Good news! Crisis averted--I no longer have too much beer." Okay, don't judge. We shared, and it was vacation! 😉

Obviously I hated the beer. The food unfortunately wasn’t as awesome in my opinion. Not bad, just okay–nothing I would go back for, but maybe that’s because I ordered a boring old salad.

This is my salad that I could have made at home and probably better. I was really excited that it came with garlic bread, but the garlic bread did not end up being super exciting.

Steve’s food is much more interesting, but actually I feel like it looks pretty gross…

I feel like it's possible that German food may just not be my thing.

To be honest, by the time the food came, I didn’t really care much anyway. I was just enjoying being away with my favorite person 🙂 I really enjoyed myself, then enjoyed myself more by more belting at the top of my lungs all the way back to the hotel, and continued to enjoy my evening all the way up the stairs to our room. Clearly.

"Stairs are fun! I like vacation!"

Honestly, I just don't know why I decided that should happen. Stretching obnoxiously in the stairway is actually really cool. Anyone whose anyone stretches on the hotel stairs.

Stay tuned for day 2…! And no, I did not wake up with a hangover 🙂

 

Self Hosted!

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Hello, friends! I am so super excited right now, because I have officially made the switch over to being self hosted and although I feel like there is so much I need to learn, I am already loving it. You may have noticed a couple little updates and changes to the page, or it may still look exactly the same as far as you’re concerned, but I am trying to learn how personalized I can make things on my own before I shell out some money to get some design work done.

In other exciting news, you may have noticed the Around the Plate Recipe Guru badge that has been on my side bar for the last month or so. Around the Plate is a healthy living website with a huge community filled with “Healthy Living Champions”, “Recipe Gurus”, and “Nutrition Experts”. I was thrilled when they asked me to join and be a part of the community! If you would like to join, visit their community member’s page. As a part of my membership, I have also been able to become involved with their writers club. I recently wrote an article about Paula Deen’s diabetes announcement that is being featured on their home page, if you’d like to check it out!

Most of the past few days have been spent working and getting this transition up and running, but there has also been a lot of super cute puppy action happening lately. I mean, there always is, but these two have been sooooo sweet lately. LOOK AT!

Umm, sorry about my nasty battle wound that made it into the picture. Look at the cute puppies instead. I seriously promised everyone I knew that I would not post gross foot blister pictures on the blog and I really meant to not!

Yes, that is a tie dye snuggie. Thanks for asking. Possibly the best purchase I've ever made. Mac, I hope you're wearing yours over there in the Big Apple!

My favorite.

I also have the best husband ever who made me a seriously delicious dinner of split pea soup after I got stuck in a much longer afternoon than I had bargained for. Check out his cooking skillllzzz!

Okay, so split pea soup is not pretty, but you better believe it was delicious! I might have to start him his own recipe page 😉

To celebrate being self hosted, I have a new recipe coming your way tomorrow!

 

Perfect Sunday

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What a perfect Sunday. I don’t remember the last time Steve and I both had the day off with no pressing plans. It was amazing. After I got back from spin, we hung out for a little bit before heading out to the dog park. It’s funny, Winston and Clementine always get so excited to go to the park, but then we get there and Clementine is terrified and Winston doesn’t leave our side. Actually, sometimes if dogs get too close and Winston feels threatened, he started to get a little aggressive and it really worries us 🙁 Does anyone have any good advice for a dog that doesn’t always do well with other dogs? We really want him to be social! He did play a little bit though today.

Winston really just loves to run. If you run, he will chase you. He takes after his mama 😉

The two of us ran around the park a little bit together.

Check that out! Steve actually caught my feet mid air!

Clementine on the other hand is so boring at the dog park. She just hides. There were some dogs on the other side of the fence that seemed a little safer 🙂

After the dog park, we decided to invite my mom, Hank and Charlie over for dinner to thank them for watching Clemmie while we were on vacation. I had tons of fun cooking.

Thanks for the awesome gift, mom! I will wear these babies any chance I get!

I had the “I played with my food and now my hands are a hot mess” thing going on which, apprently, was horrifying.

Meatloaves. Yes, plural. They were delicious. Recipes coming soon!

Happy Sunday, friends 😀

New York City

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I wanna be a part of it–New York, New York!

Me: How long until that gets old?

Jason: 5 minutes ago.

I ♥ NY, it’s true. I don’t go to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. My time usually consists of great friends, shows, Steps and BDC. I didn’t take a single dance class the entire visit. Sniffff. I did get to experience the city with Steve for the first time, see some of my favorite people in the world including Mac, Sylvi, Jen, my uncle Mark, Sara, and Michael. I never did make it for a run in Central Park like I wanted–it was sooooo cold. At one point it was 9 degrees plus wind chill. Brrrrrr. But I had an amazing time and ate so much great food. Here’s a look through pictures 😉

Steve got some artsy city shots

"That's pretty badass" That's what I say, right babe? Not ooohhh or ahhh?

Sylvi and I had a deep conversation about what this graffitti meant. I deciphered it to say "not mutant" rather than "nut mutant" and I thought that perhaps it was referring the immigration and being referred to as an "alien". Thoughts?

We really liked the zip tie art. But seriously, we did.

Check out the view from my uncle's office!

I saw lots of people I love that I don’t get to see to often. And I get to see Mac again in 2 months!!! EEEE!!!!!!

Sylvi, Mac and Me

"What face should we do?" "Disgusted!"

"Okay, do sexy" "I don't do sexy" "Then do silly sexy" "Okay...."

And because we're attention whore theatre kids, we took full advantage of our free photo sesh and also did Brady Bunch! Mac and Sylvi, what am I going to do this summer without you?!?! Seriously.

Michael, Jen, Me, Mac. Awesome friends courtesy of theatre camp.

This is my awesome pretty dancer friend named Sara. We went to college together and took lots of crazy dance classes together last time I was in the city.

That's my uncle. He has a fancy job and a fancy office that made me feel like I should have gone shopping for a special outfit just to drop by his office.

Yes, you're right! That IS my bff Melanie Amaro. Okay, so I just met her that day because she happened to be dropping by my uncle's office, but if she had a chance to get to know me, we would totally be bffs. In case you didn't know, she just won The X Factor, which is not like American Idol because talent is actually required.

I love this guy. He's pretty annoying, but I would never want him to spend his days annoying anyone, but me 😉

Oh yeah, and the food!

La Bota--Spanish food--holy yum. It's in Greenwhich Village and you should eat there.

Reason 1 you should eat at La Bota

Reason 2 you should eat at La Bota. In case you couldn't tell, this was my favorite meal of the entire trip.

Not only was the food delicious, but that was like a 3 hour dinner and we ordered tons of different things and all shared and spent lots of time hanging out and talking. Perfect atmosphere + delicious food + not emptying my bank account after paying the bill = YAY!

And then there was this…

Oh Crumbs, you are oh so tempting.

Steve and I shared the Elvis cupcake. The frosting was a little too sweet for me, but the actual cake part was sooooo delicious.

We also shared the most delicious black and white cookie from Junior’s that somehow disappeared before anyone thought about a camera. “Look to the cookie, George!” Name the TV show that quote is from—Ready…GO!

It was a great trip. I’m definitely happy to be home, but I am so glad I got the chance to get out of Phoenix and spend time with people I love for a whole week!

 

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