Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Holiday Spirit!

I am very excited to have Thursday and Friday off, and even though this is my favorite time of the year, it is not the least busy.

Duties
I am responsible for a dessert and appitizer/side dish for Thanksgiving Dinner

I also have to make something to bring to Mr. A's house if/when I visit to be polite (dumb politics) Mr. A's mom likes me, but says that he would never be able to support my lavish lifestyle (AKA shoes... clothes... eating out because I cannot cook...) I like to rpove to her during the holiday times that I am capable of "slumming it" in the kitchen; I just CHOSE not. and FOR THE RECORD I am not concerned about any man supporting me 21st centery mamn! AND designer brands and high quality goods do not count money-wise when they are bought at outlets and at TJ MAXX they only count style-wise :-)

I MUST shop all day on Black Friday. (Because as metioned above I like a good deal)
12:00 AM- Outlets open
4:00 AM- Mall opens
6:00 AM- Non-Mall stores open
Shop all day and then Thanksgiving Dinner Part II at the Ecstacy Household because we go to friend's homes on Thursday and we must cook our own meal Friday for all the yummy leftovers!

The "break" continues as I get more deals on Sat (some places extend/postpone to avoid mayhem) and I bake on Sun/Mon because as mentioned in a previous post I accidentally voluteered to donate homebaked goods to a bake sale at work... Silly me.

My thoughts on food this week:
ENJOY IT! I see all these ways of how to diet on Thanksgiving... It's one day! (or in my case two) I am going to fully enjoy every bite! I will try to get a workout in on Thursday though... just read the average American gains 8 pounds during the holiday season... so let's update that enjoy eating to enjoy eating but get your food loving a$$ on the elliptical!

Monday, November 23, 2009

My love affair- with food

I hope everyone had a great weekend (I know I did!)

Friday at 12:03 AM my roommates and I went and saw Twilight! I am on Team Edward in the books, but that Jacob in the movie is hard to pass up ;-)

After getting home at 3AM I had to wake up at 7AM and start my day! By the time I got home from work and ate dinner I was sleepy, so I met up with my friends at the hockey game and went back to my apartment after.. Lame sorry

Fully rested, I spent Sat. shopping all day with my Mom who came into the city to visit her favorite daughter :-) We ate "Linner" (Lunch/Dinner) at Bouchee on Newbury Street. The outside patio had heated lamps and it was pretty nice out anyway, so we enjoyed a long delicious french meal with many many amazzing courses including Chicken Hushwee and Crêpes Mascarpone. The Chicken Hushwee was the most moist and flavorful meat ever served on a bed of rice pilaf with pinenuts and almonds and a side of yogurt... confused? The yogurt thing threw me off too until I tasted it and realized it was greek yogurt and came in such a small dish because you dip the chicken in it and then dip the chicken/yogurt into the rice so it all sticks together and equals this crazy mix of YUM! The place was so authentic that the coke came in mini glass coke bottles, the whip creme on the crepes was real creme actually whipped, and with our dessert we were brought rich dark coffee straight from France... the waitress even had a thick accent!

Later Sat night I forgot all my European class from "Linner" and devoured an entire container of Ben & Jerrys Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream and ate the crust of Mr. A's pizza... O well :-) was also delicious!

For Sunday Brunch, Mr. A and I went to Thornton's where I got eggs Florentine with the most amazing pesto Parmesan sauce on a warm buttery English muffin with the yummiest hash browns on the side (according to Mr. A they had paprika which gave it the extra yummy kick). Brunch was so good that Mr. A told me today he is still in the best mood from yesterday :-)

All the great food and company this weekend has put me in the best mood to float through this short week! I highly recommend checking out both restaurants if you are ever in the area. Hopefully all the yumminess was just a warm up for good old Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Recipes and Rings


Because I accidentally volunteered to bake for the work bake sale (and yes it HAS to be home made not even from a box and heated or anything!) I have decided to share with all my fellow non-bakers some easy recipes I found, just in case you accidentally offered to bring something to Thanksgiving :-)

Fudge Pie is crust-less so all you have to do is mix a couple ingredients, pour into a pan, and let the oven do the rest!

Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies mix my 2 favorite things: coffee and chocolate... PLUS the recipe is from CookingLight.com so feel free to indulge!

Chocolate-Peanut Bars have a quick shopping list!

(sorry these are all chocolate, but anything fruity requires meringue or a crust of some sort and as I have mentioned before... I am not very talented in the kitchen)

And because once we all gain 3-6 pounds on Thanksgiving, Christmas is just around the corner so Christmas shopping gets to double as our cardio workout (unless we do it online... on the couch... while eating) :-)

My roommate sent me the link to James Avery and I have been on the site all afternoon:
For Mom
For a sister - also comes in a ring I love
For a best friend
For ME :-)

I guess all I want right now is chocolate and jewlery...

Monday, November 16, 2009

Excuse me!


I need to know how people politely get away from a conversation to use the bathroom. This may be TMI, but at work I have these hour long meeting and I drink water and coffee all day. I make sure to pee before the meeting, but by the end its time to go again! And then someone decides to strike up a conversation with you while you exit the meeting. This should be excellent; I am always down to talk about life and waste time at work, except when I am literally DANCING in the hall because I have to pee SO BAD! How do you not catch on? I am swinging side to side... swinging my legs around... slowly backing away... TAKE A HINT!

I need suggestions or else pretty soon I am going to yell: EXCUSE ME I AM ABOUT TO PEE MY PANTS! (or dress or skirt or w/e)

Friday, November 13, 2009

Exercising... my credit card

Last night, I innocently went online to check my e-mail. My BFF Victorias Secret had sent me a message... You know just catching up. Things like: my beautiful soft sweaters now come with a free lip gloss kit, that leather jacket you have been wanting is valid for the 20% off any clothing item discount, and my favorite: the more you spend the more you save! $15 off $100, $30 off $150, $75 off $250!

So, for old times sake... I bought a light pink sweater on sale for $59 and my leather jacket discounted at $110.

(In infomercial man voice) BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
I saved $30, which ended up counting as free shipping and an additional $10 off my jacket! AND they threw in my free lip gloss kit (valued at $21)-SWEET (not like I don't already own every lip gloss on the planet, including 2 of every VS color)

The best part? My sweater was backordered :-)
This sounds like a bummer right? But NO! Now I get to watch my bank account drop for the jacket now and the sweater later! One big purchase will be masked by 2 smaller ones.

Now all I have to do is spend $75+ at Express and get my $30 off! So exciting! It's like my own mini Christmas pre-Thanksgiving... and that I pay for it myself :-/

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Doctor's Update

So many things happened at the doctors!

1) I convinced her to give me anti-anxiety pills for when I fly! Normally I shake the whole flight... I even am sore the next day as if I had been working out. PATHETIC! Now I get to pop a lil pill which will bring instant ZEN to my body for 4-6 hours :-) I also was advised to take one on a day I have literally nothing to do so I can see how my body reacts. How fun! A day of zen for no reason whatsoever!

2) The following conversation:
DOC: Are you still with the same guy?
ME: Yes
DOC: Do you wear a seatbelt?
ME: Not always... (Wondering why the doctor is speaking in child code)
DOC: **Shakes head**
ME: Well see it has really only been the one guy for six whole years so...
DOC: **Smiles/Laughs** OH! haha Sorry! I changed subjects and I didn't tell you.
ME: O! Real seatbelts? Yes. It is the first thing I put on when I get in a car! **Face SO red**
(Now really? What did you think she meant?)

3) They took my blood. Apparently, they are not convinced I am getting enough nutrients. Seems like I am either eating pure CRAP all day, or there's something wrong with me and my body isn't absorbing anything. This is not the best news... BUT they took my blood :-) So with every problem, comes a solution! I will find out next week the latest what my lazy body has done to itself AND I have officially been prescribed 1-2 TUMS a day as a calcium supplement. Strong bones.. here I come!

4) The nurse who took my blood decided to go on a fishing expedition after already sticking me with the needle! Not the funest experience. It took her literally 3 minutes (I timed her) to decide which vein to poke... after all that debating she picked one that was too skinny so she had to have the needle JUST RIGHT (Goldylocks style) to get it to work. This apparently requires her to spin the needle around my arm hoping to run into a blood supply. Thanks nurse. When she finished she says, "Wow I really made my paycheck on that one!" Hmm... Exactly what are you egtting paid? Because if that was quality why do I have a bruise the size of my fingernail where you inserted a teeeny tiny needle?

5) To end on a good note... I have 20/20 vision :-) All these years of staring at a computer screen hasn't gotten to me yet! Woohoo! (Except ever since Halloween I have been secretly wishing I needed glasses, but I guess that will come with time anyway).

Good things that have happened today:

1) I have discovered a new guilty pleasure... Fur vests (Check out Express! So soft! I would get it in brown.
2) I got a free T-shirt at work! Free T-shirts stop me from buying real workout clothes... so I may look homeless at the gym, but I will look fab. everywhere else I go!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Factual Information

I have done this once before, and I will probably do it again. I am stringing together my miscellaneous thoughts in fact form.

Fact: A 45 year old man in the cubicle next to me has been playing with his ring tones for the past 25 minutes. If he makes it to a half hour, I will pour my coffee on his keyboard.

Fact: My two best friends and best roommates ever are leaving me. Come January, one will be living in New York City working for AOL, and one will be in New Jersey working for Johnson & Johnson. I know these are GREAT opportunities for them, but I am going to miss them like CRAZY. Upside? I will visit them and have excellent NYC stories :-)

Fact: I saw a pair of black sequined booties on victoriassecret.com for something like $180. I know it is crazy to pay that for a crazy pair of shoes I shouldn't even like, but I think I am in love. Classic case of falling for that which you can't have.
Do you have any guilty pleasure fad that you can't bring yourself to purchase?

Fact: As of Sunday, Mr. A and I have been dating for 6 years!
Fact: This scares the crap out of me.
Fact: I had the best anniversery ever and have not stopped smiling since :-)
Fact: I feel like some lovey dovey idiot for admitting that.
Funny how I describe myself as someone who hates commitment...

Fact: I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I need to make a list of everythign I want to discuss. Sound like OCD? It's really just that I get to the doctors and all my aches and pains and concerns I have had leading up to the visit, magically disappear. I need my list to remind me or else that part when they ask how you have been? I say great! and they ask if I have any complaints/problems/concerns... I say None :-)

I hope everyone has a great day off tomorrow!!! (If you do in fact get tomorrow off) Wish me luck at the doc! Hopefully all is well... I will provide more insight to my appointment after the fact, but for now let's just all keep our fingers crossed.

Friday, November 6, 2009

This is how long it took me to recover from last weekend...

I have been delaying this post because I have pictures to go with it, BUT once I get into next week I will feel weird writing about this week so I will just update the post with pics when I get a chance!

Night #1
Last Friday I was an artsy nerd, and it was great! I put paint on my face, hair, and shirt. Then I had my suspenders with shorts, high socks, and red heels. The best part was my glasses :-) I know I will regreat saying this one day, but I really wish I needed glasses.
If you want to think about chaos, picture this night. My friends and I were all dressed up in our costumes and it started to rain, so we didn't want to walk over to the party and ruin our awesome getups. Bummed that we were staying in a group of us started taking shots, which led to more shots, and more. I then discovered that my chaser was actually a MIXED DRINK. Fabulous. So by the time the rain stopped, I was feeling pretty good and we walked over to a party. O! But I forgot to mention my friend has vistors: 2 guy friends and 1 girl were up from home. So at the party, the girl visting LEAVES with a RANDOM guy in a city she DOES NOT KNOW! Best part? Her phone DIES! So we all wake up the next morning and pull a Hangover moment... Where's Lisa? She doesn't know our numbers... FAIL. Somehow afternoon rolls around, and she shows up in our apartment lobby! She had to wake up, realize she was in some guy's bed (covered in blue paint from his costume), wake him up, get him to DRIVE her back INTO BOSTON. Yup. He lived outside the city. Talk about terrible safety skills.

Night#2
On Sat. I was preggers Giselle and Mr. A was up so he was Tom Brady. I quite enjoyed being fake pregnant because a fake baby bump is very convient for the following things:
-Cup holder
-Crowd clearer
-Getting horror looks when you take a sip out of your drink
-Making your hips look smaller
-Letting you get beer bloated and not caring!
I would highly recommed stuffing a stuffed animal under a stretchy tight black dress and wearing some great heels next time you are out. Great fun.

I thought I would get some extra sleep because of daylight savings, but NOPE! The fire alarm goes off in our apartment at 5 AM (I got in bed at 4/4:30ish). Mr. A is not use to my fire alarm and though it was the TV... so as I was bundling up and putting on shoes he was turning on and off the TV and getting very annoyed... until I explained we had to evacuate the building. Once we were all outside, the fire department and police came... 40 min later they decide it will take a long time to clean up, so we are escorted to the lobby of another building... everyone passes out on chairs, benches, the floor. Around 7:30 we are finally let back into the building... so much for getting an extra hour of sleep!

This weekend is my roommates birthday! Hopefully it is lots of fun, and slightly less crazy!