lunchtime

Should I Throw the Kitchen Sink In, Too?

/ foodsweatandbeers / 11 Comments

Hey there, ladies and gents!

This time tomorrow, I’ll probably be enjoying a beer before my flight to the Healthy Living Summit at the beautiful sufficient Raleigh-Durham airport.  I’m hoping to eat something small before I get to the airport, mostly to save room for a small Wawa hoagie when Krissie from PhillyNerdGirl picks me up (you know…. if we have time.)  I did, however, manage to get through most of my crazy to-do list from yesterday (and there’s still time to weigh in on my dress selection!!)

It won’t be nearly the caliber of my lunch today, though.

Everything but the kitchen sink!

This wanna-be wrap-turned-taco really was just my way to use up all the random foods that I had in the fridge.  Last tortilla in the bag, last two slices of buffalo chicken, some spinach artichoke hummus, last pieces of muenster, last bits of tomato and bell pepper, a giant handful of spinach? Sounds like lunch to me.  I contemplated tossing in my sink, but decided I already have plenty of iron in my diet.

Also on the menu: a few carrots wrapped in that last slice of muenster (random but tasty), a bite (or five) of my Chocolate Crack: S’mores Style, leftover steamed asian veggies from lunch two or three days ago, really, I’m just trying to clear house.

My bag(s) are almost entirely packed!

Victoria's Secret bags = gift bags, free with purchase. Voila.

I’ve grabbed a few magazines for the plane ride, and I’m now adding last touches to my luggage.

  • Jewelry
  • Snacks
  • A flask? Is that classless?  God, I never remember, I just know that it’s a snake-print flask from Pier 1, and I never get to use it. Maybe, like Will Smith with cigars, I’ll just bring an empty flask and try to become known as that “bad girl” at the HLS cocktail party. OR I could bring it to the NEXT LEVEL and bring it to the breakfast.  Not really. But it would be funny. (Or tacky. or both.)
  • Business cards (WHAT?! Yeah, I’m a pro like that.)

I’ll shoot you straight, I had no idea what to wear during the sessions on Saturday, so I think I tried on every possible combination of what’s in my bag.  And I still don’t know. But I’m sure the beau appreciated my fashion show.

Too much going on today, I can hardly think straight!

I’m off to rush back to work so that I can leave a little earlier and pack up the rest of my life.

What are you up to today?  Starting your weekend a little early?

If you’re in the RDU area, meet me at Rockfish in Durham for a drink from 6-7 OR at Busy Bee Cafe in Raleigh from 7:30-??

PS I almost just walked out the door still wearing my apron.  Nice.  Talk about frazzled, right?

Smooth move.

 

What My Pandora Stations Say About Me!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 4 Comments

Hey there, all, and Happy No Pants Wednesday!! Hope you’re celebrating in style.

I'm sort of cheating with a dress and leggings. So sue me.

Today’s lunch was…. identical to yesterday’s.

Surprise, Surprise

I’ll be frank: repetitive lunches are sometimes necessary when you’re trying to clear out a fridge full of produce and eggs. I wanna leave the beau with the bare minimum for his weekend of manliness (you know…. beer, meat, and cheese.)  All his favorites.

Last night, on #fitblog, the questions were all about music. The music you work out to, the music you’re embarrassed about, and all that jazz.  And it got me thinking about my (many) Pandora stations that I’ve made over the years.  For a little glimpse into my inner workings, I present:

What (Most of) My Pandora Stations Say About Me!

  1. Britney Spears Station

    Rah Rah, ooh lala !

    Deep down inside, I’ll ALWAYS love whatever the Pop Princess du Jour is.  It was all the finest ladies in the past: the Spice Girls, Britney, Xtina, Beyonce, Cher (never), Mandy, and (most recently) the Mother Monster herself.  Something about powerful rockstar ladies always gets me hype.

  2. Wicked (original Broadway cast)

    Belting out the National Anthem with the besty

    When I was younger, I’d sing at any chance I had.  Choir, showers, volleyball tournaments.  Once, I sang the National Anthem at the Baltimore Convention Center. It was the most exhiliarating experience I had in my days of yore. To this day, I still sing, though I tend to keep it in the shower. But this station is full of Disney songs, Wicked songs, other Broadway musical songs.  I’ll catch myself listening in the grocery store and accidentally bursting into song.  Or, you know, not so accidentally. Everyone deserves a little show now and then.

  3. Today’s Hip Hop and Rap

    I'm a little bit gangster, myself.

    I’ll admit, I was the proud owner of my share of Eminem CDs. And sometimes I garble together words really fast to pretend like I rap. But truly, this station is SUCH a great one to power through strength training, or a particularly tough elliptical run. It’s like Dr. Dre is right there with me, pushing me further and faster.  That’d just be…. the coolest.

  4. Party in the USA

    Back it Up!

    I’ll admit, nothing makes me wanna dance more than my pop music.  And, for any of you that are going to the Healthy Living Summit this weekend, if you’re lucky, I’ll break out some sweet dance moves.  And by “sweet dance moves”, I mostly mean “watch out for the flailing giantess…. she’s trying to Dougie.”

    You’ve been warned.

  5. Sigur Ros

    Good night, Jojo

    Looking for sleepytime music? Look no further. Sigur Ros is my relaxation station. Explosions in the Sky, instrumental jams, words that I don’t understand.  I use it to relax, and once in college, I ended up falling asleep my teacher’s office waiting for her.  Thanks a lot, Sigur.

  6. I Told You So – Keith Urban

    The Dirty South

    When you date a boy who attends college in Mississippi, and you drive there several times…. You either learn to love country music, or you stop listening to the radio on the 12 hour drive down.

    Just call me a country girl.

What are your favorite Pandora stations?

What do they say about you?

Can I See Some ID, Ma’am?

/ foodsweatandbeers / 17 Comments

Hey there y’all, and happy Hump Day!

Hope you’re enjoying this lovely Wednesday. The weather in Durham is a cool, breezy 90 degrees (note the sarcasm) and I’ve been spending it in an almost Arctic office.  We call it the frozen tundra.  After yesterday’s in-office lunch ordeal, I decided it’d be wise to come back home and eat on my little perch.

I'm basically the cleanest lady around.

I have been taking to typing and eating and chopping up here, this little counter might be my favorite aspect of my tiny little apartment. It’s bar height, and it’s perfect for a giant like myself.  Lunch was FANTASTIC, just what I was craving:

Piping hot!

On the menu:

  • Steamed veggies (the same as I had with last night’s tasty fish! Total mood booster)
  • Coke Zero
  • Sandwich Thin featuring:
  • Turkey
  • Provolone cheese
  • tomato
  • spinach
  • one fried egg!

Perfect and delish.  I also nibbled on a few chips from Trader Joes while cooking and watching Pretty Little Liars (my Wednesday lunch show of choice!)

Now let’s get onto the good stuff.

Last time I was home, I rifled around in my old bedroom, as I always do when I return home.  And I found some REAL gems…. That’s right, various IDs since like… 7th grade.  Now, I present to you:

The Evolution of Jordan

Braces and some sweet single strand bangs

This shot’s from 7th grade, and I’m pretty sure the fiercest of the bunch.  Clearly, I was Sm-eyes-ing. And presenting quality posture.  Did everyone at your school do those single-strand bangs that we all were into, pulled tight to your head?

Yeah, no, me either, this was def a fluke.

Grade: 10 Shirt: Volcom Attitude: Pure Jordan

Up next, we have a snapshot from 10th grade (we’ll call 8th and 9th my “black” period during which I refused to take photos…. or I couldn’t find those ones.)  I think this was when I started standing up straighter, and truly coming into myself.  I was on the varsity basketball and volleyball teams, playing lotsa sports, and finally feeling like I had a place in the world/school. I also shopped almost exclusively at PacSun and owned more tshirts with little characters or logos on the front than I own VS underwear now (hint… well over 30… and 40).  It was a pretty good time.

This might be my favorite ID outfit of all time. Also, sorry for the crumbs in front of the ID.... maybe those TJ chips I was talking about.

In 11th grade, my mom finally started demanding a modicum of fashion sense from her eldest child.  I thank her for this every day of my life.  At this point, I was thinking almost exclusively about colleges to go to, Junior proms, and being the captain of my sports.  Oh, and boys.  But let’s be honest, even though I had my first real kiss at 16, stuff didn’t start getting really interesting until my senior year.

Yeah, that's me. Winking obnoxiously. In my senior ID.

Don’t worry, this wasn’t in the yearbook or anything (at least I’m pretty sure…)  Since we had fancy shmancy senior portraits taken, these were just IDs used for lunch and to get discounts at the movie theater.  And I figured, it was my last year at this joint, I was already accepted to UNC (GO TARHEELS!! LOVE OF MY LIFE!!), go hard or go home.  As the photographer counted back from three (3… 2…. 1!) I hammed it up REAL big at the ONE and got this beaut to have and hold for the rest of my life.  That year, I was voted Most School Spirit, Most Likely to Change the World, and (shocker) Best Sense of Humor. I wish they’d just used this picture for the yearbook superlative shot, it would’ve summed it all up….  (PS So as not to hurt anyone’s feelings, I chose Best Sense of Humor since we weren’t supposed to hoard the superlatives.  BUT THE TRUTH’S OUT NOW, GARNET VALLEY ALUM! Sorry for spilling the beans. But not that sorry.)

Buzz's girlfriend... woof.

I hated my first one card with a fiery passion. My eyebrows are huge, I’m cracked out from having spent the past 2.5 days at Orientation (not sleeping and sneaking out to Durham to play beer ping pong with friends), and my hair looks like a horse’s tail.

Well, wouldn’t you know that got stolen (though, not for good) in 2007, so I had to get this bad boy:

Faded glory

My most used ID of my school years, you can really see the weight on my face in this one.  So I guess my junior year was when the poundage started going on. Something to do with moving into the fraternity house and having constant access to my bean-cheese-hot sauce dip at all hours of the night…. really did a number on me.

And now, here we are!

Glamour Shot!

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane… Because that was a blast to write.

Can’t wait to get a new ID, maybe I’ll post that one to see how things have changed.

Do you keep your old IDs like a secret hoarder (or like me)?

What’s your favorite ID picture of you? (mine’s the senior year one, hands down.)

The 61 Hour Wedding Whirlwind Weekend: Pictures and the Ceremony!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Hey y’all and TGIT!!  Truly, though, I’m feeling FANTASTIC on this Thursday.  It may have something to do with the unplanned extra hour and a half I got this morning when I decided that the great dreams I was having were more important than the 7 am BodyAttack class….  No matter what is causing it, I hope this feeling doesn’t fade anytime soon!!

Lunch today also may have something to do with my great mood, because it was a perfect one.  One of my coworkers brought a little treat for everyone in the office and put it on the “community microwave” which is usually where we put snacks that we made or leftover goodies to “share with the rest of the class.”  Today’s was MUCH better than cupcakes.

Tiny tomatoes, perfect for lunchtime!

They completed the salad for the ages:

Even better than last night!!

This little taco salad was very similar to last night’s taco salad but tasted much more delicious.  I think it had something to do with the freshest little tomatoes and the fact that there wasn’t 1/4 lb of SUPER STRONG spicy turkey (which I replaced with a 1/3 can of Bush’s reduced sodium blackbeans) overpowering everything.  I really tasted the avocado, and it gave the salad a creamy counterpart to the crisp peppers.

Anyway, here’s the fourth installment of the wedding weekend (sorry if you’re getting sick of this, but not too sorry because it’s been a blast to write and great for my mom to get a play by play of the wedding!!)

In case you missed it, here are the other parts:

After we finished getting all dolled up, we rushed Cait’s room to observe her (much more laborious) preparation.

THE DRESS!

Cait’s dress was a total looker, fitting for such a flawless bride!

The bow on the back was difficult, apparently, but we had a bridesmaid for that! Juli, one of Cait’s old roomies, was ready to step up.

Bow-i-gami!

There were many many pictures snapped of the bridesmaids, of Cait, of the moms, of the photographer:

This is so meta.

Then, we hopped onto a trolley to head up to Mt. Washington for THE BIG REVEAL!! In case you’re unaware, the big reveal is the first look that the groom gets at his bride.  Especially important when you’re taking pictures before the ceremony!

Trolley beers

 

Love at first sight.

Clearly, the tallest of the bridesmaids.

It was incredibly hot and sweaty during the picture taking, but we had a good time in the trolley thanks to our dear friend: beer.

Cheers to the happy couple!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get many pictures from the ceremony considering how annoying it would’ve been having a Maid of Honor snapping shots inside the chapel.  But thankfully, my handsome date snapped a few.

So excited!

MWA!! It's official!!

Oh, hey boyf! I FOUND YOU! and you found... my crazy eyes!

The ceremony was beautiful, the vows… inspiring.  And we all hooted and hollered as they walked off into a sea of bubbles!

Note my "I scream louder than anyone else!" face.

Join us tomorrow for our final installment: the afterparrrrrrrtyyyyyy! (also known as the reception).

The 61 Hour Wedding Whirlwind Weekend: Primping

/ foodsweatandbeers / 7 Comments

Happy Hump Day, humpers!

Today’s lunch was rather familiar, almost the twin of yesterday’s.

Another day, another tasty meal!

I took the last half of a green pepper and sliced it up as a side.  For the main course, a Flatout Light Italian Herb wrap (that sorta ripped in transit, hence it looks a little smaller than usual), a fried egg, some Muenster cheese, turkey, salsa, and spinach.  It was WONDERFUL, truly great. I love the combination of the warm egg with the melty cheese and the fantastic Boar’s Head smoked turkey.  Whenever I see it on sale at the Teeter, I can’t help myself.  Mmmm.

In case you missed the past two posts, check em out!

Today, things get really great though.  My favorite part of the wedding weekend was probably the girls day at Izzazzu Salon on Fifth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh.  When we got there, there was another wedding party getting their hair done, and we were a little annoyed that we couldn’t set up…

"Really? It's my wedding day. K, bye other women."

I took a chance to check out the view from the top.

Not too shabby, eh?

All the members of the bridal party brought the essentials and, before we knew it, it was our turn.  We set up shop.

Hunger, thy name is bridesmaids.

I was on Wheat Thin duty (my favorite of all duties), and we also had a hot mess of a table full of bagels and schmear, gum (for after the party!), Reese’s cups (Caitlin’s favorite), Sabra Hummus (which I ended up keeping some of! SCORE!), cookies and, most importantly, MIMOSAS!!

However, for future reference, I think it’s important that I tell you all that truthfully, I prefer to call them Mimos (rhymes with Nemo, as in the fish that sparked the trans-Atlantic/Pacific search).  Whew, glad I got this outta the way.

ANYWHO, Mimos are maybe my favorite thing to drink during the day and, since I was the last one to get my hair/makeup done, I was on Mimo distribution duty.  Happy to help.

No Mimo left behind!!

The bride brought in a few pictures of Rachel McAdams from the 2010 Oscars, and her stylist got to work.

Blushing bride!

She looked stunning, as did her mother!

Caitlin’s family has always felt like my own second family, and this whole weekend was just fantastic to reconnect with them and I was honored to be a part of it.

The hair and makeup continued for quite some time, as I threw back a few more Mimos and got snap-happy with my camera.  Then, after enjoying a bagel and some schmear and making myself a Mimo-to-go, it was my turn!!

I think that in Heaven, you get this treatment daily.

The tiny Mimo I’d brought over wasn’t even CLOSE to sufficient for the amount of time my hair took to blowdry, but luckily, my fellow bridesmaid, Kristin, brought over a much fatter one.

Now I'm ready to face this ETERNAL process!

I think it turned out pretty well, though, worth the time and effort.

Glamorama (ps I did NOT drink that mimo. it was merely a prop.)

After a quick lengthy airbrush makeup application, and a swig of champy, it was time for Lindsey and I (aka the last ones left) to hit the road.

Luckily, I was not the driver, don't worry!

Next stop, THE CHAPEL!

Have you ever gotten your hair done for a major event?  How about your makeup?

I’ll admit, this was my first time getting my makeup done and honestly… while I liked it, I’m not sure it was worth it for the future (at least maybe until my own wedding.)  Plus, I’m STILL trying to get the last bits off.  At least it looked good for pictures!!

Hopefully y’all are enjoying this little recap of the wedding weekend.  I’m having a BLAST writing it up!

Bridesmaid Help!!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 10 Comments

Happy Hump Day, y’all!!

The days are going very productive lately. They have to be when you have a short week, right?

  • Cranked out a good lesson at work (I develop lessons!)
  • Car’s at the shop getting oil changed and tires rotated
  • Laid out in the sun yesterday
  • Killer zumba yesterday, AbSculpt + BodyPump planned for today
  • Scheduled an eyebrow wax for tomorrow after work/before glass night!

On the agenda tonight (after working out):

Since that will pretty much take up my whole evening, I figured I’m going to send out a call to arms (aka the blogosphere!) since y’all were so helpful with my first post about how to be a good bridesmaid!

The plan, on the day of the wedding (aka SATURDAY AHHH!) is, after we get all dolled up, to ride around in a trolley through Pittsburgh and take pictures as a whole wedding party.  The trolley is BYOB so here’s my question:

What kind of B should I B?? Translation: What kind of booze shall we bring on this trolley?  Obviously nothing red so that rules out red wine. 

Merlot? More like Mer-NO!

Some possibilities: white wine, champagne (wooo!), and (how could we forget?) craft beer.

Any other recommendations?  It’s going to be hot, it’s going to be sweaty, and so that should be taken into account.  Let me know if you’ve got any ideas!

In other news, lunch was delicious.

An ol' standby

Tuna sammy on a toasted sandwich thin with some lettuce for crunch, sugar-free jello cup, and steamed veggies with a heaping glass of water!

Very tasty, very healthy, and very filling.  Now it’s time to get back to work!

Can’t wait to hear your advice!!