The start of an adventure (and good eats!)

TGIF!

I don’t know about you, but in my world, it has been a long week.  I’m okay with long weeks, in fact, I would rather be swamped at work than not have anything to do.  But man does it take a lot out of a girl!

So I have a confession.  When Mike got home from playing with his band at 1 am, I may or may not have gone to the fridge and snuck two more bites of cheesecake, one of each flava, I continued to sleep like an angel .

On to today.  Today we get Sunny!  We get her for two weeks, which is going to be a ‘trial period’ for Mike and I to see how we do with a downtown dog, lol.  Sunny is a very hyper dog, so she needs a lot of attention and exercise, which is fine by me.  However, if we were to get a bulldog, I think Ernest (yes, we have already named our future bulldog) would do better in a loft setting.  While of course they need exercise, they are more like little walking bricks.

Anyway, you will meet Sunny this evening, she’ll be excited to make a blog appearance.

It is Scone Friday today, but I wasn’t feeling it this morning.  So, instead, I had a bowl of Cheerios when I woke up.  Sorry to bore you guys.

Ok people.  Would I actually miss scone Friday?  I think not.  I totally didn’t have that above bowl of cereal.  :)

Like tradition, I present you last week’s scone: Apple Cinnamon.

I am already drooling. I promise to change things up this week!

Lunch is leftovers from last night’s meal at the Cheesecake Factory.  And no, I didn’t pack any cheesecake. But I will be having some later when I get home tonight…

For those of you who missed it, this is the Navajo sammie.

Ok, well I’m off to finish getting ready, and then to the good ol’ workplace I go.

Does anybody have any fun plans tonight/this weekend? We are of course getting Sunny, and tomorrow night we are hanging out with Jodi and Luke!

I have waited so long for something so good

What an evening I have had! It has been filled with success *for the most part*.

After work we headed to a local shopping mall to meet Mike’s mom at one of my favorite stores ever, Crate & Barrel. I could easily spend hours and hours, as well as thousands and thousands $$, there if I was forced . Our goal was to find new dishware. We were less than impressed at the selection that they had though. I was a little disappointed.

I suppose I can forgive you C&B, but you lost our business to Macy’s. We were very successful at finding a set that we loved, not so successful at getting the whole set since they were out of the cereal bowls, four of our dinner plates, two of our mugs and two of our salad plates. And, of course, this product is on backorder too. So it will be about a month before we complete our set. Annoying.

I will be showing off our new plates tomorrow, don’t you worry. Thank you to Mike’s parents for graciously buying our new dinnerware, and to my mother, for buying us our kitchen table. Great housewarming presents! We are very lucky to have such loving and supportive families, so a big shout out to them!

We finally made it to the Cheesecake Factory at about 8, famished! I know some people have mixed feelings about the Cheesecake Factory, but I love it. But there are some things that I don’t like…

Dislikes
-The menu that is basically a novel.
-Their portion sizes are out of control. You wonder why we have an obesity problem in America.
-The supposed nutritional facts of their dishes, which are kind of scary… However, I hardly ever go here, so I’m not too concerned!

Likes
-I am a bit obsessed with their bread that I called ‘honey wheat’. Although, not sure that is correct. It tastes like it maybe has molasses in it?
-I’ve never had a dish that I didn’t like
-Their amazing cheesecakes and cakes
-The ambiance

Anyway, long story short, my meal tonight was pretty freakin’ good. These photos are stand in’s, but they do the trick.

To start my meal, I had this, plus another dark piece of bread. I was starving couldn’t get enough of the carb goodness.

For dinner, I couldn’t decide between many, many different entree’s. However, after a recommendation by my co-worker who used to work at Cheesecake, I got the Navajo.

Warm Fry-Bread Stuffed with Grilled Chicken, Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion and Mayonnaise. Served with French Fries or Green Salad.

Oh dear, this was good. But what made the sandwich was the fried bread. The insides were pretty standard, but you can’t get the fried bread just anywhere. I ate half of the sandwich and half of the fries for dinner. The rest will be lunch tomorrow . I was stuffed after wrapped up this meal!

However, there is no way on Earth I could leave the Cheesecake Factory without getting cheesecake. Yes, I am on the Cheesecake Factory’s email list, so when I got an email about Stefani’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake this past Spring, I knew that the next time I went, it was a must get.

Moist layers of Red Velvet Cake and our Original Cheesecake covered with our special Cheesecake Factory cream cheese frosting. 25¢ from the sale of each slice will be donated to Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network.

I’m even giving back to the community! Now these pictures are actually taken by me…

We also got a slice of the Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake.

Raspberry-Vanilla Cake, Creamy Lemon Cheesecake, Raspberry Lady Fingers and Lemon Mousse.

While I could very easily eat my whole slice tonight, I will be eating over the course of the next two or three nights. I have to pace myself!

Have you been to the Cheesecake Factory? If so, what is your favorite kind of cheesecake you have gotten.  If not, what kind would you order from this lineup?

TGIF in a few hours, and SCONE FRIDAY!

Work puts a damper on blogging

Morning friends! I got to make this snappy!

I didn’t get to blog at my regular time this morning due to our senior VP being in town. And guess where his office is? Yep, right next to my cube, yikes!

I ran 4.5 miles in 45 minutes this morning at the gym. I wanted to go a bit longer, but I started to feel a little off, so I listened to my body signals and stopped!

Breakfast is pretty self explanitory, some Fage with peach

Some crack Udi’s Cranberry Granola

And a honeycrisp apple! <3

Lunch is a wrap with hummus, black beans and feta

With some lettuce added on top. I will microwave this at lunch to make it hot!

All wrapped up

With a naner!

Ok, really got to jet!

Do you blog/read blogs at work?

Evening Stroll

60% of the way through the week.  Not too shabby if you ask me.

I hope everybody’s day went well!  Mine was pretty decent, can’t complain.

It was a gorgeous evening here in the MSP, so Mike and I decided we needed to take a stroll, but where to?  Barnes and Noble was the lucky winner this evening.  This morning while reading People, I saw a book that I wanted to pick up, called Hungry.  Here is a link to the description.

After much discussion around blog land about body image on Tina and Angela’s blogs, whether it be celebrities or ourselves, I thought this would be a great read.

I also got suckered into a book by Emily Giffin called Something Borrowed.  Here is the link to this books description.

Oh how I love new books.  I really should get a library card so I don’t waste $40 on two books, but there is something about owning the books and adding to my book collection that I just love .   Could be a worse addiction, right?

I’ll let you know how these books are once I start reading them.  I need to finish the book I am currently reading called Street Lawyer.  It is a pretty good read, not necessarily my kind of book though, I like the girlie girlie books.

Anyway, on to dinner.

I was craving a sweet potato when we got home from the bookstore.  So of course my meal was based around that!  What better to go on top than black beans I say?  Along with some feta and jalapeno, man these were spicy.

I also had some cottage cheese with cut up peach slices and banana slices.

All together now.

Oh, and a glass of red wine .  Which, you can totally see my baked potato in the reflection!

Looking back at my eats today, I must say, I was a total failure at getting in veggies.  Whoops!  I guess it just wasn’t happening for me today.  I would love to tell you all that I will have some veggies for dessert to make up for my lack of them during the day, but who am I kidding?  You know that will never happen!  Besides, I am on total nut butter withdrawal today, so dessert will most likely be a nut butter toast .

I hope you all have a relaxing evening.  I am going to head on over to my Google Reader to play a little catch up, then read in bed.  Grandma, that is me, and damn proud of it!

What is your favorite book of all time? Mine is Eat, Pray, Love.   And… they are making a movie with Julia Roberts starring in it!

We couldn’t decided where we wanted to walk to, but ended up deciding to head to Barnes and Noble.

Can never get enough

Happy hump day! That’s right friends, we’ve made it halfway through the work/school/whatever you do each day, week!

Thank you for all of the encouragement on the furry friend last night. We definitely understand it would be a large undertaking, but one that we are definitely willing to partake in . I will definitely keep you updated. And… only 2 more days until you get to meet Sunny!

This morning I headed to the gym and spent 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, partaking in various resistance levels. It was a pretty standard workout, nothing too exciting to report there.

However, I do have a delicious breakfast to report on. And yes, it is similar to yesterdays breakfast that included cream cheese and pumkin butter, although, it is slightly different.

The base is one of the fruit and nut bagels I bought this past weekend.

With this concoction to smoother the bagel…

What is this un-appetizing photo you ask? Well it is this combo:

+

= <3 <3 <3

Sorry if you guys sick of this, but it is going to be making *many* apperances.

Lunch is leftover pizza from last night.  I will probably eat this cold, I love cold leftover pizza.  Especially when the cheese gets hard . What about you?

A better cheese stuffed crust photo, this is way better than last night!

And a lovely pear. I forgot the name of this type of pear, but I have never had this variety before. I can’t wait to try it, the skin is kind of fuzzy!

This fabulous Larabar will finally be making an appearance for a snack this afternoon.

Lots of meetings today. What is your day looking like?

Furry friend?

To get a furry friend, or to not get a furry friend, that is the question… Keep reading to get to the end of the post!

On to this afternoon. Where did the past year go?  Since my one year anniversary of being at my job is coming up, my boss took me out to lunch today to catch up on the past year and see how I was feeling/where I was at. We went to a restaurant called Mission a few blocks from our office in downtown Minneapolis.

They don’t have the salad that I got on the menu, but I got the Steak Salad. It included roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, blue cheese, steak and blue cheese dressing. It was divine. Along side they served fresh from the oven bread with whipped butter. It was a total foodie meal, I so wish I could have whipped out my camera!

This afternoon I had an unphotographed apple and a few Starburst. I was craving sugar, but not chocolate. What was wrong with me? Thankfully my co-worker saved the day!

Then of course, work was work this afternoon.  Nothing too great to report there.

Tonight, I was totally craving a ‘not so good for you’ dinner. I have been pretty good lately, so hey, you only live once, why not go with what my body was wanting. Mike bought a frozen pizza the other weekend: Tombstone Pepperoni Stuffed Crust Pizza. Sounds pretty dang good huh? Oh, and it was. So good, but so bad. I savored every bite. <3

I had two slices, plus a few snagged bites of Mike’s crust, the best part.

Look at this cheese filled crust, swoon…

Don’t worry, I had some grapes on the side to get some fruit and vitamin’s in .

The question tonight is based upon the fact that Mike and I are *thinking* of possibly visiting a English Bulldog breeder for a furry friend. We both are huge animal lovers and love the good old English. I’ll keep you posted .

Look at this guy, so ugly he’s cute huh?

And the puppies? You know you just want to cuddle with this guy…

We are getting his sister’s Jack Russell Terrier, Sunny, for two weeks while they are out of the country starting this weekend. And, of course Sunny will be making my blog posts during those two weeks, she is adorable. So we are going to see how that goes!

Are you a cat or a dog person? What is your favorite type of dog? My all time favorite dog is a Golden Retriever. My childhood dog Maggie will always have a special place in my heart.

A new obsession

Good morning sunshines . How’s it hangin’ on this Tuesday morning?

I felt refreshed this morning and getting up to head to the gym was a breeze. At the gym this morning, I walked on an incline for 45 minutes. I could definitely feel the burn in my booty! Love it.

For breakfast this morning, I decided to pack up one of my favorite combo’s from last fall- pumpkin butter and cream cheese. I toasted up an Arnold’s Sandwich Thin and put the base of cream cheese with the pumpkin butter smear.

SO GOOD! What a wicked combo. The topping tastes along the lines of a pumpkin cheesecake .

On the side, a banana with White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter that I have stored in my desk.

I have a lunch meeting today with my boss. Not sure where we are headed, but I’ll give a recap tonight with my dinner post.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night? I am such a ‘grandma’ as Mike and my friends would say. I usually am in bed by 10 or 10:30 and get up at 5:45 to head to the gym.

Ok, got to skedaddle, the head honcho’s are in from out east!

It is truly Fall!

Ahhh, it is time to relax after this post. I think I am going to sit in my bed with my laptop and catch up on all of your fabulous blogs. I feel like I am so far behind in reading, yikes!

So today was a loooong day at work.  The first time I looked down at the clock, it was seriously already 12.   I scarfed down my lunch and the next time I looked down it was 5:30.  I was too busy to even think about having my delicious PB&J Larabar.  If I am not thinking about food, you know this girl is swamped.

Needless to say, you can about imagine how starving I was by the time I got home.  I debated having my Larabar at 5:30, but decided I would ruin my appetite.  I got home and Mike gave me three options for dinner since I told him I didn’t feel like cooking .

1. Frozen pizza
2. Velveeta Mac n’ Cheese
3. Hormel Chili Master Chipotle Chicken Chili

Hormel is one of Mike’s clients, so he is a bit partial .  I chose chili because: it is semi-fall like outside for the first time today, it took close to zero prep time and I had cheddar cheese and sour cream on hand.  We also had the fabulous ciabatta bread to toast up in the oven with a little cheddar cheese melted on top..

Close up.  This chili had lots of beans in it which, of course, I adored.  However, there weren’t very many ‘chicken’ pieces, and the pieces that were ‘chicken’ tasted a bit too fake for me.  Also, for it being ‘chipotle’ flavored, it had no kick to it at all.  But for a quick and filling meal, I would definitely buy this variety again.  Next time I would maybe venture to try one of their other flavors though.

I had to share this photo of my toasted up bread; a little cheese goes a long way.  It is pretty stellar when the melty cheese gets in the nooks of the bread.

That is about it for me today.  I am going to have some cake balls later on to wrap up my evening eats.

I’m going to leave you with something to ponder.  You can let me know now, or you can let me know after you have thought about this for a few days.  I am wanting to educate myself on topics that span the nutrition and fitness categories.  But part of this education also includes sharing my findings and knowledge I gain with you.

What are some topics that you would be interested in learning more about in the nutrition and fitness subjects? Feel free to reply with as many ideas as you’d like.  They can be broad, specific, funny, boring… pretty much anything and everything.  There is no stupid or silly question that could be asked and researched.  While some readers have either a nutrition or fitness background, many of us don’t.  So why not share the love, eh?

Nighty night!

Here we go again!

Here’s to another start of the work/school week .

I set my alarm for 5:45 this morning in order to see if I was feeling any better and to base my decision on the gym off of that. Well, I woke up starving, yep, my appetite is back folks! I immediately went into the kitchen and smeared a big spoonful of almond butter on some bread. The ‘snack’ was gone in a matter of seconds. Then, off to the gym I went.

I took it ‘easy’ at the gym this morning due to having felt a little off the past few days. I think my body needs a little bit of a break and needs to slowly get back into the swing of things. I did: 4.5 miles in 45 minutes on the treadmill. I also did a 10 minute cool-down walk as well.

Now I am at work, sitting in my cube, about to make my breakfast in our kitchen. Here is what we got:

Cracklin’ Oat Bran

Pumpkin Butter

A naner

And Fage

This stuff is really packin’ in the protein. I love it.

Lunch is, you guessed it, leftovers from last night.  I probably will even eat this cold. I love cold leftover pasta. Anybody else?

And an apple. I need to eat up these small braberns before I dig into my Honeycrisps.

For snack this afternoon, I packed a PB&J Larabar!! I can’t even contain my excitement. Have you tried this flavor yet?

When I was walking to work, I was reading Jenna’s post this morning on my phone. If you haven’t read it, you definitely should. I talks about following your passion and doing what you really want to be doing, not what makes the most money, is the most glamorous, etc.

 I am sure I will be sitting in my cube today wondering if I am really living my dream. I love marketing, and someday want to be a product manager for, what else, other than a food company .

I also love food and cooking though. Hmmm… It is something to at least think about. However, I think I need to look into how I can incorporate those two interests into more of a ‘second job’ or activity outside of work to fulfill my passions.

Two questions for you today:

Are you living your passion?

What is your favorite kind of apple?

Cake Ball School

I need to head to Cake Ball school and take a course in chocolate dipping.  More on this later.

Hope you guys enjoyed Mike’s guest post this morning.  What a guy, huh?  I sure think so!

Today’s eats were pretty uneventful.  I’m back to not feeling 100%, and I know this for a fact because my appetite isn’t really there.  For breakfast we had blueberry/raspberry pancakes with peach cut on top.  I topped mine with syrup and actually added my new Pumpkin Butter on top after the photo.  It was stellar.

Oh, and a sausage link .  It was a pretty decent breakfast, but afterwards I was feeling even worse, ugh.  Something cheered me up a little bit though, I actually figured out my header for my domain website.  This is WAY exciting folks.  I was giving up hope, but I am now completely restored.  Now, it will still be awhile since I have many, many other things to try and figure out, but hey, one step closer.  I’m trying to partake in the power of positive thinking.

After awhile though, I started to be less successful in my battle against WordPress.  Instead, I watched the Viking’s win, whoohoo and ate ‘lunch’.  I started with my leftovers from last night…

And after a few bites, my stomach was not having that flavor combo.  I needed something a little lighter and more refreshing.  A bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats sat much better.  I call this cereal old school, because I grew up on this stuff.  My brother could probably eat a whole box of this cereal as well (he would probably reply with the fact that I almost ate a whole box of Reese’s PB Puff’s cereal once, but that is of course not true… ).

After the Vikings game and laying on the couch for a good few hours, Mike, in the nicest way possible, told me I may feel better if I got out of the house and got some fresh air.  This is when we headed to Target to ‘get parmesan’ and came home with parmesan, a new puzzle, the new Dan Brown book, some gummy bears and some Halloween candy.  Yep, the idea of getting ‘only one thing’ definitely didn’t work out so well!  Ohhh Tarjay, you get me every time!

Dinner was a recipe out of Cooking Light: Fresh Tomato, Sausage and Pecorino Pasta.  Stupid me forgot the basil yesterday at the grocery store, so we didn’t have that to put in.  We also substituted ground turkey for sausage and parmesan for the pecorino.

My plate, with a salad and ciabatta bread.

This recipe was just mediocre.  I’m sure if we would have used the sausage and had basil, it would have been better.  However, I don’t think this dish would knock anybody’s socks off.

Moving on to the baked good of the week…

RED VELVET CAKE BALLS!!!  A la, Bakerella!

You start by licking the cake batter spatula baking the cake…

Then adding a tub of cream cheese frosting…

And rolling the above mess into balls…

After this, it all went downhill.  Well, not really, but kinda .  I let these sit in the fridge for 5 hours before dipping them in the chocolaty goodness.  I don’t know if I didn’t wait long enough or what, but the they weren’t rolling very easily and the chocolate just kind of gooped on.  Next time, I think I will put the balls in the freezer for awhile so they can get more tightly bound before dunkin’ them in chocolate.

However, I did manage to save six damn good looking cake balls, not to toot my own horn of anything.

Ohhhhhh yeaaaa.  How good do those look?  Mike cracked me up when he asked, ‘So, how many cake balls would be considered one serving?’.  LoL.  He makes me smile

Well friends, that’s all I got tonight.  I’m going to go lay down and hopefully get to bed early.  I really need to kick whatever is making me feel semi blah before the week begins tomorrow.  But you best bet I will be having some cake balls before I slumber <3.