I Walk In This World

Methinks our anniversary vacation coming up is going to be rife with stops at New England Brew Pubs!  And I cannot wait!

Hubz and I spent all of late morning planning our stops along our driving tour of New England. 

We found small farms that make local cheese and maple syrup in VT and NH and have plans to stop and see a few.  But most importantly, we found eleven billionty brew pubs to sample!!  They.Are.Everywhere up there.  It’s going to be so fun.    

The reason we spent LATE morning planning our trip is b/c Erin slept in til, oh, 10am.  Whhhaaaattt?  I’ll just thank Ambien and be on my way.  It was amazing.  I now think getting up early on weekends is over-rated.  I seriously haven’t slept in that late since the last time I had the flu.  Finally Hubz came in and asked if I was thinking I’d get up at any point today, lol.  It felt great!

I made  the loveliest of quick Breks since it was getting so late.

• whole wheat muffin + Nutella + banana
• peaches + red raspberries + blackberries
• COFFEE xs 2

Oh Nutella….how I love thee.

Last night, after Din, Hubz and I watched Changeling with Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich.  A very dark dark film.  Worth watching if you have 2hrs + though.  I had a beer and baked Kettle chips for a snack (no pic).  And in being totally honest, 1 of Mallorys butterscotch nut butter cups (the BEST flava).

Din was tandori chicken (homemade) using Penzey’s tandori spice + ff Fage yogurt.  It was good.  Not great though.  I gotta figure out a way to make this taste like REAL tandori.

• homemade tandori chicken + lentils
• half a piece of ww Naan
• steamed broccoli
• Smuttynose beer

Pre-Din I had a Smuttynose IPA, which is 1 of my absolute favs.  I think Matt at Brew and Bake would probably really like this beer, given his review of other beers!

And a little after-work yoga to unwind and stretch out some sore running muscles.  This totally did the trick.  I felt heaps better after.

Hillary helped with some Lazy Dogs.

Hubz helped by doing some Lazy Man Reading.

K, I gotta eat lunch and head out to pick up some items for our dinner tonight.  Having friends over for Din to sample one of my favorite recipes.  Should be fun!

Hi guys!

Without receiving any form of payment from the makers of Ambien, I’m going to give them my full endorsement.  I slept soundly last night.  For all of you lovelies that are suffering from lack of sleep, think about chatting with your Doc about this Rx.  It is the ONLY thing that works for me, and I’ve tried it all (except sleep studies).

*twirls*

I awoke on my own, w/o an alarm at 8am.  Kids, that’s 8 FULL hours of sleep.  I haven’t had that in over 2 weeks (in 1 night).  Mostly 4 -5 hours each night.  So I feel great!

I think my immune system is crashed though cuz I’ve got a sore throat.  So I took a sick day today, mostly to rest and recup and not have this blossom into anything that could spoil  my vaca next week.

I just finished Breks and am sipping coffee numero dos.  Since I  had the time, I made Kath’s Oatmeal Pancakes (with the mashed banana inside).  I split the batter for 1 pancake into 2 smalls and just ate 1 of em.  Have a look at the beauts…

• Kath’s Oatmeal Pancakes with maple coated nuts + real VT maple syrup + coconut
• fruit cocktail with blackberries + blueberries + watermelon man + honeydon’t + mango
• COFFEE

If you guys are looking for a treaty tasting Breks, but want to get in your whole grains, try Kath’s recipe!  1 giant pancake is only 150 cals, and since I split it in half, we’re talking minimal stuff here.  And it really is fantastic, if you like real, clean tasting foods!

I spent the morning lounging in the bed, laying with the Hillz, catching up on blogs and emails.  It felt so indulgant and I loved every nanosecond of it.  Taking today off work was the best thing I could do, for my throat and my mental health.  It’s so important we not forget to take care of our brains whilst we’re busy taking care of every other aspect of life.

Ah, I am in SUCH a rush.  This will be short on text.  We’re minutes from heading out the door for a weekend-of-family.  First stop…Pittsburgh for the in-laws then back home to Hanover, PA to visit Dad and his wife.  It’ll be hectic but fun cuz we (luckily) both really like our families and in-laws!

Lunch was great.  I ate it while watching tivo’d epis of Real Housewives of NJ.  Um.  I’m kinda hooked.  Total trash tv that is fun for summertime relaxing.

• ginorm salad ala Erin (this means it has goat cheese)
• last remnants of bbq chicken + white beans on whole grain bread

I’ve spent the day exploring ways to find an additional source of income.  I’m a gov’t employee, and today was my first of who-knows-how-many-are-to-come furlough days.  This is a day where I don’t go to work and DON’T get paid either.  It’s an “effort” to trim NJ’s state budget.  It’s beyond laughable.  We’re $2.3 billion in the hole and today’s furlough is saving the state $8mil.  It’s peanuts, yet us middle class workers suffer.

*steps off soapbox only due to lack of time to rant*

Breks was AMAZING!  We’re out of fruit b/c we’re going away for the weekend.  But I remembered I had frozen peaches.  Introducing waffles with buttery peaches!

• Nature’s Path red berry waffles + peaches sauteed in a little butter and honey
• coffee

Hey, this knocked my proverbial socks off.  Totally amazing and a keeper for my recipe book.  Since I slept 9 hours (wee!!) I didn’t need much coffee.

Last night we had turkey fajitas.  I ended up sauteeing portabellas, white beans, corn, peppers, onions, and turkey all together, and topping with avocado and spinach.  It was good but woulda been better sans turkey.  I’ve discovered I don’t like ground turkey!

But to make up for it, I got to sample some of Mallory’s AMAZING FANTASTIC nut butter cups.  I won these from the Auction/Bake Sale I hosted.  Srsly, girl.  Sell these IRL b/c they are so flipping good.

Sorry so short, but I promise to blog from the road.

Ciao!!

Er

So I’m driving home from work today and I see this car (?) on the highway.

Ok.

WTF is this? 

Is it a car? 

Maybe it’s a funeral hearse?  Or a station wagon?  Or a movie prop?  Or maybe it’s just a special car for crackheads?  Yep.  I bet it was designed to cart crackheads around.

Cuz you gotta be really high or Out of your Mind to think this is cool or stylish or gangsta or expensive looking or any of the above.

But not White Dude wearing Big Frame Dolce Sunglasses. 

He thought he was Bad Ass.  Driving in the right hand lane.  Windows down.   Maroon 5 a’blastin .  Head bobbin.

I mean…

C’mon.  How can anyone take this seriously?

Imagine you’re on a first date, and dude drives up in this car.  Or your friend is taking your kids to soccer practice, and Mom drives up in this car.  Or you’re carpooling to work, and coworker pulls up in This Car.

I don’t think I’d get in.  I’d probably just call in sick.

Swenyway.

Din.

Leftovers from late last week.  I had the remains of the creamy portabella max n cheese (with added kale, mushies, and bison).  And a ginorm salad featuring fresh-from-the-toaster-oven whole wheat croutons.  What’s that noise you ask?  No worries.  Just the smoke alarm going off.  Erin nearly set the croutons on fire.

But alas…all is well. 

Hey.

I ran 2.5 miles today. 

So.  Who gets shin splints?  Cuz I need help.  I know I am a chronic sufferer, so that’s just life.  But I need sneaker recommendations.  What do y’all run in?