Posted in Food, Life + Living, New Food

Writers Block/blog

Oi ladies and gents.. I have writer’s block.

I have lots of blog fodder just waiting to get off of my phone but every time I sit down to try to write, nothing worthwhile comes to mind.  I think I’ll just pick a photo from my phone and write about that… here.. listen to this song while you wait (don’t worry, it’s squeaky clean):

The new title of the entry you are about to read is “Sushi: with friends

Jeff and I have a friend that was talented and studious enough (note: I didn’t say lucky, she worked her bum off) to get into TSU in Japan.  She’s been stateside for a couple of months and completely absorbed with visiting family and friends, attending weddings, barbeques, and doing all of the things that one does when visiting home in between living as an expat.

I invited her to meet up with me at a craft store as it is a common interest that we share, but due to a mix up with a friend’s wedding plans, she wasn’t able to make it.  That’s okay, though, c’est la vie, and we rescheduled for dinner on Tuesday. 

When I checked in with her the day of our event, unfortunately, something else came up again — this time with family in a not so good way and she had to cancel.  No rain check this time.  Maybe it’s because we were going to have sushi and she would soon be going  back to the land of sushi.  Maybe we should have invited her out to a burger. 

Oh well.  We didn’t make what was on our menu for dinner because we thought we were going out, and so Jeff and I headed out without our friend.  We went to a great newish restaurant in the area called “Kona Grill” 

Originally, I had gone to Kona with a friend from work who had made the drive to the home office from Iowa.  She was going to go by herself but she said “sushi” and “awesome” and “by myself” all in the same sentence and so I knew that someone would have to intervene… and go eat awesome sushi with her.  We had a great meal and I knew that I’d have to come back and introduce other people to this new local delight.  Jeff and I got a table in the bar since there was no wait and just enjoyed each other’s company.  We didn’t have a lot to talk about, so we shared stuff with each other on our phones.  At one point, our heads were leaning against each other as we looked at something (it was quite loud, so this also helped us to hear each other’s comments without yelling) and the waitress appeared out of thin air and commented “Awe, could you be more cute?”  We tried to cut the PDA a little bit after that.. *sheepish grin*

The meal that Jeff and I had was even better than the first time I had gone to Kona.  Jeff and I both ordered a Dragon Roll [crab special roll topped w/eel, eel sauce & sesame seeds], I ordered a Philly Roll (it’s Americanized…) [smoked salmon, cream cheese & cucumber], and Jeff ordered a Bama Roll [crab mix, cream cheese, jalapeño wrapped in soy paper topped w/tuna, avocado, fish roe and spicy mayo].  One roll is probably enough for anyone, but I was looking for left overs 🙂 I was able to save more than half of what we ordered. It’s a good thing I saved room, too, because their seasonal item was a pineapple upside down cake–it was a dessert to redeem the evening:

 

Posted in Life + Living, Wedding Planning

MegsFitness has opened an Etsy Shop!

So, the cost of wedding planning is getting kind of steep and so I am seeking ways to contribute to the fund (so to speak).  I figured I could put my crafty skills to work and open up an Etsy shop!  So far I have just a few magnets and a couple paintings, but I am quickly looking to add more.  This week, I made a token/magnet with my fiance’s guild’s logo on it:

I am looking to do more food/fitness themed ones over the weekend, too.  I found some pretty great paper to use to make a strawberry magnet, broccoli, a bag of groceries.. I also have the pieces needed to make a water boarding one, and a running one.  Lastly, I found a bunch of neat patterned/colored paper that I would like to use.

The magnets themselves are pretty reasonably priced – $5-8 for most, $10 for custom made 🙂 I’m really hoping to get some traffic through the shop, but I know that I’ll probably need to diversify a bit more and work on my photography, tagging, and advertising.

Have you checked out the shop?  What do you think?  What types of items would you like to see?

Posted in Emotional Eating, Food, Life + Living

Coping Mechanisms – Always involve cupcakes.

Orange Filling is Love
Orange Filling is Love

Americans are buzzing with the  news of a tragedy in Aurora, CO.  Perhaps it’s even international news at this point.  I know that by tomorrow, it will already be a distant memory for most people who weren’t involved.

I first caught wind of trouble when I checked my facebook page this morning.  It was a generally vague post:

And then I realized where “back home” was… and that it wasn’t just the United States.  He meant home-home: Colorado.  I started thinking about all the people I knew in Colorado and where they were located even as I scrolled through my timeline looking for other people’s comments–I hate watching/reading violent news because it’s always sensationalized and it usually upsets me. I handle it better and generally get what I need to know just based on how people react to whatever news is trending.

 

Aurora. Shooting. Movie theater.

Aurora… Lori and Ross.. maybe Bobbi, probably not Uncle Wayne or Uncle Brian.

Movie Theaater… What movie? Dark Knight Rises was opening…Lori likes batman…

What if Lori and Ross got shot?! *cue real panic*

This is when I nonchalantly texted Lori to see where she was at.. I checked for facebook updates and didn’t see anything from her yet.  Ross usually doesn’t have an online presence and so I couldn’t tell anything on that front.

I finally sought out the news and found only a couple before I decided to pick up the phone:

 

 

Lori didn’t answer her phone and so I called her husband, Ross.  When he picked up the phone and sounded so normal, so casual, so confused, I almost didn’t know what to say because I got choked up immediately.  I stammered out something along the lines of “Are you okay?” and he replied “Yeah, we’re good.” and then I felt foolish and hurried off the phone with him because suddenly I was interrupting.

Round 1 of tears was not too bad because I did my best to just keep things under control.  I went to the office bathroom and cleaned up my face.  I tried to go about my day but of course, this news was on everyone’s lips.  Yeah, my friends are okay, but there are other people who lost their own lives, the lives of their boyfriend or girlfriends, spouses, friends, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, sons and daughters.  And my heart broke all over again.

I got it together for a bit and then Lori actually called me too.  We got to talk for a bit and I confessed to being embarrassed when I had originally talked to Ross, and about how happy I was that they were both okay.  I got to give long distance hugs and let them know that we  (Jeff and I) loved them (her and her husband).

My face was red and splotchy and I was just barely holding back another round of tears when my friend walked up. I exclaimed “They’re okay!” and made awkward choking/laughing/crying sounds as I sobbed for just a minute there.  Gosh.  I almost went home from work because I was feeling so emotional about it.  I’m generally emotional, but it was a roller-coaster of a morning.

As I thought about it over the course of the day, I thought about the 9/11 attacks and how far removed I was from them.  How I was nervous to go to the Mall of America lest it be a target for a terrorist attack.  How I was scared to fly lest the plane be turned into a weapon.  That is by no means any close comparison to this, but I also thought about school shootings and about how they couldn’t be predicted or really prevented.  I thought about how passengers on an international flight bit into sewing needles in their sandwiches because someone else was disgruntled.  And I thought about how I had to talk myself into doing the things that I do normally as an act of rebellious pride because I’m an American and you cannot crush our spirit.

So, as I drove home, I gave myself a pep talk.  People are crazy, but there’s nothing you can do about it.  You can either live your life sheltered and missing out on the joys, beauty, and experiences of the world–or you can go out and take a risk and do the things you love.

This weekend, I think I’ll go to the movies.

Posted in College, Fitness, Warrior Dash

Flowers and a mini-update.

I found this cute little library as Jeff and I drove to breakfast.  We had helped a family friend with a task and then we met up with my parents for waffles at Ihop.  It was a great morning!

I’m still swamped with school and work, so I apologize for neglecting updates.  In fitness type news I figured out that the problem with my back is a rhomboid muscle strain/spasms.  My doctor has got some stretches recommended for me and hopes to see me up-and-at-them in about 3 weeks or so.

The Warrior Dash is on Saturday and I found myself a jogging partner–his name is Mario and he’s fine with going slow 🙂

Class ends on 7/22.  I sincerely hope to update before then, but this course has a higher work load and is much faster paced than my previous courses.  As always, I appreciate your taking the time out of YOUR busy schedule to stop by and see what I’m up to 🙂

take care!

Posted in Food, Life + Living

WIAW

Strawberry Frosted Miniwheats + Blueberries
16oz coffee, creamer
aka busy food
Twizzlers
Probably shouldn't be called salad
Pasta Salad
Mixed Fruit
Late Afternoon Munchies
Pringles 100 Cal Pack and Nutri-grain Bar
Hershey’s Dark Chocolate
This should look familiar
Corn and Shrimp
Misc. Veggies
Finished it before I took the pic. Whoops.
Smirnoff Tropical

———————————————————————————–

This What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) is courtesy of Monday at work–I was tired, stressed, and snacky.  I hadn’t packed a lunch and ended up eating the pasta that my mom offered me.  It tasted alright, but I don’t think that spiral pasta, cut up cheese strings, cut up summer sausage, and Italian dressing should really count as a salad.  Not pictured, I also ate a bread stick and some roasted potatoes.

Lesson (re)Learned:  You make poor food choices when you are tired and stressed.  Get sufficient sleep and find another way to process stress. ❤

Posted in Emotional Eating, Food, Life + Living, Overeating

Artificial Will Power…aka Abstract Art?

So I had kind of a rough day yesterday, and ended up blanking on the fact that I was supposed to give my brother’s girlfriend, Stephanie, a ride home from work.  I had just gotten home from grocery shopping–glad that I had beat the storms, and was talking to Jeff about developments with our wedding when my phone rang and Steph’s number came up on the screen.

My heart sank and I answered the phone “Please don’t hate me, but I forgot and I’m on my way right now.”

She, of course, is a complete sweet heart and was totally understanding and chill about the whole thing.  I called back and invited her to grab a bite to eat with me–my treat. We went to Broadway Pizza and split a burger.  It was easily enough food (a burger is 1/2 lb standard these days!) but we ordered cinnamon sticks anyway.  We were having fun talking and laughing but knew that we were eating the sticks just because they were there.

I decided to introduce Steph to my alternative form of will power.  I still wanted to hang out for a bit and chat because we were having such a good time, but I did not want to continue eating the cinnamon sticks… I explained this to Stephanie and said that the best way to stop eating something if you have no will power is to make it unappealing.  She was game, so I asked her to grab a condiment from the table.  She choose mustard.  I choose ketchup.  We squirted the ketchup and mustard all over the cinnamon sticks!  She even squirted some on my hand.  We were laughing and having a good time.

Steph: “It needs sprinkles!” *dumps red pepper on it”

She’s a pro sabotager, let me tell you.  By the time we were done, the cinnamon dessert was covered with ketchup, mustard, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, water, and ice.  On the one hand, we felt bad wasting food, but on the other–they would have just thrown it out anyway, or we would have continued eating it for no good reason.

We left a good tip and a fun note… with no guilt, and our tummies just right.