Tag Archives: booze

Spooky Saturday

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It’s been a full and fabulous day!  A race, some shopping, good eats, going out with friends; yup, it was pretty perfect!

Our morning started bright and healthy with the Jack O’ Lantern 5k.

The course looped 3.1 miles around Goat Island (Niagara Falls) and was beautiful.

I split a Cliff Crunchy granola bar with the husband on the drive up.

Today’s race had everything going against it – I had to run alone (Katie had to back out at the last minute and the husband wanted to actually run), the lack of bathrooms meant my full bladder bothered me the entire course, I was slow as all get out, and it was frigid out.

But you know what?  Even a terrible run is still a great one!

I don’t know my exact time but, it was something less than 31:20, I’ll take it!  I was terrified of coming in last (ask me to tell you that story sometime!) but I ended up only coming in behind 75% of the racers.

We hit up the food tent afterwards – Adam housed at least two sandwiches – and I ended up eating part of an ice pop.

I didn’t really it get it together to eat a real meal after that and my hunger ended up hitting hard later in the day.  The husband requested a pumpkin chocolate milkshake (he’s a genius!) and I did take a few sips of that before we headed to the grocery.

Adam had to go into the lab in the afternoon so I went with him and did some school-work.  I packed a snack for while I studied.

Apple slices and baby carrots dipped in a serving of sun butter.

Unfortunately this was around the time my hunger hit and I ended up not getting much work done.

Afterwards we headed to the mall to pick up a few things.  We must have done at least 4 full loops of the mall and by the time we stopped at Cheesecake Factory I was ready for diner!

Bread, x2 with butter. (Sorry for the blurry pictures, I don’t know why CF is always so darn dim!)

I ordered off of the appetizer menu for dinner and my salad was still huge!

The Fresh Vegetable Salad – Asparagus, Green Beans, Tomato, Cucumber, Roasted Beets, Apple, Edamame, Radicchio, Romaine and White Cheddar All Chopped with Pomegranate Vinaigrette.  I subbed in spicy peanut vinaigrette for my dressing, which somehow also got me edamame; score!

This is sooooooooo good.  <– That’s what I said to Adam at least 10 times during dinner 🙂  Huge as it was, I still managed to finish 2/3 of it.  I have a nice takeout container for lunch tomorrow as well.

I stole a few of Adam’s french fries too.

After we got home a couple of friends came over and we hung out for a bit before heading out to some nearby bars to check out people’s costumes.  We had a lot of fun, but I didn’t bring my camera so you’ll have to take my word for it – I’ll show you my “costume” tomorrow!

While we were out, Adam and I split a Woodchuck Cider.  And once home I ate part of a vegan pumpkin pecan blondie.

What a day, what a day.

Going on Walkabout

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Walk to The Spot

Katie and I were supposed to meet this morning for breakfast and a study session,

but we spent most of our time talking, whoops!

We did manage the breakfast part though.  A grande iced (it was so warm here today!) coffee with skim milk,

and a thing of artichoke and spinach humus.

I know that humus is a strange breakfast but it sounded so good I just couldn’t pass it up!

Unfortunately the flavor was too garlicy for my taste buds, but it was nice to get some veggies into my morning.  I finished about half each of the humus and the bread sticks.

Walk to school

I had a busy time on campus today – a meeting, two classes, and another meeting, all back to back.  I snacked on a small vegan pumpkin pecan blondie before my first meeting.

And during Anatomy I ate this Balance Pure Cherry Pecan Bar.

I was a little unsure about the flavor – I got it on super sale at Wegmans – but I ended up being a fan.  It wasn’t as amazing as the cookie dough variety, but it also wasn’t as caloric and had fewer grams of saturated fat.

School fun facts – 1. They recently discovered taste buds in our lungs.  2. I did such a good job on my Orgo homework (rewriting the class notes) that he gave me extra-credit points!

Walk to Wegmans

I knew I needed to get in a couple hours of solid concentration with my Orgo notes, so I headed to the Wegmans’ Cafe to study.  And to get a tasty dinner.

Veggies, veggies, everywhere,

and green beans and chicken and eggplant in garlic sauce.

Since I was alone, and therefore wasn’t sharing a drink with the husband, I decided to try this fun looking drink.

I don’t know if it tasted exactly like chai OR cola, but the flavor had a nice spice and wasn’t too sweet.

Walk Get picked up and drive home

I covered more than 2 miles just in transit today, but canceling my run was Adam this evening wasn’t an option.  We ran one mile out and walked one mile back, with a very exciting destination in the middle –

One morning few weeks ago, I was taking a walk and talking on the phone with my mom when I spotted that window display…..and I made such a loud exclamation of glee that the owner (who was in his car outside) asked me if I’d like him to open up the shop specially for me!  Excited much?  I told him I could contain myself, but my mom told me that for my ‘fall gift’ (yes, she’s crazy) I could go charge a couple of pumpkin brews.

Nice!  We are very excited about our selection.

A sampling of pumpkin/seasonal beers,

a Root beer from Abita (one of my top 3 favorite beer companies),

and a few Tuskers, our new favorite beer that is almost impossible to find in Buffalo! 

The Village Beer Merchant is awesome about having a great selection of things that are absent elsewhere in Buffalo, and the employees are all super nice and helpful.

Adam had to crack open a Tusker the minute we got home, and he saved a few swigs in the bottle for me.

Ahhhh.

What is your favorite type of beer?  I actually don’t like beer that much, but I have three obsessions – 21st Amendment, Hell or High Watermelon; Abita, particularly the strawberry and winter brews; and Tusker.

Happy Birthday Danielle

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It’s been a busy day and I’ll keep this quick. I have an early morning tomorrow so I’m already up way too late.

I was not feeling the gym this afternoon, I wanted to play with my new phone, I wanted to play with Adam, my leg hurt… But I’m learning that for me one day off exercise turns into twenty, so I hauled my butt to the gym. 30minutes on the elliptical, level 6, random. In the end I loved it; I’m not sure how I managed to skip the gym so much this last year, exercise makes me so happy!

It was our friend Danielle’s birthday today and by the time I was out of the shower the boys were in the kitchen baking burning some cupcakes. I put myself together a snack while they cooked.

Pomegranate and Passionfruit Siggi’s, Stonewall Kitchen Mimosa Jam, and crunchy peanut butter.

I still cannot get over how much the Siggi’s yogurt looks like a big scoop of ice cream, it is so aesthetically pleasing!

We had to pick up beer before we headed to Benji’s house and I brought a soursop nectar to drink along the way.

Sadly it had added sugar and was way too sweet, I tossed it after just a few sips.

I was starving and cranky by early evening but thankfully Benji is practically a gourmet cook and he hooked me up with this plate of awesomeness.

That is sunflower bread from the co-op with strawberry balsamic vinegar,

and homemade gazpacho.

Yum! It was such a fresh and tasty way to satisfy my hunger.

We spent a large portion of our evening at Wine Thief, where I in fact passed on wine in favor of a Labat Blue with Lime.

I also snagged a small slice of communal pizza.

The pizza was good, and upon perusing the variety of the food menu Adam and I declared that we have to go back for dinner soon.

The rest of the evening was spent in a wicked game of Pictionary.  Fyi – my team won 😉  I didn’t partake in any more booze, but I did nibble on this Strawberry Soy Joy bar from BlogHer.

Can how many days can you take off from the gym before you lose your motivation?

Five Words or Less

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In NYC, Yippie!  But yawn….

Caffine to drive = skim latte.

Mike’s split with Camile, yum.

WW Foccacia, egg, cream/cheese.

BlogHer reception, vodka diet coke.

Big movie popcorn bites = dinner.

Dinner for Schmucks was hilarious!

Give me 5 words to describe your day.

Prioritizing

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Today has been such fun!  It’s felt packed, but in the best way possible.  First things first, let me announce the CSN Stores giveaway winner –

Clare (#14) please send me an e-mail – emilyhwaxATgmail.com – so I can get you your prize.

This morning actually felt a little stressful; I way overslept and was trying to squeeze in lunch plans, a workout, apartment cleaning, showering, and being on time to pick my parents up from the airport.  I’m really proud of myself though because I made exercise a priority.  I realized that Katie wouldn’t be upset if I made our lunch date a maybe, and my parents wouldn’t care if the apartment was messy, but I would care if I skipped my run.  So I went!  And I ended up having time to (quickly) do everything else too.

I did cut my length though, which ended up being for the best because my calves were stupid tight.  I didn’t manage my times as much, just ran and walked whenever I needed to.  In the end I did ~1.6miles and 20minutes.

I kept my lunch date, and picked Katie up for a trip to Panera.

I did the half/half deal; half a strawberry, poppy seed, & chicken salad,

with half a turkey and artichoke pannini,

with an apple as my side.

The sandwich was gooey and crunchy and perfect but the salad was NOT good.  I ended up leaving 95% of my salad even though the other half of my tray was practically licked clean.

After dropping Katie off I went to the husband’s computer lab to print off airport directions; what, I’ve only lived in Buffalo a full year?!?  We had a fun time showing them the town, we hit up the mall, Target, Allentown, the Erie Marina, and finally had a fabulous dinner at Pearl Street Cafe.

There was a long wait so we went the bar so that my parents could try some of the microbrews.  I went the tall Johnny Walker Black and Coke route.

Drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk!  I did not eat enough today to functionally handle this big drink and the poor husband definitely dealt with me being a little loopy during dinner 😉

Foodwise my mommy and I split a small Chicken Cheddar Pizza.

It came with broccoli and black olives, a fantabulous combination.

I had this slice times 2 –

As well as a few big bites of Adam’s lobster ravioli.

It was a perfect “Welcome to Buffalo” dinner.

How do you make exercise a priority?

On the Move

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Thanks for all the birthday wishes guys!  Even though it didn’t feel very celebratory, I ended up having a pretty good 25th birthday; I like things low-key.  We are 99.9% moved but the last two days have been H-A-R-D!  We did everything but the kitchen yesterday, the kitchen today, and our pictures need to be hung sometime this week.

I must have been nervous/excited because I slept maybe 40minutes Friday night.  I actually got out of bed at 3:40am to take a shower.  Our U-Haul pick-up was at 7am so it was an early morning.  Don’t we look excited?

I did manage to have a pretty good breakfast though.

Fage with Strawberry,

and some blueberries (I didn’t eat the whole pint, but I didn’t want to diry a bowl to put them in).

And I even managed some birthday flare – glitter painted nails.

We were 100% focused on moving so breakfast ended up having to hold me over until late evening.  I did grab a few chunks of watermelon mid-morning though.

And I drank this G-2 throughout the day.

Moving was a serious workout and the husband and I were both sweating bullets so we knew we’d need to replenish some electrolytes.

We moved and we moved and then we moved so more.  Then finally (8pm!) it was time for dinner.  It was my birthday so we got a little gussied.

But after some rain, and some raising of fists to the sky and proclaiming that it shouldn’t rain on birthdays, we moved the party to Cheesecake Factory.

There was a 60minute wait (keep in mind that we last ate at 8am) so we found our way to the bar.  I got a passionfruit mojito because it was made with Cruzan rum.

And then I was drunk.  The combo of not sleeping, not eating, busting my butt all day, and then booze was just too much for me, I could barely keep my eyes open at the table!

We finally got seated and Adam and I practically cheered when the bread basket was brought to the table.

He also shared one of his avocado eggrolls with me.

Dinner –

I ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich,

with a green salad on the side.

At that point I was too tired to be very hungry, so I ate all of my salad but only 1/3 of my sandwich.  But what’s a birthday without (cheese)cake?

We got the caramel pecan turtle cheesecake to split.

It was tasty but too much, I took 3 bites and wrapped the rest up for Adam.  Bed never felt so good!

This morning I took a walk in search of breakfast.  The co-op is only .9miles from my new apartment, this could be dangerous!  Sadly the co-op wasn’t exactly bursting with fruit that didn’t require a utensil so I headed to Starbucks.  It might be baby food, but it’s still fruit!

I also got an egg white, spinach, and feta wrap.

Again today we were too busy for lunch, but I did grab some chocolate chip cookies (baked fresh for the husband prior to the move).

The only real snafu in the move so far is that when I turned on my oven to make dinner this evening the fire alarms went off.  Fun fact: the alarms in our apartment are electronic so taking out the battery doesn’t shut them up 😦 We turned it on twice and both times there was no smoke but still deafening noise.  We called to have it taken care of tomorrow and I plopped my “oven roasted” asparagus into a pan to cook on the stove.

I also ate the rest of my buffalo chicken sandwich (with blue cheese dressing).

Not a bad dinner at all.

We don’t have internet set up yet so the husband dropped me off at the Spot so I could blog.  We should be getting it hooked up on Tuesday but I’ll be checking in sporadically until then.  Be on the look out tomorrow for pictures of the new apartment and a giveaway!

What’s the worst moving snafu you’ve encountered?  Last year our BUDGET (hate them) truck leaked and ruined our matress, but other than that we’ve been pretty lucky.

Sample

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It’s been a fun evening but I probably should have been in bed hours ago so I’ll try to keep this short 😉

When the husband got home this afternoon we took a much-need 1hour nap.  Then we geared up to go to the gym.  I realize today probably didn’t provide the best circumstances for a work out (lack of sleep, not a lot of food) but I’m finding that if I take even one day off from gyming it that one day turns into two, and three, and so forth.  It’s like my lack of motivation snowballs.  So for the next 30days or so – the amount of time it takes to form a habit – expect to see some sort of formal workout from me every day.  Even if it’s just 10 minutes of stretching, hopefully making it “official” will keep me motivated.

Today’s workout was 30minutes on the elliptical.  I set the machine to level 6 random, and did backward pedal/forward pedal intervals as well as several sprints.

I gave it my all and was so tired afterwards I had a hard time raising my arms to wash my hair in the shower!  I think I managed to look pretty cute though, dontcha think?

The only thing I like more than ruffles is trying out new restaurants with the husband and that is precisely what tonight’s date entailed.

We’ve had SAMPLE on our radar ever since we wandered past it last month during the art festival.  The concept is that you get to SAMPLE a lot of little tastes.  It’s like tapas but the serving sizes are even smaller, single portion, no sharing.

The husband and I are a unit though (gag) so we managed to share a bit.  Like the cheese plate we split –

Carmelized onion, goat cheese, and roasted pear butter pannini.  Housemade ricotta cheese with fire roasted pineapple chutney. Aged provolone “fondue” with roasted tomato & basil pesto and baguette cubes.  I ate about 1/3 of this; it was ok, but nothing exceptional.

Or the 2-for-1 rum drink special that prompted us to order strawberry mojitos –

The husband’s entrée consisted of little sandwiches and “lots” of meat –

Cuban sandwich, steak frites, beef on weck, and pulled pork.

I got one sample plate to taste, Fish and Chip –

Beer battered salt cod served on a crispy potato guafrette with napa cabbage cole slaw.  The cole slaw was crazy good, but I was glad to only have a small bite of the fried fish.

I took the healthy route for my meal and choose something of the “Small Plate” menu instead of the “Sample” options.  Beet salad –

Tender green salad with roasted beets, gorgonzola cheese, and beet vinaigrette topped with housemade candied walnuts.  This was very good, but certainly not the best salad I’ve ever had.  I prefer this combo with goat cheese.

For dessert we split the Sample Some More –

Housemade graham crackers, chocolate peanut butter cream, bruleed vanilla marshmallow with dark chocolate sauce, and peanut brittle, served with dark hot chocolate.  This dish was a winner, you can’t go wrong with ‘smores!

In the end we agreed that we had a good time but probably wouldn’t go back (unless it was to sit at the bar and eat dessert).  The concept was wonderful but the execution wasn’t quite there.

I knew Adam would still be hungry but in my effort to feed him I shared too much of my salad and ended up a bit hungry myself.  We drove around for awhile and ended up grabbing a 4-piece chicken nugget kid’s meal at Wendy’s.

I know a lot of bloggers wouldn’t eat Wendy’s, period, but I was actually pretty proud of myself for this choice.  My meal wasn’t quite big enough so I had hunger and not appetite (look at that nutrition vernacular!) and this was a reasonable little meal.  We are going out of town again this weekend so our fridge is pretty bare and I can’t think of any fast food option that would be a better choice than a kid’s meal.  I could have probably done without the fries but Wendy’s fries are sooo good – I like the extra squishy ones – and I did share some with the husband.

How do you get/stay motivated for your work outs?  Any tips for me as I get back into shape?

Red, White, and Late

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I hope everyone and their families had an incredible Independence Day.  No July 4th post for me, mostly because I was so ashamed by my lack of red, white, and blue foods; I always stick to theme!  We did dress festively though,

some of us more than others 😉

We did eat in an, ahem, celebratory fashion though, so I woke up today feeling pretty bloated and gross.  No better cure than testing out the new running shoes (an early birthday gift from my parents).

Since it was 10am already but we didn’t want breakfast before our run the husband and I split this pack of energy gels.

They were a free sample but I would probably buy them again, they tasted more like candy than gels and didn’t sit heavy in our stomachs.

I decided the safest route for new shoes was short intervals –

  • 5minute walking warm up
  • 5minute run
  • 3minute walk
  • 5minute walk
  • 3minute walk
  • 5minute run
  • 3minute walk
  • 5minute run
  • 5minute walking cool down

All total we covered 3miles in 39minutes.  I’m unsure about my new shoes still, they were far more supportive but I ended up having to stop and mess with my right foot halfway through because of a big blister forming on my right pinky, I’m hoping from my new socks.

After a quick shower we headed out to meet our friend Danielle for brunch.  I had a ton of work to do today (and did NOT get enough of it done!) but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity since the husband had the day off from the lab.  We headed to Panos.

I was feeling stressed about my work, but that’s nothing an extra spicy bloody mary can’t fix.

All the breakfast options were pretty big, but thankfully I talked the waitress into letting me order off of the kid’s menu.

I ended up with the 1-1-1.  One egg, sunny side up,

one piece of french toast,

and I subbed in hash browns for my one piece of meat.

I smothered everything in maple syrup and devoured, delicious!

While I was home not working I did random snacking.  Blue and I had some Rainbow Nerds.

A serving of Jammie Dodgers biscuit cookies.

An onion roll with Smart Balance, x2 actually, this was quick and tasty.

And I finally got in my red, white, and blue!

Siggi’s vanilla yogurt with strawberry sauce and blueberries.

O-M-G, so fabulous!  Doesn’t the yogurt just look like a scoop of ice-cream?!  The texture is practically like cream cheese!  The strawberry sauce I actually whipped up yesterday, the recipe comes from Healthy Food for Living.  I had to add ~1/4t of xanthan gum to keep it from being too liquidy, but other than that I highly recommend trying it yourself.

The husband came home this evening (he went to a water park with some friends) and insisted on getting me some veggies; my knight in shining arm took me on his steed to the Co-op hot bar.

I got a little bit of turkey Tetrazzini,

a piece of eggplant parmesan,

2 stuffed grape leaves,

and some side salad.

Now I’ve got to get to bed on the double, I panic a little bit whenever I think about how much work I have to do tomorrow!

Did you do anything fun to celebrate the Fourth?