Confessional Friday (4)

Linking up with Leslie again at A Blonde Ambition for one of my favorite link-ups.

I confess that this weather makes me want to roll the windows down on my car, drive around, listen to country music, find a field, and stare at stars.

I confess that I used the last of my favorite OPI nail polish sample. It's one of those small bottles and I have no idea what the color is called. My manicure turned out all thick and chunky since it was the end of the bottle.

I confess that eating every sweet and carb insight was terrible for my weight loss but at least I'm back on track.

I confess that I used my credit card rewards to get some Old Navy gift cards so I could get more clothes.I bought like 3 dresses. I can't wait until they get here.

I confess that I want to try the new Wendy's flatbread sandwiches, but let's be real, I REALLY miss the Pita sandwiches they had back in the early 2000s. Do you remember those???

I confess that the paint chipping off my bumper from the hail storm a few weeks ago is really irritating me. I don't want to pay to get it fixed. I also feel that this is ridiculous and that half the issue is that the paint job must have been shitty but I can't complain to Toyota. WTF.

I confess that I did a Confessional Friday link up last week and forgot to actually link up!

I confess that I'm using this disgustingly high pollen count as an excuse not to run. But seriously, when I ran the other day with the pollen count at like 4000 my throat was killing me.It felt  like it choking me.  It's at like 7000 today so I'll be even worse.

I confess that I'm trying to be more proactive about my happiness. I am very lucky all things considered. I shouldn't be comparing myself to others and feeling so competitive with job searching.

I confess that Steve will be here in 25 hours (he gets in at 11:30 am tomorrow) and I can hardly contain myself as the hours creep by.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and a happy friday!

Throwback Thursday: Treats from Travels

Throwback Thursday!!
Here is a repeat post I wanted to post on here from my old blog.

One of my favorite things about traveling is the food.
I love it.  I remember watching $40 a Day with Rachael Ray and learning to "ask the locals" (which to her meant the receptionist at the hotel). Seriously, I will go online, find the restaurants that have been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate from Food Network and make sure we eat something from at least one of the restaurants they featured. 

Sometimes the food just looks so enticing, I forget to take a picture first. Actually, this happens a lot.  I know, taking pictures of your food is something people love and hate - but I'll tell you this - if you're hungry, don't read this post. It will make you want to travel and eat!

Two years ago in my final year of grad school, we had a national convention in Baltimore, MD.  My goal, of course was to eat a crab I could smash with a hammer and wash it down with a Yuengling.  Mission accomplished.  We also went out to a sushi dinner one night and one of my friends was taken over to the dark side after enjoying sushi for the first time!

Steve and I went to NYC for our honeymoon.  I had a bit of a hangover after the most amazing wedding spent with friends and family so once we got there, we didn't even site-see.  We arrived Sunday, took a nap, watched a football game, and then went to get pizza at Lombardi's.  I actually planned the food we wanted to eat and days based on location. Monday, we had tickets to see a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman, so after sleeping in, we went to Carnegie Deli where I got a corned beef sandwich and Steve got Pastrami; we shared the two. I can tell you I only finished one half. It was unreal.  That night we got tickets to see Avenue Q for a great price. We had dinner at a Louisiana style restaurant called Delta Grill.  The next day, we had dim sum in Chinatown at The Golden Unicorn and walked around Chinatown and Little Italy.  Next we went to  Dylan's Candy Bar to buy some candy for our families.  We then were going to go to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate but they had a 3 hour wait and it was starting to rain, so we walked back to Dylan's and shared a HUGE ice cream sundae.  That night we had tickets to see Wicked, so we went back, did some shopping and then got ready to see the show.  We had reservations for an amazing steak dinner at BLT Steak, but I didn't think it was classy to take a picture of my $40 steak. Of course, before we left we had bagels. It wouldn't be a trip to NY without them.

Last year Airtran was having one of their crazy air travel sales and some friends from work and I decided we only live once, let's go to NOLA (pre YOLO).  We had a blast.  NOLA is so full of food options but we were all kinda poor.  We had beignets at Cafe Du Monde which I learned do wonders for a hangover after spending the night before out on Bourbon Street (also I realized two posts back to back talk about hangovers - it's really NOT a habitual thing for me).  We also walked around some shopping areas, went to Jackson Square, and just really took in the French Quarter.  It was amazing.  We had some fabulous Po'Boys at Johnny's and then had some fancy schmancy dinner that night. Fact - head cheese is ground up pig head, no cheese is involved (in the back of my mind, I knew that, but forgot, so when we ordered it, it all came back to me and I was really embarrassed). Also, I recommend The Court of Two Sisters for brunch.  It's pricy but the best brunch buffet I've EVER had.  That rounded out our exciting weekend in NOLA.  I told Steve we have to go back together.

My family and I went to Boynton Beach to clear out my great aunt's apartment after she passed away.  It was hard going to through a lot of those memories and saying good bye - but it was nice to be with family and share that.  Of course, my parents have the same food obsession I do - so we made what we could of it by having a few delicious meals.  We went to The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. while we were there. The bagels are amazing - like you're right in NYC having them. They treat the water so it is similar to that of NYC water.  They also serve iced coffee with coffee ice cubes - how Pinterest of them.  We also went out for Mother's Day to Abe & Louie's - an amazing steak house. Again, I only remembered to take a picture of the seafood tower and dessert.  The seafood tower was delicious and impressive! The cheesecake is shipped from Junior's in NYC. So delicious.

The past two years we've gone on vacation to Seabrook Island with Steve's family.  We have spent one or two of those days in Charleston, SC.  We like to go to the Old City Market, walk around and shop. The first year we were there, we went to Hominy Grill - because it was featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate for the grits and the chocolate pudding. Oh. My. God.  The grits were great - so delicious, but the chocolate pudding - oh my God, the chocolate pudding.  Get it. Just do it. It is SO good. It's thick and chocolatey and velvety - it's so rich, we share it.  Get it, for real. 

When Steve lived in DC, we waited about 20 minutes to get some cupcake from Georgetown Cupcakes.  It was 100% worth it.  We got 1 strawberry, 2 double chocolate, 1 mint chocolate, 1 red velvet, and 1 vanilla.  UPDATE: Now that he lives there full time I can't wait to move so I can get some again!

So there are a few of our food adventures.  Some of them get posted on here periodically as they happen.  I know I overly used the word "delicious."  I'm sure it was a little out of control.  I hope it gave you ideas of places to go on your travels and even if you don't love to plan out your vacation with mandatory food trips. What's your favorite place you've eaten on vacation? Any go to places? 

The Time I Almost Got Arrested

Did I tell you I almost got arrested?

No? Well I did, almost.

I have never been so scared.

Now I'm trusting you all because this is truth time.  I think we all make mistakes in life, and we grown and learn from them.  I can tell you this was in the top 5 the dumbest mistakes I've ever made in my entire life.

I think we can agree if you are a member of a sorority, attended college, or just live life in general you've probably made some questionable decisions.

Faces are covered to protect the innocent :-). 

I mean, a lot of questionable decisions. Like things not pictured in these pub crawl pictures and Big/Little night pictures. . .

Maybe not. Maybe you're responsible. . .

Honestly, I didn't even make that many wild decisions. I had my RA job, was involved in a lot of different organizations, and so forth. For some reason, this night, I just had this terrible idea. . .

Anyway, we had philanthropy weeks in undergrad.  Each fraternity and sorority had a week where they hosted different events and competitions to raise money for their organization's philanthropy.  In the fraternity weeks, the sororities would compete and vice versa. They were a ton of fun but also SUPER competitive.  When it was your organization's week you could sign up to "coach" a team from one of the fraternities. I had coached one team before, then my senior year, I decided to coach a team again, and got to coach our Sigma Chi team.  One of the events our sorority held was a chariot race.  The teams had to make a chariot and race using it.  We were struggling to come up with something so my fellow coaches and I decided "oh, let's borrow a shopping cart from a store parking lot, and then return it the next day."

Key mistake number one.

So two of my sorority sisters who were my fellow coaches and I decided to take my teal Ford Taurus hatchback to the Kmart parking lot and grab a shopping cart.  We waited until it was dark so we wouldn't be caught.  We successfully got it in the car, rearranged the seating, and pulled out of the parking lot.  I started driving down the road when I realized a cop was following me.  I decided to take a turn and try to avoid the officer.

Key mistake number two.

At this point we were all super paranoid.  We were wondering if we could be arrested, where do we go? Is he even actually following us? Can you just slowly out drive the cop?  I realized when I turned right that I had made an amateur mistake.  I had turned my headlights off in the Kmart parking lot in order to be less noticeable when we were stealing the cart. When I pulled out of the parking lot, I forgot to turn my lights back ON because the area we were in was so well lit.

Key mistake number three.

The cop turned his lights on and pulled us over. We were FREAKING out.  The officer came over to the car.  We had the typical exchange asking for license and registration. The officer asked if we knew why he pulled us over.  I told him I just realized our lights were off. I said we had left Sheetz and the lights were so bright in the parking lot I didn't realize my lights were off. I don't know how I came up with that BS story so fast. He asked why we turned off the road over to this dead end street (whoops, poor street choice). I explained that we were looking for a safe place to turn around to go back to Sheetz because we forgot to get a milkshake for our friend. Mind you, he still hasn't mentioned the kart in the back of the car, but low and behold, now he did.

He asked where the cart came from.  I told him Kmart, we were going to borrow it for the day, then return it.  Also, at this point one of my friends is sitting backwards, holding the cart, without a seat belt.  Then he dropped the bomb "Have you ever heard of petty larceny?" OH SHIT. I told him we were just borrowing it profusely and started to get upset but somehow stayed calm and sweet on the outside. Seriously, someone was watching over me this day. He went back to his car.  While he was there I was freaking out thinking "I just got in to grad school, my life is over."  My stomach was in knots. I felt like I was going to throw up.  My friends were freaking out. I texted my Little who was also our sorority president at the time so if I went to jail at least she could help me or know where the hell I was. After what seemed like an eternity the officer came back to the car and said:

"Okay, if you return the cart to Kmart and go back to campus, I wont' give you a ticket or arrest you.  If you want to borrow the cart, why don't you ask Kmart in the morning?"

I have NEVER been so relieved.  I thanked him a million times. We took the cart back IMMEDIATELY and went straight back. I really thought I was going to jail for stealing that cart. We all did.  In case you were wondering, somehow our team came up with something for the chariot race.

Things I learned: 

1. When trying to do something secretive, make sure you're inconspicuous and following the rules.
2. Officers can be nice and don't always give you tickets
3. Sometimes the worst situations turn out okay
4. Don't commit crimes
5. Bad life choices are a part of college and life in general

What a lesson learned, but it makes for great stories!

I hope you don't judge me too much now and that you got a good laugh out of the story.

Sunday Currently (3)

Linking up with Lauren

reading Batman origins. Yep, I'm a nerd. I've been reading all the background stories of the characters. FYI it is really confusing and complicated. I bought Steve Batman: Year One for his birthday, and I think I'm going to borrow it after.

writing  this post and thinking of others I may start for the week. 

listening to the washer and dryer running while watching War of the Worlds on TNT. I bought a ticket to see it in high school, but never saw it.  We went to go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm a deviant and we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but it was sold out, so we bought tickets to see War of the Worlds instead. We took someone's seats. I'm just now watching it.

thinking Less than a week until Steve visits and I cannot wait!!

smelling The hair dye I used today. It actually smells good! It's that new Garnier oil stuff.

wishing I could glimpse into the future.

hoping  I'll get it together this week and stop eating everything in sight and get back to running tomorrow.

wearing A shirt I got from Goodwill in college and gray/blue striped sleep pants.

loving the new green jeans and nude flats I got this week. I'll post an outfit picture next week!

wanting my Old Navy gift cards to get here so I can get some more dresses!

needing a major hug from Steve

feeling overwhelmed with my job search. Sorry I keep talking about it. I have a lot of friends who are sending me anything they can to help, but I feel totally lost in the job market and don't know what to do. I'm struggling if I should start searching outside my field, then I think of the 2 years I took getting my Master's and how much I love it, and can't imagine moving out of the field.

clicking on to the CocoPPa app everyone's been talking about and For Chic Sake making backgrounds for my iPad and iPhone.

This weekend was pretty chill.  I went to lunch yesterday with a friend, at a BBQ place we'd never been to before.  I don't know why I got to mayonaise based salads, but that coleslaw was delicious. 

Then I went to Michael's to look for items for a craft project and went shopping to buy my brother a birthday present for his 13th birthday. I also watched She's the Man today for the one millionth time.  Channing Tatum is so delicious.  I wrote most of this earlier. Right now I'm actually watching the Mad Men premiere. I love it. God, I wish I looked like Christina Hendricks.  I love her character, Joan.  She is so realistic about the time she lives in but so strong at the same time. 

I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday. I cant believe it's back to work tomorrow.  It may be Monday but it is one day closer to Saturday, when Steve arrives!

Confessional Friday 3

I confess that I have been pretty much watching nothing but 30 Rock. That's why I have all these weird Liz Lemon references.

 

 I confess that I am a little over excited for Mad Men Season 6 to start Sunday

I confess that I ate four bunny Peeps the other day. My parents and younger brothers surprised me with a quick visit on their way back to Pennsylvania from Valdosta on Monday where they were visiting my brother and new nephew. We had dinner and hung out and they left the next morning. They brought me peeps and a chocolate bunny!!

I confess that I finally decided to do that thing to my phone where I make the apps and background all crazy girly. I'm not sure how its going to turn out. I kept going back and forth on this decision. Has anyone else done this??

I confess that all my friends with puppies make me jealous. I don't have baby fever I have puppy fever.

I confess that for the past 4 days I've been eating ever carb and dessert I can. What is wrong with me?

I confess that I was looking at the amount of weddings we have coming up this year and when they are and got nervous about all the gifts and travel expenses especially with the fact that I am still looking for a job in the DC area. They are mostly family weddings, too. This deadline of June is creeping up way too fast for me and the struggle is getting real.

I have a lazy weekend ahead but it is T-minus 8 days until Steve is here for a 4 day visit and I can't wait! Friday took way too long this week!


Also - Happy Birthday to my good friend JULIE! We've been friends since high school, used to plan our fake futures in AP Euro and on AIM freshman year of college (more on that later).