New Friends

Friday night the Avengers was out, so you know I bought my reserved ticket for Studio Movie Grill. I have become so accustomed to going to the movies alone that I forget to invite other people (Sorry S+J), so it was a solo date night. The movie was pretty good even though I took a power nap during the final battle. What? It was super late and it felt like it was never going to end!

Reserved - is there any other way?

After the movie (it's past midnight at this point) I walked to where I thought I parked my car but Matilda was no where to be found. I started to panic, but tried to look calm, and headed back towards the theater so I could avoid getting kidnapped and come up with a game plan. All I could come up with was call S+J so I'm not stranded. Then I remembered that I had actually parked in the other garage, so I headed that way. When I got to the top I spotted her. I've never been so relieved to see Matil in my whole life! What was I not so relieved to see? The three shady people hanging out in a vacant spot a few feet away from my car. Obviously I wasn't attacked since I'm writing this, but it did seem very odd. I made it home safe and sound.

Saturday morning I met Laura (new girl from work) at the Farmer's Market. I was so stoked when she invited me because I hadn't been before! Did I need anything? no. But I went anyway. She brought her friend, but I don't remember her name (this just got awkward). We walked around, checked out the veggies, and I bought some macarons. They were pretty good. I really liked the green one (Lilly of the valley) and will def hit them up again!

We had breakfast at Empire Cafe (no, not the hotel owned by Chuck Bass). And in the moment that they delivered my waffle (which looked over cooked - those sneaky cooks!) and I took my first bite, my life was forever changed. It was amazing! Life changing!

 They had three paintings in the large dining room. This was by far my fave:

This isn't the one I was facing, but def my fave of the three.

Unfortunately the one that faced me was of a woman dressed like a genie, and I'm pretty sure her nipples were out. Awkward.


After breakfast I headed to the gym and got to chat with Jess for a bit before she left and I headed to BodyPump. Turns out Brian had a sub. ugh. I like this lady alright, but she doesn't play the music loud enough, and I never know what she's saying. I don't know if it's because she is mumbling, talking too fast, or has bad timing with her instructions, but I never know what's going on. And that? irritates me. I finished up with some cardio then headed home.

These last couple of weeks I've designated Saturday night as my cook something new night. Just because I'm cooking for one doesn't mean it's ok to get lazy in the kitchen. This week I pulled out a recipe I had bookmarked from a blog a while back. I don't know what happened, but it wasn't any good. This is probably the second time in my whole life that I've followed a recipe only to have a crap result. I was irritated and resorted to cheese and crackers for my sub in dinner. EFFFFFFF! On the positive side, at least I was only cooking for myself, so no one else will be scarred for life and remember me as a terrible cook, because I'm not. Just so we are clear.

That Awkward Moment

Life has been full of awkward moments lately, which isn't really out of the ordinary... So naturally, I would love to share them with you!

That Awkward Moment When:

• you are curling your hair before you get dressed and you drop your curling iron. That was the most painful burn of my life. (Always get dressed first!)
• you realize you might have been friend dumped...twice...in one weekend...
• the boy you like hurts your feelings for the first time. Turns out it was a misunderstanding and he didn't even realize you were being rude back (or so he claims). Which leads to:
• you apologize for being rude, and the other person thought you were being regular sarcastic and not  rude sarcastic. 
• you write about Marc, and then stop to wonder if he ever reads your blog, then realize you can't be bothered with those thoughts, so you try to tone it down but post it anyway.
• Ryan tells the BP class not to be afraid to take the front row...when he knows you & Jess are always in the front so you give him the stink eye.
• you give Ryan the stink eye for trying to give your spots away, and then he announces to everyone that you both just gave him a death glare.
• someone takes his advice and spot jacks you the next class. WTF Dude? You were already on the front, just on the end. And you've been here for a few weeks so I know that you know that's my spot. What kind of shit are you trying to pull? (I may be a little anal about this, but I've been in the same spot since August, and Jess is always on my right, so it just feels weird when I stand somewhere else. I don't like change.)
• you call Daniel on his work number and open with "Yes, Mr.Sharp, I'm going to need you to engineer some shit for me." And it turns out you were on speaker phone.  
• B comes home early and you are on the couch barley wrapped in a blanket...and only in a blanket.
• the gym owner might have caught you checking out one of his employees that was changing in the parking lot. (What? Who doesn't like eye candy?)
• you turn down the invite to the Belmont Stakes because you are going to a concert that weekend, then Marc questions you about it and you don't know the album or song titles so he thinks you are lying. 1. I don't lie. 2. i just don't pay attention to the details - I didn't say they were my all time favorite, just that I really liked them.
• You realize that you do like One Direction and want to go to the concert but it's sold out because you mocked the pre-sale email you got and deleted it straight away. They got me.

What's the most awkward moment you've experienced or witnessed lately?

Florence + The Machine

This whole week has been a little stressful, but I've managed. And then today happened.  Between stress and hormones the perfect storm was brewing. ick. Most of the time if my feelings get hurt or if someone is irritating me I can just brush it off and not give attitude in return. Not today. Today was one of those "Do you know what I hate today...other than everything?" days. Well, not until after lunch. I may have also had a mini cry sesh. That was awkward.

Daniel sent me this which made me laugh.

I was already pretty stoked about F+TM, but even more so since I had rage flowing through my veins. Jess picked me up from work and we shared a nice dinner at Ziggy's. I had never been, but it was pretty legit. We shared the spinach artichoke dip and the spa salad - because I know you were dying to know. I filled her in on my day and what had me raging. I love when I tell someone something and they give me shock face at all the right moments. Jes did this to perfection today. I'm so glad we were on the same page. It made me feel more sane.

We headed to the concert, got some souveniers, and unwanted attitude from the girls by us in line. She's pretty lucky I didn't throw some bows attitude her way. And then it was time for Flo...after whoever that was that opened.

She came on and it was like the heavens parted and rained down peace, fluff, candy, and pure joy. She was everything I had wanted/expected and more. She sounds even better live than she does on the CD. So in love right now.

I basically feel in love with Flo the first time I heard Cosmic Love. It was used in The Vampire Diaries campaign back in 2010. That is one of my all time favorites! We got to the end of the concert and she didn't play it. I was really dissapointed..but it was part of her two song encore! My night was complete.

Her singing voice is so strong and powerful, it was weird to hear her speaking voice the way it was so soft and delicate.

Great concert. I will def go see her again!

"My Favorite's Gouda" - A Farwell Austin Tour

What a wonderful girls weekend! S was invited but declined. I really don't know why he didn't want  to attend the Country Living Fair with Jess, Amanda, and me.

The first two times I hung out with Amanda I just wasn't really sure about her making the friend cut. Then she came out with us on Halloween and I decided she was alright. She's one of Jess' best friends so she must be pretty cool. I've been blog stalking her since December, so I was pretty excited about getting to spend more time with her. And after this weekend, I will officially consider her one of my friends...I hope she feels the same, otherwise this just got awkward because I know she sometimes reads my blog. (She also mentioned that when she reads my blog that it sounds like me. And I loved that!)

Friday morning I met Jess at the gym for a pre trip workout. We knew we had some less than healthy foods on the menu for the weekend (donuts, donuts, and cupcakes) so figured we'd do some pre work on that. A little after lunch we hit the road for Austin.

I did really good about not falling asleep! Yay me! (just ask Daniel, I'm not always a fun road tripper. When we made the 13hr drive home I slept almost the whole way...and had no trouble sleeping that night). We listened to the first BodyJam mix and chatted.

Amanda offered us this as soon as we arrived:

It was so good! And yes, it was the one she posted on her blog a while back...because I'm a blog stalker.

Our first stop to get this party started was Krispy Kreme! I was so excited! I hadn't had Krispy Kreme in over a year. It's the 2nd best thing to Donut Stop. We lucked out and came in right as the fresh donuts were coming off the rack. The girls were surprised when we each got a free one. (Ummm...am I the only one that's been here before? and happens to know the hours when the donuts are hot and fresh? errr, that's awkward.) When the kind donut lady gave me the donut you would have thought she was handing me my engagement ring with the love eyes I was giving it. I.die. There was a birthday party going on (I totally want to have my bday party there!) so we creeped on that for a while.

Next up: dinner! Well, kind of. We decided we didn't want to eat out for all of our meals so we headed to HEB to gather things for our snack plate dinner (a staple at BJ House). Cheese & crackers, Berries & cream, bad ass guac, and pizza (not pictured...obvs).

When Amanda said she needed bacon for the guac, I'm pretty sure I gave her the "Are you effing serious?" look..but it turned out to be delicious! (Can you please make some for us again asap?)

We had also stopped by Sephora and the girls found this black mask and managed to get us some samples.

It reminded me of Zoolander when he was in the coal mines and he painted himself black with the coal and jumped out at his Dad and Brothers (nice Vince Vaughn cameo) and yelled "Surprise!" Naturally we took pictures inspired by that, but Jess has those. The black also made your nose disappear, so I felt like Voldy.

We watched She's The Man - one of my faves! - then went to bed.

The next morning we hit up Gordoughs for some crazy donuts. Amanda (from work) had sent me a link with the top 10 donut places in America, and this was on it. They were delicious (not to be out done by Donut Stop). They were huge and tasted like a funnel cake with tons of different toppings on them. I got Heavenly Hash, and Cherry Bombs. When the guy came to the window he said, "You're lucky you're cute so I'll take your order." Ummmm...really? Actually, 1. You will take my order because I have $$. 2. YOU are lucky that I'm cute because you get to look at me. So You.Are.Welcome!

When they gave me one of the wrong donuts, but I figured I just ordered the wrong thing and the donut looked delish so I took it back to the table and ate the donut hole that was on top...just in time for an elder gentlemen to come up behind me because they gave him my donut. That was a little awkward when I had to apologize for eating his donut hole. Luckily he didn't seem to mind.

Heavenly Hash: Donut topped with marshmallow fluf, chocolate, chocolate chips, and a brownie bite.

Next up:

After many hours of that, watching some guy bake a cake and sings a song about Country Living, and witch lady not wanting to show Jes a ring because it was $600, we called it a day and decided to start checking off the rest of our list.

So we hit up the candy shop.

We also saw Oscar (from The Office) on the street!

Then we went to Hey Cupcake so I could break up with them. That was a surprise for both of us. My favorite cupcake combo is chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing. A classic. Last time they were sold out, this time they had discontinued that cupcake. WTF is that! It's not like I'm asking for some crazy flavor! Whatever. The lady tried to sub in chocolate cake with vanilla cream cheese icing and I told her "No thank you." What I really wanted to do was order it, then smash it upside down on the counter, but figured that might be a tad dramatic. So instead I had a snow cone. And it was awesome! Tigers Blood fo lyfe!

Jess had found two bars on pinterest for us to hit up.

We went behind the velvet curtain at Bar Congress. I told the waitress I wanted something sweet, fruity, and delicious like you would serve a child, but with alcohol." She pointed to something on the menu then immediately asked for my ID. haha. Oh, and the drink she suggested? Not sweet or fruity at all. I couldn't even be bothered to force it down. Oh well.

Dinner at Frank. It's all hot dogs and all delicious! Another great suggestion by Jess (not me, the other one.)

So true

Then we hit up Lustre Pearl. It was a pretty cool bar. It was in a house with a huge backyard.

Decided to stop branching out and stick to what I know: Cran Vodka. Their cran was super delish like a cherry pop ice.

It was all fun and games until the pin up girls next to us decided to bust out the hula hoop. They were doing this a little too close to our table for comfort, so after about 30 min of that Amanda stuck out her hand to hit the hoop. It was so funny!

We got home around midnight and I'm pretty sure I feel asleep before Jes even made it into our bed.

The next morning Amanda was busy packing for the big move while Jess and I cuddled in bed. I had a very balanced breakfast of cake and fruit.


This def helped me wake up and get jazzed for the day!

The first night when I busted this bad boy out, the girls looked really confused when the music started playing. I couldn't stop laughing.

We hit up the fair one last time. Then Jess and I hit the road.

We stopped in Bassdrop for a late lunch at Maxine's Cafe. On Sunday they have breakfast all day, so we shared the pancake and french toast. Turns out I actually really like french toast!

Then DQ for dessert. They even turned it upside down! I can't remember the last time DQ gave me ice cream that was frozen enough to do that. It was so cool!

When we got back Steven cooked us a delish steak dinner while Jess and I gave support from the couch.

This weekend has officially made the cut of Top 5 weekends of 2012. I had such a blast with the girls and I'm super glad that Amanda lives a lot closer.

I can't wait to hang out again (and by that I mean Amanda standing us up for our next antique show...foreshadowing?).

Pole 1: Graduation Day

I was so nervous the whole week leading up to graduation. I couldn't decide what to wear or what song to dance to.

On Wednesday Marc started randomly sending me songs he thought I might like, so I asked him for dance suggestions. He suggested a few things that were alright, I just wasn't feelin it.

Sunday I went to practice and made a play list of some contenders (which may or may not have included Justin Bieber). I was afraid I would forget the dance because I get really nervous when I know everyone is watching. This wouldn't be bad if I could improvise, but I'm just not good at that yet. 

Anyway, I went through the routine, whatever. The other thing I was concerned about was the ending. After our last spin we end up on the ground and have to push forward on our knees (kind of slide) to get away from the pole. I can't push forward to save my life. My skin just grips the floor. Ouch.Graduation day. I had settled on my song "Too Close" By Alex Claire* (a Marc suggestion), my outfit, and was ready to get it over with. I felt so nervous I started to feel sick. The last time my nerves were this intense was before my first one on one date with Marc (I think my hands were even shaking in the taxi on my way over…why am I so awkward?).

*Can I just take a time out to say that this all happened before they started using that song in the Microsoft commercial? I'm just sayin.
The nerves only intensified once I went home and got changed. B wanted me to practice for her, so I did, even though there was  a lot of marking since we don't have a pole. She said I would do great and that helped to calm me down for like 5 sec. I headed early to class to get in some practice. A few of the other girls couldn't remember the dance, so I would show them and tell them what's next. That really helped me a lot because I realized that I do know what's up. As soon as Erica walked in I volunteered to go first. "I VOLUNTEER! I volunteer as tribute for pole class." <-- that's what I should have said, but I was too nervous to think to use it. Dang. Before I performed I stopped by the bathroom to wipe the sweat off of my hands and legs. Then it was show time!

When she announced me I totally did cheer hands. Yep, I was obviously ready to bring the sexy. Haha. I just kept telling myself to breathe slow and to take my time. I made it through the performance and would grade it an A. YAY ME! There's always room for improvement (I'm not going to pick my performance apart, just in case you ever watch it you probably won't notice the things that I did). After it was done I was shaking from the adrenaline. Awkward.

Cierra volunteered to go next, but after she was done no one wanted to step up…so you know I had to say something…"I guess we just set the bar so high that no one else wants to go." I was kidding but I did get the stink eye from one girl. Haha. But honestly, that's why I volunteered to go first. I wanted to be the one to set the bar. I knew that if someone went before me and did really well it would just freak me out even more.

After everyone danced it was time for graduation and Erica to hand out our diplomas garters! I asked for a diploma, and the girl next to me looked at me like I was cray. I voted that she hold the garter out and we have to do a spin and catch it with our leg…apparently no one else was into that. Instead we each went up, did the one legged fireman, held the pose at the bottom, and then she put the garter on. Victory was all mine! Of course Drake's "Proud of You" was playing in the background.

I went home as fast as I could, ran through the parking garage, and basically knocked down the apt door with excitement. B was waiting for my return so we could check out the video (yes, we got to record our performances). I was so excited (but kinda nervous) to see it. Luckily B was impressed! She mentioned that when I would always come home beat up and bruised she basically thought it must be because I sucked…well, my friends, that is def not the case!


Sorry, but I don't think I'm going to post this video to the blog…I just don't really like the idea of my grandma/little brother/dad (if he remembers I have this blog) watching it.

But if you see me in real life, ask and I will totes share!

Awkward Neighbor Moments

A while back when I went to see Hunger Games with Steven and Jes, B had Kat and Adam over.

When I got home, I found this little gem on my camera:

And I love B's response:

The best part? Pretty sure Adam forgot he left this on my flip.

Thanks for the video Adam! I hope it cracks you up as much as it did me!

Do You Know What I Hate Today, Other Than Everything?

Daniel was in Houston for a wedding shower so we hung out a bit. I had been starting way too many sentences with "Do you know what I hate today, other than everything?" so figured it wouldn't hurt to talk through my current and ongoing issues. He's actually gotten a lot better at giving advice and calming me down when things are bad. I guess he finally realized that "It'll work out" or "everything happens for a reason" are not acceptable responses when I am in crisis mode, unless you can explain how it'll work out, and what is that reason. It only took 6+ years for him to catch on. (slow much, D?)


He took me to lunch at RA. I think I even let him pick, but he knew what I really wanted, so that's where we went... (It would have been Ruby Tequila's but they closed the midtown location in the fall. I'm still heart broken over that.) Since we were at RA I asked if he had been reading my blog and saw the one about sushi making. I don't remember if he had, whatever, but he did mention that sometimes he reads it and he gets confused because he'll read about something that he's pretty sure I actually did weeks ago.


Yeah, I actually do that a lot. The reason is this: I love to write this stuff down and document my life/whatever it is I write about . BUT I’m not always in a writing mode. When I force it I can't hear my voice when I read it back and I hate that. It's like reading a strangers words. Then I'll get bit by the blog bug and have tons of things to write about, but I really don't want to post 5 longs posts in one day then go MIA for weeks. So I just write when I feel like it and schedule posts to go up every two days (usually). I know that's probably weird (but most things that I do are), I just hate when there is a blog that I’m reading and all of a sudden they go off the map for weeks! It drives me crazy! Do I think anyone reads this regularly other than me? Probably not. It just makes me feel better. Plus, since I subscribe to my own blog through Google Reader (narcissistic much?) I'm always delighted when I see a new post and I can reminisce about the good times…from a few weeks ago. Like today, I was pretty sure I had something scheduled, but I didn't know when or what it was going to be about. I kept checking back and it finally appeared! And it was the S'mores post. I loved reading it and reliving those memories from March. And now I'm thinking about either making s'mores bars (which would be a bad idea for my body) or seeing if S+J want to roast out!


ANYWAY, While we were on the blog topic D told me that one of his friends reads it and asked him if he knew that I sometimes wrote about him and made him sound like an ass. My response? Umm…but you are an ass. I mean, I like you, but let's be honest. If you are an active participant in my life, then you probably know why I would feel this way about Daniel (honestly, I don't know what all I've said about him on here, but it's all true!), if you aren't then you probably think I'm a terrible person. I'm not, promise.

BUT that doesn’t mean he's ALL bad, obviously because we still talk and hang out when he's in town. Even though we aren't dating we still have a close friendship of sorts and he's been there for me a lot when he was no longer obligated to be. He was there for me with the Andrew thing, he even came to the funeral which was probably awkward for him , due to the obvious funeral aspects , but also because although my family likes him as a person, they are less than pleased with him in the love interest area.


The moral of the story is: Daniel is a person that I love, but sometimes just love to hate.


OH, and sometimes he's funny (but not as funny as I am!). We were at CVS and I was looking at the magazines (he had already bought me Health...because I asked, he said no, so I put it on the counter with his stuff anyway. Yes, that did just happen.) and I asked if I could have another. He looked at me like I was cray. So I said, "what if I want the one with Jennifer Love Hewitt on there." He said maybe….anyway, he starts talking about how she's one of his favorites, but his second favorite is Jessica. I interrupt with "Aragon." He says, "Alba . Definitely Alba." I couldn't stop laughing. He totally baited me and I took it.

Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

BriBri was basically harassing me because I was a little late with my weekly bakes. What? Sometimes a girl gets really busy living her life so baking has to wait. I prefer to bake when I can enjoy it and not rush it.

Anyway, I finally had time Thursday night before catching the newest ep of Vampire Diaries on my DVR (OMG. So good as always!).

I have been in cookie mode lately, so please excuse me (in advance) if the blog is cookied out for a while. I might try to trick y'all by just posting out of order. You don't own me, it's my blog, I do what I want. (Cartman inspired).

Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c shortening                   

1 c brown sugar                 

1/2 c granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs 

1/2 c peanut butter (add 1/4 more if you like loads of pb!) 
1 tsp. salt             

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

12oz  Reese's Pieces 

1. Heat oven to 350*
2. In a large bowl mix shortening and both sugars together.
3. Mix in the vanilla & eggs...then the peanut butter.
4. in a separate bowl sift together the flower, salt, and baking soda
5. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the batter.
6. With your mixer on low slowly pour in the bag of Reese's Pieces. ( I didn't use the whole bag, I added them in until I noticed they weren't mixing into the batter because I was on over load. So use your judgement here!)
7. Drop batter from a spoon/cookie scoop onto a baking sheet and pop it into the over for 10-12min.
8. Let cool and eat!

Epic Return Of Wild West Wednesdays

errrr....it was supposed to be.

We had missed two weeks in a row because 1. We had the OTH series finale, and that def took priority over WWW. 2. My body was a little injured from Pole on Tuesday so I had to tap out.

I was so excited to finally be going back!

After BP I skipped out on my cardio/chat sesh time because I didn't want the boys to have to wait on me. WELLLLLLLL, what they forgot to mention was the whole we're going to be at Kyle's brewing beer before we go out situation. I got ready at super speed and decided to start The Vampire Diaries while I waited for the call...I got through the whole ep, noticed it was 9p and thought Adam ditched me. Nope. Just brewing beer because apparently now we don't go until 9:30? This was new to me. I was ready to call it a night, but didn't want to be a flake.

We finally headed over around 10. I was not a happy camper. I don't think the guys have ever been around me when I'm irritated, and def not when I'm irritated with them as this was the first time...but def not the last (foreshadow much?). So this was fun for everyone! haha. I just get really snarky with my jabs, it's actually quite funny...but maybe just for me and the people that aren't the target.

So it was Adam, April, and I. Third wheel. great. Ok.Ok. Actually it wasn't that bad. I'm pretty used to being the third wheel and April is pretty cool. Adam def set that one up for success when he started talking about how they saw Hunger Games. I tried not to geek out to hard on that and twilight, but I think I felt my eyes starting to get bigger as I talked. Adam is such a sweetheart, he took turns dancing with April and me. I would also like to thank April for sharing her boyfriend with me since I have failure to provide my own. And we were on the same page about the boys incompetence.

Adam and April

Croc finalllllllllllyyyyyyyyy (I hope you can feel the irritation with every letter typed in that word) showed up closer to 11. I almost ordered a beer just so I would have a bottle to break and shank him with. Oh, and where's Kyle? That's a good effing question! That fool backed out last min.Good thing I love surprise double dates! haha. All was forgiven (mostly) once Croc took me out on the dance floor.

See? so in love. (Maybe this is why I stopped getting invited to hang out?)

If you over look me cutting my workout short, going so late = coming home late, and Croc's inability to work with a schedule, it was a pretty good time.

Neighbors fo lyfe (or until one of us moves...whatevs).