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.

"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?).

Fake Double Dates Are The Best

I just can't get enough of the weekend. It's usually so calm and peaceful and my motto of "Sorry I'm Not Sorry" reigns supreme. I only do what I want to do and it's just an all around great time!

This weekend consisted of home made pancakes. I.Die. They are so easy and so effing good!

It was new release day at the gym, so you know I was all over that shiz! S+J were there too! BodyPump was hard as hell, but I love the burn. Is this my fave release? No, but it'll do. I followed that up with some cardio time on the bike so I could catch up on some reading. And yes, it is possible to do that and get a good workout. I go hard. Trust.

That evening Jess invited me to Sam's Boat - they were on a crawfish mission since Kam was in town. So naturally I said heck yes because it's almost like I'm going on a double date...except my date was Jess. Don't get cray. It's weird hanging out with Kam because I've been hearing about him for over a year so I feel like I know him and we're friends...even though I didn't really meet him unil my last NY trip in Feb.

After Sam's we had a time out so they could pick up Chaz from the groomer and I hit up the grocery store.

They picked me up an hour later and we headed to Bohemes. It was a cute bar type place. The food smelt good so we are def going to have to go back to try some. We got a place on the back patio and had a few drinks and J and I split a cake pop (there was only one left). Great time, good laughs.

It was time for some late night food so we got some Pho. Who knew real food places were still open at midnight? I had never had Pho before, and probably never will again. Jes and I split some chicken friend rice. I requested they add tomatoes. The waiter looked at me as if I had asked for baby brains, told me it wouldn't taste good, so instead he'll give me tomatoes on the side. Actually sir, do you really wanna know what doesn't taste good? Uncooked tomatoes in my rice. Thanks, but no thanks. Can I just get the food the way I want it? Either way, it was delish, even though it was missing something...like tomatoes. Thai Kitchen serves it this way, so it can't be that freaktastic.

S'mores

Steven is the best husband ever. EVER!

When I went over for movie night on Sunday he had bought s'more stuff.

I was so excited because Jes and I had been talking about making S'mores for a couple of weeks, but he kept shooting us down. I would have jumped into making them right then, BUT I was full from dinner…and girl scout cookies, so we made plans to roast on Wednesday.

Wednesday after pump and some additional cardio (I motivated Jes with the s'mores, a fairly effective tactic) we finally had s'mores…after dinner and the new ep of New Girl. (Thanks Steven for letting us watch that even though I'm pretty sure you already watched it the day before).

It had rained earlier in the week so Jes laid out the wood to dry. But it was still a little damp. Nothing that more lighter fluid and matches can't fix! Haha. Almost every time we loaded up more mellows on our sticks S would ask if we wanted more fire, then he would pour the lighter fluid on it. Probably not that safe, but totally awesome and it totally worked! I told them it reminded me of Sirius Black because he used to talk to Harry in the fireplace. S looked at me like I was a little cray. But later he was acting like a caveman talking about the fire. So who is the real crazy person here? I'll call it a tie.

BOOM!

I brought over peeps because I had been wanting to try them and it obviously didn't work out during Sunday dinner. Honestly, not worth the wait. Not impressed. They were alright, but I prefer regular marshmallows.

I made two s'mores but the chocolate wouldn't melt. I think I prefer my s'mores from the microwave. BUT I did enjoy the plain marshmallow roast. I probably ate my weight in them. Ahhh! They are soo goooooodddddd! I think roasted marshmallows might be my fave treat to eat. Or a close tie with some good ice cream.

Jes would make a fab hand model.

Dear Jes, Please help me lock down a husband as great as Steven...and by that I really mean one that will buy me stuff to make s'mores and light the fire. xoxo, Jes

Marshall's Law

Let me take this back a sec before I explain this law.

I have a massive sweet tooth and I'm sure I've mentioned it on here before. I bake almost every week for crying out loud! Sometimes my sugar cravings are outta control, but they were pretty normal and I have been a functioning member of society for a few months now.

Until this happened:

Girl Scout Cookies. Why must you jack with my life?

I bought all of those, preceded to eat a whole box of tag-a-longs/peanut butter patties/whatever they are being called this year within that day. OMG. I had about two cookies from the other boxes, didn't love em (except for the thin mints, duh!) so I shared them with the co-workers. They are soooo welcome.

The second box of tag-a-longs? Yep, ate that the next day. It's like a drug to me. It's the Bella to my Edward.

This basically kicked off a frenzy. Before I knew it I was craving sweets every moment of every day! I also noticed that when I eat vinaigrette dressing it makes me want something sweet. Does that happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

Oh, what happened to the Thin Mints? I ate half and was going to take the other half to work, but B said she wanted it so I stuck it in the freezer. A few days went by and she didn't touch it. Naturally I started to want it. So I had a few. Everyday after that for about a week and a half I had a few more until they were gone.

A few days later she asked me if I had eaten the cookies. I told her yes and asked her if I had told her about Marshall's Law.

Basically it goes back to growing up and Easter candy:

The Easter Bunny would always leave us baskets of candy: Peeps, Cadbury Cream Eggs, and the Reese's Bunny are my fave. One year I ate all of that stuff from my basket on Easter (well, that part happens most every year). I had my eye on Marshall's candy (that he left on the counter, which basically makes it community) because he wasn't even eating it. I decided that if he hadn't even opened it in 24hrs that I was going to have some of it. To keep this short - I ate it. He got mad. Probably cried (he was really little then) and has never forgotten.

What kind of monster would steal this cute kids candy? Oh wait...

Flash forward to sibling weekend in college: Mom brought Marshall to Lubbock and gave us each a package of peeps. They joked about me not eating Marshall's. I ate them the next day when he was sleeping. (I obviously have a peeps problem). But I took him to Walmart the same day to restock...and made him pay. Kidding! I footed the peeps bill.

OK so the law is this: If you have something that I want (and I gave it to you, otherwise I'm not going to just jack your stuff unless you are my brother) and you don't touch it within 24 hours, then it's up for grabs.

Is that super jacked up? Probably yes. Whatever. I always replace the stuff of Marshall's that I eat. I would have replaced the cookies that I gave B then took back, but honestly? She would probably leave them and I would eat them again. Vicious.Cycle.


Back to the sugar addiction...

A few weeks later I ran into the Girl Scouts again and bought two more boxes of my faves...those lasted 3 days. After about a month of these cravings, I feel like my thirst (if you will) has gone down a lot. Not quite regular level, but I don't feel like I'm going to stab someone for a cookie. BUT I might stab someone for a Peep!

Fair Food - Fried Obesity

We kicked off the Houston rodeo with Go Texan Day at work. Basically you just dress like a cowboy/Texan. It was so weird walking through the tunnel at lunch because the majority of the people were wearing cowboy boots and looked a little country. Love it! I was super glad I finally caved and got boots so I fit right in.

That night I went to the cook off with S+J (sister wives date?). S had tickets for Club No-Minor. We cabed it over to Reliant because Parking was a hot mess that we didn't want to deal with. The BBQ was pretty good. The sausage was spicy, but delicious, and the brisket was pretty legit too. Jes wore high heeled boots (my fave of hers) so her feet tired pretty quickly. Since there were hardly any chairs, we ended up just sitting on the ground in the corner. Yes, we do like to keep it classy.

Eventually S helped us hunt down the fried food! He said that I would have to ride the spinny ride that made me cry last time in order to get the food, but I'm glad he didn't enforce that. I really do like roller coasters and rides that go upside down, but not at the fair. Fair rides make me feel like I'm going to die, and death by fair ride is not how I want to go out.

While I waited in line with Steven, Jes decided to go reserve us a table.

NBD - just VIP at the fair.

We ended up getting fried Fruity Pebbles, cookie dough, Reese's, and Oreo's. I was prepared to have my world rocked by the awesomness...but I wasn't. Turns out I'm not impressed by the ability to fry anything you can think of. Maybe if the batter wasn't so thick it would have been better? But I doubt it. At least I can now say that I've had it...even though I wasn't in love.

What do you think about fair food? Love it? Hate it? Gotta have it?