withaninotay

5k run with Santa

2011-12-07T17:43:00.004-05:00

hey y'all! hope everyone is having an awesome week. hb & i finally got the pics from the race, and don't we look cool? actually, hb looks like he is having a nice leisurely run, whereas i look like i'm about to die. notice how there are no runners really behind us - in fact, just a woman out to run errands! next time, it will be a better finish for sure!!

ps, in case you were wondering about my gear - headband is from manzella, longsleeve crew is from mizuno, shorts by nike, tights by underarmour, and the half-zip is pearl izumi. next time i think i would probably just wear the crewneck.

13 and eaux

2011-12-05T14:41:00.000-05:00

hey y'all! i'm sure by now y'all know that lsu will be playing alabama in the national championship game. it's kind of annoying that we have to play a team we have already beaten in the regular season, BUT i will say that bama is probably the second best team in the nation. one sportscaster said that the rest of the conferences should not be up in arms about this since they didn't take care of business in the regular season. i agree, but it would have been nice to have the national title game as an obvious win for us. the honey badger is ready for this game though.
speaking of honey badgers, my friends have now taken to calling me this since i use the honey badger as motivation when i run. every time i think i want to stop, i just think of how tenacious the honey badger is and keep going. unfortunately, i did walk part of the time at my first 5k this weekend. the silver lining is that although i woke up feeling cold and achy, i was able to finish in 43 minutes when my goal was to finish in 45. i guess i can only get better from here.
geaux tigers!!

nervous nelly

2011-11-23T09:57:00.003-05:00

hey y'all! i'm sure everyone is prepping for a fun filled thanksgiving, but while everyone is enjoying the leftovers and black friday sales, i'll be filled with nervous anxiety when lsu plays arkansas in the battle of the boot. as some of you know, i'm a big lsu fan. i love my former state and i LOVE my school! BUT, i'm so nervous to play arkansas as they are number 3. my hope is to finish the season undefeated and have alabama lose to auburn (war eagle to all you auburn fans out there!!). i was so counting on oklahoma state to go undefeated, because no offense, but i know that the national title would be ours playing them or oregon in the big game. now, i'm so nervous to potentially go up against bama again! the silver lining in all of this is that whoever we play, we play in the superdome in new orleans - how's that for home field advantage?? :)

love

2011-11-22T13:00:00.003-05:00

hey y'all....

i just wanted to share this wonderful interview with christine lagarde on 60 minutes. she's truly a role model and i am so in love with how she carries herself and her honesty of what is going on with the economy. my favorite part of the interview was when asked her thoughts on being the first woman managing director of the imf, she said that she doesn't care about being the first but she really hopes to not be the last.

running gear

2011-11-15T08:51:00.004-05:00

hey y'all! so, of course being the big shopper that i am, i see this whole running craze that i have going on as a perfect opportunity to buy some cute gear! i did some investigating and ordered three pieces - a manzella headband, a pearl izumi half zip and a pair of asics thermopolis running pants. the headband was awesome and really kept me warm. the half zip kept me warm as well, but since i ran in warmer weather, i got hot pretty quickly. the pants feel really amazing and comfortable. so much so that i probably would use them to just run errands had i not signed up for my race. the only complaint i have, and it's not really a complaint about the pant itself, but it's that i'm so short that i feel like the pant leg is too long. i am thinking that when the temperatures drop in the dc area more, i will have to invest in another pair of tights. my next purchase is going to be a running vest - anyone have one they particularly like??

the half

2011-11-11T10:37:00.003-05:00

hey y'all! since everyone (alice) has been clamoring for more information - i will be running my half marathon on march 17, 2012. it's part of the rock and roll marathon series, so a band should be playing every couple of miles. i still haven't looked at the race course, but i'm thinking that avoiding won't help much. the great thing is that i actually have a PLAN! the next couple of weeks, i'm going to prep for my 5k race to establish a good base for the half training. any tips for me?

hello...is thing on?

2011-11-10T18:33:00.002-05:00

hey y'all! i'm wondering if there is anyone out there??? and if not, that's okay, i think i'm going to really try this time to blog again - third time's a charm right?
basically, i just want to be accountable to myself because i've signed up for a half marathon. i'm going to use this space to keep track of my training. first up - the run with santa 5k here in rockville, maryland!

resolution update

2010-01-31T09:29:00.000-05:00

Hey y’all!

So far keeping up with the “blogging more often” resolution is a total FAIL, but I’m happy to report that I have not eaten any meat (with the exception of seafood) the whole month of January!

I think it helped me really think about what to order and to not just go for the usual. To continue this type of eating, I have decided that I will try to limit my meat to once a week. Also, I have decided to start weight watchers again. I feel like I was able to shed some pounds on it, but I did not like the low fat aspect of it. So, for this go around, I’m sticking to “real” food – food that is not processed or has a lot of other things that I can’t pronounce. If you are up for some vegetarian options at home, try the following recipe from the Best Light Recipe cookbook.

1 tablespoon cumin seeds (i used cumin powder)

1 med. onion minced

1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded & chopped fine

9 med. garlic cloves, minced or pressed thru a garlic press (about 3 tablespoons)

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon veg. oil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

salt

3 cups beans drained & rinsed (i used pinto, black, red kidney)

2 cups water

1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon of lime juice

1. toast cumin seeds in a large Dutch oven over med.-low heat, stirring constantly until fragrant, 1 minute. stir in the onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, oil, cayenne & 1/2 teaspoon salt. cover & cook, stirring often, until veggies have softened, about 8 to 10 mins

2. stir in the beans, water, tomatoes, oregano & brown sugar, scraping any browned bits. bring to a boil over med.-high heat; reduce the heat to med-low and simmer until the chili is slightly thickened, about 25 mins

3. stir in the corn & continue to simmer until heated thru, 5 to 10 mins; off the heat, stir in the cilantro and lime juice and season w/ salt to taste

*the chili can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days

veggie tales

2010-01-05T19:36:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!
just wanted to give y'all an update on eating more veggies - so far so good. i don't miss meat yet since i've been eating some fish & other seafood. i made a vegetarian chili on sunday, and to my surprise, it actually turned out pretty tasty.
i've been doing jillian two days so far, and it's kicking my butt, but i think i'm in a groove with it. tomorrow is biggest loser yoga, so watch out for that review.
hope y'all are keeping up with your resolutions :)

resolutions

2010-01-01T12:17:00.002-05:00

happy new year y'all!
for one of my resolutions for 2010,i plan on returning to the ole blog :)
the rest are as follows - eat more veggies (for the month of january, i'm only eating seafood - no chicken, pork or beef), get back into the groove with jillian & biggest loser yoga, and save a lot more!

two weeks notice

2009-07-08T10:02:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
hope everyone is having a great week.
i am feeling a lot better, and i think my hives are slowly going away. it's been very frustrating to feel so itchy all the time, but oatmeal baths & cortisone cream have been helping a lot.
y'all, hb & i have been wanting to move back up to the dc area for a while now, and we had already decided we would do it, but yesterday i finally gave my two weeks notice!!
i'm happy to start a new chapter in our lives, and i'm looking forward to seeing all of my friends. i truly felt like i was missing out by not being around them!!
now, we are prepping for packing, and there is so much to be done!! i've made lists and a move plan, and we are definitely getting a lot done on that front, but i know it will be tough to get everything done without scrambling at the last moment :)
the good thing is that before driving back up we will stop to spend some time in ocean isle, nc with hb's dad's cousin's family. i can't wait to see them, and i will post some pics as soon as i can because i will be leaving for nassau after that!! i certainly wish that i was a lot thinner for those trips, but i'm taking it a day at a time and trying to not beat myself up too much. i do need to focus more on my exercise, and that will be a goal for the next two weeks!

the fourth of july

2009-07-06T09:51:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
i hope that your fourth was fun!
mine started out great, and ended with a relaxing day at home with a bit of drama in the middle.
hb & i went to the pool on friday morning, and it was glorious!! it is so much more fun to do some workouts in the pool than out of it! i tried some jillian cardio moves and felt like i got a great workout. we also prepped the house for guests and got everything we needed for our tailgate on saturday.
saturday i woke up to itchy skin...i had a rash all over my arms and legs!! hb & i think that it was the sunscreen i applied friday, but can't be sure since this is the sunscreen i use daily on my face under makeup. needless to say, my day did not start off as well as i wanted, but i took some benadryl hoping it would clear up. it still hasn't cleared up, and i'm itchy today! hb & i had tickets to the 311 concert, and even though i was debating not going and staying home, i decided to tough it out and go. the concert was pretty fun, but after was not pretty. a key was lost, so we had to wait on a pop a lock, then while waiting some friends decided to post tailgate, and hb had to drive them to their hotel, but they didn't know where it was, and i was following in another car. it was a big debacle, and with my skin feeling the way it was, i went from itchy to well...put a b in front of that and you will know how i was!! the fun thing was i drove my friend's mini cooper and fell in love! i would love to have one, but there is really not much room in it.
sunday was spent recovering from the drama, watching some tv (congrats to roger federer and tiger woods!), and just getting ready for a full week at the office.
i'm debating on going to the doc if this doesn't clear up soon! any home remedies i should try??

name game

2009-06-25T16:10:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!

so i've been thinking more and more, and i'm not sure how i want my new name to read. when hb & i officially get married, i do want to change my name to his last name, but i have no idea how. so, i've put a poll in so that i can get your vote :)
so option a would make my name sil maiden married, b, would be sil cristina married, and c would be sil cristina maiden - married. let me know your thoughts! oh, and btw, my middle name is cristina.

Online Surveys & Market Research

charleston

2009-06-24T10:39:00.005-04:00

hey y'all!

i am still gonna owe y'all the mexico pics, but here are some pics from the weekend and our trip to charleston. i'll have to say that the highlights of the charleston trip were going to piggly wiggly and eating dinner at snob. charleston is definitely a city with a lot of history, and if you are a history buff i would definitely recommend it. there is a lot of civil war history within charleston. unfortunately, hb and i aren't big buffs, and did not really feel that the tour we took was that interesting.
we started friday off by picking up my friend bee from the airport. we decided to stop at the home of the first chick fil a! it was pretty good, but i LOVE chick fil a.

then we took bee to the virginia highlands for a quick bite at murphy's and some gelato at paolo's. bee had an awesome chicken sandwich there that hb & i will have to go back for soon.

once we arrived in charleston, hb & i had a quick bite at hominy grill. it's been featured on no reservations and rachael ray's $40 a day show, but i have to say we weren't that impressed. hb had a curried chicken sandwich and i had a shrimp caesar. i think i would recommend it if you try the breakfast (the big nasty dish is what bourdain had) or the shrimp & grits.
here i am in front. it's a really cute place just didn't impress me.

hb & i opted for taking a tour that was in an air-conditioned tour bus, and we got out for a bit during the tour. like i said the tour was mainly about civil war things. here we are by the water where they have cannons. apparently these are left over from the civil war, and they are plugged up because too many people would stick their heads in and get stuck! LOL

we also drove around the city market, but we decided to walk through it on sunday since it was sweltering on saturday afternoon. i think the temperature was about 105!!

once we checked into the hotel, we got relaxed for a bit and got ready for dinner at snob. y'all this was the best meal i have had in the southeast! the food was local and super tasty. hb started with some gazpacho, and i had the red bean soup. both were excellent and had such depth of flavors. for entrees, hb had the carolina quail breast - it was so juicy and perfectly cooked! he also had a side of spinach. i had the crab cakes with a corn, okra and grape tomato saute! y'all it was so amazingly good! and our bread basket was tasty too! cornbread was moist and full of good flavor. the highlight was that they knew were were taking another mini moon, and sent over two glasses of champagne to toast us. we ordered dessert and got a devils food & chocolate mousse cake topped with a strawberry ice cream scoop. y'all best meal hands down! i wish i would have taken pics of the food, but i was too busy really savoring and enjoying the dinner! if you are ever in charleston, eat here!

after dinner, hb & i decided to try to walk to see rainbow row. we only got one block up and decided it was too hot and we would see by car on sunday. we went to the rooftop bar at the pavillion hotel instead to cool off with some punch and beer. the view is really great here, but the service isn't so great. i recommend going up for the view though. here is the suspension bridge that they have connecting charleston to mount pleasant. it's really beautiful.

as we were driving back to the hotel, i spotted a piggly wiggly and decided we had to go in! i LOVE piggly wiggly y'all, and this one was super nice. the aisles were named after streets in charleston, so it was so cute.

all in all, i think we had a good fun trip, but i would definitely say that if i that if i had to choose, i would go to savannah over charleston.

setback

2009-06-23T14:17:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!
this weekend hb & i went to charleston, south carolina. it was a good time, but i should have read the post allie put up regarding vacations before i went. unfortunately, i really indulged, and the workouts from the week did not burn enough to allow for that indulgence. i was super bummed to find that i had gained 2lbs. this week, it's gonna be salads for dinner because i feel like i'm getting into a groove with the exercise, and i really have to do my best to incorporate a healthy diet so that i can see results.
this week, i have been lazy about waking up, so i'm going to do 45 minute elliptical workouts as soon as i get home (well today at least, hopefully tomorrow i'll be an early riser and get it done before going to work)

variety

2009-06-17T15:07:00.004-04:00

hey y'all!

i am really trying to stay on this exercise thing, and i think something that helps is planning activities that don't involve the gym, but will keep you active. they do say that variety is the spice of life!
before moving to atlanta, hb got me some golf lessons with a pro, and i LOVED it! unfortunately, i only had 3 lessons before we were set to move, and i could not continue with it. i became interested in golf because of hb. although we are young, we always talk about retirement, and how we would love to travel to places that have great golf courses (in my head we would play all the time in hawaii - i picture taking in the views of diamond head as we go through the course, and then finishing our round with a nice cocktail, but i think hb other courses in mind as well). i also feel like it would keep us from becoming distant, and not really knowing each other after the kids are out of the nest. sorry for that tangent! so, my point - golf is a great sport that's not high impact, but gives you a great shoulder, arm, and ab workout. you would think that it would be easy to hit a ball that's on the ground, but it's not as easy as you think. although i have yet to get on a course, walking a course is also excellent exercise, and i'm looking forward to one day actually playing a round, but for now, i will stick with going to the range and practicing my swing to prepare for future lessons.

do i look like tiger or what??

ps, if you are trying to golf, do NOT try my stance....you should have your knees slightly bent, and your feet going the same direction. my feet kind of in a plie in this one :)

habit

2009-06-15T13:58:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!

how long does it take for something to become a habit?? i was pondering this today, and i feel like i've heard it only takes a month of doing something to make it a habit. i sure hope so because when i woke up this morning, i wanted to go back to bed. i'm back on the exercise wagon, and i have come to learn that doing my workouts in the morning really works for me because then i have it done for the day. i can come home and just relax and do nothing or run errands without worrying if the gym will be packed or not. i also think that planning out my week of workouts makes me more inclined to do them. i put them in my planner and check it off every time i've accomplished a workout. this week the plan is to do jillian today and wednesday, and do my walks on tuesday, thursday & saturday. i think the blog is helping me become more accountable - mean what you say, and say what you mean!! i'm already thinking to next week, when i will take some morning swims instead of jillian!!

gave my liver

2009-06-11T14:54:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!
i gave my liver to save the river! the local brewing company - sweetwater - sells t-shirts to benefit cleaning up the chatahoochee river. apparently the river is being threatened by overuse and pollution. taco mac also does a t-shirt with sweetwater to benefit the river. unfortunately, they are sold out, but hb & i are going to stop by on tuesday to get our shirts!
taco mac has pint nights every thursday where they give you a free pint glass when you purchase a beer of the month. hb & i have been going for a while now, and pretty much have more pint glasses than regular glasses. this month there are 3 beers including my favorite - the sweetwater ipa!! it's so YUM! if you like grapefruit, then you will definitely like this beer.
hb had the red brick blonde, and while we were enjoying our wings, we decided that it would be a good idea to tour other breweries as well. we are planning on going to athens, to the terrapin
brewery soon! it's only about an hour and a half from us, and it will keep with our goal of seeing the sites that are close to us.

in other news, i reached my goal for the week! i did jillian 4 days this week. it was a little tough to get out of bed so early, but i have been going to bed early, and hope this is a true start to getting fit. next week, the plan is to do the jillian workout on designated cross training days within the hal hingdon 5k training schedule. the running days are going to be brisk walk days, and by the week after, i will be on my way to running again.

mini moon

2009-06-09T21:35:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
so last weekend, hb & i woke up early on saturday morning to head over to savannah. we had a great time on what we have dubbed our "mini-moon". we decided to take a trolley tour to get the layout of the city knowing that we would come back for other sites that interested us. we forgot to take pictures of some places, but here's a little recap of what we did.

hb & i on the trolley at the start of the tour -

if you have seen midnight in the garden of good and evil or read the book, then this is where the murder occurred. this is the williams-mercer home. i feel in love with all the homes in savannah. if you are ever there, you will see so many beautiful buildings that are historical homes. scad has definitely been key in helping restore and preserve these homes. the historical society also makes a lot of rulings, and you cannot change anything in your home without them approving.

savannah is also full of squares (they have a little over 20 i believe). before lunch hb & i decided to explore forsyth park. you will probably see this fountain in a lot of postcards. the park sits on about 40 acres, and it also has a very fragrant garden that is used to train the blind.

there is also a mansion that is used as a hotel now at the park. we opted to eat at the hotel restaurant 700 drayton. we had a nice leisurely lunch there (sorry no pics of the food!).
i don't have many pictures of dinner saturday night, but sunday brunch was at lady & sons. if y'all watch food network, y'all know this is paula deen's restaurant. y'all, i love paula and i love butter, but to be honest, i thought the food was kind of meh. it was pretty salty for me, and really heavy. BUT i will say that the service was excellent. everyone was super nice and kept it clean. i think that i would go again, but have something off the menu (sundays is buffet only) to give it another try. i did like the hoecakes with syrup and the hot sauce that paula sells! people line up pretty early to get a reservation, and hb did the waiting while i slept in at the hotel. here is a pic of lady & sons (it rained for most of the time we were there).

here we are after eating at the buffet. can you tell we are so full?!?!

paula & i sayin' best wishes & best dishes! y'all come back now :)

positive thoughts

2009-06-09T09:12:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!
so i know i owe y'all a lot of posts, but i have been lazy about uploading! i will get to it soon though!!
i completed day 2 of the shred! woohoo!! no more excuses indeed.
i'm trying to think positive, and i think the exercise is really helping!
y'all my mom is getting surgery on her eyes for cataracts. please pray for her today! or if you don't pray, then definitely think some positive thoughts for her!

no more excuses

2009-06-08T14:07:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
hb & i got back from our fun trip to savannah last night, and i'll be posting up some pics soon!
we had a great time!

this morning was my first day back on the saddle if you will. i have been making excuses for not getting up and just exercising, and i decided over the weekend that it needs to stop now! my goal for this week is to wake up at 630am and just work out. i have come to the sad realization that i just don't workout when i say i'll do it after work. today i did the 30day shred. i've written down the following schedule - am workouts monday and tuesday, rest wednesday, workouts thursday and friday am, and then rest on saturday morning. i can't wait to get fit y'all!!
if y'all are lacking motivation, please visit shopping is our cardio. those gals are a real inspiration!!
my ultimate goal is to go on training runs with my friend ajg! she's going to run a half marathon with her sister!!

i'm back!

2009-06-05T14:35:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!
i'm finally back from my writing hiatus! i truly intended to write more often, but work got in the way! hb & i had a great time at our mexico party! there were mariachis, lots of dancing and good old qt with my family. i will post some pictures once i get some, and give y'all more of a play by play. tomorrow morning hb & i will wake up at 5am to drive to savannah! i'm soooo excited y'all!
i hope to run into ruby or paula deen! i'm looking forward to lady & sons buffet on sunday!
more pics and posts to come :)

in treatment

2009-05-21T14:07:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!

so by now, most of you know that i went to get a free kerastase treatment yesterday. i LOVED it.
i'm what you would call a product snob (at least that's what monchichi tells me). i have used kerastase in the past and loved the products! y'all, this treatment was great. i got my hair washed, then the treatment put in, then waited for 10 minutes, and got it rinsed out. the blowdry followed, and it was great as well. my hair felt like it did when i was a kid. silky soft and so smooth!
i definitely recommend a treatment to anyone that needs a little pampering. if you are in the atlanta area and need a good hairstylist, try leo at vidal sasson at lenox. he was a pleasure!

in other news, hb and i leave for our mexico party next thursday, so we have a weekend of getting our house in order, packed, and i still need to get my brows done, pick up my dress from alterations, and get a mani and pedi!! oh, and work too :)

weekend update

2009-05-19T10:36:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!

this weekend started off and ended slow, but there was a lot to do in between.
friday, hb & i went to costco to pick up a couple of things since j&j were coming to visit saturday from greenville. we got some pizzas, potstickers and of course some liquor. i highly recommend firefly and lemonade (i used simply lemonade, but i recommend using chick fil a lemonade).
saturday was an early start. i woke up at about 610 am, got out of bed at about 625, and then made it to the gym! i walked my mile, came home, and hopped in the shower to get ready for my hair appointment! y'all, i got to sit in a chair that massages your back while you get your hair washed! it was heavenly!! after the cut, hb & i met at whole foods for grocery shopping, and then went over to lenox to pick up a gift for my uncle, and i made an appointment to get a kerastase treatment done at the vidal sasson there. it felt good to accomplish so much with the rest of the day left. i started tidying up the house when we got home, and after a pizza lunch took a nice cat nap. j&j came down so we could all go to see benny benassi.
usually i don't go to these things, but i promised hb i would go if benny came, so there i was. we pregamed at home, and then headed out. y'all, about an hour after getting there i thought i recognized a guy that was standing a little behind us. well, it turns out it was my recruiter's boss! i had seen him around and spoken to him on the phone, so i went up to him and asked if he was s.k? and he said yes! well, he's about hb's age, and they are from the dc metro area, so they really hit it off. i felt a little weird about it but all in all we had a good time w/ sk and his friend.
we made it home at about 330 am. i got to bed by 4am after a hot shower, and can i tell you? i'm old! i was so tired the next day that all we did was watch tv and veg on the couch. i still felt the effects yesterday!!

parks & recreation

2009-05-18T16:43:00.000-04:00

hey y'all!

last weekend my dear friend monchichi came in for a visit. y'all i hadn't seen her in so long, and yet we picked up right where we left off. i love that about good friends - no matter how long it's been since you have seen each other or chatted with each other, you can still ease back into the friendship in a flash. monchichi flew in from chicago on friday night and got into atlanta at about 1030. we were so excited to see her at the airport! we got to our place and had snacks and wine, and stayed up chatting and catching up until 230am. if you know me, that's the latest i have been up for a while!! saturday, we went to piedmont park to walk around, and have monchichi take some pictures of hb& me. then, we decided to walk around the virgina highland area of atlanta. it was so fun to walk around the shops to do a little shopping! monchichi and i found some cute things for her house, as well as a necklace for me. i liked the necklace, and i'm considering wearing it with my dress for our mexico party! we also randomly walked into the best gelato place called paolo's. the owner is italian from venice, and such a character, he even got me to practice my very limited italian with him! if you are ever there, i recommend the pineapple, chocoloate, and chocolate chip gelatos. later that night we went to a bbq, had some great burgers (if you have a wal-mart near you, they make some good jalapeño burgers from the sams value brand), played a little guitar hero, and then fell to bed at around midnight! sunday was a quick brunch at the flying biscuit. i would highly recommend their biscuits! monchichi loved the grits there as well. hope y'all had great weekends as well - i promise to update y'all soon on the happenings of this past weekend soon!

top chef - the tour!

2009-05-15T09:44:00.000-04:00

hey y'all!

so last week, on the way to work, hb & i saw that the top chef tour was going to be at perimeter mall. this mall is literally right across the street from my work, so you know as soon as i got in, i called mall information to see what time the sessions were. once i got that, i decided to take an early lunch break to go to the first session! hb & i were pretty excited, and a little nervous that we would not be able to get a seat (it was raining, and the seated tent area was an area you had to pre-register for). luckily, we got two seats, and waited for the demonstration to begin. richard blais and nikki cascone were the two chefs, and the demonstration was a recipe of nikki's - salad with scallop and red wine vinaigrette. we got to sample that same recipe after the demonstration, and it was so tasty!! hb and i are definitely going to try it once the recipe is online.

here are some pics of the day!

here is the demonstration area before the chefs came out - i wish i could have this set up for me by assistants before i attempted a recipe :)

here are the chefs getting ready to cook. they told us we were allowed to interrupt and ask as many questions as we wanted. they were funny because a lot of people asked more about the recipe and cooking techniques, and they were surprised no one asked for more gossip!

here they are preparing the recipe. nikki had just blanched some kale, and richard is searing scallops. he seared one side first, then got some butter melted, flipped over to sear the other side, and started basting with butter! YUM!!

here i am at the end getting an autographed picture. the picture is from the one they took for their season, and you see on the bravo site.

i don't have to like you but i will always love you

2009-05-14T10:21:00.001-04:00

hey y'all!

i don't know about y'all, but this is something that really rings true between my sibs & me. i don't know why but i have never gotten quite close to them, but i do LOVE them. i think they feel that i'm too "goody goody" for them. i've just been wondering lately, why is it that some siblings are just not close? are we just too different personality wise that if not united by blood, we would not be friends? i've got very dear friends who i love like family. i just kind of go back and wonder how we become so distant with family if we were linked together in the past. how does one go about becoming closer with a sibling? i've been thinking about this lately since i got to thinking about traditional weddings. usually a sister is your maid of honor, right? well, i don't think i would have my sister as a maid of honor. just not that close to her. BUT i do want to become better friends...how can i do that? do y'all think that planning an annual girls trip with my mom would help my sister and i foster a better relationship, or will time ultimately unite us?

birth announcement

2009-05-12T09:13:00.000-04:00

hey y'all!

i just want to introduce you to the newest member of my family of bags.

i got this right before the cherry blossom run, and can i tell you - she was worth every cent!!

les bon temps roulez

2009-05-11T14:35:00.000-04:00

hey y'all!
last week hb & i went out to pozole with missy to bid her farewell! she will be moving to new orleans to accept a new job, and move in with her bf. y'all, even though i'm happy to have a place to stay when i'm in new orleans, missy is a dear friend that we will miss so much! we used to do sunday afternoons filled with wii and dinner, and she's been someone that allowed me to experience a lot that i would have otherwise not been able to experience (the acc tourney, a game at cameron indoor, watching the terps play ga tech). so to missy - good luck, and know you will be missed!!

another 5k

2009-05-08T09:54:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!
soon after the cherry blossom 5k, hb and i decided it would be good to keep up with our running by doing another 5k. we chose the sweetwater 420fest 5k that goes around the candler park area of atlanta. this neighborhood has really beautiful homes, but y'all, it's uphill and downhill. it was a MUCH tougher 5k than the cherry blossom one! at one point, hb & i were the last two in the race with the police trailing us!! we did give it a go at the end and ended up finishing in an hour!! to be honest, we probably could have done better, but i just didn't have it in me to constantly run, so we walked for a good amount. i never felt so happy to finish a race! included in the entry fee, was a free sweetwater beer...i got the blue, and it was pretty tasty, but after splitting a chicken pita with hb, i had to have my ipa before i left. it is so tasty! if you love grapefruit, then you will love the sweetwater ipa! i also entered in a trivia challenge, and won a car kit and t-shirt from gas south!

here we are sitting after our lunch and trivia!

cherry blossom 5k

2009-05-06T08:56:00.004-04:00

hey y'all!
so the weekend after nyc, i flew up to dc to run in the cherry blossom 5k. i had a goal of finishing in 45 minutes. my final time was 45:57! so close! i have to say we had a lot of support during the run. jl ran the 10 miler and had his parents there rooting him on. our mutual friends ajg & steven also came out to support. here i am posing for ajg and steven when i finally saw them for my run.

i was so happy to complete it! i was especially thankful to everyone that came out to support. ajg, steven, k&c rop, hb's sis aki, alice, and of course jl's parents! they were the sweetest, and hearing them cheer us all on was great! jl finished in about 1hr 20 mins for the 10 miler, and unfortunately hb had some really bad knee pain at mile 6 that he made the decision to stop right there, and did not finish. we are all looking forward to running more races soon! my ultimate goal will be to do the 10 miler eventually!!

nyc

2009-05-05T15:35:00.007-04:00

as promised a post on nyc!
at the end of march, i got to see my very dear friend scriv in nyc. he lives in chelsea, and has a beautiful apartment. it was definitely a change of scenery from atlanta! i arrived, and we went to a diner for dinner and then met up for some drinks with his pals that night near nyu. y'all i walked so much on this trip! the next day we headed to soho for some shopping. if you are ever in nyc, check out uniqlo. they have really nice basics and also some great cashmere blends for pretty cheap! i got a cashmere/cotton tee for $19. i wish i had a uniqlo nearby, but then again i might be there 24/7 so it could be a good thing! we walked through the park that is close to the flatiron building a lot, and there is a shake shack there! friday we were walking back to the apartment, and wanted to stop but the line is so long! we opted for sushi instead, and i'm glad we did! it was so good!! the next day, before i left, we did make it to the shake shack, and y'all i promise this will probably be one of the top burgers you will ever eat in your life! i'm not a big fan of milkshakes, but scriv got one and he thought it was quite tasty!

the celebrity sighting was on saturday at the shake shack! y'all tyler florence must have been doing a segement on the place because we saw him filming right by it!! check out the pic! i wasn't able to go and get his autograph, but i did get to take a pic while he was filming!

slacker city

2009-05-05T08:50:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
it's been so long! i know! i've been in slacker city. work has been super hectic, and i finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. i've been super stressed, not exercising, and eating terrible. BUT today is the first day of the rest of my life...i did the 30day shred workout this morning, and i hope to continue doing it throughout the month. one day at a time! i have taken a couple more trips since my last post, and i hope to share some pictures with y'all soon!
at the end of the month, hb & i have our party in mexico to celebrate our union. i'm kind of nervous about it with the swine flu, and also, i have not gotten our tickets, nor have i gone to get my dress altered! i've got a lot to do and work on, but i'm trying to stay cool, calm and collected. i have my list and i just need to start scratching things off :)
i really have to thank y'all for keeping up with your blogs as it has allowed me some time to just take a breather and not think about work! more coming up soon, I PROMISE!

thankful

2009-04-01T09:57:00.002-04:00

hey y'all! thanks so much for the supportive comments on my momzilla post! it really helped me out!
i'm feeling really thankful today because yesterday before i left work for the day, two coworkers were told that yesterday was their last day. i am so super thankful to have a job right now in this economy, and i hope that my old coworkers have an easy time finding a job.
on a lighter note, i went to nyc this past weekend, and i'm going to dc for my 5k run/walk this weekend! i'll have more posts to follow with pictures too!

momzilla

2009-03-24T11:52:00.003-04:00

hey y'all! this one is gonna be a venting post :)
y'all, i love my mom, but sometimes she drives me crazy! as some of you know, hb & i are going to get married, but we are doing 3 parties (one in mexico, one in the states, and one in japan) instead of a traditional wedding. our first party is in mexico on may 30th, and i really wanted to just have some simple parties where everyone just has a good time. good food and good drinks :)
my mom is driving me up the wall with the dress. i think she really had her heart set on me having a traditional wedding, and i completely understand it. i just feel like now the party is slowly becoming a big to do instead of just having a nice intimate celebration with family! my mom wants me to wear a veil - i don't want to because that just doesn't go with the kind of dress i have pictured. i feel that my mom wants me to look like a disney princess or something, and i just can't get on board with it. also, i would have a lot more options with dresses if i would lose some weight. right now, i'm feeling like i could care less, instead of being excited like i should be!
part of my focus for this week is to try to get back that feeling of excitement. and of course, exercise more! i think that jillian should get me into a dress that both of us would like!

weekend update

2009-03-23T11:29:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
i hope everyone had a nice relaxing weekend.
i went to see the watchmen, and although it was long, it was a pretty good movie! i would recommend it for a matinee or on dvd unless superheroes are your thing.
i also went to nordstrom rack as well as the saks and neimans outlets - they had a ton of great dresses at neimans if you are in the market for one.
y'all i caught up on some shows i had on dvr, and the biggest loser is so inspiring!!! they all had to run a 1/2 marathon, and let me tell you, it just renewed my motivation to workout and do all of my runs this week. i have been to lax about them, and i know that if someone who is 200 lbs can run and finish a 1/2 marathon in 2hrs, then i should be able to run my 5k without stopping for so many breaks! my goals for the week are to do yoga every am, and then do my runs as well as the 30 day shred!

tgif

2009-03-20T11:29:00.003-04:00

thank goodness it's friday y'all!
i have been super duper stressed at work, so much so that i allowed it to interfere with my workout. because of that, i did something awful to my back. yesterday i think it tweaked it or something. it hurt so much to move! and hb and i had to meet with his cousin for dinner - y'all, i went to dinner with a tiger balm patch on! i hope i didn't smell too much like bengay.
on a brighter note, i do not have anything to worry about as i just wrapped up some work stuff, and, we are also going to pick up hb's wedding band! we got it yesterday, and today we pick it up because it was sized. pictures to follow...
i hope y'all have an awesome weekend, full of love and exercise! :)

march madness!

2009-03-19T10:36:00.003-04:00

hey y'all!

i'm already going through march madness and the tournament has not even started!

i have my boys beating UNC on my bracket. geaux tigers!!! (have you noticed that tyler from unc looks a little like beaker from the muppets?? just sayin'....) i have already started with the mean comments! i just love my boys that much y'all! plus, i went to the acc tourney, and i love the unc fans, but unfortunately unc should have fallen to va tech. tyler got away with some questionable fouls on the va tech team. it pains me to say it, but i lost a little respect for him that day, BUT i still love my peeps from unc!

so the madness doesn't stop with my bracket. i came back to work after two weeks since my contract stuff finally got resolved. it was hectic y'all! i was coming home at like 6 or 630, so my workout plans were foiled by just coming home and wanting to relax. ryan has totally inspired me, and next week, i hope to do my jillian with my running! the race is only two weeks away! i have mixed feelings about it since this tuesday i was so tired, i just walked 2.75 miles. i did it in under an hour, so i'm hopeful that i can run the 5k in under 45 minutes. i just need to hop to it!

shredded

2009-03-11T21:38:00.002-04:00

hey y'all!
this morning when i woke up, it hurt to move! my arms and legs and abs were sore! it was kind of awesome because i knew that the jillian workout really worked. i'm not gonna lie - i was kind of scared to do the shred today, but i did, and already i feel stronger! i even went on a walk in addition to my morning yoga and wii fit. y'all i'm feelin' great!
i have some awesome news - i am going to see maryland play in the acc tourney tomorrow night! i hope the terps don't disappoint, and give the wolf pack a run for their money. i'm keepin' my fingers crossed! AND my contract thing with work finally got settled and i'm going back to work on monday. i really wanted to stay home for the rest of the year, but i haven't won the lotto, so i guess i'll go :)
i have decided that friday is going to be a rest day for me from exercise...i already feel like lesli told me i would feel this week - it gonna be hard to walk and go upstairs after this week of shredding!

the shred, day 1

2009-03-10T18:57:00.002-04:00

oh goodness y'all!!!
i just finished doin' the shred like an hour ago, and boy did it kick my butt! i was sweating so much. i definitely cheated a little bit - some moves i just couldn't do the whole time, but i tried to do it all as much as jillian did. i can see why people lose weight doing this workout! how does she know when you are running out of juice? i swear every time i got tired or wanted to stop jillian would straight up say, keep going, don't stop...it was tough, but i got through it. i never needed a shower so bad after a workout :) i plan on doing it this week everyday - i figure i can only get better and stronger!
last night, hb & i watched the haney project. it's on the golf channel, and basically, it's hank haney (tiger woods's coach) and he's helping charles barkley with his swing. y'all google "charles barkley golf swing" and you will see just how bad it is. anywho, charles has gotten really fat, and he is now working on losing weight as well, and he was dripping in sweat, and basically said that it's never too late to get fit again. y'all, this week, charles barkley is my inspiration. he did some boxing moves, and he is ready to get fit - no pain, no gain!

what a difference a day makes...

2009-03-06T18:52:00.003-05:00

hey y'all!
yesterday, i had an amazing run! i've been doing yoga for a whole week now, and i think it's made me very calm and focused. i haven't been to work because of the whole contract thing, so i think that the yoga helped me get through the week of being at home. i know that hb is ready for me to go back to work!
i ran 2 miles yesterday in 33 minutes. not a great pace, but not a bad one either. i decided to go 1 minute running, and 1 minute walking, and boy did it help. i was focused mentally, and it really felt like the run flew by! i'm ready to tackle tomorrow's run of 2.5 miles. i actually loved the run on thursday, and i think saturday will be no different :)
next week, hb is flying up to dc, and i will be home alone. i hate driving, so i've decided to walk to work as my exercise. the walk to work is barely 1 mile, so i've decided that i need to do my yoga before i go to work, and then the jillian workout when i come home. some of the gals at shopping is our cardio do the 30 day shred, and i decided to view it the other day to see if it's something i could do. the moves seem easy enough, but i know that it's gonna kick my butt. i think that's the point, no? lol - i'm tryin' to keep this year's motto of reducing my behind in 2009 in check. if you are a comcast customer and want to try it out - go to the on demand channel, choose sports and exercise, exercise tv, and then jillian. i'm thinking that i'm gonna be able to survive the week doing it. wish me luck!

taxes

2009-03-04T18:26:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!
i've been at home this week because my contract needs to get approved, etc. so i've been taking it easy lately. i have done yoga these past 3 days, and my sides are sore!! who knew i had muscle? yoga has really helped me feel better, and i hope that my posture is improving.
my run on tuesday was horrible. i was not in a good mental state when i was running, and i felt like a quitter. it was definitely an off day, and i was so disappointed with myself, that i cried a little on the way back to the car. the only good thing was that i did finish 2.5 miles, and i'm glad that all i have to do is 5K because i can't imagine how i would feel if i was still going to do the 10 miler.
so monday night, i did my taxes. y'all it was so easy to do, i'm so happy that i only got a little frustrated because last year i wanted to throw the computer against the wall :) i am happy to report that i'm getting a refund, and i am going to get a gucci bag with part of it! i'm so excited for it! i am gonna set aside some for savings, but i really want to treat myself to something nice. i'm debating on getting a louis vuitton wallet, but i feel like it's too self indulgent. i could also use it for a trip to charleston or savannah. what are you doing with your tax refund?

update & goals

2009-03-01T21:58:00.003-05:00

hey y'all!!
this weekend was pretty fun!
friday, hb & i just relaxed. i wasn't up for cleaning, so we went to costco and bought his dad's bday present (a nice memory foam mattress topper) and some superfood from odwalla. y'all i highly recommend the superfood! it's really tasty, and has lots of omega3s.
saturday morning, i cleaned like a crazy woman - i did laundry cleaned up the guest bedroom as well as the guest bathroom. i was so wrapped up in cleaning, that i didn't even eat breakfast, and before i knew it, i was on the way to a hockey game at the philips arena.
hb & i went to see our friend jon play hockey. he's in a league in greenville, and played a team from a local atl hockey league on the same rink that the thrashers play. unfortunately, jon's team lost, but we had a good time, and decide to wait for the nhl game at taco mac. jon's team played at 1pm, and the thrashers game wasn't until 7pm, so we had a lot of time to kill :)
the great thing was that lsu played kentucky that day, so i got to watch that game! y'all the tigers are #18 in the rankings - who knew we could play basketball so well?! we won the game by 3 pts, and it was a nailbiter until the very end. we hadn't beaten kentucky at kentucky since 1989 or something like that! geaux tigers!
today has been super relaxing!! we woke up and went to chipotle with jon & his gf jac, and then hit target to buy some fruit. y'all, it snowed in atlanta today! it was so nice to see the snow from the inside of a warm house. i took a nice afternoon catnap, and just finished cleaning up the master bath. i'm off work tomorrow, so i'll probably finish up the rest of the laundry. it feels nice to have such a clean house!!!

my goals for the week:

for lent, i have decided to give up coke and take up yoga. i used to do this 10 minute yoga workout in the am every morning, and i felt so much better when i did it. i have made the commitment to do it for the rest of lent. if you have comcast, go to the ondemand channel, select sports and exercise, and then exercise tv, i do the am yoga with megan townsend.
i have been such a slacker in the running dept. again, i missed some runs this week, and this week i plan on actually running and following my training.
eat better - i have not been the best about eating, and i have to go back to eating things that are good for me. this week, i hope to eat salad every night with fish.

hope you all had a great weekend!!

slacker

2009-02-27T09:50:00.003-05:00

hey y'all!
i've been slackin' on the blog posts this week. i had a lot going on with work...like whether or not i would have a job next week, and that's been resolved. i took a mental health day on tuesday, and it helped me out a lot. i've been trying to think very positive thoughts the whole week, and last night that came to fruition - i will have a job at the same company i am a contractor at, and y'all i get a raise!!!
i think i'll have to bullet out my weekend/week :)

jl came in on saturday, and we had a great time eating at ok cafe! we also went to flip burger boutique for lunch on monday! y'all, i think those are two of my faves here in atlanta. we also played on the wii fit, and i need to make a bigger effort to play on that! jl leaves to go back to dc today, and even though we only saw him for a bit, it made me miss dc! good thing i'll see everyone in april for the race :)
we got to meet missy's family last weekend as well! now i know where she gets her sweet demeanor from. she's so incredibly nice, just like her family! and her nephew is such a little cutie!
i saw the curious case of benjamin button - i liked it a lot y'all, but i really don't think those accents are very authentic :)
i'm so annoyed hosea won top chef - seriously, he's so gross! and i don't like people that cheat on their significant others...i would have preferred stefan or carla as the winner, even though carla didn't seem to have a plan on what she wanted to do.
i slacked off so much on my training this week - i only ran on tuesday for my 2 mile run, and i forgot my watch, so i'm not sure what my time was. i was a mess this week!

i hope that catches y'all up! i keep forgetting to upload pictures!

on love and training

2009-02-20T08:59:00.002-05:00

hey y'all! i found this little love quiz over at sundry, and i decided to give it a try!
update on the training - i ran 1.5 miles yesterday, and it felt great. the focus on breathing and form has helped me maintain a great heart rate (i think), and i finished in 24 minutes! i'm doing much better i think, and i'm feeling even more motivated for saturday's run. jl is coming on saturday, so hb & i will get our run out of the way before picking him up at the airport. hope you all have a happy weekend full of exercise :)
onto the quiz -

What are your middle names?

hb doesn't have a middle name, mine is cristina

How long have you been together?
it will be 4 years (dating) on april 27

How long did you know each other before you started dating?

a week?

Who asked whom out? hb asked me out. we got mixed up on who was supposed to call who (or is it whom?), and he ended up calling me and saying "are we going on a date, or what?" LOL

How old are each of you? hb is 35, i am 30

Whose siblings do you see the most? i don't think we see either the most, when we lived in dc, i would say his since his sis is up there

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? i don't think we have encountered that yet. i am thinking the hardest situation for us is that i'm a spender, and he's more of a saver, but i would like to think that i'm becoming more aware of my purchases, and trying to save a lot more, and he's trying to not overthink too many purchases that he NEEDS

Did you go to the same school? nope, i went to the best school ever - LSU, he went somewhere else? is there anyone else but LSU? ;)

Are you from the same home town? nope, i grew up in the great state of louisiana in gonzales, and hb grew up in maryland (rockville).

Who is smarter? hb would say me, and i would say hb. we both have our strong suits. he's better at math (quelle suprise!), and i'm better at writing, i think :)

Who is the most sensitive? me!!!!

Where do you eat out most as a couple? we have been trying to stay away from going out to eat, but our regular place is hudson grille...we have our own waiter and the manager knows us by name :)

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? tokyo, japan

Who has the craziest exes? neither one of us

Who has the worst temper? me!!!

Who does the cooking? hb does for the most part, i try every now and then :)

Who is the neat-freak? me! i'm ocd about cleaning. i would have to say cleaning is my hobby. i love it when the house is tidy! i've been slacking lately because of work, but when there is a guest, i clean like a champ!

Who is more stubborn? i don't think that we are stubborn at all :)

Who hogs the bed? ME!! it takes me a while to get situated in the bed. i don't do it on purpose, but i sometimes take the covers from hb.

Who wakes up earlier? ME!!!!

Where was your first date? hb took me to carlyle in shirlington...sooooooo tasty. he took me there again for our 3 yr anniversary. he originally wanted to take me to a japanese place, and i planned in advance with my roommate to ask him where he was gonna take me and then have her suggest carlyle. i'm sneaky like that.

Who is more jealous? me, but i would like to say i'm better about it.

How long did it take to get serious? i would say about 4 months in when hb told me he loved me

Who eats more? hb even though i LOOK like i'm the one that eats more :)

Who does the laundry? i do, but hb has helped me out a lot by taking clothes out or folding or putting it away

Who’s better with the computer? i would have to say hb, but i'm getting better.

Who drives when you are together? hb because i get too nervous driving. i got my dl when i was 27, and i have maybe driven a handful of times.

training update

2009-02-18T01:03:00.002-05:00

two posts in one day!! woohooo!
y'all this weekend was great because bee came to visit, but it did not help me in my training.
unfortunately, i skipped my weekend runs due to time, but tuesday i ran 2 miles. i have to say, it was kind of tough, but i finished in about 32 minutes. i think that my form is improving, and i am trying my best to keep that up as well as keeping focus on my breathing. i got on the scale yesterday, and i thought for sure i would be up, but i was actually down .8 lbs (not much, but i was very happy with no gain!). my goal for this week is to actually train through the weekend, even though jl is here. we might even get him running as well since he's training for the 10 miler as well. my veggies of this week are cucumber and red peppers - y'all, the eating has helped me not gain as well. i think slowly but surely the scale will start going down!
thanks for the support, and i hope you all got in some runs this week too!!

weekend update

2009-02-18T00:50:00.003-05:00

hey y'all!
hope everyone had a great weekend!
my weekend was packed! unfortunately bee's flight got in 2hrs later than expected, so friday night we opened a bottle of wine, and just chilled at home - i went to bed at 2am! that is very out of the ordinary for me!! the following day, we had lunch at ok cafe - bee tried the pot roast, and i think i'm going to start getting that too. it was so tasty y'all! we also went to see he's just not that into you. y'all this movie is so good! i went in with the lowest of expectations, and i was pleasantly surprised. it explores a lot of aspects of relationships, and made me very thankful for hb! later that night we met up for dinner with bee and his good friend from back in the day...it was fun to see pics of bee when he was in middle school & college. we had a great time! the next day we had brunch with bee and his mom and little bro at the flying biscuit! if y'all are ever in atlanta, try it out. the biscuits are very tasty and sprinkled with sugar - soooo yummy! later that night, i went to see confessions of a shopaholic with missy...it was an ok movie. i thought it was cute, but i would recommend this one for a rental on a girls night in :)
monday was spent sleeping in and then getting ready for taste of atlanta...every year, suntrust bank sponsors a "best of atlanta" party where different places set up booths - the places are usually featured in atlanta magazine in december. it benefits camp twin lakes, and we had a great time! we tried a lot of different places, but none really stood out like last year. the highlights were the chicken mole taco from nuevo laredo cantina, fogo de chao (who doesn't love meat?!?!), and the sweet tea from mary mac's (the sweet tea was better than chick-fil-a!!!).
i hope everyone enjoyed the weekend like i did! my friend jl is coming in on saturday, so i'm looking forward to that - i just have to tidy up our place.

random updates

2009-02-13T11:01:00.006-05:00

hey y'all! i have been looking forward to this friday since the start of last week!
i love long weekends, and hope everyone has the day off on monday, and enjoys some quality time with a loved one on valentines day!!

my good friend bee is coming to visit from dc, and we can't wait to spend some quality time with him. he's a dear friend, and since we are now in atlanta, it's hard to really stay in touch especially since bee doesn't really do gchat or anything like personal email during the workday. even still, bee is the type of friend where we can go for months without talking and pick up right where we left off.

my run yesterday went really well y'all. i kept a steady pace throughout the whole 1.5 miles, and i ended up with a lower time than tuesday. y'all, this is really awesome for me! i am so excited to be able to lower it with just a small tweak in pace. it also allowed me to focus on my form and breathing, so i've decided that my focus for the month will be to continue to keep my form and breathing where i had it yesterday regardless of my time. i think with improving my form, my time will lower even more. this week didn't go as planned as far as meals were concerned, but i do feel that overall, my stomach is flatter (not by much, but still). i only went over my daily point allotment once this week, so hopefully when i weigh myself on tuesday morning, i will have lost. my fruit recommendation this week - grapefruit! i had one yesterday and it was tasty! i hear it helps with weight loss, so try it y'all!

on thursdays i attend a conference call for a project i'm working on currently, and the meetings start off with a quote that a selected person is supposed to provide...sort of to break the ice and ease into the meeting. y'all, i was selected for the quote for next week!!! what should i say??!!!
the only quote i can think of is "if you ain't first, ur last"- ricky bobby, talladega nights. needless to say, i'm probably not gonna use that one. what are some quotes that y'all like?

back on the wagon

2009-02-11T10:38:00.004-05:00

hey y'all!
so yesterday was my first day back into training. i ran 1.5 miles in about 25 minutes. i was feelin' pretty good during the first 3 laps, and then after i just got slower and slower. i still feel pretty good about the time, and i am confident that my time will only get better. i feel like the 5k is very attainable, and i have to set a time goal that i can work towards. the great thing about today is that it's a cross training day (35 minutes on the elliptical), and my legs aren't too sore!!

last night we went to the hawks/wizards game...and the wizards are terrible y'all! still, i was glad for the opportunity to go to a hawks basketball game! it's pretty fun, and the best part was this dance team called the a-town dance team! they are basically middle age men of all sizes and colors that do a dance routine - it cracked me up! and i really needed that after a frustrating day at work! the things i did NOT need - the food! why does stadium food have to be sooo bad!?! that being said, i tried not to eat too much, but i still gave into fries! one day at a time right??

work is better today, but my day started off a little hectic. when i woke up this morning, we had no water!!!! soooooooooo, i took what i like to call a french bath - basically a wipe down of all the important parts, and perfumed the heck out of my body! the only comfort i have is that at least it wasn't just me! walking to the car this morning, the hallway smelled like lots of cologne & perfume! we don't smell that unless it's a friday night :) too bad it's not friday night!

let's hope we have water so i can take a shower after my workout! i have never looked forward to a shower as much as i have today!!! i'm ready for a workout too! but the shower more so :)

inspiration, perspiration

2009-02-09T09:50:00.003-05:00

hey y'all! welcome new readers :)
this weekend was lovely y'all, i relaxed and got a lot of things done!! the weather was amazing, and even though i didn't get out and enjoy it to the max, i did enjoy opening up our windows and letting the sunshine and fresh air in. it felt like spring (but without the allergies!), and hopefully it will stay that way.

y'all this weekend, hb & i went to see slumdog millionaire, and it was so great! go out and see it. i wasn't too fond of going to see it because usually when something gets so many raves, i end up disappointed because i have high expectations. for slumdog, i was pleasantly surprised, and i even teared up a bit!

i have a confession y'all, for the past 2 weeks, i have really slacked off on training - granted i was sick, but still! this weekend i tried out a new show - ruby. y'all ruby totally inspired me to get off my butt this week, and really go back to training! alice has too! she's been running now for a bit, and i think she will become a full fledged runner by the end of summer :) here's the thing - i have been so unmotivated about anything for the past couple of weeks, that watching ruby has really inspired me. she's lost like 100 lbs y'all, and she is getting to do so many things that she never thought she could do. things that i have taken for granted, like being able to just get up off the floor without help, she has just not been able to do on her own. if ruby can do it, then so can i! with that said, i'm starting back on weight watchers (i find the point counting helps with portion control) but staying within my blood diet parameters. i'm so excited about this journey! keep me honest y'all!!!

so now that i've got the inspiration, i need to ante up my perspiration. this week, i am going back to my 5k training, and i'm going to make sure i do my wii fit training at least 15 minutes everyday! y'all, alice set up some nice records for all the balance and aerobic games on our fit, so i've got a goal! i hope i beat her by the end of summer! speaking of perspiration, the terps played ga tech last night, and boy did they sweat it up. i was sweating by the end of it y'all! the terps WON!! by one point!! what in the helicopter was that about?!! it was an exciting game, and i'm proud of them. i am hoping for more terp wins!!

y'all i'm so happy that i have set some realistic goals for myself, and i'm happy to have the support of my friends on this journey. part of the reason i wanted to start this blog was to be accountable, so y'all make sure to keep on me about these goals!

week in review

2009-02-06T12:08:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!! did ya miss me? :)
i've been pretty sick lately and busy with work, etc. so really this was the first chance i got to blog. i figured i'd go ahead and just recap what's been going on with me with bullets! bullets are my friend today!!

the lovely alice came for a visit y'all! and we had such a great time! i've known her since my days workin' at an airline, and it was so nice to have such a sweet guest! we went to taco mac after she landed, and i introduced her to purple haze!! y'all abita purple haze is the jam! (i'm partial to it because it is a louisiana beer) we also went to the sweetwater brewery - unfortunately, there was not a tour due to some construction they were doing, but we got to taste all the beers! hb & i went before with jess & b, but this time we got to try the new beer called happy ending. it was pretty tasty. basically you buy a pint glass that has 8 tickets for $8, and then you are SUPPOSED to get half a pint, but they give you much more than that. so, you get 8 beers for $8, and you drink it in the course of 2hrs. needless to say, i needed the food after that so we met up with rich at the vortex! tater tots there are great, so if you are ever in atl, and you go to the vortex, get them!!! the rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing, watching tv, playing wii fit, going to the movies. hb & i were so happy to have alice here! thanks for the nice gifts alice!! we are enjoying the chocolates and candle!!
hb & i went to a superbowl party in greenville, sc and we were originally planning on going to charleston the next day, but i got so sick with a sore throat and just bad cold symptoms in general that we decided to nix it! BUT we will get out to charleston soon! i'm really wanting to go try the low country grub and tour the historical buildings :)
for some reason, i'm extremely unmotivated here at work, and i don't know how to get out of this funk. i am really over my coworkers i think because they are lazy, and i have to keep telling them to do the same thing over and over. on the bright side, i guess this will prepare me for when i am a mother, and i have to tell my child to do something over and over. however, i would like to believe that my child will only have to be told once :) i really hope that's not wishful thinking!!!
so far, my feb. has been kind of yucky with me being sick and stressed at work, but next week my good friend bee comes to visit us, and we can't wait to see him!!! i'm looking forward to presidents day (i love having a monday off!), and then seeing my friend jl the following saturday! he's here on biz, and also training for the cherry blossom 10 miler, so we are all probably gonna go for a run!

that's my week in review! i can't wait for the weekend - only 4 more hours to go :) hb & i will be at ga tech this weekend watching the yellow jackets play the terps! let's hope this game goes much better than the duke game! if maryland does not play well, hb & i are gonna have to refrain from going to another game!

decisions, decisions

2009-01-27T11:38:00.003-05:00

hey y'all!
i had to make a tough decision a couple of days ago, and i was really bummed, but much better now :) as some of you may know, i signed up for the cherry blossom 10 miler in dc for april 5. i have been training for the past 3 weeks, and really tried to lower my pace. unfortunately, i have not been able to bring it down to the 14 minute pace that is required. i have decided to switch over to the 5K run-walk. i was really bummed and pretty much depressed on sunday when reality hit that i would probably not be able to finish a 10 mile race with a required pace. as hb said, i'm mentally there, but physically not. i am overweight, and i haven't really exercised in a really, really long time, so the 10 miler was not a realistic goal for me. i was pretty sad about not doing the 10 mile run for these past couple of days, but now, i'm motivated to run the best darn 5K anyone has ever seen :) i have so much support from friends and family, and now i am going into this with an even better attitude. i will eventually do the 10 mile race, but for now, i'm gonna start on the path of becoming a bonafide runner!!! y'all, i'm so excited about the 5K, and motivated now more than ever! i won't let y'all down!!
in other news, hb & i got a wii fit! we had a budget of $50 to spend on each other for v-day, and hb saw it at target and suggested we get this for each other. we decided that would be good to help us keep in with our goal for this year - reducing your behind in 2009. it's such fun y'all! it calculates your bmi, and also let's you know how your balance is and gives you tips on how to improve. we tried it out for the first time last night, and i'm obese!!! of course, hb is in the normal range, but i am motivated to kick his butt on all the exercises! they have a cool hula hoop game as well as some yoga moves so if y'all want to come over and give it a try, y'all are more than welcome!!!

the good, the bad, the ugly

2009-01-26T08:54:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!
hope everyone had a great weekend!
my weekend was pretty good, but i must admit, i would have had more fun if the terps would have won at cameron indoor.
the ugly - the final score was maryland 44, duke 85...it was really ugly y'all! duke has some amazing athletes, but it seemed like they were playing with the local high school instead of with an acc team.
the bad - y'all, the terps did not come to play, it was incredibly sad to see only one player (my fave - landon milbourne) give it his all through the whole game. it was so sad to see that more than the final score. another thing that was kind of bad was that we weren't allowed to carry signs into cameron. boo! i made a sign that said "marry me milbourne" and then "go terps" underneath it. i was bummed y'all!
the good - the road trip up there and back was so much fun! we were all chattin' it up, singing along to music and just generally had a great time! we were so excited going up there! i felt like hb & i really got to know missy a lot better, and we are so thankful to have such a great friend here in atlanta! also, the duke fans were so unexpectedly nice! one older gentleman saw us with our maryland gear on, and asked about maryland, where we were from, directed us to the will call. so incredibly nice! after the game, another guy was next to us telling us how he thinks that gary williams (the maryland basketball coach) is a great coach and that he just didn't have players. everyone was so great!
if y'all ever get a chance to see a game at cameron indoor, take it! it's a great place to see a game. there is literally no bad seat in the whole place. we had an amazing time! it would have been better with a maryland win, but i can see why duke has such a home court advantage.

january madness!

2009-01-22T14:42:00.004-05:00

hey y'all!
my weekend starts in approximately 20 minutes, and i'm so excited! i will be in durham, north carolina for part of the weekend to watch maryland play duke at cameron indoor! i honestly never got into college basketball until i met hb. i would watch the march madness because i filled out a bracket, but nothing more. i was more the college football type. in fact, when hb & i started dating, i went to a lot of maryland football games and asked him when they were going to start winning! i was used to seeing LSU play, so y'all can understand my query. well, he told me - wait until basketball season, the acc has some amazing basketball! that year, the terps made it to the N.I.T, and wouldn't you know it LSU makes it to the final four, and also beats duke! we made j.j. reddick cry - bless his heart! over the years, i've grown to love terps basketball, and i will be rooting for them in cameron indoor this saturday! i can't wait to show y'all pics!! the game is on espn, i think - look for me! my sign will either say "MARRY ME MILBOURNE" or
Everyone
knowS
terPs
wiN

GOOOOOOOOOOOO TERPS!!!

treadmills and crushes

2009-01-21T08:37:00.004-05:00

y'all, i have a secret - until yesterday, i was so SCARED of running on the treadmill. i would usually use it for walking and put it at like a 2.5 speed. well, yesterday, i conquered my fear! it was way too cold to run our 3 miles outside, so hb & i decided to go to the gym. unfortunately, the machines were pretty much taken, so i got on an elliptical and kept an eye out for a treadmill. after 7 minutes, one opened up, and i bumped it up to 4.5...y'all i was running on the treadmill!! i followed our normal, run 3 minutes, and walk 1 minute routine, and i got through 3 miles in 46 minutes!!! it sounds terrible, but i was able to get closer to a 15 minute pace more than ever. i'm hoping that the pace will only lower from here!

another secret - i have a crush. i've had a crush on this person for the longest time. it's gail simmons for top chef. i have told hb that i am "gay for gail" so many times, so you can imagine my sadness to know that she got married! so now, i'm lookin' for a new girl crush! who is your crush? i am taking all suggestions :)

here is a picture of gail in case y'all don't know what she looks like. isn't she so cute?!!!

bride wars

2009-01-19T13:51:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!
this weekend included a viewing of bride wars with missy. y'all, if you are lookin' for a mindless chick flick to go see, this is it. i don't know why, but i am a sucker for this type of movie. i got a little teary, had a couple of laughs, and that's about it. i found it worth my $8. next movie i want to go see is gran torino with hb. we were supposed to go see it on saturday before our run, but couldn't find the movie theater!! speaking of our run, this was the first time that i just hit a wall. i was really not into it, and i just wasn't feeling it. that being said, i regained my focus on lap 7, and finished the last 5 laps with more focus and a better attitude! i hope the run tomorrow goes a lot better! i also got a haircut y'all, and i really like the gal that cuts it. her name is valerie at the new talents salon at van michael's in buckhead. it feels a lot shorter, and i think next time, i'm gonna tell her that i want to grow it long. for some reason, longer hair is lower maintenance for me, and i am really not happy that i have to blowdry my hair everyday now that it's short.
anyhoodle, hope y'all had a great weekend! happy mlk day, and don't forget to watch cnn tomorrow for the inaug. coverage :)

guilty pleasures

2009-01-16T10:09:00.002-05:00

hey y'all! an update - we ran 2 miles yesterday, and hb & i finally broke the 16 minute/mile pace, we ran a mile in approximately 15.5 - could have been the cold!
onto the guilty pleasures!

gossip girl - y'all have to watch this show! it's so insane and i'm hooked!! i wish i was blair waldorf!
real housewives - y'all i've been watching this on bravo since they had the orange county ones. they are currently doing another orange county ones, and OMG - drama! these ladies are so competitive, but what cracks me up is how they try to cling to youth. you really get the stereotypical california woman on this show.
peppermint cremes from williams sonoma - to DIE for!
top chef nyc - i am loving it more that toby young is part of the judges. btw, leah should have gone home last night! and i hope fabio never leaves - his accent cracks me up :)

what are your guilty pleasures?

pet peeve

2009-01-15T12:09:00.002-05:00

those of you that know me, know i LOVE to clean. i think that cleanliness is next to godliness, and i'm okay if others aren't that clean, but here at work, i feel that people should put forth the biggest effort to keep areas clean. for instance, if you drop napkins on the floor, pick them up! your mom doesn't work here, so she's not here to clean up after you! if you spill creamer when you are making up your coffee, clean it up, wipe the counter! i just don't get why people are so dirty! am i being to OCD on this?!

reducing my behind in 2009

2009-01-14T12:36:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!
just a quick update on the running - yesterday i ran 3 miles!!! woohoo!! in 52 minutes - not so good, but i am working on endurance this month, next month i will focus on my time.
in other news....next weekend, i'm going to see maryland play duke in raleigh! i hope the terps come to play. although they beat ga tech last weekend, they did not play very well. GO TERPS!
also, did i tell you that my friend alice is coming for a visit??!! i'm so excited! you can read up on her adventures here - http://aliceblogs.blogspot.com

recap

2009-01-12T11:10:00.003-05:00

today is monday, and i am ready for the week to be OVER! well, just the work week.
i'm actually looking forward to running this week in the cold! i know, i know, it's not as cold as other places, but i was beginning to enjoy the nice 60 degree weather we had at the beginning of last week here in the atl.
hb & i ran 2 miles on saturday, and then did our cross training - it was so nice y'all! i can now say that i got through the first week of training for the 10 miler! we did six miles last week, and we are doing 8 this week. i feel like the next 10 or so weeks will be full of running - with some visitors thrown in :)
this weekend was spent chilling and running - and watching tons of football! i was hoping that alice's giants would pull it out because for some reason i find donovan mcnabb annoying. plus, i think eli is cuter. i am soooooooooo extremely happy that the chargers lost - one qb that i really despise is rivers, ugh, he's so arrogant! i am especially pleased that the ravens won! joe flacco made history y'all! he's the first rookie ever to win 2 playoff games- yay joe flacco!
what did y'all get up to this weekend?

another january birthday!

2009-01-11T14:35:00.002-05:00

happy birthday to my future s.i.l.!!!!

here she is with the new sweater we got her for xmas!

birthday shout out

2009-01-09T09:14:00.003-05:00

happy birthday to my dear friend steven!

what a night!

2009-01-09T08:40:00.002-05:00

so for the past couple of nights, i have had a bit of trouble going to bed. last night hb told me that after the run (yay for 2 more miles completed!), that i for sure would be able to fall asleep. so i watched a bit of the game (SEC is obviously the best conference!), and then got into bed at about 930pm. sure enough, i feel asleep quickly and looked forward to staying that way UNTIL i wake up with this loud banging! i turn to hb and say what is that?! i was a little scared until i heard "oh god, oh god". i was woken up by my upstairs neighbor doin' it!!! they continued on for 10 more minutes with the gal continuously saying "oh god, oh god" and "just f* me god dangit!". needless to say, that was not something i really wanted to hear at 1230am. still, it led hb & i to question - if we can hear them, can they hear us??!!!!

rave

2009-01-07T15:20:00.002-05:00

hey y'all!
so yesterday i made it through 2 miles...in 34 minutes! i definitely have to get my time down, so that i don't get picked up by the paddywagon, but i am very proud that i got through it. also, my goal for this month is to run my miles without stopping. hb and i ran the 2 miles by running for 2 minutes and the walking for 1 minute. at this point, i'm sure that if i keep up with the training i will get to my goal. i'm certainly motivated to attain them, and it only gets easier from here right??!!!

work rant

2009-01-06T16:26:00.002-05:00

ugh! today was a pretty good morning, but this afternoon has me with a bit of anger inside. i need to "keep it medium" as jim zorn would say. so i'm posting a bit of a rant - first let me preface by saying that at work three of us sit in a lab that has banks of computers, and that work is kind of a hurry up and wait thing so when we do have assignments, we need to hop to it. well coworker x decided it was kindergarten today because x took a nap!!! at work! in the middle of the day! and was snoring! ugh, that annoyed me beyond belief, but i tried to keep cool. thing is we got an assignment and coworker y and i started on it and really tried to get a lot done today. coworker x acted like an assignment was never sent out and did zippy work! that really chaps my hide!!! i HATE that he doesn't appreciate his job when there are so many people in the unemployment lines. jeez! so with that being said, i'm off on an anger fueled run - 2 miles! wish me luck!

resolutions

2009-01-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

hola peeps!
i wasn't very good at keeping my resolutions from last year, but perhaps i will be able to do it this year. i decided to write them down here, so i can be accountable to them!

eat less pizza, cookies, ice cream, etc - less of the bad stuff in general :)
eat more green veggies
eat at home more often
look up healthy recipes, and cook more so that hb can take a break from cooking!!!!
put my face on (southern for put make up on) every day with the bare esentuals stuff i have at home
follow my 10 miler training everyday - NO EXCUSES!!
save more money
do 100 pushups by the end of the year

what are you resolutions??

christmas & nye

2009-01-02T20:04:00.000-05:00

hey y'all! hope y'all had a great new years and xmas! hb & i had a great time. my brother flew in on xmas day, and i made some spicy shrimp that i marinated in chili garlic paste (i even got to use the new martha stewart grill pan that we bought at macy's! thanks sarah!!!) as apps. i also made some salmon cakes courtesy of barefoot contessa recipe, some lemon basil potatoes (giada), and some brownies as our dessert. it was definitely not a traditional xmas dinner, but it was good!! the next day we went to taco mac for pint night, and after dinner hb & my brother went to the pink pony (the forecast called for scattered panties that night). we had a pretty chill time, and once my brother left on sunday, jess and her husband pili came in to pick up their things from storage. we decided to take them out to taco mac (jess LOVED the death wings and hickory burger there, so we decided to go for old times sake!)

here i am with my bro at taco mac

with jess & pili at taco mac

nye was awesome this year! hb & i went to the chick fil a bowl game here at the georgia dome. we could not have asked for better seats - although we were NOT on tv, we were very thankful to have been there to see the tigers beat georgia tech. bless their hearts, i think they thought they could actually beat us ;) the final score was 38-3. i love it when we win, and i am truly hoping that we do a lot better next year now that we know that jordan jefferson will be our qb.

here i am ready for the game! thanks b for the tattoos!!!

here is how close we were (gotta thank the LSU Atlanta Alumni Association for these!)

after the game we went over to a party to ring in the new year! all in all a great time and a great way to start off 2009.

end of year review

2008-12-29T08:42:00.000-05:00

hola!! i will post a christmas recap later on, but i saw this on sundry's blog, and i thought, what better way to pass the time!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
i went to 5 weddings in one year!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
i am pretty sure that i did not keep my resolutions, but i'm definitely making more for next year, maybe i need to write them down since i don't remember last year's resolutions :)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
no

4. Did anyone close to you die?
no

5. What countries did you visit?
just stayed in the us, but i went to southern california for the fist time ever. i don't know how people survive in l.a. - too much time was spent in the car and traffic

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
a car, louis vuitton wallet and chanel bag :)

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
sept 10, 2008 - i got engaged. FINALLY!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
i would have to say leading a project

9. What was your biggest failure?
leading that project and realizing that it's really tough when you are powerless when it really comes to making the decisions

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
no

11. What was the best thing you bought?
a pair of running shoes

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
obama for keeping it classy

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
sarah palin - did she really give birth to trig??!!!

14. Where did most of your money go?
probably eating out

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
getting engaged!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
lollipop by lil' wayne

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter?c) richer or poorer?
a) the same
b) thinner, but not by much
c) poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
exercise

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
eating

20. How did you spend Christmas?
with hb & my brother who flew in to spend it with us

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
i fall in love everyday with my hb

22. What was your favorite TV program?
GOSSIP GIRL xoxo

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
nick saban - wait, i hated him last year too, but not as much as this year since we were on our way to a national championship

24. What was the best book you read?
this may sound lame, but the first two gossip girl books

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
i don't think i really discovered anything musically

26. What did you want and get?
a better job

27. What did you want and not get?
a car

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
four christmases

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i was 30, and i met up with my dear friends in dc

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
being able to come to work knowing that i don't really have to because i have an infinite amount of money in the bank

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
casual, very casual

32. What kept you sane?
my peeps on gchat & yahoo messenger

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
i would say daniel craig - only because he looked so good in those tom ford suits in the bond film.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
i think the presidential election stirred everyone up

35. Who did you miss?
my mom - she came to visit, but i wish she lived closer

36. Who was the best new person you met?
i don't think i really met anyone new - except for richard blais :)

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
that sometimes it's better to just do something rather than wait for others to do it

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
***i have no idea***

what about you?? take the quiz and let me know about your end of year review :)

GEAUX TIGERS! WRECK GA TECH!

2008-12-20T19:38:00.000-05:00

hey y'all! there hasn't been much to update lately, but just had to let y'all know that my alma mater LSU is going to the peach bowl (aka chick fil a bowl). normally, hb & i stay in on nye and just watch the show on mtv and times square, but this year, we decided to go to a party! now, we will be arriving late to the party because i got tickets!!!!! section 105, row 5, seats 5&6. check it out!
i'm so excited and i just can't hide it :)

Cue Eye of the Tiger!!!

2008-12-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

i signed up this morning for the cherry blossom 10 miler in dc for april 5. am i nuts? probably! i have had a lot of difficulty with my weight the last four years, and i am hoping to jump start the journey to a healthy lifestyle by running! this week, i'm following a 5k training. i have 13 weeks (i think - i am not good at math) to train for the 10 miler, so i'm going to start with a 5k training for 3 weeks and the get down to business at week four with the 10 miler training. wish me luck peeps!!

weekend recap

2008-12-15T20:46:00.000-05:00

so this weekend we didn't get up to much. saturday and sunday were uneventful. i just went for a haircut and then sunday we saw forgettting sarah marshall.

friday was a top chef holiday celebration with missy! hb & i went with her to flip - which is a burger joint that richard blais has opened here in atlanta (he was on the chicago season of top chef)

here we are at the start of the night. the three amigos -

apparently we were seated at a booth reserved for 6 or more and because we were three, everyone thought we were VIP. richard even came up to us, and asked us how we got such a great table - i jokingly told him that i told the hostess "don't you know who i am?", and he got a little nervous. here we are with him. i'm gonna have to be his friend on facebook now so that i can send this picture to him.

so, my review of the food. missy had the butcher cut, so i'm not sure how that tasted because it had bleu cheese, and because i dislike that, i didn't try it. i did try the sweet potato tots. i normally dislike sweet potatoes as well, but this wasn't bad. it was pretty salty, so i tasted salt more than sweet potato, and that's probably what i liked!!

hb & missy started off with a krispy kreme milkshake and a nutella & burnt marshmallow milkshake. i had a coke because i'm not a big milkshake fan, but i had to taste both! the krispy kreme tasted just like a donut! so good!!!! the nutella one was okay, and the marshmallows tasted like they do when you burn them over a campfire. not that i know much about campfires!

onto my favorite part of the evening - my meal! i opted to go for the po boyger which is a shrimp patty with old bay, mayo, lettuce and tomato - a play on the shrimp poboy. while it's not
as good as a poboy from back home, this was indeed a tasty meal! the vodka battered onion rings were out of this world. i liked them so much i shared with hb, but pretty soon it became apparent that we would need another order!

we all decided to finish the evening at craftbar. tom collichio (top chef judge) opened up craft
atlanta recently, and so there are two levels - craft up top, which is for fine dining, and craft bar which has the bar (duh!) and also, a smaller more affordable menu than upstairs. we hit up craftbar for dessert, and that was tasty indeed. missy and i got the 'smores. they were AMAZING!! the chocolate used is dark and the graham crackers are made at the restaurant.
hb had the pear upside down cake which was very moist! both were so tasty. the only things that were issues were the cappucinos - they were lukewarm, and arrived late. (tom should look into a different coffee too - i prefer illy or blue mountain. these are both so smooth and not bitter like the one we had.) also, the valet. we waited for at least 15 minutes just waiting for the car to arrive. needless to say, we had a great time with missy, and hope to have more of these tasting excursions in 2009.

here are the 'smores:

the pear upside down cake with meyer lemon sorbet:

anyone hungry??

if so, let me know - i actually bought a signed copy of the craft coobook, and i'm looking for guinea pigs :)

my first blog!

2008-12-15T09:38:00.001-05:00

ok, so i really wasn't planning on doing a blog, but it seems that a lot is going on, and i feel like this would be a great way to put my thoughts out there. about me - i'm mexican, born in texas, raised in the great state of louisiana, and lived in dc for about 6 years before moving down to atlanta. i hope to have more to post later on. one thing about my blog name - EVERYONE spells my name wrong. so this is a way to correct everyone out there :)