What did you find in the bathroom??

A bag of PINECONES?

Oh, okay then. 

Nevermind.  That's completely normal.

No stranger than this baby who happens to look like a Cabbage Patch Doll..

Do you guys remember those?? I definitely had one... her name was Francis Pearly.  Nope, didn't pick that.

But back to the PINECONES...

I found them in the Panera bathroom today at lunch.

Am I the only one who found that weird?  Is this typical?  Do they help with bathroom odor or something??

Anyways, other than the pinecones I had a completely usual Panera lunch...

Broccoli Cheese soup and French Baguette

LOVE.

And yes, I was hungry enough for two pieces of bread!  Breakfast was on the light side...

Coffee and Fage Greek yogurt with more leftover berries from my awesome supermarket find. 

I like to sprinkle a packet of Truvia on top for a little added sweetness.

Questions for the Day:

I'm scared to ask but... strangest thing you've found in a bathroom??

Conquoring Quinoa!!

...and subsequently being told I have a huge computer label sticker on my derriere.

Thank you kind sir for taking pity on me and informing me of this matter... I can only hope that it was not there long and that the people in this office are not so cruel that they would have allowed me to wander the halls and freqent their meetings all morning without letting me know of this embarrassing sticker. 

Started out my day today per usual, with a protein shake mixed up by the BF. 

Made it through the morning team meeting and back to my desk and found myself with a killer headache.  Luckily there's a community coffee pot (s) in my area so I hiked on over to get myself a big cup o'joe and on the way back to my desk is when I found out about the sticker on my ba'donk.  Awesome way to start the day.

Also, I found out I have a meeting at 11am which is when I usually eat lunch and no they are not providing lunch... so I decided to snack on one of the awesome 90 cal Fiber One bars at my desk and even enjoyed dunking it into the fresh, hot coffee :)

So hopefully that will hold me over until I can eat my lunch.  Which should be amazing since it's leftovers and last night I conquored quinoa!!!!

I've tried cooking with quinoa before and made a huge mess attempting to rinse and strain the little suckers and subsequently ended up with watery gross quinoa.  Tuesday Night I made quinoa with brown rice in my rice cooker pot and all turned out well so I gained back a little cooking confidence and decided to work solely with quinoa last night. 

Back to my awesome Rice Pot cooker I went!

Recipe for Sweet Quinoa with Craisins:

I also added a bit of lemon juice - you could also add salt to taste and/or honey if you prefer a stronger flavor.  I served this with Tilapia prepared two different ways (The Split Decision!)

See, I originally went to Central Market with the idea of Lemon Pepper in my head - because I like it AND I know how to do it well so it's a sure bet.  Near the Fish Station they had a taster station with Red Fish rubbed with some sort of Texas BBQ Rub - and the flavor was quite delicious.  So we bought the rub figuring we can use it on a lot of different things and I prepared one filet this way.

Final Product:

So, as we all know, while the Rice Cooker is AWESOME because it cooks everything for you - it's also simultaneously irritating because it takes so. freaking. long.  So what did I do for the 1.5-2 hours my quinoa and veggies were cooking? 

Well, I watched a hilarious old episode of Iron Chef, nibbled on Brie with fresh French Bread, and ran the perimeter of an island several times with the average speed of 4 seconds/rotation.  {what???}

No, Not that type of Island....

THIS one!!!!!!!!!

{Very Detailed Reinactment}

The BF found this hilarious, and I told him not to blink because I was faster than the Flash.  He then offered to time me and I made it around the whole perimeter, in socks, without slipping, in UNDER 4 seconds.  Booyah.

Calories Burned waiting for Quinoa to cook:  Hopefully = the amount of Brie I ate.

Well, back to the grind (a.k.a. work).

Question of the Day:

Do you watch any cooking shows?  What are your favorites?

I love food shows. I love to watch Cake Shows while on the treadmill/eliptical and listen to music while I stare at the delicious foods.  Recently I stumbled onto Iron Chef and find the show to be hilarious!

 



Smurf Happens

Yes, yes I did in fact see the Smurf movie this weekend with the BF and BFF.  Not only was it cute, but it also finally answered the age-old question Why is Smurfette the only girl in the entire village?  Really?  One daughter and 99 sons?!   

"Smurfette was magically created from clay by the Smurfs' enemy, Gargamel, so that she would use her charms to cause jealousy and competition among the Smurfs in order to cause their fall. The smurfs' kindness to Smurfette caused her to want nothing else than to be a real smurf. Papa Smurf took pity on her after infusing her with moonbeams, turned her into a 'real' Smurf." {Source}

So, being a girl... kinda a pain in the derriere if you know what I mean.  This post will be A-Typical in the fact that I'm about to rant, possibly use less than lady-like diction, and most likely not even proof-read before posting so with that warning in place, only read ahead if you too are in a sarcastic "say it how it is sista" kinda mood.

It all started with an Apple.

{No Smurfin' Way!!!}

As I'm pouring myself a huge glass of whine this morning (no not wine, I'm not an alcoholic people, and I do have work today) the BFF points out it all went downhill whenever Eve had to give in and eat the damn apple. 

Don't do it Eve!!! Just don't do it!!!!

So, she ate an apple and Vaginas everywhere were cursed for life.

It's 'that time'.  I hate being a woman. It's like you have all this crap with your 'monthly guest', or you're pregnant and have a whole other arsenal of crap, OR you hit menopause and have a whole DIFFERENT set of crap symptoms. There is no reprieve!!!!!!!!!!

But how can we even be mad at Eve for eating the apple when that's what we've been told to do our whole lives?

I mean, really, WHAT EVIL MOTHER EFFER WOULD MAKE AN APPLE BAD?!?! We grow up hearing 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'.... umm apparently an apple introduced SIN.  Fu#k you apple, fu#k YOU. 

Apparently, this is what they meant by that phrase...

"Oh snap! Stand back!! We all know apples are dangerous as heeyyyyyllll!"

Idiots.

So I digress... there are just days when you feel like being a woman sucks.

But actually...

One of the best quotes ever.  If you haven't seen the movie "Dirty Love" you haven't lived -  it is seriously the best chick flick of all time.  Jenny McCarthy is raunchy, pathetic and hilarious as she displays exactly what it feels like to be a girl. 

So yesterday I had every intention of heading for a 10 mile bike ride with the BF after work - we are in training for our Corporate Challenge (booyah!) and I had a ton of energy built up.  The only problem was that by the time I left work I was so hungry so so hungry I couldn't even think about anything other than food. 

It's was as if my body was just screaming for

So once I got into the car, I turned into my BF and I'm pretty sure this happened:

Don't judge me.  The hormones over came me, I was not in control of my own actions.

We went to Market Street - you should never go to a grocery store hungry it is a recipe for disaster.  I jumped completely off any health wagon I had been on and dove into fresh baked chicken tenders, mashed potatoes and orzo rice (which artichoke hearts).  Heaven.

Then I sat there in a food induced coma trying to figure out how to eat such delicious meals while not turning into the size of a house boat.

Don't worry - I hate bugs.  And all things creepy crawly.  I can't imagine how people are ever productive knowing they have a living thing in them literally eating them from the inside out.  Freaky.

Word Sistas.

Word.

So I figure at the very least, since we ate relatively early, I could digest my meal and we could go for an evening bike ride - which would really be nicer anyways since it's Hotter than Hades in Texas right now.  Really, I told myself, I was an awesome planner.

The only problem was after eating I just felt like this:

And no matter what the BF did I was in a very bad mood.  Which is shocking to people and they usually don't know what to do with me when I'm in a bad mood as I am seldom in one.  I'm typically happy giggles and sunshine and far too much caffeine. 

They need to sell these.  So you can give them to people after the 'unwelcomed guest' finally leaves and things turn back to normal. 

So today the plan is to fit in that bike ride after work... and maybe a Jillian DVD... and maybe a little run on the treadmill... really just anything bc let me tell you, I could sure use some of those happy exercise endorphins right about now. 

Today's lunch will be a sampling of every left over that was in the fridge.  Lemon Pepper Salmon, Steamed Squash, Pasta Marinera a la Veggies & Italian Veggie Sausage, and a small salad. 

And let me tell you, no one at work should mess with me because

Peace.

Your Questions for the Day:

Do your workout plans ever get derailed?  Does it seem to happen in cycles?

My workout plans often get overcome by 'events'.  But when this happens I take a 'no excuses tomorrow' approach where no matter what I make up for missing the day before.  I also allow myself more slips during the work week, but not on the weekend.

Do you like Apples?

I like green apples, and I hate red ones. I'm a fan of sour fruits.

Name your *favorite* comfort food:

My favorite comfort food would be Lobster Truffle Mac & Cheese from Kona Grill, or an *incredible* Chicken Fried Steak w/my mom's homemade mashed potatoes and a sweet dinner roll.  That's the country in me coming out. 

Too Pretty To Work... a.k.a. *Shock-Caller-Mellon-Baller*

You know you were all thinking it. 

Seriously though, I woke up this morning and even though {TGIF} it was FRIDAY I just did not feel like moving from my bed.  This is probably in part due to Sir Michael keeping me awake far past my bedtime packing for his trip to Miami (and no I do not get to go with this time! hmph).

So I laid there in bed for a few lingering minutes checking up on my favorite bloggers and seeing if any of them were already up & on the move... sometimes this helps me find motivation to roll myself out of bed.  And yes, sometimes I roll out of bed.  Like a ninja.  Be totally jealous.

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