Hopping on quickly--Anthony and I are headed to a former co-worker's house in a couple of hours for a Poker night...and I have yet to do anything productive at all today!
I love my amazing, wonderful friends! (and boyfriend)
Before I leave for the day, I thought I'd share a few pics from Girls Night last night. We went to my favorite mojito place where I indulged in a strawberry basalmic mojito (FABULOUS), a regular mojito, and split the queso trio (you pick 3 quesos/salsas/fresh avacado to have with chips. It was perfect as we all got to pick a cheese!). I also had the burrito of the day. Amazing! Expensive, but amazing :0)
T-3 hours, and I will be sitting at my favorite Latin infusion bar, sipping a mojito and having an appetizer of chips and 3 different kinds of cheese...and probably splitting some other yummy food with my girlfriends. And while going to Lime (the restaurant) excites me greatly, so does the idea of a Girl's Night...this time a Girl's Night OUT. I need my girl time...and tonight I'll have it.
So to be really girly, I'm getting ready to hop in the shower, after which I will actually fix my hair for the first time in forever (it's been so rainy here lately that I've been letting it do it's own curly thang, and I'm a little weary of that!), put on a shirt that I feel like I look cute in, and do some fun makeup. Then it's off to the nail salon to get new acrylics put on (it's overdue) and to get my eyebrows waxed. Yep. I enjoy being a girl on days like this!
So what about you? What do you do with your girlfriends on a Girl's Night In/Out? (or with your guy friends during your manly man man time?)
Those of you in real life know that I have a little addiction. However, I think I've kept it pretty well hidden from my bloggy friends.
Sure, you know that I'm in love with Joe (of Trader Joe's). Of course you are aware that I prefer the bubbles of San Pelligrino over tap water. I'm fairly certain that you have noticed that I have an affinity for the recipes of Rachael Ray and Giada (and going hand-in-hand with that, it is painfully obvious that I am a carb lover).
So what addiction is left, you ask?
I may have hidden it (among other reasons) because coffee isn't always that interesting of a topic to blog about. And also, because Starbucks isn't the greenest thing I could do. But that is (slowly) changing. For the last few months I've noticed that if you bring a travel mug into Starbucks you get 10 cents off your morning/afternoon/midnight coffee. Which is great--I own a ton of them. However, when I stop by Starbucks I normally get an iced coffee with a shot or 2 of flavoring. This is because (a) it's cheaper. Think half price and (b) it makes me feel like I'm getting something special without all the calories and stuff of say a white chocolate mocha.
Putting iced coffee in a travel mug is just not that practical. There's the issue of the ice coming up to meet your mouth as you tip your head back to drink. Among other things. So I really didn't see myself ever getting to take advantage of this new green thing Starbucks is doing.
And then yesterday I stopped at Target. And this Target houses a Starbucks. And I gave in to temptation, mainly because I hadn't had time to make my coffee at home that morning. And when I saw the display at the register angels sang.
Or at least I did.
Look closely. That's right--it's a reusable copycat of the plastic cup I've had to recycle a gazillion times. AND it's double insulated, so it doesn't sweat all over those papers on your desk that your boss needs today. Bonus!
I was thrilled. THRILLED I say. And I can now feel just a little bit better about ordering an iced coffee in MY new to-go cup! (and while I realize that I will have to visit approximately 100 times to get my "money back" at $.10 a fill-up, I don't care)
And now moving onto the Thursday's Ten. Coffee themed of course. 10 Things I have Learned about Coffee
1. If you don't set the coffee maker the night before, it will not have the coffee nice and ready for you when you crawl bound down the stairs to fill up your mug 2. If you are wearing white and carrying coffee, all of nature is against you 3. People who don't necessarily like the taste of coffee often enjoy the smell of it brewing. I don't understand that at all, but hey. 4. Grinding your own beans really does make all the difference. 5. As much as I love my Starbucks, and mostly use their beans at my house...if you have a good coffee maker and know what you're doing you can make cheap coffee taste great. 6. Flavored creamers are AMAZING. Especially the pumpkin spice that comes out (conincidentally I'm sure) right at the same time every year as the pumpkin spice latte at S-buck's. 7. People who don't like the taste of coffee will probably not want to kiss you right after you've drank a cup. :0) 8. Who wants to bet that my wordle this week will have STARBUCKS really big on it. Or not at all. 9. Somehow buying coffee from a coffee shop makes it taste just a little better. I think it's the "not making it myself" factor. Much like eating out. 10. Babies/toddlers will always want a sip of your coffee. If you give in, watch out. You'll have a little me on your hands (I drank coffee from the high chair. No lie).
By the way, in all seriousness, Starbucks is really trying to better the planet and be more green. Since that's something near and dear to my heart, I'm including a link. Click or don't, but it's kinda cool. http://www.starbucks.com/sharedplanet/index.aspx#mugPledge
No picture of this one yet, but I made it last night for our Cinco de Mayo (quiet) celebration tonight. Sopapilla meets cheesecake = yum! (or "epic" as Anthony says).
Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract 2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls 3/4 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 1/4 cup honey
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough. Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.
Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares.
McMama and Stellan are home! Go to her blog to catch up, and to join in on the not me fun!
So last week was notcrazy, and I was not looking forward to a relaxing weekend...and it was not even better than I thought!
I did not get to babysit for 2 of my favorite families (oh, who am I kidding. I do not have tons of favorite families. My babysitting clients are not all wonderful!). But I did not get sweet toddler boy hugs (and lots of fire truck sound effects) on Friday night, and fun girly (x3) time on Saturday! It was not the best of both worlds, and I did not enjoy both evenings tremendously!
I do not also have pictures from the zoo again. Anthony and I didnot join the zoo on Saturday and we did not go with our good friends Andy and Mandy. We did not have a blast even though it was misty-raining the whole time. This time, we did not spend most of our time at the clouded leapard exhibit. We did not meet the coolest guy there, who did not have an awesome camera and a fantastic website full of pictures he's taken of our big cats as well as other awesome things! I did not watch him take this picture! This guy does not work at the zoo, and does not travel to South Africa at least once a year. We were not all uber-impressed with him.
I'm not going to close by simply posting a few zoo pics. Do not have a fabulous Monday, all!
Usually if I post a Sunday song it's one with a worship feel, since that's the mindset I've been in. However, tonight I'm sharing with you one of my favorite Irish pub songs. Ok, so the song's actually from Scotland, but it's haunting and beautiful. I've included Celtic Woman's version of the song as a youtube...as usual you'll have to turn the music off on the lower right hand side to hear it well. Sorry about that :0)
The words that resound with me so much in this song are found in the second verse: I have moved and kept on moving, proved the points that have needed proving. I've lost the friends that needed losing; found others on the way.
In so many ways that describes my life to a "t".
Caledonia
I don't know if you can see The changes that have come over me In these last few days I've been afraid That I might drift away I've been telling old stories, singing songs That make me think about where I've come from That's the reason why I seem So far away today
Let me tell you that I love you That I think about you all the time Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home But if I should become a stranger Know that it would make me more than sad Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Now I have moved and I've kept on moving Proved the points that I needed proving Lost the friends that I needed losing Found others on the way I have kissed the ladies (fellas) and left them crying Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying I have traveled hard, sometimes with conscience flying Somewhere with the wind
Now I'm sitting here before the fire The empty room, the forest choir The flames have cooled, don't get any higher They've withered, now they've gone But I'm steady thinking, my way is clear And I know what I will do tomorrow When hands have shaken, the kisses float Then I will disappear
Finally, I've been given another award! This one is from Bethany, and she graciously awarded me the Lemonade Award.
The Lemonade Award...
The lemonade award is for showinggreat attitude and/or gratitude.
The Rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog, nominate at least 10 blogs, which show great attitude and/or gratitude. 2. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. 3. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. 4. Share the love and link to this post, and/or to the person from whom you received your award.
(yeah, I figured "car" and "oil" would be pretty large in this one :0) go to Shannon's place to link up and join!
Then click this button to join six word Saturday.
But the Disposal and Toilet work!
Yeah, so I still don't know what's wrong with the car...talked to them yesterday and they don't think it's the engine, but they were still trying to figure it out. So no news is good news, right?
But the disposal works. And my downstairs toilet is working without having to turn the water source on and off (it was leaking).
I worked today and purposefully left early so that I could (a) clean the kitchen before the plumber came and (b) get to teach piano lessons and be home by 5:30 which is when Anthony would be there. I had the menu planned for the evening, and we were going to veg out on the couch and watch the Will Ferrell George W special.
That is still in my DVR cue.
I was approximately a mile and a half down the road, but about 25 miles from home still. I noticed all of a sudden that a "traction off" light had come on my dashboard, so I tried pushing the traction button on the console and nada. I thought "ok, it's been raining it'll even itself out eventually, I'll just be careful when I brake".
I kept pushing the darn button though. Just in case.
As the stoplight I had stopped at turned green, I put my foot on the gas and...the car didn't move. I insisted. So did the car. The car won. In the meantime, the oil light had come on, as well as the battery light. I flipped on the hazard lights so that the 184 cars behind me would know to just go around.
Nearly immediately a woman in a minivan pulled up beside me. I told her I thought I had run out of oil (the change oil light had come on a week...or 2 ago, and I was planning to get the oil changed this weekend if possible). She went to the car parts store for me. I told her I'd give her cash for it when she got back, and she said sure.
I sat there for a few more minutes, checked the oil level (sure 'nuff, no oil) and had a very helpful woman roll down her window as I was doing so and say "You may not want to stand in front of your car to do that, people can't see you"
(yes because I can check the oil from the trunk.)
Get back in the car, and a pizza delivery man stops. He asks what's going on, I tell him and he offers to help me push the car to the side of the road. I gratefully accept and the whole experience scared the heck out of me but I thanked him profusely.
As I sit there I begin to realize that this is probably a lot more serious than no oil. Yikes.
A man doubles back around and stops to ask what's going on. He even gets in my car and listens to it as he starts it. He tells me that it's unfortunately probably my engine. I agree, it most likely is. About that time the woman (whose name is Kim and she's blonde and an absolute angel) comes back with 4 oil bottles and a funnel. And no receipt. I try to hand her cash and she won't accept it. See? Angel.
Man who thinks it's the engine puts the oil in the car for me. We try to start it. Nope. He offers to give me a ride somewhere and I thank him but at that point Anthony has called (so at least someone knows where I am) and I know that I'm going to have to be towed somewhere so I opt to stay with the car. I thank him again and he says "hey. I'd hope that someone would do this for my wife. Of course I had to stop."
I call the mechanic and a wrecker and just wait. Anthony calls and tells me he's off work unexpectedly early and will come wait for the wrecker with me. Here's how that conversation went:
"So where exactly are you?" "I'm at Hwy 100 and Temple Road" "Great. I'm on my way now." pause "Where IS Hwy 100 and Temple Road?"
He still beat the tow truck there (it was rush hour at this point) and bless him, drove me up to Publix so that I could use their restroom. I'd been eyeing the bushes by the side of the highway for approximately 40 minutes at that point. No, I am not kidding.
I tell him I don't think I'm up to cooking tonight and he says "you won't be cooking tonight. We're going out somewhere"
Then the plumber calls and tells me he'll be at my house in approximately 30 minutes to an hour. I explain our situation and he says "no big deal, I'll just wait for ya."
The tow guy gets there and he's really nice. We chatted up a storm He takes me to the mechanic who is closed for the day. I pay for the tow, put the key in the "drop box" (quotations are absolutely necessary, this is a mom and pop place with an interesting place to drop the keys overnight), and we head home. The plumber is there so he sees the nasty dirty house and kitchen...boo. BUT I now have a working disposal AND my downstairs toilet tank doesn't leak. No more turning the water on and off.
In all of this mess, my friend Mandy had called and offered me the use of their car while her husband Andy is out of town for business. It just so happened the car was parked approximately 2 miles from my house. So she came out, joined us for dinner and then we drove his car back to the house where she showed me all the particulars to it, and then we just sat around chatting for awhile.
After she left we popped in a Veggie Tales movie. Watching anything more challenging would have just been impossible.
So. That was my day. Any of you wondering about my weirdo facebook statuses (stati?) from this afternoon can now rest peacefully knowing what they were all about.
I do fear that this is a BAD thing. Like replace the engine bad. Which in my financial situation is not at all a great thing, but hopefully installment payments and more and more babysitting jobs will help.
The tow driver did notice that there was a huge oil stain on the bed of his truck from the tow--he hadn't towed anyone else today and it was fresh. So it's possible that it was caused by a leak, and I couldn't really have prevented that...and yes, should have taken it in for an oil change right when the light came on but I've been trying to work as much as possible and just haven't been able to. :-(
All in all, I need something that's a bit stronger than the San Pelligrino water I've been sipping on as I type this.
