The Blues

Today, at dinner...
Me: I'm not wearing deodorant (antiperspirant) anymore.  You can't tell can you?
Abe: Not unless it's what smelled like skunk yesterday.

But really, Yes I stopped using my antiperspirant because I don't want to use anything with aluminum anymore and all antiperspirants have it as the main active ingredient.  Honestly, I don't stink though so whatever.  The skunk smell wasn't really me, it was a figment of his imagination...or a skunk.

There's a lot of horrible things happening in the world right now but I would just like to share one of my biggest nightmares: eating an artificial blue food.

These were mixed into a bag of Welch's fruit snacks that I dove into tonight to try and satiate my sweet tooth.  I've eaten them before, but I don't remember anything blue in there (hopefully).  This time I ate like WHO KNOWS HOW MANY before I noticed what had just transpired.  Artificial blue foods totally freak me the F out.  I just don't think that food should be blue unless it's an actual blueberry or something.  They're probably harmless but when you're a crazy person like me, it will mess with you.  I'm just imagining my body breaking this stuff down, and imagining that it's taking a much longer time because blue is so Wrong.  I really wish I had more to offer tonight other than skunk smell and blue foods, but I can't think because my body is being invaded by blue dye.

Mochi the Miracle Food

I did it.  I finally found the mochi at Whole Foods.  It was in a really weird place so I came across it by accident.  The store I go to has this tiny little section with tofu and fake meat products, but it's completely away from everything else so you would pass it by if you weren't looking for tofu.  I didn't buy it this time, but next time I'm there I'll be sure to get it!  You need to actually bake it, and I wasn't expecting that.  In my head mochi came in perfectly shaped cubes ready to be eaten in a whim, but I guess I can handle cutting them and putting them in the oven for the reward of perfect mochi texture on my frozen treat.  What else do people put mochi on?  Regular yogurt probably, and just desserts?  Salads?  OMG the possibilities are endless.  I might just keep some in my pocket for an emergency snack.

3.27 Whole Foods Visit

I'm trying to eat as organic as I possibley can.  I totally know that if I choose to eat outside the house it won't be organic and I'm Ok with that, but when it comes out of my cabinets then I want it to be something I can get behind.  Last week at Whole Foods I bought $92 worth of groceries and I wasn't very smart about what I got so by Friday, the pickings were really slim.  This week, I compiled a list with my meals written out and all the ingredients needed for breakfast (both of us), lunch (for me), dinner (both of us), and 1 project (carrot cake!!).  Here are the results:

$115
You're probably like: holy shit, who spends $115 on groceries for 2 people every week?  Well suckers, we do.  When I used to shop at Shaw's every week, the bill ranged from $100 - $125 every single week.  Don't worry, none of it goes to waste, we eat every penny of it!  Yes, I got more food at Shaw's for that amount of money, but was it good food?  No, it was a lot of extra stuff that I shouldn't have put in my body to begin with.  I don't think I'm going to be too sad about the chips, soda, frozen treats, frozen lunch meals, and chemically enhanced cheeses that aren't allowed here anymore.   

A close up of my enthusiastic load of swag.  There are probably 3 products here that aren't certified organic like the Lactaid milk, the Silk vanilla creamer, and the Reynolds Wrap.  That green six pack is actually ginger ale.  I'm trying to prove to my husband that we can eat better without breaking the bank.  I read the labels on every single product that I put into my cart and it's all worth eating.  Also, I chose to buy a lot of products on sale.  My dinner is in here too - a little carton of pasta with tomatos and capers for $3 off the original price and man it's decedent.  I totally get that $115 is still a lot of money for most families and people.  My goal is to keep the weekly grocery bill at $100-$120 per week in the same range as I was spending at Shaw's and if it works out, then maybe the second phase will be to reduce the weekly bill.  This is a 1 month experiment to see if I can do it!  

Annie's Cheddar Bunnies

Check out my new favorite snack:  Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.  They're just like Cheeze-its but they're made from real cheese and they don't have that sharpness that usually gives me heart burn.  Personally I think they're just super cute too.  I picked these little guys up at Whole Foods.

Today, they got a special packaging treatment.  Natasha gave me Hello Kitty baggies for my snacks!  They're way more exciting now, everyone is going to be so jealous of my fun afternoon snack.

Just need a fax machine

Check out our new work spaces!  I'm sure you can tell which one is mine, I have a problem with trinkets everywhere and a problem with Apple overload.  In our little sun room we've created an office where we can both have desks and enough space to work on various projects, I love this room.  Abe spent part of the day putting together our new Ikea desks, and man are they pretty.  The areas still need some sprucing up and organizing but it's nice to finally have a place to put my computer, it's been 3 years since I've had a place to put my laptop other than the coffee table.  Now I use two different laptops so I really do need the space to blog and dive into internet research (today I learned a lot about restraining orders).  We'll finally have a printer that is connected when we need it and not jammed into storage all the time, it will really save us a lot of annoyance.  I think I'm going to be really happy here - I'm already contemplating what my next project could be!

Lost Gets Me, I Just Don't Get It

Super Spoiler Alert: I really liked this week's Lost.  A lot of people had issues with it being so little real time and so much flash back, but I've been dying to know more about Richard Alpert so it was a really great episode to me.  This week questions got answered: how did the statue break, how did Richard get to the island, how did Richard become the liason and island protector, why was the Black Rock literally in the middle of the jungle.  I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere even though I know that next week will just bring more questions. 

My new theories are that Jacob's replacement could still be Jack, but maybe someone else.  I think that Hurley is going to be the new Richard because he's always trying to do the right thing.  Except for that time he was eating all the Dharma food, but other more important times he always sides with the good side.  Maybe there won't be a new Richard, but I think there has to be.  Without the original Richard, none of what happened would have happened in Jacob's favor.  What will happen if Locke leaves the island?  I don't even know how he expects to get off the island in the first place.  Did he suddenly learn how to repair and fly planes the same way that Sawyer thinks he can drive a submarine?  Maybe he plans on killing Charles Whidemore and using his body to get off somehow.  I don't know, maybe the crazy scientist will come back and time travel the good guys off the island leaving the bad guys behind.  WTF!  I don't know.           

Moving is like a disease: a gross one.

Today, we got up at the crack of dawn to go back to our old place to clean it up and retrieve some things from the freezer.  It was annoying, tedious, and stupid if you ask me.  Abe just wanted to make sure everything was perfect so that the landlord couldn't come back to us with an issue.  Although if he did, I imagine I would get onto a ladder and yell down with a megaphone: You can suck it!!  In your Face!!

After we cleaned a unit that we'd never see again, we returned our old cable box, and then made our way to Ikea.  We ate our Swedish meatballs to fuel up for some serious shopping and got to it.  I cannot express to you how overwhelming I find that place.  I think it's great in that it offers you so much, but too many choices make me really uncomfortable.  I mean we needed a couch, and there were just way too many couch options there within a reasonable price range.  It's not like going to Boston Interiors and being like: ok, well only 5 of these are within our price range so just pick one.  No, this is like: hey, which one of these 50 couches do you like, by the way they come in 5 different colors and all have ottomans and matching chairs to go with them.  We haven't sold our wonderful sea foam green couch yet, but instead of buying another nice one we're just going to settle for something that actually Fits into the house.  In the long term, I don't see myself owning a small couch so we decided to just find something for this place.  We settled on a decent couch for not much money, but of course we got the ottoman to go with it, and then we needed other things on top of that... Today, we bought a new couch, ottoman, 2 matching glass desks, 2 baby blue plastic desk rolling chairs, 2 desk lamps, bowls, a clock, and a new plant with pot.  It sounds like a ton of stuff, and it is, but it's all less than our old couch.  The majority of it will be delivered later this week, so we'll be sitting on the floor putting stuff together for hours - as if unpacking wasn't bad enough.

Even Yoshi wants to sit down after a long day.  But where?  We don't have a couch, all we have is kitchen chairs and rolling chairs all of which are from Ikea!  That's what happens, if you spend too much time in there you start to think: well the tv stand is really well made for the price so maybe I can furnish my entire place with this stuff and it slowly and accidently happens until you realize that every piece of furniture you own has been self assembled with a wrench that came in the box, yet you are wearing $200 jeans.  Priorities I guess!

So back to moving.  We're not going to be completely moved in for another week or so.  My neck still hurts a lot, my chiropractor doesn't understand why it keeps having issues but I'm sure packing, moving, lifting heavy boxes, unpacking, and sitting on the floor looking up at the tv doesn't help.  Try the new line of Martha Stewart cleaning products at Home Depot, they won't disappoint.  Some moving advice: if something looks too thin and or delicate to stick a nail through, don't do it!   
       

Welcome to Awesome

The night before our move, I was laying in bed and thinking: I really like this apartment, I'm not sure that I'm really ready to leave it yet!  But why, why did I like something that was half assed into looking nice when really it was a piece of crap building.  Why did I like a 900 square foot sardine can that was so small Abe and I were constantly walking into each other?  It just felt like home, that's the only reason.  

The movers came right on time and I swear they were really surprised at how many boxes we had.  In  fact they even packed a couple more for us when we realized we had some things laying around that we didn't know how to pack...like a fan, how do you pack a fan?  Well they know, and they know how to pack a printer without breaking it too.  I was so pleased to see how the sunlight just streams into our new place, I feel like my vitamin D deficiency might be cured here.  I think the movers were just happy to see that it was one flight of stairs. 

We made it:  Abe, myself, kitchen table and chairs, bedroom set, tv with stand, filing cabinet, 60 boxes of stuff, but no couch.   My beloved couch was 4 inches too tall to make it into our new place.  It was the most perfect sea foam green color, and it was perfectly molded to our asses.  Not only that but it was really like the best couch ever.  So now it's sitting in the garage here until we can find a buyer, and we can go buy a new one that won't be even close to as nice.  I'm pretty angry about it, I have a hard time letting go sometimes. 

We arrived with 60 boxes but at this point I think we have only 10 left.  I am really happy to say that so far everything we've unpacked has a home here.  I mean a linen closet with all that multiple shelving, it might be normal for other people to have something like this, but I've never had one before and it's probably the best kind of closet ever.  We unpacked from 2pm to 11pm last night until the bottoms of our feet just hurt too much to stand on.  I was really going after the prize, letting things sit in boxes gives me anxiety.  Like the thought of leaving something in a box means that it might stay in there forever.

I got up early (because the light was shining into our room like crazy) and went for a run through our new neighborhood.  I took my Garmin with me instead of an ipod and ran to my favorite thai restaurant...I know, everything revolves around food here!  Anyways, it's 1 mile away from our house which was just kind of like good to know so when I have a tom yum craving I can just ride my bike.  The best part about being here is that it feels so suburban.  I didn't run past homeless people like I did in Cambridge, or fear getting hit by a car, it's really nice and relaxing and Quiet!  Man is it quiet here.

Today, we are going to finish unpacking our boxes and hookup our washer and dryer.  My parents are arriving this evening which is both good (so we actually finish with the boxes) but bad (because they are super neat freaks).  Maybe later my husband will walk to the ice cream stand across the street with me!  How quaint!     

  

Packing and Moving

We're busy effing bees right now packing up for our big move tomorrow.  The movers are arriving at 8am so we've got to be packed and ready for them really early.  I left work an hour early today so I could come home and help finish up, but now it's 10:30 and we're still going.  Good God.  I can sum up my night with 4 items:

1.  A couple should not have 60 medium sized boxes worth of stuff while in a two bedroom apartment.  We own way too much crap obviously. 
2.  I'm never EVER eating Indian food again.  I feel like I'm going to puke but I'm holding it in because the image of me throwing up vegetable samosas, chicken tikka masala, biryani rice, and another curry, is just too disgusting.  Damn you Kebab Factory and your over priced mish-mash!
3.  Packing while feeling this nauseated is punishment...oddly I'm craving watermelon sherbert on an ice cream cone even though I feel sick.
4.  We're moving again in a year probably so we decided to save all the boxes after this move.  So next time when I pull out a box that says: rice cooker, bathroom scale, shower curtain, shoe horns, and umbrellas - I can be reminded that Abe was right when he said I was Insane.

Bags are expensive, Oh Well.

I've never truly owned a handbag before like for real.  I have a little bag for going out, but that's really it and it fits nothing but my phone and keys.  On the weekends I generally carry my stuff in various tote bags and during the week I just throw my wallet into my work bag.  Today, I was on the hunt for a real handbag.  I went to Louis Vuitton with a bag in mind but when I saw it in person, it wasn't quite what I hoped for.  It was nice, but it wasn't like: wow that bag is Nice.  I looked in Burberry and nothing in there really grabbed my attention, it was underwhelming.  I spent a good 45 minutes in Nordstrom trying on every single bag in all price ranges.  I found a Tory Burch that I was pretty keen on, but after carrying it around for a while it lost it's lustre.  My stomach was in knots...is shopping supposed to be that stressful?  I was super close to buying a Jimmy Choo bag, but I thought it was just out of my price range since I liked it a lot but didn't love it enough to plunk down that kind of cash.  In the end I decided on this Chloe bag but one size smaller. 

It's much better looking in person than it is anywhere online, I promise.  After trying every bag on the floor, Abe pointed to a bag way up high for me to try.  He's really good at picking stuff out for me sometimes.  It's one of the more comfortable bags to put on my shoulder and I can't over stuff it with things I don't need.  I'm not very good at making big purchases when it comes to things like this.  I'm still not sure if it was a good idea to buy this one or not...  Buyer's Remorse is not a good feeling, I'm keeping the tags on for now!

Stupid Effing Neck

Today I had my first visit to a physical therapist.  I'm not sure how I feel about any of this at this point because all the people I've seen seem to disagree.

The nurse practitioner told me that I had a muscle strain and muscle spasms.
[prescribed: muscle relaxers, heating pad, Aleve]
The chiropractor told me that I had a few vertebrae out of line in my neck and spine.
[prescribed: multiple alignments, heating pad, rest]
The physical therapist told me that it was muscle tightness in my neck and shoulder.
[prescribed: exercises, heating pad, multiple therapy visits]

I don't really know what to think about all this, I know that it's slowly improving but then again it's been almost 4 weeks now so time alone could be the healing answer.  A real diagnosis would be nice though since I've never had anything hurt for 4 weeks before.  I'm wearing a backpack to work people!  Also, if my health insurance was the CDHP that I had before I got married I would have paid $325 so far in copays just to deal with this.  Meaning: I never would have even gone to the doctor.  Only because my husband's insurance is what it is, I'm able to treat the problem even if nobody is sure exactly what they are treating.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing...  

Super Cuteness x 2

Check out this Yoshi!  How Effing cute is he?  Abe brought him home from NYC.  I was like: where did you get him?  Abe goes: Nintendo World.  There's a Nintendo World near Times Square, that's even more hilarious.  An Asian guy buying a Yoshi in Nintendo World in Times Square...there's nothing stereotypical about that sentence at all.  If it were me, I'd also be wearing my new backpack I'm sure.  I'm glad he brought him home though, even if he had to endure Times Square.  Look what else he does:

He works really hard.

So back to the other thing in the first photo on the right.  It's an 8 ounce french press for tea.  I guess you could press anything in here, but 8 ounces of coffee would be like not even close to enough, but 8 ounces of tea is a nice amount.  I got the little container while I was at Whole Foods the other day, and it's made by The Republic of Tea.  It's actually pretty amazing how insulated the plastic is, it feels barely warm even though there's boiling hot water in there and it stays hot inside for more than other containers I've used.  More than anything else though, it's super cute and isn't that just the theme of the day here? 

The Non-Golden Arches

Oh man, I got my super sized bottom to the gym today.  I was thinking that I was really doing myself a favor by pushing myself to get there even though I'm feeling really down in the dumps.  I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the treadmill, this is like minor league gym going.  You know what happened?  I bought new sneakers last week but I'm just now discovering that they aren't supporting my arches enough.  My right arch hurt so bad by the time I got through 1.5 miles that I had to walk, and then I found that walking made it hurt just as much so I had to head home.  I'm going to slip my Super Feet insoles in them tomorrow and see if that feels better, it should, but I can never really know.  I will give a sneaker review once I figure this part out...I don't think it's fair quite yet.  Switching brands can be really hard mentally on top of the small physical changes.  I get very attached to things, but I think most runners feel this way about their sneakers too.

You know what else can be hard mentally?  Seeing yourself through the lens of Photobooth.  I can't believe I forgot about this little extra on the computer until now.  There will be more to come of these, I know it.  It's all so anime!

 

 

Food, Inc.

I've been pretty into documentaries lately.  A couple of months ago I watched Spirit of the Marathon and two weeks later signed up for the Chicago marathon.  Was I just a sucker?  Probably but it was seriously inspiring and if you want to see dreams come true then you should watch it.

This weekend we watched Food, Inc.  It's a documentary about food in America and basically where it comes from.  People, unless you are a farmer or work in a processing plant, you have No idea where the food actually comes from.  Abe likes to say that "I drank the kool aid" when it comes to most things like this but whether I did or didn't, nothing changes where food is from.  If you are willing to sit through a documentary that is a little slow at the beginning, and a little heart breaking, but very eye opening, then give it a try.

I don't want to give everything away, but I think that I would like to share a couple things in case you don't find the time to watch it.  There's a lot of products at the grocery store, but only a few companies own everything...even when you think a company is one of the small good guys, they're probably owned by something massive and recognizeable.  Farmers are being bullied, animals and workers are being mistreated, and people are losing everything they own in lawsuits.  There was so much in this documentary that was surprising, and I really felt like I knew a lot about this stuff.

In the end, I decided to eat more locally grown organic and just to be more aware of things I was buying at the grocery store.  I don't think I can go 100% organic but I can try harder and think about it a little bit more than I used to. The idea that some companies really take advantage of their workers and have them deported when they're done with them makes me so sad for those people who thought they were in a different situation.  This didn't change my life, but it made us both more aware of processes in place with big companies.  Also, I learned corn was in Everything, I had no idea!  I'm glad I saw this one.

    

Finally, a new car

After a year of disagreeing back and forth on a car, we finally came to a very financially good agreement on one to buy so our payments are basically the same.  It's a 2007 certified pre-owned BMW 328xi in graphite.  It's the same exact model that we had just 2 years newer so the body is a little different and there are some nice other features that came along with it.   

Yeah it's not a very good photo of the car!  But when you hear someone approaching in our garage you've really got to finish up and hurry along.

This is our old car.  The funny part is that I brought the same travel coffee cup with me on today's visit to the dealership.   I have this thing for coffee, and on weekends I like to take it with me wherever I go.  Anyways, we had this really love/hate relationship with this car.  First off, when it got wet it would smell bad and that is enough to terrify someone into getting rid of it (imagine a molding Italian sub with sour milk poured on top).  Second, the service plan ran up and we needed an expensive break job and other little things.  Lastly, the back seats don't fold down so I could never go out and buy a full length mirror or like ridiculously long items.  Although most people wouldn't buy a new car over these inconveniences, people like me and my husband would.  Driving around the city can be annoying enough, we need to do it in some comfort.

Finally, the great car debate is over and it's time to move on to our next big debate: the second car.  We have a front runner, but we'll see what happens, hopefully it doesn't take us a full year to get another one.

That's Something Jerks Do

Let me tell you a story about a girl who sat on the Acela for 4 hours, then took a local train to a bus in order to get home a on cold Boston night.  She comes home to find a package from Target with three new shirts inside, and thinks: oh nice, I'm going to try these on and then get into my PJs.  She goes into the bedroom, undresses down to her unmentionables, and starts to unwrap her new package when...

[super loud knocking]
Where the F is that coming from, oh shit it's the front door, did I lock it?  OH SHIT!!!
 [more super loud knocking]

She grabs random clothing and runs into the bathroom realizing that she didn't actually grab any pants in that handful of stuff she brought with her.  She runs out and throws on pants with her heart beating a million miles an hour, and then opens the front door only to see nobody there.  Then a voice "Hi, I have a realtor and some people coming at 5:40 would that be Ok".  The current time was 5:35.  In What effing world is it OK to just give 5 minutes warning before showing a place.  For us, it would be ideal if they just got new tenants so they could stop showing it, but NOBODY IS GOING TO RENT THIS STUPID PLACE ESPECIALLY WITH AN EFFING HOLE IN THE EFFING CEILING!!

We're moving in 9 days, and all I want is 24 hours notice before a realtor shows up at my door with strangers.  Is that too much to ask?  I read everywhere that "reasonable notice" was required, to me that means 24 hours and not 5 effing minutes.  What the Shit?  I know he wants to rent this place out, but he really needs to step back and think about it for a second: Hole In The Ceiling.

If I hadn't opened the door, because I was actually home 1 hour before I normally am, he would have just showed our apartment without even getting my consent OR telling us.  THAT is what really boils my blood.  What do I do though?  We want our security deposit back...
 

Fist Pumps

I'm in New Jersey for a work related event. I have to say the area that I'm in is very nice but we had to drive through some really scary and horrible parts to make it here. This event is a training for my department so there are a lot of people here and I do know a good amount of them which helps. We have a lot of sponsored meals so we have to sit and eat our lunch and listen to someone talk about their sponsoring company for 10 minutes and then talk to them after and tell them that lunch was fantastic... when it was just a sandwich. I met a lot of nice people from NY and NJ, way more young people than I imagined.

I learned a lot here in NJ. Mainly I learned that if I don't start doing something that I love soon I'm going to become old and jaded and obsessed with things I can't even get into. I clearly don't fit in with this crowd, we have so many differences. I really don't enjoy that feeling, and nobody does so I'm not alone but it is a lonely feeling...

Thursday I get to come home and get back to my normal routine. My husband even made me some beef and curry for dinner when I arrive to warm me back up. There's nothing like a meal that someone else makes for me. Somehow it always tastes better that way, or its the extra butter.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Green Monster Attempt #1

My first Green Monster.
I should have planned better.

Ingredients: Ice, low fat lactaid milk, baby spinach, 1 tbsp of flax.  Um, I don't know what I did wrong, but I'm pretty sure I did a lot wrong.  I blended and blended and the spinach was still pretty chunky, the ice was pretty chunky, and it was just a bit odd.  I didn't taste the spinach at all, as promised, and the flax was very nutty and good.  It was more the texture I was unhappy with, maybe I used too much ice, maybe my blender just is a piece of crap?  A good tip if you plan on trying to make one of these: have straws on hand.  I was using a spoon to eat this thing, which makes things way more complicated.  I guess it's kind of obvious, but I'm not sure I've ever had straws in my household. 

The reason for these green monsters is to really get a blast of nutrients in your body, a whole serving or two of leafy greens in a tasty and easy way.  I'm not sure it's for me, I tried, but I like things to be even easier than dreamed of.  I haven't given up quite yet, I'll try another one soon...

Our Julie & Julia Experience

Saturday night we watched Julie & Julia, and I'm really surprised at how much Abe really got into it.  I liked it even more than I expected to, but mainly because I love Stanley Tucci and I was super amused that Sue Sylvester played Julia Child's sister.  I mean talk about unexpected!

Today we went to the grocery store so that Abe could prepare himself to make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon.  It's a stew prepared with beef and red wine, amongst many other delectible little veggies.  I've never had anything like this before.  This is not something where you throw things into the pot and let it do it's thing in the oven.  I didn't watch Abe cook it as I was busy packing boxes, but let me tell you, it took him about 3 hours from start to finish.  I have no idea how someone could do this sort of thing after work, it's definitely a weekend kind of meal. 

The beef is so tender, and the mushrooms are full and flavorful.  Is that bacon you see in there?  Oh yeah there's totally bacon in there.  This meal is rather filling and worth every bite!  Abe did a really great job on this one.  I think he's become the new cook in the house.

Nutella French Toast...Sandwiches?

I got a recipe for Katie Lee's recipe for Nutella french toast sandwiches, but I'm just now realizing it was a sandwich.  I thought it was just regular french toast...ugh.  That's why it didn't turn out right.  Anyways, it still came out pretty good.  I did substitute low fat Lactaid milk instead of whole milk and you could totally tell so I don't suggest that if you can stomach the richness.  I couldn't find brioche bread so I used challah, which is a total waste of gorgeous bread but I had to use what I could find since you really need to use a loaf that's not pre-sliced.  Also, when you bake it, you really need to watch it.  Mine burnt a little!

Behold, the gorgeous challah that I ruined.

This is my finished product out of the oven, but since I altered my recipe because...I am not sure my recipe used the word "Sandwich".  The top layer is the bread with nutella spread over and bananas resting on top.  I think you guys will have better luck on this though, it is very easy.  Behold the recipe:

Nutella French Toast Sandwiches
This recipe is truly decadent -- it's borderline sinful. I love baking French toast in a casserole dish because it's way less work and can even be assembled the night before. I leave a Post-it on the oven with baking instructions. Whoever gets up first is in charge. When the smell of chocolate and hazelnut starts flowing through the house, everyone rouses out of bed.

INGREDIENTS:
8 large eggs
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 loaf brioche bread, sliced about 3/4-inch thick
3/4 cup nutella
3 ripe bananas, sliced on a diagonal

METHOD:
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, salt, orange zest and vanilla. Set aside.

Grease a baking dish. Spread half of the bread slices with Nutella and top with bananas and remaining bread slices. Place in the baking dish. Pour egg mixture over the bread and allow it to soak in, at least 20 minutes. (I like to make this the night before, cover it, and store it in the refrigerator until the next morning.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until bread is golden brown and puffy. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Avatar

Abe finally convinced me to see Avatar with him last night.  Super Spoiler Alert if you haven't seen it yet.  We went to a little movie theater across from our new apartment in a new town.  It was so quaint, I mean there was a ticket window outside and not only was there a typical snack and candy bar but there was also an ice cream counter!  We got one giant popcorn and found seats with our 3-D glasses.  I think we forget sometimes how posh city cinemas can be with their huge stadium seating and spacious seperation.  This place was really old school, I think that our view was obstructed from both sets of seats that we tried but whatever atleast we got seats.  The movie totally sold out, it must have just gotten to that theater so the families and empty nesters were all really excited. 

The movie started out Ok, I think I liked it for about half of the movie and that's just when things started to go sour for me.  The storyline started to get really stale and predictable.  The 3D effects weren't enough to save the movie for me.  Then, Then, some idiot with a cell phone actually answered it when it rang On Speakerphone!!  Who answers a phone in the movies, and on speakerphone!!  Everyone freaked out.  I really wanted to yell out: shut off your mother Effing Phone you Retard!!  But there was a single dude sitting  next to me and I didn't want to scare the crap out of him.  It was bad enough that he had to listen to me crunch on popcorn the whole time.

The part I liked about the movie was when the blue people chose their flying dragon things.  I thought it was very sweet that they were bonded for life, up until Jake decided to ditch his original one (poor thing) and upgrade to an even bigger one.  I might have been the only person who felt bad about that though.  So yeah the 3D was kind of cool, but was the movie worth like half a billion dollars to make?  No Effing Way, and Sam Worthington wasn't cast right.  He's either a really bad actor or they wanted someone to have no range of emotion, his face is just like frozen in one expression all the time.  I think maybe he just wasn't right for this movie...

You know what this movie reminded me of?  Fern Gully.

Remember this movie from the late 80s?  If you are my age, you totally remember Batty and the fairies, it was good enough for a Fern Gully 2 that's for sure.  The humans go into the rainforest and they want to steal all the goods, but somehow the fairies fight back with their magical powers and save their home.  It sounds familiar, there was a love story, and the good guys won.

I am one of those people who sees all these reviews on how awesome something is going to be, and then I have expectations.  When those aren't met, I'm really critical.  Most people liked Avatar, even people in the same theater as us kept saying: Wasn't that Awesome!  For me, I just need more story and less special effects.  All in all, I was disappointed.

  

Visit to the chiropractor

You know when you have to admit that maybe you were wrong?  Today was one of those days for me.  My neck and back are hurting more by the day, so luckily I went to a chiropractor this morning for some help.  I was afraid that all he was going to do was crack my neck and back a million times and call it a day, but it really was so much better than that.  We did more strength and movement tests.  After I almost let out a silent blood curdling scream when he poked my neck and back in just the right places he showed me on a skeleton the vertebrae that have gone out of line.  It was a lot more than I thought!  He really listened to me and made me feel like he was going to help me the best he could, which is not always the case in all doctor visits so it was nice.  We started with ultrasound therapy on the right side of my neck and the right upper back to help the inflammation.  Next he rubbed a natural inflammatory gel on the areas that hurt and gave a massage, which was actually much more painful than relaxing.  I thought he was trying touch every single part of me that hurt, but really he was just trying to rub gel on all the inflammed areas.  After the gel torture, he pulled on my neck to kind of stretch out those muscles.  It did crack just once but I don't think that was the intention at all.  Lastly he adjusted my back just once, and since I do generally crack my back it wasn't as exciting as it is to some people I think.

I told him how I took a nap in a really awkward position, and he said that wasn't the cause, there was no way.  This sort of thing is something that builds up over time and the nap was the hair that broke the camel's back so to speak.  He kept asking me: has this sort of pain ever happened before?  I said no initially.  But he kept on asking, so I was like: yeah I mean I pinch nerves in my neck a few times a year, and he was like: really?  That's not normal.  Then, he was looking at my posture, which is Horrible.  Like my shoulders turn in and I crunch over, I just have always had bad posture, so I need to work on that.  He noticed that my right shoulder was higher than my left.  I was like: oh yeah, you know I carry a really heavy shoulder bag to work every day.  He looked at me like: seriously, you didn't think you mention this!  He said that was the real cause - and then I had to come home and admit to Abe that he was right and it was my bag this whole time.  He said that I could carry a backpack to try and even out my shoulders again.  My right one is higher because my body is constantly trying to hold the weight of my bag even when it's not on, I know WTF.  Now I can't move my neck and I'm deformed.  I hope that with more visits that he can help me stand up straight and allow for me to sit here without being in pain, I don't think that's so much to ask.  If this doesn't work, I'm also starting physical therapy in a week!        

Neck update

I saw a NP today at my doctor's office and I was really impressed at how thorough she was.  I had to do strength tests and reflex, but the worst part is when she started poking around my neck and back.  She totally caught me off guard and I let out a really weird noise.  I'm pretty sure it sounded like a moderately loud "meeeeeep".  I wish she had warned me.  It seems that I have a neck strain and I'm now experiencing muscle spasms which is why my shoulders and back hurt so much right now.  I let this go on for approximately 2 weeks, you know why?  Because even though I live right next to my doctor's office and it's convenient, I didn't want to have to tell her I hurt it by taking a nap on the couch while playing Bejeweled on Abe's iPhone.  I did my best not to come off as being insane, but it didn't work.  My best efforts were only sabotaged by myself of course.  She set me up with a chiropractor for this weekend, and some physical therapy for later.  I got up to walk out and she stared down my big Longchamp shoulder bag...

NP: You really shouldn't be carrying that around on your shoulder.
Me: Oh I know, I need a backpack.
NP:  Or a rolly bag!!  and loud giggly chuckle.

This is why I don't have an iPhone, because it's dangerous to my health.  So anyways, I'm looking forward to my visit to the chiropractor in two days.  I forgot to mention that I also have a script for a muscle relaxer if I want to try it.  The only problem being that I can only imagine the sister's wedding from Sixteen Candles when she took them and then could barely even function during her ceremony.  I'm sure that these drugs have changed since 1980 but you know I might just have to skip them and in the mean time find a better bag to lug my lunch, gym stuff, planner, wallet, water bottle, and coffee in everyday to work.  It will not have wheels.  

First Race

Tonight after kicking someone off the treadmill who happened to go over their time limit (for the second day in a row), I ran two miles both at 8:45 pace which is like Speedy Gonzales for me since I haven't run much at all these past couple of months and then I jogged another half mile to cool down.  It was hard, my face was beet red by the time I was done.  I've been concentrating mainly on the P90X which is great and all, but I still need more cardio it seems to feel more balanced and to really get to my maximum heart rate.  Today I saw on Twitter that the B.A.A 5K registration opened up for the Sunday before the Boston marathon.  I immediately signed up and conned a friend into running it with me.  This will be the first race where I don't have to stand around at the starting line looking like a lost and lonely lamb, how exciting!  This will also be my first road race of the year, probably the first of 4-5 this year and I hope to start it off with a bang.  Since I have very little experience racing almost every race I run is a PR, and I fully expect that this one will be too.  The downside of all this excitement is that I recently did something to my neck (by napping), and I have a limited range of motion in the neck.  I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow and hopefully we can figure out what the problem is and fix it soon.  I don't think they let people race when they've wearing a neck brace... so hopefully it will get better and not worse.  Send good vibes.

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Conversation City

Tuesday, 9:55pm

[ring ring]
omg.
Me: Hellllllllllo.
Abe: Hi.
Me: LOST IS STILL ON!
Abe: ok...call me back later.
Me: BYE.
That was our 3 second phone call because shit was about to go down at the temple.
-----------
Friend: you guys are out a lot more than you used to be.
Me: oh really?  Yeah I guess so.
Friend: oh yeah, a lot more, it's nice to see you guys.  We never used to see you before.
[she clearly thought we were hermits.]
---------
[ring ring]

Me: yes.
Friend: do you know how to paste the link to those files, ever since I got a new computer it's not the same as it used to be.
Me:  well maybe you should ask IT, I have no idea what your's looks like now.
Friend:  oh i guess so, but what do you think?
Me: I can't even see what you are talking about, so I really can't even guess.
Friend: oh, ok.

[1 hour later...ring ring]

Me: yes.
Friend: do you know how to fix this markup stuff on word.
Me: no, I Never use that stuff.
Friend: well do you think if I do this it might work?
Me: I wouldn't know, I never use it...honestly.
Friend: hm....well...
Friend: Maybe you should ask IT, I'm really not the person to ask.

[2 hours later...oh yes, ring ring]

Me: Yeah.
Friend: do you know how to paste internet icons onto your desktop?
Me: NO.  Really, I just want you to ask IT your questions so you'll be able to get a real answer.

So painful.  But really, I hope you saw the crazy temple stuff and please contact your local IT person for computer support instead of bugging your friend at work all day long.