chicagofoodjourney-blog

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 160: Annoying day...

Followed by irritating night.

I had to go back to work today after 2 glorious days off and it was ROUGH. It felt like the longest day there ever. It was a perfect storm of terrible crap. We are in the middle of sale, we are short-staffed, the GM stayed on our floor all day, AND I was starving the whole time!! 

I ate lunch but it wasn't filling at all. And anyone who's ever met me knows that I'm barely passable as "pleasant" on a full stomach... an empty one creates a demon, the likes of which you've only seen in your scariest nightmares. 

Anyway, I made it through, did my ralking home and tried to forget about the day. I was feeling good as I stepped off the train (believe it or not!) because I got a whiff of lilacs. I absolutely love the smell of fresh flowers! And it's even better when you smell them at unexpected times/places. It's like the exact opposite of when you step into an elevator full of fart air. 

When I got home, I got just as irritated as earlier so the night was pretty much a bust too  :(

I did however make my mom's famous tortellini salad... cheese tortellini tossed in olive oil, black pepper, oregano, parmesan cheese, shaved red onion, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. It is DEEEEEEELLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH! The perfect summer side (or even main.) dish! YUM.

Well, tomorrow is another day. Hopefully a less irritating one.

Goodnight!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 159: Plantains, plantains, plantains...

AND MORE PLANTAINS!! 

Nick and I went out for Puerto Rican food last night. It was delicious but if you've never had Puerto Rican food before, let me warn you... the main (and sometime only) ingredient in a lot of the dishes is plantains. I ate plantains served 5 different ways last night. I'm not complaining... just sharing :)

Anyway, the food was delicious and the mojitos were awesome. After dinner we had plans to head downtown but I was insanely tired after eating. So instead we went home and I crashed at about 9:30. ......Remember I was referring to myself as an old lady? There's more concrete evidence! 

You would think that getting 10.5 hours of sleep would be totally refreshing and I would be super energetic this morning...I am not refreshed or energetic. I'm using the time that I should be ralking this morning to write this. (Relax, though! I have to take the train home tonight and I've already planned my route so I will get in over 2 miles of walking.) 

So tonight, I ralk. This morning, however, I'm going to try to sleep for another 45 minutes or so.... :)

Good Morning!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Here I am... In all my mumu filled glory!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 158: I beat your high score!!

Not really.

The morning started off with Nick cooking breakfast and me jonesing for some cartoons. I casually picked up the PS3 controller to turn on Netflix and Nick immediately asked "What are you doing??" I responded "... Playing Skyrim."

Nick.... "What.?"

Me... "Yep. And I'm going to beat your high score."

Nick... "Oh, honey. You're adorable."

Apparently Skyrim doesn't keep score...? Anyway, I turned on the first season of Bob's Burgers and laughed hysterically while shoveling a homemade breakfast burrito in my pie-hole.

After my burrito settled into it's new home, I got all gussied up and headed downtown with my little brother, Winston. Winston is in film school and he just bought a new, crazy-awesome, camera so he wanted to test it out. I wore a flowy dress and made my hair all long and curly, which we both figured would look amazing in the wind near the lake.

In my mind I looked like an ethereal nymph with flowing locks, just floating through the photo shoot. In reality... I looked like an obese grandma who can only wear mumus to venture out into the real world (all three times a year she manages to do so). Seriously! It looked like I had taken a bedsheet and just wrapped it around myself.... "I'm ready for my piiiiiiiiiiiccccctuuuuuuuuuuuuuuresssss!!!" I must have screamed in a ludicrously over-pitched squeal.

Anyway, Winston got to test his camera and I have hard, photographic, proof of just how awkward I truly am. *hangs head in sadness*

So, we walked to the train and stopped off at a DQ on the way. It was awesome. I had a small turtle brownie blizzard. NORMALLY, at DQ I only ever order the Peanut Buster Parfait... but I tried to be different. The blizzard was good but screw being different!! Next time, and every time henceforth, I will be ordering only Peanut Buster Parfaits! They are the most delicious thing on the menu and I won't try to fight it.

Overall, I walked close to 2 miles today. In heels. So I don't feel bad about my ice cream splurge. I do however want to run about 12 miles tomorrow. There's nothing quite like seeing yourself on an amazing HD camera... It really makes you see how clearly you appear in everyday life.

AND I'M A MUMU WEARING OLD LADY!!!!

FUCK.

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day... 157?: Or somewhere in there..

I ralked today!

I'm so proud of myself! I ralked this morning even though every fiber of my being wanted to stay on the couch reading trash news. And it felt gooooooooooooooooddddd!!!!

I was so happy that I was out there doing stuff! The whole rest of my day flew by! I sold some stuff, I irritated my boss, you know... the usual. But it went by quickly, and the evening was fantastic!

We met up with one of Nick's good friends who happened to be in town on business. We took him to a local brew-pub and good times were had all-around. 

It was a pretty great day! I'm super excited to have the next 2 days off.. I sold enough to give me a good head-start for the week, so I just want to have some days off to relax and rejuvenate. I'm in desperate need of a pedicure so perhaps that will be on the docket at some point over the next two days. Other than that, I've got nothing going on.

I'll try to have some inappropriate/ funny adventures though, too keep you all amused... 

Shouldn't be too hard ;)

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Up and out!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day..... What day is this?!?!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know, it's my own fault for not posting like I should be. But! I'm back now! So let's catch up and see what I have and have-not been up to :)

Things I Have Been Up To:

Eating. (Mass quantities of everything and anything that happens to find it's way within arms reach.)

Drinking. (Booze, soda, red bull... pretty much everything that is bad for me but won't kill me.)

Sleeping in. (LATE.)

Going out. (Everywhere! Restaurants, concerts, bars, movies... pretty much just hemorrhaging money.)

Making life decisions. (Big ones! Some good, some scary, some blerg-tastic, but overall, A LOT.)

Now...

Things I Have Not Been Up To:

Ralking. (Or getting any kind of regular exercise.)

Staying positive. (Well, for awhile... I'm good again :))

Wearing flats at work. (I just have way too many gorgeous heels, I MUST WEAR THEM!)

Budgeting. (I've been on a spending spree lately. It's all good though.)

So, as you can see, I've been severely off-track for the last month or so. And I definitely notice the difference! ...In how I feel, my bank account, and how my damn pants fit! 

Time to buckle down again. This time I need to be very diligent about everything... remember I kinda stopped budgeting? Yeah, I need to budget again! Yikes! And I definitely need to get back into exercising. I've gained back 4 pounds but it is hugely noticeable! I had no idea how much flab 4 pounds looks like! If anyone is curious, I can send you a picture of my stomach which currently looks like I have an inner-tube sewn under my skin. CRUD!!

Anyway, this summer is not quite going to be the summer I had in mind. Like I said... big life decisions. Stay tuned, you'll find out one of the first big one in just a few weeks :)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkkkkk!!!!!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Please accept this apology about my lack of blog posts. It is sincere and delicious! :)

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 132: The Great Debate...

Ok, before I delve into the giant debate I am having with Nick, let's get caught up on the last few days.

Things have been good. I've been eating healthy, and have been getting outside ralking. Today I went 4 miles, not too shabby, right!?! I feel like I'm finally back in the zone.

Anyway, last night we went to see Childish Gambino at the Riv. It was awesome!!! Such a great show! Donald Glover is a fricken madman. He has the wittiest metaphors and can rap so fast that your brain tries to compute the words but trips over itself, can't catch up, and the next thing you know, you're checking your chin for drool because you feel like your brain just got bitch-slapped and now you can't control basic functions. It. Was. Amazing! I am a little mad though....

WHY DID YOU WAIT UNTIL THE LAST SONG TO TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF, DONALD GLOVER????? WHY????????????

Also, this trashy couple that showed up after us kept trying to elbow their way in front of us...and they finally succeeded. Or did they? Yes, they were now standing in front of us but my face was 6 inches behind the gutter-girls head so after every song ended, I made the most high pitched scream to cheer on the band. She was getting so pissed. Every time she leaned in to complain about me to her boyfriend, 2 things happened. 1. Their heads completely blocked my view of Donglover, forcing #2 to happen.... 2. while still standing mere inches from them I would start open-mouth breathing so while they were leaning in to talk, they were engulfed in a cloud of canned beer breath. It felt great. After the final song I let out my biggest screech so far.... and the girl tuned around, glaring at me. So... I screamed again. Right in her face.

 Yep.

Moving on... I had worn a new pair of shoes to the concert, a delightful pair of jelly shoes with bedazzlements. You're jealous, I know. But get this, they made the loudest clicking sound with every step I took. This started us talking about those high-stepping horses that make extra clip-clop sounds when they walk... Here is where Nick and I are embroiled in the Great Debate of 2012.

Nick insists that the horses are just trained to walk that way. How? He doesn't know... they just are.

I agree that yes, those horses are trained to walk that way, but I can explain how. When the horses are but mere colts, the trainers crawl up underneath them and tie a string from the horses leg to it's balls. If that baby horse tries to take long steps, the string gets tight causing agonizing ball pain. The horse learn that if they lift their legs up, instead of out, it doesn't hurt them in the junk. Thus creating the elegant and clicky gait we all love.

I am having trouble researching my point though. Anyone out there able to substantiate the truth? Let me know...

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 130: Great Odin's raven!

Holy smokes!

I know I owe you kids about 3 blog posts, but I just saw The Avengers...

And now I need to go to sleep and have sweet dreams about Thor and his.... hammer.

We'll catch up tomorrow. After the Childish Gambino concert!

Sweet, sweet dreams ;)

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 128: Work,work,work...

And it's my day off!! Grrrrrr........

We've been having a pretty great weekend so of course it had to end.

On Friday we went to Milwaukee to meet up with friends and see Aziz Ansari. Nick and I went up there early and did a bunch of touristy things. We had Milwaukee's best burger, we went to Lakeview Brewery and we toured the Great Lakes Distillery. It was so much fun! The best part was the distillery. We learned some cool stuff, drank delicious cocktails and met a guy who looked, sounded, and acted just like one of Nick's friends from high school. The guys name was Nick Nye and his fiancé just happens to work for one of my biggest clients at work. The whole thing was twilight zoneish and weird but kinda cool :)

Anyway, the show was great! Aziz was hilarious but alas, I didn't have the slightest opportunity to seduce or run away with him :(.....Oh well. Next time! Since we didn't have much time to hang out with Chris and Lisa before the show, we popped into some little place afterwards to grab a bite and catch up. We heart those kids so much! It was an awesome little rendezvous, and I hope we get to have many more this summer.

Yesterday, I had to wor-Excuse me! I just threw up in my mouth a little. Gross. ..So I had to wor-Nope! Still can't choke that out. Let's try something else... Last night we managed to snag tickets for Kumail Nanjiani… It was awesome! We got front row seats and Nick accidentally heckled his opener... Ooops! Regardless, It was another great night.

Today, I had so much to catch up on... laundry, dishes, bills, calls, mail, Real Houswives of NJ...;). Since Nick had to work this morning, he made us breakfast, and I decided to let that breakfast settle and take care of some other things before going for my ralk... Then it started storming.

Aaaaaaaandd the storms lasted all day. So no ralk for this girl :(… I tried to do my kickboxing again. I didn't like it nearly as much as before. I did a 25 minute intermediate program and I didn't like it at all. Maybe it's because it was a different trainer who did a lot of grunting in today's routine, but I think I just would rather be outside. Whatever, at least I did something :)

So now I'm sitting around, stuffed to the gills, because Nick cooked chicken & truffle oil sautéed spinach with mushrooms. It was amazing. Overall, it was an awesome weekend! I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. Monday= Barf!

I just want to get through it as fast as possible and come home to spin more fantastical stories for you all... Right??

Goodnight!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 125: AZIZ!!!

Today Nick and I are headed up to Milwaukee to meet up with some awesome friends and see Aziz Ansari. I'm so excited!!

I'm not sure how much we'll be able to squeeze in but we have some fun touristy things planned for the d-WHO CARES???!?!?! I'M GOING TO SEE AZIZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I already warned my boss... I might not be at work tomorrow because I plan on seducing Aziz and running away with him.

I'll keep you posted :)

P.S. Sorry, husband.

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 124: Hot child in the city

Literally. I was sweating like a whore in church today. It was so humid and disgusting out...

I'll be honest, I'm just gross in general. I am the hottest sleeper alive. Ask my husband! Sometimes he has to sleep on the couch because sleeping next to me is like sleeping next to a fireplace... A sexy fireplace that also manages to drool on you.

Anyway, I woke up all sweaty and gross but even worse than normal. I had plenty of time to go for a ralk but I felt so scuzzy and moist, I just had to shower immediately. So I spent the rest of the morning reading and being lazy. I left for the train right on time but karma decided to smack me in the face for being lazy. The elevator call button wasn't working. I tried hitting it rapidly, holding it in, I even gently kicked it with my pointy-toe shoe. Nothin! So I had to run down all 8 stories of stairs. And I'll admit, going down the stairs is not difficult but I still felt it was karma. I'm also embarrassed to admit that Nick pointed out that since I could hear the elevator running but just couldn't call it, I could have walked down to the 7th floor and caught it there...  D'oh!!

Anyway, I finally got outside and I was blasted with hot air. It sucked. I was wearing my super thick lululemon hoodie and I immediately starting overheating. This continued the entire day. Our AC was not on at work, so I was hot there. I was hot while walking to lunch, and I was hot while I ate lunch... let me tell you a little something..

I F***ING HATE BEING HOT.

Even being slightly warm makes me turn into an ogre, so when I'm HOT I can be a tad... *short-tempered* lets say.

So Every. Little. Thing. annoyed the f***ing piss out of me today! People near the doors on the train don't stand to let an old woman sit? Jeebuz cripes! I'll do it then! Your $5000 necklace broke? Boo, f*cking, hoo! You're lost and need directions? Take the first left up your ass and around the corner!

But...  I'm trying very hard to be calm and collected lately so I tried to cheer myself up and cool myself down with some fro-yo. It literally worked for the 5 minutes it took me to eat it. I was a wreck.

As soon as Nick picked me up, I had one word to say: Strongbow. Crisp, cold, refreshing cider was exactly what I wanted after my sweaty, irritating day. So, I'm sitting here drinking my cider with the AC set at a beautiful 68 degrees, waiting for Nick to finish homework so we can watch our Thursday night shows.

In other news, I didn't get to ride a scooter yesterday due to that stupid insomnia. I fell asleep around 9:00 last night and slept until 8 this morning... it was heavenly. Also, the pants I was so excited to fit back into about a month ago, are starting to feel snug again... NO BUENO! I will admit that I gained back 2 pounds in the last two weeks but I can definitely tell that I feel much bigger in general than when I was consistently ralking and eating salad. It feels bad. Bad enough to make me motivated to get my ass back on track!

Right after I finish this beer.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even stop being so sweaty if I shed my layer of blubber ;)

Goodnight!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

I EARNED this! How, you ask? By not burning this city to the ground :)

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

The elevator and karma got together this morning and decided to mess with me. Jerks!

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

Day 123: Why Hello, Insomnia.

"You Suck."

I've been awake since 4:30 this morning. FOUR F***ING THIRTY!!!

I feel like I'm going to die. 

I think part of the reason I can't sleep is because of a realization that I had.... For as long as I've been doing this blog, I've always hated writing out how much money I spend on food. Not because I'm embarrassed by the amount, or because I don't want people to know it. I just couldn't quite place why it annoyed me so badly. 

This morning I figured it out. You know that one person that everyone has in their life that keeps a running tab of every beer they bought you/they ordered pizza last/paid the cab fare last weekend....? I have one of those and I can't stand how obsessed they are with balancing out what is "owed" to them. I always thought what a waste of time it was to keep so many tabs going in your own head. And that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm running my own tab, wasting my own time.

Am I going to not buy a salad because it cost $11? NO! Am I going to skip breakfast because I should have eaten at home but didn't, so I have to spend $8 at Starbucks? NO! I'm not saying that I don't care about the amount of money I'm spending. I think I learned a great deal during the first month or two of this undertaking. I totally understand how much money I save eating in, and I try to do it as much as possible. I'm still cutting out unnecessary expenses, too. 

Other than the week we went to Next, I never even HAD to budget for food anyway! I wanted to. I wanted to try to be really aware of how much I spent on just keeping myself alive. But I'm over all that. I really hate how I feel when I'm thinking about money, not because I don't have enough, it's purely because I compare myself to that other person. Why waste time doing something that makes me irritated and also, at this point, isn't helping me move forward? I totally appreciate that if I buy a bottle of SmartWater, it costs as much as two home-made fish tacos... I get it. So I haven't been buying SmartWater! 

And I'm not going to feel bad when I go to lunch later and spend $8 on fish tacos at Flaco's Tacos ( I want them so bad now..for realz, it totally feels like I was just run over by a fish taco train). I don't need to eat fricken ramen noodles and canned tuna! So from here on out, I'm going to make healthy choices, try to eat at home as much as possible, and not post about money anymore.

I feel better already :)

[chicagofoodjourney-blog]

BOOM.