Just Your Garden Variety Girl

more to come….

Yesterday I got my new phone in the mail and I have been playing with it non-stop since I got it. I love getting new toys. It explains why I haven’t updated my blog. Bad Angela!

Any ways, I guess I will start off with yesterday. Last night, my mom said we were going up to my Aunt Cathy’s house for dinner with her cousin. I was excited because I was starving. I was starving because I had no realized the time and hadn’t eaten anything before that.

On my plate I heaped a good sized helping of Angel Hair pasta with meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread.

I was starving, so along with what is pictured I also ate another slice of garlic bread and some M & M’s from my aunt’s machine.

I made myself a happy plate!

Thanks Aunt Cathy for making such a yummy dinner on such short notice! Love you!

Today started off being a busy day. My grandma had wrote on my facebook that my Grandpa needed to look at their van, which I drive around. So before going over there I had to clean it out! I am horrible about keeping cars clean.

When Andrew and I got there, my grandpa decided that the tires needed to be rotated. What a job that was! All four tires were swapped and put in new places. After making sure the bolts were tight and my tires were properly inflated, I was starving. We decided to eat Subway again because there isn’t much food places to choose from in my town. Someone mentioned the Sweet Onion Chicken, so I got that.

I ordered Wheat bread and topped my sub with the usual: spinach, tomato, and onion. The lady didn’t make my sandwich how I wanted but I am not one of those people who makes a lot of waves. I ate the whole six inch but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting.

Andrew had to work at 4, so when he left for work I went with Ashley to Petco. Hannibal loves going to the pet store because he loves other dogs. When we got back from the store I was feeling slightly hungry so I grabbed one of Ashley’s Quaker Mini Delights 90 Calorie pack.

It was good to hold me over until I could get home to make myself dinner. I think the Quaker portioned snacks give you more substance than the other brand (I can’t remember what they are called , Nabisco maybe?)

When I got home, mom and I decided to use some of our vegetables that had been sitting in our friend. Together we roasted, red pepper, yellow squash, baby bella mushrooms, and shallots. Then I put that on top of some whole wheat penne pasta, and sprinkled with feta.

It was very filling and a good way to use up those vegetables.  Now I am sitting here, waiting for Andrew to get off of work in 30 minutes, so we can watch the movie we rented.

Today has been a long day. While I was at work I got a phone call from my panicked sister telling my that my cousin Kelly had just been hit by a car. Immediately I start freaking out. My sister didn’t know any details but did know that she was being airlifted to the local trauma center. This is all while I was driving back to work from a delivery.

Thankfully, Andrew called right then because he saw me driving, and he pulled into calm me down. My boss said that I could go and we left immediately to make the 45 minute drive to the hospital. I still didn’t know much except that she had been hit by a car on her bicycle (she was training to do a triathlon with  her sister Meghann next weekend) and the entire car ride the worst case scenarios were running through my mind.

When we arrived I learned that she was conscious and she had just returned from getting her test done. Kelly ended up not breaking a single bone and escaped with some mean looking bruises. Kelly is a fighter and now has to be the luckiest person I know. She is alive because she wore her helmet. I am not a religious person at all, but I have been thanking god like crazy today. Someone was definitely looking over her today and I am sooooo incredibly happy that my Kelly is ok. 

She did get to walk away with a sweet souvenir. Her helmet was smashed to pieces and my made me take a picture. Pretty gnarly.

On a lighter note. The day did start off nice. It seemed like it was going to be a good day. I came home this morning and my mom wanted to go to the beach. It was gorgeous out today.

This is why I love Florida! It is the beginning of March and I went to the beach. And it was hot! Its also nice that I live 15 minutes away from the beach. After relaxing on the beach for an hour or so, Mom and I decided to get some lunch because we were starving. Since we were just at the beach, we were in the mood for some seafood. Cape Canaveral has a bunch of seafood restaurants but we chose Rusty’s Oyster Bar. It was such a beautiful day and we wanted to eat outside.

The restaurant is awesome because it is right on the water and they have a deck that you can eat outside and enjoy the water. There is a nice view of the cruise ships docked in Port Canaveral.

I started of the meal with a half and half iced tea.  Iced tea is so refreshing when you get all hot from the beach.

I debated on what I should eat because everything looked so good, but I finally decided on the Dolphin Sandwich Blackened.

The sandwich was really good. Dolphin is one of my favorite fish to eat and this really hit the spot. The only thing bad that I would have to say about it is that it wasn’t efficient as a sandwich. I like sandwiches that hold together until the last bite,  but this one I had to eat half of with a fork. I only ate a few of the fries and part of the coleslaw. I am generally not a fan of coleslaw though.

I am so grateful that my cousin is ok. My family means the world to me.

FEEL BETTER ROOSKY BOOSKY!

I love Friday. I woke up this morning to beautiful weather. We had planned earlier to go to the beach, but I think it was still a little too chilly. Instead of the beach, Andrew and I went on some errands. After going to both of our banks, we realized we were really hungry, so we stopped and got Subway.

I love that Subway now has all footlongs at 5$. I ordered myself a Chicken Pizziola on Wheat. I asked for the sauce to be light and to not have as many pepperonis. my sub was topped with spinach, tomato, onion, and jalapeno. This sub was so good and I have another six inch for later.

Did I mention how beautiful a day it was outside? I decided that since it was so nice that I would eat outside on our new porch furniture. Its nice out there and it has a nice few. Here is my lunchtime view.

Hannibal wanted to be in the picture. I also snapped some pictures of him.

He is such a goofy looking dog.

I have to work in about an hour. That’s the only downside to delivery pizza, you have to work on a Friday night. Its ok though, its only for a couple of hours and I’ll make some good money.

My friend Ashley used to have a roommate but since she moved out, they have had an extra room in their house that wasn’t being used. Since her husband has the garage as “his room” she decided that she would turn the spare room into “her” room.

All day yesterday, we drove around looking for a cheap couch and coffee table to put in her new room. After driving all over creation, we had no luck on the couch end but we did find a coffee table for $15. We got back and looked on Craig’s list and we found a potential couch.

We hopped in my van and drove the 15 miles to get to the Circuit City. The Circuit City was going out of business and the couch was their breakroom’s former couch. We liked the couch and everything, but then they dropped the bomb. We had to get the couch to the car ourselves with no help. That wouldn’t have been a big deal except for the fact that the couch was in the upstairs break room.

It took a lot of trial and error but we finally got it into the car. The best part was that we got the couch for free! It fits perfect in the room. I will have to get a picture.

On the way home I was starving because I forgot to eat something before we went, so we stopped at 7-11 and I got a grilled cuban.

For dinner, I went simple because I was exhausted from running around all day. I made myself a peanut butter and honey sandwich on an Arnold’s Thing. I also had some raisons on the side that weren’t pictured. You can’t really tell from the picture, but there was a lot of peanut butter on it. mmm.

This morning Andrew had to run some errands for his class. We didn’t get back until about 3:00 so I was starving. I have to work in about 30 minutes, but for a late lunch/ dinner I made myself some Whole Wheat Penne  with sauteed baby bella mushrooms, red pepper, and carrots.

Now I have to finished getting ready for work. I hope I make some good tips tonight.

Today has been a productive day so far. I figured since I had the day off, I would do some of the things that I have been putting off. To fuel my cleaning this morning I made myself a bowl of creme of wheat. Creme of wheat  by itself is pretty bland, so to sweeten it I added some honey and then I sprinkled on some cinnamon for added flavor. The warm breakfast was perfect.

After doing some loads of laundry, and cleaning my room I had worked up quite an appetite. I wasn’t really in the mood to cook anything, so I settled on a spinach salad. In my salad I had red pepper, tomato, walnuts(not pictured because I thought of it afterwards), and romano cheese. Instead of salad dressing I drizzled a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar, and sprayed the salad with olive oil using my Misto then salt and pepper.

The salad was really yummy and filling. Plus the red from the tomatoes and pepper makes for a really pretty picture.

Now I am just waiting for the dryer to be done so I can put another load in. I don’t understand have I always have so many clothes to clean! Laundry is the worst. I am excited for dinner because I am going to have to be creative.

I talked to my dad the other day and he said that his goats are expecting! Its so exciting. Let me explain. My dad used to live ten minutes away from me, but three years ago he decided to leave for to fulfil his dream of owning property. He found a really nice house in North Carolina on nine acres that had a barn. My dad already had some horses, so he wanted to have land to keep his horses.

His farm went from a few horses to now having : 6 horses (one being a miniature horse), two show quality female dairy goats and one male, 3 black angus cows, 2 dogs (a boxer and a doby/rotty mix), a gigantic rabbit name Benny, and about 30 laying chickens.

The kids are such amazing news because to get dairy goats to produce milk, they need to have a baby. Now that they are expecting, my dad can milk the goats to get farm fresh goats milk. That means farm fresh goat cheese. I am really excited. I really didn’t even know all of the awesome things that you can do with goats milk, but apparently, the possibilities are almost endless. I told my dad that he had to send me some!

Now lets get to the food.

I had to go to work this afternoon, so before work, I made myself a bagel with cream cheese and salami. The salami was a last minute thing to make my bagel more substantial.

The combination of cream cheese and salami wasn’t that appetizing, but I ate all of it.

Before for work, I made myself a bag with a mixture of Kashi Granola, raisons, and walnuts that was like a trail mix almost, so I could have something to snack on while I was driving around. However, I forgot my camera at home so I didn’t get a picture of it.

After a long day of hard work, I came home and wanted something quick and warm, since its really cold outside. I made myself a Morning Star Cajun Black Bean Burger. On my burger, which was sandwiched between an Arnold’s thin, was spinach, tomato, onion, and Swiss Cheese. The feat burger was so good, and the spice really warmed me up. I contemplated sides to go with my burger, but decided that the 1/4 pound burger  would be enough to fill me up.

The only thing that I do not like about the black bean burgers is that they are so messy! The burger fell apart in my hands making it very difficult to eat. No complaints on the taste though.

I do not work again until Thursday, so I want to make a nice dinner tomorrow. 

Happy first day of March! I love this month because it means spring is right around the corner. Since its a new month I decided that I wanted to put forth some personal goals for myself during the month of much. I am a very goal oriented person and it will help me to have more achievable goals.

My first goal is to become more involved in my blog and the blogging community. I have been really busy and my poor blog has been neglected. I am going to try to update everyday like I did in the beginning.

My second goal is to start saving money. I just got a job at Stone Creek Pizza as a pizza delivery girl (I will go more into that later.) This goal will be harder because I am not good at keeping money.

My third goal is to eat at least three meals a day. I am a very sporadic eater and I think that it might be hindering in weightloss i am trying to achieve. So far I have lost ten pounds, but seem to be stuck on that number. This is going to be hard for me when I am working.

My last goal, is to get back into my gym routine. I have been a major slacker and have been too tired to go to the gym on somedays, and it probably is another cause of my weight stabilizing.

I like to look at each month as a new start almost.

On another note, I GOT A JOB! woot! Everytime I saw my friend Anthony, I would bitch about how I needed a job and that it was so hard to find one. I had been on numerous interviews with no luck. I was beginning to think that it was impossible. But, alas, someone quit Stone Creek, and Anthony told his boss that I was looking for a job. I went up to the store to talk to the boss man and BAM, he gave me a job.

So the past few days I have been working my butt off at work. Its been months since I had a job, so I am still not used to being so active constantly and I have been exhausted(which is why my poor blog has been neglected).

I am kindof worried though about being able to still eat healthy even though I will be around pizza almost constantly. It will really be a struggle for me, especially since the smells inside are almost unbearable. Maybe that can be a new direction for my blog, trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and continue my weight loss while being tempted constantly by bad food.

We shall see. Later today I will make a food post (my computer is old and takes a bajillion years to load up and start working, right now I am on my mom’s computer).

Does anyone else like making new goals at the beginning of the month?

Today was an early morning! Andrew and I woke up around 7 so that we could be at Margarita’s house by 8 am. I had enough time, and I remembered, to grab myself some breakfast to make at her house. While at Bj’s yesterday we picked up a gigantic box of Kashi Summer Berry Granola.  I had half a cup of granola and half a cup of Kashi Go Lean. I also grabbed a nectarine to go with my cereal.

Since it was so early, I also enjoyed a cup of coffee with my cereal.

Margarita was only gone for a little over an hour, so after we left her house we went to Wal-Mart to get Andrew’s oil changed. When we got there, the line was really long so we had to walk around the store and entertain ourselves for a little over an hour. In that hour we:

• Played Guitar Hero in the electronics section
• Picked up some white chocolate chips and some writing icing for the cake I am baking
• Looked around in every department
• Paid for my chips and icing
• Got a beverage in the front of the store
• Wasted fifty cents on a twenty-five cent claw machine (I swear its rigged)

And after all of that, we still had to wait.

For lunch, I made myself a salami sandwich on an Arnold’s Whole Wheat Thin. My sandwich had Swiss Cheese, hummus, hard salami, spinach which was piled onto the Thin.

I washed down my delicious sandwich with a Tazo Chai Tea Iced Latte. So good.

Oh yes, I almost forgot about last night. Last night Andrew and I wanted a quick dinner since it was kind of late. I had the brilliant idea to make us Pizza Bagels. I took a Lender’s Everything Bagel and toasted it. I then topped it with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella, and sliced plum tomato. Then, I put the topped bagel under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese. The end result was amazing, and it took me less than ten minutes. I love fast yummy meals.

Now I am going to bake a cake for Ashley’s birthday. I love baking. I plan on doing a step by step blog later tonight.

PS. I took extra time on my food pictures today, Can you tell the difference?

It was so beautiful today. I know I say this often, but I love Florida.

I got home this morning, and my mom was ready to go. We went to Bj’s Wholesale Store to load up on some bulk items. I love shopping in bulk! Especially how much cheaper some things are in bulk. Like shallots are really expensive at the grocery store, but at Bj’s you can get a package of about 10 shallots for like $2! I love cooking with shallots and its nice to have them stocked up.

After shopping at Bj’s, we were starving so we were bad and stopped at the A&W Rootbeer/ Long John Silvers.  There is nothing like Root Beer out of the tap at A&W. Mmm. I feel really bad about eating Long John Silvers heart attack in the box but it was oh so good. My mom and I decided to share the Two fish meal with a root beer. LJS is such a guilty pleasure and was so good. Bad Angela.

While we were at Bj’s I found something awesome. I used to be obsessed with Chai Soy Latte from Starbucks. I found the same Chai Concentrate that they used at the Starbucks! And of course since it was Bj’s, it was three boxes of it yay. When I got home I made myself a chai tea just like Starbucks. I don’t have soy milk so I mixed it with regular milk and it was still good. I try not to consume that much soy because of my family history of thyroid problems(soy has adverse effects on people with thyroid problems), but chai tea tastes so much better mixed with soy milk.

Sooo yummy! Now I am waiting on Andrew to get off work to figure out what I am going to eat for dinner. I have to wake up early tomorrow to watch the triplets so its going to be a calm night probably.

Ps. Disney made a Hannah Montana full feature movie for the Theaters! I am such a nerd and I am obsessed with Hanna Montana. It comes out in April woo!