Unlucky, but Lucky

I thought my pizza-beer lunch would hold me over until dinner with no problem, but my stomach started to grumble around 4:00 pm. I knew dinner wasn't for at least another 3+ hours, so I decided to snack on a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar. I was excited to try this flavor, mostly because of my love of peanut butter and cookies, but I really wasn't impressed by it. The peanut butter flavor didn't come through as much as I had expected. It was just kind of bland... and now that I've had the Coconut Cream flavor, it's going to be very hard to top!

Wedding Dress Shopping

My sister didn't have much luck at Priscilla. She tried on a couple of nice dresses, but being samples and all, the quality of the dresses was rather poor... basically like a lot of people had already tried them on! Most of the dresses were just handled too much-- and not really worth the money. My sis has plenty of time to find a dress, so she wasn't upset about not having any luck. 

Birthday Dinner

My sister wanted a have a margarita to celebrate her 27th birthday, so we decided to have dinner at the Catcus Club, which is always one of my favorites. Dinner started with chips and salsa. 

Of course, I agreed to have a margarita with my sis. I got mine on the rocks with salt. 

I haven't eaten many veggies lately, so I opted against a Mexican entree, and went with the boring, but healthy, garden salad with creamy balsamic on the side. The salad was fresh, but it was your "standard" garden salad. It had the basics, but nothing fancy.

My mom, however, ordered a wonderful salad! In her salad: greens with sliced apples, gorgonzola, walnuts, and drizzled with a raspberry vinaigrette. Mmmm... much more exciting! I should have gotten what she ordered! 

Tonight, my mom brought a bag of fall goodies for both my sister and me. Inside our bags: 2 apples and a carmel-walnut-covered apple from my mom's work and an eggplant from her garden. I get very excited about food gifts! :)

I cut into my caramel apple within minutes of arriving home. I LOVE caramel apples! They remind me of many good times in my childhood. My mom would always treat my sister and me to one when we went pumpkin picking each autumn. Ah, memories. Anyway, over the course of the evening, I've pretty much peeled all of the carmel off my apple. So good! 

I have my last day of training at Healthworks tomorrow, followed by lots of studying, a possible art show, and dinner with Mal's parents (aka my in-laws!). Another packed Saturday for me! 

P.S. There may be some "issues" with my blog tomorrow morning. I apologize for the inconvenience-- mostly everything should be up and running by Saturday night. 

Penguin Love

Lunch today was fantastic! I have a new favorite! My friend, Blain, and I had some celebrating to do (you guys will see tomorrow!), so we decided to have a leisurely Friday lunch, complete with pizza and beer at Penguin Pizza in Brigham Circle.

"Penguin," as it is better known, is a great little restaurant with a very impressive beer selection. I've been to Penguin a couple of times in the past, but never noticed their wide variety of brews-- they had at least 20 taps and many, many, many bottles to chose from.

As soon as you walk into the restaurant, you notice the plethotra of beer mugs displayed around the bar. Penguin has a "mug club," and rumor has it, if you drink every beer on their list within one year, you are awarded a penguinite mug, a 22.5 oz mug with your name engraved on it that you can drink out of when you visit Penguin. The mugs are hung all around the bar and cover the side wall of the restaurant. I've always wanted to have my very own beer mug at a bar, but I don't think I could ever drink that much beer! (Maybe in college, but not now!)



From the "Penu," Blain and I ordered a large pizza and a couple of beers for lunch.


My beer selection was a Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale, which was my first pumpkin brew of the fall! Very exciting! :) This beer nailed the pumpkin category! It was nice and smooth with subtle pumpkin and spicy-nutmeg flavors. Deeeelish!


We ordered the Pimento pizza, which was topped with roasted red peppers, sweet red onions, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, and goat cheese. Lots of my favs!


The pizza was HUGE! Good thing we were both hungry! We made a good dent in it, but Blain still took 3 pieces home as leftovers!

Penguin's pizza has the best thin crust-- it was mostly crispy, but still had a little chew to it. I loved the slightly garlic-y sauce, and, of course, the toppings, which were fun and creative. Big fan! Lots of Penguin love from me!


Piece #1...


Piece #2 with Parmesan sprinkled on top...


Friday Night

Immediately after work, I am meeting my sister and my mom at Priscilla of Boston, so my sis can check out the annual sample sale. Priscilla is tres expensive, but their wedding dresses are to die for! You never know, my sis could get lucky and find an amazing (yet affordable) gown! It's always fun to look at fancy wedding dresses, so why not see what they have, right? :)

After dress shopping, the three of us are off to dinner to celebrate my sister's birthday, which was yesterday. I'm still not sure where we are going for dinner, but I'm assuming we'll stick to the Copley/Newbury area. Any recommendations?

Depending on how dress shopping and dinner go, I have tentative plans to visit Allston later tonight. My friends want to go to My So Called 90's Night at Common Ground, which is always such a blast, but I have to work bright and early at HW tomorrow (8:00 am), so I'm not sure I want to have a late (and boozy) night. We'll see...

Almost the weekend!!! The countdown has begun!

New Favorite

Lunch was not at all satisfying today. I just wasn't feelin' my salad and pizza combo. I ate the majority of it, but it wasn't exciting. My lackluster lunch left me desiring something more.

My salad was a mix of veggies from home plus leftover Asian Chicken Salad from yesterday. (I snagged a leftover salad at the end of our meeting!) Inside today's salad: romaine, grape tomatoes, green and red peppers, Mandarin oranges, edamame, snap peas, carrots, jalapenos, and marinated chicken. It sounds like an awesome salad, right? Unfortunately, my taste buds did not agree.


Lunch also included a piece of leftover pizza from last night. (Sorry that some of my photos are flipped the wrong way!)


On my way back from a meeting this afternoon, I grabbed a handful of plain M&M's from the department's reception area. It's funny how quickly that can happen!?!


As previously mentioned, lunch did not satisfy. Physically, I probably had enough, but mentally, I wanted something else to eat. I decided to dig into my afternoon snack a little early: a piece of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and banana slices. It was definitely a good food choice; I felt much better after eating it.


Snack Numero Dos

I have plans to meet a friend after work for a drink at 6B. A drink is fine and dandy, but I'd prefer not to eat out tonight (trying to save dinero), so around 4:00 pm, I munched on a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar to hold me over until I get home.

Note: THE COCONUT CREAM PIE FLAVOR IS HEAVENLY!!!!!! It's easily my new favorite!


Career News

Just today, I registered for the Boston NASM Certified Personal Training Workshop! It's a 2-day live workshop in November that focuses on assessment, exercise technique, and program design. I don't think the workship is specifically designed to help me pass the NASM certification exam, but it will definitely help me put the pieces together and it gives me a chance to experience personal training firsthand! Can't wait! :)

Barney Butter Baby

Dave C. was so excited about winning the Barney Butter contest that he decided to finish his Barney Butter Baby poem! His lyrics crack me up!

To the tune of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby"

Barney Butter baby (x2)

All right stop open the top and spread it

Tina is back with some brand new snack food

Something that I spread on my bread nightly

And when I'm done, I put the lid on tightly

Will I ever stop, yo I think I might

Read Carrots N Cake its quite a site

To the extreme I eat snacks like a vandal

Spread on the Butter and light up a candle

Eat, then rush to the nearest whole foods

It's pleasing your stomach and fixing your moods

Creamy when I eat a dope bite

Anything less than the best ain't right

Love it or leave it you better lose weight

You better buy Barney Butter CNC don't play

If there was a problem yo I'll clog it

Check out the Butter while Tina blogs it

CHORUS

Barney Butter baby (x4)

Now that the blog is jumping

With the winners checked in and the peeps are writtin'

Quick to the site to the results no faking

I'm dreamin' of Barney B and cant stop shakin'

Cant wait to spread it, so rich and creamy

I went crazy when I heard it was me

A nice free jar with a yellow label

I'm on cloud nine, it's time to get stable

Waitin', of course you know

With my laptop on so CNC can show

The bread is on table waiting with the bagel

Did you stop no I just read more

Kept on reading through the next post

I busted through the blog and I'm heading to the next one

The blog was dead

Yo so I came back to… Carrots N Cake website!

Readers were happy but wishing they had won

CNC lovers thought the contest was real fun

But jealous 'cause I'm out getting mine

Dave C with a jar and its going to taste mighty fine

If there is another game yo I will join it

Check out the blog while Tina coins it

Barney Butter baby

Barney Butter baby (oh-oh)

Barney Butter baby

Yo bloggers let's get out of here

Word to the website

Barney Butter baby so creamy

Barney Butter baby so creamy so creamy (x2)

Barney Butter baby

Holy Buffalo!

My first night went really well! (Details tomorrow, promise!) My first night also ended earlier than I had expected, which was a pleasant surprise! 

When I finally checked my cell phone, a text message was waiting for me from my friend, Carl, asking if I wanted to grab dinner and drinks and watch the Sox game at the Hancock Tavern with him. Since I had a couple of extra hours and no dinner plans for the evening, I decided to meet him and my other friend, Blain. 

I really didn't feel like drinking, but found myself ordering a glass of pinot grigio (and a glass of ice water). Turns out, this brand of wine tasted horrible, so it worked out that I didn't drink much-- about a 1/3 of the glass. I wasn't a fan. Yuck.

Dinner, however, was delish! It took awhile for our order to be delivered to our table, but my meal was well worth the wait. As Carl said, "You can't rush perfection!" I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Pizza, which came covered in mozzarella cheese and breaded buffalo chicken. Yum! 

I ate 3 pieces from the 10" pie, which means... Buffalo Chicken Pizza for lunch tomorrow too! :) Let's just hope Mal doesn't come home from the Sox game and devour my leftovers! 

Carl and me at the Hancock...

While I was in restroom, Carl took a self-portrait on my camera. Isn't he cute?

Monday night's Hills then bed for me! Good night, all! 

UFood

Our grocery supply at home is completely tapped. I'm usually quite clever with creating homemade lunches and snacks, but when you have nothing to work with, it's time to give up and eat out! :) My friend and I made plans to have lunch at KnowFat this afternoon, but after our 10 minute walk over, we discovered that KnowFat no longer exists (in this location), and was replaced by a new take-out place, called UFood. The motto on UFood's sign was "feel great. eat smart," so we figured we'd give it a try. It did not disappoint!

At UFood, I ordered the Tomato Fresca sandwich, which was made with fresh tomatoes and feta seasoned with herbs, extra virgin olive oil, and cracked black pepper on a toasted baguette. I was pleasantly surprised by this sandwich. It was equally delicious and filling... and not too expensive ($5.25). The bread was soft and thick, and the tomatoes and feta were fresh and flavorful. All in all, a great take-out lunch! I'm sure I'll be back!


It was a big sandwich! I also drank water from my Sigg for a free and healthy beverage.


Even after eating a good-sized lunch, I feel like "Snacky Snackerson." I stopped by the School's cafe for some fruit to snack on (good: apple) and somehow ended up with a cinnamon chip muffin (hello, sugar craving!) I just started nibbling on the top of my muffin, but I know it won't hold me over until dinner around 9:00 tonight (bad snack planning). Moving forward... Better snack planning: Eating my apple around 4:45 pm and a Kardea bar (lemon-ginger flavor) around 8:00 pm.


Announcement: Part I

So, guys, it's finally time for me to fess up. I feel like I have been sneaking around on you! I've mentioned some studying here and there, and my posts haven't been quite as regular as they usually are...

Well, after much thought, I've decided to make a semi-drastic change in my life, specifically with my career. While I mostly enjoy working for a university, I do not like sitting behind a desk all day long. Most days, I sit on my bee-hind for long stretches of time without moving at all, which gets old day in and day out.

After considering what I do not like about my current job, I began to think about what I like to do with my time. Some of my favorite things are blogging on Carrots N Cake, sharing my knowledge and ideas about healthy living, and helping others strive to be their best. Then, I thought, how can I make what I enjoy into a career? The answer was a lot easier than I expected! Well, the decision was easy, but the road to get there is a different story!

Tonight, I begin my journey to a new career. I'm a little nervous about the big career switch, but I am mostly excited! There's a lot more to say and explain about my new plans, but I will fill you in tomorrow morning! I'm such a tease, aren't I?! :)

Rockin' Headache

Sorry that I wasn't able to post last night. I got the WORST tension headache while celebrating Dave and Marie's engagement. I still had a nice time with them (Marie and I talked wedding plans!), but my headache forced me to call it an early evening. 

I wasn't hungry for dinner yesterday since I ate such a late lunch. I knew we'd be out celebrating for the rest of the night, so I decided to eat something small, just so I wouldn't end up starving later on. I heated-up some leftover breaded veggies from last night. 

I also managed to find some room in my stomach for a handful of peanut butter and chocolate chips. Funny how that happens! :)

We celebrated Dave and Marie's engagement at The Fours. There, I ordered a glass of Mondavi Chardonnay, which was a little pricey, but well-worth every cent. The flavor was full-bodied and smooth with "tropical fruit notes." LOVED this wine! I will be on the look out for it in the future!  I slowly savored a glass while at the restaurant/bar.

The Fours is known for their amazing Buffalo Chicken Nachos, and they are definitely a favorite appetizer of the engaged couple. The table ordered a few plates of Buffalo Chicken Nachos to share. Of course, I enjoyed a small plate of them! :)

After the engagement celebration, I quickly got ready for bed, took some pain medication, and passed out! My headache kicked my butt!!! Luckily, I am feeling much better today. Be back later this morning with a breakfast post!

CONGRATS, DAVE AND MARIE!!!!!

Leisurely Lunch

Danielle and I spent a leisurely lunch at the Parish Cafe this afternoon. We sat outside in the sunshine, chatted, and enjoyed a wonderful meal. 

I ordered the Harrington salad, which was chopped romaine, fresh mint, diced cucumbers, sliced red onions, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese served with lemon-olive dressing, over grilled Syrian bread. I also asked for some honey mustard on the side. It was a very good salad, but it didn't knock my socks off. 

We also each enjoyed a glass of white wine. I wasn't planning to have a glass of wine, but why not, right? We were celebrating the start of fall! :)

At the gym, I grabbed a free mini Luna Lemon Zest sample, which I munched on after lunch. A little later, I also ate a half of a Barney Butter and strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat bread (sorry no photo). 

 

Tonight, we are celebrating our friends' engagement! (Congrats, Dave and Marie!) Mal and I are planning to eat leftovers at home for dinner, but we'll be going out for drinks later on. Not sure on the destination quite yet, but we have lots to celebrate! :)

A Day Behind

Sunday, already? I apologize for neglecting the blog all day yesterday. Saturday definitely flew by for me! I left our apartment at 8:45 am and didn't get home 12:30 am! And during that whole time, I lugged my gym bag all over Boston, but I guess I got a good back and shoulder workout, right? :)

The Wedding Bliss exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum was wonderful. My sister and I really enjoyed it. 

The wedding exhibit spanned four rooms with paintings, sculptures, photographs, decorative objects, jewelry, and attire from all over the world. It was really neat seeing how these objects related to the various rituals, beliefs, customs, and emotions surrounding marriage and the matrimonial experience. Of course, my favorite part of the exhibit was the wedding gowns. I snapped this photo of a Vera Wang gown from the mid-1990's, but I got busted by security-- no photography allowed-- but at least he didn't make me delete the photo. :)

After visiting the museum, my sister and I walked around Salem. We popped in a bunch of little shops, and leisurely pursued all of the cute items. It was so nice having my sister to window shop with me. Mal likes to shop with a "purpose," and usually doesn't enjoy dilly-dallying through shops.  

We walked around Salem for a couple of hours before getting hungry for lunch. Mal used to work at Finz a few summers ago and he highly recommended it, so my sis and I decided we'd go there for lunch. 

It was a gorgeous day yesterday, and we were lucky to dine on the Finz outdoor patio that over looks the Salem Harbor. My sister and I ordered the same Arugula Salad, tossed with vanilla bean vinaigrette, raspberries, pine nuts, and topped with boursin cheese.  The vanilla bean vinaigrette immediately caught my attention. I had never heard of anything like it, and I am so glad that I ordered it. The vanilla bean vinaigrette was slightly sweet and tangy, and definitely brought some life to my arugula salad. 

My sister and I also shared a side order of sweet potato fries. We both loved them dipped in the vanilla bean vinaigrette! 

After lunch, I was craving something sweet (like always), so we stopped in Jaho Coffee & Tea, a funky coffee shop on Derby Street. My iced coffee with soy milk was delicious-- strong, but a little sweet.

Around 2:00, I said goodbye to my sister and headed back into the city. I stopped at Healthworks for a quick workout. I did the elliptical for 45 minutes, walked on the treadmill for 15, and did a few sets of lunges and squats using the Nautilus machines, Bosu, and dumbbells. After a quick shower at the gym, I met up with Mal downtown. 

Our North End friends, like many Boston residents, spent part of their Labor Day moving into a new apartment. Understandably, their move took longer than expected, so our dinner plans were pushed back until 8:00 pm. I knew there was so way I could wait to eat until then, so Mal and I grabbed a snack and a cocktail at Charley's on Newbury Street. 

I was in the mood for a good, strong cocktail, so I ordered a dirty vodka martini. (It was after 5 o'clock!) :)

I love it when dirty martinis are served with big olives like this! I always save one for right after I finish the last sip of my martini. Delish! 

Mal and I shared the Bruschetta Mozzarella, which was toasted focaccia bread topped with marinated roma tomatoes, red onions, fresh mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinaigrette. It was fantastic, but definitely a dish we could easily make at home. 

Instead of going out for dinner, we decided to grab food at the St. Anthony's Feast in the North End with our friends. The St. Anthony's Feast was quite the bumpin' event! The streets were packed with people! 

Pizza was on my mind for dinner, so as soon as I saw the Pizzaria Regina booth, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to eat.

Mal and I each ordered a slice of cheese pizza from the Pizzeria Regina vendor. 

The streets of the North End are super crowed during the St. Anthony's Feast. I tried to get a photo of my piece of pizza, but as you can see, it wasn't an easy task!

A lively parade came through the streets of the North End with Italian marching bands and serenaders. I can't remember the last time that I saw a parade, so it was really fun to see! 

After about an hour at the St. Anthony's Feast, we decided to grab a beer and catch the end of the Boston College football game at the Waterfront Cafe Bar-Grill. Our friend, Jack kindly bought us a round of drinks. I ordered a Blue Moon.

The football game ended (BC won!), so we headed back to our friends' apartment to hang out on their roof deck, which had the most AMAZING view of Boston. What a great location! It was almost midnight at this point, so Mal I walked to Park Street and headed home to bed. 

Long post for a long day! Not sure what is on the agenda for Sunday. I'm off to a slow start, but I think an iced coffee and a shower will get me moving!