NYC

This is our view. That is all. 

Sore.

Back in 2009, on New Year's Eve, I was involved in a serious car accident. A driver in the right lane did not like the fact that his lane on the highway was stopped and so, without looking for oncoming traffic, he changed lanes really quick to bypass traffic. Well, as he was changing lanes, I was in the left lane next to him. He hit my passenger side and the hit actually knocked my tire off of my car and into the next left lane. There are 4 lanes on our local I-5 highway. Before I was hit, I was in the 3rd lane to the left. After I was hit, I was in the 2nd to the left lane. My glasses flew off of my face from the impact...so I was basically blind...trying to make it over to the shoulder....with three wheels. So not how I wanted to spend my NYE!!

Anywhoo, more to the point. Because of this accident I will never be the same again. Right after the accident I started having constant and chronic headaches. At the time I thought they were migraines, but when I actually had a migraine I determined that what I had was thankfully not. My entire body was also aching  and sore. A coworker suggested going to a chiropractor (note: something I learned from this process - Do NOT go to a chiropractor first. Insurance almost never covers it unless your primary doctor refers you. Go see your doctor! Who will most likely recommend physical therapy. Save yourself the headache). After a year and a half of seeing a chiropractor and massage therapist 3x/week, I was able to be pain free for about a month at a time. I purchased a membership at Massage Envy and went there every time my back started to tighten up (which like clockwork was almost once a month due to my full-time job of sitting in front of a computer during the week). I also added an exercise regimen to build my back muscles so they could tolerate sitting all day (I'm still working on this today). Eventually I cancelled my Massage Envy membership because the cost was really taking a toll on my budget. So far, I've been doing good. Since canceling my membership last year, I've only gone back twice to get full price massages (which are expensive by the way).

So again, to the point of my story, last night I went to my husband's best friend's house for a BBQ celebrating her 30th birthday. Her house is the perfect BBQ locale - they have a deck outside with a yard that is tiered. The top tier is perfect for a game of corn hole or horse shoes. The bottom tier is a basketball court/pickle ball court. And it's down the street from the private Jesuit high school in our town, so you can park at the school and walk to the house. Last night I was "playing" pickle ball with two friends. Playing is in quotations because:

1. I've never played pickle ball in my life. 

And 2. We didn't have enough players, so basically the girls were on one side hitting the ball as hard as we could at Sam who was on the other side of the net. 

So finally: my point. I woke up this morning with sore upper arms and a sore back. Where's a Massage when you need one?

Reading on my lunch break

As I'm sitting at my desk eating the Chicken and ceasar salad made with kale I purchased from Starbucks this morning with my morning coffee because I didn't preapre anything for lunch, I came across an article that hit close to home with me. It's titled, 5 Things that Real Adults Do. I mostly do everything listed - so hey, I'm an adult, woohoo! - except one, meal plan. After reading some of the comments from others, one paragraph is exactly me, this girl hit the nail on the head!

On meal planning: I have all my favorite recipes (and ones I want to try) on index cards, each with a list of all the necessary ingredients on the back. In theory, I’d pick a week’s worth of meal cards out on Sunday or Monday and use that as a grocery list.

In reality, I often buy the ingredients then end up eating peanut butter sandwiches or a box of Wheat Thins while all those veggies turn to liquid in my fridge. Planning? Got that shit down. Execution? Needs some work.
 

My planning is impeccable. Actually preparing meals? Not so good. Last night is the perfect example. Hubs worked late, so instead of making a huge meal for just me, I prepared one of those skillet meals you get from the freezer asile. What did I end up eating for dinner? Bowl of Rice Krispies.  Seriously, Briana?! Yes, dead serious. Pretty sure the veggies I bought over the weekend are sitting in my crisper right now all mushy. I'll have to look into that when I get home...

Oh, I also don't wash my hair every day. Who has time for that!? Something that should be on this list, at least for females, is put makeup on. It's been a foreign concept for me lately. I was actually just thinking on my way into work this morning that I look a mess everyday and really need to work on my appearance...all this after standing in the Starbucks line and seeing the most put together woman. And then there's me...in a wrinkled shirt, damp/poofy hair from not blow drying all the way, jeans, sans makeup. I look a mess!

Spring

I obviously don't want to be stuck in the office this week...

Things I'm Looking Forward to

Mr. and Mrs. Favors are planning on being very busy in 2013! Some things we're looking forward to:

1. May: My 27th birthday! My girlfriend Dee and I are planning on having dinner with friends at a local Indian restuarant. I've never had authentic Indian food before so I've been looking forward to it. Afterwards, my favorite 80s coverband, the Spazmatics, are playing at a bar close to my house. I plan on attending that and I can walk home!
2. Girls day trip to Canada: My girlfriends and I were tossing around the idea of taking a day trip to Canada. I've been joking I need to go up there because I'm almost out of Royal Wedding tea that I purchased during a trip up there the day after the Royal Wedding. Now that I think about it, I need to get my passport updated. Yikes!
3. NYC in June: Jason and I were lucky enough to stay in a super great two bedroom apartment on 5th and Park. Jason's dad has a client who owns it and offered it up to us. Some things we have discussed doing/seeing: Chicago on Broadway, Shakespeare in the Park, maybe taking in a Mets game. One of my good girlfriends from college recently moved to New York, so we plan on meeting up with her. We google chatted last night and were talking about maybe going on this food tour in the West Village. I'd like to rent bicycles and ride around Central Park as well. So excited!
4. Weddings: Jason's sister is getting married in July in Seattle. My cousin is getting married in October in Charleston, SC. So excited to be a part of one and attend another!
5. DisneyWorld: After my cousin's wedding in SC, my parents have reserved their timeshare at DisneyWorld and invited us all to spend the week with them there. I'm so excited, I've never been. And it would be great to see the boys (my brother's sons - Luke, 3, and Warren, 2). Luke has Autism, so I'm not sure how he'll do with crowds!

I fell in love today...

With a model home..a Quadrant model home at that. Like, I wouldn't mind extending my commute from 10 minutes to 30 on a good day (and spending a pretty penny for my gas-guzzling SUV) kind of love. I was gushing over finishing a like a mother would a newborn.

I don't know how much we can afford, but if this house is not in our budget I may become clinically depressed. It was AMAZING. 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, bonus room right next to laundry room (that has a utility sink), giant master suite with 5 piece bathroom. Ginormous pantry and a mudroom with a built in bench and cubbies. It was only 2200 square feet, but they did such a great job with the layout that it feels like 3500-4000sqft. I died and went to heaven.

Weekend Update

Eating dinner is so hard for me. Well, not the eating part, the preparing part. I work full time - with a lot of overtime. Hubs works full time. When we get home neither of us wants to cook. I just want to go to bed in all honesty...I'm trying to cook more though. I'm tired of my meals coming out of paper bags and shoved out a window, or delivered by the pizza guy. I want more "real" ingredients, and I want to know that nothing weird has been added. Now, I'm not an all organic person - my budget doesn't really allow that, not that I would be if I could afford it either..but fast food kind of grosses me out. I didn't grow up eating a lot of fast food. IF we did eat it, it was Arby's roast beef sandwiches or during the summer while living in Wisconsin we walked our dog to McDonald's and got the 50 cent ice cream cones. We didn't even eat hamburger helper or boxed mac and cheese...

My list of ingredients needed

So my project for the weekend was to make 5-7 crockpot ready meals and freeze them for when I'm in the mood for a meal after work that I don't have to put too much effort into and just stick in the pot before I leave for work. I made 6 meals - 2 bags of teriyaki chicken, brunswick stew, honey sesame chicken, meatball stroganoff, and italian bolognese sauce. Before I could make these meals, I had to clean out my freezer. I really wish I had taken a before picture - it was a mess! Bags of frozen fruit that were iced over, bags of bread that we'd probably never eat, gnocchi that I'm not entirely sure how long it had been in there. I organized everything where frozen fruits and veggies had a shelf, my bags of crock pot meals were on a shelf with a half full bag of Costco chicken tenderloins, third shelf down holds most of our frozen meats - ground beef, ground turkey, kielbasa, my remaining 4 chicken breasts from a Costco pack where 2 breasts came in a packet - and my two bottles of sweet tea vodka which I loved to add to lemonade in the summertime :)

The After. So excited to try these out!



On Saturday, I cleaned out my freezer. It surprisingly didn't take as long as I thought it would, probably because I just threw most of it away..afterwards I spent some time with my sister in law and went to a Scentsy party her friend was throwing. Bought some new scents and a new warmer that I think will look nice in the kitchen - it's a red color that reminds me of the poppies that are on my kitchen mats.

Sunday consisted of spending the day with my sister - we went to breakfast at my new favorite pizza place, Puget Sound Pizza. Christy and I went there last summer I think (?) after just exploring downtown Tacoma and came across it. Ever since, it's been my go-to breakfast place! I know, a pizza place/bar for breakfast, but let me tell you, it's so delicious! After breakfast Christy and I went to Winco, pretty much my go to grocery store when I have a long list (and if you saw the earlier picture of my ingredients, it was pretty long) because I feel I get more for my money. If I would have gone to a regular grocery store, I would have spent well over $100 - close to $200. My total at Winco yesterday was a whopping $65. What really saved me is the only meat I had to purchase was ground sausage for the bolognese sauce. Everything else I already had in my freshly cleaned out freezer!

After grocery shopping, I walked down to a bar in downtown Tacoma to meet some girlfriends for our monthly Book Pub where we discussed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Most of the group couldn't make it, so it was just the three of us. One of the girls, Tori, hadn't finished the book yet so we just talked about things that had happened in the book she has read so far, and then we talked about the cruise Tori just returned from the previous night - she, her mom, her mother in law and a family friend took a cruise out of New Orleans and went to Jamaica. How fun, right?!

After I returned home I got started on making my meals. Hubs had soccer after work so he didn't get home until around 10pm, so I didn't have to worry about feeding him. Prep was pretty easy, thanks to a gadget I'm so glad I registered for! The Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper. I love this thing so much, it makes chopping onions a breeze! I also chopped celery and potatoes for the brunswick stew with it. Did I have to? No, but I did anyway because it is so much faster than I would be by hand!

After finishing all my dinners so much urge to keep going, so I decided to make green smoothie packets.

 

 

 I put 1 giant handful of spinach, between 1/2 - 1 banana depending on it's size, and 1/3 c of either frozen mango or frozen pineapple in a baggie. I had 3/4 full carton of vanilla greek yogurt in my fridge I wanted to make sure I used up in my fridge, so I put about 1/3 c of greek yogurt in a muffin tin in each hole and stuck it in the freezer to freeze into disks. I definitely put too much spinach in each pack because this morning when I took one out and put it in my Magic Bullet, I had the hardest time getting everything blended. Probably didn't help that everything was very frozen. Tomorrow I'll let it thaw a little. I blended it with almond milk and a splash of apple juice. All I tasted was the banana and almond milk. I could taste a hint of the frozen mango as well.

 

And that was my weekend in a nutshell! Next weekend consists of movie night with some girlfriends - I'm picking the movie becuase Jamie isn't allowed to have movie choice anymore after a crazy night of watching the Descendents with George Clooney (that movie was just weird), and Dee falls asleep during EVERY single movie we watch together. Has since high school. We're watching it at Jamie's apartment. She has a 3D tv and so the request I've gotten is it has to be a 3D movie. And it's peachy that no one rents 3D movies, you have to buy them. Boo. Another plan for next weekend is our nephew's 4th birthday dinner. His choice of restaurant was Famous Dave's so that's what we're doing. I'm also going to go out and buy his present...I'm thinking books because I don't know what to get the kid who literally has everything...

 

I leave you with my favorite picture as of late - the view from a vacant unit in Jamie's building that we looked at for Dee who wanted to move into her building, but after looking at her finances has decided she cannot move there. Sad day. I loved this view! And yes, this is the high school that 10 Things I Hate About You was shot at, Stadium High School.