Saturday Dinner Review

We decided that every Saturday (or every other Saturday if we get tired of it) we're going to eat out at a new restaurant. This week, we went to an Italian wood fired restaurant not far from our house called Sabina's. It was fantastic!! We both decided we wanted pizza and there is nothing better than a handmade wood fired pizza and that was the biggest reason we chose to eat there.

After you sit down they bring you some bread which is clearly homemade and I could swear that each slice weighed 3lbs. And the butter they brought out with it? Good Lord, it was dangerously delicious. It was a garlic/onion butter which was amazing, and they also have the olive oil and balsamic on the table that you can put on your plate to dip the bread in. I only had one slice of bread and halfway through eating it, John and I both said, "We probably shouldn't eat this, we won't be hungry for dinner!" But we finished our pieces anyways.

The pizza we ordered was a chicken pesto white pizza and was amazing! I'm not sure what it is but I've really come to love "non traditional" types of pizza (i.e. anything other than cheese and pepperoni). A lot of times for lunch I'll make chicken pesto pita pizza or bbq chicken pita pizza, so maybe that's what it is. I enjoyed the 2 pieces I ate and am excited for the 2 I have for leftovers. I'm sure they'll be just as good reheated in the oven for lunch in a few days.

Thank God

For electric blankets! I'm pretty sure we'd be frozen without one!!

The Next Best Thing

I previously posted a month or so ago about how great coconut m&m's are. Move over coconut m&m's, I've found the next best thing. Actually, my neighbor found them. They are Almond Joy pieces and blow the coconut m&m's out of the water!! They are more expensive than the m&m's, but they have a better, more genuine coconut flavor. My advice is this. If you are a coconut fan...try them. If you love the coconut m&m's...try them. Beware. They are addicting!

Crabby

This post will not be long as I'm a bit of a crab today. I woke up at 4:50am to a constant beating sound that was John running on the treadmill. This is the 3rd time this week that I've heard him and once I hear him, I can't fall back to sleep until well after 7, and then my alarm goes off between 7:30 and 8. So then I end up turning it off and sleeping until 10 or 11, which wrecks my whole day. Now I'm crabby, and this is all I'll write.

Hat Whore

I have become somewhat of a winter hat whore these days. It seems that I cannot have enough of a variety. It started last year when I bought a North Face knit beanie that I fell in love with, oh wait, maybe even before that. Yes, in WA when I bought a multicolor fuzzie knit hat. The North Face from last year keeps my head super warm and got me addicted to the knit beanie look. Last year I bought a black Kangol furry bucket hat with intentions to wear it in the winter. Next came a fuzzy white hat from John for Christmas (along with a matching scarf and gloves) and then my mom bought me a hat that I asked for (which I thought was the same as my North Face hat, but just a different color). I exchanged it because it was a bit too mushroomish with the fleece lining, for a black, knit billed hat which has become my new favorite. Here is my collection.

This is the hat I bought in WA.


This has been my favorite for the past 2 years.


This one I don't wear often, but still like. Sometimes I'll wear this one on a snowy day.


This is the one from John.


This one if from my neighbor. It's awesome! You put it on like a regular hat and from the front it looks like a regular hat, but it only goes around your head, keeping your ears warm and is open at the back of your head. Great for when you wear a ponytail!


And this has become my new favorite. I was worried I'd look a little bit lesbianish in it, but I don't think I do.

Biofreeze

"What the heck?" you may ask yourself. That is the stuff that they use on me in physical therapy that is fantasticness in a tube. It temporarily eases the pain in my hip and would guess it to be similar to any IcyHot cream or something similar. Thankfully for me they sell it there on the office and apparently also at CVS, therefore, I bought some to bring home. It is temporary relief for 20 to 30 minutes. Best $10 I spent today.

Chai

I've been gone from Washington over a year now, and from time to time, I find myself missing bits and pieces of it. One thing I miss is a vanilla chai made with non-fat from Express Espresso. So, to cure that I decided to order some of the mix from online. My friend Tricia posted on her blog about the brand a year or so ago and I said to myself, "Oooh, I should order some," and didn't. So last night, I decided I would. I got the starter pack which is a variety of all the different chai's they make to see if there are any others that I can't live without. I'm hoping their sugar free vanilla is just as good as their regular vanilla. It should be here in about a week or so (or maybe sooner if I'm lucky!) so I'll let you know the verdict.

Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt

Yuck. Disgusting. No thanks. Even after adding raspberries it still tasted gross. I think I will stick to my Yoplait Thick N Creamy Light in very vanilla or French vanilla (I can't remember). Chobani also makes a vanilla yogurt which I bought to try and asked John not to eat it...which he ended up doing on accident, or so he says (he he). So now that I had to try the plain first, I will not be buying another vanilla to replace the one John ate. You ruined it all for me plain! Thanks.

The Weekend

I was a slacker and didn't get to post this weekend, We didn't do too much really. Friday after John got home from work, we went out for dinner at Outback courtesy of gift cards we received for Christmas. Before we went, I did my research on nutritional information as far as what I should get to eat. GOOD LORD! I couldn't believe how unhealthy the Chicken on the Barbie has the potential to be. Thankfully if you order the chicken without butter and seasoning, and the veggies without the butter it's tolerable, but still, not as "great" as you'd think. So of course I ordered mine sans butter and only ate half the chicken (woo hoo for leftovers for lunch Saturday!) and didn't feel guilty. It helps too that I had a great hour and a half workout at the Y in the morning!

Saturday morning I went for breakfast at Denny's with my friend Tonja who I used to work at Bed Bath and Beyond with. Again, I did much investigating on nutritional information. There isn't much you can eat there that isn't OVERLOADED with fat and calories, but there are some healthy and not so awful choices. My order was: 2 Hearty Wheat Pancakes with no butter, sugar free syrup, 2 egg whites, and the seasonal fruit which was red grapes, strawberries, and bananas with water to drink. It was excellent!! I didn't feel all fat and bloated after I left which was great. So again, I didn't feel guilty, even with taking the day off for exercising.

Today was the normal Sunday. Morning walk on the treadmill, grocery shopping, and just hanging out at home. Another week lies ahead and I'm hoping we'll get lots of snow tonight. We're supposed to get some, but I don't think very much. I'm not quite sure where it all is this winter, but I wish it'd show up!!

Hair Place

I've been here a full year and have FINALLY found a hair place that I like and will be my hair home here in NY. I went to one place up here back in the summer time that someone I worked at the bank with referred me to and although the lady did a nice job and the price was right, the plaza it was in was kinda run down and shady, it was 20 minutes from me, and it just felt very impersonal while I was getting my hair done.

The place that is now my new hair home is called Shear Gold Hair Designs and it's about 2.5 miles from my house in a little plaza with a bait shop, liquor store, and Stewart's shop (equivalent to UDF). The girl who cut my hair was around my age and really friendly. The salon was cute and clean, and the people were friendly. Score! I feel like I finally have most of my ducks settled in a row up here. Got a doctor, orthopedist, dermatologist, dentist, and a hair girl!

The Crystal Experience

I had my first experience with the Crystal Spa here in town today thanks to the gift certificate from my hubby for Christmas. I got a sauna, mineral bath, and hour long massage. The sauna was good...hot, but good. My only complaint was it would've been nice had they piped some music in there. After that, I went for my mineral bath which I wasn't overly impressed with. No bubbles, no candles, no smell goods, no nothing but water in a bath tub. I probably would've had a better bath in my own whirlpool tub at my house, but oh well. After that was my massage which was great. The guy I had must have had the biggest hands on the plant and must have been quite the strong guy too. I like a lot of pressure for the most part in my massages, but there were times it was a little too much. Overall though, it felt great!

The whole spa experience was good; the atmosphere was different than what I'm used to. It was more classic Victorian, older, whereas I'm used to the more modern Mitchell's type setting. I would think that they would want to update the spa, but at the same time, this is a very historic and old city, and I think they like to keep it that way. Will I go back? Probably for a massage or pedicure, but I'm not sure about anything else. Definitely not a mineral bath though.

Brownies

I like to watch the show Doctor Oz whenever I get a chance if it's on when I'm not doing something. The other day I caught the last 15 minutes of it and they had a recipe puzzler where someone had a recipe with a secret ingredient that Dr. Oz tried to guess what it was. What she had him eat were brownies, my favorite! So he takes a bite and guesses something that I can't remember, but he was wrong and he said he was shocked it wasn't what he thought it was because they were so moist. The secret ingredient...black beans!

I went online yesterday and looked to see what ingredients I needed that I didn't already have and decided I was going to make them. Today was that day and I must admit, I was a bit nervous. The batter smelled a bit odd, but not gross. After they cooked it smelled like brownies in the house so I was less nervous. And after dinner, was the taste test. The outcome...DELICIOUS! They were fluffy, moist, and chocolaty!!! What's even better is that they are much better for you than your regular brownie. From an 8x8 pan, it makes 12 and each brownie has 3 grams of fat and only 176 calories.

I've decided that from now on, when we have brownies, we'll be having these!!

The Difference

Do you know the difference between and upright bike and a recumbent bike?




If you weren't sure and you saw these two pieces of equiptment sitting next to one another and you had to choose which was which, could you?

Drama on the Lake

We had some drama here on the lake last night. A house about a mile down the road caught fire. We were out running errands and on our way home, we saw some smoke. John said, "Something must be on fire," and of course we assumed someone was just burning stuff. As we got closer to the lake and rounded the corner, we saw flames coming from the roof of a house and fire trucks everywhere. The road was blocked off for them to put out the fire so we had to take a detour home. We found out later on that night when we watched the news that there was some sort of explosion that caused the fire. They think it had something to do with the propane tanks and the water treatment system. Luckily no one was hurt, but the poor guy who was there had just rented that house at the beginning of the year. What an awful start to the year. But as I said, luckily he wasn't hurt.

So Far This Week

I have controlled my snacking. I have always been a night time snacker and I have always told myself I need to get it under wraps. So, this week I've done rather well for myself. This wasn't my new year's resolution because frankly, I don't really believe in them. I do things whenever because I want to, not because it's a new year or the "trendy" thing to do. I'd say my biggest drive behind it all is because after seeing a picture of myself on Christmas Day, I was less than happy with it. I completely overindulged on cookies (it makes me a little bit sick to think about how many I ate while being home) and a few other holiday and home delights. Needless to say, the pictures revealed my overindulgence and that is just not the path I'm wanting to take. So the minute we got home from being in Cincinnati, I've been very conscious about what I put in my mouth and how much. The scale has been kind to me little by little each day which is always nice, so I will continue.

The Bengal's game tonight was awful. I was almost a little sad we even watched. I thought for sure they'd pull it out in the beginning, but not so much. What a disappointment!

Physical Therapy

I had my first physical therapy appointment today and much to my surprise, it wasn't that bad. It was honestly sort of a waste of time, but I guess in the grand scheme of things probably not. My therapist looked at my MRI films and told me I won the award for the, "Hell the how did you do that?" The muscle that I tore connects from my hip and runs all the way down to my knee, and the tear occurred where it attaches to my hip. I have no idea how it happened because there was never one day where all of the sudden I felt it happen. Hopefully with the therapy and doing the stretches at home it will help it heal. I'm still able to work out which is good, just not allowed to run or jog right now which is somewhat of a bummer for me, but I guess I'll get over it.

I hear that Ohio is getting snow and it makes me laugh at how much people are freaking out about it. It'd be one thing if it NEVER snowed there, but every year between December and February they KNOW they get snow...so why all the hype? My therapist and I were talking about snow today and how we really haven't gotten that much this year. We're thinking we'll get dumped on at some point in time before the season is over and if we don't...we'll end up getting it next year. I would kinda like some more snow. I mean, we still have plenty on the ground from the 8 inches we got in December and the few inches we've gotten here and there since, but I'm ready for a big 10-12 inch snowfall!

On another random note, we're talking about getting the MagicJack phone. I've read a few things about it and we'd be stupid not to. It's like $40 to buy the stuff I think, and then $19.95 a year after that. We pay $40 a MONTH to Time Warner which is a huge rip off and the MagicJack is the same thing. It's the phone line that works through the cable line. Sure if the power goes out we're screwed, but that's why we have cell phones! I'm going to do a little more research, but we're pretty sure that we're going to end up doing it. I'll keep you posted!

The Results

The MRI results came in today and my doctor's office called with the results. Looks like the pain in my hip is caused by a muscle tear. How this happened? I couldn't tell you. I haven't done anything out of the ordinary in the past few months. I haven't fallen, or twisted a funny way. So, who knows. I go for physical therapy on Thursday and will be going 2 times a week after that.

Besides that, I had a super productive day! I got my Christmas tree down and put away, all other Christmas decor as well. I put up the regular things above my cabinets and washed all the glassware that the candles are in up there. I forgot how awful it gets after a year!!

I slept ridiculously late today which is strange because I've been getting up between 7:30 and 8:30 lately. I don't know if it had anything to do with my awful mood yesterday or what, but if that's all I needed to have the productive day I had today, I'm ok with it!

MRI

I've been ridiculously lazy at posting lately and I apologize. Ever since we got back from Cincinnati it's just been hard for me to really find time, well, to make time I guess. It's one of those things where once you're in the habit, you do a great job at keeping it going, but once you fall out of it, it's just a matter of getting back to it. Please be patient!!

New Year's was nothing exciting at our house. Just picked up a pizza and hung out at home. John was off on New Year's Day and then the rest of the weekend which was nice. I'm really liking him on this day shift job. It's so nice for him to come home around the same time every day and have every weekend and major holiday off. Hopefully they'll keep him in it after the said time, but I'm not putting money on that.

I had my MRI today which for some reason, was the only part of my day that I wasn't pissed off. I don't know if I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or what, but I have just been mad all day long. Even while I worked out, I was pissed. Usually that will take care of any garbage feelings I have, but not today.

The MRI only lasted about a half hour and unlike the last one I got 15 years ago for my knee, I was able to wear my clothes (since everything I wore had no metal on it) and they gave me some headphones with music to listen to. Hopefully in the next day or two my orthopedic doctor will call and let me know for sure whether or not it is tendinitis. I'm hoping that if that's the case, that the PT will either fix the pain or that they'll figure something else out. The steroid shot I got at the first visit only lasted a day, so it's not something that I really care to keep getting if it's not going to last.