Sound of Music to the Resuce?

Well, the dog didn't bite and the bee didn't sting, but I was feeling pretty sad today....but luckily I knew I had a few of my favorite things waiting once I could just be free of work (which wasn't until 7pm tonight....where are you my darling, Friday?). And it really is true, as awful as my job can be and is really been showing it's colors as of late, I do LOVE my life. As soon as I get in my car, roll the windows down and then blast my music home, the wind blowing in my hair (that sounds cheesy, but it really makes me feel good) I just leave it behind. So without any more delay, here are a few of my favorite things, right now:

Receiving my first issue of AP!

A great sweaty workout (thank you Jillian)
The first night of competition on SYTYCD
A couch to relax on....it's SO amazing
2 nights of delicious, but diverse meals, made with 90% the same ingredients.

What was that? You want to to see these fabulous dinner? Oh, well....since you asked.
Tuesday night:

I was able to get some great fresh produce shopping this weekend so my fruit and veggie baskets are overflowing right now. Anyone who knows me would see this bowl of beautiful tomatoes, avocado and onion and knows that a batch of my famous gauc is on it's way....This wonderful mess is 1 Hass avocado, 1/2 chopped tomato, two finely chopped/grated garlic cloves, 1/4 of a chopped sweet onion and a handful of chopped cilantro, sea salt and black pepper. I think the key is to mix it gently...no mushing up my avocado, please! [for a kick I sometimes add a fresh chopped jalapeno and some lime juice, but I was out of both last night]. Alas, you can't make a meal of gauc alone...I mean, I could and I have before, but that's not really a balanced meal eh?
Oh, but this looks like one, right? A fish soft taco (using the other 1/2 of my blacked fish from Monday night) with green pepper, onion and a sprinkle of mexican cheese and of course a side of my other favorite food: black beans! So, simple but tasty...infuse a tiny bit of EVOO with a ton of grated garlic cloves, then add a drained can of beans, heat and mush them up a bit then add a huge handful of chopped cilantro at the end...are you seeing a theme in my favor combos yet? :D Oh and a dollop of 2% Fage....beats sour cream-hands down (and this is coming from a devoted sour cream eater for years!)

The guts of my taco. I like to spoon the sides on it as I eat...it's messy but wonderful. Apparently I am a very entertaining eater, as I often keep my friends fascinated with how much I play with my food, much to my Mum's dismay!

Now to dinner numero dos. Use up the left over guac and black beans....I give you:BlackBean-Turkey burger topped with guac (and some goat cheese up under there too!) and a side of sweet potato "steak fries." I also had a side of "salad" which was really just a bowl of alfalfa sprouts with a drizzle of light ranch...oh and a tiny glass of Vanilla Almond Breeze...I'm not giving up my moo-cow milk, but this stuff is aMAZing!

So, see how a bit of creativity (and some ground turkey!) goes a long way...literally. I can have this meal again, since I used 1/2 lb turkey and a whole SP. I can't cook for one, no matter what I do! oh well, lucky for me (and dogface) that I like leftovers...and if I get sick them-then doggie darling gets them!

One more thought before bed, since I'm going to get up in the morning to run...it's been too hot to go right after work this week. Since I was working in the hood and on the flow pretty much all day I was listening to my ipod nonstop too. And admittedly I'm getting tired of some of the stuff on there, but it never fails to amaze me when I finally pick up a lyric of a favorite song. For example: Fall of Troy's song Quarter Past has always been my favorite on their Manipulator album (2007) but today for some reason this line jumped out at me:

Keep it together for another day
Come to my window, I'll scream you to sleep

I just loved the image of a modern day Romeo serenading his rocker chick. And you wonder why I love my hardcore music. ;)

On that lovely thought, good night to all.
Love to all,
~A dreamy Jess

PS. I'm not retarded, I just can't get the italics to turn off....so, maybe I am a re-re? le sigh.

This bandwagon's full....

....please find another!~ Fall Out Boy from Infinity on High

So, I'm usually behind the times a bit and always do my best to stay away from the normal bandwagons...like I said, I'm your nearly typical girl next door and I think not being quite with the "in crowd" makes me- well, ME! But I must confess that 2 items have been circling the blog world and I can no longer stay off the wagon.

So, without further adu here is a photo summary of my first green monster experience:

This is what went in: ~1 cup Vanilla Almond milk (which I would drink just as dessert-yum!), a huge handful of spinach leaves-probably a 1 1/2 t0 2 cups and 1/2 a banana. Also I ended up adding 1 handful ice and about 2 teaspoons of my dark chocolate cashew butter-not pictured.
Read to rock and roll! I love my blender...so pretty. Like I said, my gparents spoil me-it's fun being the only girl in the family!

Serve her up!
First taste! PS. My eyes look greener than usual...I guess it's working already! ha.

Consciences says: YUM! as does the empty blender. Totally adding more of these to my weekly menus. It reminded me of a slightly crunchy version of what I used to make in the dinning hall in college that I called "Monkey Juice" which was really just soft serve vanilla ice cream with a banana and some milk blended together-or rather a really runny banana milk shake. I'm going to add some mango to my next one-hello they were on sale for 10 for 10 at Publix this week and I got FIVE! I love mango-like whoa! I plan to cut a few of them up and freeze them, so those will make great add in's for my GMs!

And for my second bandwagon leap: I started JM's 30 day Shred yesterday. I have been reading how it's best to have some weight training in your exercise routine, so I thought it would be a good way to start-since A-I am not a gym member and B- even on the rare occasion you find me in a gym I don't really know what to do with myself except play on the elliptical and kick back bike. I'll let you know how it goes, of course. Day 1 was pretty good. I had just gotten back from my nearly 2 mile run/walk (notice I can put the run first now! yay!) with puppy, so I'm not going to lie that doing the butt kicks and invisible jump rope really hurt my shins, so I alternated with some skipping around my living room instead. Hope no one was looking up in my window...I'm looked like a real goober!

After a great work out and such a productive weekend I made a fancier than normal dinner based on a recipe I'd seen on RR's 30 Meal's recently. I'm not sure what she called it, but it's a quick chicken ragu.First, I browned up some turkey bacon (she used panchetta) and deboned chicken thighs and then added sliced onions and grated 2 cloves of garlic right into the pan. After the onion had browned up I added some black pepper and fresh rosemary (I have a plant of it on my porch...so great to walk out the door and pick some. I think I need to do take-2 with the cilantro!) and then deglazed the pan with a mildly sweet red wine (RR used marsala, but I was out). I usually wouldn't cook with the wonderful wines from Thistle Meadow Winery that the girls and I discovered in NC a year ago on our summer hurrah, so I poured a glass for myself too. Mum is coming to visit this weekend so I'm sure she will help me finish this lovely red off myself.

To digress from dinner prep a bit, seriously if you are ever in the West Jefferson, NC area (near Boone-which is a bit more known) go visit! They don't actually grow the grapes on site, but import them from all over the world and therefore have one of the best selections I've ever experienced in a small winery. That and the owner, Mr. Tom totally wanted to marry all of us...probably at once! haha.Here we all are in the wine tasting room.
The girls with the infamous Mr. Tom....ok. Back to dinner:

Once you have deglazed and let the wine reduce a bit add a drained can of whole tomatoes. I mashed them up a little with my potato masher and then tossed in some colored spiral pasta. This would probably be great with just steamed brock or asparagus, but I haven't had pasta in a while and figured a good run plus day 1 with Jillian could earn me a carbo night!All served up with a tiny Cesar salad (it's in a big bowl...but my romaine had gone slimy-ugh!- so it turned into a little salad) and a hunk of fresh french bread...it was a carb fest for sure. A true Sunday dinner- along with the end of my glass of wine. Yum-O!

So, this is officially a mega post- since that whole portion was supposed to go up during my lunch break-but it was more hectic than usual today, so obviously that didn't happen!

More good eats to round out the day, starting with a pretty fresh breakfast of another GM (not pictured...I actually took it to go with me to sip on through out my morning) and this:Kashi Heart 2 Heart Honey Wheat waffle with almond butter, nectarine, raspberries and 2%Fage (Publix was out of 0% so the 2 is a yummy treat this week!)

My crazy work day finally winded down a bit at the end and I had time to get a wonderful snack in about an hour before my yoga class. Normally I wouldn't need to eat before this class but since YogaGF and I have been running at Crescent Lake park afterwards I am STARVING when I get home so....I normally don't photograph bars, because we all eat them and you either like one or you don't, etc...but this was AWESOME. Seriously tasted like a decadent PB sandwich...yum, yum, yum. Cliff certainly found their MoJo with this bar! Paired with a cup of CS Peppermint tea (and yes, kiddies, I've been going sugar free with all my herbal teas! yay!) it made the perfect afternoon snack/workout fuel. I kind of wish I had bought more than one of these bars....I'm getting a box next time! :D

Lastly, dinner. I had picked up a fillet of talapia this weekend and had been dreaming about, well this:Spinach with blackened talapia, strawberries, chopped walnuts, goat cheese crumbles and a spray of raspberry vinaigrette (it's one of those wishbone spritzer thingies).

And now, my loves...I am finally off to bed and dragging my tired runner legs with me, into work early for a meeting with the boss-yay. Or not.

Love to all,
~A steadily improving, runner-to-be Jess

Working at the CarWash...oheoheOH!

Hi loves,
Hope everyone has been having a great weekend thus far. Mine would seem boring to most, but I've gotten a lot of things done this weekend already:

Wash Car [check]
Wash dog [check]
Wash Clothes [check]
Wash Hair [check]

To explain that last one: I'm a compulsive shower-er. I often times take two (and a few times-three) showers a day. I guess I'm like my college friend Austin, who recently discussed this in his blog, that while I don't mind being flat out filthy-which often happens when I'm at the barn or working on the cars with Dad- but I don't like being slightly dirty. I'm a compulsive hand washer too, but not a germ-a-phob interestingly enough. But I digress about the dirty hair...while I have showered this week (haha) I hadn't washed my hair in a few days, because it's much easier to get dirty hair up...and trust me it's been so bloody humid here that wearing my hair on my neck and my charming bangs on my forehead ain't gonna be pretty!

Other things accomplished not related to water: throwing out the rest of my nasty over a year old nutrasystem food (it's a long story, but don't let other people's success influence how you should fuel yourself for healthy eating) and organize the cart that is my pantry...that project has been on my list for MONTHS and it only took about 5 mins but felts sooooo good to get it off the to do board! Also, I got my couch today! Whoot. A friend of mine is moving into a smaller space so she needed to get rid of the larger sofa of her living room set. It just happens to go with my color scheme (which has all be wonderfully karmatic!) and was a really great price too. Yeah, it's not my dream couch and it's had some wear, but I'm psyched. Once I get my living room rearranged the way I like it, I will post pictures!

And now, the review of Hollywood Car Wash by Lori Culwell that I've been teasing about. This book is a straight up harlaious tale of a midwest girl who becomes one of the Hollywood Starlets in about 3seconds. I was cracking up from about page two, and while the surface of this book seems to be just "beach read" the more I thought about the body image issues that stem from the "starlet images" fed to our society by the Hollywood scene it got me thinking. This book does address that body image issues, but the lead character gives into them (for a while-I don't want to do any spoilers, so please read the book to get the full message) and even has a stylist offer her a bag of coke to stay slim- luckily she turns down that offer! The book also jokes about airbrushing of photoshoots for magazines, etc. While I was drooling over the salary and swag bags I am relieved to live in "my world" filled with supportive people, like my family and friends, and the blog world who have the right positive images of what makes a sexy, healthy woman. I think if more people realized how not only Hollywood influences us, but in return we hold this stigma on how all the stars should be crazy slim and then the rags call them "fat slobs" when a candid picture is taken at the beach-it's a crazy catch 22 that has been created. I'm just glad to not be caught up in the skinny rat race. I know that was a little rambly at the end, but please read the book-for fun and for a good perspective on the craziness of being the "it" girl in H-wood!

In food news, well I dont' have any exciting to share other than this:
I present to you....JustJess' first nut butter! Dark Chocolate Cashew. Thanks to the fact that my grandparents have spoiled me with a few top of the line kitchen items, including my blender I decided to make a batch of nut butter and choose cashew because they are softer than almonds and just wanted to make sure that my Breville could really handle it. It wasn't as easy as the grinders that I got my Cashew Butter from at the Decatur Farmers Market that spoiled me so, when I lived in the ATL but it worked....1lb dry roasted cashews (would have been better with fresh I'm sure, but I couldn't find them) and about 1.5oz dark chocolate. I added a teaspoon or so of veggie oil, but didn't want to weight it down with oil, so then subbed the rest of the oil with just water...it worked! Yum. Thick and creamy, with an amazing mouth feel. Can't wait to mix it in oatmeal or just have as a snack on some pretzels.

Now my dears I have just enough time to get ready for mass!
Enjoy your Sunday!
Love to all,
A busy bee Jess

Countdown 3-2-1st......

....First Friday that is! Yeah baby. And let me tell you, kids this evening could not have come at a better time. I seriously need to work out getting a 4-10 work week because I can't keep having Friday's like this one, but let's not get into nasty work talk.

Once I was free of my paying prison I sluggishly drove home debating if I would make this my true rest day, as my back and shoulders can tell you all about the workout that darling Dave gave me last night. But I decided that both the doggie and I could use some timeout side since we are both cooped up in respective locations all day and once I laced up my shoes I already knew I had made the right decision. Today was for sure my best run. Yes, my shins are still yelping at me, but I channeled yoga instead and focused on my breath to run through it all. Now mind you I'm still not running more than ~2 minutes at a time, but it felt....good? Yes. I might be a runner after all, yay! While my stats still aren't super impressive compared to all you long legged lovelies but I did my 1.87mile route around the block (according to MapMyRun) in 25 minutues which is about a 13 min mile and includes puppy pee breaks and squirrel chasing time, so not to shabby.

Dinner was ghetto fabulous. I am pretty low on protein in my house and was far too hot for leftover soup so I didn't really know what to whip up until started thinking about the nearly overripe pear in my produce basket. So I give you: Ghetto Waldorf Salad!
This quick salad consists of cut up turkey lunchmeat, pear, raisin/crasin mix, onion dressed with Fage and lemon juice with a dash of pepper, dill and celery salt. Pretty tasty, folks.
With a side of 1/2 mashed sweet potato...dressed simply this time with just sea salt and pepper. Yummmmmmm.

Time to hit the town. Have a great weekend everyone!
Love to all,
~a ready to relax and let loose (a little) Jess

A Jess Night In

Hi all,
It's a stormy kind of Thursday night here on Tampa Bay. I realized my normal, Plan A-a quick run/walk and then Hatha with Denise-, for Thursday night wasn't going to happen when I left work late (again....sigh) and headed out to my car under a darkening sky. I manged to get the pup out for a quick potty walk before the skies opened :(
At least my porch looks really pretty when it's wet out. I know these look like it's light out, but it's just my poor photography skills...there was a sheet of water coming down the front of the balcony. At least I enjoy the rain and on the positive note my shins enjoyed the day off! Another strange twist to my normal Thursday evening was the lion living in my tummy. I was genuinely starving when I left work, so I knew I needed a real dinner-not just my normal larabar and chug some water. So, on that note, knowing that I couldn't cook-eat-digest and get to yoga in less than an hour- I opted for plan B! A light dinner of Cambell's Select Harvest Tomato with Basil soup (topped with a drizzle of buffalo sauce...don't nock it, kids and of course Fage!), a side salad and the crumbled end of a bag of Stacey's Pita Chips. While all of the above was super delish, it wasn't super photogenic. But seriously, try to buffalo sauce in tomato soup. Yum! After I digested and watched a little Man Vs. Food on the Travel Channel (I HAVE to go to Portland to hit up Voodoo Donut-find that episode and watch it if you don't know what I'm taking about) I had a date with a funny, sexy, strong man. None other than Dave Farmar, of course!

[NEWSFLASH: I really want to go dune buggy riding on the beach! I'm watching Bridget's Sexiest Beaches.....what a fun job!]

Ok, back to my hot date. Well that is a man who knows how to leave a woman feeling weak in the knees-well thighs- and all hot and.....sweaty? Yum. Thank goodness I just did a 60mins session. I will admit that I'm not so great with all these audio-postcasty things yet. I got lost a few times but just made up my own flow until I could rejoin what he was directing. I highly recommend one of his podcasts to any fellow yogis out there!

Once I was a sweaty pile of rubbery limbs I flopped out with dogface to watch the top 20 dancers get picked for SYTYCD! So psyched that a classical ballerina got on this year! Whoot. Now I just have to get a DVR stat, because they don't show reruns on the 'net and I typically miss Thursday because of yoga and have started doing girl's nights with YogaGF who unfortunately isn't a dance affectionato like myself. I'm seriously calling BrightHouse tomorrow...I'm that addicted to this show I will pay (well, if it's not too expensive) for a damn DVR.

Speaking of girl's nights YogaGF and I had a night in a her sweet pad last night for dinner (grilled chicken and veggies) and a movie (He's Just Not That Into You). Dinner was great-thanks for cooking girlie!- and the movie was lots of fun. It was a bit more chick-flicky than I expected, but with such an all star cast I think anyone would enjoy it. And I totally have some new quote I want to bust out! yay!

So, my dinner might not have been super photogenic but my breakfast was for a change. Check this beauty out:A fried egg topped with american cheese sandwiched between 2 whole grain Kashi waffles with a smear of low sugar raspberry preserves. Super Yum. And pretty. If I say so myself.

Oh, one last thought! I have a new love: (Ok, the cool logo I was trying to copy in is apparently copyrighted, so drumroll please....) Celestial Seasonings Herbal Teas! I'm a hard core black tea drinker. (unless I'm getting Thai food- seriously best iced green tea on earth!) I drink a lightened, sweetened cup of Twinngs Irish Tea nearly every morning like the good little Irish-Italian girl I am. (no worries I love me a good espresso too, but only as a treat on weekends!). But my throat has still been bothering me this week (yes, I am just as annoyed about being sick for over a month as I'm sure you all are tired of reading about it. I'm so perplexed- I NEVER get sick and on the rare occasion I do it usually passes in a day or two-oy!) so I needed something to sip on to relieve it at work. Lo and behold on my Publix run for lunch today CS was on sale 2-4-$6! I got a sampler pack-including the SleepyTime blend I'm currently sipping as we speak-and a whole pack of Honey Vanilla Chamomile which even though I haven't tried the other favors yet, I'm pretty sure is going to be my favorite and I'm so glad I have a whole box of that variety! Do you drink CS? What is your favor and why?

Now it's time for be to drank my bum to the shower and bed!
Love to all,
~A sleepy and satisfied Jess

Oh one more PS! I was inspired by the braids that Scarlet Johnson was sporting in the movie last night and was pleased to discover that my hair is long enough to get up in a messy french again! Yay.
I know this is a funky angle but check out my stubby little braid! And the pin to hold my bangs back...they won't stay braided yet! ahh the challenges of short hair! Brings me back to my summer at camp working in the horse barn-had to get the hair off the neck but under a helmet...course that braid hung down my back those days! Night darlings!

Hold ya horses, Honey!

Hi all,
I'm going to try to make this quick as I am wrapping up my lunch time with a blog break. It's been a busy day already. I splurged on some sushi today from Publix and am enjoying it at my desk so I could catch up on some websurfing-mostly blog reading! Warning, this is going to be a bit of a mega post though, since I have back logged a few days worth of food photos and thoughts. Also, still working on the review of HollyWood Car Wash if I have mentioned it to anyone. Stay tuned for that.

Out the gate first, Monday! I had a mega workout on Monday. Yoga with Denise (of course) followed by some real running time at the park afterwards with YogaGF-who if you haven't realized yet is also my training buddy for the 5k we are running this summer. August 12th, baby! Yoga really kicked by bum, but I'm not quite sure why, since we didn't add any real new challenges. Maybe it was all the beer and laziness from the weekend still having an effect. Did some great, deeper warrior 1 and 3 though, so that was a good accomplishment, even if I was a bit distracted by my rumbling tummy though out class.
So, yeah, about that running at the park. We have been training separately and up til Monday YogaGF and I hadn't run together; we have just been walking at the park since I've has this blasted respiratory crap for over a month now. But I've decided that since it doesn't want to seem to go away, I'll just work through it. Well, let me tell you how this silly little beginning runner made an ass out of herself. We start running and I'm trying my damnedest to stay at the same pace as her, but I keep pulling ahead, so I figure what the hell, she can catch up, right? Oh she caught up alright, about 1/3 of a mile in I'm dying and she just trots right by me and then has to keep calling back, for me to catch up. I did, eventually....after I'd stopped wheezing for a few minutes. Moral of the story is I really need to slow it up until my stamina builds. We did a few more laps running slowly and/walking. Probably got in 1 mile of running total. A three.three mile circuit all together. I wish I could just have some stamina NOW. Cause let me tell you I do NOT like running slowly. Hell, it's hardly even running, I can powerwalk faster than we were going-but I will admit the muscle set is different. I'm a fast and furious kinda gal; I drive fast, walk fast, talk fast, think fast, read fast, type fast...I think you get the point. Probably the only thing I don't do fast is eat. Because I want to take that all in. So for now I'll run slow, but trust me I can't wait to run fast!
Yesterday my legs were telling me about the running we did the night before (but not my knee, yay!) so I transferred my morning session to a late after work on (plus I didn't get to go to Bikram, sniff, because I didn't get out of work til late. say le vie?) so the pupster and I took our usual 2 mile track around the block but at a more leisurely pace. Or as leisurely as these little legs would allow...he was still puffing by the time we finished!
Which leads me to a bit of a rant. I'm sooooo tired of people being afraid of my dog. Yes, he is my security which always me to live alone and to train in the mornings before the sun comes up, but come on, he isn't scary! On more than one occasion I've had people back away from him, etc and he doesn't get it because he is a huge people-person, or people-dog? Whatever. So, yesterday we are strolling around the block and this older lady is coming the opposite direction with a baby carriage. I smile and nod and keep going about my walk. She stops. Chub is busy sniffing a tree so I say something to the effect that "It's ok, you can go past." She doesn't respond and continues to look past me, to the dog I guess, in quiet horror. At this moment Chubby decides that the tree isn't worth is time and come running up to me in his usual spazy way, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, classic silly, happy dog. The lady with the stroller actually gasped and started going in reverse. Seriously? I'm annoyed now, because this isn't the first time this has happened and now I still have to past her, because she wouldn't walk by and is now taking up the whole sidewalk, which is fairly narrow to being with. I bring Chub onto the grass and as we pass I snipped, "He's not going to hurt you." Turns out she doesn't even speak English. Sigh. What could possibly be scary about this face?Minus the Twin's cap of course....this was from over the weekend. Minnesota Hubby was trying to sway my doggie...but he's a Ray's fan, just like his Momma-roomie!

On to the eats quickly, before I have to go do the B-Cell Panel that is so sweetly calling my name.
Last night was a quick clean out of veggies about to go past their prime/pickled food fest:

A "garage salad" which consisted of mixed spring greens, huge green olives, the end of the black bean corn salad (which lasted through three huge meals!) about 1/2 cup of sprouts that were on their last leg and a dollop of Dukes. Yum. (I LOVE Dukes and don't care about the calorie content-sorry kids, not going to talk me out of this one.) Plus 1/2 a "baked" sweet potato (it was microwaved) topped with Japs and some shredded pepperjack and 2 pickled orka. Yum. Guess my body was craving salt or something? Why else would I have randomly ended up with so many pickled items in one sitting? Oh and I had 2 mini dill pickles at lunch that day too. Go figure! I got the jalapenos and sweet potato idea from Meghann but this batch of pickled japs is sooo spicy it kind of ruined the mildness of the potato. I really prefer fresh jalapenos. I'll stick to just salt and pepper on this one for now on.

I mentioned how long the black bean corn salad lasted and here is another meal I made with it on Friday. These pictures got missed over my weekend post, but better late than never right? I was craving a quesadilla, but all I had was Flatout Wraps and while I've used those in lieu of tortilla before, it wasn't my favorite substitution. So I got a little creative.
It started out as a Mexican pizza. Flat out topped with the salad and some shredded cheese all under the broiler:
I topped it with some 0% Fage, some homemade gauc and more of the spring mix and rolled it up to create: Super Huge Mexican Wrap!
This thing was seriously a beast! I even though I was starving when I made it I only finished about 2/3 of it. Luckily DogFace, aka the FourLeggedFurry Garbage Disposal was there to help me out when I hit the wall! :D

I hope that is enough to keep you lovelies entertained for a bit! Back to work I go. (Actually I've been zooming back and forth between the hood and my computer towards the end there....bet you didn't even notice, huh? haha).
Once I'm free at 5:30 (or at least I hope I am done on time today!) I have a light run, at a slooooow pace, planned then a girls night in with YogaGF! Yay for healthy dinner and movie rentals.
Love to all,
~A multitasking Jess

Happy June!

Hi all,
I for one can't believe that it's June 1st already! Seriously, that means that 1/2 of 2009 is nearly over....what a blur! But that is my life, a big wonderful random blur!

A few quick thoughts before I wrap up some things at work and then hit up yoga and running at the park with YogaGF.

As I mentioned last night I was watching the MTV Movie Awards while putzing around the house. It was a fun show, as is to be expected with Andy Samberg as host and it IS MTV but something was lacking. I enjoyed the spoof award on Ben Stiller, because I do love his humor and anytime a celeb-or really anyone for that matter-can poke fun at themselves but as the show went on I still had this nagging thought that something was just, off. Then I realized what it was. Twilight was cleaning everyone's clocks! What?! Now, before I offend all the Twilight fans let me say that I have read all four books, and seen the movie (more than once actually) and while I admit they are entertaining and I personally LOVE the soundtrack and have been listening to it on loop quite a bit recently I don't think the acting nor anything else about the film-aside from the music, perhaps- was award worthy! I understand that a lot of these awards are chosen by the viewers, but in that case shouldn't we be calling them "Most Popular Movie of the Year" not "Best Movie of the Year?"
Call me crazy but as cute as Rob Pattinson maybe neither his and certainly not Kristen Stewart's acting ability can surpass that of the deceased Heath Ledger. Nor can Twilight as a whole really be considered a "better" movie than Slumdog Millionaire, in concept nor final cut. I guess these are all opinions and we of course are all entiled to them, but I think we should give credit where it is due and not just because bunch of 11-13 girls can text in their favorite movie. Thank goodness for the semi sanity of the Academy Awards. I guess it's all just part of what seems like the general decline of MTV...than and perhaps I'm becoming an old lady. Whichever- I'm stepping off my soapbox now.

A few new eat habits I've noted about myself:
A lunch I discovered that as much as I love carrot chips with babaganoosh, hummus is not the right subside in that combo. Pity, as I am out of both premade baba and the ingredients to make homemade AND it's my No Grocery Shopping Week! I'll have to make do with something else this week. Ranch perhaps? Suggestions are welcome. Well that and stick to my pita chips, toast, crackers, cukes, hummus combo.
Also, I am very saddened to say this but I think that Yoplait Yogurt and I are having a long, slow breakup. :( I have been eating this stuff since I could hold my own spoon, but the more and more I explore organic and naturally sweetened yogurts I'm finding good ol Yoplait is far tooooo sugary tasting. I read the label at lunch today it it not only has normal sugar in it, but as modified corn syrup. Really? Did ja need both? Now, I'm still obsessed with their Whips variety and will likely keep eating those, but since the custard variety is becoming a rare find I think you will be seeing (or in this case reading) about a lack of Yop in my lunches as I expand into other options. Sadly many of those are much more expense than my trusty YY, but what can a body do other than find more ways to cut back in other areas...that and find a better paying job, ASAP.

Speaking of the current job better get back to it.
Love to all,
~A ready to get moving Jess

Oh PS. I nearly forgot! Don't forget to go check out Angela's-from Oh She Glows- great giveaway!
She is giving away a My Hip-T which is a must for avoiding the "say no to crack/muffin top/any other low ridng jeans issue and a cute way to layer with out bulking up. Help me out by mentioning you saw my linkback if my blog is what directs you to hers! Thanks and good luck!