Days that Start with "S" make me Smile!

Last post of the weekend! Hooray! Three in one day is rough (I don't know how some of you guys do it!) and I'll admit I've been neglecting some school work while I worked on these/caught up with you all, but I've worked all day and can get through tomorrow with what I've finished, so pooh on you guilt!

I stayed the night with Christine (she has a spare bed just for me! Ok, well and all her guests, but I leave it made up for me! hehe) so we could do some brunching and shopping and just be the fabulous human beings that we are! :D (that was just for you, Christine!)

I woke up at 5:30am and was like, hells no since I had only slept for 3ish hours at that point. I finally woke up for real a little after 10am and enjoyed a cup of blueberry coffee (really good, who would have though berries and coffee?) and a shower before rolling out to brunch at the 43rd Street Dinner. Strangely I still wasn't hungry but had a headache (not drinking related, promise) and deiced that even if I didn't feel hungry I needed food. So food I got!

Veggie omelet (onions, green peppers, mushroom plus artichoke and some Cheddar cheese) and a HUGE sweet potato pancake.
I knew I wanted the pancake as soon as I saw it on the menu but it didn't come as a combo with eggs like any of the other pancakes (and I knew I needed some protein) but now I know why. Literally as big as my head! Oh so good though. I devoured the omelet and managed to put away just shy of 1/2 the pancake. I saved the biscuit that came with the omelet for later.

After some big time Target shopping and a fantastic mountain bike purchase for Christine at Gator Cycle. I totally want to get a road bike, but I'm going to build up my mileage on my mountain bike again first, while I build up my road bike fund too! haha. I'm super excited to have a riding partner now too!

We bought new helmets in honor of the occasion. And then wore them around the store with the tags on, because I'm a big nerd and Christine is a good sport to my antics!
All that shopping brought on a craving for fro yo, so we checked out a serve yourself frozen yogurt place called Mochi. I got a small (it goes by weight and my whole bowl was just 8oz) blend of original and taro, both of which were tart, just the way I like them, although the taro had a little sweetness to it. Topped with really yummy raspberries, giant blackberries and some mango. It was good, but nothing holds a candle to Gurtzberry in Winter Park. I need to go and SOON!

I bid adieu to 'Stiner and after meeting my parents for Mass did a little grocery shopping at Mother Earth for some specialty products including the new flavors of Chobani (Publix still doesn't have them, but M.E. did, go figure) and a few other random items which included my first taste of a Primal Strip of which I ate 1/2 in the car. It's pretty good, I really like the texture, but the fake smokey smell was a little over the top for me.
So, I washed it down with 1/2 of an Orange Pomegranate Tea from Publix, where I picked up a few more of "my" essentials. While I could have gotten everything on my list at M.E. they are pretty overpriced on some stuff. For example: Fage($5.50), and Almond Breeze($4.99 for the smaller carton, seriously?). I love this tea as a treat. It's very tart and refreshing!
Once I finally got home, a gas station debacle aside, it was another night of "bar food" for dinner, so I whipped up some guac and made the end of the cheese sticks. This was more like avocado salad with all the cilantro I put in and I used a Florida Avocado to support our local agriculture and they aren't as creamy as the Hass. (don't tell the Sunshine State this, but I do prefer my Hass). Still really tasty though!

I had my fare share of this spread (just water for me though after my beers last night, I decided to be kind to my cilia)

Sunday

Today started off with hash and eggs. I usually wouldn't participate in this meal, but Mom had already dished up some for me, and well, it's hard to turn that down. I added some peach slices and the biscuit from yesterday with some olive oil spread and marmalade. Very tasty.

After a long morning of test grading and other teacher related work I had worked up an appetite and munched on this strange mix of left over guac and chips and 1/2 a banana with the amazing new Almond Butter I picked up yesterday. It's the Almond Breeze brand with honey and it's so good. I may have eaten a spoonful right out of the jar later too, but who's counting? haha.

Dinner was another "classic sunday meal" in my house, which I'm finding I no longer enjoy that much. Roast beef with gravy, smashed red potatoes, green beans and just some sliced tomatoes. I really enjoyed the veggies, but only picked at my meat. It wasn't bad, I just wasn't digging it.

My only other accomplishment aside from paper grading, chatting with old friends and blogging today was I finished the great book I've been working on this week. How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper is an amazing book about a 29 year old widower who comes to grips with the lost of his late thirty something wife, becoming the official stepfather to her 15 year old son, having his own dysfunctional family and reentering the dating scene. It will make you laugh, cry and laugh so hard you cry. It was a great multimedia read, which I'm loving more and more. [What I mean by "multimedia" is some of the chapters are normal driving narrative, some are the magazine column he writes, some are emails and one was the chatter of this one woman he went on a date with. Fantastic!]



Now my loves, I'm off to bed.
~a looking forward to next weekend already, Jess