TV Night Comfort

May is a wonderful month. In Chicago, it seems to be the time when people start clawing their way out of their caves to participate once again in outdoor activities

We’re happy to have survived the 7-month winter. Happy to dine al fresco with friends. Happy to expose our glow-in-the-dark skin in hopes of absorbing a little vitamin D. Happy to run outside versus inside the funky-smelling gym alongside the meatheads and cardio queens.

We’re so freakin’ happy.

However, with all this activity going on outside of the home, it’s only natural there are consequences.

Like season finales.

This was the first time I’ve ever tried to make zucchini “pasta”. Or ribbons. Whichev. Either way, the vegetable peeler was involved and it slightly terrified me. I don’t do well with bloodshed.

The last two weeks have been devastating. All my shows are slowly drifting away. And I do not like it. What am I supposed to do all summer without Marshall and Lily? Sheldon? Jess and those three crazy kids she lives with?

It also doesn’t help that many of my finales this year have been absolutely heart-wrenching.

There’s no need to show raw chicken cooking. So I didn’t. But then I took the same pan (sans chicken) and sautéed the artichoke hearts. It’s all about the flava’, ya know?

Seriously- what is that about?

Turns out I had more zucchini “ribbons” than originally anticipated. Lucky for me, they shrank down a little in the pan with the artichoke hearts that had already been cooking up for a few minutes.

I’m not even going to get near what happened in Grey’s last night. Heaven forbid I ruin it for anyone. I’m also a bit embarrassed to admit my groupie status on this one. Thankfully, I wasn’t in it alone because my girls Kelly and Laura sat through it with me via text.

A new wine I tried from Trader Joe’s. Broke it out during the cooking process. Because after my horrid commute, there was no way I going without. Had two sips and realized there was a bad cork and the wine was ruined. Sadness. Thank goodness I had plenty of backup!

But I will tell you viewing the episode required this:

Pretty, yes? A combo of whole wheat pasta, zucchini ribbons, chicken, artichokes and black olives. Plus a little too much parsley. That was an accident…

Pasta and alcohol.

Comfort food and drink. They helped soften the blow. Sort of.

Guys. I am so distraught.

This really was good. And not too different from when I normally make pasta- with fewer calories because a lot of the pasta was swapped out with zucchini!
Too bad I had to enjoy it between waves of nausea. Thanks, Grey’s…. ugh!

Thanks ABC. You’ve RUINED MY SUMMER.

Alright, fine. That’s maybe a bit dramatic.

Thanks ABC. You’ve RUINED MY WEEKEND.

That’s better.

Luckily, I saved some of that pasta for lunch today.

I still need it.

Too bad the wine bottle didn’t also fit in my lunch bag.

What tv shows are you sad to see go for the summer?
Also, if you do watch Grey’s, PLEASE don’t give away too many details. I know a few people who are saving it for the weekend and I don’t want to ruin it for them!!

And Exhale…

There’s a reason why my rest days fall on Thursdays.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.

We call it Grey’s Anatomy (which I was not overly impressed with last night, btw).

And The Office.  And Community.  And even 30 Rock on occasion.

And Big Bang Theory- which just recently made the move.

And Jersey Shore…

Am I missing anything?

Clearly I didn’t get to watch everything.  But at least I have something to keep me busy when I have downtime over the weekend, right?

I swear I don’t freak out about television that much.  But you wouldn’t have known that yesterday, huh?

When the Big Bang Theory started, I made sure to be positioned at my coffee table (acting as my dining room table) with food ready.Deli sandwich, a salad and Sheldon.  That’s all I need to make my Thursday night a good one. 

Nope- It’s not a coincidence that my rest day and the Thursday night lineup overlap.

Ahhhh….

If you’re training, or just like to workout on a daily basis, is there a reason you have your rest day scheduled for a certain time of the week?

By the way, I know a lot of you were intrigued by the Middle Sister wine.  I’ve had a couple different ones- all pretty fantastic in my humble opinion.  Check them out here if you’d like- the website’s pretty fun.  I took the quiz of which “middle sister” I’d be.  Turns out I’m a good fit for the “Drama Queen”, which is coincidently what we drank the night before.  Which I find amusing, but whatever… it was a pretty tasty wine.  Maybe I could use a little drama in my life… 

But there will be no drama tonight.  Only good times.  Rod Tuffcurls and The Benchpress are playing tonight.  And as much fun as their last couple shows were, how could we not go?

This weekend is PACKED.  All fun things (as you will see), but the sleep will be limited unfortunately… eek!

You can exhale and take a moment to enjoy the fact that it is FINALLY Friday. 

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Quick Statements

I’m exhausted. I baked for a majority of the day on Thursday.  It was nuts.  Either way, this is going to be somewhat short and sweet. No pun intended…

Thanks for the great comments yesterday.  I’m pretty sure we went with the fill-in option of having a bug fly into your eye as the worst way to encounter bugs on a run.  It sucks.

The day off was nice.  I did get in a walk on the trail.  I knew it was my rest day, but it’s not like it was strenuous. 

I still have a lot of baking to do after work today.  An entire white triple-layered cake.  And then all the icing.  And then finishing the cake bites that came from the cake that will also be served at the wedding.  Holy crap I’m gonna be busy. 

What did I get done?  Two chocolate triple-layered cakes are layered and ready for final icing.  Scotcheroos (a favorite I make that was specially requested for) are done.  And all the cake leftover from the chocolate cakes are rolled and ready for dipping to turn into cake bites.  The “sand” is made.  The cakestand, flowers, and sea shells are ready.  Whew…

Because I was baking tasting all day, I totally ruined my dinner.  I didn’t have any.  This sucks.  Because I had seriously good planned eats.

I did, however, have this baby while doing some icing work:I used it as a way to cut the sweetness of everything I had been eating.  And since beer and icing don’t mix, it kept me from sticking my finger into the bowl for awhile.  It worked.

As I was lounging in sugar coma, I did decide to watch Grey’s Anatomy.  Best. Decision. Ever.  Anyone else catch it?  I’m pretty sure it made up for the entire season of suckiness.  Way to pull out the big guns, Greys.  Literally.

I had a fun google search term yesterday that someone used to get to  my blog.  “Fish think but too slowly, second city.”  Um… ok.

Although I’m crazy busy, I still have cross training to do tonight.  And am looking forward to it. :)  I need to sweat it out!

Just so you know I did actually eat something healthy yesterday, here was my lunch!Southwestern theme of course.  Because I love it.  Wish I had pulled out the salsa.  Didn’t cross my mind.  Surprising…

Happy Friday!

Last Girl’s Night In

Tonight I’m going to be on my way back home to the ‘burbs to my little nook I call home outside the city.  I’m a little homesick, but would be lying if I didn’t say I’m gonna miss those little ladies welcoming me home every day!  I will not, however, miss scooping poop.  This would include inside the apartment when I was greeted with surprise gifts in the morning…

When I got home last night, I just really wanted to relax and get a run in.  It was another short one- still a little nervous to test my legs out.  As windy as it was, I pulled out approximately a mile and a half.  Which was something- I felt like I was always running against it and debris made its way into my mouth and nose more than once.  Yuck.  Even with all that- I wouldn’t have minded going longer, but I’m trying to be responsible about this.  I hate being responsible.

After that and a little more of Level 3 of The Shred (and a collapse onto the floor for about five minutes due to complete exhaustion), I made sure the dogs got their food and I got mine.  Theirs came out of a can.  So did mine…  Well, the tuna did.The asparagus was something I picked up over lunch.  Much to my dismay, it still isn’t cheap (which is weird, because isn’t it in season???).  I need to take a trip to the farmer’s market ASAP.  I also finished out a bag of spinach and threw it all together with the sautéed tuna to make one hell of a sandwich. Oh and feta was involved.  Which is not surprising.  I find feta is involved in making most of my dishes just over the top good.  I wasn’t sure how it was gonna work, but it all came together fabulously.  Tuna-riffic you might even say…

Then it was time to veg in front of the tv.We all agreed Grey’s was decent last night.  Maybe because there was plenty of McSteamy to go around… rarr.  I know it’s not the storyline that keeps me coming back- what is the deal?  I used to NOT MOVE for that hour every Thursday.  Now as long as I can hear what they’re saying while I’m in the other room, I’m ok with it.  Come on Grey’s… we want to still love you.  Make it happen.

One more day of being shortstaffed at work and Jaime will return.  Last week wasn’t bad.  This week has been pretty swamped. We’ve handled it, but it has been taxing to say the least.

That being sad, tonight I’m wrapping up my dogsitting duties and disappearing into the night (err… suburbs). Good bye for now, Wrigleyville!  I love you, but I think we’re better off as just friends with benefits.  The daily commute is killing our relationship. And I have a long term relationship with the Cardinals that I would like to see through.  I think it’s best that we occasionally visit each other for a weekend fling.  I’ll buy the first round of drinks.  Promise. 

On that note, what is your commute like?  I know some of you have quite a long one. Katie I’m looking at you on this one… When I’m coming from my place (sans construction), I can get to work in 25 or 30 minutes.  This is a win in my book.  When I’m coming from Jaime’s, I expect at least 45 minutes to work and even more on the way home.  Rush hour blows.Tell everyone bye, Hazel!  (Needless to say, the dogs are not anywhere near as chipper as I am at 6:30 in the morning…)

Have a good weekend!

Giving Thanks

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, here are a few things I am thankful for this year.

1. Good Family and Friends.  I love you all dearly.  I’m excited to see the family in December when I go back for my brother’s college graduation and Christmas (the two trips back to Missouri in December are the reason I decided to sit Thanksgiving back home out this year).  I’m also thankful for all of my friends back in Missouri and here.  My mom won’t admit it, but I think she was terrified I would spend Thanksgiving by myself watching the parade with a Lean Cuisine in my lap.  Granted, this would probably help battle putting on holiday pounds, but I had various invitations to join my friends’ Thanksgivings.  Which I greatly appreciate.  I’m going to Jaime’s this year and am excited about trying out her dad’s good eats!  She says he thrives on the holidays, so I’ll be more than ready for it all!

2. My Health.  I’ve been lucky so far to survive the attack of the swine flu in my office building or any other little case of the sniffles.  Another shout out to my love for running should probably be inserted here.

3. My Job.  I may complain about this or that from time to time- but you know what the unemployment percentages are.  Enough said.  And it makes it all the better that I love the majority of the people I work with.  Another reason my move has been so easy and great.

4. My Clarity in Various Aspects of My Life and Confidence in the Future.  The rose-colored glasses are off (as Jaime said once).  I know what I want and refuse to settle for anything less.  It takes a while to actually get yourself to face it, but once you do, it really is a weight off your shoulders.  Everything’s looking beautiful!

5. My Sarcasm.  Because someone’s gotta be grateful for it. 

6. My Apartment.  I love my cozy little nook.  In my lovely little city.  Next to my wonderful big city.

7. My Discovery of Trader Joe’s Wine.  And this also goes along with being thankful for the close proximity of the Trader Joe’s next to my apartment.  This could also be dangerous for my wallet, but we’ll worry about that later.

8.  The Monday night CBS lineup and Grey’s Anatomy.  I heart Sheldon.  And McSteamy…

9. That I No Longer Work Retail.  In college, it was the most stressful time of the year, the schedule always sucked, and people were straight-up mean for no reason.  I cannot stress enough how happy I was to finish working my last holiday season (which in retail world, technically extends through a good majority of January- returns… shoot me now!!!).

10.  The combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  It doesn’t get any better.  Another reason why I’m that much more grateful for my love of running…

So yeah… that’s what I’ll be thinking about alllllll tomorrow.  That’s a lie.  It’ll be the friends, family and food part.  Besides, it’s not Monday and Grey’s Anatomy will probably be a rerun… 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!