Don’t forget – I’ve moved!

Don’t forget – UPDATE YOUR GOOGLE READERS AND BLOGROLLS! I’ve moved!

Check me out over at:   greendogwine.com

Big News! I’ve Moved!!!!

That’s right!  Green Dog Wine is movin’ on up! 

Please update your Google Readers, Blogrolls, and anything else to my new site!!!!

www.greendogwine.com

Hope to see you all over there! 

Attitude Adjustment

Yesterday morning – when my alarm went off at 5:10 – I woke up and thought a whole slew of negative things (and possibly “swears” as well, although it was far too early to vocalize any of them) – I thought the following:

• Bootcamp is stupid
• Why do I sign up for stupid things
• I hate waking up early, “I’m a night person”
• Waking up early is stupid
• I’m tired
• 5am is stupid
• Bootcamp is the worst

My life is so terrible, right? 

After Bootcamp, here’s what I was thinking:

• Whew!  I feel GREAT!
• Holy cow, I got in an awesome workout and it’s not even 7am
• Bootcamp is awesome!
• I am so glad I signed up for bootcamp
• I’m really smart for doing bootcamp

Talk about attitude adjustment!

Don’t you love my early morning dramatics? 

Since I was able to get my act together Sunday night – I was able to have all of my spicy oats supplies ready – so that Monday morning I could take on the week, full force Another shot (Kath-esque even?) of this beautiful oatmeal:Spicy deliciousness! 

We got A HUGE tub of popcorn at work, from one of the sales reps, as a “thank you” – and I just couldn’t help but test it out to make sure it was safe for my colleagues to eat!  It passed inspection! 

Lunch – boring (sans spinach – it still looked nasty this week at the store) salad:My liquid crack, and carrots to go along side:Have any of you had bagged baby carrots that had “the funk”? I just opened this bag yesterday – and when I put one in my mouth, it was like I was eating nail polish/cleaning fluid soaked garbage!  I mean – IT’S A CARROT?!  It shouldn’t taste like that.  Any thoughts on to why that would happen?  Barf – I ended up throwing them all away! 

For a snack, I was happy to be eating this, sad to finally polish off the jar:I heart you Dark Chocolate Dreams – I heart you!

Spread on some apple slice and an orange.  Can you tell who’s hiding under the plate?Give up?Elmo!

Ahh, the fun of working at American Greetings! 

For dinner, Mike started “milkin’” his birthday – and requested we go to Cici’s.   I’m a sucker for a hot boy, so I couldn’t turn him down!

Jumbo salad (my fav part of Cici’s):Some of their cold pasta salad – I swear they put crack-like additives in there, I’m obsessed with this stuff!and even though I was “full” after those two plates, I decided I should at least try to eat 1 piece of pizza, since it IS a pizza buffett:Except 4 pieces “acccidentally” came back with me.  I didn’t even want to eat all of them, but somehow they all magically disappeared.  Oops!

Hope you are having a great week!  I can’t believe it’s JUNE already!!!

Happy Birthday Mike!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!!!!

28 years ago today – my fabulous, wonderful husband came in to this world. 

Want to know why he’s fabulous and wonderful?  Let me show you all the ways!

He loves his friends very much:He’s always my partner in crime:He a great “Daddy” – he does loves Lando – no matter how many times he tells me he doesn’t!  He’s always willing to have fun, especially when other’s aren’t!He’ll mess you up, if you mess with us!  He doesn’t take himself too seriously!  He’s so incredibly good looking, he could run for office – VOTE MIKE, 2012!  He’s incredibly supportive of everything I do!He put’s up with my silly-ness:and best of all…I love him, and he loves me!  Happy Birthday my love!!!!  Thank you for being you!!!

I heart Frank

Maybe not so much Frank, but I’m having a torrid love affair with the man’s hot sauce.  (Sorry Mike!)  Doesn’t matter the style or flavor – I LOVE IT! 

Frank’s Flavor of the day:  Buffalo!!

Sunday our groceries were quickly dwindling, so I made the most appetizing breakfast I could scrounge up – an egg sammich:Mike and I ran a few errands, and took another 6.5  mile walk, and by the time we got home – I was ravenous, but only had VERY random groceries to try and create lunch with.

I put my kindergarten “thinking cap” on – and came up with a doozie! 

Smashed chickpea salad:I took 1 serving of chickpeas, chopped up a red onion, and added about 1.5 tbsp of light ranch dressing – AND THEN….

….put a slice of swiss cheese on top, microwaved it for 30 seconds so it got all melty, and topped the cheese with Frank’s BUFFALO, and dried chives:HOLY MOLY! This thing was elevenity billion times better than I could have ever imagined!  I LOVED IT!  I’ve already thought of about 15 changes/substitutions I could make just to change it up – it was so easy, so good, AND SO QUICK!

I had my open faced sammich with a side salad:That had:

• banana peppers
• red bell peppers
• chickpeas
• wasabi peas

FANTASTIC “whipped up” lunch!! 

My brother was home again from OSU (woot woot! GO BUCKS!), so my mom had all of us over for dinner, as well as my Grandparents!

She had quite the spread of appetizers to pick at while my Dad was grilling!

Blackberries and raspberries:Super tart, but super delicious!

New hummus! (I get WAY too excited for new hummus flavors!) 

This one was “Spicy Cilantro“:Review: It had a similar (although slightly chalkier) taste to Sabra – and the taste wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t my favorite.  Personally, I didn’t find the “spicy” at all (although Mom and Timmy said they tasted the kick), and cilantro can be a little overwhelming for my taste buds when it comes in large quantities.  I don’t think I’d ever buy this flavor for myself, but it was nice to “taste test” at my Mom!

More hummus – Tribe Sweet Roasted Red Pepper:I’ve always loved this one – you CAN’T go wrong with Roasted Red Pepper hummus!

The grill master (aka – Dad) asked to not be photographed, but did still want to show off his handi-work:As well as his secret recipe for making the best grilled chicken I’ve ever tasted.  Are you ready?!?!It’s Garlic Powder, Salt, and Pepper.  I know that might seem easy – but my Dad always manages to put on just the right amount to make it absolutely fabulous!! 

Helped myself to some free DC while I was waiting to be served dinner.  Don’t ya just love going back to your parents house for meals?  The final presentation:AMAZING!   The chicken totally  knocked my socks off – as usual, and I drizzled a WHOLE LOTTA Frank’s Buffalo on my potato.  The beans ended up going in the garbage, they tasted horrible and were so wet and squishy.  (Sorry Momma – wasn’t you, was the weird frozen bag they came from).  A perfect end to a very busy weekend! 

Little Italy & Indians

After a long day Friday – we were in for another long one on Saturday!   By the time we got up and moving (the first few hours of the day involved lounging on the couch, watching the news, and blog reading), I was more hungry for lunch than breakfast – so Mike and I grabbed Subway.  I got turkey on wheat with veggies and a little bit of light mayo:While we ate, we watched an episode of Mad Men, and I found this little bug who felt like being a cuddle bean – look at that face?  Doesn’t your heart just melt?!Once she got comfortable – she REALLY got comfortable – look at how goofy she is when she stretches out, she looks ODDLY long!  Gee, I hope I’m not in her way!  After eating/TV time, Mike and I got in a 5 mile walk, and then got dressed and headed downtown to meet his parents in the “Little Italy” area of Cleveland.This area is very old, and very well known if you are a native Cleveland-er, so with all the history and diversity, it’s a really fun place to hang out/check out.  It’s literally store front, after store front of amazing Italian eateries and bakeries!  I think you gain 5 pounds just walking up the street!

There are so many restauratnts (almost all of them award winning), that it can be hard to choose where to eat.  Luckily – my in-laws are pretty great at decision making (I HATE decision making it stresses me out), so we ended up at Mama Santa’s - my personal favorite!!!  I had such a hard time deciding what to get (see above re: decision making), I really wanted pizza, but I didn’t know what I wanted for toppings, so I ended up going with Cheese Ravioli instead:Verdict?  You could tell it was homemade pasta, and the sauce was AMAZING, but overall, I wasn’t too impressed.  The inside of the ravioli was really watery, and I found some random hard chunk-o’-something in the dish (although – as long as it couldn’t have killed me, I don’t freak or send things back when that happens, I used to work in the restaurant industry, so I get that sort of thing can occur.)  I really should have just gotten the pizza because I know it is TO DIE FOR!   But Mike really liked his dish, so I know I can get him back down there – which means – hey there’s always next time! 

Then, we headed downtown for the Indians game!It was a PERFECT NIGHT for a ball game!My dad’s entire side of the family was at the game too, and it turned out – there were 2 sections away from us!  My dad actually snagged a picture of me waving across the statidum!  (*But forgot to send it to me, so I can’t post it!)

Even though I had pasta for “linner” - I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for ball park nachos – that would just be Unamerican! Cheesy mess with HOT jalapenos and salsa!  I enjoyed every single solitary bite! 

June (my MIL) brought these fun little treats, which I jumped at the chance to try (HELLO – MINT CHOCOLATE?!  I’m in!)This was a really really tasty “chew” (only 20 calories) – it tasted EXACTLY like mint chocolate chip ice cream – the only thing that threw me off – was that it wasn’t cold.  So my tastebuds/brain was totally confused – I was eating a flavor that I only ever eat cold.  WEIRD!  Quick shot of the Cleveland skyline, doesn’t the sky look pretty?  (It’s a love/hate relationship I have with C-town)  Best part of all?  I got to spend more time with this good looking guy:  Even though the Indians lost (yeah, we knew that was going to happen before the game started) – it was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday!  Thanks Dan and June for a great night out!!!

Koala Open

Friday was the third annual “Koala Open” golf outing at my work.  The whole event is in honor of a co-worker that passed away a few years ago, and all of the proceeds go to an education fund for her two little boys.  On top of that – you get a free half day off work – who could pass that up?  I did go into work from about 8 to 11 to tie up any outstanding issues – and took the best breakfast around with me:At 11, I ran home to pick up all my golfing supplies – and got right back on the road.  I knew lunch at the golf course was going to be all beef hotdogs, so I snacked on a z-bar in the car instead.The event is a golf “scramble” (Let me clear this up – I’ve touched golf clubs twice in my life, once was just at a driving range, and once was with some of my girlfriends in high school just goofing around) – with teams of 4.

Look at this hot guy who I convinced to be on my team:Get a free day off of work, AND get to play with my super hot husband?  Gee, you’ll have to twist my arm. 

The rest of our team:Tracy J. and Traci K.! 

As the day progressed, we realized very quickly that we were the worst team out on the course, but that was okay, because we were really having a blast.  Here’s the very serious balls that Tracy brought along for us to you:Who wouldn’t take us seriously?

Here I am, loving the gorgeous day we had, and throughouly enjoying myself and the company I was with:I did a pretty decent job golfing all things considered.  Somtimes, I’d barely connect with the ball, and it would dribble about 20 feet ahead of our current spot, and other times, I really connect with it – but it always hooked WAY to the right.

One of the best swings I had for the day – went so far – we had to go searching for it.  When we found it – look what I had done:Or at least I thought I was that strong and awesome (so did my team) for about 30 seconds.  Then we found my actual ball, which looked exactly like this one, just completely intact.  Turns out, I’m not Hercules! 

Eye candy on the green:It took us from noon until about 5:30 to complete the 18 holes – and while we really had a great time – our team was TIRED and ready for it be over by hole 16.  We came in a good 30+ over par! 

When we got back to the clubhouse, they had our dinner party ready.  I was able to get a Boca burger, which made me super excited because I was starving – and I grabbed a big heaping portion of cheesy potatoes, since I’d really only eaten a a z-bar since breakfast (and maybe a few RedVines and Miller Lites on the course!)  Side salad to go with it all:The awards started up at we were finishing dinner, and my team OBVIOUSLY had zero hopes of winning anything.  That was – until we heard them announce there was a prize for last place – then all of our ears perked up.

Sure enough – WE WON!We got the “Booby Prize” – and each member of the team got an award, as well as a certificate for a free bucket of golf balls at the driving range.  Not too shabby, huh?? 

After we’d dropped off our borrowed golf clubs, and picked up pretty Lando, we headed out to the bar for a few drinks.  We didn’t stay out too late, and it was a fairly low key night – but I had to show this to you guys.

There’s a newer smoking law in Cleveland, where you HAVE to go outside to smoke now (you used to be able to smoke in bars as late as 2007 I think!) – and when it changed, I was SO happy because I didn’t have to wake up stinking like an ashtray just because I’d gone to the bar the previous evening.

I know some of my smoking friends weren’t happy, and I understand that.  It also appears these bar patrons aren’t too happy about it.  This couple left their drinks unattended to go outside and smoke – and left this sign:I figured out the letters at the bottom immediately.  I don’t know why, but it just clicked.  Let’s see how crafty you are, what do you the “PLMFDA” stands for?

New Home

Hiya Piyas! 

Since you were all so very patient – I figure it’s FINALLY time to let you know my exciting announcement. 

My parents bought a lake house!!!!!! AHHH!!   Look at how cute it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!This was an awesome surprise! My parents had chatted about it a few times (I didn’t think anyting would actually come to fruition) – and then all of sudden one day, they called me up and said they got it!! (My Dad asked that I wait until everything was finalized before I “publicly” announced anything – totally understandable) – but I was so super excited that I was dying to share with my blogging friends! 

The weekend I told you I “had an announcement” – my parents and I had headed up there to take some measurements and check out some furniture stores! 

Here’s my Dad in front of our new lake home!Cute little duckies (ok – geese maybe?) off our back porch!It’s about an hour away from Cleveland, so we can just head up there every weekend to hang out on the lake and at the community pool.  It’s the perfect place to go and just “hang” with the family – and not have those ever day distractions getting in the way (ie – “Oh, I need to run to Target.  Oh, I need to stop at the bank while I’m out.  Oh, I should get the car washed while I’m running errands – you get my drift).  All you do is relax, eat, drink, and enjoy each other’s company!    Best part is – DOGS ARE ALLOWED!  This sweet little cuddle bug can come up with us for the weekends!My very most favorite part about the house:The kitchen! (Hello??  What kind of food blogger would I be if that weren’t my favorite place?!)  I can’t wait to cook & play in it!!!  (I totally look preggers in this pic because of my sweatshirt – I assure you – I am not.) 

Sorry – there are a nauseating amount of exclamations in this post – I know – I just can’t help it – I’m excited!

Thanks for being patient – and sorry my announcment wasn’t something totally awesome like a “free trip” giveaway or something! 

4 minute meals

It’s Friday!   Wooohoooo! 

Yesterday flew by in the blink of an eye – I’m still not quite sure where it went.  

I started the day of on the right foot (I’m back in the spicy oats groove – have no fear!)  And didn’t have time to even think about food until it was already time for lunch!   For some reason I found this salad super depressing:I really think it’s because it’s missing spinach.  But the bags of spinach looked a little funky (translation – had brown ICK in them) so I had to pass on them this week.  I’ve got high hopes for next week! 

(and hopefully an Aldi video coming REALLY SOON!)

I did find time to grab a snack in the afternoon – an apple with some Chocolate PB!which hit the spot like always!

When I got home from work – I went straight to the bathroom – to try and knock out the painting.  I put a first “color” coat on the walls, and Mike and I finished up the ceiling with a second coat too!  I want to show ya’ll pictures – but the room is seriously embarrassing.  Painting is about the only reno we can afford right now – so the best example I can give to this home “project” is – Imagine you are in a boat, that’s sinking – and you are tryign to bail out the water with a thimble.  Get my drift?  We’ll see – maybe I’ll share. 

By the time we finished it was almost 8 and I still hadn’t had dinner!!!!  (that apple/PB snack really held me over well!)

When I realized what time it was, my stomach realized it was starving (maybe it was mental) so I needed something FAST, before I started devouring everything in sight!  I ended up whipping out an “all microwave” meal in about 4 minutes – and managed to hit every food group.  I was proud of myself!  A can of green beans, 5 Morning Star buffalo wings, and garden vegetable (Uncle Ben’s) rice.   Not too shabby for 4 minutes, wouldn’t you agree? 

Alright kiddos – I’m outta here!  We have a company golf outing today – so I need to get my act together, tie up any lose ends – and go wreak some havoc on the greens baby!  Have a great Friday!

Hot Mess

Wednesday was a hot mess over here in GDW world – from breakfast til bedtime! 

After a good whoppin’ at “bootcamp” in the morning (the instructors were upset about the Cavs recent loss – they took their aggression out on my hip flexors and triceps!)… 

It was off to to work with the best breakfast ever – Spicy Oats!Sorry for the picture ya’ll – this really is a hot mess.  It doesn’t look appetizing at all – but sometimes “portability” comes with a price – that price being presentation!  To see a MUCH PRETTIER, more appetizing version – check out my guest post on Kath’s blog today!

All mixed up!Still doesn’t look any better,  I know.  At least I tried!  

Because of the brutal morning workout – I was ready to gnaw my arm off by 11 – so I snuck into my snack drawer, and had the 2nd cookie from this pack:Honestly – when I tried these out the first time, I didn’t think it could get any better.  But Erin suggested I microwave the cookie next time…Result?  EVEN BETTER!  I need to look into buying these by the case!

Remember that Wine Bar Party I mentioned Sunday?  The leftovers keep following me (hey – I’M NOT COMPLAINING!) – I just can’t shake it!   I had packed this for lunch:Salad with:

• banana pepps
• black olives
• chickpeas
• carrots and red peppers for dipping in this:

But ended up eating a ton of the leftover veggies from the party – with this fabulous dip that Kristin brought in:This stuff is seriously addicting!  It’s got a fairly sweet taste, right as you take a bite of it, but then it has a bit of a kick at the end at well!  It would be a great bruschetta spread, or even pasta sauce base!  We used it as dip for pita chips and veggies!

Since Mike’s officially on summer break from law school now, he’s been working like crazy to get a ton of things done around the house.  I came home yesterday to find he had sanded down the entire bathroom – and it was ready for priming!  It was a small room, so it only took us about 35 minutes – but it has been SUPER MUGGY AND HUMID here the past two days – and painting in air that feels like it could be “cut with a knife” makes for a big hot mess!

For dinner we need quick and easy – so I went with TJ’s whole wheat pizza dough, and made a quick pizza for the two of us:Look at that melty veggie goodness:Okay – off to put a few more coats on that bathroom, so we can finally get it finished – and finally have somewhere to shower!