These are a few of my favorite things

*Disclaimer: these are my current favorite things and subject to change at a moments notice because I am a fickle person*

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Favorite Activity:
"Running" through Dilworth

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I put "running" in quotation marks because I have decided to take on "running" around town... Charlotte, at least South End/Dilworth are relatively flat. My version of "running" involves walking for like 5 minutes and then running as long as I possibly can. Yesterday I did about 3/4 of a mile at once (probably a mile and a half total of running in a 4 mile total walk/run). Pretty proud of myself! Hoping to get where I can run a little bit more each time I go out. I took today off to cook and clean... My coworker Elizabeth and I are splitting a weekly farmshare - I have apples and pears in the slow cooker, and cooked a big pot of okra, corn, and onion in tomato sauce to serve over rice.

And I digress - I really like walk/running through Dilworth because as you can see in the picture above, this is what I see on my route: picture perfect houses and there are also a lot of shady spots along the path. I love my apartment, but I am going to keep my eyes peeled for houses to rent in Dilworth as my lease gets closer to its expiration... I would love to live in one of those cute little houses. New life goals: own a house in Dilworth and own a house on the Carolina coast.

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Favorite song:
See No More - Joe Jonas



I never thought I would really truly like something that any one of the Jonas Brothers put out... But I really do like this song - it's catchy and the words ring true. Also, I am still a teenybopper at heart and probably always will be, as my friend Sehar and I discuss frequently. P.S. can any one tell me when Joe Jonas decided to go all solo on his bros?!

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Favorite food find:
Kraft Veggie Macaroni and Cheese

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Kraft Veggie Mac and Cheese is one of the best inventions ever. Kraft is an awesome innovator of food - they took dried cauliflower and made pasta out of it! When you make it "healthy style" according to the box, half of the box is only 8 Weight Watchers Points Plus (a steal). I made it my own by adding spinach to it, but this would taste great with any vegetable - next time I want to try it with broccoli and spinach. I looked for some online coupons today, since it is a new product but did not turn up any luck... Anyway, I am definitely stocking up on this and keeping it on hand for when I need a speedy dinner - it also doesn't hurt that mac and cheese is one of my comfort foods. When made with reasonable ingredients, mac and cheese is something I can eat on a regular basis and still live a Weight Watchers lifestyle! Thanks, Kraft!!!

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Favorite TV Show:
Bachelor Pad

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This is for sure my guilty pleasure show of the summer. While I do enjoy Big Brother as much as the next person, I love the drama of The Bachelor franchise and all of the back stories of the characters. I am currently watching last night's episode on-demand... my poor TiVo forgot that I had it set to record and must have gotten confused and overwhelmed with all of my other shows... While I had full intentions of blogging about Bachelor Pad - it doesn't seem to be in the cards this summer... Classes started again today (yay.) but the good news is that this is my last class EVER in my academic career. Yes people, ever... no more going back to school for this girl.

Back to Bachelor Pad: Jake and Erika's kiss almost made me throw up. And Kasey's vocabulary drives me nuts - if he says heart or love or protect or infinity or promise (should I go on?) one more time, I might vomit... Maybe next week I'll play Bachelor Pad drinking game. That could be fun, or dangerous... Oh my gosh - Kasey is now singing... This is sad and disturbing at the same time, yet I can't look away.

If anyone wants a legitimate recap of Bachelor Pad, I reccommend reading Reality Steve's weekly column (posted every Tuesday). He is freakin' hillarous, but buyer beware: he does have spoilers in his blog (if you have been living under a rock and have never heard of him).

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Ok enough of my ramblings - these are a few of my *current* favorite things... I'll probably be back with brand new ones next month, knowing me though this might even be next week... Leave me comments about a few of your favorite things, or if you have tried/done any of these things - I want to know if you love them too!!

Weekend update

My life is not terribly exciting right now - my LAST first day of classes ever begins tomorrow. Officially down to 116 days until graduation!! Until something else more exciting comes along, here is my weekend update:

I met my parents at the beach on Friday afternoon - of course, any time I can get to the coast I am a happy camper. I need to figure out a way to move to Wilmington... Ideas anyone? Sat on the beach for a little while on Friday afternoon and caught up with Mom. She started her new (work-from-home) job today! Maybe this is my ticket to beach living?

Friday night we went out to a beach bar on the boardwalk for drinks and dinner. Dinner was less than mediocre. Drinks were delicious. You know it's been a bad week when you walk in to the bar and immediately order a "Purple Hooter" (shooter) and the bartender responds "already?" Anyway, the shooters were only $3 and they had Landshark draft on special for $2.50.. it is cheap to drink at the beach.

Like I said, the food was not very good. But the evening did have its upsides. The bartender gave me $5 and told me to pick out songs on the "jukebox" - I know its not a jukebox anymore, but that computer thing where you get to pick music. That was FUN! I didn't even choose it, but my favorite bar song came on right after my playlist of 12 songs. However, the best quote and moment of the night was after finishing the meal.

Dad: well, that food was kind of gross
Me: this is the kind of bar where you don't eat dinner, you get hammered
Dad: a hamburger probably would have been pretty good
Me: get 'hammered' not 'a hamburger' *giggles*

Reiterating the food not being good theme - my mom got really sick on Saturday. I managed to sneak in some time on the beach in the morning. We switched hotels to downtown Wilmington and the afternoon was filled with crappy weather and laziness. The good news was that I finished my book! Bad news is my Kindle broke in a sleeping accident. The other good news is Amazon.com has THE BEST customer service and is sending me a new one that is set to arrive on Wednesday (and the Kindle app on my Evo allowed me to finish the novel after the sleeping accident). This is why I do my online shopping almost exclusively with Amazon.com.

This was seriously one of the best books I have read in a while. It tells the story of four girls who attend Smith College (an all-girls school in Massachusetts). The story begins on move-in day of their first year of college - the word 'freshMAN' is banned at Smith. There were some hillarious moments, heartwarming moments, and sad moments. I really felt like I was the fifth friend in the book, observing - the author really painted a vivid picture of their lives. From that first day of school, I joined the foursome through the trials and tribulations of college and what happens in those first years of adulthood (definitely relatable) as well as I learned a little back story about each of the characters and the formative experiences in their lives prior to arriving at Smith. The story had an ending I definitely would have never predicted. While this may not be the finest book review, I recommend that people pick up a copy of this or download it to their Kindle/Nook/other e-reader. It is a must read!

On to other important things, the terrible dinner from Friday night was counteracted with an amazing, delicious, nom nom meal on Saturday night. Dad and I had a daddy-daughter date to the Ruth's Chris bar at the Hilton Riverfront in Wilmington (where we stayed). They have awesome "bar food" (if you can call it that...) high quality and very reasonable prices. I got the ahi tuna salad - the dressing I would describe as a soy vinegarette with a hint of wasabi spice. I took a picture of the salad mid-way through it.. sorry folks, I saw it, I was hungry, and I got overzealous. Wherever you live, check out the Ruth's Chris bar - you can eat decadent on a budget... or at least for a reasonable price (my salad was $16.95 and dad's burger and fries were $12.95 - not too shabby).

While this post was utterly thrilling, brace yourselves... Up next: a few of my favorite things...

There's no place like NC

The past few days have been quite an adventure! Let me recap my weekend. I'll consider it starting on Thursday night, since Friday I worked for a few hours - but it was basically a travel day.

Thursday night:

Elizabeth's Birthday Party at Route 20 (on Route 20) just outside of Freeport... The restaurant was surrounded by cornfields - no homes or anything anywhere to speak of. Lucky girl was in Freeport for her 30th and got to celebrate in style. While all I wanted was a good burger (and had been saving up for it... not getting one elsewhere), it turned out to be just 'eh.' The pickle chips and homemade ranch on the other hand... nom nom delicious! Food so great you will want to lick your plate? I may or may not have done that with the ranch. Don't judge me... wait, never mind... judge away!

Route 20, see it's on Route 20 on the way to Freeport!

Me in a cornfield

Friday:

Woke up early in Freeport, worked until lunchtime and felt very helpful! Enjoyed my 2 hour drive to O'Hare - I surely have logged a lot of 'windshield time' in the past few weeks.. Thank goodness I had XM Radio in my rental car. Really, I am not sure how I would have survived. Security at the airport took forever (yay Friday) but I made some friends in the security line that helped past the time with some chit chat. I was like an hour and 45 minutes early, so I decided to pass the time with a few glasses of wine - and wandered the airport until I found my spot. Wicker Park - they served sushi. Airport sushi, I braved it... and survived. It was good, hastily put together, but not as good as the sushi I had in Freeport.

Alaskan Roll and Yellowtail Roll

2 glasses of wine later... I was in a great mood and it was time to board the plane!! I was provided more wine by the lovely and oh-so-friendly US Airways flight attendants (read: not friendly.) About 2 hours later, I was finally back in Charlotte - oh, it had been a long two weeks and one day (not that I was counting or anything...). Hung out at the airport for a little while while I waited for Christine to arrive from DC for the night. She made it! And we cabbed it back to my apartment - so happy to be back at my apartment!

We went to Tavern on the Tracks across the street from my apartment - I got the black bean burger with pepperjack (I forgot to take a picture, but don't worry... it's my favorite thing on the menu and I eat there like 4 times a week). If you live in or near South End Charlotte, you must check this place out. The food is all homemade and delicious - I haven't had a bad thing on the menu, and I've tried a lot of it. I keep mentioning ranch dressing - but they have a chipotle ranch that is just divine - I could basically dip anything in it and be happy. They had a live band that was mildly entertaining - food and company were great :)

Cheers! Beer for me, margarita for Christine

We then went to the bar next door called The Gin Mill. The bar was pretty quiet - maybe it's because it was Friday? But... they had cheap drinks, good people watching - they have a rooftop bar where people were playing cornhole. It was fun! I'll definitely go back - maybe on a Saturday night it will be more lively!!

Saturday:

Saturday started with me not knowing where I was when I woke up (no, it wasn't all the wine...). I was very confused not to be in a hotel, but much to my excitement I realized I was waking up in NC!!! Which, no matter where I am in the state - it is my favorite place to be. I took Christine to the airport so she could continue on her weekend adventures. Then I went to the Farmers Market, World Market, and Target. The Farmers Market trip was very successful, and until our farmshare starts up - I plan to visit here at least once a week to pick up fresh produce. The rest of my Saturday was not that entertaining - so I will spare you the details.

Here is my creation with Farmers Market veggies: baby spinach, baby bella mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, garbanzo beans, and ham. Also, featuring homemade ranch - it looks like there is a lot on there, but it's pretty thin dressing (and super low in fat/calories). If I used a recipe for it, I would share it... but basically I take low fat or fat free sour cream, add in a tiny bit of low fat mayo, and enough milk to my liking for the consistency, then add a packet of buttermilk ranch dry mix, some garlic powder, and lots and lots of black pepper - this can be modified in almost any way and still taste delicious.

Farmers Market Salad

Today:
Today was a good day for a drive. Spent the day in Knoxville - usually when I am in the car for more than... oh 10 minutes, it gets dangerous because I start thinking about everything. But, today's drive was really good - for some reason it cleared my head. Anyway, why the heck did I go back to Knoxville? Katie, you complained about living there for 11 months...

Well, my friend Sehar who lives in Nashville and I came up with the brilliant idea to go see the Glee 3D concert movie together. Yes, we are Gleeks that couldn't face the prospect of going to the movie without each other. Knoxville was the only logical meeting place. The movie was great and the company was as well! I once again live in a different city than (most of) my friends - so it's nice catching up with ones that used to be your neighbor!

The movie was what I expected - it was basically like seeing the New Directions in concert... and while I don't usually get all philosophical, I really did like the message of the movie. In between concert scenes, they featured three real life Gleeks that each had an inspirational story. At first I was like "ugh, show the characters - that's why I came to see the movie!" But in the end, their stories tied in to the concert "experience" nicely and it was a bit like watching Glee + True Life: I'm a Gleek/midget/gay/have aspergers.

Gleeks in Glasses

All in all, this has been a great weekend filled with great food, great friends, and lots of travel! Looking forward to just pushing through this week and what next weekend has in store (and staying in NC for once!!)

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