7 Things You May Not Know About Me

One of my favorite bloggers Creature-Gorgeous tagged me in another fun get to know you type blogging game. This time I tell you all 7 things about myself you may not already know. Then I’ll tag a few of my other blogging buddies and you can follow the links over to their site and learn more about them… fun, huh?

1. I hate running. I feel silly doing it, so I don’t run.

2. I accidentally dyed my hair orange once. We’re talking BRIGHT orange. I was trying to get auburn and the box did not give me auburn. So, I ran to the drug store and bought dark brown, but that didn’t take at all. I made an emergency hair appointment with my Mom’s stylist, but I had to walk around with orange hair for about a week.

3. I wear a cardigan pretty much everyday. My favorites are bright pink and black. I used to wear hoodies all the time, I think cardigans are my new hoodie.

4. I like candy corn.

5. I'm afraid my feet will grow when I'm pregnant and I won't be able to fit in any of my favorite shoes again.

6. If I can't think of a costume for something, my go-to outfit is 80's girl. I keep all the items together in a drawer so I can bust them out (or lend them out) when needed.

7. Even though I have all the 80's clothes on stand-by, I'm going as someone from the 60's this year - Joan Holloway-Harris from Mad Men.

I Tag...
e.louise
Bricolage
Completely Random Sally
Jessta Girl
KJPugs
Happy Hour with a Housewife
She Leaps

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - Every year, for your work potluck, we make a different Halloween themed dish. This year's Meatloaf Zombie hand was the creepiest!


2 -You dress-up for Halloween.

3 - You're always excited to see me when I come home (or you come home).

4 - You've already purchased our bottle of wine, for wine Friday's on the couch.

5 - We drink our Wine Friday's wine out of the glasses we got while wine tasting on our Honeymoon.

Adventures in Dining Out: True Food Kitchen, Newport Beach, CA

My sister was having an abnormally crappy week last week and she decided it would be a good idea to get away from her office for a bit and do something she wanted to do. Great idea, no? I think if you’re ever having a bad week at work it important to do things for yourself so you don’t let the work stuff ruin your attitude towards everything else. She suggested going to lunch and I was all for it because who doesn’t love getting lunch with their sister in the middle of the week?

We decided to try a new restaurant at Fashion Island, an outdoor mall near our offices, called True Food Kitchen. We’d attempted to have lunch here about a month ago, but the wait was crazy and we only had an hour. This time, we got there early enough and found a seat in the bar right away.

Source

According to their website, “At True Food Kitchen, we celebrate simplicity. We practice sustainability. We believe that simple, fresh, pure ingredients create the most memorable and satisfying meals. And while our healthy menu is packed with nutritious, good-for-you vegetables, whole grain and proteins, we never sacrifice flavor. You may not notice the difference. But it’s there.”

They also follow Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid™, which to be honest I’d never heard of before visiting their website. According to Dr. Weil: “Following an anti-inflammatory diet can help counteract the chronic inflammation that is a root cause of many serious diseases, including those that become more frequent as people age. It is a way of selecting and preparing foods based on science that can help people achieve and maintain optimum health over their lifetime.”

Plus, they have gluten free menu options – SCORE!

After examining the menu we decided on three things:

I ordered the Panang Curry…


The waitress smiled when I ordered this dish and told me it was her favorite. Don’t you just love that! I really love when a waitress (or waiter) will tell you what their favorite dish is where they work. Nothing bugs me more than when you ask what they would recommend and you get, “Well everything is really good.” Anyway, this was delicious. I don’t know how I’d forgotten how much I love coconut milk, but the combination of the coconut milk and curry was amazing. I ordered this again for lunch on Monday.

My sister ordered the Quinoa Tabbouleh salad…

Pretty, huh? This was our waitress’ other favorite dish and if I like beets it would probably be one of mine too. I had a few bites (even one with a bite of beet) and it was really tasty (minus the beet). The dressing was just the right amount of not too sweet.

We also ordered the tomato basil soup…


Well, my sister ordered the soup, but when it came there was so much food we decided to share it. Tomato soup is probably my favorite soup. My roommate in college and I would have it with grilled cheese all the time (hmmm, I wonder why I gained weight in college). Usually, I only like creamy tomato soups, but this was great without the cream. It was very fresh.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a Tweet from me earlier this week about a planter I want for my patio.


The planter is from the front of True Foods Kitchen. They have about 3 or 4 of these planters out front full of fresh herbs and a couple vegetables. I love the idea and in this context, not only do I think it is a great design addition, but a fun way to show kids what things look like before they are in our food :)

Guest Posting – You Wanna Talk Jive

Check out my guest post on You Wanna Talk Jive.

 
A special thank you to Shannon (from You Wanna Talk Jive) for allowing me to ramble about Jazzercise for a couple paragraphs :)

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You don't want a Facebook but you like to look at mine when I'm on it.

2 - You always pour the wine for us on wine Friday nights.

3 - You vacuumed the other day, before we had guests come over, and I didn't even say anything.

4 - You meet me at the door when I come home from class.

5 - You're walking in the Diabetes Walk with me this weekend.

Adventures in Dining Out: Barcelona On The Go & Dan Dan BBQ

Guess what guys? I eat at more food trucks! Shocking, I know. This past Wednesday, I ventured out in the questionable weather Southern California is experiencing right now, to make my favorite food truck meet-up.


Since I needed to get back to work to get some homework done on my lunch break, I had a game plan. Stop at Barcelona On The Go and get their salad of the day, then stop at Dan Dan BBQ and get a lettuce wrapped taco. In and out. GO!



First stop was Barcelona On The Go. The salad of the day was a "Duck Prosciutto, Goat Cheese & Orange Salad”.

I read that as duck ,comma, prosciutto, so I was a bit confused when I got the salad. At first glance I thought, “Oh that’s prosciutto wrapped around duck.” After further examination (putting it in my mouth) is discovered it was FAT! I was so disgusted.


To be fair the salad was really good (minus the fat, natch) but I would definitely recommend they take the fat off the duck prosciutto… YUCK! Also, last night Hubs & I went to another Food Truck Meet-up with some friends. My Friend, Felicia, ordered the sweet potato fries with lime salt and the top sirloin taco. She said the taco and fries were excellent… I stole some of the fries and I agree.

Next Dan Dan BBQ, of course. I love their little Karate dude :)


I read online that you could order any of their tacos as a lettuce wrap, SCORE! I can probably eat corn tortillas, but I don’t need the tortilla, so it’s nice to have the option. Plus, I love lettuce.

I decided to try the Spicy Pork lettuce wrap… and then felt silly paying for a $3 taco with my debit card. Note to self: bring cash to these things!


This taco was amazing! I ate everything out of the lettuce with a fork (because it’s easy to do CAD homework that way) and then found myself trying to find pieces of lettuce with the most spices leftover. The seasoning was amazing!

Have you discovered any Food Trucks in your area?

Tag, I’m it!

My lovely 'Bee buddy Katie, from Ruffles & Truffles tagged me in the fun game of Blog Tag. I answer a set of questions she asks and then tag a new group of bloggers and give them a set of new questions. I like this because everyone on every blog isn’t answering the same set of questions. It’s kinda fun :) Plus, I’ve been SUPER busy with school work this week (Thank God AutoDesk came out with the Mac version of AutoCAD) and thus have had nothing fun to blog about.

Here we go…
1. If you could only wear one color for the next 10 years, what would it be and why?
Easy, black. I already wear a lot of black, so I wouldn’t have to go out and buy a bunch of new clothes. Plus, I think I look pretty good in black too.

2. If you had to replace the Internet with another activity for 10 days, what would it be and why?
I should say working out, but let’s be honest here, I’m not going to work out a work. (Kidding… kinda). Reading or homework. I would like to read more, but reading short stuff on the interwebs is just so much easier than committing to a whole book when I have so much else going on, you know?

3. What is your favorite thing to do on a day off?
Hang out with the Hubs or have a girls day. Either way there will be wine and tasty food and LOTS of relaxing. My days “on” are normally pretty busy with work and school, I like to relax on my days off.

4. What is the strangest food or food combination that you love to eat?
Sadly, I don’t like many weird foods. I like frozen grapes for a snack, but that isn’t that weird to me.

5. Who would you want to play you if a movie was made about your life?
Hmmmm… this would be super easy if I looked like someone famous. I could just say, “Heidi Klum, duh!” and be done with it. I’ve heard I kinda look like Kelly Clarkson, but I saw From Justin to Kelly & I think I need a better actress. Don’t get me wrong she can sing like nobody’s business, but not so much on the acting. I pick Sandra Bullock, because she’s awesome and I want someone awesome to play me :)

6. Which TV show would you like to have a cameo in?
30 Rock, but an episode with Matt Damon. I know we’re both married, but he’s seems fun and I think we could be great friends. Also, I heart Tina Fey and her character, Liz Lemon. I think that set would be super fun.

OR

Cougar Town! I think that show is hilarious. I love wine. I went to college (briefly) with Busy Phillips (Lori), she was really nice a fun to hang out with. I want to friend her on Facebook or something, but I think she’d just think I’m some crazy fan. However, if we met in person, much easier to say, “Hi, remember me?” And now I sound pyscho.

7. What is your absolute favorite dessert item…either homemade or at a restaurant?
Harbor House, Oreo Cookie Milkshake! It has the perfect Oreo Cookie to Ice Cream ratio.

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8. Which accomplishment in your life are you most proud of and why?
Going back to school. If you haven’t heard the story I dropped out of college :-O in the middle of my junior year. You’re probably thinking, but you were so close! Trust me, I was nowhere near “close”. In my mind, there were giant, unachievable hurdles in front of me before graduation. So yeah, dropped out, got a job, moved home blah blah blah… 4 years ago I discovered an Interior Design school down the street from my office, enrolled and now I’m about to graduate. I did it on my own. No-one told me I needed to go back to college. I was cozy in my 8-5 office job and really I could have comfortably stayed in a similar position the rest of my life. But, I wouldn’t have been happy with myself for never finishing college. It’s been tough and harder than I thought it would be, but when I turn in a project I’m really proud of and NEVER thought I’d be able to do, I'm really proud of myself.

Okay, tag
- Blissful Mussings
- Dandelion Paperweight
- Honey my Heart
- Katie's Whirled
- Life After Lobster
you’re it!

Here are your Questions:
1. What do you believe your best feature is, physical and personality?
2. What is your favorite dish to make?
3. What is your favorite article of clothing? and why?
4. What is the one gift you really hope to get for the holidays this year?
5. What was your favorite blog post? and why?
6. Which blogger would you most like to have dinner with? and why?

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You chose my hummus over ChickPita's... and ChickPita's is GOOOD

2 - You think the baby on Dexter is really cute :)

3 - You take out the trash

4 - You refer to spider webs as Invisible Spider Condos

5 - You helped me find a new haircut

I Want, I Need, I Have to Have: Succulents

Sadly, the only plant I seem to be able to keep alive is a succulent. I think it has a lot to do with me forgetting to water plants. Succulents care more if you water them too much than if you forget to water them. At least that’s what I learned when I bought an already over watered one from Ikea and it got a mushy and died. Who kills a succulent? Me and Ikea, apparently.

I have a long narrow planter on the island in our kitchen with about 4 succulents and another larger potted succulent on our patio. I’ve decided I need a couple more… or at least one for the coffee table, which is in serious need of something other than magazines and remote controls.

I really like these wreaths from Succulents Galore on Etsy…


 
But I’m not sure how they would look on a coffee table. The larger round one would probably look better on my dining table.

Still Lilly (also on Etsy) makes these lovely potted succulents in round glass bowls.


I love the touch of sea life she adds with the starfish.

 
However, I really liked the variety of succulents in the wreaths, what might work better are these Succulent Terrarium Orbs by The Succulent Garden (also on Etsy).

 
They appear to be the best of both worlds with an assortment of succulents and a great glass container.

 
Are you obsessed with succulents like I me? Which would you pick?

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You call Big Bang Theory, "Sheldon"

2 - You encourage me to go to Jazzercise when I think I'm too tired to go

3 - You're an excellent vacuummer...

4 - ...and ironer

5 - You tell me how nice I look every morning before I leave for work :)

Easy Peasy: GF Mini Pizzas

One of my favorite carbs to eat before you know, was English Muffins. Mmmm I have always loved me some English Muffins. Anyway, one of my favorite, quick meal, things to do with them was make mini pizzas. It called for 3 things I usually always have in the fridge: English muffins, spaghetti sauce and cheese.

This weekend Hubs and I went to Henry's for some groceries and so I could check out their gluten free offerings. I found a lot of things I want to try, but only one thing I needed right away – Gluten Free English Muffins.

The week I learned I was gluten intolerant I went to Trader Joe’s a lunch one day to get a few things. There I found Gluten Free, Vegan, and Organic Spaghetti Sauce. I’ve used it on gluten free pasta a few times in the past 2 weeks and it is delicious. I decided this week for lunch I’d try to make mini GF pizzas for lunch.

Here’s what I brought…

AND


Daiya is the Gluten Free Vegan cheese I found at Whole Foods, last week. Although not entirely the same a real cheese (for obvious reasons) it is similar enough and tastes pretty good, too.

How I make them…

I put the spinach on before the sauce because I’ve found it helps the cheese lay better and it’s easier to eat after the cheese melts. I add the spinach to help make up for the calcium I’m missing out on by not eating cheese.

To melt the cheese, I just microwave the pizzas for about a minute. I guess I could stick them back in the toaster, but I like to avoid getting cheese allover the work toaster and the microwave is quicker.

Voila! Mini Gluten Free English Muffin Pizza :)

For the past two weeks I’ve been discovering more Gluten Free blogs and the GF Community. Several of my friends have been tweeting and emailing me links to GF recipes and websites (Thank you!). In the process I found JennCuisine, a gluten free food blogger. She is doing a round-up of Gluten Free Substitution recipes this week and I’ve decided to share my mini pizzas. They’re nothing fancy, I’ve definitely substituted something (if not two somethings) to make them better for me.


If you’re curious about more ways to substitute gluten free options in recipes you should check out her blog in the upcoming week so see what the others submit :)

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - I know I say this a lot, but you give the best hugs

2 - You're really excited to see me when I get home from school

3 - You took really good care of me when I was tossing my cookies on Sunday and didn't mind driving in silence while I tried to sleep in the way home from Palm Springs

4 - You could easily be Don Draper for Halloween

5 - You're already planning the menu for our cocktail party in December