Life Is So Fun

Ah! The rest of the weekend was a blast. Saturday night, we celebrated Matthew’s 30th birthday with pork, keg stands and karaoke. Yes, I said keg stands. While the boys roasted a bunch of piggy, Amanda and I went to Wal-Mart to buy her favorite game, Apples to Apples. Wal-Mart is just a weird, creepy place. Check out this card I spotted. I’m so glad I noticed this gem.How bizarre is that. I really regret not buying several of them to give out on birthdays. I mean really, who tells their lover, “Being with you is so delicious.” WHAT?!

I also noticed this game. Anyone played this before? I should have bought that, too.

Lauren took a bunch of pictures of us doing karaoke so I will have to share those once she posts them on facebook. Amanda, Courtney, and I sang “Wannabe” by The Spice Girls. At one point I just stopped singing, because my voice is just audio violence.

We also ran into a bachelor party. I don’t know why or how I got this guy to pose with this animal, but he did. His outfit is a joke, don’t worry.

Today was a relaxing Sunday. Amanda and I saw Crazy, Stupid, Love.

It was really cute! Ryan Gosling is so darn hot I don’t even care that he’s blonde – I’d still have 1,000 of his babies.

For dinner, I made my first meal using Trader Joe’s products! Woooooooop!

Lemon Pepper Papardelle with Shrimp and Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz. bag of Trader Joe’s lemon pepper papardelle
• 1 lb. uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 cups frozen broccoli florets
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for one minute. Add the shrimp and broccoli, and cook until shrimp is opaque and broccoli is cooked through.
3. Add the pasta and lemon juice to the pan and toss ingredients together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

At first I worried that this might be bland because it doesn’t have much of a sauce. However, the pasta itself has so much flavor that the lemon juice is just enough! This would be really good with peas, too.

Does anyone have any Trader Joe’s recipes they’d like to share? A few of you already have, but please let me know your favorite TJ’s products!

I hope everyone has a great week! So far I have plans to:

• Monday: Review Uno Mas’s new menu items  – Sal Parco invited me, woo!
• Tuesday: Our first book club meeting to discuss House Rules by Jodi Picoult
• Thursday: Lunch with my favorite Yankee turned Southerner blogger, Sarah

Night!

Friday Off!

I took Friday off, from work and blogging. I needed to unplug and I may or may not have requested a vacation day just for Trader Joe’s opening. Amanda and I decided it was very necessary to start our day with the grand opening.

It was a madhouse, but I think we (Amanda, her mom, Kira, and I) were too excited to notice. At first we walked around taking it all in, but then made our rounds throwing random stuff in our carts. Look how excited we were after we finished!

Here’s what I bought:

• fresh chopped chicken salad
• light champagne salad dressing (party!)
• sweet apple chicken sausage
• barbeque pop chips
• dehydrated banana chips
• dried mango
• dried apples
• edamame crackers
• pink lady apples
• BEET SALAD
• a random bottle of pinot grigio
• roasted garlic hummus
• lemon pepper pappardelle
• Greek yogurt
• omega trail mix packs
• almonds
• 4 fiberful fruit bars
• frozen basil (how convenient is this?!)

All that for only $51.73. Wee! I’m so excited about this beet salad…have yall had this before?

Our next shopping stop was the new J. Crew outlet. It wasn’t as fully stocked as I anticipated, but I did leave with a pair of skinny jeans. Love this dark color.

I also picked up this top from Ann Taylor on Thursday. Perfect for fall.

Shopping worked up an appetite, so on the way to the beach, we stopped at the Sullivan’s Island Co-op for sandwiches. I got the California Turkey sandwich with bacon, tomato, sprouts, avocado, and herbed cheese spread on whole wheat.

Finally at the beach, Amanda and I pulled out our nerdy books. Harry Potter for her, and this for me:

Who reads cookbooks at the beach!? It was probably 100* with hardly any breeze, so we only lasted about 2 hours. Friday evening I met some friends at Midtown. While there, I noticed a man in some very tight jeans. These might be tighter than the skinny jeans I just purchased. Maybe he’ll let me borrow!

Hope you all are having a nice weekend. So far today, I’ve gone to the gym, stopped by Trader Joe’s again, and this evening we’re celebrating Amanda’s brother’s 30th birthday. See you tomorrow!

Oh This Day.

After work on Wednesday I went to a much-needed hair appointment. My hair was root city and I can’t stand it when it gets too far past my shoulders.  I usually get highlights and lowlights in a golden color because I have a lot of natural copper tones in my hair. The past few visits I haven’t gotten lowlights because it’s summer. Today I was bored with blonde and wanted some more of this in my hair:

And then we had a mini-crisis. The super blonde parts of my hair didn’t take it well, and I ended up with some PINK streaks. Ok, not pink, but like this:

Oops. Luckily, it was easily fixed by adding a neutral tone all over it and my hair looks even better! But three hours in the salon later, I was about to eat my arm in hunger. Ever had a bad experience with hair color?

On the way home, I stopped at the library for some books I had reserved. I am a nerd. I am fine with it.

I have always wanted to read this. It’s going to be sad, but oh well.

I know I’m not a “dummy” at blogging, but I’m sure I’ll find some tips in here. I love that there’s a dummy guide for blogging.

Beet recipes!!

How fun does this look? I love reading about cooking, especially if there’s a scientific aspect to it. I told you I am a nerd.

My next stop was to Mariah’s house so we could go for a run downtown. We started running from her house, around the battery,

around colonial lake,

down Broad Street,

then all the way down King Street.

I told Mariah we should run all the way to Midtown because I had left my iPod there a while back. So we did. 3.6 miles later, all kinds of sweaty, we walked into the bar and were given some water.

Never have I ever gone running to a bar in my gym clothes until today. I swear we didn’t consume any adult beverages. Then we ran home for a grand total of 5.34 miles.

We had a lot of fun catching up, checking out shirtless hotties (we saw 6!), and getting hollered at. Yes, people still holler from their cars apparently.

THANK YOU for helping me surpass 1,000 fans for my blog’s facebook page. I’m now at 1,034! I don’t know who half of you are but I LOVE YOU! Say hello sometime, please!

A billion XOs.

Technorati Tags: redken,golden apricot,library,bloggers,books,charleston,midtown,midtown bar and grill,running,friends

What I’m Loving Wednesday Version 5.0

1. Kira sent me a pic of the largest baby carrot I’ve ever seen. I can’t decide what I like more – the carrot or her Lilly bag.

2. When I bought my hideous blog shirt last week, I also noticed this gem at Homegoods: I could hardly believe my eyes – when did Mt. Pleasant get so fancy? Sadly, this does not match my bedroom. Or any room in my apartment for that matter. Could I hang it in my car? It certainly  matches there.

3. Phillip, my friend from Eco (former gym), sent me these pickle gifts he saw in Helen, Ga. Someone take me to Georgia STAT.

Pickle mints – nobody would kiss me. 

Pickle toothpicks – again, nobody would kiss me.

Pickle soap – one more time, nobody would kiss me. Guess I shouldn’t go to Georgia.

4. Clif came out with new bars!!

 

 

If you eat Clif bars, which bar/flavor do you prefer? The Carrot Cake bar is heavenly. I also love the Kid Z Bars and I’m excited to try the new crispy version!

5. Sometimes I feel ultra creative after a glass of wine. I’m pretty sure he appreciated it, as his comment on it was: “It's just so special, I feel like everything I receive from here on out will pale in comparison.” Little does he know, I can do wonders with a box of markers.

6. This:

7. My blog’s facebook page is only 17 people away from having 1,000 fans! Eeeeeeeeeh! If you’re not already, become a fan here!

Pickle Dog Tasting at The Joe!

As a birthday present—Good Lord, I’m still celebrating?—Charleston Pickle Company set up a very exciting pickle tasting event for my pickle crew and me. The Charleston RiverDogs baseball park is the only place in Charleston whose menu features a pickle dog. What’s a pickle dog?

A hot dog inside of a pickle.

Yup.

Amanda, Jess, and I (the original frickle tasters), along with my friend Nancy, went to The Joseph P. Riley park for some food fun. Honestly, we went in thinking that we were just there to try the pickle dogs and watch the game. It actually turned into a food extravaganza. Josh Gilkey, Director of Food & Beverage at The Joe, led us around the park to show us the many food options.

We started here:

Josh showed us that the park serves typical game food, but also healthier options like black bean burgers, pretzels & hummus, and veggie trays. He told us to sit tight while he went to gather some food. Look at the amazing view from the back of the park!

A few minutes later, a ridiculous amount of food was presented in front of us. We tried The Charleston Dog with coleslaw and okra.

The Dixie: a hot dog with coleslaw and pimiento cheese.

The Yankee: a hot dog with chow chow and spicy mustard.

The Elvis: a bun filled with a banana, peanut butter, and honey.

And the Pickle Dogs!!!

Ohhhhhhhhhh my gosh, we were in heaven. People walking by must have thought we were insane for standing around with all this food. We ended up sharing with some tourists from California – they loved The Elvis as much as we did. We also tried the black bean burger and everyone was very impressed with it. We’d all order this the next time we come back for a game.

Here’s Jess with The Dixie:

And Nancy with The Yankee:

Our second stop was The Nacho House where we tried two different types of nachos. The Vegetarian Nachos are topped with a Southwest bean mix, queso, sweet chili sauce, and pico de gallo.

The Chipotle Chicken Nachos are topped with chicken, a Southwest bean mix, queso, pico de gallo, and sweet chili sauce. I might be obsessed with these.

The last thing we tried was the Pig On A Stick. This is a foot long bacon-wrapped corn dog, or maybe we should call it a heart attack. Whatever the damage we did to our arteries was worth it.

After gorging ourselves with food, we played with the baseball cut out signs.

The amount of food we sampled was painful, but delicious. On the way home, Amanda texted me, “I feel like I need to throw up and die, but I would do it again in a second!!!”

And yes, we will be doing it all again. Stay tuned for Part II of The Charleston RiverDogs menu tasting…Burgers and DESSERT!!!

If there’s a pickle anywhere near ice cream, I’m going to lose it.

In a good way!

Humongous thanks to the Charleston Pickle Company for setting this up!!

Major thanks to Josh for showing us around and killing our diets!!

I <3 pickles too much.