Monday Can Be A Fun Day

Mid-morning while at work, I got a call that my glasses were in! I was so excited I almost took an early lunch get them. I’m glad I waited…Rewind to about a month ago: I found out that one of my readers, Amanda, also works at Blackbaud. She e-mailed me because she, too, had purchased the Pearle Vision coupon. We tried to coordinate our schedules to pick out glasses together, but that didn’t work. Luckily our schedules matched up today! I got a text from her saying her glasses were ready and she asked if I wanted to ride with her to pick them up. Blogger meet-up and new glasses? YAY! Her next text was “Pick you up at the front door! Valet service at Blackbaud!”

And then I jumped in the car with a stranger.

An awesome stranger! Amanda is so fun and sweet and I was glad to meet her. :)

That afternoon, my coworker and I planned a meeting to review my first 3 months of work. Her plan was to have an off-site meeting...at Menchie’s! Elizabeth got a bowl of cake batter froyo with cinnamon toast crunch cereal, and I got a bowl of cake batter and brownie batter froyo.

And here are the glasses!

After work, I went to the gym even though I felt like I had been sweating enough to skip it. It was over 100* here today. Ahh. You see why frozen yogurt was necessary? The gym was sort of miserable, but the Pandora app got me through it. I may or may not have made a couple moves on Words With Friends during my interval run…the walking part, of course.

For dinner, I made Jenna’s Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Quinoa. Oh, hello heavenly beets and goat cheese.

This was my first time cooking quinoa, which is a shame because it’s a powerhouse food. Quinoa is fluffy, slightly crunchy, and nutty. It is high in protein and a good source of magnesium, manganese and iron. Although most people consider it to be a grain, it is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables.
Don’t forget how wonderful beets are. Check out these beet balls I saw in Whole Foods on Sunday. Wtc are beet balls? Odd, to say the least.

Weekend Recap

Friday afternoon: Boding and I were gchatting about my new phone (he also has an android phone) and he asked about my weekend plans.

Boding: What are you up to tonight/weekend? I want to nerd out with you.
Me: omg i know.
Boding: Technology is fun!!!!
Me: it really is.

So basically we’re huge nerds. After work, I picked up my 14-year-old brother so he could could spend the night/hang out with Boding and me. Boding met us at Pearle Vision so I could finally pick out a pair of glasses using the Charleston Savvy Shopper Deal I bought last week. I spent about 5 minutes choosing between a ton of glasses – I honestly have never made a decision so fast in my life. I narrowed it down to two pairs, then made Boding, my brother, and the girl helping me give me their opinions. In the end, I went with the DKNY tortoise shell pair that I blogged about last week.

I think they are so much cuter on in real life than in that webcam photo I took, so I’ll be sure to take another picture for y’all.

After the glasses purchase, the three of us went home to hang out. I got a text from Jonathan, the chef of Mustard Seed saying, “I made you sushi and fried pickles because you made me feel bad for not being here yesterday. You can come pick it up if you’re hungry.” What, what!! I was so excited even though I really did not mean to make him feel bad. I went to Mustard Seed later that night and Jonathan gave me a huge plate of sushi:

 

He also sent me home with fried pickle spears with a saffron aioli!

Saturday: Jake and I hung out by the pool all day and made a stop by the library for this book:
I started it while at the pool and it is so good. I’m excited the movie is coming out soon! Has anyone read this yet?

I dropped Jake off that afternoon and then headed over to the house where Mariah was housesitting. I brought over the sushi and frickles for our dinner. The frickles were awesome. It was the first time I had tried fried spears. Jonathan used cornmeal and panko crumbs so they were extra crunchy! Now y’all know why I love Mustard Seed so much – Jonathan is thoughtful and creative.

We made ourselves some big girl drinks (sweet tea vodka + water) and sat on the porch with this wonderful view:

 

We also found a really interesting contraption in the living room. Anyone know what this thing might be used for?

Look, again, no pupils!

Sunday: I went to church today! I hadn’t been in almost a year, and it was so nice to be back. I went to a contemporary service at East Cooper Baptist which was completely different than the traditional services I went to growing up. The music was so lively – I caught myself tapping my feet as I was singing.

After church, an old friend and I had brunch at Red Drum. I ordered the Huevos Rancheros – two fried eggs, ranchero sauce, cotija cheese, and refried beans over corn tortillas. Delish.

I spent the rest of the day at the pool. It had to be about 95* today. Scorcher!

My birthday is in 11 days!!!!!! Hope everyone has a great week!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

Hi! I don’t typically participate in the “What I’m Loving Wednesday” posts, so I thought it would be a fun mix-up! Here we go!

1. This week’s CSA bucket:

Inside this box:

• Banana Peppers
• Beets
• Carrots
• New Potatoes
• Pattypan Squash
• Pickling Cucumbers
• Sweet Onions
• String Beans
• Sweet Corn
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini

What else could I ask for? More beets? Ha. Any ideas on what I can use these banana peppers before? I’ve never seen the whole pepper before. I had no idea they were so large!

2. The fact that I need glasses. Sure, sure that sounds weird, but I’m actually happy! Can I just mention that my doctor was hot? When I walked in, I was like “Seriously? You’re about to get up close to my face? How am I this lucky?” I was too nervous to perv on him though. If anyone is in need of a nice (and cute!) doctor, visit Dr. Turner at Daniel Island Eye Care.

While in the office, I tried on these frames:

They told me they’d be $342 total. Um. Yeah. I decided to check out some frames online to see if I could get a better deal. Pearle Vision has a crazy “try-on tool” that I messed with. Here are my two favorite options:

A.

B.

Which one do y’all like better?

3. I’m going to the 2011 Healthy Living Summit!!!

I was so happy that I was able to score a ticket. Over 100 were sold in 10 minutes. That’s nuts! I don’t care how much this costs me – just meeting other blog friends will be worth EVERY penny! I love y’all so much…So, who’s going? Who do I get to give a great big hug to?!