Simple Wedding : Little Detail
Posted: July 21, 2011 Filed under: wedding | Tags: BARCS, wedding 2 Comments »Today is a very exciting day for the wedding because the invites went out!!!!!
One special thing about of invites, besides the special RSVP, is the stamp! I know most people get the wedding cake or rings but we went for something that connect to the wedding and an important cause to us!
Everyone gets to have a lovely face of a rescue animal greet them in their mailbox. I may or may not have given people who hate cats, cat stamps 
I definitely gave one to our old roommate who hates cats but delt with the Sissy Monster.
Or crazy Sissy Monster is a rescue cat and we will be giving our wedding favor donation to BARCS where we found her. Our lives are better because of her and we could not image not having her furry face around. There are so many animals in shelters, please consider adoption first!
Yay! Invites are out!!!!
Weekend Doings
Posted: October 24, 2010 Filed under: weekend | Tags: apple picking, BARCS, pumpkin scones 1 Comment »It has been an eventful weekend!
Saturday I was up early to work the BARCS event 7-11.
The weather was awesome, and I really hope that BARCS raised a ton of money. I baked some pumpkin scones to sell at the bake sale and they came out great! I saw someone eating one and he said it was good!
I checked on the kitties in the cat tent.
Mom, these are your black kittens.
Then I went to visit some puppies.
$600? $700??? Nope, these puppies are up for adoption!
Why would anyone go to a pet store that supports puppy mills???? There were so many rescues at the event for all types of breeds. Even such breeds as Pug and Lab have rescue centers that everyone should look into first!
Visit your local shelter today!
Enough of that…on a lighter note, after animals Nick and I went apple picking!
We picked Nittany and Cameo. The Nittany are tart and crunchy which I prefer and Nick got Cameos that are a bit more sweet and crunchy.
I also got to seem some of those cool fall gourds growing on their vines.
I always thought these dainty gourds were grown with protection, but obviously not.
Time to finish up the Raven’s game and drive Nick to the bus stop 
I’m A Fish!
Posted: October 20, 2010 Filed under: dinner, exercise | Tags: BARCS, dinner, millet, Sicily, squash 3 Comments »Thanks for the positive remarks on the hair. Too bad it will never look that good again! Don’t you hate that?!
I was back in the pool today (It doesn’t seem to be hurting my hair) for a lovely workout. When I go to the pool I try and do at least a mile. The Y pool is in yards to this means I need to swim 1760 yards. I did 2000yrds like this:
- 100yrds kickboard warm up
- 200yrds free
- 200yrds breast
- 200yrds arm pulls
- 300yrds free
- 100yrds kickboard
- 200yrds free
- 200yrds breast
- 100yrds arm pulls
- 400yrds free – sprint last 25yrds of each 100
Does anyone have any good pool workouts? I can’t find anything good when I google “pool workouts”.
I also decieded to shower at the gym tonight. So much easier! I was already wet from the pool, why oh why did I think it was smarter to dry off and drive home just to get wet again?? Never again my friend.
Post swim it was time to fuel!
Italian millet and almost an entire acorn roasted on coconut oil. Using coconut oil is seriously the best way to roast squash!
Italian Millet:
- 1 serving of millet cooked in veggie broth
- sun dried tomatoes
- fresh rosemary
- nutritional yeast flakes
I had to force myself not to eat all of the squash. I think I left about 4 pieces for my lunch tomorrow 
If you live in the Baltimore area stop by Patterson Park this Saturday for BARCStober Fest! All proceeds go to the shelter were I got my fur baby and they get ALL of the Baltimore City Animal Control cases so obviously need a lot of support.
The weather should be great so come stop by! Sissy will thank you.
Centro Tapas Bar
Posted: May 23, 2010 Filed under: baltimore, restaurant review, weekend | Tags: BARCS, Centro, sangria, tapas 2 Comments »Nick and I enjoyed a lovely evening outside on Friday night in Federal Hill.
I am always game for sangria and tapas so when I heard about Centro I had to check it out.
The menu is extensive and we took our time making or plan of attack over a glass of sangria.
We started off with a trio of cheeses and some Spanish olives.
Manchego 12 Month (D.O) || semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese-peppery, zesty, full of robust flavor
Cabrales (D.O.P) || blue cheese from the Asturias region-made with cow, goat and sheep’s milk, semi-hard, crumbly texture, aged 2-6 months in limestone caves, unpasteurized
Murcia al Vino (“The Drunken Goat”) || semi-soft goat cheese, sweet, buttery, smooth, wine cured
Next we split a lovely salad
Ensalada Hinojo y Manzana $6 || salad of shaved fennel, granny smith apple, marcona almonds, baby arugula, Pedro Ximenez vinaigrette
I loved these almonds!
Up next… mushroom stuffed sweet peppers and spinach and chickpeas.
Pimientos del Piquillos Rellenos $7 || sweet roasted red peppers stuffed with wild mushrooms, cava cream sauce
Espinacas Salteadas $6 || sautéed spinach, chickpeas, dates, pine nut butter
Nick and I both agreed this was our favorite dish, and he doesn’t even like cooked spinach or chickpeas!
Then we waited and waited for our remaining main dishes…apparently things got a little backed up in the kitchen.
Arepa Mechada $8 || Venezuelan corn masa topped with pulled oxtail meat, fried egg, avocado – NOT PICTURED
Calamares en su Tinta $7 || sautéed baby squid in its own ink, sticky calasparra rice
The squid was not as good as we had hoped and the oxtail would have been better with less masa.
We also got a special snook fish that came with bay potatoes that tasted like pure butter. There was supposed to be saffron in them, but I could not taste it.
I also had a glass of sustainable pinot noir from Chile that was delicious.
We ended the night with a flourless chocolate almond cake that was not overpowering and very almondy. I enjoyed the light end to the evening.
Overall I love tapas and sharing flavors, but I wish they all didn’t have so much oil. I can defiantly start to weigh me down.
It was a great experience and a nice night to eat outside.
IN OTHER NEWS…if you live in Baltimore and want a dog please come see Stitch at BARCS!
How cute are those ears!
Life List
Posted: May 15, 2010 Filed under: weekend | Tags: BARCS, life list 2 Comments »Do you have a life list?
I know a lot of people in the blog world have been posting “life lists” and “bucket lists”, but I find that things like that stress me out a bit. I would spend too much time worrying about getting everything done rather that enjoying the activity.
There is one thing that I want to do before I die, and that is to visit every state in the US! I have already been to 23, and the rule is you must have slept there (airports do not count!)
I put a map up in my cube to give me a visual of what I am working for.
I also put push pins in the states I have been and I have 2 two tacs for places I would call “home”.
I was talking to Katherine about how to tackle this, and I am thinking National Parks.
I think my first quest will me the Trail of Tears.
Why not learn a little history on my journey.
I know this will take me a long time, but I will be patient. I am hoping to live a long and happy life, so I am in no rush. Plus I would really like to go back to some states I have already visited mainly AZ and CA.
I currently will not be taking leave until October due to my new employment status, but I CAN wait.
Do you have any life goals? Do you set time limits for completion?
In other news:
I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. This was my Friday night activity.
Now it is time to get moving! I am going to NJ today to visit a long lost friend from college!
New Breakfast and BARCS
Posted: April 29, 2010 Filed under: Thursday | Tags: banana, BARCS, oat bran, Sicily 2 Comments »Good Morning! I am running a little behind because I didn’t want to get out of bed and step on the cold floor. Thank God for furry alarm clocks!
I had a new twist on breakfast this morning!
I have seen these everywhere but I think I liked Brandi’s presentation the best and it made me go for it.
Oat bran banana split on one of me new plates!
Banana on the bottom with normal oat bran of 1/3 cup OB, vanilla, cinnamon, skim and water.
Topped with plain 365 yogurt, 3 types of nut butter; homemade chia + flax, homemade cinnamon vanilla and regular crunchy pb. I also threw on some flax, chia seeds and strawberries.
This was a great switch from my usual oat bran prep!
On another note: There is a story coming to the 11pm news tonight about the animal shelter where Sissy is from. They are doing a story about the rate they have to put animals down. A woman surrendered her 3 dogs and they were put down within 15min of entering the shelter (She has to turn them in because she couldn’t pay $3000 worth of violations). It really bothers me that people would accuse BARCS of any sort of animal cruelty or neglect. After being a very bad volunteer there I need to go more!!!! I can honestly say that everyone there would love to have a day without a trip to the Rainbow Room (yes that is the name of the euthanasia room). They are even having a special where you can adopt an animal without paying a cent as long as you qualify. So yes, that means they are loosing money. I really hope the story does not hurt BARCS because that only means more animals will suffer and head over the rainbow.
Support your local shelter and get your animal spayed or neutered!
A morning message for thought.
Love Sissy Pants.
Olympics Day 1
Posted: February 13, 2010 Filed under: saturday | Tags: almond butter, apple, BARCS, butternut squash, chickpeas, kale chips, wrap Leave a comment »Greetings from Guitar Hero land! We have been switching between the game and Olympics all day long. We also took a break to watch Duke stomp all over Maryland in Basketball. Nick and I are both Duke fan thanks to our parents both attending.
I played with some pretty nice kitties this morning. There was one that was just a lap lover named Sydnee. She was a year old and seized from her previous owner. Stupid humans. Most of the animals are strays or owner surrendered, but there are a few that we get from animal control. The animals of BARCS are just looking for love.
Anyway I stopped by Target on my way home to get Nick’s V-day present and when I finally got home I was starving.
I made the quickest thing possible, wrap and apple.
In me wrap; my last 3 meatless meatballs, LC wedge, Frank’s, lettuce
Apple with raw almond butter.
I really don’t like the raw. I also had about 3 graham cracker sheets and a vanilla raspberry ice cream bar from Trader Joe’s.
All this food kept me full until at least 7pm when I thought that maybe I should get up and make dinner.
Roasted chickpeas, butternut squash, kale chips.
I roasted the chickpeas in clementine juice, cinnamon, S&P and apple cider vinegar. Baked clementines are amazing with flavor!
B-nut squash with garlic powder, kale chips with the last of the Heinz ketchup.
Dessert was a tea, adora disk and sugar cookie. No pictures.
We are heading to Ellicott City tonight to check out the night scene. We shall see how it is over there.
Have a great night!
Knee News
Posted: January 21, 2010 Filed under: Thursday | Tags: BARCS, clementines, knee, oat bran, Peanut Butter & Co., wrap 1 Comment »Sorry for the no show last night. News from the Doc was not the best, but not the worst and I just didn’t really feel like plugging in after all of that.
Basically I had irritated soft tissue in my knee that can only get better with doing NOTHING. I even asked about yoga and he said, no. The one thing I can do is swim, which I am bad at and cannot afford to join another gym just for a pool considering they are much more expensive and I can’t break my current contract without serious fees. I am basically only allowed to walk where I HAVE to walk when I HAVE to walk. After A MONTH if there is still pain I have to get an MRI and maybe a scope.
Not moving is going to be the most challenging. I am an active person! On the bright side this will give me plenty of time to concentrate on helping BARCS, which starts on Saturday. I may also look into some other volunteer opportunities. I HATE coming home from work at 4:30PM and having nothing to do.
Anyway here is a quick run down of the eats yesterday + about 2 servings on H2H that I consumed in nervous eating before my appointment.
Tea and almonds.
Wrap and raw veggies. Adora disk.
In my wrap was hummus, spinach, egg, olives, avocado and cilantro.
Clems + seltzer + those cups of Kashi H2H…
Due to my excessive snacking I had a small dinner to round out my day.
Spinach, peas (I love peas), meatless balls, pesto. Apple with DCPB.
Very Green.
I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30pm (Sorry I didn’t call you back mom!)
This morning I watched some early morning tennis.
I really enjoy all of the grand slams.
I also made myself some oat bran for breakfast.
1/3 cup: oat bran, water, skim, plain Stonyfield. 1 tbs chia and flax, 1 small banana, black berries, sprinkle vanilla almond crunch granola, DCPB.
Food Rule will come with dinner. I have run out of time! I still have to drop off the recycling! Yikes!
Car Eating = Kickball Night
Posted: October 1, 2009 Filed under: kickball | Tags: BARCS, cantaloupe, cheese, dill pickle chips, salad, Sicily Leave a comment »Another kickball victory! We are now 2-1 and everyone played well tonight. I did not too bad myself I got two hits and one run. It was so chilly outside tonight! Lows going into the 40s but it is supposed to be 77 while apple picking on Saturday!
Don’t forget to check out my 1/2 marathon BARCS support post. Love to our four legged friends!
No Biggest Loser the office addition questions yet, but today was the first weigh in so people are ready to loose!
I needed a little snack before lunch today so I had a few almonds.
This allowed me to enjoy my lunch and not tackle it like Ray Lewis.
Salad with organic mixed greens, leftover couscous and pinto beans from last night, maters and hummus. I also had some TJs light gouda (amazing cheese!) and a 1/4 of a cantaloupe. My battery was dying so I could only take one picture of said lunch.
So can I just say I love getting out at 4! This means that there will be some sort of day light always waiting for me when I leave the office even if it is only a sunset.
Before leaving for the day I had a chocolate raspberry explosion and seltzer.
Inside said cupcake. It needs a little more raspberry flavor…maybe some frozen ones next time??
Like I said previously we had kickball tonight and eating in the car happened again.
I went with the Power House again from Wine Merchant.
Munster, lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppercorn dressing on WW bread. I also had some dill pickle chips, YUM! And an Arnold Palmer.
I remember when this flavor came out through lays and this route 11 is 100000x better tasting!
Sissy and N time!
Night all. Tomorrow is Friday!!!
