Girl's Night Out

Last night we were at Emily's house for wine and appetizers. Emily had a credit at PF Changs, so she picked up some tasty food for us...seared Ahi, lettuce wraps, ribs, and pot stickers. Yum. I was able to bring a bottle of Mano a Mano wine that I recently purchased but not yet tried. It was pretty mellow, but quite nice. I'll be having that again soon. And Jeanne brought a bottle of Flowers, which is consistently delicious.

It's always fun to have girl time...we talk about such different things than when the guys are there. We can talk about shoes, clothes, hair as much as we want, but we also get down to the nitty gritty of relationships with men, coworkers, family, etc. Seems like we also talk about our dogs quite a bit. I guess they are like our children right now, so it is only natural.

So, thanks to Emily for always having an inviting home and providing us food and wine!

Ahhh...Sunday Night!

I have grown quite fond of Sunday nights. It is a time for us to get together with our friends and share a great meal. Since most of our friends are great chefs that is not a difficult feat. It is just nice after a long week at work to look forward to a relaxed night with people who make us laugh and a great bottle of wine. 

Tonight we polished off 4 regular bottles along with 2 magnums of really nice stuff. Plus Danny K made us a great spread of fried mozzarella and meatball hoagies. It was nice to be at their house with the new sun room and with Beth pregnant...looking forward to their new family together. She is so cute.  

Better Living through Chemicals

This post is in praise of Coffee and Sleeping pills...it's what makes the world go round.
The last two nights I have not slept well. So today I'm really dragging...this is where the Coffee becomes essential so that I can function somewhat normally at work. Well, at least I'm at work and dressed; that may be all I can hope for today.
Then because I've been drinking coffee all day it makes it really difficult to get to sleep, besides the reasons for me not sleeping well in the first place, so I have to take sleeping pills to get some rest. What a vicious cycle! How can I get back to normal, drug-free living?
Maybe it's overrated...

Cathy's Birthday

Tonight we went to The Blue Star for drinks and dinner to celebrate Cathy's birthday. It's been quite awhile since I've been there, but the food was good as usual and it was good to see Cathy. We had a great time together in New York for Em's bachelorette. Hard to believe that was almost a year ago.

Tonight it was just girls...Cathy, Emily, Beth, Jaime, Cheryl, Georgia, and I. We always have a great time out.

Spoiled

Twice in one week we got to eat at Lauren's...she is one of the best cooks I know. Last Monday we went for ribs and were treated to a meal that is better than any restaurant I know. Besides the ribs we ate swiss chard with dates, scalloped potatoes, and an amazing salad of crab, avocado, and tomatoes. Everything was delicious.

Then this morning we went for brunch and were served poblanos stuffed with eggs, topped with guacamole, green chili and cilantro. The sweet potato hash was a nice complement to the heat. Of course there had to be mimosas, tea, sausage, and fruit. As usual a huge spread. I guess Lauren and Mark were trying to get rid of the food in their house since they are leaving tomorrow for Thailand for 3 weeks. What an exciting vacation!

Training

So after trying to find "the best" workout to get a great body in time for our sailing trip, I decided that really it comes down to the simple process of eating well, and exercise...any exercise. And since last year I was training for a triathlon and it kicked my butt into shape, I decided that I would go back to that plan. I find that I do best when I have everything laid out for me; how much/when I should bike, swim, run, and do weight training. It makes it easy to wake up in the morning and just do what my training plan is telling me. Although, I have to actually get up and go to the gym; that's the hard part. But I always feel so good when I workout in the morning that it is motivating to do it again tomorrow. The other hard part is doing the plan...the one I picked is pretty ambitious so I have a lot of work to do to keep up with it. I can do it though, it just requires effort (which is really the point of exercise, right?)

Sick Day

Why is it that the best way to get better when you have a cold is to sleep...but because you have a cold and can't breathe, and ache all over... you can't sleep. Argg... At least it's better to be miserable at home, rather than at work, where I can have the kleenex box close and my coughing won't disturb anyone but the dog. (Who really prefers me at home with him in any condition, so he doesn't mind.)

Things to do today:

• surf the internet. Some of my favorite sites: PBase (I especially enjoy the Photo a day competition), Chez Pim, and Go Fug Yourself.
• rent movies from ITunes. oh, yes. they are so smart and will be getting all my $$
• eat soup.
• feel better.