Sunday, November 16, 2014

So because it's Sunday, and because I've been eating slightly poorly this week, and because I was sitting in my bed watching this video, I decided to make myself a good ol' big breakfast.




This week has completely blown my November budget out of the window. I swore to myself that after going to Bar Buca last week, that'd be it for eating out. But since I have nooo self-restraint whatsoever, I visited many places on my "to eat" list. My tummy has been happy but my bank account... not so much. I guess I'll write a mini review for each place I went to:
  • Blackbird Baking Co.: Got a pecan danish and cranberry orange coffee cake. Pretty good, but I feel like I need to try their bread.
  • Sanagan's Meat Locker: I went here twice this week! It was that good. I got the roast chicken sandwich on both occasions because it is that freaking good. I am bringing everyone here for that sandwich. I am salivating as I type this. 
  • Bunner's: Maybe GF food is not my thing but I wanted to check it out because of the hype. I got the red velvet cupcake and let's just say I will not be returning. 
  • Wanda's Pie in the Sky: I was craving chocolate pecan pie alllll week after watching this. I liked Wanda's last time I came here but, maybe it's because I've never had "bakery style" pecan pie and just had supermarket pecan pie, it didn't really blow me away. It was really wet and mushy, not at all how I think pecan pie should taste. Vicky got the sweet potato praline pie which was pretty good. 
  • Agave y Aguacate: I heard pretty good things about this place so I wanted to try it. So I'm no expert in food, but I couldn't really tell why this place was so raved about. Maybe it's because what we ordered, or maybe because I'm not that great at tasting, but I wouldn't say this place is amazing (like the guy who overheard us debating if we should try it or not did). 
  • Home of the Brave: I've been wanting to try this place for a while and we thought that Saturday was the perfect day to since it was cold out. We ordered the chicken and waffles, tater tots, and broccoli and grits. My personal favourite was the broccoli and grits. I'd definitely recommend this place to someone who wanted somewhere to grab a drink and some nibbles, but not for a full on meal. 
Whew that was a lot of places to hit up in one week. Looks like I'll have to write November and December off in terms of budgeting. #Yolo??

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Tuesday Things

I absolutely cherish the days that I am off and have no obligations whatsoever. It feels so good. I think I've past the stage of being burnt out and now I'm just perpetually tired. You'd think those things are the same, but they're ever so slightly different. I'm just happy I was able to get days off work to go to New York in December!! And yet at the same time I don't even want to think about how much money I'll be spending. You know what they say though, money buys happiness... (just kidding of course), So how did I spend my no-obligations day? By getting shizz done. It was the most productive off day I've had. I got some studying done, I made myself lunch (and attempted to photograph it), put away laundry, did some vacuuming, ran some errands, and even went for a jog! Good job self, you are becoming a semi-functional adult.

So did I make this post to boast about how responsible I am? Not quite. So when I made lunch today, I was prepared to plate it up all nicely and take a really awesome food blogger quality picture. That is nottt how it turned out. Turns out, plating is pretty hard if you have no sense of... spatial creativity. Is that a thing? I feel like it is. Anyway, you can't really just throw the ingredients on the plate, you have to somehow find designated spots for each component and it all has to look visually appealing. Here is what I ended up with.


I guess it's not thaaat bad. But I had high hopes man, such high hopes. Oh well, to quote Drake, "Started from the bottom now we're here." which means that I can only get better. Right???

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Ramblings

It's so crazy how quickly time flies when you start working. I cannot believe that Halloween has come and gone, and already November seems to be zipping by. I feel like I haven't been able to really make and accomplish goals. I'm one of those people who always say that I want to do something but I never do it. Like, I want to run, I want to climb, I want to be up-to-date with industry news, etc. This month I've started budgeting and keeping track of my finances again. So exciting right? I'm trying to be financially responsible and develop good adult habits. But some times I'm just like.. potato. It's such an odd thing to transition from being a student to a "real life adult." That's what I am, transitioning. Except, I don't really know what I'm transitioning to. This week I had the opportunity to visit the OR and the hospital and I came out of it in awe. The work that people do in there is truly remarkable. After the visit, I felt more confused about what I wanted to do. In the past year I have been asked by pretty much everyone I met what I wanted to do, and all I could tell them was "I don't know," or "I'm thinking of going back to school." I really feel like I'm just trying to buy myself time.

Oh man, I did not expect this post to be so "deep."

On to fun things!

Yesterday I met up with the foodies (God, is that obnoxious sounding or what?) and we decided to head to Bar Buca. I initially was planning on going to Byblos but had no luck making reservations. We got some wine and nibbles and boy did I feel so grown up and fancy - hah yeah right. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe because we are just plain reckless when it comes to eating (definitely the latter), but we decided we HAD to have some mac and cheese (and dessert). So we headed over to The Gabardine and ate delicious mac and cheese and some sort of deconstructed cheesecake, which was ah-maz-ing! I could still smell the herby mac and cheese and feel the airiness of the cheesecake in my mouth. I really wish I could've taken pictures of the food but it was so dark in both places. Why is that a thing?? I want to be able to see what I'm eating and the people I'm eating with.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Becoming an Adult 1.0

After the past few times of eating out with friends I'm beginning to notice a pattern in our topics of conversation. It's so weird to notice the (slow) transition to adulthood. It just feels weird, there's no other word I can use to describe it! I don't want to say I'm an adult yet, because I'm, like, totes, not. But things are slowly changing and it's kind of cool. For instance, today at dinner the main topic of conversation was work. And then skincare. God, how boring are we. And at dinner on Saturday we talked about work, and how to keep up with the current going ons in our "industry." What's sad is that while I find this transition to work-talk novel, I'm going to have to talk about work for the next 50 years. I guess I have that to look forward to. 


Monday, January 6, 2014

It's Me Again!

I decided to play hooky today (oops) because I just felt like I needed a chill out day. Not that I'm under a lot of stress or anything, but it was just one of those days. I feel like even when I have days off I'm always planning to do stuff and I never really have time to just chill out and do my own thing. So what did I decide to do on my day off? I decided to go through with my plan to deep clean my room. Yep, that happened. And my room actually looks worse now than it did before. I also finally got my ass on my treadmill today, hooray! I ran around 2.6k in 23 minutes, including warm up and cool down. What's that? You can walk faster than that? That's okay, considering the fact that I've been putting off working out for a LONG time, I'd say that's pretty a-freaking-mazing. 

Wow, two blog posts in one week. I am on a roll! 

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Hello, 2014

Wow, for someone who kept blabbing about wanting to keep a blog and was willing to PAY for a domain name, I really suck at keeping up a blog. I keep going back and forth between wanting to and not wanting to keep a blog. So I guess for now, I'll just sporadically update this until I get enough momentum/motivation to want to update more frequently.

The holidays have come and gone by SO quickly. I cannot believe how fast this year went by. 2013 was a pretty big year for me: I graduated school, moved back home, attempted to find a real adult job, failed at that, had to re-evaluate my goals, working at my first part-time job, and realizing that I am slowly becoming an adult! Although, I don't think real adults are this conscious about their adultness. So when the New Year rolled around and everyone started talking about resolutions, I couldn't help but think about mine. I have always thought that resolutions shouldn't be just for the New Year, and that we should always take the time to try to improve ourselves. But this year I decided to join the bandwagon, because, well, why not?

My first immediate project for the New Year is to DEEP clean my room. I feel like my room is always somewhat messy and is never really organized. So I am going to finally get around to cleaning it. The thing is, I HATE throwing stuff out. It's not because I have sort of sentimental attachment to it, it's because I envision my garbage contributing to the mounds of waste sitting in landfills. It makes me feel bad. As for the rest of my 2014 goals, they are pretty similar to everyone else's: be healthy, work towards career goals, and be happier/less stressed. I also want to take more pictures. I used to love taking pictures in high school, but for some reason stopped while I was in university. Possibly because I gained a ton of weight and thought I looked hideous in pictures.

Maybe I should use this blog as a tool to keep track of my 2014 goals...

Monday, October 14, 2013

BULLET-INS ONE

I don't know why it's so hard for me to keep a blog. I used to find so much comfort in being able to express however I felt on my blog. It was my catharsis after a really bad day, or just a way for me to be able to relive and document happy events.  But now, it's hard for me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). My thoughts are no longer organized, they're scattered everywhere. Whenever I think of a topic I want to write about, it leads to nowhere and ends with something along the lines of "I guess I'll change." Maybe because I now mostly write about things that bother me and I feel that I need to have some sort of resolution so I don't sound like some whiny brat. I think for now I'll stick to my bullet format so it's easier for me to divide up my thoughts. You'd think that I'd be able to form cohesive, flowing paragraphs, being a university graduate and all.
  • I'm currently finding myself in a "need to be amused" mood. Possibly because of the new stressors I've been having to deal with. Audiobooks have been helping me with this. Recently I listened to Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" and it is just what I needed. I felt like an idiot listening to it on the subway because I was just smiling to myself and trying my best to stifle my laugh so I wouldn't seem like I was certifiable.
  • Speaking of stressors, I started working at my new part time job. My FIRST ever part time job. Sad, isn't it? Anyway, on the first day I was supposed to be trained. And since I've never had a real job before, I didn't really know what to expect. Let's just say I wanted to cry and curl up into a ball during my break. It didn't go horribly, but I'm the type of person who needs to have my emotions in check. This means that I like to be mentally prepared, pretty much all of the time. So if something goes wrong, I will have anticipated it and be equipped to handle it the best I can. You can tell that I'm totallyyyy easygoing can't you?
  • The topic of relationships has come up more frequently recently among some of my friends and it's got me thinking. I don't consider myself to ever been in a real relationship before, seeing as the last time I was in one was in high school. Me and guys are not really a good combination. Anytime I've had some sort of "involvement" with a guy, things ended pretty badly. Lately, I've started wondering, how do I know if I actually like someone? I'm pretty sure that I've liked people before based on the fact that they were paying attention to me and not because I actually liked them for who they were. I know it's important to share similar beliefs and have a solid foundation (I'm pretty sure I got that from the bachelor - of all places right?), but how do you get all that information from dating someone you've just met? I'm guessing this is why people date their friends because they go into the relationship already knowing that information, but I don't really have that many guy friends. I'm not too worried about this stuff, but it is on my mind more now, especially since my other friends are in similar situations.
  • I have read so many "Thing You'll Learn In Your Twenties" and "Why Your Twenties Are Your Defining Years" articles on Buzzfeed and ThoughtCatalog. It's kind of crazy how true they are because my life now is pretty different from what it was 6 months ago. Everyone keeps telling me to do stuff now because I'm young and things will be different when I'm older. Be spontaneous now, do the things I want to do. But it's weird, because like I mentioned above, I like being prepared. Which pretty much means I don't really enjoy spontaneity. I mean I do, but prepared spontaneity, if that makes sense. I don't want to feel like I've missed out later on, but I also do like staying home and watching TV and reading cookbooks. I guess the key is to have a mix and balance of both. I recently read an article that said people become more depressed after going on Facebook. And I actually felt this today after going on Instagram!  I was looking at all the pictures of all the awesome things people were doing, and I just thought to myself, what am I doing with my life?? I've been trying to do this thing (and haven't been very successful, surprise surprise) where I make new goals every week. It's been hard for me to accomplish them because once I write them out at the beginning of the week, I don't really give them much thought for the rest of the week. I need to find some way to ensure that I complete these goals/tasks so I feel good about myself and so I can kind of keep track of my growth and how I've changed. That would be cool to look back on.