Coffee and Cosmos

The Glory and Majesty of Planters Cheese Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 21:04:00 +0000

You know when you go to the store and think, Mmm... you know what, I haven't had X in a long time, it would be super delicious today. Then you go looking for it, figure it's probably just not at that store and go about your day. If you're me you look for it slightly obsessively for years.

Sometimes, in a glorious chain of events, the company decides to bring it back and Lara rejoices. It happened 3 years ago with Gatorade Lemon Ice. If you weren't aware, Lemon Ice Gatorade is the most delicious of all the flavors. Really, nothing holds a candle to Lemon Ice Gatorade.

It was back, only for a limited time and ONLY sold at 7-11. Where I live in NC, we have 0 and I mean zero 7-11s which is tragic in more ways than one. We happened to take a trip to Florida that year, where 7-11s grow like palm trees and the world was finally right again.

Oh Lemon Ice, how I love you.

My MIL also brought me down a case of these that she picked up in NY. Much to Kev's dismay, said case Gatorade sat in our garage for 3 years until he recently threw it away because I didn't drink it. In my defense, as long as it existed in the garage, I could always have it. then again, I don't really drink my calories unless it's booze so there it sat for years.

And really, did it matter that they were a year expired? I'm sure they were still fine.

Well, Kev doesn't know this yet, but the greatest snack food of all time is coming back.

PLANTERS CHEEZ BALLS!!

Look, I will fight you if you think a better snack food exists. Because there is NO and I mean NO comparable cheese ball alternative out there. Planters set the bar so damn high and no one has yet to even meet, let alone surpass it. Utz tries, they really do, but they density isn't right. Then there's the 5lb canister that Costco rolls out during the holidays that I have yet to see while shopping alone. Let me tell you, husbands who don't love Cheese Balls aren't keen on buying a year's supply.

But Planters, that's the -ish. I can remember it like it was yesterday. The yellow lid, peeling back the seal and uncorking that canister, the smell....

Gee Lara, this was supposed to be a motivational blog about weight loss and being active and stuff.

I started low carbing last week and full blown Keto on Sunday. I'm dreaming about Cheese Balls at this point.

Alright, so literally the minute I found out about this I scurried over to figure out how I could get my hands on some. My BFF Amazon came to the rescue.

Hi, your chubby ass can't dig into 12 canisters of Cheeez Balls right now, but here's $5 to tide you over.

Yes, 12 because we need them when the lean times come again. And I have a kid now and kids love cheese balls right?

What did you LOVE that they no longer make? Short list for me: Jello pudding pops. WWF Wrestling Ice Cream bars ( I LOVED THESE) and Kudos bars.

Since the last time I posted

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:30:00 +0000

OMG I'm totally going to come back and blog and -ish. so said Lara a YEAR ago. Dang. For the last few months I've been thinking I should dust off this space instead of sitting here at night after Morgan goes to bed playing some B.S. game on my phone and watching My 600lb Life or Outdaughtered. (which I'm totally watching right now because I don't know anything about kids and what they do at various ages.)

During all the reruns of My 600lb Life they play previews of Doctor Pimple Popper and I couldn't help it, I had to watch one episode.

I was sitting there, watching the doctor lance this giant ass cyst that a guy had been growing on his forehead for FIVE YEARS. It looked like a horn, a giant red horn growing from his head and he hadn't gone to the doctor because he was afraid it might be cancer so he just let it grow on his head. THEN, THEN, there was the lady who literally had a hump growing on her shoulder and it was THREE POUNDS OF FAT.

You might call that rock bottom, and I thought, you know, I could blog instead of watch a chicken cutlet get pulled out of a lady's neck.

I was making some posts last year, totally on a roll and we had to do some unexpected remodeling downstairs.

Every scrap of tile in the hall, kitchen and dining room was pulled up and the living room carpet. In addition, the "neutral" wallpaper in the hall and up the stairs was removed, light fixtures replaced, kitchen cabinets repainted, the entire downstairs repainted and I'm sure a bunch of other things I can't remember now.

Totally awesome when you have a 3 month old baby, dog, and mother in law who just began an extended visit. Have you ever stayed in an extended stay hotel with a dog and a 3 month old? I don't recommend it.

However, total bright side, we've been talking for years about selling our house and moving to something a little bigger with more space. We said as soon as we got a baby we'd do it and remodeling the entire downstairs only makes the house more marketable regardless of what a pain it was.

As of last week, we're on the market and the house is up for sale! If you know anyone who's looking for a great house in an awesome neighborhood in N. Raleigh NC, let me know!

Seriously, does it not look so much better? No more orange, no more cream, no ugly tile, no wallpaper. It makes me not want to move. lol

So yea, that's my highly un-insightful initial blog post. Baby stuff, house stuff and sell my house stuff.

No Yeast Pizza Crust

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

I made a pizza this weekend. This might not seem like a terribly big deal but believe me it was. Kev and I have been on a no-buy July kick and we were determined to eat though the stuff we had in the house by the end of the month. For me that means eating though all my Jenny food and not having naughty. (I owe you all a weight loss update, soon...) For Kev is was me making a pizza instead of ordering one. Baby steps folks.

We had mozzarella, pizza sauce and pepperoni in the house (they're staples) I figured why not? Let's make a crust. I did what everyone does, I headed over to Pinterest for some inspiration. I found a few recipes, make some tweaks and came up with my own version. Full disclaimer, this is NOTHING like a store-bought or pizzaria pizza. This is the pizza that when you're a kid you ask your mom if you can order out and she says
"no, we have all the ingredients for pizza in the house".
And you're like "IT'S NOT THE SAME"
Mom - "It'll be fine, this is just as good as Pizza Hut"

It's not Pizza Hut but it's still a decent version of homemade crust and you feel domestic AF when you finish.

No Yeast Pizza Crust:
2 1/2 cups of all purpose (or self rising) flour
3/4 Cup of water
2 Tbls Olive Oil
1 Tbls Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Extras:
1 Tbls melted butter
All the oregano, Parmesan cheese and garlic powder you want

Pre-heat oven to 450

First; pour the water, olive oil, baking powder, salt and sugar in your mixing bowl, swirl it around. Then slowly add your flour. Or be like me and dump it all in at once and get a giant flour poof in your face. I used the dough hook on my mixer and it was nice. That dough hook never gets used.

After it was all mixed, I remembered that we have a pizza stone that we've used maybe once. I went digging in the cupboard looking for it. Found it, washed it off and felt I should put some olive oil or something on the stone since the curing died a long time ago.

Then I pulled out a cool mat I got a long time ago from Pampered Chef that has circles on it. It's the think I use to roll all my dough and keep the counter relatively clean. I slapped it on the mat and tried to roll it into a circle. Didn't work. Then I tired to be like a pizza guy and toss it in the air to make a circle. This also did not work. Finally I got it rolled out and onto the stone

Yea, dough

Then I smeared on the melted butter and sprinkled on the cheese, oregano and garlic powder. Bake at 450 for 5 minutes

After the 5 minutes are up, take it out and add your toppings. In hindsight, I should have buttered and seasoned the crust edge.

This was apparently dangerously close to the edge.

I put it back in for another 15 minutes until it was golden brown and bubbly. Then I forgot to take a picture because I'm a shitty blogger. Imagine it's all golden brown with bubbly cheese.

Overall it was a pretty decent crust. In a pinch if you don't have yeast or yeast hates you and refuses to rise, this is a good alternative. I was concerned that it would taste like Bisquick pizza crust and it definitely didn't.

In summary, when you're trying to eat the stuff in your house and want a pizza that reminds you of the kind you mom made when you couldn't go to Pizza Hut, this is for you!

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Recommendations

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Didn't everyone and their mom do a post on their favorites from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale? I think they did. I did a great job of starting my post and not finishing, so there's that. Kev is off playing tennis and the baby is unbelievably sleeping on the porch. (She's like 5 feet from me). Why unbelievable? Because this baby doesn't fricking nap during the day. Idk, I was under the impression that babies napped. Nope, not this one. She totally sleeps at night, sometimes 7-8 hours, so I'll take a decent night's sleep over day nap any day.

Alright, on to my Nordstrom Sale recommendations. Nordstrom has no idea I exist and I make $0 if you click on the links, so knock yourself out.

First up, I started this post during the Early Access portion of the sale. It's good only for card members, and Nordstrom is the only store credit card I have, for this reason alone. Early access before all the good shit gets gone.

The good news is that all of this has arrived and I can give you an honest review of it.

Billabong Hooded Thermal Cardiagn
I ordered this cardigan because 1. Stripes and 2.Black and white. Do I "need" another black and white striped thing? Probably not, it is the only striped cardigan I own? Hell no. But let me tell you, OMG THIS CARDIGAN IS THE BEST. I don't know what it is but I love it so much in all the loving places. The fit is great for me and the cozy factor is off the charts.

KEEPER!

Nordstrom Moto Washed Cotton Blend Leggings
I;ve been looking for a pair of moto leggings/pants for a while. I bought a pair of moto-esque jeans from Amazon a while ago and the black was sold out in my size. I got the blue and still check back periodically if they're back. This is them. Get them or the blue if they're your size.

Back to the leggings. I love these a lot. Like super a lot (your college degree at work right there). I struggle with the idea of wearing leggings to work. I love me some leggings but since I'm a people manager, I don't always feel it's right for me to be super casual. That being said, I'll probably wear these tomorrow.

KEEPER

Halogen Knit Moto Jacket
I want to love this jacket. I really do. It's black, it's a good cut for me, but it's running a little small. It fits well, but I'd like a little more room. On the other hand, I'm back on the JC train after eating my way through the last few months and WILL get to my goal weight!

On the fence, keep for now, but keeping the receipt

If I decide later to return it I will, heck, I saw a lady returning her husband's underwear there the other day. Yes, his UNDERWEAR. She said they "fell apart". Now, after being married for a few years, I expect all men's underwear to need replaced. It's not what you'd call an "investment piece

Calson Assymetrical Drape Jacket
I thought this was a cute alternative to the one above, but it was sold out in my size. :( If you wear an XL, give it a try and let me know if you like it!

Calson Slim Cut Utility Pants
These I love. They have a good bit of stretch to them and they fit really, really well. I got the 29 which is a 10 and I think they run a hair bit large. I thought about returning for the next size down but I wanted to wear them now.

You know what goes with green pants? Black and white stripes. Try it, I swear you'll love it.

KEEPER

Calson Swing Back Tee
This shirt is really cute. Really it is, but it runs big. I ordered the medium and could have definitely used the small. I don't wear a small. Unfortunately this one went back

Returned

Zela High Waist Crop Leggings
I didn't actually order these, but I have a lululemon pair almost exactly like these and I have a deep love for the mesh cutouts. I have a pair of Zela pants and they're pretty nice and hold up well.

Tea Collection Romper
Did you really think I didn't get anything for the baby? I mean really?

Fun fact, I LOVE baby rompers, so, so much. Rompers with long pants are my favorite. And baby stripes? Heck yes. Kev, however is not a fan of lining up the snaps. I bought this in 3-6 months and expect her to fit into it in the fall.

Tea Collection Dress
I also got her this dress. ADORABLE. I got this in 6-12 months for the spring. Girlfriend is still really little. She 'just' got out of newborn clothes and she's 12 weeks today.

Those are my picks for the sale! Let me know if you try any of the pieces!

Before I go, I wanted to let you know about the super awesome deal going on until the end of the month. You all know I love me some GYPO fashion challenges and I've participated in quite a few of them. I'm an annual member this year, loved the Spring challenge, and summer started right as I got a baby so no playing for me.

Anyways, until the end of July you can get 50% off ALL style challenges with the promo code FIRSTTIME50. Even though the challenge is over, having access to the capsule wardrobe is amazing. I'm not good at mixing and matching the pieces in my closet and tend to wear the same thing over and over, these challenges have showed me how to better use what I already have.

I also love shopping with a purpose instead of aimlessly wandering the store.

Click the links below to check them out!

Summer 2017 GYPO Style Challenge: https://vm235.isrefer.com/go/SUMWW17/ljn162/

Summer 2017 Work Wear Challenge: https://vm235.isrefer.com/go/SUM2017/ljn162/

SAHM Casual Capsule Wardrobe Builder: https://vm235.isrefer.com/go/SAHM2017/ljn162/

Thoughts on Raleigh Supercon

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 14:09:00 +0000

This weekend in Raleigh all the fandoms came together to celebrate their geekiness in one place, Supercon. Apparently there's a ton of money to be made at these things and a bunch of random people that you don't associate with being part of anything sci-fi can all come together, charge $30 for a selfie (cash only) smile, kiss some babies and leave with a little pocket money until the next gig rolls around. One of the people on my team at work goes to a LOT of cons and did some research. Most get a few grand for showing up, then all the selfie and autograph $. Not too shabby.

Seriously, there was the most random collection of "stars" that I'd ever seen. Old WWF wrestlers, one of the original Village People, some Power Rangers, one of the Doctor Who Companions, nearly everyone who was Clerks, the guy who voices Super Mario. (I mean really? Does he say anything other than MARIO!) THAT GUY, THAT GUY made several thousand dollars this weekend and people waited in line to get an autograph. Then a bunch of comic book illustrators, some cosplay people and a bunch of crap I've never heard of.

There were so many, so, so many sights to behold there and of course I had some thoughts.

- There are far too many Harley Quins here. Really, some were well done, the rest, not so much. OK, most not so much.

- Greg "the Hammer" Valentine, I loved me some WWF when I was a kid, really did, the late 80s/early 90s wrestlers were the best. But why does he have an enormous booth? Ric Flair I get, he can have a big booth, especially since he lives in NC and can be seen in the wild. But Greg? Come on dude, that's just a waste. AND! oh AND his assistant was a little person. So much awesome at once.

These guys didn't know each other before the con, met there and walked around taking pictures with people like me. That folks, is the beauty of Supercon, just a bunch of cosplaying wrestlers coming together.

- There was a huge line for someone in a corner booth.
Kev - Who's over there
Me - I think it's a Power Ranger
Guy Standing near me - NO, it's THE Power Ranger. He's been on the show since the beginning.
Me - Uh huh...
Power Ranger Super Fan - He was all the colors and had all the powers
Me - Wow! (starts backing away)
PRSF - And he was on this show and this show. (clearly I've forgotten what he said)
Me - Oh no! The baby is getting fussy, I'd better check her diaper, gotta go! Spoiler, the baby wasn't fussy nor was her diaper full.

- Dante from Clerks! (and Clerks 2) Is he even supposed to be here today? (Chuckles to self) I should ask him that. I'm sure EVERYONE is asking him that and has for the last 20 years. In college we were huge Kevin Smith fans. Back when he filmed Dogma in Pittsburgh and we were pretty sure we could meet Ben Affleck at a bar. Well, you probably still could.

- The original Cowboy from the Village People was there. Randy Jones. Apparently Randy is originally from Raleigh which is partially why he's here. Now days he looks a little more like the biker, for the event he wore his cowboy gear though. I really wanted to go talk to him, but there wasn't anyone else there and I was afraid it'd be impossible to break away if I got started. All I want to know is how he escaped the late 70s/ early 80s AIDS free. I'm totally not being a jerk, he was in THE VILLAGE PEOPLE at the height of the scene. It was nothing but parties and Studio 54 and the Village People were at the top of the party list. It's more than impressive. I mean, that's Rock Hudson/ Rent/ Freddy Mercury AIDS, not Magic Johnson AIDS.

- Jay of Jay and Silent Bob fame! (again huge Kevin Smith fans back in the day). According to my con-loving team member, "Jason Mews should pay me to take his autograph, who would pay him?". Jason Mews was selling little bottles of what he was calling "Mews Juice". I didn't get close because I was scared to see what it was. Mews Juice could be so, so many things.
Update - It's apparently coffee flavored vape juice. Vom.

- "Hacksaw" Jim Dugan was signing tiny pieces of 2x4s. Awesome.

- Hey Jimmy Walker from Good Times! One time I was in Atlantic City getting a sub and he was there getting a sub too. Another time at the same sub shop Guy Fieri was there too and everyone was losing their minds. It took forever to get my sub that day and they forgot to put the special flavor stuff on the side. I guess they were too excited about Guy. I didn't have that problem when Jimmy was in front of me. Just another reason for me to dislike Guy Fieri.

- My cosplaying baby was the cutest thing there.

BABY GROOT!

Finally they meet!

I had one goal at Supercon. One goal. To meet Levar Burton and have him read a book to my baby. I fricking LOVE Reading Rainbow! So, so much and Levar and Morgan would make my life.

Mission accomplished.

And that folks is the story of Raleigh Supercon.

How we ended up with a baby

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 14:43:00 +0000

I think Kev and I did this the exact opposite of every other person who is looking to adopt a child. Apparently when people start down the adoption process they tell everyone they know. They make Facebook pages, have fundraisers and basically promote themselves five ways to Sunday. Yea, not us. We told immediate family, our direct bosses and the 3 people who wrote us letters of recommendations. That's it.

We started looking for an agency in January 2016. We looked at a few, had some conversations and eventually decided on Angel Adoptions in Illinois. They had a great placement rate (95%) and they only work with stated who have a 72 hour or less revocation period. There was no way we were going to wonder if a birth mom was going to change her mind for 30 days. Our contract with them was for 2 years.

After we signed with the agency we had to provide a packet of info to the agency, including our bios, snippets of information about us, our home, our family, pets, work, plans for post baby placement and a bunch of pictures. And in the pictures, no booze or sunglasses. Do you have any idea how many pictures of Kev and I exist where I'm not wearing sunglasses???? Like 3. I'm a delicate eyeball snowflake. We had to do a mini photo shoot to get some new pictures when I was at the height of my last fat. Awesome.

After we submitted our info the agency made a packet that they marketed to prospective birth moms but we wouldn't get onto their website until we had out home study completed. This one one of the areas we flew a little blind on. We had no idea how long it actually took for a home study. We signed with the agency at the end of February and I don't think our home study was completed and sent until August. We were still being shown, but we would have liked to have had the home study completed before signing to maximize our website presentation time.

Y'all a home study is intense! Our lady in NC is awesome and she didn't expect to see a completely ready baby room or expect the house to be baby-proofed. She really wanted to make sure there weren't crack pipes laying around and that we weren't psychotic. She came to the house 2x after we submitted a bunch of paperwork, including references and FBI background checks. I made an entire folder on Dropbox where I scanned everything we received and filed it there. FYI, the Scannable app is awesome. Use your phone to take a picture of a document and convert it to pdf. The best.

She completed the home study and sent a copy to the agency and us. I believe she called me "strong-willed" in her assessment. I can't imagine why.

The home study was complete, the profile up and posted and then the waiting really started. What happens is every month, expectant moms reach out and ask for information. Some never move forward beyond that, some ask to see the profiles of prospective adoptive parents, some choose a family and some decide to parent at the very end. You just never know what your situation will be.

We were really cautious. We didn't want to spend a ton of time and money preparing and then starting at an empty nursery. For us, I couldn't think of anything worse. I'd rather scramble at the last minute than stare at an empty room. Anyways... There are a ton of really frightening statistics. We heard that as many as 50% of matches fail with the majority of those being in the final week. That waiting period was really nerve -wracking. just waiting and waiting. Knowing that each month bettered your chances and would this be the month when someone chose you?

We got to March 2017 without even a nibble and we were getting a little frustrated. Angel Adoption reached out to see if we were interested in updating our profile and sending in new pictures which we were making plans to do. Then, at the beginning of April, WE GOT THE CALL!

Well, it was an email. From Angel saying that they had a potential match with an expectant mother. We called the agency and they put the 2 of us in contact. At that time she was 6-ish months along (they thought) with a due date of 5/23. We talked and at the end of the first call, she said she's chosen us! We were like, "um, really? Are you sure?" and she said she was. It was a really surreal time, we were expecting there to be multiple calls, perhaps we'd travel to meet her, maybe she's choose someone else, maybe she'd change her mind, but at the end of that first call she was confident and we were cautiously optimistic.

After she expressed her interest in matching, we needed to get some things rolling with another agency, the one who facilitates the paperwork and actual adoption and secure an attorney in IL for when we went to court for the interim adoption agreement. After that, we just waited for the baby to be born. And she came early, on 5/4! We went from no baby to baby in about 5 weeks.

Now, I will say that this is probably NOT the way to go. There were a lot of things we didn't know to expect or how they were supposed to work, all we had was a stroller and pack and play that we bought on the 3rd, no diapers, no clothes, nothing. No child care lined up, no transition plan, you name it, we flew by the seat of our pants.

I'd recommend perhaps a little more planning, but really, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way, I can't imagine being matched and waiting months and months, full of uncertainty that she might change her mind, that something might go wrong. Five weeks of stress was plenty!

That was a little long winded and the story of actually going to get Morgan is another post for another day!

Thanks Y'all

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 21:06:00 +0000

No really, thank you so much for all of the kind comments here and on Instagram. I've been really salty about this and the longer it went the madder I became. Like I said before. F them. F the haters.

So, where to begin... lots of things have happened since I last posted. Apparently 460+ pictures that need to be uploaded worth of things. Awesome.

Let's do roses and thorns. For those folks who aren't familiar, that's when you post something nice, (roses), and something not so nice, (thorns).

Rose: Still on Jenny Craig, still working on my weight loss journey!
Thorn: STILL on my trip, still not at goal. Let's be honest, I've eaten like crap over the last 2 months because making vegetables with one hand is hard. Eating cereal while bouncing a baby is easy. I've probably gained back 7-ish pounds from my lowest back in March.
Rose: I'm not stopping. This week is my first full week back on track and I've been to the gym 2x this week so far. Coordinating gym and baby isn't easy. In a month I can take her to the kid's club at the gym. One month more...

Rose: I won the Halloween costume contest at work.

There's nothing bad about dressing up as Hulk Hogan

Rose: Took my first trip to Texas for work in November. I've never been to Texas before and in the last several months I added 4 more states to the list of "states I've visited".

Thorn: It was over the election. It was rough to be in another state and be "on" when all I wanted to do was hide under the covers and drink wine.

Thorn: AND I missed Hillary coming to NC State the evening before the election WITH BON JOVI. Bon Jovi came with her to the midnight rally. I would have lost my shit. So bummed about that one.

Rose: But hey, you know, Texas was new and it was Austin so most people were super sad and protesting in the streets.

Rose: The brisket was good.

Rose: We went to NYC and NJ for the family Hanukkah party for the first time.

Rose: NYC during the holidays is cold and awesome.

Thorn: Really though? I ate my weight in bagels. Other than that, nothing was bad.

Rose: We went to New Orleans to celebrate Kev's birthday and that was pretty awesome.
Thorn: Holy shit I had no idea just how devastating Hurricane Katrina was. That was some BS.
Rose: NOLA is great. The food, the booze... noms.

Rose: WE GOT A BABY! Come on now, OF COURSE this is hands down the best thing that's happened in the past few months. There's a much longer story to tell, which I will later. The adoption agency, the matching, the how completely unprepared we were. I mean, we've wanted a baby for a very long time but I'd never changed a diaper in my life until we got to the hospital. And we'd purchased 0 things before she arrived. Literally nothing. I was wandering around Target texting my SIL asking how many onesies a baby needed. Again, another story to tell.
Thorn: There will always be bumps along the adoption road, but in the end, it was so worth it.

Super quick recap, but let's be honest, you know I have some thoughts on baby things. So many thoughts on baby things, but this will by no means turn into a "mommy blog". Kill me first please.

Thanks everyone!

I'm Probably Back. Really kinda, most likely back.

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 03:11:00 +0000

My three blog readers might have noticed my several month absence. The last time I posted was back in September. Well, nare you fret, I'm still alive and well. But something happened a few months ago, something that kept me away for a while. No, I'm not pregnant.

Someone didn't like something I posted on my blog. They didn't like my opinion and felt that I was responsible for how my words made them feel. Nothing came of it, but it shook me badly. I felt that my little corner of the blogosphere had been violated. My awkward bathroom selfies, workout recaps and low grade snark, made them unhappy. Well, I'm sure it was the snark. Who doesn't like a bathroom selfie and picture of booze?

I was upset, really upset. I am 100% responsible for anything I post, but my opinions are my own, and I'm entitled to them. Words are meant to make people think, and feel, and contemplate places within themselves that they may not always like. Some of the most defining moments in my life were when I received feedback that was tough to take. I remember each and every one of those interactions, how they made me feel and what I did afterwards.

I blogged for a bit after it happened but my heart wasn't in it. That's when I changed the name of my blog and locked down a lot of the personal information. Eventually I stopped all together.

For the last few weeks I've been thinking about it and I found myself getting angry. I like blogging, I've done it on and off for years and I enjoy it. I like having a creative outlet for my thoughts, I like how it holds me accountable and I'm mad that someone took that away from me.

So many times I've been told not to be too loud, not to be too outspoken, to temper your voice and what you have to say. When I was much younger I listened and I did. As I got older I moved into a career where it was expected that I'd be outspoken, I've taken on various leadership roles where those traits are prized instead of shunned and I surround myself with people who appreciate me for me.

Now it's happening again, and I let it.

FUCK THAT

Seriously FUCK THAT.

My opinion might not always be pretty, but it's mine. I try to be kind but I might fail. I hope my words make someone think or laugh or feel some sort of emotion, that's what life's all about.

I have another reason too, a really good one.

Two months ago Kev and I adopted a baby girl and I will be damned if she ever feels that she can't express her opinion or stand up for what she believes in. All I can do now is be the best possible role model I can be. One step at a time.

Weekly Weigh in #20, #21 and #22

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 13:10:00 +0000

Consistency in blogging is good so that people know when to expects posts. Great advice that I don't follow. Just like in trainer school when we learned never to write on the board and talk at the same time because you're talking to the wall. I failed that part too. Except now when I do train I tell my class all the things I'm doing wrong. Breaking down that 3rd wall.

So, I haven't done a weekly weigh-in recap because I haven't really had much to say. Since coming back from DC, the scale has been a little bitch. My food has been pretty decent, I've limited my non-Jenny food to only the weekends and last week I had sushi lunch on Monday. I expected to see a little more movement, especially since I'm only down one net pound for September.

I think everyone who's working on losing weight goes though this and it can be weeks of no movement on the scale even though we're doing what we're supposed to. That's when a lot of people give up, but I still have 31 pounds to go and stopping now doesn't get me there.

Workouts
Every week I worked out at least 3 times. Well, most weeks were on;y 3, not 4. I have a dumb injury right now that I got in yoga class. Yes, yoga. I was in the triangle pose, straightened my left leg and heard a pop and it's been sore and unhappy for the last 3 weeks.

Really, who does that? It's not terrible but my leg wasn't thrilled when I ran the North Hills 5k on September 10th. I've still been going to kickboxing and lifting weights. I ran a little and it's not awesome the next day. I went to the chiropractor yesterday and showed him where it was and he said it was probably my hamstring. Ugh..

Last week:
Saturday - Garage Sale No workout
Sunday - Yoga
Monday- Body Comabt
Tuesday - Meeting at NCSU
Wednesday - I convinced Kev to take me to the movies. We saw Sully and it was a lot of Tom Hanks looking pensive.
Thursday - Body Pump
Friday - My jeans were too big and I went shopping for new ones

What I'm eating this week

I apparently deleted all my food pictures. Last week I had sushi lunch and it was delish. I also rediscovered my love of JC cheeseburgers which is interesting because burger meat scares me. I had food poisoning from a burger several years ago and it takes a LOT for me to eat one. For some reason I love the JC one. I swear there's crack in the food.

Picture

Weeks 20, 21 and 22 in order.

I really think that one of the best things I've done this time is to take a picture each week to see the visual difference even when the scale isn't moving.

I felt a difference in my pants the last 3 weeks and there was a pair that buttoned and was wearable but not great, that went to fitting pretty well the next week. Then on Friday I went on a hunt for new jeans and it went surprisingly well. I found 3 pairs of jeans, all in a 10, that fit well and didn't make me sad. Yay.

I guess the moral of the story is that the scale can be a jerk and to keep pushing because it'll eventually catch up.

Oh, and don't forget there's still a few days left to sign up for the GYPO Style challenge! It closes Friday and the outfits start on Monday!

Have a great week!

Anniversary Weekend pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 09:30:00 +0000

Well, it's been a few weeks, but here's part 2 of the Anniversary Weekend recap! Warning, there are a crap-ton of pictures.

For the weeks preceding out trip, Kev kept telling me not to worry about Sunday because he had it all planned. I could try and guess what it was, but I probably wouldn't get it.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday and he finally told me, we were driving to Baltimore and going to the National Aquarium because he called and .... THEY HAD AN OCTOPUS!

I might have mentioned it a few times (just a few), but over the last few years, I've been a little obsessed about seeing an octopus. 1. I love them and 2. All of my attempts to see one have been thwarted. One of the last times we went to DC and stopped at the national zoo, the invertebrate room had closed the day before, the Carolina aquarium had one hiding, and there have been other places that just didn't have one. Knowing my obsession, Kev hunted down an octopus for me. I was SO EXCITED.

We drove to Baltimore, got to the aquarium and we headed straight for the octopus!

SHE WAS SO LITTLE AND CUTE!

I literally have about 50 pictures of the octopus, but I'll spare you.

OK, here's another

Then we walked around to look at more fish.

This was the Finding Nemo tank

I have 10 pictures of this fish and I swear it was trying to tell me something. Isn't there a Doctor Who episode where the fish tried to warn you about the aliens coming to invade or something? If not there should be.

SCUBA STEVE! I kept exclaiming that it was Scuba Steve but Kev hates Adam Sandler and he didn't get the reference.

Oh, did you think that I wouldn't make a second trip to see the octopus and hog a prime spot and not let little kids around me? If you guesses yes, you are correct.

Then I took even more pictures and she did all kinds of octopus things and it was perfect.

My fellow KDs will get this, but look, it's a chambered Nautilus! While it's still alive. :)

Kev loves the jellies

I could have spent all day there. It was definitely a great way to spend the morning and I finally got to see the octopus! We were getting pretty hungry and decided to Uber it over to a place that had the Baltimore famous pit beef sandwiches. Kev had a sandwich, I had a salad.

Mmmm Salad.

We'd left our car in the parking garage and took an Uber around the city. After lunch we headed over to the new Baltimore Casino, the Horseshoe. It was fine. I didn't win anything but it was kinda new and I don't know, there just wasn't much ambiance. I like my casinos a little seedy. We stayed there for a few hours and left.

OK, there were 2 casinos we wanted to check out and see if they were any good and might replace our annual trek to Atlantic City. You know, closer...

We stopped for dinner at Pappas, which is said to have the best crab cake around. It's one of Oprah's favorite things and OMG it was AMAZING.

It was totally a pile of heaven.

After dinner we headed over to Maryland Live Casino (damn, this makes it sound like we have a problem, I swear we don't) which is attached to Arundel Mills Mall. Let's take this in for a minute. The casino is attached to the MALL. Oh, AND there's a Medieval Times there as well. A mall, slot machines and jousting. It's like all of my favorite things.

Now Maryland Live, totally seedy, busy as heck, lots of action and plenty of characters. It gets two thumbs up from me.

We weren't there too late and soon it was time to drive back to DC and the Jefferson.

The next morning we had more sightseeing to do, but first breakfast.

This was some sort of waffle egg sandwich goodness.

We went back to the National Archives and looked at the rest of the things that we didn't see the other day when we really only saw the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. You weren't able to take any pictures inside, but it was a great museum. I highly recommend it.

We killed some time there before going to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. That was the one place Kev really wanted to see.We wanted to see how the $ was made. Again, a quality experience.

You can't take any pictures in there either, but I was able to grab a few in the hallway leading up to the entry.

Money...

We had a later lunch and I made Kev go to Nando's. It's a Peruvian Chicken place and when I was in Edinburgh they LOVED Nando's. It was the one place they took me for team lunch.

I had another salad and it was yum.

On our way back we stopped at this place and bought these things. It was layers of meringue and whipped cream and chocolate shavings. It was pretty but I just don't like whipped cream. annnd chocolate gives me a stomachache, so there's that.

Still pretty.

We got back and Jefferson judged us a little, for what, I don't know. Glass Houses Thomas, Glass houses...

Just a little.

That evening we headed over to Georgetown to do a little shopping and have dinner. We ended up at John Strongbow's tavern, which has something called Medieval Madness with a live dinner show. But not on Monday.

Instead I had some cider

And a pretzel.

It was fine, I'm sure it would have been more fun if the Madness was going on. Out waiter was on the struggle bus. I assume he was still coming off the weekend's Medieval festivities.

We headed back to the hotel for dessert. The hotel bar had a cupcake flight.

Yaaasss

The aftermath. I really hate icing.

I needed to walk off the cupcakes and since it was our last night, we walked over to the White House for one last look.

one last selfie.

Peace out Hamilton

We got back to the room to this sweet note.

And the bed was turned down,

I could get used to this

Soon it was Tuesday and it was time to go home. We first had to stop at Tyson's Corner Mall to return my bracelet. I was really unhappy that a Tiffany bracelet tarnished in one day. When I showed them what happened they weren't very concerned and thought it was no big deal. Yea, no. I'm going to return it and get something else.

We had breakfast at Founding Farmers.

Yum.

Double Yum.

We walked around Tyson's Corner and I got my replacement bracelet at Bloomingdale's.

And that concluded or anniversary weekend! It was pretty awesome and a great way to spend our 10th anniversary! Thanks for making it through the 8000 picutes!

Linking up with BLoved Boston!, Still Being Molly AND

Five Thing Friday - Rando Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was the first day of Fall and I am seriously so excited. I mean, it's still warm here, but you know what? Long sleeves, tights, booties and PSLs are here and I am embracing all of them right now.

So what's been going on? It's pointless to talk about my busy schedule, because it never gets and less busy, instead I'll talk about some other random things that are happening.

1. I haven't posted a weight loss update for weeks 20 and 21, not because I didn't lose anything, but because I couldn't get my blogging self together. BUT, I have lost more weight and I had a nice non-scale victory yesterday when my jeans officially became too big. I was able to pull them on and off without unbuttoning them, which was pretty nice. I guess I'll have to find a new pair. Shucks...

Really though, I have another post planned about this, but what do you do when you're not at goal, but you need clothes, but you don't want too much because you still have 30-ish pounds to go.

Anyways, here's a picture from last year, when I was apparently doing the GYPO work wear challenge and yesterday. I know I gained over the holidays after the picture on the left was taken, but I can definitely see a difference between last year and this year.

Glad I ended up keeping this shirt after I out grew it last year.

2. Some of my favorite artists are releasing albums this fall! Bon Jovi drops "This House is Not for Sale" in October (pre-order now available) AND Meatloaf released "Braver than We Are" on September 16th. Now, we all know that I love me some Meatloaf.

This kind

And this kind.

All of the songs on the album were written by Jim Steinman who wrote the whole Bat out of Hell Album, Bat out of Hell 2, he wrote "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "It's all Coming Back to Me Now", this list goes on and on. Basically, any sweeping epic 11 minute song, Steinman probably had a part in it. Needless to say I was pretty excited to listen to the new album.

Do yourself a favor. Don't.

It's not good. I'm sad, but it's not good....

Me - Kev, let's listen to the first song

Kev - OMG, you paid money for that? It's awful

Me - It really is bad

Kev - Spotify things first before buying them.

Me - Maybe $5 will make it to Meatloaf to help pay rent or something.

Kev - If you want to give Meatloaf $, just Paypal it to him.

3. Still eating my JC food... In my last post I showed how to use JC tacos to make "Nacho Mama's Fajita's". There's a JC contest where people who make-over their JC food can win prizes or free JC food, so fingers crossed the like my creation!

In the mean time, I ate this JC cheeseburger the other day with a drizzle of Salsa Ranch Dressing.

4. Last weekend I knocked an item off my bucket list and went to Drag Bingo. It was a fundraiser for the Alliance of AIDS Services and such a blast. The girls looked amazing and I got to play some bingo.

Sadly we had to miss the cabaret show after the game, Kev and I both missed dinner and were hungry. If we waited until it was over, there would be no food, and no food is no bueno.

5. Now that the weather is getting cooler, and mu ass is getting smaller, It's time to start resurrecting the fashion side of this blog. I've been in this weird place where some of my clothes fit, some don't and it seems like I'm missing a chunk of sizes. Like, what did I wear the last time I was this weight? According to my time hop. I'm tracking about the same weight to the day, that I did when I lost it all 6 years ago. I "should" have clothes from 6 years ago and probably from 2 years ago when I was about this size and I can't seem to find any. I guess I donate them? IDK.

But what that does mean is that I might have to do a little shopping and I signed up for the GYPO Fall Style challenge. I figured a capsule wardrobe was just what I needed right now. Minimal pieces, 3 weeks of outfits, fewer things to buy as I get off the last 30 pounds.

I've done these challenges before and I LOVE them. I took off the spring and summer since I didn't want to buy new clothes then, but I'm back. I highly recommend the challenge to anyone who loves fashion and shopping. It's totally worth it for your own "personal shopper" and the support from the rest of the community. Shopping with a purpose has really changed my shopping habits. I get to look for specific things instead of wandering around not knowing what I'm looking for.

You can sign up using my affiliate link HERE and I get a few $ when you do.

Really though, I LOVE this capsule so much and can't wait to find all of my pieces!

One of the items on the list is a black and white striped shirt. These are just the 3/4 sleeve and long sleeve ones.

I have a problem when it comes to stripes....

Have a great Friday everyone!

Linking up with Amanda - Meet @ the Barre! AND

"Nacho" Mama's Fajitas

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 09:30:00 +0000

Y'all know it's me and my Jenny Craig food for the foreseeable future. It's totally fine and I really like eating their food because 1. I can't really cook and 2. When left to my own devices I'll at the same thing for 4 days in a row. Jenny actually provides plenty of variety in my diet and if I really want something they don't offer, I'll figure out a way to fit it in. I even had 1/2 a bagel and some egg whites after my run Saturday with my consultant's blessing. But I'm not here to talk about that. Today it's all about the nacho.

Recently Jenny introduced the "Chicken Street Taco" and I cried tears of happiness, because tacos are life. The tacos are like traditional street tacos and each taco has 2 corn tortillas. I guess this is a thing, I always got flour tacos. But 4 corn tortillas and chicken taco filling opens up a whole new world of experimentation. One of my favorite JC foods was a Chicken Fajita that was discontinued and I decided to pay homage to it's greatness, but in nacho form.

JC also happens to be having a recipe contest and "Nacho" Mama's Fajitas was born. I didn't see a disclaimer that I shouldn't post it, so here you go!

1. Take the Chicken Street Tacos and heat them in the microwave for 1 minute. Scoop the filling out of the tortillas and put it in a separate container.

2. Cut each of the tortillas into 4 quadrants. Spray with a little cooking spray and sprinkle with some salt. Place in a single layer on a pan and put in the toaster oven on "toast" until lightly browned.

lightly browned

3. While the tortillas are crisping, chop the peppers and onions into small pieces and saute in a pan until cooked. I was lazy and steamed them in the microwave for 2 minutes, then put them in the pan. Otherwise, it's like 10 minutes to cook some peppers and onions on the stove.

4. When that's all ready and the tortillas are crunchy, it's time to assemble that -ish!

5. Move the tortillas to a heat resistant plate. Spread the warmed chicken over the nachos.

6. Top it with the peppers and onions

7. Add your cheese! OK, cheese is kinda not on the JC plan as an extra, BUT, there is a line in the JC book that says that if you're lactose intolerant, you can sub one of your milk servings for an ounce of cheese or some lean meat. I've never liked milk and I hate yogurt so I've been eating a light cheese stick every day for my milk. It's apparently just fine because I've lost 26 pounds. Because I knew I wanted cheese, I saved my milk serving and used 1/4 cup of FF Cheddar Cheese for dinner.

8. Sprinkle on top and put back in the toaster oven on "broil" until it's all melty and yum. My plates are oven safe, so I threw the whole thing in there.

9. Chop up some lettuce or buy a bag of the shredded stuff and put it on top of your nachos!

10. Serve with all the salsa you want, because it's a free food!

Nachos!

11. Enjoy!

Linking Up!

Anniversary Weekend pt. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 10:00:00 +0000

I'm just gonna warn you now, there's a LOT of pictures in this post. Like a hella lot.

Kev and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on August 27th, (I can't believe it's been 10 years!) and we were trying to think of where to go to celebrate. We thought about the beach, but I don't do well just sitting somewhere for 3 days. I need to move around. I can do one full day at the beach and maybe another half, but I just don't care about the water. There, I said it. I don't care about the beach. Then we thought about Canada, but the flights were really expensive. I kept mentioning Williamsburg VA, but then I realized I'd just been listening to a lot of Hamilton and I wanted to see something historical. When we thought about what we wanted to do, a trip to Washington DC met all of our criteria! Endless stuff to look at, founding fathers, food and booze. Win!

I left Raleigh and flew into Reagan International where Kevin picked me up. It was odd, I've never had trouble finding where my baggage was being off-loaded but I wandered around for a while looking for it. Finally, I saw my bag off to the side, not on the conveyor belt, like it had been sitting there for hours. I landed, maybe 15 minutes prior. It was all very odd.

Anyways, Kev found me and we headed to our first hotel. Before he decided to go up before me and visit his family, we'd planned on driving up Friday and staying halfway, now we were in DC for an extra day and our "special" hotel was booked Saturday - Monday. We stayed at a Kimpton hotel, which is always fun and quirky and they allow pets, so there are dogs everywhere. We stayed in one in Pittsburgh last time and there was a giant dog bed in the room.

I was pretty hungry and we decided on sushi for dinner. I stink, and I don't remember the name of the place, but it was fancy AF sushi. I love me some bogo or discounted rolls, and this was not that, but it was some of the freshest and most delicious sushi I'd ever eaten.

I started with a saki-tini which was pineapple flavored and yum

I went with the an assortment platter and Kev got a similar one. It was plenty of food for me, but Kev though that he'd need to spend $100 before getting full. After we left, we went to Georgetown and stopped at Good Stuff Eatery where Kev got a burger and some fries. It was a progressive dinner.

Across the street was Georgetown Cupcake which got mixed reviews from my Facebook friends. A lot of people said it wasn't worth the hype. The were good but not really line out the door around the block good.

The were pretty

I had the butterscotch waffle cone cupcake and it was gooooood.

The next morning I woke up ready for a day of sight seeing. Even though we said we weren't exchanging presents, Kev had a surprise waiting for me.

He'd gotten me a super cute bracelet. I actually wore it that day while walking around and it tarnished. This is not my first piece of Tiffany silver and it should not tarnish, especially in one day. We brought it back on the way home and they really concerned about it and I wasn't confident that it wouldn't happen again, when I was miles away from a Tiffany Store, so I opted to return it. (I ended up with a David Yurman bracelet instead). Tiffany fail. I have pieces for 10+ years without any tarnish.

Anyways, on to the sightseeing!

Andrew Jackson on a horse!

The White House!

We tried to get tickets to the White House tour, which you need to request in advance and get a letter from your Congressman (I kid you not). We were denied because "there are too many kids having tours and they're more important". (I'm paraphrasing) Damn future leaders of the country wanting to see the White House.

More White House

Everyone give it up for America's favorite fighting Frenchmen! #Lafayette

If you want to go on the tour of the Treasury, you have to request that in advance too. Which we didn't. Instead, I have to take a far away shot of the Hamilton statue.

He's there.

For the day we decided to get tickets for the hop on hop off tour buses and go see the major monuments, I'd never been to any of them before.

The Capitol

Washington Monument was up first. Unfortunately the elevator was broken and you couldn't go up to the top.

The view to the Lincoln Memorial was AMAZING

The Jefferson Memorial from the bus.

Coming up the stairs.

Sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder. #Jefferson

Oh, hey, look at that. Founding Fathers say that you can come to this country and not be persecuted for their religious beliefs. Huh, it's still timely today, isn't it.

Gorgeous view

Peace out Jefferson

A tour of all things Hamilton, but not actually seeing Hamilton wouldn't be complete without a little Arron Burr. But just a little Burr.

Yea, Hamilton just kept talking trash about Burr for years until he finally challenged him.

After we got our fill of Jefferson, it was back on the bus and over to the Lincoln Memorial

The outside

The view from the other side was pretty sweet too.

What Up Abe?

We still had some time, so we stopped at the Archives and saw the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Deceleration of Independence. You can't take pictures inside the archives, but it was pretty awesome to be able to see the documents in person.

Finally we got back to the hotel. We'd moved from the Kimpton to ... The Jefferson. Yep! A historical hotel full of nothing but Jefferson. The place was amazing and the service impeccable. When we got back from sightseeing, this was waiting for us.

They gave us non-chocolate strawberries because of my soy allergy.

I took a nap and then it was time to get ready for our anniversary dinner. We had reservations at the Prime Rib which is a pretty schmancy, jacket-required restaurant. When I tell you it was full of nothing but old mobsters, I'm not exaggerating, and I'm known to exaggerate. I LOVE OLD MOBSTERS. Like, so much. It was perfect.

The cocktail napkin

We sat at the bar for a bit and had a drink and listened to the live music, which was a pianist and a bass player, both old and awesome. The bartender (who you could tell had heard some stories in his day) made me what might be the strongest cosmo of my life. And he made extra in the shaker. When I was halfway through he topped me off. Soon the table was ready and I stumbled to the table.

Soon came cosmo #2 which was rimmed in crushed ice.

Pretty

We were eating at the Prime Rib. We had Prime Rib. Kev had some sort of potato and I wanted corn, because I hadn't had corn in a while. I remember it being really good. Then I think we shared a piece of cheesecake. I'll be honest, I was pretty tipsy at that point.

We soon made it back to the hotel. I think we took and Uber, it was a long day and everything was kind of a blur at the end.

That was our official anniversary! It was a pretty awesome day and a great way to celebrate 10 years of marriage!

Linking up with Amanda - Meet @ the Barre! AND

Weekly Weigh-ins #18 and #19

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Hi all! I hope you had a lovely Labor Day weekend! I don't know about you, but Labor Day is the official start of Fall for me. I know that it's going to be 90 degrees next week but I'M STILL TRANSITIONING TO FALL. DAMN YOU WEATHER.

On to the weight loss thing. For week #18 I weighed in a day early because I was flying to DC to meet Kev for our anniversary weekend. I was expecting a big loss and it delivered!

YASSSS -4.4! I knew I had a big one in there!

I really didn't do anything differently. I knew that I'd been putting in the work and not seeing results, but that it would show up eventually and it did! I also knew that I didn't really deserve the +.8 gain I'd had the week before. I'd been weighing myself at home so I knew it was coming, but I loved seeing it on the JC scale and the shock on my consultant's face!

After eating my way though DC and only eating JC the last 3 days? I'll take a +.2.

Workouts

Week #18

Saturday - Body Pump

Sunday - Body Flow no run

Monday - Combat

Tuesday - CAB meeting at NCSU

Wednesday - Combat

Thursday - Hair and Nails

Friday - DC!

Week #19

Saturday - Walked 15,358 steps

Sunday - Walked 16,898 steps

Monday - Walked 19,951 steps

Tuesday - Drive home

Wednesday - Combat

Thursday - Body Pump

Friday - Nope

Leading up to my week 18 weigh-in, I was pretty much on point. Kev was out of town, so I ate my JC food and went to the gym. In DC I knew that I wasn't going to go to the hotel gym or anything like that, and I was hopeful the steps I walked throughout the day would make up for all the delicious food I was eating.

Notice that there was 0 running the last 2 weeks. Le Sigh. I kinda forgot to run. Even though running every week is one of my August goals and I have a 5k coming up on the 10th. That's the 5k that's usually full of sadness after not running all summer. Thankfully I'm in a much better place running wise this year than last. I also discovered that while yes, I definitely lost some running fitness, a lot of it was from getting fat again. You'd be surprised how much quicker you get when you aren't hauling an extra 25 pounds around.

What I'm eating this week

I've got 2 posts coming about all the food I ate in DC. Such food... Instead last week was a happy day because Jenny Craig released some new food! Sadly my beloved egg burrito seems to have left for a while. If I'd have known that, I would have stocked up. Now I'm burrito-less.

But they did come though with a new Chicken Street Taco! OH HAPPY DAY! I LOVE TACOS.

The tacos are double wrapped, so you get 4 total corn tortillas, there's plenty of chicken mix in there and you can easily add more veggies, some salsa and make it into 4 tacos. So much food and they're really flipping good. And I love tacos.

I get at least 2 packs each week. Hmmm.., I could probably make some kick-ass nachos too.

Picture

Week 18

Week 19

This was my "tribute to Hamilton because I can't get tickets in NYC" shirt/trip. My shirt says "I am Inimitable I am an Original." if you get that reference, we can be besties.

Week 19 gets a hotel room selfie because I thought I looked smaller in my jorts and t-shirt. I realized on this trip that I have next to no decent summer clothes, just a bunch of t-shirts and maybe 2 pairs of shorts. 1. I didn't want to buy larger sizes that I wouldn't need next summer and 2. I don't really need to have more than 2 weekend outfits. Yea, I have dress up dinner clothes, but on the weekend, I'm generally in exercise clothes and after work, I'm in exercise clothes. Maybe I'll think about it for next year. In the mean time, I'm ready to transition to all things fall!!

Goals

Ummm... I met 0 of these goals. I lost 5.4 pounds, thanks to my massive -4.4 which saved me at the last minute. Then I forgot to run the last 2 weeks of the month. In my defense, the last goal was based off the Apple Watch and at that time my Active Calorie Goal was set at 590 calories per day, which I can't achieve if I don't go to the gym. After all day at work, even if I walk the dog and run errands, I can't get there. As everything evened out over the last month, I adjusted the goal to 530 calories per day and sometimes I can get there if I don't make it to the gym. Generally I'll hit it 5 days a week, which isn't terrible. I can't physically go to the gym every day, and hitting that goal 90% of the time just isn't happening.

What about September??

I'm going to keep my goals pretty much the same. I'd be thrilled if I lost 6 or more pounds this month. Losing 9 pounds puts me back into 90% of my clothes. Then the fun starts. :) Hopefully I can maintain this momentum and get to 1st goal by the end of the year.

That's all for me! Here's to another great week!

Five people you meet in a group fitness class

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 10:00:00 +0000

OK, I want to preface this by saying that I love me a good fitness class. It's really the only thing I go to, unless I'm running on the treadmill or outside. I'm not really the type to go work a bunch of weight machines and I've spent so many hours on the elliptical that I literally can't even any more.

However, just like Sesame Street told you about the people in your neighborhood, these are the people in your group fitness class and they are special.

1. THAT ANNOYING GUY

I've mentioned the constantly talking, thinks he's hella funny, but he's really just annoying gym guy. Please respect the rest of the people in the class, you want to have social hour, do it outside. Go to a juice bar or have some coffee or a bagel and chat, I don't care, just let the people who want to have a good work out do it in peace,

2. The "I look prefect after class" chick/dude.

When I got to class, I go there to sweat. I want to get my heart rate up, break a sweat and leave smelly. I turn into a red faced sweaty mess who needs a 1985 Richard Simmons sweat band to keep it from dripping in my eyes. It's delightful. But there are those people who never break a sweat! I just don't understand, how, how does this happen, I see you moving, you seem to be working out, but you don't leave class with your mascara running down your face like a horrible Alice Cooper impersonator. (this might have been me)

Then I like to go to Whole Foods, where everyone smells earthy and is in gym clothes

3. The guy who takes the class really, really seriously.

We've all met this guy. I remember 2 of them in particular, there was a Pump class where someone wore a giant, leather Hulk Hogan-esque weight belt. Look, I've got no problem with a Hulk Hogan weight belt, I totally need one for my Hogan Halloween costume this year. Body Pump is suppsed to be lower weight and high repetition. he had a decent. not over the top, amount of weight on his bar, but at the end of every song or every break, he dropped his weights and grunted loudly. Brah, come on....

Last week in Combat, one of the tracks was "King Foo Fighting" and the guy behind me really tought he was kung foo fighting. He was super serious and there were a few times I felt the wind from his foot at the back of my head, he was that close to me. Taking class seriously is great, but maybe dial it back a notch. :)

4. The person who I'm convinced is going to really hurt themselves.

Most instructors do a great job correcting people's form and giving solid directions, but there are some folks who are just so far out of the realm, that I;m genuinely concerned that they're going to hurt themselves. Lordy, please be careful I'm not great in medical emergencies. I panic and if you hurt yourself I can't help you.

5. The I'm going to give you stink eye for being in my "spot" chick.

Who am I kidding, this is me.

Who do you meet at the gym?

Linking up with Amanda - Meet @ the Barre! AND

Weekly Weigh-in #17

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Well, it's definitely not Wednesday. I had a meeting at NC State Tuesday night and by the time I got home, a post just wasn't happening. Instead we get.... Weekly Weigh-in...Thursday? I'll just go with it. Welp, I had a gain. It was a for reals gain this time and I got back the .8 I lost the week before. More than anything I hate it when that happens because it's like three weeks of no progress.

I'm not terribly surprised, and I actually think that the stupid MenoCare supplements messed with me. Then there was the great eating out of the week as well. I think we ate out all meals on Saturday, then dinner out on Thursday and Friday. I got the right supplements on Saturday morning after the gym and Sunday afternoon I weighed myself in the afternoon with some clothes on and had lost the .8. Wednesday morning I weighed sans clothing as soon as I woke up and I was 5 pounds less than my Jenny weigh. In the past my home scale was pretty close to Jenny scale, so I'm hopeful when I go on Friday morning after only 6 days. I'll see a good number.

Workouts - (Last Week)
Saturday - Kev and I went to breakfast instead
Sunday - Run and Body Flow
Monday- Body Pump
Tuesday - Nope
Wednesday - Body Combat
Thursday - Sausage Party
Friday - Newsies

I was tired and didn't have much energy last week. (I still blame the supplements) but I did make it to the gym 3 times that week. I've already been 4 times this week, even though today might be my last before heading out of town.

What I'm Eating this Week / Cheats

We went to breakfast at Raleigh Times on Saturday morning and I had the eggs that had bacon in them I probably ate 1/3 to 1/2 of it, the bacon was Kev's to go with the French Toast you see in the background. beautiful toast, not soaked in egg long enough though

The coffee was delish though.

Since we were in downtown Raleigh I made Kevin stop at Boulted Bread, which is just insane and amazing. He got some treat and a loaf of bread and I got this custard thing.

You were so good....

Picture

I went dress hunting this week and I swear I was everywhere, only to realize that I'm firmly in between sizes. I found this hella amazing dress at Belk but it was just too clingy in the hips and gut. If I weighted 7 pounds less you'd be mine.

I might go back and get it and let it sit for a few weeks.

I didn't have a "great" picture from this week instead, here's this one. My shoes are awesome though.

Alright, someone wish me luck Friday morning for a good weigh in! I'm going in a day early since I'm heading out of town for our anniversary get-away. A good weigh-in would give me some cushion for the eating that's about to happen.

Have a great Thursday!!

You had one job Amazon

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 10:00:00 +0000

For the last few months I've been taking a great supplement from Himalaya. It's called StressCare and it's awesome.

This isn't a sponsored post, Himalaya has no idea who I am or that I take their stuff, I just really like it. I got my first bottle at Whole Foods on a whim and it was one of the best things I've ever bought.

Everyone has stress in their life. Sometimes we have more, sometimes we have less, but there's a lot of stress all around us. Stress can absolutely affect weight loss, especially mine, and I wanted to see if there was something that would help keep my stress levels down and support my adrenal glands. I'm not really a fan of doctors shoving pills down my throat. I know there are many people who have been helped immensely by medication, but I'd like to try some other, more holistic methods before taking that step, Enter StressCare.

In the last few months I've definitely felt less stressed and have been really quite chill about all sorts of things that would have usually caused me to freak out. Maybe it's age and wisdom, or maybe it's the pills. IDK, but I'll take it!

Well, I was running low and was lazy and instead of driving to Whole Foods, I decided to order them off Amazon instead. I love Amazon like no one's business. Amazon Prime is my BFF and in Raleigh we have PrimeNow which lets me order La Croix, a shower curtain liner and the Harry Potter book and have them delivered to my house in 2 hours. I love Amazon and they've never done me wrong.

Well, the last 2 weeks I noticed I was feeling more stressed, things were bothering me more and I just felt low on energy. I figured it was normal. Life happens.

Well Saturday morning I had my supplements lined up and I went to open my StressCare and saw THIS!

DAFAQ?!?!?! I'D BEEN TAKING THIS FOR TWO WEEKS!

Yes, I'd bee taking MenoCare for 2 weeks. The bottles looked similar, the pills looked similar and I'm apparently not very observant.

According to the bottle it helps with sleeplessness, hence the vague sense of sleepiness I'd been feeling recently.

Thanks Amazon. I'll be sending these back. My uterus is just fine.

*I went to the Vitamin Shoppe and got a new bottle of StressCare. It might be in my mind, but I've felt far less stressed the last 2 days and have had plenty of energy.

Scenes from the Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Coffee and Cosmos) — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Me again. The last 2 weeks have been pretty crazy with work and other commitments and the blog thing just wasn't happening. I was feeling really stressed about some life things (which I realized why on Saturday, more on that in another post) and this just fell by the way-side. It's not the first time and probably won't be the last. So is life.

So, what happened this weekend? I'm gonna take it all the way back to Thursday. Kev and I had plans Thursday and Friday night since he was heading out of town on Saturday morning. Now, before anyone scolds me for revealing that he's gone, my brother is staying with us for a while and my dog isn't a fan of people she doesn't know. I'll be just fine.

Thursday we went to see Sausage Party. It's a naughty, naughty movie and I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy and I thought it was hysterical. My favorite part was when the sausage recreated a scene from Meatloaf's "I'd do anything for love" video. I was CRYING. I might have been the only person in the theater who got the reference and it was spectacular.

Friday I found the video on-line and seriously, wtf is going on? Is he the Beast, is he a vampire, why is there an investigator, why is that chick levitating? So many explosions. Then I discovered it was directed by a young Michael Bay. Michael Bay, Meatloaf, Steinman, it's a trifecta of epic proportions.

If you have any idea what's going on, please let me know.

Friday was a regular work day and I left a little early because we had tickets at DPAC to see Newsies!

Before the show we went to Vin Rouge for some dinner. For the first time in perhaps, ever, I didn't order the tartare OR a cosmo. I had to weigh in the next morning dontcha know.

Instead I had the duck confit salad. It was tasty, but tartare and frites it was not.

Off to the show!

I knew nothing about Newsies. Nada. I knew it was a Disney movie and about the newspaper. I was pretty sure there was a fight. I turned out to be right on all counts.

It was a great production, The story was pretty basic, it had some good songs (Hamilton it was not) but the dancing, OMG the DANCING was AMAZING! So talented. It was highly entertaining,

Saturday morning Kev headed off on his road trip and I went to my Jenny appointment. It wasn't awesome and I was up .8 pounds. I ate out the last 2 nights, only worked out 3 times and I had far too many bites and tastes of things I didn't account for. It happens. I hate it, but it happens. I weighed myself this afternoon and I'd already lost the .8 I was up yesterday morning. I knew it was fake.

Oh, and Jenny debuted 5 new meals Saturday. Sadly they were in the store, but not in the computer, so I couldn't buy them. My consultant felt bad for me and gave me a free veggie fritata.

Then I went to Body Pump. I've talked before about the annoying old dude who attends that class, well Saturday he was in full on annoying mode. He wanders around during the class, shouts at people in the middle of songs, yells at the instructor and he thinks it's funny. There was a point in the next to the last track (abs) when he put his stuff away and walked over and was harassing a lady in the back of the room.

I swear, if he was still in the class or outside when it was finished, I was going to say something to him. I get that this is your social time but your antics are distracting and it affects the experience for the rest of the people in the room. You aren't funny and it pisses off the people who are there to get a good workout. I like the class, I want to go to it, but I CAN'T STAND that guy.

After class I ran over to Whole Foods, then to Vitamin Shoppe to get some supplements (Amazon sent the wrong ones), then it was time to shower and go to the outlet mall!

Yes, while Kev is away I always go to the outlet mall. It's my treat to be able to walk around and look at stuff for hours. :)

I've been looking for a dress to wear for our anniversary dinner next weekend. It's our 10th and we'll be in Washington DC (brother and dog still here, don't try and rob me) We're going to the Prime Rib and it's jacket required so I needed something nice. I'm wanted to base it around these shoes I got from Sole Society

I know, right???

I've been to several malls, Nordstrom, ordered a dress online (nope) and couldn't find anything, I was hopeful the outlet mall would be the answer and sadly, it was not. I actually left with 0 purchases and I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that has ever happened.

I'm pretty solidly in between sizes in most places. Mediums button, but unattractively and Larges are a little bit too big. Believe me, if that wasn't the case, I would have spent quite a but at Express. EVERYTHING WAS 50% OFF!

Large on the left, medium on the right

I was bummed and took my sadness to Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill on the way home. It was close to what I might call the 7th circle of hell. Full of people wandering aimlessly and constantly in my way. I came in annoyed to start and that didn't help. This is why I stay in Raleigh...

I picked up a watermelon and it was full of disappointment just like the rest of the day had been.

You failed me.

After I got home, I sulked for a while and decided to try Clothes Mentor, which is a consignment store. I didn't find a dinner dress, but I did pick up a grey and white stripped dress that will be a great transition piece for the fall. Stripes, they're my kryptonite.

I woke up Sunday determined to have a better day. I started with my coffee and some blueberry pancakes.

I drove a bit out of my way to a Body Pump class at the gym near my work. It started at 1135am and I wanted to get it out of the way instead of going to my usual 230pm class. It was good, I actually did a back bend for the first time in maybe 15 years.

Kev said I should go to the place "where all the stores are far away". I assumed he meant Cameron Village, so there I went. My first stop was Fifi's Consignment Shop. SUCCESS!!!

They do this thing where anything that's been in the store greater than 30 days is 50% off. That made this dress $12!!! Shopping win!! (And I didn't do my hair all weekend.)

I also found dress at Ivy and Leo that's another great fall transition piece.

I brought a Jenny Craig tuna salad kit in case I got hungry for lunch and I sat on a bench and ate it. Look, when you had a bad weigh in, you give 0 Fs if someone wants to judge you for eating a tuna cracker on a bench.

I stopped at Tin Roof Teas and got some tea that has gummy bears in it, and I found this!

After my ghetto work iced coffee last week, this looked like a much better alternative.

I also picked up a suitcase that I can actually use as a carry-on instead of always having to check my luggage.

I'm flying to DC and Kev is going to meet me there. I fly at few times a year and I'm tired of always checking my bag. I finally adulted and got something I could actually carry. And it's purple paisley.

On my way home I stopped and got groceries and ANOTHER watermelon.

Dinner was JC turkey plus more green beans. The turkey dinner is quite good but it wrecks havoc with my food touching issues.

There's nothing I can do to separate the stuffing from the potato from the turkey. I just need my food to be in compartments.

Now it's time for the Closing Ceremonies!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Linking up with BLoved Boston!, Still Being Molly AND