Carefree and Unburdened

I've always been into big big bags. I don't need most of the stuff I carry around with me (like my day planner) but it never fails; the day I leave it behind is the day I need it (d'oh! My Wegmens ice cream coupons were in there!). Recently I have been seeing a lot of women with crossbodies and, truth be told, I started to get a little jealous. For one, they're small and cute (my favorite being this Marc Jacob one).


The women looked so carefree and unburdened with their tiny little purses. I want to be carefree and unburdened! There's no doubt that I need a good sized work bag. But, on my days off, I have been experimenting with small crossbodies and clutches and I like them a lot.

For one, it's less cumbersome. If you're shopping in tightly packed areas (like an antique mall) you don't have to worry about your big purse bumping into things. It also allows for freer movements. One day, after lunch, Michael and I decided to play miniature golf. Such spontaneous acts do not happen often but I was really glad I wasn't carrying my big bag like I normally do. Best of all, you can go hours without your shoulders hurting.

The only down side is that I can't carry by bottled water and I get thirsty very quickly. I'm not completely sold on crossbodies so instead of investing money into something I might never use after awhile I have been picking them up at thrift stores. My latest acquisition:


I don't know if it's patent or plastic but at $5, I don't really care. It's a beautiful bright shade of red that I absolutely love. It's actually a crossbody that I sometimes use as a clutch by tucking in the straps. It's just big enough to hold my wallet, my phone, my keys, and maybe one other small thing, like hand sanitizer or a Kind bar. It's the perfect size!

Ugh, Depressed

Just got done reading getoffmyinternets.com for over an hour and I am now kind of depressed. The world is a shallow, shallow place full of shallow, shallow people. But, what does it say about me that I am strangely fascinated by these people and the shallow life they lead? Fascinated as in how I'm fascinated by train wreck reality shows.

Pesto Steak Rigatoni with Caprese Salad

Want a fast, easy, delicious dinner?

1) Cook some pasta.
2) Rub pesto on a piece of beef and grill. Slice the meat after it's done.
3) Slice some tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. If you want to go for presentation arrange in alternating pieces. You have just made caprese salad, kind of.
4) Put pasta on plate next to the caprese salad and arrange the sliced pesto steak on top.
5) Drizzle the whole thing with pesto and, for extra credit, chopped basil and toasted pine nuts.

BAM! You have:


a really awesome dinner. Enjoy!

At Least I Have a Job to Be Late To

Of course the only time I need to get gas is when I'm running late for work. So, I pull into the station, insert my card and start pumping. Shortly, about $10 in (so not quite 3 gallons) the pump stops and tells me that I've reached my limit.

What's going on? I was using my credit card and I pay that sucker off every month! There is no way in hell I reached my limit on that card unless... WTF! Did someone steal my account number?!?!?

I would've stood there longer scratching my head and freaking out but I was running late for work. I was about to get into my card with the intent to call my credit card company once I got to work when the gas station employee starting running up to me asking me to stop. She explained that the gentleman on pump 8 (I was on pump 10) prepaid inside since he was paying with cash. He told her the wrong pump number which is how I ended up with $10 of free gas. She asked if I could lend him my card so he could pay for $10 worth of gas.

Lend a stranger my credit card? Are you freaking insane?! I told her no, but that I would go in and pre-pay $10 worth of gas for him once I finish filling up my car.

I was completely annoyed at the whole situation. I was running late for work and didn't really need this extra thing in the morning. However, as I was driving away I started thinking about the other guy and started to feel really sorry for him.

You have to wonder about a man who can only afford $10 worth of gas. I mean, maybe he left his wallet at home and $10 was all he had. Or, maybe he's poor and $10 is all that he can afford. I tried to imagine how it must feel to be so poor you can't afford a full tank of gas and realized it's a whole new level of poor that I can't relate to.

At work I have worked with people who told me that they would love to pick up an extra shift because they need the money but they can't because they're low on gas and they didn't budget enough for the extra drive. So, if they come in today, that means they don't have enough to get to work later in the week. Sad, yes, but they're teens who live with their parents in their super expensive houses. If absolutely needed I'm sure their parents will float them a few dollars to cover gas. That's different than a grown man who is on his own. It's easy to see how hard it would be for someone to break out of poverty. In order to make more money you need more money- to drive to job interviews, buy appropriate work outfits, drive to pick up more shifts etc.

I'm not about to start spouting liberal view points because I don't even know that my view points are liberal but it annoys me when people say poor people are poor because they're lazy. That may be the case for some, that may be the case for a many, but it's obvious that there are some underlying factors that some of us can't even fathom, or relate to, like not having enough gas money to get to work.

So, let's say that I had just driven off before the gas station lady flagged me down. Let's say that the gas station lady was like, "Sorry buddy, you're out of luck. You told me pump 10, I pressed pump 10. It's your fault and I'm not about to give anyone free gas." What would have happened? Would he have to call out of work because he couldn't make it? Would that have resulted in lost wages because he didn't have any PTO? Would that have cost him to lose more hours in the future because his boss is thinking, "Well, he's not very reliable so I don't want to give him too many hours?" Would his already tight finances just fall apart?

Or, you know, maybe he's well off and he was just a guy who forgot his wallet at home and $10 was all he had on him at the time.

Translucent Glasswares Rock My World

At the moment I am really into milk glasses; you know, those white, milky translucent glassware.


Luckily they're an antique mall staple and usually quite reasonably priced.

I would also love to start collecting jadeite but they're pretty pricey.


Maybe I'll luck out and see some at a thrift store one day. Or... Maybe Anthropologie will pick up on this little thrifting trend and come out with their version. As over priced as Anthropologie may be, what ever they charge for jadeite will probably still be less than the price you pay at antique malls.

Oh, and there's also this:


Not sure what it's called but it's a gorgeous shade of hypnotic milky blue and it was something like $75 for a set of five. It's another thing to be on the look out for when I go thrifting.

A Bit of a Let Down

Little late in posting but... About a month ago several of the restaurants in Loudoun County participated in Farm to Fork. They created a special menu where at least 75% of the ingredients came from local farms in our county. The event coincided with my birthday and so I told Michael that for a present all I wanted was to go out and eat!

For lunch we ate at Palio's in down town Leesburg. I had eaten there before, about a year ago, and really enjoyed it. It's not a place that we can afford on a regular basis (though their lunch menu is kind of reasonable) so I was excited to go back.

We started to meal off with some bread and pesto.


I got an inkling that this meal wasn't going to be as fantastic as before because the pesto wasn't as amazing as I recalled.


It was still better than anything I've made in the past (or anything you buy at a grocery store) but... I don't know... I recalled the pesto being so good I wanted to punch someone in the face, not this time around.

The waiter raved about the Farm to Fork salad so I suggested it to Michael. This is what he got... for NINE DOLLARS:


It was so hilariously ridiculous I couldn't even get mad at the price. I tried beets for the first time and did not hate it. Since the "salad" obviously wasn't going to fill him up I suggested he order another appetizer so Michael ordered this:


Also $9 and very delicious, especially when eaten with the bread.

I ordered the entree off the Farm to Fork menu.


The first time around the steak was completely over cooked- brown through and through. I was just going to keep quiet and eat it but Michael pointed out that if I'm going to pay that much for a steak, I should expect to get them to get it right. True that! So, for the first time ever, I sent my plate back. Steak #2 was still a bit over cooked but much better, though the steak itself was a bit of a let down. They went way over board with the char and it was all I could taste. The vegetables were good. The potatoes were over seasoned but once you got past the salt and thyme and all that other stuff it had an awesome buttery-ness to it.

I was a little disappointed in Palio's that day. I've had better meals in places that charges way less. It was the first day of Farm to Fork so maybe that day was kind of like their practice run? It was lunch time and maybe they bring out their best chefs for dinner? Maybe the place has gone down hill since last year? Maybe I should have known better to order steak and potatoes at an Italian restaurant? Whatever. Overall all, a let down.

Because Bad is Good, So So Good

I've been trying to eat well, you know, no HFCS, home made, locally grown, blah blah blah blah blah. I don't know that I feel better or healthier but it's been fun trying new foods and making things from scratch. I like this newer way of cooking and eating but recently I've been craving some bad, bad food.

Ever had a hankering for some bad Chinese? You know, greasy, saucy, one note chunk of meat and sweaty rice? Mmmm~ Had that for lunch the other day with some soda! The other day, for dinner, I stopped by Sheetz and had their onion rings, steak and cheese and, again, soda! Their onion ring is epic! One of the best thing I have had recently is...


Mac and cheese from the blue box! Well, not the blue box but the Wegman's version which was like twenty five cents a box! Mac and cheese from the box is by far the best kind of mac and cheese. I've had the "gourmet" kind and I've made several versions but none of them taste as good as the cheapo ones you make with the glow in the dark orange powdered cheese.

Well, at least I made it with some organic butter and milk!

Embossed Snake Print Ballet Flats

Check out my new(ish) shoes!


Snake print ballet flats with wingtip detailing and tasseled bows! Cute!


I was a bit hesitant to pick them up because of the embossed snake print. I'm pretty hard on my shoes and I scuff them up all the time. Dyed leather is easy to fix because you can just polish them to look like new but scratched embossed leather (and metallic leather) is impossible to fix. But, you know, they went on sale and...

I'm glad I got them. They're a surprisingly versatile neutral and it's a nice break from all the brown shoes I wear.

Heart to Heart

Michael and I are making a very concerted effort to eat healthier and cheaper so I've started to eat a lot more cereal. I spent over two years eating cereal almost every day at work (to save money for a house) so I'm kind of over cereal but... It is cheap and fast. My current favorite cereal is:


Kashi's Heart to Heart! Sure, it may look like dog food:


but it's really good and has this healthy and honey taste. Look how some are shaped like a heart, how cute! As far as cereals go it's kind of pricey, but there's something to be said for enjoying cereal that doesn't change the color of your milk. It may be three dollars for a small box but that's still only 50 cents a serving, not counting milk. The only problem is that it doesn't keep me full for too long and I think I'm lactose intolerant because after cereal my stomach feels odd for awhile. Can you develop lactose intolerance? I never had problems with milk before. Hmmm...

Screwed Up Priority

Even though we're pretty bare bones when it comes to indoor furniture (too expensive, let's wait until we're done painting, we need new floors, etc) Michael went out and bought some outdoor furniture, along with some flower boxes and plants to decorate out out door space.


I wasn't completely sold on the idea. We're not exactly dining alfresco type of people (well, at least I'm not) and it's currently averaging around the high 90's with freakishly high humidity right now. The radio is always warning us that it's code orange or red or something, not exactly ideal.

At least he got a good deal. The table was $90, each chair was $25. We still need an umbrella and a bench to go on the other side. That will probably be like another $175. That's over $450 for an outdoor dining room set... not including those flower boxes. Did I mention that we still don't have a dresser? Our indoor dining room set, the ones that we use every day, cost us around $40- $25 for the chair (75% off clearance at Target) and $16 for four sets of chair from a thrift store.

Well, might as well enjoy it, right? A few days ago, it was actually pretty nice out at night so Michael made some chicken Vietnamese curry from his new cook book...


and we had it outside, enjoying a very suburban view of the sunset.


It was actually pretty enjoyable... until the bugs came. Note to self, buy some Citronella.

Left Over Magnets

Michael and I have become a lot better at not wasting food. We still throw away more than I like (damn milk and their expiration date!) but we've become more mindful of making dinners with left over ingredients. Alton Brown, one of my favorite TV chefs, calls those dishes, dishes where you can just throw in whatever ingredients you have on hand, left over magnets. My favorite left over magnet are tacos.

Here's a steak taco made with bipim bop left over stuff.


And here's a fish taco made with random produce.


To make these tacos all you do is throw in some random produce, a protein of some sort, chopped up cilantro, and lime juice. The lime juice and cilantro are enough to make it taco-ish for me but Michael likes to sprinkle on some taco seasoning and or add some salsa. To each his own.

Childhood Dream Come True

I grew up reading the Washington Post. Well, I that is, I grew up reading the Style section of The Washington Post, that's where the comics were located. In the Style section, back when I was young, there was a column by the columnist Bob Levy. Ever month he would have some sort of a contest and he would take the winner out to dinner at McCormick and Shmidt. Somehow, I got it into my head that McCormick and Shmidt was a very fancy place to eat and I told myself that I will eat there one day. One day.

Awhile ago (before the weather turned all horribly brutal) Michael and I decided to have a date night. It was a Friday night and I wanted a reason to go out wearing my newly acquired heels. We decided to go to Reston Town Center and while trying to decide where to eat I saw McCormick and Shmidt. No time like the present to make your childhood dream come true, right?

Was it everything I thought it would be? I don't know... Not too sure what I expected. The restaurant was very old fashioned conservative looking, dark with lots of wood every where. It was actually nice because so many places try to be all trendy and modern and Ikea looking. The prices were high but the food was good.

I had the shrimp orzo.


It was very well flavored and way more filling that it looks.

Michael had cat fish and fried green tomatoes.


It was the first time either of us had fried green tomatoes and cat fish so that was cool.

Michael was not impressed with the place and, truth be told, neither was I. If all the food was maybe like five dollar cheaper it would have been perfect.