Sweet...it's Manday

A loooonnng overhaul for me today followers, I was out of work on Friday due to the snow...yes snow, can you believe it, I was shocked too! not. I'm so over the winter its not even funny.  I'm sick of black and grey and I have really cute white pumps I want to rock, immediately but due to the whole "White Rule" I can't and it makes me angry.  For now I am dreaming of coral, yellow and pink but hopefully it will soon be reality. 

All that aside, Thursday night I took an AWESOME kickboxing class at my gym.  I absolutely love the instructor (whose pilates class I take on Tuesday's) and the class kicked my assss big time! I was dripping sweat 10 minutes into the class and that's what I call a workout.  I skipped the gym on Friday because I shoveled snow for a good 2 hours and that's what I call the suckiest part of my day a good core workout!  So my exercise over the weekend was pretty nice.  Unfortunately I couldn't get my lazy butt out of bed for 6:45am Saturday yoga (again)...maybe next weekend? Eh hem, although I was in fact at the gym this morn at 6am.

The weekend was well, mediocre.  We were basically 'snowed in' on Friday but we ventured out later in the day to hang with my bestie's mama dukes (heyyyy Joan) which turned into a whole entire night of eating Kashi pizza and drinking 2 magnums of red wine...yes you read that right, two magnums.  It was a good time. 

Mi mama's cumpleanos was Saturday so we had her over for dinner yesterday for a lovely seafood extravaganza and capped out the night with some good ol' closing ceremony action followed by Desperate Housewives! The only shopping I did this weekend was for groceries and new tires, unfortunately.  So no exciting purchases to share.

After today's man parade, I'm going to come back later and discuss an inspired topic....Workplace Fashion Rules so stay tuned :) .... I know, terribly cheesy but I couldn't resist.  And now back to our regularly scheduled program featuring the scrumptious Ryan Reynolds and if possibly there's some god for saken reason you don't know him - he's a gorgeous actor married to Scarlett Johansson who's been in some great movies...Smokin' Aces, Waiting, The Proposal, Xmen: Origins and some stints on SNL (he used to be engaged to Alanis Morrisette):

KWEENO, KICKBOXING AND ANN TAYLOR

Quinoa (pronounced kwee-no) -- a fabulous nutritional grain, cereal like.  Nutritionally MUCH better than even brown rice.  It's protein content is unusually high (12-18%) and unlike rice it contains a very balanced set of essential amino acids for humans which again, makes it a complete protein source.  A great source of dietary fiber, gluten free and easy to digest.  To make quinoa, you have to first soak the grains in hot water for a good 5 minutes in order to remove the bitter outer coating called saponins after soaking you will drain all the water (using a mesh strainer if you have one as the grains are very small) you then cook to a rolling boil and once boiling, cover with a tight lid and let simmer for 15 minutes.  After same, take the pot off the heat (still covered) for 5 minutes, fluff with fork after and you're set. 

I had this with my dinner last night and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at both the taste and the texture.  Now, when I boiled it I substituted the water for chicken broth and there are TONS of tasty recipes online.  Try it.

This is what the uncooked quinoa looks like...similar to pastina if you've ever had that. 

I found THIS great recipe that I'm going to have for lunch today.



On to other news, SURPRISE its snowing again today! Shocker.  I mean, when is it going to stop already? I have 3 ready to pop pregnant friends and I don't believe that a blizzard is very good 'I'm on my way to the hospital' weather.  So enough already.

I'm taking a kickboxing class tonight at 5pm (will probably get my own butt kicked) but will let you know how it goes.  I cannot say enough how much I really loved that pilates class on Tuesday...my abs are still burning! I know if I continue to take the class each week I'll definitely see an improvement.  I'm hoping they add a 2nd convenient class that I can take.  I've decided that Mon, Wed, Fri I'll do the 6am gym and Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll take a class at night.  Will keep you updated on my progress!

I know this post hasn't been tooo exciting but I just had to share my excitement for this new food as well as the fitness updates!  For my fashion and beauty segment today, I'm going to share my rant about Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft.  Let me start by saying this is one store I always looked at as an 'older' store - I always thought it was a store that women in their late 30's and early 40's shopped at to look somewhat cute and on trend.  I was a very sadly mistaken young girl when I thought this.  The oh-so-adorable Chloe at Chloe's Conspiracy has me HOOKED on Ann Taylor. 

However, my dears, I very quickly came to shocking revelation #1 - I cannot afford to shop at this store, not even on sale I mean, some stuff has ok prices, $39.99 isn't bad for a nice cardigan but $128 for a statement necklace or $88 for a shell? 
They just have the most adorable, feminine, gorgeous pieces of everything - they have very cute jewelry and their ruffly, flowery, girly colored tops are to die for.  Here is my "want list" of Ann Taylor items that if anyone really loved me lots would get for me!! btw my B-diddy is 12/31, my Anniversary is 7/25,  Christmas is ALWAYS 12/25 and Easter this year is 4/4...K thanks, xoxo

Whirlwind of a Week

Well ello there...let's recap Tuesday-Thursday

1.) Snow Sucks - period. We got a ridiculous amount of it here in Northwest New Jerz and I shoveled with hubbs like 14 times in one day...just stupid.  My car is still covered in snow because neither of us felt like digging it out for the umteenth time

2.) Blackberry's suck.  I remember when I got mine and though "oh yay, I'm so high tech and well connected now" yeah, right.  I can log on to my blog via BB and see posts, etc. but cannot write new posts or even schedule already drafted ones because "the page you are trying to load is too large" so awesome, I'm SOOO glad I pay $30/month to be so 'well connected'

3.) 2 days off from work in the middle of the week is awesome! Although I kept thinking yesterday was Sunday and anxiously surfing the channels wondering why Keeping Up with the Kardashians wasn't on? Well, darling because it was Thursday! But woot woot today is casual Friday and then another 2 days off.  Yessssss!

Speeking of the crazy K's...guess who was on Regis and Kelly yesterday? My fav beotch, the 'Tush'...I seriously have a borderline stalker obsession with this woman (exaggerating here, people), I have never envied someone else (celebrity or not) as much as I do her.  She is just stunning at every single moment, its just not even fair.  Although, Kim's flaw - she's really not good at anything in particular.  She's gorgeous, yes - fun to watch, yes - but all in all she really is famous just for being famous, that's it.  I mean she's a successful business woman for sure, she's branded herself in a way that arguably takes a lot of work (or a good momager/agent) 

Kudos to the fact that she has now added a perfume line to her success but whether it smells like dog poo or not, people will buy it by the boat load just because its 'hers'.  I am severely upset that on Monday she will be at the NYC Sephora signing autographs and launching her new fragerence (which will be sold exclusively at Sephora) -- but guess what? Boss will be royally ticked if I take off so I can't go. Wahh  ::::wipes tear::::

Here she is on yesterday's show, where Regis creepily sniffed her several times (check out the kool aid smile he has on the ENTIRE time she's sitting next to him) -- and Bush is on Monday's show :)

Thanks Mama...

Dear Mother Nature,

I'm not quite sure why you hate the Northeast as much as you do but snow is not cool.  Not cool at all.  What kind of shoes do you think are acceptable for snow? Huh? Usually not cute ones! And the gross white film that snow and salt leaves on a pair of decent black leather boots, um yeah takes them from acceptable to not cute once again.  I would appreciate it if you would just take the damn groundhog out and let him make his decision again (obviously, the RIGHT decision this time).  I have cuter sandals and sundresses than I do boots and sweaters.

Sincerely,
Your (potential) #1 Fan :)