Oldie but goodie

There are times that I come home from work and just want to sit on the couch and not move for several hours. However, I still want to eat a tasty dinner, and let's face it, Blake's not going to make one of those for me unless I want to start eating red meat. So last night, I turned to one of my fallback meals: fajitas.

I have been making fajitas since freshman year at Wake, in the Collins 3A kitchen with the lovely and talented Dana "D.Lo" Givens. While my recipe has changed slightly over the years, it's still basically the same meal. And if you do it right, it takes less than 20 minutes to prepare. Also, no matter how many new and fancy meals I make, fajitas are always one of Blake's favorites.

Simple way to make this meal in 20 minutes: use a frozen veggie blend and rotisserie chicken. I like to keep a pepper and onion frozen veggie bag in the freezer for occassions such as this. But note: do NOT use the same amount of sautee-ing oil when you're using frozen veggies as you do when you use fresh ones...because when they thaw out in the pan, it creates water and it winds up making the veggies greasy. I have made this mistake before. It is not pretty.

Basically, I throw the veggies in the pan with some spices until they're heated, shread up some of the rotisserie chicken that I have on-hand for use in my lunch salads, and once that's heated up, you throw some fajita shells in the microwave for 30 seconds and you're done. Keep in mind that the spice blend you choose can make all the difference. My favorite is garlic salt, black pepper, season-all, and lemon pepper. And if I want it to be spicier, I add red pepper flakes.

I don't feel that I need a side dish with fajitas, but Blake likes chips and salsa on the side, which is just about the easiest thing ever. He has requested refried beans, but I hate beans, so he's on his own there. A simple and delicious dinner is key when your DVR is recording 4-hours worth of important prime time viewing. And on that note...how much did the Idol suck last night? A lot, I thought.

Side note regarding my gym activities yesterday: I'm much less sore than I thought I would be from the running. I may try that again tomorrow. Today we go low impact on the elliptical I think.

Kick it up a notch

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I read a lot of fitness-related magazines on a monthly basis. And I am always reading that cardio becomes less effective when you do the same routine over and over again, but I'm basically lazy and really like my slow-and-steady 65 minute rolling hills elliptical routine. But if I honestly want to lose weight, I should probably cut that down to like once a week and mix in some new stuff right?

So today, I had to fit in lifting and cardio during my extended lunch break at the gym, so I usually do 50 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of lifting (it helps that my gym is a 10 minute walk from the office and that I come in an hour early and eat lunch while working to make up for the daily 2-hour lunch extravaganza). Today, I had a lot to do, so I decided I would let myself off the hook with 35 minutes of cardio if some of it involved actual running on the treadmill. So that is what I did. Now, I simply did 5 minute intervals (2 minute run with 3 minute brisk walk) but I'm thinking that if I could do this relatively easily, I should be able to slowly up the running quotient and eventually be able to actually run for like 30 minutes without having to stop and walk. This is my new goal. I'm going to work the running/walking situation in at least twice a week. At least that's what I'm going to say now; once my entire body hurts tomorrow I might feel differently.

Also contributing to the variety are the new fancy ellipticals that the gym got a few weeks ago. They adjust to your stride length and can function as a stepper or a jogger or a hardcore runner. And they are extremely difficult. It's in the rotation, but the gym hasn't gotten in the TV's for them yet, so I get bored after 30 minutes or so. I'm also going to get on the stair mill more often I think. Gotta mix it up.

An aside: I love it when the gym gets new things. I am like a kid in a candy store. I've been dominating the new lifting circuit they have set up as well as the new ellipticals. I didn't go to the gym for two weeks because I was out of town, and then I go back and there's all this new, shiny stuff. It was awesome. I may need more excitement in my life because I shouldn't be as excited as I am about this stuff.

In other news, I made myself a completely delicious salad for lunch today. I don't see any way that I wouldn't immediately drop 10 pounds, considering I've gone from eating out 3 meals a day for a month to eating homemade salads for lunch. Maybe I should stop making cookies every weekend? That may help.

Lost hobbies

During busy season, many of my hobbies go by the wayside to make room for working 65 hour weeks. During many of these weeks, I work 12 hour days Monday - Thursday, 8 hour days Friday and Saturday, and have to fly someplace on Sunday night. So I do pretty much nothing but work, eat, sleep, and get to the gym if it's at all humanly possible.

Now's the time of year that I try to resume my normal hobbies. Yoga, cooking, volunteering, shopping, all of the things that make me happy that I make enough money to afford to do them. And then last night, when there was nothing on TV when I got home from work, I remembered another one: reading. All I've read for the past 3 months is accounting workpapers and various magazines that I read either on airplanes or while Blake is forcing me to partake in some boring sports watching at home. I subscribe to kind of a lot of magazines actually. Cooking Light, Fitness, Shape, and Self. And recently I've considered adding Women's Health, because I've been buying it at the airport when I run out of other magazines. Also, I buy LIfe & Style when at airports. I realize it's trash, but it's entertaining.

I started reading Wicked in December when I went home for Christmas (I typically read a lot there, because I'm usually car-less unless my mom or sister is around). I'm about half way done. I knocked out another section last night. I think when I finish it, I'll resume my normal summer library routine. The main branch of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Library is 2 blocks from my house, so I like to visit there frequently when I have the time.

Another lost hobby: needlepoint. Yes, I am like a granny. I made Dana a pretty baby blanket when Reagan was born, and now Kristin is pregnant, so I'm considering doing the same for her. But she's due in November, and summer isn't typically a time that I sit around sewing, so I'll have to see if I have the time. Blankets take forever. Maybe I'll go small and make some bibs instead.

Weekend Adventures

I am happy to say that I accomplished everything on my list for this weekend, except for the helping Blake with his boat stuff because he didn't feel like doing that, so we will likely move that to next weekend.

I had one of the best mall trips of all time because I actually made more than I spent. I stopped by Banana Republic with my receipts from the past two weeks to check for price adjustments and lucky me, all of their sale merchandise is an extra 20% off now, so I got $78 back! Again, I'd like to remind everyone that it is important to save receipts and check for adjustments if you happen to be in the mall within 14 days after your original purchase. That just about made my weekend.

I wanted to go back to cooking this weekend, and I decided that I needed a fancy parmesean cheese grater/lemon zester. I went to Sur la Table and got this little number. I LOVE it. I have used it for almost every meal this week. I got what is technically the zester size, but it still works with the parmesean cheese and it makes me want to grate cheese and/or zest on everything. I have used it for every meal since I got it. It is amazing.

And I cooked this tasty vegetable lasagne; one of my favorites, but Blake hates it because it has no meat and is full of vegetables. He is like a small child sometimes. The recipe is from cooking light and I had it with a spinach salad and some crusty italian bread dipped in olive oil and herbs. Delish. I make it with the no-boil noodles because it's way easier.

I get to go back to yoga tonight! This is a wonderful day.

Back in Charlotte!

I'm back in Charlotte, and I get to be here for two whole weeks! Yay! I can't wait until it's July and I get to be here for months on end. It will be glorious. Here are my goals for the weekend:

• Go to the gym Saturday and Sunday...because I pay them way too much when I'm out of town for a full month, so I need to get my money's worth on the weekends
• Get a mani/pedi...it's sandal season again in NC. Yay!
• Go to the mall. yes, I know I've done this every weekend this month, but that's what happens when I'm cranky from being out of town. Also, I need to go to Sur la Table to get a parmesean cheese grater, because cooking resumes tomorrow (with sauce and veggie lasagme...mmmmmm).
• Go up to the marina to help Blake with some boat maintenance (clearly I have no desire to do this, but he's been doing all of the house upkeep for the past month, so I should be cooperative at least this once).
• Drop off the clothes that I cleaned out of my closet last week at Goodwill

I really wanted to be able to to go the nursery and buy all of the herbs that I want to plant this year, but the good nursery is closed on Sunday and it's going to storm all of Saturday, so I don't think that's going to work. That will be for next weekend. Also on tap for next weekend: return to the Humane Society for volunteering.

It's amazing how much my mood improves when I'm at home instead of in shitty New Orleans.

Reasons I Can't Wait to Get Back to Charlotte

New Orleans is starting to wear on me, so it's list time.

1. Blake and the cats
2. My own bed
3. Being able to cook myself breakfast, lunch, and dinner rather than constantly eating out
4. Going to my own gym rather than crappy hotel gyms
5. Going back to yoga
6. All of the shows saved on my DVR
7. Walking to work in the morning, coming and going as I please
8. Having access to my full shoe collection
9. My couch
10. Overall, New Orleans is not all it's cracked up to be

Blog inspirations

As I have mentioned, I read a lot of blogs even though I just recently started my own. Here's a list of other blogs that I appreciate, and think you might be down with too:

• The Jordana Project - college roomie's blog. Inspired me to start my own. Heart!
• thesuperficial.com - hilarious celebrity gossip site.
• bb9dish.blogspot.com - because I'm sadly obsessed with Big Brother and read the spoilers.
• Things I've Bought That I Love - shopping blog written by the immensely talented Mindy Kaling, who is also a writer on my favorite show, The Office.
• officetally.com - blog about The Office (again, I heart spoilers).
• Stuffwhitepeoplelike.com - hilarious.

When I come across other fabulous blogs, I'll update. I like to help people by giving out new procrastination ideas :)