Amelia

Saturday:

Yesterday we went to the buffet at the Bellagio, soooo much food. I especially enjoyed the company (B., B., and B.) and my dessert sampler.

Then we went shopping. At chain stores which was a little weird, but I found a great dress at Ann Taylor that was 50% off (and interacted with one of the most helpful salespeople ever).

Then this other things happened. Here is my synopsis written at 2:00am when I was really tired.

Then we had a strange experience in Lucky Jeans, where the salesguy *really* wanted me to find some great jeans, and I did too, but they were out of the ones that would have been perfect (ie worth the expensive price) in my size, so we left. But then we saw this green jacket in the window, I've been looking for one since JA (friend from work) bought this great one that looks great on me, but it's been sold out, blah blah blah. Anyways this one at Lucky looks awesome! but was too expensive ($100) so he offers to buy it for me and give it to me "as a gift" because he gets an employee discount. So I give him $60 in an envelope and we wait outside the store until they're done closing (about 20 min.). Thinking this is a little sketchy and just bizarre. Then he says he needs $5 for tax, and I send B. off to get change, and he comes out with the jacket and said that he threw a ten in and gives me change. This makes no sense to me. And I give him $5, so for $65 I got a jacket and $5.63 back is change? WTF. And we can't figure out if the guy was just being really nice, but you can get in big trouble at work for giving your employee discount to random people, or was he hitting on me? but neither of us really got that vibe? but are people really that nice? Or was he trying to really get us to come back on Tues. when the news jeans come in so I can buy them? (Which we might do.) Anyways. Weird.

Then we went back to the con hotel, hung out at the pool and chatted which was really nice.

--

Sunday:

We spent most of the day at the con, which was good. I really enjoyed the Leverage panel, and watching the new episode with fangirls tonight!

I also took some time to chill and read a book out by the pool. It was very relaxing.

B. and I had a GREAT dinner at Border Grill in Mandalay Bay. I didn't realize until we got there that it's owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger from Top Chef Masters (they had a big sign with a picture in front of the restaurant). The atmosphere was relaxed and fun and the food was SOOOO GOOD!

We had:
-a sour cherry mojito, this was excellent, very well balanced
-Chicken Adobo Quesadilla, the best quesadillas we've both ever had
-Peruvian Ceviche (lime marinated hawaiian fish, aji amarillo, cilantro, red peppers, pickled onion, avocado, plantain chips), this is only the second time I've had ceviche and it was really good, even B. liked it and he's not a very adventurous eater
-Baby Back Ribs with honey and chili(?), on special, the perfect mix of hot and just a little sweet

Then back to the hotel for Leverage and chill-at-the-pool time (obi_ki you were missed!).

Now wonderful sleep. Tomorrow we're meeting my cousin at the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area for a picnic and hiking!

My sister and BIL often call baby Jacob "turkey". So here's the perfect costume!

I just can't decide if it's:
a. hilarious
b. horrendous
c. just delicious

eta: There's a Maine version. Awesome.

Also, pie.

Wait. Dress your baby as a Watchmen character? I'm back to awesome or awful?

I sent my mom the first two costumes and she wrote back:
"Amy, that is sort of sick!!!!"

no, "love, mom" or anything like that.

If anyone's looking to do some great volunteer work or round our your writing/photography/graphic design/marketing portfolio thought I'd pass this along.

Spezzatino is looking for volunteer contributors.

If you like food (and who doesn't?) consider volunteering
for Spezzatino magazine.

As you know, Spezzatino is a nonprofit magazine that
supports the Healthy Food Bank foundation. The
HFB is a registered charity that provides nutritious foods
like fruits, vegetables and whole grains to local food banks
around Canada and the United States.

( Details below )

From gblvr these "creative" hotdog creations are mostly for insptr_penguin who I think would love them (someone in comments suggested adding green cheese sauce, hee) but others of you might be amused as well.

Today the assignment for (not so crazy) diet plan is to have vegan day. This isn't terribly difficult although I do keep having to stop and ask myself "is this from an animal?" the meat's no problem, but I do eat a lot of dairy. Veggie stirfry with tofu and quinoa for lunch, yummy.

I freaked out a bunch in February, stopped seeing the trainer, cut down on my gym time, and was a little more flexible in my food preferences. Shockingly I stopped losing weight (although I maintained, go me!). Now I've been back with the trainer for a couple weeks and I'm losing (but more slowly) again. (This may also be due to Edy's samoa icecream, icecream with girl scout cookies, so freakin good.) This should be obvious, but every once in a while I forget and stop going to the trainer to save money and get frustrated when I don't progress. So a note to myself. (And really the trainer is one 30 min. session a week, but I think when I have the time and energy to go I am better with the habits for the rest of the day and week so the effect lasts beyond the 30 minutes--and usually he gives me 45 if there's no one after me).

I don't think I ever posted about my day of fasting. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I even went to dance class in the evening. I didn't have hunger pangs (then at least, I did earlier, water helped) and was fine with the stuff we usually do. However, I had difficulty learning new steps and got really frustrated and emotional about not picking them up. Earlier that day I didn't go to the gym because I was irritable and didn't want to deal with people. Conclusions...

Fasting:
-better with added god (or at least with added cultural/social norms)
-not as bad as you think if you do it out of necessity (as in you don't have enough food)
-interesting as an occasional experiment on yourself to sensitize you to physical hunger vs. emotional hunger, and external hunger cues (food advertising, etc)
-not for me as a regular weight-loss/diet aid, best in this way if you don't have to do any thinking, physical activity, or social interaction during your day (and doesn't that sound like fun!)

We had a great Thanksgiving with instpr_penguin, evil lurker, and V. from curling. Spent all yesterday afternoon and evening and some of this morning cleaning so the apartment looks great. D. heroically went to the grocery store *three times* yesterday. (The day before Thanksgiving! I was so happy to be scrubbing the bathroom instead. The first time they forgot to give him the pies and then he only got half the amount of cranberries needed.)

Last night we put the turkey in to brine, then I was up at 6am to flip it, and then back to bed. D. made mashed potatoes and I made the turkey, gravy (we used the gravy boat that goes with our wedding china for the first time, silly, but it made me happy), vegetarian stuffing with mushrooms, garlic spinach, and cranberry relish. instpr_penguin put the salad together and V. steamed asparagus. instpr_penguin and evil lurker brought wine, champagne, and a football-shaped ice cream cake. We had purchased pumpkin and blueberry pie (I just wasn't up to baking this year), and V. brought a delicious homemade French silk pie with raspberries. There was no lack of food :) After dinner we played Balderdash and then after pie we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall (still very funny the second time). D. and evil lurker did a lot of the dishes and I finished them up while D. drove V. home so the house is still in pretty good order.

It was a lovely relaxing Thanksgiving with friends and I'm looking forward to my sister and her husband coming tomorrow. :)

Hope you all are having a happy holiday.

Yummy food (have decided not to include boring food)
-excellent ribs with 2 okay BBQ sauces and 1 fabulous sauce
-cornbread pudding
-real mac and cheese

Today's real excitement was going to the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve and walking some of the Barataria Preserve Trails.
Interesting flora and fauna sighted:
-the transition from river bank to swamp to marsh including the "ground" that's really floating stuff
-cyprus trees
-palmettos
-that hanging moss stuff I've only seen in the movies
-several white egrets (do they come in other colors?)
-many, many little brown lizards (so cute)
-several yellow-striped snakes
-two turtles getting it on in the water (seems extra difficult if you're trying to tread water at the same time)
-mosquitos
-fish jumping out of the water to eat the mosquitos
-some random little birds
-an alligator sunning himself/herself on the bank

Bonus fact: Jean Lafitte is a famous early 19th c. pirate.

Other accomplishments:
-making good progress on desert themed cross stitch for mom
-won at Scrabble

I've been in New Orleans for seven hours now.

New foods tried:
-red beans and rice with an incredibly phallic sausage (lunch)
-crayfish etouffe (dinner) I was nervous because I don't like a lot of seafood, but it was yummy.
-jambalya (D.'s dinner, we traded entrees half way through)
-bread pudding (taste of Dan's)

Other food enjoyed:
-super-delicious pecan pie

New experience:
-watched football game during dinner and was actually entertained/into it. (I'm apparantly only traveling during big football games this January.)

Question of the day:
-am I brave enough to try oysters on this trip?