Sorry for being MIA Tuesday and Wednesday – I had two long busy days with work and other commitments.   Tuesday – I had a dentist appointment after work, and then a volleyball game after the dentist appointment.  Wednesday – I had bowling after work!  CRAZY!  On top of that – we received some unfortunate news Tuesday at work – the company had to undergo a round of layoffs due to the economy, so over 250 positions were eliminated.  The same day Sony and Yahoo both announced layoffs and there is no good news coming from the auto industry either.  It was a very difficult day. 

But onto food!

Dinner Monday – whole wheat pasta with shrimp and spaghetti sauce – not a good pic:

For breakfast – I couldn’t find a bowl anywhere, and I was admittedly too lazy to walk down to the caf, so I started my day with a Clif Mojo bar – Trail Mix.  I hadn’t had this one before, but I was REALLY pleasantly surprised.   I think I liked it even better than the pretzel PB crunch bar

The combo of salty/sweet/chewy/crunchy was ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!

For a snack, I chowed down on a delicious blueberry z-bar (didn’t have time to take a pictures due to all our meetings yesterday).   Lunch – another standard salad:

After depressing meeting number 5 – I broke into what is almost the end of my Chobani stash – and had the Chobani original with some Kashi H2H and pom seeds to top it off.

Since I was running around like a crazy lady – I didn’t really have time for dinner – but I did have time to try one of the special holiday clif bars – Spiced Pumpkin Pie.   This bar was ABSOLUTELY DIVINE.   Hands down – the favorite bar I’ve ever had in my life.  It was spicy and sweet – and tasted like a pumpkin roll (HELLO – DOES ANYTHING GET BETTER THAN A PUMPKIN ROLL?)

Sorry I don’t have a pic of the inside – I snapped the above at a stop light – and at while driving. 

My teeth cleaning was easy – the lady said she could tell I flossed – I was all proud of myself – and my games went well too – we won all 3.   I was just really ready for the day to be over – it was draining with all of the happenings at work.

Wednesday morning I got up and worked out – and decided breakfast at home was the way to go – I finished off my Kashi H2H with some scrumptious (that’s right!) hemp milk – I love that stuff!

The best z-bar ever made for a snack:

For lunch – another salad – they get more and more boring as the week goes on – I haven’t gone to the grocery store in forever!

Bowling Alley dinner – that’s right!  They threw a “Christmas party” for our league – I thought that was nice!

You have to have the tall beer to wash it all down! 

Today I was so busy – I didn’t eat lunch til noon.  That’s right – noon.  I got my oatmeal bowl out and 9 and craziness ensued from there!  Breakfast ended up being just a z-bar again:

Followed shortly by lunch – the most boring salad in ages, and a Tandoor Chef frozen meal – Channa Masala:

Today I finally have a break – with no official plans after work.  I need to head out and grab my mom’s Christmas present, but that’s about it.  I can’t believe it Thursday already!  Hope you all have had a good week – anyone else excited for the Office tonight? 

Which means back to quick posts. 

Thanks for all your support with the haircut and glasses guys – it’s much appreciated!   A few of you asked the brand of my new glasses – they are “Bongo” if that helps! 

Lunch yesterday – one of my TJ’s favorites – their California roll

and some apples and oranges and PB for a sweet treat:

During the day – I worked on Christmas presents some more.  Now I know I work for the company – but I am making some adorable “stuff” for some “wonderful” family members – I’d show you guys – but who knows who reads this blog!   I’ll take pictures of the cute stuff on Christmas and show ya’ll though!   Check out some of the  fun stuff for yourself:

www.photoworks.com

For dinner – some hummus and carrots for an appetizer:

And baked sweet potato fries with spicy ketchup:

Today I’ve been a bottomless pit!  I think it’s because I got up for an early workout (and I haven’t done that in about two weeks) – so my schedule is all over.  For breakfast – oatmeal with PURDY pom seeds:

Snack – some yummy yummy Annie’s Bunnie’s:

And lunch – your standard colorful salad

I also polished off the rest of that TJ’s hummus and carrots – but I was too busy chowing to take a picture!.   Having turned back into “bottomless pit” girl – after I polished off the hummus and carrots – I tried out this new flavor Luna Tea Cake – Orange Blossom:

It had a really amazing fresh orange taste to it – but it was a little too chewy for my liking.  I typically love these sorts of bars – and I loved the mint chocolate Luna Teac Cake I tried last time – but this one the consistency was different.   Also – I swear there was a hint of anise in there – which I LOATHE.

That’s about it – another crazy day at work.  And as I speak – I’m polishing off the rest of the Annie’s Bunnies – man these are TO DIE FOR! 

Hope you’re all having a great Monday!

Hiya!

Is it SUPER COLD and SUPER SNOWY where you are?   Because that’s what I’m facing!  I’m happy on one hand – because I love the white – it makes it seem so much more like holiday time.   On the other hand – IT’S COLD AND WET AND FREEZING EVERY TIME YOU GO OUTSIDE.  

We didn’t have any plans this weekend – but I do have interesting stuff to share!

For lunch Friday – a salad and some carrots with my FAV TJ’s hummus – roasted red pepper!

When I finally finished up my FOREVER HOUR work week – I was really excited to go home and relax.  I really really wanted a glass of wine but I knew Mike was going to be studying for finals all weekend and that he had said he wanted ZERO alcohol this weekend.   And I didn’t want to drink my myself! 

Luckily – when I walked in the door, Mike knew how long my week had been (his had been just as long with studying and stress) – and he was all to happy to have some drinks with me.   We went out and got a HUGE bottle of Sav Blanc:

YUMMMMMMMMMM!

and some Great Lakes Christmas Ale to go with it – DOUBLE YUM!

And on top of that – I decided to make a homemade pizza with whole wheat pizza dough.  Can you think of a better night?   Husband, cooking, relaxing, drinking – amen! 

Here’s the dough rolled out – and topped:

• Her half:  green peppers, black olives, spinach
• His half:  green peppers, black olives, jalapenos

With cheese – I LOVE to put the toppings under the cheese, that way stuff doesn’t slide off!

Finished, DELICIOUS product:

Mike and I had the house to ourselves for once (roomie Josh was gone) – and we had a really great night just relaxing and enjoying each others company – definitely what we needed after such a crazy week.  I had a few glasses of wine, and 1 Christmas Ale and called it a night!

After a great night Friday – I figured “this is going to be a great relaxing weekend”. I had a hair appointment Saturday at the Brown Aveda Institute – where students who are training are your stylist.  Now I know that sounds scary – but I’ve heard multiple rave reviews about this place – and they use ALL AVEDA products, and the services are super cheap because it’s “training” so I thought “why not give it a try”.  WRONG FREAKING THOUGHT.

IT WAS HORRIBLE. Now I know these are students – I knew that going in, and I knew something like this COULD happen.  However, throughout all my story telling – please keep in mind – I was extremely polite and nice to this girl, despite the fact that I wanted yell and scream out of frustration, and cry out of pain.  She has no idea this is how I felt (maybe that’s bad) – here’s a story through bullet points for ya:

• I didn’t eat breakfast because I didn’t think it was going to be an all day event
• I got there at 8:30 – it took her an hour and 15 minutes to decide on the color combination she would use to dye my hair.  After I had said a nice warm dark red/brown a million times – she decided on a nice warm red/brown.  Should that have taken an hour and 15 minutes?   No.  I watched all the other people with 8:30 appoints leave WAY before I did.
• Hair dye was slopped all over my face and neck – I do it cleaner when I’m doing it myself at home, out of a box
• She cut my scalp when she was parting it into sections
• I almost start crying during shampooing and conditioning because she is rubbing, scratching my head so hard – and on top of that – the water coming out of the tap – ICE COLD
• Once the dye was washed out and she was blowing it dry – she realized she messed up the color (YOU KNOW THE ONE THAT TOOK HER 1HOUR 15 MINUTES to decide on)
• At 11am – I got my hair dyed for the second time
• Repeat horrific shampooing/scratching/conditioning/ICE BATH
• I still haven’t eaten at this point
• She starts cutting my hair – BEFORE I’ve told her what I even want (I almost lost it here)
• She starts doing all these ridiculous movements – cutting and snipping – to the point where I finally speak up and say – “please don’t go any shorter” – and she assures me – it’s not short.  RIGHT
• While she’s styling it – she is actually beating me over the head with a flat paddle brush.  Picture the most tangled hair you’ve ever seen – and being told you could brush it as hard as you need to in order to get out the knots.  That is her brushing method/technique – ON HAIR THAT IS STRAIGHT WITHOUT ANY KNOTS.
• 12:30 – she turns my around in the chair – I see the NAUSEATING RESULT OF MY 4 HOURS at the salon, and I want to throw up.  I have a mullet mixed with a haircut that was popular 12 years ago – and the left side is longer than the right side
• I smile, thank her, pay, go to the car – and call Mike while beginning to cry

Great freaking morning huh?   Now I know some of you are thinking “well – this is what you get” – I know that!  But the scariest part – THIS GIRL IS GRADUATING NEXT WEEKEND!   I could understand the whole thing more – if she was brand new.  But her supervisors there, seem to believe – that she is ready to be unleashed on the world.   God have mercy on her future clients.

Sorry – I had to vent guys – it was bad.  So once Mike saw me – he agreed:  Color – GOOD, Cut – HORRIBLE.   So I have an appointment with my real hair lady on December 17th.   Looks like 10 days of pony tails for me.

After all that – I’m sure you want to see what I’m talking about! 

And I promised you pictures of my new glasses! 

So here’s a combo of the whole bit.   I took these pictures myself so they are pretty much that “extreme close-up type” picture where you can never look good – my face looks HUGE! 

Here’s my hair LOOKING WONDERFUL AND LONG AND LEFT THE HECK ALONE (although the color and cut are BORING – hence my idea to go to the salon) – with old glasses:

Here’s pouty Allison (go ahead and laugh – I tried to make a lame face) – with my hair color looking fine, but with my hair cut looking like a mix between “The Rachel” haircut that was popular 10 YEARS ago – mixed in with a  little bit of mullet-ry. Although – please notice – my FINE looking new glasses.

So that’s that. 

Since I was ready to chew my arm off – I stopped at Chipotle on the way home – and grabbed lunch for me and Mike.  I actually got a burrito and not a bowl – that hasn’t happened in years.  Can you tell I’m an emotional eater?  Or was it just that I was starving to death?  Who knows.  My day did get better right there though – because the lady at the register gave me free guac.  HELLO – WHO DOESN’T LOVE FREE GUAC!

Then I headed over my to my parents with Lando (to give Mike peace and quiet for studying) – and worked on some Christmas presents.   I headed home around 6:30 with two movies – Tropic Thunder, and Hancock.  During movie time, I had an apple, orange, and PB – I was still STUFFED from that whopper burrito

Hancock was really cute – I liked it alot.  But I’m also a huge fan of Will Smith and Jason Bateman (HELLO – ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) – so their was basically no way I was going to think the movie was bad.   I fell asleep during Tropic Thunder, so you can take that for what it’s worth.

Since we are going on marathon post length – I figured I’d keep it going! 

This morning – I started off with some Kashi H2H with hemp milk

And decorating for the holidays – here’s a quick little peek – no tree this year because of Lando:

Here’s Lando trying to stay warm – the vent in the bathroom blows right on that rug – it cracks me up she goes to lay in there:

Phew – tired of me yet?  Anyone even still reading? 

Off to do some more chores and work on more Christmas presents!  Enjoy your Sunday!