For this:

(did I scare ya?)  I’m in LOVE!!!!!!

The AMAZING people over at SodaStream sent me their product to try out – and from first sight – I knew it was meant to be! 

They sent over the actual Soda Stream Home Soda Maker – as well as a wide variety of syrups for us to test out!

We got – Regular Cranberry-Raspberry, Regular Energy, 3 bottles of Fruit Flavored Essence:

Regular Orange, Regular Cream Soda, Diet Gingerale:

Diet Cola, Regular Root Beer, Diet Pink Grapefruit, Regular Lemon-Lime:

Being the Diet Coke loving gal that I am – I immediately decided “Diet Cola” was the first syrup I needed to try:

One word – AWESOME!   I was honestly dancing around, giggling at how fun and easy it was too make!

Next on the list – Diet Pink Grapefruit!

Again – AWESOME!  This was even better than the Diet Cola syrup!  So crisp and refreshing!!!! And so easy to make – I think Lando might make herself a drink when she’s home alone!   

So what’s the verdict?

I’m in LOVE – but I also wanted to share with you  (so you have a full grasp on how amazing this product is) - even MIKE is in love with it!

Typically – with the blog stuff – Mike is indifferent.  It’s usually “healthy crap” (his words, not mine) that he isn’t interested in.   So whether it’s a dish I make, or a product I get to review – he doesn’t really get interested.  Well this time – I’m not sure who is more in love with the SodaStream! He even called me this morning and said “WHEN ARE YOU PUTTING UP THAT SODASTREAM POST – THIS THING IS AWESOME!!!!!!“ 

A few things Mike was raving about (and I FULLY agree!):

- It’s so easy to use! There aren’t crazy pieces you have to carefully put together – you literally screw the bottle into the machine – DONE! 

- So easy to clean up! With some kitchen appliances – there are these little pieces/parts that are impossible to clean, and such a pain – that sometimes – I’ll just decide against using the appliance when I just think about having to clean it!  Not with the SodaStream! The ONLY thing you ever have to clean are the water bottles that you drink out of!  One drop of soap, give it a shake and a rinse – DONE!  Seriously – how easy is that??? 

- You can control every single aspect of your pop! I don’t like my pop too fizzy (as a matter of fact, when I buy bottles of pop, I shake them up, and just barely twist of the cap; and repeat about 20 times so that I can get it to my “fizz liking”).  With the SodaStream – you can put as much, or as little fizz into your drink as you’d like!! Not to mention – you can do the same thing with the syrups! I like flavored soda water – so I’ve been using just a splash of the Diet Pink Grapefruit syrup to make a sort of mix between soda water, and a watered down pop!  Mike likes his stuff strong, and full of sugar – so when he uses the regular syrup, he almost doubles the amount!   Thanks to the SodaStream – everyone is happy in the Green Dog Wine household. 

- Last (but certainly not least this day and age) - it pays for itself! I’ll give you an example!   Mike just tested out the “Energy” flavor yesterday and said it tasted EXACTLY like Red Bull.  That being said – look at the price breakout example:

1 container of “Energy” syrup makes 50 – 8 oz servings -   The bottle of syrup is $4.99 – so that makes .09 cents per 8 oz.

1 – 8 oz can of Red Bull usually costs around $2 – so if you were to get 50 – 8oz cans – it would cost you $100.

So what sounds better - $4.99 for 50 drinks, or $100 for 50 drinks – you be the judge!

Thanks to the SodaStream – I’ll say it again – you made EVERYONE in the Green Dog Wine household very happy! 

Happy Hump Day! 

Thanks for all the compliments/well wishes yesterday! Ya’ll are too KIND! (and really know how to make a girl feel good!)

If you get a chance – go check out my Worker Bee guest post on Rose’s fabulous blog: On a Lobster Placemat!

Speaking of work – just wanted to let ya’ll know – things are MAJORLY heating up for me at work (which is good!!) – but not good for the blog!  If I should go MIA for the day – it’s because I got swamped!     Just wanted to give you a “heads up”, but rest assured…I’m going to do my best to get you your highly coveted, absolutely hysterical, always interesting, superbly written, daily dose of GDW!   

I’m totally hooked on my dessert oats combo for breakfast this week – I just can’t get enough!   TJ’s Steel Cut Oats, TJ’s Pumpkin Butter, Naturally More Peanut Butter:

Lunch – a smaller version of yesterday’s salad – Iceberg, turkey, chickpeas, peppers:

And my snack was fitting – I barely had time for one – so it worked out well that I had a very small one!  Only 2 apricots left in the bag – so sad!   I LOVE Mariani apricots!!

By the time I got home, AND walked Lando – I was starving!! After staring at my fridge/freezer/pantry for about 5 minutes, I was strongly considering getting food at a drive through… Then it hit me!

What if I took some of these:

(thanks to the lovely people at Wilwood/Pulmuone)  (and thanks GC for the pic – I stoled-ed it!)

Added some of this:

And topped it all with these:

To make THIS:

I’d say that is a pretty darn good presentation for some whipped up on a whim dinner! 

I have to tell you – it tasted just as good as it looks! (I hope it looks good to you – I think it looks amazing!!!)    It was my first time trying those TJ’s Eggplant Cutlets and I LOVED LOVE LOVED them!  I highly recommend them!

Last but not least – I have been meaning to show ya’ll this for weeks!   Wanna know another sweet benefit to being on the Yawpfest committee?   I got to keep this:

It’s all mine!  I am so excited by it (yeah – I’m a NERD!) – but I have no idea what to do with it!   It’s just hanging out in my office – waiting for me to do something cool with it.   Any ideas???

My Monday definitely started off nicely – I made oats – and got to top them with Pumpkin Butter, Peanut Butter, AND PB & Chocolate Chips!

It was practically dessert for breakfast! 

After a few weeks of being all over the place – ALL I wanted for lunch this week was salad, salad, salad!  So I whipped up a pretty mean one with peppers, onion, chick peas, and turkey!

My body was very thankful!      For a snack – I broke down and ate the last of my Pirates Booty supply – the “Original Tings – Crunchy Corn Sticks“

They were basically Cheetos – minus the orange, and minus the artificial JUNK! 

They were really tasty – although – strangely – NOT filling!   The whole bag was actually 300 calories (2 servings, compared to the 1 serving for the Booty), so I think in the future – I’ll stick to the traditional Booty!

For “2nd snack” – I broke into this delightful treat that had been left on my desk by Kristin:

Home-made, whole wheat zucchini bread!

This stuff was fantastic!  It was sweet – but NOT TOO SWEET, and had a fabulous walnut crunch!  I love when you can see the little flecks of green in zucchini bread – it just makes you feel more healthy! 

When I got home from work – Mike and I came to the sad realization (I’ll get to why it’s sad in a minute) that we would not see each other at all on Tuesday – and thought it would be best that we go out to dinner Monday night instead!     We decided to go where we went last year – Melt Bar & Grilled!!!

To celebrate – we both ordered Strongbow drafts!

MMM – tastes so good when it hits your lips! 

And I actually ordered the exact same dish that I did last year – the Winter Chicken:   Grilled Chicken, Pepperjack Cheese, Honey Tomato Chipotle sauce! (on the side – EXTRA PICKLES!) 

Yum, yum, YUM!!!!

So why the sad realization you ask?  Why title the post “Number 2″ (I know at least one of you thought of the bathroom function – sicko!  )  – Today, October 27th – Mike and I have been married for 2 whole years!  It seems so crazy to say, I feel like it was just yesterday, and I feel like we are too young to be able to say that – but it’s the truth!

Happy Anniversary Mond!   I love you!