Cafe Lucrat

It's restaurant week, which means you get to go to these extra pricey places for reasonable prices. So I went with a bunch of coworkers from other departments. We've gone for the last 3 seasons and it's always been delightful, though I do confess to hearing some of the same stories more than once after this round. No one's counting, though, right?

So I went and ate shaved apple salad, (the salad was made from shaved apples, cheese and chives), a pork udon dish that was delightfully and unadvertised as spicy. I love that restaurants will delivery spicy food to you without even disclosing that it's spicy. To me, it signals distinguished tastes. And finally, 6 mini donut for dessert. I have to say that I've seen the dessert donuts done better than this, but I wasn't going to complain.

Fancy pants restaurants, you make a girl feel special and classy. Thanks, Cafe Lucrat.

The Melting Pot

This is a restaurant quite near my office. It's been holding out on me since I lived in KC. We'd always find another place to try, another 3 course meal for the same price, for cheaper, one that's better, one that isn't full. Until now!

My friend had a coupon for free desert, so I went there with her and her daughter. I had shrimp, chicken, and filet mignon. We had to cook it ourselves, in a little oil pot, with various forms of breading.

Good thing that I skipped lunch. I'll upload some photos soon.

The desert was incredible, chocolatey, brownies, marshmallows, cookies, rice krispie bars, and Amelia cleaned up the desert part. I'll be anxious to try it again in the future, whenever that should be.

Will leave you with a quote from my boss's boss, after he got done telling me his mission for the department as a whole:
"I chose the Big Sur marathon because I figured if I was going to do a marathon, it might as well be the hardest one there is."

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Except I chose the easiest one.
The dude is hardcore. I'm afraid. *quiver*

For the secret offerings of your heart, which we offer now in silence

Do you ever  remember that part of Mass, where you pray for everyone and then you get one quick, brief prayer during Mass, for your secret intentions of your heart?

What should one say when their friend is happily, effortlessly pregnant?
"I'm so happy for you! Congrats! Which room, where, how, office, parents, etc?"

And then the other part: You just tried once and it worked?
I am about to go to the doctor and get a full ultrasound of my reproductive organs.
You found out 3 days before with the test?
I take my temperature every morning to know when I'm ovulating.
You get to start decorating your baby room immediately?
I gave up the idea of the baby's room and turned it back into a sitting room.
Your boss is giving his old crib?
I have a baby crib in my basement...waiting since 2010.

Oh....yeah. You can't really say any of those things, espeically if you spent your whole teenage years and early 20s saying that you don't want children.

Haha, life is funny sometimes. I have no need to complain, for I have everything I've ever wanted. 

Stuff to do tomorrow:

List for tomorrow:
Call Paul Helmer about paint scheme
Call Gray Vance about drywall
Call Nutter about refi
Exchange shoes in Lakeville
Pick up prescription
get umbrella coverage.

I should use this tile, right?

I think I am going to pull up all of the third floor tile when we're back in KC.

This is sort of what I want to do to replace it. I've been staring at tile slide shows for about 30 minutes.


http://www.slide.com/s/8EaSK7phzT8QbDJnyVt_YybCiHgHo4F8




I am not going to have it in these colors at all--but I like the pattern.  I think I can make it, too, but I have to find a place that will sell all of the pieces in one material, which isn't easy.

t3 and t4-free test

Well,  I just got done with my second blood test, hoping that I DO have high t4 levels in order to prove that I have a diagnosable hypothyroid problem. If I don't have a problem, then I am sincerely unsure what to do to manage my weight. 

My friend's comment: "Yeah, I just started walking my dog about 30 minutes a day and I lost 10 lbs."
My comment: Yeah, I ran  20 miles last week and didn't lose anything!"

HA.

Also took a depression survey. "How many days a week do you feel worthless?" "How many days a week do you feel like you're letting your family down?" "How often do you have trouble concentrating?" "How do you have trouble sleeping?"
Uhhh, really more than 3 days a week.

Ryan the Lion

My baby brother came up this weekend for a visit. We took him to Fogo de Chao, Mall of America, bowling, Chipotle, Caribou coffee,  and  the running store in Lakeville and then Leann Chin.
I'm pretty sure he had fun and I was sad to see him go. We spoiled him like crazy this weekend and paid for EVERYTHING.
I really don't mind at all because he has no one in his life who can take care of him right now, so the kid needs some kind of support.

The weirdest part of the weekend was at the bowling alley when someone took his shoes. Who takes a men's 8.5 pair of sneakers? No one wears that size at all. Who takes someone else's shoes, period? Or doesn't bring them back? We made an announcement, searched the whole bowling alley (and 16 people were searching with us)  and ended up just walking out in the bowling shoes after leaving our phone number. "Please call us if someone turns them in."
I knew I couldn't send Ry home without shoes, so we used a groupon for running shoes that we had. Dan will forfeit his groupon this time and let Ryan use it.

My new pair is pretty cushy. I love having a lot of support and sponginess to my run. I'm going from Nike to Saucony, but I have to break my shoes in for the 16 week countdown to Madison Half Marathon.

week 7

This will be my 7th week of working out. I won't count the week before Christmas, even though I did work out a few times that week.

6 weeks of going to the gym 4-5 days a week. 6 weeks of working out over 50 minutes. I've started to go up to 1.5 hours in the last 3 weeks.

0 lbs lost.
No changes in my body fat % from week 5-week 6, though I do feel a lot stronger overall.

I burn a minimum of 350 calories each time I go to the gym. I eat about 2000 calories a day.

You start to really hit your stride in your 30s

Did you know it?

I read that in some stupid magazine that the gym has at work. Sarah Michelle Geller was interviewed and said that she was starting to feel normal and stable in her life.
And I must say that I'm feeling the same way. :)

You name it, I've done it or it's happened to me. I want to share now.

Neutral Milk Hotel

We went to see this band last night. I'd post a photo for you, but it was forbidden to photograph at that time. Bummer, right?

As a preview, check out this youtube video of one of the songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH3CRVVBL9o

The concert was folk music style, and for once we seemed to fit the demographic of the show. Sometimes we're too old, too preppy, too young, to really blend in with the crowd, but it wasn't the case this time.

We were all invited to sing for a majority of the show--and at the end, when everyone rises up to sing, it was a pretty moving experience. The King of Carrot Flowers had everyone sing "I love you, Jesus Christ" for the last refrain, which lent me to goosebumps.

After the show, we headed across the street to "Mackenzie". Our friends from ISU have been going there forever and told us we'd love it, so we hit it up.  Sarah and Dan were waiting there with a table for us and we had some drinks, cabbed back to our house for pizza and then drove back downtown for their car after we were sober.
The great news is that cab rides from downtown are only $10.00 to our place. Victory.