Allora…

a logo i designed for Filter was made into a beautiful sign for the coffee shop. i’m so proud!

I just got back from Austin, TX where I visited Sean and just generally had a great time! I didn’t go with a laundry list of things to do, i just went looking to have fun tooling around with Sean like when he was here in town. We had a great time. The weather was great – 50s 60s and sunny, and the food in that town, wow! amazing….great mexican and great bbq…among others. Compared to the girls in Austin – i am very very clean cut! haha it seemed that every other girl had a big tattoo! the way to look like a tourist in austin, is to wear black (like me) and have no tattoos (like me) hahahah.

On Saturday I got into Austin at about 11:30 am and we stopped at sean’s before heading out. First stop, Curra’s Grille for a great big brunch to get me going, and a great avocado margarita. yeee haw! Next stop, Congress St for some shopping – i got some really cool old mexican movie poster/post cards that i’ll probably frame together. And this neat printed big piece of paper with a cool design – more decor for the apartment! I told sean that Austin reminded me of San Diego so much….just without a big ocean next to it! it has the same kind of architecture and the same attitude. All the houses are like bungalow style or craftsman houses, very cute, and the trees kind of look the same too – no palm trees tho! After a good bit of walking – OH and a stop at an outdoor coffee shop, (that takes debit- amazing) hahaha we went for a cruise around town and then Sean took me to Mount Bunnell – the highest point in Austin to get a good view of the city, the lake, and the surrounding towns. it was beee-yootiful. And then…..back to the apt before going out for the night to Lamberts BBQ and the Liberty (a good divey bar – sean knows exactly what i like hahah) but not before a minor incident. I took a shower before we went out to get the airplane stank off me, and i started to blow dry my hair. and my hair dryer broke mid way thru! i looked liek a crazy person, with half a head of straight smooth hair and half a head of Van Halen hair. woof!

Sunday: sean cooked brunch….then we did a bit of shopping – (i needed some hair supplies, desperately) and then we went to Z Tejas – another great place and had a mexican martini and some grilled shrimpies. Then to Lindsay’s new place (remember – my roomate? she moved to austin) for a bbq – that was a great time too, and also the place where I discovered texas shaped tortilla chips. a revelation.

Monday: sean had to meet with someone from work for a bti, so I grabbed a coffee and walked around town for an hour or so. Then we ate lunch at Frank – this place with all these awesome hot dogs and just general awesomeness. yet again – another great meal. The rest of the day we just tooled around until we went to the Alamo Alehouse which is a movie theater! and they have waiter service at your seats! which is genius. So we saw Youth in Revolt which had us laughing out loud a lot. cute movie. Then to Hotel San Jose – for a Modelo Michelado? i think thats how you spell it. its when you mix like bloody mary mix with a beer. The weather was great, and sean, his friend Leah and i sat outside near the hotel’s pool and just enjoyed it! Then home, watched some 30 rocks, packed up, and left early the next morning.

Enjoy the photos, y’all!

Today I finally hit the moment when I couldn’t handle how messy my closet was. And for me to reach that moment, is pretty bad. So – I went through my clothes and got rid of a bunch of stuff which i’ll drop off at salvation army before work today.

Before:

The clothes to give away:

A slightly better after:

Tomorrow: I’ll tackle the other side of the closet, which in my defense ….blew up because I acquired a roomate who has since left. I have no excuse now! Look at this disaster!

So here is pasta dish that is a knock off of a fettucine alfredo type dish. The difference is richness. This isn’t rich – but if I have to chose between richness and flavor – i’m happy with flavor. The sauce is thickened by the flour. And, make sure you season the heck out of this. The spinach really bumps up the fiber – and you can also use whole wheat pasta to really up the fiber.

Spinach Fettucine
serves 2
1/2 lb fettucine
1 tb butter or olive oil
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tb flour
1 cup chopped frozen spinach
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper

Bring water to a boil, salt the water, and drop your fettucine into the pot. Finely chop your onion and garlic. Add butter/olive oil to pan and add onions, garlic, 1 tsp salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. saute – without browning the garlic- for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, defrost spinach and peas in microwave for 1 minute. Add 1 tbsp flour to the onions and garlic, stir around and cook for 3 minutes (this helps get rid of the flour taste). It will look all clumped up. That’s ok. Turn up heat to medium high, add chicken stock and whisk as the sauce simmers and becomes smooth. Continue whisking; tt will begin to thicken. Once its thickened. Add the defrosted spinach and peas. stir and taste to check seasoning. Combine with fettucine.

Top with parm.

SO – its been a conspicuously long while since I wrote about weigh ins or anything like that. Instead I’ve been writing about butter and hollandaise sauce. Haha. So its January 2, and I got back on the scale this AM for the first time in MONTHS, and the holiday/winter weight damage isn’t as bad as I thought. I’ve put on 10 lbs over the last like 3 or 4 months. Not that bad. I’m still down 36 lbs or so from my start weight over a eyar ago. Today starts me getting back on the wagon as far as regaining control of portion size, exercising more regularly, and not making excuses for eating poorly.

Its not that hard, just have to break the bad habits of the past couple months.