Quick Hello

I am still here alive and kicking I promise.  Things have just been crazy between work and then taking a vacation to Laguna Beach I haven’t had much time to blog.  I did receive my May Pop Sugar Box right before I left on vacation and I hope to have that review up for you by the middle of the week.  Then hopefully I can give you a second post at the end of the week either a recipe or hotel review, I haven’t thought that far in advance.

Just wanted to swing by and say hi and stay tuned for more posts!!

Adeline

Life Lesson #1

I read this blog post this week that has really stuck with me.  It was over at A Life Less Bullshit; written by the very talented Nicole.  I have been reading her blog for years and she always has this way of saying things that just make you think.  Plus it doesn’t hurt that she isn’t afraid to use all caps and cussing which of course enhances her writing not distract from it, because it just shows you how human she is.  While I have been a fan of hers for awhile nothing has stuck out to me more than her post titled “Do Whatever You Fucking Want”.  I mean right there in the title it is pretty straight forward and so simple; yet so hard to follow.  Which has got me thinking; am I doing whatever I fucking want to do?

I have always seemed to pander to people in my life in some way.  I do what they want to do, hide the way I feel, don’t talk about what is going on with me because they need me to listen to them, and find excuses for why they treat me the way they do.  Then there is the whole how I treat myself, why am I not baking all the time, writing that children’s book, sketching on weekends, decorating my house, dining at local restaurant alone, or not doing this or that; because I am scared of how others will perceive me.  Which is why Nicole’s post was so great because she point blank stated you need to do you.  Ok I summarized what she was saying into five words but you get the gist.  At some point in your life you have to realize that there is no one else that can do you and you need to stop fighting yourself and do whatever you fucking want.

 A few days before Nicole’s post came out I made the decision to splurge on a Nespresso machine.  Of course me being me I had to do the math and make sure that it was a wise financial decision.  Even though this machine was for me and only me I still couldn’t help myself and had to go to my Mom and lay out all the numbers and get her opinion.  Not only because I truly do value her opinion but also because I felt I needed her approval.  Which is funny since I am 30 years old, own my own home, and have a job.  She does not control my finances or have any say on where or when I spend my money but yet I still needed her approval.  Luckily for me she was all for it, I think it was the numbers especially since she is an accountant. Which leads me to my current obsession which is of course every latte, cappuccino or espresso I have made in the last 4 days.  I have been blowing up my social media tweeting & instagraming it all the time I am sure everyone is sick and tired of hearing about it but oh well!  I have caught myself second guessing if I should tweet this or that about my machine because I am so excited to have it that I just can’t help myself and you know what that is ok!  This is something that I am in love with right now and it is ok to be a total dork about it and get hyped up on espresso whenever I want because it is what I want.

So not only was I totally inspired by Nicole’s post but she also has a great Change Your Story post which completely relates, because we have to learn that it is ok to make changes to who we are and move forward.  I am not sure if it is more noticeable now because we are so inundated with social media so everything we do is broadcasted to the masses in some way or form.  So we second guess our choices, because people are going to see this or know that we are doing this.  But we have to learn that it is ok to stop doing something or to even start doing something because it is what we need or want to do.  It is up to you to make those changes and to realize that you are your own worst enemy.  We are also our hardest critics, every move we make we over analyze and it just doesn’t make sense. We need to learn to be our biggest cheerleader instead.  I catch myself not wanting to share my blog on my own personal facebook, because I don’t know how people will react.  But why do I care?  Well I care because I want to be liked, we all do.  It is our default reaction to not do something because someone we know may have an opinion on what we are doing.  For me I decided that I wanted to be more active on my blog and try to find my voice online; it is going to have its own struggles.  If I want to share this blog I should and if I don’t then that is OK because this is something I am doing for me.  People on facebook, or twitter are all living their lives doing their things they don’t care that I am over here writing about restaurants, my crappy day, my emo moment with a friend, or even that lovely dinner I cooked last night or maybe they do care and they want to cheer me on who knows.  It is ok for me to choose to not find out right now.

So what I want everyone to do is make sure that you are doing you!  If you want to reconnect with that long lost friend then do so, if you want to hole up on the weekend and not talk to a single soul that is ok too, just do something that is for you and learn one step at a time that it is perfectly acceptable to do things just for you no matter how big or small it is.  Feel free to leave me a comment telling me how you plan to do you I would love to hear about it, because your story may help me or someone else learn how to take that step.

Internal Struggle

I have been having a couple hard days internally.  My brain is over analyzing the things around me and just wont give up.  I posted about a few weeks back about changes in friendship and over this last weekend it just for some reason showed me how much things have changed.  And I am struggling with it, I am a sensitive person anyway, I tend to take things personally whether I should or not.  Most times I can rationalize things and don’t let it get to me other times I just can’t help myself.  The joys of being human we can’t always control our feelings.  So over the weekend I just realized how much I miss having my friend in my corner, but at the same time if they were really in my corner would we even be in this position in the first place?  While I can rationalize that things change for a reason, people leave for a reason it doesn’t make it any easier on your feelings to know these things.

So my brain has been over analyzing the choices I have made and wondering about the choices they made and how we went from being friends to not being friends.  How did we get here, what did we say or do that got us here.  It is the merry-go-round type situation in my head.  Now I know that there are two sides to everything and I am not innocent in the situation.  I can own up to the fact that I made choices as well.  I chose to only reach out the way I have and only so many times.  Eventually it got to the point where I had to decide am I getting anything back?  Should I keep trying or is it time to see if they reciprocate in some way.  So eventually I stopped reaching out in whatever way I had been.  Because I just couldn’t anymore and unfortunately nothing ever came from their end and here we are 5 months later.  And it is funny how out of nowhere you think you are fine with the choices you have made you realize that even though you are ok with them the fact that things have changed you can’t help but feel hurt by the change.  It wasn’t an easy choice for me to make but I know and knew it was the right one for me.  I am sure this is just a moment of sadness because I see how different things are now and time will only heal the scars.

Mini Cheesy Meatloaf

While trying to decide what I wanted to cook for the week I got this craving for meatloaf.  I know it seems like a weird craving but for some reason it just sounded so good.  I remember my parents making a cheese stuffed meatloaf as a kid, we didn’t get it all the time but it showed up on the dinner table often.  It was quick and cooked in the microwave; we had a thing for meals cooked in the microwave so much so we have a huge recipe box full of microwave only recipes, who knows maybe I’ll but one of those out in the future.  Now I have had some good meatloaf and the bad, I think there is a fine line between something delicious and just a block of meat; and unfortunately it doesn’t take much to cross into the bad.  I think this is why meatloaf gets such a bad rap often times it is hard and flavorless, I have had many people tell me how gross meatloaf is and then they describe that cafeteria meatloaf from elementary school.  I am sorry there was no way to make that taste good.  So when I think about what I was served as a kid it was always full of flavor and stuffed with cheese how can you go wrong with that.  Now honestly I can’t tell you the last time I actually had meatloaf but I had to do something about this craving so I came up with this:

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Since I did not have my parent’s recipe on hand and I didn’t really know where to start but I did know what I wanted in it, simple flavors and cheese.  I did a little research on the good old internet and crafted my own recipe.  I took bits and pieces from recipes online and my knowledge of how my parent’s always whipped it up or guesses on how they whipped it up.  The biggest decision I made was to make it in small individual loaves versus the large loaf that most people remember being served at the dinner table.  Next I wanted to have a sweet & salty type sauce on top to help with moisture and below you can see the whole recipe.  Don’t forget to make adjustments as you see fit, a little more spices here or less cheese (but who wants less cheese) cooking is fun and should be enjoyed so use what you love!

Mini Cheesy Meatloaves

1 lb ground beef (or any other ground meat you prefer)

1-2 eggs lightly beaten (I used two medium eggs adjust for the size you have on hand)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 medium yellow onion diced

1 tbsp dried orageno

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp granulated garlic or minced garlic

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup plain breadcrumbs (you may need more or less depending on how wet your meat is, I used an extra 1/4 cup)

Salt & Pepper

Ingredients for the Sauce

1/4 – 1/2 cup Ketchup

1 tbsp Horseradish Mustard (next time I will up this to 2 tbsp)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

Heat oven to 425° F and then place your oven rack in the middle of the oven.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

While the oven preheats get a large bowl and put in your ground beef, spices, Worcestershire sauce, lightly beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.  The next part is messy but the only way to make meatloaf, remove any jewelry and then get your hands in there and mix it all up.  At this point if it feels really wet add additional breadcrumbs just to soak up the extra liquid and help keep things together.  Once you have it all mixed up throw in your onion & shredded cheese and give it another good mix.  Feel free to add everything all at once then mix it up, I did in two mixes because honestly I forgot those two ingredients on the other side of the counter and I decided to write this exactly how I did it not that it matters but you never know.  The joys of cooking, you can improvise as you go through it is never exact and that is half the fun.  This is how it should look once mixed up, meat doesn’t look dry and everything is fully incorporated.

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Once everything is mixed up you are going to form 4 to 6 loaves with your hands, and place on your greased cookie sheet.  It all depends on how big you make them, I only made 4 this time.  I got two on the larger size and two smaller ones, which was perfect for lunch the next day.

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After you have formed your loaves and given your hands a good scrubbing it is time to make the sauce.  In a small bowl take your ketchup, mustard, spices and sugar and give it a good stir.  Once it is all mixed up spoon the mixture over each of the loaves giving them a nice top coat.  The sugar in the sauce will begin to caramelize and become almost like barbeque sauce.

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By time you have sauced the loaves your oven should be nice and hot.  Go ahead and place them in middle of your oven for 25 – 30 mins or until the center is no longer pink.  At 25 mins I pulled mine out and as you can kind of see below I cut into it to make sure that it was cooked through and it was perfect.  Depending on how the size and thickness you may have to adjust the cooking time.

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Once you remove them from the oven let them sit for 5 mins to rest before diving into your yummy dinner!  Just look at all the melted cheese mixing in the with sauce, yum!  I served mine with asparagus that was tossed with garlic salt and parmesan cheese and red potatoes that I cooked in the microwave and topped with butter, salt & pepper.

I really enjoyed this dish, it has a nice texture not hard like some meatloaves can get if they are over cooked, I think the small loaves help with this.  The nice thing about the onions is that they soften up and add moisture to the loaf which really helps keep the texture soft and more like a really good hamburger.  I ended up bringing the leftovers to work so my mother and I could enjoy them and they were just as good the next day.

I would love to hear how yours turns out or if you made any changes and how they worked, just leave me a comment!

Popsugar Must Have Box – April

Now that the brakes have been put on tax season I can finally write my Popsugar Must Have April review!

Let’s start with my first impression of the box while I was at the mailbox; my exact words were “boy this is light!?”  Then I hmmm’d all the way across the street wondering what could possibly be inside and it be so light.

So here is what I received:

First up the Shashi Nugget Bracelet in Turquoise/Blue.

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This is a gold plated beaded bracelet that adjusts to your wrist by pulling the strings in the back.  Because there is no clasp on this bracelet it can be adjusted to fit different sized wrists, which I think is a good idea, the downside is that it was too small for me even made at its largest.  It seems to me that it is made on the small scale, there was no way it was going over my hand no matter how I adjusted it.  The quality seems to be good, I didn’t see any major flaws in craftsmanship.  It doesn’t lay in a perfect circle right out of the bag, but it looks like if you put it on your wrist; or if you are me a blown up baggie, it lays flatter and more like a traditional bracelet.  I think that it is possible over time it could wear out if you wore it a lot because the string looks to be embroidery string and I know that eventually it breaks down when used as bracelets.  It would look cute layered with other small bracelets especially since we are hitting the summer months and our sleeves get shorter.  I plan on giving this to a friend because I think it would fit her and it seems more her style than mine and I would hate for it to go to waste just sitting on my dresser.

Next up is the Kai Perfume Oil.

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This is a roller ball perfume oil, because it is an oil you should be able to use less and get the same effect as your spray perfume.  But for me the scent is too floral, as I write this I haven’t put it on my skin yet to try, mainly because I was scared I would have to deal with the floral scent all day and I wasn’t really in the mood for that over the weekend.  I plan to wear it this week sometime while I am at work and see how it goes.  Worst case scenario I can wash it off when I get to the office.  It does say that it will smell differently on each person, which is true for all perfumes.  My one hope is that the gardenia smell it gives off right out of the bottle be a lot tamer on the skin and it will just have this light floral scent, which for spring and summer would be nice.  I will update on twitter how it works out for me; so be sure to follow to stay updated!  I do like the idea of the roller ball because this is something that I could easily travel with or throw in my desk drawer and not have to worry about it leaking everywhere so that is one plus for it!

Next we have the Tatcha Beauty Papers:

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I was a little disappointed to see this in the box because back in the August box we received the original Aburatorigami papers.  I didn’t use them then and I wont be using these now.  For me I don’t have oily skin, so I just do not use blotting papers.  I also know that it isn’t all about oily skin it is just that my beauty routine starts and ends in the morning.  I rarely reapply makeup throughout the day and in all honesty rarely check up on it unless I am going out after work, and even then I rarely have makeup with me to reapply.  So it just doesn’t seem practical for my day to day life.  Now the papers in this months box are for evening, they are black with gold flakes in them and come in a smaller size than the original.  I do see that they could easily fit in your clutch and you can go about your evening then when you go to the restroom you could break them out to freshen up.  Maybe if I think about it I will put them in my bag the next time I go out because it does seem to be the time of year where a lot of events happen outside at night and it can get warm so maybe this will help to keep things in place.  I just have to remember I have them and to throw them in my bag.

The next item is a sweet little treat:

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I did a side by side photo of the chocolate bar from Alter Eco because when I decided to give them a bite I wanted you to see what I opened.  Well tried to open, it took some time to get the wrapper off the chocolate because it melted at some point on its way to me.  In the picture on the right you can see how the left side of the bad has turned a pale brown and the far left side it is actually completely flat and just powder, when the bar melted it was on its side so the right side is solid while the left isn’t.  I did take a bite just because I wanted to see what it tasted like and it was decent; I do think if it made it to me unmelted it would’ve been a decent bar of chocolate.  I do wish it had been milk chocolate instead of dark because I prefer that but when I am not eating it any way I guess it really doesn’t matter.  They did include a $1 off coupon for one of their products, not sure I will use it because I find $4 for a chocolate bar a lot of money but who knows if it goes on sale or something maybe I will give it another shot.

The last item of the box is the Green Garmento Bag:

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This item took up 90% of the box, it is a large 4 in 1 garment bag.  The idea behind it is that you put your dry cleaning in the bag, take it to the cleaners then instead of the cleaners putting that clear plastic bag over your items they put this bag over it instead.  A way to cut back on the plastic bags being used.  While I like this idea, I am not sure how well executed this would be, I could just see them putting this on the hanger with your clothes covered in their clear bags just like they do with current dry cleaning bags or it get put on someone else’s dry cleaning.  It would be nice to see dry cleaners offer these bags for sale so that maybe it would become standard but in reality that just hasn’t happened yet.  It also says that you can use it as a laundry bag (if you have the stand or hook), duffel and of course just a plain garment bag for travel.  This is something I think I may see if my parents would like because they go to the dry cleaners on a pretty regular basis and maybe could get some use out of it, I just know it is going to take up space in my closet and never get used.  Especially since I have maybe 3 dry cleaning pieces and I always just try to sneak them into my parent’s weekly trip.

Here is the breakdown on the suggested retail cost of the items my overall review will be below the breakdown.  You can click on each of the names and be taken to their corresponding website if you are interested in any of the products I received.

Price Breakdown

Shashi Bracelet: $30

Kai Perfume Oil: $48

Tatcha Beauty Papers: $15

Alter Eco Chocolate: $4

Green Garmento: $10

Total Box Retail Value: $107

My overall feel of this box is disappointment.  I really wasn’t wowed by any product or super excited to try anything except the chocolate bar; which turned out to be inedible.  For $35 a month it is hard to see the value with this box.  And since this isn’t the first disappointing box my immediate response to everything was to cancel my subscription.  I really almost cancelled that very night because it just feels like they are not doing what they said they would do.  It should be must have products for life, home, beauty & fashion.  Nothing seemed like a must have, it all seemed pretty standard especially when they reuse a product.  If you were going to include a product from Tatcha again why not choose something different, like their Hydrating Mist or Lifting Mask so that we could see something else from their line, this would have made more sense to me then just putting in another blotting paper pack.  It just felt like they were trying to make the $100 value mark and didn’t care how they did it.

Because I didn’t cancel that very night a couple days later I got an e-mail telling me that they were running a contest in May’s box where as a subscriber they are going to be picking 10 winners of a clutch handbag. Since I am sucker for handbags I have decided to try my luck and keep my box through May, but after that one my ultimate choice is to cancel.  I just don’t think they are living up to their promises so I may switch to another box that is out there.  If you know of a monthly subscription that I should try please leave me a comment and I will look into it!

**Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for this review, the views are mine and mine alone. I do not earn any compensation if you click on the included company links.  I add them for your convenience**

What Day Is It?

Things have just been insane at work lately, I know I shouldn’t be surprised I run a CPA office and it is tax time. This is nothing new I have been doing this for over seven years, but really I told someone today on the phone that it was Friday. I guess that was wishful thinking that the week is over because that means there is only one more day of the craziness.

The downside to my work life being so crazy is I slack off on all the other things in my world. I am just so tired and lazy by time I walk through my door at night that the last thing on my mind is taking care of myself. Because of this lack of motivation my diet has slacked a bit over the last few weeks and I have hovered in this gain a pound loose a pound roller coaster for about 3 to 4 weeks already. While at work I am making good choices; luckily for me our office is part of a fruit of the month club so there is fresh fruits around and I have a drawer of yummy health bars to snack on.  I even make a few bad choices like indulging in a fun size candy bar here and there but nothing that is a diet killer.  It is the after work decisions that I am not doing so well on I know I am not making smart choices.  I own up to the fact that I would rather hit the drive thru than go home and cook something.  It is almost like I do not have an appetite for anything but junk food.  I do wish my days had been a couple hours shorter so I could have used my crock pot more, but that thing cooks on the high end to begin with so a 12 hr day my food is going to be a rock by time I get there.  So I am really looking forward for this tax season being over so that I can get back on track.  I am even too lazy to work out after work; first off because I don’t have any energy and the other is after a work out I get a burst of energy which makes it hard to get to bed.  So when you are coming in your door at 8:30 pm you only have so many hours before you need to get in bed to start the cycle over.  Which means if I work out all that new energy makes me stay up late which makes my next day at work horrible because I am tired.  It is a viscous circle, especially since I can’t bring myself to get out of bed earlier in the morning to work out before work because I like my sleep.  Maybe one day I will get that motivation but it just hasn’t hit me yet I really prefer to sleep.  I just haven’t broken up the love affair with my bed.

I have set some personal goals that have had to be altered due to my laziness over the last few months but I do want to be 30 lbs down by the middle of the July, which will hopefully keep me on my goal to start 2014 by being down a total of 90 – 100 lbs, that is one full year of weight watchers.  So I really hope that after the 15th I can make some changes and form a routine so that when the next deadline in September rolls around I don’t let the laziness hit me and I slack off again!

The one positive thing I have been doing to combat the laziness is doing at least one house upgrade or change a weekend, I do it on the weekend so I am not trying to accomplish things after a long work day.  It seems to be helping a bit, like this past weekend I managed to clean my patio furniture and get it ready to be transported to my parent’s house this coming weekend hopefully.  Doesn’t seem like much, but really, if you live in a desert you know how dusty life is.  There was a nice layer of dirt on everything so it was nice to finally clean things up.  By doing these things to my house it is helping me feel less lazy and like I am doing more than just taxes.  It also leads me into doing other things as well because I start to get in a groove, I then managed to sweep up the patio get it all cleaned up, then I gathered up all my clothing donations that have been sitting in a huge pile in the corner of my room making my room feel disorganized and got them dropped off a the donation center and last but not least finally took all the empty shoe boxes out of my closet and put in the recycle bin.  So it was one big project followed by three little ones and it really helped put me in a better mood.  I finally felt like my world wasn’t all about taxes.  Hopefully I can keep this up through out the rest of the year, because I notice focusing on my house helps me focus on me just a little bit more.  Now if I could just not love cheeseburgers so much I would be in a better place I am sure!

Moving Forward…

While the title was easy to type it certainly isn’t that easy to accomplish.  I hear from so many people that they are always trying to move forward in one way or the other.  If it is moving on from an old love, a job, old friendships or just day to day life we are always moving forward.  We spend so much time dwelling on moving forward that it becomes an affliction, something that just becomes part of our daily lives and when we haven’t moved forward fast enough we dwell even harder on it.

For me I have been struggling with friendships for years now.  And it is weird to think how many years I have been dealing with the same issue over and over again.  I don’t talk about it much with anyone because it seems to raw to admit. But I have been trying to make changes in my life recently and the only way to do that is to take a leap off the cliff.  Jump feet first into what ever lies ahead but the only way to do that is to let go of the ropes holding me back.  And for me one of those ropes tethering me to the past are friendships lost.  It is never easy to loose friends no matter the circumstances. While we grow and evolve so do the people around us, we have to be willing to understand that just because we want to hold on the other person may not.

I have always assumed I was a good person and a great friend. I look back on my friendships and I see me being there for each and everyone of them in their time of need through amazing life changes to the challenging ones no matter what and without question.  I have always felt that I go above and beyond with my friendships but honestly never feel I get the same back.  I tend to feel easily replaced that I was good for the moment but now that I filled my part they are done. Even as friendships change no matter the circumstances we have to learn to take a look from the outside and realize that the person pushing you away is doing it because it is what they need not what you need. This isn’t easy to hear or comprehend because if that person matters to you why don’t you matter to them.

Which leads me to my affliction, I take it too personally when I get pushed to the side or replaced.  This happens more than I like to admit and leads me to a lot of self doubt about the type of friend or person I am.  Because looking around I realize I am no ones person.  (For those Grey’s Anatomy lovers you’ll get that reference) All my friends have their person.  I am always second or third in line, this is the best way I know how to describe it.  It is kind of like being on the team roster but not cool enough to play.  So if I am having a bad day I don’t have a person to vent to or even if I am having a fabulous day there is no one on my team.  Sometimes we just want to know that no matter what is going on there is someone on our side.  I have never had anyone stick around through the hard stuff.  It is weird to think like that but every time I think I have found a great friend something happens and they disappear on me.  Sometimes I know exactly what is happening and others it blind sides me and I feel so confused.

Recently I have been dealing with giving a friend space because it is what they wanted, they eventually admitted this was what they wanted and why they had been distant to begin with, but at some point when does space become no longer friends?  At what point does it make that turn even when reaching out in casual ways doesn’t lead to anything and it feels like I am bothering them.  You start doing your thing they start doing theirs and the next thing you know it’s been months without any real conversations.  Now I know that this is only my side of the situation and there is another side out there so I can only understand my reactions & motives.  We always have to make sure that we are aware of that, this is how I am feeling not the other person.  So what I am going to say next is going to sound childish; I know this but I can’t help the way I feel, but why am I the only one that has to try.  At some point it would be nice to know that someone cared for me the way I do for them.  To try to realize that how they were or are treating me during their time of need is their responsibility and that their actions and words effect me and that I matter. Emotions are not one sided you aren’t the only one in the friendship with feelings so why is that your feelings matter more?  This becomes the question I am sure we have all asked ourselves at one point or another when dealing with any type of relationship, and it goes right back to what I said earlier “we have to realize that the person pushing us away is doing it because it is what they need not what you need”. This isn’t an easy concept to grasp and even though we know this it still doesn’t change our feelings.  It also doesn’t make our feelings any easier to handle.

I think this is the part that gets me the most, knowing that this is a choice they are making and I have no control over that but feeling like I don’t matter to people is a hard rope to cut.  Now a lot of people do not want to talk about the fact that they feel alone in the world because people around you always say “you’re not alone, so many people care about you” without fail as adults if we try to talk about this subject this is what we hear. So why talk about how we feel when we know what they are going to say, I think this is why so many adults hide the fact that they really feel the same.  Why is there such a stigma about the way we feel? I have tried to talk about this with so many people and because of that response is why I never go to deep into the conversation, I never get down to the nitty gritty because the response is you matter to someone.  Well if that is true then why am I having these feelings?  It isn’t easy to admit to yourself or to anyone that you feel like you are easily passed over for someone else. While I don’t expect to miraculously feel better it does help to be raw to how I feel.  I am normally the one that holds everything in because I tend to not have anyone to really share the hard stuff with and I think this is something that needs to change.  How can I move forward and make changes if I am never willing to be outright vulnerable?  Maybe that is the key; learning that sometimes in order to move past the hurdle you have to be willing to get hurt.  Moving forward has never been easy.

Tacos El Gordo

The first of many reviews I hope and boy is it a good one!

Tacos el Gordo – Las Vegas Blvd
3049 S. Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89109
4.5 stars
 

**Edit 1/21/15 – The Las Vegas Blvd Location has closed but Tacos el Gordo has two other locations in the Las Vegas valley to try!**

This a hole in the wall taco shop located in a strip mall next to the Wynn hotel and casino on the Vegas strip.  I have been to this taco shop more than once because it is just so good.  If you are looking for a place that you can get authentic Mexican street tacos than this is the place. I heard about them from one of my coworkers, who said that her and her sister love their tacos and I needed to try them.  So luckily for me they were willing to take me on my first visit and navigate the menu and ordering process.

Because this is a small place how you order your tacos all depends on how busy the place is.  I say this because the very first time I went here it was in the middle of the week and just around 5:30 pm and there was barely anyone there, so we were able to walk right up to anyone and order. Yet the second time that I went which was a Saturday smack dab in the middle of the day the place was packed, wall to wall with people.  When it is like this there are separate lines for each of the meat types, so if you want more than one type of taco you have to stand in each line. This can be kind long depending on what you are ordering.

Now on to the food! First up here is a shot of the menu; they have one posted right outside of the entrance which I loved because I was waiting for my friends so I was able to peruse what was available.

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As you can see each taco runs $2 – $2.25 depending on the meat.  Then there are different types of fries and what I would consider a tostada, because it is a tortilla covered in meat the topped with another tortilla these run around $4.

For my first trip here I ordered taco de lengua (tongue), taco de tripa (tripe) & taco de adobada (spicy pork). This was the first time that I have ever eaten tongue or tripe, I figured if I am going to do this I am going to do it right!  And my friend was telling me how the only thing she orders is the tongue and I wont be disappointed.

First up let’s talk about the tongue:

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I ordered all of my tacos on flour tortillas, the default is corn.  I just am not a fan of the consistency so I opted for flour which they graciously obliged. As we can see it is topped with onions, tomatillo green salsa and cilantro. Since this was my very first time eating tongue I have nothing to compare it to but to me it was cooked perfectly.  It was nice and tender and great flavor, some bites did feel softer than others.  But it wasn’t at all chewy or tough which I was kind of imagining because it is a muscle.  Now there was a little too much onions on this taco for my tastes, so in some bites it was a bit over powering.  The nice thing was that the salsa and cilantro worked really well with the tongue. Overall it had great balance and I would recommend this to anyone who likes tongue or wanted to give it a shot this is the way to go.

Next up is the tripe taco:

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Again this is a first for me as well.  I have had other people talk about eating tripe tacos and how good they are so I just had to try it at this place.  I was not disappointed at all and actually this became my favorite of the night! The tripe had a nice salty crunch then with the salsa and cilantro it was a perfect blend.  On my second trip I had three of these that is how impressed I was with them.  Now the downside is I do not know exactly what kind of salsa this is but I would say it was along the lines of a tomatillo, it wasn’t spicy but it had a nice mellow flavor so it did not overpower the meat. This is defiantly one to try!

Last but not least we have the Adobada taco:

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Adobada taco is a spicy pork taco. The meat is roasted on a large spicket so the outside gets all crispy but the inside parts stay nice and juicy.  This taco is topped with a traditional salsa and then an avocado type sauce, cilantro and onions. This addition of the sauce created a creamy texture and everything melted together.  They were not heavy handed with the onions on this one so for this particular taco it added to the flavor.  Now on top of the meat there sits a piece of pineapple which they slice off and put on top of the taco on request.  I missed this part my first time there and was a bit disappointed about it, so I made sure to ask the next time I went and that is the way to do it.  The pineapple has the roasted sweet flavor that combines with the spicy pork that just works so well together.  It is something that at first you wouldn’t think would be good but then once you bite in you realize you shouldn’t have doubted it!

Now for the last and final photo I wanted to be sure to show you what the fries look like when you order them, my friend got the Adobada & Asada fries; it was an half & half type deal and this is what she received.

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I was pretty full off of my three tacos so only had a couple bites but this was pretty yummy and is certainly big enough to share with the whole table if you wanted.  She was only able to eat about a third before she was too full to take another bite.

Now for the overall review, the food is great; there is no question on the fact that they know what they are doing.  But the restaurant its self is very tiny, there is limited seating and the seating they do have is really small and cramped.  So if you are looking for a relaxing place to sit and chit chat this is not it.  It is all about the food, you suffer through the cramped seating and hard benches because you know the tacos are going to be worth it.  I would like to see them in a bigger space so that they can provide more places to sit so that once you have stood in their massive line for tacos you can actually sit down and enjoy your food.  This is the main ding on their review.  The other thing I should mention is be sure to as for a fountain drink and not just say a soda.  Because I made the mistake of asking for a soda and they gave me a can, it wasn’t until after I already paid and sat down did I realize I had an option for fountain drinks which I would have preferred. Even with the small amounts of seating and my can of soda I was completely satisfied and in all honesty within two days of my visit I was already craving their tacos.  Now that the weather is warming up here it is the perfect time to go and enjoy their outdoor seating with some yummy tacos! Be sure to check them out you wont be disappointed.

The Odd Side of Weight Loss

I have been dieting for just around 6 months now, and have lost a respectable 24 and half pounds.  Who would have ever that that half a pound or even a tenth of a pound would matter but wow does it.  Especially on weeks where you only lose two tenths of a pound, but hey at least you didn’t gain.  This becomes your mantra and any decrease is good, even though in reality you are cursing yourself that you didn’t loose more.  Which leads me to why I call this post the odd side of weight loss; it is because even though I have lost over 20 pounds to me I look exactly the same.  So I see on the scale the change but physically I am still all there, except in my wrists and feet.  This to me just seems so random, I have dieted before even on this exact same diet which by they way is Weight Watchers but the weight is coming off in very different ways than the first time I did it.

Now I don’t have some obscurely tiny wrist or anything but all of a sudden the bracelet I have worn for almost three years can easily be slipped off which it never did before, it use to fit just a little loose around the wrist and I would have to unclasp it to get it on and off.  It was made to fit my wrist specifically and is made out of white gold, so it isn’t like over two years it stretched.  I had the bracelet made for me because I could never find anything in the store that fit.  So it just baffles me that I need to have it made smaller by just over an inch.  It seems so odd that this is where my body decided to loose weight.

I am sure this is totally normal and it is a good change especially for the feet side, I am not a size smaller or anything but I do notice that things fit either looser or just better overall.  This too me is a really good thing, because shoes are my enemy, I hate shopping for them because they never come in my size.  I wear a size 11 normally but I can wear 10s or 12s depending all on the shoe and designer.  So I try not to let it define me but it drastically limits what I can comfortably put on my feet because most stores only care up to a 10 in anything that is fashionable.  Once you hit the 11 – 12 mark you start wearing orthopedic looking shoes that are thick and have velcro.  Just typing that description makes by brow furrow.  So I am looking forward to just maybe getting into a size 10 at some point as my starting size instead of an 11.  I should also note that if I have my foot measured it always comes up at a 10, but 10s rarely fit right.  So this has more to do with the industry than my body personally.

Because this process has been going on for 6 months and I would say I have at least 10 more months before I reach my ultimate goal but I can’t help but wish I showed a greater physical change than I do, while having smaller wrists and feet is nice it doesn’t really alter me visually.  Which ultimately is a nice side effect of loosing weight.  While most of us choose to loose weight mainly for health benefits no one can deny that really it is to look better in clothing.  We are just programmed that way.  Or if you are me it is just to get out of the plus size boxy section and into misses sized clothing where they define curves.  I don’t want to even get started on the drastic difference in clothing between misses and plus size because I can talk for days about how designers think plus size needs to be square that is a whole other post.  As well as the fact that women’s section in department stores is actually plus size clothing, they just don’t call it plus size.

I just decided that I was not focusing on me and it was starting to show physically and then I reached back to my highest weight ever in 2012 and knew that it was time to make a change.  I hope to post more about my journey I am on a goal of loosing 100 lbs and when I look at it that way being almost a quarter of the way there it doesn’t seem that big of a goal.

Popsugar Must Have Box – March 2013

This review is coming late in the month and I am sorry about that unfortunately this is due to my day job taking up all my time. I wont be able to have a steady schedule until after the tax deadline, downside to working in the accounting field. So below is my review of March’s Popsugar Must Have Box.

Here is a look at everything that was received once un-boxed.

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I will start in the upper left hand corner and move clockwise around the photo, so first up is the Sweater Saver, this is a pumice type stone that you use to remove pilling from your sweaters.  Unfortunately for me I do not have a lot of sweaters and the ones I do have, currently do not seem to be pilling.  So this may not be an item I would use, I am going to keep this item in a drawer because it is nice to have on hand if I need but not something I would ever buy.

The next item is also from Hollywood Fashion Secrets and is one of the special extras in the box it is fashion tape samples.  There are 4 different types of tape one of each of the ones they sell on their site; hem tape, fashion tape shapes, accessory dots & fashion tape. Of all the tapes I think the one I would use first off would be the accessory dots, because sometimes we just have those necklaces that keep turning or moving when we don’t want them to.  But overall this is not something I would use normally, I will defiantly keep these with the sweater saver because I am sure it could come in handy one day.

Next we have The Laundress Delicate Wash; this is a high end laundry detergent specifically for delicates.  I did see that there were other washes out there one for Cashmere & Wool and one for Denim Wash that people received.  I would have liked to have received the denim wash because I have a lot more jeans to wash than delicates.  Now not that I don’t wear delicates it’s just that I don’t treat them in any special way, they just go in the laundry and that is it.  I am sure I am breaking some faux pa actually I know I am because at one point I sold lingerie but of course my laziness wins every time so they just go in the washer.

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Now we have the Buxom mascara (sorry the picture isn’t better the box is very shiny) I am looking forward to giving this a try once I use up my current tube.  I am always looking for a great mascara, something that really makes my lashes look full and long without having to curl them forever.  On Sephora it seems to be getting good reviews so hopefully it lives up to them.  Now it is certainly pricier than the drugstore mascara, almost double the cost.  But the one thing about women is if it makes our lashes pop it becomes worth the money.

Moving on to the next item we have the nail polish just above the necklace.  This is called The New Black; I received a metallic sage green and metallic purple/blue.  Neither of these colors appeal to me, they are along the lines of spring colors but just looking at the bottles doesn’t make me want to paint my nails so I will be putting them in my cabinet but doubt I will use them.  Again I would’ve rather have received the pink/red colors that others got but oh well.  Looks like this polish can be purchased at Sephora or Nordstrom.

Heather Belle necklace is next and my favorite piece in the box.  Over the last year I have finally started to wear gold jewelry and I love long necklaces like this. I have been looking for another long necklace to add to my collection, because I only have one other necklace and I wear it so much that I am getting bored with it.  I tend to wear them to work and this is great because it isn’t overly dressy so it is great for everyday but could easily be dressed up for a fancier outfit.  I really do love this piece and I will be sure to follow Heather Belle and see what else she comes up with in the future.  Her website is finally up and running again which I have linked it below in the breakdown.

The last and final piece is the Spoon Sisters Corkatoo Corkscrew, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this.  It is a fun design of a pretty boring item.  I will look forward to using this at my next party.  Because this is definitely something that you don’t want to just keep in a drawer.

Box Price Breakdown:

Heather Belle Necklace: $72

The Laundress Delicate Wash:  $19

Corkatoo Corkscrew: $15.99

Buxom Mascara: $19

The New Black Polish:  $10

Sweater Saver: $5.99

Total Retail Value: $141.98

My overall impression is that is was a decent box, it is well over the $35 cost so it certainly was worth the money even if I end up not using a few of the pieces.  It seems like there was some thought put into the box and the items that were included there didn’t seem to be anything really off the wall in the box and I was happy to see that there weren’t any coupons as part of the box this month, I have never been a fan of that.  The ones that were included related to the items we received which I do like especially if the product I really like it will entice me to purchase something in the future.  The special extra of peeps for the Easter holiday is cute, unfortunately I really hate peeps so these will for sure go to waste or at least into the office maybe someone will eat them. Since I have been riding the fence on whether cancel or not this box has at least made up my mind to stay on for one more month without hesitation because it shows that there is progress being made in some way.  Hopefully this is a sign that things will just get better and better.

If you are interested in giving Popsugar Must Have Box a shot click here to register.  By clicking here and registering I do earn points towards free boxes, I do not receive any kind of compensation for this review or anything for clicking the above links during the price breakdown.