Do you guys know what Snapchat is?  It’s an app where you send someone a 9 second video, and once they watch it, it just goes away.  My step-son sends them to me all the time – just random shit like his dogs, or his workouts.  Joe was a very picky eater growing up – so much so that he made Tony peel his hot dogs.  The first time we made cookies together, I reached for the flour and sugar and he went to the refrigerator.  When I asked him what he was looking for he said “the roll of cookie dough!”  When I told him we were making cookies from scratch, he’d never known you could make them from scratch – just the cut from a tube and bake!

But he’s older now – and things we thought he wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole – mainly fish, vegetables and salads, he eats on a regular basis.  We were watching an episode of Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and this woman was making these enormous cinnamon sticky buns and when she flipped over the pan and all that gooey sugary mixture came out on top of those sticky buns, I told Tony “Joe would love those!”  To which he disagreed because he said there were nuts.  Ah, the nut factor.  This is true – when I made carrot cake I couldn’t put nuts OR raisins in it.  I texted Joe a picture of a sticky bun, WITH NUTS and asked him if he’d eat that.  His response?  “I’d eat the shit out of that.”  Now I really want a sticky bun!  Not sure there is a “light” recipe out there for those though.  But if you find it and happen to send it to me, I’d be perfectly fine with that!

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Breakfast was simple – an egg, ham, cheese McMuffin on a high fiber English muffin and fresh fruit on the side.

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I decided to hit up the pool at lunch.  My right foot has been hurting the last couple days – I think it’s because I’ve been wearing my boots all day at work.  Today I plan on wearing my Sketchers and hopefully the paid will go away.  It didn’t hurt while I was swimming though.  I keep saying I’ll get to my toenails – I think this weekend is the weekend – ha!

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More chili for lunch – I think the flavor gets better the longer it sits.

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We switched cars so Tony could get my oil changed, so we met at the restaurant.  Since I have to work on Valentine’s Day night, we decided to make this our V-Day dinner date!  Have you ever had Sapporo beer on tap?  OMG, so good! 

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I never even tried calamari before I met Tony – these were good – they brought me a spicy sriracha dipping sauce and that was amazeballs.

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Tony got sushi – he LOVES sushi – I only like the cooked stuff, although I’ve had raw ahi tuna and I liked that.  Salmon skin roll and a rainbow roll I think?

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The lighting was horrible, so this picture doesn’t do it justice, but I got the Red Thai Curry with Tofu – it had crunchy green beans, red peppers and bamboo shoots. With brown rice on the side.

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Before we knew it, it was time to head across the street to the movie!  If you’ve never seen a movie at an iPic before, you need to experience it at least once.  Although once you go, you’ll never want to see a movie any other way.  Back when my step-son started working there, it was called Gold Class Cinemas.  All the seats were premium, you had a button to call your server and get beer/wine/food throughout the whole movie.  Now only half the seats are premium, and you can only order food and beverages until the movie starts.  Kind of weird, but whatever.  Recliners with pillows and blankets.

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The seats are so comfortable.  We each ordered a beer – this time I got Sam Adams Winter ale.

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We asked the server how long she’d been there, and she must have just missed knowing Joe since he and his wife have been in Austin I think 3 years by now.  But one of the guys he used to work with is now the manager there, so he comped our beers – nice!

The movie was 3-D – the glasses started bothering me a bit by the end, but Lego is a cute movie.   It was just fun to get out – and to do it on a weekday so we didn’t feel rushed was awesome.  I think next time though we’ll pick a movie time a bit later – we had an hour from when I got to the restaurant until the movie started, but other than that, it was a great night out with my honey.  Happy Valentine’s Day Tony!

So I put on Facebook last weekend that I’ve declared 2014 the year of me making sourdough bread.  Well, I am on Day 4 of the starter and so far so good! 

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I’ll be ready to bake my first loaf on Saturday – cannot wait!   So every night when I get home, I take half of the starter away, and add 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup flour and keep feeding it like that until Saturday.  I’ve read that people save the “other half” and add it to their pizza dough – so I guess I’ll be making pizza Sunday night!  I wrote that so Tony can put his pizza face on.

Can I ask you for some link love?  My friend Karli, who was the one that invited me to the Beef Counsel event in Chicago last October,  has put herself “out there” that it’s time she lost a little weight.  Um, first of all, she’s totally beautiful – here she is in the middle – that’s her co-worker Meredith on the right.

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She and her Mom have a decorating blog called Kindred Style – they are both super talented in the decorating department.  My decorating style can only be called “early miscellaneous!”

Anyway, she wrote a personal post about how she wants to get in better shape, and actually linked to me as inspiration.   I was shocked to see my picture on there!  But her basis is that I eat real food, don’t use diet pills or shakes – and that you can lose weight while eating normal food.  But it also got me a bit embarrassed because I haven’t been the best roll model these last few weeks, so Karli, thanks to your post, it has motivated me to get back on track with the exercising.  And maybe skip the fried calamari the next time I go out. ;D

So if you have time – I’d love for you to leave Karli a comment on her post and let her know we are cheering her on.   I know you can do it Karli!

It’s that time again to get this show on the road – I can’t tell you how excited I am that it’s already 20 degrees by 7:30 in the morning – I probably won’t wear a coat!   Make it a great day!