Meat Up

I had to laugh because on the way to meeting Ally, I called my sister at work.  She said “did you know that your blog title said “Blogger Meat Up – didn’t you mean to say Meet Up?!”  Well, yes, yes, I did, but I guess I do have meat on my mind a lot – beef, it’s what’s for eats!  Hannah bought a new styling wand that gets so hot you have to have a glove on one hand to use it.  I wasn’t sure how the back of my head looked like, but I liked the extra curls.

I was styled by Hannah.  I never would have thought to put these pieces together.

Ally was staying at a hotel about an hour away from me.  It was a nice enjoyable ride, just listened to the music and loved having a sunny day.  We met at the lobby of her hotel.

Here’s the thing about meeting a blog friend in real life that you’ve “known” for years.  It actually feels like meeting an old friend that you haven’t seen in a long time.  I felt comfortable with her from the first second I met her.  She looks exactly as she does in her blog pictures, except she was taller than I thought she would be!

We started walking down the street and stopped a woman and asked where a good place would be to go to lunch.  She suggested Stockholm across the street, so that’s where we went.  We sat down and immediately started talking – I have a feeling I talked a bit too much, but she was asking questions about when Tony was sick, and how her sister called her on her cell phone after reading this post and said “You have to read Biz’s last blog post.”  She was driving in the car and knew she couldn’t read it while driving, but went home, read the posts and started crying.  There were several times when I was talking to her about Tony that I almost completely lost it, but I have the ability to somehow shut off that emotion in front of people like a switch.  It’s only when I am by myself that I lose it.

I decided to get a burger with no bun, and ended up eating a few of the fries.  I am still all about the protein challenge!   I was hungry too because I only had an English muffin for breakfast on the drive up.  It’s so funny, but my twin sister can’t really stand mustard and when I send her pics like this she’s like “what’s with the mustard!”  I feel the same way about how she puts ketchup on tacos and eggs, so I guess we are even about that.

Before we knew it, it was time for her to head back to her hotel for her event.  She and a bunch of other bloggers were invited to Aldi’s corporate headquarters for a tour taste testing of different Aldi products.  I had to tell her that I don’t normally buy meat at Aldi, but I do buy dairy and my K-cups there – super cheap!  I know we’ll meet up again, and told her the next time I’d bring Hannah.

I was able to get to my mammogram appointment on time (hence why I was able to get a sick day yesterday to meet up with Ally) and then hit up the gym.  Just did a quick 5k before heading to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I have plans to meet up with my friend Alison and her family for dinner at their house tonight.  I told her I would bring the food if she bought the beer.  I have steaks marinating in the fridge with this marinade on them, I made homemade tortilla chips for chips and my baja fresh salsa.  I made macaroni and cheese, because their girls are young and duh, who doesn’t like mac n cheese! and then made a chimmichurri sauce for the steak.  I plan on grilling up zucchini on the side with a pear walnut balsamic glaze.

So by the time dinner time rolled around, I made it quick and easy.  Brats and corn on the cob!  Jenn, guess what, more mustard!

And since I was a good girl, I decided it was okay to have a Cupcake for dessert.  While Kim Crawford is my favorite Sauvignon Blanc, this one is not bad for $10 a bottle.

And I met my step goal for the day!

I could really get used to having a random day off of in the middle of the week, but I did wake up this morning thinking it was Saturday – damn.  So off to work I go!  Other than plans tonight, I don’t have much planned for the weekend – Hannah is off all weekend and Jacob has to work, so I will be getting lots of Hannah time this weekend – love it!

Hope you have a great weekend – see you Monday!