-mixed nuts think thin crunch bar
That's all I had an appetite for until dinner. The heat is REALLY getting to me. To be fair, I would have eaten a larger breakfast, but due to time constraints that couldn't happen. But lunch did not cross my mind until 5 pm and I knew we'd be eating dinner in a couple hours, so I held off.
Sam got here just after 7 (perfect timing, since I had just gotten home from work not tooooo earlier before that) and we all agreed to try out this new italian restaurant, Spazo. I had a restaurant.com gift certif for it. Score. My family LOVED it, but Sam and I thought our entrees were just OK. I'd go again though. Plus, the service was great.
-side salad with italian
-1 garlic knot (super good)
-grilled salmon with artichokes in a lemon wine sauce
The salmon was actually cooked very well, I just thought the sauce was alright.
I REALLY wanted gelato and maybe some tirimisu, but we had a dozen cupcakes waiting for us at home thanks to Sam! He recently discovered a cupcake shop near him & brought us a little slice of heaven!
-banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting (I think) with a little piece of snickers on top
It was really good! I also had one bite of my Mom's vanilla, but that was just alright.
June 18
For breakfast we needed to be close to the office to pick a few things up we left behind on Friday, so we ended up at Cafe Brazil.
-coffee with vanilla stevia (bourbon pecan, cinnamon roll, & a few sips of decaf chocolate cherry)
-part of a chicken empanada topped with green tomatillo sauce (sauce was great, the rest..meh)
-2 eggs over medium
-a few rosemary breakfast potatoes
-1 piece of whole wheat toast with homemade jam
I also had a small bite of Sam's hashbrown casserole which was UNBELIEVABLE.
Breakfast was eaten after noon, so there was no lunch to be had. Instead, we met my Mom for mani/pedi's!
Sam likes manis, but hasn't had a pedi since he was younger & he was terrified of them. But curiosity got the best of him & he braved it and loved it. Ohh yeah.
I gave gel nails another shot since this place is cheap ($25! Most places around here charge $40+). *fingers crossed* Remember last time they started peeling off on me after 6 days, but I have high hopes this time. Plus, this place had a huge, awesome selection of colors. Very nice! And I only wanted to kick the lady in the face a few times during the pedicure, lol. Usually I have to actively try not to the entire time :).
We stopped by a couple fast food joints (blah) and I saw that McDonalds had new rolo mcflurries and I got crazy excited. I wasn't hungry at all, but I ordered a snack sized one anyway. And....only then realized, hey wait, I don't even LIKE rolos. WTF? LOL. I ate a few bites, but split the rest among whoeever else wanted to try it.
Shortly after running home to change we headed over to the Ritz to meet Sam's friends for cocktails and appetizers. They had club level access, so whatever our little hearts desired we received. Not too shabby, eh? Sam and I thought we were going out to dinner, but didn't really have time. I had 2 scotch on the rocks & 2 shots of tequila. Probably a little unnecessary, but tasty. I wasn't too hungry, but eventually sampled the chicken salad & upon everyone's insistence, I also tried the pork belly. It was a little too thick-cut bacon-y for my palette (remember, I hate bacon), but it wasn't bad.
Then, it was Chelsea Handler show time!!! We considered taking a cab so Sam could drink more too, but eventually he decided he'd rather just drive. He still had a few drinks early into the festivities, but he was fine since there was a lot of in between time.
Even after talking them up to the group all evening, I kind of regret getting the venue drinks. First, I got a vodka red bull. For $16. It came in a fairly large cup (that I always sneak home for smoothies), but he barely poured in any vodka. Ridiculous! I thought that's where I'd stop for the evening, but Sam spied the specialty Chelsea martinis and they were made from grapefruit juice, vodka, and some kind of flower or elderberry or something, I forget. They looked delightful, so even with a full drink in hand, I simply HAD to have it too. It was $13, still stupid, but what made it worse was that it was cash only. I only had $5 and Sam left his money in his other jeans. To make it worse, they put the drink stand RIGHT next to the ATM's, so I ended up getting out $20. For a $3.75 service charge. And tip. WHY DID I DO THAT? So, basically I paid over $17 for a stupid drink. Twice. Luckily the martini was rather delightful, so it was worth it in that sense, but that is still crazytown. I also had to drink nearly half of it as soon as I picked it up just so it wouldn't spill.
The 3 openers happened to be 3 of my fave Chelsea Lately regulars: Heather McDonald (who's own book I loved), Brad Wollack (who accompanied her when I saw her last tour), & Josh Wolf. They were all great. As was Chelsea. Though it was a bit head scratching that the tour is called The Lies Chelsea Handler Told, after "her" (really her friends and family) latest book, yet the content of the book had nothing to do with the content of her show? Unlike last tour, when it was basically a live rehashing of the book. This was probably better, as it wasn't repetitive, but call it something else, yo!
I also found it a bit peculiar that Chelsea came out with shitty hair all thrown up in a messy bun, tight, somewhat unflattering white pants, and a bright pink, oversized tshirt. And she was in casual flats of some sort. Actually Heather was in flats too. Come on ladies, this is a show. Glam it up a little, please.
Chelsea had done a book signing earlier in the day that we considered attending, but opted not to. You had to buy the book to get a ticket and we already had our own copies. I wonder if she looked so bad for that? It made me wonder if she was sick, drunk, or just didn't care lol. On her tv show she keeps mentioning the flu, so maybe that explains it.
I also got us fairly good seats and the venue is on the smallish side (holds about 4,000? 5,000? Not like a stadium), but I still felt like it was hard to see the performers without watching the big screens instead of the actual person on stage. I guess that could have been the booze helping distort them lol, but it just seemed further than I remembered last time I had those level seats for concerts. Oh well, it was still fun and funny and all that jazz. The only thing that makes me sad is every time I leave a show I always immediately start to forget all the stories, jokes, etc. and it feels like a waste almost. But not really, because it's always great in the moment, which is what you pay for. I can't explain it!
It also sucked because I had to pee SO. SO badly. Sam left twice because he couldn't take it, but I refused to miss anything. And boy did I suffer. I know this is way tmi, but I also know we've ALL been there, so get over it :). Now, you know I'd 100% never actually do this, but I'd be lying if it didn't cross my mind "if I peed right now in my seat what are the chances they'd know I was the culprit?" HAHA. Ohhhh Amanda. So half the show I had that dilemma where 50% of me wants the show to go on forever and never end, while the other 50% is screaming "goddammit hurry this along and end already, I gotta peeeeeeeeee." You understand, I know you do.
It also sucked that I'm a complete DUMBASS and didn't even THINK to check my camera battery. So obviously that meant not only was the battery low, but it was DEAD. WTF I never let that happen. Ri-diculous.
Since I hadn't eaten much since breakfast I was pretty frickin' famished afterwards. I was torn between wanting pizza or fish tacos. Weird combo lol. Not that I wanted them simultaneously, but still.
I think the pizza was because before the show one of the guys had mentioned a pizza place they'd gone to the day before, Sfuzzi, and they were open and serving 'til 3 am. And the fish tacos perhaps because last time I was with them that's what they ate lol. So we headed over to Sfuzzi, but they had bouncers and more of a club scene going. We weren't feeling it, so we tried a few other places which were either the same or closed. Finally, Sam and I just agreed to let the other guys head back to their hotel (it was literally across the street from this point) and we'd head back towards my house & stop at In & Out Burger for ourselves (the other guys didn't seem like they cared if they ate or not).
What a great idea and horrible idea all at once. I mean, who doesn't love In & Out, am I right? Oh, besides my Dad and brother, but who needs them? My Mom wasn't a huge fan last time, but Sam and I brought her one back and she loved hers so much she woke up with the wrapper still snuggled up with her in bed the next morning-HAHA. Another convert!
Anyway, so last time I went there, you may recall I stuffed my face with a double double animal style burger AND animal style fries and I was SHOCKED to find I felt perfectly fine after. Not so much with scotch, tequila, and vodka swimming in my belly. I ate the whole burger, including all of Sam's pickles and tomatoes, but was too full after about 2 bites of the fries, so at least I was smart enough to save those. I also ordered the neopolitan shake for my drink, which was not so good. At least it was tiny and I only drank about half.
I suddenly got EXHAUSTED out of nowhere and crawled (/stumbled? Just kidding. I'm really over exaggerating that part. I was affected, yes, but not a drunkity drunk) into bed. Where I woke up, uncomfortable, juuuust about every hour after 3 am (fell asleep maybe 1:30?) UGH. I kept thinking I was gonna be sick, but I wasn't sure from what. I'm pretty sure the alcohol was the sleep disruptor, as it often is, but lying down almost immediately after downing a burger was my downfall with the quease-factor.
Luckily, I was smart enough to drink water & replenish my electrolytes via vitamins (see, obviously I couldn't have been drunk to be that smart! haha), so once I woke up for good I felt fine. I hate hangovers (who doesn't?), so that was a relief. I had a minor headache every time I heard children scream in public the next day (which happened twice), but other than that I was good to go. Sometimes I'll wake up and feel normal and progressively get sicker and sicker after a nite out, but that was not the case. But I still cursed alcohol and remembered why I hate it's excessive consumption. A girl needs her sleep, dammit.
And not to justify it, but at the time it did feel like a much needed way to blow off some stress from the week. Which I also feel means you shouldn't drink at all, but ya know. I survived ;).
June 19
Workout:
-33 minutes cross ramp
-stretching
Sam woke up a lil before me I think, but when I heard him & my Dad talking downstairs and after I brushed my teeth & went down to talk with them, Sam was sound asleep again, so I snuck out to the gym real quick. Is that rude? I hadn't worked out since LAST Sunday and I felt sooo disgusting. It was much needed!
We were supposed to meet the guys (Justin and Brad, who we went out w/ last nite) at Houston's for lunch, but they drank too much the nite before & couldn't make it. I offered for my Dad to come with Sam and I for lunch there anyway, but he wanted breakfast, so we blew it off altogether and went with him to Deli News. I almost always feel like breakfast foods, especially at all day breakfast kinda places, but this time I went for lunch:
-half of a roasted turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, & deli mustard (ate half of the half)
-a few bites of potato salad
-matzoh ball soup (I remembered I didn't like this palce's soups that much, but ordered anyway. I'm dumb. the matzoh balls are ok, but otherwise...bland!)
-1/3 of a piece of chocolate chip danish (the smallest piece of the whole)
I don't know how I ate that danish, I was sooo full. The heat is still killing my appetite. Not that it's a bad thing :-P.
Then, we ran into Sam's Club & then went home & Sam, my brother, and I played Balderdash for awhile. Love gamesies!
For dinner we had reservations at Outback. Dad'd choice! While we waited they gave us a sample of the fried mushrooms & cheese fries. Really good, but I think dairy may trigger my cough that won't go away.
Sam & I
My beautiful fam. Ignore my Dad's nerdy 30 year old shirt. I already made fun of him enough for it! :)
-about 2 bites of filet mignon
-2/3 of a lobster tail (gave my Dad the rest + 1 bite to my mom)
-a couple bites of grilled veggies
-a couple bites of a small sweet potato
Tasty, but wayy too much.
My Mom has always claimed to hate lobster, but suddenly after that bite she changed her mind and LOVES it now. But knowing her, I bet if I asked her again if she likes lobster she'd say she hates it. LOL. She always forgets and always has her first guess impression of something last in her mind. Silly, mom!
Then, Sam had to leave *tear*
It was a really nice weekend! We love when Sam comes.
Plus, all weekend we picked at all the diff cupcake flavors to sample them all. Deeelish!
xo,
Amanda
