Jitterbug's Beat

Love, Food, Exercise, Football and Clothes. My Holy Cinquefoil.

Oh happy Friday, heading into a long weekend after a serious dry-spell of any time off.  Time off for some, I'm sure, means a break from it all - for me, a break from work is enough.  Any time not spent working I can spend with my great boyfriend doing anything or nothing at all, or at my great gym, taking my great classes, or on my great running trail.  Don't really need to go anywhere new or do anything crazy - just plain ol' not giving up myself to the giant work-machine will do fine.  Here's what's making me especially happy today:

 

Okay I love bagels, but those humongous family-sized dough lumps don't exactly jibe with this one-small-person-with-one-pound-left-to-lose-thing I've got going on, and I am thrilled now to be able to have my bagels AND cream cheese, and yes, you guessed it, eat them too.  The Fro Yo?  Well that just speaks for itself, does it not?

Now since the office closed early today, I got to spend my whole lunch hour in my most favorite step aerobics class with the craziest instructor I've ever loved.  She just got back from a big fitness convention in LA and brought back many new and wonderful fitness toys for us to experience.  Today we did a 20-minute interval set running from one end of the room to the other using mini inflated balls for jump squats, up-downs... I don't know if there are even words to describe some of those techniques, but I think they may have been developed as torture methods at Alcatraz.  You can just call me Kelly Stockholm Sullivan, 'cause I LOVE IT ALL, the pain, the sweat, the high!  And thanks Athleta and Nike for you're ever-wonderful gear, spokeswomen and ad campaigns.  They occupy my refrigerator door.

Next up, Fall = football.  'Nuff said.  Except that's not exactly 'nuff - with the lock out, and NO DAMN NEWS in the lock-out-off-season, I'm pretty durn (not a typo) clueless as to what's going on.  I spent some time today trying to get to know my fantasy team... a few old veterans, and a bunch of whoosy-whatsits I've never heard of.  Oh and thank you, Cedric Benson, for getting yourself thrown in jail... I know, I know,  you play for the NFL, you should be able to punch whomever you want, but life just doesn't work that way.  Apparently you're predicted to do horribly anyway.  Know what else?  Just ot add insult to injury, none of my Seahawk jerseys belong to current team members anymore.  What. Ever.

What else... oh September, beckoning fall wardrobe staples... what am I loving right now?  J Crew and Madwell, of course... what's extra sweet?  How about sizes 4 and xs??  Oh hells yeah. Dangerous, I know, but I didn't even remember how much I loved clothes until getting to a size where so much more is available to me!  Fast approaching, the lovely season of pea coats and scarves and hats and gloves and all things layered.  Pieces in every spectrum of the orange rainbow, from vibrant flame to pumpkin!  And yellow!  RED!  With all the beautiful blacks and grays, charcoals, chocolates and olives.  MMmmmnnnnn.  That's my deliciously-anticipating-fall-clothes sound.  I love the word "bundled."  

 
  

 

 

Because sometimes, you just have to punch a turkey leg.

So JW and I are addicted to Man vs. Food.  Ever watch that show?  Between the Travel Channel and the Food Network, I get to experience everything I can't [afford to] do: (a) jet off to Europe on a whim (b) eat all the gourmet food I want to and never gain weight (thank YOU Giada) and (c) work for Charm City Cakes.  On M vs. F Adam travels all around the U.S., eats food at all sorts of places and engages in eating contests. Every guy I know is thinking, why don't I have this job?  It's right up there with the guys who test Madden Football for a living.  Recently we watched Adam attempt to take down 15 milkshakes in a half-hour.  Just as I was asking JW, "What happens if he actually get si--"  and all of a sudden the screen read "CENSORED" and when it came back on, he was cradling a bucket.  Oh Adam.  15 shakes is too many.

Recently we watched the Portland and Seattle episodes  of the show - did you know you can get married at Voodoo Donuts?  That's right ladies, step on in, they pull one of those homeless fellows off the street and BLAM, you're married.  There also seem to be a lot of pirates that dine out in Portland.  In Seattle, Adam went to Red Mill Burgers.  World-famous onion rings.  Burgers so good they look like they're dripping burgery goodness right out of your TV screen.   That's bu-R-gery goodness you sickos.   So in JW's travels for work, he was lucky enough to stop at the Red Mill for lunch!  Check it out.  I missed out on this one.  And is that a SHAKE?  Oh I was so jealous!  Aren't you?!

Martha Stewart, eat your heart out.

So I just returned from what was a most wonderful Thanksgiving trip home - Texas-home, that is.  Mom and I got to hang out and do our thing - which is really a lot of nothing - and is our absolute favorite thing to do.  We hung out, chatted, watched movies and BAKED.  Last year it was occasion for Penuchi Fudge Cake and cabbage buns.  This year we baked sugar cookies and made peanut butter balls!  In fact I'm eating some right now.  Mmmmm, balls.   

But check this out - I get a little ... nutty when it comes to my Christmas cookies.  See for yourself.

   

OH and I caught up on some jewelry work before my show coming up...

I got to have my fill of Christmas goodies and then run it all off on Thanksgiving morning during the 41st annual (2nd annual for me) Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot.  In short - or LONG I suppose I should say - damn eight miles - it was... oh fine, it was fun.  But my brother and niece are now marathon runners so a mere eight miles barely phased them.  It phased the hell outta me.  But the good news was I got home in time to watch a lot of really, really bad football.  Hm.  Okay all in all that sounds bad - but if you need a summary of how much fun I had, that smiling countenance below pretty much sums it up. My momma.  She's awesome.  I'm lucky.

Deep fried, beer-soaked weekend.

Finally football season has begun and the spirit is alive and well ... despite the Seahawkscoming in at 0 and 2 right now, I'm convinced that they can come back and take back their season!  Convinced!  And I joined fantasy football this year too - the title is misleading.  Maybe more of an appropriate title would be "what-would-have-been-your-real-fantasy-team-if-nobody-else-in-the-league-took-all-the-good-players -before-you-got-your-turn-football."  Even that said, I've got GREAT players.  Great!  Payton Manning.  Joseph Addai.  Felix Jones.  Donald Driver.  But even with my great players, I keep on losing games.  I believe, like the dear Seahawks, that my current fantasy record 0 and 2 will also be left in the dust as I labor on, winning the rest of the season.  But if it can only happen for one of us, please lord that watches over sports teams, let it be the Seahawks.  Walking out of the stadium last night after our loss, reminded me of beating San Fran last year, and JW and I walking out of the stadium in our Hawks jerseys, high-fiving other Hawk fans in the stadium, reveling in the downtrodden looks on all those San Fran faces... last night it was the same thing in reverse.  I have absolutely no voice today from screaming myself hoarse.  So sad for our boys!  But they're nothing if not resilient, and Holmgren's got to know what he's doing.  They'll be all right. 

Earlier this weekend, Friday night, we rode the motorcycles out to Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel.  It was great fun - our friends acquired camping spots right on the edge of all of the fun and food, and we made a late night of it Friday and a lazy day of it Saturday.  The main clock tower rings, and these big, carved figurines spin to music, telling the story of Mt. Angel.  It's a giant, slightly racist cu-cu-clock.  Pretty sure Native Americans never dressed like Tarzan.  But, food, food, food - OH the food.  Deep fried Twinkies covered with ice cream.  Gross but accurate, quoting Nate, "It's like an angel pooped in my mouth."  Giant corn on the cobs sitting in a crockpot full of butter.  Cabbage rolls.  Pulled pork sandwiches.  Ice cream.  Elephant ears.  Spiced pork sandwiches.  Meatballs with sauerkraut.  Emergency ice.  The god of all good German food smiled on Oktoberfest.  Oh if only Molly had been able to join us!  I would love to see her take on everything - my camera went dead after two pictures!  And neither of those pictures were of food.  Sigh.  We will damn sure be going again next year. 

Berry good.

I couldn't not post a picture of the berries I got today from the Farmers Market ...  adding the FM to the list of reasons I'm glad I live in Portland.

Damn you, Trader Joe

So I suppose admitting I have a problem is the first step.  I'm developing an out of hand addiction to Trader Joes.  When I first moved into Joe's neighborhood, I had no problem ignoring it whatsoever.  Then something happened.  People at the office would recognize my address and say "OH by Trader Joes!"  And then I started hearing rumors about how inexpensive the food was, including produce!  And THEN, people would have things to eat around the office that were amazing, delicious, wonderful and would you guess where they got them?  Yeah, not Safeway. 

To add insult to injury, after these... let's call them Random Joeings... I ran out of milk.  I really needed milk.  I didn't want to drive all the way to the store.  So, yes, I went to Trader Joes.  I saw my bags of spinach at about a third of the cost.  Then my cheese - 'bout two bucks cheaper.  I was poking around the broccoli and discovered this ingenious new vegge called Broccoliflower.  It is ever so good.  Then grapefruit.  So I left there with a big bag of goods that only put me out about $15 bucks. 

Then my friends from Alaska came to visit, and proceeded to discover more and more and more wonderful treats there.  And now?  Now I can't stop.  Every night on my way home on the bus, I think - I'll just run over there for some blueberries.  Maybe I'll look at the soap.  Or those yogurts with the glass containers that make amazing bud vases.  Mini-peanut butter cups.  There's always something.  It's a definite problem.  Now who needs some ready-to-eat edamame? 

All homesick again.

Some of my favorite things, from "home" which technically is Alaska, but all those traitors moved to Texas...

Penuchi Fudge Cake - mom made this the day before I left.  OH so good!  And desert pizza like only my sister-in-law can make...

We played lots of board games - Cards, Rail Barron, Scrabble, etc...

Played with the dogs, and the geckos...

Watched a boat load of football.

Crack Bars.

So a co-worker/friend of mine was doing some baking for Thanksgiving, and when I arrived back at my desk I was delighted to see a goodie-bag with popcorn balls and these ... well we've been calling 'em "Chewy Bars" but they're basically crack in the form of devils food cake, marshmallow, coconut and chocolate.  They're addicting, and plentiful.  Whilst my co-worker stood at my desk eating one she "borrowed" from me, one of our brokers walked by with a work request.  "What's your problem?"  She asked with a mouth-full.  "Can't you see I'm face-deep in a chewy bar here?" 

Dems tasty vittles.

You tell me, what would go better with authentic Southern cookin'? 

YUM.

From a drink menu my friend was looking at, while perusing restaurants in Seattle ...

FRENCH CONNECTION
Lemon & strawberry muddled with absolut citron, crème de framboise and topped with pink champagne. Official drink of tough guys everywhere.