when i grow older, i will be stronger

This week was definitely not the most exciting, but the weekend was full as usual. Friday I actually got to sleep in a little bit, and then Alyssa and I spent the afternoon/evening together. First we did some shopping at the mall and at Kohl's. I got a much-needed belt and a much less needed scarf. It's chartreuse which is one color that I don't have, so it's okay. ;) Afterwards we went out for dinner and then I took her back to her house. 

Later in the evening I had a little birthday gathering to go to for one of my friends at work. A few people got together at one of our frequent waterholes, the Weary Traveler, which also has phenomenal food. I picked Alyssa up on the way and we just hung out there for awhile. Alyssa got a grilled cheese sandwich, which sounds kind of boring, but it looked amazing and, according to Alyssa, was pretty damn good. I had a cup of their vegan chili and vegan cornbread, which was also really good - and nice and spicy (too many restaurants make their chili wayyyy too bland).  This place is known for having a very wide selection of vegan meals on their menu, plus a lot of their ingredients are local. 

Now normally I wouldn't care about what the vegan items on a menu are BUT....I have been eating terribly the last 6+ months now and so I finally decided to make some changes. I've heard a lot about cleanses and cleansing diets, but most of them sound pretty sketchy and rather unhealthy. So I decided to just go vegan for 2 weeks as a way to jumpstart some better eating habits. Basically a lot of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Minus some of my favorite foods [and staples to my unhealthy diet]: meat, cheese, milk, any dairy products, eggs....basically everything. Sooooo, it was very hard, and it was why I was very thankful to be able to find yummy vegan options on the menu. As of late I have moved into Phase II of my two weeks, which is just vegetarian. I couldn't handle skipping all the dairy. I'm still eating very limited amounts of the dairy, but it gives me a little extra breathing room. 

Saturday morning I got to meet my friends Britny and Nick for brunch! They were visiting from LaCrosse and I haven't seen them since like....December?, so it was really nice to get together just for a little while. Saturday evening Zach and I went to see "Born to Be Wild" in IMAX 3D. It was absolutely adorable. It is a documentary about two women who rescue orphaned elephants and orangutans. It was only 40 minutes, but it was pretty awesome. Plus the women do some amazing work. Of course, when I left I wanted a baby elephant to play with and Zach wanted a baby orangutan to go on motorcycle rides with him, but it was definitely worth it. Afterwards we went over to one of Zach's friend's house to hang out and play games. We ended up playing a 4+ hour game of Trivial Pursuit (90s edition), but Zach and I won [no thanks to me] so it was worth the time. It was a ton of fun though, good company and lots of laughing. 

Sunday morning Zach and I went out for brunch with his parents and brother at a place in Middleton. It was a brunch buffet, and the food was pretty good. Plus, I had decided ahead of time that I was going to allow myself to eat meat and cheese, so it was quite a treat. I had some reallllly yummy prime rib (which sounds pretty tasty right about now...). Afterwards I had to go home and take a nap, because I was exhausted from the night before [staying up super late playing games] and getting up at a normal person's time of day for breakfast. So I took a nap, and zen fired ze missiles. (aka went back to work). 

Now I am 2/5 of the way done with my workweek, and I'm trying to get caught up on a bunch of correspondence that I'm behind on. Off to write some letters!

made with real poo!

I forgot an important detail from my zoo outing last week!

After playing with the animals, we decided to stop in the gift shop where Zach pointed out [and I promptly fell in love with] an assortment of paper products with the phrase "MADE WITH REAL POO!" on it. The one that caught Zach's eye was a mini-journal with an adorable panda on the front.

The following is from the description enclosed with the journal:

"Believe it or not, what you are looking at is a totally unique gift made from odorless and naturally recycled panda poo poo!!!

You see, the Giant Pandas from China eat lots of bamboo and because bamboo has lots of fibers and much of it goes undigested by the pandas, their poo poo is a great material to make paper from. How cool is that?

We collet the poo, we rinse, clean, grind and mix it into a pulp and make large sheets of paper which we use to craft these incredibly unique gift items!

To be exact, the entire exterior of this item including the cover and inset pages are made from panda poo paper. The smooth pages insides have some natural mulberry and pineapple fibers mixed in with the poop as well which results in smoother pages for writing." 

Isn't this AWESOME?!?!?!? 

If I've piqued your interest at all, you can find out more on their website. They have gift items made from the poop of all different kinds of animals.

Poo Poo Paper

 

and all i ever wanted was to hear that sound

A few weeks ago I was talking to Marley and I said, "I'm really ready for summer." Marley just looked at me all confused and said, "Really...thats weird." Because everyone knows that I hate summer. Its hot and sticky and uncomfortable and with nappy roots like these it is miserable. But for some reason, I was really ready for warm weather - or I thought I was. Because today was HOT. Which made the evening last night hot, which made it hard to sleep, which makes me very crabby. Because one thing I hate more than summer is anything that messes with my sleep. So....Yuck.

Anyways, this week has been much more interesting than usual. I had the day off on Wednesday, because Zach had his graphic design and illustration portfolio show that night. It was really nice to see the stuff he has been working on all put together. Afterwards we went out for dinner and drinks to give Zach a wellllll deserved break.

Thursday I called into work, which was some good and some bad. The bad news first: I had a terrible migraine. Zach and I went to the zoo and got some coffee, but I was still not feeling very well, and I spent the next few hours hiding in a darkened room with my sunglasses on and ice on my head. Luckily I started feeling a little better, and I went out to dinner with Alyssa.

Friday and Saturday were my normal days off. Friday I didn't do anything at all. I finally got to try my 100% Kona coffee that Zach brought me from Hawaii, and I spent the afternoon watching TV and movies and reading. Saturday was a beautiful day (although I may have spent a large portion of it sleeping in). I met Steph, Jake, and Lisa for coffee and then afterwards I went on a SUPPPPPPPPPPPPER cute dinner date with Zach. We went to Lombardino's, and I even got to wear my fancy[ish] cocktail dress. [and heels! So I was only like....12 inches shorter than Zach]

Back to work today, and a normal workweek. =[ I'm working on my pouty face right now.

look me in the heart and tell me you won't go

Well. I accidentally skipped a week. I really have no excuse. But I will try to be better about posting in the future! [Also, I am now in an undeclared competition with someone who is trying to show me up with his blog.] Nothing too exciting has been going on. Work has continued to be a huge stressor, which is exhausting. And so by default, I don't feel like doing much of anything outside of work.

Last weekend Alyssa, Zach and I took a trip up to Baraboo for dinner with Mom and Dad. We were super spoiled because they bought us dinner  and Dad bought shots of Jameson for Mom, Alyssa and I. [Yeah, my MOM did a SHOT of ALCOHOL.] Afterwards we went back to my parents house and chatted for a little while and got to play with Rooster, too. Dinner was really the only important thing that I remember from two weeks ago. (Oops, hope I didn't let anyone down with my forgetfulness.)

This week was also not very exciting. Alyssa and I had one of our famed late night shopping trips to SuperWalmart. Let me tell you, SuperWalmart after 11pm is not always a great choice, but there is guaranteed entertainment. There are always crazy people there at that time, and somehow we always end up witnessing shenanigans at the checkout line. Also, everyone in the store decides to check out at the same exact time, so there is a crowd just standing around at the front watching the drama unfold between some cracked out customer and any or all mildly disgruntled employees. ANYWAY....

The best part of this week was when I went out for breakfast to Hubbard. It was a large collection of some of my most favorite people! Alyssa, Stephanie, Jake, Zach, and Andy. We had lots of fun, and some pretty good food, and I tried the raspberry-rhubarb pie which was phenomenal. Awww,  I just wish I could hang out with them all the time.

Saturday I [unfortunately] had to work. I picked up a shift for Andy so that he could go out of town to visit his sister. It was weird working a Saturday, because I have to do it so rarely. After work,  Alyssa came over and we had a nice little sleepover.

I woke up this morning, albeit early, to the exciting prospect of breakfast with Alyssa, Steph, Jake, and Lisa. So we all met at Hubbard [again, I know....but in my defense I hadn't been to Hubbard in weeks; it just so happens that the 2 times I did go were within 3 days. Oops!] I love their chocolate malts.

The End. =]