Month: February 2010

Flowers, Dining, and LOLing all weekend

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What a fabulous weekend! Friday night we went to Qdoba with friends before heading to BINGO. I’ve been counting calories in order to lose weight, so I got a half naked burrito and half salad off their Craft 2 menu and was surprised by how tasty the salad was considering everything amounted to less than 800 calories. I didn’t win any money at BINGO, but we did win a coupon for a free game in March so that’s nice.

Saturday we were up early for our visit to Garfield Park Conservatory after I realized it had been years since we’ve been there. We intended to get there as soon as they opened at 9 am, but we had to make a pit-stop at my work first to retrieve something I left there by mistake in my haste to leave on Friday.

I love the conservatory because admission and parking are free. Plus it smells like Spring inside. It also reminds me of my grandparents’ house since they had a lot of vegetation near where they lived. I wish I could bottle that smell.

We spent about an hour and a half at the conservatory making sure we covered every square inch. By then it was getting pretty crowded anyway, so we decided to grab lunch. I consulted my Yelp app and found a place featured on Diners, Drive-In, and Dives that I had bookmarked last year. It’s called The Depot, and we scored parking right in front and only had to wait five minutes for a booth. We made it right before the lunch rush; once we were seated the front of the place quickly filled up with waiting diners. The food was delicious! You can read my review on Yelp.

After lunch we made a pit-stop at Target before going home to relax for a few hours before heading back out to meet a group of friends at Bahama Breeze. We ran into some of Joe’s coworkers at the bar while waiting for our group so we had some drinks and chatted until everyone arrived for dinner.

After dinner we headed to the Laugh Out Loud comedy theater. Joe and I thought it was pretty funny even though I don’t think everyone agreed. It’s definitely different than seeing a stand-up show since everything is improvised on the spot based on audience suggestions. But that’s what makes it so much fun – no two shows are the same. I’d like to go back for the later show since it’s adult only.

After the show we walked to the nearby Gameworks for more drinks and fun. And once we grew bored of that, we went back to Laugh Out Loud for their free audience participation show. One of the guys in our party ended up getting on stage to participate in a sketch. He then proceeded to try to get myself and another girl to go up there. No way, buddy! I cannot think on my feet like that. I give those improv comedians a lot of credit as they are very talented.

This morning we headed to Walmart for a few things and then saw Cop Out which wasn’t great, but wasn’t as terrible as the reviews made it sound. Seann William Scott’s character was hilarious. It probably would have been better if Kevin Smith had wrote it and not just directed it. Or maybe he’s just losing his touch. I didn’t think Zack and Miri Make A Porno was that good either. We did see some very interesting previous, however. I want to see all three movies they advertised, particularly the last two:

She’s Out Of My League
Hot Tub Time Machine
Kick-Ass

On the way home we swung by this restaurant called Omega to get some soup for lunch. They have the most amazing cream of chicken with rice soup. I used to eat it at their Downers Grove location years ago and found out through a friend that they had a Schaumburg location too, so I had to get some. You can’t beat the price either – $5.25 for a quart. It is well worth it.

And now I’m just pooped. I think all the running around finally caught up with me. Couch time!

Garfield Park Conservatory photos at Flickr

69…. cent dark chocolate

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Did you know that Target’s coupon policy states that they will accept one manufacturer’s coupon AND a Target coupon for the same item, unless either coupon states it’s prohibited?

I was doubtful until Joe went to the store on Saturday and I asked him to get me the new Hershey’s Special Dark Pieces (like Reese’s Pieces). I sent him with the following:

  • Rebate form (they were out of stock initially) for $2.69
  • Hershey coupon for $1 off
  • Target coupon for $1 off

They took all three and I got to try the new candy for 69 cents.

Verdict? They’re ok. Very similar to dark chocolate M&Ms, albeit a little crunchier.

Domino’s Pizza Revisited

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So last night we got around to spending the $10 Domino’s gift certificates I received. Imagine my surprise to learn that two pizzas are $22! Wow, I didn’t think Domino’s was that expensive. No wonder they gave me $10 to begin with; it only covers one pizza. I will say this – the garlic butter crust on the one pizza was actually quite good. I’m not sure I’d order from them again, however, since I could get a much better Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza for the cost of their two flimsy pizzas but at least they didn’t taste like cardboard like they did in the past. ;)

Things I Hate About Facebook – Mostly Everything

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They keep changing the layout. Now I have to be at the top of the page to see any updates? Why couldn’t those have been left at the bottom, or at the very least made the top portion a non-scrollable frame? And how come they only seem to notify me of updates if I refresh the page?

Also, why can’t I see all newsfeed updates on my iPhone app or even from the mobile version of the site? Why must I be logged in on my computer to the full site to see everything?

Why does my view always default to Top News instead of Most Recent? And why can’t I customize my Newsfeed?

Why does Facebook require every move I make to be posted to my profile? It’s no one else’s business whose status update I like or I posted a comment on. But now I have to go into my own profile and delete those once they decide to appear?

And why sometimes do I post an update and it doesn’t appear? I’m getting “page cannot be found” on my own profile right now in fact.

What a piece of shit buggy site Facebook has become. It’s getting on my last nerve. I hope something new and better comes along soon. There’s just no excuse for the crappy performance of that site.

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Valentine’s Weekend

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I had a fantastic Valentine’s weekend. Yes, weekend.

It started Friday with me coming home to a clean house, flowers, and Joe baking banana bread which we took to BINGO. It was delicious! I didn’t win anything, but still had a nice time with friends.

On Saturday, Joe surprised me with reservations to P.F. Changs and tickets to see Bobby Lee (of MadTV) at the Improv Chicago in Schaumburg. I was very excited!

Dinner was rather disappointing – the chicken was overdone and the flavor was bland. I’ve had better Chinese food at the Vietnamese restaurant nearby. Shoot, even Panda Express makes better food. The atmosphere was lacking too. It was way too loud to have a conversation. Oh well, at least now we can say we’ve tried some place new even if we don’t understand why anyone would eat there a second time.

And boy was the whole area crowded! We had a hell of a time finding parking at Woodfield and once we got inside, it was a madhouse! People just everywhere, reminding me why I avoid that mall like the plague. The restaurant was hopping too which surprised me since we had early reservations (5 o’clock). People were coming in off the street looking to eat and were told there was an hour and a half wait. Not one person agreed to wait, and who can blame them? With the exception of the previous Sunday when we went out for brunch and ran into the after-church crowd, we never wait to eat.

After dinner we had a little time to kill, so we went into the Sephora and I ended up buying $77 worth of perfume. They didn’t give me any free samples though. I thought they always did that? Did I get stiffed? Do I need to send a complaint letter? Because you know I will.

We purposely took our time getting to the Improv since we hadn’t bought dinner tickets and knew we’d be sitting toward the back anyway. Luckily our waitress was a lot friendlier than last time, although this one lady trying to guide people to their seats was bitchy. We didn’t want to get crammed in with the rest of the herd, so we opted to sit in the back by the bar where it’s elevated. It gave us a great line of sight to the stage.

Both of Bobby’s opening acts were ok. I liked the second guy, Nick Thune, a lot. That is until he had the gall to use MY favorite band, The Cure, as a punchline! I could barely believe it. It was along the lines of how it’s better to go to a concert than a sporting event since there’s always a loser in sports. He said “everyone’s a winner when you go to a concert, unless it’s a Cure concert” and then proceeded to talk shit about Cure fans. Douchebag! Joe was laughing at the look on my face.

Bobby Lee is just crazy! Crazy funny, that is. I won’t ruin it by going into specifics in case anyone plans to see him, but that guy sure loves to take his clothes off. Why is it always a thong and socks? Reminds me of “24 with Bobby Lee” from MadTV. We were both a little concerned about Bobby’s stand-up act since we’ve only seen him on TV, but he was great. I only wish his set was longer than a half hour. :(

At 2 am Sunday morning I had what I guess was a panic attack? Acid reflux attack? Stroke? Seriously, I don’t know what it was, but I woke up gasping, my heart was racing, and I couldn’t stop burping. I felt so unreal, as if I was going to die. This has happened a few times before, but years ago when I was still on acid reflux medication. After I got off it and started taking probiotics, I never had that problem again. So I’m not sure what caused it, but it might have been a combination of factors – the caffeine in the latte I shared with Joe that morning, the onions in the tuna fish sandwich I had for lunch, the Chinese food, the caffeine from the regular Pepsi I ordered at the show (I’ve mostly stopped drinking pop altogether), and the rich chocolate cake I also ate at the show (2-item minimum). My left arm has felt weird ever since, though. Kinda tingly/numb, which of course freaks me out because I’m always reading that heart issues for women in particular don’t necessarily present themselves with the classic pain and crushing chest feeling. Joe thinks I just pulled a muscle or have a pinched nerve, and my work friend thinks it’s anxiety related, which is definitely possible. Google hasn’t helped me much since it could be those things or a heart thing. But since I’m pretty young, I’ve been trying to treat it like it’s not a heart thing and just give that arm a rest. Perfect excuse not to exercise after work, which of course is hurting no one but myself but whatever. I hate that Joe has dropped 20 lbs and I’ve got my doctor telling me I should get back in shape. I’m not terribly overweight, but I did gain 20 lbs since last year which for my height is concerning.

Anyway, thanks to that whole fiasco, I slept in on Sunday instead of heading out for brunch and then to an ice sculpture festival as planned. Instead we lazed around in our PJs all day and watched lots of DIY and Home & Garden. And despite being told otherwise, Joe got me a Valentine’s Day gift which he left on my jewelry box so I’d see it after I got out of the shower – chocolates, and a bracelet I had been eyeing at Target for while. I swear, he is way too good to me! I’m very lucky indeed.

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend as much as I did! It was fantastic except for my stroke/anxiety thing. ;)