12 Years.. Treats.. and Confessions

Happy Tuesday! Another edition of Treat Yourself Tuesday and link up with Becky. If you are new to this series, it is all about doing at least one thing for yourself a week.

This week, my treat involves a confession.

A big one. But of course, a confession with justification 🙂

I’ve received tons of grief for this…

For the last twelve years….

I have had….

The same tennis shoes!

Yes I know I know…

A running sin! (but I’m not a runner!)

Is that strong enough justification??? 🙂

Finally Friend D took me by the hand and led me into The Running Room.

Pretty sure the salesman thought I was completely nuts. As a former pro track and field athlete, he could do nothing but shake his head.

I never knew there could be such an analysis of your feet! My feet are literally in a new world.

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Welcome to 2014 Christina.

We did trash the 12 year old ones outside the store. But not before I said a little blessing/thank you to the shoes for our last 12 years together 🙂

On a side note: Mr. Track and Field Salesman offered to train and run a marathon with me, despite the fact that he had never had any desire to do so prior to meeting me.

Was this a pick up line??? 🙂

HOW DID YOU TREAT YOURSELF THIS WEEK?

Your life is Perfect?

On a random dinner out, followed by a couple beers… I happened to run into a previous date….

Said date made it to a third date months and months ago. It was not to be.

On this random dinner out, shall we call him Alex? Alex made quite a few statements. Like how ready he was to settle down with a nice girl, between the ages of 24-26. When I revealed my age that just so happens to fall out of his age bracket, he quickly retracted the statement. Alex also declared that soon a man would come and financially take care of me, so spending extra money on an apartment now was fine. I”d never worry again about finances according to him.

Alex said a lot of things that night. Many causing me to choke down my beer. However, the one comment I just cannot ignore..

That now his life was perfect, therefore he can now make someone happy.

I cannot get over this. I was unaware relationships hinged on perfection.

 One needs the perfect job, expensive apartment, perfect schedule and perfect family life in order to have a relationship and make someone else happy?

I must have this all wrong.

What I’ve learned is that the struggle and the uncertainty make achievements perfect. When someone stands beside me through illness, through long distance, through taking a step back and renting that cheaper apartment.. through the not so perfect job.. when someone thoroughly thinks I’m beautiful, despite the fact that my 25 year old body no longer exists..

When somebody stands beside me in the ultimate nonperfection.. that’s when I know it will lead to happiness.

Not when the other aspects of life seem to fall into place.

I want the foundation that is built upon illness, financial stress, distance and perseverance. When we’ve gone through the ups and the downs..

When we talked and prayed through the tough decisions..

When we’ve made our choices together..

When I can look back on all that was built through the great times and the struggles; I’m all in.

Sorry Alex, but I’ll pass on a tour of that beautiful new apartment of yours. I’m a bit busy building my nonperfect life.

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Rocking Out

Happy Treat Yourself Tuesday!

Linking up with Becky again 🙂

Treat yourself Tuesday is all about doing something for yourself once a week, even in the smallest of ways.

This week its all about pasta, ladies night and music…..

Preshow dinner of pasta? Yes please.

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My first show at the Varsity? Check!

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Post dinner, treating yourself to some live music? The concert, the band, the lyrics that seek out the emotions no one else seems able to reach?

Dancing and singing our hearts out, a perfect Thursday Tuesday to me 🙂

If you ever get the chance to see Delta Rae, do it! AMAZING.

Happy Tuesday all!

What is the last concert you went to?

Adult Spring Break

Girls weekends are necessary. Adult spring break with your best college friends, priceless.

A four day weekend on a beach… the perfect treat.

Now that we are back and I’m hit hard with multiple realities, heres a (mostly) visual recap 🙂

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The most perfect welcome.

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Classy T-shirt shop stops may have happened.  I may have made a purchase…

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Shopping makes me hungry…

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Rides with classy ads are required on Adult Spring Break. But really, I have the contact info for the best, most reliable, most comedic driver in all of Daytona Beach. I’ll introduce you 🙂

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Sushi a must.

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So dearly miss waking up to this view.

Thank you ladies for an amazing Adult Spring Break 🙂

Are you taking a vacation? Where are you headed?

The Perfect Brunch

When friends at ProFlowers mentioned a series on spring brunch….. how could I not join in the fun? We all know I’m obsessed with the meal. Its a weekly blog topic for me basically. So why not join in!.

To start, check out the inspiration, ProFlowers’ post on the Spring Brunch Checklist here.

Now, what makes my perfect spring brunch?

Lets start with the table. Fresh spring flowers are a must. Last week I had fresh flowers in every room. Overkill? Never 🙂

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Next, brunch requires a cocktail. And my favorite, the Bloody Mary of course.

The perfect spring brunch would have a Bloody Mary cook off! (Drink off?!) A little FoodNetwork Chopped action at brunch? Why not! A Bloody Mary competition, who can make the best, most spicy, most outlandish Bloody Mary.

Cocktails and activities, who’s in?!

My perfect brunch meal? It would look a little something like this:

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The Side of bacon, a must.  Paired with grilled salmon and a veggie hash.

Finally the most important ingredient to my perfect spring brunch.. the perfect company. Friends who order you that second Bloody Mary, friends who cannot wait to remind you of your weekend escapades, friends who are there to support an important upcoming week at work…

Flowers, cocktails and activities, a side of bacon, and great conversation with friends. What more could you ask for?

WHAT MAKES YOUR PERFECT SPRING BRUNCH?

(this is not a sponsored post)

Comedy with a Dash of Insult and Creep

Heres the thing:

Said dating website is funny and all.  Daily comedy delivered to your inbox.  But mixed in with the comedy is a bit of insult, creepy and just beyond disturbing.

All of this comedy mixed with creep does not come free. Its like a lovely $30-40 a month.  And that my friends is a lot of Starbucks.  Yes, I admit I budget in how many Iced Grande Soy Lattes I could have drank at the Bucks.

So, when hypothtically, one goes to cancel said membership to said dating website….. The canceling part is easy. One, maybe two, please don’t go, please tell us why click through boxes.

Did you meet someone? Ehh…. Did you not see any matches? ehhh…

And then you have like two weeks left on this lovely membership.  And in those two weeks you have not once received an email/wink/flirt/you-name-it put-it-here…. nor have you even had the slighest desire to check in to this lovely website.

And then Day Zero arrives.  The day it officially cancels your membership…. remember when I said canceling was easy?

O NO Friends. The said website sends over 30 winks/flirts/emails/you-name-it-put-it-here on that last day.  It is determined to feature you in as many potential beau’s feeds as possible.  And I’m quite certain it bribes them into emailing you. ALL of them. Perhaps with free entry to the next “in person dating event”?

And yet these emails are still not what one should be looking for.  Dear Sir, if you want to eat my leftover/used pizza crust after I’m done with it??!?! YIKES.

If you are emailing to complain about the weather, it will not entice me to renew the membership. I can go to Twitter for that.

Thank you so much for the barade of men today website.

 Over and out.

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Meadow Please

Happy Friday! I could not be more happy for the weekend. A lovely spring cold has knocked me on my booty. Literally. I slept through Wednesday… hello first sick day.

With my energy levels at an all time low, I leave you with a bit of food porn. Ever been to French Meadow?

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 Little scallop… a little olive..

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Brussels anyone?

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Shrimp and perfectly cooked grits….

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Hello Trout.

Where will you be eating this weekend?