The Weekend

Pin It now! I'm still in the honeymoon phase of my Instagram crush.  I'm still wondering whether it's worth the $1B, but someone said it was about the user base.  I don't know what that means.  I just know that someone paid $1B for a company that makes my cellphone pictures look like the ones my parents were taking the year I was born...and I like it.  So this weekend, I ran my first 5K of the season with Alysse and Matt in Prospect Park.  There were a lot less runners for this race than the Lincoln Tunnel 5K I did last year and it was just one loop around the park, so there weren't markers indicating how far we had run and the race seemed to go a lot faster than expected.  By the time I thought I needed a break, we were done!  I hardly head out to Prospect Park or Park Slope so it was nice to walk around the neighborhood after the race.  We were loving the brownstones and the quietness of the neighborhood.  That night, Michael and I made our way to Best Pizza.  Anything that says it's the best better be good (and always reminds me of the scene in Elf when Buddy finds the World's Best Cup of Coffee..."You did it! Congratulations! Great job everybody!...")  It wasn't the BEST pizza but it was pretty close.  Their meatball sub is to die for and we couldn't go wrong by adding bacon and caramelized onions to the pizza.  For the rest of the weekend, I purged more clothes from the closet and storage, had my first Dough donut of the season (my favorite) and we went to Long Island for a wedding.  I'll post more photos of the wedding soon, but in the meantime, here's the weekend Instagram-style.

A Word About Jeremy Lin (and have a great weekend!)

Pin It now! He's become a superstar in NYC over the last few weeks.  I can't tell you how excited I am to watch him (and I'm not even a basketball fan).  Can you believe he's the first Chinese American to play in the NBA (really the first!).  I love that he persevered and that he's representing so many Asians in a sport that has barely any Asians - no pressure man!  The press and fans are going crazy and finding an amazing number of different ways to use Lin - Linning, Linsanity, Lincredible, Lin-ktastic.  Hopefully his fifteen minutes of fame last much longer.

And have a great weekend!  (I started my long weekend with a cup of coffee and pistachio hazelnut biscottis from Toby's Estate.  Ridiculously delish.)

52 Weeks: Week 36, Coffee Cart

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Outside Artists & Fleas, Williamsburg

Spending Hiatus - Week 2

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Another week successfully bringing breakfast and lunch from home (for the most part).  Em bought me a can of Financier coffee (people actually read my blog!) which comes in the cutest tin can.  This baby will be properly reused after the coffee is all gone.  I've also been having Trader Joe's frozen pasta for lunch.  Affordable and delicious.  You can usually get two servings from each bag but lately I've been having the entire bag in one sitting.

My "bad" day was Tuesday. I was lazy in the morning and didn't prepare lunch.  Luckily, Cafe Metro had a 25% off discount if you ordered online (use the code 25OFF).  I had to buy but I bought it on sale.  Tuesday night I also went out with my neighbor Annie to trivia night at the Brooklyn Winery.  No discount on the wine or food but I did get the fig crostini that was to die for.  Roasted figs with honey, cheese and a balsamic reduction. 

M and I had to buy some toiletries and took advantage of CVS' coupons and sales, although one of the allergy medicine boxes we bought BOGO 50% off only had half the packs inside.  Not worth the sale!  This weekend we had a family BBQ so again we did big bags of food shopping, but for the most part, we cooked meals at home the rest of the weekend.  Otherwise, I'm feeling good.  I realized that even if I didn't freeze all spending, I'm taking baby steps with bringing breakfast and lunch to work, which will make that much of a difference.  On to the next week.... 

Project Quit Coffee - Fail!

Pin It now! my project of quitting coffee has come to an end. i can't do it and i've decided that i really don't want to. i love the stuff and until i'm preggers and not allowed to drink it, i'm having it every day. don't try to stop me!

Project Quit Coffee

Pin It now! i decided earlier this week that i was going to quit coffee cold turkey. i'm not sure how else you can do it. there's no slowing easing out of the addiction. my project started yesterday. day one was fine. no caffeine headaches. however, day two and...fail! today was the first day of the starbucks via taste challenge and you get a free cup of coffee for just trying. how can i refuse a free cup of coffee from starbucks? whatever, tomorrow will be a better day.

Sunday Coffee

Pin It now! while hubby was off watching football today, i did what any nyc domesticated housewife would do on a sunday...go to starbucks. i know, i know - i'm supposed to be thrifty and talked about "feeding the pig". i can't seem to kick this caffeine addiction though and my love for starbucks vanilla lattes. there is something satisfying about getting something that is $3.81 that is worth so much less, something that i can't make at home and tastes absolutely delicious. so after feeling guilty, i researched capaccino/latte machines online and how much i would save if i bought a machine and made the lattes at home. when hubby gets home, i tell him my ingenious plan of saving thousands of dollars by making lattes at home. he responds by saying that i should just stop drinking coffee period and it's all in my head that i "need" the latte. what! kick the one addiction in this country that won't put you in rehab. ridiculous!

but...hubby has a point. do i really need that satisfaction of carrying a starbucks cup around town? (yes.) should i quit the caffeine habit that i've tried so many other times to do before (yes.) is it really in my head that i "need" a latte? (yes, but there are a lot of other things in my head too.)

i'm definitely addicted - caffeine headaches, jonseing for that nice, hot cup of coffee in the morning (or else i'm cranky for the rest of the day). SO...starting oct. 1 i'm kicking the habit, or at least trying to. yes, i'm giving myself a few days to reflect and accept the fact that it's coming.