Mocha Monday...

First of all, McDonald's is the devil.....they serve nutritionally deficient food, pay their employees poorly, and use beef flavor on their french fries...all while targeting small children with the majority of their advertising.


However, they have offered up something so IRRESISTIBLE that Lindsay and I decided to take advantage of them. I like to think it is a little revenge. For a limited time only, the world's largest purchaser of french fried potato products and chicken is offering a COMPLETELY FREE mocha sample...on Monday's only, until August 3rd. (I just told Lindsay the news about said deadline and I heard a wince).

Anyhow, we didn't start out thinking about ABUSING the free mocha Monday promo, it really JUST HAPPENED. Since there are 26 Mickey D's within ten miles of LB's house, it quickly spiraled into "how many mochas can we get???" Then we decided we should keep all of the cups to show off our coffee/caffeine/chocolate chugging abilities. The picture shows the damage (which actually has a bit of digital enhancement due to the fact that we trashed our first three cups before this fiasco started)...and if we weren't such wimps, we probably could have downed some more, but as it stands....we drank 3 samples a piece...and some how managed to score a free regular size mocha in the process (and tummy aches). Props to Lindsay for the Photoshopping.

So, this is what they get for smothering a ten miles radius with 26 establishments (even though we only managed to make it to three of them).

Nature's gifts...

Look what mother nature gifted me in my front yard!!!

Eating consciously

I recently borrowed the book "Animal. Vegetable. Miracle." written by Barbara Kingsolver from Lindsay's GIANT LIBRARY of books. Excellent read, incredibly educational, motivational, and has driven me to a new height in not only healthy eating, but also buying locally grown, organic produce and meat, all of which is raised on sustainable farms. (For a quick update on how it has changed Lindsay and I's lives, you can read her blog).

We haven't gone cold-turkey and stopped buying goods from food stores and what-not, but I will say this: if it CAN be bought at a Farmer's Market, we get it there. In the past week, we've spent a pretty fair amount of moolah on our FM finds. This is what we purchased on week one (all from Zionsville Farmer's Market).


A pretty good selection for our first outing. Included in this fantastic food purchase is one dozen eggs, 2 ears of corn, a red onion, squash,tomato, zuccini, garlic, green pepper, thai basil, one pound of bacon, one pound of bacon pork burger (that are to absolutely DIE FOR), one bag of freshly popped kettle corn, a loaf of sourdough bread, one 4oz. jar of basil MOUSE oil, and I'm sure I probably left something out. Click the picture for a better view. We got all of this for about $40.00. The quality of every product we got was unbelievable. There wasn't anything that went to waste.

With all of these goods, I was able to make us this fantastic vegetarian pizza. The only thing I didn't have a hand in making was the crust. We ended up getting that from Trader Joe's and it turned out to be some of the best pizza crust I've ever tasted. Also, I got to try out my new pizza stone from Pampered Chef. I was definitely impressed with the cooking quality of the stone, and if you bake anything I'd recommend getting yourself one. Totally worth the $30.00.


Along with this pizza, I was able to make a huge pot of cheesy potato soup that was out of this world, some basil eggs with farm fresh bacon, grilled veggies, and some grilled bacon pork burgers. It's incredible how much better EVERYTHING tastes when it is fresh, organic, and locally grown. Also, meeting the farmers who grow the food is an added bonus.

So...this weekend we made an effort to get out to more Farmer's Markets. Friday night we started out at Trader's Point with LB's BFF Heather and her kiddos. This place was great. They had a wider variety of goods, especially meat and dairy products. Since we were already out and about we meandered up to the creamery, where I sampled whole milk, cottage cheese, and yogurt all from grass-fed cows. We bought the milk and yogurt, but the cottage cheese was just a little too much for me. The texture is much thicker than what I am used t0. The taste is.....that of fermentation. Adjustment in process.

While we where there, we had to check things out so here's a couple of random pics for ya.


What a cute little place!!!



Lindsay somehow managed to sneak us into the milking barn...just in time for the tour guide to show up. HAHAAH! We watched this little lady getting milked for a few minutes and then moved on.


Next stop: baby cows!!! This little calf was pretty much my best friend. She had the longest tongue and was seriously H U N G R Y.



This is me trying my hardest to convince Ava that the cows WILL NOT BITE.



Noah didn't need any convincing, clearly.

After it was all said and done, we came home with LOTS of goodies, as you can see below.


As preciously mentioned, whole milk and yogurt made their way home with us, along with a variety of cheese, ground lamb, pork loin, spring mix, eggs, and whatever else is thrown in there.



Minus the dog biscuits, it's all fresh and was picked earlier that day. FRUIT!!!!!! YES!


A view of all of our goods. We even brought along a cooler to keep the cold goods cold. We are learning.

As if this weren't enough shopping, we made it out in the rain this morning to see what else we could get our hands on. Turns out, that was a lot.

As exhausting as it is, running all over the city (we went to 3 more Farmer's Markets this am), it is worth it for the quality of ingredients. Thus far today, we have eaten the most flavorful nectarine, a salad I made with spring mix, fresh onion and tomato, garic and herb cheese that I grated, and I also cooked up a good-sized pot of broccoli cheese soup, recipe compliments of Heather.

I have to say, it's only been a little over a week that we have been eating like this. I used to have the worst gastrointestinal issues in the world, to the point of taking a daily medication to control it. Since we started this adventure, I've stopped taking my medicine and my stomach has been fine. Coincidence? I don't think so, and I'll tell you why. Last night we ate at some Italian restaurant (Macaroni Grill??) and the GI issues were back within an hour.

If it weren't for reading Kingsolver's book, I'd surely still be continuing my previous diet. Which, actually...was not bad. It just consisted of produce and meat purchased from large corporations that don't really care what goes into your body. If you want to read more on this, I suggest picking up a copy of "Fast Food Nation."

It's the greatest feeling knowing you are providing support to local farmers and their families, all while enjoying yourself and spending time with loved ones...and maybe even making a friend or two along the way! It's easy to make conscious choices about food, it just takes a little more planning. I encourage you to give it a try. I promise, you won't be disappointed!!!

Happy eating!!!

Growing up.

Last night Miss Cass and I went to see No Doubt and Paramore at Verizon Wireless Music Center (a.k.a. Deer Creek, duh!). What an experience, to say the least. I've been a fan of ND for many many years. In high school, my friends and I followed ND and BUSH for a couple of weeks, and eventually ended up meeting the 4 members of BUSH and Gwen Stefani. Currently, I am not the world's biggest ND fan, however...they still kick ass AND it was fifteen bucks for some (what I thought would be) good ol' Friday night fun. So what the hell, right? NO.

Irritation central comes to mind when I think of this concert, and not because of either of the bands. We had tickets for the lawn (of course) so we scoped out a place to sit and planted ourselves on the ground. Not long after that, a group of 7 or 8 incredibly intoxicated women (all aged 35-45 years old) came crashing into our world. I say "crashing" because literally....they did. Everywhere they stepped, they were swaying, spilling beer, dry humping each other, dancing violently, and basically acting like 19 year old sorostitues. SERIOUSLY. At one point, we look over and one of these women has apparently made up her own dance: we called it "the penetrator". Feel free to let your imagination fill in the blanks.

We try to watch the show and not pay attention to these fools, but as their beer consumption increased, our patience decreased. Not ALL of them were acting like assholes, just a couple at this point. After a number of several beer spilling/cigarette burning incidents from "the penetrator creator" I look over and suddenly feel a bit like Eminem at this year's MTV Music Awards...which if you weren't lucky enough to see, here ya go.






Involuntarily having another human's junk in your face is not a pleasant experience. Trust me.








Clearly the woman wasn't suspended from the ceiling, however her ass was RIGHT IN MY FUCKING FACE. I couldn't hold back any longer and shouted at the woman.

"REALLY!?!?!?! REALLY?!?!?! YOU HAVE TO DANCE WITH YOUR ASS IN MY FACE?!?!?"

Needless to say she moved. Her co-drunken friend came over, apologized to me, mumbled something about the number of kids she has and the years it's been since she's been out of the house. Are ya kiddin' me???? Cause I could give two shits less about how many kids you have (other than the fact that they will probably grow up to be wastes of flesh like yourself, drinking madly and annoying the entire human race). Unfortunate.

As you can imagine, their persistence for apology attempts only annoyed us worse with each word. Finally, I'd had it.

"Just get away from us. Keep your friend away from us. Go away, please."

They backed off but kept yammering on about this and that. Eventually, they found some real-life 19 year-olds to console them. Whatever. Just get away from me. We stayed for about half of ND's set, but ended up leaving the show early to A. beat the crowd and B. go get some tasty morsels.

That's really the biggest annoyance about the concert, but I do have one more. Why the hell do people find it necessary to dress in the most hideous clothing known to man? Many of my fellow concert goers were dressed similar to Cindy Lauper, circa 1982.


Plastic bracelets. Crazy hair colors. Skinny jeans. Aviator glasses. Chains. Mohawks. Shirts that are waaay too tight. All ANNOYING. Pre-pubescent teen annoying. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about self-expression (even though this blogs seems otherwise). Maybe 24,000 people expressing their weirdness is just too much for me. I dunno. It just seems like the majority of these people were trying to be different, but in that, were being just like everyone else.


This leads to me to the title of this blog. Growing up. Maybe that's what has happened to me over the past few years. I mean, inevitably of course it has. But now I'm THAT person who is annoyed with teenagers. I remember being a teenager and thinking "man, I'll always be cool with everyone." So. Not. True.

Randomness.

My love left (again) for Africa last Thursday. This time around she is on a medical mission with The Mercy Foundation, somewhere in Nigeria. I know she is doing absolutely wonderful things but it leads me to be a bit selfish and just wanting her here with me all the time. Therefore, I'm left feeling a bit like the following picture.

*Note: This picture isn't even close to being current, but I'm too lazy to snap a photo of my ridiculously sad face.

Anyhow, so I have *LOTS* of time on my hands. I was off this weekend and decided that instead of sitting around being a big bag of tears, I would do something productive. YAY ME! For a month or so I have been thinking about painting different rooms in Lindsay's house. The current paint scheme is fine and dandy, but I will be moving in when my lease is up in November, so I want the house to be OUR house. What better way to do that than by expressing both of our personalities with color/texture/decore?!?!? Plus, I LOOOOOVE to paint. So I started with the bathroom and here are a couple of pictures of the end product (and one of me being silly).

I originally sent this to my friend Sarah. She had invited me to a 4th of July cookout/party with her and the hubby. I wanted to really emphasize what the hell I was doing. Mission accomplished.

Also, I am going to install a new faucet. It's gonna be a kick ass silver and look something similar to this.

The color of the walls is one of my favorite colors. Any shade of blue is great really. The black and silver are very Lindsay. How frickin' cool is this?

I started feelin' pretty courageous about the whole design process and went crazy on the blinds with some silver paint. Turned out pretty good, in my opinion. I won't post all of the pictures, I'm sure you get the point by now. It's a completely different look from where I started. I'm considering painting silver stars on the walls, but I don't know if that's gonna happen. It just looks REALLY good as is, so I don't wanna go effin' that up. The only thing I need to do now is find a kick ass shower curtain.

All together I ended up spending about 16 hours on my little weekend project. Time went by so fast. When it was all said and done, I cleaned up and then came back to my house. Ben and I were in the mood for a feast, so this is what we managed to scrounge up.

It was one of the most enjoyable meals of my life, because A. I cooked it B. the previous day I had pizza...and only pizza C. I was starving to death. It's nice to reflect on my unwanted time alone and know that I enjoyed at least part of it. Only 2 weeks to go!