Category Archives: The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

by Becki | June 20, 2010 · 6:50 am

Home Sweet Home

Doesn’t everyone love waking up at 6am? Today was the last day of watching the LBM, so I had to wake up a bit earlier to fold sheets and straighten up around my foster house. I woke up early on my own (I was going to let myself “sleep in” until 6:30am), so I had plenty of time to enjoy my GM.

I like my Monsta with a little extra Monsta on top.

Do you remember those cookies I bought last night for my date night? Yeah, I brought those in to work with me, in hopes of getting rid of them and not having any more. That didn’t work out so well. I ended up eating another two, and my coworker Vicky helped me polish off the remaining sprinkles that were stuck in the grooves in the bottom of the box.

Once we were all hopped up on sugar, Vicky and I decided that we needed some coffee, so we ventured out for an “enorme” cup of java, but got sidetracked by See’s and bought some Tipperary bon-bons and caramels. THEN came the coffee, then came the outcome of our caffeine/sugar binge:

I apologize if you like those Zsu-Zsu pet things. This hamster toy was left a week ago by a little girl, and after letting it roam around the store, we decided that we’d had enough of its squeaking, so we made a spit and paper fire and roasted it. Caffeine/sugar highs make us creative!

I had a BIG crash. Like, dropping-onto-the-floor-in-a-heap-crash. Subway would fix me up!

I had a 6-inch on wheat (threw away most of the bread) with turkey, roast beef, extra spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and avocado. If I find something I like, I order it over and over again.

My final break was spent at Paciugo, my lovely gelato store. They had soy mint today, so I was finally able to get a cup instead of drooling onto the glass over all the milk-based gelato. I also introduced Vicky to Paciugo. She’s pretty mad at me for creating a new addiction :).

Finally, I got to come HOME! I unpacked, organized, went to the bank to cash my check for watching the LBM, then went to The Habit for burgers with the roommates. I didn’t take a picture – I was much too busy swallowing the fries and burger by the handful.

Now it’s time for me to sign off and do a little reading of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, and prep for FATHERS’ DAY tomorrey! I’ll be spending the day with my mum and pops eating lots of indian food, drinking lots of good beer, and enjoying a hard-earned day off from work. Lots of father-spoiling will ensue. And yes, many, many pictures too. What are your plans for Fathers’ Day?

Have a blessed weekend!

Comments Off on Home Sweet Home

Filed under burgers, fries, gelato, green monster, Home, Indian Food, little blurry monster, Paciugo, See's Candies, soy, Subway, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, The Habit, Zsu Zsu Pets

by Becki | June 17, 2010 · 10:21 pm

The Death of Internet

It’s very difficult to blog without internet connection. I had a full shift yesterday, got back to the LBM house around 9:30pm, hooked my computer directly into the internet connection and… nothing. I’m really not techno-savvy at all! I’m lucky I figured out the hack so I could reply to comments! I’m sorry for this blog being belated, but it looks like it’s going to have to be this way until I’m finished dogwatching on Sunday.

Recap for yesterday: Had a GIGANTIC purple Monsta. I mean, HUGE! It filled a 22oz. wheat beer glass with hardly any room to spare.

This had about 3 cups of spinach, 3/4 a cup of blackberries, 3/4 a cup of soymilk, lemon juice, a tablespoon of flaxmeal, a banana and ice.

I had to leave for work around noon, so I scarfed down a big KSS for lunch.

This had 3 cups of spring mix, half a bell pepper, 1/2 a cup of warmed lentils, 1/2 a cup of egg white salad and 2 teaspoons of homemade dressing.

On the way to work I needed a small pick-me-up, so I finished up my last honey stick from last week’s farmers’ market.

I’m cool like that.

Work was really busy, and I only had about an hour to study my homebrewer book :(. I made up for it at lunch though. I packed my own lunch in an effort to save money.

I mixed half a can of tuna with a tablespoon of Smart Beat, mustard, chopped lettuce, diced bell pepper, a chopped hard-boiled egg and diced pickles and put it between 2 slices of my lovely 9 grain bread from Great Harvest.

WAY too much food. I ended up finishing 3/4 of the sandwich before I just couldn’t take anymore. Post-fooding was spent on the comfy couch reading my beer book and taking notes.

When I got back to the LBM house, I realized I hadn’t had dinner (my sandwich was eaten at 3:30pm), and I was looking through the cupboards for something healthy and filling. I failed. Instead of healthy and filling, I had Corn Pops.

I’m awful, I know! I had a cup of these (at least they’re whole grain and 3 grams of fiber!) with a little soymilk. 120 calories of sticky sweet EVIL.

I also ate one of my coconut milk ice cream sandwiches and then decided I should probably go upstairs before I devoured anything else. I got to the end of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud part 1 and gasped audibly (read it and you’ll see why), then crashed and woke up early this morning to go for a hike.

That sums up my yesterday! Today’s recap will have to be tomorrow when I’m back from work and a long bike ride.

We’re almost to the end of the week! JOY!

Comments Off on The Death of Internet

Filed under Corn Pops, green monster, honey sticks, Joy, kitchen sink salad, purple monster, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, wheat beer

by Becki | June 15, 2010 · 8:09 am

Libraries and Infomercials

Is everyone loving their Saturday as much as I am? (I know it isn’t ACTUALLY Saturday, but it is for me!) If you have today and tomorrow off, you’d better be living it up – yay midweek weekends! Today consisted of some of my favorite things: Trader Joe’s, the library, bakeries, Natural Cafe and another library :)!

I realized this morning that the spinach at the house I’m dogwatching at was spoiled. I put it in a colander and it was all slimy and gross, so I came back to my house to make a big ole GM for myself and the roommates. Lo and behold, I got back and they were finishing up cleaning the blender. That’s right, they couldn’t survive a day without a GM so they MADE THEIR OWN!!!! Look what I’ve created! The only downside to this was that I had to make my own and only had about four blueberries to include. It came out kind of bland and chunky. I chewed my way through the glass.

I headed out to return some books to the library, get gas in my car, and on the drive back, passed by THIS!!!!

COMING SOON!!!! NEAR MY HOUSE! SO EXCITED!!!!!

We have a Great Harvest Bread Company by the house, and I’ve been trying to find time for months to go buy a loaf, but I always end up getting there after they close. Today, I got there and the door was open! Hooray! I sampled some of their cranberry-orange bread with whipped honey, and bought a loaf of 9 Grain bread – first ingredient is 100% whole wheat! Note to everyone: wheat flour and WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR are totally different! Always make sure the first ingredient is 100% whole, or something like oatmeal!

So pretty!

And delicious! (One tablespoon of flaxseed peanut butter on top)

After I’d calmed down from my indian/fresh bread freakout, I went and walked the Little Blurry Monster (who will now be known as LBM), and watched a P90x infomercial. Have you tried P90x? I’m dying to try it out – if their nutrition plan is suited for lactose-intolerant people, I’m going to hunt a copy down! The infomercial really inspired me, but not enough to get on the floor to do crunches. Instead I crunched this:

Not the smartest thing to eat, but I think I can forgive myself… yes, I definitely forgive myself.

Lunch was a cup of Progresso lentil soup with fresh spinach and a teaspoon of goat cheese mixed in.

This brand has a little too much sodium for my palate, so I tried to tone in down with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Very delish, but still a tad too salty.

After two hours of cleaning, reading The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud and rotting my brain with a little Food Network, I met up with one of my best buddies for dinner. We went to Natural Cafe and split “The Locals’ Favorite” which has avocado, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes and onion on 9 grain bread. It’s also supposed to have garlic mayo but they left it off our sandwich :(. Healthier I guess, but I wanted that creamy garlic mayo!!!

I polished off my half and realized that I forgot to take a picture, but my dinner date was kind enough to let me photograph his.

Oh yes, they also included blue chips and fresh salsa. I may have finished them all by myself, AND had a huge chunk out of that piece of bread in the middle.

Finally, we headed to the library and spent an hour and a half perusing the shelves. I came back with even MORE books on homebrewing. I’m thinking of selling my surfboard in order to pay for some homebrew equipment. Any surfers or homebrewers out there with an opinion on this?

Now I have to go back to the house with no internet connection and walk the LBM, so I bid you all a good night. I looked over my day and realized that except for the goat cheese in my lentil soup, and possibly the chocolate chips in the granola bar, I was vegan today! My brother (who’s been a vegan for 10 years and counting) would be proud! Or he’d punch me in the arm just cuz I’m his little sister :P.

Oh yes, and a coconut milk ice cream sandwich and Mission St. Hefeweizen await me. Did I forget to mention that? 😀

8 Comments

Filed under chips, Dog walking, Hefeweizen, lentils, library, little blurry monster, Natural Cafe, salsa, soup, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, Trader Joe's

by Becki | June 13, 2010 · 9:35 am

A Morning of Firsts, and Lasts

I didn’t mean to… I swear I didn’t! Last night, I promised you all that I’d eat two ice cream bars, but I failed. I only ate one. I guess it’s a good thing that one satisfied me, but after my promises of not lying to you anymore, I felt guilty. Just had to let you all know the truth.

Bad news: I ran out of spinach. There was no GM for me this morning. Instead, I decided to try the overnight oats that I’ve read so much about. I used the vegan version from Oh She Glows. Luckily, I had picked up some chia seeds at Sprouts before the farmers’ market on Thursday, so I was able to throw all the ingredients into a bowl. It looked a little scary…

When I woke up in the morning, it looked even scarier.

Then I stirred in a tablespoon of flaxseed peanut butter and a drizzle of maple syrup and it looked like it was going to crawl out of the bowl and beat me up.

I’ll say this nicely – I’m NOT a fan. Cold oatmeal and I just do not mesh. It was chilly and slimy, and after every bite, I took a sip of coffee like a chaser to get rid of the shivers it brought on. Maybe if I ever get the guts (ewww, that’s what it reminds me of) to make it again I’ll reheat it and try it warm. Have you ever heated up overnight oats? Did it make them inedible or better?

When I got to work, I diligently focused on my responsibilities.

That’s one of the pages of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. The only copy that was available in my library was a large print. When I want to read something badly enough, I’ll settle for this, but large print takes some getting used to! Personally, I find it harder to read than regular.

I also got to hang out with some of the boys.

They hang out with me when I have a snack break and guard my purse from the delinquents who may try to steal it. They’re chill.

My annoying stomach started going off an hour into work, even though I’d had massive amounts of cold, clammy protein in the oats and peanut butter, so I swung by See’s Candies to get a sample. The workers at See’s know me. They know me well. I paid for two pieces, and this is what they gave me:

I ask for two, I come out with five. I hate those workers so much…and yet I adore them! Double caramel FTW!

For lunch I had a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice and sriracha soy sauce, yet again. I met up with my friend Brittany and we sat outside in the beautiful sunshine, enjoyed the fresh air and dreamed about what we could be doing if we had money and weren’t trapped doing retail. Girls gotta dream 🙂

I bailed on work early. I just couldn’t take anymore standing around and reading, plus I had to pick up the roommate from the train station. I got home, sat in a comfy chair, tweeted about how I never wanted to get out of it, then finally got up and made myself a mini-KSS.

This baby had lettuce, warmed lentils, half a bell pepper, half a container of Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad, a sliced and sauteed zucchini all tossed with about 2 teaspoons of homemade dressing. I feasted. I smiled.

I headed on down to the train station, picked up the adored roomie and came back to catch up over a Franziskaner (for me) and a glass of wine (for her). Then I realized I needed to write my blog before I fell asleep in the aforementioned cozy chair, so I opened up a coconut milk ice cream bar, and here we are.

Tomorrow begins a week of housesitting, so my blogs may be slightly sporadic because I don’t get internet connection over there – BOOOOO! I hope you all enjoy your Saturday nights, and aren’t as lame as I’m about to be – passing out in said chair before dragging myself to bed.

Bon Nuit!

2 Comments

Filed under books, Chocolate, coffee, Franziskaner, kitchen sink salad, overnight oats, reading, See's Candies, sushi, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, vegan, work