I suppose it started for me in high school. There was a coffee shop (no longer in business) called La Crème just down the street from the high school, and my friends and I would stop in there often for a drink, snack, and hanging out time. It really did mimic the camaraderie of the television show "Friends," although, we rarely sat in the same place two times in a row. I sat and had deep conversations with the girl who would become my best friend there. I went on dates there. I ran into my parents' friends there. That place had a lot going for it.


From there, my love of coffee shops kept going. I do enjoy Starbucks, nothing but love there. However, there is something a bit more charming about a privately owned, non-chain coffee house. In college, starting freshman year and going all the way through senior year, a group of us met weekly at Sweet Eugene's for catching up and chilling out. It didn't really matter that most of us saw each other every day anyway. I worked at this coffee house during my time as an undergrad (beginning sophomore or junior year, I can't quite remember) and grad student. Not an insignificant percent of my paycheck would often go to food and drinks on my off-time.

Along the way in there, I moved to Paris, France. Uh, hello. We all know the French love their coffee (and with almost as much passion as the Italians, and that's hard to do). In Paris it didn't really matter to me which coffee shop I was stopped in, they were all inviting (albeit smoky) - especially on cold, gray Parisian days. What they lacked in creature comforts (no big fluffy couches here), they made up for in ridiculously cheap espresso and indifferent shop keepers. The indifferent shop keepers part is very good if you're looking to stay in one place for hours on end and only purchase a single espresso. Japan also had its little cafés (and Starbucks) where we liked to frequent. In one, the baristas knew Christopher by name (not to mention his order).

Since we've been back, I don't quite feel like we've found a coffee shop haven. That is, not until today. Sure, we'd gone to Starbucks like we always did. But sitting in one just hasn't felt quite as relaxing as it used to. Luckily, I'm a bit ridiculous about cutting coupons and looking through the weekly mailers for deals. This is a fortunate happenstance because this past week's mailer had a 50% food purchases coupon for a coffee house I'd never heard of called Global Peace Factory. 50% is a very good reason to give a place a shot.

Christopher and I headed over there for lunch today. We both ordered paninis (the menu is small so the variety isn't all that vast - mostly paninis or pastries, and they also sell gelato). Christopher also ordered a caramel frappé. We headed up to the mezzanine to sit and eat our lunch. It was very cute, comfortable, and inviting. What is even better is that this coffee house is part for profit and part for charity. 2 cents on the dollar goes to non-political charities. Certain items sold in the shop have 100% of the proceeds going to charity. Also, their plastic cups (for cold drinks) are compostable. Rock on Global Peace Factory. I feel we may have found a little gem in this place, and I know that we'll be going back. It's a nice feeling. Oh, and yes, the paninis were delicious.

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Sitting at my desk playing Sid Meier's Civilization yesterday, I realized two things. First, Sitting Bull will continue to be warlike and ruin my fun at building my cities no matter how many trades I place with him. He may even cost me the game. Second, my right arm and hand tingle and feel dead way too often for it to be healthy when I am at my desk. I told Christopher about it, and he said my symptoms were like Carpal Tunnel. Yikes.

So, knowing me - as you do - you know that I must do more research on the topic to find out if I indeed have Carpal Tunnel (because I'm not likely to believe the snake will injure me unless it bites me square on the nose). I found this information from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. It states that Carpal Tunnel sufferers have pain often radiating from the palm and going down to the elbow in addition to tingling in the thumb, index, and middle fingers. They may feel like they cannot squeeze or grip objects and/or feel a need to "shake it out." This information, Christopher had shared with me already.

Since I work at a computer all day every day, Monday through Friday, I do feel like it is not unreasonable to expect I may develop this one day. But now? Also, my symptoms do not match exactly. For example, there is no pain associated with my tingling. It feels like my arm went to sleep, but I could still hold a cup of coffee if I needed to. Second, my arm and fingers are ridiculously cold when this happens. This leads me to think that it may have more to do with poor circulation or with keeping my arm up too high in comparison with my heart, or something to that effect. Finally, it seems to affect my pinkie, ring, and middle fingers far more than my thumb and index fingers. In fact, my thumb never feels numb when this happens. I am not ready to go to the doctor just yet. Last I checked, the most common remedy for this injury was surgery. Eek. I don't think I'm there yet. In the meantime, if you see someone looking like a hobo at their desk wearing gloves with the fingers cut off, that would be me.

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As you may have been able to tell based on the recent onslaught of food related posts that I have made, I am becoming more and more interested (read: obsessed) with healthy living, good cooking, and fun calorie burning exercise. This interest lead me to seek out various personal trainers in the area and do a little research on what they offer.


I took a look at the type of personal trainer one would meet at a Gold's or Bally's gym. Then I looked at the kind who work in separate smaller gyms or studios. Finally, I searched personal trainers in the area who would come to you. In the latter group, I found Thomas Jensen, founder of Elect Wellness. Last week, Christopher and I met with Thomas to talk about his program and to go over basic lifestyle assessment type stuff. True to the ad on his website, this assessment was free with no obligation to sign up for anything. He did give his service list and pricing information at the end of our session; however, it was not a "hard sell" and we did not feel like he was pressuring us nor was he upset that we didn't sign up right away.

Overall, his program seems well thought out based on eating right (whole foods, lots of fruits and veggies, no soda, that kind of thing) and working out with resistance training being the key to fat burning. There's probably some cardio in there as well. He's also very personable and professional, and he let us know about his own journey to eat right and find the best way to work out and maintain a healthy body. He seems like the kind of guy you'd play some half-court with, not intimidating or condescending at all.

The price tag, for us, was too high to be able to sign up for a program. Thomas does offer smaller monitoring programs and body composition assessment sessions that might be worthwhile as we both continue to eat well and become more fit. Whether or not we decide to do that later, I'll continue to subscribe to his weekly fitness e-newsletter (which has only come with one additional sales email in the entire time I've been signed up for it) and enjoy what he has to say about dairy, testosterone, flax seed, or whatever other topic he picks on any given week.

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Perhaps it is the spirit of Memorial Day weekend that is putting all the store clerks in a good mood. Having no intention of actually shopping this weekend, but then needing to anyway, I found that spirit at each place we went.


First - the mechanic. After a quick stop at Kroger to get an anniversary card, Christopher noticed a coupon for NTB on the back of the receipt. We needed an oil change anyway, and since it was Friday and I was off of work, we decided to get it taken care of asap. The coupon was for your basic run-o-the-mill oil change. We wanted to make the switch to synthetic, something our coupon didn't cover. Not deterred by silly sheets of paper, the clerk offered us $10 off our oil change anyway. We took it.

Following the mechanic, we wanted to go to JinBeh for sushi for lunch. Their lunch specials can sometimes be really worthwhile. We went in and sat at the sushi bar and looked at the specials menu. Unfortunately, what we wanted wasn't on it. It was on the regular (and full price) menu that we could order if we wanted. Rather than waste an opportunity to watch our wallets, we decided to leave and come back another time when we could catch a different special. On the way out the door, we were stopped by the manager who wanted to know what was wrong. This is a restaurant we love, and the only reason we were leaving was because the rolls we wanted weren't on the Friday lunch special menu. The manager, Ali, took care of it. He said he'd be happy to put the rolls that we wanted on special and there was no reason to leave. So, we stayed, and lunch was delicious (and inexpensive!).

A trip to Half Price Books today (Saturday) was also a good stop. They were having a store wide 20% off sale. Not too shabby. And our final errand of the day was to go to Ulta for some shampoo and what not for myself. I took my 20% off one item coupon in with me. My most expensive item wasn't very expensive at all earning me about $1.30 in savings. The clerk saw my total (about 20 bucks), and said "hang on just a sec." She disappeared under the counter for about 20 seconds and came back and scanned a $5 dollar off store coupon dropping my total down to $15. Pretty sweet. I hadn't asked her about any additional sales or specials going on. I guess she just felt it in her heart to use a coupon for me (or maybe her manager told her to do that for everyone, no idea).

Here's hoping stores clerks continue their wave of kindness after the holiday weekend.

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The tree man from Scarborough Faire 2009 has been occupying the right side of our home page for a while now. He's pretty cool - so I guess he deserves it. We decided to hit the road again this year down to Scarborough Faire with my brother-in-law, Christopher's brother, along for the ride.

Getting to Scarborough Faire was a breeze, perhaps there was some traffic getting out of town in the first place. But if there was, it wasn't bad enough for me to remember it now that I'm writing about it some weeks later.

Last year, we mostly people-watched and walked around the vendors' booths. So this year, we wanted to take in a few more shows and exhibitions. We started at the potter's place.
His set up was very cool, all foot powered and rustic.

From there we went to the glass blower's exhibition. He started out with a long thin string, which he turned into a very pretty pitcher with handle, which had clear glass with orange polka dots. He was a good speaker, too. Therefore, I think his presentation was even better since he was able to tell the audience exactly what he was doing and why as he was doing it.

I think from there, we may have gone to lunch - I can't remember the exact order. But sometime between the glass blower and the end of the day, we managed to see belly dancers, a bird of prey show (or part of it anyway), fencing games, and the rope trick/whip trick show. We also watched the mid-day parade, checked out the elephants, and browsed many of the stores. A very good day of family fun.

The day was made extra special when, while at the belly dancing show, the girls called up two men from the audience and one of them was Christopher. From that point on, he had the best seat in the house - on stage being fanned by one of the troupe members. They even made Christopher and the other audience member attempt to dance. Christopher's skills were much better than the other guy. However, neither of them has a career in belly dancing just yet. Maybe next year.

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It's been another week of conscientious eating. I'd like to think that the choices are getting easier. Those calories get spent so quickly! Summer fruit and veggies certainly make it easier to eat healthy foods. I love the avocados that are out now, along with my usual bananas and apples (I also pick up clementines occasionally, but not usually in summer). Just so you know, I doubt I'll continue to blog the food that I eat, just because it's not all that exciting. However, know that I'm continuing to keep my food diary personally and will let you know what I eat if you ask.

Monday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana, tropical citrus juice
Lunch -> Cucumber,tomato,avocado salad with Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Mac and Cheese
Other -> Blueberry Greek Yogurt, Skinny Cappucino
Total Calorie count = 1334, Total Fat = 26.5g

Tuesday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana, tropical citrus juice
Lunch -> Cucumber,tomato,avocado salad with Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Grilled chicken with leafy salad
Other -> Plain Greek Yogurt
Total Calorie count = 1145, Total Fat = 28.3g

Wednesday
Breakfast -> 2 Cherry pop tarts, 2% milk
Lunch -> Chicken and avocado sandwich and a banana
Dinner -> Grilled chicken with herb pasta and peas, blueberry greek yogurt for dessert
Other -> Skinny cappucino
Total Calorie count = 1675, Total Fat = 46.2g

Thursday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana
Lunch -> Cucumber,tomato,avocado salad with Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Cheeseburger (Christopher grilled, yummy!) with portabello mushrooms, leafy green salad
Total Calorie count = 1119, Total Fat = 55.5g

Friday
Breakfast -> Oatmeal with 2% milk and a banana
Lunch -> leftover leafy green salad with cucumber,tomato, and avocado; Ritz crackers
Dinner -> Chicken n' Dumplins
Total Calorie count = 1252, Total Fat = 51.5

So there you have it. I got a little excited at the grocery store last weekend and bought a LOT of avocados, and you can see I've put them to good use. Although my calorie count was a bit too low (women should get 1200 or more I've read to provide appropriate nutrition) on Tuesday and Thursday, I wasn't any hungrier thanks to high fiber foods and Christopher's excellent grilling skills! The next blog won't be a food blog, but I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted!

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As you know from my previous post, I feel the food selection out there is treacherous at times. Although my food choices do leave a bit to be desired on occasion. I am holding myself accountable by publicizing what I eat. Perhaps this won't be interesting at all; if not, stop reading now. If you enjoy it, let me know and maybe I'll do it again in the future.


Monday
Breakfast -> cheerios with 2% milk
Lunch -> ham and cheese sandwich, peanut butter wheat crackers, strawberry apple sauce
Dinner -> spaghetti with Pilsbury reduced fat crescent rolls
Drinks -> two cups of black tea, one minute maid, about 56 oz H20
Total Calorie count = 1622 with 44.9 grams of fat

Tuesday
Breakfast -> cheerios with 2% milk
Lunch -> spaghetti leftovers, strawberry apple sauce
Dinner -> personal frozen pizza, blue bell ice cream (it's the best ice cream in the country)
Drinks -> two cups of black tea, minute maid, about 56 oz H20
Total Calorie count = 1921 with 47.8 grams of fat

Wednesday
Breakfast -> oatmeal with 2% milk
Lunch -> ham and cheese sandwich, strawberry apple sauce
Dinner -> salmon croquettes with white rice and spinach
Drinks -> skinny cappucino, about 56 oz H2O
Total Calorie count = 1265 with 38.3 grams of fat

Thursday
Breakfast -> oatmeal with 2% milk
Lunch -> spaghetti leftovers, strawberry apple sauce
Dinner -> two chicken fajita tacos with jalepeno refried beans
Drinks -> skinny cappucino, one Dr. Pepper, about 72 oz H2O
Total Calorie count = 1750 with 31.5 grams of fat

Friday
Breakfast -> oatmeal with 2% milk
Lunch -> ham and cheese sandwich, strawberry apple sauce
Dinner -> Chick-Fil-A original chicken sandwich and yogurt parfait with granola, late dessert of angel food cake
Drinks -> skinny cappucino, about 56 oz H2O
Total Calorie count = 1628 with 41.8 grams of fat

There you have it. And to top it off, Christopher and I went grocery shopping this evening and some really good produce was on sale (Haas avocados 4 for $1!), so I expect to have some delicious salad and sandwiches next week, woohoo!

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When you're in the mood for a sandwich but not in the mood for bread - try the KFC Double Down! With this sandwich, there's no room for bread with its untold meatiness. I hope I'm never so hungry that I actually try this. I see the ad for this chicken pile, and I imagine grease splashing all over someone's face. Ew.


This non-sandwich is over 500 calories with 32 grams of fat. In fact, this new item on the KFC menu grosses me out so much that I have decided to write down what I eat every day for your reading pleasure. By Friday or Saturday, I'll have about a week's worth of meal and drink choices to share. Why does this sandwich disgust me so? To be honest, I'm not sure... there are other choices at chain restaurants that are potentially worse. The Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries are 400 calories and 29 grams of fat per serving (there are 3 servings in a small order; so says their menu). So if you eat it all to yourself, you've just had 1200 calories and way too much fat. Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad has 1400 calories and 88 grams of fat. Uhm - yeah, a salad. I can probably find dozens upon dozens of examples. But for some reason, none make me want to lose my lunch quite like the Double Down. In fact, I don't even want to think about it anymore.

So with that, I felt like transparency would help me feel better about food choices that people make in general. And, you can see that my choices aren't perfect - but perhaps you'll agree with me that there are other things out there to choose than the KFC Double Down. See you at the end of the week with food diary in hand.

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