Waffles in mah belly
I woke up bright and early this lovely Saturday morning to head to Day #4 of Body Pump. Apparently, sometime between Thursday and today the Y got new weights, which are LB weights as opposed to kilograms… Needless to say, I was thrown off by this ABSOLUTELY INSANE change, but I managed through the class 
When I got home I wanted something a little special for breakfast. Something delicious but balanced…
After some foraging in the kitchen, here’s what I came up with:
That’s
- 2 Eggo Light Whole Grain Waffles
- 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s vanilla fat free Greek yogurt
- 3 sliced up strawberries
- 1/4 cup of blueberries
- 2 tbsp Smuckers Sugar Free Syrup
And that, my friends, was a whole heck of a lot of deliciousness.
This may be my new Saturday staple
Mmmmmmmm…
Stats on breakfast: 286 calories, 54g carbs, 3g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber
What’s on the agenda today? I’ll be running some errands, hopefully grabbing a tasty lunch, then spending some quality time with the condo *hopefully* making a dent in the pile of boxes I now call home
Weekend Fail.
Going into the weekend, I had one goal: to find the new Luna Bar flavors and devour mass quantities of them. For those who aren’t maniacally obsessed with luna bars …. For those who have been living under a rock!!! … ahem… for those who aren’t aware, the new flavors are Chocolate Chunk and the highly coveted Chocolate Dipped Coconut.
Saturday afternoon I was out running errands when I got wind of a winter storm a brewing. So I decided to high tail it to Whole Foods in Cleveland so that I could snag the new Lunas. I even called the store ahead of time to make sure that they had the new flavors in stock. As an added bonus, I planned to swing by Trader Joes which is right down the road from Whole Foods. It’s not often I make this trip up to Cleveland, so I had already started mentally drafting a lengthy list of goodies to pick up.
About 20 minutes into my drive the freezing rain started. No worries I thought. I’ve got this. Zoom zoom Mazda, zoom zoom.
A few miles passed.
Ok Mazda, perhaps a little less zoom.
Let’s creep like a turtle instead, shall we?
The closer and closer I got the Cleveland the WORSE AND WORSE the weather got. At one point traffic was stuck at a dead stop for a good 15 minutes, which I soon realized was due to an accident that had resulted in a car completely flipped over on the snow embankment. I counted four accidents on my journey north. And I’m not talking fender benders. I’m talking the kind of accident you drive by and say “holy cow! how the heck did that happen!??!?”.
Perhaps this was a bad day to go to Cleveland…
When I finally arrived at Whole Foods, I was literally shaking. I bolted inside and headed for the Luna Bars. I quickly spied the Chocolate Chunk and grabbed two with gusto. As I reached victoriously into the Chocolate Dipped Coconut box I realized, to my utter horror, that the box was empty. They were sold out. They were sans coconut goodness, if you will.
I had just risked my life, and they were sold out.
I stood in front of the Luna Bars motionless as defeat washed over me.
As I turned to leave, I remembered that I was also super excited to try out the new blueberry muffin LaraBar. Just as I headed to grab one, an old lady swerved her cart into the aisle and picked up the ENTIRE last box of blueberry muffin Laras and dumped them into her cart.
I kid you not. It was like a scene from Walmart’s toy aisle on Black Friday.
I turned away concealing my internal rage, bought my 2 chocolate chunk bars, and headed to the car.
I immediately tore into the Chocolate Chunk Luna Bar.
This Luna Bar was definitely tasty, like a big chocolatey chewy graham. It reminded me of the smore Luna a little too much though….
After all that nonsense, I decided to just go home. No TJ’s shopping spree. That’s right. I drove all the way to Cleveland in an ice storm for 2 Chocolate Chunk Luna bars.
Fail.
Taking it easy in the Big Easy – Part 3
Day 3 in the Big Easy started off with:
Haha, well actually it started off with FREE continental breakfast at the hotel. Thennnnn the Maker’s Mark (for Jarrod anyway… I think that stuff tastes like nail polish remover).
After breakfast and some meandering through the French Quarter
Then we stopped at Primo’s for some snacking:
Primo’s got horrible reviews online, but we were dying for some bruschetta and they happened to have it on the menu so we decided to ignore the reviews.
I love how all the bars and restaurants down here are open to the streets. Most of the buildings have huge windows that you can open up and it makes you feel like your are in a courtyard instead of inside the building.
I should also mention that the whether has been AMAZING the whole time we have been here. 80+ degrees, sunny, and no humidity. GLORIOUS!
I’m so glad we ignored those reviews on Primo’s! Take a look at this beauty:
Jarrod said it was the best bruschetta he ever had. I don’t know about the BEST, but it definitely was REALLY friggin delicious.
We also ordered a small margherita pizza:
This was tasty too—just needed a little hot sauce!
After lunch we had some time to kill, so we popped a squat across the street from Jackson Square to watch some street performers.
These guys were actually REALLY good!
And they drew quite the crowd!
It’s crazy what these guys can do with their bodies. I can’t do a pushup let alone hold my whole body up with one arm and spin it around like a helicopter while simultaneously bouncing up and down:
Me and the BF in Jackson Square:
After lunch, we headed to our French Quarter & Cemetery tour (which I purchased on Groupon a month or so ago). The tour only cost us $10 a piece, and it was a self-guided walking tour that lasted 1.5 hours. SCORE!
While walking around the French Quarter a random man shouted out Jarrod “Man you big as an Avatar! Look at that big ole white boy!” Neither of us have seen the movie (so we’re not quite sure how Jarrod reminded the guy of an Avatar), regardless we both busted out in laughter at the man’s explanation (as did the group of people walking behind us). Only in New Orleans 😀
You may be wondering why the heck we wanted to go on a cemetery tour on our vacation. No, it’s not because we are nearing on Halloween. It’s because New Orleans cemeteries are uniquely interesting: 
Since the city is located below sea level, all of the deceased are buried ABOVE the ground.
What’s even more interesting is that family members are added to the tombs over CENTURIES. We passed many tombs where the first family member was buried in the 1800’s and over the years more and more family members were added (even as most recent as 2004)!
Jarrod and the tour guide:
The tour guide told us that this is the tomb Nicholas Cage built for himself:
Even though this tour was REALLY cool, we both felt odd smiling for a picture in front of a tomb (hence the grimace on Jarrod’s face) 😛
After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for our daily afternoon nap (we’re like a bunch of old farts, I swear!).
We were having a lot of debate on where to go for dinner, but settled on Margaritaville. I know, I know… Jimmy Buffet is one of Jarrod’s unstated idols, and neither of us have ever been to Margaritaville, so off we went.
We wanted to push ourselves a little out of our comfort zones, so we opted for the Crab, Shrimp, and Mushroom dip for our appetizer:
It came with delicious garlic bread for dipping. I thought it was actually really good (Jarrod wasn’t quite so keen on it, but he was fully satisfied with the bread).
For dinner we went with the Jambalaya:
Jarrod said this was the best meal he had to date in New Orleans, and I agree it was DELICIOUS. And yes, that is seven (count them) seven pieces of garlic bread that we wolfed down during dinner 🙂
After dinner we strolled over to Bourbon Street and stopped on the backside of Jackson Square to snap a photo of the shadow casted on the backside of the building:
While on Bourbon St this time, we hit up several bars including Club 524, Krazy Korner, and the Bourbon Street Blues Company (again!).
On our walk back to the hotel, we both concurred that our favorite parts of New Orleans were everything we had seen OUTSIDE of Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is definitely fun and full of crazies, but it is a little too commercialized. We both just prefer the old-world charm of NOLA over the flashing neon lights of Bourbon Street. I do wish we had an extra day in LA to visit the districts outside of the French Quarter, but alas that will have to wait til next time!
Taking it easy in the Big Easy – Part 3
Day 3 in the Big Easy started off with:
Haha, well actually it started off with FREE continental breakfast at the hotel. Thennnnn the Maker’s Mark (for Jarrod anyway… I think that stuff tastes like nail polish remover).
After breakfast and some meandering through the French Quarter
Then we stopped at Primo’s for some snacking:
Primo’s got horrible reviews online, but we were dying for some bruschetta and they happened to have it on the menu so we decided to ignore the reviews.
I love how all the bars and restaurants down here are open to the streets. Most of the buildings have huge windows that you can open up and it makes you feel like your are in a courtyard instead of inside the building.
I should also mention that the whether has been AMAZING the whole time we have been here. 80+ degrees, sunny, and no humidity. GLORIOUS!
I’m so glad we ignored those reviews on Primo’s! Take a look at this beauty:
Jarrod said it was the best bruschetta he ever had. I don’t know about the BEST, but it definitely was REALLY friggin delicious.
We also ordered a small margherita pizza:
This was tasty too—just needed a little hot sauce!
After lunch we had some time to kill, so we popped a squat across the street from Jackson Square to watch some street performers.
These guys were actually REALLY good!
And they drew quite the crowd!
It’s crazy what these guys can do with their bodies. I can’t do a pushup let alone hold my whole body up with one arm and spin it around like a helicopter while simultaneously bouncing up and down:
Me and the BF in Jackson Square:
After lunch, we headed to our French Quarter & Cemetery tour (which I purchased on Groupon a month or so ago). The tour only cost us $10 a piece, and it was a self-guided walking tour that lasted 1.5 hours. SCORE!
While walking around the French Quarter a random man shouted out Jarrod “Man you big as an Avatar! Look at that big ole white boy!” Neither of us have seen the movie (so we’re not quite sure how Jarrod reminded the guy of an Avatar), regardless we both busted out in laughter at the man’s explanation (as did the group of people walking behind us). Only in New Orleans 😀
You may be wondering why the heck we wanted to go on a cemetery tour on our vacation. No, it’s not because we are nearing on Halloween. It’s because New Orleans cemeteries are uniquely interesting: 
Since the city is located below sea level, all of the deceased are buried ABOVE the ground.
What’s even more interesting is that family members are added to the tombs over CENTURIES. We passed many tombs where the first family member was buried in the 1800’s and over the years more and more family members were added (even as most recent as 2004)!
Jarrod and the tour guide:
The tour guide told us that this is the tomb Nicholas Cage built for himself:
Even though this tour was REALLY cool, we both felt odd smiling for a picture in front of a tomb (hence the grimace on Jarrod’s face) 😛
After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for our daily afternoon nap (we’re like a bunch of old farts, I swear!).
We were having a lot of debate on where to go for dinner, but settled on Margaritaville. I know, I know… Jimmy Buffet is one of Jarrod’s unstated idols, and neither of us have ever been to Margaritaville, so off we went.
We wanted to push ourselves a little out of our comfort zones, so we opted for the Crab, Shrimp, and Mushroom dip for our appetizer:
It came with delicious garlic bread for dipping. I thought it was actually really good (Jarrod wasn’t quite so keen on it, but he was fully satisfied with the bread).
For dinner we went with the Jambalaya:
Jarrod said this was the best meal he had to date in New Orleans, and I agree it was DELICIOUS. And yes, that is seven (count them) seven pieces of garlic bread that we wolfed down during dinner 🙂
After dinner we strolled over to Bourbon Street and stopped on the backside of Jackson Square to snap a photo of the shadow casted on the backside of the building:
While on Bourbon St this time, we hit up several bars including Club 524, Krazy Korner, and the Bourbon Street Blues Company (again!).
On our walk back to the hotel, we both concurred that our favorite parts of New Orleans were everything we had seen OUTSIDE of Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is definitely fun and full of crazies, but it is a little too commercialized. We both just prefer the old-world charm of NOLA over the flashing neon lights of Bourbon Street. I do wish we had an extra day in LA to visit the districts outside of the French Quarter, but alas that will have to wait til next time!
Big Easy – Part 1
Here’s a recap of our first day in the Big Easy:
Jarrod almost fell down the escalator in the airport. Sadly, I did not capture this on video.
We hopped in a cab and headed to the hotel, which is right on the border of the business district and the French quarter.
Our hotel is super old and super charming:
After we cleaned up, we headed to the French Quarter and stopped in at the first restaurant that caught our eye: Jean Lafitte Bistro… though oddly that wasn’t the name on the front of the building… Peculiar…
View from restaurant balcony:
Dinner!
This pasta sauce was RIDICULOUSLY amazing (though both of us weren’t impressed with the sausage).
I love the old-world charm of all of the buildings here:
After dinner we headed to drinks and some live music at the Blues Club:
Then drinks at the Beach:
Hello Bourbon Street!
Next stop, the Bourbon Street Blues Company
Cheese!
Annnnnd then we went back to the hotel and passed out! Long day of fun in the Big Easy!!