Tastes Like Texas

Ash –

Good morning everyone. Let me do a little bit of housework around today’s post before we get to the good stuff.

1. Don’t forget about our Starbucks gift card giveaway in celebration of our 100th post. Rules are here, but all you really have to do is a leave a comment telling us your favorite coffee. Automatic entry. Although there are a couple other ways to enter as well (and you can do more than one). Contest ends at noon on Thursday, and the winner will be announced this Friday. Good luck!

2. Since we currently have ZERO questions for tomorrow’s Texas Tuesday (not to mention future ones), I’m willing to offer an extra entry into our giveaway for every three questions you give us. My only restrictions are they can’t be questions we’ve already answered (maybe throw in an extra question or two if you aren’t sure) and they can’t be dumb questions (i.e. what is your name?).

I think that’s all I have. So lets get this Monday started.

*********************

I woke up Saturday morning on a mission. *Cue Final Countdown* Look at “Todo” application on my phone (really it’s “to do,” but that’s how the application is spelled – I thought it was written in Spanish the first time). That evening we were celebrating my aunt’s birthday. I knew my limit. There was no way I would be able to avoid all the sweets to come (no matter how many cookies and other treats I had during the two days of training). I am weak. To put it kindly.

So my new plan apparently was to torture myself. I set an alarm for 8 a.m. which interestingly enough went off right at 8 a.m. despite my attempts at mind control. Fail. Glaring at the world, I went downstairs to set myself up for a morning of Physique 57 (wow. blonde moment. I just realized the 57 in the name comes from the fact that the workout is 57 minutes…. in my defense the two other videos are shorter).

After a light breakfast, I grabbed my mat, ball, hand weights, and blanket. Popped that bad boy into the DVD player and did my 57 minutes of sweat. I moved my hips side to side (say it with me now: “It’s a party for your thighs”). KneeToeKneeToeKneeToe. Does my waistline look any trimmer yet?

I grabbed a post-workout snack and hit the showers. Thankfully right as I finished getting ready Matt showed up ready for our new outing of the week: Froberg Farms. Plenty of people recommended it. Especially during the strawberry picking season. Sadly their strawberry season happens during the busiest part of our spring semester (sometime between mid-March and early May). Meaning no strawberry picking for us.

But that’s no reason not to check out the place. Plus there’s a cute smokehouse “shack” (as Matt likes to call) right next door (to be fair, probably no more than ten people could have fit in this thing). I highly recommend their sausage on a stick and a sweet tea as a snack or lunch.

Please excuse how messy I look.

So my parents came with us to buy fresh fruit and veggies (as my mom likes to joke, my family consists of vegaholics). The place was great. Basically a farmer’s market of sorts. I’m particularly excited about the strawberries, blueberries, and granola we picked up. As soon as I grab some yogurt from Whole Foods I’ll be ready for breakfast this week.

We ran a few more errands and headed home. After nibbling on a few of our new buys, I confess I had to take a short nap. It’d been a busy couple of days, and my eyelids were fighting against gravity.

By the time, I woke up the birthday girl had arrived! And our feast was almost done being prepared: ribs fresh off the grill, salad, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, potatoes (sweet + regular), and mushrooms. Add a little red wine, and I was happy. Even the mosquitoes gave us the day off so we could enjoy our meal outside. Which is when all the trouble began really.

I think it’s that some people had a little too much wine. Suddenly someone says, “I’m hot. Man I could almost jump into the pool right now with all my clothes on.” My aunt (more specifically the birthday one) perks up and says, “I dare you. In fact, I dare you all.” There it was on the table. A birthday dare.

People turned to look at each other. There was that short moment where the dare could be shrugged or joked off. I prayed they would. Instead Matt began taking off his shirt, and Ms. Flo was pulling out her phone. They dove in. Raving about how great the water felt, both of my aunts were quick to follow. I turned my head for one second and lost my mother to those watery depths as well. My uncle and I chose to watch until even he abandoned me. I laughed as they all struggled to swim in their clothes complaining about how much heavier their clothes felt (with the exception of my aunt who in a singsongy voice said, “But my skirt is so free and flowy.” You wonder why I said there may have been too much wine?).

Some of my favorite goof balls.

I love my family and normally I can’t turn down a dare to save my life. But I’ll be the first to say that I did not feel like getting wet. Maybe it was the sleepiness that comes with wine. Maybe it was the pound of food in my stomach. Or maybe it was the fact I was wearing my brand new shorts and vest from Pac Sun. Whatever the reason I quickly offered to start doing dishes. They complained but saw the logic in my plan. So while they shot hoops, I and the dog, afraid of the pool, (obviously not the one in the picture above) took care of the kitchen.

Changing into dry clothes, everyone came inside right as I was finishing up. Even my sister and her boyfriend came back at just the right time… cake! Now I’m partial to chocolate cake on my birthday. But my aunt is a big fan of cheesecake. So my other aunt stopped by the Cheesecake Factory and apparently emptied their inventory.

Our cheesecake smorgasbord. All sorts of cheesecake: chocolate, sundae, plain, tiramisu, etc.

I won’t tell you how many of these I “sampled.” Or even how many of them I had a second “sample” of. I won’t even mention there was also peach pie that we had picked up earlier in the day. Nope my lips are sealed. Surely y’all don’t want to hear about that. Remember the trimmer waist? I swear it’s hidden under all that pie and cake!

Needless to say another successful birthday. Perhaps a not so successful preparation for Sunday’s beach day. But who needs to look good in a swimsuit? Food babies are in fashion right now. Or so I keep telling myself.

How I felt on Sunday. Not even Physique 57 can save me now.