Vacation has officially started :)

This morning my husband came home early from work and surprised me that he was off tonight, that way in the morning when we get up, we can leave at 4 am instead of 6 am and he will be driving and not sleeping. I really wasn't too excited about driving the approx 7 hours to Philadelphia. He loves to drive since he does it for a living (truck driver).

This morning he thought it would be funny to just come home and scare me. He tried to sneak behind the house and look in the sun-room window but I wasn't in there so he came in the house, I heard the alarm system beep and I said Tom, no answer, I said Tom still no answer, scared to death wondering who I am going to see in the kitchen, I walked up anyways and there he was with a big smile on his face telling me he found someone to cover for him tonight. Everything worked out perfectly.

Today for lunch we finally went to this little Vegan restaurant in Boardman, Ohio that I have been wanting to go to for awhile. Ely's To Go which is owned by this very friendly couple who are also Vegan and everything there is Vegan. I had called earlier and the guy was going to hold stuff for us since it sells out fast and they make everything fresh daily. I thought we would be fine not to pre order it but they were out of the steak sandwiches that Tom was so excited to try. We split the Black Rice Burger with Guacamole, 2 spring rolls, a triple berry muffin and some Red Roasted Tomato Barley soup. EVERYTHING was incredible. The triple berry muffin was to die for, we ended up buying the last one and also a Chocolate Chip Pistachio cookie to go. It's best to call and see what they are having for the day and ask them to hold it. It's a 45 minute drive for us and they close early, starting in July they close at 4 pm so I will have to work early so I can get over there on a weekday, they are closed on the weekends. Their daughter has a blog Eat Pure, she blogs about Vegan foods while traveling. I am so glad we went and I look forward to going back. The guy even offered to let us buy the Vegan Chicken and Vegan Mock Sliced Beef by the 5lb bags, so we ordered a few through him. I highly recommend this place, even if your not Vegan, the food is incredible and the service just tops it off to being a PERFECT place to go :)

I love how they have it decorated, such a cute place!

their menu changes daily, everything is freshly made every day

only 2 left and we got them, Perfect!

Next time I want to try this :)

The owner let us try this by it's self (it was in the spring roll also) I could NOT believe how much it taste like real chicken.

We ordered a 5lb bag from the owner of this and the chicken

Black Rice Burger with Guacamole on Ciabatta Roll

Spring Roll -made with rice noodles, soy chicken, lettuce, cucumbers + cilantro with a hoisin dipping sauce

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato & Barley Soup

incredible! So fresh and so much flavor!

Triple Berry Muffin-There were only 2 left and we grabbed the last one after sharing this one.

Chocolate Chip Pistacchio Cookie-SO GOOD!

Now that we are nice and full from a wonderful lunch, we are packing everything up for tomorrow. We bought a new cooler and tons of snacks for the road trip. I bought the Fifty Shades of Grey Books to read on the way, I am very excited to read these after hearing so much about how good they are.

I saw this sweater today on Jcrew and I want it so badly! It's dry clean only which I do not like and try to avoid buying stuff that is, but I love this! If I see this on vacation, I might splurge and buy it.

1 more work day :)

Tomorrow is my last day until my 11 days of vacation starts, I am So happy! Friday I plan to clean my house, get all the laundry done, pack everything and snuggle with all my kitty cats! I am going to miss them like crazy! They hate when we leave and if I think about it a lot I could cry, they are my babies! I even call them on the answering machine to let them hear my voice and tell them Mommy will be home soon, I know that may sound weird but I really believe they understand ;)

Coffy sitting so majestically -he is going to miss his Mommy the most :( 

Enterprise called and said we could pick up the van today, 2 days early and not be charged for the 2 extra days, cool! We were hoping we would get a van like this again, tv and so much room. It's a Chrysler Town and Country. This is the first time we paid for the extra insurance. With my 2 accidents in 2 years and being cancelled from my former auto insurance,  I can't take any risks anymore :( It was $16.99 per day but they guy knocked off 5%. It's worth it though because he said most people don't realize that if you wreck the rental car and it's in the shop for a few weeks or however long, your responsible for paying each day for it. They also said if we were to have an accident with someone and they had to lose work because of it and sued us for loss of wages, our normal car insurance would not cover it. Tom had even talked to the insurance agent when he was doing the paper work for our new insurance and they also had explained this. So as painful as it was for me to pay for something I don't think we will need, it's reassuring to know if we do need it, it's there. All these years of renting cars, we assumed everything was covered.

For dinner tonight we had southwest tofu scramble and Field Roast Mexican Chipolote Sausage. How nasty does this block of tofu look before it turned into the fablous scramble. I know your thinking tofu =gross, but honestly if my husband loves it, anyone would if it's made certain ways with the right spices.

I admit Tofu looks So Gross out of the package

We are going on our 5 mile walk in a little bit and check my new shoes out...3rd times a charm? I returned the Brooks Pure Cadence after my right leg went numb running on the treadmill, I know I should have given them more time. Back to Under Armour, I admit I love their style better. I got these on sale on the Under Armour site, marked down from $86.99 to $74.99 and also 10% back to my Discover Card for linking to their site. Look at my big momma staring up at me....that gorgeous girl's name is Haystack (we adopted her from a shelter they said she was found in a barn on a hay-wagon and the farmer did not want her there so we kept her name)

UA Micro G Strut Running Shoes

Well I better get moving on my walk, have a great evening!

4 Day Work Week Coming up....

So hopefully Monday won't be so too bad! Monday mornings are always hard for me to get back into the groove after the weekend. I hope to go in super early tomorrow, it just all depends on how I feel when the alarm goes off at 4 am. Some days last year I went in from 3 am to 3 pm when I was on 12 hours. I love getting to work early when no-one is there and the phone isn't ringing, customer's aren't emailing yet, and I can work hours straight with no interruptions...it's great! I get so much accomplished. 

Tuesday is my anniversary, Tom and I will be married for 17 years. Hard to believe we have been together for almost 20 years already. I love that. We still act like we did in high school and have so much fun together. In fact last night in the park, I ran ahead when he stopped and I told him to run to catch me so I came up with "Stranger in the Park" I told him I would run ahead then he had to chase me and I would pretend he was a stranger. LOL we are goofy, well I AM goofy and he follows along to make me happy. I like to be crazy in good way..keep it fun :) So Stranger in the Park is a new way to spice it up and also get a good workout if you run as fast as I did to try to get away from him :)

Ever since I had my office at work painted Bright Yellow, my new favorite color is yellow. There are so many things I want that are yellow, it's such a happy fun color. I wanted to paint a room here yellow but Tom doesn't think he would like it, so I decided instead to use it as a color to pop out. Like these prints from Etsy that I want to make myself since I do work at a printing company, it would be silly for me to buy them.

My kitchen is a dark wine color on the one side and a light pea green on the other side that goes into the living room all the way up the stairs and down the other stairs, so it's going to take A LOT of painting to change these colors. I am thinking of painting the wine color dark grey and all the green white. The living room upstairs has Eggplant Microfiber couches that I bought because the lady that lived here had that color and I loved how it went with the green. It's going to take a lot of hours and days to paint the walls but I think it will make the rooms look nice and fresh. We have been here for 4 years and haven't painted any of the rooms exept for the boys. The people that lived here had 2 daughters so we had 2 girls rooms to paint. I painted Gage's 3 shades of grey and Graham's an orange color. 

I love how this dark grey looks in a kitchen with the yellow popping out.

 I love these owl measuring cups from West Elm

I guess I am on a yellow kick right now, I really wish I would have bought this little backpack from Madewell for my trip instead of my big canvas bag

herschel supply company® classic backpack $40

and I really want these yellow skinny jeans like Syndey from The Daybook wears in this picture, they are from Windsor, just not sure if I could pull them off like she does. So cute!

Ok enough about yellow :) I just want everything yellow right now!

I am getting ready to go workout and then get to bed early. Have a great week!

It's Friday....So Happy!

My kitty Sadie yawning (picture taken by my son Gage)

I am so glad it's Friday! I have one more week until my vacation and I am so excited! Tom and I found a blog last night that had tons of the cities and states we are going to that included Vegan restaurant reviews. Some of them sound so yummy! We made a whole list of them and plan to visit a lot of them if we can. We need to sit down this weekend and plan everything out, we have been making notes of all the places we want to see and stuff to do, we just need to organize it all together.  One exciting place I have on the list is the Green Mountains in Vermont, it looks so beautiful and I want to hike at least for half of a day there.

Well like my kitty in this picture, I am tired so I am going to keep this post short :) Have a great Friday!

One of those weekends........

Maybe I just should have went back to bed Saturday morning when things started happening lol. I do all of my major cleaning on Saturday morning, I work for hours getting all the rooms spotless and all in order. A lot of the time, I try to get little things done that I don't normally think of....like cleaning that little filter on the front of the front loader washing machine....on mine it's right down in the bottom right corner. I cleaned it one time last year...so I thought wow it's time to clean that! I pulled it out and water comes out everywhere but it was manageable...I got it all cleaned out and then go to clean the filter and surprisingly there was hardly anything on it...I read on the little door that says make sure you tighten it to prevent leaking...so I turn it clockwise like it says until it stops...tightened.....I put a load of clothes in and go out in the other room and start to vacuum....as I am vacuuming I look over and see a puddle of water coming towards me! I start to cry..I can't believe this..I flooded the whole bathroom downstairs and now part of the family room. Gage woke up from hearing me crying and asked me what happened. He went and got me more towels and I used every single one of them. My husband just got in the door from work and helped me, we had to pull the filter out and let even more water out in order to put it back in. What a mess! We had to move the washer and dryer and get behind there to clean up all the water, but within an hour, everything was back to normal and I was washing clothes again...I don't think I will ever clean that filter again :)

Then I went grocery shopping at Walmart and decided to make a deposit while I was there. The teller was a young man and when I handed him the 2 checks and the savings book, I could tell this wasn't going to be easy just by the way he took it off of me and it was almost like I was his first customer ever. I am a very patient and super friendly person so 10 minutes of standing there wondering what he was doing really got to me. I said I am sorry what is taking so long for the deposit and he said I made a mistake. He said what is your balance, I got really angry and I said what do you mean what is my balance! He said was your last deposit a big one, I said it shows you right there in the book what the last deposit is, he was making me a nervous wreck! When it comes to money, I am tight and down to the penny on things. I know if something is a penny off, I am the type of person who will go back for a few cents if I am shorted. Money adds up. So anyways he hands me the deposit receipt and the last digit is hand written on the account number! I said what is this! I said you can't write over the receipt, I need a receipt showing my account number with this deposit. I logged in my phone right there to see if the deposit was there and it wasn't and I said that to him and then he said he it should be now and it was. I said I am sorry if I have been rude but this is serious when it comes to money. He didn't even apologize or anything. I came home logging in my account to make sure my balance was right and it was. Wow!

After I brought the groceries home from Walmart because it was hot outside, I went to Aldi's. Someone gave me a buggy and told me to pass it on when I was done. I went to give my buggy to a lady and she had just received one as a pass on and told me to just leave it by the buggies someone would take it. As I got in my car, I saw the buggy heading towards parked cars!!! OMG I did not make it in time and luckily it didn't hit the cars it went between them and stopped, I tried to do a good deed and almost made more of a mess.

Yesterday was a bad day but everything is fine today, just a lazy day here. We drove to Wexford last night to the Whole Foods Market they just opened up, it's an hour drive, quicker then Cleveland. It's depressing that we have to drive so far for groceries. We bought 2 cases of Field Roast Hotdogs and Sausages. If you buy anything at Whole Foods in a case, you get 10% off.  I also went to Dick's Sporting Goods and tried on running shoes. I tried on Asics GT 2170, Mizuno Wave Rider 15, Brooks PureCadence, and Saucony Kinvara 3. The most comfortable ones were the Saucony Kinvara 3 but I did not like the style, the next ones in line were the Brooks PureCadence, so I came home and ordered those online with the Finish Line $20 off coupon and 10% cashback to my Discover. They are cute and comfortable. I run on the front of my feet while Tom runs heel strike first and told me that's how I am suppose to run, I tried so hard to and couldn't, I found out last night talking to the guy it's better the way I run on my body so I needed a shoe that goes with how I run. I never knew so much about running shoes. I also ran on their track to make sure I was running in the right shoe. I am glad I tried them all on and compared them, I tend to try to pick the cutest ones out instead of the comfort, that's what happened with the Under Armour ones.

Mizuno Wave Rider 15 on left (awesome yellow and built with quality) Brooks PureCadence on right (feel incredible and very light and style is great)

Brooks PureCadence, Mizuno Wave Rider 15, Asics GT 2170

Saucony Kinvera 3 -These felt the best out of all the shoes but I just didn't like the design

 

Case of Field Roast Sausages

Case of Field Roast Frankfurters

Today's Father's Day Dinner (homemade Vegan Chili, Field Roast Frankfurters, Homemade hot dog buns)

Incredible!!! Best Chili Dog I ever had!

Tom Chili Dog

Tom and I both bought a container of SO Delicious Vegan Ice Cream. I bought Butter Pecan and he bought Mocha Fudge, we had a small bowl last night but finished the containers a few hours ago :) it was SO Good! I just worked out super hard on the treadmill to make up for it. I might have to buy this by the case at Whole Foods next time. They have so many varieties there, we carry only Vanilla and Chocolate around here so it was a real treat!

Weekend Update

It's been a little while since I wrote my last post. I have been so busy at work, it's Football Season for us so it's going to be a busy season. (I work at a ticket printing company). So when I get home, I get some cleaning done, my workout and before I know it, it's time for bed. When working overtime, I like to go in early to get out earlier. My son Gage is working with me again this summer. Last year he worked in bindery, this year he is helping with the data. I can't believe how smart he is, I mean I can but I show him one thing and he memorizes every step. 

My vacation is 2 weeks away from today! I am SO excited! We had just went to Florida in April and that was wonderful, but something about our road trips to many states and cities, I love that the most. We usually fly into a state out west and explore as much as we can, so this is our first Northeast trip, so many places I have never been to! The idea of this trip came up a few years ago when Tom saw so many places on the Food Network that he wanted to eat at. Drive Ins, Diners and Dives and Man vs. Food. The problem now is, he is no longer eating meat or dairy but he told me he is going to try the Philly Cheese-steak at Geno's and Pat's. I just hope he doesn't get sick, Philadelphia is our first stop. My son Gage asked him if he will eat Pizza with him at some of the pizza places on our list and he said he would. When he asked me, I said I can still get a pizza without cheese. We have been making our own at home and honestly I love them! Once you get used to not eating something, you can fall in love with other foods and tastes just as much.

Last night Tom and I went to the Outlets in Grove City and returned our Under Armour RC Charge Storm shoes. After running in them for over a week, he had a lot of issues with his feet feeling numb and heel hurting. I loved the style of mine and I think I was hoping I would not have a problem with them but after a week I realized they weren't working for me. They were comfortable to walk in but not run. For the price we paid $119.99, they just weren't worth it. Tom replaced his with the Asics 2170 and loves them. I am still looking for the right shoe. I have had a lot of opinions say that Mizuno is a great brand (I  never heard of them until now) and last night I tried on the Brooks PureCadence below and it felt great compared to the Asics 2170, Merrel Pace Glove (closet to barefoot running), and a pair of Nike Air running shoes.

Brooks PureCadence $120.00 @ Zappos

Tom bought these ones below at Finish Line, regular price is $110 but I found a coupon for $20 off then I linked through my Discover Card and received another 10% back, so he got a deal on his. 

 

Asics GT-2170 Men's Running Shoes

I bought a few things at Madewell this week and I love them. I wanted a big bag for vacation, something I can carry everything in and get to quickly so I bought this Canvas bag. I had a coupon for 10% off my purchase so the bag came to $55.80 and I love the bag but that still was a little high for it, it's very roomy and also has a zipper enclosure on the inside.

The Caravan Mailbag-Seaweed on sale now for $62 marked down from $78

I also bought these shirts below that are SO comfortable and I love the bright colors!

Last weekend Tom and I drove over to Cleveland to get groceries again. We stalked up on so much hoping to last a few weeks, except for the fresh produce. When we were at Whole Foods, Tom asked if they had any Field Roast Frankfurters in the back and they were all out, Tom was joking with the employee telling him he was going to burn the place down, lol. These vegan hotdogs are the best ever and Tom said if he is going to eat this way, he has to have the substitutes that taste so good and so far this brand has really been the best I have ever tasted, even better then real meat from long ago when I ate it.  I have had Vegan meat before and most of it is disgusting and has a bad texture, this brand makes the best tasting hotdogs and sausage ever! If I could set up a little cart and make tons of them and pass them out for people to try, I would, I guarantee people would love them!

This week for dinner we had home made pizza with Field Roast Italian Sausage and tons of veggies, olive oil and garlic.

I can't believe this but my husband ate Tofu! He made Southwestern Tofu Scramble with the Field Roast Italian Sausage and fried potatoes. It was SO good and isn't it crazy how much it looks like scrambled eggs! The yellow is from the spice turmeric. Below he made homemade wheat bread without yeast. The buns he has been making have made us so tired and I read that yeast can do that, this bread is great and so easy to make.

 I have been making so many smoothies! We got a lot of blueberries and they really make them yummy!

This was made with Frozen Strawberries, Blueberries, Vanilla Almond Milk, Frozen Banana, and Flax Seed Ground Meal, It was SO delicious!

We almost had a dog last Sunday. When we got home from grocery shopping we saw this lady driving to our neighbors house with a little dog asking everyone if they knew who owned it. When she got to us, I told her no but I would post it's picture on Facebook to see if anyone in our town knew. My husband said we should keep it, I said we have 5 cats in the house, there is no way we can have a dog also, and we agreed before as much as we travel, it would never be fair to a dog. I did tell my husband to go find the lady and we would help her by taking it until we found a home. I called my mom and my little brother came and got it and took it to Club Pet a no kill shelter. Here it's an Apricot Poodle, male, 5 months old and as of right now almost a week later no-one has claimed the little guy. He will for sure find a home quickly. I told Tom if we were to help out a dog, we would adopt an older one that has been at the shelter for years, there are some dogs that have been in shelters for almost their whole life :(  Right now though we have enough love with our kitties! 

Well I am off to clean the house and get laundry caught up. Graham is going to camp for a week tomorrow. Have a great weekend!