Category Archives: Food

Birthday Twin Dinner (or Probably The Last Birthday Celebration This Year)

I only have a few birthday traditions that I do every year, and one that I’ve been doing for years now is my dinner at Truxton’s with my friend (and birthday twin) Joanna. We’ve been doing this dinner for over a decade now, and even though things have changed over time, we still celebrate with their birthday deal.

The deal was a free entree and dessert when we started doing our birthday dinners. That allowed us to have a totally free dinner and we basically tipped what the cost of the dinner would have been. After a few years, the deal changed to $20 off your meal, which was $40 for us since we both had $20 to spend. We have tried to do a free dinner with that deal, but it became more of a hassle to try to figure it out. So now, we just get an appetizer to share, an entree for each of us, and a dessert to share. It’s not free, but it’s pretty cheap. And we can both tip $20 (which is almost the amount of the cost of the dinner) and feel like we are getting a great deal.

The original restaurant is over by LAX, so that’s where we started going for the birthday deal. But once they opened a location in Santa Monica, we switched to there because it was easier for both of us to get to. And that was our plan again this year. For whatever reason, I felt the need to look at the menu the day we were supposed to go and I’m so glad that I did. Because there was an issue with the lease for the Santa Monica location and it had to close shortly after we were there last year. If I hadn’t looked, we would have driven there for dinner and had no idea that wasn’t an option anymore. So I let Joanna know that we would have to switch back to the location by LAX. And going forward, we might adjust our tradition to be a lunch or brunch because it was crazy for both of us to get there with traffic.

But the traffic was worth it so we could have our birthday meal. And even though I know we both try to meet up more often than our birthday and cheesecake traditions, we are both busy and never seem to be able to plan a lot of other hangouts. So having these traditions something we make sure we do our best to keep up really helps us have regular hangouts/check-ins with each other.

We both knew what we wanted to eat quickly, so we were able to put in our order and focus more on our catch-up. And as it’s been the last several times, most of what we discussed was about our dating lives and our condos. And Joanna gave me some great ideas for the closet in my bedroom which I have been wanting to change up, so I’m glad we had our random chat as always.

And since the focus was on catching up, I also didn’t think too much about taking photos of our food. But I did get a photo of the dessert we split. We had this apple tart in the past and it’s always been good. And the waiter knew that it was both of our birthdays because we let him know in advance about us using the birthday deal, so he put 2 candles in it for us! I think this was the only birthday thing I had with a candle in it this year. It was really the perfect way to end the meal.

Because we went to a different location this time, our dinner was a bit later than normal so we were done later than I was planning. But we did this dinner on a night when I didn’t have to be up too early the next morning so it was ok. And it was worth it to get our birthday dinner. I think both of us would do whatever we can in order to make this dinner happen. Even during the height of the pandemic, we still found a way to have our dinner together even if we were eating in a park instead of the restaurant.

I’m seriously so lucky that we’ve kept this tradition going for as long as we have and that we both see it as such a great way for us to maintain our friendship even with our crazy schedules!

Fitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends)

Since the start of the pandemic, I feel like my social life has taken a big hit. At first, it was due to trying to be safe during the worst of the pandemic and staying isolated at home. I slowly started to see friends again, but so much had changed just a few months into the pandemic. Many of my friends moved away so they weren’t around to hang out with. Once I started my social media job, I worked a lot more hours than I used to and didn’t feel like going out after work. I was used to being done with work at 3pm, and now I was done at 5 or 6pm. That’s a big difference with free time after work. And since I get up so early in the morning to work out, I don’t like to go out after work because I know I need my sleep.

I’ve tried to be more social in the past year or two, but it’s still not easy. It’s never easy to make new friends as an adult, but it seems even harder now. I’ve been working on making the most of the friendships that I already have or seeing people that I felt were acquaintances more so they become friends, but my social circle does feel pretty small. It is still better than what it was like at the beginning of the pandemic because at least I have my workouts in the morning and that gets me out and around people. And because I usually see the same people every week, I have gotten to know them. It’s better than nothing, but still, I know I need to be with friends more.

Since I don’t really like to go out after work (although I have been trying to do so when something has to occur then), I’ve been trying to do more over the weekends. I know I need to take some time over the weekend to relax and reset to be ready for the next week, but I don’t have to do that for the entire weekend every weekend. And one of the easier ways I’ve been able to make time for my friends over the weekend is to go to brunch on Sundays. I’ve been able to do this a few times over the past month and it’s been really great for my mental health.

Brunch is so casual and easy, so I don’t have to stress too much about planning it or making it a big event. And most of my friends feel the same way about brunch so we don’t dress up to impress each other. It’s nice to be able to fit that social time in between other errands that I have to do on the weekend, but I’ve also been trying to make an effort to do as many errands as possible on Saturdays to keep my Sundays free for more fun things.

Not only have these brunches been a great chance for me to catch up with friends that I don’t see that often, but it’s been fun exploring new places around LA. I didn’t set out to do this, but all the brunches I’ve had recently have been at restaurants I haven’t been to before. When I do go out for meals, I tend to go to the same places over and over again. So finding new places has been something I probably needed to do and these brunches have been a great excuse to do just that.

I know that I can’t just expect to have brunches with friends planned and I have to make an effort to make them happen as well. But I do feel a bit more motivated to do these since they fit into my schedule a lot better than other things I have been trying to fit in. I’ve been trying to make myself be better about going out in the evenings when I knew I didn’t want to. And I finally feel like I found a good option for friend hangouts that fit into my schedule and my life. And maybe this will push me to be more social in other aspects of my life, but I’m just happy with finding something that gets me out in the world more and feel a bit more like the old me.

Strength and Savings (or Picking A New Monthly Challenge I Know I Need To Do)

Happy April! I feel like March both flew by and took a long time and it also felt like more than one month with many things happening in my life. It wasn’t the craziest month of my life but the craziest month I feel like I’ve had in a long time.  While it wasn’t all good things, it was nice that a lot of them were positive and reminded me more of what my life used to be like. And I’m proud of myself for not letting a bit of craziness get in the way of my monthly challenge.

I think I really needed the challenge I set for last month, which was to try to make some improvements in my workouts. I know that I have been wanting to do that for a while, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. But wanting to do it and needing to do it finally came together in March and I really think I found a way to try to get this done. I didn’t make all the improvements that I had hoped to, but I found ways to test myself and to try to see what I could do. I didn’t focus as much on improving on the bike, but I think I was able to get more comfortable with my new resistance levels. On the rower, I focused on things other than how fast I could row and I know I saw a lot of improvements doing that, including having faster rowing times. I think I’m going to continue focusing on things that aren’t how long it will take me to row a distance and I should hopefully continue to see results that include faster rows. And on the floor, I didn’t really get to use heavier weights like I wanted to, but I tried. I know that as I continue to try, eventually I’ll be ready for those heavier weights. But it will take me a bit longer than a month to get that accomplished.

Considering that I had a month, I feel pretty good about what I was able to accomplish but even more proud that I have decided to continue with some of the plans I created in March to see more progress moving forward. I know that I might not see the results in the next month or two and it could take longer, but at least I know I’ll be working toward them.

And for my April challenge, I’ve thought of something that combines a few different things that I know I’ve been trying to work on. My challenge this month is to significantly reduce my food waste. When I go to the grocery store, I always have the best intentions with the things I buy. But far too often, I don’t use up what I get or they expire before I use them. I hate when I’m cleaning my fridge and discover things I forgot about or that have spoiled. And it’s frustrating to have to throw out things because I hate wasting money as well as food.

Reducing my food waste will require me to be much more aware when I go grocery shopping. I also think I might need to get back to how I was shopping before the pandemic when I usually went to the store to get things only for the next few days instead of trying to get everything for the week at one time. I might buy something on Sunday thinking I want it but by Friday I really don’t want to have to make it. So if I’m shopping more often, then I can focus on what I want for that day or the next and not what I might want a week away.

I also will need to make sure that I’m eating at home or from things I made more. I’ve been getting much better about this and don’t order in that often anymore, but I also know I can be better. This might mean I need more easy meals as options, so when I went to the store most recently I made sure that I got more frozen meals as options so I could make a quick dinner if I don’t feel like cooking. I also want to get back into using my food saver to freeze things so I can make things on my own and have them as frozen meals, but that’s not something I want to do in bulk and just do it as I have things to save.

There are some things I’m allowing myself to not feel too guilty about with this challenge. There are some things I buy that I just can’t use up fast enough before it expires. For example, I don’t use mayonnaise that often, but I do use it sometimes. So I bought the smallest container of it months ago and I’m only about halfway through the container and it expired last week. I also won’t be forcing myself to eat everything on my plate if I make something and realize I don’t have the ability to finish it. That will mainly be something to worry about if I’m making a frozen meal since something I cook myself will be my own portion sizes and I normally serve myself less than I think I’ll want and get more if I’m still hungry.

I don’t have a goal of being zero waste or eliminating all my food waste, but I also know that there is a lot of improvement I can see in this aspect of my life. And I hope that by the end of this month, I feel like I’m not wasting as much food or money so I can know I’ve made a difference.

A Cheesecake Lunch (or Still Keeping Up With An Annual Tradition)

Going out to the Cheesecake Factory around the new year has been a long-running tradition with my birthday twin. We used to go closer to Christmas or New Year’s, but the last few years have been more about just getting there at some point in January instead of worrying about going during the holidays. It is nice going during the holidays since the outdoor mall we go to has some really nice decorations, but I also like going outside of the holidays since it’s not as crowded. This time, we also decided to go on the weekend for lunch instead of going after work one day. That allowed us to have a bit more flexibility with how long we were there and we didn’t feel tired after having a full workday.

I was surprised when we got there and we were able to be seated immediately. We are used to having a long wait, but we must have gotten there at exactly the right time because they were able to seat us at a table outside with no issues. And I wanted to sit outside since I’m still a bit hesitant about being somewhere inside without having a mask on. It was cold, but they have a lot of heat lamps on their balcony so it was actually warmer outside under the heat lamps than it was just being inside. Plus, it’s always nicer to sit outside where we can people-watch while we eat.

Because we went on a weekend for lunch, we had brunch as an option for our food. I was seriously considering getting something different that I’ve never had, but I ended up getting the same salad I always do. I was trying to think about what I would enjoy plus trying to have something that is at least somewhat healthy considering how bad the meal could be.

As soon as we placed our order, it was time for our catch-up. We always have a lot to catch up on when we have our meals together. She filled me in on the renovation she had to do to her condo, which had been something happening for the last year. And I told her about my crazy date, which was the day before, and some of the things I want to still do to the condo. I think both of us going through renovations at the same time has made her the perfect friend to bounce ideas off of when I have had moments where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do something or not. Or to be someone who understands how stressful it can be to have to make so many decisions.

And of course, we got cheesecake. I think we confused our server when we asked if each piece could be cut in half so we each would get half, but he understood and we each got half of the flavors we ordered.

With my new medication, I’m not eating as much as I did before, but I still was able to enjoy this meal. I just had a lot less of my salad than I normally would and I ate probably half of the cheesecake I normally would. I rarely finish the food we get since it’s so much, but it was still interesting to see how much less I wanted to have this time. But that’s not a bad thing so I’m not mad about it.

And since we were there for lunch instead of a later dinner, we had some time to wander around after we were done eating. I think we both needed to walk a bit before getting back into our cars after that meal. We did a little window shopping at a few of the stores while walking around and then we went into Cost Plus since I wanted to see what they still had on sale since I know they normally have things on sale after Christmas. I ended up getting a couple of random things that I didn’t really need but would look nice as decor around my condo. And nothing was very expensive or elaborate. But I am trying to be better about either getting things that are cute that catch my attention or noting them somewhere to buy later. I want to make sure my home has things in it that are nice and make me happy.

After shopping for a bit, we both had to head back to our cars to get to other things we needed to do. But it was a nice change to our tradition to be able to spend more time than just eating a meal and then leaving. Maybe we’ll continue to do lunches for our cheesecake meals so we don’t have to feel as rushed as we have in the past. But even if in a year we are back to doing dinner, it’s still a tradition I look forward to each year and I’m so glad that we fit it in this year!

Exactly The Musical I Needed To See (or I Wasn’t Expecting To Like This Show This Much)

I’m about halfway through my musical season, which is surprising since it feels like it just started. But this season is split up with a few other shows, so I don’t have another show until this summer when we have 3 shows within 3 months. So I’ll be missing seeing shows for a little while, but I think that the show we got to see this past weekend will make up for that because I really loved the show we saw.

It’s always a tradition to go to Wood & Vine before the show, and we continued that again. We lucked out because we have been having a lot of storms here in LA and Sunday was a break from the rain. So we were able to sit outside and stay warm under a heat lamp. And it was nice to have some outside time when I feel like I’ve been cooped up inside for a while. As always, the food was so delicious and amazing. We ordered a lot of things that we had before, but they have all been favorites of ours.

I was also smarter before going out that night and didn’t eat too much for breakfast or lunch so I had room for all the good food. Everything was really fulfilling and perfect for the stormy weather we have been going through.

And our show that night was one that was supposed to be in the 2019-2020 season that was canceled. But I’m glad the show decided to set up a tour again and they were a part of this season.

I love the movie “Mean Girls” and I was excited to see how it was adapted into a musical. I’ve seen some adaptations that I loved and some that weren’t as great, but I had high hopes for this one. Plus, I knew that the show would be very high-energy and silly so I was looking forward to that.

But what I didn’t expect was how much I would love the show. I thought the cast was so talented and the songs were very funny. Even when there was a technical glitch and the show had to take a very long pause, they were able to come back with as much energy and enthusiasm as before. And you couldn’t tell that they had to make some last-minute staging changes to accommodate the technical issues.

The story is pretty much the same as the movie and there are also a lot of the same characters. But there is a new level to the story with the songs. And I feel like the songs were so many different genres so they almost felt like a collective or a mix tape than something written by a single person. I really loved that. And the sets were almost all using screens, which is something I normally don’t love but it really worked with the show. It allowed the staging to quickly switch from one location to another and it kept the show moving quickly.

I really needed to see a show like Mean Girls. It was so fun and a nice escape from everything else going on in the world and in my life. And that’s why I love having season tickets for musicals. Normally, they aren’t just entertaining but a way to remove myself from any stress and worries in my life and I can just enjoy that moment in time and be really connected to a show. It will be weird that I might not have another musical until the summer, but maybe I’ll find something else to go and check out in the meantime!

A Very Low-Key Thanksgiving Day (or At Least I Was Only Cooking For Me)

Because I had Fake Thanksgiving with my family 2 weeks prior, actual Thanksgiving didn’t feel as big of a deal to me. Usually, Thanksgiving is the main holiday my family does, but our Fake Thanksgiving feels pretty much the same as the holiday so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much. There are a few differences when you don’t celebrate on the holiday, but they are so minor so I don’t think about it too much.

So since I already had my Thanksgiving, I knew I wasn’t going to do anything too big for Thursday last week. I did have the day off from both of my jobs, so that was nice. I had the day off that Friday from one job, but since I worked a full day for the other it didn’t feel like a break to me. So I decided to try to enjoy my Thursday off as much as I could.

Because I get up so early most days, I struggle to sleep in even when I have the chance to do so. I only slept in about 20 minutes later than normal on Thursday, and I had a few hours before I really had to get out of bed that morning. I was going to go to Orangetheory, but I scheduled a later class to give myself the opportunity to sleep in if I was able to do so. I did wish that I had not scheduled it quite as late as I did because I was just sitting around my house waiting for the class, but it was ok. I didn’t have much else to do that day so I wasn’t in a rush to get home to do anything.

After my workout, I spent the rest of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon really being lazy. I mainly just read my book and rested until it was time for me to start making some food.

I didn’t feel the need to make a lot of Thanksgiving-type foods, but I wanted to make something that felt a bit special for me. So I made my 2 favorite sides that my family has at Thanksgiving. One was the green beans with shallots that I really should make more often because it’s such a simple recipe and the other was a corn casserole that my mom makes that I had never made on my own before. Both recipes are very simple and didn’t take much time to put together. And I didn’t want to make turkey since it’s not my favorite thing to eat, so I decided to make meatloaf because it’s very easy to put together and I knew I would be able to make all 3 dishes in the same time frame to have dinner ready at the same time.

The green beans turned out good, as I expected them to. The corn casserole wasn’t exactly how it should be, but it was still good. It ended up a bit more like a bread than the texture it normally has. That didn’t make it taste bad so I was ok with that. But something weird happened with the meatloaf. I don’t know if an ingredient went bad or if I put something in by mistake, but it was bitter and sour. It was unfortunate because I was hoping to use the leftovers for a few days, but it really was bad and I had to throw it all out. I’m glad that I was the only one who had to taste the mistake I made because I would have been so upset if I ruined dinner for multiple people. And since this was my second Thanksgiving, I was less disappointed than I might have been if I didn’t have my family time a few weeks ago.

And after my dinner, I continued to be lazy that evening. I cleaned up my cooking mess and watched a little bit of tv. But there was nothing else that I needed or wanted to do that evening. It would have been fun to do something with friends, but I was ok being on my own. And because I don’t get that many days off, I just enjoyed having nothing that I had to do that day and just being able to relax. My days off are typically spent doing errands and things to get ready for my week. I’m working on trying to shift that so I’m doing more errands on work days so I really have time off on my days off. But because most places were closed on Thanksgiving, I was forced to take it easy and do nothing. It was a reset that I think I needed before getting back into my regular schedule and some of the craziness that might be coming up.

It might not have been the most traditional Thanksgiving for me, but I think it was the perfect way for me to spend the day. I don’t know if future Thanksgivings will be like this or if my family will eventually switch back to being on regular Thanksgiving. But at least I took advantage of this year and I feel like I did exactly what I should have done on the holiday.

Not Exactly A Musical Night (or Continuing To Be Spoiled With Our Pre-Show Dinners)

My friend Jodi and I had our second show this past weekend for the new Pantages season. As I’ve said so many times, I’m glad that I have been able to continue going to shows and that I have a friend who wanted to join me this time. And I’m happy that the shows are back at the Pantages because that means it’s even easier for us to go to dinner at my favorite place, Wood & Vine. I was going there for dinner before the shows at the Dolby, but it was a bit more rushed since we had to drive over to the theater instead of just walking across the street. And honestly, going to Wood & Vine feels like such a part of the plan with going to a show and I miss it if I’m not there for my pre-show dinner.

Jodi and I decided to try a few new things for our dinner. We decided that we wanted to get the crab cakes again because they were so incredible the last time we had them. And we got the popcorn shrimp since that was something I had never had before there. And for our main entree, we got the burger (which came as 2 burgers) because I don’t think I’ve had that before either.

And as always, we got spoiled at dinner. We were sent an order of the ahi tartare, which was another thing that I had never had before there. And I don’t know if I’ve had ahi tartare before in general.

Every single bite was delicious. I’m glad their menu isn’t bigger because I’ve never had something there that I don’t like and it would be hard to decide what to get if they had more options. I have loved everything I’ve had and I always want to get some of my favorites as well as try new things as they change up their menu. And this was a perfect combination of things I had tried before and new things. I especially loved the garlic fries that came with the burger. They were perfectly garlicky!

And again, we were sent dessert even though we didn’t order it. Often, we are sent the butterscotch dessert because that is my favorite. But I think I have a new favorite now. We were sent the bread and butter pudding and I can’t explain how luxurious and delicious it was.

It wasn’t too sweet, which I loved. And it melted in your mouth. Honestly, if I didn’t have to be up early the next morning, I would have debated about us going back to Wood & Vine after the show for a second dessert! It was that good! And I think I will have to have that again the next time we have dinner there.

After being spoiled by so much good food, it was time to walk across the street to go to the show. I usually refer to the season as the musical season, but this was not a musical. I can’t remember another show that was a part of the regular season that wasn’t a musical, so it’s not something that happens regularly. But this season, they decided to make one of the shows a regular play.

Like so many people, I’m familiar with the story of “To Kill A Mockingbird”. I read the book in school and I remember my class watching the movie after we read the book. It’s been years since I’ve read or watched it, but I still knew the main plot points of the story. I had heard that there were a few changes made, but I didn’t think I’d recognize them since it had been so long since I had revisited the story.

I think the play was very well done. The performances were incredible and the plot followed the story that I remembered for the most part. They did some back and forth with the storytelling that I don’t remember seeing before, but it was easy enough to follow when we were moving through the timeline or when we were watching the action take place versus having the characters tell the story. And I liked how they used the set to change from location to location because it was done very simply and kept the focus on the story (sometimes musicals have sets that are super flashy and can be something I focus on a bit too much).

It was an interesting change of pace compared to seeing musicals, but I think it was a good addition to the season. And while Jodi and I were at dinner, we realized that our next show isn’t for about 2 months. And then after that, we have a 4-month break between shows! So we are going to try to see if there are any other random shows we want to go to since we are having so much fun getting to hang out on a regular basis and have entertaining nights out! But even if we don’t figure out another show to see before January, I’m so excited about what we have coming up and I know that this season is going to continue to be amazing!

Getting Back Into Good Routines (or Healthy Eating And Cleaning Up)

I feel like August flew by and was such a short month! I felt like I had more time in August so I was putting off getting some of my birthday freebies like the free products at Sephora. But I guess the month slipped by and I missed getting to do that. Oh well. Some months are just faster than others I guess. And since it’s now September, it’s time to recap my August monthly challenge and plan out my September one.

Last month, I wanted to make sure that I was eating more fruits and vegetables. And as it normally goes with my challenges, I wasn’t perfect but I had some great progress. I know in the past, I was better about eating fruit than I was about eating vegetables, but this time it felt like the opposite. I did get some fruit in my meals, but it didn’t feel as often and it felt much more deliberate when I was doing that. But with vegetables, I was able to make plans for meals that just included them and didn’t have to think about it as much.

I made sure that I always had some frozen vegetables so I could easily microwave them and add them to a meal. I also got a new veggie chopper so I could prepare things easier. I had a similar one before, but I can’t find it. I think I lost a box or two during my move because I keep finding random things that I am missing. But having something to make vegetable prep easier is a nice tool to have. I know I could just cut things with a knife, but I like having things that are about the same size, and using a veggie chopper is the easiest way for me to do that. And if that’s what it takes for me to eat more vegetables, that’s an easy thing for me to do.

I’ve been trying to prepare a big salad once or twice a week so I can just have it in the fridge and ready to eat when I’m having lunch or dinner. This has been so helpful with my goals this month and I know I will be keeping it up. I’m also trying to get back into making smoothies with fruits and vegetables, but that hasn’t become as much of a regular habit for me just yet. But I’m in a much better spot with my eating now than I was at the beginning of August.

After making some great progress in August, I’m hoping I will have the same results this month. And I’m doing a challenge this month that is new to me, but also similar to a past challenge. This month, I want to work on doing a nightly reset of my home before going to bed. In the past, I have made it a challenge to do a quick clean every day, and I’m still doing that and it’s very helpful. But something that I’ve discovered in my new home is that it is much easier for me to leave things dirty or not put away.

For example, in my old house, I couldn’t leave things in my sink or on my counter because I wouldn’t have any space left in my kitchen. This also made it hard to be motivated to cook sometimes since I knew that everything would need to be put away. But now, if I leave something in the sink and not put it in the dishwasher or if I leave some things out on the counter after cooking, I still have space to use my kitchen. I don’t feel the same urgency to put everything away. In a much smaller home, every little bit of clutter was magnified. I’m still a pretty clean person and I think most people walking into my house will say it’s clean, but I know that I’m not as clean and tidy as I would like it to be. So I want to do a bit of a reset every evening.

This will be different from my daily cleaning. This will be more about taking a few minutes in the evening to put away things that I took out. Sometimes it might be things I need to put away in my kitchen and sometimes it might be something I put on my dresser in my room that should be hung back up or put back into a drawer. I know if I just spend a few minutes each day doing this, things won’t pile up like they have the potential to do. And it should continue to help me figure out what other organizational things I need in my home. I know I still need more things like some shelving in my bathroom. But until I really focus on resetting my space every day, I know that I will still be a bit unsure of exactly what I want.

I know that when I started doing these monthly challenges several years ago, it was all about helping me become a better person and improving myself. And I feel like recently I’ve been really embracing that idea again after having some struggles with the challenges and goals I’ve set in the last year or so. But I’m really feeling good about what challenges I’ve been setting and so happy to see the positive results from them each month.

An Almost Free Dinner (or Continuing The Birthday Tradition)

I haven’t done a lot for my birthday this year and I don’t know if I’ll be doing much else. As I said before, I’m ok not celebrating as much as I used to, especially with how busy I’ve been with work and other things. But I do still like to celebrate and continue traditions when I can. And the tradition I look forward to the most is going to Truxton’s with my birthday twin, Joanna. We aren’t exactly sure how long we’ve been doing this, but we know it’s been at least 11 years, which is a pretty long time. And while we rarely can do our dinner on our actual birthday, we get it done within our birthday month.

2 years ago, we ordered take-out and had our dinner as a picnic since that was the safest way for us to have a meal. Last year, we were able to return to the restaurant and eat there. And this year, we continued with having dinner at the restaurant. If either of us felt uneasy about doing that, I know we could have done a picnic again. But I’m glad that eating there was an option for us. And because we went on a random weeknight, there was almost nobody else there so that helped us feel like things were a bit safer.

As we have done since the birthday deal changed to a dollar amount and not just a free entree and free dessert, we knew we’d order an appetizer to split, entrees for each of us, and a dessert to split. In the past, our meals have been completely free. And if we only ordered entrees we could have done that. But it’s ok that it’s not free anymore because we still get a total of $40 off of our bill, which is usually almost the entire thing.

We knew we wanted to have monkey bread to start, so we ordered that and ate it while we looked at the menu to figure out what else we wanted for dinner.

And once we ordered the rest of our meal, it was time for our catch-up chat. We had seen each other a few months ago when she helped me put together my bed. So there wasn’t as much to catch up on as there normally is when we get together for dinner. But we both had updates on our lives and our homes. When she was helping me with the bed, the renovation wasn’t done so I updated her on that. And she’s also going to do a renovation on her place so she updated me on that progress with planning everything and picking out what she wants. And as always, we had some gossip about dating and other random things that have been going on in our lives.

For our dinners, I had a burger and she had nachos. We’ve only had delicious meals at Truxton’s and we both really enjoyed our meals. But since we knew we’d be having dessert, we tried to save some room and not fill up too much.

We do like to give our server a heads up that we are using their birthday club coupons since sometimes they have to do the bill a different way (lately, they split the bill and then apply one coupon to each half to let us use both). So when our dessert was brought out, they put candles on it and sang Happy Birthday to us!

We got a new dessert, and I think we picked the perfect thing! It was a lemon cake with strawberry sorbet on top. It wasn’t too heavy, which we needed after a big meal, and it was so flavorful! I’m glad that’s what we picked because I think some of our favorite desserts would have been just too much for us.

Our meal wasn’t free, but it was pretty much under $10 for each of us so we could leave a really big tip. What we’ve been doing lately is tipping $20 each since that’s what our coupons take off the bill. So we spend the same amount we would have without the coupons, but that also allows us to leave a nice tip for our server and hopefully make their day a bit better. I love that we have always paid it forward because I know sometimes people who get a discounted meal tip on the discounted amount. We like to make up for that.

We were both really full after dinner, but it was worth it. This is one of the best birthday traditions and I think my birthday wouldn’t have felt complete without it. And since I rarely go out for dinner these days, it feels like a real treat.

I’m not sure if Joanna and I will be able to hang out again before our traditional cheesecake outing around the new year, but even if we don’t see each other until then we know we will have another great catch-up when we have our next meal!

Trying To Refocus On Goals (or Doing Another Reset This Month)

It’s August, which means it’s almost my birthday! I am excited about my birthday coming up and even though I don’t know if I’ll be doing much to celebrate, I still have fun with my birthday each month. And since it’s the beginning of a new month, that also means it’s time to switch my monthly challenge.

In July, I wanted to refocus on my goals for 2022. I realized that I had been losing focus on those goals and wanted to see if I could get back on track to successfully end this year. And there were 3 main goals that I think I needed to refocus on. First, I wanted to be more mindful of my time. This one I did do a bit better with because of some changes in my job. Because I don’t have to switch back and forth as much, I was more mindful of my work time and made sure that I was focused on specific things each day. My time outside of work wasn’t as mindful, but I tried. I did make efforts to see about going out and doing things, but that just didn’t happen much in July. That’s not necessarily my fault, but I know there were more people I could reach out to and see if they wanted to go do things. So there is some work to do with that. And as far as restarting my budget, I did make a fresh start in the budgeting app I’ve been using, but I’m really torn about using it. I don’t find it as intuitive as it used to be for me. Things have changed about it and I don’t know if it makes as much sense as it used to. So I’m looking into new apps and systems to use that might be better for me. But I am getting back on track with being aware of my spending and financial situation, which is the biggest goal for me with budgeting.

And for August, I decided to do another challenge that feels like a bit of a refocus for me. My eating habits have been off for too long. I think ever since I started my move in April, things haven’t been great. They haven’t been horrible, but I know I’m not doing everything I should be doing. I especially am not eating as many fruits and vegetables as I should. I have been buying things and then not eating them. I have a burst of feeling motivated and then when things are in my fridge they aren’t what I want to eat. And I know that I’m getting in some fruits and vegetables each day, but it’s not what it should be.

So I want to set my challenge this month to be about putting the focus on fruits and vegetables in my diet. I want to make sure that I eat what I buy and stop having food waste the way that I’ve had before. I know that I will need to prep the things I get as soon as I get them so they are easy to eat and don’t involve extra work. And if I need to eat something slightly less healthy to go along with fruits and vegetables, that’s ok. I know that eating veggies with a dip that I like is better than not eating veggies at all. And maybe I just need to meal plan a bit with just breakfast or snacks and make those fruit and vegetable heavy and get them in that way. I’m going to see what works for me and go with that since that’s the most important thing for me.

I don’t think adding fruits and vegetables will make me lose weight or change my health immediately, but it’s something that I know I need to do for my long-term health. And I want to get back to eating healthier things and having more food prepared in my home so I don’t make the choice to order food (which is more of a budget concern for me than a health one). And if I do have other results because of eating this way, that will just be an added bonus.

I know I won’t be perfect this month and there will still be days where I don’t do my best, but I’m going to at least try this month and see what happens. That’s all I can do and I’ll report back in a month about how it goes!