Maybe I Should Be A Wine Drinker (or How We Spent My Grandma’s Birthday Dinner)

One of my family’s traditions at Thanksgiving is to go out for a really nice dinner for my grandma’s birthday. Her birthday falls around Thanksgiving, and we either go out the night before or the night after Thanksgiving.

This year for my grandma’s birthday, we went to Plumed Horse in downtown Saratoga. This is totally a place that I could not afford on my own (the menus didn’t have prices on it, so you know it was very expensive).

The food was unbelievably good. We could order up to 4 courses, but most of us seemed to get 3 (appetizer, entrée, dessert). But since there were 2 appetizer courses, if you hadn’t ordered something to go for that course, they brought out a treat. My first appetizer was a green salad (my choice), my second appetizer was a parmesan black pepper soufflé (their choice), my entrée was a steak, and for dessert I had the Meyer lemon soufflé. The portions were on the smaller side, so even though I felt stuffed after the meal, it wasn’t too bad.

One of the highlights of the restaurant was their wine cellar. The head waiter for our private room gave us a tour of it. There are hundreds of bottles and the floor is clear so you can see everything in the basement.

 

For the meal, we had some red and white wines for the table. I really don’t like red, so I had a little of the white. But I really wish I could have ordered one of the yummy sparkling wine bottles I had seen in the cellar.

 

It was a great evening. Almost the entire family made it (one of my cousins wasn’t able to fly in until Thanksgiving day). And I’m glad I had a super cute little black dress to wear too (I got several compliments on it).

Enjoying The Now (or Not Trying To Skip Ahead To The Good Parts)

As much as I want to think ahead to what might be in the future, I’m trying to focus on right now in my life.

The future is so uncertain in so many ways. As much as I want to think about how much weight I’ll have lost by my brother’s wedding, I have no idea what will happen so I need to focus on enjoying the weight I’ve lost so far.

I’m focusing on what’s coming up in the immediate future. My brother’s birthday and my friend’s wedding are both next week.

I love that Halloween is coming up this month. It’s really one of my favorite holidays. I used to work at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios (I’ll write about that some other time and include some pictures) and that just made my love for the holiday stronger. I only wish that stores would have Halloween stuff up.

I went to Bed Bath & Beyond recently to get my new scale, and this is the display that was at the front

 

Stores: stop skipping ahead holidays! I want to see what you have for Halloween and Thanksgiving before Hanukkah (although I appreciate that they did include it and not just have Christmas).

So even though the retail world (and probably some people) are focused 2 months ahead, I’m making a serious effort to focus on the now. I’m making a real effort to celebrate all the moments coming up. I’m making sure I take time to make some nice Halloween decorations and enjoy what October has for me.

And as far as the weight loss goes, it’s really tough for me to focus on what I’ve done now because my head likes to go crazy with what could be in the future. But I’m trying to look at the little things. Like how my clothes fit and stuff like that. Because it’s not a hard and fast thing like the numbers on the scale, I feel like it helps me not think 100 pounds ahead.

Continuing the Birthday Celebration (or Eating at Benihana for Free!)

Last night, I enjoyed another birthday perk. If you sign up for the email list at Benihana, you get a $30 gift certificate to use for yourself in your birthday month! I don’t frequent Benihana, but this is a deal that is tough to pass up.

The $30 can only be used on your food, so I got the filet mignon and a strawberry lemonade. I ended up going only like $1 over my $30. And then my friend who joined me got to splurge and get scallops because she and I just split the bill.

It was a fun festival dinner, and you can never go wrong with having a free meal. The only obnoxious thing was it seemed like everyone was celebrating a birthday in the entire restaurant. And at Benihana, they don’t just sing “Happy Birthday”, they shout it in very shrill voices.

After hearing the singing over a half-dozen times, I made sure to ask the waitress if they could skip singing to me. She looked at me a little confused, but when I explained that I had a headache, she completely understood. That made the meal a little better.

Oh, and an added bonus about going to Benihana? On MyFitnessPal there is already a category for the calories in all the sides that come with a hibachi meal (soup, salad, shrimp, vegetables, tea)!

I managed to have a free meal and stay under my calories yesterday! Double win!

Birthday Hangover (or I Feel So Loved)

I had a fabulous birthday yesterday! Even though I had to work an 8 hour shift, I still had time to enjoy it.

Thank you to everyone who posted on my Facebook wall, who tweeted at me, and who texted me!

Thank you to my family for getting me such awesome cards. Thank you to my parents for my awesome flowers. And thank you to my brother and future sister-in-law for my AppleTV.

Also, thank you to my boss who got a yummy ice cream cake for everyone at my work to enjoy (birthday calories don’t count, right?).

;

I still have a few more birthday adventures coming up such as going to the Hollywood Bowl to see Liza Minnelli, dinner at Benihana (you get $30 there for your birthday), and eventually another trip to Medieval Times.

But for now, I’m getting back on track with food and finances!

Happy Birthday To Me (or Why Social Networking Makes Me Feel Fabulous)

It’s my birthday today! Yay! I’m a big fan of birthdays (I mean, I’ve already written a few posts about my birthday, can’t you tell?).

Growing up, I spent several birthdays at summer camp. That was pretty fun because the entire camp knew that it was your birthday and everyone sang to you. Then you got thrown into the lagoon, but that’s a whole other thing.

One of the greatest things about my birthday now is all of the wonderful birthday messages that I get. I have Facebook to thank for that.

Before Facebook, how many people’s birthdays did you know? I know that I only knew a handful, just some super close friends and family. But now, I wake up on my birthday to dozens of Happy Birthday messages on my wall. That’s just awesome.

Even though I know that some people only post because Facebook alerts them to, but I still feel really special.

So now I’m off to have a fun birthday morning before having to work a 12:30-9 shift at my day job.

Some birthdays throughout the years:

My 1st Birthday

Sweet 16 in Catalina

In acting class with Chris Kattan

Playing penny machines in Vegas

Dodgers game

Last year at Medieval Times

Birthday Card (or I Wonder If My Mom Bought This After I Started This Blog)

So tomorrow is my birthday! Yay!

I normally don’t open my birthday cards early, but I knew that the one from my parents also had my car insurance card in it, so I opened it yesterday.

Some cards are pretty cheesy, and you have to wonder what the writer was on when they wrote it. But the card from my parents fits exactly what I’m trying to do with this blog.

Here’s what it says:

For you, Daughter on your birthday.

Promise you’ll never settle for anything less than extraordinary…because that’s what you deserve.

Promise you’ll always believe in yourself and the possibilities of each dream…because you can do anything.

Promise you’ll never forget how far you’ve come…because it’ll help you remember how far you can go…

…and that you’ll always see yourself the way others see you…because you’re beautiful inside and out.

Seriously, isn’t that the best birthday card ever! Thanks Mom and Dad (and Dante the dog too).

Gift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year)

I love buying gifts for people. I love getting big gifts like birthday or engagement ones, and I love buying little things like a bottle of wine for a friend who invited me over for dinner.

Maybe I’m selfish, but I love seeing how happy I can make people with a gift I give them.

This time of the year, there are a lot of family events. In a 3 day period, there is my parents’ anniversary, my cousin’s birthday, my cousin’s girlfriend’s birthday, and my birthday. And that’s not counting my birthday twins birthday or my acting coach’s birthday which happen then too. That’s a lot of gifts.

I’ve also got a dear friend of mine getting married this fall (her bridal shower was this past weekend), and my brother proposed to his girlfriend recently too. Again, that’s a lot of gifts.

So what is someone supposed to do when they are trying to save money to pay off debit but still wants to make everyone happy with gifts? I got creative.

For my friend getting married and my brother’s fiancee, I wanted to get them something cute but something that is more personal. I found these really nice personalized blue garters. They weren’t too expensive, personalization was free, and both of the recipients of the gift loved them (it helped them with their something blue too).

I can’t say what I’m getting my parents for their anniversary because my mom reads this blog. But I can say that my brother and I are teaming up for the gift so we can get them something really nice, but it won’t cost too much for each of us.

One of the most important things I’ve learned about giving gifts is sometimes it really is the smallest gesture that counts. That’s why, for every family and friend celebration, I seek out the perfect card. For my cousin and his girlfriend’s birthdays coming up, I don’t get them gifts (we don’t really do that in my family), but I do spend a lot of time picking out the perfect card for each of them. It’s nice to get something in the mail other than a bill.

So this week before I go to work, I’m off looking for the perfect cards for everyone (and carrying stamps in my purse so I can mail them all off in time).