Weekend Update

When was the last time I updated on a Saturday night? Not so sure, and don't judge me, I have a life!

Anyway, wanted to get out the winner of the Betty Crocker giveaway. Random.org helped me pick, and it came up with entry number two, so the winner is....

Cindy!

Cindy said,

"Can my sweet treat pleeeeease be Gummi Cubs? They are my go-to when I'm having a bad day."

Yes, that CAN be your sweet treat Cindy. =) Congratulations! E-mail me your mailing address by Monday night to: AlexaTaleof2Cities@gmail.com and My Blog Spark will get that great prize package sent your way.

Today Ben and I headed into DC and went to great restaurant called Matchbox that has a wonderful gluten free menu. I should have taken a picture of my pear walnut salad and bacon wrapped shrimp with cheesy grits, delicious!

We also went to the Newseum, as we're both huge news geeks, walked around Union Square, and then came back home to have our friend Kristin over for a nice dinner, what an awesome day!

Tomorrow, I'll finally be making that three bean chili I'd been dreaming of making when we got settled (we're almost there!) and trying out gluten free pumpkin and corn bread recipes. I'll let you all know how they go, and if they turn out well I'll post the recipes and pictures of the results (if they're a disaster I'll post pictures of results as well so I can at least have fun with my baking blunders).

Have a great rest of your weekend!

A Sweet Giveaway

As much as this is a blog about healthy living, it's also about REAL life. And, I my friends, have a sweet tooth.

So, when MyBlogSpark told me I could be involved in a Molasses Cookie giveaway, I jumped at the chance.

Sure, I can't eat these cookies because of my celiac, but my taste tester (i.e. husband) can, plus I knew you guys would all love the giveaway!

Also, the cooking and baking swag is great as well. An awesome apron, baking spoon and cookie sheet, what's not to love?!

The fabulous prize pack!

I prefer to make baked goods from scratch, but I'm not opposed to mixes, as honestly, in most cases where I need to make things on weeknights, or on a tight schedule, mixes save me!

One person will win the fabulous prize pack shown above. And there are two ways you can win:

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite sweet treat
2. Tweet about the giveaway, saying @AlexaTC is sponsoring at great @BettyCrocker Giveaway through #MyBlogSpark!Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/65kn4an

Make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to enter until Friday, September 23, 2011 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

The randomly chosen winner must contact me at: AlexaTale2Cities@gmail.com by 11:00 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, September 26, or a new winner will be drawn.

Disclosure: The product, information and prize pack, was provided to me by Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark.

Missoni Madness

You may or may not have heard about it, the madness of the designer Missoni designing an affordable line for Target. Well, yesterday, it was released and with all the hype Target created around it, they weren't prepared for the traffic that came with it, and the backlash as well.

The line went on sale yesterday. If you don't know Missoni, it's a high end, zig zag pattern themed, fashion, that normally sells at prices those of us in the "Joe the Plumber" middle class can't fathom.

Target created such a huge ballyhoo around this line, discussing the limited number of items available, doing tons of marketing prior to it's release, and topping it all off with lots of buzz at Fashion Week.

So, when doors opened yesterday, people ran into stores, stripped the shelves, and within minutes, the selection was not just picked over, it was gone. And within the hour, hundreds of items were up on e-bay at quadruple the original Target price.

Even Target's newly designed website was crashing all day long, as people tried to grab the limited selection available there, and it made news throughout the nation.

As my German born co-worker said in response to this yesterday, "what is it with you Americans and your obsession with getting more stuff?" I'm not sure...but I totally feed into it, I know that much.

I had been wanting the sweater coat pictured below since I saw it on an ad last week for several reasons.

1. I live in an area now where fall is much longer, and this is a great fall layering piece
2. It's versatile enough to wear with lots of things
3. It covers my butt
   

Source

I was lucky enough that the Target website was working during my lunch hour, and I scooped one up.

Tracy at Sellabit Mum discussed her own quest yesterday find her perfect blue sweater, unfortunately, she hasn't been as lucky (she never did, so if you see it, grab it up, shoot her an e-mail and I guarantee she'll pay you back!)

So, the line is great, great job Target. The preparedness around it not, so much, and let me tell you, when I was sent this picture from a display promoting it at the Target store in downtown Minneapolis today by a friend, I had to think again, "what was Target thinking?!"

That's just creepy.

The First Things I Want to Do

For the past three+ weeks I've been living in limbo, I lived in a hotel, now Ben and I are staying with our wonderful and generous friend Glen until our furniture arrives. During this time, I've craved things about home that you often take for granted when you have a stable home. I know Jen has felt similar things with her home being under construction as it's repaired from tornado damage this spring.

Our furniture should arrive this weekend, and then we can feel more at home about things. Right now our apartment has bathrooms that are all set up, clothes partly put away, and kitchen appliances to use (but no plates, pots, pans, etc. to make anything). Therefore, we've been doing some stuff at our place, picking up clothes, taking showers, etc, but doing most of our "living" at Glen's.

So, in no particular order, here are first things I want to do when we get settled in our new apartment:

• Make a huge crock pot of Three Bean Chili
• Buy a new blender to make smoothies and cottage cheese pancakes
• Sleep in with no alarm
• Decorate our place!

There are so many others, but just had to share a few. Anybody have any cute decorating ideas for our new place or any home accessories they've seen and liked lately? I'm so home project challenged, I'd love to hear them!

Live from Virginia...

Hey All, well, I made it to Virginia. It was an awesome, yet long, drive out here, the awesome part mainly thanks to this lady:


Ben's cousin Annie. She lives in Minneapolis and more than being my husband's cousin, she's a great friend. I'm going to miss her and her adorable daughters so much, but she was kind enough to WANT to drive out to DC with me. We had many hilarious and fun times along the way, but we were both happy in Pennsylvania when we saw this, and knew we were in the home stretch.


We arrived on a Saturday night after spending the night before in Ohio. We stayed in a TINY town in Ohio, where this was the view outside our Holiday Inn Express room window:


Yup, corn fields, as far as the eye can see. I grew up in the Midwest, I've seen farm land, but this was masses of it like I've never seen before. It was actually kind of creepy when we pulled up to the hotel the night before and the perimeter of it was lined with dark, empty corn fields.

Upon arriving in Virgina, we enjoyed a delicious meal by our hotel, and then were off to bed. We were both craving a good, REAL meal (IE not just car munching) and nice night's sleep after a long day of driving. Sunday, we went into explore DC with our friend Kristin who lives in the area before Annie flew back that night. It was a whirlwind three days of driving, arriving, touring, and before I knew it, Annie was gone! It was then that I started to realize, I'm not on a trip, this is my home now!

I've been living in the same hotel Annie and I arrived at for the past two weeks now. I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to get into a real home, have a real kitchen, and ready for Ben and Cooper to get here. I'm lucky that I have friends close though who have let me do laundry and make meals at their places though.

Work has been so super busy though, that I am thankful I've had this time to acclimate on my own, because I come home most nights from work, get in a workout, grab dinner and collapse into sleep quite early.

I've been trying to take advantage of certain parts of hotel living as well. The gym on site, a maid making my bed, a great lap pool and hot tub, Free HBO, being within walking distance of great shops and restaurants, etc.

This coming weekend, Ben and Cooper arrive, and I cannot WAIT!! I'm out of the hotel Sunday, the day they arrive, and I'm hoping our things will be here in the next few days from the movers as well for our apartment that I now have keys to. Before my boys arrive, I'll be spending a lot of this weekend setting up my closet, doing laundry and such in the apartment.

I have many more updates to tell you all, but I'll cut it off here. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!