I am SO EXCITED. IHOP is one of my favourite places because of their pancakes. They have so much variety to pick from and no matter what kind I get, they are always delicious. To tell the truth, I haven’t had much else on the menu besides pancakes. So I am excited to actually explore the rest of the menu. On the rare occasions that I get to eat at the restaurant (whenever I travel to a city with it), I never want to venture out because I want to eat what I know will be finger licking good. I hate trying something new and then being disappointed if I don’t like it.

I have to admit that it is a good and bad thing regarding IHOP here in Calgary. I would have been extremely happy if they had opened up the first IHOP in Calgary and it be on the other side of the city. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I haven’t decided) it will be in my neck of the woods. Actually, it won’t even be 5 minutes away from my house. This is good and bad for me. Good because I LOVE it and can go whenever I want. Bad because I am trying to lose weight again and the temptation being so close is not a good thing. But I will hopefully be able to control myself!

I am sure I will blog again about this wonderful thing when the restaurant opens and I have visited for the first time!

This week will be a busy one as I work 6 days this week (including one night shift ) and I am planning on volunteering twice more for N2N this week. I am still trying a few new recipes anyway LOL.

Monday – Slow cooker Cashew Chicken, rice and salad
Tuesday – Cheat night, so McDonalds is more than likely (McDonalds Monopoly starts Tuesday as well!)
Wednesday – Pumpkin Waffles and eggs
Thursday – Velveeta Cheesy Skillets Broccoli and Chicken
Friday – Salad at work RAWR
Saturday – Grilled cheese sandwiches
Sunday – Chicken Fajita Lasagna

I have known this girl since Kindergarten. We were friends back then, but not the best of. We hung out every so often in our younger years, but then she moved to the other end of the city. She went to a different school and it was harder to see her. Honestly, she wasn’t my favourite person back then. I don’t know what it was, but often I felt obligated to hang out with her and it was never really very fun. Therefore our visits were few and far between.

In the last 8 years we have seen each other about 5 times. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just us girls. She had a boyfriend and they insisted on doing everything together. So we would just get together at a restaurant for dinner with our boys. I’d bring Peter and she’d bring her boyfriend. It was a good time, but it’s nothing like having all girl time to chat and gossip.

Anyway, in these past 2 months, I feel like I’ve gotten to know a whole new person! We have SO much in common and we always seem to have a fabulous time. I know that the fact it is just us girls hanging out is part of it. We can chat and talk about anything without having to worry about keeping the boys involved and entertained. Plus, we both are on Weight Watchers and so we love to make our suppers healthy and delicious. We tell each other our little “tricks of the trade.” Often, the movie we are watching just gets forgotten. We are too busy talking and showing each other things around our house. We even find ourselves thinking the same thing and finishing each others sentences. It’s crazy!

I had an absolute blast last night!! I showed her my completed cross stitches and then the ones I want to do one day. As she is a fellow cross stitcher, it was great to have someone understand the process. She helped me make homemade ice cream and we even counted out the weight watchers points values for everything we ate. We didn’t even finish the movie we started, but we already have a list of the ones we want to watch next time. We’ve also got so many recipes we want to cook for each other. It seemed like the night wasn’t long enough for everything we wanted to do. I guess that means we just have to get together more and more in the coming months! Next time, we are headed to her house and I’m looking forward to that as she has a super cute and cuddly kitty.

Sometimes one of the greatest pleasures in life is catching up with an old friend. I feel so grateful that I can reconnect with my friend and create a whole new and exciting relationship!

I really can’t say why I love the musical so much. The subject matter is so dark and depressing, yet I keep coming back for more. I think that the way it is performed is just so powerful that it sucks me in. There are so many highs and lows and the music is breathtaking. The show steps the line of what is appropriate for a show and it is performed in such a unique way. Reviewers are praising (here and here) the show here in Calgary. Both shows I have seen have received a well deserved standing ovation from the audience. Fantastic performances!!

Anyway, I’m happy that I am able to see it here as many times as I wanted. I feel so lucky.

As far as I know, I am only out one night this week so I can cook lots of good food. I have a friend coming over for supper on Saturday and she’s never had meatloaf so I am going to introduce her

Monday – Red Pepper Soup over spaghetti squash – A deviation of this recipe
Tuesday – Pasta Tuesday at Boston Pizza
Wednesday – Salsa Sauced Chicken
Thursday – Velveeta Cheesy Skillet Zesty BBQ Chicken
Friday – Cabbage Rolls
Saturday – Meatloaf and Olive Garden salad
Sunday – Chicken Fajita Lasagna

Anyway, I really enjoyed my evening run tonight. I left just before dark and by the time I was done the sun had completely gone down. I hate that the sun sets so early now and I know that the days will just continue to get shorter. Last time I went for a run, summer was still in full swing. It was hot and a little humid and the flowers were in their beautiful blooming states. As I was running tonight there were leaves on the ground everywhere and the trees were magnificent colours of autumn. I will have to take advantage of the beautiful fall running weather while I can. I hate running in the winter with it’s snow & ice and I know it will also be upon us before we know it.

I have been feeling really “blah” lately. I am supposed to be following weight watchers and working out and it’s only really happening 40% of the time. I was reading Cathrine’s blog and she put it perfectly in a recent blog post about feeling like a flat tire. That is exactly when I feel like. It’s amazing putting it into words like that. Perfect. I need to put some air into my tire and regain my energy and momentum. I hope this run I went on today is just the little spark I need to get going again.

Honestly, I am lucky to have such great shifts every week. Except one: The Friday night shift. You would think a Friday night would be busy at any restaurant, but not at a breakfast joint. On an average morning shift, I sell anywhere from $600-$1500 in food and drink sales. On Friday evenings, it would be weird if I had sales over the $300 mark. The evenings are dreadful. They are so slow and boring. I’ve had enough. There are other girls working at the restaurant who would love a night shift. Ugh. I am so over them. I remember the time when I longed for them. I have grown up since then. I am a 25 year old married woman with a mortgage and responsibilities. We might even start a family soon. It really is a waste of time for me to spend my night standing around waiting for non-existent customers to come in. Honestly, I used to go to work every Friday hating every minute of it. I would be jealous of all the girls who worked the mornings and got to have the rest of their Friday night off. It was so stupid of me and it would stress me out.

So I went in to my manager a couple weeks ago and asked if I could “retire” from the Friday night shifts. He was totally open to the idea. It really made me wish I had asked earlier. My regular morning shifts (Saturday-Tuesday) are pretty well set in stone and I am not worried about those being taken away from me. My only fear is that my manager might put me on an additional night (Wednesday or Thursday) because I don’t want to work Friday nights anymore. I would be so disappointed if I finally got to “retire” from Friday nights and then he put me on another night. I hope he understood that I meant I wanted to stop working night shifts altogether.

So as of the last 2 weeks, I have worked Friday morning instead of the night. It has been WONDERFUL! I didn’t take the shift away from anyone because the person who was working it went back to University. No harm, no foul. I am enjoying my 5 morning shifts a week and hope that it keeps up I guess I’ll see in the next few weeks with the scheduling!

So this week is a busy one for me. I have things to do every evening after work (except Friday) and I have to try to get all prepared for the baby shower I am throwing on Saturday. I had hoped for my usual days off (Wednesday and Thursday) but my manager needs me to work on Thursday. That’s okay. I will hopefully be able to make cupcakes on Wednesday and prepare everything Friday night/Saturday morning. So therefore this week’s meals are pretty simple and I am only trying out one new, and hopefully simple, recipe on Tuesday.

Monday – We have to weigh in tonight instead of Tuesday so it’ll be a cheat night. Probably McDonald’s!
Tuesday – Greek Salads
Wednesday – Adobo Chicken
Thursday – Velveeta Cheesy Skillet Zesty BBQ Chicken
Friday – Subway Sandwiches
Saturday – Baby Shower food
Sunday – Pulled pork sandwiches with Asian Coleslaw

Well this morning I woke up and got straight to work. I made the cookie dough and then refrigerated it for a few hours while I ran some errands. When I got home, the dough was the perfect temperature to roll out. I used a cute little cookie cutter to make the perfect sized cookies. The recipe I used for the dough made 75 cookies! Once those were baked, I let them cool for about an hour while I made royal icing. This is the first time I have ever attempted to ice cookies. It has always seemed like too much work. I am not a very artistic person so I didn’t know how things would turn out. The icing was easy to make and I had fun with the food colouring to tint the icing. I layered on the first coat of the icing and then had to let that dry for a couple hours. Then I piped a different color icing on top of the cookie to define the edges of the onesie. I also piped the initial of the baby’s name on the cookie. The royal icing was very neat in how it dried so nicely and made what will sure be a delicious topping for the cookie.

The cookies turned out great. Although I am definitely not a great icer. The icing is a bit messy but I am still happy with the outcome. As it was my first ever attempt at cookie decorating, I’m satisfied. I don’t know if I will be doing much cookie decorating in the future because as I thought, it was too much work!!

Next week, we have to weigh in on Monday because Mom and I volunteer for Theatre Calgary on Tuesday. I am delighted to say that the show we will be seeing is none other than Next To Normal. It is my favourite musical of all time! I was lucky enough to take a trip to Seattle last year specifically to see the broadway cast performance. It BLEW my freaking mind. I so look forward to see what local Calgary actors and director do with the show. I wonder if the set will be different. I love seeing the same show done by different companies! It is going to be mind blowing, I know it!

I get to meet my friend’s newborn baby tomorrow! He was born on our anniversary on Saturday From the pictures, he looks absolutely adorable. Very excited.