So grown up

Look what I opened the door to find yesterday afternoon….

Uh…snack food heaven?!

I wanted to do back flips I was so excited with the quantity and quality of this box-o-samples. Thaaaaaaaank you to Sally over at Newman’s Own Organics for graciously sending me all of these products to try. Someone over at that company has their thinking cap on.

Unfortunately, I had just eaten lunch – so I held back for a few hours and then the first thing I ripped into was the Champion Chip Cookies (surprised?). They were actually more delicious than I hoped – and that’s saying a lot. Kind of a subtle sweetness…and a good crispy, but not crumbly, texture. Meeker loved them too, which is great news, because I can now share the responsibility of eating the 3 bags they sent. Then I tried (one bite each) of the dark chocolate bar and the Hermits.

Winners! I mean, dark chocolate speaks for itself, but had no idea what a hermit was until yesterday. It was molasses-like and chewy and wonderful. In fact, I incorporated it into a very tasty yogurt mess this morning.

• ¾ cup plain yogurt
• 2-3 pieces of banana
• 1 crumbled Hermit
• 1 handful of Quaker cinnamon oat squares
• A dump of cinnamon

Yummers. I actually started inventing this mess while lying in bed before I fell asleep last night. You know you’re a food blogger when…

Moving on…

There are often things I have to do as an “adult” that are overwhelming and I have no idea where to begin. I’m very blessed to have the support of a family and a husband who have taken great care to make life easy for me. However, this sometimes puts me at a disadvantage when I’m trying to act like an “adult” – examples of this include: travel plans, setting up electronics, big purchases, paying taxes, car trouble…I could go on forever. In other words: I’m spoiled.

Posting this Lolcats picture makes me a major nerd – I’m so aware)

However, today I was forced had the opportunity to learn how to get license plates for my very first car. When I walked into the DMV, I wanted to cry. That place overwhelms me and I always feel like I’m doing something wrong. But I manned up, and asked for help. Turns out, I brought the wrong paperwork to register my car, so I had to drive back home (still trying to remain calm) and have Meeker help me (how could I ever live alone?) locate the correct documents. When I walked back in the doors, I consciously made a decision to not get overwhelmed, but instead to smile. After a lot of question asking, and writing a major check, I am now the proud owner of 2 license plates to my very own car (2 months after the temporary plates had expired). I feel so grown up. And I did it all mostly by myself.

Afterwards, I felt so accomplished that I cleaned out my car (all those trips with the dog in the backseat really did a number on the “new car smell”), walked that big, dumb, smelly German shepherd, did some laundry and made a fabulous lunch.

• Lots-o-lettuce
• ½ cucumber
• 1 shredded carrot
• ½ can tuna (mixed with spicy mustard)
• Big dollop of hummus
• Balsamic vinegar

Gah. It was an unreal combo. Seriously delicious. But it didn’t quite fill me up so I had some protein pretzels (thanks again NOO) and a perfectly crispy #1.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not a big pretzel fan, but these were just fine. Not anything to scream about – but as far as pretzels go, I liked them. What I did love about them is the 5 grams of protein in each serving. And my diet always lacks protein, so wherever it can be squeezed in, I’ll take it.

Tonight we are going to a restaurant called La Hacienda for my mother-in-law’s birthday celebration. I am head over heels for this place, but the lighting is really dim, so you’ll have to take my word for it that the food looks and tastes excellent.

Adios and vaya con Dios!