Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

From Surpris-er to Surpris-ee! August 17, 2011

Filed under: Chicago,Family,Food,Friends,Travel — Kelocity @ 9:00 am
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So I was in Chicago to see my mom and my sisters, but Laurie didn’t know I was coming, so she was completely surprised to see me standing there in her living room at 7:30 in the morning on Saturday. We walked around the city all day, and when we came back to her place, we were exhausted. But then there was a knock on the door and we both thought it was the pizza man who we had ordered from.

Imagine my surprise (and Laurie’s) when my oldest friend, Linsay, walked in! We have been friends for 25 years! She was the first friend I ever had and we are still close today!! She was in town to see a college friend and when she found out I was going to Chi-town, she coordinated with my mom to surprise me! aweeee!!!! Now I’m the one who was surprised!
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She’s one of those friends that I don’t get to see very often, but when we’re together it’s as if we’d never been separated. We had so much to catch up on since her wedding in February!
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Laurie then announced “Is there anyone else I should be expecting this weekend?” hee hee. We took the whole gang to Ed DeBrevic’s for dinner. It’s kind of like Dick’s Last Resort, a restaurant where they make fun of you while you eat and make rude comments. It was very funny.
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They also did hilarious dances around the restaurant and the staff wears ridiculous outfits.
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And somebody told them it was my birthday that weekend and they brought me over their signature “World’s Smallest Sundae” which was just as it seems! One bite of ice cream with whip cream and hot fudge in a tiny shot glass!
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Awe, I can’t imagine a better birthday! So fun!
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After, we hung out with everyone back at Laurie’s place and my mom surprised me with a homemade cake. (Don’t ask me when she had time to do that!) I was totally surprised and it was SO delicious!
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Laurie’s roommate is seriously a saint for letting all of us crash at their place all weekend! Thanks, Girl!
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And yes, Laurie totally paid money for that poster behind them. Sometimes, I can’t believe we are related.

More to come from Chicago! Good times ahead!

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PS…. The Winner of the Vanilla Frosting Chips is Amanda! She shares my love of Vanilla!!! I will get your chips to you soon!! Congrats!

 

Chocolate or Vanilla August 11, 2011

Filed under: Food,Giveaway,Review — Kelocity @ 10:00 pm
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I didn’t get outside once today! It was such a nice day too. Hope to change that tomorrow and go for a nice walk.

Next week I will be switching my blog to a self-hosted server. I’m so excited that my little blog is growing up! I’ve been trying to tweak a few things to get it ready for the big move. Let me know if you notice anything strange in the next few days.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank my lucky stars for friends like Erica who brought me an AMAZING chocolate treat from her recent trip to Canada. (She was there at the same time Will and Kate were there!)
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We adore Ice Wine. It’s a little pricey, but once a year or so, it’s definitely worth the splurge. Ice Wine comes from grapes that are harvested while they’re frozen so they can only make it in certain parts of the world (like Canada!)
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Whoever thought to combine this with chocolate should win some kind of prize. It was delicious! Thanks, Erica!
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Irving and I went to the grocery store tonight (armed with BOATLOADS of coupons from BlogHer!) He wandered around the store looking for boring things like BBQ sauce and milk while I beelined to my favorite aisle.
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Boy, do I love cereal. I could spend all day looking at cereal boxes, comparing prices, sizes and taste. Growing up my mom used to have a $2 rule. We had to choose the cereal that was $1.99 or less. Nowadays it’s hard to find a box for less than $3, but I still try to go for the sales and use my coupons. I totally broke all the rules tonight when I walked away with this.
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I got a few samples of this at BlogHer this weekend and I LOOOOOVED it. It was $4.49 (my mom is probably gasping out loud right now!) but I had a coupon that brought it down to $3.50. Still pricey, but worth it for a product I now love so much. (Hear that Quaker? you gave me a free sample and I shelled out a few bucks for more just a few days later! Marketing for the win!)
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Classic Foods sent me (two) boxes of some of their new Baked Classics Chips recently. I wasn’t expecting to get quite so many, so I have been sharing the love with my friends lately.
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They made an appearance at the Hollywood Bowl last week and I passed them out to our friends. Chips make great picnic food. They travel well and it’s fun to have your own bag.
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They sent over a new product that I’ve never seen before: Vanilla Frosting Multigrain Chips. I am a total vanilla girl. I almost always choose vanilla over chocolate if given the choice! (But I’ll never turn down good chocolate either, don’t get me wrong!) Wait… a vanilla frosting flavored chip? How intriguing!

“They are popped to a light, crunchy crisp and then seasoned in the mouth-watering flavor of Vanilla Frosting.”

They have no cholesterol, trans fat, saturated fat, preservatives, msg, high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors or coloring.
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I’m a huge vanilla fan and I really, really liked these. They feel indulgent, totally satisfy my sweet tooth and surprised my taste buds a bit. I’ve been bringing them with my lunches lately, but I always save the chips for my 3pm sugar craving hour. Always does the trick.
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I asked my friends to try them too and let me know what they think. Overall, most people liked them and appreciated what a new and different product it was. But some thought the taste was a bit artificial. It’s also a little strange because they do taste like a rich sugar cookie, but the texture is that of a chip. So maybe it could be compared to a crunchy cookie? It’s hard to explain, but I kind of liked it.

Want to try them for yourself? I have a couple of bags to give out! Comment below and I’ll pick a winner on Monday.
Tell me what your vice is: salty or sweet!

Classic Foods provided me with these chips for the purpose of reviewing it on kelocity.com. All opinions are my own.

 

Wings, Fries and Trolls August 10, 2011

Filed under: Dining Out,Food,Random — Kelocity @ 8:09 pm
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Ahh! I was so hungry after work today that I would have seriously ate anything you put in front of me. That kind of hunger that makes you dizzy and not nice to be around. Hi. That was me.
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But Husband to the rescue! We headed right out to find some buffalo wings and fries. I felt like I was in college. But sometimes, that’s just what you have to do.

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In other news, randomly spotted in a window on Ventura:
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We are now on night FOUR of trying to watch Meet Joe Black. It’s a good movie, but it’s pretty slow moving. We are not very good movie watchers, we easily get bored and sleepy. Let’s hope we can finish it tonight!

 

Did you have Trolls? I had a bunch. Kids these days don’t know what they’re missing!

 

I Heart Cheese August 9, 2011

Filed under: Food — Kelocity @ 6:47 pm
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I love cheese. Grilled Cheese. Fried Cheese. Mac & Cheese. Cheese Bread. Cheese Spread. Cheese. Cheese. Cheese.

So whenever the Grilled Cheese Truck is in my neck of the woods, I get all excited. I dragged a co-worker with me today to hunt down the truck and get some of its deliciousness for lunch.
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I got the same thing I got last time. The Macaroni & Cheese Stuffed Grilled Cheese. I know. It sounds strange in theory, but oh holy moly, mother of all things cheese. This thing is gooooood. I could hardly focus on the conversations I was having because the taste was just too distracting.

I love you, gooey cheesy sandwich. Marry me.
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As if my lunch wasn’t calorie overload enough, the truck was parked right in front of my favorite cupcake shop (Yummy Cupcakes), so I obviously had to grab one of those too. I need an intervention.
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I got my FAVORITE kind of cupcake. Vanilla with vanilla frosting dipped in sprinkles. Sounds boring, but my teeth would like to tell you otherwise. Yum.
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I need to buy this t-shirt. And go for a walk.
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Sugar high, whaaaaat?

 

Product Review: Crystal Geyser for the Win!

Filed under: Food,Review — Kelocity @ 9:25 am
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I typically don’t drink a lot of my calories. I much prefer to get them from actual food. I don’t drink soda (Root Beer being the scarce exception) and I don’t usually drink juice. However, I do love tea, seltzer and water and try to just stick with that.

But when the nice people over at Crystal Geyser offered to send me an array of drinks, I was excited (especially for the Tejava!)  We drank these over the course of about two weeks.IMG_6714

When I told the rep how much I already loved the Tejava, she sent me a full sized bottle to review. Of course I already knew how great it was, but now I have a reason to talk about it.

First off, Tejava has two ingredients: water and tea leaves. I LOVE unsweetened tea. I never put milk or sugar in my hot tea either. I like it plain and simple. And as such, it has 0 calories! If you’re thinking maybe it would be too bitter, it’s actually not. They microbrew it which “yields a rich, distinctive, full-bodied taste”.
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I enjoyed this tea last week using my new glass from Katie and Mark’s wedding! Yum!

If you are interested, they are holding a contest right now where you can enter to win a trip to the Java Tea Plantation and the Island of Bali!
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The second product we tried was the Crystal Geyser Juice Squeeze line. Irving had the Cranberry Black Cherry and I tried the Passion Fruit & Mango. They are a bit tart with a hint of carbonation and come in eight different flavors. Irving loved them. He really liked the taste and thought the flavor was right on. Though I’m not really a juice girl myself, I think it’s great they don’t add corn syrup, cane sugar or beet sugar. But I view juice is an occasional treat and I prefer it a little sweeter.

They do however suggest adding it to a lunch box since it contains a full serving of fruit. If kids are going to drink juice anyways, might as well make it a healthy option.
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The next products were Crystal Geyser California Iced Teas. I have an undying love for Iced Tea so of course I loved these. The ingredients are water, tea and cane sugar and natural flavors. It’s actually pretty hard nowadays to find drinks that still contain real sugar. We do not drink anything with Splenda, Aspertame or Nutri Sweet. (No more Diet Snapple for me. I stopped drinking that a few years back, so I’m happy to find a product to replace it!)  I not only don’t like the taste, but I’m not a fan of artificial sweeteners in general. If I’m going to have sugar, give me (a small amount of) the good stuff.
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I had my first one along side a super delicious chopped salad. If I could go back in time and eat this salad again, I would. This tea was the perfect accompaniment. It was just sweet enough for me. I really enjoyed it.
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Ok, real quick, here’s the recipe for my Chopped Lettuceless Salad:

–Dice up tomato, red onion, red pepper and cucumbers
–Stir in a glug of honey, a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever seasoning you like (I used a rosemary garlic flavor)

Enjoy!!
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And the last product is actually one I buy quite frequently. It is the Crystal Geyser Sparkling Mineral Water. Sparkling water is my beverage of choice. It has nothing in it, yet it is still bubbly, fun and delicious.
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I brought these for lunch last week. First was a Trader Joes Eggplant Parmesan (which I don’t recommend, by the way).  I drank the Orange Flavored sparkling water as an afternoon snack. It definitely satisfied my 3:00 snack craving for 0 calories. Perhaps I was more bored than hungry. For the win!
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And next was a chicken salad sandwich with chips. Nothing goes better with a sandwich than some bubbles.
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Crystal Geyser is currently only in the California and western markets, but if you do live here, it’s widely available. I see it all the time in my local grocery stores. I still only buy bottled drinks occasionally, but when I do crave one, I’m really glad to have some healthy, natural alternatives to the usual fare. Beware though, that Tejava is like crack. It’s SO good!