Running Thru Life... Carmello's Review

My husband and I have decide that this year- 2012 will be the year we get more adventurous with our eating out.  We do not eat out that often but when we do we seem to pick the same places out of habit.  So when talking about where we were going to Valentine's Day dinner we started looking around for something different.  We stumbled upon Carmellos on Open Table- the reviews were good, it was Portuguese food (which I heart!) and it was a place that we actually had been wanting to try.

So we made the reservation for the Saturday before Valentine's Day.  

I hate eating out of V day- I much rather have a nice quite night at home.  

So we headed out on Saturday to Manassas where Carmello's is located.

It is located in Old Town Manassas which is quaint.  

We walked in and it just went down hill from there.

First, we were not greeted at all.  It was almost we were inconveniencing the wait staff being there.  

They did not offer to take our coats. 

 (This is suppose to be a fine dining place!!!)

We were escorted to our table which was very small and so close together that I could barely get thru the sides and as my husband pointed out "you have a small ass!" 

 Thank you Joseph!

The waiter then came over- did not introduce himself, did not go over the special, nothing- just asked us if we wanted to order.  Joe ordered the Paella and I ordered the Scallops. 

My dish was terrible- It was 4 small scallops on cold white rice with barely any sauce.  

Joe Paella was Ok- it was made with a tomato base which was the not way it was advertized on the menu. 

The waiter did not come back to check us until Joe was done and my plate was still pretty much full to ask us if we wanted dessert.  Both Joe and I were so over the experience we asked for the check and proceed to a local cupcake store for a treat.  

I normally do not do this, but the next morning I woke up and wrote a email to the owner about our experience.  I have now only done this twice in my whole life.  

However, I felt it was warranted because of the bad customer service! 

I was very civil and explained that what we experienced the other night was not fine dining. 

 The owner answered me within 2 days- apologizing for our experience and stating we are not the only ones who did not receive excellent customer service.  

They are apologizing by sending up a substantial gift card to try Carmello's again. 

I will update you with our second experience...

One can only hope it will get better!

Running thru life.... Finally did it!

 With one of my New Year's resolution:  "to decrease spending by making a Want's List,"  which I have been going strong with.  I put a label maker on there in the begining of January.  

So this weekend, I discussed it with my husband who said "I can't believe you do not own one already."  
I headed out to Walmart- my least favorite store on the planet because it had the label maker that a neightbor loved and it also fit the budget of less than $20.  

I purchased the Dymo Personal Label Marker LT-100T for $18.95.  

I headed home to test it out and organize.  

This was our organization system before for paperwork such as wills, mortgages, etc.  

We are fortunate that the people that lived in our house installed cabinets in our bedroom.  

However, things were in a need of being organized!!!

So I started out with the label maker helping me organize our recipe book and the other notebooks. 

I immediately fell in love with the label maker for a couple reasons

1) It was easy to use-  instruction manual was very easy to follow.

2) Had different font sizes.

3) Had different font settings such as verticle.  

4) Keyboard buttons were big.  

The only thing that I found a pain was the "Cut" button on the side but i figure it out after a couple of tries. 

Finished product

Finished cabinet....

I was able to get rid of alot of stuff.  

Feel so much better.

I love my label maker!

Running thru life.... My Pal

With one of my New Years goal to lead a healthier lifestyle and also loose the extra pounds that have snuck up on me in my 2 1/2 years of marriage, I knew I needed help.

So I went to the App store to see if there was an app that could help me focus more on this goal.

I was in luck!

MyFitnessPal  APP

Cost: FREE

What it lets you keep track of:

-Weight

-The Weight you want to get down to (then it determines the amount of calories a day you are allowed)

-Your calories for each meal.  It truly has everything in the data base!

-You work outs and the amount of calories you burn

-Water and hydration.

I have been using it for two weeks and am seeing the results slowly!

Which is the healthy way to do it!

But what I love is that it makes me aware of what I am putting in my mouth!

It helps keep me accountable because I put everything that I eat/drink into the program.

Which is awesome because it lets me keep track of the water I am drinking as i get closer to my run.

What I love even more, is it syncs to my ipad, ipod and online.

I heart Myfitnesspal

Running thru life... Cooking attempt take two!

One of my New Years resolutions was to book.

So last week I made Wine Braised Beef.

I found the recipe in the magazine Family Circle that I get for free.

Ingredients

• Wine-braised beef
  1 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 large carrots (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 8 ounces frozen pearl onions (1 1/4 cups), thawed
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups hearty red wine
• 1 cup low-sodium beef stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 spig fresh rosemary
• Fresh parsley (optional)

Directions

Wine-braised beef

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees . Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a Dutch oven on high; brown beef on all sides, about 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high, add carrots, onions and garlic; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add wine, stock, tomato paste and rosemary and bring to a boil. Cover, place in oven and braise at 350 degrees for 11/2 hours or until meat is knife-tender and sauce thickens.

Finished Product.  

We placed it over a little rice.  

It was perfect.

Will be a recipe we save!

Running thru life.... Clemson is a water dog!

Clemson you totally make me laugh.

Joe decided he was going to take a bath because his back hurt.

5 minutes later he had a friend with him.

=0)

This has happened 3 times in the last two weeks- what can you do other than laugh!

Running thru Life... Silence YOU DOG!

This weekend since it ended up being a relaxing, low key weekend, I stopped by our local dog store to pick up something I have been wanting to get Clemson for a while.  

The Quiet Spot.

aka... Pet Tag Silencer.

Now that Clemson has three tags- 

1 with his name and information, 1 with his vaccines, and 1 for the county,

he is like a jingel pup.  =0)

Except it is not Christmas anymore.  

Our neightbors use this product and love it.  

At first we we just had the 1 tag I did not see the point, but now I do.

You can hear him coming from all the way downstairs.  

So I called ahead to make sure they had them instock.

Walked in and looked thru the colors. 
The lady asked if there was a particular color I was looking for- 

Yes actually, do you have it in orange.

She went to the back and two minutes later I was pay $8 for it at the checkout.

I come home and placed it on Clemson.

Sorry no more Jingle Pup!

Running thru life... Year in Review!

I have blogged about this previously, 

but I thought I would share again since I have inspired a couple people at my job.

As you know, my husband loves photography.  

He has the big camera, big lens, big carry case.

We take so many pictures when we are travel,

and the first thing that he does when he gets home is upload them to his computer.

We came to agreement a couple years ago that each year we would make a photo book and also update the photos throughout the house.  

This way we actually get to enjoy the pictures that we take. 

This is something I work on thru out the year- quarterly.  

I spend about 30 minutes every couple months up loading photos and working on the album.

I use Kodak because I like there layouts, they offers you more options, and it is easy to use.

However, both Snapfish, Shutterfly can do the same.  

So I finished the book up after we came home from the UK, and then waited for a sale.

40% off photo books hit and I ordered it. 

Here it is sitting at the top along our pile of other photo books

1 Wedding

1 Honeymoon

1 2009-2010

1 Greece

Now 1 2011

Totally love this cover, during a Clemson football party at our house!

Summer fun!

 Manchester United Game with my Fam!

Fall times!

London

I have no idea why this picture did not auto correct.

I love this idea and will continue to do it.  

This year it was 60 pages (30 total pages front and back).

$35 with shipping included- NOT TOO BAD!

I got free shipping because I also ordered some pictures for the house, pictures as gifts, etc. 
Also if I had not waiting for a sale it would have been $$$$!