kapachino

Category: things i love

  • Current Obsession: Mix1 Protein Drinks

    So I’ve talked a little bit about how my diet right now is pretty restrictive. No gluten, no meat for the most part, and trying to avoid dairy. When I first started this, people would ask me, “What are you going to eat?” A month later and I realize what they meant.

    It’s a particularly difficult diet for me since I hardly ever cook. If I’m not comfortable cooking normal food on a regular basis, how am I supposed to jump right in to specialty meals? Well, I’m working on it. Slowly. But in the meantime I need some nutrition!

    After one particularly discouraging day where I hardly ate anything and had an emotional breakdown, David took it upon himself to scavenge the grocery store and find some food for me. My favorite of what he brought home were Mix1 protein drinks. When I told him how much I loved the first one I tried, he opened one just to taste it and he couldn’t stop from drinking the whole thing. Seriously, they’re really good.

    The great thing about them is they’re totally natural and free of gluten, lactose, soy, and caffeine. They taste like a delicious, delicious smoothie/yogurt hybrid and are pretty filling. Perfect for those times when I’m not sure what to eat but I need something, or when I’m at work and don’t have time for a full meal.

    Now if I could only wake up tomorrow morning with a supernatural desire to cook!

  • movie review: secretariat

    Warning: this review contains major spoilers. But if you think about it, since it’s a true story so does Wikipedia. And in my opinion, knowing how it ends only adds to the experience of watching the movie. You can just enjoy the ride.

    Last week I was able to see an advance screening of the Disney movie Secretariat that releases next month courtesy of BlogHer. The preview came on a day and week where the last thing I felt like doing was leaving my house, but I’m so glad I did.

    When I told my husband what we were going to see, he had no interest in it. “There are ten other movies I’d rather see than this one,” he said, but that was because he had never heard of it. Then he looked it up online and I heard him say, “Oh, Diane Lane is in it?” His tone of voice was considerably more optimistic. “She’s the hottest older woman I’ve ever seen.”

    The movie, of course, is about the famous racehorse Secretariat who won the Triple Crown (i.e. the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes) in 1973 and who is still widely considered to be the best of all time. For most people, what’s so great about this movie is that there is no anxiety about what is going to happen. Unfortunately for me, there was a LOT of anxiety considering I’m not what you would call a follower of horse racing and was confusing the story of Secretariat with the more recent tragedy of Barbaro, who won the Derby but broke his leg at the start of the Preakness and died as a result. The whole movie I was dreading Secretariat’s tragic death, thinking I just might sink into despair. But rest assured! I did tear up several times during the show, but it was all out of happiness.

    Diane Lane plays the owner of Secretariat, Penny Chenery. As they arrive at the Kentucky Derby the trainer, played by John Malkovich, says to her something like, “I’ll handle the race, and you handle the reporters. This is as much a story about you as it is about the horse.” That line could be a summary of the movie. As an animal lover I of course fell in love with Big Red (as he was familiarly called–who knew the crazy names horses have were just for show? Not me.), but the best part was that he wasn’t owned by some jerk millionaire. Penny Chenery was a housewife who was literally betting her deceased parents’ farm because she believed in the horse that much.

    I’m sure the writers probably took some liberties with the true story, but I don’t really want to know what they are. I loved this movie, so did my husband, and apparently so did the rest of the audience because they spontaneously erupted into applause several times and I clapped right along with them. It’s simply happy, and that is something I desperately needed. Because of the moment of joy it gave me during a tough time in my life, it will always hold a special place for me, and I already have plans to take my family to see it when it comes out for public release.

    ***

    All images courtesy of IGN Movies.

    Disclaimer: I was provided with the opportunity to see this movie free of charge. However, I did end up spending my own money on popcorn and Coke, so there’s that. Also, I was not asked to blog about it and the opinions in this review are completely my own.

  • Obsession: Pop Chips

    Now, I’ve never been a huge chip person. Sure, I’ll go for the occasional Cheeto, and of course I can never turn down a tortilla chip if queso is involved. But chips by themselves have never been my snack of choice.

    But THESE. Y’all, I have a new addiction. A Pop Chip addiction. One of my friends has been raving about them for ages, and the other day when I was in Georgia’s Farm to Market I saw them by the register. I had no idea they were all-natural! It was destiny! I had to try them. I bought two flavors: cheddar and salt & vinegar.

    In one day, the entire bag of cheddar has somehow disappeared. The salt & vinegar isn’t far behind. What’s so great about these? Let me tell you. They are not fried, so they’re healthy – as long as you don’t eat the whole bag at once, I suppose. It’s an easy thing to do, as I have recently demonstrated, because they’re so delish. Nothing against baked chips, which I don’t mind, but the popped version is far superior.

    As far as I can tell, Pop Chips have only two downsides. One, not enough chips in the bag. I’d probably say that no matter how many there actually were, though. And two, it’s going to be hard to keep them all to myself. I mean, I discovered them, I bought them with my own money, so I should get to eat them all, right? No reason at all that my husband should get any, unless I’m feeling particularly generous, or he goes above and beyond his normal duties. I’m thinking cleaning the bathtubs (worst chore ever), walking all three dogs at once, and then giving me a foot rub.

    I suppose that would earn him a Pop Chip.

  • Obsession: Glee Channel On Pandora Radio

    I’ve never seen a single episode of Glee, but I’ve heard so much hype about it for so long that I, a huge fan of musicals, decided to at least listen to some of the songs. And since I’m cheap, I hit up Pandora Radio and created my very own Glee channel. When the second song that played was “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid my heart may have skipped a beat.

    (Oh come on, don’t pretend like you don’t know all the words to it and never swam around in the pool acting out the life of Ariel – especially the part where she climbs up on that rock and the waves crash around her and she’s singing I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I know something’s starting right now, watch and you’ll see, someday I’ll be part of your world…which is kind of the way I feel about life a lot these days, so really it’s a great metaphor.)

    But back to the music!

    Here are some of the other songs I heard on my first listen to the Glee channel:

    • “Somebody To Love” – Queen
    • “Here Comes the Sun” – The Beatles
    • “Everything” – Michael Bublé
    • “Lucky” – Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat
    • “All My Lovin’” – Across The Universe Soundtrack

    Amazing, right? I kept thinking how it’s only a matter of time before I hear “My Kind Of Town” by Frank Sinatra, the only good thing that came out of my time as a server at Johnny Rockets in high school. It’s surprising that I still like that song, actually, considering I was forced to perform to it over and over using a ketchup bottle as a microphone. Incidentally, do you realize how annoying it is to be a server in a restaurant with jukeboxes? Especially restaurants with jukeboxes that contain certain popular song choices that require the wait staff to perform dances to them? VERY ANNOYING.

    Man, the Johnny Rockets chapter of my life is a good one, but considering it only applies to the subject of this post by quite a stretch, I’ll have to save the stories for another time. What I’m trying to say is that I haven’t even started perfecting this channel to my exact specifications – except for the nix I put on John Mayer – and it is already awesome. Makes my 5:30 a.m. drives to work bearable, bordering on enjoyable, even. And that’s saying a LOT.

  • Obsession: The Rory Gilmore Book Club

    roryreadsIt’s official, I’m obsessed with the Rory Gilmore Book Club on Goodreads.

    I know this because this morning I spent a good hour researching the books on the list in order to make my nominations for what the group will read next year, despite giving myself a hearty pep talk last night and this morning to make today the day I would get everything done on my to-do list.

    First of all, if you aren’t on Goodreads yet, consider this my enthusiastic plug. I keep track of everything I read on it, but that’s just one of its many benefits. You can see what your friends have read, join book clubs (ahem), find out about events, take the never-ending book quiz, learn about authors, and lots more. So unless you’re like my brother-in-law, who went and created his OWN book database in order to customize it to his particular specifications, or unless you hate reading (and if you do, for shame!), JOIN GOODREADS ALREADY!

    Anyway, if you have no idea who Rory Gilmore is, or the significance of the picture at the beginning of this post, allow me to educate you. Rory is half of the Gilmore Girls, who are the leading characters in the TV show of the same name, otherwise known as the Best Show Of All Time. Yes, I went there. I don’t care that it was on the WB/CW and that it seems completely girly, it is quite simply the best. I personally know several males who thoroughly enjoy it.

    The deal is that Rory is a reader, and this book club was started in order to read all of the books that Rory has read. Amazing, right? I lament the fact that I am only discovering it now, two years later. I have already read many of the classics on the list, but most of the modern books I had never heard of.

    So I joined the club and intend to be an active member, although I am a little bit worried about finishing all the books. I still have my own book club to keep up with, as well as trying to read all the books I own, 5 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 5 books David recommends. But what better way to reach my goal of 50 books in 2010?