Holy Update

So the problem with intense moving and sight-seeing over the past two weeks sans Internet is that I've got a motherload of photos and stories to update. I'm going to tackle it by city and hope this covers the void from the end of July to the beginning of August.

GOODBYE, STOCKTON

In attempt to empty out our pantry before moving, I tested out my first ever oats in a jar. It was alright, but I think I had too much peanut butter left in the jar. I guess I rushed it, you know, moving out and wanting to toss it and all. It was also WAY too hot to hold on to. I might try it again... in several months, since that's how long it'll take me to finish up a jar!

I ended up going with that chai oatmeal I've had a while, plus some of TJ's super berry mix of dried berries and crunched up some walnuts. Good, but too much PB for my taste.

In addition to cleaning out the cabinets there were several going away meals. I'm not going to say who, but a furry member of my household snuck some of my sushi. How rude!!! He gobbled up an entire pinwheel of caterpillar roll in one bite! We also went out with J.D.'s best friend from high school. He's Greek so naturally we dined at the nicest Greek restaurant in Stockton :)

The meal started out with endless baskets of pita bread. I went nuts on that and tzatziki and wound up with limited stomach space for the actual meal. I selected a crisp Sauvignon blanc to go with my meal.

Followed by a fresh Greek salad with a block of feta on top. Oh yeah and I also got all the boys' kalamata olives, which are kind of my favorite. I looove olives.

Next up came the main course, which ended up being two dinners and a lunch over the next two days. Score! I ordered the Mediterranean chicken with pesto, fresh veggies and pasta.

And then, just like that, after several days of intense packing/cleaning, I quit my job with no promise of future employment and left the condo while J.D. drove down to Arizona to begin his first week at his new job. I, on the other hand, enjoyed a week of unemployment at my parents' house in the Bay Area before he flew back up and we checked out of the condo and packed up a truck to move all our crap 12 hours south.

HOME, SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

Since then I've been having mild panic attacks about finding work/insurance. Luckily, I've since been approved for insurance after comparing plans and applying at my parents' house.

During my week of "vacation" at home, I got to do a little sightseeing. Chic Runner posted about the most AMAZING cupcake shop after running the San Francisco Marathon. From seeing her tweets and post, I knew I HAD to visit before leaving the state of California -- the only state I've ever had permanent residence in -- for good! Enter SF's own American Cupcake. Heaven in your mouth. They sell individual cupcakes and also cupcake/wine pairing flights!!!

We made a girls' day of it with my sister's only day off work during the week, to include my mom and her friend! The place had an awesome ambiance on a cute little street with abundant shopping. It was a pain to get to though, taking BART instead of driving. We ended up walking about 2.5 miles or so both ways. It made for a long trek with typical blistery SF summer weather. Worlds away from the 100 degree heat in the Arizona desert. Either way, all WORTH IT for these cupcakes!!!

My sis and I were both curious about the Beer and Chocolate flight, so I decided to order it and split the Tunnel of Love wine flight with her. Mine came with a chocolate mint cupcake, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate coconut. And let me tell you something, these people really know how to pair their drinks!!! With the mint came a Japanese beer that went down smooth, the coconut was accompanied by my fav beer on the planet, hef, and the chocolate PB partnered with something I'd NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS see myself enjoying. Chocolate stout. OM#*@@%#G it was good! I really enjoyed how it complimented the heavy taste of both chocolate and PB but also the creamier notes. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think I could ever drink it as a drink. But it had nice tasting notes. I also let my sister have more than half of that one :)

Finishing up our halves, we swapped and I got to sample the wine flight. Aimee's came with a red hot cupcake, red velvet and simple chocolate. They went with a cab, bubbly and the epitome of summer (in my mind) rosé. I looooove chocolate and wine. All perfect pairings I had the indescribable pleasure of sampling :)

Our mom said "I'd like to try the Walk of Shame" (giggles) and from what I could tell, was pretty yummy! It came with a lemon cupcake I never got to taste because she woofed down all of hers very fast :) butterscotch and coconut cupcakes. They went with various wines and the butterscotch/merlot combo was pretty awesome!

My favorite after all was said and done?

Had to be the wines! :) Like father, like daughter. Which reminds me of a post for another day... my dad makes wine in his garage and has won medals for it!

HELLO, ARIZONA!

Eventually it had to end and I said goodbye to my family, packed up and met J.D. at the Sacramento Airport before driving back to Stockton to load the truck. We made the 12-hour trek out here to Arizona and little Woodstock was such a good boy and slept for most of it! Like his mama, he too suffered a minor injury. Sidenote: I'm seeing a sports therapist for my knee and will be sidelined from running for quite some time :( MAJOR BOO!!!! I have degenerative tissue below the kneecap and some sort of tendinitis below it. So massages, adjustments, stretches and kinesiotape will have to do for now. Woodstock also pushed his limits and jumped out of someone's arms while he was at home with me and thankfully didn't end up breaking anything!! He just suffered from a minor limp and took some pain meds, but no worries, the pooch loves running, digging and rolling around in his new grassy backyard.

Other than that, I've been spending an ungodly amount of time unpacking and getting lost in exploring my new city. We made it out to J.D.'s favorite restaurant of all time, another Guy Fieri feature on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Chino Bandito. Mexican, Chinese and Jamaican fare. But here's the kicker, you order your main meat selection (Chinese or Mexican) in a burrito, rice bowl or quesadilla! Then you get to pick beans and rice (fried, regular or Jamaican jerk). I went with a steak quesadilla seasoned with Chinese flavors, alongside jade chicken, white rice and black refried beans. Again, I sound like a broken record but holy yum!!!!!! It was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed J.D.'s orange chicken quesadilla :)

His

And hers.

Last but not least, the endless job search. I feel like I've been sending out a thousand applications, resumes and cover letters! If all else fails, I've secured several side jobs which should amount to something. I'm dressing the part for success and I do have an interview tomorrow! Something to look forward to :)

I hope someone hires me!!!!

To be continued.....

Also, don't forget you have until MONDAY, AUG. 16 to both enter my Gracie's Gear giveaway and also receive free shipping in my OpenSky shop with the code FREESHIPPING.

Have a good night.... I'm up way too late for a morning interview :)

We've arrived (+ a giveaway)!

I've arrived and made it to the new house in Arizona! It's been an exhausting two weeks that included job searching, getting approved for health insurance (yay), final California sight-seeing, resume editing, house hunting and exhaustive packing/unpacking/unloading/12 hours of driving.

Take a deep breath.

So I made it, everything's semi in place and I do have an interview this week! I'll talk more about all the new excitement of moving to a completely different state in my next post, however. For now, I'd like to let you all in on the big secret "something exciting" that's here TODAY!

My OpenSky Shop has arrived and today's the grand opening!!! If you're interested in checking it out, you can either click on that link, or on the OpenSky link I've provided in my sidebar to the right. With my new shop comes new products I personally enjoy! If you see anything you like in my shop, use the coupon code: FREESHIPPING for, big surprise, free shipping! This code is good until Aug. 16.

was privileged enough to obtain a free sample and test drive some products myself and this is where my giveaway comes into play. Gracie's Gear sent me their black and white A-line pocket tank top. It's currently in my shop in a variety of sizes/colors but I have a free one for you to take home at the bottom of this post.

It's a really neat idea that I totally love!!! The concept is a tank top/sports bra combo with a pouch up front for your light-weight phone, iPod, keys, whatever else you want on your body but don't want to have to carry while working out. I imagine using it for running, biking, whatever activity that would take you long distances from home. However, you're getting mine free because it doesn't entirely fit me in the chest region. My brand new tank top is black and white in size medium.

It's a slim fit short bodice so it's supposed to feel snug. Generally I can wear a small or a medium, so this would be for that same build. The sizing said fits the C/D-cup range, but I'd imagine it's closer to the B/C range.

So here's how you can enter to win your very own medium black and white pocket tank top:

1. Leave a comment below telling me about your favorite exercise accessories/apparel by MONDAY, AUGUST 16 at 5 p.m. PST. (one entry per person, please)

If you'd like to enter again, you may do so by any or all of the following:

1. Tweet it and leave a comment with your @Twitter name below! (@mmoyal85 is giving away a medium pocket tank on her blog! Come check it out and enter to win: http://bitURL.net/sgtd)


2. Post about it on your blog and leave a comment below with the link to your post


3. Add me to your blogroll and comment below, or state that I'm already on your blogroll!

That's it. Again, you have until MONDAY, AUGUST 16 at 5 p.m. PST. Good luck and don't forget to check out my OpenSky Shop!!! I'll be selecting a winner at random next Monday and posting the winner the following day.

I also know you can't wait to hear about my move and unemployment. Well stay tuned, kids :) I'm back on regular Internet with all the time in the world on my hands.... until someone hires me.

Seriously?!?!?!

So, not like earth-shattering news or anything, but we got the house. NBD.

Are you kidding me?! That's HUGE NEWS.... WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!! (insert girl hysteria noise here).

Because of that, I've been up all hours cleaning out our former house in Stockton. I say former because today I officially moved out. Moved out as in no longer living there, not as in turned in the keys. J.D. left for Arizona today because his job starts Monday. We packed our little hearts out until nearly 2 a.m. this morning. Then today I stayed behind and packed some more stragglers and cleaned up a bit. He's flying back later next week and we'll finish cleaning then hand over the keys to our landlord and drive down to AZ to move into our new rental!!!!

For the time being Woodstock and I are at my parents' house.

As far as work goes, I'm newly unemployed. That's very frightening, but there are affordable insurance plans I could buy. And I do have some leads on jobs.

As originally planned, I'm still going to go and get fingerprinted so I can be a substitute teacher (hopefully for English or French classes) in Phoenix. Then I'm going to write freelance articles for a few sports/fitness magazines/blogs in the area. I also signed up to tutor English, math, history and French with a private company. And I'm hoping to work some games on Arizona State's event staff. So maybe volleyball, basketball and when the season comes baseball/softball.

Plenty of things to keep me busy until I find a full-time paying job! Provided any of these options pan out, that is.

And knee update. The move up and down stairs is KILLING my knee. It's so swollen and painful. I'm taking some advice and seeing a chiropractor on Monday, because guess what, I'm insurance-free right now :-\ so scary with how much I'm sick/injured.

Hopefully it doesn't last long.....

I guess I'm going to pick up biking tomorrow as my form of exercise since running is clearly out of the cards for me right now. I'm also really excited about moving to Phoenix because they have tons of Lululemon stores down there which means yoga classes!!!

Just thought you'd all like a quick update on my life :) Now back to insurance and job hunting!

xx ♥

Pretty excited

I'm pretty excited for a number of reasons today. First, I'm back on the blog world. But I told you it'd be sparse, so I'll be back and forth until we're living in a house in Arizona. Haven't signed a rental agreement yet, however...

My second reason for excitement is the announcement of my Open Sky Shop! Open Sky is such a cool concept. If you're unfamiliar with the service it provides, check out its About Page. Basically I'm going to provide you with links to items I talk about and love, so you can find and buy them on my site directly! This is also going to include give-aways... with one coming up pretty soon :) I was sent a runner's tank top to try out, but it unfortunately doesn't fit me, I think my chest is too big for their sizing :( Nevertheless, it's still a neat product, so stay tuned for that one. Though, I don't think I'll be kicking that off until I move.

Tentatively, my shop is set to open August 10, so keep checking back for the grand unveiling! And also, go learn about Open Sky and all the neat people already using it (like NLF Linebacker Shaun Phillips)!!

Ok exciting item No. 3, my last day of work is FRIDAY. I don't know if this is exciting or not. I'm excited for a change in scenery and the chance to try something new. I'm not excited about being unemployed. I've been scouring the Internet for sports jobs down in Phoenix and have literally sent my resume to over 40 companies. But then again, if it doesn't work out, I'm still seriously considering getting my master's in French Comparative Literature and being a TA for undergrad French classes.

Because our big move is so quickly approaching, J.D. and I made the 12-hour trek down to Arizona last weekend in search of housing.

We saw some neat things:

Closets big enough for cartwheels... Are you shocked that J.D. has more clothes than I do and claimed the walk-in closet for himself?!

Some weird things:

Apartment washer/dryer tucked away in a garage crevice.

Backyard putting green!

Received free baseball tickets:

DARN YOU DIAMONDBACKS FOR TRADING MY FAVORITE PLAYER THE DAY AFTER WE LEFT!!! Now I won't get to see Danny Haren play in Arizona when I move there :(

We ate breakfast at a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives (video about Over Easy's feature on the show):

Caramel iced coffee with a splash of lowfat milk... one of the few times I haven't drank nonfat milk.

J.D.'s Reese's Pieces pancakes! Oh man those were good... I may have snuck several bites :)

My egg white, spinach, asparagus and ham custom omelet!

Overall we have a good idea of where we want to live. We picked out five houses, two almost perfect for us. The top two, however, have already been applied for. So on to the next in line, I suppose. We hope to hear back by the end of the week!!!!

Wish us luck :) We'll need it with all the packing to be done this week...

I'm also trying to get creative with meals. We can't really buy anything new, since we're trying to clean out the fridge/freezer. So last night I opened up some frozen eggplant cutlets, plopped them atop whole wheat spaghetti and made my own marinara sauce with frozen veggies and ripped up some mozzarella balls. It was kind of tasty for being a weird amalgamation of items :)

Thanks again for all your well-wishings on the move and also my new short hair! It's going to be so much easier to care for in the desert. I would know, since it was 108º the final day of house hunting.

I ♥ you people!!

What I've been up to

Wow, she's still blogging.... :)

First I'd like to thank you ALL for the sweet comments about the move and my boyfriend's (hope that clears up some confusion haha) new job. I'm down for meet-ups now that I'll be closer to some of you :)  Or you know, you can always come to me!

Since J.D. was offered the job, we've been doing a lot of running around like decapitated chickens. He obviously accepted first of all. We both turned in our resignation notices. We scheduled a visit next week to go house hunting -- best part about that trip is staying in a SPA/RESORT FOR DIRT CHEAP since it's Phoenix's low season afterall!! And today is really our only free day from work, so we've been cleaning the house, doing laundry, donating items we don't want to Goodwill, boxing things up and posting to Craigslist like it's my job.

Got 10 offers for this little guy in two minutes of posting! Thank God we won't have to cart him on a 12-hour drive.

But speaking of jobs, I've kind of come to a conclusion about what I will do in the meantime. I applied for a job in athletics I'm still waiting to hear back from, but am ready to accept the fact that I'm not getting an interview there. As SOON as we have an address, I'm going to Arizona's Dept. of Public Safety and getting finger printed/background checked so that I can be a substitute teacher. I feel like I could teach any HS subject: English, AP history, US history, World history, French, biology, algebra, etc. I did pretty well in all those subjects and even went on to study some in college. Subbing would be a pretty neat way to get benefits and also a paycheck until I find a career.

But I'm also toying with the idea of finishing my master's at Arizona State. I mean, they provide fully-funded TAships to many of their grad students! How sweet is that?!?!? Obtain a master's AND get paid for it?!?! Sign me up.

My only problem is trying to decide which program of study I'd apply for. French Comparative Literature? English? Education? Communications? Luckily I have until January to figure it out.

So with all this craziness going on, we've been going out to eat often. And at the same time, trying to use everything in the fridge. That being said, I got the itch to use my frozen bananas again in attempt to make some banana soft serve. And guess what, you all were RIGHT about cutting the banana up before freezing. Not only did it stay white, but it also blended pretty consistently! The only problem I'll have to tweak is that I wanted to prep the night before. It gets way too hard in the freezer, but turns to mush in the fridge. So if I make it again, I'll have to stick to day-of preparation.

This time I blended up some frozen bananas with raspberries. It was tart and creamy and delicious! I then put it in a nice little parfait with CHOCOLATE OVERNIGHT OATS! You know, just regular overnight oats and milk snazzed up with a little chocolate syrup ;)

Ready for some more breakfast photos??

This morning I made a honey Greek yogurt parfait with lowfat granola, cherries and pineapple. It was yummy and hit the spot :) The perfect start to a day of boxing and moving preparation!

And now we're off to my parents' house because tomorrow night we're going to a Giants/Mets baseball game in San Francisco! J.D.'s favorite team is the Mets, so for his birthday two months ago I bought him third-row tickets to the only series the Mets play in California this year! What a nice girlfriend, right?! :) I just love David Wright. I wish our seats were on the third base side......

(Source)

Once we get to their house, we've got all the fixin's to make seafood mac'n'cheese! I'm pretty stoked for this meal; we've had a box of elbow macaroni hiding in the pantry for MONTHS. It's about time we put it to some use!

Have a good weekend, everyone! And sorry in advance again, but my posts will continue to be pretty sparse until August. Two more weeks!! Eeeek :)

Cheers!

Last night J.D. and I had sort of impromptu celebratory tapas dinner downtown.

Why??

Oh it's no big deal really, except WE'RE MOVING HERE IN TWO WEEKS!!!

(Source)

Yep, he got and accepted the job at the NCAA radio Internet company in Arizona. Now it's on me to find a new job as well, especially since I turned in my two weeks' notice today.

So back to the food.

We started off with a crostini sampler that included a bleu cheese-apple-bacon bite, honey-fig-goat cheese and finally, avocado-tomato-shrimp. All that was paired next to a caprese salad split by two. Our third shared plate was a heaping pile of fried calamari and marinara sauce. Obviously devoured before photographed :)

While the lighting was not conducive to photography, we devoured a chocolate raspberry brandy torte. It was slathered in marshmallow cream. Oh my goodness!!!

A glass of Blue Moon (for him) and pinot grigio (for me) topped off the evening. And there may or may not have been a trip to frozen yogurt later. I'm just saying.

The party (in my mouth) continued into the morning. I'd been craving an egg breakfast sandwich, but haven't been waking up early enough to make one before work. Today was the perfect day, since I had time to kill before Woodstock's final post-neutering check-up. He's healing juuust fine by the way!

My smiley face breakfast consisted of a whole wheat bagel thin, fried egg, Canadian bacon, almond pesto and spinach. I also enjoyed a freshly-cut pineapple, Tuscan melon and cherries.

Now there is a lot to do in the next few weeks. So just to prepare you in advance, I'm going to be stressed/all over the place/MIA. Now you're ready :) I can't believe I'm going to be a resident of a state other than California for the first time in 25 years!!!

Anyone in Arizona want to be my friend?? How about get me a job in sports??? :) Kthanksbye.