Delta's iphone App review

I'm at the airport about once a month, sometimes more.  I live away from my family and a lot of my very dear friends.  I've often joked that I need to have a direct deposit to Delta for $250 each month.  I also travel pretty often for work.  Not as much by plane these days, but every now and then. 

With all of this travel, I would easily consider myself an expert traveler.  I'm quick in the security lines.  I know my way around airports.  I never check a bag - I can pack anything into my carry on bag!  The only thing I need is upgrade status.  I'm not there yet... close, but not there. 

One thing that has made my life even easier is the Delta Airlines iphone app.  I only fly Delta.  My grandpa worked for Delta for 40 years so the airline is in my blood.  The app is AMAZING.  It's everything I wanted it to be and more. 


With the app you sign in with your skymiles number and it automatically pulls up all of your itineraries.  You can even book flights from the app, I haven't done that just yet.  You can set up push notifications from the app and it alerts you when you can check in, and change seats, and it continues to update you with your flight's gate and any gate or departure changes.

The best part is the boarding pass.  I don't have to get it in my email or have it texted to me anymore, it's right here in my app.  And it saves expired boarding passes, helpful I can imagine if you have to do expense reports, etc.

It's SO EASY.  I've moved the app to my front screen on my iphone even though I don't fly every day.  It makes me happy to see it. 

I will be at the airport this weekend headed to Vegas. With 3 of the best friends anyone can ask for.  Can't wait. 

Is 10:00 too early for a stripper?

There will be no pictures of the topic of this post... yet they do exist somewhere.  I will probably never be able to run for political office, but I'll get over it.


One of my very best friends is getting married in less than 2 weeks.  She's marrying into one of the best families I've ever met.  Her fiance is one of 7 kids, 5 being girls.  The five girls are fantastic.  Beautiful inside and out and crazy fun to be around.  For her bachelorette party we spent the day at the W in Hollywood.  There was some pool and cabana time, crazy showers (come on - 8 girls getting ready in one hour), a lingerie party, dinner at the Fogo de Chão, drinking, shopping and.... a stripper.

I'm not sure how much we had to drink before we decided that it was a good idea to surprise her with a stripper, but it was decided.  10:00.

I've never seen a male stripper before.  They are gross.  Gross.  He wasn't attractive, older  than me and his moves were gross.  I think if my boyfriend (oh yeah more on that recent development) was dancing and moving around like he was I'd still be laughing hysterically.  I'm not sure I've laughed as hard as I laughed for the 30 min he was in the room.  She was mortified.  Some of the best money I ever spent - her face when he started taking off his clothes was priceless.

Philadelphia

Last week I had a business trip to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.  It was my first time to the city and everything I heard about it before heading up was negative.  Everything.  I wanted to see for myself before I made any decisions about the city so I went in open minded. 


It's a pretty rough around the edges type of city.  VERY different from California and complete opposite from where I grew up in Florida/California.  We were there to visit Bottom Dollar Food locations all around the city, so I was prepared to get to see a few different parts of town.  Some were nice, others made me want to leave as soon as we drove in.  Let's just say that I won't be volunteering to move to Philly any time in the future. 

While the city left a lot to be desired, the Bottom Dollar Foods that we visited were great.  The stores are unlike anything we have in San Diego and I wish that wasn't the case.  Come on it's San Diego! CALIFORNIA!! The stores are smaller in size than a Whole Foods and don't have all of the frills that you'd find in a WF or even a Trader Joes-- and I wish that wasn't the case. I wouldn't do all of my full shopping at at BDF (I'm too much of a seafood and steak snob not to shop at a farmers market or Fresh Market) but I'd definitely make a trip or two a month for a lot of my grocery list.  If you read the blog you know that I do most of my shopping at a farmer's market.

The second day we were in town was to attend the Grand Opening of a new store.  The doors opened at 7:30am and there was a crowd!  I had no idea people waited in line to go to a new grocery store. I mean come on this isn't a FAT SALE at Bergdorf.

Also new while in town, a Philly Cheesesteak.  A hot, steak sub with a lot of cheese and veggies isn't my idea of a great lunch but while I was in town, I had to do it.  My boss and I drove around for 30 minutes looking for a legit, authentic cheesesteak place and we came upon Steve's Prince of Steak.  A hole in the wall, walk up and order place with delicious food.  They've been open 30 years, they must be doing something right.  Here is the cheesesteak that I ordered.  It was physically impossible for me to finish the entire thing, I ate half. 

So that was Philly for me, in a nutshell. 

Chicago

I spent last weekend in Chicago with one of my very dear friends, Natalia.  We go way back, back to middle school in Florida.  We were best friends through high school and while we don't see or talk to each other all the time, when we do we pick up right where we left off. 

I was only able to fly up on Saturday morning and had to come back Sunday evening, but we were able to cram TONS of fun into just 2 short days.

Our first stop after we dropped off my stuff at the apartment was to walk around her neighborhood and take it all in.  Natalia lives in Lincoln Park which is far more beautiful than I expected it to be.  Maybe because I only associate the name Lincoln Park with the band??  There were parks around every corner, beautiful tree-lined streets and fun restaurants and bars on every block.  Such a cute part of town.  AND the zoo is FREE.  What a great bonus for the people of Chicago.  It isn't a large zoo, but they have the big three - big cats, primates and reptiles.  It must have been nap time because every animal we saw was napping, but it was still amazing to me that something like that was just a few blocks from Natalia's apartment - and it was FREE!

When I asked two people at the office what I had to do when I was in Chicago - each one said that I had to eat an Italian Beef.  So be it - off we were to eat an Italian Beef at Portillo's.

The rest of Saturday was spent walking around town checking out the fun boutiques in different neighborhoods.  One of Natalia's favorite stores was having a huge sale and I got some great necklaces for $7 each.  One of them I've worn twice (once in Chicago the night I bought it and today at work) and I keep getting compliments. 

Saturday night we went to dinner at a cute Italian place in Lincoln Park and then headed to The Southern, a fun bar not too far from her place.  All locals.  It was a pretty good mixture of an older and younger crowd.  I didn't feel out of place at all.  We met some pretty interesting people and had a bunch of laughs. 

Sunday the weather was fabulous and thank goodness because we had an architectural boat tour down the Chicago River!  WHOOP WHOOP!  Totally a tourist thing to do and I'm so glad I did.  There are SO many amazing buildings in Chicago the tour was such a great way to see all of them and really take them in without being distracted by the things around you.  Come on - you're on a boat, nothing else to look at but the buildings.  Our tour guide was amazing - she knew the year, architect, style and little tid bits of knowledge about basically every building we passed on our 90 min voyage.  We toured with The Official Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise.  HIGHLY recommended to anyone visiting Chicago.  Book early!  Our tour was at 1:00 and the rest of the day was already full.  Connie knew to book early because she'd missed out on a tour once when her family was visiting.  Also fun to note - there is a full bar on the boat.  Bloody Mary's and a cruise through the city. Yes, please.

We grabbed a bite to eat, did a little bit more shopping and headed back to the apartment to relax a bit before I had to head to the airport. 

It was a very quick trip, but I fit so much in that It feels like I was there much longer.  I can't wait to go back and see even more of the city. 

Things I loved about the city:

• FREE Zoo
• Parks (green space) around every corner
• The Chicago River and Lake Michigan right there!  Water makes any big city better.
• How clean the city is.  It's a huge city, with lots of people and so many different neighborhoods, and everyone of them that we visited were CLEAN.  Even the cabs felt cleaner than in San Diego or NYC
• Shopping
• Two airports 
• I didn't see many homeless people at all.  In San Diego I feel like there is at least one homeless person on every street corner and in some areas even more.  It just gets depressing.  I know Chicago has rough areas, but everywhere we went, and we went all over the place, it was very nice not to feel like a bad person by not giving someone money

TOMS

Why was I so late to jump on the wagon??  I LOVE TOMS SHOES!  I want a million pairs, in every color possible. 

Yesterday was my first day wearing my new, grey TOMS and they couldn't be more comfortable.  I got them in a size 10 because a size 9 I tried on at one point were just fitting my foot and I was worried about how they would stretch.  This morning I bought my second pair of Toms, in blue, size 9.  Classic fit.  Not only are they the most comfortable shoe I've worn besides my flip flops, but they aren't ridiculously priced.

I'm definitely going to frequent the site to see what new fabrics they come up with and styles.  I need to try a new style soon.  They also started selling sun glasses.  They are a little pricey for me, but who knows, maybe one day.

It keeps getting better: One for One Movement - for every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS will donate a pair of shoes to a child in need.  They are great shoes and you're helping children... you can't feel bad for spending the money!

These will be the next ones I purchase.  I can't wait until I get them. 

Go to the website now, order a pair, help a child in need.

A Game of Thrones

I've been reading like a mad woman lately.  The Kindle has really helped because I can have multiple books in one place.  Having the larger purse has helped too.  I can carry the Kindle or a book with me at all times.  LOVE IT.  

I just started reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, the first book of his A Song of Fire and Ice series.  If that sounds familiar to you, HBO has created a series based on the book series and it's doing extremely well for the network.  Entertainment Weekly does recaps of each of the episodes as it does for Dexter or Glee and it's been the talk of the trade magazines for a few weeks now.  HBO hit a jack pot.  I've heard the show has a LOT of sex which is probably helping the ratings, but I haven't read any of that in the book just yet.  Maybe I'm not far enough along yet?  I'll keep you updated. 

 

I've been told the book is a lot like Lord of the Rings and I've never read a true fantasy book.  I'm a fan of the movies, but I've never picked up a fantasy for pleasure reading.  

I'm keeping up with my plan to read one actual book (in my hand) and then one book on the Kindle.  But the Kindle is sooo easy, I'm really struggling with it.  I miss that it isn't in my purse at this very moment.  (I left it at work!!!!! NOOOO!!)

Oh my, I'm missed you blog!

Life has been hectic lately. Work has been CRAZY.  It's getting hotttt, so of course I've been at the gym, trying to keep in shape for the beach (love living in San Diego), plus training for a triathalon  how my Jewish Puerto Rican grandma would say "oy vey!".   But I have a couple drafts that I have been working on some get ready for a blog-overload! Missed you all! I'm also working on my playlist for last week on my music blog! YAY!

Kashi Pizza

I don't consider myself a huge frozen pizza eater - but I eat my fair share. On a really busy night they are just so easy! 

I usually go with California Pizza Kitchen pizzas so last night I branched out and tried the Kashi Thin Crust Mushroom Trio & Spinach pizza.  There is so much talk about how healthy Kashi is for you and how it should be my snack food all the time, no matter what it is, so I decided to give it a shot.  It was pretty good!

I had just finished a 3 mile run and was starving and I ate 3/4 of the pizza while watching my DVR'd Glee season finale.  Nights don't get better than that. 

I'm definitely going to have to try some of the other pizzas.  They are a little more expensive, but if they are that much better for me - what's a dollar at the end of the day?

Friends with benefits? Movie review. NO STRINGS...

Netflix is keeping me entertained!  Last night I watched the Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher flick, No Strings Attached.  I knew what to expect when I hit play and it's exactly what I got. 

It was a cute, predictable romantic comedy with two beautiful lead actors that are easy to look at.  It was nice to see Natalie play someone normal after watching Black Swan and I'm glad Ashton wasn't a douchebag like I usually find him to be.
If you haven't seen it - two friends decide to enter a physical-only relationship, nothing romantic, only sex until one of them starts to feel something more for the other person.  Of course that's a bad idea.  Someone will always develop feelings.
I strongly believe that a man and woman can be friends without there being anything sexual.  I do NOT believe that a man and woman can be in a sexual relationship and just be friends.  That's just my personal opinion.

Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have a VERY similar movie, Friends with Benefits, coming out in July. It will be interesting to see if they have different endings - because, yes, I'm not going to miss this movie.

Born this way

"There's nothing wrong with loving who you are" She said, "'Cause he made you perfect, babe...so hold your head up girl and you'll go far, listen to me when I say" 

I'm beautiful in my way 'cause God makes no mistakes I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way  

Don't hide yourself in regret just love yourself and you're set 

I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way

Thanks, Lady GaGa.

Kris-Reina has finally done it!!

I finally did it people, after months and months of talking about it I have finally made a music blog! Not much it on it, YET...but expect weekly updates on my favorite music and some awesome Playlists!! I am so excited! YAY! Haha  Click here to check it out!!

Back to Normal

After three days of not being able to eat anything (what a nightmare) last night I was finally back to normal.  I went to WF to stalk up on food and found the following frozen dinner.  Now eggplant parm is only recently in my consideration set for dinners.  It started when my brother played vegetarian for a year and I was supportive when I was with him.  It has become one of my favorite meals.  

It wasn't bad!  Jackpot!

Blue Valentine

(Okay, I know I am late on watching this!)

Blue Valentine is easily my pick for best movie of the year.  I'll admit that I haven't seen Social Network which is thought to be the "best movie of the year", but I can't imagine that it is any more well acted or moving as Blue Valentine.
Ryan Gosling is unbelievable in his range of emotions and I forgot how great of an actress Michelle Williams is.  I realized at one point in the movie that I hadn't seen her since the Dawson Creek days.  Their relationship on screen was 100% authentic.  It was so believable at times it was very difficult to watch as they fell apart. 
The sexual scenes were graphic, which gave it the NC-17 rating, but nothing seemed too over the top or too graphic.  The scenes fit perfectly with the story and, in my opinion, nothing seemed to go beyond what hasn't been seen before.  I can't believe that a movie as honest as Blue Valentine is handed a NC-17 rating and there are 5+ Saw movies that show God knows what on screen, I won't watch those. 
Blue Valentine for Movie of the Year and Ryan and Michelle deserve them as well.

Etsy!

I could talk for days about Etsy, one of my favorite websites for shopping when you don't really know what you're looking for OR when you know exactly what you're looking for, it's out there. 

I wanted to give my step-sisters a little something to remember the trip here so I started looking around etsy.com.  It gave me so many ideas, but the winner was.... CROCHET KOOZIES! 

Who knew they even existed!!

Dates!

No, not the go-out-to-dinner-with-a-boy dates, the fruit dates.

Last night for Bunco I made a new appetizer that I owe to my friend, Michelle.  She's made them a few times and I'm in love so I had to make them.  I was silly and forgot to take a picture, but here is something pretty close to what mine looked like, but I added pecans.

They are SO easy to make and SO delicious.  

1 package of pitted dates (approx 40)

small package of goat cheese

pecan halves

5-6 thin slices of prosciutto

Heat oven to 350

Slice the dates on one side so they open and you can put stuff inside (they're stickier than I thought) and place on a foil lined baking sheet

Spoon half a teaspoon of goat cheese into each date (you can never have too much goat cheese)

Put one pecan half into each date, they'll stick out a little bit, it's okay

Take your prosciutto slices and slice them again into 3-4 thin strips and wrap a strip around each date

I heated them for 3 minutes, just until the cheese started to melt

Enjoy!

Shopping at TJs

My last errand last night was grocery shopping so I decided to try to do my week's worth of shopping at Trader Joe's only.  Some of the food was cheaper than I thought it would be, which was a nice surprise, while some stuff was far more expensive than at a regular grocery store.  Most of my purchases were frozen foods and pantry items but the cheese was much cheaper than Vons, so I'll def buy TJ cheese only moving forward.  I didn't get everything I needed, but I def got enough to get me through the week.

Trader Joe's cookbook

I have a Trader Joe's cookbook that I've been trying to use for a while so I made a Mustard and Maple Chicken dish.  SO easy and actually really good.  I'd never cooked dark meat, so that was interesting too.    Basically you mix together maple syrup, dijon mustard and rice vinegar and coat the chicken and bake.  I made some veggies and rice to go with it.  It's definitely added into the rotation. It may not look tasty-- but it was oh so good.

Scott Pilgram vs. The World

I love Netflix.  It allows you to watch movies and shows you'd never think to watch.  Last night I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  Netflix guessed that I'd give it 2.5 stars, it was close, I give it 2.  When you have a queue of over 100 movies or shows, there is bound to be a bad apple.

The movie is based on a comic book, but that usually doesn't automatically mean I'm going to hate the movie.  I love the Batman movies.  Ironman is fun.  This one was too weird for me and I couldn't connect with the characters.  For me, the best part of the movie were Scott's roommate, played by Kieran Culkin, and his sister played by Anna Kendrick.  I would have watched a movie just based on the two of them.

I'm not going to waste any more of my time on this movie, but can we stop giving Michael Cera leading roles?  He's trapped in one really long Juno movie. His characters are always exactly the same.  It's time to move on.

I did get another run in last night.  It took a lot of convincing by myself to do it.  It felt great to be done, but getting out there was hard.  It's better to run outside because once you're halfway done, you can't stop, you still have to make it home.  I felt like stopping after a little over a mile.  Too bad, Deegan, you're still over a mile away from home!

Blind date.

Okay, now onto the blind date.  He's a nice guy, just not for me.  I think it ultimately comes down to our personalities not matching.  I'm a very outgoing and social person and he's not.  I'd rather be hanging out with friends than sitting alone at home and he seems to be the opposite.  And I was interrupted a few times while talking - NOT the way to get a second date.  I'd be asked a question and before I could finish the complete answer, he'd change the subject.  I was trying not to do the one word answers and he wasn't feeling it.  I didn't feel like he was there to get to know me.  Lastly, I think he was uncomfortable with my height when I was in heels.  If you're still taller than me when I'm in heels, I'm going to wear heels.  Don't make me feel bad about it. 

The date actually made me more comfortable being single.  I'm glad I'm confident and know what I want.  I'm not going to settle.

I really said I'd do that?

Yesterday started out normal.  I woke up, got to work a little early, worked hard and did good work. 

When I got home I made mussels for dinner.  I've never cooked them before and they were delicious and so super easy.  I cheated and got the frozen mussels from Publix and they cook in just 7 minutes and have sauce with them already.  I served them (to myself) over some spaghetti and light tomato sauce.  The only thing I was missing was the toasty bread to go with it.  Next time.  And I'm not sick!  I was really worried that I'd get sick from the frozen seafood, but I'm safe. 

Here is where I surprise myself - while cooking dinner I agreed to go on a blind date with the brother of a guy and old co-worker has started dating.  I'll give you a second to work that out in your head.   Yep, I'll be going on a blind date.  I don't know much about him, but my friend has given him the thumbs up, so that's all I can go on right now.  I know I'm not going to meet someone at a bar, so maybe this is the right way to do it.  He now has my phone number and he'll be calling sometime today or tomorrow to set up our date.  I hope it's soon so I can stop thinking about it!

Mad Men: Season 1

I used to work in Advertising (Puerto Rico), Mad Men is about the advertising industry in the early 1960s on Madison Ave.  I thought I'd hate the series, so I never bothered to watch.  I thought it would be so far off from what really happens in an agency that I'd get mad and turn it off.  Like a doctor watching Grey's Anatomy.  There is no way there is that much drama at a hospital, or at least that much sex between co-workers.  BUT, I have Netflix and Mad Men is on Netflix so I gave it a shot.  I just finished Season 1.

I LOVE IT.  It's not a fast paced TV show, there aren't crazy cliffhangers at the end of every episode, but the characters are amazing.  You hate each of them yet at the same time you're pulling for each of them at the same time.  It might be one of the most true-to-life programs I've watched in a long time.  Not everyone is perfect and Mad Men does a good job showing that even those with the perfect face and perfect family and perfect home can be sad and have their own demons.

The thing that shocked me about the show is how much people smoked!  In meetings, in elevators, in their baby's nursery, while eating breakfast.  It's nuts.  BUT talking with people who worked in advertising back then, or not long after, that's exactly how it was.

I love how beautiful everyone is in the show and I'm so impressed with the details that the producers put into set decoration and costumes.  I now finally understand why the show keeps winning awards.  It was just announced yesterday that Season 5 will be postponed until early 2012!  WHAT!  No! I want it this Fall, but it seems the creator of the show and AMC have some differences of opinions when it comes to payment.  Good thing I still have Seasons 2-4 in my queue to keep me company.

The Good Guy

Last night I watched another movie that I got on Netflix, The Good Guy, starring Alexis Bledel.  It's weird, I'll basically watch any movie she's in.  I think she's a great actress and I always enjoy her characters.  Maybe it's because she plays a similar role in every film?  

The basic plot goes like this: Cute girl, Beth, in NYC is dating Wall Street guy, Tommy, who looks like Prince Charming.  He's on top of his game and successful at work and he's making her fall in love with him. As the film goes on you learn more and more about Tommy and his co-workers.  For me it was another example of first impressions don't always tell the whole story.  It's for this very reason that if I meet someone and they ask me out and I'm interested enough to give my number, I'll go on a date.  I always want to give someone a chance to show me who they are.

I give the move a 4 out of 5.  It's nothing original, it's the good guy vs the bad guy story but I wanted it to go on 30 minutes longer, so that has to mean something.  It felt like it flew by.  I recommend it for those looking for a nice chick flick to watch with a glass of wine.  I drank two glasses and ate a small bowl of ice cream.  Don't judge me.

Back to Middle School/High School

I'm still struggling with how to keep motivated to run 4x a week.  I want to run, I know I'll feel better when I'm done, but some days I can't get myself off the couch.  One problem I was having was with the music I was listening to.  I have some good, upbeat stuff, but I don't want to get bored.  So, I went back to my club volleyball days in high school and thought about what I would use to pump myself up before games.  One CD came to mind - Booty Mix 2.

 It's full of '90s classics and just what I needed.  I bought Booty Mix 2 and it's sister, Booty Mix 3 on Amazon.com and they were delivered yesterday.  I made a new playlist for my iphone and I hit the road.  Check out the songs:

1. Shake A Lil' Somethin' - 2 Live Crew
2. Hear What I Hear - Kilo
3. Scarred - Luke
4. Heiny Heiny - 95 South
5. Give It All You Got - Afro-rican
6. Tootsie Roll - 69 Boyz
7. 2 Much Booty (In The Pants) - Soundmaster T
8. Can't Stop The Rock - D.J. Kizzy Rock
9. Get Retarded - K.J. & Da Fellas
10. Dickey Ride - Southern Playas
11. Run Forest Run - Get Some Crew
12. Bass Mechanic - M.C.A.D.E.
13. Booty Bounce - Goon Sqwad
14. Work It Out - M.C. Shy-D
15. Shake Watcha Mama Gave Ya - Poison Clan



My favorites being Scarred, 2 Much Booty and Run Forest Run.  I need to really work on the playlist to make sure those 3 songs play when I'm approaching the 2 mile mark and I'm getting tired. 

Technically, this isn't a 'new thing' for me - but I haven't had the CD since 1998 - so there should be a 10 year plus caveat.

I'm back!

I know, I know.  I've not posted in a few days but it's been crazy busy at work and I was sick this weekend so nothing really got done at all.  I'll update as much as I can on the days that I missed. 

Last Wednesday was our Dinner Club night with a Mexican theme.  YUMMY!  I brought an Apple Enchilada Dessert.  Basically, and apple pie in tortillas instead of pie crust.

The ingredients were pretty easy, see above.  You probably have most of that in your pantry right now.  It was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made.  I got a lot of compliments on them and I'm pretty proud of how they turned out.  

• 1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
• 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas, sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8x8 baking pan.
3. Bring margarine, sugars and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.
4. Pour sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
5. Makes 6 large tortillas; may be cut in half to serve 12.

My house smelled wonderful for days, too.