The Quest For Seven

Saturday night dinner!

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:24:51 -0500

Over the weekend, Lovey and I had the opportunity to go out to dinner as Kiddo was out doing Kiddo things. Our decisions always go a little something like this:

Should we order in or shower and go out?
Pasta? Sushi? Mexican? Chinese? What?
How far do we want to drive?

I really should make a flowchart for us to make these decisions easier.

We decided on go out, Mexican and not far which led us to Talavera in Coral Gables. As you may know, I LOVE Mexican food (Tex Mex also although it's not Mexican) and basically 99% of everything about Mexico. (See also, wedding there in June and lived there for a couple of years.) I even learned to love tacos off the street that I would have previously turned my nose up at. I am plotting a trip to Chicago simply so that I can visit Frontera and XOCO.

It was still relatively early (for Miami) when we arrived at about 7:45pm. While there was no wait, the restaurant was still pulling in a good crowd. They didn't reach a wait while we there, but the steady flow of business was maintained. We were warmly greeted and given our choice of several open tables.

Chips and salsa arrived promptly for us to munch on. Talavera provides two types of chips and two types of salsa. Right, I neglected to take a picture of the chips, but one looked like a flour tortilla that had been cut into smaller pieces and fried and the other was blue corn.

The salsa on the right had a slightly sweet taste to it with a kick. I honestly don't know what was in it. The salsa on the left tasted like tomatillo and cilantro and had a mild spice. Both salsas tasted better with the blue corn tortilla although I'm not sure why.

The menu has plenty of choices and we refrained from gorging ourselves on the first visit. As appetizers, we both had a cup of soup. The cups are normal sized cups with just enough soup. Lovey had the black bean which looked fantastically hearty and tasted just as well. I had the tortilla soup. I will admit that at first glance, I was put off by my soup as it just didn't look anything like I thought it should, but after the first taste, it didn't matter what it looked like. Tomatillo was certainly utilized in the tortilla soup but it gave the soup a light and refreshing quality. Each of the soups had small strips of tortilla and a sprinkling of cheese in them.

Before moving on to the main course, of course we had margaritas!! Lovey had The Original and I had The Ambitious. While I didn't try his, I had my hands full with my own. Let's just say that the bartender makes a damn good drink.

After much indecision, I finally settled on Tacos de Chilorio and Lovey had the Mexico City Beef Tacos, left and right respectively.

Wow! Let me start with the rice. I love when Lovey's mom makes rice. I don't know what she does to it, but it's fantastic. Talavera is giving her a run for her money. Each order of Tacos de Chilorio comes with a small side of guacamole which was also quite tasty. You would think that five tacos is an awfully large serving, but after you eat the first one, you know you'll have no problem finishing the rest. The pork was soft and delicious.

The Mexico City Beef Tacos are just as delicious. Although you can't see them, the tortillas are the same size as the ones you see on my plate and they're hiding in that little silver basket. I don't know if it's the cut of meat or what they marinate it in, but the beef was just plain fantastic and I don't really care for red meat. Lovey had no problem putting them all away.

I believe the dessert menu changes often as our server explained them to us rather than providing a menu. The only sadness of the trip was that they didn't have the fantastic sounding churro dessert. We instead had a chocolate souffle with a scoop of ice cream. It surprised us with just a touch of spicy, just like it might in Mexico.

The bill came in at the regular price it does when we go out for a meal and have three courses and drinks, so I didn't find it to be overpriced, or even expensive, especially considering that 40% of our bill was liquor. All in all, it was a lovely meal in a lovely environment and I can't wait to try it out again.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Decoration End Game

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:09:40 -0500

Ok, so here's last year's real tree:

Not horrible but not great and certainly no Blue Room tree. Did you see the First Lady's tree?!?! It's so beautiful. Like *tear* beautiful. See it here.

Then here's this year's tree:

Hmmmm. I think I still liked the real tree better. I should try to take a picture in similar lighting for a better comparison, right?

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The OCD Christmas Tree

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:55:03 -0500

When I was growing up, decorating the tree was like a sacred ritual. Although we never had a set day to set up the tree, when it eventually showed up in the yard, we knew it was close to time. Real trees were the route we always took, on several occasions even going out to the tree farm to pick our own.

We did a little decorating outside the house but left the major light displays to the folks across the street. They were a great landmark when giving directions to our place. Inside, the windows that faced the front got some spray snow and the banisters got some garland, but the crown jewel was the tree. I watched in awe as my mom would transform a plain old tree into a piece of art.

There were two key components to the tree: bubble lights and the chirping bird. Bubble lights are straight 70s and they rock so hard it should be illegal. Can you imagine that bubbly goodness on your tree?!?!

I wish that I could upload sound so you could hear what the product description calls "the joyous sound of a bird chirping". It's not joyous really. It's pretty annoying after a while but that never stopped us from hiding it in the center of the tree like it was a little bird's nest. People were always amazed by it too. We all just found that to be hysterical.

My mom would decorate and I would hand her the ornaments and as I got older, I was allowed to place some ornaments or add the final touch of icicles. I believe that I was about 14 or 15 when the honor of fully decorating the tree was bestowed upon me. No pressure!! Welcome in OCD.

With this great task upon me, I was so careful to place each ornament just perfectly to try to live up to the standard of trees before mine. I'm proud to say that my trees were all beautiful. My tree OCD, however, never left.

Fast forward 20(!) years to current day Christmas where I'm solely in charge of the tree. For the last three years, we've been buying a fresh cut tree because I love the scent of pine when I walk in the front door. I'm not so sheltered, though, as not to realize the importance of our natural resources. This year we bought our first fake tree.

Obviously, I didn't immediately fall in love with this idea nor the looks of the tree when Kiddo and I first started putting it up. It came pre-lit with various colored lights. They're bright. Really bright. While the family photo albums have already been handed down, the Christmas decorations have not yet. My tree is without bubble lights and chirping birds. Sadness. It is full of pretty red and silver ornaments with some splashes of other color here and there.

What I've learned this year is that fake trees are heaven for those with tree OCD. It's taken me three days now to finish decorating the tree. Partially because there's just so much life to take care of outside of the tree, but mostly because of the OCD. Every ornament must be hanging down perfectly straight. Yes, I'm off my rocker. But the fake tree is AWESOME for this!! If an ornament isn't hanging properly, I can bend its branch or the ones around it to make room! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Also, I need to have the amounts of red and silver be in just the right balance. Icicles can't be clumpy and have to be just the right amount and spray snow can't be overdone. I need help.

I am hoping that I will be able to finish the tree tonight and put away my tendencies for one more year. If I do, I'll post a photo. I know that I'll never be fullysatisfied with the tree's appearance, but that'll do pig, that'll do.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Reflections on my first 5K

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:27:49 -0500

Well folks, after all that counting down, it's finally over and done with. In the beginning, I had a lot of lofty goals but as we drew closer, I came to a more realistic goal of just finishing. I'm happy I brought it down to that because that's a goal that I accomplished.

The organizers kept saying that there was record attendance for the Turkey Trot this year. I believe it. There were tons and tons of people there. 4000 was the number that they were quoting. Out of those approximate 4000 people, I fell into about the 770 range. And you know what, for my first time out, that's not too bad. I was 32 out of 99 in my age/sex group. Overall, a pretty decent showing.

It rained, hard, for pretty much the entire day before the race. Know what that means? Puddles. Everywhere. One that was basically a lake. That lake puddle? We saw it when we walked in and purposely avoided it. Didn't matter as it was part of the course and everyone was forced to splash through it. Ouch blisters from running in wet shoes. :-(

I found out (the hard way) that the course I had been running to train is actually a half mile shorter than the full 5K distance. Recalibration of the Nike+ has already occurred so I know what I'm actually up to from here on out. In an odd turn, I jogged the 5K this morning at a pace only slightly slower than I ran it Thursday. Stupid me, getting off my pace in the race.

Wait, I guess that I don't have a pace, per se. When I run in the mornings, I just go. I know then what feels comfortable and I do it. This was my first time running with other people. You see, I have a little bit of an issue with being competitive. That's partially why I love group fitness classes. I will push myself until I bust a blood vessel just to not be the one that quits. Well, I let my competitive nature get the best of me and rather than run at what was comfortable, I stepped it up a notch to keep up with those around me. Bad idea. At around 2 miles, I had to come to a complete walking pace because I was just beat. I'd say I maybe walked for a quarter mile before I got back to running. I now know that I need to train with a group so that I can be more used to what I need to do on race day.

Now that I have that all behind me, I'm ready to train harder, better, faster, longer. There's another 5K in 2 weeks but I don't think I'm going to play in that one. If I don't, though, there isn't another official race until January 17. That's a tough call and very little training after returning from vacation (only 25 days left!!) and some seriously heavy tailgating on 1/3/10 but we'll see.

Thanks, as always, for stopping my and seeing what I have to say. I hope your holiday weekend (if it was a holiday weekend for you) was fantastic and that your upcoming week is even better. :-D

Hep!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

We can rebuild her, we have the technology

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:20:37 -0500

Well hello there! Haven't seen you in a few days. How have you been? Good, bad, indifferent? I can only quote Mr. Tupac Shakur here and say "Keep ya' head up."

QUESTION?

Me? I've been keeping fairly busy doing nothing. Not that I don't have anything to do, but I seem to have misplaced all of my "hey I wanna get up and do stuff". I kinda feel like Bitch Shyner (see Family Guy) and the normal me went on vacation or something. The only thing that stays on schedule right now is my thrice weekly run. There are, after all, less than ten days left until I push out this 5K then rush back home to go to bed.

I've been told that I try to do too much. This may be true. While I like to have a lot to do, I tend to try to take on too much and then get overwhelmed by it. Yeah, I'll just keep doing it though.

INTERJECTION!

I am not a bandwagon fan. I love my black and gold always, through good times and bad, and this past Sunday was definitely bad. This week, I'll still be yelling at my TV, wishing the boys all the luck in the world and watching them take it to the Chiefs in their house.

The remainder of this post may jump around a lot, so if you're not up for the Blair Witch of blogging, you might want to just quit reading here.

I have four more practice runs before the race. As long as I don't falter during the second mile and save a little oomph for the end, I should be able to break 27 minutes. Woo! I'm fast! Yes, I know, not so much.

Fairly certain that all clothing items that were needed for the upcoming snowboarding trip have been purchased. All that remain are lift tickets and lessons. Do you have any idea how wonderful Colorado is? Wonderful.

Only another class and 3/5 to get through until I'm done with this degree, thank you Jeebus. I will officially be one of the many to have gotten that paper. I'll also likely be one of the many to not do much of anything with said piece of paper.

Certification information arrived so I need to make time to start reading it. 12 week program to ready myself for the test.

Deposit made. Dress selected. Save the dates ordered. Favors pretty much figured out. Am I done with the planning for this yet?

*Lyricist says: There's some stuff you're gonna see that's gonna make it hard to smile in the future. But whatever you see, through all the rain and the pain, you gotta keep your sense of humor. You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit. Remember that. *

Other things still to do: paint pretty much the entire house, Saturday lawn, clean the corner shelf (OMG, you should see THAT mess), figure out what to do with this whole social networking concept that isn't for me.

</brain dump>

You do realize that I give you all of these things to think about so I can stop thinking about them and actually get some stuff done, right? I know, I'm terrible, but once again, I think Tupac said it best when he said "Only God can judge me. All you other motherfuckers get out my business." No, not really. Well, not the second sentence at least. If I didn't want you in my business, I wouldn't tell it to you.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

ROCO Friday - Very Superstitious

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:49:53 -0500

09 - Superstition

Stevie Wonder

Yeah, go ahead and click that and start jammin'.

GO AHEAD! (The sermon can't start without the music.)

Good day to the congregation. Today, the Reverend MiamiShyner is in somewhat of a p-funky mood. You know, that's better than just regular funky.

It's Friday the 13th! No ladders, no mirrors, no cats. Or no seeds, no stems, no sticks depending on how you run your game. Not legal but I ain't hatin on ya. Seen the green do too much good.

Speaking of doing good, know that the Reverend MS practices what she preaches. There was a guy on the street this morning asking for help to get some food. Honestly, he didn't look homeless but that doesn't mean he wasn't hungry. I got him a sandwich cuz I'm nice like that. It's payday, I can blow a couple bucks putting out some good karma. ROCO!

Let us not forget our countdowns. 13 days, under 2 weeks left until I chug out this 5K. I have no idea why I'm even worried about it as I run it three times a week. Could be the same reason that I would get nervous before shows even though we had done them 20 times before. :-) I'm still a slow 27 minutes and change but I'm just concentrating on finishing. 43 (Troy!), 86 (Hines!), 212 (20 Sepulvedas + 2 Batches) till vacation, graduation, destination. Steelers on the brain much?

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!

Very exciting, for me at least, is that my information arrived this morning for my group fitness certification. I really enjoy torturing myself by having too much on my plate at all times. I also believe that I'll be a kick-ass fitness instructor. I'll work my way up to personal trainer after that. My plan is to have experience in a couple things before we move so I can be ready for anything.

Yesterday, I tried an apple cider vinegar rinse on my hair. It does remove a lot of buildup and residue but good gravy it stinks. After rinsing with hot water forever and then another shampoo, I think my hair still smells a tiny bit like vinegar. I'll have to try another shampoo this evening but it was totally worth it. Likely not noticable to anyone but me but it looks cleaner and healthier now than it did before.

My congregation, go out into the world and spread the good ROCO word. People need to know about this! Just imagine if everyone was this happy every ROCO Friday. It might lead to ROCO Thursdays and who knows after that! We could all be happy! Let's get on it. :-)

Have a great day, a great weekend, and most of all, have a ROCO Friday!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Sometimes, the days just sneak away...

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:36:41 -0500

Wow, its been a few days, huh?

I suppose that's just fine and dandy as I never promised I would write daily, at least I didn't promise it to you guys. I only promised myself that I would try to write more often if for nothing else than to try to keep my sanity. So here I am. Hi! *waving*

At times, these things are likely boring to you, but I need to keep track of them and I like to look back at my blog down the road to see what was going on back in the day. :-)

With their fifth consecutive win, the Pittsburgh Steelers take the Denver Broncos....and stuff them mile high. Great game. Thank you, gentlemen.

The countdown continues. It's a mere 16 days until my first 5K. I already did my registration and everything. I just have to pick up my packet in a couple of weeks. I am hoping against all hope that Ida will be long gone tomorrow morning. She caused a little havoc yesterday morning as I TRIED to run. But, when the wind is blowing at about 15mph with gusts up to 30, it's a little tough.

Next on the agenda is vacation! I can't believe there are only 45 more days! We have most of the big stuff handled like flights, house, and equipment so now we only have lessons, food choices and the ever-important spa day for scheduling. I picked up some sweet Under Armour that I really hope does a good job. I hate being all bulky on the mountain!

Holy smokes, shortly after vacation finishes, 36 days to be exact, is graduation! It took me a while, but I'm proud to say I'm finally getting that paper. The question becomes what will I do with this elusive piece of paper and will it mean anything to anyone of importance? These answers and many more on the next episode of Soap.

Do you think that's enough to worry about? You're right, it probably is, but I'm not being me if I'm not overloading my plate with things to do. As such, the short list of the rest of it is below. The first bullet deserves its own paragraph or entire post, but that's for a later date.

Hi, wedding. I guess you're not gonna plan yourself although I have thankfully little to do to plan you. But every time I think about it, I remember something else. Aargh.
Group fitness instructor training - Yes, I ordered all your stuff today. I hope to be certified by the end of January. That's certified, not certifiable, which I already am.
Social networking - It's more than just talking to you guys! :-D And I told my chiro that I'd see what I could do for him. Is it weird that I would only be able to do the whole social networking thing for someone I know/something I believe in?
Business plan - So I've got this idea. I just need to gather materials, put in some labor, create a website, register a domain name. OMG I have a lot of crap to do! As I'm getting closer with this idea, I'll share. I promise.

I suppose that's enough brain dumping for now. Thanks for listening/reading. I may get back to normal blogging without countdowns soon!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Countdown, now with Mexico!

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:09:15 -0500

No, not Ron.

Did you miss me yesterday? Psh, now, don't tell fibs to spare my feelings. Thanks for stopping by. :-)

The good Reverend MiamiShyner is not in attendance today but she wishes you all a ROCO Friday nonetheless.

As we all may know, the countdown now stands at 20 days until I try to run this 5K. I have faith that I can do it. I'm training and I can do the distance. I'm just hoping that it's not excessively hot/cold/windy that morning.

Even though formerly Hurricane Ida, currently TD Ida and probably Hurricane Ida again in a few days is a ways away from us, we're still feeling some of her effects, namely wind. Due to the wind, I was surprised to have come in at under 28 minutes this morning. Not super quick by any means, but way better than I ever imagined I would be when I started the program 8 weeks ago.

You should stop reading here if you do not want to read my sappy relationship stuff.

Who has so many countdowns going on at once? No one in their right mind which means me. :-D

Turkey Trot in 20 days
Vacation in 48 days
Graduation in 92 days
And the latest addition to the list, 218 days until the wedding

As some of you may have known, Lovey and I had plans to make it official in the early summer of next year. I was super excited and ran through several location options before deciding on Vegas. Then I changed my mind. I'm a chick, I'm allowed.

Vegas seemed cool but it was also a little bit of a hassle. I'm not all for the details, I just want the end event to be nice (and I don't want to hire a wedding planner). Vegas fell by the wayside. I found a place closer to home. Literally 5 minutes away from our house. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It was.....$20K! WTF man. For one day! I am not ballin' like that.

At that time, I basically scrapped all wedding plans. I am just stubborn like that. I want it all or I don't want anything. I'm pretty sure that my mom was bummed about it but I was done. I figured that the money I was saving for a wedding could be used for several other things. I was a little sad but I've really never been the one for tradition.

Fast forward to yesterday. Whilst perusing the internet, I came across something that just blew my mind. I could have a ceremony that was far from traditional in a place that was far from home for a price that was far under the place that I had been so excited about. SCORE!

So now, it's back on. Mom's excited. Lovey's excited. Kiddo's excited (this will be her first time out of the country). I'm excited. I get to have a beautiful beach ceremony in the country I love most right under our own. Seriously, I love it so much that I feel like it's like going home. I get to spend 9 days being treated like a princess and I can't wait.

Now, to search for that perfect dres....remember, buck tradition!

Have a great weekend, folks! There's football to be watched. Let's go STEELERS!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

22 days....tick, tock, tick, tock

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:39:46 -0500

Wow, you are going to get SO tired of hearing about this!
But you just can't stop reading. You think you might miss something cool or funny, don't you? Of course you do, so first, let me reward you with something I find highly amusing:

WE CAN LEVITATE!

Okay, I can't. I didn't get the Evite for training and whatnot. I would be nothing but trouble if I had a superpower like that. Oh, wait, I'm already nothing but trouble. Huh.

It's Wednesday and that means it's a circus kind of day. While I had gone back to flying, I'm now heading back to "under the tent" type activities. I realize that you may not know what the heck I'm talking about, but if you're interested, leave a comment and I'll explain. Otherwise I'm just talking to hear myself talk, or writing to see the paper fill up.

Somehow, I've just realized that I can take a yoga class and an under the tent once a week for the same price of flying once a week. You do the math.

This morning, I finished my run 16 seconds faster than yesterday's run. That isn't a lot, but it's a start.

.......by the way, I'm having my lunch right now and I am so, so disappointed with the plantain chips from the vending machine. I wanted salty and crunchy but got kinda stale and plain instead. Should've gotten the Sun Chips like the original plan.......

It's already November 4, folks. Do you know how much of my NaNoWriMo project I have done? You guessed it, zero words. I don't know why I sign up for that torture every year. I have yet to complete it...or start it for that matter. Life keeps getting in the way. Shame too, because the story is rolling around up there just waiting to get out. Maybe one day, grasshopper, you will snatch the novel from my head.

Let me take a moment to thank you for stopping by and reading my extra grey matter. I'm going to keep writing it, so you can just keep reading it. :-)

Until tomorrow....

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Dear Spammer: You're trying to tell me....

nobody@vox.com(MiamiShyner) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:02:11 -0500

Your last name is Kennedy?

Got this in my VOX email:

Hello Dear,
I am introducing my self as John Kennedy 20yrs old,the only son of late Chief and Mrs Patrick Kennedy, I wish to request for your assistance in a financial transaction. I got your contact through my search in your country for a trust worthy individual via the Google web service who will help me and my junior sister Cyntia" who is only 16yrs old in securing our late fathers money for investments overseas, And I wish to invest in Manufacturing and real estate management in your country.I have Fifteen million Five Houndred Thousand United States Dollars.USD($15.500,000.00) to invest in your country, and I will require your assistance in receiving the funds in your personal/company account for investment, we shall be glad to give you 20% of the total sum for your assistance as I have agreed with my sister.
Awaiting for your response at my email address johnkenn45@yahoo.fr
God bless you,
John Kennedy.

So if anyone reading this wants to give their banking information to, ahem, John Kennedy, first, forget you know me then go right ahead.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend