Water Motivation

I have to admit. Dinking water is not one of my favorite things. However, for years I have disciplined myself to drink water with every meal. Occasionally I will drink sweet tea with a meal and usually only at the beach will I treat myself to a fountain cola in a styrofoam cup. 

I start each day with a big glass of water to chug down my vitamins then it’s coffee til noon. I keep a bottle of water at my desk or on the counter at home to sip on throughout the day. Some days I drink a significant amount of water but most days I just forget. 

I have decided that I want to start drinking a healthy amount of water my body needs each day. 

They say “64” ounces. 

I had to start with a water bottle that I enjoyed using (that usually includes a straw) so I headed to Amazon and purchased a motivational water bottle by Keepto. It holds the amount of water my body needs each day. This way I do not have to think about it and wonder if I had enough water today. A whole days amount is with me at all times. Your body will mistake thirst for hunger so if I sip water all day, it will curb my appetite and just maybe I will stop grabbing those Reese's cups from the break room.

I love that I can use it with or without a straw. It’s leak proof and has nice carry strap. Though it’s a half gallon, it does not feel heavy and it’s easy to drink from by holding the built in handle. I get a little motivation from the time stamped indications as I drink throughout the day.

Here are some interesting facts about drinking water.

• 64 oz is just an average amount. Some people need less and some need more. A person that is active and sweats a lot may need more. Your body will naturally tell you when it’s thirsty so drink water when your thirsty or sip on it throughout the day. Don’t guzzle water just to get the daily dosage over with. Listen to your body.
• Water curbs appetite.
• Drinking a lot of water will help with constipation, UTI’s, kidney stones and skin hydration.
• Coffee and tea count as water.
• Foods such as fish, meats, eggs, fruits and veggies supply water in your body.
• You can tell how much water you need by the color of your urine. It should be clear or pale yellow.

Do you drink enough water? What are some ways you motivate yourself to drink enough water?

As an Amazon Affiliate, this post includes a Marketing Link, which means I make a small percentage on the sales but it in no way affects the price a buyer may pay. Opinions are my own honest reviews.

Office Lunch

Last week, My bossman took us three ladies in the office out to lunch. We put an “Out of Office” sign on the door and headed down town. 

We had reservations at Barristers in the Esquire Hotel. You may remember me talking about this place a couple years ago when I took my husband here for his birthday. I was not to impressed then, but it was new. The prices were high and the plates came out with only enough food to feed and elf.  

Things have changed since then.

The wait staff was more personable, the music was different and you got more on your plate. I could not help but admire the new outdoor seating area. The have it gated to keep out the people from the streets. 

The walls were covered with a trellis of new plant growth beginning to climb as Spring reaches close. 

I ordered the grilled feta cheese sandwich with red peppers on sour dough bread and a side of squash. When we finished our meal, we ordered a piece of chocolate caked to share. It was absolutely delicious. 

The restaurant sits on the main floor of the the Esquire hotel. Before we left, the waiter took us on a tour of the coffee house they had recently opened on the bottom (basement) floor. It was called “The Notary”.

Until two years ago, this building had been empty forever. One of my blogger friends, Jack over at the shipslog blog, is from around this area too and may remember this building as the “Lawyers Building” and had a bank of the main floor. This was before my time. 

The hotel also has a has a roof top lounge and it has always been a goal of mine to get to the roof of this building. Unfortunately, the waiter would not let us go up there this day due to some construction still going. I see my rooftop visit in the near future. 

I’m glad we have this little elegant spot in the heart of town and I’d like to see more nice places open around here. It has always been such a ghost town and magnet for homeless people and drug addicts. Things seem to be changing a little. I hope. 

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Happy St. Patricks Day! 

Is everyone getting their Irish on?

I think it’s fun to celebrate St. Patricks day. We usually take our first beach trip this time of year. 

Unfortunately, I have a job that only allows me one week off this year. We hope to squeeze in a few weekend trips. 

I started my day off with a bowl of Lucky Charms. This is my favorite cereal. I could honestly eat the whole box. 

Just kidding here. I only bought a single serve cup of Lucky Charms. 

I made green Rice Krispy treats to share with the office. 

And I will be wearing my green sweater.

For lunch, the Boss is taking us three girls an upscale restaurant in town. 

It is in celebration of goals met in the office. 

My daughter is coming home today and we will be having our traditional St. Patricks Day dinner of corned beef brisket and cabbage. 

The brisket will cook in the crockpot all day. 

My house will be smelling good in a few hours. 

Do you celebrate St. Patricks Day? 

A Day in NoDa

This past weekend, my husband had to work on Saturday and I was off. I had the whole day to myself. However, I didn't spend it alone. I made a drive to Charlotte, NC to visit my daughter. When I arrived she asked me what I wanted to do. I told her to decide as I know nothing about the area. She said, “Mom, I’d like to show you around Noda. This is a little area of town in North Davidson. (hence the name Noda). 

It was a poor looking town full of street vendors and lots of artwork on the buildings. Or should I say graffiti. It was so colorful. Even the sidewalks were panted. 

We found a place to park that was metered at 7.00 a day. So we took it. Every where you park in Charlotte, you have to pay. 

We parked and walked around the little town. I have never seen so many odd and purple haired people in my life. I think people like that are “artsy”.

We were getting hungry and she wanted to try a little place she heard was good so we stopped in. The hostess took us to our table and handed us the lunch menu. It was really expensive with foods we could not pronounce, so we politely got up and left. 

We ended up at a more familiar place called Cabo Fish Taco. She ordered the shrimp tacos and I had a southwestern chicken wrap. It was delicious.

We found a cat cafe in the upstairs of a building. This was a place you could enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while sitting in a room of free roaming cats.

We did not go all the way in and just viewed it from the window. I thought it was rather nasty. And we didn’t want to visit the magic shop next to it. I was already weirded out. 

This guy was making quite a bit of money playing his guitar on the street. I love to listen to these folks play.

This was a vegan restaurant that served outside. If it was not so cool outside, we would have eaten here for the fun of it. Yes that is swing seats. 

Before we left, we walked across the road to see the “dog bar”. This is were people could sit and enjoy a beer while their dogs played. It was so funny. There were many different kinds and sizes of dogs running around playing together. You could even see a few girl dogs in the corner talking about all the other dogs. Haha. 

The bad thing that happened was while we were walking, I stepped in dog poop in my new Hey Dude shoes Twice! Once I realized I stepped in it, I stepped back and into another pile with the other foot. Luckily I was able to get it cleaned off. We had a good laugh and ended the day with a trip to Trader Joes and bubble tea.

Speaking of Hey Dude shoes. They are absolutely the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. My husband even got himself a pair. 

As an Amazon Affiliate, this post includes a Marketing Link, which means I make a small percentage on the sales but it in no way affects the price a buyer may pay. Opinions are my own honest reviews.

Reusable Produce Bags

Who else struggles with those thin plastic produce bags? They are a pain to open. I have never been one to lick my fingers to open a plastic bag or even flip through papers. This is something I think is nasty so I do not usually do it. I just keep rubbing the bag between my fingers until it breaks loose. A lot of people do find it easier to open the bags by licking their fingers. With the mask mandate, this has become a struggle for many.

Advice: Just rub your fingers on a wet fruit or veggie instead.

Or you can just order a set of these cute little Lotus produce bags which are washable and reusable. These bags are made of 100% organic cotton. They are cute sitting on your counter and keeps your fruits and veggies fresh. 

Just put a few in your purse and your ready to hit the market.

I really have enjoyed mine and think they are absolutely adorable filled with fresh fruit or veggies. 

Do you reuse or recycle? I am not in a big habit of doing either. I probably waste more than I need too. I am not a huge advocate of keeping America Green but I like the way some of the reusable items look. I do not look at is as less waste but as saving money when I can just wash things and reuse them again. I have seen reusable sandwich bags. I am not real sure about those yet. I’m thinking they would be hard to wash out. 

If you own any of the reusable sandwich bags, I would love to know your thoughts.

You can purchase these organic, reusable, cotton produce bags from Lotus products 

Unpleasant Dining

We had received a gift certificate for Christmas to Texas Roadhouse steakhouse. Due to limited capacity in restaurants here in North Carolina, we have been putting it off.  It had been a long week. I was tired and hungry, so I suggested we use that gift certificate and have a nice steak dinner for a change. 

We thought it would be a pleasant and deserving dinner out. Well, not so much. 

We both worked until five. We rushed home from each of our jobs and got dressed to go out. But first, I wanted to call and make sure there was not a long wait. I learned from the call that this is what I had to do....call and get on a waiting list.

I called and talked with a hostess. She took our name and asked us what our expected time of arrival would be. I told her 6:00. “Great”, she said, “Just drive to the booth at the bottom of the parking lot and give them your name when you arrive”

We arrived in the parking lot at 6 sharp and there was a long line that lead up to the road from the booth she was talking about. 

After about a 10 minute wait in line to get to the booth we had to put in our name again. The hostess then instructed us to park and wait until we receive a text letting us know our table is ready.  

We waited in our car for 20 more minutes. It was nearing 7:00. We were hungry and we do not like to eat this late (I think getting old does that to ya). 

Once we were texted letting us know we could come in, the hostess walked us to our table. It was so crowed, I felt like we were sitting on top of each other. 

Our luck has it, (mommas don't hate me, I’m a mom too) but next to us was a young couple with two little children. Every couple minutes, one of the little kids would let out a shrill scream. It was ear piercing and doesn't sound good when your half def in one ear. It can be painful. The mother knew her kids were getting on our nerves while we tried to enjoy a meal. She did not seem to care and looked at us as if she dared us to say anything. (Nope, I was hungry and too old to fight). 

They brought out our salads and they had deviled eggs chopped and mixed in. I do not like egg in my salad but I ate it. Nick on the other hand is allergic to eggs. He ate around it best he could. 

After another 25 minutes, our steaks arrived. My medium well steak was medium (it was bleeding a little). I ate around it. Nick ordered the kabobs and they were fine. We never complained. We finished our meal, graciously tipped the waiter and left. 

This is what’s happening. Businesses are cutting back their help and the remaining employees can’t keep up. I see this, not only in restaurants, but also in department stores. Times are tuff for everyone. People are losing their jobs. Places can’t keep up the inventory and customer service just plain sucks.

I do not hold the bad experience against the wait staff or cooks, but to poor management. I happens though. We could go back the next week and it could be perfect. We just picked a bad night to have a steak. 

Tuesday 4- Houses

 Welcome to Tuesday 4. 

A fun four question post continued in the memory of Toni Taddeo, It’s original author. 

Let’s have some fun. 

Todays Subject: Houses

 

1. In what part of the country is your current home located? North, South, East, West, Mid West, 
coastal, rural, city, mountains or plains?

I live in the Southeastern region of the United States. North Carolina is the 28th largest state and the 9th most populated.

 2. Why did you choose your present home, and how long have you lived there?

We have lived in the house we are in now for 16 years. We chose our home because it was a well built older brick home in an older neighborhood. We did not want one of those new type homes were you can reach out and touch your neighbors house. Also, At the time, we wanted to be close to my daughters high school to make it easier on us (its only a block away and she could walk but give a kid a car and they will drive next door). We are also close to family, work, and church. 

 

3. What do you like the most about your present home?

I like that I have some great neighbors our age we can be friends with. We do not worry much when we go out of town because we keep an eye out on each others house. As far has the house itself, I love the hardwood floors through out. 

 

4. If money were no object, is there anything you would change about your present home, or would you keep it just the way it is?

Oh I would make lots of changes. We ran out of time and money when we moved in to do any updating even though we did do a lot of repairs. I would love to remove the paneling in the den and I dream of a white kitchen. We talk about the things we would have done differently such as knocking out a few walls and open it up more. I would like a bigger and nicer patio and add the beach to the front yard. 

Thanks to Anne for organizing the Tuesday 4 questions.