I left my heart in Indi........

Peanut Butter + Burger = True Love I had to go to Indianapolis last weekend for a nursing conference- part of the J.O.B. As you can imagine, I was not thrilled about spending my weekend, beautiful weather and all, in crappy Indianapolis. Boy was I a fool. Who knew that Indi is the home of the peanut butter burger!!

Though I was only in the area long enough to enjoy two meals, I managed to squeeze in 3 versions of this beautiful concoction that was dreamt up by Elvis Presley himself.

The first was a beautiful 1/2 lb burger called the Elvis. It had cheese, mayo, bacon, peanut butter and fried bananas on a soft white bun. I split it with a friend and felt surprisingly great afterward. Somehow is did not taste as decedent as it sounded...which I thought was a good thing.

The second was a peanut butter and jelly burger. I ordered this through room service and it arrived a little cold and over cooked. It was good but it had grape jelly on it and I prefer strawberry. Bummer....

The last peanut butter burger is one that I will not soon forget. Pictured above, it included (from the bottom up):
1) heavily buttered roll
2)gobs of peanut butter
3)1/2 lb of the fattiest beef patty I have ever tasted (I could actually feel the grease oozing down my throat) Kind of....
4) Mayo (Isn't this a little unnecessary?)
5)Cheese
6) Jalapenos
7) Bacon
8) Onion Rings

I am embarrassed to say that even though it was so rich and I felt like a glutinous pig, I devoured the entire thing. QUICKLY. I was with a group of work friends and decided to walk back to the conference rather than cab it with the rest of them in hopes of working off a few calories. I ensured them that I would hurry as to not be late for our next session of the conference.

If I would have planned ahead for this, I would have been sure to wear comfy shoes and pants with an elastic waistband. Instead, I was wearing a pant suit that I bought a size to small hoping to drop a few lbs. with a very restricting top. The bright sun was shining down like a spotlight and my four inch heals started to feel like stilts as my knees buckled with every step. A wave a nausea came over me and though it was only about 75 degrees outside, I felt as if I were in the pits of hell. The chirping birds were spectators laughing and pointing at me and the street signs began to play tricks on me as I suddenly realized I was lost. I was drenched in sweat and self loathing thinking of the 4 hours of pain that I would have to go through when I arrived back at the conference. How could I face my coworkers who had just chosen health salads. How could I have done this to myself!

Some how I managed to find my way back to the conference and the cool air conditioning quickly took me from hot and sweaty to wet and freezing. Rather than thinking about speaking with customers my mind wandered back to that beautiful burger. The beef was so tender and perfectly cooked. The peanut butter so perfectly complimented the jalapenos. Oh My Gosh- I could totally go for another one right now I began to think.

Back to reality: There was either some sort of mind altering chemical in that burger, or I am loosing my mind because I have not been able to get it out of my thoughts since leaving Indi. Fattening food is addictive people!! I believe it.

Happy Birthday to me!

I have been begging for a cast iron Le Creuset french oven for years. My Aunt Amy always used to talk about the gift she would ask my uncle for each year and how they slowly changed from perfume and purses to cookware. I guess this shows that my taste in gifts is changing. I couldn't be happier about this gift!

In case you are not familiar with this brand of cookware:

La Creuset is really well known for being energy efficient and is used by professional chefs all over the world. From the website:

http://www.lecreuset.co.uk/en-us/Products/Enameled-Cast-Iron/French-Ovens/Oval-French-Oven-5-qt/
Once hot, you require only a low to medium heat setting to maintain a good cooking performance. The pan can be removed from the heat leaving the food to cook in its own heat.

This way, the natural flavors of the ingredients are blended to their full potential. The addition of the lid creates a “blanket” of heat with surrounds the food, cooking it evenly. Tough cuts of meat will turn out tender and juicy every time. The hard-wearing enamel coating easily releases food, making clean-up a breeze. No more soaking and scrubbing after those dinner parties!

The best tank top on the planet

LuLuLemon's Hot Yogi Tank. I don't know how they do it but it is truly one of the most flattering tanks I have ever tried on. I bought it in black, purple and this pretty salmon color. It's supportive enough to wear for a light jog and cute enough to wear out and about on a Saturday afternoon.

Love it!

Gardening- No green thumb here!

If you have a green thumb, this post is NOT for you.I have never been any good at gardening but I have always wanted to. One obstacle is that I do not have a yard so all of my gardening aspirations must fit into a medium sized pot on a third floor balcony.

With the third floor balcony comes tons of sun and the possibility of overheating the plants. With my travel schedule comes sub-par care taking and the high possibility of under watering. This can be a deadly combination for even the most durable plants....Until today.

I think I have finally found my plant. I started of with a cute little lime tree. The lime tree LOVES water and you can't really over water it. This is great because I can basically drown it before I go out of town and then water it again a few days later or ask the neighbor to water it for me. Look at this cute little plant.

I also planed a cilantro, basil and mint plant. I am not making any promises on these because I think they are a little more difficult to care for. We shall see!

Engagments! NO.... not mine

Andy and I have been dating for 4 1/2 years as of yesterday. My birthday also happens to be our half anniversary...not they we celebrate it... I just like to keep track.

As a little background to this post- a memory of mine from 2006. I was a young 22 and had just started working at my current company. A coworker of mine was complaining to a group of girls (myself included) about his girlfriend and her relentless pressure to get engaged. At one point we asked him "how old is she?" he responded "she is 27".. "eeewwwww" we all shouted. "Imagine being 27 and not married or engaged" we all cried. At the time, nothing seemed worse than being a desperate 27 year old. At the time, I only thought I had until 35 to get all of my living taken care of. (I will blog about this another time).

In the past two weeks, three, count um' 3 of my good friends have gotten engaged. I am nervous to even write about this for fear of coming across as selfish and not excited for my friends. I am an so so so excited for them all. We have all been in the same boat for the past year wondering when the heck our significant others were going to get their act together and drop the question already.

The funny thing is, one year ago I couldn't have cared less about getting engaged. I actually thought we should wait a little longer. Not because I am not 100% certain that I want to marry Andy (I absolutely am!), but because I was thinking -whats the rush??

Somehow some way in the past 6 to 12 months I have become completely crazy about getting engaged. From my perspective, I feel like the more people asked why Andy hadn't asked yet- the more I started to wonder why Andy hadn't asked yet. This has lead to anger, hostility, debating, venting, etc. to Andy, friends and whomever would listen. As I reflect on this I cannot pinpoint exactly when the happy easy going Stepher turned into the angry wedding obsessed Stepher. I should clarify- I am actually not wedding obsessed. To be honest, I rarely even think about the wedding. The majority of this negative energy goes towards evaluating what is so wrong with me that Andy hasn't seemed to find the time to ask. Did I say something wrong, am I gaining weight, is he mad at me, is he having second thoughts, does he not like when I wear my hair up, what if I would have made him a better dinner last week, what if I wouldn't have snapped at him the other day, what if he was going to ask but then he realized that I am a total nagging bi*ch. AHHHH!! Its all so much pressure.

Now back to my friends getting engaged. The nice part about all of this was that we had created a type of support group where we all understood each other. We were different from our married friends and all was ok because we were in this together. The best part was, when two of us "unengaged" were together, we could evenly spread out the "WHEN" questions between us. Now, I am left the last "unengaged" of the group. There will be no one to turn to and roll my eyes when the questions start coming. No one to mention to my grandma when she says "all of your friends are married" and no other relationship to compare ours to when thinking about why it hasn't happened yet.

I am the last of the unengaged and to top it all off...yesterday I turned 27. "Ewwwww"... I know! After a good cry I realized that 27 is not really that bad. I need to just concentrate on all of the good in our lives...including all of the beautiful weddings i will be going to this year with the person I love most, Andy. I also need to realize that maybe the reason Andy hasn't popped the question is because he was waiting for 5 minutes to go by without me asking him about it. :)

So, this is the last you will hear from me about my possible engagement. Friends, feel free to continue asking newly married friends "when are you having kids?", Newly engaged friends "when is the wedding?" and Stepher "When are you going to update your blog?".

That is all!

Then I saw my face....

Now I'm a believer!

After visiting my dermatologist last week and being assured that there is no topical beauty product (besides sunscreen) that will prevent the wrinkles on my forehead from getting bigger and more defined. NO MATTER HOW EXPENSIVE. I decided to go to Nieman Marcus in search of an uber expensive cream to prove her wrong.

I have been hearing a lot about Natura Bisse's Inhibit - Dermalift

According to the website, this is the only topical product that you can use instead of Botox. Another article I read mentioned that within one year of this product being released, the company has grown by 50%. "I'll take it!" I thought. Until I saw the price.... $400 an ounce.

Inhibit-Dermafill
Say good-bye to needles—an antiaging alternative to all micro-injections like Botox and Restylane.• An alternative to more invasive procedures.• Relaxes muscle contractions and keeps expression lines from re-forming with a double dose of Octamioxyl™ at a 40% concentration.• With Dermafill complex at 10% concentration, fills in and smoothes out wrinkles through a layering process that works from deepest to the most superficial layers of skin.

SO...Needless to say, I did not make the investment of $400 a month for a few wrinkles. Instead I decided to go with the Clarasonic Mia. The Clarisonic is marketed as a face cleanser but it is also great at getting rid of wrinkles and fine lines, buffing out uneven skin tones and making your skin glow. I didn't believe it all at first but decided to try it because they have a policy that allows you to return it for a full refund if you are not satisfied.

http://www.clarisonic.com/us/shop/sonic-cleansing-system-mia.php

I am satisfied! It might be in combination with the new skin cream I am using but I am completely impressed with the Mia. Mia is the small, portable version of the clarasonic.

For all of you that are interested, this is my skin care regimine- morning and night.

Wash face with cetaphil Gentile skin cleanser (with the Mia)

La Mer- The regenerating Syrum (thin layer)

http://www.cremedelamer.com/templates/products/spp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY5782&PRODUCT_ID=PROD15901

Natura Bise

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod14790152&ecid=NMCIGoogleBaseFeed&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=C6776

La Mer- Moisturizing Gel Cream (perfect consistency) Not to greasy, not too light.

http://www.cremedelamer.com/templates/products/spp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY5778&PRODUCT_ID=PROD11668

Shoes

When it comes to clothes and shoes I prefer to go for quality over quantity. I don't mind investing a little money in something that is well made and that I can wear a lot for a long time.

A few examples that I thought I might share:

http://www.lkbennett.com/shoes/courts/30298TAUPE

These are shown in the picture and also at the L.K. Bennett website. They are the MOST comfortable high heals I have ever owned and they go with everything!

http://www.thefryecompany.com/Product-Women-Boots-Campus-77230RDD.aspx

The Jane boot by Frye. I have included my own picture because the one on the website does not do it justice. I purchased the (Redwood color) about two years ago and have worn them literally 200 days out of the year since then. They have held up so nicely and now that they have softened up they do this great little slouch. In the Spring/Summer I wear these with shorts, dresses, leggings, etc. In the Fall/Winter I wear them with tights and dresses, leggings and sweaters and Skinny jeans. They look so great with Dark jeans!

The best part is, for us shorties, they give a little two inch boost in height without sacrificing the comfort. I have walked 5+ miles in these in one day and only at the very end did they start to bother me..and I think the blame probably should have been on my crappy socks rather than the shoes.

I just bought the black pair a few months ago so you can tell they look a little taller than the brown. These are the best investments in shoes I have ever made. They will last for at least another 5 years and they never go out of style. Too bad they never go on sale or I would probably get more colors.