Panera Bread Company

I've totally abandoned my blog these past few weeks! Just not much to report, I'm afraid. In light of the fact that I'm out of blog fodder (I hate that word, don't you?) I figure I'll do one of the things that I do best: complain.

Today's victim happens to be Panera Bread company. A place that I've been eating since college. I used to absolutley love Panera and would try to convince my roommates to go with me all the time. I literally craved it and couldn't find one thing on the menu that I disliked. Even today, I go there a minimum of once a week for lunch. (Its one of like, 3 restaurants near my work) I've had everything on the menu at least 75 times and while I admit the quality has taken a bit of a nosedive, its still consistent and edible. That said, I have a huge bone to pick with them.

I try to drink a lot of water -- I drink it all day at my office, at home, everywhere. Lunch is no exception. There are times when I'll have an iced tea or a soft drink but usually its just water. Now, most places will give you a regular sized cup when you order a water. You're just on the honor system to not be a cheapskate and get a regular drink. Not at Panera though. Oh no siree!

Panera discriminates against people who drink water. They give you a little, teeny, tiny dixie cup. Seriously! The water glasses they give you hold about 1/4 the liquid that a regular sized cup will hold. This is so wrong. Just because I choose to drink water, means I drink less than other people? Or do they just want me to get up, out of my cramped table in the corner, hit my head on the stupid hanging lamp they have over the table, walk around to the drink station, slip on something someone spilled, fill up my cup, and proceed back to my little cramped table in the corner? Repeat sequence 4 times. All the while, your food is getting cold and/or soggy.

Well, I'm finally sick of it. I'm taking a stand .....

Yes, I am! I'm standing up for myself and getting multiple glasses of water. If you notice in this picture, there are actually more than 3 cups but the line behind me of people waiting to get drinks was long so I had to quit at 3.

Anyway, I know this is silly. And probably not worthy of a whole blog post. But its what I've got going on in my life, at this moment. But still, Panera is soooo on notice.

Shoe Fever!

I'm desperate to go fall shoe shopping. I keep getting emails from DSW and they are just luring me in. Ben and I are supposed to go to the lake this weekend (gotta get one last tan before the weather turns) but if not I'm hitting up the DSW. These are some of my favorites I found online.

I love heels. I know they damage my feet, and I'll regret wearing them so much once I'm older but I just can't give them up quite yet. I've cut back and wear flats from time to time, but really heels just look so much better. And I think they make your pants appear to fit better as well. So, with that said, these are a few of my favorites that I found at DSW's website.

I really do like these, and while they would be ideal for fall I really need to find something that can take me into winter as well. I'm not so sure a peep-toe bootie fits the billThese guys? They are awesome. The ruffles are cute and would add some visual interest to an everyday plain-jane outfit. Not in purple though, I would go for black or brown.

These are great, but that heel might be a little bit too high. Would I look too streetwalker in a 5" heel? Probably so. But the flower and peep-toe are adorable.

Like I said earlier, I'm trying to wear flats more often but its just tough. I'm short so the height boost is necessary and I have such high arches that some of my heels are just as comfortable as my flats. Anyway. I am on the lookout for one or two pairs of smart shoes and I think these just might be winners.

I think the little flower is what drew me to these in the first place, although I really like the color as well. These don't look like the comfortable type of flats though.

(not sure how to take that 'featured in commercial' part off) The good thing about these is that they are stretchy in the back, that is key to a comfortable flat. I also like the ruffles on the front -- just a little visual interest but not too over the top. I think I'm going to definitely buy these bad boys. I just need to decide what color I want.

Ben's Thoughs on 9021-Fail

I had a fabulous dinner with some girlfriends last night and when I left the restaurant I called Ben to tell him I was on my way home. We started talking about the evening and he was like "I tried to comment on your blog, but it got too long, its a 2 page word document". I laughed. But then I got home and read his thoughts and thought he had a pretty hilarious take on the show so I figure I'll share them with yall. I didn't edit his words at all. If you're not a 90210 fan, sorry. I promise to find something else entertaining to blog about next time.

Keeping up with all the storylines is an absolute nightmare right now. Each prominent cast member has about 37 things hovering over or around them right now. It's ridiculous. I THINK they are juniors this year. They are 28 year old juniors. Pretty much this entire episode is on the group of people most affected by the end of season 1 prom night debacle of epic proportions.

NewDylan was barely seen. Also got nothing last night from Kelly and Teacherdudewhobangedbrenda.

No Drama Adrianna’s hair grew like 8 inches over the summer. Cause that’s possible.

I think 9-0 has finally broken its own record of oldest dude to play a high school student on TV. I give you .... Teddy. This dude looks 35. He looks like he has the potential to be aw- ful/esome.

Things we know about OldTeddy: tennis star, son of world famous movie star, went to summer camp with Adrianna back in the day and was her first romp in the sack, good dancer. Oh and he’s now enrolled at West Beverly.

Good segue to the choreographed dance part. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember ever just busting out in a dance with e’rbody at the parties back in 94 in the boro. Can you imagine just hanging out then and Coolio’s “Fantastic Voyage” just creeps on over the speakers at the party and next thing you know there’s like 25 of us just killin it like we were the dance team at a pep rally. “Slide, slide, slippity slide, hittin switches on the block in a ’65”.

So anyway, that part was awesome.

Poor Navid. Everybody in the entire cast has had tons of ass by junior year and he can’t even get any from No Drama Adrianna who apparently signed the prom promise after she boned so many dudes she had a baby. Big ups on the sex jams CD he made though. And now he’s got OldTeddy the deflowerer to deal with.. The deck is stacked against Navid I’m afraid.

There are some episodes where I love Naomi. And there are some episodes where I want to punch her in the throat. NewDylan has got her all messed up and turned her into turboslut. She was even illegal turboslut mistress until she put her foot down about her values…she is not a disgusting cheater.

Bipolar Erin Silver is batshit crazy.

I think it's about to be Bad News Bears for Annie. Let me see if I can get straight what has happened with her since the end of the school year and over the summer:

-she didn't sleep with NewDylan but Naomi is convinced she did so she embarrassed Annie pretty awfully at the prom party and set the tone for the battle royale

-Annie calls cops on prom party and busts EVERYONE there for underage drinking, thus making them all hit summer school and of course all hate Annie

-On the way home from prom party Annie possibly hits some dude with her car and then leaves him for dead. Dude possibly suffers, falls into coma, eventually dies. Also there was a car behind her that saw everything or something.

Pretty sure the car shown ends up being the car OldTeddy drove to school on the first day of school in the fall. I fully expect some sort of haunting / blackmail for Annie.

-Annie's family moves out of Grandmas enormous mansion into a more humble abode. Nobody in her family can have a civilized conversation with annie without getting some horrible acting thrown at them.

-Annie finds out dude she hit dies and tries to confide in Dixon who doesn't even listen to her and instead flips out on her and abandons her at a beach party where everybody hates her. (It's worth noting that Dixon has turned into a complete douchebag this season.)

-Annie gets approached by a senior while sitting on the beach as an outkast. She drinks his flask, makes out with him, ends up in cabana with him, may or may not have done the nasty but definitely got nudie pics of her taken unknowingly. Bad news.

-Naomi goes 1-up in battle of who can ruin who's life faster as she obtains said pic of Annie. I think it's safe to say when this gets out Annie could potentially go Carrie on west beverly.

Sounds not awesome for Annie.

All this before junior year even gets rockin. And we all know teenage girls handle their emotions very well. I think with the addition of the Beverly Hills Beach Club, OldTeddy, and Annie starting to turn towards the darkside, I am going to call this show - TERRIBLE: Saved by the 9021 OC.

Two things I’m waiting on:

NewDylan to tell Naomi he banged her slutbag older sister and not Annie.

OldTeddy’s part in the post prom hit and run.

Everybody else could get the clap for all I care.

The show is real real bad. It might be can’t turn away bad.

9021-FAIL

I was so excited all day yesterday about the season premiere of 90210 and the series premiere of the new Melrose Place. Really. Even Ben was looking (somewhat) forward to the 2 hours of terrible television that we had planned. Its just a guilty pleasure for us, so we watched 90210 all last year despite the fact that it was pretty unrealistic and did no justice to the original 9-0. We decided we wanted to watch Melrose for the same reasons. What I'm trying to say here is that neither one of us really went into this with high expectations.

I had planned to give a full recap of the show based on the notes that I took last night, but the more I think about it - it really wasn't that interesting. Instead, I'll talk about the merits of the show since that might be slightly more likely to keep your attention. (Slightly being the operative word there). I would apologize for any spoilers I include in here, but I honestly do not feel one bit bad about spoiling it for you here. If you read this and still have intentions to watch it, you are a glutton for punishment.

Evidently, Annie's call to the police at the end of last season resulted in all of West Beverly going to summer school due to their underage drinking. Totally a reasonable punishment, right? WRONG. When I got caught drinking in high school I was suspended for 3 days. Not relegated to summer school. (True story. I would maybe tell it some day but my mom reads this blog and I'm pretty sure she's still pissed at me about that!) Digression aside, everyone hates Annie now and she's about to turn Emo on us. Adriana, Naomi, and Silver are BFF now as evidenced by their coordinating Wayfarers. (Was this whole show one giant advertisement for Wayfarers? Seems like it to me)

Rut-roh. This is turning into a recap rather than a discussion of the show's merits. Indulge me though.

So the whole show basically takes place at the Beverly Hills Beach Club, which is odd considering Beverly Hills isn't even on the beach. But whatever. Navid shows up in a yellow Ferrari (I could be wrong about that, I don't know cars). Now, I don't care how rich you are. Why on earth would you buy your child a car like that? Another totally unrealistic element of our beloved show. Now, I do realize that in the original show Dylan did drive a Porsche but that worked somehow. Not sure why but it did.

Naomi is clearly not over her heartbreak with Liam and is crazy about every male she sees or speaks to. I think maybe the best line in the whole show last night was when Naomi was talking to her friends about the (older) man she had met at Barneys "... he's so brilliant. He reads books you guys - for fun!!"

Yeah, read that line again. Its priceless.

Probably the only other highlight of the show was when Naomi had a little run-in with an older soccer mom at the BHBC. MommaSoccer makes fun of the girls' clothing choices, Naomi asks MommaSoccer to come to their beach bash that night, MommaSoccer says the high schoolers should be required to have chaperone's at BHBC to which Naomi brilliantly responds by saying "over-50's shouldn't be allowed to wear sleeveless". SNARK. FEST. 2009. BHBC EDITION!

A bit later in the show we find out that TheReader is in fact, MommaSoccer's husband. TWIST!!

Lots of things happen but frankly, it was pretty drama-filled and I don't feel like rehashing so I'm going to skip ahead to the beach bash. Scene: everyone is dancing and having a good time. That's pretty believable. Then the camera pans out a little bit and we discover that ....

Everyone is doing the very same dance!!!!!

Yes!!! Choreographed high school dance parties. Doesn't everyone do that? Iloveit!

At the end, we see that Annie was most likely date-raped (it seems that she had no recollection) and Naomi manages to get hold of the naked picture of her with intentions of passing it around the school.

Next up: Annie officially becomes an Emo.

In summary, the show was bad. Worse than usual. It seems that they pack too much drama into one episode. I know the real 90210 dealt with many of these same issues but that was over a 10 year span. Clearly, this 9-0 isn't going to survive 10 years so they are trying to pack all the drama into 3 or 4 seasons.

I would love to talk about Melrose Place but: a) this is getting long and b) it is worse than terrible. As in I only watched about 15 minutes of it. No way on earth it will be picked up for another season.

randomness is all you're going to get from me today

I think this post is going to be a whole lotta randomness today. Sorry guys.

1) I really try to avoid baking at home because I tend to eat the lion's share of any goodies that we have around the house, but I stumbled upon a Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie recipe yesterday and just couldn't resist going home to make them. I found the recipe over at Mrs. Southern Bride (I think she checks in here from time to time, so THANK YOU!) They were fairly easy to make and no strange ingredients -- you'll find everything right in your pantry. So try them out!

2) Is anyone else out there watching Giuliana & Bill? Ben absolutely thinks its the worst show on TV and I. LOVE. IT. The show eerily similar to Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica, which probably explains why I enjoy it so much. And the good news is that the show was picked up for a second season!

3) As I've mentioned before on this blog, my family spends A LOT of time up at the lake in summertime. Around our dock though, we seem to have a terrible time with bees and wasps. Other bugs too, but mainly those. Soooooo, mom showed up at the lake a few weeks ago with what I think is the ultimate redneck toy ....

Is that not awesome? Its basically like a mini-tennis racket for zapping bugs. It actually works pretty well -- its a wide enough area so that you don't even have to have very good aim to zap the little pests! Of course after mom got it out of the package and put batteries in it, I decided I wanted to zap myself so that I'd know what it felt like. It HURT. LIKE. HELL. I knew it would, but its basically one of those "don't touch this plate, its hot" situations so I just had to see for myself.

4) This weather is on my nerves. I absolutely love the muggy, hot, end of summer weather that we typically have here in GA in late August/early September but not this year apparently. It just makes me sad. I want summer back!

That's all I've got today folks. And to be honest, I probably won't have much inspiration tomorrow so I'll be back with a weekend recap on Monday!