Happy Hour

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Dina

I actually did something on Friday after work other than putting on my pajamas, eating Subway, and catching up on TV with J. Being a year out for the 2012 Presidential Campaign, the ground work is being set-up, to start organizing. I met with one such organizer yesterday to discuss how I could help and get the Polk County Young Democrats involved.

We met at Ave Bar in Winter Haven.

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Ave Bar is located next to Arabellas which is on my want to try restaurant list. I was surprised that it was so crowded. The place was packed!

I ordered a Blue Moon.

It was yummy.

I took a look at the menu.

It was pretty extensive and mostly Italian. Definitely worth a return visit for dinner.

I ordered the Caprese Salad. If I see this on a menu, I almost always order it. It contains all of my favorite things which are cheese, basil, and olive oil. (It was good minus the fact that I burned to roof of my mouth a few days ago shoveling a too hot burrito into it. So of course the acidic tomatoes and balsamic vinegar mixed with beer and an orange was burning! Oh well, I was hungry and thirsty so I took it like a champ.)

I didn’t stay out too late. J was waiting for me with Subway, Chuck, and my pajamas.

Do you have a go to meal that you always order?

Bloggers Invade El Bodegon

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Dina

Wednesday night, I went out on a work night (trust me, this is a shocking occurrence.) I was lucky to get to break bread with a lovely group of Central Florida Bloggers.

We ate at a local Spanish restaurant called El Bodegon. The restaurant would be great for a date night, very cozy and romantic. I had a salad and chicken that was cooked in garlic and lemon.

I really liked the salad but the chicken was just OK. I did love the many olive’s on both dishes, can rarely go wrong with those.

(The pictures below are courtesy of Michelle and her camera that takes very nice pictures.)

(An actual picture of me, please be amazed.)

(Photo below courtesy of Claudia.)

I had a lot of fun and was also able to check off something from my 30 Before 30 List.

12. Do one thing that makes me uncomfortable (like introducing myself to people) and get comfortable with it.

I am not shy exactly but meeting new people and putting myself “out there” can make me anxious but it is something I want to do more of. Plus the more you do anything, the easier it gets.

Please take a moment to check out the women above and their blogs.

Kristina from Love and Zest

Claudia from Sanford 365

Roz from Roz Pearcy

Michelle from Crazy*Running*Legs

Jackie from MomJovie

Carolina from Peas In A Blog (She also sent me the invite. Thanks!)

Katherina from Zephyr Runs

Andrea from Run, Eat, Date, Sleep

Have you ever attended a blogger meet-up?

Do you ever get anxious meeting new people?

Date Night and a long run

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Dina

This weekend I not only went out one but both Friday and Saturday night. After the most horrendous week at work, I really needed that. Emily, who I work with and who blogs over at Paisley and Porter, joined me for drinks and appetizers at Bar Louie in Orlando. We ordered a bunch of appetizers that were humongous and very tasty. It was a great way to shake off the work week and have some girl talk which I rarely get because I live in rural Polk County and work in Orlando.

Saturday morning I went over to my favorite park, Lake Eva in Haines City, and ran a very slow 6.5 miles on a one mile loop. I learned two lessons during this run. The first being it’s getting hot in Florida and I need to get my butt out of bed earlier than 11 to do my long runs and the second being that I need to bring some kind of fuel for runs longer than five miles and/or an hour. I picked up one Luna Protein bar for my run next Saturday but want to experiment with different fuels to see what works best for me. What is your fuel of choice?

J is a first year law student and is super busy most of the time. I consider myself lucky when he can take a break from studying to take me out on a date. This Saturday he took me to J. Alexander’s, which is ironically in the same plaza as Bar Louie. The meal was very good and the conversation was scintillating. I’m not going to lie, I wore some wedges and may have been walking a bit funny from my run earlier in the day. In my own defense, I can barely walk in shoes that are not sneakers on the best of days.

My Guinness.

J, his super dirty martini, and jumbo salad.

Veggie burger and fries.

My jumbo salad.

It was very tasty and fun. Did you do anything special this weekend?

Another Saturday Night…

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Dina

Last week was my first week with double digit mileage of ten miles! It feels momentous to have reached that point. Does that make me a real runner?

J. Isn’t he cute?

My husband J is on spring break, he goes to Florida A&M Law School, and he wanted to take me out on a real date. Law school is so demanding that we rarely go out anymore because he is knee deep in studying. After my long run in beautiful Lake Eva Park (5.3 miles), I prettied myself up and we drove into Orlando for dinner.

We decided on Fleming’s, in Dr. Phillips, which was a great choice. We’ve eaten there once before but sat in the bar and had food off their bar menu. J ordered a steak and I had the Fleming’s Burger, both were very good.

Sourdough bread with yummy spreads.

Fleming’s salad.

I was craving frozen yogurt and had heard such great things about Menchie’s that we decided to hit up the one on Sand Lake. For close to closing on a Saturday night, that place was packed. It was overwhelming all of the flavor’s and toppings. I went with strawberry with fruit and granola on top. J had the red velvet cake with pretty much every topping they offered and most importantly the hot peanut butter sauce.


Picture taken from http://builtgreeninc.com/.

We decided to take these home and eat while watching Dinner for Schmucks which was funny but mostly uncomfortable funny like an episode of The Office. I had a lot of fun and hope we can do it again when J graduates in two more years.

I will leave you with one cute cat picture, so Tail is not jealous of all the food love received in this post. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.