Fish Tacos

**sad yesterday's post didn't publish.

I have been on the quest to find the perfect fish tacos. They are my weakness and I still haven't found any comparable to the best ones I've had.

A little over 2 years ago I had the best fish tacos of my life. I can't remember where it was, B and I went out for supper around Cedar Rapids maybe New Liberty...some little Mexican restaurant. The kind of good that I remember exactly what I was wearing, (wedge sandals, dark khaki shorts, navy ruffle racerback tank) that I had a mini margarita while B had some Mexican bottled beer that tasted awful, and it was like 5:00 so we were the only ones there.

I found a recipe online that I have to try that sounds very similar to these amazing things.

Madison could not compete. I had fish tacos at about 3 different places and none were great.

I had these guys about a month ago at Doc Fords Rum Bar. They were good, but got soggy way too fast. They did have all the right toppings though, they need a good slaw on the inside, and cilantro.

                                           

These. Were the lunch special today. Usually the fish is tilapia, or mahi mahi. These were salmon. And although there wasn't as much slaw as I like, they were amazing, and for only 4.99 with tax, can't really beat that.

                                           

Until next time, or maybe I'll get ambitious and actually make them....

xo A

Snappy

I've been feeling extra snappy (good) lately. 

Extra bounce in my step

Overall feeling pretty good, not sure why

Round 2 at the gun range. A 45 this time. Enormous bullets. And a decent recoil.

But its probably the extra sweet tea I've been drinking that's got me in such a good mood.

The BEST news was that today Allegiant announced nonstop flights from Cedar Rapids to Punta Gorda and Tampa (40 minutes & 2 hours away). Non stop flights!!

So naturally I booked my ticket home for Christmas. Would have originally cost me $780 from Fort Myers connecting in Atlanta not including my baggage. And now for the low price of $400, window seats, checked bag both ways and 10am flight on Saturday and a 7pm return flight the following Saturday. Cloud 9

THEN

My 2 of my best friends bought their tickets to spend Thanksgiving on the beach with me!! 

                       

So excited for end of November/December! All my weekends are booked :)

xo A

No name Monday

Today I did a lot of stupid things (maybe not stupid, but noteworthy).

-wore white. It always rains when I wear white. Guaranteed. Light colors, yup then too

-ate a cupcake and exclaimed "this is the best cupcake ever" but sounded like " thiff ith the bethht cuthcafe effer" so now everyone at work knows how much I like sugar, and that I have bad table manners.

-it was raining when i got home from work so I took my shoes off and ran up two flights of stairs, with my umbrella. closed. In my hand.

-licked an envelope with the billing information in it before I even wrote the check

-wore rain boots to the store. Completely forgetting I'm not in college anymore and they might not be welcomed here, especially when I got to the store and it had stopped raining.

                                              

-swerved on the road for some fallen palm, NOT a gigantic dead deer that I thought it was and because I was jammin' to this song...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGnV2dYOW7E (One of my favorite summer songs)(also, this particular version is an ode to Joe Dirt, so that's pretty neat)
That fallen palm is a bitch and gets you every time. When you're used to swerving for dead animals all the time and now you don't actually have to, it's weird. (This actually happens anytime I'm driving at night, keeps you on your toes)

Meh. I've been in a really good mood today to even care, surprising since its Monday...

xo A

Geckos

I've become accustomed to geckos. They aren't scary and I don't think they would ever bite you, but when they hear me thundering down the sidewalk they run/jump off into the grass.

Again, not scary, just surprising so I tend to jump, a lot.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I found this.... Look closely

It's a baby gecko lizard thing. I squealed out of sheer what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do. I was making breakfast and had the water running so I filled a pitcher and quick flipped the faucet to the drainer side and poured the pitcher of water down. If you must know I also ran the garbage disposal ONLY because I had cucumber ends I had just thrown down the other night. (And because I was a little scared it was going to jump out of the sink and latch onto my face).

So the remainder of the morning I kept checking to see if it was back (it's not) or any other creatures for that matter.

Aaaaand I just realized I put away clean dishes from the drainer this morning...hopefully there are no other creatures lurking about.

Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family!! #nerdalert

xo A

Tea & Handguns

It's almost the last 1/2 day Friday and a few of the girls I worked with invited me to tea. Don't laugh, it was really cute! There are lots of different tea options, instead of unlimited water, they have unlimited tea!

We tried Pomegranate, peach, caramel, and vanilla chai! The food was really good too.

                       

I didn't want to start getting soft so I drove to the gun range, Shoot Straight. I drive past it everyday on my way home from work, and noticed today was Smith & Wesson Demo Days, and decided, why not?

I walked in and immediately regretted not doing some research first, but I'm pretty good at playing dumb on subjects I have little knowledge in. I spoke with a sales clerk (a Minnesota native!) and he brought me to a S&W rep who shows me a few different guns and we settle on a full size 9mm and a 40 (he also showed me the smaller ones and said they'd have more recoil, and also that I should only shoot the 9mm and none of the 40. Me being stubborn, did not like that) so after I signed my life away I put on my safety glasses and ear protection (I can only think of earmuffs and I know that's not what they're called) and hit the range. 

I was actually pretty nervous, and the dude loaded the magazine showed me how to hold it, and just gave it to me. He literally just handed me a loaded gun. I could have been a crazy! But I appreciated that they trusted me. I handed it back (safety on) and shook my head, so he then actually showed me how to hold it and where to put my hands. My first shot with the 40 was absolutely terrifying. I literally thought my ears were going to blow out and my hands would possibly blow up. I shot again just because I had 5 free ones. One look at my face and he knew I was done, we switched to the 9mm pretty quick. That one was a lot smoother, and once back inside, I told the guy he was right, a 9 is about all I can handle.

I went back to my original sales guy, Cameron and we discussed becoming a member. I told him I wanted to actually learn what to do and he said he would teach me basic gun safety if I wanted. He was really sweet and got me set up with a Glock and ammo, and some targets.

My first 4 shots were in the 10! But then I got cocky because he was still there and hit the 8.

       

                                    

And he told me he'd help me out next time I'm in if I had questions. Plus! Monday is Ladies Night which means I shoot free and only pay for ammo :) 

       

(This member number is SUPER top secret) (aka the date and the number in line that signed up today)

xo A

Metal studs.

Armed with a shiny new (magnetic!) level and a stud finder, I began the quest to hang my floating shelf.

I tested out all the stud finders and came to conclusion they were all the same (or so I thought) so naturally I bought the cheapest one because I don't plan on using it often. This is the current state of my stud finder.

Yup. A cotton ball holding the battery in. POS 

It still worked, not ideal, but I found my studs 24" apart, marked the wall and started to drill my pilot holes. I hit, what I assumed to be wood, and could not get through.

Assuming like any normal person, I can't push any harder, must be metal. Metal studs. Thanks a lot Florida. Now what.

Apparently my drill bit sucked so I switched to a new one, and hit metal (and also completely ruined the drill bit, so much for "these work on metal too") and Eureka it worked!

I was able to secure the support beam/rack stupid thing and slide the shelf over it. But I will probably never buy one of these again...or buy a better stud finder...or a better drill bit...or have someone else do it for me.

Not sure what else to put on it, and need to actually print out a family picture...but a completed project that actually turned out ok

$15 from IKEA and a huge headache...not sure it was worth it.

xo A

Thanks to anyone who helped or listened to me complain about this stupid shelf all week :)

Wednesday learnings

1. How to NOT cut a mango (still not sure about the correct way, but I've heard there are good YouTube videos).

2. The level on my phone blows

3. It is next to impossible to find a wall stud by "knocking". (And the 16-24" apart only works if you find one first!) Whoever invented that is probably having  a heart attack watching down on me with my face pressed against the wall and bloody knuckles

4. It may be possible Florida does not actually use wall studs

5. How to tell what size drill bit to use with a screw. A real simple technique I use is to hold up the drill bit and the screw. Hold the shaft of the drill bit up in front of the screw. You should only be able to see the threads of the screw (and maybe a bit of the screw). If you can't see the threads the drill bit is too big. If you can see too much of the screw, the bit is too small.

I'll be back tomorrow with a stud finder and a proper level, although I've been hanging things for the past 7 years without one...damn you vaulted ceilings!

Ps. My knuckles really aren't bloody, I'm not that dumb....

xo A