The Birds and the Bees-- literally

Even though I vowed to stay away from the place, I decided to go to Olive Garden for lunch with my very pregnant friend Shawna yesterday. She is due any moment! Anyway, she has been off for a couple of weeks from work and it was great to see her and catch up. Instead of ordering the soup, salad, and breadsticks (butter and garlic free breadsticks for which I get an eyeroll from the server everytime. Thanks for the tip, Andee!), I opted for a real pasta meal at this lunch. I mean really-- how bad could it be? I ordered the Chicken Gnocchi Veronese figuring I had blown my 1,200 calorie diet for the day. It came and I studied the dish. It was a Chicken breast surrounded with baby dumplings with cucumber diced on top as a garnish (cucumber is healthy right???), drenched in a parmesan and ricotta cheese sause. My thought? Well, at least it's not alfredo sauce. I slowly ate everything except the noticably buttery sauce parts. Intrigued, I came back to work only to stupidly google how many calories I just took in. I actually had to google it twice because I did not believe the numbers the first time. The grand total of the damage done to my body was: 3,751 calories.

I know. I cannot believe it either. Aren't restaurants restricted from serving meals over 2,000 calories??? They should be! I did not blow one days worth, I blow 3 days worth. For dinner last night, I ate an apple. As I was sitting at the dinner table with my family, they were contentedly chomping on hamburgers and I was staring at the large jar of mayonnaise in front of me. 20 calories per servings, 62 serving in the jar. A quick math problem entered my head, but the answer did not come easily at all. Grabbing a calculator, that's 1,240 for the entire jar of mayo. I could eat 3 jars and not equal my lunch. The idea made me almost lose my lunch.

***

In a surprising turn of events, Simpson University in Redding, CA is now #1 on my radar of colleges to attend in the spring. There are manys benefits, one big one being how warm it is there. If you know me, you know what a draw that is. The sun is out 88% of the year there, the second highest in the nation. Thanks to hard work from my family and the Lord opening some doors, this possibility might just be realized. I would not be going alone, my friend Jennifer would also be going. She's the one who applied in the first place. God has a very mysteriously way of working things out (history: my mom went to Simpson so growing up I was always saying "yuck, I am not going to Simpson!"). There is much to do before getting accepted, but I will let you know when I do. Speaking of that, I got accepted into CSU Northridge yesterday, so at least I have options.

***

A bee followed me into the car at lunch today, and my coworker, Kaci, who was going with me to Subway, had to lean over after I stopped shreaking and thrashing to roll down my window and prod the bee outside. She was surprised at how freaked out I was but after the wasp incident, I am a little skittish. She said she is more afraid of birds than of bees. How does one become afraid of birds?

***

Bill Cosby was on Oprah yesterday. I think he is the only one who gets it. Bill Cosby for president!

***

Heather is not the best top model contestent, or even the smartest, but boy does she crack Mallory and I up. Go Heather!