Apps and Abs

With three weeks of snow almost melted, Jason and I are finally back on our morning schedule at the gym. For a minute there I was really enjoying the "we're snowed in, it's stupid to even try to get to the gym without dying" mode. But I also knew it wouldn't last forever. That's cool. I was missing it anyway. So, we're glad to be getting back on track. Honestly, those two storms just stopped everything.

And good thing we're back on schedule. The title of my post references both my abs and apps. Yes!~ I found a new iPhone app - the Vienna Beef App. Yup. You put in your zip code, and it finds the nearest hot dog stand. Genius. Only one thing - on the east coast, no one knows what Vienna Beef is.

Put in any zip code in the Chicagoland area starting with 600 and literally hundreds of little eateries show up that cook up meats from Vienna Beef. Most famous the Chicago style hot dog, but not to be outdone by the Italian beef and smoked sausages. Scrolling down the list on my iPhone there were dozens of Chicagoland eats including Top Gun Dogs, Fredhots and Fries, Wiener Take All....you get the idea. Put in MY zip code - Alexandria, VA and you get two places. TWO.

I guess no one likes Vienna Beef out here - you'd think it would be more of a nationwide thing.

So out of the two eateries on the Vienna Beef app, the closest one is 26 miles away...that's an hour with traffic. The other location is 87 miles away and i fear would require an overnight stay. Still. Those two places are much closer than Fredhots and Fries in Glenview, IL - 606.9 miles away from me.

I looked into the closest eatery and it was started by a couple who moved here in 1998 from Chicago and missed the food. So, they started up Windy City Red Hots. In a truck. The guy is parked in a nursery parking lot north of DC. It's not a walk-in establishment. That’s cool. Just knowing there’s an Italian beef within an hour of our house is good enough for me.

pop culture eeks.

Loud little girl with her mom at Target:

“Wake up in the morning feeling like PDiddy (hey, what up girl)Put my glasses on, Im out the door - I’m gonna hit this city (Lets go)
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
Cause when I leave for the night, I ain’t coming back”

Seriously? She knew all the words to that Ke$sha song and she's like 9 years old. This doesn't bug me though. I'm sure I was singing all the words to suggestive Top 40 songs when I was that ag...oh, wait...NO I WASN'T. I was singing F-ing show tunes.

And for real? Olympic athletes do not eat McNuggets. Do they?

Rest Category

I’m putting “treacherous” and “almost died” in the rest category of my available words to use when I speak about the dual blizzards and left over snow.

Two weeks of mind numbing long commutes, death defying one way streets and parking like a crazy woman have messed up my whole lifestyle.


Watch this space for a more cheery outlook soon.


Tapping out.

My new favorite, "Chessmen"!

Chessmen Cookies from Pepperidge Farm. Good lord, do they sell these in bulk?! They are awesome! Just awesome!

Snow Different

I can hardly imagine it, but we're on our second blizzard in a week. Walking Leia hasn't been fun. She's bummed cause there's nothing worth sniffing. I thought it would be funny to post these two pics. Someday in the future, and right now it seems like never - Jason will exchange his Bears sideline puffy jacket for his short sleeve Cubs tee.

Not trying to one up Jason but...

Jason just posted a Muppet themed blog earlier today - but it just happens that yesterday I had a friend of mine at work forward this picture to me. It has to be one of my all time favs. The Muppets were at Sirius XM over the holidays and had their photo taken where all artists do - in front of the sign.

Snowmageddon photo 4

The big blizzard is over, finally it stopped snowing around 5pm and the skies cleared.

Catastrasnow photo 2,3

Saturday morning and it's still snowing here. We took Leia out for her morning walk and Jason found himself up to his knees in snow. It's very windy and the snow stings your face.

Catastrasnow photo 1

So far, this is what it looks like outside. It's only 9:30 pm. This storm doesn't end until tomorrow night!

From our front window: