Fancy nails coming right up!

Zandunga!

Zandunga x 2

Ok, it's obvious I kinda have a big crush on Zandunga. Yesterday was my birthday, and my parents offered to take me out for lunch. After my previous fantastic brunch experience, I had this urge to try lunch and dinner. Not really an urge, but more like an intense desire. Lo and behold, that craving was satisfied tremendously.

Arugula salad with candied walnuts, apricots, carrots and shaved manchego cheese


Tortilla soup

Soup of the Day - Shitake mushrooms and shrimp

Garlic talapia with roasted papas


Oh the best birthday treat a girl could ask for - crepes with cajeta




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Mmmmmmm brought to you by the fabulous owners of Mi Madres - Zandunga is now located in the old Primizie Osteria location, off E. 11th. I've only had the pleasure of trying brunch, but plan on coming here many, many times for dinner and happy hour. Enjoy!

What a way to end a perfect meal! Pan dulce!

Mexican Chocolate Waffle was aaaaaaamazing. No really, say it again - aaaaaaamazing!

Sopas de Almuerzo. *sigh* so good.

Everyone loves booze and I love it more than most. Try the Guava margarita and you will be in a tropical heaven!

Work is Not Life People! Right?

Well, this has been an interesting year, in regards to my work career. To let you guys in on what's been going on, I recently had the opportunity to move up with my current job and accept a sales management position. At the same time I was interviewing, a previous coworker from my Zanzibar days contacted me about coming to work for her company. Luckily, she kept the position open for me until I heard back from Hyatt. Sadly, I did not get the position. That, of course, left me with the opportunity to look into my friends company and see if it was a right fit for me. I have accepted the position with Austin All Maids and plan to start at the end of this month. My last day with Hyatt is Friday, July 9th. I'm very sad to go, as the people in the hotel have become a second family to me. They will be greatly missed.

I will be in charge of Marketing/PR/Social Media/Sales and running the office...right up my alley. I'm thrilled to be, once again, working with a small Austin business and implementing my ideas! You can follow me on their Twitter account - @AustinAllMaids. Also in the works - a blog. You know how much I love blogs. Keep your eyes peeled for the link soon. Now, let's get down to business - who needs their house cleaned? I think I know of a great company :)

I'm Crafty!

In my quest to find the perfect 80's costume for a skating party in a few weeks, I stumbled across this website: Cut out and Keep
I checked it out, and thought to myself, "Self - you have a lot of tshirts." Why yes I do. But I despise the crewneck collar. I have so many interesting shirts and I refuse to wear them. Not a fan of anything tight around my neck. There was one particular how-to that caught my eye - a no-sew halter top from a tshirt. Now that looks super easy right?

Last night I searched Google for the how-to and it brought up a few other tutorials, including a youtube video that totally rocks: YouTube link
Busting out with a test shirt, I was able to pull off the halter with no problems. I don't own a sewing machine so I hand stitched the collar part. Didn't take long at all. Just make sure your stitches are nice and even. The bigger the shirt - the bigger the tank. Honestly the practice shirt was gigantic and I'll probably try another idea with them. I did successfully transform 2 shirts to halter tops. It took under an hour and looks pretty damn good. The best part? It was free and now I have new tops.

I took a few snaps of the before and after product. Just follow the instructions and you won't have any problems!

What the heck am I doing?

I've taken on a new challenge. What are you doing now? ... you may wonder. Well, let me tell you. I've recently started tracking my eating habits on Shape.com They have this wonderful program called the Virtual Trainer. So I've been playing with that for 3 weeks. It has greatly helped tracking and logging every single thing you eat. The weekends are hard though. Especially when you do such great progress for 5 days and then mess it all up by drinking 6 Bud 55's and eating a block of cheese.

Luckily, I am able to squeeze in a trip to the coast with my sister and her husband. The only bad part is it's coming up in 2 weeks and I do not have a bikini ready body. Normally my first reaction would be to reach for the lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper but no! I will not resort to quick, temporary solutions to lose a few pounds. Hence the dreaded two-a-days. Starting Monday, I will work out twice a day - preferably using my favorite method - The 30 Day Shred. Right now I'm attempting the high-impact (Natalie version) exercises on level 1. I still can't do real push-ups, and resort to girl push-ups - but I can do all of them instead of laying there panting.

Monday was really tough. I never realized how much harder it is to do Natalie workouts and not Anita. After work I ran out to Academy to get a heart rate monitor. I'm dying to know how many calories I burn on the different levels and different impacts. Per my night session, I burned 181 calories. Not bad, I expected to do more. But I was dying. My thighs are on fire. The high-impact version is a world of difference on your thighs. Getting deep into the squats is a serious work-out.

This morning I woke up at 5am with Matt and rode my bike, hoping to get rid of the lactic build-up in my thighs. Right now - I can't walk down stairs. I've been using the escalator to help me today. Seriously, I'm in pain. But that's good right? RIGHT? Tonight is low impact level 2. Wish me luck, I hate level 2.

Don't throw that away!

Last Sunday afternoon turned into a craft restoration day. We have these interesting outdoor garden vase pots we bought years ago - we fill them with tiki torch oil and place them in the garden or around the retaining wall. They do a great job of keeping mosquitoes away. Sadly, the elements have weathered them away to very ugly, peeling pots. I've been on the fence about throwing them out and replacing them until we thought about restoring them with some new color.


Here is the old vase - see, it's ugly.



I sanded off the old color (which was not an easy task on a humid Sunday afternoon, mind you) and ended up with this.



Then we spray painted them with a white primer. Matt came up with this great idea to use wire coat hangers in the tree to keep the paint on the item and not on the grass.



Don't they look like apples?



TADAA! And here is the finished product. They look like new, and all it took was a few hours, some sand paper and spray paint.

Angry Birds

Hello crack.

Hello my name is Dawn and I am addicted to the iPhone app Angry Birds. Please help me through this addiction.

Find the Zoolander reference....

I have to say, one of the fun things about my job is watching the daily eye candy of large groups that stay with us. Every day brings a new group of individuals, new outfits, hair styles and smells.

I try and refrain from stereotyping a large group of people, but most of the time I can spot the type of conference going on in the hotel just by checking out the ladies in the bathroom. Sometimes I want to giggle, other times I want to offer up tips. Today is one of those days. The amount of sadly dressed, frumpy girls in the lobby makes me sad. I'm almost positive slipping them a printed out TV schedule of What Not To Wear under the stall might get me fired, but the desire to help remains. All I can do is smile and hope these clothing-challenged individuals are making more money than I could ever make with their Jaclyn Smith collection from K-Mart.

I had to share this one with you guys...

Limbo

Ahhh, limbo...be it in your relationships, your job, or any aspect in life, limbo is a hard state to maintain with grace. For instance, yours truly has been experiencing a severe case of limbo recently. I believe it has been close to 2 weeks tomorrow.

I have to say, it has given me a new life lesson. Dealing with the sense of the unknown with little emotional outbreaks. Typically I would be worrying, making myself sick with anticipation, unable to do the normals things in a day without dwelling. But no more! I'm trying my best to keep my feelings and emotions under control and professional. Let me tell you this, it's freaking hard. Every day I wake up wondering if this is the day, but alas, it's not. And that, my friends, is a mood killer.

So here I am, venting away on my blog, keeping the situation thinly disguised as possible. Blogs are a great place to vent, as I'm sure my close friends and coworkers are pretty tired of listening to me complain and eye roll my day away. Even now I feel much better getting it off my chest. Hopefully in the coming days I can create a happy blog post revealing more, but until then, my 6 readers, this is what you get.

No he DIDUNT!

Every day for lunch, I get the joyous opportunity to eat lunch in our employee cafeteria. It's a fun time, surrounded by fellow employees you don't get to see all the time. Recently the eating habits of a coworker has been brought to my attention. I believe it was a few weeks ago, maybe on pasta day. Anna pointed out his plate and all our jaws dropped. He had 4-6 pieces of garlic toast on his plate. If I eat one I am filled with guilt and shame, even though I have to admit, those suckers are greasy, buttery and delicious. Ever since that episode, we like to keep our eyes open to see what he eats next. Recently his sandwich creation was 3 layers of bread, ridiculously stuffed with meat. I have no idea how he put that into his mouth.

Today's creation was 2 layers of flour tortillas smothered with gobs of shredded cheese, another layer of ground meat and cheese added and nuked in the microwave. After this had melted, he added ANOTHER fistful of cheese and made a burrito concoction out of it. Besides this enormous meat and cheese surprise, a large bowl of vanilla pudding...completely filled to the top. We just stared at him with our big eyes and watched him prepare his lunch. I felt the pounds increase on my ass just watching this incredible feat. Never in a million years could I bring myself to gorge like that.

I'm so jealous. I want his tapeworm.

Hmmmm

Interesting thought I just had - what do you do when all your social media outlets are tied into your personal/professional life? Where do you go to vent about things when you are "too connected?"

Let me know the answer because I've begun to realize the hole I'm in, and I need to dig my way out.

I yarn bombed my mailbox

Treatment 1

And so it began. Saturday was the day. How funny that I spent the day before searching the internet for "first day experiences" and didn't come up with squat. So I vow to be as descriptive as possible, so you newbies know what to expect on your first visit.

I'll admit it, I didn't sleep so well the night before. I had a few nightmares and couldn't get the thought of pain out of my head. Browsing through internet forums I would find statements like "If the treatment isn't painful, then they aren't doing it right." Crap. My free consultation did not mention any intense pain. Yes, the tride and true statement of a rubber band snap pain repeating itself in my mind. This won't be bad Dawn. I mean, they would warn you if the pain was unbearable, right?

I walk into the office and check in. After a few minutes of signing my contract and going over privacy policies, the numbing cream is mentioned. I gathered that the cream they use it specific to the company and is bought ahead of treatment time. I didn't ask about price as I was firmly confident I would not need any type of numbing cream - I am no wimp, and I also took a hydrocodone ahead of time :)

It's my time and I am called into the treatment room. My lady doing my zapping introduces herself and goes over the basics. She reads my chart, and she tells me to disrobe from the waist down after she walks out of the room. No problem, I've done this process with waxing my pink parts all the time. I am no amateur and have no shame at showing my nether areas to qualified professionals. She walks in and begins to mark the area in sections, with a white grease pencil. Pictures are taken of the pre-treated area and here is where the fun begins. Sunglasses are handed to me and stress balls. She smiles, and tells me to use them to squeeze when the pain is bad. Wait, i wonder, it's going to be bad? Like to the point I need to distract myself? I ask her if it's going to hurt and she says yes. Oh great. I also get the wonderful news that as my first treatment, the laser will be set on the lowest setting. As the treatments progress and my hair lightens and thins, the laser will need to be at a higher level to zap the remaining hairs and the pain will be more intense. Shit.

Zap, zap, zap, zap....I squeeze those balls till I feel I may rip them apart. The pain, oh my God the pain. And where did my hydrocodone high go to?!!!?!? I think the laser zapped it all away. She finishes the section and asks how I'm doing. Rubber band snap my ass. It's more like a small group of needles quickly poking your skin. I nod my head and start the small talk to keep my mind occupied. It's kinda hard to speak when I'm holding my breath and tensing my legs. But miraculously it's over very quickly. The pain subsides and I'm left with a swollen, bright pink mess of an area. She laughs about my checking the "skin is not sensitive" box. I remark that's it is my first time with a laser, so I wasn't sure how I would react. From the looks of it, my skin freaked out and died on me. Covered in red circular blotches, she tells me I shouldn't sweat, or irritate the area for a day since my reaction looks so bad. I'm given hydro-cortisone and aloe and told to reapply 4 times a day until the damage goes down. I put my bottoms back on, schedule my next appointment in July and ask about the numbing cream. I am NOT going through this again without help.

Over the next few days, my pubic area has done quite well. I was not in any sort of pain afterwards, just a little bit shocked and swollen. Within a day, the pinkness had worn off and I was back to normal. Now I have the shedding process to look forward to. Within 1-3 weeks, the majority of hair will fall out and by mid July, I'll be ready for my next treatment.

So far, so good. I'm happy and just anxious to see how much hair comes back in the next few weeks. Updates to follow!

My Adventures in Laser Hair Removal

Well well well kids, it's time to document my newest endeavor - the world of laser hair removal. I've always dreamed of being hair-free, and have spent countless dollars on "guy razors", and waxing. Could you even begin to imagine the amount of time you spend in the shower removing all that hair every year? For me that's a plethora of hours. Coming from a Spanish/Mexican background, I have been blessed with pale skin and dark hair. Lucky me.

Due to the price of the procedure I would never consider myself a candidate until my husband suggested it to me a few weeks ago. Personally, I didn't know about the radio spot that continuously plays on a local radio station. (I'm hooked on Sirius, so I rarely listen to radio.) He mentioned I should go in for a free consultation and see what the price would be. Well now, if hubby says it's alright I'm going to run with it!

I go online and fill out the form to request a consult. I receive a nice email tooting the personal experience from my contact - and a time to come in. Fast forward to my consult, I meet a very nice and confident saleslady. She gives me a brief tour and discusses the benefits of the company. (Right now I'm going to keep this information under wraps until the procedures are underway.) The staff are all certified RNs and the laser is one of the best in the country. Weeks before I had scanned the interwebs for information on specific lasers and whatnot. I did recall the name she mentioned and felt more secure. Then we sat down and discussed the money aspect. A discount was offered on the full package - only good till the end of the day. Drat! Reminded me of apartment hunting in my younger days - I hated those look and lease offers. I did get payment options on 2 areas - bikini and brazilian. I have to say the most affordable option was splitting up the entire package on a monthly payment schedule with Chase. Interest -free for 18 months doesn't seem that bad.

My lifetime membership includes 9 sessions - spaced between a year and a half. All the hair is guaranteed to be gone by the last treatment or more treatment(s) is available. Also, during the span of my life, I can go in to any location (if the hair returns due to hormones or other life changing incidents) and get treated for $40. Not too bad - I like the sound of that.

So here I am, my first appointment looming later this week. Stay tuned for the fun ahead! Will it be painful? Will I suffer in silence or cry with joy when my ingrowns disappear? All these questions will be answered!

SWB Community Table delights

I don't even know where to begin to describe the joy I experienced last night at SWB. What is SWB you may ask? It's short for Southwest Bistro, located on the 2nd level of the Hyatt, downtown on Lady Bird Lake.

This gem has an incredibly special adventure for any foodies looking for a unforgettable dining experience. It's called the 'Community Table.' Chef Kevin and Javier will pick up fresh ingredients, based on your customized menu preferences, from the local Farmer's Markets in the area and prepare an unforgettable meal for you and up to 9 guests. What a fantastic way to celebrate an anniversary, birthday or just an excuse to get local, mouth-watering cuisine prepared in the finest manner possible!

Now back to the food!!! Sorry to keep you waiting....

It was a pleasure meeting @SweetJohn,@Supertsai,@Austinfarm2tbl and Justin B. You can't ask for better company than passionate foodies!

Look at this menu, if you mouth hasn't begun to water you may need to re-read it a few times.

Oh these beautiful seared scallops were pure heaven. Served with orange, arugula and grilled onion salad I secretly wished for a plate of these to myself.

Wild mushroom raviolis served with a morel sauce. Cutting into the ravioli was amazing. I made this sound - Mmmmmmm



For the entree, I chose the mushroom and brie stuffed quail with cranberry gastrique, blue cheese mashed potatoes (sigh) and roasted asparagus. I'll let the picture speak for my opinion on the quail.

Look at all that goodness stuffed inside!

Here's a glimpse of the swordfish. Sarah was kind enough to offer me a generous bite. At first glance, it looks like tomatoes are mixed in with the arugula - but it's not. That's watermelon. The combination of fish and watermelon was exquisite...something I have never tried or pondered.

Here it is, the superstar of the night. Strawberry shortcake with Pure Luck goat cheese, covered with an almond scone.

OMG so delicious!

I hated it, couldn't you tell?

Intrigued? You can call 512-480-2035 for more information and to schedule your dinner.

Want to win a guest spot to judge Go Texan Chef Showdown II?

Of course you do! Who doesn't love a contest that pays you with free food and wine? Check out the details right here:

And here are the important details on Chef Showdown II:

Last year was simply amazing. The food and atmosphere was incredibly fun and the food was delicious. My word of advice if you will be attending - wear some stretchy pants and eat an early lunch. You will be sampling many delectable dishes this year - and our secret ingredient is pork.

A few pictures from last year's event:

Sushi coming to Marker 10 Bar

Happy to report that the Marker 10 Bar, located inside the Hyatt Regency Austin is bringing in a fabulous sushi chef and station - serving to the public - starting this Wednesday from 5pm - 9pm.

Last week I sampled a few offerings on the menu, which is sure to make the mouth water, the eyes glisten and the tummy gurgle with glee. I give two thumbs up on the sushi and can't wait to see the menu grow with even more creative selections.

Come, my dears....let's look at some of the pictures I took.

Salmon Ceviche - elegantly served in a martini glass. At first I was hesitant, as I dislike peppers. But one taste of this ceviche had me back for more.

Seaweed and Cucumber Salad

Spicy Tuna Hand Roll - I was very impressed with the size and shape of this roll. It looks like a cone, which means more tuna chunks oozing out. The tuna had a pleasant kick to it - A+

Buttery salmon, oh my!

The Tuna Tataki was, by far, my favorite selection. Quite an interesting combination of ahi tuna, avocado, and shaved onions. The presentation in a chilled martini glass not only added a touch of sophistication, but improved the taste of the tuna. My favorite part was the taste of the top pieces and bottom pieces had such a different range of flavors.

Marker 10 is soon to become a favorite stop in my sushi locales. Saki and Asian beers are also on the way. Can I make this more enticing? The bats on the Congress Bridge have also returned. There...I did it. 3 fantastic reasons to try out Marker 10.

The FUN Trifecta

Oh who could not love a Wine and Cupcake happy hour? I, for one, am a sucker for these events and try my hardest to get the girls together to indulge! House Wine and The Cupcake Bar host these great little parties, with a pairing of mini cupcakes and wine. Here is an example of the fun we had Wednesday:

Cupcake and Wine Pairings for $13 from House Wine & The Cupcake Bar.

- Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake with a Strawberry Cupcake and Filled with Strawberry. With Whipped Cream Icing and Topped with Crushed Shortbread and Fresh Strawberries.

- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup...cake with Chocolate Cupcake filled and with Peanut Butter. With Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Icing and Topped with Crushed Peanuts.

- Caramel Italian Creme Cupcake filled with Caramel and, with Cream Cheese Icing. Topped with Walnuts and extra Caramel!

Wine Choices Include: - 2007 Pinot Grigio, Riff, Italy. Pear, flowers, lemon and lime; mineral and earthy with a medium body and crisp finish.

- Louis Perdrier Rosé, France Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cinsault. Delicate aromas of peonies, crushed rose petals, strawberries & wild raspberries.

- 2006 Malbec, Llama, Argentina. Aromas of strawberry, and vanilla, flavors of black currant, cherry, chocolate and spices.

Shopping from Local Boutiques such as Izzy and Ash, Soigne Boutique, Emotional Baggage, Anne Marie, Diamonds & Guns, Jessica's Traveling Boutique and Amelia Beth

Beauty Presentations at 5:30 and 6:30pm from Andrea Claire

The best part, besides the cheese plate and cupcakes and wine, had to be the door prizes! Every 30 minutes some lucky gal (or guy) got a fabulous gift. To my disbelief, I actually won something.



AmeliaBeth makes these gorgeous rings, pendants and cufflinks from Scrabble Pieces. You can browse her jewelry on her Etsy site linked to her name above.

Of course I could not leave without purchasing something from Diamonds and Guns by Action Jackson.

I loved every piece, and thanks to the wine that had loosened up my wallet, I picked this darling locket necklace.







Ok, let's move on to the fabulous cupcakes, wine and cheese plate. Words aren't needed here - just mouth-watering pictures.







You can stop drooling now and make sure you fan The Cupcake Bar on Facebook for the next event.