Snack of the Week: Ben & Jerry’s Flipped Out!!!

Okay, so really I had no clue what these even were.  But I had a coupon and they were on sale at Safeway so that is why I purchased the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor of Ben & Jerry’s Flipped Out!  Really, I should win an award for Most Informed Consumer or something.

I do consider myself a bit of Ph.D. in Ben & Jerry’s.  My dissertation on “How the Cinnamon Bun Flavor Changed the Landscape of the Freezer Aisle” was presented at ice cream socials across America.  My minors in Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch and Mint Chocolate Cookie single-handedly are responsible for my gym membership. 

But times are changing and I need to take a refresher course in all things new at Ben & Jerry’s.

And refreshing it was.  The Flipped Out treats are little sundae cup that you, well,  flip out of  the cup and onto a plate or into a bowl.  Using a bit of the technology perfected by the original sherbet-y goodie, the Push-Up (Good Lord, what have they done to the Push-up…it comes in flavors now?  Let’s leave perfection alone, please!), I had to “push” the ice cream out of the cup.  I would like to have taken a picture of this process, but doing the ice cream push and taking a pic at the same time is outside of my skill set.)

The treat, when flipped out, has a bottom cookie layer, a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, a layer of fudge that somehow does not freeze (which I find scary. Much like these Magic Shell products…how do they work!?!?), and a layer of crunchy chocolate.

  

The nutritionals?  Um, you really do not want to know!  Let me just say that I power walked my way to West Viriginia (or so it seemed) to burn this thing off.

So, the verdict?  I am not ready to give up my Ben & Jerry’s pints of goodness yet.  I will however consider this activity enough to earn my certificate in Ben & Jerry’s Flipped Out though and will add this credential to my Ice Cream CV.  (And hopefully, they spell my name right on the certificate.   Seriously, the project management program that I am in has spelled my name “Rebeccca” on every. single. certificate of completion.  Yeah, that’s right, Rebecca with 3 Cs--and I am not talking Cut, Clarity, and Carat.   Um, is there any name/word ever that has three of one letter in a row?  And I know this going to come back to bite me one day.  “Why, no, Rebecca did not complete the program but Rebeccca did.”  And yes, I have submitted the correction numerous times.)

Red, White, & Blue Swap – What I Received

In my previous post on what I sent for Mamarazzi’s Red, White, and Blue Swap, I mentioned that the original package that my swap buddy, Janna from Happiness is a Journey sent to me is currently missing in action (thank you, Postal Service!!!) . Janna, however, was a complete swap rockstar and put together a replacement package that I think she sweetened because of the Postal Service drama. Because the package is seriously fabulous!!!!

Inside the package was, hold on to your very pretty hats, because it is very nice!!!

Super cute oatmeal bowl with red and blue polka dots!

Some sparkly white lip gloss! Funny story of my ability to be an idiot…I went to grad school in Durham, North Carolina, home of Burt’s Bees. When I moved there, it was the first I had ever even heard of Burt’s Bees. So I thought it was just this little local company. Um, when I moved to D.C., I definitely learned otherwise. Delicious white tea!!!

A pretty white candle!!! A red lunch bag! Since I am definitely a member of the brings her lunch to work club, I will definitely use this. It’s a swanky lunch bag at that! Blue bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blue water bottle!

Blue(ish) and white hand sanitizer!

Red reusable bag!

Red, white, and blue Clif bars!!!!

A super-duper nice blue and white apron! Cannot wait to wear it!

Since Janna is from Texas, how cute was she to include a Texas cookie cutter and some seeds for Texas bluebonnets?!?

Thanks SOOO much Janna for a great swap!!!

Red, White, & Blue Swap – What I Sent

So we will declare today July Faux-Fourth as I recap the Red, White, and Blue Swap put on by the lovable and incredibly organized Mamarazzi.  And we will allow the US Postal Service to sponsor the Faux-Fourth as they are entirely responsible for it.  Because they definitely managed to lose the package that my swap buddy, Janna from Happiness is a Journey sent to me.    Janna felt horrible about the situation but I tried to reassure her that the US Postal Service, along with Comcast (and sometimes Starbucks) exist solely to make my life difficult.

But my replacement package arrived earlier this week so it is now time to recap the swap. 

The rules of the swap were simple: send red, white, and blue things that you yourself would like to received.  Sounds simple, right?  Yeah, notsomuch.  You definitely need a theme or at least direction. 

Living here in D.C., capital of all things red, white, and blue, my inspiration was…U.S. Presidents!  Super original, right?   And maybe you don’t see where I am going with it quite yet.  Let me explain,  I did extensive research and by “research” I mean I Googled random Presidential facts and tied them into red, white, and blue things.  Still not getting it?  Let’s go to the pics!

Starting with a fun fact about our current President (and one of my favorite little stories from his tenure…mainly because it happened in Green Bay) which accompanied some blue note cards:

  

Fact #2: Benjamin Harrison’s fear of electricity went well with some white candles":

   

Fact #3 Warren Harding’s vice went nice with some red playing cards.

 

Fact #4: Millard Fillmore’s home improvement was a big hit with the rubber ducky industry and with the red and blue bath goods industry (note: that’s a blue loofah, not a freeze-dried blue cabbage).

 

Fact #5: Kind of an obvious one, but Jimmy Carter+peanut farm=jar o’peanuts with a red and white label.  But I bet you didn’t know about his bent finger.

 

Fact #6: William McKinley definitely could have used this blue bottle of hand sanitizer. (Note: That EO brand of hand sanitizer is my favorite!  My skin is super sensitive to triclosan which is the active ingredient in most hand sanitizers.  It turns my hands into something out of a horror movie.  The EO stuff does not have it and it smells amazing!!!)

 

Fact #7: Calvin Coolidge would have been my favorite president ever if he had made siestas mandatory for all.  But if he were anything like me, he would have needed a white (presidential?) eye mask to sleep during the day.

 

Fact#….what number are we on… oh, 8: Please give me some credit for not going with obvious and referencing a red cherry tree with George Washington.  Instead, the man was desperately in need of some red, white , and blue dental products…and probably some Crest WhiteStrips.

 

Fact #9: On the next Iron Chef…..Dwight Eisenhower!!!  Bet he would fun with these red, white , and blue.  And if you are neurotic like me and have specific cutting boards for each food group, how perfect on these red fish-shaped cutting boards for well, fish?!?!

 

Fact #10 Jellybeans were to Ronald Regan’s White House what Hershey’s Kisses are to my office.  Kudos to my mom for tracking down these red, white , and blue Jelly Bellys!

 

And final fact, #11, Um, did you think I would do a swap without including my Signature Oatmeal blend which is red (dried cherries and cranberries and Barney Butter) and white (coconut) and served in a very cute red and white bowl.  Thank you to Richard Nixon and his healthy breakfasts for making this inclusion possible.

 

I had a blast putting this package together.  The fun facts were displayed in these fun cards that I found a pattern for in one of my favorite magazines, Women’s World.  Don’t mock its tabloid appearance.  It’s a seriously great magazine (and cheap!  Only $1.79!!!!).

 

Thanks to Mamarazzi for hosting another great swap!

Time Management in a Bottle

I am frequently greeted with the compliment (I think?) of “I do not know how you have time to get everything you do done.” 

The number one reason I get it all done is that I am just really good at time management.  I really just always have been. I make a to-do list, I prioritize the list, and then, well, I just do it.  I wish there was a greater secret to my success but there is not.   (If there were, believe me, I would be marketing it.  Cupcake flavored-time management pills.  Available at CVS and Whole Foods. :) )

Then there are those weeks when life catches up with me and knock ‘em, sock ‘ems me out.  This would be one of those weeks.  Last Saturday, I starting feeling a little icky.  Sunday and Monday, I was clearly not 100% but powered through it.  It is kind of busy time at work for me since I am presenting research at a conference in a few weeks and just getting the prep work done is alot.  And yes, I have spent a substantial amount of time planning my presentation outfit.  I am going for the perfect balance of professionalism and fabulousness. :)

Then I left work on Monday.  Between walking in the door Monday and leaving for work Wednesday morning, I slept over 25 hours.  Yes, 25 hours!!!  Crazy!  But sometimes the body knows best.  The remainder of this week has been spent taking it easy.  My usual blogging time became my early to bed time.  So I apologize for the absence. 

I am back….and well-rested.  And already attacking my to-do list. :)

Cocktails and Tennis

Every weekday, I receive an email from CityShopGirl. The email is full of ways to “Shop, Eat, & Treat Yourself in D.C.” If you live in the D.C. area, I highly recommend subscribing to it. The emails are always full of discount codes for D.C. shops or D.C. based shopping websites. They are also full of info on events that all the cool kids are attending. So when the CityShopGirl email pinged into my inbox last month with subject “Cocktails and Tennis,” I was immediately intrigued.

I have a theory that if you attach the phrase “Cocktails and” to any event, it instantly becomes more fun and the likelihood of my attendance increases by about 90 percent. If you attach the phrase “Champagne and” to any event, it instantly becomes both fun and classy and the likelihood of my attendance increases by about 99 percent. Now, if you attach the phrase “Beer and” to any event, it instantly becomes dreadful and the likelihood of my attendance drops by 99 percent. [I should note here that I am a sporadic drinker at best. In fact, I rarely drink. But I find that events with the champagne or cocktails attached to them are just more enjoyable, even when I am not drinking. And if you knew what my grad school area of study was and what my first “real” job was, you would know that I am the perhaps biggest advocate of responsible drinking.]

So “Cocktails and Tennis” instantly became something I needed to know more about. The email offered a discount code for tickets purchased to see the Washington Kastles, a professional tennis league team, play at their stadium in downtown D.C. And cocktails and wine would be available. So in rapid fire succession, these are the thoughts that flew through my mind:

• Washington has a professional tennis team?

• There is such a thing as professional tennis league?

• There is a tennis stadium in downtown DC? How have I missed that?!?!

• Oh, I think the stadium is near H&M. I really need to return a belt to there.

• Oh I think there is Chop’t near there. Now I want salad.

• John McEnroe is playing? I love John McEnroe. I miss his talk show.

So I fired off an email to my friend Mel asking if she wanted to go. Mel now lives even further out in the suburbs so I rarely see her so I thought this would be a great opportunity to catch up and have a Girls Night Out. She was in so we met for dinner at Chop’t…so good. You have to go to Chop’t if you are in DC or NYC!

And began walking to the stadium. Okay, so it is not all that unusual that I may have missed the stadium. Because it is totally set up in parking lot! Granted it is a very elaborate setup, but a very temporary one. The early 20th century had the travelling circus; the early 21st century has the travelling tennis stadium. I would like to think that 100 years from now someone will write the book “Wine for Tennis Fans” much in the spirit of “Water for Elephants.”

And that stadium, my friends is where you find the greatest concentration of Lacoste and Vineyard Vines on any given night. I was feeling quite rebellious in my Anthropologie top and GAP jeans.

Okay, some rambling thoughts from the event. The rules of the tennis league are different from regular tennis and are very confusing. I still do not understand them. I think I am okay with that.

There are cheerleaders. Yep, cheerleaders at a tennis match. Weird.

The guy in the white polo shirt is the cheer-tator (a little shoutout for all the Bring It On fans out there), trying to get the audience to rap. Even weirder. The music played during timeouts borders on, and sometimes crosses over to, inappropriate.

The visual of a giant tennis ball trying to sit in a tiny chair is going to make me laugh.

When the action on the court got boring, we could watch the participants at the neighboring trapeze school. Yep, trapeze school right in the middle of the city.

I aspire to sit at the fancy dinner tables at the other end of stadium. Mainly because the cute soccer players from DC’s pro team sit there. (Thank you, uber powerful camera zoom lens.) Also the Kastle’s owner sits there. And there are waiters, um, waiting on you.

The beauty of a great zoom lens, beyond it's stalkerazzi abilities, is that the pictures make it seem like we had really great seats, when we did not.

John McEnroe is an incredibly good sport. Despite the fact that he was the biggest name on the court by leaps and bounds and hops and skips, he sat on the bench the entire time he was not playing and cheered on his teammates. This was despite the fact that the PA system kept replaying his infamous temper tantrums over and over and over and over and over. And, in what I found to be a rather uncomfortable display, the “halftime” entertainment was a John McEnroe impersonation contest….right in front of him.

It was very cool to see him play though. Pardon the pics, I have zero talent as an action photographer.

So bottom line, it is a fun, different thing to do on a summer night in the city. There is plenty of tennis and plenty of alcohol. If you are like me, though, two hours into it will fulfill your sports attendance quota for the year.