My cravings are little monsters sometimes.

1. I redecorated my living space. My panties were all in a bunch about not being able to move into a new place this year, so I figured I could bring some newness to my old place. My mom had a couch sitting in a storage unit, so I gave my old one to goodwill and bought some decorative pillows for the hand-me-down sofa. The sofa, by the way, is purple - dark purple. It's a piece of furniture that I would've seen sitting in a gallery and walked right past, but somehow it looks amazing in my living room. It's kinda like when a jacket looks like a train wreck on the hanger but makes you look like a whole new person when you actually put it on.

Inspired by the semi-new sofa, I made two trips to Ikea in the same week and walked out with a couple new blankets, a new lamp, some candles and new bath mats. I also bought a new bookshelf/TV stand [my 32inch is no longer perched on top of my stereo in the corner of my living room], and met a nice young lady off Craigslist who sold me her dining table for $5. Seriously, driving down to the Piedmont Park area probably cost more than what I paid for that table, and it's a very nice table. It's scratched up, yes, and I don't much care for the color, but that's nothing a little spray paint can't fix... and that's what inspired my recent trip to Home Depot. I have another white bookshelf I'd like to spray paint an espresso brown color, so one of these early mornings will be dedicated to spray painting furniture on my patio. Here's to feeling like I live in an adult apartment and not a college dormitory. I'd've taken pictures to post here, but I'm in a heavily wooded area so natural lighting is practically non-existent by the time I get home in the evenings, and I never think about it on the weekends... and once you drop the flash, you never go back.

2. I have limited my Starbucks expenditures to $20/month.

3. I started training for that 5K I mentioned awhile back in that one post, and I realized something: running sucks. It's boring! But, it's easy, and it requires very little equipment, so there's that. Part of me is starting to wonder if all the people who say they "love" running are only saying it because other people are saying it, because no. Swimming is fun. Biking is fun. Running? No no no. My quads and glutes, however, do seem to love it, so I'll stick it out until the Zombie Run in September, but after that? Dueces, treadmill.

4. The Zombie Run. I had to pick a 5K race that looked fun. All these standard charity races sound great, and they support a good cause and all, but I need some sort of thematic elements to keep me headed toward the finish line. I missed the Color Run [it happened in April], and someone was telling me about a Spartan Race that has also come and gone already. Enter, being chased by people dressed up as zombies. Here's a little known fact about me: I don't like being chased, even if you're playing around. IT FEELS TOO REAL. I never got tagged during a recess game of 'Tag,' because if I'm being chased, I will run my quads and glutes off. That's why I picked this race; I'll definitely be motivated to keep going.

5. I've been making magic in my kitchen as of late. The food photo above is from Mimi's Cafe. It is not part of the magic, but it will be recreated on my stovetop in the very near future. Yesterday I pulled a bunch of random ingredients from my fridge and cupboards and ended up with Blue Cheese Crusted Tilapia, spinach tortellini and baked brussel sprouts. I'm supposed to be kicking my dairy habit to the curb, for good, but I was craving something with a parmesan crust, and since I didn't have any parmesan cheese but did have blue cheese, I worked it out to the best of my ability, and it came out pretty darn good if I do say so myself [I do].

6. While I'm talking about food, I had a hankering [did I just use the word 'hankering'?] for some tacos on Memorial Day. Yeah, everyone else was cooking out and barbecuing their meats on a grill somewhere, and I was sitting on my semi-new purple sofa craving a few supreme cruncy tacos with some extra hot taco sauce. My cravings are little monsters sometimes. I keep a journal, and every month I write down all the things I've wanted to eat at 1am, and the list goes from lettuce wraps, to Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet White Microwave Popcorn, to turkey chili, to kombucha, to green tea with mint, and so on and so forth. I feel very sorry for my future husband, because my pregnancy cravings will likely be outta this world.

But back to my tacos. I didn't want taco bell or the Old El Paso grocery store box tacos. I wanted some real tacos, from one of those Mexican restaurants that don't even have an actual name on the building but just says "Mexican Restaurant." All the ones I googled only made soft corn or flour tortilla tacos, and I specifically wanted crunchy tacos. So I check out foursquare for some recommendations, and whadaya know, there's a little taco shack right down the street from my place that sells crunchy tacos for $1 a piece: Taco T. The reviews looked promising, which means I went, and man. They did not disappoint. It's one of those places that you drive past and you're not even sure if the restaurant is actually in business. The parking lot is small and run down, the surrounding grass patches haven't seen a lawnmower all year, and the drive through doesn't even look like it works. BUT the open sign was on, and that was alllllllll the invitation I needed.

If I've learned anything about being somewhat of a foodie, it's that the some of the shadiest looking establishments have the best chefs in the kitchen, and this taco place follows that rule. It was clean inside, so that's all that really matters when it comes to aesthetics in my book, but it's definitely not the kind of place that would be highlighted on someone's food column. That's part of the reason I plan to go back. That and the fact that my tacos were the best I've ever had. The shells were made of stone-groung corn, and as soon as I bit into the first one, I could tell it was handmade. The quality is way different than those cheapo tacos you'd get from a Del-Taco-like joint. Then there was this homemade salsa verde on the side... it set it off. Those tacos were so freaking good! I ate them so fast I didn't even think about snapping a photo, and I'm getting hungry again just writing about them.

7. Is anybody still there? Did someone read all this? *I* didn't even take the time to read through it, so my apologies for any typos. I'm having one of those days where I feel like I could write for hours, which is why this post is filled with randomness, but thirty five minutes is about all I've got, so...

Until next time.

♥