Showing posts with label Victoria's Secret. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria's Secret. Show all posts

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Pre-Spring-Break Diet Recipes

If you can cook for yourself you're already at an advantage in getting thin for beach season. The more you make your own food, the more control you have over what you put in your mouth. Unfortunately, there is no perfect diet that will make you thin without working your ass off exercising. But when you combine those two factors, it's your best bet at getting in shape. That, and every time I think about eating something greasy and delicious I look at a picture of a Victoria's Secret model.
Here is some of the food I've been making to help fight the winter jiggle:

Strawberry and Mint Salad:
10 Strawberries
2 Cherry Tomatoes
2 Peaches
Chopped Mint
Dash of Olive Oil
Dash of Balsamic Vinegar
Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
Chop up all the fruit (yes, the tomato too), add the mint on top and then drizzle with the olive oil and then the balsamic.
I'm not much of a lettuce eater, so this is what I like to eat in stead. It's gorgeously colorful and super tasty. This will serve 2 people at 180 calories each.

Vegetable Soup:
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
2 Large Carrots, grated
1 Leek, finely chopped (sometimes I vary with 2 celery stalks)
4 New Potatoes, grated
1 can of Flageolet Beans, drained
1 Organic Vegetable Stock Cube, mixed with 4 1/4 cups of boiled water.
Salt/Pepper to season
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil into a pot and sauté the onions over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add the grated potatoes and carrots and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the leek and heat everything until the vegetables are tender (about 3 minutes). Pour in the vegetable stock and keep on the heat until it boils, then take off the heat and slowly puree in a food processor or blender. Once it's all blended to a consistency you like, pour everything back into the pot and turn the burner on low heat. You can add in Chili flakes if like it spicy (they increase your metabolism too) and extra salt/pepper to taste.
Once it's boiling again, add in the can of Flageolet Beans and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.
This recipie will give you around 4 to 6 servings, so its a good one to keep in your fridge when you're trying to lose weight.

Seasoned Wild Rice With Tomato & Avocado
1 cup wild or brown rice
15 cherry tomatoes (cut in halves)
1 avocado (cut up in bite sized pieces)
A few sprigs of cilantro (chopped finely)
2 minced cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Cook the wild or brown rice as directed on the package it came in. Once it's ready, mix all the ingredients together, taking care not to smash the avocado, and then add salt and pepper to taste. You can also try adding tobasco or sriacha hot sauce. I actually just tried out this recipe for the first time tonight and thought everything looked pretty all chopped up on my cutting board, so I took a picture.

These are just a couple examples of what I try to shove down my throat instead of pizza and burritos. I also like to drink green tea, go out in the cold weather, and substitute soda and juice with water to boost my metabolism. Also, I've never been a munchies person but if you are, learn to fight off that urge when you smoke pot. It's easy once you've mastered it. Please know that I would never encourage crash-dieting and that it's a bad idea. While an appropriate amount of restriction is effective, you still must eat in order to maintain a healthy metabolism. I don't want to get angry emails so please do as I say. ALRIGHTY?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Thoughts on... Overbearing Customer Service

If you live in Chicago like me, and you ever go shopping on the Magnificent Mile, you might have hit up their fairly new Victoria's Secret location. No, I don't mean the one in Water Tower Place, but the one thats literally a block and a half down from Water Tower Place. Don't ask me why they need two in such a close vicinity of eachother, it's not really the point of my story.
My point is that I simply cannot go to that store anymore. Everytime I walk in to that store I am ambushed within mileseconds by their fucking annoying customer service. My trip yesterday went like this:

"HIIII! Welcome to VICTORIA'S SECRET!" Oh gee, that's where I am?

"What are you looking for today???" Actually, I'm just kind of browsing.

"OKAY, well do you know about our 10-Dollar Gift Cards??" No.

"WELL. If you buy more than 10 dollars worth of items today, you automatically get a free gift card. It has at least 10 dollars on it, but it can have up to 500! Isn't that great??? OH MY GOD, I LOVE YOUR EARRINGS. THEY'RE SO ADORABLE!"

***

Mind you that this was within 10 feet of the door. This particular location has two floors and a ton of ground to cover. I walk over to the perfumes and not two seconds after I'm standing do I get attacked again:

"HII, do you know about our 10-Dollar Gift Cards?" Yeah, actually. The girl standing by the door told me all about it.

"WELL. If you buy more than 10 dollars worth of items today, you automatically get a free gift card. It has at least 10 dollars on it, but it can have up to 500! Isn't that great???" Lady, I just told you I already knew about it. Are you reciting a script or something?

***

Already midly irritated, I walk over to the underwear drawers. Out of nowhere, another one pops out and scares the shit out of me:

"HII, what size are you looking for??" Extra-small I guess.

"Okay, well the extra-smalls are in the top drawer." Thanks.

Then she looks over at the book I'm holding.

"Is that a good book???" Well, actually it's my Macro textbook, so I don't particually enjoy it.

"Oh, well thats nice... Just so you know, these panties are 3 for 30 dollars." Thanks again.

I was at a different underwear drawer when the SAME girl said pretty much the EXACT same thing to me. Like she hadn't even remembered the conversation we'd had less than 10 minutes before.

***

Now their PINK section consists of the entire second floor, so as I go up the escalator there are not one, but TWO girls waiting at the entrance. Both of them give me the typical:

"HII..." and then one of them simply goes,

"Do you like our store???" With this crazed smile. I'm starting to think this is a joke to them. At least I hope so.

***

I'm sure these girls have to say that stuff because their managers make them, but honestly, they don't have to sound like TOTAL robots. Like, to the point where they're not even listening to what I'm saying to them. I don't want to be told a million times about your stupid 10-dollar gift cards, which is why I said I already knew about them. And I'm not an idiot, there are tags which clearly label the sizes of your underwear. If I need help, I'll ask you. I don't need you hovering over me like helecopter.

***

Needless to say, I abandoned ship yesterday and hit up the one in Water Tower Place. Sure, it's smaller. But they still a pretty big selection, and the customer sercvice people are SO MUCH MORE laid back. I don't know what it is about that other location, but it's like those girls are all on crack. Take my advice people, if you're ever shopping on Michigan Avenue, just walk the extra block and a half north to get your Vicky's fix. It'll save your sanity.