High Hopes

November 10th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time

I had high hopes today.

High hopes that the Garmin 405 would be available to borrow at my local running store from their electronic lending library.

Beat Up 405

Score! After reading Shari’s post yesterday on gadgets I had Garmin envy and hit up the cheapest way I know to get my hands on a Garmin (FREE), even if it’s only mine for a week.

I had high hopes for a dinner out at a restaurant near Zak’s office before a homeschooling gathering tonight. He eats lunch here frequently and has only had good things to say about their salads.

Fruit and Salad Company

Fruit & Salad Company? Yeah, it’s no coincidence you can spell A L I S O N with the letters from the name of this restaurant. How have I never eaten here before? This is a question that has no answer.

We all had high hopes there would be no 6 pm meltdown tonight.

Lemonade Tragedy

But that one was just plain old silly.

6pm is Never Without Meltdowns

We had high hopes that some apple juice would help.

Apple Juice Helps.  Sort of.

We’ll take our meltdown to go, THANKS!

Meltdown, To Go Please

There were oh so many high hopes for an amazing salad from a restaurant that calls itself a fruit and salad COMPANY for crying out loud.

Total Disappointment

Can you make out the tears in my pile of iceberg lettuce? Turns out you can also spell the word S A D with the letters from Fruit & Salad Company. Too bad you can’t spell J I P P E D or R O B B E D.

I got the “Veggie Chop” which promised bite sized veggies and mixed greens tossed in balsamic vinaigrette. I left off the asiago cheese and would have left off the croutons too had I not been distracted by the 6pm meltdown going on at my feet. I will say though that I had an enjoyable treasure hunt in the car for the smallest pieces of broccoli I’ve ever seen, a couple of sad mung beans and three slivers of carrot. I do not have high hopes for getting my money back.

We all high hopes for a gathering with some new homeschooling friends this evening.

Homeschool Story Telling

And those high hopes were totally warranted! We had a blast telling stories around a campfire with some homemade kettle corn, warm apple cider and lots of laughter. Iceberg woes temporarily forgotten.

I’ve got high hopes for a REAL salad tomorrow, or at least dreams of one.


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14 Responses

  • Bernadette says:

    Electronic lending library!?!?!
    Say what?!

    Geez girl you have it all!! I have NEVER heard of such a thing and you can bet your itty bitty piece of broccoli that I’ve spent some time in my local running stores!!!

    Hmmmm maybe I could start renting mine out? After all I use it about 3-4 hrs a week and the rest of the time it’s just sitting there looking pretty…

    The campfire looks like fun, made me want to whip out the marshmallows and chocolate! I guess I’ll just go eat my banana whip and be happy with that!

    xoxo
    Berni

  • Cindy says:

    I’m with B! Lending library! Never heard of such things!

    I have HIGH HOPES my Shari inspired Sunshine burgers will be good! I can smell them from here…
    Time to wrap up “play time” and have some din din

    sorry your salad was less than stellar but so happy the campfire was fun! OH that takes me back to camping days!

    I also made a Thrive Energy bar with pomegranite! I have High Hopes it tastes better than it looks!
    well see
    Happy Tuesday Veteran’s Day Eve!
    xo

  • maria says:

    I love bonfires so much. They are a lot of fun on cold nights! :)

    That does look like a crappy salad. I’m surprised–with their name and all. Too bad, for sure!

  • Liz says:

    That totally blows that the salad you got wasn’t that good. You could have totally made a better more delicious and nutrient rich salad at home…although I bet you said that to yourself already. At least the fun night made up for it! Campfires + warm apple cider = too much fall fun!!!

  • Holly says:

    i loved your last post – one of my fave parts of running is seeing people too. even if i never talk to them, there is just that sense of comraderie.

    ugh…excuse my language, but shitty salads are the worst! seriously. i hate iceberg lettuce with a burning passion. from a fruit and salad company, i expect MORE.

  • I have never used a Garmin or even wanted one. I just want more yoga clothes :)
    I have had plenty of meltdowns with Skylar. Today she threw TWO DOOSIES and boy, I feel your pain!

  • Suzanne says:

    Aah….the 6pm meltdown! I too feel your pain x

  • Erica says:

    oh man! I hate when a place promises a good salad filled with various vegetables and all you get is lettuce. LAME! Glad the school event was fun though. Can’t wait to hear what you think of the Garmin!!

  • Shari B. says:

    An electronic lending library… wow! I would never even have thought something like that existed to even know to ASK my local running store. But smart idea for them if they sell the Garmin at a good price – what a great way to get people to want to buy gadgets! (Like me!)

    Now if only they had a NIKE SHOX lending library!!! I’d be in Shari-Heaven!

    Oh girl, I shouldn’t be allowed to know the 405 exists… now my 305 is “old hat” :) At least it looks like they are making the watch part a little more reasonable in size. The 305 watch is HUGE and looks ridiculous on my wrist! LOL!

    Now get out and have some Garmin fun!

  • That salad looks extremely sad . . . and a little brown and wilty.

  • Do you think that running store will ship me a loaner GPS? I guess that’s something that will just have to stay on my “want” list for another year.

    The salad does look SAD. Nothing messes up a good salad like iceberg.

  • Ashley says:

    I would have been so disappointed in the salad, too. I was excited when I saw their sign, but then … ick!

    Like Jess said … will the running store ship these loaner GPS? 😉

  • Justine says:

    I have learned my lesson. Whole Foods salad bar is as good as it gets. I no longer have high hopes for restaurants unless they cost an arm and a leg :). Hope you had a great night with your new homeschooling friends :)

    ~Justine

  • Lizzy says:

    aw man a salad disappointment. you know that makes me sad! homemade salads are way better anyway especially cause all the veggies are way more fresh and bigger then our heads! :)