From the Inside Out

Have you ever stood in front of a menu at a fast food restaurant and wished you could get something else? According to Mental Floss, fast food restaurants across the country have many secret items that aren’t advertised on their menus. You just have to know to ask for them. I find this fascinating, and I can’t wait to try it out!

Here are the ones I think are the most interesting:

1. Jamba Juice has secret candy-inspired smoothies including white gummy bear, starbursts, fruity pebbles and PB&J.
2. Wendy’s offers a “meat cube” or “grand slam” consisting of four meat patties stacked on a bun.
3. Starbucks will give you a “short” coffee if their smallest size (tall) is too big for you.
4. Chipotle and Taco Bell will make almost anything as long as they have the ingredients for it. Taco Bell is also rumored to have a yummy green chili sauce at most locations, but you won’t find it on the menu.
5. McDonalds will give you a Neapolitan mikshake — chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry layered in a cup.
6. In-N-Out Burger offers “protein style” burgers wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. They also let you order any combo of meat and cheese. For example, if you want 3 beef patties and 3 slices of cheese, order a 3 x 3. Finally, there’s the Flying Dutchman: two slices of cheese between two patties — no bun.

Do you know of others? If so, share them by commenting below. For the Mental Floss Top 10 list, click here.

Hi-ho, hi-ho — it’s back to work I go. After a great vacation, I had to force myself today to re-engage in all of the work-related activities that I left behind a few days ago: product launches, drama productions, young marrieds group, and regular blog updates. You’d think it would be easier to come back after a nice break. You’re relaxed and refreshed. You’re re-energized, but it’s still hard to force yourself to get back in the groove.

I need more than a short vacation; I need a sabbatical. Every fiber of my body is screaming, “I’m not ready yet!” Unfortunately, life goes on whether I’m ready or not. So I set my alarm this morning and reluctantly awoke to a heavy dose of reality.

After trudging through work-related issues and challenges, it was time for the bright spot in my day…SNL rehearsal. The sketches are finally starting to come together, and it’s happening just in time because the first performance is next Friday, Oct. 9th! There’s still much work to be done before we head into tech week — ah, there’s another dose of reality. I have a huge list of action items to complete in a short amount of time. Yikes, it’s going to be a busy week!

I guess I won’t be going on sabbatical after all.

And now for a shameless plug — come see the show next weekend!

We left Bellagio yesterday morning and caught a train to Milan. On the way there, we met three women — all from Texas — traveling together. I think it’s funny how you can go across the globe and still meet people who live in your own backyard. One of the ladies was from Flower Mound and another had a daughter who lives in Plano — go figure.

Anway, we arrived into Milan in the afternoon, took a cab to the hotel, and then went out to explore the city. It was a shock to our systems after the peaceful, slow pace of Bellagio. Milan is a lively, busy city, and it’s fashion week. Still, we had a good time walking around the streets, checking out the sights, and window shopping at all of the high-end designer stores. It’s a girl’s dream world — every major designer you can think of has a boutique here — and it’s all within walking distance to our hotel!

We had more time today to check out the key sites in the historic city center of Milan. We toured through the Milan Duomo (amazing), Galleria, and the Castle Sforza and gardens.

Here are a few highlights. For more, check out the Milan photo album.

Milan Duamo — 4th largest church in the world (seats 40K people) and it took over four centuries to build

Old meets new - view from the roof of the Duomo

On the roof - spectacular views here of Milan and the marble Duomo

Castle Sforza

The galleria, built in the 1800s

We got up early today, caught a boat and then a bus, for our journey across the border into Switzerland. Lugano is another town situated on a large lake that runs across both Italy and Switzerland.

At first I was concerned that it would be too similar to the towns we had already visited on Lake Como, but it wasn’t. Lugano had a flair all its own — it was a mixture of modern and historic. And it was sizably larger than any of the towns on Lake Como. It’s one of the largest towns in Switzerland in surface area.

First view of the city

The mountains, town, and lake of Lugano

Markets on the streets of Lugano

Bell tower of San Lorenzo and curvy streets

The funicolare, cable cars that take you up the mountains

Gorgeous day — we took the funicolare up to the top of Mt. Bre (on the right)

View from the top of Mt. Bre — amazing, huh?

Another view from the top

To see all of our fun photos from today’s adventure, look at the Lugano album.

Tomorrow: Milan!

Quick update today because I’ve got to get up early tomorrow morning for our day trip to Switerland (whoohoo)!

I woke up this morning and was greeted with a card and a few presents from Gary for my birthday. I opened most of the gifts before we left, but he saved a couple of the smaller ones for me to open today. It helps make the day more special, as if being in Italy isn’t enough (haha!).

We spent the day back in Varenna, exploring the Castello di Velzio and Villa Monastery. Below are a few pictures. For all the pictures from our adventure today, check out the Varenna photo album.

Castello di Velzio

Lovely Varenna - you can see the Castle on top of the hill. We climbed all the way up there today!

Having fun with the mirrors at Villa Monastery

The Villa Monastery — used to be an old monastery years ago

Streets of Varenna. You can still see the medieval influences all over this town. It’s so cool.

Back in Bellagio for my birthday dinner at an outdoor ristorante