Thursday Thoughts

1. I love peanut butter. I'm not normally a Skippy girl - I prefer Peter Pan - but it was on sale. I could eat PB&J daily.

2. Back to the gym this week. I sucked at life and did not go last week, and the week before I was in California, and the week before California I assed out of half of the week. Dear self: it's painful to get back into the gym routine, so just keep going and stop being a lazy excuse making mofo. The first day back to the gym I forgot my hair tie. That's karma saying "I told you to keep going, asshole. This is what you get."

3. I just noticed that my ankles are scaly on the outside. I must be missing a spot with my moisturizer, making me the Lizard Queen. No relation to the Lizard King. Have I ever mentioned I don't care for The Doors?

Photo: thedoorsfansite.com

4. This blog turned one year old on July 31. I missed it. I should've baked cupcakes.

photo: weheartit.com

5. I hope you didn't miss the amazing sky on Tuesday night. I could recline on those folds of orange.

6. I want to see The Dark Knight Rises, The Bourne Legacy, The Campaign, and Men in Black III. When we were in our early 20s, we went to the movies all the time. Now it's one million dollars per ticket, I'm tired after being out of the house from 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.+, and I usually wait until I can get it at the Redbox. B-i-n-g-o and Lameo is my nameo.

7. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo Child, INDEED. Have you seen this on TLC? For those not in the know, HBBC was on Toddlers & Tiaras, and she was hilarious. So they gave her and her redneck family their own show. The father works seven days a week, and the rest of them sleep until noon, 1, 2. Then they get up and eat cheeseballs and prepare for pageants. They fart a lot too. What? It's a must-watch.

Photo: wetpaint.com

8. I made a big batch of red sauce in the crockpot last night. I always do it on the stovetop, but I wasn't inclined to stand over it and I'd just seen a recipe for it on pinterest in the crockpot, so I figured what the hell. It turned out pretty well. I doubled it and will freeze some.

9. If you liked The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, try The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. I stayed up to finish it last night.

10. Ecard of the week: I picked this gem up from Gena on the facespace. It made me cackle loudly.

You gotta get your groove on, before you go get paid. So tip up your cup and throw your hands up
And let me hear the party say, "this concludes my Thursday Thoughts."

Cause down the shore everything's alright...

If I could live anywhere, I'd live at the Jersey shore - not the fist pumping Jersey Shore shore - but Strathmere, Cape May, Ocean City? I'd live there in a second. I grew up going to Ocean City, and through the years migrated to other shores: Sea Isle, North Wildwood, Cape May, Strathmere. Some of my best memories were made down the shore, and not to be new agey, but I feel very much myself there. MFD feels the same way, which is why we chose to get married down there.

The shore is laid back, easy, no fuss. Throw some clothes in a bag and go. I pack my beach bag with a big hat, long sleeves for when the wind turns between 3 - 4 p.m., sunblock, two books, crosswords, twizzlers, and plums or nectarines, and I'm content to be at the beach all day.

I like it when it's sunny or overcast. I like the beach in the spring, fall, winter. I like it when it's raining.

I love to travel to places I've never been, but when it comes right down to it, I'd choose the shore over any other destination. Every time I go down, I'm reminded of so many great times shared with people I adore. Since I'm heading down this weekend, here's a little through the years kaleidoscope.

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.  

~Isak Dinesen

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea.

- e.e. cummings

hark, now hear the sailors cry, smell the sea, and feel the sky 

let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic...

~Van Morrison

A beach was a fine place to come to terms with all the cycles of the universe. 

~Pat Conroy, Beach Music

To me there has never been anything more evocative of 

summer and wildness and bittersweet joy than a sea wind. 

Anne Rivers Siddons, Outer Banks

In still moments by the sea life seems large-drawn and simple. 

It is there we can see into ourselves.

~Rolf Edberg

There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is 

the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, 

that is the interior of the soul. 

~Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, 

Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, 

With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, 

Let me forget about today until tomorrow. 

― Bob Dylan

The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. 

It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. 

No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can't.

~Christopher Paolini, Eragon

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

-- T. S. Eliot

We'll be making more shore memories this weekend with Amanda and Frank.

It's nice to have something to look forward to in the middle of the week, no?

Wishing you all a stellar Wednesday,

the weekend that was

Spotted: disco scene at Yoshi as I was heading to my train on Friday at Surburban Station.
One stop frozen yogurt + sushi + disco = Get down tonight, y'all.

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Ever-present, awful, insidious headache and sore throat all weekend.

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Naughty times Friday dinner - Meem's egg rolls and mac & cheese - with a side of True Blood and Rizzoli & Isles. I gave in and watched the last two episodes of True Blood.
Things are going to hell in a hand basket down in Bon Temps.
Eric Northman, fix this shit.

Photo: trueblood-news.com

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Aside from two hours of hausfrauing, I spent much of Saturday in the kitchen.
I made 2 lb of black beans to freeze in can-size portions.

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Iced tea with a new secret ingredient to make it smoother by removing the bite of the tea tannins.
Psst...it's a pinch of baking soda.

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Black bean quesadillas for the freezer.

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A version of the egg mcmuffin for the freezer 

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Homemade Kind bars.
I used barley malt syrup as the binder, dried apricots and dried cranberries as the fruit, dry roasted almonds as the nut, and Rice Crispies as the crisp cereal. I think it needs more fruit.
Then I ate a bowl of Rice Crispies, which I haven't done in probably 20 years.

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Cheesy zucchini rice. This was super easy and delicious and  recommended by Lauren on pinterest.

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Self manicure & pedicure

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This is billed on allrecipes.com as the Best Steak Marinade in Existence.
It was pretty damn good. I substituted fresh herbs because I had them.
 p.s. I love my Mickey pot holder.

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I made a beer run for these three while wearing fuchsia pajama pants. The End.

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Ode to the tomato sandwich...you were breakfast on Sunday. Then you were my lunch. In case you haven't noticed, I love you a whole bunch.

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Lazy Sunday:

• The Godfather I & II. I wish I spoke Italian. MFD said, "You can't beat a Sunday in the air conditioning watching this when it's so hot out." He's right, you can't. I mean you could be swimming, but we weren't. We were couching.
• A chocolate chip cookie in a mug. Eh. 
• Pinning on pinterest.
• Quality time with my dogs.
• Reading The Dovekeepers.
• Darren Daulton scared the crap out of me as I went to get something out of the utility closet. MFD moved him and didn't notify me. 
• Veggie primavera quinoa for this week's lunches.
• Text plotting next weekend's exploits with Amanda.
• Le Olympics. WHY can't the stuff I want to see be on earlier? I am sick of going to bed after midnight on school nights. 
• Paging Dr. Venkman...Ghostbuster skies and thunderstorms. Geege had a bird, per usual.    

This weekend was a good mix of productive and lazy, with lots of rest and sleep. Just what the doctor ordered.

By the power of Greyskull, let's get this week going.