TWTW - the first one home in a month

I almost forgot what it was like not doing a gaht damn thing Friday night, but my dogs helped me remember. Wings for dinner, frozen berries and some reading for dessert, and four episodes of Season 3 of Bosch.

We were equally lazy Saturday morning until it was time to go to the March for Science in Doylestown. We were originally going to the Philly March, but the Doylestown March was organized by high school students and helped by Rise Up Doylestown and many local sponsors and we felt the need to support them in that huge undertaking. Kids, you rock! And you give me hope for the future. It was a great day despite the damp cold and rain and I was really happy to see large turnouts in the 600+ science marches around the world even though media coverage of the marches sucked. Climate change has us all in the soup together. I made sure to rep Mother Earth in my choice of attire.

After that there was almost a massacre because I got hangry and I think we all know how that goes. We settled in at Andale Latino Grill in Feasterville for really freaking good food. It looks a little hole in the wall-ish but damn. It was delicious. I picked up a few things at the grocery store including $5 flowers and spent the night doing a face mask, purging dressers, and reorganizing for the spring/summer seasons.

Sunday morning I took care of the weekly food prep: breakfast is an egg bake with ham, cheese, and broccoli; lunch is pork chops over sweet potatoes and broccoli;  snacks are celery and PB, cucumbers, and yogurt; dinners are baked buffalo chicken pasta and salmon with steamed broccoli and rice. I also made the egg part I need for breakfast burritos to freeze. I'll finish making them this week.

Then we picked up our friend Bob and headed up to the Nakashima House to hear Regina Brave, Charles Whalen, and Loren Bagola speak. I met them along with the men's significant others and Regina's granddaughter the day before and had a total wow, I'm meeting fucking Regina Brave moment. She is a warrior for the sovereignty of the indigenous people and the energy coming off of her is tremendous. As a reader and a writer, I love to hear people tell their stories. It was wonderful to hear her tell the stories of her people. Not so wonderful are the stories themselves of what the US government has done to the native people. All three were an emotional listen - Regina with her stories of all the things she's seen in her 80+ years, Loren with his stories of violence he saw inflicted on the water protectors on the front lines at Standing Rock, and Charles with a mix of both of those things along with his thoughts on water and the environment and passive resistance. Standing Rock is not over. There are people still standing for the water, and they are out now speaking to spread their stories. There is a treaty. We are in violation. We need to listen. Here's Grandma Regina at Stanford last week. Not to mention that the water from the Missouri feeds the greenbelt. If that gets poisoned, we're all fucked. 

Charles at the Doylestown March Saturday / Regina Brave here and there / Charles & Regina at Nakishima Sunday

The Nakashima Complex is really beautiful and is open to the public on Saturday afternoons. If you're in the New Hope area, check it out. George Nakashima's story is pretty incredible too. It is fucking crazy to think one of the preeminent furniture designer-craftsmen in the U.S. was interned in a Japanese relocation center. The grounds and buildings are gorgeous and my fat ass sat in a Nakashima chair.

Other Sunday things: purging of the closets, reading, nail painting, Sunday night blues.

The only thing I needed to do this weekend was go to Target. The only thing I didn't do? Go to Target. You know how that goes. 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

Local Love: Four things to know about this week

In Bucks County  
Check out this public facebook group on a 30 Day April Declutter Challenge / Sexual Assault Awareness Month - Select one item a day you no longer use or wear and donate the bag to NOVA Thrift Shop in Perkasie. All money raised will support victims of sexual assault and help provide prevention education programs in Bucks County. It's like raising $$ for a great cause just by getting rid of shit you don't use anymore. Donations are accepted daily. Network of Victim Assistance (NOVA) supports, counsels and empowers victims of sexual assault and other serious crimes in Bucks County and works to prevent and eliminate violence in society through advocacy, training, community education, and prevention programs.

In Center City 

#SurpriseArtShow: A Pop-Up Public Art Exhibition in Center City until Monday, April 10, put together by Streets Dept. The art is in the windows so you can see it day or night. I pink puffy heart love happening upon street art, and I love when other people show me where they happen upon it. If you work in town, it's at 18th & Chestnut. We don't get a ton of these in the business district so I was pumped to come across it. I shared one from BLUR on my IG yesterday. I am big on supporting local artists and I own a few of her prints (this one and this one and I still want this one). All artists are linked in Street Dept's blog post and you can find their shops via those links. I must have this Divine Lorraine poster by Monica O in my next home.

 Amberella - Goth Hearts series

Park Shortcut - When I'm walking from Chestnut to Market I always cut through the John F. Collins Park via the alley off 17th when I'm walking towards Chestnut or next to the bagel store when I'm walking towards Market. It's a tiny spot of serenity. Could we not all use some more serenity?

In Pennsylvania
Fairdistrictspa.com - Gerrymandering is bad for all of us, something politicians from both sides of the aisle actually agree on. Please read up on it and urge your local legislator to cosponsor and support SB22, a bipartisan constitutional amendment in PA to reform the rules. If you look at these two districts (I'm in the 13th), you can see how fucking crazy some of these districts are and it will be apparent that officials from both parties are picking and choosing the voters they represent and not allowing the voters to choose who represents them. This might not change who we put in office but it will change how they govern once they're there - they will have to reach across the aisle and truly represent all of us. They will also do a better job representing constituents because they won't be spanning multiple counties. This bill is in committee right now and it would do all of us much good to get on the phone with our reps to support it. Check out the Fair Districts PA site to learn more.

I might do this every once in a while for here in Philly/Bucks and Ocean City.

And of course today is Eva the Diva's birthday. Happy birthday girlfriend!

Until tomorrow then, mon frer.

TWTW - the one with the tubing

Can we get excited about groceries for a minute? I know it's a lot to ask, but Friday two grocery miracles happened. 1) Amazon Fresh missed their 4-7 a.m. delivery window and fully refunded me $109, gave me an additional $25 credit, and told me to keep and use any groceries that were not affected by heat if they did happen to arrive (they attempted to cancel the order). Guess what? The groceries arrived and most were fine on the front step. It's like they paid me for their fuckup. 2) I found cucumber mint water at Target after work and bought all five cases like the psycho I am because I haven't been able to find this shit for a year and it's the only sparkling water I like. If you see it, pick some up...unless you live near me then mine mine mine. Also shown: $5 flowers of the week - I love carnations even though they're the plebe of flowers - painted nails (OPI Cajun Shrimp), and sun dappled Gussie.

Saturday morning MFD dropped me at the Langhorne Coffee House while he showed properties. I had a scrapple, egg, and cheese on a long roll and read my book. I also stared at the building across (est 1738) thinking about all the people that have been in there over the past 278 years, people watched, and sweat my ass off as there was no seating inside.

We were finally on our way to go tubing around 11:45. The drive there was nice until we were basically off roading due to a River Road detour. When we got there, I wanted to leave. LOL. It was disorganized and so fucking hot, everything was a million dollars, everyone was moving slowly, and a poor man fell and MFD had to help him up. Finally on the old ass school bus there was a breeze and my mood improved. It was a long ass float down the river. I think it took us about 3.5 hours with a stop at the world famous Hot Dog Man in the middle of it. I could have shaved two hours off and been totally fine with that. MFD had to pull us every once in a while to get us moving and he also MacGuyver'd his shoe laces in the middle of the river, asking a passerby in a kayak for a knife. Who asks strangers for knives? LOL for days. I'm glad we made it happen as it's on my 40 before 40 and if it didn't happen this weekend, it wasn't happening before 40. Local friends, we went with Delaware River Tubing out of Point Pleasant. Buy your tickets online so you don't have to stand in the longest line ever there, and make sure they give you a wristband for the Hot Dog Man event or that will be the most expensive hotdog you've ever eaten. Video here.

After a quick change in the grossly hot changing rooms, we tore ass out of there and refueled with water at Wawa, then stopped at the Pineville Tavern for dinner on a whim. This was my second time and MFD's first. The jalapeno fried oysters were delicious as was my ribeye - don't be alarmed, I just like to poke holes in it and add some butter to the top before eating. Heart attack city, but it's a rare treat.

We ended up bringing a good bit of our meals home because our intended destination before that little side track jobby was O Wow Cow in Carousel Village. And man, oh wow. My eyes were bigger than my stomach and I only ate half of this glorious sundae. I had the honey lavender ice cream topped with caramel and mixed berries with homemade whipped cream. It was amazing. Cash only locals! Try it, all ingredients are locally sourced and organic. You can buy pints and quarts too. It's connected to Organnons Natural Market so I picked up some mozzarella and tomatoes and we smelled soaps trying to gross each other out with the worst smelling one. Hashtag grownups.

Tubing wears you the F out. I was in bed before 10 p.m. and slept a solid nine. Sunday I had an 80 minute massage with a foot scrub treatment and half hour cold stone facial at 9. It was glorious. I carbed up at Panera after as is my custom. Sunday at home was a pretty slow day. I culled my nail polish collection (these got tossed), did a face mask and some other personal care-ish grooming, lounged on clean sheets and read, and did some food prep. I was in bed before 8:30 to read. Glory be.

Weekly food prep:
Breakfast is egg muffins with mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese; lunches are baked chicken breasts and veggies (not pictured, not needed until Tuesday); dinners are a combination of caprese, roasted veggies I needed to use up, pork tenderloin, and salmon. I also made two dozen power breakfast muffins to freeze for snacks. Other snacks are cucumbers and strawberries as well as Nature's Valley roasted nut crunch bars. I also made a golden turmeric paste for dogs and humans. More to come on that - Geege was prescribed rimadyl for his arthritis and we had to take him off after five days - he was a totally different dog, not himself. AEB pointed me to the golden turmeric paste so I'm going to give that a try.

Sliding on into Monday, then. But first tell me about your weekend!

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

Ode to the Olympics: Once upon a time I did professional gymnast things for a grade

A few weeks ago I got a call from Laura one night after 10 p.m. There was a lot of noise in the background. She said, "Do you remember doing full on gymnastics in junior high?"

I did. I do. But until that phone call, I hadn't thought about it in years and I certainly never thought that it might have been out of the ordinary. Laura's husband Chris and his boys, all North Jersey-ites, didn't believe her. Hence the rowdy noise in the background and the need for the validation call. It's good to have long-time friends who remember things that you can't or who you can call and ask if such and such really happened. As we talked, we realized maybe not everyone did this in junior high...

And as odd as it sounds in the context of the world we live in today, this full blown gymnastics period certainly happened in our junior high gym classes. When I say full blown, I mean uneven bars, vault, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, beam, floor, etc. We were surely privileged to have all of that equipment in three junior highs in the school district. Everyone's name was on a chart and the more difficult things you picked and executed, the more points you got.

I do not walk gently in this world. I am a Tuesday's child not full of physical grace. But once upon a time, I did a cartwheel off of a balance beam and executed a dismount from the uneven bars. I did not win a medal but I didn't break my ass or die from fear either. I consider that a win. I'm sure I wasn't alone in that - out of every gym period there were probably one to three people with any skill and the rest of us were like newborn colts trying to find their legs and balance.

We all discussed it this past weekend at Kim's shower and were laughing and crowing about things we did. We were in junior high from September 1989 - June 1992. Everyone participated. Everyone competed. There were injuries. We laughed at each other. We survived. No one got sued.

Can you imagine this taking place today? If you are around my age (39), did you do this in your school?

Fellow Neshaminy grads, do you remember this? My brother, six years younger than me, didn't have this curriculum. Laura's brother, three years younger, did. I'm curious when it began and when it ended. Do we owe this to having Joel Baba, an alternate to the 1952 Olympics team, on staff?

TWTW - the one with the rainbow

Have you ever gone to Target wearing red and blended in with the staff? Lori did on Friday. We also did a big Sam's trip. I painted my nails with a new color Debbie had on last weekend - Essie Muchi Muchi - and booked a cruise for next year so we will be with our cruising buddies Jill & Frank in the Southern Caribbean at the end of April.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Lori and I dropped stuff at my Mom's, went to see my father-in-law in the hospital, then moseyed on up to Peace Valley Lavender Farm in Doylestown. I got some plants to flank my front steps, lotions and potions and honey lavender shortbread cookies which are amazing.

We stopped for lunch at the Pineville Tavern and it was perfect eating outside weather. Dropped Dad & Carol's carpet cleaner off on the way home and spent a quiet afternoon on the couch with los perros.

We celebrated my brother's college graduation from Villanova University, including an appearance by the cardboard cutout of him that attended his high school graduation party in lieu of him.

There was also a little rainstorm that yielded a fabulous double rainbow. That's some sort of awesome luck for your entrance into life after college. 

Sunday I didn't leave the house all day. I did a little work on the basement reorg project, did five loads of laundry and put all of them away, read, hung out with the dogs, did a face mask, and planted the lavender I got on Sunday. It was a good self care day. I was glad our first stranger renters were at the shore house this weekend and enjoyed it.

Things I'm not learning: when I send MFD to get mulch, he will come back with more flowers and crowd the bed. At least I superseded him on hanging planters this year and got them cheap at Produce Junction on Saturday instead of the million dollar ones he likes to buy from Home Depot. After he finished planting his extras, he mulched the beds and we're pretty set for the season...as long as my previously planted bulbs come up.

Weekly food prep: breakfast is egg muffins with baby bellas, tomatoes, and cheese; lunch is chicken/brown rice/veggie bowls; snacks are snap peas and bell peppers, mango and strawberries; dinners are chicken thighs and veggies and chicken salad (from Sam's) on rye with a side of veg.

I was supposed to be at the shore this weekend, but I have to say I had a great one at home. I always love when Lori stays with us and any time I get to see many family members at once is awesome. 

Where are my Stella & Dot jewelry fans? I'm hosting an online trunk shopping party if you're interested. Forty percent of the profits from my Trunk Show will go to Paw Works, a no-kill, animal rescue in Los Angeles (www.pawworks.org). Shop this link: http://www.stelladot.com/ts/1mag6 or let me know if you'd prefer an invitation via email or facebook if we're friends on there. 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending &

When I was in high school...

Thanks to Nadine at Life by Nadine Lynn for this post idea!

I was overwhelmed by the amount of people I went to high school with - there were over 700 in my graduating class alone. I was awful with names and only so so with faces. The best chance of me knowing someone was if I went to elementary and junior high with them too.

I told it like it is then just like I do now. I like to think I'm more tactful now as an adult but that's probably not true. Blunt seems to be in my bones.

You had to do research and find people and things. Computers, email, cell phones were not a thing. I remember some class in the business center with word processors and that crazy computer paper. I never used those skills again after leaving that room.

Homeroom made me feel awkward because it was early, pointless, and I was bad at small talk but I didn't know to feel okay about hating small talk back then so I just felt awkward and weird. Talking about being tired seemed to be my fall back.

I totally looked forward to the History Club trips. We laughed so much. I remember them fondly.

I don't know what we're doing, but it was apparently funny.

I was frequently tardy senior year, mostly because I was up late talking on the phone and listening to Christopher Knight on the radio.

When I said I'd be friends with my core group of friends forever, I meant it. I still have the same best friends now as I did then. The guys too, they're just not pictured here. I had lost touch with some other friends but reconnected with many through Facebook, which has been nice.

I didn't sleep a wink the night before the first day of sophomore year.

I was in a distracted daze due to my parents' split and eventual divorce for most of junior and senior year. A lot of daily life details from that time have slipped my mind.

I nearly crashed my car searching blindly on the passenger side floor for the mixed tape with Hey Jealousy on it. I did crash my car while driving with Jenny to Gym Night practice on the winding road through Parkland from Penndel to the high school. 

Maybe now is a good time to mention I failed my driver's test four times. I'm a good driver though, I swear!

I went to and hosted parties but was a goody goody at heart and never wanted to get in trouble. 

I liked school and my teachers a lot. Except for Mrs. Fricke's Algebra II class. 

I really loved the view of the drive coming in and the stadium. I still do. I also love that it's called Heartbreak Ridge.

Everything seemed urgent and important...99% of it wasn't.

I didn't believe in school dances and had zero desire to attend any of them. I only went to the senior prom because my mom wanted me to. Laura went to all the dances, including the sophomore dance with MFD, who was late picking her up because he was getting a hair cut. I love that story and that it is still applicable today - Laura is still always on time and MFD is still frequently late due to hair cut timing issues.

Pic courtesy of Laura

I never cleaned my room and there were huge piles of clothes everywhere. The thought makes me want to die now.

I was an idealist and then all of the sudden I wasn't. That felt liberating and adult.

I worked 20-30 hours a week at Macy's and chose work over senior week after senior year. I loved making my own money and I still do.

I loved a lot of things about Gym Night, which is weird because I'm not competitive, I wasn't a good athlete, and I don't like dancing in front of people. 

I enjoyed writing and thought it would be easy to crank out a best selling novel. Fiction has been an elusive mistress in the ensuing 19 years so here I am with a blog because I still enjoy relating through writing.

Now you. Tell me about you in high school.