snippets of the weekend 1.16.2023

Friday was a tough day to get through, gray and my head was extremely congested. I finished Prince Harry's Spare and went to bed. 

Saturday I started a new book, then got my shit together to head to Center City for Jagged Little Pill at the Academy of Music with Amanda & Krissy. Heavy shit, funny too, good use of music. I loved the cast & show and cried a lot in the second half. I felt 18 and 45 and 80 all at once. We had dinner at Alice Pizza after, and then I was back home at 7:30 and out the door again at 8:45. Chickies & Pete's then the old Palace Roller Rink to celebrate Aubrey's birthday. There is still a subculture of amazing roller skaters out there rocking out regularly at adult skate and that makes me really happy. They were so good! Aubrey is a really good skater. It was fun to watch. We were back home around 1 and I was up reading until 2:10.

Sunday I finished a book, went to get a few groceries, made deviled eggs, made veggie and parsley heavy soup with the pork bone I brought back from Stephen & Aubrey's on New Year's Day, watched The Northman and the entire third season of Succession, and went to bed around midnight.

weekending reels on Instagram 

Happily I did not wake up when MFD came back from his Code Blue shift in the middle of the night. 

No day off here today. If you are off, enjoy, and remember Dr. King was not a series of prop quotes: he was a radical who was assassinated for his push for a revolution of values in this country. Leave the quotes in the pile and instead try embodying his fierce love and commitment to justice, equity, and peace along racial and class lines; his rejection of imperialism and materialism; and one a lot of people out there struggle with mightily in full view of others: his value of people over property.

If you've never read it or need a refresher, today is a good day to read Letter from a Birmingham Jail or the full transcript for his I Have a Dream speech.

TWTW - getting hygge with it

Friday was a grind, so I took the best friend dogs to the beach at lunch to clear my head. It was a great day out there. MFD arrived, we had a contractor out to look at some work, and we ordered pizza for dinner. I was dead asleep on the couch before 9. 

Saturday Thanks to Gus's early rising, I was up and at the laundromat by 7:30. It was a big day out for me. I got Bruce a jacket and picked up a scarf at one of my favorite stores in town, and did curbside pickup from the library. 

We did a family beach walk in the afternoon. 

A post-walk rest before I spent a few hours working before groceries got delivered. Melissa, Blane, Stephanie, and Alex stopped by on the way back from WW/Cape May. It's so good to see people in person even when you can only see half their faces. I made wings and salad for dinner and we watched Palm Springs. Also perused homes for sale, candles at Kevinfrancisdesign.com, and best heat pipe tape because some cold cold is coming for us in the next few weeks. 

Sunday I finally addressed my fucking terrible heels and did my nails (OPI This Shade is Ornamental). I did my toes with OPI Rainbows A Go Go and why does Marshalls have to bugger things up with the price tags. I also exfoliated everything and washed my hair. 

We did a long walk down at Corsons Inlet. Even Gus did the whole way with only a 15 minute carry by MFD. 

Of all the damn shows we haven't watched and we started re-watching LOST. I also did some work, some reading, some shore house booking business (one week open for the whole summer, and one I'm holding off the market for now). Dinner was a Trader Joe's pot roast I had in the freezer along with TJ's carrot coins in the air fryer, mashed potatoes a la MFD, and the beloved Grands Flaky Layers biscuits. 

And it was the last weekend trump was president. Hallelujah and amen.

MLK Day. If you have not read Letter from a Birmingham Jail, please take the time to do so today. If you have, but it's been a while, maybe another read. I've been reading it every year the last five or so. 

Let's go beyond sharing a MLK quote today and live a little like he and all the other people before and after him pushing for Black freedom lived. I hope we can find a way to be in service to our communities despite the pandemic (let me know if you need some ideas) and anti-racist today and every day, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and all the Black people who have existed within structural and systemically racist systems and dealt with personal racism because white people have refused to address white supremacy. This is our work. It's past time. Let's do it.

TWTW - the perfect soup weekend

Friday John Bender was waiting for dinner and so was I. MFD made salmon and caesar salad. Then we all assumed our January positions with blankets and pillows and books and Stash peppermint tea. 

Saturday I headed down to the women's march in Philly solo. I saw graffiti under the bridge on the Schuylkill River Trail that said humans is losing their mind and grammar aside, I feel that. I am worn out. Not a lot of pics because I didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets and I didn't make a sign this year, I just showed up. 

Back at home I putzed around with laundry and soup making while MFD bought a new to him car. He was out seeing Vincent's band at night and I hung out with my mother-in-law and did a face mask and decided the book I was reading all day for the Show Us Your Books Readathon was not worthy so I started a new one at 11 pm. 

Sunday Pro-tip: the best time to change the sheets is as soon as you get up so you're already feeling accomplished by 7:30 am on a Sunday and if you end up doing nothing else, you did that. I made scrapple in the air fryer and we watched the Aaron Hernandez documentary on Netflix.

I finally got going with a shower, went to visit my niece and nephew, etc. MFD's uncle brought dinner over in the afternoon and his aunts and cousin and gram and sister were over too and that was nice. I fell asleep on the couch watching Game of Thrones and went up to bed around 2 am, falling asleep close to 3 when MFD was getting home from his Code Blue shift. 

Weekly food prep: Breakfast is breakfast burritos from the freezer. Lunches are leftover soup (recipe tomorrow) or spaghetti squash with chicken and buffalo sauce. Dinners are the spaghetti squash/soup/ chicken breasts in the air fryer with quinoa and steamed veggies.

Any day is a good day to read Dr. King's letter from Birmingham Jail, but especially today and especially if you haven't. May we not only share his words in quotes with his photo on them, but actually live with that spirit of equal rights in our hearts but more importantly, reflected in our actions. 

TWTW

1. As of 8 p.m. Friday night, our heat was restored. Can I get a FUCK YEAH? Then MFD bullied me into going to the gym. The gym...who are we? Raise your hand if you think we've been body snatched. My hand is raised, FYI.

2. My boys rarely lay like this anymore, especially on weekends when they're hot to get up and be President and VP of the A-hole Wakeup Committee.

3. Michelle and I had an awesome super early lunch at Pho Saigon. Philly friends, go there. And make sure you get the coffee Vietnamese style. We hit Ikea and Marshalls too. It was a fabulous girls day out that I didn't even have to shower for.

4. No fun awaited me back at home. The basement was torn apart from the heater situation, so I had to put that all back together. I ended up getting rid of a bunch of crap and packing my car up for a Goodwill donation this week. I also finally ditched all the DVD cases to make room for freaking Star Wars displays. And yes, this is the 1996 cinematic masterpiece Mother May I Sleep With Danger? starring Tori Spelling as Laurel. It's okay to be jealous of it.

5. Putting away the rest of my goods (towels from IKEA), realizing I forgot to actually put something I needed in the cart there, tea, and watching the first episode of the second season of The Fall rounded out Saturday night.

6. Sunday morning was a rainy, icy shit show. We slept in, changed sheets and put the new duvet on, and then just relaxed. Not as much as the dogs relaxed though.

7. While MFD was at church, I sat down to put together my IKEA cart with Gus's help. As soon as MFD got back, he was called in to finish it because putting shit together is not in my wheelhouse.

8. We're avoiding the processed food for the most part this month. This week's breakfast: hard boiled eggs (the brown spots on the pic below are from baking them - it's easier and they don't taste any different) and power breakfast or spinach muffins from the freezer. This week's lunch: spinach chicken orzo soup. Dinners are broiled tilapia, roasted carrots, and brown rice; broiled salmon, steamed cauliflower, and roasted sweet potatoes; chicken and brown rice with butternut squash and sauteed spinach; ground turkey with tomatoes, spinach, and mushrooms; and eggs scrambled with mushrooms and spinach.

9. We took MFD's Gram to dinner at Garden of Eatin on Sunday with the early birds. I hadn't been there before and it was good.

10. I closed Sunday out by finishing up laundry, laying my clothes out for the week, then getting in bed with a book and the dramatic flair of my Sunday night love, Downton Abbey.

Yikes...second weekend in a row I didn't use my real camera once. Not a good look. I pledge to do better in the future. Probably. If I feel like it.

For those of you that have off today, well...not only do I not have off, I have to be in early. So please, make your enjoyment a double for me. And take a minute to think about the life of the man we're observing today - someone who strove for equality and peace, who thought about how his actions impacted others and was mindful of improving the world around him. We could all take a page out of his book.

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending