Thursday Thoughts - got a photograph, picture of

1. Philly friends, today is the 5th Annual Food Truck Pop Up benefiting Dining Out For Life Philadelphia from 11-2 at 13th & Locust. Go forth, eat, and support an awesome cause. Stop by The Tot Cart. If you're looking for a place for dinner (or lunch if you can't get to the Pop Up) that will benefit this worthy cause, check here. You didn't want to cook today anyway, did you? Of course I am working at home today because the guy is coming to fix the oven. I've been without an oven for two weeks.

2. Saturday is the March for Science in D.C., nicely coinciding with Earth Day. There are marches for science in many other cities and suburbs as well. To find one near you, click here. Put your SPF on, grab your sign, and bring a trash bag to clean up after yourself. MFD and I will be at the march in Doylestown. Science plays a very real role in each of our lives every day. To hear politicians enact a war on science and see a trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery is alarming. The March for Science champions robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity; calling for people to unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence based policies in the public interest. How can anyone be unable to get behind that?

3. I love when utility covers are arty.

4. I've not been watching TV. I'm excited for this. I love Harry Bosch.

5. I'm mulling over a number of subjects I feel the need to address in writing but have not reached the point of being able to articulate them in the way I'd like for public consumption. Thursday Thoughts was first published here in February 2012 and has continued ever since because it's how my brain works: all over the place with a little bit of commentary on this and that. If you are a regular reader, you know that my longer posts on one subject are fewer and farther between than my bullet point rapid fire posts. That is the truest glimpse into my brain you will ever get.

6. Articles I liked this week: What Happens When Women Legislate and Fox News finally fires Bill O'Reilly - two decades too late. Article I read but hated because it made me die inside: First Protected DREAMer is deported .

7. I could not stop laughing at this.

8. I need bar soap storage ideas for the shower in our apartment at the shore. My stupid soap dish keeps falling off the wall and besides I like to have two soaps to choose from plus MFD has a soap and I have a face soap and now this sounds like a ridiculous amount of soaps, I know. Anyone? Bueller? Ayudame, por favor. The shower is very tight.

9. Reminder: 10 out of 10 times, you already know. You just don't always listen.

10. E-card of the week: Today is National High Five Day, after all. Yes, there is such a thing. It's also 4/20. Will I ever reach an age where I hear 4/20 and don't think of weed?

Virtual high fives to you.


Linking up with Kristin & Joey 

TWTW - the one that felt like spring in February

Walking past a man singing Damn it Feels Good to Be a Gangsta is a perfect way to leave the workweek behind on Friday. I did virtually nothing that night except finish this fucked up book and get a massage at 9 pm. I also got the sketch for the tattoo I'm getting to cover up the one currently on my back, and I loved it.

Saturday morning MFD and I went to a Meet a Muslim Neighbor gathering. More on that tomorrow. Sorry because if you're on IG you might have already seen this photo there and I rarely double up.  

Then we threw the dogs in the car and drove to the shore to take in the salt cure. 

We also checked in on the house to make sure all was well and to remind ourselves of all the work that is coming our way in a few weeks. 

We were back home by 5 and lounged the night away. The dogs were absolutely exhausted after their beach run. I started a new book and watched a Golden Girls marathon. The best thing about doing that is singing the theme song every half hour. Thank you for being a friendddd

Sunday morning started with unfortunately weak coffee that had to be tossed. I did the changing of the sheets and the other hausfrauing bullshit required not to be a dirtbag. Then I met up with a small progressive group in my area at Panera before sitting outside with the dogs to enjoy the 70 degree weather on February 19. It's nice and all but climate change, man.

Weekly food prep was light this week: scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese for breakfast; snacks are power breakfast muffins, granny smith apples, and cucumbers; lunches are baked pesto chicken over brown rice; and dinners will be spaghetti with simple sauce and salmon with steamed veggies. 

Sunday afternoon we went to Catie & Joe's engagement party to celebrate their upcoming nuptials where I ate a shit ton of sugar, shared many laughs with friends, and took zero photos. 

And in the spirit of President's Day...

That about does it for me. How was yours? What is your favorite thing you did? 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

TWTW - the one with no title just words and a tune

This is two Fridays in a row where I was not on the couch like a slug by 7 pm. Is there a reward for this? I met my lady friends for dinner at Wahlburgers in Northern Liberties. The burgers were good, as were the shoestring red onion rings but there were no actual Wahlburgs in sight. We were going to follow it up with bowling but sat running our mouths for too long. Bitches got a lot to talk about!

Is there a better way to start a Saturday than a 6:10 am grocery delivery? Most definitely. A little later in the morning I attended a local Women's Democrat meeting even though I have massive political fatigue right now. I did like it even though I am not really a traditional mold dem anymore. Plus I scored sashes for the march. Holler. 

I spent the rest of the day basically slow cooking dinner, reading the newest book in one of my favorite series of books, and doing a little purging and organizing in the basement to make room for hand me down furniture from my Dad & Carol. This is going to be my shore staging station where things get put that need to be taken to the shore or stored to take there soon.

Dinner and dessert at home on Saturday: prime rib with garlic herb butter, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a pear crisp. Dynamite. It was my first time making a prime rib and I don't know why I waited so long. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be to have it done the way I like it. I think I was mostly worried about putting out a lot of cash for a cut of meat and fucking it up. That didn't happen! And the entire dinner is a straight up copy of that Tasty video that's been around facebook.

Otherwise, dog lounging. We watched the first episode of The OA on Netflix. Wild, man.

Sunday I met my old friend Alyssa for brunch at the Cheesecake Factory for an extended and overdue catch up. I also saw my old friend Tara who was there with her family. Junior high/high school reunion day. 

Back at home I picked up, changed the sheets, put laundry away, painted my nails (OPI Lost My Bikini in Molokini) and went to Mom & Rich's for dinner where I unapologetically polished off two donuts Kate brought from Yum Yum. 

Weekly food prep was super easy this week: breakfast is savory oatmeal; snacks are spinach muffins from the freezer, carrots with hummus; gala apples; and naval oranges; lunch is spinach mac and cheese cups from the freezer; dinner is leftover prime rib and leftovers from Mom and I'll probably pinch hit with salads from Wawa somewhere along the way.

Not too long ago, black people couldn't vote (Voting Rights Act passed in 1965). They also couldn't drink out of the same water fountains as white people until the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, but in some places the Jim Crow ways lingered on. Both of those things happened in part to the tremendous leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., and his untimely murder in 1968 actually sped up the equal housing bill that would be the last significant legislation of the Civil Rights era. Today more than ever I take comfort in his tactics and his powerful words. I know others do as well - if you have not seen it, check out Nina Davis's speech at the MLKJr Memorial in D.C. on Saturday. It made my grinch heart grow two sizes. 

Go get 'em this week!

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

Thursday Thoughts - there's something happening here

1. I'm sick to fucking death of people acting like liberals are still crying over the election every time a complaint is voiced about the incoming administration. The person still whining about the election on twitter and mentioning his opponent's name within five minutes of starting his first press conference ever is the president elect. If you agree with a presidential cabinet of unqualified neo-nazis who have not been vetted by an independent ethics committee; a republican led congress who is thirsty to defund Planned Parenthood in an attempt to plunder millions of American women into shitty situations and repeal the ACA leaving millions of Americans without health insurance; a bunch of people who don't believe in science; a candidate attempting to eradicate the free press; people who have been groomed for service by Russia; and a loose cannon goading countries with nuclear weapons on twitter, you are free to sit and do nothing just as I am free to voice my outrage, which will be turned on you if you are unable to distinguish between despair and activism. I will not normalize shit like the below (from last week) and if you care about this country, you shouldn't either. 

2. I did have to laugh at the people raging over Meryl Streep daring to use her time on stage to talk politics and shitting on her because she's a millionaire celebrity...meanwhile, they voted a millionaire celebrity into the office of the president. Politics are part of life. They can be talked about anywhere. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. You better be careful, trump supporters, or you'll be labeled special snowflakes and the new drink of choice will be cups of conservative tears soon. Hypocrisy...look it up. By the way, Meryl got a lot of screen time but did you see the clip of Viola Davis backstage in response to a reporter's question? Fierce. I love her. Click here to see it.

3. I know, by this time, you're all STFU about politics and I do try to keep it to two things...but can I let this week go without mentioning Pee Gate? No, I cannot. Is it fake? We'll see. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the witticisms it has brought to twitter (search #goldenshowers for some funnies). Even if it is fake, I think I'll keep it around as long as the birthers kept Obama's birth certificate ruse going and as long as the Clinton haters invoked the blow job heard round the world. I often seek to go high in response to others going low, but not this time. Don't worry, I won't let the pee distract me from the issues. Rex Tillerson's hearing for Secretary of State was rough yesterday-it's clear he knows little about what's happening in the world and that his ties with Russia and Putin are undeniable-and if you don't want that, in addition to calling your own senators call Sen Corker (R-TN) who is chairing the selection committee on Tillerson (202) 224-3344 and Sen Cardin (D-MD) who is the ranking member on the committee and voice your dissent. And hell call ANYONE you want about the ACA - while we slept last night the GOP started gutting it without a replacement plan - that they've had eight years to come up with - and voted down protections for VETERANS and people with pre-existing conditions...you know, the things the majority of Americans were in favor of keeping about the plan that they said they would not touch.

4. Do you have a winter playlist on spotify? I think if you click here you can get to mine. If you can't, let me know.

5. I need to paint my nails, but I'm going bowling on Friday night and that's not a good combination.

6. My heaven features roasted vegetables.

7. I've been looking for a chair like this for years, since I fell in love with one at Marshalls and then fell victim to Marshalls Law when I didn't purchase it immediately. I found it now at Pier 1, and it's on sale...but it means I have to go back to the scene of the paint crime to pick it up if I buy it. And I think I have to buy it I've already spent years pining over not buying it the last time.

8. Check out my friend Lyndsey's blog - raw and real and she's just dipping her feet in the writing is good for the soul pool. Click here to view/read.

9. Speaking of good for the soul...reminder: Self care.

10. E-card of the week:

Insert witty sign off line here. 

Linking up with Kristin & Joey 

TWTW - the one where January made its presence felt

Hold onto your hats, because I did not spend Friday night on the couch. MFD picked me up and we met Angie at the Nasty Women exhibit at ABD Gallery with great city views on a bitterly cold night in Philly. There was a piece in there that elicited a visceral rageful reaction from me and that alone was worth attending.

We followed it up with a belated birthday dinner for Angie at Bufad. The top left is what happens when MFD takes the photo. The bottom right is what happens when he suggests walking under trestles.

I came home to the arrival of the pieces I ordered after Christmas from Philly artist Blur Street Art. After encountering an ishknits street art piece before the art exhibit, it was a nasty women day all around.

Saturday dawned with a pre-7 am grocery delivery, food prep (see below), some random purging, and an inability to find my keys. Serenity now in the form of a hot stone massage.

That was followed by a chocolate chip bagel and surviving a short dicked loser with Florida plates passing people on a road with no passing lane at 55 MPH in a 25 with three inches of snow and ice on the ground. Once home, I stayed there. Laundry, reading, Billions, and lounging were orders of the day. Lori spent the night and I rented another week at the shore house.

Sunday I cleaned out the freezer and two kitchen cabinets, changed the sheets, found my freaking keys in a coat jacket, and did a little face mask magic. MFD was in charge of this week's flowers. My hanger project in the closet is in full swing. That's about it for productive things, otherwise it was starting a new book and laying on the couch in lounge attire finishing out the first season of Billions and watching Deadpool and Sisters. It was way too fucking cold to go outside voluntarily, and thankfully that wasn't necessary for me on Sunday.

Weekly food prep: the word of the week is spinach since I had a big mama box of it to get through. Breakfast is a spinach/tomato/cheese egg bake; lunch is cauliflower bowls; a batch of spinach muffins for the freezer with mini chocolate chips added because I'm crazy like that; a pan of spinach lasagna roll ups to freeze and one for dinner this week (that is not actually a pan of indecipherable sauce, there's spinach lasagna roll ups under there); and Sunday dinner was supposed to be baked chicken with roasted carrots and potatoes  but then I didn't feel like getting up off my ass so it wasn't. That'll be one night this week too.

Favorite day tomorrow! Show Us Your Books!

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending