Snippets of the week(end) 11.28.2022

I was off last week and at the shore from Saturday on. Monday I cleaned and organized and fretted all day about the big ass couch being removed through a very small door in our apartment. Sweat and swears and a quite large tip later, the Got Junk guys were taking off with it. I collapsed on the bed in relief mostly because there was nowhere else in the apartment to sit. Ben was very upset, he hates change. I rallied to go to the Dollar Store and ShopRite late.

My Dad and Carol arrived on Tuesday and we all went on beach walks and arrived home to the delivery of the LoveSac couch. I had no idea it would come when it did and we ended up putting it together instead of waiting for MFD to arrive the next day. We celebrated by sharing Motrin and they put my 

Christmas cards together. It was a good day to be me. Stephen, Aubrey, and my niece and nephew arrived Tuesday night. 

Wednesday Carol and I picked up bakery goods and last minute items at ShopRite. I made compound butter. Loungey afternoon that I spent in my apartment with Little Stephen while I did an air fryer turkey using Casa de Crews recipe - highly recommend. 

We took a family beach walk after MFD arrived, hunting for treasures. I got a phone call from a contractor at 4:15 scheduling work for Monday morning at 8 and am so so relieved the couch shit got done when it did so that was all possible. Taco bar dinner using frozen meat from Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving the kids were not feeling great so it was just adults at the table and me & Aub on a post-dinner walk and a few of us up for Jared's arrival at night. My turkey was too dry for my taste. Some years you win, some years you lose. My Instagram caption says it better - thankful for all of my communities.

Friday started rainy and ended up lovely. We did some creating at Glazed Over Pottery on Asbury followed by a trip to the thrift store then World Cup watching (Stephen & Jared in Philly for that and Dad & Stephen to the arcade) followed by Santa on the roof! This kicks off my holiday season every year.

Saturday was small biz shopping on Asbury, with a check in via bike by the Troll of Asbury Avenue AKA Uncle Mike. Little Stephen did more arcading with his army.

We did some shell painting and marshmallow gun shooting in the afternoon followed by a fam beach walk, ice cream tasting (six flavors from Jeni's) and Surviving Christmas. 

Sunday morning MFD and I cleared the porch and moved stuff around in our apartment getting ready for work happening today. He took off with the animals, and Stephen, Aub, Jared, and the kids were gone by early afternoon. Dad, Carol, and I took the shells down to the North Street Tree before the rain came through. The tree is up this year due to beach replenishment work happening now. Couch day with three Hallmark Christmas movies, reading, Boyar's salads and soup and leftovers, and the Eagles. Hashtag superfan made it to half time. I think? 

I was up until 11 packing up my car and finishing a book.

weekending reels on Instagram 

Another great long fam weekend for Thanksgiving despite illness circling. 

snippets of the weekend 10.10.2022

I was off Thursday and Friday and it was so nice to ramble around with no agenda and not do work things. Thursday I put my fall stuff out on the porch, went to the library, took a number of long beach walks both before and after Lori and Mo arrived for the weekend, strolled Asbury a little, had dinner at Jon & Patty's, got a cinnamon and pumpkin swirl at Kohr Bros, and watched the moon rise as we walked home along the boards. 

Friday a slow ease into the day, Asbury shopping, a lovely weather time on the beach, salad and reading for dinner, outdoor shower, long walk on the bayside to cap off the day, and news from Philly that the bathroom project had been completed. 

Saturday Block Party Day! Debbie arrived, Dad and Carol enjoyed last year so they came over on the ferry to do the festival again this year and stopped to say hello, and Melissa and Stephanie and Stephanie came down, did the Block Party, then joined us for some hours of catching up and laughs. It was a good day.

Sunday Lori, Mo, and Debbie went to get donuts from Nauti, then we took a walk on the beach. Debbie headed home, and Mo, Lori, and I went and had lunch at Jay's. We hit the beach and it was quite windy but still doable for a few hours. We celebrated Ben & Mae's birthdays with birthday burgers. 

I packed up and cleaned up, and did a final walk up to see the rise of the Blood Moon. It was a good one. 

Drove back to Philly and put some shit back in the bathroom then fell out exhausted and happy. I missed this weekend through Covid and spending time at the shore with everyone, especially my person Lori!

In addition to snippets here, I've been doing weekending reels on Instagram if you are interested. 

Happy birthday to my forever friend Melissa on Monday! 

Hope yours was good! I mean we're almost to the next one if it wasn't.

Thursday Thoughts - Oh well, I guess we're gonna find out

Dogs on the regular beach season is back. And we are thrilled.

Electric blanket season is also back for Ben. It's always Mae bees mean and Chewy advertisement season.

You've got to be fucking kidding me with this price. 

Does craving citrus mean you're about to have scurvy? If so, sign me up. I already have a mild concussion from clocking my head into the fucking pier coming and going on the second to last day of the Nor'Easter because the tide was so high.

I got these angry ocean photos as a souvenir.

Yesterday was much better. 

Fall must haves. These are LLBean but I also love my Sperry Syrens which are not easy to find right now. And the takes a licking keeps on ticking Columbia Acadia II rain jacket. I also use my non-polarized sunglasses on overcast and drizzly days because they are still too bright for bare eyes.

Fresh off my hold shelf.

Fall shore decor loading.

So tempted to list Found: piece of large Tonka Toy on the local facebook page

Out of office behavior. I'm off today and tomorrow with no agenda and it has been a damn long time since that was the case.

 
What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Let's See How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20

Thursday Thoughts - I'd love to try and settle down, but everybody's leavin' town

1. I need you to know about these and I’m going to need you to try them. They are at DiBruno or you can go to the site to see how you can get them. They have made the cut for my Thanksgiving appetizer spread.

2. Athleisure shoes are my love language. Bonus when everything on them is the same color.

3. Loving the fall scenes. The leaves aren't even through changing yet. 

4. Two days in the office this week, and I'm doing a half day in there tomorrow. It's exhausting. It's not permanent or a new schedule, it just happens to be how I set this week up like a straight dumbass. I’ve taken the train in and not shared a seat with anyone until the ride home yesterday. An ass was in every seat and some were standing over me. I was not mentally prepared for the sardine aspect of commuting. I’m thankful for mask mandates on trains.

5. I have days to burn so I took Tuesday off and had a proper no computer drifting adult day. I rolled out of bed and took Mae to the vet, got groceries at Aldi, voted, had a nice salad for lunch, cleaned out the coat closet, changed sheets and pulled my quilt out, did laundry, got my hair done which I needed desperately, made salmon/potatoes/broccoli for dinner, and read. It was a great week day off. 

6. Cuteness. Also if you leave your dog outside barking incessantly without letting them in or addressing it in some way you are a fucking asshole. This is what I yelled out of my kitchen window last night at two of my back neighbors who do exactly that. Won’t you be my neighbor? Seriously though, I have four dogs who bark and I’m annoyed, imagine how everyone else feels. 

7. Show Us Your Books is already on Tuesday! I've been reading one book since Sunday. That's the way it is sometimes. About to get hygge with a long winter of reading with animals as backdrop instead of beach…this is a previous photo but you get the idea. 

8. White supremacy is doing the most to keep its stranglehold. None of these exhibit that, but if you really look at the heart of things, that's the struggle. The more people try to tell you it's not, the more you know it is. Also what in the hell are you all doing out there in America electing the book burning people from Footloose to school boards across the country? Let teachers fucking teach. You do what you do. Also before you go off on social media around politics, maybe know some more about it - the things I saw people posting leading up to and on Election Day made me LOL for real. If you think a governor can fix global supply chain issues, that the president is responsible for gas prices, that critical race theory is even taught in K-12 public schools, or that individual school boards can mandate certain things, you are a fool. Obviously I disagree with people who vote differently than me on a lot of things, but I can at least listen to them if they know what someone has the power to influence or control and what they do not. We should probably all go back to school and learn history as it actually was and also civics so we know how government works and who is responsible for what. 

9. Reminder via Sid the Visual Kid

10. Ecards

That’ll do it.

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues by Danny O'Keefe

TWTW - the long one

Friday sunrise trip to the beach with the best friend dogs, then a quick nail painting (OPI Berlin there done that), and I made hard boiled eggs, salmon, and potatoes in the air fryer before spending the day watching my niece and nephew while Aubrey worked. We had fun even though we did basically nothing. We did see some sights on our walks, tired out the dogs, hit the beach when Aubrey was done, and ordered dinner from Angelo's so Ben could have his birthday cheeseburger. My brother arrived around 8.

Saturday we did a bike ride, I got OPC from Local's Coffee (the best), they got Drip N' Scoop donuts, and then we hit the beach. The monarch butterflies have started their yearly fall visits to the dunes. I took a nap in the afternoon, Aubrey made a great dinner, and we did another bike ride to get pumpkin ice cream. Aubrey and I stopped in The Islander and SURF Mall on the way home. SURF Mall visits are always like time warps. 

Sunday I took an early walk to see the progress on the house being taken down a block over. It was probably as old and almost as tall as mine. We took another bike ride with a stop at the playground and a walk on the beach, Aubrey made breakfast, and my brother has a skullet now, FYI. They headed home around 1. I love spending time with them all. When they left I went to the grocery store and picked up Gus’s CBD oil in town, did some cleaning up in my apartment, moved some stuff up into the house, read, and napped. Two naps this weekend. Who am I? I am a person who had a really packed week last week and one who is learning to rest, that’s who. I took the best friends down to the beach just as the rain was moving in, then finished a book, started another, and made lots of list for the week.

How was your weekend? 

I Don't Get It - Volume V

It's been a while.

What tis this? I don't get poop brown face that is a result of too much tanning and a money shot of bronze shoe polish every morning. The second one has to be fake, yes? 

Photo: debatepolitics.com

How dog hair seems to multiply by the thousand in spring.

Passive aggressive status updates on facebook. If you have beef with someone, talk to them about it. If you must post about it on facebook, call them out by name. Don't post something to the effect of "I guess some people just don't value friendship like I do," or something equally lame. And no, I'm not talking about any of you in particular so don't be all "She's a hypocrite! p.s. Do you think she's talking about me?"

Why I feel guilty when I have the day off from work, like I'm playing hooky or doing something I shouldn't be doing.

Photo: leftyconcarne.wordpress.com

(Cr)Applebee's. I have literally never come away from a meal there without having dinareena. TMI? You asked for it by eating at Crapplebee's.

If MFD was writing this, his contribution would be: Why do you put your ipod on shuffle and then fast forward through songs? In the words of Bobby Brown, it's my prerogative.

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Have a glorious weekend. I hope all you mommas out there treat yourselves well every day, but especially on Sunday.