snippets of the weekend 2.13.2023

Friday was a glorious day - got work done, was alone all day with pets - took a long lunch walk and dipped my feet in the ocean - tried out a new bakery two blocks from my house, read a great book, took a nice sunset walk, and got a lot of sleep.

Saturday I read and walked most of the morning. MFD arrived in the afternoon. I saw his new car and we headed right upstairs to clear the main floor out of everything except four pieces of furniture. Lots of up and down to the second and third floors. When we got hot and took sweatshirts off we realized we were wearing the same tees.

We took a walk on the beach and saw a ton of dead sea things much to the delight of the dogs. This happens in the winter a lot after beach replenishment work. It's like a purge since stuff has been moved around off-shore and while sand was being brought in. We went to the Anchorage for dinner. MFD had creamy dill pickle soup as a starter and it was freaking delicious, as was my burger and fries. I might try and replicate the soup at home next week. We drove by the Wonderland ferris wheel lit up green for the Eagles. Back at home I started a new book and painted my nails.

Sunday I woke up early despite staying up late to read. I ran errands with no phone which feels wild these days especially when store cards etc are in my phone wallet LOL. I returned a library book, put gas in the car, picked up a bakery order at Baked by the Ocean in Marmora, stopped to grab a bottle of wine, and picked up a few things from ShopRite. Back at home I made spinach dip then packed up and headed back to Philly. A bit of rest there and then off to Frank & Amanda's for the Super Bowl. We had a good time. Better luck next year Eagles!

weekending reels on Instagram 

 

Friday Files 2.10.2023

The  simple luxury of an everything bagel, toasted, with a liberal application of cream cheese, topped with a layer of cucumbers and sprinkled with Himalayan salt is chef's kiss. Happy Friday, everyone!

I switched to this brush a few months ago after my friend and hairstylist of forever Kristi at Salon Harmony used it on me while I was getting my hair done. I don't dry or style my hair and I certainly do not wash it daily so the brushing is important LOL. This really reduces static and helps with tangles which I always have in the back of my head. It's $10 at Target.

Once again I am a fool who is sitting at 50% read of a book at 11 pm and stays up to finish it. More of a fool last night because this was hair raising in multiple places. I know a lot of you love the thriller genre also. This comes out in May and you should know that I paused in several spots because the description of violence specifically regarding women and children was graphic - I read books like this all the time and if I'm pausing over it, I should do the courtesy of giving others a content warning heads up. 

Last night was the perfect night to return to the beach for the first time since January 29. 

I've got a lot of balls in the air personally and professionally but juggling schedules and sharing a car is no longer one of them. On the 55th day after his car was totaled, MFD purchased one yesterday and the universe wept with relief. I'm not a sharer in general, and I'm really not a check in with someone else before I schedule things person. I've also gotten used to being a person who does not live with their spouse full time and that has been a bit of a shock to go back to. Next week is a nightmare schedule-wise so this is perfectly timed. Say goodbye to your viewing post, Billy Hicks. Philly doors that were ordered in August - and have needed to be replaced for many years - are being replaced next week. 

It is clear that the person who feeds dogs off of plates does not eat in peace and the person who does not feed dogs off of plates does eat in peace.

I assume you've seen or heard of the absolutely unhinged blackface video courtesy of Northeast Philly white girls as it's viral now. I posted about it on Instagram as soon as I saw it and when I woke up the next morning the three stories were gone. Instagram had removed it for hate speech. No shit. White people wonderwhining(tm) why everything is still about race should pay particular attention. This is why, numbnuts. Because this shit still happens. Because this country was built off the backs of the unpaid labor of Black people who were enslaved by white people and we've never reckoned with it or paid for it. Because Jim Crow never ended it just became Jim Crow 2.0 and Jim Crow 3.0. Because the prison system in this country is the current iteration. Because we excuse and protect and tsk tsk white kids who do stupid shit and vilify and incarcerate and harm Black kids who do stupid shit. Because racist white folks elected by racist white folks are attempting to whitewash history and remove Black history from schools so what they teach their kids at home - that shit like this is acceptable or funny or excusable or kids will be kids - sticks and carries through the generations versus being ripped out at the fucking root and discarded.  

I am not going to go into how fucking unhinged Marjorie Taylor Green is, and how unable she is to function as an adult in society. 

My favorite sheet pan dinner is kielbasa, red onion, bell pepper, banana peppers, and sweet or red potatoes. 

Crew this week

Even I use the standard Go Birds greeting/pleasantry/hi/bye and watch the Super Bowl when the hometown team is in the Super Bowl.

Have a great weekend!

Snippets of the weekend 1.30.2023

Workday spent with Mae and Billy while the best friend dogs were upstairs with MFD. Fresh nails (Olive Ave Pisces - dark purple - and Essie below zero). Knocked off at 4 to head to Cape May Courthouse to go to ReStore and TJMaxx on the hunt for a new side table for the shore main living room. Check, and check on two of my favorite candles that are no longer made, and check on a collapsible sled MFD purchased for...I don't know why. We are 46, do not sled, and in fact have seen no laying snow in Philadelphia this winter. We followd up with a dinner at the Lobster House. I got baked stuffed shrimp and did not like them but not because they were bad, just personal preference. Closed it out staying up late to finish a devastating book.

Since I was up late, I slept in and slid slowly into the day. I packed up some returns and dropped them at the post office, then headed up to the boardwalk to take a walk around. I saw the theater getting ready to make a comeback, which is super exciting. Those of you who grew up going to Ocean City boardwalk movie theaters on a rainy day or during a night of vacation know!

I also checked out the beach replenishment project which was at 11th from the Music Pier, then headed back home to sit out on the winter dirty porch and air out the apartment. MFD went back to Philly to work, and I made slaw for carnitas tacos - pulled the meat off the bone for those as well. I read throughout the day, puttered around, took a long walk with the best friend dogs, and sacked out on the couch at night.

Sunday we had a little lie in and MFD decided he wanted to go home to watch the Eagles game on a whim so we got our shit packed up and cleaned up, took a walk, and headed home. I started laundry and dropped him off at my brother's for the game while I ran errands through the first half - returned a bunch of shit and picked some random needs up. I watched the end of the game outside there and we came home and watched a bunch of Yellowstone episodes. 

weekending reels on Instagram 

As you know, I don't fuck with sports much period, particularly the NFL, but I do love many of the Eagles players, everything about Jalen Hurts including his game day outfits, the story of Jordan Mailata, Nick Sirianni's F bombs, both Kelce brothers and their podcast snippets (not a full podcast listener), how much Philly people love being from Philly and how hard they go for their teams, when players on said teams truly understand what the city and its fans are about, and the humming energy and shared excitement when one of our teams is on a championship run. And of course also football food so looking forward to Frank & Amanda's Super Bowl party already. 

 

Failure and fire and no one likes us and we don't care

image via 6abc Action News, the only news in town

Philly's been in the news a lot this week. If you haven't heard, our football team won the Super Bowl. 

The majority of the after stories focused on destructive assholes who celebrated by destroying shit. 

Who does that? Well, assholes in every city, unfortunately. Not according to the Internet, though. The Internet would like to pin assholes squarely on Philly. We’re used to it.

So even for non-fans like me, it's been an awesome but oddly defensive feeling week.

On failure making us who we are and being a common denominator for all of us regardless of life status, here is the speech of Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles. True, humble, relatable. 

Failure comes for all of us, big and small fails, fails only we know about and fails that are visible to many. When failure comes, you’ve got to get up and grow from it. Be you, do you, work hard, have your own back, and don't look outside for validation because when you look outside for validation, you will let doubt and shame from the outside creep in too. You don't need that shit. Just keep going.

Then there’s Jason Kelce's speech, delivered in an Avalon Stringband Mummer suit and fired up with the F bomb - mummers, Eagles, F bomb is like a Philly trifecta - that will live in infamy in this city. True, fire, relatable. Up there on the Art Museum steps, Jason Kelce is Rocky after he’s been told he can’t win. Jason Kelce is all of us. 

It’s hard to explain Philly to people. That speech and this little ditty, sung by Kelce and Celek and fans along the parade route but certainly not new to this city, both do a good job of giving you the feel of our culture. 

No one likes us, no one likes us, no one likes us,

We don’t care

WE'RE FROM PHILLY FUCKING PHILLY 

NO ONE LIKES US, WE DON'T CARE

There's a lot to be said for not caring what people think. You can be out there living like Jesus and Mother Teresa combined and people will still think what they want of you, and say what they will. They’ll find shit to talk about because some people just like to talk shit. It’s fine. It’s the way of the world. If you're a good person, you’re a good person. 

I still don't give two shits about the NFL and would take a knee with Colin Kaepernick any day of the week and twice on Sundays, but I love the hell out of people with fire and heart and I love the underdog. This Eagles team has fire and heart, they’re all up there on the stage as Super Bowl champions barking like dogs in front of God and the world while giving zero shits, and quite a few of them have a social conscious to boot. 

This city has fire and heart. We identify as underdogs - we think Rocky is a real person from this town and screw you if you say it’s just a movie. We are working class people; a city of neighborhoods; people with a cultural tendency for bluntness that is often mistaken for rudeness; people who care more about what’s in your heart and what's real than how polished you are; people who are more apt to roar like lions behind those who speak from the heart even if it's a little messy and not conventionally classy; people who might curse more than you like but would give you the shirt off their back in a second. We work hard, play hard, and love hard. 

If the world wants to lump us all in with the few who destroy shit and rocket bottles at people, it’s fine. We know what we are, and it’s not that. 

And if you don’t like us, we don’t care. You can already buy a shirt for this occasion. If you recall, I bought another version at the Cheesesteak Festival in 2015. 

Yo. Happy Friday from Philly.

Thursday Thoughts - will we leave each other alone like this on the streets of Philadelphia

1. You know things will be nuts when your train conductors tell you not to take regional rail to the Super Bowl parade. My office is a few blocks off the route. My plan was the same as when the Phils won: go into work, go down to see some of the parade, go back to work. Not happening this time. Trains are running crazy and my worst fear is being caught in the city longer than I want to be and having to sleep in my office like someone in a movie. I want to see the spectacle but not be inconvenienced by it and you can't have it both ways so I’m working at home today and will see it on TV and through the lenses of some awesome Philly instagrammers (streetsdept, phillychitchat. urphillypal, 6abcactionnews, parkwaymuseumsdistrict, peopledelphia, illadelphia, phobymo, mauricejphotos among others).

2. Is it possible to lay on the couch or in bed without dogs all over you? Asking for a friend who suffers from resting bitch face.

3.  I'm poised on the precipice of not buying bread again. I am testing a few sandwich bread recipes. Do you make your own sandwich bread? Hook me up with your favorite recipe.

4. I'm working on cooking from my freezers and pantry and buying things here and there so I haven't been getting my groceries delivered. Which means more frequent but quick in and out grocery trips, all requiring that I stay on top of my reusable bags in the trunk game.

5. Show Us Your Books coming up on Tuesday! What are you reading?

6. I have a water pillow and skincare to return. Two lines of skincare, actually. I need to get my ass in gear. Damn returns.

7. There are a lot of people out there who never think about how their life would be drastically different if they were born into a different family or a different neighborhood. We cannot put our life experiences on top of everyone else as if we all started from the same place.

8. You know who has military parades? Dickless banana republic leaders, unstable dictators, and killers.

9. Reminder: I love weird. Come sit next to me.

10. Ecard of the week: This one's going to have to come out of circulation now.

Short and sweet this week. I had stomach issues Tuesday night and my second tension point release acupuncture yesterday afternoon, which basically renders me mute for the night so I had to throw this together on the quick. My brain has also been on the fritz this week.

If you're in Philly and at the parade today, enjoy, have fun (and patience!), and be safe!