Currently - August

U S I N G ... Perricone MD Photo Plasma - a moisturizer with broad spectrum SPF 30. It's oil/parabens/sulfates/phthalates free and has anti-aging benefits. I find with my SPF-laden moisturizers, I need to change them up every once in a while. My skin has changed a lot as I've entered my late 30s. This is one of the more expensive ones I've used, but I like it. This is not what I use when I'm spending a day at the beach. This is my daily moisturizer even when I know I'll be inside most of the day.

W A T C H I N G ... Difficult People on Hulu. These people are awful. I love them.

via

R E A D I N G ... a lot of magazines. I had two non-starter books in a row - In the Unlikely Event and The Humanity Project. I'm not sure if my brain needs a break from reading or if I didn't like those books, so I'm just coasting the past week and a half. I never try to force myself back into reading when I hit a dry spell. It'll come back. It always does.

C O O K I N G ... I'm grilling things like I was never a grill scaredy cat. MFD was trying to police me cleaning up the grill, etc., and I was like sorry, step off, the grill is now my domain.

W O R K I N G   O N ... the crap spaces where clutter collects in my house. Like the basket on the entry table, the teal rolling cart, the copper pot on the dining room table, my travel size toiletries. Everything must be touched this week.

F E E L I N G ... sleepy. So are the dogs. I've been trying to go to bed a little earlier than I normally do this week and actually be asleep by 11.

N E E D I N G ... to harness a packing list for our wild west trip which is less than 30 days away. I have to see if we need to buy anything or if what we have will do. I'm trying to not go crazy since we'll be outside most of the time and need no nice clothes so prepare in advance to see photos of us in the same clothes throughout. LOL

E N J O Y I N G ...  taking full advantage of our close proximity to the shore this summer. It isn't uncommon for MFD to work until 12 or 1 on Sunday afternoon then head down there to fish for a few hours and be home by 8. We've jumped in the car quite a few times together and separately and driven to our home base southern shores and up to Asbury Park and Belmar a time or two, too. Finding whole weekends to spare is hard. Finding a half a day is not. Hashtag YOLO.

L A U G H I N G   A T ... this. Some days, this is my dogs.

Fill me in...what's going on with you this month?

Linking up with Kristin and

Shit MFD Said Vol 21

After a major spider freak out incident, MFD looks down at his feet

MFD: Meanwhile, I'm wearing these too small pink sparkly flip flops.

Changes flip flops

Me: Those are also mine.

MFD: But they don't sparkle.

MFD: Are you afraid of the garbage disposal?

Me: If I was a person who slacked in many domestic areas, I would probably not ask that question.

MFD: You never use it.

Me: Are you afraid of the dishwasher? Or wiping toilet seats? Going to the grocery store? Should I keep going?

MFD: I was just asking. I think some people might be afraid of the garbage disposal and wondered if you were one of them.

This month in I can't find it so let me contact my wife who is not in the house - please excuse the freaking autocorrects:

This month in Thermostat Wars - MFD insisted on turning the AC on and swore a humidity wave was coming and I woke up to a super cool morning the next day.

All read and approved by MFD before they go live...
Shit MFD Said Vol 1, Shit MFD Said Vol 2, Shit MFD Said Vol 3, Shit MFD Said Vol 4
Shit MFD Said Vol 5, Shit MFD Said Vol 6, Shit MFD Said Vol 7, Shit MFD Said Vol 8
Shit MFD Said Vol 9, Shit MFD Said Vol 10, Shit MFD Said Vol 11, Shit MFD Said Vol 12, Shit MFD Said Vol 13, Shit MFD Said Vol 14, Shit MFD Said Vol 15, Shit MFD Said Vol 16, Shit MFD Said Vol 17, Shit MFD Said Vol 18, Shit MFD Said Vol 19, Shit MFD Said Vol 20

Living just enough, just enough for the city

Yesterday a few coworker friends and I walked a block and a half to Dilworth Park, joining hundreds of strangers for an impromptu visit from Stevie Wonder. We ducked out after a speech on love and a song. I love you Stevie, but standing in a sweaty crowd with no air flow and body odor on the rise is not for me.

City Hall, that was the best place to be. Open those old windows and listen to some sweet Stevie crooning.

Despite the heat, humidity, crowds. and BO, it was still a nice surprise on a Monday afternoon. There aren't enough nice surprises on Monday afternoons, are there? I appreciated this one.

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Haikuesday

Hot days bring fresh fears:

Body odor in a crowd.

Nose and soul perish.

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TWTW - the one spent mostly in New Jersey

I had a blast at Sannelli Doyle day, even though we reached sweat inducing speeds passing a motorcycle club thinking our death soundtrack would be the Joan Baez version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

Our first stop of the day:  The Anchor's Bend in Asbury Park to see our friend Mark's band Gringo Motel play. Let me tell you, I didn't expect the food to be as good as it was at a little bar on the beach. Collectively we had a shit ton of food - fish taco, lobster roll, cod sandwich, burger, calamari, crab brioche, chips & salsa & guac, cuban shrimp - it was all really good. As were the views, music, and company. The only bad thing is that the concrete floor with sand on it is slippery AF. I was basically doing the shuffle down the ramp out of there. No whammies no whammies.

Our second mission had to be aborted after we scored a sweet parking spot right out front. The Stone Pony. This is my second attempt to get into this joint. Is it ever open where you can just go in and have a drink and hope Bruce Springsteen walks in and sits down next to you and talks about his song lyrics? Things I should google.

We celebrated our fabulous friend Jill's 30th bowling party with Jill and family and friends at our third and final Sannelli Doyle day stop. Birthday joy, cheesesteaks, beers, a lipstick cake, bowling, and good friends. It was a solid end to a great day.

After visiting a grocery store for the first time in weeks (thanks grocery delivery for routinely saving me from that), I did my weekly food prep: grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and steamed broccoli & cauliflower for lunches; celery and carrots for snacks; hard boiled eggs (shitty photo, yes?), nectarines, and power breakfast muffins from the freezer for breakfast; and grilled chicken, salmon, steamed veggies, and grilled potato and onion packets for dinners.

This photo of death and decay sums up my feelings on hausfrauing bullshit like deadheading flowers, the typical Sunday sheet change, general pickup (still cannot get the freaking dining room table cleared from recent travel, etc), and minor purging that I did while MFD was out working Saturday morning.

Sunday MFD had realtor things to do down the shore so I tagged along to steal two and half hours at the beach in the late afternoon. It was nice to have a hoagie under the umbrella, read some mags, and just chill out.

Have you forgotten what my dogs look like? Here are Gus and Geege chilling out back on Saturday morning - thanks to my awesome neighbors for letting them out during our long days out Saturday and Sunday. 

You heard nothing about Friday because I was in bed before 8 and slept for 11 glorious hours. Hallelujah and amen.

Sunday night I showered and painted my nails and slept a deep and blissful sleep. It was fabulous. I also came home to a detailed car, a surprise from MFD. I'd been bitching about it and he had someone come do it while we were out. I'll keep him for another week!

So basically I was home Friday night and Saturday until 2, Saturday and Sunday nights to sleep, and spent the rest of the time cavorting around Jersey. 

We jammed a lot in this weekend and logged a lot of hours in the car. I'm tired and ready for another. You? 

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

Sing us a song, you're the piano man

Billy Joel's show last night at Citizens Bank Park did not disappoint as a reunion between me and him. And 20,000+ other people of course. It had been 20 years since I last saw him in concert, and it was MFD's first time seeing him.

It was a beaut of a night - no humidity and a soft breeze coming through the ballpark. Billy was in a great mood, throwing cigars out to the audience and handing them to the veterans who came out on Goodnight Saigon as well as showing the crowd a photo of his new baby on the big screens.

Gavin DeGraw opened for him, and I am so behind the times on music that I had to text Laura and ask if Gavin DeGraw was famous. Whoops. I recognized some of his songs after that.

I love how he asks the audience to choose between two songs. New York State of Mind won out over our wedding song Just the Way You Are, but them's the breaks. Other highlights for me: Allentown (I have an awesome video but my nasal voice singing along is too much even for me), Goodnight Saigon, Don't Ask Me Why, Say Goodbye to Hollywood, This is the Time, and We Didn't Start the Fire. Piano Man is never a favorite of mine, but singing it along with so many other people in an open air arena is a pretty freaking cool experience. He played one song that got a hard no from me (No Man's Land) but the rest were fan favorites and I enjoyed even the ones I don't love like Still Rock and Roll to Me.

We had seats in section 139, the last section they sold on the lower level. That left us free to move over into those empty partial view seats and have a lot of room throughout the concert...especially after we moved away from the habitual farter and the girls who talked throughout like they were at the nail salon. Including the one who kept saying so he sings AND plays the piano? Are you kidding me lady? He's the goddamn Piano Man. Yes he sings and plays the piano. Anyway, moving next to an entire section of empty seats was awesome. We had so much room which is usually in short supply at concerts.

Thanks for a great show, Piano Man.

MFD would like everyone to know that we stayed until the very end and got out of CBP in five minutes and were home in 25. I'll give it to him, it was excellent post-event timing.

It's a long delicious slide into the weekend from here. Enjoy it my friends!