Monthly Archives: July 2011
Things I Love Thursday
Pink Champange cupcakes
Marylou’s Iced Coffee
Chicken dosas
Lilies & the other flowers at my house
*The English subtitles in Harry Potter (according to them, everyone pants a lot, there’s lots of noble themes playing and at one point Snape’s name is Snipe). It was a fluke that we saw it in this format, the subtitles just happened to be playing at the showing we chose.
* dancing all night at weddings
* spending hours talking about books and movies
* self revelations
* plans for a beach picnic
* it’s getting closer and closer to FALL
* starting a Gilmore Girls marathon
* steel gray
* researching vitamins
* selling books online
* adding more things to my life list (ride in a Hot Air Balloon & go to Rocky Horror Pictureshow)
What do you love today?
The Most Important Meal?
Breakfast is always tricky for me. I’m not a morning person. I don’t have the time to really make something, so when I find something I like I can go weeks eating variations of the same thing. And then all of a sudden it isn’t fulfilling anymore. When I’m starving by 9:30am, I know it’s time to try something new. I’m currently ending a shake phase, and I’ve been craving peanut butter on toast lately.
Here are some things I eat for breakfast, or have in the past:
When I was in Italy I started off my stay by eating healthy: yogurt and fresh squeezed orange juice, but it wasn’t long before I was eating chocolate filled pastries for breakfast. The weekend I was in Rome I ate Cannolis (because I couldn’t find them in Tuscany, and why waste the opportunity to eat Cannolis?)
Cold pizza is definitely a favorite of mine. Though it’s rare for slices to make it that long in my house, I never miss the chance to take a few for breakfast.
Shakes. This can be anything from Slimfast to blended smoothies. They’re quick and easy and not too messy. I add frozen berries, spinach, peanut butter, cinnamon, orange juice or whatever else I can find. Or I just shake it with water.
Peanut butter or almond butter on toast, or as a sandwich with bananas or pumpkin butter. The protein from the nut butter holds me over pretty well and the fiber in the bread adds to that.
Instant oatmeal with berries or peanut butter (or both! It’s like a peanut butter and jelly oatmeal mess). The oats can be dense, and combined with fruit or nut butter, it adds that “stick to your ribs” feeling.
Bars. Cliff bars and Luna bars and Lara bars tend to be my favorites. But after a while those aren’t very satisfying.
Greek yogurt with almonds/ walnuts and a couple chocolate chips. I loved this combination until I realized I’m lactose intolerant and yogurt is definitely not on my list of tolerated dairy products. And yes, I have Lactaid pills, but I try not to use them (unless I’m drinking iced coffee). I’d rather just eat something else.
My go-to breakfast is a sesame bagel from Dunkin Donuts, toasted with cream cheese. Though it totally lacks nutrition, so I try not to eat those very often. (The cheddar cheese bagel twists are also really awesome).
For a while I was addicted to chicken biscuits from McDonalds. I always felt like shit after I ate them, but they tasted so good. I dont think McDonalds up here carries them anymore, but that’s probably for the best (for me, at least).
What do you eat for breakfast?
Life List
If you found out your days were limited, would you start living your life the way you’ve always wanted? Would you climb mountains or bungee jump or join the circus? Would you tell someone you love them, take that trip you’ve been meaning to take or sell your house? Would you stop using Oxford Commas or give up your cell phone or decide to have children?
Well, I’ve got news for you: your days are limited. We are all dying. But right now? We’re alive.
I’m always making lists and forgetting about them, unable to decide if I want do to a Day Zero project or a blank before I’m blank list. I’ve decided, though, that I don’t need to set a deadline on my life. I’m just going to make sure I’m living it! So welcome to my Life List. It’s my Bucket List, the things I want to do or see in this lifetime. It’s ever evolving, changing, mutating and that’s the beauty of it. It reflects me and the person I am today. And it will change to reflect who I am tomorrow.
take a road trip up (or down) the California coast
take an amusement park road trip
grow my own vegetable/ herb garden (working on the herbs!)
see the northern lights
visit Italy at least once again
visit Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, India, Australia, Bali, New Zealand, parts of Africa, Greece, Brazil (and a billion other places)
get to my goal weight
STAY at my goal weight
take a trapeze class
publish a novel
make cheese
make bread
make pasta
visit / volunteer at an Ashram
Visit every state / commonwealth in the United States including Hawaii and Alaska.
go to a roller derby
sky dive
visit a castle (Hogwarts?)
go to a rainforest
get a Masters Degree
walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
go to Azbakan
go to Graceland (& stay at the Heartbreak Hotel)
own a king size bed
Have read all of the books that I own & seen all of the movies I own
own a house or a cute little cottage
marry someone amazing
teach English as a Second language
become Yoga Teacher Certified
Here are some things I have done:
go to a Drive In Theater (I’ve been to two! One in MA, and the Admiral Twin drive-in — from the Outsiders)
go to a Drive In Theater (I’ve been to two! One in MA, and the Admiral Twin drive-in — from the Outsiders)
sleep on Sunset Ave
visit a Plantation
get a Bachelor’s degree
Met my favorite author (Francesca Lia Block). Attended a workshop with her. Taking an online novel writing class with her right now.
Met Hanson a few times, signatures and photographs as proof.
Met Hanson a few times, signatures and photographs as proof.
Visited / been to the following states: (Already been to… MA, NH, VT, RI, NY, CT, SC, FL, OH, GA, TX, OK, CA, WA, VA Washington DC, KY
Saw the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, leaning tower of Pisa
Lived in California
Watch the sun set over the pacific
hike a mountain
See Redwood trees
Go to Hollywood, see the hand prints and the stars in front of the Chinese Theater.
What’s on your life list?
Things I Love
*posting these on days that aren’t Thursday, apparently
*I’ve been reading a lot. Especially this week.
*This week I read:
Forever by Maggie Stiefwater
Julie & Julia by Julie Powers
Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess
And I picked up In The Woods by Tana French again. I had left
off halfway through, troubled by all of the murder stories that
were bubbling up all around me in the media.
* the fact that I have an air conditioner in my bedroom. the heat index is 109 degrees today. i can’t imagine not being somewhere cool
* looking up recipes to make bread and cheese
* Gala Darling’s announcement about her Radical Self Love Bootcamp
* my 8 week long online writing class and all of the wonderful, supportive girls I’ve met through it.
* Spending a lot of time with myself, mostly reading (though that makes me unproductive). I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time to myself in the future.
* It’s possible that my throat is healing!!! (And that I was poisoning myself all although via accidental rust inhalation every night.)
* Looking at Ford Fiestas online and trying to decide if I want to buy one or lease one or just keep on looking.
* E-mails offering me free things, like facial cleanser by Bare Escentuals and reward certificates from Best Buy
* Borders. My heart is broken, now the closest bookstore is at least a forty minute drive, but I still love the memories.
What do you love today?
Link Love
Bored and spending your time sitting at the computer staring at your Facebook page? Eh, it happens to the best of us. But really, get out and go DO something. Or check out some of these links. Whichever you prefer.
Teen Nick is bringing back “classic” ’90s Nickelodeon shows for everyone’s pleasure! (Too bad these shows will during my sleeping hours, between midnight and 4am.
Be An Adult
Need permission to… be yourself? Write that book? Love yourself. Here you go, you have permission
143 Acts of Kindness has just begun
I was just thinking that maybe you should let go
if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
Charles Bukowski - So You Want To Be A Writer
Postcards from a “10-ish year old girl” who doesn’t agree with library budget cuts
Things I Love Thursday – Harry Potter Style
So, it’s no longer Thursday, but I’m sitting here in a post Harry Potter hangover, seeking hydration (I ate way too many Salt N Vinegar chips) thinking, well I haven’t posted all week. I’ve been sick (with what might be a third case of strep throat in four months. Or just a whole lot of tonsil problems?). I’ve decided to do a Things I Love Harry Potter list incorporating the books and movies alike. (I started this post on Friday, and now it’s Saturday and I’m finishing it. And it was supposed to post way before this. Somehow I managed to fail at pressing “publish”) Here are just a few things, because honestly there are few things that I don’t love about Harry Potter’s world.
* Midnight book releases and movie premiers The experience is worth doing at least once (though you no long can with Harry Potter) for the excitement and character all around.
* Alan Rickman. He’s just amazing as Snape.
* The Wonderful World of Harry Potter theme park. I’ve yet to find someone willing to commit to spending a day or two with me roaming the streets of Hogsmeade and riding through Hogwarts Castle, but I will someday. Or maybe I’ll just take myself on a grand adventure.
* Butterbeer and Pumpkin Pasties. A lot of the foods mentioned in Harry Potter books aren’t to my liking, but then there are the sweets and these two particular creations that I’d love to try. Also, Pumpkin Juice
* The Room Of Requirement – a secret room in Hogwarts that becomes anything you need it to become at just the time you need it. It’s been a bathroom, a hiding place and a place to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts spells.
* The Loyalty. Harry remains “Dumbledore’s man, through and through” as he admits to in Half Blood Prince. Even when truths are revealed about Dumbledore’s past, even when Harry realizes that Dumbledore has led him through this journey with the idea that Harry must die at the end, Harry remains true to Dumbledore. Snape’s loyalty to Lily Potter may seem flaky by his obvious hatred for her son, but in reality, this hatred is stemmed by the existence of the man who one Lily’s heart; James Potter. And even after their deaths, Snape is willing to remain loyal to Lily. He plays an incredibly believable double agent to the point where no one is really sure where his loyalty lies until the very end of the series.
* Love. This theme is reinforced in every book. Love is more important than anything else.
* Lune Lovegood. She’s quirky and strange, she believes in creatures that other Harry Potter characters don’t think exist and she’s loyal and friendly. She’s adorable and unintentionally hilarious. Luna lives inside her head in her own world, but she’s there for the characters when they — and the story — need it most. Luna is on the list of favorite characters for me, most definitely.
* Owls carry mail. And they’re pets. Totally cool.
What do you love about Harry Potter?
So Long – Zooey Deschanel
Summertime in Massachusetts.
Well it is definitely summer here over in Massachusetts. The tourists are creeping in, Route 3 is a disaster during the weekends and I can no longer sleep without my window air conditioner in my window.
I won’t say I hate summer, because that’s definitely not the fact. I actually sort of like it, the way we have it in Massachusetts, at least. The high heat and humid days don’t stretch on for too long, we have awesome thunderstorms and fire flies are pretty amazing. I like getting out of work, walking into the humidity and being glad I missed most of the sunlight and knowing that it’s still going to be warm and bright for a few more hours. I love the songs that feel like summer and driving around with my windows down. I love wearing flip flops and not having my toes freeze (because New Englanders wear flip flops in the winter, too. We also drink ICED coffee all year long and it’s never too cold for ice cream. In case you were wondering). And how can I forget about all of the amazing fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season right now? Summer doesn’t have my love like Autumn and Spring do, but that’s okay. It certainly doesn’t have my hate, either.
One thing that bothers me about summer really is what bothers me about growing up. We are conditioned to have a huge fantastic holiday right in the middle of our year. We spend at least twelve years relishing in the freedom of the summer holidays and now they are gone (unless you’re a teacher). One vacation week is never quite enough, because after two days back you’re yearning for another. Anywhere you might want to go during the summer is a nightmare during the only times you aren’t working. Because everyone else is off wanting ice cream and scrambling to catch some Vitamin D by the Atlantic.
Maybe the worst part is that I don’t have a pool. I just love water. Love it. And yet I hardly spend any time swimming any more. The beach is a pain to get to, the ponds are kind of dirty, over run with children and, quite frankly, it’s a little embarrassing to embark on a swimming adventure on your own.
So this is just a little message to the universe out there: when I’m a home owner, or a condo owner or I’ve decided to live in a tent in the woods, there’s go to be water.
Oh and also, I love fireflies.
What do you love or hate about summer?
Things I Love Thursday
My brother finally brought the AC up to my room
My FLB writing class and the amazing community we’ve built
Hearing Give A Little at work
New Hanson tour dates
Lobster rolls from Cabby Shack
not waking up at 6:30am
CamWow pictures on my phone
spending an entire day reading
Random comments from people I know saying they read this. Stuff like, “So I’m reading Sisterhood Everlasting because of you.” So. So. Awesome
Whole days with nothing to do but write (and location hop to do so)
Riding my bike around the neighbourhood
Evenings in the summer when it’s still warm but the sun has gone down. And, most importantly, it isn’t morning. (I really feel like it’s too early for me to be awake right now).
What do you love today?
