What do groundhogs know? It feels like spring is right here. I mean, who needs Hawaii? With midday temperatures hitting the 60s, I’ve been able to take walks outside during lunch in a t-shirt and lap up the sun. I’m cured of my winter blahs! Actually, we’ve been having a rather mild winter this year.
Oh and today marks the 5th year of this blog. Who knew I’d still be talking to myself 5 years later?
I think I’ll leave the behavior-altering goals for Lent. 40 days without coffee sounds more realistic than 366 days. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind learning how to swim this year. I tried signing up for adult beginners classes last year but apparently there are a lot of adults around here who can’t swim. The classes were all filled up! So I’ll have to try again this year. I don’t need any fancy moves, just enough to get me out of the pool should I ever fall in on the deep end or want to go to Hawaii. Or something.
Over the Christmas break, we spent the time with some cousins for extended game nights. Really really extended. We’d have dinner, then play 7 Wonders, Settlers of Catan, and now, Ticket to Ride – Europe. We stayed up til 6AM the next day on both Saturday and Sunday night. Coffee in one hand, wine in the other all night long. On Monday, I slept the whole day, waking only to eat. We’re planning on doing it all over again this New Year’s weekend. Hopefully we’ll have more sense to stop at a reasonable hour (HAA!). I’ve been feeling groggy all week trying to recuperate from what can only be described as jet lag relapse.
We celebrated this Thanksgiving a week early at a cousin’s house this past Sunday. There was turkey, smoked and roasted, vegetables, dressing, trifle. Food galore! I went in like I usually do, in my battle gear, stretchy jeans. If I was really serious though, I would’ve worn sweatpants. I wanted to reserve a little dignity though. Or try.
I loved meeting cousin’s 2 English bulldogs and cat. All three such sweet furballs of softness. The dogs were so loveable with their ugly smooshed noses, tongue too big for the mouth so it rested between its underbite jaw, right between the 2 canines, and funny butt wiggling gait. I need one!! NEEED!!
After dinner we watched some football and then were sent home with leftovers. I had it all over again for lunch today. Delish! Smoked turkey is awesome. Anyway, I think I like this method of celebrating Thanksgiving, doing it on another weekend. There was no traffic whatsoever, and I bet the grocery stores weren’t as crazy.
Did I mention the flappy jowls!?!
Yesterday we had another game night with cousins and a couple of their college friends. That was when we went to BGR and watched them, amazed, scarf down 2 burgers a piece. A reminder of how we once were and how much we’ve slowed down. I remember wolfing down steak and cheeses and fries and washing it all down with a gimongo Mountain Dew. Nowadays I am struggling with finishing one burger.
We played Settlers of Catan and 7 Wonders. I don’t like playing with the college kids. They actually know what they’re doing and kick our butts round after round. Grr… I’m already looking forward to our next game night.
The second half of this year is just zipping right along. My slow-to-adapt brain is still getting used to fall and maybe October and voila, it’s already time to turn the clocks an hour back. For however long it lasts, it’ll be nice to walk into the office while the sun’s still out.
Wooman, put stoopid camera down and bring dry grape snacks.
Dis not rayzin.
Gimme.
We spent nearly 3 hours waiting at the DMV today. I forgot to bring a book to read so I sat at the front row watching the employees work. The slow and stupid, and the fast, and the rude. It was like watching reality tv. One female employee seemed to make it her purpose in life to live up to the blonde stereotype. She could not get anything done without help from somebody. The poor guy next to her had to constantly interrupt his cases, trying to help her. And she always needed to flirt and banter with the customers and waste time. Then there was the condescendingly rude employee, who, as the guy next to me described, “would be on fire if he flamed any harder.” I mean, he even flirted with one customer’s boyfriend. Aside from his rudeness, to foreigners especially, he was at least efficient if the case was straightforward. And lucky me, I wound up one of the last customers who got the disgruntled angry lady with a bad case of PMS. In that time I witnessed a girl leave, crying (no joke), telling her lover that she refused to ever be a resident of this godawful state. I hear ya!
I was sifting through my clothes and seeing how many unworn cute dresses I have that just haven’t made it out this season and I realized I’m running out of time! There’s only a handful more weeks left to wear them and really, if I only have Saturdays or Sundays, that’s it – I’m down to less than 10 days! September may still be warm enough but I know it’ll start to cool down soon after that. I’m looking forward to seeing the changing fall colors but I really need to be better organized about these outfits I have that are just languishing in my closet. Apparently, after all of my closet cleaning and clothes-donating, I still have too much stuff.
Peach picking season has started! We went to a pick-your-own farm this morning to get some peaches. We got mostly whites, and a few yellows.
I feel like yellows often have more acidity but also more of that traditional peach flavor. Whites seem sweeter.
We also grabbed some tomatoes while we were there. Some garden variety, romas, and cherries. These cherry tomatoes were pretty big. Not the usual kind you can just pop in your mouth.
Beautifully vine ripened. So much better than the kind you get from the grocery store.
On our way home, we stopped by a roadside stand to get some corn. Then we made a detour to the Dutch market to get meat and cheeses.
I love going out to the farms, it’s such a different rhythm out there. Rolling hills, sprawling land. It was like a mini-vacation.
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