Well, I'm sharp tongued, does that count?

Many moons ago, my friend Sarah created the most wonderful 18th birthday gift basket. Of the things in it, I'm going to say the most fabulous was a book.  Not just any book, but Penguin's The Portable Dorothy Parker.  If you are not familiar with her work, RUN RUN RUN and get to reading.  I still dream of having my very own Algonquin Round Table.

Unfortunate Coincidence

By the time you swear you're his,

Shivering and sighing,

And he vows his passion is

Infinite, undying,

Lady, make a note of this —

One of you is lying.

Breakfast smoothies

We've been meaning to make breakfast smoothies since we came back from Seattle and Carol was making them for us.  They were such a lovely part of breakfast (and all that yummy fruit made me feel good) that we wanted to continue doing it.  So it's taken us...3 months or so to finally make some.  Although we've been doing more breakfasts together in general, it's typically just been a bagel.

I used Alton Brown's smoothie recipe like so:

4 oz soy milk (I used vanilla silk)
4 oz juice (he recommends grape, acai or pom; i used the v8 fusion acai mixed berry b/c it's what I like)
4oz banana (this was the only nonfrozen fruit I used, since ours arn't brown yet)
4oz frozen strawberry
4oz frozen peach
4oz frozen blueberries

He says to put the whole mess together and keep in fridge overnight, but we kept forgetting to do it (thus the many months of no smoothies), so this morning I threw caution to the wind and just made the damn thing anyway (since our blender is supposed to handle ice, how hard can some frozen fruit be?).  Outcome = delicious!  We split the smoothie between us and split a bagel.  Perfect lovely breakfast!  Although we failed to make coffee, so we'll probably both be pokey today.

Side Note: our blender apparently no longer changes speed, which, you know...weird.  I guess I need to start looking into a new one.

It's an anniversary...

I woke up weirdly early this morning (4am, ugh), mostly thinking about Canela, and just missing her, even that noxious breathe.  As I got up and puttered around, hoping to get sleepy again, I saw that Scott had marked today.  It's been exactly 3 years since I drove from Los Angeles, CA to Durham, NC.  I rolled in my beloved silver Jetta (RIP) filled to the brim with the last bits of my LA life.

I was trying to surprise Scott for dinner at MnMnz's, but the horrific hailstorm (and freeway construction) that nailed me in Charlotte (and followed me for many hours) conspired to a much later arrival.

I can't remember if we ended up crashing at MnMnz's or if we rolled over to Hobbit House.  Since the furniture (and dogs) were already settled at "home", I think we must have ended up there.

It's a little odd, but I felt like the move to Durham was the first "me" powered move/relocation.  Although I loved LA, I was much more compelled to go there by people than compelled by the place.  I felt compelled to move to and live in Durham.  And after 3 years?  I'm little less rabid, but I still love Durham.

Road tripping!

Scott and I are meandering through eastern NC, heading towards Wilmington and the azalia festival.

I am playing with blogging via my phone, which is interesting. We shall see how it goes!

So far it has been fun and while my sinus headache is still at bay, my eyes are starting to get pissy.

Yellow Scum

So, apparently we have a record high amount of pollen in the air.  It seems like everyone has been nailed with this, as punishment for our 'mild' winter.  I hear that the worst place in the state for tree pollen right now is Winston-Salem, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

However, I've been obsessively wiping surfaces and trying to knock down the pollen count in the house, which I know is a fools game, but it makes me feel like I'm doing SOMETHING, you know?  Other than trying not to claw my eyes out from the itchies.

On doing things that really suck and make you crazy

I just got back from helping my Dad pack up my Bubbie's condo, and move her stuff up to her in WI.


To say the entire experience was kind of hellish and exhausting just doesn't cover it.  It was so stressful my insanely constant period came a week early.  


Some of it we really could have planned for better, but the truth is, any kind of moving just SUCKS.  There is no way around it, unless you have tons of money and can just walk away and let someone else deal while you're on vacation, it's going to suck royally.


How do I keep finding myself in situations where really, it's just going to suck?  This last year has put me in numerous situations that are really all about other people.  I don't think of myself as being particularly martyr-like or anything, but situations that are maybe not so healthy for me.


I know I'm shitty at some aspects of friendship.  When I call a friend, I'll happily chat for hours, but I'm not likely to call daily/weekly/monthly and I'm terribly at letters and cards.  But when called to met someone in the desert with shovels, I'll bring two different kinds and a plastic tarp.  


What does this have to do with anything?  There are things you just DO.  I wasn't going to let my dad deal with the move by himself.  I'm not going to let friends suffer where I could be helping.  Family is really important to me, especially since we're all scattered to the winds.  I'm shitty at staying in touch, but there really isn't anything I wouldn't do for my family, and there are a lot of people who arn't blood but are family to me.


Just don't ask me to help you move anytime soon.  I will leave you for the wolves.