Southern Ladies

There is a group of ladies who have taken over my favorite little Starbucks.

For the second time this week, they were here when I arrived.  Taking up an entire side of the small coffee shop, they laugh loudly, exchange gasps of purse-admiration and offer delight in each others' earrrings or "cute workout skirt" or new reeboks.  Apparently, fitness has brought them together; they vary in age but all are dressed for exercise.  The young women wear contemporary workout gear, and the older ladies supplement their ensembles with beautiful pearl earrings and bright necklaces.  Despite being in workout gear, all hair styles are perfectly coiffed and all have what I presume are considered "sassy" purses sitting prettily beside their crossed legs.  The laughter from this group is loud and continuous, although the ladies exchange stories while keeping their hands busy -- cross-stitch, coffee, and the clackity-clack of knitting needles.

Adidas.  Pearls.  Black yoga pants.  Snakeskin.  Shabby cotton.  Shiny gold.

I watch them over my raspberry latte and I think,

"This is how Southern ladies do Starbucks."

 And I'm lovin' it.

Looks Yummy

I don't usually post recipes, but I just found this one on pinterest and it looks easy and yummy.  I'm not sure about the blue cheese part, because I'm not a huge blue cheese-er; I might try feta instead.

Enjoy :)

http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/2012/01/buffalo-chicken-pizza-rolls/

"The Dark Lord" Gets It Right.

#undernocircumstances shud sum1 feel its ok 2 tlk lik this. You have 140 characters. Use them and stop typing like you're illiterate.  ~@Lord_Voldemort7



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PS.  Mom, don't take this personally.  You can do no wrong with me :)

Pretty Little Lies

The other night, I was doing the dishes and found myself singing this song from Pinocchio -- do you remember it?  So pretty and so sweet... and so full of ridiculousness. Here are the oh-so-pretty lyrics, for your grown-up cynical enjoyment.

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you...


If your heart is in your dreams
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
 As dreamers do...


Fate is kind;
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of 
Their secret longing...


Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.


Oh, Jiminy Cricket.  You told us such pretty little lies.  :)

And because I can't help myself, here is the great Louis Armstrong singing "When You Wish Upon a Star."  Because although the idea of wishing something into existence might be ludicrous, the beauty and magic of childhood dreams are not.  I hope 2012 is a year when many, many of your dreams come true :)

Shoppy McShopperson

Today, I convinced sister G to come with me to do fun shopping errands.  This was our afternoon:

Brown boots.  50% off.
Auntie Anne's pretzel.  Delish.
New workout pants.  On sale. (choosing not to include a link to non-exciting workout pants)
Lipliner that doesn't make me look like death?  Priceless ;)

Sister time and good deals and checking things off of my "need to take the time to buy" list = good afternoon.

New Pillows

Last night, I was at Walmart buying something.  I can't remember what it was, now.  Oh! Diet Coke.  I was buying a lot of diet coke. (I forgot the limes, though, and that's my favorite part to diet coke at home -- the fresh squeezed lime. But now I'm really rabbit-trailing from the post's purpose.  Apologies.)

So I was at Walmart and I saw pillows on sale.  And by "sale," I mean super-ridiculously cheap pillows on sale for something like $3.48 each.  And I realized in front of the display that I honestly could NOT remember the last time I purchased pillows -- AND -- that the pillows on my bed resembled pancakes, while these cheap-ola pillows looked like piles of fluffy down... So, I bought two.  It cost me almost seven bucks.

I came home.

I pillow-cased them and put them on my bed.

I went to sleep, eventually.

SEVEN HOURS LATER, I woke up and realized I slept through the night.  No tossing and turning.  No bathroom visits.  Just Me, my new cheap pillows and my old expensive blankets.

So, I am completely crushing on my new cheap pillows.  They are Huge and they are Perfect for Side Sleepers and they are Quality Assured.

Apparently, they are also full of integrity.  Because they were exactly who they said they'd be :)  And don't we all want a crush like that?

He's Back

I couldn't tell what it was at first -- the low moaning coming from the other side of my apartment wall.  For a second, the sounds of my apartment (air, water, cars in the parking lot outside) obstructed the noise... but then, silence.  And through the silence I heard a guttural rising -- a loud but unstable crescendo squealed its way through the wall and then abruptly halted with a la-la-like screeching sound... what could it be?

He's back.  My karaoke-loving moaner.

Tonight, he is rolling in the deep.  Apparently, I had his heart and soul.

And, wait for it -- ahhh, yes.  He is also caught in a bad romance.

Autumn Saturday

A few months ago -- I think it was last spring -- I found this beautiful wreath idea online.

Well, when I went to Hobby Lobby today to find an autumn wreath for the front door, I was distressed -- DISTRESSED -- at the prices they were charging.  I saw wreaths for $79 and gasped out loud.  THEN I saw several for $99 and I thought I'd pass out in the aisle.  Seriously.  Who pays that?!?  So instead, I did the following:

Purchased a grapevine wreath, a wooden number "8," some silk flowers and a little bottle of gold paint.

I came home and made this:

I think it's pretty and autumnal and it took me a few minutes with a glue gun and NOT EVEN CLOSE to $79 bucks.  Haha.  Isn't the 8 cute?  I loved the fancy-ness of it.  

Here's a closer picture of it:

The Phillies play tonight, I'm baking Lauren Parks' pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, the Gamecocks are currently winning against Auburn and all is right with the world.  

How beautifully leaves grow old.  How full of light and color are their last days.  ~John Burroughs

Snapshots of My Summer

 Afternoon Starbucks brownie with my niece...

 Yogurt Mountain with the whole family (Fourth of July Weekend)

 We take up two tables -- at least. 

 Midnight swimming!

 Delicious after-church lunch fun at Papa's and Beer...

 Late afternoon sidewalk view from Trio's Cafe downtown...

 Baking cookies :)

 Helping Mom prep peaches for preserves and pie!

 Taking my niece to breakfast at -- where else? -- the Awful Waffle.  Haha -- except that it was nice and not awful at all...

 Enjoying baseball at a Greenville Drive game!

 On the way to the beach...

 The Sisters.  One week.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

 Our view :)

 Prepping for B's bridal shower!

 Scones and sisters -- a perfect bridal shower combo :)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled school year... 

String Cheese and Pet Peeves

I love string cheese. Random but true.

I do NOT love:

* angsty facebook status updates.
* not being able to remember how to knit, even though sister B has shown me THREE different times.
* eating a bagel and having the cream cheese smoosh out onto my shirt.  Sigh.
* losing my dining room table to piles of student papers.  Haha.

Sister B's bridal shower is tomorrow.  Perhaps pics will follow :)

Awww, College Freshmen

"Do you know where Professor so-and-so's classroom is? I went there yesterday but she wasn't there..."

Last Night

Last night, girls I love came over to my house.  I set out the fixin's for tacos and didn't make enough beef.  We ate chips and dip and laughed and I turned the ac down so people wouldn't be hot.  We tried on jewelry and gobbled up my new favorite dessert recipe: Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie...

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sopapilla-cheesecake-pie/detail.aspx

It was a lovely evening and the only thing that would have made it nicer was if ALL the girls I love could have been there :)

Happy Saturday from the gal who's heading to the movies to see HP 7.2 tonight for the -- wait for it -- 3rd time.  Accio, fun times!

My Favorite Quote

"For every super-hot girl, there's some guy somewhere who's tired of putting up with her crap."

Haha :)  I love it. 

Me Mouf's on Fie-yah!

My friend S is cooking through the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook (apparently, I need to get this cookbook because every time she blogs about a recipe, my mouth waters)!  The other week, my friend used an awesome, easy recipe for one of my favorite foods in the WORLD: pico de gallo!

I got the ingredients and made it tonight, as per the PWC recipe, and I gotta say -- I think using 3 peppers is toooooo much for my mouth, because it is on FIRE right now and I had to stop and drink my weight in water to overcome the heat.  But the recipe is amazingly easy and I'll definitely be making this again. Sans two of the peppers, of course.

Fresh pico = summer.  Lovin' it.

Funny.

A friend sent me this text today:

Chuck Norris doesn't need a twitter.  He's already following you. 

Also, I think these came from the epic fail blog:

Sometimes, life is just fun.  Haha

...and so it's a good thing I don't have kids.

We started the weekend well -- with popcorn and a movie: Megamind.  I'd never seen it, but Faith had, so she made sure to tell me what was going to happen as it was happening.  "and this is when Megamind THINKS he killed..." hahaha -- it was lots of fun. 

Finally I get her to bed.  It is 11:30.  This is troubling, but I secretly think that she'll sleep in the next morning, so there is an internal justifying of the late hour bedtime. 

Light woke me at 6:32 am.  When I stumbled into Faith's room, she was reading a book and my croaky, "Faith! What are you doing up -- it's still the middle of the night!" did not seem to sway her back to sleep.  I went back to sleep, though, and got a blissful 40 minutes before I heard "Auntie Ro, can I watch a movie?" I trundled out to the living room, set up the dvd, and went back to bed for another hour.  I mean, wow.   That girl got like 6 hours of sleep, max.  Cuh. Razy.

 When I finally got UP around 8 am, we sloshed through the rain and wind in our pj's to get our donut holes.  Then we came back and watched a movie all morning -- good times, good times. 

My plan was to get us both ready and out the door in time for lunch and then the show at SWU at 2.  I forgot that an eight-year-old doesn't always understand the importance of the "plan." We got out the door, barely in time to make it to SWU, and I'm ashamed -- so ashamed -- to confess to you that I COMPLETELY forgot two things:

1. Someone didn't remember to "do" her niece's hair.

2. Someone also didn't remember to ask her niece to brush her teeth. 

We made it to the play, but without an official lunch, I am ashamed to say.  I am further ashamed that I tried to placate the lunch situation with a zaxby's drive-through, but someone didn't want chicken; they just wanted fries.  Sigh.  So here's the day so far:

Unbrushed hair.  Unbrushed teeth.  French fries for lunch.

So far, Auntie Ro is an EPIC FAIL as a substitute mom.  I freely admit this :)

Because of my epic fail with lunch, little girl made it through the first act, but we had to ditch the second because of grumpy, grumpy hunger-pants.  I would judge, but I can't.  My sisters know how grumpy I am until I'm fed.  It's rather shocking.  So...

I suggested a slice of pizza.  We ended up with cheesy sticks. Considering that her mother specifically asked me to try to keep this weekend healthy... well, the Epic Fails continue.  Forgive me, sister A. 

Potentially, I may have also introduced her to garlic butter sauce, which she'd never heard of before.  <insert apology here>

Niece-a-kiss fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Now she's had her bath, is in her pj's, and we are about to make tacos at home.  I am going to attempt a lettuce-tomato seduction, but she's already warned me that she likes her tacos with "JUST meat and cheese. That's all."  We shall see...

Niece-a-kiss

My niece is coming to spend the weekend with me.  Sister A is going to a ladies retreat in the mountains, and she is allowing me to shelter and feed her most precious treasure for two days :) 

This morning, sister A told me that my niece said, "Auntie Ro is the funniest Auntie in the whole wide world!" (or something along those lines), and I've gotta tell you -- it mighta kinda sorta made my DAY.  We have "traditions" at Auntie Ro's house.  Here are a few of them:

* At Auntie Ro's house, there are always "hot chips."
Years and years ago, I brought some Doritos to a lunch or something, and my niece had never tried them before!  She loved them and has been calling them "hot chips" for as long as I can remember...My sister doesn't keep them at her house, because it's one of those things that is special for Auntie Ro's visits. 

* At Auntie Ro's house, we always watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
This is a movie I never get tired of watching, and I introduced her to it last year, I think.  Our favorite parts are:  the fizzy-lifting drinks, where they have to burp to save themselves; the carbonation-powered train, where they get covered in heaps and mounds of frothy bubbles; and the part where one of the dads says, "I've got a blueberry for a daughter!"  We laugh and laugh and laugh.  Usually, my niece rewinds these parts at least 3 times while we watch. 

* At Auntie Ro's house, we always get up early on Saturday morning and drive through Dunkin Donuts in our pj's to order my niece F her very favorite breakfast: Donut Holes. 
We make sure they include powdered, (her fav), chocolate and blueberry (our mutual favs) and "only a couple" jelly-filled (my fav).  Also, we get milk.

* At Auntie Ro's house, F always drinks out of a special pink cup I save especially for her visits. 
It is pink and plastic and she always gets to pick the color straw she wants to put in it.  I have many colored straws.

* At Auntie Ro's house, when my niece comes to visit, she gets to take a BUBBLE bath in the "swimming pool" bathtub. 
It is a 2 person whirlpool tub with jets and my 8 year old niece gets lost in it.  She loves it, although she is always a little nervous about "starting up" the jets.  ("They're so loud, Auntie Ro!")

This weekend, I have lots of fun things planned and my camera will be joining us on our adventures... stay tuned :)

Caramel Deeeeelights

This year, I had a special Girl Scout cookie connection -- my very good friend's daughter was trying to sell I-can't-remember-how-many boxes of cookies, so I did my part and ordered ten.  Yes, ten.  At the time, ordering so many seemed like a great idea.  And then I started weight watchers.  Enter obvious joke now.  Haha :)

Now, apparently, one can enjoy GS cookies and STILL stay on WW target.  But just to safeguard myself from what I know will be Killer Temptation, I am gifting most of the boxes to family and friends.  (Which was really my idea from the beginning, to be honest.)

Hilariousness.  Weight watcher books and point counters next to a mound of cookie boxes.  I kinda love it.  

'Cuz I Need You Now Tonight...

For the past several months, Friday nights have been a leeeeetle uncomfortable.  A strange kind of horrible chanting-type sound has come from the neighboring apartment, and I've had to sleep with the exhaust fan on to block out the awkward noise.  Now, I've been pretty patient (aka, I haven't called the mgt office to complain) because I thought it was a kind of spiritual chant.  So I've buckled down and tolerated.  Alas and Alack.

Hilariously, my hypothesis was COMPLETELY wrong.  Tonight, I was right next to the wall I share with the aforementioned neighbors, and I figured out the noise.  SOMEONE is "singing" karaoke on Friday nights.  I kid you not.  The human noise was attempting a very painfully rendered but obviously passionate rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Sigh.  "Once upon a time there was light in my life; now there's only love in the dark."

But there's nothing I can do.  It's a total eclipse of the heart.

 

Fun Stairs