See? Pictures, as promised.

Firstly, eat brunch at Farmicia. You will be glad that you did.

Tofu Scramble with Vegan Chorizo


Eggs Benedict with Veggie Sausage


Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon


Then, come back to my place and eat some cake. The gladness will continue.


This dog certainly wishes he could have some cake. Alas, Ollie, you may not have chocolate lest you die. You may only look and drool.

Amen...

First, amen to this post on Passive Aggressive Notes. Do not park in the spot that your neighbor shovels out. This should be the first commandment.

Second, my birthday was this past weekend. CPM and I had house guests all weekend (actually, we pretty much have house guests all of this week, as None More Black prepares for an upcoming weekend assault on various locales). I made myself a delicious cake (modeled after this one). CPM and company took me to dinner--Blue Sage, naturally, our celebration restaurant of choice. He got me a flash for my DSLR (side note: great, something else I have to learn to use properly). Horsebites drew me a picture. We had brunch at Farmicia on Sunday. Then, I made my famous Seitan Pot Roast for dinner. Yeah, that's exactly how you want to begin the week you are participating in a weight loss challenge.

I couldn't get near my computer to upload any of my pictures because band practice took over the basement for the entire weekend.

Third, a note to the neighborhood kid who was circling my block on a quad ATV on Saturday morning at approximately 5am: I will find you. And when I do, I will knock on your door to tell your parents about your escapade. Hopefully, they will care enough to knock some sense into your idiotic brain. Unfortunately, I have this feeling that they will not give one shit.

You've already seen a million shots of snow.

So what? Here are some of mine. In them, you can see the challenge of parking in a snow covered neighborhood in NE Philadelphia. You see, there are rules. Once you dig out a spot on the street, it is YOURS. You claim the spot by leaving a trash can or a chair in it when you leave. And woe betide those who forget to make this important mark (as we forgot to do one evening this week). The spot that you dug after the first Snowpocalypse (20 plus inches), will most certainly be claimed by an asshole of a neighbor, forcing you to park in a spot still covered in the first storm's snow. This means you spent the day after Snowpocalypse 2.0 digging over 30 inches of snow from around your vehicle. Then, to add insult to injury, your asshole of a neighbor will drag their own trash can to the spot in front of your house. I've been fantasizing about dumping all of the excess sidewalk snow onto their car for days. But I won't do that. I'll just quietly stew and send dirty looks their way whenever I see them.

Snowpocalypse 1.0


Snowpocalypse 2.0


My poor puppies have to swim through snow in order to pee.




Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, I got a new tattoo. It is awesome. It is a gift from my wonderful husband for my upcoming birthday. I basically said to the artist (Mr. Jason Goldberg, Olde City Tattoo), "I want a stake through a heart, with some blood." Yeah, I'd want to punch me too for that extra clear direction. I think he did a wonderful job.

Yes, it hurt. If you want to have a twenty minute conversation about the pain, drop me a line. There were moments that I thought I was going to lose it. And then, ten minutes after I was done, I was planning my next tattoo. Go figure.

Blarg

This weekend...

Twenty-eight inches of snow fell into my life. It was clearly uninvited. Did I use the enforced house bound time to my advantage, by say, preparing my taxes or beginning a quilt? Nope. I slept late, did laundry, shoveled out, took care of a friend's cats, and basically vegetated. On the day following the snow, I food shopped, pet food shopped (whoops, ran out of dog food during the storm, so they ate eggs), and took my niece out birthday shopping. I also almost got into a fist fight over a parking space. I really miss Hawaii.

This weekend...

CPM and I used the excuse of the Superbowl (which we care nothing about) to go to the movies. We haven't been to a movie in a theater in almost two years. We decided to see Avatar. I'm writing a complaint letter to James Cameron today in hopes of getting my nineteen dollars back. The special effects were incredible. The plot was lazy (oooh big bad company invades paradise to plunder it of its natural resources, the natives rise up and beat the bad guy) and there weren't any characters of note...no one to get really emotionally invested in, unless you count the moments where you root for the bad guy just to break up the monotony of boredom. I feel vindicated now for never seeing Titanic.

Vacation Redux

I've been home from Hawaii for several days now, and I know I owe the two people who read this blog some sort of vacation recap.

I'll admit that the first two days that we were home, I was quite miserable. It was sunny and 80 degrees every day on Oahu, give or take a shower on the Windward side here and there. When we arrived in Philly, the thermometer was barely registering 20. Once home, we faced chores, minor plumbing repairs, food shopping, bills to pay, and jobs to return to. On vacation, we had leisurely breakfasts, relaxing walks, delicious warmth and sunshine, fabulous dinners, beach time, pool time, house hunting forays, whale watching, hiking, sleeping, dreaming, etc. I know, vacation is supposed to be awesome, but somehow this trip was extra awesome.

I was trying to compose a top ten moments list, but I got overwhelmed. I took a lot of pictures, deleted many that I hated, and saved a few. The full set of what I took with the "big" camera are here. I have yet to take the few gems off of my iPhone. Of particular note in that collection will be the shot of the lady in the thong that I grabbed for CPM's enjoyment. Yes, I look at ladies butts. How can I not when they are on display like that? As I tweeted one morning, going to the beach is like hanging out with strangers in your underpants.

Here are few favorite moments and stuff...

The rooster at Waimea Valley


The peacocks at Waimea Valley


Okay, Waimea Valley was just awesome all around


By chance, seeing a friend marching in the MLK parade--something told me to head out onto our lanai at just the right moment...


Hare Krishna


Coffee and Dessert at Honolulu Coffee Company


Dinner at Arancino (every other night)


Sunsets


Beachtime


Boat Rides


Breakfast at The Cream Pot