Split Screen - A Love Story

Shot entirely on a cell phone. Beautiful.

Summa Time = Slurpee Time

I had 3 last week and I wish I had made it 4.  Who doesn't love Slurpees? While they are available year round, I don't seem to indulge during any season other than summer. I'm some what of a purist - wild cherry all the way. When I was just a young lass I would mix the flavors and slurp the days away while reading from my summer book list and not playing outside.

I always looked forward to July 11th because the 7-11 in our neighborhood would give away free slurpees in honor of the date. My mom (being awesome and such) would take us to the library and 7-11 every week during summer vacation. It was such a thrilling thing to look forward to. Learning during the summer.....who doesn't look forward to that? Rosie made sure to always take us on July 11th for that free Slurpee and to chat up Randy, our 7-11 worker friend.

Dang it. I've already brushed my teeth and gotten ready for bed and now I really want a Slurpee. Tomorrow I might have to double up!

"There is no such thing as a weird human being. It's just that some people require more understanding than others."

- Tom Robbins

Working on that additional understanding will probably be a life long pursuit for me.

Yep, I'm still imperfect, but that should surprise no one.

Break Time

I'm taking a bit of a social media break.

I'm off Facebook, Twitter, and now, Blogger for an unspecified amount of time. I feel a bit overexposed to the lives and experiences of other people. We all pick and chose how to represent ourselves on such sites and determine how much we will let others into our little corner of the world. I don't feel as though I have overexposed myself necessarily (shocking, I know) but recently I've had some disappointing experiences through the use of various media. These minor hiccups are based on expectations I've allowed myself to place on others, which were based on how they choose to portray themselves.

That's not fair.

I should definitely not be holding anyone up to these invisible expectations. So I guess that is the main reason I need to walk a way for a bit. I need to disconnect from the digital world to help me reconnect with people.

I have several blog posts scheduled so please keep checking back in. I'm sure I'll be back blogging sooner than anything else because I lurve this dang thing! 

Judge away if you feel so inclined.

When Kate Comes to Town

My good friend, Kate, came to town this weekend. She's the one that I lived with for a short time and went to St Thomas and Ireland with. I will actually be going to NYC next weekend to see her again! We like each other a little bit.

Kate is my sugar sister. We love all things ice cream, candy, cupcake, etc.

So of course we started Saturday with a big ole' cupcake. Yum!

Serendipity 3 is now in Georgetown so a visit was in order

Ugh. She and Devon are the worst! They never pose for me!

There's my baby. Forbidden Broadway Sundae - quadruple yum!

They have the very best whipped cream on Earth.

True story.

Devon got Humble Pie.

The biggest thing to ever be served on a plate.

Basically pure peanut butter.

I wanted to die. Yuck.

Still love her though.

Devon and I love cooking so we decided to gather some inspiration and make a delicious meal.

Isn't her salad gorgeous?!?

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries......oh dear, I might make these everyday and feel happy about gaining 27 lbs.

Black Bean Tortilla Pie - another win! So good!

Crashed Potatoes

Caramel Apple Pie.....we do dinner right!

Sweet Surprise

This cute girl finally sent pictures with herself in them!

Doesn't she look good???

She's currently in Taranto, Italy and loving every minute.

I love getting her emails because I can tell she has changed but she is definitely still the same ole' Maria. 

She still looks 8 to me - I can't believe she's 21 and halfway around the world.

The Brick

(from an email forward from my sweet dada, i don't normally like to blog this sort of thing, but i really love the message)

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar.. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. 

As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, 'What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?' 

The young boy was apologetic. 'Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the brick because no one else would stop....' With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car.. 'It's my brother, 'he said 'He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up.'

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.'

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat... He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. 'Thank you and may God bless you,' the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home..

It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message:

'Don't go through life

so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to

get your attention!'

Hey Mom!

So great, right?

pinned

"Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them;

but do not let them master you.

Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.

When we do the best we can,

we never know what miracle is wrought in our life,

or in the life of another."

- Helen Keller

We Cook

Devon and I wanted to make a delicious treat so we looked through Pinterest and settled on Vanilla Roasted Pears

prepping

lots and lots 'o butta

Hot out of the oven with some vanilla bean ice cream?!? so.good.

It also recommended it with oatmeal which I will definitely have to try!

Thanks, Pinterest!

(Are you on it yet?)

I Was There

Friday night Devon and I got ice cream with our guys at a delightful little place called Pop's.

Ryan recommended the red velvet......I was not disappointed.

As we were walking out I asked a lady in line to take our photo.

She agreed and we settled in to pose.

As she pointed the camera, I noticed something was off.......

She handed the camera back to me and asked if it was ok.

I asked her to take it again - but this time I'd like to be in it.

I'm Outta Here!

I have been a bit photocentric lately, have you noticed?

I have been taking lots of pictures lately for two reasons:

1) We've been doing lots of fun things

2) I want to get a lot better at shooting manually and not relying on auto because I'm going on a trip!

August 10th-August 31st I will be going to China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong) to visit Meghan for 10 days, then finish up the trip with my friend, Britta, in Istanbul, Prague and Vienna! I just bought all my tickets today (I'm so sorry, savings account) and now it's just a waiting game.

I won't be uploading pictures during the trip because I don't want to put my pictures on some internet cafe computer and then delete them all. I think a lot could go wrong that way. 

Have any of you ever been to these places? Any advice on the all important "must sees"?

pinned

"Because I Saw It on Your Blog"

Devon brought me peonies!!!!

I asked her why and she said,

"Because I saw it on your blog"

.......this girl.

I'm in serious like with her.

Good job Mom and Pop LaMay, she's a peach

Summer Rain

sometimes you just need to stop unloading the dishwasher and grab your camera

T.G.I.F

Yes, thank goodness it's Friday - but can we get serious for a moment? Raise your hand if you miss TGIF, the Friday evening 2 hour block of fun family comedies.

Now put your hand down and dry your eyes because you know you just shed a tear.

No judging here.

Some of my favorites -

Boy Meets World - the boys were cute, Topanga's hair was huge, Mr Feeney was mean but fatherly and Ben Savage is Fred Savage's brother. Formula for excellence if ever there was one.

OK, let me tell you what just happened. Devon and I are watching the beginning of 'Glee' and I'm blogging. She looks over and says, "I'm really glad you're doing this. I was watching Bones today and the dad from 'Family Matters' was on it!"

My reply? "Oh, Reginald Vel Johnson?"

.......and she laughed real hard.

I can't be the only person who knows Carl Winslow's name.....

The Holy Grail of TGIF, right? I remember the episode when they found out that Becky was going to have twins. My sister, Elisabeth, had been sent to her room for some reason and wasn't allowed to watch the new episode. When they announced it I ran upstairs and pounded on her door to tell her the wonderful news.

In high school when my softball team was warming up sometimes we would play 'Full House' trivia (and 'Saved By The Bell trivia - swoon). It was hard because we were all really good at it so we had to get really obscure.

CUT-IT-OUT

(by the way, did anyone else totally hate Stephanie?)

I l.o.v.e.d. this show! It was actually pretty funny and I thought Holly Robinson (Peete) was sooooo cool. What is Mark Curry doing these days? Sadly, not a lot, check out his wikipedia page here. It should have lasted longer than it did, I was willing to keep hanging with Mr. Cooper.

One word. 

Cody.

So cute. So stupid.

Definitely one of my earliest major crushes, but even at a young age I recognized that I need a man with brains. Beauty fades, but oh my.....Friday night was lovely during the 'Step By Step' 30 minutes. 

Other than that, the show was fine. A bit obnoxious, but an important part of the TGIF lineup.

Everyone I knew watched TGIF every weekend and it saddens me that there's nothing like it now. Actually, maybe kids should be outside playing rather than watching TV, but whatever, we had a great childhood.

Thanks, ABC.

Why Aren't You on Pinterest?

Are you not on Pinterest because it's habit forming?

True, it is. But it's not cocaine.

Are you not on Pinterest because you want to be out enjoying the weather?

Well, it's raining in DC currently.

Are you not on Pinterest because it's too trendy?

Get over it. So were braces but you're grateful to mom and dad anyway.

So what's stopping you?

I'm going to call some of you out because I still can't believe that you are not pinning! 

Ashley, Bryton, MOM, Tira, Tammis, Kati, Amber (yes you, Amber), Megan (uh huh, yeah, this is me calling out your whole family), Lizzie, Rachel P, and who else am I missing.....whatever, consider this your notice.

It's awesome! People snag things off the internet and this site always keeps the original website with it so if you go to look up that recipe or shirt, it will take you to that information. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a picture but I can't track down where it came from. Pinterest solves that for you! I will show you what I've been pinning lately so you get a better idea. Click on any of the links to go to my boards.

(PS - my separated at birth twin is pinning, we started following each other today)

istanbul on my 'i want to go to there' board

'getting dressed' board

'i need a house to decorate' board

the golden gate bridge on the 'photos' board

'wedding - because i'm a girl' board

panko crusted green beans 'good eats' board

'makes me chuckle' board

'me to a t' board

'wise words' board

'beauty' board

(that's paper!)

'me likey' board

I truly hope most of you succumb to peer pressure. Pinterest has helped me be more productive, crafty, imaginiative, and a better/more interesting cook! And we can follow each other, and let's face it - we all do the facebook/blog/twitter love so why not Pinterest?

I can send you an invite (uber exclusive, holler!) and you just have to link it through facebook or Twitter. Don't worry, it won't start posting it on your wall or tweeting your pins, but it gives you the option if you want.

If this didn't convince you - I don't know what will.

Happy pinning!