Catching on like Wildfire

They always say that a good thing grows quickly. No, that's not really how they say it, but I have yet to consume my prerequesite amount of coffee for the morning. What I mean to say is that when people find out about a worthy cause, a great sale, or a hip new band, they spread the word--telling all of their friends that this is something that they NEED TO KNOW.

Well, here's my YOU NEED TO KNOW for the day:

http://catecantrell.blogspot.com/

I know her Daddy. He was part of the group of youths from a church about 20 miles away that we would often see at regional events. I eventually began doing ministry with several people from that group. Like alot of things that you do when you are 15 and 16 years old, the fervor sometimes doesn't last. I will be the first to admit that I don't do as much with the church as I used to, and I miss it. But this guy...he and his family are the real deal. If only there were a few more like them in the world.

Point of the story: they need prayers. Lots and Lots of prayers.

Weight Gain waiting to Happen

1. Wash to pack
2. Need to pack
3. Buy here (specialty food and toiletries)
4. Buy there (all other food)
5. Menu and recipes

Yes, it's vacation time. 9 Days in Destin. We've got a revolving door condo for the week. Some of us are going up at the beginning of the week, some in the middle, and some coming for the second weekend. We were going with another group, but the master bedroom couple broke up and he canceled the second condo because he is bringing the "other woman" with him and doesn't want us around. Well, tough. We just got another condo. Now that puts the Executive Chef duties all on myself. Not that i'm not up for it...check out this menu:

Saturday 6.7.2008
Dinner
Baked Chicken served alongside Rice two ways
Assorted Vegetables

Sunday 6.8.2008
Lunch
Boiled Shrimp Salad

Dinner
Steak Quesadillas
Fresh Pico de Gallo, Fresh Guacamole

Monday 6.9.2008
Dinner
Choice of Grilled Steaks or Blackened Mahi Mahi
Basil Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
Cucumber Tomato Salad

Tuesday 6.10.2008
Lunch
Rice Cooker Jambalaya
A delightful blend of meats and vegetables in a tomato/stock base

Wednesday 6.11.2008
Lunch
Grilled Chicken served atop a bed of Spinach Salad

Dinner
Grilled Shrimp
Fresh Spinach Fettuccine topped with Fresh Basil Pesto
Side Salad

Thursday 6.12.2008
Lunch
Meatloaf with Assorted Vegetables


Friday 6.13.2008
Dinner
Grilled Steaks and Scallops
Dirty Rice
Cucumber Tomato Salad

Saturday 6.14.2008
Lunch
Pita Bread Pizzas
Various fixings to make your own custom pizza

ASSORTED BREAKFAST ITEMS
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Homemade Kolaches
Sausage Breakfast Casserole
Homemade Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Sandwiches

ASSORTED DESSERT ITEMS
Inside Out Oreos
Crème Brule
Assorted Fresh Fruits

Curiosity Killed the Cat

And it's got me in it's grips, currently. Never mind all the flashing bulbs and warning signs, I'm going in anyway. Why do you suppose we are drawn to the things that are obviously so bad for us? You can give me the whole devil testing you theory, but I'm not so sure I buy the whole weakness of the flesh thing. Unless you count stubbornness. No matter how many times I get burned, I've still got to find out exactly HOW close I can get. One day I'll learn, I'm sure, but until then...

Cryptic, I know, but as I am working on a new project and delving into things that I have ignored for over a decade, I realize that I'm going to offend a few people, hurt a few people, and possibly end a few friendships, although its none of my intention to do any of the sort. Understand that I am examining events in my past that have shaped who I have become today. I'm still working on that Brave, Bold, and Confident thing.

Concrete Jungle

I come from a family of procrastinators. My mother. My father. I'm noticing a tendency in my sister. I've noticed that same tendency in myself. Dammit.

The setting is Christmas Eve 2006, my parent's living room and we're opening presents. I am sitting in the 1970s era orange swivel rocker, so marred with age that you don't lean back too far without fear of ending up heels over head on the opposite side. I know that my sister is getting a bedroom suite from our parents-her graduation from the daybed into a full size bed at age 21. I know this because as the Interior Designer in the family, I was haggling pricing with a few of my vendors to make this happen. I also purchased the entire bed linen collection as my gift to her. So I know that her gift is pretty substantial, but I haven't the foggiest what I'll be unwrapping in just a few minutes. After all the presents are dolled out we begin to open. I've only got three gifts in front of me, two from my parents and one from my sister. I am accustomed to having upwards of ten gifts to open, each small thing wrapped separately, to prolong the occasion. Being from a small family, my parents always went overboard when it came to us girls, and they wanted us to have several gifts to open, rather than be done within 5 minutes. So this display in front of me piques my interest for it must be something substantial for the actual gift count to be so low. I open the first gift and it is an assortment of memorabilia from my college alma mater, from my sister. A few minutes later there is a fireproof/waterproof safe sitting before me--my own request after being with a friend 6 hours away from home when she learns that her home has burned down and while her husband made it out ok, everything inside is lost. And alas, the final gift. It's heavy. Something inside is sloshing around when I turn the gift over to tear apart the tape. Lift the cover off the box and find a bag of dirt. Well, not dirt really, Concrete Mix. And a note from my parents telling me that they are going to give me a patio for Christmas! WooHoo.

Yes, I know this gift sounds lame, but in the society of twentysomethings who are just OVER the whole bar scene, group potluck dinners and cookoffs has become our norm. In south Louisiana there is a period of about three weeks each spring and fall when the weather is simply delightful and there is nothing more pleasing than sitting outside on the patio. Up until now that has consisted of grass, so pardon me while I do my happy dance.

Ok, stop dancing. The WAIT. Prices go sky high and we just cannot get anyone in to do this job for anything less than an arm and a leg. So we wait. Formwork is done (although I was so hungover the day we did that part that I have blocked it from my memory). And we wait. I finally randomly meet up with a subcontractor I had worked with years ago. He now owns his own remodeling company and--guess what--can get my patio done for a fraction of the previously quoted price. So just a mere week from that first phone call and I am now walking on a two day old concrete slab in my backyard! Yay ME!! Next step is to plan the cook-off...

Book. Booze. Bubbles.

And thus concludes a perfect Thursday night when the boyfriend is with the guys and you won't hear from him for hours yet. A Thursday night when you fore go the gym in favor of your exercise ball, floor mat, and the first new Grey's Anatomy episode in eons.

While I am on my own path away from the "dark and twisty" I find solitude in reading Julie and Julia, the story of the bedraggled 29 year old who vows to cook every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook over the course of a year. While I'm no connoisseur of French food-I've never even been attempted to try it, save for that one meal of fois gras and potato/leek soup with the fancy name-I do enjoy my time in the kitchen and I have been looking for a way out of this funk that has been my life as of late.

My resolve is to lose the 20 some odd pounds that have attached themselves to my belly and ass over the last twelve months. I was given a little boost today when a friend whom I haven't seen in a mere three weeks said that it looked like I had lost alot of weight since he had last seen me.

Renewed, I manage to get in a great workout-ish, catch up on the lives of my favorite interns-turned-residents, and reacquaint myself with my local BBB. And I'm not talking about an unnamed government agency, Julie Powell.

Erasermate Pens = Noncommittal Lifestyles?

Things seem easier when you don't define it. It's like the definition automatically allows the other person inside the fortress you've built up around you. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I like my little world without letting in a Trojan horse. Once in, it seems like the warriors start coming out of the woodworks. Why is that? Is it because you let your guard down?

I expect to be hurt. I expect things to turn sour. I expect him to not call. I put on a facade that I don't care one way or the other if he does or doesn't show up...and I'm surely not waiting around for him to. It generally takes me somewhere between 6 and 8 months of dating someone before I'll allow any type of conversation (DTR--defining the relationship) and usually even then I give my standard "I'm not good with labels" brush-off. Usually as the one year mark comes around I loosen up. I told someone that I determine that I usually only realize that I'm welcome to the idea of being called someone's girlfriend when we've been hanging out long enough that one of his friends uses the term and I don't go all Exorcist on him. Not exactly the makings for the most healthy situations, eh?

I <3 April Fools Day. NOT!

Everyone knows I detest Valentine's Day, but let's talk about #364 on my list of favorite days. I am no fan of the day when, during each year of my childhood, my father would wake me up at 6am, screaming into my bedroom--"It's SNOWING!" And my 6-7-or-8-year-old self would spring from the covers and rush to the door, where, le sigh, the sun was shining!

FYI, it was a balmy 82 degrees Fahrenheit today.