In conversations we want him to read our mind and in bed we want him to read our vagina’s mind.

Yesterday I went to the beach. It wasn't anything special because the waves were nearly dead and I was by myself, but the water was warm and I was able to finish a book and start another. It was great though because it was extremely hot out, but on the beach there was a nice breeze that kept things even and helped keep me in the sun longer. Don't worry Mom I wore my sunscreen. I also wore my polka dot one piece. I bought the bathing suit last summer when I was at the peak of my weight gain and couldn't face myself in a two piece but didn't want to look like I was eleven or my mom in my lap suit. I like the suit because it has a cutout in the back and it can be worn strapless or with a halter-type strap. It's already a bit loose, but I can still get away with it for the rest of the summer. It's my last one in it though because I don't intend to ever get that fat again unless there is a baby in my belly. I just don't think that this suit will still be in style in ten years.

No waves. Sad panda.

I've finished the Hunger Games. That's ALL I'm going to say since I already almost screamed at my friend about how I felt about the series conclusion and I can't relive that here. 

I actually put effort into making something for dinner or at least put the effort into assembling things on the same plate to make a meal since it's summer and it's too hot to actually cook anything in my apartment. It was brilliant and now I feel very full and content and will soon fall asleep from food happiness. I went to the store with the intention of picking very specific things up because I thought I was in the mood for something very specific, but once I got there I discovered that I was really in the mood for something else and brought home goat cheese, tomatoes, and pita chips. I also purchased a personal favorite from my childhood for dessert. 

Dinner for me was a full head of romaine. Actually I picked off the the tops because I don't like the soft dark green parts of the lettuce. I usually just do oil, vinegar, and cinnamon, but I wanted something different so I mixed olive oil, lemon juice, spices, and tarragon and tossed that with the lettuce. I added a tomato and some goat cheese for extra awesomeness. The tomato was slightly under-ripe, but what can you expect from anything outside of Lancaster County. The goat cheese was what really made the salad. The tangy cheese combined with the salty lemony dressing made fireworks in my mouth. 

I love goat cheese so much that I ate almost most of it with pita chips on the side of the salad. I've become more and more a fan of pita chip over potato or corn chips. They are just more filling without actually eating more of them. The Sandy's kind that I get also come in a bunch of yummy flavors. My favorite is the Naked kind with just a little salt, but I also love the cinnamon sugar kind. They are just the right amount of sweetness. 

Dessert is something most people wouldn't touch if they've ever had the real thing, but I didn't want to bake in the heat so I bought the stale cake cups that are sold next to the fruit for strawberry shortcake. I love strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. If I had been serious about the dessert I would have soaked the packaged cakes in raspberry liqueur to soften them and give the dessert added flavor. Instead I just piled the cakes with layers of strawberries and whipped cream until the little mounds could no longer stand. The heat from my apartment melted the whipped cream a little and the cream helped soften the cakes which was an unexpected bonus. I almost never eat these, in fact the last time I did was two years ago when I was living in the house, but I miss this even if the real thing is so much better. 

*The title comes from article I read over at Hello Giggles. 

Trying to find the in-betweens, fall back in love eventually.

I'm watching Paper Heart right now. It is a documentary style movie about Charlyne Yi trying to find out about love and whether or not it exists. It's move about love and not about Charlene trying to find love, that part just sort of happens on it's own. Thank you Michael Cera. But anyways, there's a really great interview that she does with an older divorced man about love and true love and finding your soul mate. It's a very  touching moment coming from someone who was left in a marriage and has decided not to get married again because he is afraid of hurt. Check it out, it's a nice movie for those of us that are slightly defective in the love department. Morning Glory arrives in the mail tomorrow. I'm a big Rachel McAdams fan so I'll let you know how it is.

I made turkey balls for dinner tonight. Sounds gross, but they're really just meat balls made from ground turkey. I wanted to go for a leaner meat and I've never had ground turkey before so I thought I would try something new. I really like the ground turkey alternative to red meat. When I was making the balls I kept expecting the raw beef smell, so while I was rolling the balls I thought there was something wrong with the meat. There wasn't and they turned out really good. I made them the way I normally make regular meat balls, I just didn't make them the Aunt Val way. I don't have the patience or resources to go through all of that. I would rather just visit her on meat ball night.

I thought I might do some work tonight, but since I'm not doing anything for the next two days I'm going to just get up early and power through as much as I can and then finish the rest up on Thursday afternoon. If I really can't get to sleep in a little while I'll start my portfolio for Seminar and now that I think about it I really want to write the first draft of the first part so I'll probably just do that later and sleep in tomorrow morning. Meh.

Okay people, by the way I am NOT a clepto. I just happen to collect books the way some people collect pennies. I've just got very refined collecting skills and maybe one day I will share my experiences with the Stowe Free Library. 

When I look out my window I see my friend's apartment building.

Soooo....I wasn't going to write and then I was going to write and then I wasn't and then the Captain said to Alfonso, "Alfonso tell me a story so Alfonso began: "It was a dark and stormy night and the Captain said to Alfonso, 'Alfonso tell me a story,' so Alfonso began," you get the point. So I decided just to write. I also have a boatload of energy because I'm eating way too late (I usually like to have my last big meal before 8pm but I got distracted) and I also took some old Robitussin that I found on top of my fridge and I'm not sure it its the AWAKE kind or the kind that makes you drowsy so I'm now trying to wear myself down and channel some of the energy.

Today started out bad and got exponentially worse in a very short time and other than a nice phone chat with Yonni (he passed his Praxis! Virtual high five bro!) and some potentially good news from my school boss, it wasn't until 5pm that things started to turn around. But hey we all have those days, hopefully yours don't include getting a boot on your car or locking your keys and your school books inside the car and then having to haul yourself across town to find keys to get yourself into your apartment and then into your locked car. Mine did! But thanks to Kat, Anna, and John who let me vent extensively to them, and to my advisor who gave me the number to AAA and didn't mind that I spent the entire class talking about registration instead of reading, and to Chris who was totally adorable to me for some reason. Boy you are going to be such a hottie in two years, it's a shame you're only nineteen now. And really once I got back into my apartment and chatted with my dad I really calmed down and didn't care about the day. In fact after I got de-booted, I went to Old Navy and picked up another work shirt (thank you small fat kids) and took a really long walk around Lower Merion. Thank god I walked because with this cold I came home with a giant trail of snot running down my face because I didn't have any tissues and I didn't want to wipe my nose on the sleeve of my good fleece. Gross, but I really like my clothes. My mom really pulled me through the day very unexpectedly when she sent me a text telling me to read the biography for Cathy Lamb on Amazon. Her books look lame and kind of like the stuff Samantha is into, but her bio is great. I swear I'm the East Coast version of this woman  minus twenty years. I've also become the Iron Chef of leftovers. Tonight it was just chicken, spinach, a leftover tomato, and leftover pasta. Totally tasty, but as I now look at the cooked spinach I am reminded of a friend who won't eat spinach because of a bad experience he had with it and the thought is making me vomit a little inside my mouth. Yuck.

OOOOoooo! New song of the day! I know I'm bad, but I swear I better about other things like boys and shoes, but maybe not majors since I did change that. But anyways here it is: The Naked and Famous - Young Blood.

Two of two.

MATT AND KIM ARE COMING BACK TO PHILADELPHIA AND I AM GOING TO GO SEE THEM!!! Matt and Kim are playing at The Troc at the end of May and my friend Jon and I are going even if I have to drag him there. He's the only other person that I know that loves them almost as much as me so he's coming. You can't go to their shows alone, it's just not fun.

So this one was supposed to go up a while ago and then again last night as a complimentary piece to the first one but then I never got around to it.

I'm watching Julie & Julia right now (for the third time) and I have to admit that I kind of forgot how amazing this movie is. I absolutely hate Julie Powell for being a giant cheating whore in real life, but I really love what she did with her cooking blog. I also adore Julia Child ever since I used to watch her cooking show on PBS with my Dad. When I was little that's all we did, watch Julia Child and The Frugal Gourmet while Samantha napped.

Anyways I love this movie because of the dual stories that it portrays. In one you're watching a woman come from nothing and become a world-wide phenomenon. She has the most amazing marriage and life and her journey through the food world is simple inspirational. She also shares an extreme love of Valentine's day with me. I love the dinner that she hold where everyone wears large red hearts on their chests and when her husband Paul stands up to say beautiful words about her, she flutters her red heart for him. So romantic. She also sends out cute Valentine's postcards of Paul and her to all their friends. 

"You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That's such a comfort."

The other story follows a woman who literally has to her rock bottom in her life before she can pick herself up and be satisfied with her life, all while cooking a year's worth of Julia Child recipes. She is not the best character, but she is a human one with flaws that we all have and she is relatable to most people. I did love her apartment ad if she could make it work in her tiny tiny kitchen I can do it in mine. 

"You can never have too much butter."

The thing I love most about this movie is the relationships that the characters have with each other. For me the most relatable is Julie and her mother. The conversation about Julie's blog in the beginning and the talk about regimins and AA and Julie's mother takes something and goes in a totally opposite direction and misses the point; I can't tell you how many times I have conversations like that with my own mother. It's a wonder I still bother to tell her about the goings-on in my life. I deeply, deeply adore Julia and Paul's marriage. It is so filled with love and care. They perfectly compliment each other. It is really rare to see that sort of love and happiness and outside of this movie the only other marriage that comes close is Lance and Mary Ann. I really love/hate the Powell's marriage as well. The fact that Eric stuck through the Julie/Julia Project and Julie's infidelity is really cool. I love that when they fight, he fights back and stands up for themselves. Too many people are willing to be walked all over because they are too afraid to mess things up. People also put others up on pedestals and people can't handle it. We all do it and when we finally crack we don't always stand up for ourselves. Props to Eric for reminding Julie that he wasn't a saint. I love Chris Messina's portrayal of Eric. He is the man I want. Dark hair and nicely shaped and an excellent sense of humor. Lobster killer qu-est que c'est! He also has a cool job as an editor at an archaeological magazine. I need to meet someone like that and go get some beer and crab legs with them. It's the relationships that make this movie.

If you haven't seen it yet, rent it soon.

"These damn things are as hot as a stiff cock!"

I was reminded of something funny this weekend. My friend Ianni celebrated a milestone birthday and got very very inebriated. Reminded me of a time in high school after we had gotten back from Greece. I was sitting on a bench outside of Sloane's and everything was spinning. Ianni sat down next to me and started talking about Greece and graduation when all of the sudden I ralphed all over the side of the bench. Ianni was stunned and so were Katherine and Josh who were fighting in the car in front of us. Funny how things worked out with us. Two of them in Vermont, one in the army and engaged to be married and me in Philadelphia already planning the move to Portland.

Food and Moses.

I get paid this week. I'm so excited because it's been a while since I've had any sort of extra money in my pocket and with my bills paid, that's what I'm going to have. I don't really have a burning need for anything right now but I am going to get a few things for Marg's birthday and maybe keep some cash to go out with some friends this weekend. Maybe even do some extravagant grocery shopping and cook something different. I still have a lot of chicken in my freezer that I need to use up so I'll have to look up some creative recipes. I may even have some friends over to cook with. Cooking with/for people is way better than cooking alone and for one.

I made lunch at home today. Burt my stomach. Weird, but painful. I was making pasta because I needed something quick and when I was draining the pot I moved it in the wrong direction and the water splashed on me and now it looks like I have a strip of sunburn on my stomach.

Other than my lunch burn, today has been rather unexciting. I have other work in a little while and then my Israelite Religion class. It's taught by  doctorate student from Princeton. He's a seven foot ginger viking how dresses impeccably. I took a stealthy picture of him once with my phone and sent it to Marg and if he didn't live in New Jersey I'm sure I would have gotten a late night call to go stalk his house. Marg as a problem that I have not problem fueling usually because it leads me to a Wawa sandwich. After class I'll hit the gym and then head back home to finish homework and make dinner. I have hockey in the morning down at Penn and I told Lauren I'd pick her up.

A bunch of the blogs that I follow are written by girls that are months away from being married and every week there is something new that they post about their wedding plans. It made me think about how I want cake and how much cake I could eat cake during a cake tasting and so I think that I am going to ask my friend Prada to come along as my fiance and help me eat cake. 

Oh Mondays!

Once again it's almost 7 pm and I  am falling asleep. I've just eaten a balanced dinner and had a glass of wine and now I'm sitting on the couch writing to stay awake. If any of my mother's friends could see me they would say that I am turning into her. My mother would say I haven't eaten a proper meal, my father would tell me that sleep is good, but I think it's really the three glasses of Crane Lake merlot that I've indulged in. Red wine does that to me; I can be going strong on Tanqueray for hours, but get a glass of red in me and I'm down for the count. While some would say that my lushiness is the result of some dangerous genes floating around inside of me, I prefer to think that it is just the 21 year-old in me bursting to get out. Now if I'm still going this strong in five or six years then we can chat.

Tonight I cooked all things Mediterranean making a lemon and garlic vinaigrette salad and a frutti di mare pasta dish. I was partially inspired by my  Hebrew Friend's latest post about eating in and the fact that if I don't start eating my Dad has threatened to come down and stay with me for a while. Apparently the fifteen pounds of Taco Bell that I've gained this semester from stress eating doesn't qualify as food for he and my mother.  My sister's freshman fifteen weight gain on the other hand is not a problem for them. But anyways, to get them off my back I have been cooking anything and everything and then letting my dad know. It's kind of hard in my teeny tiny kitchen, I need more counter space and bigger sink, but I make it work. My parents kitchen is fantastic, whenever I visit I usually bake a few things because of their superior ovens and kitchen appliances. If definitely sometimes pays to have a parent of cooks professionally. The only time it really doesn't is when he's too tired to cook and you end up growing up living off of spaghetti or grilled cheese and tomato soup. My mother was no help on the cooking front. Being a "career lady" she does not fair to well with the domestic arts. Only recently has she been able to build up her cooking repertoire to a tomato based southwestern soup, apple sauce, and carrot and flaxseed muffins. The muffins are particularly popular with her nordic and hiking friends. For Christmas she received a slow cooker recipe book which in turn led to an actual slow cooker so now she safely experiment with food without overcooking it too badly or burning the house down. Go Mom!

Tomorrow I am getting my hair cut for the first time in a year by my uncle over at Seasonal Designs in Plymouth Meeting. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm thinking about bangs but I'm not sure what style. It's between A.J. Cook bangs or Camilla Belle fringe. Oh the decisions!