This past weekend saw me living through QUITE a few adventures
Friday: LOLfest, an independent short comedy film festival that I went to with a couple of girl friends. The movies were hilarious and wildly inappropriate, the company was all older than us, but the atmosphere was foreign and excitingly refreshing and unlike anything I've ever experienced. I felt so cool being downtown..like I should have been wearing an all black ensemble to look extra edgy.. And then, cause we were adventurous? We decided to play a few pranks...but that's CLASSIFIED.
Saturday: all day, rain and shine, my siblings and I fought to the death (of our calves and shins) in gladiator ball, aka the best game ever, at our neighbors house. A post about gladiator ball will soon follow. But we played in the dusty, hot sun and then it started raining.... So we kept playing until the whole pit became a mud slop, so we just turned it into mud wrestling in the pourin rain until we felt good and covered in mud, and then we went swimming and skim boarding in a ditch by the neighbors house. SUCH an afternoon... Thinking about it, went straight to church with wet hair from the rain and haven't showered since then.................... Oops!
Sunday: family day. We had our usual family yard work-filled morning, and then went out to the intercostal canal on our ski boat for a bit of waterskiing and wake boarding. THAT was so much fun.,, I. Wasting tired to ski so I kneeboarded. Been working to learn some hardcore tricks on the kneeboard, just to be impressive, ya know? But I was a little over ambitious on one jump and came down REEEEEAALLY hard on my head and have a concussion. I am concussed. My brain experienced a mildly traumatic blow. Ouch. It hurts. Oh and did I mention that my ex came for a visit after we got home from the river? Wellll he did. Ill have to write a follow up post sometime.
Monday: weelll today I've been livin with the side effects of a concussion, basically a splitting headache and weird lack of focus, balance, and inability to fully think clearly. It's been really exciting. I did go babysit for a few hours and just did a lot of playing. There js CERTAINLY something to be praised when it comes to strict parenting... But a dear friend of mine got her wisdom teeth out so my best friend and I went visit her and then to dinner. We had the loveliest time catching up and planning some adventures for this week and summer until school starts! Can't wait!!!!
Part 2 to follow tomorrow. My brain hurts.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Into the wild
The girls trekked cautiously back to their campsite, holding their newly scavenged food, salivating at the thought of finally eating after the day's hard work. Fire built, logs collected, they commenced to the cooking at hand. With a sizzle and a pop and a flick of the wrist, the girls collectively cooked a scrumptious meal for 8 starving individuals (themselves) and sat victoriously around the fire of their creation.
In my back yard, in the suburban south.
So maybe we weren't quite in the wilderness. Maybe we cooked our food in a fire pit over a fire made with a mix of wood, charcoal, and newspaper. Maybe we weren't roughin' it (prepared our food in the AC, brought out the beach chairs to sit on, had pitchers of lemonade and real plates..) But we weren't exactly sticking to your mainstream delivery or oven-baked delicacy either. And really, WHO'S COUNTIN?!
Circumstances aside, two days ago, my friends and I made one of the most delicious camp-foods known to man (and woman): THE PITA PIZZA.
This pizza is really an art. It must be prepared over a wood-burning (or charcoal is fine, too) fire place, outside, in a skillet. It does NOT taste quite the same if you bake it inside (pinky promise). You must prepare it with butter (margarine is fine too) and use the WHOLE stick by the end of the preparation (unless you're preparing like 1 pizza, which is pathetic).
Here's our recipe (to feed 8)
2 6-pack of pitas (the kind that open up)
2 bags of mixed Italian cheeses**
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese (we ran out of our mixed pack AND the mozzarella is more in-line with the trail prep)**
2 cans tomato paste (Hunts)
1 large pack of pepperoni
1 stick of butter
**feel free to add more cheese. That's just a bare minimum that we scavenged from the fridges in my house, in reality we would have liked to have MUCH more cheese. Specifically, more mozzarella, but c'est la vie! Do whatcha want.**
materials:
skillet
spatula
plate/large rock/something to place finished pizzas on
can opener (if you're in a kitchen...if not, use the knife)
knife
guitar (and someone who can play and entertain while you're cooking, of course)
what to do:
note- this preparation goes EXTREMELY quickly if it is performed as an assembly line and is really best shared with at least 1 other person
pre-prep:
prepare your fire and get it H.O.T.
Make sure someone is monitoring the fire while you're preparing the pitas (this is where your other person comes in)
step 1 (I'm using steps like Martha Stewart does, except I'm not cramming 10 steps into one. We'll take it step by step #realtalk)
Cut/break pitas in half and, using knife, slit them open into a pocket. DON'T CUT THE SIDES if you can help it. Place cut pitas into a pile.
step 2
Using knife or can opener, open up tomato paste and spread medium layer on 1 of the sides of the pita pocket (top or bottom...)
step 3
Place 4-6 pepperonis inside the pita, sticking them to the paste so they stay put.
step 4
sprinkle (or pile in, if you wish) the cheese (pronounced chez)
step 5
Using spatula, cut off a bit of butter (a nice sized pat, not quite a whole tablespoon) and place it to sizzle in the skillet. Spread it around and then place 2 of the pita pizzas on the skillet. Flip every so often until golden brown (but blackened still tastes good too!). Repeat with all of the pita pizzas.
step 6
Stop cooking and try not to enjoy them. I hope you fail.
Cooking those pizzas was the perfect summer evening- we cooked, we talked, we laughed, we played guitar, and we sang. And to top it off, of course, we roasted marshmallows until the moon was high and our eyes were shutting.
Life is good.
In my back yard, in the suburban south.
So maybe we weren't quite in the wilderness. Maybe we cooked our food in a fire pit over a fire made with a mix of wood, charcoal, and newspaper. Maybe we weren't roughin' it (prepared our food in the AC, brought out the beach chairs to sit on, had pitchers of lemonade and real plates..) But we weren't exactly sticking to your mainstream delivery or oven-baked delicacy either. And really, WHO'S COUNTIN?!
Circumstances aside, two days ago, my friends and I made one of the most delicious camp-foods known to man (and woman): THE PITA PIZZA.
This pizza is really an art. It must be prepared over a wood-burning (or charcoal is fine, too) fire place, outside, in a skillet. It does NOT taste quite the same if you bake it inside (pinky promise). You must prepare it with butter (margarine is fine too) and use the WHOLE stick by the end of the preparation (unless you're preparing like 1 pizza, which is pathetic).
Here's our recipe (to feed 8)
2 6-pack of pitas (the kind that open up)
2 bags of mixed Italian cheeses**
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese (we ran out of our mixed pack AND the mozzarella is more in-line with the trail prep)**
2 cans tomato paste (Hunts)
1 large pack of pepperoni
1 stick of butter
**feel free to add more cheese. That's just a bare minimum that we scavenged from the fridges in my house, in reality we would have liked to have MUCH more cheese. Specifically, more mozzarella, but c'est la vie! Do whatcha want.**
materials:
skillet
spatula
plate/large rock/something to place finished pizzas on
can opener (if you're in a kitchen...if not, use the knife)
knife
guitar (and someone who can play and entertain while you're cooking, of course)
what to do:
note- this preparation goes EXTREMELY quickly if it is performed as an assembly line and is really best shared with at least 1 other person
pre-prep:
prepare your fire and get it H.O.T.
Make sure someone is monitoring the fire while you're preparing the pitas (this is where your other person comes in)
step 1 (I'm using steps like Martha Stewart does, except I'm not cramming 10 steps into one. We'll take it step by step #realtalk)
Cut/break pitas in half and, using knife, slit them open into a pocket. DON'T CUT THE SIDES if you can help it. Place cut pitas into a pile.
step 2
Using knife or can opener, open up tomato paste and spread medium layer on 1 of the sides of the pita pocket (top or bottom...)
step 3
Place 4-6 pepperonis inside the pita, sticking them to the paste so they stay put.
step 4
sprinkle (or pile in, if you wish) the cheese (pronounced chez)
step 5
Using spatula, cut off a bit of butter (a nice sized pat, not quite a whole tablespoon) and place it to sizzle in the skillet. Spread it around and then place 2 of the pita pizzas on the skillet. Flip every so often until golden brown (but blackened still tastes good too!). Repeat with all of the pita pizzas.
step 6
Stop cooking and try not to enjoy them. I hope you fail.
Cooking those pizzas was the perfect summer evening- we cooked, we talked, we laughed, we played guitar, and we sang. And to top it off, of course, we roasted marshmallows until the moon was high and our eyes were shutting.
Life is good.
I HAD AN EPIPHANY
jUST NOW. and no one to share it with so here is my genius idea...
background: last year I heard about a project that involved leaving sticky notes, etc around places where people would see them and be inspired or touched or built up by the words that people had left for them. I just never started anything because I didn't know what to say or where to place the notes.
So that idea has been floating around in my head. And I FINALLY have an idea.
I'm going to take our school address book and go through it this year and by the end of the year will have sent a letter to every girl in the school with an inspirational quote/poem/passage and a note telling them to pay it forward and send it. I'm not going to sign them or leave a return address because I don't want anyone to know it's me behind the letters, but I hope that people will open the letters and have a brightened day because of them. Who knows!? Maybe it'll start a chain!!
I'll also share my quotes and such on this blog so that any random lookers/readers can benefit from the project as well!
"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." ~Doug Firebaugh
background: last year I heard about a project that involved leaving sticky notes, etc around places where people would see them and be inspired or touched or built up by the words that people had left for them. I just never started anything because I didn't know what to say or where to place the notes.
So that idea has been floating around in my head. And I FINALLY have an idea.
I'm going to take our school address book and go through it this year and by the end of the year will have sent a letter to every girl in the school with an inspirational quote/poem/passage and a note telling them to pay it forward and send it. I'm not going to sign them or leave a return address because I don't want anyone to know it's me behind the letters, but I hope that people will open the letters and have a brightened day because of them. Who knows!? Maybe it'll start a chain!!
I'll also share my quotes and such on this blog so that any random lookers/readers can benefit from the project as well!
"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." ~Doug Firebaugh
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Say whaaaaaaaa....?
Think of something crazy that's on your bucket list.
What is something you'd just LOVE to do??? Pool hopping anyone??
'Cause it was on mine and I checked that one off a few weeks ago while visiting a friend a few hours away.
The night was late and the party we were at was basically just me, 3 girl friends of mine, including our hostess, and about 10 guys who were staying at the party host's house. So we, naturally, decided to go pool hopping in the neighborhood nearby.
If you are unfamiliar, pool hopping involves climbing fences, violating all kinds of privacy, and climbing people's roofs to jump into the glistening mini bodies of water that dot many backyards in the suburban south.
IT WAS THE MOST EXHILARATING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE.
There is just nothing like the feeling of tasting forbidden fruit as your body soars through the air and splashes crisply on the surface of a dark pool at 2 AM. Soaked clothes are really fun to climb in, too.
There's only so many chances you'll get to do something completely crazy, so why not take em?
Monday, July 15, 2013
....oops
So maybe in doing a 365 project i set myself up for failure... yep, probably so.
Knowing myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING STARTING A PROJECT LIKE THAT IN THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER?!?!
this project is halted. kaput. but I'm going to keep writing and save a project (like a 180 or something like that) for a time when procrastination and wasting time online is time well spent...like when school starts...
Knowing myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING STARTING A PROJECT LIKE THAT IN THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER?!?!
this project is halted. kaput. but I'm going to keep writing and save a project (like a 180 or something like that) for a time when procrastination and wasting time online is time well spent...like when school starts...
Sunday, June 2, 2013
It's time!!!!!!!!
Well, my dears, the time had come. As of 4:30 this morning I'm officially on my way to heaven on earth...
CAMP KAHDALEA.
Road trippin with the sistahs hell yahhhh! WOOP WOOP! We'll be comin round the mountain when we come
...and jammin to Mumford, avert brothers, Florence and jack all the way
..we might not have all of our CLOTHES but more importantly we've got music. And food.
So much food, in fact that our mother threatened us to never let us go to camp again if we come back fat
So, my dears, I will come back THINNER. And more muscular (love runnin those hills)
HAH, mom. (Disclaimer: I love my mom and she's amazing..I'm halfway kidding.. But I really won't come back fat)
NEVER COME TO CAMP AGAIN, MY A--!
Ill be there. Whatever it takes.
You could say I'm obsessed, but then again, who wouldn't be?!
It's a haven in the blue ridges, a heaven on earth
Where all you need is to love and be loved,
laugh and be happy,
smile and just be.
It is Kahdalea. And my life has been forever changed by it.
Damn I've been sentimental lately... Hormones..
This is my last post until another long secession of posts that are to be expected arounnnnd June 26-27th ish. No worries, ILL BE BACK. And back to stay and (be on track with my 365 project) annnd FULL of adventures and tales of frolics and fun.
May I just say,
Brevard, HERE i COME!
Toodles!👋
CAMP KAHDALEA.
Road trippin with the sistahs hell yahhhh! WOOP WOOP! We'll be comin round the mountain when we come
...and jammin to Mumford, avert brothers, Florence and jack all the way
..we might not have all of our CLOTHES but more importantly we've got music. And food.
So much food, in fact that our mother threatened us to never let us go to camp again if we come back fat
So, my dears, I will come back THINNER. And more muscular (love runnin those hills)
HAH, mom. (Disclaimer: I love my mom and she's amazing..I'm halfway kidding.. But I really won't come back fat)
NEVER COME TO CAMP AGAIN, MY A--!
Ill be there. Whatever it takes.
You could say I'm obsessed, but then again, who wouldn't be?!
It's a haven in the blue ridges, a heaven on earth
Where all you need is to love and be loved,
laugh and be happy,
smile and just be.
It is Kahdalea. And my life has been forever changed by it.
Damn I've been sentimental lately... Hormones..
This is my last post until another long secession of posts that are to be expected arounnnnd June 26-27th ish. No worries, ILL BE BACK. And back to stay and (be on track with my 365 project) annnd FULL of adventures and tales of frolics and fun.
May I just say,
Brevard, HERE i COME!
Toodles!👋
Saturday, June 1, 2013
this past week
this past week I spent time at our family beach house in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
To say the place is a heaven on earth (notice it's A not THE ONLY) is an understatement....
85 and breezy was the weather
the bay is shallow and warm
the beach is white and sandy (as most beaches are:))
and the city is just about as cute as can be
(...even though we stood out in Walmart because we didn't have tattoos...what is it with all the body art these days? self expression is great but just imagine yourself in 40, 50 years....do ya still want those chain links or thorns or infiniti symbol..?)
But more important than the town was the TIME..
boat riding down the Jordan River
slalom skiing and wakeboarding
making a rope swing off and old water oak
solo sailing in the bay when the water got choppy
being visited by dolphins as you paddle board past the posts
early morning runs with dad across the bridge and along the seawall
evening bocce ball tournaments (it's the fam's latest sport....I have to say, we're naturals.)
family gameboard/movie night
intense checkers matches
guitar pickin on the screened in porch
It was just one of those vacations that (although we take it every year, same time, same place) will be unforgettable.
I cherish these times with my family as this is the last summer that I'll be officially living at home...who knows where I'll be next year?!
The moments with my siblings and parents are so precious, I've been working to make the most of each and every one. (and that's partially why i didn't write more... too busy cherishing the moment! and didn't have internet connection)
Family is the people you can't choose but fit perfectly with in the end. Although we're all crazy and different, we are one. And I wouldn't trade mine for the world.
To say the place is a heaven on earth (notice it's A not THE ONLY) is an understatement....
85 and breezy was the weather
the bay is shallow and warm
the beach is white and sandy (as most beaches are:))
and the city is just about as cute as can be
(...even though we stood out in Walmart because we didn't have tattoos...what is it with all the body art these days? self expression is great but just imagine yourself in 40, 50 years....do ya still want those chain links or thorns or infiniti symbol..?)
But more important than the town was the TIME..
boat riding down the Jordan River
slalom skiing and wakeboarding
making a rope swing off and old water oak
solo sailing in the bay when the water got choppy
being visited by dolphins as you paddle board past the posts
early morning runs with dad across the bridge and along the seawall
evening bocce ball tournaments (it's the fam's latest sport....I have to say, we're naturals.)
family gameboard/movie night
intense checkers matches
guitar pickin on the screened in porch
It was just one of those vacations that (although we take it every year, same time, same place) will be unforgettable.
I cherish these times with my family as this is the last summer that I'll be officially living at home...who knows where I'll be next year?!
The moments with my siblings and parents are so precious, I've been working to make the most of each and every one. (and that's partially why i didn't write more... too busy cherishing the moment! and didn't have internet connection)
Family is the people you can't choose but fit perfectly with in the end. Although we're all crazy and different, we are one. And I wouldn't trade mine for the world.
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