friends + food

pinky's

::

pimento cheese fries with bacon

::

candice and me

rememory

One time my granddaddy told me he was proud that I was a member of his family.

This one time, after being an only child for eight years, my mom birthed my baby brother.

Every Wednesday night my dad took me out for milkshakes and french fries.

20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood. | thirty things

picture found here

I would love to live in England in a little cottage in the country. It's beautiful. It's quaint. And you could take day trips to London.

19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why? | thirty things

thirty things detour

I don't like the question. It's a bit too personal. So instead, I'll offer up my favorite classical composers, bands/genres, and authors for your entertainment pleasure.

Classical Composers

Gustav Mahler

Dmitri Shostakovich

Antonin Dvorak

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Fredric Chopin

Sergei Prokofiev

Bands/Genres

Fleet Foxes

Mumford & Sons

Classic Rock

British Rock

Broadway

Authors:

Toni Morrison

Sylvia Plath

Cormac McCarthy

J.K. Rowling

Fyodor Dostoevsky

18. What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive? | thirty things

seventeen

:: I wish I was good at singing. That is, I wish I was good at solo singing. It's no secret that I have unrealistic dreams of being on Broadway.

:: I wish that I could compose music mostly because it blows my mind on a daily basis that this and this and this just came out of someone's brain.

:: I wish that I could write good fiction. Or just have a window into a writer's mind for a day or two to see their genius firsthand. 

17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at? | thirty things

send him victorious!

via NBC Sports Live Coverage

Congratulations to Bradley Wiggins on a job well done. The first Brit to ever win the Tour. What an honor! Three cheers for you! And congratulations to Chris Froome in 2nd and Vincenzo Nibali in 3rd.

image found here

Congratulations to Mark Cavendish on the stage win. (And to Bradley Wiggins and the rest of Team Sky for the fabulous lead out.) Fantastic sprint. Just perfect. 

via NBC Sports Live Coverage

Congratulations to Peter Sagan for winning the green jersey, to Thomas Voeckler for winning the polka dot jersey, and to Tejay Van Garderen for being the best young rider. As the commentators would say, "You're all crack riders."

via NBC Sports Live Coverage

It was a fantastically beautiful Tour with an equally as beautiful send off for who is perhaps my favorite rider: the phenomenal George Hincapie. He's ridden in a record breaking 17 Tours, and is retiring in a few months. I even got a little teary-eyed as the peloton ushered him to the front to be the first onto the avenue to lead the group onto the Champs-Élysées. A very special honor for a very deserving rider.

image found here

And finally, to Phil, Paul, Bob: you've done it again. Thank you for a most excellent commentary over these past three weeks. It has been a pleasure, indeed, listening to you each morning. Until next year.

Vive le Tour.

- the best things i've done -

graduating from college with my English degree

finding my true self and my true thoughts and ideas about life

(and realizing that though my views are different than most, i should embrace them because they are who i am. thanks, dr. cronin, for that.)

finding that person i wanted to marry, and then getting married

16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments? | thirty things

this is the life

oh, to have the life of a house cat.

15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why? | thirty things

thirteen + fourteen

weaknesses :

. not speaking up as often as i should about issues that are important to me

  that's the only thing i can think of.

strengths :

. playing music

. listening and talking to people

. writing + reading

. remembering people - really. i have this freakish talent for remembering people. if i see your face and put your name with it, you're imprinted in my brain forevermore. 

13. Describe 5 weaknesses you have. 14. Describe 5 strengths you have. | thirty things

it's happening.

courtesy of Jason Bateman's Twitter

Let's get excited. And have parties. And cry happy, happy tears.

to share the wealth of pure amazing

My friends Lauren and Kelsie know the guy who made/directed this music video. It is all kinds of brilliant. Best music video I've seen in a long, long while.

new burlap toms. perfect? i think so.

brought to you by bob roll.

"During this year’s Tour, cycling fans world wide will be regaled with spectacular exploits produced by the world’s most gifted athletes set against a backdrop of glorious and epic scenery fought out in the most stupefying stadium in all of sports. If you miss this year’s Tour De France I am sure there is a nearby insane asylum where you must check in posthaste."

oh, Bobke, how we love you.

4th July

We bought fireworks last night and set some off in front of our friend's house, where we learned that some people are really defensive about their pine straw and that their default mode is screaming at you even when the fireworks were practically in said friend's driveway and nowhere near her beloved pine straw. So we piled in the cars and headed to the park to set off the big explosions (read: roman candle wars and setting off multiple fireworks at once). And I pretended like I was in Harry Potter.

heat wave

As you saw a few posts ago, we've been having some record (albeit unfortunate) temperatures lately. And on Saturday, our air conditioning broke. 'It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace [. . .] It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.'* While we were waiting for the guy to come fix it (who was at our place and had it fixed within thirty minutes) I put Stella in the bathtub and let her play with the cold water. She loved it, and even let me pour four large cups of water over her. What a nut. Doesn't even know that she's not supposed to like water.

*We'll be besties forever if you know where that's from without looking it up.

salsa

Chips + salsa is one of my favorite snack of all time. Blame my dad. We spent many nights watching movies together eating chips and salsa and/or ice cream out of mugs. But that's a different story entirely. Being a salsa connoisseur, you'd think I've been making my own salsa my whole life, right? Wrong. I've only been making my own for a few months, thanks to my cousin Kristin's wonderful recipe. I've tweaked it a bit to my liking, and it is infinitely better than anything you can buy in a jar. Promise. Make it and see for yourself.

salsa:

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can diced green chiles

1/2 diced white onion

1 handful cilantro*

1-2 cloves of garlic

salt + pepper

lime juice to taste

lemon juice to taste

hot sauce to taste

Put all ingredients into the food processor and blend until it is the desired texture.

Store in the refrigerator. 

The recipe above lasts me for several weeks; though I'm the only person in my house who eats salsa. If you want to make a larger batch, I've found that a 1:1 ratio of diced tomatoes and green chiles is best. Enjoy! 

*coriander for all you Brits out there