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Sunday, September 8, 2013

Floods and Food

Yikes.  Getting back into the swing of work is taking some time.  What's also taking some time is adapting a healthy sleeping pattern.  I'm waking up around 2 AM with anxiety attacks and then I spend the rest of the morning hours tossing and turning next to M.  What makes it worse is that he's doing the same thing.  To try and get a "normal" night's rest, we decided to sleep in separate rooms on Thursday and Friday night.  Thursday I had the same awful night's "sleep," but Friday, oh, Friday.  I haven't slept that good in months.  We were watching 30 Rock on Netflix and by our 5th episode (somewhere around 8:15 PM) I started conking out on the couch.  Instead of fighting it, I picked myself up, said good night, and climbed into bed.  I didn't wake up until 5:00 AM and then fell back asleep until 7:30.  OOOoohhh it felt glorious to actually get some shut eye.
While I was sleeping, I missed a few things.  Check out this map.  Over 3,000 lightning strikes in a matter of 15 minutes.  What?!  Who slept through it all?  Sleeping Beauty over here did.  It was a miracle, I tell you.



With the lightning came an immense downpour.  It made the lake we reside on extremely high...too high for comfort since we don't have any type of insurance on the apartment.  It also did this to the parking lot at Target.

What a hot, soupy mess this weekend was.  To combat the humidity after the storm, we spent most of the weekend wherever it was cool like stores, our apartment, and restaurants.  Another exciting event was my dinner Saturday night at The Pub which consisted of a black bean burger on a pretzel bun slathered in belhaven beer cheese and onion strings.  I only ate half of it so I could save room for our whiskey bread pudding dessert.  Be jealous.  

I ate the bread pudding too fast to snap a picture of that.  Woops. 

You can drool over these, too, as your mouth is probably already watering.

These blueberry muffins are fresh out of the oven.  They are quite possibly
the best muffins ever and I can't wait to devour them for breakfast this week.

Back to sleeping with my prince tonight in the same bed.  Maybe we'll go into a food coma and sleep without any interruption.  That's a happy thought.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Identity Theft

You know what's hilarious?  When you write a facebook status and someone legit copies, pastes, perhaps alters a word or two, and USES IT AS THEIR OWN STATUS.  What the H?

My status update:  I started college 10 years ago this week. Life was so much easier back when my biggest life decisions revolved around what sort of beer to drink and where to drink it...playwright, sidestreet, hulahanks, aunt chiladas....sigh.

Culprit's status update:  I started college ten years ago today...where did the time go? My biggest decision was what party to go to or was there vodka in my fruit punch you


AND DOES THIS PERSON NOT REALIZE THAT I SEE THEIR STATUS?  Seriously?  

*Note, this is the second time this has happened.  I can't recall if it was the same person or not.

Stealing facebook statuses:  deal breaker.  SHUT IT DOWN.  

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Monday, July 29, 2013

Surprise


My shower became a lizard's home while we were gone.
Actually, to be more precise, my shower drain became a lizard's home.
As I stood in the buff rinsing off the tiles before hopping in myself,
 it popped out of the drain.  I screamed.  It ran. 
 I got a cup. 
After several attempts, I got the lizard
in there, ran to the door, and threw it outside.
Did I mention I was in the buff?

Friday, July 26, 2013

5 Weeks Away From Home

You know you've been gone from your house for too long when you wake up in the middle of the night to pee and have NO FREAKING CLUE where you are, how you got there, which way to turn to get to your bathroom, where the lights are, or how to get back to your bed.

I feel like road kill this morning.

More later.

Monday, May 27, 2013

When I'm Old and Grey...

I hope I am lucky enough to have two other old broads and their noodles to take a dip in the water with me.



Sunday, May 12, 2013

Hidden Mickey

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Disney World.  If you don't know me, well, you just learned something new :)  My family has been going to Disney since I was a b-a-b-y.  I am now 28 years old and still get the butterflies as I drive under the Magic Kingdom sign and approach my favorite park.  A little sad?  I guess perhaps to some.  In my opinion, my continued love for that little mouse and its maker just makes me that much more awesome.



My current obsession strolling through the parks is finding Hidden Mickeys.  I only discovered these last year (now that's what I call sad) and have been on a mission to find them on any ride, restaurant, or street corner that I'm on.  It's easy to cheat...there are so many websites, apps, and books that will tell you where to find them all.  But that takes away all of the fun!

Currently, I am up to 11 documented Hidden Mickeys.  I have found 5 more (1 more in the Land, 3 on Splash Mountain and 1 in the Haunted Mansion) but because of the poor lighting I have no evidence.

If you are like me and want to search for them yourself, then now is the time to get off my blog and do something else with your time.  If you aren't like me, I hope you enjoy and perhaps start looking for them yourself the next time you visit!


This lock is part of the pillory in Liberty Square at the Magic Kindgom. 

The next three hidden mickeys (including this one) are in the Land in Epcot.


This one might be hard to see...look at the center of the picture, a little to the right, and up a teensy bit.  That is a glass Mickey hanging from the pipe.

Whoops. Not a Hidden Mickey.  Just a late night snack.


Three drums make up this Hidden Mickey on the ride in Mexico in Epcot.


This one on the Carousel of Progress is hard to spot, too.  It's an actual Mickey toy. 
 Look at the bottom of the Christmas tree next to Grandpa's leg and blue present.  
You'll see the top half of Mickey's head.

There is a hidden Mickey in the detailed flower work on this gravestone
outside of the Haunted Mansion.

There are two white Hidden Mickey's on the line to Mickey's Philharmagic.  
Can you see them above and below the trumpet?


The next three pictures are from the new Ariel ride in the Magic Kindgom.  
The first two are located in the line.


It's hard to see this one because the ride was so dark, but the 
purple coral above the pink fish is shaped like a Mickey.


How many Hidden Mickeys have you found during your visits??

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Autotuned Bystander


Why has it taken me three years to see this?  You can watch the original interview and laugh just as hard...

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Really?

While shopping in Victoria's Secret today (wahooo secret rewards card!), I spotted a girl no older than 16 take a selfie of herself in front of some lingerie.  It was then that I stopped dead in my tracks, stared at her, and asked myself, "Is she for real?"  She's lucky I wasn't suffering diarrhea of the mouth at the time.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Eggplant

With few vegetarian take out options and a tight budget, Mike and I try to cook at least five to six meals a week.  Ughh but cooking dinner is one of the last things I (or anyone else I would assume) want to do after a longgg day at work.  That's why we try to prepare at least one meal on Sunday that can be quickly heated up for dinner on our most tired of days.

Today we began preparations for eggplant parmesan.  Yum yum.  After peeling a ginormous eggplant from our farmer's market, I thinly sliced the eggplant, coated it in flour, eggs/milk, and italian seasoning, then threw it on a greased up pan and doused a little more oil on the top and tossed it in the oven at 450*.  I prefer baking the eggplant over frying because of the flavor.  When the eggplant is saturated in grease I can barely taste the eggplant.  Who needs all that oil anyway?  Oh, and, it takes less time to cook and is less of a mess to clean up!


Grandma would be very proud of how thin I got them this time.  She would not be proud, however, of how I finish off my eggplant parmesan...

After I devoured a few small slices (a chef's gotta test out her food before serving), I put the eggplant in a ziploc bag and placed it in the freezer.  Remember, I'm doing the labor today and putting it together for dinner one day this week.



On the night I plan on eating this, which might be sooner than later, the first step would be to defrost the eggplant.  Then, slather the bottom of a baking dish with Trader Joe's Three Cheese Tomato Sauce (forgive me, grandma!) and layer on the eggplant and some mozzarella cheese.  Continue to alternate eggplant, sauce, and  cheese until you run out of eggplant.   Top it off with your remaining mozzarella  and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Cheese Cheese Cheese.   I don't remember what temperature to turn the oven on to.  I usually call my mom and ask.  But my gut tells me it's around 350* or 375* and cook until the cheese starts to bubble.  A piece of garlic bread would be an excellent side dish.  This part of the process should take no more than 10 minutes to assemble...maybe 20 minutes if I'm drinking a glass of wine.  The perfect amount of time I want to spend in the kitchen after a hard day's work :)




Sunday, April 7, 2013

The Selfie

If boys took "selfies" our facebook walls could look like this:


"Getting wasted tonight.  YOLO."


"Do these glasses make me look smart? 
Because I'm going for hipster." 

I think we are missing out on something.  


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

And then there were two

All alone again.  Da da da daaaaaaa.

It's been a long two weeks.  And I'm sad they have come to an end.  We've had non stop family (from the bitter cold up in NY and NJ) visiting sunny southwest Florida this month.  First it was Mike's sister.  Then it was Mike's parents.  Then it was my parents!  Busy.  Busy. Busy.  I loved every second of it.

Here is a highlight reel from the past few days with my parents.  Well, not really.  My parents want nothing to do with their pictures floating around on the internet.  So, maybe "highlight" isn't the right word for the following pics.

Easter Sunday airboat ride in the Everglades. 

A pelican joined us on our airboat 
for a portion of the tour.   

Unbelievable seashells in Sanibel Island.
I don't think there's anything better than watching 
your parents drop their beach gear and 
run like hell to the water to start collecting shells. 
Probably the most fun I had with my parents.

And, finally, a LOUD video of our airboat ride through 
the Everglades.
I can't think of a better way to spend
the holiday weekend than with my family.  


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Lions and Tigers and Alligators, OH MY!



I'm not gonna lie.  I got out of the car, snapped this picture,
and then ran like hell back to safety.
30 feet is way too close for comfort.  

Saturday, March 23, 2013

The Not So Real World

MTV is airing a "throw back to the Real World" weekend.  OK.  Your first thought might be, "Why the hell are you watching MTV?"  I know.  But, seriously, I was just flipping the channels and it popped up.  I swear!

Real World Las Vegas is currently on.  Not my favorite season but I seem to be watching it anyway.  Trishelle: you're a ho.  Ugh.  What horrible tv.  It's amazing to think that this series was the birth of reality television.  I guess the afterbirth was Road Rules.

My two all time favorite seasons are the Real World Hawaii (who didn't think Collin was hot?) and The Real World London (Jacinda was so damn cool).
What's your favorite season?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Sunday, March 17, 2013

The C Word

Commitment.  Something I've never been good at.  Hopefully that changes today.

My fingers haven't worked their magic on my blog in over four months.  Woops.  I can't even come up with a good enough excuse as to why I stopped.  I just did.  Like that.  (Snap of fingers.)

But, today, I start again with a new look and name to boot.  I decided that my previous title was a little too...extreme...too harsh.  Exsqueeze me is a little more playful, like my personality. I've found my happy place in Florida and live for my environment - for the sun to breathe its warmth on my face and the salt of the sea to kiss my lips.  I'm peaceful.  

Back to that nasty C word.  At this moment, I am going to commit to two things.  Number one:  to blog more.  Number two: to run.  Run is a four letter word in my dictionary.  I have NEVER been a runner.  Every school year when it was time to take the physical fitness exam in PE, my doctor would give me a note excusing me from the mile run because of my asthma.  I continued to use my asthma as a reason to give up without even really trying.  Well, I'm 28 now and it would be a huge accomplishment for me to run 1 mile.  That's my goal.  To run 1 mile without stopping or feeling that horrible sharp pain in my side.  I began my training this week with intervals of walking and jogging:  5 minutes walking and 1 minute of jogging for about 30 minutes.  Yikes.  The first day I did this was terrible.  The second time was better, but still painful.  Next week I hope to walk for 4 minutes and run for 1 and continue that trend for as long as I need to until I can just go.  

OOOooooo.  Just go.  I like it.