Last week my mom and I took a little trip from New England to Dallas, Texas in order to see one of my Best Friends, her dad, husband, and brand new son George. While we were there we spent a fair amount of time in their apartment, and mom convinced them it would be a really good idea to lug the ancient BBQ down from the third floor so we could enjoy some burgers. Being from New England it’s very strange to go from 40-50 degree weather so 95 degree weather daily! I ended up buying a pair of shorts and using a lot of sunscreen, so thankfully I have not gotten a sunburn yet this year. It helped that all the buildings had air conditioning, which was really nice when we went to bed. I love being nice and chilly before I fall asleep under a fluffy comforter! George was a week old when I took these pictures, and his face has been filling out even more. I love watching him; his facial expressions remind me of his mom so much! I would be helping her with something, or we would just be talking, and she would say or do something that made me laugh and point out that it was the same expression that her baby makes! George’s mom actually has 2 dogs, and her dad has 1, but the only one that is friendly to all strangers and doesn’t run away is Ginny. She’s got a lot of energy, what with being only about 6 months old! In the picture above Winrey, Ginny’s mom, is barking out the window at us. And below is the neighbor’s dog, drooling over our burgers. The trip was only 6 days but I still feel that it was needed. It was really nice to get away and relax, not think too hard about all of the things that stress me out from day to day. It really felt like a vacation with a reason, and I’m really glad I got to take it. I especially loved getting to spend time with my old friend and her family. She’s a really strong woman and an inspiration to me in some ways. I’ve really missed her, and it was nice to get to see her growing family, getting to know them a little better and spending time with them.
So I am notorious for starting to crochet things and not finishing them at all, ever. But when I found out that my friend would be having a baby I knew I had to make the little guy something, considering I can’t afford to buy him anything at the moment. I started making it in the beginning of the year, and because I’m pretty much the worst at just finishing a project I just finished it while I was in Texas visiting the new mom and kiddo. Thankfully, while I considered it to be a bit “ratchet”, my friend thinks it’s pretty adorable.
I get really bored just using the same stitch all the time so I pretty much made a big rectangle using one stitch and used different stitches all around the edges, which made it a little weird looking/shaped, but it kept me interested! I also used a couple different colors, but kept them in the boy color pallet.
I also used some ridiculously soft yarn, so when I finally gave it to the baby it didn’t scratch up his seriously adorable face or anything like that.
It’s rare for a teen idol to be a role model. It’s especially rare for a teen idol to be a role model for an extended period of time. We have Lindsay Lohan in and out of rehab, and claiming to have miscarriages. Rihanna looked pretty good there for a little while but then she got beaten up by her boyfriend and decided to give her image an overhaul, including whips and chains. Miley Cyrus started out as a wholesome girl from the south, then did a 180 and decided to become a hypocritical hip-hop princess, smoking massive amounts of weed and telling the world about how Molly (MDMA) is a super fun social drug. Can I get a “Yuck”?
Basically I’m pretty unimpressed with most of the women who are in role model positions these days. I don’t think young girls need to be absorbing positive messages about drinking, having a bajillion boyfriends, divorce, drugs, or whatever the new trendy diet is. There are so many influential celebrities out there who seem to be using their platforms to market a lifestyle that isn’t appropriate.
Thankfully there are celebrities that have proven their worth by being honest with their fans about what kind of life fame has built for them. Demi Lovato has told her fans and the world as much as she can about her struggles since going to rehab in 2010 for substance abuse, eating disorders, and self-harm. In a time when a lot of celebrities keep their insecurities and character flaws to themselves, Lovato has been humble and open about her issues in order to give her fan base a stronger, healthier role model.
While it’s easy to feel disconnected from a superstar, I’ve found Lovato to be one of the few that I feel I can trust. Having battled myself with self-harm in the past I find myself able to relate to her, and hearing her say in interviews that making the right decisions is difficult, and that mental and emotional health is something to strive toward every day doesn’t sound to me like a phony, preachy celebrity. Lovato sounds like the girl I would want as my sponsor if I were fresh out of a rehab center. We would be able to have some real talk, she would obviously be excellent at sportively reminding me to check myself before I wreck myself, and then we’d eat lunch and talk about boys and fashion and her crazy tour schedule… I’d even let her help me pick out a new tattoo. Okay, basically I’d totally be her BFF if I had the chance.
The fact is, I know for a fact that she’s cool. My second cousin, Maggi, (AKA the most adorable girl in the world) got the chance to quickly meet Lovato at LAX, right after these photos were taken, and she has kindly let me share her story here about what it was like to meet one of her role models.
“I really like Demi. I’ve liked her since she was on Sonny with a Chance. I think she is an amazing person for being able to admit her struggles and being so open about them. She is a great role model. I used to self-harm, and it was amazing to be able to look up to her and see that even a celebrity wasn’t happy with herself but was able to get help. I love how she says what she thinks and sticks up for herself. I also love how although she had an eating disorder, she is recovered and now curvier than some other female celebrities and accepts her curves.
I was at LAX for a flight home, and she was catching a flight to Brazil. She and I were at security at the same time. She was actually being patted down! I wasn’t 100% sure it was her, but I saw her “Stay Strong” tattoos on her wrists and I knew it was her. When I went up to ask her for a picture, her bodyguard or whatever he was shook his head at me and said “no, not today.” I turned to Demi and said “I’m really sorry, I don’t mean to be annoying but I was wondering if I could get a picture with you.”
She made a face at him, came over to me, and said “he’s got a stick up his ass. Don’t worry about it.” I only got one picture because of how hard I was shaking, but she put up bunny ears behind my head that I didn’t get in the picture. She smiled at me and as she was walking away she turned around and said, “It was nice meeting you!” She was really sweet! I kept freaking out because she has been such a role model to me with her self-harm. I wish I had gotten the chance to tell her that or ask her for a hug, but by the time I got my brain together she was already gone.”
See what I mean? I would totally BFF her. And here for your viewing pleasure, the adorable Maggi and Demi Lovato.
I am so grateful for the friends I have made who I don’t see very often, which is quite a few of them these days. I am even grateful that I don’t see them too often because it makes the time that I do spend with them become more important.
I am thankful for my family, even though I want to kill them all once a day. Without them I would not be who I am today.
A year ago on Easter my parents and I decided to check out a little church in the Mills because we were hoping against hope that there would be a church in the area to plug in to. God faithfully provided us with a place that would become our community, and it’s been such a blessing.
As I am currently sick I am grateful that generally I am not.
If music were not a thing, if it didn’t exist… well, let’s not talk crazy. I’m so glad it is.
Daylight makes everything better. I’m so happy that it stays lighter later in the day. The sun really has been missed.
Speaking of sun, I get to go visit my dear friend in Texas and hopefully meet her brand new son in less than 2 weeks! I know I’ll be complaining about the heat, but I get to see her and I’ve missed her very much!
I am thankful that while I have been sick I have been able to just rest my body. It shouldn’t seem like a big deal, because generally unemployment suuuuuuucks, but if I couldn’t just snug up in my bed yesterday I would not have made it to church to paint faces of children this morning.
I am thankful that God is still, for some reason I don’t understand, pursuing my heart. He is relentless in his pursuit, and for some reason wants to make sure I get to be the one that celebrates Christ’s fulfillment of the law and victory over death. He just keeps winning me over.
I am grateful for creativity, and being able to make things with my hands.
Thank God that bugs don’t live inside my room. Thank you Jesus!
And I am thankful that even when I am running on empty and almost completely dry I can still manage to find things to be thankful for, even with a small list, because it will lead to a bigger one.
I was looking for fun things to make on Pinterest because, well, Pinterest. I came across my favorite Adventure in Food yet: Spring rolls!
When I was growing up I thought Egg Rolls were gross. I don’t really like eggs, and knowing that they might be in that delicious looking crispy shell made me say “no thank you”. But a few years ago I finally asked what was in a Spring Roll when I worked a Chinese restaurant (Shout out to my boys at Gin-Gin’s!) and decided to try one. Well, now I think they are super delicious and am so glad I have yet another thing to eat massive quantities of when I order Chinese.
Then I came across this recipe and knew in my heart of hearts that I had to try it. You can take a look at the recipe through the link, and I’ll narrate to the best of my ability what I did with my various Spring Roll attempts. I will say that this is definitely not a quick kitchen experience, and it’s very helpful to be unemployed when deciding to make 3-4 batches of Spring Rolls just because you have to get the recipe and technique right.
First thing I did was prepare the cabbage, which should be sliced thinly, and I decided to chop it up even more so it wouldn’t be too stringy. I then chopped up some green onions and smashed up the garlic. The garlic goes into the frying pan while you fry up your ground chicken. It smells heavenly.
Here I actually deviated from the recipe for the first batch of Rolls, instead of using the sauce they suggested I made one that was a variation of Caesar Salad dressing. Basically lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Worcester sauce, Parmesan, a wee bit of EVOO. I was being creative!
First step is draining the grease from the meat, then taking it off the heat and adding the rest of the veggies already prepped and stirring it up. The cabbage doesn’t get really cooked here, it’ll stay nice and crispy. I put the sauce I made in and stirred everything up again and put the top on the pan so it would all get steeped in delicious flavor.
Put the entire mixture in a big bowl and let it cool off for about ten minutes. It’s just way easier for the entire Roll process.
Now, at first I thought that Spring Rolls should be made with classic Spring Roll paper… but no, I was wrong. It’s way too tough and sort of ends up plastic in texture. We have a Chinese market in town so I took a walk and picked up some legit Egg Roll wraps. My only suggestion is that you actually get them out and defrost them over an hour before you start this process, because I kept forgetting and while I made it work like a boss they do tare when not defrosted.
The first batch I made I didn’t use quite enough filler to make the rolls really satisfying, so add more than I did in the pictures.
I lined up the Spring Rolls on a pan and brushed a bunch of EVOO on them, then cooked them according to the directions in the recipe. They came out OK.
I even made them a fancy dipping sauce and it was really honestly essential because they were so dry.
Then I watched a commercial about breakfast wraps and decided to design a Bacon-Egg-and-Cheese-Roll, AKA Breakfast Egg Rolls. Yes, now that I’m old enough to tie my shoes and get into rated R movies I do stomach eggs sometimes. I fried up bacon, scrambled some eggs, and added some grated cheese. BAM, filling done. I then made the rolls and decided to cook them on the stove top in oil instead of in the oven, because I love greasy and everything that can be fried in it. These came out better than the oven baked rolls, and I was very happy about breakfast for a few days.
I was still getting the hang of the frying process, so they aren’t as brown as I like them. Also I recommend letting them drain before eating, and letting them drain on a slant so that the oil doesn’t get caught in the roll and make you very unhappy.
The next day I decided not to waste my cabbage and to use some ground pork to make more Spring Rolls. Also, once you start making them it’s hard to not want them all the time. I subbed the Pork in and used the sauce that the original recipe called for. And I fried the crap out of them.
Listen, I’m no chef but these were by far the most delicious things I’ve ever made. I am fully planning on making them again because I want to have one in my mouth right now.
Last week my mom and I took a little trip from New England to Dallas, Texas in order to see one of my Best Friends, her dad, husband, and brand new son George. While we were there we spent a fair amount of time in their apartment, and mom convinced them it would be a really good idea to lug the ancient BBQ down from the third floor so we could enjoy some burgers.
Being from New England it’s very strange to go from 40-50 degree weather so 95 degree weather daily! I ended up buying a pair of shorts and using a lot of sunscreen, so thankfully I have not gotten a sunburn yet this year. It helped that all the buildings had air conditioning, which was really nice when we went to bed. I love being nice and chilly before I fall asleep under a fluffy comforter!
George was a week old when I took these pictures, and his face has been filling out even more. I love watching him; his facial expressions remind me of his mom so much! I would be helping her with something, or we would just be talking, and she would say or do something that made me laugh and point out that it was the same expression that her baby makes!
George’s mom actually has 2 dogs, and her dad has 1, but the only one that is friendly to all strangers and doesn’t run away is Ginny. She’s got a lot of energy, what with being only about 6 months old!
In the picture above Winrey, Ginny’s mom, is barking out the window at us. And below is the neighbor’s dog, drooling over our burgers.
The trip was only 6 days but I still feel that it was needed. It was really nice to get away and relax, not think too hard about all of the things that stress me out from day to day. It really felt like a vacation with a reason, and I’m really glad I got to take it. I especially loved getting to spend time with my old friend and her family. She’s a really strong woman and an inspiration to me in some ways. I’ve really missed her, and it was nice to get to see her growing family, getting to know them a little better and spending time with them.
Dirty Sean 