Where's Abby (+ Dylan and dogs)

Just the thought of the task of writing about last weekend has been a daunting one. Not for any other reason than I don't know how I can ever do it justice. Of all my travels, couchsurfing, meeting randoms, and partying, this trip was the most ridiculous, interesting, and unique experience I've had. Besides maybe milking cows in Switzerland. But in a very different way. I decided to take a quick trip to Charleston when my travel bug returned. I was mainly debating between two hosts: One guy that mentioned a pot luck and other fun sounding events, and a girl in a very unique sounding house full of musicians, that was nude friendly, has chickens, a snake, and dog, and lives an alternative lifestyle. In counting pros and cons with the Roomie, who of course, went with the safer sounding option, I, of course, went with the more intriguing one. So, off I went last Sunday morning to meet my host. The trip started with a not so  out of the ordinary afternoon meeting at the B...

Remember that creative spirit, "Genevieve," I talked about here and here ? One of my favorite times with her is our nighttime routine. (I say routine but it alternates a lot). These are a collection of some of our bedtime laughs. The Doggy Bed One night, while trying to get little hyper, reluctant-to-sleep Genevieve into bed, I patted on her bed and started to say "come on, get in your bed, come on sweet puppy..." obviously with the high pitched puppy voice. Her face just lit up, she dropped to all fours, started wiggling her tail, and ran to jump in the bed.  Success.  Now, there have been several nights where she's been the Busy Bee that she is, but stops and says "do the thing!" And drops to play her puppy role.  Storytime Improv Like I learned in a lot of education courses, one good thing to do while reading to kids is to ask them what they think might happen next. It gets their imagination going, gets them to pay attention, and he...

Lately I've been grateful for my new creative spirit at work. For future blogging purposes we'll call her Genevieve (her favorite name to be while playing). My favorite playtime ever, that resulted in a coworkers falling out of her chair from laughter is fully discussed here.   Last week never got the glory it deserved so now it gets it's mention.  I got to hang out with a friend from  elementary school on Saturday.  And had a lovely Sunday that began with a 14 mile bike cruise with The Roomie.  This Sunday proceeded to a serendipitous night, running into Meryl and Chad in St. Augustine while admiring this moon scene.  Which was the beginning to a great night seeing the Nights of Lights in this beautiful city... Even if my food decision was a bust, it did cause for a lot of funny conversation about bacon. Throughout the night, we convinced a bartender to change a tv from sports to the Golden Globes, picked out all our "dream pieces of a...

Apparently it's another Food Friday! I made this way back when and finally got around to making it again and it was delicious .  I used a whole head of cauliflower and let my super new/vintage refurbished blender do the shredding. Then put it all in a bowl, sprinkle a couple tablespoons of water on it, cover and put in the microwave for about a minute.  Chop up your onion and throw it in a frying pan with a couple tablespoons of your oil of choice. I used coconut. Then put cauliflower on top and add about 1/4 cup of soy sauce and a Tbsp of white wine. I also sprinkled some ginger and sesame oil on it. Garlic would've been good but I just basically forgot.  Cook chicken breast in a separate pan, then scramble three eggs and put them aside while preparing the rest.  I cooked my favorite "Today's Harvest" broccoli in the microwave (sprinkle with water, cover, and zap it for like 2 minutes) and added it to the cauliflower. I cooked some zucchini and re...

So my new favorite playtime I've maybe  ever experienced in the history of my child care happened the other day at work with my Special C that we're calling Genevieve. It started with a classroom scene with my girl using teddy bears as babies and I was the teacher. Normal enough, right? But with this girl, the scenes quickly and drastically change. I guess it wasn't so  normal though, even at this point, with me offering number puzzle pieces for lunch. "Threes were the best." Then came the fingers (from the hand) for our protein. Then it was my turn to be the kid and she the teacher. Then she became my mom. ... Then she turned into a puppy and I was to walk around and find her and adopt her. (She likes to dictate what happens in our playtime. Like "say 'oh how I wish I could see a ballerina fairy princess!'" ... Then to my luck there's a ballerina fairy princess right in front of my eyes!)  I try to push my own creativity in as m...

       It's time to get all nostalgic and review this whirlwind of a year. It's always so crazy looking back to see how much has happened in such a short time. This year seems more extreme than most. Here's a look at the highlights. January This year started off awesome , celebrating New Year's with some super cool Danes, chillin on my favorite bridge with fireworks, music and many "I'm just so happy" statements... and passing out looking way more peaceful than I would've ever imagined. The next weekend, I was so lucky to hit it off with this musician at a bar one night , leading to my favorite story (so far). Our adventures that month consisted of rambling, lots of coffee, music, and a great night learning a traditional Danish dance . February My travels this month were to England and Scotland where I saw Big Ben, Wicked, and Stonehenge, went to a Catholic mass in London, and met up with a guy I met in Jacksonville in his hometown of Gl...