Daycation 08.10.2011

Daycation: A day of rest in which you can do anything and everything you want as long as it’s completely unrelated to your daily activities. (Note: eating and drinking is expected in a Daycation, preferably of the special kind, you know… splurge! -both in calories and expense!)

Today was my daycation with my dad. You see, I’m leaving to Ukraine in just five days so my pops and I wanted to have a quality day of hang out time before I left for eleven months. My mom was supposed to be headed out of town so we decided to spend the day she left on an adventure of my choice. Well, as I started to think of ideas, I decided that I really just wanted my dad to be happy so I tried to get him involved. First, I wrote a list on my nametag at work. When I got home, I made him a short list. When he asked for more details, I expanded the list and wrote ideas for exactly what we could do/listen to during our fun day.

What I didn’t realize the whole time I was coming up with ideas was that I was really just stressing my dad out. He wasn’t excited because he didn’t know which choice was the right one. They were all GREAT choices, all he needed to do was to pick one.

Last night (Tuesday night), we had settled on a new plan. We would go to Portland to OMSI… and if we decided we didn’t want to go there, we would head to the zoo… Well, this morning that whole plan changed. Somehow, we made a plan to go to breakfast in McMinnville and then to go to the coast. It was madness.

It took at least two and a half hours to eat breakfast in Mac. The place we went turned out to be a bit snobbish, the kind of café where you need to know the owner to get a table quickly. But the banana pancakes were good. It was twelve before we were headed to our car to go to the beach. When we were just walking around downtown, I had texted my mom to invite her to join us. She texted back “no” but then changed her mind thirty minutes later. I was already past Sheridan when Dashboard Confessional’s “Stolen” was stealing the dead air in the car. My mom was calling my cell phone to beg me to pick her up.

We did it. After all, the old lady tends to make outings a bit entertaining. So… an hour and a half AFTER that phone call, we were back on our way, on the road to Newport.

Ah… Daycation. I was glad that I had made a list of ideas, but I’m glad that we were flexible enough to not do most of the things on the list. There were just too many things to do. And it was daycation. We weren’t supposed to worry about anything. It was a day to relax. Wonderful…

I’m glad the daycation turned out well. Sure I ate too many calories and my quest walking adventure was vetoed, but I still had a good time. I took tons of pictures, got my Rogue ID card picture taken with Puddles the Duck, and got to hear sea lions bark at each other. Just another rad day on the Oregon Coast, yes?

Thursday Night

NBC. Friends. The Office. 30 Rock.
Lots of laughs.
Tons of fun.
Procrastinating homework.
Staying up late.
Not caring.
Tomorrow’s Friday.
Hate Trump.
Drinking soda.
Had popcorn.
Love the weekend.
Need to study.
Back to typing.
Reach the end.

Garlic

I never remember consuming garlic in my early age. I just wasn’t into it. But I do remember learning about using garlic as a weapon against evil creatures. I think I was in third grade when I learned that garlic would ward off vampires and zombies and such. I’m not quite sure when I started eating garlic or cooking garlic, but I do know that I enjoy eating garlic now and that I find vampires and zombies somewhat interesting. If they were real, it might be fun to be friends with them, as long as they weren’t planning to drain the blood out of me or eat my brains.

For the last few days, I’ve been fighting a cold with an incredibly stuffy nose. But at about 6:00 each night, I’ve felt a ray of hope. My dad had fixed dinner with a plethora of garlic. My nostrils were cleared! Hooray!

I believe garlic has a place in this world. Sure, some people might use it to fend off scary beasts, and some of us might just like that it gives our food a little flavor.

gimme sum gumbo!

I'm a fan of gumbo. I discovered gumbo in Disneyland over Spring Break and now it is one of my most favorite foods. A little over a week ago, my friend Sarah and I had a farewell to Eugene sort of evening. For dinner, we went for some of that delicious Papa Soul Food Gumbo. I almost cried I was so happy.

Ah.....

Cooking on a Hot Plate

A few months ago, my brother and his partner bought me a hotplate. They thought it was horrible that I lived with only a microwave and a hand-me-down toaster oven. It was, but I made it work.

The hotplate was from Freddies. It has one burner. (I didn’t want the double burner one, not enough counter space.)

Tonight, the hotplate got a workout.

I wanted to make dinner for my friend. She has made me food so many times. It was about time I returned the favor. I also invited my other friend, her roommate. Dinner was set for eight o’clock.

I got to cooking the meat at about 7:30. The pan was small, good enough to cook two eggs in. I had to cook the meat in shifts. After that, it was time for the pasta. I boiled the pasta in a soup pot. It’s a small soup pot. The family size can of Campbells would overfill it. The pasta got cooked in shifts as well.

Then it was time for the corn. The corn was cooked on the top of the pasta remnants stuck to the bottom of the pan. (Oops. Smokehouse flavor, anyone?)

Then, I took some pasta, a little meat, and sauce and heated it in that same mini pot to heat it up because at this point, all the ingredients were becoming cold.

It was quite a project.

The girls ate my sister’s Oreo cookies while they waited for the food.

Cooking dinner was an experience. I’ve proven that, okay, maybe I CAN cook, at least a little bit. And a hotplate is in fact useful.

Spring Break Wrap-up: Six Days in Disneyland

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Oops. I have several excuses.

First, I was on vacation.
Second, I had no internet while I was on vacation.
Third, my grandpa passed away while I was on vacation.
Fourth, school started and I was thrown into a full-time schedule as a grad student.

I suppose I ought to inform ya’ll about what went on during vacation, the good stuff, the fun stuff.

On the Friday before spring break, I boarded a train headed south. During the 28-hour ride, I ate trail mix, fruit snacks, rice crispy treats and drank a can of flat Diet Pepsi I bought on the train.

We had to get off the train in LA. It was my first time there. The train station was pretty nice. It was enormous, a lot like the train stations I traveled through when I was in Europe. The bathrooms were sketch, though. I think people in LA are a little crazy. Some girl actually tore out a part of the bathroom stall wall. What? Who does that?

From LA, we took another train to Anaheim. It had been five years since my last trip there. My parents took me to Disneyland the month before I left to Ukraine. It had been our goodbye to childhood kind of trip. (None of us knew that two years in the Peace Corps still wouldn’t force me to grow up.)

Disneyland was a hoot. I had forgotten how great people are when they’re traveling to the happiest place on earth. I loved being treated like a person, treated nicely. People in the “real world” just aren’t as nice as people in Disneyland. I would change this if I could.

We spent six days in Disneyland. I don’t want to bore you with too many details so instead, I will give you a few short lists to tell the story.

My favorite rides/attractions at the park were…
1. Peter Pan’s flight- this is always a treat. You get to fly over London, fight evil Pirates listen to a groovy tune.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean- I was a Dayton Pirate. Of course, I love all things Pirates. The additions to the ride are awesome, especially all the places Captain Jack Sparrow shows up.
3. Indiana Jones’ adventure- by far the most thrilling. The ride made me want to jump in a time machine and go back ten years so I could watch all the movies with my oldest brother at my parents’ house.
4. It’s A Small World- probably the only ride I remember from when I was one-and-a-half –years-old (if those are in fact REAL memories). It’s so fun and friendly and I LOVE the parts with England and Ireland.
5. Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland- I had never been on this road before. It was amazing. I am especially attached to the story now, since the new movie came out and all.
6. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride- I rode through hell claiming, “Hi, friends. It’s nice to see you again.” My travel buddies made me ride it alone, I HAD to entertain myself.
7. The Carousel- always a safe bet with Rece. I have ridden on just about every carousel I’ve seen and had money to ride.
8. Dumbo- my mom and I rode it together to replay the picture from when I was a baby girl and we rode together.
9. Toy Story- this attraction at California Adventure was FABULOUS! I had SO much fun. It didn’t matter that I was the fifth wheel and had to go alone. I was so impressed. It almost made me want to start playing video games full-time!
10. Buzz Lightyear’s Ride- I had to ride this one alone at least three times. I learned how to use both guns to score a bunch of points. It was entertaining.
11. Splash Mountain- water, fun, friends, cute music. LOVE IT!

Here are a few crazy highlights from the magical kingdom…
1. Ma Bunn fell asleep when we rode Pirates of the Caribbean on Thursday night. HOW can anyone fall asleep on a ride? SERIOUSLY?
2. Spencer had “an accident” when riding WITH TIA RECE on the Matterhorn. I am Tia Rece. Yep. We had to go get him new shorts. It was funny, strange, and uncomfortable.
3. My dad added to his pin collection. I bet the money he spent on the pins could have covered a whole month’s rent down here in Eugene.
4. Spencer bought a dinosaur with his spending money. I learned what dinosaurs sounded like for the rest of the week.
5. I got to meet Peter Pan and Wendy. Wahoo!

Well, there are a few highlights. Oh, did I mention WHO was with me on the trip? It was Ma Bunn, Pa Bunn, Sister Shanna and Spencer (Shelli’s son). None of the rest of the “BBJ clan” showed up. It was a little sad, but okay. We had a lot of fun anyway.

Well, tootle-oo, folks. By the way, if anyone knows the proper way to spell, tootle-oo, please leave me a comment. It’d sure be nice!

XOXO

Note: The pictures aren't necessarily in the greatest order or design on this page. My sincere apologies. I'll work on this in my design class SOON!
The pix are of the crew in Disneyland (without me, though), my parents with Spencer, me with the Neverland folks, and Spence all by himself. Spence was quite a character. Remind me to take better notes next time I go on vaca with an eight year old!

Ketchup Queen

As a child, I disliked ketchup. It tasted yucky. It wasn't until I was in late grade school that I started to taste the red sauce. Maybe I thought it looked too much blood. Or I could have thought it was too salty. All I really remember is that it was a girl named Abby who got me to eat the ketchup. Our church kids' group went to McDonalds for special outings and Abby ALWAYS had ketchup. I tried it once, wanting to be as cool as my new brown-haired friend. It was okay, I guess, I have been a ketchup person ever since. But better than that, I've stayed friends with that ketchup-loving cool girl. We ended up hanging out in school. We were even best friends in high school.

It's crazy how food can meld a memory and bring people together.

what ice cream should be

Ice cream should be flavorful. This is one lesson I have yet to teach my parents. These two sixty-somethings think that vanilla is the best and only flavor of ice cream. What could they possibly be thinking? What about Goo-Goo Cluster? Peppermint? And cheesecake ice cream? There are so many kinds of ice cream.

This morning, my mom bought pumpkin ice cream for me. I made a big deal about the kind of ice cream we were going to eat at our barbeque. It should be good. At least it's not plain, boring vanilla.