Favorite Things: For Lunch

One of my favorite things for lunch is a platter filled with various salume, cheese, fig spread, crackers/artisan breads, grapes, olives, cornichons, almonds drizzled with honey.  Yummm....I really could eat a platter right now. By myself. With a glass of wine.  And, some good company.

Source

 What is your favorite thing for lunch?  Share with us in the comments.

Triggers

Do you ever smell or taste something that triggers your memory bank and takes you back to a certain time in your life?

Yesterday, I was walking down the street and a guy was washing his car.  Immediately, the smell of the water coming from his hose triggered the memories that I have of when I was 17 years old washing my car in the hot, humid summers in Virginia.  The smell of clean, cold and almost metallic water flowing from the hose.

Source

We had a fairly long driveway and I would park my Honda close to the house, fill a bucket with water and soap, grab a huge sponge and wash away.  There was always something gratifying to me to wash my car myself.  Like many tedious chores, when you was your car, you can see the results instantly.  I find it satisfying.

Living in San Francisco, there are rules or at least guidelines around washing cars at home to prevent soap run off into the Bay.  Plus, we don't have the capability at our apartment to do it ourselves.  So, we take our car to the local car wash.  $30 later you have a nice clean car but not the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

I miss that chore and I can't wait until Mark and I have our own home and I can wash our car myself.  If I think hard enough now, the smell of the water coming out of the hose yesterday is still in my mind.  There's just something about it that I love.

Is there anything that you've smelled or tasted recently that took you back to when you were a teenager or another fun time in your life?

Beach Reading...

Mark has had my Kindle for the past couple of months as he read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  We both loved the series though I think I loved it more than he did.  That said, we are both really looking forward to the movie coming out next year!  And, I'm glad to have my Kindle back.

Source

I'm ready to download some books for beach reading.  Here is what is on my list so far:

One Day by David Nicholls

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - I love a good WWII story

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain- this is our next book club book

The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman

Are there other books that I must add to my list for this summer's reading?!  Tell me in the comments section what you're reading!

*The links to these books are to Amazon.com.  I belong to Amazon Associates but please do not feel obligated to purchase from here.  I just want to make it easy for you to find the books that I love.

Days and Nights of Solitude

I don't feel this way at the moment but there have certainly been times where I've sat at my kitchen table in silence and reflected on how alone I feel.  It has been years since I felt this way especially since I met Mark but a friend who is going through a divorce is feeling this way a lot lately.

I'm someone who enjoys the company of friends and family but does not need to be around them all the time.  I enjoy my personal time and space as well.  Luckily, because I work from home, I get plenty of alone time during the day so when Mark gets home from work I'm ready and needing company!

It is much easier for me to connect with friends on a one-on-one basis versus getting together with a larger group of friends.  I'm not as quiet and reserved as I was when I was younger but I'm not one to share my true feelings and experiences as often in a large group.  I'm also OK with not going out on the weekends.  When I was single I often went to dinners and social activities during the week and stay in on the weekends.  I'm not sure why but I enjoyed (and still do now) quiet, relaxed weekends.

When I was single, I would sometimes come home from work and eat dinner in silence.  I remember thinking that life was flying past.  I wondered if those days of waking up, going to work and coming home to an evening of solitude was going to be how the rest of my life was spent.  I thought about whether or not I was OK with the solitude and if I wasn't OK with it how I was going to change it.

I remember coming to two conclusions: 1) I was OK with the solitude.  I enjoy being alone often.  I can focus and accomplish a lot without distractions. And, 2) when I wasn't OK with being alone, I could be social and connect with others.  If I had spent too much time alone, I would force myself to be social.  I would go to happy hours even though I didn't like to drink too much.  I would go for one or two drinks and then come home feeling satisfied with the brief social interactions that I'd had that night.  I would also be sure to schedule at least one social activity on a Saturday night.

There was a time where I thought that there was something wrong with me.  But then I slowly came to realize that there was nothing wrong with me at all.  It was OK to not need to surround myself with people.  It was OK to be my own best friend.  It was OK not to force myself to attend social events when I'd rather be at home on my sofa in sweat pants.  Being alone did not and does not have to be associated with depression and sadness.  Being alone can be associated with calm and peace.  I like the time to better myself and set goals for the future.  I feel empowered.

Source

Now, I'm lucky to have a sweet husband who shares my need for quiet and relaxed on the weekends.  We socialize with friends when events pop up and we go to dinner with friends every few weeks.  But, for the most part, we're content going to dinners and exploring the city and its surroundings on our own.  Mark also goes out for happy hours with friends from work once a week and is able to fulfill his need for more social interaction.

What is your style?  Do you prefer to be more social?  Or do you prefer more solitude?  How do you balance your needs with your partner's needs?  If you're single, how do you meet your social needs if you're not one to surround yourself with hundreds of friends?

Back in the day...

When I was young, I LOVED to read.  I still do.  We're getting ready to go on vacation and I've been thinking about what I should load onto my Kindle.  It inspired me to think about all of the books that I read when I was a child and pre-teen.  In addition to some of the classic books like Little Women, there were so many great book series that I got into reading:

Betsy and Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace

Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary

Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls

Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene

Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warren

Babysitter Club books

Sweet Valley High books

The Borrowers

The Littles

Source

There are too many more to name here.  Clearly, I loved reading.  The stories were so wholesome and sweet.  I still love to read but a part of me misses those stories in particular.  I can't wait to have a daughter (hopefully) who loves to read as much as I do so I can buy those books for her and read them together.

What are some of the books that you read when you were younger that bring back good memories?

*The links to these books are to Amazon.com.  I belong to Amazon Associates but have not yet made any money from it, so please do not feel obligated to purchase from here.  I just want to make it easy for you to find the books that I love.
6BZVR6AWER73

Guilty Pleasure - an embarrassing admission

I love to hear gossip just like the next person but I tend to not pass it on.  I guess I'm the caboose of the gossip train.  Tell me it but I won't tell the next person.  Maybe that's why I'm so bad at the game telephone and why I would never be invited to be on The Real Housewives of San Francisco, if there were ever to be one.  I'd be the boring Housewife of San Francisco, who wouldn't be invited back after the first season.

I admit it.  I'm a HUGE sucker for some reality TV.  It is my guilty pleasure but I really need to get a new hobby.  In particular, I get sucked into the Real Housewives of [insert city].  Recently, I watched the "tell all" for Real Housewives of Orange County.  It truly was like watching a train wreck about to happen.  You know you shouldn't watch it but you can't peel your eyes away.

Source

The "friendships" if you even want to call them friendships between these women make me want to cry.  I want to feel bad for them but I can't because they don't deserve my pity.  I also don't want to judge but I do.  The way each treats the other is so awful.  They are the true gossip queens.  Every single one of them talks about the other behind her back and every single one of them is nasty and rude both behind the others back and to her face.  I wonder if it is for show or if this is really how they behave in real life.  I truly hope that it is for the show and not how they treat each other in real life.

The saddest part of it for me is that I can't believe that I'm watching it and that it is watched by so many other people.  It is not the reflection of female friendship that I want put out in the public.  It is not the image of the United States that I think belongs on television.  It is all done in very poor taste but clearly makes for good TV watching.  These women, no matter how financially and materially wealthy that they appear to be on TV, are behaving as if they are uneducated, unrefined individuals who need lessons in proper manners and behavior.  I don't even behave in the slightest bit like they do behind close doors let alone in public (on TV nonetheless) like they.  It is so true that money does not buy class.  More often than not in the case of reality TV, the money takes away from the class.

OK.  I'm stepping off my soap box and going to find a way to make up for that lost hour of my life.  What do you think?  Am I wrong?  Do you watch terrible reality TV too?  What is your guilty pleasure?

#Reverb11 - Letting Myself Off the Hook: Being Vocal

This month, I'm letting myself off the hook for being too opinionated.  I often beat myself up after a conversation because I couldn't keep my mouth shut.  I hear something and I react.  I can't seem to keep my opinions to myself.

Source

It's funny because when I was younger, I was very introverted.  Very shy.  Very quiet.  Now, I am not.  I built a thick skin from being in the business world - the PR world to be exact, where one must have a thick skin to be successful.  I learned to voice my opinion, to speak up, share my thoughts.  However, I sometimes tend to be too vocal and too opinionated, coming off as smug.  I can hurt others' feelings unintentionally and I know it can anger others, like my brother.  I need to learn to be quiet again.  To listen.  Not just in my professional life but also in my personal life.  There is a lot to be gained from being quiet and just being.  I'm working hard to stop.

But this month, I'm going to let myself off the hook.  I'm going to embrace my opinions and embrace my voice.  It's OK.  I'll start to work on myself again next month.

A Super-Sized Giveaway

Wow!  The very generous and very creative blogger, Jordan, over on "Oh Happy Day" is giving away a trip to Paris.  France.  To enter this amazing trip for TWO, visit her blog here and follow the simple instructions.  How amazing!

Source

If I'm oh so lucky enough to win, I would want to bring my mom.  She and I haven't taken a girls' trip in so long. If she couldn't come with me then I would take my BFF, Kady, who deserves a trip to Europe.  If neither of them could go than I would of course take my wonderful husband!!  If he couldn't go, then maybe I would choose one of my lovely readers!

So, run don't walk to Oh Happy Day and enter!  If you win, promise you'll take me! ;-)

How Much is Too Much?

In this world of sharing online through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, there has got to be a line drawn that says that sharing "this" much is too much.  Yesterday's not too surprising revelation that Representative Anthony Weiner himself posted those inappropriate photos on Twitter is the perfect example of sharing too much.  There are other issues around this that I won't even start to get into here...(e.g., cheating on his wife, how dumb is he to think that no one but the intended recipient would see them, etc.).  But, I digress.

How much is too much? is something that I think about often.  If I were single and only had myself to consider, I would probably reveal a lot more about my life and myself on this blog.  But, since I'm married and need to consider the feelings of my husband as well as feel the need to maintain some sense of security and privacy, I withhold.  A lot.  However, I struggle with that choice.  I struggle because I know successful bloggers share a LOT of their personal lives and it would be fun to have a more successful, widely-read blog.  I struggle because I enjoy writing and writing about what is going on in my life.  So, how do I find balance between sharing enough to develop a relationship with my readers yet maintaining privacy?

Source

I've come up with two possible ways:

1.  Write about experiences that have happened much earlier than appear

2.  Write about non-consequential experiences

But I struggle with the above too.  I don't feel authentic.  I want to be authentic and I want to be as real to myself as I am to my "in real life" friends but it is hard to balance.  It is something that I will continue to work on in my writing here and elsewhere.  It is something that I need to continue to think about on this journey.

What do you do?  How do you balance sharing your authentic self and maintaining a private life?  Is it possible?

My Plan for World Domination

Last week there was an article on CNN.com about how America is the "no-vacation nation."  The article talks about how countries outside of the U.S. give employees many more than 2-3 weeks of vacation a year - and that time is happily given and approved without strings attached.  Having an Austrian father, who worked for a U.N. organization, I grew up having family vacations where we took 3-4 weeks off each summer to travel, often to Europe, plus at least a week over Christmas, etc.  My siblings and I were lucky.  As an adult, I wish that Mark and I had those types of vacation benefits.

During a walk along Crissy Field on Monday afternoon, I decided that I needed to come up with a plan for world domination so that I can implement a global vacation plan that works for everyone.

Source

Wouldn't it be great if the entire globe took the month of August away from work and we all went on vacation?  Of course, it would require anyone working in the hospitality industry to show up for their jobs in order for my plan to work so I guess my plan really only benefits those in white collar jobs but this is my fantasy so it's OK.

My theory is that if EVERYONE took the month of August as a holiday than the global economy - other than tourism and hospitality - would be suspended and no one would be concerned about lost revenue, production, etc.  Why can't we implement this system?  (That's a rhetorical question...FYI).  Wouldn't it be great?!

Now, if only I can figure out how to take over the world...I think I need Lex Luther (but a super hero version not super villain version) on my side.

What would you do if you had world domination?