Today Has Been an Ugly Day, or, Thank You for Being a Friend, Travel Down the Road and Back Again...

Today started out pretty rough...I'm in the drainage stage of the ick, which means it's almost gone, but on the other hand, my entire head is fucking leaking. And I have been incredibly sad all morning. Like crying for 2 hours. Finally, I decided that I had to leave the house early, because I won't allow myself to be a weepy, snotty mess in public. So here I sit at Cup O'Joe, red-eyed, puffy faced and exhausted (because crying and sneezing and coughing really takes it outta you!), writing my thankful entry for the day, since what I'm thankful for today is a big part of my sobfest this morning.

Today, I'm thankful for my friends. (And I'm going to try really REALLY hard not to start crying again. Because I'm at a coffee shop. And we have already established that I won't allow this to happen in public. So take THAT, tear ducts!) I don't have a million friends, but I do have a lot of friends that go way back into my past, as well as some newer ones. I feel incredibly lucky to have had some amazing people in my life who, no matter how far away or how long it's been since we've talked, when we see/chat with each other, we just fall right back into that familiar rhythm.

This morning was a sad one because of Gary (obv), but then to compound that, there were some happy tears involved because of how much love and support I, and my whole family, received from these folks (clearly my emotions never got the memo that sad=crying and happy=smiling...gotta work on that). I'm not one to use the word "blessed" unless there's a really damn good reason, and this is one of those reasons. I must have been a very good girl in a past life to be blessed with people like these in my life now. I can't tell you enough how infinitely grateful I am for you, but I want to say it so that you do know. Thank you for being you. (Effffff! Tears happened, but I was able to get them before they left my eyeballs, so that counts as not crying right? I'm gonna give myself that one.)

If your pretty face isn't in this shitshow of pictures, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I don't have a pic of us...and we should probably change that! Also, I really need to get one of those picture stitchy doohickies, because I get so frustrated because I can never make the pictures line up in any sort of discernible fashion.

My Favorite Babushka!

When I say my favorite Babushka, I guess that implies that I have more than 1? It means a "triangularly folded headscarf for the head" (of which I have none) or a Russian term for grandmother (of which I have 2). Oh boy. This could get awkward...oh, but wait! We're not Russian, and I don't refer to either of my grandmothers as "babushka," so, no favoritism there!

Anywho, today I'm thankful for my favorite Babushka, which is Babushka's Kitchen. I've been in love with this little gem of a Polish restaurant for well over a year (you can find out about that here...), and they have been closed for several months, relocating. They finally opened back up in the past couple weeks and we are going for dinner tonight!!

Saurkraut and dumplings? Yes please!
Fresh kielbasa? Why, don't mind if I do!
Golabki? Get in my belly, you saucy little minx!
Pierogi? If you insist!
Kolachky? Can't resist it!
You get the picture.

And then we're going to the movies. Probably a waste of $20, because we'll both most likely be in a food coma, but that's a risk we are willing to take ;-)

Happy Friday, lovebugs!

***UPDATE: After experiencing the first sleepies of a food coma, we decided to RedBox it up and spend the evening at home. I think that is the best decision for everyone involved...

Vanity Plates Are for D-Bags...Or Are They?

I'm going to begin this with a disclaimer. The man I'm marrying has a vanity plate. If you know him pretty well, you know what it says and he knows how I feel about it. It's pretty douchey and has made for some interesting experiences when I drive his car. With that being said, on we go!

I'm not one for vanity plates in general, especially ones that have the driver's name. I mean, are you gonna forget who owns your car? This is the scenario I imagine:

Vanity plate owner walking through grocery store parking lot: "Jeez, I just can't remember where I parked my hot pink Hummer that I parked diagonally across 3 spaces! There's one the next row over, but I just don't know if it's mine. (walks 1 row over) Well, I guess it could be mine, but I'm not sure... (Looks at license plate) The plate says AliKat! Good thing I have this vanity plate!!"

Clearly, an exaggerated situation, but vanity plates aren't my thing. If you have them and love them, more power to you. I'm not judging (unless you have them on a hot pink Hummer, or any Hummer parked across more than 1 spot).

I have, over the years, seen some really good ones. So today, I am thankful for people who come up with clever vanity plate. The folks who have a sense of humor and make my drive a little more entertaining. Here are my favorites:

Brdwy Kd (Cynthia, remember when we were in college and would see this plate walking back to the dorms at least once a week and I could never figure out what it said?)

IMDC8U (What do you think this person's profession is?)

REEPCHP (Whenever you can make a reference to one of my favorite literary series, you get super cool points in my book all day long!)

Along the same lines, shout out to my girl Ishy...congrats on getting your license!

Thera-what? Thera-fluuuuuu!

Some kinda ick hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. Danny and I were getting our drank on and watching the election and cooking last night, and around 11 p.m. I had a raging headache and my throat was starting to get scratchy. Danny said that I was just getting a pre-sleep hangover, because, let's face it, we had been drinking for about 4 hours by that point. I know my body and said, "Nope, I really hope I'm not getting sick. This is not from being rum drunk."

Clearly I was correct. Super sore throat today, headache, feeling like my brain was stuffed with cotton, tired, body aches and lady parts in turmoil (Just as an added bonus. Thanks for that, ovaries!). Shit was suuuuuper uncomfortable all day. And then on top of that Danny and I had an interview this evening, so I had to put my big girl shoes and smile on and rally up.

So for today, I'm thankful for my footie pjs (again) and Thera-Flu. Because I'm warm and snuggly while I drink my medicine, and I am so excited to crash the eff out in about 20 minutes. The next few days will be full of hot tea, tons of water, shit loads of sleep and fresh juice.

Sleep well butterbeans!

Soooooooup!

I got bored with the "Thankful, Day xxx" titles, so I'm scrapping that. But don't you worry, lovebugs, I'm still sharing what's making my little heart smile. I'm gonna see this once a day business through, dammit!!

Today I'm thankful for the flavors of the season. I have a couple of butternut squashes roasting in the over to make some butternut squash soup with wild rice and sausage. It's gonna be soooooo stinkin good tomorrow after all the flavors get a chance to meld and marry overnight. I'm thinking I might make some stuffed pumpkins and chocolate bread pudding too.

Yummo! (Tulls, that was for you...I know how much you luuuuurve Rachel Ray...)

What are some of your favorite fall num nums?

Thankful, Day 5

Today, I'm thankful for the ladies of the suffragette movement many years ago, who fought for me to have the opportunity to get out and exercise my right to vote. So tomorrow, that's what I'll be doing, and I hope you will too, if you haven't already.

Happy Election Eve, y'all!

***Spoiler alert*** Tomorrow I'll be thankful that all this political grandstanding and bullshit will be done. I'm infinitely grateful to be able to vote, but the way people handle their candidacy these days is incredibly disgusting.

Aaaaand, I'm off my soapbox ;-)

Thankful, Day 4

Today I'm thankful for having friends from different points in my life be able to come together and just laugh and be inappropriate over good food :-)