Thank you!

On Friday I found a fabulous surprise in my mailbox... a surprise all the way from Dubai!

I won a fabulous giveaway from Amy, a California girl who has moved to Dubai for several months.  She makes amazingly beautiful treats and posts about them at Playing House  and shares her adventures in Dubai at A Whole New World.

Amy sent me these fabulous spices straight from Dubai.

I can't wait to start cooking with them!  I'm planning to use the saffron in paella this weekend, coriander seeds in pickles this week, and I have a hundred more ideas running through my head!

Thank you again Amy!

Friday

I am so excited and ready for this weekend. No big plans in particular just hanging out, doing some house work, and spending some time out in this gorgeous spring weather!


Oh... and we're going to take down our Christmas tree.

Yes, you read that right. Our tree is still up. Whoops.

Have a great weekend y'all!

My life. My fridge.

Last week in the checkout line the cashier said "I was just about to ask if you guys were vegetarians but then I saw this ground turkey go through..."  And she wasn't off base at all, at least 80 percent of our meals are veggies and we have several meals a week that are vegetarian. We also don't eat anything processed or dairy-- C is lactose intolerant (sorry to tell the internet your deep dark secret sweetie!) and I'm basically allergic to processed food.

Back to the veggies and not eating animals-- this isn't because we have any huge views about eating meat, them having faces and feeeeeelings and such, but just because we like veggies.

We're weird. We like vegetables. We liked vegetables as kids. Aren't you glad you don't date us?

We buy the majority of protein and veggies at Sam's Club.  But Sam's is hella far away (25 minutes! Welcome to my first world life. This is one of my biggest complaints. I suck) and we only like to go about every 2 weeks.

So we try to supplement our fresh supplies with items from the local grocery store.  But, Chris and I are also cheap-- we'll shell out all kinds of money for fancy smanshy beer but so help me God if the grocery store is trying to charge $.62/pound for bananas. No questions asked. We're definitely sticking it to the man and driving to another grocery store. SO HA... take that Kroger!  In order to find the best prices on groceries we go to the local ethnic grocery store, the super mercado.  Yes, the music makes you want queso and enchiladas but the produce is cheap and fresh and there are all sorts of crazy items there that you never find in the regular boring white people grocery store.

So, at this point you're thinking "Jayyyyyy-zussssss, what does this have to do with anything? Is she just going to talk about her fridge the whole time?"

Yes, I am going to talk about my fridge the whole time.  But! *jazz hands* I'm also going to show you the inside of my fridge! Ohhhhh! Ahhhhh! Fridge!

 

Can you spot spot at least 5 different types of fruits and veggies here?

 

How about now? 

Or now?

However, I do LOOOVE condiments. I believe with my whole being that french fries only exist to be carriers of condiments.

Chris and I are currently in a battle to finish a gigantor tub of spicy brown mustard and are having mustard races.  At the time of this picture (oh, like a month ago. I blog at lightening speed y'all) I was kicking C's behind (see bottle on left) but then Chris came back with skill and determination and won at the last minute.  

Welcome to my life.

Veggies and mustard.

I know you're jealous.

So tell me... what's in your fridge? Do you have as many kinds of meat as I have veggies?

Jerks

Chris and I went out for a run on Saturday. And because Chris is incredibly fast like a ninja he speed ahead of me.

I was wearing a tennis skirt and an nike tank top. Nothing scandalous-- definitely tighter than shorts and an old sorority t-shirt but it also wasn't American Apparel lyrca hot shorts and a sports bra.

As I was running some shmucks in a car pulled over and made some really skanky comments. They were basically just a-holes who were hassling me.

I can hold my own against a guy in a bar or some general jerk but the two guys in car made me feel completely scared and uncomfortable.

Everything was fine, I know Chris's running route and was able to take a shortcut to meet him only a few blocks away.

Is there some sort of power that guys get from making girls feel uncomfortable? What exactly is the point of what was essentially sexually harassing someone? Did they think I was going to immediately be completely turned on by them? Laugh and get in their car?

I was so freaked out... and then so angry. RAGE RAGE RAGE... I still kind of wish that I would have kicked out a tail light or two.

woof

My high school friend Maggie has a terrific dog. A dog that I remember vividly from high school. Trooper is amazing. He's this little Jack Russell ball of fire that would play on the trampoline with us, jump straight into Maggie's arms, and just run around like a banshee.

We also almost caught him on fire once, totally by accident let me assure you! Maggie, some guy friends, and I were lighting off spinning fire crackers in her back yard, Maggie had Trooper in her arms, and as soon as Trooper saw that spinning ball of fire he decided that it had to be his. Trooper leaped out of Maggie's arms and dashed straight to the firework trying to catch it for a little game of fetch. Well, as you can imagine we all screamed in terror, Trooper jumped back after burning a little fur, and we all learned an important life lesson about not lighting dogs on fire. Luckily Trooper was completely fine except for a little hair loss.

Almost 10 years latter Trooper still doesn't grow hair on the spot that got toasted which gives him a joker-esk smile.

So, when I saw this video I immediately thought of Trooper.

I might save this video for those days when I need a smile and a little more Jack Russell in my life!

love. love. love.

Love, Love, Love.

Love, Love, Love.

Love, Love, Love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.

It's easy.

    
Paris, France -- Chicago, Illinois -- Avignon, France

Nothing you can make that can't be made.

No one you can save that can't be saved.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.

It's easy.

All you need is love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love, love.

Love is all you need.

Berlin, Germany -- Berlin, Germany -- Florence, Italy

All you need is love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love, love.

Love is all you need.

Nothing you can know that isn't known.

Nothing you can see that isn't shown.

Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.

It's easy.

Berlin, Germany -- Istanbul, Turkey

All you need is love.

All you need is love.

All you need is love, love.

Love is all you need.

All you need is love (All together, now!)

All you need is love. (Everybody!)

All you need is love, love.

Love is all you need (love is all you need)

(love is all you need) (love is all you need)

(love is all you need) Yesterday (love is all you need)

(love is all you need) (love is all you need)

Happy Valentines Day love bugs!

Egypt

If you have a few free minutes check out http://twitter.com/#!/speak2tweet to hear free live-ish voice tweets coming from Egypt.  If you have audio capability and 5 minutes it's definitely worth your time to wade through the Arabic recordings to find some in English.

Isn't social media crazy y'all?