Food-Oriented Vacations

I’m wondering how normal it is to plan a vacation with your destination based on what restaurants and food are in the area. Who’s with me on this? DH and I just did this —we discussed optional destinations and pretty much chose one because it has all kinds of restaurants that we want to visit. Types of food that we’ve enjoyed on past trips but are not in our local area and places that we’ve seen on Food Network and want to experience. Yes, of course we planned other events to do in the area because we can’t exactly eat all day long. (Could we do that?!) Shopping venues were taken into consideration, as were gourmet/specialty grocery stores (Trader Joe’s PLEASE, PLEASE come to my cit!) and then maybe a few special events like a local farmer’s market or a wine festival (yes, food again). But mostly, we are excited about the food.

I guess we tend to be less like tourists and more like semi-locals. I’d rather get lost in a (foreign-to-me) mall, take in a movie, and eat at a localized non-chain restaurant than to don a camera (might as well stamp TOURIST on my forehead) and trudge through the museum of whateverthecityisbestknownfor. No, I’m not against learning about history and culture. It’s just that many of these places are so damned boring. I’d rather learn about the culture by experiencing it with the people. Okay, so shopping at Saks may not exactly teach me much about the area, but friendly chat with someone in line at the farmer’s market will. And if I ask nicely, they may tell me the best places to go to experience more local culture (and hopefully a good restaurant).

Manga!

IT’S FRICKEN FA’REAL FRIDAY!

Today is Friday –otherwise known (in my department) as "Fricken Fa'Real Friday." FF’F, for short, is a variation of TGIF, but in a real world kind of way. I don’t know about you, but by the time I reach Friday morning and have had that first cup of coffee, I am beyond sweet sentiments like TGIF. What I usually am is ready to laser-eye burn the next, unsuspecting candidate that walks into my office and asks for help on something that doesn’t even remotely relate to my job or asks me for something that has to be completed today, but that they knew about two weeks ago! Breathe easy. To both requests (and many others that may come your way throughout the day), you can simply say:

ARE YOU FRICKEN FA'REAL!

Example: "I need that report completed by noon"; the correct response would be, "ARE YOU FRICKEN FA'REAL"!

Depending on the tone you use, the unsuspecting victim will either duck and retreat or stand there in shock, silently staring at you while trying to discern what to do next. Usually, it’s the latter –which is quite funny in itself, but makes it hard for me to keep a straight face.

I must give credit where credit is due –thanks D for making me aware of this (and four others, yet to be revealed) very special day!

My Favorite Author & Blog. Real Life Humor at Its Best!

I just read Jen's latest book -My Fair Lazy and it was really funny, as are all of her books. She's a product of the 80's and so I can relate to much of what she's writing about. I love her little footnote comments because you can finish the sentence (and not lose the train of thought) and then peek at the footnote to see her "snarky" comment on the matter. True genius!

• Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office
• Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?
• Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie Is Not the Answer
• Pretty in Plaid: A Life, A Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Phase
• My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is the New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto

Love her blog: www.jennsylvania.com

Now What?

Okay, I admit it. I’m a newbie at blogging. Okay, okay. I’m a newbie with all social medias. I know –it’s just sad. This is my very first attempt at a blog, I’ve never twittered or tweeted or whatever it’s called, I only recently set up a Facebook account (so that I could get a free product sample that I heard about), and I don’t text. Nope, I don’t even text. My cell phone is just that –a cell phone. It doesn’t have a camera, MP3 player, special apps, or fancy ringtones. It’s just an old flip phone (no, not the old Motarola kind —though I still have my first one somewhere in my garage) and it’s used for calling people, which seems to be a lost art. It has web access-ability (is that a word?) but I never use it and it has text-ability (again, is this a word?), but I don’t use it. And I do occasionally receive texts from a few friends who can’t seem to remember that I don’t text.

Sidebar: When did it become acceptable to send a Happy Birthday text in lieu of a mailed greeting card or a friendly phone call?

It’s not that I don’t think social media is relevant –it is here to stay –it’s just that I’ve been so busy with life that all the technology, and media, and apps, have just flown by me. I’m so far behind that I’m not sure how to catch up. Running full speed ahead seems to be the only way and with this blog, I’ve put on my shoes and laced them up. Hey, maybe my snazzy new running shoes that I bought last weekend at DSW will help me out. Nike even printed a nice motivator on the bottom of the shoe that reads: “I run like a girl. Try to keep up.” Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I love it!

So now that I have this blog, what do I do with it. I need interesting information, readable content. I need bubbles! Yes, I said bubbles. You know, those little things that pop up above a cartoon character’s head to show you what they are thinking or saying or doing? Bubbles! My bubbles seem to appear at the wrong times –when I can’t exactly write them down. Like in the shower (who brings a pen in the shower?), in the car (I don’t know about you but anything I write while driving is unreadable chicken scratch), in meetings (yeah, you know all those notes you jot down on your pad just end up lost amongst all the real, valuable business information that you lose on your desk), in church (shame on me!), in the grocery store (I’m lucky if I remember to get the milk I dashed in for so I’m not going to chance it by stopping to jot down a random thought or my kids face a dry, milkless bowl of Cheerios in the morning), etc.

I guess blogging about my random thoughts is not going to be as random as they are in my mind. Maybe I should get one of those voice recording pens (oooh, with a laser pointer!!) so that I can recall those random bubbles. But then there is still the shower issue. Hmmm…