Category Archives: A to Z Blogging Challenge

Q is for Queen

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When I got my beautiful American Beauty crown, I decided I would store it in the closet in the office when I wasn’t using it. I put it on a very high shelf. 

“Why?” you ask. 

Because we have a little princess in the family who loves wearing crowns. I knew if she saw it that she would want to have it and I didn’t want to tell her no.

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One day, when she was visiting, I had to get something out of the closet and she saw the crown. You see, it’s very, very sparkly and even sitting up on that high shelf, she saw it, she knew what it was, and she wanted it.

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“Can I have the crown, Glammie?” she asked , hope shining in her big blue eyes.

“Oh Haniston, I’m sorry, you can’t have it right now. Glammie needs it,” I replied.

Those big blue eyes started filling with tears as her lower lip pushed out and started trembling. 

“But I want it,” she said, starting to cry.

I picked her up and sat down with her facing me in my office chair.  Trying to make her feel better, I said, “You know how you are a princess?

She nodded her head.

“Well, Glammie is a queen,” I said. “When I don’t need this crown anymore, I promise you can wear it.”

She took this information and mulled it over for a few seconds.

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“I a princess and you a queen,” she finally said, with a smile beginning to form.

“Yes! That’s it!” I exclaimed, my own smile growing big.

We hugged each other and the sad moment passed. I never want to have to tell her no ever again. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P is for Philz Coffee

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I was excited for it to be Saturday and that we could use our letter to try another coffee spot in San Jose. 

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Philz Coffee is down on the Paseo de San Antonio which is a cute area with lots of shops and restaurants. 

We walked in and found the place to stand and wait to give our order. We perused the menu while we waited.

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I see Turkish and I get all excited. I adore cardamom and the idea of having Turkish coffee without all the sugar was really appealing to me. And, of course, I love dark roasts. I ordered the Tantalizing Turkish. I loved it!

There is a nice pastry case off goodies to choose from.

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And a cookie case.

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I was intrigued by the Kouign Amann pastry especially after reading a Yelp review that said “you need this in your life”. I tried the fig filled pastry and it was amazing, all buttery and delicious.  ðŸ˜€

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David stuck to his traditional chocolate croissant which he ate before I was able to snap a photo. He isn’t a coffee achiever, like I am, and was unsure of which coffee to select. With the barista’s help, we settled on the Tesora, which he said was their house coffee. David let me steal a sip of it and it was good, as well. The coffee at Philz is made, by pour over method, one cup at a time. 

You can buy Philz Coffee’s to take home, which is nice, and I like their logo mugs you can buy. (I didn’t get a photo. :() 

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This shop is really close to the university and was really, really busy. We were able to snag a table outside which, as you know, I love. 

I definitely plan a return trip to sample some of the other coffees and pastries in the future. 🙂 

 

O is for Over

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Okay, y’all. O was a hard one for me. It’s still kind of a stretch but it’s what I’ve got. O is for Over. 

This morning, when we were walking the dog, we saw an earthworm on the concrete. It was flipping over and over. You know, how a bug looks when it gets stuck on it’s back and it’s trying to get back on it’s feet? It looked crazy and I’ve never seen a worm do that. I thought, “Can worms get stuck on their backs?”

When I asked David, he laughed. When I came back and asked twitter, they laughed. 

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David told me it needed dirt so I took a stick and moved the worm back over to the dirt. Thinking I had done my good deed for the day, I started heading over to where David and Rabi were. I took one last look at the worm, who’s life I’d saved, and noticed it was crawling, in regular worm style, back onto the concrete. 

What the heck? 

Friends on facebook didn’t seem any more enlightened on the subject although Joe’s answer seemed pretty good. 

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I’ve looked around the internet to see if anyone has seen a worm do this before but came up empty. Maybe I don’t know the right words to search. Do you know how creepish searching worms is?

 

I finally came to the conclusion that maybe I just interrupted that worm’s Friday happy dance. 😀

N is for Novel

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I wrote a book. A work of fiction. While I have trouble calling it a novel, by the definition below, it really is one.

“a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.”

Somehow, I always think of a hovel as being something Stephen King would write. You know, 1368 words long, deeply involved, things you could never dream will happen spilling forth on each of those pages. 

My book is cute. I love it. I had it in my head for four years before I finally entered NaNoWriMo last year and actually put it on paper. 

It was exciting to win NaNo after giving it three false starts. I had such a sense of accomplishment. Then came the hard work. I went over and over it before finally having it edited. Now that I have it back, I realize the work isn’t done. It’s too short to submit as a novel and I need to add some words. 

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But I’m excited. I may never write another novel but I’m glad I did this one. I’ve learned so much and the sense of accomplishment is like no other. 😀

M is for Material Girls

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Material GirlsMaterial Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book wasn’t exactly what I normally read but I mostly liked it.

The book takes place in a world where kids are “tapped” at the age of 13 for creative jobs in fashion, music, etc. Kids who aren’t tapped are referred to as “adequates” and continue on in school and get jobs such as doctor, journalist, accountant, etc. But it’s the creative jobs that the kids want and they can become devastated if they aren’t tapped.

Marla is a judge on the superior court at Torre-LeBlanc fashion. Although she feels she’s had very good success in predicting trends, she started going voting against he others on the court and was demoted to being a drafter, where she designed fashions in the basement.

When she arrived to the basement, the other drafters had been thinking about striking to make the working conditions more fair for everyone concerned and they figured Marla was the key to them being able to pull the strike off.

She agrees and with the help of a pop star, Ivy Wilde, they attempt their strike. The strike eventually fails, the drafters are monitored for further subversive activity for two months. After their confinement, they are released and they go on to form their own company, Underground Garden. Ivy, who was unable to give up her pop star life, continues on living the fake life her record lable created for her.

I liked the characters in this book. It was interesting to read about the fashion trends that the people of Le Reina were made to wear. The book got a little tedious towards the end and I wasn’t sure if anything was going to be accomplished by the strike and the aftermath. I was happy to see the new company be formed, sad that Ivy sold out to remain in her postion.

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K is for Knowing Yourself

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I’m going to quit running. Although it’s been a fun challenge to get back into it, at this point in time, I don’t think it’s the best thing for me.

I used to run all the time back in the early 90s, as I’ve mentioned. It was super hard to start running again. Harder than I remember it being back in the day but it was a challenge. Being able to take full breaths to the bottom of my lungs was exciting. It’s the biggest reason I don’t want to stop. 

Getting faster or adding more mileage on every run was another fun part of the process. I got such satisfaction from that. But, being honest with myself, running is just not for me. At least not right now. Maybe not ever again.

I love to walk and I walk everywhere. My last run not only made my left foot hurt really bad but it made the lower right side of my back hurt.  Am I still too heavy? I don’t know. That could be it. Maybe I’m just too old, even though I know a lot of much older people than I, run But if my foot and back hurt so much that I can’t walk the rest of the day, is it worth it? I don’t think so.

I have several running goals on my goals list: 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon. I read books about ultra runners (50+ miles) and think, “Wow! Wouldn’t that be cool to do?” But I might just have to let it go.

I think you really have to know yourself at all times to make sure you’re giving yourself the best. So that’s what I’m doing here, what I know is best for me, giving up running. At least for now. I’ll still get plenty of exercise with my running and cycling, both of which I love. I just may have to re-evaluate my goals list. But that’s okay. There’s always more goals to add to the list to achieve. 😀

J is for Japantown

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Today, included in our walk, was a detour into Japantown.

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 We wanted to try a new coffee shop but couldn’t find one beginning with J but there is a coffee shop in Japantown called Roy’s Station Coffee and Teas. I knew I could make Japantown be in the path of our walk and I’m glad I did. 

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We stopped into Roy’s. It’s a great coffee shop with an awesome patio outside. Where, of course, we sat.

I hate to tell you that I had another almond croissant but, when it comes to almond croissants, I’m weak, y’all, I’m weak. This croissant was so big and so delicious. The first thing I tasted was the butter but the almond taste was so nice. 

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David had a chocolate croissant which he said was really great, too. We both had their house coffee which was yummy. I do so love drinking out of a real cup. 😀

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The people at Roy’s station were super nice and I know we’ll go there again because it was a nice experience. They, too, have a nice menu of not only drinks but food. 

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We then walked to the end of Jackson Street, which I would call the heart of Japantown. 

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I loved how the traffic control system boxes have ninjas 

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and dragons. 😀

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We considered living in Japantown and I really like it, but in the end, downtown won. Still, I’m sure we’ll at least go to Japantown for coffee at Roy’s again , if for no other reason. 🙂

I is for I Java

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So excited to do another downtown coffee shop and it’s not even Saturday! And I had coffee with a friend from Oklahoma who’s here for a convention!

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I picked Amy up at her hotel and we walked around downtown a little bit before we found ourselves at the street that I Java is on. I hadn’t been over to that part of downtown yet so it was fun to see what was there. There are very, very wide sidewalks over there! 🙂

We were going to try another shop but then I realized today was I in the challenge and I had seen a sign for I Java when I was coming back from the grocery a week or so ago. When I looked, I found it was close to Amy’s hotel. Perfect!

I Java is a cute place. I love the tables and chairs on the inside (which I neglected to photograph) even though we chose to sit outside on this gorgeous morning. 

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They have a nice goodie case but I only had coffee today. After the pageant, I do hope to come back and try something yummy from their bakery case. 😉

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 They also have a very nice, large menu of breakfast, lunch and drinks. 

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My coffee was delicious and I had it hot. Amy had hers iced. This is a nice shop, sort of off the beaten path. I’m not sure I would have found it if I hadn’t seen the sign the other day but I will definitely return. 😀

 

 

H is for Hunting

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Not in the traditional sense but I am on the hunt for the perfect dress. And it’s been tough so far.

I thought I had all of my wardrobe picked out for the pageant that’s coming up at the end of June. A couple of days ago, the person I thought was going to be doing my hair and make up said she really didn’t want to do pageant hair and make up anymore so I was left scrambling to find someone else to do that. I’m glad I learned that when I could still find someone!

Anyway, that prompted me to go through and look at my wardrobe again, see how it looked as I continue to lose weight since I purchased everything. I put on the dress I got for my judges interview and I hated it!  I hated it so bad that I’m not sure I will like it any better in two months time and so I began my hunt.

The first order of business was to find a shop here in San Jose that sells the kinds of clothes I’m looking for which I did. I ended up at Designer’s Corner looking through what they had. The girl who helped me, Semra, was so nice and so helpful but, after trying a couple of things on, there wasn’t really anything there that I thought would work. I will for sure shop in that store again, though, because they have great customer service and lovely clothes. 

I then wandered around the mall. With my pageant coach sitting on my shoulder saying, “no black or white” every time I gravitated towards a black dress. I felt like I was on “What Not To Wear”.  I found nothing.

I really detest shopping, too, so a trip to the mall wasn’t any fun. Go ahead, take my woman card if you must.

I then came home and began scouring the internet for the perfect dress. Alas, I found nothing. I don’t even know where else to look. I do know that I’ve only been looking for one day and I will continue to look but I’m sincerely open to any places you might know where I can get an awesome dress. 

You know how you have that idea in your head about how you want to look and you can’t completely describe it and you certainly can’t find it? I’m there. 

So there you have it, the big hunt is on. Share your choice hunting grounds with me, please! 🙂

F is for Fruitbat

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If you follow me on instagram, I’m sure you’ve seen me tag photos #fruitbat. “What is that?” you ask. I got the term from Freelee the Banana Girl. 

Freelee is the person I found when I was getting ready to become a low fat, high carb, raw vegan. I found her video about Banana Island and have been watching her ever since. She’s a great source of information and inspiration and she calls her followers fruitbats.

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I eat a huge number of my calories in the form of fruit so I think the tag is appropriate. I follow the 80-10-10 plan of eating where I shoot for a breakdown of 80% of my calories each day from carbs, 10% from protein and 10% from fat. 

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This makes me feel AMAZING! Actually, amazing isn’t really a strong enough word. I don’t know that there is a word to describe how awesome I feel when I eat this way. I have no joint aches, my skin is SO clear, I sleep well, life is so good.

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Fruit is amazing. And, honestly, if you had told me that I would one day replace sugar with fruit, I would’ve laughed at you. Of course in diet books they always suggest that but I was such a sugar addict I couldn’t fathom how it could work.

I haven’t had a whole lot of processed sugar since I began eating this way on September 1 of last year. I chose to eat an almond croissant on Saturday in honor of my half birthday and I felt sincerely wasted. Like I was completely drunk. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk home and we were only two blocks away. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again because I just didn’t care for the feeling.

Fruit makes me feel clear and clean and joyful. It’s what I love and eat the most of. I am most assuredly a fruitbat. 🙂