Day 22: My Favorite Food Is...Green

Today I made falafel - using an awesome recipe from the back of a bag of dried chickpeas. I've now duly noted that dried chickpeas, instead of canned, seriously up your falafel game.

Monday I made Apple Broccoli Soup. Sounds strange, right? And maybe a little too healthy? As if too healthy was a thing . . . nonsense! What's not nonsense is this soup. It's so tasty and tastes even better the next day - at least in my opinion. Or as the girl from an old Hidden Valley Ranch commercial would say "It really taste-es good!" (gross). I also think it's nice eaten hot or cold, but then again, I'm not a picky eater.

Christmas 2011 I enjoyed the most delightful cup o' joe. Made evermore thrilling thanks to left over dyed sprinkles.

My whole life I've pretty much eaten Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream - but the green kind if I could help it, not the white. I need visual proof of the mint flavor, and green clearly does it.

It's pure coincidence that my face mask happens 

to be the exact same color as my ice cream.

Are you noticing a trend here? It dawned on me mid falafel-making that my Favorite Food Is...Green. Lima beans, avocado, key lime pie - I love them all! It really makes sense. I have SUCH a hard time answering the 'what's your favorite food' question whenever someone asks because there are way too many foods to choose from. So from now on I'm just going to answer that question with a color . . . and hope I have a camera handy to capture their perplexed reaction.

Day 21: Caution - Falling Parts

Today I went to Stanley's Produce. The best and cheapest place to get produce!  . . . in my opinion. I've heard others complain, "when I go there all of my food goes bad after a few days!"
[blink, blink]
Well, yeah. That's what normal produce is supposed to do. It's not my fault you don't eat or prep your food right away! If you need lessons on this, catch me after this story - we'll talk.

Anywhosey, I was on my way home after a record time in-and-out of my favorite grocery store, riding the bus. Just a typical ride, such as you would find here:

 

(Photo credit: Blogspot.com)

. . . though a bit less crowded than at other times - which I really appreciated so I could put my bags on the seat next to me. 😃 As the CTA strongly encourages . . .

So there the five of us were, still sitting on the bus, just living in our own worlds when what should bring us back to a collective reality? A loud, metally, clang. Something fell! I quickly scanned the front of the bus for an elderly gentleman's metal cane or a frying pan. But all I, and the man sitting across from me (who refused to make full eye contact and acknowledge the randomness of what just happened) could see was this:

What is it you ask? A hanging handle previously attached to the pole above.

My first thought was, 'whoa, weird.' Then I started thinking how lucky it was that no one was holding on to that particular handle when it disassembled. Imagine if they fell and got hurt! Or fell on someone else and hurt them!! And then they both sued the CTA! Yikes, what a mess that would be . . .

Day 20: Electronic Denial

Sunday. The weekend bouncer. Giving you one last morning of bliss before kicking you out around 4:00pm to meet Despair on the corner.

What, that's just me? Or should I say WAS just me when I was unhappily employed?

Whether you relate to this drop in morale at the close of the weekend or not, I witnessed today that humans are not the only creatures to experience the Sunday blues.

Case in point: the electronic CVS sign

Note: this image is just to make sure your mind is envisioning the correct type of sign, this occurrence did take place today (despite the 2013 date).

Now that we are all thinking of the same thing, imagine you look at the sign to see today's date and the time, 4:44pm. Before you look away the time changes - to 4:43pm! You do a double take. It's back to 4:44pm.
 - Huh? - 
Were your eyes playing tricks on you? Could that really have happened?

Yep, I believe it could - because it DID. Just proof that CVS doesn't like saying goodbye to the weekend either. Now I'm curious to see what sort of stunts it'd pull on a Monday . . .

Day 19: DJ Zucchini

As overheard on the bus . . .

"DJ Zuchini."
'What??'
"Yeah, that's his name. He doesn't have a very big following. It's like me and 29 other people . . ."

Spin on, Summer Squash, spin on

Day 18: Shadow Beauty

Walking to the park today, I was quite taken by the shadows of the leaves on the sidewalk.
'How beautiful!' I thought, 'it would make a lovely print on fabric...'

Some shadows, like people, are kind of plain - what you see is what you get. But some are more complex, also like people, with differing layers to the overall shadow. This is something I hadn't really noticed before - about shadows, that is. . .

For example:

[plain, but beautiful, shadow]

[Complex, also beautiful, shadow]

See the difference?! I certainly hope so . . . otherwise I might worry that if you met me you'd think I'm plain, which I would argue I am not! (and I'd like to think you would too).

Day 17: People on the Train

The highest pitched voice I've heard in quite a while is emitted on the train.
Where's it coming from??
Whoa! Right next to me?!

I did not expect that from the squat man so seemingly engrossed in his phone. 

Swaying back and forth, crouched over his phone he lets out another eruption of shock and disgust:
"eee, are you kidding me?! What the fu@$? [Unintelligible]."

Hmm, didn't expect that... but then it kept happening.. again and again.. so did the swaying to and fro. I think I might have Tourettes (syndrome), or perhaps is autistic... 

While his vocalizations were in the tone of disgust, he seemed to be doing quite a good job of entertaining himself during his commute . . . to each his own - and good work!

Day 16: Moody Flag Day

Happy Flag Day!
Since the beginning of June, we've been feeling like summer weather is here - and here to stay. The kind of weather that makes you want to go for a cruise on your three-wheeler [after first complaining that you can't do it and it's too hard - because that's the secret ingredient to making activities more fun for everyone].

Clearly this girl knows what's up:

Going for a ride on a hot day. The wind blowing in your hair. Not a care in the world, until . . . the buildings start to melt!

Dripping, dropping, soggy to the ground; as if the heat of the day is too intense even for bricks to withstand! It's not until you feel the drop in temperature and hear the clapping of thunder that you realize what's happening. In an instant it is no longer a hot summer day, it's a treacherous afternoon during monsoon season.