Food and Fun

 I love staying with my bestie and her hubby - they are some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.  My bestie is also one of the most honest people in my life.  I love how she tells me like it is, but ultimately ends with the message "I'll still love and support you if you choose to be stupid, but I'm also gonna tell you all the reasons why I think you are being stupid."  If your best friend doesn't tell it like it is, even when it's not what you want to hear, are they really your 'best' friend?!

Anyway, enough about my (occasional) stupidity.  Here's what we've been up to:

New lipstick from one of Jess's aunts.  It's apparently all natural and vegan and stuff cuz you know women will eat about 5lbs of lipstick in their lifetime.  So might as well make it... healthy lipstick?  Weird sentence to write.

After we went shopping at Earthbound Trading Company (one of my ABSOLUTE favorite places to shop), we went to eat a Pasha's, a mediterranean place.  This is what Jess got - salad, chicken, and hummus.

I got the Gyro plate - so strips of gyro meat, salad, and hummus.  I forgot to take a pic before we started eating... oops.

The appetizer - fried cauliflower.

The mediterranean version of chips and salsa - naan, dipped in olive oil and spices.

The fitting rooms at Earthbound were still closed, so I had to take things home to try them on.  Ended up getting a bigger size in one of the pairs of pants.  I got 2 pairs of leggy pants, an extremely leggy skirt, and a fun tank top.

Next day, we decided to eat in.  Here's my window-opener because I thought it was pretty.  Envy apple with coffee cake that Jess's mom made (so good). 

Side dishes for the ribs - green beans with rotel, cauliflower potato salad (no potatoes, but tasted EXACTLY like potato salad), and a real salad for me (zesty Italian dressing).

The ribs - I didn't get a pic of them before, but these are so tender the fat comes right off the meat and if you try to lift a whole rib it comes apart.  They are topped with onion and lemon (the lemon makes them so tender).

Today I thought I'd take a pic of the happy kitty with her dad.  She plays rather cutely with him (head bonks and such when he gets on the ground to pet her), but she is still kitty of doom with me.  Which is fine, we have a love-scratch relationship.

One of the pairs of pants from Earthbound.  As you can see, they are leggy... 

but also cover in the back... 

and SUPER leggy when I sit down.  The sandals are also new, from Ross.  

As you can see, we have had some success at finding me fun clothes that do in fact fit.  It's been interesting, I'm super small at Torrid now, and still an XL at Earthbound (whose sizes have always run a little small IMO).  I'm putting off any other shopping as I feel I've got the essentials - really it was jeans and pants that I mostly needed and those should be coming in from Torrid tomorrow.  Today we are having a FEAST of WINGS from WingStop when J&D have their lunch break.  I also have to return some toothbrush chargers to Amazon (didn't work) and had to order one directly from the manufacturer (more expensive, but SHOULD work).  I can't find the darn thing in all my bags to save my life, and I don't really want to go thru everything again.  A spare is always a good thing, right?  

I've been thinking of the past year and all the factors that made it a perfect storm of misery.  I've almost run out of fingers and toes as I name each factor that led to stress.  If you haven't experienced it, I'm not sure I can describe it.  Once I figure out how to put it all together into a real narrative, I'll post it.  For now, I do want to say that my general experience in Korea was good - I grew a lot personally, I learned a lot professionally, and I'm glad I had the experience.  I'm also happy to say that I'm feeling good about the future, whatever it holds, and I'm still stoked to be back with people who love me.  I'll be moving on in about a week or so, back up to the Dallas area for a bit and then to Gbury and GRose to see people before heading to OK City to see Todd.  After that, I'll head to WY to get the paperwork done on my car before going to WA to see my older sis.  So the trip shall continue, with some good stops along the way.  I'll probably run into some weather eventually, but it has been nice not being locked in to any plans.  The weather in San Antonio is WAY better than the weather in WY right now, so I'm feeling rather justified in my choice to stick around for a bit.  MUAH!  Much love to all my readers, I hope all is good for you and you are also surrounded by people who love and care for you.  :*