words & pictures: sweet

it's no secret that i have a sweet tooth, just ask my thi...no wait, scratch that. anyway, while i do indeed have a hankering for things sweet, i'm a little bit peculiar about it. it's a combination of things really. while i love a good cold coke, i cannot stand pepsi or sprite because i think they are too sweet. rootbeer is sweeter than those two drinks but rootbeer, i like...it's spicy. whipped cream is lovely, but only a teeny bit sweetened. i love classic old school bubblegum but am not a fan of jelly beans unless it is buttered popcorn and my sniffer is working. oh wait, scratch that, black pepper. did you know that there is a black pepper jelly belly out there? it was developed as a flavor for the bertie bots and you can only get it in one of those boxes but then you run the risk of having to sort through sardine, booger and ear wax flavors. the dirt flavor isn't too bad either but don't quote me on that. i use honey in my tea but only a little bit but my coffee calls for oodles of the sweet stuff unless i am drinking it whilst eating something sweet and then i drink it with cream, no sugar.

my favorite candy bar in highschool was a kit kat but now i succumb to those miniature peanut butter eggs from reese's (evil, evil, things). but i am try, try, trying to get into dark chocolate. the flavor really does linger. i think i would like dark chocolate better if the sniffer worked. sigh. so, for now, it's all about baked goods. cookies, breads, cakes, cupcakes and pies though if there were a buffet spread out in front of me with anything i could imagine, i do believe it would be the apple pie that i would pile onto my plate. sure, cucpakes are all over my photo stream but that is because a cupcake is an itty bit more photogenic than a slice of pie. at least, it is a wee bit cuter, what with all the frosting and sprinkles and which i totally remove from my cupcake. i may have a sweet tooth but it a bit peculiar, hand me a cupcake and i'm likely to ooh and aah all over. i'll take pictures and clap but when it comes time to eat it, i scrape the frosting off.

and the pixy stix? i just like the wrapping...i'm peculiar like that.

**this post was enabled by the loverly pip and her words and pictures project. head on over to meet me at mike's for more fun.

move over martha...

i'm with mary now...

last week i was hitting up my library for some summer reading when i stumbled upon a trio of books by maryjane butters. being a farmgirl at heart, i found them quite intriguing so i checked them out and brought them home. the stitch book is super pretty but i am not the most patient crafter and you can forget about tatting etc. so i moved onto the inner wild title and oh my...i am a convert! the recipes, the stories, the visuals are all dazzling. i cannot wait to try them out and have once again fell into my dreamland of living in a teardrop, traveling our great country...i guess i need to get rid of more stuff.

that maryjane is a bit of a powerhouse too. there are books and a magazine and even line of organic food which i have yet to try. i myself want to join her "country club". now i really need to get rid of this stuff!

**and just in case you think i'm cpmpletely bamboozled, i am fully aware that this is a business enterprise wrapped up in country cool twine. i get it. i like it, so there.

Valley of Fire: Day One, setting up camp

so...once we got to the valley of fire, we headed straight for the campground as we were afraid we might have been too late for a spot. not only were we not too late, we scored a walk in spot that was a little further away from the others and surrounded by those crazy red rocks! we set up our camp and even made it look a little pretty...

the week in review: june 1-7

housecleaning, picnicking, garage sailin(selling), thrifting and hanging out.

Valley of Fire: Day One, Part 1

the thing about road tripping with we a-go-gos is we're pokey. we research our route and hang out on yelp looking for places that may strike our fancy. when major map gazing is involved, i drive while the mister navigates as i am not the best at map reading, i get all topsy-turvy and a wee bit carsick as well. the best thing about being pokey and leaving early is that we have plenty of time for me to stop for photo ops. thank the magic camera stars that the mister doesn't mind me hollering stop when i see an abandoned house covered in graffiti. which is exactly what happened in the tiny town of yermo...three houses, all done up. not really the best and most fancy of tagging but still, the houses made me happy and the blue skies made for nice pictures.as we noodled along, we stopped in vegas to try out a breakfast place that had decent yelp reviews. it was okay, not great but doable. what we did find that we thought cool was a chinatown which for some reason was actually full of vietnamese places and more pho specials than i have ever seen. next time we'll get pho but really, it's vegas and chances of us being there again are super slim. we're not fans, even driving through icked out big time. it was 10am and hot and traffic was stupid and everyone on the road had something to prove or compensate for. no, we're not fans of vegas but i would like to wander about and take pictures someday. because the day was so freaking blinding, i started to get blurry vision. i have a crazy strong prescription and have not gotten any sunglasses filled because it always feels weird to me. we hot a vegas drug store and got me some stylin' granny shades to fit over my cat's eyes. what d'ya think? am i super cool or what? i can't afford vanity when my vision is at stake and besides, how much do i look like granny here?
the drive into the valley was super nifty. there were dark clouds rolling all around us and as we rollercoasted on the up-down, windy road we could see crinkly-crooked jabs of lightening far, far ahead and below. super cool. we figured that even though the sky would be cloudy, at least we could spend one day without super hot heat.
i've never been to the valley of fire but i've seen pictures of it (thank you flickr!) and even when you know it is going to be brilliant and red it is still startling to turn a corner of grey and beige to see that crazy mountain of scarlet. oh wow! we paid our park fee and drove on in. destination campsite...

the week in review: may 25-31

wow! the last week of may was both jam packed with adventure, and tickled with lazy days. monday was spent noodling around this great city we call los angeles in search of the best bike for me while we wrapped up the week with an out of state campout in a riot colored landscape straight out of a Roadrunner cartoon. more on the camp-out later this week for now check out the week in review!