‘There are only two things that money can’t buy and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.’
My friend Hayley quotes that song all the time and it’s SO true.

It’s become my gardening mantra as I slowly narrow down the list of things I’m willing to slave over in the garden. Corn? So not worth it. It never gets quite as sweet as I like it and the ants get it far before it’s fully ripe. Squash? I’ve been banned from planting them after last summer’s saga (it’s a long story but basically, I was bed-ridden with a bad back when Andrew found me on hands and knees in the garden, killing vine borers while sobbing in pain – yes, I’m a little neurotic). Cucumbers? Apparently a rare orange Chinese variety has found its way to my back yard. Essentially, I’m down to peppers, melons, green beans, okra, herbs and homegrown tomatoes.
(more…)

Three disclaimers on this one –

1. I use canned chickpeas (or garbanzos).
(more…)

I’ve had a rash of yuck lately.

It started with a feeling of impending yuck.
Then there was the major, my-world-is-exploding yuck.
Then there was Jamaica–not yuck.
But, the coming back from Jamaica was super yuck (a little post-vacation depression?).
And then there was a minor yuck which felt like a major yuck because of all the other yuck.

Do you do that? Once you fall into a great big vat of yuck, everything other instance feels ten times as yuck as it should? That was my yesterday.

(more…)

I waited tables at Ninfa’s the Summer I was 20.

Though my waitressing experience consisted of delivering cherry limeades to car windows at Sonic, I was hired on the spot to begin training with their senior waitress. Angie was 19 and had worked at Ninfa’s for 4 months (I should have known the restaurant was approaching its demise).


Because I ‘caught on quick’, my 6 session training period was cut down to 2. I found this out when I showed up on a Friday evening and was listed on the floor.
In one of the busiest sections.
With 5 tables.
Including a ‘big top’ (for those of you who don’t know, that’s waitress speak for ‘large table’).
On a Friday.
During UT graduation weekend.
(more…)

The summer I was 8, I spent every day playing with the same friend. We realized this about halfway through the summer and had deep discussions about how we hadn’t gotten tired of each other yet and how we really should keep track of how many days in a row we’d played together since we were surely breaking some sort of Guinness World Record.

When you’re a kid, it’s easy to stay connected. When you’re an adult, it’s easy to lose touch.

Even if you really make an effort to get together with your good friends, there are so many obligations and scheduling conflicts. Husbands, jobs, kiddos, gym, laundry…it’s an endless list.

(more…)