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hopetofantasy · 4 years

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Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E3

Zaterdag 08:10

Perfect parallel: An upset Robbe being little spoon to Noor this episode, him being a relaxed little spoon to Sander in the last one.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Moyo has half eaten wafers cookies on his bed. Between the cellphone time and timestamp, it took Robbe five minutes to get dressed and to the beach. The beautiful angel pendant makes its first appearance.

Bonus: This cinematography trick of using a wide shot with nobody else in the sight, makes us actually feel how lonely Robbe actually is.

Zaterdag 08:23

C is for culture: “Vamanos” - As you may have noticed, Flemish has a lot of words that aren’t typically Dutch. These are called ‘leenwoorden’ (= ‘borrowing words’). In some cases, the language has made the word its own, with their conjugation or sound (like barbecue - barbecuet - or e-mail - ge-e-maild), other times the expression is copied completely (like smartphone or laptop). There are various reasons as to why people don’t want to change it: globalization, wanting to be more vague/cool, general laziness, ...

Perfect parallel:

Sander’s playful “Are you the manager?” and “That’ll be zero stars on Booking.com” to Robbe when they meet in this episode, Sander’s sheepish “Zero stars on Booking.com” and Robbe’s pointed “Where is that manager when you need him?”, when they have their fall-out in a later episode.

Sander saying “When I booked this room, I explicitly asked for room-service” here and him actually booking a room with room-service for the both of them later on.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jens’ keyboard is lying on top of the closet. Sander grabbing his keys (to his car?).

Zaterdag 08:44

C is for culture: The option to use self-scanning is pretty common in Belgian supermarkets, especially in shop-and-go city stores. You pick up the scanner, scan the stuff you buy, go to a counter, pay and walk out with your groceries. A sales assistant is still present to help out with problems or do random routine checks. It’s fast, easy and cost-efficient. The downside? Shoplifting becomes a bit easier this way.

That’s character: Sander is putting up a ‘cool guy, devil may care’ facade. He jokes about not scanning everything, dismisses Amber’s list, whirls the shopping cart around and sings David Bowie to this boy. He wants to make a lasting impression on Robbe. If he’s the most charming, chaotic and adventurous version of himself, then he doesn’t have to think about other stuff like his own crumbling relationship. (Also the reason why he doesn’t answer the question about Amber: they simply met through Britt). As the boxes fall down, so does Sander’s tough exterior, as he never intended to hurt Robbe by playing around in the supermarket.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +3, he almost topples off the cart twice and drops the chocolate bars on the floor. (The crash with Sander isn’t his fault though)

Oopsie:

Sander is wearing a leather jacket, but we don’t see it in the previous clip. Either he left it in his car or it’s an ‘oopsie’.

When Sander accidentally tosses Robbe into the boxes, we hear glass breaking. However, in the next shot, the boxes seem to empty (and they were supposed to be filled with chips, which don’t make that sound).

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Sander is wearing black Converse. They bought Jupiler beer. Robbe pulls out ‘Delhaize’ Biscuit chocolate bars and Florentin cookies.

Zaterdag 13:13

C is for culture: "Croques” - The word ‘croque’ is an abbreviation for ‘croque monsieur’ (= ‘crunch mister’). These are grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches, a typical greasy snack at taverns, markets, carnivals, your home, ... Other versions include the ‘croque madame’ topped with a fried egg, ‘croque bolognese’ with bolognese sauce, ‘croque hawai’ with a pineapple slice.

That’s character: It’s clear that Robbe has no idea how to eat properly. All throughout the season he eats unhealthy breakfasts (choco spread with cookies), snacks (chips, cookies) and dinners (Aïki noodles, frozen lasagna). But here we see the reason: he doesn’t seem to know how to cook or work a stove. Exactly why he buys prepackaged or instant food options. So, it’s probably for the best that Zoë helps out his eating habits.

Perfect parallel:

Robbe making an unhealthy breakfast in the previous episode, Sander providing him with an unhealthy snack in this one. (The way to a man’s heart is through the stomach)

Britt’s condescending “Listening to David Bowie again?” in this episode, her calling Robbe his next obsession similar to David Bowie later on.

Sander’s “Do you know where I can find the coffee?” to Robbe in an earlier scene and his “Was coffee on the list?” to Amber here.

Robbe’s clumsiness meter: +2, he stumbles backwards after Sander touches his shoulder and burns himself after turning the ‘croque’.

Nod to the OG: This kitchen scene is the equivalent of the ‘5 fine frøkner’ scene, as Sander sings his favorite song to Robbe and makes breakfast, whilst both flirt with each other (subtly).

Oopsie: They supposedly went to ‘Delhaize’ for all their groceries, but the ketchup bottle comes from ‘Carrefour’ and the butter from ‘Colruyt’.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Sander messes up the first words to ‘Under Pressure’ - it’s ‘pressure’ not ‘under pressure’. He mixes the weed with tobacco for his joint. The conflict on Sander’s face at the end.

Zondag 16:34

C is for culture: "What kind of shit question is this?” - They’re playing ‘De Slimste Mens ter wereld’ (= ‘The smartest human on earth’), a board game by the popular Flemish television show with the same name. The quiz is very challenging. People have to solve associative, general knowledge and out-of-the-box questions with multiple answers in different rounds. Points are awarded in the form of seconds, which are used during the game. The candidate with time left at the end, wins.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The group is drinking white wine out of plastic cups. Sander studied at ‘de!Kunsthumaniora’, the same school as Noor. Sander’s wearing his combat boots again.

Maandag 15:12

C is for culture: Aaron is wearing a bunny costume for the paintball game ‘Hunt the bunny’. This is usually played by people on a bachelor party or a corporate team building (with the groom/boss as the bunny). The goal is simple: the bunny has to cross the field from one corner to another, whilst the hunters shoot as much paintballs as possible to ‘kill’ it. Which is... rather painful, especially at close range.

Oopsie: What they’re doing is actually illegal or even impossible. People aren’t allowed to play paintball in protected environments, like dunes. Unless they’re doing it with a specialized organization who’s trained for these games (and are present at the time of playing) or have the written permission from the ‘Agency of Nature and Forest’, the police, the city, ... There is a whole heap of permissions, administrative papers and laws to deal with.

Lost in translation: Britt saying “Doe normaal” (= “Act normal”) has nothing to do with her dismissing Sander’s mental health. This Flemish phrase is often used to calm people down, telling them that they’re acting rather irrationally or childish. It’s an angry way of saying “Can’t you behave yourself? Calm down. What are you doing? Be rational!”.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The blue and red flags tells us that they’re going to play ‘capture the flag’. Some of the ‘pfff’ gun sounds you hear, indicate that the air pressure needs to be checked. Moyo took off his protection mask, which is dangerous and sometimes considered a foul during the game.

Dinsdag 20:02

C is for culture: "Do you know how to make s’mores?” - Toasting marshmallows above a campfire, isn’t really a tradition in Belgium. So that’s why the girls don’t know how to make s’mores.

Lost in translation: ’Smoor’ is a Flemish dialect word for smoke or the act of smoking. It does sound a lot like ‘s’mores’. This is why Luca thinks Aaron wants to hold the marshmallow into the fire.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Of course Robbe had nothing to lose with Noor, he wasn’t actually interested in her. With Sander, however, Robbe doesn’t dare to do anything.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Aaron is drinking ‘Bock’ beer. Amber looks at Aaron like she really likes him, when he’s preparing the s’mores.

Woensdag 20:42

C is for culture:

“An old german bunker” - The province of West-Flanders as well as its coast still has a lot of remnants left from WWI. From German bunkers to trench-networks, burial sites and museums, the 'Great war’ left its traces. Unsurprisingly, every year, people still find around 300 tons of (active) bombs underneath the fields.

“Around ‘All Souls’ Day’ they come back to life” - ‘All Souls’ Day’ is a christian holiday on the 2nd of November, on which the dead are commemorated. However, since that day isn’t an official holiday in Belgium, people visit the graves and honor of their loved ones on the 1st of November, ‘All Saint’s Day’.

The group drinking ‘jenever’ shots - ‘Jenever’ (known in English as ‘Dutch gin’ or ‘genever’) is a traditional liquor in Belgium and the Netherlands. Young people usually drink these colored, high percentage spirits at Christmas markets, pre-drinks or parties when it’s cold outside. Different flavors include vanilla, chocolate, berries, lemon, apple, ...

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The wooden panel behind Jens says ‘Volg de pijlen’ (= ‘Follow the arrows’). Aaron and Amber are holding hands after their fall. Robbe downs a chocolate-cream ‘jenever’ shot at the end.

Woensdag 21:53

Perfect parallel: Robbe lashing out at his friends in this episode - he feels left out and confused about his sexuality - and blames the pranks. Him doing the same in the next - he thinks his friends are hypocrites by saying homophobic comments to him yet defending the gay teacher - and blames the vlogs.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The second living room has a spinning disco light.

Donderdag 21:12

C is for culture:

“In dat jeugdhuis” - A ‘jeugdhuis’ (= ‘youth house’) is a meeting place, run by young volunteers. All teens and young adults are welcome to hang out, throw parties, drink at their bar, organize concerts, attend workshops - just making the space their own.

“He sounded like a begging Romanian” - Luca is referring to Romanian Romani families, who roam around in the streets of Brussels begging for some money. These ethnic groups have a mostly negative image amongst the Europeans. Which is why she states this harsh and hurtful comparison.

Perfect parallel: Noor asking Robbe for a playlist so she can listen to his favorite songs here, Sander actually making a Bowie playlist for Robbe in the next episode.

Lost in translation: Luca is mocking the West-Flemish dialect by copying what the boy said, namely “Moe’en julder ok ‘n flyer ‘ennen?”. This dialect is known for blowing their ‘g’ and ‘h’ so that they sound similar, conjugating their 'yes’ or ‘no’, having double subjects, seemingly swallowing some letters, among other things. It’s one of the most confusing and difficult dialects for the Flemish to understand themselves.

Oopsie: When Aaron asks Amber if she needs a drink, Britt and Sander are dancing right behind him. When she answers and walks away, they’re suddenly gone, only to be seen again when Moyo walks over.

Nod to the OG/Wink to other remakes: The ‘call your girlfriend’ kiss, duh!

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jana is wearing one white contact lens.

Vrijdag 08:43

Perfect parallel:

Sander searching for coffee first thing in the morning earlier this episode and him pouring a cup before any task in this clip.

Sander’s “Maybe I’m scared that I will never find someone” here and Robbe’s multi-layered “I’m so happy that I found you” in the last episode.

Oopsie: When the boys walk to the recycling spot, the lighting changes from sunny to clouded to dark in a matter of seconds.

Funny coincidence: Sander referring to his relationship as ‘ups and downs’, probably similar to his experience with bipolarity.

Wink to other remakes: An almost kiss near trash, remind you of certain Italian boys?

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Amber delegating tasks, but doing nothing herself. Robbe smiles for a few milliseconds, because Sander touched him. The flash of panic in Robbe’s eyes afterwards.

#wtfock #wtfam #cpm rewatch #skam #skam belgium

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champhangman · 3 years

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Recipe for a Perfect Christmas - Part 9

Title: Recipe for a Perfect Christmas Part: 9/12 Theme: Day #9: Tree / Decorating Fandom / Character(s): AEW / Nick Jackson x OFC Warnings: None. A little cursing? Word Count: 4,585 Soundtrack: Spotify Previously: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Summary: In the space of six months, Natalie Gibbs lost her fiancé, her job, her apartment, and what little bit of cheer she had. Moving back home after being on her own for years, she hopes to get back on her feet after the holidays. But a nosy best friend, a stubborn coot of a father, and a handsome new neighbor might change her plans, her holidays, and her life. Notes: My entry for day 9 of @12daysofchristmas

The Tag Crew: @adampage / @cowboyshit / @lilmisswhiskeygypsy / @bigpixiefoot / @mindofasagittaruis / @kalliravenne / @sadlittlecountess / @baronsbelleevangeline / @brie-mode-activated / @xbreezymeadowsx / @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch / @wardl0w / @hotyeehawman / @waywardwrestlewritingwaif / @drewshoneybadger / @mysteryoflovve / @knnyomega / @rampagewriting / @hurricanranabaybay / @linziland13 / @bastardkingbrutalizer / @snarkandsarcasmftw / @rubyred1980 / @champnick / @edgecution / @nething4perfection / (please drop me an ask/send me a message/reply to my post if you’d like to be tagged)

***

Part 9 – Grown A Little Colder

Natalie stared at the long box sitting in the foyer while the UPS driver walked, whistling, towards his big brown truck. Confused, she found enough clarity to shut the front door then turned and continued to stare at the box. Along the side, in bold letters, were the words that told her what the box contained, but she couldn't quite believe it. It was addressed to her father, who hated artificial trees, so there had to be some sort of mistake.

Sighing, she pulled out her phone and checked the time. Just after eleven, which meant he would be leaving the bakery in about an hour. Thursdays were half-days for some reason she had never understood. She wouldn't bother him at work. She would wait until he got home and start questioning him. There had to be a logical explanation. He'd bought it as a gift for someone? He was going to put it up outside? He'd bought it for the bakery – No, that couldn't be it, there was already a tree up at the bakery. She and Kris had decorated the previous day, Kris going so far as to make paper Santa hats to go on the photos on the walls.

She gave her head a shake and pushed the box out of the walkway. Maybe he had bought it because when they'd gone to buy a real tree he hadn't liked any of the ones available. She had thought the plan was that they'd go out to the tree farm outside Fairview and pick one out there. Pushing the boxed tree out of her mind, she went upstairs to get laundry. She was distracted by her laptop, which sat on her old desk mocking her for not opening it but once since she'd gotten to Bells Creek. With a sigh, she picked it up and sat on the bed, ignoring the urge to go to Facebook and take a peek at life in Halifax.

It wasn't as though anyone from there had done more than send her two or three texts in the first couple weeks to see how she was. She had hoped someone would think of her if they heard of a job opening that fit her skills, but either there were none or no one had thought of her. Going to sites with job listings, she began clicking through page after page and grew more and more disheartened. The jobs that were available required more experience than she had, or more education that she'd attained. And all would require her to move to Halifax, Richmond, Charlottesville, D.C., Atlanta, New York…

Did she want to move?

Before she could ponder that question, her phone began to ring. She pulled it out and smiled at the sight of Nick's name.

She wasn't sure she wanted to move.

"Hey," she greeted after accepting the call. "Working hard?"

"Not anymore," he quipped with a chuckle. "I just put in the last strip of baseboard in the master bedroom."

"Really?" The news cheered her. This meant the house was officially finished in time for Matt and Shayna and the kids to move down for Christmas. She knew it would be a wonderful surprise for them, because Nick had said he'd told them it wouldn't be ready until right before New Year's.

"Yep. It's done." He gave a tired, relieved sigh. "I gotta clean and finish getting the decorations up, but it's done. I'll do that today hopefully then surprise them tomorrow when they come down."

"That's great, Nick," she enthused, closing the laptop and shoving it aside. She didn't want to relocate.

"I was thinking…"

"Oh?" she asked when his voice faded and she heard him clear his throat. "You didn't hurt yourself did you?"

"Ha-ha," he muttered.

"What were you thinking?"

"We should celebrate."

"Celebrate what? You finishing the house?"

"Yeah. Maybe dinner? I could cook for you."

"Sunnyside up eggs and toast?" she asked with a grin.

"I can cook more than that," he said. "Nothing fancy."

"I don't like fancy."

"Then I'm definitely your guy." His grin was evident in his voice.

Her guy. She liked that. "Dinner sounds great. What time?"

"You can come over whenever. I'm kinda hoping you'll take pity on me and help me with the decorating."

Natalie laughed. "So dinner's payment."

"And celebration."

"I'll be there in a few hours. Dad will be home in a little bit so I'm gonna make sure he eats a proper lunch and I have a couple chores to do." The laundry mainly. She wasn't sure yet how two people went through so many clothes and towels. Pushing herself off the bed, she went to grab the hamper. "I'll text you when I'm on the way."

After a few more minutes of chatting, during which he hinted that he'd like her to stay for more than dinner, she ended the call and tossed her phone onto her bed. Her steps were light as she went downstairs to start a load of laundry, and she had turned on the old stereo and put on a CD of her favorite Christmas crooners when her father got home. Bouncing into the foyer, she grinned when he shook his bright red knit cap at her in time to the music.

"For I've grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, grown a little sadder, grown a little older," he sang with a nod. "And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder. Need a little Christmas now…"

She remembered a time when the instrumental break meant he would grab her hands and lead her in a dance. She thought of the appointment made for three days before Christmas, when they would schedule his surgery and run all the necessary preoperative tests. Had she known how to properly pray, she would have prayed that he would be able to dance with her next Christmas. "Hey," she said, moving forward to kiss his cold cheek. "This box came for you."

"Doggone it," he sighed, looking down at the box. "I was hoping it wouldn't come until this afternoon."

"Is it for your second family?" she teased.

"No, I got to thinking…" He took off his coat and hung it up, then reached for his cane. "I don't have it in me to keep up with a real tree this year. Watering and trimming and then dragging it out."

"I would—"

"And, well," he went on, tapping the box with the tip of his cane. "I went to see Tommy the other day and he has one just like this. It's real pretty when it's plugged in and decorated. So I ordered it."

"A fake tree is never coming into my house," she stated. "I'd as soon throw Granny Wilma's old ornaments into the fire than I would have a piece of plastic that doesn't even look like a tree."

"Ah," he grunted with a shrug. "Always got my own words to throw back at me."

"Can we put it up today?"

"You can, I'll sit on the couch and direct."

"I knew you'd say that," she muttered, beginning to push the box into the living room.

Chuckling, he carried the folder he was holding into the living room and set it on the small table next to his chair. "While you get started I'll go heat up some lunch."

"Wait, no, Dad, I'll—"

"I feel good today, sugar."

"Okay," she relented.

She had to move the console table in front of the front window where the tree always went. She had just pushed it into the dining room to deal with later when she heard the microwave beeping. Knowing her father lingered over his lunch if he didn't have to go immediately back to work, she took her time finding places for the knickknacks that had been on the table. The potted plant she carried to the foyer, planning to carry it up to her room later. She put the framed photos of her grandparents on the bookshelf, and carried the small silver-framed picture of her mother to set it on the table next to her father's chair. Reaching into his pencil cup to find the box cutter he kept there, she groaned as several pens spilled to the floor. When she bent to retrieve them her arm brushed the folder, sending it and its contents to the carpet as well.

She shoved the pens back into the cup then gathered the scattered papers. About to push them into the folder, she paused when she saw the letterhead of a lawyer in Halifax. That made no sense. Her father's attorney was based in Fairview. Her eyes dipped and scanned the opening paragraph of the letter.

As per your vocal agreement with my client, Matthew Jackson, during our conference call on November 22, I have had the enclosed contract drawn up. Please peruse at your leisure, and feel free to contact me with any questions. I encourage you to confer with your counsel, Mr. G. E. Jefferson before our meeting to sign, notarize, and transfer the first payment on December 18. I ask that you please note the following points:

Matthew Jackson. Matt. Before she could stop herself, she turned to the next page, heart leaping to her throat at the bolded words that leapt out at her. Her father's name, then Matt's, then Gibbs' Bakery. Struggling to understand, she sat back on her heels and read the page slowly, hand slipping over her mouth to cover her shock as it sank in what she was reading.

Matt was buying the bakery. Not outright, if she understood the wording correctly. Her father was transferring everything into Matt's name after a down payment, then monthly payments of a base amount, a small percentage of sales being added for the first fiscal year. After which time the percentage would be terminated, and the monthly payments would continue until the agreed-upon price was paid in full.

The papers slipped from her hand and she didn't pick them up. Her father was selling the bakery. The bakery, which had been in his family for three generations. The place he had once said he wouldn't close until the day he drew his last breath. She supposed that statement had been true, as it wasn't technically closing. But why hadn't he told her? Why hadn't anyone mentioned it?

"Natalie, sugar, is there anymore of that pie from last night?"

He sounded so normal. As though he weren't effectively ripping her heart in two. As though he hadn't outright lied to her, because hadn't he shrugged off her questions about what business Matt was buying? He hadn't said a word about thinking of selling, and she knew that was partly her fault for not keeping those lines of deep communication open. It hurt, though. It hurt as bad as, if not a little worse, than him keeping how damaged his knee was from her. She had at least known his knee was bad, had known he needed surgery. But to keep this from her completely? To pretend nothing was going on? Why?

Snatching up the papers, she lurched to her feet and went into the kitchen. Her father was at the island counter, dishing up a slice of the pie they'd had for dessert the night before. He glanced up when she sucked in a breath. His brow furrowed, his smile faded, and when he saw what she was holding the pie slice fell to the counter.

"What's this?" she gasped, slapping the papers down across from him.

He looked at them, then up at her. "Sugar—"

"You're selling the bakery."

"I have to."

"Why?" Natalie blinked hard to keep the sting of tears at bay. "Because of your surgery? Because you'll be out for a couple months? I'm here now, remember? I'm not—"

"You're looking for another job. You'll find one. Maybe not right yet, but you will. And you'll get it, because you're brilliant and people like you. And then you'll be gone." He lowered his head. "Again."

"Dad…"

"I'm not doing it because of the surgery. I know it could stay afloat with me having to take weeks off for recovery. I didn't plan on you coming home, but I had talked to Sammy and Kris and they were willing to work longer hours to keep things going until I could get back. And now you're here, and you're doing great. But—" He sighed. "There's no guarantee the surgery will go well."

"Dad, they do millions of joint replacements a year."

"Yeah, but not on my joints. Accidents happen. Doctors make mistakes. Old hearts give out. It's a fact, Natalie."

"Don't talk like that," she pleaded. She couldn't take it. Not right now.

"I'm not being depressing. I'm being honest with myself. Yes, it could go great and next year at this time I'll be dancing on air. But it could go bad. And I'd have to close up the shop."

She opened her mouth to point out that she was with him, that she was helping, that she could obviously do the work needed to keep the bakery running. Then she remembered that she hadn't been at home when those fears and worries had festered in his mind. She hadn't been around when he had made the decision to sell. And he was right. She was looking for another job. And even though she was disheartened, she knew she would eventually find something. She might even leave again, if she had to.

"When you were born, I only wanted one thing for you," he said, haphazardly scraping the dropped pie onto the plate. "I wanted you to be happy. Yes, I wanted to raise you into a baker like me, like my parents were, and my grandparents, and my great-grandparents back in Italy. I knew you would be our only child, and looked forward to the day I could hand the keys to you. But you didn't want that."

"Oh, Dad, I'm—"

"Don't apologize for not wanting what I wanted for you. It was my dream, not yours. You had your own. I knew you didn't want the bakery, and I knew I didn't want to close it down. I hemmed and hawed for months. I couldn't tell Ashley I was thinking of putting it up for sale, because she would have broadcast it over town before I could walk out her office."

Natalie choked on a laugh. Ashley was wonderful, and her truest, best friend, but she did have a bit of a tendency to blab.

"Then one day this young family comes in. It was a slow day, and they were nice, and we got to talking. Matt's always wanted to own a bakery. He and his wife both have always wanted to live in a small town. He knows about running a business, he's got a good head on his shoulders, and he's damned good at baking."

"Is he?"

Leonard picked up a dishtowel and wiped the counter clean. "Him and Shayna came the next weekend and he showed me some of his recipes. After I closed for the day we went to the kitchen and…" His smile was almost one of pride. "He's better than I was at his age. Then they found the Harris place was for sale, and when he showed up to talk to me about getting a job right when I was thinking of calling Ashley to talk to her about selling, I figured it was fate."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"At first I didn't think you'd care."

"Are you crazy? Of course I'd care."

His eyes steeled. "The day before you moved out to go to Halifax, you said—"

"I know what I said," she whispered. It had been almost ten years but the memory was fresh. Her telling him she'd gotten a part-time job at a magazine, and that she was leaving the next day to get an apartment and have her college transcripts transferred so she could finish her degree in Halifax. Her father asking who he was going to get to replace her at the bakery. And her answer, bitter and cold.

I don't give a damn about the bakery.

"I give a damn now," she said in a small voice. Too little, too late, she knew, but it was true. She did care. She had even then, but she'd been too wired up on the chance to grab her dreams that the words had spilled without censor. Maybe she hadn't cared as much as she did now.

"I have to do it, Natalie." He kept wiping the counter, and she remembered him repetitively kneading the dough he'd been working when she'd announced her sudden move. And the thudding clang when he'd thrown the overworked dough into the trash.

"Who else knows?"

"Tommy. The lawyers. The bank. And a few folks down at the county office, because I went last week to put his name on the license."

"Does Nick?" she asked.

"Of course, he's Matt's brother." Her father stopped wiping. "I thought he would tell you if I didn't."

"He didn't." She wondered why. And, suddenly, she needed to know. Spinning on her heel, she left the kitchen, ignoring her father's voice when he asked where she was going. She went straight for the front door, snatching a coat from the rack and pulling it on while shoving her feet into her boots.

"Natalie."

"I have to go out for a few minutes."

"Don't be mad at him."

"I'm just going to talk to him."

"He's a good man, sweetie. He probably didn't want to get mixed up."

"He should have thought of that before sleeping with me," she snapped, jamming a hat on her head.

"Natalie—"

"I'll be back later. We'll put up the tree." Not that she felt like decorating. Or celebrating. Flinging open the door, she stepped outside and closed it firmly behind her. Fueled by indignation, she ignored the brilliantly colored Christmas flags snapping in the breeze and the vivid red ribbons adorning lampposts and wreaths as she walked up the street. She passed the bakery and felt her heart break all over again. Matt would change everything, she thought, stopping to look at the shopfront. The battered old counter that her great-grandparents had built and installed themselves, where each member of the family had carved their name with a pocket knife. The photos and knickknacks that had been added to over the years, showing how it had changed with each generation. Blinking back tears, she turned and proceeded to the yellow Victorian on Halifax Street.

She barely heard Penny's bark of greeting as she marched up the walk. Stopping short when she saw Nick standing on the porch railing, she watched him stretch out one arm, then caught the multicolored glow of a strand of lights. Something bumped into her leg and she looked down, finally noticing Penny. She gave the dog a distracted head rub, watching as Nick stepped off the railing.

"Hey," he greeted, looking and sounding surprised when he saw her. "What do you think?"

"Looks great," she said flatly, resuming her march up the walk. She saw lights wrapped around the step railings, and saw the sunlight glint off lights in the shrubbery in front of the porch.

"Come on in," he said, opening the door. Penny, panting, darted from her to the door then back again, tail wagging manically, as though Natalie needed an escort. Nick waited until she'd stepped inside before entering, closing the door gently. "Did you forget to text? Not that I'm complaining, but—"

"What business is your brother buying?" she asked, eyes on the stacks of clear bins in the front hall. Each were labeled neatly, and she could see inside to what were countless decorations. Decorations she had agreed to help him put up and arrange. Through the living room doorway she could see a large tree set up in front of the window, and on the couch was covered with boxes of ornaments.

"Oh." Nick's joviality faded.

She turned to face him, anger surging again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Natalie, let me explain."

"Okay. Explain."

"I knew it was a secret, okay? Matt told me that Lenny didn't want everyone in town knowing. Because there would be a million questions that he didn't want to have to answer every time someone came into the shop."

"I'm his daughter," she reminded him. "You could have told me."

"Exactly. You're his daughter. He should be the one to tell you."

"He didn't."

Nick's brow pinched. "Then how—"

"I saw some papers from a lawyer and…" She huffed. "Okay I knocked them down while getting something then saw what they were. Some contract they're apparently going to sign this Friday."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, Matt wants me to go with him."

"You should have told me, Nick. God, you listened to me go on and on about how I was getting the hang of the bakery stuff. You even let me talk about placing an order for supplies. Supplies!" She groaned, cupping her hands over her head. "Supplies that your brother probably doesn't want or need—"

"Natalie—"

"You knew I was doing everything I could to help Dad! You didn't think to tell me that I didn't have to worry? That by the end of the year it wouldn't be my problem?"

"I thought about telling you. But it wasn't any of my business. It's a deal between Matt and Lenny, I'm not involved."

"Okay, but you're involved with me. That makes it your business," she pointed out. "God, did you have a laugh over how I was staying up late studying paperwork to know what I needed to do while Dad was recovering from surgery?"

"I would never laugh about something like that," he said, frowning. "If anything it's made me admire you more. Because you told me you used to not care about the bakery. That you were so glad to be gone from it when you got your chance to leave. But I've seen how happy helping Lenny makes you. And how happy it makes him. I know not telling you has been eating at him—"

"Yeah, he's been real torn up," she snorted. "I've been such a fucking idiot."

"You haven't," Nick insisted. He stepped toward her.

"I have. I've been losing sleep and getting headaches trying to take a crash course so I could keep the bakery going for him. I've got so many notes on what gets done when…" Jamming her hands into the pocket of her coat, she felt slips of paper and pulled them out. The notes she had made the evening before, on times and temperatures, and how many folds she had done on the croissants. Crumpling them into tiny balls, she dropped them to the floor. "And for what? Nothing. Because in a couple weeks it'll be Matt's job to do it. He'll do everything differently so he won't need my notes. He'll change everything from the name to the prices to how the inside is decorated—"

"He's not changing anything."

"Yeah, right." Snorting again, she stepped away when he reached for her arm.

"Natalie," he sighed. "He doesn't want to change a thing because he loves how it is now. All he wants to do that's different is put a picture of himself on the wall and add a few of his own creations to the menu."

"First it'll be a picture and a few of his things, then it'll be changing the décor and fazing out all the things my Dad created."

"Honey, please—"

"Don't call me that," she gasped. "You and Matt just breeze into town and take everything, don't you?"

"What?" He made a gurgling sound that sounded like a swallowed laugh. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The bakery. This house. The dog," she said, though Penny had hurried out when she'd begun her ranting. "Me."

"We didn't – Natalie, you're upset."

"Of course I'm upset! Wouldn't you be?" Staring up at him when he didn't answer immediately, she shook her head. "I'm beyond upset. I'm pissed off. Mostly at you!"

"Why me?" he asked gently.

She wanted to scream because he was being too calm. Did the man never get mad? "God, Nick, I opened up to you! I told you things I've never told anyone. And then I slept with you. Right there!" She flung one arm out to gesture at the living room. "And never once during any of that did it occur to you to tell me what was going on behind my back?"

"It wasn't my business to. I knew it would upset you, and I knew it would strain the relationship between you and Lenny. I couldn't do that to you, not when I've seen how hard you've both been working to rebuild it."

"We were building something too," she whispered.

"Were?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Were." She sucked in a breath, fighting the urge to cry.

"Natalie, don't—"

"Not anymore."

"Please, no, let's talk about this," he said, frowning when she shook her head.

"I gotta go," she gasped. She was going to cry. Her throat was closing up and her nose was burning.

"Can we talk later?"

She turned her head, not wanting to see the sadness in his eyes. And she didn't want him to see her cry. Again. "No," she said dully. "I've said everything there is to say."

"But—"

"Goodbye," she managed, pushing past his arm when he reached for her. Opening the door, she flinched when she heard the clicking of Penny's claws on the floor behind her. She pulled the door shut, heart squeezing at the sound of a little whine. She almost turned back, almost reached to open the door and say that yes, she did want to talk about it. Instead, she crossed the porch and went down the steps, keeping her eyes in front of her. When she reached the sidewalk she quickened her steps. She didn't know where she was going, exactly. She wasn't ready to go back home and see or talk to her father. And she couldn't go back to Nick. Tears escaped and she angrily brushed them away, following the sidewalk to the corner. She heard bells ringing, and a car that drove by had a festive bow on its antenna.

She continued walking, head ducked, ignoring the few people that greeted her. When she reached the tiny building down the next block from the bakery, a block from where Main Street turned back into Route 1110, her steps slowed. She saw the familiar Land Rover parked out front and before she could think of a reason not to she pushed open the glass door and walked past the receptionist, who barely looked up from her magazine, and through the open door of the office at the back.

Ashley's face registered several emotions in succession. Surprise, happiness, shock, worry. "Natalie? Babe, what's wrong?"

Natalie opened her mouth but couldn't figure out which words to say first. Her friend frowned, tossing her phone onto the desk and standing. Then she was walking around to where Natalie stood. Reaching to close the door. And when her arms wrapped around her in a loving embrace Natalie let her tears fall.

#aew fanfiction #nick jackson fanfiction #my fics #multipart: RPC #12daysofchristmas #late omg #but better late than pregnant???

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instantdeerlover · 4 years

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12 Takeout & Delivery Spots Guaranteed To Impress Your Friends On Zoom added to Google Docs

12 Takeout & Delivery Spots Guaranteed To Impress Your Friends On Zoom

Another day, another three virtual hangouts while you eat frozen taquitos and peanut butter straight from the jar. And to that, we say no more. The time has come to elevate your virtual presence, and it starts by impressing your friends, family, and coworkers with your takeout savviness. From legendary taco trucks to fancy prix-fixe restaurants to a sidewalk pop-up in Highland Park, there are no shortage of interesting places to order takeout and delivery from during quarantine - you just need to make it happen. Here are 12 spots to call first.

Oh, and you’re probably tired of all your friends seeing your unmade bed, too - so we went ahead and made you some new Zoom backgrounds.

Featured In The Ultimate LA Delivery & Takeout Guide Check out all our guides Bang Bang Handmade Noodles Xi’an Street Food $$$$ 5040 York Blvd

Before the quarantine, you were the friend who knew about every secret pop-up in town, and during the quarantine, you’re still that friend - the bowl of Bang Bang Noodles you brought to the hangout is proof. The hyper-popular street cart in Highland Park has shifted to weekend pre-orders only, where you have your choice between beef shank, lamb shoulder, shiitake mushrooms, or seitan tofu, placed upon tingly cumin noodles, served either dry or with soup. It’s an incredible meal and one that’s sure to make everyone who sees it extremely jealous. Keep your eye on their Instagram for the latest details.

Bon Temps $ $ $ $ French in Arts District $$$$ 712 S Santa Fe Ave 8.4 /10

Last weekend’s Zoom brunch was filled with burnt toast, overcooked eggs, and bad champagne. Don’t make that mistake again. Instead, show up with a box of Bon Temps’ pastries. The upscale French restaurant in the Arts District secretly makes some of the best baked goods (both sweet and savory) in the city, and they’re now available via pre-order every Saturday and Sunday morning.

Burgers 99 $ $ $ $ Burgers in Hancock Park , Hollywood $$$$ 131 South La Brea Ave Not

Rated

Yet

While your friends choke down their fourth Gardenburger in five days, you’re showing them up by bringing a bag of Burgers 99 to the Zoom party. The new spot on La Brea serves good burgers across-the-board, but our favorite is the American - cheese, diced onions, pickles, mustard, and ketchup all on a crispy potato bun. It’s essentially their take on the Quarter Pounder, only much, much better than McDonald’s. Throw in some French fries and a vanilla shake, and your ’50s Americana fantasy will be alive and well. Open Wednesday-Sunday 12-8pm for takeout and delivery.

Carnitas El Momo $ $ $ $ Tacos , Mexican in Boyle Heights $$$$ Fairmount St 8.0 /10

Sure, your old friend from acting class is excited to be making shrimp fajitas with her husband tonight, but you just logged on with a pound of Carnitas El Momo on your counter and shut the whole game down. The legendary Boyle Heights taco truck serves a kind of carnitas that you can’t find anywhere else in town - a combination of pork shoulder and crispy skin. And right now, they’re selling it by the pound for $12, including tortillas, salsa, onions, limes, and cilantro for all your taco-making needs. Pre-orders only, text (323) 627-8540 or DM their Instagram.

Cosa Buona $ $ $ $ Pizza , Italian in Echo Park $$$$ 2100 W Sunset Blvd 8.3 /10

There’s no shame in eating frozen mozzarella sticks during quarantine, but if you’re looking to do a complete mic drop in your next Zoom hangout, show up with an order from Cosa Buona instead. Their house-made mozz sticks are a true work of art, and we wish the marinara sauce that comes on the side was available in bulk. Throw in some meatballs and a sausage pizza (our favorite of their pies), and you’ll never walk down the frozen aisle at the grocery store again. Open Wednesday-Monday 5-9pm, both takeout and delivery available.

Dialogue $ $ $ $ American , Experimental in Santa Monica $$$$ 1315 3rd Street Promenade 8.9 /10

Dialogue is a tiny restaurant inside a Santa Monica food court and home to one of our favorite prix-fixe menus in all of LA. While you can’t get that during quarantine, you can still show off with one of their tremendous weekly takeout specials. Offering everything from short rib beef Wellington to pot pie to lasagna, this high-end spot has made a clear pivot to comfort food, and it’s exactly what you need right now. Open Tuesday-Saturdays, check their Instagram for weekly menu updates.

Elite Restaurant $ $ $ $ Chinese , Dim Sum in Monterey Park $$$$ 700 S Atlantic Blvd 8.5 /10

You want to show up to your Zoom brunch this weekend with dim sum, but you’re not sure which place to choose. Let us help - call Elite. The classic dim sum spot in Monterey Park is currently offering their entire menu for either takeout or delivery, which means you have over 100 items to choose from. We recommend concentrating on the golden cream bun, crispy shrimp rice noodle, steamed taro cake, pork shu mai, and BBQ pork pastry, but follow your heart and you can’t go wrong. Call (626) 282-9998 to order.

Fish Eight By Jinpachi $ $ $ $ Japanese , Sushi in West Hollywood $$$$ 7368 Melrose Ave 8.1 /10

Leslie from HR thought she was being clever by bringing Sugarfish to the Zoom meeting, until she realized half the attendees were also eating Sugarfish. You, on the other hand, ordered from Fish Eight. The Melrose sushi bar has simple, fresh fish at much lower prices than its competition. Everything from chirashi bowls to sushi combo platters to a la carte sashimi is available for both takeout and delivery.

Langer's $ $ $ $ Diner , Deli in Westlake $$$$ 704 S. Alvarado St. 9.2 /10

Lost in the thrilling quarantine game of “Who’s Open, Who’s Closed?” is Langer’s, the landmark Westlake deli that is still very much open for both takeout and delivery. And trust us, showing up to your virtual Happy Hour with a #19 sitting in front of you is going to elicit plenty of “ooohs” and “aaahs” from your computer screen. Be sure to grab a side of mac salad as well - it’s one of our favorite versions in town.

Phnom Penh Noodle Shack $ $ $ $ Cambodian in Long Beach $$$$ 1644 Cherry Ave. 8.5 /10

After five weeks of 8am meetings filled with reheated oatmeal, it’s time to raise your game and order from Phnom Penh. The Cambodian breakfast cafe in Long Beach makes incredible rice porridge, big bowls of noodles, and traditional sweet knom hing bread that’ll last you for the week. Open Tuesday-Sunday 7am-3pm. Available for both takeout and delivery.

Secret Lasagna $$$$ 7100 Santa Monica Blvd #185

Starting as a nightly pop-up in Chinatown, Secret Lasagna gained a rabid following for its tremendous namesake dish before ultimately going dark last year. Good news - it’s back in a brand new space in West Hollywood, and the lasagna is as good as ever. Available for both takeout and delivery, you can either get an individual piece for $11 or a whole tray for $55. In case you’re unfamiliar with how good leftover lasagna tastes, ordering the whole tray is imperative.

Wax Paper $ $ $ $ Sandwiches in Atwater Village , Silver Lake $$$$ 2902 Knox Ave 8.2 /10

Your old roommate seems pretty proud of the homemade turkey melt she just took out of the microwave, but you’re staring down the camera with a giant Larry Mantle from Wax Paper in hand. Game over. Bologna, salami, pepperoncinis, shredded lettuce, and pecorino, all smashed into a soft sesame roll - it’s one of our favorite sandwiches of all time, and the perfect way to tell your Zoom group that you aren’t messing around today. Full menu available for delivery from both their Frogtown and Chinatown locations.

via The Infatuation Feed https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/LA-takeout-delivery-zoom-party-happy-hour Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://trello.com/userhuongsen

Created April 17, 2020 at 11:58PM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

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networkingdefinition · 5 years

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Mug Quotes

Official Website: Mug Quotes

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• Ale, not beer, in a pewter mug was comme il faut, the only thing for a gentleman of letters, worthy of the name, to drink. – Guy de Maupassant • Alex took a silent step closer to the kitchen door and watched unseen as willow spooned instant coffee into a pair of mugs.With another yawn, she scraped her hair off her face and stretched. She looked so entirely human, so drowsy and sleep-rumpled.For a moment, Alex just gazed at her, taking in her long tumble of hair, her wide green eyes and pixieish chin. Fleetingly, he imagined her eyes meeting his, wondering what she’d look like if she smiled – L.A. Weatherly • Animals look at people the way people look at people that might mug them. – Dov Davidoff • As long as the “woman’s work” that some men do is socially devalued, as long as it is defined as woman’s work, as long as it’s tacked onto a “regular” work day, men who share it are likely to develop the same jagged mouth and frazzled hair as the coffee-mug mom. The image of the new man is like the image of the supermom: it obscures the strain. – Arlie Russell Hochschild • As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug’s game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: He may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing. – T. S. Eliot

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Mug', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_mug').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_mug img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Blustery cold days should be spend propped up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a pile of comic books. – Bill Watterson • Caffeine gives me hope. Sometimes, when I brew my wicked strong Irish black tea just perfect, about halfway through the mug I feel a clear and overwhelming feeling of optimism. It didn’t surprise me when a study a few years ago implied that suicide was much less likely among coffee and tea drinkers. – John Vanderslice • Closing his eyes, he sent up a prayer to anyone who was listening, asking please, for God’s sake, stop sending him signals that they were right for each other. He’d read that book, seen the movie, bought the soundtrack, the DVD, the T-shirt, the mug, the bobble-head, and the insider’s guide. He knew every reason they could have been lock and key. But just as he was aware of all that aligned them, he was even clearer on how they were damned to be ever apart. – J.R. Ward • Effectively, it makes the greasepaint permanent, blurring the lines not only between public and private but also between the authentic and contrived self. If all the world was once a stage, it has now become a reality TV show: we mere players are not just aware of the camera; we mug for it. – Peggy Orenstein • Have faith, Ed, all right?’ I search the coffee mug, but there’s none in there. – Markus Zusak • How could he convey to someone who’d never even met her the way she always smelled like rain, or how his stomach knotted up every time he saw her shake loose her hair from its braid? How could he describe how it felt when she finished his sentences, turnec the mug they were sharing so that her mouth landed where his had been? How did he explain the way they could be in a locker room, or underwater, or in the piney woods of Maine, bus as long as Em was with him, he was at home? – Jodi Picoult • I aint such a mug as to put up my children to all I know myself. – George Bernard Shaw • I confess, right at the start, to the doubts – and sometimes outright dreads – that go with me as I climb the stairs to my study in the morning, coffee mug in hand: I have to admit to the habitual apprehension mixed with a sort of reverence, as I light the incense . . . and wonder: what is going to happen today? Will anything happen? Will the angel come today? – Gail Godwin • I gave my mother a matching set [of mugs] for Christmas, and she accepted them as graciously as possible, announcing that they would make the perfect pet bowls. The mugs were set on the kitchen floor and remained there until the cat chipped a tooth and went on a hunger strike. – David Sedaris • I have mugs of hot water every morning because the studio is cold, and also because it makes my throat sound clearer. – Mika Brzezinski • I hight don Quixote, I live on peyote, marijuana, morphine and cocaine. I never know sadness, but only a madness that burns at the heart and the brain. I see each charwoman, ecstatic, inhuman, angelic, demonic, divine. Each wagon a dragon, each beer mug a flagon that brims with ambrosial wine. – Jack Parsons • I like light green, sometimes red is fun to look at, not a fan of yellow, unless it’s in a rainbow or on a coffee mug or on a happy face. – Chris Kattan • I like my mug shot. I think I have a really great mug shot. It looks like a magazine shoot. – Paris Hilton • I wasn’t a great improviser when I started there; I’m not really up on current events. I would always just mug, just try to get my laughs from making faces. So I decided to do a character who should never have become a comic – somebody you would see at the Comedy Store and go, “This person is never going to make it.” – Paul Reubens • Ice is most welcome in a cold drink on a hot day. But in the heart of winter, you want a warm hot mug with your favorite soothing brew to keep the chill away. When you don’t have anything warm at hand, even a memory can be a small substitute. Remember a searing look of intimate eyes. Receive the inner fire. – Vera Nazarian • If you and I took a walk down a shopping street in Jo’burg or Cape Town or London, we see two guys looking in a shop window, we think, “Oh, they’re wondering what they’re going to buy.” A cop looks at them and thinks, “Why are they standing there? Are they doing a drug deal? Are they going to mug someone? Are they going to rob the shop?” – Peter James • I’m a huge Wonder Woman fan – I have about 12 coffee mugs at home! – Kari Wahlgren • I’m pretty sure lurking in a dark alley to mug me with your apology isn’t the usual way to go about saying you’re sorry. But I didn’t read that Mars-Venus book, so who knows. – Jim Butcher • I’m really conscious of the amount of food I eat, but I don’t deny myself anything. For example, I have a really big sweet tooth. At the end of the night, if I’m craving ice cream, I might not have the bowl that I would have when I was a kid, but I’ll put a couple of scoops in a coffee mug, and I’ll eat it slowly, and I enjoy every moment of it. – Summer Sanders • Individually the poor are not too tempting to thieves, for obvious reasons. Mug a banker and you might score a wallet containing a month’s rent. Mug a janitor and you will be lucky to get away with bus fare to flee the crime scene. – Barbara Ehrenreich • Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire, on Christmas Day, 1642: a weakly and diminutive infant, of whom it is related that, at his birth, he might have found room in a quart mug. He died on March the 20th, 1727, after more than eighty-four years of more than average bodily health and vigour; it is a proper pendant to the story of the quart mug to state that he never lost more than one of his second teeth. – Augustus De Morgan • It was one of those mornings when a man could face the day only after warming himself with a mug of thick coffee beaded with steam, a good thick crust of bread, and a bowl of bean soup. – Richard Gehman • It’s a no win situation. It’s a mug’s game. The religions have contrived to make it impossible to disagree with them critically without being rude. They play the hurt feelings card at every opportunity. – Daniel Dennett • It’s the nicest thing on earth if someone comes up to me and says, ‘Every day I drink out of a mug you designed.’ – Jonathan Adler • I’ve always been accused by my detractors of some sort of moral failure, cowardice, or even lack of humanity by not portraying the human form. I respond that I do better by portraying traces of character and intentions of human volition that no mug or body shot can ever exude. – Robert Polidori • I’ve been very lucky. All I wanted was to pay the rent. Then these characters took off and suddenly there were Hulk coffee mugs and Iron Man lunchboxes and The Avengers sweatshirts everywhere. Money’s okay, but what I really like is working. – Stan Lee • I’ve gone through a lot of the same things like Britney Spears. I just don’t have a mug shot. – Fergie • I’ve never been able to write for myself. I was doing a lot. I produced The Green, I wrote it – I didn’t see myself in the world of this film. I’m sure there are elements of dark corners of my psyche that found their ways on screen; you didn’t need my mug up there. There was enough of my essence in the story as it plays out without me acting in it. – Paul Marcarelli • Karl Marx himself preferred a glass of claret to the mug of tea affected by some of his recent converts. – Denis Healey • Listen, boy, just ask the chef to make me a proper Full English Breakfast. You know, bacon, fried eggs, sausages, liver, grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, black pudding, kidneys, baked beans, fried bread, toast and served with strong English mustard, mind – none of this effete French muck – and a large mug of hot, strong Indian tea. – Bryan Talbot • Martha Stewart showed up at Manhattan FBI Headquarters to have her finger prints taken and pose for a mug shot. Then Martha explained how to get ink off your fingers using seltzer water and lemon juice. – Conan O’Brien • Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. Then there was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe – the only lady private detective in Botswana – brewed redbush tea. And three mugs – one for herself, one for her secretary, and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need? Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. No inventory would ever include those, of course. – Alexander McCall Smith • My daughter got me a ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug. So we know she’s sarcastic. – Bob Odenkirk • Nanny Ogg could see the future in the froth on a beer mug. It invariably showed that she was going to enjoy a refreshing drink which she almost certainly was not going to pay for. – Terry Pratchett • Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don’t, why should we? They talk about people and the proletariat; I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It’s the same thing. – Graham Greene • Not like I need an excuse to enjoy a Moscow mule, but this tray and six-mug set, handmade in Mexico with hammered recycled copper, makes cocktail hour extra special. – Oprah Winfrey • O lovely O most charming pug Thy gracefull air and heavenly mug … His noses cast is of the roman He is a very pretty weoman I could not get a rhyme for roman And was obliged to call it weoman. – Marjorie Fleming • Oh, God above, if heaven has a taste it must be an egg with butter and salt, and after the egg is there anything in the world lovelier than fresh warm bread and a mug of sweet golden tea? – Frank McCourt • On my first day in New York a guy asked me if I knew where Central Park was. When I told him I didn’t, he said: Do you mind if I mug you here? – Paul Merton • Once Mo had closed the gates, he returned to his little stone hut, and his half-eaten sandwich of butter and canned sardines, and his mug of thick hot chocolate, which every night he poured carefully into a thermos labeled COFFEE. – Lauren Oliver • One day as a young man, I was walking down the streets. And a group of Zulu guys was walking behind me closing in on me. And I could hear them talking to one another about how they were going to mug me. (Speaking Zulu). Let’s get this white guy. You go to his left, and I’ll come up behind him. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t run.So I just spun around real quick and said (speaking Zulu). Yo, guys, why don’t we just mug someone together? I’m ready. – Trevor Noah • One must be able to say at all times–instead of points, straight lines, and planes–tables, chairs, and beer mugs – David Hilbert • Out of nowhere, Valek appeared before me, yelling in my ear, shaking my shoulders. Stupidly, belatedly, I realized he was the drunk. Who else but Valek could win a fight against four large men when armed only with a beer mug? – Maria V. Snyder • Outside the youth center, between the liquor store and the police station, a little dogwood tree is losing its mind; overflowing with blossomfoam, like a sudsy mug of beer; like a bride ripping off her clothes, dropping snow white petals to the ground in clouds, so Nature’s wastefulness seems quietly obscene. It’s been doing that all week: making beauty, and throwing it away, and making more. – Tony Hoagland • People’s arrest tapes, mug shots, everything is online. – Jane Krakowski • Poetry is a mug’s game. – T. S. Eliot • Revolution? Unscrew the flag-staff, wrap the bunting in the oil covers, and put the thing in the clothes-chest. Let the old lady bring you your house-slippers and untie your fiery red necktie. You always make revolutions with your mugs, your republic–nothing but an industrial accident. – Alfred Doblin • Saiman picked up a coffee mug, stared at it, and hurled it against the wall. It shattered into a dozen pieces. We looked at him. “Your date appears to be hysterical,” Rene told me. “You think I should slap some man into him? – Ilona Andrews • She sits in her usual ample armchair, with piles of books and unopened magazines around her. She sips cautiously from the mug of weak herb tea which is now her substitute for coffee. At one time she thought that she could not live without coffee, but it turned out that it is really the warm large mug she wants in her hands, that is the aid to thought or whatever it is she practices through the procession of hours, or of days. – Alice Munro • Snowflakes swirl down gently in the deep blue haze beyond the window. The outside world is a dream. Inside, the fireplace is brightly lit, and the Yule log crackles with orange and crimson sparks. There’s a steaming mug in your hands, warming your fingers. There’s a friend seated across from you in the cozy chair, warming your heart. There is mystery unfolding. – Vera Nazarian • So violent. You want to mug and tase everybody these days.” “I do,” Zuzana agreed. “I swear I hate more poeple every day. Everyone annoys me. If I’m like this now, what am I going to be like when I’m old?” “You’ll be the mean old biddy who fires a BB gun at kids from her balcony.” “Nah. BBs just rile ’em up. More like a crossbow. Or a bazooka. – Laini Taylor • Something smashed to the ground. Jack looked at me, all the mugs forgotten. “I’m not going to let anyone kill you.” He grinned. “If I don’t get to, no one should. – Kiersten White • Studs Lonigan, on the verge of fifteen, and wearing his first suit of long trousers, stood in the bathroom with a Sweet Caporal pasted on his mug. – James T. Farrell • Suppose there were groups of secularists at hospitals who went round the terminally ill and urged them to adopt atheism: ‘Don’t be a mug all your life. Make your last days the best ones. People might suppose this was in poor taste. – Christopher Hitchens • That was close,”he said, helping himself to coffee. Yeah, you almost opened the door to Morelli.” I wasn’t talking about Morelli. I was talking about us.” That too,” I said. Ranger sliced a bagel and looked for the toaster. It’s broken,”I told him. He truned the boiler on and slid the bagel into the oven. That’s surprisingly domestic for a man of mystery,” I said to him. He looked at me over the rim of his coffee mug. “I like things hot. – Janet Evanovich • The mug from the washstand was used as Becky’s tea cup, and the tea was so delicious that it was not necessary to pretend that it was anything but tea. – Frances Hodgson Burnett • The mug is a tool. My ace in the hole. To have looks is the bonus on top of what motivates me to be an actor. Not to realize they’re an asset would be counterproductive to the cause; they serve the common good. – Billy Zane • The toughest thing for a homeschooler is the same as for a school teacher – shifting from a weak tea vision of math being grinding calculations to a rich frothy mug of math as an active way of thinking. – John Golden • The world won’t get more or less terrible if we’re indoors somewhere with a mug of hot chocolate,’ Kim said. ‘Though it’s possible it will seem slightly less terrible if there are marshmallows in the hot chocolate. – Kamila Shamsie • There are many differences between a baby and an I-Pod. And one of the biggest is, no ones going to mug you for your baby. – Nick Hornby • There are popular celebrities, there are unpopular celebrities and then there are the walking dead. You know the walking dead when you see them: they look like Mel Gibson, still striving for drunken charm in an L.A. County mug shot, after getting picked up on a DWI charge that included anti-semitic slurs directed at the police. – Jeffrey Kluger • There is more similarity in the marketing challenge of selling a precious painting by Degas and a frosted mug of root beer than you ever thought possible. – A. Alfred Taubman • They were the reason that he kept faith with his stars, that reinforced him in his belief that the universe had more in store for him than the mug’s game of working for a modest salary until he retired or died. – J. K. Rowling • This is ideal, you’ll see. We do everything backward. It’s just how we are. We began with an elopement. After that, we made love. Next, we’ll progress to courting. When we’re old and silver-haired, perhaps we’ll finally get around to flirtation. We’ll make fond eyes at each other over our mugs of gruel. We’ll be the envy of couples half our age. – Tessa Dare • This is no time for drinking a mug of water – which you would do nowhere else in the world. A mug of water! You just don’t drink water from mugs, do ya? Except on the telly. Water out of a mug! Should be a hot drink… mug of water. – Russell Brand • Three years ago, the white hope of the theatre. Today, a mug. That’s New York for you. Puts you on a Christmas tree, and then – the alley. – Ben Hecht • To espresso or to latte, that is the question…whether ’tis tastier on the palate to choose white mocha over plain…or to take a cup to go. Or a mug to stay, or extra cream, or have nothing, and by opposing the endless choice, end one’s heartache. – Jasper Fforde • Tonight, I propose a 21st Century Crime Bill to deploy the latest technologies and tactics to make our communities even safer. Our balanced budget will help put up to 50,000 more police on the street in the areas hardest hit by crime, and then to equip them with new tools from crime-mapping computers to digital mug shots. We must break the deadly cycle of drugs and crime. – William J. Clinton • We have such a long, familiar history with Peter Falk. The minute his mug is on that screen people smile. – Paul Reiser • We need to get past the point where being black and a male means that I am likely to mug you for your wallet, likely to have a minus 15 on my IQ, likely to not go to college and likely to wear my pants below my arse. – John Amaechi • We were talking of DRAGONS, Tolkien and I In a Berkshire bar. The big workman Who had sat silent and sucked his pipe All the evening, from his empty mug With gleaming eye glanced towards us: “I seen ’em myself!” he said fiercely. – C. S. Lewis • What are they teaching these thugs? -Why are there so many of them? -What is the Institute for Higher Aeronautics? -How many of the are there? There are only six of us! Why? -Why is DC public transportation so weird? -Why don’t we mug those Eraser goons for money more often? -Fang’s Blog – James Patterson • What brings you onto my property?” Rhev said, cradling his mug with both hands trying to absorb its warmth. Got a problem” I can’t fix your personality, sorry – J.R. Ward • What I really want is to sit next to someone under an L.L. bean blanket on the beach in the fall and drink coffee from the same mug. I don’t want some rusty ’73 Ford Pinto with a factory-defective gas tank that causes it to explode when it’s rear-ended in the parking lot of the supermarket. So why do I keep looking for Pintos? – Augusten Burroughs • With a face like this, there aren’t a lot of lawyers or priest roles coming my way. I’ve gotta face that was meant for a mug shot and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past thirty years. If I play a cop, it’s always a racist cop, or a trigger-happy cop or a crooked cop – but by and large I play cowboys, bikers, and convicts. – M. C. Gainey • Yes Headwoman Azaze. But I never lie to Rosethorn. She, um, discourages it.” “Evvy and I have an understanding.” She grabbed the teakettle and poured hot water into the mug. “She tells me the truth, and I don’t hang her in the first well we come to. It’s a solution that works tolerably well for both of us. – Tamora Pierce • You can never prepare yourself enough to see your mug shot and DUI. – Tracey Gold • You can tell the future?’ ‘More like the future mugs me from time to time.’ Rachel said ‘I speak prophecies. The oracle spirit kind of hijacks me once in a while, and speaks important stuff that doesn’t make any sense to anybody. But yeah, the prophecies tell the future.- Rick Riordan • You had a package. It was torn, so I looked in.” She lifted one of a stack of firefighter calendars, with his own mug and half-naked body on the cover. “Nice,” she said, a ghost of a smile crossing her lips. “Mr. 2008.” He bit back a sigh. “It’s for charity.” “And you definitely contributed. – Jill Shalvis • You know I’ll never say no, and Nate’s so dedicated, I think he loves our alpha more than me.” “I resent that,” Nate grumbled. “I might love football more than you, but definitely not Lucas’s ugly mug. – Nalini Singh • You should take more pride in your appearance,” I tell him. “You’ll never attract girls with an ugly mug like that. – Darren Shan • You should think about nobody and go your own way, not on a course marked out for you by people holding mugs of water and bottles of iodine in case you fall and cut yourself so that they can pick you up – even if you want to stay where you are – and get you moving again. – Alan Sillitoe • You were safe on a troll. Anyone wanting to mug a troll would have to use a building on a stick. – Terry Pratchett

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equitiesstocks · 5 years

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selfcompassion88 · 5 years

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07.06.19

So the last day and a half has honestly been so difficult to mentally get through. The day before yesterday helped me realise one of the triggers that make me binge…the feeling of heaviness/fullness after a full day of eating. I don’t know how long for but I remember I use to eat anywhere between 400-800 calories a day. I doubt very much that I ate any more than that. I remember what I ate too, either overnight oats with peanut butter or a packet of quick-satchet oats with honey and cinnamon. Then for lunch I remember I’d starve myself all day at school or I’d have a small piece of fruit and a handful of nuts. When I came home I’d make a triangle-toasted cheese and salmon or ham sandwich then I’d go to bed to ‘nap’ but mainly it was something I forced myself to do so I wouldn’t be awake to feel hunger. For dinner I would cook a piece of poultry, either lamb chops, beef, salmon or schnitzel with two eggs or corn. My meals were very robotic. I wouldn’t allow myself to eat anything outside of those foods. On top of that, every morning I forced myself to run for 30 minutes on the treadmill and so what I was eating did not sustain my energy expenditure. It was during year 12 too, the year where I felt most stressed. I remember after dinner which was after 8pm, I would get so incredibly hungry that I would watch food videos on Instagram and YouTube and long for the days where I would be able to eat whatever I wanted (cheat days I called them). Sometimes I got so hungry that I couldn’t sleep until around 4am. The nighttime was usually when my binges would occur. Anyway from that experience, because I always ALWAYS went to bed hungry and ‘light’ I now feel so uncomfortable whenever I feel full/satisfied. I associate that feeling with eating too much and therefore gaining weight. Stupidly after experiencing this feeling that day, I weighed myself and found that I was in the 67kgs after I ate. I’m usually in the 66kgs and so I knew that I would have woken up tomorrow with a slight weight gain. From there I thought ‘FK IT! Let’s just eat everything and anything and tomorrow when I start again I’ll be accountable for my weight every step of the way so I won’t gain weight’. I ate way past the point of fullness. I felt sick and I kept going. My high-energy consumption caused me to stay awake until 6am. I felt like shit the next morning because I wasn’t well-rested. I really didn’t want to go to work but I forced myself to and because I just wasn’t having a good day physically, it made living through the day unbearable. I didn’t feel guilty for my binge, I just hated myself for it. I don’t know if that’s the same thing. Maybe both feelings intertwine. I remember I was weighing the pros and cons of binging before I did it (it actually drove me insane) but mentally I wasn’t strong enough to fight the voice in my head that said I should. These were the pros and cons list of binging that I made in my head:

Cons:

- Regret it the next morning

- Forced to work out the next morning

- Will dress and look like a dag at work

- Feel extremely uncomfortable and bloated the next day

- Have to start again with the ‘no-binge’ rule from day 1 after executive days of progress

- Because I’ll look extremely bloated, I won’t be able to dress the way I normally do for the next few days = loss of confidence

- Weight gain

Pros:

- The pro-binge voice inside my head will stop

- I’ll feel better temporarily

- I get to start fresh with my diet tomorrow and hopefully this time it’ll be long-lasting

Obviously more cons than pros however, the pro-binge voice in my head was so strong I felt like either decision I made in regards to food won’t make me happy either way. I ended up listening to that voice so that it’ll leave me alone and I told myself that I’ll be able to officially start fresh the next day. I don’t think anybody who doesn’t have an ED realises how powerful and persuasive that ED mentality can be. It’s not simple to take advice such as ‘why don’t you just eat more’ or ‘you’re not fat so just eat whatever you want’ or (a personally hard one for me to accept) ‘it’s just this one meal, you’ll be fine’. When you have an ED the best way I can describe it is this; it feels like a devil and angel are sitting on your shoulders weighing up the good and the bad of if you choose to eat, except most of the time the devil always wins. For some people, and for me occasionally, it feels like the angel doesn’t even exist, and so it’s just the devil who I’m taking advice from. Times like this I either (1) DON’T want to recover because I feel as though my ED is my safe haven or (2) I feel like I can’t recover because recovery is tough. As bad as it is, I think at the moment I’m mentally at 1. I just don’t want to recover. Last year, months of ‘recovery’ had gotten me back to 71kg and that was frickin hard to come to terms with. I don’t want to recover because I don’t want to gain weight. I’ve gained enough as it is from my lightest weight ever which was 59.7kg (I’m now around 64-65kg, after the break-up however I was 63.8kg). I have 8 months off from studying and so I’m gonna take full advantage of this break and lose as much weight as I can. No goal weight but all I know is that I want to get to 58kg before I start toning. Time off from studying means occasions in which I stress-eat are reduced and I’m out-and-about less which means less temptation to eat out.

So how am I going to handle my weight loss as of now? My aim is to track everything I eat. 1200-1350 calories every day. This is a reasonable number I believe. I think regardless of whether I have an ED or not, tracking calories is a very sustainable and healthy way to lose weight given that you don’t get too obsessive. It allows you to identify what is too high in calories, what you’re eating too much of and whether you’re eating enough or not which is the main reason why I started using this strategy. I aim to eat in relatively small portions. When I’m very hungry I will drink a lot of water and eat the food that I planned to eat before purging on a bunch of snacks which I usually do to curb hunger before I get to my main meal. I also find that eating at a time relatively close to bed time curbs late-night hunger and therefore prevents binges. Drinking a lot of water (I’m talking A LOT of water) after dinner helps to stimulate my metabolism which allows for digestion of the meal thus prevents me from going to bed bloated.

It’s strange because I’m aware that my thoughts around food aren’t healthy. I’ve had a massive setback in my recovery as of lately but that doesn’t mean I’m back to square one. I know it’s not a healthy way of thinking but I want to work on recovery only when I know I’m at a reasonably good weight so that if I do end up gaining weight during the process it won’t get to a point where I’m back to being overweight/obese. I’ve looked through ED tags, recovery tags and binge-eating tags and some of the things I love from the posts I’ve read is this; the reality is not all people with eating disorders are sickly thin or just light/average weight, some are obese and overweight. That doesn’t mean that their eating disorder doesn’t exist. With these people they don’t hear the phrases ‘you should eat more, you’re so thin’ instead they hear pro-ED phrases such as ‘have you ever thought about eating less?’ which only worsens they’re ED thinking habits. As someone who is overweight with an ED the truth of the matter is I need/want to lose weight. I’m not one of those thin girls with an ED who THINKS she should lose weight but in everyone’s eyes SHOULDN’T. People don’t look at me and think ‘why does SHE want to lose weight?’ it’s always ‘oh okay. So what’s your weight loss goal?’. It’s such a terrible way of thinking but sometimes I think that if I’m someone that has to suffer from an ED why couldn’t it have been anorexia because then gradually but surely I’d be thin. But I don’t have that. I mean partly but I’m just someone who can’t deal without food. It’s strange but I don’t LOVE food. I don’t obsess over how good it taste and find the time to try new food places; I’m not a foodie. I just like the way food makes me feel. What I also like from the Tumblr posts I’ve read is that recovery ISN’T meant to be perfect. Inevitably, I’m going to have days where I’ve followed my plan perfectly but I still feel bloated, that I won’t exercise after a binge to ‘burn the calories off’, that I won’t follow my diet plan as well as I should have, and when or if this happens, it’s important that I ALWAYS CHOOSE recovery over purging. If I remember this and stick with it long-term, I don’t see why I shouldn’t gradually lose weight. I mean after all, the reason for the stubborn 5-7kgs that I can’t lose is because I binge. 5-7 days of consistent dieting or proper eating, all progress is ruined after eating 3000+ calories in a day or two hence why the gaining and losing of the same kilograms for months.

#ED #binge-eating #weightloss #ED recovery #07.06.19

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quirkyqirl · 5 years

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My birthday was June 20th and I celebrated in Puerto Rico. Last year I wanted to go but the hurricane season put a stop to that idea. I was super excited because my first blog was actually about Puerto Rico and the aftermath of the hurricane season. I paid for the flight with my southwest accrued reward points which I only paid about $72 in taxes. I booked an Airbnb as usual. I had an early morning flight because I was so anxious to be there. I touched down about 9 am and was pleasantly surprised at how nice the airport is. I reached out to my Airbnb host to let them know I was here. They told me that had a previous guest that was leaving so they will let me know when the place will be ready. I was a tad bit upset because we had previously discussed that I could check in early because of my early flight time. So I found a somewhat comfy spot in the airport window ledge inside because it was too hot outside. Frankly, I was bored out of my mind like I wanted to be out in the elements. I thought about going to the beach but I didn’t want to drag my bag with me. Then this little ray of light came in the shape of this little lady. She started speaking Spanish at first and I laughed and said English. I don’t know why people always approach me speaking Spanish even when I am at work. Well, she was trying to sign me up for a timeshare meeting in return I ‘ll get two excursions of my choice for a discount of $40. I said why not because I did want to enjoy my birthday vacation. So I left a deposit of $20 and she left me all the information such as where the meeting will be. She also told me I could go to the restaurant upstairs after I told her about my long wait. I ventured up there but I didn’t really like anything on the menu so I went back downstairs. But after a while, I changed my mind about the restaurant. On one side of me sat a guy smacking gum loudly and the other side sat a very loud family overly happy about something. So I went to the restaurant and ordered their version of a Cuban sandwich combo. Just that was like $14 and to be honest, everything I purchased was a tad more than if I would have bought it in the USA. After you get food you go find yourself a table. There was this guy with I guess his son that kept staring at me. But I kind of ignored it because after being to Mexico I was used to the stares. So I spoke to my friend while I ate but the reception was not that great but neither was the food. The Airbnb host messages me telling me I could check in which was like 12ish now. The next thing I learned that Uber is not allowed to pick you up from the airport so I had to use ground transportation. The driver came pretty quick after I was assisted at the kiosk. The neighborhood I was staying at was called Carolina and as we drove into it heavy rain came down. I eventually got there the host told me on the phone to wait he was trying to get an umbrella. Wow, he held the umbrella over my head and showed me the way to get to the unit his grandmother was yelling at him about something. It was a cute studio attached to their house and I guess it was just okay for me. It was one outlet that was not near to the bed. The outlet had everything attached to it like the tv, microwave, mini-fridge you name it. After I hung out for a while and listened to the rain I decided I wanted to go out. So my first stop was the San Juan mall I utilized Uber to get there. The Uber app for some reason pinned my location wrong luckily the driver spoke English and she just told me to text her with the actual address. This mall is beautiful! It was breathtaking like the Aventura Mall or Bal Harbor. So I went to H and M and just for a purse and socks it was like $ 31. Like I mentioned earlier they have some price gauging or high taxes. Some of the stores I didn’t recognize so I went looking for food. My choice was a place called burger and beer. It had an outside bar and inside I chose inside. I ordered some chicken burger with mushrooms, onion ring, French fries and some cocktails. The food was okay, drinks better and the cost was Puerto Rico priced. I got lost coming out but eventually, I found my way out and sat outside for a while. They have glitter on the entrance to the mall that you can see vividly at night. Eventually, I Uber my way back to my place. I stayed in that night because I had to be at the hotel for the timeshare meeting at 7:45 am. I felt old that I didn’t stay up until 12 am for my birthday but I made up for it in the morning. I made a couple of videos, selfies and added some birthday dances in the mix. I made my way to the ESJ Hotel for the meeting. I had been to a timeshare meeting in Cancun before so I knew the drill. I registered sat and waited until the person that would be trying to make me spend money came. She was lovely and adorable, to say the least. We went to the breakfast buffet and grabbed the table. The food was not my cup of tea I was quite disappointed since I am a die-hard foodie. The toast was stale, eggs were not seasoned but the juice tasted like flavored water. Afterward, we discussed that I was a blogger and I traveled frequently and she discussed her being a mom wishing she had the open schedule to travel like I. She showed me the model units and other aspects of the place. I personally think timeshare are not that smart most people are trying to get rid of the timeshare. She even brought her boss to give me a lower rate but I just don’t really think timeshares are a financially conscious idea. She was really nice she even offered me a drink or to come by later for a party they were having that night. So I went to collect my activities vouchers which were a beach day and a boat ride. The boat ride was not available on the days I would be there so I got a $50 gift card for the inconvenience and only paid the initial $20.The beach day was on their property in the back of the hotel. With the voucher, I got an umbrella, chair, two free lunches and two corona. So I was a kid in the candy store with two everything. I sat there relaxed and enjoyed the different scenery and ate like a pig. I got in the water and it felt amazing. I think that was the perfect way for me to spend my birthday drinking, eating on a beach somewhere different. The skies start getting really gray so I decided to leave. The company that owned the chairs and umbrellas was leaving soon anyway. I didn’t go out that night because I started feeling sick. The next day I went to the Bacardi factory which I had been dying to go visit. So after research, I took a Uber to old San Juan to catch a ferry to Catana where it was located. A roundtrip ticket was only $1 and it was like a 5min ride. Once in Catana, I had to catch another Uber to the Bacardi factory. The factory was huge on its own property. I initially signed up for the mixology class but the next class didn’t start until 12 pm and it was only 9 am,so I switch to the rum tasting class. They gave me two tokens for free drinks so I went with a drink called sunset mojito. I hadn’t even eaten yet but it was my birthday YOLO. We have to get on a trolley to begin the tour which began with learning the history of Bacardi. I didn’t know Barcardi was created in Cuba originally. The tour guide name Eric was quite witty which was entertaining. We ventured into the factory and saw behind the scenes and the next was rum tasting. It was about five different types of rums and they had different tastes. After the rum tasting, we went to the gift shop which I left the group. I headed back to the outside bar to get my last courtesy drink which was rum based. I sat down by the taxi pickup spot and began a conversation with this taxi driver who was waiting for his passenger. I went back to catch the ferry and once back in old San Juan I dined at a place called Tijuana’s. I was starving so I ordered a ground beef dip with chips with Mahi and rice. I ordered another drink I must admit I had too much alcohol. I barely could make it the Uber once I finally left. Once I went back to my place and pretty much passed out until 10 pm. I had slept off the alcohol and with my friend telling me I need to hit up the nightlife I decided I should. So I got ready still sipping on my leftover drink and headed out. This Uber driver was totally different from the rest. I thought went I met Albert he was pretty normal well he wasn’t. When we began to talk I felt he tried to scare me when he told me I shouldn’t be going out by myself to old San Juan. So he said he will give me his number in case I needed help. Soon as I got out of his car and began to walk around he texts me and said he would like to hang out. I said well you know where I am but he claimed he had got another ride and he would come back for me. All the natives kept telling me to go to La Placita that’s where the parties were at but I chose here. I finally found a bar playing English music so I got a frozen sangria and sat on the balcony. Alberto starts texting me from two separate numbers which were weird. Asking me did I block him because I was not answering his calls. So he kept trying to get me to leave the bar so I said if you really wanted to hang out that’s where I was at. The bartender and I started talking and I told him the situation he started laughing told me to stay and gave me a drink on the house. Well, Alberto still persisted in me coming out to help him find parking. I stuck to my guns and he finally came up and I thought to myself he is good-looking why is he so crazy? We talked and then he still tried to get me to come outside. He said he did not like the environment and in his offense, two drugged up guys had asked me for money prior on separate streets. So I thought maybe he was not too bad plus he started resembling a shorter version of Liam Hemsworth. He told me his father was American from Los Angeles who came there to start a business when he met his mom. Which he said that’s why he looked so Caucasian. The bartender waved at me to signal they were closing at 2 am. Albert explained that all the bars were closed but as we walked outside the other bars was still opened. We sat outside and talked so more until another drugged out guys came and asked for money. With that Albert said let’s go I am going to take you home. Once inside he like switched and started asking all these sexual questions. I really played it cool and just prayed that I make it back safely. Apparently, he had a fixation with women of my type because there is not many there. Then he started saying he wanted us to kiss so I said I’ll think about it. I don’t know if he thought I was drunk but eventually, I got to my neighborhood and pointed at a different house from to actual one. So he pressured me about the kiss and I said firmly “no”. So I was courteous and said goodnight. He asked could we go to the beach and I was like noooo. I got out and he called me back and started saying am boring. Okay let me remain boring and I walked off. He began texting me that he wanted to have sex with me but am too boring. When I say I ran in and made sure that door was closed properly and tight. The next day was my flight so I left rather early to the airport. The airport is really nice with so many stores. I decided to eat at Margaritaville before my flight and work on my laptop. However wi-fi you have to pay for it which is so greedy to me. I had a safe flight and I was super tired once I got back home. The key tips I would like to offer is Puerto Rico is somewhat pricey so be prepared. Really research where you will like to stay because apparently, I was staying in the unsavory part of town. Try to travel with someone else or if you like me just to be cautious. An enjoy yourself I would rate this trip was an 8. I actually think that Puerto Rico is a more upscale version of Cuba. But I love Cuba despite it not being Americanized but I felt more at home there. I hope you enjoy the many pictures I have below until next time.

I am racking my brain on where I will be going this year for my birthday. Last year it was Puerto Rico and ironically PR was what my first serious blog was about. I blogged about the after math of the hurricance on PR. My birthday was June 20th and I celebrated in Puerto Rico. Last year I wanted to go but the hurricane season put a stop to that idea.

#birthday #blog #blogger #Blogging #blogs #gemini #inspiration #opinion #photography #puertorico #Travel #usa #vacation #Wordpress

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quirkyqirl · 5 years

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#birthday #blog #blogger #Blogging #blogs #gemini #inspiration #opinion #photography #puertorico #Travel #usa #vacation #Wordpress

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quirkyqirl · 6 years

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My Trip to Puerto Rico My birthday was June 20th and I celebrated in Puerto Rico. Last year I wanted to go but the hurricane season put a stop to that idea.

#birthday #blog #blogger #Blogging #blogs #gemini #inspiration #opinion #photography #puertorico #Travel #usa #vacation #Wordpress

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