friday favorites: the internet wins again

It's Friday morning, there's a cool breeze humidity outside, and we've got zero plans ahead for the weekend. 

^^^All those things combined up there make a pretty freaking great Friday, if I do say so myself. Although that zero plans part is a lie because I fully plan on kicking off the three weeks of me watching TV non-stop Olympics by watching the Opening Ceremonies tonight. 

I thought I would interrupt your regularly scheduled wide range of topics Friday Favorites post to focus your attention on one topic: the internet. More specifically, how the internet keeps winning every. single. day. 

Winning what?! you might ask. And that's a good question...what do we mean when we use the term someone or something is winning? Let me Google that. 

...

Ah yes, Charlie Sheen graced us with such wonderful slang. Thanks, Charlie! You're winning for sure. 

In the midst of everyone arguing about politics (and government, race, and life), I've found social media to be pretty much 100% unbearable. Times infinity. I've always wondered the stats on people's minds being changed by someone's rude and passive aggressive Facebook post in which he/she tries to convince you he/she is right and you are wrong. I'm assuming the numbers are rather low, but if you have a success story of Party A shoving beliefs down Party B's throat, and Party B changing beliefs, then please share.  I digress. 

Here are some links for top notch ways the internet was won lately:

For the 30 Rock/no-Trump fan:

Donald Maroney

Excuse the language on this one (or go wash out your mouth with soap):

WTF should I eat?

This one could be filed under winning and goals.

#nowineleftbehind

Anything with Aziz is golden, add in Jimmy Fallon and you've got...double golden:

First Textual Experience

Nothing is more beautiful than male ballerinas. Nothing. 

Foundation.

Happy Friday!

Linking up with Karli and Amanda. 

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currently: the just last week one

Sometimes when I'm thinking about stuff that happened last week I think back to how much fun our New Year's Eve party was.

...and then I remember that New Year's Eve was thirty one weeks ago instead of last week, and then my mind is blown. 

So hey, August! Nice of you to come storming in. To come in like a wrecking ball! There, that's the analogy I want. August, you came in like a wrecking ball. 

Currently I am...

hearting //
Everyone and their grandma is doing the whole Love Your Spouse challenge on Facebook. Which is great! Seriously. I heart the crap out of my spouse, and I would much rather read your seven days worth of Loving Your Spouse stuff than read any political Facebook argument. I am currently hearting him.

watching //
We've started re-watching The Office. And even though it's our eleventeenth time watching it, I still laugh/cringe just as hard at every word out of Michael Scott's mouth.

exploring //
Cooler fall like weather comes with the appearance of August, right? Hahahahaha, kidding. Not in Houston, anyways. However, mentally August is a cooler month than July, so we have big plans to get out and explore more of Houston. Nothing says Fall is coming! quite like 108 degrees with 60% humidity.

creating //
Have you ever heard of Bullet Journal? If not I'm going to need you to stop reading this sentence after the period and go stalk the hashtag #bulletjournal or #bulletjournaling on Insta.

...

Isn't it amazing?! My friend Ruth, who is my organizing/cleaning/emotional/etiquette soul mate, shared it with me over the weekend, and I have looked at way, way, way too many not enough Instagrams of the creative process of bullet journaling. I've started doodling around with it, and can't wait to get fancy pens so I can play around with it even more.

Ugh! Did you read that?! Fancy pens?! Get on my adult level of fun.

eating //
I have finally given into the Brussels Sprouts phenomenon and at any given moment during the day I think I could eat a bowl full of roasty toasty b sprouts.

What are you currently doing?

Linking up with Anne!

thundermatzoballsoup

Exactly 219 days ago Freddie received the 007 collection on Blu-ray. Exactly 213 days ago we decided to do weekly 007 date nights and cook a themed dinner while going through all the Bond movies. Exactly 176 days ago I posted this from the last movie we watched, Goldfinger--movie #3 in the series.

And here we are today, August 1, these 176 days later, and I can finally give you that 007 date night update for which you've been itching. 

We did it! We finally got to #4, Thunderball! It only took five or six months, but we did it. The early bird may get the worm, but the late bird gets the...

gets the...

Matzo ball soup. <<which is exactly what we (Freddie) cooked for Thunderball.

I had never had matzo ball soup before, and sadly my only run-in with anything matzo was the  matzo crackers "bread" during communion at church. I was assuming that matzo ball soup was not just soup was matzo crackers thrown in it, and I was right.

It really is so hard to be as smart I as am. Wink.

As per usual, Ricky was 100x more eager than I was (or ever am or will be) about cooking. This meant I sat and took pictures and ate candy while we (he) made soup and matzo balls from scratch.

 FYI: if you're ever in Houston and needing matzo meal, just know that the Kroger on Montrose does NOT have any. Also, if you ask me to pick up some from Whole Foods after work, I'll probably forget to do that too. So. You know. Be prepared.

 This recipe called for rutabaga. I literally did not even realize rutabaga was a real thing. But it is, and it's right there in your local grocery store. Right by the beets. The beets! Rutabaga! It's even at the Kroger on Montrose. Crazy. 

Lupe was ever-so optimistic that'd he get a little drop of chicken. I almost think he deserved a little piece for how long he sat like that with his neck craned up. I mean, he at least deserved a little neck massage after those fifteen minutes, right? 

Ta-da! 

Phew. That was hard work. The waiting, I mean. Freddie cooked as gracefully as ever, and I was as impatient and hangry as ever. But it was worth the wait and SHOOT! Are matzo balls delicious or what?! Why didn't you ever tell me that before?

Up next is You Only Live Twice so...we've got nothing. That'll probably take another five or six months to figure out that doozy of a themed dinner. See y'all in February. 

Good news is that cats have nine lives which is more that two which means we won't be eating cats.

^^that's weird and gross. My b. 

Dinner recaps:

Dr. Gnocchi (Dr. No)

From Russia With Loaf (From Russia With Love)

Gold chicken fingers with golden slaw (Goldfinger)

Thunder matzo ball soup (Thunderball)

when tragedy strikes

Something kind of tragic recently happened, and it's been very hard for me to talk about it. I've spent the past several weeks trying to process and move on from this occurrence, while also hoping to give proper remembrance and appreciation in the midst of these hard times. 

...

...

...

my selfie stick broke. 

I KNOW RIGHT. Ugh, and you know the worst of all?! I had TWO selfie sticks. Two little glorious sticks of selfie love. The second one got left behind in Wisconsin on the same trip where the first one broke. What are the odds?! Thanks, sullen teenagers, for coming up with the acronym FML so I could accurately describe the amount of F I feel toward ML RN! ! !

^^so many acronyms. Google if necessary and/or you have FOMO. 

^^just learned FOMO the other week. Could you be any more jealous of my coolness?

I know, I know. You're probably thinking Geez, Emily. That sucks. Why don't you pick one up from the checkout line next time you're in Walgreens?

And to that I say...

CVS is closer to me. So there!

Also yes, I could easily get another less than $10 stick of the self, but I'm not done mourning the loss and death of my two former sticks. I felt that in order to say a proper goodbye, we should look back through the best selfies my two sticks created in the past twelve months. And no, I did not get the pronoun wrong up there--this is something WE should do, not just ME. 

one

The group shots at weddings that are able to include every one you love. Check.

two

The classic how do you use this darn thing?

three

The Norman Rockwell family selfie stick painting. 

four

The Do they have a photographer following them around?! shot. 

five

The find the arm that could be holding the selfie stick shot. 

Selfie stick(s), you were so good to us and we love you. Rest in peace among the other broken pieces of technology we have like ...

Happy Friday!
Linking up with Karli and Amanda. 

**this post is brought to you by every ridiculous bone in my body, and by my tongue in my cheek.** 

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catch-up not ketchup

Whenever I come to this space I feel like I have to write something awesome. Something thought-provoking. Something important with a sprinkle of I'm-not-trying-to-be-funny-yet-somehow-I'm hilarious. I always accomplish this subtle hilarity, I know I know. Wink. 

But you know what? There are other times when I just really want to write about how dang cute my dog is, okay? Okay. 

 Oh look! It is my dog who is so dang cute! Let's talk more about this!

A lot has happened in the twenty-eight days since I last posted. <<That is me completely owning how long it has been since I wrote on here. I will now give you the world's quickest photo summary of what those twenty-eight days included...

One of my best friends, who also happened to be my college roommate, got married. It was probably the most personal wedding I've ever been to, and yes, I did cry. You would have too if you have been there.

We vacationed in Chicago and drank a lot of wine. In related news, we also ate a lot. 

My birthday happened, no new grey hairs have been found, and I got to celebrate birthday week with Wi! We were too busy having fun to take a better picture than this gem. 

In case you were wondering, we still haven't gotten a bathroom counter tray or a floor lamp, but we did finally hang a few things. 

I took a very unplanned and unexpected trip home for a couple days last week, and I think I spent 90% of the time tearing up over how wonderful family is. 

We went beach camping in the Texas summer for a friend's birthday which despite the feels like 109 degrees was insanely fun. 

That brings us to today. Today will consist of me doing laundry, taking more pictures of my cute dog, and possibly unpacking some more of the new apartment because I finished teaching at 7am this morning. 

Today will be a great day. Because I said so.

What have you been up to in the last twenty-eight days?!

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