thank you thursday

impromptu-late night bowling at lucky strike,

a quick visit with mom,

warm nights in santa monica,

and for all the new (and super lovely) followers on the blog **swoon**

ser·en·dip·i·ty

[ser-uhn-dip-i-tee] noun

1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.

- Stephen King

juice and fun things like it

i had quite the interesting weekend.

friday morning i woke up to an awful toothache - that limited not only my ability to eat solid food - but left me feeling a lot less like my normal "lori" self. i did score a few sympathy phone calls, and a lot of

"you poor baby" looks from friends and co-workers so that's always fun.

i'll spare you all the details on my poor little tooth, but i will say that saturday night i was in bed by 8pm - asleep by 9:30 - and didn't wake up the next morning until well after 10am.

on the bright side though, i figured it would be a good opportunity to give my new juicer a spin. i mean...if i can't chow down on steak and potatoes then drinking a cocktail of kale, apple and tomatoes would be just as fulfilling right?

well. not exactly.

i did manage to find a few recipes that i really liked and surprisingly they kept me pretty full throughout the morning - until about noon when was quietly crying to myself about wanting a chicken sandwich or a burger. instead, i stopped by my favorite juice spot and got a apple/strawberry/coconut banana-nana shake

(yeah. say that 5 times fast).

at any rate, i'm feeling a lot better today (although...my cheek is still a little swollen) and i'm  back to my normal wise-cracking-lori self.

thank you thursday

for my brand new juicer (which i'm already obessed with),
dinner that consists of 21 courses,
brand new chanel swag (a girl can never have enough makeup),
and for evening convertible car rides.

#30 create a blog (one year in and standing strong)

i still feel pretty new to this ol' blogging thing...but in the last few months i've met some pretty lovely ladies. all of which have been super encouraging and simply darling.

i've been lucky enough to meet the lovely mrs. taylor from his little lady - and not only is she super adorable but she's got the loveliest personality to match!

check out my guest post from her blog below:

xxoo

 

sometimes my friday is a thursday

apologies for the week long blog hiatus!

i wish i had a better excuse for my absence - but i was off from work for the last five days so i guess there really isn't much of an excuse. well, i guess being a little lazy and enjoying some sunshine is a good excuse right? right.

thursday was my friday and today is my monday (are you following me here?!) so technically i finally had a weekend off with the rest of the world.

friday night i had dinner at boa in santa monica then sped back to hollywood to celebrate a dear friend's birthday at (my favorite nightclub at the moment) sayer's club.

saturday was spent driving around aimlessly most of the afternoon

(mainly because my car has a/c and my apartment doesn't) 

then ended with a dip in the pool and popcorn and a movie in bed, 

and sunday supper at mercato di vetro with hambone

 followed by a quiet drink on the patio at

 laurel hardware

(thank you heather for getting me out of my sunday funk).

i spent the rest of my time off sleeping and telling myself that i would (finally) get up and start knocking things off my "to-do" list. things like:

• laundry
• organizing my closet
• dropping things off at goodwill
• car wash
• mani/pedi (hey! a girl has to have cute nails)
• bang trim
• oil change
• reorganizing the kitchen

luckily, i was able to get most of it done by late yesterday morning - so i spent a couple hours at the beach  for some quality time with my ipod, a magazine and myself.

all in all, i think i have a pretty damn good excuse for my little blog break.

good. i thought you'd think so too

xxoo

shhh...

spa day. be back soon

thank you thursday

sunday night orange-creamsicle-cocktails with the new roomie,

 for this song that plays in the lobby - that heather and i promptly break out in dance to,

a brand new coffee maker and knives set (yes. i'm really that excited about it),

and for (slowly) learning that it's always better to communicate.

*oh yes - and new haircuts too :)

oh, hey ryan.

yeah. i'm pretty sure we just made eye contact. not sure if you noticed...but i definitely did. lemme know if you need a dinner reservation somewhere okay? hell, i'll even call in your order for pizza delivery.

sincerely,

black-girl-with-bangs in the hotel lobby

#59 learn a recipe from scratch from grandma

lately i've been trying to cook at home more. i've realized it is true when people say you save money when you eat at home. who woulda thought!?!

thursday night's dinner all kind of started a couple of sundays ago when i scouted some sweet potatoes at the melrose place farmer's market - i picked up a couple, brought them home, then promptly forgot all about them. finally i decided that i should do something with them (other than bake them) and make candied yams. every thanksgiving and christmas dinner i beg my grandma to make them for me - so i figured...why wait till the holidays - let's cook these suckas up!

after a few phone calls to my darling grandmother (who so patiently sat on the other end of the phone while i had a few tantrums) she talked me through not only the recipe for candied yams, but for collard greens too.

i think it was a successful dinner for one and i knocked #59 off the list without even trying!

“You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.”  - Tinkerbell

"I don't want just words. If that's all you have for me, you'd better go."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

thank you thursday*

*tonight i find myself restless and even though it's technically friday, this is one of my favorite weekly posts and it would be a shame not to remind myself of what i'm thankful for this week.

...for a dinner that ended in a sunday night bar crawl,

my grandma who patiently helped me cook dinner over the phone,

last minute lunch dates with my best friend,

and for two days off with absolutely nothing to do.

speaking of olympians...



via

 let's just add ryan to the list of swoon worthy swimmers

thank you thursday

for another new blog crush,
hammocks in griffith park,
a dinner - that lead to bowling - that ended in karaoke,
the (ongoing) search for a ukulele class,
and for learning something new every week.

midnight blueberry cheesecake baking

super late on monday night, i got the urge to start baking the cheesecake that i saw here.

i've never baked a cheesecake before (well...except for the time gina and i were left home alone and tried to bake an entire cheesecake using her easy bake oven) but i knew that it would be a bit of a challenge.

to my surprise, it was pretty simple! other than the two hour baking process (which kept me awake until 3am!) the ingredients were easy to throw together.

now i just have to find a group of friends to pawn off all this blueberry decadence to...