So this will be a short post, but I have to share what just happened. I just went through my own personal horror movie. Take all of the emotions that a horror flick invokes, and cram it into a 45-minute walk on the beach.
It all started out beautifully. I went down to the beach at sunset for a short walk. There were other people around - couples, a guy with a dog, some girls jogging. I picked a direction and started walking. The beach and ocean were gorgeous, the people were friendly, I was barefoot at the edge of the water.... I walked for probably 20 minutes before I realized it was getting darker faster than expected.
I turned around and started back, but I really had no idea how far I had gone, and after awhile all the houses and walkways over the dunes start to look the same. The ghost crabs started to come out full force, and the tide had turned, so the beach was getting skinnier and I was getting wetter. All the friendly people that were around had disappeared. So I'm alone on an almost-dark beach, with an angry ocean trying to kill me, surrounded by crabs.
By the time I finally found our walkway, I was sweaty and traumatized. I had started out all happy rainbows and unicorns, which turned into slight concern, which quickly turned into the realization that I would probably die alone on the beach and get washed out to sea and never seen again.
I know I was never in any real danger, and at any point I could have picked a walkway and gone down the road instead, but it was a new and exciting experience, and I'm still slightly damp. :-P
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
OBX Part 1
Hey, all! I'm on day 4 of OBX trip 2011. I've been sucking at taking pictures. I'll have to make up for it in the next few days. I think we're going exploring tomorrow and finding a new lighthouse. Nothing much happened on Saturday since everyone was just getting here. We pretty much chilled in the hot tub and had some pizza. Sunday was the first day at the beach. It was glorious! Perfect weather, warm ocean water. Some of our people went to a concert that night, so Marcy, Vern, and I had a movie night. We watched The Descent... which was the funniest horror movie ever. Then we watched Murder by Numbers, which was actually an excellent movie. Well done, good plot, lots of twists, and Sandra Bullock. There's no bad.
Monday it was kind of storm-y and cloudy and sprinkled off and on, so we all just kind of hung out for most of the day. In the afternoon, we went exploring to Corolla and found our turtle pond from last year. (Pictures at the end.) We then continued on to the Timbuck II shopping plaza, but most of the stores were closed (even though the site said they were open till 9). There were a few souvenir shops open, though, so we perused for awhile and Brian got a pair of Crocs. lol
Today was hot and sunny and perfect beach weather... until we got to the beach. The sand was so hot, it practically melted your shoes off your feet, but the water was FREEZING. There were only two crazy-ass people in the water as far as we could see. We stood there for awhile, though, because a pod of dolphins made an appearance. They were super close to the shore, too. Like... if the water hadn't been cold enough to cause hypothermia, we probably could have ridden them. So after the dolphins got boring, we came back and hung out at the pool and I worked on my sunburn. Later tonight, we went wine tasting at Native Vine. It was complimentary with out vacation package, and it was pretty excellent. The lady who hosted the tasting was really cool, and we tasted some really excellent juice. Afterwards, we had some of Marcy's amazing mac & cheese, TJ's wings, and Vern's green bean casserole for supper.
After supper, we started to watch some of TJ's movies. Limitless was pretty good, but I only watched about half of it, off and on. I'll have to re-watch later. Then he put in Drive Angry. It. was. hilarious. We made a drinking game to it. After that came Hobo with a Shotgun. We watched about 10 minutes before we decided it's the worst movie ever made. At this point, they decided to put in The L-Word, so Marcy and I went down to the beach to look for crabs. We saw TONS. They ranged from baseball-sized to dime-sized. Once we realized we were far outnumbered, and they could probably kill us if they wanted to, we headed back. We came across a crab on the road on the way back to our house, which was rather surprising.
Now most of the group is still watching The L-Word, Marcy and I are having a computer party, and Vern has been in bed for hours, I believe. lol I think I'm headed to bed soon, but first, here are some turtle pond pics, as promised.
Monday it was kind of storm-y and cloudy and sprinkled off and on, so we all just kind of hung out for most of the day. In the afternoon, we went exploring to Corolla and found our turtle pond from last year. (Pictures at the end.) We then continued on to the Timbuck II shopping plaza, but most of the stores were closed (even though the site said they were open till 9). There were a few souvenir shops open, though, so we perused for awhile and Brian got a pair of Crocs. lol
Today was hot and sunny and perfect beach weather... until we got to the beach. The sand was so hot, it practically melted your shoes off your feet, but the water was FREEZING. There were only two crazy-ass people in the water as far as we could see. We stood there for awhile, though, because a pod of dolphins made an appearance. They were super close to the shore, too. Like... if the water hadn't been cold enough to cause hypothermia, we probably could have ridden them. So after the dolphins got boring, we came back and hung out at the pool and I worked on my sunburn. Later tonight, we went wine tasting at Native Vine. It was complimentary with out vacation package, and it was pretty excellent. The lady who hosted the tasting was really cool, and we tasted some really excellent juice. Afterwards, we had some of Marcy's amazing mac & cheese, TJ's wings, and Vern's green bean casserole for supper.
After supper, we started to watch some of TJ's movies. Limitless was pretty good, but I only watched about half of it, off and on. I'll have to re-watch later. Then he put in Drive Angry. It. was. hilarious. We made a drinking game to it. After that came Hobo with a Shotgun. We watched about 10 minutes before we decided it's the worst movie ever made. At this point, they decided to put in The L-Word, so Marcy and I went down to the beach to look for crabs. We saw TONS. They ranged from baseball-sized to dime-sized. Once we realized we were far outnumbered, and they could probably kill us if they wanted to, we headed back. We came across a crab on the road on the way back to our house, which was rather surprising.
Now most of the group is still watching The L-Word, Marcy and I are having a computer party, and Vern has been in bed for hours, I believe. lol I think I'm headed to bed soon, but first, here are some turtle pond pics, as promised.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Beach Baked Goods!
So I'm just finishing up my beach baking and I wanted to share some pictures. Can I just say how amazing tonight was? I started baking around 6:00PM, and I'm just finishing up at 11:15PM. While baking, I listened through Evil Dead the Musical, Jekyll & Hyde, Legally Blonde the Musical, and Little Women the Musical. Over 5 hours of baking and musicals that I love. This was the perfect evening. :-)
I started out with Maple Pecan Muffins...
followed by Cinnamon-Almond Cookies with Browned Butter Glaze...
and finished up with Chocolate Chip Muffins.
I've sampled everything, and it's all AMAZING, if I do say so myself. We shall have awesome snacks for the beach, and I had a ton of fun making them. Not to mention, I got to try two new recipes, and perfect another.
I started out with Maple Pecan Muffins...
followed by Cinnamon-Almond Cookies with Browned Butter Glaze...
and finished up with Chocolate Chip Muffins.
I've sampled everything, and it's all AMAZING, if I do say so myself. We shall have awesome snacks for the beach, and I had a ton of fun making them. Not to mention, I got to try two new recipes, and perfect another.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Beach, Baking, and Brooks
Hi, all. As promised, I have a happy post filled with puppies and unicorns. Well, my excitement about my upcoming beach trip, anyway. I leave the 21st for a week on the Outer Banks in NC with my friends from high school! This is the third year that we've rented a house and a bunch of us just get away for a week and forget about life. I'm sure I'll have either a huge blog with lots of pictures after I'm back, or several during the week there. The only bummer is I have to wait until I'm done with work on the 21st to leave for North Carolina. I'm hoping we're done by 2:00 or 3:00 so I can still make it there by 10:00 or 11:00.
Connected with the beach trip is my beach baking. Last year I took homemade granola bars and several loaves of Amish Friendship Bread, which were a big hit (especially the chocolate chip). Well, the Amish Friendship Bread comes from a starter that you feed for a week and then bake, after taking out three more starters to pass on. Well, I can never NOT keep another starter for myself, so once I get one, I have to keep making bread every week until I get sick of it. Since I don't have a starter this year, I'm making several other goodies to take along. I've decided on Chocolate Chip Muffins, Maple Pecan Muffins, and Almond Cinnamon Cookies. These are all do-able in a night, will keep well on the trip to the beach (not to mention convenient to snack on in the car), and aren't expensive to make. I'm also making supper one night while I'm there, and I'm going to do my lasagna with garlic bread, and probably a salad. I think I'm also going to attempt real sangria. I have a recipe with, like 11 ingredients. Apparently it's not just juice and wine, people.
In other news, there's no news on the job front. I've sent out about 25 applications. I had one first-round interview with no follow-up, and two rejections. I'm staying at the Brooks Center for the rest of the summer, then if I can't line anything up, I guess I'll just move home. :-\ Summer crew at the Brooks has been pretty awesome so far. There's lots of sitting around and cleaning. I did get to run the sound board for a dance school recital last weekend. That was pretty cool, and I'm less terrified of sound world now. Our sound console is a digital board, so I'd like to learn how an analog board works before I go, and I still want to get some practice on the older light boards so I'm not all spoiled and pretentious when I get to a theatre that doesn't have all the latest and best technology. :-P
If I knew anything about running a business, I would love to just try for a business loan and open up my cafe/bakery/bookstore that I've been dreaming about. I was told again today (after someone sampled my awesome Cinnamon Banana Cookies) that I should open a bakery. Maybe I'll happen upon a business-savvy partner and they can take care of the bookkeeping and bureaucracy and I can handle the baking and book-stocking. Any takers? :-P
Connected with the beach trip is my beach baking. Last year I took homemade granola bars and several loaves of Amish Friendship Bread, which were a big hit (especially the chocolate chip). Well, the Amish Friendship Bread comes from a starter that you feed for a week and then bake, after taking out three more starters to pass on. Well, I can never NOT keep another starter for myself, so once I get one, I have to keep making bread every week until I get sick of it. Since I don't have a starter this year, I'm making several other goodies to take along. I've decided on Chocolate Chip Muffins, Maple Pecan Muffins, and Almond Cinnamon Cookies. These are all do-able in a night, will keep well on the trip to the beach (not to mention convenient to snack on in the car), and aren't expensive to make. I'm also making supper one night while I'm there, and I'm going to do my lasagna with garlic bread, and probably a salad. I think I'm also going to attempt real sangria. I have a recipe with, like 11 ingredients. Apparently it's not just juice and wine, people.
In other news, there's no news on the job front. I've sent out about 25 applications. I had one first-round interview with no follow-up, and two rejections. I'm staying at the Brooks Center for the rest of the summer, then if I can't line anything up, I guess I'll just move home. :-\ Summer crew at the Brooks has been pretty awesome so far. There's lots of sitting around and cleaning. I did get to run the sound board for a dance school recital last weekend. That was pretty cool, and I'm less terrified of sound world now. Our sound console is a digital board, so I'd like to learn how an analog board works before I go, and I still want to get some practice on the older light boards so I'm not all spoiled and pretentious when I get to a theatre that doesn't have all the latest and best technology. :-P
If I knew anything about running a business, I would love to just try for a business loan and open up my cafe/bakery/bookstore that I've been dreaming about. I was told again today (after someone sampled my awesome Cinnamon Banana Cookies) that I should open a bakery. Maybe I'll happen upon a business-savvy partner and they can take care of the bookkeeping and bureaucracy and I can handle the baking and book-stocking. Any takers? :-P
Monday, May 16, 2011
Overeaters Not-So-Anonymous
Hi, my name is Torrey and I have a problem. I suck at taking care of myself. I eat constantly. Take today for example. I started out ok, had a granola bar for breakfast, spaghetti for lunch... then I started to eat everything in sight. I started with a pre-supper peanut butter and jelly... which turned into two peanut butter and jellies. Then came a bowl of cereal and 4 Reese's cups. At which point I should have been more than satisfied, but I decided to go to Arby's. I wasn't even hungry and I had this huge, greasy meal. What the hell? I do this all the time. Sometimes it's not fast food, I just eat all the healthy food that I've bought for a week in one sitting. Still not good.
Now, when I'm exercising regularly and feeling good about myself, I eat more normally and have much more self-control. The problem is, I CANNOT seem to make myself stick to a workout routine. I did the P90 workouts religiously... for about a week and a half. Now I do them maybe twice a week. (Sorry, Josh and Megan. :-P) I'm too stingy to join a gym, and I love running, but until I get back in shape, I don't want to run in public, so I think I'm at an impasse.
I'm sure if I went to a therapist, they would discover some deep emotional or mental reason that I keep sabotaging my weight loss and happiness, but since I can't afford a therapist, and don't really like talking, that probably won't happen any time soon. In the meantime, if anyone wants to move in with me and watch my every move and forbid me to eat when I'm not hungry, please feel free.
Probably connected with this whole situation is my extreme laziness. I've had two days off, and I've done absolutely nothing. I cleaned for, like, 15 minutes this morning, and I ran to Wal-Mart tonight. That's it. In the past 48 hours. My house should be spotless, I should have a tray of some kind of baked goods to take to work tomorrow, I should have exercised at least twice.... But I sat around and watched The O.C. for countless hours instead. I'm even too lazy to call my mom or return my grandmother's letter. (I'll call tomorrow night, Mom, I swear. If not, call me. I should get off at 5.)
If anyone has any suggestions on how to cure my laziness, lack of willpower, and binge eating, please offer them up. (And stuff like 'just make yourself do it' isn't helpful. I've tried that. I fail.) I need a life coach.
P.S. Sorry this is such a bitchy, whine-y post. I'm just angry and frustrated at myself. I'll post something funny and/or optimistic and/or happy soon, I promise. :-P
Now, when I'm exercising regularly and feeling good about myself, I eat more normally and have much more self-control. The problem is, I CANNOT seem to make myself stick to a workout routine. I did the P90 workouts religiously... for about a week and a half. Now I do them maybe twice a week. (Sorry, Josh and Megan. :-P) I'm too stingy to join a gym, and I love running, but until I get back in shape, I don't want to run in public, so I think I'm at an impasse.
I'm sure if I went to a therapist, they would discover some deep emotional or mental reason that I keep sabotaging my weight loss and happiness, but since I can't afford a therapist, and don't really like talking, that probably won't happen any time soon. In the meantime, if anyone wants to move in with me and watch my every move and forbid me to eat when I'm not hungry, please feel free.
Probably connected with this whole situation is my extreme laziness. I've had two days off, and I've done absolutely nothing. I cleaned for, like, 15 minutes this morning, and I ran to Wal-Mart tonight. That's it. In the past 48 hours. My house should be spotless, I should have a tray of some kind of baked goods to take to work tomorrow, I should have exercised at least twice.... But I sat around and watched The O.C. for countless hours instead. I'm even too lazy to call my mom or return my grandmother's letter. (I'll call tomorrow night, Mom, I swear. If not, call me. I should get off at 5.)
If anyone has any suggestions on how to cure my laziness, lack of willpower, and binge eating, please offer them up. (And stuff like 'just make yourself do it' isn't helpful. I've tried that. I fail.) I need a life coach.
P.S. Sorry this is such a bitchy, whine-y post. I'm just angry and frustrated at myself. I'll post something funny and/or optimistic and/or happy soon, I promise. :-P
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