G is for Guilty Pleasure

What is your Guilty Pleasure?

It could be anything from food, to a bad song, to your favorite old ratty sweatpants, we all have a guilty pleasure.

Mine is diner (steak) fries with gravy. Not gravy as in spaghetti sauce, like the northern Jerseyians call it, I mean brown gravy. The stuff you put on mashed potatoes. I don't like cheese & gravy (aka disco fries) just gravy. I like cheese fries too, but not on diner fries.

There use to be fast food place in Piscataway called Mr. Burger. They served a spicy cheese sauce that was perfect for McDonalds type fries. Heck, even our baseball snack stand serves a good cheese with the crinkle cut fries that call my name when I'm down at the fields watching my kids play.

But submitting to those guilty pleasure treats for me need to be few and far between. I'm still on a mission to lose weight. As of today, April 8, 2011, I have lost 60 POUNDS.

Here is what losing 60 POUNDS looks like on me.

Now my guilty pleasure is watching the skirt in the above picture fall off and watching the scale move DOWN. I am halfway to another "decade" of numbers and hope to be in the new "decade" in a few weeks. I was stuck at 59lbs lost for almost 2 months, so this movement is very motivational.

But everyone once in a while, when nothing in the freezer appeals to me, or I don't feel like cooking, we head over to the diner.

And no matter how hard I try to resist, I always give in to those fries & gravy.

So what is your Guilty Pleasure?

F is for Food on the Boardwalk

hmm boardwalk food. Since not everyone is lucky enough to experience boardwalk food, today I will try to explain the experience of Boardwalk food.

When I see my friends around the world write about how they got pizza at (insert chain pizza place) and how good it is, I weep for them. It shows me that they have never had good pizza. Now, I will say that NYC has awesome pizza too, but we're talking Jersey Shore pizza here.

There are at least 10 to 15 different pizza places on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights. You can tell they're all good because besides the smell of the ocean, one of the first smells that hits you when you get out of your car, is the pizza. There's one place at the south end of the boardwalk that serves slices as long as your arm. Nothing like having a slice of pipping hot FRESH pizza, with your choice of toppings after a day at the beach, or a night on the boards.

Except maybe a sausage sandwich.

With Peppers and Onions or just sauce, the sausage sandwiches on the best rolls, this stand sells are out of this world! Add to it a LARGE freshly made lemonade and you have your own little slice of heaven in your hands.

Still hungry? Because no trip to the boardwalk is complete without some ice cream from Kohr's, a boardwalk icon for as long as I can remember. A twist of this or a twist of that, it's all good.

And don't even get me started on their hot waffles with ice cream. But you gotta eat it fast!

Not an ice cream fan, or want something to take for the ride home? Then you need to hit any one of the stands that sell this carb coma inducing delight.

Funnel Cake

Now I've seen Funnel Cake topped with hot fudge, or fruit, etc. However, nothing beats a hot plate of fried dough, topped with a blizzard of powdered sugar.

So as I sit here eating low carb foods and drinking tons of water in a last ditch attempt to get some more weight off (See my journey here)

in the last 11 weeks of Spring, I am now drooling on my keyboard wondering if the sausage stand is open this weekend.

So pass me a napkin & meet me at Sumner Avenue on the boardwalk, I'll be the slightly chunky woman with sauce running down my chin!

The Letter E for Etsy

I sell on Etsy. I decided a year ago (tomorrow) that Etsy would be a good place for me to get started selling my custom beach writings. There has been some rumblings from some sellers about the direction Etsy is going, honestly, I stay out of it. I thankfully haven't had any problems, and since I've only been doing this for a year I have no way of knowing if my sales are slowing or growing.

One of the BIG BIG bonuses of selling on Etsy is the connections you make. So in honor of blogging the alphabet and today being the letter E, I'm going to show you the friends and connections I've made on Etsy. Since I have the worst memory, I will say this list is NOT complete!

NeverTooOld - GREAT guy, friendly, has awesome stuff in his shop and a great blog too!

UmlautGraphics - Funny, funny woman with some amazing graphic abilities!

Annabelsaprons - Not only does she make great aprons, she's HYSTERICAL to talk to! Ask her how her screen printing is going!

Funky Chunkies - This one keeps tempting me with her awesome bracelets! You have to check them out. Another GREAT person to chat with!

PureSimplicitySoaps - Hysterical, fun, smart & she makes homemade Vegan soaps. I didn't know soaps weren't Vegan until I started chatting with her!

Heartsabustin - I'm so glad I don't sell jewelry on etsy, I wouldn't want to be in competition with this great shop owner! She has such original stuff!

CosmikSouls - Not only does she make some of the most unique items on etsy, she has a great business sense as well I enjoy our conversations!

BigSkyArtworks - They make "hand thrown unique art" I have no idea what hand thrown means. But their stuff is really cool! And they're always fun to have in chat!

MarkEdell - Amazing photographer!

TheTeaPartyLady - I know this owner in real life and she makes me wish I had a daughter!

FreedomToExpress - She's so sweet. In chat she'll promote your shop over and over again! Love her!

VetekArtistMaine - Not only does he make chat fun, his paintings are amazing. Love his newest one, Hundertwasserhaus

1madwoman - Great bags, and becareful when drinking something when she's in chat, or at least have a towel to wipe off your monitor!

TwinkleJewels85 - Another great woman to chat with and funny! Her shop makes me think of the beach with all the turquoise!

HeritagePrimitives - Fellow Jerseyian and creates some amazing beautiful wood signs with some great sayings!
Petitbijouartshop - One of the first chatters I bought from. She is so sweet & kind, a true treasure to know!

Ok I have to stop here and get back to my day job. I will probably update this list as the day goes on. But please check out their shops, and mine too!!!

D is for Delivery!

I'm waiting not so patiently for a delivery to come today. As soon as it gets here, I will update this post.

11:05am - still waiting on my favorite FedEx guy with my delivery!!!

12:20pm and a white truck just pulled up in front of my house... it's a damn township truck!!

AAAARRRGGGGHHH I have an online meeting to attend from 1 to 2, so I'm sure that is when Fedex will show up!

1pm - in the online meeting, still no Fedex delivery!

1:30pm

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!!!!!

This is a 16x24 inch canvas I had printed by

www.canvasondemand.com

and I LOVE IT!

I can't wait to hang this for everyone to see!!!!!

Letter C: Car door vs. Thumb

Since I go to the beach every couple of days to fill orders for my custom beach writing business, my car usually looks like I've been on vacation at the beach for 2 weeks. There is enough sand to build a sandcastle ground into my carpet.

Yesterday, I decide to clean it. I go out with the garbage bag and Windex and make the inside all pretty. I attempted to vacuum it, but the filter on the dyson was full so I had minimal suction. You need serious suction to get sand out of a carpet. At that point my younger son asked me to drive him to his friends house. I figure since I'm going out anyway, I'll hit the do-it-yourself car wash & vacuum out the car.

Drop the child at his friends and head over to the car wash. I pull in and there is plenty of open spots so I pull in and get out of the car.

And close the car door on my right thumb.

I saw stars and grabbed my right thumb with my left hand. I stay like that for a few moments and slowly open my hand to check out the damage.

That's when I saw BLOOD! :faint:

I have napkins in the car but nothing to really clean the wound so I wrap it up in napkins and head home. I'm mad at myself because I wanted to do a little shopping after cleaning my car, but I can't go out with BLOOD all over my hands! LOL

Of course I had to take a picture of damage. Not only because I take pictures of everything, but also I needed to ask everyone I know if I needed stitches LOL General opinion is that I did not need stitches. So if you are brave, click the link below.

I'm leaving the picture as a link for the squeamish (like me)

My Injury

It's still sore, but thankfully not broken.

Day 2 of the A to Z Challenge

B is for Beach - Nah that's too easy.

B is for Boats - Nope, did anchors yesterday.

B is for Boardwalk. Ok I like that one.

Have you ever been to the boardwalk? It's a lot of fun. The TV show Jersey Shore really doesn't portray Seaside Boardwalk for what it really is. It's a trash dump. Ok that's harsh. It's a playground for the folks from Northern NJ and New York. I really only like to go there either right before the season starts, or right after it ends. My older son is big enough to drive the regular sized go-karts and that's his favorite thing to do. But the last 2 times we went there it's earned it's name Sleaze-Side. One time I ran into 2 guys wearing shirts that said such vulgar things that even *I* with a mouth like a truck driver, will not repeat. The other time, my friends husband was driving a go-kart with his 10 yo son and some jack ass decided it would be funny to crash into him and spin him. Good thing that guy got out of the go-kart and ran because he would have been hurting had he stuck around.

And lets not even get into the crowd that has shown up since Jersey Shore started filming down there.

If you talk to the old timers, and I guess at 41 I could be considered an "old timer" it really never changes. Sure the styles change and the faces change but the mentality doesn't.

But Point Pleasant is nice. I don't run into the same mentality of idiots I do in Sleaze-Side. I don't go to Wildwood or Ocean City boardwalks enough to comment on them. If you do, let me know what you think of them.

So as the season approaches and the Benny's (oh shit, I should have done a post on Benny's!) get ready to invade like cockroaches, I'll continue to do like I always do. I'll find a nice quiet beach to do my beach writings early in the morning and get back to the safe haven of my home long before anyone else is awake.

Anchors Away!

Yesterday, while listening to Dennis & Judi on NJ101.5 I heard a caller talk about doing a blog challenge. Basically it is the A to Z challenge. Every day you have to post about topic for each letter of the alphabet, in order. There is a link over there to the right if you want to join in!

My challenge to myself is to blog about something beach or New Jersey related for each letter. This is going to be interesting when we get to Q or X! LOL

New Jersey has about 130 miles of coast line. It's the only place in the world where you have to PAY to get on the beach. Sure, other places charge for parking, they do that here too! My town started a new thing that they start charging for parking starting April 1st. I thought at first it was a April Fools joke, but no, it's real. AND they don't have season parking passes ready yet. But the happy news, since I go to the beach to do my beach writings, I can write the expense off on my taxes! It's a bit ridiculous that they start charging for parking when the season doesn't even start until Memorial Day!!!!

So if you want to enjoy the Jersey Shore without paying to get on the beach, get a boat. Yeah it's not cheaper to have a boat vs. paying for a beach pass, but there are benefits to being on boat vs the beach.

You can be topless if you want

You can smoke

You can have ALCOHOL

(though have a designated driver)

If you don't like where you've anchored your boat, just bring up the anchor & move!

However, if you are on a boat and not on the beach, you have NO chance of running into me doing my beach writings. Sometimes I even draw boats!