Cape Cod White Cheddar Popcorn

There are two kinds of people in this world, people who love popcorn, and people who don’t.  If you were to ask me in conversation, “Do you love popcorn?“  I’d probably say not really.  I don’t crave it – I don’t make it – I don’t even get it when I go to the movies, except on rare occasions.  And kettle corn?  No thanks.  Microwaveable?  I’ll pass.  It’s just not all that important to me. 

BUT, you put a bag of Cape Cod White Cheddar popcorn in front of me, and I devour it like there’s no tomorrow.  I can easily eat an entire bag in one sitting, but I usually try and minimize it to just half a bag.  I eat it for lunch, I eat it for dinner, hell, I’ll even eat it for breakfast.

Now I’ve tried other brands of white cheddar popcorn, and they just don’t stack up in my opinion.  They may be decent, and I guess if I had to eat them, I would, but nothing compares to Cape Cod.  It’s so delicious, and I’d definitely say I’m a bit obsessive about it.  Seriously, everyone should give it a try.

So in my quest to eat every bag ever produced, I’m always on the hunt for it.  The scarcity of the product probably drives my ever-increasing desire.  I wish more Publix‘ carried it, but only a few do.  And I know I can special order it through Customer Service, but a special shout out to my mom for keeping my supply of this delicious delicacy in stock in my pantry.  She goes above and beyond in bringing me a bag or two every time she sees me.  Without her, I’d probably be going through withdrawals.  So thanks mom for keeping my obsession alive…and stop trying to keep a bag for yourself now and then.  Your Publix carries it every day of the week.

The moral of this little diddy is this – if we’re just talking popcorn, eh, I can take it or leave it.  But if we’re talking Cape Cod White Cheddar popcorn, well then, that’s a much different story.  Why didn’t you say so?  Of course I’d like a handful or two or three, or the whole bag.  I mean, we wouldn’t want it to go to waste, would we?  In fact…there’s a bag in my pantry calling my name right now.  Cape Cod deliciousness here I come!

Happy to be here...

A lot of my friends have become self-reflective over the past week, and its understandable why.  So I wanted to take this opportunity to remind myself of what I'm most grateful for - beautiful locations I'm still able to visit, amazing friends and family, and my mom, dressed like the ultimate tourist.  Love to you all!

France - Oh la la

Since my last post was about travel planning, I figured it was only natural to talk about one of my favorite places to travel to – France!  For whatever reason, France has always fascinated me.  In school I began taking Spanish as every good Floridian should, but I quickly realized I wanted to do something different – so I signed up for French.  Three years in high school, a minor in it in college, and I’m still nowhere near fluent., but I can get around. (J’ai etudié il y a sept ans, mais je ne le practique pas tous les jours.)

I was lucky enough to go to France twice in high school with my French class.  It was my first time overseas, and it was of course magical.  All these sites and amazing monuments just had in me in awe, and that was all it took.  I was hooked on traveling around the world and especially hooked on France.  Overall, I’ve visited the country five times over the last 14 years, and I’ve traveled there in all sorts of ways – class trips, studying abroad and with family and friends. 

I‘ve visited Paris, the French Riviera and the beaches of Normandy, but I’ve hardly scratched the surface of everything there is to see in that beautiful country.  On my next trip to France (because there will be a next trip), I want to do a wine tour – visit the Champagne region, the Burgundy region and all the other regions where they do wine the best.  That would be a dream trip.  Now to make that happen!

But back to the City of Light – my favorite European city I’ve visited to date.  It just happens to be the home of my all-time favorite monument – the Eiffel Tower.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower in person is probably what started my love of France.  Anyone who’s been to my house can immediately see how passionate I am about it – since everything in my apartment decoration-wise probably has an Eiffel Tower on it.  It’s just beautiful.

When you get past the gypsies, the pickpockets and the graffiti, Paris is a beautiful city.  Strolling along in the Latin Quarter or near the Notre Dame Cathedral, you can see the romantic Paris that everyone pictures in their mind.  The trick is to find someplace off the beaten path where there aren’t a lot of tourists.  My old buddy Rick Steves helps out in this area quite a bit – bring his book with you!

By now, I consider myself a regular ol‘ tour guide for this city, so if anyone is planning a trip, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or need advice.  I think I’ve pretty much done everything there – well almost everything.  And my number one tip or piece of advice for anyone traveling there – learn a little bit of French and don’t be afraid to use it.

My second piece of advice - go to Notre Dame and make sure you stand on the “heart of Paris“ – it’s a small medallion right in front of the church that is the exact center of the city.  They say if you stand on it, then one day you’ll return.  Every trip I’ve done it, and I’ve always gone back.

On that note – adieu, a bientôt!

Travel Planning

I love the idea of going on trips.  I love the countless hours spent researching places to go, things to do, and imagining the experience of being there.  I love travel planning.  I’m sure a lot of people hate that kind of thing and cannot be bothered to do it, but seriously is there anything better to a self-professed travel lover?

I get the itch to travel probably every few months.  Sometimes it’s a big trip, others it’s a small trip, but overall it doesn’t matter to me.  I’ll go anywhere.  I think just the idea of going someplace new excites the hell out of me, and I can’t wait to delve into all the little details. 

Right now I’m planning my 30th birthday trip.  All my best girlfriends decided for our 30th’s we would go on a fun trip.  My bestie Jen did a cruise to the Caribbean and Central America (super fun), my friend MaeLee did a trip to Vegas (also fun, but bad timing for me after a 3-day overnight shoot), so now it’s my turn.  I was playing around with two ideas – a fun-in-the-sun trip to St. Thomas, USVI, or a wine country trip in Napa or Sonoma.  I mean we all know that I love my wine, but I have family history in St. Thomas, so that draws me as well.  The decision ended up being an easy one – my mom refuses to go to wine country, so St. Thomas it is.

St. Thomas, USVI

The worst thing about travel planning in my opinion is booking a flight.  I hate never knowing if I’m getting the absolute best price.  If I think a price is too high, I never know if I should wait for it to go back down (will it?) or go ahead and book it before it goes up in price even more.  Ugh the decisions.  It’s what I’m struggling with now the most for my St. Thomas trip.  I feel the price is ridiculously high, but the predictor on BingTravel is telling me to wait because it’ll go back down.  I’m putting my faith and trust in you BingTravel – don’t let me down!  I’m sure every travel planner goes through this same nightmare.  Why can’t they standardize airline fares and make it easy for everyone?  It’s such a racket.

Once the flight is booked, I’m much more at ease.  Hotels, activities, itineraries – all of that is so much easier to figure out and get accomplished.  You can always find a hotel in whatever price range you need, and once you know what you want to do when there, itineraries are a cinch (omg yes I said cinch).

Magen's Bay

In St. Thomas there’s no shortage of things to do.  Explore the island, go to world-famous Magen’s Bay, hang out in what I hope is a luxury villa overlooking the sea with our own private pool (a girl can dream right?), and taking a side trip over to St. John for the day.  Endless ideas to flesh out and plan.  As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not a spontaneous fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl, but I’m also not particularly anal about schedules.  I will plan the things I want to do and they happen when they happen – as long as I’ve thought it out ahead of time about how to go about doing it, we’re set.

So wish me luck as I plan my latest and greatest trip.  After two other amazing 30th birthday trips, I’m hoping mine will be just as good. 

And after St. Thomas, where will I plan a trip to next?  Let’s consult my list of top places to visit (in no particular order):

-       Norway/Sweden

-       Japan (well let’s wait a few years on this one)

-       Argentina/Chile

-       Alaska

-       Austrailia/New Zealand

Norway Fjords

Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Patagonia - Argentina/Chile

Alaska

Sydney, Australia

New Zealand

Let the travel planning dreaming begin!  And happy travel planning to everyone else out there!

British Television

Mr. Darcy

So I love the Brits…and not just because of their dreamy accents.  And I like it all – not just period pieces with the likes of Mr. Darcy (although very dreamy). The main way I get my British television is from PBS‘ Masterpiece Theater.  Masterpiece Classic in the Winter and Spring, and Masterpiece Mystery in the Summer and Fall.

I grew up on PBS.  My parents never invested in cable or satellite television, so there was a limit to the number of channels we got, and invariably the TV was almost always turned to PBS.  “This Old House,“ “New Yankee Workshop,“ “Victory Garden,“ “Cooking with Julia,“ etc, etc, etc., and of course Masterpiece are all shows that I grew up watching.  I never really appreciated any of it until the last four or five years or so, and now that I do, I can’t get enough of it.

Masterpiece Classic is always some type of period piece, like remakes of Jane Austen or Charles Dickens classics.  They weave in some more contemporary time periods as well, like this year’s Downton Abbey, which was set during the early 20th century.  The stories are all so amazing, and the cast of actors and actresses are recognizable from all sorts of British shows.  It’s like a 6 Degrees of Separation of British Television – do you recognize so and so from such and such?

Inspector Lewis

Masterpice Mystery is my all-time favorite.  I can remember the theme “song“ from when I was very little, and it always fascinated me with the girl wailing on top of the roof of an old manor house.  The titles for mystery range from Ms. Marple and Poirot to Inspector Lewis, Wallander and the new Sherlock.  Inspector Lewis is an offshoot of the Inspector Morse series (which my mom and I are rewatching right now).  Inspector Lewis‘ Detective Sargeant Hathaway is very dreamy too.  Tall, blonde, genius, a little nerdy – kind of like Steve Jerve the weatherman (who I also have a slight crush on).   The Inspector series are typically murder mysteries set in Oxford, England, and with that kind of education, they all are pretty smart.

Sherlock

Wallander

Now all that’s on PBS of course, and there’s obviously the BBC America channel.  I’ve got quite a few titles in my Netflix queue – MI 5 and the BBC version of Being Human just to name a few. I’m just starting to get into all the shows there, so I’ll keep you posted on what I end up loving.

There’s just something about British television that makes it feel so smart.  The stories are gripping, and it’s easy to become slightly obssesed (like myself).  I’m always looking forward to the next episode or the next story to debut, so I can get swept away in all the classics and mysteries that the Brits are so good at executing.

Human Oddities

That title just sounds "odd," but I must admit that I’m a sucker for anything on TLC or Discovery Health with the title “My Shocking Story“ or “Half Ton Mom“ or “My Giant Legs.“  The lives of these people are so fascinating. Albinos being hunted by witch doctors in Africa…yes please. The Tree Man from Indonesia (but wait there are two of them?!), obviously!  My DVR is set to record, and I enjoy watching the oddities in life at my leisure.

My coworkers love to hear about the newest weird show I saw the other night (okay, maybe not love, maybe tolerate).  I regale them with stories about people who can conduct electricity with their bare hands, the world’s tallest children or the latest stories about the morbidly obese. 

And while I don’t necessarily consider this too much of an oddity, my love of the Duggars (the couple with 19, yes 19, children) comes up now and again as well.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the lives of Jim Bob, Michelle, Josh, Jana, John David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordan and Josie?  And no, I didn’t cheat and look up their names.  And PS – Jackson and Johannah are my favorites.

And while I’m not a fan of “Little People, Big World,“ I do love “The Little Couple.“ The husband is 4‘ tall, the wife is 3‘2“.  She’s a doctor, he’s a businessman, and they’re building a new custom-made home in Houston, Texas. I feel a slight connection with the wife since she’s from St. Petersburg.  I mean, we’re practically neighbors.

The more I learn about the world outside my little piece of earth, the more I’m fascinated by the stories.  Of course, I’m sure my coworkers would like me to love shows about people just a little bit more normal, but really, who and what are normal?  I’m guessing that if I lived in the 1800s, I would be first in line to see the Elephant Man, the Bearded Lady and the Wolfman, but hey, aren’t we all just a little bit curious?

A Little Bit Country?

Now before you judge, I happen to love country music, horseback riding, Nascar, country line dancing and the like.  I know how that looks, so I’m ready for all the jokes.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to put on cowboy boots everyday with a big belt buckle and cowboy hat, or talk with a severe Southern drawl, but a girl can like the country things in life without totally being a complete redneck right?  I can hear you disagreeing from here.

So I’ve seen horse jumping competitions, the Professional Bull Riders tour, and I’ve done country line dancing a time or two or three or a hundred, but I’d never been to a Nascar race.  Well, cross it off the list folks because this year I went to the Daytona 500.  I had the most amazing time ever.  I can see why over 150,000 people attend this thing every year.  The rush of adrenaline still hasn’t faded (okay well maybe a little), but seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of stereotypical rednecks attending this race.  Almost everyone I saw looked a bit normal, like me and my group of friends.  Of course there was the occasional camo and this guy, but all in all, it seemed like a stand up crowd.  I was also blown away by the sheer amount of people.  The sea of humanity never ended, as far as the eye could see, and of course, they all parked and entered/exited in the exact same place.

Beyond all the people, the race itself was absolutely exhiliarating.  TV just does not do it justice – in terms of the speed, the noise and the strategy involved.  We were sitting in the front row along the front stretch, just behind the start/finish line, and the feeling of the huge mass of air that followed behind the cars was unreal.  We were sitting so close that specks of tire rubber landed on us every lap because the cars were going so fast.

I think everyone should put a Nascar race on their bucket list.  It’s completely worth it to see just once in your life, so you can really comprehend how fast these drivers go.  Make sure you go all out and rent a scanner too, so you can listen to the drivers talk to their spotters and crew chiefs.  It just adds another level of entertainmnent, and something to do for all those people out there that just think the cars go round and round in a circle.

I would say the worst part of the entire experience was getting there and leaving.  I’m sure its no easy task for law enforcement to manage the flow of cars, but there’s gotta be a better way.  I’ve decided that next year, because there will be a next year, maybe it would be a better idea to rent an RV and spend the weekend.  While this girl may be a little bit (okay a lot a bit) country, she is definitely not into spending the night in the great outdoors.  Give me a working bathroom and the creature comforts of home, and I’m in.

So in the words of all the grand marshalls for all the races and until next year….gentlemen….start….your….engines!