April Showers Bring May Flowers

Well this year, the April showers were late, so May flowers just had to wait. Btw, the cherry blossoms were in peak bloom for exactly one day, after a late blooming season. They were completely washed out the next day by high wind and heavy rain.

This year's weather has been so bizarre! Winter, Spring, Summer, I can't even tell which season we're in anymore. It's been pretty much cold since fall, with few bouts of warm weather. I think sometime in March, we had a 92 degree day and the following day we went back to the 50's. Monday morning was the opposite, it was around 55 degrees and yesterday was 87 degrees. Today's weather called for plenty of sunshine and a nice breeze...but I just peeked outside the window and saw it was drizzling...WHAT?! It's rained every single day of the week two weeks ago and that was no fun for the work commute (seriously, what is worse than wet people on a bus or train during rush hour? There's always that one person car that smells like wet dog). I'm ready to pack up all my winter clothes and bring out the summer ones but I'm not sure I can right now, because you never know with this temperamental weather we're having.

I just hope tomorrow is nice, and stays nice, because I have plans for after work which I'm very much looking forward to.

Photo Dump, yay!

Tried this

Lot bigger than I expected but very delicious. 4/5 stars!!!

Had to drive slowly behind this guy for a few mins. Luckily I was in no rush

I noticed after eating 2 of these that it comes with this knife/spoon combo. Neat

Woke up to snow on Monday... in spring time!!! NO NO NO

I'd rather be on the beach taking pictures taking these pictures over again. YES YES YES

Saw a guy setting up shop on the sidewalk on sunday afternoon... wondering if he made any sales?

Luther

I finally finished watching seasons 1 and 2 of the BBC show Luther after hearing and reading many rave reviews and I must say the reviews were right on the money! It's an excellent show. Idris Elba nails his character perfectly and so does Ruth Wilson. Both DCI Luther and Alice are completely...well, CRAZY!

The show draws a parallel between my other favorite shows Law and Order SVU and CI. In fact, DCI Luther reminds me so much of Detective Goren on L& O: CI. Both are extremely brilliant and borderline weird at times but I absolutely love it. Two thumbs up. I only had 2 itty bitty problems with the show: only 4 episodes per season. Four!! I understand the whole idea of quality over quantity but come on!! Four episodes is just too little. Hope they add on a few more episodes in season 3, fingers crossed. The other issue I had with the show was the accent. I barely understood what the was being said on a few occasions (lol) but that was quickly remedied by the 10second play back button on Netflix. 

With all that said, I have to bring up an unrelated but related gripe I have and that is Law and Order: UK. WHAT is that? As I already mentioned, L&O: SVU, CI and the original (in that order) are my favorite all time TV shows. The story lines are so good so it baffles me as to how the same show, albeit a different location, but the same premise can suck so much? I want to like it however, L&O: UK is just...sigh.

Firsts (Part 2)

Today, I'm remembering the first time I drove a car.

Winter break, 10th grade.

My first time behind the wheel WAS.A.TOTAL.DISASTER! I was convinced I was going to lose control of the car and crash into something, or worse, kill someone.

Never mind the fact that:
1. I was practicing in a practically deserted parking lot of my neighborhood
2. I had to be driving at a top speed of 5 mph
3. There weren't any people walking around anywhere
4. I was driving to the neighborhood pool, which was about 300 feet away

I freaked out when I realized there was a car behind me and I started to panic and sweat profusely LOL. I laugh now but then, I was about ready to pass out. I had had enough and was ready to throw in the towel but my brother, who was giving me the lesson at the time would not let me quit. It took me forever and a day to drive those 300 feet!!!!!!  After that, I was DONE...

Until I had to go back to school in a few weeks to begin drivers ed. Luckily, the jitters were all gone by then.

Firsts

Happy New Year!


Been a while...

Moving on.

As I was laying in bed yesterday, my mind was doing what it does best on lazy mornings, like thinking very random thoughts about debit cards, then I was somehow taken back to when I opened my first bank account. So today, and for the next couple of blog posts, I'm going to touch on the first time I ever _____________.

Today's blog as I mentioned will be chronicling the first time I opened a personal bank account.

In 9th grade, I had no job so the only money I made came from my parents wallets and other kind and generous family members... those were the days! In 10th grade, I started babysitting a few days a week and on some weekends. I used to make decent money. It was pretty awesome to be able to drop a $20 while out and about and STILL have tons of money left over, and by  tons of money left over, I mean like another $80-$100 dollars. It was the greatest feeling at the time to have my OWN lunch and pocket money. I was doing big things at the school cafeteria and vending machines. But the thing about the babysitting gig was, the money was not consistent. I'd be rich one month and poor the next. So in 11th grade, I decided I needed a real job. One with real pay checks so with some help, I got hired as a hostess at a restaurant and I.WAS.ECSTATIC! I could be a real adult!! My faaaaaaaavorite part about having a job was when I got to say to people ' oh ___________ is happening today between 5pm and 8pm? Sorry I can't make it, I HAVE TO WORK!' And I made sure to emphasize my having to work. Yes, I'm very aware of the irony of it all these days. Anyway, the biggest disappointment of my working career was waiting patiently the first 2 weeks of working for my check to arrive in the mail only to find out that I had to wait an additional week to receive the check. I was SO sad when my mom explained it to me. I had plans for that money! Anyway, the second biggest disappointment came when I finally received my check in the mail after what felt like a month of waiting to realize that the amount on my check didn't add up to my meticulous calculation of how much I thought I was going to receive because of this tiny little insignificant thing called TAXES !!!

After another week of waiting, my check finally arrived in the mail. So on a nice sunny Florida Saturday, Mama drove me to the bank to open up my very first account with my first paycheck. With my check, ID and social in tow, I stepped into the bank feeling like an adult. I cheesed the whoooooole entire time I was there. Mama told them why we were there and a really nice guy helped me open my first personal account. He congratulated me on my first job and first paycheck. I answered all his questions as I was being set up with my first account. He opened up a student advantage account for me, gave me two check books, CHECK BOOKS Y'ALL! *Squeal*, (which lasted me like 6 years by the way...I signed a check every 3 months lol) and encouraged me to get a picture ID debit card because it was the smart thing to do. I looked a little rough that day but nothing was going to stop me from getting my picture debit card so I smiled for the camera and boy did I smile! Finally, I was asked to sign some forms and after that, I was given a temporary debit card to access my money. He also encouraged me to sign up for online banking and gave me all the relevant information to get me started and after that it was official, I had my own bank account. That had to be one of the happiest days of my life! I left the bank feeling pretty darn accomplished!!!