DTPOTP

I had a fun idea to write certain posts on a weekly basis, to give myself some structure and goals for blogging. Not that this is a new concept – basically all my favorite blogs do some kind of weekly link post – but it’s something I haven’t really done and wanted to try.

So here’s the first installment of Friday Fancies, a round-up of things I’m enjoying and reading during the past week. Wait – is it Saturday now? Shhh…just flip your calendar back one day and pretend it’s Friday. All good.

Reading: Still obsessed with ruins and broken-down sites. This roundup of Olympic structures after the games is fascinating and disturbing.

Listening: "Pompeii" by Bastille. Perfect for commuting and loud singing.

Fixating on: The new app from A Beautiful Mess. So much fun. Example below!

Mr. and Mrs.

Eating/Craving: CAPRESE SALAD. Seriously, I could eat variations on fresh mozzarella, summer tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar all summer long. Big tomatoes! Small tomatoes! Perfect and delicious. I will eat it ALL.

Doing: SilverPop Amplify 2013, a conference for work in the Big Bad City (aka Atlanta). Lots of good information on email marketing but also exhausting. I’m all for acquiring knowledge but I’m ready for a normal work week.

Dreading: Don’t worry, this won’t be a category every week (I hope). I have to buy a maternity swimsuit today. Swimsuit shopping is a torment in the best of times, but while pregnant? Extra stressful. Can I just wear this all summer?

Burka Swimsuit

Perhaps not. Jason might object.

Assuming I’m successful in the Great Swimsuit Quest of 2013, I’m hoping the weather holds for the first pool visit of the summer today. Those clouds outside are not looking promising! We shall see.

Ok! Time for a wee round-up of Forum news. No word on when Ulta will be making an appearance — the signage still says “coming soon” which could mean literally anything. I’ve made a few inquiries and I’ll keep y’all updated on when I learn more.

While walking around the Forum recently, I spotted a new store that’s coming soon: Lizard Thicket.

Odd name aside, it’s a trendy clothing boutique. It will be interesting to see if it becomes a mainstay like Festivity or has a short run like Kate’s. Personally, I have a theory on fancy ladies’ clothing boutiques: the prices are directly proportional to the amount of empty floorspace. I’ll let you know how it is once it has opened.

No word on a new occupant in the spot vacated by Express. I’d love to see a high-end men’s store FINALLY at the Forum, but there’s no telling what will end up there!

Ah, warm temperatures are here again. Right now I’m thrilled, though I’m sure once summer really kicks into high gear I’ll be begging for the high of 55 to return.

With summer comes festival season. Two big ones are coming up. First, this weekend is Barefoot in the Park on the Duluth Town Green.

If your mom is the artsy type, this could be a great outing beyond the standard brunch affair.

Next up, but not until June 8-9: Peachtree Corners Festival. This one includes a 5k, presumably so you can work off the funnelcake before you indulge.

If you know of other great festivals for the summer, let me know and I’ll be sure to post about them!

Wow, it’s been a long time since you posted! Are you the world’s worst blogger or what?
Yes.
Do you even go the Forum anymore? What happened to your deep, abiding love for the Forum?
I still like it! Thai Spice’s failing health grade notwithstanding… but I have spent less time there lately. This is largely because my husband and I have joined a country club and we spend a lot less time milling about the Forum and more time being preppy and wearing whale belts.
A COUNTRY CLUB?
Why yes. My steampunk/wannabe hippie/"edgy" college self would never believe it, but it’s true. And I love it. More to come in a future post.
But do you have any Forum news? Maybe I want Forum news.
Ok: Caribou Coffee is GONE. How does that even happen? I’m pretty surprised a large coffee chain couldn’t make it in the Forum. Maybe B&N had the monopoly with its interior Starbucks, but Caribou always seemed to be pretty busy.
Do you still like Feedly?
Yes and no. I think it’s the best free solution and it’s the one I recommend to most Google Reader refugees. But personally, I can’t get 100% on board. My number one need is offline support on iPad, and Feedly’s iOS apps don’t offer that. And I’m so used to Reeder’s iOS apps that I can use them to really plow through my feeds.
For now, I’ve switched to Feedbin since Reeder already supports it in the iPhone app and will be supporting it for the iPad & Mac OS X versions soon. So far, pretty good. Their web interface is a bit ugly/buggy but I don’t think I’ll be using it for long.
What other fun apps are you currently loving?
POCKET! I am a long-time Instapaper user but I’ve heard good things about Pocket too. When Instapaper was sold last week, it made me nervous and I switched to Pocket. So far, it’s awesome!! It also has MUCH BETTER Evernote integration which is critical for me.

And an actually frequently asked question:

How are you feeling?
Good! This has been a really easy pregnancy, all things considered. Aside from the occasional swollen ankles (and what my husband has termed "marshmallow feet"), nothing has been super unpleasant. Maybe ask me in a few weeks when I reach whale-like proportions and can no longer see my own feet.

RSS has been my best friend for following websites for the past 5-6 years. My subscriptions have evolved over the years, from personal friends’ livejournals and movie costuming websites, to cooking blogs and productivity websites. Google Reader has been my storage hub of choice, with the Reeder apps on iOS and Mac as my platform for reading and processing feeds.

Well…the old standby is leaving us forever. Google recently announced that Google Reader would disappear in July, leaving the citizens of the Internet frightened and angry. In the wake, several solutions popped up, promising refugees shelter and security for their RSS feeds.

Though Reeder announced that they would not die along with Google Reader, I wanted to find a solution I could start using immediately and adopt both in a browser and in mobile apps. Feedly had good press even before the big Google Reader announcement, and they posted a list of tips for people transitioning from Google Reader to Feedly.

It was simple to install the Chrome extension and Feedly detected my feeds AND my folders (something I was concerned about). It took a few tweaks (referencing the tips recommended by Feedly) to organize my feeds from oldest to newest in a plain list view like I prefer, but once it was set it was easy to breeze through the feeds. I’m still getting used to the iOS apps method of sorting feeds, but I love the more visual look for some of my folders that are mostly about art and fashion.

A lot of people are worried about losing starred items, but anything I starred in Google Reader was automatically saved to Evernote. Lifehacker offers a solution to save and sort starred articles.

The only weak spot for Feedly right now is better integration with Instapaper and Evernote, but that’s in the works. If you’re looking for a new site to use once Google Reader goes the way of the dodo, I highly recommend Feedly.

I didn’t chose to disable comments because I hate discussion. Nope, something is up with WordPress and/or Disqus. I’m investigating. Sorry about that!!

Ulta at the Forum

Happy Thursday, y’all! Here’s just a quick rundown of the latest news and happenings for stores at the Forum:

* Wild Bird Outfitters is gone. Can’t say I’m super bummed about that one. I’m sure some will mourn the loss of a store dedicated to birdhouses and bird seed and manned by rather surly folks. Ahem…
* Kate’s is also no more. I’m not surprised — how can the small accessories goods stores stay in business when the behemoth Charming Charlie can probably undercut all their prices and selection?
* The Express sign is gone and a construction sign is up, so either it’s done or just undergoing SERIOUS renovations.
* On a positive note, Ulta is coming in right next to where Express used to be (see image up top) — very exciting! My illustrious husband had actually predicted a Sephora for the Forum, but I’m sure Ulta will also perform well.

I’ll keep an eye on the stores next time I’m back at the Forum — it won’t be long, now that warm weather is *finally* upon us!

For approximately four years of my life, I was vegan. Those were dark days…smuggling carrot sticks in my pockets in case parties had nothing but pepperoni pizza, scarfing down ungodly amounts of seitan jerky (don’t ask), convincing myself that almond milk was actually delicious and not rather watery…good times.

I’ve moved on, but I still enjoy the occasional veggie stir-fry or tofu dish. So when my sister Savannah took on a 10-day vegan challenge for her school newspaper, I couldn’t say no to her invite to eat at [Loving Hut](http://lovinghut.us/georgia/menu.html). All jokes about the name aside, Loving Hut serves 100% vegan cuisine, and with more dishes that you can shake a celery stick at.

We were eager to try several dishes, so we opted to start with the crispy dumplings. The dumpling mixture was tasty but the proportion of wrap/pastry/dough to interior was sub-optimal. Too much crispy, not enough dumpling! Following that, we split the Saintly stir-fy and Guru Curry.

saintly stir-fry

The stir-fry was *fantastic* — plenty of hot noodles, crispy carrots, and soft tofu. It’s clearly a popular dish, since two people at two other tables also ordered it. The guru curry was also good, with a just-spicy enough tang and large pieces of veggies. I was unimpressed by the naan, which was very thin and more like a soft tortilla than the thick, lofty flatbread I’m used to.

Both portions were very large, leaving us with leftovers to enjoy tomorrow. We couldn’t resist the sweets, and ended up splitting a huge slice of peanut butter chocolate cake.

peanut butter chocolate cake

It was *incredible* and so rich. This is the classic thing to say about vegan food that no one ever believes, but seriously: you would never know it was vegan.

Loving Hut also does a monthly buffet — the next one is this Saturday, March 16th. I’m very busy with family plans on Saturday, otherwise I would leap at the opportunity to eat this great food again. I will definitely be back to explore the rest of their menu.

I love to eat. I don’t mean that in a gluttonous, focusing only on meals, never-full kind of way. I simply enjoy food and delicious meals. It brings other joys too — grocery shopping, strolling through farmers markets, prepping and cooking and baking.

My husband likes to joke that some people eat to live but I live to eat. That’s not wrong. Sometimes it feels off to like eating so much. Women are supposed to diet and watch what they eat, not savor every bite. I’m not immune to the dieting world’s pressure to eat like a small, emaciated bird to keep a certain weight. But I always come back to full-fat, ultra-aged Cheddar and sourdough bread. Weirdly enough, pregnancy is the one the FEW times women are allowed, even encouraged to gain weight. Guess I’ll enjoy it while it lasts!

Even when I can eat whatever I like (soft unpasteurized cheese and wine excluded at the present time), the rage I can display when hungry is immense.

I'm sorry for the unkind words I spoke out of anger. — from someecards.com

Jason has suffered like no one has suffered when I’m hungry. I complain, I frown, and I jump to conclusions like no one’s business. Once I have eaten a full meal, I repent of these wrongdoings and the cycle is broken … until I get hungry again.

There’s a term Jason and I have created to describe these stages of hunger, needing to eat something FAST, and devouring anything in sight. Honeybadgering. It’s a verb inspired by one of the greatest YouTube videos of all time. If you are one of the three people left in the world who haven’t seen the honeybadger video, watch it now. Here’s your obligatory warning for people offended by cussing: don’t watch it if that will bother you.

Granted, my meals rarely include raw snakes or honey straight from the source, but I display the same amount of single-mindedness and enthusiasm when seeking my next meal. Let this be a warning to you if I seem tetchy around mealtimes. It’s not you, it’s me.

Oh hello! No, I have not died and/or fallen into a well. There are a few reasons for my absence:

1. Post-Christmas malaise, brought on by traveling during basically all of my Christmas vacation (before and after Christmas Day itself).

2. Blogging burnout and too much existential musing…

and mostly

3. The little guy/girl/unknown alien that will be arriving August 18th! Yes, I am refraining from posting an ultrasound but it was a close call. Here's an awesome onesie to help ease that pain:

R2-D2 onesie — I may end up buying this.

Jason and I are VERY excited. Look for some fun posts coming up relating to baby stuff, like where you can find maternity wear at the Forum (spoiler alert: ALMOST NOWHERE). And I'll keep the regular posts coming too.

Also, a local event you won't want to miss: Sleeping Beauty, brought to you by the ballet stars of the Perimeter Academy of the Arts!

There are several performances to chose from, plus a special tea after the Saturday performance! Lots of fun plus photo opportunities with dancers from the show. The performances will be 2 hours in length which includes a 15 minute intermission.

All performances will be held in the Perimeter Church Sanctuary. You can order tickets online or buy them at the door. Check it out Friday, March 8, 7:30 PM; Saturday, March 9, 11:00 AM; and Sunday, March 10, 3:00 PM.

More importantly, my sister will be performing in the ballet — so keep an eye out for the lovely and talented Savannah Morrow.

—-

That's all for now! Let me know if there are topics or events you'd like to see covered here at DTPOTP!

DTPOTP

Suburban Adventures, One Day at a Time

Friday Fancies on Saturday, May 18

Forum updates. Still waiting on a yarn store…

Upcoming Festivals for Summer 2013

Infrequently Asked Questions

Google Reader Switcheroo: Hello, Feedly!

Site Issues

Update on the Forum

Loving Hut: tasty vegan food for all

This is the Honeybadger.

BACK in action! Plus, news and ballet.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: