Summer is here, strawberries are delicious, and what doesn’t get better by adding champagne?

Yesterday, I hung out by myself (as I do quite a bit of the time since I’m new to LA and know hardly anyone), so a lot of this alone time results in delicious new drinks and/or meals.  Let’s face it, what’s a meal without a drink.

I’m somewhat addicted to Pinterest, which is probably in the top 10 phrases used so far in 2012, and while it is an excellent way to waste spend time, it is also a great way to explore new things.  

I’m a sucker for champagne drinks of any kind.  If I’m at a restaurant and one of their drinks includes champagne, even if it’s just a splash on top, I’m gonna order it.  (I realize some of you may be squirming in your seats hearing me refer to Cooks Sparkling Wine as “champagne”, but you’re gonna have to deal with it, since it’s one of the few moments I get to feel fancy for 5 dollars).  

In a Pinning rampage, I came across this seasonal cocktails recipe for strawberry puree in champagne.  Simple, easy, and refreshing.  A little sugar goes a long way and adding lemon really brings out the strawberry flavor.  I also absolutely love bruschetta, and while traditional is a great staple recipe, this strawberry bruschetta is fantastic for an outdoor summer barbecue.  Pair it with grilled chicken in an Italian or Balsamic marinade.

Enjoy!

I recently watched all the episodes to date of HBO’s “Girls”.  I’d heard about it and made a mental note that I wanted to see it at some point, and then my sister said I “Had to see it!”  So I did.

I don’t love it.  I want to love it, but I don’t.  It’s real, I’ll give it that.  It’s the most authentic thing I’ve seen on TV, probably ever, but is that what we want when we watch TV?  The story is good, and the characters are very believable, but I’m not sure that’s what we’re looking for in a TV show.  I don’t think the characters are likable, especially the main character.  I don’t want to be her.  I don’t want to be friends with her.  

Why do we watch TV?  Do we want an escape?  Do we want something that’s relatable?  I think we want something in the middle.  We want to live across the hall from our closest friends and be besties with Rachel Green, but the fact of the matter is, no one is as endearing as Joey if they’re that dumb, and no one in our lives will ever be as funny as Chandler.  But isn’t that the beauty of it?  We go to the television for these relationships, and end up tweaking the image we have of our own friends, so they fit the mold of the characters on TV that we feel we know so well.

I see where Lena Dunham was going and I appreciate where she’s coming from.  But I don’t want to watch her in a pathetic cycle with a guy who wants nothing to do with her, but she keeps going back to.  I have enough of that in my own life.  I digress…

When someone says, “I broke up with my boyfriend,” because it happens all the time, as an outsider, we take it so lightly and brush it off as something that happens to everyone and is a part of life.  This is completely true, but we forget the gravity of the feeling of an anvil on our hearts, wondering how anybody has the strength to wiggle out from under it, and just breathe again.

My heart lies in so many places at once.

if you can love me in january as you do in may, i should be so lucky.

Is it weird that the only thing really keeping me from buying a one-piece bathing suit is that I want a tan stomach?

Always see the good in people.  It’s better for everyone involved.