I want to make these, but it might be too hot to bake now...
My cousin Betty is amazing and you should follow her blog:

http://thatnightmare-syd.tumblr.com/post/143591024242/delishytown-toasted-quinoa-honey-crunch-bars

 

Saturday Happy Song - London Calling - The Clash

In honor of my little sister's birthday today, the entire London Calling album by The Clash!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LESLEY!!

365photochallenge - Day 75

Day 75 - Happy Birthday to the love of my life! Finished up a great day with dinner at Saddle Ranch with his beautiful daughter and her boyfriend.  #365photochallenge #birthday #blessed

A photo posted by Sydney Cassatta (@scassatta) on Mar 15, 2016 at 10:17pm PDT

365photochallenge - Day 75

Day 75 - Happy Birthday to the love of my life! Finished up a great day with dinner at Saddle Ranch with his beautiful daughter and her boyfriend.  #365photochallenge #birthday #blessed

A photo posted by Sydney Cassatta (@scassatta) on Mar 15, 2016 at 10:17pm PDT

365photochallenge - Day 10

 

Day 10 - Laying around watching movies and tv, eating, drinking coffee, taking pictures of kitty feet. The glory of Sundays.

 

Day 7 - Beers at Gordon Biersch with one of my best friends

365 Photo Challenge 2016

So, I have always wanted to really rise to the occasion as a photographer and do a photo challenge. I've tried and failed at the week long ones on Facebook. I never even started or finished the 30 day one I meant to feature here. So why not jump into joining instagram for a 365 day challenge? I don't see any risk of failure here!

I have a goal to post my photos a lot faster because I get lazy and I am never going to be a professional that way, I have never used Instagram, so I get to learn something about it this way, and it's gonna make me take pictures and be creative on a daily basis. As long as I can keep it up. HaHa. 2015 was the first entire year EVER I was a gym member for all 12 months, I only fell off going in the last 2 weeks of December. So, miracles happen (Oh, but I do owe you the 2015 recap post and we are 5 days into the new year...which leads me to...) In classic Sydney fashion, I have only TAKEN pictures for the last 5 days, I have not uploaded them. HAHA!!! So, here are my first 5 of the new year and I will post (and cross post here on this blog) EVERYDAY for the rest of the year (no, really I will).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Day 1 - Numero Uno Pizza for my Birthday! 

Day 2 - Origami bird a quiet girl with pink hair gave me at the Missing Person concert at the Canyon Club

Day 3 - Cousins! - Camp Pendleton

 

Day 4 - Back at work after a 2 week break...my view when i tilt my head up in my desk chair

Day 5 - Addicted to Making a Murderer

Happy Halloween from Pink, The Cat!

Lovely day with sisters today. Picked up Lesley about 2pm, came back to my place, went in the pool. It's definitely the farewell pool visit. I feel so blessed that it is the first week of October and we are still able to get in te pool. It was 88 degrees today. But, the water was a bit cold, and I am pretty sure this was my last dunk of the season. I realized I should still dunk my feet as often as possible, because I still get a bitof swelling on my bad ankle...and it's a huge free cold water resource...

So, Pool, Pizza and Muppets. It was a good afternoon. Went in the now quiet cool, but very refreshing pool, then got out about 5pm, and ordered Pizza Hut, and watched the first 2 episodes of The Muppests, they have a new show. SO good, so fun. Drank too much sangria. So glad Nikki drove Lesley and Leo Home...Gotta lay down....

Happy Birthday today Daddy. Missed you a lot. Miss you a lot always. Hope you're rocking out on that astral plane with mama tonight. ♥

God my family is so fucking weird.

Happy Birthday Iggy Pop! 

Letter he wrote to Creem Magazine on the back of one of my dad's model release forms in the late 1970's: 

We hugged it out.
All good.

*whew!*

;-)

ROBERT!!

 Yes, that day is upon us again....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT PLANT!!

And you know what else? I get to go see him play October 7th at the Hollywood Palladium!! It was gift from my amazing partner and we are bringing my equally amazing step-daughter! EEEEKKK!!! I am SO excited! She is as in love with Robert as I am, it's gonna be a GREAT night.

I have seen thousands of photos of Robert, and I always strive to post ones that are new to me, so here's a pretty good group I have rounded up for today. There is one that is not safe for work, it has boobs in it, be warned (no more photo links below photos, click on them and it links back to the source)

 ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 

Still wading through all the stuff...

SD started her first day of senior year. I can't believe it! Time flies....

Salad!

Saturday Happy Song - Sprung Monkey - Super Break Down

The Ankle Chronicles - post 1 of who the fuck knows - a HUGE rant

It's Sunday.
It's a quarter till 6pm.
It has been a super sucky weekend, ending a super frantic turned sucky week.
I am tired and frustrated. I feel helpless and depressed.

Wednesday night I was with Mia and was leaving her place to go visit a friend that was in the hospital. This friend only had visitor's till 9pm and it was 7:30pm. I was not paying attention as I rushed back out her door and down her porch steps. I missed the last 2 steps. I stumbled. I fell. ON my right ankle. I heard it crunch. I screamed.

I was in SO MUCH pain. I had never felt such pain after a fall before. I got scared. I knew it was really bad from the very moment I heard it crunch.

I went to the E.R. they wrapped it and gave me crutches (They took no address or insurance information from me, I am scared to see this bill...should it ever get to me) and was told to follow up with my doctor the next day. I did. She also did not want to commit to the ankle being broken, she said let's plan for it to be broken and then if it's not it'll be good news! Go to the ortho doctor she says. Went to him the next day (this whole time people that I am relating this tale to are freaking out about how I haven't had it set yet and this is day 2...well, are you able to get a referral and a specialist appointment in 24 hours? Anyway, it's besides the point, but this is going to be a whiny post cause I have had a sucky week and have been surrounded by stupid people). Can I just say sarcastically that the best part of this whole thing is I was completely sober. That I have had nights, all dressed up and wearing way too high shoes, so drunk I couldn't see, and I have survived those totally unscathed. That I had on Doc Martens oxfords, and had not one drink or smoke or drug in my body, and simply due to being anxiousness and being rushed I fucked over the next month of my life...

Ortho doctor says there could very well be a hairline fracture in there, in a weird place. Other than that it is acutely sprained, muscles torn, deeply bruised. Gave me a "Walking Boot" and told me elevation and ice, stay off it as much as possible. I went home and did just that. I have done that Saturday (except to get ready to go out to a much needed girls night out Saturday that was canceled...), and I did that today (other than to go out to breakfast with girls I was supposed to have girls night with last night). I am so tired, and bored and frustrated. I can't walk at all. I love that I have been home, but I am not sure I will get paid for not coming in Friday, and I know I won't get paid for taking the last half of Thursday off. So, this whole ordeal has become uber expensive and I have just sat on my ass with ice on my ankle. It wasn't like I was getting cleaning or projects done.

This is SD's last weekend of summer vacation, and I wanted to be able to help her pack food, and get ready. I wanted to start a whole new page after having an amazing party weekend with friends and instead I am just gonna try and survive the week, again. My partner is exhausted, he has done my laundry, his laundry, helped move the last of his daughter's stuff in, taken me to all doctor's appoints, carried me to and from the car when needed and slept next to my huge booted foot and will be driving everywhere till I can drive again. I can't drive...I also have to take this paragraph to give a shout out to Mia, who stayed calm, went with me to visit our friend in the hospital and then waited 3 hours for me to come out of the E.R. so she could drive back to my place, pick up my partner and then drive back to her place where I left the truck. All on a school night! 

I TOTALLY get that I will heal. Probably fast because I am in very good health and take care of myself. I understand that I will probably be walking in my walking boot next weekend and the weekend after that the ortho doctor will X-Ray it and probably tell me I am close to healed. I understand that this is probably about a month out of my life. But, still, THIS IS A MONTH OUT OF MY LIFE!! GRRR...This will test me...

I actually have to remind myself that this week didn't start out sucky, that last weekend I got to spend 3 days in a row with a very dear friend of mine out from the east coast. That I got to say good-bye to that friend this morning at breakfast and for these things I am blessed.

I will use this to make me stronger, and be inspiring and I know I am resilient and I will rise above. I KNOW this. But, my week still sucked really bad and the upcoming week is gonna suck really bad, and I needed to vent.

Thanks for the ear.
Done now. Moving on.
♥

Just in time for goodbye July

Hi! I'm back to the internet! Took long enough huh? Well let me tell you, moving is a bitch. A huge bitch. I am so glad that is done, and I'll tell ya another thing: That's all folks! No more moving. I'm done. Not for years, I need a break!

I lived in one place for the entire first 18 years of my life, then moved 4 times with just a couple years between each. This is the second time I have moved within the same building, the best/worst/best move ever. You don't really pack anything (so there is no packing, yay!), but it all goes too quick and cluttered. Anyhow, we lived through it and now have lots more space. My partner's daughter now lives with us full time and we couldn't be happier. The sorting of stuff goes on, and we are inspired to clean it up and make it classy looking around the new joint, but it's slower going than one might hope. I'd post pictures, but no one wants to look at it currently, trust me. Instead, please enjoy this picture of Pink that I didn't share while it was still Christmas:

Funk

Funk.

And, not the good kind played by amazing people like George Clinton or Bootsy Collins...
The last 3 or so days have just been, weird. I feel weird and unmotivated and like I want to just go hide under the covers with my book and about a pound of chocolate covered marshmallows.

Fuck I love chocolate covered marshmallows.

See, and there's the other thing, I want to eat and be depressed. Not good. No. Not in the least. I fed this beast for 5 fucking months last year. It took me till March of this year to get over Christmas...I was doing so well...What now?

Last week was so much better, so much more full. I worked my ass off in like 4 classes in the gym at work, I was exhausted but felt amazing. It was the free week to try the gym and the woman I walk with encouraged me to join her in her classes. By the end, Thursday night, I thought I was gonna fall over. I wanted to go lay in a hot tub for the rest of my life.

I so looked forward to the long weekend, and so needed it when it arrived and then didn't know what to do with myself. Friday was good, ran a bunch of errands, got stuff done. Kinda...Then there was Arrested Development and reading and I got the bathroom clean and went to yoga...and completely avoided cleaning my bedroom...again.

Monday came and we tried to figure out how to spend it and I felt restless. I wanted to just go drive, drive in the sunshine and soak up the warmth and energy and fire and let it heal me and make me whole. We went and got boba at the outdoor part of the mall and got in the pool. I still hate boba by the way...I wasn't sure for a second, but nope, don't care for it. Then, I took on the bedroom. Monday evening. After texting and calling various people to distract me and failing to find anyone to save me from the stupid chore that has exploded in my head...then, at the end of cleaning the bedroom, came the putting of my fathers film and such into my closet...I took a deep breath and shoved things in fast and hard and sat with a thud on the floor and bit my lip and tried not to cry. My partner has gently suggested sorting this stuff once or twice, it came up again when I emptied a plastic bin in the closet of my belly dance costume crap, but I still haven't been able to give it enough of a go. I still can't really look at it. I still can't allow myself to process any of it, the pain washes over me and I feel like I am gonna puke...

So, I guess in this long rant I have figured out why I am in a funk. I guess we got that. But, I mean, fuck SERIOUSLY? Is this gonna happen every time I have to move my parents crap around? That exhibit of his art is gonna take me YEARS at this rate...I am so frustrated. Some days are ok, and I keep on keeping on and have hidden my parents in that dark little room in my head where it doesn't bother me that I don't have them to talk to, I'm fine, it's fine. Then, other days knock me in the head and the pain is so sharp I can't see straight.

and that feeling lasts for days. and, here we are.