An ode to Fran

Happy Happy 107th Birthday to my number one Fran

 

Thank you for being a fran
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true your a pal and a confidant.

And if you through a party
Invited everyone you ever knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say thank you for being a fran.

 

Thank you for being the best Fran. 

 

 

Please enjoy some of Fran's best moments this year.........

Words from the weekend...

First things first, I need to get back to capturing some of the ridiculous events that happen during our weekend shenanigans.  After recapturing a video taken by Shanna last night I realized this shit needs to be documented more oftenly.  I am going to start randomly taping our conversations because they are absolutely priceless sometimes.

Anyways...things I've learned from my weekend experience

1.  I need to stop drinking whiskey.  I am not able to limit myself to one or ten shots a night, so I think I might need to accept I have a problem and move on.  I am not sure I will be any fun though.  But I think they are words of an alcoholic, and thats just not cool. 

2.  I do not like people who try to hard.  If you try "too hard" to be my friend I will NOT like you.  Maybe, its I like a challenge, or that I just point blank hate kiss ups, but whatever.  Do not tell me you like my outfit, followed by I like your shoes, and your lipstick, and your style, and your life, and your family and your brother in law, in the first fucking conversation I have with you.  Its annoying and you are dumb.  My outfit is terrible and my style is lacking, so now you are a liar.  And besides people like you, I do not dislike anyone more than a liar. 

3.  Being confused in life is for me.  I try to get myself out of this situation, but things never change.  I'm coming to terms with this.  I will continue to fuck my life up until I die probably. 

4.  Mark and Sean Smith are not brothers.  Fucking news to me.

5.  It is always smart to carry a poncho

6.  If you add "FRA" to the beginning of every word, life just gets more awesome.

7.  Questlove by far has the best DJ sets ever. 

8.  The slide at Morgans Pier is disease ridden and if you are Fran you will still go down it.

9.  If you want to hide your drink at the Barbary to smoke a cig, it is super smart to hide it behind the shelves of board games.

10.  Within the next year the top floor of the Barbary will cave in.  You read it here first kids.

11.  10 mi walks are not easy. 

12.  No salad should ever cost 17.50.  Ever.  It's fucking salad for allahs sake. 

13.  Do not ever mistake chile peppers for red peppers. 

14.  Do not think one slice of tomato pie is good enough for dinner prior to drinking

15.  Eating a combo or combos, when vegan, is not a good idea.  Promise. 

Mama Q

Really?!
I’ve left my daughter at my sister’s house for a couple of day& I’ll be collecting her on Saturday when I go over for the farewell bbq before my sister moves to Italy. My daughter has messaged me that she’s just overheard my sister, her husband & their friends discussing vegetarianism, likely because my daughter & I are vegetarian. I say discussing, what I actually mean is trotting out bollocks comments about how vegetarian food is processed & unhealthy & they don’t understand why veggy food is all ‘meat shaped’. Now granted, I’m pretty tired so I am a tad grumpy but really?! Fuck off. No doubt there’ll be some of this at Saturday’s bbq & the word that springs to mind is ‘tedious’. For the sake of keeping the peace at family events & because I’m generally a nice person, I don’t shove my views in other people’s faces & I answer all the questions I am asked, politely, calmly & in a way that I hope leaves people with a less negative view of vegetarians. Because it’s usually the anti-vegetarian that demands I justify my choice & bombards me with the questions. But it’s gotten really old now & I’m finding it rather tedious. If just one person at that bbq asks me why my vegetarian sausage is meat shaped then it’s quite possible I’ll be sticking said sausage where the sun doesn’t shine.

Source: mama-q

In response to mama-q....

Same old shit, ya know?

Now I don’t fucking get it. Why meat eaters insist on constantly insist on challenging vegetarians/vegans on what they eat. Who the fuck cares? I rarely ever comment on the fact that you are not only eating a once living animal, but rather a processed piece of growth enhancing hormones. Let us eat what we want to eat, and believe what we want to believe.

I was at a party not too long ago and around 4 am I took my tired ass to the couch. While some “friends” were nearby chatting they decided to discuss my eating habits/choices not realizing I was 1. in the room and 2. still awake. They came to a conclusion which noted, that “Laura is just a vegan because she lives in the city.” Now what the fuck does living in the city have to do with what I eat?  And do they realize I was a vegetarian for seven fucking years before moving out of the suburbs. Oh not to mention, where I live in the city is full of god damn meat. I live in the Italian Market for god sakes. It’s like I’m breathing meatballs each and every day.

No one ever gets it. Common question “well what are you going to eat??” How about some fucking lettuce, maybe a carrot, or a tomato or two. Get the fuck over it. I eat what I eat because I want to. I will figure it out, trust me. How about you spend less time questioning my eating habits to only research what your little chicken fried nuggets actually have in them. Meat? Yea not even much.

Good luck.

Have a nice day now.

And yes, I smoke cigarettes. Get the fuck over that too. This vegan has to have some sort of vice once and a while.

these days...

My life consists of

Work and more work

Gym

Lots of Kale

Jose

Whiskey

Music

Photos

And.....FUN!

CHERFEST 2012

My Best

 

Fran gets Lasik (and wears sunglasses for the rest of her life)

Jac

teeny tiny

It's been the longest, I think, I have ever gone without writing or updating this, but life is crazy for me right now.  After accepting this position I realized how much time it actually takes up.  Not only do I spend some extra time at work but I find myself working after work which is never good.  I know it will slow down so I am just trying to take one step at a time. 

Every day is an interesting one for sure.  I would like to share a letter a client of mine wrote in regards to some tough times she has been experiencing.  This is what keeps me moving. 

**Please understand the language/grammar/pronunciation needs work.  I decided to capture it how it was written, because it makes it that much more realistic to the challenges these individuals face.  To me, of course, its more than meaningful regardless.

Dear Ms. Laura

Words cant explain how much I thank you for being there for me.  For helping me out and for getting me though what I need to get though.  I notice everybody don't hated me it is people out here that care about me and everybody is not out to get me.  I been going though a lot with the pregnancy.  And I had no one to turned to now that I see if I let people no how I feel and what I'm going though maybe I will get the help that I need.  If it wasn't for you I would still be living on the streets.  If it wasn't for you i whould of gave up on myself but God send me an angel and a blessing had came and that was you.  Now I looked at things different even though I'm 8 months pregnant with no living or no help its people out here that don't have nothing and going though the worst so I should be thankful for the things that is happening in my life.  I should be thankful that it is someone out here that care and wanna help I should be thankful that someone took me before I took myself.  And I should be thankful that God is good and he is on my side.  I should be thankful that he send me an angel witch is you. 
Thank you again Ms. Laura

Words cant explain how grateful I am for you.

Please hear my Cry.

With her reminder of what she is thankful for, I am able to see more of how rich my life is.  It is amazing to me that I can ever feel sorry for myself.  This is just a reminder of how good I really have it.  And whenever I am really really stressed at work, I will take a minute to think of this (or at least try) and remind myself that you can make a difference.  Even if it's teeny tiny.