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Farmers’ Market Frolicking

Posted on May 30, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Happeeeeeeeey FRIDAY, peoples!

I hope you all have a fun weekend ahead of you! I’ve got plans for a massage, another wine night with the besties, and pretty sure some drooling over Hugh Jackman is going to be involved in there some where. Also, I’ll be hitting up the farmers’ market on Saturday morning just like I did last weekend…

*cue fuzzy fade in to next scene*

Last Saturday was OPENING DAY for Clarksville’s Downtown Market so of course I had it marked down on my calendar for like three weeks before. And even though I made the mistake of agreeing to work the night before, I soldiered through and made it to the market when it opened at 8am!

With a mini maple bacon cupcake in hand, I wound my way through all of the tents not once, not twice, but THREE times (you know you’re a foodie if…) and was so excited to see so many new vendors present this year along with some of my favorites!

One hour and $60 later (whoops?), I was home with my farm fresh loot…and a couple of other things I didn’t know I had to have until they whispered in my ear! 😉 Channeling my inner Meghan, I whipped out a white sheet with a flourish and set about arranging my haul in a way that was most aesthetically pleasing…

But just to make Meg’s eye twitch, I’m listing these babies in snake-style format! Muahaha! Ok, here we have some beautiful brown eggs (that still had a couple of feathers on them…now THAT’S fresh!), grape tomatoes that I polished off in ONE day, red potatoes, a bunch of heavenly kale, some big ol’ fat tomaters, the skinniest asparagus I’ve ever seen, yellow squash, zucchini, perfectly juicy strawberries, the sweetest snap peas EVER, and a loaf of homemade honey wheat bread that only cost me $2.50!

Wait a minute…I feel like I missed something…

Oh yeah!!!…Bam!…Smack yo’ mama!
But actually, it just tastes like pumpkin butter! 😉

Of course, one of the things I love (and my wallet hates) most about the Downtown Market is all the “extra” odds-and-ends type vendors. That is, of course, how I fell in cookie love a couple years ago. From homemade handbags and earrings to metal work, wood-carved bowls, and birdhouses, our market has it all!

While a certain Nerdy Birdy was working at her BRAND NEW STORE FRONT (seriously, so SO proud of this lady…and? I owe her a visit!), I was getting the eye from a couple of hooters…

At $5 a pair, there’s no WAY I was walking away from these cuties…I’m just proud of myself for not buying half a dozen more…yet! 😉

And then there was the Life Changing Soap-Buying Decision of 2014:

You guys! It took me three separate trips to the tent and who knows how many sniffs to pick out three of the seven or eight the Pure Joy Soap Company had to choose from…and that was before the lady brought out a hidden sandalwood from behind the table! Mark my words, I will be back for more ~~monkey love~~!

So this weekend, I’ll be up bright and early Saturday morning (withOUT my zombie limp) to frolic with my favorite farmers again…though this time I guess I’ll have to practice a little more restraint since…

I’LL BE LEAVING FOR BLEND FIVE DAYS LATER!!!

Ohh, sorry for the shouting. I’m maybe just a little bit EXCIIIIIIIIIITED!

Do you shop your local farmers’ market?

What are your plans for this weekend?

Grilling, Flying, and Other Weekend Musings

Posted on May 29, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

What’s up, guys?!

I spent Monday rambling about my eclectic taste in music, mainly because I could NOT pass up the opportunity for some A-list alliteration, but as fun as it was, I didn’t get a chance to mention any of the wonderful wingdings* that went down last weekend! Oh yes…I went there.

*And you thought that was just a font in Microsoft Word! 😉

So without further ado (not adieu, mind you), allow me to dish the DEETS!

First off, can I get a “HELL YEAH” to the start of summer? I don’t care if I was teccccchnically thirty days early…I’m pretty sure if you look up the definition of grill marks in the dictionary, it says “see summer”!

Especially when paired with a light and refreshing (aka tastes like freaking lemonade) summer ale!

Also? This happened. What can I say? I tripped, I fell, and the three different kinds of cheeses I was holding (herb & garlic feta + bruschetta Jack + fresh mozzarella) all ended up on my pizza! And it was “udderly” delicious! <- Sorry, I just had too! 😆

Oh and after two hours and TWENTY FOUR try-on’s, I found a dress for Blend! There were a few interesting encounters (including the boa constrictor that attacked me), one broken strap (that would’ve been KILLER), and well, you guys know I can never be serious when it comes to multiple selfies!

Oh, you want to know which one I bought? Well, I guess you’ll just have to wait a couple more weeks for that reveal, huh? 😉

Before getting in touch with my inner Kate Moss, I tried something new! Aerial yoga! My studio just opened classes last weekend and since I’ve always been curious (and had actually just told a friend I’d like to try it), I signed up right away!

It was…interesting…and kinda painful? I didn’t really feel like I got the hang of it until the last ~~few minutes~~ minute of class, but I will say it was kinda fun to just hang upside down. Honestly though, with the $15 a class fee, I’m still kinda up in the air on whether or not I’ll do it again. Ohhh, see what I did there?

Before my little 2.6 mile “jaunt” on Sunday (which my calves are STILL sore from!), I ~~collected~~ harvested (ha, now I feel like a farmer!) my second batch of homemade kombucha and started my THIRD! Also, I took a minute to admire my super sexy SCOBY (bonus points for accidental alliteration) whom I’ve decided to name Marilyn! She wears that beauty mark with a certain kind of je ne sais quoi, no? 😉

And speaking of the French…and farming and…fluff?

This maple bacon cupcake! Farming because it was sampled on OPENING DAY at the local farmers’ market on Saturday and French because well duh, maple syrup! Canada? Work with me people!

Oh and yeah, this was totally breakfast (part 1…of like 3!) 😉

Thinking-Out-Loud

But anywho…more on the market tomorrow! Because today I’m proving that intros aren’t the only thing I suck at on Thursdays…or really, it’s just because the pictures in this post are perfectly mirrored and I don’t want to mess that up. Yep, go ahead, scroll up and check that shit out! #yesimthateasilyamused

Be sure to head on over to Spoons and check out all the other randomness going on this week! But before you do, tell me…

What’s on YOUR mind today?

Posted in Thinking Out Loud | Tagged beer, cheese, farmers' market, kombucha, pizza, shopping, summer, TJ Maxx, yoga | 22 Comments

Music Monday: The Workout Edition

Posted on May 26, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic end to the holiday weekend! And for all my international friends out there, don’t be too jealous…I have to work today too!

So, I’ve been getting all kinds of itches lately and I feel like today is a good day to get my scratch on! I’ve been wanting to get a music post up for weeks now. Since I’ve been using (and yes, I mean that in the addiction sense) Spotify to fill all my musical needs lately, I’ve been whipping up playlists left and right! Along with my golden child, “Wine O’clock”, I have to say I’ve put together a pretty rocking workout playlist…which unfortunately, has yet to get a more clever/witty name, BUT it has been pumping me up both in and OUT of the gym! To further prove it’s awesomeness, how about it was the motivation behind something pretty freaking MARVELOUS this weekend?

I WENT FOR A RUN!!!

Oh yeah, baby! And, are you ready for this? I did just over TWO AND A HALF MILES in THIRTY MINUTES! Bam! Booyah! Hells yeah! 😉

And how about it was a total spur-of-the-moment thing? After I dropped off the recycling, I was planning to go to the park for a leisurely stroll, but all of a sudden, I just got this urge to run. So I took a little detour and wound up in one of my favorite neighborhoods to run in!

What we WON’T talk about is how I jumped back in my car after the run and drove ALL the streets I had just run (even the ones I doubled back on) just to see what my mileage was! Nope, instead of talking about my current level of craziness, how about we talk about how crazy eclectic this mix is?

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…my taste in music is a bit all over the place. When it comes to everyday listening,I tend to lean more towards indie and alternative rock when, but when I’m working out (or RUNNING!), it’s all about the beat. So yeah, there’s a little Trey Songz, a dash of Hillary Duff, some Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Trapt? Well, that song ALWAYS gets a spot on my workout playlists Sometimes you just gotta rage. 😉

None of these are in any particular order other than when I added them. Since I don’t pay for the premium service (um, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?), whenever I listen to my playlists on my phone, they automatically shuffle and I’m cool with that. The surprise just adds to the fun!

And just because I can’t seem to get enough of this song…and I swear there’s NO WAY you can sit still in your chair while listening to it, I’ve gotta give a little shout out (with jazz hands) to my girl, Fergie…since you know, we go way back! 😉