R.I.P. bagels.

Oh yeah! I have some bad news. Remember those 45 whole wheat everything bagels I brought back to France with me... they are officially gone! What a tragedy!! We tried so hard to make them last, but the end was inevitable. We sat together on Tuesday morning and had breakfast at 7am. We very rarely have breakfast together! We each had a bagel - the last two.

R.I.P. bagels - we are forever grateful for the 2 months you sat patiently in the freezer waiting to be devoured.

Honestly, I always prepare the bagels when we eat them. I have a routine of over to toaster or just oven (but our gas bill was a bit outrageous for the summer months so I am trying to limit my use of the oven). I knew (and knew he didn't know) that there were only two bagels left. I secretly planned to eat them both and never mention it. However, the angel on my right shoulder told me that was cruel. Although, as I watched him eat that bagel, I contemplated whether I had made the right choice.

Feel free to send bagels :) Or just come visit, but don't show up without the whole wheat everything bagels.

sorry... but this is another post about bagels!

so i brought 45 whole wheat everything bagels with me to france. at first, i was a little bummed that all of my clothes were stinking of everything bagel stench and debated whether i should wash everything before wearing. i then realized that i love the smell of everything bagels almost as much as i love everything bagels (the whole wheat ones, of course!).

back in the states, tofu cream cheese is readily available in the grocery stores. in NYC, for as many varieties of regular cream cheese there are, most bagel shops have the same flavors in the vegan varietal. this was wonderful, although it caused me to eat waaaay toooo many bagels.

here in france, i can' even find soy ice cream in the stores (gasp!) so it's a safe bet to say tofu cream cheese is a no go. since i am on a diet and trying hard (my me journey) to get fit and stronger, i decided that this wasn't a total loss. i really should lay off the butter and cream cheese (even if they are dairy free). also, i know that bagels are not a diet food but i love bagels so much. i believe that all diets need to include foods you love. depriving yourself of the foods you love will only result in your gorging yourself with other foods!

anyway, recently, i started slicing an avocado on my bagel. i add a dash of salt and a whole lot of pepper. it is SOOO good. it helps that the veggie market is right on the corner (literally a half a block away). my morning routine now consists of walking the half block and purchasing (for 80 euro cents) a fresh avocado. i love having a routine! (FYI: this morning i added a bit of extra virgin olive oil and not only does it accumulate to a weight watchers point (grrr), it actually didn't add any flavor and made it difficult for me to take a bite of bagel and then go type something on my computer as my fingers were really oily! so if you were thinking of adding some oil, let me assure you that it's totally not necessary).

I am full. My heart is happy.

Whole wheat everything bagels are my favorite way to start my morning and that's exactly how I've been doing it since being back in NJ. Nothing beats that!

What else have I been doing? Well, mostly, spending time with my Momma! We've been doing everything together, and I absolutely love these moments. We shop until we drop, eat at our favorite restaurants, go for walks, play games, and watch trashy television. My dad is in Brazil and Columbia for the next week or so and we're taking advantage of the ladies time.

This week I have a lot to look forward to and I'm really happy for that. I want to make sure to take advantage of my time here. Tomorrow I'm going to have dinner with a dear friend. My sister's birthday is this Wednesday so we'll take her for a nice dinner date and have family over. My mom's brother is coming to visit from Seattle. My friends are coming to visit from Pennsylvania. We have a family party on Sunday at our state's capital. Monday I'll be in NYC.

I have phone calls to make and doctors to see, but mostly, I just want to enjoy the beauty that is my home. I want to take full advantage of the fact that we live by the beach. I want to wake up early and run on the boardwalk. I want to swim in the pool and the ocean. I want to ride bikes. I want to soak up the sunshine, read good books, and of course, do more shopping!

So forgive me if I continue to be MIA for a while longer, but I want to enjoy these moments I have here with my family - in the house I grew up in - and that means doing my best to keep off my computer (except to g-chat with my favorite European guy back across the pond).

home.

I arrived home Wednesday night after a very long day of traveling. My parents and my aunt picked me up at the airport in NYC. After, my sister met us at our favorite restaurant in town, a place where we always see people we know. I was greeted by an old friend who immediately said, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be in France?" Followed by, "We were just talking about you last weekend."

It's nice to be home and to see familiar faces. I love that I can call the people I want to call without even looking at the phone because they are numbers I have dialed so many times before. It's so much better than using Skype and talking through the computer. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for modern technology. I love that I can video chat with my family and friends; but it's nice to pick up the phone and do it the old-fashioned way.

I really do have the best home. We're an hour from NYC, 45 minutes from Atlantic City, an hour and 15 minutes from Philadelphia, but even better than all that - we're 5 minutes from the beach. There is something truly unique about growing up by the beach (oh, and truly wonderful!).

Plus, who wouldn't want to live somewhere where delicious bagels are plentiful!? I, of course, had my first whole wheat everything bagel yesterday morning. I got to sit with my mom and eat our bagels and strawberries and enjoy conversation over that (yes, weak) American coffee that takes me 30 minutes to finish sipping. 

My mom, sister, and I then went for a nice walk at the beach. The sun was so hot - reaching over 100 degrees (38 C). I put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time since September. We looked at the amazing beach front homes and gossiped about the crazy Facebook statuses people put up (among other things).

My mom took me to the Olive Garden for lunch! We love their all you can eat soup and salad. Yummy! Don't make fun of me. I know the soup comes in a plastic bag. I know it's not made fresh on premises. However, I do know that they work really hard to get their flavors right (because they have an expensive food lab at Penn State where they were constantly perfecting their tastes, textures, visual appearance, etc.). They now offer flatbread as an add-on and my mom and I had the caprese flatbread. It was a little too salty but still delicious. We ordered fancy lemonades, too.

We then engaged in a marathon day of shopping! I went to the dentist. We went out to dinner and had delicious Italian food. We came home, sat on the couch, and were asleep by 9pm! We had intended to watch a movie but last night delivered a crazy storm that showcased powerful thunder, loud cracks of lightning, and a power outage that left us movie-less.

It was such a wonderful day, my first one home.