Blue Lollipop Road

ewww! cauliflower?!

…that’s what I used to say as a kid about the white tasteless veggie. Don’t even get me started on brussels sprouts during my younger years. Thankfully the farm-to-fork/localvore/farmers market/back-to-basics/foodie movement has boomed over the past few years, so not only are we all eating a little bit better and more local (yay!), but chefs far & wide are creating all kinds of delish cauliflower and brussels sprout recipes, that are making big kids like me run back for more of those foods we once winced at.

We found a cauliflower recipe recently in Food & Wine Magazine that I’m in love with. This is our tray full of goodness:

Eat your veggies

So good. So cheap. So easy! I love when simple fresh stuff like this, tastes amazing and looks fahhhncy too.

To make you will need:

1 head of cauliflower
1 lemon
Parmesan cheese (shaved)
Fresh parsley (chopped)
Salt & pepper
Butter (for stove top option)

1.) Cut cauliflower into small pieces, leaving enough of stem to hold florets together.

2.) Cook on grill or brown with butter in a pan on the stove top.

3.) Place on cooking sheet.

4.) Squeeze lemon over each piece.

5.) Sprinkle with salt & pepper, parsley, and parmesan.

Voila!

Veggie tray

There you have it from the kitchen of Blue Lollipop Road!

Now I’m hungry…

How are are you reinventing your veggies?

#FoodPorn #EatYourVeggies #Foodie

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because today is mardi gras

and my boyfriend is from Louisiana, and it is a snow day here in NC:

Beignet Breakfast

…we made beignets of course. And Chicory Coffee with our eggs for this lazy cold Tuesday breakfast:

Mardi Gras Breakfast

As you can see from the top corner of the photo below, my sweet partner in crime takes no prisoners when it comes to noshing on these deeeeeee-lish French doughnuts:

Kevin's Beignets Breakfast

…he usually has powdered sugar all over his hands, up his arms, on every button of the stove, every drawer handle, and of course- all over his face by the time the whole make and eat process is done. The kitchen often looks like a white powder bomb went off, as if a 2 year old, or the family dog found a 10 pound bag and just shook it all over the place.

A small cleaning price to pay to be able to have these treats if you ask me. I’ll clean up that mess any day to have a snuggly, warm, yummy breakfast like this with my sweet, messy, Cajun partner in crime.

How do you snuggle in on a snow day?

#MardiGras #BeignetLove #Winter

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dear chicken shit, do you need a hug? :)

Yes, I am talking to you who posted this comment in my inbox anonymously on Saturday:

“You’ll never write a book of any worth because you can barely write a sentence. Also, there’s a fine line between celebration and exploitation. Just being, you know, unfiltered.”

It sounds like you need some love in your life, my friend! Maybe I should go find this guy again and send him your way:

Hugs are better that hate

So sad you’re hateful and wrong Mr./Mrs. comment leaver. I feel sorry for people like you. I think you need a hug! (And a backbone.)

While you continue hiding behind your computer, sending opinions and judgments (with no name attached) that are so far from the truth they may as well be in Siberia, I’ll be out loud & proud here, living it up, unfiltered and transparent as always. I will continue celebrating my friends, and everything/everyone I love, and I’ll keep doing good work giving back to my community.

You should really get a life and find more positive ways to spend your time. There’s a whole big, fat, huge awesome world out there…

Love,

Diane

PS~ For someone who thinks I can’t write, you sure have spent a lot of your time reading and poking around here! That’s pretty hilarious. I know you’ll be first in line to buy my book:)

#DontBeJealous #GiveAHug #Celebrate

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live, uncut, and unfiltered; warn the children

Can I get a whoop whoop?! Tell-ya-like-it-is, soul-sister in not being afraid to throw eff-bombs when necessary, and Author of You are a Badass, Jen Sincero- linked to Blue Lollipop Road in her blog post yesterday!

Boom chicka BOOM!

Naturally I’m thrilled to potentially have some of her readers eyes here on BLR considering they’re probably total badasses, or soon-to-be total badasses after reading her book, but mostly todays linkage is awesome  because as I have always said (and Jen writes to this point in her book)- when you take a step towards life, the universe responds. (Translation; Do things you love, are good at, and that feel natural to you, because when you do, traction and movement just starts happening. Period.)

I wrote this blog post on January 19th, because I was genuinely pissed off at myself for not posting here regularly like I used to/not working on my book more, for wasting my time working with a ridiculous client over the past 6 months who was not worth my time or energy, and for being apprehensive about generally writing in the tone I most enjoy; my actual own voice! I’ve been skittish about really throwing my eff-bombs and uber opinions around like I used to, since starting the Blue Lollipop Road Memorial Scholarship Fund and BLR Play It Forward in 2012: What if a parent of these girls applying for my scholarship read my blog posts that are often littered with cuss words and over-the-top-sass and thinks I’m crazy? 

As I read Jen’s book it was like she snapped her fingers in my face to wake me up from some kind of filtered trance that I had put myself in when I decided I wanted to launch Play It Forward. The do-gooder in me worried about community members and parents shunning their children away from “Crazy Diane who has that event and scholarship fund.” So I haven’t been living like my awesome badass self as much as I have wanted to, writing freely. (Blasphemy!)

So there I am a few weeks back, reading Jen’s words, getting all fired up thinking Bitch stole my book! I’m the one that get’s on my soap box spewing everything she’s talking about! She took the words out of my mouth! That’s how I usually write! Then I wrote that blog post, giving Jen props because hey- while I’ve been being all sissy and filtering my words, she was taking action actually writing her book, and well- the early bird gets the worm, baby. After writing my post I popped on over to good ol’ Facebook and put the link on Jen’s page with a “Thanks, Jen!” – and didn’t think another thing about it because I was busy focusing on kicking my ass back to myself. Meanwhile, in pops a response from Jen that she was going to share my link in her next blog post (yeah!) and here we are.

I did what was genuine and made me feel good by writing that blog post about Jen’s book, and the universe (Jen in this case) responded with some payback love.

Pretty awesome. That’s how it works!

I decided long, long ago to ride the badass train of living it up after losing 2 of my best friends who all of this Blue Lollipop Road awesomeness is dedicated to. I think I’ve managed to do a great job with that…most of time. As I look back at the past few years, I can see myself falling off that train here and there. Learning big time stuff about your adult self and leaving the younger you behind is no easy task, but now- especially after reading Jen’s book which made me feel like I was looking in a gargantuan mirror of my own words, I’m back to the game plan, laser focus, and reality that was burned into my brain back in 1994; there’s no time to be filtered or afraid. Life is too short for any of that crap. 

Today is February 11, 2015 and this day would have been my friend Maria’s 37th Birthday. Here we are in 6th grade before a big field trip, all badass like we owned the world. We didn’t care about a thing (including how ridiculous our hair or fanny packs looked) other than being happy, and feeling alive like we could conquer the world:

6th grade class trip

We were #1 for sure that day. Talk about dance like nobody’s watching. LOVE. THIS. PHOTO. The two of us were always uncut, unfiltered, and having a blast when we were together. That’s how I fully intend to live the rest of my years, inspired by people like my friend, who I wish more than anything, was here to celebrate with today.

Who inspires you to take your filter off?

#BadassBook #BeYou #Unfiltered

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badass jiggly wiggly girls

This.

Is.

AWESOME.

Hello Missy Elliot! She is my favorite. (And was the best part of the Super Bowl last weekend if you ask me.)

I found this video from a Facebook page of a group of women I shake my booty with regularly at Friday morning Zumba hip hop class. (Was just sweatin’ it out this morning with those ladies!) I do the same class on Wednesdays, sometimes on Saturdays, and I usually  go to Tuesday and Thursday night cardio dance. Besides that I run 25+ miles a week. I’m 36, and feel stronger and healthier than I ever have, but all the days I exercise, I feel the jiggle, jiggle, jiggle in addition to my muscle. I am a size 4/small, and I have cellulite and stretch marks. I have for years. They don’t stop me from jumping around and whooping it up. Life is short. I don’t know about you- but I’m going to do all I can to keep dropping it like It’s hot, shake what my mamma gave me, and having a blast doing it.

The girls in this video don’t care what’s going on around them- they are just getting after it. Whoop!

Are you feeling worried about your imperfect bod? Girllll- just GET OUT AND MOVE! Stay active, be your confident badass self, get in your zone, and I’ll see you there.

Three cheers to dancing like nobody’s watching.

How do you sweat?

#ThisGirlCan #ShakeYourBooty #OwnIt

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by come back, do they mean live there? if so- i’m in

***(Somehow this was left in my draft folder of posts from last summer, so I am finally publishing now on February 5th, 2015. I have to say even though I am wearing a scarf and freezing today, I would pay about 30 bucks right now to be sipping on one of these babies…)

I’ve proclaimed the Mocha Java Shake at Port City Java as the best frozen chocolate/coffee sipping treat ever before. Well, watch out PCJ! Enter Come Back Shack:

Road food- milk shake

I’ve been counting days looking forward to my annual fresh air green space summertime north in Upstate, NY and Vermont. (By counting days I mean um, We took a little drive to Boone and Blowing Rock, NC from Charlotte (yay for green mountain air and space!) and stopped for a treat on our way back out of town. One of the best shakes I’ve ever had!

Where do you find treats?

#RoadFood #LifeOnTheBlueLollipopRoad #Yum

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i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again; ILOVERMONT!

These cutesy articles about various states and kinds of people that live in them always crack me up. This one about my home state of Vermont, is pretty spot on. Numbers 4, 6 ,9, 11, and 14 describe me best/are my favorites. Boy do I miss those grinders from the Bennington Pizza House with that crispy, cold shredded iceberg lettuce that I would never otherwise eat.

Oh my beautiful little Green Mountain State and all the things that come with it! (Except the cold and snow- note my carefully planned visits always revolve around warm weather months.)

VT Border

Organic Rocks

IMG_8146

Green Mountain Farm

IMG_5708

What do you love about your home state?

#ILOVERMONT #GreenMountains #FreshAirKid

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road should be my middle name

I like being on the road and in my car so much, that on days like today I often hop in, and go park somewhere just a few blocks away in my own neighborhood to read, write, or just let my mind wander. I feel like I’m on an adventure, even just simply being outside on a street in my own town.

Check out the sun beaming in from this afternoon:

Afternoons in my car

That’s what I’m talking about! Can’t beat this kind of free awesomeness.

How do you find adventure in your own town?

#SunLove #NomadAtHeart #HomeOnTheRoad

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it pisses me off when i read books like this that I could’ve totally written

Could've written this one

Like really chaps my ass.

Good on ya, Jen Sincero! While I’ve been distracting myself  from doing what I really want to do; writing books like this, raising funds for the BLR Memorial Scholarship, planning events, encouraging anyone who is unhappy in whatever they are doing, to call a fuck it and jump ship- and doing speaking engagements about it all, I’ve chosen to spend too much of my Monday-through-Friday-plus time underpaid, for a terribly unorganized, immature, unprofessional client during the past 6 months just to pay my bills. (And let’s face it- this is not the first time I’ve burned myself with I’ll just do this for a little while and work on BLR on the side.) You’ve been flying to best-seller status and beyond (along with plenty others) and I’ve been sprinting on the very gerbil wheel I despise more than anything. (The same one I constantly preach for others to stay off or jump off.) Bullshit! No more.

Thanks for pissing me off, Jen! My buck stops here; I’ve fired that client. I won’t take another one like that- ever, and shit is about to get real up in here. (Holla DMX!) That’s right, you can look for my book on a shelf near you in the next year or two.

Like Mr. Martin Luther King, I have a dream too- and It’s about damn time I put up or shut up about it.

Nothing says motivation like calling yourself out publicly. BOOM!

What chaps your ass enough to finally snap?

#TodayIsTheDay #GetItDone #BLRGoTime

PS~ Thanks to my sister, Erin for sending me this book. She probably sent it because she knew it would piss me off just enough to put me over the edge to where I’ve wanted to be for a very long time. You rock, sister!

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