Flapper Fizz

I have a mild obsession with the Roaring 20s. A romanticized, unrealistic obsession, of course, but... anyway.

Having said that, I've created a few random bits to share/spread my love :)

Hair!

I made this myself! <3

Style!

Hair ideas

Music!

Books!

What I Want

I want to be an editor. I want to be an editor very, very much.

I want to be an editor because I love words. Some people love art, or movies, or music, or animals, but I love words.

I love words more than I love stories, or libraries, or the smell of old books. What would they be without words? A book is no book without its story, and a good story –whether news or fiction – is nothing without the right words. Words describe and explain, praise and hurt, show love and show pain. Words have power.

I love beautiful words that mean beautiful, whimsical, tragic things. Quixotic. Nyctophilia. Heliophilia. Acatalepsy. Metanoia. Aubade. 

My spell-checker doesn't even know these words, but I do, and I love them.

I love the things we do with words. Poetry. Music. Conversation. Journalism. Even the way typography constantly improves the way words look. And, of course, I like to read and to write. I read epic fantasies and angst-ridden teen novels. I write science fiction and romantic dramas. I break grammar rules. I use comma splices. I love whimsical, experimental poetry where almost nothing makes sense at first glance. These things make me love words more. They make me love to play with them.

But none of these would be worth a thing without the right, beautiful, captivating words.

And although I like to string words together that I hope are right, to make a story I hope is good, I love reading other people's words more. I love editing.

I love growing to understand the choices behind each sentence and fixing them when they don't match up to their purpose. I love reading these stories and connecting-- at a deep, creative level-- with the authors, then helping them find the right words, the right combinations, the right punctuation, format and style, to make it exactly what they want.

I love the creativity. The creation. The challenge.

A perfectly written book may be captivating, but for me it's also boring. Give me a brilliant plot marred with rapid point-of-view switches, pathetic grammar and continuity errors that make you cringe. Give me news stories with terrible spelling and facts that have to be triple-checked and checked again. I love projects I can tear to pieces and rebuild twice as well. I like interpreting faults in each text and turning them into strengths, working with writers, bloggers and creators to make their work the best it can be.

I can break things down to find their core. I can pick out the poignant moments that make a scene glimmer, rise, or fall. Most of all, I can hear the voice. I can hear the way a story halts and stutters and flows. A wonderful story is wonderful, but a wonderfully written story is beautiful.

I'm creative, but practical. Critical, but constructive. Determined and helpful. Insightful and inquisitive. I understand the problems of both readers and writers because I am both. And though I may be a reader at heart, I am an editor by nature, and I can't imagine a single other thing I want to do for the rest of my life.

I am looking for new opportunities in the Editing and Publishing because this is what I want to do. I want to know the industry inside and out. I want to learn the best way to use every word and how to make each one count the most for its writer. How to use punctuation and grammar and style for the absolute best result, and understand when breaking those very rules benefits the writer -- and their readers-- more than they detract from the text itself.

I've spent the last few years doing freelance editing work for independent publishers, writers, bloggers and students. Throughout it all, no bad story, terrible grammar or difficult client -- no challenge at all -- has turned me away from the field.

This is what I want to do.

A Little Light Reading

Okay, so, crazy change of subject: me!

Just kidding. I write about me all the time.

But I want to do a little "plug" for my new writing endeavors on JukePop.com

JukePop is a really interesting site made for readers and indie writers to connect and develop working relationships via serialized updates of the writer's work.
So, a writer begins their novel on the site, posting one chapter at a time, and updates periodically  -- often or sporadically -- so that readers can follow them, read each serialized chapter, and offer opinions, praise, critiques, questions, etc. Readers can also donate to the writer, as well as encourage and promote their favorite stories.

I love the concept, and I really hope the site grows and gains more dedicated readers and followers.

the generic Romance cover

So I've uploaded the beginnings of two of my works-in-progress.
My poetry baby, inspired by the works of YA authors like (of course) Francesca Lia Block, Ellen Hopkins, etc. -- Poison In Her Blood (which is the newest working title)

Three tales of poison, reinvented.

Sephony can't watch the man she loves with another woman, and runs, losing herself in an underground club with bodies that writhe like souls, and an owner like shards of ice, with a ruby-red addiction.

Winter has a mother she adores, but who envies her youth and beauty. After spending her life trying to make her mother proud, Winter falls in love with a dazzling young girl, and want's to impress her, instead. But her mother will do anything to keep Winter quiet, and still, and all to herself.

Evie stands under the tallest tree in the woods, considering the dangerous offer that was whispered in her ear, and whether she can live with the consequences of her choice.

My writing obsession of the year, The Life We Didn't Live. A fantasy-woven romance inspired by the craziest dream that I could just never forget.

"Your time-line is wrong..."

Iris McEwan has dreams about a man she can't see. She feels sorrow she can't explain. She clings to the only thing in her life she feels sure about; her daughter, Ella.

But when a stranger at a carnival makes her suspect something unsettling -- and impossible -- about her life, she begins a trip through memories of her past, and a past she doesn't remember having.

So, if you have a moment and are looking for something to read, try these two fantasy reads. 

I got a comment on TLWDL really quickly, which boosted my hopes for it's success on the site, but I haven't gotten any since. I'd really like to see some more reactions before I post more chapters.

Please check it out!

Style Icon :: Lana Del Rey

Lately I have had a terrifyingly sudden and intense addiction to everything Lana Del Rey. Her music -- which i listen to over and over again every day -- her style, her videos, her makeup -- which i attempt to emulate sometimes -- just... everything.

I love the 40s, L.A., Gangster's Girl, Sexy, Hip-hop, Lolita vibe so many of her songs have that makes you want to dance and sway and drive under bright, shimmering California skies.

Her sound is singular, in that I've spent the last few weeks trying to find someone with similar songs or that makes me feel the same way, and I just can't manage it. I've listened to a lot of recommendations, and artists she attributes as inspiration, but still... not the same.
Husky sometimes, deep and soulful others, then light and airy and whimsical.

Her songs sound like pop-hip-hop (Off To the Races), anthems (Born to Die), soul-searching melodies (Ride), lounge music (Body Electric) and James Bond themes (Million Dollar Man).


And her look is sensual and sexy and 1940's glam that I just can't get over. So what if her lips are done or she has a carefully selected make-up artist (which I'm assuming), that's her choice, and I assume she likes the way she looks, which is the whole point!
I have even found photos of her with blue hair, though I can never tell if they're real or photo-shopped. Still!


I read a review of her album, "Born to Die", that complained that too many of her songs re-used the same ideas and styles.

Personally, I love that. Really, really, love that. I hate it-- loathe it-- when I find a song I absolutely love, then get the artist's album only to find that it's the only song like it that they've ever done! The most noteworthy of these I can think of is Fiona Apple's "Paper Bag" which I had a very long love affair with a year or so back. But when I downloaded her discography (yes, I do that, but I support artists when I can, too) I couldn't find a single other track that was like that song. Yes, I like Fiona Apple's songs, but I looove that one, and it's the only one of its kind. That makes me sad.
This is not the case with "Born to Die". Almost every song is jazzy, sensual, sexy, fun, and down-right amazing. In fact, the ones I'm not as big a fan of are the slow, purely romantic/sad songs like "Video Games", "Summertime Sadness", or "Young and Beautiful". Not saying I don't like those, but I definitely don't put them on repeat like others

There's also complaints that Lana Del Rey isn't a real person. Her real name is (was?) Lizzy Grant, and she was a would-be artist that just sort of fell through. When she couldn't make it, she disappeared, and later on Lana Rey Del Mar appeared, touting a huskier, darker voice, a very rich image, and  a new sound. Rey's success didn't take long, but when fans realized the connections, people lashed out at her for faking who she is. Again, i disagree here. So she's not actually Lana Del Rey? I love the character she's created and the persona, even if it's not a real person. It doesn't make her music less beautiful or sexy or fun.

But there are other critiques of her work that I relate to, such as this (well-earned) rant about the video for "Ride" which points out the big flaws in the [very very pretty] music video-- particularly, its glorification of the character's (Lana's) dependence on the men in her sad life, and her complete abandonment of self in favor of their company and support. It touts the idea of independence and freedom, but always seems to be centered around the men she seems to give herself up to.

How Weetzie (and yet still culturally incorrect/rude) is this scene??

So, is she perfect? No.
Does that detract from the inspiration and vibe I find in her?
No!

She's flawed and some of her ideas are flawed, but that makes her much more of a down-to-earth icon that I kind of appreciate. We all do stupid things and hop onto wrong bandwagons. Look at Weetzie's use of Native culture in Weetzie Bat. Do we like Weetzie, or FLB books, less because of these instances? No. It's important to understand and acknowledge the problems in our heroes and inspiration, and learn and seek to not repeat those flaws, but not having them at all...? There's no such person.
Learn from your inspiration's flaws. Be better than them!

Back to the point.

My favorite songs::

Lolita
Off to the Races
Born to Die
Radio
Million Dollar Man
Blue Jeans
Dark Paradise
This is What Makes us Girls
Body Electric

Inspirations :: Holly Golightly

Today's Inspiration Icon :: Holly Golightly

(Character) Played by: Audrey Hepburn

Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany's (book as well)

If there ever was an icon above all icons, both in personality, fashion, style, and lifestyle, it's Holly Golightly.

Played (beautifully) by Audrey Hepburn (another icon in her own right) and written by Truman Capote, Holly is not necessarily all that bright, but is fun, sleek, quick, fashionable, and oh-so independent.

"Holly (age 18–19) is a country girl turned New York café society girl. As such, she has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who take her to clubs and restaurants, and give her money and expensive presents; she hopes to marry one of them. According to Capote, Golightly is not a prostitute but an American geisha."<sup>[1]" -- Wikipedia

“I'm very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what's yours until you've thrown it away.”  -- Holly, book

The book and movie are certainly two different things. Not only is one literary fiction (book) and one a romantic comedy (movie), but Holly is definitely different in each. Also, details in the plot and ending are very different (In the book, Paul [no name] is gay-- though in love with her-- and *spoiler* they don't end up together)</sup>

"Capote: Holly Golightly was not precisely a call girl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps jewelry or a check ... if she felt like it, she might take her escort home for the night. So these girls are the authentic American geishas" --Wikipedia

Yet both the book and the movie are two of my favorite things in the world, with very different reasons for each; but Holly is still a strange, wild, delightful character to read, watch, and be inspired by. I really think, though, that this is not only because of how cool or glamorous or independent she is (she is all those things) but all because of her very real, very human flaws.

"there are a lot of major differences between Capote's 1958 novella and George Axelrod's screenplay to the 1961 movie. There's the setting (the 1940s, not the contemporary 1960s), the nameless narrator (called Paul in the film), Holly's age (she's still in her late teens in the story but played by 31-year-old Hepburn on-screen), Holly's fondness for marijuana (gone in the film). Holly's bisexuality (ditto), and the wistful, ambiguous ending (replaced in the film by a conventional romantic happy ending)."
-here

^"Holly likes to shock people with carefully selected tidbits from her personal life or her outspoken viewpoints on various topics. Over the next year, she slowly reveals herself to the narrator, who finds himself fascinated by her curious lifestyle." -- Wikipedia

Holly is kind-hearted, but also selfish. Desperate to be free, she leaves her family behind and chooses a life for herself. Brave and free-spirited move? Yes. But there are many times when Holly shows her occasional selfish, shallow side. Also, her... intellect? I don't remember if this was an issue in the book (I'll check), but in the movie she shows a very simple lack of knowledge in things such as books and the law and her interpretations of people and situations. There's also her depression and sort of... lack of direction, which I think is a very human touch; her Mean Reds.



"“The blues are because you’re getting fat and maybe it’s been raining too long, you’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of.”  " --Holly, movie

Yet despite these flaws she's still beautiful and fun and free, and kind of the very essence of a (admittedly lazy) modern woman who wants to choose her life and live it exactly as she likes wherever and whenever she wants to. She still feels out of place and like she hasn't found herself (or her home) yet, which is a theme that reoccurs in both the book and movie, but she continues to search. In the movie this is somewhat resolved with romance (of course) but in the book it's never really solved, perhaps because it doesn't have to be. Holly continues to explore the world and live as freely as she chooses, and I think it's a more empowering, freeing ending that allows us to remember that we can always continue on our journey. The romance is cute and all, but not exactly empowering.

""Good luck: and believe me, dearest Doc -- it's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear.”" -- Holly, book

While Holly's leaving is remembered with melancholy, the book seems to say, in a way, that we never have to stop searching for ourselves if we don't want to. We don't have to settle down. We don't have to give in to what other people want. We don't have to be what other people want. We can live our own lives. Even as women. Even as someone selfish, vain, naive women; we can live our lives.

 




Related Reads:

Revelations about Breakfast At Tiffany's
Holly Golightly is my Guru
The Making of Holly Golightly
25 Things You Might Not Know...

Loving Anais

Still reading the wonderful Diary of Anais Nin. As such, here are my favorite quotes for the 2nd ...eighth? of the book! These selections aren't so much inspiring as they are beautiful writing (to me).

On a side note; I believe this is post #200!!!!! 

I am excite.

 

From, The Diary of Anais Nin, Volume 1. Pages 47-105

"I was upset as a child to discover that we only had one life."

"[She has] increased the dose of love as the poor addict increases his dose of drugs."

"...they grappled body to body, breath to breath, tongue against tongue, as if to enclose, enmesh, imprison once and forever..."

"I could not life any longer in an empty world. I must have much to love, much to hate, much to grapple with."

"Again and again I return to poetry."

"Anger incites him: fuels him. Anger poisons me."

"...[she] stopped them an angry way which revealed her love of me. As i f I were sacred."

"To destroy is easy."

"I am possessed by a fever for knowledge, experience, and creation."

"He wills the whole world to fire and floods..."

"Today I feel my past like an unbearable weight..."

"To me the truth is something which cannot be told in a few words... those who simplify the universe only reduce the expansion of its meaning."

"I could already see how contagious a full life can be."

"I keep a kind of shell around me, because I want to be loved."

"...so I cover all this up with understanding, wisdom, interest in others, with my mind's agility, with my writing... I cover the woman up, to reveal only the artist, the confessor..."

"I want my Dionysian life, drunkenness and passion and chaos; and yet here I am, sitting at a kitchen table and working..."

"For this is the moment when I relive my life in terms of a dream, a myth, an endless story."

"I have constructed a style, a manner, affable, gay, charming, and within this I am hidden."

"He gets drunk on words."

"The old pattern of my life is shattered."

 "To be unhappy is not a sign of weakness"

"I have never seen anyone so withered from within, so dead in life."

"...an initial shock has shattered my wholeness, that I am like a shattered mirror. Each piece has gone off and developed a life."

"...writing, for me, is an expanded world, a limitless world, containing all."

"Her love was brave and virile."

"The room feels heavy and deeply anchored in the earth."

"Enter this laboratory of the soul where incidents are refracted into a diary, dissected to prove that everyone of us carries a deforming mirror where he sees himself too small or too large, too fat or too thin... Enter here where one discovers that destiny can be directed... Once the deforming mirror is smashed, there is a possibility of wholeness; there is a possibility of joy."

Ze Inspiration

I don't think I've ever posted this before, so it's important for me to get it done.

Everyone creative, everyone who wants life and love and fun (and success), should see this.

Invocation
by Ze Frank

Emptiness and Nin

I don't have anything clever to say today. I am sorry.

When you're in a good place, emotionally/psychologically, you forget how bad things are when you're not. You forget the empty feeling in your head that grows into a gnawing discontent, then a deep, aching misery. You forget how your soul just doesn't seem to accept joy anymore. Every possible pleasant or useful activity is more work than it's worth, because afterwards you won't feel any better. 

This, too, shall pass.

Right?

I have miles to go before I sleep.

I have, however, restarted the Diary of Anais Nin for... about the tenth time. I always start, fall in love, and then set it down after a hundred pages or so and get distracted for a few years.
It's very beautiful, and very much of the sensual, artistic (yet realistic) beauty that I love about Francesca Lia Block's stories, but through the words and thoughts and life of a person who actually did live and love and was kind of amazing. Anais Nin sought a life of both hard realism and truth, and also the beautiful, ethereal life of sensualism; love and fantasies and beauty.
Her many many journals record her (amazing) thoughts and feelings throughout her life, including about friends, lovers, and life in general. She is kind of my literary hero, and there's no (or at least very little) fiction to it.

To entertain you in my place, I present my favorite lines so far from The Diary of Anais Nin (Volume One, pages 1-46). The bold ones, of course, are my favorite favorites.

"I know that human beings place upon an object, or a person, this responsibility of being the obstacle when the obstacle lies always within one's self."

"I had a sense of preparation for a love to come."

"I want to prove that there is infinite space, infinite meaning, infinite dimension."

"I have days of illuminations and fevers. I have days when the music in my head stops."

"You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book ... or you take a trip, or to talk ... and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating."

"...then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death."

"I have always believed ... to write as one thinks, in the order and disorder in which one feels and thinks..."

"She was color and brilliance and strangeness."

"She lives on the reflections of herself in the eyes of others. She does not dare to be herself."

"'I will never know again who I am, what I am, what I love, what I want. Your beauty has drowned me, the core of me.'"

"'...if I love you it means we share the same fantasies, the same madness."

"...[we] have paid with our souls for taking fantasies seriously, for living life as a theatre..."

"She is a personality expanded to the limit."

"...she walked into my house and I was willing to endure any pain at her hands."

"Our love would be death."

"We were walking above the world, above reality, into pure, pure ecstasy."

"In his love for her he has endured so many torments that the lover took refuge in the writer."

"I have the power to burn like a flame"

"To be fully alive is to live unconsciously and instinctively in all directions..."

"All but freedom, utter freedom, is death."

"I go out into the world to seek life."

"She is so busy just BEING, talking, walking, making love, drinking, that she can achieve nothing else."

"She lives within chaos."

"You cannot possess without loving."

More to come, I'm sure.

Beautiful Blogs :: Feral Doe

Beautiful Blogs

Feral Doe

This isn't a full BB write-up, but I did want to give a shout-out to this (new?) blog I caught sight of in my Follower list.

It looks like she's just started out, and her blog is mostly short bits of fiction, but I loved the first one so much I copied quotes of it for my Inspiration Board (more on that when it's a little more finished).

"She wanted the right one, the key, to unlock the spill of her voice."

Doesn't that just scream Francesca Lia Block!??!

Very beautiful; I love it.

Will definitely go back for more 

<3

Behind

I've left behind a piece of my life tonight.

I think.

A feeling felt and held and cried over. Now found, and mourned

and

possibly

let go?

My life is not what I want it to be.

But this.

I want this.

To tilt my head back and laugh at the sky

like it is too big and too bright and it is perfect

but I am too.

Like the greatness of the thing

can no longer intimidate me.

The past behind, hope ahead.

Life ahead.

Love.

Smiles.

I want this.

"I have been young too

I have been Psyche, I have been Echo

I have been Eurydice

I have been Persephone, like you

I thought I was not a goddess..."

...

"But she was a goddess and a storyteller too. A soul in a new dress now."

~Psyche in a Dress

"Things are changing. You just must believe it, yes? You just must believe." 

~ Changelings {Blood Roses}

 

"I want to paint. I want to paint things that make people feel their pulse. Like drums. Like running. Like making love.

I will paint a Tarot deck-- my own."

~The Hanged Man

 

Inspirational Addict 3

Decor

Hair

Style

Other

((all found on pinterest. Check out my pinterest site to find original sources)

 

Beautiful Blogs :: Weetzie Lovers

Weetzie Lovers

a collection of weetzie pages

I suddenly had the urge to find other pages and posts about Weetzie Bat. When I first started this blog, these were few and far between, but a quick google search shows how the fandom has oh-so grown!

So here's a random smattering of posts that I've found in a quick search, highlighting Weetzie Bat, her style, and FLB's beautiful imagery.

Rookie :: Secret Style Icon Weetzie Bat -- a quick bio and info about WB, with fashion inspiration :)

Parfait Doll :: Style Diary: Shagri-L.A. -- an adorable little piece about Weetzie style and fashion, with quotes from the book. Very cute!

xoJANE :: How to Look Like a LA Wild Child! -- This is a neat post (with pictures!) about how the writer pulls off some Weetzie looks on a budget.

Tumblr :: Weetzie Bat tags -- I know; not a blog. But still. scroll through this and you'll find beautiful images related to Weetzie Bat, quotes to inspire you, or people's wonderful stories about their experiences with the book or characters.

Jezebel :: The Book For Girls Who Ended Up Taking A Gay Dude To Prom -- This is actually an older one (2008, the rest are 2012), and I remember reading it in the past. No pictures and about being Weetzie-like, but is a great description of the book, as well as its flaws and successes.

Pinterest :: Weetzie Bat tags -- again, not a blog. But more visual than tumblr, pinterest has a vast assortment of photos, art, fashion ideas, and just plain Weetzie-based inspiration! Great place to browse and be inspired.

 

 

 

Have a Weetzie post? Let me know and I'll add it to this list! 

"Superheated infusion of free-radicals and tannin"

So we've been doing our afternoon tea almost every day this week. 

Our first tea. I need a bigger tray...

Despite my original menu, this week we've mostly been having:

Cucumber & Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Salmon & Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Strawberry Pocky

Almond Pocky ($.75!)

Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Butter Crackers ($.69!)) with EuroCrem

Toast with Butter & Jam

Green Tea

Irish Breakfast Tea

Chai Tea

Had these mango cookies: too sweet to eat!!

I like it, but it's having the opposite effect from what I wanted. Instead of refreshing myself with a light snack and hot drink, I end up feeling full and even more sleepy! I've been trying to work with caffeinated teas, but no helpfulness so far!

Somehow the pocky and buttered toast are still my favorites!

But as the weeks gone on, we're losing steam as far as doing it every day. Thursday we just didn't feel like it, and today there wasn't much point because we were both home most of the day.

I'm hoping to start it back up tomorrow, though it might have to be with coffee instead of tea...

Upcoming food ideas are pimento cheese & bacon sandwiches, fruit slices, and (hopefully) pumpkin muffins.

Drink up!

A Weetzie Party

I'm imagining a party. 

A birthday party, maybe.

Where all the decorations are pink and purple and covered in glitter, and fake flowers are strewn across the room. Paper stars hanging from branches, glitter garland around the doors and tables. Confetti on every table to spray around the rooms.


The invitations are sent out in little white envelopes, filled with glitter confetti that dances to the floor when you open it.

Pink champagne and hibiscus tea to drink,
tiny cakes with rainbow sprinkles litter the table.
Veggie hummus dip, dried hibiscus snacks.

Everyone has to be lovely, in glam dresses and flower crowns and silver tiaras, dress pants and dapper vests and hats. Glitter on every cheek and bright, colorful bracelets jingling from everyone's wrists.

The Beatles should play in the background. And african drum beats and salsa and David Bowie. Everyone dances and everyone smiles.

Instituting Afternoon Tea

I've been working almost full time for the past two weeks (the state won't let me work proper full time- they'd have to pay more than minimum, or give us benefits) and there are two constants when I get home, regardless of how my day went.
I am always sleepy.
And I am always hungry.

It's time to remedy this with a new tradition/habit.

Tea Time!

Tea Food Ideas:

[sandwiches] cucumber & herbed cream cheese. salmon & herbed cream cheese. ham & butter. curried chicken salad. pimento cheese. apples & cheese. avocado & cheese or turkey. tomato & mozzarella or avocado. veggie.

[savories] cheese biscuits. cheese croissants. crackers & spread. veggies & dip. shrimp toasts. meat slices. rice balls with nori. tomato bites.

[sweets] cake minis. pastries. scones with clotted cream & jam. tartlets. fruit & chocolate croissants. muffins.

[easies] toast with butter & jam. crackers & cheese. fruit. cookies.

Inspirational images follow. The internet is FULL of them, and I can't wait to get started. 

My boy and I both get home at 3 almost every day, and he never eats unless food is provided (-.-) and I am looking for a new and fun tradition-- and desperately need a pick-me-up every afternoon-- so this is perfect.
My plan is afternoon tea every weekday between 3 & 3:30. And on weekends (if we feel like it) at 4.
To save myself time, I will (theoretically) prep most of the week's menu on Sunday nights. Pre-cut breads, toppings, etc. Slice & store fruits and necessary fillers (meat, veggies, etc). Also, make bulk things like chicken salad (have I posted that recipe yet? it's amazing), cucumber cream cheese mix, etc.

My first week starts Monday, so I'm looking through pictures and recipes and working on an early menu. I'm probably not really going to stick with it, but since I'm so broke right now, I need to have a plan for affordable and reusable things and stick to it. This list should run about $15 for the week, assuming any time I use "meat", it's whatever meat was eaten for dinner the night before. This is my base idea for Week 1.

{Monday}
Cucumber Sandwiches
Fruit Bites
Cheese Squares

{Tuesday}
Crackers with Herb Spread
Meat Slices
Veggie Bites
Fruit Bites


{Wednesday}
Savory Sandwiches
Toast with Jam
Cookies

{Thursday}
Dinner Bites (leftovers)
Apples & Cheese
Fruit Bites

{Friday}
Week's Leftovers
(most likely Cucumber Sandwiches, Cheese & Crackers/Apples, Toast with Jam)

I'm excited.