Bagels are Good.

So, I neglected to finish my summer Happy List. Oops.

I could write my thoughts for new (and old) college students, but I am not as eloquent as Miss Davis. Sooooooooooooooo, instead I will write this...

People talk about how much I do, but I actually spend a lot of time neglecting stuff. Sad, really.

About an hour ago, I was actually doing work when I felt the immediate need to eat a snack. It had been a whole five hours since I had last eaten, so obviously, I was famished. Thankfully, I had made a quick run to Kroger after play practice (what do you do when you realize that you are completely out of toilet paper while going to the bathroom?). At Kroger, I decided that I needed to buy bagels. Yum. I had a little leftover cream cheese from bean dip. Double yum.

Bagel toasting and scarfing (I hate seeing that word spelled out...it should not be spelled the same as the item of clothing) ensued.

While I was spreading the cream cheese, I thought to myself...

"Do I like anything more than a bagel and cream cheese?"

I immediately answered...

"Of course. I love tons of food. This is why I am fat."

Thus, the need to pick my Top 10 Favorite Foods arose. A bagel doesn't even make the cut.

In no particular order:

1. Alie's apple snicker yum yum.
2. Bean dip--Thank you, Sarah Kjeldsen. Thank you.
3. Chicken Enchiladas--Is it a Sara Lee recipe? Becky Gearhart?
4. Cheddar Munchies
5. General Tso's Chicken from China Garden (rice included)
6. The Hazelnut Raspberry Chocolate cake from Bone Fish
7. Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream
8. Cornbread casserole
9. Guacamole (The best ever? Made fresh by the lovely women in Reynosa...)
10. Chicago's breadsticks with nacho cheese and/or Chicago's barbecue chicken pizza

Honorable Mentions: Either an everything or an asiago cheese bagel (toasted) with cream cheese, Bonefish's Florida Cobb Salad, Max and Erma's tortilla soup, Adrian Orchard's apple cider slushies, steak, baby back ribs, chicken salad, Sara Lee's potato salad, Poo Shingles, watermelon, asparagus, popcorn, and Brie cheese...with pretty much anything...okay...cheese, period.

You try it. It is really hard to choose.
(Especially if you have papers to grade and can make a list such as this to waste as much time as possible.) Instead of sleeping tonight, I will probably try to figure out what I have forgotten. It will plague me.

No, seriously. Respond with your favorites.

Summer, cont.

4. Dancing

This summer has been filled with so much dancing.

We line-danced multiple times.
We danced in celebration of a good meal in Ocean Springs and of our independence on the streets of Birmingham.
We danced when Dana and Zach tied the knot.
And we danced even more when Ben and Hannah said their vows the following weekend.

Dancing and I have not always gotten along, mostly because I can't do it if it isn't choreographed. (This summer, only two years late, I fell in love with the "Cupid Shuffle." I thought it was the "Cuban Shuffle" for a while.) But, and this might sound creepy, I love watching people dance. I love how much laughter it invokes, how much personality. I love that people surprise me with their outlandish moves. I love that, despite it sounding so cliche, it seems to free people as they get lost in the beat of some stupid song.

There have been moments this summer when I felt sick to my stomach because I was laughing so hard while people danced. I LOVE that kind of stomachache.

Why don't we dance more often?

(Insert comment: I am NOT speaking of the kind of dancing that happens at most high school dances. That is called humping, and it is not freeing, fun to watch, or surprising...except when I see students who I respect in the middle of the mass of nastiness.)