I Wish I Could Go There Just One More Time

It's the BIG news in Baltimore today.

Gino's, home of the Gino Giant, is coming back to town.

I gotta admit, I have never heard of Gino's before. But there are a LOT of my Facebook friends and listeners who grew up in the 60's & 70's and Gino's was part of their childhood. It was sweet to hear them remember hanging out with friends, polishing off a Gino's Giant (similar to McDonald's Big Mac, only better, so I hear), and enjoying simpler times. With Gino's coming back, many are getting their shot at remembering their childhood.

We heard from a lot of folks remembering Hamburger Junction at Harford and Joppa Roads. Supposedly, a little train would run along the counter and the meal and the train cars would deliver your meal. Farrell's Ice Cream in Golden Ring Mall was another favorite. Many people told the tale of the "Pig's Trough" sundae, which was really 6 scoops of ice cream plus everything on top. If you polished it off, you got a medal and bells and whistles and people oinked at you. That probably wouldn't fly in today's PC world - ha!

I wish I could go back and visit:

• Flickers in Chatham Mall on Rt 40 in Ellicott City. My brothers and I had a blast playing the games, racking up the tickets, and turning them in for fun, cheap prizes. I still have a Flickers token somewhere in my loose change.
  
• McConnells in Denton. We always stopped there for lunch on our way to the beach and it had these two HUGE slides. I LOVED that place. It was the only time in my life when my mom had to bargain with me during meal time - "take two bites of a cheeseburger for two trips down the slide." You know it was a special place if little Erin Ashley happily didn't want to eat her meal.
  
• Hollywood Bakery in Arbutus. Marshmallow donuts. I've never, ever found another place that makes marshmallow donuts. It was a donut covered in powdered sugar and filled with a marshmallow creme concoction. It was heaven. We'd get them on the weekend, often times before or after church. Happy, happy memories.
  
• Father's Gay Nineties in Catonsville. It closed long before I was around. Father's was a restaurant place known for their ice cream sundaes that my mom and dad used to go to when they were dating and first married. It was the place where my dad learned to NEVER touch my mother's sundae. He thought it would be cute to swipe some of her whipped cream and put it on her face. My mother didn't think so. Thirty-five years of marriage later and he's never, ever done that again. And he still feels a little nervous at the mention of Father's.
  
• The Enchanted Forest on Rt 40 in Ellicott City. The place was pure magic and was like stepping into a fairy tale. I'd LOVE to go back there. I know Clark's Elioak Farm in Columbia has restored many of the pieces. We took our goddaughter there last spring and she loved it. It's just not the same, but all good things must come to an end some time, right? 

 How about you? Your turn to reminisce. What's the local landmark you wish you could go back and visit just one more time?

No Dying Allowed

The following is a texting conversation between my bestie, Tatiana, and myself this afternoon.

Tatiana: Hi friend. Are you still alive? Please still be alive. I would DIE if anything happened to you :-(

Me: You cannot die. I will need someone to say nice things at my funeral. I've designated you that person. Now, as for my personal well being, I just took another round of Advil. My fever broke last night. Tired, headache, joints still achy, but I don't have the pukes and it's not a head cold. Gots a deep, chesty cough though. I'm still alive!

Tatiana: Can I tragically fling myself into the burial hole place thing after I say nice things?

We're Single & We're Awesome Plus We Have Chocolate Party

We're single.

We're awesome.

We have chocolate.

And all of the above is worth celebrating!

We single people tend to get lost in the Valentine's Day shuffle, which is completely understandable since the holiday is really a celebration of love for couples or small children who know how to cut a heart out of construction paper with safety scissors. That's not a complaint, by the way. I'm happy for my married friends who take it as an opportunity to celebrate their love for one another. I also take it as an opportunity to pray for my married friends.

As a single person, however, Valentine's Day kinda makes me feel like the kid picked last for dodgeball. Or like the kid who couldn't find a partner for the three legged race at school so she had to sit off to the sides, feeling completely left out, and watch all the other kids have fun.

That never happened to me, by the way.

Honest.

Fine.

The dodgeball part is true.

I Call It The "S" Word

I never realized how one word was capable of drawing so many emotions and responses: joy, fear, sorrow, sympathy, consolation, faux adoration, religiosity.

There could be a bajillion words around it, but it's the only word that is focused on. It's like honey to a bee. Peanut butter to a mouse. Mr. Darcy to a Jane Austen fan. Sports to a man. Chocolate to a woman. When this word is used, certain people instantly have to comment. They have to share their opinion.

The word is:

A Note To My Future Husband: My Valentine's Day Expectations

Dear Future Husband, whoever you are, wherever you are, and if you are,


Let's discuss Valentine's Day.

You're off the hook.

You heard me right.

You. Are. Off. The. Hook.

Yes, I know you are "off the hook," as in cool. I mean, you have to be super awesome, because...helllllllllo...I married you. Duh. What I mean to say is: you don't have to do anything for the holiday.

Seriously. This isn't a woman mind game.

Valentine's Day may work for some couples, and it may be something they need to encourage them to express their love to one another. However, I don't like a holiday that forces couples to prove or acknowledge their love to one another by spending wads of cash on flowers and chocolate that can be purchased throughout the year at 50% of the price. I worked at a flower shop for a year and a half. I know the mark up.

I'm forever grateful that I worked in that flower shop on Valentine's Day. It was the most insane day at any retail establishment that I have EVER experienced. It made me appreciate the hurdles you men jump through for us women. When ordering their dozen red roses for their wife/girlfriend/fiance on Valentine's Day, most men started the conversation with, "I gotta get her some roses or something. What do you think I should do, and how much is this going to cost me?" A select few even read off a list their wife/girlfriend/fiance wrote so their man would buy them exactly what they wanted for Valentine's Day. I don't like that. I don't want you to feel forced to get me anything. I'd rather you do something because you want to, not because a holiday tells you to. Let's save our money and put it towards a great vacation or something that's needed.

This does not, however, exclude you from getting me flowers or a card and such throughout the rest of the year. That will be randomly expected, just as I'm sure you will expect it from me. But doing something specifically on Valentine's Day? You are hereby released from any and all expectations. You're welcome.


Love,