Flannel, Fog and Fabulousness

Happy fall everyone! I've been a bit of a bad blogger lately, but I am hoping to rectify this. Things have been interesting lately. I meant to write this post monday, but then I got all nice and sick this week so that blew that bright idea. Poo. Anywho . . . I've been trying to do some things for fall that make me happy.

Whenever the weather turns nippy I start dreaming of flannel. I have a thing for new sheets. They make me feel giddy and I bask in their loveliness. I stretch and snuggle. You can't beat new sheets. So, of course, I bought new flannel sheets for fall. They make me happy. I ponder a little bit though about the flannel choice I made though . . . plaid. It's a subdued plaid of course, nothing freaky, but sometimes it makes me wonder if I'm becoming more and more like my mother . . . I thought about the hearts and polka dots, but despite my like of them, for some reason I felt like a bit like a little girl if I picked those and then I would be contributing to the non-ushering in of adulthood. Yes. This is how my brain works. Over sheets.

And as an honorable mention: My puppy dog graduated on thursday for her first set of training classes. While the hat was not my idea (I would never!), I will say she was the only one without a problem with it. Win!

The beautiful lake

In other weekend wonderfulness, the puppydog and I went out and went hiking at a new park. We spent a little time on the lake and then in a daring move, I let her run free off leash to test her learning skills. Despite some pee-my-pants moments I think she did pretty well! And we even got back in time for the dog wash.

♥ My Ballet Night Look ♥

Later that evening I endulged in one of my favorite pastimes: going to a show. Lately I've been on this show kick. I realized that I've been missing out on shows because I felt like I had to go with someone. And I feel bad asking my dad to every single show I think about because it is money. Though I would never tell him that. He has always been wonderful about going to concerts and shows. It's something I dearly heart about him. I have finally overcome this thought though and have lately been taking myself to shows. First I saw Carmina Burana/Pagliachi. It was an amazing double header show and I am so thankful I went and grateful that I was able to. This got me thinking though . . . there are others! So last weekend I went to the Ballet and saw Sleeping Beauty. And while some may roll in their grave about the thought that I was contrasting in my head to the disney movie, I confess, I did it. But in my defense, it was simply in observation of the idea that there was all of this other music to it that I never knew of. And was beautiful. And because my eye-spy brain is in the show mood, I was even bright enough to come up with a show surprise for my friend's birthday that my gal pals and I can go to! I'm so excited about it too. To girl up and do a fun event together. Mucho bueno!

The Theater

One of my fav things: The Live Orchestra!

Some other fall things I love: ♥Flannel Sheets 
♥Waking up to foggy mornings  ♥Sleeping in on weekends 
♥Listening to the rain outside while reading in bed 
♥Sweater Weather  ♥Fuzzy Socks  ♥Tea Time  ♥Opera Nights  ♥Broadway & Ballet Shows  ♥Feeling Girly 
♥Checking things off The List  ♥Finding The Perfect pumpkins  ♥Halloween Movies  ♥Puppydog Hugs

There's more pumpkin patch goodness to come in the next installment. Love to all my ladies and jellyspoons!

Signs The I'm Getting Old

At 25, I understand that a significant number of you will roll your eyes and say "quit your bitchin'". I get that. But after recent events and revelations, I thought that it's interesting feeling "older" at this time of my life. And I'm not talking about the achey breaky BS that I've contributed to in my body, but more the perspective changes . . .

I Drink Tea Almost Every Night During The Winter Everytime we get together for a family dinner at my Grandparent's house, the meal will end and my grandmother will do a last call for after-dinner coffee or tea. And they will almost always have one or the other. When I get home and I'm relaxing during the winter or painting, I drink warm tea with milk and a scoach of sugar. I am my grandmother . . .

I Judgy-Wudgy-Bear Teenage Girls  It's been long known that grandma's say things like "that skirt's too short!" or "what is she wearing? she should cover up" or "what the blast is going on with her hair?" I've caught myself saying these things along with such things as "I don't remember us being that roudy" and "Did we dress like that?" For the most part I always dressed different in high school, away from the norm. Older. And I don't mean slutty ho-bag older, but covered up professional older. I had no style, what can I say.

I Find Myself Trying To Defy Gravity  So there comes a point where you realize you now have to work in order to defy gravity's evil plot against your body. Before it was girdles and standing there with a martini in your hand while a rotating rubber band vibrated the fat out of your mid section. Now it's anything I can do! I refuse to drag the girls behind me before I'm at least 50 (hopefully older). And therefore, effort must be put forth. Damn.

When You Do Something Childish, You Feel Stupid  I pre-qualify the word "childish" with not something child-like (i.e. board games, blowing bubbles, etc). Before, you did something childish and your parent would lecture you and teach you a lesson or they'd tell you to grow up. Now someone else does something childish and they are tacky and petty. When you do it (i.e. childish retaliation, etc), you scold yourself. You feel good for two seconds, and then you feel stupid.

I Want To Nap. Often. I find this one particularly interesting. Yes, I know, part of it's my lifestyle. Get over it. But frankly I also feel as though nap time has come around in full swing again. Nap time used to be great fun. Now it's a necessity to make it till bed at 9pm lol.

 Back-To-School Time I'm in that cusp between fact of life thinking and still wanting to buy notebook paper and have a bouquet of sharpened pencils. It also weirds me out seeing school busses all over the place again and having to pay attention to school zones. I also see all of these great designer-esque things in the stores and I'm secretly jealous. "We didn't have that stuff growing up"!

Where Did The Year Go? I used to never understand when adults would wonder where the month or, worse, the year had gone. Never understood it. Now I do. I have no clue where August went and frankly, the idea that 2010 is only another 3.5 months long really is disconcerting. I see Halloween crap in the stores and though excited for the holiday, I also find myself wondering where the time went.

Out Of The Funk, Into The Frying Pan

Did you hear? Apparently the twilight books made a top ten list for challenged books in 2009. This made me giggle to myself. Apparently it is also frequently requested to be banned from US libraries due to sexual content, vampireness, violence, etc. Heart hug. Please note: I never condone the burning or banning of books, I think discretion should be handled by parents and the rest should fend for themselves with a brain. But just the sheer fact that any of this occured . . . giggle giggle.

Moving on . . . I consider yesterday an emotional recovery day. Tuesday I went into a really horrid emotion and hormone-induced funk. I despise when this happens. So yesterday was recovery day. It usually takes a day to really make an effort and get passed the funk. So I got off of work and headed out to the airport where I proceeded to sit in the warm sunshine, work on my vitamin D and took a brief nap. It was a beautiful day and I love watching the planes land and take off. Afterwards, I made myself go to the gym. This was a challenge, but I did it. And I'm so glad I did. When I worked out on monday I felt really good, but I was also really sore and I realized how much work I needed to commit to in order to at least get back to where I was (and certainly beyond that). I took the step though and challenged myself to push it and do extra laps. I did ten extra laps and made myself finish strong on the last two. It was a great feeling. I also had a lovely conversation with a gal learning how to swim and was privy to an experience that just made me smile. After I swim I go sit in the hot tub to stretch. Out of the steam room comes a gal and a guy. It couldn't hear them very well and it took me awhile to realize they were speaking in russian. And though I have no clue what they were saying, it was beautiful to just listen to them speaking. And he was so excited and enthusiastic and happy. I loved it. I almost wanted to say thank you. May sound odd, but I loved being a fly on the wall.

Note: This post was from a pit ago, but I liked this part of it so much that I just HAD to still post it, hehe.

Look! I Cook!

For those who know me, they know I don't generally cook. It's kind of like my green thumb. It's something I want to pursue and develope, but it's definitely a work in progress. Part of this comes from being lazy, part of it comes from thinking everything takes way longer to do than it actually does and the biggest part is simply that I'm a bit of a perfectionist. The first couple times I cooked, things came out no bueno. Then I slowly started trying my hand at easy and/or family recipes that I knew what they took or how they were supposed to be. That started coming out pretty well.

THINGS I FOR SURE CAN MAKE:

a) Chilli
b) Pasta
c) Mango Salsa

d) Strawberry & Angel Food Cake Dessert
e) Roasted Potatoes w/ Herbs ("You say 'erbs', we say 'herbs' . . . because there's a fuckin H in it.")

f) Pot Roast w/ Veggies

Well due to my recent (in the last year or two) endeavors to attempt cooking more, I was blessed with a cooking magazine subscription as well as a stand mixer (love!). As things progressed, I started getting more confident. I've made banana bread, chocolate chocolate chunk cookies, and so on and so forth. One thing I am really trying to learn is to relax. Cooking should be fun! I use to stress out so much that I never wanted to do it. Now that I'm more comfortable (and occasionally ingredient forgetful. Eeeek!) I've even taking to a bit of improvising here and there. I figured out my oven at home runs hotter than the others I worked at so my bread has to cook at a lower temp, I forget butter one time and determined that I want further chunk cookies sans butter (it's better!), etc. These things make me happy because that means I am free to make my own cooking style.

I've been lazily toying with the idea of cooking lately and I finally decided to randomly do so last night. So I opened the windows to relax and listen to the rainstorm outside and got to cookin'. On the menu: Baked mac & cheese and berry cobbler.  And here's how it came out:

Can we say "yum"! It was delish. I like it better with out egg. Still determining my perfect amount of cheese. But all in all it was a good success. It's definitely my comfort food. And this time I was smarter and made it in a smaller dish so I didn't feel like I was wasting so much (for the most part just me is eating lol).

And for dessert . . .

Bonjour! It's berry cobbler. And oh my geez, for my first ever cobbler I was quite impressed. Everything is home made. And surprisingly the dough didn't take long to make at all. And for the berries, I went sans lemon juice and instead opted for a couple spoonfulls of a light sweet strawberry wine. And the lattice pattern up top was a complete improvise. My only change next time would be to add more sugar. Since I was unsure of how it would taste in the end, I went light. But all in all, I'm quite content!

Besides wanting to perfect these recipes, I'd also like try my hand this year at banana bread again, some oatmeal raisen cookies, onion soup and whatever else sounds great. I might even try SillyGrrl's recipe for eclairs. I can't wait for more! I may not have mucho peeps at home, but I work with all men so there's plenty of hungry tummies around :)

I wish you all great cooking adventures. Love!

Epic Technology

The world is quite the place these days . . . I have an iphone. And while it limits some of the ability with web browsing (i.e. posting a photo on this post until tomorrow when I'm at a computer), I am in love with it. I'm also in love with toys that I can associate with it.

First it was the car charger/tuner that allows me to play ipod/iphone tunes on my car. This was awesome. I find this a wonderful thing. And moving along the amazing train . . . Here comes the Sony ipod speaker dock. I heart this thing. It's a stereo with really great sound, works for my ipod and iphone and best yet . . . it has a remote. Oh yeah baby. I'm lazy, therefore the remote is tres fabu! And now we come to the final destination on our journey . . . the ipad keyboard dock that just happens to work with my phone. Epic.

I've been having a hankering to blog more, but my comp at home is slow as molasses and my internet just went bust, so alas . . . the phone is the only connection. So, with the help of the trusty keyboard I can now use my phone like my computer. Woohoo! It's so terribly exciting for me. I'm giddy with excitement, hehe.

On that note, I'm heading to bed. Soak up my giddyness kiddies, it's a great world!

Falling In Love: Meet Boo

In life there are all sorts of things to fall in love with . . . a beautiful day, yourself, a song, an emotion, trying something new, a place and if you're really lucky, a person. I suppose that I should admit that with the departure of my ex, I was feeling a bit of a void of love. I was falling in love with life again, with feeling, with my emotions and with doing stuff I actually wanted to. But, the void was still somewhere back there. I've always been a firm believer that God gives you just what you could handle. Sometimes I wish he would stop trusting me with so many things though lol. He also knows just what you need. And thus, he said 'let there be dog'! Bam!

The Story of Boo: On 4th of July weekend I went up to my parents in Washington. We chillaxed with BBQ, did sparklers, watched the idiots across the street try to blow themselves up. I even bought glow necklaces on a whim for fun. It's all fun in games 'til your mom unexpectedly whacks you with one of those while she's twirling. Worse when it happens repeatedly. Thank heavens she invested in new spectacles! Anywho, the next day we wake up from our evening of shenanigans and opt for a drive. And God said, 'let her have a bright idea'! Pulling out of the town, we were suppose to turn right. For shits and giggles, I suddenly was curious about the town the other direction. So we went, we saw, we came back. And on our way balk, casually trotting along the side of the road was this sweet looking dog. Now a preface this entire thing by saying these are in leash law towns so you would notice if your pooch is missing. We pull over and then second I step out, she comes a' running! She charges head first into my legs and instantly is a ball of love. I walk over to the car to speak with my mom and the pooch hops right in! And instantly she is at home. Go figure. We drove around, looked for tags, looked for owners . . . nothing. And suddenly, I became the proud owner of a puppy dog.

Puppy-dog Beauty: For years I've wanted another dog. I himmed and hawwed, said no with the excuse that it was money and we were never home, blah blah blah. I also never wanted to train a dog. All of these families want puppies for their kids and there's puppy mills everywhere. I don't want a puppy. Cutes, but no bueno. I do not have the tolerance or patience. So I think I ended up being THE luckiest girl in the world. She's house trained, she sits and stays for a treat, walks ok on a leash and doesn't bark. She still needs formal training, but her cuddlebug-ness outweighs this small dark spot. She rides uber well in the car and will go anywhere with you. She survived the puppy wash pretty good, though she hates the blow dryer as much as she hates the vacuum. Thank heavens she's short haired. I've even gotten her to like her crate, though to be honest, I haven't had the heart to close it on her. We had some initial destruction when she was still super insecure, but that's gotten much better. I will say though that she's a counter surfer and looks at plastic as something to chow down on. This has been most recently the bane of my existance as she's eating undelightful things. Oh well I suppose. Honestly though, I could not have asked for a better dog. And she makes my dad melt into a big love bug which wasn't easy to do, hehe. My favorite things about her: The smile on her face when she plays, how when she walks her booty wiggles and how one of her all black ears has a white tip and strip on the underside. It's cutes.

And just in case you were wondering about the cuteness, here are some photos :)

The Day We Met When She Curled Up In The Backseat

Conked out puppy dog

First Day Out On The Trails

The Cuddle Bug

So this beautiful bundle of loveness is awesome and has been taking up mucho time. I recommend to all of you though, if you have room in your heart and home to consider adopting a rescue dog. They have a lot of love to give and there's sure to be a special one out there just for you!

Vid Picks

Happy Monday everyone! So I fail at the bloggage lately, but in my avid postage of vids on my facebook, I just now realized they are entirely applicable here too! Sooo . . . I thought I'd share. Below are vids on awesome things, noteworthy headlines, good movies to be and politics that just make you shake your head. Enjoy!

Headline: Mis-marked Graves at Arlington

    Headline: The Grossly Obstinate Partisans Shove Foot In Mouth And Refuse To Help Because Of Their Dirty Politics. If you really cared and were going to pass it otherwise, then you should pass it now dunskys.



    
Movie: The Adjustment Bureau
    Movie: Get Low. (Because I like Robert Duvall and the big BM)


   
 Movie: The Town
(Because it looks that good and I miss the good movie-worthy Ben Affleck a little)




 Movie: The Lottery (an interesting docummentary on today's educational system and the fight to get ahead)          And other note-worthy things to be aware of . . .    

Headline: This Post by Dad Gone Mad made me cry in a I-love-my-dad sorta way.
Headline: Six Monhs After Haiti Quake, Mother & Daughter Reunited. Shine your light.
Headline: Man Steals Library's Tarantula

Headline: Do You Know Where Your Smartphone Parts Come From? MMT.

Headline: BP is full of shit. Shocker.

Headline: British Daddy Warbucks Purchases Europe's Cocoa Supply. That's enough candy bars to make qilly wonka salivate.

Headline: Flags Of The World And What They Potentially Really Represent

Headline: Rhino. Sad Face.

Chick Bands, The End Of The Spice Girl Reign

Everybody remembers the 90's retort to boy bands : chick groups. I.e. Spice Girls. It was all about Girl Power. A statement, by the way, that I abhor. It doesn't make me feel empowered, it makes me feel like a massive hippie. Well, thankfully, this reign is over. Everybody remembers them, sort of with a nostalgic feeling such as with slap bracelets and sticky hands (huzzah!), stirrup pants (dislike) and mohawks (still the shit!). That being said, there's kind of been this interesting underground awesomeness that still hasn't fully come to light in the world o' rock: Girl fronted bands. This does not mean the whole group if female, this means their lead person (bring me to your leader!) is female. And this is awesomeness. These aren't your grandma's proper ladies either . . .

Case In Point: Evanescence  I choose this as my first example as they are the most well known chick fronted rocker band. I provide two video evidence here because I think the hard side and the soft side are equally amazing.

Case In Point: Lacuna Coil  I had heard this band awhile ago and then they sort of fell off my priority radar. However, while vid searching . . . Bingo.

Case In Point: Halestorm   This is a kick ass rocker chick! The song is secretly sexy and I saw them live last fall and her voice is still amazing and all the band members did a great drumming break that just wowed me.

Case In Point: Within Temptation  I conclude with this band because they are my most recent new music discovery. I love her voice, but then the music has this gorgeous infusion of rock and classical a la Apocolyptica feel.  Forgive the live version, but while you're at it notice the awesome feminine dress she is wearing. Gorgeous!

 
  And speaking of Apocolyptica . . . I know they aren't chick fronted, but here's their new song and even though I have reservations at times regarding Gavin Rossdale (new stuff . . . ), I like how his voice sounds in this. You should partake.

Nirvana Makes You Think

The other week I ended up watching Behind The Music: Courtney Love on VH1. This is one of those secret guilty pleasure shows to me because I find other people in general fascinating. However, I find the premise of this episode to be somewhat misleading as it wasn't completely Courtney Love focused due to her entanglement with Kurt Cobain. And less face it, can't get a live interview with that guy. That being said, it got me thinking . . .

On one hand, Nirvana is a pretty rockin' band that I gently partake in when in the mood and alternatively, whether I like it or not, know essentially all the words to the songs. While they weren't around for a ton of time, their impact is pretty obvious. I know their songs and still to this day, people rock out. So this may get one thinking about what they could of done had he still been alive and they stayed together . . .

On the other hand, I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason and without this turn of events we would never have had Foo. The Foo Fighters that is. Dave Grohl was the drummer of Nirvanna and people may not have ever know the amazingness of Foo had Kurt lived. Never known the songs, never laughed at the mentos-inspired music video, never heard the raw sound of his voice or seen him go from grungy long-haired dude to sexy lead singer guy. And that, would be sad . . .

This then, of course, got me thinking of other bands cut short and their impact: Led Zepplin - Stairway to Heaven. Though a little nutty, that guy's voice was amazing. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama. Who doesn't know (and dance) to this song? The Beattles. Though often hard to understand and being the first official "boy band" (in my mind), you can't deny that John Lennon had a voice and at the idea was sort of revolutionary for the time. Can you Imagine? And my personal favorite . . . Queen. Freddy Mercury. The. End.

MMT

The Sexcapades: Episode 1

For my first installment of The Sexcapades, I think this video says it all. And I'm not afraid of how awesome it is (or true!). Take notes.