So here’s what’s going on

In case you guys haven’t noticed, I’ve been in the midst of a brain fart for approximately 15 months.  That, my friends, is a lot of months.  A LOT of months for a blogger especially.  I am a person who is supposed to provide other people with something interesting to read and I had nothing to say.  But the thought of leaving the Internets behind forever did not sit well with me.  So I needed to come up with a solution.  And after months of sitting around, feeling guilty for not ever hitting “publish” but still trying to sort out the half thoughts floating around in my brain, I figured it out.

I’m moving to Tumblr.

I’m not saying goodbye to strict shenaniganist forever though.  But for the time being, I’ll be most active over at dude…i’m so that kid.

This has been a long time coming but I feel pretty good about it.  I’ve loved my time over here though, interacting with all of you, so I hope you guys will make the move with me :)

I would really love it if…

Saturday night Boo and I watched Disney’s Enchanted.  I really like that movie.  For one thing, it has Patrick Dempsy and you can’t go wrong with McDreamy.  For another thing, it’s actually a kind of cool concept: animated heroine gets banished to live-action world where she holds out hope of her animated Prince Charming (not his actual name) rescuing her, meanwhile falling in love with the live-action hero who actually does rescue her even though he doesn’t initially want or mean to.  Also, Amy Adams gets to see what she would look like if she were a Disney Princess and that’s pretty much every little girl’s dream.

(image via here.)

Which brings me to my point.  I would totally love it if someone would draw me as a Disney Princess.  I mean, I’d kind of like to know what I would look like.  Would I look like Belle?  She and I are pretty similar after all.  French (or at least partly French) girls with wavy brown hair who like to read.  But I don’t look good in yellow–trust me.  Would I have the quintessential Disney pointy nose?  Because I don’t really have a pointy nose.  In fact, as Boo pointed out (no pun intended) my nose is actually kind of bulbous (yes, that IS the word he used but he meant it in a totally loving way, swearsies) from the front.  What would my Disney outfit be?  My M.O. is jeans and Chucks so would I still get the fancy ball gown?  Or, would they shake it up and give me a fancy ball gown with Chucks (you know, like the way I dressed for my wedding).  Could I get a non-wussy-hued purple for my outfit since Disney like their princesses to be color-coordinated?  And what about my snappy sidekick?  Because everyone knows that no Princess is complete without a snappy sidekick.

So…if there is anyone out there who happens to be a kick-ass Disney animator with some time on their hands, I would really love it if I could see what I’d look like as a Disney Princess.

Also, I think it would be a great idea to create a Disney Princess simulator.  You type in your features (eye and hair color), hobbies, favorite color, special skills (i.e. the ability to talk to animals) and then a program poofs you out an image of you as a Disney Princess.  Kind of like this superhero factory.  Someone should probably get on that and then credit me with the idea.  Because I’m totally copyrighting that idea so if you create it and DON’T credit me, I’ll open up a can of whoop ass (does anyone still threaten to do that anymore?).

I hope they spit in her lemonade

One of the sure signs of summer in suburbia is the neighborhood lemonade stand.  Last week I dropped Boo off at the train station for a trip to CT for work.  On our way to the train, we passed a lemonade stand, 25 cents a glass.  We kept driving (so we wouldn’t miss his train) but I said I’d stop on the way back.

So anyway, I dropped Boo off and headed back to the lemonade stand.  There was a bit of confusion when I pulled up.  It seemed that the lead car stopped for lemonade and confused the car behind them who couldn’t figure out to keep driving.  Granted, the stand was somewhat tricky to navigate.  It was perched at the end of a driveway on one of the notoriously narrow Main Line roads.  So there was parking to figure out.  Do you put the flashers on?  Do you assume that other drivers are smarter than the person you just saw who couldn’t figure out that cars were stopped to buy lemonade?

But it’s Sunday, not that traffic-y, so I said ‘what the heck’, stopped the car, and walked over.  But while I’m parking my car, I see a manicured hand slide out of the driver’s side window of the car parked in front of me.  Just the hand.  And then I see the finger waggle, beckon the kids over to the car, and flash a dollar bill.

My jaw kind of dropped.  I’ve crossed the street and I’m waiting for these kids (the oldest was probably 11) to pour my glass.  I ask if they’re having fun and tell them to keep up the good work and walk back to my car.  Meanwhile, this woman has refused to leave her car.  She has forced these little kids to cross the street with her lemonade.  I mean, these poor kids were like, 6 years old, teeny tiny, and schlepping across the road with her lemonade.  I just was shocked.  I mean, it takes an extra 30 seconds to park the car and get out, so why wouldn’t you?

So maybe I’m old school.  Maybe I’m used to people who act like they are supporting kids actually doing so rather than rolling down the tinted window and waggling their scary manicured fingers for a drink.  Like these kids are here to serve her.  Please lady, that has never been the point of a lemonade stand and you know it.

If it were me…well, I would have spit in her lemonade.

Caprese Pasta

If I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be pasta.  There are so many varieties, so many things I can do with it.  I can have it hot or cold, long or short, stuffed or non-stuffed.  The options are endless!

Despite the many, many, ways I can eat pasta, I sometimes forget to shake it up.  I get in a rut with my favorites.  Currently I’m in a rut with Caprese pasta.  It’s so fresh and light and perfect for this time of year.

Ingredients:

Pasta (short cuts work best, so pick your favorite!)

Fresh mozzarella

Fresh tomato

Fresh basil

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil the water and cook the pasta until it is al dente.  Drain and set aside (either back in the cooking pan to save on dishes later or in a serving dish).

While the water is boiling, chop up a very ripe tomato (you can use a just ripe tomato and it works fine, but very ripe tends to be juicier and you don’t risk wasting the tomato!) and toss it into a  sauté pan with a little bit of warm olive oil and salt.  Let the tomato chunks cook up a bit in the oil and then turn the heat off.  Basically you are making a very basic tomato sauce so you want to let the tomatoes get a little mushy so you get some liquid in the pan (a mix of the tomato guts and the oil).

While the tomatoes are cooking, cut the fresh mozzarella into bite-sized chunks and set aside. Chop the basil into bite-sized pieces as well (if you leave the basil leaf whole, well, that’s a whole lot of basil in one bite!).

At this point, everything should be cooked so you just need to assemble.  Pour the tomatoes over the pasta and toss.  Then add the basil and the mozzarella and toss again.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This dish could not be simpler to make and could not be tastier.  It’s an absolutely yummy dish and the best part is that it is super quick to make, so it’s a great option for a night when you don’t really feel like cooking.

May 19

I thought that today I’d take a little trip back in time to the May 19th’s of years past.

May 19, 2006.  4 years ago: My first date with Boo.  He drove 40 minutes back to school just to take me out to dinner and a movie.  For the record, we went to Olive Garden (I had the mushroom ravioli) and then we saw Mission Impossible 3.  We didn’t get together though until the following February.

(our first picture ever, just a few weeks before our first date!)

May 19, 2007.  3 years ago: Senior week, a week to be remembered.  If only I could.  (Just kidding Mom and Dad, I totally remember stuff that happened during senior week.  Promise.  Mostly.)

Back door bar tour with my lovely neighbor Jenna and her bf at the time, Drew.

May 19, 2008. 2 years ago: I was a working girl, just getting accustomed to my new job in NYC.  And I wrote this post about my bird troubles.

May 19, 2009.  1 year ago: The Today Show baby!  One year ago today I was the “big bust” model in a segment about dressing your body type.  Here’s the recap.

(image is a still from the video clip listed in the recap)

May 19, 2010. Today: A new baby niece was born today!!  Boo’s step-sister gave birth to her 3rd child today!  Welcome to the world baby girl!  You picked a good day to be born (if you ask me!).  Congrats to mama and daddy!

A thought on Iron Man 2 (and don’t worry, it totally won’t spoil anything)

Okay, so this weekend Boo’s brother and fiancee came down to visit and we went to see Iron Man 2.  Personally, I liked the movie.  I always like a movie where stuff blows up so there was that.  Robert Downey Jr. was kind of hilarious.  ScarJo was surprisingly adept at kicking butt while maintain perfectly coiffed curls.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that, overall, I enjoyed it.

And then I saw this:

image via here.

Do you all notice how orange his palms are?  Apparently Justin Hammer has more than just Iron Man to worry about as it seems he had a run-in with a bad bottle of tanning lotion.  But that is the type of thing that someone is supposed to catch!  Someone on set is supposed to have that job.  The person whose sole responsibility it is to make sure that the actors are wearing the same jewelry from day to day of filming and to make sure that the makeup team extended the gash on the arm all the way to the wrist if that was how long the gash was in the previous scenes, etc.  It should be that same person’s job to make sure that the actors don’t look like Jersey Shore extras.  It’s only in this scene that his hands are that color.  I don’t know if his orange palms have some significance to the plot or not but my goodness–I could barely concentrate on what he was saying during this scene.  All I could think about was the fact that someone should have scrubbed that man down before they filmed that scene because his palms are glaringly orange!

So, in summary, go see Iron Man 2.  It was a really good movie.  And when you see Hammer sit down at that table, just avert your eyes to avoid the orange.

Mrs. G’s Guacamole

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I thought today would be the day that I post my insanely easy and unbelievably delicious guacamole recipe.

Ingredients:

Avocado (1 makes enough for me and Boo with a little extra, so keep that in mind when doubling, etc.)

Salsa

Lime juice

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Directions:

I meant what I said about this being easy.  It’s like embarrassingly simple but all of my friends and family asked for the recipe!  To start, scoop the avocado out of its shell and into a bowl.  Is it called a shell?  Skin?  Whatever, get the edible part out!  Scoop with a spoon but then mush it down with a fork.  Add a little salsa to the bowl.  The salsa is there to add a little liquid which helps smooth out the guacamole but it also adds a little flavor and crunch, so anything from mild to spicy, chunky or not will work.  It’s all about what you like.  After you mix the salsa and avocado together add a few squirts of lime juice plus salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.

That’s it!

See, embarrassingly easy, right?  But it looks really impressive and is just as yummy as the stuff restaurants are charging you $11 a bowl to order!

And so it begins…

Wedding season is here my friends.

Thankfully, all of my work in that arena is done.  Well, almost done.  Because I just realized that I’ve been married for 6 months and have never actually given you guys a wedding recap.  A lot of you have seen the pictures on Facebook already but I’m still going to give you a bit of a recap over here.  And I’m going to start with my shower.

A sweet friend of mine from school is getting married in June.  When I found out she was engaged, my first thought was “YAY!” followed quickly by “She can’t be getting married! She’s just a baby!”  Of course, she’s actually 22, so not a baby at all!  I’m so excited for her to get married b/c she is in the same position that Boo and I were in, long distance for the whole relationship, and I am so excited for her to actually be with her guy all the time!  It’s absolutely the best feeling, that countdown to the wedding, when you realize that all of the traveling back and forth just to spend 2 days with each other is finally over.

The invitation to her shower went out last week.  Her mom is throwing the shower for her and has decided it should be a “silly/embarrassing gifts” type of shower.  So on the same fancy paper as the invitation is the following information:

Height

Weight

Bra size

Panty size

T-shirt size

Now, if I were her, my mother would have been dead meat.  Because honestly?  What bride wants her weight broadcast to all of her friends?  Or her bra size announced to all of her mother’s friends.  I understand the logic behind this, of course, but a subtle “if you need sizes, feel free to contact me” type of message at the bottom of the invitation would have been a little less…intrusive.  But of course I still think it’s a bit awkward to combine the showers.  I mean, had I gotten lingerie from my mother’s friends I probably would have died.  Literally.

For my own wedding, my mother’s good friend had a shower for me.  She hosted and my mother’s friends (all of whom I’ve met, which is not the case in this upcoming shower.  That could make the “embarrassing” gifts even more awkward!) were in attendance.  This was the shower where I got the grown up gifts, a coffee maker, a cake plate, an amazing cupcake gift set.

My second shower was just for me and my bridesmaids (and an added bonus of my future SIL for dinner!).  We started the day with champagne (as a warm up) and then headed off to tea (with our own private room).  This was the shower that was all about the silly/embarrassing gifts.  I’m sure you know the type ;)

After tea we went to TJ Maxx/Home Goods (b/c what perfectly girly day doesn’t include shopping?!) and then we had a little more champagne and got ready for the bachelorette party portion of the day!  We went downtown and had dinner at Dolce (it was restaurant week, which made it even better!) and then went out in Manyunk.  It was such a blast–even though a lot of people kept congratulating me on my 21st birthday (despite my crown and sash CLEARLY reading “bachelorette”)!

Oh, and you’ll notice that my hands and neck are bright pink?  Apparently my beads bled a little bit!  (Hence why I am down to just one strand of beads in this pic!)  Brides: THIS is why you NEVER plan a bachelorette party immediately before the wedding.  I was a bit rosy for a few days afterward!

la

P.S. If you saw some old posts pop up in your readers, please ignore!  I was doing a little maintenance and some old posts seemed to repost!

Blatant self promotion

I just wanted to remind you guys that on the days when I’m quiet over here (like today), I might be hiding out on my other blog.  Just a little blatant self promotion for your Wednesday.

You’re welcome.

Or maybe I’m welcome.

Either way.

Not their car (alternate title: another reason why I hate my neighbors)

The title of this post says it all, really.

This is not his car.

It is not his parents’ car, or his aunt’s car, or his grandfather’s car.

No one in his family owns this car.

Someone in our apartment complex does, and I’m thinking they wouldn’t be too happy if they had seen from their living room what I saw from mine.

And on a side note, he and his brothers have spent 4 hours a day for the past 2 weeks learning to rollerblade and they haven’t gotten any better.  I don’t recall rollerblading being all that difficult.

Oh, and before  you think I’m that creepy neighbor who takes photos of what goes on in the parking lot, let me remind you that my life is like Rear Window over here.  Natural sunlight = open blinds = full view of the misbehavior.  And it’s not just the rollerblading, they’re playing soccer now too.  Soccer in the parking lot, when we have a HUGE MASSIVE FIELD directly across the street.  So on Friday night when Boo asked them to not play so close to the cars, they moved 2 feet to their right.  Which wouldn’t help under good circumstances but helped even less because they suck.  How do I know they suck?  Because 20 minutes later that same stupid soccer ball went bouncing off of my car.

I WILL be wandering over to have a chat with their parents soon.  I hate being “that neighbor” but when I ask you not to play near my car and you bounce your soccer ball off of it…well, let’s just say I’ve seen the damage that a friendly game can do to a car.  (And yes, Mo, I’m looking at you.  Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you dented the roof of a car with a whiffle ball from 50+ yards away.)