OH MY GOD. SO RAD.

Oh my god this just made my whole day. I mean, YAY NEW JOSS WHEDON PROJECT but also, the video. The video of the guys singing the duet from Les Miserables OH MY GOD. SO RAD.


I'd stop watching it and laughing out loud if only I could.

from Point A to Point B

WHO I AM RIGHT NOW:
Someone who stays up too late at night, wakes up too late in the morning, and drags ass on work until around 11 or 12. Someone who procrastinates work she dreads doing until it piles up into an unmanageable mess. Someone who exercises sporadically, even though she should be training.

WHO I WANT TO BE:
Someone who wakes up early in the morning and gets out of bed, ready for her day, right when the alarm goes off. Someone who straps on her sneakers and takes the dogs on a quick, early morning walk before feeding them & heading to the gym. Someone who, upon returning from the gym, showers, gets dressed in non-pajamas/sweats, and sits at her desk ready to tackle her day. Someone who does the work on her plate, even if it's gross accounting crap that she hates, and checks it off with minimum anxiety.

I have no idea how to get from Point A to Point B, but I'd like to start with getting up in the morning, so I'm asking you:

1. How do you get up in the morning? Alarm? Pets? Partner? Music? By all means, be specific.
2. What is the rest of your morning routine?
3. If you are NOT a morning person by choice, but have a productive morning routine anyway, how the heck did you make that happen? I want to be you!!

a little extra artistic greatness

My sister, the super-rad Dr. M, has finally started a blog. Sadly for us, it is not the creative outlet for her wealth of funny, touching and otherwise amazing stories about life as a mom, sister, friend, Buffy fan & philosophy professor in Toledo, OH that I've been hoping for for so long (Get on it, sister!). What it IS, however, is a journal for this really, really cool art show called "Intimate ARTifacts."

Click here & participate, won't you?

I know some of y'all have some poems or collages or knitting projects that would be great to contribute to a event like this. Plus, not to be a snob, but Toledo could really use a little extra artistic greatness.

embroidery work in use

For the most part, I never get to see my embroidery work in use after I gift it. Every once in awhile I'll see a baby in a stitched up onesie. But mostly I just assume the recipients of my work are happy with it.

For my mom's birthday in January, I stitched up this tea towel for her:


A couple weeks, she sent me this photo:


Doesn't it just look lovely there? I'm just so pleased it works so well in her kitchen.

Eeeeeeeeee!

Oh my god. Those geniuses at Pixar aka "The Masters of Cute" have done it again.

Check it out.

I pretty much spent the whole trailer with my hands bunched up in front of my face squealing "Eeeeeeeeee!"

pissing me off

HOLY. CRAP.



People say the most ignorant shit when they think they're preaching to their own tiny choir and no one else is listening.

Also pissing me off:
1. Watching O'Reilly Factor @ my gym yesterday while on elliptical (why the Y insists on Fox News is beyond me--don't they know how dreamy Anderson Cooper & Keith Olbermann are??)
2. Which featured a bit on Rush Limbaugh
3. Who laughed off a potential Clinton+Obama ticket thusly:
"Let's say it is Obama and Hillary…Let's put Hillary at the top — That's a position she's familiar with. Therefore, you've got a woman and a black for the first time ever on the Democrat ticket. Ahem. They don't have a prayer."

You know how when you're watching a movie or something set in past, and you hear the bigoted/sexist/racist shit people were saying to each other, and you think, "Wow, those old-fashioned, narrow-minded assholes sure had a lot to learn back then."

Hi, it's 2008, and clearly, they still have a lot to learn. WE still have a lot to learn.

I'd love an Obama+Clinton ticket, if only so we can elect them into office and deliver a crushing blow to ignorant assholes everywhere. And also, of course, for the joy of watching those two badasses rock the face off this country for the next eight years.

... no

Me: "Oh my GOD I am the Worst Swimmer EVER!"
Him: "Did you drown and die?"
Me: "... no."
Him: "Then you are not the Worst Swimmer EVER."

I love him.

Seriously, though, I suck at swimming.

I freaking DID IT

Ladies and gentlemen,

I RAN A MILE!!!!!!!!!1!!!!elevenWoooooooo!!!!@


Okay. By "run" I actually mean "jog" and it was on a treadmill at 4.5 mph so it took 14:30 minutes, hi I'm slow. And then it kind of wrecked the rest of my time on the treadmill, 'cause after that I could only run in little 2 min bursts & still only ended up covering 2.8 miles in 45 minutes. BUT. I am ridiculously out of shape, and we all know this. I have a triathlon sprint coming up that entails me running/walking 3.2 miles, and I can't even do that yet. So my first goal in all this training was to get to where I could jog a whole mile without walking. Just one.

And today I freaking DID IT.

For those of you thinking, "Dude, a 14:30 mile is kind of .... slow." Well, you're right. I'm not going to let you get me down, though, judgey. Because that time also means I jogged for fourteen and a half minutes straight. I'm not even sure how.

I'll tell you another thing--I've been dragging ass the last couple of weeks. A hike here, a little elliptical there, but mostly I've been planning parties, hosting fabulous out of town guests, eating too much, drinking too much, generally feeling like ass and, oh yeah, I kind of threw my back out on Monday. Yesterday I was like, "I need macaroni and cheese and hamburgers right noooooowwwwww!!!!" (Hi, PMS.)

So today, when I was like, let's just see how much longer I could go. Let's just see how much further I could go. Hey, I'm so close now, I might as well keep going. Ooh look I just jogged a whole mile without walking!!!

Yeah. Pretty sweet.

I'd also like to add here, if I can do this? This whole exercise thing? Seriously, for real? As indulgent as I am, as out of shape as I am, as much ass as I drag?? ANYONE can do this. If you're even remotely thinking about picking up a little more exercise, then I say go for it. Just go for a walk, & see how you do. I bet you impress yourself.

general bad-assery

I should have blogged this a week ago, but straight up? This year's Oscar party was a smash success. (Skip ahead to full-on photo album here.) Our friends Jeff & Erica came down from Seattle and while it was super awesome just to have them here to celebrate with us, they were also amazingly helpful in getting everything set up.

Erica & Jeff, our beloved friends and tireless assistants.

As usual, we decorated with various Oscar things--stars, statues, lots of silver & gold. We rolled out the red carpet and set up every room in the house for maximum viewing enjoyment. Mac pulled strings with his various connections to create some awesome prizes for the runners up in the Oscar betting pool (the winner obviously gets the cash), and Jeff bagged them up beautifully.

The rain threatened to bum out our good time, which we compensated for by putting the outdoor viewing area in the tiki hut and turning on the tv in the garage as well.

As usual, we provided lots of popcorn & movie candy for our guests, as well as a fully-stocked bar and coolers of soda, water and beer.

And the rest of our menu of food, well. It got a little out of control. In the best possible way, but still. You'll have to check Mac's blog for all the super-awesome signs he made for all of these items. I would also like to take this moment to give mad props to Jeff and Amanda, without whose cleverness we wouldn't have some of these punny masterpieces.

Here is this year's Oscar Party Menu:
Cocktails
There Will Be Bloody Marys
Funch (A recipe we created way back when Will Smith was nominated for Ali, named thus by our friend Therese who says, "It's fun, and it's punch--it's Funch!")


Hors d’Oeuvres
Ratatouille - The deconstructed ratatouille from the movie, served atop crostini with a small dollop of soft goat cheese.

Michael Bacon-Wrapped Dates
Pirates of the Caribbean Dip - My crowd-pleasing 7-layer dip
No Cornbread for Old Men - Texas-style cheesy jalapeno cornbread
La Brie en Rose - Baked brie stuffed with toasted almonds & dried cranberries, wrapped in puffed pastry

American Gang-Stir Fry - Pinged for time, but still a super clever name
Surf & Turf's Up - Trader Joe's frozen mini crab cakes and marinated & grilled skirt steak skewers
Juno's Cravings - Sliders, (White Castle cheeseburgers from the frozen food section of the grocer!), pickles, and orange Tic Tacs

Même les Poulet vont au Enfir (Even Chickens Go To Hell) - Buffalo Wings
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Curly Fries
The Golden Quiches
Weenie Todd The Demon Barber of Meat Street - L'il smokies in grape jelly bbq sauce and a platter of gourmet cured meats
Prawn Baby Prawn - Cocktail shrimp
Norbits - Crudités
3:10 to Yummy - Cheese platter

The Popcourne Ultimatum

Dessert
Atonemint Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Diving Bell and the Butterscotch Cookies
Enchanted Apples - With caramel dip


Mad baking skillz. I haz dem.

And, of course, I also baked Oscar-shaped sugar cookies that Erica painstakingly packaged up into party favors for everyone to take home.


How do I do all of this, you ask? Well, I'm a little crazy, which helps. I have an awesome husband who is as committed to general bad-assery and also topping last year's party as I am. I also have a mighty spreadsheet to guide along Mac, me, and anyone generous/foolish enough to help us.


And then there are the results, which totally pay off all of our hard work. It's worth it knowing that our friends have an awesome time and walk away feeling like the party was really fun, even on those years when the Oscars themselves lack their usual luster.


I'm even starting to think about plans for next year's party already. Starting with hiring a caterer.