Burlesque! Steampunk! Awesome!

A few weeks ago, there was Groupon or Living Social Deal for the Burlesque Expo in Boston. For $10 you got general admission which gives you access to the displays and drop-in classes on April 23rd and 24th. In true form, I managed to commit to a job that made it so the only time I could attend was Easter afternoon. Easter brunch was so tasty and coma-inducing, that I almost skipped the whole thing, except that a friend of mine texted me asking when we were heading out as we bought the deal together.

I can tell you I am so happy I didn't take that nap. If I had, I would not be the proud owner of a owl themed clock necklace.

























This purchase makes me so happy. The metal looks like an antiqued brass color and hangs right at the smallest part of my waste, since I don't have a ruler, I would guess that the chain is about 24 inches. I can't wait to wear it to work, as sometimes my tacky green watch just doesn't go with my outfits and I am addicted to knowing the time.

Tacky has no religion

My mom totally has a kit to turn her car into a reindeer. I love it. It is super tacky.

I have seen the reindeer get up on a number of cars and even some Mack trucks. But prior to this morning, I have never seen a car topped with a Menorah. It was a relief to know that tacky has no religious barriers. Seeing a gigantic menorah speeding towards me made me smile this morning, which I greatly appreciated, since it is Monday.

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Repeal Day!

Girls Night Revamped

I love having Girl Nights. As much as I love going out with a group of guys and girls, there is something about Girl Night Out (or In) that I just love. These nights are always full of lots and lotsof giggling.

Last night I went to a friend's house were we made dinner and watched a movie. The five of us helped to make mac and cheese, scallops, asparagus and apple crisp. Once everything was ready to be plated we snuggled into various couches and chairs to watch Iron Man 2.

The time before, was the BBQ feast and viewing The Town. If I think back one more Girl Night, it consisted of buffalo chicken dip, pizza and chick flicks.

I should hope by now, you have identified a pattern. Each of these nights, consists of food and movies. Alcohol also tends to make an appearance. As much as I enjoy a good dinner and movie, there are times I want a little more. Sometimes a theme is thrown into the mix, like, oh say, Twilight. But that doesn't change the fact that the night falls into the same pattern of food and film.

Fortunately, two girls from Indiana University have created a website devoted to girl night themes. Their nights tend to focus on home made meals (just like us) and crafts! I love the idea of this website and plan to frequent it before the next Girls Night In. I always complain about not having a belt to belt a dress, so maybe I will take a page out of Lazy Thursdays and have everyone make a Fantastic Fabric Belt.

Girl Date!

My professor let us know a few weeks ago that our class this week would be canceled. She had suggested that everyone work on their group projects as everyone should now have 7-9:30 free. Well, two of the members of my group saw the free night as a way to earn more money and agreed to work late, which meant free night for me! I mean, it would have been rude to work on the project myself, I wouldn't want anyone to feel bad about not pulling their own weight.

So instead, I thought why not have a girl date with one of my best friends. We agreed to enjoy a feast at Redbones. Thanks to a groupon that I had burning in my pocket, we were able to enjoy three different types of meat (sausage, ribs, pulled pork), sweet potato fries, cold slaw, beans, and of course some pie. Once we got to the point that another bite could not even be considered, let alone executed, we saw that it was almost 9 pm and time to head over to the movie theater to see The Town.

Let me tell you, this movie was amazing. As you may know, many scenes we re shot here in the Boston area. My friend and I had a great time picking out areas that we frequent.

Early on, Ben Affleck's character eats lunch with Rebecca Hall's. They are sitting on the patio of Grendal's Den. How do I know that? Well, first if you have ever walked in the area, you can tell based on the surroundings. But the main reason is that I stood in the park area for my entire lunch hour the day it was filmed hoping to see someone famous. Sadly, no one came out and I had to return to my office sad.

Later on there is a large sequence that was shot in the northend right by Bacca's. We had eaten there during restaurant week together, so of course we made a little girly shrill of excitement when the location was on the screen. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say, it was disappointing after about 2 hours of awesome.

Even taking into account the ending, this movie gets my stamp of approval, and I urge you all to go out and see it. I mean, come on, it's a Ben Affleck movie.

Addicted to Carni Games

Back home a traveling carnival would come through our town and set up in the beach parking lot on Mother's Day weekend. Everyone would go because it was one of the most exciting things to happen in our area. There a handful of rides and a ton of carnival games.

One of my first memories of that carinal is getting suckered into playing a game which took me six tries before I won. The reason I remember it took me that many rounds is because I named the small cat/mouse like creature six. My mother was appalled that I wasted so much money that day.

Ever since then, I have come to understand that I have an addictive personality and cannot step away from a carnival game until I win. I mean how hard is it to knock down 6 milk bottles or skirt water at a target the fastest? My defense is to stand as far away from the stand as possible. The men will yell out to me to see if I will play and I have to keep my distance. As soon as I take a few steps in and answer a question beyond "wanna play?", I am done.

This weekend the Northend was having a festival and there were carnival games. I was trying to improve my mood from Friday's events and because of I was so focused on being super happy, I forgot to activate my carnie game defenses. Needless to say, I got suckered in without much of struggle.

Good news! I won on the first go. I had three darts and needed to pop three balloons in order to win. And it happened! Yay. Now I am a proud owner of a blue duck. That blue duck became the center of my afternoon, everyone wanted to know where it came from. It came from skills, or maybe skillz if you will.

Please meet Dr. Quacktaculous

OMG best day ever

Four reasons today is AWESOME.

1. Super cute baby animals. There are tapirs, hyenas, polar bears, monkeys, pandas, and elephants. There were 89 of these pictures before I wonder where some of them went. There was a great miniature turtle he was small enough to stand on a person's finger!

2. First episode of Project Runway tonight at 9 pm. It is probably the classiest reality show that I watch. The only reason I even knew the show was going to start today was because I might have gotten sucked into "You're cut off" and there was an ad for the season premiere. As much as last season sucked and was positively boring, I will give the show one more chance. That was the lost season, we all knew it would bomb...

3. The hairy chests of Chuck and Dan. Poor Nate, he just can't deliver the goods. I have been arguing with a teammate about whether females like hairy men and he refuses to believe me we like it. Don't tell me these guys don't look good.

4. Season premiere of The Jersey Shore. As much as I have said over and over that I will not support this show and am completely over these numbnuts, I just can't stay away. I hope someone gets in a fight and another brings home a grenade.

5. On a personal note, I made a martini for the first time in a week. Yummy.

and now there is one more to my list...

6. When I went to find an image of awesome things I found the blog Oh My That's Awesome. Who doesn't love some cleaning slippers?

Sometimes You Just Got to Wear a Tiara

I woke up tired, and slightly cranky. While I did have a great first part of the evening with some gal pals watching New Moon and eating cupcakes, the end of the night consisted of me sitting on my couch in disbelief as the Celtics got pounded. I needed Wednesday to be, in a word, awesome.

Work did not help, except for my lunch hour nap. I have taken to napping during my lunch as I find it to be the best use of that time. This time, not only did it give me the extra zzzz's I needed but also boosted up my energy so that I could go to my kickball game at 8:15 pm.

Normally, I wear my pink tutu to the games. Yes, I know I now play on the purple team, but this bit of happy tulle is just too hard to give up. The tutu brings me, and pretty much everyone that sees me, joy. I had this nagging feeling that maybe the tutu wouldn't cut it this time, so I went to look through my costume closet. As soon as I opened the door, I saw it.

My tiara.

I bought it for last year's Halloween costume (Holly Golightly) and I don't know if I have touched it since. The tiara was quickly nestled into my updo and off I went, skipping down the hill.

Even though it is smaller and less colorful than my tutu, it received just as much attention and caused just as many smiles. I have interacted with a number of people on my short walk to kickball these last few weeks because of my choice in clothing, and this week was no different. Everyone seems to enjoy seeing a bit of misplaced flair.

I think I will have to pull out the tiara more often. My mother honors Tiara Tuesdays and wears one in her classroom each week. If I could get away with it, I think I would do the same. Sadly, I don't think my office would approve. At least I have outlets like kickball that allow for some flair in my life!

Bacon on the Brain

This weekend I will be heading back to RI for a super fun bbq. My friend just got her Master's in Marine Affairs (and sadly, no, that does not mean she gets to stare at men in uniform all day). Conveniently, her graduation coincides with her moving into a new apartment, so of course, a party was a must.

My original plan was to make some bacon pasta salad*. Then life happened and now I realize I will be home and available to cook for maybe an hour between now (Friday at noon) and when I must leave to get to RI (sometime around 3:30 tomorrow). I would rather avoid the stress trying to get the pasta salad made, so I will probably go with option 2. Beer.

Just as I was about to write yet another post about bacon, I checked my email. In my over stuffed inbox I found an old one advertising a bacon scented candle. Could not make this up if I tried. I don't know how I feel about this product. Do I really want to smell like bacon if I didn't get to eat any??

---------

*Bow Tie Pasta Salad

1 (16 oz) box bow tie pasta

1 – 1 ½ bottles Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing

Raw veggies (i.e. red peppers, green peppers, pea pods, etc.), cut up

Cooked bacon (approx. 4 - 5 slices), crumbled in pieces

Salt

Pepper

Cook pasta according to directions on the box. Rinse pasta with cold water, drain, and put in large bowl. Chill for about a half hour, and then add enough Ranch dressing to keep it from sticking. Chill again. When chilled, add cut up veggies, salt and pepper to taste, and enough dressing to coat the pasta. Toss well. Add bacon before serving, and toss again.

I should just become a clown.

Whenever I begin to get overwhelmed (this averages to about once a month) I remind myself that in order to fly one has to leap. Which means I try to live life as aggressively as possible. The upside to this philosophy is that my life tends to change every 5 weeks or so. While I am constantly juggling all my commitments, things stay interesting by the mere fact that various jobs or activities are being added and subtracted regularly.

Currently I have a full-time job, 2 part-time jobs (as of the May 22nd), kickball, a running program and an intense social life (which includes a number of weddings and graduation events in the near future). Come this fall, kickball will most likely fall to the wayside but I will pick up night school. Yes, I am aware that a love life was not in these lists, but, hey, I just don't have time. I can only hope that I meet someone who is just as busy as I am and can deal with knowing that I can't be bothered to sit still for more than an hour or two...

I just found a note book and am using it to keep track of all of my To-Dos and lists. In the matter of minutes after I gave the book a purpose, I managed to fill the first few pages with household chores and packing lists for the upcoming weekend. Maybe with this notebook I will be able to find more time for enrichment. I recently realized that the best use of my lunch hour is to spend it reading as I never feel good about sitting on my couch with a book. A friend of mine just recommended me a few different On Demand exercise programs to help me with my goal of getting in shape. I think if I start waking up at 6 am every day rather than just the days I have to go running, I can get my body in tip top shape in the next month or so.

Let's keep my fingers crossed that I can keep everything moving and I don't have to sacrifice. I know that sacrifice is something that you are suppose to do when working towards a goal, but I am just not ready for that and would like to keep all this going as long as I possibly can.

When I Grow Up....

I want to be a cougar.

Seriously.

Last night I had the honor of dining with four fine cougar women and had an absolute blast. Half of us at the table were under 30, the other half, well, weren't. But all were fantastic.

These women shared my love of crass conversation, high heels, big jewelry, and booze. By the end of the night I consumed more food than I care to admit and was quite happy about it.

I learned that as a cougar you must own fancy cars, arrange amazing trips with friends, go out for fun dinners, and be good at euchre. If that doesn't sound like the perfect lifestyle, I don't know what is.

Most Awesomest Game Ever

If you have some time on your hands today, you may want to start playing Most Awesomest Thing Ever. The game is super fun, and super addictive.

20 seconds of face time. I'll take it

Chelsea Handler had a book signing before her show yesterday. I love watching her show, and if I could be someone famous, it would be her. Not only does she have sweet job of reading tabloids all day, talking about them for about 15 minutes with fun coworkers and then interviewing celebrities in a no-hold-barred way, but she is sponsored by Belvidere and has Margarita Thursdays.

The line for the book signing wasn't too long, granted my friend totally got in line early and let me join in with her when I showed up. But either way everything moved along rather quickly. There were some 40+ women who were ahead of us and they tried to keep up their conversation with Chelsea as she was signing our books which made both my friend and me concerned. We didn't stand in that line to not even get to say hello!

Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything particularly clever to say to her, and I was fairly certain most people would have told her she was f*cking hysterical, so I let her know I loved her shoes (see March 2010 Marie Claire). She told me I was cute for saying so, and then complimented me on mine since they were in my hand at the time.

I don't mind that the exchange was short and over in the amount of time it took her to sign my book. I wasn't deluded thinking we would have a chat over some tea, there were people wrapped around the block! Her 500th episode is coming up, I am sure it will be super fun. Hopefully, things continue to go well for her and in another year or so she will be touring again, and I can stand in line to have her sign another book. Hopefully by then, I have a little more disposable cash and can afford a bottle of whatever high price vodka she is plugging at that point to have her sign. Right now, I can't justify the bottle of Belvedere , but I did justify the Grey Goose cocktail at the W Hotel prior to the show...

Salt, Shot, Lime?

Cabo Wabo, I adore you.

After celebratory shoes, two of my friends met me at Whiskey's. The staff at the bar is wonderful. I had a few pints of 'Gansett and then came the Cabo Wabo.

Cabo Wabo is a great tequila. I highly suggest trying it out if you haven't already. Drinking this straight is very smooth and to be honest, pretty soothing.

Good tequila is never cheap, but this was worth it. Sometimes you need to splurge on yourself, and since I got such a deal on the shoes, I figured there was nothing wrong with going for a tequila that is a little more high end. :)

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii I mean Weeeeeeeeeeeeee

For the first time in my life I own a gaming system. My mum got me and my sister each a Wii. We were both very excited. The first thing I did when I got home from the holidays was purchase the New Super Mario Brothers game. Currently it is the only game that I have besides the one that the system comes with. I also, I only have one remote, which is why I haven't bothered to invite anyone over to play.

I was able to try out the multi player style of play at my parents house with my sister. She is TERRIBLE. I may be bad at this game, but I cannot even tell you how many times she died. The one thing that made us laugh more than anything else is that if you jump on your teammate you start bouncing on their head over and over and over again. We couldn't stop giggling.


Now, I would like to be able to brag and say when I got home to my apartment I was amazing at the game by myself. That is not the case. One of the features that I am grateful for, and slightly embarrassed that I have had to use, is the Luigi help box. If you die something like 5 times on the same level, a Luigi help box appears at the beginning of the course. Once you jump up to open the big green box with an "!" in the center Luigi comes racing out and shows you how to complete the level. You can stop it at any point in time, personally, I let him run through the whole thing. Additionally, it gives you the option to then do the level yourself. Again, I figured if I just died 5 times, I don't need another try. I am well aware of what I was supposed to do, I just couldn't get the timing down.

Currently I am in the second world. I have yet to collect all three big coins in any given world, but I am trucking along nicely. Hopefully, I can eventually go back and try to get them later on.

Seriously, the Wii is so much fun. I can't wait to get some more games and simply get more playing time now that I don't have class. :) Right now I am having a hard time climbing on the fences in the mid-castle in world 2. I hope to get the hang of it soon!

Countdown to April 10th

Why?

That would be the night that I, and four friends, will be seeing the one and only Chelsea Handler. We all love her show (Chelsea Lately) and her books. The woman is just so hysterical. It is really hard to find female comedians that are consistently good. I just feel like Chelsea has the same thoughts that we do. She is very open with her audience and let's in on her bladder problems - specifically that she has occasionally peed herself from laughing too much.

Sadly, I have only read My Horizontal Life which was beyond funny. The book is a collection of short stories of her one-night stands. It is a great book to have to read while commuting because once you are done with a chapter you can easily put it down without feeling like you have to keep reading. Seriously, it is worth the read. I have not had the chance to read Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea yet, but I have every intention of picking up a copy as soon as I am able.

To show our respects, the five of us plan to drink some Belvedere (as Chelsea recently switched alliances from Grey Goose to Belvedere - apparently Grey Goose has extra sugars) before attending the show. Also, we found it rather appropriate that Ms. Handler will be preforming at the Wang - we hope she can use that in her routine.

Crunch Time!!

Christmas is in less than a week. Which is awesome. But I am getting a little panicky. My Christmas cards have all been personalized, addressed, stamped and mailed. My gifts not only purchased but also wrapped. And yet I am extremely concerned. Why? I have not yet watched any of my favorite Christmas movies!

Love Actually starts 8 weeks before the holiday and I try to start watching mid November to work with the time frame. I will subsequently continue to watch it semi regularly while cleaning, decorating or just hanging around. The flow of the different story lines is so well executed with the way the characters interact and are intertwined. Even with all the love, the movie keeps it it light and funny with some spectacular lines, such as; "I am Colin, God of Sex". This movie will forever and always make me think of college. I don't even know if I can count the number of times we got together to watch this one.


"Buddy the Elf. What's your favorite color?" Another new Christmas classic. This movie is so quotable. Everyone seems to around saying lines from this one... "SANTA! OH MY GOD! SANTA'S COMING! I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!" This one let's your inner kid come through. Who doesn't like Will Ferrel in a small green elfish costume? It is truly fantastic. Makes any grump into a believer. After seeing the movie I can't help but to sing a Christmas song loud and clear for all to hear.



My mother's favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We watch it annually as a family, often in Florida. Nothing says Christmas like palm trees. There are so many physical gags in this film. Personally, I love it when they untie the tree and the branches just explode everywhere. Just thinking about it makes me giggle. Chevy Chase is doing well for himself on Community, but he will always be Clark Griswold to me.



I hope to find some time to get some movie watching in stat! In the mean time, at least I can enjoy the cartoon intro to Christmas Vacation.

Better than Techicolor

Last weekend I went out with my senior year roommates to see Arsenic and Old Lace at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. The movie was made in 1944 and stars Cary Grant. I had never seen this movie before, but this experience makes me want to rent some films from this time period. The conversation was not only witty but fast paced, it reminded me of the Gilmore Girls in terms of the tempo.

If you haven't had the pleasure of viewing the film, the characters are quirky and the plot is ridiculous but that is why it is so charming. The film is 118 minutes and only covers a few hours of a day. Not only is such a short time period covered, but close 80% of the film is set in one room. After watching the film I was amazed on the simplicity of the film and yet how much more enjoyable it was than many of the films that have been made recently. There aer no special effects or big loopholes in the story line.

Yes, the story revolves around two old women who mercy kill (for lack of a better term) gentlemen that come to their house looking to rent rooms - which is a little hard to believe. Of course, their nephew discovers when he goes to tell them he secretly got married and is on his way to his honeymoon. While waiting in the house, he happened to notice a body was stuffed in the window seat. That body was their most recent kill - number 13.

Once this discovery is made, hilarity ensues. If you do go see the film after reading this, please be excited to know that Peter Lorre does play the part of Dr. Einstein. He is his usual creepy yet adorable self.

The Brattle shows classic movies regularly and for a very reasonable price. I enjoy that there is an establishment that allows us to experience these films in the theater as a big screen can really enhance a film.

If I had happened upon this film on my tv at home, I doubt I would have watched the whole thing, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have paid very close attention. So I am glad my friend thought we should go out and see it. The last movie I saw at the Brattle was Casablanca. If you haven't seen that in the theaters, you really should. It was so much better in the theater than in my house.

Midnight Madness and cupcakes

Davis square has the glorious tradition of allowing shoppers to do some Christmas shopping late night. A number of local stores have gotten together to offer discounts to shoppers if they wish to come around between 7 and 12 pm. As the night progressed so did some of the discounts.

This was the first year I knew about the event (thanks Twitter) after spending 3 Christmases here and I am so happy I decided to head up after dinner at Game On!. A couple of girls joined me and we had some major success not only shopping for others but also shopping for ourselves.

Magpie was the first store that I hit when I was wandering around waiting for my fellow shoppers. Since I started my shopping just after 9 pm, I got a 30% discount! Awesome! This allowed me to purchase more stuff for people, as I set budgets for presents and if I get discounts that simply allows for me to get bigger or better things as it is about what I spent, not what it was worth. Overall, this store is as adorable as it is small. It has tons of graphic t-shirtss that are snarky and clever. They also sell bags, calendars, magnets, aprons, and jewelry. There was an awesome tumbler set that I was so tempted to purchase for a friend of mine. The set that I was eyeing were Rolling Rock bottles. The artisan takes bottles, breaks off the tops, and then sands them down so they become glasses. Really awesome.

After my friends joined up we went over to D-squared. One of the items that we found particularly interesting were these feathered headbands. The discount here was only 15% and since the bands were around $42 we figured we would pass. Honestly, they were gorgeous, New Year's Eve worthy, but it would be harder to find another time to wear it.

Black and Blue was one of the final stores that we went into, it is a small clothing boutique. The stuff they sell and price range somewhat reminds me of Mint Julep. It was after 11 when we got there so, 40% off!!!! Here was where I got a present for myself. A beautiful purple wrap dress and crazy structured tank top.
I have wanted a wrap dress for a long time and have never been successful in finding one that flattered me. Here was the dress made for me. The color is amazing, the picture does not do the dress justice.

The tank top has all of this bunching to it that helps give a girl some shape. I can use all the help I can get. For a better feel of its powers, here is a picture with me in it. In general the tank would be worn as part of a more layered look as the shoulder/strap area is a little strange. 40% off was really the reason I went for it. After the discount, it was only a few dollars more than the tank tops I normally buy for layering and this one will provide so much more help with my shape.

Our shopping adventure concluded with us getting some samples of pickles from Dave's Fresh Pasta and then a discounted Lucky Cupcake from Kickass Cupcakes. (My fortune said "be afraid, be very afraid" - not so nice.)

In addition to getting myself a new outfit, I was able to get some Christmas gifts for friends. There were tons of people walking around, so I want to think the night was a success for the businesses. There were lines at every register. Keeping stores open late like this was genius. It is hard to be motivated to go shopping right after work, especially if you work late. Getting the opportunity to start shopping at 9 pm was simply amazing.

We are in the final countdown!

Meet my small little Christmas Tree

While my dinner was in the oven, I decided that I should go down to my storage space and bring up my little Christmas tree. He was very happy to come out of the box and all of the lights still work. His new home is next to my awesome blue vintage chairs (you can see one in the background - some people think they are ugly, those people don't have my vision of awesomeness). It was actually hard to find a place for him because I don't have an extension cord. Eeep, that is going on my list of things needed for the apartment. I do need still find my box of ornaments and tacky decorations, but that might be for tomorrow.

The need to put together my tree came from walking through CVS and seeing all sorts of holiday tackiness that was there to bought. At this point, I need to inform you how very proud of myself I am, I did not make any impulsive purchases tonight. While I was good tonight, please don't read into that statement as me saying I return sometime after this weekend since I am working both Friday and Saturday night - extra money!!!

Speaking of my second job, which is helping me stay in the black in general, and get me through the holidays specifically, Black Friday was the first day that I made a holiday gift purchase. Believe it or not, by that point I already felt like I was behind. One of my friends let me know she not only got my birthday present (my birthday often gets over shone by Jesus...) but also my Christmas one! When I heard this, I felt like I was a terrible person. Now it is December 1st and I have completed my sister's present, started my parents and one of my friends. I feel like I am in a good place. I haven't really figured out who I am shopping for exactly. But I DID get Christmas cards today. That is a relief. I need to figure out addresses and make lists. Christmas cards are my favorite tradition, I have been giving them out since freshman year of high school. I think I need to schedule a night to write them. Oh! Maybe I'll see if some friends want to come over and hang out while I do them...and they can do theirs too...it would be cute...maybe?

Oh I love holidays but it is overwhelming decorating, shopping, partying and celebrating on top of everything else. Only 23 more shopping days till Christmas!!!