A Quote And Links - Fun Stuff To Check Out

I came across two things that I really wanted to share with you. The first is an excerpt from the book I am reading, David Nicholls' One Day:

She didn't feel like an adult. She was in no way prepared. It was as if a fire alarm had gone off in the middle of the night and she was standing on the street with her clothes bundled up in her arms. If she wasn't learning, what was she doing? How would she fill the days? She had no idea. The trick of it, she told herself, is to be courageous and bold and make a difference. Not change the world exactly, just the bit around you. Go out there...and work hard at...something. 

Nicholls, David. One Day. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2009: 12-13. 


I found this to be a funny, yet accurate, explanation of how we all felt those first few days out in the real world. 

The other item I had to bring to everyone's attention is a post from a blog called "Avoid This Job." Unfortunately the blog hasn't been updated for months, but I stumbled upon a hilarious post that you will undoubtedly giggle while reading. It tears apart a craigslist ad, which for my international friends, is a website where people post job openings amongst other things. Definitely take the time to read this:
Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture - Avoid this Job

Also, take the Color Quiz! It is scarily accurate and it takes about one minute to complete. You will be amazed: Color Quiz

Challenge of the Week

I hope all my American friends had a wonderful holiday weekend! This week's challenge was inspired by the fact that a lot of people ate way too much this weekend (and probably drank too much), and that it is getting colder and more depressing outside. Well, my Costa Rican and Aussie friends are enjoying some nice weather, but everyone else is starting to bundle up and the thought of even running errands is weighed against how terrible it will be to actually go outside. So here is the challenge of the week:

Workout for 20 minutes at least three times this week.


Some of my friends will find this incredibly easy to accomplish - but I know there are a few of you out there who haven't used that gym membership you're paying for in months. If you don't have a membership that doesn't let you off the hook though. Search Google or Youtube for some workouts and you'll find ones you can do around your apartment or house. Even just taking your dog for a longer stroll is healthy for both you and your pet. Those of you who say you don't work out for lack of time, think about 20 minutes you spend in front of your computer checking Facebook each day, or watching a TV show you don't even really like. Honestly, you will feel really good if you keep active, and this is a great time to get into the routine with winter just around the corner.


If you are already a gym rat then make sure you commit to the schedule you envision this week. Today I told myself that I am going to go to 4 workout classes this week. I know which ones they will be and I'm already a little afraid - but I'm going to do it! I'll even post about it because seriously, these classes kick my butt. If I, Miss Procrastinator Extraordinaire, can commit to a workout schedule, then everyone else can too! Get those feet moving and the endorphins flowing :)

An Untraditional Thanksgiving

For all of my international friends, Thanksgiving is a wonderful American holiday that consists of friends and family getting together and eating copious amounts of very good food. The traditional Thanksgiving, the one only a few of my friends actually have, is the whole family at one house eating turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. There are variations of these foods, and at some houses children get to sit at their own kid’s table, but pretty much everyone serves the same thing and the family gathers to give thanks for all their blessings this year. Other traditional traditions are: people watching the Macy’s Day parade on television (or in person if they live in New York), men watching the Cowboys and Lions play (not each other) while women wrestle with turkeys in the kitchen, friends playing American football in the afternoon (I am glad we don’t have that tradition as it was the season’s first snow), families playing board games after dinner, and everyone drinking quite a bit.

Before I tell you about my untraditional Thanksgiving, I should also elaborate on the night before, and the morning after Thanksgiving. The holiday is always held on the 4^th Thursday of the November, making the 4^th Wednesday the biggest drinking night of the year. This is because everyone knows they have the next day off work, so they meet up with their buddies at the local tavern and drink more beers than you can imagine. Unfortunately, this also makes it one of the most dangerous nights of the year, as there are drunk drivers left and right. Then everyone fights a hangover with fattening foods and more alcohol, before passing out in front of the fireplace. Well, perhaps the people who live down in Florida pass out in front of palm trees, I don’t know. We have snow here so we have fireplaces. Then crazy people wake up insanely early to participate in Black Friday.

Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year it was also my 25^th birthday woohoo! Different story though. Getting back on track, Black Friday is one of the best – and scariest – days of the year. Stores open anywhere between 3-5am (yes, as in when all the Europeans are still out clubbing) and people literally trample others to get to TVs, IPads, and digital cameras first. There are amazing deals on everything from electronics to furniture, and people can save a lot of money if they are very invested in the Black Friday experience. I used to shop for clothes on Black Friday, but those deals aren’t nearly as good as ones on flat screen TVS and new cars. And I’m not kidding – people actually stampede into stores for these deals. See the video below that someone shot at Best Buy (an electronics store) this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZJVZ2p223o&feature=fvwk

So that pretty much sums up a traditional Thanksgiving in the U.S. I got a bit off track though, as I was planning to write about my own, untraditional Thanksgiving. I live with my mom and we are the only two people in our family who live in the Midwest (aka we live about a 3 hour plane ride form anyone else in the family). We celebrate Thanksgiving with our neighbors and the rest of the guest list changes each year. This time it was us, our neighbors, another set of family friends, and our neighbors’ daughter and son-in-law. So unlike everyone who relies on their giant families for a huge Thanksgiving dinner, we always have a nice mixture of friends and family. It’s been like this as long as I can remember; the friends change with who is available each year, but it always a wonderful group and everyone has a great time. Let’s move on to the food. Unlike the turkey and stuffing of the traditional holiday, we serve lobster tails and steak cuts instead. This year we had grilled lobster tails, a huge beef roast, homemade squash biscuits (my favorite), and multiple salads. For dessert we had champagne with homemade pumpkin pie (made from a real roasted pumpkin!), walnut pie, and homemade apple cake. Oh, and homemade whipped cream! As in she said, hang on let me get the whipped cream, and 5 minutes later, instead of her returning with a spray can of it, we hear the mixer whirring. She literally disappeared into the next room and made her own whipped cream. Then she served coffee, which everyone promptly added Crown, Baileys, or Frangelico to. All in all, it was fantastic! Here are some photos from the day:

The Dinner Table

Grilled Lobster Tails

Our house with a dusting of snow

I hope all my American and Canadian (but yours was earlier, right?) Thanksgivings were as wonderful as mine was. We were blessed with a beautiful snow, the first of the season, and as we live next door, we were also blessed with being able to totter home after all the food and drinks. To my international friends, I think you should all spend a day having a Friendsgiving. This is when you invite all of your friends over and everyone brings a dish to share. You could keep to our traditional foods if you want, but you could also make it whatever theme you would like. Thanksgiving is all about spending time with loved ones – while consuming mass quantities of delicious food. So make a guest list, tell everyone to bring something whether it be wine or dessert, and have a fabulous day remembering how lucky you are to have friends and family in your life. 

Sneak Peak! Watch "Hey Soul Sister" from the upcoming Glee episode

Best news ever - Dalton's Warblers are going to perform "Hey Soul Sister" at Sectionals next week on Glee!

Even better news?

You can watch the performance early on Entertainment Weekly's site:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2010/11/24/glee-darren-criss-train-hey-soul-sister/

As Tim Stack, the guy who writes Glee recaps for EW, and the great Bebe Bryans says, "You're welcome!"

The Best Margarita

For my American friends it's that holiday time of year when family get togethers seem to be every weekend. Since it doesn't quite seem to be eggnog season, I'm going to give you my favorite margarita recipe. Use it if you need an escape from the family, or if you need a little liquid courage to meet your future in-laws. And don't forget to share with that booze hound relative you have ... you know who I am talking about! It's usually a grandma or sister-in-law....

Topolo Margarita  - Rick Bayless' recipe from Mexico: One Plate at a Time
makes about 6 servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 large limes)
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tequila
• 1/4 cup orange liqueur
• lime wedges
• coarse salt
• about 1 1/2 cups small ice cubs

Directions

• Combine the lime juice, sugar and 1 cup water in a glass or plastic pitcher (making limeade)
• Cover and refrigerate if not using right away (but no longer than 24 hours)
• Add the tequila and orange liqueur to the pitcher of limeade
• Rub the rims of 6 martini glasses with a lime wedge, then dip them in a dish of coarse salt
• In a large shaker, combine the half of the margarita mixture with half of the ice and shake 10 to 15 seconds, then strain into the prepared glass. Repeat with rest of mixture
• You can actually just stir this together in the pitcher if you don't have the time (or the shaker) to do the last step

You can find the hard copy of this recipe at: Topolo Margarita

Another margarita that I have not tried, but My Husband claims is fantastic, can be found at: Watermelon Margarita

¡Salud!

Mirror, Mirror

In July 2009 I was moving into an apartment with Kay and Kate, which of course meant lots of boxes and stuff strewn all over the apartment. Kay and I are similar in that we like common areas very neat, while our rooms look like a clothes bomb exploded. Kate on the other hand is organized and neat everywhere. Her room is only messy on Sunday mornings while she nurses her hangover and puts off hanging up the discarded outfits from the weekend. I should also tell you that anyone who has ever lived with me knows that I don’t care AT ALL how the apartment is decorated. Kay and Kate used to call me with questions like, “Should the dining room tablecloth be dark red or just red?” and I would promptly respond that I really did not care, pick whatever they wanted.  My room for the last two years has remained undecorated, and because of the 2009 Dresser Fiasco, I left most of my clothes in stacks on the floor. Basically, I do not care as long as I know where everything is and the kitchen is clean.

So we are moving in and the girls want to decorate with dark red and black in the kitchen, living room and dining room. I should say dining area – but really, it is the nicest apartment ever and I have to say they decorated the crap out of it. A year and a half later and it is still gorgeous. The only thing that looks awry in the whole darn space is the mirror I propped against the wall on moving day. It’s one of those long skinny mirrors that girls hang on the back of their closet doors so they can see your whole outfit. Except that before I could move it to my room, we noticed that it had magical powers.

Everyone knows, well at least all girls know, that there are some mirrors that make you look fat, and others than make you look like a supermodel. Most dressing rooms utilize the latter, which makes almost all home mirrors the former. You think you have this amazing dress and you can’t wait to wear it to the bar on Friday but then Friday rolls around, you throw it on, and gasp in horror. What happened to the outfit you bought at the store? Who is this girl? What is going on?!

Enter the magic mirror. The mirror I left standing against the wall that divides the living room from the dining area is one of those magic mirrors that makes anyone and everyone look phenomenal. Your legs look longer, your tummy is tighter, and don’t get me started on how good your butt will look. Throw on some heels and your reflection gets even better. Coupled with the extraordinary lighting in the apartment and I guarantee you will think your hair, make up, and outfit will stop traffic. I’m not sure how we first noticed this mirror’s magical powers – but the point is that we did. Every person who comes to the apartment stops to look in it. Kate’s mom even spends a few moments checking herself out when she comes to visit. This has led to the unspoken rule that no one can ever – ever – move this mirror. We had parties where we moved the couches and tables, but nope – never the mirror. We have a (perhaps rational?) fear that if we change the angle it will forever lose its powers. It just leans against the wall, day after day, telling us how wonderful we look.

Don’t jump to conclusions here; I don’t want you to think we are extremely vain. Just imagine all those times when you needed extra confidence before walking into a presentation, grabbing a drink with that special someone, or meeting up with an ex. This mirror tells you how great you look and that you’ll knock them dead. I know it seems crazy that I just dedicated an entire post to this mirror, but the fact is that I recently visited my old apartment and therefore, visited the mirror. Kay and Kate have left it exactly as I did all those months ago, and each new roommate they get also falls in love. The point of the story is that everyone should find a magic mirror. Fat days dissolve into happiness, and that dress you bought for New Years actually does look as good as it did in the store. I feel like if life were an adventure story, this mirror would be something your mentor wizard gives you before you set off to destroy a ring or save the world from evil. Forget that sword or deluminator, girls need a magic mirror in their arsenal come the QLC. 

The magic mirror in action.

Challenge of the Week

After watching "Hot Tub Time Machine" for the 50th time, I got an itch to watch my favorite 80's movie - "Adventures in Babysitting." There's nothing like neon colors, big hair, tight jeans, and John Hughes' humor to put you in a better mood. So this week, if you ever need a break from the holiday hangover, take on this challenge:


Make some popcorn and watch your favorite 80's movie.


For my international friends - some good 80's movies to check out are:
Airplane
The Princess Bride (one of my personal favorites)
Back to the Future
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
When Harry Met Sally
Bull Durham (about baseball)
E.T.
Big (Tom Hanks)
The Breakfast Club
Ghostbusters
What About Bob (really this is 1991 but I love Bill Murray)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (put this on a list of movies to watch before you die)