Girl's Best Friend

My niece on my husband's side is 15 months old and she's starting to talk, but she isn't so much into the walking yet. Her main mode of getting from point A to point B is to scoot super fast on her butt, but sometimes she grapples along side a piece of furniture.

Well, over Christmas she and I were playing and we both had out hands on the coffee table. She grabs the center stone/halo part of my engagement ring because it has a high profile. Knowing she can't get it into her mouth (because that would involve removing it from my cold dead hand), I pull my hand away, show her my ring and say:
me: Look Ella! This is a diamond!
Ella: OoooOoooo!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend!  

What a Differance a Day Makes

Of course I know how many months there are until the wedding. (Four and a half. Like you're surprised I know that).  And the Saturday of thanksgiving weekend was the 6 months out mark.  But since I did so much (pre) planning and had most of the big things decided (and more importantly, booked) at that point, 6 months didn't seem like a huge OMG moment.
I figured that since it was still 2011, it still seemed far away enough on the calender.  But maybe when 2012 came around, the year we're actually getting married in (squee!), it might be harder to pull me from the tulle vortex. 
And yep, two days into the new year, I may have freaked out about ordering the invites because I didn't account for printing time.  And I finally booked a florist. Mike and I ordered our wedding bands the other day too (mine is sparkly!). I bought wedding shoes (though I'm not 100% sold on them just yet), and started seriously asking around about tailors.
Yep, the first few months of 2012 will be wedding-centric for me! 

Loyalties

This was Mike's facebook status update yesterday: A year ago today Sarah and I went on our first date. My life has been better ever since :)

First: squeeeee! And yes I cried. (And then my response was to "like" his status, comment that I double super like it, and updated my status to: check out mike's status, it's super awesome and I love him more than ever!) (We express our deepest emotions and feeelings via facebook and never face to face. We prefer to share our intimacy with the world and not each other)

While he got more "likes" on facebook, we each got a few happy comments on our status updates. But one of the comments on his status was from, get this, his ex-girlfriend's mom.

I know, right? She's happy for him and she hopes things continue to be happy for him, so that's nice. I'm amused and I'm happy she's happy for him (and me in a little way). But I do find it a little odd and wonder, where exactly do her loyalties lie?

I SO Want to be a Top Chef

Can I just say how excited I am that Top Chef All Stars is on? Cause I'm totally happy about it.
Sure, I only started watching Top Chef last season (DC) so I only know 2 of the contestants and I'm completely biased towards Tiffany Derry, but all in all, all of these chefs are BAMFs in the kitchen! (I also think Tre, is fiiiiine, despite the stupid spelling of his name) I have no idea whatsoever what 80% of the ingredients and techniques are, and I can't smell or taste anything they make, but I am hooked.

I tried to watch Top Chef Just Deserts, but it was a horrible spin off. In theory it works. Deserts! Cooking skill! Deserts! But on screen, seeing someone get their panties in a wad and bawling over red hots just doesn't make me care. (oh yeah, Seth, I'm talking about you)

My only small disappointment is that I want to hate Padma, but I can't. If I could be her for one day, I would take over the world. So as much as I want to hate her and her all over perfectness, I'm too busy coveting to do so.

Spider Monkey

I was cleaning my inbox and found this conversation between my girlfriends from back in the summer and came across this little gem:

M: We're going camping and we're sleeping in bunk beds! Though I'm not sure if I want the top or bottom bed because I'm afraid of getting crushed by the top if I'm on the bottom, but also scared of falling off if I'm on the top bunk.

Me: I always claimed the top bunk when I went to camp. (yes, it was middle school. My aversion to outdoorsy stuff hadn't developed yet)

M: Why? Was the fear of being crushed or to stay as far away from critters?

Me: I think it's because I just like to climb things.

Top Post 2009

Since everyone and their mom seems to be doing a top ten whatever of 2009, I want to play too.

These are my favorite post from the previous years. Some were happy/huge/remarkable points of my life, some felt empowering to tell, some were random thoughts that even I can't believe I came up with, or I just had fun writing them. So, without further ado and in no particular order: my favorite blogs of the past year:

1. Yay times 1000! January 23, when I "announce" I get to keep Bailey. Way, way, way happy


2. Are You Ready for Some Football? August 22, how our league came about and why it's fun


3. Let's Go to the Fair! July 26, Fair Bingo! Fun and judging for all!


4. I did it (again)! April 26, the completion of my 2nd half marathon. Wah-hoo!


5. Epiphany March 17, when I fully realized I made the right choice in leaving the fiance. Another wah-hoo!


6. Baby! not mine March 18, total squeeee! moment in congratulating my friends on their baby


7. Funny (but Slightly Inappropriate) story May 7, the title alone says giggle worthy.
   


8. Trust me January 10, the list of people/things I don't trust. List are fun.


9. Help October 1, this was an empowering one


10. Boyfriend checklist August 21, I really like list, and it's a helpful to have the criteria out there

Those are my faves. Happy Reading!

Pumpkin

I lost most of September and October last year (to crying jags and bitterness). But towards the end of October I had some moments of lucidity, and I wanted to carve a pumpkin. But the grocery store was out of them by the time I figured that out.

So this year, when I saw Kroger had pumpkins the beginning of the month, I dove head first into the bin and pulled out a really pretty round one to carve. And after quite some time I figured out what I wanted to carve into it:

A Unicorn!
(It's a good thing I'm a girl and can get away with carving mythical creatures in a pumpkin and no one question my gender. My grasp on reality, maybe, but that's another story.)

But since I had waited so long to carve it, it was starting to some soft spots. Eventually, the whole thing got too soft to stand up and collapsed into itself. So my unicorn saw an untimely death (jump over that last rainbow you lovely creature), but it was just for fun and I had roasted the seeds already. But my momma bought me another one right before Halloween!

So I debated, carve or cook this one? I decided to cook this time around, becasue I really want to make pumpkin soup here soon. I spent Halloween morning stabbing/chopping an 8 lb pumpkin with a butcher knife, then roasting, peeling and pureeing the thing. So now I have over 100 ozs of fresh pumpkin puree, 80 of which I have already frozen for later use.

I've only used 3 cups of the stuff so far. I made muffins and this was my dinner last night:

The result: yummy, but I think I'll cut back on the sage next time
(here's the recipe in case you want to know. HEART Food Network).

But that still leaves me with a ton of puree. Next up is cookies, bread and soup. No, I won't make pie. For several reasons: pie in general is very hard to make. The only way I "make" pie is to pop a frozen one in the oven. And also, I don't like pumpkin pie to begin with.

So I put a status update on facebook about my vat of puree, (and to boast about my cooking skills) and what should I make with it. I've gotten a few suggestions, but some people are offering to take some off my hands. So I may start a back alley business of dealing some orange pulp here soon.

Zeus

When I posted about religion a while back, I didn't mention ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Mainly because those beliefs have fallen to the wayside as a religion. But I've always liked mythology and that there were different gods and goddess who controlled things. And that they could seriously f*ck with people who pissed them off. And dudes, they had a party god (Bacchus (Roman)/Dionysus (Greek), god of the vine), and that's pretty cool. (unless you are a maenad (true blood ref), and the worship of dionysus is delusional)

My false sense of superiority on mythology comes from what I can recall of my 6th grade Latin class and a book on Mythology I read for AP English in high school (ten years ago. Shut up). And what I've forgotten, Wikipedia can fill in the blanks (btw, everything on wiki is click-able in 6 steps or less). But I think it's common knowledge that Zeus, was a man (god?) whore. Dude, got around. And he had throngs of children so that just proves he was potent too. He was a smooth talker and so divine that women, mortal and ethereal, fell at his feet. But Zeus also loved a good intrigue, and I guess having women throwing themselves at you get's boring after a while. So he preferred to get his conquest through trickery (sort of like roofies only not in that immoral evil and illegal way (oh yeah, I went there)).

Don't forget there's all sorts of incest, immaculate conceptions and betrayals going on in the god world. Hera, Zeus' wife, was notoriously jealous and vengeful. But I would be too if my husband kept stepping out on me I had powers (I'm still working one smite). Hell, you're the goddess of marriage and your husband is the definition of philanderer, I'd be livid. Not to mention the unfairness of Hera's only immaculate conception (and non-Zeus child) was deformed and tossed into a volcano (Vulcan), while Zeus' (sorta) immaculate conception (Athena) and other other infidelities (Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite...) all got to be divinities, rise among the ranks and sit at the big god's table. So Hera cursed a lot of his play things (Feminism, the early years. Can't divorce your adulterous spouse, at least make his conquest lives miserable).

Well anyway, Zeus pops down to earth, changes form, impregnates, he's good. But he probably would have a little more difficult time with this MO today. Times have changed. Humans are not as gullible as they once were (oh wait, yes they are, we just have google (and wiki) now). Gone are the days of a beautiful swan entrancing a young lady (Leda and the Swan). An ethereal animal can't just approach a human with out raising someone's eyebrows. And even if he got through that red tape, bestiality, not so much.

So since the animal plot is out, he needs a different trick. And you know Hera's just loving that hubby dearest has got to work a little harder now. But hey it's Zeus, he can toss lighting bolts to get someone out of his way. Not like that's inconspicuous or anything. So he comes to earth as a really good looking man. But drat again! Target conquest whips out her iPhone and google searches the name he gives her. It doesn't take long (I made him go after the tech savvy women just because it makes me feel better than if he went for the bimbo) for her to figure out it's Zeus in human form and really well worn 3 piece suit.

Zeus, king of gods, foiled by the iPhone.

Lightweight

Ok people, why you hating on us light weights? Since when is it a right of passage to be able to drink a 12-pack in 2 hours anyway? Number one, god, the bloating. And two, I'm not an 18-year old frat boy (and boys, what's with the crappy beer too?)

I famously said: "drunk Sarah is fun Sarah!" Because I think I happen to get more charming, better looking, and uproariously funny. When in all actuality, I'm just louder, high pitched and I fall down more. But it doesn't take much to get me there. One drink I'm ok, but it's that second drink... Two sips I'm tipsy (the giggles start here), and there is drunk at the bottom of it (fall down go boom here).

But whatever, it takes me half the time, drinks and money as you seasoned drinkers. And it's not to say I'm not seasoned, I just happen to know my limits, they just don't happen to be super high.

So I can't consume 6 Manhattans in a night. My $15 bar tab feels so inferior to your $50 one. And while I'm having a grand ol' time on drink 2, you're elbowing your way up to the bar for your 4th round, far not as happy as I am.

So joke all you want. Being a lightweight doesn't suck.

Get In Line

I admit I'm not a great matchmaker (they end up being one sided matches, I can get one person interested but not so much the other one). So a few years ago when I got it in my head that 2 single friends/coworkers would be cute together, I meddled a little bit anyway. Neither of them took the bait, and I wasn't able to push them into something I wanted to create for my own personal amusement (oh and their happiness too, yes of course, that was my motivation).

But I meddled regardless. Since I was off the market, I wasn't considered any sort of threat (gee thanks). Everyone at work talked, (and gossip is currency in the restaurant business), so I listened/eavesdropped. It didn't take long to figure out my target guy was one of the top 3 crushed on in the place. So when I was training a new girl behind the bar (turns out TG had a little crush on her), she mentioned her little crush for TG (I wasn't a threat, people told me things). Number one, I wasn't surprised, but more so, I wanted him for my friend (nothing against this girl, she's lovely and fun had a string of admirers herself). And as I've mentioned before, who didn't have a crush on him?

So I chuckled and told her: "get in line."

It wasn't intended maliciously, just more of a heads up sort of deal. But TG and trainee ended up dating each other shortly after I moved, and my intended for friend found herself a boyfriend, so whatever I did was moot. And this is one of TG's favorite funny-things-I've-said-stories about me. And as funny as it was and they all know it wasn't said to be mean, a little part wishes I had mananged to fix my intended two up. Or that someone would say get in line about me (but not in a whorey way).

Piggie Piggie

The past couple 4ths, a bunch of us have met up for fun times. Last year the party was moved to my place, so I was pondering what to serve food wise (what does it mean when I knew to buy a case of wine before I even thought about the food?). Since we didn't have a grill, regular picnic fare wasn't in the cards (and fine, it's regular picnic fare. It's not bad, but not special). And then I had the genius idea to make pulled pork, it's easy, feeds a lot of people and mmm mmm good too. And being on a sort of swine kick, I thought, well, I don't make great pancakes (or have a griddle), so what about sausage biscuits the next morning.

But I asked my girlfriends: hey, pulled pork on the 4th and sausage biscuits the morning after. It that too much pork?

They laughed at me. Apparently you can never have too much pig.

This weekend I'm making it again for my family. So there's 8lbs of pork in the fridge. For some reason this amuses me highly.