Saturday Lushie

OK, I wish to note for the record that I was just forced to switch my blog to the new system today, which was not my favorite thing ever.

Griping aside, this was a pretty interesting weekend. Yes, I did in fact go to Troy Lush, and I picked a good day because the weather was clear. It was an up-and-down experience--here's the story.

Woke up and got going a bit late, but, well, who cares, it's Saturday. I dressed for cuteness and then went to get gas and a pumpkin spice cappucino from the gas station (because for some reason, I dig those machine cappas). The drive was great; I listened to my birthday mix CD, didn't run into any major traffic, and felt pretty good about life, grinning like a fool.

I hit the first but minor snag when I was on 75 near Detroit; Freeway Closed, it said, M-10 to 375. Use alternate rte. Well, ok, but are you going to give me one? Please? I just stayed on the highway and decided to let God and the highway system angels work it out. This would have been the time to use the talking travel guide my mom got me, if in fact I'd remembered to put it in the car. It transpires, however, that in fact they were going to give me a route, 96 to 94 to 75, a detour which not only worked like a charm but I suspect may have gained me a minute or two in time.

I found the mall with no trouble, and in typical fashion parked as near to where I came in as I could manage, in fact getting lucky when someone left when I was sitting right there (a favor I later returned). I grabbed a map just outside of Macy's and found the Lush, third level, following my nose all the way. I walked in, grabbed a basket, and was immediately called on for it as a person who has obviously been to a Lush before. I whipped out my shopping list, saying, "You don't know the half of it." I think in the course of the ensuing hour and a half I talked to every person in the shop, but made special friends with a few, even chatting about life with a gal named Maggie who I believe is my new best Lush friend. I was given a face mask and moisturizer diagnosis and picked up all the stock that I was running out of. This really couldn't have come at a better time, because my skin is currently in crisis, breaking out but also outrageously dry from wind burn and the cold. They were actually out of both of my usual moisturizers, so I picked out two more to test. I also restocked my supply of bath melts and body butters, and picked up a few new soaps because I'm working through what I already have with gusto. Maggie informed me that she has about ten different soaps.

The bad news is, they're getting rid of Ginger. This is terrible news, so I made sure to get my dusting powder and my soap. I didn't buy the fragrance, because it's pretty pricey. I will make do with the powder and hope I can eke it out until I find something equally awesome.

Eventually, I'd reached my Lush limit, and departed from my friends to get some lunch. This is where things got bad. As I was standing at the court, looking at the food stands, suddenly my stomach turned; or rather, the remainder of my digestive system did. I got a coke and a piece of spinach pie because it was quite late and I thought I should eat, but my heart wasn't in it. I don't know what was happening, but I felt awful. I kept thinking that any minute something unbearable was about to happen, but it didn't. I tried to go to a few stores that interested me, bought a couple of cute things, but really was unable to maximize my experience any further. I sat in the Macy's ladies' room lounge until I felt better, and then got in the car to go home. It was a quiet drive, and actually went pretty fast. By the time I returned home, I felt a little weak, but better.

The remainder of the day was better also. I didn't eat much, but I watched both Pirates of the Carribean movies and took a bath with a Black Pearl bath bomb that my Mum had gotten me for Christmas, and Angel's Delight soap my sister got me for my birthday (p.s. to my sister--I used the Christmas bath bomb last week and it smelled awesome! And there was confetti!) Thus, my house smells nice. If you haven't tried the Black Pearl, it is worth it in so many ways. There's a message inside, it smells great, and it turns the water a silvery color.

So, that was the adventure. It was a good time, despite the few hours of small misery (I blame the three taquitos I had the night before, which for some reason contain jalopenos in small but very obvious dosage. I'd rather not blame the cappucino, though it's possible.). Sunday, it snowed, so I was glad I didn't try to go then.

And now, the obligatory picture of my current Lush stash, old and new thrown together in wild array (note that this does not look like as much because a: stuff is in the basket, and b: I didn't buy as much stuff time, but spent an equivalent amount because of the lotions, etc.):

Happy Birthday, Pearl!

If you are wondering what baby Pearl received for turning one week old, have a look:




That's right, it's a quilt with a string of pearls, with scalloped binding. It came out of the dry cleaners looking lovely, and while I know it matches the colors of a lot of the baby stuff Pearl has, I think it also in a way matches the style her parents might like her to have.
I still have to do a tag for it, and the next time I'm over there I'll stitch it on.
Good times.

Glad Game

In an effort to pretend that I haven't lost all my stored body heat already today and am therefore freezing, indoors, in a sweater, and am so sleepy I'm wondering if hypothermia is possible, here are some things I'm glad about:
1. LUSH Troy, MI is OPEN. I noticed they'd changed the designation from Coming Soon to NEW on the Lush site, and then I called, yes that's right I called, them to see if it could possibly true; two weeks, people, I've been sitting here wondering when it would come, and then I find it's been out there all this time. 14 DAYS! I told the lady she'd made me very happy, and she laughed and said, "We'll be looking for you!"
I have a lovely, happy selection of bath bombs, soap, and shower gel from my mom and sister from birthday and Christmas; supplies, however, are just beginning to dwindle, and I am completely out of face lotion (a disaster if your skin is like mine) and I'd like to buy a mask (which you can only get in shops) and some bath melts (which don't ship well sometimes) to complete my collection. And also some Ginger dusting powder. That's right, I have a list. Get into it. So, the plan is, get as many essays graded as I can Wednesday - Friday, and if the weather is decent Saturday, make the trek up to Troy as a reward for good behavior.
2. My face is the correct color. Yes, over break I discovered that the Classic Ivory Cover Girl shade is in fact a bit too light for my face and is therefore the reason I often look ghostly pale in photos; I'm actually Natural Ivory and am wearing this shade today, and while it's not perfect, it is way closer.
3. New Gilmores and Veronica tonight, and since House is not on (sad), no conflicts.
4. For dinner? I think some spinach and pierogies casserole. Cheesy. Delicious. Hot.
5. 24 more hours of no essays.

An Adventure in Lamb Chops

Sunday is "good eating karma" day. No matter what I seem to do, it always turns out delicious and I have the best meal of the week Sunday night, often a little late.
This time, I decided to thaw out the two lamb chops I had in the fridge. It's been a while since I've had lamb, and I have a long history of looking for it in stores and not finding it. I set out the lamb in the afternoon, and when I started getting peckish around 7:30, I looked for recipes and selected two to blend from a Greek cookbook I have. The lamb, it transpires, was perfectly thawed; the meat was red and soft, and looked fresh (I purchased it at Kroger...I don't often get meat there, but it paid off this time). Here's what I used:
Rosemary
Oregano
Thyme
crushed into a dish; I put two Tbsp. of butter over it and stuck it in the microwave to melt the butter over the spices, then added a few squirts of lemon juice.
I salted and peppered the meat, then basted the chops with the above deliciousness, and put them under the broiler in an unslotted broiling pan. After 3 minutes, I basted again. At seven minutes, I flipped the chops, basted some more...
then received a shock. It seriously sounded like my oven was going to explode...I'm pretty sure there was an inferno of flame in there. I turned off the oven for a minute while I tried to figure out what had happened. The truth is, I have no idea. I did discover, however, that my cookbook, propped open on top of the stove, which was off, was singed and probably about to burst into flame itself. Removed that, restarted the oven/broiler, and everything transpired normally. Rebasted the meat at the next 3 minute mark.
Meanwhile, I sliced a frozen section of formerly fresh sourdough baguette in half and drizzled olive oil over it, put it on a rack, and put it in the oven. At six minutes, I removed the chops and the bread. The bread had a few dark edges, and I didn't hold out much hope since it had been frozen, but then something amazing happened: The bread was perfectly toasted on the outside and soft in the middle. Huh what? PERFECT bread.
I was scared about the chops; I have a tendency to overcook meat, and as I looked at one of the chops (which had curled), it looked a little bit dry. When I cut into it, the cut was a little difficult in spots. The chops had been a little thin, and probably could have used less time. However, the second miraculous thing happened--it turns out the meat, which had a perfect arrangement of fat, was not only juicy, but tasted absolutely delicious with the herbs, butter, and lemon. I haven't made meat that good in months.
So, I ate a lamb chop and some bread, with some mozzarella slices, olives stuffed with feta (thanks to my bro-in-law), a salad, and milk. It was such a nice change from all the junk I've been eating lately out of exhaustion and cravings.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that part of my basting ingredients were chopped green onions...my bag of onions was looking like it was ready to go off, so I chopped the rest up and put them in the freezer. Consequently, I cried for about two hours.

About the Globes

Helen Mirren: gorgeous; her dress was amazing, in an unusual color but completely complementary to her coloring and figure. She rocks. I also love when two burly men escorted her up the steps. She seemed to think it kind of neat also.
Hugh Laurie: Sadly, and in a slightly ridiculously traditional manner, I missed his award completely in the show, but caught his E! Winner's Circle dealie afterward. I heart him. I believe I've mentioned this.
His costars, Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer: engaged! How sweet is that? They've even made out on tv already, and her character was high. Cute as buttons in real life.
Sacha Baron Cohen: overrated and kind of dumb (don't hate me Steve)
America Ferrara: star of the best show I don't watch regularly. It takes me forever to get into a show, so hopefully it will stay on for a long time. Her speech was darling. I love her energy.

In other TV news, NOTHING is new tonight if you are not an American Idol fan. Help! How can TV be so bad? House is off for several weeks, Gilmore Girls hasn't been new in ages, and Top Chef has been a total pain and I'm considering seriously quitting, especially since Medium is better and is on at the same time. Last week, I watched Medium at 10 and sort of half-watched Top Chef at 11. TV, why are you abandoning me? Supernatural is back, but even so they totally failed to deliver on the cliffhanger from the previous episode, you know, when Sam asks Dean what Dad told him, and Dean looks away? Yeah, turns out Dad didn't tell him squat...at least, nothing he's willing to admit to right now. It seriously sounded like the writers couldn't come up with anything dramatic enough between eps, so they decided just not to say anything. The coming war thing is kind of interesting, but all very vague...vague is one thing, but vague-which-feels-like-writers-block isn't.
Come on, TV. I have one more week of relative freedom before essays come in. Get on it. When I watch Dodgeball twice when it's on FX, even though I own it on dvd, you know you got problems.

getting personal

Do you ever have that thing where you come across a song that doesn't just interest you but hits almost uncomfortably close to you in some way? Even where maybe the whole thing just kind of gets you?
I have this CD Carrie made me for my birthday, and I like many of the songs on it as more than friends, but today I was listening to a Regina Spektor song called "Fidelity" in the car. I learned the chorus and was thinking, gosh, I'd like to have a look at the lyrics so I can pick out the rest. So I brought it in to the office and looked them up and, suddenly,felt the song a whole lot more.
You can sing any song and bring something out of yourself; but sometimes you can sing a song and it already is you. You're already singing exactly what you are.

First verse/chorus:
"I never loved nobody fully/Always one foot on the ground/And by protecting my heart truly/I got lost in the sounds/I hear in my mind/All these voices/I hear in my mind/ all these words/I hear in my mind/ all this music/And it breaks my heart..."

The Man of My Dreams: Part 1

I'm beginning what I think might be a regular feature here at Avaciously. Whenever I have a weird dream about a famous man, I'm going to tell you about it. Because I know you'll be interested.

So my most recent reve celebrite involved none other than Karl Urban, aka Eomer from LotR, except that I called him Keith (yes, I know there's a Keith Urban, but this was Karl; I just like the name Keith better, so I made a substitution).
We were all in school, and I wandered into his history class where they were watching a video; I flirted with at least five boys, stroking their hair and making sly comments. I sat down with the teacher, and noticed that she was in the video, in her prior existence as a communist.
After class, evidently (and I say evidently because I'm not sure how we got there), Karl and I went to play a game that was a weird combination of pool and mini-golf. It actually resembled a video game Steve has where you roll around picking up stuff in a giant ball. Anyway, when you hit your ball in our game, it turned into an object, thus making it very difficult to get it to go in the proper direction; mine kept turning into a wicker dress form.
I quickly tired of this game, and so I gave up and we sat down on the grass. I sat in Karl's lap. My friend Michelle was there with some guy (I never saw his face), and we were "chilling" when that Salt n' Pepa classic "Shoop" started playing on the radio. We all started singing our respective boy and girl lines, and laughing. I'm pretty sure a make-out was imminent, but naturally...
I woke up.

This was a pretty long dream at the tail end of a huge festival of dreams, and I actually wrote it down because it seemed funny to me.
Scale of 1 to 10: 8.

Shout out of the week

Today I'd like to send a great big holla to Newman's Marathon, on Main St. two blocks from my house. I've tried to get my gas there as often as possible for several reasons, including

• Two Christmases ago, giving a little box of chocolates to all gas customers as a thank-you.
• Looking at my car when it was being confusing and, not finding anything wrong, not charging me a cent and telling me to bring it back the instant it did something else weird.

to which they added today when

• I went in to pay for my gas and went to get a cappuccino. The machine, the man explained, was new, and not heated up fully yet. I decided to get some regular coffee instead and he didn't charge me for it because he knew I wanted a capp.

These people have always been sweet to me, and you should all buy your gas there. They've gone above and beyond the concept of service.

Catch up: part 3

Carrie, I dub thee "bearer of good tidings."
In the past month, I have received no fewer than two extraordinary text messages from Carrie. One was the title of HP 7. The other, last week, was the stupefying news that a LUSH store is going into the Somerset mall in Troy, MI. I grant you, this is on the opposite side of Detroit, but it is a heckuva lot better than all the way to Chicago or Canada and it is all on I-75.
I need to know the instant it opens. I need to get me some stuff. And not pay shipping.

Catch-up part 2: What Happened to Resolutions?

Time seems to be smashing itself together. I could swear I had resolutions for the new year last year, but unable to find more than a couple of bad habits I wanted to break, I realize I'm remembering formal resolutions of the year before. How sad is that? Looking back at two years of resolutions, I have stopped saying "duh" all the time, and have become more ladylike, and I think I gossip less. I also knit better, though still having difficulty with crocheting, and I watch TV less when I grade. However, I don't exercise as much as I should (now anyway; it was easier in summer), and I still bite my nails.

For this year, I'd like to swear less, especially with a new niece or nephew on the way.
Also, I would like to scowl less. I've realized that I have a bad habit of scowling; the problem is, what I feel is the neutral expression for my face (when I'm not putting in muscular effort) is a slight frown, especially when I'm thinking. The problem is thus that it is easy to slip into a full scowl when I'm miffed. When they say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile, they're wrong; they mean smiling or frowning intentionally. But if your face makes a frown naturally, then you have to put in extra effort. My mom has perfected a look that can best be described as pleasant, and I think I may need to work on that.

Catch-Up: Part 1

Baby's got a whole lotta blogging stored up, so let's get started, shall we?
First, I got tagged for this, so let's see where we stand on:
Five things you don't want to know about me

1. I have a poster of Jonathan Brandis in my bedroom, circa SeaQuest DSV. I think I also have some Teen Beats somewhere with him in them. And an action figure set, complete with Hammerhead shark.

2. While watching the episode of X-Files in which Mulder supposedly shot himself (season 4 finale), I was alone in the house and I actually screamed. Loudly. Since I was always taught not to scream unless it was an emergency, this was a pretty big deal.

3. I hate drugs and drug culture; I mean, I HATE them, and I don't hate much. I'm not talking about Tylenol here, but things that are illegal and/or used for getting high or low or whatever really piss me off. So much that I don't want to talk about it anymore except to say that I once had an enormous crush on a boy; the day I found out he'd started smoking pot, I went off him completely. I could go on all day about cigarettes, too, except that they're legal. I don't hate alcohol, but I have mixed feelings about drunk people. Even when I am one.

4. I have seriously questioned my ability to be a mother based on my inability to deal with throw up. I'm not sure why, since my mother shares the problem and did just fine, but the prospect terrifies me.

5. On New Year's Eve I was....in my apartment in my pajamas doing a puzzle. Sorry, guys.

Where you been?

Hello my darlings. Yes, I've been in sort of a de facto hiding, sewing my little hands to shreds. Why? I dunno. As Captain Kirk once said about the most important reason for climbing a mountain, "because it's there."

First, here's a look at the golden dress. The crinkly satin fabric is shiner than I'd remembered, but I believe the results are fetching, made even better by those black lace mitts I picked up at an antique store. This is one of those rare times when fabric and pattern come together to be amazing, and even though it's meant to be of average difficulty as I remember, I did as well as I could with it and it looks just the way it's supposed to. The hem's a bit less than I could do, but it looks all right from the outside. The crinkle actually works in my favor.







I then turned my attention to a 1931 pattern (that's Vogue Vintage, for those of you keeping track. I know there's a lot of you). Imagine my surprise and slight horror when I noticed that I'd cut pieces for a size 8. In fact, my pattern was all size 8. I'd gotten this pattern ages ago, and on the outside it had size 6 in the list of measurements, which it typically only does if a size 6 is available. However, I looked at it more closely, at the cutting layouts, and determined that in fact there is no size 6. More to the point, I examined previous patterns and determined that this pattern has so little ease that it would probably fit properly, unlike my size 6 skirts with similar lack of ease...they tend to be a little snug late in the day.
Crisis averted. I took in an eighth of an inch more on seam allowances where appropriate though, just to tighten it up a hair.
I tried on the dress on Sunday, and I have to say I was a little distressed. It seemed like it was going to be not so great. The hips fit perfectly, but the waist was almost baggy. this is a belted dress, but even when I tried it with a trial belt it seemed like it would be too big. I resolved not to judge too early, and to just go with it and finish the dress as directed. I was glad I did so, because it came out fine, and when I put it on, I realized that it fit almost perfectly. It's supposed to have a little bit of overhang above the belt, as you can see from the front shot. The back in the closeup looks quite wrinkly and even badly sewn, but it's actually a few other factors: the way the light catches the pleat, and the fact I'm turning around. Also, I didn't have it quite pulled up properly above the belt, and it is just the tiniest bit big in the waist, which always on me shows up in the back because I have such a long back. Certainly, I didn't sew it perfectly, but I spent quite a lot of time examining pictures I took, and have determined it's as it should be. My next plan in relation to this dress is to use some gorgeous velvety fur-type fabric I have in a slightly pink silver and make a cape. I'm doing another dress first, but then I'll do the cape. I'm nervous about that because I haven't worked with such a sumptuous fabric before, at least in this context, but we shall see. I don't know how much longer my energy will hold out but the act of creation is sort of alluring to me right now.























If you're wondering why all the pictures, someone sensible once told me I should make a scrapbook of all my sewing projects, good and bad. I haven't really gotten down to the scrapbooking part of it yet, but I did take pictures of a few older projects and will continue with that track in the hopes of someday logging it all.

All done

So, it's Thursday, I'm hanging out in the office after a whirlwind of portfolio-returning activity, looking forward to heading home soon and spending quality time with my apartment and my sewing machine. Everyone's full of holiday cheer and cards (sorry, people, I don't really do Christmas/holiday cards...the sheer volume of the list of friends I would need to give cards to is daunting to a girl who most of the time can't even be bothered to write a letter. I thank you, however, for your consideration and love in sending me holiday cards). The dress I'm making is almost finished, and I'm looking forward to listening to more of Harry Potter 6 on tape whilst I do the finishing work (hemming being possibly the most boring sewing work in the universe), and de-static the dress, and then take some pictures if the time is right.

I haven't watched a whole lot of TV lately, because reruns are boring, so instead I will provide a general list of some important TV moments and trivia of the last couple months.
Biggest TV regret: Missing most of the episode of Saturday Night Live on which Hugh Laurie appeared. It was by the grace of God alone that I got to see part of it, including the "protest song."
Second biggest TV regret: Missing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Biggest TV frustration: Lorelai and Christopher. As I have indicated to many, I disapprove strongly of this Gilmore Girls relationship. Christopher, despite being handsome, is boring as hell. I have been known to leave the room when the two of them are on together. The conflicts of this season have been poorly chosen, I think.
Most interesting surprise viewing: The Snow Queen, a strange and artful adaption. imdb.com's current reviewer was rather scathing, but I think the person also sort of missed the point of the style of the adaption. It was sort of like looking in a nickel odeon.
Biggest go-girl moment: The end of Prime Suspect 7. I do heart Helen Mirren.
Spiciest TV-related dream: I admit I had a dream about Ty Pennington last night. (adding to what has been an EXHAUSTING dream month, from falling out of bed because of spiders to the night when I seriously had at least seven dreams, several of which sort of blended together, but AFTER I'd woken up and fallen back asleep. How many times can I need to put in contacts in a dream?).
Most sympathy for disliked person: Melrose, ANTM. Sure, girl is a little annoying. However, she's also smart and can do just about anything. She reminds me a little of me, and a few of my girlfriends felt the same way about themselves--educated woman, many interests and abilities, and a bit of a know-it-all, a bit show-offy. But that's what you're supposed to have in competition, and I for one found it refreshing to have a girl who wasn't vacuous as these girls tend to be. That being said, I'm not sorry Caridee won, because I think she's lovely, and that crazy elephant picture rocked. But I'm hoping for big things for Melrose because she has a wide array of things to do. What worries me is that, because she has so much going for her, people will just assume she can fend for herself and not give her anything. Possibly this fear is unfounded. I hope so.

OK, that's all I can think of right now because it's 5:12 and I want to leave. However, before I do, I have a very important question: Does anyone here love comedian Jim Gaffigan like I do? He's coming to Toledo Feb 9 and I want to go. Sadly, it's the same night as the BG vs. Michigan hockey game here, but it is not the same night as MSU, so that's all right.

Watch out for dummies!

If anyone needs me, I'm in the midst of my workroom sewing away as though nothing else in the world is happening.
This is probably for the best since I passed no fewer than three people driving like idiots on my way in to the office today.
Why is it that people don't remember how 4-way stops work? As in, when the person directly in front of you goes, and there are other people waiting at the stop sign, then you are not next? A neighbor of mine nearly got run over by a truck, and I could have been broadsided myself except that both of us were watching for such shady behavior.

Sorry, kids

Open apology to my BG hangout peeps:
Sorry, guys; this weekend turned out to be unexpectedly crowded with social and event engagements. I have these times when no one wants me and I hide in my house and do crafts, and then suddenly I must erupt from my home in a swish of silks and wool and see everyone I know. I love you, though, and will see you soon.

Banner Day

So, yesterday evening turned out to be unexpectedly full of nice surprises.
I had a pretty short day, actually, which was gratifying and easy. I walked home and, on my way, noted that The Cookie Jar had Raspberry Linzer Roll cookies that day, so I stopped and ordered some. I went home and got my mail, which included:

The Circle Journal, an awesome circulating journal written by some of my family. It's my turn!
A hefty check from Verizon, a refund of my cellphone security deposit! YES!

I went back to get my cookies, and then settled in for the evening. I watched a little tv, started cutting out pattern pieces for a dress while listening to Garrison Keillor, ate more cookies than I should have (delicious shortbready cookies with raspberry swirl), read a little of two books (an old favorite, Primrose Day, which I checked out from the library, and the last Lemony Snicket book, which I bought even though I haven't read the others. It just sounded good. And it is.), watched more TV (ANTM finale and Top Chef and Medium), and generally relaxed before ending the evening by catching up with the journal.
The only thing I haven't gotten to do for a while is have a bath. I believe that's on tonight's agenda, or perhaps tomorrow. I have a sort of cinnamony bubble bar that will go great with some spicy soap my sister got me for my birthday. I also have plans to do a hand spa with some fun products I got from my friend. Let the luxuriating....continue!

And now it's time for word association

Gilmore Girls: WTF?
Vince Vaughn: available
ANTM: season finale!
Body: plus four pounds
Dinner: meatballs (again)
School: no more grading, whoo hoo!
Dreams: scary animals
Fabric: I'm going to make a sweet dress this break!
Sewing machine: stolen from Mom (sorry Mom)
Music: "Mushaboom" best song ever right now (thanks, Carrie)

Meatballs

I was about to get all cranky and whine about how some people, namely Steve, haven't posted much lately, then realized I haven't posted since Tuesday and maybe I should shut up.

Last night I had a delicious dinner. Here's what happened: I was in Meijer on Saturday night (after an abysmal hockey game. I don't want to talk about it.) getting my groceries stocked up. I actually have a fairly full freezer and cupboard right now, but I was out of some essentials (milk, for instance) and some healthier produce. I was passing through frozen foods, looked to my left, and saw...
a giant bag of meatballs.
For some reason, this sounded awesome. Slow cooker, I thought. Meatballs like the ones my Mum made for graduation.
So yesterday between church and attendance at A Christmas Carol I dissolved some beef boullion, threw in some flour and some mushroom soup, and mushrooms, and dumped in 40 meatballs. I stirred 'em up and left them on low, and there they were when I returned home at 5. I made some mashed potatoes and dumped meatballs on them, and ate the lot with some apple salad. So good. I had to reheat the meatballs because my front room is so cold right now that my dinner got cool too fast.
It was great. Then, I took a nap and then watched the new Librarian movie: Return to King Solomon's Mines. It wasn't as good as the first one (and by good I mean the right mixture of derivative, goofy, adventurous, and entertaining), but it was worth watching.

TV in general lately hasn't been much to post about. Everyone is in reruns, you know, and while that was helpful in the "final standoff with essays" week, this week is about me and my needs. This girl needs to be entertained, and if new ANTM is all she gets, girl gonna get sad. This week, looks like new Gilmores, old House (sad), new and last ANTM, new Top Chef, new Medium, and thank-God-because-I-heart-Winchesters, new Supernatural.

Girl also gotta be warm. My morning classroom was probably cold enough to keep potato salad fresh all day. And right now I have the uncomfortable feeling that the heat might have broken in the office building, because I feel the strange sensation of cold air hitting my body. I believe I shall be going home early today. I barely made it out of bed as it was this morning, and I don't see any reason why I shouldn't return there as soon as possible. So soft. So warm. So snuggly.

In which my forehead gets out of control

Once upon a time, Amanda Latrenta stood before her class, ready to introduce the Proposing a Solution assignment. Amanda pointed to a sizable blemish on her forehead and assertively said, "Problem." She paused, waiting for her meaning to become clear before she asked, with a wry and slightly wicked smile, "Solutions?"

I vividly remembered Amanda today, telling me that story when she was a group leader. Today, I had a gigantic whitehead on my forehead; only it's not there now because this morning I absolutely had to get rid of it. So instead I have a gigantic and almost-uncoverable red mark which will almost certainly scar unless I exercise immediate skin emergency procedures.
This was a zit in the full meaning of the word, and I NEVER get them. I get pimples, certainly, most commonly along my jawline or in the nose area, but this was a full on disaster, like I'm about to sprout a horn and magic and become a unicorn. We are not in the days of the Cosby Show when a girl like Vanessa can just put a headband over it, and it was really too low to rock a low-slung bandana, even. As a girl with quite a lot of forehead anyway, this was absolutely unmitigated neon sign territory. And I had to teach three classes today.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go wash my face; even now I can feel my make-up making plans to create a permanent exhibit up there.

Another year older

So, the birthday has come and gone. I received many exciting things and participated in several exciting activities. So, I will sit here on my lunch break and explain a few things to you while I eat my fried chicken and squash casserole.
Some reviews:
Poco Piatti, Levis Commons, a Mediterranean tapas restaurant. I have never been to a tapas restaurant before, but my love of Mediterranean cuisine is well documented, particularly of the Greek and Italian persuasion. Poco Piatti does both of these but throws Lebanese into the mix for good measure. The restaurant is brand new, at least it is a new location, as there is also one in Toledo. Our group on Friday night was quite large, and ordered things throughout the night, and frankly I was impressed with the staff's ability to adapt to the confusion and make sure we all got our dinners.
If you have never been to a tapas restaurant, it works like this: Basically, you order a bunch of appetizer-sized items to eat. I suppose you could just eat what you ordered, but our group sent the items around the table so we got the widest sampling possible. For instance, I had: saganaki kasseri (OOPA!), hommous, Greek salad, half a cabbage roll, several small pieces of thin pizza (one of which was hazelnut, potato, and pesto pizza--almost obscenely delicious), pumpkin gnocchi, calamari, chicken wraps, goat cheese agnolotti, artichoke hearts, and Lord knows what else, and turned down servings of several other dishes that didn't seem to quite go with what I was eating. The menu items are numerous, naturally, and this location also has a few full-sized dinners if you prefer. Best of both worlds, what?
I had to laugh because this young little couple were sitting at a nearby table and they kept looking at ours with wide eyes, possibly wondering how nine people could put away so much dinner. And we really did. There were some leftovers boxes, but we did a lot of damage. As a party, it was wildly successful. But you could also go there with just two people and get your own things or share a few and come in fairly cheaply. In fact, my friend Michelle and I did something similar at Biaggi's for lunch once. We just shared, and were both super full. The nature of our ordering system was also fun...we ordered some things, decided we'd also like to try others, and by the end of the meal were hoping that we hadn't ordered anything else. What a great way to get full.
This was all followed by some delicious German chocolate cake made by Carrie, which was sweet enough but not too sweet, perfectly ending the evening's gourmet adventures.

Now, about Pop 5.
I've never played Cranium before, and I usually say no to Trivial Pursuit. In fact, I'm really not an adventurous game player--always refused to play Pin the Tail on the whatever at birthday parties, preferring to watch or roam around for a few minutes to myself. I'm too competitive, and the stress always gets to me to perform perfectly; I have what could be called a winner's complex. But I let my energies be seduced by my friends (who were kind enough to see through my laziness and maneuver me into playing Pop 5).
It's a version of Cranium in which it's not the word or phrase, it's the manner of its delivery. You have five choices, naturally, including drawing, sculpting, humming, acting out, or tossing letter cubes and coming up with words to guide your team. You have a certain amount of time (before the pop light goes out) to make your team say whatever is on your card.
We played boys vs. girls, which was 3 vs. 4, though I can point out here that one extra person really does not make much difference at that point. We played five rounds, and the girls ultimately came out with the best 3 of 5. Of my great and tragic moments, consider the following:
1. My utter failure to get across Genie in the Bottle through sculpture. I sculpted a bottle with smoke, but the bottle was of poor design. My failure was offset, however, by Paul's equally unfortunate (though well sculpted) Charlie's Angels clue.
2. My massive success in sculpting Hill Street Blues. Maggie proved instrumental to this, helping me earn the respect of my fellow players in the sculpting department.
3. If you heard the words "packet" and "decade" what would you guess? If it was Pop Rocks, in the food and drinks category, you'd be right. Well done, ladies. The gents were particularly confused by our telepathic ability here.
4. How in the name of all that is right in the world do you get across "Please don't squeeze the Charmin?" Even if you could successfully get across toilet paper, or even Charmin, and then squeeze, I can guarantee that no one in my group would have gotten the whole thing. This was perhaps offset by Jane Fonda Workout for the boys.
5. My personal favorite, because it represented a judgment error by the men (the opposing team has to rank the different ways to present clues according to points value), who ranked humming to be worth top number of points for "Star Trek." That was a total gimme for me. Carrie, my fellow sci-fi fan, got that one immediately.
This game strikes me as very instinctive and crafty. I truly enjoyed it, almost as much as I enjoyed rocking the boys' faces off. Girls Rule!
Other particularly satisfying moments were Maggie doing Flashdance, Carrie sculpting Dallas, and Melissa's enthusiastic portrayal of Just Do It. On the boys' side, Paul telepathically guessing leg warmers, Steve's portrayal of Ozzy Osborne, and Nathan's outstanding skill with letters at all times were most impressive.
A good time was had by all, and I was exhausted when we finally finished. This is a game I would most definitely play again.