A Bowl less Super

I'm sure you're all recovering from last night, celebrating one of American's favorite days of the year.  I'm  one of the few American's that's not so into the whole football game hype, myself (shocker, I know. I'm sure you all envisioned me decked out in full Steelers regalia whipping a Terrible Towel and whooping til my voice was raw. . .)

Yesterday evening, as I sat watching a ridiculous movie on IFC and eating some green beans, I was thinking that this was the first time in probably 5 or so years that I decided not attended a Superbowl party. Obviously, any Superbowl party I've attended has not been for the sake of football. I don't know a down from a . . .uh I can't think of any other football terms. . .fumble(?) And sure the commercials are sometimes entertaining, but mostly they're just weird and all I can think about it how many millions of dollars went into a commercial of Adrian Brody singing for Stella Artois and it still doesn't make me want a beer.

No, what brings me year after year to friends' Superbowl parties is the food. Delicious dips oozing with 8 kinds of cheese and green chiles, and salsa. Chicken wings and sliders and my personal fav, football themed brownies and cookies and cakes. oh my. 

 I feel like Superbowl is a game of gastronomic chicken (no pun intended) where we battle it out to see which will win, our eyes or our stomach. (kind of like thanksgiving, and Christmas, and Easter, and Fourth of July, and . . .) 

Anyway, I'm not trying to make some grave point about the state of Americans and our eating habits. Nothing that important. My real point: last night I was sort of missing all the Superbowl goodies I was giving up, but this morning when I woke up without a queso hangover, or a canker sore from eating too many sweets I thought, "maybe I'm onto something here."

Next year I think I'm going to bring carrot sticks or ants on a log to the Superbowl party I attend. I'm sure they'll be a big hit. 

Yum!

What a sweet treat I have to share today! Ok, ok that was really lame, I just couldn't help it. . .

You may be aware that one of my favorite pastimes (and hopefully, one day part of my income) is baking and more particularly decorating cakes and cookies. A few months back, a friend and I had realized we had this in common and decided to take a cookie and cupcake decorating class together.

We booked a class with Sweet Alternatives in Natick and had been looking forward to it ever since. Last night, we headed out full of excitement to the class, ready to learn some fun things!

As is the tone of my life, things turned harry for just a moment, but eventually got back on track!

I'll start as Heidi and I pulled off the highway. After quick detour through the Natick Collection for some food for Heidi (by the way that mall is enormous. I've never seen one around here quite like it) we headed off looking for some sort of bakery or something on the main road. A few minutes later, we turned onto a snow-filled, dark, narrow residential road and arrived at what was supposed to be our destination. We were confused and a little freaked out, but after double checking the address, and making a phone call to the woman running the class we were assured that the class was in her home and we were on the right track.

"oh, great" I thought, "this is going to be a total waste of our time with some old lady who fancies herself a baker."

Boy, was I wrong! This woman is professionally trained, was a pastry chef, and has lived and worked in both New York and Boston. Currently she focuses mostly on wedding cakes, and was a fantastic teacher and a total gold mine of information about where to buy materials since there's not very many good places in Boston, what it takes to run an in-home novelty business and, of course, how to do some great decorating. I was so thrilled with the class and had so much fun, it was wonderful! I definitely want to take more classes and continue growing my knowledge on all of this. Talking to her made me really feel like this is something I could do. And the cherry on top of it all was when she announced she came from the insurance world. Like me! Ah! so happy.

Here are some pictures from the experience, I can't wait to continue experimenting and to buy a few fun tools to make everything even easier!

*also, you can check our Linda and her work and classes here.

Lunch Walk

My roommate Becca brought these verses to my attention today, and they were so fitting, as Boston was hit with yet another snow storm last night:

"He gives snow like wool. . .

He hurls down His crystals of ice like crumbs;

who can stand before his cold?"

Psalm 147: 15, 17

These beautiful words really resonated with me throughout today at how great God is. And although I'm generally a huge fan of winter, it gave me an even fresher perspective on surviving winter in Boston. Here are some pictures I took during my (almost) daily lunch break walk around Boston Common. I'm so lucky to work so close by this beautiful place, and I love taking a trip there for 20 minutes or so during lunch to recharge

They blow all the sidewalk snow through the bars of the cemetery by Park St.

The State House

walking through the pigeons

few of the city from the back of the Commons

rolling cigarettes, I love that their hands are almost exactly the same

guess who?

 

This little girl was standing in the spray of the above snow thrower

Unlisted

I'm actually writing this post as I sit at work today, pretending to be busy whilst partaking of my 2nd Diet Snapple since noon and listening to Taylor Swift (please, don't judge me. She's fun). I'm also looking at a piece of bubble wrap I somehow acquired and wondering how obnoxious it would be if I started popping it throughout the next 2 hours. pretty obnoxious, I'm guessing. 

Today, I realized something that was slightly horrifying. First, I'll let you in on the secret to my many successes (haha) I'm a list maker. I love making lists: shopping, to do, chores, etc. and since I have an endless supply of pink index cards and post-its at work, my habit is constantly being encouraged (Let's face it, who DOESN'T like making lists on pink index cards??) The problem is I've noticed lately that I've been making more and more lists that never get done, or continually get pushed off to the next day, and the next, and the next. Or I make a list and then lose it and so I have to make another one, but I can't remember everything that was on the first list. To make up for it somehow, I just add more things to the current list which will also inevitably be lost.

"Why is this so awful?" you wonder. 

I'll tell you. 

I used to work for a character called "the Writer" One of my jobs with said writer was to help her prioritize her day and help her manage her time (she kind of sucked at that part). since I'm a list-lover, I implemented liste making into her daily schedule. Thus began the habit each morning of spending upwards of an hour making a completely unrealistic list of things to get done for the day. If we were lucky we'd get about one thing done on the list, if she didn’t' lose it first (sound familiar) and we'd have to improvise. 

I would get SO FRUSTERATED leaving every day knowing that list was sitting there collecting dust, and not any close to being done. More than the 'making of the list', I like the 'crossing off all the items on the list'! but it appears that I'm becoming the writer. making lists for no reason, never getting anything done.

Last night I blatantly defied my list and spend over 2 hours watching one of my favorite French movies A Very Long Engagement. I think I need to put that movie on a list of ones I need to own. . .

Or maybe not.

Do make lists  to help organize you day? do you cross things off on them? 

More of that "white stuff"

If I hear one more person say, "I'm so sick of all this snow, I don't understand where it's all coming from!", I'm going to kick them.

We live in New England, people. If you don't like getting snow in the winter, you should probably leave.

(Ok, I may have engaged in a lunch time conversation about how the snow should melt, and I just want to wear some dang sundresses. But then, I rebuffed myself, as I don't really mind the snow. It's part of what makes New England so great!)

Also, people keep going on about how this winter is so much worse than normal and how usually we get snow and then it all melts before we get another storm.

Now my memory is not exactly that of an elephant, but I feel like it serves enough for me to say that I remember plenty of winters growing up and in the not too distant past where we had similar storms buffeting our fair towns and the snow definitely did not melt in between.

And as one coworker put it today. . .at least we don't live in Syracuse!

Amen, sister. But bring on some more snow!

In honor of winter, here's some pics I took while out enjoying the snow with the roommate during one of our recent storms:

Experts Say

"If you're tempted to handle your stress by smoking or drinking alcohol, experts say don't."

 I read this sentence in an article at work, and immediately died laughing. I mean, what kind of sentence is this? This statement is so obvious that I wondered, did they really need to say "experts say." Did experts actually say this? Or did the person writing the article just think this and insert the bit about experts to give it more validity. 

It sort of got me thinking that if this is the kind of stuff journalists are looking for, couldn't I be an expert of some sort. Surely, it can't be that hard to go around making statements like, 

"If you're trying to save money, you should stop spending so much each month" 

or 

 "If you're too hot with the thermostat at 80, think about turning it down." 

All people would have to do when quoting me is slap that nice little expression on the end there.

 "experts say" and wham. There you have it. If the experts say it, it must be true.

 I guess what I'm saying is, I think I probably have just as much expertise as these experts, so if you ever have a need for an expert, or a need to quote an expert, I'd be happy to oblige.

Because people always think something sounds more valid if it comes from an expert, experts say. 

 I wonder what experts would say about this blog (besides myself, clearly). Probably that it's great. And if you want a good laugh you should read it.

 No, I'm not being conceited, I'm just telling you what some experts say.

I've used one word in this post 13 times, can you guess which one? Using a word more than a dozen times in quick succession tends to get a little repetitive. At least, that's what the ex--yea, yea. you know the drill. . .

 

The World is Words

Do you ever have those days at work where there is nothing to do? 

 I do.

You sit there, and sit there, trying to look official and busy but really, you're just on Facebook on your phone or typing out an email to someone is word so it looks more "work related" until you quickly copy and paste it into Gmail later when no ones looking.

Or maybe you just have a more relaxed work environment and no one really cares what you do or when as long as the work gets done. People definitely look the other way at my office, but given my new desk position (I was recently promoted) I'm in clear view of both of my direct managers and the VP of my department. Eek!

So on days like today, when I'm so bored I literally fall asleep for a minute until my head jerks back and I nearly fall out of my chair, I decide to write. I write about lots of things: major life dramas I need to work out on paper, how I'm feeling that day, letters I want to send to people, angry drafts of letters to Kohls corporate regarding their recent indiscretions, etc.

Recently, things took a more creative turn, and I wrote a poem. An awful, hilariously bad poem. But in the stupor of my work day, as I tried to stay awake an look engaged in some important insurance business, I thought it was pretty good. I was wrong. But I'll let you read it anyway. Because I like you:)

The world is words

each atom a letter

this great cosmic asteroid

rotates on Cs and Zs 

each revolution around

the impatient sun

an 'A' baked clean

I can pull a xylaphone out of the ozone

an elephant from the earth

The world is words

and I must write them down

I know, I know. You're gasping for air right now at the profundity of the words. You want to start name dropping and raving, and emailing me accolades. It's pretty great right?

 

 I mean seriously, where do I come up with this stuff?