Assorted Goodness

27 October 2009 by

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a daily links post because, well, it’s been awhile. Which means that maybe I shouldn’t call them “daily links.” Maybe I should call them “bi-weekly links.” Or maybe I should just quit worrying about what to call them and just put “random” words into “quotes” because it makes me “laugh” whether the “links” are “daily” or, you know, “not.”

Anyway. Since I haven’t been doing the daily links posts, I thought it was high time for me to make a list of some things that are bringing me great joy right now. These things don’t offer eternal joy, mind you, but they’ll certainly do in a pinch when it’s 7:00 in the morning and I have crevasses under my eyes and I look in the mirror and wonder what happened to the 19 year-old girl who DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO USE MOISTURIZER.

Of course, the lack of moisturizer during my late teens might just explain my current crevasses. But I digress.

1) Last night I met some friends for supper, and as soon as I walked in the restaurant, my friend Leigh looked at me and said, “DO YOU HAVE A BUMP-IT IN YOUR HAIR?”

You just know that’s a true friend, don’t you? When you skip any initial how-are-you pleasantries and jump straight into hey! what’s going on with your hair?

Well, I did not in fact have a Bump-It in my hair because I have not ordered any product from an infomercial since I ordered Richard Simmons’ Deal-A-Meal cards back in graduate school. In retrospect the fact that I thought I could adhere to the Deal-A-Meal plan is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS considering that at least twice a week I would join my friends at a place called The District, where we would order fried cheese with Ranch dressing. And loaded potato skins. Also with Ranch dressing.

And do you know what you would not in fact find on Deal-A-Meal cards?

  • fried cheese
  • Ranch dressing
  • loaded potato skins
  • more Ranch dressing

Not to mention the fact that I would’ve never – NEVER – finished a meal with my grad school buddies and said, “Now if y’all will just pardon me for a sec, I need to pull out my little vinyl carrying case and move my Deal-A-Meal cards into their appropriate columns.”

I also loved how the Deal-A-Meal cards tried to look like Trivial Pursuit cards so that just in case you didn’t want your friends to know that you were on a diet, you could fake them out by making them think that you were carrying around a PERSONAL TRIVIA GAME. Which is SO much better than admitting that you’re dieting.

Where was I? Something about a Bump-It? And I made it all the way to Deal-A-Meal? From one non-essential hyphenated infomercial product to another?

Sweet mercy. It is not easy to walk around with this level of crazy.

ANYWAY, there was no Bump-It in my head. But I did discover an exciting, new-to-me hair product at the drugstore, and in the week since I finally figured out how to apply it, I have achieved some serious volume in the crown area, girls.

The trick is that you have to pick up a section of damp hair and then lightly spray it on both sides. BOTH SIDES. I cannot even tell you how key the both-side-spraying is. And once you perfect your spraying methods, just get ready – because people are going to be asking you if you have a Bump-It on your head.

2) Another recent drugstore find is . I bought it a few weeks ago, and I LOVE IT. The colors are great – especially if you have fair skin and have trouble finding darker-colored eyeshadows that don’t make you look like a raccoon. I’ve also noticed that this particular brand seems to last a bit longer than other ones I’ve tried lately. Delightful.

(By the way and in the interest of clarity: I’m just linking to this stuff because I love it. I make approximately zero certified American dollars if you happen to make a purchase as a result of the links. Just FYI.)

3) Last year I got a wee bit obsessed with a praise and worship CD by a guy named Daniel Renstrom. He’s an independent artist who’s a worship leader in North Carolina – a friend of a friend of mine from Baton Rouge – and it is my personal belief that he is STINKIN’ GIFTED. I absolutely love his lyrics and his melodies, and today he’s releasing a Christmas CD.

People, listen to me: IT IS FABULOUS. There’s a version of “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” that I am hoping beyond all hope we get to sing at our church this Christmas. And there’s an original song called “Comfort Ye” that will settle way down deep in your heart and stay with you awhile.

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The album is available today on iTunes, and I cannot recommend it enough. It’s called On The Incarnation, and it’s not just Christmas music – it’s praise and worship music for Christmas. Quadruple love it.

4) Finally, this:

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HOW PROUD IS THE INTERNET OF REE?

SO PROUD.

In fact, I’m so proud that I may have to go eat some fried cheese to celebrate.

And dip it in Ranch dressing. OF COURSE.

Filed Under: Daily Awesome, Rambling

The Wordy Is Back, So By All Means Grab Some Snacks

26 October 2009 by

I am well aware that I probably enjoy watching sports a little bit more (AHEM) than your average girl. I have no idea why that is, but oh, I DO LOVE ME A LIVE SPORTING EVENT, especially if my Bulldogs are playing. In fact, if you gave me a choice between spending the day being pampered at some sort of spa or spending the day watching the Bulldogs play, I would choose the Bulldogs every single time.

I know. I’m weird. I can’t help it.

So last week, when all the hype surrounding the Mississippi State/Florida game started to build, I COULD NOT STAND IT. I thought it would be oh-so-fun to be in Starkville when the Gators rolled into town. And even though David had some other stuff planned for the weekend and couldn’t make the trip, he gave me his blessing to take the little guy on a road trip. Honestly, I had no expectations of being able to find tickets for the game since it was a sell-out, but I figured just being on campus would make for a mighty fine Saturday. Plus, our men’s basketball team was having an open scrimmage at noon, so, you know, YES, PLEASE.

As it turned out, my friend Daphne called me Thursday night and said they had two extra tickets, and I was TICKLED MAROON, I tell you. I told Daph later if I’d known when we met our freshman year that she’d be calling me two decades later to offer me tickets to the State/ Florida game, I would’ve bought her a big, new bottle of Paul Mitchell Freeze & Shine right then and there. I might have even offered to distress her blue jeans with some straight-up bleach in the dorm’s laundry room while I let her borrow my “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack cassette.

Anyway, early Saturday morning the little man and I hopped in the car and drove to Starkville. It was cloudy and gray outside – not to mention that the interstate was already pretty congested at 8 AM because of all the people driving to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama/Tennessee game – but I’ll have you know that as soon as we hit Highway 82 right outside of Tuscaloosa, the traffic all but disappeared, and the sky started to clear.

By the time we rolled into Starkville the sky was almost turquoise, and we parked in our favorite gameday parking lot and started walking to the coliseum. Alex was so excited that he couldn’t decide what he wanted to do first, but as soon as he saw all of the RVs in the coliseum parking lot, he became absolutely certain that he wanted to go in an RV and look around. In fact, when he spied a Florida fan who was sitting outside his RV in a lounge chair, he very loudly said that MAYBE THAT GUY WILL LET US INSIDE HIS RV, but I assured him that the Florida fans probably weren’t in the mood to give Bulldog fans MID-MORNING TOURS OF THEIR RECREATIONAL VEHICLES.

But do y’all know what was waiting on us when we walked up to the edge of the coliseum? Three RVs that were on display by a local RV dealer. IT WAS AN RV OPEN HOUSE, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

Honestly, I felt in that very moment that the Lord had given us His gameday favor. Because I don’t think I have to tell you that there was a six year-old who bounded up the steps into that very first RV and thought he had entered some sort of magical wonderland where all the appliances were his size. He also had a total a-ha moment when he realized that if he owned an RV, he could stretch out on the couch and watch a big ole television WHILE SOMEONE DROVE HIM AROUND, and it made me laugh so hard. Honestly, I think that RV may have helped him to solidify some Life Goals.

We walked in the coliseum about an hour before the scrimmage was scheduled to start, and since there was really no one in the building except for the women’s basketball team down on the court, Alex decided he wanted to explore.

10,000 empty seats + many, many stairs = NON-STOP ENTERTAINMENT.

My friend Lea Margaret and her little boy got to the coliseum right at the end of the women’s practice, and Alex and Mac were deee-lighted to see one another.

It was so sweet to watch them together – because the last time they saw each other they looked like this.

It’s been a few years.

The boys had big fun watching the men’s basketball team – at least until they both decided that they were very hungry and very thirsty and really, really wanted to go to the bookstore. But no way was I going to leave The Hump without snapping the young’un’s picture on the basketball court.

I FEEL A SENSE OF COMPLETENESS NOW.

The afternoon was sort of a wonderful blur of maroon and cowbells and old friends and blue skies and mums. OH, YES. MUMS. Everywhere with the mums.

I loved the mums.

We were mighty excited to see our friends Todd and New Marti, who were in Mississippi for the game and a baby shower. And as you can tell by the pictures, Alex likes them just a little bit.

We also ran into my great friend from high school (and freshman year roommate), Amanda, who looks EXACTLY THE SAME, MY WORD, HOW DOES SHE DO IT?

Thankfully we have both left acid-washed jeans and ginormous hair bows far, far behind.

Alex and I claimed our spots for the Dawg Walk, and once we were settled, he staged an elaborate Larry Boy re-enactment with some pom-poms.

I can’t say that I understood what he was doing, but hey. He was happy. That was all that mattered.

When the team finally made the walk into the stadium, my little guy rang his cowbell like a champ. After all, IT’S HIS HERITAGE, PEOPLE. Brings a tear to mine eye.

And I’ll bet you that 12 or 14 people showed up for the Dawg Walk.

SWEET MERCY it was crowded. But OH, it was fun.

We spent the rest of our pre-game time tailgating with Daphne and her family. This was the point in the afternoon when Alex really started to get revved up about the game, and he told Daph that she really, really needed to put up a sign that said “NO GATORS ALLOWED” on the tailgating tent. Then he started singing a version of the fight song that ended with him screaming, “GO STATE! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD!”

Apparently that’s the lesser-known, Baptist version of the fight song.

We walked in the stadium about 45 minutes before the game started, and OH, IT WAS LIVELY. Alex told me that it was the best day of his life in the whole wide world, and then he said, “That team from Florida is nothing but a bunch of…BABY WORMY GATORS BLAH BLAH, Mama.”

I think we all know that if Tim Tebow had heard that level of smack talk, he would have run off the field in fear.

The ‘Dogs played a whale of a game even though they didn’t win (this play will go down as one of my very favorite Bulldog football moments ever). And after the game, we hung out by the field for a few minutes so that we could see our friend Bo, who’s #44 for the Bulldogs.

Alex waited so patiently – he was NOT leaving that campus until he got to see Bo.

And finally, he did.

It was just the sweetest. Bo gave Alex his gloves and a sweatband from the game, and you want to talk about a little boy who could not quit smiling, NEVER YOU MIND THAT IT WAS 10:30 IN THE PM?

Thrilled to pieces, he was.

As we walked away from the field we ran into even more old friends, laughed with them for a few minutes (Mart, I won’t forget to tell the flat-iron story) and very slowly made our way back to our car. It was a long day – twelve hours of on-campus fun – and we were ready to get to Daphne’s mama’s house so we could get some much-needed rest. But oh my goodness, it was THE BEST day. So full of sweet friends and tradition and nostalgia and laughter. More happy than my heart could contain.

Not to mention that I had the very best travel buddy in the whole wide world.

Go ‘Dogs.

Filed Under: Beloved Bulldogs, Family Fun

Internet, A Techy Person Needs Your Insight

23 October 2009 by

Y’all are going to think that this is the most random post ever, and that’s probably because YES. RANDOM. But a friend of mine who does computer-y / programming-y stuff needs some insight into how people navigate their way through blogs.

So. A couple of hypothetical situations.

Let’s say you’re clicking around on the interweb and you run across a blog you really enjoy. You know once you’ve read the first post or the first page that you want to read more.

Or maybe there’s a blog you haven’t visited in a while, and once you read a post or two, you decide that you want to spend some time catching up on old posts.

As a general rule, would you:

A) Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link that says “older entries” or “next post” or “next page” (if such a link is available).

B) Use the categories listed in the sidebar and read through old posts category by category.

C) Use the archives and read through old posts month by month.

D) Some other method (and it would be great if you could specify what that method is, oh thank you).

And if you answer B, C or D, do you ever use the “older entries” / “next page” links at the bottom of blog pages? I mean, I do, but I may be the weirdest bloggy weirdo in all of bloggy weirdville.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Filed Under: The Interweb

I Inserted A Listening Device Into The Belly Of The Mallard

22 October 2009 by

I’m a little distracted tonight because I cannot get this weekend’s Mississippi State/Florida game off of my mind, and since the tunnel vision and I are VERY well-acquainted, I’ve had a hard time prying myself away from your various and sundry Bulldog message boards and newspaper articles and gameday cams and etc. and so on and so forth.

BUT.

I know that Pam and Jim are going to be back at Dunder-Mifflin tonight, and that little detail is just the incentive I need to shift my focus back where it belongs: on “The Office.”

Can somebody give me an “amen”? Thank you, sister.

1) “I haven’t seen you since my accident that I had when I fell, I fell into a pool of acid eyes first.”

2) “Blind Guy. Blind Guy McSqueezy.”

3) “It’s good to be home.”

4) “Number one: do not leave your things on my desk…item number two: conquackulations.”

5) “Now I can observe Jim, track Jim and destroy Jim.”

6) “Who’s the lucky lady?” // “Pam’s mom.”

7) “Hey, Jim.” // “NOT NOW, TOBY!”

8) “She’s right on my way home from work.” // “THEN TAKE A DIFFERENT WAY HOME, MAN!” // “I’ll take service streets.”

9) “That could have gone one of two ways, but I never expected her to get upset.”

10) “I really would have appreciated a heads up that you were into dating mothers. I would’ve introduced you to mine.”

11) “DWIGHT PICKED THE WRONG DAY TO PUT A WOODEN MALLARD IN MY OFFICE.”

12) Ryan’s fedora – cracked me up.

13) “Volunteer at the local animal shelter…paint a mural of Chicano leaders…make Scranton a better place – you could leave it!”

14) “Nobody talks to my lady that way…bye, Pickle.”

15) “It’s ALLLLL GOOOOOD.”

16) “I am your boss, and I may someday be your father. So get out.”

17) “You’re so cool.” // “You owe me three bucks for gas.”

18) “Hey.” // “SHOVE IT.”

19) “I put it in your office to surveil you.”

20) “Did you really think I’d put my primary listening device in a wooden mallard? I’m not insane.”

I thought this episode was HILARIOUS – one of the best in the last couple of seasons. I loved seeing Pam on the defensive, Jim in protector mode and Dwight up to his paranoid shenanigans. We’ll be watching this one over and over again in our house. LOVED IT.

What did y’all think?

Filed Under: TV Is My Friend

Thanks A Latte (Yes. I Did. I Went There. I’m So Sorry.)

21 October 2009 by

Seriously, y’all. I have never known a beverage with more expectations attached to it than the pumpkin spice latte. I’ve actually been a little scared to go to Starbucks and try one the last couple of days because I was afraid that the PSL couldn’t take the pressure.

However, I did think about taking my laptop into my neighborhood Starbucks, showing the barista all of your comments and saying, “DO YOU SEE WHAT THE PSL HAS STARTED?”

And then: “May I have a small sample, please?”

But then I remembered that doing that would require me to discuss my blog with a stranger. So, you know, NO.

Anyway, the PSL is on my to-do list. Maybe Thursday, maybe Friday. I don’t want to overthink it (of course, I will overthink it because I overthink EVERYTHING), but I don’t want the PSL for a morning beverage because if I get one and don’t like it, then my morning coffee experience will be RURNT, I tell you. RURNT. And I know I could get a decaf in the afternoon, but I don’t really like decaf anything. Go jittery or go home is what I always say.

So, given my issues with the caffeine and the not sleeping (she types as she sips a diet Coke at 9:43 in the PM) the PSL is going to have to be a mid-morning or post-lunch treat. And you can rest assured that as soon as I try one and gather my thoughts, I’ll proceed immediately to the blog and share all of my PSL-related reactions in a not-even-a-little-bit-organized fashion. You deserve no less.

By the way: I was ASTOUNDED by the intricacy of your Starbucks orders. Especially you tea-loving people. I had no idea there were so many tea possibilities. And the Dirty Chai? How did you even know such a thing existed? Is there a class? A Starbucks 101 seminar offered online?

Another thing that astounded me: I had no idea you could get raspberry anything with coffee. But OH, now that I know? I feel empowered. Raspberry and chocolate is one of my very favorite flavor combinations, so there is definitely a raspberry mocha in my future. I for one could not be more delighted.

All that to say: your comments about coffee were not only a treat to read – they are a resource. I went back through them again today just to get some drink ideas. You, internet, have helped me to solidify my Starbucks goals for the remainder of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. I am forever grateful.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch Top Chef restaurant wars and maybe even a House Hunters. And OH! I ALMOST FORGOT THIS, MY WORD! Ree from The Pioneer Woman is in the November issue of Southern Living – there’s an absolutely beautiful feature story on her and her family and her recipes. I got my issue in the mail last week, and I saw a big stack of them on display at the grocery store a couple of days ago. If you read Ree’s blog – or even if you don’t – you’ll get such a kick out of seeing her in the pages of SL. Yay, Ree!

Even better: go get you a PSL and a SL. They’ll make for a perfect afternoon.

See y’all tomorrow!

Filed Under: Rambling

Give A Call, We’ll Talk, No Big Whoop

20 October 2009 by

Now by and large I’m pretty old school when it comes to my coffee. I make it at home most days, but if I’m at Starbucks, I usually order a grande Pike Place, and then I’ll doctor it myself with some Equal and some half and half. I like that ordering a plain cup of coffee means that I can get out of the Starbucks for only one American dollar and some change, but if I’m feeling wild and crazy I’ll order a Cafe’ Latte or a Cafe’ Americano – even though I cringe a little bit when my coffee costs more than three dollars and THEY DON’T EVEN GIVE ME A BISCUIT.

Well.

Earlier this afternoon I was checking the Twitter, and my friend Fran mentioned that she was craving a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. Since I was with my friend Leigh when she ordered a pumpkin spice latte this past weekend, Fran’s comment (I know that I’m supposed to say “tweet” – but I just. can’t.) made me Officially Curious. Because I’ve never had a pumpkin spice latte, you see. And I wondered if I was missing out on some sort of coffee phenomenon.

Well.

I replied (TWEETED. WHATEVER.) to Fran and confessed the absence of the pumpkin spice latte in my life (by the way, the name of that drink gets SUPER tiresome when you’ve typed it for the fourth time), and Shannon, who’s a friend of my friend Annie (feel free to re-read that last part – interweb connections can be very, well, webby), chimed in and told me that I have not lived until I’ve tried the pumpkin spice latte.

Now I don’t know about y’all, but reading that I haven’t lived until I’ve tried something makes me feel a certain sense of urgency. An urgency that’s coupled with an unmistakable pumpkin-y craving.

I didn’t go by Starbucks after Pumpkin Spice Latte Alert ’09 because I have finally started to figure out that when I drink coffee in the afternoons, I – get a load of this – HAVE TROUBLE SLEEPING AT NIGHT, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING. But I still spent almost all of my supper-cooking time thinking about the PSL (I WILL NOT TYPE THOSE WORDS AGAIN) and how specific our coffee preferences have become. I mean, when I was growing up and we were in a restaurant and my mama wanted a cup of coffee, do you know what she ordered?

A CUP OF COFFEE.

There was no tall-nonfat-caramel-macchiato-extra-whip-double-shot-extra-hot business. And there was certainly no trace of, you know, PUMPKIN. It was just coffee. If you were lucky the waitress would throw some of those little cream containers at you when she walked past your table.

Anyway, while I was cooking supper I also started to think about how much coffee-related minutiae I have stored in my brain, and oh my word, it’s A LOT. For example, I know that my husband is a venti Pike Place, three Equals and nonfat milk. Sister is a venti Pike OR Cafe’ Americano with just a splash of half and half. Melanie is a grande non-fat mocha latte no whip. Janie is a grande skinny vanilla latte. Approximately fourteen of my friends pledged undying devotion to the salted caramel hot chocolate last winter. And I could go on with lo, even more examples, but I’ll stop right now since I know this information is ABSOLUTELY RIVETING.

So, internet, given the fact that I haven’t tried the pumpkin spice latte (okay. I caved. I typed it again.), and given the fact that it might very well be time for me to broaden my specialty coffee drink horizons, I’m going to ask you a question of critical international importance:

What is your very favorite drink to order in a coffee shop?

(And it doesn’t have to be at Starbucks. I know that some of you are incredibly fond of your Tim Hortons coffee. Some of you love the coffee from Dunkin Donuts. Some of you favor a local place. Some of you prefer hot tea. So please know that all coffee shop vendors and their respective beverage options are welcome here.)

(I just felt like I needed to clarify.)

(What with my annoying tendency to overexplain and all.)

Love,
Pumpkin Spice Latte-less in Alabama
aka
Me

Filed Under: Rambling
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