My Political Sighting

Living in DC, you don't get many celebrity sightings. Other than the occasional celeb that comes into DC to speak on Capitol Hill, the most exciting sighting you can expect to find is that of an athlete (but do you really know what all of those guys look like?) or a political/news figure. I've had a few political figure sightings during my time in DC but none as big as the one I had this past weekend.

A group of us (husband, sister, nephews) went to hibachi for dinner on Saturday night, by request of Kevin, the older nephew. A fairly new place just opened up by our home - no, it's not the Asian Hooters (aka - Beni Hana). It's called Sakura. They have a sushi area and then a big hibachi area in the back. I only go to Hibachi when people are in town as Hibachi is not really very healthy, but that's besides the point. We were seated at a hibachi table and the five of us took up one half of the table. Each table seats 10 so the other half was taken up by a party of four consisting of a man, his wife, a son and their son's friend. In comparison to other tables, we had a very relaxed and quiet table. Our side was tired from the day's activities and bagging up the remainder of the leaves from around the house. The other side - couldn't tell you why they were so quiet. But from the moment they sat down, I kept thinking to myself, 'That guy looks SO familiar!' All throughout dinner, I kept thinking of places where I might know this man from. No one in the rest of his party looked familiar to me - so it was bugging me that I couldn't place a name with his face.

My sister decided to take a picture of my husband and Kevin - so she did that and the nice woman across the table asked if she wanted us to have a group picture - we said sure so the son's friend took our picture and that was that. Dinner was over. When we finally made it outside, I told my sister - 'That guy looked so familiar.' Then she said the words that made everything click, 'He kinda looks like that Rodriguez guy from government.' And that was it - I kept thinking maybe I saw his picture on Realtor listings because we had been house hunting for as long as this guy was actually in office.

Next came the "what's his first name" game. With a last name like Gonzales, the only first name that kept coming to me was 'Tony' but he's a TE for the KC Chiefs. My sister said, 'Juan' but he's a baseball player. It was killing me that we couldn't figure out his first name. So when we got home, I immediately did a search on 'Attorney General Gonzales' because by now, I figured out that he was the ex-Attorney General. And sure enough - there was a whole mess of listings for Alberto Gonzales. But the real confirmation had to come from a photo of his wife - she actually spoke to us and was nice so I would be able to identify her - and I saw a picture of Alberto, his wife, with the Bushes - and knew that we had just had dinner with Alberto Gonzales.

I called my brother-in-law to tell him because he likes watching 'Meet the Press' and all that other political stuff - he was too busy playing Wii with the dudes to talk much. He did ask if I spoke to him. Yeah right - had I known who he was at the time, what would I say? 'So - whatcha been up to? Freelancing much?'

The next night, I called my Dad to tell him because he knows his stuff - and after I told him about having dinner with Alberto Gonzales, let's just say that I'm REALLY glad my Dad wasn't with us during this dinner. My Dad went off on what a crook he was, how he was Bush's running dog and so on and so forth - and he ended it by saying, 'If I were you, I would've got up and left.' Well - it's not like we asked to be placed with the Gonzaleses - in fact, we were the first ones at the hibachi table. And the fact that I couldn't remember who he was helped keep me in my seat for the duration of dinner.

So there it is - my big, scandalous political sighting. I don't think anyone else knew who he was - but that's okay - wouldn't want to draw negative and unwanted attention to our table.

Happy New Year!

Mr or Miss Try To Hard

Ever been in a group of people where there's that one person that seems to be trying a little too hard to get involved in the conversation? Or been somewhere when a person you didn't show up with suddenly tries to get involved with whatever you're talking about regardless of whether the conversation wasn't directed at them?

We've all been there or experienced that one person. I have a couple of persons that come to mind when thinking about this topic and one in particular has become nails on a chalkboard to me. Most of the time, I think it's the person being socially awkward - but other times, you just need to chalk it up to trying too hard.

I try to get along with everyone but I admit I'm shy. I'm usually not the first person to approach new people but once introduced to someone, I try to be friendly and will eventually open up. But when someone comes on a little too strong, I tend to get turned off - I think I'm of the mindset of getting to know somebody slowly...I don't need to know your life story in the first hour of our meeting.

I had a run-in with the person I refer to above- we'll call him 'Mr. TTH' (Try To Hard). Yes, I can conclusively say that he is trying too hard. Mr. TTH has recently been coming out to more and more events in the DC area even though he reminds everyone at every meeting that he lives over an hour's drive away. After having a couple of interactions with Mr. TTH and thanking the Lord that I was a married woman, we got the "behind-the-scenes' story about Mr. TTH from college - and let's just say that he didn't have very many fans - he was the geekiest geek among the stereotypical group of geeks. And as our friend mentioned - you know it's bad when no one in this group likes you. I laughed then but now I totally get it.

It's nice that Mr. TTH wants to get involved but how do you break it to him that he's trying too hard at everything? I've also come to notice that Mr. TTH doesn't enjoy silence - if there's silence during a conversation, he feels the need to interject with something or just echo something you just said. Mr. TTH also doesn't have a sense of personal space - his approach is crowd now, ask later. I saw it happen the other week - he put his beefy claws around this girl he had only met once before and then asked, 'Is this okay?' She answered, under duress (I'm sure), 'Yeah.'

But I think the straw that finally broke the camel's back with me and Mr. TTH was when he made the comment (not in front of me but in front of two of my girlfriends), 'I need to move closer to DC - the girls here are easier.' First of all, why would you say that out loud? It's not true and I'm QUITE certain it's not the girls. In fact, if he said that in front of me, I'm pretty sure I would've responded, "Um yeah, I don't think it's the girls - I'm sure if you moved closer to DC you would see the same amount of action as you're seeing now.' And if you were the type of person to make lewd comments like that, as Mr. TTH has proven himself to be, why would you say that in front of girls? DC girls, no less!

So now when I see Mr. TTH, I cannot help but think about nails on a chalkboard and try to be polite by saying 'Hello' and then getting the heck out of his presence so I don't lose my cool and blow up at him for some stupid drivel that might come tumbling out of his mouth.

Do I feel sorry for Mr. TTH? No.
Yeah - I can be a bit mean sometimes...and I can live with that.

A Parentage Dissection

I just got back from semi-lovely weekend in New Jersey with the family. It was only semi-lovely because I had a cold the whole time and amazingly it was not due to the North Pole-like temperatures my parents like to keep the house at.

As I get older and my parents get older and more crotchety, I always wonder whom I take after more and which parent will I end up more like as I get older. Of course my fingers are double crossed the whole time hoping the answer is neither of them - but I figured it was time to really think about which parent I take after more. The 2-second answer is my father - my Mother seems to always want to remind me that I am like my father - and therefore since she already has to live with him, she'd rather not deal with me any more than she has to. And any time my Mother and I seem to notice we have something in common, my Mother gasps in shock like 'How can this be?!' So I think I have more in common with my Mother than she would like to admit - so let's take a closer look.

First Name: Susan
Code name: MOTHER
DOB: Lincoln's Birthday, 1943
Country of Origin: China - though she doesn't like to claim it as her birth place
Characteristics: Self-proclaimed Math Genius; Graduated from the Best/Top University of Taiwan (says her); Church-going holy roller, Advocate of the Po'; paints and draws, a lot.

Likes: Painting, drawing, complaining, her Grandkids, fruits, vegetables, drawing comparisons between her kids and other people's extremely successful kids, tea, bible study, money, and sending feel-good emails with a Christian lesson undertone, organization, and charities.
Dislikes: Travelling, el Diablo, toys, Dad, disorganization, disobedience and humor

How are we similar? We both have a soft spot for the needy. We both like oranges with the harder rind. We like to make sure everyone is satisfied and comfortable.
How are we dissimilar? Too much to list.



First Name: Chester
Code Name: Daddy
DOB: around Thanksgiving, 1941
Country of Origin: Taiwan
Characteristics: Also graduated from the Top/Best University in Taiwan (says he); has the uncanny ability to be able to talk about ANYTHING; gets along well with others that are not related to him; speaks and laughs loudly; an extrovert; cooks well but makes a mess while doing it; loves salt; likes to experiment with new and different things but only on his own schedule.

Likes: Travel, reading, riding and falling from his bike, golfing, meat, beer, wine, being a pain in everyone's arse, the arts, strong coffee, his Grandkids, money, investments, photography and underestimating his daughters' smarts.
Dislikes: crazy people (mother included), making a fuss (even though he doesn't realize when he's making a fuss for others)

How are we similar? We both like to travel and experience new things. We keep an open mind about a lot of things and form our own opinions of others.
How are we dissimilar? I'm pretty sure I'm not a pain in other people's arses and I don't take very good pictures.

So where do I get my shopping traits from? Believe it or not, I get it from both parents. Since retirement, my Dad has unveiled himself to be a big time shopper - shopping for cool gadgets to fit his needs. My Mom also likes to shop but I get my bargain shopping from her - we try to always get the best deals possible - I guess my Dad is the same way but he doesn't pay as much attention to the bargains you can gain.

So unfortunately, it looks like the 2-second answer is correct - I am more like my Dad. I do hope that I am as active as my Dad when I hit the 60s but I am still keeping the fingers crossed that I don't end up like either of my parents when I'm older. My husband already has the thumbs up to slap me silly if I start showing my parents' tendencies (have to take precautionary measures).

Happy Ha-Ha-Holidays!

Well - it's finally that time of year - Christmas! Christmas is less than four days away and travelers are bracing themselves for flight delays, traffic delays, any other kind of delays - but really, isn't it all worth it when you finally get to your destination and spend those precious moments with your loved ones? Perhaps....

In terms of holidays, this year had a couple of firsts for me - the first Thanksgiving without any family and the first Christmas I will be spending away from extended family and in the new house! I'm very excited...although really not looking forward to the drive to and from New Jersey for the weekend.

The cupcakes will be back next week with some more posts - maybe a recap of all the cool gifts we got and some good family stories. Maybe one of us will surprise you with a posting during the holidays - but don't hold your breath!

Until next week...

Merry Christmas

Happy Kwanzaa and

Happy Belated Chanukah, Hannukah, Channakah...you know what I mean!

(not all five cupcakes were consumed during the duration of the night the photos were taken...possibly three but not five)

Opening the Floodgates . . .

I am a dangerous shopper. I am. I am terrible. That impulse purchase bin by the checkout? I have a sneaking suspicion that when the marketers came up with that, they were thinking of me. And here's why - once I have decided to go through the effort of purchasing something in a store - of taking something up to the register and pulling out the old credit card - the floodgates are wide open. What's one more item on the pile? I can't tell you the number of earrings, headbands, necklaces, and hair ties that I acquired from the impulse bin that simply sit in a drawer, hoping against hope that they will one day see the outside of my bedroom.

I have also opened up the floodgates when it comes to the more designer items. Case in point: I remember buying my first Coach purse. Granted, Coach is not top of the line as far as designer bags are concerned. But at a guaranteed $100+ per bag, Coach is nothing to sneer at. I used to be quite content with my Nine West and XOXO purses. Sadly, those days are over. Even though I swore when I bought the first Coach purse, "it will just be this one time," it wasn't. Once I started getting into the more expensive bags, I just couldn't go back. What is wrong with me? It's just a purse!

Is there hope for me? I sure hope so. Right now my only saving grace is that I am absolutely capable of walking out of a store with nothing. I do it quite often. If I keep those floodgates closed, I am home free. I need to remind myself of those times. I need to remember that for everything I bring home, I have to find a place to put it. That should be disincentive enough.

Oopsie - It's Starting for the Littlest Spears

Just when you thought you had enough of Britney Spears and what seems to be her train wreck of a life, now comes the latest news that her 16 year old sister, Jamie Lynn - supposedly the most conscientious of all the Spears children- is now preggers...with a baby.....at the age of 16.

Yes - Jamie Lynn announced to a magazine that she was indeed about 12-weeks pregnant with the baby of her 19-year old boyfriend. They've been dating for awhile. I'd like to know the definition of awhile because when you're 16, awhile could mean three months. But I'm thinking it's more like a year, which would've put her dating this boy at the age of 15. Let me tell you - when I was 15, I was so excited that I had a year to go before I could get my learner's permit. When I was 16, I was so excited about finally getting behind the wheel and a year away from getting my driver's license.

Here are the ironical points. Jamie Lynn and boyfriend supposedly met in a church group - apparently the church was not big on teaching abstinence or sex out of wed lock. Secondly, by naming her 19-year old boyfriend as the baby daddy, doesn't that make him a target of statutory rape since she's only 16? Finally, her mother, Lynn, was supposed to be putting out a book about parenting via a Christian group - that book is on hold. I really don't think I want to be learning any parenting skills from this woman - even if this situation with Jamie Lynn didn't happen, you still have that other disappointment named, Britney.

Of course all the gossips are going crazy because you can only focus on one Spears child at a time. I had heard on the radio this morning that she supposedly had another pregnancy scare prior to this one....wouldn't the first time have taught you to either be more careful or use some protection or just not do it? Jamie Lynn goes on to say in the interview, probably in order to appease her teen and tween fans that other people should wait to have sex. Yes - thank you Jamie Lynn for making an example of yourself and showing the rest of the tween/teen world that having sex at 16 does have consequences: pregnancy.

You know what they say - hindsight is always 20/20.

Just Some Casual Sex....

I have been weening myself off from listening to my iPod in the car at every moment to going back to morning radio talk shows. Prior to becoming obsessed with my iPod, I would listen to Elliot in the Morning on DC101. My favorite was always during football season when he would talk to Boomer Esiason on Friday mornings. Now I'm just getting back into the swing of things and he's no longer getting the football report from Boomer - that was disappointing to learn.

So this morning, I was driving into work, listening to the topic at hand - getting kicked out of a car on the highway or in the middle of nowhere, and getting left there. The topic came up because over the weekend, Elliot was driving along 395 in traffic and saw a car pulled over to the side with a man and a woman out of the car just yelling at each other. By the time he came up to the car, he asked his wife to roll down the window and heard the man say, 'F* you!' and jump in the car and drive off without the woman. That story really got the phone lines going. Elliot had to eventually go on a commercial break and due to my hatred of commercials, I started channel surfing.

That brought me to Hot 99.5 where they just started a new topic about naughty things that come out of Holiday parties. Being that we were at two of them this past weekend, I was interested in hearing how other people's parties went. I have to say the naughtiest thing that happened at any of my Holiday parties - I played Guitar Hero for the first time at one and at the other, there was sexy underwear in the White Elephant gift exchange...pretty boring compared to the woman that called into the show.

This woman called to tell the Hot 99.5 listening audience and it's DJs that she had sex with a guy she had a childhood crush on. Apparently, they were at some holiday party and they were making googly eyes at each other and finally did something about it - they went to the restrooms and had 20 minutes of heavy petting. 'That was just a teaser,' said the woman. But she continued by saying 20 minutes later, they were back in the restroom and did a wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Done deal. She had justified the interlude by saying she had the BIGGEST crush on this guy during school. Ok. Next obvious question - 'So are you in a relationship with anyone?' Her response: 'Yeah, I'm married.'

WHAT?!

And this is pretty much how the rest of the conversation goes:
DJ: You're married?
Woman: Yes.
DJ: Does your husband know?
Woman: Oh God, no.
DJ: What would happen if he found out?
Woman: He'd be furious.
DJ: How long have you been married and do you have kids?
Woman: Five years and we have three kids.
DJ: Are you going to tell your husband?
Woman: No - but I'm trying to work up to getting him to bed other women.
DJ: How long have you been working or thinking about that?
Woman: In the last six months.
DJ: So was this your first time doing this kind of thing at a holiday party?
Woman: Well (pause) Um, not at a holiday party.
DJ: Spill.
Woman: There was another guy I had a crush on in school (are you sensing a pattern here?)...
DJ: Well, I think I went to school with you - I'll be right over.

And so on and so forth. It didn't last much longer than that but I was pretty appalled. This woman had ZERO remorse for anything she did. I think that's what shocked me the most - that she was calling into a radio station to pretty much brag that she's cheated on her husband...multiple times. In fact, it got me to wondering if any of her three kids are actually her husband's. I couldn't believe it. Is nothing sacred anymore - you would think marriage vows have to be up there as one of the more sacred promises.

She must've had her fingers crossed at the part where she promised to love, honor and obey...holy geez!

Hello Again

It's weeks like these that make me wish I were independently wealthy. I think, "How fun would it be to NOT work?" In reality, I know I need to be challenged somewhat. I mean, as much as I talk about completely useless, brain rotting shows like "America's Next Top Model" and follow the latest celebrity gossip, deep down, I know that I would go insane if that's all I ever got out of life. But there's a happy medium with workload, and this week's work far exceeded it.

I feel sad when I can't contribute more to the blog. I love Jen's posts. But I really want to have the time to write something of my own too. I thought about posting something earlier this week with just the title, "I'm sorry," and a picture of a kid hanging his head, covering his face in shame. But even that takes time, which I, unfortunately, didn't have this week.

Now I am here on a Friday night, unwinding from a long and stressful week of trying to meet my Friday deadline. Every night this week, I sent out a work-related message and document late from home. Every night, even if I took a break for a few hours, I stayed plugged in until my head hit the pillow. As one of my favorite characters of all time, Carrie Bradshaw would say, "Me no likey."

Nope. What I would like right now is a whole heap of money and nothing to do.

Cheers.

Now Presenting....Your Bread

With the always present health tip that eating less carbs will help a person lose weight, it's a wonder that most restaurants are still serving bread baskets prior to your meal. I try to avoid the bread whenever possible but there are some places and some moments when you just gotta have them. And then there are those times when you may be starving for some bread to hold you over until you get your main course and once you get it, you're just like 'Nah - forget it.' What is that? Cause I think it's all in the presentation.

In my eating-out experience, the following places have really great bread presentation:
Capitol Grill has a variety of breads in their bread basket including matzah...who serves matzah when it's not a Jewish holiday?
The brown bread, that also comes in a white version, from the Cheesecake Factory is so good - especially when they bring it out nice and warm. I eat the brown only - it's supposed to be healthier.
Individual dinner rolls from Legal Seafoods are also enticing - especially when you can see the steam coming off of it as you break it open.
The variety that you get, from Coastal Flats, is also very interesting. I'm a big fan of raisin bread while my husband is a fan of their "munchkin" looking breads.

Those are just a few of the places where you will most likely find me eating some bread prior to dinner - but the reasons why vary - it could be because I'm really hungry. It could be because I need something filling because I know my dinner isn't going to do the trick. It could just be because it looks nice.
What those places, listed above, have in common is that they have a nice presentation. The worst of the presentation probably comes from Legal Seafoods because it's just your dinner roll on a plate with a fish painted on it. But it's piping hot! As for the others, they will usually come out in a basket (wire and wicker) under a dinner napkin or on like a parchment paper. But it's all pretty inviting. When you get that basket with the dinner napkin covering your rolls, you just wanna say, "Hey - what's under there? Let's have a peek and a taste."

Recently, my husband and I made a trip to the California Pizza Kitchen. I always get an individual pizza and the occassional hummus as an appetizer. But it never ceases to amaze me that the pre-meal bread coming from the kitchen looks like prison food. Back in the old days when they said prison food was usually bread and water, this is exactly what I picture. A couple of slices from an ordinary looking bread, on top of an old, white plate, and a couple of packets of butter. I've also seen where the bread comes from. It's not freshly cut, from a loaf that just got baked out of their pizza oven - oh no. It's out of a utility-size, plastic container that looks like it should be holding your arts and crafts supplies rather than bread. I don't know why - I just can't help but think of prison when I get the CPK bread and that just makes me not want to eat or touch it. I wonder why they wouldn't make up a nice bread basket from their pizza dough or something - wouldn't that be much more in line with their regular offerings? Could they be using reverse psychology that if they don't present their bread well, they are helping me by not making me eat it before my pizza? That would be clever, but I highly doubt it.

Anyway - I think as well as in life, the same can be said for food - it's all in the presentation. If it looks good, there's a better chance I'll want to eat it. If you don't look so good, there's a fat chance you won't get touched.

Hugs, Not Slugs (or Drugs)

I know there are a lot of people out there that are big into hugs. In fact, it seems customary for some cultures to give hugs and cheek kisses upon greetings and departures - that is, daily greetings and departures.

I have to say, I was never a big hug person. I cherish my personal space and don't really appreciate people impeding on that space. But the same doesn't hold true for my husband...I love getting hugs from him. It's like every romance novel cliche with him - I feel safe and warm when I'm in his embrace (gag, here). I also love hugging my nephews probably because they're still small and I can get away with hugging them all the time - unlike when they get to the age where hugging can be embarrassing. There are certain friends I don't mind hugging - I find I'm hugging more friends nowadays than I ever did in my life. I hug my friends after a good night out (in thanks), upon not seeing them for awhile (cause I've missed them) or after spending a good amount of time with them (closing the chapter on our time together and who knows when we'll get to do this again). But there are definitely a lot more hugs when alcohol is consumed...then I'm not so picky about my personal space being invaded. (Odd.)

You have your serial huggers - these people hug, touch, grope - whatever. To them, personal space is not sacred...and they like to touch or hug you anytime and every time. Sometimes with these people, I get a little overloaded on their hugs and eventually might not even look forward to seeing them because of the eventual hug that will occur - is that bad? And these people are sober - I admit that I become somewhat of a serial hugger when I drink - it's liquid courage - it helps me put my guard down.

And then you just have people that are just downright not huggers. Yes, I was one of these people but it's grown on me - I think it depends on the hugger or the huggee - but you have people that just plain avoid it. They are the 'don't even try and touch me' non-huggers. And when you're "lucky" enough to capture them into one of your hugs, it can both look and feel awkward.

I had one such incident happen recently where I was greeting a couple that I knew by acquaintance. I certainly didn't know them as well as I know other people but they were invited over to my house because I was hosting a party. When the couple came into the house, the male opened his arms and gave me a hug. Okay - I'm feeling this - it's the holidays - I can dig it. Then I turned to his wife and expected the same - I went in for a hug with her that eventually turned out to be an awkward, half hug and maybe a weird pat on the back. I found out a couple of days later that the wife - not a hugger. Had I known that, I wouldn't have went in for it. I would've stopped with her husband...gladly. I guess I just didn't want her to feel left out in the mayhem of holiday hugginess.

Oh well - what's done is done and now I know - she is not a hugger. So noted.

You say, "Po-tae-toe"

Being multi-lingual, sometimes it's hard for me to comprehend certain things with pronunciation or really come up with the word I really want but can't think of in that given moment. I think, 'I know what I want to say, in Chinese, but in English, I draw a complete blank.' For me, it can get hard to think in different languages. But with pronunciation, I often find that I pronounce something totally different than say, oh, the general public.

There are some words that I just won't budge on - and I found it happened quite a bit in London! Prime example - Leicester Square. To me, that says 'lie-ses-ter' Square. Of course, on my first visit, I thought I saw a lot more letters - like Leicestershire - in which case I kept calling it 'Lie-shes-ter-ser' . Almost like worcestershire (or worcester) sauce - comfortably pronounced by me as 'wor-shes-ter' sauce. Regardless, some people knew what I was talking about, some didn't. Those who didn't, I'd just kindly refer to it as the 'gay-borhood.' Ahhh - that got them. Amanda was kind enough to inform me that it's actually pronounced 'Lester' Square. What? Are you kidding me? Les-ter - two syllables. (Lester = Dad in '227') There are clearly more than three syllables in Leicester. I filed the correct pronunciation away in my head, but continued on with my four syllable warble of the name. Afterall, worcester sauce is not 'wester,' is it?

Another simple word that set me apart from the native British was 'Bath' as in the town of Bath. With the ever elegant British pronunciation, the 'a' in Bath is a short 'a' and the initial pronunciation of 'Bath' sounds like a sheep's 'Baaaaah' - so it's 'Baaah-th.' Good old American me pronounces it like saying bathroom - my pronunciation in comparison to a British pronunciation makes me sound like Lina Lamont in 'Singin' in the Rain.' But I can't help myself.

It's a learning experience, for sure - but I think I've been doing okay so far. I'll just keep on keeping on and wait til someone corrects me.

Count on Hallmark for the Warm Fuzzies

One weekend of Christmas shopping down and I am in good shape. I had my trusty list with me of things I needed to buy and I have to say that I am about 85% complete with my Christmas shopping. The store that kicked it all off for me - Hallmark.

I have long discounted Hallmark as a gift giving place because they have a lot of little knick knacks and cute things that I'm just not in the market for. It wasn't until I received their catalog in the mail last week that I started looking through it and thinking, 'That would be really cute.' So I was sucked into the ads and walked into my local Hallmark Saturday morning with a firm list in hand and came out with four additional items - but finally making a dent into the Christmas list for the nephews.

Hallmark always gives me the warm fuzzies - it's really a shame I don't need to go in there more often....but I guess that's why they have the Hallmark Channel. By day, they bring you such feel good programming like 'Little House on the Prairie' and by night, you get made for TV movies that really tug at your heart strings. I actually contemplated spending a whole day watching nothing but the Hallmark channel just to see what would happen to me....would I feel any better about myself, would I start to cry during all their movies? But we know it's impossible for me to sit in front of the TV for a whole day just watching the Hallmark channel - besides the issue of finding the time, I'm a notorious channel surfer - so that wouldn't work.

But before going to bed last night, I did switch on the old TV and surfed to see what I could find at 10PM at night. I was actually hoping to find 'The Year Without a Santa Claus' (AWESOME movie with some great tunes) on ABC Family since they do a lot of their holiday programming at night - but instead, I found 'The Christmas Card' on the Hallmark Channel. Not exactly the clay-mation I was looking for but it still sparked my interest because you had a good looking guy (that's always worth a pause in channel surfing), a good looking lady, a love story and Ed Asner.

I only watched 30 minutes of the movie but I believe I can tell you exactly what the plot is, what happens and the flaws I found. Basically, Cody (good looking guy) is a soldier in the war in Afghanistan (movie was filmed in 2006). He receives a card from Faith (good looking lady) during the war. She comes from a small town in California where her parents (Dad = Ed Asner) owns a mill that she helps run. This card has so touched Cody that he vows that he's going to make it through the war and find this woman that has gotten him through the war. He goes to her small town and is pleasantly surprised, I'm sure, that she's a tall, good looking blonde. Cody also befriends her parents and ends up taking a job at their mill. So Cody and Faith get to know each other and you can tell that there's an instant attraction. (sidenote: Cody, played by John Newton, is really good looking) There's just one problem..Faith has a boyfriend whom she also becomes engaged to one hour into the movie. So Cody must accept this, even though they shared a kiss in the woods that he doesn't regret, and decides he must move on and move out of the town (can't exactly stay in the town with the girl you fell in love with marrying someone else). Also - for some reason, he's living with Faith's parents....this is the disadvantage of catching a movie in progress because I'm not sure if he knows them from before the war or Ed Asner just took a liking to the boy and invited him to stay in their home.

Anyways - I didn't watch the last 15 minutes of the movie but I'm SURE, as Hallmark exists in your local mall, that Cody and Faith get together. You know why - because Faith's fiancee is a GEEK! In the 30 minutes I watched, I only saw him for about five minutes and let me tell you - he was ALL wrong for her. Faith is very close with her family and works at the mill. Her fiancee was ready to whisk her off to the city and said they could come visit but not only was she not aware of these plans (communication issues?), she was not prepared to move away. Also - with a side by side looks comparison between Cody and the fiancee, there was just no comparison needed - Cody won hands down...the man was an Adonis in comparison. So that was my major issue with this movie...if I were Faith, I wouldn't have had an issue choosing between my geeky boyfriend or Cody - Cody was sweet, humble and it didn't hurt that he was good looking. Boyfriend was controlling, condescending and not good looking. I was not sympathetic towards the boyfriend at all. In fact, I got angry with Faith for having such a hard time with her mixed feelings. After all, her parents LOVED Cody and were visibly and admittedly "in mourning" when Faith accepted boyfriend's proposal over Cody. What couldn't Faith see that her parents and I saw immediately?!

The other thing I had an issue with - albeit only a minor issue - was Ed Asner having a sleigh to ride around in. For those of you in the know, Ed Asner played Santa Claus in Will Ferrell's wildly popular holiday movie, "Elf." In that, he had a pimped out, flying sleigh drawn by eight reindeer. In this movie, where he was a regular, old mill-owner, civilian, he had a one-horse drawn sleigh - the sleigh was still pimped out with two benches that could hold up to six people (poor horse) and brake lights - because saying 'Whoa Nellie' to the horse is not obvious enough that you've stopped. So I'm wondering - does he have it written into his contracts that a sleigh has to be in the movie? Like pop stars and rock bands with their pre-concert demand lists - Ed Asner has a sleigh written into his contract.....hmmmm.

In conclusion, although Hallmark does give me the warm fuzzies, we need to seriously re-think some of these 'made for TV movie' plots - make them more believable. Did the story ultimately tug at my heartstrings and make me yearn for a love story like Alice and Cody? No.

(Another) Pizza Party

Back in the good ol' days, when finances were in "irresponsible" hands, MCI would throw their employees a nice, big holiday party. A nice holiday lunch would be served in the cafeteria - we're talking carving stations, hearty sides, etc - and down the hallways (our site is six buildings long), they'd have dessert tables, coffee/tea/hot chocolate tables, and holiday-colored snack bins lining the walkway on your way to and from the cafeteria. Holiday music would be playing and the mood was extremely festive and it was a great time to take a break and just hang out with your peers and catch up on holiday plans. It was nice.

Then bankruptcy came (hmmm - too much egg nog?) and there was a quick halt to the company holiday festivities. In the first couple of years after bankruptcy hit, HR encouraged each group/organization to have their own little get together and could expense certain foods - as long as it wasn't unreasonable. We've had Olive Garden catering or a pot luck lunch always followed by the ever-popular White Elephant gift exchange. But even those days seem to have dwindled because it seems like any gathering that we have, in which lunch could be involved, it all boils down to pizza.

We've had a few pizza parties in the office - all catered by local pizzerias or Papa John's. For the masses (which are my Indian co-workers), the favorite seems to be Papa John's. I can't complain about Papa John's. It was, after all, my staple food in college. But growing up in Jersey and outside NYC, I had some of the best NY Style pizza - thin, oily, greasy or the Sicilian kind. And it wasn't mass produced - it came from the mom and pop stores in town. Ever since moving down to Virginia, I have been on the hunt for the best NY Style pizza. It took me awhile to even find a place that would sell me pizza by the slice! So for the first couple of years of living here, I was living off Papa John's and Pizza Hut to get my pizza fix. But then my co-workers took me to a local pizza joint (inside an ice-skating rink) and I have not been able to look at Papa John's since. It's by the slice and it meets all the NY Style requirements - thin, greasy, good. Since discovering Pomodoro's, I have been able to find more places to sell pizza by the slice but they're just not as good...why? The secret is in the sauce and their sauce is good. So good that I've already alerted my husband that he has to get Pomodoro's pizza for my birthday party in January.

Being faced with another group holiday gathering in a week, the lunch of choice...pizza (SHOCKER!). The last pizza order we had came from Pomodoro's and I was told it did not go over well with my Indian counterparts. Of course the (Indian) person that told me tried to do a blanket statement saying that no one liked it. 'Umm - I beg to differ,' I had to inform her. I know of at least six people that thoroughly enjoyed it. Is it coincidence that the six are all Americans? But it's looking like Papa John's will be the pizza of choice here.

Having said all that, I don't think Papa John's is a viable option as "my favorite pizza" choice when faced with all these other local pizzerias. I think Papa John's is an acceptable answer if you're in college or you are only surrounded by Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Sbarro, etc. But a real lover of pizza should never list a chain as "my favorite pizza." I think Papa John's is a favorite among the Indian co-workers because they wouldn't know to go to a local pizzeria to check it out by the slice. So I'll chalk that up to lack of pizza experience.

I've already got another NY Style recommendation right by my house - so there is a chance that my husband won't need to travel to go get my birthday party pizza. Who knew NY Style pizza would be so hard to find?

You're Only As Old As You Feel (Right??)

I have an August birthday. This meant two main things growing up. One - I got big time shafted when it came to celebrating birthdays in elementary school. I had to bring in my cupcakes on that "catch all" generic birthday day. Usually sometime in June. Two - I was always younger than most of the people in my class.

These were both negatives to me at the time. Point Two was particularly problematic as I approached the crucial ages of 16 and 21. There was nothing like being at the mercy of your for-all-intents-and-purposes same-aged friends for a ride to Taco Bell in their standard issue Chevy Cavalier or Pontiac Sunbird (it was GM country) or being left behind for the bar scene in college.

But something happened. Suddenly, I got old.

Now, I know 33 is hardly something to cry about. It's not like I have one foot in the grave or anything. But lately, I feel like the resident senior. All of those years of wishing I was a little older? Man, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

I bring this up because of my interaction with a girl in my hip hop class Monday night. As you know, Jen and I take adult hip hop. And it's awesome. Not only is it great fun to learn the various dance styles - it's an insane workout. On this particular Monday, Jen was a little later than usual. And I usually get there at least 15 minutes before class, so I was chatting with some of the girls in our class who were also early. I like to refer to one of these girls as "the Cheerleader." She's just so peppy and spunky. She's clearly skilled in other dance disciplines. And she's whiter than white. At first, she was a bit much to take (way too enthusiastic about everything). But she grew on me.

She hasn't been showing up as much this fall as she did last year. So I mentioned to her that I hadn't seen her as much. She said that was because she used to get rides from this other girl in the class who was away at college. And this is where I learned that the Cheerleader is a sophomore in high school! Holy bejeezus! Not only does she not remember "Rhythm Nation," the song we are using for our recital (yay!) - but that song came out about 3 years before she was even BORN!

I did the math. I could be the Cheerleader's mom. Really.

Facebook Pheno (nah nah) menon

Amanda and I joined Facebook in the beginning of October. Since then, we have populated our pages with gardens, aquariums, places we've been around the world, super wall postings, photos, video clippings, celebrity look-a-like meters (a favorite) and fan postings for our favorite teams. One person's page can be really busy or it can be pretty bare, but I think the more you have on your page, the more traffic you'll get amongst your friends.

There is this feature that is one of my favorites - Poking. You can poke a friend - just a simple pointer poke, as Amanda and I have been doing everyday since joining. And then there's the super-poke feature which is not so much finger poking as it is things you could 'virtually' do to your friends like dance with them, high-five them, cheer them on, or throw things at them. During the holidays, they have special things you can throw at your friends. For Halloween, you could throw a vampire or ninja at your friends. For Thanksgiving, I think you could throw turkey, mashed potatoes and other Thanksgiving-related goodies at your friends. For the upcoming holidays, you can light a menorah, spin a dreidel, throw an elf or sleigh ride with your friends. It's fun and addictive.

There are also groups you can join. People start groups so that people with similar interests can join. I've joined the following groups:
1) Purdue Young Alumni - so I can keep in touch with the young alums in the DC area
2) I don't care how comfortable crocs are, you still look like a dumbass - reference 'Croc me Amadeus' posting from a few months ago.
3) In Love with Julia Quinn novels - she's one of my favorite romance authors - read all her books
4) The 80s Cartoon Appreciation Society - because I am a child of the 80s and I miss Voltron and Thundercats and My Little Pony and the Smurfs.
I'm not sure what these groups do except chat on the Wall (aka - discussion board) and what not. I've been able to recommend other books on the Julia Quinn group. I've also been able to send out announcements to DC Young Alums on the Purdue Young Alumni site. So I guess there are useful things that come out of these pages.

Facebook is also a fun way to connect to old friends and new friends. I've connected with friends from college and old jobs. Plus, Amanda and I have both managed to connect to our new friends across the pond, that we met at the wedding we just attended. I guess this is the next step from email - except much more fun as we can see their friends, their interests (through their pages) and chat with each other via the Wall.

Finally - one of the more useful applications of Facebook is your status. You can have your status display where you are - I'm at home, the office, sleeping, etc. (those are generic). Or you can get creative and put your own status in there. Mine reads: 'Jennifer is freezing her butt off because it's freakin' cold over here!' That was yesterday's. I'll have to think of something creative for today.

So if you get a chance, I recommend Facebook -it's a fun place to be.

On the Prowl

After my most recent trip to London, my friends and I had the pleasure of doing some leisurely shopping and happened to go into a Bertie Shoe store near Covent Garden. Having never heard of Bertie shoes, I was weary of really knowing whether I was buying quality or shabby shoes at quality prices. The shoes in there were nice and I tried on a couple of pairs but after doing the exchange rate, I could not justify purchasing shoes that I could probably get in the States for half of the asking price. So I mustered up the self-restraint and told myself that I did not travel all that way to buy shoes - and walked away. Walked away from two really cute looking pairs of shoes.

But now, in my 'not-so-busy' hours at work, I find myself surfing. Surfing for Christmas gifts, surfing for deals, surfing for shoes. I told myself that I really needed a pair of brown/tan shoes. While looking online, I decided to see if I could find the two strap mary-janes that seem to be the "it" shoe of Winter 2007 (reference picture - Miu Miu). I found a couple but they weren't quite the same. Two people at the wedding, a guest and a bridesmaid, happen to be wearing the black patent leather version and they both got it in two different places - one was at a British version of "Payless' because she said she paid something unreal, like 12 GBPs for hers and they were comfortable! The other gal bought hers in Japan for $100. I probably would've leaned toward the $100 but my comfort zone is definitely somewhere between $40-80 for a pair of these shoes.

So I've looked at Nine West, Steve Madden, Piper Lime - done general searches and I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and search for it as a 'side project' while I do my Christmas shopping at the mall.
I hope I find them - I really do like them...and I hope I find my brown shoes too. I seem to have an over saturation of black patent leather shoes right now in the closet - but then again, you can never have too many shoes, right?

I'm taking suggestions - if anyone knows where I can find a good pair of double/two-strap mary janes, I'm all ears!

One for You, Two for Me . . .

Let's face it - the holiday season has begun. As with every year, it's hard to believe it got here so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was cursing the giant inflatable snowglobe at the grocery store - which was prominently displayed in the aisle next to the Halloween decorations. "It's too early for Christmas," I groused, "and I can't stand those puffies!!" (okay, that's really my mom talking on that second part - but I don't like them either).

I vow every year that I'm going to cut back on the holiday shopping. I have very good intentions (what's that saying about the road to hell . . . ?). Here's what happens: I get some vague idea of where I want to start my holiday shopping. I need something for my mom, my sister-in-laws, my mother-in-law, you get the idea. And I find something generic enough that it's probably a good gift. And it's a good deal, for some reason or other. But I am just not sure. Immediately after I hastily make my purchase, I start to think, "Maybe it is actually more suited for someone else . . . maybe someone like . . .me."

I think I may have a problem.

Shut Up and Get Into the Spirit

These are the words that I kept uttering to my father, over the weekend. Growing up, we had our artificial tree that my sister and I would look forward to decorating. We also had some really nice decorations that we adorned the annual Christmas tree. However, since my parents became empty-nesters, Christmas does not come to the old homestead in Marlboro, NJ. I think my parents depended on us kids to get the tree up and decorated and taken back down again and stored away. I think my Mom still takes out some minor holiday decorations around the house but barely noticeable - in fact, for all I know, they might just stay up year round.

This past weekend, I spent the time getting ready for the holidays. I feel like I'm behind on the holiday spirit. A large part of that might be because I spent Thanksgiving in a foreign country and was not able to be a part of the craziness known as Black Friday. As I hang my head down in shame, I will tell you that I have been a part of those crazy 6 am (I don't go any earlier than that) lines at Best Buy. If I'm up in New Jersey for Black Friday, my sister will inevitably drag me to Kohl's and I will inevitably buy some nonsense not on my holiday list.

So our "getting ready for the holidays" weekend included buying a live tree (our first), ornament shopping for the tree and decorating it. We have a mini tree we display on a table with all our collected ornaments from the past ten years but in our first house, we wanted to start it with a live tree and new ornaments to signify a first for everything. Crate and Barrel assisted with the ornaments while Michael's offered my tree top ribbon and bows.

One of the best purchases I think I ever made was my Bow Maker. I made all the pew bows for my wedding so I still had it stashed away somewhere. There was no way I was going to pay $36 for a pre-made bow at Michael's when I could do it myself in 10 mins with $5 worth of ribbon. And I have to say, it came out lovely. I was so excited about decorating the tree that even my Dad's constant pacing and wondering 'why the heck we were going through so much trouble for 'didn't even irk me.

When completed, the tree was simple, yet elegant with clear white lights and a theme of red, gold and clear/silver/white. I was so happy with the results. Even my Dad was impressed and quickly broke out his camera to take pictures of the finished product to show my Mom what she was missing. My Dad even ran up to his room to change shirts so he'd look nice next to the tree....even though the tree still showed him up.

Nevertheless, I had such a great time decorating and getting into the holiday spirit that I started doing my online shopping this morning...I can hardly believe it's already December and Christmas is a short 3.5 weeks away.

Happy Holidays!

Handicap (and Luggage) Unfriendly

Lesson learned from my last trip to Europe - try not to over pack because my BIG suitcase was FULL and HEAVY. I had to pay extra $ and get it tagged as 'HEAVY.' But that was like a 10 day trip. This last trip was only a seven day trip and I was really roughing it this time out - only three pairs of shoes (not including the one I would be wearing to the wedding) and I had each day's outfit picked out with a couple of extra tops in case I needed to change due to weather. I was actually pleased with myself because when I was done packing, I still had empty space that fit a medium-sized gift I got the bride-to-be.

When we were leaving for the airport, I couldn't believe how heavy my bag was - I even pulled out the bathroom scale to see if I exceeded the 50 lb limit. I couldn't tell - my luggage covered the display. I kept saying that I didn't pack that much and I started panicking because I didn't want to start the trip off on the wrong foot and pay extra $ for heavy luggage. Thankfully, I hit the 50 lb. mark on the dot - no more, no less. But it still baffled me that it was so heavy. I guess winter clothing is just heavier than spring clothing. I also think that the gift was a good 5 lbs because it was boxed and wrapped...(that's what I keep telling myself).

Getting to London was no problem - I had porters at the cab stand to help me load my luggage into the taxi. There was a doorman at the hotel that helped lift my luggage up into the hotel - and since there were elevators in the hotel, I decided to take my own luggage to the room, out of sheer embarrassment for how heavy it was. I think it was the ticket counter woman at Dulles that remarked on whether I had a dead body in my suitcase - which led to talks about a movie where there was a killer that did that and got away with it. But I digress.

First few days were a piece of cake. It wasn't until we packed it up and headed to the "country side" of St Albans did things start to go downhill. We got to the train station on Friday afternoon (before rush hour) only to find that there were NO elevators OR escalators to get down to the platform. That left me heaving my heavy bag (without the bride's gift - I gave that to her earlier in the week) down a long flight of stairs. Thankfully, a kind gentleman took pity on me and helped me half way down. Hey, if he was offering, I wasn't about to decline. We got on the train and I sat with my suitcase because it was too wide to fit down the aisle to get to a seat. The commuter train was not only luggage unfriendly, but it was DIRTY. There were empty coffee cups, discarded newspapers and other garbage just laying around the seats - ick. When we got off the train, you knew we just had to be let off on the middle platform - where we had to walk up two flights-worth of stairs into a tunnel over the other platforms, and down the same amount of stairs to get to the main station and exit. Again - no elevators or escalators.

Thankfully, there weren't a lot of people at the station and it wasn't rush hour yet so Amanda and I start heaving our luggage up the stairs - at this point, I am basically dragging it up, step by step, by the handle, cause there was no way in heck that I was going to be able to lift it and clear multiple steps at a time. Same thing for the way down - we took it step by step, pound, pound, pounding all the way down...

And here is where I'd like to take a writer's break to talk to you about the excellent quality of Delsey luggage wheels. Me and my Delsey luggage gave new meaning to the phrase 'pounding the pavement.' I was so afraid that my wheels were going to fall off any minute from all the steps I had to overcome. I was even more afraid that one of my silver chrome wheel rims was going to fall off leaving my bag looking like an abused, old car with a missing hub cap. But no - my wheels stayed intact and the rims are still there - thank you, Delsey, for being so incredibly durable.

Where were we? To summarize - no escalators, elevators or means of helping handicaps or people with heavy luggage down to the platforms in commuter stations or suburban locations. By this time, my arms were tired. Someone got it right, though. Another family of ladies was traveling with big luggage and they got some station attendant to help them up and down the stairs - SMART! It was also upon arrival in St Albans that I had the bright idea that we should've unloaded our unnecessary luggage at the Marriott (our hotel for Sunday night) and just brought weekender bags. Good idea, just a little slow in getting there.

So we make it to the hotel and the front desk person asks if we need assistance to our rooms. Considering the hotel was only two floors, we didn't think we needed assistance. Boy, were we wrong! After declining the help, we asked, "Where are the lifts?" Yeah - there were no lifts to speak of. So here we go...up the flight of really old, creaky stairs. Step by step, thump by thump....we started rolling our luggage down the hall, only to be approached by four steps going up and a few short feet away, seeing four steps going down....WTF?! By this time, I am ready to speak out for the handicap and the difficulties they would have 1) coming and going from the 'burbs and 2) getting to their rooms. Of course, I'm sure if someone was handicap, they would've put them on a first floor room. I'm also thinking, "Man, I hate this hotel." If it wasn't for their attached gym/spa, I would give the hotel two thumbs down - instead it gets one thumb in each direction.

Dreading the trip back to London and hoping against all hope (and it was against all hope) that our train would just leave from platform 1, right outside the main station (aka - no stairs), I decided to whip out the extra duffle I had for souvenirs and use that as my 'rest of the weekend' bag and just pack up the luggage in hopes that dividing the load would make it easier to carry. And in the end it did. Traveling became SLIGHTLY easier but we still had a MONSTER staircase waiting for us at the station was arrived to in London (different from the one we departed from). All the people with luggage (so, it wasn't just us) hung back and waited for the walkers to get up the stairs. No offers for help either. We were on our own...and if hoisting your bag up a ton of stairs weren't bad enough, there was traffic going down the stairs at the same time to make your ascension to the station even more enjoyable!

Finally - when we got to the Marriott Marble Arch, where we were spoiled with the LUXURY of two elevators to our sixth floor room and didn't have to worry about stairs for the remainder of the trip. As my New Jersey kin like to say, "Thank Gawd!"

So what's with the medieval conditions out at the commuter stations?

Food Regrets

I confess. I've been a dieter for what seems like my entire adulthood. I began life with a food tooth - quite often winning the clean plate award and then some (as opposed to my brother, Jack, who preferred the "push the food around the plate" strategy). And it finally caught up to me in the 7th grade, when Jack helpfully made a comment about my pants getting a little tight. Since then, I have always monitored my food intake. It's a good thing, really. Had I kept indulging my food tooth with no parameters, who knows where I'd be today? Probably spilling into Jen's airplane seat.

But the downside of being a constant dieter is a phenomenon I like to call "food regrets." Make no mistake about it - I still have a food tooth. I still crave salty foods. I still love my cupcakes. And so I allow myself to indulge in these items from time to time. Candy still puts a smile on my face, after all. Ditto with movie popcorn. But if I am going to spend my calories on something, I better be damn sure I'm enjoying it.

This is where "Food Regrets" comes in. Ever finish a sub par fried-something or gluttonous dessert and just worry yourself sick about it? I have. Most recently, in London, I ate half of the WORST CHICKEN BURGER EVER - complete with fried processed patty, mayonnaise, and a boring old sesame bun. I topped it off with some extremely bland "chips." What a freaking waste! I'm not kidding - it was abysmal. I was so annoyed with myself for eating more than two bites of that meal. I would have much rather chowed on some brick oven pizza, some McDonald's french fries - heck, even some Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

Food regrets. They're the worst.

Oy Vay!

It's good to be back in cyberspace. After a week of not posting, I feel like I have plenty of ammo to write about - the first thing being our flight out to London.

As Amanda had said, by skipping a much thought about meal at the Olive Garden, we were able to start our trip on the right foot and see ScarJo (thanks, Pearl) herself, in the security lines at Dulles International. That also meant that we got to our gate with plenty of time to people watch. Being that we were on an international flight, we were, of course, grouped with other international travelers going to all sorts of neat places for the Thanksgiving holidays. But it wasn't until one particular person showed up and lingered by our gate did Amanda make mention of how you see all sorts of people at the airport.

This particular person was what I'd like to describe as an XL man. I also feel confidently in saying he was a Hasidic Jew. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish community but not a lot of Hasidic Jews. Hasidic Jews are the ones that cut their hair really short but leave long curly sideburns (called payoth) under their yarmulke (pronounced: ya-muh-kah). They also have the stereotype of being 'not so good' drivers in the really big Griswald-esque station wagons with huge menorahs on top during the Hanukkah season...HUGE menorahs. I've seen it.

Anyways - that's just a little background information on the Hasidic Jews. Back to the story.

So we board the plane and we got the seats that fall right behind the walls of the restrooms. That was good because that gave us more leg room. And we were in the middle section so it was five seats across. I plunked down in the middle seat with Amanda to my right. The two end seats were occupied by other women - so it was looking good. I was hoping, against all hope, that the seat to my left would stay empty. We were one of the last groups to board so it was looking that way. Just then, the Hasidic Jew came walking down the aisle and was lingering by our row....I leaned over to Amanda and just kept saying, 'Please don't let him sit next to me.' But she had her doubts and she was right - he was to my left.

Don't get me wrong - I have NO issues with Hasidic Jews. I don't want it to seem that way. What I do have a problem with is what most people have problems with, XL people that spill over into your seat - or those people that disregard the safety rules and just do as they please. Both applied to my neighbor.

He started the trip off on the wrong foot with the stewards because he wouldn't turn off his cell phone - he was constantly texting. The stewards asked him multiple times to turn off his phone - he did not. He just slid it into his pocket until they were done with their safety demonstration and continued to text. I glanced over at him - to see what he was up to. I saw other people, in other rows, glaring at him, because he continued to text. I saw whom he was texting - Cherry. Nice, huh? Anyways - he was texting all the way through take off - that was annoying...even though it didn't really matter that his phone was still on - but still, other people need peace of mind.

My neighbor's next faux pas was when he bogarted our shared arm rest. I decided to give it to him - he was an XL man afterall....but when I mistakenly got up to go to the restroom, he seemed to think it was ok to have his knees spread eagle into my leg space...and that it was ok to have his shoes off and kicked under my seat! Let's just say that by the end of the flight, I was down 1/4 of my seat and encroaching on Amanda's space.

Finally - as we were making our final descent into London Heathrow, my XL friend (because we are friends now, right?) decided to go grab his carry on luggage and store it....right in front of him. Because he had boarded the plane so late, he had to store his carry on towards the back of the plane, past our row of seats. So I can understand that he doesn't want to fight to get back there when we've reached the gate, only to have to come back forward again. But I think he just went about it the wrong way. Two stewardesses had to tell him that this luggage had to be stored. He made no move after the first two warnings. Finally, he said that he didn't want to go to the back to retrieve his luggage so the stewardess told him he could go up to Business Class and see if they would store his things for the remainder of the flight. He did so and was successful.

Overall, I don't think this guy flew much. But he still managed to get the kosher meal, which I took a good look at. I've always said I would put down the kosher meal to see what it's like. But after seeing it, I think I'll pass.

It's XL people next to me and people that LOVE to recline their seats to the maximum position in front of me that I always seem to be surrounded by on planes. Oy vay!

Miss Scarlett

I could tell our London trip was off to a good start right away - at the Dulles Airport. While it was a little sad that Jen's and my manicure appointments did not leave us enough time to swing by The Olive Garden for a little soup, salad and breadsticks combo, what they did ensure is that our timing was perfect for something else: a celebrity sighting! If my penchant for celebrity gossip and trash t.v. should tell you anything, it is this: I LOVE a celebrity sighting! And Scarlett Johansson? Well, that's just the motherload.

Jen and I had just eaten our replacement meals at the truncated, Dulles Airport "Harry's Tap Room" and headed through the security line. As is my custom, after proceeding through security, I made a bee line for a row of seats where I could refasten my shoes (ala Fred Rogers). Through my peripheral vision, I could see a girl/woman talking to a female security guard. They were having some friendly banter, and the end of the conversation was crucial for celebrity sighting purposes: the security guard said something about how nice it was to talk to the girl/woman and told her to have a nice trip, and the girl/woman said, in a throaty voice, "You too," and then chuckled a little because the security guard was clearly working and thus not en route anywhere (much like when the guy at the window at McDonald's tells you to enjoy your meal, and you instinctively respond "you too," like an idiot). But rather than treating girl/woman like an idiot, the security guard said she was indeed traveling for Thanksgiving, just not today. She did not want girl/woman to feel stupid (how considerate).

Anyway, what this told me was that girl/woman was someone famous. And only then did I look up. And there she was. Scarlett Johansson. I have to say, she was quite lovely in person. Beautiful skin. And tiny. She was wearing a newsboy cap (with her hair tucked inside), a beautiful cream wool coat, and some pants with brown tall boots over the pant legs. She had been right next to me - maybe 4 or 5 feet.

Naturally, I had to find Jen and tell her the news before my celebrity got away. And naturally, I wanted to act as nonchalant as possible. So I mall-walked back to the end of the security line to find Jen and whispered, "Scarlett Johansson is right there." Jen was all "What?" Evidently, she heard "Taylor Hanson." Hmmm.... Hanson brothers sighting? Doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?

Whatever the case, Jen was finally able to decipher my mumbling and promptly reached into her bag to retrieve her glasses to confirm. We talked about it for a good deal in the people mover to our gate. My first instinct, I told Jen, was to say to Scarlett - "Hmm... The Nanny Diaries - not your best choice." Jen was ready to let Scarlett know what she really thought of "Match Point." But no matter. That, combined with the excitement of going to London, made for a very good journey.

Of course, it still did not stop me from complaining about the broken t.v. at my seat on the plane.

Precious Alien Children

For anyone that's ever walked into a Hallmark store or lives in Carthage, Missouri, you will know the phenomenon that is known as 'Precious Moments.' Maybe phenomenon is too strong of a word - but perhaps after reading this, you will agree that phenomenon is quite appropriate.

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, Precious Moments is really a religious empire built upon those cartoon children with the teardrop eyes and egg-shaped heads. They tug at your heart strings because they look so cute and innocent. Hallmark sells figurines of these children and the line has even extended the oblong heads and tear drop eyes to animals.

Each figurine serves a purpose - there are occasion figurines you can get for brides, grooms, bridesmaids, graduates, brothers (although I don't see a lot of guys going gaga over Precious Moments), sisters, friends, family, etc. And I'm only talking about big milestone occasions like graduation, communion, weddings, and births. But you can also find everyday figurines of just cute kids playing or having tea or with a cold. There are also greeting cards that have the Precious Moments characters on them. My MIL (aka - Mother-In-Law) recently sent me a Precious Moments anniversary card - it reads: "When God created marriage, He was counting on wonderful couples like you. You two make marriage look like the nicest thing that could happen to two people." The sentiment is definitely very nice - and of course, very Christian-like. Other products I have seen with the Precious Moments kids - cake cutter, cake stand, cake topper (all for a wedding, of course), cross stitch, dolls, and the list goes on.

The reason why I mentioned Carthage, Missouri is because that seems to be PM-HQ (Precious Moments headquarters) - where you will find Precious Moments Park and the Precious Moments Chapel. The creator of PM, Samuel Butcher, was so inspired by the Sistine Chapels, he had a PM Chapel built to it's liking. I believe this is a place where people go to experience a little piece of heaven on Earth - and pray - and stare at all the innocent looking egg-head children and animals. I have teetered on the idea of making a trip out there - just to take a look. Unfortunately, it seems to be in the middle of nowhere, so I doubt I'll ever make it. The park, though sounds like that Christian Amusement Park that Ned Flanders tried to resurrect after Maude died (reference: the Simpsons).

I, personally, think the characters are cute. However, I have heard people describe them as creepy, eerie and alien-looking. I think alien might be a little harsh but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. All I know is that if it makes people happy, then I'm all for it.

Sometimes, I Amaze Myself!

I tend to do a lot of thinking on my drives to and from work. Going to work, in order to block out all my work tasks, I tend to think about upcoming weekends, what I need to get for a 'To Do' list and sometimes reminisce about good times from the past. Going home, I usually think about what I'm going to do after the gym, what I need to do the next day, etc...it's just the planning side of me. And if I'm not thinking about stuff, I'm usually singing in my car.

On this particularly morning, I was thinking about when I first went to the Fish Market, in Old Town Alexandria. It was back in 2001 - my husband was down in DC for a weekend baseball series with Georgetown. My brother in law was in DC for a software conference. So what did my sister and I decide to do? Drive down from New Jersey and spend the weekend in DC! I stayed with my friend, Kelly, in Falls Church and my sister stayed with her husband at his hotel. My husband (then boyfriend) was sharing a room at a hotel so it wouldn't have looked very good with me bunking in the room. We all decided to meet up for dinner, one night, at the steakhouse on the top floor of the Key Bridge Marriott. The food was excellent, by the way. Afterwards, we had asked a concierge where we could go for some light drinking and entertainment. They had pointed us to Old Town Alexandria and the Fish Market. So off we went.

I had gotten directions from the concierge from Rosslyn to Old Town. Having lived here for five years now, I would imagine that I went via the GW Parkway to Route 1. Getting back from Old Town to the hotel, I would think that I just went the reverse route and headed back via Route 1 to GW Parkway - I can't really remember. All I do remember is that I got us all back to the hotel, in one piece, with my very drunk brother-in-law passed out in the passenger seat. One minute we were getting into the car and he's like 'I'll navigate us back, Jen.' The next minute, he is out like a light and I'm driving around a dead corpse.

I don't often go from Old Town to Rosslyn nowadays but when I do, I still manage to get confused about taking 50 vs GW Parkway....there's a split off in there and if you don't know where you're going, it can get very confusing. And that's in broad daylight....sober - I can't even imagine what I did at 2 am, at the age of 25, as a first time driver in the northern VA area, with a schooner full of beer in me. Those must've been some damn, good directions!

And that's when I usually pat myself on the back and think, 'Wow! That was amazing - I wonder how I did that!' But I'm sure I was a lot smarter back then...in the past seven years, I guarantee brain cells have fallen by the wayside!

Catalogs Galore

I have come to learn that the previous owner of our house was quite the shopper - in fact, she was almost like a real personal shopper - she would buy things for others that didn't like to shop or didn't know what to purchase. This seemed to be a full time hobby for her. And because of this, our house has received a TON of catalogs from places that I've never even heard of, nor could have imagined to have a business (much less a catalog). I was simply amazed by some of the things that would come through the mail - but of course that didn't stop me from perusing the catalog and finding some ideas of my own....who knew that you could have a business based off of the english muffin (reference: Wolferman's - www.wolfermans.com)? Or that full meat or seafood meals could be purchased and sent directly to your door, ready made (reference: Pfaelzer Brothers - www.pfaelzerbrothers.com) - I thought Omaha Steaks took care of that.

But it goes beyond food - her catalogs span furniture, clothing, hardware, window treatments, and industrial products. I have even received the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog - for me, that was something I only got to look through via the Sky Mall catalog on the plane!

So I wanted to share some of the other catalogs I've received through the mail, thanks to Ms. June....and maybe you'll go through the list and think, 'who knew?!'

Soft Surroundings - tag line: 'my time. my place. my self.' I think it's like a Chico's - their target audience seems to be middle-aged women that like to dress like hippies.

Home Decorators Collection - tag line: 'where value and selection come home.' It's a nice array of upholstered chairs, traditional and modern furniture, and anything you can think of to decorate your house. Looks like a poor man's Pottery Barn - but the prices are still up there.

Cuddledown - tag line: 'Manufacturing Fine Home Fashions Since 1973.' 1973 was not that long ago. They've got linens, comforters, bed skirts, matress pads - and even some robes and cardigans - probably made out of the same stuff as their super soft blankets. I don't know - I would like to "feel" the comfort before I make a purchase.

Sundance - tag line: 'Founded by Robert Redford in 1969.' Yuppers - Robert Redford, as in 'the Natural.' The catalog sells everything from fashions to home fashions - There's kind of a Native American, Santa Fe turquoise feel to their clothing and jewelry - need cowboy boots? But RR needs money, apparently, so it's kind of expensive.

Garnet Hill - tag line: 'original designs in clothing and home decor.' Again, more clothing and home fashions at reasonable prices. I was drawn to the catalog because it had a picture of a pretty, deep purple hydrangea on the cover. I like pretty pictures.

Napa Style - tag line: 'Celebrate the Flavor of Life.' So, want to live in Napa or have that Napa style without actually moving to Napa Valley? This is the catalog for you - a whole slew of culinary tools and decorations - all at Napa prices - how convenient.

Those are just the tip of the iceberg. I've got other catalogs for traveling clothes and gadgets (Travel Smith - www.travelsmith.com) - why do you need special travel clothes? Are regular clothes not good enough? I get the gadgets, not so much the clothes. And a whole catalog for silks - it's called Winter Silks (www.wintersilks.com) - who needs silk long johns? Doesn't having silk long johns defeat the purpose of wearing long johns - for layering and warmth? I asked my husband if he wanted some camouflage long johns for Christmas (as shown on page 17) - he said no. I guess you have to make some type of manly patterns available if you expect a dude to go around wearing silk long johns.

So many catalogs - so little time....just amazing how much is out there...how do these people stay in business, I wonder!

Coupons

Not to get on a rant or anything, but I hate coupons. I hate that my grocery receipt is five feet long because it's giving me these special printer coupons for a bunch of products I don't need. Really - what a waste of paper! I hate that every day, I open my mailbox to find some Macy's flyer with some special Macy's sale or some community value pack with special deals on oil changes and steam cleaning. And then I have these stupid coupons to keep track of - when do they expire, what's excluded, blah blah blah. I hate that because of these coupons, I can never truly, once and for all, get to the end of that ever growing junk mail pile . . .

And because I'm lazy and ill prepared, I never seem to have these coupons when I'm actually in the store. Oh no. Even though I get 10 Macy's coupons a week, when I make a little jaunt over there on a break from work (it's conveniently located across the street from my building) and find something I need or like, I say to myself, "Damn. I bet they had a coupon for this."

Sometimes, however, I do think ahead and carry the Macy's coupons in my purse. And sometimes, that is almost worse. Quite often, these are the coupons for $25 off a $75 purchase, etc. So you can't go into the store and buy just one thing (unless you're a big spender). You have to rack up enough items to get the discount.

Today, for example, I went into Macy's looking for a simple pashmina/scarf thing for an evening gown. The item was $50-some. I had cased the joint and picked it out the day before; I slept on it. It was a little more than I wanted to spend for something that will get such limited use, so I thought I would justify it with the $25 coupon. Well, that meant I wasted another 35 minutes looking for something to hike up the total. And it got to the point where I had to say to myself, "Really - do you really need to buy a $100 pair of pants just to use that dumb coupon?" The answer, I'm proud to say, is no. After desperately ransacking the Calvin Klein and Michael Kors racks (and even some I don't usually frequent), I ended up settling on a nice plain pair of black wool gloves. I can always use those, as I am known to misplace them.

But all of that added 35 minutes to an otherwise 5 minute errand. Coupons. Grrrrr!

A Slave to 80s Fashion

If you were living in the 80s, then you know all about the fads and fashions that spanned the decade - from friendship beads on your Keds to day-glo colors to off the shoulder sweaters, thanks to Flashdance. Some people could pull off these fashions, some could not. And I would like to think that if you were in the group that could not, then you just avoided it altogether and found another fad that suited your needs.

But what if your career dictated that you had to wear the latest fashion, despite how awful you looked? Case in point - 80s hair bands. As I was hanging out, watching some VH-1 Classic, I caught some really classic videos and the one that really got me thinking about this was David Lee Roth's "Goin' Crazy" from his solo album, 'Eat 'Em and Smile.' Of course, the star of the video was David Lee Roth himself - and we all know, from his Van Halen days, that he could really jump and high kick his heart out - the man had great legs. I attribute him and Steven Tyler (from Aerosmith) with making spandex, for men, so hugely popular among the hair bands. Of course he had his band in there and they were all forced to wear spandex and some loose fitting shirt - and you see this as a common theme throughout a lot of 80s hair band videos...Poison, Def Leppard, Warrant, White Lion, and the list goes on....

I have to say, though, there were some members of these bands that probably should have stayed away from the spandex. Maybe they had soccer player calves or unusually thick upper quads - I wonder if the other band members forced those with 'not-so-nice' legs to go on some kind of diet or become anorexic so they didn't bring the band down with their unshapely legs! Because wearing jeans when everyone else was in spandex was probably a huge no-no.

Maybe that's how the hammer pants came about. That was a sad point in fashion, and I think I fell victim (actually, I KNOW) to those pants because I didn't have shapely legs in middle school. But I digress. Now, when I am able to catch some 80s hair band videos, you better believe I am looking for those that probably should have stayed away from the spandex....though I think drummers are exempt since they're sitting behind a huge drum kit during a video and concert.

Ode to Olyphant

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways

I love that you're kind of sleazy

But yet, you make me want to root for you

Yes, in The Girl Next Door (and Go, and Scream 2), you stole the show

You were the bad guy, but I didn't care

I can't help falling in love with you even when you're playing gay (The Broken Hearts Club)

And I, too, would have found you irresistible in the Banana Republic dressing room, just like Carrie Bradshaw

So what if you use toilet paper as a coffee filter?

Because of you, I'm probably going to have to purchase "Catch and Release"

Just so I can look at you in those soft looking t-shirts and rugged jeans

I get butterflies just thinking about it . . .

Now That's Customer Service

Since we're on a flashback-follow up kick with some of our previous postings, I decided to share with you a follow-up to one of my more recent postings about how eyeshadow scares me:

http://morningcupcake.blogspot.com/2007/10/eyeshadow-my-frienemy.html

I received a lovely note, on Nordstrom stationary (how can I get some of that?), from the Clarins woman that helped me with my MAC purchase a couple of weeks ago. She wrote me a very nice note saying that she hoped all my products were working for me and that I have fun in London for the wedding - she had just gone to London in the summer and I told her I was just there too in May and we were comparing our experiences and pretty much just gushing about our trips - and I had shared with her that I was going back over Thanksgiving for a friend's wedding....that's why I needed new eyeshadow.

But in her note, she had mentioned that she's available for me whenever I need more makeup help and she could schedule a nice mini-facial and consultation when I'm available. Of course, it's probably a ploy to try and get me to purchase more products and maybe switch over to Clarins but I still appreciated the gesture.

This is why I LOVE LOVE LOVE Nordstrom - cause this is not the first 'Thank You' note I have received from them. I received a 'Thank You' note from the hosiery department last year when I was stocking up on long socks (HUE makes great knee high cotton socks). I thought that was nice. I would have to imagine that they write out these 'Thank You' notes during their down time at the store which I think is a nice touch.

It's just good customer service - they thank me for shopping with them and I thank them by continuing to purchase from their store.