Sliding into insanity: Online Package Tracking

So I mentioned in my last post that I had ordered a new pair of shoes as the BDay present from Me to Me.

Aren't They Pretty?

Shortly after publishing that post I got an email confirming that the shoes had shipped. This email included the oh-so-convenient UPS tracking number. Now every couple hours or so I pull up the UPS website to find my package. This morning while procrastinating getting out of my warm bed I pulled up the route from Indianapolis to Ypsilanti to see approximately how long it would take the truck to get into the nearest UPS distribution center. 

I do realize I'm a little nuts. Possibly more than a little. But this is an issue with the internet. With so much available instantly, we begin to lose our patience with the things that take a while. So this is probably an excellent opportunity for me to exercise patience and contentment. Instead I'm going to hit "refresh" on the UPS tracking page until my package arrives.

Now into the School year

For most of us school started on the 7th of September. Of course before the semester began there were a hundred thousand things to do. Packing, moving, making arrangements with room-mates, catching up with friends, checking the location of classes...etc. Since I rarely do things the easy way I compounded my Labor day/Moving in weekend with working at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. Go me!

Despite my mother's insistence to concentrate on the upcoming semester, I can't  not work Festival. Especially Labor Day weekend because Monday our booth manager takes the day off every year and I get to be the boss lady. Plus festival is good for my soul and my confidence. It is only there that I get hit on, and frankly I enjoy getting the high that you get from someone appreciating your appearance. It's probably left overs from being an extremely late bloomer. In the wrong outfit I still look like a 13 year-old boy in drag.

But it's not just the compliments that keep me coming back. Everyone their treats each other like a huge family and we all look out for one another. For example when I had a shitty day I was able to go to my friends at festival and be greeted with hugs and assurances. Even the people I knew only as acquaintances were loving on me just because I had a horrid day. The other reason I love festival is because there is a an attitude of acceptance. No one cares about your race, your background, your family history, or even your religion. It is one of the few places I have seen an atheist, a pagan, and a Christian discuss their individual beliefs without anyone being offended or even annoyed. The final reason I return to festival every year is Men in Kilts

The Guys of Tartanic

In other news my final year of School is off at a ridiculous high speed. Currently I am on top of things and being good. I got all my reading done for the week because I decided to go dancing last night at Cafe Habanas weekly Salsa night! Sooo much fun even though I'm not a great dancer. I can dance but I have a bad habit from my martial arts training that I try to anticipate the moves of my partner and react before they occur. This ends up with me trying to lead but still doing the follower's steps. And everyone ends up confused. Luckily by about 11pm the dance floor is so crowded I can blame my missteps on the people knocking into me.

Another part of prepping for the semester was moving into my new apartment. Hopefully soon I will be able to borrow a camera and post pics of my new room. Not gonna lie, it looks kind of like a bachelor pad since it's decorated with all dark colors (black and chocolate brown) and posters of city skylines. But I brightened it up a bit with silver accents and tea lights. So it works. And I love it. Plus I have a full size bed which takes up almost all of my pocket sized room so I can stretch out when I sleep or have a sleep over with the girlfriends scheduled to come visit me.

Finally it was my birthday over the weekend! I celebrated my B-day all weekend long while working at festival. There is a tradition at festival that if you pin a dollar to your shirt to indicate it's your birthday then people will give you more dollars to add to the collection. I made 18$ and determined that since it was my birthday money I decided to spend it on something I absolutely don't need:

I have noticed that one of the big trends this fall in footwear have been clogs. This worries me since even back in the 90's when all my little friends were stomping around in clogs I only pretended to like them and behind every one's back called them Herman Munster shoes. I'm willing to give these a shot for 3 reasons. 1) on sale for 20$. 2) With the open toe and the heel strap they look a little more streamlined than the old school pump. 3) My rocker style is attracted to the studs.

Hopefully they will arrive next week and be comfortable enough to rock to class and/or work.

I really need to start posting more often so I don't have these ramble-y posts.

Succulent Sustenance - Dinner Party!

This is a couple weeks late. I have excuses: allergies, end of summer, packing to go back to school, leading a summer day camp for kids (ages 6-12, and just precocious enough to make me want to remove my uterus), Renaissance festival. But those are just that, excuses. So rather than blathering on and on, or making lists of the things I have been doing instead of blogging let's get right on to the good stuff.

So two Thursdays ago I had an End of Summer dinner party for several of my friends in the area. I had an entire menu planned out but since all the recipes were new I only wound up making one of them. That was probably a good thing since it took so much longer to get everything finished than I had planned. Of course the best laid plans get disrupted and all the careful list-making did nothing to prevent everything falling apart and me driving all over town trying to gather ingredients.

Since dinner was a little later than I planned I did a little appetizer. Sliced French bread toasted with goat cheese and sliced fresh basil. Unfortunately they never got pretty plating and thus no pictures.

For the main course I got a recipe from a weekly email called Tasting Table They send out two recipes a week. Any foodie who appreciates experimenting with new stuff should sign up for it. One of the recipes that showed up in my email was Grilled Lamb Skewers. Since this came at a time I was craving red meat, I was eager to try the recipe and foist it upon others. I made a few changes to the recipe. I doubled the recipe (11 dinner guests) and I cut the ground lamb with ground chuck. Since lamb is so flavorful the mutton overpowered the beef  and the fat in the chuck made the skewers extra juicy. I also made additional wine reduction and added about a tablespoon of honey and melted 2/3rds of a stick of unsalted butter in the reduction to make a sauce. For side dishes I made wilted spinach and sauteed red bell pepper salad and saffron flavored rice.

Prep work

The Skewers pre-grill

Ravishingly Red Bell Peppers

A dinner plate for one lucky guest

My sister played co-host for the evening and her major contribution was dessert. I don't have links to the recipe she used but as soon as I do I will post them. She made individual Raspberry Creme Brulees for each one of my guests.

It may look like a basic creme brulee but at the bottom of the ramekin was a layer of raspberry preserves and fresh raspberries.

The dinner was a hit! Even my friend who is a notorious picky eater cleared most of her plate (and all of her dessert). I love entertaining like this when everything gets to come together even though things were delayed.

PS. The Picky Eater is the reason the photos in this post look so amazing. She brought her giant camera and took all the pictures for the evening. Unfortunately most of the pictures of me are before I was able to shower so I am not posting any featuring me. I love her to death for making my food look amazing and plan to invite her and her camera every time I make a good meal.

I Won!

Most people in the world have luck of one kind or another. Not me. For the most part I tend to be rather luck-less, suffering from neither good or bad luck. However every once in a while I am given a sample of luck (sometimes good, sometimes bad) just so I can have the experience. 

Last week I received a taste of good luck: As I may have mentioned the amazing and creative Carly J. Cais of Chic Steals was one the of the bloggers who participated in New York Design Shop's Create Couture Challenge  Since she is a major overachiever and puts my little projects to shame (I have three shirts I keep putting off even though summer and my free time is coming to a swift end) Carly submitted 12 DIY projects within the time constraints of the contest! As a rabid follower, of her blog I voted for her (though ...Love Meagan has some of my loyalty as well). Carly won the contest by what I hear was a very narrow margin (cue applause!) 

Thats where things get a little confusing, at least when I try to explain it. Seriously, I had to tell my mom three times why I was giving my home address to a random internet celebrity. NY Design Shop had a drawing for the voters who participated in the Create Couture Challenge. The winning voter got to choose a prize from the DIYs of the winning blogger. And I won!!!!11!!one!!

The prize I chose was the beautiful Double-Fringe Necklace Which was awesome since I planned on making one anyways. Instead I got to have one made for me by the designer! (Excuse me while I have a complete and total fan-girl moment) 

Of course no good luck comes without it's constant companion Bad Luck. I was sick with crippling allergies for the better part of the rest of the week. Anyone with allergies can attest the the attractiveness caused by swollen sinuses and runny noses. In order to prevent permanently scarring any future generations I avoided all cameras until my face returned to a semblance of normalcy. 

Finally I have a picture of me in my newly won necklace!

I'm freshly showered in this picture my hair is not normally so well behaved. 

I wore the necklace out shopping today and got tons of complements. Even my mom liked it and she prefers jewelery to be understated. I'm thinking I will pair it with my cute navy blue dress and cork wedges for the first day of my final year of school! May as well carry my pinch of good luck into the school year.

Working on my movie review....

But i'm busy and I have been knocked on my ass by allergies. So rather than leave this space empty for today I present the only kind of poetry I am capable of, Haiku:

Allergy Season

A Symphony of Sniffles

Trumpets in F-Flat

Monday Lust - Boots

I love boots. I love the way they make me feel like I can conquer the world. The last pair of boots I got have a five inch heel and little gold buckles. I call them my boots of Doom. If I could find a picture of them I would post them.

But today the lust has been re-awakened by the most gorgeous pair of boots.

Now they look very basic from the front. But the back is where the real beauty is.

The red zipper detail is just the right thing to perk these boots up from basic to sexy. So if any one wants to purchase them for me they are available at Nordstrom for just shy of 275$ LINK


All Images from Nordstrom.com

PS. In case you have never heard of the Blog http://www.chic-steals.com/ she has some of the best DIY's on the internet. Recently she participated in the Create Couture Contest sponsored by New York Design Shop and won! (I was one of the many who voted for her designs. I had to. She did a bajillion projects with the materials supplied) Anyways,  NYDS had a drawing for voters that awarded the winner a creation by the winner of the contest.  Guess what. I won!!!! I never win anything and I'm getting to be getting a beautiful fringe necklace created by Carly. I plan to wear it at every opportunity. As soon as it arrives I'm posting pictures!

Succulent Sustenance - Deep Fried

With the extra time to sleep in and/or work out the weekend is the best time to have awesome food. So here is Succulent Sustenance where I recount the best meal of the week (which usually occurs during the weekend) and indulge my illicit love of alliteration.

This weekend after a straight week of cravings this dish, my mother and I made her world famous Southern Fried Feast.  It seems to be a tradition below the Mason-Dixon Line that the Sunday dinner is the big one. As a reward for going to church that morning (and no offense to any Southern Baptists but I feel like I need some kind of payment for attending your services) the average Southern family starts their week by  indulging in the sin of gluttony. This saves the other six deadly sins for the remainder of the week.

While mom peeled and butterflied the shrimp I prepared the French fries. Though we have this dish about once a year this is the first time I remember using red potatoes for the fries.

Start with a potatoe:

Slice:

Chop into strips:

And they are ready for the oil!

For the rest of the meal we prepped chicken, shrimp and oysters in an seasoned egg-wash. It's no Colonel Sander's eleven herbs and spices but I find it delicious. (Could have used a pinch more cayenne in my opinion)

From Left to Right: Oysters, Shrimp, Chicken Tenders

The best part was when we finally had all the food cooking.

Left to Right: Fries, Chicken, Shrimp

Lured by the scent of the oysters and shrimp we had an extra helper. 

By "Helper" I mean: Tripping Hazard (aka Ollie)

Finally dinner was served:

Hot Sauce for the shrimp. Ketchup for the fries. Honey for the chicken.

Several servings later...

Nothing but the shrimp tails.

Not a Real Post

I have a ton of stuff to post. However I'm busy, and when I'm not busy I'm lazy, and when I'm not busy or lazy I'm trying to sleep.

This wasn't helped by my friend turning 21 (finally!) we got to have an amazing party including some surprise guests. She loved her bracelet and unintentionally (I think) dressed to match it. Of course I took it as an opportunity to  wear my new shoes and skirt.

There are two more food posts to come! No new movie review since Tuesday night i was dancing my ass off.

Wednesday Movies! - Actually Not a Movie this week.

I was going to try to see SALT this week but I was foiled by two things. 1) Salt was not eligible for the 5 dollar ticket price and 2) three of my friends wanted to see Inception. It should speak volumes that I went to see this movie twice. If you want my complete opinion see my review HERE

Instead I am going to review a new summer TV show:

I realize the coincidence that both my intended review, Salt, and Covert Affairs are based around hot chicks who work for the CIA.

First off allow me to say I am biased in favor of Covert Affairs for two reasons. 1) Most of USA's original shows are extremely entertaining and pure escapism. Which is perfect for me. When I watch TV it's as a little break between chores or homework. 2) Christopher Gorham. I mean look at him. He is a sexy sexy nerd:

Got to say ever since White Collar I'm a sucker for a man in a well fitted suit. 

Anyways onto the review:

The basic premise of the show is Piper Perabo is Annie Walker, a new CIA recruit with a gift for languages (she speaks six). Because of a broken heart she joins the CIA in order to marry herself to her job. She is pulled from her training at The Farm a month early for use of her language skills and her good looks. (Here's a game: Name a spy movie where the attractive female is not disguised as a stripper/prostitute/drunk slut etc.) Turns out after her first mission the CIA doesn't send her back to finish her training but keeps her on not just because of her performance but because there's a conspiracy regarding her previous lover afoot. 

Overall the show is cute. I don't think I have ever had to say that about an action based show or movie. But it's the only word that really fits. Piper has the same fish out of water but slowly discovering it has lungs behavior that she showed in Coyote Ugly (yes I watched it. I'm only mildly ashamed). Christopher Gorham is Auggie the blind tech guy who is kind of a player. Kari Matchett and Peter Gallagher are a married CIA  and seem to have the role of Mommy and Daddy to the field operatives. Unfortunately Mommy and Daddy don't have the healthiest relationship and I can see that is going to trickle down onto "the kids" in a negative way. Anne Dudek plays Piper's older sister who allows her to live in her guest house and creates the family tension (similar to John Goodman in Coyote Ugly). Since she has to remain unaware of Piper's true career she thinks that her sister is working for the Smithsonian.  

Cute still seems the right word. But in this case cute is all you need. There is a cute guy (plus a cute guy of the week for each mission), a cute main character, a cute family interaction (both at the CIA and between Piper and Anne) and somehow it kinda works for me. I'm not saying it's the best TV show ever but it does what I think decent TV should do, provide you with an hour of time in which you can just chill and watch the screen. It's better than a good 80% of what's on the tube anyways. 

My only suggestions are: Use Anne Dudek more she's a great actress and deserves more screen time. and put Piper in designer dresses and shoes (She wore a classic pair of Louboutin pumps in the pilot, jealous!) more often so I can live vicariously through her wardrobe.

Images from Starpulse.com, poptimal.com 

Monday Lust - Corsets

Like so many others I have a problem. I long for items I cannot afford. Fortunately, my upbringing has hobbled me when it comes to impulse buys. When I spend money it's when I go out with the purpose to shop for a specific item or I limit my budget severely. For example my spring break shopping trip this year was limited to 100$ (not including my swimsuit).  While this keeps my wallet happy I fall into the occasional puddle of lust.

The point of this is to bring you Monday Lust. Where I post the items that are clogging my shopping list in the hopes that confession is good for the soul (and wallet).

Today (and for the past five years) I have been looking at corsets. Once upon a time corsets were required for women to appear beautiful (and faint at the appropriate dramatic moments), and because no-one had taken the time to invent the bra.* In more modern times the corset was considered fetish or wedding night wear. But recently the "corset top" has become more popular. Is it bad I want to say I was wearing a corset before it was cool? It's true.

Working at the Renaissance festival led to my first expensive purchase. I laid down a good 300$ (a fortune to 17 year old me) for a gorgeous satin corset in black and gold.

Me with Mike from Tartanic

I fell in love with corsets. Suddenly my boy-ish figure looked like a woman. I had curves and cleavage dammit! Since then I have been craving to purchase additional corsets. Next on my list is a simple over-bust corset in black leather (insert dominatrix joke here).  I think with the right jacket I can wear it out in "normal situations" (though I think I will avoid wearing it to church).  One such corset can be found HERE

The other corset I am currently lusting for is an under-bust corset to complete my steam punk costume. Yes I am that much of a nerd and I love it. The problem with the under-bust corsets is that I cannot decide which one I want. Today I stumbled across a company called Dracula Clothing that has really nice corsets for really good prices.  So if anyone wants to help me make a decision for a new corset you can vote for:

A. The Leather Over bust

B.  The Pointed Under bust (Which I would get in black of course)

C. The Military Inspired Corset

Please vote by writing your choice on a memo line of a check (suggested donation is ten dollars). Or remove the choice from my hands completely by purchasing any of the above corsets for me (I wear a size 18).


*Fun fact: in the early to mid 1800's it was thought that a corset was a medical necessity. The reasoning was that women were the weaker sex and despite having been fine for the past 1800 years they needed the support to stand. (Eve didn't wear a corset) Since girls were forced into corsets as early as 4 years old and were unable to develop the back muscles to keep themselves standing by the time the average girl reached her teen years it became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Wednesday Movies!

The movie theater in my home town has 5 dollar tickets all day on Tuesday. Since I eventually want to work in th movie industry I have decided that (when I can afford it) I will see a new release and review it.

Tonight's entry:

This is about to be my easiest review ever. Go see it! My faith in the creativity of Hollywood has been completely restored. The acting was on par, the special effects were minimal (which was surprising considering the material), the costuming was subtle, but for me the crowning achievement was the story and the telling of it.
The story was completely unique to me. And I know that there is nothing new under the sun but this is the first movie I have seen in a long time that didn't have blatantly obvious source material. Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, Batman Begins was done so well and The Dark Knight was a satisfactory follow-up. He did wonders with this story the whole film felt so weirdly paced, fast fast slow fast slow, there was a distinct lack of pattern. It felt like dreaming. The tension was there the whole time and by 20 minutes into the film I felt such empathy for Leonardo DiCaprio's character. The climax had myself and my two friends literally on the edges of our seats.
So go see Inception and see it in the theater the visual effects are worth the immersion of the big screen.

PS. Speaking as a red-blooded woman Joseph Gorden Levitt was scrumptious in this movie.

Yummmm

(Photos from FilmoFilia and Reel Movie News)

New shirt and finished project

My lovely sister went to the Ann Arbor Art fair Thursday and all the boutiques that are normally outside my price range had huge discounts in honor of the event. Knowing I have been wanting a lace shirt she picked up this for me at a really low price:

In this picture I am wearing a flesh tone bra but no undershirt (it was hot and muggy today). Mother was not pleased and quoted her own version of the Bible verse saying not to cause thy brother to stumble, for no reason. The lesson I take from this is if I'm gonna be a ho I gotta do it for real. So no bra  next time!

In other news I finished a project! My friend's birthday is coming up and in true dirt poor student style I made her a present rather than buying something. 

In case it looks farmilar it is my own interpretation of the Chan Luu wrap bracelet. Which is on Amazon for close to 200$. 

 I created it using the DIY tutorial by Ruby Mines. Don't tell my friend but my version cost less than two hundred dollars. Though with how much work I put into it I would charge that much if I thought I could get away with it. 

Eventually (soon) I want to make one for myself with brown leather and jade colored beads, and possibly use a military inspired button. Frankly I love the military trend and plan to hop on it with full force as soon as it is cool enough to wear anything more than a bikini.

Shoes....

Once upon a time I didn't understand why women loved shoes and sunk so much of their hard earned money amassing collections of the things. Then earlier this year I experienced a revelation. I can't completely explain what did it, but right about the time I was looking for a new pair of winter boots I became enamored with the shoe "experience." While not nearly as sensual as my love for food there is a certain satisfaction that comes with scouring the internet for that perfect pair and then seeking it out in the store. It's like a treasure hunt! And it can get even sweeter when the shoe is on sale.

But now I fear that I have gone too far. Thanks to reading the entire archives of The Shoe Girl, I have begun to appreciate (and possibly covet) designer shoes. This appreciation makes my poor college student wallet recoil in agony, since I was raised to believe that everything you purchase should have multiple uses and anything you pay more than 50$ for should last you forever.

Therefore I solemnly swear that I would wear these shoes at every opportunity. I will wear them to my graduation. Even if things go down and I would be unable to complete my degree I will still attend graduation in these shoes. In addition I promise to incorporate these shoes into at least seven (7) years of Halloween costumes, and I will attend a bare minimum of three (3) events per year, excluding Halloween, that would justify me wearing these shoes. So help me God.

That being said can someone spot me $1300?

(Photo from Jak And Jil Blog, please don't sue)

Slice of Life: Flavors of the Weekend

I love food. That will quickly become apparent provided I keep working on this blog. But the whole sensual experience of shopping, preparing, and eating can be more satisfying than a relationship. (Sorry Boyfriend). Even if a dish eventually turns on you and results in some quality time with the porcelain god it was totally worth it about 95% of the time. 


This past weekend cemented my love for being home for the summer because I have eaten oh so well.


Friday: Mom had to run a 5k race Saturday morning so she wanted to eat something nice and light. I was fighting a monthly battle against the red army so I was more than happy to eat light. At the call for dinner I crawled up the stairs and my weary spirits were perked by the subtle scents that assailed my nostrils. Mom had made sautéed tilapia fillets with a lime/herb/red onion butter. It wasn't fancy or mind blowing but it was good clean food. The kind of food you could bring home to mother, wears argyle socks, has a stock portfolio, and comes from a good family. 

Saturday: Post race for mom, post tae kwon do for me. I was working on a couple sewing projects all afternoon since my sister was visiting a friend's lake house for the weekend granting me unrestricted access to her machine. I learned at about 4pm that my grandfather would be joining us for an early dinner at 6. (6 is early for my family since dinner is usually on the table about 8:00pm -ish) For this occasion my mother made grilled salmon with a lemon-butter sauce. Unfortunately the salmon from the local meat market that day was rather wimpy and mushy, however the flavor was good and fishy. Our cat gave his portion rave reviews. To go along with the salmon I made a salad with tomato, avocado, red leaf lettuce, and corn. Fairly simple stuff but given a distinct pizazz by the home-made lime vinaigrette. (Lime is the new black, at least for food). So while the salmon was good, the salad turned out divine.


Sunday: Sunday afternoons are for NAPS! Instead of a nap I went shopping with my mom which is an expedition to find the thing that is "just right." These trek takes us to every store that could possibly carry "The Thing." So by Sunday night everyone who would cook was exhausted, and no one wanted to run to the store to replenish our sorely bare cupboards. Luckily there was some venison in the freezer gifted to us by one of our hunter friends this past winter. After some searching on the internet for a good dish my mother and I wound up modifying  this http://www.yummly.com/recipe/6EEE2908-E35C-4EE0-01E854C2987E7D9D?print=true and creating this:

We didn't do any pretty plating. But believe me it tasted way better than it looks.


Even though Monday does not count as part of the weekend it gets an honorable mention because my  sister made the most delicious toffee sauce for ice cream. The recipe is soooo simple and it can be found below. But the best part about this sauce is the nuttiness of the flavor and the sticky sweetness that haunts your taste-buds. Even now the ghost of that sauce is whispering "there's left overs in the fridge, come eeeaatt meeeeee!"


Frankly, food is one of my prime passions and this weekend has reawakened my lust for quality kitchen time. Look forward to something I created myself by the end of the week!


Sticky Toffee Sauce:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon soft dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Serving suggestion: Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Put the sugar, syrup and butter in a pan and slowly bring to the boil, allowing the butter to melt and the sugar to dissolve. Let the mixture bubble for a couple of minutes before carefully adding the cream. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick, sticky and glossy.

Serve with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and sliced bananas

Now I Understand

My parents are in the process of starting a business in Africa manufacturing and selling BUV's or Basic Utility vehicles. (Go to their website Sahel Auto for more info) My Dad has been to Africa twice my Mom has only gone once, but in their time there they have become enamored with the need to pull the entire continent out of the third world.

In their fund raising presentation that they give to potential investors there is a short segment on the plight of women in Africa. Focusing on the fact that women to an inordinate amount of the work particularly when it comes to hauling goods, water, firewood, etc. Now like most members of the Western World, this comes as no surprise. Everyone has seen the pictures in National Geographic or a program on Discovery with the native women carrying loads of goods on their heads. So we accept that this is just a strange, quaint, native custom. 

The reality is far from quaint. I lack the words to properly describe the injustice that these women have to suffer through. However this short (less than an hour) documentary A Walk To Beautiful - NOVA shows more than I can say. It is truly horrifying that this is the way women are treated. The most devastating part for me was a girl saying that unless she could be cured from her obstetric fistula she would kill herself before going home to be ostracized by her family. The sad thing was she wasn't threatening to kill herself for the attention or to make a scene, it was simply matter of fact. 

This leads me to one very angry comment: Feminists in America need to get a life. I know women still make less than men for the same job, and hot damn women has the word "men" in it. These social "injustices" should make no difference while there are women and girls (little girls, as young as 8) who are forced into fulfilling the role of Mother, sex toy, and workhorse and cast aside when any one of those duties cannot be met. I understand the desire to be equal. In my relationships with men I like being treated with as much equality as possible (unless there's something on a high shelf I can't reach or a jar that can't be opened). But why should we care about the little things when all over the world women don't even get the privilege to be second class citizens.. 

Girly stuff

Remember the skirt I made of men's dress shirts from my local Goodwill?

Well here's me (at least the bottom half of me) in it!

Please ignore my sister's messy bedroom behind me.

A Week in 20 minutes.

Since it has been a week since I last posted I am going to try to recount the events of this past week in twenty short minutes. Starting.... Now!

Tuesday: TKD at noon, arguments with the BoyFriend during the afternoon and into the evening, dancing in Lansing with the gorgeous Melissa in a bar with no AC but really good music. 

Wednesday: Driving home from Lansing at 6:30am, more arguments with the Boyfriend, nap, TKD at noon, random crap around the house, working on my next sew project, and reading my book The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Thursday: Sick all day, allergies drained every bit of interesting from my brain. Arguments with the Boyfriend, arguments with mother (she made me go to the store to buy her some DVD-R's Verbatim 96166 4.7 GB 16X LightScribe DVD-R, 50-Disc Spindle, then argued with me when I told her she didn't own a lightscribe DVD burner and thus it would be cheaper to get just regular DVD's but dammit all she wanted lightscribe) * On the plus side I bought a really cute note book (I love notebooks especially the ones with leather binding. But then I feel so unworthy and rarely use them because I can't think of any writing that is of leather notebook quality). I managed visited the Boyfriend for about 1/2 an hour because he had nodded off while driving and had gotten into an accident.

Friday: Still feeling cruddy but I got a lot of work done for a project and become addicted to a browser game,  Echo Bazaar. I catch up with my little Brother who has recently returned from a week in Kentucky, we have yummy yummy salmon for dinner Yummies! and I get to talk to Zeh Demon for almost an hour!  

Saturday: TKD in the morning we practice flying side kick which brings on a feeling of nostalgia. Do random house stuff that doesn't involve cleaning my room, visit the Boyfriend for more arguments (these ones resolve in a more positive manner), then head to a party at my aunt's house, followed by a dance party at the house of some family friends.

Sunday: Church, clean the house, mini date with the Boyfriend (I got a coffee and Pie!), and running with my mom and my TKD instructor. 

Bam! A whole week recounted in exactly 20 minutes. I started at 11:15am EST and finished at 11:35am. I feel as though there should be some meaningless award for this....

*Apparently I tend to use run-on sentences when exasperated. 

When Being a Nerd Backfires...

This morning I was shaking off symptoms of allergies while aiding my family in cleaning the house. The Parents had some potential business partners come over to look at their project and to prepare for this we (my sister and I)  had to spend every moment between waking up and noon cleaning and prepping lunch. So I was operating at less than full capacity (what with my brains trying to escape through my nose) when I received the following text:
"I was wondering if you'd like to see eclipse with me this afternoon"

Now this text was from a dear dear friend whom I have known since I was a mere eight years old and I love spending time with her since we so rarely get to hang out. Plus my brain assumed "There's a solar eclipse today and I didn't know about it?!" Immediately I replied to the text with "Sure. What time?"

It wasn't until I got the reply, "I was thinking a matinée..." That a warning went off in my head telling me that something was rotten in the state of Denmark. At that time I was already committed and a tad confused. Roughly half an hour later, I was scrubbing the tub in the main bathroom that I made the connection and realized that what I was going to see was not a fascinating  natural phenomenon, but a movie inspired by Stephanie Meyer's self-insert fan-fiction the Twilight series.

I have read the first book of the series. After finishing it I declared the plot insipid and useless and a literary castration of some of the greatest villains in fiction both written and on the screen. The original vampire, Dracula by Bram Stoker, was such a great foe because he embodied all the vices of humanity that we so often want to lose ourselves to; despite the danger and potential consequences. That's what made him so seductive. Dracula was powerful in his ability to appeal to the sub-conscious desires of his victims. This made him simultaneously scary and alluring.

If I were a patient woman I would give you a blow by blow account of what is wrong with the premise of these movies. Luckily there are enough people in this world who agree with my feeling that they can argue for me.
The biggest issue is the relationship between Edward and Bella: http://kar3ning.livejournal.com/545639.html
And the other issue is Stephanie Meyer's writing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

So the movie...
In order to make this review as complete as possible I had to wikipedia the movie to learn the names of the characters. I may never recover.
The Actors/acting:  I despise Kirsten Stewart and Robert Patterson equally. Their acting is wooden and their appearances are as bland as Kraft Singles (without the benefit of being sandwiched between two pieces of bread, lightly toasted in a pan, and dipped into tomato soup). The fact that they play the main characters in this saga does not endear me to the films in the least.
Edward's family were quiet and supportive and apparently act as vampire homeland security for the state of Washington. Bella's dad was the "grr I hate your boyfriend" stereotype to provide you a excuse for overly dramatic proclamations of love. The werewolves played the people of the earth blue collar metaphor to contrast with the Cullins high brow aristocratic metaphor.
However, Bryce Dallas Howard (the antagonist) and Taylor Lautner get points for being the most attractive members of the cast. Wolf-boy's abs made this a little less painful.
The Plot: First off I should mention I have neither read the second book or seen the second movie I was able to skip an entire installment with out being affected at all. Obviously the quality of this story is earth-shattering. Bella (poor innocent helpless Bella) is the target for an evil vampire's plot for revenge against Edward for killing her lover. However I distinctly remember that Alice (the tiny cute vampire) was the one responsible for the only worthwhile moment in the first film when she leaped on  the bad guy and ripped his head off. So Bryce Dallas' character should have been gunning for Alice's mate, Jasper.
Speaking of Jasper, he provided one of the more interesting plot points in the movie. With the exception of an ill -advised imitation of General Patton and an even worse southern accent (that was noticeably absent in the first film) the back story to his character was actually interesting.
Rosaline's three minutes of character development felt less forced than Jasper's and was just as entertaining. Frankly with a voice coach and some muscle tone for Jasper, and better dialog for both side-plots I would gladly pay to see both stories get their own full length film (with an R-rating to amp up the gore and horror elements and with an appeal to an older audience). Especially since the characters actually act like traditional vampires.
Film production: The director did what he could with what he was given and frankly given such puerile material did not opt to confuse the simplistic target audience with fancy directing. (BTW loved David Slade's Hard Candy, not a film for the weak of heart or stomach). I was impressed with the sound effects. The sound of vamp 1 ripping the limbs off of vamp 2 had enough other-worldliness not to be gross but enough similarity to the sound of cracking bones that most of the action could take place just outside of frame. Special effects, the wolves looked fake and the vampires still sparkle. (My heart goes out to all men who's S.O.'s have Twilight fever and pray you are not allergic to glitter) The soundtrack was actually really good.

To sum up I  did get to see a strange phenomenon. The rate at which these girls flock to the films and devour the books is nothing short of a natural wonder. In fact I still wonder what redeeming value can be found in this series at all.

Allergies, and Spiders.

Oo. I skipped a couple of days there. Well it was for good reason. Thursday I was laid out flat with a full on allergy attack. I did everything right that day too. Nasal rinse, went for a run (I still hate running but I like what it is doing for my endurance and the fact it makes my muscles stand out *flexes*), went to tae kwon do class, and managed to work through it all. Turns out it only delayed the inevitable. So I was laid out on the couch with my brain leaking from my nose and nothing I could do but take a benedryl and a nap.

Friday I spent the morning cleaning the basement. Due to my family's variety of projects the spring cleaning has been occurring in segments. I got a head start on the basement. Frankly it looked as though Morticia Adams, Lily Munster, and Wednesday Adams had a tea party. I vacuumed up so many spiders and spider webs it began to feel like inter-species genocide. After a quick 20 minute visit with the boyfriend I headed off to tkd once again. When I returned my father had found time to work on one of my projects. Namely my car.

Since finals week back in late April my car has been dead in the water due to a cracked oil pan that occurred on my one night off. The best part is I don't even remember hitting anything. But thanks to those projects that have kept my family from maintaining our household my car got little to no attention once my father and his friend towed it back to Midland from Lansing (yup stuck with MSU students during U of M's finals week. It was a swell time)

Originally my plan had been to return home from tkd and head out again with my bikini in hand since a friend had invited me out to her lake to enjoy the last few hours of sunlight. But I couldn't leave my car and my father (mostly my car). With some wiggling and some googling and a lot of bolts to unscrew we (mostly my father since at a hundred pounds I can barely force a bolt to turn in any direction) managed to remove the oil pan. While my father was hoping we could repair the oil pan, I knew that because of the location of the crack it would have to be replaced. Luckily it is fourth of July weekend so everyone is having a patriotically inspired sale. Score one VW oil pan for a 2000 Jetta  for the low low price of $42 (significantly less than the $275 the dealership wanted for the part).

There are days I love the information that can be so readily accessed on the internet and that was one of them.

Today I am accompanying my sister to work so that I can use her car rather than being stuck here with out transport. There are a couple of vintage and fabric stores near her place of employment and I am hoping that I will stumble across something cute and cheap and usable.

Musical Inspirations

Like any other human being on this planet I have many sides. One is my feminist side who is currently not speaking to me.

The communication ended when while driving in the car with my sister listing to the to the radio we found ourselves singing along to Usher's OMG (OMG). The song is damned catchy. While my preferences tend towards harder music (I'm hoping to go see Iron Maiden in July) there is some part of me that wants to be the girl described in that song. Mostly because "Baby how you do that, make a grown man cry"


At this point my feminism rears itself to point out how this entire song is about a guy claiming to fall in love with a girl based merely on her appearance and sweet dance moves which probably emulate some depraved sex act and why would I ever want to stoop to being loved merely for being a sex symbol shouldn't be my personality and brains that causes guys to love me? At which point it has to stop and take a breathe before glaring at me and walking away in a huff. 


Currently I'm trying to coax her back into speaking terms by promising that when I'm older I'll be a a cougar, and that's empowering right?

Denim Remix

Scrooge McDuck is my hero. I want to one day swim in a pool of gold coins (with proper safety measures to prevent drowning of course) So I like to try to save my money. 

On the other hand I love new stuff. And these past few months I, the reformed tom-boy, have embraced my girly side. This has led to purchases like new shoes, a new dress, and a really cute pair of earrings. Unfortunately these things have dipped into my gold swimming pool fund. 

In an effort to preserve that fund I am trying to re-use and/or re-purpose clothes I already have. So I present the jeans I fixed for $1.70. 

To the left is the before picture, to the right is the after. For a cheap box of dye i was able to breathe some new life into these faded jeans. I still need to cut and hem the bottom of them though since they are too long so the bottom is all torn up.

I am also considering trimming these jeans down into skinnys but I am hesitant to do so since they are a really nice boot cut and fit just perfectly over most of my shoes (minus the Boots o' Doom) Hopefully these will be finished by the end of the week so I can have options to wear for the holiday weekend. 

Adventures in Phones!

Today was an auspicious day. The Boyfriend got a new phone. One that works, and has a charger that works and it doesn't drop calls, and is big enough he can stop losing it. He got the LG Ally, a nifty Droid phone, and for the 10 minutes I got to play with it (plus the 20 minutes I played with the display model in the Verizon store) I was really impressed. Now I have done my research on smart phones (three years ago I purchased my BlackJack II, I was a rich engineering intern back then. pulling in $400+ a week. Ah the good ol' days) and have been continually impressed by the Android OS. So I was really excited when the Boyfriend picked up this new phone, which we promptly dubbed "Ms. Jackson"

It confirmed everything I had read about Droid phones and in my humble opinion it  way out performed the Motorola Droid (which I have played with on multiple occasions). 

The Boyfriend's phone looks like this: (only black)

Now I am so excited for my graduation. I have promised myself that for my Graduation present to me I am purchasing an HTC Droid Incredible (provided I have a job)

Nick and Nora

So I finally watched Nick and Nora.

First off I was already prejudiced against this movie for two different reasons: 1) I detest  Michael Cera. Ever since arrested development he has played the same character over and over. (Lust for cousin strictly optional). I find it hard to believe that women find him attractive. Even with the guitar and on stage he still seemed like that odd kid who isn't quite right in the head. 2) They stole Nick and Nora and dumbed it way way down. If you have never heard of the The Thin Man watch it! The Complete Thin Man Collection (The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man / Alias Nick and Nora) These movies while they may claim to be mysteries are really built around the interactions between the two main characters Nick and Nora. Every scene is dripping with wit and artful duels of conversations. Instead, I was treated to discussions about who has more indie cred, and why my friends suck more than your friends, and let's discuss our exes.

There were some positives though. The biggest one for me was Nora's drunk friend Caroline. The girl was perfectly convincing as the person who is too much trouble for anyone's good. Plus when I read that she improved the majority of her performance I was further impressed (See the turkey sandwich scene YouTube it if you have to). Other good things include Nick's band. Sure they played up some gay stereotypes but frankly who doesn't? They were amusing and their interactions with the rest of the cast made me giggle.

Overall this movie was worth seeing just to be caught up with the rest of my generation. While the idea of running around NYC looking for a band that only likes to do "secret shows" is actually creative and sounds like a whole lot of fun (especially to those of us trapped in the Midwest), Michael Cera's monotone and the "witty" dialog leave a lot to be desired.

Men's Clothes into Cheap Girl Clothes

Being a huge fan of DIY any excuse I have to make something I take. I work at the Michigan Renaissance festival and I love making my own costume bits. Living at home for the summer is so nice since my little sister (Like my little brother only little in age) and her expensive sewing machine are home for the summer too.
My latest project was a skirt made from the sleeves of men's dress shirts. I stumbled across a tutorial on ThreadBangers.com (Video Tutorial)

My skirt wound up looking a little different than theirs:


Eventually I will post pics of myself modeling the skirt. It hits just above my knee and makes my legs look long. And every short girl knows any item that makes you look taller is a good thing. Also since I used white shirts I have to wear a slip underneath it because the skirt is a little see through. Though my decision to use the white shirts instead of colored ones was the tie.



The beautiful shiny forest green with the gold Fleur de Lis just tickled my fancy. I love the look of the Fleur De Lis, and since I am part French I consider it part of my extremely mixed heritage. Upon finding this tie at GoodWill I knew I was going to use it for Something. Even if I didn't know at the time what it was. I wound up making belt loops for the tie out of the button hole side of the shirt. Originally I was going to just tack the tie to the skirt but this allows me more freedom with the colors I can use.

Now I just need a cute shirt to wear with this skirt, on the plus side I already have the perfect shoes.

Storms and Stomaches

I love thunderstorms, especially during the summer. The warm weather combined with the amazing displays of nature is like an invitation to sit out on the porch and enjoy. The one thing I dislike about them is when it is stormy in the morning and becomes sunny later in the day. I get into that cloudy day mood, ready to do things that mostly entail being inside then the weather changes and my plans feel all askew.
This morning's thunderstorm through the Mid-Michigan region was one of those good, curl-up-and-read-a-book ones. Not awe-inspiring and loud, but the occasional rumble of thunder punctuating the sound of rainfall. Very pleasant to listen to since I was woken up this morning around 5:30am by a very very upset stomach. Luckily my brother was sleeping on the couch just outside my room so I could yell just loud enough for him to get me a damn bucket.
The thunderstorm was just a little reminder that God does not hate me, even though my stomach was punishing me for something. (Frankly I think it was my 1am snack that did it. The ice cream tasted a little off.) Any ways. I have all my indoor plans laid out and the weather man assures me it will be dreary and humid all day long, two good reasons to stay inside and relax.

Hi World! Let's start with dinner...

I am interested in pretty much anything. I love having at least basic knowledge of a variety of subjects.

One subject I find particularly fascinating is food. Eating, smelling, tasting, shopping, every part of the culinary experience is akin to the sensation of finding a 5 dollar bill in your pants pocket. (With the exception of prep work, which can be really tedious, though some good music and sharp knives help)

Tonight I made dinner for my family. Since we are on a tight budget the trick is to use ingredients that are in the fridge already or come cheap. So even though I was really really craving red meat (a trick for curing that post-time of the month yuckkies) I found the chicken breast we had in the fridge and made an old stand-by, Chicken and veggie stirfry.

The vegetables this time were a red bell pepper and a pound and a half of fresh green beans. It was a good thing I had that extra half pound of beans since my little brother (Little only in age, size-wise he has a good 6 inches and 30 pounds on me) had invited a couple friends over. The food turned out delicious and juicy.

This last bit was a bit tricky. I am a little paranoid about my food, especially pork and chicken. When over cooked chicken becomes dry and not unlike eating a cotton sock. When under-cooked the slimy texture puts even the most slippery eel to shame, plus the risk of disease exponentially increases the "ick" factor. So the trick with cooking chicken on the stove top is to cook it at a high enough temperature that you get a nice caramel brown color on the outside, but not too high so it doesn't burn when you try to cook it all the way through. Using the singed chicken bits left at the bottom of the pan as a base for any sauces enhances the chicken flavor (Yes chicken does taste like chicken if you do it right).

The end result was this:

While the presentation was rather basic it tasted better than it looked.

I was also craving pie. Apple Pie. So this happened:

It was also yummy. Unfortunately I have yet to perfect my pie baking technique so the filling was a little watery. Still good but the slice kind of disintegrated once it was separated from the rest of the pie.

Currently I am finishing alterations to a skirt while watching the original karate kid. I'm kind of hoping to dream with "You're the best, around. Nothing's gonna ever keep you down." as my soundtrack.