If there was ever a good cause...

...it would be the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. You might have seen the commercial during the Superbowl, but Dove has a new campaign to promote self-esteem to little girls. It's a phenomenal cause and if you can, try to buy Dove products or donate to the campaign itself. Here's the link: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

Sensory Overload

So I know it's been a long time since I've posted but I really haven't had much to say lately, besides the obscene amounts of work that keeps me consumed most of the time. But yesterday I actually had a day out, a rest day if you will, where Mommymatic and I drove to Altoona for some Old Navy and D&D action. Besides the obvious good company that Mommymatic provides, I was most looking forward to visiting my temple - Dunkin Donuts. Now, perhaps you've heard me mention D&D once or twice. I kinda like their coffee;) But first Stef and I headed to the mall for some spring shopping at Old Navy. Both Stef and I cleaned up in Old Navy and made friends with the salesladies in the dressing rooms, who were mui amused by the spectacle that we caused while trying on clothes. On the way out, however, I noticed a new scent in the air, one that makes even less savvy shoppers than I stop dead in their tracks. Twas the smell of Girl Scout Cookies in the air. Lo and behold, a gaggle of girl scout were peddling their good all around the mall about 10 feet in front of us. Not that I'm known for self-control in general, but Mommymatic and I zoomed in on those cookies faster than pre-teens to a boyband. What is it about Girl Scout cookies that people manic? I mean, I thought I might buy 1 or 2 boxes, but ended up grabbing 5 box like they were going out of style. And I wasn't the only one. The girl scout cookie stand is like a beacon. Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, oh my! And seriously, asking someone to choose their favorite girl scout cookie is like asking them to choose their favorite child. It's impossible to choose. But in the interest of science, today's poll asks: What is your all-time favorite Girl Scout cookie? Leave your comments and let the debate begin.












Exhibit 1 : Little's kid's crack



After we had officially swindled 9 boxes of girl scout cookies between us, Mommymatic and I headed over to D&D for a little iced coffee and pound 'o coffee refill action. Note that instead of waiting for a parking spot to open up, Emily decides she can't wait for delicious D&D and decides to park, instead, in the employee parking lot, much to the confusion of several employees out in the lot having a smoke. What I don't understand is why they would rely on nicotine when Boston Creme donuts are more addictive and satisfying? Within moments of entering the temple of D&D, and after the halos of light and choirs of angels ceased to sing during our entrance, Stefanie and I proceeded to almost wipe them out of pounds of freshly ground coffee for our reserves. I think we might have actually scared a small child in line behind us because of our voracity (jk;) But I didn't care. It was far too long since I had had a real D&D iced coffee with cream and extra sugar. Between the D&D and the girl scout cookies, I was in sensory overload, so much so that like a small kid after I sugar rush, as soon as I made it home the sugar rush ended and I proceeded to pass out. Oh well. It was the best day ever (and yes, I realize my life is sad).

Exhibit 2: The false idols I worship

Hell Hath Officially Frozen Over

This just in... hell must have officially frozen over because I just read on the IMDB news list that Paris Hilton is in talks to portray Mother Theresa in a new biopic. What the f&$#?!!!!!!!! What's next, Snoop Doggy Dogg as Albert Einstein?

Read this and weep:

Hilton To Play Mother Teresa?

Socialite Paris Hilton has reportedly been asked to play celebrated humanitarian Mother Teresa in a movie biopic. Indian director T. Rajeevnath has contacted the hotel heiress about taking the lead role in his new film, which will chronicle the late nun's life. He tells MTV.co.uk, "My agents in California have contacted Paris Hilton. Although there are several actresses willing to play the role of Mother Teresa, the most widely respected and loved person, the history of the actress who is finally chosen for the role would have to be analyzed thoroughly before she is chosen."

Crack and other habits

Good evening friends:) I've just finished a little must-see TV and thought I'd blog about the various new and old vices sucking me time as of late. As you all know, I am a meticulous woman about the shows I watch, making sure my VCR timer is set every week to capture the juicy morsels of entertainment that keep me sustained throughout the week. Much like a crack addict needs a hit at a regular pace, this is how I feel about my much beloved shows. Seriously, could Grey's Anatomy be more addicting? I was literally breathless with glee after the last 2 episodes and I swear to God, if Meredith and McDreamy don't' get it on soon, I'll hurt someone! Seriously, if you are not currently a watcher of this show, you MUST start. It's the best hour on TV currently!!! And don't get me started on how much I heart LOST! Plus One Tree Hill is getting good again and I gots to have my weekly dosage of teen angst. Especially since The O.C. is off the air until March. Can't you just feel me going through O.C. withdrawals over the net?;)

On a related note, I had coffee this morning with my dear Mommymatic sans Heavy D, and we started talking about our blog addictions. I brought up about how funny Sweet Juniper's post this morning about the cell phone with all the blogger babies on it was, and we started to laugh about how much we're all invested in each other's blogging adventures. Now that I've finally set up my Bloglines page to keep track of my ever growing list of blogs I must visit every day, I fear that I will no longer see daylight from being sucked in to our little weird blog worlds. I mean, if I don't know the daily updates on Foo or what Ginapalooza is doing in our nation's capital, how will I ever cope?;) So here's my question then: At what point does the blog world become the real world? If blogging is supposed to be our comments on the realities of our daily lives, at what point do the blogs and our blog personalities become the realities when we start blogging about blogging and other bloggers? Just a thought:)

Before I get back to the "real world" of studying, another blog I stumbled upon, incidentally, recommended this site called SnapShirts, which will create a word cloud from the words on your blog that can be then made into a t-shirt. It is sooooo cool. You type in the name of your blog and it scans it for words and then creates a montage of your blog. Plus, you can delete or replace words you don't want on your "cloud" with ones you do. It's the ultimate blog vanity if you ask me, and I'm sooooo thinking about getting myself a Red, Red Rine t-shirt. If you need something to help you procrastinate, check out the site.

Oh, last thing: I've added some new blogs to my blogrole in case you're in need of some reading material. I owe a debt of gratitude to Mommymatic for turning me on to these blogs, which I warn you are mostly parenting blogs if you aren't in to that, but these people are Fun-nee!

If it wasn't this, it'd be something else

Evenin' friends! Well I've finally turned the corner with my flu and am on the mend. Whoohoo! I'm not at 100% yet, but will be in a few days and I couldn't have done it without the nourishment of reading my fellow bloggers' blogs during the week (well and the fact that my parents drove in to take care of me this weekend;) But as I finish one crisis, wouldn't you know that another one was waiting in the wings. I went up to use the bathroom this evening and heard some hissing noise. Apparently one of the waters pipes under my sink upstairs has sprung a leak and now my bathroom is flooded. Luckily I was able to turn off the water valve and stop the water, but not until after the bathroom was 2-inches deep in water. Oy vey!

Anyhow, I've been memed again, this time by Lisaopolis. So I'll play along for now (I even added 2 new categories at the end), although I'll reserve tagging others for later. Enjoy a little meme time...:)

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Sales girl (The Gap)
2. telemarketer
3. hospital worker in central supplies
4. office bitch (many places)

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Anne of Green Gables
2. 10 Things I Hate About You
3. Father of the Bride (Steve Martin version)
4. Murder by Death

Four places you have lived:
1. Bridgeport, OH
2. Boston, MA
3. New York, NY
4. Heidelberg, Germany

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. LOST
2. Gilmore Girls
3. The O.C.
4. Grey's Anatomy

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Anatalya, Turkey
2. Rome, Italy
3. St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
4. Nassau, Bahamas

Four websites I visit daily:
1. your blog:)
2. NY Times website
3. Spoilerfix.com
4. Yahoo TV Listings

Four of my favorite foods:
1. My mom's lasagna
2. Cream cheese fried wontons from Golden Chopsticks
3. Crab-stuffed flounder
4. Mussels marinara

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. On the beach in St. Maarten
2. Montmartre, Paris
3. Torino, Italy at the Olympics
4. with my parents (anywhere)

Four songs you could listen to over and over again:
1. Fields of Gold - Sting
2. Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
3. Tender - Feeder
4. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

Four favorite smells/scents:
1. cinnamon buns
2. the ocean
3. fresh-cut grass
4. coconut suntan oil

A tsp. of meme...

...is just what the doctor ordered. Good morning friends. Unfortunately I can report that my cold hasn't gotten any better. In fact it's gotten much worse so that I made a little trip to the E.R. last night when my temp reached 102.5 deg. Apparently I have a very bad case of Influenza. The doc gave me an inhaler to ease the coughing and some Robutussin (yuck!) with codeine to help me sleep. Anyhow, the fever finally broke last night but as I'm still bedridden and probably will be for the next 2-3 more days, there's little I can do but sleep, watch movies, push fluids and blog. Lucky for me, Mommymatic tagged me with the meme bug. Here's the deal with memeing (I just copied and pasted this from her blog to save me time and energy):

The person who's been memed thinks of 3-5 movies that make them weep. Like really weep. Then that person goes to Google images and finds a pic from the movie that doesn't totally give it away, and paste the image into his/her blog. Then, the memed one highlights the pic and creates a link to the movie's IMDB page (that way, if someone doesn't know what movie the pic is from, they can click on the picture and it'll take them to IMDB so they can find out!).The final step is that the memed becomes the memer. So tag-- you're it, to the following blog friends:

Mary

Gina

Josh


And on to my weepers...












































And the one I'm ashamed to admit makes me cry like a little girl...

A Well-Timed Gargle

Morning friends! I wish I could say I was feeling fabulous and well-rested this morning but I can't. I barely got any sleep last night because I was up with this wretched cough. I think the only thing that kept me from giving up and just getting out of bed at 5am was the horror at the thought of being awake at 5am:) Anyhow, my mom always had me gargle with hot salt water wehn I was younger when I had sore throats, so I went ahead and did that when I got up. So what I want to know from the rest of you is what sorts of folk remedies do you use for sore throats and/or coughs? I'm in dire need of some relief so please leave suggestions so I can feel better. Thanks!!

One for the Thumb

In case you have been on another planet for the last 24 hrs and haven't had access to media of any kind, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl last night against the Seattle Seahawks 21-10. While not the sharpest nor the most nailbiting victory in franchise history, it 'twas one of the most satisfactory wins I've ever had the pleasure of viewing. Besides the facts that (1) Jerome "the Bus" Bettis got to end his career in his hometown with his first Superbowl victory, (2) Bill Cowher finally got a Superbowl win after 14 seasons with the Steelers, and (3) Hines Ward, one of the classiest guys in the NFL, won the MVP, the Steelers have now tied the 49rs and Cowboys with the most Superbowl victories by a franchise with 5 and did so after a 26-yr draught.

For those of you who don't know what the phrase "One for the thumb" means, that's it: We had 4 Superbowls wins in Steelers history and the 5th win would count on the thumb if you were counting each victory on your hand. It was glorious...it was stupendous... it was looonnnngggggg over-due!!!

For your viewing enjoyment, I'm including lots of pics from our Superbowl celebration at the sportsbar Champs in S.C. There were 8 of us total, including my parents, and you can tell just how delirious we were just from the photos.


















Here we go Stefff, here we go!!





















We take our drinking seriously: Lisa, Jon & Arlo with "The Growler"














The Terrible Towel strikes again!!!

















Who the big Steelers fan? Mom's the big Steelers fan:)














The Steel Party Crew 2006

Oscar, you are so my bitch!

Evening friends! I don't know about the rest of you, but it's been a pretty freakin long week for me and I'm looking forward to the weekend for some rest and Superbowl partying. Anyhow, one of the (few) highlights I've had this week (other than getting to continue my domination of the ballroom dancing world) was reading the Oscar nominations for this year. Tied with the Superbowl, Oscar Sunday is my favorite day of the year. When I was little, my mom and I used to lay a blanket on the ground in front of the TV and eat snacks and start the night with some Barbara Wa-Wa and red carpet action. It was sooo much fun, and to this day, we call each other during the commercials to gossip.

Anyhow, for those of you who know me in person, you know I'm a pretty damn competitive person. Well the Oscar nominations are up there with my favorite betting events, along with March Madness for college basketball, and last year one of the local realtors had a contest in the area asking people to predict the Oscar winners in like 25 categories, including the really random ones like "Best Soundmixing" and "Best Short Animated Film". And guess who won? Moi!!! I ended up winning a $100 gift certificate to this really fancy restaurant in town, which I used for a girls night out with two of my friends. I actually blogged about my triumph in case you'd like to re-acquaint yourself with that story. Anyhow, I pride myself on my ability to predict the Oscar winners, so I've been researching like mad to get the buzz around Tinseltown of who the Academy is leaning towards. So I'm prepped and ready and the Oscars and this contest are sooooo going to be my bitches come March 5th. Of course, my victory could've been somehow tied to my deliriousness on last year's Oscar night, as it also happened to be the night before I had a colonoscopy and I was running to the bathroom every 5 minutes from the laxatives they gave me. This year I'm hoping it will help that I will be full of food and thus have double the mental energy available;) Anyhow, here's a link to the Academy's website where you can download a printable list of the nominees. Check back before the big day for my predictions in case you want advice for your own Oscar office pools. I'm will to share the wealth, although not my gift certificate:) Hehe. Night!