I was actually at a Blogher conference in New York the first time I heard mention of “The Bloggess.” “I was recently retweeted by The Bloggess,” one attendee said, “and she’s huge.” Then, a reverential hush fell over the room in honor of both the name mentioned and the accomplishment. The discussion was about connecting with other bloggers and marketing, but I was much more fascinated by the mention of this Bloggess. The name was obviously awesome, and speaking of her had rendered a room full of bloggers speechless – not exactly an easy feat. Of course, I wasn’t going... Continue reading

If you’re at all like me, you see the holidays as a great time to give and get those products/items you’d love to have but would never get for yourself. This philosophy of gifting hopefully explains my annual obsession with travel accessories, cashmere, 1,000+ thread counts and high-end skincare. For some reason, when I’m shopping for myself, it’s hard for me to buy anything more expensive than what Wet ‘n’ Wild has in stock at my local Walgreen’s. However, when it’s time for presents, shiny packages and luxury ingredients call my name. This is one of the many reasons I’m... Continue reading

One of my assignments from The Artist’s Way Toolkit was to write down what I would do if I had five other lives to lead. Here’s what I came up with. I’m guessing four of them would require that I spend less time watching J.J. Abrams’ and Joss Whedon’s shows, which is a lot of what I’ve done with my present life. Regardless, here we go with my five other lives. (Should you have other lives of your own planned, I’d love to hear about them. As I’m currently obsessed with Fringe, I fully admit that I spend too much... Continue reading

I love some discount shopping. When I can find a light-up skeleton at Walgreen's for $5.99, I'm a happy girl. (And some people think I'm difficult to please ...) The obvious perk of discount shopping is the low prices because, let's face it, it's not like you're really paying for much else. Organization? Not so much, but if I said I didn't enjoy digging through piles off-brand sweat pants for the one pair without a spelling error, I'd be lying. Customer service? Very much depends. It's better not to ask questions if you can avoid it. Quality? My light-up skeleton... Continue reading

I've been watching Saturday Night Live since the fifth grade. (The cool kids were watching it, therefore I had to watch it. I also liked watching L.A. Law. I guess you can say my tv tastes haven't changed that much in 20 years.) Back then, the biggest challenge was staying up late enough to see all of SNL. I considered it a win if I made it to the first musical number. Collectively, our class liked SNL so much that, inspired by the political humor of the show, we put on a sketch at Christmas based on the trial of... Continue reading

Is it Spanish, spinach or some combination thereof? I don't know, and for $2.99, I'm not willing to find out. Continue reading

I have a Kindle Fire. (It’s hardly big news, but all stories have to start somewhere.) I think the SO expected me to use my Kindle Fire to read all the time, get into RSS feeds, keep up with news from all over the web, etc., etc. Instead, I quickly developed an addiction for Bejeweled. (“Addiction” isn’t an exaggeration here. When I find something new, it’s all I want to do. So far, the only thing this particular personality trait has done for me is allow me to get through lots of episodes of television in a short period of... Continue reading

This is the newest member of the household, Gilly (a.k.a. the Gilly monster). She's decided she's not a fan of the flash on my camera, hence the closed eyes. Yes, she is named for this Gilly. There are three primary reasons for this: 1. My great, great love of Kristen Wiig. Even if this is one of her less popular characters, I'm still a fan. 2. Both Gillys have similar unruly hair. 3. When we discipline Gilly, the SO and I can do Will Forte impressions. Continue reading

So, I’m having one of those days. It’s not like anything terrible has happened, but my self-esteem just isn’t quite where it should be, and I’m a tad irritable. (If yelling at your car door for opening too wide in the Lowe’s parking lot can count as “a tad.”) I would love to be one of those peaceful, Zen-like people who can recognize how small their own problems are, anticipate the light ahead and enjoy the journey, but well, let’s be honest here. It’s me. Since I have this lovely forum known as my blog, I thought I’d run through... Continue reading

When I find an article of clothing that I like, I tend to buy it in at least two colors. My more frugal sister thinks that this is crazy, but I figure that if you find something you like, you might as well have more than one. Who knows when you’ll find something you like as much again? What if something happens to the first one, and then you’ve lost your favorite shirt? I think I’m being practical, but I also think Tina Fey and I would be besties if only we ever met, so take that for what you... Continue reading

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Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay is a gripping thriller with engaging characters, an intriguing plot and a strong narrative voice. Ray Kilbride returns home to the small town of Promise Falls after the death of his father. He is charged with overseeing his father’s estate and deciding the fate of his schizophrenic brother Thomas. Thomas is obsessed with maps (obsessed is putting it mildly), and through his keen observation skills, uncovers what he believes to be a murder. What unfolds is a story of political machinations, devious deeds and family. The relationships between the characters are varied and compelling.... Continue reading

A little glimpse into what goes on at our house: Continue reading

OK kids, I'm not going to lie; it's been a long week. I'll write more about it later, but for now, I cannot begin to approach serious writing. I'm trying to tone down the crying outbursts for a bit. (I guess you know it's bad when people ask whether or not you have some Xanax on hand.) I'm very lucky in so many ways, and I know my problems are small in comparison to what a lot of people go through, but these have been some off days for me. While the past seven days include such highlights as getting... Continue reading

This is not a post about politics. This is a post about mistaken identity. If you’re going to get all worked up about politics, please save us both the headache and stop reading now. I love to get the mail.* It’s like a daily dose of presents. I even enjoy catalogs, and I read Clipper magazine. (I’m not sure you can call that reading, but I flip through it and cut out restaurant coupons like I’m going to use them rather that just chucking it in the recycling bin straight away.) Of course, I’m human and don’t like bills, but... Continue reading

Originally published June 5, 2008: Dear Liars The Makers of Dr. Pepper, Usually, I am one of your biggest addicts fans. Initially, I was heart broken when my dentist insisted that for the love of God and the health of my already enamel-deficient teeth suggested I make the switch to diet cola. I thought it meant the end of taste. But, the first time I drank your product, I had to double check that someone hadn't started a party in my mouth and forgotten to send me an invitation. It was that good. In the words of my friend Susan,... Continue reading

I don’t always have the best timing. I tend to fall in love with new restaurants just before they go out of business, arrive at boutiques during the 30-minute window the owner has gone for lunch and discover listings for events two days after they happened. Usually, my poor timing is just inconvenient. On other occasions, it’s downright awkward. Last summer, I took in a cat that I found in the woods behind the SO’s house. You might remember her.* She was declawed, skinny and nearly hairless, so I gave her a name that I thought was befitting of the... Continue reading

If I was to keep track of how much of my writing I'd lost due to my failure to save, Internet/computer crashes and not keeping personal copies of website assignments, I would cry. Daily. Luckily, thanks to services like waybackmachine, I can find some of what I've lost. (Not that I'm sure it's all worth saving.) With that in mind, here's something originally posted on May 12, 2008: The disk drive to my computer is broken. Well, I guess it's just kind of broken — it isn't completely non-functional. It still opens sporadically, there's just no guarantee as to how... Continue reading

1. I don't just visit People.com too frequently, I hit refresh when I'm on People.com because I feel that strong a need for the latest info on the Robert Pattinson/Kristen Stewart cheating scandal. Not only do I not know Robert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart, I don't even like the Twilight movies. 2. I begin most of my sentences with, "Well, on Pinterest ..." When I'm not on Pinterest, I'm doing fun things like pasting wallpaper to the side of an old dresser, making concoctions with shredded chicken from the crock pot and removing the den doors. (Yes, I physically took... Continue reading

If I was to keep track of how much of my writing I'd lost due to my failure to save, Internet/computer crashes and not keeping personal copies of website assignments, I would cry. Daily. Luckily, thanks to services like waybackmachine, I can find some of what I've lost. (Not that I'm sure it's all worth saving.) With that in mind, here's something originally posted on May 12, 2008: The disk drive to my computer is broken. Well, I guess it's just kind of broken — it isn't completely non-functional. It still opens sporadically, there's just no guarantee as to how... Continue reading

I have a Pinterest problem. It's not like I really needed another reason to be on the Internet, but the universe still gave me one. It has made me want to cook a lot more, but my house is also starting to look like a bizarre "trash to treasure" experiment gone mad. Since I don't volunteer or help the community in other ways, I thought I could at least help someone out there from drowning in pins and boards. Here are a few of my successes and failures in the DIY realm*: 1. Dutch Oven Bread I had a hard... Continue reading

This past week, the SO and I, along with some family members made our annual pilgrimage to the Big Kahuna’s Water Park in Destin, Florida. Not too much has changed since last year. The slides are pretty much the same, the food is still overpriced and everyone in charge is someone who I could have, in theory, birthed. The “ma’am” quotient seems to be up, but I’m trying not to dwell on it. It’s possible that my move to the full-on Spanx bathing suit has something to do with it. (I love the suit, but there’s no liquid consumption when... Continue reading

I am currently obsessed with Pinterest. Anyone following me on Pinterest probably thinks that I don’t do anything but create pins. (This is somewhat false.) I like to think of myself as crafty, so the “DIY and Crafts” tab is particularly tempting. Unfortunately, I am also impatient. I don’t block my knitting or check the gauge. (Despite one hideously large sweater that I even wore out in a poor show of will, I still haven’t learned my lesson.) I move on from tutorials with terms like “drill press” and “stabilizing clay.” If there’s a project that I like, I find... Continue reading

If it was not a restroom that I used in the California ferry station, well let's just say that management is not going to be happy with everything that's going on in there. Against my better judgment, I'm going to quote Wikipedia here. "Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it and are often used to express irony." Did I somehow wander into an ironic bathroom? What would an ironic bathroom even be? I can only assume that the ferry station has had trouble with... Continue reading