Addendum

At Chris's request, I took down a picture of him and Asher because "you are projecting an image of, fucking, I mean, it's not a real thing, man. The picture creates more than you create, man."

2007 Year in Review

I thought I'd have hella time to blog over this break, but it was actually a fairly stressful break, what with eight thousand different family things in two different states. I'm taking some time today while Chris is grading 40 more shitty 10th grade research papers. Here's three lists about 2007, because apparently lists are all anyone can muster at the end of the year.

7 Awesome Events of 2007 (in no particular order)

Friends moving to STL--Good pals Banter and his Ball & Chain moved back to St Louis after an alleged stint in law school, and K-Vav moved back to the 'Lou after lighting up the lives of Bay City rollers. River City didn't even see it coming.


Starting school again--Starting the Leadership program at UST has been totally enlightening and I love being back working out my gray matter. The fat stack of books I have to read in the next month is daunting and exciting all at the same time, and the relationships I'm building within my cohort have been invaluable.


New writing opportunities--Green Options has gotten me back in the swing of regular writing, meeting deadlines, and a little extra income. Plus some clippings. I am a big timer, I guess. Just kidding. This little blog right here is my outlet and venting space and I thank all three of you for faithfully reading.

Concerts, concerts, concerts--We saw Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, John Butler Trio, State Radio, Lucero, The Decemberists, The Shins, The Flaming Lips, and Guster. We also went to Wakarusa and saw Ben Harper, John Butler Trio, Widespread Panic, Son Volt, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, among others. Which reminds me, I need to write my concert manners manifesto, cause some of you fools are out of your damn mind at shows.


Backpacking trip to the Appalachian Trail--Well, the first five days or so, before it got hot, insanely rainy, and buggy.

Good times with good friends--Trip to Chicago for the World Series of Pop Culture, Team Awesome (during the non-dysfunctional times), going to Minnesota with Molly Markham and Abby, various jaunts to South City holes to drink lots of beer and sing 80s hits.

Going to the Iowa State Fair--fried cheese curds, cold beer mullets, farmers, political candidates, and hog balls bigger than your head. Good times, good times.

7 Things I'm Thankful For Right This Minute

Grandma's Kringla--you know, those cakey, pretzel-shaped things my grandma (Hi, Grandma!) makes and I give you, if you are lucky, around Thanksgiving and Christmas because we can't eat them all. She makes like 120 dozen every year. No joke. Seriously, the lady can bake a mean Norwegian pastry.

This cookbook, which is allowing me to make orange pudding cupcakes that currently smell delicious as they cool and will go to Meghan and Paul's Second Annual New Year's Eve bash tonight.

Left Bank Books (the one in STL, although I've been to the unrelated one in Seattle, which is also fucking rules. I could spend hours and hours and thousands and thousands perusing their shelves and expanding our home library.

My new Holga camera. Pictures to follow after I get them developed at Ye Olde Creve Couer Camera. Remember the days before the instant gratification of digital?

This totally awesome Golden Smog album

Dexter and Friday Night Lights, both totally awesome shows whose Season Ones I'm about to finish. Damn! Y'all should watch both, because they are totally well-written and entertaining and feature decent acting. Also, I'm sure you'll get an outstanding recommendation from Chris's 8-year-old cousin, who informed us at Christmas that he loves Dexter. Me-"You mean Dexter's Laboratory?" Him-"No, Dexter the serial killer."

These guys:
***PICTURE REMOVED AT WOLVERINE'S REQUEST*


So, that's my end of year list. You do not suck at all.

Mash Up

Here's an interesting website with several mashups of different artists. I particularly like the "Let's Get It On" mixed with "Northern Sky".

Foiled!

I have to read a chemistry test to a kid. D'oh.

Happy Thursday

I'm enjoying a finals-week Thursday with no finals! Nothing to do all day except Advisory. Right now, I'm reading the paper, drinking some coffee and Naked juice (not together) and listening to the 20 best covers of the year, according to Silly Pipe Dreams. Right now, I'm listening to Beth Ditto and Gossip belt out a local favorite, "Careless Whispers". Not as good as a certain money-grubbing karaoke star, but a good way to start the morning. Oooh, now it's Lily Allen covering "Don't Get Me Wrong" by the Pretenders. Check out the list, which I found via my shining pop culture star, Whitney at Pop Candy

I know you're as anxious for the weekend (and holidays) to get here as I am and you have no interest in doing any real work. So why not follow my blogging all day from your cube? That way, you'll have a reason to refresh.

Lush, Oh Lush

Dear God, I love Lush.

I am not a fragrance type of person. I wore Clinique Happy in high school for about six seconds. Get grossed out when my students spray any type of body spray, particularly Axe, anywhere at any time. The smell of CKone reminds me of ninth grade, and not in a good way. My favorite body fragrances are soap and fabric softener.

But when I lived in Germany, Caroline and I visited a Lush store, and I fell in love with Potion Lotion which smells like spicy carnations. I bought more in Venice, then persuaded my mom to buy me more online from Lush's only US store in Seattle.

I go to the mall maybe two, three times a year if I can help it. But last year, Chris and I happened to be at the Galleria and I saw the Holy Grail: COMING SOON: LUSH. Uncharacteristically, I literally let out a squeal of joy (much like when Chris bought me TiVo and I knew he was the one) and hurried back soon after it opened, only to find that Potion Lotion had been discontinued. I used a few of their other products sporadically, but because I hate going to the mall, I quit, disappointed with the too-soon demise of my favorite skin elixer.

Chris and I went to the Galleria this weekend to see the Golden Compass, and visited Lush for gifts. I fell in love all over again, because they reintroduced Potion as a solid fragrance, a tiny pot of wax to rub on my wrists and then sniff uncontrollably throughout the day. What's even better about Lush is that they are super eco. All of their paper products (catalogs, paper bags, and cardboard boxes) are made from recycled paper. The plastic bags they use to package many of their products are biodegradable, and many of their products are unwrapped, which saves fuel on shipping. All of their products are handmade and vegetarian, many are vegan, they use fair trade products whenever possible, never test on animals and all smell like heaven. Chris even bought me Charity Pot, a pot of lovely-smelling lotion. 100% of the cost of Charity Pot goes to a number of charities, many environmental.

Although they are pricey (be prepared), Lush provides a luxurious ethical choice and I will heart it forever. Go there and make your lady friend's heart swoon.

Seriously?

1) Why is this an article?

2) Why is it on the front page of Yahoo?

Anyone who disagrees that we're devolving seriously underestimates the stupidity of contemporary American society.

Question

When Jeopardy returns from commercial break and Trebek interviews the contestants, do you think the producers ask the contestants to come up with the most mundane, boring, irrelevant story about themselves? That, or Jeopardy only allows contestants with painfully trivial lives. No pun intended. Trebek just interviewed someone about how they ate a spoonful of salt for a dollar. That was the best you could come up with?

Of Note

You may have a case of the Mondays when you're dreaming all night of hearing your landline ring in the wee hours of the morning, hoping to pick up and hear the slight pause of the automated message and then the voice telling you that school has indeed been canceled due to the ice storm, but no such luck, yet you still manage to completely bust your ass on the icy front steps, sending your belongings flying willy-nilly and giving you what can only be a fat fucking bruise on your right butt cheek.

I went to Minneapolis this weekend, which was good, except my flight home was delayed almost three hours and I didn't get home until after midnight, when my flight normally gets in around 9:30. There was some mechanical delay that hurt the three flights before us. So I'm in the dead-as-hell Minneapolis-St Paul airport with the seven other people taking the flight to St Louis, two of whom are priests. One priest, no joke, slept the entire time we were at the gate, sitting up, snoring harder than my Grandma Best (seriously, lady could saw some logs). I can hear it even while listening to This American Life on my iPod. So we finally have our flight, full of turbulence to the point where I think we might crash, but land safely in St Louis. I'm waiting just off the plane where the airline people bring your valet bags (carryons that won't fit in the overhead compartment). Some dude is waiting there. When the priests get off, he grabs their bags, says, "Hello, Friar. Hello, Archbishop. Welcome back to St Louis." Then they walk off the gangway right onto the tarmac, get into a chauffered SUV, and take off, right from the tarmac. Freakin' Burke was the snoring priest!

Reverend Emily says I should have asked him what he thought of the Golden Compass.

Notice

For those of you at Meghan's on Saturday night who thought I made up the Christmas movie I was talking about, you can suck it.