This! Because, well, it’s cute. My only concern is that the site says for cold drinks only. I want to put tea in it!

It seems to me that this year there has been a delay in the over the top amount of Christmas ads that you see after Halloween, but before Black Friday. I don’t know if it is a product of the Recession or what, but I feel like usually at this time of year, you see a majority of ads on tv that are for something you should buy someone for Christmas. That doesn’t feel like the case to me this year.

I also feel like this is something I should have some insight into, but I don’t work on CPG or Electronics, so I can’t really speak intelligently about whether budgets are down.

I’m not complaining, I’m just saying, it’s weird that I don’t feel like I’m seeing a lot of Christmas stuff yet this year. And typically the more I see the more in the Christmas spirit I get. It doesn’t feel like November to me at all. It still feels like October. Some of that also has to do with the fact that it has been unreasonably nice here on the weekends (for November). At this time last year I was listening to Amy Grant sing Christmas carols all day via my Pandora. This year I don’t even like the thought of Amy Grant yet. I completed my first Christmas present this weekend, but it feels like I’m starting too early…although, I know truthfully, I’m starting a little late.

I blame the weather and the lack of ads. I’m going to need to do something soon to get me feeling like it’s going to be Christmas soon.

I’ve had this recipe for Steak Saltimbocca I’ve been wanting to try for over a year in my email box. I finally went and bought all the ingredients and decided to make it this week. I got really busy with work and the steak sat in the fridge for a few days, but it was still good…didn’t smell bad or anything.

The first night we tried, Saturday, we were in a bit of a hurry to cram dinner in before going somewhere. The cook time wasn’t enough and the steaks weren’t done. We didn’t try to cook longer, just stuck them in the fridge since we had to go. Then we tried them again yesterday.

The recipe seems so promising with skirt steak, provolone and prosciutto…and the pictures look SO good! It wasn’t. I was so disappointed. It just wasn’t good. I didn’t eat the whole thing and we threw away the left overs. I guess I won’t be making this again.

A few weeks ago my grandparents were here. My grandma had never been before and my grandpa had been here in 1957. I took 2 days off of work and got all kinds of touristy with them. My feet have never hurt so much! They wanted to go everywhere and everywhere we went.

The Saturday of their trip they reserved tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry. I’d never been out to either, just been to Battery Park where I look from afar…and that was ok with me. The Statue of Liberty didn’t really blow me away, but one of the views from there was of all the ships waiting to make their way up the Hudson or East River. It’s crazy to me that they essentially have to stop and wait in line. Who knew!

Ellis Island was interesting in that looking out the windows of the main building, it doesn’t look like the rest of the island/buildings have been kept up and seem to be in pretty poor condition. The main room everyone had to congregate in while waiting to get into the country was pretty. I’m glad I went and did these things once, but I don’t think I’d do them again any time in the near future.

I have no idea.

I was recently on my way home from somewhere. This is close to my apt and I found it funny. On the side of the USPS Storage Box, someone had written DickChicken. Hehe.

This week while looking for birthday presents for tbf’s sister I discovered the shop, Seja B. She has some really pretty pieces. We bought his sister this necklace, which I think can be nice and neutral:

I also found this one that I want. I love it, it’s beautiful, I’d wear it all the time!

Through following Etsy on Twitter I also found the shop Clemantine Rex this week. They make laser cut bamboo necklaces and I really want this one:

This necklace really reminds me of Charlie Brown, because when the characters get mad or something they get a little cloud like this over their head. (Right? Even if they don’t, it still reminds me of Charlie Brown.) I love love love this and really want to buy it for myself…but I won’t. *frown*

I also found this necklace there, and you can choose from multiple colors for the background. Light blue, sage green, red, and maybe black? I think it’s really pretty.

Finally, I’m really into the idea of aprons lately. I want to buy everyone I know an apron for Christmas. Hah. Maybe I should just buy myself one. Earlier this year I found the shop Boojiboo that has some pretty silhouettes, but they weren’t quite what I was looking for this week, so I went looking for more. I found the shop Aprons and More that has some really pretty aprons. They’ve found some really pretty fabric to make these aprons with. They also have some really great holiday aprons.


I bought this last one for one of my best friends for her birthday.

Today I had a movie day. It was supposed to be rainy outside all day and I never see any movies anymore, so I decided to go see a couple movies I’ve been wanting to see.

First, tbf and I went and saw Couples Retreat after meeting up with his brother-in-law for brunch. The movie was cute. It never made me laugh out loud, but lets be honest, not much (on tv or in movies) makes me laugh out loud. I thought it was cute and would definitely watch it again. I enjoyed the cast full of familiar faces, although I didn’t buy Kristen Davis’s character’s (Lucy) relationship with her husband and what came of it in the end. In the end, I definitely enjoyed this movie and wished I had seen it second.

Then I did a bad thing. For the first time ever I snuck into a movie!

However, I saw the Invention of Lying second, and I don’t think I would have stuck around to see a second movie if I had seen this one first. A few weeks ago, Ellen had Jennifer Garner on her show promoting this movie. I a. developed a giant girl crush on Jennifer Garner, and b. decided this movie sounded so funny. Then she had Jason Bateman on to promote the movie as well. Ironically, he was in both of the movies I saw today. The idea of the movie sounds cute. No one in the world has even thought to lie and can’t conceive of it, but the main character, Mark Bellison – played by Ricky Gervais – manages to lie to his mother as she is dying to comfort her about the afterlife. I promise, I didn’t just ruin the movie. He then realizes what he can get out of lying to people and basically makes himself rich and powerful to get the girl, Jennifer Garner, who is not interested in him. It ends in a cute way, but overall, I was disappointed and didn’t find this movie to be as good as I was expecting. It seemed to be express someone’s opinion and dislike of religion and seemed to have too many untertones to me. Too bad — it seemed to have potential.

I was going to post a picture with this until I google’d Bed Bugs, hit images and was thoroughly grossed out!

Regardless, that is not my point. My point it that tomorrow while you’re all at work, I will be in pj pants, on my couch, watching tv with my lap top on my lap. Our building has bed bugs and my floor and one other floor were asked to work from home tomorrow and Friday before the floors are sprayed on Saturday. Sweet! I’ll take it!

I believe it to be a well known fact that canned products tend to contain a great deal of sodium. I just want to start out with that. If you don’t know this, google it, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a ton of information about the uprising over the last year of people opposed to these sodium levels. Oh, I should also include things like microwavable meals in this category (think tv dinner types – i.e. Lean Cuisine).

So yesterday I was waiting in the kitchen at the microwave to heat up my oh-so-yummy homemade chili. The girl I was waiting on pulled her microwavable bowl of Progresso soup out of the microwave, grabbed some salt from a bowl on the counter we keep condiments in and went on her way. I then proceeded to drink 5 gallons of water for her. I was amazed that someone would add salt to a canned soup and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, so I looked up Progresso’s sodium levels for this product. Between regular Progresso and Progresso Light, the lowest sodium level I can find in one of these cans is 680 mg (in the Chicken Wild Rice flavor). It ranges all the way up to 930mg (in Minestrone).

The daily recommended sodium intake (by the American Heart Association) is 1,000 mg per 1,000 calories you eat, not to exceed 3,000 mg per day. (To give some gauge, 2500 mg is about a teaspoon.) I can’t imagine getting half of my intake in one meal. Then there’s also the question, is there anything wrong with getting less than 1,000 mg per 1,000 calories per day? I’m going to go with no, but if you can prove me wrong, by all means.

Over the last year or so I’ve been made to feel like the way I say things and the way I approach things is not the right way to do things. I’ve become afraid to make a statement without thinking it over so many times I’ve forgotten what I mean to say. I don’t make posts including my opinion anymore beyond, “Oh, I love this” or “Oh, this is cute.” I don’t talk about things I care about. I can’t even find it in myself to tell my roommate to remember to dust the tv and coffee table when he cleans for fear that it’s going to offend him or someone else.

I am who I am and I don’t like feeling like I need to change that. I am blunt, honest and to the point. I always have been. I am never malicious, ill mannered or intentionally rude. That’s not me, but I’ve learned to feel like it is. People have taken the way I communicate and have made me feel like it’s not ok. I’ve been made to feel like I need to change the way I talk to people and communicate what I am thinking. I am a blunt person. i always have been and I find it much easier than trying to muddle up what I am saying with niceties in order not to hurt someone’s (perhaps too) fragile feelings. There are so many fewer steps involved when I can just say what I mean and what I am thinking, rather than having to code it nicely, then say it to someone who has to simplify or decode what I really meant. Why can I not just say what I mean? I’ll tell you why, because I’m afraid someone is going to criticize me for being insensitive or mean. Neither of which I am.

I would NEVER intentionally hurt someone. I would never want to do that. I have always treated others the way I wanted to be treated. Always. And somehow I’ve been made to feel like that’s not good enough, that even though I would never want to hurt someone, I am mean. I am tired of not being able to simply communicate what I mean or saying what I mean and it being twisted into something I did not mean. It’s exhausting.

Oh, and by the way, when I was writing this, it was meant to be read with a melancholy tone, not a raging tone…just in case someone wants to try to make this something it wasn’t meant to be.