Have you seen these? If you love Downton Abbey, you'll find these spot-on funny:
Hat tip to my friend Jen for pointing out these spoofy clips.
Three cheers for Friday! I made it. I even escaped the car accident on the freeway that happened right in front of me this afternoon. Welcome, weekend. I embrace you: haircut, sleeping in (whoops, reverse those), baking/cooking, teaching Sunday School, feeding the missionaries, and watching the Super Bowl/Downton Abbey/The Good Wife.
1. Trader Joe's Hold the Cone mini ice cream cones. Whoa, nelly! The chocolate ones are my favorite but the vanilla are also in the zone of amazing. Only 70 calories each, so when you eat the whole box you don't feel quite so bad. Or so I'm told. (What is that you ask? If I am still shunning sugar? And dairy? Well, yes. Usually. Technically. These are still wonderful little morsels when I'm not living up to that philosophy in practice.)
By the way, I am a small little blog (as you know); T.J.'s doesn't know even I exist so suffice it to say they do not pay me to say such nice things. I just can't stand enjoying something like this without spreading the news.
2. Lee Woodruff is a gal I would love to be girlfriends with (although, perhaps I should put my best foot forward and NOT end the sentence with a preposition to impress her...with?). Do you remember how her husband, Bob, was injured by a roadside bomb while reporting from Iraq? And she wrote a book with him about it? Well, she's a terrific writer and I love her blog. It doesn't hurt that her children are the same age as mine, complete with high school graduating daughter. She gets me, even though she doesn't know me.
3. Speaking of amazing true stories, I've been following the inspiring, heart-breaking story of my high school friend's nephew who was in a terrible snow boarding accident a month ago, the day before he was scheduled to leave on a 2-year mission for church. Gates is a testament of optimism and faith and love and determination. I don't know him but I'm inspired by his (and his family's) great spirit and tenacity. Start with the first post and work chronologically from there is my suggestion. It wouldn't surprise me if you added him to your prayers, too.
4. Lauren pointed this out to me a couple of days ago & it made me laugh:
Are there any holocaust cookbooks you would suggest?
I wasn't sure if I should recoil in horror (yes) or laugh really hard (that, too). Silly auto-correct. For the record, once I asked for clarification I learned that she was asking if I knew of any good books about the holocaust.
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On the corner of Funny and Hooray:
You guys, The Jolly Porter is back from blogging retirement. You're welcome.
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On the corner of Hooray and Hmmm...
We sat down and watched the Les Mis 25th Anniversary Concert this weekend. Ah, memories. It was nostalgic and fun to share the music and story with my kids (and we now have wishful plans to see the musical somewhere soon). The hmmm part was when Marius came out and it was...well, I'll let you see. My girls were kind of happy about it, though.
For one of the encores, they had the original 1985 London cast join in. I know I'm showing my geek (and cliche) colors here but I LOVED it. These were the voices on my really worn taped copy of Les Mis in high school and the people I saw every few weeks when I was in London on study abroad in 89 (back in the days when I wandered around the city and listened to On My Own on my walkman). It felt like a vocal family reunion.
Although, here's the thing: it made me feel a bit aged realizing it has been 25 years. The 80s Marius is a rather old and pudgy (though obviously thrilled and emotional to be there). And you know that the 80s Cosette was all "I've still got it so I'm going to wear my black sequined onesie to show off my legs."
Anyway, you should watch it when it hits your PBS station. p.s. Les Mis is starting a US tour soon, too.
My friend Jess consented to be interviewed for Student+Mom. (Thanks, Jess.) I love her insights about combining the mothering and studenting life. Actually, I like her insights on pretty much anything. She's a wise and true friend and and has talked me down many a time.
2.
Two things have made it an at-home week this week: the old beat-up van that Lauren usually drives to EARLY (5:30 a. to the m.) morning seminary is on the blink so I chose to be car-less rather than sleep-less. And today Sam has a stomach bug. So it's been a great week for getting things done here but not much to report except for things like an empty email inbox and empty laundry baskets and research articles read and notes made.
3.
I've also been enjoying (wasting?) time at Pinterest for the last month or two; it's kind of a virtual inspiration board. Follow me if you're so inclined. If you're a pinnie, too, I'd love to follow you. You can create boards for any category you like: recipes, books, art, style, design...
4.
Guess what? After saving my teaching assistant money for quite some time (since my beloved and ancient MacBook named Clementine has been having trouble keeping up of late) and after visiting the Mac store at least three times and coming home empty handed, I finally got a new computer: a desktop iMac of...my...dreams. I luuuurve it. We're still getting acquainted but I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, one that will usher me through photo editing and keeping in touch with loved ones and writing and dissertating and dabbling with design here and there. Still debating the name for the new computer, however. Can't rush these things.
5.
Am drooling over this little chair on Apartment Therapy. I have just the corner for it. For now it's a cheerful boost of color just to look at it online while I wait for my slush fund to replenish. Although this one and its matching ottoman (at Target!) are also lovely and probably much more doable:
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Saturday, February 4, 2012
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