How I Spent My Summer Vacation

So here we are, in the middle of summer. As you all know, I am currently on vacation from work (and Alex is still job hunting), so we have a lot of time on our hands. When I began this vacation, I was concerned that I would grow weary of the lack of structure and the free time. I couldn't have been more wrong; I loooove it. Now I feel bad for the chumps that have to work every month of the year! Suckers!

Anyway, in honor of my fantastically lazy summer, I thought I'd do a list of things that occupy my free time:

1. The Price is Right: This is a super nostalgic thing for me. When I was a kid, summer meant waking up late, watching Bob Barker while enjoying a huge bowl of Alpha-bits... Some things never change. Even though it's now Drew Carey and I have traded Alpha-bits for Cap'n Crunch, I still get my Price is Right on most mornings at 9 AM.

2. Food Network/Wii Fit: What a deadly combo. I've been trying to be healthier and to exercise daily. However, I also love to watch the Food Network, which makes me hungry and makes me want to cook. A lot. I also have stumbled on some great food websites: The Pioneer Woman Cooks, The Impulsive Buy (which is also hilarious), The Kitchn, and Serious Eats are some of my faves, and they usually have delicious-looking recipes. Sigh.

3. True Blood: Okay... Now I wouldn't ever recommend this show to anyone else, and it took me a while to like it, but now... I may be hooked. The acting sucks, the accents are some of the worst I've ever heard, and since it's on HBO, there's tons of gratuitous sex and violence, especially in the first episodes. I was ready to give it up after the first disk. However, the story is just interesting enough to keep me watching, and I think it is improving. They've toned down the gross stuff, and the actors might just be settling into their accents. Sidenote: This show has an awesome theme song:



4. Etsy and other websites: It's slightly embarrassing, but I spend waaay too much time online. Etsy is a particular killer. For those of you who are uninitiated, Etsy is sort of like Amazon for sellers of handmade goods. It has an abundance of awesome stuff to buy, and I can spend hours browsing and putting stuff into my "Favorite Listings." Right now, I have over 500 things in my favorites (and that doesn't even include my favorite sellers)! My favorite thing I've ever bought from Etsy was my sweet robot cake topper.

5. Y: The Last Man: I wish I could say that I've read a ton of books this summer... but I can't! I have started reading a comic by Brian K. Vaughan (one of the writers of Lost) called Y: The Last Man. I actually started to get interested in the series when I saw Hurley reading an issue in Spanish on Lost. The premise is simple: Every male creature on Earth dies... except Yorick, the main character, and his pet monkey Ampersand. So far, the series is good. Imperfect, but interesting enough that I'm going to keep reading.

6. Local Bakeries: I'm a sucker for baked goods, and Salt Lake has a ton of great restaurants and bakeries. My favorites are Mini's Cupcakes, where I like to indulge in the Chocoholic cupcake and a batch of freshly made marshmallows, and Tulie Bakery, where I have discovered some of the best croissants I've ever had. I've been trying to be good and avoid stuff that's so bad for me, but what can I say?

7. Local Vintage/Consignment Shops: Another favorite local thing of mine is the abundance of awesome vintage or consignment shops around. If you like funky/cool stuff, I'd recommend Emilie Jayne or Abode. If you want something a bit more stately/Mod, I like The Green Ant or the newly opened Now and Again. If you want a good deal, try Ninth Avenue Chic or (my personal favorite) Moriarty's.

8. Salt Lake-y type stuff: I have really enjoyed all the cool stuff going on downtown. The Living Traditions Festival was a glutton's dream, the Farmer's Market each Saturday is awesome, and if you get really bored, Library Square is fun to browse. I'm looking forward to the Twilight Concert Series, even though we'll be in California when one of my favorite bands, The Black Keys, is scheduled to perform. For free.

9. Crafty pursuits: It is probably strange to some of you, but I enjoy making stuff. So far this summer Alex and I have turned an old door into a pretty cool shelf:
I also have plans to repaint and recover this chair:

AND to make these plates:

We'll see if that happens...

10. Not studying, planning, or even thinking about school: Oops!

No more pencils, no more books

So it is Monday morning, and I am not at work... Friday was the last day of my first year teaching high school. I went to graduation to see my little seniorkins get their diplomas, and then, I was a free woman! What a year. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes... not so much. It's amazing how much better the second half of the year went than the first. Overall, it was a good year. But I'm glad to have a break!

Awesome things from the internet

Here's some funny things floating around the interweb:

Mickey Rourke and a bird:
This joke, from filmdrunk:
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Mickey Rourke walks into a bar with a parrot on his shoulder. Bartender says, “Whoa, where’d you get that?” Parrot says, “Rawk! Passed out behind an Arby’s.”

Kevin Smith and his daughter talking about Twilight:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Tim Gunn and Iron Man!


Coming soon: A review of Drag Me to Hell

I'm so angry, I just want to dance

So I have 2 weeks and two days left of teaching.... The kids are going crazy, like that one episode of Johnny Bravo when he used chili instead of hair gel and all the squirrels attacked his head... My students are the rabid squirrels in this crappy metaphor. I don't think you need an English teacher to tell you where that leaves me. Sigh. Also, as we creep closer to summer, the temperature's rising. As you may recall, we have no air conditioning at my school. It turns my room into a hellish inferno. But... almost two weeks left! Eye of the tiger.

On days like today, however, I don't want to focus on the positive. I just want to... dance!



Just kidding. I really just want to slip into a Del Taco-induced food coma with old reruns of Seinfeld flickering in the background.

I can't really embed that clip without including this one. So clever. I wish I could have gone to Flight of the Conchords. It would've been really nice if someone would have offered to get us tickets when they scored theirs...

Enjoy!

Paul Rudd is adorable

I'm a little bit in love with Paul Rudd. He's awesomely adorable in everything: I Love You, Man was great; he's hilarious in Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, and Anchorman; he helped make Role Models better than it should have been; I even enjoyed him in Friends and Clueless. Here's yet another reminder of how just how awesome Paul Rudd really is:

If Batman did rap battles

Check this out (from mightygodking.com).

Best not come to battle because if you battle me
You’re gonna suffer a f***ing bat-astrophe
Kal-El, what the hell, you wanna get in a fight
F***er step off or I’ll synthesize Kryptonite
Diana, I wanna introduce my Batpole
To every one of your wonderful Wonder-holes
Green Lanterns? F*** you, you’re alla you overpaid
I’ll beat you with daffodils, beat you with lemonade
Martian Manhunter’s tough, so I’ll light a Bat-Match,
Smoke a cigar and I’ll make him my bat-byatch
And the Flash? He runs fast, but you know he can’t handle me
I’ll just activate Anti-Flash Bat-Plan Twenty-Three
Aquaman, he’s a joke, you know he ain’t tough enough
Let him sit back till I want me some dolphin muff
Even Aquaman’s fishes, they know I bat-vicious
The League are my b*tches, they do as I wishes
Cause if I don’t want it the bad guys will never win
Down ‘em like House downs a handful of Vicodin
Lex Luthor, Ra’s Al Ghul, or even Per Degaton
They all the worst and I be the “better than”
Battle neverending you know that I fight it
My victories endless, you cannot deny it
Cause they dead y’all, and they dead y’all
My parents are muhf***in dead y’all

(repeat last two lines until Batman breaks down crying in front of parents’ graves)

Heh, heh, heh. Also funny: Birds stealing ice cream cones.



Coming soon to a blog near you: Big Macs vs. Whoppers--a scientific analysis. Stay tuned!

I love it

Today I bought a 7 dollar bar of chocolate. However, it isn't just any chocolate bar--it's Mo's Bacon Bar by Vosges Haut Chocolat. That's right. Bacon. I couldn't resist. I already wrote about the joys of bacon-related desserts. They can be sooo good. I haven't eaten it yet; I'm going to wait for Alex. Otherwise, I'm worried I would just eat the whole thing without waiting for him to try any.

It even has special instructions on how to eat it: "Breathe...engage your 5 senses, close your eyes and inhale deeply. Be in the present moment, notice the color of the chocolate, the glossy shine. Rub your thumb over the chocolate bar to release the aromas of smoked applewood bacon flirting with deep milk chocolate. Snap off just a tiny piece and place it in your mouth, let the lust of salt and sweet coat your tongue." I'm so excited!

I know that seven dollars is a little ridiculous to spend on chocolatey goodness, but I have a crazy-awful cold. Teaching with a cold sucks. I sound like Kathleen Turner during the mannish years and there's nothing worse then having a runny nose while trying to look impressive in front of people. Also, I puked the other day--I don't even want to mention how gross it was. So anyway... I think I deserve it!

UPDATE: I just tried the bacon chocolate. Wow. Mmmm, mmmm good, and also awesomely strange. I definitely let the lust of salt and sweet coat my tongue. Delicious!