Seriously, SCOTUS?

I like Hobby Lobby.  I just discovered it a few months ago and fell in love with the darn store. Which is why it pained me to hear about the case they were bringing to the US Supreme Court: limiting their health insurance policy to exclude birth control for employees for "religious reasons"? It pained me only a little less than the fact that SCOTUS actually ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby.  How can such a ruling that's so stuck in the dark ages actually pass through the United States Supreme Court?  

The worst part is that seeing that Hobby Lobby is more of a craft store, I'm sure most of their employees are women; women struggling to make ends meet and women who have families already.  How can you deny them the right to any medicine because you believe something that they might not?  Last I checked, it was illegal to ask for religious affiliation on a job application.  So Hobby Lobby can't know if their employees have the same beliefs.  Why should they be forced to practice the same thing, just to earn a buck?

Sunday Evening

There are about a dozen wonderful things coming in the next month, but after an evening of cupcakes, tea and a great book, I'm pretty darn content right here.  Here's to a fabulous week!

Third Time's a Charm

I have what one might call, an obsession, with macarons.  Ever since I tried them last year, I've felt the need to taste-test them every time I see them somewhere.  Originally, I was convinced they couldn't be that difficult.  There were only about 4 ingredients to them.  How could they be so delicious and so difficult?  I was very, very wrong.  It turns out the most difficult recipes are the ones that only have a few ingredients.  Test recipes 1 and 2 were epic fails.  Both had decent flavor but texture and look were just terrible to say the least.  

So I've been leaving the darn things to the professionals for the last few months.  My fragile ego couldn't take the pressure.  But I had a dream about them last night, and woke up with a renewed desire to nail the little pieces of heaven.  I've been hoarding real almond meal (as opposed to the stuff I made that caused the epic fails) for a few weeks so I had all the ingredients to give them a go.  After a few minutes of stress, and angst over whether or not they'd turn out - I'm ready to admit, the third time's a charm.  They were AWESOME - even if I do say so myself.  They looked like macarons.  They felt like macarons.  And most importantly they tasted like macarons!  I'm also willing to concede that even though the recipe for these coconut and chocolate macarons came from a cookbook that spelled the word "macaron" incorrectly on every single page (including the cover), it's a pretty perfect recipe that I will be treasuring for a very long time!

PS: On top of nailing the macarons, these are probably the best food pics I've ever taken. So you could say today was a banner day in the kitchen for Kristen.  Though I'm sure this new found cockiness will come back to bite me in the butt sometime soon...

Friday Five

1. World Cup Madness: I have to admit, that I don't give a single thought to the world of soccer most of the time.  But I'm kinda hooked on the World Cup right now.  It's pretty awe-inspiring to see the entire US agreeing on something for a change.  I know we Americans care more about football and baseball most of the time, but we really should get a little more into soccer.  It's pretty awesome what these guys do!  I'm tired just watching them.  Go USA!

2. This is strange, bizarre, and mostly just plain weird but it made me legitimately laugh out loud.  At the time I was pretty sure it had something to do with GISHWHES , and as it turns out, it's their "corporate sponsor", that was promised earlier this week.  Something this strange could only have come from a mind of a mad-man, but I have to say the dude's a genius.  Speaking of GISHWHES, it went live today and I'm seriously regretting the fact that I have no back-bone.  I'd love to get involved if I could just work up the courage!

3. For someone with no Prince Charming currently in her life, I spend an inordinate amount of time prowling wedding sites on Pinterest.  I'm currently digging these super cute card holders.  I'm not even sure I'd be able to decide on one particular one for my future wedding...you know the one that's not going to happen until I meet the man of my dreams...

4. Some people believe "The Wire" or "Breaking Bad" will go down as the finest television ever made.  I believe they are very, very wrong and "The West Wing" wins that prize.  I will never not love it's snappy banter, dizzying walk and talks and their highly intelligent and compassionate Executive Branch.  So I got a little too excited to see BuzzFeed give it some love this week.  

5. The fact that there are exactly 15 days until I leave for vacation, next weekend is a long weekend for the 4th of July holiday and in 48 hours I'm finally starting a position that I've been looking for for years.  It's a very good month!

Things on a Thursday

~ I love having big games in the middle of the day.  I probably wouldn't if I didn't have a television in the break-room, but since I do, it's pretty fabulous.  Pretty much everyone gathers around and watches.  This of course was the case for today's US - Germany game. Though, it was certainly not the outcome we were hoping for.  However, somehow, (I'm still not sure how), we managed to move on to the top 16, which is pretty darn awesome!  Oh and speaking of FIFA, way to go on the Suarez suspension!  He didn't draw a penalty at the time, but at least FIFA realized he shouldn't be allowed to continue playing during this World Cup.

~ There's something exciting and fabulous about starting a new job.  I'm not leaving my current building and I'm still working for the same company, but I'm moving on up in the world to a higher floor into training and education.  Seeing as that's what I went to school for, it's pretty darn great.  There's just something to seeing the new desk and setting up your area just how you like it, that makes everything that much more promising.  I'm still counting down to vacation but I actually can't wait to get to work on Monday.

~ This sucks. I was in no way as involved with the site as some scrapbookers were, but it was always a super wonderful place for inspiration and ideas.  They always had a great inventory in their store and I loved browsing the Garden Girls projects.  I haven't quite figured out why they're closing yet, but I'm hoping it's not a sign of the times - in other words, I'm hoping more stores and sites don't start to close.  So very sad!

~ This may be a bit controversial in food circles, but after finishing "Sous Chef" this week, I'm convinced it's an even better account of a professional kitchen than "Kitchen Confidential." I love me some Bourdain,  but "Sous Chef" was fabulous!

Wanderlust Wednesday

In just a few short weeks, I'll be on my way to New England.  For some reason, I've never been there and that's finally going to change.  So very, very excited!  I've been dreaming of sandy beaches, some lovely shops and some serious foodie fun for weeks now.  Not even the fact that somehow I'm staying in a haunted hotel in Boston will bring me down.  (Though it's slightly freaking me out.) 

Seriously, Suarez?!

I was talking to a friend at work today about sports - actually we were debating the fact that he's a Steelers fan living in Baltimore which is so very, very wrong.  But that's beside the point.  Anyway, my major argument against the Steelers is the fact that Ben Rothlisberger is a terrible human being who likes to pick on people much smaller than he is.  But his major argument against the Ravens was that they've had more arrests than any other team in the off-season, which I had to whole-heartedly agree with.  Those boys need to get their act together.  But mildly-terrible human beings that happen to be sports stars started us on a list of the few that exist today, luckily he agreed with me on the Tiger front or we'd have had some serious words.

To name a few, we agreed on Tiger, Kobe Bryant, and Ray Lewis.  I agree they're great athletes but kids really shouldn't be looking up to them, but of course they are. In all the talk about sports, we really didn't bring up Soccer.  Even with all the World Cup craziness happening, we couldn't name one player. But after seeing today's headlines, I suppose we should have.

A player for Uruguay actually bit another player - for the second time, without drawing a yellow card.  How does this happen?!  I mean he didn't beat up his girlfriend or cheat on anyone, but really, biting?! Gross!

Happy 50th to a Creative Genius

I may not have seen all his works but I happen to know for a fact that Joss Whedon is a creative genius!  The man is pretty much a god among geeks.  He's responsible for Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible, Agents of SHIELD and the Avengers, amongst tons of other amazing things.  Of course, anyone who can take strike and write a musical then get his friends to star, produce and direct it, has some serious mojo.  (The fact that it's actually fantastic, just goes to show you how talented the man really is.)  I'm pretty particular with my SciFi.  I don't really like the hardcore crazy zombie stuff with blood, guts and gore.  I'm more a fan of the rascally, sarcastic, monster hunters - in other words, I'm a Mal Reynolds girl through and through.  Love me some Firefly!  Basically, Joss's particular brand of fun, sarcasm, scifi and crazy is just about perfect.

Aside from being a pretty influential writer and producer, he's also pretty well respected for work ethic, strong character development and keeping a close knit group of friends and colleagues who will answer his call whenever it comes.  On top of that, he's an unabashed geek who knows what the geek community wants and never stops striving to give it to them. In short, he's a pretty amazing human being.  Happy Birthday Joss!  Here's to many more years of creativity and geekdom!

                            


          

Project Life

After years of ignoring the idea of Project Life, I broke down and gave it a shot.  I actually finished my first Project Life layout today.  As crazy as the concept is (documenting everything in your life), the scrapbooking aspect is so much easier than traditional scrapbooking!  I may not be ready to go all hog-wild with my everyday life being documented, for the fun out of the ordinary days, Project Life-ing is pretty darn awesome!

Wilkomen a NYC!

Even though the bestie was sick and I missed her a lot, the day in NYC went off without a hitch.  There was plenty of food (tacos & gelato at Chelsea Market, Pizza and Profiteroles at John's Pizzeria), lots of walking (some planned, some not so planned), plenty of sun but not lots of humidity and Alan Cumming in pasties (playing the EmCee in Cabaret).  Alan was by far the best part of the day, as I'd watch him in pretty much anything, but I have to admit the tacos were pretty darn tasty as well!  All in all a fabulous day in the city I love!

Friday Five

1. In preparation for vacation, I've been trying to clear out some un-listened to music off my iPhone to make room for some summery vacationy tunes.  In doing so, I discovered the genre function and determined you can shuffle all the music in a particular genre (Yep, I know, I'm nothing if not on top of things...).  Anyway, doing that, I realized just how great the song "Standing Outside the Fire" was.  I mean I used to love, love, love it but then others won out.  But discovering it again, I realized it's still as fabulous as it once was. (The Live version is infinitely better but I can't seem to find it on YouTube)
                           
2. I watch a lot of House Hunters.  And if you watch a lot of House Hunters you learn things. The number one thing being that Maryland is one of the most expensive areas of the country to live in, and Texas is one of the least expensive areas of the country to live in.  Therefore, due to some really annoying Maryland issues, I've been on a "I'm moving to Texas" kick lately.  And this little article comparing Austin to Baltimore, added some serious fuel to the fire.

3. Potato Skin Potatoes: I found this on Pinterest a few weeks ago, but didn't think they'd be anything special.  I was wrong.  They were delicious and so easy to make!  I probably could have eaten a lot more than I'd made, but my cookie sheet was only so big.

4. Surprisingly I'm not a Disney person.  Don't get me wrong, I love all the movies and the characters but I've only been to Disney World once and it was sort of a bust.  I'd rather see Paris than walk around a theme park for a week. But this opening of the rest of Harry Potter World has me dreaming of a trip to Orlando.  I cannot wait until it opens next month just so I can see what else they have in store because these previews of Diagon Alley are pretty darn drool-worthy.

5. A really great joke that tells me the bestie is finally starting to feel a bit better!

Things on a Thursday

~ I've been trying very hard to watch my "I'm sorry"s since yesterday.  I wanted to see how often I actually did it and it's quite a lot.  I tried quite a bit this evening to only apologize for what was actually my fault.  But I was caught 2 times by a friend.  At least there's someone to keep me in check : )

~ It's so very hard to determine just how late it is when it stays light out until almost 9.  That being said, it's so very difficult to feel sleepy or end an easy going evening when it still looks like it's 6pm outside rather than 9pm.  In case I haven't said it in the last few minutes, I LOVE summer!

~ I'm so looking forward to seeing Cabaret this weekend in NYC but I'd be even more excited if the bestie was going like she was supposed to rather than being sick.  I hate that she has to miss something she was so excited to see.  Shingles suck!

~ There is no better way to spend an evening than strolling through a Barnes and Noble.  Now if I could also find an eligible bachelor doing the same, life would be even better. 

Sorry - Not Sorry

          

I'm in love with this ad campaign!  I do this all the time, and it's good to know that I'm not the only one.  This week alone, I've apologized about 15 times for leaving my current position for a better one.  I've apologized for not knowing how to get to a building I've never been to. I apologize when others bump into me.  I apologize for needing things from people who do have them ready for me.  And probably dozens of other things that are not my fault at all. Thanks Pantene and here's to not being sorry!

Summer Days

For the most part, I'm a HUGE fan of summer.  I spend 3/4 of the year freezing, so for 3 months, it's actually quite nice to be hot and sweaty.  But there are a few things that are really quite annoying.  Ridiculously petty in the long run, but annoying nonetheless...

~ The annoying little birds that have found their way to my deck and like to tweet at 4:30 every single morning.  If they follow the same pattern as last summer, they'll be gone in about 2 weeks.  But for now, they are the worst alarm clock ever!

~ Having to paint my toenails.  I don't go for pedicures.  They totally freak me out but I do go for flip-flops.  So to wear them, I have to have semi-cute toes.  I say semi because my painting skills rival that of a 3 year old.  

~  The smell of hot asphalt.  They've just re-paved my office's parking lot and you can't go anywhere near the place without gagging on the smell of baking asphalt.  Eww!

~ Crazy Humidity Hair.  It may not be quite as bad as Monica's but it's almost there.  It's not quite as big, but it's pretty darn stringy.
                               
But for all it's annoying little issues, Summer does have watermelon, sun, tomatoes, heat, beachy days and starry nights, vacations and long hours.  It's already pretty much perfect so if I have to deal with some annoyances, I think I will.  Bring on the heat!

Go USA!

For the record, before today, I was aware the World Cup was happening.  I knew that Brazil was busting their collective butt to get everything done in time for the opening ceremonies. And I know there were some definite questions as to whether the whole thing was even going to happen due to some serious delays.  I also knew that the World Cup meant everyone was going to be talking about soccer for the next few weeks.  I just didn't really care.  Soccer, to me, is just like basketball (lots of guys running back and forth) but with a different color ball.

Though, since the USA is game is finally being played today, I was not so politely schooled in the "awesomeness" (his words not mine) of World Cup Soccer.  There is apparently, lots I didn't know.  For example:

~ There's a guy playing on the US team from Crofton MD.  How cool is that?!  

~We played Ghana in our first game, not French Guyana as I originally thought (points for having the "G" correct though)

~ The US coach is from Germany which seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest if you ask me, but not to the Americans who hired him I suppose.

~ Pele isn't the only famous footballer, he's just the only one I actually knew about.

~ On the subject of famous footballers, Wayne Rooney was NOT a coach for Manchester United in the 50s but IS currently something to do with Soccer.  

~ The teams will play in groups of 4 and the 2 best teams will move on - nothing at all like the medal round in Olympic Hockey like I thought. And bonus points: the US is in a group with Ghana, Poland and Germany (I think...)

All of this is to say, based on the above information, as you can see, I don't know much more than when I started the day.  But I did watch today's game and it was pretty darn awesome! And those players kicked some butt!  There were some bumps in the second half, and I was a little worried we'd never pull out the win but they did it.  Go USA!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to one of my most favorite people in the whole world. He makes life fun, funny and all around delicious and I can't imagine not having him in my life.  I love him dearly and he means the world to me!  Love you bunches bud!

Happy Father's Day!

Summer Reading

During the year, I can find myself reading just about anything from Shakespeare to Biographies, to food and travel to mysteries and fantasy.  Anything that catches my eye, I'll pretty much pick up and read.  But in the summer, I like to keep it "pink".  I tend to stick to the girly, chick lit love stories that are just perfect for the beach.  This summer is no different and thanks to a few too many trips the Barnes and Noble, I've got the list pretty much ready to go (Of course the list also includes "Bellweather Rhapsody" and "The Corsican Caper" but they're not in paperback yet - hoping they will be soon!).  I've been slacking lately in favor of crafting, but I'm hoping the longs warm days will help my reading energy and help me cross off these awesome novels quickly.  Afterall, there are so many more great stories to fly through.

Bring on the books!

Friday Five

1. Apparently, without me knowing it, I moved from Baltimore to Pamplona Spain this morning.  Seriously?  How does this happen?

2. In honor of the US Open occurring this weekend, Golf.com has had some seriously great stories this week.  This one on the US Open 15 years ago, that Payne Stewart was a wonderful tribute to a great golfer.  And this one, on how much greater than Tiger, Phil Mickelson just makes me smile!

3. Last week was the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy by allied forces.  To memorialize this anniversary, Brian Williams spoke with 4 veterans who were there on that day and took them to Normandy to memorialize the anniversary.  It was a fantastic hour of television celebrating the Greatest generation in every way they deserved.  I'm not sure it's online but if you ever get the chance to see it, it's definitely worth watching.

4. A great night at the ballpark.  Last night I had free tickets to the O's game.  Of course, it's been raining everyday for the last week so I wasn't assuming it was going to be a good evening.  Somehow, even after a ridiculously wet day, the rain finally stopped about 5ish and the game went off without a hitch.  On top of all that, they won 4-1.  Woohoo!

5. A fresh new start which is all I'm going to say right now.  But suffice it to say - Yay!

There's Just Something About Phil

I watch a lot of golf.  There are about 20 players that I'm ok with winning  during any given tournament.  It's not like Baseball or Football when there's only 1 team I want to win (O's and Ravens, of course!) Golf is such a singular sport that over the course of any given weekend, the best player in the world can have a bad day and miss the cut and the rookie can have a good one and come out on top.  And there are some phenomenal players in the field right now - ones that seem like wonderful people (which are always the ones that I root for) and can also play like hell (Kuchar, McIlroy, Furyk, Couples, McDowell, Spieth, Singh, Watson, Fowler - I could go on and on but the truth is as long as your name isn't Tiger Woods, I'll probably root for you.)

But that all changes when Phil's in the field.  If there's even the slightest chance going into Sunday that he could win, my heart belongs to him.  I will never not root for the man.  There's just something about him.  It could be the constant smile or the sparkle in his eye.  Or the fact that he's able to laugh at himself when things aren't going his way.  It may be that, even though he's one of the top 10 players in the world and he obviously takes all aspects of his game very, very seriously, he always looks like he's having a blast on the course. He's able to joke with his team mates and greets fans like their old friends.  Maybe it's that he's a family man who has traveled to tournaments at the very last minute possible so he could see his daughter graduate or something equally important to the family.  Or maybe it's because he's kept his caddy Bones by his side for almost his entire career, even when things aren't really going their way, when others have dropped their caddies any time the winds have shifted (*cough - Tiger- *cough).

Most likely, it's pretty much everything I listed above that makes him the consummate player and professional he is.  He's easy-going, affable and always has fun.  What's even more impossibly charming about the guy is that I've never heard a hard word spoken about him.  There's no real temper there.  Everyone who's ever spoken about him on tour, has the most glowing words possible to say about him.  He's never been in the tabloids or lost his cool in the press.  Even when, his wife, Amy got sick a few years ago, he kept the news private and never blamed their struggles for anything going on in his game.

He's an all around athlete, a gentleman golfer just like the greats (Arnie and Jack) and will forever be my favorite, which is why I just love US Open Weekends when he's near the top of the leaderboard.

Go Phil Go!

Wishful Wednesday

Edinburgh is a beautiful city.  Even though it was cold, dark and dreary, you could just feel the history on every cobblestone street and in every Georgian building.  I didn't get a chance to see much when I was there, so I'm frequently wishing I was back walking the streets, but never more so than this week.  The Edinburgh Literary Festival starts quite soon. A whole month of great literature, and amazing writers.  It's a reader's mecca and it's all going down in one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world.  Who wouldn't wish they were there right now?

Making Progress

One of my sorta, kinda, in the back of my head new year's resolutions was to get better at talking to people.  It's not that I'm anti-social.  I like to think of it as socially awkward.  I have no idea what to say in situations - even just everyday small talk - so I ramble, then get tongue tied.  It's not fun.  And don't even get me started on the whole public speaking thing.  It's by far, aside from the dentist, my biggest fear.  I get sweaty, and fidgety and all sorts of tongue tied and I pretty much suck.  

You can see where as this might be a problem for everyday interactions.  So I'm trying to get better.  I try to talk to people a bit more often.  I try to ask questions to keep conversations going - also I'm bad at talking about myself so by asking questions I can keep the conversation going without shining a spotlight on me.  It's one of those little tricks that took forever for me to learn.  I still get nervous when there's lots of people around talking and I have to say something and I still shy away from talking in meetings but I'm getting there.  

However, until today, I never really had the nerve to make progress on the public speaking thing.  But apparently a Sharepoint guru was needed to speak at a meeting and I was informed I was that person. Worst nightmare situation since I found out about it last week. But for a change, I was talking about something I knew lots about.  I know Sharepoint and I was talking to a bunch of people who didn't.  Mind you they were all tech-y computer-y types that can code me into the ground and speak at levels far, far above my head, but they couldn't when it came to Sharepoint.  So I prepared some beautiful job aides (gotta love a good job aide : ) complete with screen shots and logos, and a good outline of what I was going to say.

Then I just did it.  It was only about 10 people and I only spoke for a about 15 minutes and there was no standing up in front of them - thank god for conference tables! But, dare I say it? - it was kind of easy.  It went surprisingly well and I didn't embarrass myself too, too badly.  Now I'm not going to start any speaking tours, any time soon, but at least I know I can tackle a small group if I absolutely must.  

Though, I have to say, I'd still rather not....I'm making progress, but I'm not perfect yet...

The Lullaby of Broadway

There's just something about Broadway.  I'm not sure what it is.  I can go for months without singing it or scheming to find tickets.  But the second I get in the mood by, say, watching The Tony Awards for example, and I'm back in the groove.  It's happy, and fun and an absolutely fantastic time.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I don't understand people who don't get live theatre.  It's about 300x better than television and movies.  If after watching 3 hours of singing, dancing and Hugh Jackman rapping, you're not at least tapping your toes, you're a little dead inside.

What's even better than the talented performers, the heartfelt songs and awesome set pieces, is the community they've built up around it.  Where else can the 2 biggest performances of the night; the ones that brought down the house, be a 50 year old man in pasties and suspenders, and a 40 year old man in a mini skirt and 3 inch heels?  (Love me some Alan Cumming and Neil Patrick Harris!)  The performers and artists are strictly in it for the art.  They don't judge each other and everything goes. It's a free for all and it's fabulous! 

No matter how bad the day is, belting "Defying Gravity" and "Take me as I am" always makes me smile.  No matter how many times I've heard them, "For Good", "Cover Me", and "Could We Start Again Please?" always bring a tear to my eye.  And no matter what, I will always, always sing every single word, every single time to, "Herod's Song", "Seasons of Love", "Betrayed", and "Music of the Night".  But that's so not a bad thing.  I may sing completely off-key, and I may not be able to dance to save my life, but I still feel part of the great big Broadway world!  And I'm so darn happy I live so close to NYC! 

Too Pooped to Craft

I had such high hopes when the day started.  There were about 18 cards/crafts I had planned to get done today.  Unfortunately, after a food-filled, fun-filled Saturday and some spatial issues (I can't seem to keep anything in my hands today) I only finished 3.5 cards. After such a great weekend, I could really use tomorrow off.  Do you think it's too much to ask for another snow day?

PS: Loving this whole special order thing, but it usually means I'm too lazy to get the good camera out to take good pics : )

International Day of Eating

Each year on the first weekend in June, it just so happens that the Italian and the Greek Festivals happen on the same days.  I'm not sure why but I can only assume it's so that people who love to eat (i.e. me) get the maximum amount of gorging all in one weekend.

At the Greek Fest there was Chicken Souvlaki (why have I always been scared of Tzatziki?  It's delicious!), Tyropita (a little too heavy but still good) and 4 different types of Greek pastries whose names I've long since forgotten (however no galactoboureko which is the only one I REALLY wanted, ugh!) But the ones I did get were phenomenal!

At the Italian festival, there was a porchetta and broccoli rabe sandwich (OMG!), mozzarella sticks, and handmade by little Italian grandmothers Ravioli with marinara. (To die for!)

Follow that all up with a trip to the docks in Naptown and some Moe's Mexican for a late dinner and some Deep Dark chocolate ice cream for dessert, and it was the perfect tour of the world.  Of course, I'm not exactly sure I'm ever going to eat again...