This is Wednesday

Why is it always a Wednesday, when I have almost nothing to say?  I just don't get it. Mondays are usually pretty good.  There's trivia on Tuesdays, and fun things to start the weekend with, but Wednesdays are that day of the week that even the brain can't manage to process.  I just don't get it.  But it's a thing.  A thing that deserves a name, I think. Wednesday brain?  Writer's Block Wednesday?  See Wednesdays are days that the brain can't even come up with clever nicknames for.  Ugh!

Of course it doesn't help that it's raining, and not everyone is quite in the Christmas season yet.  I mean I am, but other people are less than enthused - of course I work with these other people so it makes my days super thrilling, let me tell you.  Wednesdays are just one of those days.  

There was one thing today, however, that did make me smile.  (I smiled more than once, just in case you were wondering, but this made me smile a lot)  Have you seen This is Us?  If you haven't, you need to get on it immediately.  I'm sure everyone around you has told you to watch it at some point, because it's just that good. But in case they haven't I'm going to tell you to do so now.  Here's my ringing endorsement - I know at some point in the near future, it's going to make me cry, AND I'm still watching!  

Normally I would have turned it off by now, but I just can't quit this time around. It's sweet and funny and chock full of really amazing actors.  There's a not a weak link in the pack. Speaking of not being weak, that brings us to what made me smile today.  These goofy set videos of the boys doing push ups.  I mean, seriously?  Not only are they stellar actors, but they're super athletic to boot?  And pretty dreamy too - it needs to be said.  How can you not love them? What makes the videos even better are the tweets that go along with them. 

If you haven't seen the show yet, avoid the hashtags until you've seen the pilot at least. Then you can bask in their awesomeness - spoiler free!  Hope these brighten your bland Wednesday, like they surely brightened mine!

Trivia Tuesday

~ Survey says "Top Gun" is  infinitely better than "Ghost."  (I agree with this completely, even though both movies have made me cry.)

~ Finally, Finally (Finally!) a Shakespeare question and I knew the answer.  Wahoo!  Titus Andronicus is the deadliest play and portrays someone being baked into a pie.  Apparently, Sweeney Todd wasn't so ahead of its time.

~ Tiger Woods' actual first name is Eldrick.  This is completely new information, that I'm still not sure wasn't made up for tonight's trivia.  I've never heard his name was anything besides Tiger - ever.  But I gotta say, if my name was Eldrick, I'd probably change it to Tiger too.

~ The Green Party candidate received 1.2 million votes and Bob Barker started hosting The Price is Right in 1972.  Also, the question having to do with TV Cars was on the Dukes of Hazard.  All of these things were pulled out of thin air tonight, by me.  So - I really should be playing the lottery, right?

~ There are apparently 2 time zones in Florida.  Who knew?  I sure didn't.  I'm still trying to do the geographical math on that one.

~ Even a shot that tastes like Pineapple Upsidedown cake, and looks like a sunset, will taste terrible.  I just don't understand you people that drink these things.  Wouldn't you rather drink something refreshing that won't give you a headache - like Iced Tea?

~ The Jarls are the aristocratic class of vikings.  Do you want to know how we got that answer?  Jarslberg cheese is a fairly pricey cheese so it must be upper class...I'm not saying there's a method to our madness.  I'm just saying we got 8 points from it.

~ Some crazy lady ate 222 canned peas in 3 minutes using a toothpick to spear them.  Setting aside the random amount of time and the random eating instrument, why in god's name would anyone want to break a record by eating peas?  I would like to break a record by NEVER eating peas.  Those things are awful!

~ As good as my streak was this evening, it would seem I do have kryptonite.  The opposite of oxidization is not anti-oxidization (get it?  anti-oxidants? : )  Apparently it's galvanization.  
~ It's a given when "You've lost that loving feeling" comes on in a bar, everyone is going to sing and everyone who isn't singing is most likely quoting Top Gun.

November Reads in Review

Yet another slow month for reading, but I have an excuse - loads of Christmas crafting! However, I did finish my 3 allotted for the month - so yay for that!  

"The Day the World Came to Town": A friend on Facebook saw that I had posted about the musical "Come From Away" and asked if this was the story of Gander on 9/11/2001.  When I told her it was, she said she had read a book all about that, and that she'd send it to me.  I was super excited because if I haven't said it enough - "Come from Away" is the best show I saw this year.  The book wasn't as fabulous as the musical - afterall, there was no music - but it was really good.  The book is basically all of the stories of the people that landed in Gander and the people that lived in Gander at the time.  It jumps back and forth a lot and gives you an idea of just how stressful and remarkable those 6 days in 2001 were. It's just a happy story and one that so deserves to be told.

"My Ideal Bookshelf": The setup is that authors, designers, artists, actors, etc. all write about the books that make up their "ideal" bookshelf, then a painter paints that bookshelf.  It was a cute look at what people thought of as ideal when it came to books.  Though, I do admit to feeling terribly bad about what I read.  My books are nowhere near as intelligent as the books painted in this book.

"El Deafo": I've been hearing about this graphic novel for months, and when the bestie told me she had it, I jumped at the chance to read it.  I blew through it in about 2 hours and LOVED it.  The main character is a little girl - who's some sort of animal - who goes deaf when she's about 4. She makes herself into her very own superhero - El Deafo - to get her through rough patches.  She goes through  lots of different hearing devices and learns sign language and lip reading, as she grows.  It's a great intro to disabilities for kids but it's also fun.  The main character is snarky and adorable, and I just loved the way the author wrote it.  

Six Months In

I'm officially 2 episodes - or 6 months - into Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.  I've been wanting to binge them all weekend, but I just haven't had the time, so 2 down, 2 to go.  I have a range of emotions about this.  Let me start with saying - I love it.  I really do.  I've been super excited since it was announced, and the fact that are 4 to watch, is just too good to be true.

That's not to say it's perfect.  All the reviews I've read have basically said - Perfection!  I'm not sure I agree.  It's really, really good.  I love seeing all the characters back.  I love seeing Stars Hollow again - I so want to live there!  I love the super fast talking.  I'm just not sure I like where the story is going.  Rory and Logan together still even though (Spoiler Alert!) he's engaged?  It just doesn't sound like something she would do.  And all of Luke and Lorelei's problems should have been discussed years ago.  They've now been together for 9 years and they're just now bringing up the baby talk?  It's a bit odd.

I think my major problem is the timeline.  It's a bit hard to follow.  In the first episode, I think Rory went back and forth from London to Stars Hollow 4 times in a week, which seems rather confusing - also, expensive.  But I'm choosing to let that part slide.  If the timeline were just a little clearer, I'd be much happier with it.

But aside from that small quibble.  I'm LOVING it.  It's fun and sweet and the perfect program for a long holiday weekend.  I am currently dying to see the 3rd episode because that one includes a musical sung by Christian Borle and Sutton Foster.  Seriously?  How fabulous is that going to be!?  I can't wait!

After 6 months - I'd say my current rating is 4 out of 5 stars (and I suspect that will be going up to 5 after the musical episode - how can you resist a good musical?!)

Festival of Trees

One of my most favorite Christmasy events in Maryland is the Kennedy Krieger Festival of Trees that's held at Timonium Fairgrounds each year on the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Loads of businesses, companies, individuals, families and schools get together, design a tree and then the trees are shown off at the big event.  Attendees can buy the trees or just wander around and ogle at the creativity.  I'm much more an ogler than a spender, but thank goodness lots of other people are spenders because the event makes thousands each year for Kennedy Krieger's schools and treatment centers.  

 I don't remember what tree this guy hung on, but he's the cutest Rainbow Fish ever!

 We were standing in front of an emoji tree.  I was being an emoji.  No one else was joining in...

My favorite was this cactus tree that was decorated with calaveras and other fun things with the theme of Feliz Navidad.

 This one of the Grinch and Max stealing the toys rounded out my top 3 favorites.  The Grinch was popular this year since it's the 50th anniversary in 2016, but this one was by far the cutest of all the various Grinches.

 The ornaments on this tree were all made of book pages.  It was pretty and creative but I was slightly distressed by the destruction of books...

 This was my other favorite.  It was entitled Who's Stealing Christmas? and it was covered in case reports of bad guys from Christmas movies, like the Grinch, or Jack Skellington.  What was even cuter was the "evidence bags" full of evidence of their crimes, like green fur left over at the crime scene.  So creative and just the cutest!

Thankful Five

1. I'm most thankful in my life for these 2 and this amazing dinner we shared yesterday for Thanksgiving.  Really, I have no idea what I'd do without them - love them to pieces!

2. I'm thankful for a black Friday spent with the same family and a great friend finding all sorts of super awesome deals and fighting the ridiculous crowds together. I gotta say I didn't get many Christmas gifts, but my wardrobe is looking much better after today!

3. I'm thankful for the words Spoiler Alert. These 2 simple words have helped me to successfully avoid all spoilers from the Gilmore Girls which I've been dying to watch since it as dropped at 3 am this morning.  However, Black Friday fun was calling instead.  That doesn't mean that I won't be finding myself in front of Netflix at the very first opportunity tomorrow!  Can't wait!!

4. I'm thankful for the leftovers of yesterday's amazing meal that provided an absolutely fabulous turkey and dressing sandwich at the outlets today.  One of my most favorite meals of the year - leftover Thanksgiving sandwiches on Black Friday.  Dressing is by far the best food part of this week!  So delicious!

5. I'm thankful for nice warm jammies and a nice warm, comfy bed.  Because seriously dude, I shopped til I dropped... : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope your holiday was full of fun, family, friends and food!

Countdown to Turkey!

Let's just say I was pretty jealous of all the teachers at my table last night, for not having to get up to an alarm this morning.  It must be nice to get all sorts of days before the holidays off.  That I totally miss.  However, it's a little easier to go to work when you know you'll be one of only 2 people in the office.  And you'll most definitely be the only one there for a good 3 hours before the other person comes in.

That leaves the perfect amount of time to decorate the cube for Christmas, and relax just a little more than I usually do at work.  Christmas music, mid-morning snacks, a few online errands complete. And when Christmas music ended, a few Broadway flavored YouTube videos to make the time pass - work is just too quiet! (Speaking of which, if you need to smile - this ridiculous if slightly risque video will make you laugh out loud!)  I gotta say, work wouldn't be nearly as annoying if all days could be as relaxing as this.

But then again, as soon as 3:00 pm hit, I was ready to leave and start my 4 day weekend full of turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie, family and shopping.  Work may have been relaxing, but eating yourself silly is much more fun!

Happy start to the Thanksgiving holidays!

Trivia Tuesday

~ It turns out the Tuesday before Thanksgiving - as in the last day of school before Fall break - is the perfect time for teachers to indulge in a pitcher of beer.  This decision led to a pretty laid back atmosphere this evening.  Also, finding the right pose for the picture with your pitcher of beer is essential to the evening's festivities.  

~ Though being only 1 of 2 people at the table that has to work tomorrow, kinda stunk.

~ Hitler was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1939, only to have it revoked a few months later.  Turns out I was the only person at the table that had too much faith in the world to believe this was actually true, and the only person the team listened to when I said that wasn't the answer.  Oops!  After this election, I suppose I should believe anything!

~ Because of my ill-fated faith in humanity, when I knew that the Vietnam War was the longest war the US was involved in, no one believed me.  Tough crowd.

~ Neon blue shots are just as terrible as they sound.  I have no idea how people drink those things!  One sip and I was ready to wash my mouth out with soap.

~ Turns out that after partaking in 2/3 of the entire pitcher of beer, when Christmas is, becomes a little tough to decipher.

~ It's always awkward when the question asker comes over to say that he was sure he'd stump the english teacher on our team with tonight's literary question, after we answered it correctly, mostly because this particular English teacher was stumped.  It was the history teacher that answered Ben Hur correctly.  However, the English teacher was consuming a pitcher of beer at that point, and was too confused to tell him he did stump her.

~ No one but me had ever heard of the Thanksgiving song Alice's Restaurant.  I feel they've totally been deprived their entire lives.

~ When the last question is about the Special Olympics, and the entire team only knows one fact about the Special Olympics, it's super helpful when the answer to the question is that one particular fact you all know.  It really comes in handy when that happens!

~ Reason 1 million and 36 to love the television show Friends - it will sometimes provide you an answer to some obscure question about cobnuts.

Absolutely Amazing Arancini

Arancini the size of eggs - so what do they use for packaging?  Egg cartons - Genius!

I just may have a new favorite food in New York City.  Aside from the theatre, the best part of going to Manhattan is trying all sorts of new and wonderful restaurants that serve all sorts of yummy food.  I have this thing for finding a new restaurant or snack shop - it's like finding buried treasure.  It's just as exciting and so much more rewarding, since you can eat what you find.  New food is much more delicious than eating gold coins...

Anyway, last month I found myself in Bryant Park on opening weekend.  They always have some great snack choices. Up until this year, my favorites were the dumplings (that are sadly no longer there), Woops! macarons and La Sonrisa Empanadas.  However, after discovering Arancini Bros, my heart now belongs to the gentleman that make these delicious pieces of magic.  

An Arancini is an Italian snack.  It's basically a ball of rice, stuffed with meat or veggies, then breaded and deep fried.  Super healthy, right?  Just avoid that part and focus on the deliciousness.  Anyway, they're often huge, heavy and just not that great.  However, Arancini Bros have taken them to a new level.  First off, theirs are smaller - about the size of an egg. They're not super heavy - the coating they use is super light and very crunchy.  

And lastly, they put all sorts of wonderful things inside.  None of that plain jane meat and veggies for these dudes.  Some are filled with fresh mozzarella and basil.  Others are filled with pesto sauce or a Turkey and stuffing dinner.  They even had a dessert Arancini filled with nutella and dredged in cinnamon sugar.  They have an ever changing selection, so on any given day you could try something completely different.

I tried the Mozzarella and basil, the pesto, the Nutella and one filled with mac and cheese instead of rice.  I'm not sure which one was my favorite because every ball was more delicious than the last.  I am currently craving them terribly.  I only wish I didn't have to wait until next month to be back up there.  This is a time when living in NYC would really help matters.

Anyway, if you find yourself in Bryant Park before Christmas, I highly recommend trying Arancini Bros in the food section.  And make sure you order some of their tomato sauce for dipping.  That stuff makes a good snack, even more heavenly.  I promise you won't be sorry!

Fallen for Falsettos

I didn't know anything about Falsettos before I watched an interview with Christian Borle a few months ago.  He mentioned how much he loved this particular show and how he would sing "What More Can I Say" in college.  I later listened to that particular song on YouTube (Oh the joys of technology!) and realized it's a beautiful song, and understood why he would choose to sing it.  Then after he mentioned it again in an entirely different interview, I sort of had a hunch he was doing the revival.  

Honestly, I'm a sucker for all things Christian Borle - I saw him in Something Rotten!  and LOVED him - so I would have been happy even if he were the only big name in it.  However, when it was announced that Andrew Rannels and Stephanie Block would also be in it, it was a necessity to get tickets.  Honestly, how can you resist this cast?  Later even more wonderful people were added but by that time I already had tickets, so I was just happy.

Now, on paper Falsettos is not a show I should like.  The story centers on a man who leaves his wife and child for another man, which is fine by me.  The problem is that it takes place in the very early 80s - at the start of the AIDS crisis, which means I'd be the one in the audience crying her eyes out.  So I read the book of the musical first, just so I was prepared. And then I cried.  So yeah, it was going to be tough.

And it was.  I cried from pretty much the start of the second act through to the end...  But it was so uplifting and beautiful that it was worth it.  For starters, that cast I was so excited about?  That cast was unbelievably talented and ridiculously good in their roles.  Each one of the 7 cast members had their own song to sing and shine, and they definitely did.  Stephanie Block's "I'm Breaking Down" was definitely a highlight.  She was hilarious!  Christian Borle and Andrew Rannels had some serious chemistry and were the perfect pair on stage, which made the end so much more heartbreaking.  Even the 12 year old that played Christian Borle's son, was just fabulous.  He was adorable, and had some serious musical chops.  I'm sure we'll be seeing even more of him in years to come.  

Added to the beautiful music and the amazing cast, the set was pretty fantastic too.  All of the set pieces were made to fit into a cube - sort of like a puzzle.  The actors moved the pieces to make tables, or sofas, or chairs.  At the very end, when one particular person is missing from the "tight knit family" the actors take one of the center pieces out of the cube, which doesn't sound sad, but I bawled even more when it happened. 

I loved pretty much the entire show (there was a strange number there in the middle, that didn't thrill me...) but most of all, I loved the message.  It was a message of love, acceptance and kindness. The show stresses that tight knit families can be made of many different people - and they don't all have to be related to be family.  I keep coming back to what's happening in the states today with hate and divisiveness, but the world at this moment, could take a page out of Falsettos book and be just a little more open-hearted and love who they love.  Because as the cast sings so heartbreakingly, they're never promised a tomorrow.

Weird Day in NYC

This super duper odd street art I saw today, is sort of symbolic of today's NYC adventure. Sometimes things just work out swimmingly.  Other times you're stuck on a bus for what seems like years, and you barely have time to scarf down lunch before heading to your 2:00 matinee.  Want to take a guess at which one today was?

Instead of doing the usual bus to the city, we found a bus trip with people we didn't know leaving about 3 minutes from our house.  It was due to be perfect.  The best part was that it wasn't leaving until 8:00 am which meant a little extra time for sleep.  We were still to be in the city by 11:30, so we'd have plenty of time to hit Bryant Park before Falsettos.  We didn't account for the stop in White Marsh to pick up 3 passengers (why?!) or the stop in New Jersey for 25 minutes at a rest stop, or that the driver chose to go through the Lincoln Tunnel into Lower Manhattan to drop people off at the WTC memorial before heading the 40 blocks up town in midday traffic!

We left Maryland at 7:45.  We got off the bus on 49th street at 12:45.  For those of you doing the math, that's 1 hour and 15 minutes to get lunch and back to the theater for our matinee.  To say I was fuming, was a bit of an understatement.  After the show, we (and when I say we, I mean my friend) decided to go to the Hamilton pop-up in Bloomingdales.  Turns out the Hamilton pop-up in Bloomingdales popped off and is no longer there.  That meant finding another cab to take us back to midtown to find something quick to eat in Bryant Park for dinner.  In my case this was a bit of a chocolate donut and chocolate covered marshmallows.  Then it was back to 49th street to pick up the bus.

Like I said, some days are just weird.  The positives on this are Falsettos was stunning - more on that tomorrow! - and I'll be back up there next month for shopping fun in Bryant Park that I missed today. Also, we now know never stray from the nice professional bus service that knows what the heck they're doing and how exactly to get people there on time.  

Friday Five

I just love Christmas Ads, and with all the anger in the last few weeks, we could all use some happy messages!

1. There is one song from Guys and Dolls that I'm a huge fan of - Fugue for Tinhorns.  I have no idea why.  I'm not even sure I know all the words, but once I hear it, it's stuck in my head for weeks.  But by far, this version starring James Corden and Matthew Broderick is my favorite!  Too cute!

2. Speaking of James Corden, who knew he could sing so well?  I heard that Sainsbury's is taking a little flack for this ad since most of their employees are working overtime for the holidays, but it's still a sweet ad, right? I'm just going to focus on the message instead of the shopping...

3. This ad has 3 things I love all in one - Teddy Bears, Heathrow Airport and a sweet message.  How can you go wrong?!  

4. Yet another ad (sorry about all the commercials! : ) that includes an awesome message of friendship and acceptance. Go Amazon! 

5. So today was Friday which made it fabulous.  But there's something else that made it more fabulous - Christmas music!  The DC radio station at 5:00 pm today started playing 24/7 Christmas music.  This makes me much happier than it should.  To top it all off, the very first song they played was "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey which is definitely in my top 10.  

Booking It

I have this weird tendency to not listen to any music in my car.  My friends think it's beyond odd, but I argue my car time is my time.  Instead of focusing on music, I give myself a chance to think about all sorts of things - projects I want to do, books I want to read, problems I need to worry about. Hey, I didn't say it was always productive...

Anyway, during one of my car sessions the other day, I started thinking of making books and journals.  I made a few super simple ones a few months ago that I love, and I wanted to expand on them a bit.  So for some reason, I started thinking of those rinky dink brag books you get at the dollar store, and I thought that could make a super cute little journal. Then I went a step farther and thought that you could almost turn one of those into a travel journal if you included page protectors inside.  The page protectors could hold photos, or scraps of receipts or post cards that you may want to keep from your travels.  Super handy - if I do say so myself!

So after multiple car rides devoted to this topic this week, that's what I did this evening. And I sort of love the end product.  Getting there - not so much.  I first cut all the insides out because they're cheap and ugly - though that's easier said then done, because they definitely didn't cut cleanly.  I then took page protectors from a 6x8 album (2 4x6's) and folded them in half to place between each paper page. After that, I took my trusty Crop-o-dile and cut 2 holes in each section then threaded twine through them.  Herein lies the issue.  First I can't eyeball where a hole should be to save my life, so there may or may not be some extra holes in my super cute travel album.  Second, twine doesn't like to go through holes in plastic page protectors - like at all.  So that required just a wee bit of finagling.

Once the hard part was done, I cute some pretty paper and a sticker for the front.  Then popped out the ugly cover and popped in the pretty one, and I was all done.  Like I said, I do love the final product.  Because of the issue with the twine, I couldn't wrap the spine through the holes a few more times like I had hoped, so I'm not sure how sturdy it will be.  Also, I don't really journal while I travel, so I'm not sure I'll actually use it.  But that's beside the point.  In the end I have something cute, and that's what matters!

Guilt

I need to know if this happens to other people, or if I'm just a little crazy.  I mean I know I'm a little crazy - we all are - but this, I feel, is going a bit mad.  Earlier this week, my boss - who I'm quite close to - told me that HR had requested a meeting with her about an "employee issue." My boss wasn't exactly sure what it was about at all and she was a bit worried that someone had complained about her.

Well she met with HR, and by the end of the meeting both the HR lady and my boss were both laughing as they left her office.  When I asked my boss if everything was ok, she said "yeah, it's fine."  That right there, should have been the end of it, right?  Nope, instead since Monday I've been worried that the employee that was having the issue was me, and that I'm about to be fired.  

Not that there's a single reason why I should be fired or why HR would even want to discuss me with anyone at all.  When I told people at work about my fear their second response (first was to tell me I was nuts) was that HR would be more worried about them, than me. But that doesn't stop me from fearing that I'm part of some undercover sting, and they're just waiting for me to check my facebook account or use too many of the tea bags in the kitchen, and then it would be lights out.

Yep, this is how my mind has worked for the last 48 hours.  I swear it's the Catholic guilt thing. I went to Catholic school for 13 years. I still go to mass at least twice a month.  That little nagging feeling that Catholics get when they do anything close to resembling "wrong" is constantly with me.  I worry about laws that I might break.  I worry that I've done something to offend someone if they just happen to not say hello in the hall.  I worry that the sky will fall if I disagree with someone.  I worry that I'm going to be fired because HR spoke to my boss about something that I shouldn't have known about in the first place.

This is considered normal, right?  Please tell me there are other people out there that have the same guilty complex I do.  If for no other reason than to take my mind off of worrying that I'm going to be fired...

Hamlet - Reprise

Last August, after waiting an entire year to see Benedict Cumberbatch play Hamlet, I wrote a fairly disgruntled review of the show.  It was entirely not what I expected and no where near as good at the Royal Shakespeare production.  Also, Benedict let me down so I was less than thrilled with my 3 hours at the Barbican.

As we learned at the time, we were seeing it in Previews so things weren't quite as they turned out to be by the end of the run.  But nonetheless, not fabulous.  However, through the glory of technology, we managed to score 2 tickets to tonight's National Theatre Live production in a nearby movie theater.  This would allow us to see the non-preview full production.  They had surely changed things around by the end of the run, so it was most definitely going to be better, right?

Wrong!  It's still terrible.  So terrible in fact, we left at the interval (which lasts the full 20 minutes, just like a live production.)

The one thing that absolutely killed me the first time was their move of "To be or not to be..." to the very first scene of the show - in theory, to give the Benedict fan-girls what they came for immediately as the curtain came up.  After this caused an uproar with the critics, they moved it to its rightful place in the show, as we saw it this evening.  However, they still gave Benedict the very first lines - lines that aren't his! Hamlet's not even supposed to be on stage for another scene.  Really people?  You don't think the theater goers could wait 10 minutes to see him?

Other than that change, everything else stayed pretty much the same - too big, and too weird, which is why I just wasn't a fan.  Hamlet is supposed to be about the words and about the feelings.  In this production, Hamlet gets lost amongst the crazy set pieces and strange costuming.  Benedict Cumberbatch is a fabulous actor and he still is in this production.  But he does go a little too manic from time to time.  Hamlet's slow descent is more of a cliff-dive this time around.

And I think because Benedict is so good, I realized, this time around, that some of the rest of the cast - primarily Claudius - just weren't that fantastic in their roles.  You're either a Shakespearean actor or your not. Some of these actors were definitely not.

In the end, it turns out that shows that aren't great live, will probably still not be great on screen.  Which is a terrible shame, because with an awesome actor like Cumberbatch, it should have been off the charts fabulous.  I think in another smaller production, he could have been amazing!  It just stinks we'll never get to see it.

December Daily Prep

In an attempt to celebrate the little things in life, I've decided to do December Daily again this year.  Last year, it went much better than I had hoped.  I'm not entirely happy with how the album turned out, but I kept up with it all through the month, so that's progress for me. And since there's always fun things happening around Christmas, it was pretty easy to find things to scrap about.

This year, I have a new motto for creating the album - Simplicity.  I've learned I like the simple look as opposed to all the crazy scrap-happiness that some people prefer.  Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous but way too difficult for me. My new guru in the simple scrapping movement is In a Creative Bubble.  She makes amazing pocket scrapping cards, and I'm in love with her style.  And it just so happens she designs whole packs for Christmas each year. Let's just say I spent a lot in her shop this year. (The page above is just one of the many I bought!)

Also, in my rush to be organized and just a teensy bit OCD, I've made a list of all the things that I have to scrap in the month of December with corresponding dates for each item.  Yep, I'm that girl.  But the more I think about it, the more I realize I'm sort of losing the fun and the whole point.  The point to celebrate the days in December is to focus on the beauty of the season, and not to make it a chore.  I want to experience Christmas for what it is instead of what it should be.  So the list is getting tossed, and I'm leaving it up to chance. I'll still have all the other lists that I need to keep my sanity in the month of December - cards to make, presents to make, presents to buy, things to decorate, etc. but I'll be documenting all of those things as I go, and hopefully getting just a bit surprised by the awesomeness of the season!

Love is Love is Love

I know loads of people are already tired of us talking about the election and how unhappy we are about it.  I know this, but at this point, it's our only recourse so we're going to keep talking. And when I saw this on social media this week, I just had to talk about it.  It's perfect.

With all the pain and suffering and anger and just plain meaness that I'm already seeing, I just want to tell people all of these things.  I want people to know that I don't believe in the hate.  I want people to know that I'm here for them and they shouldn't be afraid.  And while it might sound ridiculously naive, I hate that people are being made to feel like this. 

And since I'm being forced to live in a country (even though I'd love to make the move to the Shire...) where this seems to be the new norm, I'm choosing to live by the words of the great philosopher and all around genius, Lin Manuel Miranda - Love is Love is Love is Love is Love....

Letterpress Love

Today, after months of hemming and hawing I finally took a class in Letterpress printing at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, in Hyattsville, MD.  And I may now be hooked on the whole process!  I've never actually taken any art classes, outside of elementary school.  I usually manage to just teach myself anything I want to learn - scrapbooking, cardmaking, embossing, etc.  Sometimes it goes well, other times not so much.  

But with all the equipment you need for printing, as well me not having a clue as to what actually went into printing, I figured a class was in order.  And based on some research PAAC was the place to do it.  The center itself has apparently been around for the last 40 years but they just recently moved into this historic space in the arts district of Hyattsville, this past summer.  And as the instructor said, it's pretty much the Tardis - so much bigger on the inside!

And as if quoting Doctor Who wasn't enough to win me over, the instructor was also phenomenal at the craft of printing.  He owns his own printmaking business and sells his wares at craft shows and things, so he really knew what he was talking about.  He gave us all helpful hints and tricks and really helped us to understand why certain things happened in certain ways when printing. I highly recommend him if you're ever planning to take a class there.

The process itself, was much more in depth than I assumed it would be.  Like I said, I had no idea what I was getting into, so each step was a new and exciting thing to learn.  There's just so much that goes into setting the type correctly and deciding on what typefaces to use - making decisions; always my downfall! - and getting the ink to work just right.  It really is intense, but it's also super fun!  

What's cool about PAAC is that you can rent space there and work on the equipment whenever you want, which sounds like an awesome opportunity. But when you account for the 50 minute drive, it gets a little out of reach.  So I'm thinking I might need to invest instead to keep up with my studies - there are loads of personal letterpress machines out there that are just calling my name.  But please don't tell James, our instructor.  I mentioned that one point and I think I may have personally offended his artistic sensibility...

The final product was a run (15 cards) of whatever quote you decided to use.  In my cardmaker's brain, I thought it would be smart to jumpstart on my holiday cards.  However, I didn't account for the fact we'd all have to use the same color, and wouldn't you know that the consensus chose the least Christmasy color ever.  Anyway, I'm still a huge fan of my type choices, even if I do say so myself.  The actual printing I might not be the best at - why I couldn't get the ink uniform, I'll never know! But choosing cool fonts, I've mastered!

Friday Five

1. Of course all of the late night talk show hosts were going to have something to say about the outcome of the election.  They all did a wonderful job but my favorite was Seth Meyers. His was the most heartfelt and the most funny.  He managed to be optimistic while still getting his point across.  It's a fairly perfect 10 minutes of television!
         

2. Every year I look forward to the John Lewis Christmas ad, and every year I'm not disappointed.  However, this year I think they went above and beyond and may have created their cutest ad yet.  I just love Buster the Boxer!
         

3. Kids trying new and possibly weird foods will never not be funny.  And these kids are particularly funny.  I just love their reactions because I'm pretty sure I've made some of these faces before when I've tried new things!

4. I have absolutely no use for a Keurig coffee machine.  I don't like coffee and if I want tea, it's so much easier to just pop some water in the microwave and use a tea bag than going through all the pod drama that comes with a Keurig.  But a Keurig type machine that produces only cookies?  That I could use the heck out of!

5. And lastly in honor of Veteran's day, join Chesty in wishing the Marine Corps a happy 241st birthday.  And thank you to all veterans in all branches of the military for serving! Know that we'll appreciate your sacrifices always!
          

Love Trumps Hate

I, along with a lot of the country, have been pretty upset since Tuesday's election results. I've been in the mood where I just want to yell, it's not fair! at the top of my lungs.  I honestly don't understand how this happened.  I do get the electoral college, and I get how it works, but I don't understand how this system can fail so miserably.  Most of the country saw the error in Trump winning.  That's proven by the fact that Hillary won the popular vote.  But because we have a broken system, the people are forced to live with a candidate they didn't elect for the next 4 years.

And that's just wrong.

I can't begin to put into intelligent words just how unhappy the idea of a President Trump makes me.  I'm extremely liberal and I admit that freely.  But what scares me more than his Republican viewpoints is the hate - the hate he spouts on a daily basis.  

The not accepting anyone who's remotely different.  The ability to easily insult those with special needs, or those in minorities, then laugh off or even flatly deny the insults when asked about them.  The need to repeal amendments and laws that provide equal rights for those who have fought for them for far too long.  The desire to keep any and all non-Americans out of this country because they're all a threat to what America is.  The belief that he's so powerful that nothing can stick to him so he's able to do whatever he wants. 

Contrary to what people might think, there are reasons to be scared.  And these are it.  He and his supporters are not fostering an America of hope or compassion or kindness.  With this win, I fear that even more of his supporters will take the opportunity to persecute and condemn those who don't share their same opinions.  Based on what I've read over the last 2 days, it's already started. African-Americans have found their cars damaged or tagged. Mexican students - kids! - are being told their parents are going to be deported.  Muslim Americans are being told to go back to their homelands.  And that's only 48 hours in.  What will the next 4 years bring?

I was naive enough to believe we lived in a country that was making progress.  This is not progress.  This is regression and it needs to be fixed.  I still believe that there are good people in this world - people that are going to care for their fellow humans even more now because they realize kindness is needed more than ever.  These are the people I care about and these are the people I'm going to surround myself with.  And most importantly these are the people that are eventually going to move this country forward and fix it.  

Worst. Wednesday. Ever.

Heartbroken today for obvious reasons.  But also just a teeny tiny bit sore because of a stupid dumb tooth.  (Thank goodness for Nitrous!) I haven't really gotten all of my feelings in check yet so I'm taking the night off to mourn and hopefully laugh a little : )

Trivia Tuesday

~ The results of the election are just as terrifying even when surrounded by liquor and sitting in bar.  Also, election returns are probably not the best thing to watch during trivia - I think everyone paid more attention to the results than the game.

~ You know it's going to be a good night when the very first question is about your very favorite neighborhood in San Francisco - Haight Ashbury.  Also, you know your trivia dude is a good one when he chooses to play a song by the Grateful Dead during this question.

~ The Cleveland Browns is the only team in the NFL that is winless this season so far.  And I know this because the Browns are playing the Ravens this week - which means after Thursday, they probably won't be winless anymore.

~ "I don't want to miss a thing" is Aerosmith's only number one song which is just sad.  They have so many other fabulous songs.  Also, why does their only number one song have to accompany such a sad movie like Armageddon?  I love that song, but that movie is super depressing.

~ The world's oldest penguin lived to be 36 years old.  I'm so glad I'm not a penguin...

~ Tonight we were asked how long it took someone to drink a 16 oz bottle of ketchup with a straw.  I have so many questions about this?  Most of all, why on god's green earth would someone choose to do this willingly?  I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Yuck!  Apparently this masochist took 36.2 seconds to do it.  That's 36.2 seconds of his life he'll never get back.

~ Thank goodness for MASH for teaching me Army rank.  It's the only reason I remember that Majors are higher in rank than Captains.  

~ Also, thank goodness for Twitter for suggesting I follow Neil Gaiman.  I only know for sure that he wrote Neverwhere and Stardust.  However, he talks a lot about Sandman on his Twitter which is fabulous since that was an answer this evening.  Yay for the nerds!

~ The tiger's name in Life of Pi is not Cake.  I feel that was a real missed opportunity. 

One More Day

18 months.  That's how long this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad election cycle has taken. That's 18 months too long for me.  Between the mud-slinging, and the anger, the threats and the hate, the empty promises and the lies, I just can't take any more of it. Tomorrow it finally comes to an end, which is simultaneously a good thing and a terrifying thing.

Even though, Trump is behind in the polls, I can't help but wonder "what if?"  I'd like to agree with the saner heads that truly believe he won't win.  But just a few months ago I watched saner heads in England say that Brexit would never pass, and yet the morning after the vote thousands of people who "just wanted a change" voted the unthinkable into existence. That's the scariest part to me. Second scariest is the argument I heard just a few days ago - since Trump is so divisive, many people are telling their families and friends that they're not voting for him, when in fact they are. What does that mean to the exit polls? Don't you think these same people may be lying to the pollsters as well?

So very, very scary!

For better or worse, Wednesday isn't going to be fabulous.  We're either stuck with someone who's been compared to Hitler or we've elected the more rational and saner, but still not perfect, choice.  None of the hope we had in 2008 is there.  None of the feeling of change. None of the excitement around a candidate that will do something amazing.  We just want the whole darn election thing to end.

And if it does end on the wrong side of history - as I fear it may - I have my escape plan all ready.  Most are headed to Canada or England if Trump wins.  Both are fabulous choices - most especially England.  Though I'd like to wait until they get this whole Brexit thing worked out, before making it my permanent home.  Until that time, I'm off to New Zealand to live in the Shire.  I'm claiming a hobbit hole as mine, and I'll live out my days cooking and crafting with the good and kind people of New Zealand.  

You see, kindness and goodness and openness, that's what I'm looking for. And if Trump wins, it might take me all the way to New Zealand to find it again. 

Ugly Sunday

As a life long Marylander, you can say I'm not the biggest fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  I hear that Pittsburgh is a great food town with lots to offer - as long as you're not there in the middle of winter - so I mean no disrespect to your city.  I just don't like the Steelers.  I think their QB should be in jail and their head coach is a major jerk.  Also, they're the Baltimore Ravens biggest rival, so I'm sort of hard wired to hate them.  

All of this means, that when the Ravens are set to play the Steelers, I'm simultaneously nervous and excited.  Honestly, the Ravens haven't been playing that well this year, so I sort of assumed they'd have their tails handed to them - especially when I heard that Ben would making his triumphant return for the Steelers.  I hate the guy, but you have to admit he's a good QB that gets lucky a lot of the time. But then again, the Ravens were horrible last year too and the only team they managed to beat twice was the Steelers.  It was really anyone's guess who was going to win.

What I wasn't expecting today was the ridiculous number of penalties on the Steelers side (I'm used to the Ravens getting all of them...) and the terrible playing of both teams - though thank goodness for the Ravens defense for finally learning how to play ball effectively!  It was ugly.  I'm used to ugly when it comes to these 2 teams playing, but more of an ugly, we're going to slaughter your team sense.  Today was more ugly in the sense that it seemed that both sides just sort of forgot how to play football.

Then there was the On-side kick heard round the world, which is already being called the worst play in history.  You sort of have to feel bad for the kicker, though I'm not sure a hacky-sack move was his smartest idea when the entire game was on the line.

In the end, the Ravens finally - FINALLY! - managed to win, which is super exciting, since they've lost the last 4.  However, the Ravens and Steelers will meet again, on Christmas day in Pittsburgh. I'm sure the Pittsburgh weather in December will be bad enough to make their Christmases miserable, but now they also have to deal with the Steelers having something to prove. Somehow, I think the Ravens are getting coal (or maybe Steel...see what I did there? :) in their stockings this year...

Some Fall Days

Some fall days start with a yummy breakfast.

Some fall days continue on with a country store open house outing solely to stock up on snow heads.

Some fall days include the Utz factory outlet to stock up on Cheese Balls and Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

Some fall days require you to do the insane - like trying out the brand new outlets in Clarksburg, MD with the other 500,00 people that also thought it was a good idea.

Some fall days allow you to purchase a new winter coat for $39,99 but worry you that you may get cursed by the gods since you didn't inform the cashier that the price was supposed to be twice that cost.

Some fall days let you hang with your family and your friends all day.

And some fall days end with a trip to Target and some Starbucks hot tea.

Friday Five

1. At this point, even I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't say it enough - Come From Away is life-changing in all the best ways!  I mean honestly, how can you not love a show and a cast that travels to the place they've been singing about for the last year, to give the residents a special concert version of the show? Just amazing!

2. I'm not sure if I've been living in the dark ages or not, but I just found eater.com this week and it's fabulous, really.  It reminds me a lot of seriouseats, but with even more food-centric content.  They have a bit more foodie news and issues too, which I really like.  For instance, this stranger than strange story on America's Test Kitchen, that seemingly gets weirder by the day!

3. This news right here, brightened my Tuesday and ruined my Wednesday.  On Tuesday when it broke that David Tennant would be appearing on the West End next year, I was more than a little excited.  I plan to be there in the summer, and seeing that tickets to The Cursed Child are non-existent, I was in the market for something to see.  Also - DAVID TENNANT!  Of course, on Wednesday morning when it was announced that the show would start in March and only run until June 10 - I was crushed!  My plan is to definitely be there after June 10.  Ugh!

4.  I finally schedule a workshop at the Pyramid Arts center and I cannot wait!  I've been dying to try one since I learned about their book-centric philosophy but the dates have been a bit of pain.  But finally, everything worked out and I'll be attending the class soon.  It's not the book binding workshop yet, but it's something equally as cool!  Hopefully I'll have my fun projects to share soon!

5. Is anyone, other than the Indians fans of course, upset that the Cubs won the World Series? I mean, their draught was so long, that I think even non-baseball fans were just hoping they'd pull out the W.  I always root for the underdog, so I was pretty happy to see it as well.  It was super fun to see the city and life-long fans celebrate their tails off!

City Life

There's just something about New York - and now I sound like a broken record.  But it's so darn true.  The energy of the city is enough to make anyone love it.  And this weekend was no different.  One day trips are fine, but 2 day trips are just so much better!

This month's 2 day trip was sort of planned and sort of not, so we had a chance to try some new things.  For the most part, all of the food was planned.  First up was Carnegie Deli, since they'll be closing at the end of the year.  It was as good as usual, but bittersweet seeing as it would probably be the last time we ate there.  I have no idea why they're closing - the food was still the same and the lines were still out the door.  I'm still hoping they change their mind at the last minute, but I'm glad we had the chance to go just in case.

For dinner on Saturday it was a German place in Midtown.  All of the Yelp reviews were lovely yet none of the food actually was.  We should have known when we entered and the entire restaurant was cheering on a sausage eating contest.  Definitely not a great dinner.  Sunday was so much better.

Breakfast was at Sullivan Street Bakery - once again, so darn delicious!  I only wish I could figure out how to make their eggs because I'd make them every week!  And then dinner was at Carmines on 44th.  In my opinion, they are by far the best Italian restaurant in New York. All of the food is served family style so the portions are enormous.  And the food is all homemade and to die for.  We had the penne ala vodka and the chicken parmesan.  And if I hadn't have eaten so much already, I would have eaten every last bite.  Let's just say, I'm a big fan!

When we weren't eating, we were discovering.  Thankfully, this past weekend was the very first day of the Bryant Park shops being open.  These little glass shops in the park selling all sorts of homemade wares are a favorite of mine every year.  Add the shopping to an ice rink, a cafe, some awesome snack shops and a Christmas tree (not yet, but it'll be there) and you have the perfect place to spend a few hours - in our case it was a few hours on Saturday and a few hours on Sunday.  Also, this year there's a Strand pop-up shop so you know I couldn't resist that.

On Sunday, we tried a new area of town, which never really works out well.  I desperately need to research things ahead of time to save me from getting incredibly lost.  But this was spur of the moment, and I definitely got lost - big surprise.  However, SoHo really is lovely.  The 85 degree weather made getting lost a little more bearable than had it been 20 degrees, but not really my cup of tea either way.  Some of the reasoning behind going down there was to see Dominique Ansel, Blick Art Supplies, Jack's Wife Frieda, and Magnolia Bakery - none of which we ever actually found. I did find La Duree though and had a yummy cannel so I suppose there's that.  

As you can see, it was once again a fabulous time. Even after 10 trips this year, I'm still not tired of it.  In fact I can't wait to start my once a month track record again next year thanks to awesome trips like this past weekend.  New York just keeps fueling my fire. And I'm super happy about it!