In da liv-er.

I know that there are many of you out there in the interweb that have been missing me very dearly. Hanging on my every word, I know. And I've been ignoring you.

I apologize. But I'm not going to promise to do better. Honestly, blogging at home is not at all easy. For a number of reasons.

1. Constant accompaniment.

2. Constant entertainment/ employment.

3. Constant questions.

I'll not elaborate, but you get the idea.

Anyway, if you were near me, you would be annoyed by my constant imitation of and reference to Bas Rutten. Please enjoy the following video. It is six minutes of pure hilarity in the form of Bas Rutten's bar fight instructions.



I especially like Rutten's voice inflection. It. is. per. fect.

So, until next time, friends, keep it real.

**Also, things are very interesting around here at present. My sister is currently being offended by the naked women in 300. If you'll remember... there are only two notable women in 300. Ugh.***

VA is for bloggers, at least this one.

I'm home for a few weeks. Gone are the snowy hills of Maine! Well, I mean, I'm somewhat confident that they are still there, but I can't be completely sure.

Travel was... well... travel. I sat in the airport for 3 hours and then on the runway for another 3. Yesterday was long and boring.

When we finally drove through the good 'ol News, my mom said, "Does it feel wierd to be home?"

And I thought about it for a second, sighed and said, somewhat disappointedly, "No."

What was wierd, or what I really want to say is "disappointing," was that it felt like I'd never been gone.

Coffee Conclusions

I need no overcoat. I’ve got my love to keep me warm.

And by “love” I mean a Starbucks Grande Soy Caramel Macchiato.

Yes, a grande. I hope this drink alone causes me to visibly gain weight.

At least I won’t have to double-cup like Twiggy at the condiment counter. If I ever become so temperature sensitive as to complain about both the chill in the room – that no one else feels – and the mild heat of my coffee cup – that everyone else enjoys – please reintroduce me to the cheeseburger.

Please also remind me that even though I paid a meal-sized fee for it, the fancy coffee in my hand is, in fact, not a meal.

Myface and Spacebook*

Is there anything better than looking through hundreds of pictures of people who are obviously happier than you when you should, actually, be writing a paper?

I submit that there is not.



*Title courtesy of my dear, sweet, mother who honestly thought that's what they were called.

ssssnnoooowww

It snowed all weekend and started up again on Tuesday. This morning I woke up with a gershry (does anyone know how to spell yiddish words?!) to find no snow. None! It was gone. It had rained all night. And it was perfect. I skipped through the rain all day today b/c rain I can handle. Rain I almost love.

But it's supposed to snow again tomorrow.

Really?! Really, Snow?! What have I done to you? Was it the move? Did it upset you that I came here acting like I knew you? Is it the fact that I didn't even try to get to know you before? Is it because I didn't call? I get that I'm all up in your piece and I have to play by your rules, but I don't have to be happy about that. I mean, you throw me down. You've bruised me more times than I can count, and I'm sure you'll do it again. I think you almost like being mean to me.

You and me are just going to have to deal, I guess.

So here it is: Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours.

If I see you around tomorrow, I'm going to be pissed. Now you know.

Dating Figs, or Figging Dates?

It's been a while since I teased you guys with a cupcake, so here you go!

This latest cupcake was very trying for me for several reasons.

1. I was baking for an actual event, not just because I wanted to bake.

2. The cake recipe calls for figs, but it's winter in Maine. I had to use dates.

3. I mistakenly used both the stick of butter called for and the stick of butter I was softening for the icing in the cake batter.

However...despite my best efforts to ruin them, these cupcakes are both tasty and cute. Observe:

These are Date Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Fig Newton Books.

Last night I pre-gamed the cupcaking by decorating 24 Fig Newtons with tiny little book spines. I'm taking these to the potluck for my Young Adult Lit class. The course title is ERL 518.


And then when I started actually preparing the cupcakes this morning, I had to begin by stewing the dried dates. Let me just say . . . well, I'll just show you.

See? It's not good. I just don't like dried fruit too much. And I hate hate hate things with skins. And the dates started out dried and then - with the stewing - gave up their skins. Ugh. I'm making an ew face just thinking about it again. It makes my own skin feel a little crawly.

Anyway, I powered through the stewing portion of the show and then opted for the food processor rather than the "chopping" that the recipe demanded. I just couldn't be handling the dates that much. The processing worked just fine.

Dates aside, the recipe was quite nice. I made some lovely - read odd - buttermilk and combined that with some reserved date water and I was on my way! Please note the snow. It continued to snow all day today. Again. I'm so over it.

The cupcakes are really helping me cope with the snow for sure. Haha. Don't question it, just let it be.

Here's a wacky picture of both my life at the moment and one of the cupcakes. Notice the stack of books in the background. They'll be going to class with me tomorrow too.


So, that's what I've been up to lately. The end of semester has actually snuck up on me. I feel like we just started, but I have only paper left to write. And, next week at this time, I'll be on my way home. Success.

iNeed iTunes iHelp

So, here's the problem: I've been listening to music all day while I wrapped up my YA lit projects. And... I thought that was a good thing.

It was fun while it was happening. And the songs were lovely and wonderful and sometimes even fun. But now that it's evening (Well...in Maine it's been dark for two and a half hours and 6:22pm) I'm finding myself rather bummy.

Nothing has happened. I had a pretty alright weekend (though there was minimal human contact, that might have something to do with it). I finished a fair amount of work. I even made 6 adorable cupcakes. So what gives?

I'll tell you. My iTunes.

Apparently the singer-songwriter thing I've had going for a while is just not good for Maine winter. That makes sense, right? Brandi Carlile is beautiful and perfect and honey, but her heaviness is probably not what I should be listening to when the days are so short.

So here are the most frequent artists on my iTunes these days:

Tegan & Sara
Brandi Carlile
Missy Higgins
PCD
P!nk
Josh Ritter
OneRepublic
Girlyman

Now...I know that P!nk and the PCD are a little random in there, but I like them. Sometimes. I <3 P!nk, but those Dolls are only okay sometimes.

Anyway, I'll stop making excuses. I'll just ask for help.

What should I be listening to? Please advise.

Oh, and please know that Hayden Panettiere's single Wake Up Call is some kind of magical. That is all.