I'm about to trek out to the grocery store on foot, to gather up the last bit of supplies I need for the baking extravaganza that will commence tonight.
I will be making:
Peanut butter blossoms
mini candy cane cupcakes (this is as close as I could find to what I'm making. Except, Mine will be mini cupcakes made of white cake, with vanilla frosting and very finely crushed candy canes sprinkled on top. So delicious. And pretty.)
Then, the boyfriend and I pack off and go south to Olympia, to spend Christmas Eve and part of Christmas (I work that night) with the fam. All of my 3 siblings are bringing their significant others to stay over. I'm really worried it's going to look something like this: (minus the boyfriend swapping, proposals, mom with cancer and deaf brother, but twice the hilarious hi-jinks!)
Girls used to rock. There were so many awesome ladies in the 90's, and I'm not talking Lilith Fair (although I did own a fair amount of those girls). I'm talking serious kick ass grungy, rock'n rollers. Some of my favorite ladies, who definitely influenced me growing up:
(in no particular order)
Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls
I was a fan of "Seether". That video is also awesome. But when Eight Arms to Hold You came out, I lost my shit. Seriously, "Volcano Girls" is such a ripping song. I wanted to BE Nina Gordan in 8th grade. They definitely influenced a lot of what I listened too in the next few years.
PJ Harvey - Down By the Water
I was a casual PJ listener at this point, not really knowing her earlier albums. But this song/video is what turned me into a fan. All I can say is that this video scared the crap out of me...and I loved it. This song is so f'ing haunting and cool. And look at her! So amazing, I'm almost peeing myself just watching it again.
Hole - Doll Parts
"I want to be the girl with the most cake, i love him so much it just turns to hate". Oh Courtney. You are one bat shit crazy celebrity but your music will always redeem you.
Garbage - Queer
Shirley, Shirley, Shirley. I wanted to wear your a-line dresses and have your perfect smokey eyes and smeared lipstick, but I was never that cool. I was wearing skater polo shirts and adidas and pulling my hair back with matching baby barrettes and ordering from Deliah's in high school. I still yearn to be as cool as you.
Juliana Hatfield - My Sister
I'm actually still a huge Juliana fan. My favorite part of this song is when she sings about going to a Violent Femmes concert. I was also a Violent Femmes fan, via My So Called Life. Remember that episode where Angela danced around to "Blister In the Sun "? I'm not embarrassed. That show pretty defined my life freshman year. I lived and breathed it.
Breeders - Cannonball
Kim Deal. 'Nuff said.
There's so many girls to choose from. That's just a sampling of ladies I adore.
Okay, let's take a break from the made for tv movies, and talk about Christmas. Specifically, Christmas songs. More importantly the 1983 classic, "Do They Know It's Christmas".
This, might be one of the most amazing and hilarious videos and songs of all time. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE THIS SONG. When Boy George starts belting it out, my childhood heart swoons.
But let's get serious. It's sort of ridiculous.
Who the hell is singing first? I'm sorry, I have no idea. And I'm too lazy to research it. There goes my girl (man), Boy George. And poor Sting, he only gets to sing back up to Simon Le Bon and Bono. He looks really sad about it.
I also kind of want Phil Collin's sweater vest.
And the douchebags playing guitar? Is there even guitar in this song? It sounds like a lot of awesome drumming, some synths and a few bells. I'm sure there's some guitar in there somewhere, but there's really no need to act like you're ripping a huge solo John Taylor from Duran Duran.
My biggest beef with this Christmas classic, is why are there no lead girl parts? I mean, they brought in Jody Watley and the girls from Bananarama for the ending chorus, but they weren't good enough to sing lead? Band Aid is such a sausage fest.
Okay seriously. How amazing were made for TV Movies in the 90's? I lived for this shit. A Made For TV movie pre-empted anything else I was interested in watching, and I would kick my little sisters and brother out of the room, just so I could indulge in the over dramatic, "ripped from the headlines" stories, starring actresses and actors from my favorite teen shows. They show a lot of these on Lifetime now, although most were made as a week night special by the big networks. Let's recap a few: (I would also like to state that I don't find murder, domestic abuse, or eating disorders particularly funny, but these movies *are* so snarkable)
Death Of A Cheerleader Otherwise known as, Kelly from Life Goes On stabs the shit out of Tori Spelling in a jealous cheerleading rage. Epic. The person who uploaded this video on You Tube wouldn't let me embed it, but here's a link: You Tube:Death of A Cheerleader
No One Would Tell
Oh Candace. You grew up on Full House, playing our beloved DJ, and then went on to star in a string of bad tv movies, always playing the victim. Fred Savage plays a crazy, jealous boyfriend who stabs DJ (sorry, Candace) to death. That's two, count 'em two, movies about crazy people stabbing people they're jealous of. This one still scares the crap out of me. I will never watch Wonder Years in the same way again.
A Secret Between Friends
Holy anorexia, batman! Eating disorders were a huge topic in made for tv movies. And to be honest, I feel like a lot of these were more enabling than helpful. This one stars a young Marley Shelton, as she and her best friend encourage each other to lose weight in unhealthy ways until one of them is killed. I remember liking it because it took place in Seattle. Doesn't take much to please me.
another ED movie:
Perfect Body
Pink Power Ranger!
Friends 'Til The End
Shannen Doherty. Singing. That's all you really need to know. Okay there's a lot more you need to know. Like there's this crazy girl who wants to be just like her and has since childhood, and manipulates her into letting her join her band, her sorority and then crazy girl steals her boyfriend and basically her life. They showed this one on VH1 a lot. I loved it, I'm not sure why.
I don't really understand Twitter. And that's okay. I mean, I get the concept, I just don't see how everyday people can post anything *that* interesting twenty times a day. Telling all your followers that you went to the grocery story today just isn't that entertaining.
However, when celebrities tweet, most notably comedians...I will follow that.
For those not in the know, Mindy stars, writes and executive produces The US Office. She is amazing. Every Kelly scene has me peeing my pants. And her twitter is unbelievable. She brings the funny. I think I have a crush on her. Some hilarious tweets include: "You know when all your best friends are in NYC without you having fun and you hope the Cloverfield monster strikes?" "In the world where ratty underpants are valued, I am King." "I say, if you love something, set it in a small cage and pester and smother it with love until it either loves you back or dies." "If Prince William doesn't choose Kate Middleton I'm going to boycott England forever" "The temptation to end every script I write with the main character "waking up and it was all a dream" is so strong"
And the sly and handsome Aziz Ansari: Aziz Ansari On Twitter This dude is always the funniest thing in anything he does. Tiny bit parts (ala Funny People), and he totally steals the show. Currently on Parks & Rec with my other girl crush, Amy Poehler. His twitter is full of good band recommendations and funny shout outs to fellow comedians.
The best is when they twitter at each other. Hilarity ensues.
I wanted to post a blog and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, but my internet has been down for two days.
So a little late but....
I hope you are truly stuffed and spent time with people you love. I can check both those off my list.
On a second note, this man came into my work the day after Thanksgiving, when I was not there.
SERIOUSLY.
How unfair is my life? According to my star struck co-workers he was soft spoken and smelled amazing. My boyfriend is throwing up as he reads this, because he hates Morrissey with a passion. Relax babe, go put on some Dylan and take deep breaths.
I can't believe he came into my work the day I wasn't there. argggggggg
So I've got my itunes on shuffle, and one of my favorite 90's jams comes on:
Play on: LL
I seriously loved this song in high school. And it's DIRTY! So much moaning and simulated rubbing. I mean it's no Eazy E "Gimmie Dat Nut", or Lil Kim "Not Tonight" but still.
I think I enjoy this song so much now because it samples Grace Jone's awesome "My Jamaican Guy". Of course, I didn't know this at the tender age of 16. But my older, more musically educated self, can still appreciate both. Guilty pleasure
Just thought I'd let you know, this is how I spend my days off. Listening to 90's classics ("No Diggity" is probably next), and reading blogs.
I haven't taken a midterm in 10 years. I'm a little nervous. It's open note, and I have been excessively organized with them (binder, with different lectures divided by topic with terms highlighted), so it's time to chill out. I don't think I could be any more prepared. I just need to take the damn test and relax.
Oh wait, I have my first ESSAY due Wednesday, which I have been dreading. Seriously, I haven't even started it yet. It's Monday. I know, I know.
Instead of doing my essay, I have been obsessively working my way through the old 80's Degrassi series. When I lived in Olympia, I had a friend from Canada whose mom paid for her insane cable bill just so she could get the 'N' network and watch the new Degrassi. All I really remember from those days is giggling every time anyone said "sorry", in their cute Canadian accent.
So, thanks to Netflix, I decided to get into the original series from the 80's. And OH MY GOD, it's a total doozy. So out of control, cheesy and awesome. I never really caught it on PBS when they re-aired them in the US while I was a kid, so this a totally new treat for me.
It's sad that my favorite characters were pretty much written out of the show after the first season. Meet Stephanie Kaye and Voula.
The episode continues with Stephanie giving kisses (on the cheek, how chaste) to boys in order to win votes for class president. And poor Voula. She's so adorably clueless!
LOVES IT. The amount of skin shown/makeup worn by Steph is insane. All her best scenes are in the bathroom, undressing or caking more on.
In between Lifetime movies and How I Met Your Mother season 4, I'm getting back into the Next Generation Degrassi on Netflix. Expect more videos and comments from moi.
So I've moved into Blogger, because I've hated the way Wordpress is set up, which has then equaled no postings from me. And I swear I have interesting things to say! Feel free to check out my old site and get a rehashing of what I do:
Perhaps I'll start this blog with my overwhelming, and slightly new, love of the holidays. It feels like the older I get, the more I miss my family (who are only an hour away to be honest), and the more important things like the holidays become. Also I am a nostalgia junkie, and there's just something satisfying about watching Peanuts specials, cooking and baking holiday treats and carving pumpkins to resemble Domo:
Have I expressed my intense love of Domo? He was the Target Halloween mascot last year and I kind of dropped the ball on acquiring mass Domo merch because of a lack of Target near me. (Sidenote: seriously Seattle, get with it. The closest Target is 20 minutes away on the freeway, which can equal 40 minutes in bad traffic.) I bemoaned my sad Domo-less existence, until 7-11 picked him up as *their* new mascot. I currently have a cute little Domo figurine sitting on my computer speaker, wearing huge Dj headphones and carrying a slurpee. I tore him off a slurpee straw that only cost me 1.99. He's so cute! It's also fun to use Domo as an exclamation when excited about something. Such as:
"I'm so stoked to eat pumpkin pie with whipped cream, DOMO!"
Ok, maybe just between my boyfriend and I, that's funny. That was a serious Domo tangent.
Anyways, I am excited about the holidays. Halloween was pretty great and included lots of pumpkin activity (pumpkin patch, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, carving pumpkins, you get the picture), a viewing of the greatest Halloween Disney movie starring Bette Midler EVER: Hocus Pocus, gorging on tiny butterfingers and admiring the pretty fall leaves that will soon gunk up all the storm drains and flood our city.
I'm excited for Thanksgiving, mostly because it's the first time in 3 years that I'll actually have it off! (I work in a 365 day a year record store, which means I never have holidays off). Turkey and mashed potatoes and cranberries and pie and perhaps hanging out with my sisters and shopping the next day. Le sigh...it sounds lovely.
A record store working, 80's ya book collecting, pie making dork who also knits and reads comics. Always on the quest for a perfect grilled cheese sandwich. Prone to listening to bad pop music while cleaning. In college with aspirations of becoming an elementary school librarian.
