I *heart* Tim Gunn

Tim Gunn, thank you so much for saying what I have been thinking ever since Michelle Obama became the latest American fashion icon.

Tim Gunn: "Not to sound disparaging toward anyone, but when people cite J.Crew as budget shopping—it really isn't."

Cue angelic choir now, please. So much satisfaction! I got so tired of hearing and reading about how down to Earth the Obamas are because Michelle Obama shops at J. Crew for herself and the girls. To buy coats for little girls from J. Crew is pretty much the opposite of shopping on a budget. Kids grow super-fast and something like a winter coat is an investment you know is basically going to be worn for only one winter before being packed up or donated to someone with younger kids.

I don't at all disagree with J. Crew as an option for the Obamas. Classic, clean lines and vibrant, youthful shades were definitely the way to go for the new first family. The inauguration was a special occasion, and the girls needed something classic and memorable. HELLO, that's why they shopped at J. Crew! Not because of their budget! If it was about the budget, Michelle Obama and some security guards would've been hitting up their local Target.

Love Tim Gunn, love J. Crew, love Obamas' winterwear. Two thumbs down to people who think J. Crew is shopping on a budget. If they have so much money sitting around, they can share with me.

Old people drink lots of coffee

So, I'm almost the big 3-0, and except for when I worked at Starbuck's, I haven't ever really gotten into the habit of drinking more than one cup of coffee a day. And I've NEVER understood what the point of decaf was. I've always thought it made more sense to just drink water than decaf.

Old people, however, drink like a pot of coffee a day. Like my parents. And it's decaf all day long. (?!?!?!?!)

Lately, the unthinkable has begun to happen. Sometimes at night, after dinner, I sort of think how nice a hot cup of coffee would be. And on weekend afternoons, I sometimes make a cup of instant decaf coffee. (I can only handle one caffeine drink a day, or else I can't sleep when I want to. Don't mess with my sleep.)

And so it begins. The oldness is coming.

!!!!!

Don't you hate it when out of the blue someone says something to you that makes absolutely no sense at all, and then when you're trying to ask them to explain why on Earth they would say such a thing, they look at YOU like you're the crazy one? Then they walk away and you start to ask other people what they think of it, and they totally agree with you, and the conversation just turns into how infuriating that person is, but you never convince that truly crazy person of how crazy they are? It's great that someone else agrees with you, but what you really want is for that person to go "AHA, I see what you mean. That's not what I meant to say. I meant to say ____." Then everyone laughs and goes hahahaha what a silly misunderstanding!

I really want that nice, neat happy ending. I'm never gonna get it. Even if this person reconsiders, I'll never hear, "you were right. I WAS insane to say that. I'll never think that crazy way again." But I have to let it go for the sake of professionalism. And maturity, I guess. I'm not good at letting things go. This is hard.

Penne Lasagna

So, I like to make lasagna sometimes. The thing is, you have to wait for the lasagna noodles to cool enough to handle them. Last time, I ran cold water over them thinking who cares ... it's going in the oven anyway? That worked fine, but I burned my fingers a little bit. And then you have to layer everything and it takes a bit of patience, you know? Every time I make lasagna, I have sore feet by the time the pan goes into the oven.

Today, I said forget it. We're using penne instead.

So simple. Why didn't I think of it before?! All that tomato and ricotta yumminess, but so much easier.

There's so much leftover because le husband and I had this yummy salad first (romaine, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, crumbled feta, peppercorn ranch dressing and twice baked Wegman's croutons) while the pasta was busy bubbling away in the oven. I was going to grill some peach halves for dessert, but I forgot to get vanilla ice cream. Instead, we'll have to have the leftover Ghirardelli brownies I made on Monday. They're the best brownies I've ever made from scratch. (The recipe is on the label of the baking bar.) It's been a good cooking day. I love it when that happens!

Why not use punctuation?

Seriously? Ford/Lincoln/Mercury decided to launch a new advertising campaign to spread the word on their current promotion and call it:

Why Ford. Why Not.

?!?!?!?!??!

Where are the question marks? If you begin a sentence with "Who", "What", "When", "Where", or "Why", you use a question mark at the end. It's that simple. Those are questions.

Who are you?

What are you doing?

When are you coming over?

Where are we going?

Why didn't you proofread your undoubtedly expensive ad campaign?

I get it if you skip the punctuation if what you're trying to convey is that you don't care, I guess. If you want people to like you and buy your cars, then don't you want them to think that you care?

I wholeheartedly disapprove.

Le Pens

My favorite pens are Le Pens.

They're more like super-fine tip markers, really. They're smooth, sleek, and sexy. They come in every color you could want. And they have an awesome name. I just bought a set of 18. You should too. You'll love them - I just know it. They're perfect.

Yo!

So, after 8 1/2 years of dating, plus over a year of being married, le husband managed to reveal a hidden talent to me this weekend. On Friday morning, (LOVE the three-day weekend) FedEx knocked on our door and dropped off a package for le husband. He had ordered a yo-yo. Apparently, he used to be pretty good at doing tricks.

I didn't even know there were people who did tricks with yo-yos. I never even wondered what they were for. I think I saw a Mythbusters episode about yo-yos being used as weapons ... but I don't really remember what they decided. So, anyway, he's been "yo-ing" all weekend. I think it's pretty cute how determined he is to learn new tricks. It's fun after all this time to learn something new about him. Incidentally, my hidden talent is that I can read backwards pretty easily. I guess I sort of revealed that one to him not too long ago. It makes for a fun car ride, at least. My favorite backwards word right now is Sremrofsnart. It's everywhere. Anytime you get to say "snart", it's fun.