Morielia's blog

Song? What Song?

I'm not usually one for sap and mush, but Aaron and I have been talking more seriously lately about what we'd like our wedding to be like, where we want to go for our honeymoon (start saving now!), etc.  It's funny thinking back to where we were two years ago and then seeing us sitting on the couch now in our PJs, me knitting like a fool (oh my hands hurt!) and him playing Xbox.  He still drives me nuts, but oh how I love him.

We started talking about wedding songs - mostly how cliche they are ... a conversation that was brought on by a Scrubs episode (the one with Clay Aiken as the guest star singing "Isn't She Lovely" - Turk and Carla's song).  I'm of the mind that couples probably only have "songs" if they meet at dances, go dancing often, or hear a song that they really connect with on the radio, and it's rarely a romantic song.  But, inevitably, a magical romantic song appears mysteriously during that first dance at the wedding and is forever "your song."

What would be our song?  I have no idea.  We're retarded enough to make our first dance 99 Red Balloons or something, but if we had to be serious?  Neither of us had any idea.  Until now.

My very first choice is Paperweight by Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk.  I've always thought immediately about Aaron when I've heard this song - even before we started really dating.  I think it's beautiful.

Paperweight

My very distant second choice is Nat King Cole's (I Love You) for Sentimental Reasons.  Seems like Nat King Cole makes a lot of appearances at weddings, and I'd really like ours to be different.  This is one song I've never heard at a wedding though, and it's a personal favorite of mine.

(I Love You) for Sentimental Reasons

Otherwise, I'm out of ideas. 

What's your song and why'd you pick it (or why did it pick you)

Eat Better and Save Money: Part 1 (plus a recipe!)

I've been on this quest for several months now, and Aaron has now joined me on the bandwagon.  Great!  I love him the way he is, but I'd love to see him lose just 5lbs for the sake of his aching knees and back.  It would help tremendously (please note: he is 6'3 and weighs 220 - not fat).

We've devised a plan to not only get us eating better (together) but to help us save money at the grocery store. 

Step 1:  Plan all dinners for a single week.

Lunches are kind of a moot point to plan, considering we're often not together for lunch, and neither of us "overeats" during lunch anyhow.  I'm a snack lunch kind of girl (cheese, fruit, pickles, whatever), whereas Aaron will eat left overs. 

Step 2:  Go to the grocery store and buy only the groceries necessary for that week's dinners.

Of course, this leaves room for flexibility.  We still need toilet paper or shampoo and other general necessities (including spices and what not that have run out) from time to time.  Planning our meals, however, gives us a good idea of what we need and don't need, though.  That way, nothing goes to waste, which was a BIG problem for us.  Yesterday, for example, we threw out 2 pounds (2 POUNDS) of oranges.  Buying produce in bulk = bad.

Step 3:  Freeze the extra meat.

Now, I've been almost entirely vegetarian for the better part of my life, but I do enjoy some bacon now and then.  I told Aaron that, to allow for more variety for him, I would eat more lean pork products more often if he would eat more fish (which provides more variety for me).  Of course, we aren't freezing fish (ick!), but we did buy 6 small, extra lean pork chops for 6 dollars and froze the remaining 4.  We've also frozen half a rack of spare ribs.  The more meals we can get out of each package of meat, the better.

Step 4:  Buy more fruits and vegetables and snack more often!

Oh my god, snacks?!  Yes.  Absolutely!  Like I said, I'm more of a snack girl myself, but it was rare that I would eat every 3 hours.  Aaron, now that I'm giving him smaller portions, has to eat every 3 hours or he'll starve to death.  We've got a mess of snacky fruits and vegetables (and nuts!) on top of what we purchased for dinners.  The key is buying them in small amounts and buying what's on sale.   We spent at least 20 minutes circling the fruit stands in the store yesterday going "what do you like? is it on sale? ok, what next..."

So our first planned meal for the night was spareribs, which would have been a total flop if I weren't so great at improvising. 

Apparently, cooking spareribs takes forever.  Who knew?  I didn't read the recipe like I was supposed to, but these were meant to be simmered for 2 hours.  Holy god!  Considering Aaron and I don't usually begin cooking until 630 or 7, that's a big deal.  Time to improvise!  Please note as you read this that I am infamous for making a mess out of the kitchen - I use pretty much every pot in sight.

Firstly, we didn't have (nor did we intend to have) all of the ingredients necessary for the sauce.  Like I said, I improvised - spicy sweet and sour sauce.  We boiled the spareribs for about 20 minutes in plain water, and then stuck them on the George Foreman for a few minutes each to brown them up, which I could have just as easily done in a pan with a little oil.  No biggie.  I placed the sauce into the same pot and added a little water (about 1/4 cup), put the ribs back in, and cranked the heat up.  Getting the pan nice and hot makes certain that 1.  the sugar in the sauce melts  2. the sauce maintains its consistency with all of the water and 3. when the water finally does boil off, the sauce is the perfect sticky goodness that you love to have on ribs.  5 or 10 minutes (depending on the volume of sauce and ribs) is really all you need.  We ended up serving them with just a little bleu cheese potato salad.  They turned out pretty good!

Sauce (good for approximately 6 large ribs to be generously coated):

Sweet and Sour Ribs

2 tsp Garlic Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
3 tbsp Ketchup (wha?! I know, but it's good, promise)
3 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Sriracha chili sauce

Note: these are all estimates!  I'm a dumper - I do not measure stuff.  You have to taste as you go (like any good chef) to make sure that the salt, sugar, or spice is what suits YOUR palette.  This is about what worked for us.  You can also substitute the rice wine vinegar for red wine vinegar, use light soy, add plum sauce, or do pretty much anything in the world to this.  The keys here are salt, vinegar, and sugar.  Use whatever ingredients you have available to make this combination work for you!

Happy eating.

Knitting right along

My hands are so sore!  Eesh.

The general consensus with the blanket I've been knitting for my future niece/nephew was:

1.  The baby yarn was too fine and difficult to work with.

2.  The baby yarn was too light in color (baby's are grubby creatures).

3.  The pattern was a pain in the arse on straight needles.

So I decided to change things up a bit and use an increasing/decreasing pattern so avoid TONS of stitches right off the bat, use circular needles to accommodate the large number of stitches later on, and use dark green yarn.

Baby blanket part 1

This is the progress thus far.

Not bad for a beginner, ya know, but I'm not sure what's going on with that corner there. 

There's a row of holes just before the interior pattern starts (not sure you can really see it) that I intend to weave a white ribbon through once it's finished.  If it's a girl, it'll be perfect.  If it's a boy, it can be ripped out.  Or my sister and law can keep it for herself and use it as a breast feeding snuggly.

And yes, that is the Assassin's Creed 2 issue of Game Informer on my wretched little coffee table :

Movie Review: La Vie en Rose

La Vie en Rose

La Vie en Rose, also called La Môme, is by far one of the best movies I've ever seen in my entire life. 

I have always been a fan of Edith Piaf's music - a woman who, despite her hunched posture and awkward gait, was beautiful in too many senses of the word.  Like Janis Joplin, one of my favorite artists of all time, she was never the belle of the ball, but she sang with her whole being and that made her beautiful.  The angelic voice probably didn't hurt either.

The movie chronicles Piaf's entire life, from her childhood to the moment of her death (though they've stretched her age a bit).  Piaf's life definitely was not a peachy experience, as seems to be the case with all true geniuses.  She spent her childhood growing up in a brothel, where she went temporarily blind due to keratitis, spent another portion of her childhood traveling with her father in the circus, and ultimately ended up as a young adult on the streets with her best friend, Mômone.  The pair spent their time partying and boozing it up and occasionally sang on the street to earn some money.  It was on a stree conrner that Piaf  was discovered by Louis Leplée, played by the fantastic Gérard Depardieu. 

New Year's Eve

I've never spent an entire movie wracked with goosebumps before this weekend.  Marion Cotillard bears a striking resemblance to Piaf herself and does a superb job of recreating the little quirks of Piaf's personality, like the way she walks slightly bow-legged and stares glossy-eyed out into the crowds with her head cocked slightly to the right.  Though she did none of the singing herself (all songs were either recordings of Piaf or Jil Aigrot), she clearly connected with Piaf and understood the totality of her singing.  It's truly amazing.

And speaking of Jil Aigrot - though you don't ever see her, she does a fantastic job of mimicking Piaf's voice, most particularly the way that she trilled her R's.

The writing is top notch and really helps to accentuate those other quirks of Piaf's - elegant and delightfully uncooth all

Piaf on Stage

in the same go.  One of the most profound moments (I felt) was when Piaf was sitting on the beach being interviewed by a young woman.  She asked, "Who are you knitting for?" as Piaf was always seen bent over needles and yarn.  Piaf's smiled and responded, "Anyone who will wear my sweater."  The writing, in combination with Cotillard's stellar performance, provides so many facets to this amazing woman - her abrasive and scratchy demeanor, her elegance, and her absolute and total love for music.  And strangely enough, the scene I just described has been said in other reviews to be among the best in the entire film.

Even if you've never been a fan of Piaf's music or have no idea who she was, I'd highly recommend this movie.  The acting is unbelievable on all counts, the writing (again) is stellar, and the music is lovely.  I didn't find myself wanting for anything in this movie.  I'll definitely be picking up a copy of my own the first chance I get.

Rating: 5/5 for one of the top 100 performances of all time.

Foreign Word of the Day

CB-radio

German:  Ein Handfunkgeraet

I think anything with "hand" and "funk" in the same sentence (let alone the same word) pretty much just has to be awesome.

Curvy Women: Fashion Pariahs

Simpson's Curvy?

I've seen a lot of stories in fashion news lately about "real women" having curves - women like Beyonce Knowles and Jessica Simpson (seriously?) who can't weigh more than maybe (and I stress maybe) 150 pounds soaking wet.  Curves are curves, absolutely! - no matter how small they may be.  But come on - if you're trying to promote a move toward curvier, and (let's face it) bigger fashion icons, choose someone who is actually bigger.  The only curvy bits on Jessica Simpson are... obvious.

In a recent attempt to find some decent clothing at the mall that was "Vegas-worthy" (whatever the hell that means), I realized, as I have over and over again, that no matter what people tell you, size 12 is not size 12 anymore.  Even just 3 years ago, when I was significantly thinner than I am now (cheers for birth control), a size 12 was not a size 12, but it certainly wasn't a size 8.  The huge disconnect between sizes is amazing, where a 12 is now an 8 and a 14 is now like a 20.  Wha?

And listen, I do know how to dress myself.  I know that I have an hourglass figure.  I know that this shape works best in full-skirted outfits because, do the math here, when your hips are a 40 and your waist is a 32, pants don't tend to fit so great, do they?  I'm not a fashion nightmare - trust me. And, again, listen up - I love, love, love looooove my curves and plenty of other people do too.  I eat right, I exercise, I'm strong (seriously, come wrestle with me), and my heart is in great shape.  My size is definitely not an insecurity. 

Do I look fat?

So when I go to the mall and visit department stores like Macy's and JC Penney, knowing full well that I could land anywhere from a size 12 up to a size 16 based on the cut of the dress, and nothing fits, it sure makes me wonder where this charge toward loving curves is making a rest stop because it sure ain't at the mall.  I'm continually amazed that I'm forced (yes, forced) to shop for skirts and pants in a "plus size" store like Torrid and that "plus size" begins now at size 12 in some stores.  I remember when stores like the now defunct Mervyn's carried up to size 18 throughout the store.  Only in Macy's could you see a "full-skirt a-line" (associate's words) that hugs like a pencil cut.  No really, it's there.  I found one.

Being "fat," however you define that for yourself, is not a bad thing if you're healthy.  And yes, there are plenty of perfectly healthy individuals who are considered "fat."  Fat does not equate to lazy, and if you think that's true, you're mistaken, and the opposite is also true.  Being fit doesn't mean you aren't a lazy slob.

 

 So if we're going to lead the charge toward a curvier woman in the fashion industry, I want a real curvy woman.

Camryn_manheim

 

My nominee?  Camryn Manheim.  This woman is just... devastatingly gorgeous on the red carpet, FAT and all.

Who is YOUR favorite curvy woman?

April Fool's Day: How I Hate Thee

Aside from all of the made up holidays that Vox seems to come across, April Fool's Day is by far my least favorite holiday. 

I won't deny that it's possible - maybe I have no sense of humor.  But I have a hard time getting behind a holiday whose sole purpose has become to humiliate, insult, distress, and (sometimes) downright hurt people.

Any "good" April Fool's joke/prank inevitably hurts someone's feelings, disappoints, stresses, or inconveniences them beyond belief.  Your son is dead... oh just kidding, April Fools!  People use this holiday as an excuse to be mean to people, just as women my age tend to use Halloween as an excuse to dress like a bunch of hoebags.  It's a sad commentary on the human condition in this country.

Years ago, Lies and I knew this kid named Martin - I read his blog, she read his blog.  Don't have any idea how I ended up there, but I did, and for a long time, I thought he was pretty cool.  And then, April Fool's rolled around.

He wrote up a convoluted and rather convincing blog about coming out.  Apparently, I was the only one duped (is it sad that I was the only one thinking immediately that I should offer up some support?), and I certainly didn't think it was funny.  Not because I fell for it - no... because I don't think that making light of a situation that some people end up taking their own lives over is funny. 

But, ya know... maybe I have no sense of humor.

In any event, as I've gotten older, and I work with people who don't act like they're perpetually 10 years old, I've avoided most of the meat and potatoes of the holiday and have gone un-pranked for several years.  I hope it stays that way. 

Vox Hunt: Take a Walk in the Park Day

It's "Take a Walk in the Park Day," so head outside and show us a picture from the park!

How convenient!

Park

Some photos of my own

A few days ago, Aaron and I went to breakfast with Robert and then walked down to Mr. Pickles later for lunch.  These are some photos I took along the way.

Robert

It was so bright and sunny out - such a great morning.  Poor thing needs a cut.

Aaron-walk

This photo got way "over-exposed" by how bright it was outside, but Aaron just looks so cute.  This is while we were on our walk to the park down the street.

Park

This is the park down the way from the apartment.  The playground is awfully small, but it's a great area to run around in and play soccer or whatever.  And if you have dogs - whoa nelly, watch out!

And just because I can - this one was taken months ago.  Everyone's seen pictures of the other cats.  Why shouldn't Spaz get in on it too? 

He ended up knocking the flowers over later that evening and chewing them to bits.  /sigh

Spaz

Workin' Hard: Redux

Almost a full year ago, I responded to a Vox Hunt: Workin' Hard.

This is what I'm working on now.

PDF-mosaic