I Like...INSANELY talented dancers. And B-Boys. And Yellow Shoes.

I meant to post this last week, but Lil C's dance troupe "The League of Extraordinary Dancers" (completely cheesy name? Yes) performed on the SYTYCD results show last night, and I have watched it approximately 6 times since then. Prepare to be amazed:

Find it, Feel it, Do it.

For your viewing pleasure:

It's so good to know that extremely inappropriately high cut leotards are necessary for "facial workouts."



Find that Boogie Body! Okayyy, boom chicka BOOM!

Happy Friday.

Ahh, the dancing

I haven't been posting about TBSOFT aka The Best Show of All Time aka SYTYCD aka So You Think You Can Dance because let's face it, when the show takes place during the third semester of grad school, there just isn't time to write all-important, earth-shattering recaps that EVERYONE reads. Um. But anyway, I have been feeling pretty good about the season so far, but now it's the top 10 and I am starting to get attached to a few of the dancers.

For Top 2, I'm predicting it's Ellenore and Jakob, and here's why:

Overall I think Jakob is my favorite...he reminds me a lot of Travis and even Danny in some ways because he flies and he is just. darn. amazing.

I am also a big fan of Katherine, and Legacy has really grown on me in the last few weeks. I don't think Russell will win, but he is fun to watch, and his solo last night was CRAZY.

Dang. Krump it yo.

I'm not a big fan of Mollee aka High School Musical Miley Cyrus My Little Pony 1990s Flashback girl who dances in denim leggings with crimped hair...and I think Ryan aka look at my large muscles and leather pants and cheeseball solo moves dude is on his way out.

There have been some great routines this year - nothing earth shattering, but enough to still make me wish I could dance. For now, I'll have to stick to interpretive dancing in front of my Christmas tree. Oh well.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 7

This is probably a cop out because I have been baking and snacking and baking pretty much all day, so food is on my mind...but I am so thankful for it. I know I forget how HUGE it is to be able to talk about food as a given, as a "hobby" that I can indulge in whenever I want. I definitely forget what a privilege it is to be able to pull out my cookbook, mull over different recipes, imagine what kind of pie to make, and know that I can afford the ingredients.

I've never known [what I imagine is] the gut-wrenching feeling of wondering not what or where I'll be eating, but IF. It's so simple...but I think so much of the time it's the simple things - automatic for us but a luxury for so many - that we forget to breathe a prayer of thanks for every day. So in that sense, I am incredibly thankful that I can not only eat a delicious meal with family tomorrow, but that I can eat. At all.

I'm also thankful for food because of what it does to people. It doesn't matter how bad of a day it's been or what kind of baggage you bring - it all gets left at the door when people gather around a meal. At Convergence, it has become a regular event to have a community meal for people in the neighborhood. Each person brings a dish - doesn't matter what it is or how much - but each person brings something, and we gather around it and enjoy.

See, people bond over food. A man from an art gallery can sit next to a single mom from the streets and they can talk about how GOOD that green bean casserole is, or how decadent that piece of chocolate cake tastes. At our house church, we gather around food once a week, and some life-changing, encouraging, and completely frivolous (but AWESOME) conversations take place over those meals. Conversations take place and entire communities are formed on Twitter about food between complete strangers. You can learn so much about entire cultures based on the kind of food they eat and how they eat it. I don't know about you, but eating a good meal automatically puts me in a better mood (that might mean I should be in counseling, but whatever). The thing about food is this: no matter who you are, everyone likes food, and everyone needs it. Simple as that. It's amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving.

7 Days of Thanksgiving...Day 6

I am SO thankful for all of these people:

Extended family, friends, in-laws, they are all amazing! Even if they make weird faces, can't dance in a very coordinated fashion, and wear man short shorts. They are literally all over the world and I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd like, but they are still my besties. I am also VERY thankful for things such as Gchat, iChat, and email that let me stay up to date with what's going in their crazy and amazing lives. Thank you for being so wonderful!

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 5

This is kind of related to yesterday's post, but I'm not cheating! Over the last three years, I have become acutely aware of how important it is to be a part of a community...To surround yourself, whereever you are and however you do it, with a group of people who care about something bigger than themselves, who are committed to caring about you and "keeping it real," as it were.

Despite what we tell ourselves and what the flashy billboards screaming "rugged individualism" tell us, we are not meant to go through life alone. We're not meant to struggle, make decisions, celebrate, or love in isolation. We can tell ourselves we're okay on our own all we want, but that doesn't change the fact that we need each other to give a hug, lend a hand, call us out, or help others together.

I honestly believe that being a part of the Convergence community has changed the direction of my life, and it has had a profound impact on the direction of my life with Scott as the Girgishmelsons (you have to have the "h" in there to make it sound right). It definitely played a big part in my decision to pursue a career in social work, and it has been so amazing to see how real, authentic, and powerfully changing life with God and life with others can be. Yesterday, I spent the morning helping set up for "ReThread," the free clothing store we do several times a year for the kids in the neighborhood. Families come in, are greeted with a smile and maybe a hug, and they get paired up with a "co-shopper" who takes them around to find the sizes they need and helps them try on clothes just like they would in a real "store." Yesterday, we gave out over 160 coats (I had to leave shortly after the store opened, but it was awesome nonetheless) to kids who would have otherwise been cold this winter. But as always, it is one of the most amazing feelings to look around and see this group of people who love each other dearly extending that love just as authentically to others.

The point of this isn't to say how awesome Convergence is or how "selfless" or "giving" these people are; it's simply me saying how thankful I am to be part of such a real community in the midst of a lot of "fake." They've seen me happy, sad, vulnerable, excited, inspired, scared, and everything in between...and I know they'll be there through everything else. Yesterday I had a scary thought: "What if we hadn't met them? What if we had just gone through the last 3 years alone?" What if we hadn't met them? I wouldn't have a lot of the passion for justice and true life with God that I have now, and I definitely wouldn't have laughed as much. I've probably gotten weirder, too. I don't know what our lives would look like, but I know for sure it wouldn't be this. And that's DEFINITELY a good thing.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 4

Unfortunately, I don't have many embarrassing photos of these people to share with you, but that is only because I do not have my camera with me every minute I am with them...trust me, they are very weird. This group of people have made our life here in Oklahoma SO incredible. They have been with us on the med school roller coaster since before the first test block, and they are amazing. They bring us food when we are too stressed out to cook, make us roll on the floor laughing with their randomness, give us awesome role models for that FAR OFF day when we become parents, send us weird and inappropriate videos, call us out when we need some tough love, hold us when we cry, laugh for an hour about weird plastic evil rats, care about other people and show love to those who don't get it enough, bring us desserts every day for 4 days before board exams, live out their faith every day in an incredibly authentic way, let us kidnap their children and take them to Chuck E. Cheese, and basically walk through life with us hand in hand. Oh and also, they are all AMAZING COOKS. That is really why we are friends with them. They even listen to Scott's random rants and don't run away when he shows them disgusting pictures of operations and human organs and such. That is love.

Seriously, I am so very thankful for our amazing church community, especially our house church (small group). They are some of the best friends we've ever had, and they are literally like members of our family. We would do anything for them, and they have been there with us during the great times and the unexpectedly heartbreaking times in the last three years. We all know I was less than thrilled about moving to Oklahoma, but I truly believe that these people are the reason we ended up here. They have literally changed our lives, and I don't know what Scott and I would do without them!

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 3

They sing "Yellow Submarine" without fail when we go on road trips. They yell at each other when the other one drifts into another lane while driving in the dark. They cheer for us when we do something great, cry with us when the world is ending, come to visit when we're sick, send us care packages, and embarrass us in public. The occasional dinner out or shopping trip is great, too. Just kidding.

Yup, I am thankful for my parents! They are both amazing, generous, kind, giving, motivated, weird, thoughtful people, and I can only hope and pray that I will be as wonderful as they are when Scott and I have kids. I couldn't have asked for better role models growing up, and we are incredibly blessed to have them. Even if my mom still makes her dog "talk." And even if my dad still orders at the drive thru in weird voices or in opera form. AND even if they insist on taking us to Medieval Times when we are in our 20s. Totally normal. They are awesome.

I heart them.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 2

I am SOOO thankful for my brother, Tim. Even though we are 5 years apart, we are really close, and I love hanging out with him. I think that we both regress about 15 years when we get together, and we are definitely a TAD on the weird side. Tim is hilarious, very hip and trendy, has excellent taste in music, has an incredibly kind heart, and is very popular with the ladies. He has a sweet haircut right now just like Kanye West, and he is really one of the greatest people ever. He's very laid back and good-natured, but he knows what he believes and sticks to it, and he is always willing to help out someone who needs it.

AND.

He posts things on my Facebook wall like this:

Thanks Tim.

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7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 1

Thanksgiving really snuck up on me - we have been super busy, and for some reason it just doesn't FEEL like it's almost holiday time. That probably has something to do with the fact that it's way warmer than usual for this time of year, but whateverrr Oklahoma!

So I've seen this on a few other blogs and we did this last week in our small group, so I thought I'd follow suit by posting every day about what I'm thankful for. There are definitely more than 7 things I'm thankful for, but you get the picture.

Sooo, I'll start with my lovely bff/husband/shopping partner/expert chef/bringer of hot chocolate, Scott! The last 2.5 years have been so wonderful, and he always finds a way to make things fun, cheer me up when I'm down, or do something totally weird or crazy to make me laugh. I know he is my biggest fan, and he is so supportive even when I am freaking out unnecessarily and being dramatic. He also understands the importance of boots, and he is always willing to give me his opinion on crucial things like which pants to wear with which sweater (even if sometimes his opinion is wrong). He is obsessed with musical theater and buys every song from Glee on iTunes as soon as it comes out. Then, he listens to it at full volume in the study, in the kitchen, and in the car, even if it is putting us at risk for deafness. Then, he puts songs like "Take a Bow" (yes, the Glee version of a Rihanna song) on repeat and listens to them 12 times in a row. SO THANKFUL.

Just kidding ;) For serious, he is amazing! I know plenty of married med students who let their spouses do everything and don't get very involved in anything aside from studying, and Scott is pretty much the opposite of that. Even when he is working 18 hour days at the hospital on his surgery rotation, he makes time to help me with things and go on date nights, even when he is pretty much a zombie. He is passionate about so many things, and he doesn't let that little med school thing get in the way of staying as involved as he can in things that he cares about - he really goes over and beyond what is required of him, and he is an amazing husband, friend, brother, and son. I couldn't be more thankful for him!

YAY SCOTT.

Haha.

Another One

Bah! I seriously can't stop playing this song. Love.

Song Obsession of the Week - 90s Edition

For some reason this week, I've been going through my collection of awesome 90s music, jamming out to junior high/high school favorites like "Meet Virginia" and "Head Over Feet," and wait for it...Sister Hazel. I always do this with them - I forget about them and don't listen for like 2 years, and then one day I say SISTER HAZEL IS AWESOME, and then I listen to them non stop for 3 weeks. "Champagne High," "Killing Me," "All for You," they're all great. They played at Trinity's New Student Orientation concert my junior year, and they were AMAZING. Included in this concert: an awesome, acoustic, piano-ified version of "Best I'll Ever Be." Enjoy!

The Life of an MSIII on Surgery Rotation

My dear smelson started his surgery rotation last week. For him, this means leaving the house at 4 on most days, eating rarely, studying his booty off when he is home, walking around like a zombie, and going to bed at 9. For me, it means waking up at 4 and [hopefully] falling back asleep for a few hours, baking, having conversations with a zombie, and basically forgoing my husband on most nights and weekends. It's not that bad, just hectic...but I will say it has put a damper on our social life!

What happens on Halloween when your husband is on surgery: you find two graduation robes, striped scarves, plastic glasses, and call yourselves Harry Potter and Hermione:

It also means skipping invitations to Thunder games, missing out on outings, and going out for a friend's birthday but leaving at 8:30 to be in for the night.

HOWEVER, there is a HUGE plus to this surgery business: ANTM, Project Runway, SYTYCD, and Supernanny all go uncontested on the TV! Yessss.

Such is life for the next 8 weeks, and it's just another phase of this whole process that will be over before we know it. Forget seasons of life - seasons of med school is more like it. But just like anything else, we make the most of the time we do have and learn what we can, and it's all worth it in the end. In the meantime, I will embrace my control of the DVR, have some awesome girl time, and bake...and it will be awesome.

(But it wouldn't hurt to send a few subliminal messages that whisper "don't choose general surgery, don't choose general surgerrrryyyyyyy" to my hubs. Kthanks.)

I Like...PUMPKIN CUPCAKES!!!!!!

Ahh, cupcakes. A friend of mine made these and I stalked her until she gave me the recipe. I've made them approximately 3 (maybe 4?) times in the last 3 weeks, and received many comments such as "Oh man, these are better than (insert name of cute cupcakes and coffee shop here)," or "GIVE ME THE RECIPE NOW," or "Quit social work and bake," or "MMMhhmmahhhrghaekla." I'm not bragging, just saying this recipe is good. If you make them, you'll get these comments as well. Bonus: it lets you use cake mix!

1 box supermoist yellow cake mix - I used the Pillsbury Moist Supreme or whatever the name is because it has a cup of pudding in the mix!
1 cup canned pumpkin puree - go stock up on this because apparently we are in the midst of the Great Pumpkin Shortage of 2009, no lie.
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggsMake as directed on box (omitting the water).

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
This is the recipe my friend gave me, and I kind of worked off of it based on how much icing I needed because this made WAY too much. Literally, it got me through 2.5 batches of cupcakes.
1 quart heavy whipping cream
8 ounces cream cheese - I ended up using a little more than this so stood up a little better
2 cups confectioner's sugar2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Beat with electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

Voila!

A few cupcakes for a friend's birthday:

The enormous bowl of icing (AFTER I iced 12 cupcakes):

What some people look like when they taste the cupcakes:

Enjoy!

I Like...Midterms. Oh, wait.

October was an absolutely CA-razy month for school. I really think that professors get together and have a little meeting with tea and crumpets and their little devil horns and say to each other, "Hum, how many papers and tests and presentation can we give ALL IN ONE WEEK?" And they do that for 4 consecutive weeks, rendering their poor innocent students exhausted, stressed out, and increasingly vulnerable to baking.

Huh? Is that just me?

Despite the craziness of school, we also had a bajillion other things going on, making for month full of fun but insanity as well. Sooo, here is a recap of October 2009, pictsha style:

First, we celebrated some birthdays with delicious cheesecake!

Then, we went to Dallas for a wedding. But then I forgot my camera, so I'll just tell you that there were Mardi Gras boas, light up dolphin necklaces, and neon sunglasses. I got one picture from my phone:

Next, we went to Chicago to see my B-A-yooteeful cousin get married:

We also enjoyed some delicious Chicago hot dogs with the fam:

Then, our wonderful Jen came to visit!!! She got to stop in OKC for a few days before her residency interview in Tulsa. She is amazing and it was so great to see her after 2 years! We baked. A lot:

First, we made a chocolate chip pie, Emeril style. It was a delicious pie, but it lied and told us it was done when it really wasn't. I hate deceptive baked goods.

Then, Jen taught me how to make blue cheese souffles! Apparently, souffles are not nearly as tricky as I've always heard. Nice and puffy:

It so fun to see Jen!

Then, we celebrated more birthdays!

Finally, I discovered that I love to bake cupcakes, unleashing a scary addiction that shows no signs of dissipating anytime soon. So beware, friends, cupcakes are coming! So far, my favorites have been red velvet (from Martha Stewart's Cupcake book, my new favorite book EVERRR), and pumpkin. I made both of these for the OU-Texas game:

Get it? School colors. Woo.

Soo, that has been my life for the past month (aside from stupid papers and such). I feel like I ran a marathon. Yay November.

Also - Happy Friday

So after we baked pumpkin cupcakes yesterday (after I got home from the lovely ER), Hannah and I had a dance/singing party to this song:



Also, please see the real video (couldn't be embedded), complete with awesome angsty stares, chin beards, and theatrical hand movements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgH-jWCny9U

Don't judge me.

What If Oklahomans Knew How to Drive?

There is something you should know about Oklahoma. This place is like the tornado capital of the world, and when I am cowering in my closet, any self-respecting Okie is running outside to "feel the wind," as Scott would say. They are hard core.

However.

When a little rain decides to come to town, people FREAK OUT. AHHHH WHAT IS THIS RUNNING DOWN MY WINDSHIELD I MUST PULL INTO THE LEFT LANE AND GO 45 MILES AN HOUR ON INTERSTATE 35 AND BRAKE EVERY 1.8 SECONDS OR ELSE I WILL DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!! I really think that's what they're all thinking. But that's besides the point.

So yesterday, I was driving myself down to Norman at roughly 8:00am for class. It was raining - not pouring, just raining - and people were freaking out, as usual. So I had the freaker outers on one side of me, and the crazies who are oblivious to anything who still think it's okay to go 85 miles an hour when it has been raining for a while, and the roads are quite slick. Somewhere in the middle, people - not 90-year-old slow, but not speed racer fast. It's possible, I promise.

I am dutifully merging into the middle lane where the left lane ends, but the crazies are racing down to the verrrry LAST possible second so they can get to the front of the line, because THAT will make them get to their destination wayyy more quickly. So the freaker outer in front of me is braking frantically, but not letting the crazies in, because that would just be wussy. But no, the crazy will not let them get the best of him after his dangerous and a-hole-like maneuvers to the front of the line, so he just decides to go. Ehh, they'll stop, ehh, I have room, ehh, who cares. EHHHH WE ALL SLAM ON OUR BRAKES AND BIG TRUCK BEHIND ASHLEY SLAMS INTO HER.

So there I am, on the side of the road, strangely calm but staring at the back of poor Rocky the Rav4 while the very nice man (Roy, by the way) who hit me is assuring me that he is a good person and takes responsibility for his actions and will call me with his insurance info as soon as he gets home.

All is ok - I have a pretty sore back/head/wrist, but paranoid husband made me go visit his ER doctor boss to get it all checked out (which, by the way, I learned it is a very bad move to tell the person who hit you that your husband has an ER doctor friend, woops). So I'm good.

But it made me think - what if Roy hadn't been so nice? What if he had just lost his job and didn't have insurance anymore? What if I was actually injured but didn't happen to know someone who could get me into the ER in 5 minutes instead of 8 hours? What if the accident was more severe and one of us got hurt? If he didn't have that piece of paper, I'd be in a hospital, desperately thinking about how on Earth I was going to pay the $50,000 medical bill. I know, I just got rear-ended, blah blah blah, but it made me think for a second about all the What Ifs, and how thankful I am that things played out the way they did. Because for a lot of people, they don't, and this incident that is an inconvenience to me would change someone else's life.

But hey, I got a great friend out of it - Roy calls me approximately 5 times per day. Yay Roy!

Song Obsession of the Week

1) So You Think You Can Dance is BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!! Here's hoping to a more exciting season this time around.

2) SYTYCD always provides me with amazing music. Case in point:



Ahh John Legend, you are grand.

An Ode to the Neighbors of 42nd Street

I live on 42nd Street
It is so very nice
We love our little house
And all the fun there is in Crown Heights.

We love to take walks at night
Or hang out at the Sip
Get some frozen yogurt, you ask?
It's oh so very hip.

But while we love our place a lot
I must go ahead and say
There are some weirdos on this block
And they get weirder every day.

There's Tony on the right
Who likes to rev his cars
He likes to kidnap our friends
And make them drive him to bars
(and stop for a whiskey coke at La Baguette and make them take him to pick up his whale steak).

There are the dudes down the way
Who like to party hard
They have a statue of a lion
And have parties with their bed in the yard.

There's Katharine and Thad on the left
They are our very good friends
We like to play Mario Kart a lot
And if you're playing Katharine, you're effed

Then there are the new ones
I don't even know their names
But they are bonafide crazytown
This isn't even a game

They like to sit on their porch
And they literally sit all day
Sometimes yelling, sometimes crying
Other times hitting people in the face

Sometimes they knock off a gas line
And they say it was because they were sweeping
But they are probably building a meth lab
And it will explode while we are sleeping

They pound on Katharine's wall all night
Screaming EFF YOU, EFF YOU, EFF YOU
They have large pitbulls who run around
And do not discriminate where they poo.

These lovely friends are leaving us
Tomorrow, or so they say
If they don't, their landlord will call the cops
And in jail for a while they will stay.

I love you, 42nd Street
Don't doubt it, I really do
But when will you stop throwing the crazy?
Hopefully very, very soon.

The End.

P.S. I know I should be the next poet laureate, you don't have to tell me.
P.P.S. IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO IS NOT A FELON AND IS LOOKING FOR A CUTE DUPLEX IN AN AWESOME NEIGHBORHOOD (seriously, it's great. super cute with sushi neko, VZD's, the wedge, etc very close), PLEEEEEASE SEND THEM OUR WAYYYY!

I Like...COOKIES

What happens when Ashley has a lot of reading to do, a husband who is on call, and a free Saturday morning? Ashley bakes! (Ashley is not sure why she is blogging in the third person, but it reminds her of a high school basketball coach slash teacher who used to go entire classes speaking in the third person and it was awesome).

So a SUPER classmate of mine decided to be incredibly kind and bring cookies to our afternoon class on Wednesday...and they were amazing. I don't have her exact recipe, but I found a very similar one on the Holy Grail of cooking, aka AllRecipes.com, and they turned out very yummy. They are called Dishpan Cookies, but I don't really get that. For serious though, these cookies have like 13094 delicious things in them, so every bite is like a SURPRISE! Whatcha gonna get?!?! I don't know!!!

(Have I had a lot of coffee and sugar and cookie dough this morning, you ask? NOOOO!!!!!!)

Whatever, here's the recipe:

(The recipe on the website says it makes 72 cookies...I like cookies but I don't need 72 of them, so I cut the recipe in half).

1 cup margarine (but I used butter because margarine is weird)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups cornflakes cereal
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Then mix in the corn flakes cereal, rolled oats, coconut, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks..

YUM!

Song Obsession of the Week

Despite the minor fact that I am not going through a devastating breakup at the moment, I LOVE this song, and India.Arie in general. Heart.



(Excuse the stupid video, it's the only one I could find). Side note: why do people on you tube think that EVERYONE wants to watch them sing "covers" of songs to their webcams? I don't get it.

BAD Blogger!

I disappeared. I know it's lame, but as soon as school started again, any desire I had to write (or really, THINK) anything more than absolutely necessary kind of flew out the window. Woops. Such is the life of a grad student, I suppose.

I turned on the television yesterday morning to watch a bit of 9/11 anniversary coverage, and was a little bit disturbed to find that MSNBC was playing their exact coverage from that morning, starting at 7:45a.m. I knew that watching this couldn't really bring about anything productive, but I found myself riveted and moved to tears again as I re

lived the fear and shock that we all experienced that day. If I felt that way, I can't even begin to fathom what it is like for New Yorkers, let alone survivors and family members of the victims, to have to relive that all the time. Having worked on a study of survivors, and having interviewed many family members of survivors, I know that for many, the wounds haven't healed.

As I listened to the announcers speculate over who may have done it, whether other planes were being hijacked and directed to other potential targets, and whether the death toll would be 200 or 500 people (little did we know it would reach 2500 or so), I couldn't stop thinking about how strange it was to watch as people tried to figure out the details of that day that we all know now has literally changed the course of our country, history, and the world. Did 9/11 shock me as much as it did the rest of America? Of course. Am I proud to be an American? Absolutely, and having lived in a country that is oppressive to its people in unthinkable ways, I know how much I take for granted sometimes. But do I wish that, perhaps, we had responded a bit differently to this attack? That we hadn't set off a chain reaction that prompted an endless war and a lot of hate for a people (or 99% of them) that just wants peace and a chance to live life as much as we do? Probably. It's sickening to think about the lives that could have been saved both here and around the world (i.e. Iraq, etc.) if we just could have had a tiny glimpse of what was to come, or if we had had the foresight to wait and get all of the facts before we shot back with our bombs and our guns (Cranberries reference, anyone? Zombieeeee). We say God Bless America, and I'm okay with that, but why can't we say God Bless the World, too?

But sadly, that's not how life works, and we have to do the best we can with what we've got. Not really sure where I'm going with this, but I do think it was important yesterday to reflect on that day and how different the world might look today if it hadn't occurred. And of course, we have to remember the people who risked their lives and lost them, and those who have answered what has been asked of them since then...I am thankful for them, and I'm not sure if I could be that brave.

The Episode of A Salad Gone Very, Very Bad (apparently)

Thursday night, we went to some friends' for a happy hour get together thingy, and then we went out to dinner afterwards (the place shall remain nameless because I have had otherwise great experiences there). Little did I know, the Wrath of Evil Effing Food Bacteria (that is the medical name, I found it in one of Scott's textbooks) was about to clench me in its terrible claws and keep me there for two days. Seriously, I have never been that sick. So sick that I was on the couch for 2 days and did not even want to play Rock Band. Yikes.

However, it was a very productive bout of food poisoning, as I cleaned out my DVR of all Sex and the City episodes (a.k.a. like 15 or something), watched the season premiere of Project Runway (yay, it's back!), finished The Time Traveler's Wife (I'm not sure it met my admittedly high expectations given all the hype, but it was a good read for sure), and became very well acquainted with the lovely to-go people at Panera (as soup in a bread bowl was the only thing that I could even think about eating). Yesterday, I felt human enough to venture out of the house, socialize, and yes, even play Rock Band.

So here I am, back from the depths of food poisoning, well-hydrated, and completely, 100%, totally sworn off salads.

Love ya bye.

I Like...Movies About Food

I am loving Scott's family medicine rotation because it equals stress-free weeknights and totally free Saturdays, yay (HINT, HINT, HUSBAND). Just kidddiiiing. Friday night, we went out for our friend's "birthday slash going away to Dallas for two months party," hitting up the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and Rococo for drinks afterwards (their crab cakes are for a whole different post, I promise). We had lunch with my parents in Norman on Saturday, at which point we decided it was time for an afternoon movie. The 'rents loved Julie & Julia, and being the foodies that we are, we decided that nothing is better for a shape-up diet plan than going to see a movie about butter, cheese, and souffles. Mmmm...

If you haven't seen the previews, the plot centers around Julie, who finds herself feeling quite aimless and unaccomplished on the verge of her 30th birthday. To remedy this situation, the obvious solution is to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year and start a blog about it. While Julie is doing this, we also get to see how Julia Child became Julia Child the Celebrity Chef, starting with her new life in post-war Paris as the bored but hilariously spunky wife of a diplomat. Being that I am of a younger generation than Julia's original audience (Scott and I were most definitely the only people in the theater under the age of 45, but what else can one expect at a 4:30 matinee about Julia Child?), I am not extremely familiar with Julia's show, but from what I have seen, Meryl Streep's portrayal is spot-on. Her goofy, self-deprecating humor is beyond funny, and I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a while (okay, maybe in the Hangover, but for different reasons).

If you like movies, laughing, or food, you must go see this. In the midst of "films" like 2012 and Sorority Row that look truly, truly, gut-wrenchingly awful (WHO on Earth would pay money to go see a movie about plane crashes and bombings and the end of the world right now? For serious, people!), this movie is exactly what movies are supposed to be: engaging, heart-warming, and able to take you to a place full of pies, Paris, and omelettes being tossed about. Warning: it will make you very, very hungry, and it will make you seriously consider a career change in favor of attending culinary school. Go get your $40 together or whatever it costs nowadays for a ticket and move your bum to the theater this second, because you'll love it.

Bon Appetit!

I Like...Excuses

So Wednesday was the marker of my return to gymland after an impromptu, short little 1.5 MONTH vacation. I was doing SO well - going to the gym 5-6 times a week, swimming like that 40-year-old Olympian beast lady, eating delicious, yet healthy meals, and feeling so much better in general (and losing almost 10 pounds). But then I just...stopped. Woops. I know, I know, it's all about "self-control" and "perseverance" and "determination." WhatEVER. Here are some of my excuses:

- Scott was studying for boards like 26 hours a day, plus me working full time, plus getting ready to leave for 2 weeks = too much stuff to be done around the house, errands to be run, etc.

- We went to Dallas and then Mexico for almost 2 weeks. Dallas = Corner Bakery and i Fratelli, nuff said.

- While in Mexico, we stayed at an all-inclusive, amazing resort with gourmet food. Seriously, people, all-inclusive = you paid to eat anything, literally ANYTHING you want, and the food there was so good you just had to eat more than any human should ever eat in a day. We were just being responsible and getting our money's worth.

- Booze included. Micheladas (my favorite beer-related drink ever), rum punch, and dirty monkeys (they sound crazy but they are DELICIOUS so don't diss the name), delivered to your chair, forced into your hand, thrown at you in the pool, they literally POURED THE DRINKS DOWN MY THROAT PEOPLE, it wasn't my fault!!! Ok, that's a lie. But still.

- Being on this 2-week gorge-fest really erased any motivation I had to come back and hit it hard again. Really, I think it triggered some sort of switch in my frizzy head that made me go from "must eat healthy" to "I need spaghetti now" and "take me to eat Freddy's Frozen Custard or I will cut you." There is scientific evidence for this sort of phenomenon, I believe.

- Thennnn, summer school started, and I was literally gone from 7:30a.m. to 10p.m. I suppose I could have gotten up at 5:00 and gone to the gym before work, but that class was so brutal that I think that would have just been wacky.

- Summer school ended and we were bombarded with many dinner engagements, friends coming into town, parents taking us out to eat, and birthday parties. GEEZ, we're so popular, we just can't help it. (just kidding). I knowww, I have to learn to make wise choices in social situations, but when social situations include creamy artichoke dip, pork tenderloin, $3 burger night, cake, and all-around delicious yummy, it's harrrrd.

So here we are. I had to get those lame excuses out of my system, because when I got on the bike on Wednesday and tried to do my usual level 8, 45-minute hill workout, I died. The only time I wasn't groaning inwardly and thinking about how much pain I was in was when I got distracted by the dude a few machines down DROOLING all over his elliptical. Literally...But that's another story. The point is, I am getting back on the train. I have to. So if you see me running away from the gym or careening out of control towards Cuppies and Joe, please stop me. I am getting back on the train...After my friend's birthday dinner tonight at the Cheesecake Factory.

Much love.

Song Obsession of the Week

Clearly, you can tell I heart Ingrid. Can't wait for her upcoming album!

I Like...Wankers

Note to self: Don't friend your boss on Facebook then write crazy I-hate-my-job-my-boss-is-a-wanker status updates. I mean, I'm sure it's easy to forget that the person who controls the fate of your livelihood can see anything you do or say and then go batsnap crazy and put it on the Internet for all to see. To prevent this, you might not add that person, OR you could just not be a psycho. That would PROBABLY be a good idea. Maybe.

Please read this, and let me just say...bahahaha.

I Like...Food Parties

We had the perfect Saturday this weekend: sleeping until we felt like getting up, breakfast and coffee, bought Rock Band for $57, poured through cookbooks, did some leisurely grocery shopping, cooked, and had a fantastic outdoor dinner at the home of some great friends. We cooked up a trio of dips to go with grilled French bread and roasted garlic, and Scott made some of his delicious risotto to go with the pork tenderloin, grapefruit & avocado salad, and sangria that J-Lo made. It was fun to have a variety of apps to snack on, and I thought I'd pass along the recipes:

Lemony-Tarragon Crab Dip

This is an easy but elegant, tasty, and cool summer recipe. Definitely use fresh crab if possible or else the yummy dill, pepper, and cucumber overshadow it.

- 8 oz. fresh crabmeat, well-drained

- 1/4 cup cream cheese @ room temperature

- 2 tbsp mayonnaise

- 3 tbsp chopped red onion

- 3/4 tsp dried tarragon

- 2 tsp chopped, fresh dill

- 1/4 cup chopped cucumber

- 1 tbsp plus 1 and 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

- 1/2 tsp lemon zest

Combine cream cheese, red onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice and zest, and chopped herbs in a bowl. Stir in the crab and cucumber. Season with kosher salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice to taste. Note: I added quite a bit of pepper and some extra dill and cucumber to make it extra delish. Chill, and serve later with bread, bagel bites, or salt and vinegar potato chips.

Recipe courtesy of one of my very favorite cookbooks.

Charbroiled Eggplant Dip

Kind of like baba ganoush, but not. A little more summery, especially with the peppery, blackened flavor you get from grilling the eggplant beforehand.

-1 tsp cumin

-2 tbsp olive oil

-1 large eggplant

-1/2 cup plain yogurt (we used Greek yogurt and it was delish)

-juice of one lemon

-2 scallions

Slice the eggplant and coat both sides with cumin and olive oil mixed together, along with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill eggplant until blackened/charred but not burned (duh). This can also be done in the oven/broiler, but the smokey flavor from grilling is yummmyyyy. Mix eggplant (works best if it has cooled down a bit), scallions, lemon juice, and yogurt together, add any extra seasoning you need, and serve on toasted pita.

Recipe from Easy Appetizers.

Artichoke and Green Onion Dip

A yummy twist on traditional artichoke dip...I added extra onions and lots of Parmesan to make it even more flavorful.

-2 cans (14 oz each) water-packed artichoke hearts, well drained, chopped

-1 and 1/2 cups mayonnaise

-1 and 1/2 cups finely grated high quality Parmesan cheese

-1/3 cup, plus 2 tbsp sliced green onions

-2 tsp minced garlic

-1 and 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme, or 3/4 tsp dried thyme

-1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

-1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine artichoke hearts, mayo, 1 cup of parm, green onions, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Adjust the seasonings if necessary. Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch square glass baking dish or a ceramic dish similar in size. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Cover and bake until heated through, 10-15 minutes. Increase heat to broil and cook until top is bubbly and golden brown, 2-3 minutes more. Garnish with green onions.

This recipe also courtesy of one of my very favorite cookbooks.

Eat with yummy bread or other carb and ENJOY!

I Like...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Oh, Oklahoma, you make me laugh.

Apparently, a group of geniuses in Tulsa have decided to enter their city into the bid for...wait for it...the 2020 OLYMPICS. Yep. According to these geniuses, their city is competitive with Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid, Berlin, and all of the other major international cities who have hosted these games. Don't get me wrong, Tulsa is a very nice city - very hilly, green, lots of fun restaurants. But "lots" in Oklahoma terms.

Maybe they don't understand that when a city hosts the Olympics, they get at least 200,000 new people, need an 80,000-seat arena for opening/closing ceremonies, have to have hotel rooms to sleep all of these international tourists and media, should probably have an international AIRPORT, need more than two malls and some cowboy museums to keep said tourists busy while they're not at events, and need public transportation and metropolitan areas for people to eat and get around. But whatever, some of them can stay at Oral Roberts, some can stay at University of Tulsa, some can sleep on the 2 cruise boats they're going to bring onto the river, and they can bring in trailers and tents to sleep the rest.

That's right, Paris ain't got nothin on us. I'm SURE they're going to vote for Tulsa over Rome, Dubai, and Boston. Cuz we have real good fried chicken!

I'm not dissin, I'm just sayin'. Oklahoma, you're great in your own way, but wow.

Funny:

(click here to view)

Bruce Plante Tulsa World Aug 6, 2009 EditorialCartoonists.com

If Sparky McBellKick Wins This Thing, I'm Boycotting

Okay, we all know that I would never actually boycott the best show ever, but I will be pretty upset if Evan pulls this thing out...and I'm not gonna lie, based on the judges (fair, overdue, and accurate) ripping of him last night and the fanatical chanting of his name that occurred shortly afterwards, I won't be shocked tonight if Evan wins. Annoyed and yelling at my TV, yes.

Last night was pretty good as far as finales go, but I must admit I'm tired of seeing the jive (wasn't this Evan's THIRD time?) and Broadway. I was hoping for some crazy hard hitting hip hop (what happened to Krump this season?) or an off-the-wall jazz routine, and we didn't really get much. I did enjoy the opening group number, and Jeanine continued growing on me to the point where I think she might win, and I won't necessarily feel like Kayla got robbed, even though technically Kayla is stronger. Jeanine pulls out stuff that makes you go WOW I wish I could dance that beautifully and creatively that Kayla does not, such as this (skip through the interview portion:


jean 4 @ Yahoo! Video


And my favorite piece of the night was Mia Michaels' "Layers" routine for the two girls - just beautiful:



jandk 4 @ Yahoo! Video


The Paso Doble by Jeanine and Brandon was also a piece worthy of the finale, with a lot of jaw-dropping moves, and I think they definitely pulled off the characters and did it believably. Come to think of it, I actually think the only reason I felt "blah" about this finale was because Evan was in so many of the dances. GRRR. Someone please explain to me the growing annoyance I feel towards this chipmunk-cheeked, fedora-wearing young chap who is probably very nice in real life.


Sooo, here are my final predictions:

For the Win: Jeanine! I really think she's going to pull it off.
Who SHOULD Win: Brandon, because he has the whole combination - he is the best guy (and probably best period) by far technically, he pulls off every character and challenging role he's given, and he does it with a flair (and crazy death-defying leaps and dives) that makes you root for him.
In Fourth: Kayla, because despite her technical superiority, she hasn't connected as well as the others.
In Between: It's hard to say. Like I said, I won't be shocked if Evan wins or even beats out Brandon, but I also wouldn't be shocked if the majority of people watching the show finally realized last night that Evan cannot, in fact, dance as well as the other three on stage with him, and perhaps all will be well. So basically, anyone but Evan and I'm golden.


Hoo-rah for Season 6!

Yikes

Uhhh, so today, a good "friend" of mine (jk, love ya shnavs) informed me that she saw this video and immediately thought of me:

Naturally. I should either be very afraid for Nava's state of mind, or very very afraid of myself. Friends, please stage an intervention immediately if I ever throw myself on the ground screaming in your presence. Kthanks.

Song Obsession of the Week

Last week, I had the privilege of celebrating the end of my summer class at the delicious Norman institution known as Bison Witches. Mmmm. In addition to sandwiches that probably have crack or frog blood or something (is frog blood addictive? I don't know but it sounded good) in them and soups in bread bowls that make you want to chain yourself to your booth and NEVER LEAVE (or is that just me?), they apparently have very good taste in music. This has been on repeat ever since:



Thanks for the sandwich and the new song, witches.

I Like...Surprises

I believe I have mentioned my awful summer night class in which we eat pizza, watch movies about gangs, and get 403 emails per day from our professor (many of them completely indecipherable). Last night was the LAST CLASS, thank the sweet pickle, and it ended on a positively FABULOUS note. And by fabulous I mean we watched a 2.5 hour documentary about a pediatric cancer ward that detailed the lives of three kids with end stage cancer and their families. Most depressing movie in the history of the world, and oh wait, COMPLETELY irrelevant to a class about gangs. We were all very confused, and our professor tried to rationalize it by saying that the parents of these kids have to struggle with a lot of the same things that the parents of gang members do...umm. Really I think he was sick of listening to presentations and was out of movies.

But I digress.

The point is, there is this guy in my class, we'll call him O. He plays basketball and is 6'11", which made me sitting next to him hi-larious (I'm 5'2", yup). O comes to class some of the time, listens to his iPod all the time (yes, in class), carries full conversations with his fellow teammates and big shot football player friend while the professor is talking, and doesn't turn in assignments. Huh.

O brings family-size jars of apple sauce to class (yes, the huge size that you can only buy at Sam's or something) and eats the whole thing with a tiny plastic spoon. We learned that he can eat 4 pieces of pizza, a Big Mac and fries, and two ice cream bars in one sitting. O also carries a giant box of Froot Loops in his backpack and eats them quite noisily during movie time. He wears his sunglasses in class sometimes (but not during movies like his superstar friend). He is also very witty, says "Amen" a lot, and likes to shout BLESS YOU at the top of his lungs every time anyone sneezes. He has offered on several occasions for me to stand behind him and shuffle along while he walks out of class 2 hours before it ends (and I assure you, I would be completely hidden as he is humongous). Basically, he exudes "athlete," and carries off that persona quite well.

All of these things make O quite endearing and funny, and I initially wrote him off as a semi-thuggish, amusing dude who fit the stereotype of college athlete who doesn't care about school in every way. I'm not proud of that, but I did.

But. Wednesday night was the Horrible Night of Presentations, in which people got up and read the slides they had prepared two weeks before and lots of people slept or slipped out of class. Professor man called on O and asked him to come give his presentation, to which O replied that he didn't have a presentation to give (again, it was due two weeks prior to that). He would, however, be happy to go to the front of the classroom and talk about himself. Literally, that's what he said. We all laughed and prepared ourselves for a humorous "presentation" that he would make up as he went and get out of the assignment as a result.

O started off by telling us how he grew up in the worst part of a large city in the Midwest, and how he was standing next to his favorite older cousin when he was shot in the head on the street corner in a drug deal gone bad and had brains splattered all over him at the age of eight. He told us how he went home that day to his mom, who told him that the only way to survive their neighborhood was to become the toughest guy on the block, so he spent the next ten years doing just that. He started getting in fights with people, taking boxing lessons, growing to be almost 7 feet tall, and beating people up if they looked at him wrong in passing.

O told us how he came home from a fight one day in seventh grade to find his mother sitting in the dark on the floor of their living room, sobbing. When he asked her what was wrong, she informed him that she didn't know what they were going to eat for dinner. That there was no money. That the electricity had been cut off and she didn't know how she would get it turned back on before it got cold. At that point, O tells us, he decided that he couldn't let this happen again, and did the only thing he knew how to do: at age 13, he began selling crack.

After a few months of selling, O found out that he was quite good at this crack trade thing, and he experienced something he never had before: success. He told us how he is not proud of it now, but at the time he felt useful for the first time in his life. When he was dealing, there was enough food to go around every day. When he was dealing, there was always gas in the car, heat in the apartment, and a safe apartment to call home. When he was dealing, his mother could take her children to the doctor and not worry that she would be refused or taken advantage of because she couldn't pay. This new lifestyle was as addictive as the drug he dealt, and O quickly became wrapped up in it. At one point, during a deal that involved $300,000 of coke, a "friend" of his stabbed him multiple times in the stomach in a back alley - if O hadn't been able to crawl onto the street where a nice old man found him and took him to the hospital, he'd be dead.

Then came basketball. O's mother was desperate to get him out of this lifestyle, so she approached several basketball coaches in the area to try to find a school who would take him. Eventually, someone decided to take a gamble, and O started playing his junior year. This eventually led to a scholarship to a junior college in Texas, where O said he realized that there were "actually good people in the world." He realized that not everyone you pass on the street is out to get you, and some people actually care and want what's best for others. In his own words, "I had no people skills, I didn't know how to relate to others, all I knew how to do was fight, because that's all anyone ever did to me and that's what you had to do to survive." He learned how to function in society from basketball and a bunch of random people who reached out to him in a way that no one ever had before. He also realized that he was capable of acting kindly, and that he had the potential to be more than just another drug dealing statistic who dies before the age of twenty. This realization softened him, and he believes that living in this tiny, Southern little town literally saved his life, as ironic as that sounds. At the age of 21, Big O found his real life in Paris, Texas.

From there, O decided to really try this school thing, raised his grades, and won a scholarship to play basketball at OU. Here, he has a 3.4 GPA, is set to graduate a semester early, and plans on getting a master's degree as soon as he graduates. He told us that he is saving money to bring his mom and siblings to the South so that they can experience the life that he has found and get out of the 'hood. He wants to start speaking to youth about the possibilities that exist outside of drugs and gangs for kids like him.

By the end of this "presentation," several people were near tears, and I was feeling quite guilty for pigeon-holing him so quickly into the thug/slacker/athlete box, writing him off as someone who was just there to play basketball and didn't realize the importance of the education he was getting. But I was wrong, way wrong. For whatever reason, it's habitual for us to stereotype people and slap a label on them based on a few, selective pieces of information. The entire point of the career I've chosen is to dispel these stereotypes and fight against them, and yet I still do it more often than I'd care to admit (or even realize). However, it's way more fun to be wrong about these things and to be served with reminders of how little I know about people and how capable they are of bouncing back from lives that, by society's standards, are worthless or lost causes. I guess the point is to always be looking for these surprises, because there might be a heartrending story and a whole lot more behind those giant apple sauce jars, size 39 shoes, and boxes of Froot Loops.

I Like...Elvis?

= ???

These two songs have been on repeat all week, and it just occurred to me that they were both sung by Elvis. I guess they didn't call him the King for nothin...But these two ladies have remade them to be totally addictive, very modern, and just as sweet as the originals. In fact, we danced to the first one at our wedding (for our first first dance, because we couldn't decide and had a first first and second first bahaha). So anyway, here's to Elvis, apparently:

Love Me Tender - Norah Jones

Cant Help Falling In Love - Ingrid Michaelson

Disco fever, an awkward wedding, and Skippy needs to go home

AKA, my SYTYCD recap of the week. Overall, I still wasn't super impressed this week...as Nava the Dance Expert stated so accurately in our weekly group recap email, I think the disappointment has been in the routines this season, not necessarily in the dancers. So many of the dances just don't have the conceptual meat to carry the story combined with the WOW factor that so many from past dances have had...there's just an oomph factor that's missing.

Sooo, we'll start with the best:

Brandon and Kayla - I think these are the two best dancers left on the show, hands down. The contemporary routine was pretty and extremely well danced, and the choreography was pretty great, but I just couldn't feel connected to the whole mistress-of-a-married-man storyline. Drug addiction, breast cancer, AND extra-marital affairs? Come on people, this is a dance show, not a Lifetime Original Movie marathon! But they did a great job with what they were given. Their disco was pretty great (even though those death drops or whatever they look like looked quite painful), and they kept the energy up and nailed all of those crazy lifts, which most couples can't do without the audience thinking AHH SHE'S GONNA FALL ON HER FACE WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. The synchronized arm shimmies or whatever you want to call them when she was on top of his shoulders was great...but I still couldn't help but compare it to the disco that Brandon and Janette did, because that was just completely awesome. I miss Janette.

Ade and Jeanine - I agreed with the judges on their samba, something just looked OFF. But the routine wasn't that great either. I did enjoy the Nap/Tab hip hop routine...and I think Jeanine definitely has the best solos of the girls (but Kayla is stronger overall). Ade is really good, but sometimes I feel like there's a disconnect between him and his dances. I don't know. Maybe he's not eating the music or feeling the music or sitting on the music with his ears or whatever Lil C kept rambling on about.

Evan and Melissa - To me, it couldn't be clearer that these two need to go home. I'm sorry and I feel bad for saying it, but Evan is just BLAH. I'm sooo over him. All he does is make cartoony facial expressions, shrug his shoulders, hop around a lot, and do several bell kicks. Every. Single. Time. Their Broadway routine was gimmicky and not challenging at all, and it just felt awkward (could it be their weird half-dressed garter costumes?). And clearly the quickstep fell short. Melissa's a great ballerina, but the other two girls are wayyy more versatile.

However, in all of this mediocrity, there was this:



This is the reason I watch this show. Um, no, not to watch extremely muscled men dance and flail and crawl in boxer briefs...but seriously, this is an art form. It's official, I'm on Team Brandon. And no, I did NOT vote for him over 20 times last night after he danced this. Absolutely not.