cup half empty

dear employees at victoria's secret,

might i suggest avoiding the following tactic when attempting to convince me to buy something in your store.

clueless employee: have you heard about our new miracle/magical/mystical push-up bra?

me (secretly and ashamedly intrigued): no.

clueless employee: what cup size are you?

me (sort of embarassed to say it out loud, but interested to see where this is going: an A.

clueless (and now enthused) employee: then you are going to want one of these for SURE!

me (totally unenthused and maybe about to cry): i am not looking for a bra today.

the shame of it is, i actually could have used a new bra. your loss.

sincerely,
A (cup) for effort

frances cake 2.0: the you break it, you eat it edition

you know those couples who lie about where they met, because maybe they met online or speed dating, or maybe at a church dance or a family reunion, and they are kind of embarassed about it, so instead they tell you they met "through mutual friends" or "just, you know, around"?



well, that is sort of how i feel about the friends i made at duck beach. because even though i shouldn't be, i am still a little shy/embarassed about that whole thing. so, when i tell you that i met adangerm "on vacation," i think you'll know what i mean.



adangerm is the perfect companion for concerts and craft fairs, and spontaneous burger-and-movie dates. adangerm also recently broke her ankle (such a sad story!), which made her the perfect (captive) audience for the return of frances cake (see: goal #24).






we went with one of my favorite stand-bys, a super-easy and super-duper delicious chocolate bundt cake from caroline's bake shop. adangerm crutched her way into the kitchen and very helpfully pointed me to ingredients and various baking acccoutrements. the conversation revolved around boys (natch), the us weekly magazine cover story about jason mesnick, the biggest butthead in bachelor history, finally proposing to his second-turned-first choice molly, how mad we were that "glee" had been preempted by the stupid world series two weeks in a row, and how having a cast for 10 weeks is not that awesome, especially when some of those weeks will be spent in spain.



whew!



someone get this girl some cake!








done and done.

bliss bike bliss

the bottom line about me and halloween is that i hate it. for one thing, i eat candy every day of the year, so why do i need to put on some lame and/or scandalous costume to do that very thing on this particular day?

but the trouble with me and halloween is that that excuse usually doesn't get me very far, so i usually find myself stuck at some party, wearing the same fairy wings (usually over normal clothes) that i have worn on halloween for the past four years.

this year, though, i had the perfect excuse to be a halloween hater. and that excuse was dutch bike dutch.

dutch bike dutch is a fund-raising bike ride organized by some of my awesome new friends here, and held every year over the weekend closest to halloween. which happened to be on halloween this year. some people, who are less lame than me, bring their halloween spirit along.

the ride took us through 30 miles of gorgeous amish country with farms, cows, charming little graveyards (very halloween-ey, no?) and covered bridges.

oh, and hills.

we also said hello to your thanksgiving dinner.

it felt so good (like, really, really good) to be back on my bike after too long of an absence, and i loved pedaling all day with these crazy kids.

plus, there was tons of leftover halloween candy waiting when i got home. just the way i like it.

male order

there are very few things that come in a box like this:



luckily, one of them is this:






there are very few friends who would ship a brooding, life-sized cut-out of edward cullen across the country.

luckily, one of them is steve.

there are very few ways to pay back such a delightful and well-timed surprise. (seriously, i was about to launch myself out of the 22nd floor window of my office today.)

luckily, i am determined to think of something.

this post has nothing whatsoever to do with food

documentary movie night has been resurrected! (see: goal #25). all it took was a trip to the movies last night with dana and sarah to see "good hair," hands done (heads up?) one of the most brilliant documentaries i have ever seen, in no small part because it features a lot of chris rock.

the film explores the role of hair in the african-american community, and it is not an insignificant one. even after such an education, i do not feel particularly qualified to pontificate about it on the interweb, not being a part of that community myself, but sufficeth to say that i think it all comes down to the all-too-natural inclination to be a "same" instead of an "other," and in the black community especially, that desire seems to express itself more than anything in hair.

to quote: "if your hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed. if it's nappy, they're not happy."

never mind that sodium hydroxide, the chemical used in relaxer, can eat through an aluminum can in about four hours. and never mind that a weave can cost as much as half a year's rent. and never mind that only a miniscule percentage of black hair care products are manufactured or distributed by black-owned businesses. (turns out koreans have cornered the market.) as the usually ridiculous reverend al sharpton put it surprisingly eloquently, some african americans are wearing their economic exploitation right on top of their heads.

(to which a woman in the audience let out a big, "mmm-hmmm." you know the kind.)

i find it difficult to believe that i haven't yet convinced you to see this movie, but if that is the case, this should do the trick.



and, to top it off (that was a sort of funny, sort of pun, right?), today i came across this article about some in the african-american community being upset that angelina jolie is not taking proper care of her african daughter, zahara's hair.

maybe angelina should watch "good hair"?

love and marriage

i have not always had the best attitude about weddings (see: the summer wedding hiatus of 2007), but i would like to say this.

few things give me more joy than seeing my friends find spouses who love and appreciate them as much as i love and appreciate them, and as much as i know they deserve to be loved and appreciated.

there is nothing quite so wonderful as seeing someone who has meant so much in my life find someone worthwhile with whom to share the rest of their own life.

and seeing their successes and well-fitting matches gives me hope for my own someday.

such was the case this weekend with the bendheim/orvin union. never before have i seen a more calm or satisfied bride. it was such a pleasure to celebrate such a thing. so much so that the rest of the weekend was really just icing on the (wedding) cake.

we brunched.

saw the coast. (and jane's adorable pregnant belly!)





observed.



rejoiced.



reunited.



ate post-ceremony fish tacos.



rejoiced.



reunited.



caught the bouquet.



ate wedding cake. (which julie and i rather embarassingly had to beg for, having somehow missed the first cake hand-out. and yes, the begging was totally worth it.)

tossed feathers.



and rejoiced a little bit more.

glee-full

lest you think that all i do is sit around and eat (i'm looking at you, popster), i will have you know that sometimes i sit around and eat while i am watching tv.

take that!

por ejemplo, yesterday was national pumpkin cheesecake day, so kendra and lindsie and i celebrated with pumpkin cheesecake (duh) and a viewing of last night's episode of "glee." if you are not watching "glee," you should be. it is so good i wish it came on every day.

i could also eat a slice of lindsie's pumpkin cheesecake every day, but that is another story.






in other news, i am off to sunny socal tomorrow for robin's nuptials. (this officially makes me the last woman standing of the college crew, but i am ok with it if you are.) i am very much looking forward to everything the weekend holds, including lots of sun, a manicure and no work.

and i am only slightly concerned that the episode of "gossip girl" i am downloading to watch on my fancy new ipod on the plane says, "17 hours remaining."