let's go to the movies

For me, it's the little things that signal the start of the holiday season. Santa appearing in the center of the mall, tree-filled tents popping up in neighborhood parking lots, the Salvation Army bell ringer standing outside the grocery store and, my focus today, an abundance of movies coming out of Hollywood. 

Without fail, from Thanksgiving to the New Year, the studios release what seems like a flood of films.  Some are timed to reap the benefit of the holiday crowds (who doesn't see a movie over the holidays?) and some are hoping to catch the relatively short attention span of Oscar voters. 

This year, I'm looking forward to movies that fall into both categories.  Here are a few flicks I'm excited to see this holiday season:

Blue Valentine - December 31, 2010 (limited release)

While it's labeled a love story, I think it will be dark and heartbreaking. And wonderful.

How Do You Know  December 17, 2010

I'll see anything with Paul Rudd. And Reese Witherspoon, too? Sign me up!

Love & Other Drugs  November 24, 2010

Despite some lukewarm reviews, I can't wait to see this movie. I've been a fan of Anne Hathaway since her Princess Diaries days.

Tangled  November 24, 2010

I'm a sucker for a Disney movie and this one looks like fun!

Little Fockers  December 25, 2010

If it's half as funny as the first two, I'm sure I'll love it. 

What movies are you looking forward to this holiday season?

Wanted

Wanted: The Barefoot Contessa's Glasses

I have always loved Ina Garten's glassware. If you're a fan of her show on Food Network, The Barefoot Contessa, you probably know the glasses I'm talking about.  Ina often gives tips on how to create a beautiful table setting and she always uses the same crystal goblets. I admire them every time she sets the table.

The glasses, which are made by a French company called Cristallerie La Rochere, are simple but elegant.

And they're also outrageously expensive. As in $476.00 for six water goblets. {!!!}   Très cher!

I've looked for similar but less expensive glasses but have yet to find any close enough to make me happy. These by Mikasa are close. So are these by Ikea, but neither is just right.

I thought I'd found the perfect substitute in these Baccarat Providence glasses:

Bu it turns out that this pattern has been discontinued and I can only locate it on eBay. Even there, it's still at least $40 per glass. If you ask me, that's just {way} too much to spend on drinking glasses.

So, the search for the perfect substitute for the Barefoot Contessa's glasses continues. 

Anyone else in search of an affordable option for a designer dream?

Sunday Morning Fail

Apparently there is no limit to the embarrassment I will endure for a cup of coffee. 

I woke up this morning and brewed a pot of coffee - then I realized we were out of milk. I don't do black coffee so this was a problem. Because it was 7:30am on a Sunday, I figured the grocery store wouldn't be open yet. But I figured the gas station around the corner would be.  I grabbed my keys - then I took a look in the mirror. Unbrushed hair? Check. PJ pants? Check. One of B's old t-shirts? Check. Bra? Ummmmm....not so much.  I grabbed a hoodie and put on some flip flops and decided it was good enough. I figured the gas station would be empty and only the poor attendant would have to look at me.  {I blame my lack of caffeine for the absence of logical thinking.}

I pulled up at the gas station to find it closed. So, I decided to swing by the grocery store on the way home, just to be sure. When I pulled into the parking lot, I realized the store was in fact open.  Now I had a dilemma: I could go into the store looking like an absolute mess, run into countless people and get my milk or I could go home and be tortured by the smell of delicious coffee I wouldn't drink.  

You know what I did. I went in the store.  Unbrushed hair, pj pants and sans bra.  I am a woman without shame. 

No less than 3 people saw me walking in {strangers, thank you baby Jesus}. Two stock clerks greeted me as I grabbed the milk. I got in line behind one woman to check out.  She proceeded to argue with the cashier over the price of EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. in her cart. Not even joking. She even walked the cashier back to the frozen food section because she was sure the lima beans were buy one get one free. She argued over whether the computer properly calculated the 50% discount on an item. At this point, there is now a line forming behind me. {Who knew so many people were at the store at 7:30 in the morning on Sunday?} A manager was called over to settle the argument over the half-off item. The number of people who have seen me in my state of shame has now reached an unbearable number.  

By the time I left the store with milk in hand I was feeling like the world's most disgusting human being. 

Then I got home, had that first sip of coffee and suddenly it all seemed worth it. 

Apparently, I've learned nothing.  

math skills determine wealth

Turns out, my high school math teacher was right.

Math is important. 

At least according to an article I read this morning. 

The St. Petersburg Times reports "According to a recent study conducted by the Rand Corp., couples who scored well on a short test of math skills accumulated more wealth by middle age than couples who scored poorly. Researchers found that when both spouses correctly answered three math questions, family wealth averaged $1.7 million. That compared with $200,000 for households where neither spouse answered any question correctly. Household wealth rose sharply as scores of either the husband or wife rose, the study said."

Interested? So was I. 

Here are the three questions:

1. If the chance of getting a disease is 10 percent, how many people out of 1,000 would be expected to get the disease?
2. If five people all have the winning numbers in the lottery, and the prize is $2 million, how much will each of them get?
3. Let's say you have $200 in a savings account. The account earns 10 percent interest per year. How much would you have in the account at the end of two years? 

(Answers at the bottom of this post.)

What do you think? I think it's pretty surprising that answers to three simple math problems could be so determinative of a couple's future wealth. 

Other findings of the study:

• As the math score of each spouse rose, the percent of a family's portfolio held in stocks rose.
• In 62 percent of the households studied, a man was the financial decision maker.
• Even when a husband scored zero out of a possible three points in the test, there was essentially a 50-50 chance that he was the financial decision maker. This male bias was smaller among younger couples in the study's 50 & up age group.











ANSWERS:
1) 100   2) $400,000  3) $242

*Source: Rand Corp.; St. Petersburg Times, November 19, 2010 from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

christmas card slacker

Confession: I am a Christmas card slacker.  I have never successfully designed, purchased and mailed holiday cards. Well, this is the year that changes!

For a lazy girl like me, simplicity is key.  Enter Shutterfly.  Shutterfly makes it so simple to design a unique holiday photocard.  Just select one of their hundreds of designs and insert your own family photos.  

The hardest part is deciding which card to use.  Okay, actually, that's not true. That's the fun part. The hardest part is getting off your lazy arse once you've settled on a design to go get your credit card so you can place your order.  {Unless you're like me and you've online shopped-till-you-dropped so you memorized your credit card number eons ago. Then you just have to get up to show your hubs the card before you order.  Because he cares about such things.  Deeply.} {longest parenthetical ever. I don't think I'm using those correctly.}

Anyway.

Because a few of the people on my Christmas card list {which is purely hypothetical at this point} read the blog I won't show you which card I picked, but here are a few runners-up.

Unfortunately, the adorable little person wasn't included, otherwise it might have been the winner.

They also have coordinating address labels. How cute is that?

Shutterfly makes it so easy, even a Christmas card slacker like me can design a great holiday card. They are offering 20% off their holiday cards until November 17 and discounts on lots of other items, so hurry over and take a look!

*Super Official Disclosure Language - Shutterfly is hooking me up with 50 free cards. If you're a blogger and want free cards too - check out the deal here.

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

photo source

A few of you asked for the recipe for the Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes I mentioned in a previous post so I thought I'd post it here for you.  These mini cheesecakes are delish and so easy to make.  I made them for a tailgate and a party and people LOVE them. If you try them, I think you will too!

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

42 Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

*Note: I halved this recipe and it turned out just fine.

i'm back...now with 50 percent more randomness

Hi friends! I know it's been a while but things are BUSY around here!  Work has picked up {yay!}, I'm trying to organize holiday gifts for 73 needy kids, I've volunteered to bake for two different events this week, I've got a slew of meetings & commitments {including watching one very adorable 6 month old while his parents have an anniversary dinner} and my to do list is growing by the minute.  Needless to say I haven't seen the inside of the gym in nearly a week and my blog reader and DVR are very full. 

I'm happy to be busy but hate that it leaves so little time for blogging.  Since I'm a bit crunched for time, let's just jump right into the randomness, shall we?

We finally had our first chilly weather of the fall and it was awesome! I took full advantage and broke out the tights, sweaters and boots.  We don't get nearly as many opportunities as I'd like to bundle up in Florida, so I have to enjoy the cold while I have it.  Unfortunately, it's already gone and the high tomorrow is 80.  {Did I really just lead off with the weather?  LAME.}

I ordered this sweater jacket and I love it!

Unfortunately, they didn't send me thighs that look good in skinny jeans to wear with it.  jerks.

Speaking of my fat thighs...I had completely forgotten how flippin' delicious Oreos are! I made mini Oreo cheesecakes for our tailgate last weekend and there were a few Oreos left over. I have no will power so clearly I ate them. Holy cow, were they good. This is a reminder I did not need. 

Ten days late, but here's our Halloween pumpkin:

I didn't get around to carving it until Halloween day but I love how it turned out. It wasn't so cute three days later when the mold set in. 

My UCF Knights are ranked in the Top 25!!!  This is a first for UCF so we are very excited! I'm looking forward to our next game on Saturday.  Go Knights!

UCF's colors are black & gold. I think I'm going to order this Kate Spade top for the Conference USA Championship which {hopefully/maybe} will be held at home in December. I think it would be cute with jeans and a black cardi.

And if this also ends up in my cart....whoopsies.

  Hmmm, maybe this too.

And this. 

Kate Spade, you're killing me! Stop making such adorable stuff. Or, alternatively, please make adorable things for less than three bills.  Much appreciated.

Okay...that's probably quite enough randomness for one post.  Happy Hump Day everybody!

that'll teach me

I don't believe in jinxes, I don't knock on wood and I'm generally the least superstitious person you'll ever meet.  That said, I'll think twice before I ever again wax poetic about how happy and grateful I am.

No sooner than I'd published yesterday's post did my day start heading downhill.  I don't know which karmic god I pissed off but boy, oh boy, did my luck change fast. 

My absolute least favorite case reared it's head in an ugly way.  The six cases of wine I mentioned I had to pick up? I had to unload them in the POURING rain - in a silk top, skirt and heels.  After about an hour inside setting up for the event (read - almost dry) I was sent back out in the pouring rain to pick up 15 bags of ice.  By the time I got back and unloaded the ice I was once again soaked, my hair was a disaster and I'm sure I smelled like a wet dog.  To top it off, between the pouring rain and it being election night, turnout at the event was terrible. A lot of hard work {and wine} wasted.

And remember my favorite shoes I was so excited to be wearing? Yeah, they broke.  Seriously.

After six hours on my feet in {broken} heels, I finally made it home aroun 9:30pm to find The Mister watching the election results roll in.   I won't get into it, but I'll just say that I was not a happy camper.  {Understatement of the year.}  In fact, I'm not sure that a single candidate I voted for won.*  What can you do?  Sometimes, the other guys win.  Such is the nature of a democracy.  And that's all I'll say about that. {On the blog anyway...}

Perhaps I got it all wrong.  Perhaps listing the things that make you happy and thankful is tempting fate. Perhaps I invited the bad luck in with my joyfulness and appreciation. 

Just in case, I think my next list will be about the things that make me grumpy and ungrateful.  Perhaps that will make for better luck?  And if not...well, shoot, it sure does feel good to bitch sometimes. 

Stay tuned for the bitch list...coming soon to a blog near you. 

*Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. The state rep I voted for, along with some judicial candidates, were reelected.  Other than that, nada. 

big things and little things*

So many things to be thankful for today.  Some big, some little, but each made me happy and grateful today.

I voted this morning.  I walked into my polling place and was handed a ballot. I filled in my bubbles and put my ballot into the scanner.  The poll worker smiled at me and handed me the ever so important "I voted" sticker.  I hesitate to sound dramatic, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel amazing. 

How lucky are we to live in a country where we have the right to voice our opinions and choose our leaders?  I was allowed to cast my ballot freely, without interference and without violence.  And that's a beautiful thing. 

 

After voting, I decided to stop by Starbucks for coffee. Wouldn't you know it - one of my favorite days of the year - Red Cup Day!  I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, the holiday season begins on the day that Starbucks hands me my first red cup of year.  Had it not been 80 degrees and sunny this morning, I might have burst into song. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series!

This afternoon, I get to stop byTotal Wine** and load my car up with $700 worth of wine.  The only way this day could get better is if I got to the bring the wine home and load up my wine rack with it. Unfortunately, it has to be dropped off at a charity event.  But for a few minutes, this girl will dream of pulling a Thelma & Louise and taking off on the open road - just me and a butt-load of wine.  Heaven. 

And on top of all that - I'm wearing my favorite shoes today.

What more could a girl ask for? 

Anyone else feeling happy & grateful today?

*Okay, so it's really one big thing and a few little things.
**or as I like to call it Toys R Us for Big Kids