All Things "R"

Rose and Jill at Delightfully Inappropriate recently tagged me to pick my Top Ten Favorite Things Beginning with the Letter "R". If you want to do this, just leave a comment and I'll assign you a letter!

This was much harder than it looks! OK, here goes...



1. Rum - Does this really need any explanation? Appleton is my favorite.


2. Rice - I love how rice is a blank canvas. My favorites are Jasmine and Brown rice. I recently saw Paula Deen add a can of coconut milk and diced mango to the rice she was cooking. Yum!



3. Revlon Voluminous Mascara - Hands down, the best drugstore mascara you can buy.

{Edit: A very observant reader, aka my sister, noted that this mascara is made by LOREAL, not Revlon. I am officially an idiot. As a replacement for this item, let's pretend I've posted a picture of a Rainbow, k? Thx.}



4. Rock music - It might surprise you that I could listen to Pink Floyd all day long.


5. Real Housewives of Orange County and New York City - A total guilty pleasure.


6. Reader - Google, that is. Seriously, my life would not be the same without it.


7. Redken Hair Products - I fell in love with Redken Satinwear 02 and Align 12 in 2005 before I moved from Chicago to Florida. And just in time! I have really straight hair that frizzes in humidity. These products alone or combined together are awesome and really work. I've never tried anything else since - why mess with a good thing?

8. Relaxing - Since becoming unemployed I try to set aside time to chill out between the hours of 4:30-5:30 p.m. This is my favorite time of day spent with Giada De Laurentiis and Ina Garten.

9. Rings - I absolutely love rings! When I travel I like to find a little boutique where I can purchase a ring or two to remind me of my trip.


10. Ronald Reagan - The first president I distinctly remember is Jimmy Carter. But growing up, President Reagan is burned into my memory as the president who brought an end to the Cold War. I still remember the air raid drills during grade school, sitting in my school's hallway with my hands covering my head. Just like any president he was not without issues. But looking back on it, I think he is one of the greatest presidents of recent time.

My Favorite New Cereal

Banana Nut Cheerios. LOVE!

That's a Tasty Meat-a-Ball!

I have a meatballs recipe that I ripped out of a men's magazine several years ago by Pietro Criscuolo from Milan, Italy. The minute I saw the recipe I knew I had to try it.

There are two secrets to the meatballs: simple ingredients and the cooking method. First, use only ground sirloin. Second, drop the meatballs straight into your heated sauce. The result is an amazingly tender, almost sweet meatball.


People who love meatballs will argue to death the proper way to cook them. Growing up, my Mom made her meatballs in the oven and then dropped them into the sauce. Unfortunately this technique almost always resulted in a dense meatball (sorry Mom!). One time I decided to try frying the meatballs and then adding to the sauce. Blech! Too oily. OK, it could've been something I did with the frying, but I really disliked them.

This recipe is SO easy. You can't screw it up. Believe me, they're yummy.

Perfect Meatballs
1 3/4 pound ground sirloin
2 eggs
6 Tablespoons finely ground bread crumbs
6 heaping Tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated
1 - 2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
Place the meat in a large bowl. Add the eggs, bread crumbs, cheese, salt, and pepper to taste. With your hands, knead the mixture until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, about a minute.

Form the meatballs so each is slightly smaller than a golf ball. Add to the sauce (should already be heated). Bring the pot to a simmer then reduce the heat and cook for 15-18 minutes. Serve immediately.

About the sauce...
Your favorite store-bought jarred sauce is perfectly fine for this but you may need two jars to make sure the meatballs are fully covered in the pot. If you have more time, I recommend this marinara recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. It's a simple sauce that allows you to add other goodies (ie, more garlic, red pepper, oregano...whatever you like). I make a point of adding a little bit of sugar to tone down the acid from the tomatoes. Also, you'll need to double her recipe if you make it with the meatballs.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

About that phone interview this morning...
He never called. At 9 am I sent him an email simply stating that I didn't hear from him; did he still want to talk? Close to noon I received an email back that he'd been caught up in a client issue, he neglected to call, and when can we talk? I replied and said I'm flexible, just let me know a good time for you. I have yet to hear back from him--the president of the company, no less.

I think it's time to move on. Maybe he'll get back to me, maybe he won't. But I'm not going to wait around to find out.

What happened to Carla?!
What a bummer! Carla on Top Chef totally caved under pressure and allowed Casey, a finalist from a prior season to take command of the food that Carla prepared. I couldn't believe it! I could tell Carla was in trouble...I really thought she could pull off a win. I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of Carla's early on; she seemed too wishy-washy. But then she really hit her stride and the judges continued to comment how her food was full of soul. Isn't that the essence of cooking? I didn't hear that comment about Hosea and Stefan.

From Bravotv.com

What bugs me about Hosea winning is the kissing action we saw a few weeks ago between him and Leah. He has {or had?} a girlfriend and I thought it was completely tasteless of him to get involved with another competitor on the show. Yes, the show is about cooking. But how about conducting yourself in a gentleman like manner? Especially since you know your girlfriend is going to see every moment with Leah caught on camera?

What's with the new Google Followers thing?
Yuck, I hate it. Usually I am the kind of person to embrace change. But I don't see how the functionality is improved. Blah.

Remember those muffins I baked last week?
My husband can't stop eating them. The entire plate disappeared in a matter of days. Last Sunday morning I heard Jeff making a whining noise, like "Oh no, where are the muffins?" This is a big deal, because normally Jeff doesn't like sweets, desserts, pastries, or chocolate {yea, he's totally missing out on living, don't you think?}. So imagine my surprise when he asked me to bake more muffins for him. I almost fell over.


Turns out baking muffins--and drinking a nice Pinot Noir while you're baking--does the trick to get your mind off job searching and wondering why people don't call you back. It totally helped me this afternoon. But now I need to go on a diet.

How Should I Feel About This?

I had {keyword: had} a phone interview this morning with a marketing firm. To say I was excited would be an understatement. The job description matched my experience to a T. And the company is less than 30 minutes from my house.

After exchanging emails with the president of the company, we agreed to talk this morning at 8 a.m. I studied up on his company last night, reviewed their website, and thought about the questions he might ask me. I also checked my alarm three times to make sure I set it correctly.

At 7:30 I sat down at my desk and prepared for the interview. When 8 a.m. passed, I thought, that's OK, I'll just sit here and wait. And then 8 became 8:15, then 8:30 and...tick...tick...tick...tick.

Now it's 9:20 a.m. and he still hasn't called me.

Am I a little pissed off? Yes. Should I give him the benefit of the doubt? I guess so. But does this send me a signal about his organization skills, his work ethic, and how he treats others? Absolutely.

Who Do You Believe, Gretchen or Tamra?

Last's night's Real Housewives of the OC Reunion was fiery, to say the least! I cannot believe what a bitch Tamra has turned out to be! I used to like her, but she really showed her true colors this past season.

In case you haven't seen the reunion yet, SPOILER ALERT...you've been warned.

OK, what's the deal with Tamra's story about Gretchen's boyfriend "J" (or Jay?). Tamra made claims that J called her cell phone many times claiming to be Gretchen's main man, and that Jeff, Gretchen's fiancée on the show, was paying her to take care of him? Whoa. Although, I must admit, it's not a total shocker to hear that.

From BravoTV.com

Two things that bothered me about Tamra's accusations: 1) Why would she go through the trouble of concocting this story if it wasn't true? and 2) Even if it is true, what difference does it make?

My husband thought it was really juicy that Tamra laid into Gretchen {c'mon, he's a guy and guys love to see women cat fight}. But I thought it was really out of line. Tamra wanted to expose Gretchen. Part of me wondered if her story is true. The other part of me felt like she should've aired her issues with Gretchen off camera.

Arghgh! So conflicted about this. What do you think?

The Parents Behind the Annoying Kid in Our Neighborhood

Doesn't every neighborhood have that one kid? The one, obnoxious kid that the other kids complain about? When I was growing up, my neighborhood had JJ--that was his nickname; I'm sure it stood for something but I don't remember. JJ would throw rocks at my head. He would pee in everyone's back yards because his Mom locked him out of the house during the summer. Looking back on it, he definitely had some sort of behavioral problem.

The JJ in my neighborhood is named Bradley and my 13 year-old stepson Eric is friends with him. Unfortunately, Bradley has a history of clashing with the other neighborhood kids. I once had a parent tell me that Bradley tore down her son's basketball net. Recently a few girls came to my door asking if I had Bradley's parent's phone number because he wrecked their fort and tossed pizza boxes all over the place. The thing is, Bradley doesn't live in our immediate neighborhood. His house backs up to our area, so he is constantly climbing the fence to come over and play. This explains why us parents feel a little detached from him because we never see his parents.

Last year, in the middle of the school year, we noticed that Bradley was suddenly gone. When we asked Eric what happened he said that Bradley "went away" for the remainder of the school year. Translation: Bradley's parents are seeking medical treatment for their hyperactive child.

Honestly? We breathed a huge sigh of relief. Partially because of his behavior problem, but more so because of Bradley's idiotic parents.

Yea, that's right. His parents.

Last year one Saturday evening around 6:30 PM, our doorbell rang. Eric answered the door to find Bradley standing there. I remember hearing a car out front driving off. Turns out Bradley's father was "dropping him off" at our house. Smack dab during the dinner hour. On a Saturday night, no less.

I couldn't believe it. Who does that? What kind of person just drops off their child at someone's house on a weekend night? Without calling ahead? And most importantly, without ever having met the parents?

Right?

After this happened, my husband and I grew wise to The Ways of Bradley's Parents. There was an incident recently where his Mom drove up and tried to drop off Bradley after school. I was in the process of changing clothes and stuck my head out the door to say that Eric had to go to Hebrew school. Otherwise I would have gone out to her car with a few choice words.

As you might assume, this is all leading up to my story. This past Saturday night, Eric called us around dinnertime from Bradley's house to ask if Bradley could come to our house until 10 or 11 pm. My husband asked to talk to Bradley's parents and that's when Jeff learned that Bradley's parents had already left the house. To go to a hockey game.

At this point in the conversation, as Jeff relayed to me what was going on, FIRE came out the top of my head. My heart pounded with anger and frustration. I wanted to SCREAM at these people.

So I promptly asked Eric for one of Bradley's parent's cell phone numbers. My call went straight to voicemail, leading me to believe the phone was turned off. I left a message and to my surprise, Bradley's mother called back.

I decided to take the kind yet stern approach. I would have preferred to yell and scream, but that's immature and I figured it wouldn't get me very far. I explained to her that we felt put on the spot and they should never ASSUME we are available. I also mentioned how we have never met, and wouldn't she agree that it's a good idea to know who is taking care of her son?

She apologized but I found myself surprised that she really didn't seem to have a clue about their irresponsible actions. Something still doesn't add up for me. I hung up the phone feeling relieved that we had the conversation yet wondering if it will happen again.

I told my Mother-in-Law the story and she said flat out, "It's going to happen again, because that's the kind of people they are."

Fish Pedicure Banned in Florida

I can't think of anything more repulsive {ok, maybe I can} than tiny fish eating the dead skin from my feet. Apparently The Florida Board of Cosmetology banned the procedure yesterday. Thank Gawd.

There is something very wrong with combining the words Fish and Pedicure together, wouldn't you agree?

Best Dressed! Worst Dressed! Most Boring Couple!

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday but the Oscars takes a close second to my most favorite day of the year. The Red Carpet action, who's wearing what, who's with whom, the delicious entertainment...I love it all.

I'll leave the Best Dressed/Worst Dressed to the fashion experts. But there were a few favorites for me and a couple of "huh's?" that must be addressed...

First, Best Actress for The Reader, Kate Winslet
{Yay! She's my favorite!!}

I'm not a fan of the one-shoulder thing but this dress is stunning and she looked amazing!

My other favorite tonight...Anne Hathaway!!

This picture doesn't do her dress justice. It lit up the TV screen! Go Team Zoe!
She's looking a bit skinny but let's give her a break. The girl's been through a lot.

I also loved Taraji Henson! I caught her Red Carpet interview and she seems so nice and genuine. The dress was very flowy at the bottom. Really cool.

Her necklace and hair were killer!

OK, then there were the few stars that left me wondering what they were thinking...

First, Phoebe Cates.

Sorry, Phoebe, but your dress is very matronly and it reminds me of something I'd find at The Dress Barn.

Then we have Sarah Jessica Parker. SJP, of ALL times to disappoint, you pick the Oscars? Bad move, girlfriend.

I worried all night that one of her girls would pop out.
Her boobies looked like fat rolls!

I'm still confused about why Miley Cyrus was invited to the show. Of what critical importance is she, anyway? Nada!

One word: YUCK.
Her dress reminded me of a white plastic Christmas tree.
{Also? Her mouth bothers me.}

Jessica Biel. Another one I'm wondering about. Mary from 7th Heaven is suddenly catapulted to Oscar star status, simply because she's dating Justin Timberlake? Huh?

What you can't see is the bulbous material on the front of the dress.

Senorita, I feel for you...
{Do we think she might be preggers?}

Most Questionable Choice for a Date

Jennifer Aniston, I adore you but I wish you'd trade up.
John Mayer is too hairy for you!
How did you go from Brad to Vince to...John?
Also? I'm questioning the bangs-braided hairstyle.
It's cute for the beach. The Oscars? Not so much.

Finally.................Drum Roll, Please......................

Most Boring Red Carpet Couple.

I'm SOOO tired of these two!
Angelina totally phoned it in with her black dress.
How many times have we seen this same style on her?
And I can't stand her earrings!

Photos: AP

Haven't Been Feelin' It

You know how it is. Life consumes you and you keep reminding yourself, "I have a blog to take care of...must...blog...must...blog..."

The lack of inspiration this week has sucked the life out of me, but have no fear. I think my groove is starting to re-emerge. This afternoon I made Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins, courtesy of my favorite cook and Hamptons-living goddess, Ina Garten.


The muffins turned out awesome. This is a huge accomplishment for moi who has a history of being a lousy baker -- who can forget those fried chicken-looking scones I made last year?

Just one tip: Be sure to wash and completely dry your blueberries, then lightly dust with a little flour before you fold them into your muffin batter. Otherwise the berries will likely sink to the bottom of the muffin tin. And we can't have that, can we?

A Question for the Married Ladies

Do you wear your wedding ring(s) all the time?

Since getting engaged and married, I find that I really don't like to wear my engagement ring and wedding band if I'm just hanging out around the house. And I especially don't like wearing my rings if I'm cleaning. These pieces have insurance plans attached to them, for crying out loud.

Am I the only one who thinks this way?

How Do I Heart Thee?

I'm a bit obsessed with hearts...

A sterling silver heart holds rings that I no longer wear but can't part with.




A heart with a key hangs on our hall closet door.

I keep these glass and silver hearts displayed in this heart wire dish.




A pink heart coin purse from my Mom.

Heart rocks I bought in Laguna Beach, CA

My heart jewelry

Little silver coins with sayings shown front and back
I bought these for Jeff at Fred Segal's in Santa Monica, CA.


Happy Valentine's Day to You!

A Very Sweet Valetine's

Here's a copy of Jen Lancaster's gut-busting, hysterical memoir, "Bitter is the New Black." I read this book on my honeymoon cruise after a few whirlwind weeks of putting the final touches on my wedding, getting laid off from my job, and then getting married.

If you haven't read Bitter, let me just say that my life mirrored Jen Lancaster's almost to a 'T' in this book. She chronicles her rise to a big-to-do corporate exec, to being laid off, to being about a month away from moving in with her parents, to getting married {trying to score cash from her wedding gifts to pay bills}, to swallowing her pride and ego for temping {and discovering it wasn't so bad}, to finally realizing that downsizing expenses ain't that bad {read: Target replaced Neiman's}.

Yea, that's pretty much my life right now.

The catch is that this isn't any old regular copy of Bitter. This book is signed by Jen Lancaster herself! A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to Andi at Misadventures with Andi who had Jen sign it for me at last weekend's BlissDom conference. Her thoughtfulness really made my day. Thank you Andi!

OMG!

Dried & Preserved: My Bridal Bouquet

I just picked this up from the florist yesterday after waiting nearly four months! The flowers were drying in the florist's freezer since late October. I originally planned to hang the frame in our bedroom, however, I decided it was too pretty to hide! It's now displayed in our front foyer.

A Natural Way to Get Your Valentine's Day On

Check out this Whole Foods podcast, Libido Part I: Medicinal Plants.

Hmmm...medicinal plants that increase your libido? Very interesting, indeed! I wonder if their next podcast will be about the healing powers of dark chocolate?!

It's nice to see grown ups acting like kids once in a while

I follow @jerrytaft on Twitter. Jerry's a well-known Chicago meteorologist with a knack for being charming, personable, and really funny. When I noticed that he was on Twitter, I jumped at the chance to follow him. His Tweets are always interesting and I feel like I'm right there on the ABC-7 Chicago news set with him {or on the golf course, for that matter}.

Here's Jerry.
I think he's kinda cute.

Tonight he linked via Twitter to this YouTube video featuring Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange, co-anchors at WGN News, a competing station in Chicago. I would love to know the story behind their little routine and how in the world they managed to remember all those moves. Jerry says it took them a year to get the routine down pat!

So THAT'S what news anchors do when the cameras aren't live...

Missy, the one with the mushy brain

Geez, has my brain turned to MUSH or what? I'm doing my Valentine's Days cards and I addressed the one to my parents with their names but my home address. I can't believe what a dummy I've turned into. Apparently I need to start doing crossword puzzles or something to keep my brain active.

Now I'm wondering what to do with the envelope I messed up because it's purple so it's not like I can use white out. Plus I already put a cute heart stamp on the damn thing.

Argh!

Here's one I didn't mess up.

I've Become Boring

This is what unemployment does to you. I used to blog about fun things like mascara, perfume, clothes, celebrities, and even something I cooked for dinner. Now, I find myself completely uninspired to write about anything. My gray sweatpants have become my best friend. It's really, really pathetic.

Thankfully today I am getting out of the house, however, I am absolutely dreading my little excursion. Guess where I'm going? IKEA. Yes, you read that correctly. I promised I wouldn't talk about that dreadful place ever again but I need to get the missing part to my filing cabinet. Actually, I should correct myself. It's the part that I broke. But the IKEA folks don't need to know that, do they?

My mother-in-law made a surprise pop-in visit over the weekend {which she doesn't do often, but when she does, I always find it jarring} and she loved the furniture I bought. So now she wants to go there to buy a new office chair. This means instead of going straight to the Returns and Exchanges desk, I must trudge through the IKEA maze all over again. Yuck.

Oh, and then she asked if I wouldn't mind bringing my MS Office software to her house so I can spend God knows how long installing it this afternoon.

Yea, fun, fun day. At least I have an excuse to get out of my gray sweatpants. I guess.

Wedding Inspiration: Invitations

Hubby and I married just a few months ago in October 2008. So you can imagine my delight when Wedding Paper Divas contacted me asking if I would be interested in reviewing some of their wedding invitations! How could I resist? I'm still in wedding mode!

It was about a year ago that I found myself faced with some fairly big wedding decisions: where to have our wedding, selecting my dress and identifying all the various vendors. At the heart of the planning I found myself struggling to choose my wedding colors. It's true that you absolutely need to select one or more colors in order to make your wedding planning easier--and to keep you sane!

Early in the process I fumbled over some decisions simply because I didn't have a vision of what the wedding would look like. Then, a friend of mine gave me the advice to start looking at wedding invitations. It didn't click with me at first; I could only imagine those stuffy, formal, and very traditional-looking invites. She laughed and promised me that invitations have come a long way.

And she was right! I found Wedding Paper Divas one day when I was at work {shh, don't tell anyone} and I spent the afternoon sneaking glances at all the wonderful invitations. Their products are fresh, modern, and completely unique. They offer so many different options and color palettes for just about any taste, from bold and vibrant to soft and muted. Everything is customizable, meaning you can select your fonts and colors to add a personal touch. Even better, you can request samples and Wedding Paper Divas will mail them to you! A great idea so you're 100% positive about your choice before you place an order.

Wedding Paper Divas sent me four samples. {Please excuse the photos, I had a difficult time capturing shots of these cards.} The first photo at the top left is a Save-the-Date. I LOVE the idea of including a current photo of you and your husband-to-be, particularly if you have a few friends or family members who haven't met him yet. To the right is a lovely red and white floral Engagement Invitation. Really cool for an outdoor party, or even a black and white event!

The bottom left Wedding Invitation is a simple wood grain beige pattern with chocolate brown lettering. This is a great look for someone who likes simplicity, nature, or if they're having a green wedding. The sample on the right is a Save-the Date with a delicate orange flower printed on peach colored paper. Love it! They also offer Thank You cards to match your invitations.

My wedding color inspiration ultimately came from a blue and brown invitation. Here's a picture of the florals at my wedding to show you the colors in action.


Best of luck with your wedding planning, and be sure to check out Wedding Paper Divas to get inspired and order your invitations!