Thanks, yo.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today I'm making deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, and sweet potato casserole (YUMMM). Then I'm going to shoot a shot gun in the woods, for real.

I'm so thankful for all the relationships in my life, for a job that is challenging but worthwhile and pays the bills, and for my adorable dog that is already taking his Thanksgiving nap.

Oh and Tim Riggins. I'm thankful for Tim Riggins too.

Oprah I am not.

Inspired by some friends, I'm presenting my Christmas list for your enjoyment. Now this is mostly just for fun, since it's already been decided I'll be getting some help towards completing my bedroom set as my Christmas present. Practicality, my friends, practicality.

Courtesy of the most awfully named furniture store in history

Think of this as my version of Oprah's favorite things. Except no one is getting them all for free. Sorry guys.

West Elm Sheets (I seriously have a problem staying away from the color gray)

Coach Poppy Perfume

Pioneer Woman Cookbook (If you have a few hours to kill, go explore her website. If you still need some convincing, she got to throw down vs. Bobby Flay. There you go.)



Top Secret Recipes Cookbooks

Kate Spade Ipod Case

This set of prints for my kitchen from Etsy seller dazeychic


Any of the wreaths from this Etsy shop, I seriously can't pick a favorite.



And one last Etsy find: This necklace, or any of its friends from the seller Spinthread.


So there you have it. I'm not this selfish and materialistic, really. I just went a little overboard here. Consider it my gift guide for the holidays. These all have my seal of approval. I've got 5 more days of vacation (!!!!) until it's back to work, so my goal is 5 more blog posts. Can I do it? Probably not. Tune in to watch me fail!

So fresh and so clean (clean)

Day 15: Your dream house

I think I'll take this one and run with it...or jog, considering my lax blogging habits. First up: laundry rooms! I'm currently on my 7th straight year of apartment living, so I can't help but dream of a house with all the things I'm missing. Don't even get me started on walk-in closets. Maybe laundry wouldn't be such a chore if I was washing and drying in one of these lovely spaces:

Home-Designing

Modern Homes Interior Design

My Home Ideas

Design Sponge

Unplggd

Time to BOUNCE on out of here.....get it??

WARNING: Reading this post will cause you to gain 10 pounds

As promised, here's a collection of fall recipes I am guaranteed to never take the time to make!

First up, are you looking for a way to get rid of all that extra Halloween candy? (if your answer is no, you already ate it all, then pat yourself on the back -- that's why we're friends!) For those of you with more will power than I, you can turn this:

Into this:

Using this recipe from Picky-Palate.com

Or, take these:

And make me a whole batch of these:

Again, photos and recipe from the good people at Picky Palate.

While I continue to throw my money away at Starbucks, maybe you'd like to take the DIY approach to delicious hot beverages.

Paula Deen's White Hot Chocolate

Caramel Apple Cider from Our Best Bites

And finally, after you wake up from the inevitable sugar coma, take a stab at these soups. See, that was funny because you can't actually *stab* a soup. Cutlery jokes! THIS is why you visit my blog!

Taco Soup - Paula Deen again. My college roommate used to bring this back for us after her mom made it at home. So good.

I'm not posting pictures for these because they look like throw up. So here's a picture of Paula Deen with the cast of Jersey Shore instead.

Steak n' Shake's chili is worth the crappy service every time. I've made this recipe before, and while it's not dead on, it's still pretty good. And it has coke and chocolate in it??

Well, there you have it. The first edition of "Recipes Molly will Never Make." Tune in later this month for Thanksgiving recipes I will definitely not be bringing to the table.

Back in Place

I have been an awful blogger. The worst! Here's what has been going on lately.....

-Work, work, work
-Netflix
-Sushi
-Vanilla Bean Noel
-Washed up athletes reunion game
-Celebrity Crush: Man vs. Food
-New favorite beauty product: Tresseme Dry Shampoo
-Unsuccessful vacation planning that will hopefully turn around with a trip to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge in December (SNOW!)

I have been staying at my parents' house the past few nights since they are on vacation. I like this because they have cable and internet. My internet has been inexplicably down for the past two weeks and crappy Dish Network cable is unreliable at best. They also have a fully stocked pantry and fridge and an extra fluffy dog for me to snuggle (read: pet from a distance as Pete runs around in circles, crazy with jealousy).

Future blog posts: my love/hate relationship with my apartment, fall recipes I am too lazy to make, and my Christmas list

Fun for the whole family

Day 22: A website


Polyvore

I completely forgot about this website until recently. About two years ago my then-roommate and I made accounts and proceeded to waste hours upon hours here. Check out some of the....collections (?) I made back then. I think it's time to reinstate the habit. Maybe I'll use this site to create "room boards" for the dream house post. Or drop some sweet fashion advice on all of you (gray t-shirts, remember?). Or maybe I'll just use it to make collages of puppy pictures. Probably that.

Get that corn outta my face.

Day 21: A recipe

I'm just skipping around at this point.

CORN DIP. This recipe has made me world famous. I've made it five or six times since I got the recipe from a coworker (hi Krystal!) a few months ago and each time it's been a huge success. Someone once told me they almost scooped it out of the garbage after seeing a kid throw it away. It's been requested that I double the portion for every choir practice from here on out. One month I had to miss practice and I was told to bring the corn anyways. Seriously, instant popularity.

Ingredients:

3 cans of fiesta corn

3-4 scallions

3-4 jalapeños

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 bag shredded Mexican cheese

Directions:

1. Chop the scallions

2. Chop the jalapeños

*****If you have gloves, wear them. If not, wash your hands a million times and don't touch anything. The evil pepper juice will burn any skin it comes in contact with. It would probably be a good idea to refrain from picking your nose for the rest of the day to avoid a case of fire nostril. Not that I have any experience with this, I just think it would be a good idea. Nope, I definitely didn't do this the first time I made this recipe. Uh-uh. No way.*****

3. Drain the corn

4. Mix everything together

DONE! Now eat with tortilla chips, or by the spoonful. And make sure to laugh when it shows up in the toilet again later.

Too much?

I am Liz Lemon.

Day 12: Something you are OCD about


I'm skipping all the days about photos. I don't take a large amount of pictures, and my little USB device thingy (technical term) is currently missing. So we'll just have to do without.


Anyways, I am not OCD. At all. In fact, I could use some OCD in my life when it comes to cleanliness. My laundry routine consists of leaving the clean clothes in/on top of the dryer and choosing my wardrobe from whatever is piled there. When the pile of dirty clothes is higher than the pile of clean clothes, I know it's time to do more laundry. Same goes for the dishwasher. I look there first for clean dishes and when it's empty I know it's time to load up the dirty.


Don't judge me, I live alone. It's completely normal. If you've ever watched 30 Rock, Tina Fey's character flies solo like me and it's a pretty accurate portrayal of what happens when no spouse/roommate is around to keep a person accountable for their own sanity:




Enjoying a snack on the couch wrapped in a Snuggie and improvising made-up songs? Someone at NBC is spying on me for inspiration.


Back to the topic. Now while I wouldn't consider these things "OCD," I do have a few neurotic habits I can't seem to shake. Whenever I enter a bathroom and the shower curtain is pulled closed, I will ALWAYS open it and peek inside. Even in my own home.


By the way, is it completely insensitive of us (me) to equate cleaning habits and weird quirks with legit Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? We've come to use this phrase so casually, like, "Oh, I have to wipe up these crumbs, I'm soooo OCD." I'm no expert (ok, let's be real, I learned everything I know about OCD from MTV's True Life), but I think people with real OCD carry out their behavior not because they WANT to, but because they HAVE to. So to any of you out there suffering from real OCD, I apologize for belittling your struggle.

Good Buy

If you have an extra $13, you should go and purchase this. It's on sale for today only. I really want it, but can't justify the purchase since I already have a calendar/planner that I hardly ever use. Maybe because it's not as totally cute as this one, but still. And Kate Spade for $13?? Come on.

The only things I write down in my planner are "Pay rent" and "Buy flea medicine" but wouldn't they seem so much exciting surrounded by these illustrations??

Rebel

Day 8: A photo that makes you angry/sad.

Uh...this blog is definitely NOT about being angry and/or sad. So day 8, I am boycotting you.

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

Day 7: A picture that makes you happy



This is Pete as a baby baby. He used to sit like that all the time. He doesn't anymore. See how his nose is half pink? It's not anymore. Not even a speck. Where did the speck go? I am a sad mother hen.

Now I'm going to throw blankets over him and watch how long it takes him to get out. It's a favorite game around my house.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.

Day 6: 20 of my favorite things
AKA I love this crap.

1. Pete: I'm obsessed with my dog. He is awful and neurotic, but he sleeps under the covers with me every night and is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

2. Statement Necklaces: The bigger the better. I'm trying to expand my collection.

Etsy Seller littlejardin, JC Penney, Antrhopologie

3. Coffee: I'm a fan of it all. 2-Splenda made at home-drink in the car coffee, or overpriced, fattening and flavored beyond recognition splurges.
4. Harry Potter

5. Makeup shopping sprees: I recently claimed my 500 point bonus prize at Sephora. 500 points = $500 = I've almost spent an entire month's rent at this place in the past few.

6. Condiments: If the menu describes a sauce using any of the following: creamy/spicy/garlic/teriyaki/honey mustard/aioli/wasabi/ranch/chipotle/siracha/soy/ginger/bbq/WHATEVER I will purchase it and ask for extra on the side.
You might look at this picture and think, "gross." I look at it and think "chicken fingers."


7. That feeling you get when you wake up in the middle of the night and think it's morning but you really have hours left to sleep: Self-explanatory.

8. Christmas decorations: Can't wait.

9. Fountain drinks

Sonic, I love you.

10. 90s music: All of it.

11. Inside jokes

12. A fresh box of crayons

Crayola only please. (P.S. The Crayola website is so much fun)

13. The color gray: Lately I've fooled myself into thinking that a plain gray t-shirt looks "very stylish." And if I wasn't planning on getting out of this stupid apartment ASAP I would paint my bedroom walls gray immediately.

14. Chevron stripes

Courtesy of Armelle blog.

15. Gray chevron stripes

16. Taco Bell: It's delicious. Quit hatin'.

17. Crosswords: Duh.

18. Cardigans: Duh.

19. This perfume

I love perfume (see #5 above. Those 500 points were embarrassingly easy to rack up.) And Marc Jacobs Daisy is my current favorite.

20. Justin Timberlake. Seriously.

Whew. That took me forever.

Slacker.

I haven't kept up with this daily challenge very well. But I'm back now, and just to prove my dedication I'm completely not one, but TWO day's worth of entries.

Day 4: Your favorite book

Here's a good one: The Giver by Lois Lowry


I think I was in 5th grade the first time I read this book. It floored me and made me think about things I had never thought about before. An 11 year old questioning society? What? I re-read it in high school and again recently and it's stood the test of time. Anyone who is a fan of dystopia type literature should check it out.

Day 5: Your favorite quote

My favorite quote definitely does not have anything to do with "dancing when no one's watching" or "the nights I'll never remember with the friends I'll never forget." LAME.

I'm not much for quotes, but I think my Facebook has this lyric on there: "Everyday I wake up. I choose love. I choose light." Which is HILARIOUS in light of recent Real Housewives of New Jersey events. I guess crazy Danielle and I have something in common. Positivity is a choice, yo!

I Love TV!

I mentioned this yesterday....TV > Movies. I love it all; the good (Glee), the bad (True Blood), and the ugly (Rock of Love). My Netflix queue contains mostly TV on DVD. I go to bed pretty early during the week, so I catch up on any episodes I've missed from the previous night on Hulu or Sidereel as I get ready for work. Pathetic? Or an efficient use of my time? Anyways, it's probably not my best quality, but I'm a huge TV junkie and I have no shame. Here's some of my favorites. Yes, I know my brain is probably completely rotten at this point, so what's one more episode going to do?

*EDIT*I just spent a long time finding pictures/videos to upload but now it's being weird and not letting me resize. I'm going to leave it as a long, uninteresting list for now in the name of keeping my word on the blog challenge.

Comedy:

Friends: I own all ten seasons of Friends and quote one episode or another just about every day. Scratch that. I own nine of the ten. Season 8 is currently being held hostage by a roommate's ex-boyfriend.

30 Rock

Arrested Development

Pete & Pete

How I Met Your Mother (Jason Segel, remember?)

Glee

Drama:

Dexter

Friday Night Lights: SO GOOD.

Lost, even though I STILL haven't seen the last season.

True Blood (#1 brain rotter)

Reality:

My love for reality tv programming began in 6th grade when I used to sneak and watch Road Rules on MTV against my parents' commands. Nowadays, if it's on Bravo, I watch it. If it's a reality show on another network, I probably watch it too. If it features D-list celebrities searching for true love, I'm tuning in faster than Padma Lakshmi can scarf down a tray of amuse bouches during a curry-themed quick fire.

Top Chef

Project Runway

Real Housewives of ANYWHERE

Rock of Love

American Idol

Color Splash

America's Next Top Model

Ok, this blog ended up being stupid, but I don't care because I'm 3/3 on this challenge.

Day #2

Day #2: Favorite Movie

There are very few movies I can watch over and over. I'm really much more of a TV person (get ready for day 3!). Here's a few that make my cut...

When Harry Met Sally

Knocked Up

Clue


Footloose (What a fox!)

The Princess Diaries

andddddd....

X-Men! Bet ya weren't expecting that one, but I really do love all of them. Something about each character having a very personalized power is so cool to me.

Number one, we've just begun....

Alright, here we go! I've been excited about getting this blog challenge thing started all day and even jotted down a few ideas for today's post while I was at work. Maybe I could keep this stuff up and one day blogging could be my JOB! A girl can dream.

I'm really bad at labeling "favorites" so I created a few categories and I'll share the top songs from each. Clearly I am taking this challenge very seriously.


1. My favorite song according to iTunes: The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is my most played song. I wasn't expecting that to turn up on top, but I do really like it. The song is wonderfully weird and fun to sing along to.





2. My current jam: There's always one song I've recently discovered that I just can't get enough of. Lately that song is Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap. Yes it was in 500 Days of Summer. And a car commercial. I guess I'm not one of those "I liked it before it was popular" people, but I'm cool with that. I also have a soft spot for any music video that features the band members floating through the air.





3. Favorite song for reminiscing: Adam's Song by Blink 182. Makes me think of every weekend I spent from age 14-17.






4. Favorite love song: Stand Inside Your Love by Smashing Pumpkins. Beautiful lyrics, beautiful music, beautiful video, beautiful Billy.





5. Favorite guilty pleasure: Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. If I ever catch this on the radio I have to listen to the whole thing, I love it. And she dated David Schwimmer!





6. If I really really really had to choose 1 favorite I think I would go with.....Good For You by Third Eye Blind





I want to include more, but can't think of any more clever categories. Day 1 = success!

Up for the challenge.

I've seen this challenge on several different blogs lately and I think I'm ready to go for it. I might end up changing a few of the days because I'm a rebel like that. I love this kind of stuff and I'm hoping it makes me become a more committed blogger. All my friends on here should do this too. So here it is, my topics for the next 30 days:

Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 - your favorite movie
Day 3 - your favorite television program
Day 4 - your favorite book
Day 5 - your favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where I live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - my worst habit
Day 28 - whats in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

The bests.

The best ice cream:

The best candle:
The best celebrity couple:


The best restaurant:


The best ipod app:

The best color combination: