All That Is Wrong With America

This product.  It exists.  The NAME of it.  The HOLE in the back!?  Seriously!?  It's bad enough that someone thought to make this product - that he or she thought there'd be a market for it here in America.  Is anyone buying it?  I hope not.  The Snuggie was bad enough.

My Halloween Costume

Kate Middleton.  Not on her wedding day, when that bitch Pippa stole the show.  On the day when she wore that blue dress when she got all that publicity for finally getting engaged.  

How Old Is Too Old To Trick-or-Treat?

My mom told me to today that she had a trick-or-treater in the 20+ crowd today.  My mom felt she was too old to be trick-or-treating.

I remember when I was around 8, my mom commented that the our neighbor (a different one) was trick-or-treating as an 8th grader - she felt this was too old.  I made sure to make her eat these words.  I think I trick-or-treated at the beginning of high school - and I know plenty of my peers did.  I overheard some people talking today about trick-or-treating in college.

What are your thoughts?  How old is too old?

Outdated?

Two things I saw today.

1)  Phone cards
2)  Physical pictures, developed at Walgreens from a disposable camera

I did not know these things still existed.  I did not know people still used said things.  Did you?

Going Places Alone

So, as all my readers who know me know, I am the single gal living in Chicago.  This coming weekend is Halloween (observed).

A friend of mine who is not part of my usual circle is hosting a party and, well, facebook-invited me.  I really like said friend and would like to see her apartment, meet her boyfriend, meet her other friends, etc.  Hey, fresh meat!

It just so happens that the handful of people she and I mutually know have prior engagements.  This means yours truly will be showing up at the party solo.  This is fine by me - like I said, I know the host.  She is a nice person, so I assume she will have some other friends at the event that are nice people.  If, for some reason, it gets really awkward or I have no one to talk to or some issue, I will leave - I don't plan on staying long anyway.

I pride myself on being an independent person, so I am fine with going places alone.  Recently, there was a good friend's surprise birthday party with a similiar circumstance.  The three people I was friends with - the birthday boy, his girlfriend, and his sister were all out to dinner, so I showed up at the bar beforehand, alone, and spent about an hour/hour and a half with his random friends - all nice friendly people.

This leaves me wondering two things.  1)  Is this normal?  Do other people feel ok showing up at bars/parties/various places alone?   Am I in the minority, or is this completely and totally normal?   I know back in high school and even college, I would not have felt ok showing up anywhere alone. And, if my readers remember correctly, I, for some reason, did not feel safe showing up at my high school reunion alone.  Anyhow.

Secondly - is there something weird about a person who shows up alone to other people?  Again, I know back in high school/college, there would have been some stigma attached.  Is that still the case?  As Carrie Bradshaw would claim - singles' discrimination!  (SINGLES AT THE COUNTER!)  Is that one of the greatest perks of dating someone?  Having someone to drag to all kinds of events?  I swear, once, someone dated me simply for the reason that he wanted me to accompany him to 'girlfriend' stuff.   I digress.

Anyhow.  What's your personal policy on people who go places alone?  Is it normal, or is there some stigma attached?  Do you go places alone?  Your thoughts?

Update on Lee DeWyze

In case anyone cares....

And I'm guessing you all don't...

This coming November, I will be attending a wedding.

No, not HIS wedding, despite the fact that the word on the street is he's engaged.  Anyhow.

It's my friend Laura's wedding.  Her family is active in St. James' Church, where Lee went to middle school.  In short - Lee's mother will be at said wedding.  I'm hoping Lee will make an appearance, and maybe sing a song.  I need to work out these details with Laura.  But if that doesn't happen - hopefully I can have a cocktail will Mrs. DeWyze, if nothing else.  

Irony Alert

The other day, I was discussing Sex and the City with a good friend.  I made reference to this quote:

Carrie Bradshaw:  We are so over, we need a new word for over.

She says this to Big.

In season 3.

Yep.

********************************

That leads me to a question - whenever someone declares she is "so done with 'xyz'", is it EVER true?!  The fact that the person is consciously making a statement on the matter is very telling, in my opinion.  Remember when Nicole Richie said she was done with Paris Hilton, ending it with the every cryptic 'Paris knows what she's done', then a couple months later they were out shopping together or something?   When is some event or person truly 'over'?  I don't really know, but I do know that when someone is talking about said event or person, they surely aren't yet.  Agree?  Disagree?  Your thoughts?

I Fell in Love...

...with the new grocery store, Mariano's.  I LOVE it.  They say one can't go back to the farm after having seen Paris.  I don't think I can set foot in a Jewel again.  It was like an amusement park.  I even bought a three foot long tube of buttery popcorn and a giant candy apple.

Is this official a sign of getting older?  I am this excited about a grocery store?  Is this a sign I need some more excitement in my life?

Don't judge until you set foot in the place.

Book Club - Love At First Bark

So, as most of my readers know, I am part of a blogging network, and, through said network, a book club. Well, recently, I participated in a group reading for Julie Klam's 'Love at First Bark'.

**Requisite disclaimer:  I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review, but, like everything found on this blog, the opinions expressed in said post are my own.

Anyhow - moving right along.   The author discusses three separate instances in which she went through moderate to great lengths to rescue/foster dogs in need.  She seems like an easy victim to every dog in need that crosses her path, although that certainly isn't a bad quality.  (No judgment.)

Overall, I found the author's writing style to be direct, humorous, and easy to read.  I imagine that Julie Klam, in real life, is one of those people who cracks herself up.  (Again, no judgment.)  Anyhow, I found it to be a quick, pleasant read based on her writing style.

Two of the biggest challenges I found reading this book were a) the reminders of how people, at times, are pointlessly cruel to animals and b) dealing with the fact that my 15 year-old Samantha is struggling.

But I digress.  In short, this was a good, humorous read about the ins and outs of fostering dogs and all the challenges one encounters throughout the process.  I was reminded that it certainly is not easy to save a dog - Klam clearly outlines all the red tape one might face whilst trying to do a good deed.

More discussions on said book to come.  

A Statement that, Nowadays, Holds Meaning....

The other day, I found myself at lunch with a good friend.  I was telling her a story about someone I knew that she didn't know (terribly interesting for her, I'm sure).   I concluded the story with 'I'm not even facebook friends with him!!'

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a significant statement about a relationship (or lack thereof).  

10 Year High School Reunion Recap

So, as most of my readers know, I recently had my high school reunion.  It started off with a slightly embarrassing moment.

So, long story short - there were several events planned, then canceled, then rescheduled, then some people chose to make alternative events happening at different locales at the same time (all whilst I started to ask myself 'wait, what am I about to subject myself to?').  Long story short, I spoke with a real-life friend (not just one of the facebook variety).  We both agreed that we would show up at one of the multiple bar names thrown out, and, worst case scenario, we would sit together and catch up just the two of us, and if that happened, that would be fun in and of itself.

Anyhow.  We both show up at the bar around the same time.  By 'we both showed up at the same time', I arrived, sat in my car in the parking lot and texted/facebooked until said friend showed up.  I don't know why or where this came from, but I felt too self-conscious to walk in alone, even though nowadays I have no problem showing up at an event alone provided I will know at least one person there at some point (I figure if someone thinks I'm the weird girl who showed up alone, well, fuck them).  I don't know where this burst of self-consciousness came from, and I really hate to think that it had something to do with stupid high school insecurities, but anywho, a mere 10 minutes later, my friend is banging on my car window in a dark parking lot (serial killer style) and we're headed in.

We walk up to the hostess.  Since this is our 'unofficial reunion' not at the original meeting spot, we're not sure if there's some formal reservation or any such thing.

Us, to a hostess who looks like a high school student herself:  Uh, we're kinda sorta here for, uhh, maybe, our high school reunion, we're not sure if there's a reservation....
Hostess:  Are you guys here for the Hersey Reunion?
Us:  YES!
Hostess:  Ok, we're still clearing the room out from a previous party, it will be ready shortly!
Us:  Great, will go sit by the bar and talk in the meantime!

So said friend and I are chilling for around half an hour, having a nice catch up chat.  After a short bit, we see said hostess head over to us with a big smile on her face.  "The Hersey Reunion is getting started upstairs - some people are up there already."

Great.  Thanks!  We pay our bill and head on up, excited and curious who might be there.  We reach the top of the stairs.  I immediately search a small crowd for a somewhat familiar face.  I see a large banner:

John Hersey High School Class of  1981 Reunion.

My friend and I are part of the class of 2001.  We were not even BORN in 1981.  Everyone we see in the room, well, looks like a member of the class of 1981.  This hostess thought we belonged in the group?!  This only brought on a bigger series of self-conscious questions than one could expect from a high school reunion.

Have we reached the point of just 'looking old' to anyone in the 18 and younger crowd?  Do my friend and I need botox?  Had this girl just assumed my friend and I had been the ones to stumble upon wealth and, subsequently, had had a lot of botox?

Anyhow.  We then went back down to the main area, feeling painfully dejected, and shortly thereafter stumbled upon a handful of fellow classmates from the class of 2001 and had a very nice brief catch up conversation.  The only thing we were really truly missing were more people.  And maybe some botox.  We are thinking a possible 11 year reunion, since, for some reason, this one just didn't pan out (it wasn't poor planning).   If not, well, apparently, there's always the 30 year....

Deep Fried Butter!

What is that on my fork, you ask?  It's deep fried butter.  And it was, let me tell you, delicious.  Not quite as good as deep fried snickers.  Or, if you're in a savory mood, deep friend bacon.  But it's yummy.  Please disregard the deep fried look on my friend and my faces.