The One Where We Keep It Positive

Well, I'm just gonna say it. So far, 27 has NOT been my best year yet. But instead of whining and recapping all the negative, let's just not. Instead, I want to focus on some recent things that I have come to love/that make me happy. In the words of The Greek Chorus in Legally Blonde The Musical, let's keep it pos-i-tive!



1) Summer fruit.

Of course I start with something food-related. But honestly, is there ANYTHING better than a perfect peach or some simply scrumptious strawberries?

2) The library. 

Trinity Library, Dublin, Ireland

God bless whoever invented libraries. Seriously, I hope that person is blessed from on high wherever he/she may be right now. First, the idea of a library is genius. Second, I have recently re-read a bunch of Meg Cabot books because I remembered how much I love her writing and I got to do it all FOR FREE (minus the 25 cent late fee for one book... oops). I can basically read ANYTHING I WANT FOR FREE. Third, they are (usually...) quiet. Some days you just need some mandatory quiet, ya know?

Wait, didn't Ben Franklin invent libraries? Maybe not. That may be a rumor. At least according to this 86 paragraph long Wikipedia article.

3) Colorful paintings. 

Though I'm in no position to be buying actual art right now, that doesn't mean I can't LOOK. One of my favorite bloggers, Jenny Andrews Anderson (who writes over at My Favorite and My Best) is also an artist. This is my favorite current painting of hers. 

Blue Foot by Jenny Andrews Anderson

I have also been browsing Etsy for smaller, more affordable paintings. So far, this is my favorite I've found so far, created by SlaviART.

4) Snarky sayings made into decorative cross-stitch hangings. Such as...

5) The AMC TV show Halt and Catch Fire, which is about the PC industry in the 80s. The music and fashion and hair is all killer. Monique and I watch it every week (although I watched it without her this week since she's home on vacay... sorry, girl!) and even though some of the computer lingo is hard to understand, it's very drama and very fun. Plus one of the main guys played Darcy in the Keira Knightley version of Pride & Prejudice so... there's that.

"Ooooh we're so pensive and computery!"

6) Sara Bareilles's song I Choose You - cute, simple, and you KNOW how I love proposal videos!

7) Finally, this thing I found on Pinterest (WHITE GIRL ALERT) that I keep coming back to. Preach, Socrates. (According to my extensive research [read: 20 second googling] this is actually a quote from a character named Socrates in a book called Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives by Dan Milman. Either way... I like it.)

No, I do not have any further updates on my car or anything related to it at this point. But you know I will post them as soon as I do!! I also wonder how much Honda is willing to do for me if I hint of taking legal action against them. Do you think I could negotiate for free cupcakes for life in addition to a car if it comes to that?

The One Where I Make Soup

Poor Monique has been super duper sick these past couple days. I felt bad for her and I wanted to do something nice for her, so I debated my options (I decided hiring a male stripper dressed as a nurse was probably not going to be the most effective solution) and thought about what makes me feel better when I'm sick. This made me think about the time in summer 2008 when I got so sick I thought I may have been dying and all I wanted was for someone to inject tranqs into me and put me out of my misery until I felt better. 2008 was the summer before my senior year in college, so I was living back at my parents' house for the summer and working at a fine arts day camp (rough life, I know). 

Side note: working at that camp was actually really fun and I worked with 6 year olds, who are generally hysterical, and I met some pretty awesome people including a woman named Kiley, who makes absolutely the best YouTube videos you've ever watched. Kiley, sorry (?) I'm so obsessed with you as of late. I can't help it. You're really funny. Check out her vids here.

Anyway, back to the point of this story. Once that initial stage of PD (Potential Death) wore off, I still slogged around the house like a miserable creature for a few days and once I was well enough to sit upright, my dad made me from-scratch chicken soup and sat on the couch with me for an entire afternoon and watched a marathon of the MTV show Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search Elle Woods. What? You don't remember that show? You didn't know Legally Blonde was made into a musical? General WTF? Allow me to refresh your memory... 

Basically, the lord baby Jesus heard everyone's prayers for the iconic Legally Blonde movie (number 1... we don't speak of movie number 2, and we definitely do not speak about the book) to be turned into a musical experience. And we were delivered one of the best stage shows of all time. Then, the original woman who played Elle Woods in the Broadway musical (Laura Bell Bundy) decided it was time to move on, so they made an MTV reality show about picking the next Elle. You can learn more and WATCH FULL EPISODES here. Never in a million billion years did I think my dad would watch the show with me, which was full of your usual reality show forced-drama scenes, the inevitable cattiness that occurs when you have 15 young women in the same apartment together, and lots of pink and bend-and-snapping.

"Ohhhh nooooo will my dream of being Elle come true?" 

It was also really hard to keep track of everyone because they all looked the same, especially when they all had their hair dyed the exact same shade of blonde. 

Pre-blonde hair dying

But, watch it  we did, wishing Autumn would stop whining, Bailey would stop being so perfect, and feeling sorry for the dog who played Bruiser since he had to bark on command so many times during one episode. Anyway, this is one of my favorite memories of my dad not only because he endured LBTM: TSfEW but also because his soup really DID make me feel a zillion times better. 

So I decided to try my hand at making soup for Monique and see if that would help her at all. 

Step one (cut a hole in the box): Find crockpot chicken soup recipes. I still have a giant fear of cooking raw chicken in any way other than the crockpot. Recipe: obtained. See here.  (Note: I used brown rice instead of noodles. Just as tasty.) (Double note: the pictures below CLEARLY do not represent everything I did in this process, so don't follow my steps blindly. Be cool, don't be a fool, and follow the recipe.)

Step two: Chop yo' veggies.

Step three: Take a pic of your chicken broth by your crockpot because...?

Step four: Take a pic of the nasty raw chicken in the crockpot. Again, because...?

Step five: Add veggies and chicken broth (action shot!!!)

Step six: admire your raw creation.

Step seven: put a lot of salt and pepper in your soup and consume on your lunch break at work, blogging about making the soup. (So meta.) 

Overall, it's pretty tasty. We have yet to see its potential healing effects on the Roomster, but I hope she feels better soon. If not, we'll try reality TV next. And if that fails, I'm out of ideas. Well, no, that's not true. My final idea is head down to Mexico to buy cheap drugs from a farmacia and pray that no one ends up passed out in an alley (a la Marissa Cooper) because Ryan Atwood I am not and carrying people while wearing a wifebeater is not one of my many talents.

Any sickness remedies you like to use?