"Alternative" bookstores

My mom took pictures of this newspaper article in Taiwan and sent them to me.

So I love books and I love reading and I used to sit in Barnes & Noble for hours on end. But even I'm not quite sure I'm ready for beds and different room settings(e.g., bathroom) in a bookstore. As comfy and homey as that may be. I think I'd just feel really weird about it.

I do have to say it's pretty creative, though. They charge 100 NT (roughly 3 bucks) an hr to read on the bed and I'm not sure about the "toilet"...

I've asked my mom to go and check out what the scene is really like and take pictures. And also to see what other settings this bookstore came up with.

Just when you thought couches were the most homey things they could put in a bookstore...

Cheney's Got a Gun

The Bob Rivers Show - 102.5 KZOK Seattle

It's Another Miracle!

OK friends, I just need to add that a couple days ago I found another great pair of jeans that fit me really well in a miraculously painless shopping experience. These were considerably more than $11, but they were also a birthday present from my mom, so that worked out well.

Two pairs of hot jeans within three weeks??? I don't watch the news much, but why didn't someone TELL me that hell froze over?!

Come the rapture, I'm taking my jeans with me!

Dessert Soiree

My mom has been visiting for a few days, and it's been great. It's the first time she's visited since she and Dad helped me move, so we were both excited for her to meet some of my new pals. We decided to have a little dessert and coffee soiree at my place, and it was a hit.

There were 8 of us at the soiree, and it turns out that is the perfect number of people for my little apartment. The conversation was lively and I think everyone had a good time. My mom and I have always been close, so it was really special for her to finally get to put faces with names. I highly recommend dessert and coffee as a vehicle for entertaining. It's easy and much of the preparation can be done ahead of time, it's not quite as stressful as a full-on dinner party, and it's an excuse for everyone to indulge a little.

On the menu: mom's famous brownies and my new recipe for pumpkin cupcakes. Both were delicious. Here are the recipes:

Mom's Brownies

2/3 cup margarine
4 oz baking chocolate
2 c sugar
1 Tb vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Melt margarine and chocolate together in a sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Add remaining ingredients and stir until batter is smooth.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 min. (At altitude, it usually takes closer to 40-45 min.)

Pumpkin Cupcakes
makes about 24 cupcakes

1 package yellow cake mix
1 can pumpkin puree
3 lg eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 c water

Blend all ingredients for 2 min. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-23 min.

I also added some spices to the batter, though the recipe doesn't specifically call for them, and I definitely recommend that. They are a little bland without any spice. This time around, I added about 1/4 tsp cinnamon, a shake or two of ground cloves, and a little freshly grated nutmeg. In the future, I think I'll be a little more aggressive with the spices, but I don't know exact measurements to tell you. I'll revise when I make them again.

I recommend cream cheese frosting - you can get it in a can, but I found a delicious recipe that's not very hard:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 c butter at room temperature
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
4 c powdered sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter and cream cheese. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy.

This makes a ton of frosting, so you'll have some left over. But it also goes well on top of brownies, I've discovered. And probably anything else you want to put it on. Yum yum!

Mascots

I've been following the Today Show's lead up to the winter olympics. This morning, in addition to Katie Couric shopping with one of the figure skating contenders at Saks (tough life, I know), they brought out the mascots, Neve and Gliz.

Now, you may say that since I come from a school where our teams are named after a color and our mascot is a tree, I can't really judge.

But a snowball and an ice cube?!? I guess it is winter themed, and I don't know if I could ever design a mascot, but I just think they should be cute, and more symbolic somehow. Maybe I'm too demanding. There have been worse Olympic mascots (like Izzy from Atlanta, which reminds me of Springy the coil of spring from the Simpsons episode where they try to host the Olympics) but you figured if they're spending billions of dollars on this event and expect to make billions from marketing, it'd be cuter or more artistic or just more something...

Horndribbles!

You can find those mysterious creatures here



This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. I think the "scientific descriptions" are hilarious and engrossing, the first time I walked through the exhibit I focused so much on the descriptions that I had to do a second walk through to focus on the animals.

anyhow, you should check it out!

It's a miracle!

Shopping for pants - and jeans in particular - is a painful experience for most women, I think. For me, it takes a great deal of emotional fortitude and a high self-esteem day, or it can become just totally demoralizing. To be clear, I know and believe that I am not overweight. But I'm a little curvy and most designers just don't make pants that are cut to fit me. For a long time, the only jeans I could find that fit were, oddly enough, JCrew boy jeans. But those obviously aren't cut for women so don't really look particularly sexy. But they're perfectly serviceable comfy jeans.

It's been a long time since I bought new jeans, and mine were getting pretty worn out, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and just go. So I went. Yesterday.

And a miracle occurred.

I went to a department store, figuring that was a good place to start - variety of brands and styles, and hopefully more reasonable prices than at a JCrew or Banana Republic type of place. I tried on four pairs of jeans - just four! - and two of them were pretty good! It was hard to believe at first, but after a few tryings-on and many critical stares in the mirror, I decided I wasn't hallucinating. I actually had a pair of women's boot cut jeans that looks pretty darn good!

So then I looked at the price tag - $25! A great deal for a good looking pair of jeans. I get to the register, the lady rings me up, and it turns out they're on extra-sale. Only $11!!

A shopping miracle!!

This morning I put the jeans on again, thinking surely in the light of a new day I would see that I'd been all wrong about them. But no! I'll just say it: I looked hot!

I love my new jeans. I love that they only cost $11. I may have to go back and get another pair just in case something happens to this one.

Here, Aibo! Good boy, Aibo!

Do you love dogs but don't have a dog-friendly lifestyle? Are you allergic? Maybe your apartment management won't allow pets? I've found your solution:

AIBO!

I heard about Aibo last night on NPR. Apparently Sony has decided to stop producing these little robot dogs. They seem pretty high-tech. They learn to recognize their owners, can express different emotions, and even play with toys!

I have to admit, I've been thinking lately that I could really use a pet. I'm allergic to cats (and am not really a cat person anyway), but I grew up with dogs and I love them. I have a lot of alone time and a dog might be good company. But let's face it, I don't have a lifestyle condusive to pet-ownership. I like to go away for the weekend and not have to worry about finding a pet sitter. So maybe a little robot pet running around my apartment would be fun. It would certainly be entertaining and a good conversation starter.

But in the NPR story they interviewed a guy who has the largest private collection of Aibos in the world - something like 56 of them. At one point he was talking about Orange Dog, who was in the room with him. Apparently Orange Dog was feeling kind of needy that day. Usually he's the very social "party" dog, but last week they took him to a party and Orange Dog didn't get the attention he needed so his feelings were hurt and he has needed a little extra love lately. And I just found myself thinking, "That's a robot you're talking about!! It doesn't love you! It's a computer chip in a plastic body!!!"

Besides, the stupid things cost about $2000. This guy had literally spent almost $100,000 on Aibos and Aibo paraphernalia.

So I think maybe I'll get a fish instead.

Wookie Blog

This made me laugh. A lot.