I really want a pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes. They may not help me in my efforts to be stylish at all times, but oh I want them so bad. This past fall I got really into going barefoot around the house. I have always liked the feel of being barefoot, but usually avoided it because I have been conditioned my whole life to think I needed special support for my extremely flat feet. Well, then I read this article on Mark’s Daily Apple about strengthening flat feet and thought I’d give the barefoot thing a go. After an initial period of adaptation, during which my feet and lower legs were seriously achey, I was converted. I had previously suffered from plantar fasciitis as well as other foot pains related to weakness and tightness. After a few months of going barefoot 90% of the time I’m home (which is most of the time since my broken back has left me pretty house-bound), my plantar fasciitis and other issues have disappeared. I do notice that my pain returns if I revert to my old habits of always wearing slippers or flip-flops at home, or spend too much time out and about (which means I’m wearing shoes since I don’t go barefoot outside). So I’ve decided that I need a pair of Five Fingers for those times when I need some sort of shoe but want to keep that barefoot feel. The plan is to get black ones and use my powers of style to make them fashionable and cool! After all, a woman who is hobbled by foot pain is never chic.
Fingers For My Toes
There Was a Hamburger Incident
Brian and I were recently awarded $150 in Amazon.com credit for completing a health assessment for our new health insurance company. Nothing like free money! We promptly bought:
- Two cases of chocolate (this has been discussed previously)
- Corn popper toy for Dylan
- Magazine subscriptions (Rolling Stone for Brian, Vogue & Allure for me)
- Cast iron stovetop grill/griddle
- A case of produce wash
The cast iron grill pan arrived yesterday. It is 20 inches long and weighs 16 pounds. It is clearly intended for some serious two-burner cooking action. I have wanted one of these for a couple of years because I thought it would be a good alternative to our detested Foreman grill. (Really I just want to get a house and have a proper outdoor grill, but all things in good time.)
I feel I should note at this point that in the previous 24 hours I had roasted two chickens and six yams, made chicken salad out of one of those chickens, made 17 hamburgers (two flavors), and made eight cups of a new trail mix creation (recipe to be posted soon, I promise). I still had eight burgers to cook so I was super excited about the grill pan because I could fit all eight of the burgers on it (our Foreman grill only fits four). Though I’ve used cast iron previously, I really had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted to use my new pan and save myself the trouble of cooking two batches of burgers. I cranked the stove up to high and when the grill was hot, put the burgers on. They immediately began smoking. A LOT. I thought once they got seared that the smoke would stop. I was wrong. Our entire kitchen, dining room, and living room immediately filled with smoke. Thick smoke. A lot of thick smoke. I couldn’t see six feet in front of me. I thought maybe I had the heat too high since cast iron is such a good heat conductor so I turned it down to medium and then opened all the windows and the door and put a box fan in the doorway to blow the smoke out. I was coughing the whole time, freaking out about whether Dylan was inhaling all the smoke (he wasn’t because he is short!), and shutting the doors to our bedrooms so they wouldn’t get smokey. I flipped the bugers and celebrated briefly because they had grill marks. Grill marks! The lower heat seemed to reduce the amount of smoke spewing off of the stove, but that is like comparing the flow of a river to that of a firehose. Less, but still a lot. The box fan was doing its job, as evidenced by the thick plumes of smoke billowing out our front door. I was certain that one of our neighbors would call the fire department.
It took about 45 minutes before the air in our apartment was see-through again, and I made an incredible mess. There were grease splatters everywhere, and thanks to the fact that I forgot to oil the grill, we were still trying to liberate charred bits of burger from it this morning. Despite the smoke and the mess and the panic, the burgers did turn out really well, much better than on the Foreman grill. And when the maintenance guys showed up later to fix our eternally-running toilet they were all like, “Mmmm, what are you cooking? It smells really good in here!”
CLAREVIVIER Accessories
I found out about CLAREVIVIER last spring when I stumbled upon Clare’s blog and saw the bag above. Love at first sight! That perfect specimen is her now-famous (or nearly so) La Tropezienne in scrumptious, delicious eco-tanned Italian remnant leather. I had one on order for about a week and then realized that I would probably not have much use for such a bag once Dylan arrived. (That turned out to be true. La Trop, though lovely, contains no pockets and no closure, two things that have gone from nice-to-have to essential in any bag I carry these days.) Clare herself is very sweet and was even going to make the bag special for me, with longer straps so I could carry it over my shoulder. Alas, it was not meant to be but I still think La Trop is the epitome of a simple, timeless, versatile, elegant bag. La Tropezienne can be yours, though the price has gone up from the bargain basement $150 I was going to pay in May to $240 (still a deal!) because of an increase in the price of the remnant leather used to make the bags.
Even though La Trop may not be the best choice for my lifestyle these days, there are still many other incredible options in the CLAREVIVIER line:
Messenger Tote in rich navy leather. I’m really into navy lately, especially with black and brown. This is the perfect goes-with-everything-but-is-still-interesting shade of blue. I am also a huge sucker for anything that can be worn cross-body, which is probably somehow related to years of riding around on my bike with a messenger bag. It just feels like the most practical and comfortable way to wear a bag, and it’s also kind of sporty and jaunty, no? This tote has the added bonus of little satchel handles for those times when you are feeling posh. (Or for when wearing the thing cross-body would make your skirt ride up.)
Remake Clutches in a rainbow of colors. Don’t they look like candy? I want several of these. They are all fantastic, but I especially love the bright blues, reds, and greens with contrasting zippers and the white lacy leather. Oh, and the black patent is hot. And that camel with the red zipper is so lux. Yeah, I want them all. Many sizes, for every occasion!
French Linen Zip Sac with a super cool chain-link print and contrasting zipper. Neutral but still distinctive, this would be so perfect for summer days.
Wrist Wrap in mirrored silver leather. Not a bag, but it would look so good on the arm carrying your bag. It also comes studded, but I prefer it without. So chic!
Last, but certainly not least, this is a special Remake Clutch for Target’s Red Hot Shop. It’s a big deal for a small, new designer to get featured at a big store like Target. I didn’t know about their Red Hot Shop before but it’s curated in partnership with Daily Candy and the items change every month. Bonus for you is that this clutch is priced $15 cheaper than the remake clutches available directly from CLAREVIVIER, so it’s a good way to support an emerging designer while saving yourself a little dough. I am a big fan of embossed leather and love the patent camel and flat black together, especially with the red tassel–so cute!
Rump Roast
Today I will be making my first rump roast. The rump is denoted by the number “3″ in the image above. I will be attempting to do my roast on the stovetop, as my 6-quart pot is not oven-safe. (Yeah, I know, I need to remedy that!) I’ve roasted chickens, turkeys, and pork shoulders (also known as pork butts; that probably deserves its own post), but all in the oven. I’ve made beef stew on the stovetop, but that was different because the beef was in chunks and I always use my mom’s foolproof beef bourguignon recipe. Anyway, my rump is small (Ha! Sorry, I couldn’t resist), only about 2 lbs., so I figure the stovetop method shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. I will report back with stories of my grand success!
Have You Donated Yet?
I know everyone is telling you to donate money to the Haitian earthquake relief effort right now. So, um, have you?
When a huge tragedy occurs, sometimes I donate money and sometimes I don’t. What motivated me this time was the realization that there are people in Haiti who are just like me. Mothers with 7 month old babies who are just trying to get through the day and take care of their kids. Except their day is really, really awful and the stakes are totally different. Here I am thinking about Dylan’s naps and making sure he has developmentally appropriate toys, and there are mothers in Haiti who are just trying to keep their babies fed, healthy, alive. Of course if we could find out about every person affected by any large-scale tragedy there would inevitably be someone for each of us to identify with, but for some reason this time that thought really hit home for me. Haiti is a really poor country. If we (we being the people from the moneyed countries) don’t step in to help them out, who will?
Even if you think you have no money, you have enough to give something. It is very easy to feel bad and say a prayer for all of the people who are suffering in Haiti right now. But guess what? It is almost as easy to donate money to help them! I suggest choosing a large, established international aid organization, but I’m sure there are smaller organizations working in Haiti that are also legit.
Donation Resources
The NPR website has a brief list of organizations that you can donate to.
CharityNavigator.org and NetworkForGood.org can help you evaluate charities and make donations to a broader range of NGOs.
And if you’re texty, you can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti (that $10, plus standard text messaging charges, will be charged to your cell phone bill).
$240 Worth of Pudding
Exerpt from a Google chat between me and Brian earlier today:
Me: I just realized that I bought TWO cases of Chocolove.
Brian: wow.
Me: Yeah, I got emails from Amazon about what has shipped and what has not and now I see my mistake. I guess b/c I already had some in my cart from when I was on the desktop, so when I went to make the purchase on the laptop there was already chocolate in my cart and I didn’t realize it.
Brian: wow.
Me: sorry
Brian: i was wondering how you spent so much money.
Me: Well, now you know!
Brian: that should last us over a year.
Me: $60 of chocolate. Uh, yeah. Especially b/c I don’t eat much chocolate anymore
Brian: $200 of pudding
Me: huh?
Brian: sorry, make that $240 worth of pudding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpuUemDBz-8
Me: sweet nothings! cook & chill!
Brian: that was MY youth. love that shit.
Me: oh man. now I understand you on a much deeper level
Brian: google “i wanna dip my balls in it” sometime.
2010 Resolution
Now that we’re a solid week into the new year I figured I’d better get my resolutions sorted out. Maybe some day I will be one of those bloggers who has their new year’s post, complete with previous-year-in-review and resolutions for the new year all ready to go on December 31st. Ha, whatever. I haven’t even done resolutions the past few years because, for the record, I am not a big fan of the idea. They generally turn out to be ridiculous lofty aspirations that are forgotten about by spring break anyway, and I think goal setting (and achieving!) should be a year-round activity.
That being said, this year I’ve decided to do resolutions because I am in the mood for goal setting! After an 18-month period that involved moving three times (twice over distances greater than 2,500 miles), getting pregnant, having a baby, and breaking my back I was just done. Tired, you know. Granted the moving and getting pregnant were definitely part of the plan, but going through all of those experiences in such quick succession did not leave me with the mental space or physical energy to live as consciously as I wanted to. But, Dylan will be seven months old this week and I’m ten weeks out from the back breakage, and I’m starting to get that itch again. That ambitious type-A only child itch to set some goals and achieve them! Yeah! I’m not one for letting the tides of life sway me, as y’all well know.
Without further ado, my new year’s resolution for 2010:
Be authentic, radiant, and fabulous.
Yep, that’s it. I initially started out with a little list of things that I wanted to accomplish this year and realized rather quickly that the list didn’t accurately represent what I was after in terms of self-improvement and transformation. I needed something bigger, grander, and all-encompassing. Now I know that a good goal is measurable, and I have not yet figured out how to measure this resolution, but it feels like a very accurate way to communicate the kind of change I want to see in myself this year. Let’s break it down:
Be Authentic. To me this means to be my authentic self. According to Merriam-Webster, one of the five definitions of authentic is “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character,” and I think that sums up my feelings exactly. Maybe you are one of those people who always behaves authentically in every situation. I generally do a pretty good job but could certainly do better. I’ve definitely let circumstances influence my choices more than they should have at various times in my life. (Example: working in a career I hate just for the money. So NOT authentic. For the record, my current job, stay-at-home-mom, rules and is very true to my personality, spirit, and character.) The gist of being authentic means to be my truest self at all times. The practical application, as far as I’m concerned, involves heeding my intuition and not sabotaging my gut instincts and true desires by being lazy or cowardly.
Be Radiant. This is just a fancy way of saying “look good,” which luckily I can accomplish simply by purchasing the correct beauty products. Ha! Just kidding! What this really means to me is to shine my light out into the world. To radiate my unique flavor of positive, uplifting, inspiring energy so that others may benefit. The practical application involves setting a good example in terms of my behavior, and being supportive of others rather than critical. That last part is what’s hard since I am very improvement-oriented by nature (that’s a nice way of saying I’m critical). A big part of sharing my positive energy involves giving other people the space to benefit from it in their own special way, and not trying to force a certain result. So I’ll be focusing on being a ray of sunshine for those around me and not getting caught up in the outcome.
Be Fabulous. Uh, does this one really need explaining? It means feather boas and glitter all the time, bitches! It also means having fun, making my own fun, making the best of things, laughing a lot, and being the best version of myself that I can be while forgiving myself for the many mistakes I will surely make. Technically the word fabulous means “of an incredible, astonishing, or exaggerated nature,” and I intend to have an incredible, astonishing, exaggeratedly awesome year. I want to look back on my year and be like “Day-am!” or “Wow!” I did it last year, so this one shouldn’t be too hard.
Google Voice: It's a Hoot!
Do you use Google Voice? The concept is very cool, especially the idea of emailing transcripts of voicemail messages, so you can get your voicemail secretly while you are in meetings or otherwise unable to listen to it. Unfortunately, the voicemail transcripts it provides are just ridiculous because Google’s speech to text technology is lacking. I have yet to see a transcript that actually makes sense.
Here is the transcript of a voicemail I left Brian last week:
Hey Babe, It’s me, it’s noon. I was calling because I’m gonna do a load of dark laundry tonight. I want to know if you want me to grab here turning stone Jean, Pierre, Lucky jeans and talk to him and or any other dark stuff that it’s going around, so just let me know. Thanks. Bye.
Brian forwarded the transcript to me with the following message:
Hey, can you tell Pierre that the dark stuff is going around again? Last time he got that he threw up in my shoes and they never smelled the same again.
xoxo,
B
Oh, I got myself a funny one alright! I almost lizzed when I read his email. Seriously. [Is there anyone else out there who sees the "xoxo, B" and thinks of Gossip Girl? Let's pretend Blair Waldorf sent me this email, which makes the whole thing even funnier.]
By the way, the voicemail message I left was actually about doing a load of dark laundry, but I don’t know anyone named Pierre. At least Google lets you provide feedback on the accuracy of the transcripts it creates, and I assume they are using this feedback to improve the speech to text technology that converts voicemails into transcripts. Inaccurate transcripts aside, Google Voice is a pretty amazing (free!) service that provides real world usefulness as well as comic relief. If you would like an invite to Google Voice just leave a comment on this post and I will hook you up!
